[FM14] Pentagon - Redux

That was a tough season to take!
You did well in Europe though.

Do you have resources to do a major overhaul or will it just be some tweaking?

Espanyol finished ahead of Barca

Ehhh, I'd take another shot at Europe next (this?) season over a deep cup run.
What I've found is that I now kind of understand why IRL managers like to focus on the league over say the Europa League - pragmatically (financially) it is better that we get consistent group stage appearances (and money) with the odd KO round cash over a deep run once every couple of years.

Who am I kidding though, we had more than enough of a squad to cover for both competitions.


The intention is to loan out a couple of youths who would've stayed and played if we were in Europe, but without it they'd get much less game time.
I'm hoping to actually get some proper use out of Augsburg's feeder status as well.

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

Preaseason 2039/40

The fanbase seems to have a keen interest in our B-Team, because that's all that Conte played for last season.



Upwards and forwards we go with the facilities, no brakes on this train.



Looks like I spoke too soon, the upgrades have put us to within a whisker into the red, and with our lack of European football this season we'd have gone deep into credit there.



Still, at least the taxman won't get his grubby hands on any of my cash.



Jeez, 1.4mil over a 7-year period, you'd think 2 straight seasons of Europa League football would get us a bit more pulling power.



Nothing that I can argue with with them awards, maybe Dincel could've had a shout for best transfer if only he was fit the whole season.

Transfers:



(And a couple from the B-Team)



Both Argentines from 2 seasons ago have departed, what a colossal failure they were if I'm honest - Acuna was a victim of circumstance (there was a cap on foreign players) but even when he did play he was a far cry from what our highest paid player (when he was signed anyway) should've been playing.
Eyheramonho's was more gutting - he had his moments here and I wanted him to stay, but he certainly didn't earn a doubling of his current wage.

Among other things I also contrived to release half my B-Team, which meant most of the incoming signings were meant to bolster that squad.



Signed on a precontract, Zhang is our equivalent of Dong Fangzhuo or Sun Jihai, an attempt get them Chinese shirt sales.
However he had virtually no part in our preseason due to international commitments, which is why he's now in the B-Team at the moment.
Well that and the fact that he's actually quite rubbish.



Blagojevic has that unique blend of composure and speed, I look forward to seeing him knock a few past the big teams on the counter.
For real though, a real coup for us, not least because AEK were paying him such a laughably low wage.

A number of youth prospects did go out on loan as well, Otal and Alfonso both secured Ligue 1 gigs, while Cristobal has to make do with distant, chilly Ukraine.
Jankulica also became the 1st 'beneficiary' of our partnership with Augsburg, hopefully he'll get the game time he desperately needs.

Friendlies:



Results went arguably as expected, on another day we could've beaten Utd and Lyon had it not been for some disastrous defending, but they were better teams anyway.
Among the positives was the good attacking displays on show - albeit against vastly inferior sides.



I'd take solid mid-table as a preseason prediction, but I'm hopeful that we can find that spark of the season before last and snag a European spot.

Lastly:



I'm in this for the long haul then.

August 2039

What a way to start the season, having a prolific team is a big positive going forward.
Nikolaou made his comeback from his torn hamstring suffered from last season, and while he didn't score he did get 2 assists.



Ok real talk, I shouldn't have won this game - I'm pretty sure we'll get one of those this season (as we have over the years) but man do I not want to have the kind of performance Elche had in front of goal.
They were missing their shots left right and centre - there was even a play where the contrived to hit the post on an open goal!
By contrast we were on full steam and we made sure we meant it - 3 goals before the hour and by then it seemed like Elche's defence had give up completely.
Not that their attack did though, they kept going and tried to match us there, but fuck me was their shooting awful on the day.



Another one which we probably didn't deserve to win, but rather than celebrating a smash-and-grab we were left ruing the inability to hold on to this win to the bitter end.
Szeman converted a penalty that in retrospect was apparently the wrong decision, but from there on Barca were on to us - it'dve been that way even without the opener anyway.
That said we met them at their game, also threatening and looking to extend our lead - well we didn't, and unfortunately we couldn't hold them back for the entirety of the game.



Unbeaten start to the season,I'll take that, especially when you see that even Real and Atleti have recorded losses already.
We'll need a hell lot of hard work to sustain this through 38 games though, not least because - as you'll see - certain circumstances.

The end of the transfer also came and went, some huge deals around:




Damn Lyon, they actually went and did it the absolute madmen.
Massive respect to them though, no playing of any waiting game or haggling of any sort, they went the Bayern-Javi Martinez route; no fuss, just a release clause and that was that.
I had actually persuaded him to stay for the season with the promise of Europa League qualification, but hey I can't even be mad at this:



This is some huge money.

His replacement:



A free agent previously from TP Mazembe, I think he was the best I could do on such short notice.
Not complaining though, I think he'll fit in well enough for a European push.

In other news Gonzalez's release clause was also met by Deportivo, fair play to him for joining a club that can guarantee him a more impoartant role that hwhat he'd have here.
There was also Pituca - his release clause wasn't met, but that price with his wages? I couldn't say no.
There's no doubt that he's one of our best players, but for the past couple of seasons he's found himself on the bench more frequently, a major downside to his versatility.
He wasn't the best RB in the team, and I found that he was too short to play DM effectively, so he had to find himself with more bench time and starts mostly in European competition only - which with this season won't be available.

So off he went, with 84k p/w off the wage bill and another 15 million in the coffers - really hope the board will allow another upgrade to the facilities before the end of the next financial year, when the taxman will come away with what, 10 million? Fuck off with that nonsense.

Still a brilliant career, maybe the lack of European football will boost your chances in the league.

Sure hope so, for a Pentagon challenge this save has no continental success yet, which isn't great.
Maybe I should give in and rename this to a more realistic 'Journeyman's save' or something to that effect...

September 2039

Promising to the Szeman-Addo centerback partnership then...
Honestly though, this would've been a hell of a game to watch as a neutral, it was about as end-to-end as it can get, and there was some magnificent finishing on show.
And as it turned out we were only able to put 4 past BIlbao because they'd failed to replace their veteran goalkeeper (who retired last season) adequately - with a safe pair of gloves at their end we'dve been looking at a real kick in the nuts to end our unbeaten start to the season.



Back to winning ways, and we made sure that Depor won't be the ones spoiling our start to this season.



We started poorly, as you can see with Lainez's opener from a corner.
We got our equaliser straight after, but it wasn't until the 2nd half that we actually turned the screws on them - going 3 up by the hour mark and having Lainez end his day with a bit of egg on his face.



Only kept the same back 5 for this, a rotated squad for Villareal, 3 days after Getafe.
Despite Estaban's opener our 2nd-string attack never seemed to gel, and we were lucky to not have conceded more than the single goal.



