FM18: Athletic Club (Bilbao) - Los Leones

[OlivierL]

Great results against the big teams Bowieinspace !

[Jean0987654321]

9 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

 

Going well so far!

I've given out new contracts like they're going out of fashion. I now have all the key players tied down on super high release clauses for the long term (including Laporte!). Signed Otegui and Javi Martinez (the young Osasuna one) who are being tutored etc for the future...Martinez is playing for the B team and Otegui is getting minutes for the first team thanks to our easy Europa League group. 

Still keeping my eye on Ander Herrera but sadly he signed a new 3 year deal at United, so that one might not work out.

I'm trying to tap him up

Lets hope he doesn't sign a new deal in my save

 

[OlivierL]

Money time in my first season.

Reached the Europa league final (against Arsenal) and have three point lead after a late winner against Malaga. Lost Aduriz with a achilles tendon = out for 5/6 months and he is thinking about his career..

Last two games against Atletico and Deportivo away.. i need three points (when real and me have the same points, i'm winning because of the results between me and Real).

[OlivierL]

Season one summary :

I lost away against Atletico in the 37th game of the season.. Real Madrid lost one day later away against malaga.. and that is why i won the league !

fixtures:

Table:

 

EL final :

Team stats:

Received some bad news about Aduriz .. big challenge to replace him next (or the start of) season.

 

[bowieinspace]

On 11/27/2017 at 00:07, Olivierlandman said:

Great results against the big teams Bowieinspace !

Thanks! We really played well in those games..the opening game of the season was a bit of a smash and grab, but Barca and Real we deserved to win.

[CapaJr]

Greetings fellow Leiones, i decided to join your journey!

1)the striker position after Aduriz is the biggest issue, but since we have two great wingers Susaeta & Muniain,  i will use Williams as a complete forward next season, and  before i switch his position, i'll start improving his attributes that fits a striker, strength or finishing for example. 

btw, Villalibre's PA is 4 1/2 stars in my save so at worst case he'll be a very good back up striker, best scenario, i'll move Williams back to the wing. 

2)Although there are a few players that can play in the AMC position, Raul Garcia is our only original and good option.. 

but to contrast to AMC position, we have many DMC/MC's in our disposal so i decided to use 3 man midfield with 1DMC & 2MC's, and use Raul as a box to box player, his attributes are more than adequate for that role, i have no worries. i'm hoping that this way, our central midfield will be stronger as a whole. 

3)As many of you have recommended, before hitting the continue button i have renewed more than 10-12 contracts, including our star players. 

4)The inability to buy Sociedad players are a big obstacle but who knows, maybe we'll change that with the success we bring to the club. 

5)The dream buy is Griezmann. he'll be my biggest goal but realistically, its Herrera & Merino. I especially like that Merino guy so hopefully he'll be a good first team player next season, if i can buy him from Newcastle ofcourse.. 

 

Now, lets begin 

[bowieinspace]

7 hours ago, CapaJr said:

4)The inability to buy Sociedad players are a big obstacle but who knows, maybe we'll change that with the success we bring to the club. 

5)The dream buy is Griezmann. he'll be my biggest goal but realistically, its Herrera & Merino. I especially like that Merino guy so hopefully he'll be a good first team player next season, if i can buy him from Newcastle ofcourse.. 

 

Now, lets begin 

Welcome!

Good luck with 4...on FM17 even when I was the top club in the world they wanted nothing to do with me. You get the occasional player willing to meet be but that’s about it.

Griezmann very unlikely as well. I’ve generally found when it’s been possible to get him it’s because he’s old and it’s not even worth it anyway. Never know though!

 

 

[CapaJr]

The striker issue is indeed a big problem, i am not really happy with Aduriz, expected so much from him and his contribution is nowhere enough. 

He really have no natural replacements though, even Llorente doesnt want to join because fans apparently hate him. 

How do you guys solve this problem in the upcoming years? 

[OlivierL]

6 hours ago, CapaJr said:

The striker issue is indeed a big problem, i am not really happy with Aduriz, expected so much from him and his contribution is nowhere enough. 

He really have no natural replacements though, even Llorente doesnt want to join because fans apparently hate him. 

How do you guys solve this problem in the upcoming years?

