Cal585

A quick review of the big events elsewhere in the world: Premier League The Premier League in this save has to be one of the strangest I've seen in my various FM22 saves. And for context I do have it on full match detail. Liverpool clinched the title over Man City on goal difference of all things, despite City having both Haaland and Mbappe (and Lautaro Martinez as a 170 mill sub). Both were way ahead of 3rd placed Man United, who finished 18 points behind under the stewardship of Zidane. Leeds of all teams took the last Champions League place, continuing their fairytale run under Jesse Marsch. Then things got even stranger with West Ham and Everton taking the Europa League spots and Chelsea sneaking into the Conference League. Arsenal, now under Viera, finished down in 9th place. They still managed bragging rights over Spurs though, who under Mancini, finished 10th. Newcastle continued struggling to use their wealth and finished 15th, though avoided a relegation battle this time. Wolves, Burnley and Forest all dropped out while Brentford, Norwich and Sheffield United were promoted. Paulo Dybala won player of the year for Liverpool. LaLiga In contrast to the chaos of the Premier League, LaLiga was business as usual. Barcelona dominated the league, beating Real Madrid by 7 points. Atletico finished in 3rd place, while Valencia took 4th. Ligue 1 Ligue 1 was another league with exciting GD drama, this time Monaco missing out on the title to PSG based on GD. Otherwise positions were fairly normal, except Saint Etienne haven't suffered their real world issues and managed to secure Europa League in 5th. Lens unfortunately haven't had their good real world run either and were relegated along with Troyes who sacked my predecessor Kisnorbo. I will be following him with interest to see if he gets rehired elsewhere. Serie A Serie A belonged to Milan with AC finishing 7 clear of Inter at the top. Atlanta and Sassuolo rounded out the top 4 and the CL places. A poor season by Juventus (5th) led to them sacking Alegri though they still beat out the other big clubs Napoli (6th), Roma (7th) and Lazio (8th). Sassuolo should be very happy with that finish! Bundesliga 7 points seems to be a thing this season, as the Bundesliga was the 3rd league to have a 7 point winning margin at the top as Bayern finished comfortably clear of Dortmund. Koln and Freiburg got the other CL places in great seasons for them. Bochum managed to gain EL football instead of relegation, ahead of Leverkusen. Stuttgart also made it into the Conference League. Leipzig finished all the way down in 9th, while Borussia Monchengladbach were down in 10th. B2 winners Schalke unfortunately went straight back down, losing the relegation playoff. My Transfers: Daniel Arzani - 20 apps (5G, 1A) - 6.91 Daniel Arzani was ok for me. Given his level of ability I had hoped for slightly more, though with the depth I have on the wings he was rotated in and out a lot. He was a free transfer that was well received by the fans, so I can't complain too much. Scored some good goals but didn't provide much. He will probably remain backup to Nabbout next season. Lewis Italiano - 5 apps (7 conc) - 6.88 Filled in well for me when Glover injured himself. A solid backup GK, I'm very happy with him. Not good enough to take Glover's spot, he will remain on the bench. Ali Karimi - 16 apps (5G, 2A) - 7.25 Few fitness concerns and a bit of a settling period learning English, he turned out to be a great investment in the end. That perfect hattrick in the Grand Final was worth it alone. Will look to rely on him a lot in the upcoming ACL campaign. In hindsight he's a very similar profile to O'Neill and it's been a bit hit and miss playing them together which is why he hasn't had as many apps as might be expected. Dylan McGowan - 12 apps (1 A) - 7.08 Was a great low cost loan who was able to fill in. Even got an assist from CB. Not first team quality at his age but was a handy stop gap with a bit of pedigree. Isaac Danzo - 7 apps (1 A) - 6.94 Decided to give him a chance and see if I could unleash his untapped potential. Played decently in the games that I gave him but didn't seem to improve much and lost out to other young midfielders who were better that I invested in instead (Gomulka, Lesiotis, Abdullahi). Joel Ribeiro - 16 apps (2 G, 4 A) - 7.11 Was in and out a bit with injuries and struggled finding a place after I reverted back to 433. Retraining as a Mez saw him get some more game time later in the season and hopeful he will kick on and take over from Berenguer. Called up to the Swiss U21 team Cameron Harper - 18 apps (4 G, 1 A) - 6.84 Didn't improve as much as hoped. Had some great games at RW where he single handedly changed the match for me and others he was the worst player on the pitch. I have started retraining him as a Striker and will probably look to use him in this role going forward. Future Ins: Iliya Shalamanov-Trenkov 20 yo GK A young up and coming GK from CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria with dual Aussie nationality. I got him to sign end of contract for low wages which I'm happy with. Not sure he's good enough to be first choice, particularly in the ACL, so might still need a high calibre keeper to replace Glover. But will be my eventual first choice. Callum Talbot 22 yo RB City's real life RB and another I got on a free. Not quite first team level but I'm interested to see if I can develop him a little more. A very defensive minded FB, he would rotate well with Wright and offers something different to Galloway. Alessandro Lopane 19 yo CM Another player that has just joined City in real life, thought I'd give him a try in the game too. Not entirely sure where he will fit, but if he develops he could easily stake a spot. Squad Depth: ST: Maclaren, Caputo Wings: Leckie, Nabbout, Arzani, Tilio, Harper Mids: Karimi, O'Neill, Gomulka, Abdulahi, Houston, Berenguer, Ribeiro, Lesiotis, Lopane FBs: Bos, Galloway, Jamieson, Talbot CBs: Reis, Good, Wright GK: Shalamanov-Trenkov, Italiano, Nieuwenhuizen I am very loaded up top and trying to spread the playing time is challenging. Making Harper a Striker instead of a RW I think definitely helps with the balance a bit and gives me a star striker and 2 projects. Ultimately this means I have no need to keep Pucciarelli on despite his great average ratings for us. Sad times but he's a luxury use of the foreign player spot and he just doesn't get that much game time. I also probably have too many midfielders, though I'm lacking a good defensive midfielder. Gomulka has kind of been doing the job for me but he is only 20 and well rounded rather than a specialist. Lesiotis has also played there for me in the league as his strengths lean that way but at 23, I'm not sure he's going to improve enough to be a worthwhile longterm investment. I'm a little short on defence though I think. My proposed solution is to look for another BPD. This means I can keep Wright at RFB and potentially move Nuno Reis into DM where he is quite capable to solve the earlier problem. It would allow me the most versatility to swap players around. As mentioned previously I am also lacking a reliable GK. My new signing looks promising and Nieuwenhuizen has also developed massively this year but I don't want to rely on any of them for a deep push into the ACL. Italiano has been great for me, but may find himself no longer needed if my youth prospects continue to develop. Priority signing: Established GK who can mentor my upcoming talents. Needs to be embedded before next ACL game. Secondary signing: BPD Fond Farewells: Pucciarelli, Hall, Glover I just need the board to stop dithering about a potential takeover and actually release some funds. I've also been having a lot of trouble with staff members leaving and being unable to afford to renew their contracts. I think I got a few to sign with large competition bonuses but that doesn't work anymore. I've lost my Assistant Manager (after he got certified out of my pay range), my HOYD and my best scout who got poached by Spezia. I also let a couple of analysts lapse who were kinda meh anyway and wanted big pay rises. Scott Jamieson also comes to me to tell me he wants a new challenge at the end of his career. On one hand he's 34 and fallen behind Jordan Bos in the pecking order. On the other he's my club captain. I tell him he can leave if a reasonable fee comes in. Somewhere around the 100k mark. A couple of offers immediately come in but they're all around the 50k range. And apparently he wants to go to Wellington Phoenix (not even leave the league?) despite the fact that they are unable to transfer him due to the intra-league transfer restrictions. So I guess he will be staying? Asian Cup Finally the Asian Cup has been taking place in Qatar and China during the off season with several of my players representing the Socceroos. Australia won all 3 of their matches against China, Oman and Singapore to top Group A. The biggest shock of the group stage was holders and hosts Qatar failing to win a single point in their group with Lebanon, Japan and Uzbekistan. Lebanon actually finished top! China then joined their co-hosts being eliminated by Saudi Arabia in the 2nd round. Australia needed extra time to beat Uzbekistan 3-2 but made it through. The biggest result was South Korea thumping Malaysia 7-0, while in another spicy affair, Iran beat Iraq 5-0. In the quarters, Australia cruised past Lebanon while Tajikistan needed penalties to see off Kuwait. But in the semis it all came crashing down as Australia lost to South Korea in extra time. In the other game Japan walked all over Tajikistan 4-1. In the very tense final, Japan lost 2-0 to South Korea. It was fairly comfortable really. In good news, Jamie Maclaren won the Golden Boot!

A League finals series Due to our Top 2 finish, we get the first round off while we wait to see which team survives the elimination final to play us. The first round sees a tense battle between the 2 Western teams (ironically both on the east coast) to be our challenger. It takes until the 116th minute of Extra Time but Western United finally break the deadlock to qualify. Brisbane Roar easily do away with Victory in the other game. Our first finals game is also Western United's last at GMHBA Stadium before their move into their new custom built stadium next season which takes up a fair bit of the pre-match discussion. I name a fairly full strength squad but the game is rather cagey before Andrew Nabbout limps off injured around the hour mark. Prijovic has a goal ruled out for offside for WU as the only real highlight until then. But with Nabbout forcing changes, it's 2 of my substitutes that combine to open the scoring as Joel Ribeiro threads Daniel Arzani through in the 75th. Then just after that, Nuno Reis, our veteran CB, rifles a free kick in to make it 2-0 for the away leg. With us 2-0 up going into the return fixture, I decide to rotate a little, giving 17 year old Max Caputo his start up top, resting Leckie for Tilio and bringing new youth prospect Adam Houston into the line up. Max Caputo quickly repaid my trust and opened the scoring for me in the 37th minute to put me in a commanding 3-0 lead. The game kinda fizzled after that except for Nabbout injuring himself for a 2nd game in a row, along with my RB hobbling off and captain Scott Jamieson getting a run out which was nice for him as he's been usurped by Jordan Bos at LB. Caputo sealed the result with a 2nd in the 76th minute and the only remaining event of note was my old boy Rostyn Griffiths earning himself a late yellow card out of frustration as we ran out 4-0 winners over both legs. Max Caputo looks like a great understudy for Jamie Maclaren as a 2nd choice striker to develop more next season. In the other game a huge shock was on the cards with Brisbane winning the first leg 2-0. With everything to play for in the return, Sydney hung on and got the 2nd goal they needed to take it to penalties in the 90th minute! They then held their nerve to win 7-6 in the shootout. Despite Brisbane coming agonisingly close, I am relishing a chance to show up Sydney after they got the better of me in the regular season. It is a Sydney home game given they are the higher seeded team and they're playing in the newly refurbished Allianz Stadium which also serves as probably the main stadium for the national team when they're in Australia. I spend the week leading up to it throwing every kind of match bonus into training I can, particularly practicing penalties. Looking at their squad, they've been playing a 442. Up front, Patrick Wood has had a good season for a 20 year old, averaging decent ratings and 10 goal involvements alongside his Belgian strike partner Wolke Janssens (recruited this season from Sint-Truiden) who has done most of the scoring. The Dutchman Luciano Narsingh on the left is their main dangerman, though Heart old boy Anthony Caceres on the right isn't too bad either. Luke Brattan and Mustafa Amini, have done and admirable job of holding the middle and providing some creativity there. The Grey Wiggle, Andrew Redmayne, is a solid marshall of the defensive unit with Connor O'Toole playing his last match for the club before joining Perth Glory, while Rhyan Grant on the right might need to be replaced soon as well as the 32 year old's legs are going. But he's got nothing on defensive stalwart Alex Wilkinson who is still going at 38 and relying on the youthful exuberance of Brazilian Pedrao next to him. On the bench, the retiring Adam Le Fondre has also been a great striker for them this season. All in all, Sydney are a team full of big names who have been there and done it. They're all skilled players but they're aging and if I can bring the energy and exuberance, I might be able to create myself some space. With the aging legs of Sydney in mind, I choose to keep the aging legs of Jamieson and Berenguer on the bench in exchange for some youthful dynamism. The creative duo of Karimi and O'Neill should hopefully be able to control the ball in midfield, while the young Gomulka can cover the space and block the 3rd man run. With a man advantage in the midfield, I'm hoping I can control possession and drag them around a bit particularly as they are playing at home. Bos has licence to get up and overload the left, while Wright takes the RB slot ahead of Galloway. Wright is more of a wide CB, so he's primarily defensive to deal with the threat of Narsingh down the left. Unfortunately Arzani and Pucciarelli are both injured for this, but I'm planning to introduce Marco Tilio onto one of the wings in the 2nd half to provide some extra pace to run at the defence if Leckie or Nabbout struggle. I am surprised when the team news reaches me. Narsingh is a late withdrawal, not even making the bench (he's not injured so I don't know why). Amini and Caceres also drop (to the bench at least). 34 year old Angelo Corsi comes in at RB with Rhyan Grant pushing to RM. Wolke Janssens takes LM while Adam Le Fondre comes in for the final game of his career. 21 year old Patrick Yazbek has the tough job of replacing Amini in midfield, though he looks like a more mobile and tough tackling option. The opening 10 minutes are tight. I get a few shots off but none on target. Down the other end, Sydney create a decent chance for themselves but don't hit the target either. The combination of Bos to Nabbout seems to be working quite well with Nabbout winning a couple of headers in the box. Sydney then almost open the scoring with Glover making a great save. Straight back down the other end, it's only a last ditch sliding tackle that stops Maclaren racing through 1 on 1 with the Sydney goalkeeper. After half an hour both teams are getting into their groove but the defences are both playing well and preventing clear chances. Then we finally create a meaningful chance. Jamie Maclaren drops all the way back to combine with Bailey Wright at RB who plays a long through ball for Karimi to run onto. Sydney immediately appeal for offside but VAR confirms it was well timed and we take the lead! Taking advantage of the momentum and Sydney's frustration at the decision, we quickly pile on the pressure with Maclaren again dropping deep before playing Karimi through once again for our second! Worth every cent as our designated player! Then, to make matters even better, just on the stroke of half time, with Sydney apparently already switched off, Nabbout finally gets a header on target to send us in 3-0 at the break. What has felt like a cagey affair has suddenly broken open in our favour, despite me not being that far ahead on XG. It will be interesting to see how Sydney respond in the 2nd half knowing they need to attack me. The second half starts a bit wobbly with Bailey Wright getting himself yellow carded inside the first minute and giving them a promising free kick. But Glover makes another great save for the team in his final match. Heading back down the other end, we are awarded what is described as a very controversial free kick. But I don't care as from the cross in, Karimi rises to nod it home, finishing what has turned out to be a perfect hattrick (right foot, left foot, then head)! Incensed by the decision, Sydney manage to grab a goal back through Adam Le Fondre. I make a few changes to stiffen things up, replacing the yellow carded Wright and introducing Tilio for Leckie to energise the left wing further. Berenguer also comes in for O'Neill to add a bit of experience into the midfield. Sydney start throwing everything at me and it gets a bit nervy on the sidelines, particularly looking at my players confident and complacent attitudes.

