FMCU Joint Save

[ManUtd1]

24 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Panke...

Pankev...

Pankevi...

Pankevit...

Pankevits...

Pankevitsj...

Kaarel (EST). See how my nicknames work now? 

I just called him "Tim."  He didn't seem to like it very much.

[ManUtd1]

10 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Good season @ManUtd1

I hope everyone watching has noticed the Man Utd result in the Champions League. #Revenge

Thanks, man -- that 93rd minute goal from Dembele was gutting.  Getting out of THAT Group... 

We probably would have been better served dropping to the Europa League and making a run, but it's clear that being able to focus on La Liga was critical.  With the injuries we picked up, I don't think we could have mounted a challenge on two fronts, and wouldn't have had any legs left for the domestic campaign.

[Mandy42]

5 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

Thanks, man -- that 93rd minute goal from Dembele was gutting.  Getting out of THAT Group... 

We probably would have been better served dropping to the Europa League and making a run, but it's clear that being able to focus on La Liga was critical.  With the injuries we picked up, I don't think we could have mounted a challenge on two fronts, and wouldn't have had any legs left for the domestic campaign.

Benny didn't think of that did he. He thought losing was the only way to make it happen. A bit of tactical progression in the champions league and he could have saved on the absinthe 

[andychar]

So I think we are in agreement @oriole01 can take over next given the circumstances. 
 

An updated list for you all...

1. Wynter
2. Andychar
3. Rikulec
4. Noikeee
5. Minuy600
6. Mandy42 
7. Jimbokav1971
8. Makoto Nakamura 
9. Smp20 
10. Manutd1 
11. Oriole01 <—————— We are here
12. Benjoe
13. Deisler26
14. henri.melo00
15. PT-KK

Ronaldobeckham removed and Oriole01 added. 

[Mandy42]

I make the 1st half dozen!!

[Jimbokav1971]

I'm not being funny @oriole01but @Makoto Nakamurawould have finished his whole season by now, (twice). What the hell is going on? 

[Please note that this is not a serious comment and apologies if any offence is caused]

[oriole01]

2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I'm not being funny @oriole01but @Makoto Nakamurawould have finished his whole season by now, (twice). What the hell is going on? 

[Please note that this is not a serious comment and apologies if any offence is caused]

I'm deep in the midst of a wonderkid recruitment campaign, updates will be coming soon!

[oriole01]

Valencia C.F.
2030/31 Summer Transfer Window
First of all, I apologize for the long wait. I've never been the fastest of players and my hipster tendencies tend to lead to me getting distracted by the in-game landscape, especially one this far in the future. But I've been hard at work in the transfer market for these last few days, trying to build on the strong base that @ManUtd1 established last season. As you'll see soon, I'm very grateful that he left all three non-EU spots open for me to fill with high quality talent. I'm very happy with what I've been able to bring in before the first game of the season, and there should be more business to speak of before the transfer window closes at the end of the month. Let's go through the story of this transfer window, in order of my thought process that brought me to this point.

This was @ManUtd1's Best XI last season:

As you all know, he used @wynter's beautiful "Changing Lanes" tactic to great success, winning Valencia's first La Liga trophy since 2004 and reaching the Round of 16 in the Champions League, where they hadn't been for three years. Unfortunately, I'm stubborn and a bit of a cowardly purist, as I have a personal rule of never using someone else's tactic as my own, even if it looks as cool as this. So I decided to use these tactics for the coming season:

The primary tactic will be a standard 4-2-3-1 in the Vertical Tiki-Taka style, a positive approach which focuses on maintaining possession and quick short passes up and down the pitch as opposed to the standard Tiki-Taka's side-to-side movement. Neither winger acts as a normal winger, as both will be cutting inside to seek goalscoring opportunities of their own in addition to creating them. The wide play will instead come from the full backs (playing the wing back role but not position), both of whom will be involved in the attack, the left back more so than the right back. The Mezzala and Enganche will be the important players in the middle, and a sole striker will be the main attacking outlet. The secondary tactic- which I intend to use against the likes of Real, Atlético, and Barcelona in the league and high quality opposition in Europe- will be a 4-1-2-3 fluid counter attack that swaps the primary tactic's AM for a DM in the Anchor Man role. The defense stays nearly the same, the midfielders keep the same roles but see their duty dropped a notch more defensive, the right winger stays wide, and the striker switches from AF to CF, meaning they'll have to do more work for themselves. I think these tactics balance each other well, and while they may lack creativity, should help us achieve our goals this season.

With a change in tactic came a need to make changes in the squad. When I received the save, this is how the squad fit into my primary tactic:

To explain my rating system, red denotes a player who isn't good enough to play for me, blue denotes an expendable squad player, green denotes a quality starter or a good prospect, and yellow denotes a star player or a top prospect that I wouldn't sell for any price. The asterisks indicate players on loan, namely Faruk Yılmaz, Nicola Amodio, and Toby Kempton in this case. Thankfully I didn't have much work to do to make those deals permanent, as @ManUtd1 had already arranged Kempton's transfer for $28 million and negotiated optional future fee clauses for Amodio and Yılmaz. I activated those immediately, which cost us $17 million and $16 million respectively.

While our first XI looked strong, our second XI needed some work, and that meant letting go of the red players. When July 1st rolled around, backup center back Nicolás Thaller and long-serving central midfielder Carlos Soler ran out of contract and were released, along with the 33-year-old winger Gonçalo Guedes, who had no interest in re-signing despite being at the club for nearly 13 years and my desire to keep him and reward that loyalty. His loss. I considered releasing the 32-year-old Nikola Moro, but kept him in an effort to conserve transfer funds, as he's still good enough to be a squad player. He was re-signed on a two-year contract. Backup left back Francisco Ortega and backup left winger Mario Ćuže were sold within the first two weeks of the window, which left my XIs looking like this:

Firstly, we should take a look at the DM spot in the counter tactic, as neither of the players there played a part in last season's successes. Iñaki Iriarte- also known as simply Iñaki- was out on loan at Osasuna last season and was probably on his way out of the club, but now that we're using a DM, he's become a necessary asset for our counter tactic, as he's the club's best option at that position. While Iñaki's not one of our better players, he's certainly capable and he may well improve with the quality of the teammates around him. Behind him will be Angelo Longhi, a young Italian who also spent last season on loan- at Rayo Vallecano in his case- and returns to the club with a 2nd XI place in hand thanks to his potential and good mental attributes. Angelo will definitely be the "last man" in our squad, though I can see that changing in the future.

Secondly, on the advice of @ManUtd1, Nikola Rudovic was moved from striker to left wing, and while he has plenty of potential, the Montenegrin teenager doesn't have the current ability nor the tactical familiarity required to be a first XI player in that position at this time, so we needed to find a starter there in addition to three 2nd XI options at the back, specifically at both full back spots and one of the center back spots. Thus began the search.