As with last season, a great start continues as we keep pace with the best in La Liga.
Though it has to be said, last season didn't end so well...
Then again, maybe DNZY was right, the lack of continental commitments might mean that we can focus on a proper assault on the European places at least.

In other news, I've got another new gig:



Yes it's that time again, a weeks-long side job for an U23 international tournament - the Asian games in this case.
For some bizarre reason I was hired 2 games into the group stages, which meant only 1 game was left until the KO rounds start:



And we did it in some style, a hastily-gathered squad thrashing a Bhutan team of greyed-out players.
In fact we were the only side with a full squad of 'real' players so to speak, with only some other sides calling up any players at all.



Easy gaming.
Up next were Oman, which also had a squad full of virtual players.



Again, easy gaming.
The quarter finals pitted us against Japan which - nope, you guessed wrong - had one player called up:



Excellent, thrashed by a literal bunch of nobodies.
Can't understand how our backline would suddenly capitulate in the way it did, when we already had a good run going and the players would presumably have been familiar with the game plan.



So ends another U23s stint.
On a side note, (this is FM14, so I hope they have fixed it, but if they haven't) I really hope SI puts some effort into fixing the lesser international age groups - between the random hiring of managers mid-tournament, the complete lack of call ups from nations which had a sizeable pool of players to choose from, to the rather unceremonious dismissals (see above), I get the feeling that they've put little effort into this.

Great start to the new season!
I'd even forgotten this was a Pentagon challenge initially, thought of it as a journeyman game, although you've been more than loyal to your clubs throughout!

Atletico has already lost a game, unlike last season(!)
Could this be your year?

Fully agree on the minor international tournaments, for FM2014 I'd even stretch that to international management in general, it leaves a lot to be desired.

Something that irks me is that teams that never gets qualified to the tournaments (for example the Euros) never sack their managers, even though they have terrible results, but if they should manage to actually get to a tournament, and don't go through from the initial group stage, boom they're gone. International managemens lacks the job security mechanic that have regular managers.
But this was a feature in the past, I remember an old version where Glenn Hoddle started out new saves with "insecure" as England manager.

More to your point though; I was manager of Iran for several seasons, and when the Asian Games was coming up I got a prompt asking if I wanted to take control of the U-23 team (Asian Games is a lot like the Olympics) for the tournament, which I agreed to.
The tournament started, and I had gotten no chance to control or even select a squad.
In the end the U-23 went off with only greyed out players, and crashed out in the quarter finals.

I really hope newer versions has fixed some of these issues.

I get the feeling that for SI international management has always taken a back seat, after all football fans nowadays have more of an allegiance towards their club than to their national side, so it kind of makes sense to get the major stuff right first?
It's probably also why (IMO) they haven't really fine tuned the really LLM aspects of the game (after they allowed for league expansion files) - once you go down that hole it'll be a real Pandora's box of bugs.

It is Glenn Hoddle though

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





This game would've been the maddest game in most other seasons, but we've already had that Bilbao game and that'll need a hell lot to top.
(Incidentally it wasn't even the maddest games of the past 2 seasons, there was a certain 7-2 win from 2038.)
Real Sociedad had come into the game with poor form, and it seemed like our backline was willing to help them get back on track with another abysmal performance to start the game - 3-0 down against a bogey side inside 20 minutes? C'mon.
We needed to go all out on them after that - we didn't have anything to lose tbf - and Addo did his part to make up for his defensive shambles, allowing us a way back going into the 2nd half.
Then Alava curled in a sumptuous free kick to make it 3-2, which made our opponents become more apprehensive, especially in light of their already poor form.
By the time Nikolaou brought us back to parity they'd already been under the cosh, and we simply kept pummelling until the Greek striker got the winner.

Could this be our Leicester-Villa? Who knows.



Next up was the return of the derby, Sporting Gijon back into the top flight after a year away - we took an early lead and should've taken our chances to make the game safe, but Sporting grew into the game and eventually ground out and equaliser, and a vital point.



Took us some time to get going, but Addo managed to come to the fore again, with another header from a corner to give us the lead.
After that it was business as usual, Blagojevic giving us a decent lead going into the interval, and we came out again looking for goals.
It was disappointing to concede having dominated proceedings, and so our nil clean sheets for the season still stands.



We had no control in this contest, Real made sure we paid (again) for that humiliation, with a convincing win.
Probably should've looked at trying to bypass their press, such was the rate at which we were copped into our own half.



Next up was Hercules, which in this slightly bizarre season was actually a top-of-the-table clash - yes they were the league leaders.
So in a way it was a good recovery from the Real thrashing, putting the table-toppers in their place.
Again, no clean sheet, but at the rate we're scoring it doesn't seem to be too much of an issue - yet.



Tight AF, with only 2 points separating the top 7.
Interesting to note that Real Madrid aren't part of this group, our game being one of few highlights in another underwhelming start to their campaign.
The other side christened by their king - Sociedad - did sack their manager at the end of the month, having picked up 0 points in October.

What of us then? No clean sheets yet, but we've also managed to score in every game this season - at least we're making our games exciting I suppose.

LB Artur Silva put in one of the worst performances in our time in La Liga, getting tortured by their right winger, having both of Espanyol's goals from from his flank, and getting hauled off on the hour with a 4.4.
But while Dincel scored our 1st equaliser, it was down to our captain and midfield talisman yet again - Alava coming off the bench to net another excellent free kick to salvage a point for us.



Good win, Addo's opener was coming but it had to take a setpiece to break Numancia down.
From then we continued the trend of this season - goal, goals and goals.
From both ends as well, which means we still haven't kept a clean sheet yet this campaign.



Urgh, a rubbish attempt at and offside trap and plain old ballwatching gave us a deficit that with our firepower we should've managed to overcome.
But Nikolaou was desperately poor up front (well our entire attack was for the most part), and Alava wasn't able to be our hero every game.



So 4 points from 9 this month, and we've lost ground to Atleti big time.
But we are still 2nd so there's that.
Definitely need to figure out our defending though, no clean sheets in 15 games would've been mid-table form ad it not been for our goalscoring exploits.

December 2039

Only the one league game this month:



A battling draw against Valencia, and even though we didn't win is was heartening to see that we actually dominated proceeding, when in previous encounters they'd just steamroll all over us (in part my fault tbf).
Unfortunately we couldn't put those chances away, and could only come away with a draw - still, it's a draw that would've been a thrashing in years past.



In a sign of the tightness at the top, we've fallen out of CL spots and are now looking over our shoulders at a potential 8th spot in the coming weeks.
On the other hand, we do have a game on Bilbao and Valencia, though that's about it with Barca and Atleti being out of reach at the moment.

