[FM18] AFC, A Chainsaw Massacre (2019-2036) // Basque Bonanza (2037-2040)

[MarcxD]

December 2031

Well, no unbeaten season then, but otherwise a fantastic month, finishing it off with a great win away against PSV.

Big lead while Feyenoord is doing very well themselves. Too bad about the loss, but otherwise this season is going fantastically well.

Also through as first of the group, and amazingly Tottenham didn't even qualify for the next round.

As this is the first year that 4 Dutch clubs played in the CL groups I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how they did.

PSV did very well, even if they did have a relatively easy group. 16 points is really good though.

Feyenoord had a much harder group, but at least they can still try their luck in the Europa League.

But wow Groningen! Qualifying in a ridiculously tough group, pushing Barcelona down to the Europa League!

Dutch clubs still looking very strong. Too bad that in the EL 2 of the 3 clubs in the groups did not qualify for their knock-out rounds.

We drew Sevilla, a decent draw you would normally say but as they won the CL last season I'm certainly not going to underestimate them.

[MarcxD]

January 2032

Only two official matches in January, but a good month nonetheless. In the semi-final of the cup we'll face Feyenoord.

Since Feyenoord lost their game in hand against AZ our lead is now a full 9 points again.

Some bad news though, Simanjuntak has been a very important player and I don't really have any AML back-ups ready.

Since it was january some transfer business as well, some more outgoings. Richardson had been an okay back-up DL but just not good enough anymore so when Cambuur came in with a decent offer he was let go.

[MarcxD]

February 2032

Great result against Sevilla in the first leg, pretty good domestic results as well although we should've really beaten Ajax.

Feyenoord is dropping points here and there so a huge 14 points lead now. This seems like it's going to be the easiest title by far.

While the Sevilla result was great Torres got heavily injured, a big loss for sure. 

[MarcxD]

Youth Intake 2032

A couple of interesting players, one of whom is English and another Andorran prospect! A lot of players that are useless though, it seems like.

Rated as the best prospect, lots of decent attributes, could be a good AML.

Looks good, I wanted another MC although his defensive attributes like marking and tackling need to get a lot better.

Some very eyecatching attributes here, but also poor passing, dribbling and off the ball. 

Well, not good. But who knows...

[Rikulec]

At least Garcia has a decent personality. I wouldn't rule him out just yet.

[MarcxD]

8 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

At least Garcia has a decent personality. I wouldn't rule him out just yet.

That's true. I sign all youth players anyway, so it will have to be seen if he develops into something usable or not.

[MarcxD]

March 2032

In some respects a bit of a dissapointing month, going out of the cup on penalties and conceding too many goals in the league. Beat Sevilla again though, so through to the quarter finals of the Champions League!

We'll face AC Milan, and PSV has also gone through after beating Chelsea. Groningen was defeated by PSG.

Champions in March! Absolutely dominated and all the rivals have had awful domestic seasons really.

Also one international friendly, pretty poor performance tbh but at least a strong performance from Simanjuntak who just came back from injury.

 

[MarcxD]

April 2032

Wow. We beat AC Milan and yes that's right, we are facing PSV in the semi-finals. Huge win in the first leg. The final is so close. Some decent performances in the league meanwhile, where I give some of the back-ups/prospects some chances

Huge 20 points lead... poor Emmen fans, not quite their year.

In the meantime this happened, only for the second time. Since many youth prospects get chances early on in the first team and the big prospects get moved to the reserves pretty much right away these are the lesser prospects. But still the best of the Netherlands

The groups for the Euros this summer have also been drawn:

We have been given a pretty kind group, should really finish as 1st. Kosovo's here again, but they'll have a hard time getting anywhere in that group.

England and Scotland together and Denmark, Norway and Sweden together but really group E is the most intestering group of the lot. You have to feel for Russia.

[MarcxD]

May 2032

A loss in the away game but it was enough to qualify for the final. Our first CL final. We had to face Atletico. Also a decent win in the league to cap that all off.

...

Second European final, second time lost. Again 2-3, again against a Spanish club.

We were up, but we threw it away.

[oriole01]

Oh man, that's another brutal result. However I think this wasn't quite your time. It is definitely coming soon, with one more solid season you should be over the line.

