[FM18] The Dynamics of telling you to shove your transfer request up y- a journeyman career

[noikeee]

So I load up FM again today after a break of a few days and play my first match and

That's another decent result. 

[noikeee]

The next round:

Not as easy as it may look at the first glance, Guimarães famously won the Europa League a few years back, knocked out my Derby once I think, and have finished in the Portuguese league top 3 a couple of times. Yet, I'm comfortable with them as opponents compared to a few other options here...

[noikeee]

February 2036

 

A truly great month, that hopefully is the turning point in this season for the better. We were already doing well but still chasing Real Madrid, and feeling the heat from Sociedad behind us in 3rd, so what better way to make a statement in the league, than going to San Sebastian win 4-2 and then smash Real Madrid 6-0, to climb to 1st? What a great moment, and it came midway through another 2 matches against Real Madrid, that stopped our long record undefeated run (it finished at 28 matches), but put us in the cup final against Barcelona! Later we'd drop points against Sevilla but Real Madrid dropped points too, so we remain 1st now with a 2 points lead.

Meanwhile as if smashing Real 6-0 wasn't a memorable enough moment, there was the 5-0 over Man Utd in the Europa League, too. We'd lose 2-0 in Old Trafford as I fielded the backups but it didn't matter. Guimarães next in the round of 16.

Despite all the great news, a real issue is the long term injury to striker Daniel Fernández. Vladimir is doing fine in his place, but the options upfront might be a bit thin to compete properly in both league and Europa League.

 

 

[noikeee]

 Youth intake 2036

 

Disappointing intake and the personalities are absolute ****.

[noikeee]

It's an easy enough 2nd leg win after a 1-1 in Portugal.

 

The quarter-finals draw:

We got lucky, again. When only Real Madrid Liverpool and Rennes remained at the end I wasn't feeling very optimistic - but thankfully we got the French. We're favourites again.

 

 

[noikeee]

March 2036

Undefeated which is always good, but not particularly convincing this time. Dropping points at home to both Celta and Espanyol was pretty poor, and made me seriously concerned that our high intensity attacking game might finally be catching up with the players' legs. We briefly dropped out of 1st place but Real Madrid would do us a couple of favours, and as we won all other matches they dropped back to 2 points behind again.

In the Europa League I just posted above what happened so no surprises. Rennes next in the quarters.

April promises to be big decisions time, or at least setting it up quite decisively. We enter a critical stage in the league with a fearsome battle against Real Madrid (Real Sociedad have now dropped way back), whilst trying to compete in Europe at the same time, and we also have the cup final vs Barcelona coming up. My main concern is injuries, we first had a huge injury crisis with wingers, and now it seems to have moved on to strikers - Vladimir and Raúl Gonzalez are momentarily both out, and I don't know yet if Dani Fernández will still return at some stage this season.

 

 

[noikeee]

We barge past Rennes as expected with two 2-1 wins:

.... and as for the semi-finals:

... we got lucky again.  Bordeaux are in a resurgent season currently 3rd in the league which hasn't happened in ages, but still clearly the team I'd like to face here from the options.

[noikeee]

Copa del Rey final

 

2 years later, we're back to a Copa del Rey final and it's against Barcelona again. 2 years ago we lost it but we've come a long way since, with lots of new faces having come into the club meanwhile, having grown into superior players, and my tactical systems have also been refined.
 

We line up like this:

Almost a full strength side from us, only really missing Daniel Fernández, BUT there's quite a bit of tired legs here from a hectic schedule with lots of league matches.

Minute 9: Raúl Gonzalez HITS THE POST! It's a low cross from Vladimir and a great chance for the Argentinian striker but he misses what would've been the 1st for Valencia!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minute 39: GOAL FOR VALENCIA! 1-0! A lightning quick counter sees Vladimir gets released at speed by Rodrigo Durán, and then Vladimir passes low to a completely free Raúl who does not miss this time!

 

 

 

 

Half-time: We're 1-0 up and it feels fair, we've been the only team to create danger here. If we can hold on to this it's the first trophy of the season and my first cup in Spain.

