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Champions League Final 42/43 - Chelsea v El Ejido (At Wembley)

Chelsea:

Newly crowned english champions and reigning Champions League champions. Last year they beat us on the semifinal.

Beat Barcelona and Machester City on their way to the final

They're playing a 4-2-3-1 with Lampard still on the sideline.

Offensive Trio Roberts, Laessig and Gaetano is a handful.

Chelsea have a full strength squad ready.

El Ejido:

Finished 2nd in La Liga.

Beat Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid in the knockout phases,

Flexing all season between a 4-2-3-1 and the more defensively solid 4-4-2 narrow diamond. Will probably line up in the latter.

Bruneau and Camara are a force in attack scoring 27 and 24 goals respectively.

El Ejido also have an almost full strength squad. Reserves AMC Villegas and DC Grande has knocks.

8pvc2iE.jpg

1st Half

1st minute - Diego heads home a cross from Stevanovic. We're in front! What a great start. 1-0 Ejido!

2nd minute - Chelsea strikes right back as Laessig follows the same recipe on a cross from Hassell. It's all square! What a cracking start! 1-1

30th minute - After an exciting start it's been an even game without big chances for either side.

Halftime

An even game with only 3 chances for each side. Unlike our last meeting we're currently defending pretty well.

2nd Half

65th minute - We're subbing Cuenos for Vega

72th minute - Still pretty quiet. We put on Gorosito  for Camara.

Full-time

Yep.. We're off to Extra time once again. Alysson has had a bad game ans is replaced by Touindouba.

101st minute - Bruneau breaks free but puts it into the sidenet

105th minute - Ortega brings down Vega in a horrible tackle! He's off. - Time to push forward and decide it in extra time!

110th minute - Rafael fires in the corner and Gorosito head it at goal.......... Over the bar.. Still 1-1.

113th minute - After loosing on penalties the last time I want either Mohammadzadeh or Izo on the field. Club legend Izo haven't played a single game this season but what a story it would be.

114th minute - I switch to a 4-2-3-1 and throws Mohammadzadeh into the mix instead of Rafael. He's more likely to contribute in open play.

119th minute - Bruneau hits a freekick but Oliseh makes a fantastic save... Looks like we're going to penalties.

PENALTIES

Chelsea will go first:

Lecky sends it past Roth. 1-0 / Mohammadzadeh misses as Oliseh saves! 1-0

Roth saves Solas kick 1-0 / Bruneau sends it past the post 1-0

Gaetano places it calmly in the middle of the goal 2-0 / Fittaioli brings us on the board 2-1

Monnier makes it 3-1 / Diego handles the pressure and tucks it in 3-2

Chelsea star and goalscorer Laessig steps up to the spot.... If he scores Chelsea wins... He does...

Yet again we fail....

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2042/2043 - CD El Ejido

Horrible season without silverware. I'm pretty disappointed so a brief season review.

League: 2nd- Cup: 3rd Rnd- ChL: Runner Up - Supercoppa: Runner-Up

Squad - Competitions - Transfers - Finances

Players of the season:

DR Cuenos -  MC AlyssonST Bruneau - ST Camara

Youngster of the season:

DR Vega

Next season:

Well.. We'll need to do with our current squad.

Are finances are terrible. Looks like our 30K stadium arent bringing in enough money.. Shocker..

Let's give this one final go...

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44 minutes ago, Muggert said:

@rlipscombe Actually it’s was my third final in 6 years....

I’m slowly loosing my interest in the save so I’m hoping next year will be ours!

of course it was...  Can be a bit forgetful!  fingers crossed you crack it then - be a shame to not complete it now...

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Champions League final 43/44 || El Ejido v Manchester City (at Puskas Arena)

El Ejido:

Newly crowned spanish champions - 4th final in 5 years (No wins)

Way to the final: Milan, Manchester United, Chelsea 

Injuries: None

Team: Lining up in a 4-4-2 narrow diamond. Counting on width from superstar fullbacks DR Cueno and DL Stevanovic. Up front ST Bruneau and ST Camara has had great seasons with 23 and 22 goals respectively

Unsung hero: DMC Rafael will need to hold the center of the pitch defensively.

