[FM14] Pentagon - Redux

Certainly strange seeing a different club now! Very unfortunate however you will go back at some point :p

Cheers guys, yes it still takes some getting used to clloyd, when I can no longer send out the youngsters and still expect a win...

---------------------

November/December 2032

Having evaluated the squad and with my 'tactical genius' I came up with this:



Which was based on the fact that I only didn't have any good right wingers registered (Oviedo actually signed one but they didn't register him) while the one that was registered I judged shite.



Unfortunately despite playing a sort of midfield diamond we lost on the possession count and our imbalanced structure meant big problems while defending, all whilst we weren't at all clinical with our finishing.

So on the eve of the Copa Del Rey clash against Rayo I decided that my right wingers weren't shite after all and went:



Which was then used for the rest of the month.



That's both cup legs won over Rayo, another against an inferior side in Zamora and a frustrating defensive performance against league leaders Las Palmas.



We've contrived to regress a fair bit since I arrived, but at the very least the transfer window's open, which gives me an opportunity to make a number of much needed changes.

One of which is the strikeforce:



Top 4 are 30 or over, and none of them are exactly setting the world alight, at least not enough to warrant keeping all of them.
Sangroniz is particularly awful, he's blessed with great creativity and finishing but due to a lack of physicality and confidence he's done almost nothing on the pitch.
Rosero can literally only play up top (at least the other 2 are serviceably versatile) and he's not even remotely a sharpshooter.
Numan Sand couldn't cut it in an Inter side stuck at Serie B, while Oste and Iriarte are non-entities up front.
Pascual looks to be the only youth hope that I can count on in the short-to-medium term, while I want rid of Rosero and Sangroniz pronto.

And finally to make everything that much better I've probably jumped the gun in quitting Smouha:



Turns out that Orlando, having won their domestic league represent the host nation in the Club World Cup, but they've also won the African CL (as you know, FOR THE THIRD FUCKING TIME) the runners-up were sent to represent Africa. Suffice it to say they finished 5th losing (AGAIN) to Orlando in the process.

Oh and they've sold RB Ramy Ragab to Al Moqaoloun for 8.75 million(SGD).

Not a bad start to new club life mate, keep it coming!

... I suppose Dan, but it's definitely not Smouha around these parts.

-----------------

January 2033

We completely outclassed an overachieving Pontevedra side but couldn't add to our single goal due to our absolutely atrocious finishing.



Zaragoza have seen better days and currently are fighting going down to the third tier, but fought to a good draw here.
Their narrow 4-2-3-1 (which packs 3 CAMs and 2 CMs into a small area) meant that our sole holder in the 4-5-1 was hopelessly overwhelmed and our backline was cut to pieces between the channels.
A positive would be a better goal/SoT rate than them, but given our total shots we were simply wasteful.



Same problems as against Zaragoza, but exacerbated by properly clinical finishing.
Our defence was really playing as individuals here, no covering, no tracking of opponents, no nothing.
Cermak impressed in his chance up top after Rosero's awful shooting 'exhibition' last time out in our musical chairs for 30+ year old mediocre strikers.

Unfortunately being the composed and rational manager that I obviously am I fined my entire backline 2 weeks' wages, leading to transfer-listing both starting centrebacks - proper man management there.



Awful game, both sides deserved to lose, less said about it the better.



Well we did end up losing here.
I went into the game foolishly thinking that 4 4-2-3-1 could stand up to a 3-5-2, when I could easily have gone back to the Smouha days and went 4-6-0.
In the end we didn't accomplish anything trying to sit back, and were outplayed in midfield anyway, so it was never for the taking.



So embarrassingly profligate at best, and non-existent defence at worst - still 9th, 9 off the automatic promotion spots, and alienated players in a key position.

Well at least we have the Copa Del Rey to look forward to:



What a surprise, trriblt shooting on display, couple with some less than ideal defending.
Leavs us with a slightly unpalatable prospect of scoring at Anoeta.



La Liga regulars Sociedad weren't going to let us off so easily again, and put us to the sword with a finishing performance that we would do well to learn from.

Which left us with only 1 thing on the agenda to look toward:



Hohlovs got the move that both sides wanted, Sangroniz was the worst of a bad bunch of strikers on the wrong side of 30, Francisco wanted game time but woukldn't have gotten it, while Oste... Not a fast winger, a CAM without creativity, a striker who can't finish, you get the point.



Nemec's replacement, ostensibly to offer a greater attacking presence, but unfortunately he's been part of some of our worst defensive showings this month.



Needed a cover for Alava in the creative department, which Mesic technically fits the bill. though it'll be seen if his mercurial ability can offset his virtual non-existence of any physical presence.



Don't really know why I signed him, he's not much better than our current crop of forwards.
Probably fit on the tip of the 4-6-0 diamond, decent speed and height to offer a nominal striker's threat at least.
Driven as well, which is already better than most of our lot.

