[FM14] Pentagon - Redux

Rest of the Season 2034/35

I'm not going to glorify the end of this season by going into detail, just weep for my collapse.
Matuszczyk was injured for the entirety of this period, and obviously we missed him sorely, if the 1 goals in 4 games hasn't been enough of a hint.



The midtable was quite tight this year, those 4 straight losses really killed our chances of finishing in the top half.

Players of the Season:



Matuszczyk was far and away our most important player this season, scored a shit ton of important goals to prop the team into the top half and keep us there.
Sure he's got his droughts but I wouldn't have wanted anyone else leading the line this season - let's hope it rings true for the next campaign.



Right winger Marcos Vargas was a mainstay on the right wing, albeit due more to our lack of options there.
Went through a wretched patch where he didn't have any end product really, but he did produce some insane moments, like the double against Atleti when we were a goal down and were being dominated.



Club captain Fernando Alava also did his bit, with double figures in goals+ assists.
Though this season didn't really work out for him, having to vacate the AMC spot for the Batuhan Duman experiment, and playing a deeper role.
Thing is despite his output he's not been able to influence a game as a playmaker should, will need to work on the tactics to get the best out of him - any suggestions?

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



A surprisingly accurate summary there; obviously didn't expect us to stay up as easily and early as we did, but by jove were our performances dire.
There'd be at least 1 defensive fuckup once every 2 games, we conceded a lot of early goals, mistakes all over - not a pretty sight.



This makes me feel like I'd rather we made a loss.

In other news:



No idea why but being in an Egyptian club for nearly 20 years and choking at crunch time in continental competition seems to have elevated me to legend territory - the bookies also had me as odds-on to take over at Juve and Real Madrid.



In any case, another season here to see if I can get this club any higher.



Oh look, the stadium I requested was finally finished.
... And they named it after Mohamed Adel, makes sense since he's a legend over there while I'm only an icon...

Perseason 2035/36

Absolutely well deserved - tied for 5th top scorer in his 1st season in the Spanish top flight of all places.



Signing of the season as well - 700k for 20 La Liga goals coupled with another 400k to get us promoted, it's been a great couple of seasons with him in the side.
Horst Holtz much less so - highlights were few and far between and he more often than not contributed to our horrendous defensive lapses.

Transfers:



The 3 Bosman arrivals, after which deals of varying levels of sense.



Ali Diallo looks set to become one of the league's best defenders if the reports are anything to go by.
Priority would be to train him to play RB, can't let that crossing go to waste.



Centanni will be the starting RB while Diallo learns the ropes. a good character who I wouldn't mind signing if he impresses here.
Its helps his case that he's rated as our best current player the moment he stepped foot at Oviedo - not so good news for the club though.



Tsvetkov is a cheap, dirt cheap utility man, providing cover for multiple positions and being something of an all rounders in ability.

Ivan Sergio was an expensive error of judgement that Park Chu-young proposed and I (unfortunately) rubberstamped.

Of the outs of any significance was fans Player of our promotion Season Rivero, still a good LW on his day but it's time to move him on.

Preseason:



Really not the best, our opener featured a dire 1st half performance where we contrived to go into the break trailing; thankfully we improved to add respectability to the scoreline.
Then we lost to River Plate - apparently we were underdogs, but that's not to say the loss was acceptable by any means.
2 consecutive 1-0 wins before another shambolic defensive performance to finish the series - we could be in for a bumpy start to the season.



Speaking of which, we're projected to finish a place lower than last season.
Which is depressing, though I've got a suspicion we'll do worse and go down this time round, not least due to the haphazard preparation for the season.

Not a terrible season in the end, despite the four losses, after all the pundits think you're doning all right since they link you to the Barca job. Those 20 league goals from Matuszczyk is really good for a lower mid table team. Ali Diallo looks terrific at 18 - and as you said don't waste that crossing ability!

Good luck!

syke

Those 4 games really were a downer tbh, was pretty much present-day Watford atmosphere around in that time.

Thanks as well for reading! Glad to have you around

Oh and for real Matuszczyk is the GOAT.





Oh look I must be still playing a game from last se- NOPE IT'S JUST CONCEDING A GOAL IN THE 1ST MINUTE TO NEWLY PROMOTED HERCULES IN OUR SEASON OPENER.
Some things never change.



In fairness it was always going to be hard to contain Atleti's attack, but it's still gutting to lose a lead in any case.

Anyway, we quickly wrapped up a deal before the end of the transfer window:



Found Curri when looking through Albania's NT page (which Shala is also a part of). He's an upgrade over Bermudez is almost every aspect (barring Determination but that's probably irrelevant if the goalkeeping isn't good enough).

But spare a thought for Bermudez, who has been ousted from his starting GK spot by Albanians for 2 straight years - you don't see that everyday.



New GK, same problems.
Our backline has been truly terrible - Centanni (despite being supposedly 'our best player' conceded the penalty among other stupid things he's done, while Holtz was determined to prove his 'worst signing of last season' right and go one better, so many mistakes......!!!
Though it has to be said that Matuszczyk had a poor game as well, and it was left to Nikolaou to score on his debut off the bench.



