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bowieinspace

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  1. 2034/35 Season Review - Defending European Champions

     

    La Liga - 1st, 105 points (new La Liga record)
    Copa Del Rey - Lost in final to Real Madrid
    Supercopa - Lost in semi-final (penalties) to Atletico
    UEFA Super Cup - Winners, beat Juventus in final
    Champions League - Winners!

     

    An excellent season as defending European Champions, firstly taking the Super Cup curtain raiser vs Juventus comfortably. We blitzed La Liga, winning 35 and losing 3 to score 105 points. Our losses game away to Valencia in the penultimate game of the season (heavily rotated team), and losses away to Barca and home to Real Madrid in games which could have gone either way. In the Copa Del Rey we had a superb semi final comeback against Barcelona to set up a final with Real, however superstar Julen Aguirre got himself sent off in the first half and we went on to lose 1-0. We rotated in the Supercopa and although being the better side, eventually lost on penalties in the semi final vs Atletico. 

    The Champions League defence was an impressive one, topping the league phase with 7 wins and 1 draw, the draw being away at Arsenal on the final day when we rotated our team, with wins vs Man City, Juve, PAOK, Rennes, Sporting CP, Club Brugge and Bayern (the latter a 5-1 pasting). Straight into the round of 16 and a draw against Juventus - a 0-0 at their place set us up nicely for the home leg and we saw them away 4-1. We then met Arsenal in the quarter final, a team who have caused us some issues in the past... the first leg at San Mames was comfortable and we scored 5 - unfortunately a late penalty made it 5-2 to give them a sniff at home if things went their way. However we held strong in the second leg despite being the worse team on the night, 0-0 through until the last minute when they got a late consolation goal giving us an overall 5-3 victory. We then moved onto a semi final against Man City - a tough first leg at their ground saw us run back to San Mames with a fortunate 2-3 defeat - it could have been worse so I was very happy to be in touching distance for the home leg. We then took control in the second leg with two first half goals to see us lead on aggregate, only for an equaliser against the run of play meaning we went to extra time. It came down to a bizarre lobbed header from young star Ismael Lafuente to see us take the lead, and the win in extra time. We then had a final against Bayern, meaning we had the odd coincidence of playing every knockout round against a team we'd played against in the league phase. We'd battered them 5-1 at San Mames in that phase, so I was optimistic going into the final, even with a squad plagued by injuries - over the last few months of the season we'd lost our starting keeper for 4 months, star player Jon Ibanez to a cruciate ligament tear for 9 months, Jon Martin (first back up in the forward areas) for a month (return date a few days after the Champions League final) and Unax Urrutia (starting RB) with a similar injury/timeline. We also lost Julen Aguirre, our other star winger on the opposite side to Ibanez, and he was set to return a few days before the final. We'd also lost our backup LB, back up striker for 3-4 weeks in April, and Juan Etxabe our starting striker for a month in April, meaning during the semi finals and league run in we had hardly any options to rotate players. By the time the final rolled around we were still missing Ibanez (out until Christmas), Unax Urrutia and Jon Martin, but we were otherwise mostly healthy... just a couple players still not fully match fit. 

    We kicked off the final to an immediate highlight - Alex Etxebarria our right back running down the line, beating his man and putting in a low cross which was turned in for an own goal 16 seconds into the final! We didn't look back from there and despite them equalising midway through the first half, we went on to win 4-1 and defend our Champions League crown!

     

    Squad Building

    No transfers of significance really, we did let Mikel Guruzeta, Isaac Gomez, Carlos Saenz and Jorge Murillo all leave as they were surplus to requirements - decent money for them but given we have 600million GBP in the bank I don't worry about transfer fees and just try to find good moves for my players now. By far the most significant departure though was on a free transfer - we have said goodbye to Nico Williams who has just turned 33 - he hasn't declined much (he has a bit but he was still a 4* player), however he wanted star player status still on a multi year new deal and he's not a starter anymore due to the insane level of Etxabe, Gorrotxategi, Aguirre and Ibanez - we allowed him to leave on a free after 17 odd years at the club and 452 league appearances. A wonderful servant to the club. That means we now have no real players left at the club - a full team of newgens.

    Gk - 
    Alberto Etxabe (Academy graduate, from Barakaldo)
    Iker Zubillaga (Academy graduate, from Vitoria)
    Carlos Etxeberria (Tenerife academy, from Estella-Lizarra in Navarro)

    Rb - 
    Unax Urrutia (Academy graduate, from Portugalete)
    Alex Etxebarria (Academy graduate, from Galdakao)

    Lb - 
    Eneko Cordoba (Arenas Club graduate, from Getxo)
    Ander Santos (Academy graduate, from Azpeitia)

    Cb - 
    Aitor Etxebarria (Academy graduate, from Bilbao)
    Josu Blasco (Academy graduate, from Leioa)
    Josu Jimenez (Academy graduate, from Sestao)
    Sergio Goti (Academy graduate, from Vitoria)

    Dm - 
    Javi (Academy graduate, from Bilbao)
    Aitor Aketxe (Academy graduate, from Bilbao)
    Jon Castro (Academy graduate, from Sestao)
    Ibon Marin (Academy graduate, from Basauri, also French Basque)

    Am - 
    Aitor Gorrotxategi (Academy graduate, from Galdakao)
    Xabi Aizpurua (Academy graduate, from Vitoria)

    Rw - 
    Jon Ibanez (Academy graduate, from Erandio)
    Jon Martin (Academy graduate, from Bilbao)

    Lw - 
    Julen Aguirre (Real Sociedad graduate, from San Sebastian, also French Basque)
    Ismael Lafuente (Eibar graduate, from Eibar)

    Cf - 
    Juan Etxabe (Academy graduate, from Ermua)
    Inaki Goti (Academy graduate, from Bilbao)
     

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  2. 9 hours ago, Rich162 said:

    Hi, I have a question about youth development.
     

     In season 2 when the U19s have two matches per week (European and Spanish U19s) ,  is it better to put a couple of the best prospects in the C team so that they a) benefit from a higher standard of football and b) can spend more time training and working on their attributes?   Most of the training categories of the C team are 4 star as they share trainers from the other Athletic teams so I think the quality of the training should be the same as the U19s.   I think for U19s more training is better than 2 matches per week 
     

    I want to build a pathway of the C team in the 4th or 3rd tier, B team in the 2nd tier,  loans at 1st division clubs and then the first team. 
     

    My b team were promoted last year to the 3rd division and the C team are now in the 4th. Both are top of their leagues 

    Honestly you could go either way with it. I prefer to keep them in the youth team until they turn 17 personally, I don't like them being in the c team. Once they've turned 17 they go into one of 3 pathways:

    1) elite talent OR someone who needs mentoring, they go to the first team and are made available for B/c as appropriate

    2) good enough for B team but not someone I think will be a future first team player go to the B team

    3) the rest go to the c team

  3. On 25/03/2024 at 01:02, dothestrand said:

    It always annoys me that given Athletic Club's history of developing young players, the game never seems to start with many young players capable of stepping up. Vicandi and Huestamendia are the only players this year who really came good for me. Given the intakes I subsequently had, I'm amazed the game didn't really rate some of the young players higher. 