 

Minute 49: GOAL FOR VALENCIA! 2-0! Such a familiar pattern as it's almost 100% identical to the first goal! Vladimir is again released at speed on the counter by Rodrigo Durán, and crosses low for an easy tap-in by Raúl who scores again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Minute 86: GOAL FOR VALENCIA! 3-0! We insist on a corner, Vladimir at the edge of the area assists Javi Baena and he shoots whilst taking a deflection off Jordi Castillo - it's registered as an owngoal!

 

 

 

 

 

Full time: VALENCIA WIN THE COPA DEL REY!!!

 

Wow, I never expected it to be this easy. We executed our plan of soaking up pressure then punching past Barça on the counter, to perfection. We were immensely more dangerous during the whole match without really gifting any chances to Barça at any time - they never even got a single shot on target! A very nice way to win my first Copa del Rey and the first trophy of the season. Can we still get some more....? 

[noikeee]

April 2036

 

Almost a perfect month, but that loss to Betis could be costly - despite 4 clear cut chances and 5 half-chances we could not score, and then we condeded a 94th minute goal.... even if we later got sensational away wins to Atlético and Villarreal, Real Madrid have taken this chance to overtake us back. As it stands, with 4 matches to go (and us still having to go to the Camp Nou), Real are back to the top with 1 point advantage over us. It does not matter that we already have more points than in our title winning season 2 years ago, Real have just been sensational and we will have to be pretty special to beat such formidable opponents.

But despite losing 1st place, this month can't possibly stay in history as a failure, as we beat Barça 3-0 to win our first Copa del Rey since 2024, 12 years ago. And there's also the qualification for the Europa League semi-finals, of course - Valencia has not been in any European semi-final ever since the beginning of my career. With Bordeaux on paper beatable opponents, we have the ambition to reach the Europa final.

 

[noikeee]

Europa League semi-finals

After a 3-2 win in France, we approached the 2nd leg with confidence that we could retain our advantage and qualify for the final...
 

 

... and that's what we do. An easy straightforward win, and we didn't even have to tire our first 11. We're in an European final!

... in which we'll play:
 

Liverpool. A final which will be played in the most beautiful stadium in the world!  A tough match, against a pretty strong side commanded these days by Diego Simeone and who are currently 4th in the Premier League. The following player is their star, what an absolute monster:

 

I think they might be slightly favourites, but we have a chance.

[noikeee]

La Liga - round 36 of 38

 

Things are heating up in La Liga! Here's the situation as we approach the very end:

 

Real Madrid still holding on to 1st place by 1 point, but any slip and we're past them - remember if we finish level on points, we beat Real due to better head-to-head results (0-5 6-0!!). However our calendar is not easy in the slightest, as we face Barcelona away in this round. We might've just beat them 3-0 in the cup final, but on their stadium things might not be as straightforward.

We're the first to play although Real's kickoff time is only 30 minutes later (somewhat bizarrely).............







 

It's a disaster. Not what I expected at all as we were dominated and deserved nothing from this game. I do not remember such a poor performance since the early season (I'm talking way back then in September and October) big defeats to Real Madrid and RB Leipzig, which led to me changing the tactics.

As for Real's result.....

Unfortunately, it's their league to lose now. A win in their final 2 matches (away to Eibar and home to Villarreal) and they are champions.

[noikeee]

La Liga - round 37 of 38

Into round 37 we can only hope for a miracle. Real need to **** up the last 2 matches and we need to win both of them. We're away to Depor in La Coruña, Real away to Eibar. Both matches play at the same time.

We do our part. It's a huge win. Depor are already relegated but it's always nice to win by 5 away from home! A Dani Fernández that has recently returned from injury is proving handy.

Meanwhile in Eibar....

Real drop points! The miracle is still mathematically possible! Can we luck into it the final round?

[noikeee]

La Liga - round 38 of 38

 

Welcome to the final round of La Liga 2035/2036, in which we'll be following Valencia-Getafe and Real Madrid-Villarreal. This is pretty simple: to be champions we need to beat Getafe, and have Villarreal get at least a draw at the Bernabéu. Any other combination of results, and Real Madrid are champions.

