[FM21] The real Vila Real

[Chrisofclubs]

Introduction

First of all, a little about myself. I’m Chris, or Chrisofclubs if you fancy. I used to stream on twitch back in 2014-2016 pretty frequently but due to work and life commitments didn’t continue. Despite my disappearance from twitch and seemingly the FM community, I have continued to play Football Manager almost daily and really enjoyed FM20. The FM21 Beta has been with us for nearly 2 weeks and the full release of the game is tomorrow. The beta has been a breath of fresh air and despite the lack of huge additions to the new game, I think they’ve done an incredible job this year. I am fully in favour of more quality of life improvements and less big overhaul changes. Every year for the beta, I take charge of a top premier league team to get used to the new changes and then, once the full game is out, I dive into a long term save.

Okay, enough about me and more about the save. Let’s do this.

Situated in Northern Portugal is the District of Vila Real. With an area of 4239km2, the district is located east of Porto and north of the Douro River. The population in 2001 was 230,000 but over the last 20 years has seen a negative rate of change due to emigration and aging.

Founded exactly 100 years ago, Sport Clube Vila Real haven’t had much in the way of success. Their defining moment came in 1944 as they almost made it to the Primeira Divisao as it was then (LIGA NOS as it’s coined today). Alas, their 2-3 defeat to Estoril in the Segunda Divisao Grand Final was to be the end of a journey and, little did they know it then, the highest position they would ever finish. Having yo-yoed between divisions in the last 30 years, Vila Real find themselves in Portugal’s third tier, the Campeonato de Portugal. We find ourselves in the C league of the Portugeuese third division alongside twitch favourite SecondYellowCards’ 2020 team Uniao Madeira SAD.

 

Portugal’s interesting new rules see the introduction of a Portuguese third division into the game in the second season. As far as I can work out, from the in-game rules, you can win promotion from the Campeonato de Portugal to either the third division (by coming between 2^nd and 5^th in our group and then coming either 1^st or 2^nd in your play off group) or to the LIGA Portugal 2 by winning your group and then winning your promotion group. This creates an interesting possibility that if you win your group initially, you can still end up staying in a division that the team in 2^nd has been promoted out of. If anything above is incorrect, let me know. I’m new to managing in Portugal

As soon as the full game is out, I will have a more detailed squad and club analysis post and then we will get cracking with the save.

As with every post, if anyone likes/ dislikes anything, please feel free to let me know. Writing style, layout, anything. I’m open to all feedback so just leave a comment or message me anywhere.

 

Thanks a lot,

~Chrisofclubs

Edited November 24, 2020 by Chrisofclubs

[Chrisofclubs]

Goals for this save

Vila Real is going to be my main save this year on Football Manager 2021. I really enjoy taking over at a club and taking them on a journey to the summit of world football, therefore, here are the goals that I will be personally trying to achieve in this save. Not all will be achieved as I always set my standards fairly high but we have a year to do them! (These will get ticked off as the save goes on):

Club Specific

·         Win promotion to either Portuguese Third Division or Liga Portugal 2

·         Win promotion to LIGA NOS

·         Qualify for a European competition

·         Win the Taca de Portugal

·         Win LIGA NOS

·         Win a European competition

·         Win the Champions League

·         Become the most reputable club in the world

·         Maximise training facilities

·         Maximise youth facilities

Player Specific

·         Have a player win a leagues Golden Boot

·         Have a player win LIGA NOS Golden Boot

·         Have a player win a leagues Top Assister

·         Have a player win LIGA NOS Top Assister

·         Have a player win a leagues Player of the Year

·         Have a player win LIGA NOS Player of the Year

·         Have a player win a leagues Young Player of the Year

·         Have a player win LIGA NOS Young Player of the Year

·         Have a youth academy prospect called up to the Portuguese national team

·         Have a youth academy prospect win the Ballon d’or

·         Have a youth academy prospect record 200 league appearances for the club

·         Have a youth academy prospect score 100 league goals for the club

League Specific

·         Ensure LIGA NOS becomes the greatest league in the world.

Bonus objectives

·         Have a youth academy prospect become Portugal National Captain

·         Establish a link with Villareal

·         Make over £50million profit on a single player

 

The story so far:

 

If anyone has anymore ideas for objectives, please reply to this thread and suggest them and I’ll make sure to add them to the list.

~Chrisofclubs

Edited January 5, 2021 by Chrisofclubs

[john1]

Good luck  

[Chrisofclubs]

47 minutes ago, john1 said:

Good luck  

Thanks John! First time doing a career update on here so lets hope I don't get relegated first season! 

 

[Chrisofclubs]

Game setup

Initially, I am only going to load up Portugal and Spain. As we expand our scouting network and get closer to European competitions, I will add more countries so that we can add some variation to European competitions. I find that without loading the main European leagues, the same teams qualify for the European competitions and we want to add some variation in there.

In terms of players, I always choose to load up every single player from every single continent. I did this on FM20 and it ran at a decent speed and FM21 seems to be processing quicker so we should be okay.

I’ve also decided to enable attribute masking to increase the realism in the save. This will make scouting harder and ensure I have to rely on building my scouting network as quickly as possible.

The recommended badge for Vila Real was a continental B license (no idea why) but I decided that it may be a bit too easy for me to max out my coaching with me being an amazing coach so I decided to lower it to National B license. I kept the recommendation of semi-pro footballer. I decided to specialise in attacking coaching because that's where I played IRL. I'm not sure how I compare to Vila Real's current coaches but I'm sure we'll see!

Edited November 24, 2020 by Chrisofclubs

[Chrisofclubs]

Club tour

Welcome to Vila Real!

As you can see, the club was founded 100 years ago. With only 4 different trophies to our name, none of which are relevant or even still competitions anymore. The 5000 capacity stadium is quite a godsend at this level and the average training and youth facilities will come in very handy!

Looking at my assistant manager and his numbers, he looks slightly better than me but it is evidence that I have given myself the right qualifications. Being only 27 and with a year left on his contract, I’m going to give him a year to prove himself and see how we do.

With no media prediction, it’s hard to gauge where we are at but the board expect us to come mid-table in the league and reach the third round of the cup (We enter at the second round). I’m not sure where I expect us to come yet as I haven’t had a proper look at the team but that will come in the next post. Signing players under the age of 23 is a personal favourite so I will definitely be looking to do that! Working within the wage budget is a must at this level anyway so it's nice that the board agree. 

