Jimbokav1971

Rankings. Jun 2060. European Competition rankings. European Club rankings. Nation Club coefficients. Qualification Places.

May 2060. To retain the league is a big deal. To retain the Champions League is a huge deal. To retain both of them in the same season is enormous. Liga Bwin. It's been a long old season and we were really starting to pick up injures and feel fatigued as the season came to the close, but having already won the league gave us a little more freedom and although we conceded a goal in each game this month, we also won on each occasion and ended up winning the league by a 15 point margin, (which is ridiculous in Portugal and even more so playing a Youth Only save). We fell 1 short of the record of 123 goals scored in a season, and equaled the record of 95 pts in a season, but it was good for our GD to be +100 for the 1st time. I personally think that conceding 17 goals was too many, but we kept 23 clean sheets in 34 games so conceded 17 goals in the other 11 games. Rather than concentrating on 17 goals conceded, I would prefer to work on the 11 games conceded in. UEFA Champions League. I don't think I have ever retained the Champions league in FM before, (although might have done it with San Marino in FM14), but we've got a squad now with enough depth that I wonder if we might to be able to go on and do it again. We're a little weak in midfield after the sale of Worldclass midfielder (44c) Ogbu (ENG) (NGA) *, but that just gives the opportunity to someone else so I'm happy to continue with what we have. Getting the league won early and being able to rest players really does give us an advantage. Facilities. We're due to move into a new stadium next month, (which is about 18k bigger than our current stadium). The only problem here is that I expect to sell it out pretty quickly and the board to start extending it almost immediately. The new stadium will be Jimb O'Kav Park, not to be confused with the B team stadium which is the Jimb O'Kav Stadium, (which is also being extended). B Team Stadium. Goal-scoring GK's. I remember aiming for 20 goals in a season, (which we hadn't done before in this save), but in the end (50c) Ako (FRA) (GPE) 6'0" almost scored 30, and would have done if he hadn't missed 2 penalties. 28 goals in a season for a GK is a new record for me, (and a new record for anyone as far as I'm aware). Finances.

Apr 2060. League Bwin. It's a measure of our progress that after 13 clean sheets in our last 14 league games, we almost capitulate against Estoril and concede 3, but score goals in the 88th and 93rd minutes to not just draw but win. We were poor and leggy, (and lucky), against Guimaraes, but although we drop points in a 3rd league game this season, we keep the losses to 1 thanks to a 94th min equaliser. We'[re 9 pts ahead of Benfica with a game in hand and have already been crowned Champions. The record for most goals in a league season is 123 by Sporting in 1946/47, so with 3 games to play we need 12 more to beat it. Under normal circumstances I would say we're in with a chance, but 2 of our 3 remaining games are against Porto & Benfica. UEFA Champions League. We were the better side against Man Utd and were comfortable despite the tight scorelines. We were however a little fortunate to escape Man City with a 0-0 draw. A home win in the 2nd leg and we're in the Final again. Taça de Portugal Placard. We led 4-2 after the 1st leg and I remember wondering at the time about conceding a 2nd goal when we were 4-1 up and then not scoring more ourselves. It really did come back to haunt us and I can't even blame it on me selecting a weakened side because the 2 goal-scorers here are the 2 best players at the club which suggests I went pretty strong. Either way, they scored A 94th minute leveller and then went on to win it in extra time. To suggest that I was unhappy with the loss would be a serious under-statement. Goal-scoring GK's. Finances.

Exactly this. There is just 1x £60M loan and it was for the stadium.

The form was brilliant, (but has tailed off a tiny bit). The £61M loan is actually the loan for the new stadium, (because I checked and we have only 1 loan). The financial situation is a little strange, but we were down to about £27M in the bank when they took out the £60M loan, and when you add into the mix that we had a transfer kitty of somewhere in the region of £150M-£200M during this period t actually makes sense that they want to leave some "petty cash" in the bank. My criticism is that the game is completely unaware that over the 38 years of this save, I have only spent £15M on players. The AI is oblivious to the trend. I would like the AI to recognise what I'm doing and adapt accordingly. Instead it still expects me to go out and spent the £190M transfer budget. I'm not saying that the financial AI is easy to fix. In fact I'm not even saying it's broken. I just wish it was better. I much prefer a "good" intake like that with the quality spread over a few different players rather than all concentrated on 1 superstar.

