FM16 - Rise of the Basque Country

[Abe Sargent]

Is it time?

There is precisely one FM challenge left in me. One major thing I have always wanted to try out and never had the chance. Something else called.

Up until the Portuguese Dynasty I did with you here, I had never won the Champions Cup. Then I had. Then I took over a tiny little Spanish footballing club in Northern Africa, and took it to the top of the table, and won the Liga, the Spanish Cup, and the Champions Cup in the same year, and then I even won my first World Cup with Spain at the same time. It was the perfect to a career fraught with hard works.

And I did these challenges my normal route:

1) Find what my current stars are, build a tactic around them
2) Sign higher quality older free or cheap transfer players who still have a lot to give for a year or two
3) Sign and bring in young future studs, and grow them around my veterans and the folks of value I inherited. Build strong.



And that makes sense. I turned Melilla, Spain (in North Africa) into the South Korean national team with multiple youth I signed. I signed in young powerful youth in Nacional da Madeira, Crewe Alexandria, Wrexham, Slavia Prague, Kaiserslautern, and many many more.

That is who I be.

But what if I couldn’t do that? What if my options were limited?

What if I took Athletic Bilbao, star of the Basque country.

The Basque people and teams have dominated Spanish football for a long time, and their best is Athletic. Only it, Real Madrid, and Barcelona have never been relegated. Founding member. They have won La Liga eight times and the Copa del Rey 24 times, 2nd most behind Barcelona at 28.. There have been as many as five Basque teams in the league at the same time. Athletic Bilbao is one of the most successful teams in Spanish footballing history...


But, that is with the caveat. It only allows players with a Basque nationality to play for it. Unless you are from the Basque country, you are not allowed to play. Ever. Some Basque teams have made exceptions for star players. Not Athletic (not willingly, during the early Franco era when they had no choice, some people looked the other way at a few players).

Imagine that the best league in Football, the NFL, saw the Pittsburgh Steelers announce that they were only going to allow players from Central Appalachia onto their team, like WV, central and western PA, south-east OH, western VA, eastern KY, and western TN were allowed. And imagine that despite their Central Appalachia rule, the Steelers continued to be one of the better teams in the NFL, even winning some Super Bowls, for years. That’s Athletic Bilbao. No internationals (unless they are Basque). No domestic players outside of the Basque region.

That’s the challenge. Take over Athletic Bilbao, a team already in a good position, and without recruiting anyone not a Basque player, win La Liga again and win their first Champion’s Cup.

[Abe Sargent]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Flag_of_the_Basque_Country.svg/1000px-Flag_of_the_Basque_Country.svg.png

http://kassiesa.net/uefa/clubs/images/Athletic-Bilbao%403.-old-logo.png


“The Challenge, The Bet, and the Handshake”
Excerpt from History of the Basque People, © 2029


With the new wave of populism and separatism rife in the continent of Europe for around a decade, and just after the success of Brexit vote and others, Spain has an obvious problem. Not only is the old saber rattling in Basque country for freedom, with more than 60% of the local parliament held by separatists, but the Barcelona and Catalan region is also pushing a heavy separatist movement, while Scotland and Northern Ireland are both in the middle of discussions for moving on as well.

Spain has a problem.

Last week, Mariano Rojoy, President of Spain was pushed in a national debate on the issues of independence. Previously, Spain had been vociferously against the freedom of Scotland and it staying with the EU if it won it’s freedom, because that incentive could drive the Basque Country or the Catalan one into pushing for a vote for independence as well. The Brexit vote began to change that, as a potential Scotland splitting off from the UK as punishment for their vote would be joyous as a slap across the bow of anyone else leaving. Language became more neutral toward the Scottish issue from official Spain corners.

In the debate, President Rojoy was pushed heavily by others, and was found undefended. In an attempt to laugh off scheduling a vote for independence and yet to put the idea out there that he was not, per se, against self-determination and will, President Rojoy attempted to laugh off the idea of scheduling a vote for Basque independence. “We’ll schedule it right after Athletic win La Liga again.” President Rojoy’s attempt at humor instead became seen by the critics talking with him in public as a way to ensure the vote occurred. Backed into a corner, President Rojoy shook hands with eh Basque independence opposition, but saw his potential mistake, and covered for himself by saying, “And if they win the Champion’s Cup, we’ll agree to abide by the vote, no matter what it says.”

