[FM18] Real Betis - Bringing Glory to the Estadio Benito Villamarín - Season Two Review

[Ewan0404]

On 21/04/2018 at 21:32, SixPointer said:

Tough group but that’s what it’s all about!!

It is until i finish with 0 points and a -20 GD.

[SixPointer]

1 hour ago, Ewan0404 said:

It is until i finish with 0 points and a -20 GD.

First season in the tournament. Can’t be to harsh on yourself. My last season with hearts I built a defensive tactic and it helped. 

[Ewan0404]

September

We had a two week break at the start of the month due to the international fixtures. This meant we played our five matches this month in the space of fourteen days. Tiredness really effected our team this time as we only managed two wins from five and suffered an embarrassing defeat at Stamford Bridge. The loss to Atletico Madrid was I suppose to be expected but dropping points to Deportivo Alavés was a poor showing - they are really beginning to become our boggy team.

The best result of the month was undoubtedly the away win again Athletico Bibao. The game was pretty even throughout and it looked like we would be sharing the points on this occasion. That was until a Durmisi cross was headed into the back of the net by Sanabria with only minutes to spare to send the small contingent of away fans wild. The young Paraguayan is having a fine season in the early stages.

League Tables

Despite the poor showing this month by last seasons standards we are still sitting in second placed in La Liga. However in the UEFA Champions League we are bottom with an identical record to AC Milan - so hopefully they are just as poor as us these days and we can sneak ahead of them into third place. 

[rodesire]

Good job in the league but what an appalling CL group! Incredibly unlucky!

[john1]

Incredible tough group you ended up with  At least AC Milan got zero point!

[Ewan0404]

October

We played six matches this month and I must say that this has to be the worst month I have overseen as manager of the team. Two wins against easy opposition in UD Almería and FC Cartagena and then four massive points dropped to SD Eibar and Celta de Vigo. The 3-1 loss to AC Milan was also a hard one to take as this was probably the game we had to win to try and take third place. But three first half goals from Milan were enough to take the three points back to Italy for them.

Our best result of the month has to have been the 1-1 draw with FC Bayern München. A near sell out crowd in the Estadio Benito Villamarín witnessed us pick up our first point in the UEFA Champions League as talisman Boudebouz equalised in the sixty-fourth minute to cancel out the Lewandowski striker earlier in the half. This was a great result for the fans, however it does leave us with only one point from three games in the group.

League Table

After the poor run of results we have slipped down from second in La Liga to fifth. However I am confident as well as hopeful that we can stop the slide down the table and be pushing for a top four spot again with 27 games left to play in La Liga.

As for the UEFA Champions League, one point in three games leaves us rock bottom, however we're within two points of third placed AC Milan so maybe we can still finish ahead of them and qualify for the Europa League knockout stages.

[john1]

Still got a chance of finishing 3rd!

[Minuy600]

Just realised my own Betis CU is way too similar to yours. Excuse me

[Ewan0404]

13 hours ago, john1 said:

Still got a chance of finishing 3rd!

That's the hope anyway.

11 hours ago, Minuy600 said:

Just realised my own Betis CU is way too similar to yours. Excuse me

That's not a problem at all, are you enjoying playing as them?

[Minuy600]

So far it's been excellent. My most succesful career so far, even after just 6 matches I already feel much more comfortable than with other non-Dutch teams.

[Ewan0404]

November

Well all in all this month was a disaster to be painfully honest with myself. Losses to Real Madrid and Villarreal in the league mean we are losing ground on the battle for the title - this was never really a real aim to be honest. There was a positive however as we came from behind to defeat Valencia CF 2-1. We took an early lead away in Italy but AC Milan proved far too powerful for us as they absolutely tore us apart shipping four goals past us.

The best game of November was the 1-0 victory over Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League. The game was an even affair with both sides going close in the early stages before it turned into a midfield battle with both teams struggling to create anything in the final third. That was until in the final minute of injury time Guardado played a through ball into the box for Joaquín to slide the ball under the onrushing Courtois. It was only fitting that our first win of the season comes from a goal from the club legend.

League Table

We have now dropped down to seventh in the table as this season looks to be a bit more of a struggle than the last. We are still only four points behind the fourth UEFA Champions League spot and I am not too worried about losing out this season yet.

