[FM11] Ingolstadt, Outgolstadt, In, Out, In, Out, Shake It All About...

[AK22]

That's quite an achievement getting an all Portuguese squad, I've always wanted to do something like this but it takes a lot of patience

How many are regular international players? Your domestic bias rating must be pretty high on your manager stats now.

[Deisler26]

That's quite an achievement getting an all Portuguese squad, I've always wanted to do something like this but it takes a lot of patience

How many are regular international players? Your domestic bias rating must be pretty high on your manager stats now.

Domestic bias is at 90%. Highest I've ever had. And recentlly I had 27 players called up to the various Portugal squads.

Miguel Veloso, Aimar Basauri, Mauricio, Jordan Stephenson, André Esteves, Joaquim Soares, Carlos Amaro and Honorato Basillo in the first team.

Fabio Dias, Carlos Casimiro, Carlos Costa, Deco, Flavio Valente, Joao Nascimento and José Queiros in the U-21 team

And Carlos Pinheiro, Daniel Gama, Bruno Duarte, Hélio Matos, Luis Agra, André Rodrigues, David David, Paulo Assunção, Ahmed Salama, Tiago Baptista and Jorge Lima Pereira in the U-19 squad.

It has been hard. Especially getting rid of Ben-Hatira and I've been incredibly lucky in having a few converts to Portugual in the team but overall, it's been incredibly rewarding!

[Deisler26]

U.D Leiria

Transfer Window Review

1 February 2021

RESULTS

We finished 2020 in 2nd place in Liga ZON Sagres, a full 5 points behind F.C Porto but with a game in hand. September started well with a dominating 0-0 draw with Nacional de Madeira and a 3-1 dismantling of CF Belenenses, Jordan Stephenson netting a brace in that one. We came back down to Earth with a bump in the next match with FC Porto getting revenge for the SuperTaça defeat by taking home a 0-1 win. Next came a run of five clean sheets as we put the opposition to the sword. Leixoes and Paços de Ferreira were both beaten 2-0 with Jordan Stephenson again netting in both games. His 3rd minute goal against P.Ferreira

and his 171st overall for the club. The P. Ferreira was also notable for Miguel Veloso's vicious tackle and straight red, merely five minutes after coming on as a sub. Portimonese were then crushed 4-0 away. Stephenson scored for the third game in a row and Anis Ben-Hatira scored what happened to be his last goal for the club. To finish off the run of clean sheets, I dispatched Rio Ave and Beira-Mar both 1-0. Deco and Carlos Amaro the respective scorers.

Amaro was to net again in the next match, however it was in vain as we went down 1-2 to SC Braga. Normal service was resumed however, with a 3-0 win over promoted club Gondomar SC. Rare goals from DC Rui Bento and Joao Moutinho came either side of a Jordan Stephenson strike. However, lightning struck in the next match leaving me shell-shocked. Away to fierce rivals Academica and they initiated a smash and grab raid to come away with a 1-2 win. Everyone was in uproar. Luckily, we restored faith by beating Sporting CP 2-1 in the very next league game which only exploded to life in the last 10 mins. First, Joaquim Soares netted a shot on the turn from a tight angle in the 80th min. Then on 87 mins, Carlos Amaro got free in the area and buried a cross-shot. Sporting pulled one back on 90 mins, but it was futile. Identical 2-0 wins over Boavista and Vit. Guimaraes closed out Jan.

In the Taça de Portugal, we advanced to the Semi Finals without breaking a sweat or conceding a goal! Rio Ave were dumped 3-0 by a midfield show. Carlos Amaro, Anis Ben-Hatira and Pelé all netting. Leixoes were crushed 5-0, notable for English U-19 D/WBL Stephen Blake's debut and debut goal. A routine and dull 2-0 win over Vit. Guimaraes put us into the Quarter-Final against Liga Orangina side C.D Fátima. With a mix of youth and experience, they were dispatched 3-0. Amaro, Deco and Stephenson hitting the goals. This set us up for a Semi-Final appearance against... Academica

In the Bwin Cup, our Third Round, Group C was P.Ferreira, Nacional de Madeira and Sporting CP. P.Ferreira were put down 3-2. André Esteves hitting a hat-trick for the first time this season. Jordan Stephenson added the icing on the cake with the third in the 3-0 win over Nacional and it was down the the last game. Both Sporting and us had a 100% record and I was looking to get back to the final again. Any worries I had about the match were totally unfounded as Sporting CP collapsed after HT, going down 5-0 to us. Goals for Carlos Amaro and January signing André Santos in the 47th and 49th minutes and Miguel Veloso's low drive was the filling in a Jordan Stephenson double.

In Group C of the UEFA Champions League, we kicked off our 2020-21 campaign away against SønderjyskE of Denmark. They proved little challenge as they were swept aside 4-1 with André Esteves' hat-trick and Deco's laser-guided finish. Next up were Arsenal who, despite our feisty approach and hard work, came away with a 0-1 win. Germany's Schalke 04 were the opponents for the double header and away in Germany, they took a quick 0-2 lead in 30 mins. André Esteves caught them on the hop with a goal on 45+2 mins and Jordan Stephenson rampaged though to dink a cheeky equaliser over the sprawling Schalke keeper. The game stayed 2-2 til the end, although we had Basillo to thank for it as he made a magnificent point blank save on 85 mins. The home leg was a very, very cagey affair between two extremely well-matched teams on stats and extremeky mis-matched teams on paper. Schalke were unable to muster much offence and on 87 mins, Joao Moutinho's diagonal through ball found Deco steaming into the area, his low shot hit the boot of a lunging defender and bobbled into the net, completely wrong-footing the keeper. 1-0. What a feeling when the whistle went! This put us 3 points clear of Schalke and gave us our best chance of qualifying. However, the FM Gods had gone for a dump in the next match against SønderjyskE. Jordan Stephenson netted the opener and we were cruising. Come the second half and a dangerous corner just wasn't cleared and a wild shot heading wide was cruelly deflected in off Pelé. We couldn't break them down and they left Leiria with a 1-1 draw and their only points of their sorry campaign. However, Schalke could not capitalise and, in a fiery clash, lost 0-3 to Arsenal, sealing our place in the First Knockout Round. Our last game was against Arsenal and we played the kids and they got hammered 5-1, Joaquim Soares getting our only reply on 46 mins.

TRANSFERS

The only incoming player was DM/MC André Santos for £1m from Villarreal. He came on a 2 year deal, which meant I was actively looking to shop Pelé. Thomas Häßler was a new face in the backroom too, brought in to help the finishing of my strikers.

Outgoing were two players on loan to Vit. Guimaraes. DM/MC André Pereira and AMC/ST José Augusto got sent out for more first team football, especially Pereira who should be challenging for a first team spot next season. Also leaving was Anis Ben-Hatira. He went to Fortuna Dusseldorf for £1.5m and was a a club icon and stalwart player for the club, who came from Oviedo with me to Leiria and appeared in 165 games for the club.

[Deisler26]

Just beat Benfica 4-0 in a game that went from the sublime to the horrific.

Sublime: [video=youtube;Kp2jVgcQ4aw]

Horrific:

It's a real blow for me for this to happen now. I had ear-marked José Francisco Salinas to take over from him in the next season or so, then put him out to pasture. It'll be a real shame (and problem) if he quits now

[Deisler26]

23 February 2021

UEFA Champions League First Knockout Round, Leg 1

Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa

Att: 22,806

U.D Leiria 0 - 0 Tottenham Hotspur

Ah, that stirring sound reverberating around the ground as the Champions League anthem plays loudly through the stadium's PA system. It's Knockout Round time and we're again in the melting pot. This time against English opposition in the shape of Tottenham Hotspur. There was only one major change to the usual squad. 34 year old Joao Moutinho suffered a horrific lover leg break in a previous match against Benfica and was out for the season, if not ending his career entirely. So André Santos was given his role in an attempt to give us more muscle in the midfield. Miguel Veloso was preferred to Pelé, who was on the subs bench. Before the match, I received an award from the Federação Portuguesa de Futebol to mark my 500th career game. The teams lined up like so.

As the whistle blew on a chilly night in Leiria, we kicked off. The first real action happened on 8 mins when a Spurs corner has punched away weakly and the shot that came back in was fortunately enough to have been deflected just enough to take the sting out and Basillo grabbed easily. Disaster struck on 12 mins as Carlos Amaro was set free down the left hand channel. He cut in and tied the defender in knots, as he went past him however, he pulled up sharply and the ball was cleared. It was obvious that he couldn't continue, so I subbed him for Joao Nascimento. He was later examined and found to have a groin pull that would keep him out for a week.

Jordan Stephenson found himself in a footrace for the ball on 14 mins, but his shot was straight at the keeper. Up the other end, heavy Spurs pressure led to a shot from distance being lashed over on 18 mins. Spurs were in the ascendency and their striker ghosted through the defence on 22 mins, but his shot was well saved by Basillo. Fabio Dias got himself in the book on 31 mins, after which, he blazed down the right hand side and sent in a dangerous low cross which eventually fell to Jordan Stephenson who hooked it wide. HT came and I told the guys they should think about the supporters and do it for them!