    I think the researcher has a tendency to give a lot of -7 to -7.5 potential spots, with the odd -8. This isn't necessarily wrong in a literal sense, but it often plays out badly in game. Those -7 to -7.5 guys more often than not hit the lower ends of those potentials when the game is loaded and a precise value is assigned, or they hit the higher end but then it's a dice roll as to whether they get the hidden attributes to achieve the potential (as often they have 0 values for professionalism, amibition etc in the DB), so you end up with a youth academy full of players hitting between 110-135 ish, which is never going to be a viable first team player. If you then get one or two -8 potential players on top, but one of them gets loaded in with poor hidden attributes as well, all of a sudden your pipeline is non-existant. Unai Gomez, Adu Ares, Prados, Paredes are all good examples of players who have historically always been basically useless in an Athletic save on FM, but this year all of them are somewhat significant in the first team squad.

    Spoiler below contains factual CA/PA info from the 24.3 database (most recent) for the purpose of this discussion thus HEAVY SPOILER WARNING:

    Spoiler

    There's two primary issues here... firstly academy players who break into the first team are very slow to improve their CA, I don't think Athletic has a dedicated researcher so this probably makes sense as if it's a generic La Liga researcher then they're not going to be as clued in across the board.

    Examples of this:

    Unai Gomez - now a regular first team player in La Liga starts in game with a 122CA and a PA of -7 (120-150), meaning he needs the luck of the dice roll to be in the top area of that bracket to be useful, and his CA is probably too low to be immediately viable. He has 0 for all hidden attributes, so that's an additional diceroll.... If you're LUCKY, you may get a player who is decent off the bench. 

    Mikel Jauregizar - In and around the first team squad at 19 years of age has a PA of -6.5, so he's basically a total write off. 

    Gorka Guruzeta - 13 goals in 28 La Liga appearances this season, leading the line for a team currently in the top 4... 129 maxed CA after the recent update, e.g. a write off. He's been something of a revelation this season. His stats last season were modest in terms of goals scored and he's been a bit of a late developer, so I can understand a lower CA going into this edition of the game, but following his first half of the season, his lack of a boost in the recent update is an oversight, and I think his CA was too low based on his development last season anyway. His statistical output this season shows a high quality pressing forward, so his attribute distribution in game is ok, but it's all just too low. This guy is 27 years old and has all 0's for hidden attributes... :(

    Aitor Paredes - 27 appearances, mainly as a starter in La Liga, ousting Yeray to sit alongside Dani Vivian... 130CA, 135PA.. e.g. a write off long term. Another player who has developed well this season after a modest 22/23. Did not get a fair bump in the recent update similar to Guruzeta. Based on his statistical data he shouldn't be a top tier CB, but 130CA is a chunk too low for a player with limited room to grow in game. Yeray for reference only has 136CA, so he's not far off. He probably doesn't need a huge move but he's a bit on the low side. Again, all 0's for hidden attributes.

    Benat Prados - 19 appearances in La Liga and regularly starting, 120 CA which is scraping by as a Liga 2 player. He does have a bit of potential at least, but at best will be a rotation player. His statistical data for this season IRL shows a player with top level defensive attributes and a moderate passing game, but his profile doesn't really reflect it. Guess what - 0's across the board again for hidden attributes.

    So there's some issues updating players who have come to prominence in recent times. This leaves the current save feeling like it's relying a bit too much on older players - I found personally it felt like there was no real pipeline when I loaded my game up. I did have one player in Alboniga-Menor who proved to be a very capable first team regular, but others who are highly rated at -7.5 or more went no where. 

    Second issue is related to depth of PA... in the B and C team there are 12 players with a PA of -7.5, e.g. 120-150. That should provide squad depth for many years, but if only half of them are in the top 50% of that band, spread between 135 and 150, and then half of those are loaded in with randomly generated poor hidden attributes, you might get 3 who become viable as rotation options longer term, which is pretty weak. I think the poor hidden attributes is perhaps the biggest issue, and a few of those players rated at -7.5 sit at 18/19 years old with less than 90CA, so it's a big reach for them to get to their potential anyway. There's also two players at -8 potential in Serrano and Vicandi. Vicandi's attribute spread is pretty specialised so he will likely never be world class even if his PA allowed it, and Serrano again despite being 20 years old has mostly randomised hidden attributes, meaning not only do you get the PA diceroll, but you also get the professionalism, determination and ambition dice rolls. The chances of him getting both a high PA and good hiddens to allow him to reach it is... pretty slim.

    Basically it feels like Athletic's youth PA ratings are ok, arguably a bit low, but ok, but then youngsters emerging in the first team are very cautiously rated also, meaning the pipeline feels very slim indeed. Combine with far too many dicerolls in terms of PA and hidden attributes, it leads to a situation which doesn't quite reflect RL. If I was starting a new save I'd probably do a bit of database editing, keep a lot of the randomised PA's the same but fix the hidden attributes to stop people rolling in super low professionalism, ambition etc, and then I'd bump a few of those first teamers up to be more in line with their colleagues.

     

     

  4. Just had a look at the updated DB in game, some nice improvements to Adu Ares, Unai Gomez and Benat Prados (not sure there was enough improvement on Prados to be honest) and some other rebalancing on players elsewhere, but a bit dissapointed that Gorka Guruzeta and Aitor Paredes particularly didn't see much improvement following their performances this season having been starting most weeks

  5. On 08/03/2024 at 05:59, KristianT said:

    I have a journeyman save from FM23 that I have carried over to FM24. I am in 2056 and took over Athletic. They had just been promoted after one season in Segunda. Bit of a new challenge taking over the team after so many years and with no known players.

    On the plus side usually Basque youth development is quite strong, so hopefully there's plenty of options around for you signings wise

     

  6. 10 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

    What database do you suggest when starting the save and what active leagues have you ran with? @bowieinspace

    Obviously a bit dependent on computer speed!

    I generally run all the top European leagues (the more you have active the more competitive European competition is), with most of them view only below the top division (I shoot for about 8-10 counties) Medium database size, plus I run some south American leagues also. Ultimately the more you can run the better. 

    Id never recommend using a small number of leagues and a large database... Makes the transfer market too quiet 

  7. Their personality is really important - they need high professionalism in particular, ambition too and determination also (but professionalism is most important for development). If they don't have the right hidden attributes/personality they will struggle. Mentoring and a good overall squad personality will help improve this.

    If they have the right personality then you need good facilities and coaching - focus on training until they're legitimately ready for first team football, but from 18 onwards they NEED game time, and the game time needs to be at an appropriate level to challenge them. 

  8. 2033-34 Update - Athletic Club vs Real Madrid

     

    For the second edition of FM in a row I have a ludicrous rivalry with Real Madrid. For those who didn't follow, or don't remember, in FM23 my rivalry with Real Madrid got to a point where they didn't lose a league game for 2.5 years, and we still shared the La Liga titles over that period - it was epic. We are heading back that way again this year.

