[FM20] Tequila and Mariachi?

[sherifdinn_]

On 07/04/2020 at 16:44, _Ben_ said:

Cosmetic Changes

Every so often I get immersed in the cosmetic side of the game and spend a day or so solidly working on how to change my skin. I've just had one of those spells - and these are the results. Note - I ported all of my 'attribute-less' stuff into the newest TCS skin)

What I've done:

• Removed the shirt/shirt number and reduced the size of the (horrid) faces.
• Changed the key text in the first two columns. I want 'media handling' but can't find the right coding!
• Added the stats/90 module from the TCS skin. I think it's great - especially because I can't edit the season stats panel at the bottom (or can't seem to right now!)
• Added a big polygon on the left with the standard attribute sorting rather than my customised one.
• Added CA and PA stars to the additional information. They're not the be-all-and-end-all but it's nice to look sometimes without it taking up too much room.
• Position panel the same as before.
• Changed up the Career Stats panel to give me some more room but can't, right now, add Assits, Av Rating etc.

I also did this:

A) it fit's nicely into a screenshot now

B) I play the game in 2D that has us moving from one side to the other anyway.

C) Why not!

I've also removed the silly role suitability circles too as I just don't care for them.

Was just wondering what you used to do this? In-game editor?

[_Ben_]

1 hour ago, pheelf said:

I echo the praise being heaped upon this thread. Usually, I'm a silent observer but I have to say that this is an incredible body of work, without a shadow of a doubt. The level of detail is immense and has me rethinking the way I approach the game. How you're developing your squad without knowing their attributes being especially impressive. KUTGW

All the best 

Many thanks! I'm aware that I've made considerably less in-game progress than most people have during this lock down so my aim is to find that perfect spot between progress and depth!

I really can't see myself ever playing this game any other way now.

[_Ben_]

8 minutes ago, sherifdinn_ said:

Was just wondering what you used to do this? In-game editor?

No - you have to edit the skinning files.

It's a daunting job but one I've enjoyed learning about. My skin is nowhere near perfect but does what I want with a few little 'experimental panels' thrown in.

[sherifdinn_]

1 minute ago, _Ben_ said:

No - you have to edit the skinning files.

It's a daunting job but one I've enjoyed learning about. My skin is nowhere near perfect but does what I want with a few little 'experimental panels' thrown in.

How do I do that? Would like to get my hands on editing the files too.

[_Ben_]

On 25/04/2020 at 14:07, sherifdinn_ said:

How do I do that? Would like to get my hands on editing the files too.

Have a look in the Skinning Hideout for some guides. Download a Base Skin so that you can edit the panels and go from there!

Also, download skins from other people and have a play with taking their panels and putting them in your skin.

[_Ben_]

July/August/September 2037

I do wonder if we'll ever be a rampant force in this game, given how we can blow so hot and cold whenever we want. We started the season with twelve points from four games, playing dour football and just doing enough to win. We then battered Napoli yet didn't win and then gave Barca their toughest task of the season no doubt, before being FM'ed by Alaves (2 shots led to 2 goals) and Sevilla (3 shots with one on target yet two goals) before scraping by against Spurs.

Now - we've got ourselves into a strong position - around where we should finish in the league and four points from our first two CL ties but things are just not right on the pitch and I need to find out why.

---

My B-team are surviving, but that was to be expected!

[_Ben_]

Game Speed

It has really come to my attention that, of late, the speed of progress in my game is massively slowing down. So I'm going to make a few changes to the database:

With so much of the save based around youth development and so little devoted to scouting (although, I do love a Brazilian/Spanish youngster, hence keeping the Brasiliero on) that I'm going to cut down the size of the database to speed up my progress between matches - that is just endless game processing at the moment. With my B team in the second tier, and having the advantage of quicker citizenships anyway from my target South American audience, I don't need any other top flights added. I may lose a little realism in European competition but the big sides will retain their players and I might just be facing a few more 'grey players' in the group stages.

As of next season, I hope I'll be able to spend more time in the match than watching scores tick by.

[_Ben_]

Young Player Production

Still on the increase and, given how the season is going - there may be three players (Marlon Lucas, Jorge Navarro and Lyndson) who are moved on quicker to allow three more youth products to step up next term.

[_Ben_]

Out-'Barceloning' Barcelona (B)

The B team look to be picking up some good form now and five of the players: Munoz, Herrero, Barrreda, Anderson and Almansour are now considered 'good enough for La Liga.' Half a season in and we are already reaping the rewards of youth development at such a high professional level.

