Celta Vigo 2016

[CybrSlydr]

In FM2015, I had a Celta Vigo save that I really, really liked.  I was playing a 3-4-1-2 and was consistently placing in the Champions League (when I was hired on, they were facing relegation).  I'm looking for a team to play so I thought I'd re-visit Celta from the beginning of a 16.3 Official Update point.  I will admit I'm not going into this blind - in the past couple of days, I've started a save with Celta and ran it quite a few times, so I've got an idea of what is coming.  I would also greatly appreciate any and all help when it comes to my tactic as it really feels like that is where I'm having the most trouble finding consistency and success.

Formation-wise, I think I will go with a 4-3-3 (or 4-1-2-3 depending upon your preference).  I like the formation and I have the players to play it.  I'm also using a bit of an unfair coach - I'm creating myself as a Spanish International so I have maximum points to spend.  I feel like at this stage, every little bit helps, especially in La Liga!

So, let's see what happens!

Formation

As mentioned above, I will be trying to use a 4-3-3.

Looking at my roster, I think this will suit the players I have well.

Using the Pairs and Combinations thread, I've decided upon the DM Triangle of an Anchorman paired with a DLP(S) and CM(A).  Anchorman to screen the back line, the DLP(S) to bring the ball out and the CM(A) to attack from the middle of the pitch.

Aspas is a natural Trequartista and will both create and score goals.  Nolito will cut in from the left while Orellana will send crosses into the box.  Wass will attack from deep while Hernandez will bring the ball out of the back and pull strings from deep.  Radoja will screen and pass the ball off to Hernandez while Planas and Mallo will help out on the wings.

FEEL FREE TO COMMENT AND TELL ME IF THE ABOVE LOOKS POOR FOR ANY REASON

Team Instructions

FEEL FREE TO COMMENT AND TELL ME IF THE ABOVE LOOKS POOR FOR ANY REASON
 

[CybrSlydr]

Transfer Budget and Payroll
Well, as expected, not a whole lot in the way of a transfer budget or payroll - in fact, we're currently over-budget in payroll!

Iago Aspas is currently our highest-paid player at $77k/wk.  This is fine as he will be our main striker and I don't see any reason to replace him.

John Guidetti is next up and will be sharing the striker-duties with Aspas.  A high-quality backup who can start in a pinch, perhaps even challenge for the top spot.

Third-highest paid is Nemanja Radoja, an "Enthusiastic Midfielder".  He looks like the steel we need in defense shielding the back line.

[CybrSlydr]

Roster

So, let's look at what we have talent-wise!

As mentioned above, Celta have some very talented players (however, as we will see soon enough, Release Clauses will cause a lot of problems for the roster in the very near future).

Celta also have some very exciting young talents to keep our eyes on.

THEO BONGONDA

This young Belgian has some impressive stats!  17 Pace, 17 Acceleration are an amazing pair and should prove key attributes for this winger.  14 First Touch and 14 Dribbling are also quite good for a player his age.  He certainly needs to work on his Crossing, Work Rate, Stamina, Positioning, etc, so I don't think he's quite ready for Prime Time just yet.  A year out on loan with consistent game time and he should come back ready to challenge for a starting spot.

BORJA FERNANDEZ

Another raw, young talent with the potential to be a Celta staple for years to come.  Nothing outstanding, though the extremely low Determination rating has me concerned for his future development, but he looks like another player given a year on loan could come back and challenge for minutes.

JONNY

Another player with the potential to be a stalwart at Celta for years to come.  With his current stats, I forsee him challenging for minutes right-off if not making the starting spot his own. 

RUBEN BLANCO

Ruben will be my backup keeper for the near future.  At only 19 years of age, he is definitely too young and undeveloped to challenge for the starting job. 

[CybrSlydr]

Transfers

So, what moves do I need to make?  If you noticed on the roster, there are a lot of "WNT" tabs.  This is a problem as the players are going to leave.  As mentioned above, I've played through the opening Celta save quite a few times and every time, those players leave and I can't stop it due to their Release Clauses.  So, I'm going to move forward to after the players that will leave are gone.

