Journeyman - AAB - A new start
So that is it then. I have been interviewed and hired as the new boss for Denmark team AAB. They are a historic team who will be my first foray into management. July 2024 I have evaluated the squad a...
Forum Discussion
RIVALRIES SPARK BY CONTROVERSY
We the hosted giants København who will be seeking revenge. Haas was forced off with injury in the 30th minute. Hopefully it won’t be long term. AAB have been very lucky this season with injuries. 8 mins later we got awarded an extremely suspect penalty when the keeper caught the ball at Ross feet. Opoku slotted home. The København team were incensed. Our fans started chanting louder and louder. The rivalry really started heating up. We were the new kids on the block and they were not happy. A really tight game ended 1-0 but fires were lit in this context. MOTM was easily Diakhite who stopped a sweaty goal late on. After the game it was confirmed Haas is out for 4 weeks with a pulled quad.
MULLER MAY BE BREAKING RECORDS
The next game was away to Nordsjaelland. It took until the 78th minute to break them down when widell shot cannoned off the crossbar into John’s path who diving headed it home. The game finished 1-0.
When looking I couldn’t find the record for a single season clean sheets in Denmark. But Mullers 15 in 18 games has to be some form of record surely?
Now we’re up to January and also the winter break. Daniel Ask has returned from is loan at Vasteras. This adds much needed depth in central midfield. Lb caballo has agreed to join Alanyaspor at the end of the season on the Bosman ruling. No other buisness was done for us in January. The biggest worldwide deal was Bernardo Silva joining spurs from man city for £65m.
THE BEST DEFENCE IN THE WORLD?
Opoku finished with aplomb in the 28th to make it one nil against Viborg. He has really come into his own for the second half of the season and it will be interesting to see if we can retain him for next season. That once again would be how the match would end. The fans chanted the familiar 1-0 to the AaB. 30% of the ball only but if they aren’t going to use their possession I guess whats the point in them having the ball. It is rumoured some FC Koln scouts were at the game watching Muller….
The next game we host 11th place Lyngby. The first start since returning from loan for Ask. Lets see if he ‘Ask’s’ any questions regarding the usual starting lineup. John had to unfortunately go off injured to be replaced by Skov in the second half. John will be out for 4 weeks with a knee sprain. Iredale scored a dramatic late winner in the last kick of the game to secure the three points and get us another 1-0 victory! MOTM was Said. I forgot to get the match stats (sorry).
Prior to the next game my assistant manager advised me he believes Skov should be made club captain. Whilst this isn’t something I will act on it is good to see the academy graduate is gaining praise from the staff that work with him every day!
We then travel away to Randers. They opened the scoring through Odey in the 14th minute. That’s how it would stay. We lose the game unfortunately. Campbell JR was by far their best player on the day.
Our final league game of the season sees us against 2nd place Brondby. We go into the game 9 points clear. We started really well. Skov slotted home in the 7th minute after Iredale squared the ball. Skov then assists Iredale returning the favour just after half time. Late on in the 88th minute Wass scored to put the pressure of a come back on but it was too late! We win the game and secured top spot for the league stage. We now enter the playoffs.
In news away from the playoffs youngster Beck has started training with the first team. An 18 year old who is known to ‘have that something special’ he seems like a quick dribbling left winger.
You dominated the regular season, well done. Let's see if you can go on repeat in the championship round, because from what I've seen in the career of @JustinCase0110 , things can be turned on its head suddenly.
København for first playoff game.
A rainy day in Denmark. The pitch was sodden. København take an early lead with some trickery from achouri to get through our defense. Gutierrez leveled in the 19th min. 4 mins after København scored to equalize. I picked up my first yellow card of the season after reacting to a hard challenge on Skov that didn’t result in any form of a card! Disgraceful refereeing! The game did end 1-1. We seemed to give in to the pressure a little and didn’t create too much.
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Another rainy affair. Our second game took place against Nordsjaelland. In the 26th minute Pudel gave away a penalty. Ingvartsen made it 1-0 with a panenka. Lack of a clinical edge costs us and we drop points for the second game in a row.
We had to improve. Especially with Brondby next. And we did just that. Jorgensen put us 1 nil up after a mazy run through their defense in the 20th min. Jorgensen would bag a brace just after half time slotting it low to the keepers left. A great 2-0 victory that puts us back in form!
