Achilles'29 Road to Glory!

[Dierckxn]

It started all in Groesbeek, the Netherlands.
From 2013/2014, Achilles'29 plays in the Dutch 2nd division, after they got an invitation from the KNVB.
Because there were only 16 clubs in the Jupiler League after 2012/2013, they made the requirements for a license smoother. Achilles profit from this by entering the 2nd division. It is their third season in professional football, but they did very well in the last seasons.
This club inspired me a lot, so I desired to start at this club.

I just started this career. Only played one match since I started it, which was a friendly against the second team. This is the squad available for me:
View attachment 200966
I will keep you up to date by uploading frequently. Right now I am busy playing the pre-season and will keep all of you up to date.

Thanks everyone for reading! Hope you will keep reading.

 

[Dierckxn]

Pre-Season

I started this job without having any knowledge on the squad. During the pre-season I got to know my players better and also knew which positions were still a bit sparsely occupied. I reckoned the defense wasn't that great, so I bought a new defender: Maikel Verkoelen. I noticed as well that there was not much pace on the wings, so I brought in a winger on loan from Feyenoord:Marlon Slabbekoorn (see picture). As a back-up for my centre attacking midfielders, I contracted a free agent called Daan Blij.
View attachment 200666

View attachment 200665
Pre-season started of a bit disappointing. We drew the first two matches against the second team and Heist, both which we should have won by a 2/3 goal difference. So I decided to make sure the defense was solid. The target for the match against De Graafschap was to keep a clean sheet, and it worked out! I won my first match as manager of Achilles'29. The rest of the pre-season was decent. A good preparation for the rest of the season!

View attachment 200664

Pre-Season topscorer:
Levi Raja Boean and Daniel van Straaten (2)

Starting the Jupiler League of with matches against Jong Ajax, Fortuna Sittard, RKC and FC Oss in August!

Edit: Changed the language to English to make it clearer for everyone!

 

[Dierckxn]

Variable form

August:
The season started off really well. With 5 points after 3 matches I was quite satisfied for a club as Achilles '29. I only discovered that we have problems against defensive teams: we create a lot of chances but they just don't go in. With three draws and an incredible 4-0 win to RKC we had a decent month, and a decent start of the season.

View attachment 199957

August was also the period in which the transfer market was still open. We used this opportunity to sign another 2 players. First of all, we added Jeroen Drost to our squad. A free agent central defender, who is being used as a back-up for our main central duo. After three games we found out that the left side of the pitch was a bit 'inferior' to the right side, so we decided to pick up Aryton Statie, a young Dutch leftwinger/attacking midfielder from FC den Bosch, which costed us 300K.

View attachment 199956

After this first month of the season we were in seventh position, just 2 points behind the leaders of the table.

View attachment 199955

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

September:
Then a month later things started to get worse. Keyplayers got injured, points were spilled and the good form of the first month turned into some unneeded defeats. Only one point was earned in September.

View attachment 199954

Topscorer (after September, only competition):
Daan Paau, 4 goals

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

October:
We picked up the good form in October, by winning 3 games, and drawing only 1. Also we got through the next round in the League Cup, against non-professional side JVC. The win against NAC Breda was a surprise for everyone, literally everyone. No one had expected us to even score a goal against them, as they are favourites for winning the title this year, but we showed our courage and won the match by just a one goal difference. October was definitely the best month so far, with lots of goals and just 4 goals against. Now it is the target to keep it going like this!

View attachment 199953

League table after 11 games:

View attachment 199952

As you can see, we are still in seventh position, but we do have a game in hands to NAC Breda. If we win that match, we can catch up with them and get even closer to the 'promotion places'.

Topscorer:
Aryton Statie & Daan Paau, 4 goals
Thijs Hendriks, Freek Thoone & Marlon Slabbekoorn, 3 goals

 

[Dierckxn]

Misery

November:
Things aren't really starting great with November being a terrible month for us. Only 2 points from 4 matches.. We did score 8 goals, which is a positive point in this unfortunate month. However, we conceded 11, so there is still a lot of work to do in the defense.
Because we lost a lot of points in November, we fell down a huge amount of places. We went from the 7th to the 14th position. If you take a closer look, you can, however, see that the difference between the fifth and the fourteenth position is just 6 points. If we were a bit lucky with the scores on the other pitches we could move up some positions after one match only.

