PaulHartman71 Posted July 6, 2019 Author Share Posted July 6, 2019 Nations Remaining (based on coefficient rankings) Portugal - Turkey (+2) Russia - Holland (-1) Scotland (+1) Belgium (-1) Ukraine (+2) Romania (+5) Denmark (+1) Austria (+2) Croatia (-4) - Serbia (-5) Switzerland (-5) Greece (+3) - Czech Republic (+2) Norway (-2) - Poland (+1) Sweden (-3) Bulgaria (+1) Republic of Ireland (-1) Israel (+3) Slovakia (-1) Iceland (-1) Slovenia (-1) Hungary - Belarus - Finland (+1) Northern Ireland (-1) Wales Turkey actually move above Russia, with Scotland rising a place yet again. Romania have shot up a bit with Eddie Howe's Steaua side making the knockout stages of the Europa League on one occasion. Croatia, Serbia and Switzerland all drop a fair bit down, with Greece the main other big riser. Republic of Ireland still punching above their weight despite falling down a slot, with Finland recovering to not be 2nd last behind Northern Ireland. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 6, 2019 Author Share Posted July 6, 2019 Weirdly enough it was actually an all-French final, as Thierry Henry's Marseille side proved the other year was no fluke as they got past lots of top sides again to be worthy finalists. It was Pep's PSG that won it though, as he did more good for his already very impressive HOF ranking. He's 69, with 2 more seasons left on his contract and he could well win 2 more Champions League crowns to add to the 6 that he already has. A huge year for John Terry's Celtic side as make the Quarter Final and weren't a million miles away from the Semi, whilst their 1st knockout round opponent Braga are also worthy of a lot of praise and possibly consideration for when I make it to Portugal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 6, 2019 Author Share Posted July 6, 2019 Escobedo desperately unlucky to score 8 CL goals and not get the Golden Boot, but even more unlucky that it was a Celtic player who beat him to it Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 6, 2019 Author Share Posted July 6, 2019 Emery's side won their 5th title with relative comfort this year, with no real surprises as Porto and Sporting Lisbon make up the remaining CL spots. No CL for Braga next season, although they did well this season and could well push on in Europa next season. Kayserisor are well and truly back as they wrap up their 2nd straight title, under an impressive reign of 40 year old manager Matthijs De Ligt. The Dutchman was hired 2 years back after cutting his teeth in Norway with Rosenborg as he won 2 Norwegian Cups and the Norwegian PL, which saw the Turkish side take a chance. It paid off as he's had two titles for them since. He could be one to watch in the next 10-15 years as a manager who could make a name for himself on the HOF board if a big team comes in for him. Fener finish 2nd and get the other CL spot, with Galatasaray and Kasimpasa having to settle for Europa. Shakhtar come close but not close enough, as as it's another title win for Kyiv, who are no longer managed by Alvaro Morata as he left them for Galatasaray last summer. In terms of trophies it seems like a backwards step, but there's probably more money in Turkey even if you're not the top dogs. Olexandriya the surprise 3rd place and Europa League qualifiers, with Zirka too not exactly an established European side either. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 6, 2019 Author Share Posted July 6, 2019 Our boys defend their European Championship crown this summer and I'll be sure to keep you posted on how they do. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 7, 2019 Author Share Posted July 7, 2019 Big news for the Russian game. A huge fall from grace for Italy as helped contribute to this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 11, 2019 Author Share Posted July 11, 2019 The big clubs have been circling around star CB Yavuz Karakaya like vultures for a while now and it was only a matter of time before they got him. Luckily we had a slight bidding war as Real Madrid, PSG, Man City and Wolfsburg all fought over him. He eventually chose Real Madrid and left for £60M, although some of that was in instalments. We only signed left back Wim Hornix last summer but he had his head turned by PSG and I relented to let him go for only a £13M profit when I saw a good LB was available on the market. Konstantin Mitrofanov is a very talented versatile winger who I didn't really want to let go, but he had 1 year left on his contract and wanted first team football, so he was sold to Arsenal Tula. Leandro Eguren came in as back-up/rotation right back for £4.8M or so last summer, attracted some interest from a few German sides and I was happy to let him go for a bit of profit. The first order of business was to buy a new CB. We couldn't get another Turkish CB so we got the next best thing, a Cypriot one () Kyriakos wasn't cheap and we had to give him big wages and signing on fee to tempt him to us rather than some of the other clubs interested. He looks extremely good and will no doubt be snapped up by one of the super-clubs in a few seasons, hopefully for a decent profit. Evgeny only left for Wolfsburg last summer, but it was my old English pal Robert Witham who helped us out, as my former left back at Wolfsburg kept Evgeny out of the side all season, which caused him to throw his toys out the pram and request a transfer. Wolfsburg relented and stuck him on the transfer list which meant we picked him out for £10M less than we sold him for. Left back problem solved and we gain a Russian player for the first 11. Happy days Alexey is a versatile full back prospect who was playing for Rostov. He will only be a rotation option for now as Rodolfo Eduardo is one of the best right backs I've ever had, but when he's inevitably snapped up by a bigger side in a few years then Alexey will be able to slot in as a good replacement. We had enough money in the window that we had £50-60M spare to buy players we didn't necessarily need, so I've tapped into the Brazilian market and enacted two release clause for a talented defender and midfielder to add as depth. They're not players we particularly need and they might cause some rotation issues and upset some of the back-up Russian players, but we're at a point where we have enough money to really push on and try and go for the Champions League and having those sort of players as rotation options is what we need to do that, as the City's, PSG's etc will have that level of depth. Dmitry Yeremin is a fairly talented keeper who will serve as 2nd choice and give us an extra HG player for CL purposes and in the league if Thierry is ever injured/suspended. The other 3 lads are emergency back-up punts who probably won't feature much but will be there as bodies. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 11, 2019 Author Share Posted July 11, 2019 Mid-Season Update Super Cup A 2-1 win to secure yet another Super Cup. Russian Cup It took extra-time for our second string to get past Shinnik, but since then we beat Ural and picked up a decent first leg result against CSKA Moscow. Russian Premier League We started the season with a couple of 3-0 wins, but then Rostov shocked us at home to pick up our first loss of both this and last season. We then beat Orenburg and Ural. Two drubbings of Ufa and Krylja followed, but CSKA took advantage of us resting our first team for mid-week and picked up a win against us. Krasnodar jumped on this and pulled off a big victory a few days after our CL game to make it 3 losses in our first 9 games. I didn't think twice against resting our players before the CL again so did so against Spartak and we dropped points again. More or less no problems since then, with just the 1 draw against Orenburg after again resting players for the CL. Krasnodar in a strong position again this season, although we move above them if we win our games in hand. Champions League A pretty favourable draw as a 2nd seed side, with AC Milan surprisingly pipping Roma and winning the Serie A which meant we got them as 1st seeds, then Monaco and Sociedad. Weirdly enough we only dropped points against Sociedad who are arguably the weakest side. I wasn't too impressed by AC Milan and Monaco were quite poor too, with Escobedo, who hasn't been as lethal as last season, stat peddling by scoring 4 times by half-time Very happy to top the group and only conceding once is great. What's not great is that we've got the hardest tie available to us in the next round, in my former side Roma. Considering the likes of Fenerbache, Celtic, Porto and Ajax were on offer we have to be a bit annoyed at that given how hard our draw last year was too. Perhaps Roma are not as strong these days as AC Milan did just win the league, although they've been boosted as after sacking the previous manager for his Serie A failure they got in Pep in the summer. It should be interesting! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarp Posted July 11, 2019 Share Posted July 11, 2019 (edited) Ioannou looks fantastic! Good luck against Roma, I have a feeling that this is your year. Edited July 11, 2019 by scarp 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 14, 2019 Author Share Posted July 14, 2019 A very quiet January, which as I've said before at this club is always a good thing when you're trying to keep hold of players. The only transfer of the winter was a departure, with Christian Emmanuel, who some may remember as a rotation central midfielder leaving for Sporting Lisbon for £7.5M following a succesful calendar year loan at Malmo in Sweden. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 15, 2019 Author Share Posted July 15, 2019 End of Season Update Russian Cup CSKA did well in Moscow in the return leg as they got 3 goals, but thankfully we found four to go through. 3-0 wins against Lokomotiv and Rostov then saw us seal yet another Russian Cup trophy. Russian Premier League 4 wins from 5 to start 2014 in good form, with the 3-2 win against Krasnodar a huge moment in our bid for the title this season. We dropped points to CSKA Moscow and Spartak following Champions League quarter final matches and then also drew at a decent looking Rostov side. We lost to Torpedo 4-3, but then won our final 3 games of the season. Was it enough to secure the title at Krasnodar's expense? You can't take anything away from how close Krasnodar came this year. It was the closest anyone's come to taking it off us, but they just fell short in the end to secure yet another title for us, Zenit's 8th in a row and my 5th. Weirdly enough this actually marks Krasnodar as the 5th different side that have finished runners-up to me since I took over. Champions League Roma are a tough side, especially since they now have Pep managing them, but we went to my old stomping ground and held firm, with the only goal in the game coming from a penalty. We went into the home game with an away goal behind us and thus sat very deep once again, with both of our goals coming from CBs scoring from set pieces. We couldn't defend quite so well when we came up against my other old side Arsenal in the Quarter Finals. We managed 3 first half away goals at the Emirates and Arsenal, now managed by ex-player Lucas Torreira looked set to capitulate. But they came out fighting in the second half and pulled back 3 huge goals to get themselves right back in the tie, yet we scored 3 more goals in the first half of the second leg - and that was the real killer. They got another goal back but it wasn't enough and we ended up winning it fairly comfortable in the end. Schalke are a team we're very familiar with. A few years back we knocked them out and two seasons back they eliminated us at the Quarter Final stage. It was another very tight set of ties this time around, with this one being so tight it went to penalties. It was heart in mouth with a set of spot-kicks deciding whether or not we were to make the final, but despite a miss from Rodolfo Eduardo, who is usually so reliable, we had star keeper Thierry to thank for saving two penalties to put us in the final against none other than Manchester City. Chelsea beat Man City 1-0 in the first leg in the Semi Final and I was relieved as I would've much rather played Chelsea, yet City stormed back to win the 2nd leg 6-0 and make the final. I went into the game with little expectations of winning it and so was very surprised when we took an early lead through Sergey Vorobjov - and then after that Gennaro Gattuso's side collapsed in surprising fashion. Vorobjov grabbed another just after the half hour mark, and Agustin Rinaldo powered home a header from a corner to make it 3-0 just before half-time. City came storming out in the 2nd half but to no avail, as Vorobjov grabbed his hat-trick and the match-ball just after the hour mark. An unbelievable result to even beat City, but to beat them in such fashion in amazing. We've got a very strong side and I knew we had a decent chance of winning the competition this year, but even in my wildest dreams I didn't expect it to happen until maybe next season! Rodolfo Eduardo is right up there with any right backs I've had in this save, great player. Sergey Vorobjov worth a shout for being a great left winger and for his important goals in the final, great to see a Russian getting the goals that helped us win it. Agustin Rinaldi and Kyriakos at CB were both absolute rocks and formed a great partnership, in-front of Thierry in goal who deserves a shout out for being so consistent throughout the years at Zenit. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 15, 2019 Author Share Posted July 15, 2019 Career History --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season Club League Position Achievements/Other --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 Arsenal Premier League 4th Europa League winners 2019/20 Arsenal Premier League 2nd Champions League winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2020/21 Paris SG Ligue 1 1st Ligue 1 & Coupe de la Ligue winners 2021/22 Paris SG Ligue 1 1st Ligue 1, Champions League & Trophee Des Champions winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2022/23 AS Roma Serie A 3rd Italian Cup runners-up 2023/24 AS Roma Serie A 2nd Italian Cup winners 2024/25 AS Roma Serie A 1st Serie A winners 2025/26 AS Roma Serie A 2nd Italian Super Cup winners & Champions League runners-up 2026/27 AS Roma Serie A 1st Serie A, Italian Cup & Champions League winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2027/28 Atletico Madrid La Liga 3rd N/A 2028/29 Atletico Madrid La Liga 2nd N/A 2029/30 Altetico Madrid La Liga 2nd Champions League winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2030/31 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 6th N/A 2031/32 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 5th Europa League winners 2032/33 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 3rd European Super Cup winners 2033/34 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 2nd N/A 2034/35 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 1st Bundesliga winners 2035/36 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 2nd German Super Cup & Champions League winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2036/37 Zenit St Petersburg Russian PL 1st Russian Premier League, Russian Cup & Super Cup winners 2037/38 Zenit St Petersburg Russian PL 1st Russian Premier League, Russian Cup & Super Cup winners 2038/39 Zenit St Petersburg Russian PL 1st Russian Premier League & Super Cup winners 2039/40 Zenit St Petersburg Russian PL 1st Russian Premier League, Russian Cup & Super Cup winners 2040/41 Zenit St Petersburg Russian PL 1st Champions League & Domestic Treble winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trophy Cabinet Champions League x6 - 2019/20 (Arsenal), 2021/22 (Paris SG), 2026/27 (AS Roma), 2029/30 (Atletico Madrid), 2035/36 (VFL Wolfsburg), 2040/41 (Zenit St Petersburg) Europa League x2 - 2018/19 (Arsenal), 2031/32 (VFL Wolfsburg) European Super Cup x1 - 2032/33 (VFL Wolfsburg) Bundesliga x1 - 2034/35 (VFL Wolfsburg) German Super Cup x1 - 2035/36 (VFL Wolfsburg) Serie A x2 - 2024/25, 2026/27 (AS Roma) Italian Cup x2 - 2023/24, 2026/27 (AS Roma) Italian Super Cup x1 - 2025/26 (AS Roma) Ligue 1 x2 - 2020/21, 2021/22 (Paris SG) Coupe de la Ligue x1 - 2020/21 (Paris SG) Trophee Des Champions x1 - 2021/22 (Paris SG) Russian Premier League x5 - 2036/37, 2037/38, 2038/39, 2039/40, 2040/41 (Zenit St Petersburg) Russian Cup x4 - 2036/37, 2037/38, 2039/40, 2040/41 (Zenit St Petersburg) Russian Super Cup x5 - 2036/37, 2037/38, 2038/39, 2039/40, 2040/41 (Zenit St Petersburg) Nations Completed 1. England - Arsenal 2. France - Paris SG 3. Italy - AS Roma 4. Spain - Atletico Madrid 5. Germany - VFL Wolfsburg 6. Russia - Zenit St Petersburg 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 15, 2019 Author Share Posted July 15, 2019 Nations Remaining (based on coefficient rankings) I can't give an accurate picture of the ups and downs this season as I've removed Russia from the list now. Portugal Turkey Holland Scotland Belgium Austria Croatia Ukraine Czech Republic Romania Denmark Greece Switzerland Serbia Sweden Poland Norway Bulgaria Republic of Ireland Slovakia Israel Iceland Slovenia Hungary Belarus Northern Ireland Finland Wales Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 15, 2019 Author Share Posted July 15, 2019 Schalke have come quite close to the Final a few times now, but fall at the last hurdle once again. Chelsea's Semi Final performance marks the best they've done since the start of the save, whilst Fenerbache and Ajax are notable names in the knockout stages. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 15, 2019 Author Share Posted July 15, 2019 Eredivise has been added to the game. It of course boasts 3 winners of the competition, with Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV all unplayable. Ajax certainly seemed to dominate the first 15 years or so of the save, but it looks a lot more of an open league in recent times which is great to see. AZ and FC Utrecht seemingly representing the best options when I eventually get there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 15, 2019 Author Share Posted July 15, 2019 Benfica pick up their 6th straight title, but take nothing away from just how close Braga came to upsetting them this year. It would've represented Braga's first ever title and they've definitely got my attention as the side to be in Portugal now, just a shame their manager is doing such a good job he's unlikely to lose his job anytime soon! Would presumably have to rely on him getting poached away by a bigger side. A decent year for Sporting Lisbon, another prospective club, who finish in 3rd, but disaster for Porto who finish in 5th behind even Academica. Fenerbache win to prevent a 3rd straight title for Kayserispor, with Galatasaray in 3rd. Kasimpasa surprisingly drop out of Europe after a strong decade which hasn't seem them out of European competition for around 12 seasons. The Ukrainian league proved incredible drama this season, as Shakhtar broke Dynamo Kyiv's 6 year reign of terror, with Dynamo doing so badly they didn't even make the top half. Shakhtar winning the title doesn't tell the fully story though, as the Ukranian league came agonisingly close to seeing one of Chornomorets and Zirka pulling off a huge upset and winning the title. Those two sides actually spent most of the season competing for the title, with Shakhtar 10 points behind both even on the 20th game day. I thought for sure we'd see a huge shock and a first non-Shakhtar/Dynamo winner for almost 50 years, but Shakhtar managed to prevent that from happening on the last day. Maybe next year they won't be so lucky! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 15, 2019 Author Share Posted July 15, 2019 Porto obviously an attractive option, but Mourinho's triumph with them rules them out of the question. It looks like my sole option at this point is Galatasaray, by no means a bad option as they're a fairly rich side, although the Turkish league is very competitive at the minute and they're not what they once were. I enjoyed my time in Russia immensely but I was fortunate to come to it at a time when Russian players were in such abundance. I don't think Turkish players on the whole are at the same level, so I think even taking over a lesser Portuguese side would possibly get me to the CL crown sooner than taking over Galatasaray now. There's no jobs going in the Portuguese league though, so I think I will have to settle for Galatasary, which is by no means a bad option. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 Russia done. Nice one. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidthekid Posted July 15, 2019 Share Posted July 15, 2019 Awesome work, especially in the final. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarp Posted July 16, 2019 Share Posted July 16, 2019 Told you 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 16, 2019 Author Share Posted July 16, 2019 I said before that I couldn't take the Porto job, which remains true, but someone who could was Portimonense's manager, regen Nicolas Conesa. Porto took a chance on the Spaniard after a few impressive seasons that saw the giants of Porto finish just 1 point ahead of his side. This left a vacancy at the Europa League side and an alternative to Galatasaray and the Turkish league. I jumped at the chance to go for Portimonense instead and after resigning from Zenit they took me on. I have a very small budget and not a great squad, but the Portuguese league is much stronger than the Turkish league so I think it will be easier to complete the CL here. Galatasaray are also not as strong as they once was, so they're not like Zenit in Russia where they represent a job too good to turn down in-case it doesn't come up again for another few decades. I will stay in Portugal and if the Sporting Lisbon or Braga job comes up in the next few years and they're still considerably stronger than Portimonense I will just jump ship to one of them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 16, 2019 Author Share Posted July 16, 2019 Zenit have replaced me with another Englishman, as they take on Eddie Howe, who in the last decade has guided Steuau Bucharest to 4 league titles and 5 Romanian cup wins. He also has a Bundesliga and Eredivise title to his name with Bayern and Ajax respectively. If he can win as many Russian trophies as I did and compete in Europe then he may well reach the Hall of Fame page by the end of his career. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 16, 2019 Author Share Posted July 16, 2019 The level of the squad isn't that great really. A lot of the players are probably around the sort of level of my back-up players at Zenit. Here are some of the better players: Maxwell incidentally did his cruciates in pre-season and will pretty much miss the entire season. I'll be in the market although we have more or less no budget. We start in the 2nd Round of Best Placed qualifying for the Europa League. I'm not sure if we will make it to the Group Stages or not. I think if we can get a decent draw and avoid any other big sides we might be alright, but there's some tough sides like Juventus and RB Leipzig kicking around who we will probably have trouble with if we meet them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 17, 2019 Author Share Posted July 17, 2019 A few players attracted some interest and were sold. The most notable was Kenny Oliveira, a decent right back who Porto wanted and met his minimum release clause and duly took him. This did at least give us some kind of transfer budget so it wasn't too bad of a deal in the end. I'm not sure what PSG saw in Federico Serrano as he wouldn't have been starting much for me - the only thing I can think of is that they wanted to stock up their reserve side perhaps. As I said not a big budget and the majority of these players are the kind of players I'd be buying as back-up options at Zenit, but we must make do with what we have and see how far we can go. Enzo Morales joins from P.Ferreira, with 1 year left on his contract and wanting a move we were able to get the decent goalkeeper for a fairly cheap price. Juan Villarreol joins from Estudiantes, with the Argentinian having impressed at youth level and looking like he can add some quality to our central midfield which was very short of options upon my arrival. Eugenio Panigua joins to fill the gap left at right back, with the Paraguayan prospect having been another talent who has looked good at youth level in South American international football. Rune Frandsen is a young Dane who joins as a rotation option following the serious long-term injury of our main striker. I'm not sure how much Frandsen will play, it will depend on how well he performs, but it looks like there could be a decent player in there somewhere. Joel Albino joins from Academica for a decent £2M. He's primarily a CB but the Portuguese player can also fill in at CM if required. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 17, 2019 Author Share Posted July 17, 2019 Europa League qualifying The 2nd round of qualifying saw us drawn against Norwegian side Valerenga. Not too much difficulty for us, with a 2-0 win away from home and then a solid 3-1 win at home which saw a goal from new boy Juan Villarroel. The 3rd round saw us travelling to Sweden and once again we had no real problems, with a 6-1 win on aggregate seeing us through to the final stage of qualifying. I wasn't sure what to expect from St Johnstone but thankfully they weren't up to too much, as we held firm and kept two clean sheets and won 3-0 on aggregate to make the Group Stage. We've been drawn against one of the favourites in RB Leipzig, as well as Chornomorets of the Ukraine and Ludogorets of Bulgaria. I think we can qualify from the group, although Chornomorets are very much a dark horse as they did well in the Ukrainian league last year before bottling it late on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 18, 2019 Author Share Posted July 18, 2019 Mid-Season update League Cup We beat a non-league side 4-0 in qualifying, before losing to Vit Guimaraes and then picking up 4 points from Boavista and Braga. Braga progress to the Semi Final. Taca de Portugal 3 wins from 3 in the Portuguese Cup sees us into the Quarter Final. Primeira Liga We kicked off the season with a 1-0 win against feeder side Penafiel, before going on a poor run that saw us draw at Chaves and then lose two on the bounce against Braga and Benfica. We then picked up another point in a goal-filled game with Aves. We picked up our 2nd win of the season with a narrow 1-0 win at Santa Clara, before beating Academica 3-1. We then rescued a late point in Boavista, before drawing with Madeira and then beating Varzim. We drew with Feirense and then beat Guimaraes, before a big win against Sporting Lisbon and then two draws with Arouca and P.Ferreira. We're probably around the sort of level that I expected us to be at if I'm honest. The squad isn't amazing and is probably doing what you would expect of it. I'm hoping we can finish 6th and still get Europa League, although I think that depends on a winner of the cup not being below us if we were to finish 6th. Europa League As predicted we lost both games to Leipzig, but we won both against Ludogorets and thankfully just about bested Chornomorets (who were a decent side) over two matches. We've got possibly the nicest draw you'll ever see in a 1st knockout round of the Europa League, as we face Irish side Dundalk, who at least on the game have never got this far before. You can't guarantee that we'll beat them, but it's a huge chance to reach the Last 16 which given our squad we have no real right to do 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andychar Posted July 19, 2019 Share Posted July 19, 2019 Great stuff in Russia, constantly cleaned up for years. Looks like Portugal will be a tough nut to crack with Benfica unbeaten still. Will make it all the more sweeter! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 19, 2019 Author Share Posted July 19, 2019 Transfers in Jan The only senior departure saw good right back/right winger Javier Pena leave for Sporting Lisbon after they activated his release-clause. If I'm honest with the European/South American market as it is he wasn't worth that to us at all and we can reinvest that money in good value talented players, so overall I'm not too disheartened to lose him, even if he was quite good. Boban joins us from Serbian champions Partizan and he looks a very decent player for the price paid. Jeison joins from Colombian side Deportivo Cali. He was one of the best players at the U20 World Cup and U20 Copa America last season and I'm hoping he can adapt well to European and senior football. Colombia would have to have a good side for him to not get a senior call up in the coming years. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 End of Season Update Taca de Portugal A really close game and unfortunately we went out on penalties. Primeira Liga We kicked off 2042 in fine form in the league, with 5 straight wins, including an impressive win against Porto. This miraculous run saw us not concede a single goal too, which was a good thing because we're not actually thaaaat strong going forward as the 1-0s suggest. A huge win in the race for Europe as we beat Braga 3-1, before getting a huge point at home to Benfica and then picking up 5 from our next 3 games. It was a strange run of form as despite never looking massively dominant we would pull off something special to win a game or just refuse to concede so avoid losing the game. Our unbeaten run stretched for another 5 games as we picked up 4 wins from 5 games against some decent opposition, including two uncharacteristic thrashings of Feirense and Vit Guimaraes. Nothing lasts forever and Sporting Lisbon eventually beat us 1-0, but we recovered to draw at Arouca and then beat P.Ferreira and Porto to end the season on a high. That unbeaten run did brilliant things for us in the league as we somehow managed to finish 3rd. The morale/team unity at the club must've played a part I think as everyone came together to grind out good performances. The quality of the league outside of the Top 6 is quite poor, so even though when I was looking at our squad it seemed a bit weak, a lot of the non-European sides have far inferior squads. It's competitive at the top though so I'm really pleased to finish 3rd, which I didn't expect, as Braga have done very well in the CL/EL in recent years, with Porto an obvious big name but they seem to have been stagnating in recent years. This represents Portimonense's first time in the Champions League which is pretty mad to have achieved that in my first season. Europa League Dundalk were stronger than I would've expected and deserved their place in the knockout stages, but thankfully we were too strong for them over two legs. I thought we were out when we got drawn against my old side in the Round of 16, but we pulled off a big upset in Rome and then defended well to get a 0-0 in the 2nd leg. In the midst of our hot run of form this set of results was undoubtedly the best and most exciting one. The Turkish champions on paper were a better side than us and they proved that on the pitch too, as we went out 3-2 on aggregate at the Quarter Final stage. A fantastic run though, at the start of the season I was unsure if we'd even make the Group Stages, so to get this far is brilliant. Paulo Wilson at CB probably deserves Player of the Year, he was an absolute beast and one of the main reasons we kept so many clean sheets. Carlos Pio was another player who appeared in most games this season and he was always a vocal point in midfield and attack. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 Career History --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season Club League Position Achievements/Other --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 Arsenal Premier League 4th Europa League winners 2019/20 Arsenal Premier League 2nd Champions League winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2020/21 Paris SG Ligue 1 1st Ligue 1 & Coupe de la Ligue winners 2021/22 Paris SG Ligue 1 1st Ligue 1, Champions League & Trophee Des Champions winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2022/23 AS Roma Serie A 3rd Italian Cup runners-up 2023/24 AS Roma Serie A 2nd Italian Cup winners 2024/25 AS Roma Serie A 1st Serie A winners 2025/26 AS Roma Serie A 2nd Italian Super Cup winners & Champions League runners-up 2026/27 AS Roma Serie A 1st Serie A, Italian Cup & Champions League winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2027/28 Atletico Madrid La Liga 3rd N/A 2028/29 Atletico Madrid La Liga 2nd N/A 2029/30 Altetico Madrid La Liga 2nd Champions League winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2030/31 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 6th N/A 2031/32 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 5th Europa League winners 2032/33 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 3rd European Super Cup winners 2033/34 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 2nd N/A 2034/35 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 1st Bundesliga winners 2035/36 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 2nd German Super Cup & Champions League winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2036/37 Zenit St Petersburg Russian PL 1st Russian Premier League, Russian Cup & Super Cup winners 2037/38 Zenit St Petersburg Russian PL 1st Russian Premier League, Russian Cup & Super Cup winners 2038/39 Zenit St Petersburg Russian PL 1st Russian Premier League & Super Cup winners 2039/40 Zenit St Petersburg Russian PL 1st Russian Premier League, Russian Cup & Super Cup winners 2040/41 Zenit St Petersburg Russian PL 1st Champions League & Domestic Treble winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2041/42 Portimonense SC Primeira Liga 3rd N/A --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trophy Cabinet Champions League x6 - 2019/20 (Arsenal), 2021/22 (Paris SG), 2026/27 (AS Roma), 2029/30 (Atletico Madrid), 2035/36 (VFL Wolfsburg), 2040/41 (Zenit St Petersburg) Europa League x2 - 2018/19 (Arsenal), 2031/32 (VFL Wolfsburg) European Super Cup x1 - 2032/33 (VFL Wolfsburg) Bundesliga x1 - 2034/35 (VFL Wolfsburg) German Super Cup x1 - 2035/36 (VFL Wolfsburg) Serie A x2 - 2024/25, 2026/27 (AS Roma) Italian Cup x2 - 2023/24, 2026/27 (AS Roma) Italian Super Cup x1 - 2025/26 (AS Roma) Ligue 1 x2 - 2020/21, 2021/22 (Paris SG) Coupe de la Ligue x1 - 2020/21 (Paris SG) Trophee Des Champions x1 - 2021/22 (Paris SG) Russian Premier League x5 - 2036/37, 2037/38, 2038/39, 2039/40, 2040/41 (Zenit St Petersburg) Russian Cup x4 - 2036/37, 2037/38, 2039/40, 2040/41 (Zenit St Petersburg) Russian Super Cup x5 - 2036/37, 2037/38, 2038/39, 2039/40, 2040/41 (Zenit St Petersburg) Nations Completed 1. England - Arsenal 2. France - Paris SG 3. Italy - AS Roma 4. Spain - Atletico Madrid 5. Germany - VFL Wolfsburg 6. Russia - Zenit St Petersburg ** - Nations completed by the AI: 1. England - Manchester City 2. Germany - RB Leipzig 3. France - Olympique Marseille Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 Nations Remaining (based on coefficient rankings) Portugal Turkey Holland Scotland Belgium Austria Czech Republic (+2) Ukraine Denmark (+2) Croatia (-3) Switzerland (+2) Romania (-2) Sweden (+2) Greece (-2) Norway (+2) Poland Slovakia (+3) Serbia (-4) Bulgaria (-1) Republic of Ireland (-1) Iceland (+1) Israel (-1) Slovenia Belarus (+1) Hungary (-1) Finland (+1) Northern Ireland (-1) Wales Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 An incredible season for Unai Emery's Benfica is made all the more sensational by the fact he pulled off Benfica's first Champions League trophy for 80 years! It was this astronomical achievement that prevented by replacement Eddie Howe from winning a second straight CL for Zenit. A pretty crazy Quarter Final stage which at the start of the game would've looked far more like a Europa League bracket, with Stuttgart, Sporting, Valencia and Henry's Marseille all in there too. No idea where Stuttgart have come from to be fair, I don't remember them being anywhere near the CL when I was in Germany and this season was actually their debut in the competition since the start of the save. Last season they reached the Quarters of the Europa League. A lot of the big boys going out in the 1st round with PSG, City, Bayern, Real Madrid, United and Atletico all falling at that stage. Europa League saw arguably the two favourites face off in the final, with Barcelona (now managed by John Terry) proving victorious. A good run from Academica and a few interesting names in the knockout stages. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 The Dutch League wasn't added soon enough to see it in full this season. Fenerbache retain their title and were out of sight of Galatasaray in 2nd, with new strong side Kayserispor having an awful season which saw them finish as low as 9th and out of Europe altogether. Kasimpasa also miss out on Europe, with good years for Konyaspor in 3rd, as well as Genclerbirligi who also make Europe. Dynamo Kyiv were back on top in Ukraine, with Shakhtar having to settle for 2nd. Another strong year from AZ saw them pip Ajax to the Eredivise. Heerenveen a somewhat surprise 3rd place finisher too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 I was expecting to compete in the Best Placed 3rd Round of qualifying for the Champions League - and possibly have to settle for Europa League Group Stages, but Unai Emery's win of the Champions League has resulted in as being awarded an automatic spot in the Champions League group stage Heroic stuff from Emery. Well done, that man! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidthekid Posted July 21, 2019 Share Posted July 21, 2019 Really great end to the season. That unbeaten run was epic, did you change tactics or anything prior to that run? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 21, 2019 Author Share Posted July 21, 2019 53 minutes ago, kidthekid said: Really great end to the season. That unbeaten run was epic, did you change tactics or anything prior to that run? Nah, I gained the few extra players in January but other than that it more or less the same tactics/squad. The morale did seem to go up to a very high level so maybe that had something to do with it. I kept expecting our luck to run out but we just kept somehow grinding out results. We definitely over-achieved and even with signing a few players in the summer I don't think we can come close to matching what we did this season. Although to stay in the Champions League we actually only need Top 4 as Portugal have gone up a place in coefficients and so get 4 automatic CL group stages, at least for this coming season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 22, 2019 Author Share Posted July 22, 2019 Summer Transfer window No massive summer departures. If you take away Villarroel who left in December we only took in about £1.5M. Poquena possibly the most noteworthy departure as City matched his release clause, not sure why really as whilst he was decent last season I didn't see anything to suggest he could play at a much higher level. His head was turned and with the release clause I had no choice, could be one that got away in a few years time perhaps. Even with the prospect of Champions League football we're still a club that have to sell to buy and as such our budget was pretty modest. Gabriel Sanchez is a pretty talented striker who was frustrated at not playing at Braga and so was available at a decent price. He'll be our new first choice striker and I think he can be pretty good for this level. Sebastian Herrera joins at CB from Lanus. He's not the youngest of players, but by no means ancient for a CB and great value for the price we paid. Agustin Silva was our biggest buy and the talented young central midfield player will add a lot to our midfield. He looks a fine prospect. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
scarp Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 Silva looks class! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted July 22, 2019 Share Posted July 22, 2019 Very good first season at Portimonense Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 23, 2019 Author Share Posted July 23, 2019 Mid-Season update Portuguese League Cup We had a fairly kind group but it was still quite difficult to get past Academica and Feirense with both games away from home. We navigated through and our now in the Semi Final. Taca de Portugal We've had three 4-0 wins so far with no worries at all. Primeira Liga A solid opening day with a 2-0 win against P.Ferreira, before two 2-2 draws away form home against Sporting and Arouca. We then beat Leixoes 3-0 before we were on the receiving end of a 3-0 loss to the reigning European and Portuguese champions. We bounced back to beat Madeira 3-2, before drawing away to Boavista. We then beat Varzim, before drawing at feeder side Penafiel and winning against Academica. We capped the year with some great performances and 3 wins from 3. Going into the festive period we're in a decent position when you consider the Top 4 all get Champions League. If we win even 1 of our games in hand we will go into the Top 4. Champions League I didn't have high hopes when we got PSG as they're both sides I struggled to beat with Zenit, let alone this side. The first 3 games were horrendous and we even got smashed 3-0 by CSKA Moscow which I didn't expect. We beat them in the home leg thanks to a last gasp goal from John Mosquera, which proved to be absolutely huge as after defending for our lives against Schalke we managed to secure a point which put us through to the Europa League via 3rd. I'm not convinced we massively deserve to still be in Europe after some really poor performances, but I'm not complaining and we get a chance in a competition that is much more our level. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 24, 2019 Author Share Posted July 24, 2019 The only transfer in January saw us add depth to our midfield by poaching a young Argentinian midfielder from P.Ferreira. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 26, 2019 Author Share Posted July 26, 2019 End of Season Update Portuguese League Cup A loss at Sporting spelled an end to our run at the Semi Final stage Taca de Portugal A brilliant run in the cup saw us reach the final, where Unai Emery beat us in what was his final match as a football manager before his retirement. Primeira Liga A good start to the new year with 2 wins from our first two games, before drawing with Vit.Guimaraes and then Porto. P.Ferreira put in a real fight and surprised us with a 2-0 win. We then won 3 big games in our quest for Top 4, including two huge 1-0 victories against rivals Porto and Sporting. We then drew with Arouca before beating Leixoes. Benfica beat us away from home, then we went on a bore draw run against Madeira and Braga, which tbf in the latter case isn't a bad result away from home. We then beat Boavista, before drawing with Varzim. A drew with Setubal, before comfortably beating our feeder side and then a nice 1-0 win against Maritimo with a lovely goal from Karamoko securing that one. We then drew with Feirense before smashing Chaves and then losing to Vit.Guimaraes on the final day. Would that final day cost us the Top 4 and Champions League football?.... It