For instance, I've picked up Youri Tielemans.  One year, I got Lucas (CD), Andre Silva, Joao Carvalho and Richario Zivkovic.  So forth and so on, so when all the players leave, I've got quite a good amount of money to bring in some players.

When the dust settles and the players are gone, I've lost Nolito, Orellana, Radoja and Mallo.  These 4 players net me $67.5m in transfer budget and $330k/wk in available payroll.  That's a pretty good chunk of change.

[CybrSlydr]

TRANSFER WINDOW RESULTS

Boy, do I think we did GREAT in the transfer window!

I ended up getting Andreija Zivkovic ($4M), Tin Jedvaj ($25M), Marc Stendera ($24M), Marcelo Meli ($5.75M) and Viktor Fischer ($5.5M).

Andrejia Zivkovic

Tin Jedvaj

Marc Stendera

Marcelo Meli

Viktor Fischer

I also tried to get another Dutch central defender, but Tottenham beat me out for their signature - Joel Veltman. 

FORMATION UPDATE

I decided to make a change to the formation as well.  After reading Herne's 4-4-2 thread, I implemented it into my save.  Granted, on paper, it doesn't look like I have the personnel for it, but they're young enough and talented enough that they're making it work while learning the position and getting better at it to make the formation work. 

LEAGUE PERFORMANCE

To say I'm pleased with our performance in the league is an understatement.  We're doing INCREDIBLY WELL!  Defensively, we give up a few more goals than I would like, but there's not a whole lot you can do about it.  There are darn good players in La Liga and sometimes you just plain get beaten. 

The one problem I'm having is we rack up SO MANY yellows!  I've switched to "Stay On Feet" in the TI screen, but this appears to have had little to no effect.  My next step will be to go from "Close Down More" to "Sometimes" and see if this works. 

I'm also experiencing a LOT of injuries, as you can see by 4 of my starters currently being injured.  Tin Jedvaj came to me with a 5 week injury and before he stepped on the field, re-injured himself again.  So, we'll see how this goes.  Might need to hire more physios.

[DirtyJoe]

Nice start.  Cant sign contract extensions for the current squad?

[CybrSlydr]

1 hour ago, DirtyJoe said:

Nice start.  Cant sign contract extensions for the current squad?

What do you mean?  With the people that left?

[CybrSlydr]

FINAL STANDINGS

I would say we were out-STANDING this year!  We managed to finish 3rd in the Liga BBVA.

According to the game, 3rd place is a record placing for Celta as their previous best is 4th. 

Our team bests, as voted, were as follows:

I believe I'm going to focus on our defense in the upcoming transfer windows as we conceded way too many soft goals (IMHO).  The midfield and strikers performed admirably, so I think I'm good there.

I'll also be looking into adding a new 4-1-2-3 formation to take advantage of Zivkovic's ability as an IF rather than playing as a WM.

[blue heron]

Hugo Mallo has been one of my favourite right backs for top teams. Given the talent Celta have in their squad, I might also be tempted to start a new game with them. How have their summer transfer dealings been? Could be even more of a challenge to get pr0's update and see how they are without Nolito (who I know is in England somewhere now :-) )

[CybrSlydr]

9 hours ago, blue heron said:

Hugo Mallo has been one of my favourite right backs for top teams. Given the talent Celta have in their squad, I might also be tempted to start a new game with them. How have their summer transfer dealings been? Could be even more of a challenge to get pr0's update and see how they are without Nolito (who I know is in England somewhere now :-) )

I don't think there will be much trouble without Nolito as I do have data files for a roster update and Celta now have Pione Sisto - who is a lot younger but just as good as Nolito IMHO - maybe even better.

We were hit pretty hard in the summer transfer window.  Jonny went to Chelsea for $47m (his release clause), Wass went to Real Madrid for $35m (he was pitching a bitch about me not letting him go so I said ok for harmony), Sergei Gomez also went to Real Madrid for $10m, Dejan Drazic went to Valencia for $4m, Marcelo Diaz to Dnipro for $3m, Josep Sene to Malaga for $2m, Gustavo Cabral to Boca Juniors for $1m (he was 30 and wanted to go back home - got rid of an older, foreign player and got some cash - win/win to me) and finally, Levy Madinda went to FC Steaua for $500k (didn't have the roster slots and had to leave him unregistered).