Mar 2060. Liga Bwin. 2 more wins and 2 more clean sheets. We're 10 pts clear with 7 games remaining. Porto and Benfica are slugging it out for 2nd/3rd and we will probably decide who finishes where as we play them in the last 2 games of the season. UEFA Champions League. Another comfortable win sees us through with ease. We have avoided both Porto & Real Sociedad in the Quarter Finals. And also the Semi-Final too. Taça de Portugal Placard. Facilities. Goal-scoring GK's. We're almost there. My record for GK goals in a season is 24 (I think), and (50c) Ako (FRA) (GPE) 6'0" is currently on 24 with at least 10 games, (and possibly as many as 14 games), still to play. Finances.

NxGn Mar 2060. (57a) Lima (CPV)(POR) 6'0" *** is the 2nd choice left centre-half. (56a) Juromito (POR) *** DR is the 3rd choice right back at the moment, (so playing mostly for the B Team), but will be 2nd choice next season. Players eligible for the award. 19 year old (56a) Juromito (POR) *** DR. CA134 PA173. 18 year old (57a) Lima (CPV)(POR) 6'0" ***. CA130 PA160. 18 year old (57c) Inácio (POR). CA120 PA127. 18 year old (58a) Flores (NED)(SLV) CA110 PA184. 19 year old (56f) Modesto (POR) 6'4". CA107 PA113. 18 year old (57b) Trindade (POR) * DL. CA102 PA139. We've got no other teenagers on 100+ CA.

Youth Intake day. Mar 2060. What are we expecting. Well the Preview suggested the following. 1x GK 1x FB 2x AM 1x W I plan on ending the save if I ever get to the point that Ako retires, so not sure we will benefit from another GK. I don't care which side the FB is. We don't use AM's so if they are any good I would hope to re-train them to play either as the 2nd striker on the right, a winger or a DLP. I don't care which side the W is. What have we got. Squad by PA stars. The high PA is 4.0, (which isn't great), but the reason it isn't great is because we have Worldclass players already at the club). Not much in the way of Nationalities, although 2 interesting ones at the bottom. 4 players with low Det, (that I'm not going to sign). 1x Perfectionist, 2x F.Pro, 1x F.Det I've decided immediately that I won't be signing the 4 players with Low Det. (60k) Silvestre. (POR) (60l) Furtado. (POR) (60n) Pinto. (POR) (60p) Njie. (GAM) It has nothing to do with their CA or PA and all about their personality, (or lack thereof). Squad by Actual PA. I really like this as an intake, despite it actually not appearing to be great. There are 5 players at 130+ PA and 2 more at 120+ PA. (60n) Pinto. (POR) actually has good PA of 143, but I'm still not signing him. He is Unambitious(2). He has Low Det(3). He has a low starting CA(52). He is never going to reach his PA with those 3 things working against him. It doesn't matter if his PA was 200. He wouldn't reach it so it doesn't matter! (60m) Lehner (POR) (SUI) looks ok, but I really don't like that low workrate in a full back. (60a) Costa (POR) looks like he will work nicely as a DLP. (60g) Vieira (POR) looks really good. (60a) Farny (POR) (SUI) looks excellent and he will play as a 2nd striker. I really like him. (60d) Ribeiro (POR) 6'0" is the GK that isn't needed. Great personality though. To those who are a little unsure as to what makes a Perfectionist, this is the template. His hidden attributes are actually Amb(14) Press(13) Pro(17) Consis(16) ImpM(13) Det(15) which I thing you will agree is decent. (60c) Leonardo (POR) 6'1" may be an (Unamb) personality, but it's not twinned with Low Det so I am offering him a contract. His Pro is also in double figures.

Feb 2060. Liga Bwin. 3 more wins and 3 more clean sheets sends us 10 pts clear with 9 games remaining. At this stage the focus is starting to shift from Liga Bwin games to the Champions League and Taça de Portugal Placard. The key isn't to just bin of the league games though. but select a team that will still get the job done. UEFA Champions League. We should have won by more than a single goal, and I hope that our defensive stability with be enough to see us through the 2nd leg. Discipline. No wonder he wants to leave. I'm fining him half his wages every month. Goal-scoring GK's. No goals for Ako this month after his 6 goals last month, but (52j) Candé (GNB) (POR) 6'2" chipped in with 3 penalties. Finances.

