[FM11] Atlético CP: All the way to the... top?

Welcome to my first ever career thread.

I'm one of those people that gets bored with a save really quick but in this time of the year I always have more free time and I can always have a barely decent save. Inspired by the short but respectable work that noikeee has done in his LLM thread, this summer's save is going to be with the legendary Atlético CP, a portuguese team that was respectable in the 40s, and even though they didn't win anything they were a top team.

My aim is to get them back to the first tier and achieve national and international glory. This will take time, but I'm hoping the journey is fun and I can eventually achieve the goals I set.

So here it is, Atlético Clube de Portugal!

Estádio da Tapadinha, Lisbon

The aim in the first season is to build a decent group of players, balancing the short talent available, the low-wage P/T contracts and the finances of the club. Our media prediction is 3rd, in a division where only the first team qualifies for the promotion playoff, in which 2 of 3 teams get promoted to the 2nd tier. So I'm accepting the possibility of staying here for 2 seasons. If I can't get promoted in 2 seasons I'll consider my run here as a failure.

I'll adopt a 4-5-1 formation. After a couple of saves using a flat 4-4-2, I realized I can't fight for the maintenance in the upper divisions using a 4-4-2 so I'll stick to the 4-5-1 right away.

No tiki-takas here. I know our limitations, so I'll try to make a solid but extremely pragmatic tactic, to try to explore our strong points and hide our weak points.

I'm basing my 4-5-1 on Porto's. I'm a Benfica fan but the way Porto played this season is a way I very much appreciate. Very simple football, no fooling around in the back, the team is a very solid block, and then in the front take advantage of individual talent to make the difference. Kind of like Mourinho's Inter.

Here are our facilities. The stadium is quite big but it never has more than 1000 in attendance. It might be good for latter stages of this save, though. The training and youth facilities are what I was expecting, which means I won't bother with youth prospects or optimized training schedules.

As you can see I chose the maximum size for my pitch because I want to explore my wingers and create an acceptable amount of goal chances. As I said above the players' quality isn't the best so I can rely on them to score every chance they create, so I want them to create lots of chances. Makes sense to me!

To start I got rid of my mediocre Ass Man and got this guy. According to his evaluation the squad is pretty good. I can make my starting XI with all players having 2.5 stars or more, and since I'm almost reaching my wage budget I'll only sign players if they are really worth it.

The squad is pretty good, I have good CBs, a really good midfield, the wingers will do, but the 2 strikers I have are a bit slow, and only playing one striker this probably isn't good. So I got this guy. I had found him a while back in another save and I love his stats. His poor finishing is shadowed by his excellent devotion to the game, and he's fast. And I got him for free on decent wages.

Here are our pre season friendlies:

The results weren't very satisfying but I saw good thing and I'm still tweaking the tactic to get the most out of the MCs and the wingers.

I intend to update this every half season. Let's see how it goes.

Career overview

[b]Season     League (tier)                     Position     Achievements[/b]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2010/11    Segunda Divisão Zona Sul (T3)     1st          League winners, Promoted
2011/12    Liga Orangina (T2)                4th          --
2012/13    Liga Orangina                     5th          --
2013/14    Liga Orangina                     2nd          Promoted
2014/15    Liga Zon Sagres (T1)              16th         Relegated
2015/16    Liga Orangina                     1st          League winners, Promoted
2016/17    Liga Zon Sagres                   6th          --
2017/18    Liga Zon Sagres                   6th          --
2018/19    Liga Zon Sagres                   6th          --
2019/20    Liga Zon Sagres                   5th          --

I reached the half of my first season.

The pre season wasn't very exciting, I only signed a MC and a striker but they are both quality players. Unfortunately the MC got injured for 2 months so he hasn't played as much as I wanted him to.

Here is the league table, after 15 of 30 matches:

I must say I wasn't expecting a start like this. We had 9 wins in the first 9 matches. Some of those wins were really tight but we deserved every one of them. The striker Licínio has been on fire, with 11 goals in 15 matches. Both MCs also score regularly, they are set to shoot from distance sometimes and they have scored a handful of goals from that situation.

In the Portuguese Cup, we started right in the 1st round, getting a home match against a weaker team which we won. Then the same thing in the 2nd round, and in the 3rd round we got Sertanense from the same tier but they play in the North Zone. We beat them 3-1. Then we got... Porto. I wasn't disappointed to get them, because we had already reached the minimum goal which was the 3rd round, and I knew that if we got Porto at home we would get a good match revenue. Unfortunately the match was at their place, and we lost 4-2 but we gave a good image of ourselves.

Then to my surprise I found out that our financial revenue that month was a positive €131k, mostly from... match revenue. Turns out Porto gave us the match revenue from our match. This is a really nice detail in the game, because these attitudes usually happen but they aren't a rule so I wasn't expecting this. It was a great boost for our budget because we were €60k in the red and this will almost cover up the rest of the season.

After that match we had our first loss, to Lagoa, who were 2nd at the time. Then we had a very tight schedule, which prevented me from playing our best players in every match so we slipped a bit. Fortunately our chasers also dropped points so we have a good 10 point advence at this stage. Anyway I'm not comfortable at all with this margin because I know the second half of the season is going to be very tough and we better step up our game, because even if we win the league we still have the promotion playoff, and that's going to be a tricky one. But for now I'm just focusing on getting us playing well again and win our next match, which is against Louletano, away.

