A new dawn is upon us at Nacka FC, as we head into a potentially save-defining 13th season in the Swedish leagues.
The 2035 season ended with Nacka finishing 3rd in the Allsvenskan – thus securing a return to European football after a season away. Now our players (and their manager) have their sights set on lifting a first ever top-flight championship in 2036.
And what better way to start off a new year than by moving into a new stadium? Yeah… about that…
WORK IN PROGRESS
Can you believe it? Construction of our new stadium hit a snag over the autumn, which means our big move has been delayed by five months. We’ll have to stay at the tiny Fisksätra stadium until the end of May!
This really hits far too close to home. Knowing our luck, we’ll probably have to call the whole thing off and try again next year!
Naturally, Nacka’s fans were as frustrated as I was, and they unceremoniously voted the chairman out of office a few weeks later. His replacement – a nondescript middle-aged Swedish man named Robin – agreed to upgrade the training facilities by way of compensation. I hope he didn’t put Sports Interactive in charge of building those as well.
He then offered me a new four-year contract worth £2,800 per week – making me the joint second-highest-paid manager in the Allsvenskan. This will also be the last contract I ever sign with Nacka Football Club.
This new deal expires in November 2039, at the end of what would be my 16th season at Nacka… and that feels like a natural stopping point. It takes me about 2-3 weeks in real-time to play through a full season, so if all goes well, everything should be wrapped up by August. That’ll give me time to recharge my batteries before the next Football Manager comes out – IF IT EVER COMES OUT! [Ahem, ‘scuse me.]
So I’m giving myself a maximum of FOUR more seasons to win the Allsvenskan. Our quest to become the champions of Sweden has begun in earnest.
MAJOR TRANSFERS OUT
| PLAYER | POSITION(S) | NEW CLUB | FEE |
| Idan Baruchian | D (RC) | Halmstad | £375k |
| Daniel Strindholm | GK | Falkenberg | £80k |
| Kazimierz Grzegorczyk | M/AM (R) | Wisła Kraków | £63k (£110k) |
| Giorgi Lobzhanidze | DM, M/AM (C) | Dinamo Batumi | £62k |
| Alieu Atlee Manneh | D (LC), WB (L) | FC Stockholm | Free |
| Teodor Rönnberg | M/AM (C) | Roskilde | Free |
| Yaw Boateng | M (R), AM (RL) | Vasalund | Loan |
| Leonel Grine | ST (C) | SJK | Loan |
| Rasmus Andersson | D (C), DM | Released |
So let’s begin with a clearout. Alieu Atlee Manneh and Rasmus Andersson were with us for four years and were a solid centre-back partnership early on in our Allsvenskan adventure, but I could no longer guarantee them regular football. Goalkeeper Daniel Strindholm‘s poor displays in big matches were holding us back, so he dropped down to the Superettan with Falkenberg.
Things never worked out at Nacka for playmaker Giorgi Lobzhanidze, who left on the midnight train (back) to Georgia. Polish winger Kazimierz Grzegorczyk also returned to his homeland after his development stalled.
Most controversially, I sold our starting right-back Idan Baruchian to Halmstad. Baruchian’s performances for us had been decent enough, but he struggled in big matches and didn’t have particularly high Professionalism. He was also in the last year of his contract, so I decided to cash in while we still could.
Once again, though, we were able to keep our top performers… at least for now. Mohammad Rasoulzadeh is certainly not going anywhere anytime soon after agreeing a new four-year contract – with no release clauses attached! However, I have agreed to sell Patricio Cisternas if we get an offer worth £3.7million, so the big Chilean centre-back might move on this summer.
MAJOR TRANSFERS IN
| PLAYER | POSITION(S) | PREVIOUS CLUB | FEE |
| Željko Živković | D (RC) | Halmstad | £425k |
| Denis Fleckner | DM, M (RC) | Brommapojkarna | £53k |
| Aleksandar Stojkov | ST (C) | GrIFK | £200 |
| Andy Lyons | D/WB (RL) | Malmö | Free |
| Simonas Ralys | D (C) | Žalgiris | Free |
| Arvid Hellman | GK | Nordsjælland | Loan |
Meanwhile, I brought in half a dozen players. A couple of those have joined our youth team, but let’s focus on the four senior recruits.
First off, we paid Halmstad £425,000 to make Željko Živković‘s loan permanent. The central defensive rock is a consistent big-game performer who has shown he can work well alongside either Cisternas or Mohammad Alipour.
Then I secured the playmaker of my dreams – triggering Denis Fleckner‘s £53,000 relegation release clause to poach him from Brommapojkarna. I had to pay Denis a club-record £3,000 per week and offer a load of generous bonuses to get the deal done, but I’m sure the gamble will pay off. His metronomic passing and calmness under pressure are exactly what I need in a midfielder who is now into his prime years at 27.