[Mikaelinho]

18 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

Out-'Barceloning' Barcelona (B)

The B team look to be picking up some good form now and five of the players: Munoz, Herrero, Barrreda, Anderson and Almansour are now considered 'good enough for La Liga.' Half a season in and we are already reaping the rewards of youth development at such a high professional level.

Amazing news! Looks like the promotion is doing exactly what you hoped for!

[_Ben_]

October/November 2037

A pretty intense session of FM here - trying to work out what was going wrong. We haven't solved it yet, by any means, but we've put together a good run of form whereby we have qualified from our Champions League group, again, and this time face Monaco, and have moved up the league. 

With Neyveson out for the majority of this time due to injury, it's been good to see Ruimar step up and score some goals but Ronaldo has now gone eight games without a goal and only has three all season - not a good return, even in his False Nine role. Elsewhere, I've tried to rotate the squad as much as possible, giving plenty of minutes to all players in order to attempt to keep a relatively fresh set of players for the busy months ahead.

---

I also reached 800 games in charge!

[-Jef-]

Barca looks on fire this season. Gonna be a tough task to overthrow them

[_Ben_]

 

4 hours ago, rosque said:

Barca looks on fire this season. Gonna be a tough task to overthrow them

They are a fantastic side in this save - still managed by Carlos Corberan, who has a 79% win ratio, including 16 leagues and 33 cups, from his 1023 games and seventeen and a half years in the job - a completely unthinkable amount given how easily AI managers are normally sacked. He has, however, spent over €3bn on transfers, recouping most of it.

Their squad, whilst fantastic, does include a few older players:

So it'll be interesting to see how they/he rebuild this over the next few years. I definitely think they're out of sight from everyone though for at least three more seasons.

[_Ben_]

Impending sale

Love this kind of interaction because it means I can raise some funds selling off Navarro, bring through Herrero and pump the rest into infrastructure, scouting and wages to keep my top players.

[_Ben_]

Youth Intake Preview

Given the golden generation of two years ago (just Barreda and Martelli) and the fine group of prospects last year (just Garcia), the lack of much promising worries me here. Best case scenario is that we can use this to bulk out some of the B team, which will be necessary to keep them in the second tier.

[-Jef-]

14 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

 

They are a fantastic side in this save - still managed by Carlos Corberan, who has a 79% win ratio, including 16 leagues and 33 cups, from his 1023 games and seventeen and a half years in the job - a completely unthinkable amount given how easily AI managers are normally sacked. He has, however, spent over €3bn on transfers, recouping most of it.

Their squad, whilst fantastic, does include a few older players:

So it'll be interesting to see how they/he rebuild this over the next few years. I definitely think they're out of sight from everyone though for at least three more seasons.

Carlos is my coach in my Bolton save

 

Amazing that he has so much success and the longevity. Especially for such a prominent side.

[metallimuse]

Isn't removing all the other leagues going to have a negative effect with regards to transfer offers for your players? When I have just two nations loaded I find it impossible to sell players who want away for a decent fee, if it all.

[_Ben_]

4 hours ago, rosque said:

Carlos is my coach in my Bolton save

 

Amazing that he has so much success and the longevity. Especially for such a prominent side.

It's really unheard of to see a big club keep their manager for so long:

But when you've done as well as he has, you can see why:

Out of the other managers, Niko Kovac has had a pretty 'easy' career with some big sides and so has Antonio Mohamed before becoming boss of Sevilla. Either way, they all put my 49% win ratio to shame!

[_Ben_]

5 hours ago, metallimuse said:

Isn't removing all the other leagues going to have a negative effect with regards to transfer offers for your players? When I have just two nations loaded I find it impossible to sell players who want away for a decent fee, if it all.

Yes, but this is our bank balance:

So player sales for 'big' money are not that necessary and, with what is becoming a smooth transition from B team to A team, there is little money involved in my squad building. To be fair, I could probably just release the players I don't need any more!

[_Ben_]

December 2037/January 2038

We are just about holding on, even with a torturous month of January!

December was, to be fair, absolutely terrible - heavily rotated squads to deal with injuries from opposition that is now seemingly trying to kick us off the park and goal droughts for all of my key players led to some absolutely dire offensive football. It was imperative though, in my mind, to keep tight defensive, so a month with only clean sheets is the only bonus.