A League The media want to know how confident I am of catching Sydney, knowing that I need other teams to help me out. I tell them that I'm not particularly confident and this seems borne out by the immediate results as we start our limp home. We manage draws against Macarthur and Victory and it looks like it's going to be a solid effort just to hold onto 2nd spot. A game against Brisbane threatens to go horribly wrong with us 2-0 down after an hour, but a substitute inspired fightback sees us take a point there as well for 3 draws from 3 games. Things pick up after this though, as we then gain a result beating WSW 2-0, then backing that up with a hardfought 2-1 win over Adelaide. Wins over Macarthur and Wellington follow and suddenly the media is talking about a record winning streak. How quickly things change. The last match of the season though is against the Premiers Sydney. With a break from games after this match, I play a fairly strong squad and triumph 3-1 over the best team in the competition, with Caputo becoming the clubs youngest ever goal scorer in the process. It's been a strange season. Our best has blown every other team out of the water, but we have also been capable of losing to anyone (except poor Canberra). Onwards to the finals series! Champions League: Another comprehensive win against Yokohoma F Marinos (3-0) helps establish our group dominance and shows what my team is capable of when they actually turn up. This is backed up with a 3-1 win at Muangkan, once Leckie subbed on to rescue the day (we were somehow 1-0 down at the time), and a 2-0 win hosting Suwon to complete the clean sweep of the group. Suwon end up taking 2nd place but don't earn enough points to qualify for the knockouts. Western United unfortunately finish 3rd in their group behind Kashima Antlers and Seoul E-Land who both qualify. Melbourne Victory finish dead last in their group consisting of Jeonbuk, BG Pathum United and FC Tokyo. So looks like I'm the last standing Australian team this time! I'm also the only team to win all 6 group games, though Shanghai almost match me, their only blemish is a draw to defending champions Cerezo Osaka. We are drawn against Kashima Antlers in the knockout phase and the chance to get revenge on behalf of Western United in 6 months time beckons.

A League Coming into January, I'm hoping this is where we kickstart the season. We have a full squad to choose from (once Nabbout is back) and coming off a run of 4 wins and morale high, I really have no excuses for not performing well. And we do start well, demolishing bitter rivals Melbourne Victory and limiting them to 1 shot. While they did have a player sent off for a desperate lunging tackle, we were already dominating by that point which is probably what triggered the brutal tackle. Unfortunately this proves to be a bit of a false dawn. We grind out a 1-1 draw with WSW next, before a tight win over Adelaide. Then we collapse completely against Brisbane, losing 2-0 before things get worse and we lose as well to the new Knights 1-0, giving them their 2nd ever win (helped by my squad rotation). A 1-1 draw with Newcastle follows, which, while not a loss, makes us 1 win from 5 games. I'm struggling to explain this poor run. We have a few crucial injuries with Arzani, Glover, Ribeiro and Karimi all going down for several weeks. Arzani and Ribeiro are rotation options already, but losing my GK Glover and DP Karimi hurts. Theoretically I have the squad depth to cover this but in practice we are all over the place. I decide to reluctantly return to the 4-3-3 that served me so well last season and immediately see an improvement. We outscore Central Coast Marines 4-2, then get a comfortable 1-0 win over Perth. We do then fall short of Sydney but fight back defiantly after going 3-0 down to end it 3-2. Just a shame we left that one so late to turn up (and maybe if I'd made the subs at half time they would have had the chance?). We suffer a defeat to Wellington Phoenix next to make it 2 losses in a row and I'm worried things are going back downhill. But comfortable wins against Newcastle (compared to our earlier 1-1 draw, a 3-0 was particularly pleasing) and then Western United 2-0 give me the confidence the team is going in the right direction. We again have a mostly full squad to choose from and with morale high after the recent wins, I'm hopeful of kickstarting the season... After all, it's not like history ever repeats itself. We have clawed our way back up the ladder and currently sit in 2nd place. I'm not sure if I can catch Sydney who are currently 9 points ahead of me, including having beaten me in our previous fixture. They are unbeaten in the league this season which is quite some feat! Poor Canberra have yet to win a game at the other end... Champions League: We get an interesting group in the Champions League! 2 bigger teams and 1 minnow, though I'm still hopeful of getting through. Yokohoma F Marinos Kind of a sister club, as I think they are also part of the City group? CFG made them their 4th club with a minority investment rather than outright buying the club. Really how I wish Heart had been. We took Erick Mombaerts from them, who had a successful run as Melbourne City manager before Kisnorbo took over. To replace Mombaerts, Yokohoma brought in Ange Postecoglou. Now they have their 2nd Aussie in a row, Kevin Muscat. As much as I dislike Muscat for his Victory allegiance (and enforcer role), I love to see Aussies doing well overseas. In terms of the club itself, they were originally founded as Nissan FC and are one of the most successful Japanese teams, having won the title 5 times and come runners up twice and are the current defending champions in game. They also won the old league twice as well, the Emperor's Cup 7 times and the J League Cup 4 times. Despite their domestic success, they've only gotten out of their Champions League group twice and been knocked out of the Round of 16 both times, the first time by another of our group contestants, Suwon. Suwon Samsung Bluewings Based in Suwon in South Korea, a northern city with over 1 million inhabitants, the Bluewings are another storied club. They have won their domestic league 4 times (and come runners up another 4 times), their FA Cup 5 times and their League Cup 6 times. They have also won the Asian Club Championship (the predecessor to the Champions League) twice in a row in 00/01 and 01/02. In recent years they've had some deep runs in the CL as well, making the quarter and semi finals within the last 5 years. Muangkan United FC Sadly I don't know much about The Great Bats, except that they are a Thai team. They aren't even in the top Thai league so I'm not sure what they're doing in the group stage in this game? The first cycle of games blows my expectations away! Playing our trusty 4-3-3, we manage to convincingly beat all 3 of our opponents. We open with a 2-0 win over Yokohoma Mariners, before a slightly trickier tie against Suwon. We actually go 1-0 down and I was getting quite worried but we respond brilliantly, eventually winning 4-1 and dominating the 2nd half. Muangkan is also a comfortable 3-0 win to have as cruising through the group as I predicted at the start of the season. I'm not entirely sure why these games are so much easier for me than the league is at the moment. I suspect it might be due to other teams lacking match sharpness due to their leagues only just beginning or the fact that I am playing my full strength lineup with no rotation unlike the league where I am trying to give youth a chance and my stars need rests occasionally to keep up with the schedule. Either way, we should comfortably walk this group! Transfers/Contracts: I manage to lock down my star man Jamie Maclaren, and key midfielder Aidan O'Neill to new contracts. Veterans Bailey Wright and Florin Berenguer also agree to extend on lower wages which is helpful. I'm still negotiating with several youngsters who want higher wages. I'm significantly over my wage budget which makes it tricky. The big loss is that Glover rejects my contract offer and signs on a free with Rotherham instead. Rotherham sit 1st in League 1, so should be in the Championship next season. Not quite as good as his real life move to Middlesbrough, but not far off! I have agreed end of contract signings for a couple of youngsters including a young Aussie GK, so will be interesting to see how they integrate. Speaking of contracts, I sign a new 2 year deal with the club. I'm planning to see this out and then move onto FM24 at this time. I'm hoping I can win the ACL sometime in the next 2 seasons but I'm already looking at FM24 as a much better base for this kind of save. Just having Japan in the base game removes a lot of problems when trying to activate them for Asia. But I do want to see my A-League expansion mods take effect before retiring, so I'll keep going for a little bit yet.

The Australian qualification places also seem wrong upon game start. Maybe the competition has just been overlooked for the beta? I'll check more/bug report when I get time later Edit: 2 out of 3 of the Australian teams are wrong, Japan has stolen an Indonesian spot and a lot of nations are qualified for ACC when unlicensed in real life. Looks like it's slipped under the radar!

