FM 12: Athletic Club Bilbao- A New Era Begins!

[james_wilko]

Oustanding first season for me has just been completed.

Spanish cup - won. Took til extra time and we managed a 1-0 against Cordoba. Bit disappointed in the performance but the cup is all that mattered.

Europa league - won. Had to get past challenges such as Shaktar and PSG in the quarters & semis respectively before playing Shalke in the final. We won it 2-1, again in extra time, with Muniain scoring both our goals.

Liga BBVA - finished second! 3 points behind first placed Barcelona and 3 points ahead of third placed Real Madrid.

Outstanding performers:

Fernando Llorente - 54 games, 49 goals and 12 assists.

Iker Muniain - 52(1) games, 23 goals and 25 assists.

Markel Susaeta - 50(4) games, 15 goals and 16 assists.

Ander Herrera - 54(2) games, 13 goals and 26 assists.

That's my main attacking force, pretty much unstoppable.

[Falahk]

I've just taken over at Bilbao, but I'm unsure what to do with the current staff. Any recommendations on who to bring in?

get the club icons Guerrero and Etxeberria, both have developed into decent coaches for me

[enders357]

This is something that's a lot easier to do if you make sure to concentrate on doing it. I managed to sign Griezmann in my first season because Sociedad went through a spell of not playing him and he became unhappy at a lack of playing time. I imagine that he'd have been back in the team eventually and would've become unwilling to discuss a contract at that point, but I made sure to put the bid in straight away and got it all wrapped up before that could happen. I also managed to sign Xabi Alonso, who I don't think would normally have been willing to negotiate from Real Madrid, by waiting until he had a brief spell of unhappiness.

So yeah, just check the transfer center and see if they've stopped being "unrealistic transfers" as often as you can and be sure to put in a bid for them the second they become available if they do.

Cheers for picking this out and offering advice. I'm still having no luck getting either (by November season 2) but we'll see how it goes. Frustratingly Sociedad have been overachieving and both players are regular starters. As for more ambitious targets; Madrid are happy to sell me Xabi Alonso for £17m but he doesn't want to talk terms, and Arteta's interested in a move but Arsenal want ludicrous money for him.

[Dirty_ACE]

Oustanding first season for me has just been completed.

Spanish cup - won. Took til extra time and we managed a 1-0 against Cordoba. Bit disappointed in the performance but the cup is all that mattered.

Europa league - won. Had to get past challenges such as Shaktar and PSG in the quarters & semis respectively before playing Shalke in the final. We won it 2-1, again in extra time, with Muniain scoring both our goals.

Liga BBVA - finished second! 3 points behind first placed Barcelona and 3 points ahead of third placed Real Madrid.

Outstanding performers:

Fernando Llorente - 54 games, 49 goals and 12 assists.

Iker Muniain - 52(1) games, 23 goals and 25 assists.

Markel Susaeta - 50(4) games, 15 goals and 16 assists.

Ander Herrera - 54(2) games, 13 goals and 26 assists.

That's my main attacking force, pretty much unstoppable.

That's an incredible season. Would you mind posting some info regarding your tactics like the formation, team instructions, player roles and duties?

[james_wilko]

No problem I've tweaked the tactic a bit since I've started the second season but it's pretty much the same.

I picked a 4-2-3-1 with two centre mids & three central attacking mids. The team was on high pressing, high width, default passing (since changed to shorter), roam more, float crosses and more disciplined expressiveness & counter attacking ticked.

The CF was set to Target Man attack. No changes from the basic. Obviously Fernando Llorente dominated this role for me.

Left & right attacking mids were inside forwards and asked to switch around (Muniain & Susaeta played here for me) and Ander Herrera took the very central CAM position as Advanced Playmaker on support. Behind them was regular first teamer Javi Martinez as a BWM on defend and alongside him pretty much anyone else as a DLP on support. No one really held that position as, basically, no one was good enough.

Standard GK defend with two CBs on defend duty in front. The fullbacks were set to FB Attack to provide the width.

No playmaker ticked either. I don't like the idea of having one man set up for creating all the chances, especially not with the main trio behind Llorente being as good as they are.

While it was great, it did also result in us receiving a few spankings. Namely Real Madrid battering us 4-0 at one point, and Barcelona 5-1 (though I played a weak team so I could focus on the Europa League). The other losses were close matches.