Despite this, I went out and got some really good players, IMHO.

I got Eric Bailly for $29.5m (release clause), Gilberto for $12.5m, Haris Seferovic for $8.5m, Riechedly Bazoer for $14m and Dani Ceballos for $10.5m.  Seferovic and Bazoer were both offered to me by their agents, so I got very good prices on them.  Ceballos I found during a scout for CMs and he was listed as Unhappy - so I swooped in and grabbed him while I could.

Right now I'm looking at finding a formation with AML/R that can utilize both Bongonda and Zivkovic .  I'm thinking 4-3-3 Wide (4 back, 3CM and 2AM/1ST) or even going strikerless as Aspas is a good Shadow Striker and Guidetti can play in the AMC position as well.  We'll see I suppose.

[CybrSlydr]

Well, the 2016/2017 season has come to an end .  We once again finished 4th, and just barely! 

Our Champions League draw was absolutely BRUTAL.  Chelsea, Bayern and Inter.  Ugh.  We won one game and were eliminated with two to go. 

Made it to the Quarter Final of the domestic cup and lost to Valencia on aggregate.

Athletic was one point behind us in 5th place and we went into the final game of the season with me playing Getafe (20th and Relegated) and they played Real Socieadad.  We managed to squeak out a 2-1 win at home to secure Champions League the next season.

Unfortunately, the board set the budgets for next year and it wasn't nearly what I was hoping for.  A little over $7m in transfer budget and $1.3m in payroll.  It does give me $228k in payroll to play with, but I forsee most of that going towards renewing contracts for players rather than spending money on new folks. 

[CybrSlydr]

Another highly successful season for Celta Vigo!

DeAndre Yedlin has to be the surprise of the century for me.  I needed a backup RB and saw him available for $8m in the winter window so I grabbed him.  Little did I know he'd grab the starting job and put in a performance that had him tied for best average rating in the entire league!  He also managed 15 assists in 29 appearances (22 starts, 7 subs).

I was a bit worried as on the final day of the winter window, Real Madrid swooped in and took Andrija Zivcovic for his full $60m release clause.  So, I went over and took Bernardo Silva from them for around $48.5m.  I would say he was an excellent pick up for us.  I also swooped in and grabbed Rodrigo Bentancur for a incredibly low fee and he's already a 4.5 star DLP/AP at MC. 

Three players were named to the Liga BBVA Team of the Season and I think they were all quite deserving of the honor.

Here are the end of season Team Award winners.

And the season summary.

In the off-season, a new Goalkeeper is my top priority.  Alvarez and Blanco just can't cut it, so I'm looking at Timo Horn, Bernd Leno, Simone Scuffet and a few others.  I'm also going to see if I can sell Aspas, Fisher and Stendera as they are good players but too good to be content as backups.  So, stay tuned and we'll see what happens!

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

Nice thread 

I actually spotted Celta Vigo as a club with a suitable squad for a back 3. They've got Fontas, Sergi Gomez and Jonny which could be very interesting. Unfortunately, I've not really had time to get a save going lately.

[CybrSlydr]

On 10/4/2016 at 12:28, Ö-zil to the Arsenal! said:

Nice thread 

I actually spotted Celta Vigo as a club with a suitable squad for a back 3. They've got Fontas, Sergi Gomez and Jonny which could be very interesting. Unfortunately, I've not really had time to get a save going lately.

I hope 3 at the back works for you - it's been tough to get to work for me.

Just finished the Winter transfer window - not much going on in Celta land - Manchester United came-a-calling for Tin Jedvaj, so I sold him to them for $22.5m +40%.

I then went out and picked up Thiago from Bayern for $19m.  So now I have a midfield where I can choose between Meli (who has 13 goals in 19 games in the League), Bentancour (who has a 7.77 avg rating in the league) and now Thiago.  I tried to pick up Ayoze Perez but we couldn't come to an agreement on wages so Manchester United ended up grabbing him instead.

Right now, we're in second place in the league two points behind Barca.  We lost in the Spanish Cup in the... 4th round?  It was absurd.  We drew 0-0 at Ossasuna and lost 0-0 on PKs (two of mine were saved, they netted all 4) AT HOME.  Unacceptable.

