sortitoutsi
Football Manager Graphics
- FM24 Graphics
- FM24 Player Faces
- FM24 Logos
- FM24 Kits
- FM24 Backgrounds
- FM24 Installation Instructions
Football Manager Guides Database
Football Manager Data Update
Football Manager Shortlists
- FM24/25 Update Guides
- FM24/25 Update Shortlists
- Best FM24/25 Update Wonderkids
- Cheap FM24/25 Update Wonderkids
- FM24/25 Update Young Players aged 21-25
- FM24/25 Update Best Free Players
- FM24/25 Update Expiring Contracts
- FM24/25 Update Bargain Players
- FM24/25 Update Injury Prone Players
- FM24/25 Update Richest Clubs
- Best FM24/25 Update Facilities
- FM24 Guides
- FM24 Shortlists
- Best FM24 Wonderkids
- Cheap FM24 Wonderkids
- FM24 Young Players aged 21-25
- FM24 Best Free Players
- FM24 Expiring Contracts
- FM24 Bargain Players
- FM24 Injury Prone Players
- FM24 Richest Clubs
- Best FM24 Facilities
This site is not endorsed by Sports Interactive or SEGA and is intended for entertainment purposes only. The views expressed on this site are the views of the individual contributors and not those of Sports Interactive or SEGA.
Eric Portapotty
Before we get on with Smouha have a look at Egypt's Cup of Nations campaign:
Started with a (shock?) loss to Angola, before scraping 2 wins to finish 2nd in their group:
Then they get their ass handed to them by Morocco.
The Moroccans did eventually reach the final (losing on penalties to hosts Tunisia) so at least they can say they lost to a finalist.
Of Smouha's representatives:
- Salah Amin didn't play a minute, and the same could be said for stopper Abdel Fatah;
- Hossam Ibrahim started all the games, but was average at best.
- El Ashri and Mahmoud Ibrahim were the starting strike pair and started every game as well, but both only showed up for a game each - that's half the battle lost when they're your main goalgetters.
What did we do during the extended international break then?
Not too bad, had the assman handle the games and we managed to go unbeaten here.
Earned quite a bit of cash as well, vital for our coffers given that we lost about a thousand even with this income.
Disappointing way to resume the league after the break, wrong tactics were employed and we paid for it with an uninspiring performance.
Ibrahim did score an equaliser to ensure we continued our unbeaten streak.
An easy win against probably the least ambitious I've seen Tersana play, having lost a good number of players to injury.
Haras El Hodoud finally ditched their troublesome 3-5-2 in favour of a 4-3-3, which arguably played into our hands - albeit taking some time to get going.
When we did though, oh what a goal from Mabrouk - from well outside the area he picks one out into the bottom corner for a vital lead.
Tentatively 12 points ahead, though Damanhour will make it 9.
10 games to go, could be an easy title win, could be one of the most spectacular collapses - we'll see.
Also, another CAF Champions League campaign begins, and we're off to Togo for the Preliminary round:
Dominant win, and 2-0 wasn't quite sufficient.
Said was very wasteful despite his 2 goals, could and should have grabbed a treble.
Finally, there were a number of moves i the January transfer period:
Lots of loans out, Abdel Azim failed to get a proper sniff at the left wing spot so was sent out again, while El Hadeedi was never going to start over Abdel Fatah at the back.
It's Abdel Fatah's deputy that caught the eye though:
One of the few times I'd ever made use of an agent's offer, we pay half his wages (half El Hadeedi's incidentally) and we get a stopper who is probably just as good as (or maybe even better than) Abdel Fatah.
Abdel Fatah's the undisputed starter though, barring disaster there's no way I'm dropping a local lad.
Eric Portapotty
El Gouna still had the narrow diamond to frustrate us with, but this time we handled it quite comfortably.
Definitely had an easier game here.
Could've been so much more comfortable though, if it wasn't for El Ashri's frankly terrible performance in front of goal - he hustled well, won a few tackles too, but when it came to finding the net he seemed to be completely dumbfounded.
I think on paper Damanhour arguably have a better squad than ours, particularly with their direct and powerful front trio, and it showed here.
They didn't score any of the goals but their running (and outrunning) at our back 4 caused havoc in that area, and we weren't able to get a grip on the game with them going at us.
But it does say volumes about the lead we've built up when we still possess an 8-point lead over them with a game in hand - though it has to be pointed out that said game is against Al Ahly.
Onto to the Champions League:
We finally dealt with the Togolese side properly, Said with another double, along with right winger El Sayed.
Next round matched us against Cameroonian tyrants Coton Sport, who'd just won their 10th (TENTH) consecutive league title.
Shaky performance, both El Ashri and Ibrahim failed to really get going.