It's kick off time and the ball is rolling in both Valencia and Madrid....




















 

Minute 30: GOAL FOR VILLARREAL! 0-1! It's the visitors doing our work for us at the Bernabéu, with Korean striker Baek Chang-Hoon the scorer! Unfortunately it's not proving very easy in our own match as we've squandered a ton of chances, but if we get one goal in, we're up to the top of the table!



 

Minute 32: GOAL FOR VALENCIA!!! 1-0!!!! Rodrigo Durán's cross from the left wing finds Dani Fernández's head and we finally score!!! As things stand Valencia are now top and provisional champions!!!

Minute 39: GOAL FOR VALENCIA!!! 2-0!!! Now it's from the other flank, Javi Baena's cross finds Dani Fernández again and the Uruguayan striker scores his second!!

Minute 45: GOAL FOR VALENCIA!!!! 3-0!!! We can't stop scoring! Fernández now returns the favour and assists Baena for the third!!

..... but unfortunately there's some bad news flying in on the same minute - GOAL FOR REAL MADRID! 1-1! José Luis Costela has equalised from the penalty spot!

Half-time: We're comfortable on our own match, doing our part. All hopes now rest on Villarreal to resist for another 45 minutes. As it stands, 1-1 at the Bernabéu gives us the title. But any Real Madrid goal, and it swings back to them. It's entirely out of our hands.

Minute 55: Things have gotten a lot harder - the news come in that Villarreal's right-back Luis Rodriguez - our own player, on loan to them - has been sent off... Villarreal need to resist for another 35 minutes with a man down for us to be champions....

Minute 59: GOAL FOR REAL MADRID - 2-1! José Luis Costela again, now from open play. There is nothing we can do - now against 10 men Real should be able to hold on to this. We can only hope for another miracle.

Minute 64: GOAL FOR VALENCIA! 4-0! It's Brazilian striker Vladimir on a corner. But surely this doesn't matter much anymore....

Minute 83: GOAL FOR REAL MADRID. 3-1. It's as good as over. Scored by Portuguese-Moroccan winger Youssef Attouchi.

Full time: It's the hope that kills you. For a brief moment it looked like we could still rise from the dead and still steal this league. But at the end it is: Valencia 4-0 Getafe. Real Madrid 3-1 Villarreal. Real Madrid are the 2035/2036 Spanish champions.
 

[noikeee]

Europa League final

 

Welcome to the gorgeous Estádio do Dragão in Porto, Portugal, as Valencia face Liverpool in the Europa League final. Whilst we lost the Spanish title just 3 days ago, we can now add a second cup to this season's trophy list, after the earlier success in the Copa del Rey. According to the game's records, Valencia have won this trophy 3 times previously: 1962, 1963 and 2004 - however the 1962 and 1963 trophies were during the Inter-Fairs Cup era, so are not recognised officially by UEFA.
 

Onto the squads:

We are missing two players: centre-back Iker Palacios is injured, and so is midfielder Hervé Gay; so in comes Pedro Álvarez and Hernán Ramírez. Upfront I decide to bench Raúl González and field this season's top scorer Vladimir instead - with Dani Fernández operating as the deeper of the two forwards. On Liverpool's side, we are horrified to find Davies-Grist is fit and we'll have to play against him... the lad, a Liverpool youth product, is an absolute physical beast with every single physical attribute 15+....

Minute 22: GOAL FOR LIVERPOOL! 1-0!! Robert Duffy's long through ball releases Davies-Grist and the freak striker does not miss!!

Minute 25: This only gets worse!!! Darío Suárez fouls Eugene Dovbysh in the area! It's a penalty for Liverpool!!

 

Jamie Ball to take it..... facing Gvozden Cosic.....

 

GOAL FOR LIVERPOOL! 2-0! Cosic guesses correctly but is powerless to stop the shot from going in!!










 

Minute 41: GOAL FOR VALENCIA!! 2-1!! We get one back out of nowhere!!! It's Rodrigo Durán on a corner!!!

