Bayern and Beyond

Starting to run away with the league now

Thanks for reading, Picchioni and Tommo. Things tighten up a little bit here in December, as you'll see.


December 2017 - January 2018




A quirk of the schedule threw up three straight home matches, and we dominated each one. The Nurnberg match was actually a bit closer, but two Adnan Januzaj penalties made it seem more out of reach than it was.


We had already clinched top spot in our Champions League group, so I sent out a second-choice squad and still demolished Shaktar.


We just couldn't finish. We had more shots, but they weren't of sufficient quality. Even bringing in super-sub Bernard couldn't inspire the team. The loss to 2nd-place Leverkusen narrows the gap to four points with one match left before the break, confirming our status as Herbstmeister.


Dortmund is no doubt Bayern's main rival, but on a personal level, Schalke is probably the team I like the least. So this 5-0 thumping was satisfying on a personal level. Good for Mesut Ozil, too - he scored for the first time this month.

Results and goalscorers - now that Barbosa ended his scoreless streak, he's scoring for fun with three goals in six matches. Lorenzo Insigne returned from injury to make an instant impact:


Here's the table. Leverkusen is just four points behind, but we claim the winter championship for the fourth year running:


A quiet January transfer window saw me focus more on re-signing my players than bringing in new ones. However, two new players with join at the end of the season, one on a pre-contract and one on a transfer:


The famous Tonny Trinidad. I've been resisting picking him up for ages, but he's stayed at Feyenood this whole time and is now a three-star player with 4.5 potential. He'll be ready to slot in straight away next season and will allow me to off-load players such as the oft-injured Marco van Ginkel.


I beat off Barca and Real for the rights to this Turkish regen, who should partner nicely with Trinidad. He cost €12 million which will rise to €15 million after appearances.

Two more matches at the end of January, and they augur well for February:

Coming back from the break, we stuff 4th-place Hoffenheim at their place. Lorenzo Insigne scored again, making me re-think his position in the squad as well as Florian Thauvin's


The corresponding fixture at the start of the year was the perfect symbol for our early season troubles and Timo Horn's struggles. I let him start again versus his old team, and he did quite well. By the way, Insigne scored yet again!

Next month, a very busy February with two matches each week, including a Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid.

February 2018

Well, I'm not sure what happened, other than it's a giant nightmare. We're still doing well in the Bundesliga, as you'll see, but everything else...well, there's no other way to put it - it's gone to shit.

I'm not sure what happened to the screenshot from the Wolfsburg match on the 3rd, but we won, 3-1, with Barbosa nabbing a brace and Özil scoring the other




Dumped out of the German Cup in the quarter-finals. A poor, uninspired showing by the first-choice squad


Yes, we won, but when you consider that our opponents are at the foot of the table and all but relegated, a 1-0 victory (with the goal coming in the 83rd minute) is a poor performance, derby or not. But that just sets the table for:


Probably the worst performance in my time as manager. Again, I sent out my supposedly "first choice" side, the same that lost to Hamburg, and the result was even worse. As you can see, we absolutely dominated possession and couldn't do anything with it. Meanwhile, the defence was stumbling all over each other, and we're practically out of the Champions League, needing either to win 3-0 or by 4 clear goals. Granted, we did exactly that the last time we played Atleti at home, but that was with a more reliable defence made up of exactly the same players!!!

Goalscorers and Bundesliga table. We'll win the league, but that's about it:

Shame about the cup and the CL first leg, hopefully you can turn that around but will be a tough ask

Yes Dan, it was disappointing. I've never really had a great feeling about the season, despite our league performance. I'm starting to think that last year's performance was the anomaly and the defence isn't as good as I thought it was.

March 2018

Let's face it, you all want to know what happened in the second leg of the Champions League, so let's just skip ahead:



The league results. A big match against Borussia Dortmund that will go a long way toward determining when we can wrap up the title.



Another 1-0 match against Hamburg, but this time we used the home advantage to come victorious. I would have swapped this win for the cup match, though, 10 times out of 10.


Another classic Der Klassiker. We may have gotten the better of possession, but they made the most of theirs and things got really nervous. Barbosa won a penalty for us in the 4th minute that Schweinsteiger duly converted, then Kevin Grosskruetz, who was complaining about the penalty's legitimacy, went and scored down the other end. Juan Jesus gave them the lead five minutes later, but Barbosa scored a goal of his own to equalise. The match-winner came from an absolute bomb off the foot of Pierre Hjobjerg - 25 yards out and into the top left corner. Sadly, the win was marred by an injury to Mario Gotze, he'll be out for at least six weeks. Especially poor timing, given that this match was just before the Atletico Madrid second leg.



