SixPointer

Offt heart break! Good business on the transfer front. I think you should give it one more crack to get to the Austrian big time

Promotion, I can’t believe its player of your calibres first one. Here we go though

Loving the 343 system

Bounced back from the defeat and big champs league win. Leonardo is red hot!!

To be honest i have a clue what to do with it all. It’s huge scale compared to what I’m used to. So far I’ve promoted 4 players to first team to bleed in to the side and sent the other three with real potential out on loan. It’s going to be a case of if your good enough your old enough. Makes more sense now! Was a shame cause I think he woulda thrived in a front three as well. You would think in both our cases he would want the move. He clearly thinks a lot of himself.

Crazy that a club in the big five haven’t won the two big ones since the 80s. Great place to bring some huge silverware

In truth I never really wanted a big reshuffle, granted I had the likes of Andric, Paulo and Mecka ready to go from my Standard Liege list. But i fancied coming in and getting a feel for the club creating a list of better talent pools then taking aim. But it ended up being a case of now or never. Hopefully from now on it will be adding quality rather than quantity. As for the tactical shape I’ll have some results and feedback in the not so distant future.

When was the last time the club won something big?

I was there last year myself. Beautiful little stadium! Can only imagine how good the coast was after Napoli winning

Hit the ground running Welcome to the first update from Portugal, Lisbon.... Benfica. A brief intro. In the game time Benfica have only won one title, not last year but the year before that, all other titles since the start of the save have been won by Porto. They have won two Allianz cups and one Taca De Portugal, so not all doom and gloom and despite Porto's dominance Benfica still hold the record for most wins in all three. In terms of the squad inherited by Franz Schiemer it is rather aging. Livakovic (33), Sabitzer (34) Aursens (32) Dembele (32) Mctominay (31) and Summer arrival Julian Brandt (32) this is not to say experience is vital because of course it is, but a real lack of young pedigree was a concern. Joao Fonesca (22) Rui Mendes (18) and Andre Gomes (23) represented the youthful side. Arismendi (29), Rosas (28), Lino (28) Morato (27), Bullade (27), Balogun (27) And Frances (26) represented the players in their prime. Certainly a team that should push Porto but naturally I wanted to add and replace a few, a few more than I really wanted to. 38 players left the club, they do have a huge pool as they have four teams, B, 23's and 19's and 12 arrived. Franz generated 145 million euros, as Ait-Nouri had already sold before he arrived, which left the club without a recognised LWB. Arismendi, Rosas and Lino represent players he didn't want to let go of but the money was too good to refuse. The rest were players below the required standard, Demeble at 32 it was the last chance to get reasonable money for. Franz was like a kid in a sweetshop with his funding, although only a 103 million was himself, not all arriving this window either some loaned backd and Julian Brandt had arrived already for 32 million before he arrived, a frustrating signing for Franz to begin with, 32 AMC or Winger not something Franz is famed for deploying. First on the agenda was solving the issues at LWB, Joao Paulo arrived for 6.2 million after we activated his release clause at Zagreb, he has everything except determination, something i consider very important but was willing to turn a blind eye in this case. Barco at Boca had the exact same problem but at 7 million it covered the left flank for under 20 million. Next was adding some pedigree into the pivot, three players plus 30 need some young competition. The arrivals of Martinez (20) and Rodriguez (19) for 10 million each will provide us exactly that. Martinez is a battler and Rodriguez a creative force, both will need time but i'm hoping they eventually form a partnership. Aleksandar Meckaroski for 9 million again from Dinamo Zagreb is someone who typifes as a Franz Schiemer signing, he was brough Benfica to replace Demeble and if he makes the step up and improves which so many Franz signings do he could be an inspired piece of business. He has been on my radar since, Rauta left for Real Madrid with last January. Another forward needing replacing was Sam Lino, who I had really high hopes for after the first friendly in charge. Santiago Hidalgo would come in to offer us even more explosive pace and with a left foot this time, again he came up at Standard when looking at Rauta replacements. A pacy goalscorer sounds good to me, he hit 10 league goals last year in Mexico, so a big step up required. A familiar face in Mitja Ilenic, he joined from AS Roma at 7.5 million. Franz knows what he's getting from the young Slovenian having brought him to SV Ried so many years ago. Rosas was ofcourse much more established but in truth I couldn't find anyone else who stood out in the market. Miloš Andrić (5.75m) is another Franz had been keeping tabs on at Standard Liege, the left footed Serbian centre back is solid defender and his ball playing skills continue to grow. I hadn't planned for his arrival until Gaspar wasn't happy being back up to club captain Morato. In the end this looks like another example of Franz's market skills. After the departure of Arismendi to Real Madrid I felt I needed a marquee signing, someone who would instantly turn heads. In all truth i chased Mateusao first but he rejected terms, he was in truth a more complete forward. That said, with Brandt already arriving I had a plan and I could work Franca into that plan. The Plan Brandt arriving had forced me into something, but it also makes even more sense than just appeasing the German. Ive switched up the front three, now operating with double AF and F9, now the thinking is teams in the league will most likely sit off thus the space in behind that Franz craves will come at a premium. Now I know at Standard and SV Ried teams would drop deep but not as much as I envisage here. This is also the first team i haven't had a battering ram of striker at my disposal, so i thought it would be clever to go for pace down the sides and some creation dropping. I've added low crosses and Play out from the back for the lack of a true targetman will make those direct balls null and void. It's safe to say the bookmakers really don't fancy us to be breaking any curse anytime soon, 700/1. They see us as the weakest teams and should be worrying about getting hammered, did they watch Franz and Standard Liege last season? It makes a little more sense when you look at the teams handed to them in their section of the league, Man City, Man United, Liverpool, PSG, Ajax who are all big hitters. This is no surprise when you think of Benfica in real life you think of this, a tremendous business model and fantastic youth and scouting system. It's something I want to drive home and carry on during my time here and I think it's another reason Franz was chosen, he fits the bill. He has already handed a young 16 year old Jose Dias his first start, breaking a record that has stood since 1997.