Opening A League fixtures We get off to a poor start to the season, losing to Perth Glory in our opening fixture. They brought the star quality and I had to face up against both Sturridge and Adebayor. I was also hampered by losing several players to International Duty, further compounded by injuries to other experienced players. I was particularly light on up front and my scoring efficiency early suffered as a result. Thankfully the fixture scheduling was particularly kind and a couple of games against the new franchise in Canberra allowed me to get some comfortable wins under my belt and build that all important momentum and morale. By the time the likes of Maclaren and Leckie returned from national service, I was also getting injuries back and managed to finally display some dominance, making up for the Australia Cup Final defeat against WU before smashing the new Knights. Qatar World Cup The World Cup was a disappointing result for the Socceroos in what must be admitted was a tough group. They got a single point against Mali, being outshone by New Zealand who at least got a win in their group. Losses to Italy and Netherlands weren't entirely unexpected though and they still managed a 3rd place finish. Otherwise the group stages weren't particularly surprising. Uruguay was the biggest team to miss out to both Belgium and the US. Morocco didn't repeat their real life heroics either, failing to escape their group. Notable absences included Poland and Switzerland who didn't end up qualifying, while Italy did and actually had a good team! Croatia had a great run through the tournament along, as did Germany, who like Italy, seemed to have a good team in this alternate timeline. Both France and Argentina were a bit disappointing, Argentina failing to win their first knockout game, and France bowing out the round after in the Quarter Finals. So there you go, a team that didn't even qualify ended up winning the 2022 World Cup. Ciro Immobile ended up winning the Golden Shoe with 8 goals for Italy in only 6 appearances during their triumphant campaign. How's this for a Golden Ball lineup? Takeover? Rumours of a takeover have been persisting for ages, though rubbished by the board. I'm not sure how the game even handles sales of clubs that belong to group ownership? Watch this space. Asian Champions League Also buried amongst the inbox items is the news that due to our league's recent performances, we have increased our standing in Asia and earned more qualification spots. I'd like to take credit for this, but Sydney did even better than me in the most recent edition. I am somewhat consoled by the fact that Cerezo Osaka, who knocked me out, went on to win the whole thing. They weren't that far ahead of me, so it gives me hope that with a bit more squad building I should be able to compete with anyone. After beating me, they won a dramatic penalty shootout against their Osaka rivals Gamba (after scoring a 91st minute equaliser), then defeated Shanghai (my old boy Mooy scoring the only consolation) while their opposition, Al-Ittihad, defeated Persepolis 3-1. Unfortunately a very one sided final ensued following an early penalty, then a quick 2nd, before Australian striker Adam Taggart put the result beyond doubt in the 2nd half. Other Major Awards Thibaut Courtois won goalkeeper of the year despite Donnarumma's WC success, while Lewandowski ranked top of Goal 50 above Salah and Lukaku (of all people). Also looks like Ernesto Valverde is the highest profile retiree.

Revision of season plans I blame myself for my Asian exit. Missing a CM and a RB really cost me at this point. The CM has since been sorted but the RB issue is still ongoing. I figure I should be able to repeat my performances in the group stage of the CL in the next cycle, so I'm really building for this time next year when I get another go at pushing into the latter stages. So I'm going with a change of transfer strategy and going to rely more on youth this season instead of spending on experience. My team is still comfortable media favourites to win the A League again, so I will look at giving more game time to the next generation coming through. I'll probably write less detail this season as well (after this post), assuming I continue my dominance of league and cup until I get to some of the more important games. Hopefully this will allow me to get a few seasons done before FM24 comes out! Transfers Rather than spend big on limited RB options, I have agreed to take Dylan McGowan on loan from Hibernian for only 1.3k p/w. He's capable of playing CB or RB, but my plan is to use him as depth for CB and push Bailey Wright out to RB. Him and Scott Galloway are both good for the league level, so I will worry about upgrading the position next season instead. He's got a little bit of reputation after earning a international cap for Australia in the past, so he also helps build the club profile. With my last foreign player slot not going to a RB import, I instead decide to invest in a 19 year old Swiss midfielder who is available on a free. He seems highly rated with lots of potential and if I can develop him a bit this season he might turn into a key player for me or allow me to sell him for some decent funding later on. As an ex-Juventus player, he looks like he might be a great understudy for Florin Berenguer when his time comes to an end with me. Speaking of Florin Berenguer, he attains Aussie citizenship, allowing me to sign 1 more foreign import. I go for an American, capable of playing on the RW or upfront. Previously of Celtic and NY Red Bulls, he has some pedigree to him and I hope he will also develop nicely. Frustratingly I still have a significant amount left in my salary cap, but not the wage budget to actually spend it. I am starting to regret spending so big on my marquee signing. I do sign one more additional Australian free agent on the outside chance he becomes any good. I get a really good youth intake which helps though! I'm not sure if the level of the kids coming through is really impressive or the league level just really bad but my HoYD assures me its a Golden Generation. I end up signing 11 of them, including Scottish Adam Houston who is the top player coming through. He has a bunch of player traits already and is fairly professional. At 16, he's already capable of slotting into my first team. Australia Cup We get given an easy run through the Australia Cup. After our efforts last time against Brisbane, we get fellow A League team Wellington Phoenix who are brushed aside. Then an easy draw against Olympic FC from Brisbane in the final where we scored 5 in the first half and slept through the 2nd. Then there was only Western United standing between us and the trophy. Unfortunately I am without my GK Tom Glover or hero Mathew Leckie Despite my early optimism, it is WU who open the scoring early after Arzani gives away a soft ball at the edge of our box. Backup keeper Italiano manages to get a hand on it but it wriggles into the corner anyway. Jamie Maclaren has a goal disallowed in response but we go into the break 1-0 down and the inferior team, controlling possession but not much else. My entire attacking unit is rated below 6.1 and 6.4 at half time. I sub several of them off in the hope of sparking something with fresh legs. Cameron Harper, making his debut, makes a real promising impact, setting up 2 good chances and hitting the crossbar himself. With 70 minutes gone we are still struggling but actually threatening a comeback. 80 minutes pass and still nothing. Then relief as we equalise in the 87th through Tilio! The celebrations are cut short as the linesman flags for offside. Despite a few late attempts we fall short and go down 1-0, losing a final I was sure we should win. That's the 2nd big game we have lost and the season hasn't even officially started yet.

Australia Cup The next edition of the Australia Cup begins early in preseason and I'm keen to make amends for my poor showing last time out. We began against Robina City SC, based on the Gold Coast. My rotated team walks over their seemi-professional opposition 7-0 in the first game, with a goal scoring debut for Arzani before he is taken off injured at half time. We then draw Brisbane Roar in the second round. I choose a fairly full strength line up for this game as my players need to build match fitness anyway and we walk away with a comfortable 2-0 win. Squad updates With Rostyn Griffiths leaving the club, I need to appoint a new vice captain. I settle on Andrew Nabbout after his stellar performances for me last season and figuring he would be playing more regularly than Bailey Wright who becomes 3rd choice. Of course, he then manages to injure himself. My captain Scott Jamieson is also out injured for 2 months, so this is really a perfect storm. I guess the game just really wants Bailey Wright to have a chance to captain the team. I am also looking to transition away from my successful 4-3-3 that I used last season into a 4-2-3-1. This was the 4-3-3 that I will still keep for Asian games and any other tough ones: But I'd like to develop a 4-2-3-1 more to make use of the abundance of quality AM I have at the club. This means I can make more use of Pucciarelli or potentially play all of Leckie, Arzani and Nabbout. Florin Berenguer is also well suited to the role as well so it just seems to make sense to utilise it. This is my early version of it: Transfers I am successful in finding a backup GK on a free transfer who is a) A League quality, b) happy to be backup to Glover and c) Australian. I am thrilled though the fans don't share my excitement. RB is proving harder. I get a deal agreed for Gethin Jones from Bolton who is also Australian but end up cancelling it in favour of my marquee signing. I manage to bring in an Iranian midfielder for 250k (rising to 325k) to take the last DP slot and fill my Asian FP designation. It's a bit more than I would ideally spend, though the board seems happy with the valuation. Most importantly he brings some much needed quality into CM to replace Griffiths and Metcalfe and also works well in the double pivot with the 4-2-3-1. Unfortunately I am stuck waiting for a WP until after the ACL game. For the RB option, I have an older Spanish player on trial that I am interested in or potentially another Man City loanee. I also looked closely at Paulo Retre as a previous player at the club, but he's worse than Scott Galloway which is problematic for the ACL. I could also potentially give the position to Bailey Wright full time as a defensive orientated FB and find another CB. ACL We play Japanese opposition here at a very dangerous time given their competition is in full flight and we are still in early preseason and now missing our entire leadership. This round was my board expectation so it won't be disastrous to bow out now, but I'd like to push a little deeper if possible. I go for a mostly full strength 4-3-3, with Arzani taking over for Nabbout (though Leckie is the one actually playing his role). The returning captain Scott Jamieson starts on the bench as he's only capable of playing half a match and I've had too many bad experiences in this game of the team collapsing once the captain gets subbed out. With Curtis Good suspended, Bailey Wright slots into CB and Galloway takes the RB spot. The 18 year old Abdulahi starts in midfield for me as probably my weakest link. Founded in 1957 as Yanmar Diesel, they won 4 titles in their early days. They changed to Cerezo Osaka in 1993, Cerezo being Spanish for Cherry Blossom (hence the pink colours). Their first major title was the J League Cup in 2017 and then the Emperor's Cup in 2018 as well as the Super Cup. They have once made it through to the Quarter Finals in 2011 of the Champions League. The game does not go well for us in Osaka. We go a goal down and struggle to make much impact, with low player ratings across the board. With half an hour to go I take off O'Neill, Arzani and Abdulahi for Gomulka, Lesiotas and Tilio. I increase our mentality and push for the equaliser. Finally it arrives with a well taken finish from Jamie Maclaren. Then Tom Glover comes up huge with a great 1v1 save as they broke our defence and looked to regain the lead. Onwards to Extra Time. Another 1v1 chance for them playing in behind our defence but luckily this time it went wide. Tilio got a chance at the other end but his chip also missed the target. I belatedly brought the captain on for the final 15 minutes to see if he could inspire a result. Tragically they broke the deadlock and despite having a player red carded, there just wasn't enough time left in the match to get another equaliser. A gutting way to end our Asian Champions League campaign.

New League additions Second season in the league we have expanded to introduce 2 new teams. This mirrors the current A League expansion plans that are currently in progress. Rather than creating brand new clubs, I have instead chosen to elevate existing clubs to the top tier. I intentionally avoided choosing any ethnically based clubs as they have been problematic in the past (even if in some cases the size and history might lend itself to playing in the top flight) and tried to go for more generic, neutral clubs. I have no idea how the finances will go trying to manually expand the competition with these new clubs, so I reserve the right to use the in game editor to boost them as needed in the name of fun and competitive balance. Canberra United Currently competing in the women's and youth competitions, Canberra United doesn't have any representation in the men's game. The obvious solution in instigating a new club was to promote the existing youth club to the A League. As the first ACT team, this should hopefully provide a point of interest going forward. New Zealand Knights A second New Zealand team based in Auckland to compete against the existing Wellington franchise also adds a fun rivalry. Rather than create a brand new club, I have decided to reinstate the defunct New Zealand Knights who were also based in Auckland. It means I don't have to create the logo or cub records in the database, and can reuse their history. I did have to invent modern kits for them though. Transfers Out: Connor Metcalfe - We bid a fond farewell to Connor Metcalfe who goes to follow his dream of playing in Europe. Though this was a transfer already locked in at the start of the game, my fans still blame me for signing off on it. I've developed a good relationship with him during his time here and will be following his career with interest. I wouldn't mind bringing him back one day if the opportunity arises. Rostyn Griffiths - I ummed and arred a little on this one before letting him go on a free at the end of his contract. Still a solid player, he was asking for more than I wanted to give at the age of 34. His legs are starting to go and I've got decent youngsters coming through who are at a similar level so it made sense to let him walk. Carl Jenksinon - It was a sad end to his time with me with his long term injury but I won't miss the 5k (out of 26) that he was taking up from my salary cap. I'm just thankful Forest were paying the other 15k. His Forest contract is up at the end of his loan, but I think I will look elsewhere for my RB options. In real life he joined Newcastle Jets at the end of his loan, so will be interesting to see what happens here. Micah Hamilton - The Man City loanee did well for me and ended up developing into a nice player relative to my other options. Definitely a successful loan for all parties. I've got other priorities with my foreign player slots going forward though and am actually pretty well stocked on the wings, so renewing the loan is not something I'm looking at currently. He could potentially do a job in the midfield though, so I'll keep tabs on him. Mathew Leckie? - I have resisted multiple bids for Leckie from Troyes and my predecessor Kisnorbo who clearly recognises Leckie's ability. He has his heart set on a big money move to the Middle East, so I'm able to use that interest to reject the concrete bids. I'm a bit worried about what will happen if any of his preferred teams bid though. Ins: Daniel Arzani - With his contract up at City, I thought I'd throw a cheeky bid in to sign him on a free. Somehow I managed to get the 23 year old on a Scholarship contact and got half reasonable terms by offering a 950k release clause. If I get anything near that for him it will be great business. He's comfortable on both sides and home grown so the signing just made sense. He ended up beating out Awer Mabil to the contract as now I have Arzani, Leckie and Nabbout with Tilio coming through all capable of playing both wings. If I do end up losing Leckie, then at least I've got a ready made replacement. Unfortunately my board won't allow me to offer more than 3.1k a week, which will presumably change once the pending delisting happen. In the meantime I have to sit still and watch the best free agents be snatched up by other clubs. But in terms of how my options look: GK - Glover comfortably 1st choice. I let the backup leave, but I have a youngster just as capable of playing backup. I could get a more established player here but it's not a high priority. DEF - LB is well set with the captain, my wonderkid Bos and Galloway capable of covering as well. CB is also looking good with Curtis Good, Nuno Reis and Bailey Wright all great options. RB is the weak area with Jenkinson leaving. Galloway is a good backup and Wright can also fill in but I want a true starter for the position. MID - Florian Berenguer is starting to age but good for 1 more season as my main AM(/Mez). Aidan O'Neill is now primed to step up as a key player in his prime. I also have a couple of good youngsters coming through who are capable of playing in the league. I might look at someone with a bit more quality for the later stages of the Asian Champions League to properly replace Metcalfe and Griffiths. FWD - I am well set on the wings and Maclaren is nailed on up front with Pucciarelli as a solid deputy and Nabbout and Leckie also decent options if I need. This is Pucciarelli's final season and I'll probably let him go at the end and free up that foreign player slot which seems wasted on a backup. So I am looking at a RB and a CM and I have 6k wage budget to spend and 2 foreign player slots. Ideally I'd like to get someone high profile from Asia for the CL eligibility but I'm struggling to find someone after Shinji Kagawa laughing me out of the room when I approached him.