We started off February in some style - handing Ponferradina a new one for our best performance since I came in.
We didn't really get going in the 1st period ('only' scoring 2 goals) but we came back with fire in our bellies and proceeded to underline our promotion credentials.



Cool.



Double cool.



Next was a narrow win against relegation-bound Albacete, who despite having nowhere near the prerequisite quality to compete at this level still managed to trouble us and could've knocked in a couple - shows the sheer struggles I've currently having with that narrow 4-2-3-1, my defence simply can't cope with that mass of attackers running in behind.



Should've won this on paper - Barca have got a surprising number of greyed-out lads in their XI (given the wealth of their parent club and their famed academy), but they game us more than a game and it only took a fortuitous late equaliser from substitute loanee Mesic to grant us a point.



Man was this some game - Valencia took the lead and would've run away with it hadn't Rosero (more on him later) outjumped their keeper to win a long punt and slot in a leveller.

They then had an absolute peach of a chance to regain the lead - their striker was play through, rounded our GK...



The rest is history.



1 month, 4 games and 10 points later we find ourselves relatively comfortably in the playoff spots, with an outside chance of challenging for automatic promotion.
Eduardo Rosero also has 8 goals in 4 games, not a bad return considering he was one of my 1st targets to ship out initially.

Super month that

Oh. Interesting. Let's see if you can Smouha up things in Spain.

Heh, I'd have to challenge the established order in these parts (i.e. Barca and Real among others) to Smouha things up in here.
And I'd need to get promoted first

Cheers itchycoo, always nice to see you around.

------------------------------------

March 2033

Really only woke up after conceding the opener, but at the very least we actually go on to win this.
Also the only side not to field a narrow diamond 4-4-2 against us this time, we'l see how that turned out...



I'll be the 1st to admit that we probably didn't deserve 3 point, hell we'd struggle to justify a point the way we were opened up at times.
But bloody hell you don't just throw away a 2-goal lead, you just don't...
An extremely frustrating game, particularly considering our form and that we could well have closed the gap on them in 2nd.



Another diamond-fielding promotion rival, thankfully we actually saw this game out with a win.
Gimnastic didn't pose as many problems as Numancia, and once they went down to 10 men the onus was on us to grab a winner, and we duly did so.



Another promotion-chasing side, this one we ended up losing to.
Rosero couldn't continue his hot form here, and probably showed his weaknesses here - as good a goalscorer he currently is he's not really a clutch player, a guy who could nab a crunch winner when it matters most.



A 50% win rate this month keeps us in the playoffs spots, 6 ahead of our closest rivals who are eligible for promotion (reserves can't be promoted), Pontevedra.

In came the 1st youth intake of my time here as well:




This isn't Egypt where youths can simply be played at will and have their abilities boosted massively when given game time, Spain is far stronger as a whole and it'll take a lot more for youths to break through.



Camilo looks good enough, here's hoping that I don't just flog him to the B Team and forget about him.

April 2033

Great, great way to start April, apparent vengeance for a defeat earlier in the season.



What followed was an extremely frustrating draw against minnows Sant Andreu, we completely and utterly dominated proceedings so it was damn near a travesty that we left with only a point.



Man, the first time that a 4-2-3-1 was seemingly sufficiently subdued, setting up a deep block and playing Route One for Rosero to run for somehow worked.
We should have had so many more goals (Rosero in particular) but their stopper was on fire on the day.



Probably went about this game wrongly, should probably gone with a favoured 4-3-3 instead of continuing with our 4-2-3-1 Deep used to counter the other 4-2-3-1s.
Though we should have won regardless, both Sevilla's goals came through crosses, our aerial game was lacking here..



We finished the month in empathic style, Rosero and Rivero with a bit of statpadding (the former did go back top of the goalscoring charts) and it was undeniable that we deserved to win this comfortably.



Will probably be 5th and 6 points into the playoffs zone once the games in hand are played, but going unbeaten and earning 11 points this month is nothing to be sniffed at, and it keeps us within the slightest of touches of Levante.
Las Palmas have already ensured at least a playoffs spot, with our form I can't see why we can't join them sooner than later.

May 2033

Scripting innit
No seriously how the flying fuck did we not win this? We weren't really dominant but we definitely played some sparkling football on the break, only to get clawed back from there with a late (AND CONTENTIOUS) penalty to boot.
Flashbacks to the Newcastle game *cringe*



Well at least we won this one, playing on the break looks to be our go to style now, seems to get the best out of Rosero too.



Las Palmas didn't show much ambition with their 4-4-1-1 setup, and we were able to keep the ball well enough.
Should we have had more than a single goal? Probably, but a win's a win,particularly against one of the favourites for automatic promotion.



With that we get another shot at going up, not really what the board wanted but they probably won't mind too much of we went up anyway.



Oh man this was pretty much smash and grab, we were cut open so many times by their 4-2-3-1, but they weren't able to capitalise.
Hoofball and setpieces worked in our favour yet again, not the prettiest of playing styles but hey, at least I'm still in the job.



All we have to play for now is finish ahead of Gimnastic and (probably) get the 2nd leg of our playoffs at home.

