[FM14] Pentagon - Redux

"YOU'RE JUST A SHIT LEICESTER~"

Board and media both expected a top half finish at least, so our struggles this season clearly have not made certain powerful people happy.

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March 2041

DM Jose Ramon was all over the place here, being at fault for the 1st goal then conceding the penalty for the 2nd.
I hauled him off (along with Alava who was also not at the races alongside him) but the damage was done.
I should also add that I don't know Camilo scored that goal, for some reason Sevilla's GK and CB couldn't maintain their concentration for the final minutes of the game and keep the clean sheet. There was a hilarious mix up, and Camilo sped in to slot the ball into an empty net - even for a consolation that was a really shit goal to score.



Shit defending against a side who's in the relegation dogfight with us, well done to the lads there.
At least Gomez got a goal back after some great team play, before Otal drew level early in the 2nd half.
Tbh I'm just glad to have dr- who am I kidding it has been a bullshit season and this only served to confirm that.



After Marcos Gomez finished off a cross on the far post for the 1st goal I was hoping that we could at least hold on for the remainder of the half.
But of course this shit season will always continue to shit on us, so the ref decided to give Bilbao a penalty, which it turned out was a shit, shit call.
Not that that was an excuse for our (another) defensive collapse after the break, with Kartaoglu playing the part of shit DM this time round.



I still don't how we won this game.
Curri completely fluffed a freekick from a ways out of his goal, and was promptly punished by Di Francesco into an empty net.
Atleti them set up camp in our half, sniffing blood and looking to put a few against a side low on confidence and competence.
Thank fuck they didn't then, and in the 2nd half some good work from Panagiotou down the right end with him cutting the ball back for Zhong to equalise.
3 goals on the break and an own goal later we had a scoreline that wouldn't tell a more inaccurate story of the game if it tried.



Apparently we "defended well", but not well enough to secure a draw.
In any case we definitely didn't attack well enough to win, so there's that.



I'm just glad there's only 7 games left before this nightmare ends.
We might still get relegated, but I'm already numb to our league form so I wouldn't be surprised if we did sleepwalk our way to the drop.

I'm hoping for much happier returns in the Europa League, anything to distract us from the league:



We definitely look like having much more of an appetite in Europe, and here we showed the defensive prowess that should've been present against the likes of Celta - but that's not a big game is it.
We were much less excellent on the attack, Nikolaou a particular culprit with yet another poor showing.
Dincel came on for him in the 2nd half and evidently showed him some pointers in the ways of a striker, a good poacher's goal from a low cross.

Now in the previous round Shakhtar also went down 1-0 in the 1st leg, but back in Ukraine they made sure opponents Mouscron paid a heavy price, with a 5-0 win at Donetsk.
We'll need a hell of a defensive performance, or get much, much more out of our attack than in the 1st leg.



Well the attack sure didn't do much more, and the defence did manage to cling on for dear life for the shutout.
We expected an onslaught, and we sure got one here, but Shakhtar were really, really wasteful.
So we go through to the Europa League quarters, surely the high point in this season.



It's the battle of the massive underachievers here, Swansea also find themselves in 17th and deep in another relegation battle.
I'll be betting on our increased interest in continental competitions to get us through to the semis.



In fact of this quartet only Napoli can be at all satisfied with their season so far - Bayern only won their 1st league game at the 8th time of asking, crashed out of the CL and had replaced their manager on February.
We'd had as good a draw as we could have at this point, the quarters (and potentially the semis) having 2ng legs at home.
Whether that'll actually help is another matter altogether, but people say it helps so it must help.

We've also had the new batch of youngsters coming through:





If Gabriel thinks that he's our best prospect then he's got another thing coming - for one the excessive aggression will do no good to any supposed playmaking role that's he's apparently slated to become.

April 2041

I'll start with the EL 1st since it was the 1st match of the month:



19 seconds, NINETEEN SECONDS, and our EL hopes are up in flames already.
Admittedly it was my fault for tactically preparing the team too late, but it's not like we've never ever played with a back 3 before (it's been part of our repertoire for the best part of a season ffs) so to collapse so early and easily was unacceptable.
So we had a hell of a job to get back into this tie, with such a rubbish 1st leg at the back of our minds - still it's now the home leg so maybe we could bring about a miracle in front of our own fans?



No not really.
Lots of shots on goal (as Shakhtar did) but no real end product was on display.
Swansea on the other hand, managed 2 away goals to put the tie beyond any doubt - as much as I want to lambaste us for the awfulness over the 2 legs the Swans were by far the better side.

So that's that for Europe, now we can finally focus on the league and play for whatever pride that's left:



Great, great win here, especially when we rested almost the whole 1st XI for the ill-fated Swansea games.
Nikolaou showed that he's not yet a lost cause with an expertly taken opener, before we conceded to Le Liga top scorer Infantes.
It looked like we were going to settle for yet another draw but for substitute Schulz reacting 1st to a saved FK and plundering in our 2nd goal.
Nikolaou then found his touch again and completed a sorely missed hat-trick to give us the win.



Levante were anchored to the bottom of the table and would eventually be relegated by the end of the month, but we still needed to do a professional job here.
We nearly didn't, despite Blagojevic with another opener - he's really a terrific player who only needs to work on his consistency - we were pegged back in the 2nd half.
We didn't look too flustered with that equaliser, which I hope was a sign that we had the confidence to eventually win anyway.
Anyway, Blagojevic with the 2 goals and the MoTM.



OOO, big big comeback here - we had a tepid 1st half and didn't look up to scratch against Espanyol, and it looked like we we going to slump to another defeat.
A rollicking during the interval saw us come out with significantly more purpose in our play, and Blagojevic scored another goal to equalise.
Then some other stuff happened but we didn't score, not until Alfonso put in one of the worst crosses you'll see - just that it ended up going into the net for the winner.
Deserved? Not really, not with such a shit winning goal. Do I care? NO



Oh look we're back to being absolute dogshit.
And no better time to do so too - coming off the back of a 3 game winning run against our fiercest rivals in a derby, no better time to cock up at the back.



I'd have said that we'd turned a corner and our EL hopes had to be sacrificed to regain our league form yadda yadda had it not been for that disaster against Sporting.
Now everyone's gone back to being moody as shit, the fans are unhappy and 2 of my back 4 complained about being fined a week's pay.
Happy days everyone.

Finally, just when you thought this nightmare couldn't get any worse:



It'd be fucking fitting if this shitshow of a season decided to kick me in the nuts hardest for one last time wouldn't it - my time at Oviedo coming to such an ignominious end.

Oh dear, can't believe how bad things are getting this season, especially compared to the season you had last year

May/June 2041

A very professional job here, Depor had more than their fair share of chances we it was us who took ours and with a clean sheet on tow, it was a good win indeed.



Zhong was real class here, with a goal and an assist.
But Moran the Moron nearly proved to be our undoing yet again, as Santacruz's poor back pass was inexplicably ignored by both Szeman and Curri, leaving Moran to chip it over the latter and into an empty net.
He was a constant menace, but fortunately for us that goal (of the Month!) was the only end product that Valladolid had, and we were able to hold on.



Not a good way to end the season, being dominated to a embarrassing extent - though it was against 3rd-placed Betis who were on absolute fire this season.



So we ended up staying well clear of the relegation spots after some better form in the latter half of the campaign, but I'dve loved to finish in the top half - ifw we'd just beat won one more game this season could conceivably be deemed a not-complete disaster.



Well done to Blagojevic for wining the YPOTY award - we had the likes of Otal and Santacruz who were up for the award but Blagojevic arguably deserved it, being a livewire who admittedly is still a bit raw.




Unfortunately he's broken his foot, so he's back at AEK for the time being, and we'll see whether he recovers in time before the end of the summer transfer window to make another loan bid for him.
Which is odd as well, that AEK would allow him to go out on loan at all - here's a guy that's playing in the CL and EL already, and has won personal accolades, that AEK won't look to play in the 1st team.



Yep, Real with the treble of Supercopa, La Liga and EL - they weren't going to underachieve and suffer like they did last season.



Damn that CL TV money.