Next up was the Copa Del Rey, and for the 1st round we were drawn against former league leader Hercules:



Oh wow, a FIRST clean sheet in competitive football this season, 'progress' I suppose.
And Camilo with the winner as well - he's actually done incredibly well this season, having the highest rating in the league so far and keeping himself relevant around the starting XI despite Blagojevic (correctly) proving to have a bigger threat with his sheer speed.



Welp, so much for the 1st clean sheet of the season - we contrive to slip up defensively in the 2nd leg.
Thankfully Camilo churned out another match-saving performance, with some excellent vision finding Zhang on his run for the 1st equaliser.
The 2nd was all Estaban's, some exquisite prancing about before chipping over the GK.

Next up is another derby matchup, 2 games against Sporting Gijon.

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

We've also made some signings going into the new year, before the January window - gotta make the most of the Bell money before the taxman sucks us dry:



22k from my beloved Smouha, they ran into the same problems that all AI managers inevitably get into with foreign signings - with only 3 foreign players allowed in their registered squads they're often left with unregistered foreigners who are too old for the U21-age group Reserves, one of which was Cisse.
A bit of a dick move to take advantage of Smouha's predicament, but meh it's their current gaffer's fault for signing too many foreigners instead of making use of his youth system.
They've got 2 more now sitting in the U21s, and if anything they'll find themselves in the same situation.

But I digress - he's pretty gifted in the art of defending, but his physicals need some serious work, and I'll be looking towards training him there.



Next up is another Chinese signing, this time raiding Beijing again for Zhong, who only had about a month left on his current deal.
Unfortunately Chinese clubs don't play by the Bosman rules, so I paid 40k to secure his signature.
I feel that it's definitely money well spent, an incredibly cerebral player who could go a long way to alleviating the goalscoring burdens of Nikolaou and Dincel.
But I can understand why my DoF deemed him to be overpaid, he does not look like he can impose on a match physically.

But I'm sure he will make himself worth the salary in other ways:



This is what it's all about, dem Chinese shirt sales - provided they actually buy from the club shop and not the bootleg jerseys.
I actually signed Zhang Jisheng for this purpose, but it seems you actually need to establish yourself before becoming a saleable product.

Lastly, my biggest transfer in this career:




Was searching for a long term replacement for Bell (and potentially Szeman) and I stumbled upon this guy; he was attracting interest from a couple of decent sides, and with the near-50 million earned this season it was probably OK to splurge on a decent talent or 2 - even if others might view you as a tinpot club (West Ham joke).



Well as it turned out we aren't like West Ham here, we've managed to come out on top against a number of really decent sides to sign him.
Hopefully with a defensive talent like him it'll light a fire under Szeman and Addo and get them to cut out the stupid 'no clean sheets in 17' nonsense.
Might even drop Addo already, but I'll give Santacruz a month or so to acclimatise to the club before throwing him to the deep end.

January 2040

I'll start with the Copa del Rey first, for reasons that you'll see:



Decent win with a slightly rotated squad, Zhang with a match-winning performance to add to another setpiece header from Addo.
Incredibly annoying that we still couldn't see out the win with a clean sheet though.



You know what they say, hell hath no fury like a team that's just been thumped by its fiercest rivals.
Seriously though, what an embarrassment - this was a role reversal of the 1st leg, they looked completely up for it while we looked like we didn't have the stomach for ice cream, let alone a vital cup derby.
Santacruz had a baptism of fire and boy was he burned, not least by the CB partner on the day Studenovic, who conceded the penalty.
But it would be unfair to blame it all on the latter - we were completely useless in attack, VC and captain for the day Vargas letting the team down with some horrific finishing.
In any case, we're out of the cup, and this was probably the easiest draw we had compared to seasons past.

Anyway, enough of the cup bullshit, now that our only hope left is in the league, let's focus on that:



Another battling performance where we asserted ourselves against a traditionally superior side.
... And another game where we couldn't convert said dominance into goals.



We made sure we made Betis feel the full wrath of our cup exit, despite having a slight disadvantage in terms of stats, we jolly made it count where it mattered.
Camilo continued his good form with a very early goal, and despite yet another goal conceded we saw it through to a convincing win.



A change of tack for the old and new league leaders Atleti, a counterattacking mentality to try and frustrate them.
And try we did, getting an early goal and restricting them for large part before you guessed it, ANOTHER GOAL CONCEDED.
Frustrating game, though at this point we can't expect our backline to do us any favours.



A game against the league's bottom side, surely we could start having a clean sheet here right? Wrong.
A decent win otherwise, but if we aren't shutting out this Rayo side then we can forget about clean sheets this season.



Injuries to both senior right wingers led to a new formation, a 5-2-3 that has been kept under wraps since last December, and with Santacruz's addition we might finally have a half decent defensive system in place.
WRONG.
And you know what? The biggest problem here wasn't even the stupid defending - that has been taken to be a given this season - it was yet another misfiring performance from Nikolaou, whose form has gone off a cliff or something, with yet another ineffectual showing up top.
It's unbelievable how he has dropped the ball on us here, this sort of form is simply unacceptable for a side trying to break into the top 6.



We find ourselves just about clinging on to a CL spot, but I'm not expecting our stop-start form to improve any time soon, not with that joke of a defence and NIkolaou bailing on us.
So hello 6th it is - best case scenario btw.

February 2040

Welp, certainly didn't expect this scoreline.
We had a good start with Diallo going on one of his rampages forward to head in superbly at the end of a cross, before we had our customary backs-to-the-wall defending time for the rest of the 1st half, and large parts of the 2nd.
When Kartaoglu got our 2nd it seemed like Barca lost their wits and went on tilt, Blagojevic putting us out of sight before Zhong continued his slow but steady start to the club with the cherry on top.
You know what would've made this day more perfect than it already was? A clean sheet. Oh wait.



Garmendia is the league's current top scorer, and showed why here with a clinical opener, and it looked like we were on the way to yet another defeat to Bilbao.
But Santacruz bundled in an equaliser from a corner (our threat from setpieces was bound to increase considering there were now 3 CBs around) before Blagojevic scored a sumptuous winner, a 25-metre chip on the counter over the keeper.
A goal worthy of winning any game, though we still had a hell of a time defending this lead.



Great win here, we were all over them from the get go, and Diallo was again on the far post with the early opener, Schultz doubling the lead midway thru the half before Santacruz and Nikolaou (FINALLY) added some deserved gloss to the scoreline.
And yet we still couldn't keep a clean sheet, I'm beginning to think that we're cursed.



Welp, we had nowhere near the influence against Getafe here, and aside from the Szeman penalty we had little to offer.
Except, finally a defensive performance with a clean sheet to go with it, I though we'd never see one of these this season.