Left Wing
Being blessed with an extensive scouting network and all scouting duties left to the chief scout, I didn't need to go to the trouble of creating detailed assignments or trawling through national teams looking for players; I just had to look through who we had already scouted and decide who was worth trying to sign.

However, the first player I looked at for this position came to me by chance as I was looking through Champions League results. An absolute monster of a player, and possibly the best from a "smaller" country I've ever seen on FM, Giorgi "The Georgian King" Dvali was someone I immediately fell in love with (20 finishing, ffs!). However, it would have cost an exorbitant amount of money to get him, and although Spurs finished down in 6th in the Premier League last season, Giorgi wasn't interested in moving to the Spanish champions. Maybe he'll be somebody for one of you guys to look at further down the road. I then looked at another Spurs player in Dominik Vogel, a young Spanish-German dual national whose surname would have been perfect for an FMCU joint save, but with our transfer budget having dipped below $50 million following the signings of Yılmaz, Amodio, and Kempton, his asking price was too high for us, and only after we made our eventual signing did I notice he had been made available for loan, shortly after which he moved to Norwich. It would have been awesome to have a Vogel in our side, but in the end I'm happier with who we managed to sign instead.

This is our man, and I imagine he'll be familiar to most of you, as 21-year-old Blas di Bello was one of the South American wonderkids @smp20 signed in our last season at Rijeka, and I couldn't be happier to bring him to Valencia for a relatively modest price of $24.5 million, which was his release clause. While Blas is more natural as a conventional winger than an inside forward, I don't think he'll have much trouble adapting to the new role and he should be one of our foremost goal threats this season. He's got all the skills required to be successful here, and I'm very excited to have him as our starting winger.

Center Back

Pelle Jacobs was the first name on my list on the recommendation of @ManUtd1, but as I was looking for a ball-playing defender and Juve appeared unwilling to part with the Dutchman, I moved on to Tao Xie, an Italian-Chinese dual national at AC Milan who was a more natural fit at BPD, but who I ultimately wasn't convinced by attribute-wise.

In the end, my decision came between two immensely talented Flamengo teammates in 22-year-old Róbson Moreira Braga and 21-year-old Higor Felipe, who were both perfectly suited to BPD and who are both young players with a lot of upside. The screenshots should make it clear that I chose Felipe, as although my scouts rated Róbson higher, a comparison showed that he was better where it mattered, despite Róbson's far superior passing and insane aerial ability. I was able to activate his foreign club release clause of $24 million, once again a bargain for a player of his quality and potential. I'm delighted to have Higor here, and while he isn't quite ready to start ahead of the experienced Rik Veenvliet in the first XI, his 4.5* potential means he should be a fixture at this club for years to come.

Right Back

Right back presented the toughest decision of the lot, as following the signing of Felipe, we only had one more non-EU spot remaining, with at least two more signings required to have a full two XIs for the season. So I tried to look at two Europeans to sign, Kamel Meziani at Bordeaux and Stefan Forsters at Bayern, both of them recommended by @ManUtd1 once again. While both players were quality and had plenty of potential, neither were fully natural in the attacking wing back role I was looking for, and their clubs were unwilling to sell, which likely would have made them unaffordable.

Which of course means I caved for another South American, bringing in 19-year-old Colombian Ramiro Machuca from MLS side Inter Miami, once again using a release clause to our advantage to bring him in for a cheap $11 million fee. While Machuca is a bit more raw than my other two signings (he is two years younger than both of them after all), he was rated better than Meziani and Forsters and looks set to fight tooth and nail with Yılmaz for the first XI spot, as they are just about equal in all respects. I look forward to seeing what Ramiro brings to the team, though I imagine he will be the last South American player this club signs for a while.

So with those three signings secured, our XIs now look like this heading into our first match of the season against newly-promoted Elche:

A first XI with all yellow and green players, and a 2nd XI with only two blue players. Dare I say it, but I think we've improved on before.

Jesús María Ibañez keeps the #1 shirt over Damián, but just barely, and Damián has more potential. Yılmaz beats Machuca for now, but that could easily change. Ebenezer has a clear advantage over Andoni Bengoetxea in terms of current ability, so he keeps his place. Veenvliet edges out Felipe, but they will probably be on a game-by-game rotation. Star player Javier Serer is clearly better than Moro at Mezzala, though I had trouble deciding whether to play him there or up at Enganche, as he is natural at both. There was a bit less between the Brazilian Alemão and the Serbian Dejan Trbović at DLP, but I went with the former after some careful consideration. William Morales' talent out wide forces Luka Vardić into the middle to play as the Enganche, with youngster Iñaki González behind him. Though I hate to keep a player as dangerous as Kempton on the bench, I have a sneaking suspicion that @ManUtd1 will kill me if I don't give Giacomo Romano top billing, and he is quite the player indeed. Alemão takes the captain's armband for the first XI, with Vardić his vice captain there and the captain of the 2nd XI, where he will play on the right wing as the only player to have the privilege of featuring in both XIs. Veenvliet might also earn that privilege if we are unable to find a suitable player to fill the empty spot at LB in the 2nd XI, as although he's perfectly suited to play there, I'm looking for someone with more attacking ability than him; his "stays back at all times" PPM is indeed not something that I want to see either. I am confident, though, that we will find someone to play there before the end of the month. We'll also be looking into a better cover option for both wings, as we only have B team players who can cover there at the moment. We'll do this preferably by signing a cheap but talented youth player who is natural on each side, and who doesn't expect much playing time. We did attempt to sign Serbian wonderkid Almedin Delić from Red Star earlier in the window to retrain him on the left for this purpose, but we ended up in a fight with other big clubs and he chose AC Milan. I'll try to find someone a bit more under the radar instead, but regardless, this isn't absolutely necessary right now.

I hope you guys got some enjoyment out of reading all of that, as I sure as hell enjoyed writing it. I certainly won't be writing as much as this going forward; I'll try to keep the updates brief and roll along quickly, as I only have until Wednesday before the free week ends. This is already one of my favorite FM projects that I've undertaken, and I can't wait to crack on with the season!

¡Vamos!

Edited March 30, 2020 by oriole01

[andychar]

Anybody feel ashamed at how much level of detail they put into their posts? No...just me....alrighty then!

 

Great read so far be interesting to see if you finish in time before the trail runs out!

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, andychar said:

Anybody feel ashamed at how much level of detail they put into their posts? No...just me....alrighty then!

 

Great read so far be interesting to see if you finish in time before the trail runs out!