URGH, finally getting a win on the board.
Matuszczyk looks like at the end of the day he's still running the attack, scoring the winner and providing the assist for the opener.



WHOOP, 2 straight wins and our points doubled with another great Matuszczyk performance.
And we seem to have figured out our defence, well we still need a clean sheet to actually prove that, but it's progress.



Spoke too soon - man Holtz is really hopeless.
Also another off day from Matuszczyk, but it's only fair that he has one with all his carrying of this team on his back.



See? What the fuck did I tell you.
Centanni was brought back from exile to deputised for the newly exiled Holtz, and promptly made another mistake for their equaliser.
But nothing could overshadow the brilliance of Matuszczyk here, with his assist and 2 goals grabbing us the vital win.



9 points from 7 games, what could have been if we actually had a competent backline.
But at least we aren't Getafe.

Also randomly took charge of the Indonesian U23s for the Asian Games:





That turned out as good as it could get, maximum points despite nearly tripping out on multiple occasions.



Dammit, real annoying to get pegged back after establishing a steady lead, but arguably all that matters is our cross to the next round - albeit on nervy penalties.

October 2035

There wasn't any terrible finishing or poor performance (apart from conceding a penalty) - we were quite simply up against a goalkeeper on his day.



Great comeback win, but it was business as usual initially (unfortunately) - cite back, concede, then decide to go attack and find a couple of goals along the way.
We haven't got any sort of positive game plan going, too dependant on moments of magic from Matuszczyk, Varges et al..



A win, a fortuitous one, and eventually a Phyrric one:



FUCK
Worst news possible, the team was built around him and I've got no ready-made replacement.



Elche are nuts in this save, got a great youth system going with both scorers here being youth products and great players in their own right.
Nikolaou did his part up front deputising for Matuszczyk, but his game looks to be too limited to replicate the latter's all-round game.

Unfortunately there's been another casualty:



He'd just come on as a sub and we end the game with 2 torn calf muscles in the team



Top half, minor miracle if you ask me, but it's all downhill from here now that we're down 2 strikers (and one Matuszczyk in particular).

November 2035

A vital derby win, gives us hope that we can still thrive in a Matuszczyk-less setup.



That Horiuchi dude was just too good for us, we tried to get at them but he swept us away on the wing, getting to the centre and scoring a couple of scorchers.



And the 2nd of both Spanish giants, back to back.
I'd have loved for us to hold on to our lead but Real's attack was just too much for our (admittedly) under-equipped backline.



back into the lower half we go, but with still 5 points above the relegation zone there's still a bit of breathing space for us.
Things can go very wrong very quickly though...

December '35 - January '36

To be honest I was just looking to play on until I got sacked, such was my form:



Worst form in the league, horrible excuse for a defence, no hope whatsoever.

At least we had the King's Cup to look forward to:



NOPE, that utterly useless backline doing me no favours still.
After the 2nd leg Gabriele Centanni (the loanee centre/right back) was relieved of his duties - didn't have the height to play CB< didn't have the proper speed to play RB, didn't have the mentality to play in defence at all - probably up there with my worst signings.



Fortunately we seem to heve seen some light at the end of the tunnel, albeit against fellow strugglers Hercules.



Too bad we weren't able to end this wretched run with another victory, again the backs to the wall thing fails to work.



So we're now right smack in the shitter, but with Matuszczyk looking to return soon he could be the catalyst for our resurgence.

Transfers (it is the January window after all):
In


Outs



Akaev is an excellent distributor of the ball and has some eye for a pass, will share the creative load with Alava.


Geirsson comes in for the absolutely hapless Centanni, and seems to already perform better than the latter - better in the air, better passing ability, should've gone for him in the 1st place.


Marquez and Abreu are from celler-dwellers Getafe, makes for poor reading with regards to our transfer ambitions.
Marquez is just around to sit on the bench and provide cover on the left flank, while Abreu is Bosganas' replacement as backup LB.

February 2036

Over the last few games I was told of our poor setpiece defending, so obviously we worked on them.
Where in their 1st 3 goals come from? Set fucking pieces.
At least we found a bit of fight after the break (and could've won if Pascual didn't snatch his chance from Nikolaou FROM AN OFFSIDE POSITION) we could've even gotten the draw.

After the game Holtz was transfer-listed, can't stand his shite at the back anymore, and at this rate I'm all but ready to admit my failings at his signing.



Got rid of Holtz, still conceded 3 , but at least we didn't lose - baby steps I guess.



OOHH!@!! Best performance of the season by far - virtually everything clicked into place from the get-go, never looked like losing this (though we did looking like conceding).
Nikolaou has hit some incredible vein of form as well, somehow bagging 7 in 3 - mightily relieved I didn't send him out on loan now.



.... And we're brought back down to Earth.
Don't let Pascual's goal fool you - it was a mishit cross, and throughout the game he was snatching at others' chances, failing to keep himself onside and missing the target repeatedly.
I wouldn't have him as the root cause of our loss, but he certainly could have won it for us.


