[FM24] Vigo - Rise of the Celts

[warlock]

I have been casting around for my next save and drawing a succession of blanks. Then, idly looking through La Liga - with no great ambition to manage there - I found a story that grabbed my attention. In my mind, Celta Vigo are a big club in Spain but, on closer examination, it turns out they're not. Apart from a long-distant Intertoto Cup the trophy cabinet at Vigo is pretty bare - no La Liga titles, no Copa del Rey victories, and they've been relegation battlers more often than pushing for European qualification. So, an interesting challenge.

But this season, the club's centenary year, things have taken a turn for the more interesting. Determined to change their fortunes, last summer they tempted a Big Name Manager to take the hot seat: former Real Madrid and Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez. According to a BBC website story, "Benitez took some convincing. But eventually, with the help of a higher salary than their usual rate of pay, Celta persuaded him to agree a three-year contract."

Earlier this month, they sacked him! Despite the high hopes and ambition, under Benitez Vigo were sitting in 17th, just two points above the relegation places, having just lost 4-0 to Real Madrid, and winning only 6 of 29 games so far this season.

The aims of this save are to do better than Sr Benitez and secure at least a mid-table finish and then to push on, winning a La Liga title and at least one major trophy.

[Houdini777]

Here we go! Can't wait for this, time to disrupt the big three in Spain. If only the people in this save's universe knew of your exploits at Southampton.

[Stuniverse]

All the best, @warlock.

Good luck 🍀⚽️🤞

[warlock]

August 2023

At first glance, it's hard to understand Celta's lack of success, particularly this season. They have money - an overall balance of £30m, a transfer budget of £15.25m, and a wage budget of £500k per week. They have a decent-to-good squad with a lot of current ability and a lot of potential. They have better than good facilities - excellent training and youth facilities, good academy coaching and youth recruitment, and a stadium currently being expanded to around 32,000.

On closer examination, things aren't quite that rosy. Wages are close to the maximum and you can't juggle the transfer budget since the La Liga salary cap for the club is also £500k. And there are problems with the playing staff, too. Starting LCB Joseph Aidoo will miss the entire season with an achilles tendon injury and can't be replaced without freeing up some room in the salary cap. The club has a great many junior players but none look ready for L1 football yet. The best 'keeper is 36-year-old Vincent Guaita, formerly of Crystal Palace, and the best forward is 35-year-old Iago Aspas and both will need replacing sooner rather than later.

Even so, it's a squad that looks more than capable of meeting the board requirement of a mid-table finish. To make the most of our top talents, I'll be setting us up in a 4231 system (ignore some of the player roles... we won't be playing with two BPDs!):

The transfer window will depend entirely on incoming offers... but the players on the 'most wanted' list are players I'd rather not lose - first-choice RB Oscar Mingueza, the aforementioned Aspas, and DM Renato Tapia.

[Carambau]

Great choice! I had a save with them in fm23 i think and it was fun af! Strand Larsen can be Deadly up Front and Aspas should have at least 1 great season in him. I recommend keeping hold of Svedberg but i know this is hard. I think CD Dominguez will come good too.

 

Have fun! I will follow  😀 

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Carambau said:

I recommend keeping hold of Svedberg

I have every intention of trying . He's a player that has featured in scouting reports over several saves but I've never had the chance to sign him so his presence here was another point of appeal.

I was also impressed with Larsen in our opening pre-season friendly - he bagged a hat-trick and then limped off with a twisted ankle that will keep him out for the first two weeks of the regular season 

[john1]

Good luck

[warlock]

September 2023

Transfer window

I suggested last time that there would be little if any business done before the window closed. The club had been busy before my arrival, signing 12 players - a mix of first-team regulars and future prospects:

Bamba and Douvikas, in particular, have impressed in early games but there's no logic to the loan signings of Gonzalez and Iglesias, who are costing us wage contributions while being no better than our own youngsters. Taken together, the signings provide us with a surplus of options in attacking midfield but rather shorthanded in central midfield and defence. With our system based on a double-pivot in defensive midfield we need four players there for cover and rotation but only had three, so I'm retraining CM Hugo Sotelo for the position.

Meanwhile, in defence a season-long injury to Joseph Aidoo leaves us with just three natural CBs. Oscar Mingueza can play RCB but is our best RB, and Jailson can also cover but is needed at DM. Just as I was wondering whether we could manage with three, new signing Carl Starfelt twisted an ankle in pre-season and would miss the first competitive matches. We had plenty in the transfer budget but were close to maxed out on wages under the strict La Liga financial regulations so I went looking for loans where we could pay little or no wage contribution but hefty loan fees if necessary.

Since our scouting team had little time to generate much of a target database, the best I could do was a youngster from Benfica:

He might develop into a decent defender for Benfica but for us he's not much more than a warm body to throw on in emergencies.

The only other event of note was a series of unwanted bids for first-choice DM Renato Tapia from Napoli and Fiorentina. Thankfully, he had little interest in the move so I could reject them all without problems.

Early form

With no option but to work with what I was given, the big questions were: how good the squad is, can they compete in La Liga, and is the 4231 going to secure us the mid-table finish demanded by the board?

An impressive set of results, I think, even if we only managed to draw against two of the better teams in the division in Villareal and Real Sociedad. Even more impressive in the context of a mini-injury crisis that has seen Aspas miss 5 weeks, Strand Larsen 4 weeks, Starfelt and Bamba 3 weeks each, and Mingueza 2 weeks.

The victory against Osasuna put us top of the league; the draws at the end of September saw us slip a little but we're still in the mix:

In-game, it's October 1 and we face lowly Mallorca tonight, a game that gives us the opportunity to climb above Atletico.

