[FM22] Overhauling SAD Franchise, (completed) and now Portugal. (Portugese edition). (Youth Only)............... Maybe!

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2034. 

Liga Bwin. I've been a bit more proactive in loaning fringe players out, (and even sold a regular starter for £1M just because I want to play the younger players so they develop). As a result it means that we were a little short at times this month, (before I bit the bullet and recalled 3 players), but the general idea is that we will operate a smaller "Senior" squad and utilise younger players more still remains. 

UEFA Europa Conference League. We've got what I would call a decent group and we should progress with ease. 

Taça da Liga Allianz Cup.

Goal-scoring GK's. You might remember that I had to give him a 25% sell-on clause to get him to re-sign. (He's not going anywhere). The only issue with that is that we know exactly how unhappiness impacts his scoring ability. 

 

Records. 

Transfers. 

I don't really understand how a player can play at the top level in Portugal for so long, but be valued so lowly. It just seems wrong to me. Slyusar (POR) (UKR) HG * played lots of games, but often performed poorly so losing him was no great loss. 

(25b) Basto (POR) PF * played a lot of games for us and while he did ok, never really shone and certainly never got anywhere near his PA of 160. (His CA is only 110). In the end I got rid of him to force me to play poorer younger players who will develop past his level. 

Finances.   

Bugs. I've added to this because it's not going away. 

[Jimbokav1971]

18 hours ago, Jellico73 said:

I think temperament plays a part, how big a part it plays is up for debate, but I would agree that Ambition and Professionalism play a bigger role, for example a Low Determination player has 'Fairly Poor' Ambition, no worse than 'Very Poor' Professionalism, and 'Dismal to Very Poor' Determination, and I would expect them not to meet their full PA unless there was some big personality changes along the way.

Looking thru my test DB (which has all 400K plus players loaded) an older player that comes to mind is Saido Berahino.  Mirko Antonucci is 112CA/132PA at age 26, he's <10 in Adaptability. Consistency, Controversy, DET, Pressure and Professionalism.

For a younger player, Polat Yaldir stands out.  In my test save he's currently 22 years old, 74CA/136PA, 5DET, 9 Pressure, 9 Professionalism.

I have yet to look at the Newgens in my test DB though.

Jellico

My game is loaded up now so let's have a look. 

Scouting all players, (I have World - Upper Tier package) and sorting by CA this is what we get at the top end. 

PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE ARE SOME REAL PLAYERS STILL IN THE GAME AND I'M ABOUT TO SHOW YOU THE CA/PA INFO OF THE BEST PLAYERS IN THE WORLD SO IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE IT THEN...... actually I will just hide it. 

Top 10 players. Nothing out of the ordinary here. Maybe "spirited" is a small surprise. 

Spoiler

11-20 players. 

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21-30 players. 

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31-40 players. 

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41-50 players. 

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51-60 players.

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61-70 players. 

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71-80 players. 

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81-90 players. 

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91-100 players. 

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I think looking at the personalities tells us all we need to know. 

Edited December 9, 2021 by Jimbokav1971

[Sonic Youth]

2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

81-90 players. 

  Hide contents

 

 

Very interesting, and kind of expected.

What’s with the missing personalities?

[Jimbokav1971]

33 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

 

 

Very interesting, and kind of expected.

What’s with the missing personalities?

Not sure how that happened. I have replaced the picture. 

The missing personalities is just the FOW. I need to scout to find out. 

[Sonic Youth]

4 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

81-90 players. 

  Hide contents

 

Well that was unexpected! The last player on the list. Is he a newgen, and is he the only one with that PA?

What’s the most can you improve CA in a year?

Its very interesting the age of some of these players and how they are still at or near full potential. One thought was that if their physicals had dropped, does that ability transfer to mental or technical skills?

[Jimbokav1971]

24 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

Well that was unexpected! The last player on the list. Is he a newgen, and is he the only one with that PA?