    Our season started with a tough run of La Liga games: Real Sociedad (A), Barcelona (H), Real Madrid (A) - we beat Real Sociedad but then Barcelona grabbed a 1-1 draw at San Mames (a sign of things to come from them as them embarked on a really strong season), and we then lost our first tie of the season against Real Madrid 2-1. A tough loss after they beat us in the CL final and Club World Cup QF at the tail end of last season. After that we hit our stride - a run of 12 consecutive wins scoring plenty of goals made me very optimistic for the season, however Real Madrid were more than matching us stride for stride - by the time we reached the halfway point of the season Real Madrid had won 17, lost 1. While we were only 2 points behind. 

    We then faced Real in the Supercopa final, a chance to get revenge for the recent final losses.... but no - a 3-1 defeat made me feel pretty down about our chances of overhauling them in any competition this season. We then lost again in La Liga to Barcelona to fall 5 points behind Real and I was fearing the worst. But then things changed, starting with a 5-0 battering of Real Sociedad at San Mames, and a 4-0 beating of Osasuna. January was busy with cup ties - a win over Valencia in the Copa Del Rey quarter final gave us a favourable semi final tie against Valladolid, which we won comfortably. In the other semi final, Real Madrid of course - beating Getafe 15-1 on aggregate (lol) - another final showdown awaited us in April. 

    February and March brought win after win in the league, and a tough draw in the Champions League round of 16 against Arsenal. While we continued to win, so did Real Madrid and the gap at the top of the table remained the same. I noticed also at this stage Barcelona were not going away - having played a few more games, they were still right in the mix although we would go ahead by winning our games in hand. Our match up with Arsenal was a repeat of last seasons CL semi final. We put in a wonderful performance at The Emirates to win 3-2, after being 2-0 down, and then finished the job with a 2-0 victory at San Mames...the 3-2 away was the one that really convinced me we were one of the best teams in Europe, as coming back from 2-0 down away from home against a top side like that is no easy feat. We continued to win in the league throughout March, with a Champions League quarter final vs PSG and Copa Del Rey final in April to look ahead to.

    This season was either going to be the banishing of a lot of ghosts, or the death of this save for me - having lost to PSG in our first Champions League final a few years ago, drawing them in the QF was a big deal. We played the first leg at home and took a deserved 2-0 lead thanks to a couple of late goals from Nico Williams - one of the biggest strengths we had this season was our quality off the bench. We went to Parc Des Princes and played really well, taking a 2-1 victory and seeing off PSG in wonderful fashion.

    Next up - a Copa Del Rey final against Madrid. I was conscious that they'd already beaten us in the Supercopa final, we had them here in this one, and they'd also won their Champions League quarter final. Combined with neither team slipping up in the league this felt like it was heading towards a real showdown. We needed to start landing some blows and we did, 2mins into the final Julen Aguirre gave us a 1-0 lead, and we never looked back - in fact we suffocated them. They ended the game with them having 3 shots on goal, 1 on target. A 1-0 win and we were Copa Del Rey champions again. 

    We smelt blood in the water - Real had some fixture congestion and after a first leg win against Napoli in the CL SF, they had to go to Elche two days later with a tired team... they lost 1-0... was this it? Were they about the crumble? Well not in the Champions League anyway as they saw off Napoli to book their place in the final. However that took it's toll, as they then lost away at Valencia in the next game - suddenely we'd gone from 5 points back to being right on them (despite a draw we had vs Alaves, and our next game... Real Madrid at San Mames. Barcelona were still there too - they'd won every league game since the start of Feb, but were still a few points behind due to the unreal form of us and Real. We had also comfortably dispatched Porto in our Champions League semi final too by now - apart from a bit of a scare in the first 30mins of the second leg this felt never in doubt - we won 3-0 at San Mames, but they scored 2mins into the second leg and could/should have scored again in the first 30mins, but we held on and then turned the tide, winning 3-1 and 6-1 on aggregate. Once again we lost Julen Agirrezabala to injury in early May - the Champions League final was 3 weeks away and he was borderline to make it. Our next best keeper? A 2* player in Carlos Etxeberria rated as a 'good Liga 2 player' (albeit with a solid attribute spread and high consistency rating). To be fair, Agirrezabala is only 2.5 stars so it's not much of a downgrade - we're still struggling for keepers.

    At this stage in the league:

    Barcelona - P36, won 30, draw 5, lost 1 - 95 points
    Athletic Club - P34, won 30, draw 2, lost 2 - 92 points
    Real Madrid - P34, won 30, lost 4 - 90 points

    Real Madrid at San Mames was our chance to twist the knife, and we did. We really did. A 5-1 BATTERING, and Real Madrid were shook - they also lost Vini Jr and Endrick to injury late in the game. We then beat Betis 6-2, a 1-0 win against Espanyol followed, and a 2-0 win against Valencia on the final day saw us take the title. Barcelona kept winning, and they draw 2-2 with Real on the final day to secure 2nd spot - a big improvement from them this season.

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    That made it Athletic Club 2 (La Liga, Copa Del Rey) - 1 Real Madrid (Supercopa). With a Champions League final to come. A really competitive title race - hard to believe Real Madrid came third with 97 points haha. Carlos Etxeberria did well in goal over that period - he's a reliable back up.

    The Champions League final, to be played in Kyiv was to be the final showdown, could we put Real Madrid to the sword and comprehensively see them off this season, or would they take another final from us and continue our CL final dissapointments? They were missing Endrick still but Vini Jr was fit enough for the bench, surely this was our chance? Julen Agirrezabala was back in full training the day before the game - aside from some tired legs we were good to go - quite a few of the team were getting jaded, but so were Real.

    We kick off and there's an early highlight... a corner to Athletic Club - delivered by Jon Ibanez to the back post and Eneko Cordoba is there to head home, 1-0 3 minutes in! Is this going to be another battering?? Sadly not - Real Madrid kept it tight and equalised in the 42nd minute. We had been the better side but this game could definitely go either way, and after losing the previous year final on penalties I was still a bit traumatised. A positive team talk at half time and we were back in the ascendancy in the second half - and then a penalty! Jon Ibanez steps up to take and hammers it home to restore our 1 goal lead in the 54th minute. We kept Real Madrid largely subdued and managed to see the game out, with one scary moment leading to a great save from Agirrezabala. And we did it, Champions of Europe!

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    After two lost finals, we finally did it! And we deserved it too, the best team in Europe this season. A treble!

     

    The trophy cabinet so far:

    Champions League - 2034 (runners up 2033, 2031)
    La Liga - 2026, 2029, 2032, 2033, 2034
    Copa Del Rey - 2024, 2030, 2034
    Supercopa - 2026, 2027, 2029, 2030, 2031

     

    The Players:

    A few specific shout outs first of all:

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    I've shouted out Juan Etxabe and Aitor Gorrotxategi in recent posts, however these 3 deserve some love - our key players.

