Jtomsett11

Deportivo Fabril La Liga 2 title Interestingly, under my 'instant result' management, have won La Liga 2. Interestingly, I never managed that with the first team, but it's put me in the hall of fame!

Attribute growth June 2032 Goalkeepers Nikolic looks like he's stalled, while Settineri is getting closer. It'll be interesting to see if there's much more development in him. Luca has slowed down and Daniel is progressing nicely, having started in the B team towards the end of the season. Centre backs Van Hecke progresses despite his age and Gustavo has come on leaps and bounds. Marcos has also developed on loan, but I'm not sure he's good enough for the first team. His value has plummeted which is a shame. Of the players further down, Carles is impressing, while Salas has improved significantly despite being at the club just months. He only has 3 star potential but perhaps that's been understated. Full backs Edu becomes our first 80 point wing back. He's progressing really well each year, as is Koliada. Are they ready for number 1 status? Gil has developed to a good standard while de la Fuente has massively improved. Again, 3 star potential, but perhaps a future here if he continues to develop. Segundo volante An 80 points segundo volante as well! Rothwell did not improve much this season, but he did learn DM position to natural from nothing in one season, so that will have taken up some CA. Asin has improved significantly and still has 4 star potential, but it's Luis who is the most improved with a huge 9 points of growth. Can he continue his almost 10 point a season growth going forward? Attacking mid Enrique's growth reflects his excellent season. Vivar is yet to play a game and his all-round attributes are limited, but I'll be looking to loan him out next season to see how far he can go based on his excellent growth in the U19s. Other notable improvers include Alberto and Muina. Inside forwards Carrasco doesn't play here, but look at his continued growth into an elite player. Popovic has also come on superbly since we signed him. Sevillano and Fondevila have also grown this season and they've got time on their side for further development. We have lots and lots of young players in this position. I'm not entirely sure who is getting priority in the B team, who will go out on loan and who will be sold yet. Pressing forwards I'm not sure Escabros will make the grade but I think another season on loan would suit him at this stage. Most impressive of our younger players is Muina who has grown superbly this season. He'll be in the B team next year.

All time XI 2032 Nikolic made the subs, but otherwise no new additions to the all-time XI. 6 players here are still with us and of those, Bella-Kotchap and Carrasco are still going to be first team players tomorrow, with Garner I'm undecided yet.

Review 2031/32 A very positive year with a record points total for us (in La Liga at least) but less success in the cups. We've had our training and youth facilities downgraded so we'll need to upgrade those again. A very successful year financially considering the stadium investment last year. I'm looking forward to the new stadium in 2034, although my playing speed is so slow now I wonder if I'll get there before FM25 (which at the moment I plan to get). Team performance Goalkeepers I'm pretty sure a negative Xgp/90 means both keepers conceded more goals than they should have. Having just checked December stats, Settineri saw a massive swing from +0.10 per game to -0.24 and I think that's largely down to him playing in both of our cup shockers (I think). Despite these stats, I'm still generally happy with both of them as they're top class keepers. Settineri wants silly money to renew his contract which lasts until 2034, so next season might be his last one unless he agrees to lower demands. Outfield Centre backs I'm pretty happy with all 4 centre backs, although Van Hecke and Bella-Kotchap stand out to me (which is why they're the first choice pair) for their tackling expertise. Gustavo had a good season and Scholl is an excellent backup. I'm debating moving Gustavo to the starting LCB role but on this analysis, perhaps I keep Bella-Kotchap there another season. He's out on contract next year but I'm keen to renew as long as he doesn't want higher wages. Full backs Koliada and Edu both had excellent seasons, especially when you consider the B teams conceded more goals. Koliada creates a lot of chances while Sosa is a little more defensively solid, especially in the air. I've an interesting dilemma as to first choice next season really. I think Gil will go out on loan despite again good defensive statistics; he needs solid game time and is probably good enough for a low level La Liga side next season. Segundo volante's Defensively, Oca stands out, while offensively nobody creates more than Garner while nobody is as dangerous as Seiwald. Seiwald is probably the best all-rounder. I'm considering selling Garner despite his 11 assists and open play key pass creation; he uses up a valuable foreign spot and would potentially lose his place to Oca next season. He's also getting on a little bit and was less effective defensively this season. That could be a mistake, but I thought I couldn't upgrade AMR a few seasons ago when Gordon did really well and then we bought in Imaz. Attacking mids Enrique has been just superb this season. 19 goals and 8 assists in 40 appearances (28 of those starts) is superb. The fact he's expected to get 16 goals, whereas Arsenijevic expects just 5 goals from 2/3 of the minutes shows how he's progressed his game this season to get into the perfect positions to score goals. I can't honestly say I've done anything different with him, but he has gone to another level. Agirrezabala has been brilliant in terms of assists, but a lot of those have come from set plays. There's a lot of interest in him and he's after more game time so it may be necessary to let him go. Inside forwards Imaz leads the way here, but there's also impressive contributions from Vidovic and to be honest, I also think Sevillano did pretty well for his debut season with 6 assists and 7 goals. Fondevila was disappointing in terms of numbers, but he should have scored more and he has the same expected assists per game as Sevillano. Popovic had a good cameo role from January and 3 assists and a goal from 700 minutes is pretty good. Pressing forwards Carrasco slightly outdid his expected goals here and with 25 goals and his 5 assists were slightly up from last year. Mara scored more goals than he has appearances. I'm going to renew his contract (again runs out in 2033) as he's just an outstanding backup. Awards Imaz has just been superb since arriving (despite the poor first half of this season). A deserved award for Nokilic who also kept the most clean sheets in a season for us . Best eleven No real complaints with this. Interestingly our back LB and RB are in the side; perhaps it's telling me something!