 

Half-time: It's a pretty poor first half from ourselves in Portugal here. Liverpool have been overall superior and we don't look like we've understood what can we do to hurt them. Durán's goal gives us a little hope but luck will need to smile our way.

 

Minute 75: Dani Fernández HITS THE POST!!! From way far!!!! This 2nd half seems to be going on and on without much to show from it, but the Uruguayan striker almost got one out of the blue! Unfortunately it was just a little too accurate!








 

Minute 79: GOAL FOR VALENCIA!!! 2-2!! We're still alive! Dani Fernández drifts out to the wing, to cross for Raúl González (who had replaced Vladimir) and the Argentinian striker is quicker than the defence to put it in!!! It's all even now!!

 

Full time: This one is going to extra time. I can't believe that we came back from 2 goals down. A switch midway through the 2nd half, from the most defensive version of the 4-4-2 into the most attacking one, has done wonders. But it's still tied and can still swing both ways. Everyone on the pitch, Valencia shirt or Liverpool shirt is tired. Who will lift the Europa League trophy?

[noikeee]

Europa League final - extra time

Minute 91: GOAL FOR VALENCIA!!!! 3-2!!! We score immediately almost from kickoff!!! It's wing-to-wing as right-back Dário Suárez assists Rodrigo Durán for our 3rd goal of the night!!!

Half time in extra time: We've got players completely exhausted, like Rodrigo Durán at 56% condition or Vojislav Pavlovic at 57%. But as long as hold on to this advantage, and the clock keeps ticking, we're good.























 

Minute 116: GOAL FOR VALENCIA!!!! 4-2!!!! It's a lightning quick counter, Raúl González frees up Dani Fernández, and he chips it over the keeper!!! A beautiful goal!!! Surely the cup is ours now??

 

Extra time full time: VALENCIA WIN THE EUROPA LEAGUE!!!
 

[kidthekid]

still a great season, could have been a treble, but this is pretty good

[noikeee]

May 2036

 

Ultimately the big 3-0 defeat at the Camp Nou cost us a league title and what would've been a perfect season, and it hurt that Real gave us those little glimmers of hope only to take them away again, but I can only be happy with how this final month turned out, as we add an European trophy to the Copa del Rey we had won in April.

I feel this was a league that Real won rather than a league that we lost. We pretty much smashed all of our club records in this edition of the league: most points (93), more wins (29), least defeats (3). It was a far superior season than the one in which we actually won the league 2 years ago, the difference is that this time we had more than worthy opponents, whereas back then everyone fell apart in order to gift us the title. I feel like this is real progress and if we keep up at this level we'll very soon win the league back again.

 

[noikeee]

4 minutes ago, kidthekid said:

still a great season, could have been a treble, but this is pretty good

Yeah I can't fault my players at all, got 93 points (!), won both cups, just missed a tiny edge to make it all perfect, we'll get there.

[oriole01]

Unlucky not to get the league again, but a brilliant, resilient performance in the EL final. You are certainly making big progress, and hopefully an assault on the CL is possible in the near future. KUTGW!

[deltablue]

Very exciting season, with a big cup win, Europa win in extra time, and the final day title race even though you lost that.

[JD nawrat]

Great double Noikeee  Shame about the league but there wasn't much else you could have done. 

Just need to win the Treble next season, complete with Champions League in place of Europa League

[noikeee]

17 hours ago, oriole01 said:

Unlucky not to get the league again, but a brilliant, resilient performance in the EL final. You are certainly making big progress, and hopefully an assault on the CL is possible in the near future. KUTGW!

Yeah having a go at the CL is the goal for next year now.

9 hours ago, deltablue said:

Very exciting season, with a big cup win, Europa win in extra time, and the final day title race even though you lost that.

It was definitely a fun season! Really enjoyed this one.

4 hours ago, JDownie said:

Great double Noikeee  Shame about the league but there wasn't much else you could have done. 

Just need to win the Treble next season, complete with Champions League in place of Europa League

Challenge accepted! 

[rodesire]

Very well played, a great double!  