My largest victory in charge of Bayern. A hat-trick from Özil, a brace from Januzaj, and goals from Barbosa, Insigne and Muller and Thauvin in substitute roles.




We head into April knowing that we have six matches left and that's it. We're 17 points ahead of Dortmund but they have a game in hand, so I'm treating it as a 14-point lead and know that we probably won't clinch until there are four matches left. Since the Atletico match I've been trying to do "mini-rotations", keeping 8 of my core players in the starting lineup whilst rotating out three other players in an attempt to keep everyone happy.

April-May 2018

The end of the season, six Bundesliga matches and then our season will be over. Thankfully, we will most likely win the league.




The Bundesliga has been secured after the first match in April. It's Bayern's sixth straight title and my fifth. Down 1-0 in the second half, I brought on good-luck charm Bernard on the hour mark and he immediately scored an equaliser. Three minutes later, Barbosa slots home the match- and league-winner



Werder's hopes for survival were dealt a big blow as they fell out of the playoff spot and into the relegation zone


Barbosa, Januzaj and Zouma score in what would turn out to be our last win of the season


A disappointing defeat against the third-place side. Down 3-0, Muller scored two goals in the last five minutes but that wasn't enough to end our monumental home streak. This match ended our 52-match Bundesliga home winning streak and, in fact, was the first league home defeat in my five years in charge at Allianz-Arena.


And that's the season. A lackluster draw that we didn't even score in, our goal came courtesy of Schalke's Leon Goretzka putting it in his own net off of a corner kick.




It's farewell to Werder, as they couldn't climb out of the relegation zone after we put them there on Matchday 31. Nurnberg was also relegated, meaning there will be no Bayern derby next season, at least not in the Bundesliga. Our other local rivals, Stuttgart, are also in trouble, having to go through the playoff to keep their 1. Bundesliga spot.

Surprised Werder Bremen went down and Stuttgart in the relegation playoff! Good to see you win the league with ease again

This would be the second time I'd follow Pep Guardiola. I'm thinking seriously about taking it, but I don't want to give up managing Bayern.

Well, I did it:


Some people may say I'm foolish to take this on as well but this is actually the first time I've played long enough and done well enough in a Classic game to be offered a job in international management, so I wanted to take advantage of the situation. Particularly with a team as big as Spain.

The goal is to qualify easily for Euro 2020 (which is being held in Turkey, BTW). And looking at our group, I think we should do that:


I've lined up friendlies against Mexico, the USA and Norway for my matchdays without qualifiers. My first game in charge, 7 Sept, will also be a friendly - against Holland (heh heh - hope we don't lose and I then get accused of being a mole sent by the KNVB to destablise the Spanish national team)

Are you staying as bayern manager too? good luck with spain

Yes Dan, still in charge of Bayern as well. Going to try to do two jobs at once but if things go wrong, Spain will be the one that has to go!



It's a World Cup year, 2018, at eleven of my players are on various World Cup teams. Good news for fans of Die Nationalmannschaft as Germany wins the World Cup!

Because of the World Cup, we only had five friendlies scheduled, but the DFB-Supercup (against Red Bull RasenBallsport Leipzig) and the first round of the DFB-Pokal (against a team in the 8th division) effectively serve as two more friendlies. Speaking of which:



Confirmation that we re-claimed the Supercup that we lost to Dortmund last year, surprise Pokal winners Leipzig will have to console themselves with their UEFA Cup place as they are still in 2.Bundesliga!



Notable because Neqrouz was a regen in my first youth development class, and he is now starting to turn out for the squad, five years on.



As you can see, the friendlies were easy going, more about fitness building than anything else, and the start of the season was good, too. Newly-promoted Hannover was no problems, with a hat-trick from Gabriel Barbosa and a quick brace from Tonny Trinidad on his debut. We needed assistance to defeat Hertha on the road, and suffered a disappointing draw against Mainz at home; Thomas Muller gave us an early lead but we threw it away on the hour mark.



Our Champions League group. Fairly happy with it; Roma isn't as good in this game as they are IRL, so PSG will be the only big test.