[Dirty_ACE]

No problem I've tweaked the tactic a bit since I've started the second season but it's pretty much the same.

I picked a 4-2-3-1 with two centre mids & three central attacking mids. The team was on high pressing, high width, default passing (since changed to shorter), roam more, float crosses and more disciplined expressiveness & counter attacking ticked.

The CF was set to Target Man attack. No changes from the basic. Obviously Fernando Llorente dominated this role for me.

Left & right attacking mids were inside forwards and asked to switch around (Muniain & Susaeta played here for me) and Ander Herrera took the very central CAM position as Advanced Playmaker on support. Behind them was regular first teamer Javi Martinez as a BWM on defend and alongside him pretty much anyone else as a DLP on support. No one really held that position as, basically, no one was good enough.

Standard GK defend with two CBs on defend duty in front. The fullbacks were set to FB Attack to provide the width.

No playmaker ticked either. I don't like the idea of having one man set up for creating all the chances, especially not with the main trio behind Llorente being as good as they are.

While it was great, it did also result in us receiving a few spankings. Namely Real Madrid battering us 4-0 at one point, and Barcelona 5-1 (though I played a weak team so I could focus on the Europa League). The other losses were close matches.

Thanks for the details.

What about your philosophy and strategy, what did you use for these?

For marking, man or zonal?

Also, do you use shouts at all or simply play the tactic as is?

[james_wilko]

Philosophy - Fluid

Strategy - Control

Marking is set to default.

& I never use shouts. The few times I've ever tried in any game things have gone pear shaped so I avoid them like the plague. Not saying they won't work, but I've never made it work.

While I remember, the defensive line is set to the highest point on normal (it's high by default) and the width is set to one point below maximum.

[Dirty_ACE]

Well, I finally got around to finishing my first season with Athletic. I did pretty much as well as most people do, finished third in La Liga, also got to the semifinals of the Spanish Cup but lost out to Malaga, however, I did beat Barca in the quarterfinals which was nice. In the Europa League I got only to the second knockout round where we went out to Tottenham. The first leg was at home for us but unfortunately we could not capitalize much on it and finished 1-1. Then in London we lost 0-2, simply couldn't keep van der Vaart down. One of his goals was rather ridiculous, scored from an extremely tight angle from 20 yards out. Extremely lucky. The highlight of out Europa League campaign was probably beating PSG in away leg in first knockout round 7-1. We simply annihilated them.

Here's the league table:

To be honest, even though my players seemed to be happy with our final league position, I'm personally kind of disappointed. I was hoping to put up a better fight. We started out the season in great form, winning the first 6 matches, then we leveled-out a bit and started getting a few more draws but still managed to keep in either first or second place. However, our second half of the season was a real roller-coaster of results. Several key players made me nearly pull my hair out with their incompetence, especially in important moments. I was also going through a solid 5 months where I could not field my strongest team as I always had at least two or three key players out with injuries. The biggest blow was loosing Iker Muniain for 3 months due to a torn groin muscle. We really missed him. His backups simply could not fill his shoes, but I guess that's how it goes with Athletic, you have to do with what you've got.

And here's my squad at the end of the season:

Llorente finished as our top scorer with a respectable tally of 33 goals in 50 matches. The reason I only say respectable and not great or good is because I was frankly expecting more from him. I've seen here people getting him to score over 40-50. On top of it he actually made me really upset during the second half of the season. When I said in the paragraph above that several of my key players disappointed me, he was the main culprit. I just couldn't believe the amount of what could be considered clear chances he wasted, and most of these were at critical times. The vast majority of points we dropped in the league were due to him as he was provided with more than enough opportunities to put away opponents. Our defense did its job well, but our attack, of which Llorente is supposed to be the spearhead, was criminally inept on many occasions. He only managed to score his goals in small spurts and could not sustain any kind of consistent form.

The other player that went from hero to zero for me was Benat. He started out rather brightly in the first 3 months, but then proceeded to be the very definition of average. Sadly I simply didn't have anyone better than him so he continued to play most games, but he barely contributed anything in the second half of the season. He was simply out there to make up the numbers in most of those games.