[MarcxD]

Season Review 2031-2032

Hugely succesful season when you look at it rationally, absolutely bossed the league and almost won the Champions League. Still no European trophies tough! Will go on and try..

For the first time in FM18 a working team of the year with the right subs! Might be the patch, Idk. Anyway, Vos not even in the first XI and it's clear to see why. Most positions can be rotated now, although some injuries like Torres and Simanjuntak definitely hurt.

Perhaps Fosu-Mensah can get the record of most appearances next season, although his place is getting more and more under threat. The tactic here is still the 4-1-2-3 with van Dijk as DM. Wonder when that'll change.

The exciting thing is that most of these players are still developing and are very young. And then there are a couple of prospects coming up.... 

Top 10 European club now, when you look at the coefficients anyway. Not close yet based on reputation.

Huge this, even if I knew this was going to happen since we're still a strong third on coefficients. 

A ton of awards, as usual:

For the first time some Champions League awards.

Even if we dominated the league, for the first time in a while none of my players won the player of the year. Did dominate the talent of the year award, and won GK and manager of the year again. 8 times manager of the year in a row now....

[MarcxD]

8 minutes ago, oriole01 said:

Oh man, that's another brutal result. However I think this wasn't quite your time. It is definitely coming soon, with one more solid season you should be over the line.

The squad perhaps isn't up to CL-winning status yet but it still hurts. One or a couple more seasons and we're bound to win it at some point though, I agree. I hope so anyway..

 

[MarcxD]

Euro 2032 Squad

Getting right into an international tournament to forget about that CL final.

A lot of the same names as in previous tournaments, some new ones as well though. I will show the first XI:

GK:

Has improved remarkably well. Note though here that his CA/PA stars are based on the AFC squad, not the Dutch international team. His value has increased a bit since the end of the season, just like the other AFC players.

Defenders:

By far the strongest part of the team, all 4 are fantastic players and the back-ups aren't bad either.

Midfield:

Well, he sure has developed since he left us. One of the best if not the best player of the entire team. It's not necessarily a good sign that the best player is a defensive mdifielder though!

Huge development, once again the AFC stars and not the Dutch, but he is very good. Value of 59M?!?! Almost doubled since the squad screenshot in the previous post...

Same thing as previously, much higher value and AFC stars, but obviously the front 3 are not the strongest part of the team. This is the weak point and is why we probably we won't win the tournament.

[MarcxD]

Euro 2032 - Groups

Well... bit of a bizarre couple of group games, where we played pretty poorly but got 7 points by scoring twice and conceding no goals at all.

Didn't get first place though, since the Swiss scored more against Hungary especially. Elsewhere results as you would expect more or less.

Not so much here, I guess, since I said I felt for Russia. They finished above Spain and Belgium... 

[ManUtd1]

Finally catching up in here, a great read and solid results!

[MarcxD]

4 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said:

Finally catching up in here, a great read and solid results!

Thanks man, I appreciate it!

[MarcxD]

Euro 2032 - Second Round

Well... still haven't conceded! And through to the quarter finals after beating the current world champions! That's the positives.

Spain, Italy and Germany are out. We face Portugal next.

[MarcxD]

Euro 2032 - Quarter final

I tried my AFC tactic (with the AMC) even though I didn't pick the squad for it to try and score some more goals. I guess it worked?

Up next... France. My kryptonite in the last couple of FM's internationally. That's about to change now. 

[MarcxD]

Euro 2032 - Semi-Final

Wow!!! It worked again, another extra time and now penalties win as well. What a performance from Meijers!! Finally beat France.

England beat Russia so we'll be facing the hosts in the final! I didn't expect to make the finals but it would be just terrible to lose another final now after the CL. So we're going to win it.

[Rikulec]

Wow. In real life Poland finished 2nd in their group at the last Euros with the exact same results in the exact same order as you, then won on penalties in the Second Round and then lost to Portugal in the quarters, also on penalties. If you had lost, I would have probably shat my pants here.

Oh, and good luck in the final!

[MarcxD]

22 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

Wow. In real life Poland finished 2nd in their group at the last Euros with the exact same results in the exact same order as you, then won on penalties in the Second Round and then lost to Portugal in the quarters, also on penalties. If you had lost, I would have probably shat my pants here.

Oh, and good luck in the final!

Haha, I'm happy that we did win at least!

