[FM23] Deportivo La Coruna: Redemption and a return to the top flight?

[Jtomsett11]

January transfer window

I wanted to move some players out on loan from the B team and was on the look out for any ways we could upgrade the squad. There was also a couple of players running into the last 6-18 months of their deals who I don't think will have a future here.

Jimenez joins Zaragoza and Costa joins Monaco. Both have potential, but aren't going to meet it as they don't get selected for the B team and so cashing in makes sense now. 

The big one. I've got a scouting assignment for EU-second nationals playing in South America, and when Carrasco came across my scouting page I put in a bid immediately.

He's pacy, composed and can finish and while he isn't strong or good in the air, his PPMs are also really positive.

His attribute scores show he's already excellent; one of the best inside forwards we have and a decent pressing forward. As an advanced forward he'd be almost elite already. His first few games have been really exciting. I think he's going to be a very good player.

As a result of him arriving, I decided to send Escabros on loan to get his game time.

He's got potential, but he's just not getting the game time he probably needs at the moment. We got him for very cheap, so even if he has 2 seasons of loans and is sold or becomes a backup to Carrasco, he'll be money well spent. 

The other transfer involved me, in that I signed a new contract. I did get offered the Atletico Madrid job at the end of December, but turned that down as I'll be with Deportivo to the end now.

[Jtomsett11]

Facilities upgrade

Just the final youth upgrade now to go!

[Jtomsett11]

February 2029

This was an exciting month, although we struggled towards the end.

Getafe 2-6 Deportivo

Well, Carrasco has well and truly landed! He missed a penalty, or he'd have had 6 goals which would have been a club record. Getafe were down to 10 men, which helped as we recovered from losing the two goal lead in real time to absolutely trounce them. Carrasco just ran beyond their defenders time and time again and the 4.41xG shows how many good chances we had.

Deportivo 4-2 Real Sociedad

Gordon was truly sensational here, opening the scoring with a brilliant curler from outside the box, before setting up Cirjan and then sealing the game after a defensive mix-up. The Banjac header, his first goal for the club I think, was a really key point as we'd threatened to draw level without doing so. Our xG again shows our dominance.

Deportivo 4-0 Real Betis

Carrasco makes it 8 in two starts this month. One of the goals was from a superb through ball from youth product Huarte who I have high hopes for. 

Deportivo 3-0 Lazio

A brilliant performance in the play-off round first leg. Banjac got his second goal, but Mara was key here, finally finding his finishing boots after a spell of not scoring for 6 games. Gordon is getting better and better as well, finishing a through ball from Val. 

Barcelona 5-0 Deportivo

Ouch. This was a really bad game. We were taken to the cleaners and it just shows how far off the top teams we actually are. Rubio did not help at all with that red card, but we were second best before that point.

Lazio 2-2 Deportivo

Another red card, this time for Carrasco who went mental in the 12th minute and two-footed a defender for no apparent reason. We did really, really well to come back from conceding. In reality, we created very little, but Man and Val scored two superb long range efforts to see us through to a tie against PSG, where I suspect we'll be outplayed by Mbappe!

Deportivo 1-2 PSG

Wow, the quality PSG have is unreal. Cucurella is much better on FM than in real life and played just as well as Mbappe, who just bypassed our defence. We actually did well going forward, and but for some excellent keeping from Donnarumma, we'd probably be going into the away leg at least level.

League table

The Barcelona defeat probably sees us out of the title race, but we're still well placed to finish in the top 4.

March

A shorter month, but some seriously tough games!

 

[Jtomsett11]

Loan updates February 2029

I saw this a few days after the end of the January transfer window, in which I'd considered recalling Enrique. I now think he might be the reason we finish below Sevilla this year.

8 league goals and excellent performances; he's developed a lot and will probably be first choice AMC next season for us. I think the fact is, we wouldn't have won the league with him, and 2nd-4th make no difference in Spain so I probably made the right choice to allow him to develop and then star for us next year, rather than mess with team dynamics now.

[Jtomsett11]

March 2029

Well, the league went well, but we had disappointing results in the cups.

Deportivo 5-0 Osasuna

Wow, a think we have a real player on our hands. Last month 5 in a game, this month 4. The 3 goals for his hat-trick were almost carbon copies, Cirjan playing a beautiful ball through and Carrasco out-pacing the defenders, rounding the keeper and slotting home. It was nice to see Fondevila put his injuries behind him to put in a good performance on the left wing as well.

PSG 3-1 Deportivo

We tried, we really tried, but Martinez was just too good for us. Despite Fondevila scoring a lovely goal having come on as a sub, we just weren't clinical enough over the two legs. The fact we weren't completely outclassed is very encouraging though. 

Real Madrid 2-1 Deportivo

We did so well! We had to patch a team together from both the first and second string due to suspensions and injuries, and we held out brilliantly to deny Real Madrid right until the death, and then we conceded twice! We've got the home leg to come, so all is not lost, but retaining the cup is going to be hard work from here.

Athletic Club 1-3 Deportivo

A goalkeeper penalty, another Carrasco goal and a goal for youth product Oca, who was relegated to the B team after the first few games of this season but has really grown in the third tier and deserves a bit of a game time as we approach the end of the year. This was a really strong win to end the month well.

League table

A great position to be in as we approach the end of the season. 7 points clear of 5th with a game in hand. The title is between Sevilla and Barcelona, but top 4 is within our grasp.

April

April is a monstrous month. 9 games and a youth intake to come in! 

Carrasco

Our new striker has been sensational, so much so that he's our top scorer having been at the club 2 months. His growth suggests he's going to be elite, and I want to protect the club in order to make a lot of money when we come to sell. 

I've therefore given him a new contract already with way more money than he wanted, but that means it's a 4 year+2 deal with an £80 million release clause. I think this is well worth it.

 

[Jtomsett11]

NXGN50

The first time I've reported on this, as our players are number 1 and 2

Perhaps Enrique shouldn't be on loan!

[Jtomsett11]

Youth intake April 2029

An interesting intake, but there's a number of players I won't sign. Low self-belief, unambitious (plus low determination) and then poor potential rules out quite a few players. The nicknamed ones were signed, while I've also signed Vieito and Kanoute as they have OK personalities. 

Martin and Torres are the standouts by stats. A rated for potential Leiva is a bit of a weird one.

I mean, he's not fast, strong, particularly technically gifted or hard working. He does have good flair so there could be a good player there, but I'd be surprised if he amounts to much. Two-footed-ness is good obviously.

Martin is my favourite and I fancy him as a very offensive segunda volante even if that probably is stretching him. If he ends up as an AMC that'll be fine too.

Torres has 4 star potential, but looking at him I think he could be the real player. Those technicals for a LB are phenomenal at 16 and if he improves all his physicals by 3-4 (which is very do-able) he'd also be extremely solid physically. 

[Jtomsett11]

April 2029

I'm going to have to reduce the size of the screenshots here to fit this month in one go! This took me quite a long time in real life to play - I normally like to play a month in one go but bloody hell 9 games including a cup final is a lot! Overall, this is a really good month.

Deportivo 4-2 Atletico Madrid

We went behind to a penalty, then equalised with a penalty and then Padilla scored a lovely goal from a Rubio cut-back and Man sealed the points in all but name with a lovely finish from the edge of the area. Mara scoring was just the icing on the cake to ease the late pressure Atletico were applying.

Deportivo 1-0 Real Madrid

I completely forgot that losing 2-1 in a away leg to Real Madrid was actually a pretty good result. In the home leg we went ahead early with Fondevila continuing his improving output while Huarte also played really well at LB. We deserve to go to the final with a chance of holding on to the Copa del Rey title from last year.

Deportivo 2-1 Espanyol

Carrasco is going through something of a drought this month, but Mara is certainly not! He came on here to seal the three points after Cirjan's late strike. We didn't really play very well so it was great to take the three points.

Celta Vigo 0-0 Deportivo

This wasn't a great game and it's the first time in a while we haven't taken the 3 points off our rivals. They deserved a win against our second team, but we held out with all the defenders and Vallejo getting above 7 in match ratings showing who was doing all the work for us.

Deportivo 2-1 Villarreal (Copa del Rey final)

Capone was the star of the show as we retained the cup! We played really well, and probably should have won by more than just a single goal, but Carrasco continued his goal drought by missing a couple of really good chances. It didn't matter though, as Capone twice showed up, once from a lovely through ball from Garner and the other after a low cross across the box from Man in extra time.

Sevilla 2-0 Deportivo

This was just a step too far after the extra time cup win. Sevilla are a really good side at the moment and we never really got a foot in the game.

Valencia 0-2 Deportivo

We bounced back from the Sevilla loss superbly. It was our pressing that won us this game, and in particular Gordon, who twice nicked the ball off defenders when poor passes put them under pressure. Both times he slotted under the keeper superbly, and that was that!

Deportivo 4-0 Mallorca

Arsenijevic, take a bow son! A masterful performance; two expert finishes after good work from Val and then two superb through-balls as Mara continues his great recent run. A well deserved 10/10 rating!