Lovely post by @oriole01

[smp20]

Superb outline of the suqad @oriole01 and I'm delighted to see Blas Di Bello following Vardic to Valencia from Rijeka

[Mandy42]

6 hours ago, andychar said:

Anybody feel ashamed at how much level of detail they put into their posts? No...just me....alrighty then!

 

Great read so far be interesting to see if you finish in time before the trail runs out!

I thought I wrote a decent detailed post, but going into the possible signings I looked at and didn't sign, not thought of that! 

[oriole01]

On 30/03/2020 at 02:38, andychar said:

Anybody feel ashamed at how much level of detail they put into their posts? No...just me....alrighty then!

 

Great read so far be interesting to see if you finish in time before the trail runs out!

I'm about to play the whole season nonstop over the next 13 hours to avoid paying for the game so... wish me luck!

On 30/03/2020 at 05:50, Jimbokav1971 said:

Lovely post by @oriole01

Cheers Jimbo!

On 30/03/2020 at 07:33, smp20 said:

Superb outline of the suqad @oriole01 and I'm delighted to see Blas Di Bello following Vardic to Valencia from Rijeka

Cheers mate, I think that shows what a good job of recruitment you and others did in Croatia.

[oriole01]

Valencia C.F.
2030/31 Pre-Season

Only predicted for 4th despite being the title holders... seems a bit silly to me. Vardić and Romano are rated as our best players, which I'd say is probably about right. Somehow we have nobody in the dream XI... another oversight. That's fine, it just means we'll be proving the media wrong instead of right this season.

A perfect set of friendlies, the best result a 7-0 destruction of FCK (don't ever accuse me of not delivering @Benjoe). We were struggling a bit through the AFC Eskilstuna game, until I ticked off the "work ball into the box" instruction in our tactic, after which the goals started to freely flow. We dominated possession and outplayed everyone we faced, which is exactly what I wanted to see. Vardić, Serer, and Kempton absolutely exploded for goals during these games, which in Kempton's case makes it even harder for me to keep him in the 2nd XI, but I'll wait to see how he does in competitive games first.

We're going to have a banner season, I can sense it.
¡Vamos!

[oriole01]

*cries in Nikolaj Bur*

[ManUtd1]

15 minutes ago, oriole01 said:

*cries in Nikolaj Bur*

[oriole01]

Valencia C.F.
August 2030

We start league play well, albeit against some weak opposition with our 2nd XI. We had to wait until Elche had a man sent off before we opened the scoring against them, but once it started, it didn't stop, with Moro surprisingly grabbing two goals and Rudovic scoring the other in between. We actually went behind very early to Getafe, but immediately struck back through Kempton, who ended up with a brace. His goals were complemented by headed efforts from the left back Amodio and our new center back Higor Felipe, which was a delight to see.

I won Manager of the Month for the two wins. Hopefully I can keep winning these in months with a proper amount of fixtures.

Transfers

We've got our left back! His name is Ali Yolcu, a 19-year-old full Turkish international who comes in from Istanbul Başakşehir for a decent fee of $27 million, making him our second-most expensive purchase this window behind Kempton. The fee was higher than I expected, but as we had around $30 million left in the transfer budget and no other serious needs, I decided to pull the trigger, as time was running out on deadline day and he was the man I had wanted ever since we filled our last non-EU spot. Ali still has some work to do if he ever wants to be a first XI player here, especially in the technical department, but his 4.5* potential gives me plenty of hope he'll be able to. What's most important is that he's already a natural wing back, so he'll at least have no trouble fitting into the system. For now, he'll fill that final empty spot in the 2nd XI behind Amodio, who should provide some great competition.

Here's the final transfer roundup. We spent a massive $147 million on players in this window, Ali's transfer giving us the 5th-highest expenditure in the world this summer, but to have not spent more than $30 million on any one of those players and to still get the quality we got in this market is pretty impressive in my opinion. On the outgoings side, we also let third choice striker Antonio Borda Bossana go on loan for a second year, as although he's a good player (2nd top goalscorer in Serie A last season), he's much older than our young star duo of Romano and Kempton, and is already behind them in ability. He's off to the Premier League with Watford, who have the option of purchasing him for $35 million next summer. Also, we annoyingly lost young academy prospect Francisco Moreno, as he was on a youth contract and started getting bid on by other Spanish clubs before I even knew who he was. He didn't want to sign a new contract and bizarrely took the step down to Espanyol, who will have to pay us $1.2 million in compensation. I'm tempted to say it's his loss, but there certainly wasn't anyone with more potential than him in our youth setup. Too bad.

UEFA Champions League Group Stage Draw

Lastly, there's our Champions League draw, which sees us face off with Italian runners-up Inter Milan, German runners-up Bayer Leverkusen, and 10-time defending Austrian champions RB Salzburg. Not the easiest draw out there, but we should easily get 6 points from Salzburg and the other two are well within our weight class. We should be getting out of the group and playing CL football in the spring, but anything could happen.

September will see us face tough tests in Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao in La Liga, and our first CL match against Salzburg at the Mestalla.
¡Vamos!

Edited April 1, 2020 by oriole01

[Benjoe]

6 hours ago, oriole01 said:

A perfect set of friendlies, the best result a 7-0 destruction of FCK (don't ever accuse me of not delivering @Benjoe).

[oriole01]

Valencia C.F.
September 2030

An absolutely brilliant month, and it was so close to being perfect.
Romano activated beast mode early on away at Espanyol, but we got complacent at the end and frustratingly gave up two goals in rapid succession to throw away our two-goal advantage. The biggest result of the month came in the form of victory over Real Madrid at the Bernabéu, courtesy of a trio of screamers from Di Bello, Billy Mors, and Javi Serer that was enough to repel Real's own deadly attack. We took care of business to start the CL group campaign, beating RB Salzburg 3-0 easily at the Mestalla. Real Valladolid presented more of a challenge against our 2nd XI, but Moro bagged another surprise brace to single-handedly give us the hard-fought win. The first XI then had to work hard for victory against Athletic Bilbao, a lovely Vardić solo run and finish near the hour mark serving as our winner. Their fellow Basques Osasuna were put to our Valencian sword as well, as despite their surprisingly good start to the season, we dominated them and put them away 3-1 through two absolute belters from Serer and another long-range effort from substitute Iñaki González, who claimed his first goal of the season. Amazing stuff.

Table

We're three points clear atop La Liga as the only unbeaten team left in the league. Atlético, surprise package Osasuna, and Barca are the closest, with another surprise in Valladolid just a point behind them. Real have had a dreadful start to the season, as well as Sevilla and Villarreal, although those two have been performing poorly on this save recently anyway. Newly-promoted duo Alavés and Elche prop up the rest of the table, and Alavés have failed to score a single goal in seven games... ouch. Champions League table will come next month.