Manchester City:

Won the english premiership - First final in 6 years.

Way to the final: Bayern, Tottenham, Porto

Injuries: None

Team: Playing a 4-2-3-1 and considered the best team in the world. Their front trio of AML Deal/Castro, AMR Okonkwo and ST Gerber are delightful to watch. (Gerber was the one that got away :-)

Unsung hero: DC Black

LINEUP

eePQXda.jpg

1st Half

13: We've started the game good with a couple of chances and then BOOM.. Diego heads us in front. ... But he's offside.

21: Cuenos goes out with an injury. He's replaced by Vega.

29: A well executed attack end up with Castro hitting the bar.

HALFTIME

An even game with us controlling most of the possesion.

2nd Half

65: Still 0-0 ... We put on Lange for Diego and Mohammadzadeh for Bruneau. Mohammadzadeh has been a supersub for us this year.

81: We pass it around outside the box and suddenly Stevanovic takes a run, after a pinpoint pass by Alysson he fires it just wide of the net.

FULLTIME

Yet again we're going to extra time. City has brought on AML Deal. A couple of years ago he singledhandedly knocked us out.

94: AMC Bebey takes a well-placed long shot. Roth saves well.

94: AML Deal strikes a ball towards the top corner. Roth makes an incredible save. City has taken control. We bring on veteran Toindouba on for Fittaioli.

98: MC Mior takes another long shot... A great shot and this time Roth can't reach it... Incredible goal 1-0 City. Thoughts of previous years must creep into the head of the players.

105: We go all-out attack.

114: Camara is open in front of goal. But he finishes straight on the keeper.

120: It's all over... We have now lost 4 finals in 5 years.

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2043/2044 - CD El Ejido

A brief season review.

League: Win- Cup: Runner up- ChL: Runner Up - Supercoppa: SF

Squad - Competitions - Transfers - Finances

Players of the season:

DR Cuenos -  DL StevanovicDMC RafaelST Camara

Youngster of the season:

DR Vega

Next season:

Even though we made a profit transferwise of nearly 80 million pounds we're deep in the red. Difficult to create a contender like this.

Let's see if this continues... I can't improve the squad without money.

I might give this one more go. If I avoid City I might have a chance. I perform pretty good against the other teams.

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So.. I'm still going...

A great win tonight

YG0NmeS.jpg

And why is that ?

Well... We've now gone a full calendar year without a loss in the league!

We're unbeaten in 27 games in all competitions to this point this season.

Edited by Muggert
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image.png.b192f374ad9a582f8b76d579c317cd2c.png

Table | Squad | Transfers

 

Started the season really well until about dec when the team started to unravel with a series of losses and draws. The team was 5 points of the top by mid mar and needed 13 points form the last 5 games against the bottom 5 teams luckily, to sneak the title again. Avagyan was injured for 6 months with a broken leg and has sharply declined, the defense was poor in his absence and the team generally dominated in too many games. The team went on to win the cup for the first time and do the double.

In Europe the other Hungarian teams were poor but still got an extra european spot for future seasons. After an easy passage to the CL group stages, the team were trashed 9-0 by Man Utd in their first game. They recovered to win against Lazio and Valencia and went into the last game against Valencia needing a draw to finish 2nd. 2-0 down at halftime they came back to draw 3-3 and qualify. In the 1st KO rd the team faced PSG and won the 1st leg 2-0 against 10 men. They lost 4-0 against an ageing Mbappe to end a decent run.

Finances went up hugely thanks to the CL money and few transfers. The facilities were improved and appear to be maxed out apart from youth facilites which will be improved again. The stadium expansion meant the team moved into Ferencvaros's 22000 stadium all season and the attendances doubled. Another stadium expansion of 1458 seats is planned for next season.

Neya went as his min fee was activated which i didn't realize was so low. I sold Filis as he had never really managed to perform well in spite of good attributes.

Ilyuschenkov and Silva were again the start performers. I wanted to sign Diallo on a bosman but his wage demands were too high, when he was released i was able to sign him for less than a quarter of what he previously wanted.  I was still a bit disappointed with his output as i expected more.