We have only 24k in the bank with 0 transfer budget and only £275 in wages available so lets hope the first team is good enough to compete!

 

Edited November 24, 2020 by Chrisofclubs

[Chrisofclubs]

 

Meet the squad

Here is the squad as I took over. There aren’t many players total which may be a bad thing considering everyone is out of contract come the summer.

Defensively, on first inspection we look great! Our best two players are Abel Pereira who is a very solid centre back/ right back option and Agostinho Soares who is (interestingly) one of two players from Guinea-Bissau.

Attack wise, we aren’t as stacked currently as we are defensively but we have a lot of very good prospects. Our second Bissau-Guinean is a 23-year-old striker or winger option.

On the surface of it, we look to be playing a formation that utilises a flat back 4 with wingers and a single striker but we will go deeper into tactics in the next post.

 

Key players

Abel Pereira - Agostinho Soares - Pedro Eira - Paulo Rodrigues - Ivanildo Nhaga

Edited November 24, 2020 by Chrisofclubs

[Chrisofclubs]

Tactical ‘stuff’

For the start of the save, I’m going to go for a 4-2-3-1. We have an abundance of wingers as well as a strong defence which really suits this tactic. This is also, what I believe, is the strongest line up pre transfer window (I don’t think there will be many changes)

GK – Not much to note here, standard goalkeeper. Nene is my strongest goalkeeper but he is37 so I will definitely be giving Nuno Silva and Rui Capela some game time. They are both evenly matched so I will give them similar amounts of game time to see how they do.

RB – Pereira is defensively our best player and should technically be playing CB. He is, however, only 5”10 and is equally adapt to playing RB.

CB – Eira is our strongest CB, with Mendes in second. They are both right footed so I decided to have our strongest CB on his weaker foot so that he can cover any space left when Soares pushes forward.

LB – Soares is arguably our best player. The temptation was to play him at FB(s) but with his 11 crossing, I really didn’t want to waste this. I decided to make him a wing back but put him on defend so that we can maintain that compact back 4 when defending.

CM – The idea here was simple. Syzyi is in the CM(d) position because he has the best tackling and positioning. He also has ‘plays short simple passes’ as a player trait so I decided to add ‘take fewer risks’ and ‘shoot less often’ to his player instructions. His role will be to sit infront of the back 4, mop up any loose balls and distribute to either, Soares, either Ze Pedro or Clever Jansen (great name by the way). The CM Ze Pedro (Known now as ‘Ze’) has 11 dribbling and whilst initially I thought to use him as a DLP and Clever Jansen as an AM, I decided that a BBM would make use of his high natural fitness as well as the dribbling.

AMR – This was a tough one to choose a player for. Both Rodrigues and Andre Fontes are young but Rodrigues is slightly better in this area. I have put him on the attack duty because with essentially 2 players down the left told to cross, it would be better for him to sit higher and maybe attack the back post when we are attacking down the left.

AMC – I haven’t played with a number 10 for a few years on FM so when I saw that Clever Jansen was only 24 with 13+ in all of the right attributes, I celebrated! He only has 9 acceleration and 10 pace so I’m not expecting him to be bombing into the box. I am however expecting him to be a pivotal point of the team and looking for him to be at the heart of most of the attacks.

AML – With only 2 naturally left footed attacking players (Both Ze Pedros), this was a hard position to fill. Ze Pedros stats are good enough for him to hold down that AML winger spot and hes only 21 so definitely see him developing. The AML position may be somewhere we need to look at when it comes to transfers.

ST – I’ve gone for a conventional advanced forward. If Jansen has slightly more pace, I may have been tempted to play a DLF and get them to almost play as a strike partnership but is wasn’t meant to be. With only 10 finishing, this may be a concern but his physicals are amazing for this league so I’m definitely expecting a high goal return. On the subs bench, we have Diogo Paixai who is also 23 years old and has slightly better finishing with 11.

 

Transfer targets

If we are to look at anyone here, I believe we need to be looking for a left footed AML and some depth in the centre of midfield. We have an abundance of right footed wingers so maybe we can weed out the poor ones before January. I don’t envisage any signings at all and think we have a really nice squad to avoid the drop.

[Chrisofclubs]

Pre Season update

Absolutely woeful. A really tough pre-season with a real mixed bag of results. Didn’t really mind about the 0-3 loss to the second XI because I mixed the teams around quite a bit so that I could see what everyone had to offer. Back up striker Diogo Paixao scored a hattrick so that is something to note. I then started him for the next 2 games and he didn’t show up at all!

After the 0-0 draw with Padroense, I pulled the wingers back to LM and RM to get them more involved in the game. I was finding that, without any real pace in the team but some great dribbling attributes, we weren’t able to get the ball up to the AML and AMR positions quick enough and it allowed the opposition to get back.

We played incredibly well at home against Vit. Guimaraes Under 23s but I felt that Clever Jansen didn’t really have a purpose in the team. I felt that we were playing a bit too defensively and to combat this, I changed the central midfield roles to AP(a) and CM(d). I moved the CAM position to be a second striker and what do you know… we’re back at 4-4-2.

We played the 4-4-2 for the final friendly and it started incredibly. We blew a 2-goal lead but looking on the bright side, we looked much better going forward and the 2 trialist strikers looked especially good.

 

Pros

·         Defence. Ironic, I know. Considering we conceded 12 goals in 7 friendlies, I shouldn’t be happy, but new boy Maycon and Eira have put in some really solid performances.

·         Rodrigues at right midfield has been one of the shining lights of the pre-season. He doesn’t have the best stats but he’s young and he turned in some really excellent performances.

Cons

·         The two best players at the club (Soares and Pereira) have had pre-seasons to forget! Hoping they pick up their performances when the season starts because I’m not above dropping them. They’re both 30 so if they can’t perform, then I will let their contracts expire.

 

Tactical adjustments

A lot of adjustments have been made over the course of the pre-season but now we come to the eve of the first league game and we have settled on the 4-4-2.

As stated above, all of the changes have been made after watching the friendlies. We didn’t look attacking enough and adding the second striker should give us more options as we go forward. I would normally use a DLF with the AF but considering we are in the third tier of Portugal and the defenders aren’t the best, I decided that the pressing forward would be much better suited to stealing the balls away.

I have also decided to drop the defensive line due to the fact that my defenders are incredibly slow! I saw a lot of balls being fired over the back line in the friendlies but this may help us to cope.

