[FM24] Lions Gibraltar - Build a Club and build a nation

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League Champions Path Playoff:

Next up we play against Shakhtar from the Ukrainian Premier League. Ukraine is 17th in the Nation Club Coefficients and Shakhtar is 44th in the European club rankings. The poll has us as underdogs and I would agree looking at their squad, not sure we can pull this one off.

Away from home to start again and we got a draw which is great given Angong got sent off, but not so great when the stats show we out played them and could have won. It also means Angong will be out the next match, so we will be down to our 3rd choice BWM

Another match we were ahead on the stats, but lost and ended our run in the Championship. In hindsight, I probably should have left Glasnovic at CD and played the 4th choice BWM to only weaken one position instead of two.

On the plus side, we got £7M from the Championship and from qualifying into the Europa League stage. Money is always good.

[Kezer98]

Unlucky with the 95th minute loss to Shakhtar!

Sent you over a DM with a question or two about the save and the spreadsheet you're using to go into this level of detail.

[mpm2342]

5 hours ago, Kezer98 said:

Unlucky with the 95th minute loss to Shakhtar!

Yes, it would have been a nice step forward to make it out of the playoffs in the Champions League.

[mpm2342]

The draw is out and we have some tough matchups, but also a few we should be able to get results from.  Hopefully enough to advance.

 

UEFA Europa League League Phase - Game 1:

First up FC Nordsjaelland who play in the 3F Superliga. Denmark is 14th in the nation club rankings and FC Nordsjaelland is 79th in the club rankings. This is one where we should have a chance, but they are favoured.

It was not to be. Close game but we came out on the wrong side of the result.

 

UEFA Europa League League Phase - Game 2:

Next up is BVT who play in the Portugueses Premier League. Portugal is 6th in the nation club rankings and BVT is 189th in the club rankings. This is one where we should have a chance, but they are favoured. We are not quite ready for the top teams in Portugal, Spain, England etc. But we can play with the mid pack teams from the top leagues now,

Even game and we pulled off a win! They did NOT rest any of their star players, so they did not underestimate the Lions, so this was a legit victory.

[mpm2342]

UEFA Europa League League Phase - Game 3:

Next up is Rangers who play in the cinch Premiership. Scotland is 9th in the nation club rankings and Rangers are 39th in the club rankings (in pot 1). This is one where we should have no chance- their unspent salary budget is almost 4 times as much as our total salary budget.... unless of course they play backups and don't take us seriously - the lads don't like that as it seems every time that happens, we win.

Well, we snuck this one out in extra time - would have caused some heart palpitations in the home crowd for sure.

And checked on it - they did not play backups, so we beat their top squad!  Fun, fun,

Edited March 27 by mpm2342

[mpm2342]

UEFA Europa League League Phase - Game 4:

Next up is Galatasary who play in the Turkish Super League. Turkiye is 7th in the nation club rankings and Rangers are 29th in the club rankings (in pot 1). This is one where we should have no chance as well, even playing at home.

Well, we put up a decent fight and didn't get totally blown out, but weren't in the game. Still in a position to advance with the two pot 1 opponents out of the way.

 

 

[mpm2342]

 

UEFA Europa League League Phase - Game 5:

Next up is Olympiacos who play in the Greek Super League 1. Greece is 13th in the nation club rankings and Olympiacos are 47th in the club rankings. This is one where we should have a chance based on how close last season's games against them were and the poll agrees. Not sure, but I am beginning to think the polls are quite random   I like posting them for the added colour though.

We won another one! Pretty even match where it looks like we finished well and Alonso had a great game.

[mpm2342]

UEFA Europa League League Phase - Game 6:

Next up is Olympique Lyonnais who play in the League 1 Uber Eats. France is 13th in the nation club rankings and OL are 126th in the club rankings (and in pot 4!). This is a tough team to draw out of pot 4 - they are way better than their rankings and have a huge budget and a very good first team. We will be hard pressed to get a result from this game.

We got out played and lost. No shame in that, but would have been nice to keep it closer.

Edited March 31 by mpm2342

[mpm2342]

UEFA Europa League League Phase - Game 7:

Next up is Qarabag who play in the Azeri Premier League. Azerbaijan is 24th in the nation club rankings and Qarabag are 84th in the club rankings. We should win this one. We beat them both times we played them previously and I expect the same.

Nice. A clean, simple victory.

 

UEFA Europa League League Phase - Game 8:

Next up is Partizan who play in the Serbian Super League. Serbia is 19th in the nation club rankings and Partizan are 58th in the club rankings. This should be a close one that I think we have a chance in.

Ugh. Not good. We outplayed them and got killed on the set pieces. 1 goal off a free kick header and 3 goals off corners.

We made the playoffs, so hopefully we can get an ok draw.

[mpm2342]

UEFA Europa League Knock Out Playoff Round:

For the playoffs, we drew Sporting CP who play in the Portuguese Premier League. Portugal is 6th in the nation club rankings and Sporting CP are 56th in the club rankings. Tough draw for us, I do not think we can win this over two games.

Defeat in the away game, not enough chances for us, but an expected result.

A draw at home is a promising result for the future and brings to an end our European journey for this season.

[mpm2342]

Youth intake for this year could yield a decent player in Shaun Edwards. He has good physicals and technique and outstanding determination, so hopefully he develops well. The rest below will get signed to see if any develop.

[mpm2342]

End of the season and we won the league and the cups. We did not clean sweep the league as we lost one and tied 3 when I was aggressively resting players and playing youngsters. No prize for winning every game except person pride . Better to try and develop youngsters (my rationalization).