Thanks, although I might have some bad news.

[MarcxD]

Euro 2032 - Final

This game really knows how to f*** with you sometimes. 

What else to add about this.

Gutted.

Best young player but not in the best team of the tournament or even on the subsitutes bench. Typical.

 

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

And to finally lose on pens to England of all teams 

 

[noikeee]

Jesus, that is absolutely freaking brutal. Losing the CL final again, then the Euros final on penalties.. Ouch. 

It feels as if you're just one tiny roll of the dice away from greatness. Keep pushing.

[john1]

Gutting!! To lose in CL Final and now Euros   I am sure you will eventually win Champions League!

[DavidBeckham]

Shame about the losses in the finals mate. Keep plugging away things will come good!

[andychar]

That is a tough way to end it! Something to motivate you going forward!

[MarcxD]

On 17-12-2017 at 02:31, The_Gato_In_Goal said:

And to finally lose on pens to England of all teams 

 

 

15 hours ago, noikeee said:

Jesus, that is absolutely freaking brutal. Losing the CL final again, then the Euros final on penalties.. Ouch. 

It feels as if you're just one tiny roll of the dice away from greatness. Keep pushing.

 

12 hours ago, john1 said:

Gutting!! To lose in CL Final and now Euros   I am sure you will eventually win Champions League!

 

4 hours ago, DavidBeckham said:

Shame about the losses in the finals mate. Keep plugging away things will come good!

 

4 hours ago, andychar said:

That is a tough way to end it! Something to motivate you going forward!

Thank you all for the support, I will definitely go on.

Although I have just lost the Dutch supercup so it's starting to feel (just a little bit) like finals may just not be my thing so far this save...

[MarcxD]

Pre-Season 2032

Here we go again. Is this going to be AFC's season?

First I got some offers from other countries, of course I rejected them. 

Same news really, big budgets and pretty much same expectations even if we are the #1 reputed club in the Netherlands now. Current wage spendings have definitely increased since I signed a lot of players on new deals but even still I could spend 2.5* times as much under the current budgets.

Of course no incoming transers but a load of loans, some more loan fees as well and 2 sales. Van Emmerik had been back-up AML for years now but really he was nowhere near good enough for AFC. Just not enough competition, but that is slowly (but surely!) changing.

Friendlies went well enough with a lovely start against Chelsea, but I lost another final if you can call the super cup that. Not too bothered about it, with it being very unimportant... besides I'm kind of expecting it at this point.

Probably the best European draw I've had so far, with Chelsea normally the only team at our level. Should finish as first. The other Dutch teams aren't quite so lucky but I would be shocked if none of them made it to the next round. At the very least PSV should have a relatively comfortable time.

Here we go.

[MarcxD]

August 2032

An interesting start to the season, not quite as dominant as the previous two years where we won all 4 opening games very easily. A lot of goals conceded but a lot of goals scored as well. Lost against PSV which was a big let-down, I really can't stand their manager (Miguel Herrera) who always badmouths me in the press while I'm always letting my assman do the press conferences. When the press asks me any direct questions though, I let them know he is an idiot.

 

There's one player in particular I really should thank that at least we got 9 points.

8 goals from 4 appearances, scored 2 goals in every match. Let's see how long he'll keep that up. Bad news for Vos though, can't see him getting any game time now.

PSV and (sub)top club Groningen got the full points. I'm not too worried, although 8 goals conceded in 4 is really not a good sign. 

[Deisler26]

The ending to last season sucks man. I hope you can break the barriers this season and next.

[MarcxD]

2 hours ago, Deisler26 said:

The ending to last season sucks man. I hope you can break the barriers this season and next.

Thanks, I hope so too. It was definitely a bummer but am now ready to go and try again.

[MarcxD]

September 2032

A really good month, all wins, much less goals conceded. 2 very good wins to start the CL, and through in the cup where more or less a B-team beat lower league ADO'20.

PSV still perfect and interesting to see NEC up there, don't think that's happened before this career. Katwijk also doing remarkably well in their first season up in quite a few years and Ajax doing really bad again so far.

Two international games as well, in the beginning of the month:

Revenge against England after the lost final I guess. In some ways this actually hurt because it showed we could've beat them.

A decent friendly win as well, with all goals coming from players brought up by the AFC academy.