You may notice a few new faces which is nice. There have been some ins and one out which I will go over in the next post.

[Chrisofclubs]

Transfer business

Only one player left the club. Mika just didn’t cut it. He was home-grown at club but this couldn’t save him. He wasn’t good enough to be a centre back but he wasn’t good enough as a central midfielder either.

6 players joined the club. 4 loans, 1 non-contract and 1 part-time contract.

Carlos Mendes played very poorly in the first friendly so I looked for a new centre back and Maycon fit the role. He’s 19 and played very well in the friendlies alongside Pedro Eira.

Quiague and Kakra were signed to firm in the left midfield spot. Both young and both naturally left footed. They will provide competition to Ze Pedro but I can see Kakra starting when hes fit.

Andre Sousa is going to be a great rotation option for the advanced playmaker position in central midfield.

Lucas Reis and Claudio Silva are both strikers signed on loans for nothing and only on squad player status. Lucas Reis will be back up for the AF position and Claudio Silva for the PF.

 

Overall, I’m really happy with the business done in the summer. I managed to complete a lot of deals and all within the wage budget. They are all young and have a huge future ahead of them! There was a right footed winger who I felt could have done a great job upfront but he didn’t want to join us. I tried to sign players with pace because I think we are really lacking some quick players but there weren’t many options that I found that were viable. I will continue to look!

As well as this, Rodrigues, Nhaga, Syzyi and Jansen signed new deals keeping them at the club until the end of 2022. In total, I was also able to reduce the wage budget by £35p/w with these 4 signings!

[Chrisofclubs]

October 2020

Well… A very mixed bag of results to start the season. Much better than the friendlies and it seems like the 4-4-2 has something about it that is making us play a bit better. Really disappointed to exit the cup in the second round considering the board wanted third round and we drew a non-league side but the league form has been okay. The 4-4-2 has been really working with both strikers getting on the scoresheet a few times. Rodrigues has continued his fine pre-season form and was instrumental in the 2-1 home win against Pedras. Going forward, we look pretty threatening but defensively we need work.

Key match – Camara de Lobos 1 – 4 Vila Real

This was the first win of the season and we absolutely thumped Camara. Rodrigues, Ivanildo and Paixao were unreal in his game and we were very unlucky not to keep the clean sheet. Nene was out injured so Rui Capela came in to replace him but was beaten by an outrageous effort!

Player of the month – Ivanildo Nhaga

What can I say? 5 games, 5 goals and 1 assist. Great start to the season. Paixao was unlucky not to win this with his 3 goals and 3 assists but ultimately, we struggled for goals in pre-season and Ivanildo provided!

Other business

The board signed a 5 year sponsorship deal worth 87k per year which massively helps out the finances at this level. I did ask to upgrade the youth or training facilities but both were rejected.

[Chrisofclubs]

November 2020

November was another month of adaptation. Defensively we are definitely not good enough to remain in this league but going forward, we could probably score some goals in the league above. The draw at Gondomar was incredibly disappointing considering we were 1-3 up and cruising. We through away the lead in awful fashion. A defensive error and a screamer. The next game, however, the draw against top of the league Trofense was brilliant. With a record of 2 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses, we sit in 7th in the league. Pretty happy with where we sit considering all my saves on FM21 so far have seen slow starts to the season!

Key match – Vila Real 0 – 0 Trofense

What a performance. I really wasn’t expecting anything from this one and was pleasantly surprised by how we defended. Ivanildo had a few chances to put us ahead but it wasn’t to be. We didn’t deserve more than a draw but it’s nice that we actually got what we deserved!

Player of the month – Diogo Paixao

2 goals and an assist don’t really tell the full story. 3 goal contributions in 3 is fantastic and would’ve won him player of the month anyway but just the performances. Even as a pressing forward on attack, he seems to be linking up the play incredibly well. Both wingers were in for a shout for POTM but I had to give it to young Diogo

Other business

The board have agreed to find a senior affiliate for me. Great news! Hopefully I will be able to find someone to send us their quality defenders on the cheap!

Edited November 25, 2020 by Chrisofclubs

[Chrisofclubs]

December 2020

Absolutely demolished by Leca in the first match of the month as they went top of the league. Nene made 2 huge mistakes. We actually won the game on xG which is the first time I’ve actually hated the addition into this year’s game but it tells me we are doing something right. Just not sure what it is yet. For the second match, I brought in a new keeper on a non-contract. Meet Hugo Silva. He’s nothing special but he’s better than our two back up keepers and with Nene 38 years old, I felt it was time. Still on the look out for a better goalkeeper and some pacier centre backs but I’m pretty happy with things attacking wise. I decided to have a look around the league at the goalkeepers and came to the conclusion that there are A LOT of very bad goalkeepers in the league. Since noticing this, I decided to turn ‘shoot on sight’ on from the Uniao de Madeira game and what a difference it made. We spent so much time attacking that we didn’t really have to do much defending. Regardless of this, Hugo Silva made a few good stops. Next up a huge, huge victory away at Maritimo B. They are battling for mid table with us and it was great to steal some points away from them.

Key Match – Vila Real 5 – 1 Uniao de Madeira

A real shame for new keeper Hugo Silva in this match. We performed very well in this match and deserved the clan sheet. They were given a dubious penalty which they scored but despite this, Hugo Silva did save 3 other attempts. We had a lot of shots due to me turning on ‘shoot on sight’ and it really helped! 3 strikers getting in on the act as well as the left wing!

Player of the month – Claudio Silva

There were a lot of great performers this month. Performance wise it probably should have gone to Hugo Silva. Some great stops and was only beaten twice. Once from the penalty spot and one from a free header from a corner but Claudio Silvas 30 yard strike in the 91^st minute to give us a huge victory away at Maritimo B cannot be underestimated!

Other business

Boavista! The board have come up trumps here! Insane senior affiliate to get. Hopefully we will be able to get a new goalkeeper on loan from them. Nene really isn’t cutting it and at 38 years old, he really shouldn’t be at the club for much longer.

A mediocre group of players isn’t a great sign but having seen lots of posters on these forums getting some decent intakes, I have hope. Unfortunately, it looks like we’re getting no decent centre backs or goalkeepers which we are in desperate need of. Hopefully one of these defensive midfielders can be retrained to CB.

 

The board also seem a bit more willing to help out. They have allowed me to recruit an extra physio, scout and coach so I will write about that when they arrive!

