retired_puly1364

11th of September 2011

Dutch Premier Division action returned on 11th of March as we travelled to FC Utrecht. Leroy Fer was out on slight injury he got in U21 game, so I had to choose Andrea Giacomini instead of him. I also made another bunch of slight changes in the first team, inclduing Jonas van Hooydonck to the starting XI for the first time this season.

Dutch Premier Division, Week 3
Fc Utrecht 2:3 Willem II (16. Jonas van Hooydonck, 29., 37. Cengizhan Topal)

Finally something to cheer about! We played awesome first half, but gave a bit away in the second and conceeded 2 goals in late stage of the game. But I'm happy that our striking partnership scored and last years top scorer got first 2 goals to his name.

13th of September 2011

From Voetbal International

14th of September 2011

Champions League Group-Stage, Matchday 1
Willem II 3:3 Chelsea (13., 18., 81. Jonas van Hooydonck)

I was so proud of the boys after the match. Only bitter taste is because of the injury time goal we conceeded, but to get a draw againist Chelsea was remarkable result. Jonas was just brilliant upfront and he got enough support also. After his third goal, I believed we could win, but Chelsea pressed really hard. But that's a great proof of our current situation.

18th of September 2011

But the week was far from over. On weekend we welcomed our big rivals Ajax in Tilburg. I had all my player avaible, except Giacomini who showed great form in last few matches as Fer was out. I decided to pick the magical striking partership once again with Topal and van Hooydonck upfront.

Dutch Premier Division, Week 4
Willem II 1:0 Ajax (77. Patrick de Groot)

Another great match! We were equal to Ajax in first half and shut them off in second half, creating lots of chances. De Groot capped off a very nice move from the team. We went past them and are sitting 7th in the table now.

23rd of September 2011

Immediatly, we had 3rd big game in front of us. In next week's Friday, we travelled to Eindhoven to face PSV, who were the highest placed team out of the last seasons first 3. They were sitting 2nd in the table. Behind Sparta.

Dutch Premier Division, Week 5
PSV 2:3 Willem II (5. Jonas van Hooydonck, 8. pen. Paul Verghaegh, 45. Jaime Valdes)

The hero was once again Jonas van Hooydonck. Goal + 2 assists. This guy is just amazing this year. Great first half, almost as good 2nd one. By the 13th minute the score was 2:2, but we managed to make it 3:2 just before the half time. This is getting unbelievable now. After a very very crappy start to new season, the team has changed in mentality and is now beating all the competitiors!

retired_puly1364

27th of September 2011

Right after PSV, we had our 2nd Cl match of the season ahead of us. We were planning to give Porto a though game in their home. I had all my players fit and I choosed for the same line-up as I did againist PSV. Almost.... when counting out Tarik Zitouni who got a small injury and is out for a game or two.

Champions League Group-Stage, Matchday 2
Porto 4:5 Willem II (20. Jaime Valdes, 32. pen., 45. pen. Gaetano D'Agostino, 49., 54. Cengizhan Topal)

Even four goals couldn't outscore us. What a display of attacking football from both sides. Obviously the best game in this round of Champions League and we did very good to come out as winners. Also, I'd like to announce D'Agostino as the new penalty taking king. Well done. Now we've got 2 killer pentaly spot guys with D'Agostino & Verghaegh. And Topal did nice once again and is retainig his last season form. But one guy who I want to praise is Jaime Valdes. He's completely different player this season, he has gone 2 times better and finally scores lots of goals and does the movement Willem Janssen does on his best days regulary.

28th of September 2011

I got FC Twente in Dutch Cup 3rd round draw.

2nd of October 2011

So we were hoping to continue playing amazing attacking games as FC Groningen came for visit. Willem II-Stadium was packed up once again like it is in every game and I once again choosed the same line-up as I did in previous game.

Dutch Premier Division, Week 6
Willem II 2:0 FC Groningen (47. pen. Paul Verghaegh, 56. Jonas van Hooydonck)

Another great win for us! We're still holding the pace we set with Utrecht's game and had this game in our hands all the time. We were unfortunate not to score earlier and that penalty was an relief surely! But we're sitting 2nd in the league as our rival Fc Utrecth don't want to lose either and has a better goal difference.

