One Season Ends, Another Begins

Last time out I posted a quick discussion of potential transfer targets, and had some great feedback (with very varied opinions) as to how you guys would approach the decisions that I was facing. So, whilst pondering which players to approach (and whether I could actually afford to offer any them deals) I played through our final four games for the season.

At the best of times it feel like the summer period flies by far too quick, but in this particular season - where I was still recovering from the disillusionment of the early campaign, that was even truer than usual. Here's how things rounded out in the 2015/16 campaign, and the flurry of activity that saw me playing pre-season friendlies, with new faces, before I knew it...

THE FINAL DAYS...

A pleasing performance saw us dominate at home to Borussia Mönchengladbach, and move to within three points of their 7th place in the table. With six points covering 5th to 10th in the table there was plenty to play for even with the relegation fight behind us.

Defeat at Freiburg was disappointing, albeit in line with the bookies’ expectations, but we then turned the odds around with a late home win over Hertha Berlin. Results elsewhere meant that we ended up in 10th place with a game to play – unable to slip below 11th, and with potential to climb a couple of places if results went right for us. All we needed to do was beat St Pauli – flat bottom of the table, with only 24 points to their name. A 4-1 win later, with two each from our Inside Forwards, and it was season over; unfortunately results didn’t go our way, but 10th place was still more than I could have expected after the start we’d made to our campaign.

Given our expected position, and the results in the early season, this makes very pleasant reading.

The rewards for our finish were not inconsiderable, with a little over £26m being added to the coffers – taking our balance to almost £65m (before the inevitable tax bill). Now I had to start the ball rolling, quickly, on a number of contract deals. The first thing I did was to hold some potentially tough talks with existing players, almost as soon as the season was done. It cost me most of what transfer kitty we had left, but I was delighted that there was no fuss from any corner when mutual termination deals were offered to, and accepted by; Dirk Orlishausen, Manuel Gulde, Daniel Gordon and ‘Conan’ van der Biezen. It’s not my normal style, and I could’ve spent the summer trying to eke out minimal fees for them, but at the end of the day I wanted to clear the decks as quickly as possible. I’ll come back to these guys later.

A deal was promptly offered to Ryan Donk, based on the discussions following the last update, but I would have to wait until the end-of-season ‘event’ triggered in the game to free up enough wage budget to approach others. Nervous times.

No sooner had Donk accepted our approach, joining Lansbury and Van Eenoo on the inbound list, than Hannover 96 came knocking with a job interview offer. I was sorely tempted, moreso than at any point in my Strasbourg save, purely due to the quality of their players and facilities. I want to give Karlsruhe at least a second season in the top flight though – so I declined and quickly saved the game before I could change my mind.

As I’d feared some of my potential targets started to sign up new deals before our Board loosened the purse strings, Sasso – second on my list behind Donk – penning a new 3-year deal which would mean adding a hefty fee if I still wanted to pursue him. When the budgets did come through however, they were worth waiting for. Just shy of £12m in transfer funds and around a £150k/week hike over our wage bill as it stood. The deals already arranged would take around £35k out of the wage pot, but all things considered I was rubbing my hands with glee and hitting the Player Search for T-Listed top-flight players to see who might be out and about.

I was also looking at those KSC players whose deals were set to expire, and re-evaluating. In the end I offered an extension only to Denis Mast, the slightly younger of our very similar attacking midfielders. Torres would be allowed to leave, along with Park Jung-Bin and Sven Mende.

Letting Mende go tugged at the emotional side of me, as a part of our Three Amigos, but with the desire to strengthen there’s not much room for emotion and I’ll just have to look at a new face to join Marton and Bauer in that group. Meanwhile, with knowledge of the latest outgoing names, I redrafted my ‘predicted’ squad depth chart and again looked at our key points. It was hard not to start throwing money at every position, but instead I looked to pick out a few specific areas once more.

Despite our new talent arriving, we’re still going to be a little light in the Inside Forward positions – particularly as Van Eenoo is going to need some time to adapt to the right flank. If I can get a genuinely versatile option who can play either side then one body will do the trick here.

More depth is still needed in midfield, but anyone coming in will need to be a ‘development player’ who is prepared to accept a rotation role behind Buchel and N’Diaye – that probably rules out Davy Klaassen then. Finally we could do with a fourth option at DC – ahead of young Vetter – along with a long-term replacement for Vollath between the sticks.

With the surprisingly generous budgets it was difficult not to start running around trying to make numerous marquee signings, instead I stuck to the lists that I’d been slowly developing and added strength in a variety of areas. Matis Cahais joined Donk at the heart of defence, whilst I was also able to hammer out a cash deal to add Martin Hasek as an option on the left side of the back line.