Stars of the season so far are Swedberg, playing as our shadow striker, and Douvikas. The latter started the season on fire with 5 goals from his first 4 appearances, although he's regressed to the mean since. Contrariwise, Swedberg looked great in pre-season but after suffering his injury was largely absent in August but has exploded into form in September.

Causes for concern are our old men - GK Guaita and forward Aspas. The latter has some excuse because of injuries and I'm trying to give him enough game time to play his way into form. Guaita has no such excuse and simply hasn't been good enough. His position as first choice is under threat from 26-year-old Ivan Villar but the truth is that neither are good enough to match our ambitions. A long-term solution will be a priority next summer.

 

[Fantasista10]

Great start to the season! The result against Atletico is particularly impressive.

If I was a betting man I’d say you l should definitely meet and even surpass the mid table expectation. 

Just out of curiosity, are you using the same 4-2-3-1 that you deployed at Southampton? 

Edited March 27 by Fantasista10

[warlock]

2 hours ago, Fantasista10 said:

are you using the same 4-2-3-1 that you deployed at Southampton?

Pretty much, or at least it's the version from the start of the final season - balanced mentality (before we switched to positive), higher def line, mid block, one AM staying wide, one cutting in, no playmaker this time. Striker role depends on who plays... Strand Larsen wants to be a complete forward, while Douvikas is a pressing forward. We might switch to a 'cautious' mentality for Real Madrid and Barca, and if we keep winning I have an eye on the opposition sitting back that might prompt a switch up to 'positive'.

But it's a really simple system that did so well with Saints I didn't see any reason for big changes. But I'm not much of a tactician (despite my tinkering) - I don't usually go into saves thinking, "This is how I want to play"*; I'll usually look for something that gets the best out of the playing squad available. For instance, we have two very good (and another decent) AMCs so I knew whatever system we used would feature that position. I do like a narrow diamond but hate moulding a squad to play it by trying to get rid of 4 or 5 wide players.

* Two exceptions in the negative - I'll never play all-out tiki-taka and I'll never play gegenpressing systems. Hate the type of football they produce.

[mpm2342]

On 25/03/2024 at 13:37, warlock said:

Earlier this month, they sacked him! Despite the high hopes and ambition, under Benitez Vigo were sitting in 17th, just two points above the relegation places, having just lost 4-0 to Real Madrid, and winning only 6 of 29 games so far this season.

The aims of this save are to do better than Sr Benitez and secure at least a mid-table finish

Now this sounds like a fun save. Enjoy and good luck!

[Captain_T]

vor 1 Stunde schrieb warlock:

Pretty much, or at least it's the version from the start of the final season - balanced mentality (before we switched to positive), higher def line, mid block, one AM staying wide, one cutting in, no playmaker this time. Striker role depends on who plays... Strand Larsen wants to be a complete forward, while Douvikas is a pressing forward. We might switch to a 'cautious' mentality for Real Madrid and Barca, and if we keep winning I have an eye on the opposition sitting back that might prompt a switch up to 'positive'.

But it's a really simple system that did so well with Saints I didn't see any reason for big changes. But I'm not much of a tactician (despite my tinkering) - I don't usually go into saves thinking, "This is how I want to play"*; I'll usually look for something that gets the best out of the playing squad available. For instance, we have two very good (and another decent) AMCs so I knew whatever system we used would feature that position. I do like a narrow diamond but hate moulding a squad to play it by trying to get rid of 4 or 5 wide players.

* Two exceptions in the negative - I'll never play all-out tiki-taka and I'll never play gegenpressing systems. Hate the type of football they produce.

Sound very interesting! Can you show a picture of your tactic?

Best regards!

[Fantasista10]

3 hours ago, warlock said:

Pretty much, or at least it's the version from the start of the final season - balanced mentality (before we switched to positive), higher def line, mid block, one AM staying wide, one cutting in, no playmaker this time. Striker role depends on who plays... Strand Larsen wants to be a complete forward, while Douvikas is a pressing forward. We might switch to a 'cautious' mentality for Real Madrid and Barca, and if we keep winning I have an eye on the opposition sitting back that might prompt a switch up to 'positive'.

But it's a really simple system that did so well with Saints I didn't see any reason for big changes. But I'm not much of a tactician (despite my tinkering) - I don't usually go into saves thinking, "This is how I want to play"*; I'll usually look for something that gets the best out of the playing squad available. For instance, we have two very good (and another decent) AMCs so I knew whatever system we used would feature that position. I do like a narrow diamond but hate moulding a squad to play it by trying to get rid of 4 or 5 wide players.

That makes perfect sense to me, you found something that worked, and is very simple as you say. I think simple works best when you haven’t got top players for your division. Tweaking it based on the players you have is also a very smart move. 

Interesting point about shifting to Cautious or Positive mentality depending on the situation. Changing mentality is something I used to avoid like the plague as I thought it would change too many TI’s by default, but it’s a risk modifier in simple terms - so this does make sense. Have you had a lot of success doing that? 

 

3 hours ago, warlock said:

I'll never play all-out tiki-taka and I'll never play gegenpressing systems. Hate the type of football they produce.

You must not be a fan of the style of football I’ve got Atalanta playing then! 

[Jogo Bonito]

Good to see you back already and wish you good luck in Spain with Celta Vigo. Great start too, by the way

[warlock]

3 hours ago, Captain_T said:

Can you show a picture of your tactic?

Sure:

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Fantasista10 said:

Interesting point about shifting to Cautious or Positive mentality depending on the situation

It's not something I do often mid-game, because it changes a lot - not just risk but passing directness, width, tempo and, often, individual mentality. With Southampton for most games I played with a 'balanced' mentality; against the big opposition (Man City, Arsenal, etc) I'd switch to 'cautious' and it worked well. I expected it might make us toothless in attack but, in fact, we usually picked our moments to attack and scored. The changes that go with the mentality change were ones I actually wanted in those games - less risk, more compact, slightly lower tempo but still a threat on the counter.