[Chrisofclubs]

Staff update

Here is a look at the staffing before some slight adjustments. Now, with not much money available, there wasn’t much I could really do but I’m pleased with the progress made. I decided to get a well-rounded coach in the form of Rui Vieria. Neither myself or the other coaches had a defending coaching stat above 4 so it was about time we addressed that. The other addition to the coaching team was a replacement fitness coach. Joao Pedro Silva has come in to do all of the fitness coaching. My previous fitness coach had only 5 fitness coaching so with his 11, Joao Pedro Silva is a great addition to the squad. The third and final staff addition was to finally employ a scout. We only had a head scout and when the chance came up to sign Joao Tavares, I couldn’t turn it down. I have put him straight to the task of scouting all of Portugal for highly rated young players.

And with those three additions, the staff summary now looks like this (Below). We haven’t made huge moves but our defensive coaching has finally got someone better and our scouting is amongst the best in the league.

[Chrisofclubs]

January 2020

Great month of fixtures really. We were unlucky against Paredes and Ivanildo was amazing but we lost the games we were supposed to lose and we won the games we should be winning. The clean sheet at the end of the month did wonders for the confidence!

Key match – Vila Real 2 – 1 Camara de Lobos

This was a tough game against a very similar opposition. We should be winning these games but the confirmation was much needed. Great performance from all!

Player of the month – Ivanildo Nhaga

4 goals in 4 games has secured Ivanildo the player of the month award. We are scoring a decent amount of goals at the moment lately but need to work on our defence.

Other business

Andre Sousa has been performing well on his loan spell so I offered him a part-time contract until the end of next season. 5 players have also signed new contracts. All young prospects and senior players and I’ve managed to trim £25 per week off of the wage budget which has come in handy considering I’ve signed a new right back just in case Pereira doesn’t sign a new contract. At 30 years of age, on £170p/w and in poor form, I’m inclined to let Joel Mateus have a go next season!

[Chrisofclubs]

February 2020

An unbeaten month! We started off the month with a fantastic win at home to 9^th placed Coimbroes. The goal they scored doesn’t tell the full story as it was a GK error from a screamer from 30 yards. We did get the clean sheet in the second fixture. We absolutely robbed Seigueiros away from home but a win is a win and that moved us into the play off spots. We had a man sent off early against Gondomar but managed to scrape the draw and against the run away league leaders Trofense, we tried a cautious counter attacking approach and it worked an absolute treat! As you can see, there is only one relegation spot left so we need 2 wins minimum to guarantee safety. We have still got Maritimo and Uniao to play so a play off spot might not be beyond the realms of possibility. I don’t think we’re ready to get promoted yet though!

Key match – Trofense 0 – 1 Vila Real

The biggest win of the save so far. Trofense were unbeaten until this point. We held off their relentless attacks and managed to hit them on the counter. It was a wonderful goal from Nhaga! Still to analyse the victory in depth but the cautious counter attacking approach definitely seemed to work. Hugo Silva was amazing in goal for the second game in a row. Really starting to get a solid starting 11 together now.

Player of the month – Andre Sousa

Fresh from the good news that the loan deal became a permanent deal, Andre Sousa had a fantastic month. 1 goal, 1 assist in the 4 games this month doesn’t tell the full story. Sousa cleared a shot off the line against Trofense. As the advanced playmaker, I’m really expecting Sousa to be getting into those positions behind the strikers and that’s exactly what he’s doing. I’m playing FM21 on extended highlights and following Sousa in the games is a delight. Great positions and he gets around the pitch a lot!

Other business

The great performances by Hugo Silva have earned him a new contract. He signed a part-time deal until the end of next season on £60 a week. I plan to get a GK in on loan next season and Nene will be leaving the club and taking his £70 p/w contract with him!

[Chrisofclubs]

March 2020 + last game of the regular season

Going into the Leca game as favourites (I have no idea how, they’re second in the league), we may have been a bit complacent and everyone forgot how to play football again. Their striker Jardin scored all 4 as we got absolutely thumped 0-4. Despite the scoreline, we had an xG of 1.11 which is at least one positive. Hugo Silva celebrated his new contract by forgetting how to catch a ball unfortunately. Next up was a huge 1-3 victory away at Uniao. We were the favourites for this game and we thoroughly performed.

Then we came to an unexpected turn in the save. We secured a fantastic 1-0 victory against Maritimo B but this wasn’t all. J. De Santis managed to equalise for Coimbroes in the 93^rd minute against Salgueiros which meant that we secured a play-off spot with a game to go! I still think its too early for us to get promoted but I wont be bottling anything on purpose.

After our narrow defeat to Amarante. We finished 5^th in the league and guarantee a play off spot. The next update will be the results of the playoffs!

Key match – Uniao de Madeira 1 - 3 Vila Real

Well, what a match. The match that guaranteed safety in our first season with 2 games to spare. We were supposed to get mid table but with the roller coaster that the team has been on, guaranteeing safety is a huge step. Oh, and Eira the CB scored a 30 yard screamer. Leonardo Silva was amazing in this game also, bagging himself 2 goals. Andre Sousa with 2 assists as well. He has really come on since he confirmed his transfer!

Player of the month – Pedro Eira

4 games, 4 ratings above 7.1. Even in the 4-0 loss, Eira was the strongest player on our side. It’s been a fairly good month defensively. 2 of the goals in the 4-0 loss were GK errors.

Other business

The board have agreed to improve my youth recruitment. Great vision from the board and hope we get to see the benefits from it soon!

The board have also offered me a new deal so I have gratefully accepted!

[Chrisofclubs]

Youth intake

So something incredibly strange happened. Everywhere else in Portugal got their youth intake in the middle of March and I was thinking I wouldn’t have one but then out of the blue on the 10^th April, it happened.

Nothing huge to write home about though. 3 players of note.

First guys, Marquinhos has some very strange stats. Great bravery which would make him a good defensive option but with only 4 tackling, I don’t think he’ll ever amount to anything. Im going to train him as an advanced playmaker and see how that goes.

Second prospect, probably my favourite of the bunch is another central midfielder. Ricardo Feijo is going to be a better defensive option. 15 work rate, 13 decisions is great as a youth player. He’s not the tallest but if we train his first touch as well as the other base stats, he may eventually get a start somewhere.

Pedro Dinis is the final player out of the 3 worth talking about. Not a great talent. Would be best as a centre back but with 4 concentration, I don’t think he’ll ever get into the side. Going to sign him on a non-contract and see how he develops.

