mpm2342

UEFA Champions League Quarterfinals: For the quarterfinals we drew Lazio who play in the Italian Serie A. Italy is 4th in the nation club rankings and Lazio are 30th in the club rankings. We beat them twice last season, so I am hopeful that we can beat them and make it to the semi-finals for the first time. A nice victory away in a game that the statistics say we were out played. Back home and what an exciting ride for the fans watching this game. A late goal from them to force it into extra time and then a couple of goals by the Lions to put it away. this game looks much closer based on the stats, but overall we are lucky to move on.

UEFA Champions League Round of 16: Next up is Arsenal who play in the Premier League. England is 1st in the nation club rankings and Arsenal are 13th in the club rankings. We have played Arsenal each of the last 3 years and haven't beaten them yet but are getting closer. This is a tough draw for us, but I am hopeful our good run can continue. First game is away and I am very happy to come home with a draw. We were outplayed, but not by a lot so the score is not out of line. Second game at home and we finally beat them. I am very happy with that result and happy to move on to the quarter finals.

UEFA Champions League League Phase Game 8: Next up is FC Porto who play in the Portuguese Premier League. Portugal is 6th in the nation club rankings and FC Porto are 43rd in the club rankings. We played Porto two seasons ago and lost to them. This season, I feel like this is a game we should win against a pot4 team.. No victory, but we managed a draw in a game we got outplayed in. Deniau was sent out on loan as he was throwing his toys out of the crib again. We have solid backups in Alfredo and Castro, but not a lot of depth behind them, so have to hope they don't get hurt. We finished 3rd in the League phase and go straight to the round of 16.

UEFA Champions League League Phase Game 7: Next up is Celtic who play in the cinch Premiership. Scotland is 12th in the nation club rankings and Celtic are 28th in the club rankings. We played Celtic two seasons ago and beat them away, so hopefully history will repeat. We should be able to get a result in this one. A solid victory. it sure looks like the investment at GK is paying off as we are playing very attacking and not letting in many goals.

UEFA Champions League League Phase Game 6: Next up is Chelsea who play in the Premier League. England is 1st in the nation club rankings and Chelsea are 7th in the club rankings. Chelsea has become a regular opponent for us in Europe and a good measuring stick for our progress. We have not lost to them in 3 matches and I am hoping that trend can continue. We are playing at home, so hopefully the homefield advantage of 2,226 screaming fans will help us to victory. What a lovely game! A second half comeback victory with all the statistics showing it was not a fluke, This team is now ready to play with most of the big boys and has the potential to win it all, but likely needs too many things to go our way.

The other teams are growing. Mostly because the league reputation went up and every team in the league gets over £3M per season now. That made them all turn professional and all of their salary budgets went up. The lowest salary budget team is Glacis at £21K p/w. The other teams will never catch up to where the Lions are, but that is because we are improving essentially linearly with the club's reputation (and less so, the league reputation). The other team's improvement is lagging that by a significant amount. Lynx made a decent run this season in Europe and almost made the conference league league phase. We have 4 other teams (including Lynx) with a 1.5 star reputation, so that is coming along. Loaning and selling "castoffs" helps the other teams, but realistically, it just takes time.

UEFA Champions League League Phase Game 4: Next up is Olympiacos who play in the Greek Super League 1. Greece is 10th in the nation club rankings and Olympiacos are 89th in the club rankings. We played Olympiacos a few time early in the journey, most recently a win for us 5 seasons ago. I am expecting a victory here in spite of what the polls say. A good win with solid statistics to back it up. UEFA Champions League League Phase Game 5: Next up is Inter who play in the Italian Serie A. Italy is 4th in the nation club rankings and Inter are 21st in the club rankings. We played Inter last season and beat them in the league phase. The poll is expecting a close one as I am, although I am cautiously optimistic that we pull out a victory. A solid win and another victory against a pot 2 team.

UEFA Champions League League Phase Game 3: Next up is A. Madrid who play in the Spanish First Division. Spain is 3rd in the nation club rankings and A. Madrid are 22nd in the club rankings. We played A Madrid a couple of seasons ago and beat them in the round of 16. We have a better team now, but they likely do too. We have a very realistic chance to win it, but it is probably more 50/50. We managed to win due to another standout performance from Jacquin saving a PK. The rest of the match looked pretty close statistically. Happy to take a win against a pot 2 club.