HT came and went and on 48 mins, a dawdling Nascimento was dispossessed on the centre circle and the resulting counter attack led to the Spurs striker screwing wide when he really should have done better. Miguel Veloso and Nascimento himself would be booked before 60 mins for petty fouls and Fabio Dias hit the ball straight at the keeper after good work from Nascimento. I figured I needed more penetration and Dias wasn't playing to his usual standard this season, so I yanked him for André Esteves. Esteves went up front whilst Stephenson moved into the left midfield slot and Deco swapped wings to the right one. Spurs were still threatening and they broke through on 71 and only a fantastic point-blank save by Basillo stopped them scoring. The game was like a fantastic chess match and I decided enough was enough, I shut down and tried to ride out the rest of the game. On 92 mins, some wonderful short passing saw Nascimento with the ball at his feet approaching the left hand corner of the box. He jinked one way then the other, then powered between two defenders into the area where his stinging shot was palmed away for a corner which, ultimately, came to nothing.

The final whistle blew and we were very happy to have secured a draw against a better side AND not conceded an away goal!

[Deisler26]

Barely 3 days later...

I am soooorely tempted!

[AK22]

Domestic bias is at 90%. Highest I've ever had. And recentlly I had 27 players called up to the various Portugal squads.

90% is impressive Mine is only 11%

The Atletico offer is definitely worth considering too. I suppose it depends on if you see Leiria as a long term project or not.

[iacovone]

Tough one Deisler - I love what you've done at Leiria but there is huge potential at Atletico Madrid. Good finances that should provide enough to challenge the Barca/Real duopoly.

Out of interest how old is Joao Moutinho?

[Deisler26]

Tough one Deisler - I love what you've done at Leiria but there is huge potential at Atletico Madrid. Good finances that should provide enough to challenge the Barca/Real duopoly.

Out of interest how old is Joao Moutinho?

Moutinho is 34.

And as for the Atletico job, the major plus point is that they have a 31 year old Aguero still at the club available to tutor my youth, major minus is that I still have to win a Euro cup with Leiria

[Deisler26]

17 March 2021

UEFA Champions League First Knockout Round, Leg 2

White Hart Lane, London

Att: 36,099

Tottenham Hotspur 3(3) - (2)2 U.D Leiria

Mark Wilson 20 ........................................................Joaquim Soares 52, 61

Gyfi Sigurdsson 45+1, 70

It was a bright, but cold day in North London as we made the 913-mile trip to England for the second leg of our Champions League First Knockout Round tie. I decided to go with my instincts in this match as André Esteves had just hit a hat-trick in the previous game against Rio Ave, so he was given the main striking role up front, with Jordan Stephenson moving to the left wing, Deco to the right and Fabio Dias being dropped. Rui Bento had to be given a painkilling injection before the match in order to play, but at the last minute I put him on the subs bench. Carlos Amaro had only very recently come back from injury and was put straight back into action, with Joao Nascimento dropping to the bench. Diogo Mota was drafted into the subs bench and a little bit of personal history was made. Due to Pelé's injury, 18 year old Bruno Duarte, a D/DM/MC, was called up to the subs bench for his first ever Champions League match in his first ever appearance for the first team. The team lined up like this.

The match kicked off and immediately Tottenham were on the attack, an early snapshot whistling over the bar. They bossed the opening part of the game and our defence parted like the Red Sea on 9 mins, but Basillo was out early to put the striker off and he shot wide. On 15 mins, a quick counter saw their left winger come storming through, but his low shot was saved by the feet of Basillo and the rebound was deflected behind for a corner. Our resistance was finally breaqched on 25 mins, when a short throw on the right was crossed in beautifully and the Spurs centre-back headed home. 0-1 down and we looked a little shell-shocked, like the importance of the situation had overwhelmed us. The rest of the half was all Spurs and we just couldn't mount an attack or get the ball out of our half. I told them to retain possession more in the hope of trying to create something than any major gameplan. On 42 mins, Carlos Amaro, who so far was annoymous, found himself on the left hand edge of the area. He jinked and feinted and got to the byline, but his cross was deflected behind. That was the sum total of our attacking prowess in the first half. Worse was to come in first half injury time when some sharp passing carved a way through our non-existent defensive line and their AMC took a few steps before drilling low just inside the near post from 25 yards past a totally-out-of-position Basillo. 0-2 at HT.

I had serious questions to answer at HT. Do I stick with the 4-4-1-1? Bearing in mind, the two other times I've had this dilemma, one worked because I stayed with 4-4-1-1 and the other failed because I went all out attacking. However, we were seriously outclassed and I really wasn't hopeful that the 4-4-1-1 would hold. Gambling, I went to 4-1-2-3 and hauled off Deco for Joaquim Soares. I told them all I believed in them and sent them back out. Also, I noticed that early on, a lot of long balls were coming back to us because Esteves was losing ALL his headers.

My changes at HT almost brought an instant impact as on 46 mins, André Esteves was set free down the right. He blazed away down the wing, outpacing the right back, and delivered a beautiful far post looping cross where an unmarked Jordan Stephenson met the ball with a solid header. Which went well wide. It was a horrible miss and I had my head in my hands. However, on 52 mins, a short ball from Mendes the leftback, found Veloso in the centre circle and his throughball had almost surgical precision as it found Joaquim Soares who lashed high into the net from just inside the area. 1-2 and we had a small chance. We were forcing the play now in a complete reversal of the first half and just under 10 mins later, Jordan Stephenson got free down the left hand side. He checked and laid it back to Mendes, whose deep curling ball found Joaquim Soares free in the area and he nodded the ball down and past the keeper's dive. 2-2! What a comeback! Barely two mins later on 63 mins, a long hoofed ball found Soares free with only the keeper to beat for his hat-trick, but the Spurs keeper was out like a flash and Soares put the ball against his legs and out. Carlos Amaro had been struggling all game, a legacy of playing him too early and he was subbed for Joao Nascimento on 66 mins.

On 69 mins, a hopeful ball down the right found the Spurs winger in plenty of space to run. As he moved forward, Mendes and Mauricio came across to cover and stopped his progress. The winger's cross took a massive deflection off Mendes and bounced slowly towards the keeper. It should have been an easy ball, however, bad communication between Casimiro and Basillo allowed the Spurs striker to nip in and pick the ball up. With Casimiro scrambling back to try and get it out, the striker just delicately dinked a chip into the goalmouth where the Spurs AMC was arriving to send a bullet header into a gaping net with Basillo stranded. 2-3. We sagged. The team, the staff and myself. Spurs went on the defensive and we were struggling to get any change out of them. On 80 mins, a roar went up from the small section of Leiria supporters as Miguel Veloso was subbed for Bruno Duarte. he jogged onto the pitch for his first ever game for us and got a rousing welcome. He nearly started his Leiria career with a bang as well, as on 81 mins, he was in the thick of the action, winning a tackle and slipping in André Esteves, whose shot cannoned back off the inside of the far post and was cleared for a throw. Despair. The throw was taken short to Basauri, who's deep cross was headed home by an all-alone Jordan Stephenson! 3-3! Wait! The linesman was flagging. No goal. I watched the monitors for the replay. Yep, he was about as offside as you could get. Dammit. The last 7 mins were soul-destroying and as the whistle blew, I was left to reflect on another Champions League campaign that ended at the First Knockout Stage.

I told Basauri and Esteves that I was disappointed in them both. Ratings of 5.9 and 6.0 respectively in a big match just wouldn't cut it, but I lavished praise on Mendes, Soares and Duarte for excellent games played.

[Deisler26]

3 April 2021

Bwin Cup Final

Estádio Municipal de Aveiro, Aveiro

Att: 30,000

U.D Leiria 3 - 0 SC Braga

Jordan Stephenson 17......Simon Menne sent off 23

Diogo Mota 28

Rui Bento 64

It was a beautiful spring day as we took to the field for the BetWin Cup Final against SC Braga. This was to be our fifth final in a row, our fourth against Braga. The team was looking out for revenge for the 0-1 Final defeat at their hands last year and were pumped up to get it. A few changes were made. Miguel Veloso wasn't fit enough to start after playing 90 mins a few days earlier and dropped to the bench to accomodate Pelé. Mauricio was banned following his sending off against Benfica in the Semi Final, so Rui Bento took his place and Joaquim Correia took a spot on the bench. The team lined up like so

We kicked off and Braga immediately tried stamping their authority on the game. A cross from the right was headed over when they should have done better on 5 mins and 2 mins later, a rasping shot from 30 yards went whistling over our goal. However, our first real attack came on 10 mins, Jordan Stephenson broke down the right and on reaching the byline, checked back inside and dinked a beautiful ball across for Carlos Amaro to glance a header towards the far post, however the Braga keeper was equal to it and clawed the ball away to be cleared. We made the breakthrough on 16 mins. Mota had the ball on the left and he fed Amaro, who slipped the ball in behind the defence to find Jordan Stephenson who stroked the ball low into the near corner of the net. 1-0 and it was easy. On 22 mins, a long hoof from Basillo was killed stone dead by Amaro in the centre circle. Sensing an opposition player on him, Amaro sold a beautiful dummy and went to waltz round the incoming tackle, The Braga player had other ideas and caught him as he danced past, sending Amaro crumpling to the floor. The ref had no hesitation in sending the Braga player off with a straight red for a dangerous tackle. On 27 mins, Amaro burst down the right, checked in and fed Deco, who put it out to Basauri on the flank. His ball went back in to Deco and Deco's subsequent low cross took out the entire defence and Diogo Mota bobbled home the second with a miskick into the open net. 2-0. Amaro's game was over on 35 mins as he clashed with a Braga player and couldn't continue. The sign went up and on came Joao Nascimento. Nascimento was involved in the last action of the half too, miskicking a Stephenson pullback and watching it bobble agonisingly wide.