Arvid Hellman is the 15th different goalkeeper I’ve used at Nacka (I wish I was joking). The Nordsjælland loanee is a giant shotstopper with great reflexes, although his concentration is a minor concern. Mind you, I hear he also makes some incredible mayonnaise.
And I added some defensive experience by signing 35-year-old former Republic of Ireland right-back Andy Lyons on deadline day. He played in the EFL Championship for about a decade (mostly for Norwich) before spending 18 months at Malmö. Now he’s come to Nacka to wind down his career – and hopefully pass on his expertise to teenage starlet Hassan Msengi.
I’ve also overhauled the non-playing staff – hiring 11 new coaches, physios or scouts to assemble the biggest (and strongest) backroom in the Allsvenskan. One of our newest additions is the former Wigan and Ipswich midfielder Emyr Huws, because why not?
We’ve also hired one of them fancy set-piece coaches what the big clubs seem to like now. Our new Nicolas Jover wannabe is a Texas-born newgen named… ahem, Willy Keyes. If you need a locksmith, don’t you dare ask him for suggestions.
SQUAD REPORT
Look at the stars. Look how they shine for us.
But seriously, I believe this is the strongest team I’ve assembled at Nacka. Cisternas, Rasoulzadeh and vice-captain Ahmed Fouad are each among the best Allsvenskan players in their respective positions, and Msengi isn’t far off that level either. Msengi can now speak good English, so I expect the young Tanzanian to put his early struggles behind him and show exactly why he is so highly-rated.
I now want to take a closer look at three teenagers, all of whom will be looking to break through this year…
After having a huge development spurt while on loan at Öster, 19-year-old goalkeeper Vladimir Lazarevski is now ready for first-team action. The North Macedonian international will mainly feature in cup and European matches, and maybe the odd league game too. Vlad still needs to work on his handling and aerial presence – but once he gets those attributes, we’ll have a mighty fine keeper.
Right-back Rudy Priego also has a bright future, though his loan spells at Häcken didn’t pan out quite as expected. The Guatemala international still looks a bit raw defensively, but he has shown some promise as a right-winger. Perhaps Rudy could be Raz’s long-term replacement?
And lastly, let me introduce you to centre-back David Koné. We actually signed him last spring, when he was a 17-year-old free agent in the Ivory Coast. He was technically ‘on trial’ at Nacka for several months until he officially joined us on his 18th birthday in October. Having made rapid progress through our Under-19s and into the Ivorian national team, David has now graduated to the first-team.
After a dozen years, my Nacka 4-3-3 is nearing its final form. I now has a system which is defensively fine, provides plenty of support from midfield, and also a good amount of attacking penetration. The only question marks in terms of positions are in the DM slot (I might change the Anchor to a slightly more fluid Defensive Midfielder on Defend) and up front (I’m often switching the Deep Lying Forward between Support and Attack duties).
I still change the tactical instructions occasionally, depending on the situation. I might take off the Counter instruction and switch to a Positive mentality if I want to control the game against much weaker opposition at home. I might also switch to a High Press, especially if we’re trailing against a team that isn’t parking the bus…
…but if our opponents do park the bus, that’s when the 4-4-2 comes into play. This more flexible take on Bassett-ball has been VERY effective at destroying three-man defences so far – beating non-league Spårvägen by a 16-1 scoreline in pre-season! (I’m still quite annoyed about that one goal Spårvägen scored.)
Good news, everyone! Sweden climbed back up to 15th in the UEFA coefficient rankings, which means the Allsvenskan now has two Champions League places up for grabs again! 3rd and 4th place will also be guaranteed Europe for the 2037/2038 season, and possibly 5th as well.
Although the bookmakers have us down as 8th-favourites to win the title, our official media prediction is 5th. Only defending champions Djurgården, Malmö, Halmstad and bogey team Norrköping are expected to finish above us.
Although the new chairman will accept any kind of top-half finish, I’ve told the players that I expect them to finish in the top three again. They’ve already wrapped up a spot in the Conference League qualifiers this summer… but can they now upgrade that to a Europa League place by regaining the Svenska Cupen?
CUPEN
Despite finishing 3rd in the Allsvenskan last year, we were drawn in the same Cupen group as Halmstad, who finished 4th. Halmstad wanted revenge for us pipping them to a European place (and maybe also for the 2034 Cupen Final) and… well… they sure got it.
Let me tell you, readers, we were awful. Halmstad were much sharper in every department and deservedly gave us a 3-0 spanking at Örjans Vall.