Another setback in this story is the loss of Marlon Slabbekoorn, who got injured in the match against Helmond Sport. It will take at least 3 months before he can play a match again.

View attachment 199058

As said, we were now in fourteenth position. Standings:

View attachment 199057

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

December:
There were only a few matches played in December, but it were 3 quite important ones. First of all the match against FC Eindhoven. They were third in the league, but we needed a win to get back to the top 10. A very exciting match followed, with loads of chances, 6 yellow cards and a red card for their left-back. In the 86th minute Daan Paau opened the match by scoring a screamer from outside the box! We won the match and got the three deserved points! The match against VVV went a bit less entertaining. They scored twice in the first quarter of the match and nothing else happened. We tried to get through their defense, but it was just impossible. The last match in December was against MVV. A cup game. Again, we came behind very early in the match, but Daan Paau saved us (again) and scored in the 85th minute to extend the match by half an hour. In that extension nothing extremely spectacular happened: both sides were playing relaxed, and it seemed like we both wanted to end the match and just go to penalties. However, in the 111th minute, Jop van Steen gave a perfect through ball to Paau, but he got tackled inside the box. The penalty following this incident was taken by Paau himself and he put it away top corner. We were through to the next round of the cup!

View attachment 199056

The table didn't really change. We still were in fourteenth position, but the gap between us and the fifth place became a bit bigger.

Topscorer:
Daan Paau, 7 goals
Ayrton Statie, 6 goals

I think during the winter break there will change a lot of things in the squad. Some players complained that they did not play football regularly. I can't really help this, I rotate a lot inside my formation, but there are just too many players. So I do think some players would like/will leave in the winter break.

 

[Dierckxn]

Cupfighters

January:
Winter break started with some bad news. 6 players left the club. Nick van der Groes, Daniel van Straaten, Levi Rajan Boean, Brian Bogers and Bowedee Burleson all left the club on a free transfer. Thijs Hendriks was sold to NAC Breda for 130K.

This wasn't really a setback, as we had too many players in our squad to rotate with. However, van Straaten, Boean, Bogers and Hendriks were all attacking players, so we needed to fill up the lack of attacking forces. We found a new winger in Jay-Roy Grot, an 18-year old Dutch right winger. He can as well play as striker.

The fixtures in January had its ups and downs. Unfortunately, it had more downs than ups. With only one win, away against RKC. Defeats against FC Dordrecht and Go Ahead Eagles were almost unavoidable, as they were in a real good form and almost top of the league. The six-pointer against Jong Ajax was a terrible match. Due to a stupid mistake by Boelens, Ajax could score easily in the extra time of the second half.

View attachment 197904

The table didn't really change a lot. With 14 matches still to be played we were in thirteenth position. Our main target is to finish top 10, which is still possible.

View attachment 197903

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

February:
February started with an incredible hattrick for Jop van Steen in the Quarter Finals of the Cup against PEC Zwolle, who are in the Eredivisie. We stayed unbeaten this month, but we did draw 3 games. 6 points from 4 matches, could have gone a lot better, especially against the sides we faced...

View attachment 197900

We move up one position to get closer to a top-10 ranking, but we still aren't there yet. The upcoming games are all very important, with fixtures against Almere City and FC Emmen. In both we should be able to get the three points, but you never know what will happen. Underestimation may occur in those matches, but I am there to provide that.

View attachment 197899

Come on Achilles'29!

 

[Dierckxn]

Wrapping up the first season!