Good luck. I've kind of looked at Atletico on saves and thought there might be potential with them.

Haha cheers for the reference. Atlético is an interesting choice, looking forward to following this one. Great start too.

Don't do the same mistake as I did and save something for the playoff, I mean rotate the team a bit so that they're not exhausted by the time of the playoff.

Thanks. What's the gap between the end of the league and the playoffs? At this level it gets really hard when I have to rotate the squad.

Good luck with this. The Portugese 'Second' Division is a sod to get out of, with the playoffs as they are.

If you need another striker, look for Bessa. He bagged dozens for me and kept the lad Licinio that you've signed on the bench. (I played a sort of 4-5-1)

End of season 2010/2011

To be honest I didn't expect the first season to go as well as it did, especially in a division where the teams are so much alike and truly anybody can beat anybody. Just so you know, Farense were media predicted first, and they ended up relegated!

The second half of the league was way more hard than the first half. We struggled to outscore our opponents in many matches, which resulted in many draws in matches where I was supposed to win. My 34 year old CB Rolão went from line up starter to not even making it to the bench, because his physical stats started dropping like crazy, and with a pace/acceleration stat of 4/5 he was no longer an option for me. Fortunately I signed a good CB in December who entered the team and blended in well.

The left winger Hernani had a much better second half of season. He was the one who developed the most during the season, and at 19 years old I believe he can still be useful in higher levels of competition.

Here's the league table after the 30 matches:

Best attack, best defense. No losses at home IIRC, we clinched the title with 3 matches to go, so I can say we were deserved winners, especially because we were 1st since the first or second match, and I can't say that we had a team after us the entire season. At one point Louletano and Pinhalnovense were the closest to us, and look where they ended.

League stats:

Team stats

Player stats - my MCs with high passing completion rate, the right winger Carlitos king of assists, and Licínio our main goalscorer.

Goals from corners - no corner cheat. Just corner efficiency.

Then came the promotion playoffs. I was really nervous about this, because even if I didn't expect us to reach this far in the first season, now that we were here I didn't want to let the promotion escape. So I decided to employ a more counter attacking tactic, with more direct passing, lower defensive line and less time wasting. This way we would be more cautious in the rear and try to explore the passing capacity of our midfielders to provide quick balls to the wingers and the striker.

Here's how the playoffs went:

YES!!! We did it, I'm so happy!

We were considered underdogs in every match but we managed to get promotion. In the first match both teams played very cautiously and in truth I wasn't very disappointed with the draw.

The second match was what decided the playoff. We played wonderfully, they only scored from a corner. We completely dominated the match and we knew that we had a certain advantage over U. Madeira, the direct confrontation as the first sorting rule.

Against Espinho again, we dominated again just like the last match but we were inefficient in the front, so this time the draw was only acceptable. But still we also had the away goal advantage over Espinho.

Then U. Madeira and Espinho played and we automatically gained promotion with one match left. So the last match wasn't important because the hardest part was done. Amazing season.

Top 3 players of the season:

1. Licínio - Amazing striker who bagged goals like crazy. Great team player, fights for every ball. I honestly don't believe we could have done it without him.

2. John Ogu - Rated the best player in the squad, scored many important goals. Unfortunately also had many, many long shots which sometimes ruined a play because he could easily try a pass. Still, with great physical stats and decent finishing capacity, he was a very important players for us.

3. Carlitos - He's not the best dribbler but with the run with ball setting set to often, he ran with the ball to the byline and centered to Licínio to score. And he did this well and often, as seen by his numerous assists. He also scored a few goals. Great season, and he wasn't even rated as our best winger.

For next season, I hope to start being able to have players on F/T contracts and sign a few of those brazilian free agents, who are cheap and good. The main objective is obviously to avoid relegation and try to gain some income. I'll try to get a parent club from Brazil, as it will extend our scouting knowledge and possibly bring us some extra income.

I'll probably change my main tactic to the counter attacking one, since it worked well in the playoffs and we will certainly be candidated for relegation. Also I think having a small pitch will help.

Well done, that's an excellent season. I would have never signed that Licínio guy based on his skills, seems like you have a good eye for a player.

Tip about the media predictions: they mean absolutely nothing in this division. Farense has a rubbish squad but they're predicted to go up simply because it's an historical club that spent many years in the top league, hence they have a very high reputation.

I would have never signed that Licínio guy based on his skills

One thing I learned (and confirmed) from the years playing FM is that mental attributes are more important than technical attributes. In this case, Licínio has 7 for finishing and 9 for technique. But he has composure 12 which means he can remain calm when he's 1-on-1 with the keeper. Then he has off the ball 18, which is crucial because I have him roam from position and move into channels. Also his good teamwork and workrate help. His good physical stats make him good with the ball and fighting for it. Finally his amazing aggression and bravery mean he has a high percentage of winning the ball when there's a dispute with an opponent.

Especially at lower levels I always search for some key attributes that make a difference for any position:

- Teamwork

- Workrate

- Decisions

- Determination

Season 2011/2012 pre season report

With a new challenge, now in the Liga Orangina, I needed to take a different tactical approach and strengthen my squad.

I'm sticking to the counter attacking tactic, which is based on direct passing and exploring the quickness of the front three. So I entered the market in search of fast strikers and good CBs, in order to be more solid in the back and being able to make quick offensive transitions.