January started really well but I'd have rather lost to Barca than have played another thirty minutes of Extra Time and then a final. Granted, we beat Sevilla, and beat them easily, but it was a game we didn't really need to validate any success. We then, on tired legs, lost twice in a week to real positional rivals - and I'd go as far to say that those two home results will be the difference between us potentially finishing second and fifth. We've since recovered in the league and are now doing that thing that champions do and we seem to excel in, win, but not win well. Maybe that is a sign? Sandwiched in there, we were kicked out of the Copa del Rey because my second string forgot how to play football. Needless to say one less set of fixtures is good but nobody likes losing!

---

I want to be realistic about this team's success as this is likely to be the fifth season that we finish around the fourth and fifth placed slots. We are nowhere near a title challenge with one 'elite' player and still some players who, sentiment aside, brought us into this division. I think that the summer will see a clear out of some of older, and less 'good' heads and I'll take a step backwards promoting a lot of youth hoping that three seasons down the line, we can be in a position to challenge.

Here are some roundabout target figures:

2037/38: Finish fourth of fifth.

2038/39: European places (team will have large scale, for this club anyway, changes).

2039/40: Finish top four

2040/41: Title challenge

The board don't seem in any rush and I want to get things right. As much as I'd love a Leicester season, and I think my job would be safe if I then followed it up with mid table - to be consistently challenging Barcelona is my sole aim right now. 

[_Ben_]

Due to several laptop issues and what'll hopefully lead to a new laptop - I may be missing in action for a few days. However, I've lost two months of progress, so I'll be returning, quite miffed, at the start of December...

[Mikaelinho]

1 hour ago, _Ben_ said:

Due to several laptop issues and what'll hopefully lead to a new laptop - I may be missing in action for a few days. However, I've lost two months of progress, so I'll be returning, quite miffed, at the start of December...

Wow, that's a bummer. I hope you get it sorted swiftly!

[_Ben_]

1 hour ago, Mikaelinho said:

Wow, that's a bummer. I hope you get it sorted swiftly!

I am done! And, from this, I've got a laptop that is much quicker...

What I need to replay:

A terrible intake...

[_Ben_]

December 2037/January 2038

I've decided that the best option, for my interest in the game, at least, is to just Instant Result all of the December and January fixtures in order to reach the same point that I'd left and to not massively influence the game - especially given how much time I'd invested to actually play through that period of time.

----

December was slightly better, as we found the net against Celta Vigo but January saw us fail to retain the Supercopa, losing to Barcelona. December also saw a Champions League victory and a trip to Munich to face Bayern in the first knockout round. Whether the removal of 120 minutes of football in the Supercopa influenced the rest of the month, I won't ever know but we went on and lost, again, to Real but clung on to a draw against Sevilla, slightly changing the look of the top of the table. The Copa del Rey, annoyingly (but realistically), went the same way with a poor performance against Almeria, albeit from a really rotated squad.

The injuries, rather than in December last time, have come during January now: Samaniego has a broken leg and will miss six months, Ruimar Evaristo and Neyveson both picked up knocks and that, combined with a goal drought for Quique Garcia, have made the month a little less fun than I wanted!

---

Luckily, I was able to get a laptop from a family member and it looks like it's much better (and quicker) than what I had before,hence being able to process and IR through two months in a matter of an hour or so! I don't understand why the game hadn't saved for two months but I've replayed to that date and I'm happy with our position and can look to continue as normal.

I also stand by my predictions and will be continuing to move on some of the older players in order to freshen up and bring some youth into this team, although it looks like none will be coming from this intake!

[_Ben_]

Huge Bid!

He's valued at €150k so this shows just how highly rated he is!

Of course, he's not going anywhere, except the first team (next year)!

[_Ben_]

On 26/04/2020 at 19:06, _Ben_ said:

Game Speed

It has really come to my attention that, of late, the speed of progress in my game is massively slowing down. So I'm going to make a few changes to the database:

With so much of the save based around youth development and so little devoted to scouting (although, I do love a Brazilian/Spanish youngster, hence keeping the Brasiliero on) that I'm going to cut down the size of the database to speed up my progress between matches - that is just endless game processing at the moment. With my B team in the second tier, and having the advantage of quicker citizenships anyway from my target South American audience, I don't need any other top flights added. I may lose a little realism in European competition but the big sides will retain their players and I might just be facing a few more 'grey players' in the group stages.