HT came and I told the guys not to think the game was won and to push on to continue to try to score. As the second half whistle went, Braga showed why I was so cautious as their right winger cut inside and hit a tame shot that gently landed in Basillo's arms. Two minutes later, after some very intricate passing, Nascimento's through ball found Deco in space on the right, but his shot was saved by the Braga keeper. Braga fought back and it took a sprawling full-length save from Basillo to deny the Braga striker after he'd got the other side of Casimiro. We then embarked on a massive spell of pressure where we did not let them out of their 18 yard box for 2-3 mins. The spell ended when Mota shot wide after the ball rebounded to him. On 58 mins, a through ball found Deco again, but his attempt to curl the ball in with the outside of his boot failed and the shot whipped wide. We were controlling everything and on 63 mins, a dipping, hard freekick from Jordan Stephenson, 20 yards out near the right touchline was headed home by Rui Bento. 3-0 and that was it. Joaquim Correia was brought on for the tiring Mendes on 66 mins and the game took on the appearance of a training game of keep-ball. 78 mins came and Stephenson drove into the area and had his shot saved by the feet of the keeper. Stephenson's momentum allowed him a second bite of the cherry however, but the keeper was again equal to the follow up. Mota was substituted to a generous round of applause on 81 mins for Joaquim Soares and he took Stephenson's place up front with Jordan going to the left wing. There was still time on 86 mins for Nascimento to drag his shot wide after making space for the shot with some quick feet and close control. The whistle went and we were Bwin Cup winners once again!

Getting back to the dressing room, I was informed that Carlos Amaro would be out for 3-4 MONTHS with a torn groin muscle, effectively ending his season. Worry creased my brow...

[Deisler26]

25 May 2021

Taça de Portugal Final

Estádio Nacional, Lisbon

Att: 51,000

U.D Leiria 3 - 0 SC Braga

Miguel Veloso 23

Pelé 34

Joaquim Soares 90+2

It was a dry sunny day as I led my team out in to the sunshine for the 2020-2021 Taça de Portugal Final. We were up against familiar faces in SC Braga who would be looking to avenge countless defeats in Portuguese competition, league or cup. This was also our chance to seal the Treble for the season. We went with the attacking 4-1-2-3 formation this time, reasoning that Braga would setup to stop our usual 4-4-1-1. A raft of injuries meant that José Queiros and Jorge Lima Pereira would be on the bench for us. The teams lined up like so:

The game kicked off and, almost immediately, Pelé was cautioned for a rough tackle with barely a minute on the clock. On 10 mins, the Braga players flooded forward and we barely escaped with a goal kick after Basillo forced wide the attacking player. Come 17 mins and we had our first attack, Esteves cutting in from the right to unleash a stinging shot that was tipped over well by the Braga keeper. It was a fieru game and Braga picked up their first card on 21 mins, a yellow to the player who's goal beat us in last year's Bwin Final. On 23 mins, a one-two with Joaquim Soares saw Miguel Veloso skip into the area and saw his shot squeeze under the keeper and into the net via the post. 1-0 up and we were looking good. We were having a lot of the attacking play, but not much in the way of shots. 27 mins in and Stephenson saw his shot go wide after being put through by Santos. On 34 mins, a corner was cleared out to André Santos. His short pass found Veloso, who laid it off to Pelé around 25 yards out. His rifled shot was inch-perfect as it rocketed past the keeper into the top corner to put us 2-0 up. The game passed to HT without any more incident.

At HT, I said I was pleased to the guys and instructed them to move back to a 4-1-2-1-2, keeping possession all the while. I wanted to really take the sting out of the game and mire down Braga in the middle of the park. It worked well. A little too well as we didn't seem to create much. Braga were reduced to long-range sighters that were well over and their frustrations boiled over with another 5 yellow cards being dished out in the second half. Veloso smacked the bar from 20 yards on 75 mins and it was all very easy. Mauricio took a knock on 85 mins, so to avoid injury, I replaced him with Rui Bento. 5 mins later, I subbed Basauri and the hero Veloso for Deco and André Mendes. This had the effect of opening out the diamond and giving us more scope to attack. And on 92 mins, a neat move between Stephenson and Pelé saw Stephenson put in Joaquim Soares and he finished low to put the tin hat on an extremely dominating performance. As the final whistle blew, most of the 51,000 fans celebrated an emphatic Treble!

[Deisler26]

U.D Leiria

Season 2020-21 Review

We retained the Liga ZON Sagres title for a third year in a row, part of an illustrious Treble. Porto ran us close all the way again like last season, but their 4-0 defeat to us at the tail end of the season gave us the momentum needed to push on. And as befitting winners, we again took home a slew of awards. Honorato Basillo won Liga ZON Sagres Goalkeeper Of The Year, Aimar Basuari won Liga ZON Sagres Fullback Of The Year, Mauricio won Liga ZON Sagres Centreback Of The Year and Jordan Stephenson won Liga ZON Sagres Forward Of The Year. Stephenson also took home the Liga ZON Sagres Golden Boot award for his 21 league goals AND the Liga ZON Sagres Most Man Of The Match award. Loanee José Francisco Salinas won Liga ZON Sagres Most Assists award for his role in Benfica's strong finish and to finish off, I took home the Liga ZON Sagres Manager Of The Year. Finally, in the voting for the Portuguese National Player of the Year, we were...somewhat dominant.. However, the request to expand our stadium was denied again. However, our upgrade was started on our facilities. I received a tempting job offer from Atletico Madrid, but the lure of winning in Europe with this team was too great and so first I put it off to the end of the season, then rejected it. This season marked my 10th in football management and my manager profile was interesting to look at.

Again, our finish in the Liga ZON Sagres was superb with just TWO point dropped in a 0-0 draw with Sporting CP. And from February, we only conceded 2 goals and only 9 in the whole season for a fabulous defensive display. One in a 3-1 win over Portimonese. That game was particularly memorable for them taking the lead over us and leading at the half. However, parity was restored on 50 mins as good linkup play down the left saw Mota lay off the ball square for Carlos Amaro who steered the ball into the far corner in a wonderful display of technique. Carlos Casimiro was then dismissed on 63 mins with a straight red for a dangerous tackle. However, parity was again restored when a Portimonese player sliced Amaro in half and was promptly given a straight red too for the same offence. The game was heading for a dull draw at 10 vs 10, when on 87 minutes, Mota released Jordan Stephenson who arrowed his shot into the far corner to put us 2-1 up and that goal killed them as on 93 mins, a lobbed ball into the path of Jordan Stephenson was controlled and laid off to Carlos Amaro to steer home for his second of the match. The other goal was conceded in a 5-1 hammering of Beira-Mar. Jordan Stephenson ran riot, scoring 4 goals in that game and then André Santos providing the icing on the cake.

Taça de Portugal: We took home the trophy in a dominant 3-0 win over SC Braga. We also didn't concede a goal in this year's tournament.

Bwin Cup: We got revenge for last season's loss with yet another dominant hiding of SC Braga. And after the first game of the tournament, we didn't concede another goal.

BUEFA Champions League: We again came a cropper in the First Knockout Round, losing to eventual winners Tottenham Hotspur, 3-2 on aggregate, after drawing 0-0 at home in the first leg.

Offseason plans include phasing out Miguel Veloso and Joao Moutinho as first team players and giving young José Francisco Salinas his head after his successful loan spell.

[archanios]

A very dominant performance in Portugal!

[AK22]

Impressive stuff Deisler, your defence is looking pretty mean

Salinas looks like a good player too, at 21 he's got plenty of time to get even better.

[Deisler26]

Thanks guys!

[Raware]

As AK said, your defence is looking very mean indeed! To only concede 9 in 30 is very impressive. I try and set my tactics to keep clean sheets (being a centre half by nature ). I'd be very happy with that goals against column.

[Deisler26]

As AK said, your defence is looking very mean indeed! To only concede 9 in 30 is very impressive. I try and set my tactics to keep clean sheets (being a centre half by nature ). I'd be very happy with that goals against column.

I think the secret for me is just strangling the life out of the game and always closing down their forwards and wingers. They're then forced to take long range shots which rarely go in.

