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

[Jimbokav1971]

On 04/01/2022 at 13:57, Sonic Youth said:

Your tracking pretty well this season, not far off big three numbers (FOR/AG), if you can take a little from column two and add it to column one, raising your GD over twenty would be fantastic. Especially now you’ve sold stalwarts Valente and Nunes (good prices).

Your faculties and now raised backroom staff and wages look better too. I have no problem with altering the Youth Recruitment, though do think £10m is a bit overpriced. It is up to you thought he price you think it’s worth to do this though.

Youth intake is so-so, with Hartmann and Gaivoto the most immediate ones that jump out at me. Are you happy with your HoYD?

Your set up nicely to finish fourth now. Looking forward to the end of season run in 

Yeah, things are going well this season. There is the Big 3 and then ourselves, Guimaraes & Braga make up the Next 3. Gil Vicente have had an awful season for some reason. I expect them to be back next season though. 

Yeah £10M might be over-priced, but if that's what I do, that's how much I will pay. 

No, I'm not happy with the HoYD and this poor intake is a reason to get rid of him. 

I think we can all agree that this bloke is a bit of an upgrade. 

There were quite a few Spaniards and Brazilians who looked good, but not many Portugese for some reason and this bloke seemed the best with a reasonable personality. I'm not overly keen with his preferred formations, but he was still the best available and I'm happy with him liking 4 at the back, I don't mind the wide players, (likely to be inverted I think), and 2 midfielders in the MC line should give us what we want. The only thing I'm really losing out on is a 2nd striker/AMC who I can retrain elsewhere, (assuming of course this is what comes through the intake). We're having to pay the new bloke twice as much as the old bloke, but he's much better and it will be interesting to see what next season's intake is like by comparison. 

[Jimbokav1971]

On 04/01/2022 at 18:18, migeo said:

First of all happy new year! I've been following this career since the beginning and i enjoy every update. KUTGW!

Regarding the Youth Recruitment level not going up to 20, from my own experience it has to do with Club Reputation. In a long term save of mine it wasn't until the club reached 5 star (or 4,5? can't remember exactly) reputation that i was able to "unlock" the final upgrade. I also thought it was a bug, but then we won our first Champions League trophy (i managed the greek club Panserraikos) and suddenly the option appeared when i went to ask the board for it. Maybe that's the case?

Thanks very much. I'm glad you're enjoying it. 

That's brilliant news. Thanks. 

I'm not sure that 5.0 or 4.5 reputation is the answer, but it has certainly given me food for thought. 

I think what I will wait for is for my reputation to be on a par with the Big 3, (so basically Continental), and then I will see if we can upgrade then and if we can great, and if we can't then I will take a view on it then. 

[Jimbokav1971]

On 04/01/2022 at 18:28, Thebaker said:

i also thought it was rep based (both club and nation) on getting that last increase for YR. Maybe portugal is no longer as highly rated even though the big 3 clubs have the YR at 20 and have had for a long time, clubs promoted from the lower reaches never seem to increase very rapidly in rep sometimes even when they win a lot, its still very slow.

Easy way is to edit your rep with the editor, see if the option appears with a high rep then you will know.

Thanks for the response. 

I didn't think it was a bug until @DazRTaylormentioned it, but his suggestion is that it's common knowledge in the Youth Only Challenge. I have always thought that it was possible, but that in this saves and previous saves I just hadn't met the criteria. I think I'm going to hold off until I at least reach the Continental rep of the Big 3 and hope it triggers and if not then I will have a decision to make. 

[Sonic Youth]

6 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Yeah, things are going well this season. There is the Big 3 and then ourselves, Guimaraes & Braga make up the Next 3. Gil Vicente have had an awful season for some reason. I expect them to be back next season though. 

Yeah £10M might be over-priced, but if that's what I do, that's how much I will pay. 

No, I'm not happy with the HoYD and this poor intake is a reason to get rid of him. 

I think we can all agree that this bloke is a bit of an upgrade. 

