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Jtomsett11 last won the day on January 27 2023
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737 "If you build it, he will come"Biography
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Biography
I am a teacher and a football fanatic, whether playing it myself or on FM. First started playing football management games back in 1997 and haven't stopped since! Occasionally skip a few versions if I have a save that I love.
Interests
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Interests
Football, reading
Favourite Team
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Favourite Team
Liverpool
Currently Managing
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Currently Managing
Jersey Bulls
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Prophqt started following Jtomsett11
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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.
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November 2031 Right, where were we? Oh yes, 6th, and slightly frustrated despite a 10-1 win in October. In terms of frustrating, November had some of it again, as we win 2 and draw 2 of our games, including a 3-3 and 2-2 classic. The Champions League is going a lot better than the league! Eibar 0-1 Deportivo Not a pretty start to the month, but a win is a win. We needed a penalty here, which Carrasco, misser of so many penalties, did score. Convincing we were not, but after two disappointing draws, just to get over the line is satisfaction enough. Deportivo 2-1 Chelsea Our struggles on the league are shrugged aside in the cup. Enrique has been superb this season after a very poor last season and I'm considering swapping him into the first 11 after this game. We went behind just before half time, but Enrique responded in the second half and a drilled effort after an Escabros cut back and then he arrived late to power home a header in injury time. A superb win for the second string. Deportivo 2-0 Las Palmas Back to the league and a struggle of sorts. Carrasco finished smartly from Seiwald's through ball early on, but we then toiled after Imaz hacked down one of their players and although we dominated the ball still, we couldn't create as much with 10 men. We finally won a penalty in the second half that Carrasco duly hit against the bar (that might be it for him and penalties to be honest!) before he assisted Oca for a lovely low finish from the edge of the box to seal the three points. Deportivo 3-3 Atletico Madrid For about 75 minutes, I thought we were back to our absolute best. Enrique opened the scoring with a penalty, then a truly superb volley and Sevillano also got in on the act after fine play from Vidovic on the opposite flank to put the young winger through. I then made some substitutions and complacency snuck in. The first goal was decent, but the second, Nikolic should have saved and then we conceded after failing to clear a corner. I'm absolutely livid; I think this might be the first time in this save we've thrown a 3 goal lead, but to do it when it seemed we'd finally recovered our ruthless streak is truly gutting. Porto 0-1 Deportivo A very good performance in Porto from the second team. I was hoping for a draw, but we created the chances to win if Escabros could score, and then we did score from a corner and managed to hold out for all three points. The bad news was the Fondevila injury. We have squad players in Rubio and Agirrezabala so we shouldn't miss him too much, although I was hopeful he'd kick on this season even further so this will hold him back, even if just stopping him getting into a decent run of form. Athletic 2-2 Deportivo Williams tore us apart in the first half, stealing the ball off Van Hecke to slot home the first after a one-two and then burying a header after Vidovic had equalised from a free-kick. I thought we were going to drop 3 points again, but in injury time, Koliada delivered a superb cross for Vidovic to volley home. Frustrating to drop points yes, but it could have been much worse! League table If you'd said to me, you'll pick up 8 points from 4 games and you'll then be a point clear at the top at the start of the month I'd have laughed, but that's where we are. Bizarre season with big teams dropping so many points. If it carries on like this the league winners would have 76 points! December A front-loaded month to finish the calendar year. We should be getting 9 points out of 12 here. Youth development I thought this was great; 24 players produced by us playing in the top flight. I'm not sure if this is directly from our youth academy or also youngsters we buy and then train; I imagine the latter as there's a few in our squad now trained by us that I bought at 16-18 years old.
