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@The Regista Congrats mate.

Big win early on that is.

Scottish champions and Europa league qualifiers should be an interesting combo.

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3 hours ago, Gregg88 said:

I think i've talked myself into heading to Mexico next! I was having another look through the league and the youth structure is just brilliant!

As for the league structure, as long you finish in the top 12, you have a shot at the title! Odd. Seems like you don't have to worry about the league so much, as long as you can get that top 12 place kinda thing. I found out that they introudced the play off gig as a way to financially help teams in the league, but it just doesn't seem that competitive. Tigres finished 7th on my save, but won the knockout stage to take the title. Also, the bonus with Mexico is their teams are so much stronger in the North American Champs League.

My entire knowledge of Mexican football comes from the Maradona in Mexico series on Netflix, so there would be a bit to learn haha.

I think it's the average points relegation that would confuse me, but hopefully with my manager rep I can get a job where I dont have to worry about that too much.

I do like the idea of league with a young average age, similar to South Africa, seems more exciting.

3 hours ago, Gregg88 said:

Although i've just had this result against Man Utd. In the league, i've won my 4 home games convincingly, but i've lost my 3 away games 4-3, 4-2 & 3-1. Think I need a little tweak to shut up shop a bit more on the road!

That's a massive result. I've found my tactic is similar, I only lost 2 games with Supersport last season but they were 6-2 and 6-0 I think. At least it's never dull haha

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18 minutes ago, Gregg88 said:

 Even better with those budgets then!

MLS is certainly a slog with all the selection rules. The mexican league was one of the best for me personally in last years challenge. The league is stacked with some epic young players. I think you'll enjoy it, as it sounds similar to the South African part of your game.

For some reason I was leaning more towards the MLS over Mexico but you might of just changed my mind haha.

How's the league structure in Mexico? I've never managed there but from a quick look it's not that straight forward.

What's the next plan in your save? Should have enough rep to cherry pick almost anyone you fancy.

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1 hour ago, Gregg88 said:

Big fan of the variety of your teams so far! Congrats on nearly getting out of South Africa! Haha.

Yeah I've fell pretty lucky and managed some really fun teams. I've had roughly £100m budgets at both DL Pro and Anderlecht. 

To be honest I'm enjoying South Africa. Theres loads of really good youngsters and trying to keep the Portuguese teams away is a fun challenge.

The continent I'm least looking forward to is North America, that seems like it'll be a proper slog in either mexico or MLS.

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54 minutes ago, The Regista said:

I wouldn't normally update until the season was done but by some miracle we've made the Scottish Cup final!!

The semi was one of the most nerve-wracking games I've ever had on Football Manager. Down 2-1, levelling 3 minutes before time, going ahead in ET before being pulled back almost instantly. Missing 3 spot kicks in a row in the shootout, yet somehow still won it...

I need to calm down.

What a game, congrats mate.

Who you got in the Final?

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14 minutes ago, _JHTB_ said:

I don't actually think that is true, every year there is at least 2 or 3 South African sides, even if the league rules seem to indicate it is only the one

From what I can tell you qualify for the champions league the following year if you win it or the confederations cup and that tends to be a South African side. I might be wrong as I was under the impression winning the league gets me straight into the group stages but I'm in the prelim round.

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Luke Fox

Supersport United 

2028 / 2029

I was really hopeful this season, I managed to perform well last year with a fairly unbalanced squad I was left with but this year I had filled the gaps and upgraded on what we already had elsewhere. With only being allowed to register 5 foreign players they are key, the season before we only had one and he wasn't really good enough to occupy one of those spots, so out he went.

The player I was most excited to bring in was Piyanat Sasomsap, a 19 year old Thai international at the time. I didn't really have much scouting knowledge on him but saw there was minor interest in him for Benfica, so I sent my scouts out quickly and offered him a contract just in case he turned out to be good enough, I could always cancel the transfer if not. Turns out, for our level he is very good, probably too good to be in our division.

This is his profile at the end of the season.