[Deisler26]

7 August 2021

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira

Estádio do Dragão, Porto

Att: 21,017

U.D Leiria 1 - 1aet F.C Porto won 6-5 on penalties

Jordan Stephenson 45+2.........Alikhan Danilov 88

A hot sunny day greeted the traditional Portuguese curtain raiser, the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, as for the third cup competition in a row we were to play SC Braga. This was to be a new dawn for the team and with that came a change of shirt numbers for many. Miguel Veloso and Joao Moutinho were going to be phased out of the first team during this season so André Pereira, who came back from his loan spell at Vit Guimaraes better and stronger, went straight into the first team, along with loan signing Goncarlo Moreno. José Francisco Salinas made the bench, but other than that, the team was as usual with it's shape and lineup:

On 5 mins, the Braga striker got the best of Basauri and sent his cross shot flashing wide of the post. Braga were nullifying us well and with new players in the middle and a punishing pre-season schedule behind us, we looked leggy and tired. The game was again a fiery one with 4 yellows shown in the first half alone. Amaro put the ball wide after 35 mins as we started to get a foothold in the game. In first half injury time, Amaro picked the ball up in the centre circle and passed it forward to Jordan Stephenson. He rolled the defender and sprinted into the area. Just when I thought he'd gone too wide, he fired a low shot just inside the near post that the keeper couldn't react quick enough to. 1-0 at HT. The second half just kept up the same tempo. We passed Braga to death without actually penetrating and they ran around the pitch without much possesion or meaningful shots. The yellow cards kept coming thick and fast with 7 Leiria players receiving yellows in this match overall. Come 70 mins, we were still deadlocked so I subbed Fabio Dias and Carlos Amaro, both who looked shot out there, for Carlos Costa and José Francisco Salinas. Costa's inclusion meant that André Mendes moved up to the left wing position. Stephenson hit the bar on 80 mins after a glorious chipped through ball from Salinas. On 88 mins, a long hoofed clearance from the Braga defence put their striker in a foot race with Casimiro, Casimiro covered brilliantly and cleared the ball to safety for a corner. The resulting corner was cleared only as far as the edge of the box where the Braga player played the ball back out to the left wing. The corner-taker crossed the ball into the far post where a Braga striker came steaming in to connect with a bullet header. Basillo's reaction save just wasn't enough with the force of the header and the ball was pushed up onto the underside of the bar and bounced in. 1-1 with scant minutes to go in the 90. The whistle went minutes later and it was ET.

In the interval, I made a decision and went for the attacking 4-1-2-3, bringing on André Esteves for Deco. The first half of ET was dull, a blocked shot from Stephenson and two wild long range strikes from Braga were the sum total of that first half on ET. With no more throws of the dice, I hoped that it would be enough in the second half for us, same as last season. Esteves nearly provided the spark we needed on 115 mins, picking up the ball around 40 yards out and weaving though the entire defence before his clipped shot was just touched round the post. However, we remained deadlocked and it was the lottery of a penalty shootout.

André Esteves stepped up to take the first penalty and drove it low into the far corner. 1-0. Braga answered right back. Goncarlo Moreno lashed high into the net to put us 2-1 up, but Braga scored again. José Francisco Salinas stepped up to net emphatically for 3-2 and the Braga player that stepped up dragged his penalty wide. 3-2 and it was up to Aimar Basauri to make it almost imsurmountable. However, he hit the ball straight at the keeper and Braga netted theirs to tie it back at 3-3 after 4 penalties. Jordan Stephenson lashed the final penalty of the standard 5 into the net and Braga answered in kind to make it sudden death at 4-4. Then came two successive penalty misses by both teams, Mauricio and Carlos Costa both having theirs saved. Carlos Casimiro then scored the 8th penalty for us and Braga matched again. 9th penalty and André Pereira mishit the ball, however it bobbled into the corner of the net. Honorato Basillo was then the hero, pushing aside the Braga player's penalty to hand us the trophy and our third Supertaça in three years.

[Deisler26]

U.D Leiria

Transfer Window Review

1 September 2021

RESULTS

It's the start of a new season and I've moved onto 6th place in the Portuguese Managerial Hall Of Fame

Supertaça: We took home the Supertaça again on penalties after a nervy 1-1 draw with Braga

Liga ZON Sagres: We only had two games so far. Opening day was against Benfica, hardly the easiest of games! We were still looked leggy and rusty, despite the win against Braga in the Supertaça and to make matters worse, Jordan Stephenson was suspended for the game. André Esteves coming in for him. Benfica were always dangerous and took the lead on 43 mins, the striker galloping onto a long through ball and, while holding off Mauricio, slid the ball into the far corner. 0-1 at HT. We fought hard and outperformed Benfica everywhere on the pitch, except where it mattered. On the score sheet. New loan signing Goncalo Moreno and Fabio Dias were subbed on 70 mins for José Francisco Salinas and Joao Nascimento, a below-par André Esteves having been subbed already on 59 mins for our other loan signing Rui Sousa. Things were looking desperate. On 94 mins, a long ball from the back found Rui Sousa. His first touch set up a through ball to Carlos Amaro and it looked like he was going to pull the trigger when the Benfica defender tackled him superbly. However, in the way he tackled him, the ball trickled forward past the Benfica keeper and agonizingly into the net. I leapt out of my chair in delight! 1-1! The whistle blew moments later and we had the draw. Benfica had scored with their only shot on target, which was galling.

Next match was the local derby against Academica[/b Moreno was dropped for this one, allowing [b]José Francisco Salinas to take his spot and Joao Moutinho to take his spot on the bench. Rui Sousa was also a casualty of players returning with Jordan Stephenson reclaiming his spot up front and André Esteves dropping to the bench. The game started off with us in complete control. However, on 20 mins, a low cross to the near post saw the Academica striker toepoke a shot towards the near post which was saved well by Basillo. The striker sprinted towards the loose ball only to be upended by Basauri in the process of getting the ball. Penalty! The Academica midfielder placed the ball on the spot and although his penalty was saved, he netted the rebound to put them 0-1 up. It was happening again. We were still down at HT but on consultation with Sergio Conceicao, I decided to keep it as it was, just more possession in order to totally frustrate them. Salinas was struggling too with a knock, so I brought on Joao Moutinho for his first game since his bad leg break. The tactical gamble paid off within a minute as a one-two with Jordan Stephenson saw Deco get free inside the far corner of the box. He jinked past a defender and hit a low shot towards the far corner. The shot was weak and without power, however Jordan Stephenson was there to poke the ball home and equalise! 1-1! Academica deflated and they went on the defensive. We were gaining the upper hand when Mauricio was sent off on 68 mins for two yellows within 5 mins. This put paid to us as a threat too. Rui Bento coming on for André Pereira. It finished 1-1 again and we were making an inauspicious start to our title defence this year...

UEFA Champions League: We were drawn with Barcelona, PSG and Olympiakos in Group D. This will prove to be our hardest group yet as there are no pushovers in this group and we will do VERY well to make it to the Knockout Stages.

TRANSFERS

Well, I was a busy little bee this offseason, signing a number of youth players as my recent intake wasn't fantastic. Three players arrived from Sporting CP; ST Franco Giraldo, AML Fernando Pedroso and DM Vitor Correia for £800k, £750k and £625k respectively. GK Andre Barros was signed for £875k from Belenenses along with AMRLC Luis Campos for £925k from Benfica. Finally, DC José Coelho came in for £1.6m from Fiorentina. Also coming in were two loanees. AMC Goncarlo Moreno from Olympique Lyonnais and ST Rui Sousa from Borussia Dortmund. Moreno was loaned as cover for Amaro, as when Carlos went down in the latter stages of last season, we really struggled to exert the pressure we needed to.

Outgoing were a number of underperforming youth. Also leaving the club permanently were AML Diogo Mota for £1m to Cartegena, WB/ML Vitor Monteiro for £1.5m to Feyenoord and finally GK Fabio Santos to VfL Bochum for £425k. An number of players went on loan to Real SC, my feeder club and also Ingolstadt 04, my old club who I'd gained as a feeder club. This was to be the season that DM Miguel Carabajal was to get his taste in the first team, but Sporting CP came in with a loan offer and I had cover to let him go. Also leaving on loan was José Augusto, who would have started the season as Amaro's backup, but a chance to have him play more often than in the Leiria first team this season with Recreativo was too good to give up.

[Deisler26]

20 November 2021

Taça de Portugal 4th Round

Estádio da Mata Real, Paços de Ferreira.

Att: 4,444

P. Ferreira 1 - 0 U.D Leiria

Rui Bento o.g 85

A dry, cold night awaited us in Paços as we prepared to get our Fourth Round Taça de Portugal clash underway with Paços de Ferreira. P. Ferreira were struggling in the Liga somewhat, so I thought this was an excellent time to play the youth squad interspersed with some first team backups. U-19 keeper André Rodrigues started, along with first team defence backups Carlos Costa, Rui Bento and José Queirós in the defense and, for the first time in a number of months, I played two non-Portuguese players in the shape of English left-back Stephen Blake and Spanish U19 midfielder Juan Francisco Castillo. The other players were all from the U-19 side with exceptions being squad player Gonçarlo Moreno and 21-year old striker Eduardo Figueiredo, in his first ever appearance for the first team after coming through the youth academy 5 years ago. The team lined up like so:

We kicked off and looked fearless from the off, understandable due to the extreme youth of the first XI that was out playing (average age was 19). And within 48 secs, we had a shot on goal. After some fantastic short passing, 17 year old left winger Tiago Baptista cut inside and curled a shot wide of the far post. On 3 mins, a wicked dipping 30 yard strike from Gonçarlo Moreno saw the P.Ferreira keeper scrambling massively to his left to get to it and beat it out. We were playing well without really threatening, a lot of nice passing, but no cutting edge. 17 year old right winger Paulo Assunção and midfielder Juan Francisco Castillo, also 17, were booked within a minute of each other on 23 mins. HT came and went without incident.

After the HT, the game didn't massively improve. Bento headed over from a corner twice and in the whole game, there were only 10 shots between both times. More bookings followed for Castillo, Costa and Blake and the game looked about as lively as a party in a morgue. Baptista was subbed on 78 mins for Jordan Stephenson to try and make some impact. On 85 mins, a long ball down the right hand channel was knocked out by Costa. A P.Ferreira midfielder recieved the resulting ball on the edge of the area and his drive was seemingly well-saved by Rodrigues. However, Rodrigues allowed the ball to squirm free of his grasp and to our collective horror, bounced out into the path of the opposition striker. Rui Bento, seeing the danger, lunged into a desperate tackle but only managed to send the ball into his own net. 0-1. Panic set in. I went to ultra-attacking and Rui Sousa and André Pereira came on for Assunção and Castillo. However, it was to naught and as the whistle went, our players to a man, sank to their knees as we'd suffered a humiliating exit and defeat.