[lupinho]

Always love a good save in Portugal

Vila Real have been pretty good so far, excited to see what the play-offs will yield!

Edited November 26, 2020 by lupinho

[Chrisofclubs]

25 minutes ago, lupinho said:

Always love a good save in Portugal

Vila Real have been pretty good so far, excited to see what the play-offs will yield!

Thanks alot Lupinho. Really loving it so far. Enjoying documenting my progress as well!

[Chrisofclubs]

Playoffs

We were given a fairly good draw for the playoffs. Belenenses SAD B came 3^rd in their group, Merelinense 2^nd in theirs but Sertanense came 5^th in theirs. We only need to come top 2 for this so we are looking to get maximum points in the Sertanense games and then we should be targeting points in the home fixtures against the other two. Merelinense away is a free hit!

Insane start to the match. 2-0 up after 12 minutes and they just couldn’t get near us. We played the home formation on a balanced mentality. This gave us a bit more freedom down the wings but kept it compact enough. We conceded from a corner in the 80^th minute but that doesn’t dampen the huge start to the playoffs! Ivanildo’s goal after just 25 seconds is a new record for the club!

Another unbelievable match. This was looking like a really tough game on paper so I used our cautious counter-attacking tactic. Same 4-4-2 but with the LB as a WB(d). Limit the creative freedom, up the tempo and demand counter attacking and it worked! Ivanildo latched onto a ball driven over the top and slotted home in the 79^th minute! Only problem in this match is that Andre Sousa got injured for 4-7 weeks. He will miss the rest of the playoffs. Clever Jansen has been demanding first team football in the press. I don’t normally give in but im going to give him some game time to see if he can win himself a contract extension.

This one hurt. A point is a good result in general but the way we started it was amazing. The first half was a defensive masterclass but the second half we switched off completely. Anyway, unbeaten in the playoffs and still top of the group. Only top 2 needed so things are looking good! Next up Merelinense away.

I risked Andre Sousa for this match. He played through with some protective equipment. Clever Jansen didn’t play too well when he was given the chance and I thought it was a huge opportunity for us to guarantee promotion. We had an incredible first half. Very much like the last game. Defensively solid and they just couldn’t find a way through us. In the second half, they through everything at us but it just wasn’t enough. We are promoted to the Terceira Liga!

The next match against Berenense was a tough one. I decided to give Andre Sousa a well-earned rest and brought in 17 year old Berna. There isn’t a difference in prize money that I could see between 1^st and 2^nd so I really didn’t mind where we came. My mind was off the fixture and onto the promotion party! We actually played particularly well here but just couldn’t grab the equaliser.

Started with Berna in the middle of midfield again for this one. Started attacking to try and really go out in style! Fantastic win to finish the season of. Leonardo Silva showing why hes too good to extend his loan with us unfortunately. Berna with an assist was a nice touch as well!

We are promoted!

[lupinho]

Stayed cool under the pressure!

So, promoted to the third tier? Gonna be interesting to see how the new division works!

[Chrisofclubs]

7 minutes ago, lupinho said:

Stayed cool under the pressure!

So, promoted to the third tier? Gonna be interesting to see how the new division works!

Absolutely! Im so excited that we get to be in the debut season of the new division. Fingers crossed there are no bugs

[Chrisofclubs]

End of season 1 review

First season in charge of this small team but it was one to remember. I really didn’t think we’d be able to achieve what we did and if you look at the friendlies, they would’ve told you the same. Some tactical tweaks early on in the season did wonders for us and Andre Sousa was instrumental!

Competitions

Taca de Portugal Placard

Absolutely nothing to write home about this. Board expected us to get to the third round. We didn’t. We lost to a very poor Limianos side in the 2^nd round.

League

After a poor start, we picked it up very quickly. It was a campaign to remember and the chance to appear in the Terceira Ligas debut season is amazing. Incredibly pleased with how we played in most of the games. We conceded far too many goals for my liking but managed to score a fair few ourselves. Defensively, we need to build for next season! If the board allow me to get another coach, I’m going to be getting a defensive minded one and increase the amount of defensive training sessions we have.

Players

Fantastic season by one and all. Top goalscorer was Ivanildo although given the full season, I think Leonardo would’ve beaten him to it. Kakra was a surprise for me as the top assister. I thought we were going to have lots of competition on the left and, with the RM spot being the more attacking, I thought Rodrigues would have taken this award. I have extended Kakras loan due to his form! With Augostino Soares probably leaving, I’m thinking to make the LB a simpler FB(s). Pereira got double the assists than Soares so, again, I underestimated this position not being too creative.

Managers player of the season – Andre Sousa

This is a controversial one. Andre Sousa has improved this team. Simple as that. Clever Jensen just wasn’t putting in good performances. I extended his contract because he accepted a pay cut but I don’t envisage him getting the game time he wants. Back to Sousa, he was amazing. I am so glad we’re getting him on a permanent deal because I think he is going to be the star in the squad next season as well!

Tactics

The tactic has evolved somewhat during the season. The 4-4-2 has stayed. I find it’s allowing us to score enough goals whilst staying rigid and compact enough to defend. I think the goals conceded during the season are definitely a personnel issue rather than tactical. Leonardo Silva coming in made me move Ivanildo back to a DLF and this worked incredibly well. When counter attacking, the AP(a) links up very well with the DLF and both wingers. This gives us 3 different routes of attack and if we can find the right personnel, I think this could be the tactic going forward.

Next season, I’m going to stick with this, play cautious counter attacking for the away and tough games and then balanced/ attack in the home games and take off the counter attacking. The LB spot is open for change depending on who we bring in to replace Soares.

Transfer assessment

Past

Really happy with the transfers we did this season. Andre Sousa was a delight and freshened up that midfield completely! Leonardo Silva was a great signing upfront as well and ultimately changed the tactic to accommodate him. Defensively, Maycon and Ruben Costa were good but we could definitely have done better as defensively we were pretty sketchy. Hugo Silva in goal was a godsend as well. Whilst he didn’t have the best of times, he was certainly better then 38 year old Nene.

Future

Defence is definitely going to need some TLC. Eira’s form picked up towards the end of the season so I think he starts. I predict we will lose the two 20-year old FBs so I have already signed up a RB as a replacement and need to look for a LB. A new GK is a must and definitely a new striker. Some depth in midfield and maybe some more pace on the wings although I definitely think Kakra and Rodrigues can do a job in the third division!