As of next season, I hope I'll be able to spend more time in the match than watching scores tick by.

With the new laptop - I'll revert to what we had before, minus the lower tiers of Brazil:

Simply because, instead of 0.5* for both, I now have this:

[_Ben_]

Player Sales

A nice €68m coming in here with absolutely no outlay, given that we can replace all of these with B team players:

• Herrero for Navarro
• Dani Barreda for Marlon Lucas.
• Almansour for Lyndson.
• Martelli for Le, who, sadly, has been an absolute nightmare since joining - moaning at everything, displaying poor body language on the pitch, not settling into a social group (yet he's Resolute/L.Headed) and has performed really poorly. I've managed to make a €6m profit on him, somehow!

There are two big risks here:

Selling my players in February when they don't leave until July.

However, I'm hoping to use the press speculation - 'surely you'll be sad when x player leaves' to motivate them and put a bit of pressure on them to perform well.

This is a big change for players who, despite playing in the second tier, are very much 'potential' players.

Yes. Yes it is. However, we're not (even with the slightly better outcomes following the crash) in a position to challenge Barca, but, in a few years with the right development for these lot, we may be. Therefore, I don't want to waste any more time slowly integrating them.

[keeper#1]

2 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

With the new laptop - I'll revert to what we had before, minus the lower tiers of Brazil:

Simply because, instead of 0.5* for both, I now have this:

What type of new laptop did you get?  I'm looking to get a new laptop as well whenever my Trump check gets direct deposited into my account.

[_Ben_]

International recognition

First caps for Quique Fernandez and anther nationalised South American, Claudio Lopez.

[_Ben_]

11 hours ago, keeper#1 said:

What type of new laptop did you get?  I'm looking to get a new laptop as well whenever my Trump check gets direct deposited into my account.

I've gone from an eight year old Acer Aspire to a HP - it seems much better:

[_Ben_]

2038/39 Youth Intake

Not a standout, in terms of potential, but definitely a stand out in terms of personalities - with three M.Citizens, four Pro and two L.Hearted players. 

The best of the bunch are Eduardo Ibero and Juan Jose.

[_Ben_]

2037/38 Youth Development

I figured I'd move this to this part of the season as I can stick attributes straight into the tracker and, whilst I the Excel document open, can do my analysis. I have added the above cohort to this but, for sake of overload of numbers, will keep the 'introductory post' until the summer break. Here is the development for last year's cohort:

This intake was all about one man - Miguel Angel Garcia and, to be fair, he's let me down a little! Nearly 1500 first team minutes yet only a small % growth, even if his starting point was very high. It is, however, M.Citzen Blas Riquelme who has made the most improvement across all areas! Never the less - we have slightly outdone the development last year despite coming from a better, particularly mentally, starting point.

Blas ends as the highest improvement highest % growth of all 84 players that I have monitored over the course of a year in the academy. 

---

Once again - a look at the overall personality tracker:

I'm not counting determination in this (largely because it's an attribute that I can't see and I can't give a scale (which I use in game) as it means maths won't work! However, from personalities alone:

• Model Citizens still trump everyone!
• Driven players seem to be good (but I need more data)
• Resolute seems to be better than Professional - although this needs more data to look at determination, definitely!
• There is a clear gap between those personalities which we know Amb/Pro and those that are largely considered good (Loyal, Resilient, Realist, Light Hearted) where we have less of an idea of those hidden attributes.

Similar success comes from Garcia who leaves the academy year as, by far, the top player, joining a list which, as of next season, will see seven others these players in the first team (all except for Benjamin and VIllalba).

[_Ben_]

February/March 2038

This has been quite a tough couple of months to be fair - the fixture congestion always catches us up, and March has been no different this year.

We got the better of Real in February, in a result that may consign them to a lack of Champions League football - in what seems unthinkable! We took nine points from the three other league games but really haven't got out of second or third gear and that was evident in the tie in Munich, where we were just a little too cautious and a little too happy to let Bayern dictate the game.

March has been poor, VIllarreal result aside. We dominated Bayern at home but two early goals conceded meant that we were 5-2 down on aggregate and that it was almost an impossible task to turn around. Still, we left with our heads held high in that tie, even if we failed to make it past the first round again. What has followed has been symptomatic of us - three dull goalless draws in games we have absolutely dominated but been unable to find the finishing touch. My strikers continue to blow hot and cold - Neyveson appears on the list twice, Ruimar Evaristo netted just once and Ronaldo is now two months without a goal - a common occurrence.

