axehan1

I'll be surprised if he swaps Porto for Benfica,I've tried to get their young keeper Costa(think his name is) and he has absolutely no interest in playing for a big rival.

Youth development has just gone through the roof 4 seasons in,most of the squad have professional personalities,hard working individuals. I wont rush them into the first team though,they'll continue to develop in the U19 squad.

Raul Jimenez is out for the first 6 weeks of season 4,Duk gets his chance 2 games in. The fight is on for Ze Gomes or Duk to replace Jimenez.

Very disappointing, he wanted to be the main man and be a "key player", which I wasn't prepared to do so he went to West Brom for £20m. Not the best piece of business but it got money in the bank which as you know is important when you manage Benfica. The Champions League is my "Holy Grail" two Finals in two years and both were valiant but ultimately disappointing defeats, I almost felt like Benfica's reputation as a lesser reputable club was the deciding factor when you look at some of the "Big" clubs that we dismantled along the way to both finals. We wont be beaten though,we're stronger every year, eventually we will win it. Tiago Dantas is the player Benfica will be built around,technically excellent, mentally sound and in 2/3 years he will be able to hold his own against anyone in world football. His value is a joke, worth just £1.2m when he is just about the best 19 year old in Europe. My core midfield trio of Florentino Luis(defensive mid) -Tiago Dantas(Dlp/Ap) - and Gedson Fernandes(mez) are an absolute machine.Behind them we have Ruben Dias and Pedro Alvaro at centre back, two fantastic young centre halves who dominate any strike partnership the Portuguese league has to offer. The vultures have been circling for the past three transfer windows but i'm seeling nobody.Not one player in my 1st team squad is valued above £35m and some of the transfer bids have been ludicrously low. Very happy with the way we're playing although we could score more.I may push us to attacking/fluid but I don't think we can pull off Oveload just yet. Raul Jimenez has had three fantastic seasons as my main striker scoring 79 league goals in three seasons but he is 29 now and it's time to think about the future, this coming 4th season he will start as no1 but slowly but surely a new name will emerge. Ze Gomes is the leading candidate,very adept at the Deep Lying Forward role especially with his "comes deep to get the ball",he connects well with my midfield three and opens a ton of space for the two Joao's to exploit. Duk is an exciting prospect, a pure goalscorer who I think can be molded into any type of striker,he might get some Cup game time but will play mostly for the B team while he learns a couple of traits. The youth squad are developing nicely but a couple of my "golden generation", my first youth intake just will not be tutored by anybody which for me is a real disappointment.I risk losing a couple of potential world beaters if I can't find a suitable tutor. Nelson Aleixo, balanced personality and outspoken media-handling(if that means anything) refuses tutoring.If I can't get him tutored then I will develop him the best I can and then move him on for a healthy profit.

The future is most definitely bright for Benfica. Second UEFA youth league title in a row.

This guy has the potential to be a very good player but he rejects all tutors, any ideas on how to get him to be tutored?Otherwise i'll have to let him go.

The two Joao's destroying Man Utd in the group stage. I'm toying with the idea of training Joao Carvalho as a deep lying forward. I like the idea of him getting the ball deep and turning and running with it.His new trait is coming along nicely too.

I count 23 Portuguese Benfica players representing the various Portuguese age groups.

46 shots on goal against a decent French team, that is quite impressivewhat season are you in @Ö-zil to the Arsenal!?

Look at the freaking date!!What a bloody coincidence.

A little off topic but OH MY GOD, what the hell is this? I've never seen this before.

The U19's are developing rather nicely. Sweeping all before us in all competitions I'm having an absolute blast playing this way, it's all about the youth development,minimal transfers unless they are A)Young and B)a tutor with the correct personality. @Ö-zil to the Arsenal! FM19 also has an U23 team with even more talented youngsters, I may have to run 2 saves across the two FM's FM19 could be a bit trickier to develop youngsters as you have mentoring units as opposed to individual mentors and these units consist of 3 or more players, on the flip side it could be even better at developing if I put a professional in with 4/5 lesser personalities and they can all become professional at the same time.

Never let's me down but has to share DLP with Arthur. Luis has stays back at all times so doesn't really get in the way of the 2 MC's in front of him, he keeps up with play and always offers a passing option.

I've moved Xadas over to the left and Felix to the right which favours their preferred foot, it has stopped congesting things outside the box and has opened up a bit more space. This is my latest game away to Coimbra Much more space for through balls into the box.Xadas has shoots from distance so there will always be a few from outside the box.

@Ö-zil to the Arsenal!do you have an issue with long shots?Can I see a screenshot of a match showing attempts at goal,i have too many longshots, I just wonder if it's due to the age of my 1st team?To young possibly, leading to attempts from distance, could that have an affect do you think? Is there anything in my set up to suggest wanting to hit longshots instead of trying a through ball?