[Deisler26]

Just had the most disappointing moment of my FM life. Saved my file and turned off. Tried turning the comp back and booting up my file. Nothing. Won't load. I am absolutely gutted.

The only thing I have left is a test save where I quit Leiria a few months before. Now I could use FMRTE to put myself back as manager, but I just can't bring myself to do it. So it's onwards and upwards from now and if Leiria are ever relegated, I'm applying no matter what.

[Raware]

I sympathise with you Deisler. I had this happen to me too, think it was on FM08 or 09 and I lost all three saves that I had so I know how you're feeling. The thing with using FMRTE to put yourself back in it is won't the 'new you' have none of your accomplishments?

Silly question but have you got the energy to start again or are you too far into the future?

[Deisler26]

I sympathise with you Deisler. I had this happen to me too, think it was on FM08 or 09 and I lost all three saves that I had so I know how you're feeling. The thing with using FMRTE to put yourself back in it is won't the 'new you' have none of your accomplishments?

Silly question but have you got the energy to start again or are you too far into the future?

I've only lost about six months of actual game time (I'm now in Dec 2021) and to all intents and porpoises, I'm still a hero at Leiria. So what I'm going to do is carry on with the game and if it turns out that I have the chance to go back in a few seasons, I'll jump at it.

[Deisler26]

Whilst I'm searching for my new job, enjoy my last two acheivements as Leiria boss

[video=youtube;HNcOduiV33o]

[Deisler26]

Chapter 5 - A run of bad Fortuna

Fortuna Düsseldorf (help·info) is a German association football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, currently playing in the second tier of German league football, the 2.Bundesliga. Founded in 1895 and entered the league in 1913 they were a fixture in top-flight play from the early 1920s up to the foundation of the nationwide Bundesliga in 1963 where they participated in 22 seasons between 1966 and 1997. Since relegation in 1987, Fortuna has bounced back forth between leagues, spending five more seasons in the Bundesliga in 1989–92 and 1995–97 and slipping as low as Oberliga Nordrhein (IV) in 2002–04. In 2001 they escaped relegation to tier IV only because two other clubs were denied licenses to play in tier III for financial reasons. Fortuna had their own money problems at the time, but have since managed to put their house more or less back into order. Between 2001 and 2003 the club was sponsored by the German punk rock band Die Toten Hosen.[citation needed]

In 2008–09 Fortuna competed in the new 3rd Liga, and finished 2nd, gaining automatic promotion to 2. Bundesliga, where they finished 4th in their comeback season 2009–10. In this season Fortuna was the only side unbeaten in home-matches in the three top German (nationwide) leagues and in addition set an average attendance record (more than 28.000 per match) in their 115 year old club history.

(info from Wikipedia)

Since 2010, Fortuna Düsseldorf have been a fixture in 2.Bundesliga, despite a relegation to the 3.Bundesliga in 2012. They spent two seasons in 3.Bundesliga before a runners up spot put them back in 2.

[Deisler26]

So, I've pitched up at Fortuna Düsseldorf. Currently sat in 11th position in 2.Bundesliga with a recent board takeover (no money, however).

It's an aging squad with not much in the way of talent. However, personal talisman Anis Ben-Hatira is here after being sold by me at Leiria (one of the main reasons why I took the job!). He'll become my club captain and play till retirement. This will become 'Project: Germany' in the same way as I did for Leiria, so mainly German signings until I have a wholly German side.

I've no idea on a formation yet, as I haven't had chance to totally evaluate the squad and decide, but this season is a write off anyway. Average youth recruitment and academy means that'll be the first thing to be upgraded, given the chance. It's 2 Jan, so let's GOOOOOOO!

[Deisler26]

January 2022 Review

RESULTS

Well, the end of my first month and transfer window in charge.

My first 2.Bundesliga game in charge was against second-placed 1.FC Nurnberg. Being my first game and the possible effect of my radical surgery on the team, I just sent them out to enjoy themselves and they did just that, playing well and creating chances against a better and higher team. However, all my first half optimism came crashing down as Nurnberg scored the only goal of the game from a corner to win 0-1. We scored the first goal of, and picked up the first points of my reign in the next match against RW Oberhausen. A deep corner caused havoc and although Fabian Schonheim's weak header was blocked, it had enough on it to trickle over the line. 1-0. However, major league dithering at the back on a low cross led to them equalising in the 80th minute and it finished 1-1. The games was notable for new signing Sebastian Roth picking up the MoM award. RasenBallsport Leipzig were to be our final opponents for the month. We started brightly and took the lead on 11 mins. New signing Craig Krisch drifter down the left with the ball and squared it to fellow new signing Maik Lechner on the edge of the area. He spun the defender beautifully and lashed his shot high into the top corner from 18 yards! Wow! What a goal to put us 1-0 up. However, within three mins, were down to 10 as Fabian Schonheim's cynical trip meant he saw red for a professional foul. However, on 25 mins, a deep corner found Oliver Stang and he bulleted home the second. We were playing compact possession football which meant we didn't attack, but neither did they. RB Leipzig netted from a corner on 50 mins, but otherwise it was plain sailing all the way as we strolled home to a 2-1 victory.

I decided that we would play a variation of my Leiria 4-4-1-1, with the second midfielder's role as a deep-lying playmaker changed to a ball-winning midfielder. The defensive line was dropped, due to a severe lack of pace from my defenders, the tempo was upped as I felt wewould be better served in that league by doing so and we were to press the opposition more to create more mistakes.

TRANSFERS

I was busy from dawn til dusk in the transfer market for January, looking to perform major surgery on a team that was £2k off it's £171k p/w celling. First in the door was a DM to address the lack of depth in the centre of the park. Sebastian Roth came in for £80k from Wormatia Worms . Next in was a cover at RB, Rico Schneck was available on a free and would provide 6 months cover. Two loans came in next, AMRC/ST Kevin Ebel from Sampdoria and DC/DM/MC Manfred Haas from Bayer Leverkusen. D/WB/MR Joas Schmuda came in for £325k from Freiburg next. He would be my starting RB, with scope to move to RM if needed. Young DLC Mario Kaiser was then signed for £50k from Eintracht Frankfurt. He would be one for the future. Big money signing as we picked up DM Christopher Schindler from St Pauli for £600k. He would be an integral cog in the team's attempt to move up the leagues and a German face to replace the Swede, Daniel Nordmark. Finally came my two most important signings. First off was ST Maik Lechner from Atalanta. They offered him to me for £120k and I snapped him up as I desperately needed cover up front. Finally, in came English AMC/ST Craig Krisch. He was constantly offered to me by his agent when I was at Leiria and finally he would be given a home. However, after he arrived for a trial, I realised just what a talent he was and offered him a contract. However, the agent came back saying he wanted near on £20k p/w. I had no choice but to agree. I hope he decides he wants to become German, otherwise he's being shipped out!

Craig Krisch

Outgoings. Well. 75% of the team. The entire U-19 and most of the reserves were free-transferred and also leaving were non-Germans Marco Van Ginkel (£450k, MC, Vit Guimaraes), Uwe Bayer (£160k, ST, Ingolstadt 04), Manuel Giandonato (£220k, DM/MC, Koblenz), Gregor Bainburg (£325k, MC, VfL Bochum), Humberto Gonzalez (£1.1m, ST, RB Leipzig). Then high wage players such as Sandro Kaiser (£975k, D/WB/MR, Empoli), Patrick Hoffman (£230k, AMR/L, Las Palmas) and Phillipp Wollscheid (£95k, DC, SVW Mannheim). It eventually turned out that I'd recovered £73k in wages spare.

To finish off, here's Maik Lechner's spectacular debut goal

[video=youtube;YjBEoQdbyrI]

[AK22]

Tough luck with the save failure Fingers crossed this doesn't happen with me, I would be gutted!

Good luck with Fortuna Dusseldorf, it will be interesting to see if you can bring success with an all-German squad

[Deisler26]

Fortuna Düsseldorf

Season 2021-22 Review

Well, a decent enough finish to my first six months in charge, however it was made slightly more disappointing as we had our future in our hand with 7 games to go, but two consecutive defeats meant that we had little to no chance to make the promotion playoff.

I started February's 2.Bundesliga games with a home game against eventual league winners Duisburg. Maik Lechner netting the only goal of that game. Lechner was at it again next, scoring the opening goal in a 4-0 rout of Magdeburg with Anis Ben-Hatira hitting two as well. A bad 2-2 draw with Unterhaching was compounded by their equaliser, a mix-up between keeper and defender which left their striker with a 1-yard tap-in. Next came three consecutive 1-0 wins, over bitter rivals FC Koln, Energie Cottbus and FC Carl Zeiss Jena. We then exploded for a 4-0 win over KSV Hessen Kassel, but a straight red for Maik Lechner and subsequent 4 match ban in the 1-1 draw with DSC Armina Bielefield meant we were rocking.