Next month kicks off with, of course, an away tie against Sociedad - the in form team at the moment. A defeat and we've probably kissed goodbye to anything other than fourth place, again...

[Mikaelinho]

That 1.0 increase for Garcia is still decent. The only reason he gets a lower percentage increase is his high starting point. My experience is that players with a high starting point develops less as well, ie it's harder for a player with 15 in an attribute to increase it by 1 point than for a player with 5 in the same attribute.

[_Ben_]

Dominated

So there goes a real run at being 'the best side that isn't called Barcelona.' More ammunition towards my refreshed young squad approach that is coming in a matter of months.

[_Ben_]

15 minutes ago, Mikaelinho said:

That 1.0 increase for Garcia is still decent. The only reason he gets a lower percentage increase is his high starting point. My experience is that players with a high starting point develops less as well, ie it's harder for a player with 15 in an attribute to increase it by 1 point than for a player with 5 in the same attribute.

And I think that is correct! Getting a striker from 'good' to 'great' at finishing should be harder than getting him from 'poor' to 'average.' Still - he's got some really good rotational minutes this season, is now a wonderkid and is progressing nicely, if a little slower than I wanted.

[_Ben_]

Incoming Deal

Clearly not learned after spending €20m on Le last summer!

I'll leave the screenshot until this one signs though...

[_Ben_]

2037/38 End of season

A reasonably straightforward run in where we absolutely destroyed our chances of finishing second of third with a terrible performance at Sociedad but, Valencia result aside, we've done as well as could be expected. I was, in my head, criticising the form of Neyveson, looking at the last time he failed to reach double figures, but five in two saw that rectified - still, not a great return from a player who was my key man!

The table ends like this:

Fourth place again but 80 points is a significant target to have reached - especially given that we're going to need a wonder season to get anywhere near Barca. However, it's been a strange season in La Liga (well, when considered to present day anyway) with Real missing the Champions League and Atletico and Valencia falling into mid-table clubs.

----

A strange bunch of performances here really - with the four players who are leaving finding minutes reduced leaving more stress on the remainder of the squad. Just two players making double figures for goals and, worryingly, a poor scoring (and rating) return from my best midfielder, Escobar. Average rating, overall, is an area of worry for me and I guess that is because we are not inherently a high scoring team. We are winning games but players seem to average between 6.7-7.1 for a 1-0 whereas that exponentially rises across the board for every goal we score, regardless of who is playing well. If I want to return to those heady heights of 'all green' ARs - then I need to be more potent in from of goal.

----

Donato Antonio arrives this summer and the group of youngsters get promoted but, as always, I'm not expecting much (in game). I'll profile the new set of youth players and re-visit the squad DNA, as well looking at how well we could be set up for the future!

----

[_Ben_]

B-Team update

A wonderful season for the second tier, finishing as 'second best B side' behind Barcelona. It is strange to see that the B team have had exactly the same issue as the first team, with finding the net being a problem!

However - it is great to see that the four players who will be joining the main side performing really well:

---

My concern is now about keeping the B side strong enough to stay in that division and continue to give me these opportunities!

[_Ben_]

Board aims

We are continuing to 'make progress on and off the pitch' which is absolutely perfect for what I actually want to do. Also, the board is continuing to be rather lenient with the league aims, which fit nicely with what I want to do.

Ever since i had a takeover, three years back now I think, we've not had any particular 'playing style' aims - which is nice but somewhat of a shame. I'd also love, given the Brazilian Chairman, a focus on signing Brazilians.

[_Ben_]

22 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

2038/39 Youth Intake

Not a standout, in terms of potential, but definitely a stand out in terms of personalities - with three M.Citizens, four Pro and two L.Hearted players. 

The best of the bunch are Eduardo Ibero and Juan Jose.

2038/39 Youth Cohort

Interesting to see that my calculation of what makes a good player for my system is not necessarily shared by the HoYD (although I am well aware that a few high attributes in unnecessary areas will skew an average). 

As said in my intake report - there seems to be little scope for any of these players making the first team but this is all about looking at the average progress with such a good cohort, personality wise.

[_Ben_]

Guadalajara XI of 2041?

A little bit of a prediction of what my team could like like in three years time. Obviously - I may have some new youth players who have made the team or have signed some significantly better player for a weak area but I think this is somewhere near a side that could challenge for the title, should they develop to their full potential.