For the first time almost in this save i had a golden generation and 2 players who might play for the first team. Szalanczi is still some way off my current strikers and Mohamed is the 1st non-EU newgen at the club. Since i am strong at RB and weak at LB (Dunst wants to leave and Halasz is on loan) i may convert Mohamed to LB.

Season

League

Position

Hungarian Cup

Europe

Top Scorer

Attendance

Training

Youth

Junior

Youth Rec

Notes

2020/21

Division II

15th

3rd Rd

 

Korbely (11)

546

Below Average

Basic

Fairly Basic

Fairly Basic

 

2021/22

Division II

8th

2nd rd

 

Baros (18)

608

Below Average

Basic

Fairly Basic

Fairly Basic

 

2022/23

Division II

9th

4th Rd

 

Kasza (15)

712

Below Average

Basic

Fairly Basic

Fairly Basic

 

2023/24

Division II

12th

2nd rd

 

Licuriceanu (19)

579

Below Average

Basic

Fairly Basic

Fairly Basic

 

2024/25

Division II

1st

4th Rd

 

Baros (23)

779

Below Average

Basic

Fairly Basic

Fairly Basic

Promoted

2025/26

Division I

5th

Quarter Final

 

Mencezeles(9)

2145

Below Average

Basic

Fairly Basic

Fairly Basic

 

2026/27

Division I

3rd

4th Rd

 

Licuriceanu (15)

2022

Adequate

Below Average

Average

Average

Qualified for Europe

2027/28

Division I

5th

2nd Rd

2nd Q Rd Euro cup II

Bracun (11)

2542

Average

Adequate

Adequate

Adequate

 

2028/29

Division I

6th

Semi-final

 

Illyuschenkov (22)

2402

Good

Adequate

Good

Good

 

2029/30

Division I

6th

Semi-final

 

Illyuschenkov (21)

2344

Great

Adequate

Excellent

Exceptional

 

2030/31

Division I

2nd

Semi-final

 

Illyuschenkov  (35)

2280

Great

Adequate

Excellent

Exceptional

Qualified for Europe

2031/32

Division I

2nd

Semi-final

1st KO Rd Euro cup II

Illyuschenkov  (35)

2894

Excellent

Average

Exceptional

Exceptional

Qualified for Europe

2032/33

Division I

1st

Final

Qtr-final Euro cup II

Illyuschenkov  (33)

3177

Superb

Good

Exceptional

Exceptional

Qualified for CL

2033/34

Division I

1st

Winners

CL 1st KO Rd

Illyuschenkov  (37)

6648

State of the art

Great

Exceptional

Exceptional

Domestic Double

 

 

 

 

 

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We believe in you, @Muggert!!

 

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Gonçalo Brandão | NK Krk | Croatia | 2049/50 (Season 30)

Season Summary | League

Another year of domestic domination, and another year of falling short in the Champions League. This year we topped a group of Marseille, Atalanta and Celtic before putting out Lyon in the first KO round. Real in the 1/4s were once again too good for us in the second leg despite us going into it with a 1-0 lead.

Francisco has indeed taken his first steps with Spain this season. Unbelievably, they didn't make the World Cup, so he has to wait a little longer for his bow there. Marcos Calla became the only centre-back with a nailed-on place this season, with my other centre-backs all trading duties between themselves. Miller Barros came back to us from a loan spell in Brazil in January and slotted into the team where a departing Lucas Zalazar was previously. the return of 14 in 23 was solid, but I'll be looking for him to truly stand out this coming season as I once again have hungry young players looking to step up.

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Alta de Lisboa - 2022/2023 Season

Overview | Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2 | Competitions | Tables | Squad | Team of the Season

Transfers | Finances | Profile 1 | Profile 2 | U19 Squad | U19 Matches 1 | U19 Matches 2

Overview

We made a push for it, and it happened! Alta de Lisboa is headed to the Premier League! We spent our record amount during the offseason, and it paid off in spades. Losing only twice during the league season, the team overperformed in the Portuguese League Cup by reaching the Semifinals, and even hit the Round of 16 in the Cup before losing to Sporting. 