Around the world: England Liverpool ended up convincingly winning the league. Leeds also had a great season, finishing above United under Jesse Marsch. Newcastle had a disaster of the season and were sitting in the relegation places for a long time. They might need to spend some of their new found wealth in the off season. Fulham and Bournemouth walked the Championship to win promotion back to the PL. Forest ended up joining them from 6th place which was decent. Derby were always going down with their 21 point deduction but Reading did well despite their 6 points. Portsmouth and Sunderland came back up to the 2nd tier, while Ipswich continued their fall from grace. Spain Real Madrid walked the league. Barcelona really struggled, only winning CL due to their EL triumph. Atletico were also poor. So some shaking up of teams in Spain! France PSG (unsurprisingly) won the league. Nothing particularly note worthy except that in my game Saint Etienne and Bordeaux have managed to hang around. Italy Juventus managed to win their games in hand at the end of the season to overtake Atalanta and clinch the title. Atalanta managed to end the season winless in their last 3 (losing to Napoli and Udinese and drawing with Cagliari) so they only have themselves to blame. Genoa were really bad. Parma were the pick of the teams winning promotion. Germany Bayern walked the league while Dortmund were very inconsistent despite their large GD. Schalke beat out Darmstadt on GD to win the 2nd division, while poor Hannover finished 1 point behind both but lost the relegation playoff. Europe In the Champions League, Man City won a penalty shootout against Liverpool after a 3-3 thriller after Ox and Milner missed their spot kicks. Barcelona won the Europa League 3-1 over Sporting. Spurs beat Kobenhaven 2-1 in the Conference League final.

Thanks! I'm hoping the challenge picks up a bit as I go, though maybe I shouldn't have picked one of the dominant teams. I'm curious to see if my expansion mods work as intended next season!

With the regular A-League season coming to a close, here are the final league standings. We ended up dominating the league with a huge GD. Sydney also ended up having a decent run once they started converting draws into wins at the end. Even with Adebayor scoring 4 goals in 4 games, Perth couldn't get close to the finals. Adelaide had a woeful season and the fact that 1 of their 2 wins was against me is slightly embarrassing. They also beat Brisbane, who finished 3rd. Moresche from CCM was the leading goal scorer by some margin, banging in 16 goals in 19(4) games. Not enough for finals though. Our leading goalscorer was Andrew Nabbout, who despite his late injury, ended up with 9 from 16(2). In the first round of finals, 3rd plays 6th and 4th plays 5th, while the top 2 get a week off. Surprisingly both the lower ranked teams triumphed, meaning all 3 Melbourne teams are through to the semis alongside the all powerful Sydney. In the first leg of the Big Blue Victory and Sydney drew 0-0, giving Sydney the edge going into the second leg at home. We faced off against Western United who we ended up with a 1-1-1 record against during the season. Andrew Nabbout wasn't ready to start this match, so Marco Tilio got the nod on the left wing with Leckie shifting right. He repaid my trust, setting up Berenguer for the opener. WU hit back quickly from a corner routine though and we went into half time 1-1. I'd had more shots but they'd fashioned higher quality chances. We were struggling to penetrate through the middle against their rather narrow 4231, but the breakthrough came with Tilio and Jamieson combining to overlap out wide and fizz a cross into Maclaren who seized his first real opportunity to score. Nabbout came on for some minutes and combined beautifully with Tilio to once again stretch the play and open space for Maclaren to score his 2nd. Then mere minutes later he threaded a ball through for Maclaren to complete his 2nd half hattrick. A cagey first half had become a dominant effort from us in the 2nd period. Nabbout's predecessor, Lachlan Wales, created their best chance of the 2nd half but Glover stood tall. In the end, we come away with a very convincing 4-1 win, meaning a comfortable 2nd leg to come. Despite the changes, we got off to a quick start through Andrew Nabbout at the back post. With the 4 goal buffer established, compalcency sets in and though we control the ball, we head into halftime with just the 1 good chance to speak of. Pucciarelli misses a few decent chances in the 2nd before they thunder one against the crossbar. They finally peg one back in the 84th to equalise this leg 1-1 and then more worryingly, Andrew Nabbout hobbles off injured. They get a 2nd against my 10 men, but I'm more concerned by the way my physios are looking at Nabbout's foot. 2-1 in this game but 5-3 overall. It turns out Nabbout will be out for a month with an ankle injury which is a big blow. In the other semi final, Fornaroli gives Victory a 1-0 win over Sydney, setting up a huge final against my bitter rivals. I load up all the temporary bonus training modules I can and away we go. We dominate the first half, not letting them get a single shot. But they also defend really well and we spend the entire half battering against their wall. After a bit of motivation at half time, we manage to seize the lead early in the 2nd half through Marco Tilio deputising for the injured Nabbout. With Victory forced to come out to try and equalise, the game suddenly opens up and comes to life. Eventually Leckie makes the most of the space and scores the 2nd in the 78th, shattering the hearts of the Victory players. Just to put the boot in, we win a penalty just after and Maclaren converts to give us a commanding 3-0 lead in the final 10 minutes. First season successfully completed! And our Grand Final win was a new record high for the club with 30,050 turning up for it, almost 4,000 higher than our previous record. The 4 losses is also a new record low. We also got 9 players into the team of the year, dominating that award. I was also formally recognised as manager of the year. Hopefully all of this helps my reputation a bit!

Game 4: Home to Kawasaki Frontale They seem determined to make amends for the humiliation I inflicted upon them last time, with the offside flag all that prevents me falling behind early. We start winning control back in the midfield though and look the more likely at the break. Maclaren is struggling to have any impact on the game and looks exhausted so I break his AFC scoring streak and sub him off. Youngster Abdulahi eventually manages to tee up with the other sub Hamilton to score the opener, before Hamilton goes on to score his first goal for the club just 3 minutes later. He should have had a 2nd a bit later but misses the open goal with his header. Pucciarelli twisting his knee and losing the next week is the only downside. 2-0 Game 5: Away to Muangthong A heavily changed team travels to Thailand. We struggle to have a single shot in the first half before Sulemani, one of my youngsters, creates something out of nothing in the 2nd. An unconvincing 1-0 win in the end against the toughest team we've faced so far. Intermission: Last A League game (Wellington Phoenix home) Last game of the season and designated a fan day to celebrate our Premiership. Hopefully this is a chance to get a few more fans because my Champions League attendances have been disappointing to date. I give Sutton his last chance to impress as backup GK, and go for a very young attacking front 3. They take the lead through a nicely worked free kick routine but it's otherwise been pretty boring which is not great given it's my biggest home attendance to date. After they score around the 60 minute mark, I decide it's time for some wiser heads. Unfortunately they score a 3rd before I can get the sub to take place... Despite looking better with the changes made, I can't get any back and we lose 3-0 in our worst display of the season. 7 yellow cards are given out during the match as well. Not sure I will be renewing Sutton's contract after that GK performance. Very disappointing. Also the board tell me they're cutting 2 coaching positions next season. Not sure if that's related or just bad timing. Game 6: Away to Kaya We line up near full strength for this. A good start almost comes undone except for Glover's GK heroics and then unfortunately Jordan Bos goes down injured, though thankfully I have the (slightly weary) captain Jamieson on the bench to replace him. Curtis Good also manages to wrack up a suspension for the next game. Things keep getting worse as they open the scoring in the 65th. Leckie comes to the rescue, equalising 5 minutes later. Maclaren almost rediscovers his scoring touch, with one rebounding off the inside of the post. I'm resigning myself to another dismal performance when who rises above the defence in the 93d minute, but Mathew Leckie. He's really stood up for me since Nabbout has been out. 2-1. Thankfully Jordan Bos has just pulled some ankle ligaments and will be back within the fortnight. Group Results Job Done Also in other great news Sydney topped their group! Australia represent!