Financial management 2032 One of the things I pride myself on in football manager is managing my finances extremely well. I'll only really spend big money if I'm also bringing in big money from transfers. I'm meticulous about managing my younger players playing time to develop them with a view to selling them one day, and rarely keep a player past the point where he can be sold for a final pay-out. I think these results are testament to that approach, which when you consider we shelled out £100 million odd on a new stadium last year is pretty impressive. I'll continue this approach this summer as we look to improve some key positions, evaluate B team players, the U19s and those on loan to work out what the best approach for each player is. Wages to turnover Profit Transfer spend Finances The dip there is purely due to the investment in the stadium.

May 2032 The La Liga title was ours after the Levante game, so I think the second team suffered from a lack of motivation against Betis as we conceded our first goals in La Liga since our loss to Real Madrid. Real Sociedad 0-2 Deportivo Sometimes you just need your top players to stand up and be counted. Carrasco did that here, with two lovely finishes to seal 3 points from a very tricky fixture. Sociedad created early on, but once Carrasco had curled in after receiving a brilliant pass from Imaz, we took control and it was only the second goal missing. That arrived on 79 minutes when Carrasco absolutely buried a half-volley after being set up by Arsenijevic. Deportivo 4-0 Levante Any nerves here were ended by Imaz, who scored two great goals, a classy finish from Fondevila's through ball and then a volley from Enrique's nod on. Carrasco then sent Enrique through before he got in on the goals himself after Popovic's superb through ball. An all round excellent performance, made more excellent by a Barcelona draw earlier in the month, meaning that we sealed the title here. Now that's something you love to see. 3 La Liga titles in 5 years. Can we seal three in a row next year? Real Betis 3-2 Deportivo Classic when you've already won the title. We couldn't really cope in defence, Scholl was particularly poor as he was caught for the first goal, although David had played a hospital pass to him. He then lost the ball out wide for Jorge to score after Popovic had done really well to create a lovely cross for Mara to equalise. Mara then got a second after a little bit of ping-pong in the Betis box before we allowed Barcola to run at us and find Jorge in the middle. Gil was probably at fault, but none of the defenders did well here. You have to lose at some point, and doing so after winning the title is probably understandable, so I'll try not to read too much into individual performances. Deportivo 4-0 Rayo Vallecano For 64 minutes, Rayo Vallecano held us at bay. However, they couldn't deal with our 5 substitutions. After an Imaz pass had bounced off a defender, Mara smashed in a volley off the bar from the edge of the area (our xG was over 2 at this point so we really should have been ahead already). We continued to miss chances until the 84th minute when Van Hecke scored from a corner. Imaz then finished his fine second half of the season with a direct free-kick, before Van Hecke scored a rebound from a Mara effort from another free kick. That's 9 goals from indirect free kicks, 9 from corners and 3 from direct free kicks this season in La Liga alone! League table We finish with 92 points, which is our highest yet. Of the 21 goals conceded, 16 of them came in the first half of the season. We gained 10 more points in the second half of the season than the first half as well.