Usually in-match, I make smaller tweaks. If we're struggling to break down a defence, I'll play wider and slower in an attempt to create one good chance. If the lower tempo doesn't work I'll switch it to 'higher' in an attempt to catch them out of position. If we're holding on to a lead I'll usually drop a WB to defend or a FB to support, ditto the AMs - but small changes; we don't want to be too passive and invite more pressure. In the last 10 minutes if we're under the cosh, I'll add any or all of time-wasting, playing for setpieces and shoot-on-sight (it takes time to recover the ball from the back of the stand ).

1 hour ago, Fantasista10 said:

You must not be a fan of the style of football I’ve got Atalanta playing

Um... you know, personal preferences . If you like it that's good enough. And I like seeing alternative approaches. Until I read @crusadertsar's 'defence-first football' thread in the tactics forum I'd never dropped mentality below 'balanced'. That thread has literally been a game-changer for me 

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Good to see you back already

I did go back and re-read your suggestions at the end of the Malaga and Bordeaux threads and actually tried a couple of different ideas as per the OP in this one. But nothing was really engaging. When I found the Vigo story I was instantly 'in' 

It's also the advantage of retirement - in the space of about three days I played through two or three months with Malaga, St Etienne, Toulouse and Hannover 

[warlock]

November 2023

Loving being back in Spain and playing just 3 or 4 games a month. In theory, it should allow us to keep everyone match fit... if it wasn't for a full-blown injury crisis:

Not shown here is GK Guaita who is the latest to fall victim to the highly-infectious ankle injury, which has spread throughout the squad. Aspas is suffering his third occurrence, Bamba picked up his on a recent international break and Swedberg is just returned from his.  Just to be different, DM Beltran tore a hamstring back in October and will be out until New Year. No sooner do we get one player back than we lose another.

Despite that tale of woe, we're still doing well:

We lost our first game of the season away against Barcelona - no shame there, but it does leave us with just one win in the last four. Suddenly we're struggling for goals, which I think is entirely down to injuries, with some of our leading scorers - Aspas, Larsen, Bamba - in and out of the team. Las Palmas simply shut up shop and we couldn't break them down; we should have beaten Girona after leading 1-0 at halftime but couldn't find a second and they nicked a late equaliser.

I have to keep reminding myself that we're supposed to finish in mid-table and we're far exceeding expectations so far:

We have the third-best medical team in the league and none of the victims are particularly injury-prone so it just looks like a run of bad luck. Hopefully, our luck will change soon.

[warlock]

Oh, for god's sake:

[AlfieLucas]

Goodluck with this. Always enjoy your careers. I did toy with the idea of Vigo a few weeks back, it was between them, Villarreal and Valencia. Hopefully you stay in the mix for the top and bring success to Celta.

[Muttley84]

16 hours ago, warlock said:

Hopefully, our luck will change soon.

Thats a weird desire for someone being 1st in the league 😁

[Jogo Bonito]

Excellent start mate. I took a look at the Celta squad and it seems quite decent to me. Not title-winning decent perhaps, but strong enough to make a better impression than the last 'Gafa' did.

[warlock]

8 hours ago, Muttley84 said:

Thats a weird desire for someone being 1st in the league 😁

Fair! But if we keep losing first-team players at the current rate, we're not going to be 1st for long.

6 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

I took a look at the Celta squad and it seems quite decent to me

Agreed - there's a lot of quality, especially in terms of a front four. I'm pretty confident we can do better than mid-table, but it's an open question as to whether we can make the top six. Some form of European football would be a huge financial boost.

[warlock]

December 2023

We finished November struggling to score and struggling to put a fit 11 on the pitch. But in December we did get some first-choice players back and it showed:

Five league games played, four wins including an excellent performance against Sevilla. We had no expectations of a result away at Real Madrid but we did restrict them to a single goal and had chances to claim a share of the points, which was better than anyone expected.

We struggled against Valencia and it took an own goal in added time to give us what was, quite frankly, an undeserved win, but we were much better against Athletic of Bilbao and were good value for the three points. We finished the month early with our entry to Copa del Rey and the lads filled their boots, banging in six against lower-league opponents.

We had slipped to second behind Madrid early in the month, and our loss to them gave them the chance to open a gap, but they failed to capitalise as we won our remaining games of the calendar year to reclaim top spot. But they and Athletic have a game in hand so there could be a change at the top as January gets underway.

For now, attention turns to the January window and I'm hoping we can reinforce in a couple of positions. CB Jose Muller, who was a desperation signing in the summer, will - hopefully - return to parent club Benfica and we'll need a replacement as a priority. I'd also like to bring in extra cover at DM where injuries have meant we've had to field three players in heavy rotation. I'm keeping a watching brief on first-choice RB Mingueza who is the subject of interest from Brighton; his recent performances have been poor and he may have had his head turned by the speculation.

We probably need to move on DM Renato Tapia as well. He's done well but has only six months remaining on his contract and won't sign a new deal.

The good news is that, for whatever reason, it turns out we're only spending £370k a week in wages towards our £500k salary cap, so there's plenty of money available to bring in new signings if we can find them.

[warlock]

January 2024

Let's start with the shock news: club legend Iago Aspas is gone. Despite some useful cameos early in the season, by October he was finished by a series of injuries. Most recently he returned from a two-week absence and 15 minutes into his first sub appearance back, he crocked himself again. Three weeks after that he hadn't even returned to full fitness when he was out again. With blisters! I don't know how you suffer from blisters after most of a month sitting at home in your slippers, but there we go. He wasn't transfer listed but Saudi outfit Al-Shabab offered us £3.5m and I decided to take the money and run.

DM Renato Tapia followed him to the desert kingdom, after we accepted a £1.4m bid from Al-Fateh.