We've conceded the fewest goals in the league with just 9 and have 14 clean sheets.

As you can see, we now face Juventus in the Champions League - last year they whooped us something bad (I think it was 6-2 on aggregate) so we'll have to see if my pick-up of Timo Horn helps out defensively (he's been good thus far!).

[CybrSlydr]

Just had to come back to post this bit...

I think this year might be the magical year we win it all folks - Liga BBVA Champs.

It's still early in the season but... we just walked into Camp Nou and put a 3-1 beating on Barca - the extra-special part of that win is it put us top of the table on 23 Febuary, one point ahead of Barca and 10 ahead of Real Madrid.  This is only a couple days after we put a 3-0 whooping on Juventus in the home leg of the knock-out round.

However, we did lose Zivkovic to an injury in the Barca game, so we'll see how serious that is and if he's gone for a long time.

Fingers crossed folks!

[clarkehwbu]

Loving this keep the updates coming and hopefully La Liga Title isn't too far away!

[CybrSlydr]

Talk about a near-thing!  We beat Juventus 3-0 at home in the first leg and lost... 2-0 at Juventus!!!  It was a terrible game on our part - Juve just smothered us.  They had 20 shots and 9 on target with 46% pos and 19 fouls.  Doesn't help that Clattenburg ref match rating was a 3.8.  Meanwhile we had 4 shots and 1 on target...  I really need to go get a good striker this off-season.

Champions Cup Quarter Final draw was not kind - Barcelona.  Figure they'll be out for blood.

[CybrSlydr]

Count me amazed - we just Mullered Barca over the two legs in the Champions League Quarterfinal.  We beat them 3-0 at home and 2-1 away for a 5-1 aggregate win!  We're into the Semi-Finals!

We're also 3 points up on Barca in the League with 4 games left to go - and we hold the tie-breaker of beating them in the regular season. 

It's so close I can almost smell it!!!

EDIT:  Well, we drew Man United in the Semis.  This could be ugly as we never seem to do well against English opposition.  Our U19s apparently won the U19 league title as well - man, no pressure!!!

[CybrSlydr]

WE DID IT!!!

We clinched the Title on the next-to-last game.  We went down 1-0 soon after the whistle via an Own Goal by Pina - I feared that this would be the turning point of the season, that we could look back and see that it was lost on this one mistake - so I was getting a bit concerned.  Thankfully, Meli and Bongonda came up huge and netted the two goals we needed.

I did, however, lose 2-0 to United on the Home leg of the Champions League Semi-Final.  I don't see us overturning this at Old Trafford.  So, I think a Liga BBVA title along with a Champions League semi-final appearance is a helluva great season for us!

[CybrSlydr]

The thing that impresses me the most is our defense this year.  Timo only allowed 18 goals all season in 26 starts - I gave the backup some games to keep him happy, though I'll be shipping him out during the window.

Benteke also impressed this year.  He's not as consistent or dominant as I would like, but you can't argue with 12 goals and 8 assists in 21(7), though I think I'm going to go get Federico Bonazzoli and ship off Benteke.

But the player of the year for me is, by far and away, Marcelo Meli.

Just look at those offensive stats.  18 goals, 6 assists in 27 (9) in the League with a 7.68 avg rating.  That's just incredible play from a Central Midfielder.  Just unbelievable. 

Unfortunately, there's no time to stop and catch my breath as our title defense begins now - so into the off-season I go, who will be left?  Nobody knows!

Thanks for keeping up with the thread folks!

[CybrSlydr]

Wow, what an eventful off-season this has been!

Board came to me with their initial transfer budget - I got $54m and $1.1m payroll!  When I moved the slider so I had about $60k in available payroll, this gave me over $110m in transfer budget!  -insert evil laugh-

I saw that Domenico Berardi was declined a new contract with Bayern, so I scouted him and saw he was available for $53m via his release clause, so I activated it and signed him.  After fees and such, it was about a $68m transfer.  Since I now had him and Bernardo Silva working on the left wing (though Berardi will be playing as a Striker for me and filling in at AML if needed), I decided to sell Theo Bongonda as he was now surplus.  I offloaded him for $25m.