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October 2031 For the first 4 games of the month, this was a perfect, perfect month. And then the last two games came along. Frustration is again the word of the month. Deportivo 10-1 Trabzonspor We were 9-1 up at half time, so I really thought we might have a cricket score on our hands, but we slowed down and it ended just 10-1. Mara got 4 and Enrique got 3 in a devastating spell in the first half. Okay, they're crap, but we looked amazing. Annoyingly, it only equalled our best ever win. Sevilla 0-2 Deportivo This was really satisfying. A really tough game, but we were clinical when we needed to be. Firstly, Fort smashed in his first for the club after clever wing play from Vidovic and then a great pass to a lurking Fort. Then, just after half time, David set Imaz free, but he had loads to do and I was delighted to see him drill a low shot beyond the keeper from a pretty tight angle midway inside the box with two defenders harrying him. That was enough to see us win this really important game. A draw or loss here would have felt a huge step-back. We did have really bad news after this game, as 9 goal Mara is out for 3 months. Escabros was kept in the squad for exactly this reason, but he's not quite match fit and it's a big ask for him to replace Mara's goals. In other striker news, Carrasco claimed the best U21 award. He's not hit the ground running in quite the same way this year yet, but I had forgotten he was still only 21! He's not far off elite; I just wish he could take penalties and for someone with such good finishing and composure, he can miss too many chances at times. Deportivo 1-0 Valencia We made really hard work of this one after the international break. I had to mix up the teams as most were pretty tired after the international fixtures. Arsenijevic scored an absolute belter, smashing in a volley early on, but from then on I feared an equaliser as Carrasco failed to fire and then Valencia had a few half chances. Fortunately, we'd done enough to shut them out and earn the three points. Deportivo 3-0 Leicester I wasn't sure how we'd do against English opposition, considering our performance against Arsenal last season, but we comprehensively won here. It all swung on a penalty save from Settineri after Gustavo had chopped down their player (he is taking a little bit of time to settle in, but he is in a new country and 18 years old!) from which we won a corner and Scholl rose highest to head home. Potentially 1-0 down to 1-0 up in one highlight. It took some good defending in the rest of the first half, but after half time we looked the better side and Escabros did really well to set both the AMR and AML up for almost identical finishes but from opposite sides of the box. We're still not into the top 8 in the Champions League, but these two victories this month are key to helping us get there. We do have cover in Agirrezabala and Rubio is still with us, but this isn't the injury I wanted to see as he's started the season really well I feel. Nevermind! Deportivo 0-0 Racing de Santander Yeah, there's not much to say here. You can read it all from the scoreline and our xG. Should we have won? Absolutely. Carrasco and Escabros were two men guilty of awful finishing. However, much must be said for the defending of the Santander players; there were so many amazing blocks and some fantastic saves. Frustrating though of course! Getafe 1-1 Deportivo This game was really frustrating, but more so because we actually probably deserved to lose it. Maybe that's harsh, but to give up 1.77 xG is very unlike us. We only scored a penalty, but we hit the woodwork at least 3 times that I can remember. It's just not quite happening for us at the moment. League table If we win our game in hand, we'll be joint top with Barcelona, so it's obviously not going too badly this season. However, our 2 points per game is our worst ratio for 4 seasons and it's clear that a number of teams aren't performing at the moment. I have a feeling that the team/s that find their feet first will run away with it this season. I think the first team will keep playing the weekends and the second team the Champions League games, both of which are tough. I think we probably need 10 points in the league to be top at the end of this month. Whether we can do that is another question with our recent mis-firing offence.
