Eric Portapotty - Comments

Carroll's out for a few weeks apparently.

PC oversteer?

Should've conceded 2 penalties, should've had Coquelin sent off, Sanchez was poor, but at least we're off the mark eh.

Geez looks like we've got the most reckless midfield pair in the league then.

Looks a grand stadium for a nonleague side, though that track is a proper downer.

Good luck with this!

Now Liverpool are linked with Mustafi as well.

I genuinely fear that we'll fall out of the top 4 this season, too many sides have improved this offseason and I don't think we have the depth or mentality to catch up.

I'm honestly not sure how to feel right now, it's not #WengerOut but it's bleak.

Though can you blame the fanbase for having that sentiment?

December 2037

Another game where we couldn't/didn't convert any of our chances then got punished eventually.
Matuszczyk was awful up front, it's frustrating that he's unable to score when we need him to do most, though that can be said for the rest of the frontline.



Mikolaou deputised for Matuszczyk here ostensibly due to Matuszczyk's injured wrist (pussy) but NIkolaou was in better form anyway.
Not sure if the change kicked off our vastly improved efficiency, but hey I'll take it.
Even Eyheramonho scored! He's not had a good league campaign by any means so it was great to see him start the scoring (in the 1st minute of play no less).



Only the 2 games in the end of 2037, and we find ourselves firmly entrenched in the top half going into the 2nd half of the season.
Though let's be honest shit could still hit the fan, I'll be happy with hitting 40 points 1st like what Ranieri did.

Our Copa del Rey campaign has also started, beginning with a minnow for once in the form of Real Murcia:



THough it didn't start well, Fernandez with yet another mistake to concede a penalty right at the start of the game.
But truth be told our superior ability was always going to shine through and we eventually levelled, Eyheramonho showing much better form in the cups than in the league, before Nikolaou staked his claim for the starting sole striker role with a superb hat-trick.



Same story, except we played a further rotated team here.
Samuel came through from last March's youth intake, is a CB despite being only 178cm, and was making his competitive debut here, so to get a clean sheet and a goal to boot was an excellent 1st impression (not that he'll succeed here - that height as a CB is career suicide).



Huge test coming up, Sevilla are well, Sevilla - a lowkey world class Russian stopper at the back, an English striker up top, and a hell of a difficult team to beat.



Now the final matchda of the Eurropa League group stage.



This was another rotated team, but Freiburg looked so out of sorts that we gave them a bigger hammering than our 1st meeting.
We thoroughly outplayed them, they looked completely shot and it was never in doubt.



We were never going to nip Chelsea for top spot, but 2nd place is some achievement personally given how we lucked our way into this competition.



Imagine, the opportunity to play OLDHAM, wow.
Jokes aside this Lens side, while not invincible, is definitely our toughest (realistic) challenge yet, so fingers crossed we get through and play OLDHAM.

A bit of news in America to end things off:



What a difference 18 months make - from being transfer listed at Beijing Guoan to starting at a La Liga and being a starter for the US national team, it's been little short of perfect for Allen Bell.
Been linked to Barcelona too - they'll need to pay his release clause if they want him.

Went to my Uni's orientation this week, being out 2 years for conscription sure did my brain a fuckton of good

November 2037

Mad game, as recent encounter between the sides have been for some reason.
We took the lead thanks to Matuszcayk, lost it to a penalty but went into the break back to a goal up thanks to Alava making up for his handball that led to the penalty.
It really looked like we were going to to get all 3 points when Conte scored our 3rd goal - way to ruin that expectations within 3 minutes.
The collapse seemed to take a lot out of our players' systems, and while both sides continued to trade blows a draw was how it ended.



Szeman had a nightmare here, missing a penalty played with his nerves big time and he was a wreck at the back for the rest of the game, being manhandled (which doesn't happen at all really) by Rayo's own manmountain (and Italian ex-Pichichi winner) Carettini.
Fortunately for us Rayo were even more shit at the back and we managed to scrape a win.



Oo, derby day win, always a hit with the fans.
Sporting never looked like they had the stomach for this, and we dominated from start to finish, even if we did concede late in the game to make for (yet another) nervy finish.



Again, another sour ending to a productive month...
While we weren't dominating proceedings much our shot count showed that we were a threat throughout, only for the actual shooting to let us down.
Fun fact as well, scorer of the opener Zambaz was one of the transfer targets when we were still in the 2nd tier as a striker to rotate with Matuszczyk, but I deemed him too expensive - funny how that could come back and bite me in the ass.



Comfortably in the top half, with an outsider's outside chance of challenging for the European spots - I can't ask for more considering we're also involved in the Europa League.

Speaking of which:



Don't let the stats fool you here - we were clearly outclassed here by Chelsea and had more of the ball and more shots by virtue of playing at home and more proactively as a result.
Chelsea made their chances count, we didn't - that's about it.



A consolation of sorts, though I am surprised that it wasn't a game against Madrid or Barca that held the previous record - these Asturians sure love their derbies.



Far, far tighter that I'd have liked, but I'll fucking take it.
It was a backup XI that was played here, and while the overall performance was passable, one played stood out as having underperformed - Ismael Fernandez showed his age (even though he's 'only' 31, relatively young for centrebacks) and his declining status in the pecking order with an inability to stop Tbilisi's striker for scoring from their only shot on target.
From then on it was all us, but our finishing boots (as usual) deserted us when it mattered most, and it too an unlikely hero - wantaway utility man Lucio who's leaving on a free at the end of the season - coming off the bench and scoring a belter to secure a win that should've been sealed up so much earlier.




No matter, because it means we've qualified for the knockout rounds! Glad to be able to qualify with a game to spare.