[noikeee]

Picking up some momentum now...

[Timetxu]

4,098 spectators at the ADO'20 venue is quite remarkable, considering they play at this:

Then again, they're playing the almighty AFC.

[MarcxD]

1 hour ago, Timetxu said:

4,098 spectators at the ADO'20 venue is quite remarkable, considering they play at this:

Then again, they're playing the almighty AFC.

Officially they have room for 4500 spectators google tells me (and likewise in-game), so honestly a bit disappointing that it wasn't even sold out!

[MarcxD]

October 2032

Great results, but we were lucky a couple of times, especially in the last 2 matches of the month. Extremely happy with the 4-1 win against Chelsea though, we absolutely dominated them, and with the win against Feyenoord.

In first place since PSV dropped a few points. 9 points lead on all the rest now, very good. Elsewhere much has returned to a normalcy, with NEC losing a few games in a row now, Ajax getting back to mid-table at least and Katwijk dropping down to the bottom 3.

Disappointed by the performance but Portugal just outclassed us. They also beat England twice already, so it's looking very likely that they will win the group and we can't afford to lose to England if we want to stay up in the division A.

Another disappointing result in the following friendly, mediocre stuff against Russia.

[john1]

Superb win over Chelsea  

[MarcxD]

3 hours ago, john1 said:

Superb win over Chelsea  

Thanks!

[MarcxD]

November 2032

Wow, another perfect month. 3 in a row! Absolutely dominate the CL group and the Eredivisie so far.

Got a very nice 5 points lead on PSV and 12 points on everybody else.

A little bit later than I had expected but nonetheless the last bit of future payments on Van Dijk's transfer is done. The scouts think to buy him back would cost me 130M so that's not going to happen anytime soon I am afraid.

Two pretty poor performances in the nations league, but it was just enough to not relegated at least. Quite remarkable when you think about it that Portugal really comfortably beat both finalists of the European Championships..

 

 

 

[noikeee]

Go Portugal!  

Surely, surely, this has to be the year for AFC?

[MarcxD]

3 hours ago, noikeee said:

Go Portugal!  

Surely, surely, this has to be the year for AFC?

The hope is alive! But to get that European trophy some luck is needed as well. 

[MarcxD]

December 2032

Not perfect but still a good month overall. We were unable to win the last CL group game in a bizarre 4-4 draw and sadly went out of the cup on penalties. Overall strong performances though.

PSV not doing all that great so we're building a huge lead again. 

By far the most easy CL group we've had so far, very happy with how we performed.

Decent performances from the other Dutch sides in the CL, all go through to some European games in the next year. Ajax also finished first in their EL group so 5 teams are still in Europe. AZ beating PSG at home is probably the most remarkable result.

The draw has not been kind, Man Utd will be a very tough opponent. But I have faith.

The second time we got a Golden Boy. Once again not a hugely impressive player when you look purely at this attributes although he is decent, but some very good performances.

For some reason we got into the Confederations Cup, should get through the group together with Brazil, the #1 in the world.

2033 could be an interesting year.

[Makoto Nakamura]

4 minutes ago, MarcxD said:

For some reason we got into the Confederations Cup, should get through the group together with Brazil, the #1 in the world.

2033 could be an interesting year.

What on earth has been going on in Mozambique for them to be in Confederations Cup? 

[MarcxD]

3 minutes ago, Makoto Nakamura said:

What on earth has been going on in Mozambique for them to be in Confederations Cup? 

That is remarkable. And I honestly have no idea! They have not won any Cup of Nations, African Nations Championship and certainly aren't hosts. So your guess is as good as mine.

[john1]

Tough draw against Man Utd, at least you're away first  Good to see AZ joining you in next round  

[MarcxD]

56 minutes ago, john1 said:

Tough draw against Man Utd, at least you're away first  Good to see AZ joining you in next round  

It should be an interesting tie!

[MarcxD]

January 2033

Couple of games but very good results, especially very pleased to get a win against PSV! 

That makes a lead of 12 points now.

No transfers done in January at all.

[Deisler26]

EAAAAAASSYYY

[MarcxD]

20 minutes ago, Deisler26 said:

EAAAAAASSYYY

What do you mean?

(posting this just before the Man Utd game. I'm going to regret this aren't I....)