October sees us play two big Champions League games against Inter and Leverkusen, as well as a date with Atlético Madrid at the end of the month.

¡Vamos!

[Mandy42]

nice start to the league!

5 hours to go though!! 

[oriole01]

5 minutes ago, Mandy42 said:

nice start to the league!

5 hours to go though!! 

I'm just going to buy the game I think . Unless there's any April Fool's tricks up SI's sleeve...

[Jimbokav1971]

9 hours ago, oriole01 said:

I'm about to play the whole season nonstop over the next 13 hours to avoid paying for the game so... wish me luck!

When we didn't get any progress I was wondering if you were going to do this. 

Updating is going to get in the way, but feel free to give us brief insights into how things are going. (Sure you will smash it).

[Jimbokav1971]

Just a suggestion here but if the main reason that @oriole01isn't buying the game is financial, and he needs to buy the game to finish the season, and it costs £30 at the moment, then count me in for a £10 contribution. 

If the reason for not buying isn't financial then apologies, but if it is then would anyone like to contribute with me? 

[Edit]

£27.99 is the cheapest deal I can find I think. 

https://www.cdkeys.com/pc/games/football-manager-2020-pc-steam-cd-key?mw_aref=lollujo

Edited April 1, 2020 by Jimbokav1971

[smp20]

Cracking start @oriole01 - I think you've caught the FM20 bug 

[Makoto Nakamura]

2 minutes ago, smp20 said:

Cracking start @oriole01 - I think you've caught the FM20 bug 

There's lots of FM20 bugs. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Just now, Makoto Nakamura said:

There's lots of FM20 bugs. 

I've got to admit that FM20 was FAR more buggy out of the box than the last few issues, but not sure if I've got used to it or whether the patches have just been effective, but it seems ok now. 

[Makoto Nakamura]

2 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I've got to admit that FM20 was FAR more buggy out of the box than the last few issues, but not sure if I've got used to it or whether the patches have just been effective, but it seems ok now. 

I've had various bugs in basically every save I've had in FM20, and I've had a lot! 

[Mandy42]

5 minutes ago, Makoto Nakamura said:

I've had various bugs in basically every save I've had in FM20, and I've had a lot! 

but then... you have a lot of saves  

[oriole01]

I ran out of gas at around 6:30 AM my time (3.5 hours ago), having only got to mid-October. The official deadline for free to play has passed, though I've left my game tab open and so far there has been no prompt for me to purchase the game... it's possible that if I just keep the window open, I'm in the clear. If that suddenly changes, I will buy the game anyway if @andychar and the rest of you allow, just to finish off the season within the next few days. I've had so much fun with this save that I'm no longer concerned about my commitment to skipping the new FM this cycle, so it all just depends on what you lot think is fair right now really, as I've had the save for almost a week and I was only supposed to be a guest in the first place.

[Jimbokav1971]

8 minutes ago, oriole01 said:

I ran out of gas at around 6:30 AM my time (3.5 hours ago), having only got to mid-October. The official deadline for free to play has passed, though I've left my game tab open and so far there has been no prompt for me to purchase the game... it's possible that if I just keep the window open, I'm in the clear. If that suddenly changes, I will buy the game anyway if @andychar and the rest of you allow, just to finish off the season within the next few days. I've had so much fun with this save that I'm no longer concerned about my commitment to skipping the new FM this cycle, so it all just depends on what you lot think is fair right now really, as I've had the save for almost a week and I was only supposed to be a guest in the first place.

It's Wednesday now. 

If you plan to have the save finished by some point over the weekend I think that's pretty reasonable, but I would expect that there are people really champing at the bit to get playing because so many of us are stuck at home at the moment. 

Maybe something we should consider is that those not working get lined up to play during the week and those who are working get the game ready for their weekend, (or days off, whenever that may be). 

We could probably fly through the seasons that way. 

[oriole01]

20 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

It's Wednesday now. 

If you plan to have the save finished by some point over the weekend I think that's pretty reasonable, but I would expect that there are people really champing at the bit to get playing because so many of us are stuck at home at the moment. 

Maybe something we should consider is that those not working get lined up to play during the week and those who are working get the game ready for their weekend, (or days off, whenever that may be). 

We could probably fly through the seasons that way. 

The weekend sounds a reasonable time for me to be done. I have schoolwork for the rest of the week and will get some done during that time, and will crack on to be done by the end of the weekend once I've finished my work for the week.

[oriole01]

Valencia C.F.
October 2030

A sobering month, as we lost as many games as we won and had some worrying performances to match the impressive ones.

I was aware of the possibility that we wouldn't win at the San Siro, but I certainly wasn't anticipating a 4-0 smacking by Inter Milan. I don't believe the scoreline reflects the game, however, as we had just as many chances as the Italians, but we couldn't get anything to go in and they were clinical. An embarrassing result, but we still have every chance of getting out of the group. We responded well, the 2nd XI easily beating Rayo Vallecano 4-1 in our only game at the Mestalla this month, featuring Ali Yolcu's first goal for the club in the first minute of play, something I was delighted with. We deployed the 2nd XI again away against struggling Sevilla ahead of a tough run of matches, but that proved to be a mistake as they performed horribly and conceded a winner in the final seconds of the match. But again we responded to defeat magnificently, thrashing Bayer Leverkusen 6-0 in Germany, in what has to be our most impressive result this season. Serer and Romano each got a brace, with Alemão getting his first of the season right from kickoff and Rudović grabbing his third of the season off the bench. Another routine win over Real Sociedad followed, with Veenvliet also bagging his maiden strike of the season from the back. But in our most important fixture of the month, we crumbled at the Metropolitano against narrow leaders Atlético Madrid, being comprehensively beaten 3-0. We set out to counter, but it just didn't work, as we went behind early and never recovered. A very disappointing performance against a team we're expected to be contending with for the title... I can only hope we do much better at the Mestalla in April.

Tables

We were level on points with Atlético before our encounter, but now we're three points behind them with a three goal deficit to overcome in head-to-head and a far inferior goal difference. We can not afford to slip up much more from now on if we want to finish ahead of them, because finishing level is almost certainly not an option. Barcelona and Osasuna remain three points behind us, with Espanyol, Real Betis, and Mallorca also within reach. Real Madrid have continued to be shocking, only just getting their third win of the season at the end of the month. Surely we won't have to worry about them this year. Elche, Alavés, and Villarreal have all been very poor and are in a league of their own at the moment deep inside the relegation zone, with Villarreal probably the only one who can get out.

That huge win over Leverkusen gives us significant leverage in the Champions League, as although we're only three points clear of Bayer, there's no realistic way for them to overhaul us on any of the tiebreakers, so they would have to finish above us on points to knock us out. Inter have won all three games and Salzburg have lost all three.