Imagine being so shit in the league and still being paid more for that than a good European run, what a shame.



Oh ffs now we've got shareholders to deal with sucking our club dry in addition to the taxman.



At least the board's just about content with this season, I wouldn't dare ask for more.
This is the outgoing board though remember, I've still to face the new boss.



Fast forward to the end of June and I've not been sacked, so I can only hope that the board has decided to keep me on for the time being - thank fuck for that.

How have they not sacked you hopefully this is another bounce back season

Honestly if I did get sacked I'd have taken a break from this, won't be able to deal with being sacked (and not even because of the horrible underperformance, but shitty new owners).

But I didn't, so onwards and forwards it is.

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Preseason 2041/42

For real, Lorient has single-handedly propelled us to become one of he richest clubs around.



Though Zhong Zhibin is also trying his best to make money for the club it seems, the Chinese shirt sales continuing to flow.



Real Sociedad really, really dropped the ball last season, and were in even deeper trouble than us in the tail end, but like us (and Villareal) they eventually got their hourse in order and survived the drop - will be expecting them to challenge for the European spots again this time round.
Granada on the other hand, they really tore up the form book by finishing 12 spots above expected. Will Europa League football harm their chances though? I mean we do have experience with blowing the league in favour of European commitments, so it remains to be seen if they can cope with both.



I'd expected Nikolaou for his top-scoring, but I can only assume that the fans also noticed his inconsistency and deemed him unworthy of the award this season.



iirc that's an increase in our TV share, so fingers crossed our long-term finances will be stable enough for another assault on the CL spots.

Transfers:



Lots of ins this window, I'll get the irrelevant ones out of the way first - Jantoljak is for the B-Team, while Overgaard was supposed to be our cover for RB (even though he was Unconvincing there at best) but his loan was cut short once I secured a better alternative.



My record signing, I actually wanted him last July but it was only 6 months after Santacruz joined, and I wouldn't have a foreign player's slot available for the next 18 months anyway.
What a difference a year made then - Santacruz is now wanted by Europe's big clubs (Real Madrid have already put in a shitty bid of 11 mil which was promptly rejected) and I'm pretty sure Lorient was one of them so hopefully they'll do us all a favour and pay the release clause, no fuss.
He's also get his Spanish citizenship next January, so that'll allow Canedo to be registered in the 1st team roster, but for now he'll have to wreck the third tier with the B-Team.

Canedo's nothing much mentally or physically, but the scouts and coaches all seem to be in agreement that his ceiling is high af.
And with us employing a back 3 nowadays he'll likely be able to gget the game time that he needs.



Ibanez wanted out last season so I figured I might as well get another LB in for the future, since I'll have to account for Artur Silva's eventual decline anyway.
Well Ibanez wants to stay now, but I'm having none of that and he'll stay transfer listed until someone picks him up.
But I digress - Di Meo spent the last season in Ligue 2 after Montpellier were relegated the season before, but that doesn't mean he sin't any good, quite the contrary.
Attacking could do with some work, but he's got the defensive side of his game pretty much on point.
Bad news is he missed preseason with the U19 Euros, good news:



It's a good sign this, I'll take it.



Formerly a backup at Chelsea, he attracted the interest of a couple of clubs (including us) when he was in the last months of his deal.
When he was released no one took him up, so I swooped.
He's a good goalkeeper, has a good 7 or 8 years on Alfred Curri and is better than him as well, so it'll be a bit of a problem to try and appease Curri as he sees his starting spot under threat - fortunately we'd got Sanchez out on loan or there'll be a war between the GKs here.



He was a target for the best part of 3 seasons, being viewed as the long-term replacement to Alava in that DLP role. That is until Marcos Gomez signed and became the new successor.
Nevertheless, after Blagojevic's injury we had to look for a left-footed AM/winger, so he was another Bosman transfer who fit that role.
(Granted he's by no means the fastest winger but hopefully his great technique can make up for that.)
The long term aim is still for him to be that deep-lying distributor, I do think he'll be able to excel in that role.



Demirev fills the position that Kourkournas had last season, an experienced backup/competition for Jose Alfonso, who's really turning out to have replaced Diallo effectively.
He will have games - Alfonso will inevitably have his dips in form and fitness, and Demirev is arguable capable of filling in for him.

Of the departures, there are two which stand out:



Annoyingly Addo had rejected Anderlecht's contract offer after they agreed to pay the future fee for him.
No worries, apparently he's not short of suitors:



It's amazing how he could be complete shit for an entire year and still get into consecutive CL squads.
And I'm not joking, here's he stats when he was at Belgium:



He was terrible even in Belgium, in probably their best team, and they still made a bid for him, only for him to reject their offer!
I can only hope that he'll become some sort of unwitting double agent and derail Betis' season from the inside, I know he's capable of that.

Next was Sanchez:



I'm still amazed that Real even bothered to made a loan bid for him, not to mention with a guarantee of regular game time! They've got 2 perfect good shotstoppers of their own and frankly he's nowhere near their level - I mean he's still not as good as Curri IMO, so I can't see how he'll usurp 2 of the best GKs in the business.
In any case they seem to have reduced him to backup role, which is still pretty good considering he is in Real Madrid.

On to the real excitement of preseason, the friendlies /s:



Lots of games, and I prioritised fitness above other aspects of training in an attempt to fix our problems of burnout toward the end of matches last season.
We should've held on against Frankfurt and West Ham, while the Adige game was slightly worrying, but overall we got what we wanted - a fit squad.



8th seems realistic, hopefully we can push on a bit more a finish in the European places.
They've got Granada in 13th as well, it'll be interesting if they can indeed hold their own in 2 commitments.
And Getafe are back up, with ex-Oviedo forward Esteban leading the line for them and becoming the best transfer of the 2nd tier last season.

Finally:



Both games will be played during international breaks, Ramon gets Rapid Vienna because he's always been an also ran in the team, not playing in particularly exciting roles.
Alava on the other hand is the club captain and talismanic playmaker, so he gets the best available - Roma.

August 2041

An opening day win, if a slightly dodgy one since our penalty was a dodgy one, but I'll take 3 points on Matchday 1 over any other result.



Again, we were outplayed by Sevilla here, with Boutouba absolutely tearing us to shreds here - his opener was a spectacular effort from wide right, while throughout the match he ran the show from midfield and was on the receiving end of many a chance.
We came back in the 2nd half to be more of a threat on the break, before we eventually found an equaliser when Zhong found Camilo who finished from a tight angle.
Unfortunately Zhong then picked up a knock and would be out for a couple of months.
Sevilla couldn't find another goal despite their best efforts and we pick up a point away to a Europe-chasing side, I'll take it.



Unbeaten, again I'll take it.

We've also got 2 transfers:



Arriving from recently relegated Celta, he's got a very solid defensive skillset and will be our LCB when we do play a back 3.
Thing is we aren't playing teams with 2 up front for the next month or so so he might have to wait a while.
Regardless, he's better than Jean fucking Schultz.



A transfer about 2 years in the making, Bouadam managed to establish himself in the national setup in the time he was waiting to come to Spain when he turned 18.
But again, things have changed since then - Di Meo has arrived, we have far too many foreigners around and he's can't speak Español so he'll need to wait 10 years to get Spanish citizenship.
Need to find a foreign team for him to get an EU passport, and it looks like Belgium is the best destination.
Not Leuven though, because I've cancelled our link, and they've got horrible, horrible training facilities anyway (which played a part in said cancellation).

September 2041

Oo, a surprisingly comfortable win against a very good Espanyol side, and Nikolaou looks like getting back to top form, the top form that got us into the CL.
But here was another dodgy penalty (but it was probably right, probably), and Szeman converted to double our lead.
They did get one back at the death though, made for an unnecessarily uncomfortable end to the game.

Szeman then suffered an injury and would be out for 2 months - coupled with other injury problems it meant that we would have only 4 fit registered CBs at the club - not good for a side playing with a back 3.



