Career Dynamo Dresden (11 season RTG now finished)

[Mr Tree]

You join us halfway through Season 7... Apologies, it's taken me a while to work out how to post the screenshots "in-line" (where I want them to be) - think I've got the hang of it now!

After my first career attempt with my Superbees (Brentford) broke down in a similarly spectacular way to their current real-life season, I decided that I wanted to give the old Bundesliga a try. I actually live near Prague, and I've made a few trips up to Dresden (about 2hrs drive away), and the team has a cool name, so let's go!!

(just a conventional career here, I'm afraid - no gimmicks!)

 

Season 1

Well I felt good about my choice when the boys did this in one of my first preseason friendlies:

Alas, having done zero research, I confidently told the board that they could expect a playoff push, not realising that Bundesliga 2 offers two automatic promotion places and ONE playoff spot (3rd place in B2 plays 16th place from the top league).

It took me a while to shape the squad into my image too, with a patchy opening half of the season finally showing signs of life towards the end, but we finished well off the pace in mid-table. My initial goalkeeper was bad but had good potential, but after leaking far too many goals I brought in a competent loanee and started to realise the value of the loan system.....

Season 2

Much more like it, fighting for promotion from the off. I realised that my reckless "Expressive" play was not the German way, so I told the boys to rein it in and be more Disciplined, and asked my Full-Backs to remain back and not pretend they were Wing-Backs.

Loanee stars all over got me into 3rd place, where I played Freiburg in the two-legged playoff. Bit of a bummer as my star striker was Luca Waldschmidt, loaned in from, you guessed it, Freiburg!

Fortunately I'd got myself a cheeky Bayern Munich left-winger loanee (Timothy Tillman) in January and he inspired a memorable night at the Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion, with Dynamo crushing the top-flight team 4-0 in the second leg after a 2-2 draw in the first match. Bundesliga, here I come!

Season 3

We were a pretty small club with a bunch of heavyweights, so a good start gave way to a rough end - we were nowhere near relegation, but the midtable finish was soured by the poor run of form to finish the season.

We did manage to win in Munich, with our new loanee winger bagging the game's only goal:

Significant investment in preparation for our first season in the top flight had borne some fruit... But difficulty in finding the right calibre of player who would actually be interested in joining me led to a pivot in strategy (of which there is some evidence below too), with my scouts finding me some 1- or 2-star gems who had 4- or 5-star potential, and who fortunately were allowed to leave by their current clubs for a relative pittance...

Rekik never actually got a sniff and was sold to F*lham six months later for a third of the price... Muhling similarly was swiftly moved on... Berrio never did much for me either... but Layun was fantastic until he retired, Nandez has been solid, and little Gonzalo and Ronaldo, well........ (more on them later)

I only got 3 wins in the second half of the season... Completing league doubles over Munich and Dortmund 🤪

Check out those results before the second Bayern game - my phone nearly went out the window a couple of times there, as my team continuously kicked off and immediately conceded. Dark times.

So a lowly finish...

But at least we earned the respect of our peers:

 

Season 4

An alarmingly similar story, even after bringing in a Russian goalkeeper who my scouts assured me was the shiz (he was not). A good start but a woeful end left me clinging on to my job. As the season drew to a close, I concluded that my donkey centre-backs were the problem, and recruited Scottish stopper Scott McKenna who has gone on to be a rock at the back for me.

Clicking through at the end of the season, I was astonished to see this pop up:

Frankly it's almost buggy, as there's no way someone in midtable should get these accolades.

We were still banging in the goals, with little Ronaldo starting to flourish...

And...

Wait, what?!

 

Season 5

After these two similar seasons, I improved the defence as mentioned above, and also started to pay more attention to morale to try and avoid slumps. Let's say it's paid dividends...

 

Season 6

Things really clicked here, with 14 wins on the trot at one point. A slow start ultimately gave me too much to do to overhaul the evil empire...

...But, I did meet them in the Europa League final and... well...

The first time I played it, this happened:

AND THEN THE GAME JUST CRASHED. LIKE, I COULD NOT CLICK ANYTHING, I COULD NOT ADVANCE THE GAME. I could select Opposition, I could select the options below, but nothing mattered - pressing Play did not advance the game, and pressing Tactics did not bring up my team.

Obviously, I was slightly irritated by this. But it's just a game so... Let's try again.

And all's well that ends well:

 

So from here, I will update things a little more often, but let's just zoom in on two stars, Berko and Ronaldo.

Berko was with Dynamo at the start of the game, and I think he was my 3rd-choice winger in the first season!! He has blossomed extraordinarily, earning a place on the World Team of the Year three years in a row now. I love him because in Czech slang, "dame si brko" (pronounced "berko") means "let's roll a joint", so I say that to myself whenever he does something quality. Anyway, enough about me...