Portuguese Second League

It was pretty comfortable most of the way through - a lot of infighting among the teams below me. I didn't see a ten-point win coming, but with depth in most crucial positions and an affinity of scoring more goals in the second half once conceding, one, it was an exciting run to the title. 

Portuguese Cup

Losing to Sporting in the fifth round is nothing to be ashamed of. Sporting made their way to the Final before losing. As the board only wanted a third round appearance, no problems there.

Portuguese League Cup

Made it to the Third Phase (Group Phase) again, and rattled off some impressive results - victories over Boavista, Sporting, and Tondela. We did lose 0-3 to Braga in the Semifinals when the luck ran out, but that was a lot of fun.

Transfers/Key Players

ST João Nobre - The homegrown striker. I tend to sub him in after halftime (unless Tarcisio is injured). Excited for his potential upside.

M Tiago Jogo - Signed for 8K. Wasn't happy for a while because I didn't spend any more money, but came around. Solid midfielder for the team, didn't score but did contribute 8 assists.

D Gui Ferreira - Continues to be the assist machine, now the record holder for most assists in a season in the Second League with thirteen. Convinced him to stick around, too, and a very influential player. A bit worried about his age and the lack of potential ability, and it'll be interesting to see how he gets phased out.

AM Alexandre Pimenta - The biggest signing at 55K, had 9 goals and 5 assists, mostly playing from the left side. Very good in stretches, but I'm not sure about his future.

AM Paulo Marcelino - 6 Goals, 4 Assists, mostly playing from the AMC position. Decent shooter from range.

AM Tarcisio - Sometimes Deep Lying Forward, Sometimes Right Winger, he had 13 goals and 2 assists in the league. He is nearing thirty, though...

AM Paul Ayongo - Right Winger, team leader in goals with 16 across all competitions. 

G Thiago Rodrigues - Old (34) and injury-prone at times, he did only concede 27 - more importantly, 19 in 29 league matches. 

U-19

They somehow won the Second Division and also got promoted?  

Next Season

Stadium expansion, renting elsewhere until it gets completed. A little more of a payroll/transfer budget. Facing all the big guns. Hopefully more television/sponsor revenue coming soon? My hope is to not be relegated and finish above fourteenth, but it should be a challenge. One this is for certain - AdL is on the map, now.

Seasons

2020/2021 | Portugal Championship - Champions | Portugal Cup - Second Round
2021/2022 | Portuguese Second League - Fourth Place (57 pts) | Portugal Cup - Third Round | Portugal League Cup - Third Phase 
2022/2023 | Portuguese Second League - Champions (76 pts) | Portugal Cup - Fifth Round | Portugal League Cup - Semifinals

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@Muggert - congratulations on the calendar year being unbeaten.  a great achievement...

@Thebaker - congratulations on the league title again and also great progress in the CL.  Szalanczi looks like a great prospect from the academy.  Good luck next season.

@Biscotti - good to see the domestic form continuing.  Unlucky in the CL again.  fingers crossed for next season. 

@Geminilightning - congrats on promotion, and a great run in the league cup.  good luck next season in the top division.  Joao Nobre looks a decent prospect.

 

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1 minute ago, Muggert said:

wk97Qz6.jpg

Manchester City won't be a problem this year. Looks like another bogey-team in Chelsea could be waiting in the final...

fantastic mate! :thup:  fingers crossed it doesn't go wrong at the City of Manchester Stadium...

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Champions League final ... Take 5...

El Ejido v Chelsea

JukZazx.jpg

Let's get it on!

FIRST HALF

6: Vega centers the ball and Bruneau hits the post.

37: Bruneau is clear on goal but his finish is weak.

HALF TIME

An even first half ends. We have had the most chances but it's an even game.

SECOND HALF

48: Vega dribbles past two players and one-twos with Alysson. He finds Camara in the seam.... 1-0! Great goal!

60: Vega is controlling the game completely. He sets up Camara once again but he finishes right on the keeper.

85: We're so close.... Are we gonna back down are we going to go for the kill..... Kill Kill Kill!