[noikeee]

Valencia - 2035/2036 - Season review

We lose the league, but it's a breakthrough year nevertheless with our first Copa del Rey in 12 years and the first Europa League in 32 years - plus we break a few records in the league anyway, even if we don't win.

Statistics and best 11

 

Top 5 players of the season

5. Dário (ML, MR) - Whilst most of the season he was just Rodrigo Durán's backup, his performances in the Copa del Rey and Europa League - in which I often rotated the side - were just amazing. Total of 14 goals and 15 assists. A Valencia youth academy graduate, Dário's talent has probably already reached his limit but he's very handy to have in the squad.

4. Raúl González (ST) - I'm starting to think our strongest duo of forwards is Vladimir-Dani Fernández now, but Raúl got a lot of playing time again and was a goalscoring machine again. 27 goals and 13 assists. That's the 3rd consecutive season playing for me he breaks the 25 goal mark.

3. Vladimir (ST, MC) - The new Brazilian signing got even more goals though, and is shaping up as a serious part of the future of this club. Top scorer with 29 goals, plus 15 assists.

2. Rodrigo Durán (ML) - One of the few attackers not to reach double figures in both goals and assists (though he was close - 8 goals and 19 assists), he continues to be one of the highest performing players though, with a superb 7,81 ratings.

1. Daniel Fernández (ST) - The injury he picked up in February against Real Sociedad stopped him for 3 months and that was ruined his numbers (22 goals and 17 assists), otherwise he would've been way ahead of everyone else there. Astonishing 7,90 ratings. Simply, our best player now.
 

Major youth prospects

Néstor YP34A (18, SPA) (ST) - A massive breakthrough season for our academy graduate as he became our 4th striker and scored 9 goals in 16(2) matches for the first team. Growing into one hell of player, if a bit one-dimensional as of yet, but I'm working on that.

Paulo Gomes (18, POR) (ST) - Hired at the beginning of the season for a bargain 150K€. This is a strange player as the staff/AI rates him clearly super high but his attributes don't quite follow - either-footedness is eating quite a bit of CA. Poor finishing makes me uneasy about him, BUT he is a very complete player and has looked great on his first few cameo appearances this season. And now suddenly at the end of the season, he was called up for the Euros for Portugal!!!!

Andoni Flores (19, SPA) (M/AMR, ST) - Signed a couple of years ago for 425K, he is also proving to be a bargain. I'm a bit unsure on what kind of player I want him to become and have given up on winger due to low crossing/dribbling, and am training him as false nine now - although there's a lot of competition from the 2 players above. I haven't played him on the first team yet but it should be just a matter of time. He's another very complete player, great at few things but good at a lot of things...
 

Career progress table

 

[noikeee]

25 minutes ago, rodesire said:

Very well played, a great double!  

Thank you!

[Fer Fuchs Ake]

93 points and it's not enough for the title. Gutting. Congratulations on the Europa League win though. You're building quite a force to be reckoned with.

[Rikulec]

Nestor looks like he could grow into a damn beast, I'm thinking along the lines of that Liverpool guy.

Congratulations on both the cups.

[noikeee]

European football - 2035/2036

UEFA Champions League

What about this!! 8 years after the most glorious moment in my career, when I won the Champions League with Derby County, Zinedine Zidane takes them to a 2nd European title!! I'm sad that I'm not the manager who accomplishes this (I spent another 4 years at Derby trying to replicate this without success), but I do feel some pride as a lot of this team's key players are the guys that I hired just before moving on from the club - stars like Danish striker Jakob Christensen, Polish winger Mateusz Glen, and German right-back Maurice Vander. Indeed, Christensen scored both goals in the final.

It's an all-English final too... been a long time since that last happened (after the earlier run in 2020s in which the Premier League dominated the CL). Final at Wembley to top it off!

England

 

Igor Tudor's Man City retains the title, an easy one with 8 points advantage over Spurs. New European champions Derby County are only 4th - the one thing Zidane or any other AI manager hasn't accomplished is to win the title again. Man Utd are only 7th behind a surprising West Brom, and Arsenal seem to be falling deeper and deeper again, down to 12th.... behind Leeds United.