Kaya FC (Philippines) Kaya Futbol Club–Iloilo is a Filipino professional football club now based in Iloilo City. The club has won one league title, two Copa Paulino Alcantara, and one UFL Cup. Founded in 1996 as Kaya Futbol Club in Makati, the club's name comes from the Filipino word káya ("we can"). While in Old Tagalog, the word is defined as susi ng kapatiran ("key to brotherhood"). In 2018, they relocated from Makati to Iloilo City in somewhat controversial fashion. Their highest CL finish is the group stage in 2021. They have once made it out of the group of the AFC Cup in 2016. Kawasaki Frontale (Japan) The club was founded in 1955 as Fujitsu Soccer Club in Kawasaki, just south of Tokyo. They became professional in 1997, and changed their name – "Frontale" means "frontal" in Italian. The club old crest and colours are based on those of Brazilian side Grêmio, because both clubs have cooperated since 26 March 1997. In 2007, the club attended the AFC Champions League, and made important success, as the first Japanese club for qualifying its group stage, before Urawa Red Diamonds. At long last, Kawasaki finally won the title in 2017, coming from behind to upstage bitter rivals Kashima Antlers, then going on to win the title in 2018 as well. In 2020, they successfully won the J1 League with 83 points, staying 17 points clear of Gamba Osaka, the runners-up. They won the title with four games to spare, which was a record under the 34-match league format. The club went on to win the 2021 J1 League with a record-breaking season, which saw them winning the most points in a single J1 League season ever, with 92 points won on 38 matches and achieving the least amount of losses on a J1 League season, registering only 2 losses in total. They made it through to the QF in 2017 Champions League before getting knocked out by Urawa Red Diamonds who went on to win the competition. Muangthong United (Thai) Muangthong United Football Club is a Thai professional football club based in Muang Thong Thani, Nonthaburi province. The club plays in the Thai League 1. Muangthong United were for a period one of the richest football clubs in Thailand. The club is also known as The Kirins or The Twin Qilins. The club was founded in 1989 under the name "Norgjorg Pittayanusorn School Football Team". In 2002–2003, The club was renamed to "FC Norgjorg Black Pearl" but was then renamed again in 2003–2004 as FC Globlex Norgjorg before reverting back to its original name the year after. In 2007 Siam Sport Syndicate bought the club and changed the name to Muangthong United F.C. and moved to a new ground at Muang Thong Thani called Thunderdome Stadium. The club went on to win the 2007 Season of the Thailand Division 2 League, then won Division 1 the next year. In their first season of the Thai Premier League in 2009, they also won that, completing a remarkable rise and winning 3 leagues in a row. Muangthong qualified for the 2010 AFC Champions League and won the Thai Premier League for the second time. They then signed Robbie Fowler in 2011 who took over as player/coach when the previous manager was sacked that season. In 2012, Muangthong United became the first team in Thai Premier League to go the season unbeaten in the current 34-game format. In 2017, after winning the league for the 4th time in 2016 to qualify, they progressed out of the group stage of the Champions League before getting knocked out by the previously mentioned Kawasaki Frontale int he Round of 16. They've also previously had QF and SF appearances in the AFC Cup in 2010 and 2011. Thoughts on the draw: Some interesting teams in the draw. We play another Filipino team after our qualifying heroics, alongside a quality Japanese outfit. I am hopeful of good results against Kaya after what I did to United. Kawasaki Frontale should be the toughest opponent, though if I play like I did against Ulsan, I might do alright. I don't know what to expect really from Muangthong, though I'm predicting a 3rd placed finish for them. I am aiming for a least a top 2 finish, while optimistically hoping I can top the group given our form so far. The board expect me to get through to the next round, so no pressure! Game 1: Away to Kawasaki Frontale The toughest possible start to the group. Except for the injured Nabbout, I have a full strength and rested team though. The game starts with them on the front foot before Jamie Maclaren comes up big and fires in 2 goals to give us the lead at half time despite them having double our XG. Leckie starts and finishes a nice move with quite the shot from outside the box low into the bottom corner just after the restart and then Jamie Maclaren gets his hattrick. I take him off for youngster Sam Morrison who promptly scores what is probably the best goal of the save so far. 5-0 win My initial reaction is one of disappointment. If our toughest game is such a cakewalk, there's not much in the way of challenges. I think upon reflection though that we were just absurdly lucky. The XG scores really do not match the final scoreline. Game 2: Home to Muangthong United We lose Rostyn Griffiths to suspension and with players tired after last game I reconfigure into a 4231. Who pops up a minute in? Jamie Maclaren. He may have been struggling in the league, but he's clearly thriving on these big games! Glover makes a great 1v1 save to keep them out but they keep pushing and equalise in the 12th. Game on! Unfortunately my players don't get the message and we concede straight away again from one of those annoying corners where the ball seems to swerve around the head of the defender on the post. Bailey Wright then makes things worse after conspiring with Glover to score an OG. Even with the OG on his record he's still rating higher than most of my defence... 3-1 at half time and I decide I've had enough of the 4231. Maclaren pegs one back just before the hour mark and the 433 is looking way more solid. He goes on to chip one over the keeper onto the crossbar and it looks like the comeback just isn't on. Until he combines with the other good player, Leckie, to score the equaliser in the dying minutes. Quite the comeback and another hattrick for Maclaren! 3-3 I feel more relieved now that I've had a proper challenge. Maybe it's just my 433 tactic that's too good? I lose captain Scott Jamieson to suspension though which sucks. Game 3: Home to Kaya FC Leckie opens the scoring 15 in and we're looking dominant having gone back to our 433. Then disaster strikes and Carl Jenkinson injures his thigh. Maclaren wins and scores a penalty just before halftime to make sure he continues his record of scoring in each of these games. 50 minutes in they think they've scored from their first shot of the game but it's called back for offside. Sadly that's about as good as it gets for them and the game ends without them taking a single shot. We don't score any more either despite our high XG, probably due tot he fact that I take Leckie and Maclaren off. 2-0 Sadly it looks like Jenkinson tore his thigh muscle and is out for a few months, so he's played his last game for us. Even only covering a quarter of his wages from Forest, he's still my highest paid player so no chance I make the loan permanent.

Melbourne Victory The big derby match. I pick the strongest team that is fit to stat and away we go. Nabbout gets us off to a great start before disaster strikes and he hobbles off with an injured knee. Victory aren't faring too much better, losing 2 players to injury in the first half. I bring on 2 19 year olds and an 18 to see the game out before Victory equalise with an absolute screamer into the top corner from outside the box. Even with a full strength team, I'm not stopping that. It ends 1-1 and I'll happily take that particularly once I find out Nabbout is only gone 2 days (so around my next match). Wellington Phoenix Once we get through this, we get a couple of days rest before we have to think about Victory again. So despite Phoenix being in 3rd place and a decent side, I just want to get through this (the last of my 4 games in 8 days) without any injuries. At least we are at home and don't have to fly to New Zealand! A full XI change is required here, including the keeper. Nothing much happens in the first half and it's more of the same for the 2nd, though both team almost score around the hour with their only chances. Seemingly fired up by the near miss, a long through ball by Hamilton puts Metcalfe through in behind to finally give us the lead and a point of interest. Aiden O'Neill follows up with a beautiful long range strike to make it 2-0 and a comfortable win. Finally we are through this rough patch and actually been successful throughout! Most importantly though, due to results going our way in other games, we clinch the regular season title! Not unexpected but still nice to accomplish. The game suggests I have broken into the top 10 Aussie managers in the Hall of Fame but I am very unconvinced by that. The media suggests I have been lucky to win it (despite being media favourites) which I scoff at. The best thing is that I finally get some Manager support going now that I've actually won something. Hopefully I'll be able to hold my own in player interactions now. Melbourne Victory Unfortunately my celebrations are marred by Nabbout injuring himself in training and will miss up to 2 months which is devastating for the AFC CL group stage. Time for the loanee Hamilton to prove his worth. Tilio also complains about a lack of quickness training, to which I just point blankly at our recent fixture list. Sure, if you want to do some extra running, go ahead. Thankfully most of my best players are available for this one so I'm able to select a pretty full strength starting side. We are playing away but it's still at our home ground so that helps. Maclaren thinks he gets us off to a flying start but VAR rules him offside. That's the main thing of note from the first half, except Hamilton letting me down and being by far my worst player out there. I try to encourage him, but he sits at 6.3 and so I sub him off and give Tilio the chance to run. We end up dominating but have to accept a 0-0 draw with their GK getting MotM. Perth Glory This is shaping up as an interesting fixture! Despite sacking their manager, Perth have just brought in Adebayor as a guest player. I haven't seen anyone use the guest player slot before, so I'm quite excited by this development. He scored a goal in his debut, so this should be fun. This is also my final fixture before the CL group stage, so it's a chance to get some momentum going. Disappointingly Adebayor doesn't start but their other big name signing if Fabio Coentrao sets them on their way with a nice assist and I've suddenly got my work cut out. Youngster Abdulahi rescues me with an equaliser on the half hour before Pucciarelli misses a glorious chance to put us ahead and the teams go in at half time 1-1. Pucciarelli this time manages to score from a beautifully timed run (I thought it was offside initially) and we pile on the pressure. At least until I bring on a bunch of youngsters for some game time. We do enough for the 2-1 win though! For some reason and despite my excitement, Adebayor never gets off the bench. Next time: Excuse the poor image skills, I thought it'd be easier than it was to edit one of the official preview images.

Thanks! I was panicking slightly when I had all my Internationals return just in time for a 3 game week (actually 4 games in 8 days) and my Medical tab is telling me that everyone is high injury risk. From this point on it's multiple games a week which should be interesting. The only saving grace is that the AI seems to handle it worse than the player!

Western Sydney Wanderers Back to our regular fixtures and an away game against WSW who have been in good form recently. A good start with Metcalfe scoring early after a nice layoff from Pucciarelli. Unfortunately then disaster strikes and Berenguer hobbles off injured. Pucciarelli gets one himself just before half with a nice free kick from the top of the D. They pull one back with 5 minutes to go but we don't falter and see it through. Unfortunately it turns out Berenguer has a long term injury which is a big blow coming up to the important end of the season at his age. On more positive news, the board, after a bit of persuasion, agrees to invest resources into improving our junior coaching. Perth Glory The final team that I am yet to play by the end of March. Wacky that it's taken this long, hopefully next season fixtures will make more sense. The only Western Australian team, the Glory are an ok side despite having only won the league once (18-19) and never winning in finals (those 2 other high points are from the old national league days). There was a recent push to turn investment into sporting success but this seems to have evaporated with several of their big name signings since moving on. They do have Brad Jones and Daniel Sturridge though! This game is made particularly hard by the fact that half my team is away on international duty, requiring a heavy use of youngsters. There are 10 players missing here (2 from injury) and I'm missing everyone capable of playing on the left! Curtis Good fills in at LB and a young striker starts on the LW. Thankfully the absences don't seem to matter. Pucciarelli puts us ahead 20 minutes in, then converts a penalty before rounding out a first half hattrick. Andy Keogh pegs one back for Perth just before half time but it's a great start. I bring a couple more youngsters on in the 2nd and give my injured captain some game time to build match fitness. Otherwise nothing much of note happens and we notch another comfortable win. Adelaide United We are miles ahead in the league, so it's a good chance for some rotation. I also have to play 3 games over 6 days, so I will need absolutely everyone for this little bit. First up, Adelaide at home who are not having a good season (they are 6 points behind the 2nd worst team). Time for revenge for last game! A very disappointing first half ensues and I seek to fire them up at half time. Typically my captain responds negatively but everyone else seems motivated (I'm beginning to think the researcher had a grudge against Jamieson and set his hidden attributes low). We mount some consistent pressure though and Tilio gets the breakthrough an hour in. Metcalfe, learning the AM position for the first time, adds a 2nd 10 minutes later and the game is looking comfortable. Hamilton threatens to make it 3 by firing off the crossbar and then provoking a good 1 on 1 save from their GK but it ends 2-0 despite a late flurry from Adelaide to try and get back into it. That win means we clinch our qualification to the finals series if it was ever in doubt. Sydney FC A quick turn around to a quality side in Sydney with the big rivalry with Victory 2 days later. I try and find 11 players who are not under heavy workload to start the game. The first half is very cagey, with neither team creating anything of note. We create a little more in the 2nd half before Bos comes off injured (thankfully just a bruised shin). Disaster strikes as Amini puts them ahead after a nice passage of play with 15 minutes to go. We push for the winner but can't break through and we lose our first match for a while. Nuno Reis also gets suspended for too many yellows. We were unlucky to lose it, they didn't create much so I'm not too upset.