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September 2031 An interesting month. The Rennes result was a complete shocker, but other than that we've played well and once again have been seriously unlucky in a big game against Real Madrid/ Barcelona. Elche 0-4 Deportivo Prior to this game, we picked up a couple of injuries. Oca is out for 3-4 weeks as is Van Hecke which is frustrating as both have started the season well. It didn't affect us here. Mara picked up one goal last month and in his first start in the league this season, he hits a hat-trick. Seiwald set up the first with a brilliant pass and then Koliada delivered a lovely right footed cross having cut back from the byline and Mara headed home. Sevillano then got his first goal, a drilled effort after Scholl set him free. We scored our fourth in injury time, but couldn't add to the scoreline in the second half. Rennes 1-5 Deportivo Oh dear! We received a lesson in football from Rennes, who I didn't realise are Champions of Ligue 1. To be honest, we weren't really that bad; we made some poor errors in defense but Rennes were just lethal. It reminded me of Arsenal away last season and shows me again how far we have to go before we're an elite side. We're probably overperforming consistently in the league and in Europe. Deportivo 3-1 Espanyol The B team came in here and did a fine job. Mara opened the scoring and then Carrasco came on to round the keeper after a lovely lofted through ball from David, who I'm really liking this season. Imaz then scored a thumping header, but Carrasco once again missed a penalty; he just doesn't seem to be able to convert them effectively! Espanyol had scored from their only shot after Mara's opener, so it was heartening that we went on to win so comfortably. Real Madrid 1-0 Deportivo I think Koopmeiners name is too long to show that this was a late penalty that won Madrid the game. Once again, we're undone by a penalty against one of the top sides in a tight game. It must be quite a few times this has happened now and it's really frustrating. We'd done so well so show how effective we can be and I really thought we were the more likely to win it. Carrasco was poor as he had two really good chances and should have scored. A second loss of the season feels like a blow. League table It's really tight at the top. Everybody has dropped at least 4 points already which is quite unusual. I'm frustrated that we didn't draw with Real Madrid, but at least we're still showing enough in our other games to say we'll be there or there-abouts come the end of the season. Fixtures October looks interesting; we start with a winnable fixtures in the Champions League and then a tough game in La Liga - I feel we have to win considering Sevilla have started quite poorly. I think we should be winning all four of these league fixtures and both Champions League games, however, history tells me it's never quite that simple. Finances We may be losing money monthly, but if we win some Champions League games we'll be fine most months. I was shocked when this came through at how little everyone other than Barcelona and Real Madrid make in commercial income. I would hope our new stadium helps with this, but it's still 3 years away. We've done very well to win the league twice in four years considering our pretty low wage expenditure. B team I noticed this and realised the B team have started the season really well. I simulate all the games, but I'm not bothered about results really; it's all about player development, whether that is to sell the player or develop them for the first team squad. Therefore, I don't really look at the league table unless we're losing lots of games and are at risk of relegation (which is when I sacked the manager and took over simulating the games a couple of seasons ago!). Regardless of this, the team is clearly doing well and that says something for the caliber of player in the squad. Oliveira, although unlikely to ever make the first team, has started the season very well. It took him much longer to get going last year.
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August 2031 Deportivo 1-2 Villarreal What a great start to the season - not! We should have won here as we created enough, but we didn't finish enough. It was a great free-kick that saw us lose the game in the end. Celta Vigo 0-2 Deportivo I was very nervous about this game after our opening day loss, but we came back with a win after a nervy first half. Fort set up Mara for a brilliant headed goal and then Mara won the penalty that Enrique converted. Deportivo 3-0 Mallorca A comprehensive victory, started with a goal from a corner from Bella-Kotchap, extended by Carrasco slotting home after Arsenijevic putting him clean through and finished when Arsenijevic got on the score-sheet himself with a smart finish after arriving late in the box. League table Not the best start, but you'll notice that Madrid and Barcelona have dropped points as well, while Sevilla have also drawn, so it could be a lot worse than it is. September The first team may play on the week days as I think the second team are good enough to win the two weekend games. We need a result against Real Madrid away. Our first Champions League tie looks winnable, and our fixtures look very reasonable this year.
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Rest of July 2031 Further transfers out These permanent transfers out were all planned, with Curran perhaps the biggest player out who hasn't seen first team action. He came in for just £2 million so it's a big profit with potentially more to come for a player who wasn't going to be in the first team. Incomings Torres will go out on loan this season, but I couldn't resist buying him when other teams became interested. I've had my eye on him for a while. Teams That leaves us with the following for the first team: Second team: B team: We also have Tortosa in this list as we've failed to sell him and nobody wants him on loan currently. U19s Out on loan Finances Our sales this summer have boosted our money situation after the stadium costs. We also had a big boost to our TV revenue after our average league positions in recent years. Pre-season It really frustrated me that we started our new season so late on, in fact the season roll-on date was after our first friendly. That meant I couldn't cancel the tour of the Netherlands which meant we couldn't play our cups effectively and we had two fewer pre-season friendlies than I wanted. Otherwise, a very good pre-season. Season preview We're predicted 3rd for this year, which is hopefully a minimum of where we'll finish.