There were quite a few Spaniards and Brazilians who looked good, but not many Portugese for some reason and this bloke seemed the best with a reasonable personality. I'm not overly keen with his preferred formations, but he was still the best available and I'm happy with him liking 4 at the back, I don't mind the wide players, (likely to be inverted I think), and 2 midfielders in the MC line should give us what we want. The only thing I'm really losing out on is a 2nd striker/AMC who I can retrain elsewhere, (assuming of course this is what comes through the intake). We're having to pay the new bloke twice as much as the old bloke, but he's much better and it will be interesting to see what next season's intake is like by comparison. 

Looks a good upgrade. We’ll see the difference next intake?

Also looks a reasonable attacking coach too!

[Jimbokav1971]

5 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Also looks a reasonable attacking coach too!

I think I'm going to change 1 coach per month. I'm too lazy to do them all at the same time. 

[OlivierL]

I'm in my 8th season in Portugal, really loving it . And i'm keeping track of enjoyable topic !

[Sonic Youth]

26 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I think I'm going to change 1 coach per month. I'm too lazy to do them all at the same time. 

Takes effort to align all those specific things you need for backroom staff to match your philosophy.

[Jimbokav1971]

10 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

Takes effort to align all those specific things you need for backroom staff to match your philosophy.

Honestly, there is just so much to do in this game if you're going to make it work. Just individual training is hard enough. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2038. 

Liga Bwin. It was a tough month and if I'm completely honest, after losing twice, (each time by a single goal), to Big 3 teams, I was quite happy to come away from the Guimaraes game with a point. 1 point from a possible 9 sounds poor, but when you factor in the opposition, the close score-lines, and the fact that 18 year old 4th choice GK (36d) Cardone (ITA) was called into action it doesn't seem quite so bad. 

UEFA Europa Conference League. We were decent in both legs, but we didn't take our chances and it cost us. That's it in Europe for another season and I'm not sure when we will get another chance to play in the Conference League again. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 

Finances.   

[Sonic Youth]

Tough month with no green and only one orange. No easy games at all either.

Is it time to finish the season by smashing the rest of the games out of the stadium?

Edited January 9, 2022 by Sonic Youth
M

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2038. 

Liga Bwin. We finished the season with a bit of a whimper with only 1 win from our last 7 matches, but we did win the last game and you might also notice that SAD  Franchise finished rock bottom, (I predicted they would be in trouble after their managerial change), and have been relegated again. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 

Finances.   

[Sonic Youth]

Looks like the end of season form gave away 4th place

Has the cup been played yet? 6th place doesn't have an Euro mark against it.

Looks like the GD is still being affected by the AG column. It's steadily coming down though

Edited January 10, 2022 by Sonic Youth
GD AG

[dsousa96]

Been on vacation those last couple of weeks, and it's nice to see Belenenses SAD finally get relegated. Hope this happens soon irl. 
 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jul & Aug 2038. 

Well I don't know what has happened while I have been away, but it's not good. 

Liga Bwin. 0 wins from 5. 

UEFA Europa Conference. I don't have the words to talk you through this right now. 

Taça da Liga Allianz Cup. We won a game! 

Finances.   

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2038. 

Liga Bwin. A better month as we go unbeaten, but we're not taking our chances. I notice that I swapped from a DLF(s) on the right up front to a T(a) and at the moment it's not really working. 

Finances.   

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2038. 

A much better month all in all. 

Liga Bwin. We won away against Sporting, (who are having a torrid time), but then blew all our good work by losing to Portimonense despite being much the better team. 

Taça da Liga Allianz Cup. "All" we need to qualify is a draw against.... Benfica... 

Taça de Portugal Placard. We're through. That's all that matters. 

Finances.   

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2038. 

Liga Bwin. We draw against Porto and then go and lose against our nemesis Gil Vicente. 

Taça de Portugal Placard.

