r96 - Comments

It is a nice challenge on paper, for sure.

We just unfortunately came across an on fire Barça team, we kept them at arm's reach for a good portion of the campaign but they flew away as we stuttered. I am happy with UCL though, hopefully it'll be a springboard. I've only played a bit of (pre) pre-season but there have been a few transfer moves and even some takeover paper talk. 2022-23 ought to be interesting!

Post 002 - 2021-22 - End of Season 1:

No first league title since 2004 for Valencia, unfortunately. We gave it a great go but Barcelona just went nuts, as Xavi's team won 14 of their final 15 La Liga fixtures - including against us on the penultimate day, which poetically secured the trophy for them at our expense. Although we did go excellently given who we are, we did suffer some painfully critical defeats: 3-0 vs. Mallorca (finished 17th), 4-3 vs. Rayo Vallecano (20th), 1-0 to Real Sociedad (8th), 5-0 to Celta Vigo (7th) and then defeats to the El Clásico duo. We also went out the cup to Real Betis. A shame.

Still a great season all in all, as we smashed the expectation of UEFA Europa Conference League qualification - UEFA Champions League group stage football is back at the Mestalla for 2022-23. Time will tell if we can build further next campaign or if this was just a flash in the pan.

Indeed it was - and let’s hope so!🤞

After not playing Football Manager for many, many months I finally chucked myself into a fresh save in the hope of regaining some interest in the game. I spontaneously decided on Valencia of Spain's La Liga, especially after confirming that last season irl they finished 13th - their lowest point since that 2004 title win under Rafa Benítez. I was intrigued to see what I would be able to do with them.

I'm no FM expert as is made clear by my other career posts on here, so this time I decided to play in a completely different way than I would normally. I usually attempt to control everything in save, including totally making tactics from scratch. This time, I chose a recommended preset (Gegenpress) and delegated a lot of tasks to my staff, including the use of the autopick line-up button; though still make my own tweaks here and there.

I wasn't initially expecting anything from this save so didn't have a plan to post on here, but come the first season's winter break it's going so well that I thought I may as well document it. Depending how long I play the game of course, the plan would be two updates a season - at the winter break and at the season's end.

Post 001 - 2021-22 - Winter Break:

Would you look at that?! Sitting top of the pile at Christmas! Fully unexpected on my part, I do remember hearing that the Gegenpress was OP and I guess this proves it - though I also thought I heard that SI nerfed it, so who knows. Either way I've had fun with it, which is the sole intention of the save in the first place. Also of note is that I made zero signings; mainly due to financial constraints, but I also cba to delve into transfers at the start of the save - which shows how unmotivated I was at first, tbh.

PLD: 19 // W15 D3 L1

We've secured victories over both Real Madrid and closest challengers Barcelona, whilst gaining a point with Atlético Madrid. We did get smacked 4-1 by Sevilla, though neatly hit back in the very next match with a 6-1 hammering of Levante. Elsewhere, we almost got knocked out badly from the Copa del Rey but miraculously (given my past record with penalties!) won a shoot-out to advance.

Valencia, despite their real life struggles, do have some excellent talent. 25yo Uruguayan forward Maxi Gómez has been superb, netting 13 goals in 15 games. The likes of Carlos Soler, Gonçalo Guedes, Ilaix Moriba and many others have been quality too.

I’m expecting my usual FM demise, but we will see. I'd be happy with bringing some sort of European football back to the Mestalla for 2022-23.

I was referring to the place itself, given you are now living there so shall be seeing pirates 😉 (and wanted to shoehorn in an early POTC mention, because why not)

Referees having a field day with the yellow (and even that red) cards. Here's hoping you can string some prolonged consistency together, only a few points off the early media prediction though.

Bloody Smorgon! 😡

Still a fab time in Belarus! Eyes on the next club.

Should be good.  I always have time for some Pirates!

Great progress since my last comment! 👏

That duplication bug sounds like quite the thing!

I've not found the time, despite wanting to, yet, but I'm planning to get back playing the game by the end of next week; so hopefully - progress depending - I'll get new posts up soon.

Up the Víkingur!

Nice work getting the two trophies. Europe should be interesting!

Well, that's a pain in the As-tana … I'm here all week, folks!

Bring on Olympiacos, keep the faith! 💪

(congrats on the title, btw!👏)

Disappointing end with Slonim, that form and subsequent relegation looked straight out from one of my saves! 🙃

Intrigued to see how you do in Iceland!

Made it look easy, great start! 👏

^what he said!👋

My money is on Evgeniy Bal for standout player #underdog

Best of luck! 

The big question: Will you strip the captaincy off Mr. Aubameyang? 👀

😆

I'm intrigued to see how it goes with Rio Ave, who should (!) be a decent club to build with.