Deportivo 1-1 Granada

We end the month a little poorly, but it has been a long month! We went ahead after a good Cirjan finish, and then Carrasco was just offside, as was Man from a good through ball from the Argentinian, who now hasn't found the back of the net all month long!

Granada didn't deserve the point, but if you don't put your chances away, then you can't complain!

League table

We're very, very close to the Champions League now, and it's probably a done deal. A cup win and a second season in the Champions League is fantastic progress.

The board certainly think so, considering me untouchable. The fans however, are only mildly pleased with us .

May

Some reasonable fixtures to finish the season. 

[Jtomsett11]

UEFA Youth league

This is really impressive from our U19s! 

[KlaaZ]

Just read up on this, excellent job with clenching La Liga! I really like your writing style and general playing approach as well.

[Jtomsett11]

On 01/10/2023 at 19:45, KlaaZ said:

Just read up on this, excellent job with clenching La Liga! I really like your writing style and general playing approach as well.

Thank you - much appreciated! The La Liga title was a complete surprise to be honest - I never expected to win it so soon and I imagine it'll be a few years before we're really ready to challenge properly again! Probably no European football helped a lot.

[Jtomsett11]

May 2029

Last season we'd have walked these games, but as our reputation has grown over the last two years, I've noticed that we're struggling to break weaker teams down and are hit more often on the counter attack. Such is the cost of improving a side and we'll simply have to adapt as we move forward.

Deportivo 1-1 Rayo Vallecano

We were really lackluster here after Carrasco opened the scoring. We looked like we could score more both before our goal and after theirs, but didn't, and ultimately paid the price of some sloppy play at the back as Hoever gave away a penalty after a very poor pass from Vallejo. They didn't create much apart from the penalty, but they probably deserved the draw.

Elche 0-3 Deportivo

Just before this game, Real Madrid dropped yet more points to confirm our second consecutive season in the Champions League. A huge achievement considering we've also won the Copa Del Rey and got to the last 16 of the Champions League this season with a ridiculously low budget. 

Although this wage budget isn't much more than we have now and includes the B team, that transfer budget is significantly more than we're used to and should give us room to play.

We celebrated qualification in style, with Capone, Val and Carrasco marking the occasion with great performances. Elche actually should have done a lot better as we struggled with their counter-attacking style, but Yaakobishvili was in fine form to keep them at bay.

Cadiz 0-2 Deportivo

This time of the year, I'm often thinking about the squad for next year. Players like Capone, Rubio, Val, Gonzalez and Hoever are probably a little bit at risk as we look to upgrade from within (Fondevila, Oca, Huarte, Edu) or with transfers to improve the squad. A few of these players are really showing their worth at the moment, with Val and Capone impressing in the last game and Gonzalez and Rubio impressing here. It was the latter who scored a fine Giggs-esque finish (you know the one I'm talking about) after Huarte set him free before he then set up Carrasco who is slowly but surely finding consistency to go with that 5 and 4 goal burst in his first month with us. This was much more comfortable than the Elche win.

Deportivo 2-0 Las Palmas

Carrasco and Capone again! We should have scored more, but I'll take a dominant 2-0 any day!

Granada 2-2 Deportivo

A frenetic end to the season, as we looked likely to lose, before Mara and Man turned the game around within 2 minutes and then really we should have won before a late red card for Bella-Kotchap meant we just settled for the point.

League table

We actually relegated three teams in three games by beating Cadiz, Las Palmas and drawing with Granada! Third place is amazing really; we're just 6 points shy of the 90 we got last season and Barcelona ran away with the league so we can't be upset about not retaining the title. Real Madrid had a shocker and finish 5th. Sevilla will be annoyed to get 88 points and finish second, but that's the nature of La Liga when you have two super-teams competing. They'll lose their best player next season as Enrique rejoins us from his very, very successful loan spell.

[Tolke]

Congrats! @Jtomsett11

I've been reading your progress with Super Depor, and I love it! I got some good inspirations for my current save and futures ones!

One quick question, just because I am very curious. In some of your players you have add a sufix (22A, 23E, 25H, etc..) what does that mean ? I think it is something for you, to order your squad, it just that I am curious if that system could work for me.

Thanks, and keep going!!

[lfds89]

15 horas atrás, Tolke disse:

Congrats! @Jtomsett11

I've been reading your progress with Super Depor, and I love it! I got some good inspirations for my current save and futures ones!

One quick question, just because I am very curious. In some of your players you have add a sufix (22A, 23E, 25H, etc..) what does that mean ? I think it is something for you, to order your squad, it just that I am curious if that system could work for me.

Thanks, and keep going!!

Not OP, but I believe can answer that: 22A is the best graduate from the 2022 youth intake, 22B is the second best, and so on.

[Jtomsett11]

On 05/10/2023 at 16:30, lfds89 said:

Not OP, but I believe can answer that: 22A is the best graduate from the 2022 youth intake, 22B is the second best, and so on.

Correct! @Tolke, quite a few people use this or some sort of nickname for players from youth intake, some add country of origin or a description to help them remember certain aspects to their players.

[Tolke]

Thanks!! @lfds89 & @Jtomsett11 !!!

 

And I was thinking some kind of secret code for development, hahaha.

[Jtomsett11]

End of season 2028/29 review

A really good season, we actually weren't far off last season, just drawing 3 more games with a slightly worse defence and a slightly better attack, but Barcelona blew the rest of us out of the water to finish 13 points above us and 9 points above Sevilla. Considering we also won the Copa Del Rey for the second consecutive season and also made the last 16 of the Champions League, it's an unqualified success for me. I think we need to be aiming for top 4 from now onwards, especially with our budgets likely to improve next season. Our wage budget hasn't been confirmed by La Liga for next year, but I'd really hope it's higher than this year.

Player performances

Goalkeepers

Yaakobishvili had a better first half of the season, but Vallejo had a much better second half of the season as at the half way point his xGP and %SV was a lot lower than it is now. I think we could improve in the GK position, but to be honest we've got a young player who is probably good enough to be second choice next season with 5 star potential and we'll promote him most likely.

Yaakobishvili did become our joint top-goalkeeper-goalscorer, but he's been quite slow to get there.

Defenders

Bella-Kotchap and Scholl fought for the right hand side CB position and Banjac and Panzo for the left. Apart from tackle ratio, Scholl outperforms Bella-Kotchap and Banjac is outperformed by Panzo, so maybe I'm playing the wrong players as first choice? 

At RB, Ludewig and Hoever are my men and the former retained his starting place after a brief dally with Hoever this season. Both are quite similar in defense but Ludewig creates more chances. What's really pleasing is that Edu who played 5 games has very reasonable stats for a 17/18 year old. 

At LB, Bernabei was second choice to Williams, with Huarte coming onto the scene towards the end. Bernabei took corners when on, so his open play key passes is a better indicator of his success at creating, and although he's above the other two, I'm impressed with Williams and Huarte, who did really well to get 2 assists and looks a real asset with progressive passing, probably because he dribbles less as he's terrible at it! 

Midfielders

Val has the best rating, and that's probably from his 5 assists, although Padilla is probably unlucky to have fewer assists with the highest key passes from open player of my mids. Gonzalez does a decent job, but doesn't offer the goal threat other players do, so is probably bottom choice, even compared to youngster Oca, who will probably play in the B team next year for experience. I'd like to strengthen this position to be honest. Garner didn't have a great year for us as previously he's stood out by miles, but 6 assists and 4 goals is pretty solid combined with very strong defensive output as well.

Attackers

In the centre (AMC) we played Arsenijevic and Cirjan. The latter stands out more, but he also missed chances this year whereas Arsenijevic was bang on his xG. 

On the left, Capone and Rubio play quite different roles, the former crossing more and finishing more chances this year, while the latter seems to provide more assists from lower output as he has done in previous seasons. Fondevila is our prospect in this position; he probably should have contributed more goals and while he completes the fewest crosses, he does provide a lot of key passes and his 3 assists in just 11 starts isn't bad. A starting place in the B team might allow him the develop further.

On the right, Gordon is the key man with Man the backup. Man took a lot of corners and free kicks, so that boosts his numbers; his 14 assists was a fantastic return, so all in all I prefer Gordon who gets into the box more. He had a good first season. 

Up front, Mara and Cheddira started the season as first and second choice, and both did very well. But it's Carrasco, who arrived in January and finished as our top scorer, who was the real story. 17 goals from 12 xG and also 3 assists, more than either Mara or Cheddira; it's clear who is our number 1 next year.

Team of the year

This is interesting as I'd probably pick Gordon and Capone in my team of the year. 

Scholl was a great signing, as was Gordon on a free and Carrasco for £3.7 million. Banjac has done a fine job as an upgrade on what we had as a left footed CB.

U19s

The U19s had a great season, winning the UEFA Youth League and the U19 Division 1 title. A few players will definitely be promoted.

B Team

That promotion is made easier by this news.

3 back-to-back promotions from Unplayable leagues to La Liga B - this will offer us a superb development ground for our younger players. 