Across the Mediterranean Sea, there was another side celebrating their success (though theirs is probably much bigger of an achievement)...



Yup, Smouha ran away with their 3rd title in 5 seasons, despite losing a fair few key players (Ahmed Emam, Hany Gamal, Ramy Ragab).
They're also in their 3rd straight cup final, having won 19 consecutive cup games across the 3 seasons.

June 2033/End of Season Stuff

Awful end to the regular season, it wouldn't have been so bad to lose but to see many of our passing moves break down the way they did was particularly galling.



(spoiler alert if you can spot it)
So the loss meant we finished behind Gimnastic, and as a result staed the 1st leg of our playoff semifinal at home:



Hoofball at home, must've been great viewing for our fans.
That said it definitely worked, our deep block ensured that they weren't getting too many clear-cut chances, while with 3 runners up top we had a consistent threat on the counter.



Rinse and repeat.

In the final we met Malaga, having won comfortably against them earlier in the season we had plenty to be optimistic about:



Unfortunately I was in two minds over attacking their 4-4-1-1 or playing away on the counter with a solid defence.
In the end neither happened as we were outplayed, with only Lucio's thunderbastard giving us an away goal.



It was Malaga's turn to sit back now, and even them it was our backline which buckled first.
In the end we weren't good enough over the two legs, tactically or individually.




Great, player bonuses wiping out our prize money.



Nothing much to be excited about the season, we had some great games but ultimately promotion wasn't achieved.
Tbh I'm glad we weren't promoted, looking at our squad we'd probably be slaughtered and even barring that it'll be a struggle to stay beyond 2 seasons.

To finish off this season:



Nice, but it'll take some time before I put the same amount of faith I had in the Smouha youth to these guys, Spain is far stronger.

By far our best player this season



As I'd said before I wasn't looking forward to having a man of his calibre leading the line - boy and I glad to have been proven wrong.
Leading the line solo meant that we was the main recipient of the hoofball sometimes employed, as well as the large number of crosses the wingers delivered at other times.



A great achievement...



... With a greater reward.
Though it's burnt quite a hole in our pockets I think.

The rest of the squad was decent, but no one else really got the kind of form the Rosero had, or even had anything resembling positive consistency.

To end off last season:




Rosero really was something else last season, Without him we probably wouldn't have even gotten a sniff of the playoffs.

Transfers:



A significant number of the 'old guard' (even though most have only been at the club for a year or so) were shipped out, and in came a couple of (fingers crossed) promising guys:



Let's start with arguably thee weakest signing - he was signed on a pre contract at a time when I was feuding with my starting CBs and had just sold my starting LB.
First mistake, he's nowhere near sufficiently to play LB and second, he's nowhere near worth playing 18k p/w.
That said he's given a good account of himself in preseason so it might not be that much of a disaaster.



Highly rated at Ajax, it was a shock that he was allowed to run his contract to its last 6 months.
A very versatile defender, Pituca has a high ceiling which will at least give us a good sell-on price should we need to.



Probably the biggest signing imo, Matuzsczyk is an instant upgrade on Rosero already, which is impressive considering he's been hiding in South Korea all this while instead of going places in Europe.
Missed the entirety of preseason though due to knee tendonitis, and having a Temperamental personality could result in a toxic influence if things don't go his way - he'll need to be handled carefully.

Preseason:



I don't think I can get too much out of this preseason relative to the rest of the league, having only played with B-teams of Bundesliga sides, FC Barcelona, Cercle Brugge (in Belgium's second tier) and a number of lower division sides.

Nevertheless, with a preseason record as good as that it's hard not to feel optimistic when the season proper commences.



Third favourites, madness - I think my head will definitely roll if we don't pull this off.

August/September 2033 / End of the Summer window

Some way to start the season, even if we did let one of the Levante guys score a hat-trick...



Well then, some way to bring us back down to earth - lesson learned, sometimes it's not worth dropping in-form players just to change the system.
A 4-6-0 was employed to counter their 3-5-2 (as per the Smouha days) but it backfired miserably - without Rosero's finishing our wingers weren't anywhere as clinical and we were picked off after some really shoddy defending.



Rosreo made a scoring return as we picked ourselves up from that abrupt humbling.



A deep 4-2-3-1 works very, very well against a 4-4-1-1, that much I've found; the lack of opponents in our defence meant we could build up play in our own time, and we made full use of that.



Our stopper was poor here, a terrible miskick and subsequent late reaction to the long-range lob that followed was not the best start for us, and only through piling bodies forward did we find an equaliser.



Osasuna's opener was admittedly magnificent - being closer to the centre circle than our box, a shot was let fly and whistled into our net.
Turned out that we were more accurate (and clinical) than our opponents for once, and we managed to carve out another win..



Man we should've wrapped this up earlier than we actually did, had 2 goals disallowed (one of which was certified toe be erroneous).
Kike Borrell was plucked from our B-Team this season, and he came off the bench to save an unlikely win for us in the end.