I let my starting DM, Thomas Pina, go at the end of the season.  He was soon to be 32 and wasn't quite up to the task anymore, so using my transfer budget, I went looking.  I was torn between William Carvalho and Thiago Maia - Carvalho was much more expensive but a more established player.  Eventually, I decided to not get either of them and picked up...  Christoph Kramer from Leverkusen.  He had a $35.5m release clause and I chose to exercise it.

I was also in the market for a central defender.  Even though we had one of the bar-none best defenses in the league last year, I still felt like we could improve.  I felt that if I got a good CD to put behind Kramer, we'd be very, VERY tough.

Then Real Madrid came calling...

Rodrigo Bentancur, my 21yr old 4.5star Uruguayan wonderkid.  They wanted him, I said under no circumstances.  So they exercised his release clause.   

$75m. 

I mean...  I can't be too upset because I still have Marcelo Meli, my leading goal-scorer from last year, and Thiago in my CM backed up by Kramer.  That's one helluva great midfield trio.  But...  I really, REALLY liked Bentancur.  I thought the kid could become a Celta legend given enough time.

So.  After I lost Bentancur, I resolved to use this immense windfall of cash to go get me a world-class central defender and I settled on...

Alessio Romagnoli.  I eventually got AC Milan to play ball and I picked him up from them with... a $75m transfer.  He makes about $245k/wk and demanded a generous signing bonus, as well did his agent, but I got him to agree to a 5 year deal. 

So right now, I'm pretty stacked and look extremely tough.  I decided to see just how good these guys might be as I had my first friendly of the pre-season coming up against Cultural Areas.  A tiny, miniscule team, but I figured WTF - let's see what these guys can do.

What happened next is by far and away the MOST lopsided victory I've ever been a part of.

We won 14-0.  I'll let the image speak for it's-self.

So, I think we have enough to win the League this year and challenge for the Champions League title.  Our first non-friendly was against Valencia in their BRAND NEW STADIUM they built for the Spanish Super Cup First Leg.  We won 3-1. 

Here's what my Starting XI will be for the season.

I think we can become a world-power in football this year.  Let's see what happens!

[CybrSlydr]

Slight update - I also picked up Dani Ceballos to give me some CM depth.  I also got this notice for the first time ever - I've sold out of season tickets!

[CybrSlydr]

Season is off to a great start, I'd say.

I'll be back come the end of the Winter Transfer Window and let you guys know how it's going.

[CybrSlydr]

Apologies for the delay!

It's the end of the Winter window and not much has happened - oh wait, yeah, something big did happen.

The team gave me a lot of money at the beginning of the season and I went out and spent it.  We needed money so the board dropped my transfer % down to 35%. 

Well, Manchester City came over and said they wanted Bernardo Silva - who has a $145m release clause, so I told them that.  They came back with a $35m +30%, I told them $120m.  They came back at $51m +40%.  So I told them, $100m non-negotiable.

They accepted.

****.

So, I lost Silva to City.  I picked up a young Barca winger named Quim Arribas who is labeled a "Wonderkid", 20yrs old and was on the transfer list.  I also noticed something incredible.

Gareth Bale was transfer listed.  Price?  $16.5m!!!  :O

So I jumped at the chance - but we could never come to an agreement on salary.  Even as a Key Player, I could only offer him $325k/wk salary.  I tried numerous time and asked the Board to do it but couldn't get it to work.    Even at 30yrs old, I couldn't pass up the chance to have a player of his caliber on my team - especially since he could tutor Arribas. 

So, that's all!  We drew PSG in the Knockout Round of the Champions League (yikes...) and are losing to Valencia 3-0 going into the second leg of the Spanish Cup Semi-Final (sigh...).  We ARE however, in first place in the League. 

[CybrSlydr]

CELTA DO THE DOUBLE!!!

Things were a little touch-and-go for us towards the end of the season.  With 4 games left, I was down on Valencia by 2 points.  The final game of the season was going to be in Valencia.  It was set up for quite the showdown!