[Jtomsett11]

Attribute growth July 2029

I find this point of the season really useful to assess the squad and where we need to improve. Star ratings are useful, but they are variable and sometimes feel quite misleading, especially around new signings.

Goalkeepers

This is a prime example; our coaches currently rate Yaakobishvili as our best keeper, yet when you see this you realise that oveall Nikolic, who is yet to play a game for us as we allowed him to remain on loan after signing for us, is definitely worthy of starting next year. His growth of nearly 5 points while still being some way short of his potential indicates he is the future. Cano did well to grow as the B team keeper, but I may see if Vallejo doesn't get too upset about being demoted the the B team once the registration window opens (I can't move him currently as he's first team registered) as it might make sense to have a quality keeper for La Liga 2. If not Cano will retain the keeper role. Luca is looking really solid and he's really young (16) with 4.5 star potential (or so the coaching team say). Salgueiro won't be retained past the end of this season and Sarabia may never make the cut, but he could end up a B team keeper.

Centre backs

Bella-Kotchap and Scholl were in our team of the season and they are our best centre backs, but I like to play a left footed CB if I can and that needs to be Panzo or Banjac. Both of those will be under threat next year from Rotena who has done really well out on loan to grow by nearly 5 points. His jumping is 14 and his pace just 11, but if those went up slightly (15 and 13 perhaps) he'd be top quality. 

Elsewhere, Angel and Daniel (the latter played a few times for the first team this year) both improve, Daniel by over 7 attribute points which is superb. Gonzalez is also improving and all three of those will feature for the B team next year in La Liga 2, which will be a huge step up but hopefully superb for their development. 

Cousillas and Sergio will leave as soon as feasibly possible, while Ban will remain in the U19s to develop.

Full/wing backs

Huarte is the one who stands out to me because he's now first team (or second choice) ready with potential still to meet. However, there's a host of players who've developed. Edu at RB played 5 games for the first team, while Koliada continues his steady growth; he'll get a chance in the B team next year as I want him to kick on as he still has 5 star potential. Albes has made significant progress as well. I'm disappointed with Salas, who cost very little but still has 5 star potential and played for the B team last year with very little development. Colley may just actually be a little crap as he's stalled; he's still a good B team backup. Priest is see as an AMR so let's see how his growth in that position is before I judge him too much. Villegas, Kotsaridis and Azzaoui are never going to make it, and just take up places in the B team or U19, so if I can't sell them they'll go out on loan until the end of their deals. 

Segunda volante

Oca is the standout 'grower' here, but I still have doubts over his ability to command a place next year. The B team's promotion is perfect, as he can play with David and have Pablo as a backup as he has the least potential and the slowest growth. Padilla had good stats this year and has grown slightly; I would like to get a little more development out of him to be honest. Val was really useful this year, while Gonzalez played his part, but I think we need to improve the engine room as this role dictates so much about our play and Garner can't do it all on his own.

Falque may never play for the first team, but with 3.5 star potential (2.5 gold), he could end up being a decent B team player in the future.

Attacking mid

The strength in depth here owes some part to the attributes needed for an AMC, but also to having some La Liga leading talent. Is it mad I'm considering selling Cirjan, technically our player of the year (according to the fans) so that Enrique can start with Arsenijevic as backup. Agirrezabala hasn't ever played for us! I may retrain him to AML as you'll see from the inside forwards as he's better there.

Tortosa will play for the B team, Crespo will possibly be sold along with Diez, or at least loaned as although they look reasonable, they're actually pretty average. Rahman's lack of growth despite 5 star potential is disappointing, but Gonzalez appears to have grown a bit more so that's good at least. Leiva and Martin could be very useful players in the future if develop with Leiva already growing significantly in 2 months, albeit from a lower starting point. 

Inside forwards

The first three players here don't play as inside forwards for us! Agirrezabla perhaps deserves a try; he's got potential yet to fill and could be useful from the right as Capone turns 30. Gordon and Rubio grew a little last year as they max out their potential (although they may have a little more to develop, who knows), while Man is also 30; I want to be replacing him and Capone by the end of the year. 

The player I had nailed down to replace Capone was Fondevila, but he's not growing as I would like him to. I may promote him to first choice this season and see if that kick starts his growth as his technicals and mentals aren't great. He is only 18 (just) so perhaps I just need to give him time.

Elsewhere, Priest and Queijeiro also have 5 star potential without much growth. I may put both in the B team, but Queijeiro has such as low starting point in terms of CA stars I'm not sure the B team boss will pick him. If I don't have Fondevila in the first team (he did really well for the B team last season when he played) then positions are limited for the B team.

Torres has 4 star potential and played quite well for the B team this year, so will stay down there. We've also then got Escarbros and Oliveira who aren't ready for the first team, but could do a good job in the B team. I've got some decisions to make here about who stays and who goes on loan. 

Strikers

Carrasco is going to be our first choice next year, with Mara backing him up. I'll sell Cheddira as he enters his last few years, which frees up space for perhaps Curran or Escabros to be promoted from the B team if we pick up injuries. Curran came in last season for £2 million and after initially struggling, scored 11 league goals in the third tier to help us to promotion, so he'll definitely stay as first choice striker there. I didn't take his attribute score when he arrived so it looks like he didn't grow (although looking at all time growth I'm not sure he did!).

Lavin will probably be loaned out so he doesn't clog up space for those with higher potential, while Alende will also be loaned out as although he grew last year, he's way behind where he needs to be for a 5 star potential player (I suspect his potential will drop).

[Jtomsett11]

Transfer thoughts

From the above, I'm pretty confident of the following positions:

GK (Nikolic will be a very good player)

LB (Williams and Huarte - although if we ever need an extra foreign spot Williams would leave)

CB (Rotena in for either Banjac or Panzo, but otherwise no need for strengthening really)

AMC (Enrique and Arsenijevic are the future)

ST (Carrasco and Mara no problems)

 

The ones that need strengthening:

RB (Hoever is on £36k a week and not starting - that's too much really. Can we strengthen the backup and then promote Edu the season after this to replace Ludewig?)

DM (Not sure how many, but we need better players to go with Garner. Padilla and Val can then be second string/ 5th choice DM with Oca in second team for a year)

AMR and L - backups/ replacements for Capone/ Man - not sure whether from within the squad or transfers 

[Jtomsett11]

B Team huge issue

I've come across a massive issue.

My plans were to use the B team to develop our younger players. However, I've fallen foul of the salary cap, probably because the B team technically have appalling attendances and no finances. La Liga 2 rules say you can have up to 4 players registered for other teams, but if I register players for La Liga I then don't have the option to make them available for Deportivo Fabril. If they're U19 I don't have to register them, so I might be able to get a squad together, but £35k a week is so low that I'll probably only be able to register 6-7 players maximum. 

I think I can solve this going forward by selling some players from the B team squad to boost the finances for next season. I'm also suddenly very tight in the first team squad as only Fondevila doesn't have to be registered. I'm going to try demoting the unwanted players into the B team and then selling them, and we'll see if this makes a difference next year. It's extremely annoying, as my B team squad is now going to be quite weak and at significant risk of relegation.

[Jtomsett11]

Summer transfers and pre-season

I usually approach each off-season by prioritising positions as I did in the post above (RB, DM and AMR/L) but I'm finding it quite hard to get better players on our budget.

With just £800k for our main squad, and £900k in total, we don't have loads of wiggle room to offer large salaries. The B team situation also means a lot of players will need to go out on loan.

Signings

In the end, we manage to bring in a RB, two DMC's and then a young CB for the B team, a young AMC for the B team and an AMR who goes out on loan as his wages are too high for the B team!

Seiwald joins for a club record £16 million and he's exactly what I think we needed in DM - a very strong and combative player who is also going to be able to carry the ball forward and score or assist.

Basic joins on a free transfer to add depth and a left footed player to the DMs. Again, he's an all-rounder and improves our options for segunda volante. He's on relatively low wages and will offer us security while Oca continue to develop.

Font comes in to start at RB. I like almost everything about him, and he's got a little bit of room for growth. He cost just £8.5 million which is way cheaper than most RBs were looking like, and he is also on a pretty low wage.

Marcos joins for £750k as he had a minimum release clause. He is fickle, but we're so short at CB and DM in the B team I couldn't really say no with that potential!

Augusto is an absolute bargain at £1.4 million from Albacete. He would have been brilliant for the B team due to his low wage, but he's injured now for 2-3 months 

Ramirez comes in for £250k and immediately goes out on loan because he can't play for the B team due to the ridiculously low wage budget!! We might make some money from him at some point!

Outgoings

We've made quite a bit of money this transfer window, raking in a record amount of income. We've also loaned out half the world it seems!

Significant outgoing include Val, Cirjan, Bernabei, Gonzalez, Vallejo, Hoever and Cheddira, although you won't notice Val (£9m) and Vallejo (£5.5m) as I sold them from the B team to raise funds for next years wage budget (hopefully!!)

Val has been ever-present in our squad and had arguably his best season last year, but we've improved the DM slot so he makes way. 

I'm sad we've sold Vallejo, but my plan to register him for the B team doesn't work with our wage budget and we haven't got room in the squad to register 3 keepers. He's home grown, but is the worst keeper so we can't be sentimental about it and off he goes!