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31 goals in 27 appearances at an average of a goal every 71 minutes, as when the game was won I normally took him off to protect him. He has also scored 28 in 33 games for the Thai national side.  So it's no surprise he won player's player of the year.

 

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Anyway onto our team performances, as I'm sure you could guess by the amount of goals our forward scored we had a great season. We won the league and only lost twice, but that makes it seem easier than it was. The start of the season was poor, we drew way too many games, I decided to up the our mentality from positive to attacking and allowed our better players more freedom and it seemed to work well. However for long periods of the season we were 3rd, only going top in the latter third of the season. I think the other top teams still being in more competitions than us really helped.

 

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In South Africa if you finish in the top 8 the season before you are entered in 3 domestic cup coemptions.

The MTN 8 cup, which is the top 8 teams from the season before, it feels like a pre season tournament but happens early on in the season, without it counting towards the challenge I wasn't that interested and choose to rest some key men. We lost in the semi final, which sounds more impressive than it actually is, when I reality the cup starts in the quarters. 

The Telkom Knockout, this is just involves all the top division teams, and with there only being 16 in the league it only has 4 rounds but counts for the challenge, I targeted this as I felt it was an easy way to tick another cup comp off the list. That proved to be the case and we won it fairly comfortably with Sasomsap scoring in all four rounds.

 

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The Nedbank cup, this has all the top flight teams and the teams from the second tier, but as this takes place after the Telkom Knockout cup has already finished, I didn't really care and made 11 changes in order to keep us fit going into the back end of the season and our title charge. We went out in the second round, no big loss.

 

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The African champions league only offer one spot to qualify from the league. However this season there were three South African teams in it, qualifying through winning it the year before and winning the confederations cup and this will be the same next year. The final was an all South African affair, so hopefully next year i will be able to have a good crack at it and get out of African and probably onto North America.

Challenge Progress

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1 hour ago, Gregg88 said:

Do you guys worry about the fitness stat for your new signings?

Depends on the level of intensity in your tactic and what you are asking him to do. With him being ad advanced playmaker it wouldn't massively put me off but you might need to rest him a bit more than more naturally fit players.

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Luke Fox

Supersport Untied 

2027 / 2028

 

So after my time in Belgium I decided it was time to go back to South Africa and get that side of the challenge done. I had to wait six months for a decent job to pop up, Supersport were predicted to finish 4th but were sat in 9th at the time. They were not in trouble of relegation but were also pretty far removed from the teams above, they were in complete no mans land when I took over.

These are the results I managed with them in the league, 8 wins, 6 draws and 2 loses, nothing too special but you would of expected us to at least climb the table a little bit.

 

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Her are the past positions since we took over against Orlando Pirates to the end of the season.

 

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As you can see we didn't really make any great strides up the table but the form has been good enough to give me hope of a serious title push next year.

 

Challenge Progress

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58 minutes ago, libbyshuss said:

sucks doesn't it? i came second in my first season because of that - i was miles ahead in the first stage! 

I was over 12 points clear at one stage, a few bad results and the league split and my lead was only 4. Seems a little bit unfair, but kept it exciting I guess.

My first taste of slightly weird rules in this save and with both North and South America it wont be the last.

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Luke Fox

R.S.C Anderlecht 

2026 / 2027

After taking over last year and managing to turn around their poor form and have a relatively successful season winning the cup, I was confident of a good effort in the league and hopeful of a title challenge. 

We were phenomenal in the league and were 8 points clear at the time the league splits into the championship group. 

 

Unfortunately with the league split the points on the board are halved, meaning our 8 point lead was no only a 4 point lead and having to play the other 3 teams in the top 4 twice each.

We won it very comfortably in the end, but the halved points made me nervous.