Finally, our next youth intake:
Wow! One of the most gifted players to come through the youth ranks in recent years!
Oh.
It does say a fair bit about this intake that the best player's only got 3-star potential.
This batch can be effectively written off as a dud (barring a miracle), but Ibrahim might be able to offer something - he's already got the basics of defence covered and can impose himself physically, could work on his mentals next.
Eric Portapotty
Well, here's our game in hand.
We absolutely rattled Al Ahly in the 1st half, but just couldn't find the target.
It was beginning to look like one of those days until El Sayed delivered a cross from wide left that went all the way in.
Ibrahim made sure of the win, and we restore our 11 point lead.
Good win, Koroum gave it a hell of a go with their 352, but our quality shone through.
This, coupled with Damanhour's shock loss to El Gouna, meant that we could seal and 2nd title in 3 seasons with a win over Petrojet:
Easy.
It turns out that I'm now also the 13th most successful manager in Africa, cool.
Mabrouk with a perfect start to the game, Emam scoring the winner (after not being caught offside for once) - should've scored a couple more, but their GK was pretty good on the day.
The equaliser was scored by ex-Smouha man Talaat, still at Al Moqaoloun but it does look like he won't amount to any more than a backup for them.
We've got a great chance of breaking our own points record from our 1st title win, just need 4 points from he remaining 3 games to break the olrd recorrd of 83.
Off the the CL yet again - will we shrug off our poor 1st leg and put Coton Sport away?
Well yes.
We quickly gave our opponents a mountain to climb with Wellington's realy goal, and proceeded to pick them off on the counter.
Ibrahim was absolutely lethal on the break, galloping down the right on multiple occasions and smashing in a hat trick.
The next round featured the likes of Raja Casablanca, Al Ahly, Etoile du Sahel, and (grr) Orlando Pirates.
Who did we draw, Guinean minnows and by far the weakest side left in the competiton in Hafia.
And so it proved, our 2nd string side completely overwhelmed them and went back to Egypt with 5 away goals.
Eric Portapotty
The league champions versus the already-down cellar dwellers - hard to find a bigger mismatch this season.
It was predictably easy in the end - rested most of the 1st-teamers and still came away with a dominant win.
El Ashri absolutely destroyed him in the 1st half with a treble, a surprisingly large scoreline if I'm honest.
The result also ensured we beat our previous points record, and some way to achieve it too.
The final league game of the season saw us fall behind against the run of play, but the players got their act together and ended the campaign on a very high note.
How high? 89 points high.
Best defensive record by some distance, and 2nd top scorers - not much to complain about for this year really.
Of course after the conclusion of the league season there's the cup to look forward to - one that we'll be looking to defend:
Round 1 couldn't have been easier - all the youths put on a dominant performance and completely nullified any threat present by All Hammam.
The next round was substantially harder, Al Ahly always providing stiff opposition.
Certainly didn't help that El Ashri was missing chances left right and centre to keep the game at 1-0, then continuing to bomb after the equaliser.
Thank our lucky starts for Mahmoud Ibrahim then - 2 assists and a goal for himself eventually ensured an extra time victory.
Not a good time to draw Damanhour, especially since most of our starters had just gone through 120 minutes of football a couple of days before.
Ibrahim was rested on the bench in favour of Farouk, who made a vital impact with the only goal of the game.
Damn, a 3rd top side already? the odds haven't exactly been in our favour this time round it seems.
Off to the continental stage:
We could and should have scored more, but given their intent to foul our players as many times as possible I think coming away without any knocks was the best outcome.
Al Ahly were knocked out by Africa Sports, to mark the end of a very underwhelming season on their part.
A relief is Orlando not being in our group - they're in with domestic rivals Kaizer Chiefs and CL winners of the season before, Ain Fakroun.
The hope is they'll break each others' bones as much as possible and have Orlando somehow not qualify for the semis, but surely any side who could put a side of the calibre out aren't spring chickens either.
We've got the take care of our own group anyway, Mazembe are perennial African giants, while Supersport are South African so they automatically have some cracking players.
Eric Portapotty
We tore them yet another one, Ibrahim this time getting the plaudits with a superb treble.
Onto the final - Masry provided decent (but ultimately futile) opposition as we defended the cup in style.
Amin with 2 brilliant headers won the MotM award, but Ibrahim did set up both his goals from corners and put 1 in himself.
Yes! Double winners, now to make it a treble.
Players of the Season
Mahmoud Ibrahim was the best player this past 18 months by some distance, tanking El Ashri's inconsistent form and banging in 29 goals for club and another 9 for the NT.
El Ashri just about did well, but there were patches of poor form - very much a confidence player.
Regardless, one of the hardest workers on the pitch on the day and a good leader up top.