5th of October 2011

So we had a match before returning of the international action. I had Zitouni back and I decided to put him into the starting line-up where before was Willem Janssen. I played againist Cambuur away and was hoping to go into the break with a win ofcourse.

Dutch Premier Division, Week 7
Cambuur 0:2 Willem II (85. Jonas van Hooydonck, 90. Gaetano D'Agostino)

We were in control of the match once again, but left it really late, but win is a win. We managed to keep it cool and push till last minutes until the goal. We were unlucky not to score the third goal, but this is surely another confidence boosting victory. If there is anything to boost anymore...

15th of October 2011

So the league action returned 10 days later. I couldn't choose Zitouni once again as he was still away on international duty. I had a very though away game againist Heerenveen, but I couldn't be worse than Fc Utrecht. They won there 3:0.

Dutch Premier Division, Week 8
Heerenveen 1:4 Willem II (6., 21. Jonas van Hooydonck, 36. Gaetano D'Agostino, 46. Cengizhan Topal)

Yes, that was a quick match. Once again, once again we had the control. This team is just unbeattable at the moment. Only thing that prevented us from making 3rd consecutive clean-sheet was a stupid deflection own goal from Petr Molinek. Otherwise it would have gone wide or into Kotenko's hands.

18th of October 2011

I welcomed Rangers in Tilburg. With another packed up game, lots of Willem II fans were cheering loud before the game. What happened in summer is left behind, everyone trusts everyone now and now we can all bounce up and down. I decided to choose Zitouni ahead of Willem Janssen despite the last one making a man of the match apperance in last game.

Champions League Group-Stage, Matchday 3
Willem II 5:0 Rangers (2. Rick Kluijskens, 22. Cengizhan Topal, 44., 87. Jaime Valdes, 54. Jonas van Hooydonck)

Word-pair great form got a new meaning today! This was brilliant. Like our last form. I could start praising team from goalkeepers to foward. Everyone has been in form of their life lately and 7 wins in a row and 10 match unbeatten row is a good proof. We simply look unbeattable. We grab the control from the start and never give it away. 5:0 againist Rangers! That was something incredible. Espescially comparing to what other Dutch teams do in European competitions which is totally other way around.

zipman

Happy to see you destroyed one of the teams I dislike most in football

Hail Celtic, I mean Hail Willem II

retired_puly1364

Happy to see you destroyed one of the teams I dislike most in football

Hail Celtic, I mean Hail Willem II </BLOCKQUOTE>I have always thought about where did the name "Willem II" came from. Sounds like general or something like that. Dunno about Dutch history much.

General Tanel I conquering Europe with magical troops!

zipman

Happy to see you destroyed one of the teams I dislike most in football

Hail Celtic, I mean Hail Willem II </BLOCKQUOTE>I have always thought about where did the name "Willem II" came from. Sounds like general or something like that. Dunno about Dutch history much.

General Tanel I conquering Europe with magical troops! </BLOCKQUOTE>

He was even their http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_II_Tilburg monarch

Good night

retired_puly1364

*This story will have a short few day break as I'm off for 2 days. Will be back on Monday! At the time... you could spam the thread with replies.

21st of October 2011

From Voetbal.nl

23rd of October 2011

So we were planning to continue the run as we hosted Helmond in home. I had no choice, but to pick the Rangers squad once again. They were in the last place of the league, but not with a very big gap and you'll never know those last clubs. Usually they give me hell of a headache.

Dutch Premier Division, Week 9
Willem II 2:0 Helmond (47. Gaetano D'Agostino, 59. Jonas van Hooydonck)

Goalscorers obviously won't suprise me. Jonas van Hooydonck continues his amazing goalscoring run as with this game, he has scored 6 goals in last 5 matches. Gaetano D'Agostino has been an awesome buy attacking wise as it was already his 5th goal this season. He plays in central midfield and pretty deep actually as Jaime Valdes has conquered the support striker place for van Hooydonck & Topal.

26th of October 2011

I had another game just 3 days after the Helmond match. In 10th round of the league I met with NAC Breda, who were performing average this season and were sitting on 13th place. I made a couple of subs as Zitouni was very tired and was replaced with Janssen for this match and Rick Kluijskens got an injury in last match. He was replaced by Mitchell Schet.