Side-note: Still very much planning on continuing this save. I've barely played the game itself across the last number of weeks, but unintentionally so - I need to wiggle some time out for it.

Rio Ave, of Liga Portugal 2, were under new management. José Nunes was given the task of making sure the club avoided relegation to Liga 3. Seven matches left to play and three points clear of the relegation zone, surely Mr. Nunes wouldn't suffer a third straight relegation in literally three seasons as a manager?

We. Actually. Didn't. Get. Relegated. I have no idea how, but we actually did it. Unreal scenes, ladies and gentlemen!

Mr. Nunes literally won ONE MATCH in charge, and that was on the last day against fifth place Feirense; even madder, it was a late penalty via Júnior Franco.

Varzim and Oliveirense both lost, the latter to Covilhã who were on 26pts so us winning kept us away from them. Against all odds, it was the perfect outcome. In our match, Feirense went down to ten men early in the second half, so that helped hugely. Pre-match, as we sat in the relegation play-off spot, I was fully expecting relegation.

Next Update: Not in Liga 3, incredibly. TBD; probably end of 2024-25.

As noted previously, I've flown through 2023-24 so haven't be collecting screenshots for monthly updates. Fear not, seasonal updates it shall be. In this one, and after relegation (back-to-back for me and my manager, awkwardly), it was our goal to regain Vitória Setúbal's Liga 3 status. Could we? Let's find out.

As with Real, I had a complete overhaul of the squad to root out the deadwood. 19 players departed, some youth but most of which were first-team players in one shape or another.

6 players came in, including goalkeeper Ricardo Ribeiro who needed signing (free from Benfica) after the board forcibly sold our best goalkeeper (and arguably best player, period) to Alverca for £425k. Great offer no doubt, but it was literally days before the first game of the season. Twats… I almost walked, but thankfully Ribeiro was available.

After struggling in Liga 3 with a mixture of formations last season, I made a drastic change for this new season and switched to a 3-5-2 (or 5-3-1-1, if you will). I very rarely play three at the back, but felt it would suit the players we had and the players that were available in the market.

Promotion stage football secured, but literally by the skin of our teeth. We were 1-0 down on the ‘final day’ to Juventude and, due to other results, were facing the possibility of missing the critically needed promotion round. Thankfully, and unexpectedly to me, we turned it around with 77th-minute and 91st-minute goals. Kamo-Kamo, who has been outstanding all season, saved our bacon!

So, promotion stage. Could we get the club back into the third tier?

I mean… right?

Flashback to one of my previous posts:

“I look forward to leaving Vitória Setúbal in December 2023, joining a Liga 3 team and then relegating said Liga 3 team in the following May with a LLWWLL record in the Relegation Round. Let's go!”

I was obviously joking when I said that, yet I… kinda wasn't that far off, was I?

tangent incoming, apologies!

On this occasion, it's even more crazy as Rio Ave are a Liga Portugal 2 team - two steps above Vitória Setúbal's level. Who am I to judge the game's realism, I'm quick to knock FM when it's unrealistic against me so I guess I should be happy when it works in my favour.😂

Similarly as with Real, I received a job interview out of nowhere - no media speculation (that I saw; and I do press conferences) or anything. I was very surprised to see that they are a second tier team, but simply had to attend the interview as it's a logical thing for a manager to do. Didn't expect to get a job offer, yet it followed very quickly after the interview. You'd think back-to-back relegations would've turned them off…

Perhaps I'm being harsh on the game when I say it's unrealistic. Let's look at it from a different viewpoint: I'm a young manager, switched relatively seamlessly to a new style of play and, this one I like, we did face Rio Ave in the cup months back and it took extra time and a red card for them to beat us - perhaps they were impressed with my management then? I'm probably giving the game too much credit, I doubt that sorta thinking is in the game, but hey I'm gonna run with it.

Anyway, back with my head in the game, what a great move for José Nunes! From the Campeonato de Portugal to Liga Portugal 2, some story! Now, and this is gonna be funny, here's how Rio Ave currently stand.

3pts above the relegation zone, what could possibly go wrong? Three straight relegations, despite two ‘poachings’ by higher up clubs, would be hilarious I must say. I'm begging it doesn't happen, needless to add. Elsewhere, here are the squad, squad dynamics, board vision.

Rio Ave be in good form, off two straight victories and only one loss in five games… step forward, Mr. Nunes etc.

Marítimo (3rd) is a tricky first game away, table toppers Chaves up soon too.

Interesting times, again.

Next Update: End of the 2023-24.