Germany

 

Schalke domination is over!!! Leverkusen rise to the top even if they finish with just 2 points over both Bayern and Schalke. It's Leverkusen's 6th title after their glorious run in the early 2020s with 4 on a row (and their first ever title back in 2018).

France

 

PSG win a 5th title in a row, 5 points over Monaco, which in turn finished a whole 22 points ahead of everyone else. Boring.

Spain

 

We push Real Madrid to the maximum but 93 points is not enough and Real reclaim the title after a 2 years absence. Levante qualify for the Europa League with a nice season in 7th place. Espanyol and Depor go down.
 

Italy

 

The Juve-Milan rivalry continues, and it's a tight season as Juve wins it by just 1 point. FeralpiSalò make a very brief incursion into Serie A only to drop to Serie B back immediately. Atalanta qualify for the Europa League ahead of the likes of Fiorentina and Lazio. 

33 year old former Ballon d'Or Dario Herrera is top scorer and has the highest ratings... but look who's playing for Milan. My former Derby County Colombian striker Óscar Navarro!!! They got him for a ridiculous discount 22,5M€. Now wanted by Barcelona so I could face him again soon...

Portugal

 

Sporting (who retain the title) and Benfica are in a whole different level and finish 25 points ahead of best of the rest... Guimarães. Porto yet again only 4th. This is depressing. Cova da Piedade and Real Massamá have become well established upper midtable clubs. Sporting Espinho are back to the top tier and remain there.

[noikeee]

1 hour ago, Fer Fuchs Ake said:

93 points and it's not enough for the title. Gutting. Congratulations on the Europa League win though. You're building quite a force to be reckoned with.

 

39 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

Nestor looks like he could grow into a damn beast, I'm thinking along the lines of that Liverpool guy.

Congratulations on both the cups.

 

Cheers guys.

I like Néstor a lot, I just wish he could develop a bit the playmaking side of his game. I'm training him on false nine to focus on that.

[noikeee]

Shows quite a substantial improvement in defence.

[noikeee]

I hadn't realised this is going to happen...

[hasdgfas]

Just started reading this career. Great work! It's been fun to follow along.

[noikeee]

The 2019-built Nuevo Mestalla is getting bigger. It's going to host over 90 thousand spectators! 

[noikeee]

4 hours ago, hasdgfas said:

Just started reading this career. Great work! It's been fun to follow along.

Thanks! I remember you from a youth-only Arsenal career, I think? That was pretty original and fun. When are you coming back with a thread?  

[hasdgfas]

3 minutes ago, noikeee said:

Thanks! I remember you from a youth-only Arsenal career, I think? That was pretty original and fun. When are you coming back with a thread?  

Not sure. I might revive that youth-only Arsenal career, as I have a lot of fond memories of it. Right now I'm just trying to chug along with my own first FM18 save(I got a new job which pretty much coincided with me disappearing from the forum for a while, and also not picking up FM18 until recently). If I get inspiration, I may start something new. 

[noikeee]

UEFA Euro 2036 - Germany

And the big UEFA European Football Championship final this year is...... what the ****?

This is just one of those weird outliers. The Swiss have a pretty good team in fairness (3 guys playing for Bayern, another 2 for Dortmund, 1 for PSG, 1 for Milan, 1 for Inter, 1 for Atlético...), but you wouldn't have seen this coming. Also, Germany hosting the Euros and falling in the round of 16? Ireland making the quarters? FM seems a bit drunk here.

 

And the best player award winner, is a DM knocked out in the semi-finals. Did I mention FM was a bit drunk? Sure, he's undeniably world class and did really well this tournament, but..... ? It's just plain unrealistic. Sort it out SI.
 

 

Top scorer was a bit more normal - France aced this category. Petit has terrorised the Premier League for a decade, about time he comes up in these things and gains some proper recognition. The 2nd top scorer, 21 year old Timothe Le Bras, he played for PSG but I had an outside chance of just about signing him this Summer - unfortunately they asked for just a bit too much money and instead just went to Real Madrid for 79M€. He's going to be insane (already is). It's gonna be an absolute nightmare facing him in the league this year.