[mpm2342]

End of Season 7 (29/30) Analysis:

The team average rating improved by 1.2, improving from 62.8 to 64 moving us closer to England Championship level(68.1 average). Reminder that the rating for each of the leagues below is the average of the top 10 rating for each position across the entire league. The appropriate top 10 average for the positions in my tactic are then slotted into the chart and averaged across the 11 ratings. Only a few teams in each league would have a player in each position that ranks in the top 10, so by using this as a target, it provides a measure of when the raw attribute ratings of the team would position it near the top of the league being compared against. We all know that cohesion, morale, happiness etc. gives the human manager the edge, so when my team hits the rating for one of the leagues, I would expect it to be able to win, or at a minimum compete to win, the league. I have seen that team can successfully compete with most of the teams in a league above their rating. This means that once I can get the Lions to the ENG Champ level, we should be able to compete in the Champions League.

We definitely made progress in a few areas, but in reality, only BWM is not a need. Given we cannot fix everything in one go, we will definitely focus on the red positions below and opportunistically improve the others. We got a reputation boost and are now 2 stars, this should help us attract players closer to the target. As an example, I have only seen 3 GK with a SK rating of 60 or more and none of them are above 62 and none of them would previously talk to me about transfer or loan.

The only meaningful transfer out last season was Andre Oliveira who was being chased by a few European teams, I made him mad by refusing the deals and then Lynx came in with a cheap offer that he was interested in, so I sold him to them. He will make them much better which will help the league and country - hopefully.

[mpm2342]

POSITIONAL REVIEW (I have highlighted homegrown players in blue in the charts) I have also been messing around with ways to show player progression, so I will include that for key/interesting players.

GK - Champ target = 62.9
Alonso is the clear starter but performed worse than last year.  Sidibe was signed last season and has a lot of potential, but he didn't play all that well. He mostly played in the league matches, so had easier games than Alonso who played all the European matches.

Alonso's rating declined last season, so he definitely wil not grow to the Champ target. It is unfortunate, as he has been with us for a while, but it is time to move on. Hopefully, I can shift him to another Gibraltar team.

Sidibe has 4.5 star potential, so theoretically, can grow to the Champ target, he just doesn't play to his rating. I am pretty sure that is due to his low agility score, which is improving, but at a 7, isn't going to get far enough. There are no young GK in our youth pipeline, so I will keep him and continue to try and develop him.

Hankins didn't play at all because of Sidibe. Alonso took citizenship and became eligible for the national team after being here for 5 years.  He has taken over for Hankins on the national team, so there is no need to continue to have Hankins

Plan - Sign a replacement and once that happens, move Alonso to a team in Gibraltar. Give Sidibe playing time to grow. Let Hankins go at the end of the season - to Gibraltar if possible.

 

CD - Champ Target = 69.2
The numbers from the central defence declined from last year. Albiach and Glasnovic got most of the matches. McClelland is decent in the air.  Morata was so so as a backup. We lost our last European matches to 4 goals off headers, so am going to look at the Hdr % as a key stat.

Albiach has a 3 star CA and now a 4 star PA, so I'm guessing he won't make it to the target. This last season, his rating dropped last season, but looking closer, he only had the slight drop arrow next to JUM and PAC, so I suspect his pace attribute is at 57 (one point up will move it to 12), so we are seeing some "wobbling" of thee rating and his trajectory is still positive. Having said that, he is not likely to make it to the 69.2 target.

McClelland has nice jumping and heading, but didn't develop much, so backup is his future at best.

There is nothing of note in the youth pipeline.

Plan - Start Glasnovic and Albiach.  Need to upgrade Albiach and potentially Glasnovic if I can get luck and find 2 near the target.

 

 

Edited April 1 by mpm2342

[mpm2342]

POSITIONAL REVIEW CONTINUED (I have highlighted homegrown players in blue in the charts) I have also been messing around with ways to show player progression, so I will include that for key/interesting players.

FB - Champ Target = 65.8
All the FB's played well. Chiab and Ferreira were starters and played well.  Britto was the main backup at LB and Hartjes at RB and they did ok. Whitbread and Leyland are two youth graduates. Whitbread was on loan until he got a huge injury, so I brought him back for our medical team and he got one game in, Leyland got a few games in, but not enough to really develop him.

Whitbread was developing nicely, then got a 5 month injury and now has a 3.5 star PA. Leyland is a 16 year old from the recent intake who has a 52 rating and a 4 star PA. Neither developed much last season, so will be bench players and relocated to other Gibraltar teams shortly.

Chiab is rated 59.2 and Ferreira is 59.3. They are not developing much at all, so they will not they hit the Champ target, FB is a hard one to find, but I need to keep looking.

Plan - start Chiab and Ferreira and find two upgrades who are close to the target.

 

BWM - Champ Target = 71.0
The BWM stats aren't great with our tactic, so I lean towards the match ratings to give additional insights. Blasco started, Angong played a fair bit and Hartjes filled in for about half of the mins listed.

Angong's rating stabilized this season, but his contract expires. El Azzouri comes back off loan and is rated 61.4 as BWM and decent at DLP, so he will be the backup.

Plan - Blasco is the starter and at target. Opportunistically find depth.

 

DLP - Champ Target = 69.7
Dominguez and Caneles split time with Marcos the primary backup and they both played well, though Dominguez did better.

Parker did not play at all and is now retiring. I would bring him on staff, but he has no staff attributes. Marcos is still growing steadily, but will not make the target, so is only a squad player at this point.

Dominguez is rated 64.2 and Canales 63.5.

Plan - Find an upgrade and start Dominguez until then. Dominguez and Canales can hang around as depth.

 

Winger - Champ Target = 69.6
Rafael and Abid are the two starters with Vincent as the next man up. They all played very well, with the two starters having the best numbers. McClafferty is a very good backup with position flexibility. Negrette was resigned to fill out the 8 homegrown and provide a deep bench.