Mabrouk just wouldn't quit, would he? Double-doubles in all competitions shows he's still very much a valued member of the starting XI.
Mahmoud Abdel Fatah was a rock at the back, with 12 clean sheets and an average of under a goal conceded a game.
Unfortunately he broke his collarbone towards the tailend of the season, which meant that:
David Hurtado had a chance to impress - and boy did he.
Keeping an insane 11 clean sheets in just 15 games, and not conceding more than a goal in the other four, he has been an inspired addition to the squad.
There'll be a very hard time picking one of them for the start of the season.
The pair have been helped very much by the CB pair of Hossam Ibrahim and Salah Amin, brilliant how we've got a reliable defence for once.
Finally, all the way from French wine country:
Chiekh Diouf is 3rd top scorer in Ligue 1, quite the surprise given his low rating.
Nevertheless, leading newly-promoted Bordeaux to a top half finish is definitely not to be sniffed at.
Now's decision time though - should I keep him for my assault on the CL (and drop one of my foreigners in the league's registered squad), or continue whoring him out to Europe(and earn/save a bit of cash in the process)?
Eric Portapotty
Not bad, overachievers.
But yet again Zamalek are the prime underachievers, they've been in a downward spiral for a number of seasons now, and it's really not looking good for them at this point.
No question, almost always produced in style when it mattered.
We need all the fans we can get of boost our gates, but let's be honest, it's really a minuscule part of our income which itself is peanuts in the face of our expenditure.
Basically evidence that despite our increasingly popularity
Score! Glad to see that our board knows at least that we're sliding into the shitter fast.
Arguably insufficient though, if I'm honest.
Now here's something they can work on, make use of our position of title holders to squeeze out better sponsorship deals.
Transfers:
Well suffice to say we're gonna rake in a record profit this summer, in a desperate bid to ensure that we don't go into the black at the end of this season.
Would've loved for him to stay (quite a solid centreback after all) but he was taking up a foreign slot and I felt we needed to cash in on him while he was still able to fetch a good price.
Interestingly, he only made a single appearance for the club, having been farmed out to European teams to take advantage of their facilities - a decision which has worked out well enough on hindsight.
He wanted the move too, so this was as amicable as it could get - the fans are happy at the cash, I'm happy that I don't have to fret about his place in the team, and he gets his chance at a top(-pish) league.
Decided to cash in on him too, he was undeniably a talented player but Aziz Amer always had a higher ceiling and was younger too.
Could've made more from him, Vitesse actually in with a $3 mil up front offer but I played hard to get under the assumption that I could get a higher price - guess I assumed wrong.
Nice surprise here, a decent sum for a guy I'd not followed up on.
Onto preseason:
A good run of games, which started with Midtjylland coming over for Mabrouk's testimonial.
Only blip was the Nott'ham loss, where I inexplicably played an unfit 2nd string team for 90 minutes.
The CL Group stages also started in preaseason:
Mazembe's GK played an absolute blinder, which resulted in him getting the MoTM award - well deserved, if I may say so myself.
Mahmoud Ibrahim was injured for this one, and our front 3 of Farouk, Emam and El shri sorely missed in power in front of goal.
That said, Alger gave us quite the run for our money, and in such a close game they just about deserved it with their better finishing.
Orlando were torn a new one by counterpart Kaizer Chiefs (5-1!) but recovered to beat CRB to secure 2nd in the group.
We find ourselves in the same position, albeit with a better goal difference.
Beck to Egypt now, for the curtain-raiser of the domestic season:
El Ashri with a match-winning performance here, I'll need him to pull this off on a consistent basis if we are to win the CL this time round.
To round off:
500+ tickets more is a great sign of progress, but I wonder if a bigger capacity stadium would allow for more season ticket holders.
The bookies have also made us 2nd favourites to win, seems like Al Ahly's sheer advantage in reputation will always make them favourites.
It seems like reputation also applies to Zamalek - despite finishing /staying in the bottom half for a few seasons already the bookies still made them favourites behind the moneybags and El Gouna.
Meanwhile, Wadi Degla could have a really hard time ahead - having lost their star GK and striker over the summer they've replaced them with somewhat inexperienced youths, could end in tears for them.
Eric Portapotty
We started off with an easy win against a Zamalek side slowly but surely staring into the abyss of relegation.
With a 2nd string side too, adding salt to the wound there.
Police Union shocked Al Ahly 1-0 on the opening day, and it did look like they were about to repeat that feat here.
We didn't help our cause with 2 goals ruled out for offside (alongside countless other offisde calls).
Emam turned (relatively unlikely) hero for once with a clinical brace.
We tried keeping the ball at first (and got the opener), Tersana shut us down very well with their pressing.