     

    Squad wise we've trimmed a bit for the 34/35 season. We allowed Mikel Guruzeta (a wonderful servant) to depart for 46 million - with the emergence of Aitor Aketxe in midfield, and a young left back coming through to cover Cordoba at left back we didn't have much need for Guruzeta anymore. I really like this guy, but it was time to allow him to move - he just lacked the height I wanted in midfield. I was happy to keep him as back up to Cordoba and loan out our left back prospect, but he was going to get unsettled and I couldn't be bothered to deal with it. We then let young prospect Jorge Murillo depart - he looked like he could be a key midfielder for us, but he just never kicked on, and a broken leg hampered his progress. A good loan last season nearly convinced me to keep him, but it felt clear he was not going to displace our current midfielders, and he was another short one like Guruzeta - he moved to Napoli on a cut price deal. We then let Isaac Gomez go - he looked a really good prospect, and in any other save he'd be part of the squad, but our ludicrous forward talents meant we didn't need him as back up. He's moved to Aston Villa. Finally we let go of Gaizka Alboniga-Menor for 44million to Tottenham. A another great servant for us, but again just no room for him. I have retrained Jon Castro to play defensive midfield as a DLP to give us another space for young attacking mids in the squad, and he's our first choice in that position. We have Ibon Marin as back up - he has some issues but is just really effective in our system, and younger also, so he stays.

    The squad (with some embedded screen shots for players not recently featured):

    GK - Alberto Etxabe, Julen Agirrezabala, Carlos Etxeberria (Iker Zubillaga out on loan)
    Clearly this is a problem position. My plan this year was to give Julen/Carlos a rotation - Julen is reliable as is Carlos, and Carlos will benefit from the minutes to maximise his potential - I don't think he gets much better at this stage. Alberto would represent the B team and be third choice. However an early season 6 week injury for Julen convinced me to just throw caution to the wind and throw Alberto in - he looks tidy and I hope he improves quickly. I feel like Alberto with Zubillaga and Carlos backing him up is our long term solution.


    RB - Unax Urrutia, Alex Etxebarria
    Two fantastic options here, Alex is a bit more defensive in his approach, Unax is a standout wing back (he came through our academy as a winger and I retrained him)


    CB - Aitor Etxebarria, Josu Blasco, Jose Jimenez, Carlos Saenz (Sergio Goti out on loan)
    Aitor and Josu are our first choice pairing - weak in the air but strong on the ground. Jose Jimenez and Carlos are better in the air, so we do use them to mitigate teams with big aerial threats as best we can. 


    LB - Eneko Cordoba, Ander Santos
    Eneko Cordoba is a world class full back and will be our main man for a long time - Ander Santos looks a very capable prospect who will be his back up.


    DM (DLP (S)) - Jon Castro, Ibon Marin
    Jon Castro is an AM retrained to play DM. I identified two key issues with our defensive midfield - 1) We needed a superb ball player in there to play out from the back and get a key pass through to the front 4 - when we played two midfielders not so strong on the ball we struggled against top teams who pressed super high. Jon Castro is our man who can pass and dribble through anything to play the ball out from the back successfully. Marin is very good on the ball also and a very tidy DLP. The second issue was height..


    DM (DM(D)) - Aitor Aketxe, Javi
    Aitor Aketxe has become our functional midfield partner for Castro - well rounded and decent on the ball, but TALL. Javi is good defensively but is prone to being caught in possession and doesn't offer much aerial support for defending in the air. 


    AM - Aitor Gorrotxategi, Xabi Aizpurua
    Not a lot to be said here - Gorrotxategi is quality (no longer inconsistent, yay), and Aizpurua has been an incredibly effective second choice, with room for him to grow.


    RW (IW) - Jon Ibanez, Ismael Lafuente
    Ibanez is super important for us - he plays as an IW but with more risky, direct passing selected. He's a creator with an eye for goal also. Ismael Lafuente - see below.


    LW (IF) - Julen Aguirre, Jon Martin
    Julen Aguirre is a natural first choice inside forward a world class player. Jon Martin is a top tier player also, and is basically our first off the bench if we need to turn a game around - he's consistent and loves big matches.


    CF (AF) - Juan Etxabe, Nico Williams (Inaki Goti out on loan)
    Etxabe leads the line, Nico Williams (a bit like Martin) can fill in multiple positions across the front line. Next season Nico will leave on a free at 33 years old, and Inaki will be a more natural advanced forward back up.

    We also have to introduce potentially the best prospect we've had - Ismael Lafuente - he's improved a decent amount but he was already a 2* player when he arrived to Eibar on intake day, so he came in with a very high current ability immediately - he's skipped the B team largely and come straight into the first team squad for the most part, albeit he will play a few B team games this season so I can share game time around for our top players. You can find screens of our other new players embedded above.

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    As mentioned previously the big issue we had with this squad came down to:

    1) After Simon declined, a lack of goalkeeper quality
    2) Centre backs who were good but not great, with limited aerial ability
    3) Defensive mids who were good but not great, with limited aerial ability.

    We couldn't easily resolve 1, but Julen Agirrezabala is at least a very reliable option. For 2 and 3, Josu Blasco and Aitor Etxeberria weren't suddenly going to get a few inches taller, but they have improved as players and offer a very solid centre back pairing. In defensive midfield, this is where we've made the biggest improvement - retraining Jon Castro to be our DLP has been a masterstroke - having that type of ball playing quality working the ball out of defense is so important to our system. We then needed to pair him with someone who has a bit of height, but also decent ball playing abilities - Javi did not progress really at all from about 19 years of age, and he's another small guy. Aitor Aketxe has been a key influence, even if he's not the best overall player - he just has the right attributes for what we needed.

     

    I've had a few weeks off work and will be slowing down with the updates now :)

  9. 6 hours ago, Branst23 said:

    What is your tactic when you get bids on people like Nico Williams - keep on rejecting and just annoy the squad as he is too valuable?

    1) ensure release clause is insanely high

    2) reject offers

    3) in the resolution chat with the player, tell them how influential they are and hope they are happy with that. If unhappy, dismiss them/tell them it's not happening. Alternatively tell them a fee that's acceptable if you think it could be unachievable for the buyer but it's more risk.

    4) continue rejecting offers

    5) if squad come to you backing up the player, or team leaders, tell them you don't want to weaken the team. If they disagree, then you agree to disagree and end the conversation.

    6) wait for transfer window to close and interest to subside.

    7) once interest is gone, if required/possible renew contract. Don't let contract go within 24 months of expiry 

  10. 1 hour ago, Branst23 said:

    Random question: Who do you tend to get as your Head of Youth Development at the start of a new save with Bilbao? And who do you aim to get in after a few season?

    I can't speak on the wider database, but I have Volker Kersting... model citizen with good stats. Personality is super important, and I think their preferred formation can impact too, alongside their stats

  11. 7 hours ago, dothestrand said:

    Great updates @bowieinspace and you've had some excellent players come through Lezama. I'm very envious. I'm a few seasons back and will get back into playing. I luckily do have some good keepers coming through so that position isn't a long term issue. 