Dutch Premier Division, Week 10
Willem II 2:1 NAC Breda (27., 80. Cengizhan Topal)

Another great match! We had it in our hands like we always do and we were unlucky not to score more as we had the post once and opponents goalkeeper was very good. Cengizhan Topal is great like van Hooydonck lately. If they can keep it up then it's pretty sure who are the fans fighting for the top scorer in Premier Division, miles ahead of the others.

30th of October 2011

Dutch Cup, 3rd Round
Willem II 1:1 Fc Twente (9. Jaime Valdes)
3:5 on penalties

Dissappointing result. Luckily it was in Dutch Cup which robs my time. It was my second XI's chance to get some first team football, but they ruined it. Only had 3-4 first teamers playing from start. Koen Verhoeff is whining about playing time, but he only managed to do one good half and then was poor in second and couldn't do anything on penalties. Unlike Kotenko.

retired_jgirl87

KUTGW Tanel. :thup:

This is one of the best career stories that I have seen on the FMS forum.

retired_puly1364

Thank you Spav

2nd of November 2011

On the third of november, my 3rd year at Willem II will start, but before that, I wanted to secure myself a place in CL 1/8 finals. I could do that by beating my biggest opponent Rangers away from home. They had 3 points againist my 7, but they've got great striking partnership in Marco Boriello - Jemal Johnson and I had to be aware of those two.

Champions League Group-Stage, Matchday 4
Rangers 1:0 Willem II

So we got our first loss after August and we picked a wrong game to do that. We had lots of chances, but Rangers were pretty equal to us and scored one of their shots. Now it's going to be tight play as there's just 1 point difference between us and I have Chelsea away and Porto at home, while they're having Porto away and Chelsea at home. I've got a better chance, but anything can happen.

8th of November 2011

Before players leaved for international duties, I had my Week 11 game at Rotterdam againist Excelsior, who are fighting againist relegation. I couldn't pick Vartan Mazalov, who was still recovering from a long injury he got in September.

Dutch Premier Division, Week 11
Excelsior 1:3 Willem II (27. pen. Paul Verghaegh, 50. Jonas van Hooydonck, 57. Patrick de Groot)

We had some problems in first half, but our second half was class once again and we finished the game off pretty quickly thanks to another van Hooydonck goal and de Groot's second of the season. We are moving away from others and now the difference between me and 2nd is 4 points, while 3rd, Ajax, is 5 points further down. Then there comes like 5 points of emptyness and others.

12th of November 2011

I couldn't celebrate with Cengizhan Topal that day. Our guy from Turkey, played his first ever NT team game. Not for Turkey though, but for Holland and gave an assist. He became our only Dutch NT player... though Leroy Fer and Patrick de Groot are playing in U21.

19th of November 2011

I had a though game ahead of me, and I had striker crisis. I met Vitesse, who were struggling, but still they were very dangerous. Espescially they're striker Jimmy Beks. About striker crisis, I had only 3 first team strikers avaible in Topal, van Hooydonck and Demouge. Therefore I bringed in our U21 top scorer Paul Peters. I also didn't have Leroy Fer, who was out on U21 duty, just like Patrick de Groot. Also we missed Jaime Valdes who was playing with Chile.

Dutch Premier Division, Week 12
Willem II 6:0 Vitesse (25. Cengizhan Topal, 32., 36. Jonas van Hooydonck, 50. Paul Peters, 74. Rick Kluijskens, 86. Gaetano D'Agostino)

Now that was some performance! I was so happy when youngster Paul Peters scored just 5 minutes after he came on the pitch. Rick scored againist his old club and Jonas became leagues top scorer once again, scoring his 10th goal in Casino Eredivisie. Topal & Gaetano are also high in the scores stats.

22nd of November 2011

I had to met Chelsea in CL's matchday 5, but I didn't really hope for a great result and I decided to give Jonas van Hooydonck a rest before hard away game againist MVV in league. To replace him I put 18-year old Paul Peters. I still didn't have Patrick de Groot, Leroy Fer, Jaime Valdes & Vartan Mazalov.

Champions League Group-Stage, Matchday 5
Chelsea 5:1 Willem II (7. Rick Kluijskens)

Only two guys were better than us today! Lukas Podolski & Igor Akinfeev. The first one scored all Chelsea's goals and the later one made lots of saves. When there wouldn't been him, we may have won this game since we had loads of chances in first half. I was angry, when he saved Paul Peters great shot after brilliant team move. But atleast, we managed to grab the lead for 4 minutes. In good news, Porto won againist Rangers, so we just have to win our home game.