So we're still waist deep in the shitter, and with only 4 other teams realistically in the relegation dogfight this could turn ugly for us.

We've also got a pre-contract signing on the way:



If we go down his existence could be a huge bane, but I had to get him such was the state of or backline.
His main strength is well, his strength and his physicality in general, which can hopefully make up for his rather average defensive ability.

March 2036

We shouldn't have won this, let alone keep a clean sheet - but that we did.
We had to endure a barrage of attacks from the off, but eventually we got our footing in the game, and got into a shock 2-goal lead before the interval.
Sociedad came back into the 2nd half looking to recover a goal or two, but we managed to hold the win for once.



And we fall right back to Earth.
Probably went with the wrong formation, their 4-2-3-1 wide was always going to stretch our back 3 all the way, and they did.
Still I didn't explain how we capitulated the way we did, then again our whole season has been full of capitulations so this is just par for the course.



Back to the drawing board for the defence, and we coped well for the most part.
The attack though, not so much - Matuszczyk has been terrible lately and this was no different, going offside on great chances, not doing well in front of goal and all etc..
Nikolaou's equaliser had more than a hint of offisde, ironically.



FUCK we needed to win this, it's like the Newcastle draw with Villa - if we couldn't even beat Getafe we deserve to go down, and we probably will as it turned out.
It was basically the Athletic game - solid enough defence, awful attack.



Well this time we didn't even have a flukey goal to show for our efforts.



I'll put this very simply: our next 4 games are Gijon (the Asturian Derby), Barca, Real Madrid and (albeit a slightly underperforming) Valencia.
I don't think we'll survive the season, and I doubt I'll survive this stretch.

Something else to distract me from this shitshow:




I guess it's good that Sanchez has potential, given how Borodin has handed in a transfer request in another one of my disastrous transfer deals.

Tough season. And by the looks of the coming games, it could be a lot tougher. Time to move away from Spain?

Probably, though it looks increasingly to be by circumstance rather than choice.

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

April 2036

Fuck this team for trying to keep my hopes up by getting Alava to score a hattrick.
Not that we deserved to win the game anyway, the attack was completely disjointed and the defence, well no properly functioning defence would concede 5 goals.
In a derby too.



Decided to sit back for the 1st game of 3 extremely tough encounters, wasn't looking to work out when we conceded the opener (as usual).
Somehow Matuszczyk headed in a peach of a cross from Vargas on the break before Pascual took advantage of a defensive lapse to score the winner (very surprising as he's been extremely wasteful).



Sitting back didn't work this time, hated playing against the 4-2-3-1 and our inability to deal with it rears its ugly head yet again.



Third time of 3, and another loss.
At least we can say that we didn't deserve anything out of this game anyway, 1 shot on goal and all.



Still knee deep in the shitter, but next up is Celta, if we can get a win there then there's all to play for.
Though we did lose to them earlier in the season...

May 2036

Desperately needed a reaction from the team, got another poor performance.
I'm scared guys.



Really, desperately needed a reaction from the team (as was the case for most of the season), ended up being on the wrong end of a hiding.
I'm really scared guys.

So now with 2 games to go we're deeper than ever in the shitter and with lieelte to no light at the end of the tunnel - I suppose it's time to prepare for my P45 eh?



Wait what? Playing an attacking game away to a midtable side, recovering from an immediate equaliser and ending up 4-1 winners?
PASCUAL SCORING A HAT TRICK?

Only reason I could come up with is Alaves no longer having anything to play for, but capitulation to this level was our forte this season, so it's surprising to benefit from it for once.



Heh, what a time to pull 2 straight wins out of our arses.
And what a time for our forwards to turn up too - Matuszczyk after such a long time out and Pascual having been rather inconsistent.
That said, he stayed true to our form to an extent by conceding and having a nervy ending to the game - at least we pulled through in the end.

Well that was a nice enough way to end the season I suppose, but it wouldn't have mattered if we were releg-



FUCK WE STAYED UP

Amazing that we weren't one of the 3 that went down, let alone having 4 teams finishing ahead of us.
(Fun fact, Rayo has an Italian striker who top scored this La Liga campaign with 34 goals. And they still finished below us.)



Heh, satisfactory - the fans should be blowing up having seen the number of times we made a mockery of ourselves out there.

Anyway, onto next season, but before that:



Akaev proved to be a serviceable option this 6 months, would need another playmaker around to deputise/compete with Alava as well.



This was a far better signing IMO, not least because he wanted upwards of 10k p/w when he was still with us.
Having gone back to Olympiakos and realising that his stock isn't that high after all he/his agent (still incredibly) agreed on a heavily discounted deal.
Notreally a great player, but he can cover no less than 5 positions and I'll be looking to train him to become the ultimate utility belt man.

Preseason 2036/37

Seems like Rayo had a great squad more that only their 34-goal striker - still slightly baffling how we ended up ahead of them.



Had bouts of poor form but was our most productive player overall, I'll be hard pressed to find a winger with his ability on his money.

