Eric Portapotty - Comments

September 2043

Played a rotational XI and a new 4-1-3-2 formation against Elche in anticipation of the upcoming CL games, and with Nikolaou previously suffering a knock it was Gorka Beorlegui who started up top with Zhong - Beorlegui might've scored against Juventus but there's a reason why he isn't starting over Otal, Nikolaou or any of the other forwards we've got around these parts.
Anyway, so we won, and despite the equal number of shots Elche never put too much pressure on us, while we on the other hand found our extra gear to win the game.
In fact GK Birch-Machin wasn't at his best on the day and should've kept a clean sheet for the defence really.



Sticking with the 4-1-3-2, this time with Otal back up front, we yielded another narrow win.
In contrast to Elche's superior shot count Granada didn't threaten as often, but when they did, boy did they carve out some quality chances.
In any case, our strike pair both got a goal each to seal the win.



Third different strike pair in a row, as Cagigas was given his first start of the season.
He took his chance well too, 2 goals to lead us on a comeback win over Celta Vigo.



Yes, a 4th straight game without the same forward line, though this time we'd reverted to our 3-4-2-1 so Nikolaou was tasked to lead the line solo anyway.
A very convincing win, the wingbacks revelled in the space they had (with Demirev scoring) and Panagiotou once against proving the value of his pace.



A perfect month in the league sees us rise to the top of the table, but I'd be kidding if I thought we'll stay there - the season so far has not pitted us against any of the big guns yet, though Sanchez de la Calle will hopefully help with killer attacks.

Speaking of which, the CL:



SdC came straight into our CL opener against Ajax, and whoop-dee-do, a goal down in the 1st minute.
The backline eventually recovered to put in decent shifts, but the buck was then shifted to Otal and co., who dropped the ball for their part, and my worst fears end up coming true - an opening loss to Ajax.
Maybe I shouldn't have rushed SdC into the starting lineup so soon, but I figured that he was about as good as it get when it comes to big game experience.



2 for 2, Otal choking on the big stage again, but this time we weren't deserving to win, such was the domiination United had over us.
It did take a wonder freekick to rbeak the deadlock just before the interval, and all we had was occationally plugging away on the break while United continued to pile on the pressure.
Ironically it was United who reaped rewards of a counterattack to make the game safe.



No goals, the 4th seed in the driving seat, PSG up next... It's as bad as it can get really.
We already need 2 wins from our last 4 to have a chance of Europa League football, and at this rate we could well be better off focusing on the league.

Well enough of that depressing cup competition, let's have a look at one where we're doing well in - the Asian Games was around the corner, and as with all U23 tourneys the managerial posts were open for application (and in typical SI fashion literally on the eve of the competition opener:



Bit of a scare in the opener, but all in all it's ezpz.



This Indonesia side sure were fighters - unfortunately more literally than I'dve liked.
No matter, goals were where it counted.



The neighbours proved to be much, much more of a handful while still being similarly physical, and I'm just glad we didn't have to endure another 30 minutes of injuries waiting to happen - we face the Qataris in the semis.

FIFA Congress opens with voting system test for delegates. 12 federations don't know Germany are World Cup holders pic.twitter.com/z2tBC5tWlf

— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) May 11, 2017

DAMN this was what I wanted to do if I got FM17.... Unfortunately I haven't.

Good luck with this, excited to see how far the save file can go

(Apologies for the absence, finals have been a bitch but fingers crossed I've seen the last of those modules)

August 2043

We looked decently equipped for revenge for last season in this season-opener, and they looked to be in sixes and sevens in the game as well.
Unfortunately our lack of clinical finishing put paid to any chance of us winning this game - 3 on target from 18? I expected better from Nikolaou.



We ballsed this up real bad here - I'd set the team up completely wrongly before the game and we found ourselves a goal down before half time.
Birch-Machin's OG left us in the lurch, but it also seemed to wake up the team - NIkolaou grabbing the vital goal back before setting up Camilo's leveller.
Still definitely 2 points dropped against the odds-on favourites to get relegated this season.



1st win of the season, and against an Espanyol team that we'd normally struggle against.
Both sides had chances but once we got our goal we were in cruise control and didn't look like relinquishing it, well up to the last minutes of the game when they had a late flurry of efforts.