We coped well enough here, but for much of the 1st half it looked like Bilbao were intent on injuring our players - Kartaoglu was of course teken off with injury, while Silva had also taken a couple of knocks and was withdrawn as a precaution.
I decided to play them at their own game, going hard on their guys, and guess what, only we were booked - well played ref.
But I digress - the defence held on stoutly to keep Bilbao from scoring, and on the other end Nikolaou assisted Panagiotou's goal (who apart from that effort was poor with his finishing throughout) and nabbed a goal himself to continue his good form.



It's not everyday we got to completely outplay Atleti - unfortunately that one bit of clinical ability fell to them, and it was their backline that held firm this time.
Still it's far better than previous encounters where we were completely outplayed and had no chance to break through. We played well here, and with better finishing the reverse fixture could well bring better news.



Some rotation meant that both full backs were changed among other slots, as Di Meo and Demirev had their first starts.
The former had a real shock it seemed, playing with real nerves from the off and finding himself back in the dressing room before the 20-minute mark.
A switch to a hybrid of our 3-4-2-1 and 4-2-3-1 was needed, with the wingers moved infield to solidify the centre.
We still managed a very good continuation, with Otal and Nikolaou scoring in quick succession to give us a lead despite being a man down going into the 2nd half.
Camilo was then sent clean through before being hacked down by Mujika, who was promptly sent off; Santacruz scored from the resulting free kick.
Then something odd happened - our play slowed down, we became sloppier, and eventually we paid for our lax with 2 goals in 8 minutes from Vallidolid.
We were now under the cosh and had to withstand sustained attacks from the opposition (who really should have equalised tbh) before Nikolaou finally made the game safe.



Nikolaou absolutely tore Getafe apart here - he really looks like a different animal when in form, the runs he made and the power behind his shots were the signs of a confident striker.
The same couldn't be said for our defence though, as we nearly threw the game away for the 2nd time in a row - we really need to find a fix to this.



Good form going into October, but with our next game being against Valencia we're not going to have an easy time.

And whaddaya know, Granada at rock bottom - I've no idea if this is linked to their Europa League commitments, but there's no denying that they are in quite a bit of bother now.

This is much better form this year, it seems european football is a curse every year

The thing is we've also had that season after the CdR final, where we did have EL football and still finished in a European place (albeit 7th and reliant on both finalists having qualified for European football themselves) so I want to hope that we can do that again.
Otherwise it's just a vicious cycle of alternate seasons of continental football.

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October 2041

Ahahahahaha....
Honestly I'm not even mad here - as much as we were awful here Valencia really took us apart here, they were absolutely brilliant.
They had a front 3 that on its day was on par with the best ever, and boy were they on their day. It was that man Saul again, tearing at our backline time and again with Gala and Curbelo in front of him - as much as it was a torture to see us being so comprehensively outplayed they really played like title contenders here.



A day of braces here, Celik showing a thing or two about poaching from the left wing, and it looked like we'll come out just as comfortable to the 2nd half.
So imagine my surprise when the pair of Garcias managed to bring them back from that deficit, inexplicable - well probably not given our defensive issues in the past games.
At least Nikolaou was able to continue his great form and win the game for us with another brace.



Seems like in addition to conceding late goal we now have conceding early goals in our repertoire.
Ramon missed a header for the early opener, but was able to make up for that soon after with an equaliser.
Then there was another NIkolaou goal which looked like it had sealed the deal, but no we had to concede yet another late goal.
Fortunately for us it seems like Santacruz figured "well since I can't defend I might as well make myself useful" with the winner from a corner.
Even then we weren't done, and had to be saved at the death by the offside flag.



Cheikh Diouf, yes that Cheikh Diouf of Smouha lore, with another goal off a setpiece for the opener.
It was a rotated squad due to the fixture pileup but even this XI had Otal in it, and he didn't do much to say the very least.
I was hoping that he'd do better this season to build on the last 2 campaigns, but at the moment he's not doing enough to earn a starting spot.
One person who is doing just that however, is Demirev, with a late winner. He's been attacking very well down the right and his half-decent finishing saw him get a late goal here, but too bad for him he isn't a Spaniard in his early twenties, so for the sake of development he will have to play second fiddle.



Third, but next up is Barca, and if the Valencia game has taught me anything I'll do well to prepare the lube beforehand.
Granada are 6 adrift now, and while it's still relatively early doors I've already started scouting their younger prospects - just saying.

November 2041

Yeah...
Though I'd really put this down to individual issues this time, with Donato Conte - bless his heart, coming back from double broken legs to develop into a pretty solid defender - playing at the back for the day and having his relative lack of pace ruthlessly exposed by Sarracino on multiple occasions, and he was bound to take one of those chances.
If a bigger annoyance was Barca's equaliser though - we'd managed to take the lead and should've held firm longer, and had worked on our setpieces since we'd conceded from them so many times last month. Guess where the equaliser came from then.



Credit where it's due, Sporting have low key one of the best attacks in Spain, a good mix of height, pace and movement from their front 3.
We couldn't deal with them for the past 2 seasons or so, and it was to be the case as well here - a combination of poor shooting and a couple of stops from Birch-Machin kept things level.
The moment of quality in a scrappy game then came from us, Nikolaou finishing from a tight angle on his weaker foot.



Zhong absolutely ran the show with a goal and an assist, before Alava looked to have put the game to bed with a terrific free kick.
Ex-Oviedo man Pascual then made things interesting with a goal of his own, but Nikolaou snuffed the game out by making up for his previous profligacy with a powerful finish.



Still sitting pretty in the CL spots, and amazingly still ahead of Valencia, who I really expected to challenge for honours with that team of theirs.
Granada have also got themselves into shape, out of the bottom and looking poised to climb out of the relegation zone.
How convenient then that their next game would be against us, typical.

December will also be the time for contract renewals for the guys whose deals are running out at the end of the season.
A key member of this group is Sakib Dincel, who hasn't done too much this season despite the game time afforded to him, and his wages (he is among the highest paid players here, if not outright the best paid).
It might be time for him to move on, as the current glut of AMCs that we've got seems to be really stifling our youth products, the likes of Otal and the even younger Cagigas - his departure will be able to get them more game time in the 1st team.
Though tbf it's not like Otal's contributed a lot to the cause anyway (poor form means I couldn't justify starting him anyway) - maybe a return on loan to Toulouse would help, he did win their PoTY when he was on loan there.

December 2041

What an abomination of a game - there was a 30-minute spell in the 1st half where nothing of note happened at all and the rest of the game wasn't any better.
Panagiotou opened the scoring early into the 2nd half, but we weren't able to extend the lead, and by the time Granada equalised neither side looked capable to go on to win the game. Rightly so imo, neither side deserved to win.



This, this was big.
A Real Madrid side that won thirteen on the bounce and had only lost a single game going into this? Dominating this team? This was huge.
Zhong and Nikolaou both continued their good form this season with a goal each, before Real pegged us back to make life a bit nervy for us.
We then had to withstand a siege from our opponents (as expected, it is Real Madrid) but it was Alfonso who scored the next and final goal on the counter.
Massive win here, though it does mean that we'll lose the return game - Real don't take too well to being humped.



I think Gimnastic are just not good enough for La Liga - smallest budget, already the worst GD in the league, and we made sure there weren't any fairytale stories here with a comprehensive victory.



4th, and more significantly 5 points ahead of both Barca and Valencia - how's thrashing us doing for your guys eh.
I'm under no illusions that we're probably going to end up much lower, but with Betis up next maybe we can ride our good form and beat them?...

The Copa del Rey also went underway, and we were drawn against Yoshimar fucking Moran's Vallidolid.



Awful, just awful.
Dincel finished with a 5.7 in a nadir for him this season (where he hasn't done much) but the whole team was just poor on the day.



Now that's much more like it.
We weren't by any means more clinical than in the 1st leg (or clinical at all) and the penalty call was dodgy, but hey I'll take any help I receive.
Celik then showed his stuff with an exquisite chip over the keeper, before Otal silenced some of his doubters with a goal. (let's not mention that he was completely misfiring before that.)
Burguera got a goal back, and at that point they were on to us - we had to keep our nerves together, because an away goal here would just be such a pisstake.
Well they didn't and we hold on to a win that was much closer than I'dve liked.