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Transfers July 2031 (so far) Out £63.75 million Riley Priest Kai Gordon Alberto Huarte Stephane Rotena Toma Basic In £20.6 million Jan Paul van Hecke Matthew Rothwell Gustavo We're not finished, but we've bought in two CBs and a future DMC. Transfers out Priest scored 17 times in 76 games for the B team, but I just felt he wasn't going to feature for us. A £10 million + 50% profit offer from United seemed a great deal and will help finance the B team. If he lives up to his potential we may get some more money out of this one. Gordon is a much bigger loss. He's had a huge impact for us, turning in performances consistently for us, but he's non-EU and if he's not starting (and he isn't behind Imaz), then it made sense to free up a spot for our new CB. Huarte looks pretty decent, but he can't jump and he also can't dribble, which are really important for my full back/ wing backs. If you can't do either, it's probably not going to work. He played his part, and could earn us more money yet due to clauses, but he deserves to play some first team football. Rotena isn't a bad centre back, but he's also not brilliant and I thought we could improve on his position this coming year. We make a decent profit on him, considering 6 months ago we were getting bids of £3.5 million for him. Basic joins on a free and leaves on a free, but he was crucial last season and played an important role until his injury this season. He's given time for Oca and David to develop enough for me to trust them next season. Transfers in A free transfer, he doesn't suit our usual ball player on the right particularly well, but I may shove Bella-Kotchap to the left and allow him more freedom there. He was too good not to bring in and from our attribute analysis you can see he's our best CB. I saw him after a scout report and thought he was way too good not to go after. Imagine how good he'll be if his potential is anything like what it says it might be. With a bit of development and retraining to DMC he'll be a perfect segundo volante. £4.1 million release clause; bargain. We may have overpaid at £16 million, and his marking and positioning are slightly questionable and need work, but I think we could have a serious defender on our hands if Gustavo has the potential my scouts think he does. He will play as second choice at LCB this year alongside Scholl and I'm excited to see how he develops. He's a non-EU, but I expect him to start as first choice next year after a year of bedding in and development. Remaining transfer plans I've got quite a bit of sorting to do with the B team, and a lot of that will be down to the budgets which still haven't been confirmed. It's likely that Banjac and Hector Rubio will leave permanently, and I have a number of others who are now in the 19-22 year old bracket who are unlikely to play for us. It'll be a matter of weighing up permanent vs loan moves for the remaining and ensuring game time for the B team goes to players with the highest potential.
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Attribute analysis June 2031 This year I've left analysis of the attribute changes of my players until July 1st, essentially to allow some transfers to go out and some to come in. I decided to do this to cut down on the number of players I was analysing as even though my spreadsheet calculates automatically for exported players, last season's 92 players meant the lists for each position were huge. Does this mean I might let someone go who has grown significantly? In theory yes, but usually attribute analysis forms one part of my squad planning rather than dictating it. I'll do a summary of transfer business after this post. Goalkeepers I think this may be the only position where we've had no incomings and no outgoings. Nikolic and Settineri both become our first 80 point keepers and we're very much in the category of having class keepers now, if not quite world class. There isn't much depth behind them, but then again they're both in their early 20s! Luca grew nicely in the B team last year (he has 3.5 star potential so could still be pretty decent), so it's likely I'll sell Cano so he plays ever game, while Daniel also has decent potential and grew nicely. Sarabia will be on his way out of the door as well in all likelihood. He's 18 and unlikely to play even for the B team. Centre backs Quite a significant change at CB, with Rotena leaving and two incomings, Van Hecke and Gustavo. Banjac and Restrepo are also likely out of the door as I think they're hitting near their peaks plus the latter is non-EU. Marcos, Angel, Daniel and Ban played for the B team last year, and it's likely the latter two will do so this year, while I look for a loan for Marcos to play in La Liga and a permanent sale of Angel who has hit his potential. Carles is the biggest prospect in our academy so he'll step up to the B team. He grew significantly last season. Wing backs That growth from Edu! He's now our second best wing back attribute wise; amazing growth. I'll still keep him behind Fort, but I wonder if