It's definitely 4 points dropped given how things went (and could have gone).
But we move away from the league for the moment to focus on the real money - the UCL:




You know it's not an easy group when Ajax are the Pot 4 team.
The primary aim (as with most years until we somehow get into Pot 2) will be to finish 3rd and make more of a mark in the Europa League, but with probably the most prestigious Pot 4 team we've met so far slip-ups are more likely than ever.

We had the remainder of the transfer window to prep the team for the CL, and you know what, I think we did:





Yeah so I eventually decided that D'Auria was nowhere near good enough to be a backup GK in a La Liga club.
So we went looking, and for better or worse we ended up at recently relegated(from the top flight) Hannover and their disgruntled goalkeeper.
He's definitely better than D'Auria, has somewhat decent attributes and has is a Professional, so he probably won't kick up a fuss if he doesn't get game time.



No doubt probably the biggest signing for the club... ever? Sure he was transfer listed by Lorient, but still he's an instant upgrade to our backline, and adds some winning mentality to the squad - he's a CL, Ligue 1,World Cup and Olympic Games winner (yes he's the guy who was in my Spain squad who underperformed despite being the best defender in the tournament) so I don't doubt that he'll provide that steel that the defence lacked on occasions.



Bit of a nothing signing, got him for the U19s (who only have 2 GKs in their roster) but their manager isn't biting anyway - nowhere near a starting spot so far.



Lots of loans (not significant), but these 2 well, were:
- With Sanchez de la Calle (we'll call him SdC from here on in alright) arriving someone had to give up his spot on the squad list, and since Santacruz was the most underwhelming centreback last season he's been given a shot at another top team - I do hope he can cut out his gaffes and come back as an equal to SdC.
-Diego Bernardo was your run-of-the-mill forward with decent pace, but nothing much else, so when Bilbao came knocking to stockpile their quota of Basques I was only too happy to oblige.

Aye, good luck with this!

Nah he's definitely envious of Arsene's job stability, with all the conflicts he's had with various boards I won't be surprised if he's yearning for some peace.
Even if he's the one who stirred most of the shit that he ended up in.

'Gradually' being key there tbf.

But thanks for the kind words in all seriousness :thup

Preseason 2043/44

2nd consecutive season, again our top scorer as well, and a literal living (club) legend as well - it's going to be a sad day when we (inevitably) have to phase him out of the team.
I sure as hell am going to enjoy having him up front while he's here mind.



Ehhhh, a 1 million increment isn't much if I'm honest, though it's not like we've had a dramatic change in fortunes last season.
Or am I seeing this in a wrong way, that this sort of stuff is supposed to be baby steps? In any case that's 6 mil more into the coffers.



Erm ok, I didn't expect to see this.
Very, very surprising to see Zhong's stock fall that far, but it would certainly make it easier to stomach when I do offload him...
Equally surprising would be Gomez too, I haven't been playing him as much as I should but the fans seem to like whatever they could see from him.



As Chips Keswick, Gazidis et al would say: "The money's there to be spend if we need it"
So let's see how we did spend it:



A couple of ins, but the meat of this would surely be the multitude of loans we've set up.

Going through the arrivals first:



The biggest acquisition this window, he's got a hell of a foundation to build on and we should be looking to build the team around him (as the cliche goes) or at least sell him for a pretty penny.
Unfortunately, the keen-eyed among you would've spotted his poor condition - well:



Oh yeah, out for the first half of the season and stunting his growth in the long term, fantastic.
Well we had to sign a replacement, and we came up with him:



Gordillo's compatriot, he's not got much in the way of a proper footballing brain but as far as a physical presence goes he's well-equipped to play on the wing and in the centre.
Whether his lack of game sense will come back to bit him we'll have to see, but for now he's what we do have as a backup to Camilo.



Boca are no longer the dominant force in Argentine football, and have been reduced to being a yo-yo club between the top 2 divisions - they still do produce a mean crop of youth products though, Lezcano being one of them.
He will in all likelihood follow in Santa's footsteps, leading the youth squad into the UEFA Youth League before getting a loan at another Spanish club to obtain his citizenship.



D'Auria actually left Oviedo almost a decade ago for Barcelona, when the club had just been relegated - now he returns to a very different club to the one he started for 10 years ago.
Obviously not starting material, in fact he probably wouldn't even be in the 1st team by the end of the window if we manage to sign a better stopper on loan which, let's face it, isn't hard.