We sit fourth in group H at the moment, three points behind AC Milan with a game to play. The eight goal disadvantage means it will be a near impossible task for us to pip AC Milan to third and a place in the Europa League knockout stages.

[rodesire]

12 minutes ago, Ewan0404 said:

We sit fourth in group H at the moment, three points behind AC Milan with a game to play. The eight goal disadvantage means it will be a near impossible task for us to pip AC Milan to third and a place in the Europa League knockout stages.

In CL group stages matches between teams have higher precedence than the goal difference  

[Ewan0404]

1 minute ago, rodesire said:

In CL group stages matches between teams have higher precedence than the goal difference  

So they do. That's me out then haha.

Are the images still showing up for you just now? None of the images are appearing for me just now.

[rodesire]

2 minutes ago, Ewan0404 said:

So they do. That's me out then haha.

Are the images still showing up for you just now? None of the images are appearing for me just now.

Only the league table for me, the others have file names only

[Ewan0404]

1 minute ago, rodesire said:

Only the league table for me, the others have file names only

They were all working and now since the update nothing is showing up. Do you have any idea how to fix it? I use tinypic.com.

[rodesire]

3 minutes ago, Ewan0404 said:

They were all working and now since the update nothing is showing up. Do you have any idea how to fix it? I use tinypic.com.

Ha, some of the images started showing up now, maybe it just needs some time..

[john1]

Tough month in all fairness, Good to see Joaquin, getting the winner to beat Chelsea  

[Ewan0404]

16 hours ago, john1 said:

Tough month in all fairness, Good to see Joaquin, getting the winner to beat Chelsea  

Yeah it was great to see him pop up with the winner. He played a lot last season and now as he is getting on he is a bit part player.

[Ewan0404]

December

We had a busy month as we played seven games in total. Three wins out of four in the league put us in good stead to continue to climb up the table. Our good record against FC Barcelona continued as we won 4-2 with doubles from both Boudebouz and Sanabria. The loss to UD Las Palmas was a tough one to take as we were the better side throughout the contest. Our European dreams ended for this season as we fell to a 2-0 loss in Germany. We did manage however to get through to the next round of the Copa del Rey with a convincing 6-2 win over FC Cartagena.

Well that's what I call a derby game. It was a very sluggish and boring affair until the fifty-eighth minute when Vázquez opened the scoring for Sevilla FC. After this the floodgates opened as a further six goals were scored in the remaining  thirty minutes. The hero of the day was undoubtedly this seasons surprise package Antonia Sanabria as he scored in the eighty-seventh minute to complete his hat-trick and put us 4-2 up. Muriel smashed in a stunning volley not long after the restart to bring about a nervy final minutes to the game.

League Tables

A good month sees us slide up into fifth place just two points behind Atlético Madrid. The table is looking tighter as the season goes on as a large number of teams look set to battle it out for the European places.

Overall on paper it looks like an extremely poor set of results in the UEFA Champions League finishing with a measly four points. However I can't fault the boys on our first European adventure for a long time and especially in a group containing some of Europe's biggest and best clubs.

[john1]

Superb win over Sevilla and Barca  You have done well with group with Bayern, Chelsea and AC Milan  

[Ewan0404]

January Transfer Window

Overall we had a relatively quiet window as we only had one player joining the club. Gerard Deulofeu has joined the club for £6,250,000 from FC Barcelona. The twenty-four year old was deemed surplus to requirements at the Catalan club which is why they let him move for such a small fee. The young winger came through La Masia before spending time at Everton, Ac Milan, Watford and our fierce rivals Sevilla FC. Hopefully those former ties wont hold him back.

He is a like for like replacement for Joaquín who looks increasing like he will retire at the end of this season.

There was one player leaving the club and that was Ki Sung-Yeung heading on loan to Cagliari Calcio in Italy, he was spending most of his time sitting on the bench since joining in the summer so a loan move away seemed like the best for all involved.

 

[SixPointer]

On 01/05/2018 at 18:51, Ewan0404 said:

 

J

Just catching up mate fantastic result in the derby!! Champions league was always going to be tough! Coming along nicely!