Goal-scoring GK's. We have scored 6 goals between 2x GK's so far this season and (35b) Amílcar (POR) 6'1" * has scored 4 goals in his last 7 games, (all from the spot). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2038. 

Liga Bwin. We lost narrowly to Benfica, but despite that our form has been good. 

Oh look at this!  It's a new "Zoom in" option on the preferences that I haven't seen before. I previously had to wear glassed to play FM. Although I will probably continue to wear glasses, I don't actually have to if I zoom in to 125% like this. It's a shame though. What I would really like is the option to have certain screens zoomed in and others zoomed out. For example I want league tables zoomed in to get rid of the huge blank space in the middle, but I want fixture lists zoomed out so that I can get all the goal-scorers on 1 screen without scrolling. Maybe that's something I could suggest? 

Taça da Liga Allianz Cup. A win against Benfica sends us through from the mini Group stage. 

Taça de Portugal Placard. We're into the next round. 

Finances.   

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2039. 

Liga Bwin. A really good month in the league with 4 wins from 4 without a goal being conceded. 

Sporting seem WAY off the pace and I think we should be aiming at finishing 3rd this season after our good run of form. 

Taça da Liga Allianz Cup. I'm really happy that we got to the Final and holding 1 of the Big 3 to a draw would have been great in other circumstances but..... we missed 2 penalties and Sporting missed 0 so they win the Cup and we don't. 

Taça de Portugal Placard. The only poor performance of the month. 

Transfers. After my brief period away from the game I didn't actually know that he had a min fee release clause that I needed to try and buy out. I had forgotten and we paid the price. 

Records. 

Finances.   

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2039. 

Liga Bwin. Only 1 loss, but still lots of dropped points. Despite that though, we're still 4th, 2 points off 2nd. 

Finances.   

[Sonic Youth]

Loitering nicely for 2nd or 3rd.

Pity about loosing Amilcar. Did he become a full international while with you?

Bit annoying to lose the cup final against Sporting on penalties.

Speaking of Sporting, if they go on a late surge, they could make the European spots 

[Jimbokav1971]

18 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Loitering nicely for 2nd or 3rd.

Pity about loosing Amilcar. Did he become a full international while with you?

Bit annoying to lose the cup final against Sporting on penalties.

Speaking of Sporting, if they go on a late surge, they could make the European spots 

I don't think we have a chance of 2nd, but 3rd would be great!

Yeah, Amilcar was capped before he left us. 

I try not to worry about individual games in FM nowadays. In this particular case, I actually see it as a positive that we kept a clean sheet and took 1 of the Big 3 to penalties. I guess my glass is just half full rather than half empty. 

I fully expect Sporting to qualify for Europe. They will have had a nice morale boost after winning the Cup and are unbeaten in a few domestic games now. They are on the up.

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake day. Mar 2039. 

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

We have 3x 5.0 PA players, (which is great), but only 1 single non-Portugese player and 0 non-Portugese 2nd Nationalities. 

Adding in the CA/PA it shows us that we have 12 players with 100+ PA and 7 players with PA of 120+.

(39a) Moreira (POR) who could be the next Fernando Gomes looks decent, but if he's going to play as a DLF(s) then he needs to do so on the left rather than the right so I will have to add some individual instructions. 

(39b) Tiago (POR) looks pretty weak technically, but he has plenty of tie to develop. 

(39c) Salgueiro (POR) has really jumped out at me. I really like the look of him. 

(39d) Rebelo (POR) is labelled the next Eusebio, (which is decent), and I really like the way he is set up at this early stage. He is far more what I look for in that left sided role up front. 

Squad by actual PA shows that there are only 2 players from the current intake on the 1st page. 

[Sonic Youth]

Hmm, a couple of players if only going by PA. The two strikers I thought were the better of the 4 you showed, especially Moreira. I feel you could turn him into an AMC but need to boost his vision, passing, composure and shooting. Rebelo (dwells on ball?) looks like a poacher. Salgueiro looks more like a fullback.

What position do you really need to come through?

