[FM10] Athletic - Simply the Basque!

Hi, and welcome to my new thread for anyone who followed my old one, and welcome to anyone who didn't. Hopefully you'll enjoy this one.

As you may have guessed from the title. I will be managing Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Liga BBVA. The challenge of this club is clear for anyone that has managed them. The club is banned from buying any player that does not have Basque as a nationality. Which provides its own problems, as well as an interesting way of playing the game. This basically means I am not allowed to sign any Brazilians, Germans, English, Italians, or anyone else that is Spanish or French and is not Basque. This will largely mean that I will be relying on my own youth academy, as well as signing some players from other youth academies, as the Basque region is not exactly flooded with talent. The most famous Basque players would probably be Xabi Alonso, Mikel Arteta and Manuel Almunia for all you English people out there, and they are also about the best available at the start!

So down to the necessary stuff. I am running FM10, with the first patch updated. No edits have been made to the database.

I am running England (CC League 2 and above), France (Ligue 2 and above), Germany (Second Division and above), Italy (Serie C2 and above), and of course Spain (Second Division B and above).

Tactics are my own.

Training is Tug's Training 2010. You can find the thread for this here

I think that's everything I needed.

So here is my charge to try and make Athletic the "basque" club in Spain, and prove that Basque is best!

Media Prediction: 13th

Board Expectation: Mid-table

Main Rivals: Real Sociedad, Osasuna

Competitions Entered: Liga BBVA, Copa Del Rey, Supercopa de España, Europa League

It must be quite a tough team to manage! Good luck mate.

I remember managing Athletic on CM01/02 and it was an absolute nightmare. Best of luck

Season is under way. Pre-season is done and the first game of the league season has been played. The results so far:

Barakaldo 0-3 Athletic (Friendly)

Athletic 1-0 Fredrikstad (Europa League 3rd Qualifying Round)

Fredrikstad 2-4 Athletic (Europa League 3rd Qualifying Round)

Baskonia 0-4 Athletic (Friendly)

Portugalete 0-10 Athletic (Friendly)

Athletic 0-1 Barcelona (Spanish Super Cup First Leg)

Athletic 4-0 FC Lahti (Europa League 4th Qualifying Round)

Barcelona 2-1 Athletic (Spanish Super Cup Second Leg)

FC Lahti 1-3 Athletic (Europa League 4th Qualifying Round)

Valencia 3-2 Athletic (Liga BBVA)

Very proud of my players in the Spanish Super Cup against Barcelona, we matched them blow for blow in both games, and were unlucky to lose the first leg having possibly been slightly better, but they deserved the second leg.

The Valencia match was also very close. I felt we matched them, which considering we were at the Mestalla was great. We were 2-2 until the 85th minute, when my defenders let Ruben Baraja score a winner, which we unfortunately couldn't respond to. So not great results so far. But also not the easiest teams we will face this season in Barcelona and Valencia. So I can be proud that we haven't been embarrased yet. Hopefully we can pick up some results against the other teams. Media Prediction for this season is 13th, and Board Expectation is mid-table. I think that is realistic with some of the weaker teams in the league. So I think that 13th is my minimum aim this season. Anything above that will be regarded as a great season.

Athletic are now 7 games into the League season. Most other teams have played 8, and some have played 9. Sevilla on the other hand have managed only 5 league games so far.

Been some mixed results for Athletic so far. 2 wins, 3 draws, and 2 defeats. Victory over Getafe, and Osasuna (our main rivals). Draws against Deportivo, Zaragoza, and Mallorca. The only 2 league defeats this season coming against Valencia and Villareal. The next league game will also be tough, with Real Madrid at the Bernabeu. 12th place after 7 games, and the possibility of overtaking 1 or 2 teams when we play our games in hand. Although I don't much fancy my chances against Real Madrid

The Europa League has seen me drawn in Group B alongside Benfica, FC Twente, and Amkar Perm. 2 games in, with the 3rd game about to be played against Benfica. One 2-0 win over FC Twente at home, and a 2-2 draw with Amkar Perm in Russia. Benfica promises to be a tough match, especially having to travel to Portugal for this game. If I can escape with a draw, I will be more than happy. Let's remember, Athletic aren't Europa League standard yet, and only qualified because they reached the Final of the Copa Del Rey last season. Finishing top 2 in my group is within my grasp, if we can beat Amkar Perm, and FC Twente again, it should mean regardless of the Benfica results, we should be going through.

Speaking of the Copa Del Rey, we have been drawn against Marbella in the 4th Round. A good draw any way you look at it. I should cruise through it pretty comfortably, and hopefully get an easy draw in the 5th Round too.