The board have given me 25k in transfer budget which I have immediately converted to wage budget. I have £1200 p/w to sign 4 new staff members and then upgrade the squad. Its going to be tough!

 

[scarp]

Great first season! How do you finances look? Do you need the prize money to get out of red? Also, how does prize money look in the next division?

[Chrisofclubs]

1 minute ago, scarp said:

Great first season! How do you finances look? Do you need the prize money to get out of red? Also, how does prize money look in the next division?

Finances are looking really good. The board signed a lucrative sponsorship deal at the beginning of the first season which brings in 87k per year, plus we got 50k for the TV revenue from the playoffs. Currently we have 170k in the bank. 

Can't see anything about the new division yet as it doesn't actually exist yet. It's very strange going into a new league!

[Catley94]

Roller-coaster of a first season! Looking forward to a few of the Portuguese talents rising through the leagues, Ricardo Feijo fan club starting right here! 

[Chrisofclubs]

49 minutes ago, Catley94 said:

Roller-coaster of a first season! Looking forward to a few of the Portuguese talents rising through the leagues, Ricardo Feijo fan club starting right here! 

Ricardo Feijo has been doing really well in training. With 46 games in the season next year, he might even get a game or two! 

[HugoLazgo12]

26 minutes ago, Chrisofclubs said:

Ricardo Feijo has been doing really well in training. With 46 games in the season next year, he might even get a game or two! 

hey so since you got promoted to terceira liga does terceira liga will have 24 teams in next season and is that true that vila real almost got promoted to primeira liga right

i wonder what terceira liga could look like does terceira liga have share the same start date as primeira liga right

[Chrisofclubs]

44 minutes ago, HugoLazgo12 said:

hey so since you got promoted to terceira liga does terceira liga will have 24 teams in next season and is that true that vila real almost got promoted to primeira liga right

i wonder what terceira liga could look like does terceira liga have share the same start date as primeira liga right

Yeah Vila Real almost got promoted to Primeira in 1944. That’s the reason I wanted to start as them. I looked at all of the lowest level Portuguese sides and they were the most interesting.

 

Terceira Liga is interesting. For the longest time it didn’t let me check rules but when the season ticked over, it was all there. 24 teams, normal transfer Windows. Summer and winter window. Pretty standard registration rules as well. Start dates are all pretty similar as well. I think we start slightly earlier than primeira because of the amount of games. Oh and there are 2 promotion spots and 2 relegation spots. 

[Chrisofclubs]

Pre-season

First of all, lets get the friendlies out of the way. I’m happy with the tactic so I let my assistant play the matches. Really wasn’t a good pre season but for a lot of the matches, the assistant was playing random trial players. Not too unhappy with it. We had great xG in most of the games and even managed to put a goal passed Strasbourg and limit Boavista to 1 goal. We got a bye to the second round of the Taca de Portugal so we will start there in September. We start our league campaign away to Trofense who were with us in the league last year so will be a good test. The season preview has us in 18^th at 33-1. Ultimately, I am going to be happy with anything above 22^nd!

Transfers

It has been an incredibly busy window. After all of the contracts that I didn’t want to renew expired, I was left with only 14 players. No fullbacks, only one goalkeeper and nothing great in the way of other players. We couldn’t even put a first string 11 together so I had to dive straight into the transfer market. The board were very generous and, having put all my transfer budget into wage budget, we were left with £1600 p/w to fix the team. I wanted a squad of 25 players so we have been incredibly busy. I have utilised non-contracts for the players in back up positions and overall, I’m incredibly happy with the business I’ve been able to do. We even have £200 left per week incase we need some additional troops in January. So lets get started

Goalkeepers

We only kept Hugo Silva from last season. I really wanted to find a much better goalkeeper but couldn’t upgrade that much. We signed Manu and Diogo Sa both on non-contracts because I’m not sure about their ability. I will be rotating as much as needed and with 46 games, I want to keep player fresh. This is one of the positions in which im going to continue to scout for.

Defence

What a window for the defence. Both of the 30-year old full backs decided that they didn’t want to play for us in the third division. Ironically they are both still without clubs. I have managed to replace them with Joel Mateus and Bruno Pereira, not changing the tactic and reducing the wage bill by £150 p/w. Pedro Eira will retain his position in CB alongside the clubs highest paid player, Laercio. I couldn’t resist shelling out £275 p/w on this guy, it seemed too good to be true. Carlos Mendes will remain as back up for both CB and RB with Maycon and Ruben Costa staying as back up as well. We were slightly short on the left and as a more defensive option, we brought in Rui Ferreira on loan. His 15 tackling may come in handy!

Midfield

I was really happy with my midfield last year. Andre Sousa and Sergiy Syzyi will retain their starting places but I have managed to bolster the midfield with Fernando Almeida. Almeida is an incredible talent and will provide competition for Sousa! Left midfield stays the same with Kakra and Ze Pedro and right midfield is Paulo Rodrigues. Andre Fontes didn’t want to stay at the club, so I let him go. I did actually make a record signing for the club in the form of Francisco Costa. He cost the club £500 which was small change considering he would have signed for a free and cost us 550k in compensation. I really really like his stats and at only 15, I’m excited to see how he develops!

Strikers

Leonardo Silva! He rejected the loan deal 6 times before he finally accepted. I really wanted him to have a full season because I think hes going to be magnificent. Paixao probably isn’t good enough for this level so that left me in need of a back up and Lacximicant is a fantastic prospect.

 

We have a hell of a young squad but it’s finally a squad that I have assembled. There may well be changes over the course of the season but now we’re in a league with 2 strict transfer windows, it will be easier to keep everyone up to date. That leaves the squad looking like this:

Tactics will stay the same as the end of last season with the attacking one and the cautious one. This is the team who, at the beginning of the season, will be my starting 11. This is subject to change with form and what not

In other news, the board allowed me to sign a second scout so meet Salvador

Let me know who you think is going to be player of the season! Now that I feel like it’s my team, I’m going to give everyone a chance to impress me!

[HugoLazgo12]

27 minutes ago, Chrisofclubs said:

Pre-season

First of all, lets get the friendlies out of the way. I’m happy with the tactic so I let my assistant play the matches. Really wasn’t a good pre season but for a lot of the matches, the assistant was playing random trial players. Not too unhappy with it. We had great xG in most of the games and even managed to put a goal passed Strasbourg and limit Boavista to 1 goal. We got a bye to the second round of the Taca de Portugal so we will start there in September. We start our league campaign away to Trofense who were with us in the league last year so will be a good test. The season preview has us in 18^th at 33-1. Ultimately, I am going to be happy with anything above 22^nd!