wouldn't, as we ultimately finished above Sporting Lisbon by 3 points, although as you will see shortly they ended up qualifying for the Champions League anyway... Europa League I fancied our chances against Inter, mainly because Italian football is in the gutter at the minute. They're now the 8th ranked country in Europe (behind all of the obvious nations, as well as Russia and even Turkey) so I did not expect this to be a very strong Inter side. Thankfully I was right, as we won 5-3 on aggregate to progress to the Round of 16. Tottenham was a side that I was worried about (madly enough now under the management of none other than Harry Kane himself), but we defended well and Gabriel Sanchez was the difference maker in two 1-0 wins. The Dutch league is not too bad and Feyenoord are, if memory serves me right, by no means a poor side at this point in the save. They beat us 1-0 in Holland and to be honest I thought that was us out, but we bounced back brilliantly in the second leg to overturn the deficit and make the Semi Final. Sporting were of course a side we could've beaten, as we finished above them in the league, but at this point we had a 4/5 point lead so I wasn't going too nuts to try and win the EL and resting players mid-week and what forth. I was pleased with the 0-0 in the first leg and we got a bit unlucky in the second leg and they beat us. We're at the same level as they are anyway so by no means a disgrace to lose to them and if anything it's pretty cool to see 5 Portuguese sides in the CL group stage. Much like with Russia it seems I've come to this league at a good time. Karamoko, Boban Vasiljevic and Paoulo Wilson once again at CB the highlights for me. Gabriel Sanchez had a decent first season up-front, but he went missing a few times and 24 goals in 56 games isn't anything to massively write home about imo, as he's one of those strikers where if he doesn't score he might not do too much in the match. By all means a promising first season for us though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 26, 2019 Author Share Posted July 26, 2019 Career History --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Season Club League Position Achievements/Other --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2018/19 Arsenal Premier League 4th Europa League winners 2019/20 Arsenal Premier League 2nd Champions League winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2020/21 Paris SG Ligue 1 1st Ligue 1 & Coupe de la Ligue winners 2021/22 Paris SG Ligue 1 1st Ligue 1, Champions League & Trophee Des Champions winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2022/23 AS Roma Serie A 3rd Italian Cup runners-up 2023/24 AS Roma Serie A 2nd Italian Cup winners 2024/25 AS Roma Serie A 1st Serie A winners 2025/26 AS Roma Serie A 2nd Italian Super Cup winners & Champions League runners-up 2026/27 AS Roma Serie A 1st Serie A, Italian Cup & Champions League winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2027/28 Atletico Madrid La Liga 3rd N/A 2028/29 Atletico Madrid La Liga 2nd N/A 2029/30 Altetico Madrid La Liga 2nd Champions League winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2030/31 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 6th N/A 2031/32 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 5th Europa League winners 2032/33 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 3rd European Super Cup winners 2033/34 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 2nd N/A 2034/35 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 1st Bundesliga winners 2035/36 VFL Wolfsburg Bundesliga 2nd German Super Cup & Champions League winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2036/37 Zenit St Petersburg Russian PL 1st Russian Premier League, Russian Cup & Super Cup winners 2037/38 Zenit St Petersburg Russian PL 1st Russian Premier League, Russian Cup & Super Cup winners 2038/39 Zenit St Petersburg Russian PL 1st Russian Premier League & Super Cup winners 2039/40 Zenit St Petersburg Russian PL 1st Russian Premier League, Russian Cup & Super Cup winners 2040/41 Zenit St Petersburg Russian PL 1st Champions League & Domestic Treble winners --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2041/42 Portimonense SC Primeira Liga 3rd N/A 2042/43 Portimonense SC Primeira Liga 4th Taca de Portugal runners-up --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trophy Cabinet Champions League x6 - 2019/20 (Arsenal), 2021/22 (Paris SG), 2026/27 (AS Roma), 2029/30 (Atletico Madrid), 2035/36 (VFL Wolfsburg), 2040/41 (Zenit St Petersburg) Europa League x2 - 2018/19 (Arsenal), 2031/32 (VFL Wolfsburg) European Super Cup x1 - 2032/33 (VFL Wolfsburg) Bundesliga x1 - 2034/35 (VFL Wolfsburg) German Super Cup x1 - 2035/36 (VFL Wolfsburg) Serie A x2 - 2024/25, 2026/27 (AS Roma) Italian Cup x2 - 2023/24, 2026/27 (AS Roma) Italian Super Cup x1 - 2025/26 (AS Roma) Ligue 1 x2 - 2020/21, 2021/22 (Paris SG) Coupe de la Ligue x1 - 2020/21 (Paris SG) Trophee Des Champions x1 - 2021/22 (Paris SG) Russian Premier League x5 - 2036/37, 2037/38, 2038/39, 2039/40, 2040/41 (Zenit St Petersburg) Russian Cup x4 - 2036/37, 2037/38, 2039/40, 2040/41 (Zenit St Petersburg) Russian Super Cup x5 - 2036/37, 2037/38, 2038/39, 2039/40, 2040/41 (Zenit St Petersburg) Nations Completed 1. England - Arsenal 2. France - Paris SG 3. Italy - AS Roma 4. Spain - Atletico Madrid 5. Germany - VFL Wolfsburg 6. Russia - Zenit St Petersburg ** - Nations completed by the AI: 1. England - Manchester City 2. Germany - RB Leipzig 3. France - Olympique Marseille Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 26, 2019 Author Share Posted July 26, 2019 Nations Remaining (based on coefficient rankings) Portugal Turkey Holland Scotland Austria (+1) Czech Republic (+1) Belgium (-2) Switzerland (+3) Denmark Sweden (+3) Ukraine (-3) Greece (+2) Norway (+2) Croatia (-4) Romania (-3) Poland Republic of Ireland (+3) Bulgaria (+1) Slovakia (-2) Serbia (-2) Slovenia (+2) Iceland (-1) Israel (-1) Belarus Hungary Finland Northern Ireland Wales Switzerland and Sweden making some progress up, with the Republic of Ireland reaping the rewards of Dundalk's impressive Europa campaign last season. Pretty crazy how far Ukraine are now considering when I loaded that league they were right at the top of the pile (behind Portugal but I didn't load that at first due to amount of clubs in Portugal I can't manage), for them to be below even Sweden is mad. Norway rising up the table too in quite impressive fashion. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 26, 2019 Author Share Posted July 26, 2019 Zenit pick up their 2nd ever Champions League crown, with a brace from Escobedo and another CL final goal from Sergey Vorobjov that sink Julian Nagelsmann's side. It wasn't actually Eddie Howe who did it, as he left for Old Trafford at the start of the season, but it was Thomas Tuchel who finally adds to his trophy collection after a fairly barren 8 year spell at Leverkusen. Fenerbache made the knockout stages, but by far the most impressive is the sight of Dinamo Zagreb, who bested Tottenham and Monaco to finish 2nd behind Wolfsburg, who ultimately went out to Milan in a bit of a surprise. 