Jimbokav1971

Retirement. May 2058. Not happy about this at all. (40b) Ramalho (POR) * is currently playing at the World Cup and is still classed as a Worldclass midfielder. I know he might want to go out at the top but this is ridiculous! He made 24(24) appearances this season and 8(14) last season, (after joining in Jan). If anything we have used him too much rather than too little.

Facilities. May 2058. We've gone from having £150M in the bank to having a loan for £61M and having £30M in the bank. Jimb O'Kav Park! Before this save I had never had a new stadium named after me in FM. I had had loads of new stadiums built, but they had never been names after me. Now I will have 2 with both the Belenenses stadium and the Belenenses B stadium both named after me. [Edit] Actually the B Team stadium is called The propee stadium will be called So the 1st Team play at the park and the B Team play at the stadium.

Apr 2058. Liga Bwin. It seems so easy to win all these league games now that we're not going to win the league. UEFA Champions League. This was a big result. HUGE result. We're into the Semi's against PSG. Taça de Portugal Placard. I didn't know there were away goals in this competition. I do now. I actually like away goals as a rule, but I like it even more when we win. Goal-scoring GK's.

Yeah, he's doing really well. He's just played a full season starting for the B Team. I think he was a Liga 3 level player at the start of the season and is a Liga Bwin standard player already.

Mar 2058. Liga Bwin. A 2nd loss in the league this season means that any slim hope we had of a Benfica implosion is all but over. UEFA Champions League. Already leading 3-2 from the 1st leg, we eased into the Quarter-Finals. We have been drawn against Real Sociedad in the Quarters and I was initially happy with that, but we're not in 2022 anymore and Barca and R.Madrid are no longer the dominant forces in Spanish football. Real Sociedad have won each of the last 4 La Liga titles, 7 of the last 10 La Liga titles and haven't finished outside the top 5 for 25 years. Real Sociedad is who I should have been wanting to avoid. If we manage to progress past the Spanish champions, our "reward" is Inter or PSG. Taça de Portugal Placard. We lost the 1st leg, but it's only 1-0 and I'm hopeful of overturning the deficit. Goal-scoring GK's. No GK goals this month, but with (50c) Ako (FRA) (GPE) 6'0" on 14 goals he needs just 1 more to reach the 15 goal mark for the season after scoring 15, 17 & 15 goals in previous seasons.

NxGn 2057. I'm really surprised to have only 2 player on the list. How does (55a) Mavioso (POR) *** not make the list? I don't understand.

Youth Intake day. Mar 2058. Generational talent? Let's reserve judgement on that for a minute shall we. Squad by PA. 1x 4.5 PA player, but not much else. The 1.5 CA might be decent though. Squad by Actual PA. Yuck. What a shambles. Yeah we've got 1 very good player, but none of the others are likely to ever play higher than the B Team. It's such a shame because there are some lovely Nationalities in there. Summary. There are probably loads of FM players who would love this as an intake. We got 1 REALLY good player, and actually when you consider the phase of the save we're in, this is actually just the type of intake we need, but that really doesn't matter to me. I know I have probably been spoiled in recent seasons at this club, (but in my defence it has taken me 37 intakes to get here), but I would much prefer less PA from that 1 player and more PA spread evenly over a few players. I would much prefer 2x 150 PA players than 1x 180 PA player and the rest being below 120 PA. I would probably even prefer 3x 130 PA players than 1x 180 PA player, (but I'm doubting myself even as I'm writing that). I know that in real life this would equate to the motherload of an intake. I remember the story of the Arsenal youth team being built around Jack Wilshire with many of them not having any hope of making it at Arsenal. (Some of them have gone on to forge decent careers Ayling, Shea, Eastmond, Bartley, Lansbury, Coquelin, Ozyakup, Jay Emmanuel Thomas & Rhys Murphy), but the idea of the Arsenal Youth Team isn't to create players who will go on and play professional football. The idea is that they produce players good enough to play for Arsenal and with the exception of Wilshere, (possibly Azyakup), and Ayling, (who is better than most of their defenders in my opinion), they have failed to do that. Yet because of the service that even an injury plagued Wilshere gave them, this intake would have been deemed a success. I much prefer the more recent intake that produced the likes of Saka, ESR, & Holding. Putting all your eggs in 1 basket doesn't seem to be the most sensible of ideas and the general consensus is that everyone knew that only Wilshere would make the grade at Arsenal from that side. It just seems defeatist to me. So anyway, I'm not best pleased with this intake, (nor am I an Arsenal fan).