Well in the promotion hunt, things are looking rosy.

On to the Copa Del Rey:



Matuszczyk was making his 1st (and only so far) appearance here, and he impressed with a goal - still he'll have to pray for a disastrous drop of form from Rosero to have a sniff of that lone striker role.
Equally impressive was the (backup) stopper here, his many punts upfield lead to Pascual's winner.



It's another fellow 2nd tier side in the next round, but with Pontevedra in such horrible form we need to get nothing less than a win here.

Transfers (and there was a couple as it turned out):



Muca was signed when it became apparent that Malaga was going after one of my other wingers - he'd be a stopgap, and we'd look for options in January.
Turned out that my man rejected Malaga, so he wasn't really needed anyway.
He stays regardless, content with a backup role and actually being one of the better players at the club (apparently).



This deal was agreed before I arrived, if I'm honest he won't have much of a future here, not with the other right wingers coming through the ranks already.
Chucked him in the U19s, let's see what he can do.

October 2033

Again, attacking the 4-4-1-1 paid dividends.
Rosero again keeping out Matuszczyk (and Muca) with some great end product, which is bad news as he's now 30 and I need to convince Matuzczyk to stay by (presumably) playing often.



Borell as the supersub yet again! In what was a poor game from both sides Kike came off the bench (again for Alava) to plunder in a winner from a corner.

Coming next was a double header against Pontevedra, first in the Cup:



Very, very poor defending here, despite our best efforts in attack.
Out of the Cup as well, particularly pissed that it's against the league's strugglers.

Well we have the league encounter to look forward to:



Bollocks - this time our attack let us down, and despite Rosero's goal he was quite poor with his finishing all game.
So that's 1 draw in 2 games against Pontevedra, very disappointing.



Following Rosero's poor finishing against Pontevedra, Matuszczyk was drafted in for his first league start, and boy did he stake his claim for the lone striker's spot.
We were never in any trouble against yet another 4-4-1-1, and even after going down to 10 we still managed another goal.



Well Matuszczyk show why he might not be ready for a starting role quite yet.
Recreativo were just as wasteful as we were, a poor game from all involved.



Right in the mix for promotion, hopefully this makes up for the early Copa del Rey exit in the board's eyes.

November/December 2033

Great way to start off November, thumping the early league leaders and doing the treble over them this season.

From one playstyle to another:



Mourinho who?
Valladolid were playing that annoying 4-2-3-1, so we decided to match their numbers in attack and attempt to suffocate their quick passing moves.



Sure we conceded 46 shots, but most of those weren't too much trouble for us.



While we (while by no means accurate ourselves) got ourselves the winner rather fortuitously, it has to be said.



Back to a more positive brand of footie, a reasonable win over Castilla.



.. And back to parking the bus, except we nearly paid for our negativity, only for Cartagena to balls it up even more.
Muca and Pascual both came off the bench to play out wide, the latter got a goal in his debut appearance, the latter being sent back early after a stupid dismissal.
Despite that, our increased hoofball somehow got us a mad winner, in a game we should've lost much earlier.



Going 3 up in 30 minutes, I had hoped the team would add to the scoreline for a more comfortable 2nd half.
No matter, a win's a win even if we did concede 2 to make the game slightly nervy.



Rinse and repeat, though this was far more nail-biting.
This conceding late goals thing of ours needs to stop, it'll end up biting us in the ass one day.



Damn, a 10-point lead, didn't see this coming.
That said I've had more than my fair share of disastrous collapses, 10 points is fuck all if the dominoes do fall.(If that analogy works)

Anyway, it's the start of the transfer window, and it's also 6 months before most European-based players' contracts end:



Lots of key players included here, though Ismael Fernandez has already signed a new deal since.
I can half of this list signing new contracts, but it's the likes of Cermak (31 years), Rosero (also 31) and Rafael Manuel (26 but without a single league appearance this season) that I've to make a decision on - Cermak will probably pave way for fresh blood, but the latter two might stay: Rosero for his sheer goal output, Manuel for being a decent backup at least.

In other news:



Honestly, Smouha's not going to win the CL are they.



For once Orlando aren't in the Group Stages (got knocked out by Heartland) and they'd finished top of their group.



Disposed of Oran with ease as well...



Only to - yet again - fall short when it mattered most.
That's the 3rd final in 4 years, for once they weren't meeting Orlando in the semis or beyond, and they still couldn't win.
They've also sold quite a bit of the squad so it might well be the last time they get this close again (though I could be wrong - they're still leading the league).

Though I regret to say I'm glad they didn't win this time, would be gutting to see them do it the season after I left.

January 2034

Not the best start to the year, losing the lead then going behind against Gimnastic, before grabbing a late leveller.
It sucks to lose a lead and having to claw back a point but given it was against promotion-chasing Gimnastic I can probably let this slide.



Despite having next to no influence on the game till then (really need to work on that playmaking role of his) Alava manages to end the game with a goal and an assist.
Expected more against a struggling Longrones side, but scraping wins like this is the mark of champions isn't it?