Transfers

It has been an incredibly busy window. After all of the contracts that I didn’t want to renew expired, I was left with only 14 players. No fullbacks, only one goalkeeper and nothing great in the way of other players. We couldn’t even put a first string 11 together so I had to dive straight into the transfer market. The board were very generous and, having put all my transfer budget into wage budget, we were left with £1600 p/w to fix the team. I wanted a squad of 25 players so we have been incredibly busy. I have utilised non-contracts for the players in back up positions and overall, I’m incredibly happy with the business I’ve been able to do. We even have £200 left per week incase we need some additional troops in January. So lets get started

Goalkeepers

We only kept Hugo Silva from last season. I really wanted to find a much better goalkeeper but couldn’t upgrade that much. We signed Manu and Diogo Sa both on non-contracts because I’m not sure about their ability. I will be rotating as much as needed and with 46 games, I want to keep player fresh. This is one of the positions in which im going to continue to scout for.

Defence

What a window for the defence. Both of the 30-year old full backs decided that they didn’t want to play for us in the third division. Ironically they are both still without clubs. I have managed to replace them with Joel Mateus and Bruno Pereira, not changing the tactic and reducing the wage bill by £150 p/w. Pedro Eira will retain his position in CB alongside the clubs highest paid player, Laercio. I couldn’t resist shelling out £275 p/w on this guy, it seemed too good to be true. Carlos Mendes will remain as back up for both CB and RB with Maycon and Ruben Costa staying as back up as well. We were slightly short on the left and as a more defensive option, we brought in Rui Ferreira on loan. His 15 tackling may come in handy!

Midfield

I was really happy with my midfield last year. Andre Sousa and Sergiy Syzyi will retain their starting places but I have managed to bolster the midfield with Fernando Almeida. Almeida is an incredible talent and will provide competition for Sousa! Left midfield stays the same with Kakra and Ze Pedro and right midfield is Paulo Rodrigues. Andre Fontes didn’t want to stay at the club, so I let him go. I did actually make a record signing for the club in the form of Francisco Costa. He cost the club £500 which was small change considering he would have signed for a free and cost us 550k in compensation. I really really like his stats and at only 15, I’m excited to see how he develops!

Strikers

Leonardo Silva! He rejected the loan deal 6 times before he finally accepted. I really wanted him to have a full season because I think hes going to be magnificent. Paixao probably isn’t good enough for this level so that left me in need of a back up and Lacximicant is a fantastic prospect.

 

We have a hell of a young squad but it’s finally a squad that I have assembled. There may well be changes over the course of the season but now we’re in a league with 2 strict transfer windows, it will be easier to keep everyone up to date. That leaves the squad looking like this:

Tactics will stay the same as the end of last season with the attacking one and the cautious one. This is the team who, at the beginning of the season, will be my starting 11. This is subject to change with form and what not

In other news, the board allowed me to sign a second scout so meet Salvador

Let me know who you think is going to be player of the season! Now that I feel like it’s my team, I’m going to give everyone a chance to impress me!

so does terceira liga will be look like league one but portuguese teams

and why you didnt manage an santarem team you could manage u almeirim or santarem since they are teams that are too depressed and never play in primeira liga

what your prediction from vila real fight from relegation or promoted to segunda liga right

[lupinho]

I like the team you've assembled, quite young so it can only improve from now on!

[SRL88]

Excellent first season. Good luck in S2. 

[Chrisofclubs]

2 hours ago, HugoLazgo12 said:

so does terceira liga will be look like league one but portuguese teams

and why you didnt manage an santarem team you could manage u almeirim or santarem since they are teams that are too depressed and never play in primeira liga

what your prediction from vila real fight from relegation or promoted to segunda liga right

Yes exactly like League one! 24 teams. 2 get promoted, 2 get relegated.

Haha, I know relatively nothing about Portuguese football so after doing some research Vila Real seemed like a fun choice.

Definitely won't be promoted first season. I'm thinking a mid table finish would be good and then push for promotion second season. All of the B teams will be tough to challenge

Edited November 27, 2020 by Chrisofclubs

[Chrisofclubs]

2 hours ago, lupinho said:

I like the team you've assembled, quite young so it can only improve from now on!

Thanks alot! Really excited now that it is my team. I always have relatively young teams but this is extra young! I think they'll be good though!

[Chrisofclubs]

2 minutes ago, SRL88 said:

Excellent first season. Good luck in S2. 

Thank you!

[Lodi Lemmer]

Well done on your promotion via playoffs. Hope the success continues in season 2.

[HugoLazgo12]

2 hours ago, Chrisofclubs said:

Yes exactly like League one! 24 teams. 2 get promoted, 2 get relegated.

Haha, I know relatively nothing about Portuguese football so after doing some research Vila Real seemed like a fun choice.

Definitely won't be promoted first season. I'm thinking a mid table finish would be good and then push for promotion second season. All of the B teams will be tough to challenge

well i guess you are screw with all of the B Teams are playing in terceira liga

i no wonder why terceira liga didnt have like 48 teams instead of 24 maybe a stupid decison by FFP

i think primeira liga should have 3 teams get relegated and segunda liga and terceira liga been similar to II And III Divisao and CNS having 80 teams 

[Chrisofclubs]

10 hours ago, Lodi Lemmer said:

Well done on your promotion via playoffs. Hope the success continues in season 2.

Thank you! Only played one game of the season so far but it looks good. I can see some actual football! 

[Chrisofclubs]

9 hours ago, HugoLazgo12 said:

well i guess you are screw with all of the B Teams are playing in terceira liga

i no wonder why terceira liga didnt have like 48 teams instead of 24 maybe a stupid decison by FFP

i think primeira liga should have 3 teams get relegated and segunda liga and terceira liga been similar to II And III Divisao and CNS having 80 teams 

Absolutely, the B teams are going to be incredibly tough! Hopefully we can build on the team we have now and turn it into success! 

[Chrisofclubs]

August 2021

2 more players joined the club this month. Giovani has come in as a brilliant DLF. I really didn’t think he’d agree to come due to his sheer quality but after a bit of persuading, he did. I don’t often like to play with too many loan players so he will be competing with Ivanildo but I do want to give some more game time to players who are permanent deals. The loan and his contract expire in January so I may be able to convince him to sign permanently. Joao Coelho has also come in to provide back up to the CM(d) position. He is very young but has all of the right attributes to be a top player in that position.