he'll break the 80 point barrier next season. Koliada had his breakthrough season too and 4.5 point growth isn't bad at 19; I imagine he'll push on again this season. Albes, Torres and Diez played for the B team last year, while Gil was in the U19s and Salas was on loan. Gil will move up to the B team to push him as he has superb potential (5 star) and needs development, while I'd be open to offers for transfers for Albes, Torres, Salas (especially) or Diez as I don't quite see them making the first team. Some will probably end up in the B team alongside Gil and some will be sold. Torres' growth suggests he may have more to offer us going forward than Diez and Salas so perhaps it's those two who will go and Albes, Gil and Torres for the B team. Segundo Volante Oca becomes our second best player according to the attributes; I wonder how much growth he has left in him as he's slowed right down. David had a breakthrough season but has also slowed his growth; again perhaps his growth is limited. One new exciting player is Rothwell who technically cannot play DMC yet, but will be trained there. A 17 year old Dane/ English player, he's an exciting option once he's up to speed. Pablo is an ever-present B team player and will probably play second fiddle to Asin and Rothwell this coming year, as I look to maximise the growth of 4.5 star potential Asin (and Rothwell for that matter). Falque may also stay in the B team squad despite limited potential as he's a useful rotation option to have. Lavin and Luis will stay in the U19s for the time being along with Naveira, but time is probably up for da Silva due to limited potential and limited growth. Attacking mids Arsenijevic and Enrique swap places from last year and I'm tempted to swap their role as starter and second team too. I haven't finished my deliberations on that one; Arsenijevic definitely delivered more last year. Agirrezabala and Rubio played in this role too for the first team, but while I plan to keep the former, the latter will probably leave to allow for some youngsters to step up if we end up with injuries. In the B team, Martin and Ramirez shared time in the role, with the latter growing by 6 points but the former starting at a much higher attribute score. Gonzalez was on loan last year, as was Augusto and Tortosa. Gonzalez and Augusto have better potential, so I'll probably loan them both to La Liga sides to continue their development and to cover for one of our first choice players leaving, but Tortosa has hit his potential and is unlikely to ever play; he'll be sold. Vivar is young as are those towards the bottom of the list so they're likely to stay in the U19s for now. Abdul Rahman is a funny one; he grew quite a bit this season but still doesn't look that great to me. Perhaps another loan will help? Leiva may slot in to the B team this year along with Martin and Ramirez this year due to their flexibility and low wages (I'm anticipating tight wages again). Inside forwards I don't play Carrasco as an inside forward, but perhaps I should looking at his rating and his growth! Imaz also grew nicely this season to hit 87 points; a very respectable and 'leading La Liga' type number. You may notice Gordon is gone and I've lined up Sevillano for his role; he now scores 84 and his loan spell has done him wonders. Perhaps the most pleasing growth is from Fondevila who stagnated somewhat last year in terms of attribute growth, but this year has improved by nearly 6 points. Gonzalez appears here too, and his growth has been significant while his potential is still high; perhaps after another season on loan I need to consider how he fits in to the first team picture. Rivera grew, but will be sold due to having nearly hit his potential, while Ramirez will likely be sold or stay out on loan (he's too expensive for the B team). Torres is a reliable B team player, and he'll be joined by the likes of Oliveira and Leiva who can play multiple roles. From Quindimil down are younger players with varying potential; they'll stay in the U19s unless a decent loan is offered for the higher potential players, or any loan for those I have decided will never make the grade and will leave at the end of their contract is we can't sell them sooner (Kanoute, I'm looking at you!) Pressing forwards Carrasco has developed into an almost elite striker now. It's the number 2 slot that's interesting as Escabros had a superb season and his development puts him right in the picture; however, Mara has been so good at number 2 in the last two seasons, hitting superb numbers. Curran is likely to be sold; he's not as suited to the role and is near his potential and worth £25 million ish. Alende may play in the B team or be sold if there's interest, while Lavin will definitely leave. Oliveira did well in the B team last year but injuries have scuppered him. I'm not sure he'll reach his decent potential, but maybe he deserves another chance. Munia down (except Ramirez), I'll keep in the U19s unless we look like we need players in the B Team, or can sell less high potential B team players and promote one of them up.