As much as I would like to say that we just have better players than the opposition, while it's certainly true that we have some star players, we also regularly play players who are unlikely ever to be Portugese Internationals and others who are Internationals of other Nations but nowhere near the required quality for a team competing with Benfica. (52b) Martins (POR) * & (50g) Martins (POR) (FRA) DL * are our 1st and 2nd choice left backs. Neither have ever been capped and it wouldn't surprise me if that doesn't change. They've made 16(1) and 21(2) appearances respectively this season. (45e) The Gimp (ENG) 6'3" ** has been capped just once by England, and he's in his 30's now so he's not going to get any better. He's made 17(2) appearances for us. (49a) Odhiambo (POR) (KEN) * has just 1 Cap and is pretty limited if I'm honest. He's our 2nd choice CM(a). He shouldn't be winning titles but he's made 15(6) appearances already this season. The (CPV) Tavares brothers, (they're not brothers at all), are our 2nd choice DLP and our 3rd choice CM(a) who have made 8(12) and 6 appearances respectively. These players shouldn't be getting a game. (49e) Madruga (POR) & (53b) Espínola (POR) * are our 1st and 2nd choice left wingers but they also haven't been capped and I don't think they ever will, yet they have made 19(7) and 17(5) appearances respectively. (50l) Bartlett (ENG) * is our 2nd choice AF(a) and only has 3 Caps for England. He's made 9(9) appearances, scoring 10 goals this season. (51b) Oliveira (POR) ** is our 3rd choice AF(a) and has scored 2 goals from 3 appearances this season. Again, he's way off it. Some very average players there I think you would agree. I think what I'm saying is that it's better to play fresh/fit players of a poorer standard than it is to flog the stars to death.

Jan 2060. Liga Bwin. It's fair to say that we have been in decent form in the league. We're 7 pts ahead of Porto, (and have a game in hand), but I think Benfica will still finish 2nd. It's good to see Sporting become a little more consistent again. Braga were doing really well and were on a 20 game unbeaten run until recently. The best thing about this run of form is that due to injuries we have been using an under-strength squad Taça de Portugal Placard. The Reserves strolled through this. Allianz League Cup. I've worked out why we have been having so much trouble with Benfica in this. Although it tells us we're playing at a neutral venue, we've actually been playing Semi's and Finals at the Estádio da Luz, (which is Benfica's home ground). Discipline. That's a LOT of money he's paid in fines! Transfers. Goal-scoring GK's. 50c) Ako (FRA) (GPE) 6'0" has been in great form recently. Finances.

Bernardo Simões scored 167 career goals. (50c) Ako (FRA) (GPE) 6'0" has scored 132 career goals at the age of 25. Rui Valente scored 100 career goals. 176 career goals is the record I'm chasing.

Yeah, we're pretty consistent. When we lose or draw there is usually a very good reason for it. Against Guimaraes we were weakened by injury and despite bossing the game they were ridiculously clinical. They score on average less than 2 goals per game, (compared to us scoring approx 3.4 goals per game), but on this occasion we were under-strength, were poor and they were good. Just one of those things. The 1st loss in the Champions league was down to me being forced to select a squad mixed from both 1st Team and Reserves, and not keeping enough partnerships intact, (again linked to injuries). I was basically multi-tasking and not paying enough attention when selecting the squad. The 2nd loss in the Champions League was when we were decimated by injuries and I had 4 strikers in the squad who usually play for the B Team. We were hugely under strength. The draw against Benfica recently in the league was simply because on the day they were significantly better than us. They have performed poorly at times this season but they were bang on it against us. When they are good they are VERY good. I think we scored either 11 or 12 GK goals by Jan 1st last season and that was the 1st time we had managed double figures by this stage. To be on 15 goals by that stage now is quite frankly ridiculous. In comparison, the B Team have a really young squad this season and are nowhere near as dominant as our 1st Team. Cande has only taken 2 penalties from 16 games, (scoring 1), compared to Ako taking 14 penalties in 31 games, (scoring 13), but where as Ako has only scored 2 direct free-kicks, Cande has smashed in 3. Ako has scored 15 goals against an xG of 15.03. Cande has scored 4 goals against an xG of 3.01. I know these figures are skewed because penalties are involved, but Cande has only taken 2 and missed 1 of them! [Edit] 23% of Cande's career goals are free-kicks. 17% od Ako's career goals are free-kicks. Cande is converting penalties at 77%, (and because he has taken far fewer, a miss has a much bigger impact on the overall average). Ako is converting penalties at 88%, (and because he's taken 120+ missing a couple doesn't really change anything). The differences between the 2 players are quite significant. I like that, but I can't explain it.