N.B. I've added the potential stars to the image so that you can picture it a little better!

Looking at the stars, which are just a token gesture, I'd say that now the only area that really needs consideration is another central midfielder that would be an upgrade of Mejia. He, himself, is not a bad player at all but he's not world class - and that is potentially the only area where I don't have a world class player.

---

Which probably gives me a good reason to introduce Donato Antonio:

I missed out of the €700k deal that took him from second tier Avai to Santos two years ago but, since then, I've been trying to unsettle him. A month back, he handed in a transfer request and I was able to get him for a lot cheaper than I expected - just €30.5m. 

There is not a lot more to say that he is just fantastic!

He's Balanced/Media Friendly so I'm hoping that the general personality of my team can sort that into a positive personality because there are no other issues anywhere!

Very happy to have him on board.

[_Ben_]

Affiliate club success

I'll need to find a new team to loan players who aren't good enough for the B team to, now that Cordoba have been promoted!

[_Ben_]

DNA Update

The more I look at this - the more I worry that I'm not producing defensive players who are good enough for the system that I want. Antonio aside (who is an absolute beast and is excellent in every area that I want), the majority of players in the attacking or midfield area have 50%+ of their attributes considered excellent but for both the FB and the CB, this number is vastly reduced. 

I'm banking of Miguel Angel Garcia developing into a fantastic player but I think that any potentially really good players going forward will have to be converted to defensive players to fill those gaps.

Depth is a bit of a worry for me too. We are running with the biggest squad ever (I have a squad that requires a scroll bar on the main screen now and I hate not being able to see all of the players so you can see how important this is!) but the likes of Uriate, Molinero, Villasanti, Bono, Ronaldo and Evaristo are now looking weak in some of the areas. I'm happy to keep them on as backup players but for the truly world class squad that I want to build - they'd have to make way.

[_Ben_]

B-Team DNA Update

This is weak. 

I guess though, when you take a huge chunk of the team and move it on, it always will be. Felix Lopez looks to be the strongest 'DNA player' but he's nowhere near the first team level.

[_Ben_]

Temptation

I've splashed  €30m on a Brazilian but I'm really tempted to do it again...

Here is Danilo, from Palmeiras:

Another one who has grown too big for his club and has been monitored for a while by me. He's listed, by request, for €32.5m and would be a huge upgrade on Urriate and a good rotation with Mejia and Escobar.

[_Ben_]

Ooops!

I've got the money, so why not use it! I will always prioritise youth players from my own academy if they are good enough - but with a midfield made up of Escobar, Mejia, Urriate and Bono, who are all from the academy and with two of those who are classed purely as backup as they aren't good enough, recruiting from outside is sensible.

Here is how he slots in:

I'll be working on his finishing and passing initially and training his as a RPM as he's already pretty well rounded and I can look to further increase a wide range of his attributes. He'll have to displace Escobar and Mejia, like all new signings would do but I think he's going to be a very strong player in the future.

[_Ben_]

Potential

My scouts have come back absolutely raving about this lad. I've met his €6m release clause and I'm battling with a host of massive clubs.

If he can reach his potential then I could be seeing a front three of Donato - Quique - Almansour with a second string of Pinto - Zaros - Evaristo/new signing. That would be an absolutely incredible set of forward players in a few years time.

Again - my work must go to developing these players. If Pinto does sign - he'll spend time with the B squad as I look to see if he is actually all that they think he will be.

Edited May 1, 2020 by _Ben_

[_Ben_]

Nationality Change

There must be something about joining Guadalajara and wanting to represent Spain...

I'd like to see a few of them picking up some caps but I reckon I'm single-handedly pushing the boundaries of multi-national Spaniards:

It would appear that Samuel and VIncent have both picked up an English passport on residence but Dicko's is through family links, although he's never represented Mali.

[_Ben_]

Champions League Draw

Another tough one!

Monaco are the top team in France nowadays but they've struggled to make massive inroads in the latter stages of the Champions League. HSV are, like us, one of the 'best of the rest' in Germany and should provide a similar test to the one we faced against Werder two years back - we beat them once and drew once. Legia are the other team, who have now made the group stages three years in a row - but have finished last on their previous two outings.

It is time we started making some progress in this competition and I fancy my chances of going through, although Monaco away will be the tie that determines who finishes top I think.