Also, as I said before, we lost Muniain for 3 months due to an injury. That injury also at one point overlapped with losing Susaeta for 3 months as well due to an injury. We were left with Gabilondo, Gomez, and De Marcos to fill in. Sadly to say that neither one of them managed to be anywhere as effective as either Muniain or Susaeta.

San Jose managed to grab 12 goals for himself from corners and penalty kicks. A great feat for a center back.

An a brighter side of things we did get an absolutely top crop of youngsters, probably one of the best I've ever seen in any version of FM. There were three 4.5 stars, one 4 star, and one 3.5 star. I also managed to grab eleven additional regens from other clubs. In that group there are also a couple 4.5 stars, so I'd say the future is potentially very bright for us.

For next season the only thing I can hope for is that we build upon our third place in the league and try to come closer to challenging for the title. We will also be in the Champions League which will be interesting considering we didn't really get very far in Europa League the season prior.

I have no transfer targets for the summer as I've already bought all the best possible Basque players in the first winter transfer window when I purchased Ruffier, Azpilicueta, and Monreal. Was hoping Real Sociedad would get relegated so that I could poach some of their talent, but the ******** remained firmly in midtable the entire season. Oh well, there's always hope for next season.

I do have some worries though. The big one is concerning Llorente. What do I do with him? I play him the same as everyone here (Target Man on attack duty) but he was blowing hot and cold so much in the last 5 months of the season it was almost unbelievable. Does he improve at all or become more consistent?

[enders357]

I'd say 33 goals in 50 is a good return! He can't score them all, unfortunately.

[Dirty_ACE]

I'm thinking of creating a holiday manager for Bilbao Athletic in order to play my talented youngsters there instead of the U19s. I think playing in Segunda B2 division would be more beneficial for them than playing in the U19s league. However, I need to get some better staff for the B team as the ones they have a quite frankly crap. Can anyone recommend some staff for the Bilbao Athletic?

Also, I'd like know if what I'm doing is actually a good idea or not? Can youngsters typically cope with Segunda B or should they spend at least one season in U19s?

[enders357]

I'm thinking of creating a holiday manager for Bilbao Athletic in order to play my talented youngsters there instead of the U19s. I think playing in Segunda B2 division would be more beneficial for them than playing in the U19s league. However, I need to get some better staff for the B team as the ones they have a quite frankly crap. Can anyone recommend some staff for the Bilbao Athletic?

Also, I'd like know if what I'm doing is actually a good idea or not? Can youngsters typically cope with Segunda B or should they spend at least one season in U19s?

I started my game without making their league playable so it's not an option for me, unfortunately, but other people have done it (have a read of previous posts) and said it works well. You can set up their training regimes, tactics and whatnot to suit a simple transition to the first team squad too, and can probably holiday most of it. I imagine I'd check in every month or two.

If you can get them promoted to Liga Adelante it's only going to help you even more too.

[Dirty_ACE]

I have a few more question regarding controlling Bilbao Athletic.

1. I've sorted out the staff and training, however, regarding tactics, what do I do? I obviously want my B team to play the same as my first team, so does the tactic have to the exact same one or does it simply need to be the same formation?

2. Once I've set up everything and put the manager on holiday, should I instruct the assistant to play the same players whenever possible or let him decide in order not to tire out the same group of players?

3. The players that are 18 or younger, are they also automatically available for the U19s even though they are in Bilbao Athletic?

[drizzlynewt]

Cheers for picking this out and offering advice. I'm still having no luck getting either (by November season 2) but we'll see how it goes. Frustratingly Sociedad have been overachieving and both players are regular starters. As for more ambitious targets; Madrid are happy to sell me Xabi Alonso for £17m but he doesn't want to talk terms, and Arteta's interested in a move but Arsenal want ludicrous money for him.

Xabi's nice if you can get him, especially because I found him tutoring Espericueta helped turn him into a really good player, but really he's going to decline pretty quickly so it's unlikely he'd be in your first team for very long, so he's probably not that much of a loss. I just wouldn't bother with Arteta, again he's going to decline and he isn't that much better than someone like Benat or Itturaspe to validate letting them go/not playing them and them dropping in stats when they're more likely to be around for a few years.