[noikeee]

I'm so tempted. Portugal need someone to get them back onto track, recent results have been awful. But it's connected to the quality of the squad - the previous good generation is all retiring and the new kids haven't risen to the challenge yet. I look at the squad and the ages are 31, 31, 31, 32, 34....

I think I'm gonna have a sleep on it. It's been so long since I last managed internationally, that it could be a fun challenge. But I know it'll slow down the progress even more and this is already quite slow as it is...

[noikeee]

Lisbon, Portugal - 20th of July, 2036

 

**** it, I took it.

 

 

My nation needs me. Here's a look at their recent results:

It's actually not that terrible given that 2 years ago we reached the World Cup semi-finals, but we were dead last in the Euros group this Summer. That doesn't bode well.

I would post something about the squad but a few of the guys have dropped to the Olympics squad which is ongoing, so it wouldn't be representative. So I'll show the highest reputation players:

Alfonso Albuquerque (M/AMRL) (29, Man City) - Utterly world class winger. One of the best in his position worldwide, if not the best. 20 Crossing!!!

Hélder Paiva (DLC, DM) (29, Schalke) - Solid CB but not super ultra outstanding.

Joaquim Fradinho (M/AMR, AML, ST) (22, Real Madrid) - The future of the national team, he's probably going to be the next best player after Alfonso Albuquerque. Last year he was mega for Real Madrid which hurt my Valencia team. More a winger than a forward.

Dário (M/AMC, ST) (29, Milan) - More a AM than a striker which is an awkward fit for my system. Good but not world class.

Vítor Bastos (DC) (31, Man Utd) - Decent CB but starting to enter the downturn phase of his career.

Rúben Seabra (DM, M/AMC) (34, Barcelona) - Was amazing but is past it on his physicals. I might be radical and soon not call him up anymore - my system asks a lot from players physically in every position.

[john1]

Good luck with Portugal! Hopefully there decent youth players in U's21/18 to step up to replace the oldies.

[SmileFaceGamer]

Porto?

[noikeee]

5 hours ago, john1 said:

Good luck with Portugal! Hopefully there decent youth players in U's21/18 to step up to replace the oldies.

It's not looking bad, there's 3 or 4 stars in the making, but perhaps not the massive strength in depth I'd ideally wish for. But I haven't had a serious long look yet.

4 hours ago, SmileFaceGamer said:

Porto?

Porto what?

It's pretty possible I might manage them in the future, specially with how bad of a slump they're in, but at the moment I've got a lot of unfinished business with Valencia.

[noikeee]

This career might have to take a break, it's super frustrating because it was only getting more fun again, with Valencia getting momentum, the upcoming Supercup against Derby that I'm really excited about, the new job with Portugal etc etc, but my computer is acting weird, FM has frozen three times (losing me two weeks of pre-season the last time which is annoying as ****), I need to format the whole laptop and I have no idea when will I have time for it, and if it'll fix everything as the hardware itself has gone iffy, it's been a few weeks since the battery has lost the ability to charge at all. Hopefully I can squeeze some time by the weekend to do the format, but I think I'll be busy as I'm going through a lot of real life stuff too.

I don't think it's career over as I really really want to continue but it might take a while.

 

[rodesire]

8 minutes ago, noikeee said:

This career might have to take a break, it's super frustrating because it was only getting more fun again, with Valencia getting momentum, the upcoming Supercup against Derby that I'm really excited about, the new job with Portugal etc etc, but my computer is acting weird, FM has frozen three times (losing me two weeks of pre-season the last time which is annoying as ****), I need to format the whole laptop and I have no idea when will I have time for it, and if it'll fix everything as the hardware itself has gone iffy, it's been a few weeks since the battery has lost the ability to charge at all. Hopefully I can squeeze some time by the weekend to do the format, but I think I'll be busy as I'm going through a lot of real life stuff too.

I don't think it's career over as I really really want to continue but it might take a while.

 

That's a shame, noikeee.  Is replacing battery an option?  I did that to mine around new year's and it's done wonders for me.