November will see us face off with Leverkusen and Salzburg again in the CL, and play three routine fixtures in La Liga. Can we make it a perfect month? That'd be nice.
¡Vamos!

[noikeee]

Real Madrid 12th. That makes me happy. 

[smp20]

Atletico have started very well! Going to be a tense race for the title I feel. 2nd place at least in the CL group. What we can guarantee is goals goals goals!

[oriole01]

5 hours ago, noikeee said:

Real Madrid 12th. That makes me happy. 

It's a pleasant surprise, long may it last 

5 hours ago, smp20 said:

Atletico have started very well! Going to be a tense race for the title I feel. 2nd place at least in the CL group. What we can guarantee is goals goals goals!

They've been brilliant indeed, winning most of their games by 3 or 4 goals. It's going to be a tough task to finish above them, that's for sure.

[oriole01]

Valencia C.F.
November 2030

A good month as expected, but not quite perfect as desired.

We weren't at our best at home against relegation candidates Deportivo Alavés, as the 2nd XI had a boatload of chances but only ended up converting one. At least it was a spectacular one, as Moro scored a screamer from 25 yards into the top-right corner to give us our winning goal early on. We were never in danger to be fair though, as our opponents only mustered two shots all game. We recorded a far more modest win over Bayer Leverkusen than in the reverse fixture, but again we were the much better side and were wasteful with our opportunities. Alemão was the only one on target for us, steering in from ten yards while the goalkeeper was on the floor. The 2nd XI put in a much better performance against Deportivo La Coruña, winning 3-0 in the kind of fashion that we're used to. The disappointment in the month was dropping points down the road to Levante in the Derbi Valenciano. We took an early lead through Serer, but we were equalized within ten minutes with Levante's first chance of the game, then gave up a cheap goal on the counter in the second half. Di Bello did well to draw us level on 75', but we couldn't get any more and were held to just a point by our rivals. Our last fixture of the month saw us put the 2nd XI to the test against RB Salzburg in the Champions League, which they comfortably passed despite having a BS penalty given against them, which Damián vindicated us by saving. Kempton broke a long scoring drought in this match, and Rudović continued his fantastic season, bagging his fourth of the year in the second half and helping us secure passage to the knockout stages for the second consecutive year!

Tables

Atlético continue to put the pressure on, meaning we'll need to win that game in hand against Betis to prevent them from pulling away. We're now four points clear of Barca, with Betis and Bilbao rising up the table just behind them. Real have made their way up to 9th and Sevilla are no longer in relegation danger. Those three clubs in the drop zone look completely buried already, with just three wins between them, and none of those coming from poor little Elche.

We're through in the CL alongside Inter, who we will play at the Mestalla on Matchday 6 to decide who tops the group. After the result at the San Siro, however, I won't let my hopes get too high.

¡Vamos!

[wynter]

On 27/03/2020 at 08:05, andychar said:

Ok so we have a decision to make. @oriole01 is interesting in joining. Problem is he doesn’t own FM20 so would need to go next in order to get a season finished during the free week. 
I don’t want people getting annoyed because they are waiting for their turn and people are getting free passes to “cut in line”. 
So with that in mind let me know what you think. Majority wins. I think it’s the fairest way to do this. 
Go!

I didn't want to be that guy, but I feel like there's an elephant in the room we're not addressing. I had no problem with the premise of Oriole taking the save to join in on the fun while he had the free trial.

Except that throughout the free trial. He got to October. 

We all have different styles, obviously, and in no way is that saying you shouldn't play the way you want, BUT you need to be able to play the way you want in a manner that is actually efficient and doesn't put anyone out. 

Obviously I'm happy Oriole wanted to join the group, but given a week deadline to run this save it took 5 days for him to get a quarter of a way through a season. The monthly updates each day since is just dragging the thread on and not in a way that's conducive to ensuring this thread actually has a long term viability. With Oriole now we've got 16 people... Reasonably if he plans on finishing this weekend as he said then the save has been at this season for 10 days.

If we all take 10 days, Oriole doesn't touch this save again until the middle of September. By that point this save will be dead and buried by disinterest or everyone just waiting for FM21. 

I think after Oriole finishes, that we need to come up with an agreeable timeframe that a person has to play out a season from now on. THEN when they reach that point, save and transfer it to the next person even if you haven't fully finished the season. I'm not suggesting Makoto's 24 hours demolitions, but I think 10 days is too much. Obviously if circumstances happen we can assess then, but a general guideline is always solid. 

[ManUtd1]

The way I see it, there are two pieces to this.  What makes the save interesting, and how we each play it.  They're obviously interrelated.

The save stays fresh/interesting to me when: (1) it moves at a reasonable pace; (2) everyone is pulling in the same general direction, while adding a bit of our own "style" to our section of the campaign.  Who cares if we win, so long as we're all in this boat together.  

No one is going to play at a pace like @Makoto Nakamura.  That's not anyone's expectation.  At the same time, we all have our own threads to do things purely our way, on our own timeframe. 

Joining in the community effort means contributing to that community effort, and being mindful of the community both in terms of pacing and playing style.  

To be clear, I'm not trying to call anyone in particular out.  I think that the overwhelming majority of the thread has been played with exactly this mindset -- putting the community first. 

I just agree with @wynter that there should be a reasonable timeframe/expectation going forward.  In my view, a week should be more than enough time, more often than not.

(I also realize that timeframes were debated early in the thread, without a firm rule being put in place.  I didn't offer my thoughts at the time because I hadn't joined in and thus didn't think my voice should be heard on the subject.)

[andychar]

I have to agree it seems progress on the save has stagnated a little bit. 
 

Whats the ETA looking like @oriole01?

I thought we came to a gentlemen’s agreement of a week. Although this wasn’t set in stone I assumed it was agreed in principle. 

[Mandy42]

While I agree we could benefit from an agreed timeframe being nailed down.

And that transferring the save to the next person at the end if that time would keep it flowing.

I also think we need to acknowledge that the thread has gained in popularity since it started. We have doubled in number since we began and that's going to add time to the process. 

[ManUtd1]

1 minute ago, Mandy42 said:

While I agree we could benefit from an agreed timeframe being nailed down.

And that transferring the save to the next person at the end if that time would keep it flowing.

I also think we need to acknowledge that the thread has gained in popularity since it started. We have doubled in number since we began and that's going to add time to the process. 

Absolutely fair point -- more people naturally means more time in between "turns."  Also, with fewer people, being more flexible on timeframe didn't have the same knock-on effect that it does now.  It just underscores the need for a timeframe, in my mind.

[oriole01]

1 hour ago, andychar said:

I have to agree it seems progress on the save has stagnated a little bit. 
 