But bad news came after the game. Leroy Fer & Patrick de Groot both injuried themselves in Dutch U21 game and we're ofcourse very angry with NT and don't let them go to the next NT games in February.

retired_puly1364

Guys, I'd like to know how many people are reading this story! Little count-up or something like that. Hasn't got anything to do with ending the story. This will last till October/November probably.

29th of November 2011

I needed to but that embarassing Podolskiowning behind as we met MVV away. I couldn't pick Patrick de Groot since he's injury is pretty serious and is out for around month, but Leroy Fer was back in action in the left side of our defence.

Dutch Premier Division, Week 13
MVV 0:1 Willem II (12. Cengizhan Topal)

As the result says, it was pretty boring match. MVV couldn't create much, but neither could we. Except few times, where we ruined great chances to double the score. Topal is really claiming for high places in scorers charts in the league and now is sitting in Top 10. Jonas van Hooydonck is leading with 10 goals.

4th of December 2011

Our next opponent was Fc Twente. We wanted to take a revenge of losing out on them in cup and this time we didn't have second string squad. De Groot & Mazalov were still out so Paul Peters was on bench once again.

Dutch Premier Division, Week 14
Willem II 2:0 FC Twente (75. pen. Gaetano D'Agostino, 79. Paul Peters)

Another victory! Gaetano D'Agostino is going to reach 10th goal of the season soon as he's been amazing upfront, but the guy who has amazed lately is Paul Peters. Last time the 18-year old striker scored was 5 minutes after coming on pitch againist Vitesse, now it took him 4 minutes to score! I'm surely going to work on this guy as he looks to be promising. I also worked out a special training schedule for him to develope into better striker.

7th of December 2011

It was the most important game of the season when we met Porto in Champions Leagues 6th matchday of the groupstages. Win would have took us through, though draw should've been okay too as Rangers played Chelsea. Two strikers were still injuried and Peters was on bench once again. Jaime Valdes was out on cards.

Champions League Group-Stage, Matchday 6
Willem II 1:1 Porto (62. Jonas van Hooydonck)

Jonas's goal was enough to take us through to the next round of the CL. We enjoyed a nice game and it was very open game on Willem II-Stadion on tuesday. Rangers had a 2:2 draw with Chelsea and it was pretty heartbreaking to see the score chaning at Ibrox very often.

10th of December 2011

In the next game of league, I faced Roda JC, who were performing on their level this season, but their level isn't anything spectacular so I hoped for a win from though away game. Vartan Mazalov was back for bench finally, but I still decided to bring young Paul Peters sitting next to me on bench.

Dutch Premier Division, Week 15
Roda JC 0:4 Willem II (6. og. Ilhan Demirci, 17., 39. Jonas van Hooydonck, 40. Cengizhan Topal)

It was our best game since the beating of Rangers at home! We played spectacular football and despite the posession being againist us 46 - 54, we were the ones who seemed to have the ball for longer. We did top class attacking moves upfront and showed technical brilliance as all our midfield toyed around with their defence. And Topal scored a great goal later on! He got the ball in middle of the pitch, ran 40 meters, then dribbled past 2 players and slotted home a wonderful curling shot from edge of the area.

retired_puly1364

16th of December 2011

Since I didn't have any games for a long time I decided to take a little break from training the squad on my birthday and travelled to Paris to see the drawing of 1/8 round of Champions League. I got seats just nexto to FC Bayern's president. His team had won the Champions League like 4 times in last 6 years! And were favourites for this season too. Anyway, first it was that usual talk and I managed to switch some words with Shakthar's manager in English who was the other team chatting next to me. I wished them good luck and praised for good performances.

Anyway, then some guy on stage said, "Let's start with the drawing now. I should like to remind you that the teams are divided into 2 pots. Those who got first place in their group can't meet and neither can those who got 2nd place. Also we don't see no teams from same countries facing eachothers in 1/8 round. Now we'll read once again all the teams in the group and show video material of their performances. Starting from pot 2, we've got Benfica..." So they showed the video's for 15 minutes and I was so proud to see the results of Rangers & Chelseas home game and Portos away game.

"Wait is over now and we'll start with the draw shortly," and it took a minue or so with introducing the drawers, "and first one out is Willem II. Defending Dutch champions finished in top of group G. Their opponent from pot 1 is German side Werder Bremen."