Finally, here's the Bundesliga table, with Dortmund ahead on goal difference:

A fairly quiet close season, as you can see. I've only brought four players in as my squad is bloated enough. But the players I've brought in are all quality:



Tonny Trinidad de Vilhena, as I mentioned earlier, came on a free transfer from Feyenoord. He is the long-term solution at centre mid, along with Pierre-Emile Hjobjerg.



Aksel Uzel is a Turkish regen signed for €12 million from Besiktas. He is slotted to be our defensive mid of the future and the long-term replacement for Bastain Schweinsteiger.



In the close season, I identified two transfer targets, and was successful with prying Julian Brandt away from Leverkusen for a "modest" €34 million plus future incentives. He can play either wing but so far can't get a game in as Januzaj and Muller are playing very well. His arrival spelt the end of Florian Thauvin's time with us; I was happy to get €35 million from Tottenham for the Frenchman.

Other notable departures include Marco van Ginkel (the Dutchman was too injury prone, Trinidad takes his place in the squad) for €17.5 million to Southampton, Jerome Boateng on a free transfer, and Robert Bergmann (a regen rated only 2.5 stars) for €5.25 million to Dortmund.

Unfortunately I have been unable to secure my other transfer target, an 19-year-old regen named Benjamin Ferner who is already turning out for the national team and projects to be Philipp Lahm's successor at right back. I just need to be patient, as the story behind my final signing shows:



Two years ago, Shahed Smith was my main target at goalkeeper, but Leverkusen was unwilling to deal, quoting stupid amounts like €143 million or some such nonsense (like Schalke are doing now with Ferner). My scouts identified Smith as a unique talent, and I saw him as Manuel Neuer's logical successor (for both Bayern and Germany). When my attempts failed, I opted for the Timo Horn/Matheusao two-headed monster as my backup plan.

Following the Hannover match, Neuer broke his collarbone in training and was ruled out for 6-7 weeks, necessitating Horn's promotion to starter and Matheusao as his backup. When searching the free transfers for a keeper to replace Matheusao as Bayern II's starter (as the only other keeper on the books is a 17-year-old regen), I was shocked to find Smith was out of contract. Apparently, he couldn't reach an agreement with Leverkusen, because, as you can see, his talent is still there and there's no reason to release him. I snapped him up, fending off Zenit St Petersburg (who is a feeder club for Bayern anyway). Smith automatically become my No. 3 option, sending Matheusao back to Bayern II and an uncertain future with the club. His stats also compare favourably to Timo Horn's, and he will soon surpass him on the depth chart as well. Signing Smith is basically like getting Neuer's regen whilst Neuer is still active - it's the best of both worlds!

Finally, to celebrate my fifth anniversary as manager of Bayern, here's the "Where are they now?" of my first squad, back in 2013-14:




The three players to retire are Ribery, Robben and Van Buyten. Claudio Pizarro is a scout in his native Chile.

I like how they're all still playing at a high level, and then theres just one randomly playing for Al-Jazira Sports & Culture Club!

BMG - I guess Ivanovic is just happy for the paycheck!



Belatedly, I hired an assistant manager for Spain. It took me a little while to find how to approach people for a Spain job instead of a Bayern job. On the day of the first match, I finally figured out how to do it, so I didn't have the benefit of an assman for my friendly against Holland, but eventually I did get my man:



Unfortunately, my fears came true. I didn't get the sack, but morale dropped like a rock:



Oh well, time to lift those spirits with a match that actually matters:



A superb hat-trick from Alvaro Morata. Midway through the match, I decided to switch tactics to resemble what I use at Bayern instead of tika-taka. They hired me to do a job and my system works, dammit!

It really is an easy group:

Superb start to the season and good win with Spain buddy

Thanks as always for reading Dan. Friendly result aside, I was glad for the way my Spain career began and that I was able to get Zidane as my assistant!



The matches this month:


We started with a surprising (and disappointing) draw on the road to mid-table Hoffenheim. If it wasn't for Thomas Muller popping up to score the equaliser during "Fergie Time" we would have dropped three points, instead of just the two we did. Honestly, though, it feels like we stole a period instead.

The squad seemed more relaxed after the international break and it showed in our next two matches. First was a Bundesliga tilt against Frankfurt, then our first Champions League game of the new season. Both were at home, and both resulted in a 3-0 scoreline. You'll note that none of the six goals were scored by my striker, Gabriel Barbosa. Gabigol is going through another mini-slump, and the press asked me a question about it. I brushed them off, but thinking back I should have answered the question in a way to boost his morale.