Transfers:



You guys know about Szeman, Akaev and Tsvetkov, the others will be elaborated on.
Of the outs we say goodbye to Rosero (whose ability has fallen off a cliff and can no longer be considered squad-worthy) and Humberto (who never did enough to warrant a starting spot, and eventually even a place in the squad).



Tranche is relatively safe as free transfers go, he's got a decent skillset and if he doesn't work out I reckon I can move him on for a decent sum.
Straight out on loan to Almeria as well, he's already earning the club a bit of money.



Pack Chu-young signed him, not me.
But he doesn't look too shabby so the green light was given on this one.



Another free youth-ish signing, looks like he has passable technicals with room to improve so he might work out.




Little to no choice on this one, Betis had met his release clause of 5 million and when Sociedad went over that I snatched their hand off, the fools.
Hate that he's gone as he was vital to our late, late surge out of relegation - but then I think of the rest of his season and go 'meh'.

On to preseason:



Camilo (out on loan last season) made an impressive case for himself as Pascal's replacement wide left, with a couple of goals in the friendlies.
He doesn't look like he'll be good enough but hey, I'm willing to give him a shot for the next half-season, and I do need to fulfil my philosophy of developing the youths.

Overall I don't think there's much to tell from these games other than they were good for morale, they weren't too much of a challenge and weren't supposed to be anyway.




I don't believe that we'll finish that high unfortunately, there are some very good teams tipped to finish below us and then there's Rayo, with their 34-goal striker.

August 2036

Magnificent start to our season, well around the 1st half anyway, before our 2nd half put more than a few doubts into our minds.
Attack seems to be ok, but the backline... room for improvement.



Urgh ffs I never learn my lesson - shutting up shop against big sides almost never works because we don't have the quality in defence to hold them off all the way.



Man this hurt, we we on top in the 1st half and should've capitalised more on that impetus before we eventually tired and had lapses in concentration to throw away all 3 points.



If it wasn't for the fortuitous win over Rea l Sociedad we'd be accompanying Recreativo at the bottom of the table, we desperately need to improve.

Anyway, the transfer window ended as well, we've also wrapped up a transfer or two:




Another unexpected transfer from an Asian club (Matuszczyk being the 1st), he looks to be decent depth/potential, pretty low risk if I could say so myself.



And year, on the out Borodin's gone - I could never give him the game time he inevitably wanted, and with his contract running out soon I'd have been looking at losing him for nothing.
He goes back to his former club, I recoup my cash, all in all a satisfactory deal.

September 2036

Oh man we needed this comeback win, 3 defeats in 4 games would be reminiscent of last season's awful run of game, only at the start of the league campaign.
Cristobal also helped us on our way with dare I say the GOAT 1-touch goal:





Urghhhhhh, a good opportunity to get a second straight win and we can't keep our bloody leads.
Another goal for Camilo though, but he's been far from proving he's worth being started with his less than consistent displays.




THIS FUCKING FORMATION
I'VE BEEN IN SPAIN 4+ FUCKING SEASONS AND I STILL CAN'T DEFEND AGAINST THIS FUCKING FORMATION
FUCKING SHIT



Allen Bell made his debut in a rotated lineup, I suppose that could partially explain the loss, but who am I kidding.



Worst goal difference, no clean sheets, can't defend for shit, next up is Elche who have handed our ass to us the past few season with their wonderkid forwards, whopee.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'm not going to try and justify this result with sound tactical explanations, my laptop's probably gone to pot and generated this result for me, who knows.



But if there's anything the that thrashing did for us it gave us confidence to fight a deficit, even if we couldn't hold the lead against Atleti.
Gave them a game all the way, even if we were under the cosh for periods.



Szeman puts his massive physique to good use with a rebound from his own header off the post, and Cristobal continued his great form deuptising for Vargas with the winner.
A comeback win, I should add - it's definitely looking up for us here.



Not the best way to end the month, but oh well we could only have so many scalps in a row.
We definitely had more than a few chances to score, but for some oorly struck efforts and a number of offsides.



We've got a decent number of tems between us and the relegation zone and we'll need it, since our next opponents are Barcelona...

November 2036

Oviedo outshooting Barca - never thought I'd see the day!
More significantly would be keeping another clean sheet, and against Barca no less.



Rayo were winless a couple games before this and their gaffer was on the brink of the sack before they notched up 2 straight wins going into this one - even then he was still in danger of being booted.
Had more shots again, but couldn't capitalise on our threats on the counter and instead we were the ones who got sucker-punched, ffs.



Derby day, and boy did we wake up for this derby.
Camilo played the role of a narrowish winger to great effect, Matuszczyk was pretty clinical (which unfortunately a rare sight these days), and we rack up our biggest win of the season.
Don't like to not keep a clean sheet, but when you're up by 5 it's hard to keep focus I suppose.



Again, looked absolutely terrifying on the break, but again we couldn't get a clinical touch on the finishing.
But we didn't lose.



Might have only scored in 1 game, but we only conceded 3 in 4 games and kept 2 clean sheets as well, which is a world of improvement on being spanked 6-0 by fucking Numancia, so there.
Besides, look where it's brought us - top half, albeit a part of one of the tightest league tables here, with only 5 points separating us from Celta in 18th.