Dec 2059. Liga Bwin. We were 2nd best against Benfica and lucky to get away with the draw so I can't complain. After losing last month it doesn't really matter anyway. 4 clean sheets is great, but I really wanted a clean sweep of clean sheets this month. UEFA Champions League. The Reserves finished 2nd in the Group Stage. Taça de Portugal Placard. The Reserves were very comfortable. Allianz League Cup. An enormously reduced squad, (because of injury), lost this game by a single goal, but thanks to winning the 1st Group game 6-1 we still progressed. Youth Intake preview. A GK that will never get to play? Discipline issues. I've never seen a player miss training this many times. I think it's time to let him go. Goal-scoring GK's. That's a lot of goals. (50c) Ako (FRA) (GPE) 6'0" has now scored 15 goals by New Year this season and (52j) Candé (GNB) (POR) 6'2" seems better at taking free-kicks than he is taking penalties. Finances.

Ah sorry, I will update the original post with the proper table.

Nov 2059. Liga Bwin. That's what happens when you get ahead of yourself and think about an unbeaten league campaign. It pulls your pants down on you and gives you a damn good spanking! We might have won the xG battle against Guimaraes, but they put the ball in the net 3 times and that's all that matters. UEFA Champions League. Taça de Portugal Placard. Goal-scoring GK's. Finances.

Goal 50. Nov 2059. In the past we've had players who are products of our Academy on this list, but we've never had a player on the list while they are still with us. The fact that he's only 22 years old is brilliant and we've got him contracted for 4.5 more years.

Oct 2059. Liga Bwin. What stands out here isn't that we're top and unbeaten, but that Porto have only conceded 3 goals and Braga only 5 goals. UEFA Champions League. We seemed to have loads of injuries from both the 1st Team and Reserves so in the end I just mix and matched it and we had absolutely no partnerships in the whole squad. You would think I would have learned by now. I have learned and I STILL did it. Taça de Portugal Placard. Goal-scoring GK's. Finances.

Sep 2059. Liga Bwin. It's the usual suspects at the top behind us, but Benfica have already lost a 3rd game and after 8 games have conceded 10 goals and trail us by 9 pts. UEFA Champions League. All comfortable in Europe so far. The Schalke game was far more one-sided than the scoreline suggests. Allianz League Cup. We need to stop conceding sloppy goal. Facilities. Goal-scoring GK's. Finances.

That's a very good question actually and the answer is of course they have, but not in the way that you might mean. 1st of all we play so many games that I want to rotate the strikers so that they perform at an optimum level, so because of that there are not really any issues with playing time, (because everyone is playing and scoring). As soon as a player stops playing, (or scoring), then the morale hits arrive and it can be a viscous circle. Luckily we create so many chances that invariably the next goal is just round the corner anyway, (so in answer to your question there is a negative morale hit involved in a striker not taking pens). We are of course assuming that I would have had my strikers taking penalties in the 1st place and that's in no way guaranteed, even without my penchant for goal-scoring GK's. The other negative is that you may remember that I recently got a huge bid for my GK Ako, (I can't remember if it was £80M or £100M, but it was certainly 1 of them), and the size of that bid was directly related to his performances and specifically his match ratings, which of course were skewed by all the goals he was scoring. (His last 2 match ratings were 9.2 (2 goals and a clean sheet), and 8.2 (1 goal and a clean sheet). When you are scoring almost 20 goals a season, this boosted match rating adds up and has a significant impact on the value of a player. This could be viewed as a negative because instead of Rosa scoring 57 goals this season, he has actually only scored 38 goals. While this could be deemed a negative because the bids we get for our strikers will be lower, (which is usually a bad thing because we make less money when we sell them because they are in less demand because they have scored fewer goals. Makes sense? Now is where it gets confusing though. I don't actually want to seem my 4 striker strikers who are playing in the 1st Team and I don't want to sell the 3-4 under 24 strikers who are playing in the B Team. I want them to stay at the club until they either are over 24 and aren't 1 of the 4 1st choice strikers, (at which time I will sell them), but I certainly don't want the big clubs sniffing around offering me big money for players who will become unhappy if I don't let them go. So yes they have been affected, but it's by design rather than by accident if truth be told.

I'm quite philosophical with regards to losing Cup Finals in a save where I use an IR button. It makes me care much less about an individual result, and makes me focus more on the longer term and the bigger picture. I would have loved to have won them, but they really aren't big trophies and going 9 pts up in the league after the 1st month is a bit of a statement. I'm not sure how realistic it is, but I have serious designs on an unbeaten domestic season in this save. Scoring 3 a game sounds great, but you might have noticed that 5 of the goals in the league were scored by (50l) Bartlett (ENG) * who is our 2nd choice AF. He's top goal-scorer in the league and he plays for our rotated team. So they actually did much better than our 1st choice XI, (who lost 2 Cup Finals and really weren't prolific in the league).