Signed players:

Marco Sousa (GK) - I needed a keeper to replace last season's GK who's now 35 and his attributes will start to drop soon.

Gegé (CB) - After 4 failed approaches to other CBs this was the one I could convince to join us. He's not fantastic but with the release of one of my CBs and with other only rated 1.5 stars by my Ass Man I really needed him.

Robson (CB) - This guy was suggested during the backroom staff meeting. Good player, is loaned for the season. I paid €3.5k for him plus wages. I didn't want to spend so much on one player but as I said I really need good CBs.

Valdir (LB) - Great stats. A left back wasn't my priority but he looked good and wanted low wages, plus has some nice PPMs.

Fininho (AML) - I only had one left footed winger and this guy looked good, plus he has very high flair which is great for one-on-ones with the defenders. This is probably my biggest doubt in terms of starting XI, because the other left winger Hernâni is also good and he's only 20 which means he can still improve.

Cascavél (ST) - Another great find by my backroom staff. His demands were a little high but I need an alternative for Licínio and he fits in the profile I was looking for.

Evandro Brandão (ST) - I just got him because he's fast. He won't play much but he can be a decent alternative in an injury crisis. Plus I didn't spend any money on him.

Pre season friendlies:

The friendlies went really well. I was expected to lose to both Marbella and Alcorcón and we ended up beating them comfortably.

After the pre season I'm confident we can make a good season and avoid relegation. The team will probably take some time to gel in all the new players, especially because most of them will be in the starting XI but I liked what I saw in the friendlies. Unfortunately we didn't have time to play more matches because the League Cup is starting just a few days after the Cartaya match so I had to cancel the remaining friendlies. Anyway I'm confident of a good season. The start will shape a bit of what our season will be. Let's see.

Well, well, well. If it isn't the good ol' forum back. And I sure am back with lots of updating.

In the meantime I completed 3 more season so I won't enter into much detail about every one of them, partially because I don't remember everything that happened. Alright let's go.

End of season 2011/12

The first season in the second tier Liga Orangina went far beyond my expectations. I was hoping to avoid relegation of course, and to end the season in a comfortable place, like 10th or so.

League Table

The defense conceded too many goals but it's natural because with us being underdogs in every match our opponents were always looking to score, and since I don't emplot a very defensive tactic our usual scoreline was 2-1, 3-1. Licínio continued his impressive goal scoring streak, bagging 18 in the league. This guy is the lower league Ivica Olic.

Our fantastic 4th place won us the award for the team revelation of the year. More important than that, our reputation had a big increase and I also achieved a nice milestone.

Season 2012/13

With a great campaign last season I was naturally expecting a good run, possibly fighting for promotion. Although we finished 4th last season we were far from the promotion spots and we can't waste points if we want to get promoted.

League table

This was a disappointing season. I was still predicted to finish 12th but with a 4th place last season I was expecting a better season and it was clearly worse. The attack was worse, the defense was worse, and we lost more points. Nonetheless we still overachieved and that pleased everyone at the club. I remember at this point thinking that this a crucial time because if I couldn't step up our game for next season we would be stuck in Orangina for a while. So I went for the fight next season.

You're doing well. KUTGW

Season 2013/14

I had to pull out my guns and get some quality players if we wanted to attack promotion. Our 4th and 5th spots in the previous seasons were good but we were a good handful of points far from the promotion spots. So I attacked the market and stretched the wage bidget a bit, but since we were already in debt the damage was already done. We were almost €1m in the red but fortunately an investor appeared and won the elections and cleared us off the debt. Which didn't mean that at the end of the season were weren't in the red again

As for signings I remember we got experienced CB Paulo Jorge, what a catch, and also PSG winger Neeskens Kebano, who unfortunately had lots of injuries and never won a place in the starting XI.

The aim for this season was to get 20 wins. This way whatever happened in the other 10 matches we would almost certainly get promotion.

League table

Ooooh yeaaaah!!!

Though it would seem otherwise we had a horrible start. In our opening match we were favourites at home, and we lost. In the second match we tied. I then started to experiment with the tactics and we lost a couple of points, which put us in mid-table.

I then reverted to my direct-passing, counter-attacking tactic and with the new guys already settled in, we had a 18 match unbeaten streak and we took over the top spots with dominance. If we had 5 more matches we would have been champions.

As I predicted 20 wins would get us promoted and would give us the title. Unfortunately we were one match away from gold but the main objective was achieved. We are now where the big boys play!

Squad

Licínio was a beast once again and gained the status of club icon. I hope I get that distinction in the future as well.

Player stats

Next season will be a different story. We are big big underdogs and I honestly will be very happy with a 14th place, because I don't see us making an impact like we did until now. We'll have more money but our opponents are much stronger that the ones we faced so far, so we'll need to have luck and lots of cepticism if we want to avoid the almost certain predicted by everybody dreadful relegation.

Season 2014/15

This was the longest, toughest and hardest season I ever had in FM. I knew we were big underdogs and naturally we were mega favorites to get relegated, so I knew we needed to be very cinical and also lucky. Unfortunately that didn't happen.

When things start bad they usually end bad. I started the season with the same tactic that had us make great seasons in the Liga Orangina and eventually getting us a historical promotion. But the truth is the Liga Sagres' level is way higher than what we had in the Orangina, so my hopes laid on getting points from the theoretically weaker teams and those teams only.