A 3-0 win over FC Augsburg set us up perfectly for a tilt at promotion, hell, even the title! 4 points was the difference between the top six and our next two games were against promotion rivals. It was do or die time. Unfortunately we chose die, as a terrible atttempt at an defensive line allowed TSV Alemania Aachen to take home a 0-1 win and although we only lost 2-3 in our next game against Hertha Berlin, we were never at the races, coming back to draw twice. This left us now 6 points off a promotion spot and I was already thinking about next season. Our next game was against 1860 Munich and a good 2-1 win at home saw us restore some pride. By the time we'd kicked off our match against Karlsruhe, the other promotion teams had stuttered too! An Anis Ben-Hatira goal gave us the 1-0 win and suddenly, we were only two points from a promotion spot! It all came down to this final match. If we won, and results went our way, we would scrap into the playoff by a nose. However, our opponents Kickers Offenbach were looking to seal the title with a win so they were not going to be lying down. The game itself was fairly anticlimatic in that we took Offenbach apart 4-0 with three goals in the last 15 mins, however, both teams above me won too. Offenbach went up as automatic promotion, Duisburg won the title and I was looking at next year.

Late on in the season, I signed a true gem to help us go up the table. A 33-year old Mesut Özil was available on a free after leaving Real Madrid and I had no hesitation in snapping him up. He'll be good for another 2-3 seasons IMO. Next season is all about the rebuilding totally. New coaches, new staff, new facilites and hopefully, promotion!

[B.W.G]

Just finished reading this,it has been a very good career so far You had a fantastic run with Leiria Good luck for the new season with Fortuna Düsseldorf and you've made a nice signing in Mesut Özil

[Deisler26]

Just finished reading this,it has been a very good career so far You had a fantastic run with Leiria Good luck for the new season with Fortuna Düsseldorf and you've made a nice signing in Mesut Özil

Thanks man. Yeah, I'm gutted the Leiria job went tits up, but I'm keeping an eye on them and going back when I can.

[Deisler26]

Fortuna Düsseldorf

Transfer Window Review

1 September 2022

Last season's adapted 4-4-1-1 worked very well in the end of the season, but the better players we had this season meant that I thought I could bring my old Leiria setup to Fortuna. However, a struggle in our first league game and both goals against resulting because of a high defensive line meant that I changed back sharpish and slightly tweaked the middle so the MCR was a CM (Support) not CM (Defend). This brought instant success in the next game, so I'll make a note to watch it and tweak as necessary. I junked all my feeder clubs and started work on new youth facilites.

RESULTS

We kicked off the season with the DfB Pokal First Round matchup against local rivals TuRU Düsseldorf. And it was a trio of three new signings who put us on our way to a 3-0 win. Portuguese midfielder Gonçalo Moreno set us on our way on 3 minutes starting with a silky one-two on the edge of the box with Robert Brauer and, on receiving the ball back, he cut inside and fired an 18 yard shot into the net. On 14 mins, a long ball forward found Mesut Özil, who's cushioned headed found Kristijan Reinhardt. His touch and turn gave him plenty of room to guide his shot into the corner of the net from the edge of the area again! The game was truly over on 19 mins as Özil again split the defence with a wonderful pass, allowing Masebi to finish emphatically from 6 yards. The game was a nothing from then on. Anis Ben Hatira injured himself on 40 mins, but was only out for 2 days. This put us into the Second Round against last season's 2.Bundesliga winners, Kickers Offenbach.

Our opening game in 2.Bundesliga this season was against Karlsruhe. And we stunned the home side by racing into a 2-0 lead after 16 mins. On 5 mins, Masebi raced down the left hand side and his clipped cross was cleared only as far as the edge of the box. The bouncing ball was controlled by Gonçalo Moreno who unleashed an absolute howitzer of a strike that bounced down off the underside of the bar on it's way into the net. Then on 16 mins, Özil found Reinhardt on the edge of the box and his reverse pass let in the rampaging Masebi who finished low into the net. 2-0 and we were rampant. Karlsruhe pulled one back barely a minute later however, as a too-high defensive line saw their striker spring our offside trap and round the keeper to score. However, we made it to HT at 2-1 and everything was going well. After HT, it was much the same. We had a lot of chances, but nothing concrete. However, on 86 mins, a break by Karlsruhe saw a wicked early ball by the left winger finished off by a sliding Karlsruhe striker for an undeserved 2-2 draw.

Our next match was the first competitive match I'd had against one of my old clubs, having played Leiria in pre-season, in the form of Ingolstadt 04. They'd finally been promoted after I'd taken them down in my first season in charge. Drama came early in the game as an Ingolstadt player threw himself to the ground at the slightest touch, fooling the ref and resulting in a penalty on 5 mins. However, a poor penalty was well saved by Sven Ulreich. On 9 mins, a swift counter attack saw Kristijan Reinhardt run half the length of the pitch on his own and slot the ball home. Gonçalo Moreno set up the second goal on 17 mins, with a pickup from deep and then a ball to the feet of Kristijan Reinhardt produced what seems to be his signature move atm, turning the defender then lashing home from the edge of the area. Mesut Özil crumpled to the ground on 44 mins and had to be helped off to be replaced by Dimitris Milionis. Scans after the game revealed an old hip injury that needed specialist treatment and he'd be out for 3 months. HT came and went and 5 mins in to the second half, a glorious run down the left by Reinhardt saw him cut into the box and square the ball for an unmarked Masebi to sweep the ball home. This appeared to be it, however, Anis Ben-Hatira was caught by a strong challenge and went down winded on 68 mins. He was to be replaced by Rico Schneck. And a minute after the substitution, Ingolstadt pulled one back. A ball out to the winger was slipped inside to the striker and his clipped shot looped over Ulreich and into the net. We shut down from there and rode out a 3-1 win.

TRANSFERS

Incoming: I was very disappointed at our capitulation to other clubs vying for promotion last season and I was determined not to let it happen this season! I was given a £4.5m budget and I was determined to spend it to get this club back into the 1.Bundesliga where it should belong! First in was striker Jürgen Pander on a free from Atletico Madrid 'B'. He would help spread the goalscoring load as our struggles last season were around the time that Leitner was missing through suspension.

A lot of youth was brought into the club with players like DC/DM Marcus Sen on a free from Hansa Rostock; AMLR/ST Daniel Koch from Eintracht Frankfurt for £120k; DC Andreas Wolf from Stuttgart for £160k; DM James Riemer , DR Steven Krause and AMC/ST Lukas Müller from Schalke 04 for £10k, £140k and £75k respectively. Final two youth signings were M/AMR Ahmet Gunes for £250k from Greuther Fürth and DLC/DM/MLC Christian Fischer from Hamburger SV for £100k.

GK Sven Ulreich was a good free signing from St Gallen. He would become the No.1 for the season, as I was not happy with my options, even though Lohe had a good season last year. ST Kristijan Reinhardt was a big money acquisition from Werder Bremen for £1.3m. Quick and strong, he was a younger Jordan Stephenson. The money went up with a £2.5m (over 48 months) signing of Robert Brauer, a D/WBL from Young Boys Bern. His stats reminded me a lot of Aimar Basauri and no price was too big for that. Finally, I blew the roof off the city's ceilling with a £3m signing (again over 48 months) of M/AML Ali Asghar Pourtamasebi from Toulouse FC. He would be our main wing threat on the left. I also nicknamed him 'Masebi'. Coming in on loan to buy from AFC Ajax was AMC Dmitiris Milionis. He would be the main back up to the MCR spot.

I also went slightly against my principles in signing only German players by picking up 4 non-Germans. First in was DM André Pereira. He was transfer-listed from Leiria for £350k and as much as I didn't want to go back and raid my old team, he was too good a player to let go. Also coming in was M/AMC Gonçalo Moreno. He'd been released by Olympique Lyonnais after spending last season on loan at Leiria. I knew his potential and he again was too good to pass up. Both players hadn't been capped by Portugal, so there was a chance they would be naturalised Germans at some point. Finally, I took on two UK U-19 players, English AMR Stephen Thorne and Welsh ST David Williams. These would again stay in my youth team until they hopefully became naturalised. These players represented the only non-German players in my entire squad.

Outgoing: Again, all my youth that were lacking were free-transferred. More non-German departures were Craig Krisch to Blackburn for £3.5m. He was a good player, but the price and his £18k p/w salary, coupled with Ozil, Ben-Hatira and Moreno being able to play his position meant I couldn't turn it down; MRC Daniel Nordmark was sold by me for a second time, having been at Real Oviedo, to Real Sociedad for £500k; DC Sinsa Hasanovic went to Babelsberg for £110k; ST Assad Zetrenne was sold to Stade Malherbe Caen for £190k and finally DM/MC Alessandro was shipped off to FC Metz for £775k. Other departures were AMLC/ST Andreas Ludwig to Dynamo Dresden for £800k, GK Thorsten Muller for £100k to FC Sochaux-Montbé and D/WB/MR Joas Schmuda for £500k to EFC Saint-Raphael.

Finally, here's a look at Gonçalo Moreno's wonder goal against Karlsruhe:

[video=youtube;2WxfScpR9IQ]

[Deisler26]

LEIRIA WATCH - August

The new manager Paulo Machado has basically dismantled my side and took a team that were top after half way to 3rd place last season and not even in the UEFA Champions League. *shakes head sadly*

[Deisler26]

LEIRIA WATCH - September

A terrible month for Leiria, as they stuttered to a 0-1-2 record and ended up languishing in 7th place. Defeats to Beira-Mar and Belenenses, plus a 0-0 draw with Maritimo means they're in trouble.