Transfers. Sep 2059. I was prepared to lose a few players in this window, (and actually encouraged it), but the price had to be right. If we weren't getting value then I was prepared to either loan players out or just let them see out their contracts. (47f) Santos (POR) 6'5" * had 12 months on his contract, and at 28 it was going to be expensive to renew his contract. He only made 9(2) appearances last season and I thought it worthwhile cashing in on him and letting him move on. The other players who left were very much fringe players who were never going to be 1st team regulars, so it seemed sensible to let them go for a little cash, (which all adds up). There were 3 deals that I wanted to do but which I thought had been cancelled by the transfer window closing. (47b) Santiago (POR) 6'0" is a 28 year old utility defender who I initially lost to Real Betis, but whom I managed to sign back on a free a while ago. Making a quick profit on him seemed like a good deal, so I was peeved when it fell through so will try and resurrect it. (44c) Ogbu (ENG) (NGA) * has been great for us, but he has 12 months left on his contract, (actually it's only 9 months now), so when the window closed with the deal still in the air I thought we had blown it. Fortunately the deal was completed 2 days later, (very strange), meaning that it won't go through until January! We got a really good deal for someone who will have only 6 months left on his contract when he leaves. £27.5M cash. £10M in installments. £10M after 50 league games. £200,000 per 50 league games (£10M) A friendly. When the deal wasn't done and the window closed, I offered him a new contract, (I didn't want him to leave on a free), and he agreed to sign a....3 or 4 year deal on £1,000,0000 per month, plus about £10M signing on bonus and another £1M to his agent. I wasn't happy, but I agreed it anyway. Not only were we losing the £60M fee, but we were paying him out £47M over the next 3 years for him to stay. I wan't happy! And then we got the message through saying that... Finances.

Aug 2059. Liga Bwin. What a ridiculous opening month of the season with 6 league games, (when 8 teams only played 4), and we also had to play the UEFA Super-Cup and the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, (the Portugese Super-Cup), on top. We lost both the Cups but we won all the league games and we've somehow already opened up a 9 (NINE) point gap at the top of the table. Benfica have already lost twice and Porto & Sporting have already list once each. We're the only unbeaten side left after the 1st month. Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira. When you have a player sent off after 6 mins against Benfica, you know you are in for a tough time. We actually did ok and for a while I thought we might nick it. UEFA Super Cup. We were the better team, but the Old Lady scored and we didn't. Goal-scoring GK's. Finances.

I went off on a bit of a tangent I think. I really just wanted to show that whatever the player is like, the single biggest thing is game time. I know I'm preaching to the converted in here because if you read my threads then you know the score, but I've seen soooo many people say that they never get any good players from their intakes because they want them to become good players before they play them. That's not how it works. I actually didn't check, but let's have another go right now and see what we can find. So I'm going to search all players that I can scout, I'm going to filter by actual PA and then I'm, going to find players who look like they haven't or won't reach their PA and then try and work it backwards and suggest why it might have been the case. *This time I'm also not going to exclude Belenenses players. #3. Vincenzo Bello. There is a 29 point gap between CA and PA at 26 years old so it appears unlikely he will reach his PA. Amb 16 Det 15 Pro 15 He has good development attributes & personality so what is the problem? Seems to have made enough appearances early on at a decent level, (although many of them were as a sub actually). Inter would have had facilities/coaching good enough. Hasn't suffered serious injuries. I can't give you a definitive answer on this one but I would guess that he just started with a low CA. He's a full International for Italy so he's far from a failure, (and there will still be some development in the mentals), but he's not going to reach his PA. #9 Matteo Lolli. There is a 64 point gap between CA and PA aged 27 so he's not going to reach his PA. I don't know what his personality is. Amb 9 Det 12 Pro 6 He has 2 of the 3 attributes in single figures so this could be the perfect example of what @Sonic Youthwas asking about and he's only the 2nd player I have looked at. Lazio didn't play him at all and didn't develop him well either, only loaning him out aged 18 to Liga 2 in Portugal, (and even then he was largely used as a sub in his 25 appearances). He's also had quite a few Major injuries including 6 weeks out in his debut season and 4 months out early in his development. These would have had a serious impact on his development.