Play strikerless like me and the problems are solved Aduriz played great as the AMC (targetman) and Inaki or Villalebre seems to cope with that position .

[Jean0987654321]

7 hours ago, CapaJr said:

The striker issue is indeed a big problem, i am not really happy with Aduriz, expected so much from him and his contribution is nowhere enough. 

He really have no natural replacements though, even Llorente doesnt want to join because fans apparently hate him. 

How do you guys solve this problem in the upcoming years? 

Then play a pacey winger up top ala Iniaki or Iker. You could always leave Aduriz on the bench as a supersub...

[bowieinspace]

8 hours ago, CapaJr said:

The striker issue is indeed a big problem, i am not really happy with Aduriz, expected so much from him and his contribution is nowhere enough. 

He really have no natural replacements though, even Llorente doesnt want to join because fans apparently hate him. 

How do you guys solve this problem in the upcoming years? 

Yep Athletic fans hate Llorente due to the way he departed the club a few years back, he would never be welcome again.

I find loan striker formations (even ones with support players like a 4-2-3-1) make it tough to get the striker firing. Maybe it's just me but goals/overall ratings always seem to be a struggle. 

[Jean0987654321]

1 minute ago, bowieinspace said:

Yep Athletic fans hate Llorente due to the way he departed the club a few years back, he would never be welcome again.

I find loan striker formations (even ones with support players like a 4-2-3-1) make it tough to get the striker firing. Maybe it's just me but goals/overall ratings always seem to be a struggle. 

Yep, however, I DID sign Llorente when he was transfer-listed so anything is possible in this game at least

[bowieinspace]

1 minute ago, Jean0987654321 said:

Yep, however, I DID sign Llorente when he was transfer-listed so anything is possible in this game at least

Oh dear....

To get over this abomination I suggest a minimum 3 hours praying to the lord Aduriz, you must cleanse yourself!

[Jean0987654321]

55 minutes ago, bowieinspace said:

Oh dear....

To get over this abomination I suggest a minimum 3 hours praying to the lord Aduriz, you must cleanse yourself!

It was last year's game tho. AND I needed some more strikeforce and a tutor to Villalibre and Eboko

 

And then, he became my youth coach so...yeah...

[CapaJr]

1 hour ago, bowieinspace said:

Yep Athletic fans hate Llorente due to the way he departed the club a few years back, he would never be welcome again.

I find loan striker formations (even ones with support players like a 4-2-3-1) make it tough to get the striker firing. Maybe it's just me but goals/overall ratings always seem to be a struggle. 

so let me sum up what we have here  

1)Athletic cannot buy non basque players

2)Athletic cannot buy rival wonderkids from Sociedad

3)last but not least, Athletic fans hate former stars like Llorente or Martinez, so they are not viable options also.. 

dear athletic fans irl; 

because of the obvious self imposed restrictions and your rivalry to Sociedad, you guys are already fighting with one hand wrapped around your back..

hating former players like llorente when you are already struggling with good striker alternatives, makes thinks even more difficult for the club.. 

so please, next versions of this game i want to see peace between the ex players and the fans  

thank you  

 

[Jean0987654321]

2 minutes ago, CapaJr said:

so let me sum up what we have here  

1)Athletic cannot buy non basque players

2)Athletic cannot buy rival wonderkids from Sociedad

3)last but not least, Athletic fans hate former stars like Llorente or Martinez, so they are not viable options also.. 

 

dear athletic fans irl; 

because of the obvious self imposed restrictions and your rivalry to Sociedad, you guys are already fighting with one hand wrapped around your back..

hating former players like llorente when you are already struggling with good striker alternatives, makes thinks even more diffcult for the club.. 

so please, next versions of this game i want to see peace between the ex players and the fans.

you are not punishing anyone but yourself.

thank you  

 

Javi Martinez is fine. I was able to get him on a free without any problems from my fans. Llorente I got some heat for but all of this was in last year's game. This year will be tough

[OlivierL]

I don't understand why they signed Ander Capa.  With options like De Marcos and Lekue.. no extra wingback needed ?