We then went long ball to try and use of forwards' pace, but that only served to increase the pressure on our defence, which eventually buckled - a rude awakening this.
Early days, so not much to tell from here, but at least we're very much within reach of the top.
Onto the CL:
An extremely comprehensive win against a South African side that I expected to dominate against us, turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
Ibrahim's dismissal for a rather needless 2nd yellow put a dampener on things though.
We bossed the early exchanges, got the 1st goal, then switched to a 4-6-0 when Mazembe did their own tactical adjustments with a 3-5-2.
Ragab's sending-off only served to make us sit back even more, and we managed the 2nd goal on the break.
David Hurtado was awesome in goal, definitely got us the win as much as the goals did.
Gives me a lot of leeway for the next couple of games, though of course I'll be looking for top spot.
Also, Orlando might well be looking at a group stage exit - great news given our wretched record against them.
Eric Portapotty
Fuck knows how we didn't convert our 2nd half dominance into a goal or two of our own, though i has to be said that Ismaily definitely got the better of us in the 1st half through the sheer speed of their attacks.
There was no doubt that this was a must-win, not least because of the gulf in quality but also the need to maintain our sight at the top of the table.
With all that said, easy win.
Next was Haras El Hodoud - they were an occasional banana skin over the past number of seasons, but we should look to put them away regardless.
Though my cause wasn't helped by statements like these:
Smouha legend Mohamed Adel coming out criticising the club and its manager - perfectly normal thing to do given modern media, but he seems to have forgotten that he's still contracted to the club!
Not yet off our payroll and already he's talking shit about the club - man's got a death wish.
Enough of that nonsense though, we made sure his comments would come back to bite him in the ass with a convincing victory.
I'll take being 'only' 4 points off the pace, given that we've already faced (and lost to) 2 moneybag sides.
Damanhour seem to have lived up to my prediction of their league-best attack, frontman Segun Uche with 10 goals already.
Zamalek continue to struggle, culminating in yet another change of manager.
Off to the CL, where we tidy up our business having qualified from our group:
Great win, and a hope that I might actually manage to cope with the other South African sides (i.e. Orlando Pirates).
The win also seals top spot for us, ensuring we get to play the return leg at home.
Rested the regular for the final matchday, and we paid a heavy price.
There was hope that we'd manage to secure a smash and grab win after our early opener, but we were just outplayed by a superior team here.
So top spot here, a decent achievement - but then I see the other group and realise in horror:
Welp, that's our CL hopes done then, fuck's sake.
Dan
Eric Portapotty
I'm wishing very, very bad things on anyone associated with Orlando Pirates right now.
Eric Portapotty
(I suppose I'll get these two out of the way first, the 1st 2 games of the months anyway)
African Champions League
2 games, only 1 goal - Ibrahim and El Ashri choked yet again when it mattered most - ended up fining a month of their wages.
Not sure where we go from here, Orlando sure as hell aren't going to go into oblivion anytime soon, and we don't seem like we have the bottle to show up in the big games.
At the rate we're going (and the various expiring deals for our men) we aren't going to be able to afford being in these parts sooner or later.
Regardless, I had to complete the month if only for accountability:
From being unable to put a decent effort on goal against Orlando to putting 2 within a half-hour, well fucking done Ahmed.
A rotated squad (due to a fixture pileup) did very well here, Aziz Amer looks well on his way to truly succeeding Mabrouk.
Farouk tore shit up here, though it has to be said that Damanhour was playing a 19-year old who was, shall we say deficient in ability.
Quite relieved that we didn't get torn a new one Segun Uche, unlike last season...
Anyway, the 4-point gap from last month has turned into a single point, and with Al Ahly up next on the 1st of November we could be looking at top spot sooner than later.
Eric Portapotty
Al Ahly were intent on injuring our players for most of the match, only raelly going for it late in the game when our guys had been knackered.
It's down to us to win these though, and we miss an opportunity to put one over our title rivals.
Ibrahim (when in the zone) is an absolutely terrifying weapon on the counter, strength and pace means he simply bullies defenders all the way.
El Ashri assisted both his goals as well, his role as a complete forward/shadow striker is vital in our system.
Absolutely dropped the ball here, we should very well have put the game to bed but for a combination of heroic goalkeeping (ffs) and wayward shooting (FFS).
Suez then rode on their wave of momentum to nab 2 goals in quick succession, and we sorely needed Ibrahim equaliser to spare the blushes.
Another deeply frustrating game - and this time we didn't have an inform Ibrahim to count on with his misfiring showing.
However, the player he was hauled off for did make the difference, Farouk with a thumping header from a freekick late in the game keeping our (admittedly unimpressive) unbeatn streak alive.
We'd actually carved out a point's lead at the top after the Al Ahly game, unfortunately our form this month wasn't title-winning form and we fall behing yet again.