April 2032 A superb month in the league, again without conceding a goal and winning all our games. Disappointment in the Champions League as we're brought down to reality with a bang. Las Palmas 0-3 Deportivo Enrique opened the scoring here, once again getting into a striker's position and when the ball came through from Oca, he prodded underneath the onrushing keeper. Seiwald then got the second with a piledriver from the edge of the box after good work from Koliada before Scholl found himself out wide in the 94th minute following a corner; he delivered the perfect ball for Vidovic to nod home unchallenged. Liverpool 4-0 Deportivo I'm really gutted here. We went behind in the first half, but were playing well until Edu, who'd been on the pitch about 5 minutes, lunged in and got a straight red. Carrasco then picked up a knock in the 85th minute, and down to 9 men we fell apart as Liverpool took full advantage to score 3 late goals. Last year we were torn apart by Arsenal, this year by Liverpool, but I do feel that with 11 men we'd have come away with a draw or loss by a single goal, giving ourselves a much better chance in the second leg. As it is, we knew we were out at this point. With that in mind I switched the first and second eleven to prioritise the league games. Atletico Madrid 0-1 Deportivo A crucial result and really good win with a slightly mixed squad due to fatigue from the Liverpool game. Garner produced a moment of magic with a penetrating cross and Imaz arrived to half-volley home for the only goal of the game. We could, and should have scored more, but it's the victory at this stage of the season that matters! Deportivo 2-2 Liverpool (2-6 on aggregate) Well, we played a decent game and were unlucky to draw really. Elliot opened the scoring emphatically after a cut-back from Alexander-Arnold, but we hit back quickly through Fondevila from the edge of the area after a nice lay-off from Enrique. I really enjoyed our second, as Koliada had run beyond Fondevila, who fed him superbly before the Ukrainian got the byline and drilled across; it more hit Vidovic than he deliberately headed it in, but it gave us the lead. A lead which lasted less than 4 minutes as Moukoko scored from a tight angle. We've shown we can compete in Europe, but we're just not quite there yet to challenge for the Champions League. Bella-Kotchap is out for most of the rest of the season, but Gustavo has been playing really well so he'll just play all the games from now on at DCL. Deportivo 4-0 Athletic Emphatic. Seiwald absolutely smashed one in from 25 yards to get us underway, before Vidovic scored directly from a free-kick. He got his second after a failed clearance allowed Imaz to find him in the box and he drilled in. Imaz then headed home from a lovely floated cross from Enrique. Vidovic missed his chance for a hat-trick by missing his penalty which was a shame! This result set us up perfectly for our match against Barcelona. A win and I felt we'd be 6 points clear, really 7 due to the head-to-head rules in La Liga. With just 4 games to play that felt like too much. A draw would be okay. A loss would hand the initiative to Barcelona as they'd be level on points with us if they won their game in hand and have the advantage in the head-to-head. The only issue would be I'd prioritised the other games, so our second string would play the game! Deportivo 2-0 Barcelona Our aerial prowess was absolutely key to this victory. Koliada took the corner that Scholl headed home; a perfect delivery for the defender to run on to. Scholl then got his second of the day from Arsenijevic's free kick to win us the game, and most likely, the title. This was one of our best performances against Barcelona, bearing in mind our second team played as well. League table If Barcelona win their game in hand it'll be a 6 point advantage, but with home games against Levante and Rayo Vallecano (we beat them 8-2 away) to come, I can't see anything other than a second consecutive title and a third overall.

Youth intake 2032 A very interesting intake. 5 players with decent enough potential, and 3 more I'd normally sign, although two of those are unambitious and with determination 1 so I've not bid for them (Israel and Cifuentes). It's a shame about these two as their starting attributes looked great. Attribute analysis suggests that Jose would also be a decent signing with good starting attributes, so I also signed him up. Best players: Probably best suited to CB, his technicals aren't great, but most of his mentals are good and his physicals are okay for a 15 year old. Unambitious and low detemination but decent potential. I've kept him but I don't expect him to develop much. A shame as he looks really good. Physicals and key attributes are decent. Two-footed and hard working but with limitations. Let's see what happens to him. I need to train him to play AMR but I like him to start.