The initial plan was to take advantage of Levante's seemingly negative 4-4-1-1 and play out from the back with possession football.
Didn't work, as we were under constant pressure in our own half and eventually conceded the opener.
Somewhere through the 2nd half the players seemed to take matters into their own hands - Matuszczyk showed a rare burst of pace to latch onto a punt upfield and finished with style, while Rivero netted the winner after a quick succession of passes on the counter.
We actually finished with more possession, I guess having the lead let us settle into keeping the ball after Levante were tired out.



This here had a different strategy - 3-5-2 wasn't the formation that one would looks to play keepball against, so we let them have the ball and looked to play of the break.
Well that didn't work either - we got scored on, so a more proactive mentality was necessary - which it then paid off (eventually).



By far the least satisfactory game of the month - we'd looked to cruise and add more than 4 but our defence managed to balls it up to make the game still a contest all the way to the end of the game.



A 16 (SIXTEEN!) point lead at the top, if we fuck this up it'll be very embarrassing indeed.
Which is what I'm afraid of, incidentally.

Now for transfers, 2 of them in fact:



One half of the CB pairing that I fined 2 weeks' wages and subsequently went on striker has been sold despite signing a new deal in the same month - he no longer was the wantaway player but a key part of our backline.
The club wasn't in the best health financially and we really had a surplus of CB around, so cashing in was a struggle but I've got a feeling we'll ride this one out.

In comes this guy:



Polovanec had been playing LB for most of the season now and with Daramola's departure it might signal a move to CB for the defender who's more Sol Campbell than Hector Bellerin, put it that way.
Heraldo's not ready for a couple of weeks though, so there'll have to be a stopgap till then.

February 2034

Well, the streak could only go so far - trying to play on the counter and rely on out backline could only go so far.
That said their goals weren't unavoidable, defence let us down on that regard this time.



It... It might be a time to panic.
With all due respect Lugo weren't expected to pose too much of a challenge... except we didn't meet our end of the deal to put up a proper performance.
Also, our backup GK isn't very good it seems.



BAM, with our backs to the wall and against a 4-2-3-1 side with their annoying quick passing, we ground out yet another disciplined defensive showing to win by a goal, from the counter no less.
Alava was actually dropped here, poor performances as playmaker has seen his stock drop, but he came on here to great effect.



Michal Matuszczyk is the GOAT.
For real, when he's on form he's nigh on unplayable - great workrate coupled with excellent reading of the game and clinical finishing, and with no second thought for getting stuck in, we've got a proper striker on our hands.
Great win, downsides were Polovanec being out for a few weeks, and Basilio getting unnecessarily sent off when the game was more than sealed already.



I'd hoped to not have conceded the 3 goals needed to achieve this record, but it's something I guess.



13 points at the top, the view looks good from up here but it won't take long to fall from this, so let's not.

March 2034

Might need some work on my tactics, having more possession but still being outshot by Baladona.



The nightmares of facing a 4-1-2-1-2 return, everyone well and truly shat the bed here, not a single forgiveable performance.
Not even the excuse of Depor being promotion chasers can account for such a hiding, the backline was caught ball-watching countless times, second best to every loose ball, absolutely shambolic.



We definitely have a point to prove after such a hiding, and it was fitting that Pontevedra were our next opponents, having unceremoniously dumped us out of the cup earlier in the season - game was over by half-time, too bad for us that we didn't look to increase our lead after the break.



Daramola came back to haunt us, as we struggled to get attacks going.



A 12-point lead still, but 2 losses in March have knocked quite a bit of wind out of our sails.

Now for the new youth intake:




Nothing exceptional, and HoYD Park Chu Young (yes, him) signed them all up anyway.



A pacey right winger? A dime a dozen here unfortunately.

April 2034

Extremely frustrating to concede an equaliser so late in the game, would've made for a great result to bounce back after losing to Recreativo.



Welp, we took quite a while to break down this Zamora side, but yet again Matuszczyk popped up to secure the winner.



Our stopper had an absolute shocker here, we'd previously conceded 4+ goals this season but he hadn't been as bad as he was here.
Coming out of half time we looked like having a surmountable deficit only for him to drop 2 clangers early in the 2nd half.



Another scrappy win, Alava with a poacher's instinct to nab the only goal of the game.
In fact it seems like that actually his real game, not some playmaking role that I've tried to shoehorn him into.



The scoreline kind of did and didn't flatter our performance - we completely overwhelmed their backline with shot after shot, but our lack of shot accuracy was a worry.
In came Klajdi Muca, wwho found himself in the right place to fire home a double.
I should play him more often it seems, extremely coool finishing on show here and he now has 3 goals from 3 sub appearances.



I've been told that we only need 6 more points to secure the title, so it looks like we won't balls this up... hopefully.

End of season 2033/34

Overplayed a bit, but basically after the Sevilla game we secured the title - which was just as well since we proceeded to finish the season with 4 points from 9.