Then there's Pereskeva, who impressed last season and was subsequently signed on a permanent deal.
He was supposed to stay in the 1st team, but regular game time on loan at Augsburg should be better than sitting on the bench for us.

Of the outs:

- Kartaloglu had asked for a transfer last season but no one bit on this one, and the plan was to use him in a swap deal for another midfielder from recently relegated Spurs(!).
That didn't materialise (he wasn't keen on signing for them - good for him ) and when that move broke down, the next best thing was to accept an offer from Galatasaray.
Now that I think of it I really shouldn't have been so insistent on a swap deal - that Spurs guy was such a good player too.

- Celik has taken Cagigas' place at Viseu, where it'll likely be his last audition for Alava's successor.
Cagigas was a Portugese champion last season with Viseu, so Celik will have some shoes to fill.

- (Salvador) Sanchez at Recreativo was a shock - the newly promoted side signing a newly promoted youth prospect on loan.
He's clearly going to be out of his depth in La Liga though, so he'll fit in well with the rest of the side, who looks far worse than last season's Levante cellar-dwellers.
In all seriousness it may well be a baptism of fire for Sanchez, but he'll get a hell lot of experience here and he could well improve dramatically.

- (Angel) Sanchez had a terrible time at Valenciennes last time out, looking a right wreck at times and damn nearly getting them relegated.
I do hope it's just the French weather that didn't do him any good, and he gets a chance to prove himself again with another starting stint, this time at Elche.
Definitely not expecting fireworks from him if the past few seasons were of any indicator.

- Jimenez - a waste of a contract renewal, that is all.

- The last time Real sign one of ours on loan Angel Sanchez didn't get even a sniff of game time.
This looks like it could well be different though, as Real seem to have indicated a switch to 3 at the back, and you can never do with too few of CBs with that defensive system around.
So we could be looking at a vastly improved (and naturalised) Santa next season.

- Anastasijevic has been angling for a move for the best part of 6 months now, and this is appeasement really.
Though it's more than just that - Sevilla's stopper (and my nemesis) Shorokhov is getting on years and there could be competition for his place now.

- Fragoso's another one who has signed for a newly-promoted side, Portsmouth in this case.
And like Recreativo, I can't see them staying up, so the best that Fragoso can hope for is match experience really.

- I'd taken a long time trying to loan Roman out as no one seems to want him on loan, rather curiously.
In fact I may even pull him from this one; their preseason has faetured very little of him and unless that changes for the season proper it's just going to be yet another pointless stint for him.

- Then there's Barbero, who hasn't signed for a top-tier side, but regular game time in Segunda isn't that bad.

Of the released... We'd probably miss Cantero and Volodin the most - the fans have been quite vocal over the former's departure in particular.

Now for the friendlies:



5 from 5 yes, but by no means we were convincing in most of these.
We'd looked quite starved of a spark, and while the domination was there it wasn't couple with clinical ability, to create and to score.

Finally, the odds for all your budding bookmakers:



Pretty consistent with seasons past, and just the way I like it really - the expectation of a marginal Europa League spot.

May 2043/End of Season Review

Let's get the Europa League semifinal 2nd leg against Juventus out of the way first:



So yes, I did send out a weakened squad for the 2nd leg, with 4 youth players making their debuts. Of the quartet Gorka Beorlegui also scored, fair play to him.
But what I didn't get was how we were in the game throughout - sure Juve had the better chances and their quality clearly shone through, but that was to be expected.
We had far more chances than I'd expected and while we didn't win we could take heart that we gave then a run for their money.

(SPOILER: Valencia went on to win the whole thing)
Back to the league then:



Oh look, another team that's more interested about injuring our players than play the game.
Other than that though, this game highlighted the improvement in understanding between Otal and Roman, the forward pair finishing with a goal each.



An easier time against the struggling Las Palmas, who while are safe from relegation, were not going to givs us too many issues on a good day (for us).
And so I proved, Zhong and Panagiotou with the goals.



A very tough fight against the perennially underachieving Villareal, but they've consistently given us a run for our money - mainly due to their shot-stopper, as is so often the case.
It was a tight game, with both sides looking to leave their (stud) marks on the game, but we ended up being the more clinical side - I mean with Nikolaou up top it's almost certainly the case nowadays.



Well that was a rude awakening.
We'd lost to Bilbao earlier in the season and I'd talked up the prospect of revenge in the pregame peptalk.
It looked like it'd worked as we got an early lead, but somehow we lost our grip on the game, and with that the scoreline as well.
Frustrating game, to let slip in the way we did when CL qualification was on the line.