    Yeah so much talent in the forward areas, and wing backs are good but all the key defensive areas are awful haha

  12. 2032/33 Update - Another Champions League Final

     

    La Liga - Winners! 99 points, Real Madrid on 97
    Copa Del Rey - Lost in final to Barcelona
    Supercopa - Lost in final to Real Madrid
    Champions League - See below....
    Club World Cup - Lost in QF to Real Madrid


    So this team is finally starting to come together - we have some balance issues in terms of a lack of true world class quality at GK, CB and DM, however there's other stuff starting to come through for us. For years this team has suffered from two main areas - 1) A lack of height and size/strength in the air and 2) Inconsistency and a fear of big matches. We've been able to flat track bully La Liga and win a good number of cups, but especially in the Champions League eventually our inconsistency hits us and we take a battering off someone at a key moment. I'm starting to see some of these areas sort themselves out now. 

    Juan Etxabe is now the main man leading the line - he is a god as far as I'm concerned, one of those rare FM players that is just remarkably effective.

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    In Juan Etxabe we have an incredibly consistent advanced forward who can score every type of goal... 18 off the ball and 18 finishing, 16 pace/acceleration, 16 flair, 16 jumping reach... whereever you put the ball for this guy, to feet, the head etc, he can score, and does... frequently. He's ultra consistent and enjoys big matches. Prior to this we had Aitor Gorrotxategi leading the line.

     

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    Now I love Aitor Gorrotxategi... he is a wonderful man who does a lot of charity work. Unfortunately he's always been inconsistent (per attribute, you can see above). However his consistency that used to be really terrible has improved a bit with age and he is now only fairly inconsistent... he's also developed a love for big matches which is handy. Now he is a physical monster but in a slightly different way to Etxabe - he lacks in height and can't lead the line in such a complete way as Etxabe does, but he does have great vision and good passing instead. When he was up front, too often he would drop 6.2-6.4 ratings and miss chances when I really needed him to come up big for the team. In our system now, I've been able to deploy him as an AM(A) offset from Etxabe, this allows Gorrotxategi to use his physical abilities and rounded game to influence, without being the main person required to score goals. His improvements in consistency are showing and he is getting better and better. 

    Alongside them up front, we have Julen Aguirre, a world class inside forward, and Jon Ibanez who is a bit slower and plays more of a creator role, with some great back ups to boot. Etxabe is the key though, an aerial presence we so desperately needed. Behind them we lack the quality - a range of CB and DM options who are good La Liga players - mainly good on the ground but poor in the air (our starting CBs have 11 and 13 jumping reach). We need some size badly - a big physical CB would be the dream, but alas we do not have this at the moment, so we go with what we have. 

    To win the Champions League with our team over the last 5 years or so I'd say would have been difficult, requiring a bit of luck. We had one season where we reached the final but got pumped by PSG, but otherwise always dropped a stinker at some point. We had too many young players who were inconsistent, or older players who disliked big matches. This is changing now - our initial newgen options are now 25 years old, and with that comes improved consistency. Our newer newgens coming through like Etxabe are mentally stronger and more consistent, and I finally feel like we're getting to a place where we should be thinking about a Champions League each season as the goal.

    That brings us to this season. A La Liga win (just) over Real Madrid was a great reward, however they beat us in the Supercopa final and we lost the Copa Del Rey final to Barcelona. This meant the domestic trophies were shared between the big 3 - no real complaints here - Real Madrid in particular are so strong. In the Champions League a superb group stage saw us finish 2nd and qualify straight into the last 16. We then had chance to exact revenge against Napoli who knocked us out last year - a first leg away saw us go down 1-0 thanks to a Khvaraskelia worldie - neither team created much in that one. We then battered them at San Mames but struggled to score, Alboniga-Menor opened the scoring just after half time to level the tie, and in the 87th minute Jon Martin scored the winner to avoid extra time. Following that we were drawn against Milan in the last 8 - a 3-1 victory at home in the first leg made me feel fairly comfortable going into the second leg, however we got absolutely battered at their place - we lost 1-0 to sneak through 3-2 on aggregate but honestly it should have been more... we could have lost this game badly. We then took on Arsenal in the semi final, again at home in the first leg. We won 1-0 at home thanks to Etxabe, and it could have been more, but ultimately I was happy to take a lead into the second leg. At The Emirates we took a very early lead thanks to a banger from Gorrotxategi in the 2nd minute, from there it was a fairly even game, but they came back into it with a goal on the stroke of half time to make it 1-1 on the night, they then added a second in the 77th minute to level the tie. Extra time was back and forth, unfortunately Julen Agirrezabala went off with a season ending injury in the 90th minute, leaving us with 18 year old third choice keeper Iker Zubillaga in goal as our other option was also injured already). We stayed strong and took the game to penalities. Up step Iker Zubillaga - the 18 year old is our least exciting of 3 young goalkeeper prospects I desperately need to develop, but that didn't stop him from saving 4 penalities in a row to win the shootout! Unreal! 

    The final was vs our domestic rivals Real Madrid - they're an unbelievable team...usually neutral grounds they get the better of us, but we beat them at San Mames, so while having a familiar foe was somewhat comforting, I also know how difficult it is to beat them in cup finals at neutral grounds. We start the game really well and take an early lead via an Etxabe header - however the were the better side generally in the game and got an equaliser only 10minutes later via a long range effort. While they did have the slight edge on us in the game it wasn't one sided, and we hit the post in the 115th minute, and then had one blocked on the line 2 minutes later! They also had their chances but just couldn't convert...it went to penalities. The hero of the semi final Zubillaga was not in goal for this one, and in hindsight I wish I'd brought him on - we sadly lost the penalty shootout 4-3... absolutely gutted. 

    While it was a very dissapointing season in that we lost 3 cup finals, we did at least pip Real Madrid to the league title. Overall I'm far more optimistic about this team, I feel like the transition to our newgens has now fully completed and we are mostly through the inconsistency phase. We have a solid group of players who can win stuff now, hopefully that Champions League title isn't far away as this is the longest it's taken me in an Athletic save for sure. 

     

    In transfer news, this season we said goodbye to:
    Oihan Sancet - 400 league appearances

    What a legend! Sad to say goodbye to Oihan but it was time, I think next season may be the last for Nico Williams potentially. 

    We welcome a few new newgens also to the team - Aitor Etxabe, Xabi Aizpurua, Alex Etxeberria and Carlos Etxeberria (I won't picture Carlos as he's a 2* back up keeper).

    GK - Julen Agirrezabala, Carlos Etxeberria, Iker Zubillaga
    RB - Unax Urrutia, Alex Etxeberria
    LB - Eneko Cordoba, Mikel Guruzeta
    CB - Aitor Etxeberria, Josu Blasco, Jose Jimenez, Carlos Saenz
    DM - Gaizka Alboniga-Menor, Ibon Marin, Aitor Etxabe, Javi
    RW - Jon Ibanez, Jon Castro
    LW - Julen Aguirre, Jon Martin
    AM - Aitor Gorrotxategi, Xabi Aizpurua
    CF - Juan Etxabe, Nico Williams

    In reality the front 4 are fairly interchangeable when rotating, Nico Williams for example fills in everywhere and Gorrotxategi would go into CF if Etxabe was injured.