Fernando Llorente has had a great start for Athletic this season, 5 league goals in 7 games, and 13 in 15 in all competitions. Just a shame I can't find another striker who can match him!

Solid start to the season BigCisHere, the Valencia result was unlucky. In reference to your search for a new striker, you should have a kid playing for your Under19's called Iker Muniain. He has been getting rave reviews in real life and may give you another attacking option?

Well a dramatic 3-2 victory over Benfica is a great result! I even managed to go 2-0 up, before one of my strikers broke through, and put the ball in the net only to be flagged offside. Prompting Benfica to score 2 goals in the matter of a few seconds. However a dramatic late break winner for Athletic as Benfica were chasing their third goal gave us the win we deserved.

Guess I should also point out I took a look at Iker Muniain, and the coaches reckon he will be a leading Liga BBVA striker in the future! 4 *'s on potential. Gotta be happy with that. Hope I can hang on to him. He could be a fantastic player for this team. Thanks for the tip off CAFCIan75! Will be playing him in some games. Hopefully his stats can improve pretty quickly. He isn't too great yet, but with that potential, he certainly could be.

Nice result v Benfica BCH

Competition: Europa League

Opponents: Benfica

Location: San Mames, Bilbao

Final Score: Athletic 5-3 Benfica

The funniest thing about this match is that I forgot to do a team talk at the start of the match. I skipped past OI by accident and then went back before I set a team talk, and accidentally clicked Continue afterwards. But it didn't seem to matter, and might even have helped!

Match started out very quickly. 2 goals inside the first 6 minutes for Athletic. The first a penalty from Andoni Iraola, the second a first ever senior goal for Iker Muniain. Benfica however hit back quickly and it was 2-1 by the time 10 mins was on the clock. Andoni Iraola added a third, and his second on 21 minutes from a fantastic free-kick. It stayed that way until 73 minutes when a long range shot from Javi Martinez flew into the corner to make it 4-1. Benfica pulled another one back, and suddenly the nerves set in as visions of a Benfica come back flooded into the manager's mind. However Fernando Llorente had no such concerns, and he made it 5-2 in the 80th minute just seconds after Benfica had scored. Javi Martinez then suffered an injury in the 85th minute while attempting a tackle. This meant his game was over, but Athletic had already made 3 substitutions, and the manager watched as Javi walked off the pitch, before wandering back on to get booked, and then proceed to lay down half way between the Athletic goal and the half-way line. With 10 men, Athletic went on the defensive, leaving only 2 men forward. However they were unable to prevent Javier Saviola scoring his second of the match in 90+1 mins. But too little too late for Benfica, as they suffer a second loss to Athletic, and face real danger of being eliminated.

Amkar Perm also won against FC Twente, moving them 4 points clear of Benfica, and favourites to surely qualify ahead of Benfica. Athletic are on 10 points, Amkar Perm have 8, Benfica are on 4 points, and FC Twente are yet to pick up any points, or indeed score a goal.

Competition: Liga BBVA

Opponents: Barcelona

Location: San Mames, Bilbao

Final Score: Athletic 1-1 Barcelona

Well a fantastic result against Barcelona as we pick up a point against the pre-season title favourites. We showed some real defensive guts, and we proved very difficult for Barcelona to break down.

We actually took the lead right on half-time. Yeste firing in a free-kick for Llorente to head into the back of the net. Interestingly the first goal Victor Valdes conceded in 618 minutes! I had noticed a message before the game that said they had six consecutive clean cheets. Now it's difficult to face Barcelona at any time. But this is the time you really do not want to face them. However we had scored in 9 consecutive league games before this. Giving us a record of having scored in every one of the 10 league games this season. Something only Real Madrid and Valencia can claim to have done.

We held on for our lives, under increased pressure, Gorka Iraizoz pulling off save after save in goal to deny them. We had chances to score our second. Breaking quite often, and a few one-on-one opportunities which just would not go in. With 15 minutes left, we went to Contain, and shortly after, just as the manager was issuing instructions on the tactics page to shut up shop and try and play out for the win, Barcelona scored. Andres Iniesta scoring from the edge of the area with 78 minutes on the clock.

Instructions were cancelled, and we decided to go back to how we had been. Barcelona had their chances, as did we. But the final score was 1-1. Barcelona had been the better side, certainly creating more chances, but most of them were from long range. But that was of no importance. Athletic had taken a point!

I just realised that this was the exact same result as happened in real life only a couple days ago! Shame the scorers weren't the same