[Ewan0404]

January

January was a very busy month as we had nine games to play over the course of twenty-eight days. You could really tell that the short rest periods between games was taking it out of our players as we only managed to win four games out of the nine we played. The month started well with three wins in a row before going on a poor run which consisted of just the one win from the final five games. We managed to ease past RCD Espanyol in the Copa del Rey with a 5-2 aggregate score over the to legs, this setting up a difficult tie against Athletic Bilbao. We lost this 4-2 on aggregate meaning we won't be holding onto our title from last year.

The best match of the month was the 1-0 victory over Real Sociedad who we are continuing to battle it out with for the fourth UEFA Champions League spot. Paco Alcácer on loan from FC Barcelona scored the only goal as we narrowly won a game in which we dominated from start to finish.

League Table

Despite a patchy run of form towards the end of the month we have managed to remain in third place and only one point behind Atlético Madrid. However with only two points separating second down to fifth it's impossible to predict where we will each finish this season.

[danmcconnell1]

Rotten luck with that CL group but hopefully another top 6 finish will provide you with a bit of a better budget to really have a crack at the title next season. Fantastic work, keep it up 

[Ewan0404]

On 01/05/2018 at 20:05, john1 said:

Superb win over Sevilla and Barca  You have done well with group with Bayern, Chelsea and AC Milan  

Yeah a tough first season in Europe but we were dealt a tough group. Onwards and upwards from here.

On 08/05/2018 at 09:41, SixPointer said:

Just catching up mate fantastic result in the derby!! Champions league was always going to be tough! Coming along nicely!

Yeah it was a tense derby with chances galore from both sides. 

3 hours ago, danmcconnell1 said:

Rotten luck with that CL group but hopefully another top 6 finish will provide you with a bit of a better budget to really have a crack at the title next season. Fantastic work, keep it up 

Yeah i wasnt expecting to do much in Europe this season but the money will be a massive help.

 

 

Next update will be out shortly and will be a Feb/March updateas I forgot to take a screenshot of the table in Feb sadly.

[Ewan0404]

February/March

With no European or cup games for the rest of the season we should have been able to concentrate on finishing comfortably in the top four. Things never work out like that however and in the nine games played over the two months in La Liga we managed to only pick up three wins, three draws and losing the other three. To be fair we lost to Real Madrid and Atlético Madrid so I can't really be overly critical of the team there, but the loss to RCD Espanyol hurt, especially considering they knocked out us out of the Copa del Rey in January. Wins against Deportivo Alavés and SD Eibar were straightforward as we were always expected to pick up the three points against them. The three games we drew could be summed up to either bad luck on the day or just both teams not deserving to win on the day.

Our last match of March was a big one with us taking on our rivals for UEFA Champions League places Valencia CF. We managed to pick up a slender 1-0 win thanks to a goal from Mexican Guardado in the eighty-eighth minute. This was a real smash and grab win for us as we were absolutely battered for ninety minutes as Valencia CF has thirteen shots to our measly three. 

League Table

With only eight games to go we find ourselves five points behind Valenia CF in fourth. However we may need to keep an eye over our shoulder as we are only seven points ahead of ninth placed RCD Espanyol. There is still a lot to play for and a lot to be decided this season in La Liga. The only thing that looks certain is that Real Madrid will hold on to win the title unless they slip up massively in the run in.

[Ewan0404]

April

With only eight games left of the season to try and catch up  to Valencia CF we had to make them count. Overall this month was a step towards that as we picked up seven points out of the possible twelve. The Seville derby offered up a dull goalless draw which was a disappointment to fans after the previous back and forth derby game from a few months ago. We are still unbeaten in the derby since I took over which is a massive achievement for ourselves and shows that we really are on the way to becoming the biggest side in Seville. The game against FC Barcelona was a bit hard to take as we went into half time drawing 3-3 for us to then throw away the game in the second half.

The best result of the month was the match against Villarreal CF. A Fornals own goal and a Boudebouz tap in right before half time gave us a real foothold in the game. The final fifteen minutes were a nervy affair for all involved at Real Betis as Guarado was sent off for a two footed lunge just before Semedo scored to pull back the deficit. Thankfully this was nothing more than a consolation goal as we managed to hold out for all three points.

League Table

With only four games left of the season it looks like we will finish in fifth or sixth place as we are five points adrift of Valencia CF but managed to remain seven ahead on seventh placed Villarreal CF. We look on course to finish with a similar points tally to last season.