However, Valencia drew one of their games and put me top of the table going into the final game.  They had a game in hand and were down by 6 points.  I had them on GD but they held the head-to-head tiebreaker.  So, they play Almeria on the Monday before they play me in their final game - AND THEY DREW 2-2!!!  This clinched our second consecutive LIGA BBVA title!

Huge props to my CM Thiago for winning Spanish Player of the Year as well!

This game also loves handing your best players 3-5 month injuries like torn calf muscles, so my mid-season acquisition of Quim Arribas landed himself the Spanish Young Player of the Year award.  He stepped in and covered for Domenico Berardi, who as mentioned above, tore a calf muscle and missed most of the second half of the season.

Also of significant note was Christian Benteke who set a new single-season goal record for Celta Vigo with 25 goals!

The really amazing part of this is he was slated to be my backup for this season.  Originally, I was going to have Bernardo Silva AMR, Zivcovic AML and Berardi playing CF.  When City came in and grabbed Silva, I had to move Berardi out to his "natural" AMR position and put in one of my Academy products in as the new main striker.  Well, my Academy product, Refojos, ALSO was injured for an extended period, so Benteke got many more starts than I anticipated.

Nothing too surprising with the End of the Season awards.

While it's disappointing to once again exit the Champions League at the Quarter Final stage, it's not surprising Manchester United beat us 6-3 on Aggregate (2-2 and 4-1).  So, this was not to be the year of the Champions League for us - maybe next year. 

All in all, I think we had another great season.  I'll be back with the update for the Summer Window and see what lies ahead for Celta Vigo!!!

[CybrSlydr]

So I just registered the team for the Champions League - not a whole lot going on this summer window for me. 

I got about $1.5m in payroll addition and $15m in transfer budget.  So, giving myself around $300k in payroll gave me about $78m in transfer budget.  I sold Eric Bailly as he was just too inconsistent for my tastes and picked up Federico De Zan, a 4-star 23yr old Argentinian CD.

I really, REALLY wanted to make a move for Mauro Icardi who currently plays for Arsenal but they wanted $250m and weren't budging.  So I gave up on him. 

I DID however end up landing Hector Bellerin for $60m.  Anxious to see what he adds to the team - I'm making a conscious effort to get more Spanish players on the starting XI. 

To shore up my lack of depth on the wings, I picked up Carles Perez from Barca who was on the transfer list for $5.25m.

Once I picked up Bellerin, I tried to offload either Yedlin or Gilberto as I don't have any need for 3 RBs but wasn't able.  Figures, have two RBs worth $26m but nobody wants them.  -sigh- 

So...  We'll see what happens!  Drew Dortmund, Juventus and CSKA Moscow in the Champions League Group Stage.  Sounds like it will be tough!

[CybrSlydr]

So, I have a player that's driving me absolutely nuts.  He's a regen (I think?) from my Academy named Manuel Refojos. 

Kid clearly has gobs of potential and I've sent him out on loan the last few years.  I got a message earlier this year about him regressing in talent/ability or something due to lack of effort (not entirely sure).  He's still possible 5-star potential and only 21 years old.  I've been training him as a Complete Forward for the last 3 years but he's not getting any better at it.  As you can see, he's also short and practically worthless in the air.

I'm trying to unlock this kid so he can start performing and contributing more consistently, so I've decided to try the Classic formation I downloaded (which has worked a treat for me with some modifications) as a Strikerless with Refojos playing as a Shadow Striker next to two Inside Forwards.

Obviously, I'm concerned about this creating too much of a bunch-up in the midfield along with possibly marking this guy out of the game since there's nobody in front of him to draw off defenders.  Then there's the added issue of the IFs cutting in and occupying the space where he should be.  So...

We'll see what happens - first game against Rayo we won 1-0 with Refojos getting on the score sheet.

[CybrSlydr]

It looks like this is one of those seasons where nothing will go right.

The injury bug has been pretty brutal - had 4 injuries in one game already.  Results just aren't going our way either - we're in second place, which is great, but I think we're 9 points behind Real Madrid and we're about 20 games into the season.