Whats the ETA looking like @oriole01?

I thought we came to a gentlemen’s agreement of a week. Although this wasn’t set in stone I assumed it was agreed in principle. 

I am at the pace of playing two months of fixtures per day, meaning I'll be done on Sunday. Considering the concerns brought to light, I'll hand over the save at midnight (my time) on Sunday even if I don't get through everything as I expect. The way I play, mixed with my schoolwork returning this week, means I have been slower than people want, and for that I apologize. Also, I won't be remaining on the list, as I am still playing the game for free. This is a one-time thing, so you won't have to worry about problems from me going forward.

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, wynter said:

I didn't want to be that guy, but I feel like there's an elephant in the room we're not addressing. I had no problem with the premise of Oriole taking the save to join in on the fun while he had the free trial.

Except that throughout the free trial. He got to October. 

We all have different styles, obviously, and in no way is that saying you shouldn't play the way you want, BUT you need to be able to play the way you want in a manner that is actually efficient and doesn't put anyone out. 

Obviously I'm happy Oriole wanted to join the group, but given a week deadline to run this save it took 5 days for him to get a quarter of a way through a season. The monthly updates each day since is just dragging the thread on and not in a way that's conducive to ensuring this thread actually has a long term viability. With Oriole now we've got 16 people... Reasonably if he plans on finishing this weekend as he said then the save has been at this season for 10 days.

If we all take 10 days, Oriole doesn't touch this save again until the middle of September. By that point this save will be dead and buried by disinterest or everyone just waiting for FM21. 

I think after Oriole finishes, that we need to come up with an agreeable timeframe that a person has to play out a season from now on. THEN when they reach that point, save and transfer it to the next person even if you haven't fully finished the season. I'm not suggesting Makoto's 24 hours demolitions, but I think 10 days is too much. Obviously if circumstances happen we can assess then, but a general guideline is always solid. 

 

1 hour ago, ManUtd1 said:

The way I see it, there are two pieces to this.  What makes the save interesting, and how we each play it.  They're obviously interrelated.

The save stays fresh/interesting to me when: (1) it moves at a reasonable pace; (2) everyone is pulling in the same general direction, while adding a bit of our own "style" to our section of the campaign.  Who cares if we win, so long as we're all in this boat together.  

No one is going to play at a pace like @Makoto Nakamura.  That's not anyone's expectation.  At the same time, we all have our own threads to do things purely our way, on our own timeframe. 

Joining in the community effort means contributing to that community effort, and being mindful of the community both in terms of pacing and playing style.  

To be clear, I'm not trying to call anyone in particular out.  I think that the overwhelming majority of the thread has been played with exactly this mindset -- putting the community first. 

I just agree with @wynter that there should be a reasonable timeframe/expectation going forward.  In my view, a week should be more than enough time, more often than not.

(I also realize that timeframes were debated early in the thread, without a firm rule being put in place.  I didn't offer my thoughts at the time because I hadn't joined in and thus didn't think my voice should be heard on the subject.)

 

1 hour ago, andychar said:

I have to agree it seems progress on the save has stagnated a little bit. 
 

Whats the ETA looking like @oriole01?

I thought we came to a gentlemen’s agreement of a week. Although this wasn’t set in stone I assumed it was agreed in principle. 

 

1 hour ago, Mandy42 said:

While I agree we could benefit from an agreed timeframe being nailed down.

And that transferring the save to the next person at the end if that time would keep it flowing.

I also think we need to acknowledge that the thread has gained in popularity since it started. We have doubled in number since we began and that's going to add time to the process. 

 

1 hour ago, ManUtd1 said:

Absolutely fair point -- more people naturally means more time in between "turns."  Also, with fewer people, being more flexible on timeframe didn't have the same knock-on effect that it does now.  It just underscores the need for a timeframe, in my mind.

What I would say is that @oriole01did say that he was up against it in terms of the timeframe, but said that he expects to have it finished over the weekend. While that's considerably slower than some on here, it's really not THAT slow in the grand scheme of things. Lots of us, (including me), are sitting at home and doing very little at the moment, so this seems to be dragging more than it actually is. I would personally like to see a season completed every 3 days or so at the moment while we are all off, but this is meant to be a Community thing and if by slowing things up a little it means that we get others involved, and show that we are a really warm welcoming bunch, then to be honest it's a small price to pay. 

If @oriole01can't get it done by the end of the weekend then I would expect @andycharto make a decision, but until then we're generally pretty relaxed in here aren't we? 

What I would also say is that his 1st update was on Monday of this week, so the issue is really that he didn't start immediately rather than that he is taking a long time. It's actually just been 5 days since his 1st update. 

[noikeee]

Maybe hand it over to @Benjoe at the end of the weekend at whatever point of the season he's at by then? I think that's a decent compromise between speeding things up to making sure everyone has a go, and letting @oriole01 enjoy his turn for a bit.

I also think we should make it a rule of a week maximum, or 10 days maximum or whatever, and if the season isn't finished by then the next guy takes over midseason. Some people play the game slower and that's ok, but also we're so many that if we don't speed up people will wait for a long time for their turn.

Edited April 3, 2020 by noikeee

[oriole01]

Valencia C.F.
December 2030

Four more good results, but one very disappointing result as well.

In our toughest league match of the month on paper, we defeated Real Betis 2-1 at the Mestalla, with a first half brace from Billy Mors enough to see us over the line. But we were shocked at the Son Moix by Mallorca, who outplayed us with their finishing. They took the lead through a spectacular long-range volley in the first half, but the substitute Kempton equalized right out of the gates in the second. The defense would break down around the hour mark though, conceding again, then soon after we had a second equalizer from Iñaki González disallowed for a foul in the buildup, which certainly discouraged us, as we gave up a cheap third on 70'. That would be it for the scoring, and we made our way back to the mainland disappointingly empty-handed. I didn't even have the excuse of it being the 2nd XI who lost; our best players are the ones who let us down here. The 2nd XI followed up with victory over a dreadful Villarreal side, though the margin was far from convincing. Ali Yolcu grabbed his second goal of the season and Moro got his sixth. The big game of December was against Inter Milan at the Mestalla, and I'm happy to say we found a way to win and claim top spot in the CL group. With the rest of our squad failing to make chances pay, our captain Alemão stepped up and became the hero, driving in a glorious finish from almost 30 yards out to give us the lead just before the half. We managed to hold onto that lead too, surviving a late onslaught from Inter to claim the three points in a memorable win. But even that wasn't our most impressive result of the month, as the 2nd XI destroyed Leganés 7-0 in a match where nine of our ten outfield starters recorded either a goal or an assist. I was happy to see the likes of Vardić, Yolcu, González, and Higor Felipe get on the scoresheet, especially Vardić, who has struggled to find the net this season at both AM and RW. The best possible way to leave things heading into the Christmas break!