Cheddira has been brilliant considering we signed him from a poor season with Levante. We make a profit and he's helped us out hugely.

Cirjan came in on a free and in our title winning season he was just superb. However, we have Enrique and Arsenijevic and I don't think we can justify keeping him when he's on £36k a week.

Hoever was also on £36k a week, and with Fort coming in I thought he was the best player to shift on. We bring in good money for him having signed him on a free.

Bernabei has been backup LB and so to sell him for £8 million is great business. His first season with us was better than last season but he did do very well in the Champions League. Huarte takes over his role.

Finances

With all that money coming in, we're in a great position financially, but with still quite a low transfer budget. 

I did notice that the TV revenue ticked up slightly this year.

We're also bringing in lots from matchday and ticket revenue, but we're still way behind on sponsorship. I asked the board to extend or buy the stadium but they weren't having it, despite 31000 season ticket holders in a 35000 seater stadium!!

Squads

After all of that, we end up with our first team looking like this.

Our second string like this:

With four spare players to slot in when needed.

And our B team looks very, very thin (Colley since when out on loan as he wasn't registered and I didn't realise during the friendlies!)

We may be borrowing from the U19s quite frequently! We may also struggle to stay in the league.

We're up to 7th in the predictions; I want top four.

Pre-season

A superb pre-season of cups, culminating in us taking Barcelona to the cleaners with Carrasco getting a hat-trick. 

[Jtomsett11]

August 2029

On the eve of the campaign, we found out that Carrasco would be missing for the first few months of the season, which is quite the blow considering our other strikers other than Mara have just gone out on loan. We have Curran in the B team, but we might need to him there to stand any chance of staying up.

Espanyol 0-3 Deportivo

No Carrasco, no problem so far! Fondevila pays me back for putting the faith in him as our main AML this season with a really good finish from an Enrique ball and then a fine pass to set up Mara for his first. Mara then sealed the win by nipping in and stealing the ball of a defender, rounding the keeper and slotting home. We then saw out the rest of the game.

Deportivo 5-0 Sevilla

I was worried about this game because Sevilla finished above us last season. I needn't have worried! Mara continued his fine start to the season with a hat-trick, while there was a first goal for Enrique (against his former loan club) and Arsenijevic. Absolutely superb start to the season!

Champions League draw

The Champions League draw offers us a good route into the next round I think. Ajax, Slavia Prague, Leverkusen, Rheindorf and Celtic all offer us chances to win. Probably, PSG away is the only guaranteed loss as we're home to Milan and Man City.

September

I won't show the table yet as we've played just two games. 4 winnable fixtures in La Liga and a tough start to the Champions League. The second string will probably play against City and Osasuna. 

[Jtomsett11]

September 2029

Quite the brilliant month and we're still yet to concede a goal this season!

Real Sociedad 0-3 Deportivo

A third game in a row for the first team and they seem to be gelling really well, with Fondevila and Mara again on the scoresheet. Basic scored his first goal with a very good free-kick and he looks very good all-round. It's nice to see Oca and Huarte slot in when they come on (I make 4 subs on 60 minutes usually for fresh legs, so they get quite a bit of game time) as neither was ready at the start last season.

Deportivo 1-0 Getafe

Although there was a 15 day break for our first team, perhaps 4 starts in a row plus international football for many of them was too much as we looked jaded here. Mara has just thrown his toys out of the pram, demanding a new contract after his great start and demanding £59k a week and a 15% sell-on fee. That's just way too much in my opinion. I'm hoping it doesn't affect him too much (I've shut down the dressing room dissent so that's all okay) as he missed two chances here that he's buried early in the season. Nikolic wasn't down to take penalties so Enrique took it and buried it. We did play well, we just weren't as sharp as we have been.

This isn't going to help us:

We've picked up some bigger injuries this season which is a shame. Agirrezabala is nearly back, so it's likely that he'll get a lot more minutes now as we'll have him and Capone to probably back up Man. That's good for development, but a real shame for Gordon, who finished last season and started this season so well.

Deportivo 1-0 Man City

This might be our best result of the save, but it's definitely our best showing in the Champions League so far. We did have to do our fair share of defending, but we kept ourselves in the game and scored at the end. This was the second team playing too, so it's a fantastic achievement.

In the end, it was the subs that paid dividends as Fondevila set up Mara, who is playing every game at the moment, to smash home late on. 

Villarreal 0-0 Deportivo

On the one hand, this could be considered disappointing and we've only scored 2 goals in the last three games with one of those a penalty. However, Villarreal are no mugs and to be honest, I consider holding out for a draw here a very good result. Mara had his worst game yet (maybe I should have just given him a contract) and therefore, with no other striking options and a need to defend, I think it's a good point.

Osasuna 0-4 Deportivo

Issues with scoring you say? Mara out of form? All our problems are solved as we tear Osasuna apart. Rubio is a better fit on the right wing than Capone so I've been using his there, and he did really well here, setting up Arsenijevic who finished superbly across the keeper, before also sliding a brilliant pass through to Mara for his second after Arsenijevic had been unselfish and laid him off for a tap in. Man came on to give Mara a rest and scored as well. A lovely way to end the month.

League table

It's very early days, but it's nice to see us start so well this year. 0 goals conceded is excellent as is 16 scored. A real plus for us this year is our strength in depth; we've had some big injuries which would have derailed us last year and yet our second string can beat Man City.

October

If we haven't conceded by the end of October then we'll be in the hunt for the title! Two very winnable Champions League games too. It'll be, second team, first team, first, second, first, second I think. 

[Jtomsett11]

October 2029

Well we did concede, but only twice and that was against Real Madrid! This all feels very, very positive at the moment.

Ajax 0-3 Deportivo

The second team played here and it really was a stroll in the park. I played this one a while ago, so can't remember much other than Basic playing very well, really pulling the strings in the midfield and getting a lovely assist from a through ball to Capone. 

We also set a new record with this game. We did extend the record to 9 before the Madrid game.

Rayo Vallecano 0-1 Deportivo

We were very lucky to win this game. The curse of the unbeaten record nearly struck, as Nikolic and the back four had to be very alert and to be honest, Vallecano missed some sitters. They were made to pay for it by Capone, who was set up beautifully from a cross-field ball from Rubio, playing in the unusual position of AMR (although he is very capable of playing there). A few players such as Mara are looking a little weary as injuries have left us ever so slightly thin, but the important thing is the 3 points!

Real Madrid 2-2 Deportivo

Nikolic was finally beaten in goal by a superb low strike from Valverde before the tie looked beyond us just after half time as Fort misjudged his headed back pass and Araujo had an easy lobbed finish to make it 2-0. However, we came back superbly. Arsenijevic came on and turned the game around, first finishing from a tight angled volley and then setting up Mara for an excellent finish. We could of even won the game but for some brilliant saves made by the Real Madrid keeper. I said in the previous game that injuries have left us a little tight in certain positions (striker, AMR), but to be able to bring on Arsenijevic to change the game is a real difference this year as Enrique is also class.

Deportivo 6-0 Slavia Prague

The Champions League is going very well! Capone is relishing the role being afforded to him by Gordon's injury, as he wasn't going to get any game time at all this year without injuries. 2 goals and 2 assists here were expertly taken. Agirrezabala also impressed on his debut, scoring and assisting. He played AMR although he's being retrained to AML as he is right footed. An injury to Ludewig also saw Edu promoted from the B team for this game. The other player to make a comeback is our star man, Carrasco. He didn't last the whole game, but he showed how good he is with a goal just 19 minutes into his return!

Deportivo 5-0 Almeria

3 for Carrasco and 2 for Enrique! Carrasco tormented the Almeria defence, nicking the ball time and time again and scoring most of the chances he had. I have to say, Man was also in great form, pressing well and setting up two of the goals. No goals conceded again!

Deportivo 2-0 Barcelona

When you see these you usually think you're cursed for the next game.

We played this one beautifully. The second team were genuinely superb and held Barcelona at arms length for 60 minutes. Then on came 5 substitutes and Carrasco and Enrique got themselves into great positions with their fresh legs to seal us victory late on. This is a huge victory and what a way to seal the record unbeaten.

Our only annoyance was an injury to Hector Rubio.

We've been using him along with Man at AMR so in theory this isn't great news, but Agirrezabala has really taken the AMR position by storm since returning from his own injury, so I've now no issue with this at all.

League table

I stupidly forgot to take a screenshot, but we were definitely top. I can't remember, but I think it was by 3 points. 

November

Real Betis are right up at the top, as are Celta Vigo so this isn't a particularly easy month. The Champions League should be easier, but both games are away.

What more could the supporters want?!

[Jtomsett11]

Deportivo Fabril October 2029

The B team has been rather hamstrung by the woeful budget of £35k a week on wages. Initially, I hired a decent manager, but this left me with no say over tactics and unable to do much to influence results. I decided to sack him, download a skin with instant result and then essentially manage the B team but instant result the games. I did this I think before the Lugo game, but I was definitely in charge for the Cordoba game.