UEFA Champions League League Phase Game 1: First up is RC Lens who play in the Ligue 1 Uber Eats. France is 5th in the nation club rankings and RC Lens are 29th in the club rankings. I think the top Premier League teams are still just a bit out of our reach. We have played RC Lens a couple of time and beat them in our most recent match. We should be able to get a result here, hopefully a win. Nice win with the statistics showing us in control of the match. UEFA Champions League League Phase Game 2: Next up is Barcelona who play in the Spanish First Division. Spain is 3rd in the nation club rankings and Barcelona are 3rd in the club rankings. We played Barcelona a couple of years ago and lost. I am expecting another defeat, hopefully closer in score. Nice when your keeper stands on his head and keeps the score closer than it deserved to be. Very happy to lose by only one in a match that looks as if we didn't show up.

The preliminary Champions League games are not that exciting now and are starting to give an opportunity to mix in some squad depth. To save reading / typing time, I will summarize going forward and do the more detailed view of the league round and beyond. We rolled through the qualifying rounds without any drama or suspense, which is kinda nice. The draw is out for the league phase and there are a lot of familiar faces for us. It's a decent set of opponents that we should be able to progress through and have a shot at top 8.

Thank you. It really helps me figure out who is a good candidate to retrain in another position and it helps manage the homegrown rules.

Gibraltar's ranking in the Nation Club coefficient stayed the same at 19, but the coefficient improved. The next target for the rankings is to get to 15 where 5 Gibraltar clubs will make Europe. That will need one or two of the other clubs to win a few games and start to do better. The club improved to 17 in the European club rankings. Gibraltar dropped back a bit in the world rankings. The league moved up 5 more spots to 37 in league reputation now ahead of England League One. Stayed 2.5 stars for reputation. No additional upgrade for the youth facilities has come available to request and our training facilities dropped one. We have a very healthy cash balance and the board gave me a generous transfer and wage budget. I am managing to spend more of the transfer budget this season ... It's been fun! Scouting budget is re-upped at world, so don't need to adjust.

Additionally we signed 4 youngsters for the future. Stranek and Matondo are good enough to get some playtime with the first team. The other two will go to the U23 team.

Our other key signings are: Jack Fanning is ouir new CD with a rating of 70.1. I like his physicals to help solidify the defensive line. He is consistent and likes big matches as well. Selcuk Kaya is a new winger who we will train on the right side. He has a rating of 69.1 and a good personality. He also has 4.5 stars of potential, so I am hoping for really strong growth from him. Daryl French is our new left winger with a rating of 67.7. His rating isn't the best, but he can improve a lot and he is very fast. If he doesn't develop, he won't last long with us.

Top signings: Mickael Jacquin as our new GK. He is rated 68.1 with the possibility to improve slightly. He is consistent, likes big matches and handles pressure well, so is perfect for the Champions league grind. Ronaldo Alfredo is our new AP with a rating of 74.7. He likes big matches and handles pressure well, but isn't very consistent, so that balances it off a bit. He is close to full potential, but if we can get a point or two, we get very close to the target. I love his mental attributes, but wouild like a bit more on the pace/acceleration. It will be interesting to see how his stats compare to Castro and Meireles. James Bent is our new Striker (71.4) with great physicals and decent ball control. He has a decent personality, but I am a bit worried about the injury risk and big match - usually don't sign them when they don't like big matches as that is what we are all about. He has a star of potential growth, hopefully it happens.

Fast forward to early July and there have been a lot of changes to the squad. I will run through the new additions after this post. I preemptively signed Deniau to a huge raise - now paying him £55K p/w (was 13K) as a star player... got that in before the window and before anyone expressed interest. That has prevented anyone from offering to him, so very happy about that. Sold El Mourabet and Martinez as they were already dreaming of far away lands and I could upgrade them anyways. I also signed 4 18 year olds to eventually build the homegrown bench strength. Revised recruiting needs based on the Premier target: We now have 3 positions that have a realistic chance of making the Premier League target. Pretty much done with changes now except for a fullback who I have an offer out to. He won't improve the ratings immediately, but is close to the incumbents and has potential to grow. Otherwise, will keep watching for a winger or CD upgrade. The squad needs time to settle in and get cohesively happy. GK Gap: 2.3% - We are good CD Gap: 6.5%, 5.8% - Could still use an upgrade - Urgent FB Gap: 5.3%, 6.7% - Upgrades required - Important - going to leave for this season. BWM Gap: 5.7% - Could not find an upgrade on Blasco that justified moving on from our Professional Captain. DLP Gap: 2% - We are good if we can hold on to Deniau - so far, so good. Winger Gap: 7.8%, 7.1% - Can still use upgrades - Urgent AP Gap: 2.4% - We are ok for now ST Gap: 5.5% - Upgrade in place with growth potential

It is. I am surprised by how closely correlated the improvement of the squad is to the reputation of the team/league etc. I don't play the games, so it really comes down to when the squad is good enough to beat those top teams. We are very close.

