PaulHartman71 Posted April 24, 2019 Author Share Posted April 24, 2019 International Tournament winners: World Cup: Euros: Copa America: ACON: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 24, 2019 Author Share Posted April 24, 2019 Leading Transfers: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 24, 2019 Author Share Posted April 24, 2019 Managerial All-Time Hall of Fame: Jorge Jesus has got around a bit and led both Real Madrid and Barcelona to domestic doubles since the start of the game, also winning the CL with Real Madrid and he's won the Premier League with Liverpool too. Simeone has won two Premier Leagues and a Champions League with Man United since his move to Old Trafford. Tuchel won a domestic treble with PSG in the first season, before going to Juve and winning 3 domestic trebles, then he went to Porto and won a few cups and the Premier League twice. He then went to Real Madrid and won La Liga, before replacing me at Roma where he has since won the domestic treble and the Club World Cup. Rafa Benitez famously won the league with Tottenham, before going to RB Leipzig and pulling off a huge Champions League win. Big Phil Scolari won two league titles with Palmerias. Zidane has won a further Champions League and La Liga with Real Madrid, as well as the Europa League with AC Milan. Conte returned to Juve where he won an Italian Cup, before going to Real Madrid and winning two La Liga's and a Champions League. He's since moved to Man City where he's won an FA Cup and a Premier League. Ancelotti returned to PSG to win a further 2 Ligue 1 titles, as well as a Champions League. He also won another Copa Del Rey with Real Madrid, as well as a few other minor cups with RB Leipzig and Arsenal. Pep famously won the Champions League with City, before eventually getting sacked and then taking over at Anfield, where he won two Premier League titles and several FA Cups. He also recently won La Liga with Atletico Madrid. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 24, 2019 Author Share Posted April 24, 2019 Country Coefficients: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 24, 2019 Author Share Posted April 24, 2019 Top 60 Club Coefficients: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 24, 2019 Author Share Posted April 24, 2019 I've just noticed Roma don't come up on that list. No idea why They come up on the 10 year one so not sure. They haven't been banned from European competition for FFP or anything as they're in this year's CL. Pretty weird. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 25, 2019 Author Share Posted April 25, 2019 Summer Transfer Window A fairly lively summer. William, our star left back was on the radar of pretty much every top club in Europe. I wouldn't sell unless I got a good price and PSG eventually bid £67M-75M. He is one of the best left backs I've ever seen on the game but £75M is silly money for a left back so I let him as he wanted out. Rodri was in the last year of his deal and I was more than happy to renew, but he didn't want to, so I let him to go the highest bidder which happened to be Villarreal. Diego Savino barely played last season and I managed to get £14M for him. Ali Taider was a back-up right back with decent potential who I didn't really want to sell, but he wanted to leave once PSG were interested, so for a £7.5M profit on 1 season I thought **** it might as well, as back-up right backs are easily replaced. Our biggest signing was to bring in a new central midfielder. Alessio Riccardi was my star man in midfield at Roma for many years and he was displaced in their starting 11 this season and wanted to leave, this worked out great for me as I wanted a new central midfielder. We got a good deal of £39M for him. Francisco Sanchez is a Spanish CB who I got in from Spartak, our defence could do with strengthening and he seemed the ideal man to do that with. I needed a left back to replace Willian with so Sven van Bremen from Ajax filled that void. He's 25 and probably isn't going to improve a massive amount, but he looks pretty good and couldn't go too wrong at that price. Samuele Ferrazzo was signed to replace Ali Taider as back-up RB. Ferrazzo is a decent young Italian who was available on a bosman after leaving my old friends at AC Milan in the summer. Aleksandar Simeonov is an exciting prospect signed as a rotation/back-up player in central midfield. He's a Bulgarian international who my scouts rave about with his potential. We got him from Beroe who is a club I've never heard of and we actually fought off lots of clubs around Europe like Tottenham, Lyon and RB Leipzig to secure his signature. Domenico Michielan is a 23 year old Italian striker signed as back-up to replace Savino's role in the squad. I actually signed him as a teenager for PSG when I was there and he seems to have just been playing for their B team in the National 2 B where he has a 1 goal in 2 game ratio. I hope I can get him some proper first team game time and re-vitalise his career a bit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 25, 2019 Author Share Posted April 25, 2019 Man United again ffs I can't complain too much with the group though as Lyon were never that great when I was in Ligue 1 and Rubin have never stepped foot in a Champions League group stage before from what I can see. A weird little tidbit I noticed is that one of their star men for the last few seasons has been Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Ruben for Rubin! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 29, 2019 Author Share Posted April 29, 2019 Mid-Season Spanish Cup We got through the easier games unharmed, but unfortunately went out with two 1-0 losses to Valencia. La Liga A good start to the season with a 3-0 win against Sociedad, but we then lost to Valencia away. We won 4 on the bounce after that with Douglas Starnley in fine form, but then lost in a ding-dong battle in Vigo 5-4. We had a good run of performances in Autumn, with 4 good wins in a row against Bilbao, Leganes, Espanyol and Villarreal, but then couldn't get it done in Barcelona and lost 2-1. We then beat Alaves 4-0. We then got on the right side of a 5-4 victory, before holding Real Madrid to a 3-3 draw with Pedro Diaz popping up with a late equaliser after we'd previously been 3-0 down. Lovely stuff. We then beat Sevilla and Girona, before drawing in Levante and then beating Getafe. We're top of the table at the halfway stage, although Real Madrid have been in the Club World Cup so have 2 games in hand and will go top if they win them. Vigo having a very strong season in 3rd, with Bilbao and Valencia doing okay but not in the title race at all. Barcelona having a bit of a nightmare. Lyon put up a hell of a fight away from home, as did Rubin to a lesser extent. Man United were very strong and we could only get 1 point from them over two games, so we wound up finishing 2nd. Finishing 2nd in your group sets you up for a difficult ride and we've got just that as in the 1st knockout round we have former Atletico manager Pep Guardiola who has been reunited with Man City. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted April 29, 2019 Share Posted April 29, 2019 On 25/04/2019 at 18:39, PaulHartman71 said: A weird little tidbit I noticed is that one of their star men for the last few seasons has been Ruben Loftus-Cheek. Ruben for Rubin! Not as good as when Wolfgang Wolf was manager of Wolfsburg. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 30, 2019 Author Share Posted April 30, 2019 A few transfers in January. Gelson Martins wanted a new challenge and whilst he was a decent back-up option I wasn't going to stand in his way. Getafe paid £7.75M for him. Michielan hadn't been here long but wanted out to try and get first team football elsewhere, so I let him go for the same price I signed him for to go to Bologna. Getafe came in for Gimenez, another back-up player who was ageing and on decent wages and not playing much, so I let him go too. I signed a young Turkish striker and young Spanish defender as youth products and emergency back-up, neither really worth shouting about too much though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 30, 2019 Author Share Posted April 30, 2019 End of Season Update La Liga We lost at Sociedad, but then won 3 ina row against Gijon, Valencia and Las Palmas of the Canary Islands. We then dropped points in the Canary Islands to Tenerife, before beating Pamplona and Celta Vigo. A slump in form saw us lose in Bilbao, beat Espanyol but then drop points in Villarreal and then an awful loss against Leganes. We then beat Alaves before, yes you're reading that right, a 7-1 loss against Real Madrid. We didn't even have anyone sent off, just some really poor performances and some fantastic goals from Real Madrid including a free-kick and a penalty. Oblak had a shocker, at 36 he's definitely finished at the top level. Saul also had a very poor game in midfield, his days at the top level are probably over too. We recovered from the shocker against Madrid to win 6 on the bounce, including a big win against Barcelona and coming from behind on the last day to beat Getafe 3-2. I don't think anyone could've called this happening even mid-way through the season. Pochettino lead Bilbao an incredible, Leicester-like run where they just kept winning all of their games. If we'd just drawn against them rather than lose we would've had the title and there were other games we dropped points in that we shouldn't have, but I have to say fair play to Bilbao given their resources etc and they fully deserved it. First title for 50 years. Hats off to them. Barcelona miss out on CL in the end, which saw Antonio Conte sacked. Champions League It was a big ask to get past Man City and in the first leg it didn't look likely, as they took an early lead through Gabriel Jesus and I didn't think we'd get an away goal, but Pedro Diaz came off the bench to get the all important equaliser. We went 1-0 down in the away leg too, with Foden getting the goal, but Orta got a goal back after half-time which would've taken it to extra-time, but Riccardi popped up with a huge goal late on to kill the game. Spaletti's Hertha Berlin were a real surprise package and when I first got drawn against them in the CL Quarter Final I was very happy, but they arguably gave us just as, if not more of a test than City did. It was a very similar set of games, in the second leg I thought we would never score in Germany, but we won a penalty which Lemar cooly tucked away, before Boscolo put it within doubt in the last few minutes of the game. We met my old side PSG under Unai Emery's management and got absolutely turned over in Paris. Mbappe, a regen and a 36 year old Mo Salah with the goals. We needed 3 goals without reply at home to go through, we did get 3 goals, but Mbappe and Sergio Gomez got some goals that put my old side in the final. Thomas Lemar had another very good season, with Douglas Starnley also doing really well and often keeping the equally good Pedro Diaz out of the side. Jamie Orta did well upfront, still can't get much of a look in for Spain though, whilst Riccardi did reasonably well adapting to La Liga and Francisco Sanchez was very solid in defence. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 30, 2019 Author Share Posted April 30, 2019 Career History ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season Club League Position Achievements/Other ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 Arsenal Premier League 4th Europa League winners 2019/20 Arsenal Premier League 2nd Champions League winners ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2020/21 Paris SG Ligue 1 1st Ligue 1 & Coupe de la Ligue winners 2021/22 Paris SG Ligue 1 1st Ligue 1, Champions League & Trophee Des Champions winners ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2022/23 AS Roma Serie A 3rd Italian Cup runners-up 2023/24 AS Roma Serie A 2nd Italian Cup winners 2024/25 AS Roma Serie A 1st Serie A winners 2025/26 AS Roma Serie A 2nd Italian Super Cup winners & Champions League runners-up 2026/27 AS Roma Serie A 1st Serie A, Italian Cup & Champions League winners ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2027/28 Atletico Madrid La Liga 3rd N/A 2028/29 Atletico Madrid La Liga 2nd N/A ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trophy Cabinet Champions League x3 - 2019/20 (Arsenal), 2021/22 (Paris SG), 2026/27 (AS Roma) Europa League x1 - 2018/19 (Arsenal) Serie A x2 - 2024/25, 2026/27 (AS Roma) Italian Cup x2 - 2023/24, 2026/27 (AS Roma) Italian Super Cup x1 - 2025/26 (AS Roma) Ligue 1 x2 - 2020/21, 2021/22 (Paris SG) Coupe de la Ligue x1 - 2020/21 (Paris SG) Trophee Des Champions x1 - 2021/22 (Paris SG) Nations Completed 1. England - Arsenal 2. France - Paris SG 3. Italy - AS Roma Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 30, 2019 Author Share Posted April 30, 2019 My old side PSG have now won 3 CLs, with a penalty-shoot out win sealing it for them in the final. RB Leipzig did well to reach the Semi Final, with their German counterparts Hertha Berlin the real success story this year. Krasnodar doing well to reach the knockout stages too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 30, 2019 Author Share Posted April 30, 2019 It's 4 in a row for Bayern as they have well and truly re-established their dominance. Leipzig and Dortmund join them in a fairly uninteresting season, although Wolfsburg did sneak into 4th. It looks like Champions League football caught up with Hertha Berlin who dropped to 8th in the league, but I'm sure their fans will have enjoyed that CL run. Spartak Moscow wrestle their crown back from Krasnodar, with Zenit pipping Rubin to 3rd. No real surprises elsewhere really. There were plenty of surprises in our first ever season of Turkish football though. Kayserispor, who have never even finished in the Top 4 before and just 5 years ago were in the 2nd tier, pulled off a huge upset to win the Super League. Kasimpasa have also never previously reached anywhere near the Top 3 in Turkey, managed to finish 2nd and they're actually managed by Alvaro Morata of all people. Galatasaray had to settle for 3rd, whilst Fenerbache, managed my Cameron Jerome, could only reach 4th. It's definitely a good sign as an open league is good for me further down the line as an equal playing field means it's not that much of an issue what club I end up managing at. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted April 30, 2019 Author Share Posted April 30, 2019 Not sure how long this has been a feature in the game, but I just clocked that for Lemar's testimonial some ex players actually came back to play in our team. Jedvaj, Rodri and Martins all featured which I thought was pretty cool. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sysiphus Posted May 2, 2019 Share Posted May 2, 2019 Really entertaining read. Well done! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 2, 2019 Author Share Posted May 2, 2019 Summer Transfer window An interesting summer as Dario Arena leaves for Man City. I didn't particularly plan to sell but City came in with a decent bid and he wanted to leave. Back-up left back Patrick Moro left for a good feww, with Antonuci and Shaparenko in their last season also leaving. Arroyo was only ever emergency back-up striker and he got a £5M move to Getafe. Some really funny named players signing this summer. Our new central midfielder Fatjon Kastrati, who I say like Fat Jon Kastrati as if he's a Game of Thrones character or something, looks very good and should replace Saul. We best hope that our new goalkeeper, Furkan Atak, can Furkan Defend too. Richard Bogarin was signed to replace Arena and looks a very tidy pick-up for just £24.5M from Vigo. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 2, 2019 Author Share Posted May 2, 2019 Arsenal, Monaco and Atalanta in the Champions League. Not the easiest group in the world, but not the hardest either. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
enterprise1 Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 This has certainly passed the time at work! Really enjoying it. Keep up the good work! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 3, 2019 Author Share Posted May 3, 2019 Mid Season Update Spanish Cup A pretty decent run to the final and aside from a few hairy moments in Tenerife we've not had too many issues. Bilbao in the Semi which should be an interesting one. La Liga A strong start to the season as we beat the champions at home on the first day, before beating Villarreal away and snatching a late draw in Madrid. We then beat Sociedad and then drew twice on the bounce against Leganes and Espanyol. 3 wins on the bounce against Pamplona, Tenerife and Girona, before another two draws, both of which we were lucky to get, at Coruna and Vigo. We then pulled off a surprise 1-0 win against Barcelona given our form going into the game. We beat Hispalis late on and then Sevilla away too, before losing at Valencia in a disappointing loss. Since then we've pulled ourselves back to 5 on the bounce against Getafe, Granada, Levante, Malaga and Villarreal. Valencia are our rivals for the title this season, with Sampoali's side still unbeaten after 20 games. Real Madrid could still get back into it, but I think Barcelona are still too far off. Levante having a very strong year, with Bilbao mounting a very poor title defence with Champions League football to worry about this season. Villarreal having an absolute mare and in real danger of going down. My old side got the better of us 2-1 on my return to the Emirates, but we did beat them 2-1 at home too. We dropped points away to Monaco and Atalanta though, where we could only get 0-0s, which cost us the group in the end. The side who knocked us out in the Semi last year, PSG, await us in the 1st Knockout Round. They're actually managed by Jorge Jesus now, as Unai Emery is weirdly now manager of another one of my old side's, Roma. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 5, 2019 Author Share Posted May 5, 2019 The only incoming or outgoing in January was Saul leaving for £1M to CSKA Moscow. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 5, 2019 Author Share Posted May 5, 2019 End of Season Update Spanish Cup A poor loss in Bilbao sealed our fate and Pochettino's side knocked us out to reach the final. We lost in Bilbao again in the league, but pulled off a cracking victory at home to Real Madrid. We then followed that huge result off by dropping 3 points in Leganes, but bounced back to get 3 straight wins against Sociedad, Pamplona and Espanyol. We drew with Tenerife thanks to a last gasp penalty and then won against Deportivo la Coruna and Girona. We dropped some more points at home to Vigo and then lost at the Nou Camp, before 3 straight victories including a huge one against title rivals Valencia 4-0. We then drew 1-1 against Getafe, before losing against Granada and finishing the season with wins against Malaga and Levante. It seems crazy that in a season where Barcelona and Real Madrid were nowhere near yet again we've contrived to not win the title, but Valencia, much like Bilbao last season did deserve the win overall. We had a very good defence but weren't quite as clinical in the league this season as we have been in previous campaigns, but take nothing away from a very clinical Valencia side who finished with 92 points under Jorge Sampaoli. Real Madrid miss out on CL football altogether, with Leganes and Vigo making Europe. Villarreal stayed up on the last day. Champions League PSG were too good for us last season, but seem a bit of a confused team under Jorge Jesus. Kylian Mbappe actually started in central midfield in the home leg, which was utterly bizarre, not sure if they're trying to do a Rooney with him, but it didn't work and Fat Jon Kastrati ran ragged around him, which meant we were 3-0 up at half-time. They did get a goal back but we got another late on, which meant it was a long way back in Paris and they simply couldn't do it. Leipzig are a good side these days, but we were much the better side in the home leg and took a 3-1 advantage to Germany, which proved too much as despite taking an early lead, we held out and got an away goal to kill the tie in the second half. We once again faced my old side Arsenal who we traded 2-1 wins with home and away in the group stage. We managed to do one better at the Emirates this time, with Jaime Orta's strike cancelling out Guendouzi's first half finish. I sat on the break in the home leg knowing we had the away goal and we pounced to score from an Arsenal corner just before half-time. It was curtains for Arsenal as we slowly killed them off for the rest of the game to eventually wound up 4-0 winners in a bit of a rout. Zidane went into this final having won the CL four times with Real Madrid, with me of course having one it three times. We got off to a huge start with two early goals putting us 2-0 up within 20 minutes, but Moise Kean tapped home just before half-time to give them hope. Jaime Orta grabbed his second of the night in the second half to make it 3-1 though and that was enough to kill their confidence and give us the crown! Thomas Lemar probably our best player going forward and has certainly been the most consistent and reliable player during my time with Atletico, whilst Fat Jon Kastrati came in and had a real impact in midfield. Jaime Orta not as clinical as previous years but scored the important CL goals when it really mattered and Pedro Diaz worth a mention too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 5, 2019 Author Share Posted May 5, 2019 (edited) Career History ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season Club League Position Achievements/Other ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 Arsenal Premier League 4th Europa League winners 2019/20 Arsenal Premier League 2nd Champions League winners ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2020/21 Paris SG Ligue 1 1st Ligue 1 & Coupe de la Ligue winners 2021/22 Paris SG Ligue 1 1st Ligue 1, Champions League & Trophee Des Champions winners ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2022/23 AS Roma Serie A 3rd Italian Cup runners-up 2023/24 AS Roma Serie A 2nd Italian Cup winners 2024/25 AS Roma Serie A 1st Serie A winners 2025/26 AS Roma Serie A 2nd Italian Super Cup winners & Champions League runners-up 2026/27 AS Roma Serie A 1st Serie A, Italian Cup & Champions League winners ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2027/28 Atletico Madrid La Liga 3rd N/A 2028/29 Atletico Madrid La Liga 2nd N/A 2029/30 Altetico Madrid La Liga 2nd Champions League winners ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trophy Cabinet Champions League x4 - 2019/20 (Arsenal), 2021/22 (Paris SG), 2026/27 (AS Roma), 2029/30 (Atletico Madrid) Europa League x1 - 2018/19 (Arsenal) Serie A x2 - 2024/25, 2026/27 (AS Roma) Italian Cup x2 - 2023/24, 2026/27 (AS Roma) Italian Super Cup x1 - 2025/26 (AS Roma) Ligue 1 x2 - 2020/21, 2021/22 (Paris SG) Coupe de la Ligue x1 - 2020/21 (Paris SG) Trophee Des Champions x1 - 2021/22 (Paris SG Nations Completed 1. England - Arsenal 2. France - Paris SG 3. Italy - AS Roma 4. Spain - Atletico Madrid I'm very pleased to have won the CL with Atletico in 3 seasons, of course a tad frustrating not to win a single Spanish trophy, much like I failed to in England, but I'm sure the Atletico fans weren't complaining Edited May 5, 2019 by PaulHartman71 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 5, 2019 Author Share Posted May 5, 2019 Krasnodar and Ajax probably the only two notable names to reach the Knockout stage this time out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 5, 2019 Author Share Posted May 5, 2019 It's 5 years in a row for Bayern now. Slaven Bilic's Dortmund did run them close though, with Leipzig in 3rd. Bayer Leverkusen reach the Champions League for the first time in a few years under Eddie Howe, with Hertha Berlin, Hoffenheim and dark horse Nurnberg getting the other European places. A disappointing year for Wolfsburg who go from Champions League last year to no Europe at all this year. Gladbach will be glad that they narrowly avoided relegation. Krasnodar snatch the Russian Premier League from Spartak on the last day of the season, with Zenit, Rostov, Rubin and Arsenal Tula getting the other European spots. It looked for much of the season like normality would resume in Turkey, as Cameron Jerome's Fenerbache side were top with Galatasaray 2nd for much of the first and middle half of the season. But an incredible run from title holders Kayserispor, which saw them win all 12 of their last 12 league games after a 4-0 loss to Fener in February, meant they incredibly retained the title, with the big boys having to settle for 2nd and 3rd. Kasimpasa who finished 2nd last time had to settle for 4th this time though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 5, 2019 Author Share Posted May 5, 2019 Job Hunt RB Leipzig obviously would've been the ideal job had Rafa Benitez not won them the Champions League five years ago. That leaves Wolfsburg, CSKA Moscow and Kasimpasa. Kasimpasa incidentally is only available because former manager Alvaro Morata jumped ship to Schalke. Schalke would've represented a very interesting option worth considering, but they sacked their manager before the CL final so I didn't even know that was available at the time. In truth I think the German league is some way ahead of both Russia and Turkey, so taking the Wolfsburg job is a pretty much no-brainer decision out of these available jobs. I I still have to apply and interview for it, but obviously seems a stretch that they wouldn't hire me at this point. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 5, 2019 Author Share Posted May 5, 2019 I'm now officially on the HOF following that 4th Champions League win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WillHoward42 Posted May 5, 2019 Share Posted May 5, 2019 Another nation ticked off, congratulations! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 5, 2019 Author Share Posted May 5, 2019 I was tempted by the Ukrainian league as I'd have full choice with that league, but in getting rid of the Spanish league I've gone with the Portuguese league. Porto and Benfica obviously off the cards, but I think the quality/money of the league puts it ahead of Ukraine (and probably Turkey and Russia too) for now. The league itself has been dominated by Porto and Benfica since the start of the game, with only Sporting Lisbon and Braga even featuring in the Top 3 positions during that time scale. Sporting Lisbon the ideal choice for sure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 5, 2019 Author Share Posted May 5, 2019 Atletico join PSG in gracious enough for a CL win that they reduced their compensation demands so I didn't have to resign to take a new job. Nobody of note in the squad other than a 34 year old Jonathan Tah. Lots of work to do this summer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 6, 2019 Author Share Posted May 6, 2019 A very FM type summer. Jonathan Tah wouldn't renew his contract unless we gave him like £150K a week for 3 years, which for a 34 year old, despite still being very good was a laughable request. He got shipped off to AC Milan, now managed by Ancelotti again, for £15M. Denis Dragus, a 31 year old Romanian was actually Wolfsburg's top scorer last season, but with just 9 goals in all competitions you can see why he may well have been part of the problem. He too had 1 year remaining and wanted a hefty contract, which I was not going to oblige to, so he went to the highest bidder, Celta Vigo who are looking to have a go in Europe. Florian Muller was the first choice keeper who was fairly average, 32 and also in the last year of his deal, so I let him leave, with squad players in Jose Cuero and Derrick Kedigui also being sold to the highest bidder. After renewing deals for the players that we did wish to keep, as well as getting in my former assistant from Roma, Francisco Tomei, we were left with a reasonable budget to strengthen. Mitch Whyte was plucked from recently relegated Norwich City, with the 27 year old English striker scoring a valiant 15 goals in the PL last season. Jesus Pascual is a good young Spanish centre half signed from a decent Levante side, with Nicolae Bularda a highly rated young Romanian goalkeeper who was actually on my short-list, albeit quite far down, when initially signing Furkan Attack for Atletico joining to play in goal. They're the main first team signings, with the other players all representing decent value for money punts from across the smaller leagues of the continent to act as rotation/back-up. I don't think our squad is yet good enough to get Top 4, but we have on outside chance and the main goal of this season will be to make the Europa League. With no European distraction we should have a fit squad that is also capable of having a go in the German Cup too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scousevasey Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 Do any of your old Athletico signings have low release fees that you can take advantage of (if they are willing to swap the Champions League holders for German challengers) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 6, 2019 Author Share Posted May 6, 2019 I put most of them on reasonable high release clauses, but yeah not too many of them seemed that keen on coming to Germany. Although that could change if we have Europe next season. We're shaping up to have around 20-25M to spend in January, although I'm considering holding off until the summer as the quality of player we could attract even with just Europa League football is probably a lot greater than we can at the minute. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 6, 2019 Author Share Posted May 6, 2019 Mid-Season Update German Cup We kicked off the season away to what I gather are a 4th tier German side, Pipinsried. Mitch Whyte scored 5 on his debut, with the rest of the team chipping in 3 goals too. We had a harder test against Hamburger in the next round, but a brace from Mitch was enough to see us through that time. Bundesliga We got the Bundesliga campaign off to a good start with a 2-0 win against Koln, before losing away to RB Leipzig who spent £120M this summer. We did pick up a good win on the road against Hoffenheim, then beat Stuttgart, before losing in Leverkusen. A brace from German-Japenese star Kensuke Tanno secured victory at home to Schalke. Hertha Berlin gave us a hell of a fight but a late winner from Kensuke Tanno sunk them, with Darmstadt 98 bringing the goals in their home match, we had to put 5 past them to be sure of beating them, with Carsten Wrobel getting a hat-trick. We then beat Frankurt at home before losing in Augsburg, then at Bayern too. We got a very credible point against Dortmund, before a less so credible home point against Hamburger. We've bounced back from a tricky run of games and bad form to win 4 on the bounce, with Nurnberg, Gladbach, Werder Bremen and Freiburg all falling to us, with Pascal Tuasamu, Kensuke Tanno and Mitch Whyte on hand to win us the games. I think we have to be very happy with how things have gone so far. We have a nice 4 point gap between us and Bayer Leverkusen in 5th, which puts us in a solid position to get Top 4 which I wasn't banking on us doing so soon. I guess an optimist might look at the table and say we're only 6 points off of Bayern, but I don't consider us in the title race at all. I think Bayern will probably win it and Dortmund and Leipzig will be ahead of us by more than 4-5 points sooner rather than later, but if we can finish in and around them it would maybe show the squad is better than I think. There's certainly some talented players within it. Hamburger and Koln are both having very good years, with Schalke in danger of going down. Hertha Berlin are a long way from a Champions League Quarter Final too, with just 2 points separating them from the relegation zone. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 6, 2019 Author Share Posted May 6, 2019 An unexpectedly eventful January. We let back-up right back Hamza Abdellaoui go to Nice for a decent price in a transfer that was always planned, replacing him with young Frenchman Yannick Lucas from Toulouse. A few Chinese clubs then decided they wanted one of our first choice central midfielders and turned his head. If I'm honest he wasn't good enough for the level I want to be in the next 2-3 seasons, but I hadn't planned to replace him until the summer, so I did somewhat have to scramble to sign Sebastian Comte. Comte is a good player, although in just his 2nd appearance for the club he suffered a lower back-stress fracture which will put him out for 2 months which is nothing short of a disaster. On the subject of disasters on the final day of the window Bayern decided to enact a £30.5M hidden release clause that I didn't even know about in the contract of our 20 year old wonderkid starting central defender, Jiri Kostl. This came as a shocking revelation and if I was scrambling to sign a CM replacement then I was well and truly panic buying to get a CB in to replace him. In the end I decided to make Vladimir Stankovic, a young Serbian prospect signed as a rotation option in the summer to be the new starter, as he'd been moaning about not playing anyway - then signed another prospect who isn't the full works just yet in Cees Heerkens from Ajax, who was the best I could muster in such a short timeframe. We will have to revisit the CB and CM situation in the summer, but hopefully we can make do until the end of the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 Well done Wolfgang Wolf, er, I mean Paul. How heavy is/was Fatjon? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 7, 2019 Author Share Posted May 7, 2019 21 hours ago, Nobby_McDonald said: Well done Wolfgang Wolf, er, I mean Paul. How heavy is/was Fatjon? Fatjon is 5 ft 5 and weighs just over 10 stone So if anything I think he should be Little or Small Jon... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidthekid Posted May 8, 2019 Share Posted May 8, 2019 really great read. Loving the progression. Can't wait for you to enter Turkey or Ukraine or Russia. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 9, 2019 Author Share Posted May 9, 2019 End of Season Update German Cup We could only get past Darmstadt on penalties, then lost to Jurgen Klopp's Stuttgart side. A disappointing loss as it was a very winnable game. Bundesliga We got 2031 off to a bad start with a loss at home to Leipzig, then away to Koln too. We beat Hoffenheim but then suffered another loss to Klopp's Stuttgart, before losing a further two games against Bayer Leverkusen and Schalke. We drew in Berlin with Hertha before smashing Darmstadt, but then dropping even more points against Eintracht Frankfurt. We then beat Augsburg and pulled off two absolutely huge victories at home to Bayern and then away to Dortmund. I've no idea where these came from as we hadn't been in great form since the new year and I wrote these games off as losses, so to win both was incredible. After thoes two great games we then lost in Hamburg, before beating Nurnberg. We dropped points against in Gladbach and at home to Werder Bremen, before beating Freiburg on the final day. We end up 6th which is about right given our poor from after Christmas, but what's truly mental is that even with losing 10 games we were still just 1 point away from getting Top 4 as we'd have got it on goal difference. Quite frustrating, but tbh I think we're some way off CL level at this point so maybe better off having a year of being vaguely competitive in the Europa League first. Kensuke Tanno probably our best player, with Carsten Wrobel and Mitch Whyte also standing out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 9, 2019 Author Share Posted May 9, 2019 Career History ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season Club League Position Achievements/Other ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 Arsenal Premier League 4th Europa League winners 2019/20 Arsenal Premier League 2nd Champions League winners ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2020/21 Paris SG Ligue 1 1st Ligue 1 & Coupe de la Ligue winners 2021/22 Paris SG Ligue 1 1st Ligue 1, Champions League & Trophee Des Champions winners ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2022/23 AS Roma Serie A 3rd Italian Cup runners-up 2023/24 AS Roma Serie A 2nd Italian Cup winners 2024/25 AS Roma Serie A 1st Serie A winners 2025/26 AS Roma Serie A 2nd Italian Super Cup winners & Champions League runners-up 2026/27 AS Roma Serie A 1st Serie A, Italian Cup & Champions League winners ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2027/28 Atletico Madrid La Liga 3rd N/A 2028/29 Atletico Madrid La Liga 2nd N/A 2029/30 Altetico Madrid La Liga 2nd Champions League winners ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2030/31 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 6th N/A ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trophy Cabinet Champions League x4 - 2019/20 (Arsenal), 2021/22 (Paris SG), 2026/27 (AS Roma), 2029/30 (Atletico Madrid) Europa League x1 - 2018/19 (Arsenal) Serie A x2 - 2024/25, 2026/27 (AS Roma) Italian Cup x2 - 2023/24, 2026/27 (AS Roma) Italian Super Cup x1 - 2025/26 (AS Roma) Ligue 1 x2 - 2020/21, 2021/22 (Paris SG) Coupe de la Ligue x1 - 2020/21 (Paris SG) Trophee Des Champions x1 - 2021/22 (Paris SG Nations Completed 1. England - Arsenal 2. France - Paris SG 3. Italy - AS Roma 4. Spain - Atletico Madrid Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 9, 2019 Author Share Posted May 9, 2019 Introducing this new section to keep track of all the countries I'm yet to complete. Will add in the clubs that are disallowed from that particular league too. Will be in roughly order of when I'll add them in/current coefficient ranking. The red ones will be the clubs that have become unavailable throughout the save itself. This isn't a definitive list that I'll definitely stick to in terms of order, but will be roughly this. Nations Remaining: Germany (Bayern, Borussia Dortmund, Hamburger SV, RB Leipzig) Russia Portugal (Porto, Benfica) Turkey Ukraine Switzerland Greece Belgium Austria Holland (Ajax, PSV, Feyenoord) Scotland (Celtic) Croatia Serbia (Red Star) Bulgaria Romania (Steaua Bucharest) Denmark Poland Sweden Czech Republic Belarus Israel Slovakia Slovenia Hungary Norway Iceland Finland Republic of Ireland Northern Ireland Wales Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 9, 2019 Author Share Posted May 9, 2019 The first CL knockout stage I've missed since my first season at Roma I think. No real standout in the Round of 16. Benfica and Porto maybe I guess. Valencia still going strong, but they were put down by Jorge Jesus' PSG side and it's now my old side's 4th Champions League in 10 years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 9, 2019 Author Share Posted May 9, 2019 Bit of a shake up in Russia as Zenit win their first title in a decade, with Rubin making sure neither Spartak or Krasnodar who have shared 1st and 2nd for the last 5 years, are in the Top 2. Krasnodar in 3rd, with Spartak some way off in 4th. Arsenal get 5th. Kayserispor's incredible run continues as they pick up their 3rd title on the bounce. Basaksehir get 2nd, with Kasimpasa in 3rd, whilst the big boys have to make do with 4th and 5th. Cameron Jerome has now been sacked by Fenerbache and taken over at Bursaspor. Porto win what is their 7th title on the bounce, but the 1st since the league has been active. No real surprises with Benfica in 2nd and Sporting Lisbon 3rd. Feirense, Pacos de Ferreira and Boavista make up the remaining European places. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 just caught up with this thread, what a great read! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted May 13, 2019 Share Posted May 13, 2019 On 08/05/2019 at 23:07, kidthekid said: really great read. Loving the progression. Can't wait for you to enter Turkey or Ukraine or Russia. I don't want to see him entering a Turkey. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 15, 2019 Author Share Posted May 15, 2019 Summer Transfer window Another very FM window. Bayern, now managed by Eddie Howe, met Piotrowski's release and off he went - to be fair for that price I had few complaints. A number of other players left us, which helped add a bit of money to our limited budget. The eagle eyed may remember Luis Luz who was a right-back for me in the Roma days. He's out of favour there now and we got him at a bargain price due to being in the last year of his contract, he should be a great addition. Xavi Candel comes in to replace Piotrowski at left back, with Augusto Scabini coming in to shore up the defence and Jorri Hoogervost the midfield. The other players are all various punts signed as rotation/back-up options throughout the rest of the squad. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 17, 2019 Author Share Posted May 17, 2019 Mid-Season Update German Cup No problems so far in the German Cup. Europa League Napoli were a strong side, but generally didn't have too much problems against Feirense or PAOK, although we did only narrowly beat the former in Portugal. Napoli top the group with us comfortably in 2nd. We've got Zidane's Liverpool team in the next round. An awful draw by all accounts, although they are like 10 years without a trophy and not the same threat they once were at the start of the game. Bundesliga A draw at Gladbach on the opening day, before beating Hertha in Berlin. We then lost in Frankfurt and could only draw at home to Hamburger. We did beat Koln and then lost to Bayern. A very disappointing 3-0 loss to Schalke, before two much needed wins on the bounce against Hoffenheim and Augsburg. We could only get a 0-0 at home to Nurnberg, then got a decent 3-3 in Leipzig. We have since beat Stuttgart and then lost away to St Pauli. 2 draws against Leverkusen and Mainz, before a loss in Dortmund and a big win in Darmstadt. Not where we want to be at all, although I do have to say this is the most open league I've played in so far. 4 points separating 4th and 10th is pretty mental at the half way stage, with anyone from Stuttgart to Schalke realistically still in with a shot of Champions League football. Plenty of football still to come and we've got a reasonable budget in January to get a new player or two in. The board are also backing me and recently gave me a new contract despite some murmurs of under-achievement from the squad itself. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 17, 2019 Author Share Posted May 17, 2019 January Transfers Arsenal met goalkeeper Nicolae Bularda's release clause for Champions League clubs and so off he went. He was a decent keeper and it's not a massive fee, but still a £20M profit and the game doesn't seem too void of quality goalkeepers so I'm not too bothered about him leaving. I signed promising Portuguese striker Rui Perreira to add some much needed fire power as Mitch Whyte just wasn't cutting it. Elouan Chauveau was the replacement keeper signed from Nantes and if anything he looks an upgrade for only £4.5M more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted May 18, 2019 Author Share Posted May 18, 2019 End of Season Update German Cup We didn't have the most difficult runs but we did actually manage to make it to the final this time, with Bayern only managing to beat us on penalties to the trophy. Bundesliga We kicked off the new year with 3 good wins in a row in the league, before losing in Hamburger and dropping points at home to Koln. We did pull off a massive win at Bayern through a Rui Perreira winner, with another win against Schalke following that one. We lost in Hoffenheim before bouncing back at home to Augsburg, but then Nurnberg pulled off a big win against us and we narrowly avoided defeat at home to Leipzig. We did beat Stuttgart thanks to a late comeback and then beat St Pauli, before falling to Leverkusen away from home. We then pulled off a 1-0 win against Mainz before, well... We'd had a big Europa League game on the Thursday and the vast majority of the first team had 80-85 percent fitness, so rather than risk injuring them I played a mix of back-up and youth which did not go well. Dortmund absolutely destroyed us and our goal difference which went on to have devastating effects... Nurnberg pulled off a huge shock under Giovanni van Bronckhorst and managed to get 4th on goal difference. The crazy thing is if Dortmund had beat us just 6-2 then we would've got Top 4 I think you can see that we managed to avoid that being too much of an issue though... Europa League I didn't give us much of a chance against Liverpool, but we put 4 past them in the home leg and despite their 2 away goals we were in a strong position going to Anfield. Obviously Liverpool are no strangers to comebacks there, but thankfully they only won 1-0 which wasn't enough to save them. We then had a very competitive tie against Rubin who pushed us right to the edge much like Liverpool did, as despite a Rui Perreira hat-trick they managed 3 away goals. Atalanta in the Quarter Final didn't push as anywhere near as much and we dominated them 7-1 over two legs. I know from just being in Spain that Bilbao are a very strong side and after they beat us 1-0 in the first leg I wrote us off as being out, but we didn't give up and beat them 3-1 at home to secure a place in the final. Barcelona are a shadow of their former self but you still get very worried when you see that you have to play them and they're undoubtedly still very very strong for Europa League. It was a tough and close match, but in the end a late Rui Perreira win came up to deliver us much needed Champions League football and a great trophy win. I'd say this run was up there, if not a better achievement than any of the Champions League wins I've had so far as I never expected us to actually do it. Carsten Wrobel had an excellent season, with Kensuke Tanno, Augusto Scabini and Rui Perreira all deserving mentions. I'm sure you can guess the 1 game that Nicola Benvenuto at the bottom started at left back Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now