McClafferty's rating hasn't changed in 2 seasons, but is a useful squad player to keep around and continue to try and develop for the national team.

Rafael isn't developing much as a winger, but is playing well, and is close to the target.

Abid's rating improved to 66.3 and he played well. Vincent dropped off a tiny bit, so we will keep an eye on him.

Plan - start Rafael and Abid with Vincent and McClafferty as backups. Opportunistically see if we can find a transfer or loan at target level as well.

 

Advanced Playmaker - Champ Target = 68.4
Again, Golliard had the best statistics of the AP, with very good match ratings, so he is the clear starter. He didn't score as much this season, but sure was dishing out the passes this year. Marcos played 7 games as AP and scored 3 goals, 4 assists and a match rating of 7.66 in those games. My assistant coach likes to sub Carrasco in as the first sub in at AP, not my choice, but I don't know any way to stop it other than playing the game myself. He did ok in the backup role.

Golliard is regressed this past season, so I no longer think he will make the target, so I am going to see what options there are.

Dominguez is rated at 65.1, so closer to the target than Golliard. If I can find an upgrade at DLP, Dominguez can start and see how he goes.

Plan - start Golliard and have Dominguez/Canales/Marcos as backup. Look for an upgrade.

 

Advanced Forward - Champ Target = 68.2
Meireles was the starter and scored 28 goals. Carrasco scored 13 goals in nine games at ST, but that was against weaker opponents.  Scutt is from the youth system, so gave a chance to see how training with the senior squad and playing mostly U23 would go. Very small sample size, but he did ok.

Meireles' rating is 66.2, so pretty close to target. Carrasco fills in nicely. Scutt declined over the season, so will fade into obscurity.

Plan - Start Meireles with Carrasco as first backup.

[mpm2342]

Upcoming Season based on the Championship target:

GK         Gap: 6.7% - Need an upgrade - Urgent
CD         Gap: 6.0%, 2.5% - Need one upgrade - Urgent
FB          Gap: 6.6%, 6.5% - Both positions could use an upgrade - Urgent
BWM     Gap: 0.1% - We are good !!!
DLP        Gap: 6.2% - Need an upgrade - Urgent
Winger  Gap: 2.7%, 3.3%  - Opportunistically look for upgrade - not urgent
AP          Gap: 3.3% - Opportunistically look for upgrade - not urgent
ST           Gap: 2.0% - Opportunistically look for upgrade - not urgent

Edited April 1 by mpm2342

[mpm2342]

Fast forward to the end of June and Gibraltar continued to improve it's rankings in the Nation Club coefficient thanks to our strong run and came back a bit more in the world rankings, the HC keeps hanging on and we keep feeding players into the team, not looking great for that position to come available soon. The league moved up 11 more spots which has been helpful in getting players. Our club ranking improved a little bit, and we now have 2 stars for reputation. We are seeing more players willing to play for us or come on loan, still not the best ones, but a definite improvement. The board came to me at the season changeover and asked me if I wanted the training facilities upgraded ... this after saying no to me the last 4 times I asked. Upgrade to the max rating is now underway. No option anymore to upgrade the youth facilities unfortunately. We have a very healthy cash balance which is being spent on the training upgrade, but the board gave me a generous transfer and wage budget.

I leveraged the transfer budget to increase the scouting budget and start scouting at the world level to go fishing for youngsters in South America.

Signed one player and got 2 more really strong players in on loan to address three of the needs.

Konate is a left FB and his rating is 66.9 which is above the target of 65.8.  Signed him for 1.5M.

Luis Castro is the highest rated AM - AP that I have seen so far. He wouldn't come on a transfer, but he did agree to come on a loan. His rating at AP is 70.3 which is above the target rating of 68.4

Afonso Lee is a good upgrade at CD with a rating of 68. Not quite at the targget of 69.2, but definitely an improvement. He also came in on a loan.

We have an offer out to a GK who gets us pretty close to the target there.

Current status of upcoming Season needs based on the Championship target:

GK         Gap: 6.7% - Need an upgrade - Urgent
CD         Gap: 6.0% 1.2%, 2.5% - Need one upgrade - Urgent  - Opportunistically look for upgrade - not urgent
FB          Gap: 6.6% +1.1% , 6.5% - RFB could use an upgrade - Urgent
BWM     Gap: 0.1% - We are good !!!
DLP        Gap: 6.2%  4.8% - Dominguez moves here - Need an upgrade - Urgent
Winger  Gap: 2.7%, 3.3%  - Opportunistically look for upgrade - not urgent
AP          Gap: 3.3%  +1.9% - Opportunistically look for upgrade - not urgent We are good !!!
ST           Gap: 2.0% - Opportunistically look for upgrade - not urgent

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League Champions Path First Qualifying Round:

First up we play against KF Vilaznia from the Albania Superleague. Albania is 44th in the Nation Club Coefficients and KF Vilaznia is 559th in the European club rankings. We should not have any difficulty with this matchup especially since I am playing the main squad to get them into match shape for the harder matchups to come.

The score was closer that the game stats, but a good warmup game

Playing a few of the backups to get some game time in and it didn't affect the outcome.  Good start to the campaign.

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League Champions Path Second Qualifying Round:

Next up we play against Slovan Bratislava from the Slovak First Division. Slovakia is 27th in the Nation Club Coefficients and Slovan Bratislava is 101st in the European club rankings. We played them a few years ago and beat them, so should be able to do that again.

Good game and nice to come home with a 2 goal advantage.

Closed them out with a clean win.  Will have to watch the goals against versus XG against as we are giving up a bit more than we should right now.