March 2032 Another excellent month. 5 wins, through in Europe and no goals conceded in La Liga. Deportivo 4-0 Sevilla We normally struggle against Sevilla, but we seem to now have their number as this is two 4-0 wins in a row at home and we also won 2-0 away this season. Our opening goal was excellent. Garner sprayed the ball out to Vidovic, who cut it back to Sosa, whose floated ball was powered home by Imaz. Lovely stuff! Imaz then turned provider for Carrasco, sliding the ball through with the Argentinian then outpacing the defenders and slotting home under the keeper. Imaz and Carrasco have certainly been much better since the turn of the year! Vidovic's corner was nodded home by Van Hecke before Agirrezabala set up Enrique for the final flourish. Real Madrid 1-2 Deportivo Revenge in sweet! Our second string dominated against Madrid and deserved the win. Bella-Kotchap opened the scoring from a corner (we score a lot of headers at the moment!) before Koopmeiners scored a direct free-kick to level. With the game heading into the last 20 minutes, Edu received the ball and was running back towards his own goal when he slipped the defender and set David free at the edge of the area. He skipped past one defender and then smashed the ball low and hard from the edge of the six yard box to put us 2-1 up. Real Madrid couldn't break us down, so we took the goal advantage back home with us! Deportivo 2-0 Getafe A nice easy victory. Imaz once again assisted Carrasco, this time a first time defence-splitting pass which the striker buried. Carrasco then assisted Fondevila who scored a wonderful chip after bursting into the area. The only problem was an injury to Enrique, but we do have the capacity to cover. 17 goals and 5 assists from 32 appearances; what a turnaround from last season! By the way, Gil has been much improved in this period of injury absence for Fort. Deportivo 6-2 Real Madrid A superb performance, although we did switch off after 60 minutes. An Agirrezabala master class. First, a good ball through for Carrasco to finish off. Then a free kick which Scholl headed home. He then took a break as Fondevila set up Carrasco who was in clinical form and tucked the chance away into the corner. For the fourth, good play from the midfield then saw Agirrezabala receive the ball in the area; he laid it off to Sevillano who buried it. Just a few minutes later, and this time good play from Edu out wide saw their roles reversed. Not content with his goal and assist, Sevillano then added a second; a superb ball through the David which he curled around the keeper. 6-0 for our second team against Real Madrid. Yes, we then allowed them 2 goals, but the damage was done and we win 8-3 on aggregate. Racing de Santander 0-2 Deportivo We finish the perfect month with another win. Imaz was crucial again here, first helping to recycle a corner and finding Arsenijevic free who slotted home, before he found space in the box and was found by Sosa to seal the victory just before half time. Before the end of first-half flurry, it had looked as if this would be a tough game. Once 2-0 up we saw out the game with relative ease. League table Another Barcelona draw sees us stretch our lead to 3 points. It's fair to say we've both been supremely good this half of the season so far! April 2032 We've drawn Liverpool who we beat in the group stages, but it'll be a tough tie. Two away ties in La Liga, with the Atletico Madrid tie very tough before two home games, including the crucial game against Barcelona. Beat them and we'll be in a great position for May. Betis looks tough as does Sociedad, but I'd be confident in the other two games. Beating Barcelona is probably key to making sure we're in control.