So he might well be worth a look if you want an Inside Forward for your left wing.

And little Ronny, bless him. Snapped up from Arsenal for 2m, although those crafty beggars put a 20% sell-on on him (some might say I didn't notice - WHAT-EVER!).

He blossomed quite quickly, but soon got stroppy when I turned down big bids for him. I had a good group of strikers so I wasn't averse to leaving him out for weeks on end - I signed a young Italian for a pittance and sold him to Man Utd for 45m as he caught fire while Ronny sulked.

The problem (as I've mentioned elsewhere before) is that when you get multiple bids, you can't put a sell-on on your player too, and I definitely wanted to because kid's a star.

When he got particularly sulky, the likes of Bordeaux were kindly offering to take him off my hands for a mere 13m. On your bike, pal. 

Finally, halfway through Season 7 now, I've got rid of the jerk - Arsenal came in on their own for 80m, I played Cool Hand Luke and got them up to 82m + 25%. The deal went through - then my news feed told me that I have to give Arsenal 20% of the fee!! Cheeky sods - but I suppose that would've happened wherever he went, so 🤷‍♂️

Not to worry - I've got a young Argentinian and a young Togolese forward to carry on the baton (dya think the latter might be Adebayor's regen?!), and the rest of the squad's starting to fill out... Admittedly with few Germans, as my main recruitment strategy is awesome young South Americans or Spaniards.

Edited July 6, 2019 by Mr Tree

[Mr Tree]

Hmm so, it's a pity I didn't start posting earlier to build up the career, as we've broken right through now!

Season 7's transfers

Bundesliga

Absolutely smashed it, clinching the title with three games to go. Bayern had a down season (I actually hadn't noticed that they snuck into 2nd in the end, they were off the pace throughout) - Hoffenheim were my main competitor most of the season before tailing off. We were nowhere near as prolific in the second half of the season but ground out a fair few 1-0 wins to get the job done.

German Cup

The tables have turned and Dortmund have become a thorn in my side. They ended my best run yet at the semi-final stage.

European Super Cup

Overwhelmed poor Sevilla in a sign that we could hang with the big boys...

Champions League

Our first time in this competition in the modern era, and what a season it was...

We needed penalties to beat Benfica, despite not allowing them a single shot in the second leg:

We got past Man Utd in the quarter final to set up a semi final against bloody Bayern.... But we've really got a hold over them at the moment!

That's my BBM with a hat-trick!! We lost the second leg 1-0 with Karius messing around to give them a goal, but obviously they never really threatened to come back.

And so to the Final, and it was glory to Dresden...

Kaeuper scored from the halfway line after Sczezny kicked it to him, and we barely let them have a sniff.

Here's how my manager profile looks after seven seasons:

Yep, not many good Germans around, although I did recruit a couple this year in Karius and Kaeuper.

Youth policy's about right - "win nothing with kids", they said!

(Couldn't really find a better view of the squad showing ages, sorry. And my squad seems to take up just over three screenshots)

Here's another view of the current team (with the Champs League lineup selected):

So yeah, loving it, and poised for a few years of glory now

 

Edited December 28, 2018 by Mr Tree
tidying up

[Mr Tree]

So I guess from here (assuming I go on to become a global force) I'll stick to brief updates and curios...

Such as the story of how I plucked poor little Carlos from the streets of Barcelona, where they were barely paying him enough to cover the bus fare home...

And helped him to, how you say, earn a little bit more  But of course, money doesn't buy you happiness kids...

Edited December 28, 2018 by Mr Tree

[URz]

Great achievements with Dresden. 

Every time I read about your Little Ronaldo I had an image of a plastic toy figure in the pitch 😲

[Mr Tree]

A few updates from season 8, but I've broken right through so I guess I'll just be smashing it from here. Will see how long that entertains me (let alone you)...

Dortmund are the current bogey team, and they beat me on penalties to deny me the German Super Cup

But I swiftly gained a lacklustre revenge in the European Super Cup

A rotated-but-not-totally-incompetent team almost got a massive shock in the first round of the German Cup

We celebrated life in our new 75k stadium (double the capacity!) with a narrow win over Stuttgart

And we soon hit our stride, romping to an already unassailable-looking lead in our attempt to retain the league title

Won the Club World Cup too

Bomheuer is a youth academy graduate who's knocked poor Berko out the team and is already at 4.5 stars at 19 - tasty player.

Those Dortmund swines tried to hand me my first league loss, but my Togolese kid Salifou has exploded to five-star status now and he had the last word.