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League Champions Path Third Qualifying Round:

Next up we play against Slavia Prague from the Czech First Division. Czechia is 20th in the Nation Club Coefficients and Slavia Prague is 79th in the European club rankings. We played them a few years ago and they knocked us out, We have improved quite a bit since then and I feel we have a good shot at this one.

 

Nice win at home to go up by 2 goals.

Closed them out on the road with a nice shut out and a good game by our new GK.

 

[mpm2342]

Lots of roster changes in early August to catch up on. The vultures unsettled 3 of our players, Ferreira, Golliard and Rafael. All three went very unhappy and started to affect the team morale, so I sold them all. Made me a bit sad to let Golliard and Rafael go, but that's business.  The team then got upset that I sold the players, so I told them to suck it up. They didn't like that and got madder, but once I apologized, everyone was happy again.

I did sign some players to help out at GK, R FB and W, We already have Golliard's replacement on the squad.

Got a new GK with a rating of 60.3, so a nice upgrade on Alonso.

Chirivella is a strong DLP with a rating of 67 which helps close the gap to the target of 69.7. He will start with Dominguez getting lots of play time.

Juninho is a backup winger with a rating of 63.1. Not as good as Rafael, but a solid backup for Abid and Vincent and fast, very fast. Our gap to target takes a slight hit from Rafael leaving.

Trolez is on loan at Right FB with a rating of 59.5 and speed to burn. He will be the primary backup with lots of starts to the next player

Waidner was an opportunistic signing after I already had Trolez, but with a rating of 61.3, he is a solid upgrade on Ferreira and gets us closer to the target.

 

Current status of needs based on the Championship target:

GK         Gap: 2.6% - Roll with what we have for the season
CD         Gap: 1.2%, 2.7% - Roll with what we have
FB          Gap: +1.1% , 4.5% - RFB could use an upgrade if one "shows up"
BWM     Gap: 0.1% - We are good !!!
DLP        Gap: 2.7% - Roll with what we have
Winger  Gap: 3.8%, 3.3%  - Opportunistically look for upgrade - not urgent
AP          Gap: +1.9% - We are good !!!
ST           Gap: 2.0% - Roll with what we have

I'm done making changes to the roster for now. Will keep an eye on scouting etc for a RFB and winger if a very good one becomes available and willing to join. Otherwise, there is no point in making changes once the key European matches are finished.

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League Champions Path Playoff:

The playoff round is a rematch of last season's playoff against Shakhtar from the Ukrainian Premier League. Ukraine is 15th in the Nation Club Coefficients and Shakhtar is 42nd in the European club rankings. Last season was a close round against them, so I feel we have a good shot at this one given our improvements from last season.

First leg at home and a nice victory aided by them going a man down early. Taking a 2 goal advantage to the away leg is nice.

Time to try and hold this one. I will use the more balanced variant of the tactic to try and slow it down slightly in the hopes of a victory.  A draw is good enough to get us through. They out played us by enough to win the round based on XG, but the score game in our favour.  I will take it as we are on to the League phase for the first time.

 

League phase, here we come, but first there is the small matter of £12.7M deposited into the club's coffers for making the league phase. That should help with our budgets next season. I'm not expecting too much this time around as we are still just shy of our target overall to be competitive. The draw is out and we have a fun one... maybe we have a chance against PAOK? the rest of them are likely a bit much for us (unless of course they underestimate us and play backups)

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League League Phase - Game 1:

First up is PAOK who play in the Greek Super League 1. Greece is 13th in the nation club rankings and PAOK are 92nd in the club rankings. This should be a close one that I think we have a chance in.

They went down a man early and looks like they barely got the ball after that. We totally dominated them with the extra man.

 

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League League Phase - Game 2:

Next up is Ajax who play in the Eredivisie. Netherlands is 8th in the nation club rankings and Ajax are 43rd in the club rankings. We beat them in 2027 in the Europa League, but that was because they played their backups. I am not expecting that this time, so am expecting a very tough match.

We lost, but when you consider that we went down a man in the 15th minute and the score was 2-2 from that point forward, the lads played very well and the team can compete.

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League League Phase - Game 3:

Next up is Chelsea who play in the English Premier League. England is 1st in the nation club rankings and Chelsea are 8th in the club rankings. We can only hope to keep this one close.

The score is better than the match statistics say it should be, so I will take it.  It does show we have a ways to go still.

 

UEFA Champions League League Phase - Game 4:

Next up is RB Leipzig who play in the Bundesliga. Germany is 3rd in the nation club rankings and RB Leipzig are 17th in the club rankings. We beat them in 2028 in the Europa League, but that was because they played their backups (same as Ajax did). I am not expecting that this time, so doubt we have much chance.

This time the statistics were much close than the score. I would estimate from the results that we can compete with most teams except for the top 20ish in the world.

 

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League League Phase - Game 5:

Next up is Bayer 04 who play in the Bundesliga. Germany is 3rd in the nation club rankings and Bayer 04 are 46th in the club rankings. I think we should have a chance given they are outside the top 20 and their squad is stronger, but not crazily so.

Nice! A victory on the scoreboard and on the pitch. A narrow one in both regards, but it is a good demonstration of where the team is now.

 

UEFA Champions League League Phase - Game 6:

Next up is RC Lens who play in the Ligue 1 Uber Eats. France is 5th in the nation club rankings and RC Lens are 27th in the club rankings. We should have a chance against them as well. Would be very nice to get some points in back to back games, especially since we have Barcelona next. They beat us last time we played, but that was a long time ago.

Another win!  We are actually in a decent spot now to make it out of the league phase. Nice victory again with the stats showing a relatively even game on the pitch.