In the first three matches my CB Robson scored one own goal in each match, and we were destroyed by Benfica (1-3), Braga (2-6), Sporting (0-4) and Leiria (0-4). Rough start. We only scored points in the eigth match, against Nacional (2-1).

After the first half of the season we were sitting last and things weren't likely to change so I browsed the Tactics & Training section of the dear forum to get some ideas. I stumbled with a counter attacking 4-5-1 which I started to use. Some wins arrived, but so did a very leaky defense, and unfortunately it wasn't enough to save us.

Though we were relegated the board wasn't disappointed because this was a predictable outcome to the season. Unfortunately a lot of players handed in transfer requests and our finances are in big trouble.

The goal of this save was to push Atlético to the higher places in Portuguese and European football, and this season was a big punch in the stomach. This means that - at least for a while - I'm calling it game over. For now I don't have the motivation to play in the Liga Orangina again, possibly with half of the squad gone, so I'll take a break from this save and eventually might pick it up again or not.

It was going so well. Reminds me of this one time I took charge of Tenerife for a few years in the 2nd tier of Spain and finally got promoted to La Liga, only to be utterly annihilated by everyone and sacked mid-season.

It's tough to get motivation after a season like that, but consider taking charge of a different club perhaps? Your career isn't necessarily over yet, plenty managers get relegated and still go on to do well later on their careers. Actually I've done that in FM11, got relegated in the first season only to take a lower league croatian team to several domestic titles and Champions League knockout stages later on.

Alternatively, Atlético definitely has potential for more, even if the progress may have stalled and been slow. It'd be a great achievement to still manage to pick them up to greatness after this setback.

This might not be over yet...

Glad to see someone else managing in Portugal! Best of luck dude!

Season 2015/16 preview

I didn't think I had the motivation to carry on with this save after the disappointing last season, with all it cost us to get to the top tier we got brushed aside by pratically everyone and sent back to the second division. But I managed to keep almost everyone I wanted at the club, and I want to give these guys one more chance to prove we can be in the Liga Sagres.

Back in the Liga Orangina, I am again able to experiment without risking my chances too much (I hope), so I could do something I always try to do, which is to build a squad with the most national players as possible. I was able to get some good players on free transfers, and got rid of some old players that were on high wages.

In:

Bruno Conceição (GK)

João Cancelo (DC)

Rodrigo Santos (DC)

Tiago Duque (DR)

Paulo Grilo (MC)

My player search filter only searches for portuguese players. This way I don't have the potential problem of having players struggling to adapt, which is always good because we need to be strong right from the start.

The board expectations for this season is to aim for the promotion. This is also my aim, even if the board aimed for less. We need to get back to the Liga Sagres or else we'll be forgotten in the depths of the second league...

The tactical approach for this season will be different. I'm employing a 4-2-3-1 to get the best out of Sebastián Gallegos, one of my best players and the one on the highest wages, by far.

I hope we can get promotion this season and get back to where we want to be, and hopefully stay there for a long time.

If there's one thing FM influenced me over the years is that determined people are more likely to be successful. So I decided to adopt a way of life in which I try to be a person with Determination 20.

This meant that I wasn't going to abandon this save just yet. I have confidence that I can still make Atlético one of the best portuguese teams and I now have a group of players that I really like and I want to see the many young players I have develop and valorize.

Season 2015/16

Promotion was a must this season, and since we were in the Orangina again we might as well come back to the Liga Sagres as the Orangina champions. We dominated almost everyone, and the 1st place was ours for almost the entire time.

In January my chairman decided to accept a €500k offer for my right winger so I lost him. He was a good player and we struggled to win the following matches. In the end Portimonense started to win matches and eventually gained the 1st place but then two draws in the last 5 matches allowed us to regain the top and hold on to it until the end.

I employed a 4-2-3-1 tactic - thanks llama3 - that worked wonderfully. The tactic took some time to start producing, though, as my strikers weren't scoring for the first handful of matches, but eventually my main striker ended up the 3rd best scorer.

I also scored many goals from corners and indirect free kicks (with default settings) using in-swinging takers. Having an in-swinging taker with good technique is essential.

Squad - The average rating was above 7 for almost every player in the starting XI. The two MCs had lower ratings but that's due to them being the ball winners that look more for the AMC (the designed playmaker) than the through ball.

Our top 5 best players of the season:

1-Sebástian Gallegos (AMC) - One of my best players and the team's playmaker, fits like a glove in the trequartista role of the 4-2-3-1. The undisputed king of assists, also managed to bag a couple of goals, but mainly a playmaker with instructions to freely roam and try deadly through balls. Thinking of top players, Pablo Aimar would fit perfectly in this role.

2-Valeriy Fedorchuk (ST) - He took his time to start scoring but when he started he was a vital player. Lots of pace to pass through defenders and decent finishing skills were good enough to convince me.

3-Hernâni (AML) - In all the previous seasons he never scored much but this season he was on fire. A great part of his goals came from byline crosses from the right winger, and when he left Hernâni's goals stalled a bit. I also put him learning the PPM "Looks for the pass rather than the shot" due to his low finishing and his high creativity attributes.

4-João Cancelo (DC) - He was a beast in corners and free kicks, and his goals prove that. If his mentals develop a bit more he can become a great centre back.

5-Vítor Vinha (DL) - He had lots of assists from the right sided corners but he was also very secure in the defense, so he was one of the vital player for me.