Wow, another clean sheet! Seems like the 3 at the back is finally working its magic, and couple with a good attacking performance we dispatched of Villareal with ease.



Another one bites our dust, Sociedad were unable to deal with Diallo's runs as he scored once and should've had another when he cut between the channels to finish off his early chance.
Dincel gave us a good buffer to work with, and while both side battled hard we held on to secure another win.



Amazingly we now have a comfortable lead in 2nd place, albeit with a couple more games played.
But the title is definitely a write-off here, Atleti have again sped straight up the table and will be looking for their 4th title in a row.

Super month! Looks like you'll get top four at the very least.

Superb month there @Eric Portapotty, looks like a return to European football could be on the cards next year

I do hope it's a new European competition though...

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March 2040

Some way to burst our bubble eh.
Celta's 1st corner, a mashup inside the penalty box and Curri found himself deflecting the ball into his own net - no matter, at least we can get a couple back and win right? Wrong.
Nikolaou was absolutely awful in front of goal - no scratch that, make that our entire front 3 - while we wouldn't have the kind of luck of a scrappy goal or a penalty to dig us out of this.



Then we manage to come up with this shit.
We decided to attack Real from the off, and we were rewarded with 2 goals inside 30 minutes.
But that seemed to be the extent of our attacks, as increasing pressure and (the usual) rubbish finishing got us playing ever more reactively.
By the time Burger scored their goal we were defending for our lives for the 3 points, and despite picking up a knock Curri did a hell of a job to deny thing the share of the spoils.



Given the context this was by far the most embarrassing game of the season, not least because:
-We needed to win to keep us in 2nd spot,
-This was a derby game agaisnt our fiercest rivals,
-And we'd lost 3-0 to said rivals in the Copa Del Rey previously.
It's damning how with a better squad than in that cup loss we still found ourselves without the appetite for this occasion, with the 'defensive' pair of Szeman and Addo to lose their markers once each to see us go 2 down.
What was worse was the attacks, a once free-scoring side has been reduced to missing sitters and 'finding themselves against world class goalkeepers every game', as the excuse goes.
Then you've got Nikolaou, who must be thinking that he'd been absolved of blame by scoring an injury time goal which was too late anyway.



So we lose both games that we were expected to win, and win the once we were expected to be given a hiding.
The team has let itself down here, and I'm glad I've still Otal to call upon next season, because given recent showings the likes of Dincel and Nikolaou need a massive kick up their arses.

We also had the youth intake:



I'll just give it to you straight: This batch is a write-off, nothing more.

April 2040

We were on absolute fire in the 1st half, and it looked like we had the game wrapped up by the interval, even more so if we continued in the same manner after the break.
We didn't, in part because we seemed to become complacent after that 1st half, while Hercules' change to a wide 4-3-3 gave us problems - 1 forward v 3 CBs and all that.
I wasn't going to change a working system though since we'd been drilled on it already.
We nearly paid for it though, they had more of a shot in the 2nd half and with better finishing I could've foreseen myself shouting at the players yet again.



Zhong Zhibin was the star against a very mediocre Numancia side, he combined well with Nikolaou and thrived in the vast spaces afforded to him to score twice.



What a massive kick in the nuts this was.
Like in the Hercules game we had the lion's share of the 1st period.
And like that game Espanyol then switched to the wide 4-3-3, which we seemed to be able to keep at bay for most of the 2nd half.
Until Lopez decided to show up - 1st an apparent [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3sTBjcEyS0[/url] before he let fly at the edge of the area to secure an admittedly impressive one-man comeback.
And it seems like he has a knack for this shit - in his next game he also scored in injury time to salvage a 1-1 draw against Elche.



For some reason Valladolid had more shots but we were by far the more clinical side, and were out of sight by the 15-minute mark (or thereabouts).
And it seems like Nikolaou has at least found a bit of the form from earlier in the season, well better late than never.



As was the case in our 1st fixture we took the game to Valencia, giving them a run for their money.
Unlike that game, we'd managed to score 1 more goal before Curbelo could score - it really is a hell of a task to try and stop that man-mountain.
But we held on in the end, which coupled with other results came with a bit of great news:



AYYYYY
I can't believe it but the team seems to have proven DNZY right and then some, terrific performances throughout the season (even if it did have some rage-inducing moments in between...)

But you know that one kid who's always managing to one-up you on everything? Yeah:



Atleti haven't managed to be as unbeatable as last season, but they're still 10 points clear at the top, and with their squad as it currently it it might well go on for another couple years.

End of Season 2039/40

We went for Atleti's throats this game, trying to show them that we weren't that side that had to play on the counter to grind out a result, and it so damn nearly worked.
Dincel had combined well with Nikolaou to score a vital opener, and it looked like we'd strike a blow to the champions.
But Busquets, ohhh Busquets... Like his real-life namesake he's also a DM, but unlike him he scores goals.
And how, as I found out to my detriment:



1st time effort from range deep into injury time - jammy as jammy gets.
But at least we've shown our hand to the big boys this season, they'd do well to take us seriously from here on in.



The next game kind of made a mockery of my previous bold claims, as Martin Demichelis set up a wide diamond 4-4-2, something that's not been seen in the league thus far.
We really couldn't cope here, with the 3 central attackers and the doubled wings more than making up for their non-existent centre, overloading our back 3 and tearing the backline to shreds.
We'd actually managed to claw back to parity in time for the interval, but we were opened up again after the break and weren't able to equalise once more.



I started most of the fringe players here now that we've secured a group stage spot in next season's CL, but despite also chasing a European (EL) spot Betis weren't able to do much to our makeshift defence.
Highlight of the game was definitely a good goal from Vargas, a volley from a left-wing cross.



So we finish 2nd, above both of the traditional Big 2, and only behind the seemingly insurmountable (and jammy) Atletico.
We had the 2nd best home record, and the joint-best away record as well as top-scoring away from home.
Among other things some annoyances include Sporting finishing 8th after being projected to finish bottom, and both of Elche and Villareal surviving on the last day - they both had top class players that I wouldn't hesitate to poach had they gone down.

Also:



I couldn't have said it better myself, Claudio.
(Though obviously I'll be hoping for a drastically better 2nd season than the one's he's currently having)

Season Review/Off-season 2040

Players of the Season

Takis Nikolaou



I've been giving him grief on multiple occasions throughout the season, but it's undeniable that he's had a huge impact on our season.
Our top scorer, hit double figures for assists as well, and did pretty well all things considered.
Only problem I had was his dips in form - for a sole striker we could not afford to have him go on extended dry spells.