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League League Phase - Game 7:

Next up is Barcelona who play in the Spanish First Division. Spain is 2nd in the nation club rankings and Barcelona is 1st in the club rankings. We are not ready for this yet, but hopefully can put on a good show.

We lost as expected and never really threatened to score.

 

UEFA Champions League League Phase - Game 8:

Next up is Borussia Dortmund who play in the Bundesliga. Germany is 3rd in the nation club rankings and Borussia Dortmund are 11th in the club rankings. Don't think we can win this, so we will have our fingers crossed that we make it out of the league phase with 9 points.

The score was closer than the game and it took two late goals for them to win. I am definitely happy with that performance,.. and we made the playoff round.

[mpm2342]

Our youth intake preview came in a while back. First time for a good rating and first time that everything wasn't an "F".... maybe there is hope for it

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League Knock Out Play Off Round:

Next up is Arsenal who play in the English Premier League. England is 1st in the nation club rankings and Arsenal are 18th in the club rankings. Given my unscientific assessment that we can compete with teams outside the top 20 in the rankings, this one might be close, but I really don't think we can play with them yet.

I  forgot to hit the simulate button, so had to play the first match.... They definitely had an edge on us, but we did keep it close.

Next leg at their place and again, we kept it close. We were without out best player - Castro who was suspended, but still kept it close. Positive signs for next season if I can improve the squad in the next transfer window.

 

BONUS! - we got 8.23M for playing in the knockout playoff round.

[mpm2342]

End of the season and we won the league and domestic cups again.  Not much drama this season even with a healthy dose of playing backups and youngsters.

[mpm2342]

End of Season 8 (30/31) Analysis:

The team average rating improved by 1.7, improving from 64 to 65.7 moving us closer to England Championship level(68.1 average).  We actually declined a bit from mid season due to selling Glasnovic once the Champions league was pretty much finished. A few of the players also declined in ratings, not sure why and definitely something I need to figure out. Getting players with potential and actually growing them is likely the only path to get the target.

Reminder that the rating for each of the leagues below is the average of the top 10 rating for each position across the entire league. The appropriate top 10 average for the positions in my tactic are then slotted into the chart and averaged across the 11 ratings. Only a few teams in each league would have a player in each position that ranks in the top 10, so by using this as a target, it provides a measure of when the raw attribute ratings of the team would position it near the top of the league being compared against. We all know that cohesion, morale, happiness etc. gives the human manager the edge, so when my team hits the rating for one of the leagues, I would expect it to be able to win, or at a minimum compete to win, the league. I have seen that team can successfully compete with most of the teams in a league above their rating. This means that once I can get the Lions to the ENG Champ level, we should be able to compete in the Champions League.

We now have two positions at / above the target: Left Fullback and BWM. Castro at AP is on loan and leaving us and Dominguez at DLP decided to through a hissy fit mid season and the only way to keep him happy for the run was to agree to let him leave at the end of his contract. We did NOT get a reputation boost this past season even with the run in the Champions League and are still 2 stars, and unlikely to see many candidates at target level. As an example, I have only seen 3 GK with a SK rating of 60 or more and none of them are above 62 and none of them would previously talk to me about transfer or loan. Going to have to use loans and try and find some younger players (like Dominguez) who have potential to grow. I missed the opportunity to lock up Dominguez earlier, so my bad on that one, fortunately AM is a fairly strong position in general so I should be able to replace him.

The only meaningful transfer out last season was Milivoj Glasnovic.   Luis Castro and Afonso Lee are loans and won't re-up, so are leaving as is Dominguez.

[mpm2342]

POSITIONAL REVIEW (I have highlighted homegrown players in blue in the charts) I have again been messing around with ways to show player progression by position to try and not miss any up and coming youngsters in the lower teams. Can you tell I love spreadsheets yet

GK - Champ target = 62.9
Fedorushchenko was a new signing at the beginning of last season and our clear starter. He played all the tough games and did alright. Alonso barely played, but didn't complain, so I kept him around as there wasn't much interest in him. Sidibe played a lot of the domestic games and did better statistically than he has the last couple of seasons.

I have created a table to view the role ratings by season for all players who are accomplished or better at a position. This will ideally let me see players like Sidibe who are growing fast and see the depth / youth players who I don't always keep a close enough eye on.

Fedorushchenko grew very slightly, but has mostly yellow upward arrows over the year, so he can likely grow a bit more. His scouting report says he is close to full potential, so my best case for him is to make the Champ target. That still makes him a very useful player for the next season or two. Sidibe is growing very well - 6 rating points over 2 years. He has a 4 star potential (down from 4.5, but the squad has improved), so theoretically, can grow to the Champ target. I am still not crazy about his agility and his aerial rating (he is 5'10"). His agility is growing very well with the agility and balance training focus on, so maybe there is still hope. He has become homegrown now, so will definitely be our backup for a long time as it frees up another spot on the European rosters for an import. There are no young GK worth mentioning in our youth pipeline.

Plan - Start Fedorushchenko. Give Sidibe playing time to grow. Alonso's contract is up, so won't resign him. Hopefully can farm him out to a team in Gibraltar before he leaves. Will look for a development addition.

[mpm2342]

CD - Champ Target = 69.2
The numbers from the central defence were ok, but not great. Glasnovic and Lee got most of the matches. Albiach and McClelland filled in and Albiach took over once Glasnovic left. McNeil is a youngster I am trying to see what growth there is there so giving him some league games. Morata was not great as a backup.

Albiach now has a 2.5 star CA and a 3 star PA ... declining as the squad gets better. He isn't really improving as seen below, so I'm guessing he won't make it to the target. He is a handy backup though as he is homegrown and counts to the 8 I can have for Europe. McClelland dropped off and his contract is up, so I will try and move him to a Gibraltar squad or let him go. Lee was on loan and is gone at the end of the season, so Albiach is really our only viable CB.