[Jimbokav1971]

16 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Hmm, a couple of players if only going by PA. The two strikers I thought were the better of the 4 you showed, especially Moreira. I feel you could turn him into an AMC but need to boost his vision, passing, composure and shooting. Rebelo (dwells on ball?) looks like a poacher. Salgueiro looks more like a fullback.

What position do you really need to come through?

What I should also do is show you the best players at the club, (by actual PA), so you can see what the current standard is. This is just the Senior squad and it shows the top 19 players. The 19th player (36c) Mussagi (POR) (MOZ) * is only 18 years old but has made 12(2) appearances this season as 2nd choice right back and his CA is just 107. 

If we look at the squad list, (still sorted by actual CA), then it shows that even players with a CA of 90-120 can play a part at the moment, (although it's not exactly ideal). 

We have 7 players at 150+ CA. 

We have 24 more players players between 130-149. 

We have 24 more players between 120-129. 

While that gives us 55 players at at 120+ although not all of these will reach a decent CA and even fewer of them will reach an decent CA at the same time. It still means that there are plenty of players who will reach a level at significantly above the level of our lowest ability players who are currently contributing to the 1st team this season. 

Significantly there are 7 players from this intake on the above list. I guess I'm saying that there is still room for enormous improvement from where we are now based on the players we already have at the club. 

With regards to turning Moreira into an AMC, I don't use an AMC and I'm more likely to use a playmaker in the DLP role. I see him more as a DLF and that's a key role for us. 

Rebelo is one that I like the look of, but "dwells on ball" actually means "takes longer to make decisions" which I don't like at all. While he's generally waiting to make a decision, the opposition will likely either be recovering their defensive positions or taking the ball off him. 

Salgueiro could be a full back, but I think I will stick with him as a BBM on the right of central midfield. 

In terms of what I wanted I'm not 100% sure. There is so much depth at the club at the moment that I'm not overly bothered at all. 

We have had some great GK's come through the intakes, but also lost a few recently. We still have 5x GK's at the club with a PA of 116+.

In the DL position we have 8 players who have a PA of 118+.

In the DR position there are 8 players with a PA of 119+.

We're lacking a little at DC. We have a 125, a 120, a 111 and a 105, but I think this is 1 area where we're a little short, Maybe not in terms of PA, but certainly in terms of CA.

We've got loads of central midfielders and loads more coming through.

This shows you wingers on both sides and we seem to have a fair bit of strength in depth here. 

Up front we have some depth, but there is always room for some more. We've also got lots of toom for improvement. 

So I think what this has taught me is that although we have a lot of depth, the position I most want to see from a high PA player in the intake is centre-half. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2039. 

Liga Bwin. I was really annoyed about the Portiminense loss. It means that we trail 3rd place Braga by 5 points with 5 games to play. 

Finances.   

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2039. 

Liga Bwin. I don't mind the Porto loss, They were more clinical than us. I do mind the loss to Familicao. I mind it a lot. 

Facilities. 

New contract. 

Finances.   

[Sonic Youth]

7 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

What I should also do is show you the best players at the club, (by actual PA), so you can see what the current standard is. This is just the Senior squad and it shows the top 19 players. The 19th player (36c) Mussagi (POR) (MOZ) * is only 18 years old but has made 12(2) appearances this season as 2nd choice right back and his CA is just 107. 

If we look at the squad list, (still sorted by actual CA), then it shows that even players with a CA of 90-120 can play a part at the moment, (although it's not exactly ideal). 

We have 7 players at 150+ CA. 

We have 24 more players players between 130-149. 

We have 24 more players between 120-129. 

While that gives us 55 players at at 120+ although not all of these will reach a decent CA and even fewer of them will reach an decent CA at the same time. It still means that there are plenty of players who will reach a level at significantly above the level of our lowest ability players who are currently contributing to the 1st team this season. 

Significantly there are 7 players from this intake on the above list. I guess I'm saying that there is still room for enormous improvement from where we are now based on the players we already have at the club. 