What’s the most can you improve CA in a year?

Its very interesting the age of some of these players and how they are still at or near full potential. One thought was that if their physicals had dropped, does that ability transfer to mental or technical skills?

I hadn't noticed the PA to be honest, and thanks for pointing it out because until now I didn't know if the max PA was 199 or 200. 

I don't know how much PA can be improved in a year, but I will probably have to track it at some point. I have saves from The Youth Intake day every season of the save, (I think), so it would make sense to go back and load the save and track the CA/PA movement that way to see what's what. There are quite a few players that I didn't get anywhere near their PA earlier in the save, (as you would expect). Partly that will be because of the level we were playing at and partly because of poor coaches, but also because they started with low CA and sometimes there is just too much ground to make up. 

In my experience you do see skills transfer over from 1 aspect of a players profile as he ages. Obviously in the latter stages of a player's career his physical attributes will drop and his mental attributes will rise, with the technical attributes probably pretty static at that time. At different times of a players career the 3 areas will develop/decrease at different levels. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2034.

Liga Bwin. We have started the season well, without quite hitting our stride. Part of the reason for this is because (23d) Hugo (POR) * missed the opening month of the season and obviously missed pre-season too, but we survived his absence with just the 1 loss. 

UEFA Europa Conference League. 2 goals in 2 minutes at the start, but our weakened squad couldn't hang on for the win. 

SAD  Franchise Derby. To say I'm not happy would be a huge understatement. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 

Finances.   

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2034. 

Liga Bwin. No wins and 4 really costly points dropped.

UEFA Europa Conference League. We're still rotating the squad for European games. 

Taça de Portugal Placard. Despite playing against a 4th Tier opponent, we had to rely on a GK goal to squeeze through to the next round.

Goal-scoring GK's. No less then 4 GK goals this month, (scored by 2 different GK's). 

 

 

 

Finances.   

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2034. 

Liga Bwin. We've now gone 5 games in the league without a win. (3 losses and 2 draws). What makes it worse is that the top 5 are all in great form. That being said, we have 7 European spots next season, (the league colours are only showing 6). We're really not playing well at the moment and need to get back to winning ways soon. 

UEFA Europa Conference League. 3 losses from 5 games is pretty poor from us in this league. 

Taça de Portugal Placard. We scored some late goals, but it should never have gone to extra-time. 

Taça da Liga Allianz Cup. I thought we were out when we lost this, but it's a Group stage, (I keep forgetting), and we still have a chance, (except that our last gave is against Gil Vicente). 

Goal-scoring GK's. 

Finances.   

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2034. 

Liga Bwin. We're in a dismal run of form. We're conceding loads of goals and we're not scoring anywhere near enough. We're just consistently inconsistent. 

UEFA Europa Conference League. We topped the Group in the end, but we drew 3 games that we should have won. 

Taça de Portugal Placard. They are in the league below and we deserved to lose. Absolute shambles. 

Taça da Liga Allianz Cup. We conceded a late penalty that will have levelled up the goal difference and goals for/against everywhere. I think we would have drawn lots without conceding that goal. 

Goal-Scoring GK's.

 

Finances.   

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2035.

Liga Bwin. Where has our form gone and is it related to me fining everyone? 

SAD  Franchise derby. How did they beat us 3-1? How? 

 

Goal-scoring GK's. That's starting to become a significant amount of money, even with him getting £25%. The only thing stopping me selling him is that I want him to score 100 career goals before he moves on. Is that selfish or stupid? 

Finances.   

Edited December 10, 2021 by Jimbokav1971

[Sonic Youth]

That’s some unhappy smilie face to go with that form 
Doesn’t look like you’ve changed anything significantly either.

Hope your able to turn this form around!

[Sonic Youth]

Love the wide sweeper keeper 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

That’s some unhappy smilie face to go with that form 
Doesn’t look like you’ve changed anything significantly either.