Tight as fuck title race though, 2 points separating the top 4 with the rest of the money within reach.
Anyway, back in South Africa there was a lowkey two-legged affair going on...
Fuck Orlando Pirates, jammy little cunts.
Got beat 8-1 on aggregate against Kaizer Chiefs in the group stage, they somehow managed to pull 5 goals out of their arses (2 away goals too!) to defend their crown of African champions.
Fuck Orlando Pirates, I fucking hope they go under.
DNZY
They don't go under, they walk the plank.
Eric Portapotty
They'll probably find a way to get away, them slimy pricks.
And there's a pirate emoticon??
Eric Portapotty
Cor, great win for the guys, we didn't convert our dominance into goals but once we got our 2nd there was no going back.
Ripped them on the counter, Emam being actually unselfish for once and squaring to El Ashri for his goal.
Dangerous game, should've made more of our chances and we left feeling relieved more than anything.
We tore shit up in the 1st half, and really thought we'd go on and go in dry on them after the interval, only for them to come out with more spirit and eventually finding a goal, then another back.
I mentioned previously that Wadi Degla has released their 1st-choice stopper before the season and predicted that they'd struggle without him.
Well that came back to bite me in the arse really, as their new keeper pulled off an MotM performance to ensure that we only left with a point.
Despite the draw we're still top, after Al Ahly also draw with ENPPI and got absolutely humped 5-2 at the hands of Damanhour.
Eric Portapotty
A late January game against a resurgent Zamalek side who seem to have finally gotten the right manager after a couple of failed appointments.
Still think the draw was of our own doing though, El Ashri was yet again frustratingly wasteful in front of goal.
Oh look, turning up against the smaller teams, collecting your goal bonuses along the way - how convenient.
Well at least they turned up I guess.
I thought everything would go smoothly after Ibrahim netted the opener - just need an El Ashri goal or two to seal the game.
That didn't happen (Y'know, El Ashri and big games) while LB Wael El Sayed was torn to shreds down their right and endured a terrible game.
Tersana probably deserved it, looking at how El Ashri has regressed this season - we don't deserve shit with a striker on that form.
Tersana game was actually the end of a 10-game unbeaten run, only that we drew 5 of those in a subpar run that kept us firmly stuck in the title mix.
Hopefully the loss the Tersana game knocks some sense into the players (and some fucking consistency to El Ashri) for us to bridge another 4-point gap.
There was the transfer window as well, a number of ins and outs:
Bah is definitely an upgrade over our local youth stopper El Hadeedi, and will be second fiddle to Abdel Fatah in the league at least.
Benali will always put in a shift, can play multiple positions and is decent physically - not too shabby given market's availability.
Cover at RB, and he can play wingback which would be a boon should I ever decide to play a 3-5-2.
Decided to cash in on him, he never impressed out left and is what, 7th choice striker? He's not the worst striker prospect I have, but he's probably the most saleable.
Of the other loans El Badry was an unlikely target for Academica, they actually made their interest concrete and nabbed him on loan.
Scored in a cup win against Braga as well, here's hoping that he develops well in Portugal.
Eric Portapotty
Credit where it's due to Mohamed Reda for ending up in the exact same spot for both his goals - towards the far post on a free kick to tap in home.
For us, damning that we contrived to concede 2 from the same setpiece routine, among other things - El Ashri was piss again, while Farouk was started ahead of Ibrahim and showed slightly more scoring powers.
You'd expect far more from an Ismaily side who should be looking to break into the top 4, capitalising on our less than stellar form.
Instead their GK won the MOTM despite doing nearly nothing all match bar pulling off 3 point blank saves in 10 seconds before conceding the only goal of the game:
In fairness that was absolutely atrocious finishing from El Ashri,
Dropped the main forwards, and I was rewarded with a good performance from the youths.
Aziz Amer looks like the real deal as well.
Bleah, completely lacking in any attacking impetus, lucky to come away with another 3 points.
Real tight at the top of the table, but being bottom of this foursome (with an inferior record against Tersana) leaves us with quite the problem.
Off to the CL:
Nice,,, Having a forward for movers like me,m we did well enough even without them.
Bit of a nothing game, wasn't like they were going to claw back a 9-goal deficit anyway.
We seemed to draw quite a short straw here, usually our next opponents don't really require much at all -- not the case this time round.
Eric Portapotty
Apologies for not updating, I managed to play out the entire season at a go, so here goes:
We started March so well, the win over Damanhour wasn't really convincing but we definitely wiped the floor with Al Ahly, Ibrahim with 2 goals.
Unfortunately he then picked up a knock and was ruled out for 2 months, which meant that El Ashri was now the main goalgetter - which he didn't excel in, put it that way, in our next 2 games.