    Now, those new newgens:

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    His heading is poor, but with 15 jumping reach he offers something we really lack - a bit of height. I can see him being quite important for us in a DM role.

     

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    Xabi Aizpurua looks to have a lot of potential, and has done well in his first team appearances this season. He lacks a bit physically but that could improve. 

     

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    Alex Etxeberria has come on leaps and bounds and is now a great back up for Urrutia at right back, allowing Nico Williams to move further up the pitch again.

     

    Goalkeeper wise, we're hanging on with Julen Agirrezabala, but I have a great prospect in the youth team playing for the B team this season. Hopefully next year he'll be ready.

  13. Big Update! September 2032

     

    My last update was the 29/30 season, so I've since done two further seasons and a summer transfer window, sitting now in September 2032.

     

    30/31 Competitions:

    La Liga - 2nd, 86 points (Real Madrid winners)
    Copa Del Rey - Lost in QF to Real Betis
    Supercopa - Winners!
    Champions League - Lost in final to PSG

    Ahh our first Champions League final, and we sadly lost 3-1 to PSG. I said previously we probably needed a favourable draw to get to the final, and we did have one this one, however couldn't beat PSG in the final. It's a shame as we've played PSG previously and done really well, so I had high hopes, but we simply weren't good enough. A Supercopa win kept the trophy count rising though.

     

    31/32 Competions:

    La Liga - 1st, 98 points
    Copa Del Rey - Lost in QF to Real Madrid
    Supercopa - Lost in SF to Real Madid
    Champions League - Lost in QF to Napoli

    Back on top of the league, but Real had the better of us in the cups. A really disappointing QF lost to Napoli, in the first leg at their stadium in the first half we managed to concede 3 goals and 2 penalties (both saved), and they still only racked up 1.85xG haha. We battered them in the second leg but only scored 2, and missed chances in the first leg also. We really should have made the semi :(


    Looking ahead in September 2032:

    We've had some squad turnover this summer with some legends leaving the club... I'd like to applaud:

    Unai Simon - 548 league appearances 
    Dani Vivian - 442 league appearances
    Hugo Guillamon - 250 league appearances
    Aimar - 220 league appearances

    This summer really felt like the end of an era. Unai Simon at 35, I was hoping would manage another year or two but he had declined pretty badly, he was still ok but his performances in the second half of last season showed some signs of decline. I elected to take the opportunity to bring back Julen Agirrezabala as a stop gap while I brought a couple youth prospects through. I said previously we had an issue with GK's in my save - we finally have 2 semi decent newgens who I think are going to be good La Liga level in the future, one is my back up this season (probably the worst of the two, but at 18 he's closer to stepping in), while the other is only 16 and is in the U19s still. Agirrezabala was always very capable when he was with us before, so was a no brainer. I had to pay over the odds to get him back, but at this point in my save money is no object. 

    I still have Sancet, but again decline is setting in, this may well be his last season with us and is now a squad rotation option.

    We nearly lost Nico Williams, but after some haggling I was able to renew his contract with 9 months to spare.


    Current Squad:

    GK - Julen Agirrezabala, Iker Alvarez, Iker Zubillaga
    RB - Nico Williams, Unax Urrutia
    LB - Eneko Cordoba, Mikel Guruzeta
    CB - Josu Blasco, Aitor Etxebarria, Jose Jimenez, Carlos Saenz
    DM - Alboniga-Menor, Javi, Jorge Murillo, Iban Marin
    RW - Jon Martin, Isaac Gomez
    LW - Julen Aguirre, Jon Ibanez
    AM - Jon Castro, Oihan Sancet
    CF - Aitor Gorrotxategi, Juan Etxabe

    *The three highlighted players were academy products of (all others are either original squad members or our academy players):
    Cordoba - Arenas Club
    Carlos Saenz - Osasuna
    Julen Aguirre - Real Sociedad

    Julen Aguirre and Cordoba are standout first XI players of course, but Carlos Saenz is fourth choice and may well be replaced like for like with a player from our academy later this season, so only 2 players purchased from outside the club. This is both a real positive for our academy production, but also shows our poor Osasuna and Sociedad intakes have been! 

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    *A note attached to a player denotes either a lack of consistency or issue with big matches, usually not both (I think one player has both). Consistency is always an issue with academy players, but it does improve over time, so just gotta give those kids time! 

    As you can see, Eneko Cordoba is an absolute monster, and Julen Aguirre who I originally brought in thinking he would be a rotation option has just bloomed so well. Juan Etxabe is one I am very excited about, he's coming on leaps and bounds and could be the type of striker to fire us to Champions League glory. We are however a little lop-sided in terms of all of our strength being up front, wings and full backs - the core spine of the team (GK, CB, DM) is perhaps serviceable at best. Josu Blasco is a solid centre back, as is Alboniga-Menor in a DLP role, but we don't have a world class option in that defensive spine in any of the positions. I think going bold with our 4-2-4 is the best play, just to try to utilise our attacking players as best we can. 

    I think next season with Sancet's likely departure, we will see Nico Williams moved back up into the attacking midfield area, as I have a good young RB ready to come in as deputy, and Unax Urrutia is ready to be first choice. Jon Martin will shift into the AM role when needed as a result, allowing Nico to play on the right wing, but my front 4 all rotate positions fairly regularly depending on need. 

     

    The Trophy Cabinet so far:

    La Liga - 2026, 2029, 2032
    Copa Del Rey - 2024, 2030
    Supercopa - 2026, 2027, 2029, 2030, 2031

     

    Overall I'm pleased with this. It's perhaps one of the weaker records I've had over the years at this stage of my Athletic saves, however given how ridiculous Real Madrid are I feel like it's a pretty respectable record. I really want that European trophy, but we've not had the quality just yet to do it. 

  14. Hey @Daveincid, firstly hope you're feeling better!

    I wanted to see if you had any thoughts on the games implementation of the profit and sustainability rules within the Premier League? Is this something you've tweaked with your financial changes? With the Jan transfer window so quiet due to teams supposedly running so tight on profit and sustainability rules, do you feel the game accurately represents this?

  15. Season Review 2029/30

     

    La Liga - 2nd, 93 points
    Supercopa - Winners
    Copa Del Rey - Winners
    Champions League - Lost in QF to Man City

    So close to the league title, but a domestic cup double is a pretty good result overall. In the league we were ahead with 3 games to go, but two draws in our final 3 games meant we lost to Real Madrid by 4 points - they did deserve it overall though, scoring 125 goals they certainly dwarfed our stats, and our closely fought games eventually came to bite us at the end. In the Champions League we lost again, outclassed by Man City.

     

    The loss to Man City and ludricous riches we have in terms of young attacking talent has prompted a tactical shift for the 30/31 season. 

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    We've kept some of the same overall ideas within this system, but moved things a touch wider in the attack, opting for an offset 4-2-3-1 (which basically plays like a 4-2-4 a lot of the time). We needed to find easier ways to get all of our attacking players into the team!