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End of season 2030/31 review Overall, this was a superb performance this season as we progress further in the Champions League and make good progress in the Copa del Rey. Bear in mind that when we won it twice, we had seriously easy runs to the final. I'm hopeful that the financing of the new stadium won't hamstring us, but it does mean we need to perform really well and probably sell to buy for a season or two. Team of the year Of these, Sosa, Bella-Kotchap, Fort and Imaz were in the La Liga Team of the Year, with Carrasco, Garner, Vidovic, Banjac and Nikolic on the subs bench! Superb effort! Individual awards Incredible performance this year from Imaz who gets 18 goal contributions in 32 games, but also look at those dribbles and key passes. He's been superb overall and I'm so glad we bought him. Funnily enough, he also won these awards, with Carrasco sneaking in with the best goal return of a striker in my 9 seasons at the club. He missed about 7 penalties though, so he should have nearly 40!! Player performance break down Keepers Well, Settineri has done superbly in the second half of the season to come out with a positive XGP! He's still not saving as much as he should, but he is preventing goals now which is positive. We have two really solid goalkeepers. Outfield I won't go through all the players, but I'll pick out some that shout out to me. Sosa has been elite at LB. His defensive stats are way out in front of the other full back/ wing backs with the exception of assists, where Fort has double the number, but all the underlying stats stand up. Encouragingly, although not as impressive, Edu and Koliada look the real deal and their performances show I was right to trust in them. In the long term I assume they'll take up the number 1 spots. Last season our DMs had a poor campaign relatively; this could not be further from the truth this season. 26 assists plus 13 goals from 5 players. Garner stands out again with 10 assists and 6 goals, but Seiwald also had a much better season with 7 assists and 2 goals, and Oca also had 6 assists. David and Oca were both impressive, with the former having a really good expected assists considering he played just 11 times (5 starts). Going forward, Agirrezabala is just so impressive, with 20 goal contributions from 11 starts and 1425 minutes in total. If Enrique has another poor season (just 9 contributions in nearly 2000 minutes) I can see Agirrezabala taking up the spot for himself. It must be said that he does take quite a few set pieces so that may explain some of the difference. Fondevila may not have been number 1 AML this season, but when Vidovic (who performed very well after a rocky start) but his 6 goals and 11 assists is pretty impressive for a 19 year old. I've just given him a new contract with a £93 million release clause (up from £54 million).
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May 2031 overview The last two games of the season see just 2 goals, but I'm very pleased with how we finished off, not dropping off after our title win. Barcelona 0-0 Deportivo We played the second team here, but I still wanted a positive result. That we came away with one is largely down to some great defending and particularly some decent saves from Settineri, who has quietly developed into a very reliable goalkeeper in the second half of the season. We had our chances as well, but ultimately keeping Barcelona out is a great result. Celta Vigo 0-1 Deportivo Considering how early and easily we went in front, we made this game a lot more stressful than it needed to be to be honest. Fort crossed superbly for Carrasco to get his 31st strike of the season in all competitions and then we missed quite a few decent chances. We held them out though to win the derby, hit 90 points and finish the season on a positive! League table We win this year with fewer points than last year, but what we're now doing is consistently finish on 86 points plus for the last four years, so it means that when the big two have a dip, as they both did this year, we're right there to pounce and take the title. What a season and what a result for us! Deportivo Fabril What a season the B team have had. Bearing in mind they were newly promoted last year and only really survived once I took over and used instant result, and that our wage budget was only £70k a week this year, meaning we registered very few players, I think this is superb and says a lot about our young players. I won't do a detailed analysis of B team performance, but you can see the key details here. Gil, Asin, Ramirez and Martin are perhaps the most exciting. There's a tonne of players out on loan as well, so we may do some business this summer if we don't think they're likely to play ever (see the bid status for Riley, for example). Club developments Wow, I was not expecting this to happen at the end of the season. 50,653 capacity is 16K more than we currently have and obviously we'll own the stadium. Despite the sponsorship and loan, we've lost way more than £40 million in this deal. I think the sponsorship is £5 million a year rather than up front. Wow, £1 million a month, we're going to need to maintain our success! Especially when we start paying for the stadium 3 years before it's built!