[Dirty_ACE]

I think I've found Ander Herrera's ideal position, role, and duty. Just as many here I play him in AMC position, however, I've trained him to be a natural there instead of just accomplished, then I've set him to attacking midfielder with attack duty. His transformation has been remarkable to say the least. He's suddenly become a beast, assisting and scoring regularly while before he was rather average in his previous role as advanced playmaker with attack duty. It also doesn't hurt to train up his finishing attribute as it's rather low to start with.

In case any one is interested, he has averaged a 7.92 in last 8 matches since I've switched his role. With his old role he was averaging only 7.03 in 10 matches.

[Searley60]

How's everyone getting on? How far are you all in your saves?

I'm up to Christmas 2019 now and currently battling out for first place with Barca who are a point behind me. It is good to see Real Madrid all the way down there in 13th as well Last season was the season of dreams. We won everything put in front of us, clean sweep of the league, cup, champions league and topped off with the super cup and euro supercup as the start of this year a 27 year old Iker Muniain who is the most expensive player in europe picked up another World Player of the Year award.

As for the transfer market, which is dried up completely after every basque whos worth anything is either in my team, under 19's (have won the league for the last 6 seasons straight) or Bilbao Athletic who are currently sitting top of Liga Adelente . On the regen front, even though Llorente is 34 now and getting on a bit, I have 2 strikers in the breach ready to step in. 11 of my players are in the Spain squad too, they just as well give me the job

[c20th_boy]

How do you guys get the best out of Javi Martinez? My tactic has two MCs (one slightly defensive, one offensive) and a DMC. Ideally I'd like him at DMC, but I'd really appreciate your thoughts if possible.

[Searley60]

How do you guys get the best out of Javi Martinez? My tactic has two MCs (one slightly defensive, one offensive) and a DMC. Ideally I'd like him at DMC, but I'd really appreciate your thoughts if possible.

I play a similar setup in midfield and have Javi Martinez as the slightly more defensive CM and Ander next to him as the offensive. It has worked wonders for me.

[c20th_boy]

Fantastic - thanks!

[manutdfan1999]

about to start a save with athletic can anyone reccomend possible signings in the first season

also how is everyone doing in their saves

[mackaber]

I've made some major changes to my midfield setup in the second season and have been loving it. I have been playing Javi Martinez as a DMC support next to San Jose in a DLP defend role. My starting 11 looks as follows:

Ruffier

Aczipuleta Ekiza Amorebieta Monreal

San Jose Martinez

Suesaeta Herrara Muniain

Llorente

I am very happy with this formation because it very well balances out individual player's strengths and weaknesses. The big change here that no one else has reported making is moving San Jose into DMC position. Not sure how he develops on everyone elses saves but on my game he's got 15 in anticipation, creativity, composure and passing. Only the 13 in first touch and decisions could be better but he#s till 23 so there is hope he'll get those up as well so he really is up to snuff to play dmc. Also Javi Martinez is brilliant in DMC support. He just works and works and works winning tackles, headers and playing safe passes and scoring a scorcher from time to time.

Having these two guys doing the dirty work allows for my fullbacks (especially Aczipuleta) to get forward and widen my play and create 2:1 on the flanks and also frees ander from pesky defensive duties he'd have to fullfill if he were to play in a two man center midfield and with his poor positioning and marking he is a real liability there.

So the big problem and why I was so hesitant at first to push san jose into dmc is that I don't have any all around good CBs left. However what I do have is two guys at DMC position which actually really helps to shore up their weaknesses. Amorebeita is a rock solid defender but he's really not all that good on the ball, well since he now tends to have plenty of good passing options very close this becomes less of an issue. Ekiza on the other hand, well he's horrible in the air and physically frail but he has 3 physically imposing players around him who handle the dirty work for him while he can use his intelligence to fill in any holes.

So all those looking for a good DMC you've already got him give him a try...

[Falahk]

about to start a save with athletic can anyone reccomend possible signings in the first season

also how is everyone doing in their saves

Beñat, Ruffier and Azpilicueta should be all you need early on, after that you should just wait for regens and hope that some Sociedad players become possible to sign (Illarramendi and Martinez in particular)

mackaber: San José got a bit hampred by injuries on my save, so his attributes was not world class, but considering that he preformed well his reputation was absurdly high....I sold him for £40m to Genoa once I figured I had enough midfielders to cope with moving Javi Martinez down into defense

[dangerpuss]

I have a brilliant 6 season Athletic save on FM2011 and I wanted to ask some questions about the 2012 version of this great club.