For the next season I obviously want to keep us in the Liga Sagres. Getting relegated again would mean the "West Bromwich syndrome" - too good for the second league, but not good enough for the first. We definitely have a better squad this time, and I am planning the pre season more carefully, especially having more matches with stronger teams in order to prepare the players for the difficulties of the Liga Sagres.

Now that's more like it.

I remember Vitor Vinha being a star in previous FMs... Chieira's love for the Académica players showing in his ratings, as usual

Ah, congrats on the win dude! How are Leiria getting on?

Ah, congrats on the win dude! How are Leiria getting on?

Leiria's league standings so far:

2010/11 - 13th

2011/12 - 15th

2012/13 - 2nd (Liga Orangina)

2013/14 - 10th

2014/15 - 4th

2015/16 - 12th

Not a brilliant record as you can see.

Leiria's league standings so far:

2010/11 - 13th

2011/12 - 15th

2012/13 - 2nd (Liga Orangina)

2013/14 - 10th

2014/15 - 4th

2015/16 - 12th

Not a brilliant record as you can see.

Aw man ...

Can this be the start of something special?...

Can this be the start of something special?...

Oof! That'll do!

Leiria are a really odd team to get attached to, Deisler. It's based on one of top 20 largest cities in Portugal yet the locals want absolutely nothing to do with the club, common attendances at their huge Euro 2004 stadium barely reach 1 thousand. It's probably the stadium most lacking in atmosphere in the top league, and in fact they've just been forced to move out of it and play outside of the city because they couldn't afford the stadium maintenance fees. The club doesn't have much of an history behind it neither.

That win over Braga certainly is encouraging. Is that the first league match of the new season?

Leiria are a really odd team to get attached to, Deisler. It's based on one of top 20 largest cities in Portugal yet the locals want absolutely nothing to do with the club, common attendances at their huge Euro 2004 stadium barely reach 1 thousand. It's probably the stadium most lacking in atmosphere in the top league, and in fact they've just been forced to move out of it and play outside of the city because they couldn't afford the stadium maintenance fees. The club doesn't have much of an history behind it neither.

That win over Braga certainly is encouraging. Is that the first league match of the new season?

Yeah, I know. But they've wormed their way into my heart and now sit alongside Albacete as my foreign loves!

Leiria also came about because a Portuguese friend at work is from near there. (Pombal?) Somthing like that.

That win over Braga certainly is encouraging. Is that the first league match of the new season?

The first match was an away draw (1-1) against Nacional, but this match was absolutely amazing.

Leiria also came about because a Portuguese friend at work is from near there. (Pombal?) Somthing like that.

Yes, Pombal. Maybe you could support Sp. Pombal, then

The first match was an away draw (1-1) against Nacional, but this match was absolutely amazing.

Yes, Pombal. Maybe you could support Sp. Pombal, then

To be honest, I always liked Beira-Mar (due to CM01/02 legend Stephen McPhee moving there!), but then I spoke to my friend and wanted to try something different.

Season 2016/17 completed

No chance in hell I would let us get relegated again, so as we say in Portugal, we took the bull by the horns and went toe to toe with almost every team. If I recall correctly we took points from every team except the big three.

League Table:

Position chart / Squad overview

A good start allowed us to be far from the relegation spots since the beginning, which made this a very peaceful season. My concern was to always keep a safety cushion of aroung 6-7 points to the "danger zone" and we were able to do that.

In the final matches we piled up wins and climbed up a few spots to fight for the european places. I have to say that I am a bit frustrated that we ended out of the Europa League because Freamunde reached the cup final and they got our spot. Freamunde who eliminated us from the cup...

I was aiming for a 10th spot in the beginning and we did a great season. For the next season I want to make some money to see if we can finally have our finances out of the red. I may sell one of my good players, probably one of the foreigners, as I still pursue my mission of a 100% portuguese squad.

Top 5 players of the season:

1- João Cancelo - he did a great season once again. He's very tall but he's also quite fast which makes him my rock solid CB. He also manages to score from corners and indirect free kicks so he's one of my favorite players in the squad.

2- Valeriy Fedorchuk - the quick poacher had a good season as well, obviously he had more difficulties to score than he did last season but he still was my most dangerous man up front and even though some of his stats are awful he has also other great stats which make him a limited but very good goal scorer.

3- Neeskens Kebano - after his 4th season at the club he finally won a starting spot and he pleased me. I mainly played him as the AMR but sometimes also as the AMC but not so often.

4- Hernâni - he had a good season again. His competition João Reis never threatened his starting spot and he has eveolved so much since I took over Atlético and he's a complete player now.

5- Joaquim Sousa - our own Theo Walcott, I like him because he has great stats to play as the AMR and when I gave him the spot he played well most of the times and scored in many of those times. Like Fedorchuk, he has horrible mental stats but he can produce using what he's good at.

This was my best season so far, I realized that when I started this save Atlético was a lot different than what it is now and I hope we can continue to grow next season.

Excellent season, I'm just a bit surprised at how bad your key players are though, lol. Surely a few proper signings could push Atlético far higher next year?

Haha yes they aren't the most talented players. The problem is our reputation is still very low, I bet we will be preditced to finish last for next season despite this 6th place. We can't attract good players from other Liga Sagres teams, so I have to get them from either the Liga Orangina or from abroad, but since I also have zero money to spend we can't rely on transfers to boost the squad.