The handshake was jokingly made and the Basque country suddenly had it’s goal.

[Abe Sargent]

Can we do it?


Active – France, Spain, going down all the way to the bottom for both nations, activating Basque players.

Start date, Spain, July 15, 2015 (sorry about the year. I don’t want to spend $50 for just this dynasty...)


New Manager:

Andoni Santxitz

Born, 12/10/1976, in Bayonne, in the Pays Basque region of France. 39 years old.
French and Spanish nationalities

Speaks Basque, French, Spanish

Favorite team? Athletic

Other favorite – hometown Aviron Bayonnais, in the French 4th level of football.

Just got Continental A License, defending coaching specialist, teaches defending at Real Sociedad for A team (has a 20 defending)


Born in Bayonne to a pair of Spanish Basque parents who came to Bayonne for work, Andoni Santxitx was raised fully in the Basque culture, language, and pride of his people. His first love was for the Basque rural games like Harri zulaketa, drilling rocks and such, but he was quickly weaned off of those and onto football. He easily adapted to it, and was recruiting by Aviron Bayonnais and walked on, and played for them and got his first team cap at 18, before being traded to Athletic Bilbao as a promising young Basque prospect in a move very common for the team. After three years of loans and a year of bench riding, but without any major development into the future prospect Athletic was hoping for, Andoni’s contract was allowed free, and he signed back with the hometown team at the age of 23, and played the rest of his career for them, starting at every midfielder and defensive position at some time or another. He developed in a player manager at 31, and took various caching courses and passed many licenses. He took over full managerial duty and in one year got the team to the playoffs for promotion, but lost, and was brought in as the Assistant Manager for Real Sociedad in the Basque country, and was one of the main reasons for their recent table success and trip to the Europa League last year.

Athletic has often been of two minds. On one hand, it holds serve on having only Basque players. On the other, it often has non-Basque staff, managers, and more.

With the new challenge in place, the Board knew they had to bring in a Basque manager, someone who knew the area, and was a good manager prospect. Assistant Manager Andoni Santxitz was deemed a fitting choice for a few reasons. He played for the club for four years. He is fully Basque. He is fully experienced in both the Spanish Basque Country and the French Pays Basque region. The club is looking to move into a stronger French presence. With the eyes of the country, and Europe, on the club and the Basque region, succeeding with recruiting more Basque players and replacing the staff, over time, with Basque-only people. And don’t forget, taking away the star Assistant Manager from your rival is not a bad play wither.

There have been some misses, recent and older Benjamín Zarandona Esono’s father was Basque, he was never approached. Roberto López Ufarte had one of his parents Basque, and moved back to the region at age 8 and grew up there for the rest of his life, and he was never approached or signed. There have been recent opportunities. And stars like Xabi Alonzo were not brought in. Ernesto Valverde, the Manager of Athletic, left five weeks ago to take the job at Barcelona.

The era of Santxitz has begun

[Abe Sargent]

Athletic Bilbao

Predicted to finish 6th
Value – 260 mill, 16.5 mill debt
Stadium – 53000+ all seater, San Memes, built in 2013
Rich
We are not allowed to sign non-Basque players

Superb youth facilities
Excellent training
Good junior coaching
Extensive youth recruitment

Qualified for Euro Cup

Rivals – Osasuna, Real Sociedad

Continental Reputation

There have been some struggles for Athletic Bilbao in the 2000s, including some serious relegation battles, barely surviving multiple times on the last match or two of the season. But the hope is that this era is behind them. They finished 4th in 2013, their best showing in a while, and first Champions appearance since the 1990s. But last season they finished 7th. It’s time for Athletic Bilbao to be relevant again.

[Abe Sargent]

I meet with the board, hand out assignments to staff, and more. I have two first team players injured for 5-6 months, AM LC Iker Munlain and DC Jonas Romalho.