2300 Up. Mar 2058.

Feb 2058. Liga Bwin. 3 wins is great, but it doesn't really matter when Benfica also win their 3 league games this month. They were humbled 6-3 at home to Liverpool in the Champions League, (so are as good as out), but it will be interesting to see if their morale hit impacts on their league form, (especially when they also lose the 2nd leg). We're 4 pts off them which is a minimum of 2 results even if we manage to win all 9 of our remaining games. UEFA Champions League. We were 3-1 up until the dying moments and the late goal we conceded was a big one. I'm hoping that it doesn't prove costly. Goal-scoring GK's. It's interesting that as soon as (50c) Ako (FRA) (GPE) 6'0" "pops from "devastated" to "very unhappy" he starts converting penalties again. So while it's not as black and white as happy or unhappy, levels of unhappiness certainly seems to be a thing.

Jan 2058. Liga Bwin. 4 clean sheets is great, but we really can't afford to be blanking against a team like Famalicao. Benfica lost to Leixoes and then drew at home to Braga so while we could have made up 5 massive points them, instead we have only closed the gap by 3. We're 4 pts behind now but they are no longer unbeaten and I wonder how their morale will have been knocked by the recent dropped points? They play Liverpool in the Champions League so I'm hoping that they get absolutely spanked and it sends them into a tailspin. Taça de Portugal Placard. We play poorly as a team, but (45c) Rosa (POR) * rescues us with a marvelous hat-trick. Allianz League Cup. What a disaster! We fail from the spot in 90 mins and then fail with 4 of our 5 spot-kicks in the shootout. What a shambles! On the plus side, it saves us getting beat in the Final again I suppose. Transfers. Goal-scoring GK's. It would seem that (50c) Ako (FRA) (GPE) 6'0" is fine converting from the spot when he is "very unhappy", but "devastated" is a step too far and he has now missed 2 on the spin.

Transfers. Jan 2057. Our striking options are as follows. (44a) Simões (POR) * and (53a) Khwinana (ENG) (RSA) *** play in Team 1. (45c) Rosa (POR) * and (41c) Abrantes (POR) * play in Team 2. (41c) Abrantes (POR) * is well off the pace and is joining Atalanta on a free at the end of the season. (51b) Oliveira (POR) ** & (53g) Lopes (POR) start for the B Team. I recently saw who was 2nd top scorer in the Liga Bwin though..... (42i) Edgar João (POR) (ANG) might be 31 years old, but he looks just what we need at the moment. I've offered them £10M and then £15M but they aren't interested. I think I might need to push the boat out and get him back in. I tried to go to £20M, (it's only money), but the board cancelled the offer.

It was too much to cope with. We did ok, but with the injuries and fatigue our squad wasn't strong enough. Close but no cigar as they say. We did fine against the weaker opposition, but when we played the harder games we dropped points in 3 of the 4 I highlighted earlier.

Dec 2057. Liga Bwin. I was actually quite happy with our form up until the Benfica game, and even after that I'm finding it hard to find much to complain about. We were 2-0 down at Gil Vicente and came back to draw, and then the Guimaraes goal was scored because our GK was caught stranded upfield. This was also the case for the 2nd Benfica goal. As this is such a big part of the save for me I would be silly to enjoy #GoalScoringKeepers so much and then complain about the goals we cough up as a result. It's just the flip side of the coin. The problem however is that we're now 1 point behind Benfica AND they have 2 games in hand. I personally think it's unlikely that they are going to drop enough points between now and the rest of the season to let us back in. I must admit that I was secretly thinking that if we could avoid defeat in the Benfica game then we had a real chance of going unbeaten for the whole season. Alas it wasn't to be but there's always next season). UEFA Champions League. As much as they completely battered us in the 1st game, we properly gave them a good bludgeoning in this game and were well deserved winners and over the course of the 6 games deserve to finish top of the group. I honestly don't know City were so poor in this game. They didn't have mass injuries or suspensions. Taça de Portugal Placard. A cobbled together team was enough to progress in domestic Cups. (51b) Oliveira (POR) ** is meant to be playing for the B team, (and has 10 goals in 15 appearances for them so is doing ok), but I certainly didn't expect him to score 4 goals in the 4 starts I gave him for the 1st Team. Allianz league Cup. Goal-scoring GK's. I'm pretty sure that this is the 1st time in the save that a GK has hit double figures before Jan. (50c) Ako (FRA) (GPE) 6'0" actually reached 11 before Jan.

Yeah, when our B Team started beating them I knew that the SAD Franchise derby feature in the update was well and truly dead.

I'm in the middle of it, but it's coincided with loads of little niggling 2-3 day injuries and I can't seem to get players properly fit. It's really frustrating. Gil Vicente Man City Guimaraes Benfica These are probably what I would class as the tough fixtures and at least it allows me to rotate the squad for the easier games between them. The problem is though that with such fitness issues I have had to dispense with rotating from Starting lineup #1 to Starting lineup #2 and instead I'm having to cobble together whoever is fit on the day and it even means that B Team players have started games for the 1st Team and even players who don't even start for the B Team have been called into service. It's been tough, frustrating and challenging, but also really enjoyable.

We had 5 games this month. We had 6 games last month. We had 4 games the previous month. Next month we have 9 games.