Thanks for reading

 

[Mr Tree]

I did end up absolutely rinsing the ol' Bundesliga, winning it by mid-March...

One more win needed here:

Just a formality really...

Of course, FMM wouldn't let me finish unbeaten, so it chose an end-of-season game to tickle my balls with:

But who cares, still ended up miles clear:

However, Bayern finally figured me out and dominated the German Cup, so that remains the Holy Grail for me:

And Benfica took revenge on me for last year's massacre, holding me scoreless over two legs!!

They went on to win the trophy, so fair play to them. Beat Tottenham 5-4 AET in the final!

Season 9 is going well, of course, although now I've drawn PSG in the Champs League first knockout round - I looked them up and with this disparity in wages, I'm surely the underdog!

I've signed a couple of big-wage defenders now in the January window, to be fair. Had a run of 11 clean sheets in a row, despite Karius being out injured! My 19yo academy keeper looks well nice to me, but not so rated by my coaches - might share on next update, it's a curious one...

Final shot for today - not sure I've ever seen my squad's morale look so good!

There are another four at the top with Superb morale too. We went into the Christmas break with a run of 4-0, 4-0 and 5-0, happy days!

[Mr Tree]

So, which of these keepers would you prefer?

 

So why do my coaches think the older one is so much better?

 

Reuther (a youth graduate) looks ace to me. Might he become a 5-star keeper if I let him loose? Is he held back by poor technique and decision-making? Or does he have other hidden mental flaws that will forever limit him to being 3-star at best?

[MatiasBarrios]

What are your schemes? I want to implement them with the Middlesbrough

[Mr Tree]

On 08/01/2019 at 21:38, Eogtuc0910 said:

I'd definitely put Reuther in

Karius fell off quite quickly, so I made Reuther my number 1 for half a season... But we conceded more than we should, and the coaches never seemed convinced that he was more than 3-star. So now I've signed Donnarumma (or whatever his name is) for 90m euros  I've loaned out Reuther in case he's still young, developing, needs gametime etc. But I suspect he has a ceiling, unfortunately.

Anyway, the next season was very similar - romped to the title before the game decided that I may not finish the season unbeaten...

The next season's started well, but it looks like Bayern and Dortmund have tooled up to take my challenge seriously:

[Mr Tree]

Despite Schalke "steamrollering" their way through the league...

...I'm well on my way to a third consecutive title...

(Note: the date is the same on the two screenshots. To be fair Schalke had won a few in a row... But so had I )

[Mr Tree]

Treble completed, squad's really purring now, and a lot of them are young so plenty of years ahead of them.

Target for now is 100 points, and as it's seemingly impossible to win all your games, 100 points means you can only have one draw! Don't know if it'll be achievable, but I'll certainly be letting you know if I achieve it

[IBKmaster]

Good work, it seems to be coming along quite nicely. Hope you do get 100 points though

[Mr Tree]

Just 18 straight wins from establishing the "Bundesliga 100pts challenge"... Anyway, 8pts clear with three games in hand will do as season 11 resumes after the winter break:

Finally got my first World Player of the Year - my right winger / inside forward, who is pretty dynamite:

Picked up my second CWC:

And probably my best recent game was somehow resisting Madrid despite playing mainly fringe players (last game of group stage) and having my young keeper sent off early AND then my 3rd sub got injured within a couple of minutes of coming on!

Edited January 17, 2019 by Mr Tree

[Mr Tree]

Last post here for a little while (details below).

I fell short on the 100pt challenge

And eventually derailed even further into losing to Bayern AND Hertha Berlin (former due to two late goals, latter after getting a CB sent off in 20mins). But still sealed the title very early...

And finished miles clear:

Won the German Cup too, leading to two unlockables:

Lost the Champions League to a strong Madrid though, two goals for Pellegri.

But to be honest, losing a little interest, and keen to try other challenges. The "goal a mile" is very intriguing, I certainly won't be as good at it as @Nucleus but no doubt it'd be a fun odyssey - I might get to that later. For now I'm planning to give @danovic78's Mad McGeady challenge a crack, and then go for another long (longer!) term rise to glory in Scotland (details to come).

We had a good run here, and I'll leave it on the phone to pick up later (maybe):

By the way, 11 seasons in, only used my third kit once, this season for the first time ever:

(My away kit is the inverse of that, and I only ever use that vs Dortmund)

Much love to you all, especially the good people of Dresden!

 

[ManlikeReus]

I’m Glad I found this Article,despite being 11 Seasons late 😕 .

Its no easy feat to bring a team from a lower division to the Top of the world.

Keep pushing on! All the best!

[Mr Tree]

Unfortunately I sleepily wrote over this the other day, so we'll never know how far Dodzi Salifou could've gone