How does Aurtenetxe develop? He never really improved at all on my 2011 game despite being played regularly for 2 seasons. Saborit by contrast got a international call-up 3 years in. How is Saborit? What about Ruiz de Galaretta and Jonas Romalho? Ramalho came good for me but de Galaretta never really developed. Anyone have any screenshots?

[Falahk]

I have a brilliant 6 season Athletic save on FM2011 and I wanted to ask some questions about the 2012 version of this great club.

How does Aurtenetxe develop? He never really improved at all on my 2011 game despite being played regularly for 2 seasons. Saborit by contrast got a international call-up 3 years in. How is Saborit? What about Ruiz de Galaretta and Jonas Romalho? Ramalho came good for me but de Galaretta never really developed. Anyone have any screenshots?

Aurtenetxe should probably develop well on the 12,2 db since he finaly have the same PA as the other 3 you mention, both Saborit and Ramalho have been good for me while Galaretta never got going (I will probably have to take some of the blame for that, since I tried to develop both him and Egüras at the same time in the first team, which resulted in that both of them failed to make it)

will try to put up screens on my current first team soon-ish, in the mean time you can glance on what it looked like a couple seasons back in post #340

[dangerpuss]

Thanks a lot.

I find it harder to develop players like Galaretta too as Athletic have a lot of strength in midfield and it's sometimes hard to find playing time for everyone.

[Thandui]

Reinstalled FM after I finished my exams, back to attempting European domination for Bilbao!

[Rustler]

I see some people have mentioned Jorge espericueta, the Mexican who has basque nationality. What are people's opinions? Is he worth buying, anyone got any screenshots now and the future?

[Thandui]

Have to say that Ander Herrera is starting the new season ridiculously well for me, definitely one of my favourite players and most consistent.

[TacticalGenius]

I've decided to give FM12 one last crack, to see if it will be worth me buying FM13... I just haven't been able to get into it due to success with an FM11 save with another club. But I also had a cracking save on FM11 with Athletic, leading to them becoming my 'Spanish team'.

Spent all night getting the coaches in, which took a while as now you really have to stick to the board recommendations as to how many of each coach type you can have - I had to find coaches willing to be 1st team coaches rather than coaches, etc. Having played FM11 for so long I wasn't used to that. Also set up the training schedules and assigned them.

After reading the initial scouting reports, I signed three recommended youngsters: Álex Serrano from Sporting (£1.3m comp), Saul from Atletico (free) and Moisés from Villarreal (£2.7m comp). In terms of PA, Moisés is rated at 5*, Saul at 4.5* and Serrano at 4*. Ocio left for £250k, and Koikili is transfer listed. Galaretta, Saborit and Xabi Castillo have been promoted from Bilbao Ath, with Ibai Gomez going the other way.

Friendlies against affiliated clubs had already been set up, but I added a starter vs the u19s, and a final warm-down friendly against Bilbao Athletic. No moneyspinners, but it is more important to me that the team have some easier friendlies to build morale and fitness rather than harder friendlies which increase the club coffers.

So, here goes...

[TacticalGenius]

[TacticalGenius]

It's Feb 2012, we're 3rd in La Liga, in the final of the Copa del Rey (vs Malaga) and hold a 3-1 aggregate lead in the Europa 1st KO round against Roma.

Lineup:

GK: Ruffier (£10.4m, Jan 2012)

DR: Azpilicueta (£22.5m, Jan 2012 - £15m upfront, £7.5m after 50 league goals. LOL, like they'll see that!)

CB: Ekiza

CB: San Jose

DL: Aurtentxe

DM: Javi Martinez

MCR: Iraola

MCL: Herrera

AMR: Susaeta

AML: Muniain

ST: Llorente

[TacticalGenius]

End of season 2011/12:

League table:

http://i1234.photobu.../athtab1112.png

How is that for close!? Same points, same goal difference. We scored more, but the deciding factor was head-to-head results, which favoured Madrid.