Coming the other way, I brought in Jose Gragera from Espanyol as Tapia's replacement:

Ignore the odd notion that he's a CB (although he's useful cover there). He's a decent DM and immediately endeared himself to the Vigo faithful by bagging a hat-trick on his debut. £2.4m was the fee.

After Jose Muller's loan was cancelled because we didn't play him, we needed a permanent replacement at RCB and I think we found him:

Bisseck joins us from Inter for a bargain fee of £7.5m (potentially rising to £9m) and has looked very good in his first three appearances for the club.

Finally, we had an issue with backup LB Mihailo Ristic who took the hump after the departure of Aspas. As is the FM way, there was no option to point out that the old man was past it, semi-permanently crocked and a shadow of the player he once was. Ristic started out annoyed and, whatever I tried, quickly accelerated to furious. He was just as quickly transfer-listed but, unfortunately, we couldn't shift him before the transfer deadline. He'll spend the rest of his days in the Vigo C team, replaced by this man:

Bjorkan was available at a good price from Bodo/Glimt - just £2m - and is a like-for-like replacement.

For the second half of the season, the squad looks like this:

While the transfer business was happening, our season continued in much the same, successful vein:

Not the toughest opponents - although Cadiz are surprising everyone by pushing for a European spot - and we struggled on occasion. Getafe set out to frustrate and almost succeeded; against lowly Marbella we almost came unstuck again, and Cadiz gave us a fright as the led twice before Swedberg came off the bench midway through the second half and delivered a PoM-winning performance, setting up the second of Douvikas's brace and bagging the winner himself in stoppage time.

The young Swede has established himself as one of our most important players and duly won the January Player of the Month award:

And we have not only maintained our position at the top of the league, but extended our lead over Real Madrid who yet again failed to capitalise on their games in hand:

I'm still not convinced we can lift the title, but with a 17pt cushion over Villareal, we should be able to secure European football of some sort. February will provide some clarity as we face Villareal, Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad, and it will be helpful if Real and Barca continue to drop points.

Edited April 1 by warlock

[Fantasista10]

6 hours ago, warlock said:

January 2024

Let's start with the shock news: club legend Iago Aspas is gone. Despite some useful cameos early in the season, by October he was finished by a series of injuries. Most recently he returned from a two-week absence and 15 minutes into his first sub appearance back, he crocked himself again. Three weeks after that he hadn't even returned to full fitness when he was out again. With blisters! I don't know how you suffer from blisters after most of a month sitting at home in your slippers, but there we go. He wasn't transfer listed but Saudi outfit Al-Shabab offered us £3.5m and I decided to take the money and run.

DM Renato Tapia followed him to the desert kingdom, after we accepted a £1.4m bid from Al-Fateh.

Coming the other way, I brought in Jose Gragera from Espanyol as Tapia's replacement:

Ignore the odd notion that he's a CB (although he's useful cover there). He's a decent DM and immediately endeared himself to the Vigo faithful by bagging a hat-trick on his debut. £2.4m was the fee.

After Jose Muller's loan was cancelled because we didn't play him, we needed a permanent replacement at RCB and I think we found him:

Bisseck joins us from Inter for a bargain fee of £7.5m (potentially rising to £9m) and has looked very good in his first three appearances for the club.

Finally, we had an issue with backup LB Mihailo Ristic who took the hump after the departure of Aspas. As is the FM way, there was no option to point out that the old man was past it, semi-permanently crocked and a shadow of the player he once was. Ristic started out annoyed and, whatever I tried, quickly accelerated to furious. He was just as quickly transfer-listed but, unfortunately, we couldn't shift him before the transfer deadline. He'll spend the rest of his days in the Vigo C team, replaced by this man:

Bjorkan was available at a good price from Bodo/Glimt - just £2m - and is a like-for-like replacement.

For the second half of the season, the squad looks like this:

While the transfer business was happening, our season continued in much the same, successful vein:

Not the toughest opponents - although Cadiz are surprising everyone by pushing for a European spot - and we struggled on occasion. Getafe set out to frustrate and almost succeeded; against lowly Marbella we almost came unstuck again, and Cadiz gave us a fright as the led twice before Swedberg came off the bench midway through the second half and delivered a PoM-winning performance, setting up the second of Douvikas's brace and bagging the winner himself in stoppage time.

The young Swede has established himself as one of our most important players and duly won the January Player of the Month award:

And we have not only maintained our position at the top of the league, but extended our lead over Real Madrid who yet again failed to capitalise on their games in hand:

I'm still not convinced we can lift the title, but with a 17pt cushion over Villareal, we should be able to secure European football of some sort. February will provide some clarity as we face Villareal, Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad, and it will be helpful if Real and Barca continue to drop points.

The good times keep rolling! Superb work so far. 

Nice transfer business, especially Bisseck who is an absolute steal at that price. Very good business for a young defender with huge potential. 

Curious to know how Gragera, a DM, scored a hat trick?! He looks good in the air, so I imagine set pieces? Unbelievably impressive debut 

Do you expect the sharks to come circling for Swedberg sooner rather than later? Exceptional talent, having a great season by the looks of it. 

[warlock]

10 minutes ago, Fantasista10 said:

Superb work so far

Cheers, mate!

10 minutes ago, Fantasista10 said:

Curious to know how Gragera, a DM, scored a hat trick?!