Table

I thought we might have been fading out of the title race when we went six points off the top following the loss to Mallorca, but Atlético slipped up twice, drawing with Levante and the Balearic side as well. We're now just two points behind them, which is less than it was last month. Certainly, we still have every chance of winning the title if we keep our form up in the second half. Barcelona remain within a loss of catching us, and Valladolid have risen into the Champions League places following some excellent form. Nothing else has really changed in the rest of the table... Elche still have no wins. Sad.

UEFA Champions League Results/Round of 16 Draw

Certainly not the most exciting knockout field, but our first place finish in Group H means we're likely to get a good draw, as we can't draw Atlético or Real. I just don't want Bayern or AC Milan.

We got Lyon, which I think is the second-best draw we could have gotten behind Benfica. This won't be an easy tie by any means, but we'll be favored and I expect us to find a way through to the Quarter Final.

Some miscellaneous news from this month:

Our manager is now the best manager that he can be. Take that, Beinir!

The Mestalla now has a massive 86,000 capacity, making it the second-largest stadium in Spain behind Camp Nou.

And the most exciting news is that Giacomo Romano has won the European Golden Boy award! Though he hasn't quite performed how I expected this season, he's still had a fantastic calendar year that deserves recognition. Hopefully he can truly crack on for us in the second half of the season.

When football returns in January, we'll be contending in the Supercopa and the Copa del Rey in addition to La Liga, with two fixtures against Barcelona to look forward to.
¡Vamos!

[oriole01]

Valencia C.F.
January 2031

We couldn't handle one particular opponent, but otherwise it was a decent month to start the new year.

Unfortunately, Barcelona had our number in both the league and the Supercopa, though I was certainly more disappointed to lose to them in the former. We understandably had trouble at the Nou Camp, as they scored two world-class goals in the first half before Amodio squeezed one in at the keeper's near post to get us back in the game right before half time. We pushed hard, but could not break them down a second time, as our openness at the back eventually bit us, the Catalonians scoring two more times in the last ten minutes of the match to put us away. I was less fussed about the Supercopa loss; the board didn't rate it as important and neither did I. Former Rijeka star Dinko Mohac quickfired two goals for them in the first half, then a boring second half saw us get one back through Kempton, but it was too little, too late. Barca ended up losing the final to Atlético, who certainly have a more valid claim to the trophy. We returned to La Liga play with two solid wins over Sevilla and Real Sociedad at the newly-expanded Mestalla, which is exactly what we needed to get back on track. Copa del Rey action started this month, our 3rd Round tie seeing the 2nd XI go away to Segunda División side Girona and have to wait until extra time to take care of business. A new signing of ours got on the scoresheet 16 minutes into his Valencia career, which was delightful, but we gave up an equalizer against the run of play in the second half and had to go to extra time, where another smashing finish from Serer and a Rudović penalty gave us the win that our complete domination of the opposition warranted. Tougher than it should have been, but going through is what matters in the end. However, the first XI had even more trouble in the league against an impressive Osasuna side who nearly beat us in Navarre. Billy Mors scored an incredible half volley out of nowhere on just 3', but some poor marking allowed their lethal striker José Manuel Ibáñez to equalize shortly after. A long lull followed, but our defense was caught out by Ibáñez again on 78', forcing us to either respond or face what might have been a crippling defeat. Thankfully, we chose to respond, as substitute (and probably my favorite player) Nikola Moro popped up with an equalizing volley on 88' and saved our bacon. A draw is better than a loss, but we were poor and should never have been dropping points here. The 2nd XI finished the month with another Copa del Rey tie against second-tier opposition in Eibar, who gave us our most frustrating and harrowing game of the season. We completely and utterly battered the Basques, outshooting them 41-7 and comfortably outpossessing them, but we could not get a single ****ing thing to go in, as their goalkeeper made an incredible 17 saves over 120 minutes of play. A nerve-wracking shootout followed, as we matched each other in lockstep for 7 rounds (6 goals, 1 miss each) before they missed their 8th and an unlikely hero in Dejan Trbović stepped up and put away the winner, sending us through to the quarter finals after an enormous exertion in Basque Country.

Table

The Osasuna draw sees the gap go back to four points, as Atlético have won their last three games. They did lose to Sevilla earlier in the month, but that coincided with our loss to Barca, who remain three points behind. Real are getting worryingly close to the European places, Sevilla have almost reached the top half, and Villarreal and possibly even Elche stand a chance of survival now, as both have started picking up results and Getafe have been on awful form in 17th. Alavés are at the foot of the table now, as despite two wins, they only have one draw and a whopping 20 losses.

Transfers

We've dipped into the transfer market one last time, bringing in Congolese striker/winger Mohamed Kibona from Basel for $16 million. Mohamed comes in mainly to serve as the wing cover I was talking about before the season, as although he's not quite natural there, he will be trained to improve on both wings. He also comes in as another striking option, as both Romano and Kempton have fallen a bit short of what I expected of them this season and Kibona provides an alternative. As you saw, he got on the scoresheet on his debut, so I'm pretty happy with him so far. The only concern is that he's 24, which is older than I would have liked, but he still has upward potential and should be at least a good utility player for the squad for this season and beyond.

This transfer meant I loaned out backup DM Angelo Longhi to Serie A side Cittadella, as I wanted to maintain a 23-man squad and Longhi hadn't appeared this season. I realized it was kind of pointless to have a second XI for our counter tactic, as if we're having to counter someone- which is rare- we need our best squad out there. I think Angelo still has a future with the squad, just not under me this season.

February will see us face Atlético in a tough Copa del Rey quarter final tie, Barcelona once again in the league, and our first leg against Lyon in the Champions League at the end of the month.
¡Vamos!

[Minuy600]

Hey guys, i'm sorry, but i'm gonna be quitting my involvement in this save, i've had fun with it but I don't see much reason to continue my role.

One other suggestion for y'all might be to seperate this into groups of 5-6 people so everyone can expect their turn to happen relatively quickly.