Hope your able to turn this form around!

The only thing I'm doing differently, (remember we have had an update), is fining players for poor performances. I think I'm going to have to stop that. 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Love the wide sweeper keeper 

It really is a thing of beauty isn't it. 

[Sonic Youth]

20 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

The only thing I'm doing differently, (remember we have had an update), is fining players for poor performances. I think I'm going to have to stop that. 

Ah yes, the update. Quite the impact then.

[Sonic Youth]

33 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

It really is a thing of beauty isn't it. 

It looks so natural, and the crosses are better than some wide players put in  

[_Ben_]

4 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

The only thing I'm doing differently, (remember we have had an update), is fining players for poor performances. I think I'm going to have to stop that. 

What is the general reaction to the fining like? I know you're IR'ing but are you seeing any comeback in the next game in terms of average rating?

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

What is the general reaction to the fining like? I know you're IR'ing but are you seeing any comeback in the next game in terms of average rating?

In the main they have responded well to the chat and accepted the fine without comment. 

The game isn't loaded so I can't check to see if there is any improvement, but certainly no so as I've noticed. We've been pretty average all season bar a couple of surprising wins against the big boys. 

[_Ben_]

19 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

In the main they have responded well to the chat and accepted the fine without comment. 

Strange that there’s ‘no comment’ as you’d expect, given your relationship with them, that they’d react positively and show an increase in those two areas. 
 

Did I read correctly that you’re going to stop with that now?

[Jimbokav1971]

5 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

Strange that there’s ‘no comment’ as you’d expect, given your relationship with them, that they’d react positively and show an increase in those two areas. 
 

Did I read correctly that you’re going to stop with that now?

I'm not sure. The games not loaded up at the moment but I need to check if the problem is the knock-on effect of me fining them, (separate to my conversations criticising their form), or if the problem is tactical as a result of the update. Not sure what I'm going to do at the moment. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake day. Mar 2035. 

It's another potential Golden Generation, (but aren't they all). 

In terms of PA it's looking pretty decent with 4x players at 4.5 PA or better. 

(35b) Amílcar (POR) 6'0" * is , (who is currently an out of work manager after spells at 5 Portugese & Spanish clubs). He looks very decent indeed already. 

(35c) Nascimento (POR) will have to go some to get anywhere near the potential suggestion by  He's certainly looking decent at the moment. 

In terms of actual PA however, the situation is both better and worse than expected. 

In (35a) Paulo Júnior (POR) * and (35b) Amílcar (POR) 6'0" * we have 2 phenomenal prospects and the PA record of 173 held for years by (22g) Banao (CIV) 6'3" is finally eclipsed. 

While those 2 players have amazing potential, the rest of the players are really not great, although with our modest standards many of them are still likely to feature for the Senior side. 

(35a) Paulo Júnior (POR) * could be a huge player for us if I can tie him down to a long-term contract. 177 PA is massive for us. 

I would much prefer more player between 120-150 rather than just 2 outstanding prospects, but I'm certainly not complaining. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2035. 

Liga Bwin. Not a great month in the league, but then again I wouldn't have expected more than 3 points from these games so perhaps not a disaster. With 4 games left, securing a European spot looks unlikely. 

UEFA Europa Conference League. We keep plodding on in Europe and are now in the Quarter-Finals where we will play Ruben Kazan. I think we have a good chance against everyone except Athletic Bilbao, so fingers crossed someone else manages to knock them out. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 

Finances.   

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2035.

Liga Bwin. 2 more wins bring us to within a point of both Leixões and Estoril with 2 games to play. 

UEFA Europa Conference League. We're into the Semi-Final and have managed to avoid Athletic Bilbao. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 

Finances.   

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2035. 

Liga Bwin. 2 more wins mean that we have won the last 4 games of the league campaign without conceding a goal, (which is significant). We did enough to secure the last European place, but as luck would have it, it wasn't needed. 