Two were shots from the edge of the area, one was a header. But he's played quite a bit since then and hasn't threatened the goal since 

12 minutes ago, Fantasista10 said:

Do you expect the sharks to come circling for Swedberg

It's inevitable, really. But he's just signed a new contract with a £79m release clause so I think we'll have him for at least another season. And yes, he's a huge talent - still only 20 years old. I've played him almost exclusively as a SS, but the game reckons his best role is raumdeuter at AMR. Could we get even more from him, or should I stick with what's working? I'm inclined towards the latter 

[warlock]

March 2025

With everything in our garden looking... if not rosy, at least in good shape, things took a turn for the worse in the Copa del Rey where we met Las Palmas in the fourth round:

To add salt into the wound, this was at home. They came to our place, bossed the game, had two shots on target and scored with both. Easily our worst performance of the season. But this was only the start of our problems:

Having had the second-best attack through the first half of the season, suddenly we couldn't score. I had highlighted this month as a tough run of games, against some of the Top 6 teams, but I was both baffled and infuriated by our performances. Osasuna, hovering just above the relegation zone, should have been easy opponents but they sat back and we couldn't find a way through their defence. The Villareal result doesn't look bad, but in fact they are a club in crisis - they hadn't won a league game since the first week of January and wouldn't win another until the end of March.

Atletico and Sociedad are tough games, but in both we couldn't get our attacking game going.

In the first half of the season, when we were predicted to finish no better than mid-table, teams were prepared to come out against us and we had great success playing a counter style. Now that we'd been top of the table for most of the season they didn't give us that space. Which was entirely expected, but despite running through my tactical playbook we couldn't find a way to overcome sides that sat back and challenged us to break them down. I tried different striker roles, tweaked our passing length and tempo, switched up from 'balanced' to 'positive' mentality - nothing worked.

We were not helped by poor individual performances - AML Bamba had been away at the African Cup of Nations in January and played superbly; when he returned he was poor for us. Striker Douvikas was the same - scoring for Greece on international duty, but he went 6 games for us without scoring and racking up an average rating of 6.4. 

Our woes continued in March:

Against relegation-threatened Mallorca we managed to score three, but conceded the same number and were lucky to escape with a draw. Against Betis we were utterly hopeless. The only good news was that somehow we were managing to avoid defeat. But against Vallecano something clicked - it was the same tactic we'd been using for weeks but perhaps because I'd gone through every under-performing player and given them an individual ticking off, or just because the FM gods decided we'd suffered enough, suddenly we produced not just a win but a convincing performance. And we followed that by taking revenge on Las Palmas for that cup defeat.

Not surprisingly, our run of dropped points finally allowed Real Madrid to claim top spot in the league - just! - but those last two results pushed us back above them after they fought a 0-0 draw with Atleti in their most recent match:

Whoever is eventually crowned champions, it's likely to be with an unusually low points total.

Looking ahead, April is an easy month for us with just three games to play... but we do start with a home game against Barcelona, and we still have to play Real Madrid and Athletic of Bilbao in May. All to play for, as they say 

 

[warlock]

Pretty good youth intake:

Edit to update:

Edited April 2 by warlock

[Fantasista10]

17 hours ago, warlock said:

It's inevitable, really. But he's just signed a new contract with a £79m release clause so I think we'll have him for at least another season. And yes, he's a huge talent - still only 20 years old. I've played him almost exclusively as a SS, but the game reckons his best role is raumdeuter at AMR. Could we get even more from him, or should I stick with what's working? I'm inclined towards the latter 

That‘s a boost, should deter a few clubs at least. And personally I would stick with what’s working. I don’t think the game does a great job of defining a player’s best position/role/duty. If he has good enough attributes for a certain role, your system accommodates him, and he performs well, stick with it. 

 

15 hours ago, warlock said:

Having had the second-best attack through the first half of the season, suddenly we couldn't score. I had highlighted this month as a tough run of games, against some of the Top 6 teams, but I was both baffled and infuriated by our performances.

I fear you’ve hit the inevitable FM blip. As you said, it’s likely because teams are paying you more respect, and in fairness you have a squad that is on paper, a mid table contender - might be fair to say that a mid table side could struggle against low blocks?

It’s hard to say what exactly the reason for the dip in form is, but you’re still top for the moment and my advice would be  not to tweak too much and potentially derail the season - stick with what has worked and your fortunes may turn.

Good luck for the run-in! 

[warlock]

13 minutes ago, Fantasista10 said:

might be fair to say that a mid table side could struggle against low blocks?

Absolutely right.

Might finish the season tonight. Whatever happens, we've over-performed massively.

[warlock]

End of season, 2024

The end of March saw us put an end to a dodgy run of form - no losses but a morale-sapping series of draws - with back-to-back wins. So we went into April in confident mood. Which didn't last long:

A draw against Barcelona is never a bad result but it's a measure of how well we'd done this season that I was disappointed:

I'd argue we were the better team and if we could have found a finish we'd have come away with a deserved win.

We followed that with a routine win against bottom-of-the-table Alaves, but then stumbled to a draw away at Girona. As the twists and turns of the season unfolded, we moved back to the top of the league as title rivals Real Madrid lost to Sociedad.

But that turned out to be the high water mark of our season. May was terrible:

Almeria at home was the easiest game of our run-in but we still couldn't find a win, and then we were up against it in our remaining fixtures, while Real Madrid hit form at exactly the right time and finished the season with four wins in a row.

But despite the late-season collapse, we did end it on a high note:

We recorded Vigo's highest ever league finish and next season we'll be playing in the Champions League. We'll certainly need some reinforcements for that campaign but the board have only managed to scrounge up a mere £12m for transfers and a small wage budget increase from £500k a week to £550k. I'm hoping to supplement that with some sales. 

One of the hallmarks of the season was the way some players started well and then steadily declined as the season went on. AMR Perez managed just 3 goals and 4 assists from 32 appearances, with not a single assist in 2024. ST Douvikas was never prolific but scored 8 before Christmas and only four after New Year. So I'll be hoping to move some of them on - Perez and Douvikas could raise up to £50m between them, and Perez is our highest-paid player and would save us £50k a week.

It's going to be an interesting - and important - transfer window!