[CapaJr]

1 hour ago, Jean0987654321 said:

Javi Martinez is fine. I was able to get him on a free without any problems from my fans. Llorente I got some heat for but all of this was in last year's game. This year will be tough

I tried buying him this year and he said the fans hated him so doesnt want to join the club. 

breaking news: just did my yearly youth regen intake, and i'm happy to say we'll have our new 5 star striker in 2 years, also along with him we'll have a potential replacement for Raul Garcia & a great alternative for Inaki Williams. 

With correct training, tutoring and match experience, these 3 guys are definitely our future starters! 

[OlivierL]

Great regens, i had a great sc and mc from my first intake.. after i posted my doubts about the Ander transfer.. Balenziaga broke his ankle and I'll have to use Saborit or Lekue now on the left..

 

Trying to sell Merino and introduced Lopez, Villalibre and Santemaria into the first team. 

[CapaJr]

2 hours ago, Olivierlandman said:

Great regens, i had a great sc and mc from my first intake.. after i posted my doubts about the Ander transfer.. Balenziaga broke his ankle and I'll have to use Saborit or Lekue now on the left..

 

Trying to sell Merino and introduced Lopez, Villalibre and Santemaria into the first team. 

Something really weird happened. 

Now, check out the determination level of Bakero in the first attachment.

its 10, right?

and look at underneath now. its 14 

How can this be possible, 4 levels of boost in just 1 month?

LATEST EDIT: NOW IT INCREASED TO 15? 

NOTHING ELSE BUT JUST THE DETERMINATION KEEPS INCREASING, THIS GUY HAS BEEN AT THE CLUB FOR JUST A MONTH AND HIS DET. LEVEL INCREASED FROM 10 TO 15.

WTF?  

[bowieinspace]

3 hours ago, Olivierlandman said:

I don't understand why they signed Ander Capa.  With options like De Marcos and Lekue.. no extra wingback needed ?

On the surface it’s a weird one, but to look at it another way...De Marcos and Lekue have both played in more advanced roles (as has Capa), so if Williams gets shifted up front Athletic will need more depth on the right potentially 

[CapaJr]

i finished my first season 4th place.. i will post the details later but wanted inform you guys about something else ASAP! 

I made offers to 3 real sociedad players just to try my luck, two rejected as expected BUT TO MY SURPRISE, their biggest talent, the right back ODRIOZOLA does negotiate!!

and he is a right back- one of the crucial spots for the future of the team.

great news i must say ! 

[CapaJr]

SEASON 1 SUMMARY: finished 4th in the league, knocked out at second knockout round after the group stage at the Europa cup. 

SECOND 2 PLANS:

1)Aduriz retired- i planned on using him a lot for the second season too, so change in plans were needed, i moved Williams to striker position until my 5 star regen grows up, Villalibre will be my current backup striker. 

2)We updated the team and swapped Benat with Herrera, Di Marcos with Odriozola (definitely my most sensational acquisition)  and also the starting left back is now Monreal

*Monreal might be 32, but currently his all around attributes are better than Balenziaga.

if his stats drop next season then i'll use him as a back up and switch to Balenziaga again.

*Switching from Benat to Herrara:  say hi to our new captain + he is 2 years younger and stats wise a better player. 

*Switching from Di Marcos to Odriozola: we now have one of the best young right backs in the game! he replaces a versatile but aging & average player.

*our alternative left back was switched from Saborit to Balenziaga & right back from Lekue to Capa

i believe we have a good upgrade in quality in this "back up" players too. 

FUTURE OF BILBAO: 

We now have a good core to rely on.. Kepa, Laporte, Iker, Inaki, Odriozola are the 5 players that we can use for the next 8-10 years.

we can also add 3 of our new regens that have 5 star potential to this list.. 

their positions are: the much needed FC, AMC and AMR.

(this means we now potentially have future replacements for Raul Garcia and Susaeta, along with a starter Striker)

that makes 7-8 high potential players are now at our disposal.. a bit older but always reliable San Jose & Itturaspe can also be added to this list. 

 

for the upcoming seasons: we now need a left back regen + MC replacement for the 33 years old Rico (thinking of Merino)

[OlivierL]

Nice transfers.. i wanted herrera but they are asking 45m.. didnt do any transfers yet in my second season. After the double i want to keep all my current players and add villalibre and Lopez to the squad.