[oriole01]

Valencia C.F.
February 2031

Wow, an unreal month heading into the Lyon game. Every club that faced us- big or small- bit the dust.
Rayo Vallecano were the first team unlucky enough to meet us, though we took a while to get going. We would wait until the 75th minute to score, as the substitute Romano broke a long goal drought by smashing in from Kibona's assist. Romano then won us a penalty on 83' that Rudović expertly put away into the bottom-left corner to secure the victory. Heading to the Metropolitano for a second time this season to play Atlético Madrid in the Copa del Rey quarters, I knew we were probably going to need a smash and grab to win, and that's exactly what we did, as we countered Atléti in the first half and then turned up the stove in the second, which paid off immediately with Di Bello's headed goal from a corner on 47'. We then sat back and withstood the pressure, as we held on to knock out our title rivals and go through to the semis. The most important domestic fixture of the month came at the Mestalla against Barcelona, who we finally beat at the third attempt. We showed no fear to the Catalans at home, attacking from the outset and getting our goals in rapid succession in the first half, first from another Di Bello header and then from a fierce shot by Alemão that took a touch off Kibona and in. We remained the better team throughout, but Barca did get one back late on through a Youri Tielemans screamer. That made things nervy, but we defended well after that and held on for a massive win at our home fortress. We went straight back into Copa del Rey action with the first leg of the semi final against Athletic Bilbao at the Mestalla, which provided one of the most entertaining games of the season. We went behind unluckily on 40' (a good tackle ended up serving one of their attackers on a platter), but equalized immediately through a beautiful Vardić solo run and goal. Bilbao got a second right at the start of the second half, however, meaning we needed to push harder. That we did, and it paid off with two goals in rapid succession, first equalizing from a Moro header that their keeper bumbled, then taking the lead through a vicious drive from Billy Mors into the bottom-left corner. We continued to push to strengthen our lead, and we got our fourth on 82' through an in-form Kibona, who lunged at Rudović's cross feet-first and made the connection to get it over the line. A very exciting victory that gives us one foot in the final. We continued rolling through the fixtures in the league, easily dismantling fellow Valencians Elche 3-0 away and beating Getafe 2-0 at home slightly less comfortably, but we were never in danger. We were truly unstoppable this month, and it couldn't have come at a better time.

Table

That brilliant form means we've returned to the top of the La Liga table, a place we haven't been since early October. Not only are we top, but we're a full three points clear of Atlético, whose form has suffered this month, much to our chagrin. Barcelona are three points behind them and six behind us, so it's truly a three-horse race now. Espanyol have been playing well and gone up into 4th, with Bilbao right behind them. Villarreal have clawed their way out of the relegation zone, dropping Getafe into it for the moment being and opening up the relegation race to the likes of Levante and Leganés, who have been on awful form. Elche and Alavés have no hope left now.

Lastly, I grabbed another Manager of the Month award, my first since August. Winning all your games will do that .

The Lyon tie will get its own post. Elsewhere in March, we'll face Real Betis in the league and try to confirm our place in the Copa del Rey final by getting a result in Bilbao.
¡Vamos!

[oriole01]

Round of 16
First Leg

We didn't start the tie well, as although we set out to attack, we got punished by two Lyon goals in quick succession early on, as they exploited our exposed back line. But we got the important lifeline of an away goal on 33', Billy Morales popping up with a header into the bottom-left corner. We then got a huge chance to gain the advantage in the tie on 66' when Javi Serer was tripped in the box and awarded a penalty by VAR. In such an important moment, I wanted to bring my penalty taker Rudović off the bench to take the kick, but it wasn't allowed and Serer took it himself... but fired wide in a shocking moment. That obviously having dented our morale, we couldn't find the net again and took a loss home to the Mestalla, but one that still put us within reach of advancing.

Second Leg

This is the kind of performance that makes any manager happy. Having won every single game at the Mestalla this season, we had reason to be confident of going through, but even I didn't expect to win 3-0. We attacked with vigor from the start here, and it paid off on 18', as Kempton steered into the bottom-right corner from close range following some pinball in the box. Our second came from an unlikely source on 44', the backup center back Andoni Bengoetxea- who was filling in for a suspended Ebenezer- slamming in a header from Serer's corner. We took an aggregate lead of a goal into the second half, though for a second it appeared we had lost it on 55', but Nicolas Audren's goal was disallowed for offside. 14 minutes later and we had our insurance goal, as Lyon were very loose at the back and we ended up with a 3v1 situation, which was expertly put away by a resurgent Giacomo Romano. We completely dominated them here, and three goals would be enough to send them home and us through to the Quarter Final!

Round of 16 Results/Quarter Final Draw

In this very boring knockout field, us and Roma are the only "shining light" left.

And that's who we'll play, as we'll battle to be the only non-fraudulent team remaining. They're probably the best draw we could have had, and once again we will be the favorite to advance to the Semi Final, where there will be no favorable draws. Let's see if we can make it there first.

¡Vamos!

Edited April 10, 2020 by oriole01

[oriole01]

Valencia C.F.
March 2031

A great month, until some troubling things happened at the end.

We did what we needed to do in the first three fixtures, recording comfortable wins over Villarreal, Leganés, and Mallorca. Kempton and Romano were on fire, and the likes of Bengoetxea and Ebenezer even found their way onto the scoresheet in these games for the first time this season. However, following the win against Lyon, we became complacent, as we slipped on a banana peel against Real Betis at the Benito Villamarín, who we deployed the 2nd XI against in preparation for the Copa del Rey second leg. They would not do the job, however, as Betis matched us in possession and shots and raced out to a 2-0 lead once the second half started, first through a beautiful curler and then a well-placed finish into the bottom-left corner. Shortly after their second goal, we had one disallowed for offside, as Billy Morales was a step offside when the ball came in from Ali Yolcu. We did got one back legally through Romano's volley on 82' and came close to an equalizer in the dying moments, but ended up with our first loss since early January here, which is quite disappointing, but I suppose it had to end sometime. As it turned out, we saved the first XI for nothing, as some massive ****housery from FM knocked us out of the Copa del Rey at the hands of Athletic Bilbao. The game was supposed to take place at the end of February but was rearranged due to European fixtures, and of course they rearranged it right in the middle of a bloody international break! We had 16 players missing, leaving only seven available and requiring us to give five youth players debuts. Funnily enough, Bilbao's Basque-only policy meant they had nobody called up for internationals, and I was given no option to delay the fixture again. So they thrashed us 6-0 at their place, piling on the goals from start to finish and giving us little chance to fight back. I realize that our seven senior players don't really have an excuse for this performance, but nonetheless I feel cheated out of a potential treble here.

Table

We had a very healthy nine point lead over Atlético before the Betis loss, but now the gap is down to six, so we have to remain focused. The Champions League might end up being a distraction, but it's one I'm going to let myself get distracted by a bit, as we did win the league last season. Real have climbed up into 5th. Villarreal have really turned on the form, as they're up in 16th and are three points clear of the drop. Levante have likely got themselves out of that relegation battle, with it really being between three clubs at this point.

Another one despite the loss. Third of the season.

The penultimate month of the season sees us face rivals Levante at home, our Champions League tie with Roma, and a huge clash with Atlético at the Mestalla that could very well decide the course of the title race. Exciting times indeed.

¡Vamos!