Milan Mares was added as a promising youngster in midfield – primarily as backup in the Inside Forward role, but also with the ability to deputise to the Central Winger position in a pinch. Finally Dennis Dahl, a very highly rated teenage Keeper joined Der KSC; theoretically he’ll play third fiddle to Vollath, realistically it looks like the 26-year-old may be seeing his chances evaporate.

Those faces are enough to give me cause for optimism about next season, and a belief that we have the ability to push for a top-half finish if they start to gel as a squad quickly enough. The only area that I that I may still look to add to is the more defensively minded midfielders. I have Vetter available from the Under 19s, but his potential is such that I’d prefer to get him out on loan and get a full season of competitive football under his belt.

Keep an eye on Hasek from the above, by the way, as he’s going to be the new recruit for...

THE THREE AMIGOS

Sven Mende has left Karlsruhe and is pursuing his career elsewhere, he does so with all of my best wishes but he simply wasn’t going to break into our midfield. Hasek, on the other hand, has every chance of becoming a frequent part of the matchday squad over the coming season – he’s already a better physical specimen than Bijker, and the defensive side of his game is close to the Dutchman’s. His dribbling and crossing need some work, but otherwise he’s already in a decent position with most of the key attributes for a Wingback and he’s only 17. He’s a very exciting prospect indeed.

Let’s have a quick catch up with the other two then, here they are as of the last update, and now...

As at last update (Dec 2015)

‘Jack’ ended up seeing plenty of action last season, a total of 23 starts and 5 substitute appearances in the league, and he’s showing the rewards as he starts to grow in all the right areas (and a few others to boot). I’m particularly pleased to see the all-important Marking and Tackling attributes going up and my plan remains to keep focussing around these two until they both hit 14 – from then on it’ll likely be a general regime all the way.

Although we’ve signed both Donk and Cahais, the latter is likely to be competing for starts with Bauer and I see no reason for the younger man not to get a good 12-15 starts this campaign.

As at last update (Dec 2015)

Jimmy got plenty of game time too, with seventeen league appearances, although the majority came from the bench and probably averaged around 15-20 minutes per game. His development hasn’t been stellar, but there has been movement in the right direction and he’s still young.

I feel like this is the key year for Herr Marton, playing with just the one striker means that his chances have been restricted but I’m committing here and now to making him first choice in all Cup matches (let’s hope we have a few) as well as a decent number of league fixtures. The fact that he can potentially deputise in the AM R/L slots may also see him feature there in a pinch, but I want him to be the man who becomes the leader of our line when Micanski’s reign comes to an end.

In terms of the trio then, my loose plans are:

• Bauer:  Rotate with Cahais as the main partner to Donk, realistically relegating Mauersberger to 4th choice (that’ll mean a change of captain, but that’s a whole other issue)
• Marton: Cup games and other fixtures either against weaker opposition, or when Micanski is injured/tired.
• Hasek: Regular appearances off the bench, Cup games and pushing Bijker as a rotation option when feasible.

With those plans in place, and eager to get back into competitive action, I flew through the summer friendlies schedule in double time.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Pre-season involved a bunch of games against weaker opposition, to get our fitness up and take us into the season in high spirits after a bunch of good wins. I had arranged one higher profile match, but that got pulled when the side in question were invited to partake in a pre-season tournament elsewhere. The result was seven wins from seven games, only two goals conceded and 28 scored.

Henri Lansbury was impressive with an average of 3.75 dribbles per game, and this was reflected by me seeing him make a number of good runs in the highlights. If he continues to offer that sort of threat in the league then I’ll be plenty happy. Other notable performers were Jimmy Marton – taking advantage of Micanski’s trip to Euro 2016, notching seven goals and two assists – and Lukas van Eenoo with five goals and a couple of assists.

All things considered there was plenty of cause for optimism, and a 5-0 German Cup win over non-league Brinkum – including a hat-trick from Buchel as the Central Winger – did nothing to dent that feeling as we returned to competitive football.

So with spirits high we prepare to travel to Mainz for the season’s opener, but before we do I wanted to quickly check in on the players who were released at the end of the previous campaign. As I mentioned, I could’ve held onto them while I tried to make some money off transfer fees, but looking at their current statuses I’m confident that I made the right decision:

• Koen van der Biezen : Offenbach (below German third tier)
• Daniel Gordon : No Club
• Manuel Gulde : No Club
• Dirk Orlishausen : No Club (interest from Brisbane Roar and Wellington Phoenix)
• Manuel Torres : No Club
• Sven Mende : No Club
• Park Jung Bin : No Club

Early days yet, but I’m seeing no signs that any club would’ve been falling over themselves to write us a cheque!



That'll do me for now, as usual thanks for reading and feel free to drop any feedback into the Comments section or to me on Twitter at @flipsix3_FM.