[SixPointer]

Still looking like a very strong finish for the green and white half off Seville! 

[Ewan0404]

May

In a make or break month for the club in terms of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League we managed to win three of our remaining four games. The loss to Real Sociedad on the second last game of the season all but ended our hopes of making it consecutive fourth placed finishes. We were the second best team on the day and I can't say we didn't deserve to lose.

The last day of the season saw us take on CA Osasuna away from home. We gave our fans something to cheer about on the final day as we ran out comfortable winners thanks to goals from Boudebouz and Bartra. The result ensures that we finish in the Europa League places and we will again be playing European football next season.

Final League Table

Overall another successful season as we managed to overachieve in terms of our pre-season odds. We managed to finish with just four less points than last season. This will hopefully prove to people that last season wasn't a one season blip and that we are here to stay at the top end of the La Liga table and continue to build a team that can consistently qualify for European Football. 

[Ewan0404]

End of Season Announcements

Another good season for all at Real Betis. We never managed to retain our Copa Del Rey title from last season or make an impression in the UEFA Champions League this season (to be fair we did have an unbelievably hard group). We finished the season in fifth place and managed to qualify for the UEFA Europa League Group stages.

Real Betis legend Joaquín has decided to retire at the age of thirty-seven. Joaquín spent two spells of his career here from his youth days in the academy and breaking into the first team spending ten of his senior career in the team split over two spells. In the previous two campaigns since I have been at the helm he started forty-six games while scoring six goals and setting up a further ten for his team mates. He has been given a job as the teams head of youth development as he looks to enjoy a career in football after hanging up his boots.

Real Betis Awards

Team of the Season and Overall Real Betis XI

Aims for 3rd Season

• Qualify for the UEFA Champions League this season
• Have a competitive run in the UEFA Europa League and make it into the last eight
• Look to bring one big name Spanish player back to La Liga
• Continue to be the best team in Seville

[Ewan0404]

Summer 2019

Well after another good season for the green and white side of Seville we were given a bigger transfer budget with which to improve the squad for the clubs second consecutive year playing in Europe.

Transfers In

We brought in five players on permanent contracts and also managed to extend the loans of two of our players.

Marco van Ginkel: The ex Chelsea midfielder had shown his quality on loan in the Netherlands playing for PSV, however he was deemed surplus to requirements on his return to Stamford Bridge.

Ethan Horvath: A really cheap signing here from Club Brugge so there is no real loss if he doesn't go on to battle for the number one jersey in the coming years.

Cesc Fàbregas: The marquee signing of the season. The Spanish midfield maestros contract at Chelsea had come to and end and with a host of clubs across the world looking to acquire him we are delighted to announce he will be at Real Betis for the next two seasons to try and tutor our upcoming talent.

Ramiro Funes Mori: The Argentine defender has been signed to be a back up as we are looking to change our formation this season so we needed another central defender.

Aleksandar Mitrović: The young Serbian striker has struggled to adapt to life in the English Premier League and his move signals the end of a tough four years in Newcastle.

Tin Jedvaj: The young Croatian has extended his loan deal and looks set to gain more minutes on the park this season.

Patrick Cutrone: We managed to extend his loan deal yet again.

Transfers Out

There were a lot of players leaving so I will just right a report on the main ones.

Ki Sung-Yeung: The South Korean struggled to fit into life in Spain and so we have let him move on. We managed to make a £2,200,000 profit on the midfielder.

Andrés Guardado: It was a tough one letting him go, but with the signings we made this season I couldn't guarantee him first team football and so it was best for all parties that he move on.

Dennis Diekmeier: The German forced a move from the club as we failed to qualify for the UEFA Champions League this season - a promise I made him upon signing.

Benoît Trémoulinas: The left wing-back has decided to retire from football as he feels he can no longer compete at the top level.

Finances

After a successful two seasons up until now we have strengthened our financially position remarkably. The Copa del Rey win and qualifying for the UEFA Champions League in the second season gave us a real boost to our reputation meaning we could draw in more fans to the club and meant we could achieve more money through sponsorship's, TV deals and general prize money. A mix of incoming transfers from around the globe also increased our fan-base outwith Spain, especially the signings of South Korean Ki Sung-Yeung last season and Ethan Horvath this summer.

 

[ToMexico!!]