[noikeee]

14 minutes ago, rodesire said:

That's a shame, noikeee.  Is replacing battery an option?  I did that to mine around new year's and it's done wonders for me.

Well yeah but it's not a huge problem as of now as I can just use the laptop connected to power, it's just that I'm not sure if what's going on with FM now and the whole system is merely a software issue, and the battery issue is completely separated from it, or if there's something deeper ****ed up with my hardware.

[noikeee]

And we're back *fingers crossed*

Dani's Spanish now. That's a new non-EU slot in the squad which opens up nicely for Colombian wonderkid right-back Luis Rodríguez, who was on loan to Villarreal last year.  (and got sent off against Real in the final match which gave them the title instead of us. The little **** better learn to keep his arse on pitch for a full match very soon or he's gonna have problems with me)

[ManUtd1]

Glad that this is back and running again *knocks on wood*

[noikeee]

[noikeee]

And the first success of my time as Portugal manager is..

Olympic gold! Won by the U23 manager Veríssimo. Oh.

To be fair I have *use same tactics as senior team* ticked... and I only loaded my tactics after the quarter-final. So they reached the semi-finals playing some bog standard 4-3-3 that was loaded up by default.....

[noikeee]

Pre-season 2036/2037

After a neverending pre-season in which MY ****ING GAME KEPT CRASHING sorry had to get that out my chest, and then we chased 2 goalkeepers forever like idiots only for them to pick Schalke and Barcelona over us (and before my last crash I had indeed managed to snap up the kid keeper that now instead went for Barça, this time I decided I could get away with slightly lower wages and NOPE, backfired)..... we hired just 5 players and spent 56M€ and none of them are expected to get into the starting 11. Great.

Outgoing are two players that have had a lot of playing time over the last few seasons but I just didn't rate. China came calling for Nilson Cardoso, offering a crazy 48,5M€ and of course I ****ing accepted. Great player in theory, not in practice, always played below his level. I also sold the underwhelming right-back Dario Suarez (although he was the starter last year) to Lyon - opening up that space for Luis Rodriguez.

Several others are gone, there's loans and **** yadda yadda, you guys can click on the transfers screenshot if you want to know.

The new guys:
 

Promising 18 year old left-back. I splashed 4M€ because my scouts raved about him. As soon as he arrived in Valencia, all his CA/PA stars decreased. My scouts need an eyesight test.

As pre-season went on and I noticed I wasn't hiring anyone at all, I panicked and started picking up decent players on a free. Not sure this guy was a good idea - he's 3rd/4th best striker on paper now, and stands in the way of Néstor YP34A. But hey, free, Spanish, young-ish, pretty quality striker all round.

Another guy I picked up on a free because, uh, I don't know. 1 year contract means there's little risk here. I'm planning to rather crazily adapt him to MR.

Now we're talking. I believe in him so splashed 9,25M€ - he's a future superstar winger. Not a present superstar winger yet, though.

Speaking about wingers I kinda went crazy and spent 42,5M€ in him. Is he worth it? No. Improve that full star of potential (could there be 2 stars to improve, even?) and he becomes worth it, though. 20 years old. Spanish, homegrown in the country. Worth the gamble.

Squad

 

It's the same lot as last year with a couple new backups. Have I told you guys I'm not happy with pre-season?
 

Fixtures

 

One of these days I'm gonna tell the lads to concede a goal in a friendly or lose or something, just to be a little different and make this screenie vaguely interesting for a change.

Right, now the real **** begins. Derby on the UEFA Supercup next (with special full coverage of course), then Real Madrid in the 2-leg Supercopa (WE WANT REVENGE BIATCHES), then the long season. This year I want nothing less than to reach the final stages of the CL. If we're not quite quite ready, we're at least near that level. Just see how difficult it was to find players that would improve our squad... we need big trophies and big progress in Europe. No more excuses, no more Europa Leagues, no more 2nd places. It's time to play with the big boys.

[rodesire]

Decent pre-season, major lols at your panic buys and scouts being scouts.  Go stick it to your former employers, maybe make Zidane Zigone?