UEFA Europa Conference League. In a tight affair, we did just enough to sneak a win to win the Final at the 3rd time of asking. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 

 

Finances. By keeping our wage budget down to close to 50% of budget we have allowed the European prize money to really boost our finances without having to resort to selling our best players. We will be propelled directly into the Group Stage of the Europa League next season, and while it's not exactly the riches of the Champions League, the money, (whatever it is), will be hugely significant for us.    

Edited December 17, 2021 by Jimbokav1971

[ToMexico!!]

Congrats on the continental cup win! 

You still seem to be conceding a few too many goals with just a +3 GD. 

[Jimbokav1971]

4 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Congrats on the continental cup win! 

You still seem to be conceding a few too many goals with just a +3 GD. 

I don't actually think it's related to our defensive record this season. 

We conceded 46 goals in the league at 1.35 goals per game. We conceded 5 goals on 1 occasions, 4 goals on 1 occasion and 3 goals on 5 occasions. 

Last season we conceded 58 goals at 1.7 goals per game.
The previous season we conceded 66 goals at 1.9 goals per game. 

So we've actually been much better this season. We just haven't scored as freely at the other end. 

[ToMexico!!]

2 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I don't actually think it's related to our defensive record this season. 

We conceded 46 goals in the league at 1.35 goals per game. We conceded 5 goals on 1 occasions, 4 goals on 1 occasion and 3 goals on 5 occasions. 

Last season we conceded 58 goals at 1.7 goals per game.
The previous season we conceded 66 goals at 1.9 goals per game. 

So we've actually been much better this season. We just haven't scored as freely at the other end. 

A fair point, a much improved performance. 

It sticks out a little though with Guimaraes and Estoril finishing below you with under 1 goal per game conceded. 

[Sonic Youth]

Unbelievable, another European final? And winning it!? Wow  

I expect nothing less every time your in Europe now  

Its also great that you made the European spots in the league this season, as it’s been quite the struggle at times. Form came good at the most important moment of the season, and those defensive shutouts where great 

Not sure who dropped off the scoring though 

Best season so far 

[Sonic Youth]

11 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Youth Intake day. Mar 2035. 

It's another potential Golden Generation, (but aren't they all). 

In terms of PA it's looking pretty decent with 4x players at 4.5 PA or better. 

(35b) Amílcar (POR) 6'0" * is , (who is currently an out of work manager after spells at 5 Portugese & Spanish clubs). He looks very decent indeed already. 

(35c) Nascimento (POR) will have to go some to get anywhere near the potential suggestion by  He's certainly looking decent at the moment. 

In terms of actual PA however, the situation is both better and worse than expected. 

In (35a) Paulo Júnior (POR) * and (35b) Amílcar (POR) 6'0" * we have 2 phenomenal prospects and the PA record of 173 held for years by (22g) Banao (CIV) 6'3" is finally eclipsed. 

While those 2 players have amazing potential, the rest of the players are really not great, although with our modest standards many of them are still likely to feature for the Senior side. 

(35a) Paulo Júnior (POR) * could be a huge player for us if I can tie him down to a long-term contract. 177 PA is massive for us. 

I would much prefer more player between 120-150 rather than just 2 outstanding prospects, but I'm certainly not complaining. 

This youth intake has some star dust in it, with Paulo Junior and Amilcar. Would have amazing if Nascimento was indeed the next coming of Eusebio.

You’ve seriously got a decision to make with your GKers now 

Edited December 17, 2021 by Sonic Youth
i to the o

[Rikulec]

Well done winning the Conference League, at last!

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, ToMexico!! said:

A fair point, a much improved performance. 

It sticks out a little though with Guimaraes and Estoril finishing below you with under 1 goal per game conceded. 

It's absolutely a problem with not scoring enough rather than conceding too many. We failed to score at all in 10 league games this season.