Team/Player stats:

Competitions:

Key players:

Fernando Llorente - The best Target Man you can get. Won Spanish Player of the Year.

Iker Muniain - Goals, assists, incredibly adaptable, and still so young! Won Spanish Young Player of the Year.

Markel Susaeta - Like Muniain, just without the award. Fantastic season for the young winger.

(Honourable mentions: Javi Martinez - fantastic DM and Ander Herrera - 20 assists from CM)

Next season: UCL football and another crack at the top two. I can't wait!

[TacticalGenius]

Bit lonely in here

Just a quick 2012/13 update; We're 2nd in La Liga after 17 games and the only unbeaten team. We progressed from our tricky UCL group in 2nd place behind Chelsea, with Juventus dropping into the Europa League, and Toulouse going home.

Gabilondo is leaving for free in the Jan window after complaining too many times about not being played, and Toquero is listed for the same reason. Zubiaurre annd Amorebieta are also making noises about wanting to leave, but I need them as backup for the time being, so I'm keeping them happy - every time they complain, I give them a game or two to shut them up for a while...

[TacticalGenius]

December 2012/halfway point update:

Not bad, not bad at all. Smashed our rivals Sociedad and we played a blinder to come from behind to beat Chelsea, though even the win didn't allow us to beat them to top spot in the group. The draw was disappointing against Sevilla, despite us being 'underdogs', away from home and them being on a 12 game unbeaten run - we played well enough to win it.

The Sevilla draw knocked us off our top spot which we had held well to that point. Still, we're unbeaten!

Llorente is on form again after his broken ankle at the end of last season - he came back just in time for pre-season. Muniain is also playing well, but not quite in the form of last season - yet.

We achieved one of our two aims for the season by qualifying from the UCL group, so I'll now amend the target: Reach the UCL Quarter-Final. To achieve this we need to beat Lyon in the KO round...

Update: Fernando Llorente has been crowned World Player of the Year, and came third in the FIFA Ballon d'or!

[Thandui]

I'm playing as Bilbao as well, I'm just zooming through the seasons so I haven't been posting much Here's my best youngsters

Aitor Gonzalez - The only non-basque player, but he's so good, been playing him as AML when Muniain is injured, or AMC, scores screamers quite often.

Borja Aranguren - Llorente's back up, but has been getting a few games this season due to Llorente getting injured a lot.

David Telletxea - Probably the best of the youngsters, him Aranguren and Begona all came through together. Been playing him as AMC

Jon Alonso - Last years best youth product, very good so far, which is great as I needed a new CB!

Markel Begona - Developing very very well, probably gonna play him from the start next season.

Currently 1st in the league with 5 games left! Been scoring so many goals this season, as I created a new very attacking formation

This way I can play both Herrera and Telletxea, who have both been great this season, as has Azipilicueta as WB.

EDIT: Gonzalez and Telletxea are both wonderkids

[TacticalGenius]

Those kids look very good.

[TacticalGenius]

January 2013:

A month dominated by Copa del Rey games, and while the result against Barcelona looks like there is a power shift in Spain, they were playing a weakened side in both legs, though it was a stronger weak side in the second leg. A bad tackle on Llorente three minutes into the 1st leg against Barca has left him on the treatment table for the next 2-3 months. Against Real Madrid in the league, we were 1-1 until the 89th minute when Susaeta poked us ahead, but a dodgy headed Ozil goal from a Ronaldo free kick gave them a share of the points with only 10 seconds of added time to go.

So thats how it stands after 20 games. We'd have stayed top if we'd have seen out the Madrid game, but alas, we did not.

[TacticalGenius]

End of 2012/13:

We held our end of the bargain...

...but Barcelona wrapped up a 5th straight title a game early.

The path to our second Copa del Rey win in as many seasons.

The stats. Despite Llorente missing 3 months of the season, he was still Europe's (and Liga BBVA) second-top scorer, behind David Villa.