With regards to turning Moreira into an AMC, I don't use an AMC and I'm more likely to use a playmaker in the DLP role. I see him more as a DLF and that's a key role for us. 

Rebelo is one that I like the look of, but "dwells on ball" actually means "takes longer to make decisions" which I don't like at all. While he's generally waiting to make a decision, the opposition will likely either be recovering their defensive positions or taking the ball off him. 

Salgueiro could be a full back, but I think I will stick with him as a BBM on the right of central midfield. 

In terms of what I wanted I'm not 100% sure. There is so much depth at the club at the moment that I'm not overly bothered at all. 

We have had some great GK's come through the intakes, but also lost a few recently. We still have 5x GK's at the club with a PA of 116+.

In the DL position we have 8 players who have a PA of 118+.

In the DR position there are 8 players with a PA of 119+.

We're lacking a little at DC. We have a 125, a 120, a 111 and a 105, but I think this is 1 area where we're a little short, Maybe not in terms of PA, but certainly in terms of CA.

We've got loads of central midfielders and loads more coming through.

This shows you wingers on both sides and we seem to have a fair bit of strength in depth here. 

Up front we have some depth, but there is always room for some more. We've also got lots of toom for improvement. 

So I think what this has taught me is that although we have a lot of depth, the position I most want to see from a high PA player in the intake is centre-half. 

That’s quite a lot of players.

I think Belenenses are about to (if not already) at the next stage of building up the team. It’s definitely dependent on your youth intakes though, but also needs the team to start pushing up into Braga’s position on the table and to do well in European competitions. It’s now about cycling in a better quality of player as possible that performs well for your team. Definitely not an easy stage of team building.

I think you’ve made some steps in that direction with the increase in coaches for U23’s and an increase in coaches wages 

[Jimbokav1971]

8 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

That’s quite a lot of players.

I think Belenenses are about to (if not already) at the next stage of building up the team. It’s definitely dependent on your youth intakes though, but also needs the team to start pushing up into Braga’s position on the table and to do well in European competitions. It’s now about cycling in a better quality of player as possible that performs well for your team. Definitely not an easy stage of team building.

I think you’ve made some steps in that direction with the increase in coaches for U23’s and an increase in coaches wages 

Yeah, lots of depth in most areas and I'm quietly confident that we can at least become the "best of the rest" in terms of only finishing behind the "Big 3" in the near future. 

In games against the Big 3 this season we have the following record. 

Lost 5-0 to Benfica. 
Won 2-1 against Sporting.
Drew 2-2 against Porto. 
Won 2-1 against Benfica. 
Lost 1-0 against Benfica. 
Drew 0-0 against Sporting (lost on pens). 
Drew 1-1 against Sporting. 
Lost 2-0 against Porto.

This is the best we have done so far against the Big 3. 

[Sonic Youth]

7 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Yeah, lots of depth in most areas and I'm quietly confident that we can at least become the "best of the rest" in terms of only finishing behind the "Big 3" in the near future. 

In games against the Big 3 this season we have the following record. 

Lost 5-0 to Benfica. 
Won 2-1 against Sporting.
Drew 2-2 against Porto. 
Won 2-1 against Benfica. 
Lost 1-0 against Benfica. 
Drew 0-0 against Sporting (lost on pens). 
Drew 1-1 against Sporting. 
Lost 2-0 against Porto.

This is the best we have done so far against the Big 3. 

Yes, definitely the best points earnt against the Big 3 

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2039. 

Liga Bwin. We finished the season with a real whimper, losing 5 of our last 8 games and only winning 3 of our last 10. 

There is still a decent gap between ourselves and Braga and it's that which I will be attempting to close over the next couple of seasons. It was great to finish 4th, but we also had an absolute disaster in Europe this season so there is still huge room for improvement there.

Sporting have missed out completely on Europe,  however this is sure to benefit them next season when they can focus on their league games. 

What's particularly pleasing is that we finished with a decent GK of +24 and I will be keen to improve at both ends next season. 