The difference I've made, or my tactics have made, is clear. We have 10 points from 6 (or 7) games, whereas before we had 2 from 7 (or 8). I thought that the 4 home games in a row could be where we start to claw back some league places, so I'm really pleased we've taken 10 points from 12 in the last 4 home games and have 2 in a row still to go. 

The league doesn't look pretty, and we've played more games than others, but I'm pretty confident that with reasonable rotation (difficult due to the wage restrictions) to focus on the winnable home games, we'll survive. It's going to have such a benefit on our young players who've managed to fit into the wage budget of the B team. 

[Jtomsett11]

November 2029

This is a really good month, even if we conceded 7 times, which is more than double our entire season total up to the start of November, and lost our first game. The reason it's a really good month is we could afford a loss in the Champions League, we've won 3/3 in the league and if you look at our injury list on 11th November you can see we were really struggling at times:

That's 1st choice AMC, AML, AMR out. 2nd choice AML, AMC also out. 3rd choice/ backup AMR and DM also out. Okay Agirrezabala was back without missing a fixture, but it meant he wasn't fit and needed subbing and we just didn't have subs for his position.

Deportivo 2-0 Celta Vigo

Another derby win! Fondevila scored an unstoppable angled drive to give us the lead and his replacement, Capone nodded us into a 2-0 lead that Celta Vigo never threatened.

Bayer Leverkusen 4-1 Deportivo

Sometimes, it just isn't your day. The same team that beat Barcelona (more or less) comes unstuck in Germany. The xG tells you it was equal, and it was really, except for their superior finishing and our torrid finishing. This especially applies when you consider nearly 1 xG of theirs comes from a penalty. Still, we live to fight on in the Champions League and it's the first time our luck has abandoned us so we take it on the chin.

Deportivo 2-0 Athletic

A really strong performance as we denied Athletic any real site of goal. Carrasco did the damage for us to seal the tie after Capone steered home another Agirrezabala assist. I'm so glad I kept Agirrezabala and didn't loan him out again this year!

That was 20 unbeaten stretching back to last season!

Real Betis 1-2 Deportivo

Betis were second at the time they played us and I thought they'd give us a good game. They did more than that, as they completely tore us apart in the first half; time and time again they were through on goal, but somehow they failed to open up more than a one goal lead.

That really came back to bite them, as once we scored (a fortuitous penalty from a handball) there was only one team creating chances. I didn't think we'd do it, but Agirrezabala managed to wiggle through on goal and when his shot was pushed into the path of Carrasco it was essentially an open goal to seal the three, possibly undeserved points.

Altach Rheindorf 2-3 Deportivo

We rounded off the month with a slightly nervy 3-2 win in the Champions League. We were never really at our best but luckily Mara seems to score when we need him to this season as his two goals just about saw us over the line. Complacency was probably the main issue here as they only had 4 shots, but they did have a reasonable chance to equalise in the last minute.

League table

Whether we win the league or not, I can't remember the last time I started a league season in a top league in this fashion on FM. Just 3 goals conceded and 32 scored. We're 7 points clear of Barcelona at the end of November. Incredible.

Champions League table

We're not quite as dominant here, but last season it was about sneaking into 24th (or that was the aim) whereas we're now aiming for the top 8. I'm not sure why we're behind Sevilla as we haven't played them so should be ahead of them on goal difference. Weird! We've got Celtic, PSG and Milan left so we'll have to see if we have enough to qualify in the top 8.

December

A busy month before the mid-season break. Every game here is winnable. 

 

 

 

[Jtomsett11]

Contracts and happiness December 2029

We've had some unhappy players this season due to increased competitiveness of the squad and wages. Mara wanted £65k a week or something and I wasn't prepared to pay that. However, I have now agreed to pay him £52k a week as he's a very good backup striker and there's interest from PSG, so I wanted his minimum fee raised from £20 million, especially as when we signed him we agreed to 20% sell on fee (he was on a free transfer).

Despite this, he's still unhappy as I've "broken too many promises", which is strange.

Padilla also demanded not to be replaced by Seiwald as he thought he'd been signed to replace him (he had). He didn't play much and requested to be transfer listed, so I said yes. However, we've used him quite a bit recently due to Oca's injury, so he's now happy again.

Yaakobishvili was also unhappy at being dropped for Nikolic (who has 11 clean sheets in 13 appearances, so pretty fair I promoted him). He's now no longer worried about game time, but is still transfer listed by request .

Panzo is also likely to leave due to a lack of game time. We've used him 3 or 4 times at LB when Huarte was injured and I actually think he might be better than Banjac, but I have a long term plan to improve LCB and so selling him (and Banjac when the time comes) probably makes sense.

January could be interesting when it comes round, as 10 of our first team squad are currently wanted by other teams.

 

[Jtomsett11]

Deportivo Fabril November 2029

I thought I'd continue posting about the upturn in the B teams form. The home games were won, but the great news is we won away and we only just lost to Tenerife.

Survival should be a formality now.

[Punch]

Smashing it 

[Jtomsett11]

December 2029

December started superbly, but we had two disappointing draws to end the decade.

Racing de Santander 0-2 Deportivo

A rather straight forward victory, but we weren't exactly prolific here and a header from a corner put us 2-0 up to ensure that our missed chances in the first half didn't come back to bite us!

Deportivo 2-0 Mallorca

We didn't create loads, but we won a penalty and then Capone set Mara free to score and that was enough!

Deportivo 3-0 Valencia

In the first half, we weren't great, but the own goal, forced in by Carrasco set us on the way. Fondevila set up Agirrezabala brilliantly for the second and then Carrasco scored a tap in late on to seal a very good victory over a struggling, but still decent Valencia side.

Deportivo 3-3 Celtic

I was really annoyed with this game. At 2-0 I thought we were going to thrash them and move to 15 points in the Champions League which I think would have meant we needed just a draw to seal qualification. Instead, we let in two goals quickly and despite Mara restoring the lead, Furuhashi scored a lovely goal to get Celtic the point as we missed chance after chance. Fondevila scored what looked like a winner, but it was just offside.

Elche 2-2 Deportivo

Sometimes, it's just not your day. We come away with a draw here, courtesy of Agirrezabala and Mara, but I'm disappointed we didn't win with the chances we created and the two -just about- offside goals. I think we've run out of steam slightly!

League table

Despite that draw, we're on target for over 100 points if we kept up our current form. Barcelona are not in bad form themselves though, so they're just 5 points behind us. 

Champions League

If we'd have beaten Celtic, we'd be looking really, really good. As it is, we need to beat PSG or Milan. PSG are down on 8 points, but with Mbappe it's likely they'll beat us.

January

If we beat Sevilla in the Supercopa semi final, we'll play 8 games in 25 days which is pretty tough. 

[Jtomsett11]

Mid-season performance

Well, it's been a brilliant season so far and despite those two draws at the end of December, we should be very proud of our efforts. The team have been superb overall.

Goalkeepers

I've forgotten to put Nikolic on penalty duties, so he hasn't scored, but he has been superb in goal. A 92% save rate and preventing 0.37 goals per 90 minutes. That's over 4 goals he's prevented this season. I have my eyes on another goalkeeper in January, available for around £3 million from South America but with Italian nationality, so Yaakobishvili may leave us. Despite winning us a title and playing OK this season, he's nowhere near Nikolic.

Defenders

I find it interesting that Banjac wins 95% of his tackles, while Bella-Kotchap wins just 67%. Rotena looks our worst CB, but then he is our worst CB as he's young and learning. Huarte isn't a million miles behind Williams while Fort has just been that little bit more effective defensively than Ludewig. He has failed to make an assist however. Despite this, I feel Fort's stronger defensive performance is part of the reason we've conceded so few goals this year.

Midfield

Oca, Basic, Padilla, Seiwald and Garner have had minutes here this season. We've had just 2 goals and 5 assists from DM this year and none from Seiwald who is our best player in the position. Defensively, Oca and Basic have really impressed, they press well and win the ball back effectively, although Oca is still learning and has a long way to go. Padilla has come back into the side and he's got the best offensive output in terms of numbers with almost half the total goals and assists. 

Attackers

Goal contributions have been superb from this department. Mara has 20 in 19 games. Carrasco has 10 in 9. At AMC, Enrique has 7 in 19, Arsenijevic 7 in 16. On the wings, Rubio has 6 in 13, Man 5 in 14, Fondevila 8 in 19, Agirrezabala 9 in 11 (!!), Capone 13 in 15 (!!) and Gordon who's been injured, 2 in 4. That we've used 10 players for 4 roles shows you the rotation needed and the injuries we've had. I had thought that Capone and Agirrezabala wouldn't see much game time at all, but they've arguably been the best performers when it comes to goals and assists. 

 

[Jtomsett11]

Potential December 2029 and Youth intake preview

I thought I'd take a look at all the squads by potential.

We now only have 5 5* potential players, but only one of those is an 'exciting youngster' and that's Koliada who is playing for the B team this year but isn't far away from being a good choice at LB. I have high hopes for him. For the others, it'll be interesting to see how far they develop.