The Roma victory was particularly satisfying as they has been made 4-7 favourites (and us 4-1 dogs) for the match at Allianz-Arena! Morons.



The Dortmund matchup was disappointing, since we had a 2-0 lead, gave up a goal before halftime and then two more after the break. The loss dropped us to fourth on the table from second. We bounced back in the DFB-Pokal on Shahed Smith's debut for the club in goal, and rounded off the month with (what else?) another 3-0 win at home as Smith gets his first (of hopefully many) league wins for us.



At the same time we were beating Koln, Dortmund was losing to Hamburg, which meant we passed them in the table to remain second behind surprise package Borussia Monchengladbach. Extremely tight at the top, as you can see.



The whole concept of German-born and raised sons of American servicemen in the US national team is something that has gained prominence under Juergen Klinsmann but has been around since the days of Thomas Dooley in the late 1980s. I love that the database is coded so that there's even regens that reflect this situation.

Good to see tht early days you are beginning to get some competition in the league now chap always makes it fun!

I agree Dan, I'm confident we'll win the league but it is fun to have so many teams nearby and us not actually in the lead. As long as the board doesn't start making noises, that is!

Some big signings there Shame you lost to Dortmund after going 2-0 up.

Thanks for the compliment Johno. The Dortmund match was really annoying, yes.



Two competitive matches this month for Spain. Hiring Zidane as my assman is already paying dividends. (There's a sentence I never thought I would write) He's been invaluable in pool selection, etc as I basically go off of his advice and then control the squad on matchdays.

Our first match was at home against Austria, our main competitors in Group J. Due the the expanded European Championships format of a 24-team finals, the top two teams automatically go through and the third place teams in each group (out of five) go into a playoff. For a top team such as us, the pressure is really off in qualifying unless you get drawn in a group of death or have a real surprise package pop up, neither of which is happening here. I say all this because:



We didn't really play our best against Austria, and could only manage a draw. We had plenty of chances to get a second goal but didn't finish. It was the first full match the Spanish players had under my system, so perhaps that accounted for it. As for the penalty - well, that was a bullshit call. Bartra redeemed himself (not that he really had anything to redeem) by scoring the equaliser. I was hoping for the opportunity to criticise it after the match, but I wasn't given the chance. Too bad, really.



Our second match was away to Romania, and this was a much better result. We dominated possession, but our finishing was poor. I gave both Soldado and Diego Costa the flick in this match and started youngster Guillermo up top. At least he was able to finish, but I am concerned that one of my centre halfs (Bartra) was the main offensive force this week!

In case you were wondering, hat-trick hero Alvaro Morata is out for 2-3 months with an injury, that accounts for some of our struggles in front of goal.



The Group J standings. Because we played Romania and Austria played no-hopers Azerbaijan, we're now currently second on goal difference and we won't play another qualifier until March. However, the fans and the RFEF haven't complained, and we've maintained our world ranking of 2 (behind World Cup champs Germany) so all seems well. It's just going to be eating at me that we're second and won't get a chance to put a bag full of goals past the Azeri until March. At least Morata will be healthy by then.

Next month, friendly matches against the United States and Mexico.

I must say that the fact that I get to manage one of the five biggest club teams in football and a top international side, and I've having a lot of fun with both, this is officially now my most favourite FM career of all time!

Great to see you enjoying it so much bud! Keep it coming its great so far!

Five matches this month, and our old denfensive form seems to have returned. Meanwhile, it was an October to remember for Thomas Müller, with an astounding eight goals in five matches. He bagged a brace in our 5-0 Champions League whitewash against Grasshoppers, then a hat-trick three days later in a 5-1 win against a poor Kaiserslautern side that was 17th on the table.

That match sent the side into the international break on a high, albeit still in 2nd place one point behind Monchengladbach. We returned from the break with a 4-0 clean sheet against Wolfsburg on Manuel Neuer's return. Muller opened the scoring, but it was Gabriel Barbosa who was man of the match with a brace. Down 1-0 after four minutes against PSG in the Champions League, Muller equalised before Bastain Schweinsteiger gave us a lead; sadly, an own goal was the catalyst in a 3-2 defeat. Finally, it was that man Muller again to open the scoring in a 3-1 Süd Derby victory away to Stuttgart.