Squad by appearances. Not many appearances this season because we bowed out of Europe so early. 

Finances.   

[Sonic Youth]

18 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Squad by appearances. Not many appearances this season because we bowed out of Europe so early. 

 

Only one player in double figures for goals is still occurring then. I guess until the youngsters develop or come through it will be like this for a season or two. Unless a tactical adjustment can be found 

[Jimbokav1971]

23 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

Only one player in double figures for goals is still occurring then. I guess until the youngsters develop or come through it will be like this for a season or two. Unless a tactical adjustment can be found 

I think the biggest issue with goal-scoring this season was that we never made the Group Stage in Europe so we had significantly fewer games. 

From a tactical point of view though I have swapped the right hand striker from DLP(S) to T(a) and although we're scoring more goals as a team I'm not convinced it's because of this change. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2039. 

Liga Bwin. We always start the season poorly and no amount of friendlies seems to get us ready for league action. Bouncing back with 3 wins sees us finish the 1st month in better shape than we usually start the season.

SAD  Derby. Our rivals were promoted back to the top flight after a single season in Liga 2. Let's hope we send them straight back there again!

Transfers. We only brought 1 player in during the Summer window, but were close to another. I couldn't get the 2nd deal over the line because he wanted too much money. 

We paid £2.8M (£3.3M) for (25j) Grilo (POR) 6'4" * and as he's immediately valued at £8.2M-£9M, the suggestion is that we have done some decent business. I managed to limit his wages to £50,000 per month, (which is still £600,000 per season), and while my self-imposed cap was £20,000 per month I have now raised this to attempt to be more competitive, 

The other player I had done a deal for was (22c) Caneira (POR) DLF, but although we agreed a fee of £5.5M he wanted £130,000 per month, (£1.5M per season), and I just didn't think he was worth the investment. He's recovering from an injury and I just don't think he was a good investment at this time. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

 

Finances.   

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2039. 

Liga Bwin. Well our run of good form came to an end with a defeat by Benfica and then we followed that up with a loss against Guimaraes when we should have won. (Momentum right?)

UEFA Europa League. I rotated the squad completely and we almost sneaked a result, My aim is to finish 2nd or 3rd in the Group so I won't be targeting either Napoli game with points in mind. 

Goal-scoring GK's. I'm not sure why (36d) Cardone (ITA) is showing as 0 career goals. I think it's because he was in the B Team when he played in our European game and I think the game has got confused. 

Finances.   

[Jimbokav1971]

Was seriously tempted to start a save in Ukraine and do something anti-Russian, but have decided against it and am plodding along with this. 1 of my main save ideas has been a USSR Journeyman save, but I think how I would adapt it now is that if I was offered a job by a Russian club at any time during the save, then I would have to accept the job and then try to destroy the club until such time as I was sacked. I would be able to sign any players of a Nationality, (other than Russian), who were at any time part of the USSR. I even have a name for the save too. Putin you mother-fudging bar-steward, stand up and fight me you Napolean'esque, jumped up little Russki munchkin! Too much? It might need some work I think.  

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct & Nov 2039. 

Liga Bwin. An awful time in the league. Shocking in fact. We've got games in hand, but the way we're playing there is not even a suggestion that we will win them. 

UEFA Europa League. Pretty decent here and the 2nd Napoli game will decide if we finish 1st or 2nd in the Group. 

Taça da Liga Allianz Cup. We're already not going to qualify after losing our opener, but the 2nd game is far from unimportant as it's a SAD  Derby. 

Taça de Portugal Placard. The 3rd Round was tighter than I had expected, but we squeezed through in the end. 

Goal-scoring GK's. (31g) Simões (POR) 6'1" * misses his 2nd of 3 pens taken so far this season. 

Finances.   

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2039.

Liga Bwin. 3 wins from 4 is decent, and the single loss was against Porto when I fielded a rotated squad. 