Depor join us and Valladolid in La Liga after winning the playoffs.



... Is this good news? Just makes us one of them yo-yo clubs the way I see it.



I wouldn't put too much on Muca's signing, he had an uncanny knack of coming on as a sub and scoring, but he was never going to start regularly.

Preseason 2034/35

First off, some admin:



I've recently read that most clubs don't have profits in real life so it's not all bad here.
Besides it keeps the taxman from sucking any more of our money.



There's no doubt that Matuszczyk would've won if he wasn't only on loan - beyond him I'd say it would've been a toss-up, though it should've been Alava given his all round contribution (though he doesn't control games anywhere near as well as he should).



Ehhhhh, not sure what to feel on this, it's a raise but it's essentially negligible, but then again we are newly promoted - won't make sense for a sponsor to put all their eggs on our basket.



Oh and look the joys of promotion right there.
Other than the fasting into our wage budget thing...

Transfers time, and boy we there some, as we looked to set this squad up for the top flight:




Artur Silva is the starting LB, we needed to cut out the nonsense of playing makeshift solutions in that position, so he slots straight into the first XI.


The King is back, long live the King.
Matuszczyk actually had quite an eventful past season - scintillating form that got us promoted also earned him a spot in Poland's 2034 World Cup squad, where they were unfortunately sent home at the Second Round. Still, quite an achievement for a guy who was still contracted to a Korean club (no offence) when he was on the plane with his NT.
I sought to change that - multiple deals involving players in exchange failed after our players repeatedly rejected their contract offers. Eventually there wasn't to be any more fooling around, a cash-only offer was made and he was ours in next to no time.


Batuhan Duman was trasnfer listed by Bremen and allowed to have his deal run down for us to pick him up on a free.
His weaknesses are glaring - being able to play only on the left flank doesn't go well with his embarrassing lack of speed.
Still, he's technically stellar, and if he can be trained to play AMC that there might yet be hope for him.


Horst Holtz was also listed for transfer by Bremen, only this time on his own request.
My biggest outlay so far, he's apparently got the potential to become a top La Liga centreback - whether it'll be too late for him remains to be seen.
In any case he comes in as our best CB, and his personality is vital to our fight against the drop.


Cotero is Silva's deputy, and is also serviceable in the centre.


Our backup stopper (Humberto) had been showing that he was not cut out for the big time so he was promptly shipped off on loan.
Shala comes in as cover/competition, though judging by his ability he's posssibly the best GK in the team right now.
Which says a lot of the quality of this team.


Like Shala, Kowalewski was drafted in for backup, but judging by the apparent state of our squad he may well be a starter.

Of the outs:
-Lots of senior players released (Rafael Manuel, Willain Cristofer Hernandez, Cermak, Basilio), but it remains to be seen if they're replaced adequately.
-Iban... Well Iban's a rightback who can't defend or attack very well, has okay speed but kept getting caught out in the air. Didn't play exceptionally well last season and his contract was coming to an end, so when an offer came in for him I snapped their hands off.
-Polovanec was a reliable player, but I wasn't sure that his lack of mental fortitude would bring us through this tough campaign.
Holtz's signing was the writing on the wall for him unfortunately.

On to our friendlies:



Can't tell much from here, barring the NAC loss we beat the teams we were supposed to beat, nothing too fancy.
The NAC blowout is a big worry though, completely outplayed there.

With preseason pretty much done (still a bit of the transfer window to go) it'll be interesting to see how our team stacks up to the rest of the league.



Surprised that there are 3 teams worse than us, but it's looking like a 5-horse race to avoid the drop.
And who do we start this race against, I wonder?...



Great.

August 2034

Man this game was full of HOLY SHIT, nice way to come back to La Liga isn't it.
Started off as any sane club would do against a side like Real, sit back and hope for the best.
Unfortunately that backfired horribly and we of course found ourselves with a mountain to climb going into the interval.
During the break some changes had to be made, obviously so since the game couldn't get any worse.
That said I didn't expect coming back to earn a draw, and we might've even won had we been more clinical(!).



And there's the more mundane side to La Liga.
Playing very direct football we created a lot of chances, but alas our inconsistent finishing reared its head.



Unbeaten, which is good news, but we do need to nail that 1st win to give us a bit of a lift.

Oh and we've secured yet another loan signing:



Not particularly fast as an RB, but I definitely need someone who can at least compete in the air so we won't get caught out by far post headers but a deceptively tall left winger.

And finally, some good news on the finances for once:



Plastics.

September 2034

Matuszczyk is the GOAT.
Unfortunately the defence was less all-conquering, and despite the hat-trick the team couldn't see the win out the whole way.



Another game where we were outplayed (going to be a theme this season) but at least we took our chances this time and didn't concede more than what we scored.
Matuszczyk was again instrumental here, a couple of assists to make up for his non-scoring.



Absolutely outplayed here (again - see?) but we'd actually carved out a slender lead going into stoppage time - only to concede yet another equaliser at the death.
Gutting.