Correction: Real did actually win promotion; I initially noticed they lost in a play-off and presumed that was that, but turns out it was a play-off between the promotion round winners to claim an outright champion so are promoted. Imma take credit for that! 😎 (not really)

I, unintentionally, took a long break from FM across the last week or so, but got back into the save on Saturday and flew through most of the season - therefore, no month-by-month updates, instead seasonal ones from now on probably. Full update incoming, but boy has it been an interesting 2023-24!

Thankfully, or unfortunately depending on what way you wanna look at it, they didn't. Everyone's sad now, basically. 😆

Liga 3 Relegation Round, we meet again! One year on from suffering relegation with Real, could José Nunes this time avoid the drop and save Vitória Setúbal?

Three friendly wins in a row. Find a better exhibition manager, I'll wait.😎

Great start, lads! OK display, but a 1-0 loss nonetheless.

Another one! That Kenneth Kalunga is a problem, haven't checked but fairly sure he has scored against me every single time I've played his club(s).

Finally, a win! After ten matches in charge without a victory, the boss finally has his first competitive three points. Torreense actually hit back twice to 1-1 and to 2-2, but thankfully Tiago Rodrigues finally netted a winner.

Consecutive victories, out of nowhere. André Pedrosa with the clincher this time.

A loss, but we go into the final day 3pts off Caldas. They lose, we win = we stay up. Simple, I'd say.

Could we save ourselves right at the death?

,..no we couldn't, obviously. A late goal from Torreense should've been gutting, though was more the exact opposite in truth. Caldas lost their match too, so all we had to do was win.

…wait a minute, that looks familar.

Same run of match outcomes (LLWWLL) as with Real a year ago. Spooky coincidence! 😨

Speaking of Real, unfortunately they missed promotion after losing a play-off to Benfica (of Castelo Branco, not Lisbon). Sad times everywhere.

Two seasons, two clubs, two relegations. If that's not impressive I don't know what is.

The big question: Can we make it a hat-trick?

I look forward to leaving Vitória Setúbal in December 2023, joining a Liga 3 team and then relegating said Liga 3 team in the following May with a LLWWLL record in the Relegation Round. Let's go!

On a more serious note, though. What can I say? I'm consistent at least.😂

After January 2023's terribleness, the end of the First Stage across February and early March could only go better, right? … Right? … right?

Yes, a victo… nevermind, only in a friendly against lower-league opposition.

Cova de Piedade, who were actually below us in the table and therefore in just as bad - if not worse - form than us, whipped our asses by four goals to one - and that's the good version, given it was only 4-1 due to Murilo Rosa's 90'+2 goal. Somehow the sack didn't follow.

I am officially a friendly manager nowadays. 2-1 win over lowly Botafogo (of Portugal obvs, not the Brazilian club).

Obligatory (see Real) defeat to Sporting CP B - I coulda skipped that, not checked the result and still told you the outcome.

Hello, hello. Another point, I'll take that thank you. That makes it 3pts for José Nunes at Vitória Setúbal. Impressive, I know.

Could be worse… well, actually no. An incredibly terrible stint in the First Stage (finally) ends with a record of P8 W0 D3 L5. To no-one's surprise we are into the Relegation Round, where we'll meet Torreense, Caldas and Cova de Piedade. Same as before, bottom team gets relegated.

Will we stay up? Will I get sacked? Find out on the next instalment of this truly thrilling and in no way bad save.

Next Update: End of Relegation Round (or job centre 😬).

As shown previously, the beginning of my tenure with Vitória Setúbal couldn't have gone much worse. Did things improve across January 2023?

That was the debut in charge. It actually began splendidly, as Kamo-Kamo put us a goal ahead. Sadly, the team just capitulated after that to go on to suffer a heavy 4-1 home loss to Caldas.

Minute solace was found in the form of a friendly, as CIF were beaten 3-0. I had hoped that may slightly raise belief and morale, not quite…

The other match of the already shown results, as Santarém put three unanswered goals past us. We did suffer a ridiculously early red card though, as Mano (he didn't give us a hand, no) got himself a straight red on 28 minutes; having already been yellow carded after 10 minutes, twat.

Holy moly, one actual point! We actually played well against Alverca but just couldn't find the back of the net. Before this match I did change tactic, as my previous one evidently required too much attacking capabilities - so here I went defensive and it improved things, albeit minorly.

The same tactic didn't fare well against Académica next time out, though they are a recently relegated Liga Portugal 2 team so you'd expect them to be strong - 3-0 was harsh, given their xG was a tiny bit higher than ours.

January concluded with another point, so we've only lost once in three matches now - huzzah! Unlike the Alverca fixture, we were lucky to get a point on this occasion - Torreense should've won that easily.