After the draw a travelling dutch journalist asked a few questions about the draw.

What do you think of draw againist Werder Bremen? Can we wait for a hot Dutch-German battle?

"This certainly will be an interesting match, but the draw could've gone better ofcourse. German teams are very good in Champions League and were facing two hard matches. I don't know how fans & players get along with eachother yet."

Did you except them coming for Willem II?

"No, I thought we'll get Spanish club."

First leg is at home so that gives Werder a slight advantage. Can you coupe with it?

"It doesen't matter for me whether I play the first game home or away. There isn't much difference between home & away games this season, so I doubt it makes differrence on our second leg match do we have 10 000 fans or 2000."

Willem II is the only Dutch club remaining in Champions League. Can you hold the Dutch flag high?

"We'll try. Utrecht got into quarterfinals last season, hopefully we can too. And even when we'd fall out there are four Dutch clubs in UEFA Cup so hopes are high there too. They all performed very good in group-stages. Ajax was unlucky to miss out on 1/8 spot in Champions League."

Thank you and happy birthday!

"Cheers!"

26th of December 2011

So league football returned just after christmas and we wanted to give our fans another nice christmas present by beating NEC Nijmegen at home. I had all first teamers except Patrick de Groot avaible, so we didn't have to worry about players very much before the match.

Dutch Premier Division, Week 16
Willem II 3:1 NEC Nijmegen (15. Cengizhan Topal, 81. Jonas van Hooydonck, 82. Gaetano D'Agostino)

We survived a little shock when NEC grabbed an equaliser after our big pressing, but we didn't let it bother us and within 2 minutes we decided the game. The scorers were predictable, since the "amazing" trio are this clubs top scorers this year and all together they have nearly 40 goals with half season gone.

1st of January 2012

Like traditionally, our first day of new year was with football. We had to meet this years suprise package Sparta at home to finish first half of the season with a win. Patrick de Groot was finally back and sat on bench. But Gaetano D'Agostino, Paul Peters & Petr Molinek all got bad injuries againist NEC in last league games and they were out of the game.

Dutch Premier Division, Week 17
Willem II 2:0 Sparta (41. Jonas van Hooydonck, 85. Patrick de Groot)

Another win and Patrick de Groot celebrated his come-back with a goal. Jonas is once again in great form and scored his 5th goal in last 4 games! It was his 19th goal of the season alltogether in 19 (3) apperances! Now we have a one month rest and the table looks really boring. Champions League place for next season is almost in our hands as only Ajax have been near our pace. PSV's job should be up for grabs soon as their 23 points behind us! Well, the gaps are very big till the 5th spot and the biggest joy of it all falls to Willem II.

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">| Pos | Inf | Team | | Pld | Won | Drn | Lst | For | Ag | G.D. | Pts | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 1st | | Willem II | | 17 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 41 | 12 | +29 | 46 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 2nd | | Ajax | | 17 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 38 | 10 | +28 | 41 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 3rd | | FC Utrecht | | 17 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 32 | 15 | +17 | 34 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 4th | | Feyenoord | | 17 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 30 | 17 | +13 | 29 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 5th | | PSV | | 17 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 25 | 19 | +6 | 23 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 6th | | AZ | | 17 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 22 | 22 | 0 | 23 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 7th | | Sparta | | 17 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 18 | 19 | -1 | 23 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 8th | | FC Twente | | 17 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 21 | 27 | -6 | 23 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 9th | | FC Groningen | | 17 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 25 | 28 | -3 | 21 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 10th | | Roda JC | | 17 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 17 | 21 | -4 | 21 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 11th | | Vitesse | | 17 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 23 | 30 | -7 | 21 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 12th | | Heerenveen | | 17 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 22 | 33 | -11 | 21 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 13th | | MVV | | 17 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 19 | 26 | -7 | 20 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 14th | | Excelsior | | 17 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 26 | 30 | -4 | 19 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 15th | | NAC Breda | | 17 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 18 | 22 | -4 | 18 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 16th | | Cambuur | | 17 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 11 | 27 | -16 | 16 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 17th | | NEC | | 17 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 22 | 34 | -12 | 14 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 18th | | Helmond | | 17 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 11 | 29 | -18 | 10 | | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| </pre>