Some good signings there but van Ginkel looks expensive in retrospect, especially if you have to pay the add-ons. Good luck for the season. 

[john1]

Decent signings you have made, especially bringing in Fabregas  

[Ewan0404]

2 hours ago, ToMexico!! said:

Some good signings there but van Ginkel looks expensive in retrospect, especially if you have to pay the add-ons. Good luck for the season. 

Big money but I think he will repay his fee over the next few seasons.

8 minutes ago, john1 said:

Decent signings you have made, especially bringing in Fabregas  

Yeah I hope Fabregas coming in will shift some more merchandise and he can tutor some of my young players.

[Ewan0404]

Pre-Season 2019

We had a packed schedule in pre-season as I managed to arrange eleven games against varying opposition. Some people may say that we had too many games in pre-season as we may suffer from exhaustion as the season goes on. However I felt the opposite and decided that I wanted our squad to get as much match practise as possible so that we can hit the ground running from the first league game of the season. Of the eleven games we played, nine of them were at home, I decided to arrange most of our friendlies at home so that we could generate a good size of income from the gates.

Overall we won nine of our games, drawing one and getting absolutely battered by one. We managed to score twenty-four goals whilst at the same time conceding only eight goals. An incredible seven clean sheets bodes well for the season ahead. 

Seville Cup

I organised the inaugural Seville Cup with the invitees being FC Porto, ACF Fiorentina and FC Luzern. This will be an annual competition that I plan on running to give fans a feel good mini-league in the summer. The mini-league managed to get 129,075 fans into the Estadio Benito Villamarín. We managed to lift the first of these trophies and will hope to continue to in the future. We will aim to continue to add a wide variety of teams from around Europe and potentially the world in the coming years , while also hoping to get more fans through the doors.

 

Pre-Season Squad Analysis

Another reason for arranging the number of friendly matches we did was so that we could give everyone in the squad some playing time and analyse who will best fit our new system and way of playing.

Goalkeepers:

Antonio Adán - 2 games played, 2 clean sheets, 0 goals conceded, 

Rafael - 5 games, 3 clean sheets, 6 goals conceded

Ethan Horvath - 4 games, 2 clean sheets, 2 conceded

Central Defenders: 

Ramiro Funes Mori - 3 games played 0 goals, 1 assist

Marc Bartra - 11 games, 1 goal, 0 assists

Zouhair Feddal - 10 games, 0 goals, 0 assists

Pablo Insua - 7 games, 0 goals, 0 assists

Gustavo Gómez - 11 games, 1 goal, 0 assists

Wing-backs:

Tin Jedvaj - 8 games, 0 goals, 3 assists

Riza Durmisi - 11 games, 0 goals, 3 assits

Gerard Deulofeu - 3 games, 0 goals, 1 assist

Central Midfielders:

Javi García - Injured for pre-season

Jan Kirchhoff - 7 games, 0 goals, 0 assists

Cesc Fàbregas - 11 games, 0 goals, 0 assists

Marco van Ginkel - 11 games, 4 goals, 1 assist

Víctor Camarasa - 8 games, 0 goals, 1 assist

Fabián - 7 games, 4 goals, 0 assists

Attacking Midfielders:

Aaron Hunt - 8 games, 2 goals 2 assists

Ryad Boudebouz - 10 games, 3 goals, 0 assists

Strikers:

Patrick Cutrone - 11 games, 5 goals, 2 assists

Antonio Sanabria - 11 games, 8 goals, 3 assits

Aleksandar Mitrović - Signed after the final pre-season game.

 

Overall we have a real depth in the squad and that is great news as it is something we were maybe lacking in last season with real quality on the bench at times. 

Antonio Adán has been installed as the club captain for the season while Gustavo Gómez has been promoted to vice-captain.

Other News

We have come to an agreement with the board to upgrade the Luis Del Sol Training Centre which should be completed by the end of November this year.

So overall we are growing as a club and constantly moving in the right direction in line with my vision for the club. 

 

 

[Ewan0404]

Sorry for the text heavy end to the update there 

[Fosse]

The Seville cup is a nice idea. It's rare you see something new on the FMCU forum but it's the first time I've seen somebody do that

[SixPointer]

Solid signings!! Has cesc still got the ability? I’d imagine his physicals would decline but surely he’s still technically a god?