(23d) Hugo (POR) * scored 22 goals this season, (he scored 35 last season), but actually only scored 14 league goals this season, (compared to 15 last season), so there is only a 1 league gal drop there. 

Goal-scoring GK (23e) Valente (POR) 6'4" * was 2nd top scorer with 15, (he only scored 7 last season), but only 6 of them were league goals which is 1 more than last season. 

The big drop-off was (27a) Mateus (POR) * DLF who scored just 4 goals this season, (3 of them in the league), compared to 11 last season, (9 in the league). 

Rather than blaming the goal-scorers though, our top assister for years has been Becksquita (POR) HG *, but his form/ability has dropped off a cliff and our late season form coincided with me deciding that he is done. 

Seeing (22b) Amorim (POR) * top of the assists chart has made me think though. I have gone full-on Stoke from throw-ins this season, (for obvious reasons), and while they might be super-effective occasionally and look great, I think we all know how effective crosses are, (and general switches of play from 1 flank to the other). In hindsight, I think we have lost more than we have gained in adopting the Stoke Long Throw method over the previously favoured Barca short throw method. I think the idea of doing it, just because we had the PM, "because we could", was more important than deciding whether or not we should. I think I will be changing this back next season. The truth is that if you don't have a team of giants, (we don't), then even if you have good long throws, you aren't going to win the headers anyway so what's the point? 

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Unbelievable, another European final? And winning it!? Wow  

I expect nothing less every time your in Europe now  

Its also great that you made the European spots in the league this season, as it’s been quite the struggle at times. Form came good at the most important moment of the season, and those defensive shutouts where great 

Not sure who dropped off the scoring though 

Best season so far 

We were pretty lucky if I'm honest. Athletic Bilbao were the only non-grey side we faced, (I think), and we barely scraped through into the European spots in the league when we had some favourable fixtures at the end of the season and found a little run of form. It could so easily have gone the other way in both. 

I know we have won a European trophy, (which is great and I promise I'm not complaining), but I don't think this is our best season at all. 

It was our 3rd lowest points total in the 8 seasons we've spent in Liga Bwin, and only once have we lost more games in the league in a season. I need to have a look at things because I think my tactic has become a little "muddled" over time and I think we need to go back to basics. 

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

This youth intake has some star dust in it, with Paulo Junior and Amilcar. Would have amazing if Nascimento was indeed the next coming of Eusebio.

If only we had the next Eusebio. We might one day, but it certainly won't be (35c) Nascimento (POR) 

We have a few other players with s media comparison. 

(34a) Ribeiro (POR) 

I've already shown you (35c) Nascimento (POR). 

The rest are no longer visible. I will try and keep an eye out. 

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

You’ve seriously got a decision to make with your GKers now 

I'm really keen to get (23e) Valente (POR) 6'4" * to 100 career goals. @Makoto Nakamurahas already done it and I want to join the FM22 100 goals for a GK club.  He's on 84 career goals now and scored 15 goals this season so it would be silly not to give him another season, (or season and a bit), to try and get there. 

Even then though, it's really not an easy decision. 

(23e) Valente (POR) 6'4" * is valued at £15M-£18M and has 3 years left on his contract, so if we can get him to 100 goals it would make sense to sell him even though we have to give him 25% of the deal. 

(27d) Barreto (POR) * is the next best GK by CA, (and is decent), but his valuation is weirdly low and I might have to play him for a season to improve his value before selling. 

Then we have the most recent starlets from the last 2 intakes. 

(31g) Simões (POR) *.

(35b) Amílcar (POR) 6'0" *.

The others have decent PA but their CA is such that they are unlikely to ever get near it. Decisions indeed. 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, Rikulec said:

Well done winning the Conference League, at last!

Yep. 3rd time lucky!  It was close, but we sneaked through in the end in a game of few chances.

[karanhsingh]

Well done winning the conference league!