87: Corner... Alex Sola finds Maguila at the back post..... 1-1.. Damn..

EXTRA TIME

103: Camara is done.. We put on Capellino and we put on Siddiq for Rafael

105: We're controlling the game.. We can do this!

114: Capellino goes through after a pass from Ederson and finished from a tight angle... 2-1!! (Sub to Sub)

117: We pass around the box and Villegas finds a crease, His shot goes just past the post.

EXTRA TIME FULL TIME

We've done it!! - It took 5 finals but we did it. In the same season we collected an amazing 101 points in La Liga.

Challenge complete!

bypAJPD.jpg

Vega.. Wow... He was incredible!

XozEgGf.jpg

Edited by Muggert
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COMPLETED CHALLENGE POST:

Copa del rey wins: 2030 - 2038 - 2044

UEFA Europa League: 2034 - 2037

UEFA Super cup: 2037

La Liga: 2037 - 2040 - 2044 - 2045

FIFA Club World Championship: 2041

Champions League: 2045

Key players:

GK Roth

DR Vega - DR Cuenos - DC Silva - DC Stefanovic - DC McCaw - DL Stevanovic

DMC Rafael - MC Fittaioli - MC Alysson - MC Ederson - AMC Diego

ST Mohammadzadeh - ST Bruneau - ST Camara

Key tournaround:

We've always had quality full backs on our squad. Hence the change to our 4-4-2 Narrow diamond.

In Stevanovic and Cuenos we had a couple of World class players. Then all of a sudden Vega started turning head and fisnished the season strong and was the difference in the important moments.

If I had to choose my top-3 players personally through the final years I'd have to say Stevanovic, Fittaioli and Diego

What now?

I think I'm gonna put this away... It was a hard tough journey but we did it in the end.

Our finances are making it difficult to sustain a top-caliber team long term. Even though we once again made a profit of 80 million pounds we are 50 million in the red.

Time to ride off into the sunset!

 

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East Kilbride

 East_Kilbride_F.C._crest.png.bcd17564d48bc827cfb1fcbfb9e99e43.png

League One– 2021/22 – 3rd

Squad

Transfers

Overview

After a strong first season, our second season was much less impressive but still resulted in promotion courtesy of the play-offs. Recruitment in pre-season was a mixed bag. I picked up three youngsters released by Man City who made up most of my defence. They were excellent and probably were key to the success I did have. Recruitment of attacking players was less successful however. Courtney Baker-Richardson who was a massive success for me last season got a bad injury and his stats took a massive hit. It was clear he was not going to be up to leading the line for a second season. 17 year old David Ramsey and 18 year old Ross Cameron joined on loan from Leicester and Hibernian respectively, their combined return of 38 goals was respectable but unspectacular. It was this lack of thrust in attack which meant we were less successful this season.

Form was inconsistent all season although we spent the whole season in the top half. For a second season running we made it to the Scottish cup quarter final, this time knocked out away at St Mirren. Poor form in March saw us drop out of the play-off places. Strong form in April saw us run automatic promotion close and we could have been promoted on the final day if other results were kind.

The play-off semi-final against Clyde saw us out play them and run out 3-1 winners on aggregate. The final was a difficult tie against Partick Thistle. Partick were the better team in the first leg away from home but we came away with a 2-1 victory. This took the pressure off and in the second leg we finished the job with a much better performance and a 1-0 win .

Key Players

Yeboah Amankwah – Ex-Man City centre-back who had an excellent season.

Joel Latibeaudiere – Another centre-back released by Man City. Formed an excellent partnership with Amankwah.

 Record

Season          League                          Position          Europe                        Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21         Lge 2                           1st                                             Promoted, Champions
2021/22         Lge 1                           3rd                                             Promoted

 

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1 hour ago, Andrew Haines said:

Well done @Muggert! Great result.

To keep motivated for that length of time is really impressive. My battle every game is against apathy.. I know I would complete the challenge if I stuck with a game but I start to get distracted by other challenges and teams I could play as.

I am the exact same!! 

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1 hour ago, Thebaker said:

Well done @Muggert - great perseverance.  why are you finding it so tricky with finances. Wages too high or crowds and tv money too small.