McNeil's rating only improved by 1 point over the season, but his physicals improved quite nicely, so worth keeping an eye on and giving him some league play.

Plan - Look for two starters and another backup.  Albiach is fine as a backup only.

[mpm2342]

Left FB - Champ Target = 65.8
This season, I am going to split the FBs to right and left for the assessment since I have the table based on position familiarity. 

FB seems to be a position that generates good match ratings in our tactic. Konate was the starter with Chiab as the primary backup this past season. I tried to get Leyland playing time as well for development purposes. Looking at the numbers, Roman would be a great sub to have to close out games defensively, if I actually played the games instead of simming them. When simming, who knows how the assistant manager decides when and where to sub and I can't be bothered to try and figure out the detailed match plans as I find them to not work very well especially for the amount of hassle to maintain.

Leyland grew nicely last season and has a 3.5 star PA. Will definitely keep him playing to see how far he will develop. Will move Chiab and Britto to clear roster space and their contracts are up. Will keep Roman around as he can fill in on both sides. The other younsters aren't much to look at as even though Tomlinson developed well, his rating too low to ever make it to the senior squad.

Konate is above the target rating, so don't need to upgrade this spot.

Plan - start Konate with Leyland as backup and Roman as contingency.

 

Right FB - Champ Target = 65.8
This season, I am going to split the FBs to right and left for the assessment since I have the table based on position familiarity. 

FB seems to be a position that generates good match ratings in our tactic. Waidner was the starter with Trolez as the primary backup this past season and they both had ok match ratings and stats.

Waidner stayed the same and nobody stands out among the rest of the RFB. I had some hope for Whitbread, but he has levelled off. Trolez is on loan, so is gone, so we will need a backup. Not going to resign Hartjes.

 

Plan - start Waidner and look for backup and/or upgrade. Both Leyland and Roman can play on the right side as well, so we have depth options.

[mpm2342]

BWM - Champ Target = 71.0
The BWM stats aren't great with our tactic, so I lean towards the match ratings to give additional insights. Blasco started, Edwards was played in league matches to see if he would develop. Angong didn't play at all and Hartjes filled in. Blasco played well enough as did Edwards. Hartjes seems more offensive than defensive based on the stats.

Blasco's rating is pretty much at target and Angong is an ok backup. We were trying to develop Lambert in previous seasons and nothing really happened. Our new project will be Pizarro, so he will get a chance this coming season to show if he can grow.

Plan - Blasco is the starter and at target. Opportunistically find depth - we have El Azzouzi and Angong for depth.

 

DLP - Champ Target = 69.7
Dominguez played 15 games as DLP and 25 at AM. Castro played 15 at DLP and 18 at AM. The main lineup for Europe was Dominguez at DLP and Castro at AM, but had to play Castro some at DLP to satisfy the loan agreement.  Chirivella got 11 games, Caneles got 9 games and El Azzouzi got 15 as other players.  I look at this role as the distributor / pace setter, so look to XA and passing.  They all had good match ratings and passing stats.

I missed the growth on Dominguez and he won't talk to us anymore, so he is moving on. Castro was a loan so is also moving on. El Azzouzi grew very nicely and had solid statistics, so will take over as starter and hopefully continue to grow. He has 3.5 CA and 4.5 PA, so still has room to grow according to the assistant manager. If we can get a season or two of growth from him, he will surpass the target.  None of the youth players will make it.

Plan - Find an upgrade and start El Azzouzi until then. Canales can hang around as depth.

Edited April 13 by mpm2342

[mpm2342]

Winger - Champ Target = 69.6
I am analyzing LW and RW together as all the top players can play both. Vincent and Abid were the starters to open the season, but Abid got hurt a fair bit and Juninho was playing great, so got a lot of play time. He out performed the other two and has earned the chance to play more this coming season. Holcroft is a youngster getting some playtime and is showing nice development. McClafferty just keeps playing well and earning his place on the bench.

The only notable change in ratings is from Holcroft who developed nicely. the 3 main guys are under the target, but playing well, so I will look for upgrades if they are available, but it is not critical.

Holcroft say really strong progression of his mental attributes and if he can keep that up, may become a very useful player. He already has the pace for the role.

Plan - start Vincent and Juninho with Abid getting in a lot. Holcroft to get league time to further his development and McClafferty will be a backup. Opportunistically see if we can find a transfer or loan at target level as well.

 

Advanced Playmaker - Champ Target = 68.4
Castro and Dominguez played very well in the AP role. Smith had a good go in late season action as well and deserves a shot to see if he can live up to his potential.

Everyone is on their way out, leaving Canales as the top option on the squad. We have seen him play well here before, but would like him to just be a backup. I think Smith is too far away from target to develop much, so we need options there as well

 

Plan - Go find a starter and have Canales/Marcos as backup. Look for youth options if we can find any.

 

Advanced Forward - Champ Target = 68.2
Meireles was the starter and scored 49 goals!!!!. Carrasco scored 19 goals as well, but that was against weaker opponents.  Meireles was on fire and the stats reflect that. not much for headers or passing, but converted extremely well.

Meireles' rating declined a bit to 65.3, still reasonably close to target. Carrasco fills in nicely. Richards is from the youth intake this season with a 3.5 star PA, so worth a look at through the season.  Danino deserves a look as well based on his growth two season's ago. If I had been doing this analysis then, he would have gotten first team games this past season.

Plan - Start Meireles with Carrasco as first backup.

[mpm2342]

I forgot to update the youth intake earlier.  Mostly filler, but maybe one or two potentials. The GK, Davis was fickle, inconsistent, short with poor mental attributes, so very disappointing and wasn't signed.