Ali Diallo



With the change from an FB on attack duty to a CWB, and eventually even ceding the right winger Diallo has really exploded this season.
Running the most overall and per 90 minutes, he has really made the right flank his bitch, defending and attacking with equal proficiency.
It was the attacking that really caught the eye though, being able to stay out wide or making diagonal runs into the box resulted in 9 goals and 9 assists in the league.
Europe's top clubs (and Oldham) have been linked with him all season, but we definitely don't need to sell, and anyone who wants him will have to take Lyon's lead and pay his release clause.

Camilo



He actually maintained one of the best average ratings in the league this season, and when he played he was one of the integral cogs of our attack.
Well when he actually played anyway, which he didn't - in part due to injury and also my decision to play a more explosive alternative:

Stefan Blagojevic



His sheer speed was a powerful weapon, and he did had somewhat similar outputs as Camilo did, so I had to be a bit unfair on Camilo.

Lastly - and while he's no longer a player or in this save credit will still have to be given where it's due:

Antonio Conte



If it wasn't for his exploits with Chelsea this season I wouldn't have seriously worked on a back 3 system, which seemed to fix our defensive problems, and in the short term also resulted in our 6-game winning streak that went a long way to our 2nd spot success.

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/608179815623979008/KqfsTawi.jpg

Thank you, Antonio.
-------------



Yeah, manager of the year award.
Definitely surprised Sporting's gaffer didn't even make the top 3 though, an 8th place finish from a projected 20th is no mean feat.



\o/
It's very odd though, even though their manager didn't make it to the Manager of the Year shortlist they manage to come 2nd.
Even odder would arguably be Hercules' absence, they really made a hell of an effort to be around the top spots earlier in the season.



I must admit I didn't think Szeman really impressed (no clean sheets in what, 20 games? You''ve got to be kidding me), but it is what it is, and he will enjoy his bonus I'm sure.



Again, they must've been die hard fans of our B Team, because Cisse didn't play a single minute of 1st team football.



On one hand it's good to see that the taxman will have to wait to suck us dry.
Oh the other hand we've actually managed to make a loss despite making 50+ million in transfer fees alone - that's cause for concern if I've ever seen one.



Zhong doing his side job of being a merchandise seller
Unfortunately Zhang doesn't seem to have any anywhere near that effect, so it might be time to cut my losses on him.



Swimming in that CL money even before we get the CL money



I think this is the last upgrade available, so after this we'dve maxed out all of our training facilities \o/

Congrats on clinching that 2nd place and CL next season!
Atletico looks annoyingly strong, but you've onto something and have proved to be more than patient, so who knows how far you can go with Oviedo?

Superb season @Eric Portapotty great to get Champions League football and finish second place, it'll be tough to break down Atletico and I imagine barca and Real will come back stronger next season. The commitment you've shown to this save is immense and I'm hoping I can do similar with my current London City save as I know it won't be one of these easy journeys to the top!

I'm not really liking the fact that I'm still on this save, I'd wanted to get 16 (which I didn't) and then 17 (which I didn't) but this save kept me going with 14 anyway.
Though there is that huge plus in that I've saved a pretty penny in doing this.

And good luck with your London City save, it does look like a hell of a challenge tbh...


I'm not optimistic tbh, as Dan said the Big 2 - well they're the big 2, while Atleti have torn shit up again and are the highest spenders in the league so far.
Not to mention the likes of Valencia, Sevilla, Espanyol and Real Sociedad, who have all underachieved last season.

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

Preseason 2040/41

Oh come on, we finished 2nd last season and we've 'remained largely intact'? I'dve liked even a temporary bump on our rep.
... Or, maybe we're already at that rep level and we're just maintaining it - or at least that's what I hope.



No complaints there, top scorer and 1st choice frontman will inevitably get the most votes in a popularity contest.



No surprises there - scoring in 20+ consecutive league games would win you a couple of fans at least.

Transfer news:



Of the arrivals, I can scratch Emerson Luiz off the list - he was a young and talented LB who would've provided proper competition for the LB/LWB slots with incumbent Artur Silva.
Unfortunately I'd (again) miscalculated the foreign quota in the squad and forgot about January signing Santacruz, so it was curtains for Luiz in his stint here.
His replacement of sorts:



Definitely inferior to Silva and Luiz, but he does offer an improvement of pace over our current options and isn't too bad on his technical side of defending.
Biggest problems would be his concentration (for defending) and composure (for his attacking, which with his pace will be a viable avenue for him).

We also raided a couple of recently relegated sides for their transfer-listed personnel:



Very versatile, but the clincher for him was his ability to play DM - if he develops to his potential he could be a more than capable long-term replacement for Alava in that DLP role.
Which was a massive pity when Gomez rejected Alava's tutoring - I mean is it that hard to accept tutoring from you new captain? Not the best first impression.



Beto is harder to figure out - I'm not exactly in need of MCs and STs, and he's not really starting material in any case.
I'm counting on the facts that he's a Model Pro and has determination of 20 for him to get to his maximum potential.

Of the departures, Caryaga, Viyuela and Cortina are irrelevant, while unfortunately there's no room in the squad (again) for Cristobal and Estaban.
So they've gone out on loan to feeder team Leuven, which I'm already not comfortable with due to their Basic training facilities, and a look at their squad shows a very stacked team, which the pair would find hard to get regular game time as a result. So I might end up recalling them next January.
Zhang joins them in Belgium, but with a better team in Mechelen - don't really know what they've seen in him, but if they're starting him who am I to judge.
Expecting big things from Cagigas and Jimemez though, especially the former - Alaves are in the running for the playoffs in the 2nd tier and they've promised a 1st team role for Cagigas, and while Gimnastic have more modest objectives they'll also give Jimenez game time.

Now for the meat of preseason - the friendlies:



Despite the result it's really a mixed bag here, we struggled to score against the only side who were at our level (Bologna), and there were the occasional defensive howlers.
But I suppose once could say we did end well, well if 23 goals in 3 games isn't well then I don't know what is.



I like the bookies' predictions here, 7th is borderline EL and it should be around where we're ending up come next May.
Definitely doubt that Bilbao will finish 6th though, they'd completely dropped the ball in failing to prepare for their retiring goalkeeper - that was last season, and this time round they've not done any better, with a 21-year old rookie and a 16-year old being all that they have in the 1st team.
As a Basque-only club they're bound to have problems with personnel now and then but this could be a long-term issue - while they do still have a hell of a team I reckon their GK issue will cause them to slide down to mid-table.
They won't get relegated though, their attack can still tear teams to shreds, as I'd found to my cost in the past couple of seasons.

Finally, and I'd forgot to mention this the last time, but the Olympics were around the corner.
And instead of fooling around with a minnow like Thailand or Indonesia I'd snagged myself a top job - Spain's Under-23 side, who were defending champions too, so no pressure there.
From Oviedo I called up last season's loan warriors, Otal and Alfonso - unfortunately RB Alfonso suffered broken ribs before the start of the tournament and had to be replaced.
In my selection I was fortunate to have had the full pool of Spanish players to choose from, because the senior team had inexplicably failed to qualify for the 2040 Euros, which meant that I had the very best of the overage players to choose from for my trio.