We then have 12 4.5 star potential players. Of those, Fondevila, Edu and Oca are in and around the first team squad, or featuring regularly. David, Marcos and Augusto have been the best of the others in the B team and could be called up next year, or perhaps the year after depending on squad depth and transfer budgets.

A 4 star player is either a good or leading La Liga player at the moment, but obviously many of these players will not make that standard (which we'll want to aim for in the future for all of our players). I like Rotena, Agirrezabala and Huarte who are already in the first team squad, but I also wonder is Aitor Torres and Albes have strong futures based of their attribute balance. 

This preview is interesting, as I'm very happy with our keepers, attacking midfielders and the depth of youth at full back, so it'll be hard for any youth prospect to come through in these positions. Of course, with the club where it is we are still likely to have to sell our best players, so perhaps there will be more opportunities than I think there will be.

[Jtomsett11]

January 2030

Just the 8 games in a busy January! We've not done as well in La Liga, but to be fair Barcelona and Sevilla are no mugs, even if we did beat Sevilla 6-0 17 days earlier than our loss! We also saw more silverware.

Alaves 1-2 Deportivo

A double from Carrasco, with two simple and smart finishes from our Argentinian. The late consolation goal was annoying and perhaps a sign of our slightly increased vulnerability in defense from December continuing. The other worrying news was another injury to Gordon. Fortunately, Agirrezabala has been more than adequate to bolster our AMR options this season. Enrique was also injured for 12 days, which with such a busy run of games wasn't ideal either.

Deportivo 6-0 Sevilla

A stunning victory for our B team, especially considering Edu and Koliada played at full back. Man has been really good this season despite limited appearances as has Capone and both continued that form here. Into the final with just 2 days to prepare!

Barcelona 0-1 Deportivo

This was a superb result considering we were down to 10 men for almost the entire game. Rubio hit a superb volley 2 minutes after Seiwald was sent off and we defended brilliantly to seal my first Super Copa and Deportivo's 4th. 

Deportivo 1-1 Atletico Madrid

This was highly frustrating as we simply couldn't finish Atletico off and eventually paid for it. Carrasco had an off day and we just ended up looking a little tired and lethargic and that allowed Atletico back into the game.

Well, we went 27 unbeaten in La Liga - not bad!!

Castellon 1-3 Deportivo

We're still a little bit profligate infront of goal at the moment. Carrasco may have scored twice, but Mara missed a hat-full of chances! You may notice a new keeper (more on that in the transfers) so I just haven't put my new keepers on penalties yet. Capone benefitted to improve his numbers for the season.

PSG 2-0 Deportivo

I hate Mbappe.

Sevilla 1-0 Deportivo

The unbeaten streak is over! We were unlucky to go down 1-0 here. We deserved something out of the game, but if you don't finish your chances...

Deportivo 3-0 Milan

Much better! We still probably created more than 3 goals worth, but at least we finished 3! Arsenijevic scored superbly early on and then Mara reminded everyone that he's still the top scorer in these parts! Would that win be enough to qualify in the top 8 of the Champions League?

Just about! Goal difference from Napoli and Juventus and head-to-head against City I think! This is great news as we probably could do with 2 less games to play at the moment.

League table

We're top, but the lead has been cut to 2 points. We're still doing superbly, but we need to continue to rack up the points if we're going to challenge Barcelona for the title. We're probably safe for Champions League football bar an absolute collapse.

February

Winnable games all month which is nice.

[Jtomsett11]

January transfer window 2030

We have £106 million in the bank, so I asked for more transfer funds.

I think this is a little tight to be honest!

Surely £30 million on transfers wouldn't be ridiculous?

Anyway, we went into January not really needing anything, but I have had regular complaints from CB Banjac about playing time. He's an 'important player' as are many of my team, but he's one of the few who moans about my rotation and wants to play every game. I'm therefore willing to upgrade.

I saw Molina a while ago, and although he's non-EU, I would be happy to look for another LB and sell Williams to bring him in for £6 million. 

Of course, he went for Inter over us.

With this, I thought I'd just put up with Banjac for another 6 months. However, my Argentinian scouting mission has identified quite a few goalkeepers, and one of those was Settineri, who also has Italian nationality. 

He's come in for just £2.8 million + 30% sell on clause on profit and is already technically our best keeper, although I haven't looked to see if Nikolic has improved attribute wise since the start of the season (he probably has). 

As a 'cup goalkeeper', he's unlikely to be unhappy and it gives us two very good, young and likely to improve goalkeepers. That left the moaning, and unhappy and maxed out Yaakobishvili as third choice, so we cashed in.

We've made one other signing, a young CB from Colombia who is also non-EU, but has high potential so can go out on loan and if he becomes good enough, we'll get him in the squad!

Restrepo costs nothing as he arrives on a free, so it's a win-win situation really!

 

[Jtomsett11]

Golden boy

I forgot about this from 29th December 2029 - but not bad to have our two AMC winning this! It'll be interesting to see how good they both go on to be!

[Jtomsett11]

February 2030

It's been a tough month; I got my first and second string mixed up because my league game with Sociedad was moved from the 12th to the 18th so I didn't play the second string for the easier cup tie, which ultimately cost us against Valencia. The derby loss really stings too.

Deportivo 2-1 Espanyol

Gordon is starting to find some fitness again and he played a lovely through ball for Carrasco here. There was late drama, but the order of the goals meant I felt we'd always get over the line.

Almeria 1-2 Deportivo

Another late consolation goal conceded; I'm not sure if we're tired or just complacent at the end of games at the moment. Basic played possibly the pass of the season over the top for Capone to open the scoring before Arsenijevic smashed one home from just inside the area.

Deportivo 2-3 Valencia

At 1-0 we looked really comfortable, but our midfield struggled to be honest and we conceded 3 really poor goals. We should still have drawn and taken it to extra time, but Carrasco missed a penalty before scoring late on. No three years in a row for us in the cup!

Some good news in the league ahead of our next game, as Barcelona decide to start losing some games!

Getafe 0-0 Deportivo

We're lucky that Barcelona lost, because this was really poor and frustrating. We didn't create much and didn't deserve more than a draw, but it was a real opportunity to extend our lead at the top of the table. Carrasco missed our best chance.

Deportivo 5-1 Real Sociedad

The second team show the first how it's done! Basic was great, as was Arsenijevic who scored two high quality goals after good runs beyond the defence. I'm again slightly annoyed we conceded!

Deportivo 1-0 Villarreal 

This was really tight and it shouldn't have been. Enrique scored the crucial goal, a header from a Fort cross, but Carrasco put so many chances wide I really thought they'd equalise. Nikolic really is a great goalkeeper; he made an absolutely crucial stop from their only real chance. He seems to save a lot of one on ones.

Celta Vigo 1-0 Deportivo

We conceded a horrible own goal and then failed to score repeatedly. To be honest, without Nikolic making some really good saves, this could have been worse. We haven't lost in the derby yet, so it had to happen at some point, but our form this year has been a little disappointing to be honest. 

League table

Barcelona have stumbled in a similar way to us recently, but Real Madrid are now something like 9 wins in a row and they've come from nowhere to be just 2 points behind us. Barcelona could join level with them with their game in hand, so it's a three-horse race again, with Madrid the team in form. We play them next month at home; a crucial match!

March

When I took this screenshot, I didn't know that we would face Dortmund with the first leg away. We'll play the second string in both legs to prioritise the league: we're going to need to beat Real Madrid I feel and win the other three as well.

Finances

We really should get more than £13 million transfer budget currently being mooted for next season! 

 

[Jtomsett11]

March 2030

We were 1 goal away from the absolute perfect month. Alas, we beat Real Madrid and are through to the Champions League quarter finals, so we can't really complain!

Deportivo 6-0 Osasuna

One of those games where a defence cannot contain Carrasco; he was absolutely clinical here. Gordon, Rubio and Enrique were also superb. Such a joy when games go like this!

Dortmund 2-3 Deportivo

What a game! We went behind to a really smart move from Dortmund, but struck back superbly through Arsenijevic who finished a lovely cross and then through Mara, who hit the ball so hard I didn't actually realise it had gone in at first (the Champions League games goal flash isn't as obvious I find). Despite then playing really well, Adeyemi found space to head home from a deep cross in the 89th minute and I thought we'd undone a lot of our good work. However, 92 minutes gone and Enrique pops up to slot home from a Mara cross. Lovely stuff!

Deportivo 4-1 Rayo Vallecano

6 La Liga goals in 2 games for Carrasco, who was on penalty duty here. The other two goals were Gordon corners; he has 4 assists in 2 games as he starts to return to the form he showed before his double-injury this season. I was initially concerned when we went behind as we haven't been at our best at least in terms of consistency in the league recently.

Deportivo 1-1 Dortmund (win after ET 4-3 on aggregate)

This was a long and hard slog. Wattiau scored in a very similar way to the first leg as Dortmund showed us they're a really good side. We created enough to score, but Carrasco missed chances after Mara had done the same in the first half and been substituted. In the end, a 119th minute corner was headed home by Scholl to my delight, seeing us through to the Quarter finals of the Champions League for the first time under my reign. Deportivo reached the semi-finals of course, the year Porto won it in 2003-04, so can we equal that? It probably depends who we are drawn against.