[Deisler26]

Does a bear s**t in the woods?

[Deisler26]

[archanios]

Good luck going back to Portugal. Out to show everyone just how poor Machado was?

[Deisler26]

Good luck going back to Portugal. Out to show everyone just how poor Machado was?

No, I'm out to get my team back. I loved that team and the setup I'd created was the best on any FM. Plus I have Europe to conquer.

[Deisler26]

Oh my god. The sheer number of foreigners that had been brought in bought tears to my eyes....

He's also sold SO many of my best players too Time to get them back to glory!

[Deisler26]

Chapter 6 - The Messiah Returns

União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (pronounced [uniˈɐ̃w̃ dɨ lɐjˈɾiɐ]), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in Portugal's first division, holding home matches at the Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa, also known as O Lis. The club's biggest rivals in Portugal are S.C. Beira-Mar, Associação Naval 1º de Maio and Académica de Coimbra, which belong to the same geographical region.

A heavy contender in the battle to reach European competitions in the 2000s, it was however relegated in the 2007–08 season to the second division, after finishing last. Leiria would be immediately promoted back, coming in second after S.C. Olhanense. The Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa was built for UEFA Euro 2004 in 2003, hosting during the competition Croatia's matches against Switzerland (0–0) and France (2–2). It also received the 2006 Portuguese Supercup final between F.C. Porto and Vitória de Setúbal, as well as the following (Sporting Clube de Portugal 1–0 Porto). The architect who designed the stadium was Tomás Taveira, who also designed stadiums for Euro 2004 which include Beira Mar's Estádio Municipal de Aveiro and Sporting's Estádio José Alvalade. The grounds belong to the club after their new chairman bought the stadium in 2019.

I won a total of 10 trophies with Leiria and now I'm back to keep them at the top.

[Deisler26]

26 November 2022

Liga ZON Sagres

Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa, Leiria

Att: 23,888

U.D Leiria 1 - 0 FC Porto

Fabio Días 71

My first league game back at the old stadium was a sold-out monster in two ways. First off, it was my return to the club (apart from a 4-0 win over U.Madeira in the Taça de Portugal. Jordan Stephenson showing his glee with a 4 goal haul after being cruelly ignored by the previous regime) and two, it was against FC Porto, the team that broke my title streak last season and now stood at the top of this season's charts.

Honorato Basillo had gone, sold to Atletico Madrid for £5.75m, so Flavio Valente took the No.1 jersey. Aimar Basauri was injured so Carlos Costa came into the right-back slot. Carlos Casimiro was sold to Olympique Marseille for £10.75m so Rui Bento, so long his understudy, got his chance. In the middle. Not much had changed, however, the previous regime had sold Carlos Amaro to AS Roma for £10.75m so Pedro Pedroso, a signing I never got to use, got his AMC slot. Finally I restored Jordan Stephenson up front where he should be. The team walked out like this.

The game kicked off as it felt as if I had never been away. The crowds, the chanting, the play on the pitch, it was like a catharsis. And on the pitch we immediately looked like our old selves as we passed the ball about, keeping possesion and probing the weaknesses. On 15 mins, a wonderful reverse ball by Pedroso put Deco through, however his shot was straight at the keeper. 5 mins later, a long clearance from a Porto corner saw Jordan Stephenson chase down the defender in possession and his hurried pass back went out for a corner. From the resulting corner, Rui Bento headed over. On 24 mins, Stephenson picked up a pass from deep, shimmied through two defenders and hit a lofted shot towards the top corner. It looked for all the world like it was going in, but the Porto keeper acrobatically tipped it over. The game then disintegrated into a cat-and-mouse between the two sides with two long range sighters from Porto whistling well over, the only on goal action up til half-time.

Half-time came and went and I told the guys to do this for the packed-out house we had in. And in the first 5 mins of the second half, Stephenson played in Fabio Días, who reached the ball just before the Porto keeper and stabbed the ball under him. 1-0! But wait! The linesman was flagging. Días was flagged offside. Checking on the monitors, he was fractionally off. On 59 mins, a clash between a Porto defender and Stephenson, left him on the floor in agony. He was helped off the field and replaced by Rui Sousa. 10 mins later, a ball out to the left wing found Deco. He killed the ball first time and then cut inside, laying the ball off to Pedroso. He took a touch and slipped the ball through to Fabio Días who rifled in from 10 yards. 1-0. Immediately after the goal, I subbed Miguel Veloso for André Santos, changing the team to retain possesion and slowing the play down. On 80 mins, I made my last sub, Joao Moutinho came on for José Francisco Salinas. The final bit of action came on 85 mins, when a long-range Porto strike cannoned off the foot of the near post and out again. The final whistle blew and I'd won my first game back in charge at the expense of the league leaders.

Stephenson was examined after the match and found to have broken ribs. The medical staff reported that he would be out for 2 months.

[john1]

Great win over Porto Glad to see you back at Leiria

[B.W.G]

A nice welcome back to Leiria by beating Porto

[Deisler26]

Great win over Porto Glad to see you back at Leiria

A nice welcome back to Leiria by beating Porto

Thanks guys! It feels like I've never been away. Apart from all the foreigners about.. *shifty look*

[Deisler26]

U.D Leiria

Transfer Window Review

1 February 2023

RESULTS

I rejoined the club of my dreams on 17 November 2022. At this point the club were languishing in 10th place in Liga ZON Sagres. I immediately rattled off an unbeaten run of 6 league wins in a row. First up was FC Porto who we dispatched 1-0. Next up were rivals Academica. We raced into a 2-0 lead with goals from Deco and André Mendes, playing in an unfamiliar left wing role. Academica pulled a goal back, but André Mendes hit his second. A late Academica goal threatened to derail us, but we were good enough to get the 3-2 win. Next were Portimonense, who were comfortably dispatched 2-0 with goals from André Esteves and Pedro Pedroso. A televised outing against Benfica was next and they were sent scurrying home with a 3-0 hiding. Deco, André Esteves and Rui Bento doing the damage. Identical 4-1 scorelines greeted the final two matches against Nacional de Madeira and Vit. Guimaraes. Aimar Basauri getting only his second ever goal for Leiria in the Nacional match and

being the highlight of the Guimaraes match. This meant we finished the transfer window in 2nd place, 6 points off leaders Porto.

Bwin Cup: The Bwin Cup Third Round landed us with an easy group, or so I thought. We were to play Vit. Setubal, Vit. Guimaraes and Portimonense. Setubal were dispatched 2-0 by goals from Rui Sousa and José Francisco Salinas.. The next match against Vit. Guimaraes was a tight affair in which we came form behind to secure a 1-1 draw. This meant that we had the same goal difference as Guimaraes, but they had scored (and conceded) one more than us. It was down to our final game and despite battering at the Portimonense door all game, a 3-0 win wasn't enough as Guimaraes also won 3-0 to put us out of the Cup at the Third Round Stage.

Taça de Portugal: The Fourth Round matchup was my actual first game back in charge and we sent U.Madeira packing, 4-0, with Jordan Stephenson getting all 4!. Next up was a real hum-dinger of a matchup as we beat SC Braga 4-3, Rui Sousa's game winner on 86 mins sending us through. Finally Vit. Setúbal were given a 5-0 hiding in the Quarter-Final with Rui Sousa again hitting a brace and both DC's on target too! This gave us a Semi-Final matchup against GD Chaves, surprise conquerors of FC Porto in the previous round!.

Europa League: I had been left languishing in the basement of this group when I took over, however, nothing was hopeless. A brilliant 5-1 win over Vojvodina Novi Sad, replete with goals from Pedro Pedroso, Rui Sousa (2), Miguel Veloso and Rui Bento put us in command of our own destiny. Beat Trabzonspor, our next opponents, and we were through. Anything else and we were out! We kicked off and we settled the game within the first half as André Esteves hit two, one being a penalty, to put us into the Knockout Stages against Paris Saint-Germain.

TRANSFERS

Well, I blew my wad this window. INCOMING were MRC/AMC Gonçarlo Moreno for £1.5m from Fortuna Dusseldorf. He played outstanding for me in my short spell back in Germany and I had to get him back! A lot of youth came in; Felisberto Sousa (AMC, £1.5m), Eliseu Mendes (GK, £1.4m) António Augusto (DM/MC, £1m) and Jacinto Silva (AMLC, Loan) all came in from Benfica; GK Sergio Branco came in for £775k from FC Porto and DC/DM/MC Miguel Domingos came in from Sporting CP for £1.2m. I then broke out the chequebook in a BIG way, spending £14.5m to bring back Carlos Amaro from his Roma nightmare and then splashing out £3.5m on right midfielder Bruno Amaral from LOSC Lille Métropole.

OUTGOING: I put every single non-Portuguese player I didn't buy, up for sale and there were takers for all! Helmut Abel (DL, £750k) went to PSG, André Luiz (DC, £4.8m) went to Kaiserslautern; Mariano Lima (DC, £7.25m) went to CSKA Moscow; Fernando (ST, £1.9m) went to AFC Ajax; Maninho (DRLC, £6.75m) went to Le Mans FC; Hector Pérez (ST, £1.1m) was sold to Deportivo La Coruna; Michel Riedel (GK, £750k) went to Almeria; Juan Tally (AMRLC, £5.75m) to FC Twente and finally, Fabiano (DC, £8.25m) to PSV Eindhoven.