Relatively easy runouts as a whole, though the Benfica game was a rude awakening letting slip a 2-goal lead.



3 wins from 3, though the games got tougher as our players started to feel more of the strain of playing once every 3 days.
Needless to say we finished top of the group, with Costa Rica in 2nd spot.



Holy shit, our defending was way too dodgy for a side challenging for honours here.
El Salvador deserved more than a 90-minute loss, they could well have won the game on another day.



Pascual was a last-minute replacement in the squad after Bilbao's Alvarez - one of our overage players and our main playmaker - was ruled out of the rest of the tournament through injury.
Boy did he deliver here - making his debut and having minimal chemistry with the rest of the squad didn't affect him, with 2 clutch goals to send us to the final.



Another dodgy win, we had to suffer from their wingers' sheer speed and great play on the wings, but cometh the hour cometh the man - after suffering a slight knock earlier in the tournament Otal was rested, and only made his full comeback, and deliver he did with the opener.
... And the rest is history - we retain Olympic Gold, and Otal had a good showing, continuing his good form from Toulouse - very encouraging signs for our own upcoming campaign.



Spain's best GK, and the tourney's best by far as well, there wasn't a real shock here.



It's funny how Molina won this - he'd only started due to Otal's injury, but credit where it was due he did show good form to keep his place for so long.



Yeah, Alvarez was a real thorn in the side of opponents, and he might've won Player of the Tournament had he not been injured.



Surprising to see 3 of the back 5 here, considering how they've been a complete bag of nerves at times.



So ends a very successful tour, and some stat-padding personally.

August 2040

A great start to the season, Las Palmas were swept away with relative ease.
Fun fact, 2 of the starting back 4 for Las Palmas were in the Olympic team that won the Gold medal - they've got pedigree in that team.



A significantly sterner challenge came in the form of Real Sociedad, who kept us cooped in our own half for most of the 1st 45, and did get the goal their play deserved from a corner.
The 2nd half saw us somehow gain a substantially sharper sense of the game, as we broke forward on the counter to go 2-1 up - Camilo's goal was a peach in particular.
Our opponents then restored parity and looked to seal the game, but yet another counterattack saw Nikolaou beat the GK at his near post, the keeper should've done much better but I'll take this goal any day.



Another great start to the season, though of course it's early, early doors here in La Liga.

We've also wrapped up the remainder of the transfer window:





There was a late signing, Cantero used to be Granada's hottest prospect and looked like he could lead the line for them in future.
For some reason he wasn't able to establish himself in the 1st team and regularly found himself playing for their B-Team, before being released.
The irony in his signing is he'll also be playing in our B-Team, but with significantly better facilities he might well find himself improving much more that what he'd do in Granada.
Among the umpteen other loan deals both Cristobal and Estaban were eventually recalled from that dumpster fire of a loan deal.
The former quickly agreed to go out on loan again, this time to Augsburg, with far better training facilities and an apparent guarantee of game time.
Estaban though...



(It's the B-Team's transfers out)
Estaban joined fellow departee Diego at Getafe - while both players had a rotational role at the club, neither were ever going to play regularly.
And with both players' deals coming to an end I figured it was time to have them find regular football at a more suitable club.
Of the others Vranjic was actually tearing it up at the third tier for our B-Team, being the main playmaker and contributing immensely to the cause - he also deserved a proper club to play in.
Diop... I don't get why Granada even bothered with him tbh, especially since they're now in the top flight.

Finally:





The draw for the group stage was conducted, and who did we get I wonder:




They aren't kidding, Porto and City can and probably will tear us to shreds, though it could've been much worse, looking at the other groups - I think only group C would've been an easier proposition, as I think we've got a good chance against Celtic.

September 2040

Hell of a way to bring us back down to earth after our good 1st 2 games - Nikolaou was nigh on hopeless on the day, in stark contrast to his 3 goals in the previous 2 games.



We had to rotate in preparation for our debut in the CL against Man City, and paid dearly for that price against Valencia.
Saul was also part of that Olympic squad, and he ran riot here - 2 DMs couldn't come close to keeping him quiet.

We go straight to the Man City game, getting the only Group game in September out of the way:



Well that was a downer.
Diallo kicked things off 1st with a poor back pass which was promptly punished for the opener, and his day never got better, suffice it to say.
Veteran winger Vargas (who looks set to leave the club for pastures new at the end of the season) scored our maiden goal in the CL, but we were completely outclassed here.



It turned out that Porto drew with Salzburg (who were Pot 4), which suggest that they are potentially of similar calibre.
Where we lie in the hierarchy of this group remains to be seen, but the fear is we're actually the bottom of the pile.



It was turning out to be a testing month here, and after Granada was a clash against Barca, so I chose to again rotate to keep the squad relatively fit.
Nikolaou was again painfully impotent here, and while Zhong did get the opener neither was he able to affect the game any more than he did.
Instead our rut continued and the successive losses got us hiding increasingly into our shell, which Granada successfully broke apart.



Fancy Barca being the team to end our losing run eh.
We showed far more ambition here (again, against Barca when we could've done it to Granada) but our shooting was a no-show.
Kartaoglu could've played the role of supersub and won the game for us but for the offside flag ruling against his conversion of a brilliant cross from the left.
But we end our losing run, which is more than I could ask for against, again, Barca.



Finally, a 1st win in six, and at the very least a positive end to the month.
We were by no means convincing winners here, with late goals in either half sealing the game in our favour, but we can take comfort in the fact that you know, it's a win.



We've done something of a Leicester, but unlike them we are currently rubbish in the CL as well.
It's really different this CL business, unlike in the EL there's no room for mediocre rotational players, so the squad has got to be equally good - can't get away with the occasional genius to prop up the scrubs.

Thats not a great month at all there mate, hopefully you bounce back! Horrible CL group too

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

October 2040

So much for my prediction of Bilbao's plight this season, as they've since had a resurgence and we looked far more suspect at the back.
But it was business as usual for the home side - Bilbao's style was always going full steam ahead and the onus was on us to try and stop them.
Not with this backline though, no chance in hell were we going to resist their waves of attack.
We'd managed to claw 2 back to add some respectability to the scoreline, but they definitely deserved the win.



Awful to have conceded the opener just before going into the interval, because we probably had held Sevilla at bay for the most part up till then.
After that (as most sides who are going through a rough as shit spell would empathise with) we never got going and the 2nd goal kept the game safe for them.