UEFA Europa League. We were guaranteed to finish 2nd so I was happy to rotate the whole squad, and our 2nd string somehow turned over Napoli thanks to late goals in the 87th and 96th minutes meaning that we topped the group. I will admit that the plan at the start of the season was to drop into the Euro Conference by finishing 3rd.  

Taça da Liga Allianz Cup. A win against the Sad Scum isn't enough to see us progress.

Taça de Portugal Placard. We're into the next round. 

SAD  Franchise Derby. We're unbeaten in our last 8 games against the scum and have won the last 3. 

Sad  Franchise have changed their manager again, but they have gone back to a man who served them well before. Pêpa survived for 4 years and 9 days during his 1st tenure and did well, however he was also the man in charge of under-performing Sporting last season, (and beat us on pens in the Cup Final). 

Goal-scoring GK's. 

 

 

European Golden Boy. This was a complete surprise to me. Our old GK (35b) Amílcar (POR) 6'1" * won it a couple of seasons ago, 

Finances. 

  

[Sonic Youth]

October, November and Goalkeeper penalty taking woes. Did one beget the other?

December and Europe was pretty good though.

Cruz getting Golden Boy is a nice surprise too. Where do you play him?

[Jimbokav1971]

4 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

October, November and Goalkeeper penalty taking woes. Did one beget the other?

December and Europe was pretty good though.

Cruz getting Golden Boy is a nice surprise too. Where do you play him?

I'm not completely sure. I think we were poor anyway, but missing penalties regularly is just not something that I can continue with. I wish I could work out why some GK's are good at pens and why others aren't, (over and above morale influence). 

Yep, our December form was very good, (just a 1-0 loss away to Porto in which I fielded a completely rotated squad), and the form has continued on through January. 

(36a) Cruz (POR) winning Golden Boy was indeed a nice surprise. I'm playing him as a BBM(s) on the right of a 2 in central midfield. I play with 1 lefty and 1 righty in the middle and their preferred foot determines which side & role they play. If I get to a point where I have a righty who is much better as a DLP and a lefty who is much better as a BBM then I will start swapping things round, but at the moment I'm sticking what is good for the tactic rather than what's good for the player. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2040. 

Liga Bwin. A really good month, albeit one with decent fixtures, sees us rise to 4th in the league. 

SAD  Franchise derby. We've now won the last 4 derbies without conceding a goal, and are unbeaten in the last 9 games. 

After a Pêpa managed Sporting team beat us in the Cup Final on penalties, we're unbeaten in 3 and have won the last 2 without conceding. 

Taça de Portugal Placard. We're into the Semi-Final and none of the Big 3 remain in the competition. Gil Vicente are obviously our bogey team so i really need PdF to turn them over, but this is a very good opportunity for silverware. 

Goal-scoring GK's. No GK goals this month, but none missed either. 

Finances.   

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2040. 

Liga Bwin. We beat Benfica and drew away to Porto, and then went to Guimaraes and blew it all.  The truth is that we were decimated by injuries against Guimaraes and ahead of the Semi-Final I wanted to rest players. I rotated the squad and we just weren't good enough to get the job done. 

Taça de Portugal Placard. The Semi-Final is a 2-legged affair, but I think it's fair to say that I can rest some players for the 2nd leg. 

Goal-scoring GK's. We had a 96th min penalty to win against Porto, but (36d) Cardone (ITA) lost his 100% record from the spot. 

Finances.   

[Sonic Youth]

Asian against Benfica, and a point from Porto.

Two wins from four must have felt like only half of what you should have got though, what with a missed late penalty and a combo of rested/injured players. Does third give you ECL?

Definitely looks like you’ve got a place secured already in the cup final.

[Jimbokav1971]

14 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Asian against Benfica, and a point from Porto.

Two wins from four must have felt like only half of what you should have got though, what with a missed late penalty and a combo of rested/injured players. Does third give you ECL?

Definitely looks like you’ve got a place secured already in the cup final.