Upcoming Season recruiting needs based on the Premier target: The only position that has a realistic chance of making the Premier League target is STILL DLP. Everything else will have to be upgraded. This season will be a balance between the ability to find meaningful upgrades at a position and the amount of turnover we want to incur in the squad. GK Gap: 10.3% - Need an upgrade - Super Duper Urgent CD Gap: 6.5%, 7.7% - Need two upgrades - Very Urgent FB Gap: 5.3%, 6.7% - Upgrades required - Important BWM Gap: 5.7% - Upgrade if possible DLP Gap: 2% - We are good if we can hold on to Deniau Winger Gap: 7.8%, 8.2% - Need to upgrade both wingers - Very Urgent AP Gap: 4.4% - We are ok for now, opportunistically upgrade ST Gap: 7.0% - can use an upgrade - Urgent. Going to be another busy transfer window trying to find great players who are willing to talk to us.

BWM - Premier Target = 76.9 Same as last season: Blasco started, Pizarro was played in league matches to see if he would develop. They both played ok statistically, but not great. Blasco looks like he has plateaued, but he is not too far off target. Pizarro declined this season - boo . Not likely that any of the 3-6 ranked players below do much of anything other than be filler to make the homegrown count. Plan - Try to upgrade Blasco, and start him in the mean time. Spread out the fill in matches a bit more to see if anyone will improve with a focus on Pizarro still. DLP - Premier Target = 78.4 Deniau was the starter with Castro as the main backup. Rasmussen got some starts and everyone played very well. Deniau had very solid growth last season and isn't too far away from the target. Castro is growing slowly, but won't get too much higher. Rasmussen didn't grow - don't think I got him enough playing time. Plan - We are good as long as we can hold onto Deniau and he doesn't force his way out to a larger club. Castro is a great backup with a developmental player in the mix Winger - Premier Target = 76.2 I am analyzing LW and RW together as most of the top players can play both. Ortiz started at LW with Mane at RW. Martinez and Vincent filled in. Ortiz was an assist machine and Martinez got 13 goals in limited playing time. Mane is a loan player and is not coming back. I was disappointed to see Ortiz's rating drop - was hoping he could get into the 70s. Vincent was steady and a solid backup, but isn't going to grow, Plan - Look to upgrade both positions. The players we have now are solid backups with Martinez better suited to ST. Look for an 18 and under backup in the mid 50's rating who can become homegrown. Advanced Playmaker - Premier Target = 77.1 El Mourabet and Castro played most of the matches with Meireles filling in. They both had good stats with El Mourabet scoring lots of goals. Meireles had an 8.67 match rating for his 7 games at AP with 12 goals!!! Nobody really improved last season. Plan - Look for an upgrade. Until then, start El Mourabet with Meireles and Castro as backups. Will sell El Mourabet if he gets unsettled as Castro and Meireles are putting up similar numbers. Advanced Forward - Premier Target = 76.9 Meireles was the top scorer again even though he isn't the primary starter. Nolan got hurt for a bit, so Meireles did get 24 starts. They both had good stats. Was hoping for some progression from Nolan and Martinez - maybe next season. They are 7 rating points away from the premier target, so they will have to be upgraded if they aren't going to grow. Plan - Try to find an upgrade and keep Meireles and Martinez as backups.

Left FB - Premier Target = 72.8 FB seems to be a position that generates good match ratings in our tactic. This season was pretty much the same as last season at LFB. Konate was the starter with Leyland as the backup and they both had decent stats. Konate is hanging around the 67 rating and won't make it to the Premier League target, so will likely need upgrading. Leyland declined? will have to try and figure that out. Leyland declined across the board ... hopefully those are all the effects of dropping below the rounding line, but something to keep an eye on. Plan - start Konate. Search for an upgrade / backup - ideally an 18 or under who can become homegrown for the backup. Right FB - Premier Target = 72.8 FB seems to be a position that generates good match ratings in our tactic. Biten Valere was the starter with Whitbread, Weigandt, Carlos and Leyland backing him up. Biten Valere had a good statistical season, so no reason to change unless a solid upgrade can be found. Biten Valere declined a bit and looks like he has plateaued. Leyland should be the primary backup. Plan - start Biten Valere and look for an upgrade. If found, sell Biten Valere. Leyland will be the primary backup.

