Mighty NK Metalac - Croatian Second Division - End of Season Report 07/08
You can view my mid-season report
here.
When I left you, I had just discovered that there was a winter break for the senior team of 100 days. It's a good thing because my soon-to-be-a-star midfielder had just injured himself for 3 months, 2 minutes after scoring a nice goal.
Also, if you remember, my team was pretty bad at the start of the season but that improved nicely during the season.
After the break, during which we played 2 friendlies against Division 1 teams (won 2-1 against Pula but lost 1-3 against my parent team Osijek), we went on a spectacular run, with 3 losses, 6 draws and 9 wins over the remaining 18 games.
We played so well that we managed to secure the 4th spot in the
league. Pretty proud of my guys...
You can view our spectacular progression on the
graph.
Our best player was
Ivan Sambolec. Playing mostly at DM, but able to cover for DL too, he secured 15(!)
selections on the team of the week. Unsurprisingly, he was named on the Team of the season and was runner-up for player of the season.
The Fans Player of the year was
Hrvoje Dukic, our left winger of choice. 14 goals, 8 assists and a 7.06 rating were pretty nice. I can see more coming from him over the course of next season.
Our top goal scorer was our first string striker
Zlatko Majer, tied with Dukic at 14 goals. Pretty good production overall, but missed some super easy chances on a regular basis. I might want to look for someone else eventually. He probably won't be able to make the step up to Division 1.
In the midfield, standing like a rock and passing the ball left and right is
Marko Barisic. A constant threat, whether on the reception of a header or with a treacherous pass that splits the defense.
Here is the rest of the
squad. Notables are Ivan Cerkez, who starts on a regular basis in the national U19 team, even getting a goal. Just for fun, here are the
tactics I am playing.
On the financial side, I absolutely don't know what's happening. And you won't hear me complain. Have a look,
if you dare. Keep in mind that I play in US$ (out of habit more than anything), but divide roughly by 2 to get the £ value... Still... :cool:
Here is the
season summary. You can view my Europe watch here. I'm too lazy to type it again... As expected, Dinamo and Hajduk will be hard to pass, but not impossible. As a proof, Rijeka won the league this year and are through to the Champions League.
Looking forward to next season
On the first year, the bookies gave us a 200-1 odds of winning the league. This year, we're at 16-1 and were actually mentioned in the season favorites. I expect morale to be high throughout the season and aiming for promotion. I'd like to have a nice cup run, I'm pretty sure we can manage it with 1-2 youngsters I have signed during the offseason.
First team in the league gets a straight promotion and second team plays a game against the second-to-last team in the first division to see who gets the right to play in the first division. Pretty neat system. I think it's the same thing in Switzerland, so you might watch out,
mag man.
I'll also do another tour of Albania to see how my team has progressed during the season. Having played 3 out of 4 games, I must say that my team progressed a lot... But, that's for the next update...!
Nice 9-0 win, though... 
Linear Mode