Winter Transfer Window just closed and the only transfer from me was selling Zivkovic to Liverpool for $42.5m.  The only reason I did this is because I'm going to be transitioning to the 3-5-1-1 (3-4-3 Cryuff from Ozil) from the 4-2-1-3 Classic.  Plus, the board was only allowing me to keep 35% of revenue from transfers, so I wanted to dump someone in the Winter Window so I could get the transfer percentage back up come the Summer Window. 

Berardi is doing quite well as my ST/AMR, the nice thing about the 3-5-1-1 from Ozil is that it has an AMC position into which I can place Refojos to see if that suits him better than playing as a lone ST as he's pretty bad as one.

We barely made it into the Champion's Knockout Round - two teams were tied with 10 points going into the last game (Me, Juventus), Dortmund had 9 and I was playing Juventus at Juventus.  We got annihilated 4-0.  In a brilliant stroke of luck, CSKA Moscow managed to draw Dortmund, over whom I had the tie-breaker, and stumbled our way into the Knock-Out round where we drew AC Milan.

Fingers crossed folks!

[CybrSlydr]

WE did it again!  We managed to win the League!

Real Madrid was running away with the league after the Winter Window closed - I think I was 10 points back after a bad run of results for us.  However, it appears Real also ran into a string of bad results and on the 37th match of the season, we clinched the title!

The final game of the season could have been quite interesting as I play Real Madrid in Madrid - AND play Real Madrid in the Spanish Cup Final. 

We were knocked out of the Champions League once again in the Quarter Final by Bayern 3-2 on aggregate.  -sigh-  We just can't manage to make it past the QF. 

For ***** and giggles, I put in a bid for Paulo Dybala who is playing for Juventus.  He has a $134m Release Clause and wanted $300k/wk along with an $18.5m signing bonus among other clauses.  Couldn't swing it. 

[CybrSlydr]

Summer window is over and I made a few deals.

As mentioned above, I'm transitioning from the 4-1-2-3 formation to the 3-5-1-1 and towards that end, I picked up another CB, 22 year old Brazilian named Valdir.

I also picked up Abdou Diakhate (he was my biggest signing) as a good BBM to go with both Meli and Kramer when I play the 3-5-1-1.  His extreme pace has me excited!

I also sold a lot of players, which apparently the fans are not happy about.  I sold both RBs Gilberto and DeAndre Yedlin; I sold LB Carles Planas; I sold CB David Costas and I sold DM Borja Fernandez.  Unfortunately, I didn't get anywhere near their values because I simply wanted to move them since they were now surplus.  For example, Yedlin and Gilberto both had values over $20m but they left for $7.5m.  I got a decent amount for Costas and Fernandez though.

I've also re-trained Hector Bellerin into a MR - and with Jorge, my 4.5/4.5 LB who can also play LM, I went out and bought a Spaniard 2.5/2.5 for around $14m who can play both LB and RB.  This further streamlines my squad as instead of having two players for backup, I now have one that can do both. 

I will most likely be moving Kramer on during the next window as he's now 30 and is starting to lose a bit of his ability as a DM/MC, so I REALLY want to capitalize on his value while I can (currently around $35m). 

Benteke is also losing his edge and the board just will not let me get rid of him.  I've tried both a mutual termination and release on a free, but the board blocks it every time - and for some reason, even when I set the asking price as low as I can, nobody will make a move.  I figured MLS or someone would jump at the chance.  It's annoying as hell...

We drew Liverpool, Inter and an Israeli team in the Champions League, so it looks like another tough group-stage ahead for me.  Also got a notice that the Spanish league lost some Champions League spots - now only the top two teams in the League qualify instead of four.  Yikes - really puts the pressure on to perform now!

[CybrSlydr]

I'm calling it quits on this save. 

Made it to the Semi-Final in the Champion's League and drew Manchester United.

Ran out to a 3-0 victory at home in the first leg - stunned, frankly by that result - and promptly lost 4-0 in the away leg where my best PK taker missed a PK and their PK maker made theirs.  I was absolutely furious at this result and said, 'No - I'm not losing like this'.

So I save scummed. 

I'm currently on my 39th reload of that save and still haven't managed to win the away leg against United with a 3-0 aggregate lead.  Un-****ing-belivable. 

Thanks for following, I hope you got some enjoyment out of this because I'm absolutely livid at this point in time.