We did go the rest of the season unbeaten, but the damage was done - with the top of the table as tight as it was dropping 6 points was always going to be a death knell for our title chances,
Turns out Tersana won our 4-way, and with their 2nd last season it seems like they're now our longterm title rivals (that is if we manage to remain competitive in the forseeable future...).
Al Ahly finish out of the top 2 again, and 4th doesn't even guarantee them a spot at continental competition next year - there's still the Cup.
On the other end of the table Haras El Hodoud went down, pity as they had an interest on getting our guys on loan and (for the most part) play them.
Off to the Egyptian Cup:
Brilliant work, not an easy run by any means but we got through in the end too secure our 3rd consecutive Cup win.
The Tersana game also featured a dismissal on their side, and it would've been just as comfortable had it not been for Al-Hammadi tearing our backline an absolute new one.
I would've given him the MoTM had Abdel Latif not come off the bench to score a (frankly easier) brace of his own.
El Ashri made up for his league mishaps big time by pulling off some top drawer performances here.
Now for another knockout competition:
Alger was an easier proposition than I expected, no problem for our starting XI.
The reserves... let's just say they didn't have such a good time.
Monastir, they were a different animal.
Playing the 4-5-1 and looking to play on the counter they were surprisingly hard to handle.
1st leg was a titanic struggle, could well have been out of the tie there and then.
The away leg was similarly tough, and it was important to get the opener before the half was over - we spent the 2nd period defending our narrow lead - not very well, but their shooting meant it was sufficient.
WHAT THE FUCK
Short fucking straw here lads, Tunisian giants CS Sfaxien, consecutive CL holders Orlando FUCKING Pirates and fellow South African side Kaizer Chiefs (who of course humped Orlando 5-0 in the group stage last year).
Fuck I think we're finishing bottom here, here's hoping I can drag Orlando out with us.
-------------
All in all another season of progress, should've won the title IMO, another chance to win the CL (if we could only beat fucking Orlando).
Our youth intake was pish, only talent of note was an RB who had a Casual mentality, luckily he was tutored pronto to drag him back into Balanced.
Eric Portapotty
Let's start with some (more) bad news:
This despite breaking our transfer sales records (individual and over a window), we are probably knee deep in the shitter.
Then you see this and you gradually realise that the inevitable is about to happen - this season could be the last chance for us to win a CL title, we won't be able to afford their wages/contract renewals for long.
In any case, the show must go on - here are our transfers:
Bah and El Amrani were both re-signed as inexpensive deputies, while a couple of veterans left the club.
Yao was a fan favourite but wasn't interested in signing a new deal, while club legend Adel quite simply can no longer justify being on the payroll, not even as a tutor to the youths unfortunately.
Moataz Emam... he was never going to get game time with particularly with the emergence of Aziz Amer and with Mabrouk still going strong.
Onto the friendlies:
Very sound stuff with an unbeaten run, only blip was Norwich but a draw was probably fair for bot sides.
It wasn't exactly a fully prepped preseason though, 4 guys (Ramy Ragab, Amr Hassan, Aziz Amer and El Ashri - quite the backbone of the side given their age) went away for the Olympics.
Midway through our friendly tourney the African champions League resumed proceedings with the commencement of the group stage:
Surprisingly comfortable, though we did amass one too many cautions(...) and Hossam Ibrahim was subsequently suspended for our next game - against Orlando fucking Pirates.
I think at this point it'll be easier to keel over and die than to put up with this nonsense.
I've thrown the kitchen sink at them and still we're quite simply unable to even chip away at their game - won't put it past them winning a third straight CL, the jammy cunts.
Group B looks much, much easier - Kano Pillers thrashed Mazembe 5-1 there btw.
And before we start the season proper, there's the Super Cup to look forward to:
Disappointing, we didn't build on our lead and eventually Tersana switched to a 4-3-1-2 which nullified our possession game, and by he end of extra time we were probably fortunate to hang on.
Penalties - well I skipped through that, pretty much luck of the (virtual) draw there so I'm not too fussed over losing it there.
Al Ahly - despite still possessing a couple of cracking players - are a fading force and are probably still favourites for the championship by virtue of their moniker of "Club of the Century" - most famous club in Africa let alone Egypt,, they aren't going away any time soon.
Ipswich Knights
Eric Portapotty
-------------------------------------
A 4-2-4 that was debuted against Orlando was repeated here, a possession-based, aggressive pressing approach coupled with a very high line (offside 'trap' included) that ensured we would have most of the ball against a narrow diamond 4-4-2.
Unfortunately pairing a high line with a keeper who doesn't ever come off his is a recipe for disaster - on multiple occasions their forwards beat our offside trap and had the best part of half a pitch to run on and shoot - our setpieces saved us here.