Nov 2057. Liga Bwin. The goal we conceded against Porto was a counter from an attacking free-kick, (and no I'm not going to stop it). The good news is that Benfica lost their last league game to our local friend SAD Franchise, (who were promoted again last season), so with a game in hand we're effectively neck and neck. UEFA Champions League. We've already qualified for the Knockout Rounds and our home game against Man City will decide whether we progress as Group Leaders or Runners Up. Taça de Portugal Placard. Goal-scoring GK's.

Oct 2057. Liga Bwin. 2 more wins keeps us at the top, but the most impressive thing was keeping Sporting and Puljić scoreless. Benfica & Porto remain unbeaten but Porto did at least drop 2 more points. UEFA Champions League. 2 wins and 2 clean sheets has somehow pulled us level on points with Man City who astonishingly lost 1-0 in Turkey. Taça de Portugal Placard. (45c) Rosa (POR) * & the Reserves were meant to play in this game, but he got injured so (44a) Simões (POR) * played and scored 5 goals in 34 mins. Allianz League Cup. The Reserves eased through against Sporting and it's the 1st time in as long as I can remember that neither (44a) Simões (POR) * nor (45c) Rosa (POR) * started for the 1st Team. Goal-scoring GK's.

Sep 2057. Liga Bwin. The 3 Big Boys, (ourselves, Benfica & Porto), are still unbeaten, but what I want to draw your attention to is the 17 goals scored by Sporting which is only 2 short of our 19 goals. Of these 17 goals, Croat Danijel Puljić has scored 11 of them, (in only 7 appearances). UEFA Champions League. We were absolutely destroyed by Man City and 6 or 7 nil would have been a fairer reflection on the game. I know it was our reserves in this game, but if this is the level we need to be at to win the Champions League then we are a million miles off it. We were obliterated! Goal-scoring GK's.

Aug 2057. Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira. Nice to get the 1st trophy of the season in the bag early. Liga Bwin. We're a little bit rusty with regards to a mixture of me changing partnerships and players picking up niggles in pre-season. We had a man sent off in the 1st half against Benfica on opening day and still didn't lose, (but we should have won), but the PdF draw is frustrating, (but at least we didn't lose). UEFA Champions League Group. This appears to be an easier group than in recent seasons although Galatasaray have both (47a) Soares (POR) SELL and (44l) Teixeira (CPV) (POR) in their ranks so will be no pushover. Transfers. When @Thebakerasked about transfers I think I said something along the lines of "we're not going crazy with sales", but we've still managed to ship £30M worth. Goal-scoring GK's.

I don't put a GK on the bench because at no point through this save has my GK suffered a red injury during a game and been unable to continue. Of course there is a chance of injury during training, but for the last few seasons we've not had to deal with that either. We do of course have a few option who have left the club but could potentially be re-signed, (although the better ones are getting on now). Not many goals here, but certainly lots of appearances.

Yeah a GK is top of the list. We've not been going mad with the sales, but a few have gone out. Not counting this current season, we've sold players to the tune of £206M, (which astonishes me). We've got players who are worth a few quid though. From above list, only (50a) Amarante (POR)(CPV) 5'10, (who I'm playing at DR), and (41c) Abrantes (POR) *. (who's contract expires at the end of the season), are in my immediate plans to sell, but (41a) Gil (POR) *, (51j) Vicente (POR) *, (47k) Tavares (CPV) * & (50l) Bartlett (ENG) * could all go if the price was right. The reality is that because money isn't an option, I sometimes just choose to let players leave on a free at the end of their contract rather than selling them 12 months earlier or offering them a new contract. 31 year old (41c) Abrantes (POR) * is a perfect example of that right now. I could sell him for £10M, but I don't want a young player sitting on the bench all season. I would rather see them play elsewhere which will benefit their development.

Squad Depth. Jul 2057. SC. 1st Team. (44a) Simões (POR) * & (53a) Khwinana (ENG) (RSA) ***. (45c) Rosa (POR) * & (41c) Abrantes (POR) *. B Team. (51b) Oliveira (POR) ** & (53g) Lopes (POR) & (54f) Sales (POR) *. U23's. (53c) Brandão (POR) U19's. Loan. (50l) Bartlett (ENG) * Sell. (41c) Abrantes (POR) *

Squad Depth. Jul 2057. ML & MR. MR. 1st team. (51a) Marinho (POR) *** & (41a) Gil (POR) *, (although (41a) Gil (POR) * may also be used at DR). B Team. (55b) Cunha (BRA) *** MR U23's. (52e) Oliveira (CPV) * U19's. Loan. (52i) Simões (POR) *, (50h) Mickaël (POR) (FRA). Sell. ML. 1st team. (49e) Madruga (POR) & (53b) Espínola (POR) *. B Team. (54b) Soares (CPV)(POR) *** ML & (54b) Soares (CPV)(POR) *** ML U23's. (52a) Brito (POR) * U19's. Loan. Sell.