Rikulec Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 Football Manager 2015: Rise of the Basque So here I am, taking my second chance to create a successful(ish) career thread on FM15. After a miserable failure that my first thread was, this time I'll try to start somewhere warmer, specifically in Spain. Here's the man for the job. Born in Bilbao, Rico Alvarez embarks on his journey to become the greatest football manager ever. He'd also like to manage the famous Athletic on his way to glory. My Save I have England (League Two), France (National), Germany (3. Liga), Italy (Serie C), Netherlands (Jupiler League), Portugal (Campeonato Nacional), Russia (FNL), Spain (Segunda B) and Turkey (1. Lig) loaded on a large database. This adds up to 58,000 players available. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted December 13, 2014 Author Share Posted December 13, 2014 It's 13th October and Elche Ilicitano C.F find themselves sitting 18th in Segunda B3, two points from safety after eight games. I attended the interview. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted December 13, 2014 Author Share Posted December 13, 2014 It was nice to be offered a job at the first time of asking. The expectations are high, but after looking through the squad I believe we could challenge for promotion, provided that I start my reign well. Rico Alvarez' Management Career - New Club - Elche Ilicitano C.F On 17th October Rico Alvarez was officially confirmed as the new manager at Estadio José Diez Iborra. Hopefully it will be a successful stint. Club Name: Elche Ilicitano C.F Nickname: El Sportman Year Founded: 1932 Status: Semi-Professional Stadium: Estadio José Diez Iborra (1,500 capacity, 500 seated) That's about all you could expect from a reserve team. They won their Tercera Division group in 2013 and finished 6th in Segunda B last season. Let's hope for the best! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted December 13, 2014 Author Share Posted December 13, 2014 Yay, I'm developing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted December 13, 2014 Author Share Posted December 13, 2014 Rico Alvarez' Management Career - October 2014 - Elche Ilicitano C.F Segunda B3 Off to a flying start, employing a 4-4-2. Yes, it really worked. My first game in charge was going to be extremely tough - we travelled to Gimnastic who were comfortably sitting 3rd in the league. For this game I prepared a counter attacking tactic which was already blown to pieces five minutes in, when our centre back Luca Iotti didn't quite understand what goalkeeper Pol Freixanet was shouting to him, knocked the ball past him and then bumped into him. Gimnastic striker Rayco had no trouble slotting the ball into an empty net. I decided not to change the approach just yet, rather wait and see. We played quite well and created a few decent chances, but eventually conceded again after 43 minutes from a corner kick. At this point I thought the game was over, but no - we responded with a corner in stoppage time as defender Fran Martinez found himself on the end of the cross. We left the pitch trailing only by one goal and that's when I decided to go more adventurous. Subbing off my CM(s), bringing on Tobias Christensen, a Danish kid with bags of potential and changing his role to CM(a) worked wonders. Although Gimnastic were first to threaten us almost straight from the kick off, we managed to gain control over the match. 64th minute on the clock and winger Ivan Agudo crosses from the left, the ball meets the head of Gimnastic defender Ramon Verdu, but he fails to clear it and puts it in the back of the net. All square and we're on a run. The next thirty minutes were incredibly frustrating, watching my strikers miss chance after chance. As I lost any glimmer of hope, the boys put together one last passing move, Jesus Tamayo turned with the ball and slotted it home. A glorious win gave us a boost of confidence as we were about to host Sant Andreu, a team which I'd guess has good recognition here. The result might suggest it was a relatively easy game, but no. In fact, the Catalans could have easily scored more than us, but they were terribly ineffective in front of goal. We converted our first chance in the game as Luca Iotti got to a near post corner. Just before the half hour mark we extended our lead with our second shot on target, this time it was Tamayo with a composed finish. Sant Andreu dominated in the second half, but it was us who added another goal - Ivan Agudo finished a gorgeous passing move in the 64th minute. Only at this point was I convinced we were actually going to win this game. The visitors pulled one back three minutes before stoppage time as we failed to defend a corner kick, but that was all. Two wins from two and we really hit the ground running. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted December 13, 2014 Author Share Posted December 13, 2014 Rico Alvarez' Management Career - November 2014 - Elche Ilicitano C.F Segunda B3 After a mixed month we slide down to 12th. Not good enough. The game against Lleida Esportiu was a brutal awakening after the perfect start back in October. The scoreline pretty much says it all. All goals were scored inside the first half. They threw us a bone when their striker was given a second yellow for diving, but all we managed to do is keep them from scoring more. We needed to bounce back immediately when Espanyol B came to our ground... and did. We got in front just 23 seconds into the game as our wide playmaker Joaquin dribbled into the box and calmly put the ball into the back of the net. We added another goal in the first half, striker Rubio found himself on the end of a great cross from the right wing and headed it home. We controlled play throughout the whole game, barely letting Espanyol into our half. All they managed was the odd shot from distance. Three minutes into the second half and we're 3:0 up, Richi finds