First time all season that we played proactively, and I guess it did pay dividends, though both goals were awesome FK work by Alava.



They were that good.



Far too draws really (especially conceding 2 injury-time goals) but we're still unbeaten so we've at least got that going for us.
Matuszczyk has been a revelation so far, contributing to 5 goals and 5 assists of our 13 goals in total.

October 2034

Our opener was very much against the run of play, but playing an increasingly reactive style of football meant that we were really looking to hold on and wouldn't be able to come back if we conceded an equaliser, which we eventually did.
We suffer our 1st loss of the season after playing some rather insipid football, with some route one football being dished out, so we could be in some trouble here if it means teams have figured us out.



A more proactive game was played here, we looked to have them on the back foot from the off and had dominated proceedings, only for us to fluff our lines and Villareal to nail theirs against the run of play.
Vargas equalised with his trademark finish (right winger running onto a through pass and finishing on the far post) but that was pretty much all that we could conjure.



Back to winning ways!
Didn't look like it from the off, Granada had us under the cosh with their quick passing, and we were lucky not to concede in the 1st half.
After the break it was more of the same until a controversial penalty was award to them (and they duly oblige to take the lead), only for us to hit back immediately from a corner, Horst Holtz with a sorely needed goal after a less than stellar start to life in Spain.
Borell then came on (as a desperate last throw of the dice) and he relived his (occasional) heroics of last season, with another late winner.



Brought back down to Earth, what a rude awakening.
I though it'd be a good game when their left winger got an early bath, only for us to (somehow) lose complete control of the game from then.
No possession, no attack, and we always looked like conceding.
Even Silva's late consolation came about as a fluke cross, there was nothing positive going on for our side on the day.



At least we didn't have to end the month with a loss, Rayo were good but Matuszczyk was just better.
1st goal in 6 games too, he definitely needed this double.
Batuhan Duman also broke his assist duck here, providing the winner and finishing with a rating of 7.9 - even more important than Matuszczyk ending his drought IMO.



We find ourselves with a surprising comforts of 6th, though we're closer to the relegation zone than Atletico at the top (not that we should be aiming for that anyway...).
Couldn't ask for a better start to the season tbh, well maybe if we'd held on in the 2 stoppage-time draws.
Next up? Barca.

November 2034

I'll admit, this match was all on me - playing with the single intention to sit back all the way because it's Barcelona wasn't wise - they have the quality to inevitably break through (which they did) and we couldn't get out of our shells to hit back after that.



This was a derby apparently - a good way to get back on track with a far more positive performance from last time.
We didn't capitalise on our early lead and I'd though we paid for it when we conceded the equaliser.
But Fernandez rose highest to score a header almost immediately afterwards to regain the lead, and we didn't let go this time.



Welp, back to sitting back - but it ain't my fault they're playing that stupid 4-2-3-1 with 3 AMs.



Still, 5th, which is amazing tbh, but also misleading - we're ever really only 6 points from 18th.

There's also a transfer to report:




I needed cover at CB, and a bit more variety in midfield - he fits the bill methinks.
Hard worker, good physicality, not too terrible in the air, above average passer, only issue would probably be the (relative) lack of game intelligence.

December 2034

By far 2nd best here, struggled to get out of our area and when we did we couldn't find the net.
But cometh the hour, cometh the man - Rosero was subbed on the play in an unfamiliar right wing role, and scored what was apparently a screamer.



Won the Goal of the Week award, that good apparently.



Absolutely ballsed up the match prep (and as a result the 1st half) but after some major tweaking we hauled ourselves back into the game and salvaged a fortunate draw.



This was just a disaster - sitting back and playing on the break would've worked - if only we didn't concede in the 1st fucking minute.
We only ever looked like getting anything out of this in the last half hour, at which point it was too late anyway, and our lack of clinical ability saw to that.



An increasingly uncomfortable 7th here, we aren't as far from the drop zone as our position suggests, and continued poor form could see us land right into that mix.

Now for the Copa del Rey:



An away goal, but we definitely should've put them to the sword here.



... And we paid for it here. Oh fucking hell.
A significant number of injuries and the upcoming Valencia game meant that it was a significantly under-strength side here.
Still, losing n aggregate lead and conceding 3 goals at hoe? Come on guys.

January 2035

1st game of the new year, oh dear.
We didn't ever really gain a supremacy in the game, and they did have the better chances.
That said we had some opportunities of our own but for Matuszczyk's poor finishing here.



Dammit we were staring at 2 losses to start the new year, Atleti had our number and going 2 down against title challengers isn't good news.
After that though, their LB somehow contrived to have a complete nightmare and let Vargas (our right winger) net a double and provide the assist for Duman.



Absolutely ballsed this up, again with improper match prep, which lead to yet another horrific start to the game - Fernandez was a fault for both goals and proceeded to get injured in an impressively self-destructive cameo.
We regrouped in the interval and quickly got back level in the 2nd half but couldn't find a winner despite our continued chance creation.