As for the results this month, happy would be an understatement. An unbeaten month with 11 points and 3 clean sheets is far more than I expected from this team. I was happy with the recruitment but to be sitting 3^rd after the first 5 games and 10 points above the relegation zone is fantastic. The tactic is working an absolute treat and the players have been recruited well if I do say so myself. The goalkeeper still seems slightly suspect but the defence in general has improved massively with the recruitment of Laercio and the two full backs!

Key match – Marinhense 2 – 3 Vila Real

What a game! 2-0 down after 20 minutes made me think that maybe we weren’t going to have a fun time of it but Leonardo Silva has other ideas. He put on an incredible performance and managed to turn it around. The defending in this game, despite conceding 2 goals was very good. They scored from a corner and a direct freekick which Hugo could do nothing about.

Player of the month – Leonardo Silva

This was tough. Incredibly tough. Pedro Eira and Laecio will probably feel very hard done by here as they have been an absolute rock at the back but I just couldn’t overlook the 6 goals in 5 games from Leonardo Silva. I was desperate for him to come back on loan and here’s why.

Other business

The board have agreed to increase the junior coaching budget. Looking forward to seeing the benefits of this in the future!

And after some arguing with the board, they decided to agree that upgrading the youth recruitment would benefit the club.

The board have done well again, bringing in a second sponsor. Being sponsored by a local company makes for good reading and this brings the total yearly sponsorship to £103k per year which is huge!

With August concluded, the transfer window has slammed shut and brought to an end an excellent period for Vila Real. We have more than enough depth and quality to survive this season and hopefully try to do some scouting to find some more young Portuguese gems!

Edited November 28, 2020 by Chrisofclubs

[HugoLazgo12]

hey can i see the table on terceira liga right

[Chrisofclubs]

7 hours ago, HugoLazgo12 said:

hey can i see the table on terceira liga right

[HugoLazgo12]

1 hour ago, Chrisofclubs said:

and the table of primeira liga,segunda liga and CNS i want to check who the positions are in

i just dont like that idea on terceira liga get 2 promoted and 2 relegated and having 24 teams

i think terceira liga should have having 48 teams and doing like the old II Divisao days

[lupinho]

Quite the start!

Was SLB B relegated last year from the 2nd division?

[Chrisofclubs]

20 hours ago, HugoLazgo12 said:

and the table of primeira liga,segunda liga and CNS i want to check who the positions are in

i just dont like that idea on terceira liga get 2 promoted and 2 relegated and having 24 teams

i think terceira liga should have having 48 teams and doing like the old II Divisao days

I'll give a run down of the portuguese and spanish leagues at the end of the season. Nothing much interesting to see at the moment.

[Chrisofclubs]

19 hours ago, lupinho said:

Quite the start!

Was SLB B relegated last year from the 2nd division?

I know right? I was completely surprised. The next update will probably be out tomorrow! Cold War double exp. week has kept me fairly busy, lol.

SLB B were relegated from the 2nd division last season, yes. They came 17th in the league

[Chrisofclubs]

September 2021

Our scouts have done us an absolute solid here. Meet Caetano. The only area of the pitch where we were particularly weak was the goalkeeper area and I think Dario solves this. Hugo Silva has been demoted to back up, and Manu has left the club with immediate effect. Caetano comes is as number 1!

Well. A month of very mixed emotions. Obviously, pre-season I would have taken these results but to not get passed the second round of the cup for the second season in a row is really disappointing. I rotated heavily as I thought we would be okay here but obviously it wasn’t to be. I don’t think any of the players brought in were at fault, we just weren’t good enough as a team. We were unlucky in the end as we went down 9-8 on penalties but we shouldn’t have got to penalties in the first place. Nevertheless, a good month. 7 points from a possible 12 in the league leaves us in 3^rd behind Braga B and Vitoria de Guimaraes B, both of which are going to be incredibly tough to pass. I am still aiming for a mid-table finish but let’s push on to see how we well we can do!

Key match – Vila Real 3 – 3 Salgueiros (8-9 on penalties)

The key match doesn’t always have to be a decent result. This match showed us that strength in depth is something that we do not possess. I am very happy with the first team we have assembled but as soon as we go to rotate, things do not look as good. After just over a year with the club, I don’t think this is a surprise, but we should definitely be looking for some more depth in January.

Player of the month – Paulo Rodrigues

Rodrigues was injured for 2 matches and I think you can probably guess which two they were. After scoring in the 3-0 win against Pevidem, Paulo missed the worst 2 performances of the season so far and then came back in for the 2-1 win over Olimpico do Montojo assisting both goals.

Other business

The board have allowed me to bring in another physio and coach so I have added a defensive coach and another physio to the books. Both on £95 p/w so that takes us slightly over the wage budget but only by £80 p/w which i’m sure I’ll be able to adjust to be in the green in January!

Setting new records as we go! Francisco Costa played very well in the 1-3 defeat to Beira-Mar and got his first goal for the club! Doubt that will be beaten in the course of the save to be honest. 16 years and 10 days old!

[Chrisofclubs]

October 2021

An incredibly tough month on paper. Playing 3 of the best B teams in the same month is always going to make for some depressing results but I’m incredibly happy with the performances. I have decided that when we are away, we are going to be playing the cautious counter-attacking approach and when we’re at home or against really poor opponents, it’s a better idea just to go at them and play attacking from the off. We did this against Benfica B and it very nearly produced a point. Some incredibly poor passing allowed them to get the win in the end but we played very well up until that point. I got very angry and dropped some players after that game! My mood, however, has been improved by the fact that we scored 6 goals and secured 3 points against the B teams. There are signs that we can battle with the top of the table, we are just lacking the consistency to do so. The left midfield spot in particular is an area of weakness which I’m going to try and address in January.

Key match – Sporting CP 1 – 2 Vila Real

What a result. Paulo Rodrigues was amazing in this match. As was Dario Caetano. It was a tough match from start to finish but we kept them at bay and after we conceded in the 11^th minute for them to equalise, I thought the flood gates had opened but we managed to get the winner in the 36^th minute and then hold on!

Player of the month – Leonardo Silva

What a month he’s had. Again. 4 goals in 4 matches says it all. He’s been a shining light this season as have a lot of other players! I knew that getting him back in on loan would be a good idea and he hasn’t failed to deliver!

Other business