Our first ever Asian game comes around. This is what the save is about and I'm excited to learn more about the various teams I will be playing as, despite living here, I know far less about Asian club football than I do about Europe. Unfortunately our first team is very obscure with not much information readily available. At this point I realise the value of Endoh who left me earlier, as in Asia, you're allowed 1 extra Asian player in your squad who doesn't count as foreign. Hopefully that doesn't come back to bite me. Club Eagles (Maldives) - Eastern Playoff Round 1 Our first game is drawn against Club Eagles from the Maldives. They hail from the capital of Male, with a population of just over 200,000. They play in the Dhivehi Premier League, as one of the better teams but have yet to win the league. In game, half their team are generic grey players with just a few real players set in the database. I wasn't thinking about the Maldives when I set up this game! We are playing at home which helps with the travel distances. They still had 11 fans turn up though against our 22,190. Suffice to say this will not be representative of my journeys in Asia. I play my strongest 11 and we blow them out of the water. Leckie scores a brace inside 15 minutes, then Nabbout add to the score on 30. Leckie completes first half hattrick just before half time to send us in 4-0 at the break. We have had 24 shots to 0 in the first half. Understandably we take our foot off the gas and cruise through the 2nd half, giving game time to some rotation options. To add insult to injury. Leckie gets a 4th in the final 10. He becomes the highest goal scorer in the Champions League since records began (in 2021). A comprehensive 5-0 though my star striker didn't manage to get in on the act. United City (Philippines) - Eastern Playoff Round 2 Another home game, this time against United City from the Philippines. Previously known as Ceres, they won their domestic league 3 times in a row from 2017-2019 including doing the domestic double in 2019. Then they were sold during the pandemic and rebranded as United City. Unfortunately it seems they are now defunct as of this year, but they have a decent history in Asian competitions, regularly playing in the playoffs and the AFC Cup and making the Champions League group stage in 2021 and 2022. They were even in the same group as Melbourne City in 2022! They lost both group games against City 3-0, so hopefully that's a sign of things here. Mat Leckie picks up where he left off with a 14 min screamer into the top far top corner. He then adds a 2nd in the 34th minute from corner and the game starts to look comfortable. Berenguer adds to the lead in the 62nd minute and I ring the changes. Leckie, much to the media's frustration, gets brought off despite being on a hattrick due to his complacency for Tilio. To make matters worse for them, they get a red card in 71st for a 2nd yellow and any hope of an unlikely comeback vanishes. I am slightly concerned that despite 2 comprehensive victories, Maclaren hasn't managed a single goal in either game, so I dedicate the rest of the match to trying to get him on the scoresheet, changing him to a poacher and instructing him to shoot more often. This works and Maclaren finally gets a goal in the 89th and then another in the 91st. Another great 5-0 win. Unfortunately my captain Scott Jamieson picks up an injury during the game that will sideline him for 3 weeks. Not great but hopefully Jordan Bos takes the opportunity to shine. In the Eastern Playoff draw, I get paired with Ulsan. I'm not looking forward to this one but I desperately want to at least make it through to the group stage. Western United But before I play them, I have to play Western United who are suddenly 3rd in the league after a 6 match unbeaten run. While still a fair way behind me, losing here would bring them back into contention. On the other hand, I am determined to keep my key players fresh for such a crucial game against Ulsan. Nabbout gets left out completely as he doesn't even have a full heart after the last 2 qualifiers. Pucciarelli and Richards also get starts after not being able to make the bench in the last 2 due to their foreign status. Otherwise I just rotate where possible while keeping my heavy hitters in reserve on the bench if needed. This is also the first time I have played them away. Pucciarelli has a goal disallowed 5 minutes in but the chances keep coming and Tilio scores on 28 before Pucciarelli finally gets his goal on 36. A dominant first half from the second string squad, restricting them to just 1 shot and that off target. I tell the players to keep possession more in the 2nd half and send them back out. Unfortunately they score from a corner with their first shot on target in the 68th, then a 2nd one 5 minutes later that my goalkeeper palms into the top of his net. They then take the lead in the 78th and the game becomes a disaster. We get a penalty lifeline to make it 3-3 with 5 minutes to go and I push them hard to try and regain the lead but to no avail. A frustrating draw and entirely my fault. I subbed the goalkeeper and our backup Sutton was woefully inadequate. He was at fault for both their first 2 goals and ended up with a 6.3 rating. Definitely not good enough from him and I let him know. I mean look at the XG. He conceded 3 goals from an XG of 0.5... Ulsan - Playoff Final Here we go. My biggest match to date with a place in the Group Stage up for grabs.. One of the big teams from South Korea, who have one of the best leagues in Asia. They have been runners up in the K-League for 2019, 2020 and 2021 before finally winning it in 2022. They won the Champions League in 2020 for the 2nd time after winning it in 2012. I don't even know how I got drawn against them in the Playoffs. This feels incredibly unfair. But I guess you need to test yourself against the best. In game, their season has started with mixed results with a few draws leaving them in 5th. Very early stages though, compared to my league which is coming towards its end. We are playing away from home, and the media only make them slight favourites, so maybe I have a chance? I am without my captain though which hurts for such a big game. We come out firing in the first half! Pinning them back we batter at the door until eventually we are awarded a penalty on the stroke of half time. Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Up steps Jamie Maclaren and coolly slots it home giving us a 1-0 lead at half time. They come out firing in the 2nd half and I drop my lines to give myself some breathing room. Leckie fires a warning shot off the crossbar, then in the 58th out jumps 2 men at the back post to make it 2-0! Our defence are superb, preventing them getting any shots of note away and our midfield drops energetically to help them out. We have a couple of chances to put the game to bed but they're not needed and we run out comfortable 2-0 winners in a game that looks a lot more comfortable than it felt.

With the league looking more or less under control, I will look to give the youngsters more game time against mid-table and lower teams. I will try and save my star players for the AFC CL campaign which is about to start and top table clashes against the Phoenix or maybe Sydney who have the quality to cause me problems if they ever get firing. Getting development out of Bos and Tilio is the priority, though I have several midfielders as well who have potential. O'Neill is someone who fully backs me with room to become a star player but he's already 23 so not sure how much more he will develop. But I think I will give him the regular starting DM berth and see what he can do. Griffiths has been good for me but need to succession plan him and save his aging legs for when I need to lock down the centre of the park. Brisbane Roar Our 2nd game against Brisbane, this time in Brisbane itself. They've just come off 2 losses in a row after going through January undefeated, so not sure what to expect here on a warm February day. Not a lot it turns out. We end up drawing this 0-0 while being slightly outplayed. Either team looked just as likely to score but the defences held firm. But worrying as I played a fairly strong team for this one with the intention to rotate heavily next game. But a point away from home and a clean sheet is ok. Tilio gets injured for 2 weeks though which is disappointing as I was about to give him a run of games. I sign a youngster previously released by bitter rivals Melbourne Victory on a scholarship contract. Not sure if he'll amount to anything but more young Aussies developing is always good. Canberra immediately match the contract offer. Newcastle Jets I go into this one with an entirely rotated 11 in preparation for my upcoming AFC CL fixture. They've just beaten both Adelaide and WSW so this might be a bit of a risk but gotta see what my youngsters have at some point! Things get off to a poor start where they knock one in off the upright from a corner in the 15th minute despite my defender doing his best job to slide through the post to block it (not sure why he was standing outside the post in the first place). Thanks game. At half time it dawns on me that with the players out there, my 4231 would probably work a lot better so we try that instead. We look a little better but not much, so I bring Nabbout and Leckie on to save me. Eventually Bos sets up Pucciarelli for the equaliser and his first goal for the club. I try and push for the winner but it doesn't look like it will come until O'Neill, the only player in the squad to be fully on board with my management, fires one home in stoppage time to secure us the win. A nice come from behind win to give us some confidence going into the Champions League qualifiers! Next up, our first foray into Asia!

Wellington Phoenix The only New Zealand team, they replaced the old New Zealand Knights who were based in Auckland. They participate in the distance derby with Perth, which is not really a rivalry, just a point of interest with the distance travelled between them (over 5,000km). They are notable for not being part of the Asian confederation, thus not eligible for qualification in that competition. There's been a bit of discussion about whether they should remain part of the A League as it grows given their location, but I think they're a fun addition and they're the main vehicle for improving the New Zealand team. They've only cracked the top 3 once, but things have started improving for them in recent years. For the first time this season, I am underdogs going into a game. I guess that's to be expected playing in a different country. They've won 6 of their last 7 and are undefeated in 9 playing a solid 442. Led by star striker Gary Hooper they've got some quality players in their squad. I choose a more conservative midfield and my strongest line up with Metcalfe back in after his return from the U23s. It's a hot day here! We get off to a great start with Berenguer putting us ahead 4 minutes in. Then Maclaren is played through by Nabbout for 2-0. We barely give anything away either which is promising. Leckie gets the third just after the break but unfortunately I'm forced to withdraw Nabbout through injury. Dominating going into the last half hour I decide to play a bit more cautiously and give some of the youngsters a go off the bench. None of them seize the chance but aren't horrible either. My more direct passing has an effect on playing my forwards in but my share of possession drops by a third. Which is fine by me, I don't care too much about possession anyway as long as we can control the game. Nabbout is out for about a week with a twisted knee which means he probably misses our next game vs Sydney which hurts but we will survive. Transfers Colakovski agrees a deal to move to Macedonia with Rabotnicki Skopje which is a shame to lose the 21 year old but he's nowhere near first team quality (in reality he racked up 40 appearances, so think he may be underrated in game). Tsubasa Endoh also agrees a deal to leave to Vegalta Sendai in the Japanese 2nd division which is a bigger blow. It's a shame to lose him but he was taking up a valuable foreign player spot and they're tripling his wages so can't begrudge him too much. I make the decision to sell him now with a week left in the window to bring someone in. In the end they give me 73k which is decent and bumps my budget up to 247k with 3.5k wages to spend on up to 2 players (1 foreign). It's a shame to lose him as he was in good form, but I've got plenty of youngsters to cover CM and he was fighting with Tilio to be backup to Nabbout on RW. And he's inconsistent and stats are decent but not great. But he had a better run than his real life 5 appearances! In return I offer to take Micah Hamilton on loan from Man City. He's far from the finished article, but he's 2 footed, versatile and has no wage commitments. That leaves me plenty of wages if I can find an Aussie. Problem is that all the affordable ones are already playing in the league and therefore unable to transfer. Eventually I strike true, securing Bailey Wright from Sunderland. He was going to leave on a free in 6 months time but I pay up to 55k to get him in early. Unfortunately I end up exactly on my salary cap rather than under, so am forced to release a youngster which is disappointing. But I'm hoping with Bailey Wright that I finally have proper CB depth as well as someone capable of playing a more defensive RB. Sydney The most successful team in the league (5 championships, 4 premierships) and often accused of being the favourite child of the FFA. The recent controversial decision to sell the hosting rights of the Grand Final to Sydney for the next few years didn't help with this. They are also the original sky blue team and have had some big players like Del Piero that have helped raise the profile of the league. They are also regulars in the ACL where they look promising before inevitably sputtering out. They will be my main sporting rivals in this save and are predicted to win the league this season. They just lost their first match of the season last week in the Sydney derby, though that said, they've only won once since 7th December so it's not been a great season. They did win the Australia Cup Final though. Also playing a 442, they're led by some high quality players like Alex Wilkinson and Rhyan Grant down back, with Mustafa Amini and Luke Brattan providing creativity in the middle and Adam Le Fondre finishing up front. Old Heart goalkeeper Redmayne (The Grey Wiggle) also plays in goals for them, doing much better than he seemed to in his Heart days. My 2 new signings start on the bench for this one, while Tilio takes Nabbout's place on the right. The first half ends 0-0, though we hit the woodwork a number of times and are unlucky not to go in front. Tilio seizes his opportunity and does well on the right. The 2nd half starts with Berenguer being played through 1v1 with Redmayne twice but can't finish either chance. Then it's another one off the crossbar from O'Neill and it's looking like a long day. I bring on both new signings and Nabbout who thinks he's scored only for VAR to disallow it for offside, though when he converts in the 75th, this time it stands to much sighing of relief. And then don't you know it, they hit me with a long ball over the top to equalise in the 88th. They very nearly win the thing in the 4th minute of stoppage time but we end up with a very frustrating draw. Which I probably shouldn't be surprised with considering Sydney have now drawn 8 of 13 games.