his way onto the scoresheet with an easy tap-in. From that point the game became rather dull, we had our result while the visitors had no intention of trying to perform an improbable comeback. The bad news? We lost our key player Joaquin to a wrist injury which put him our of action for three weeks. In the next round we travelled to Olimpic Xativa... and honestly, I have no idea how we lost by such a big margin. Sixty minutes into the game, four shots, four shots on target, four goals. Simultaneously, we couldn't hit a barn door even from the easiest positions. It was a bad day for Jesus Tamayo, who somehow managed to miss a header from three yards out. We pulled one back through Richi, but that was all we could manage in that game. Abysmal performance, that. A week later we hosted Hospitalet and I hoped this would be a chance to bounce back... doesn't that sound familiar? Unfortunately it didn't for the players. We conceded just two minutes into the match and from that point dominated. Well, that didn't really matter though as all our front men were visibly out of form for a second time in a row. And for a second time in a row we eventually managed to finally break the curse, but one goal was all we were able to produce. David Ibarra got away from his marker, found the ball in a post-free-kick scramble in the box and fired it into the net. A disappointing draw and the play-off dream started to become more and more elusive. To make it worse, our next game was away at Villarreal B, one of the best teams in the league. Luckily our defensive tactic bore fruits again. They seemed to have started the match better, but it was Jesus Tamayo who caught them on the break and put us 1:0 in front after 12 minutes. Our rivals kept pushing on, but we successfully stopped all their attacks before half time. We lacked concentration in the second half though and Villarreal made good use of it, converting a far post cross from a corner kick. At this point I knew we were going to lose if we hadn't changed something, so I switched to a more offensive tactic. The game balanced from then on, both teams had their opportunities. Luckily we took our chance as Ivan Agudo blasted the ball into the net in the 77th minute. Villarreal attacked with fury, but we held them off and got a very important win. Another good news is that Joaquin should be fit for our next game. Hopefully he'll provide some much needed consistency. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted December 14, 2014 Author Share Posted December 14, 2014 Rico Alvarez' Management Career - December 2014 - Elche Ilicitano C.F Segunda B3 A good month in terms of results, but to be honest we were all but convincing in those games. In the first match we hosted At. Baleares, on paper the worst team in the league. They lined up with a narrow 4-2-3-1, which caused us big trouble throughout the game. We got in front just before half time - Jesus Tamayo received the ball with his back to goal, managed to turn around and knocked it past the goalkeeper. The match had its periods, both teams could have easily scored, but our defenders did a great job blocking numerous shots. Pol Freixanet made a few decent saves too. We had another lucky break in the 71st minute when Mohamady Traore played the ball across the six yard box for Jesus Tamayo to bang it in without any real pressure. The visitors couldn't convert any of their chances and eventually we finished the game with a clean sheet. The following week we hosted Valencia Mestalla. I wasn't fooled by their poor position in the league table - it was going to be a tough clash. We were absolutely dominated in the first half, but surprisingly managed to hold them off for the most part of it. Unfortunately, a smashing free kick from the edge of the box was too much for Pol Freixanet and at half time we found ourselves 1:0 down. The second half wasn't much different, the visitors maintained full control over the match. Yet in the 82nd minute we got lucky once again - Jesus Tamayo received the ball inside their half and played a wonderful through pass which completely fooled their defenders and Mohamady Traore had no trouble putting that away. Valencia seemed stunned while we pushed on and really should have gone in front, but Rubio and Julio Teixeira wasted two wonderful opportunities. All in all, a draw was a decent result when you look at how it all went down, but it meant we lost distance to the play-off zone. The final match of December was away at Cornella, a struggling team deep in the relegation zone. Should be a blast, right? Well, to cut it short - I honestly have no idea how we managed not to concede a single goal there. We had pretty much only one good chance and made perfect use of it - Jesus Tamayo got to a ball cleared from our defending third, dribbled past a defender and hit it towards the far post, beating the keeper and finding the net. Only ten minutes before Cornella missed a penalty, a header from inside the six yard box and hit the post following an indirect free kick. To make things worse for them, Dani Marti, the player who missed the penalty, got himself sent off for two yellows. In the end, we somehow managed to get three points there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidBeckham Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 How did I miss this?! A pity that your last thread didn't end well, good luck in Spain mate! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dexter_Morgan Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Shame your last thread didn't work out but hopefully now you are more in to the game this will go a lot better Bugger of a division to be in though Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK22 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 I hope you get out of Segunda B quicker than I did! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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