In other news, new signing Allen Bell has managed to establish himself in our starting XI, and as a result has earned himself his international debut for the US of A.



Not the best start.

December 2036 - January 2037

The only goal came about from a chaotic pinball buildup in our penalty area, and unfortunately we couldn't carve out a similarly chaotic opportunity, or capitalise on the efforts that we did create.



Annoying game this, we had the best opportunities on the break but we (again) couldn't finish Granada off - though not even the controversial idsmissal of Allen Bell for a last-man foul stopped us from creating chances.
I say controversial because the FA didn't touch me even after I lambasted the ref's performance in the game:



Which begs the question: Why then did they not overturn the ban?



Another game where we had the majority of chances on the break, but again, no goals for the 4th straight league game - real wasteful stuff on show.



It definitely looked like it could well be 5 in a row as Las Palmas' keeper had a blinder in the opening period of the game, until Matuszczyk broke the deadlock (oh what a deadlock it was) with a great effort from outside the area that went over his head. He then set up Alava's goal tto seal the game before Pituca broke said keeper with a wayward cross that flew into the net.



Luckily we'd found our scoring boots earlier, or else we'd probably slumped to defeat here - Real Sociedad has us by the ropes here and should've had more than just the penalty that Allen Bell conceded.
Fortunately Schultz bundled the ball in from a goalmouth scramble and we were able to defend resolutely for the remainder of the contest, our 3 draw in 4 games.



Rinse and repeat from the last game, only more extreme - we showed next to no attacking intent/ability and Real looked to create a repeat of our drubbing earlier in the season.
But Cristobal had other ideas - using his turn of pace to great effect as we manage to earn our 4th draw in 5 games.



Which would probably been a bad thing, but a win changes everything - that's unbeaten in 5, and a much more respectable 7 from 15 than just 4.
The bottom of the table is still tight as fuck, and while I don't see us pulling away any time soon the rediscovery of a relatively reliable backline should see us surviving this season.

The Cope del Rey also started, and going by our past result it's really going to be an exercise in futility - doesn't help that we played Athletic Bilbao in our opener:



Again playing on the break, Matuszczyk showed a clinical touch (unfortunately uncommon for him this season) to score the opener.
But Bilbao quick found an equaliser, and though we still had the occasional chance on the counter it was pretty much shutting up shop and bringing the away goal home.



The away goal allowed us to continue playing reactively, though unusually Duman's opener didn't come from a counter:



It's the highlight in what has been a forgettable Oviedo stint for Duman, who is likely going to be released after the season ends.
Cristobal then came on as a sub and his sheer threat on the break paid dividends to seal the tie, though Bilbao's late, late consolation gave us a few jitters.

Next up were Valencia, and the media was keen on mentioning that we'd never beaten them in our last 9 attempts - great:



We concede an early goal, get 1 back when their centreback converted a cross into his own goal, and should've built on that or at least not balls things up again - but noooo, let's concede another couple before the break to make an impossible task even worse.
Gave them a rollicking at half time, hoped that they'll come out and salvage some pride, got much more than I expected.
Nikolaou in particular played like a man possessed, a great hattrick from the Greek bloke before Camilo put the cherry on top with the 5th.



Valencia were men on a mission, and our backline received a battering but feld firm to hole them 1 one in the 1st half.
The 2nd half continued whhere the 1st left off, and it was down to Cristobal again to finish off our counterattack - he might not be anywhere near clinical, but his speed means he's able to fling enough shit on the wall and have some stick, or whatever the saying goes.
Anyway, we held on to the 87th before they pulled another back, but it was too late - and ALave made sure of that.

Next round was easier on paper - Rayo Vellacano, who still do have that Italian giant who top-scored in La Liga last season:



Gave us a hell of a game too,both backlines were porous and it was fortunate that the 1st leg was at their place, as we walk away with 3 away goals.



Again, the away goals meant that we needn't do the chasing this return leg, so we sat back and broke - to great effect, albeit leaving it quite late to actually make our chances count.
Nikolaou and Varges combined excellent here, the former making quite the case to start more regularly.



Welp, that's us done then.

Anyway, after all that we end this with a transfer:



Luis here apparently 'could be the next Djalminha'. I didn't who that was, so I looked him up - as it turned out he was part of the Super-Depor side that went toe-to-toe with the like of Real and Barca at the turn of the century:



Now if Luis ever develops to have the balls to do a rainbow flick against Real fucking Madrid then I'll be a very happy man indeed.
Helps that he's got a Portuguese lineage, so no problems with EU restrictions there.

February 2037

What a way to start the month - we weren't clinical by any means in the 1st half, but in the 2nd half we quickly earned and converted a penalty and the game was ever only going in 1 direction - ours.



Very odd game - we played a 4-1-2-1-2 and were prepped to play exclusively on the break down the wings, but we ended up 'dominating' possession at times but were completely unable to create any chances, and in this role reversal Villareal also obtained our horrible finishing.