[warlock]

August 2024

The transfer window ahead of our second season with Vigo turned out to be a long and complicated affair because of the need to sell before we could buy. At the end of season 1, I identified two players who had a high value, were earning high wages, but had performed extremely poorly - AML Jonathan Bamba and AMR Carles Perez. There was a good deal of interest in both, from European and Saudi clubs, so I was confident we could raise as much as £50-60m. But as the window wore on, the interest disappeared. I had to do some business early, which ate up the available transfer budget so we were then in limbo for much of the summer.

Before the window opened we were faced with the prospect of losing our best CB Unai Nunez who was approaching the end of his loan. There was an option to buy but far beyond our limited means. So when my coaching team suggested we renew the loan I made the offer to his parent club Athletic Bilbao. They responded with another loan-to-buy deal but with a much lower fee. So I cancelled the loan offer and made a permanent bid at the new level of just £6m. And they accepted. One problem solved.

The next issue was GK Vicente Guaita announcing his retirement at the end of the season. He had been declining rapidly so I wasn't unhappy with his decision, but it left us needing a replacement with very little money available. After poring over our scouting reports, I found a decent replacement with good potential to grow:

Gebhardt joined us from German side Jahn Regensburg for £2.3m. He was happy to accept backup status but I think he's already in position to take over as first-choice 'keeper.

In the last move of the 23/24 season, we lost striker Tasos Douvikas when Al-Ittihad triggered his £15.5m release clause. We quickly moved to sign his replacement:

Azon joined from Real Zaragoza for just £5m, although his arrival was delayed since he was away with the Spanish Olympic team until the end of the summer.

I decided to move on our 4th choice DM Jaison as he'd never performed well when called on; he moved home to Brazil, joining Gremio for a fee that should reach £1m. In return I brought in a better prospect:

Enzo was out of favour at Juventus but represents an upgrade on Jaison and £5m seemed like a decent price.

In the week before transfer deadline day there had still been no offers for Bamba or Perez, so I made the biggest mistake of the window... I took Bamba off the transfer list. He immediately responded by demanding a new contract, with a rise from around £20k a week - to £97k a week. Not only had he done nothing to justify that, the club simply couldn't afford it. And then eight of the first team regulars were in my office telling me he deserved a new deal. We reopened talks but when I locked in the maximum £45k offer his agent rejected it and a day later, Bamba demanded a transfer .

Thankfully, Brentford arrived with a loan-to-buy deal that covers all of his wages and includes a fee of £27.5m if he plays 25 matches. Here's hoping!

That left us short of an AML but provided just enough cash to finance a deal:

Rego comes in from Benfica for £12.5m, primarily as a backup but there'll be an opportunity to make the position his own if he develops as we expect.

Our last bit of business was a free deal for young Theo Zidane, son of the legendary Zinedine:

My scouts had flagged him as a good prospect all season long, so when Real Madrid released him it seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. Although he's far from the finished article, he has made an immediate impact with a goal and four assists in his first three starts. 

Edited April 4 by warlock

[warlock]

August 2024 - Tactics and form

The summer's various comings and goings presented us with a tactical challenge - the more I looked at the squad, the more I became convinced that we'd be better in a 433 shape than the 42dm31. But as we played through pre-season friendlies one problem became glaringly obvious: our star player Williot Swedberg was anonymous. As I noted above, the game suggested his best role was raumdeuter on the right, and he should be natural as an inside forward out there. But he simply couldn't influence the game out wide.

The solution I came up with was simply to move Swedberg back inside as a shadow striker, offset to the right. Behind him, Beltran as a CM-S is given the instruction to stay wider and run wide with the ball, while Mingueza as a WB-S pushes up to cover the wing. It made sense in my head... would it make sense on the pitch?

We weren't exactly convincing in our two away games, particularly against Getafe who fought back from a 0-2 deficit to level it up, and it took a late own goal to give us the win. But given it's a new system, and we're integrating half a dozen new players into the squad, I'm very pleased with our form this month. That thumping of Atleti was particularly pleasing.

Here's how the squad looks in the new system:

We also have the challenge of Champions League football this season, and we drew about the toughest group imaginable:

I don't think we'll be troubling the latter stages of the competition, especially as we need to prioritise our domestic form so will be playing the backups in Europe. We only need to finish in the top half of La Liga to meet board expectations, and we're predicted to finish 8th, but we need to continue to qualify for Europe in some form if we're to continue to push the club forwards.

[Fantasista10]

What a season, mate 
Obviously a shame about the slump towards the end but to finish 2nd is unreal. Perhaps with consistent UCL football (looks like you’re on the track for another good season) you can build a squad capable of challenging Real Madrid.

Interesting tactical idea which makes sense considering Swedberg is the key player. 

You’ve got a gem on your hands with Joao Rego - he’s been electric for me in my save, an exciting young prospect if you can give him enough game time. 

And yeah those UCL fixtures aren’t very nice  

Keep it up! 

[Carambau]

Congrats on finishing 2nd! I can absolutely confirm that Unai Nunez is a great defender  Interesting choice for the keeper with Gebhardt... never heard of him before and in my save he is still at Regensburg after 5 years (they are playing in the 2.Bundesliga by now) but he developed quite nicely, so I say this is a good transfer!

Edited April 6 by Carambau

[warlock]

3 hours ago, Carambau said:

Interesting choice for the keeper with Gebhardt

Well, he has some developing to do! After a great start at Vigo, his form went out the window afterwards but, to be fair, he wasn't alone in that.

I've played forward quite a bit and hope to get an update posted soon, but coping with Champions League football with a small squad has been a huge challenge.

[warlock]

November 2024

Having flown out of the blocks to begin the season with a 100% record in the opening month, what happened next came as a total shock. We began September with a two-week international break and when regular duties resumed it was as if someone had thrown a switch:

Albacete were newly promoted and should have been among the easier opponents but we somehow gave up a 2-1 lead midway through the second half and then slumped to defeat in the 93rd minute. The home game against Barcelona gave us a glimmer of hope as we battled to a goalless draw but we then lost back-to-back league games. The defeat to Newcastle on our Champions League debut was entirely expected but did nothing for our confidence.