If it was the start of the season I'dve scoffed at the prospect of a 2-2 draw against Celta (a CL side, fresh off 2nd spot in the league - a side of that standing simply had to puts those games away) but with our form as it is I snatched their hand off for this result.
As usual, terrible defending at the start, before a rare moment of brilliance from Blagojevic brought us back into the contest.
But Nikolaou and Dincel were again hopeless here, so the latter was hauled off for Zhong, and boy was he the sub that I needed.



The feel good factor of a late leveller wasn't to last, though it looked like for a long time that we were going to keep Atleti at bay for the whole game.
Cue Jose Sousa dribbling through half the field and powering past both our midfield and defence to slot the ball home - no chance we could defend that, not even if we were on top form.
Then the customary 2nd goal to keep us out of reach.



So we've gone full Leicester in the league, and title-wise the season's a write off. Heck, the way this season has turned out to be such a shitshow the only aim now is to not get relegated.
Now the hope is to at least, at least salvage some pride, any pride in the CL:



Things were looking great when we finally took the lead after a tense start to the game, and for once we could actually see the game through.
Enter our CB Obed Owusu Addo - you know, the bloke who we signed to plug the hole left by Allen Bell's departure.
Playing on the right side of a back 3 both late goals came from his side of the field - it was bad enough when he was making mistakes even before we let in both goals, but this was really the final straw.
As far as I'm concerned he's not playing any more games for me (and he hasn't since this game), and I'll be looking to dump him in January.



The only win this month, and it was probably the most important as it entrenched our 3rd place in the hierarchy of this group.
Our attack showed levels of cohesion not seen since the season opener, but of course our backline couldn't be relied upon to even keep a lean sheet against a side we comfortably dominated.



Barring a miracle another win against Salzburg should guarantee us a Europa League berth.
And no I'm not expecting any more than that, not after this start to the campaign.

November 2040

Zhong again with the supersub role, but we weren't able to convert this game into a win (par for the course this season) and we see our winless run extended.



We were by no means an improvement over previous outings, but we did put on one hell of a fight here.
Dincel managed to pull 2 goals out of his ass, in a season where he's probably played a significant part in our failings this season.
But it wasn't to be - our fitness levels eventually dropped and we lost this vital lead for yet another draw.



Nice start with Camilo's early strike, but after Levante equalised it was painful to watch.
The team had little to no fight, and it did look like they were content to go through the motions and pick up a third straight draw.



As bleak as it gets here, and I'm definitely looking at some defensive personnel leaving the club at the end of this dumpster fire of a season, if not in January.

What of the remains of our CL campaign then?



We dominated proceeding from start to finish, and should really have scored more to put or nerves to rest.
Alas our strikers displayed the kind of form that brought us into this predicament, so it was left for the defenders to show them a thing or two.



\o/ HUGE WIN THIS
Massive fight shown by the team here, Otal might be struggling in the league but he seems to have found his level in the CL, with 2 important goals to seal a memorable comeback win and (hopefully) kick start our season.



We suddenly find ourselves in contention for a CL knockout round berth, and our fate is very much in our own hands come the final matchday showdown against Porto.
At least we're guaranteed an EL berth, so that's something to look forward to.

Couple of other news items:



Not the best club to link up with given their rep and facilities, but it gives us an additional outpost in Asia.



Wow, these French clubs don't fuck about do they.
In any case I can't see how Diallo would've stayed beyond this season, even if we didn't have this shit form.
So we say goodbye to probably the best fullbacks I've had the privilege of managing, and Alfonso will get to step up to the starting XI.

December 2040

Before the match I was encouraging the players to give their best and strive for a result (however unlikely it was) against Espanyol, but as was the case more most of this season we weren't up for it once we went behind.
Blagojevic with another cheeky finish to being us back to within a goal, but really other than his effort we weren't clinical or driven enough to get the win.



Derby game, another Blagojevic goal, but alas we weren't able to hold on for a vital win, especially one over our fierce rivals.
But I will say this, at least we had a hell lot more fight than most other games this season - we actually sought to take the initiative and kept the ball well.



YESSSSSS FUCKING FINALLY
Awesome form for Blagojevic currently with his 3rd goal in 3 games, and while we were pegged back - twice - and always looked nervy at the back, the fact was we also responded twice to extend the lead and keep the game safe enough.



So yes, the 8 game winless run was broken, but there's no doubt that we remain knee-deep in the shitter that is the relegation battle.
January's coming soon, so with Diallo's departure I'll also probably look to reuse those funds to bolster (and improve) by backline.
Last season we snapped up Santacruz, here's to another successful defensive transfer.

We also played out the final, deciding game in the CL group stage:



Again, a nervy game where both sides had decent chances, just that it was Porto who took theirs first.
After that we had over an hour to get back into the game, but again, as you know - ok look, when the opponent has the same number of shots on target as you despite having less that half the total shots you know there's a problem.
A special mention to captain Fernando Alava, who really showcased some of the most terrible corner taking I've seen, corners that either sailed right into the keeper's arms or just over the bar and out of play.
I probably should've swapped corner takers but it was still staggering to see such a consistently bad display here, which is even more of a shame when you factor in the presence of 3 CBs in our team.



So congratulations to the lads for keeping my hopes up after the City win only to let me down when it mattered most - Hope Springs eternal? Not even once.
At least there's the consolation of Europa League football, which if we can get our house in order could well be significantly more successful than staying in the CL.
We drew Basel too, which I don't know too much about here but should be more enjoyable proposition than losing narrowly (TWICE) to Porto.

There was also the small matter of the Copa Del Rey:



ezpz
We needed this win, something to cheer the fans up at the very least.
Barbastro aren't even in the playable leagues anyway, which mean that winning was a pre-requisite - racking up the goals was of bigger interest.



Which made the 2nd leg all the more frustrating.
The 1st leg featured fringe and B-Team players like Beto, while the home game had the likes of Dincel have a run out (and knocking a goal or 4 for confidence).
I'm not quite sure what was more frustrating though, that the guys didn't give a shit, or that they didn't give a shit, still managed 27 shots and only scored two.
I think given the context and difference in level between both teams this has got to be one of the most disappointing games of the season.

Next round would be Valencia - the less said about them the better tbh, all I know is there's no progressing past them.

Lastly:



I have to reiterate the point I made in the previous post - These Frenchies really don't fuck about.

January 2041

Depor played like pure scum here, contriving to injure 3 of my players and not even incurring a caution.
Nikolaou's winner was no less than they deserved, the orcs.
And that's a 2nd straight win, we might well be having signs of recovery here.



