We left off with KuPS floundering in 10th place out of a total of 12 teams, and in desperate need of getting some points on the board. The media had predicted us to finish 5th so we were some way off the pace in the league. On the positive side, as mentioned previously, they had already emerged as League Cup winners and secured next season's European football so that was great news for me in terms of squad building, given the draw that European football should have on prospective new signings.
Before we get into that though, a quick reminder of this year's aims. A generous transfer and wage budget along with an achievable goal of mid-table finish in the league and second qualifying round in Europa League
Board expectations for remainder of the season
The team had already made the second qualifying round for the Europa League and so my main focus is going to be getting some points on the board in the league.
Squad Assessment
I went through my usual method of club and squad assessment - it's a fairly detailed process which i'll one day type up for others to look at. For now though, may assessment was we are short on good strikers, and have a serious imbalance of homegrown and foreign players.
The Finnish Premier League rules state i can't have more than 3 foreign players in my match day squad, and must have at least 9 home grown players in the squad, with 4 on the pitch at all times. This meant promoting a couple of Under 20 players and taking my loanee Brazilian centre back out of the match day squad to be used as a straight replacement for my other foreign centre back. Not ideal, but necessary to make things work.
I also got two 18 year old strikers in on a free, both with good attributes for the first team and with huge potential. With these additions I was confident of getting the results we needed to get out of the relegation battle and back to mid-table safety.
We had a good defensive minded midfielder in Gabriel who had been underutilised prior to my arrival, despite his attributes having him down as one of our best players. I decided to setup with a 4-1-2-2-1 formation so we could get he most of him, while simultaneously reducing the number of strikers we need on the field.
League Performances
When i took over we had 16 games left to play. We also had several games in hand due to our Europa League commitments - a few teams had played 4 more games than us which explained why we were so far down the league. Assuming we could win them all, 12 points would see us move up to top half, assuming the goal difference swung in our favour as well.
My first game in charge was against JJK, currently ranked 7th in the league. We played ok, but couldn't score and definitely weren't not good enough to win, and so we came away with a point - a bore draw. Better than nothing but even with my limited tactical knowledge, i could see the team hadn't fared well with the formation. My striker had next to no chances on goal and the defensive approach didn't really suit our stature over the other teams in the division.
League results
I changed the tactic to my usual 4-4-2 and in the next 5 games we were much better, notching up 3 wins and a draw which saw us climb a place in the table. In the remaining 10 games we were a bit hot and cold, but 4 wins, 2 draws and 4 losses were at least enough to finish a respectable 7th in the league. On the whole we had a few disappointing results against lesser opposition so we have some improvements to make for next season.
Europa League Performances
My second game in charge was a the first leg of the Europa League Second Qualifying Round where we were up against Rostov from Russia. We played well, delivering a solid 1-0 win to take with us to the second leg. Here we were outplayed and despite a first leg win, they overpowered us in the return fixture where we lost 2-0. I wasn't too disappointed in the end though, we achieved our goal and left plenty to build on next term.
Preparation for Next Season
With the season concluded i had a few administrative tasks to attend to while the players went on holiday. I had the usual in-depth assessment of the team, but I also had a number of disgruntled players. It seems my in-game reputation was too low for the players liking and so i had very poor backing from the team and therefore, a dressing room on the rocks.
My only real solution for this to wait it out, win more games and gradually prove that i know what i'm doing. However, this was further complicated by the fact that once i'd done my squad assessment for next season, one of the players that was surplus to requirements was the main complainant. He was eating up £1k p/w on wages so i really needed to move him on, despite the obvious backlash I'd get for it.
I managed to offload him and now have half a dozen players who think that was a mistake. Hopefully the board stick with me long enough for the new season to start so i can prove my worth.
Transfers - in and out
In terms of new signings, i resigned a couple of loanees that we'd had last season and apart from a few backups, i got a new central defender and a new central midfielder. My tactic was originally utilising a BBM-D but i was find in it very difficult to find a suitable player for this role and so have switched to a CM-D. Will be interesting to see what difference this makes.
Inspired by @JLAspey's Moneyball approach when scouting this player, i used player ratings and other stats as part of my decision to find the right player. Marko Merdovic is a 23 y/o from Grbalj in the Montenegrin league and whom i signed for 80k, and is now worth £130k which i'm quite happy about. His average ratings have been above 7 for the past two seasons, and he's contributed a few goals and assists too. Hopefully he can prove the difference for me.