[CapaJr]

4 hours ago, Olivierlandman said:

Nice transfers.. i wanted herrera but they are asking 45m.. didnt do any transfers yet in my second season. After the double i want to keep all my current players and add villalibre and Lopez to the squad.

Same with me about Merino.  Newcastle asks for at least 40-50m and thats way too much for someone i will consider a useful rotation player. 

Did Aduriz retired in your game too? and what about Odriozola,  is he willing to negotiate a deal? 

[bowieinspace]

3 minutes ago, CapaJr said:

Same with me about Merino.  Newcastle asks for at least 40-50m and thats way too much for someone i will consider a useful rotation player. 

Did Aduriz retired in your game too? and what about Odriozola,  is he willing to negotiate a deal? 

Great deal on Herrera and awesome you got Odriozola! Herrera has signed a new deal with United on my save so I don't rate my chances of picking him up sadly. I'm only approaching winter break on the first season so quite a bit of distance to go...I'm doing another save at the same time which I started in the beta so taking it slowly  

[OlivierL]

18 minutes ago, CapaJr said:

Same with me about Merino.  Newcastle asks for at least 40-50m and thats way too much for someone i will consider a useful rotation player. 

Did Aduriz retired in your game too? and what about Odriozola,  is he willing to negotiate a deal? 

Aduriz is out for 6 months , since may . He will retire at the end of the second season. I didnt make any offer for odriozola, will try to see what happens.

[Bigpapa42]

I want to manage in Spain at some point on FM18, but not sure on the club. Bilboa are a very intriguing project. One thing I've always been curious on - are you outright blocked from signing non-Basque players? Could you accidentally sign one and have the supporters revolt? Not that I want to take over the club and wreck the policy, just always been curious how it works in game.

[CapaJr]

1 hour ago, Bigpapa42 said:

I want to manage in Spain at some point on FM18, but not sure on the club. Bilboa are a very intriguing project. One thing I've always been curious on - are you outright blocked from signing non-Basque players? Could you accidentally sign one and have the supporters revolt? Not that I want to take over the club and wreck the policy, just always been curious how it works in game.

Yes you are blocked to sign non basque players. and not just that. most of the real sociedad wonderkid's will never sign for you because you are their arch rival. 

your best strategy would be to invest in your youth. this is my first ever experience in FM with Bilbao, and let me tell you this- the experience is way different then the rest.

for example, in other saves i used to definitely get rid of 32-33 year old players and invest in young and talented youngsters. 

but in Bilbao, unless you have a suitable regen coming up, you need to use those veteran players all the way. Aduriz is a major example to this. 

so.. its not for everyone. I loved making transfers before and now i feel like i became a vegetarian  try and see for yourself. 

[CapaJr]

1 hour ago, Olivierlandman said:

Aduriz is out for 6 months , since may . He will retire at the end of the second season. I didnt make any offer for odriozola, will try to see what happens.

you are lucky to have him for the second season..

he had a good season for me in the first season, but i couldnt convince him not to retire. 

I think odriozola is the only Sociedad player that we can buy and doesnt refuse our offer right away. 

so this is an important note for all the Athletic players in here, because he is awesome  

 

Oh, and Bowie, dont give up on Herrera, because he renewed his contract in my game but United accepted my offer..

so do try and see for yourself. yes they do ask a lot more, but if you negotiate correctly, they mostly do accept a lower deal. 

[bowieinspace]

5 hours ago, CapaJr said:

Oh, and Bowie, dont give up on Herrera, because he renewed his contract in my game but United accepted my offer..

so do try and see for yourself. yes they do ask a lot more, but if you negotiate correctly, they mostly do accept a lower deal. 

Sweet I will definitely try - he is always my first priority!

Has anyone else found a way to stop the scouts recommending non-basque players when you enter the scouting centre? It's so annoying.

[Jean0987654321]

6 minutes ago, bowieinspace said:

Sweet I will definitely try - he is always my first priority!

Has anyone else found a way to stop the scouts recommending non-basque players when you enter the scouting centre? It's so annoying.

I have no idea. Maybe report it to the bugs forum?

[bowieinspace]

4 minutes ago, Jean0987654321 said:

I have no idea. Maybe report it to the bugs forum?

Yeah I will take a look at that? Is it just me?

