We have finally reached the end of season two over in Belgium. It is around this time in a save that I naturally start to speed my game play up. Fredrick Douglass has instilled "DouglassBall" in Antwerp, his training schedules are more or less set, scouts dispatched, and he no longer bothers with the press.

Today's post will briefly look at how we did in Season 2 (there is a cup final), but more importantly I will review the first year performance of our Season 1 European Rejects and introduce our Season 2 intake. If that interests you click the read more below.

Jupiler Pro League

We performed well in the league this season and I certainly felt more in control during many more of the games than I did in Season one. A final points total of 65 only represented an improvement of one point on Season one, and the third place finish bettered last season's fourth by only one place. Still I felt that progress was made and had it not been for a bad run of form in October we may have been able to get much closer to Standard and Brugge.

As it was we qualified for the Championship playoffs once again and I was hopeful that if we maintained our form we could perhaps launch a late title bid.

I really love the playoff system in Belgium even though it can feel like the league lasts forever. I especially like the twist of each team only carrying over 50% of their points. We only had a four point gap to make up and I actually felt confident we could do it.

Things started well with pleasing victories over the top two Standard and Brugge. We then drew with Standard and with a double header against 4th placed Genk coming up I was starting to believe the title could be coming to Antwerp for the first time since 1957.

They say pride comes before a fall and so it was we were unable to defeat Genk in either game and by the time we faced Brugge in the last match the title was already gone, although a nice 3-2 win saw us cement second place for the second season running and with it another crack at the Champions League.

The win against Brugge was Juan Mata's last for the club as he refused to extend his year long deal with the Great Old, opting instead for a lucrative move back to the premier league with Bournemouth. Good bye sweet prince.

European "Campaign"

You say campaign, but it was really an unmitigated disaster. We did manage to make the final qualifying playoff round of the Champions League only to be totally outclassed by PSV 5-0 on aggregate after a humbling 4-0 defeat at home.

Defeat sent us straight into the Europa League group phase, which I hoped could see us progress further and earn some much needed money. I have to say UEFA, I wasn't too enamored with the draw.

This did feel more like a Champions League group to me. I was still hopeful of either grabbing second or even third, which would see us qualify for the Europa Conference League bizarrely.

We lost at home to an Adnan Januzaj inspired Real Sociedad but I wasn't too concerned especially given how we came back to thump Montpellier 5-1 in France. Euro Reject Luca Vido grabbing a tasty hat trick. My hopes were further enhanced when we hit Leipzig on the break late on, in our home tie, to win the game 1-0. I knew the away match would be tough, and so it proved as we shipped four goals and it could've been eight. By the time we'd shipped another four to Sociedad, in the next game week, qualification was already gone.

All was not lost however, avoid defeat at home to Montpellier and we'd at least make the Conference League, cue a 1-0 defeat, and we finished dead last.

Looking back I made a number of mistakes tactically. Being one of the better sides in Belgium we set up in a positive mentality with a higher line and we counter press. This seems to work well domestically but we are hopelessly exposed when we face better European sides. I was too slow to change things and what changes I did make seemed to make things worse. This is something I need to reassess ahead of next season, we will need to come up with a slightly different system in these games.

Beker Van België

The board expected us to make the final of the Beker Van België so I took it relatively seriously as I was afraid of pissing them off further after our disastrous European campaign. We made the final fairly comfortably, a penalty shoot out win in the quarter final against Anderlecht was the toughest game we had. The final matched us up against the power house of Belgian football Club Brugge, managed by former Coventry City defender Philippe Clement.

We started brightly our press was working and Brugge were struggling to get out. We got a wide free-kick on 29 minutes. Gerkens delivered a pin point cross to the back post were Congolese Centre Back Dylan Batubinsika powered a header home.

The goal seemed to spark Brugge into life. They had the ball in the net twice after half time, both marginal offside decisions from direct balls over our defensive line. Finally learning my lesson, on 60 minutes I removed counter pressing and dropped our defensive line down to standard.

Things remained on edge until big game player Guy Mbenza calmly slotted the ball past Brugge stopper, and former Liverpool legend, Simon Mignolet after good work from Juan Mata and Buta on the right wing.

Only ten minutes remained. We dropped off and turned time wasting to the max. Brugge came on strong but the Great Old stood firm. Then on 88 minutes vice captain, central midfielder, Bigier Verstraete fired home to ensure the cup would be coming back to Antwerp for the second time in three seasons.

Having won absolutely nothing in FM20 this trophy was very welcome.

Euro Rejects End of Season Report

If you aren't sure what this is about please go back and read my save reveal here. Our four season one rejects all had different seasons with the Great Old.

1. Yousseff Ait Bennasser - Deep lying playmaker.

Appearances - 48

Average Rating - 6.96

Manager Rating - 8/10

Value - €16 million

Yousseff had a tremendous first season, a slight tactical switch really helped him. He found a place in the starting XI as a deep lying playmaker in the defensive midfield strata. I really like the idea of a defensively sound player in this position, beautifully coined the Deep Lying Destroyer by FMSamo in his 4-4-2 tactical post from FM18. Yousseff really fits the bill whilst having enough guile to be an actual playmaker. He has quickly become one of my favourite players and although his average rating isn't fantastic I prefer to use my eyes. He is always available, always in a good position during defensive transitions and his trait of tries long range passes was particularly evident throughout the season as he continually found our wing backs in space.