Well I was still ages behind Barca and Real sponsorwise.

 

I’ve had a full capacity of my small 30K stadium for the last 7-8 years, so That didn’t help either.

 

We spend a lot on wages as well... But that was needed to keep the current squad together.

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19 hours ago, Muggert said:

Well I was still ages behind Barca and Real sponsorwise.

 

I’ve had a full capacity of my small 30K stadium for the last 7-8 years, so That didn’t help either.

 

We spend a lot on wages as well... But that was needed to keep the current squad together.

To be fair that is reflective of how it would be IRL if you took such a small club to the top. Would be very difficult to sustain financially. You'd probably need to make one big 50m sale each year and keep on reinvesting. 

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Congratulations @Muggert, amazing accomplishment and perseverance. Ordinary human beings would have rage-quitted a long time ago...! 

 

You have me worried about my finances though, as my stadium will only get to 25k seats (once the board decides to use all of it...) so a new one is really not a reasonable hope... 

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East Kilbride

 East_Kilbride_F.C._crest.png.bcd17564d48bc827cfb1fcbfb9e99e43.png

Championship– 2022/23 – 5th

Squad

Transfers

Overview

Sadly, no straight promotion from League Two to SPL. Never the less, the season was a success. We sat in the play-off places all season, annoyingly a final day defeat dropped us into 5th place. An extra seasons breathing room will do us good I feel though.

In contrast to last season, recruitment was successful and I came away strong in all positions. Strikers Armando Broja and Kazaiah Sterling arrived from the English Premier League on frees and would score 20+ goals a piece. This shored up my weakest positions last season and with additions in defence and midfield including on-loan wingers Dean McCann and Cameron Harper we looked good. The step up to the Championship is difficult however and there are numerous professional clubs to compete with. Therefore I was more than happy with consolidation and a decent crack at the play-offs in my first season.

Key Players

Armando Broja – A free transfer from Chelsea, Broja scored 27 goals.

Kazaiah Sterling – Jamaican striker picked up following his release from Tottenham. Formed a strong partnership  with Broja and scored 20 goals.

Record

Season          League                          Position          Europe                        Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21         Lge 2                           1st                                             Promoted, Champions
2021/22         Lge 1                           3rd                                             Promoted
2022/23         Championship                    5th                                

            

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9 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

To be fair that is reflective of how it would be IRL if you took such a small club to the top. Would be very difficult to sustain financially. You'd probably need to make one big 50m sale each year and keep on reinvesting. 

It is... But a new stadium would have been nice!

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5 hours ago, jmarchand said:

Congratulations @Muggert, amazing accomplishment and perseverance. Ordinary human beings would have rage-quitted a long time ago...! 

 

You have me worried about my finances though, as my stadium will only get to 25k seats (once the board decides to use all of it...) so a new one is really not a reasonable hope... 

Hope for the best! :-)

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Città di Campobasso - 2028 - 2029

Previous update: 

 

Season 2028/29 - A push for Europe

After a very successful and surprising first crack at Serie A, the goal this year was to try to qualify for Europe. For that, the road was clear: bolster the defensive line and hope for a repeat and expanded performance from our guys up front, especially Mariano coming up a 15-goal season. With the expanded scouting range, I had no reason not to go to South America to find wonderkids... :D

Turns out that I would bring 4 youngsters, 2 from Africa, one from Brazil and I spent most of my transfer budget on a very promising full-back to complement a very crude lack of depth at this position. 

image.thumb.png.6715e133ef23675ff25ef87bedd26754.png 

Pablo was bought a bit in a hurry, when my scouts found him, he had interest from Man Utd and a few other large sides to leave on a free transfer at the end of his contract in January. I offered him a very nice contract, almost no negociations on his demands and before my scouts even came back with a report. He asked for a release fee of 79 M Euros, 10 times my transfer budget, so I figured out that he was quite ok. He turned out to be a rock in our defence, playing most games, scoring 3 and looking like a bald guy of 19 years old. In the end, he agreed on my contract before the other big guns made a move and I bought him right away for 550K Euros. Quite a steal. 


image.thumb.png.3f08c86b59c551d066d39a4fb913cbf4.png

I splashed most of my cash for Oldrich Cervenka, a nice left full-back from Slavia Prague with a 5-star potential Was quite solid throughout the season, but the board felt I overpaid a bit for him. Not sure if the board knows how hard it is to find a good full-back! 