 

The cup wasn't a priority but its always nice to win things. We made the final easily, but found ourselves 2-0 down pretty early on, our main man Roka score two lovely solo goals to get us back level in a game we deserved to lose really. It goes into extra time and we have made all our subs, when we have an injury, we have to try and see it out to penalties with 10 men. They took the lead late on and I thought it was over, until we got a 121st minute freekick out wide. Its taken by our 17 year old homegrown wonderkid winger, Francis Juma, he swings it to the back post and finds who else but 5'7 Roka to draw us level. I thought the game was over and going to penalties, until a highlight 3 minutes after the additional 1 added on, a highlight, they swing the ball into the box and find a free man at the back post for a tap in. We lost the cup on the last kick of the game, or so i thought, the linesman's flag went up, the replay showed he was offside by about half a foot. Thankfully, we were off to penalties. Which we won on, for some reason this cup felt the best in the whole challenge, it was a cup I had already won, but the way we won it was special. 

 

Our good performances last year also meant we played in the Europa league this year, it wasn't a priority but a nice challenge none the less.  We had some really good results, beating Real Betis and Red Bull Leipzig in the group stages followed by two comfortable wins against Celtic and eventually we tout to a very good Bayer Leverkusen on away goals, even beating them away from home. 

 

Once again I have to give a special mention to our main man Roka. 

Not quite as good on goals per minute, but the consistency over the length of a full season was very impressive. Impressive enough to be named European Golden shoe winner, considering our Co-efficient he had to score more goals than anyone in bigger leagues. 

 

So what's next ? We did qualify for the Champions league, but it would of been a miracle if we managed to win it with Anderlecht, so I have resigned. It's been a successful spell here and I've really enjoyed it and man I'm going to miss Roka. Hopeful to head to South Africa and get one of the big jobs, so for now me and Roka part ways, but when I get back to Europe I will be looking to reunite us and hopefully he can fire me to Champions league glory.

 

Challenge progress

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2 hours ago, libbyshuss said:

What a player.

Glad to see he played for the mighty Aston Villa as well.

Good luck with Mexico as well

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41 minutes ago, Phelix said:

We lose to Morocco despite dominating and I've failed at a major international yet again. I immediately resign. In checking the jobs page I notice Senegal still doesn't have a manager, and they WON in the Quarter Finals, so I quickly apply.

I am appointed Senegal manager as we go into a Semi-Final match against Guinea where we coast home 3-0, setting up a final against Morocco. Surely I can't get knocked out of a tournament twice by the same team?

The final arrives. We go 0-1 down early and Morocco shut up shop, switching to a back 5 and defending with 10 behind the ball. Predictably we have close to 30 shots on goal, many half-chances but it's a long range goal midway through the second half that equalises. The game drags on with Morocco defending for their lives, two halves of extra time later and we reach a penalty shootout.

The Morocco keeper has been imperious throughout the match and I am waiting to be going home trophy-less again. But it's my keeper who steps up, saving 3 of the 4 penalties that Morocco take, while we score all 3 of ours.

I'VE FINALLY WON AN INTERNATIONAL TROPHY!

Congrats mate. I'd of been convinced that the same team would knock me out twice haha Especially on pens as well.

Little bit jealous if I'm honest haha

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5 hours ago, vikeologist said:

@lukefox44I However, one can't afford to be unlucky in Asia too many times. There's a limited number of nations likely to win.

You've helped yourself by making Japan available to manage, so you've only used up a life I was always too lazy to ensure I had.

Yeah Asia seems like it's going to be the toughest to do. The AFCON seems like theres a few more teams that could win it and its every two years not four like the Asian cup.

But if I don't the Asian cup in the next maybe two attempts it might be the end of that pparticular dream. To be honest I'm really enjoying the save this challenge has created for me, so if I can't do it all it wont be the end of the world.

2 hours ago, libbyshuss said:

i think this is gonna be my downfall. The jobs just aren't coming up, i'm not even sure if they're even playable at this stage.

Yeah I've had the rep to get one of the top Asian jobs for years and years now but they never come up. Australia and South Korea are so dominant in Asain I hoped one of them would underperform at a world cup, but it didnt go to plan.