Our up-and-down results continued in October:

An away draw at Shakhtar looked promising but we followed that with a toothless performance against Valencia. A reasonable win against Sevilla was followed by a dire loss against Viktoria Pilzen - the one Champions League opponent I thought we had a genuine chance of beating. At least we finished the month in better form with a good away draw at Sociedad and then a morale-boosting win against Almeria.

Into November and we still couldn't settle into a good rhythm:

We repeated our winning performance against Villareal but were thoroughly rinsed by Napoli, secured a very unconvincing win over Espanyol. came within a whisker of a result against Liverpool - who finally broke the deadlock in the 82nd minute - before struggling to another draw against Las Palmas.

If there was any redeeming feature of this period it was that we were unbeaten in the league in seven games. Miraculously, that allowed us to hold on to a Top 6 position:

Real Madrid and Barcelona are opening up a strong lead (and have games in hand) but we in turn have a good cushion in the European qualification race.

It'll surprise no-one that there has been some tactical tinkering in the last two months. The hybrid 433 with Swedburg inset at AMCR was abandoned after September's poor performances and I reverted to the standard 42dm31 that worked so well in season 1. That has steadied the ship but we're short of cover and rotation options at AMR and AML. I'm already looking ahead to the January window in hopes of finding some reinforcements. We don't have a lot of financial room to manoeuvre but might be able to bring in a couple of loans.

[Jogo Bonito]

In normal circumstances, 3rd would be a fantastic start to the season. But can also appreciate the drop-off must have been quite disappointing to see.

Some interesting moves in the summer window. It appears that Ivan Azon hasn't really been firing like you hoped yet!

 

[warlock]

31 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

the drop-off must have been quite disappointing

Absolutely! I have to keep reminding myself that we're supposed to finish 8th. But the combination of a low transfer budget and the resurgence of Real Madrid and Barcelona meant a repeat of last season was highly unlikely.

33 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Ivan Azon hasn't really been firing like you hoped yet!

The plan was to have him as a backup to Strand Larsen, hopefully coming on for the last 15-20 minutes to give the Norwegian a break. Unfortunately, we've had to use him a lot more than that and he's struggled a bit... capable of a good performance but not yet at La Liga level.

I'm about midway through the January window and it's been another tough one - losing players on transfer release clauses but unable to replace them with similar quality, and a bunch of injuries to complicate things further. If we can secure another season of European football of some kind that would be a big achievement.

[warlock]

January 2025

Feels like a while since the last update, thanks to another difficult transfer window plus an unwanted trip to Saudi Arabia for our unexpected participation in the Supercopa that led to a 9-game schedule this month and a lot of travelling.

Transfers

We entered the window with a small budget of around £6m and in need of some reinforcement at DM and in the wide attacking midfield roles. But things took a turn for the worse in the first week of the year as we lost backup striker Azon (twisted ankle, 4 weeks), AML Joao Rego (twisted ankle, 4 weeks), and WBL Manu Sanches (twisted knee, 2 weeks), putting a huge strain on a small squad. And then the Saudis arrived.

RCB Joseph Aidoo had 6 months remaining on his contract and wouldn't sign a new deal, so when Al-Qadsiah offered a loan-to-buy deal worth well over £10m I accepted. Then Al-Ittihad made a series of offers well below value for first-choice RCB Yann Aurel Bisseck. The German wanted to go but I pointed out that he and his agent had insisted on a £48.5m release clause and he wasn't leaving for less. That seemed to kill the interest.

But no sooner had we dealt with that than Al-Nassr turned up with a £25m bid for our best DM Fran Beltran. Since that met his release clause, he was off.

Finally, on transfer deadline day, Al-Ittihad popped up with the £48.5 for Bisseck and he was away as well. So, we went from needing a couple of backups to also requiring a first-choice DM, a first-choice RCB, plus a cover option there. Finding those replacements turned out to be harder than I thought, largely because the big money didn't arrive until Bisseck left, and also because most of my targets were at clubs who wouldn't release them mid-season.

To replace Aidoo I had identified Igoh Ogbu at Slavia Prague but initially we couldn't raise the money to meet his £10.5m release clause. So we settled for a much cheaper alternative:

THB comes in from Man City for a fee of £2.6m and, still only 23, has room to develop a little further.

While I was still looking for another option at DM, the departure of Beltran upped the urgency and we eventually found this man:

£9m was enough to secure his transfer from Real Valladolid and he's a like-for-like replacement for Beltran. I'd have liked him a bit taller but he's well-equipped for the more creative DM role.

As extra cover in the AM positions, the scouting team were very keen on a youngster from Cadiz:

The when he arrived the coaching team were rather less impressed but for £5m he'll do a job for us.

And finally, when Bisseck left on deadline day we had just enough time to go back for Ogbu:

Not quite as good as Bisseck, but he's quick and agile for a big lad and has the right attributes for the job.

Frustratingly, we ended the window with nearly £30m in the transfer budget but out of time to do any other business. I'll be looking to invest the bulk of that before the end of the season when the board are likely to snaffle the surplus.

Football matters

December offered us a relatively light workload, giving us the opportunity for some much-need rest ahead of a brutal January schedule, and we managed to maintain our good form, picking up a win in the Champions League - with the very welcome prize money - and another 4 points in  La Liga. And into the New Year:

We started the year with a win and a loss in the league before flying to Saudi Arabia for the Supercopa - an utterly pointless exercise that (as far as I can see) netted us the trivial sum of £125k in TV money. They could have just handed the trophy to Real Madrid and saved everyone the time and trouble.