[Jean0987654321]

31 minutes ago, bowieinspace said:

Yeah I will take a look at that? Is it just me?

Nope. Happened to me too

[CapaJr]

7 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

Sweet I will definitely try - he is always my first priority!

Has anyone else found a way to stop the scouts recommending non-basque players when you enter the scouting centre? It's so annoying.

No its not only you, they recommended Milan's Andre Silva to me just now. 

[OlivierL]

11 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

Sweet I will definitely try - he is always my first priority!

Has anyone else found a way to stop the scouts recommending non-basque players when you enter the scouting centre? It's so annoying.

my data analist is doing that, my normal scouts aren't recommending non-basqua players.

[bowieinspace]

5 hours ago, Olivierlandman said:

my data analist is doing that, my normal scouts aren't recommending non-basqua players.

I'll have to take a look later and see whether it's the same my end, I would imagine it probably is. Definitely something we need to put a post up about in the bugs forum.

[bowieinspace]

Someone beat me to it...answer from SI is it's being investigated

[bowieinspace]

 

Not bad so far...

[CapaJr]

wow thats great results man, really impressed!! 

what season is this btw, 2nd? 

my second season is going great too, half way through the season and we sit at second place. 

 

[bowieinspace]

2 minutes ago, CapaJr said:

wow thats great results man, really impressed!! 

what season is this btw, 2nd? 

my second season is going great too, half way through the season and we sit at second place. 

 

This is season one  

[CapaJr]

Daily hints for everyone:

1)Yuri is a very good, strong left back. he plays for a position we desperately need to cover for the future, and guess what?? 

PSG will not play him and transfer list him in most cases!  

in my current save, he is transfer listed for just 3m !! he will be my bargain buy for the upcoming transfer window. 

2)Make sure you do what bowie said in his introduction in this thread and scout 16 year olds. I am about to buy 2 spanish wonderkids for the future from Osasuna & Barcelona (one of them is Basque anyway) 

[OlivierL]

I wasnt going to sign any non under 16 players.. what is Bilbao doing irl? Are they signing youngsters like that?

[Jean0987654321]

43 minutes ago, Olivierlandman said:

I wasnt going to sign any non under 16 players.. what is Bilbao doing irl? Are they signing youngsters like that?

U16? Nope but they had a lot of stick for signing a few prospects that had Basque ancestors but not formed in Basque Country. 

[bowieinspace]

58 minutes ago, Olivierlandman said:

I wasnt going to sign any non under 16 players.. what is Bilbao doing irl? Are they signing youngsters like that?

They certainly wouldn't pluck a 16 year old from an academy in Madrid and give them Basque nationality by default. They sometimes give exceptions to people with strong basque ancestry (in theory they should have basque nationality on the game already) or if someone moved to the basque region at a very young age and developed their football within the Basque region (should be reflected within academy products, to be honest I don't think this is but couldn't say for sure). 

[OlivierL]

15 minutes ago, Jean0987654321 said:

U16? Nope but they had a lot of stick for signing a few prospects that had Basque ancestors but not formed in Basque Country. 

That is why i won't sign 16 year regens with not basque link.  Makes the challenge harder ? or not realistic ?

[Jean0987654321]

2 minutes ago, bowieinspace said:

They certainly wouldn't pluck a 16 year old from an academy in Madrid and give them Basque nationality by default. They sometimes give exceptions to people with strong basque ancestry (in theory they should have basque nationality on the game already) or if someone moved to the basque region at a very young age and developed their football within the Basque region (should be reflected within academy products, to be honest I don't think this is but couldn't say for sure). 

It does sometimes if they are spawned in those clubs

[bowieinspace]

6 minutes ago, Olivierlandman said:

That is why i won't sign 16 year regens with not basque link.  Makes the challenge harder ? or not realistic ?

I play the same way, personally I think more realistic and also more challenging for sure.

[bowieinspace]

 

He is happy to chat with me as well, but no way of affording the fee in the first season winter window. Game over  

[Jean0987654321]

5 minutes ago, bowieinspace said:

 

He is happy to chat with me as well, but no way of affording the fee in the first season winter window. Game over  

Don't worry, mate. Barca will prolly transfer list him in the next season or the one after