February 2032 A quite odd month as we were completely superior excepting our two losses. Mallorca 0-3 Deportivo A strong start to February. Enrique opened the scoring with a well dispatched penalty, before Carrasco turned provider to set Imaz through. He still had plenty to do but with their keeper rushing out he chose to lob from 20 yards and the ball nestled into the corner. Sevillano then produced a lovely cut back to late arriver David who smashed home to seal the victory, although it was never in doubt as Mallorca barely made it out of their half. Huesca 4-3 Deportivo (aet) Umm. This was not in the plan. Edu had picked up an injury, so Gil came in for his debut and had a torrid time, gifting Huesca the first goal after a hospital pass from Scholl. However, looking at our ratings and xG, you can see this was a freak game where they scored every chance (with Settineri also gifting a goal). When leading in extra time I honestly thought we'd see the game out, but conceded twice on the counter to go out. Not exactly what I wanted to see! Deportivo 4-0 Elche The first two goals here were sensational. Seiwald won the ball back and sent a ball forward over the defenders which Enrique beat the keeper to, volleying beyond him. Garner then produced a wonderful cross-field ball to set Carrasco free who similarly beat the keeper. Imaz then received the ball back from Garner after a short free kick and arrowed in from the edge of the box; 3-0 after 15 minutes. An excellent answer to our last game. Enrique then scored his second penalty in two league games. Deportivo 1-2 Real Madrid We had a nightmare here. Two injuries just before the game. Yes, that's both of keepers out for this game. Luca came in for his first team debut and let in two long range efforts, at least one of which I'm sure our first team keepers would have saved. Seiwald scored after a brilliant move to set us on our way but it wasn't to be as we lose our first league game of the calendar year and concede our first league goals since January 4th. Deportivo 4-0 Eibar We bounce back to thrash Eibar. Enrique has been pushed into the first team ahead of Arsenijevic and he keeps rewarding us. Here, another striker's finish after Carrasco set him free. Imaz then headed home after Sosa received the ball in the area from Fondevila. Bella-Kotchap got in on the act from a corner and then Carrasco scored himself, a lovely volley after a great cut-back from Imaz. The red card barely altered the outcome to be honest. Espanyol 0-1 Deportivo The 4-0's are good of course, but to win titles you need to grind out games when you're not creating. Here we did that. We missed quite a few chances, but Mara did not miss the big one after he'd been chopped down in the area. Valencia 0-1 Deportivo Another away win and another 1-0 win. This time, a header from Van Hecke saw us win the three points. We largely kept Valencia at bay but did really struggle to create (our 1 shot on target from 17 shots testament to that). Two away games that were tough, but we keep clean sheets and we take six points from them! Fort's injury means that Gil will get a chance to make up for his terrible debut. League table Barcelona dropped points in the last game of the month which allowed us to go top. They've dropped just 2 points and we've dropped just 3 since we faced each other back in December. The title race is on! March 2032 Just the 5 games, but we play Real Madrid in the Champions League; a chance for revenge for our defeats in the Super Cup and in the league in February! Transfers out - missed one! Escabros left on loan late on in the window (2nd Feb) as I didn't think he'd be getting enough game time for us.

January transfer window 2032 Incoming I can't remember how I found this guy, but I think it was clicking through teams playing in the Champions League. I met his £3.2 million fee (plus some add ons) and he agreed to join us! I love the look of him and at the age of 20, if he improves a few points across the board he'll be elite. He's looked superb this month. Out A big sale as Hector Rubio leaves. The sole survivor of the 2023 intake, he played a vital part in our progress but had requested to leave due to a lack of game time. He leaves with our blessing. We also say goodbye to B team player, Dan Ban who has also appeared for the first team a few times. He's running down his contract and this offer was too good to refuse. My view is that yes, I'd like to develop all my players, but where I can see a natural limit meaning we might lose the player on a free transfer, I'll always look to sell now. It's a fine line between keeping players to play in the B team and selling them as once they're at a reasonable level (La Liga 2 ability) they want £7-15k a week to sign a contract and that often means paying them more than they will then generate in a sale. Rejected bids I had no desire to lose Oca. Even if he doesn't develop much further, segundo volante's are hard to come by and he's playing well this season.