[Deisler26]

16 February 2023

Europa League First Knockout Round, Leg 1

Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa, Leiria

Att: 23,049

U.D Leiria 3 - 0 Paris Saint-Germain

José Francisco Salinas 2

André Esteves 39

Rui Sousa 70

Back in the Europa League knockout stages for the first time since 2019, we faced a tough opponent in France's Paris Saint-Germain. PSG had beeten us overall in our previous meetings, once in the Champions League Group Stages, once in the Knockout Stages. So I went into this with not much hope and praying for a good home result to take to France. Throwing caution to the winds, we set out in a 4-1-2-3 formation to just basically attack, attack, attack and try to keep them on the back foot. The team lined up like so:

As the whistle went, we tore into PSG and with barely two minutes on the clock, a long ball down the left saw Jordan Stephenson break free, his whipped cross into the box was controlled and laid off by Esteves to José Francisco Salinas who drove in low from the edge of the box. 1-0 and it was a fantastic start. Two minutes later, a free-kick deep in our half lead to a PSG header straight at Valente as they came back at us. The game was super-charged and not even a minute later, Salinas lofted a ball over the defence and André Esteves was clear to net low into the corner, but the linesman flagged it off. On checking the monitors, they had him wrongly offside, but the decision stood. On 14 minutes, a great clipped through ball by Sousa slipped in Esteves, but his shot was saved well by the PSG keeper. Come 26 minutes and a beautiful dinked ball into the far post from Salinas was met by Esteves stealing in, but his glanced header went wide. Two minutes later, a clipped through ball by Carlos Amaro found André Esteves who netted with aplomb. However, this time, it was rightly given offside. On 38 minutes, a fast break down the left by Stephenson saw his cross ball smashed home by André Esteves for the third time, only this time, it counted! 2-0 at HT and we were in dreamland!

At HT, I told the guys that I was pleased with their efforts and sent them out back out. On 52 mins, a through-ball by Stephenson found Rui Sousa in the clear and he netted low, but he was given offside yet again on a very tight decision. I was getting really frustrated by now and tried slowing the game down. On 72 mins, Stephenson found himself wide on the left, he cut inside then went outside and his square ball was then finished emphatically by Rui Sousa. 3-0 and we were just flying. I took off a fading André Santos for Miguel Veloso on 75 mins. The last bit of action was on 88 mins as a quick break found Sousa through all alone, but his shot was saved beautifully by the PSG keeper. The ball rebounded out to Salinas about 30 yards out, but his cheeky lob just cleared the bar. The whistle went 4 mins later and we'd secured a famous win!

[video=youtube;ltr8gsFYiBw]

[Deisler26]

16 February 2023

Europa League First Knockout Round, Leg 2

Parc des Princes, Paris

Att: 53,144

U.D Leiria 2(5) - (2)2 Paris Saint-Germain

André Esteves 20...........................Adrían Acosta 38

Carlos Amaro 69............................Alessio Campolongo 76

A cold, rainy night in Paris awaited us as we made the 834-mile trip to France for the second leg of our Europa League knockout match. We were 3-0 up on aggregate thanks to a fantastic first leg performance and I saw no reason to change the formation or team, so the team that lined up was:

PSG kicked off and they meant business. A snap shot resulting in a point blank save by Valente after just 41 seconds was an early warning. However we fought back to get a toehold in the game and on 12 mins, Jordan Stephenson screwed his shot wide after good work by Amaro. On 20 mins, a bad pass by the PSG midfielder saw Rui Sousa outpace the defence and arrow towards the goal. His shot was well saved by the sprawling keeper, but André Esteves was on hand to tap in the rebound. 1-0 up on the night, 4-0 on aggregate and with an away goal to boot, we looked destined for the next round. Just five minutes later, a lay-off to Aimar Basauri on the right wing resulted in a wickedly dipping cross onto the centre spot. Rui Sousa got up higher than all and, showing beautiful technique, guided a flick header past the keeper. The ball looped up and left and came back off the crossbar. On 39 mins, an incisive PSG break saw their winger cut inside and hit a powerful low shot towards the near post. Valente got down beautifully and saved, but the ball came out to the PSG striker who netted with glee. That was the last action of the half. Could that spark a revival in the second.

At HT, I told the guys to not let their perfomance drop and carried on as we were. Sadly for PSG, the expected onslaught never materialised. Come 60 minutes, I made my first sub. José Francisco Salinas was looking a little leggy and he was replaced by Pedro Pedroso. This paid off almost immediately as on 69 minutes, his ball out to the left found Stephenson and the subsequent ball into the box was controlled and fired home by Carlos Amaro. 2-1 and it really looked like all over. The game was nowhere near the breakneck pace of the first leg and both teams almost slowed to a walk. I subbed off Rui Sousa for Joaquim Soares on 70 mins and went back to my usual 4-4-1-1 to shut the game down. This slightly backfired on 76 minutes as a PSG cross from the left was deflected out to the edge of the area where their substitute midfielder guided the ball home to make it 2-2. André Santos was tiring badly on 86 mins, so I subbed him for Miguel Veloso. However, a crunching tackle on Aimar Basauri left him crumpled in a heap on 89 mins and he had to go off, putting us down to 10, but we rode the game out for our most famous victory yet!

[Deisler26]

16 February 2023

Europa League Second Knockout Round, Leg 1

Fiyapı İnönü Stadium, Beşiktaş

Att: 24,694

Beşiktaş J.K 1 - 1 U.D Leiria

Ercan Tatil 84.....................Carlos Amaro 40

Again, a cold, wet, windy European adventure for us as we flew 1,952 miles to the Fiyapı İnönü Stadium, home of Beşiktaş for our Second Round Knockout match. We'd played Braga just 4 days before, so what I did was put the kids and backups in against Braga, which worked for the most part, however, a 94th minute strike of real quality settled the game Braga's way. Still, we pitched up here all fresh and raring to go! I went back to the 4-4-1-1 and the lineup looked like this

Kickoff came and the guys kicked off into a dominant performance without creating. First action was on 10 mins as Bruno Amaral shot wide on the run after good work from Stephenson. On 24 mins, Stephenson himself had been set free, however his shot was easily tipped round the post. The sublime and the ridiculous came together on 38 mins, as Stephenson's ball found Carlos Amaro clean through on an angle. As the keeper came rushing out, he sold a beautiful dummy to the keeper then rounded him and rolled the ball towards the unguarded net. The shot hit the post and came back out in the the grateful keeper's arms. I had my head in my hands. We NEEDED to capitalise on this chances. Carlos Amaro showed that miss hadn't affected him on 40 minutes as he picked up the ball about 25 yards out, burst past the defender into the box and deftly chipped keeper from 15 yards. 1-0. Wow. We closed out the half on some magic.

I told the guys I was pleased at HT and tried to slow it down, however Beşiktaş had other ideas. They came back into the game, possession-wise, whilst we floundered. The only chance we had all second half was Stephenson dragging the ball wide from a tight angle. The first warning came on 63 mins as their striker shot wide on the run. Worst was to come on 71 mins, when a hospital ball from Santos saw the striker pick it up, run and his shot was scrambled wide by Valente, who had to be sharp to save a near post header from the resulting corner. Finally on 84 mins, after some intense pressure, a good through ball beat our backline and the Beşiktaş striker hoofed it in from about 2 yards out. 1-1. They weren't finished though and they had a good header from a corner go over on 91 mins. The whistle blew and we were lucky to escape there with a draw when it all looked rosy at half-time.

[Deisler26]

16 February 2023

Europa League Second Knockout Round, Leg 2

Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa, Leiria

Att: 23,888

U.D Leiria 4(5) - (2)1 Beşiktaş J.K

Pedro Pedroso 39(pen), 52(pen).........Deniz Cetin s/o 38

Rui Sousa 42, 57............................Julien Berthomier 55

We welcomed Beşiktaş to Portugal on a dry night to finish our Second Knockout round match. No changes to the team and formation happened as we were desperate to progress.

We kicked off and the match was quite boring as a start, no team willing to push on to get the win just yet. Salinas went down injured and had to be subbed for Gonçarlo Moreno on 14 mins. Amaro lashed over a freekick on 18 mins, but that was about the sum of attacking. Suddenly, on 38 mins, the game exploded into life! A freekick into the area found Mauricio and just as he was about to pull the trigger, he was pulled back by the Beşiktaş defender. The referee had no choice, but to send the player off. Pedro Pedroso lashed the penalty down the middle and it was 1-0. Barely three minutes later, it was 2-0. Rui Sousa picking the ball up halfway inside the opposition half and running through two defenders before clipping the ball into the far corner of the net. HT came and we were 3-1 up on aggregate.

I told the guys to keep on doing it for the fans and sent them back out. On 52 mins, a ball from Sousa found Moreno wide on the left. His delicate chip left the goalkeeper stranded but, as Amaro went to nod the ball home, he was bundled into the net by the Beşiktaş defender. Another penalty. Pedro Pedroso again ramming the ball home from the spot to put us 3-0 up. Beşiktaş pulled one back on 55 minutes, an inswinging free-kick finding the defender who headed down and home. 3-1. But, barely a minute later, a break down the left by André Mendes saw his cross nodded home into the far corner by Rui Sousa to make it 4-1 and breaking the Beşiktaş players hearts. The game was a non-entity from then on and we coasted into the Quarter-Finals as the final whistle went.