Now I'll be the first to admit that we didn't deserve anything out of the game, but when your left back loses the ball in his own half which leads to the winner it's only fair to be a bit peeved.



We were looking to get back at Numancia after they gave us a 6-0 to think over an alcohol binge, and it did look like we were going to restore some pride after Matuszczyk struck straight after the break.
However they then equalised with an admittedly great goal (skinning my CB and finishing from outside the area) before a attempted cross froma tight angle managed to float over my keeper and into the net - awful result when we'd previously showed that our defence could hold firm under pressure.



We broke out of our mini-rut with a win against bottom side Recreativo, though I'd hoped it was more comfortable that it actually was.
Szeman continued his great season with a goal off a mishit corner, and Matuszczyk added to his (really) modest goal record this season with another strike to make the game safe.



Another month with 7 points from 15, though it wasn't unbeaten and we couldn't get one over Numancia.
Really wished we beat them, would've lifted us into the top half - that said we are still 7 points from relegation spots, and with 8 games to go we just need a final push to survive another season in the top flight.

Copa del Rey semis now, against Real Madrid no less:



WHOOP
Szeman underlined his sheer threat on set pieces with another goal off a corner, and while Madrid quickly found a leveller our ability on the break repeatedly caused their defence probelms, and Camilo brought us into the interval a goal up.
We came out for the 2nd half and saw their centreback completely fuck up a clearance from another corner, and managed to see the game out.

So we have a 3-1 lead, but they do have an away goal, and it is Real Madrid, so we still had a hell lot do at home:



I'd say it's reminiscent of that Barca-Inter game, but the fact remains that Madrid were just hopelessly wasteful with their shooting - so many efforts from range that flew high and wide, while we sat back and let them do so, and so it was for the whole game.



Ooh, it turns out that we also prevented a Madrid derby Cup Final, the Spanish riot police can thank me for that eh.
Of substantially bigger significance would be us being virtually assured of qualifying for the Europa League unless the unthinkable happens, because as it stands Atleti are on course for finishing in the Champions League spots,and when that happens we'll get a European place regardless of the outcome of the final.
(Obviously I'd still like to win the whole thing of course.)

Anyway, one arrival in deadline day (which was 2nd February /notinteresting):



He comes in as backup to Camilo, has Portuguese blood so EU restrictions don't apply, and is dirt cheap so he's practically free.
Though he does seem to be a bit shit, played against Villareal in his only game so far and he had negligible impact.
Still at $750p/w I can't complain.

February 2037

At the start of the game Elche were the Elche we all know and love (not) - a young, physically imposing and lethal attack.
Thankfully our backline only limited them to a single goal, and the 2nd half saw Matuszczyk restore parity.
Carrasco's 2nd goal meant that we really had to go for the jugular, and cometh the man, cometh the Bell - heading into the net from a corner to bring us back level again.
Alava then converted a vital penalty to give us the lead of the 1st time all game, a lead that was not relinquished before Bell added his own double from, you guessed it, a corner.



An extremely chaotic start to the game had me worried that we'd lost our defensive marbles, so it was great news that we came out of that early spell in the lead.
After Szeman gave us a comfortable lead the defence was able to see the game out, albeit while withstanding a barrage of attacks.



I'd say that I set the team up to intentionally throw this game so Atleti won't know any of our plans come the final, but even with that in mind our performance here wouldn't have been a good omen for that.



Urgh, bullshit.
Again as with most games this season we were on the back foot, aimed to play primarily on the counter so I can't complain about our lack of goals, but it's still annoying to see us concede late goals like this and throwing away salvageable positions.



Relieved to have won this, even more surprised that we managed to come out of this game with a clean sheet.
Carettini (Italian man-mountain that top scored in La iga last season, their equivalent of our Matuszczyk) had so many one-on-one opportunities that he put so agonizingly wide, man if he was on my team on the day he'd be expecting a fine or two.
On the day it turned out that we were far more lethal, could've been (and has been previously) a very different outcome.



9 points for the month, despite some rather demoralising defeats it's been a productive February really.
42 points, 8th on the table and 10 points from the relegation zone with 7 games to go - I'd be genuinely horrified if we managed to get ourselves relegated at this point.

Enough of the league, let's have a gander at our youth system and it's new arrivals:



I miss the Smouha days when you're virtually guaranteed a squad player per intake, and not n=only like one which required prior development, like those you could dump straight into the starting XI.
This isn't that, no.

April 2037

Barca seems to be more interested in injuring our players than getting shots on target, while we were too busy trying to get even, or were just plain rubbish at taking advantage of their apparent hot-headedness.



What a horrible way to lose a derby, but then again (as was the case with so many game this season) we didn't really deserve a win, and going into a derby set up this negatively would've got me slaughtered in real life.
Still, a defence that did so well for most of the season losing their concentration at the start and at the end? Bit of a kick in the nuts that.



Sometimes a reactive approach works, like it did here - our buildup play was simply better while we continued to defend solidly.
Alava missing the penalty (albeit then thumping home the rebound) was definitely egg on our faces though.