Back to more important matters we managed to win both of our remaining league fixtures in the month, progressed in the Copa del Rey and then concluded our Champions League venture for this season. The win against Feyenoord was good, if only for the additional prize money, but the loss to Manchester City was more interesting:

A game of two halves? Haaland ripped us apart in the first half with four goals in 11 disastrous minutes. I carefully explained my displeasure to the team at the interval, made all 5 substitutions on the 50th minute, and we dominated the remainder of the game, shutting City down and bagging two goals of our own. A similar performance over 90 minutes might have earned a victory.

All of which leaves us holding on to third place in the league:

With Barcelona and Real Madrid running away with it, third place is the best we can manage but I'm still expecting - and hoping for - a Top 6 finish with some kind of European football next season. A more leisurely schedule for the remainder of the season should allow us to get our best players on the pitch more often so I think that's a realistic target.

Edited April 9 by warlock

[warlock]

February/March 2025

The only real disappointment in February was our exit from the Copa del Rey, especially against a Levante side who were bottom of the league at the time. Not for the first time (or the last) this season we couldn't create much and what little we did create we couldn't finish. The Barcelona game was a foregone conclusion - although I thought we could have been better in defence - and we ended the month with a good win against Girona, who always seem to give us a game.

We lost Allende in the Barcelona game as he limped off with a knee ligament injury, and were forced to rely on young Miguel Rodriguez at AMR. He might not yet have all the attributes but he has the fearlessness of youth. And his opening goal against Girona, straight from the kickoff, might be our goal of the season. He chased down a "lost cause" ball near the corner flag, beat his marker, played a great one-two with Gragera and then smashed his shot into the far corner of the net.

One of the disappointments of the season has been our inability to put together a run of victories, but we came close in March. Valencia and Sevilla are both pushing for European qualification so those wins were especially pleasing. Real Sociedad are a step-up in difficulty, probably our closest rivals for the Best of the Rest title over the two seasons of the save, and they frustrated us again:

We surely deserved to win but a PoM-winning performance from Sociedad 'keeper Alex Remiro gave them a share of the points.

But we ended the month with another victory to hang on to our 3rd place position:

Sociedad continue to snap at our heels but I'm happy with how we're playing:

Shadow striker Swedberg doesn't feature on that list but he's still a vital player for us, with 10 goals, 5 assists and 3 PoM awards so far this season.

We have 8 games remaining and - with the exception of Real Madrid away - all of them look to be winnable. The goal of a Top 6 finish still stands, but we could and should be able to hold on to third place.

[warlock]

Progress report on Rodriguez:

[warlock]

End of season, 2025

We went into April with a pretty secure hold on third place, and our results this month improved our position:

That run took us to 8 games without defeat since the loss to Barcelona in mid-February. LB Bjorkan has been one our most reliable players this season but suddenly started adding goals to his performances. And then, in May, the players seemed determined to throw it all away:

It seems like Almeria have been a thorn in my side throughout the save, despite their permanent residence in the bottom 6, and they out-fought us again. They led 0-1 at halftime, we battled back to lead 2-1 on the hour, and then we conceded two goals in the final 10 minutes for the home loss. Away at Levante we managed a comeback win, before giving up another game at home against Betis.

The away game against Real Madrid was one we fully expected to lose but conceding 6 was never in the script. We were awful, and I feared a disastrous effect on morale but, in the event, we again did better away from home and saw off Athletic in Bilbao with a much improved performance.

The two wins this month made the difference, allowing us to finish just above Real Sociedad:

Another season of Champions League football achieved. While we didn't surprise anyone with our European campaign this year, the money has transformed the club's finances:

The transfer budget for next season is a bit unclear - I've already made one signing to arrive in July, against which we should also see a couple of loan-to-move deals pay up to around another £25m, not least Jonathan Bamba's move to Brentford. 

After much pondering - and more to come, I suspect - I'm not sure how much business we need to do. I'm happy with our defence and central midfield, and we have good players developing for the AMR and AML positions. The only real area of concern is at striker where Strand Larsen is a solid choice but his 14 league goals for the season leaves him some way behind the likes of Chris Ramos at Cadiz (18 goals) and Osasuna's Ante Budimir (17). Backup Azon is improving but slowly but can we find another option with the money available?

As always, exactly how big the budget will be depends on incoming offers - Leeds, newly promoted back to the Premier League - are 'interested' in half my squad, and there's the usual media noise from the Saudis.

[warlock]

First job offer of the save:

[warlock]

Just got this in my in-box. Sigh!

[Carambau]

The lads showed a great response to the heavy defeat against Real by winning away at Bilbao! Those are the guys you can count on 

Edited April 11 by Carambau

[Fantasista10]

Impressive season mate, it’s not easy competing on all fronts especially when the Saudi sharks are always out to get your best players! 

The finances are looking extremely healthy, hopefully gives you plenty wriggle room to strengthen the side and hold onto your top talent. Certainly a lot easier to do as you become an established UCL side. 

[warlock]

1 minute ago, Fantasista10 said:

hold onto your top talent

I wish . The problem is that release clauses are compulsory in Spain - you can't negotiate them out, only negotiate them up, which invariably involves big pay rises. But Spain also has a pretty strict salary cap, which makes those big pay rises particularly problematical.

And finally, the emergence of the Saudis has created a supermassive black hole that distorts time, space... and transfer markets. I've just lost star RB Oscar Mingueza to the mighty petrodollar:

Look at the state of that: £700k a week plus £140k appearance fee, £17.25m loyalty bonus... his weekly pay packet is more than my entire wage budget . No club in Europe - with one or three oil-backed exceptions - can compete.

Adds to the challenge, I suppose 

[SixPointer]

Really solid progress here mate! Nothing less than I would expect and a very nice club choice. Breaking the Spanish big guns is no easy task!