Great place to head back to the homeland

I’ll have a look tomorrow, to be honest it’s his last year he’s 32 now but I need him while a get a few younger bodies up to speed.

Offt that’s a proper FMing! But two good months after a couple of shaky ones

Now things are gonna get really interesting

14 seconds into our first league game and Franz ball is already on show! A 7-1 victory to back it up with three goals from corners! Welcome to Lisbon

Good to see you back in the mix

Sickener against Liverpool!! League title bagged though. Is Argentina calling Alex’s name?

I fully expect Warlock to win any such race. If got a fair bit of work to be done!

What’s the plan for after?

4th place are you saying a good spot. I think it’s excellent are your scoring goals for fun! The fact your keeping any money worries at bay as well is a huge factor for the long term KUTGW

Emm, I don’t think anyone except Raskin would really make sense. The positions I need and the cost of the Standard players aren’t really fitting with my plan. But there may just be a couple of familiar faces. Today I’ve had a chances to really evaluate the squad and there is much work to be done so it’s most likely a slow build, plus like you said the way I’ve recruited previously it makes sense to find players I can improve. South America will definitely be area of interest the only issue is the leagues on loaded when I joined Standard so you get some funny attribute make ups which can put me off tbh. I think this is what is exciting me most. I have three league titles to win and a UCL within some point of that. So with my vision I’m planning to build a team capable in three years time that’s how I need to look at my recruitment. The catch is still winning the leagues. Porto are champions which means there is still work to be done there. Benfica arguably the best club in the world for this cycle!

Great season again! Bayern are ridiculous man!!

The curse breaking team! Thanks bud, it’s a funny one tbh they have a few aging players it not the Benfica I would have expected to be honest. I’m not sure if I should be ruthless from the outset or slowly pick away at the squad. I think the latter is a safer option. Only bring in absolute needs. Thanks lads 👍🏻 to be honest I fancied sporting cp more, a change of colour from red would have been appreciated but beggars can’t be choosers and benfica have a great history with the UCL

Rough finish but at least the board allowing you to right yer wrongs

I agree with Deisler. The Argentinian idea is far better, I think it ties in nicely