Yep, Really happy with performances against the Big 3 on the whole, but I was gutted to see the penalty saved. 

Our biggest strength is that we have win 15 games, and only drawn 2. Of the 8 league games we've lost, 5 of the 8 have been by a single goal margin. 

Barring a complete disaster in the 2nd leg we should be on for the Final. 

Yes it's 3 Champions League spots. With 9/8 games left, Guimaraes are 3 points ahead, (and a game in hand), and we each only have to play 1 game against the Big 3 and are not playing eachother either. 

[Jimbokav1971]

This is a 1st. 

The friendly between the U19's and the Youth Candidates has been cancelled because we're playing in an Italian Youth Invitational or something, and the earliest day that we can rearrange it is 2nd May. (Today is 22nd Mar). 

[Edit]

They are pretty busy this month. 

Edited February 28, 2022 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

NxGn 2040.

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2040. 

Liga Bwin. I prioritised our European games and it really cost us. We're fine in goal, at the back and in central midfield, but out wide and up front we have been seriously lacking in quality when I rest our 1st choice players. Partly down to injury and fatigue, but also just down to an overall lack of depth, (in terms of CA), in these areas. 

We're now a whopping 8 pts behind Guimaraes, (although we have a game in hand), and it looks almost impossible to finish 3rd now. 

UEFA Europa League. We battered Red Bull in the 1st leg and when we lost I wondered if my decision to prioritise Europe of our league games this month might prove to be a costly mistake as injuries and suspensions took their toll and left us enormously weakened in attacking areas. I guess it shows quite how much room for improvement there still is in the squad. 

We play fellow Portugese club PdF in the Quarter-Final and my initial reaction is that I'm not overly pleased because we haven't beaten them yet this season in the league and it will be a tough ask. Their European campaign has impacted on their domestic form and they're languishing down in 11th place in the league. 

If we manage to squeeze past PdF then we will face the winners of Leverkusen, Galatasaray or Villarreal. I only have Portugal, Spain and Brazil structures active, so I should at least be happy that we have avoided Porto & Braga, but also Sevilla, so I can't really complain. 

Goal-Scoring GK's. 

Finances.   

Youth Intake Day. 

A Golden Generation is 1 thing. A player on intake day with 3.0 CA might just be special. 

Squad by PA. 2x 5.0 PA players, 1x 3.0 CA player and 3x 1.5 CA players. I'm really hopeful that (40b) Ramalho (POR) might be a bit special. 

Squad by Actual PA. 2 players with 150+ PA is brilliant, but it's the CA of (40b) Ramalho (POR) that's the big deal. It makes him one of the best players at the club, (by CA), aged 15. 

Whole club by CA. 

Whole club by PA. 

(40a) Sérgio (POR). The physicals are ok for a 15 yo but it's the mental's that are most impressive. 

(40b) Ramalho (POR). This bloke looks great. The only issue here is that both these players play in the same position, (which is a shame), but I'm definitely not complaining. 

[Rikulec]

Ramalho looks brilliant.

[Jimbokav1971]

41 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

Ramalho looks brilliant.

He really does. Really excited by him. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2040. 

Liga Bwin. We went through a pretty torrid time last month, so it was good to find some sort of form again. We've got 1 league game left and then just the Cup Final. 

UEFA Europa League. The damage was done in the 1st leg. Our xG was almost double theirs, but they put the ball in the back of the net better than we did and it cost us as we were unable to claw it back in teh 2nd leg. Gutted. 

Taça de Portugal Placard. I fielded a proper proper proper young team and they still were able to protect our 5-0 lead and eke out a creditable draw. We're into the Final where we will play our recent nemesis PdF, (who knocked us out of Europe and also beat us this month in the league. 

Goal-Scoring GK's. The game isn't tracking GK goals properly, but luckily I have recordings of all of them. I thought the problem initially was goals scored for the senior team while the player was actually in the B Team, but although that scores the 1st missing goal it doesn't account for the 2nd one. 

 

 

Finances.