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Luke Fox

AFC Asian cup 2027

Japan

 

With a world cup in 2026 and then both an Asian cup and AFCON in less than 6 months I was hoping for some of the big boys in either tournament to need a manager. Nothing in Africa really stood out to me, well Nigeria needed a new manager but I doubt they'd take me back. In Asia i was hoping for either Australia or South Korea to be an option but that didn't happen, however the third highest ranked Asian team in japan did. When I took over I noticed the squad was very unbalanced, we had hardly any decent defenders other than a world class right back, we had 3 very good attacking midfielders, not a single central midfielder who could tackle and not a lot upfront either. It was a really tricky to settle upon a tactic, I tried a 5-4-1, 5-3-2, 4-4-2 diamond, 4-3-3 wide and 4-3-3 narrow in our friendlies before the tournament  and going into the Asian cup I still hadn't really settled on a system or style of play. Anyway lets see how we got on.

Group stages

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After drawing the second favourites for the tournament in Australia for our first group game I thought it would give us a good indicator of where we were and what to expect. It was a tight game in which we were losing until the 82nd minute and a quick fire double gave us the lead, not helped by a red card for our forward, but we held on. This put us firmly in the driving seat of the group, a comfortable 4-1 over Oman meant we had already topped the group with a game to spare. In the last game we made 11 changes to give our lads some rest and maybe if we lost push Australia out in the groups. We did lose but Australia went through as one of the best second placed teams. 

 

Second Round (If Applicable)

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Quarter Finals (If Applicable)

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We were drawn against the strong pre tournament favourites South Korea, with Australia already out i was hoping for an easier draw, but it wasn't to be. The game was cagey, neither side played particularly well and it looked like it was heading for extra time until a 86th minute goal sent us crashing out.

  

They had more shots on goal but as seen by the XG the quality of chances was about even. Unlucky way to go out as the teams left in from this point were very beatable. 

 

Semi Finals (If Applicable)

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Final (If Applicable)

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What's next

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Well the Japanese FA were not happy, they wanted to reach the final as a minimum and didn't seem to care too much that I got knocked out by the highest ranked team in Asia. Very Similar to my time with Nigeria, I jumped before I was pushed and in doing so avoided a hit to my manager reputation. With a few years until the next major international tournaments it gives me a chance to crack on with the club side of things. I've never really managed national teams in FM and it turns out I'm not great at it, hoping to come back to the international scene with a much bigger rep allowing me to be more selective and not rush into jobs.

 

Challenge Update

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2 hours ago, samjohpos said:

Also any good tips on leagues to try your first job in this years version? 

Canada has been a popular choice. Combination of a short first season, money for badges and the fact the league is very winnable made it perfect for a first season for me and a few others in this forum.

Good luck mate.

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On 24/12/2020 at 19:10, libbyshuss said:

good luck with anderlecht, looks like you're alread doing better with them than i did!

Cheers mate. I'm really enjoying it at the moment. Such a young team with so much potential, really fun team.

Congrats with the Kazier Chiefs. That's the job I really want, they are underperforming quite a bit in the league. I'm checking their results and the job security every time I press continue haha.

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Luke Fox

R.S.C Anderlecht 

2025 / 2026

After leaving DL Pro I was prepared to wait for the right job to come along, I had the Anderlecht job within about 2 weeks, I just felt this was opportunity was too good to pass up on. 

When I joined they were doing poorly in the league but still in the semi final of the cup. 

This was the league when I joined.

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We played very well during the league but missed out on the top four and the championship group, we were however in the Europa league play off group, 

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 The Semi final of the cup was two legged and easy enough, we were never not in charge and won comfortably. The Final was against Club Brugge who had won the league at the time and hadn't lost in over 20 games.  This is how the final went.

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When I joined it was just before the transfer window and I had a fairly hefty budget and I set out spending it.

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Just a little mention to Roka who we signed to play up top on his own. He looked good before we signed him but look at that goal return and minutes per goal. He carried us through the league and cup.

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I think I'm going to spend next year here as it feels like a very good chance of winning the league. I've also just taken the Japan job after the 2026 world cup, not one of the big two Asian sides, Australia or South Korea, but with the Asian cup coming up in the middle of next season with a bit of luck we have a chance. That's if I can figure out international management, been a bit of a weakness this save for me.

Progress

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@libbyshuss Congrats with Brazil mate. Must of been a proper rollercoaster of a game.