And with that, our cup dream was already basically over. We crushed Division 2 side Umeå and then drew with Häcken in our home matches… but none of it mattered, because Halmstad breezed through with a 100% record.
It’s another early exit from the Cupen, but it’s the manner of our exit that concerns me. We conceded six goals from just 2.69 xG – even leaking a couple of soft goals against a 4th-tier team! I’m afraid that defending was, is and always will be a serious problem with this Nacka side.
ALLSVENSKAN
Oh, and just one more thing before we kick off our fifth Allsvenskan season. Fouad – who netted 12 league goals for us last year – was the bookies’ favourite to finish as the league’s top scorer.
Just bear that in mind when you check out our results from the first two months…
We set our stall out by taking the lead in each of our first eight matches… and winning five of them. Unfortunately, we struggled to see matches out away from home – dropping five points in a couple of frustrating Stockholm derbies, and then three more at Elfsborg.
Just like Dracula, we have major issues with crosses. I’m sick of seeing the opposition winger cruise past our full-back and drill in a cross from the byline, allowing the striker to tap home while our centre-halves stand like statues. I might have complained about that once or twice before. Even when I instruct my defenders to specifically ‘Stop Crosses’, this still happens.
Luckily, things went rather better at home. Although we weren’t exactly scoring at will, we were at least creating enough quality chances to beat our opponents. We won our first five home matches by an aggregate score of 9-1 – giving the Fisksätra the perfect send-off.
We then picked up just our second away win at Häcken, in what was a mixed night for two of our forwards. 18-year-old inside-forward Tahirou Dioussé scored his first hat-trick for Nacka, but frontman Noel Sergel tore a calf muscle and was ruled out for three months.
We finally moved into our new stadium on 25 May 2036. I’ve named it Gröna Dalen – after the ‘Green Valley’ area of Fisksätra – but the club has agreed a sponsorship deal with the Norwegian hotelier Strawberry. (Wait a minute… there isn’t already a Strawberry Arena in Stockholm, is there?)
A capacity crowd of 4,330 was at Gröna Dalen for its very first match… against none other than 27-time league champions Malmö. it was also our last match before the mid-season break, so this was the perfect opportunity to lay down a marker and show our title credentials.
Instead, we failed to create a single shot on target, let alone score a goal. And we allowed Malmö to score both of their only shots on target. And one of them was from a bloody byline cross.
FOUAD MISFIRING?
After the first 12 matches, we have 23 points – exactly the same total we had at this stage last season. Nobody has pulled clear yet, so the title is still anyone’s for the taking.
Last year, I felt like we were playing poorly and bumbling our way to victories. This time around, we look more like serious contenders. We’re 1st in the table for Expected Points, 2nd on fewest Expected Goals Against, and 3rd on highest Expected Goals. In fact, for the first time in ages, we are actually underscoring our xG – by 2.2 goals.
I’m not too concerned about our xG underperformance. We’ve still converted 16% of our shots into goals, and our average xG per Shot is 0.19 – the highest in the league. To be fair, that statistic has been inflated by the fact we’ve won FIVE penalties – at least two more than anyone else.
Dioussé has been a success story so far, bagging six league goals and posting an average rating of 7.39. His pace and finishing ability have seen him thrive on the left wing. That is just as well…
…because you’ll have noticed – if you’ve been counting – that Ahmed Fouad has only scored THREE goals so far. The pre-season favourite to win the Golden Boot is currently experiencing his worst run of form as a Nacka player, and I don’t know why.
I set my tactics up to get the ball out wide to Fouad and Raz as much as possible, but neither of them have exactly set the Allsvenskan alight this season. Ahmed in particular is struggling to even hit the target. His shots on target percentage is currently only 40% – down on 42% from last year, and 55% from the year before.
This is especially frustrating, as Fouad ‘relishes big matches’ and is one of the few Nacka players who actually enjoys playing under pressure. Despite that, he has missed TWO penalties that cost us valuable points in derby matches. He did at least force a save from the Hammarby goalkeeper, but his next attempt at Djurgården was even worse.
“And I miss you… like the deserts miss the rain.”
Fouad has even had a decline in his physical attributes, which is especially worrying for a 24-year-old who hasn’t suffered too many major injuries. All that means he is now in serious danger of losing his starting place to Dioussé.
Is this the end of an era? Is it time to sell our record goalscorer… or is there something I can do to get him firing again? Answers on a postcard.
If you do have any ideas about how to fix Fouad, please leave a comment below or contact me on Threads or BlueSky. Also, don’t forget to hit the ‘Follow’ button below if you want to be notified when a new blog post goes live.
“Nacka’s Yard” will continue next Monday, with the conclusion of Season 13. We’ll be focussing on our return to the Conference League… and perhaps even a serious title challenge.
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