Signed the following players:
Pizarro
Byrne
Richards
Johnson
Martin
Rowe

the last three were not on the screen shot I took.

Pizarro (BWM - 55 rating), Byrne (BWM - 56 rating) and Richards (AF - 47.3 rating) are the only ones likely to make any noise.

Edited April 13 by mpm2342

[mpm2342]

Upcoming Season recruiting needs based on the Championship target:

GK         Gap: 2.3% - We are good for the year - look for depth or opportunistic upgrade - not urgent
CD         Gap: 7.1%, 8.2% - Need two upgrades - Super Duper Urgent
FB          Gap: 0.6%, 4.5% - Can use an upgrade at Right FB - Urgent
BWM     Gap: 0.6% - We are good !!!
DLP        Gap: 5.5% - Need an upgrade to pair with El Azzouri - Urgent
Winger  Gap: 3.5%, 3.7%  - Look for at least one upgrade - not urgent
AP          Gap: 4.4% - Look for upgrade - Urgent
ST           Gap: 2.9% - Will need an upgrade soon, but Meireles is on amazing form, so can roll with him one more season. Opportunistically look for upgrade - not urgent

[mpm2342]

Fast forward to the end of June and Gibraltar slightly improved it's rankings in the Nation Club coefficient thanks to our strong run and declined again in the world rankings, the HC keeps hanging on STILL!!!! We keep feeding players into the team, not looking great for that position to come available soon. The league moved up 8 more spots which has been helpful in getting players. Our club ranking improved a little bit, and we stayed at 2 stars for reputation. We are seeing more players willing to play for us or come on loan, still not the best ones, but a definite improvement. The board came to me at the season changeover and asked me if I wanted the youth facilities upgraded ... this after saying no to me a week earlier . At least we are getting upgrades there again. We have a very healthy cash balance and the board gave me a generous transfer and wage budget.

Scouting budget is re-upped at world, so don't need to adjust.

Signed a few players and got one on loan who will all help the team.

Biten Valere is a right FB and his rating is 65.9 which is above the target of 65.8.  Signed him for 500K which I am happy with. He has a high wage, but manageable with the budget.

Merino is a highly rated AM - AP. He wouldn't come on a transfer, but he did agree to come on a loan with extra fees attached of 2M. His rating at AP is 69.3 which is above the target rating of 68.4, so worth it in my mind... especially since he is a model citizen which I can hopefully leverage in mentoring.

Marek cost 300K and can play both right and left wing.  He is rated 67.2 so is an upgrade on Abid at 65.9, but still not quite at target.

Muller was a 2M transfer because of his potential.  He has a 4 star CA and a 5 star PA.  Not the top rated in any position, but at 64.4 for DLP, 63.9 for AF he will get a lot of playing time. Long term, I see him taking over at ST if he fulfills the promise. Good professionalism to help him on that journey.

Fredricson was signed for free and with a 63.8 rating is currently the highest rated CD. Got him to agree to fringe player, so can still bring in 2 better players if I can find them. He is expensive, but I really needed some decent depth anbd he has good secondary attributes.

Resigned Chirivella at DLP and even though I don't expect him to play all that much with El Azzouri and Muller, he is the highest rated.  The current situation looks like this.

Current Season recruiting needs based on the Championship target:

GK         Gap: 2.3% - We are good for the year - look for depth or opportunistic upgrade - not urgent
CD         Gap: 7.1%, 5.4% - Need two upgrades - Super Duper Urgent
FB          Gap: 0.6%, 0.1% - Can use an upgrade at Right FB - Urgent - Filled
BWM     Gap: 0.6% - We are good !!!
DLP        Gap: 5.5% 2.1% - Need an upgrade to pair with El Azzouri - Urgent- not urgent as we have Muller and Chirivella
Winger  Gap: 3.5%, 2.4%  - Look for at least one upgrade - not urgent - still look oppportunistically
AP          Gap: 0.9% - Look for upgrade - Urgent Filled
ST           Gap: 2.9% - Will need an upgrade soon, but Meireles is on amazing form, so can roll with him one more season. Opportunistically look for upgrade - not urgent Looking at Muller to grow beyond Meireles and take over.

Still looking for CD primarily and Winger opportunistically.  Also signed a couple of players to the youth team

Warrington has 2 stars CA and 4.5 stars PA. He will have a tough road to get to the first team as a ST, but gives us depth for the U23 team and we can see how he develops

Santos has a 1.5 star CA and a 5 star PA. Best of all, he is 18, so could become homegrown.  His agility is worrisome, but we can work on that.

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League Champions Path First Qualifying Round:

First up we play against Bravo from the Slovenian First League. Slovenia is 29th in the Nation Club Coefficients and Bravo is 496th in the European club rankings. We should not have any difficulty with this matchup especially since I am playing the main squad to get them into match shape for the harder matchups to come.

First game at home and a comfortable win.

Second game away and will take the opportunity to play some younger players and distribute some play time.  That made the match much closer, but we still prevailed.  The key players produced and the subs stepped up

[mpm2342]

We have signed 3 more transfers and one loan player to round out the squad. I am done bringing in players and now its time to try and ship out some of the players who have been replaced.

Best is in on a loan at CD with a rating of 65.4. He will be a rotational starter / sub since I signed the next two on the list after I made the loan agreement.

Pulijic cost us a £450K transfer fee and is now our best CD with a rating of 68.9. Big, strong CD with a bit of passing - love it. He only has a 1/2 star of growth left, but happy to have him.

David cost us a transfer fee of £400K and has a 5 star potential. He has a rating of 66.2 with great technicals. Some focus on the physical attributes and he will be a great player for us.