AHAHAHAHA OF FUCKING COURSE NOT
Imagine being a man up for most of the game against (albeit a fellow) relegation-threatened side for an hour, and getting outplayed and eventually losing.
And Nikolaou, really on his offdays he's really terrible - maybe it's his decision making of 7, but watching him spread the ball out to the winger WHEN THROUGH ON GOAL really made me feel like giving up.
There's no doubt in my mind that on his day he's capable of taking the game by the scruff of the neck and knocking a couple in, but when he isn't, fuck me he really won't hit a barn door with another barn door.



Start off with bags of nerves, score and regain confidence, concede a minute later and continue with bags of nerves.
Rinse and repeat.



It's good to find a side with an even more incompetent defence than ours really, it's good for confidence and all that to knock in a couple.
But we were definitely under the cosh for substantial parts of the 1st half, and our goals mostly came from setpiseces and counterattacks - that's minnow tactics against minnow teams, pathetic.
But of course why the hell am I talking about footballing purity when we can't win for shit at the moment, I'm just glad we ended the month with a win.



9 points ahead of Valladolid, which makes it even more galling when you think if we'd actually not lost to them.

Then there was the Copa Del Rey game, oh man this really takes the cake:



Clean sheet, transfer-listed Jean Schultz with a goal and MoTM, riding a wave of decent form for once? We might actually come away with something for once.



Why do I even hope.
Tbf it seemed like Valencia had rested a number of starters in the 1st leg and went all out here when they had to win, like a wrestler who'd let you have a few punches before caving your face in.
But still, this backline was our best performers in the 1st leg! Then they proceeded to completely crumble here, as Saul put us to the sword yet again.

Transfers:



Addo takes his 50k p/w and incompetence to Belgium, where Anderlecht have the option of securing his services permanently for 1.4 million.
Not bad at all then, that's a god profit for a guy who was a stopgap on a free.

Significant incoming signings:



Artur Silva has been getting injured more frequently recently (mainly from the hellish training schedules I'd imposed on the team as punishment for their shit form if I'm honest) and Sciarrone provides cover for that LB area, as well as at CB.
Will he play? Probably not.



After Diallo's departure I wanted Alfonso to be the starter, but also needed a reliable RB to cover for him.
Kourkounas looks very steady, and if he does perform I will probably sign him on permanently, especially if he's willing to be 2nd fiddle to Alfonso.

January 2041

Depor played like pure scum here, contriving to injure 3 of my players and not even incurring a caution.
Nikolaou's winner was no less than they deserved, the orcs.
And that's a 2nd straight win, we might well be having signs of recovery here.



AHAHAHAHA OF FUCKING COURSE NOT
Imagine being a man up for most of the game against (albeit a fellow) relegation-threatened side for an hour, and getting outplayed and eventually losing.
And Nikolaou, really on his offdays he's really terrible - maybe it's his decision making of 7, but watching him spread the ball out to the winger WHEN THROUGH ON GOAL really made me feel like giving up.
There's no doubt in my mind that on his day he's capable of taking the game by the scruff of the neck and knocking a couple in, but when he isn't, fuck me he really won't hit a barn door with another barn door.



Start off with bags of nerves, score and regain confidence, concede a minute later and continue with bags of nerves.
Rinse and repeat.



It's good to find a side with an even more incompetent defence than ours really, it's good for confidence and all that to knock in a couple.
But we were definitely under the cosh for substantial parts of the 1st half, and our goals mostly came from setpiseces and counterattacks - that's minnow tactics against minnow teams, pathetic.
But of course why the hell am I talking about footballing purity when we can't win for shit at the moment, I'm just glad we ended the month with a win.



9 points ahead of Valladolid, which makes it even more galling when you think if we'd actually not lost to them.

Then there was the Copa Del Rey game, oh man this really takes the cake:



Clean sheet, transfer-listed Jean Schultz with a goal and MoTM, riding a wave of decent form for once? We might actually come away with something for once.



Why do I even hope.
Tbf it seemed like Valencia had rested a number of starters in the 1st leg and went all out here when they had to win, like a wrestler who'd let you have a few punches before caving your face in.
But still, this backline was our best performers in the 1st leg! Then they proceeded to completely crumble here, as Saul put us to the sword yet again.

Transfers:



Addo takes his 50k p/w and incompetence to Belgium, where Anderlecht have the option of securing his services permanently for 1.4 million.
Not bad at all then, that's a god profit for a guy who was a stopgap on a free.

Significant incoming signings:



Artur Silva has been getting injured more frequently recently (mainly from the hellish training schedules I'd imposed on the team as punishment for their shit form if I'm honest) and Sciarrone provides cover for that LB area, as well as at CB.
Will he play? Probably not.



After Diallo's departure I wanted Alfonso to be the starter, but also needed a reliable RB to cover for him.
Kourkounas looks very steady, and if he does perform I will probably sign him on permanently, especially if he's willing to be 2nd fiddle to Alfonso.

February 2041

Why do I even bother.
A back 3, playing regularly for at least the past month or so, can't mark a single striker and leaves him free for a one-on-one - well done.
Though we did show good form to get back into the game after going behind, Otal with a beautiful chipped finish which won Goal of The Week.



I can't ask for much more than a goalless draw tbh, Valencia have ripped us to shreds at times this season and I'm just glad we could contain them for once.
Curri was MoTM, a couple of fantastic saves ensured that he kept a clean sheet.



A rotated team due to European commitments, I wasn't expecting anything out of this game but it was undeniably frustrating to lose the way we did.
Otal missed the penalty that would've brought us level (though it wasn't a clear cut penalty to begin with) and given that we didn't have much of a shout in the game before and after that moment there wasn't much of a contest to be had.



First half: Attack, attack, concede from a freekick.
Second half: Attack, Attack, finally score, suddenly everyone becomes a Greek God.
Seriously though Granada have done superbly this season, having an outside chance to qualify for the CL, so it was even sweeter to beat them here.



\o/
Fantastic performance here, Dincel had the perfect response to his poor showing against Granada, while even Nikolaou decided to show up straight from the off.
This was some of the best attacking I've seen from the guys in the league, and while we weren't really watertight at the back the offensiv power went a long way to alleviating that problem.



7 points off Granada in 7th, I know I'm not supposed to have too much hope on our season but it does look like we might well have a chance at rescuing our horrible season.

Onto the Europa League, and Switzerland in particular:



A decent away win, it could've turned real sour for us if we didn't hold on but we do take 2 away goals back to Spain.



Otal cut a visibly frustrated figure after missing the penalty against Barca and took it out of Basel here, showing some fantastic finishing to ensure the win.
Very comfortable win, couldn't have asked for more.



Waxtap up next, they thrashed Mouscron for 5 after losing by a single goal in the 1st leg, so they clearly have a hell of a team.

Are you leceister in disguise

Seems to be a tough league campaign you're having hopefully a good European stint helps you out where are the board and media expecting you to finish?