And it was that win, coupled with Gladbach's draw, that finally saw us go top of the Bundesliga. However, things are still tight, though not like they were a month ago, and a loss in our next match could see us drop to 3rd behind hated rivals Dortmund.



Speaking of tight, they don't get much more tighter than our Champions League group, with three teams bunched together on six points. Grasshoppers have it all to do if they wish to remain in Europe after the next three matches!

Thanks for the encouragement Dan, I'm certainly enjoying this. It's been a long time since I did a write-up on a season as well, that certainly has kept me going during a couple of times when I could have just left this save peter out. Six seasons is certainly my longest-ever game in FM!



No competitive matches for Spain this month, just two friendlies against Mexico and the United States. I suppose you could say both results were a bit unexpected:



Morata returned from injury in the the Mexico match and picked up where he left off, snagging a brace. That makes 6 goals in the three matches he's played for me in a Spain uniform. I hope he can remain healthy and available for the other qualifiers. The other two goals came courtesy of an own goal from off a corner kick and an absolutely ferocious strike from Diego Costa, who came on as a second-half substitute and played on the right wing.

The less said about the USA match, the better. We seemed flat, tired and uninspired. The Yanks were just beating us to the ball as you can see by the fact they had the greater possession. We did manage a lot of shots, but most were poor efforts and even the ones on target never really bothed USA keeper Brad Guzan. It was a friendly, yes, but it was a really disheartening way to close out 2018 for La Roja.

That's it for my role as Spain manager in 2018. The team will next meet up in March 2019 for a Euro 2020 qualifier against Azerbaijan, as we look to go back to the top of Group J.

Also, it's due to be a busy couple of days for me IRL, so don't worry if updates are few and far between for a little bit.

Two good friendly wins will only boost morale mate well done

Have done a bit of scanning through your progress with Bayern Simon catching up and such and I cannot believe how unlucky / close you've been in the Champions League! Great to see you say it's probably your favourite career to date also even with such heartbreak to come so close to the Champions League on various occasions, I have no doubts it's coming though!

I've finished my work for the day, and will update my November matches soon, but I've played ahead and would just like to share my screenshot from the first half of my December 1st match against Freiburg. Note the scoreline, in particular.



My current biggest match is a 9-1 defeat of Kaiserlautern. Might we be in for a change in that record?

Thanks Dan, but we actually only got one win- we lost 2-0 to the USA
Thanks for catching up DP91. The lack of Champions League trophies is a bit annoying, but when the success comes it will be that much more sweet! I'm happy with my side and think we'll lift "Ol' Big Ears" within the next three years!





We opened November with a 4-0 stuffing of Borussia Monchengladbach in a top-of-the-table clash. Mario Gotze was the undisputed man of the match, but Thomas Muller got a garbage-time call to increase his scoring streak to six straight games.

Once again we couldn't seem to beat PSG, this time at home. We at least got a point, but we threw away two as the French squad got a stoppage time equaliser when Christian Benteke took advantage of amateur hour by our defence to make the score 2-2. We took out our frustrations on poor Augsburg, winning 3-0 Muller's brace secured all three points and ran his scoring streak to eight matches.

Unfortunately, the streak came to an end in the next match, a 2-1 loss to Hamburg. Jonathan Tah did score when he found himself unmarked in the box on a corner kick. Our final match of the month was a key Champions League match against Roma. Gabigol, Muller and Hjobjerg staked us to a three goal lead, and we needed every one of them as we held on to win 3-2 and book our passage to the knockout round after PSG's surprise draw to Grasshoppers. It's all to play for in the final matchday as our top spot is not guaranteed, PSG need to avoid a defeat to Roma to move on or the Giallorossi will take their spot, and a Grasshoppers victory coupled with a PSG win will see the Zurich club enter the Europa League at the Romans' expense.



Oh crap. He's back in Germany. And we're due to face Hoffenheim in the DFB-Pokal in two weeks' time.



A quick glance at the table shows why Pep is now in charge at Hoffenheim. They're relegation threatened and in desperate need of a change. I expect that they will be back in and amongst it next season with this hiring.

Oh yeah, we're still top of the league thanks to our beating of Gladbach, but the loss to Hamburg cut our lead from four points back to one. The Herbstmeister is by no means guaranteed.

Just caught up with this, great read! The league's looking more challenging for you this season! You always seem to be so unlucky in the Champions League. It's only a matter of time until your hands are on it!