I will send one of my scouts to Brazil to see if he finds good players in the U19 teams, because there are lots of good youngsters there and lots of them have expiring contracts.

Congrats on the great finish dude! And good luck on the 100% Portuguese squad!

Season 2017/18 preview

This season the goal for us is to end in the top half. I don't know if we can make a 6th spot again, because quite frankly our start last season surprised many teams and we won't have that surprise element this year, but we'll see, if we play well maybe we can go for the european spots.

The transfer market was the quietest I had so far. I didn't worry too much too grab players with expiring contracts in January, so now there weren't many good players for free and I don't have any money to spend. This meant the amount of new players I brought was... none.

I did sell one player, my top goalscorer last season Fedorchuk for €300k. I sold him because I wanted to get some money and also because I have two young portuguese strikers who have more balanced attributes and I believe they can become really good.

This sale resulted in our finances coming out of the red for the first time in seven years!

This is my squad for the new season:

(only 4 non-Portuguese players )

The squad is short but I always like to have a maximum of 23 players. Nonetheless, 20 players is short and I hope I don't have to face an injury crisis, but I am on the edge of the wage budget so if I wanted to have more players they'd to have to be loanees.

Pre-season friendlies:

For the last two season I have arranged the pre-season friendlies instead of my Ass Man, and it was a good decision.

Why you should arrange your own pre-season friendlies:

- you can choose which teams will pay you more to play them;

- you can arrange the matches with appropriate days in between (I have matches every 3 days);

- you can choose the reputation of the teams you want to play (I only played similar and larger reputation teams, except the reserves in the first match).

Why you should not leave this to your Ass Man:

- he will arrange some matches at home in which you have to pay the other team;

- he will arrange matches in consecutive days;

- he will arrange matches against low reputation teams.

The importance of pre-season frindlies shouldn't be underestimated. I start my friendlies 40-50 days before the first official match, and end them one week before that first match. By playing larger reputation teams and beating them, the team gets moralized and more confident when the season starts and they have to face teams like Braga and Guimarães.

Season 2017/18 completed

After last season's surprising 6th place I wanted to go for the top half of the table again this season, and despite the sale of our striker Fedorchuk in the summer window and the 20-player squad which is considerably short we could do a good season if we were efficient and mainly if our other strikers could fill Fedorchuk's shoes. After all he scored 15 goals.

Player stats

Liga Zon Sagres

We repeated the 6th spot which is good, but the 6th spot is a bittersweet place. Due to the fact that Académica reached the Cup final they earned a place in the Europa League, resulting in once again leaving us out of europe.

Our defence was acceptable, with reasonable numbers. The problem was our attack. Unfortunately our strikers didn't meet my expectations and my first choice only scored 7 goals in 25 apps, while his substitute scored 6 in 15 (3 from PK). I believe this was the reason we didn't score more goals and if we had a better striker we could have certainly finished in 5th.

In this two seasons in the Liga Sagres I chose to play in a short pitch, which restricts the space for our advanced players, but also makes it more difficult for the opponents to score. The problem is our AMC can't play half as he did when I used a large pitch, as he only grabbed 4 assists this season, compared to 23 assists three seasons ago. So next season we'll use a large pitch. We drew many matches at home that we shouldn't have, and I want to change that.

Despite that we had good moments, specially a 2-0 win over Sporting and a 1-1 draw against Porto.

Portuguese Cup

We were knocked out in the fifth round (last 16) against Belenenses, at a time where we weren't playing very well and were in a bad streak. I believe that we can have success in the cup because the big three often use reserve players and if we get lucky we can do well. But we can't lose to teams like Belenenses.

League Cup

Another anonymous campaign, in which we entered at the group stage and left there with 3 defeats in 3 matches. Really disappointing. On the other hand this cup is worthless because it has a format that benefits the big 3 plus one, usually Braga, that get the home matches and inevitabilly advance to the semis, leaving the rest of the teams with very little chance.

Top 5 players of the season:

1- João Cancelo (DC) - The only player to average above 7, now that his acceleration has increased he's becoming a really solid CB and I already had offers for him of €2.7m. That should mean something. I was expecting his mentals would increase a bit more, though, but he's by far my most reliable centre back.

2- Hernâni (AML) - The poor performances of our playmaker made him stand up and take the assists throne. 11 assists and a couple goals make him again one of my best and a decisive player in a handful of matches.

3- Neeskens Kebano (AMR) - Can also play as AMC but since he's quite fast and a good dribbler I use him on the right and he usually delivers. Sadly he's our Arjen Robben, as he's constantly injured. This season he was injured 3 times, and when he gets injured it's for months.

4- Ricardo Oliveira (MC) - my golden boy, he appeared in our youth team in the second season and I use him as a starter since he was 17. Now he's great ball winning midfielder and his only low is his low passing ability, for which I teached him the PPM "plays short simple passes". He plays safe balls but also he doen's have many assists. But he's indispensable to our defensive transitions.

5- Carlos Pereira (DC) - I gave him the CB spot over Robson, who's now 30 and is not portuguese, which puts him in the "sellable" list. Not as good as Cancelo he had a decent season, with some mistakes of course but I see good thing for him next season.

I already have a number of targets to strengthen the squad for next season but I'll post that when the summer window closes.