Next up is Celta, Alex up against his old club. Will he play? Probably not, a rotated squad will be used here and he'll be rested.

Finally:



Yeah Dincel will leave, and he was indeed our top earner so I wasn't going to sign him for more than the 74k that he penned with Besiktas, not with the current crop of AMs and forwards I already have at my disposal.

January 2042

Dire 1st half here, 2 drilled crosses and both times we were caught out by runners in behind to stab home.
3 goals conceded from 4 shots said it all, though we were able to reply with 2 our our own.
2nd half was far less exciting (which is really better tbh, I'd take a boring game after that 1st half) but Alex was able to make up for his defensive frailties by popping up with a vital equaliser.



Frustrating game, we was always only on par with Depor in the 1st half but couldn't push on for a breakthrough, and it was our opponents who eventually found the opener.
2nd half we kept plugging away at Deopr and yet we could well have gone 2 down on a number of occasions.
But cometh the hour cometh the man - Nikolaou with an injury time goal to salvage a point for us.



We'd been stuttering for a couple of matches now and it was inevitable that our unbeaten run had to come to an end.
And yes it was Sevilla, with Dabash going at our backline left, right and centre to come away with the match ball.
To make matters worse Santacruz tore his hamstring in this game, which meant that he'll be out for at least 3 months.



We end an exhausting month with at least a non-loss in the league.
We had a lot of games in January (as you'll see) and the loss of Santacruz only put more strain on a back 3 already struggling to be rotated his this unusually busy start of the year.
Hercules were onto us here, and while we looked relatively pedestrian with our possession play they struck repeatedly on the counter and were unlucky not to score a goal or two.



Quite a bit of a stutter in our form this month, though we still remain well in the hunt for the top 4.
More significantly, still 6 ahead of Valencia in well, 6th.

We had a bit of a run in the Copa del Rey as well:



Not the most clinical performance from either side, and a particularly wasteful one from Otal - again without a goal despite another start.
Instead it was the other prodigy that did score the winner, Cagigas stabbing home after a fine cross from Celik down the left.



Much better at home, we managed to put the game to bed within the first 10 minutes, and the rest of the game was Otal trying (and failing) to find the net.
Tbf he did play a significant part on our goals, it was just that again, he couldn't find the net.

Next up was Deportivo, and we really needed an improvement from our earlier encounter in the league to give us an easier time in the away leg.



Now I'd defintely taken this result if it was the league game, but in the home leg of a cup tie? We're in big trouble.
Cagigas made it 2 goals from 2 cup starts and Otal finally, finally finding the net were the pluses, but 2 away goals conceded is really asking for trouble in the 2nd leg.



And boy did we so nearly get it.
Schultz was all at sea for both their goals, with the first obviously his doing and the 2nd from his mistake.
And as we were heading towards the interval having completely blown a 2-goal lead, a(nother) penalty was awarded and Szeman made sure we at least had something going for us at half time.
After the break both sides fought to get the next goal, but it was a long time coming - but it did, Panagiotou with a quick double to put this nerve-wracking game to bed.

The next round has us pitted against Valencia, which basically means that's where we end our cup run.

So after that run of 8 games in 25 days, there was surely something to look forward to - wheelin' an' dealin':



So in addition to Dincel, Valiente also left for pastures new - in this case significantly greener pastures in the form of Barcelona.
He's quite the odd case - extremely physically imposing but he had improved little in his technical ability. I wouldn't have started him then, which would've stunted his development which will cause the inevitable vicious cycle.
So I decided to let him go to a more suitable club, one that at least has a track record of developing players.
Of the B-Team Cisse also left, I'd wanted him to eventually start for us but injury problems really prevented him from getting the level required for La Liga football.
He's been sold to lower league moneybags Huesca, and it'd be ironic if they did get promoted, at which point we'll probably see Cisse become a centreback of La Liga standard.

Only the single arrival:



Another one of those South Americans who will play in the B-Team while they get their Spanish passport, at which point they either get sold on or somehow develop enough to start for the 1st team.
He was on a free anyway, so very low risk taken here, if any.

February 2042

It did look like we were trying our best to lose - 24 fouls, Zhong cautioned for diving in the box, Szeman missing a penalty and Di Meo getting another early bath, this time for a horrific lunge.
But we still managed to win, Nikolaou with another double.
With regards to Di Meo's sending off he was fined 2 weeks' pay and was dropped for the rest of the month ostensibly because he deserved it but mainly due to his 3-match ban.



Another absolutely massive win, we were definitely under the cosh for themajority of the contest but we managed to take the lead after a brilliant counterattack finished off by the speedy Panagiotou.
It was inevitable that we'd concede an equaliser, but the key moment was bringing Otal on as a sub - clearly motivated to prove a point, he then beat the offisde trap to score our second, again on the counter.
Demirev the made the game safe i what seems to be an increasingly productive loan spell - if he's willing to slash with wages and reduce his squad role I'd love to sign him permanently.



Bilbao are in some trouble - they'd sacked their manager in December after following up a win agaisnt Barca with a loss and a draw, and his successor (coincidentally the previous gaffer of ex-feeder team Leuven, where he was sacked) proceeded to lead them to another 5 games without a win before our meeting.
And it's not always we could inflict a defeat on a Bilbao side that have consistently dominated our previous meetings,so to do it and give them a taste of their own medicine for once was particularly refreshing.



An underwhelming end to February, I'd expected more but this is kind of par for the course for us.
At least we didn't lose, a last-gasp leveller from Nikolaou ensuring that.



10 points from 12 is a very productive month, and puts us in good stead to challenge for the CL places.
I'd like to think that our EL spot is firmly in our grasp now, with 9 points between us and Valencia, and a further point ahead of Deportivo.

Now for the Copa Del Rey semifinals:



A very nervous 1st leg, Valencia repeated their schtick from our cup meeting last season and played a weakened 1st XI.
They weren't punished here, as Otal, try as he might, couldn't find the net.



They continued with a rotated squad here, and this time they did get punished, somehow.
Ibanez was back in the fold for the cup games due to Di Meo's recklessness and Artur Silva's injury, and he somehow found himself with a goal after some extraordinary passing play that I'd normally see only being scored against us.
Our opponents fired back in the 2nd half to make for a tense finish, but on the day they just weren't quite clinical enough and went out on away goals.



So after what, 5 years? We've found ourselves back in the final, and this time it's the other Madrid side that we'll face.
It also means that barring a spectacular collapse in the league on the part of Real we'll find ourselves back in continental competition next season regardless of the result of this final.

March 2042

We were controlling the game, had quite a bit of possession and were playing it out from the back when Curri's pass out was intercepted by Abikanlou, who showed why he's the current La Liga top scorer by speeding through half the pitch and finishing with aplomb.
A bit of a wake-up call was needed, and the previously anonymous Nikolaou also showed why he's 2nd on the top scorer's list with a finish out of nothing - his back to goal, he shrugged off his defender, turned and fired in a powerful finish.
Otal is also relishing in his role of supersub, with another goal (and the winner) off the bench, his goal set up by Nikolaou as well.



Before the game Birch-Machin had broken his finger and would be out for the rest of the month, so Curri would start for the next couple of games.
Another rude awakening here, Ramon apparently at fault with a missed header.
But after that it was the centrebacks' day - Alex with an equaliser, Ramon somehow making up for his error with a terribly mishit cross that flew into the net, before Szeman fired in a 3rd to give us a commanding lead.



A cautious game from both sides, as if we both knew going gung-ho could backfire horribly.
As it turn out I blinked first towards the end of the game, went on Overload and got suckerpunched on the break - a deep cross was delivered which Curri came out to collect, who was unfortunately beaten to the ball by Fininho.
Oh well, it's not like I've never lost to Valencia before.



Tore Elche a new one here - 3 braces, and Nikolaou just pipped Zhong and Panagiotou for the MoTM with another 2 assists to his name.