3 of the 4 Portuguese sides made the Semi Finals, with the 4th finalist being an impressive Austrian side in RB Salzburg. As you can see the Round of 16 boasted a very strong lineup of big names, with the likes of Arsenal, Henry's Marseille, Juventus, Roma and Real Madrid. Although Real Madrid are pretty pony these days. Xabi Alonso has been their manager for 8 years and has just won Super Cup to his name in that time-frame, that he is still allowed to remain manager whilst Atletico wipe up domestically says it all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 26, 2019 Author Share Posted July 26, 2019 AZ retain their title and may well be the dominant force in Dutch football now. They're managed by Alvaro Morata who is no stranger to winning leagues, as he won many of them for Dynamo Kyiv in the Ukraine, before joining AZ after relatively low key spells at Galatasaray and Olympiakos. Ajax are actually managed by former captain and Academy graduate Matthijs De Ligt, who himself has won a few league titles for Kayserispor and Rosenborg respectively. Fenerbache make it 3 on the bounce, with Kayserispor back in the Champions League at Galatasaray's expense. It's no Europe against for Kasimpasa who have perhaps lost their place as one of the stronger Turkish clubs. Dynamo Kyiv recover from the anomaly of Shaktar pipping them to the title last season, with a resurgent Chornomorets making sure that Shakhtar couldn't even finish in 2nd place. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 26, 2019 Author Share Posted July 26, 2019 As I mentioned earlier, this summer saw the retirement of Unai Emery. But he was not the only managerial great who called it a day, with Antonio Conte, Zidane and Pochettino all also calling it a day - it seems a good time to do a HOF update. Pep remains top of the pile, in the last few years he went to Roma and cleaned up and now he's gone back to Atletico this summer. He's 72 now and could well call it a day next season, although no indication of that just yet. Conte finishes his career in 2nd place, with succesful spells at Atletico and Wolfsburg in the last 5 years of his career helping him put some distance between anyone behind him. Zidane stacked some trophies at PSG in his last few years, before going to Bayern and not winning all that much apart from a solitary Europa League in 2040. Emery of course dominated with Benfica in the last 5 years, with 5 straight titles, numerous cups and of course the Champions League. Tuchel's Champions League win with Zenit hoists him up to 8th, although at 70 he will have to win a few more if he's to rise up much further. He could well have been up there had he not spent so long at a fairly average upper mid-table Leverkusen side in the Bundesliga. Manuel Baum has spent the last 7 years at RB Leipzig and much like Tuchel, has probably spurned his chance of ever being at the business end of the table, which is a shame as he looked destined to be up there when he was dominating with Atletico. He's still 63 so there is time left, but he must leave Leipzig ASAP. Simeone has been fairly quiet in the last few years, with just a Europa League win for Chelsea in 2039 to shout about. Bruno Lage has been an impressive riser in recent years, with decent displays at Man United and now he's taken over at PSG which will let him trophy peddle for a while. At 67 he has a good chance of at least making the Top 10 before his career is done. Poch spent his last few years after a decent spell at Atletico as manager of Argentina, which did not do his cause any good as we won nothing with them. Finally, we look at Julian Nagelsmann who at one point looked destined for great things, but a 4 year tenure at Dortmund where he won nothing slowed him down. He's now at Bayern who are in Wolfsburg's shadow, although of course they did make the CL final this year. At just 56 there is still time for Julian to add some trophies to his cabinet and rise up the ranks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidthekid Posted July 26, 2019 Share Posted July 26, 2019 Very good season indeed. With a bit more luck, you could have finished with one or two titles, hopefully you can work magic in the transfer market. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 27, 2019 Author Share Posted July 27, 2019 Summer Transfers The big departure was 2nd choice striker, Maxwell, who left for AEK Athens in a surprising £12.5M. He had quite a few middling European clubs interested in him and I was surprised to see AEK Athens coughing up that much money, but guessing they sold a few players and had money to burn. Paolo Ambrosio also left for VVV after refusing a contract extension, due to being unhappy with his status as a back-up player. Not a huge window again for us, although we do have 3 new names. Boban Vasilijevic picked up an injury in pre-season so I thought I'd add a winger in Dutch player Jasper Havekotte. Roberto Avalos joins from Boca Juniors to add some more strength to our defence. I was running a little low on home grown talent so I picked up young midfield prospect Leonardo Vale from Boavista. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulHartman71 Posted July 29, 2019 Author Share Posted July 29, 2019 Mid-Season update Supertaca We qualified for this as cup runners-up, much like in the cup final we came up short against Benfica. League Cup A fairly nice group, but we won all the same and make the Semi Final, where we will have Sporting Lisbon. Taca de Portugal We very nearly went out to Leixoes, but hung on and got a goal to put us through. We have P.Ferreira in the new year. Primeira Liga An incredible start to the season with 4 wins from our first 5. It was a kind run but you still have to win the games. We continued the good form with 2 wins against Tondela and Vit.Guimaraes, before two consecutive draws with P.Ferreira and Porto. We then beat Vit.Setubal. A 5-2 smashing of Leixoes before suffering our first loss of the season at home to Sporting. We then hammered Maritimo, before drawing with Madeira, beating Feirense and losing to the champions. The league rankings haven't changed so Top 4 is enough for Champions League once again. We're in a strong position, but the competition is very strong this year. P. Ferreira have emerged as a challenger for Top 4 which spices things up, as just 4 points is the difference between 2nd and 6th. Benfica look like they will do just fine after Emery's retirement, as they sit 6 points clear. Champions League Rangers gave us a bit of a scare in the first game. We went 1-0 up very early on and dominated the game on the counter, but then they got a goal from a corner in the 50th minute and then were all over us. To lose that would've been a huge blow to my hopes of finishing 3rd, but Karamoko popped up late on to secure a huge 3 points. We actually managed to get a point against Henry's Marseille away from home which was really good and then we secured a point at home to Rangers, thanks to another Karamoko goal that made sure of 3rd. City were very strong, although Marseille were actually the better side out of those two, albeit not in the games against us. We will play Villarreal in the 1st knockout round of the Europa League which should be an interesting affair. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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