Congrats on retaining 6th spot dude! Impressive!

Thanks.

I know I could have done 5th place if I had better individual talent, so this summer I'm really looking for good players, but it's hard to get good players with no transfer budget...

Season 2018/19 preview

The summer started with Manuel Machado leaving Portugal U21 management. I applied for the job as I saw a good opportunity to increase my reputation as well as browse national talent that can be good additions to my squad down at the Tapadinha. I got offered the job and I took it. We are in the qualification stage for the U21 european championship, and we have 6 wins in 6 matches, with 2 matches left. I'm thinking of doing well in the Euro and then leave. It would be nice if in the meantime some of the players added me as their favourite personnel, as that would make it easier to sign them later.

But my main focus is obviously still Atlético. Having achieved two 6th spots in two consecutive seasons, we are now established as a top division team.

The tactic remains the same, but I changed the pitch to the maximum size in order to be able to create more goal opportunities, because last season we struggled to win at home.

Pre-season friendlies / Finances / Squad

We had some less convincing matches but I tried to play against better teams to increase the competitiveness of my players. My only worry is to win quickly in the league to regain the morale levels to 'superb'.

Sales - I managed to get a good income with the sales of Gallegos and Carvalho, both by the value of the release clauses. I, though, wasn't able to sign a striker that pleased me, so I'm relying on my two strikers to get the job done.

Players in:

Tiago Dias (AMC) - I was looking for an AMC to fill the gap left by Gallegos and this kid has good passing attributes, plus his wages are four times less than Gallegos'.

João Gonçalves (DR) - When my starting right back Tiago Duque could not play I always struggled to get a good replacement for him. Fortunately I got Gonçalves who has decent attributes and has experience.

Carlos Silva (DL) - Vitor Vinha is still untouchable but he will turn 32 soon and I need to start thinking about his replacement so I signed Silva, who has good attributes and hopefully can develop well.

Tiago Lima Pereira (DC) - With the sale of centre back Robson I needed a CB and this man convinced me. He is a serious contender for a starting spot.

Carlos Sampaio (AMR) - Bolton agreed on loaning me this great winger, who finishes contract this season so I'm looking forward to grabbing him on a free when the winter window opens.

Gianvito Misuraca (AMC) - I wasn't looking for more players but when an agent offered me this player I knew I had to get him. He's easily one of the best players I signed in this entire save but since he's foreign I'm looking to sell him for an insanity in a season or two.

Robinho (GK) - This boy was recommended to me by my scout who's watching the Brazilian U20's league. My restrictions to foreign players are that I don't want to sign any foreign player that isn't exceptional. Well, this boy has a PA of 4.5 stars so I'm definitely picking him up, especially on a free transfer.

I'm not sure what we can do this season. I'd like to go for the 5th spot bit I know we were lucky in some matches last season and we could have easily finished in 7th or 8th place. This summer we signed good players but as always they need some time so let's see how we do.

Season 2018/19 completed

Another year, where the expectations are to end in the top half and then everything else will be good news.

Squad stats

Liga Zon Sagres

This season didn't start very well. I lost a striker due to the greed of my chairman who decides to accept nearly every half-decent offer that comes in, and my tactic relies heavily on the quality of the striker. Anyway, we had a normal start, with a bit of everything (menaing wins and losses).

After the first half of the season we were bad, with only 4 wins so I changed the tactic back to the 4-5-1. It worked wonders and we had a 9-match unbeaten run.

In the end we got the 6th place for the third consecutive season, but this time we also got a Europa League spot, because the final of the cup was between Braga and Benfica! This is awesome news, for the first time in our history we are in Europe and even though we'll start in the second qualifying round with some luck in the draws we can go through some rounds, thus getting money in.

Portuguese Cup

We were unfortunate and had to face Sporting in the quarter-finals. We lost 1-2. They didn't do much better though, being knocked out by Braga in the next round. Benfica were the winners, beating Braga in the final (penalties after 1-1).

League Cup

We were drawn in a very difficult group, with Benfica, Setúbal and Belenenses, the only group with only Liga Sagres teams, and only playing home against Setúbal. We lost against Benfica and finished in second place, bringing home around €110k.

Top 5 players of the season:

1- André Lopes (ST) - He finally had a good season, bagging 12 in the league. The 4-5-1 really helped him and in the second half of the season he scored 10 in the league. He's now worth €600k and he is targeted by teams like Guimarães and Schalke.

2- João Reis (AML) - Hernâni was injured for a long time and João Reis got his chance to show me what he's worth. And he pleased me. Scoring 5 and assisting 7 he had his best season so far.

3- Ricardo (GK) - His 14 clean sheets show he's a quality player that saved us many points. Unfortunately I have an emerging talent and I'm still not sure if I'll loan him or give him a chance in our starting XI. But Ricardo is still a great keeper.

4- João Cancelo (DC) - Cancelo had a good season again. His height makes him a constant danger in attacking set pieces and a solid defender in dfeendind set pieces, plus he's fast and rarely makes a mistake. I already had offers of €3m for him but I decided to refuse because he's the rock of our defense.

5- Tiago Dias (AMC) - He didn't have so many injuries as last season so he was able to contribute more, with goals, assists and lots of work. Plus he's tall so he's also a danger from corners.

The Europa League qualifiers starts in the middle of July so our pre season will start 3 weeks before usual, but I don't think anyone's complaining because we are in Europe finally!