Rayo started really red hot this game, and took a deserved lead from (again) a early setpiece goal.
We had to resort to playing on the break, and who better to lead the counter than the speedy Panagiotou, who turned a subpar first touch into a superb lob from wide right.
A couple of penalty decisions later (one of which was apparently less that legitimate) Rayo's spirit was broken and we'd found ourselves back in front.
Panagiotou scored our final goal, before Rayo had a late resurgence and could well have had an incredible comeback. Alas it was too little too late, and we leave with 3 points in the bag.



Third, but by the thinnest of margins.
I don't expect us to actually finish ahead of both Barca and Sevilla by the end of the season, and we're practically already guaranteed European football next season (at least through the cup) so there's not much to fear for the remainder of this campaign.
Though obviously I'd love for us to finish in a CL spot.

What else happened this month? Well:



Hmm... Both hottest prospects projected to become Destroyers, not the most inspiring intake.



Very similar to Valiente of a couple of seasons ago, has the physicals and aggression/bravery on point, but pretty lacking in his technicals.

Just caught up with this, looking good for european football this year @Eric Portapotty and good luck in the cup final!

Definitely miss the European nights, and especially having enough games for everyone to play and to justify having a large senior squad.

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April 2042

Another game, another couple of penalty decisions, one of which was potentially dodgy.
Alfonso was looking for a new deal and boy was he a tryhard here, rampaging forward and finding the opener.
Then there were the penalties, the 2nd of which was a last man foul (also the alleged dodgy one), so that was a straight dismissal, and the game was practically over with only 20 minutes gone.
Which was made all the sweeter since this was a derby game, and it also meant we completed the double over Sporting this season.



Sociedad are again in freefall this season, and the way they started the game couldn't have helped - a simple ball to Nikolaou on the break and he completely dicked his centreback, sped past him and fired home for a superb goal. Didn't help their case that their entire back 4 was in front of him.
Alfonso then pretty much earned his new deal with another goal, before Otal came off the bench (again) and his energy in pressing was to prove vital as he dispossessed the other centreback and finished to cement his status as the prime supersub.



A rotated team was played in anticipation of the Copa del Rey final, and we were so damn close to winning it.
Otal had a deserved start, and he made his chance count with the opener, before Szeman headed from a corner to give us a huge advantage going into the break.
But there's only so much a rotated team that hadn't play much can do, as fitness levels started to dip, and so did our resistance.
Eventually Barca clawed back the deficit to regain parity, but if I'dve snapped your hand off if you offered me a draw against Barcelona before the game, so I won't complain too much.



Seems like Zhong has managed to figure out that having a godlike performance every 5 matches would be enough to keep his form above 7. And so he did, despite the rather embarrassing own goal.
Doesn't detract from the fact that we were poor here, Granada weren't at the race for most of the game and yet we had to play the game out nervously instead of adding to our 3-goal lead.



No matter, another 10 from 12 gives us a vital gap over Barca, as we look to seal a CL spot for next season.
There's still a title to play for though, but obviously it doesn't concern us (or will it?...)

But enough of the league, we've got a cup final to play:



Oh.
The game showed us that the really big sides still have a hell of an edge when it matters, they had over half an XI out with fitness ad suspension issues, and we rested our best XI, and we still got dicked.
1st 2 goals were a disappointment, both were from setpieces and we clearly looked unprepared for that.
Nikolaou then clawed one back with a header from an Alfonso cross, but this was Real's day as they showed that they won't be fooling around, the 3rd and 4th goals putting us effectively out of sight.
Worthy winners, but at least we had another cup run to enjoy instead of losing to fucking Valencia again on aggregate.

End Of Season 2041/42

Any payback for our cup loss? No.
If anything this was even more bleak - another opener conceded from a setpiece, Real tearing us to shreds on the break rendering our domination of possession useless, Willmann being ever-present on our right flank in particular.



Being sandwiched between 2 games in 7 days the Betis clash called for a rotation of the XI, and Otal didn't disappoint with an opener.
Celikd didn't disappoint either in a way, scoring an Olympic goal (like these ones) to make the game safe against a wasteful Betis side.



The pre-match hype was all about Deportivo having let in 13 goals in their last 5 games and how Pichichi-chasing Nikolaou and Co were going to stat-pad against this defence.
Must've been a ruse then, since they seemed to figure out our game and came away with a clean sheet and all 3 points - typical.

I should add at this point we were sitting 4th, only 2 ahead of Barca in 5th - the CL spot was up for grabs in the final day:



And we so nearly blew it all on the final day - well I did say that I didn't expect to finish ahead of Sevilla and Barca, but there's no way I'dve tolerated losing a CL spot this way.
I (perhaps foolishly) decided to give Alfred Curri a start for the last game of the season (probably his last for the club since I don't think I'll renew his deal, certainly not on his agent's terms) and he repaid the gesture by punching a deep cross into his own net.
Camilo did get an equaliser, but with barca winning it wouldn't have been enough to finish in the top 4.
Nikolaou was enduring a whimper of an end to his season, and here he was shunted out to the right wing in favour of Otal, who proved to be the supersub for the umpteenth time this season.
Sure he didn't score the winner - Szeman headed in from a corner for the lead - but Nikolaou might not have chased down loose ball as Otal did for his strike.



So yes it's back to the CL for Oviedo, and I've a feeling we've got a better shot at staying around on both fronts this time round.
Does make cup run a bit of a waste though, would've much preferred it in a season where we'd flopped the league, but oh well.



Abikanlou did an Andy Johnson and top scored in a relegated side, scoring over half of his club's total of 55.
Nikolaou really dropped the ball in this final month, firing blanks in his 3 starts; admittedly one of those games was against Real Madrid, but it's not like Gimnastic and Depor were world beaters.



All things considered Murga probably deserved it, having clawed back from what was Real's title in the bag to claim it for themselves.
By that same note Formiconi doesn't quite deserve 3rd spot, they choked big time with losses to Espanyol(5-0!) and Bilbao, rendering the potentially titanic final day Madrid derby to nothing more than a guard of honour followed by an inconsequential win for Real.



Saul made the league his bitch this season, and will probably win the PoTY. But he did break his ankle and missed the last 3 months of the season, so the relative lack of game could count against him.




I'm just glad they don't expect much from us so far, because we'll probably fall well short of heightened expectations.

Players of the Season:



Probably will win the fans' PoTY, he's already earned his place as an Oviedo legend off the back of this season.
That late-season blip was a shame as this campaign was arguably his most consistent, as he looked virtually unplayable at times.
Interestingly he didn't have the highest rating in the team:



Panagiotou had the right-wing spot to his own this season and he made it so, impressive for a guy who had never played on the wing when he first arrived.
He was also equally capable through the centre, but regardless of his position his main game was his speed on the break, as he repeatedly lead our counterattacks, finishing the season with a double-double in goals and assists.



Zhong wasn't anywhere near the most consistent player in the team, but give him the space and he will destroy teams, and shown on multiple occasions this season.
He's not physically imposing in the least, but makes up for it by being probably the most cerebral player here, and his keen eye for a killer pass also served him very well.



I really thought this season will be the start of Szeman's decline, as Alex's arrival and Santacruz's superior ability relegating him to the bench.
While that did happen when we were playing a back 4, he was still relevant when the back 3 was employed, and Santacruz's hamstring tear also helped his cause.
Being on penalties also helped his cause, and a couple of headers eventually added up to a best-ever personal rating.

Superb to see you secure that Champions League football for next season!

Funny thing is I've still got a playoff to get through, and (as you'll see) I shouldn't have been so certain with our place in the CL proper...

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





So not only did Abikanlou do an Andy Johnson, he actually managed a European Golden Boot for good measure.
It also turned out that La Liga had the 5 top scorers in Europe - no other top league had someone with more than 21 goals.



Zhong topping the charts yet again, and we can expect him to do so for the rest of his time here.



Yeah the tax man can bugger off, and we've still got a bit left in the pot, so coupled with the European TV money we should be able to stay financially stable for this season.
Well that and the inevitability of someone meeting Santacruz's release clause.



I'm surprised they thought Celik was one of the signings of the season, sure he put in some creative performances in midfield but I always thought Birch-Machin was more important.