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4 hours ago, libbyshuss said:

It's interesting. You totally have to change your approach to fit in with their mad rules but I quite like that.

Having to win the play-offs is a massive pain but I think I could hang around here for a few seasons if needs be, especially now I'm getting me head around it. I quite like the idea of having to adapt to fit in rather than justa kind of rinse/repeat approach you can use in Europe.

The play offs is the only thing putting me off, other than that you've convinced me to go for it. 

When I started the challenge I wanted to manage in different leagues than I would normally and I suppose MLS is about as far away from normal as it gets.

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9 hours ago, libbyshuss said:

So the MLS is bonkers

How you finding it overall? I'm not sure if I should skip the MLS or embrace it.

 Think I'm a little wary of having to win the play offs for it to count as a league win, but saying that I dont think the other North American option, Mexico, is straight forward either.

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Luke Fox

DL Pro

2025 / 2026

After my relatively successful time in China all I needed was the Champions league and we could start looking for a new challenge and more trophies. With this in mind I completely disregarded the cup competition and decided to make 11 changes in every cup game. We got to the fifth round and then played the team in third place in the division below, we were poor and lost on penalties, no major concern our focus is now fully elsewhere. Something i thought was interesting though was the team we lost to went onto to win the cup, beating top flight teams in every single round.

Our league form was superb, we didn't rotate as much as the cup but we were very careful when playing in games near the champions league fixtures. I developed a lower tempo, less intense tactic and just set out to win in second gear and that's pretty much what we did. We won the league with 5 games to spare and were still unbeaten, until I made 8 changes against one of the teams in the relegation zone that was only 2 days before our champions league quarter finals. Not the end of the world but i would of liked to have gone all season unbeaten.

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Anyway, the main event, the Champions league.

Group Stages

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Second Round (If applicable)

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Quarter Finals (If applicable)

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Semi Final (If applicable)

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Final (If applicable)

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Full Competition Overview

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What's next?

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Well finally we got that sorted, maybe a season or two later than I would of liked but now its done. In my last update i mentioned i was now top of the Chinese management hall of fame, this year I've managed to make DL Pro the most reputable team in the whole of china, from a mid table team to the top in around 4 seasons, pretty pleased with that to be honest.

I've resigned now and will start the search for my next little project, hoping for a little mid season take over for a title or cup challenge, but who knows.

 Challenge Update

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[The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge]

18 hours ago, danielclouston1 said:

Good luck with the CL push.

Cheers mate, think I might need it, my first choice keeper and back up have just picked up injuries, putting them both out of both legs of the semi finals. Not ideal.

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Luke Fox

AFCON 2025

Nigeria 

 

Group Stage

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Second Round (If applicable)

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Quarter Finals (If Applicable)

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Semi Finals (If Applicable)

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 Final (If Applicable)

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What's Next?

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Well that didn't go to plan at all, we had one of the strongest squads in the tournament but were drawn early on against another pre tournament favourite. I guess if you want to win big tournaments you have to beat the best anyway and we couldn't do that. In what's becoming a quite annoying theme in this save, we shoot ourselves in the foot in a big game, we put in so much effort and energy to get it back to 2-2 we had literally nothing left for extra time, was hoping to take it to the lottery of penalties but it wasn't to be. The Nigerian FA were not happy and my performance rating was at an F, I decided to announce my resignation the day after the game in the hope it was quick enough they wouldn't have time to sack me and my reputation wouldn't nose dive. In that sense it worked, my rep stayed the same, going to concentrate on my DL Pro champions league push this year before getting back into international management, I hope to get an Asian team and have a go at the Asian cup.

 

National challenge update

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[The Ultimate Football Manager Challenge]

50 minutes ago, danielclouston1 said:

Your board expectations are super low. In my 2nd full season my board expectations are a clean sweep of the league, FA Cup and AFC CL 😐

I had a good first season, winning the league was a massive shock and then negotiated a new long term contract with pretty low expectations. The league and Fa cup are pretty much a formality at this point and I still cant win the champions league.