Junyent joined us on a free transfer - didn't think I would land him, so put out the money and he came. He is our highest rated AP (70.3) and DLP (68.1) and will start plenty of games in both as I make sure to get Muller and El Azzouzi plenty of game time.

The roster now looks like:

And our progress towards our target ratings is doing well:

Our GK had a nice first part of training and had a couple of attributes flip to the next rounding level which bumped his rating by 1.3% - NICE !!!

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League Champions Path Second Qualifying Round:

Next up we play against Larne from the Sports Direct Premiership. Northern Ireland is 34th in the Nation Club Coefficients and Larne is 147th in the European club rankings. We played them a few years ago and played very well against them, , I expect a win here.

First leg and a comfortable victory which will allow us to rotate the squad a bit for the second leg.

Second leg and a nice victory and play time for a few of the youngsters - Sidibe, Leyland, Edwards and Holcroft.

 

UEFA Champions League Champions Path Third Qualifying Round:

Next up we play against HJK from the Finnish Premier League. Finland is 30th in the Nation Club Coefficients and HJK is 195th in the European club rankings. We should be able to win this round.

First leg was tighter than I would have like to see, but a victory is good.

Played the first team again for the second leg to make sure we had a good chance and they delivered nicely.

 

UEFA Champions League Champions Path Playoff:

Next up we play against Dinamo from the Croatian First League. Croatia is 34th in the Nation Club Coefficients and Dinamo is 19th in the European club rankings. This should be a tough round, but one we should win.

Nice victory at home to give some cushion for the away leg.

Subbed a couple of youngsters in, but not fully to make sure we secured the win, plus we have a Gibraltar match in 3 days, so will rotate the squad for that.

 

[mpm2342]

The Champions League fixtures are out and it looks like a decent draw for us.

If I use my estimate that we are competitive with teams ranked 20 and below, we should manage 3-4 wins. I count 3 pretty clear losses and then chances in the rest.... let's see how good my predictive sense is

Man U away feels like a loss
Young Boys and Florentina at home are good chances for victory
Paris SG is a loss
Galatasaray is a potential win away
VFB Stuttgart is a potential win away
FC RB Salzburg at home is one that we could have a shot at
FC Bayern away is a loss.

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League League Phase - Game 1:

First up is Man UFC who play in the English Premier League. England is 1st in the nation club rankings and Man UFC are 21st in the club rankings. They have better players than us for sure, but we should be getting close enough to make it competitive.

What a game from Rojas and what a late comeback for the team. Very happy to take a win here against the flow of the match/stats etc. We deserved to lose, but our GK pulled this one out for us.

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League League Phase - Game 3:

Next up are Young Boys who play in the Swiss Super League. Switzerland is 23rd in the nation club rankings and Young Boys are 53rd in the club rankings. We should have a good chance to win this one.

Good win and from the looks of it, well played by the squad.

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League League Phase - Game 4:

Next up are Paris SG who play in the Ligue 1 Uber Eats. France is 5th in the nation club rankings and PSG are 2nd in the club rankings. We should not have much chance in this one, hope to keep it close. Interesting that Pep Guardiola moved over to PSG for this season.

Nice! Thrilled to get a draw and even more thrilled because we went down a man and still got the late equalizer.

We have 3 wins and a draw for 10 points so far. Pretty much guaranteed to move on from the league phase now

Edited April 20 by mpm2342

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League League Phase - Game 5:

Next up are Galatasaray who play in the Turkish Super League. Turkiye is 12th in the nation club rankings and Galatasaray are 44th in the club rankings. We played them a couple of seasons ago and lost, we should have a good chance of a victory in this game.

No victory, but I will take a draw. Pretty much guaranteed to make it through the league phase now.

 

UEFA Champions League League Phase - Game 6:

Next up are VFB Stuttgart who play in the Bundesliga. Germany is 4th in the nation club rankings and VFB Stuttgart are 56th in the club rankings. We played them in our early years in the European competitions, so they will be a good measure of how far we have come. We should have a good chance of a victory in this game.

Another draw,  No losses so far, which is pretty amazing.

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League League Phase - Game 7:

Next up are RB Salzburg who play in the Austrian Premier League. Austria is 10th in the nation club rankings and RF Salzburg are 17h in the club rankings. Based on my estimate that we are capable of playing with anyone ranked 20 or below, this will be a tough one, but one we have an outside shot at. I would be thrilled with another draw to keep up unbeaten in the league phase.

Wow! We pulled out a victory. The team is getting very close. The match statistics align with the outcome and were slightly in our favour even with going down a man in the 76th minute.  Rojas is on fine form in goal for us and is attracting offers from premier league teams - so far he has not gotten upset by me blocking the transfers.

 

UEFA Champions League League Phase - Game 8:

Next up are Bayern who play in the Bundesliga. Germany is 4th in the nation club rankings and Bayern are 4th in the club rankings. I don't think we have a chance in this one, but hopefully can keep it close. We are in the top 8 right now, but need points from this one to stay there, so are likely playoff bound.

We lost, but it was a very respectable showing from the lads. 

[mpm2342]

Youth intake preview is in and looking gloomy.

[mpm2342]

UEFA Champions League Knock Out Play Off Round:

We drew Celtic who play in the cinch Premiership. Scotland is 6th in the nation club rankings and Celtic are 18th in the club rankings. This will be a tough one, but we should have a chance to keep it close and maybe sneak away with a win.

First match away and a glorious result! We had the better chances and XG even though it looks like they had more of the ball and shots. Great game by Rojas helped for sure.

Second game back home and we lost, but move on on aggregate. Another close game shows we belong at this point in the competition. We also got £8.23M for playing in the Knock Out.