retired_aprilcox

KUTGW :thup:

Does the game let you start matches with only 10 men?

Uknowmehfo

Good Job Turnip :thup:

Do the big three still behave?

In my save it's but now (December 2014) that Sporting is starting to falter. Mind that Porto and Benfica are still as strong as ever though.

creative36

League Positions: Benfica 1st (by 15 points), Porto 2nd, Sporting 3rd, Boavista 4th.

In fact, not many surprises throughout Europe, although no Champions League for Bayern (6th) and who can't laugh at Real Madrid finishing 11th in La Liga? (Zaragoza won the league).

retired_raistlin1979

Great thread, turnip. KUTGW :thup:

Real Madrid. 11th.

Uknowmehfo

Pfft to Madrid being 11th. I've seen both Barça and Madrid drift to 2nd B in my saves (though never since 03/04 I must admit) whilst Guixols, Sant Andreu and NÃ*stic became the powerhouses of Spanish 1st Division :*)

retired_yolanda

KUTGW! :thup:

How are Académica doing?

retired_aprilcox

I must admit I enjoyed seeing Chelsae finish 11th and Mourinho get the boot on my save

creative36

Season 6 (2013/2014): Naval
Sent a few former-first choice players on their way along with another 25 or so rejects. Made my usual raft of signings including £550k on a Brazilian D RC who was a regular. Also paid small fees totalling £350k on 10 other youngsters, a couple of which got first-team football, not forgetting the 30-odd other players picked up on frees.

Portuguese League: Started off with 3 wins, which was obviously too good to last, since my first choice strikers broke an ankle and a shoulder between them in that 3rd match. (Nice how they waited until after the transfer window closed.) Their replacements played well, so it was up to injuries and ineptitude elsewhere to push us toward mid-table. Equally as nice was losing my on-form striker to a torn calf for the rest of the season, but my other 2 were returning from injury in time to help our push for Europe. A 5-2 drubbing by Maritimo aside (we'll ignore losing to Porto's greys), we had a nice run-in, including a 4-2 win over Benfica. Not having a goalkeeper for the match against Boavista was never going to be good and so it proved, although my DR did make one save as we lost 5-3.
That left it a little tense at the end of the season. A last gasp win over Leixoes, as Academica stumbled, on the penultimate day meant that our closest rivals for 4th place were Boavista. With 5 minutes of the season left, they were winning against Leixoes and Sporting were holding me to a draw. Sporting lost a striker to injury, we scored twice in quick succession and remained above Boavista in the table.

League: W:17 D:2 L:11 GD:+15 Final Position: 4th EURO Cup qualifiers.

Portuguese Cup: We were never convincing as we somehow got through to the Semi-Final. We were no more convincing there as we lost to a Maritimo side who barely deserved to win any more than the dozen or so fans who bothered to turn up.

Only 1 of my first-team strikers remained largely uninjured and although his tally of 13 league goals isn't fantastic, his performances were generally very good - good enough to get Portuguese Player of the Year. Which means he wants a move. Another striker got 11 goals in 14 matches before getting injured (the thing he's best at) and if he can keep that up next season, I might offer him the sort of contract he's already asking for. In fact, contracts are the big thing for next season, with almost every 1st teamer's up for renewal and wanting a lot more than I can realistically fork out for. Hmmm.
El Capitan was sold for a tidy sum in January with contract talks going nowhere and my DL is joining him in Belgium for the same reason.

retired_duncan

Excellent update :thup: GL in Europe.

creative36

Brief semi-update.

With 2 league games gone, we are already top of the table... the injury table, that is.
With 5 first-choice players out injured and a few more squad players out, I had to change my squad numbers so that I could field a full subs bench for the match against Sporting (who had no injuries). We picked up 2 more injuries in that match.

The European ineptitude of Benfica, Sporting and Boavista means I have the joy of being unseeded for the Euro Cup 1st Round and the delightful prospect of playing Lyon. Who have no injuries.