Far too easy as usual, the 4-6-0 on the counter against a 3-5-2, running at their weak backline repeatedly.
Another narrow diamond in the midfield, only this time we reverted to a 5-3-2.
We raced to a comfortable lead, but our defending (especially given that it was a back 5) was a letdown.
Bollocks, our 1st big game in the league and we bombed it - Hossam Ibrahim and Ramy Ragab on the centre-right of our backline was absolutely outwitted on the day, we were lucky not to concede more.
1 point off the top, still early doors but going behind in the H2H against Damanhour is potentially costly.
Now on to the CL, licking our wounds after another Orlando defeat:
Note to self - never, ever play a high line against a pacy striker.
It was the last time the 4-2-4 was used as well, the sheer lack of midfield cover and high line was just suicidal - the 5-3-2 was employed against midfield diamonds from here on in.
You know who else uses a midfield diamond? Orlando fucking Pirates, that's who.
THEY ARE NOT UNBEATABLE
A surprisingly tame performance from them to be fair, and we were fortunate they didn't put us to the sword.
We now find ourselves 2nd, not quite safe from elimination but a damn sight better than from a matchday previously.
clloyd
Joined Eastern (HK) -> Jeonnam (KOR) -> Villarreal -> Southampton -> Villa -> Juventus!
No CL won however I've won leagues with Eastern, Jeo and Villa.
Great story, how do you get the motivation to stay at a club? I even leave successful clubs with great prospects.. I got Southampton the championship title and into the prem, pumped with about £75m in transfer budget and resigned with them in 8th after half a season!
DNZY
It really is a fun story to read, hopefully you can keep this up!
Eric Portapotty
I feel like I've put too much into the club to just leave, spunking millions into the club's facilities when I could well have bought quality players for more immediate success.
I think there's a vindication now, most of the 1st XI (and squad) are the academy graduates, but I really need to win the CL to say that my work here is really done.
------------------------------------------
Took quite a while to get going, but even we did eventually score they weren't stopping us.
Abdel Kader got us an early lead against new boys Samanoud, but again it took a while for us to seal the game.
Still, a largely rotated side did well here.
Was a titanic struggle here, Abdel Fatah was in good form in goal, but eventually Al-Hammadi (who has been top scorer for the best part of 5 seasons) got his goal.
A draw was fair, could've been worse.
Ex-Smouha lad Mohammed Talaat (via Al Moqaoloun where he inevitably flopped) moved to El Gouna, and is currently among the league's top scorers this season.
And with pace up top in 4-1-2-1-2 it really gave me the heebie jeebies from last season where we got completely wrecked by Suez Cement.
Here our back 3 seemed to cope well against that threat, and though Ibrahim was completely misfiring one of his aerial challenges did eventually set up El Ashri for the opener.
A magnificent counterattack afterwards led to El Badry netting in an impressive finish to seal the game.
Wasn't expecting to finish the month on top, but Damanhour's failure to capitalise on their superior H2H record against us and Al Ahly's apparent penchant for draws meant that we lead the pack, albeit on goals scored.
On to the CL, where we were on a high after digging ourselves out of a hle last time out:
Another comeback win, and probably another fortuitous victory given we were under the cosh for a significant period of the game.
Oh man, this was some game.
Farouk started up top and his poaching ability was showcased here with the opener, and Amr Hassan's CWB role and the almost shameful amount of space afforded to him to storm forward granted him 2 great finishes.
Unfortunately playing in a cavalier style meant that we had to compromise at the back as well, though it was arguably inevitable that a team of Kaizer Chiefs' calibre would score regardless of our setup, so *shrugs*.
Add that to Orlando absolutely bottling their last 2 games and we find ourselves topping the group! Absolutely amazing, especially considering I was considering resigning after Matchday 3 (where we only had 3 points).
But let's not be too glad, Orlando are still in the bloody competition, they can beat USM Alger, knowing them as the jammy cunts that they are.
We've beaten Mazembe before, we've got a better team than theirs, so I'd be disappointed if we don't find ourselves in the final.
The problem would be the other finalist - it'll either be Orlando bloody Pirates (who lest us forget are gunning for a THIRD CL title in a row) or the team that beats them over 2 legs, neither of which is really ideal if I'm honest.
Dan
Eric Portapotty
-------------------------
Fielded a much weakened side against minnows Koroum, unfortunately for 45 minutes we made them look like Conte's Juventus, such was their swashbuckling 3-5-2 that saw them race to a 3-0 lead before the interval.
Brought on one of last season's youth graduates in Mohamed Fathy for his debut, and what a debut it was - a double as we managed to claw it back to what is still an embarrassing 3-3.