Maybe not yet the title, but I suppose we can already congratulate with making it to the Champions League qualifiers: Brøndby isn't going to bridge a 12 point gap with 7 games left with the form you're in.
I hope not. From a playable perspective I would of loved their to be a more competative race but I do think we have played well above expectations this season thus far.
The chairman has instructed for a creation of Aab News. A paper who are a direct source from the club to the fans. With this the manager will often give direct messages to the fans in order to improve fan experience and overall connectivity with the football club!
THE TITLE IS OURS!!!
CELEBRATIONS
End of season stats
Extraordinary season for AaB. Well done. Good idea with the introduction of AaB News, and I like the club awards etc. However, there's something about the new format that makes it quite small and difficult to read. It was much easier on the eye before...
TRANSFERS
what a busy window. Our first signing was the return of right back bruus. after a successful loan spell we brought him back to the club for £1m from Troyes. Bruus agreed an important role on a 4 year contract on £7.5k per week.
we then signed Arnau rafus to provide cover in the goalkeeper department after he had been released by valladolid.
the first departure of the window was want away defender idris said. he attracted intrest from england and left for £2.5m to norwich city.
we needed some cover at full back. That came in the form of brondby youngster clement biscoff. his versatility could be a key develoment point for his. he signed on a 5 year deal on an undisclosed fee and his key reason for leaving was for champions league football.
winger diagne has left the club to join osk for £300k.
moller joined charlton for £250k.
nielsen has joined cagliari on a season long loan with an option to buy on £3m.
a major blow as two days after the first game of the season muller had his release clause of £2m was met by toulouse. this meant with a heavy heart he would leave. we wish him all the best in his future career. in response we brought in young goalkeeper tobias jakobsen from vb with a view for rafus to be our new number 1.
in a devastating double blow we accepted an offer from cardiff for star player john for £2m. our response was simple. sign bovalina for 800k and then start training new signing biscoff to be a winger.
we needed a leader. some experience to help our young side. We also needed someone who could actually take a set piece. That is why we targetted wass from Brondby. We managed to agree a £600k deal for the 36 year old.
Matches
We started the season off at home against randers. thus far we have not recieved much interest for any of our main players luckily so we go into this game relatively unchanged. A full debut for academy graduate moen is a standout. Bruus also makes his permanant debut. john started off the same as he did last season. on fire opening the scoring in the 36th min. unfortunately without said we dont seem as tight at the back. They equalised through odey just before half time. in the 65th minute tho we would get a penalty when iredale was brought down.iredale converted the pen to make it 2-1. disaster struck for AAB as gutierrez was sent off for a disgraceful challenge two mins after the penalty. we would see it out though and win 2-1. Great way to start the season.
the second game saw us face s.i.f away. the game would end as a boring 0-0. The most interesting thing about it was that nathan redmond plays for s.i.f.
Boss Notes
As stated previously. We were always going to have some turnover. It is a shame to lose Muller as he was so important last season. John as well. Please dont worry though we will rejuvinate and build!
- @JustinCase0110 I copied and pasted the text into the next post as really dont know how to get around the size issue without increasing the font size. I hope that is better 🙂
@thomashunter2199 wrote:
@JustinCase0110I copied and pasted the text into the next post as really dont know how to get around the size issue without increasing the font size. I hope that is better 🙂It isn't. We're fortunate that you're quite elaborate with your texts, otherwise I couldn't even make out the score.
All images on this forum are brought back to a width of 700 px (no matter the original size), so the best thing is to bring the original size of the image you want to upload back to such a width.
Or, when you feel like posting 1600x900 or HD size (1920x1080), try and look at 40% size on whatever program you use to see if it's readable for yourself.
JOHN LEAVES.....
It was always coming. The only question was where. John rejected Cardiff and chose Watford at the last hour. A stalwart under manager Hunter and an AAB fan favorite at the club John prepared a leaving message to the fans. 'It is with a heavy heart that I am to Leave to pastures new. I wish to thank the magnificent AAB fans for the support you have given me. This is not goodbye it is see you later. I would also like to thank Hunter for giving me his faith and developing me to be the man I am today. Thank you all'. How AAB replace John is up for debate. He was a creative force on that right hand side.
Midtjylland
Our next game we took on Giants Midtjylland. Johns last game for the club occured here. We created very little as they were resoloute defensively. The game finished 0-0.