[Ewan0404]

3 hours ago, Fosse said:

The Seville cup is a nice idea. It's rare you see something new on the FMCU forum but it's the first time I've seen somebody do that

Thanks, it is a nice addition to add in and it generates a good cash flow as well.

20 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Solid signings!! Has cesc still got the ability? I’d imagine his physicals would decline but surely he’s still technically a god?

Here he is in December 2019. All of his stats are starting to diminish but to be honest he can still do a job being rotated in and he is mainly here to try and sell some shirts and also tutor Fabián (he has spent the previous two seasons out on loan at CA Osasuna and then CD Numancia so I am looking to bring him into the side this term)

[Ewan0404]

 

September

A great start to our season overall as we managed to pick up thirteen points from a possible eighteen at the start of the season. The opening day 1-0 win over Valencia CF is a big boost already as we get a win over the side that pipped us to fourth last season. A 3-2 loss loss in our opening Europa League game away at FK Partizan was not what we were expecting from this game, especially as the other two sides in our group are arguably a tougher test - Schalke 04 and CFR Cluj. The loss to CD Tenerife was a poor one as we really should be picking up maximum points against the promoted sides.

The match against Celta de Vigo was a joy to behold as we dominated from start to finish. Sanabria continued his rich vein of form from the end of last season with an early striker today. But the man of the match has to be that of bargain signing Aleksandar Mitrović who bagged a hat-trick in the second half after coming on at half time. If he can continue to score like that it won't be long before he earns himself a starting spot.

League Tables

A good start to the league campaign see's us sitting in third place at the end of the month after six games. In the Europa League however we are sitting in third and three points below the top two. After only one game however it is early days.

[SixPointer]

13 hours ago, Ewan0404 said:

 

Definitely still has something to offer! He won’t be coasting past people but he will still be able to control games with his passing ability will be a fantastic tutor as well 

[Fosse]

Probably not that good a tutor because the spirited personalities professionalism is something in the range of 11-14 IIRC

[SixPointer]

1 minute ago, Fosse said:

Probably not that good a tutor because the spirited personalities professionalism is something in the range of 11-14 IIRC

PPM’s side of tutoring I would lean to with him rather than the personality

[Ewan0404]

@Fosse @SixPointer 

I think he will be able to rub off a lot on Fabian. His experience in the big games and his winning mentality will rub off on my squad I'm sure 

[Ewan0404]

October

A good run of results this month on the domestic front barring the hammering we received from Atlético Madrid, who coincidentally have beaten I have lost all matches against since I took over (11-1 on aggregate over five games played). So with six points from nine in the league and a victory in the first leg of our fourth round Copa del Rey tie I would say that it's been a good month domestically. However in Europe we are still struggling as we won one match and lost narrowly to Schalke 04 meaning we have three points from three games played.

We recorded our first points of this Europa League campaign with a convincing win over CFR Cluj. The in form striker Mitrović put us ahead after a curling shot from outside the area flew into the top corner. The tie was all but wrapped up with eight minutes left on the clock as as Mitrović shot was spilled by the opposition goalkeeper for Insua to tap in to the net.

League Tables

 

After having played nine games we are still sitting third only two points behind league leaders FC Barcelona. But with only three points separating the top five it looks like this may be a very close season. In the Europa League we are also sitting third only one point behind FK Partizan in second place, but Schalke 04 look to already have the group all but wrapped up with nine points from the first three games.

[SixPointer]

Good start again mate 

[Ewan0404]

53 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Good start again mate 

Other than another poor looking European campaign. 

[Ewan0404]

I am still going to be updating this guys. Just not been near my computer for a few weeks due to a few health issues with the other half. Will be getting a lot of updates out again from tomorrow so stay tuned

[SixPointer]

3 hours ago, Ewan0404 said:

I am still going to be updating this guys. Just not been near my computer for a few weeks due to a few health issues with the other half. Will be getting a lot of updates out again from tomorrow so stay tuned

Hopeully everything is okay with your other half mate! I’ve been the same this week myself. 

[PJ Bluenose 4 Ever]

Hi @Ewan0404,

Hope the other half is feeling better mate.

I am really interested in starting a Real Betis save but concerned about the potential lack of money? 

Has anyone else received small transfer budgets after having a successful year?

Thanks in advance.