[Jimbokav1971]

3 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Well done winning the conference league!

Thank.   By the sheer law of averages we were bound to win one eventually.

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2035. 

Liga Bwin. We're unbeaten, and only conceded 1 goal, but we haven't really been great. Somehow Sporting have already played 6 games! 

Taça da Liga Allianz Cup. We crashed out at the 1st hurdle against a tier 2 side. 

UEFA Europa League. The step up from Europa Conference to Europa League is immediately obvious.

Goal-scoring GK's. 

Job Interviews/Offers.

Transfers. We're not rich, (yet), and £2.2M is still a lot of money for us at this stage of the save, but when good players become available, (we are only able to sign/re-sign players who are products of our Academy remember), then IF WE CAN AFFORD THE WAGES, we basically have to sign them. The wages are the big thing for us rather than any transfer fee. 

(24c) Carvalho (POR) was always going to break our wage structure, but I'm happy for it to happen. The top earner previously was on £20k per month, (although I had broken that to pay (23e) Valente (POR) 6'4" * £21.5k per month), and that (24c) Carvalho (POR) is now earning £40k per month, (which is about £0.5M a year), speaks volumes. He's going to play a lot and significantly I hope to be in a position to sell him on again for a reasonable fee in the future. Time will tell if this was a good deal, but at this stage I'm really happy with it. 

Finances.   

Edited December 18, 2021 by Jimbokav1971

[karanhsingh]

4 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Thank.   By the sheer law of averages we were bound to win one eventually.

Lol very true 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2035. 

Liga Bwin. 10 games unbeaten in the league sounds great, but 4 of them were carried over from last season and 4 of the remaining 6 were draws which leaves us in a none-too promising position in the league. I rotated the squad for the Gil Vicente game, (we were fatigued and I need to play the up-coming youngsters at some point), but I wasn't quite expecting the battering we got. 

UEFA Europa League. I have assumed that lots of our opposition in the Europa Conference have been grey players, (I haven't checked most of them), but Lazio are certainly not populated by grey players. There is certainly an over-reliance on ageing real players over newgens, but they absolutely have better players than us. Werder Bremen are 100% grey, as are St. Pölten.

Goal-scoring GK's. 

Facilities. 1 out of 2 isn't bad and while I would normally argue about the Rejected request, We're not hugely flush with cash at the moment, (and it's likely to be expensive), so I'm happy to wait for now. 

The construction work will begin at the end of the season and is currently scheduled to be completed by 12/3/2036.  The date is 16/09/2035 today, so this upgrade will be completed not only before the end of the season, (when it's meant to start), but will also be completed before the Youth Intake. 

Finances.   

[Rikulec]

19 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

UEFA Europa League. I have assumed that lots of our opposition in the Europa Conference have been grey players, (I haven't checked most of them), but Lazio are certainly not populated by grey players. There is certainly an over-reliance on ageing real players over newgens, but they absolutely have better players than us.

That seems to be a thing this year. I somehow got into the Champions League with Breiðablik and pretty much all the teams we drew in the qualifiers had squads made up of ageing stars, on paper they should have absolutely destroyed us, but for some reason it was us who dominated most of those games. Probably something that might be worth looking into.

[Jimbokav1971]

6 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

That seems to be a thing this year. I somehow got into the Champions League with Breiðablik and pretty much all the teams we drew in the qualifiers had squads made up of ageing stars, on paper they should have absolutely destroyed us, but for some reason it was us who dominated most of those games. Probably something that might be worth looking into.

I think the bigger issue so far has been my choice of small database which has resulted in squads of grey players in the Europa Conference. Non-grey squads in non-playable leagues have long had an issue with fitness, but it's a double edged sword. 

In the past this size of database has been fine, (because the Europa Conference didn't exist in previous issues of the game). but now it does it has created a new problem and one that I want to avoid in the future. Even in the Europa League, 2 of our 3 Group Stage opponents are "grey" squads.