January 2032 Woah, 15 goals in two league games! We lost in the Supercopa (again!) but all in all, this is a brilliant start to the new year. Rayo Vallecano 2-8 Deportivo I made an error in my last post, Mara got 5 in one game. Well, Carrasco now has 6 in one game! Imaz and Garner, both struggling with assists this year, get 2 apiece. What's funny is that we actually played pretty badly in the first half. Rayo took the lead through a penalty, and while Carrasco scored twice, the first a lovely chip and the second beating the keeper for pace from excellent through-balls, they then missed a second penalty before equalising just before half time. Luckily, Enrique scored again after being put through to give us the lead before half time. After half time it was a different game. A Carrasco header, sublime finish gave us breathing room before Mara, on at AMR scored a beautiful finish from the edge of the area. Carrasco then scored twice more, the first a simple finish and the second a poacher's chance after a terrible touch from a demoralised defender inside the box. 9 goals all season then 6 in 90 minutes! New records for the club! Deportivo 0-1 Real Madrid This felt tough. Mara was poor and Carrasco also failed to find his finishing boots from the previous game, and Madrid did just enough to beat us. You'll notice a new name, Popovic, at AML. More on him in the transfers post. He replaced Fondevila and will get game time this month due to this injury. Deportivo 7-0 Celta Vigo I was nervous about this game to be honest, but we were never in trouble. The first three goals all came from set-pieces. Bella-Kotchap headed goalwards from a free-kick and Van Hecke nodded in, then Imaz smashed in from a Garner layback after a poor corner. Van Hecke returned the favour for Bella-Kotchap and we were three goals to the good. Imaz then produced a lovely lofted ball which sent Popovic in for his first goal for the club. The red card didn't help matters as then Seiwald produced a great through ball for Carrasco (just the one goal for him today) before the Austrian charged into the box, admittedly with Celta Vigo defenders parting like the red sea before Moses, to score his third of the season. Agirrezabala then got his assist for another Van Hecke header. We'd had to jiggle the line up slightly, as with Fondevila injured and Popovic subbed after picking up a niggle, Vidovic then had to come off as well. Popovic and Agirrezabala will be in for games over the next 3 weeks at least. Alcorcon 1-5 Deportivo Enrique has turned into a fox in the box. His first, set up by a beautifully weighted from Sevillano, was dispatched in style, while he then scored our fourth, chipped over the onrushing keeper after a lofted through ball from Scholl. In between Mara scored a penalty and then slid in from another great Sevillano delivery, before Van Hecke let them have a consolation by missing a header and allowing their striker to run through to score. Agirrezabala had the final say, scoring from a free-kick. Through to the next round of the cup. Deportivo 1-1 Monaco Back to the Champions League and our second team played again to get our first team back playing Saturday. They were therefore, a little tired and it showed as we could only draw. I thought we'd done enough when Enrique nodded home after Imaz seemed to have shot with the ball bouncing off a defender and into the air. However, with 89 minutes on the clock Ekitike sent a header into the net from their only decent chance. Still, a point isn't a disaster considering how well we're doing in the Champions League. Villarreal 0-1 Deportivo Sometimes a game is just not going your way and then you get that little bit of luck. Here I pissed everyone off by praising them at half time. Imaz created chance after chance that we didn't put away, before Seiwald lined one up from distance and it bounced in off their defender despite initially heading wide. I'll absolutely take that as we win 3 on the bounce in the league this month and 6 in a row in total since our excellent 2-2 draw with Barcelona. Liverpool 1-3 Deportivo A superb result and performance. Agirrezabala scored an absolutely ridiculous free kick from out wide and nigh on 35 yards to open the score. Honestly, watching it back now it's definitely a shot, but the bend on it is just ridiculous. I thought that would be enough, but with 85 minutes gone, Gouiri was sent clear and slotted home. 1-1, still a decent result away to Liverpool. Then after some attempted slick passing from us and some very good defensive interceptions by Liverpool that kept deflecting back to us, Garner found space to slot a ball through and Sevillano slid the ball under the keeper to put us back in front. Mara then scored from the penalty spot to seal the 3 points. There was also a debut for Torres. He may never make the first team, but we should make some decent money off him if he doesn't! Champions League table Celta Vigo just miss out. Our best Champions League finish yet! League table Ourselves and Barcelona appear to have put our poor starts behind us and we're leaving the rest behind currently. February Lots of big games here, but all winnable I feel!

Youth intake preview December 2031 A good centre back would be great. An attacking mid and striker are never to be shirked either!