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Last but not least, Ousseynou Ndiaye, a very very promising 18 year-old from Senegal. 

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League Progression

As with my whiny posts earlier, we had quite a bit of a rough stretch in the start of the season, all the big clubs were lumped together. Started with Geona (easy) then Roma, Lazio, Milan, Inter, Juventus, both in September and January. This made the year an uphill battle, but I had hoped as we managed a nice 2-0 upset agains Juventus at home in September. This gave us confidence going forward, but were struggling on the road. Home form was great, but we were struggling when away from Nuovo Romagnoli... We'll need to get better for next year. We finished with the 3rd best home record in the league, but were only 10th away from home... 

In the end, though, the guys showed real resilience in the back, despite the occasional beating. From that rough stretch at the beginning of the year, we constantly improved and rose up all the way to 6th place, netting us a Euro Cup qualification for next year! 

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Again had a couple of quite hard injuries, WIlliam Mercier, our loanee from LOSC missing 7 weeks and Mariano missing 6 weeks of action in 3 different injuries. 

 

Cup Performance

A penalty win over Cagliari got us to the 1st round, where we met Inter (again) and lost only 2-1 this time. Getting closer! 

 

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Finances

With the TV rights coming in and our relatively low wages at the moment, we're making ~4M Euros per month, making us the 5th more profitable club in Serie A. I'm just raking it in while it lasts as @Muggert has shown that this will need to change at one point to achieve some ambitions. 

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First Team Squad

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The detail-oriented reader will notice that Pablo has earned the title of Wonderkid during this season... :D

Ghidini featured in the heart of midfield, scoring 3 and getting a few crucial assists, he's our most valued player at the moment. Out goals were coming from a bit everywhere, Mercier leading the charge with 12, Mariano with 8 and Manic with 7. Not bad, but someone will need to step it up if we want to step up. 

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Departures

This year will mark the end of the run for Emmanuele Torrasi. He complained that he achieved all he could at the club and then signed to the club who finished last in the Serie B. I'm sure that he'll rock it over there and am glad that he stuck with us from the start from Serie C all the way to Europe, but his good run has come to an end. 

Awards:

Serie A Team of the Year: Melvin Zinga (two times in a row!)

 

Season    |    League    |    Position    |    Italian Cup    |    Champions League    |    Europa League    |     Europe Conference League
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  20/21       Serie C/C           15th        2nd Qual Round	          N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  21/22       Serie C/C           12th        2nd Qual Round	          N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  22/23       Serie C/C     6th - Promoted    2nd Qual Round              N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  23/24       Serie B             16th        3rd Qual Round              N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  24/25       Serie B             5th         4th Qual Round              N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  25/26       Serie B             6th         4th Qual Round              N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  26/27       Serie B      1st - Champions    Quarter Final               N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  27/28       Serie A             8th           1st Round                 N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  28/29       Serie A             6th           1st Round                 N/A                     N/A                         N/A

 

Europe, here we come. 

Forza Campobasso! 

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A few other thoughts that occurred to me after writing this summary... 

- With 3 good strikers and wingers which were not as good, I've been struggling tactically a bit. I have finally settled on a 4-3-1-2, moving away from the 4-2-3-1 that we see so much around here. It's not perfect yet, my fullbacks, especially Magirini at right-back have been raking up cards like there's no tomorrow and are missing a bit of support. Unsure how to solve this properly though. I've been trying to ask my midfielders to stay a bit wider, but there's a finite amount of Carrileros that you can have in a 3-man midfield... 

This is what I have at the moment, happy to hear any suggestions. 

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- In preparation for getting to Europe, I've played a couple of friendlies early in the season against typical Euro Cup participants. Completely dominated AEK 4-0 at home, then went to Vienna with narrow wins against Rapid and FK Austria Vienna, then a 4-1 dismantling of Galatasaray at home. I'm confident for the future (that was before Pablo joined too).