Deportivo 2-1 Real Madrid

A huge game, a huge result and a huge delivery from Enrique, who has been winning games for us recently. This time it was two carbon copy crosses from Williams and two headed finishes low past the keeper the got us past Madrid, who equalised from a free kick but always looked dangerous. This is a big result that moves us 5 points clear of Madrid.

Almeria 1-1 Deportivo

Ah yes, beat Real Madrid then draw the next game. This could have been worse as Basic came on and scored a lovely 25 yarder to earn us a point. Once again we were profligate up front; Carrasco is young but he needs to become more consistent if he's to become the world beater I think he might be one day.

A poor way to end the month, but overall we have to be happy. Only one slight downer is that we'll be a centre-back down for most of the next two months; however, at least it's our second choice LCB and we know Banjac likes to play every game so I'm sure he won't be too upset!

League table

Barcelona's form continues to be average, so we're 7 clear of them now, but just 3 points ahead of Madrid. There's 27 points to play for, so a maximum of 96 points for us and 93 for Madrid. I think it'll take 90 points to win the league, which is the number we got 2 years ago. Barcelona got 97 last year, so they've definitely had a poor season this year.

March

I've posted both months to give an idea of our fixtures. The real tough games are Atletico Madrid away and Barcelona away, but Valencia and Athletic club away aren't easy either. The Champions League draw against Man City isn't ideal. I'm tempted to play the first string against Barcelona and City and hope the second string beat Betis and Athletic Club, but I think the sensible thing is to hope the second string can snatch a result against Barcelona/ Man City and try and beat Betis, Athletic club and Racing Santander with the first 11. 

[Jtomsett11]

March 2030 Deportivo Fabril

Now, a lot of these have been draws, but when you consider the start they made to the season, the B team have done really well. A couple of players will be close to promotion to the first team for sure next year, but a lot will depend on how much money we get to spend on the wage budget (hopefully more than £35k a year!) and how much we get to spend for the first team transfer budget!

Edu and Koliada possibly stand the best chance of promotion as they're not far off second team level. David looks very promising while Augusto would be already in the first team were it not for us having two high quality AMCs. Martin is 16, so to have played 1615 minutes for the B team in La Liga 2 has done wonders for his development. 

[Jtomsett11]

April 2030 youth intake

Now this looks like a good intake. 6 players here would, if they got to their potential, be at least very good La Liga players.

When players score highly across a number of positions, it's always a really good indicator of high CA. Obviously we want them to be good in certain roles, but AMC for example requires very few high attributes to score highly, and lots of them don't seem to require all that high a CA. 

We don't half seem to produce a lot of full backs of very good quality!

I'm not quite sure what Jorge is for our side as his best position as a winger, we don't use!

Maybe not immediately suited to segundo volante but Asin looks very good overall.

Technically very good, physically good, mentally with a little development also pretty strong and a great personality. Both footed too. Very impressed.

I see him more as a AMC that striker with that finishing. It's a shame his vision isn't higher to start to match what appears a superb starting set of attributes.

He's a bit raw and I'll be interested to see how he develops.

Overall a very nice intake. We're signing all those I've got bids in for in the screenshot above.

[Jtomsett11]

April 2030

It's been a hell of a month. 3 chastening defeats and then four wins without conceding a goal.

Barcelona 3-1 Deportivo

A highly frustrating game, we let ourselves down by conceding after 2 minutes and that made everything so hard from that point on. Enrique got a goal back late on but we missed some good chances to leave ourselves with too much to do.

Deportivo 2-0 Real Betis

I love it when a youth player combination comes off! Here, Oca scored a great goal from a Fondevila cut back and set us on our way. Betis missed some absolute sitters but we took advantage of it and in the second half it was all us before the Carrasco goal sealed the points. Back to winning ways!

Deportivo 1-2 Man City

We might have beaten them earlier in the season in the league phase, but they were just too good for us here. In all honesty, we're miles behind teams like Barcelona and Man City in terms of quality and it's only our clever rotation and good tactics that enable us to compete so effectively. Mara did equalise, but Vlahovic and Vincius are really rather good!

Athletic 0-2 Deportivo

This had the potential to be a real banana skin, but a second half free kick headed goal from Scholl and fine finish from Mara saw us creep over the line. Nikolic made some good saves to keep us in the game in the first half.

Man City 4-1 Deportivo

Yeah, this one was over pretty quickly despite Basic smashing one in from 30 yards on the stroke of half time. Vlahovic was again our tormentor although 4-1 was a little harsh; their xG was 2.1 before the penalty. Huarte conceded the penalty and hasn't been looking that convincing going forward making me consider whether he's right for the team for next year with Koliada coming through and ready for first team action I feel.

After this game, we had the bad news of Enrique slipping a disk - he'll be out for the season, while Banjac will also miss a couple of games. Not great timing really!

Deportivo 2-0 Racing de Santander

Enrique may be out injured, and we're really short of CBs after knocks and tiredness affected Scholl and Bella-Kotchap, but we take another 3 points as Arsenijevic takes advantage of moving to number 1 AMC and Gordon gets a goal; I'm not sure he's had too many recently!

Mallorca 0-4 Deportivo

We finish the month superbly with Agirrezabala showing his worth at AMC. A goal and an assist for him and two more for Mara who has been knocking them in consistently all season long. Basic also scored again; he's added quite a few goals now this season.

League table

Wow, it's tight!

We're level with Real Madrid with 4 games to go due to our head to head record.

They've been on fire this half of the season, but their next game is home to Barcelona. That's surely the key game.

This is us. Away to Atletico Madrid looks the toughest game. I worry Madrid are going to win all 4 games and we won't. To be fair, if they manage that, they'll have won 18 out of 19 games in the second half of the season and will fully deserve the title.

Club developments

Our financial position has improved drastically this season and I was really hoping that would lead to better budgets for next season.

This is much better! With expected sales, we might actually be able to do some decent business this summer!

I love this! 

[Punch]

Strong season, good luck with the last four games.

[lfds89]

Good luck for the end of the season!

 

Vivar seems like a great prospect. Even if he doesn't develop to be a star, with those technical attributes he can always be an asset in the first team

[Jtomsett11]

On 24/11/2023 at 21:00, Punch said:

Strong season, good luck with the last four games.

Alas, it wasn't to be! Still a great season though!

On 25/11/2023 at 19:56, lfds89 said:

Good luck for the end of the season!

 

Vivar seems like a great prospect. Even if he doesn't develop to be a star, with those technical attributes he can always be an asset in the first team

I've taken a second look at him and he does look really good! Fingers crossed he has decent potential and not just a high starting current ability!

[Jtomsett11]

May 2030

Our fixtures for May.

Real Madrid's fixtures for May.

On paper, they had a tougher game against Barcelona, but Valencia and Atletico Madrid away are never particularly easy games. I thought we might slip up against Atletico. In the end, our slip came against Valencia.

Deportivo 4-0 Elche

A super strong start to the month, with Oca playing a fine role here and Fondevila racking up the assists as we head towards the end of the season. The red card for them helped, but the dominance was just at ridiculous levels here. We could and probably should have scored more.

Real Madrid saw off Barcelona.

Valencia 1-1 Deportivo

Gutting. We started so well, Oca setting up Gordon for a lovely drilled effort into the bottom corner, but then we wasted chances and it didn't surprise me when Valencia went and scored. They had a few chances, but we could and should have won this game and I felt at the time that this would cost us the title as Real Madrid had played the night before.

They then went and won their next game ahead of us playing Atletico Madrid.

Atletico Madrid 0-4 Deportivo

The second team took it to the final day with a genuinely superb performance against Atletico Madrid. The counter attacking and finishing was surgical in nature and I couldn't be more proud of the team. Atletico hadn't been beaten at home in 20 league games before this.

Deportivo 3-0 Alaves

Carrasco finishes the season well as have Fondevila and Gordon, but it's not enough as Real Madrid score the goal they need to get them over the line!

League table

When a team wins 18 out of the last 19 games, with their only defeat coming against you, you have to stand back and applaud even if it's hard to take. We finish 1 point above our record points total of 90 and 7 ahead of last year. It's the best we've been offensively and certainly defensively. We're also a long way short of the quality of Real Madrid and Barcelona and possibly even Sevilla, but have now finished above at Real Madrid or Barcelona (or both) in the league three seasons running. You could say going from winning a double in 2027/28 to the cup in 2028/29 to nothing now isn't progress, but for me it is as the squad continues to improve, the finances improve and our performances in Europe indicate we're getting stronger.

Awards

[Jtomsett11]

End of season 2028/29 club growth

I think this shows how far the club has come and shows also that this season is another sign of progress. There's some big news off the pitch, as the B team is getting a new stadium while the club is also looking for a new stadium for the first team too as attendances hit near 100% weekly.

[Punch]

So close, good season though.