As if there was going to be anyone else - his best ever season, starting almost every game, there's really no contest.



The good news is they're adding about 3000 seats, so we'll probably see even bigger crowds, especially if we're in the CL.

Now for transfers:




Only the one arrival so far, Anastasijevic (jeez) wasn't sought after, but a browse through the Bosman-eligible players' list, he popped up and has arguably the best shot-stopping at the club.
His tactical sense needs work, but at his wages he'll serve as a good backup with the potential to develop even further.



Curri and Vargas are out, the former wanting an unjustifiably high wage (he wouldn't be the starter with Birch-Machin around) and the latter just wanting a new challenge.
(One thing about that 'new challenge' thing though, the way things always turn out said challenge will probably end up being getting coaching badges and finishing out your career at some 4th-tier shithole - so enjoy that Marcos.)
Zhang also left, the 1st Chinese experiment failing to reach the height of popularity that Zhong Zhibin was later to achieve.
Roman and Bouadam have both gone out on loan as well, but neither side seem to be starting for their clubs (Bouadam isn't even registered in the league for Huesca!) so I'll monitor the situation before evaluating if there's a need to relocate them.
Beto and Sanchez have also departed temporarily, and it looks like both will get regular game time.
Sanchez in particular was not intended to leave (he'dve stayed around and may have gotten some game time in Europe) but the 375k p/m regular game time was too hard to say no to.

Friendlies - not much in the way of star power this season:



100%, but our only opponents of any repute were QPR so that's not saying much.
Though the point of preseason is to get the team up to scratch fitness-wise, and looking at things now we're likely to have hit that target at least.



On hindsight I should've offered them the high bonuses, I'dve needed the staying power if they managed to continue finishing in the CL spots.



Thank goodness we aren't viewed to be in the running, the team is very happy to be the underdog.

One matchup where we are indeed underdogs though, is this:



Dincel's return to Oviedo and all that, but Besiktas are much better than as IMO and I'm now not optimistic about our chances.
Furthermore, 1st leg at home? I'm pretty sure we were one of the 'seeded' sides in the draw so I'm not quite sure what happened - oh well, we'd blow it at home anyway won't we.

A good win to start the season off, not that we had the flashes of opening goals, but Szeman did put that penalty away, so there's that.
The next couple of goals were significantly better, Nikolaou showing his strengths with his trademark powerful shots.



It was supposed to be an easy win - we managed to secure a comfortable advantage against a Hercules who didn't quite look to be at the races.
Or so I thought, before they managed to pull 2 goals out of nowhere and seriously spook our players, who played increasingly conservatively.
They weren't going to follow our suit though, and began piling forward time and again as they looked to secure an equaliser.
Eventually they did, a corner followed by a goalmouth scramble which ended up pinballing off Camilo into his own net.
The home side did go down to 10 men near the end, but we were mentally shot and couldn't get our man advantage through the line for a win.



He might not have been among the goals, but Zhong Zhibin was rocking here, serving up 2 assists for Nikolaou and Panagiotou to give us another decent lead going into the break.
Camilo then made up for his OG with a quickfire double to put us out of sight, or so we thought - Birch-Machin marring an otherwise alright showing with rather dodgy shotstopping for Espanyol's own 2 goals in 2 minutes.
None of the Hercules nonsense here though, as we see out the win.



Top on goals scored, though I've no doubt that draw against Hercules will come back to haunt us big time as the season progresses.
In any case I'm not expecting us to stay at the top for long (typical), so I'll just have to enjoy the view at the summit while it lasts.

What of our other sporting commitment then?



I've to say I was surprised at how meek Besiktas looked, sure their squad isn't as deep as ours but man-for-man they definitely have players who can hurt us bad, so to win this comfortably was good to see.
Otal didn't score, but in fairness he was playing deeper as a shadow striker, but Cagigas did, starting up front as a distributive focal point.
Santacruz then made it two, and we saw the game out relatively easily.



Playing at home Besiktas came out firing, and quick took the lead from a corner to give themselves a way back in the tie.
Unfortunately for them the fire went both ways, and they found themselves a man down in double quick time.
However even with the man down (and playing on 1 man in midfield they still had all the time in the world in the centre to take shots and keep us on the back foot.
The 2nd half was a different story, once Otal scored the game was effectively over as a contest and Besiktas' heads dropped; we had further chances to extend the lead but the game stayed level to the end.

There was also the draw for the group stages:



Lyon are the top seed and have reached the CL final 4 times in the last 6 seasons (albeit only winning it once), while Napoli are reigning Serie A champions - so that's 3rd spot for us then, provided Hapoel Tel-Aviv don't spectacularly balls things up for us.

Transfers next, a slightly busy end to the window:



3 additions to the squad after Anastasijevic:



Well Christmas's come early eh.
To be honest Santa has got some glaring flaws in his game, but I'm hoping his technicals and physicals will be honed over time and the already well-established reading of the game will do him even more good.



Paraskeva was recruited to boost the youth ranks ahead of their UEFA Youth League games, and with a 650k future fee in store I'll also have a good look at him.



Ramazan Celik tore his hamstring, so Camilo would be our only senior left winger for the next couple of months, and to alleviate this issue Santos was signed.
He's also in the Uraguayan national squad so he clearly has got some potential.
Unfortunately:



So he's completely pointless now, I'll likely rid of him in the near future.

Finally:



Fantastic news, I do hope this will get us into some sort of solid financial footing, instead of losing 40+ million every year we don't qualify for Europe or sell a key player for his release clause.

Great start to the new season @Eric Portapotty and im sure you'll be fine in that CL group

September 2042

A match where the stats didn't really matter - we had many, many shots on target, but this was never a comfortable win, mainly due to our attack's inability to finish their 16 shots.
We even had to get through the last 8 minutes against a Levante side that had nothing to lose to go on the offensive, but we did eventually see the game out, somehow.
Definitely a lesson in complacency if there was any to be had here.



Got completely wrecked here, Santacruz had a particularly bad time at the back, him and his defensive partner to his right - Jose Alfonso - making mistake after mistake and contributing greatly to our shambles on the night.



A greatly improved performance from the previous game, as we proved to be up to the tasks against the other Madrid team.
Di Meo and Alfonso both had storming games as wingbacks in the 3-4-2-1, and when Camilo took the lead it looked like we could go on to claim another scalp.
Too bad it was the turn of Alex to suffer defensively, and at the worst of times no less - losing Quotschalla as he fired in the equaliser.
Even then we could still hold on, but alas it wasn't meant to be.



The last game this month, and the 2nd against a relative minnow to complement the Madrid giants.
And as with the Levante clash we were rubbish here - Granada were rightly cavalier in their approach and managed to equalise twice.
But Alava was utterly magnificent here, the captain with 2 free-kicks to win us the game.
Less so for Nikolaou, who ended his month with only the single goal at the start of the month - admittedly we had 2 huge games to contend with, but at least he could've contributed in other aspects.



Bit of a mixed bag this month, we'd lost both games that we were expected to lose, and beat teams that we should've.
But the performances weren't encouraging, and in the 1 game that we did look structurally sound we lost that.
Also, still 4th with 2 of the big guns out of the way, so it's not all doom and gloom.

It's not doom and gloom also because of our return to the Champions League - our opener was at home to Hapoel Tel-Aviv:



I'm just relieved we won - the pre-match predictions were all about how they'd nick a win here, and the odds were (literally) in their favour for some reason.
So imagine my surprise when we won, and with a clean sheet to boot.

More positive news from this game:



The increased capacity looks to be paying some dividends already, but of course we'll need to be in Europe to get that gate receipt cash properly.



Lyon and Napoli tore each other to shreds, but it just happened that Lyon tore their opponents more, winning 6-3.
Either way, bad, bad news for us by the looks of things.

October 2042

Villareal are knee-deep in the shitter this season - which may or may not partly be Canedo's fault - but he wasn't eligible to play in this game anyway.
There was ever only one team who could win this, but in the 1st half Villareal were at least trying their damnedest to make sure no one was going to win, in particular their stopper.
After a few choice words at the break we came back out and continued plugging away, and finally broke the Yellow Submarines' resistance with Panagiotou's opener.
We were really coasting from there, 2 more goals sealing a comfortable victory - even if Nikolaou's had to be served to him centimetres out on an open goal for him to find the net - it's not been the most clinical period for him despite his goals.