It looked like things we about to go sour again after a dire 1st half, and it wasn't helping that we conceded the opener yet again.
Fortunately, 3 Ahmeds(!) combined to give us another rather lucky win, yet again.
We started a vastly inferior team to Tersana's in light of our fixture pile-up, we never coped very well to their threats but at least went into the interval level.
2nd half, BAM ex-Smouha CB Eric Diaby gives us a suckerpunch by bundling in from a corner.
A couple of minutes later we're two down and struggling to claw our way back.
Fathy played the role of supersub again, pulling one back albeit to no avail.
We've got a game or two in hand over our title rivals, but the dropped points this month are a problem - even if we won our games in hand we'd still be 2 points behind leaders Al Moqaoloun.
That said, challenging for the league isn't that high on my list, and I've been pooling most of our efforts to...
African Champions League
On a day where Mahmoud Ibrahim was firing blanks yet again, Emam popped up from the left wing to show a clinical touch - between his tendency to keep himself offside and his injuries he's still quite the player when on form...
It'dve been a much more nail-biting game had we not found an equaliser after Mazembe levelled the aggregate, Emam with a peach of a cross for Ibrahim to slot home.
Abdel Latif came on and curled in a effort from range, which is a surprise given that he isn't much of a longshots man.
The other semi was quite the convincing one, put it that way:
"Oh shit we've lost to Smouha for the first time ever" "Oh shit we've finished 2nd in our group" "Oh shit we might not be able to make it 3 CL titles in a row"
Well that's about as big a middle finger as they could've shown to the rest of Africa, demolishing the other group's winner.
I'd take a draw, we were playing with (albeit wunderkid) midfielder Aziz Amer at a completely unfamiliar rightback role, and substitute loanee Anouar Benali who was nothing short of a nervous wreck in a ballwinning role.
Best news however would be Ragab not being ruled out for too long, bruised ribs only keeping out for 8 days.
In any case this is probably going to be my last season at Smouha, I'll either win the CL, play out the Club World Cup and leave with Part 1 of 5 done;
or lose, render my work here a failure and leave before the financial hell sets in and I lose many key men to frees next summer.
Eric Portapotty
wat
No really though, it was one of the most insane matches you'll ever see, 46 shots in total, a comeback from 3 goals down, both CKs having absolute clangers, and some truly atrocious defending on show.
Not that I enjoyed our 1st half though.
The reverse happened here thankfully, as we thoroughly dominated an underperforming Ismaily side.
That still left us with quite the mountain to climb, as we still find ourselves 8 points off the top albeit with a game in hand.
Enough of that league nonsense though, there's a CL final to look forward to:
Well fuck.
Our backline was in sixes and sevens, attack was so so poor, El Ashri in particular was completely useless.
More significantly, this marked the 3rd consecutive season that we've lost to Orlando in the semis and beyond - but this hurts the most. In previous season they'd always win by a goal or nudge out a very scrappy draw over 2 legs, but they definitely outclassed us here, just as we saw this as our best chance of finally breaking through - riding a wave of momentum to come back and win the group stage, finally beating Orlando in the process, and besting TP Mazembe (who are not slouches tbf) in the semis.
Cunts.
In any case, I can't take it any more, I can't see us breaking Orlando's dominance in Africa (well not us anyway, not with this mental block) and I don't want to have to meet them again.*
Nice to see I've made some friends in my time there, including 2 of the best GK coaches available.
Of course I couldn't leave without giving the players a piece of my mind over their performance in the final:
---------------
*(inb4 Smouha win the CL next season)
What's next? I don't know.
Eric Portapotty
A couple of weeks into unemployment:
No messing about, 1 club, 1 job application and 1 contract signed.
Currently a Liga Adelante side, they enjoy the briefest of seasons in the top flight a couple of seasons ago.
The upstairs men want promotion to La Liga, no pressure then.
Looking at the table it's surprising that Cosmin Contra was sacked, they're well in the promotion hunt and are currently in the promotion race, I'll have to do well to match what he'd done so far.
At least the club is willing to indulge in my obsession with youths (
Here's the squad's strength list:
And here's (in my ssman's opinion) the club's best player:
Not impressed at all, his attributes gaives flashbacks (PTSD?) to Emad Ahmed, probably the most defensively accomplished fullback that we had, but offered so little going forward and had problems with opposing wingers running in behind.
In any case he's asked to leave, I've granted him his wish and will be looking for a more attacking LB in January.
Now this is the best player in the team, a hard worker, offensively and defensively sound, he'll be our CWB until we can sort out the sheer lack of quality/form on our right wing.
Looking to build the team around him, a well-equipped playmaker with no little mobility.
DNZY
Best of luck at Oviedo though!
Dan