Coming up to the halfway point of the season, this seems like a good chance to take stock and review how things have begun. The tactical system I begun with has mostly worked, though I've reduced the tactical instructions a bit as time has gone on. I'm no longer trying to focus play down the left, instead relying more naturally on the roles to cause this effect. I've recently settled more on making the RW a IF(a) rather than a RMD, mostly so I can rotate players through the position easier. I still haven't settled on a striker role, having rotated through P, PF(a) and AF. Maclaren has done alright but not great and I suspect that's down to the way I'm set up which is really bringing the best out of the RW. Testing the 4231 seemed promising though as an alternative. Transfer wise I have done nothing yet except renew Reis' contract. Griffiths wants a new contract as well but as he is 33 already and wants 2 years minimum and a pay rise I will probably let him go. The good news about Reis extending is he moves to designated player and so frees up some extra wage cap. This means I could afford to get 1 more Aussie in on 2k a week wages which seems decent compared to what my squad is currently on. When Jenkinson's Forest loan ends at the end of the season, I will also free up 5k a week and a foreign player spot which will give me much more room. I haven't yet decided what to do with Endoh, who is now in the last 6 months of his contract as well. He's done a lot better for me than expected! The youngsters will also require a big review. Dynamics wise I am struggling with my lack of reputation. I am slowly winning over a couple of players, but don't have any of the leaders on board which has me in quite a precarious position. I am hoping that if I can continue on and win the league that will help my authority a bit. I also hope that my contract extension to Scott Jamieson will give me time to build a rapport with him and get him onboard. The other 2 team leaders though in Leckie and Maclaren both view me as an Acquaintance, so that's a start! Glover, Gomulka and O'Neill all have me as favoured person now, with Glover being Very Close. We maintain a narrow lead at the top while being yet to play either 2nd or 3rd. That means less easy games, but also chance of some 6 pointers! Wellington are doing surprisingly well so far and Sydney are actually undefeated. Embarrassingly, I am still the only team Adelaide have managed to beat... Western Sydney Wanderers are having a shocking season for a team initially predicted to come 3rd (though I think they may have sold half their squad and sacked their manager). Nabbout is leading the goal scoring for me, with Leckie getting in amongst it as well. I'd like to see Maclaren (4) get amongst this list as well if I can enable him more. Nabbout is also equal first in assists, so he's having an amazing season. Reis currently has 3 MotM performances, which means I was completely right to give him the new contract. Or so I tell myself! His CB partner is also up there, so my defence have been pulling their weight. Despite our 2 CBs rating highly, we've been performing about standard for XGA. Our XG is great though! We seem to be doing well in reducing the shots we face but we are average in actually keeping those shots out. Maybe they just get higher quality chances. We keep a lot of possession relatively, though we are the 2nd safest team once we have the ball. Might look at taking a few more risks 2nd half of the season. Transfers In the league, Victory have done the most, bringing Mitch Nichols back tot he league and selling Jason Davidson to Anyang in Korea. Apostolos Giannou also left Macarthur after scoring no goals in 10 games though they then spent 36k on a new CB who they immediately transferred on a free to another club?? Currently the only 2 big transfers or note happened in the pre-season window, with Macarthur bringing in Tyrese Francois from Fulham for up to 135k and Western United bringing in Gabriel Cleur from Virtus Entella for up to 275k. In the rest of the save, City have splashed some cash but otherwise not much of note has happened (maybe because of my detail level). In England, Liverpool are winning the Premier League at the midway point, with Chelsea, Arsenal and City hunting them down. United are a fair way off the pace in 7th (19 points behind Liv having played a game more). Norwich and Newcastle sit in the relegation zone. Huge fall for Newcastle who are supposed to finish 8th with their new money, not sure what's going on there. In the Championship, Peterborough have somehow managed to get below Derby despite their 21 point deduction, while Fulham and Bournemouth race back to the PL. Fulham are playing Liverpool in the League Cup final after they beat United in the semis. Bayern are cruising in the Bundesliga with Leipzig and Dortmund falling behind. Greuther Furth are falling way behind at the bottom. Paderborn, Hannover, Schalke and Darmstadt are all fighting it out for the 2 automatic promotion spots. Real Madrid are walking La Liga, 12 points ahead of Barca with a game in hand, while Atletico Madrid are down in 7th. Leganes and Zaragoza are clear in the promotion spots in the 2nd tier. Juventus and Inter are going head to head for Serie A (Venezia and Genoa circling the plug hole), while PSG are running away from Lyon in France (surprise). Barca got knocked out in the group stage of the CL against Chelsea and Milan and Ajax also struggled against Atletico and PSG. Rangers failed to qualify in the Europa League, missing out to Omonoia from Cyprus! Though they'll feel better after Celtic lost out in a tough group to Napoli and Marseille. I don't know half the other teams well enough to know if they underperformed. Union Berlin got the group of death in the Conference League though, missing out to Roma and Trabzonspor. In the Asian World Cup qualifiers, Australia managed to finish top of their group above Japan. I have both Maclaren and Leckie representing me at International level. In the AFC Champions League, both semi finals went to extra time as Persepolis (Iran) beat out Al-Gharafa (Qatar) and Kawasaki Frontale (Japan) beat Jeonbuk (Korea). In the final, Kawasaki Frontale were just too strong, winning 3-0 in Tokyo. Sydney got the furthest out of the Australian teams, making it out of the group stage before losing in the knockouts to Gamba Osaka (Japan) in extra time. In the AFC Cup, Lokomotiv Toshkent (Uzbekistan) beat Altyn Asyr (Turkmenistan) 1-0 in Asgabat (Turkmenistan).

Adelaide United The only South Australian team. Reasonably well supported they are a well established team. They've won the finals once in 2016 and finished premiers twice in 2006 and 2016. They've embraced the South Australian colours as their own and represent that state as much as the city with no real contenders for a local rival. Their main competitive rival is Melbourne Victory. Again, despite being away, I am slight favourites for this fixture. I rate my chances given they are yet to win and have only drawn once and currently have no manager. Though they have played both Sydney and Victory twice so that does colour things slightly. Their (club) legendary captain and midfielder, Isaias, is currently injured and my scouts tell me their 4 best players are all the over 34. They have been playing a diamond, relying on their 35 yo RB to get up and down the side. Interesting strategy. I decide to bring in a few youngsters for the battle of the 2 red teams. First half is fairly dull. I keep possession and get lots of low quality shots away. Then disaster strikes. Shortly after the restart 16 year old Irankunda puts them ahead. Nabbout, obviously offended immediately pegs them back with a flying volley at the back post. Game on. I make some changes and almost immediately Irankunda scores a 2nd. We chase but cannot equalise. First loss of the season (and their first win). A disappointing one if you look at shot comparison, but we just gave them much better quality chances. Hopefully just one of those days. Western United The third Melbourne team and the most generically named team I've ever heard. Unlike the other two Melbourne teams they have actually have a geographical region to draw from which helps. They are fated to win their first championship (finals) this season but I doubt that will happen. This is their 3rd season in the competition and they're still led by their inaugural star, Alessandro Diamanti. Apparently this is supposed to be a rivalry. Investigation shows that we are their rivals but not vice versa. Interesting, though we shall seek to put them in their place anyway. At least we are back at home! They've only lost once this season so far (to Brisbane) so this should be a tough game. They have a great striker in Aleksandar Prijovic and a tough midfielder in Rene Krhin and their defence is capably led by Leo Lacroix. So a good spine! Not to mention they have my old boys Garuccio, Kilkenny and Wales. This is personal! Of course Neil Kilkenny comes back to haunt his former club and puts them 1-0 up against the run of play halfway through the half... We play well but are unable to pierce their defence. PLayers are flagging and changes are rung. Endoh comes on at RW and equalises! Then Khrin hits back with a long range screamer. Another loss... I am still scratching my head how we lost this. We had 4x their XG. Frustrating but we still hold top spot. In more positive news, Scott Jamieson becomes the clubs most capped player! Western Sydney Wanderers The 2nd team in Sydney, they are also the only team to win the Asian Champions League. They haven't quite hit the heights of those early days since but they have a new stadium and a dedicated fan base. They finished top in the 12/13 season but have never won the finals series. They've had a bad season so far with a very thin squad. But they've still got some good players like Dimitri Petratos and Tomer Hemed. One player I've been disappointed in is Jamie Maclaren. He turns it around here though, scoring the opener and setting up the 2nd in the absence of Nabbout! Leckie scores the 3rd before they peg one back, but it's a great 1st half. Maclaren scores a 2nd in the 2nd half and we cruise to a comfortable 4-1 victory. Melbourne Victory The original Melbourne team and my main rivals. Frustratingly neither Victory nor City have any catchment area which means City have traditionally been stuck trying to sway those who haven't yet jumped on the Victory bandwagon. Didn't help that Victory were very successful when Heart were starting up. A regular in Asian competitions and normally up there in league positions, they've undertaken a bit of a rebuild since Ange Postecoglou left. They've been crowned champions 4 times and finished premiers 3 times, the 2nd most successful team in the league. Victory have had a pretty good season so far, though they come into this off the back of 2 losses (Brisbane and Newcastle). Their danger man is my old icon, Bruno Fornaroli, though he has a strong supporting cast with the likes of Jason Geria, Tommy Oar, Marco Rojas and Chris Ikonomidis. The media make me slight favourites, though my players are pretty tired playing only a couple of days after my last match. Forced into heavy midfield rotations, I decide to try playing a 4231 for the first time to match my available personnel. I can't see this backfiring! Things get off to a good start, conceding a penalty 15 minutes in which Fornaroli makes us pay for. I offer what encouragement I can, and O'Neill, playing in his new AM position brings us level. Nabbout then gives us the lead before Leckie really gets the ball rolling and we go in 3-1 at half time. 2nd half is a lot more comfortable before Jamieson smashes in a free kick for a comprehensive 4-1 win. Nuno Reis comes to me asking for an improved contract. Scott Jamieson refuses to get involved and seems offended I would ask. Reis tells me that if I don't make him a designated player then he'll kick up a fuss. As one of the squad leaders I am forced into agreeing to his demands. It is frustrating but my position is just too fragile with the squad at the moment. I hope this doesn't come back to bite me... Western United We finish off January with another game against Western United. The media make me comfortable favourites while doing all they can to spark a war of words between me and John Aloisi. In other great news, my U23 players are back! So nice to have a bench again. Compared to some of the previous games, this was a lot more comfortable. Some nice combination play saw Berengeur fire us into the lead in the first half, then rotated some of the fresh youngsters on to hold the lead in the 2nd. The media seem more concerned with my lack of transfer activity, but with Reis demanding my last DP spot, I'm not sure I have much room to do anything.