March:
March was an incredible month, especially the first part. We started the month with an important cup game against PSV (leaders of the first division). It was a thrilling match, with both sides getting a lot of chances. We started off very well, with a quick goal by Freek Thoone. A screamer from outside the box. Just before halftime they equalised. After the break there was a lot of pressure on us, because they were pushing us into our own box. However, we scored a goal on the counter and came 2-1 up! Fortunately, we could resist the pressure and won the match! The match after this was against NAC Breda, which was quite disappointing. We managed to equalise near halftime but after the break they were all over us, which led to a 3-1 defeat. 2 wins and a draw followed, which made March a pretty good month. We ended the month in 10th position, only one point behind the ninth position, which meant play-offs.

View attachment 196878

View attachment 196877

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

April:
April was the Month of Judgement. The competition will finish in April, hopefully with a place in the play-offs.
We had variable results in April. Winning against Telstar and Helmond Sport, but drawing against FC Volendam, who were almost bottom of the league.
April was also the month of the Cup Final. It was a nerve wracking match. We got behind 2-0 before the twentieth minute. We took a huge risk by playing attacking, but it worked out! We managed to put one back before the break, thanks to Freek Thoone. And in the late minutes of the match, our Cup-hero Jop van Steen equalised!!! We enforced an extension! The extension wasn't really spectacular, all players were neckered after the 90 minutes, and we couldn't substitute anymore. It all came down to penalties. They missed their first one, and I was feeling euphoric already! They missed their second penalty and the party could almost start! Then both sides scored a penalty, but they missed their fourth one, which meant we WON THE F***ING CUP!

View attachment 196873

We ended ninth, which meant we would play to get promoted!

View attachment 196872

View attachment 196871

I will keep you up to date about the play-offs, may the luck be with us!

 

[Dierckxn]

PROMOTION!!

I am really sorry, but I was a bit angry when I was writing this. Why? I had a full text already, tried to submit it, but because of some reason all text was gone. I had to write everything again, so it might not be as extensive as possible.

May:
A month that will always be in our minds.
The first leg in the play-offs was against FC Oss. The first leg was quite boring: not many chances, equally divided possession. It ended in a 0-0 draw.
The second leg was more spectacular. After 46 seconds, one of their defenders was sent off by the referee with a red card, so they had to move on with only 10 players, which made things a lot easier for us. We scored in the 67th minute and won the match; 1-0. We could have scored a lot of more goals, but they defended really well and we just couldn't get the ball in the goal.

The second match was against NEC Nijmegen. They finished sixteenth in the Eredivisie.
In the home leg, the difference in quality was clearly visible, but they didn't create good chances. However, they did score, in the 94th minute due to an easy given penalty.
The away leg started really well. We got a free kick, just outside the box and Barry Beijer banged it into the net of the roof! 1-0 up, with still eighty minutes to go! But just as in the previous match against FC Oss, we scored in the 67th minute to secure promotion to the Eredivisie!!!

View attachment 195892

Season stats:
Top goalscorers
Freek Thoone: 14 goals
Daan Paau: 10 goals
Jop van Steen & Ayrton Statie: 8 goals
A huge amount of different players, scoring 1 to 6 goals.

Most assists:
Marlon Slabbekoorn & Mehmet Dingil: 7 assists

 

[Dierckxn]

Next season

Pre-season:
As I am writing this post, I have only played one match in the pre-season yet. We won 1-0 against Fortuna Sittard, goal by Boelens.

We were already quite busy on the transfer market:
Lets start with the leaving players. Daan Blij, Daan Paau, Mitchell Zwartepoorte, Jop van Steen, Hielke Penterman and promotion-hero Barry Beijer left us on a free transfer.
We bought Robin Propper from de Graafschap for 775K. A very good central defender, who is just 22 years old. He relegated with de Graafschap, so to stay in the upper tier of Dutch football, we signed him. Also we bought Kürsad Sürmeli back on loan. He couldn't make it at FC Utrecht, so we enquired for a loan-deal with an option to sign him at the end of the deal. Also defensive midfielder Carlos Lázaro and young attacking midfielder Jinty Caenepeel joined us, for respectively 300 and 230 thousand euros. We are still busy to get a young defender on a loan deal (Jairo Riedewald, Menno Koch or Calvin Verdonk).