There was success at a former hunting ground as well:



Fucking finally - after choking on umpteen occasions Smouha finally did what I couldn't do with then and won the African Champions League title.
They'll have a fucking long way to go before even dreaming of matching Al Ahly's tally though.

October 2037

A relatively comfortable win, gutting to not be able to keep a clean sheet and having to clench my arsehole for the remainder of the game.



Struggled to get going at the start and eventually conceded the opener, but once we got a (rather scrappy) opener we went from strength to strength and controlled the rest of the game, getting a equaliser soon after and having more attempts to score.



This was a far different Numancia side to the one which thrashed us last season, hey still had much of the ball but their buildup play was more laboured.
Once they went down to 10 men we were always on the ascendancy and were constantly knocking on the door, but just couldn't find a way through.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man - Nikolaou came off the bench to rifle in a stoppage time winner.



Okay, what the fuck.
Horrible game to watch, both sides were labouring to create chances but we looked increasingly poor at that and once Celta got their 1st goal they were always going to get the 3 points.



Maddening way to end the month, but at least a string of decent wins have got us a top-half position.

Europa League group stages now, where we play the real challenges in the group:



The 1st half was boredom, and the 2nd half threatened to be so until Freiburg squeezed in an opener.
That seemed to awaken something in the team and Alava equalised immediately after, before Szeman demonstrated his set-piece prowess again with a double, before Matuszczyk added icing on the cake with a great finish.
Glad to have won this quite convincingly, a statement of intent in the group.



Only 1 team in this unfortunately, as we sent out a rotated team to account for fixture congestion.
They took it easy, we were just sloppy and we paid for it almost instantly.



Amazingly Freiburg failed to secure victory against Tbilisi, so we hold a vital lead going into the return fixtures.
It's really in our hands right now, after the 2nd Chelsea game we just need to not fuck things up in Matchdays 5 and 6.

You've got to wait for Telegram Sam to come back and make a Predictions Thread mate.

Montanier? I remember him not willing to continue at Real Sociedad just so he could leave for Rennes, that's quite a move to Nottingham.

September 2037

We start with the Spanish SuperCopa, a chance to get one over Atletico Madrid:



Well that completely fucked then, we couldn't handle their narrow diamond at all, it's like we completely forgot how to defend properly.



This game was effectively pointless as a contest, it was in the middle of an international break, and while both sides lost players to national duties Atletistill had superior players for the most part standing in.
At least our shooting was at its most efficient all season, even if our defence had to be awful for the goals to be necessitated.
Well I say that, it's only to scrape a draw this game, we still lost on aggregate anyway.

The league, well it wasn't much better viewing:



Fucking hell, we were terrible here - couldn't stop their plays, couldn't generate any sort of play ourselves, an utter disaster.



It has to be said, while our defence has been absolutely shite, the forward line hasn't been covering itself in glory either, what absolutely wasteful shooting.
Yeah and we lost, again, though it seems like we've had the short straw by playing (and losing to) 3 of the top 5 already - the other being fucking Atletico.

Next up was bottom side Villareal, who were ripe pickings having lost all their games thus far, but before that was extremely worrying news:



I mean it is only 7 days, but my deputy's also out for a couple of months so this was all we were able to call upon.



Bleak, we could well lose to the cellar-dwellers and after them it'll be FUCKING Atletico, if we lose both (and we'll probably concede close to double figures at this rate) confidence is going to be shot.



Absolute miracle, we somehow managed to keep them at bay for the 1st half while we racked up a decent lead, and even when we faced much more fight in the second we held firm enough.
The bloke even got himself a 7.5 rating.



... And it all comes crashing down.
I'll not comment on this game since we were obviously severely hamstrung, but it is poignant to note that in this month we've conceded 72 shots and 11 goals to FUCKING ATLETICO.



Oh look, our usual haunts of mid table mediocrity.
At least we've got quite a number of the top sides out of our system now, hopefully we can benefit on a more forgiving fixture list for the next month or so.

We end with Matchday 1 of the Europa League group stage:



A largely rotated team thoroughly outplayed an inferior Dinamo side, with this showing we'll be disappointed to say the least if we don't secure another 3 points in Tbilisi



Top of the table, not that that'll last once we get our asses handed to us by Freiburg - and let's not even start on Chelsea.

Unfortunately we were all 3rd seeds so we weren't able to draw (and inevitably thrash) them

August 2037

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



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



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



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



And of the month.



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

We now switch our focus to the Europa League playoffs:



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



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



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

That fruit was so low-hanging it was probably your balls, boo.

Maybe Wenger's signing Evans to play him up front? \o/

Yeah the way up, wages especially

Cheers Dan

Preseason 2037/38

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



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



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

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



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



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



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

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



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

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



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



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



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

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




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

For some reason we've been linked with Jonny Evans.

This is the darkest timeline.

Not too bad I think, an away goal in fucking Kazakhstan.

Ambrose is the worst player in history though.

Season in Review/Off Season

Players of the season



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



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



While also being voted POTY by the fans.



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



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



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



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

Off/preseason



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



Fucking Numancia.....



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



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



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



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



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

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



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



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



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



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

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

May 2037

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



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



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



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

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



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



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



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

April 2037

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



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



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



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



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

February 2037

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



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



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



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



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



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

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



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

February 2037

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



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



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



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



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



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

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



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

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



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



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

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



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

December 2036 - January 2037

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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

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



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



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



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

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



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



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

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



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



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



Welp, that's us done then.

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



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



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

Thought Mou will let Mendes have his way with the club's transfers since they've had links and Mou did do him a solid by picking up Falcao.
Surprised that it's Raiola this time round.

Wish he could do Weekly Wipe around this time.