CD - Premier Target = 75.9 White and Siebert were the starters for the big matches and did fairly well and seem to complement each other with White tackling, heading and clearing and Siebert intercepting and blocking. Siebert is on loan, so will not be back. Albiach and Carlos were ok, but not great on the year, but because Albiach is homegrown and Carlos will be at the end of this year(so I highlighted him in green), they both will be part of the go forward plans. White grew a little bit but is likely close to his max. Albiach has plateaued as an ok second/third string. Carlos takes over as a primary backup due to his growth and potential. Nobody else in the development ranks will amount to anything useful. Carlos had another decent progression year and is capable in the three positions below which makes him very valuable. His coaches report says he can improve slightly, but his potential went to 4.5 stars from 4, so fingers crossed. Plan - Find at least one starter. Start them along with White and give Carlos lots of playing time. Albiach as injury backup.

POSITIONAL REVIEW (I have highlighted homegrown players in blue in the charts). GK - Premier Target = 70.4 We had a decent starter (Levy) on loan, but I got too cute with the role he was playing in and he got recalled in January. His rating was 65.7 and he played fairly well. Sidibe took over and had a really good year. He is homegrown, so has a spot on the club as long as I can keep him. Santos wasn't as good as Sidibe statistically - concerned about the save percentage against weaker competition. Both Sidibe and Santos improved last season and there is nothing worth talking about in the youth ranks. Sidibe is still growing decently and as a homegrown player, will definitely be our backup for a long time as it frees up another spot on the European rosters for an import. I remain concerned about his aerial reach for top level competition. Santos had an ok development year likely didn't get enough playing time with the first team. Time to loan him out next season to see if his growth will continue. His scouting report says he can improve a lot in the future and he has 4 stars of potential which would give him a higher rating than Sidibe if he can achieve it. His low technique is concerning. Plan - Look for an upgrade. Give Sidibe playing time in league matches and easier cup matches and see if he can grow a bit. Loan Santos out.. try to get him on a team in a high reputation league.

End of Season 11 (33/34) Analysis: The team average rating only improved by 0.3, improving from 68.9 to 69.2. This would have been .4 higher if Levy (GK) didn't get recalled from the loan he was on because I was playing him in a different role than they wanted and pushed it just a tiny bit too far. We have work to do this off season. Reminder that the rating for each of the leagues below is the average of the top 10 rating for each position across the entire league. The appropriate top 10 average for the positions in my tactic are then slotted into the chart and averaged across the 11 ratings. Only a few teams in each league would have a player in each position that ranks in the top 10, so by using this as a target, it provides a measure of when the raw attribute ratings of the team would position it near the top of the league being compared against. We all know that cohesion, morale, happiness etc. gives the human manager the edge, so when my team hits the rating for one of the leagues, I would expect it to be able to win, or at a minimum compete to win, the league. I have seen that team can successfully compete with most of the teams in a league above their rating. This means that once I can get the Lions to the ENG Champ level, we should be able to compete in the Champions League. The entire squad needs improvement based on the Premier League target, so no position is off limits for improvement with the exception of DLP where Deniau improved quite a bit and could make the target..... if I can keep him from the vultures. Last season, he was as good as gone, but accepted a loan which I was able to recall him from in the January window. That made him sad (his words ) but he happily played with us for the rest of the season. If the vultures are forcing him into that extreme unhappy state, I am going to try the loan / recall approach again. We fell off the slope of the ratings growth - I think we need 2-3 more points minimum to have a shot at winning the champions league. The majority of the key players are signed up for next season, so we have really strong depth across the board. Primary needs will be upgrades and potentially 18 and under players to fill the homegrown funnel for the future.

UEFA Champions League Quarterfinals: We drew Liverpool who play in the Premier Division. England is 1st in the nation club rankings and Liverpool are 10th in the club rankings. A second large England side in a row.... will need some more luck to get through this one. First leg away and we managed to keep the score within one while being soundly outplayed based on the match stats. Back home and it wasn't going to happen this season. Another decent showing on the scoreboard. The squad is getting closer - with hopefully a reputation bump and some upgrades for next season, we might be in the right range to have a serious chance.

UEFA Champions League Round of 16: We drew Chelsea who play in the Premier Division. England is 1st in the nation club rankings and Chelsea are 6th in the club rankings. we have played them a fair bit recently and managed a draw last season, but I am expecting a defeat here. First leg at home and we managed a draw in a fairly close game statistically. I am happy with that, but not looking forward to the away leg as Siebert, Mane, Konate and Deniau all picked up their second yellow to get suspended for the second leg. Well, that was totally unexpected. We should not have won that based on the squad on the field and the match statistics... maybe some reverse FM juju happening for the team this season.