What a stupid game, Granada took the lead then proceeded to foul our guys for the remainder of the game.
I'd say that by doing so they ruined the flow of the game but fair dos, we were the ones who failed to break them down in the end.



Nothing much to play for in the league now, no continental spots in sight, no relegation to fear either.
Would very much like to keep our final placing in the single digit though.

Some good results lately (bar the Granada match). Stopping Barca from scoring a couple of times. Top 10 doesn't seem unrealistic.
Good luck in the cup final!

Aye cheers itchycoo, the Granada is something I'd much like to forget, what a missed opportunity.

May 2037

Ok, this was all on us - we managed more shots and could have put ourselves out of sight whilst still playing on the break, but NOOO we had to leave our shooting boots at home and lose our concentration yet again when it mattered most.



It was a relegated Alaves we were playing, if we weren't going for their throats I'd have failed us.
For some reason despite not dominating possession we did have far more chances than them, they probably couldn't care less anymore.
That said if that was the case us conceding 2 goals and keeping it a contest isn't encouraging stuff for our backline.



By contrast Las Palmas needed to win to keep themselves in the top flight, and they showed next to no fight here.
Camilo was the hero here, taking the goalscoring load from Matuszczyk who had an awful game here.



So 'best of the bottom half it is', all things considered I'll take it considering the start to the season we had.

TIme for the biggest game of our season, the Copa del Rey final:



I wouldn't go so far as to say that we blew it, sure we could've defended better but Atleti were just better on the day.



I'm sure if we won the whole thing we would've been biggest overachievers.



No matter, because at the end of the day we're in the Europa League! Have to say that I couldn't have imagined this at the start of the season given our awfully porous backline in that time.
We'll need to improve the squad though, we need some competition at LW, in this season it's really only the youth graduate Camilo who is starting XI material.

Superb to get into the Europa League! Hopefully the only way is up from here on!

Season in Review/Off Season

Players of the season



37 games, 5 goals, 7(seven) MOTM awards, average reating of 7.16, an absolute beast in the air - not bad for a free transfer eh?



He was so good he made it into the 'Equipo de la Temporada' which after consulting Google Translate is actually the team of the season,



While also being voted POTY by the fans.



The plan for Bell when he was signed was to loan him out for game time, and he might not have been registered in the squad had there been other players deemed more necessary for a non-EU slot - and certainly not establish himself in the 1st XI in the way that he did.
Happened out of accident as well - Ali Diallo was injured (and our backline was in terrible form) so some defensive shuffling got Bell into the CB slot, and after some defensive drilling we achieved some great defensive cohesion.
It's also interesting to note that this was a brand new defensive pair, both only arrived at Oviedo this season obviously.



Despite achieving double-doubles in goals Matuszczyk had a frustrating season, his shooting going awfully awry in more than a few games.
His relative lack of mobility was potentially exploited here, his ability at reading the game going some way to make up for that thankfully.



Spent last season at 2nd-tier Badalona where he scored 12 in 42 from central midfield and was their best player in a season where they were relegated to the 3rd division.
He returned for his debut season in our 1st team on the left wing. Admittedly he wasn't the best we could've had, but there weren't many left wingers in the market that piqued my interest, and I needed to clock my youth product quota to justify improving the youth development side of things.
He didn't do too badly, was extremely fit so he was available for virtually all the games, and it was his consistency that was found to be lacking, which is understandable given his youth.
Even with that he managed double figures, which is spiffing for a 20-year old in his 1st season in La Liga.



Another youth product, he was backup to Marcos Vargas who struggled with injuries and form.
Cristobal also had consistency issues, but his speed was a lethal weapon on the break, even if his finishing was less so - a 37% shooting accuracy with 9 goals proves both points more or less.

Off/preseason



Our cup run hasn't done anything to enhance our reputation, which is a bummer - surely it should've done something?



Fucking Numancia.....



Unusually that wasn't to be the same in the season review, who awarded it to Atleti (who were supposed to be around the top 4 anyway).
Elche definitely did underperform though, they have an attack that's absolutely ruthless on its day, so to finish bottom half is a disappointment for them.



Disappointing that Szeman wasn't the best deal of the season, even more galling when ex-key LW Pascual was - looks like Espanyol really ripped us off on that one.



A relatively low wage bill contributed to that, with our net profit on transfers also adding to the coffers.



Which is useful if we're going to pay these out on a regular basis.



Oh man dat TV money, the things Smouha could've done with this money.

Finally, we also had a couple of movements with our playing staff:



I deemed Bosganas to be not worth his requested salary given he's a perennial backup for Artur Silva for the forseeable future, which is ironic given one of the players I've signed:



He comes in as one of the top earners despite not looking like usurping Silva any soon, and the scouts and coaches rating him distinctly averagely.
The saving grace is him being able to play at CB as well, and being technically competent.



Young, inexpensive, able to cover multiple positions, no slouch physically - a very good signing in my eyes.
improving his defensive abbility and training to play him at DM would make him the perfect cover for my centre.