- I think I've found the correct handle on my stupid owner. He doesn't care about progressing and looking forward, but he does care about being left behind by our rivals. Still doesn't want to expand the stadium, but I'm finding ways to improve the youth and training facilities. 

- We're at 10823 seats at the moment, with the stadium being able to reach up to 25000. 

- Players are starting to ask for new contracts, one after the other, so the time of cheap wages might be slowly behind me. But hey, I've renewed William Mercier's loan for a 4th consecutive season, I hope to be able to sign him on a free when his LOSC contracts runs out at the end of next year, if I haven't found anyone to take his place yet. 

- I have 7 players now featured as international on their main squads on a semi-regular basis and one of my 16-year-old regen is already being capped at the U20 level by.... Albania! 

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- Players complain both with the high level of quickness training and the low level of quickness training. 

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6 hours ago, jmarchand said:

A few other thoughts that occurred to me after writing this summary... 

- With 3 good strikers and wingers which were not as good, I've been struggling tactically a bit. I have finally settled on a 4-3-1-2, moving away from the 4-2-3-1 that we see so much around here. It's not perfect yet, my fullbacks, especially Magirini at right-back have been raking up cards like there's no tomorrow and are missing a bit of support. Unsure how to solve this properly though. I've been trying to ask my midfielders to stay a bit wider, but there's a finite amount of Carrileros that you can have in a 3-man midfield... 

This is what I have at the moment, happy to hear any suggestions. 

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The  problem with a 4-3-1-2 is always that you expose the full backs. In an attacking mentality players on support duty bomb forward more than in other formations so your two wide centre mids aren't going to be giving too much support, particularily the mezzala. Also, a BWM is likely to go chasing after the ball so will get pulled out of position. Like you say, the problem is the amount of support to the fullback.

Things you could try.. 

drop the BWM into the DM tier and the AP into the CM position. An AP on attack duty in the CM tier will attack in pretty much the same position as in the AM tier but will contribute  more defensively. The BWM will then sit deeper and support the defence more.  I would also switch to a role such as DM rather than DWM as it will close down less aggresively and more reliably screen the defence.

Drop the mentality to Control or Balanced. The CMs will when naturally give more defensively.

Drop your defensive line to prevent  the defence getting  caught out with quick balls forward.

None of these things is guaranteed to work.. I have never got a 4-3-1-2 working satisfactorily to me. The thing to note is that your formation is REALLY aggressive. That is not necessarily a bad thing as you will attack with urgency and in numbers. The pay off is that you put pressure on the defence and are likely to rack up cards. The other solution is to leave the tactic and sort it out in the transfer market. Buy a ludicrously good full back who will be able to  deal with the pressure single handed. If the tactic works and wins you games then all is good.

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@jmarchand I have never gotten sole full backs wide working without a DMC.

If I’m playing them as lone wide men I almost always play with a HalfBack at DMC.

I also find it that the quality of the HB doesn’t have to be extraordinary. It’s mostly to provide the extra cover man wise when both are bombing forward.

I usually retrain a player with good set piece skills and decent defensive skills.

I’d probably start off by changing the BWM to a CM(D) to make him a bit more static.

Then use a FB(A) on the side with the CM(S) to give the squad more width. The other is fine as a FB(S) cause the mezzalla will drift out wide.

That being said I’m no tactical genius 😊

Edited by Muggert
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@jmarchand nice updates and I like the look of your newgen transfers.

I was also bored of the 433 and 4231 shapes so I have gone about playing a 352 with my current Aston Villa save and that has been going very well. Can provide more details if you're interested. I also spent a fair bit of time in the tactics forum reading threads and tweaking. 

The shape currently is a back 3 with the outer two being BPD and a Libero in the middle who steps up. 

Two CWBs on attack (these guys are the life of the team) and two CARs in midfield to compensate for them. The central midfielder is an AP on attack duty - this is Jack Grealish for me who has been amazing and a lot of the play goes through him. 

Up front I play with one AF and the other striker on support duty either a PF or targetman depending on who's playing. 

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