This was just a disaster, nothing done, couldn't defend, and we got what we deserved.



Still top half, and more significantly 9 points off the drop zone.
Definitely need to get some form going though, in the bottom 5 or thereabouts in form.

Oh and just the 1 signing in the January window:



Loaned out my young backup RW (wasn't getting any game time) and Schneider comes in as a cheap option to cover both flanks.

February 2035

Like in the reverse fixture earlier in the season Andrey Tumashev proved to be the bane of our existence - the wonderkid striker's pace was something I'd failed to learn my lesson on.
Not that we really deserved anything more than a draw - Romero's opener was actually a horribly hit cross, and had he not done that we would've had a struggle.



Betis have been massively underachieving this season, finding themselves deep in the relegation scrap despite having the squad to at least challenge for the top half.
They certainly showed their quality here, absolutely tore us to shreds; if only they'd like they were getting relegated...



Another early goal conceded, was beginning to look like the Betis whitewash.
To our credit we fought back - and then some. Matuszczyk with another goal before Pascual finally put his rather wasteful ways to a side with the winner (before going back to his wasteful finishing).



ANOTHER early goal conceded, big problem here.
Luckily for us Holtz then applied a clinical touch to fire home from a corner, before Matuszczyk bailed us out yet again.



A great month where we got over 50% of points available, and we're now 12 off the relagation spots.
Matuszczyk was the real hero this month, 5 goals in 4 games (including 2 winners and an equaliser.)

Also, got a couple of young'uns on pre-contracts from Olympiakos:



Nikolau comes in as competition/alternative/backup to Matuszczyk (and probably Rosero's replacement, who is on the wrong side of dirty and isn't aging well especially with Matuszczyk getting all the game time).
Looks about as out-and-out a striker can get, good finsihing and composure, not afraid to get stuck in, good work rate and has is slightly faster than Matuszcayk, with the potential to get better.



Bosganas I'm less impressed by, having had a second look at him.
Still, like Nikolau he does have age on his side and being Artur Silva's main deputy next season he might get proper game time.

March 2035

Just has I thought we'd fixed our problem of conceding early goals, we go behind in under a minute....
We owed it to Matuszczyk (again) who curled in a peach of a goal to equalise, oh if only we kept our backline solid to the end...



Villareal were on a poor run of form and they were definitely for the taking here, so despite not conceding at the start or at the end it's still more disappointing that losing to La Real.
Scratch that, we still conceded right before the interval, couldn't even hold our concentration into the break.



Finally a clean sheet - Matuszczyk and Schultz helped us on our way with 2 goals in the 1st 5 minutes.
Schultz's strike was a peach as well - was one of the Goals of the Month.



We got absolutely wrecked by a 10-men Elche side earlier in the season, so we had revenge on our minds.
But actually playing like we wanted that was an entirely different matter - watching us go 2 goals down before the half hour mark was infuriating.
Fortunately we clawed one back at 30 minutes, though we had to wait a long while more to nab the leveller, Matuszczyk saving our asses yet again.



Another 4-point month, out it does mean we've reached the (generally accepted) safety mark of 40 points.
And Matuszczyk is now 5th-highest scorer in the league, carrying the team right now - won't be surprised of another club sniffs around for his availability.

Anyway, it's March again so:



A new intake with really only 1 potential star.



Got him into tutoring from the off with captain Alava, a Balanced Personality won't do his growth much good.

Finally another pre-contract signing:



I'll be losing a couple of GKs in the summer (loans/contracts expiring) and I really want a young stopper to (hopefully) establish himself to be 1st-choice for the next decade or so.
Probably going to be a pipe dream, but at least we'll be able to sell him for a pretty sum when he does ask to leave right?

April 2035

A dour game settled by a Batuhan Duman free kick, funny that.
Doesn't detract from the fact that he's been very poor this season, struggling to adapt to that AMC role.



Tore Sporting a new one in our last derby matchup, had nowhere near the appetite to do the same in this one.
Conceded a very early goal, subsequently struggling to mount a comeback, mount said comeback only to fall behind straight after their kickoff.
Fortunately Silva found another equaliser with another fluke goal from wide left, good old glitchy match engine eh



Another dire match lit up by Matuszczyk pouncing on their backline's mistake to score the opener.
We only really deserved the win if we held on, but we didn't so you can't raelly say we deserved it anyway.



The intent (as is the case for the big games this season) was to sit back and absorb pressure.
Didn't work, as we (AGAIN) conceded early and proceeded to concede another, before we exchanged goals to go into the break 3-1 down.
Having actually scored against Barca I decided to pile on the pressure and had a few decent chances, and did convert one of them - unfortunately it was all we could muster.



What a fucking disaster of a game, their 1st 2 goals came about form only 1 shot on target, while the 3rd saw our keeper beated at his near post.
We 'bravely' attempted to stage a comeback (and nearly completed it) but that 1st half was an absolute shambles, huge problems coming to the end of the season.



1 PPG this month is really relegation form, so thank fuck we're virtually safe already.