Again, not the best LW I could've had but he doesn't look like a complete numpty, so he'll suffice.
Will he start? He should, but he and Camilo will be rotating given our new continental commitments.

Yeah the way up, wages especially

Cheers Dan

Preseason 2037/38

Transfers wise, a couple of guys left out on loan, and there's only 1 arrival so far - here are the most significant ones:



Conte comes in as proper cover at CB, we could well be playing regular European football this season so we need quality rotations throughout the squad.
Looks like a Richard Dunne without any of the bravery and all of the hair.



Fuck knows what's happened to Sporting, they finshed in the bottom half last season and have signed Sanchez with a starting role for him in mind.
Excellent for us though, they have much better training facilities than us and if he does play regularly it's all the way up for him.

Although these two pale in comparison to the biggest coup of the summer:



Absolutely brilliant link-up here, managed to get themm as they'vejust been relegated to the German third tier.



Better facilities than ours as well, if they get promoted they'll be the ideal club to let our prospects develop - unfortunately they are in the 3rd division so my players have been rejecting loan proposals to there.
Anyway, onto our preseason warm-up games:



A very rude awakening for us against River, Allen Bell being called up the the USMNT didn't help but that can't explain the way we crumbled here.
a couple of wins seemed to get us back on track, but another lacklustre shooting performance led to a late loss against Argentinos, and we finished off with a 3rd win and a draw.
At least our preseason record did get over 50%, but we might still have some kinks to work out.

On to the Europa League now, where we entered on the third qualifying round - where we met slayers of Saints and half-slayers of Red Devils, Danish side FC Midtjylland.



Fucking great, European dreams are about to go up in flames before it even began - 4 shots on target from 18 spoke volumes about the problems with our play.
Midtjylland were far more efficient, 5 from 8! And of course took a lead and 2 away goals back to Denmark.

I needed the group to focus on the return leg, we even cancelled a friendly in between the 2 legs so they had maximum match preparation, fingers crossed we can dig in a pull a win out of our arses:



Well yeah, and then some!
You could tell that something special was in the works when Ali Diallo (who wasn't even pencilled in for set pieces because he's average at them at best) fired in a sweet free kick.
Szeman then scored the goal that put us ahead (from a set piece no less) before Matuszczyk gave us a comfortable lead going into the break.
Into the 2nd half Midtjylland's team simply collapsed, and were simply picked off by swift counter attacks - new man Eheyramonho even joined in the action for his first goal for Oviedo.



Atromitos are a pretty good outfit, and recently signed a cracking GK from Olympiakos (I know because I had him in my sights for a loan deal at least), won't be easy by any means.



The fans are missing out, we're in Europe (playoffs but whatever) for crying out loud.

Anyway, I'd like to end on a bit of misadventure - while I was doing up registration of the squad for La Liga I realised I'd forgotten something:




Bad, bad, bad news here, someone will have to sit the season out.
It ain't starting GK Curri, it ain't one of last season's revelations Allen Bell, it ain't left winger signed up to be a starter Eheyramonho, so it'll have to be backup CB/LB Acuna.
Which means his 43.5k p/w wages will be sitting in the B Team (which as at least been promoted back to the playable leagues) and only play for the first team in Europe - I've gone all Di Canio here, and it's no fun being Valentin Roberge.

Superb second leg performance! I think you'll go through again too! Group stages are beckoning!

August 2037

Great, great opening day win.
Matuszczyk didn't start too well, the 1st half was not his best, but some choice words of encouragement saw him turn the screws on Valladolid with a terrific treble.



Real played us completely off the park with their quick one-touch passing (a lethal benefit to playing a 4-2-3-1 and cramming 5 MC/AMCs in the centre) and could and should have scored by far more - though they seemed to have been a bit lucky with the penalty.



We bounce back immediately beating newcomer Hercules, a couple of excellent strikes sandwiching an own goal from their striker, a debut goal for new signing Kartaoglu as well.



In fact both goals were so good they were among the goals of the week:



And of the month.



6 points from 9, I'll take it given our tight schedule this month, and our normally subpar starts to league campaigns.

We now switch our focus to the Europa League playoffs:



A great attacking performance here, we were far more clinical than usual - 3-0 up at half time, and finishing with a 6-1 lead.
Or that would've been the case had our not capitulated at the end and gave Atromitos 3 away goals and a way back going into the 2nd leg in Greece.



We looked to be in a spot of bother when Szeman unfortunately used his scoring ability on the wrong end of the pitch and we were headed into a break a goal down, that is until Eyheramonho (finally got his name right) equalised right before half-time.
Atromitos then got a man sent off and we took the lead to put the game out of sight even though they then pulled another goal back.



Chelsea, Freiburg and Tbilisi... The former are runaway group winners barring a Mourinho-esque collapse, Tbilisi we will need to take all 6 points from if we are to have a shot a 2nd spot, so it's realistically between us and Freiburg for 2nd spot.
They've got the better team objectively, they play their men far better but we're hoping we can put a bit of a spanner in their works.

What really caught my eye in the Europa league groups is that there are three Swedish teams in there. And Oldham!