We're going to choke this aren't we.
At least we got our own early double to cancel out Valladolid's earlier strikes.
And that was to be the end of both teams' scoring, becoming more interested in kicking lumps out of each other instead of calling on our early clinical finishing.



And here comes the final game of the season...
A new formation to trip them up, and thankfully it worked with NIkolaou finishing the season with the customary goal.



So we did secure the CL spot (not only that, but the automatic group stage spot as well), a magnificent achievement to finish in the top 4 2 seasons in a row.
(If I'm honest we'd secured it with the draw against Valladolid )

Players of the Season



Well no surprises to see him here were there.
Still the talismanic goalgetter for us, Nikolaou finished with 24 league goals and oh-so-nearly hit the 30-goal mark in all competitions.
I do dread the day he starts losing his legs and we have to phase him out, but we'll definitely enjoy him while we can.



It's not often a centreback is in charge of penalties, but Szeman has gone the Koeman route in recent seasons to rack up his goal tally.
Add to that a couple of clutch headers and we've got a gem of a defender here - especially in comparison to his supposed successor, Santacruz who has endured a horrid past year.



Camilo would've been a shoo-in for La Liga Team of the Season based on his early season form, but shame that they take into account the entire 9 months of a league campaign.
He was absolutely flawless in the 1st third of the season, which makes is even more painful to watch his awful, awful last 4 months.



Man I thought I had it good enough when Alfred Curri was in goal a couple of seasons ago - now I've got this! 14 clean sheets in 38 games is (with all due respect to Alf) far better than any goalkeeper in Oviedo colours.
It did help that he had guys like Szeman in front of him, but you don't get into the England squad by being a scrub.



And so it was 3 of these 4 who did make it into the team of the year - albeit only as subs.
Though I'll reiterate my opinion that Camilo would've gotten into the XI had he not suffered that inexcusable dip in form.




\o/ Love having the tag of underdogs, keeps my job safe enough when we did a Leicester like that last time.
I have to say though, Villareal as 3rd most improved club? They've got a bigger wage bill than us for crying out loud - they should be looking for Europe, not scraping through the threat of relegation and lucking out into the top half.



I'm not as delighted at looking at our cash drain into the taxman and shareholders mind.

It's more expensive than a hard disk drive for the space you're getting but it makes everything so much faster really.

No SSD?

Real talk, Ibra's elbow was fucking on point.

Hell I'd do it too if I was stepped on the face with a studded boot.

April 2043

Don't quite know how they had more shots, but it's irrelevant if they didn't win.
Miguel Roman was the unsung hero with 3 assists, though with 2 goals Otal was always going to be MoTM on the day.



I know even less about how we managed a draw here - the prematch pep talk was all about getting revenge, but we didn't look remotely capable of achieving that.
Maybe that made it all the sweeter when Szeman headed in our equaliser - only shot on target, after a game where we were battered even after going a man up.



Whelp, this is the last time I ever give in to a backup GK's demands for game time.
But Valencia are no longer the relegation-threatened side that we beat earlier in the season, and to their credit they damn well made sure we knew it.



Roman's really come into his own after a slightly rough patch earlier in the season, and in recent weeks seems to have had a fantastic partnership with Otal.
The pair combined for a goal each against Real Sociedad, and while they could (and should) have had more to make the game less tense, that can be attributed to the lack of experience.



Europe is a virtual certainty at this point, and now it's just the matter of the competition for us next season.
We're still holding on to 4th spot with 2 games in hand on most of our direct rivals, so we most definitely have our fate in our own hands.

On to said continent now, the Europa League quarterfinals to be precise:



We got away with this big time - Marseille had the upper hand early in the game and they eventually broke through before half time.
Alava led my example with another sweet freekick by the captain, and it stayed that way for the rest of the game, setting up a tense 2nd leg in France - we'll need an away goal at least, and while Marseille only need a scoreless draw you know they'll be looking to inflict a couple more upon us.



Ohhhhhh we nearly fucked that up so badly.r
Nikolaou gave us an early lead (and the vital away goal mind) with a typically clinical finish to give us the best possible start, Gomez the followed that up with an effort of his own to give Marseille a mountain to climb in the 2nd half.
And they damn near reached the top of the bloody mountain too, with 2 goals in 3 minutes giving us a hell of a last 5 minutes to play out and hold on.
We did end up holding on, but not without some poo in our pants if we're being honest.