[Falahk]

I have now just finished up the 2018/2019 session wining 3 of the 4 trophies I was in contention for, but I sadly lost the CL final 5-3 to the monster that is the Manchester United squad of David Moyes, it have for a while been one of the best squads I have ever seen the ai build (possibly right up there with the fm10 Udinese team of Francesco Guidolin sporting the Hazard/Zaraté/Sanchez trident playing a narrow 4-3-2-1 formation which possibly could be regarded as breaking the ME at that point in time)

here goes the current squad anyway:

Stéphane Ruffier

Gorka Pardo

César Azpilicueta

Jónas Ramalho

Javi Martínez

Fernando Amorebieta

Iñigo Martínez

Eduardo Aizpurua

Enric Saborit

Carlos Gurpegi

Beñat

Asier Illarramendi

Iker Santamaría

Ander Herrera

Jon Santamaría

Sendoa Bilbao

Igor Martínez

Andoni García

Xabier Santisteban

Xabier Remírez

Iker Muniain

Fernando Llorente

[Mihalis]

Hey guys, always wanted to try a bilbao save but could never stick. this year ive started one and im loving it. i play a 4-1-1-3-1 formation and it seems to be working well. havent lost in the league yet and got creditable e draws away at barcelona, real madrid and valencia. Whilst also getting good wins against athletico madrid and sevilla.

only lost once all season to sporting in the europa league group but i played a weaker team.

Once i figure out how to post screen shots i will post my tactics, transfers, staff and fixtures.

let the lions roar!!!

[MWE]

I finally won a trophy after 8 years in charge won the Spanish Cup emphatically

[Mihalis]

im currently trailing 1-0 to sociedad but have the home leg to look forward too. Cant see me losing this. resting my players

[TacticalGenius]

End of 2013-14 season:

League:

http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff417/TG_Jamie/athtab1314.png

Winners! Barcelona were on our arse until our comeback win in the Copa del Rey Quarter Final, when the defeat sent them into meltdown. They drew their next game then lost two on the bounce, including a heavy defeat by Real Madrid. From there on their morale was poor, allowing us and RM to take full advantage.

Champions League:

http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff417/TG_Jamie/athucl1314.png

Our Champions League run was eventful, only qualifying from the group in the last game. We drew Shakhtar, who beat us 2-0 in the first KO round leg. Needing a result in the 2nd leg at home, the crowd cranked up the volume and I fired up the troops, and a magnificent 7-0 win sent us through to face Lyon in the Quarter Final.

The Lyon game was emphatic, a 4-0 home win in the first leg meant only a major disaster would see us out of the tie, but a 1-1 draw in the 2nd leg was safe and we were through to face Marseille in the semi, who won the UCL in the first season, and were runners up last season (knocking us out in the QF on the way). We nicked the first leg 1-0 at San Mamés, against the run of play. Disaster struck in the 2nd leg when they scored first, and were dominating the play. Llorente bagged a 92nd minute goal which was the equaliser on the day which saw us through to the final against Liverpool...

And what a final!!! Muniain scored within 2 mins to put us in the lead, but Douglas Costa equalised in 9 mins. THREE minutes later, de Cerio scored to make it 2-1 to us. For a while we were on top and should have put it beyond the 'Pool, but Vargas struck to equalise in the 34th minute. Nacer Chadli scored to put Liverpool ahead after 63 mins and were dominating. I was actually thinking it wasn't our year, until Muniain netted on the break to equalise after 80 minutes. It was end to end until the final whistle, as was extra time. When Ruffier saved Carragher's pen and Carroll missed, my heart stopped...We were almost home and dry! When 18y/o DM Puente's penalty went in and we'd won, I jumped in the air with more happiness than any other win on FM, ever!!

Copa del Rey:

http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff417/TG_Jamie/athcdr1314.png

3 in a row. Also won the Supacopa de Espana.

Stats:

http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff417/TG_Jamie/athstat1314.png

The season in numbers!

-Llorente won the UCL and European Golden Boots, Ballon d'or, Spanish Player of the Year, Liga BBVA Goalscorer of the Year, Liga BBVA Spanish Goalscorer of the Year and World Player of the Year.

-Muniain won UCL Best Player and Spanish Young Player of the Year.

-I won Manager of the Year.

[Dirty_ACE]

Currently into the seventh season with Athletic. So far we've won 4 La Liga titles in a row as well as reached the final of Champions League twice, winning one of them. We've also won the Spanish Cup 3 times.

The youth academy has been very fruitful. I have received at least one really good prospect in every batch of new players. I'll post screenshots of them when I get a chance.