Well I say that, he's just gone on to score a hat trick!
A convincing performance against a Depor side who have built on their top-half finish last season, we dealt with their threats reasonably well and proved to be significantly more clinical.
A pity to not have kept the clean sheet though.



You know how they say form goes out the window in a derby? Yeah.
We had pretty much the perfect start actually, Nikolaou capitalising on some sloppy passing in Sporting's defence to fire in a very early opener.
But that seemed to be the extent of our fortunes, as we kept the ball but rarely managed to create any clear-cut chances, with most passes wasted on the feet of Zhong Zhibin.
And as with the typical scripts for a derby, we blew it big time - Gamal wasn't going to give me any chances in (I think) our first encounter since the Smouha days, and even after their sending off they just kept going. We didn't, and in that case there was only going to be one winner.



We end the month on a high at least, a victory in an encounter that we tripped up on in previous years.
It was Camilo's turn to be the hero, 2 goals ensuring we made up for that utter shambles in the derby.



Still 3rd, mostly helped by the fact that Barca can't seem to convert draws into wins, which explains their (relatively low) position despite only losing one game.
We play them next, I do hope they won't have found their winning formula by then.

Onto the CL next, or what in increasingly billed an exercise in futility:



We didn't so much shoot ourselves in the foot than aimed a minigun squarely at our own legs here.
First Birch-Machin completely fluffed a clearance which gave Farias an open net to score from, before we were even subjected to the inevitable torrent of attacks from the Italian champions.
While that happened Alfonso suffered an injury which would keep him out for the next couple of months, and Szeman was to pick up a knock in the 2nd half as well, with Schultz replacing him.
And as if conceding a 2nd goal wasn't enough Schultz then two-footed his opponent and had himself an early shower, but by then we'd well and truly shut up shop.
What a shitshow.



Miguel Roman was called back from Granada (where he'd not gotten anything close to a sniff of regular football) and was immediately slotted into an unfamiliar AMC role.
It wasn't going to end well regardless - Lyon were always far superior and should have reasonably scored 5 more, but Birch-Machin made up for his gaffe against Napoli with a MoTM showing here.



I'm not expecting fireworks from us in the remainder of the group stage, what with having to cope with the league as well.
Bit of a gamble though, to trust that Hapoel are just as dour if not worse - we're going to have to try to get a point against Lyon or Napoli to make things more comfortable for us.

Finally, some very good news for one of our own:



Delighted for him, not many can claim to have come back from double broken legs to become an international footballer.
Bit odd though that he was actually capped - I mean he's now starting for us (albeit in DM - his lack of pace is a real problem) but look at him:

]

He's a guy who's undoubtedly talented, but there's a reason the Italian NT hadn't touched him with a barge pole beyond the youth categories, so for the French to start him - at CB no less - is puzzling.

Close in the league early on, shame about the CL form a bit short at the moment! hopefully a minimum of EL spot come the end of the group stage

I'm afraid I might have a surprise in store...

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

November 2042

As expected, Barca shut us down well, and took their chances when we gifted it to them - Santacruz's missed header putting Hasi through on goal who wasn't going to miss the 1v1.
Alex drew us level from a corner, but Bertelsen's unstoppable freekick had them regain the lead, which they didn't relinquish this time.



Nikoalou had a pretty inconsistent past few games - despite scoring 5 goals in his last 5 games he really only hit his best form against Depor.
So he was dropped, and Otal took his place up front, where I was hoping he'd impress.
He didn't, and fortunately for us Valencia weren't any better in front goal which gave us a chance to grab a win.
So on came Nikolaou, armed with pep talks that seemed to have him pumped up, and he took his one chance to give us a crucial victory.



Mad, mad game - Alex scored the earliest of openers from a corner (surprise) and from then on we were looking to extend the lead from there.
But their stopper must've been on some good shit on the day, as he proceeded to palm away every chance under the sun - 1v12, corners, from outside the area, you name it.
Lots and lots of fouls as well, with Valladolid weren't going down without a fight, both in the game and physically.
Eventually they did get one too far and went down to 10 men, but they were always in contention before and after the dismissal, down in no small part to their stopper.
Eventually Nikolaou also got his goal, right at the death to kill our opponents' hopes.



Nikolaou, back at it with another treble.
Real Sociedad weren't dominating proceedings at the start, but their opener was what was needed to kick-start this contest.
Camilo then quickly equalised, before Nikolaou got us into, then stretched, our lead before the break to seemingly shut the contest beyond the Basques.
The Greek striker then came out into the 2nd half and completed his hat-trick, after which he was brought down when clean through on goal, and that was it as a contest - we couldn't have (and didn't) let the 10 men back into this game.



Definitely approve of this table, the being tied for top, the 5-point gap over 5th-placed Sevilla, but most of all seeing Valencia and Sporting on the wrong half of the table.

On to the CL, where yes, there was a surprise:



¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Maybe Lyon had looked at our previous encounter and thought we'd be as easy as that time, so they put the foot off the gas, who knows.
But they were uncharacteristically poor here - it was a role reversal to Matchday 3, where we were being pounded time after time and were lucky to only leave with a single-goal loss.
Lyon weren't to be so lucky this time - their opener was against the run of play, and even then they didn't strive to pull away.
So the onus was on us to come at them, and we did, Panagiotou's pace causing them many problems in particular.
But even then I couldn't have predicted a 4-1 win, but it does throw a hell of a spanner into the works.



The initial plan was to just ride out the group with wins in both our games against Hapoel, and settle for a EL spot.
We did accomplish the former, but with Napoli managing to avenge their humiliation on Matchday 1 we're now properly in the hunt for qualification into the CL knockouts.
Back to the game: Otal did very well here as a second striker, his double will have doe wonders for his confidence.
Oh and Alava scored a peach of an FK after yet another professional foul (lost of them this month).



So the qualification shootout pits us against the Neapolitans, while Lyon have the easier task of beating the Israelis.
tbh I'm not overly fussed if we don't finish in the top 2 - the team, while sufficiently solid for the group stage, evidently lacks an X-factor which is an absolute must-have against the cream of the crop of Europe.
We'd have a hell lot more of a chance to go far in the EL than the CL in my opinion.

December 2042



After a start where we struggled to make a significant dent on the game, there came said dent - against the run of play, Nikolaou fired past Betis' stopper after a good counterattack.
But it was increasingly evident that we would have to earn this win, with Betis not backing down and giving us more and more questions as the game wore on.
Eventually all it took was a corner that wasn't cleared, for them to plunder home an important equaliser.
I'd take a draw pre-match, but to earn it this way, meh, not impressed.



Well I say that, I was about to be even less impressed with this game.
Alex was at fault for the 1st goal, we then lay siege on Bilbao's goal to no avail, before it was Santacruz's turn to cock up, a missed header giving Perez the length of our half to run and score his 2nd.



Despite not having the best of times in the league this month, we still manage to cling on to third, though it's beginning to get real tight with only 3 points between us and 6th-placed Sevilla.

(Well I say that we've not had the best of times, there'll be some bad times around - you'll see.)

In the Champions League, we pick up from the eve of Matchday 6, where matching Lyon's result will see us through.
There's a catch - they play bottom side (and pointless in at least the literal sense) Hapoel Tel-Aviv, while we have to contend with de facto group winners Napoli.



Can't say we didn't give it our all and then some, but when Nikolaou and Co. could only muster 2 shots on target from 16 there is only so much to say.
Don't quite understand how both Lyon and Napoli become so meek when they play at ours though, they have the ability to tear us a new one (and they did at theirs).



In any case Lyon did beat Hapoel and secured their place in the CL knockouts.
We finished 3rd, with a very respectable 10 points and a better showing than our last time here.