And so only Juve lies between us and a whirlwind final appearance, but this Juve are not unlike the Juve of old - still perennial Serie A favourites, comfortably dispatched of Arsenal in the quarters as well, and we're next on the chopping block - for our last game of April no less.



Well then.
Juve were all over us, they simply had too much quality and we weren't looking for more than to not let this get any worse.

So now we've got a dilemma:



That's 7 games in 28 days, and 14 in 2 months - our defence has been chopped up (Santacruz's out for 2 weeks, while Bouadam wasn't so lucky - a broken ankle ruling him out of the season) and I'm considering playing the youngsters for the 2nd leg at home.
It's not going to be pretty throwing the game in from of the home crowd, but we've got many more things to worry about in the greater scheme of things.

Cheers Dan, but we'll need to do better in this 1st leg compared to the Frankfurt tie if we want to get past West Ham.

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

Apologies for the delay, Uni hasn't been kind





A rotated team started on the day, and really should've dealt with a struggling side like Granada better.
But fair play to our opponents for keeping us at bay for as long as they did, and they wouldn't have been happy with the late leveller.



The front 3 scoring here in a very encouraging attacking performance, while the defence also dealt reasonably well to keep a clean sheet.
Gomez was the highlight of this showing, he'd asked for a new contract a while back but played nowhere near the level of a guy warranting a raise - look how much better it gets you when you're not thinking about coins eh.
Ironically he'll get his new deal very soon, I'm not about to let him go into the last year of his contract.



Fucking finally, a derby victory.
We had the majority of the ball (and chances) in the 1st half, but Szeman was the one who broke the deadlock for us.
Bouadam then earned himself an early bath on the stroke of half time with a 2nd yellow, which obviously dealt a major blow to our chances in this game.
So it was time to be pragmatic - we came out with 2 up top and 7 at the back, looking to play exclusively on the break.
We didn't score with that approach, but what we did achieve was a clean sheet, and another goal for Szeman from yes, another corner.



Fantastic month, which helped us to maintain the gap over our rivals for the top 4 - Bilbao, Barca and Sevilla.
Obviously the title is as good as gone, but Real are surprisingly within reach.

Onto the Europa League last 16, where we met West Ham at their Olympic Stadium:



Twats, getting 3 of our guys injured.
Nikolaou endured a frustrating night, though it's arguably to be expected when your main playmaker get hauled off after barely 10 minutes into the game.
At least we had an away goal to take back to Oviedo, but I'd definitely have liked for us to keep the lead than lose it after a minute like we did.



Like I've said before, cometh the hour, cometh the fucking man.
A fiery encounter as both sides looked for the goals to advance, lots of fouls and lots of cautions (from us in particular, seems like we were trying to inflict some physical damage just as they did in the 1st leg.
But the Greek international was the difference, his 2 goals (coupled with another great defensive display to keep the clean sheet) gave us the access to the quarterfinals:



Where we'll face Marseille - given how Ligue 1 have got 4 of the very richest around, being just behind them means that they're a hell of a proposition as well, and I'm not looking too far ahead of this really.
Roma and Juve are also CL calibre, so it's slightly surprising to see them in this bracket.

But enough of them, we've got a youth intake to welcome:



About as good an intake for the retiring HoYD Gabriel, at least 3 to 4 genuine prospects.



Sanchez will not be a centreback, not with that height - he does look like he could be a hell of a DM though, so he's not going to be a lost cause like Jimenez was about 4 years ago.

Ehh, he probably won't get blamed too much if things inevitably go tits up so it's not all bad.

Of all the fucking teams to be able to breach Burnley's home.

inb4 VP joke

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.

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.

There's also Flash, Kaz, Stan who've all vanished tbh

Superb work on all fronts Dan, looks like European commitments aren't as much of a curse for you

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.

You're making me really tempted to get FM17 now, massive kudos.

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.

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.

Why are United fans such insufferable cunts?


At least you're scoring goals tbf

It's funny how among the 3 of us only Indonesia made it out of the group stage.

Meanwhile we're going to have to qualify for the next AFF Cup, do you guys have to as well?

Keep it up bro, don't see too much SEA around here.

You actually did it you absolute madman.

I'm sorry for having ever doubted you on this.

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.