I'm counting on some income from the EL because we'll have less friendlies and I don't want to sell many players and have an even shorter squad. When he have some injuries the situation becomes really serious, I had lots of matches with only 5 or 6 players in the bench.

That's some consistency there. Wonder what's the odds on you finishing 6th next year?

I don't want to finish 6th anymore. Only higher

Season 2019/20 preview

As we head into our first european adventure I focused on adding players to what has been a short squad, and to buy (yes, I have money now) some young promises.

We started our Europa League journey in the second qualifying round, and my aim is to reach the group stage if we can avoid the big teams in the draws. And guess what, we did it.

We received €1m for reaching the group stage, in which we are now in Goup I along with Hamburg, Dinamo Moscow and PAOK. I really don't care if we lose every match, just getting here was awesome.

As for summer transfers, I sold Misuraca for €275k. He had a bad injury and only played about 10 matches so his value didn't go up very much, but still getting €275k for a 30 year old isn't that bad.

Joining the team we have:

- Alejandro Mendez (ST) - rated with a CA of 3* and a PA of 3,5* getting him for free was a great addition to our frontline.

- Nélson Teixeira (MC) - another freebie, has good defensive stats and also decent passing skills. Rated 3*/3,5*.

- Valter Ferreira (ST) - Rated 1*/4,5* I had to get him. I got him on loan, though, because Leixões was asking €3m for him and this way I paid €65k for the loan plus a buy clause of €1.2m.

- Riccardo Teixeira (AMR) - This was a last minute signing because in one of the EL matches both of my right wingers got serious injuries (3 months and 5 months) so I got this young man on loan, with a buy clause of €500k. CA 3*, PA 4,5*.

- Leonel Ribeiro (ST) - I scouted him inumerous times and he seems to be a little prodigy. Like Valter, Setúbal was asking too much for his sale so I paid €120k for the loan and I have a buy clause of €1.8m, which I plan to activate if I have the money to do that.

The squad for this season:

Finances - At this time our finances are better than ever. With the league prize of €1m and the EL group stage prize of €1m as well, our finances are very secure.

The aim for this season is to finish in the european spots again and go as far as possible in the cup. We were so close to the final a couple years ago and this season we are stronger than ever. But the main objective is the 5th place and I will focus on that goal primarily throughout the entire season.

Season 2019/20 completed

For the first time in the history of Atlético we were in an european competition, so this was a memorable season, plus we managed to balance both the Europa League and the domestic league.

Squad stats

Liga Zon Sagres

As shown in the final standings, we fought until the end for the 4th place and we could have well reached it if we hadn't conceded a goal from Nacional in the 94th minuted to a 1-1 draw...

This was by far the best season we had so far. We ended the league with a 10 match unbeaten run and we had many clean sheets. Plus our strikers were in good display and a great playmaker had some magical moments.

I'm hoping I get a large transfer budget because I have 3 players on loan that I really want to buy but I need around €2m to get all three of them. If I have to sell one or two players to get money I'll do that, as these loanees all have a PA of 4.5*.

Europa League

In the boardroom's eyes we did the impossible, that was reaching the group stage. Then we faced Hamburg, Dinamo Moscow and PAOK and we managed a 3rd place, despite huge losses to Hamburg. We cashed around €1,5m from our european adventure. The balance was clearly positive, and next year we want to do well again.

Portuguese Cup

I love the cup, it's where the big underdogs can beat the giants. But when this happens to you it's not funny at all. We were knocked out in the 3rd round - our first match - by Leixões, who despite playing in the Liga Sagres are way worse than us. A really big disappointment for us.

For the first time in the save the winner wasn't one of the big three, it was Guimarães.

League Cup

I think that until we get drawn in the gropu that has the 4th placed we'll never pass the group stage. Against Porto, Chaves and Leixões we finished 2nd. Sporting were the winners, defeating Porto 2-1 with a brace from a brazilian regen in the 90th and 94th minutes. If that happened to me God knows what might have happened to my furniture.

Top 5 players of the season:

1- André Lopes (ST) - Finally he had a good season. Scoring 16 in 24, a bad injury kept him out for 3 months and prevented us to attack the 4th place in full strength. He's now wanted by teams like Porto, but he's not leaving.

2- Tiago Dias (AMC) - Our Frank Lampard, he even scored a hat-trick once. What a fantastic season for our playmaker who still managed to get a good number of assists as well.

3- Leonel Ribeiro (ST) - The bright talent, he stepped into the first team when Lopes was injured and after 1 or 2 not so good matches he started to score and we impressed me. I want to buy him at all costs, and fortunately his value decreased from th starting €1,8m so I'm hoping a deal around €1m will be enough to get him permanently.

4- Hernâni (AML) - Despite some inconsistency, his numbers are clear. Most assists in the team and the 4th top scorer.

5- João Cancelo (DC) - I was undecided between Cancelo and our goalie Ricardo, but Cancelo was a major contributor to many of Ricardo's clean sheets and his goals were the decisive factor.

Next season I want to reach the group stage of the Europa League and aim for the 4th spot in the league. Counting that the squad will be the same with 2 or 3 possible signings, the consistency should remain with us and with the hope of less injuries we can realistically aim for the 4th spot.

Also I really want to do well in the cup. I'm not saying winning it because facing the big three is very difficult but as long as we don't face them we can win any match.