Remember I said how excited I was for this new job? Oh how naive I was, sweet summer child. I think I should rename the save as “Relegationman”.

My job security is described as “very insecure” which is extremely concerning, but entirely understandable. I've had no board meetings yet and the media (and players) haven't got on my back at all yet, but if we lose next time out against fellow strugglers (and only team below us in the table) Cova de Piedade then I think I may be out of a job - which would be unfortunately hilarious, given I've only been employed for 54 days as it stands.

Checking in my ex, Real have also gone through a rough patch of form - they've had four matches since I departed and only won once, losing twice, even dropping off top spot until a recent victory. Grass isn't always greener etc.

On the transfer front, there wasn't much to work with nor was there much out there to sign in truth.

I ended up signing 21yo centre-back João Dias on loan from Estoril and former Sporting CP young forward Tiago Rodrigues on a free. Dias has only played once, Rodrigues penned terms on Deadline Day - which also saw the departure of promising youngster Daniel Carvalho, who went to Estrela Amadora for an exceptional £100k - sadly it went through in the literal final seconds, so I couldn't spend the percentage of £ that I got from the deal.

Next Update: end of First Stage (or job centre 😬).

Ha! Same for me, I had finally got through the four-match run of friendlies and then the interview appeared out of nowhere.

Let’s hope this stint Liga 3 goes much better!

As noted before, the scheduling at fourth tier level in Portugal is very spread apart. Due to that, we entered November and December knowing we'd be playing just three competitive fixtures - in fact, we'd have more friendlies (four) to participate in. Therefore, these last two months of 2022 were just going to be nice and quiet…

November did begin with a competitive fixture though, as we visited Almeirim and beat them 3-1. Jeriel De Santis netted a brace, either side of a strike from Rodrigo Moitas, as we eased to victory.

Then came the blockade of friendly matches. We actually lost once, though only via #shock horror# a penalty shoot-out - only a friendly and all that, but SI really need to fix shoot-outs - I'd honestly call the emergency services if I ever won one as I'd collapse with shock.😂

During this period, my manager also started yet another coaching course.

Wow… out of absolutely nowhere, Liga 3 (division above) side Vitória Setúbal offer me a job interview. A step up league-wise and club-wise, so I simply had to attend - as much as I'm loving my time with Real, it's a no-brainer. Before any response, we still had two (competitive) matches scheduled to conclude December.

A 3-1 victory over third place O Elvas saw us stretch our lead inside the top two to 10pts and continued our winning streak to 7 out of 7 in the Campeonato de Portugal.

Liga 3, we back! José Nunes is a third tier manager once more, as I take control of Vitória Setúbal mid-season after being poached from fourth tier Real - who I'll miss, I liked the squad that I was building and winning every week was lovely. As I say my goodbyes, here are the final squad dynamics, club vision, results and competitions.

You love to see it - as long as I don't suffer relegation again, that would be awkward.

Vitória aren't in a great place, their finances are described as “insecure” and they sit as close to bottom as they do to the Promotion Round - which is what they reached last season as table toppers, but lost out in the subsequent round. This season the expectation is to “Fight bravely against relegation”, which we should have no problem doing. As I mentioned in a much, much earlier post, they were a top-flight club as recently as 2019-20 and were only demoted due to off-field issues. Basically, they should be a Primeira Liga club - so it's a nice project on paper.

As alluded to, Vitória Setúbal sit 8th (of 12) in Liga 3. W4 D4 L6, 16pts. For the rest of 2022-23, the objective is simply to avoid the drop. A ‘new manager bounce’ is needed as the club are coming off four straight defeats. I'm excited though, very unexpected but very much welcomed!

October 2022 would see five matches: three league fixtures, two friendlies. We came into it off the back of a positive September, cup battering aside, as we won two out of two to start the new Campeonato de Portugal campaign. Could we extend that run?

Three for three! Jeriel De Santis got the only goal of the game as we defeated league leaders Olímpico, meaning we took top spot in Serie E for the first time this season.

A simple win away to Setúbal, in a friendly that was scheduled to fill the gap-filled schedule.

Four wins in a row, lovely stuff.

Lowly Pêro Pinheiro were dispatched with relative ease despite the scoreline, as goals from Lio (2) and Rodrigo Moitas put us three goals to the good before they grabbed late consolations.

Another friendly, another win. Jeriel De Santis with a hat-trick.

5 Star Real etc.

A dominant display saw us round out October with a five-goal thrashing of bottom side Crato, with Jeriel De Santis following that friendly hat-trick up with a competitive one - the 20yo loanee is in great form. This also made it five wins from five - we are the only club across all seven divisions at this level to do that.

We look splendid at the moment - gotta keep it going though!

Next Update: End of December 2022.