AAB Lineup Rafus, Bruus Moen Diakhite Jorgensen Jimenez Haas Bischoff John Iredale Jorgensen
Boss notes
As you will have seen in the last game against Midtjylland. We used Bischoff in a more advanced role. I believe that he can develop into a right sided player to replace the void John will leave and that he has been misprofiled as a defender. Therefore this will occur more and more in the future. I would like to take a moment to wish John the best. he has been an amazing servant and player for us and he deserves this opportunity. Who knows. He may return some day. Next we are going to need your support. We have our first Champions League qualifying round vs Ferencvarosi. They are an attacking side with a quality team and we need all the help we can get to progress. See you out there!!
You're assembling quite a lot of former Brøndby talents in your squad. Andreas Bruus, Daniel Wass and Clement Bischoff.
You're right to use the latter a bit further up the pitch. He is a natural winger, who's just entered the first team out of position, because the club lacked quality in the left back position.
He's shown a great attitude towards playing out of position, but he's also been quite honest that he hopes to play as a winger at some point.
DOF IN TALKS WITH LIVERPOOL
@JustinCase0110 wrote:You're assembling quite a lot of former Brøndby talents in your squad. Andreas Bruus, Daniel Wass and Clement Bischoff.
You're right to use the latter a bit further up the pitch. He is a natural winger, who's just entered the first team out of position, because the club lacked quality in the left back position.
He's shown a great attitude towards playing out of position, but he's also been quite honest that he hopes to play as a winger at some point.
yeh. I hope that Wass can give us that cutting edge for europe should we progress. We also have struggled with no ability to take free kicks in the squad. That was the thoughts around that.
Match Review Champions League Play off
Rotation was seemingly needed for the first leg of the Champions league playoff. An educated guess that we would be able to cope with the home crowd behind us. That made it even more worrying when we conceded 25 mins in to the game after Saldanha was left alone in the box. In the 40th min Frederiksen has thought he had levelled teh score but he was denied by a tight offside. Just before the break we would go two nil down. really against the run of play. We had a lot to do. At half time we brought on iredale and beck to freshen up the front line to try and half the deficit. This took a bad effect as calamity at the back meant we were three down early on. In the 60th minute the result was solidified when Saldanha chipped Rafus to complete his hattrick and make it four. He would get his fourth in the 75th. The game would end 5-0. The team were booed off the pitch.
Boss Notes
Guys, I know that was tough to watch. We are effectively now out of the Champions League in the first leg. Now for some home truths. We have lost some key players who have got us here. We are intergrating new faces not to mention we had some key fitness issues leading to the game. I know its dissapointing but please stick with the lads. We will grow from this. We will continue to fight. The opposition was simply better than us today and thats okay...
Match Review Brondby Away
Back in the league we travelled to Brondby to take them on. Unfortunately Wass could only make the bench on his return. Seemingly age is catching up to him. We would however strike first in the 35th minute after a mazy run from Iredale was finished equally skillfully. Wass would come on in the 60th for Iredale with Bischoff (nickname Lotus) moving to striker. Lotus would make it two in the 80th min but the most impressive factor that lead to this was the Skov run to break the lines.
Boss Notes
Lets all appreciate Skov for a moment. Hes come from the academy last season and has been consistently available. what a player! he will only get better. He completely encapulates what this team stands for!
The board are slightly annoyed as they wanted us to reach the Champions League quarters...... We simmed the second Play off game and lost 3-2 in the second leg. We have now been placed into the Europa League and the board wants us to ....... Reach the Group stage. Yeh sound reasoning board 🙂 Before that we have a lovely home fixture against Kobenhaven to play.
@thomashunter2199 wrote:The board are slightly annoyed as they wanted us to reach the Champions League quarters...... We simmed the second Play off game and lost 3-2 in the second leg. We have now been placed into the Europa League and the board wants us to ....... Reach the Group stage. Yeh sound reasoning board 🙂 Before that we have a lovely home fixture against Kobenhaven to play.
Seems about right. You know, I'm playing with Viborg myself. Ending in the top half for like the 2nd time in the last 20 years, as far as I recall. Qualifying for their first ever Champions League and first ever league phase / group stage in Europe. Expectation: Reach UCL Quarter Final, which no Danish team has EVER accomplished. Stupid.
Slightly manic after xmas but finally an update.
The next game we let the assitant manager take in the Champions League play off. We lost 3-2 to feranvaros again. This means we dropped into the Europa League where we take on Wolfsberg AC (WAC).