Finally, the Copa del Rey is back on! Definitely looking forward to another decent cup run to follow up on last season's final appearance.
We were drawn against Gimnastic Tarragona in the 2nd tier, might be a lower league club but they're 2nd in Liga Adelante so they aren't to be trifled with.
Still, it's a cup tie isn't it? A bit of rotation won't hurt:





Yeah.
A series of massive cockups from all involved, not least my failure to anticipate a 4-4-1-1 from our opponents, making our back 3 look a bit foolish and ceding the wings.
Didn't help that Otal and Roman both had terrible games - the latter has a bit of a mental block going given that he's yet to score a senior goal for us, but Otal's virtual no-show was unacceptable - we've really got a striking crisis around.



Nice comeback, a 1st senior goal from Roman and an equaliser from Shultz bringing us back on level terms, with another 45 minutes to play.
... Only for their right winger to make a fool of our entire left side and provide a cross for the winner.
Which brings me to another point, that Artur Silva simply doesn't have the legs to play on the flank anymore - he might do a serviceable job at DM where his lack of pace won't be exposed as brutally, but his time on the wing has to end for our sake.
Which is sad, because he's only got a couple months left on his deal, and next season he'll be eligible for a testimonial - I'd love for him to get that game, as the first signing since our promotion was confirmed almost a decade ago.

Gutted you crashed out the CL after those two fine results, but hopefully a good Europa League run now

Yeah I genuinely hope we can do so this time round, we're in good shape in the league so we can afford to put more emphasis on the EL.
inb4 we implode and balls everything up

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





Took a long, long while for find our groove - Las Palmas had us contained to our own half in the first 25 minutes, and would hold their own for the rest of the half, nearly scoring on a couple of occasions.
The 2nd half saw little improvement from us, and Zhong Zhibin was about to be hauled off before he played a through ball to the marauding Jose Alfonso, whose mishit cross managed to creep into the far post and into the net - Zhong was subbed off in any case.
Nikolaou then got his customary goal to paper over his poor overall performance, and eventually also won the penalty which Szeman converted - he also snagged the MoTM, not bad considering he was nigh on invisible for the first hour.



Terrible, awful, depressing, and more of those came out of this game.
Alfonso followed up his goal previously with one of his worst showings for some time, being consistently outpaced by Sevilla's LW (hell of a feat given that Alfonso's no slowpoke) and having 2 goals coming from his flank.
Beside him, Santacruz was incredibly doing worse, being at fault for said goals and being a numpty in general.
The former was subsequently fined a week's wages, while Santacruz (having been error-prone throughout the season) was docked 2 weeks', and woudl sit out the rest of the month.
Fortunately for him we still have a back 3 to play, so he'll have to be back sooner or later.



Nikolaou didn't have much in the Sevilla loss (poor shooting, but at least, at least he assisted Zhong's goal), and he went some way to making up for that with a great start here.
Camilo followed up to keep Celta deep in relegation trouble, and he got his own brace in the dying minutes of the game.



It looked like it was going to be same old, being sucker-punched by an opener before slugging it out for an equaliser (and failing) - didn't help that Nikolaou was (again) poor, and also suffered a knock in the game.
But here it was the centrebacks to save the day, Alex with the only way he could score, from a corner.
Szeman then secured an important win with a composed finish from the spot, finally breaking the Espanyol stopper's resistance.



Still third, but that reversal against Sevilla could well prove to come back to haunt us, with head-to-head deciding matters in La Liga - not to mention Bilbao who've sneaked up the table in the past couple of months.

We also had the draw for the Europa League KO rounds:



Frankfurt aren't a side to be trifled with - 5th in the Bundesliga, also playing a back 3, they could well prove to be far too tough a nut to crack.
Though a tougher nut to crack would be our fixture list:



*gulp*
Let's face it, we're not going to win all 4 games, so the very best case would be 4 points from 6 and scraping through on aggregate.
Worst case (and the more realistic) would be crashing out and losing both Madrid games as my attempts at squad management blow up in my face.



I'll take this though, could've had worse 2nd round opponents.

Finally, a bittersweet conclusion to an awkward issue:





He's made things much easier for me tbh - now he's been listed, sent to the B-Team and will (barring a dramatic change of mind) leave at the end of the season.
Just as well it seems, as Reda Bouadam has been tearing up Spain's 3rd and 2nd tiers, and it would be unfair not to give him a shot at the top flight in light of his form.
So he's promoted to the 1st team, and will rotate with Di Meo as the more offensive option.

February 2043

I've noticed (yes it's been almost 10 seasons and I've only just noticed) that while the mid-table/minnows don't quite have the quality all the way through their squad, but one thing almost all these clubs have is a semi-clinical striker who's usually equipped with pace, which gets them a decent amount of chances, if not goals.
Hercules too have Pepin Infantes (who tore us a new one a few moons back) and were looking to poach a goal or 2.
But it was us who broke the deadlock - Alava was over a freekick out wide right, and he caught the keeper out with an effort that crept past the near post for an ingenious opening goal.
Szeman then got our 2nd (off a corner), before Panagiotou made up for his poor shooting all day with an effort that finally found the back of the net, and Zong added the icing on the cake.



Otal wasn't at all clinical against Hercules, but he made up for that with a fantastic hat-trick.
But there was another mistake by Santacruz - I really want to keep him around and bear the fruits of his potential, but his propensity for clangers is not helping our cause.



Despite facing 2 opposing CBs Jose Sousa tore us to shreds, and should really have scored 4 or 5 more goals had he not been so wasteful - his first goal was a thundering free kick, which in addition to showing his wide range of abilities was ironically his most difficult chance.
Zhong was able to make Atleti pay for their profligacy with the equaliser after a penalty box scramble.
Both sides were going for it this game, Sousa had n=most of the best chances, but the game ended at 1-all.



Another thumping at the hands of the other Madrid giant, but this time Santacruz wasn't involved - due to the schedule Obed Owusu Addo was given a start, and suffice ti to say he didn't fare well.
The whole defence was a shambles really, probably down to the relative unfamiliarity of this backline, as Marcao's runs were deadly and he came away with the match ball.
Nikolaou also had a superhuman effort which made this game looks like something of a contest, 2 goals giving us some face on the scoreline.



Only the single point in our Madrid encounters, but our doing away with winnable games gave us over 50% for the month.
Still 3rd too, and while Barca are struggling for form, in their place comes a resurgent Bilbao, alongside Sevilla as our immediate threats for the top 4.

On to the Europa League knockouts, against a Frankfurt side that are currently 5th in the Bundesliga - a hell of challenge:



And so it proved.
We managed an early, early goal from Roman, but as the game wore on it looked far more likely that Frankfurt were likelier to get the goals if they were coming.
Before that we'd gotten another away goal, an OG off a corner, and we were able to go into the break a goal up at least.
The 2nd half was a different story though, the home side came out geared for a fight, and after a dodgy penalty call they got their leveller, which was a body blow to our morale - with a lost 2-goal lead and the home crowd baying for blood we crumbled, Frankfurt's 3rd goal giving us a tall order back in Spain.



You know what? Cometh the hour, cometh the fucking man.
Nikolaou had not been at his sharpest despite being among the top scorers in the league, and before the Real game had been out with injury.
Now he was back, 2 goals against Madrid ushering calls for him to be played here, and man did he deliver. A proper Complete Forward's performance, he was right in the thick of play, and was able to get to the end of crosses and through balls with his trademark powerful finish.
Play behind him was Otal, who added 2 goals to avenge the 1st leg defeat, but the star of the night had got to be Nikolaou.



4th in the Premier League, I hadn't looked at their league table when I said I liked this draw tbh.

Finally, the transfer window came to a close, with a couple of late deals:


First off you can scrap the Roman loan - Valladolid didn't even bother registering him for the league after getting him, and he couldn't play for another team after already featuring for them in the Copa Del Rey in addition to us and Granada, so he was recalled and will be our 3rd choice striker for the rest of the season.
Cleiton's departure was a sure thing though, I should've kept him around but he wasn't playing, and you know with them - the less they play proper football the less time they have to fulfil their potential. So I decided to cash in on him, with Atleti being the willing party to pay us a decent fee for him.

Can't wait for him to have a stormer against us.