I get a bit of a wake-up shock when I find out my captain Scott Jamieson is down to the last 6 months of his contract and receiving offers to play elsewhere. It's easy to forget how late the A League season starts in the scheme of things. Crisis averted though as I convince him to re-sign with me on a slightly reduced wage. I do have to promise him 3 years with a potential for a 4th, which I'm hesitant about given his age but I figure keeping my captain and one of my leading players around while I establish myself is a lesser evil and he can be a decent mentor later on. I also see a few young players are heading into the last 6 months of their contracts as well but the fact that they have no interest yet and I haven't seen enough of them to form an opinion causes me to ignore it for now. I'm sure worrying about it later won't cause any problems. Speaking of problems, my star striker Jamie Maclaren is now being openly courted by Qatar SC and the media is excitedly following along. I really don't want to sell him if I can help it, not only because he's the arguably the best striker in the league and I have no replacement lined up but also because he's been such an integral part of this club's recent success and I am terrified of undermining my standing further by selling the club's star player. So I implacably declare he is not for sale, while silently dreading any coming offer from a league with higher reputation and much greater wages. My experiment with training is not going very smoothly. First my players were complaining to me that they weren't doing enough strength training, then too much quickness and now too much strength. And that's with me mostly relying on the suggested pre-sets. I also re-assess my playing time promises and tell my Curtis Good (one of my best defenders) that he can be upgraded from Fringe Player to Squad Player and potentially Regular Starter going forward. He's chuffed and I congratulate myself on cynically abusing the wacky playing time roles assigned at game start. Brisbane Roar Brisbane make the trip south to face us in our next game. The only current Queensland team in the league after the failures of both Gold Coast United and North Queensland Fury. They were once the premier A League side under Ange Postecoglou, breaking the Australian sporting record for most games unbeaten (36). Champions 3 times and Premiers twice, they've fallen on harder times of late despite the likes of Robbie Fowler trying their hand at management. Interestingly their orange kits are a nod to their Dutch founding heritage despite Queensland normally being maroon. The media make us comfortable favourites for this one. They finally got their first win last week against Western United playing a 4231. Paartelu, who they stole out from under me, is comfortably their best player but carrying an injury for this one. Their strength is all in their midfield with the likes of Matti Steinmann and Connor Chapman, so I set up with a more defensive midfield to contest this area. Bit of a warm day, but I'll take a December under 30! To my disappointment, Tilio struggles to live up to the success of Nabbout on the RW but Berenguer puts us up with a glorious strikes from the top of the box before a corner routine sees us take a 2-0 lead into half time. Bos and Gomulka, the other 2 youngsters I brought in are doing ok but I want to see more from them in the 2nd half. Metcalfe soons puts us 3-0 up and I take the chance to give game time to 3 of my rotation options including subbing Maclaren off. He wasn't terrible but another goalless game in a comfortable win is becoming concerning. We are definitely taking our chances which is good, as the stats didn't really reflect the final result. Still, I'm happy with a weakened team getting the job done. I just hope we don't need to ride our luck too long. We set a new record for 8 games unbeaten which is nice! Central Coast Mariners We will play CCM again, which is strange. I think there is something wrong with the fixture for this season. Anyway this time we are away and the media is predicting a fairly close match. I give Pucciarelli his first start of the season. He does well up until he gets injured half an hour in. Nabbout, restored to the starting lineup scores the opener once more but we are pegged back just before the half. I try tweaking the lineup a bit to see if I can create some more favourable conditions for Maclaren which does help him get into the match a bit more but actually paves the way for Endoh to get his first club goal playing off that RW. Maclaren might not score but he sets up Metcalfe with a delightful through ball for him to smash into the net with his first time shot. I'll take that! I also take the opportunity to stick the boot into Glover for his poor effort letting that goal in. He apologises and becomes more determined. Newcastle Jets A new team finally as we travel to the northern NSW team of Newcastle. Newcastle itself is a quickly growing area as lots of people move from Sydney to the city. The Jets won the Championship (finals) in 2008 but have been largely irrelevant since. They've been a decent side but not great despite having the likes of Emile Heskey on their books. We have 5 players away with the U23 Australian side, so are a bit short on for this game. Thankfully most of the missing members are bench players, with the notable exception of Metcalfe. A close fight is predicted with the Jets also undefeated this season, coming off a 2-1 win over Western Sydney Wanderers. Their squad isn't great though, with the 32 yo Cameroonian winger Olivier Boumal being highlighted as their most dangerous player by some margin. They do have Jason Hoffman who I remember with some fondness from the early Heart days, even if he wasn't a world beater. I persist with the slight tweaks I experimented with last match and they work with Maclaren scoring in the 2nd minute. Berengeur follows up with another fine goal and we're cruising 2-0 by the 60th. Figuring we are comfortable, I decide to give some younger players a shot that wouldn't normally even make my bench. I soon regret my decision after conceding a peanlty and the end of the match is very nervy but we hold on for a 2-1 win. I honestly have no idea how we won this when you look at the XG. All I can say is that we took our small chances are our defence was brilliant. To be fair, the penalty provided most of their XG but they did have a really good chance later as well. In contrast, Berenguer scored from nothing for our 2nd! It was a first time half volley from just outside the box, past several defenders and the keeper. And he has 8 for long shots (and 8 for finishing). Central Coast Mariners Well, well, well. Look who it is again. Anyway... Unfortunately this game does not go like the others and we get our first draw of the campaign. We are the better team but still manage to give away a goal and this time struggle to convert our chances. Jamieson was terrible in this game and I was forced to drag him off early in the 2nd half. Disappointing from the club captain, but I'm sure he'll bounce back. And that brings us to the end of 2021! What a start to the campaign. I'm already sensing the limits of the A League though as I am at salary cap already without even improving my squad. I'm not sure how we will manage to compete in the Asian Champions League. But one thing at a time.

Given my intention to immerse myself more into the unfolding story of my game world, I am reluctantly taking control of training. Normally I'm quite happy to let my assistant manager sort them for me as trying to make order out of the many choices is not normally what I enjoy spending my time on. But maybe I'll come to understand and enjoy it! I don't have long left of pre-season given the late start date and the subsequent upheaval of replacing half the coaching staff but I am planning for a bit of pre-season work before some more regular routines. I'll also tinker with coaching assignments and customising the mentoring groups to make use of some of my experienced players. Set pieces are the other area to explore. Given I only really have 1 competition this season now that I'm knocked out of the Cup, it shouldn't be too bad designing a routine for my specific player selection. I go for the classic near post routine. The rest of pre-season passes quickly and my players seem fit and ready to go, despite not fully trusting my leadership. I selected semi-pro background instead of my normal automatic tickbox and it's feeling a bit concerning when my star player states that he thinks my lack of support doesn't spread far enough through the squad. Normally I'd be offended, but I really want him to like me. Maybe I shouldn't have dragged him off in the semi and given him an official warning afterwards... We play a couple of weaker teams that we duly smash, then we come up against better opposition in fellow league competition in Western United. Another exercise in frustration, as despite a strong line up and being slightly better, we don't do enough to win and settle for another draw. The season begins: Finally we get to the opener! Just to recap, there are 12 teams in this competition and we play each team twice and then a few of them a third time. Then the top 6 teams make the finals series. Our first game is against familiar opposition, and this time victory will be mine! We played well last time, so I'll try the same thing again and hope for a better result. I suspect part of the problem last time was playing a bit more conservative after we took the lead, so I'll look to keep the pressure on here and stay on the front foot. The game plays out surprisingly similar to the cup game. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised given the short turn around and the fact that I'm doing the same thing but even the goals happen in a similar way with Nabbout putting me ahead early, then them pegging me back just over 10 minutes later! This time however, we make a satisfying breakthrough right near the end. Then seeking to take the sting out of the game we manage to get a third for a 3-1 win that looked a lot more comfortable than it felt. I'm still unsure about some of the player roles I'm using, though I've got the system roughly working. On a side note, the ground only being a quarter full for the opener seems disappointing, though it was raining and there doesn't look like much covered seating. Around the grounds, Wellington Phoenix stage an impressive 3-0 win over Western Sydney Wanderers and Western United win 4-2 away to Brisbane Roar in a high scoring fixture. Next up we play Central Coast Mariners in our first home game. Another NSW team, this time just to the north of Sydney in Gosford. Their stadium with the inflatable sauce bottles is iconic in the A League and they've brought through some quality Aussie internationals despite operating on a smaller budget than a lot of their competitors. In 2023 they just beat Melbourne City in the Grand Final, though that timeline will not be playing out in this save! They've won 1 previous finals series and finished top twice in 07-08 and 11-12, so they have some pedigree. In their last game they drew 0-0 with Newcastle Jets, so hard to read too much into it. The media peg me as strong favourites going into this one though. They played a 4-5-1 and thankfully for me, their star German RW Nicolai Muller (at the tender age of 34) is currently injured. They do have Oliver Bozanic pulling the strings in midfield though, and Jason Cummings leading the line up top (or so I thought until he was a late out). I go in unchanged and the match is quite comfortable in the end. Nabbout doesn't score the early goal this time but instead sets it up, playing a ball over the top for a beautifully timed Metcalfe run with a nice chipped finish from the top of the box. Shortly after we score from a corner routine. There's a bit of nervousness at the start of the 2nd half where they rack up the XG but we see it through and the last 30 minutes are sedate. I was a bit lucky to keep a clean sheet, but we deserved the win. And then, just for a change of pace, we play Macarthur again. Because why not? May as well play them every 2nd game. At least this time it's at home though! Once this is done I won't play them again for the rest of the season. The media predicts a close fought win for me. I make a couple of rotation changes, the biggest loss being Curtis Good, my in form defender who is not quite match fit. Thankfully we seem to have learnt from previous encounters and Nabbout gets us off to a quicks tart in the opening minutes. I am pleasantly surprised by him, he was the member of the front 3 I was least sure about but he's had the biggest contribution so far. I just wish I could get Maclaren firing but I guess that's partially due to the overload system. Nabbout adds a 2nd, then Maclaren finally gets rolling as well before Tomi Juric pegs one bag for Macarthur with a filthy chip over the keeper. O'Neill comes on for a 4th, then Leckie finally gets a deserved goal to make it 5 before Nabbout completes his hattrick. We definitely made the most of our chances, massively outperforming our XG. It's been kinda weird playing them so often but it really shows how we are starting to click. Going from losing on penalties, to a late win, to blowing them out of the water. But I do look forward to playing some new teams!

Preseason: We start the journey with a number of friendlies and a few cup games already completed. No idea who The Gap or Ipswich City are, but beating Adelaide United is handy. There are a LOT of holes in the staffing roster, along with some not so great current members. Staff wages are an issue though, so I mostly keep those already in place for now (except a 2nd GK coach and 2nd AM) and offer liberal cup bonuses to try and get around max wage restrictions. Throwing the Cup is starting to sound quite tempting. It's not ideal but should help live up to my promise to improve the coaching team which I made to try and convince some of my squad to listen to me given my low starting reputation. We now have the best coaching team in the competition, so that's something. My players are still looking forward to improvements though. Apparently they refuse to settle for the best. I offer a heap of trials to high reputation players trying to fill my last Designated Player spot. I can unregister 1 young GK without consequence (delisting any others gives mutual contract terminations), giving me space for exactly 1 player. Unfortunately my 5 foreign spots are all taken with no easy way to adjust this, so most of my trials are pointless (though several are snapped up by other teams in the league who thank me for bringing the players to their attention). I do give Erik Paartelu a friendly game though and decide to offer him the last spot to return, but his other old club in Brisbane Roar beat me to his signature. Likewise Bruno Fornaroli is released on a free by Perth who seem to be hoping Daniel Sturridge stays fit but he promptly goes to Melbourne Victory instead (just like real life the traitor). My only remaining option seems to be an aging James Troisi who has just injured himself for 3 months, so I guess no signings for me at the moment! Australia Cup: First (or next) up in the cup we have new boys Macarthur FC. Based in Southern Sydney, they are the newest A-League team having just participated in their first season finishing 6th. Historically they actually win this competition in 2022 but I am hopeful of a result here despite the fact that they have already beaten Newcastle Jets, Central Coast Mariners and Perth Glory to reach this stage. They have just had a couple of their big name players retire (Mark Milligan, Adam Federici) but still have some danger men including their new captain Ulises Dávila, new CB Adrian Mariappa from Watford/Bristol City and a couple of Australian Internationals in Tomi Juric and Apostolos Giannou. They also took Craig Noone from me in the off season, so I have something to prove to him here. With players still fresh and other friendlies following this to give game time to backups, I go in with a full strength squad, minus CB Curtis Good who is out injured. Time to see if the tactic holds up against better opposition... During the first half we settle into our game and 23 minutes in Leckie picks out Nabbout at the back post to put us ahead. Sadly the lead doesn't last as Toure slots home from a well weighted cross in the 35th to equalise. Leckie and Nabbout both head over shortly after and we go into half time with the scores tied. We are dominating possession but the XG is equal due to a number of shots off target from us. My halftime talk fails to get any sort of reaction so I sit back and wait. Eventually Maclaren's complacent attitude annoys me and I drag him off for Pucciarelli. Jamieson is injured but manages to hobble through and Juric almost wins it for them in the dying minutes except for a strong Glover save. We head into extra time and almost score when their goalkeeper turns it onto the post for a corner. That's as close as we get though and it's through to penalties. At this point I realise half my team are hopeless at this, so hopefully we don't need to go deep! Then disaster strikes as Nabbout misses the 3rd penalty. Glover fails to save their 4th and up steps Jenkinson who also fails and just like that we are out of the Cup. A crushing way to lose my first competitive game in charge but the stats are promising. We managed to dominate away from home in our first game in the new system. If we continue to play like this we should be fine. 2 more friendlies, then we get the chance to set things straight with Macarthur in the opening league game. My boys will be itching for revenge!