If you get through the ageing real player situation we have both experienced then Newgens will eventually fill the void, but you're correct the AI should be better able to manage the experience/technique of older players and marry it with the athleticism of Newgens. It's been a failing for a few issues of the game now. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2035. 

Liga Bwin. 3 wins from 3 is great, but we've only managed to do so by rotating the squad and I have prioritised our league campaign over European and domestic Cup games. 

UEFA Europa League.

Taça de Portugal Placard.

Goal-scoring GK's. 

Finances.   

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2035. 

Liga Bwin. We dropped 2 points against lowly Nacional, (we absolutely battered them), but then gained 3 points with victory over Porto, (who are struggling in the bottom half of the table). The big thing for me is that although we might not be scoring quite as freely as last season, we're also much better at the back, (conceding 1 goal per game so far in the league this season). When you consider that 5 of our 12 goals this season were scored by Gil Vicente, (when I fielded a weakened side), then it looks even more promising. Our GK hit the woodwork 3 times this month from free-kicks and I'm pretty confidant that if we can keep it tight at the back, things will come good at the front. It's just a matter of time.

UEFA Europa League. Comfortable wins here. 

Taça de Portugal Placard. This was close. This was REALLY close, but we got there in the end. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

Finances.   

Edited December 19, 2021 by Jimbokav1971

[karanhsingh]

6 hours ago, Rikulec said:

That seems to be a thing this year. I somehow got into the Champions League with Breiðablik and pretty much all the teams we drew in the qualifiers had squads made up of ageing stars, on paper they should have absolutely destroyed us, but for some reason it was us who dominated most of those games. Probably something that might be worth looking into.

I've been hearing this a lot and now beginning to see it on my save as well. Squad building by the AI seems to be worse than usual! 

[Sonic Youth]

If I was to sum up the start of this season, I’d say it’s your best start in the top league. The talk about grey teams, AI squad building and the elimination from the cup by a tier 2 side took the edge off. 
Then you make a statement of intent by resigning Carvalho in his peak years, and you progress through the Europa group stages (still got to do it)!

And then I notice Porto’s start and think that was Belenenses position usually 

At this rate, you could even push for ECL football, as Leixoes in the position above you surely can’t maintain their start.

[Jimbokav1971]

7 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

I've been hearing this a lot and now beginning to see it on my save as well. Squad building by the AI seems to be worse than usual! 

No. Not worse than usual. Just as rubbish as usual. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Sonic Youth said:

If I was to sum up the start of this season, I’d say it’s your best start in the top league. The talk about grey teams, AI squad building and the elimination from the cup by a tier 2 side took the edge off. 
Then you make a statement of intent by resigning Carvalho in his peak years, and you progress through the Europa group stages (still got to do it)!

And then I notice Porto’s start and think that was Belenenses position usually 

At this rate, you could even push for ECL football, as Leixoes in the position above you surely can’t maintain their start.

I think I agree. Conceding fewer goals at the back is a big thing. We might have conceded 12 goals in 12 games in the league, (which is impressive for us anyway), but 5 of them came in 1 game against Gil Vicente when I fielded a weakened side so that has skewed things somewhat. I'm not making any grand predictions, but I expect that we qualify for Europe more comfortably from now on. 

Porto have indeed been struggling and are bottom of their Champions League Group with 1 game remaining. Their last game is at home to Roma and they could conceivably finish top of the group if they win that. 

I'm glad you mentioned (24c) Carvalho (POR). He's the 1st player of that sort of standard we have managed to resign, so I'm hopeful that he might propel us on to bigger and better things even of he hasn't quite hit the ground running so far. The "problem" with him is that he's a naturally wide player rather than an inverted player and I have to decide whether I play to his strengths or keep to the rigid tactic. 

[karanhsingh]

2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

No. Not worse than usual. Just as rubbish as usual. 

Right, or this.