Coming in on a free the club stands to make a healthy profit on him when he moves on at the end of the season. Belgian champions, Standard, did make a €16 million offer which I accepted but Yousseff turned down them down. He does have a €9 million release clause to foreign clubs which would be disappointing but overall it would still represent a healthy profit. I hadn't considered what I would do if a player continually rejects contracts from other teams, it may be something to consider later.

2. Luca Vido - Inside Forward

Appearances - 31(14) Goals - 11

Average rating - 6.86

Managers rating - 5/10

Value €12.25 million

Luca had an inconsistent start to life with the Great Old, a number of niggly injuries limited his game time and he seemed to take over half a season to settle. In the latter half of the season he was a first team regular and put in some tasty performances. Ending the season with 11 goals. We do need a big season from him in order to command a top fee. He is already valued at €12.25 million and I think if he can get among the goals more we could see that rise even more.

3. Lassana Coulibaly - Central Midfield

Appearances - 18(14)

Average rating - 6.89

Manager rating - 4/10

Value - €8.75 million

Lassana started the season really well but the tactical tweak mentioned earlier left him out in the cold. Yousseff made the Defensive Midfield position his own and Lassana lacks the technical quality to play as a Mezzala. This left Lassana in a difficult spot up against two or three people. Most notable was Beker Van België cup final scorer, Bigier Verstraete who was imperious throughout the entire second half of the season. Lassana was relegated to the bench for a period of games and never really got going again. His value has held up well at €8.75 million and if I can get anywhere near that at the end of next season I will be satisfied.

4. Hussayn Touati - Inverted Winger

Appearances - 4(10)

Average rating - 6.64

Managers rating - 2/10

Value - €400,000

Hussayn has been a disappointment and it is probably not all his fault. I did bring in Juan Mata who I deployed as a wide playmaker for long periods of the season. I also signed Benavente on a permanent deal. With these two ahead of him, Hussayn's game time was limited and I lost trust in him. As I said earlier I like to believe my eyes when watching games and all too often Hussayn is caught out of position defensively and when he does get the ball he seems easy to bundle off it. My coaches remain hopeful that he can 'improve a lot' but I don't think Antwerp can wait for that. Perhaps the departure of Mata will lead to more game time this year but I won't hold my breath.

Euro Rejects Season Two Recruits

So we move to this year's rejects/recruits. After an assessment of the squad I identified three areas of weakness. First up we needed more options in the wide areas either an inverted winger or inside forward. Secondly we lost central midfielder Pieter Gerkens to Club Brugge, this needed addressed immediately especially given Juan Mata's departure at the start of the window. Finally Guy Mbenza needed some stiffer competition in the pressing forward role. As this would be a backup only option I like to make sure any targets are proficient in more than one position to maximise game time.

Read on to find out who I brought in, July 1st is fast becoming my favourite date in this save!

1. Inside Forward - Adam Hlozek (19 Czech Republic)

I have FM Slack to thank for this one, especially FMAdventure and FMRensie. Seeing Hlozek performing well in their saves before uncovering him on my scouted players list provided me with enough assurance to pounce when he went out of contract having failed to agree a deal with Sparta Praha.

Physically Hlozek ticks all my boxes and his attacking technicals are more than satisfactory. Mentally he has some improvements to make but at 19 he has plenty of time for that. In two seasons time I'm hopeful we can cash in for a big profit.

2. Central Midfielder - Xian Emmers (22 Belgian)

Xian Emmers is a player I earmarked at the start of this save. I signed him back in FM18 for FC Vaduz and he was fantastic for me. I knew he wasn't getting games at INTER so shortlisted him in the hope he was released. This came to pass and we got our offer in quickly.

Emmers ticked two very important club vision boxes for me in that he is Under 23 and Belgian. I remain undecided if I will actually sell him at the end of his two year stint. Being Belgian is a big plus and I can see him dominating our midfield for the remainder of the save.

3. Pressing forward - Leonardo Candellone (24 Italian)

As mentioned earlier we needed someone to at least put some pressure on striker Guy Mbenza. I don't like to sign players who are only seen as backups as it feels like a waste of a squad place and wages, think Fernando Llorente at Tottenham. To avoid this I like to make sure my back up players can fulfil more than one role within the team. This maximises their gametime and my value for money. Candellone, rejected by Napoli, ticks these boxes in that he is a reasonably good pressing forward and can also fill in on either flank as an inverted winger or a winger on the left.

The Congo Connection

Fredrick Douglass again scoured the youth intakes in DR Congo and plucked a gem from obscurity. Prince Ilunga will join Antwerp on January 1st 2024. I can envisage him becoming an effective inverted winger in the future here in Belgium.

If you have made it this far thanks very much for reading. I hope things are easing for you regarding lockdowns and alike as we attempt to open things up a little more in the UK. Here in Northern Ireland quiet significant easing will take place this Friday 23 April. So if you are going out more, enjoy it and stay safe.

Over and out

FMEadster