[Jtomsett11]

Player performances 2029/30 review

Team of the year

This was the team of the year, and I can't really complain about any of these selections. We don't usually play two right footed CB's together, but maybe I should as they're the best performers by far at CB.

Awards

I didn't realise that Fondevila had become a wonderkid. 11 assists is very decent for a young player. Considering the fact that apart from the first 10 games of the season, Mara was second choice, he had a truly brilliant season. 

Records

Performances

Goalkeepers

I've given up on keeper goals for some reason, I think because my strikers were getting towards the record number of goals for the club in a season and I wanted to see if we could get there. In terms of keeping the ball out of the net, Nikolic is performing superbly. Settineri hasn't played as well, but in my experience it takes a while for a new keeper to settle and start performing.

Defenders

There's a clear hierarchy of performance with our CBs, with the two right sided players Bella-Kotchap and Scholl out in front in almost every measure except for tackles. Banjac is our most successful tackler. Rotena has potential but was probably a little underwhelming judging by statistics. 

Williams is the best LB, but I've not been hugely impressed with Huarte this year. Koliada has the potential and when you look at the stats he looks at least Huarte's equal if not better with the exception of progressive passes. Huarte can't dribble and ultimately that holds us back.

On the right, Fort had a great debut season despite just 1 assist; he's really solid at the back. Ludewig is a fine backup, but I'm very excited by Edu.

Midfield

Padilla and Basic did so much better than my main midfielders Seiwald and Garner in terms of productivity this year. Oca was also more successful. Seiwald should definitely have scored more goals and I'm hoping for more from him next year. The question for me is whether I keep Padilla around, knowing he can produce, or give Oca a starting role in the second eleven and promote a B team player with potential.

Attacking mids and forwards

Enrique was superb on his return to the club with 12 goals and 3 assists, but arguably Arsenijevic has even better numbers with 13 goals and 8 assists. However, Enrique overall does do more and is just unlucky that he's not got more assists as he's created more potential assists. On the wings we've had superb performances all year. Capone and Man had the least game time, but wow what a [performance from the former; 19 goal contributions in just 1600 minutes! Fondevila had his best season yet, while Gordon came back from injury to do pretty well overall. Then we have Rubio who got 12 goal contributions and Agirrezabala with 16! 8 players for 3 roles is probably too many, and we've got more in the B team, so it might be time for some hard decisions in the summer.

Up front, Carrasco and Mara. 25 and 26 goals apiece, with Mara also getting 8 assists. We're seriously doing well at the top of the pitch!

[Jtomsett11]

Attribute growth June 2030

Goalkeepers

Nikolic has really come on and now looks a top class goalkeeper. I think during my Jersey Bulls save we had keepers around the 83 mark at our peak, and with Nikolic still with potential to fill, he could be the best keeper I've had for a good few saves. Settineri has only been here 5 months, so we need to give him time to settle and then see how much growth he has in him. Cano is a good B team keeper while the other 4 will either be in the U18s or on loan.

Centre backs

Just comparing to my Jersey Bulls save, we have a long way to go in this position; we had players near to 90 points in that save. Scholl has grown impressively to be our best player by attribute score, helped by the 18 for jumping I think. Marcos is the biggest and most interesting player in terms of growth. He was signed to give the B team a CB and has 4 star potential, so if he keeps growing he could easily be in our first team in a couple of seasons. 

It's likely Restrepo will go out on loan as he's non-EU and we've hit our quota. I'm a little disappointed that Rotena seems to have hit/ neared his peak. We don't have huge potential down in the ranks, Angel, Daniel and Ban are probably B team quality at best unless they improve more than their potential indicates.

Wing/ full backs

Fort was our best full back last year, but it's interesting that Huarte now is our best LB. Koliada and Edu have made good progress and both need La Liga football in my opinion. Edu should get that as backup to Fort, but I'll need to decide between Huarte and Koliada. Torres and Diez are also showing good growth and are likely to feature in the B team more next year. Albes is another one; in fact we have great depth in terms of potential at full back.

Segunda volante

Oca is the big improver; I'm set to promote him to backup DMR and it's possible that David will take over his role as 5th choice (while also playing for the B team). Padilla has stagnated and although he does perform, I might get rid to allow our younger youth products more chances to continue their growth. 

AMC

Our first 90 point players and we have 2 for the same position! Augusto needs a loan spell this season coming as he's too good for the B team; that'll give players like Martin (just 16 years old still) a chance to continue his growth. There's a lot of players (Diez, Crespo, Tortosa) who have either hit their peak or aren't ever going to feature for us and need to be sold really. 

Inside forwards

There's way too many of these even with a B team. Fondevila may only score 74, but he has improved which is good. B team players such as Priest and Torres are likely to continue in the B team, perhaps just with new contracts. Capone and Man may need to make way for new signings or promotions from the B team. Rivera isn't a player you'll have seen before as I signed him in January and immediately loaned him back.

I've got a lot of players we could make money off if I can get offers for them.

Pressing forwards

Carrasco continued his development this season, while Curran did really well for the B team, but I'm not sure if he'll be able to make the step up to the first team. If he's not happy continuing for the B team then perhaps we'll sell him. Escabros is another who isn't really going to take over Mara's role as backup striker so it'll depend if we can keep him out on loan for decent money or get a fee from him now. 

[Jtomsett11]

Summer 2030 developments

It's taken me longer than usual to get through the summer and through the friendly season. Part of that is work (and life!) and the other part is the shear size of the team. We had 90 players in total when I did my attribute analysis in June! 90  Part of that is having a B team as you realistically have a 25 man squad for both the first and second team, but I've also got lots of players out on loan and it becomes quite a chore trying to move some of them on for a fee and then the rest out on loan. It also didn't help that the B team, despite my best efforts, will have a wage budget of just £75k a week this year. Now, that is double last year, but wages are going up as a renew younger players contracts because of the success of the first team. Once again, the large majority of the B team needs loaning out. 

Transfers in

Having looked over attribute growth and my foreign players, I decided we needed to upgrade LB and sell Williams, who is now rated at just 2.5 star current ability, which would free up a foreign spot, and upgrade at AMR and AML at least in terms of backup players. I initially planned on potential upgrades to DMC and CB but these proved harder areas to fill.

The first transfer in is Sosa, who is a non-EU player so it's one in one out for Williams at LB.

He's definitely an upgrade on Williams and his height was also very attractive, as both our potential backup LBs Huarte and Koliada (both youth academy products) are pretty short. At £3.3 million, this was a bargain deal. LB sorted.

I was then happily plodding along when I realised that Imaz was interested in joining and we might actually have the money to sign him this window. He's been on my radar for quite some time as a young and Spanish AMR inside forward. We spent a cool £51 million on him (I allowed the board to negotiate his deal as I didn't have that money) but I really think this is a sign of our development as a club. It knocks Gordon down to second choice, and having a non-EU as second choice doesn't really make sense, but for now I'll keep him as nobody has come in with a decent offer.

Another player I've been chasing is Vidovic who joins on a free from Real Madrid. I thought his wages would be ridiculous but he brought his demands down and isn't even our highest paid player. This will knock academy product Fondevila back to second choice at AML, but an opportunity to improve your squad in this way doesn't come along too often. Mara is still unhappy at ST as well as I've apparently broken too many promises despite him signing a new deal - he's now contracted until 2033 so I will have to sell at the end of this season probably so we now have another quality ST if needed.

Finally, a transfer agreed back in January was Sevillano. I think the plan now will be to send him out on loan for a season and then he replaces Gordon. At £8.5 million he'll be worth it if he fulfills his potential.

Vidovic and Imaz are massive upgrades at AMR and AML while Sosa is also a big upgrade at WB. Sevillano isn't there yet but has potential.

Departures and clauses

Most of these outgoings clear the path for incomings. Man has done a great job in Europe especially but we had two better AMRs coming in, while Padilla did well last season but is blocking the path of Oca. Williams goes out for Sosa as mentioned before and we also sold Capone at AML, again freeing up space for the Vidovic signing. He went for £5 million but I forgot a screenshot. It was nice to make a little more money on McAtee as well as I always felt we undersold him. I think we're up to £11 million plus the loan fee of £3 million on him which isn't far off what they've sold him for now.

One final and strange development transfer wise:

I always thought this worked on repupation, so why Lugo are stealing our players I don't know!

Club developments

The TV money is starting to rise, which is great as it'll boost our income and thus our wage budget allowance.

The board is now expecting greater things of us, with more money on offer for this - of the £1.2million wage budget we're allowed £1.1 million for La Liga registration but still sit at £825k a week so we're well within budget.

We're now the 4th biggest side in La Liga in more than just finishes in the league; we're punching our weight financially as well and our playing squad now sees the media think we're the 4th best side in the league. I would take another top 4 finish but it would be nice to challenge for the title again.

Pre-season

I somehow forgot to do a cup for the last one, so the second string might start the season to keep them fresh.

 

[Jtomsett11]

Loans out and transfers August 2030

Missing from this are any players sold from the B team to aid their finances, such as Padilla and hopefully Ludewig (nobody wants him so far and those that do he won't go to!)

Lots of loans out!