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May 2038 part 2 Ahead of our match against Atletico Madrid, we had a massive boost in that Barcelona and Sevilla dropped points. Could we do our part? Deportivo 2-3 Atletico Madrid No. We really should have won this game. Arsenijevic was in fine form for us, but we shipped goals very easily as their two man strike force found a lot of space and Balikwisha took advantage to level twice before Fati scored against the run of play. A gutting loss and one I really thought would end our title charge. That's our first choice AML, second choice AMR, both backup AMR/L/Cs and our second choice DMCL out. It's not getting any easier! Next up, Real Sociedad. Deportivo 4-1 Real Sociedad We bounced back in style here. Carrasco smashed home to start the win, but the penalty really, really helped settle nerves. Garner then smashed home after great work from 16 year old Ramirez after Sociedad got one back to worry us, before Mara slotted home as Carrasco's stint on the right wing earned him 2 goals and an assist! Relief! Remember, our last two games are away at Barcelona and Celta Vigo. If we win our next game, Celta Vigo and Sevilla will be out of the race, but Barcelona would still be able to catch us if they win. They face Rayo Vallecano by the way, with our very own Escabros playing for them. Deportivo v Mallorca A win was a must. Fondevila was just superb here. We struggled in the first half and I really thought it wasn't going to happen. Fondevila managed to slot home just after half time before he returned the favour to Arsenijevic who drilled home from the edge of the area. Imaz and Scholl added the gloss to the victory. We've set ourselves up perfectly for the last two games. Right? At the end of the game, I saw the last bit of text mentioning 'Champions'. I quickly checked the scores from around the other grounds. Incredibly, Escabros sealed a victory for Rayo Vallecano, meaning Barcelona cannot catch us! An audacious chip to seal us the title! I haven't yet played the final two games of the season, but this feels like a huge achievement. 2 title wins in four years, but this time we also went to the semi finals of all the competitions we entered, playing a huge number of games and surviving a horrendous run of late season injuries. Champions!
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Sevillano May 2031 I like to keep an eye on my loan players, and one who has really caught the eye is Sevillano, who we signed for £8.5 million in the summer. I had a plan to replace Gordon with him this summer and he's looking like he could be our next superstar. There's a lot of development still needed, but he's looking like a very solid player and one I'll be very happy to incorporate next season.
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May 2031 first week I decided to play the first week before looking at the other sides and working out the points we're likely to need. Deportivo 4-1 Espanyol When we went 1-0 down, I thought the worst, but Mara equalised with a brilliant volley and Gordon then scored from a brilliant through ball from David who is starting to look like he fits in nicely. Espanyol made it easier by going down to 10 men, and that allowed space for Fondevila to score and then win a penalty, which Mara dispatched. First team debuts for Asin, Martin and Ramirez as we simply don't have the numbers right now. That wasn't made easier by this news. He's out for the season in a month where we have 7 games in the remaining 24 days. Damn it! Deportivo 2-0 Villarreal Thank god for the home games this month! I think without the run of home games and our injuries, we'd be dropping points left right and centre. Instead, Garner's deflected effort broke the deadlock and then David got his second assist in 3 days to set away Agirrezabala to seal the points. We're back top, with games in hand on our two closest rivals. If everybody wins their games to 35 games we'd be on 86, with Sevilla on 78, Celta Vigo 79 and Barcelona 81. These are the run ins. Celta Vigo I think Celta Vigo will struggle to beat Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and us, but that game right at the end could be crucial. They can end on a maximum of 88 points, but I'd expect them to be on 81 or 83 when they face us at the end of the season. Sevilla I think they'll win all 3 of these and finish on 87 points. Barcelona 3 away games that could test them, but I think it's likely that they'll be on 83 points when they face us. Deportivo We will play a scratch team against Arsenal. I think we should win the 3 home games to take us to 89 points. However, if we did that, and lost to Barcelona and Celta Vigo and Barcelona win all of their games, we will lose the title on head-to-head. We need to win the next 3 home games (if Barcelona win all of their next 3) and then take a point again Barcelona or Celta Vigo to win the title.