    GK - Simon, Alvaro Fernandez, Iker Alvarez
    RB - Nico Williams, Unax Urrutia
    LB - Eneko Cordoba, Gaizka Alboniga-Menor
    CB - Dani Vivian, Josu Blasco, Jose Jimenez, Aitor Etxeberria
    DM - Hugo Guillamon, Javi, Ibon Marin, Mikel Guruzeta
    RW - Jon Martin, Isaac Gomez
    LW - Jon Ibanez, Julen Aguirre
    AM - Oihan Sancet, Jon Castro
    CF - Aitor Gorrotxategi, Juan Etxabe

    You may notice a few familiar names who have been moved on - Unai Vencedor was allowed to leave to accommodate having one less central midfielder spot in the squad, while Aimar was also sent on loan for a year to be reviewed in the summer...this was a tough call as he has been exceptional for us over the years, but Sancet is a better player and Jon Castro is younger and arguably better (albeit doesn't always show it output wise). This allowed us to welcome Isaac Gomez and Juan Etxabe to the first team! We also brought Aitor Etxeberria up from the B team, while Carlos Saenz was sent on loan. 

     

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    Seemingly excellent potential here for Etxabe, he will be back up to Aitor Gorrotxategi this year.

     

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    Meanwhile Isaac Gomez (who appears to be a Jon Ibanez clone) also comes in, he is providing cover for Jon Martin at right wing.

     

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    Aitor Etxeberria is my third and final new academy addition - an excellent defender, albeit not a tall one, he comes in at centre back this season and is honestly immediately in consideration to start. Vivian will need to be phased out in the next year or two as he starts to decline, so I'm very comfortable now with my options in this area.

     

    Where I am not so comfortable however is GK - Simon is starting to show signs of decline at 33, but he probably has 2 seasons left at the top level I think. Alvaro Fernandez is one year younger, so he won't be far behind. Unfortunately there hasn't been a single good Basque GK come through since my save started, which poses a real issue. As it stands, once Simon declines too much, we are going to be down to some very average options in goal. I may purchase Julen Agirrezabala back as a stop gap as he's a couple of years younger, but there's a HUGE issue with not a single Basque goalkeeper out there worth looking at, there's barely any who are even La Liga standard. I have one in my youth ranks (17 years old) who might be a decent La Liga keeper eventually, but he's far from a Simon replacement. This could spell major trouble for my save. 

     

    In other news, we're now regularly fielding a team of entirely Athletic Club academy graduates, not a single purchased Basque player which is awesome.

  16. Season Review - 2028/29

     

    After taking December off (too busy with work and then family stuff over Christmas) I am back! 

    La Liga - 1st, 88 points (quite a bit down on previous years)
    Copa Del Rey - Lost in SF to Barcelona
    Supercopa - WINNERS
    Champions League - Lost in SF to Man City

    Overall a pretty good year, we won the league thanks largely to Real not quite maximising their own season - 88 points isn't an amazing total, albeit not too shabby. We also won the Supercopa which was a nice bonus, and got conclusively beaten by a much better Man City side in the Champions League semi final. We are well into a phase now of being good enough to compete, but probably an outside shout to win the Champions League - we'd need the right run in the knockouts to have a chance I think. 

    For anyone interested, my experiment moving Nico Williams to right back has been pretty successful :) His cuts inside from both wings trait is quite interesting on a wing back. 

     

    Transfers

    We said goodbye to a few familiar faces this year, Aihen Munoz was allowed to depart thanks to the emergence of Eneko Cordoba, and a bit of depth in midfield meant retraining one of our CM's into left back to provide cover there. We also said goodbye to Igor Zubeldia - he did a great job for us over a few years, but again just too much depth with newgens coming through now. We also big farewell to Julen Jon Guerrero who didn't look like he would make it for us, as well as Gorka Merino (one of our hot prospects) - his development stalled and there were better options out there. We also moved on Mikel Rojo, an excellent centre forward who has been part of our team for a few years, however again just too much depth coming through to keep everyone. 

    The departure of Gorka Merino was pushed on by the arrival of a young talent from Real Sociedad, Julen Aguirre. We paid 32million (GBP) for him. He looks an excellent prospect with some potential and some fun attributes - he's not the ideal fit for my system but that's kinda why I went for him, I wanted a different option to use within our system who may help in certain scenarios.

     

    Squad

    Probably the biggest highlight of this save is having 3 French Basque players in the squad, and they're all amazing! We've also shuffled things around this summer with Unax Urrutia coming into the first team as a right back, meaning Josu Blasco has been shifted from RB to CB, allowing Javi to move into a half back role which is a better fit for him i think. 

    GK - Simon, Agirrezabala, Iker Alvarez
    RB - Nico Williams, Unax Urrutia
    LB - Eneko Cordoba, Mikel Guruzeta
    CB - Dani Vivian, Josu Blasco, Carlos Saenz, Jose Jimenez
    DM (Half Back) - Javi, Vencedor
    DM (DMS) - Hugo Guillamin, Ibon Marin
    CM (DLP) - Sancet, Alboniga-Menor
    AM (AMS) - Aimar, Jon Castro
    CF (DLFS) - Jon Ibanez, Julen Aguirre
    CF (PFA) - Jon Martin, Aitor Gorrotxategi

     

    I thought given the break this was a nice time to update on development of these guys, as I normally post screenshots when they first come into the squad, so apologies for the length post with more images here:

     

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    First up, new signing Julen Aguirre. I like his attributes for a kinda off-type DLF or AM - his passing needs some work, but his pace, flair, first touch, composure all make for an interesting player in the space between the opposition defence and midfield. He's obviously not a playmaker, but I'm looking for something different.

     

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    Next up Jose Jimenez, our new option at CB - I love this guys attribute spread for a CB and he will get plenty of minutes this season, I expect him to be with us for a long time. He's one of those guys who always had fairly average potential, but just kept improving and improving and now looks like he's going to be class.

     

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    Eneko Cordoba is one of my real success stories - an incredible wing back for us. We paid a lot of money for him when his attributes needed a lot of work - if you look at him on my previous screenshot to see how much he's improved... wow, totally worth the outlay.

     

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    Ibon Marin is a tidy defensive midfielder with some quality on the ball - he can play in the DM role or the DLP role for us which is great. One of our French Basque players

     

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    I had doubts about Josu Blasco simply because he felt like one of those classic full back newgens... he's kind of a good right back, kind of a centre back but not really excellent at either (unless you want a pure defensive full back). I've now moved him to CB and I have to say he's really excellent there - his attribute spread, aside from slightly low jumping reach is brilliant.

     

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    Carlos Saenz - I really like this guy as a CB, good attributes, just hasn't quite kicked on in the way I hoped. None the less, an excellent option at the back.

     

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    It's been a long time now since Javi came into the side, or it feels that way. His move from CB to DM is definitely the right one. My concern with Javi is that he's had elite player potential for a long time but his rate of development is very slow, despite being a key starter for us. I think he will likely top out some way below the potential he has but will still be an awesome option for us... hopefully I'm wrong and he takes some big leaps forward!