December 2031 winter break review It's been a while since I've posted, as life became very hectic and playing the game took precedent over writing about it. I'm back now and will aim to catch this up with where I am in game. First up, it's the review of our performance at the (almost) halfway point of the season. Goalkeepers I've given up on goalkeeper goals, so I should probably update my stats page at some point. This still gives a nice insight into performance however. What I find interesting here is how Nikolic has conceded all 14 goals in just 6 of his games, keeping 9 clean sheets in the others. It shows how we've either been completely on it, or dreadful in defence this season. Settineri has played the better of the two by far at this point. I'm not tempted to swap their roles in the squad yet however. Outfield squad Centre backs Bella-Kotchap has won 100% of his tackles this season, which is unbelievable! Van Hecke is up there too with 92%, and while Gustavo and Scholl are lower for that measure, they both do well in other areas such as blocks and interceptions. I've been really pleased with my four centre backs so far despite our form not being particularly brilliant (yes, yes, we're top, but the standard has been much lower). Full backs Fort and Edu get the higher average ratings, but it's quite hard to pick out why Koliada scores so lowly when he has 4 assists, the highest number of pressures completed and decent ratings elsewhere. It may just be that he's tiny and winning just 1/5 of his headers. I've been really impressed with his development, along with Edu as they're both showing solidity in defence and creative ability going forward. Fort and Sosa are in danger for next season perhaps. Segundo volante's Defensively, Oca stands out by a mile, winning the ball more, pressing the opponents more and winning more headers and tackles than Garner, Seiwald and David. Offensively, it's David who is creating the most, although it's quite tight beyond actual assists and Garner is creating more from open play, it's just chances aren't being finished. I think this is an area that's dropped this season as Garner is nowhere near as effective as normal. Last year he got 4 goals and 8 assists in the league. Attacking mids Enrique has 8 goals and 3 assists this year, which is significantly better than his performance last year. Arsenijevic may be creating more chances on paper, but Enrique is finding himself in those positions to score us goals and that's crucial. Agirrezabala is just as creative as normal, while Rubio has barely seen game time this year and will probably leave in January as he wants to go. Inside forwards Vidovic and Fondevila actually have very similar Xa, but the latter has 0 assists to the former's 6. Funny old game! I think that beneath the numbers, Fondevila may be a better player and Vidovic does well by scoring free kicks and assisting corners and free kicks. Something to think about for next season. On the right, Imaz has had a poor season with just 2 goals and 0 assists. Sevillano has had the better time of it, with 4 goals and 2 assists showing his worth. I'd back Imaz to pick up again as he's definitely a class act. Pressing forwards Mara has 9 goals in 293 minutes. Yes, 6 of those were in one game, but that's still 3 in 200. He's a lethal backup. Carrasco has been somewhat disappointing, but still has 9 goals to his name. Escabros looks out of his depth to be honest. He might go out on loan again.

December 2031 Our best month of the season, especially in the league as we take 10 points from 12. Barcelona 3-3 Deportivo We either get a clean sheet or concede a hat-ful! Oca started the game of well for us, nodding in from a free kick, before two ruthless goals from Barcelona had me fearing the worse. We won a penalty, which Gustavo scored and then we responded immediately to Saltor's driven finish by going up the other end, Arsenijevic playing a through ball that Carrasco smashed home to equalise. Both sides had chances to win it, but neither did in a result I'm actually quite happy with, especially considering our second string started the game! Deportivo 2-0 Real Sociedad We rode our luck here at the start as Sociedad had 2 superb chances, one fluffed wide and one which Nikolic saved superbly. After those chances we took control and once Sevillano slotted home from a great Fort cutback, we never looked like conceding. Gustavo played a worldie of a lofted pass in the second half which Carrasco volleyed home to seal the win. Ranger 0-2 Deportivo We continue our march in Europe despite a slightly sloppy first half. Escabros scored a rare goal but a really well taken one, before Rubio scored what might be his final goal for us with a scrappy finish after the ball bounced around the area. He's requested to leave due to a lack of game time (fair enough) and will depart a legend if someone bids the right money for him. Deportivo 1-0 Real Betis The xG tells the story; we could have had 3 or 4 goals easily. In the end, after countless misses, Van Hecke nodded home from his own awful miss that fortunately bounced back to him. I was just glad we'd scored! Levante 1-3 Deportivo That's it! Carrasco is never taking a penalty again! He may have made amends here with two finishes either side of Seiwald's excellent drilled finish from the edge of the box, but I was highly stressed when he missed (another keeper save) as we were 1-0 down at the time. League table We extend our lead at the top to 2 points. Both Barcelona and ourselves have won 3 games since our drawn match together. Could the form be picking up for both sides? Champions League We've basically qualified with 2 games to play, as I doubt we'll get 0 points and others will all get enough to knock us out into the play-offs. Famous last words of course! The other Spanish sides aren't doing very well! January This month always changes due to Supercopa (if we beat Real Madrid) and then qualification in the cup, but here's the provisional games.