[TacticalGenius]

Athletic career to date:

2011-12 - Liga BBVA: 3rd, Europa League: Semi-Final, Copa del Rey: Winner

2012-13 - Liga BBVA: 2nd, Champions League: Quarter-Final, Copa del Rey: Winner, Supacopa: Winner

2013-14 - Liga BBVA: 1st, Champions League: Winner, Copa del Rey: Winner, Supacopa: Winner

2014-15 - Liga BBVA: 3rd, Champions League: Quarter-Final, Copa del Rey: Quarter-Final, Supacopa: Winner, UEFA Supercup: Winner, Club World Cup: Winner

2015-16 - Liga BBVA: 1st, Champions League: Quarter-Final, Copa del Rey: Runner-Up

[SRL88]

This has nothing to do with FM, but I am trying to plug some interest in the GPTG. If you are interested in creating a fantasy football team then this should interest you.

I have created a couple of leagues on fantasy.premierleague.com. As always, go onto the website, create your team and these are the two following leagues you can enter:

FM GPTG Head to Head:- 200057-60478

FM GPTG:- 200057-60472

[TacticalGenius]

2016/17 Season Review:

Liga BBVA: 1st;

Champions League: Winner;

Copa del Rey: Semi-Final;

Supacopa de Espana: Winner

Fixtures and results:

July - December

January - June

Domestic League:

Table

Europe:

UCL: Group / Knockout rounds / Final

Domestic Cups:

Supacopa

Copa del Rey

Club:

Statistics

Transfers - In: Eugenio Revilla

Players:

Award winners: Iker Muniain / Oscar Santano / Iban Paradinas

Honourable mentions: Antoine Griezmann / José María

Next season - more of the same, please!

[kickingbird]

How did you get Greizmann? Tried to get him and Martinez for ages and couldn't get it done

[TacticalGenius]

How did you get Greizmann? Tried to get him and Martinez for ages and couldn't get it done

He went to AC Milan for £9m in 2014/15, I picked him up in 2015/16 for £17.75m after he was transfer listed by request. Also picked up Illarramendi from Milan in the same season for £17.5m, after he went there at the start of 2014/15 for £8.75m.

Martinez is still at Sociedad, and isn't interested, despite us winning 3 titles and 2 UCL's.

[TacticalGenius]

2011-12 - Liga BBVA: 3rd; Europa League: Semi-Final; Copa del Rey: Winner

2012-13 - Liga BBVA: 2nd; Champions League: Quarter-Final; Copa del Rey: Winner; Supacopa: Winner

2013-14 - Liga BBVA: 1st; Champions League: Winner; Copa del Rey: Winner; Supacopa:Winner

2014-15 - Liga BBVA: 3rd; Champions League: Quarter-Final; Copa del Rey: Quarter-Final; Supacopa: Winner; UEFA Supercup: Winner; Club World Cup: Winner

2015-16 - Liga BBVA: 1st; Champions League: Quarter-Final; Copa del Rey: Runner-Up

2016-17 - Liga BBVA: 1st; Champions League: Winner; Copa del Rey: Semi-Final; Supacopa: Winner

2017-18 - Liga BBVA: 1st; Champions League: Winner; Copa del Rey: Winner; Supacopa: Winner; UEFA Supercup: Winner; Club World Cup: Winner

2018-19 so far: Supacopa: Winner; UEFA Supercup: Winner; Club World Cup: Winner

[TacticalGenius]

2018/19 Season Review:

Liga BBVA: 1st

UEFA Champions League: Semi-Final

Copa del Rey: Winner

Supacopa de Espana: Winner

UEFA Supercup: Winner

FIFA Club World Cup: Winner

Fixtures and results:

Part: One / Two

Domestic League:

Table

European/World competition:

UEFA Champions League: Group / Knockout stages

FIFA Club World Cup

UEFA Supercup

Domestic Competition:

Copa del Rey

Supacopa de Espana

Other:

My players of the year:

Oscar Santano - 108 goals, no exploits used!!!

Iker Muniain - 32 goals, 25 assists, all from AML!

Iban Paradinas - 36 assists is a new club record!

Transfers

Team/Player/Club stats

Link to tactic: http://goo.gl/Lkk0k