     

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    In contrast to Javi, Jon Ibanez just keeps improving, and improving, and improving. He's now our first choice DLF and has pushed another hot prospect, Aitor Gorrotxategi out of the team. We have SO much strength in terms of forwards coming through which is awesome.

     

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    Jon Martin has been a top top player for us in recent seasons playing as both a DLF and PF.

     

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    He's lost his place in the first choice XI due to Jon Ibanez but he's still a very hot prospect. He is rotating with Jon Martin for the PF role and I anticipate he will be world class in the future.

     

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    Another French Basque, Mikel Guruzeta is being retrained as a left back. There's a real lack of left backs out there and we've got depth in midfield, Guruzeta is very capable as a left back so out there he goes!

     

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    At one point Jon Castro and Gorka Merino were giving me headaches in terms of how I'd fit all my AM's in the team. However both have seen their potential drop off a bit, Gorka Merino significantly so... a bit less so for Castro who is still a magnificent AM, but not quite perhaps the world class potential he once had.

     

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    Hopefully my future star right back. Converted from an attacking midfielder he will hopefully be a long term staple in our side.

  17. On 22/12/2023 at 06:40, Skora11 said:

    I am looking to replicate the Bilbao model with my local team (Kilmarnock). Does anyone know how to implement a strict board policy where I could only sign Ayrshire based players?

    Sorry for the slow reply on this!

    It's very difficult to do honestly - from my understanding the best way is to set up detailed scouting filters searching for players by place of birth, and then including every named location within Ayrshire, as well as filters based on what club they were developed at... honestly a bit convoluted and you'll always have to deal with scouts being useful and pulling in reports on all players. 

  18. 2027/28 Season Review

    La Liga - 3rd (90 points), 1 less point than last year.
    Copa Del Rey - Lost in QF to Sevilla
    Supercopa - Lost in SF to Valencia
    Champions League - Lost in SF to Bayern

    Another good season, probably fairly reflective of where we are at this stage and also how Real/Barca are getting on. We finished 3rd on 90 point this season, Barca in 2nd on 91 points and Real 1st again on 99 points (with 109 goals scored!) - at the moment Real are perhaps just too good for us over the course of a season and they look set to continue being excellent for a long time... I look at their starting 11 and they have Endrick, Rodrygo and Vini Jr up front, with Camavinga, Tchouameni and Bellingham behind - they've then added two excellent young CBs... they're just considerably better than us. Barca are also excellent but more on our level perhaps than Real - their individuals are better but the AI squad management probably pulls them down to our level. They too have a good young squad though so will be competitive for some time. I'm happy about that as I hope the AI squad building 'improvements' will help them longer term, and SI have said this is an area they're hoping to improve with a patch also. We probably could have gotten a few more points in the league, not enough to catch Real Madrid but could have been closer for sure - we rotated a lot to prioritise our best Champions League run so far.

    The Champions League has treated us well in the last two years, reaching the QF and then the SF this year - both times we've finished in the top 8 and have looked capable of competing with the top teams. This time around we beat Milan in the round of 16 with a 4-1 scoreline, in the QF we then took on Porto and overcame a 0-2 defeat in the first leg to win 4-2 AET on aggregate. In the semi final we took on Bayern and were comfortably second best - we had enough chances that we could have made a fist of it, but overall quality told and we made too many mistakes and missed too many chances. 

    In the other competitions we had defeats to Sevilla and Valencia while rotating our squad - we're still not quite strong enough in terms of depth. 

    On the transfer front we are continuing to churn our squad and bring our talented youngsters through - we've been very fortunate with some excellent intakes in the initial years. This summer has seen us move on Jesus Areso and Dani Rodriguez - the former was a solid RB option but wasn't taking us forwards, and the latter has been great for us but we're becoming swamped in attacking talent - 50 million in the bank there (mostly Dani Rodriguez). We have more money than we know what to do with now so I've agreed with the board to purchase our stadium.

     

    Squad

    GK - Unai Simon, Julen Agirrezabala, Iker Alvarez
    RB - Nico Williams, Josu Blasco
    LB - Eneko Cordoba, Aihen Munoz
    CB (x2) - Dani Vivian, Javi, Carlos Saenz, Igor Zubeldia
    DM (x2) - Unai Vencedor, Hugo Guillamon, Gaizka Alboniga-Menor, Mikel Guruzeta
    CM - Oihan Sancet, Jon Castro
    AM - Aimar, Gorka Merino
    CF (x2) - Jon Martin, Mikel Rojo, Aitor Gorrotxategi, Jon Ibanez

     

    Ok so if you've read through that list you're probably wondering what on earth Nico Williams is doing at RIGHT BACK. Well quite simply he's pretty good at it! My full backs are very attacking in their role, so while his tackling of 8 leaves a bit to be desired, his marking of 11, positioning of 14, concentration of 13, anticipation of 14, work rate of 15 and 13 decisions are very decent in terms of his defensive capabilities. As my system is a 4-2-2-2 with no wingers, I've been using Nico as a forward, but he's just not as effective as he should be given his ability level, and with the level of youngsters I have coming through I decided it would be a fun experiment to convert him into a wing back. I have one excellent academy prospect at RB who is in the B team this year, and then Josu Blasco I feel will never suit my system that well despite him being pretty good, so my plan is to use Nico there, bring in my prospect next year as back up/rotation and redeploy Blasco elsewhere, or sell him depending on how things go.

    In my last update I showed Josu Blasco, Eneko Cordoba, Javi, Saenz, Guruzeta, Castro and Gorka Merino - all have taken decent steps forward this year. Javi is turning into a world class CB gradually, but I think eventually he will become a DM, while Eneko Cordoba's improvement has shown that the investment in him was money well spent. 

    This year I get to show you two new newgens who have entered by squad - welcoem Aitor Gorrotxategi and Jon Ibanez into the forward line - I LOVE these guys.

     

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    First up is Aitor Gorrotxategi - a pressing forward on my system, excellent physicals and wonderful attribute spread for a forward. He has huge potential and is one of those players I expect to be world class. 

     

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    Secondly Jon Ibanez. My coaches have consistently given him slightly less potential but his attributes have been pretty insane ever since he joined as an academy player. I think his modest pace/acceleration harm his CA/PA, but as a DLF on support his other attributes more than make up for it - ideal player for my system. Although Jon Martin will take some ousting given his development, I can see Jon Ibanez and Gorrotxategi being my forward line for a decade.

  19. 7 hours ago, Gregisawesome13 said:

    Is anyone running into any issues with renewing contracts in the B team due to the lower league salary cap and rules?

    I've not had that issue this year so far, but I did have that problem last year.

    What I've done this year is basically extend everyone I possibly could (most players have 2 year extension clauses at game start) on low wages. Once you get a year or so in I find wage demands go crazy, and everyone wants too much. At that stage I just don't renew those guys and move them on, then I sign every below average youth intake player I can on youth contracts to add depth. I get two years in the B team out of most of my good youngsters without having to register them for the B team. As soon as they reach registration age they're either in the first team, out on loan or in the B team if I have salary cap space.

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