I put some Basque players on my watchlist like French stud Antoine Griezman, playing for Atletico Madrid and Xabi, Javi Martinez and such. It’s not uncommon for Athletic to sell big name Basque players that want to move on after developing them, like Javi Martinez and Ander Herrara, sold to Man Utd for 44 mill Euros in 2014. Ander was the star that got team Real Zaragoza promoted to La Liga, and then kept it away from relegation the following year. Then Athletic bought out his contract for 7.5 mill Euros and played him hard.

The first Spanish National Squad featured 14 Basque players, and after Real Madrid, no team in Spain has developed and put more players on the Spanish National Squad than Athletic Bilbao.

[Abe Sargent]

Just for your info, here are some Basque teams you might have heard of (there was a time when literally half of the teams in La Liga were Basque)

Athletic Bilbao (That’s us)

Real Sociedad (Founding member of La Liga, Won La Liga twice in the 80s) Used to be Basque-only as well, abandoned that policy in 1989.

Osasuna – Just relegated, and often a team on the bubble of La Liga. No Basque-only rule in place anymore, but most of it’s players are.

Those three teams have, historically, been the big recruiters of Basque players in their three regions, but now, Athletic Bilbao has been looking to expand their recruiting efforts for the whole region.

Other Basque Teams of Note:

SD Eibar- In La Liga

Real Union – Segunda 3rd league, Founder of La Liga

Arenas Club de Getxo – Also founder of La Liga, Secunda as well right now

Deportivo Alavés – Won promotion to La Liga in 1930, and at that time, there were five Basque teams in La Liga, fully half of the 10 teams in the league. Currently in 2nd division (In real life, they won promotion to La Liga this year in the game, and remain in it after finishing 9th last year in La Liga.)


CD Vitoria – Currently in Segunda

Zamudio – Segunda

Sestao River Club – Segunda

SD Amorebieta – Segunda

Barakaldo CF – Segunda

Gernika Club – Segunda

Laudio – Segunda

Leioa – Segunda

SD Lemona – Segunda

Club Portugalete – Segunda

This does not include the roughly 20 teams in the Tercera Division, the next one down

[JonInMiddleGA]

Dumb question but ... does the game generate an adequate number of eligible players for this to work?

Or will the percentages & the active leagues chosen basically ensure that it will?

[Abe Sargent]

Some strong young players on our roster right now that I like:





https://images.cdn.fourfourtwo.com/sites/fourfourtwo.com/files/performance/aymeric-laporte.jpg


21 year old DC Aymeric Laporte, looks great. Most expensive player at 21 mill too. Like a Wonderkid who just finished developing.

21 year old AM RLC, ST Inaki Williams, very fast, more of a wing man than a ST, but very good quality.

https://cdn.images.dailystar.co.uk/dynamic/58/photos/335000/620x/Inaki-Williams-593085.jpg


19 year old MC, AM RC Unai Lopez, looks to have a good, long game waiting soon

http://img.bleacherreport.net/img/images/photos/003/090/434/hi-res-bf96159b64e339c9fc20d821560cd728_crop_north.jpg?1412279542&w=630&h=420


All three of these quality youth came through the Athletic Youth System. In real life, Inaki Williams and A. Laporte are both heavily rumored in the transfer market this summer. Inaki was heavily scouted, but just resigned with a 50 mill buyout clause until 2021. Laporte resigned with a 65 mill buyout, but it rumored for Man Utd, Man City, Chelsea, and Real Madrid for teams making offers.

Unai Lopez is still growing, but he looks good.

[Abe Sargent]

Dumb question but ... does the game generate an adequate number of eligible players for this to work?

Or will the percentages & the active leagues chosen basically ensure that it will?

I guess it's going to have to. :) Good question. Here, let me use my search ability. I turn off realistic transfers as an option. I get 950 results, and given my 100% knowledge due to every staff member being Basque. Now, most of those are the typical chaff for lower leagues that will never be at the level of La Liga, let alone Athletic Bilbao.

I turned on the Basque nationality in the database when starting.

[Abe Sargent]

The best Basque players aren’t playing for Basque teams. It’s time to end that issue. We scout some youth on other rosters as well. There is a youth Basque player out in Mexico that looks good, Jonathan Espericueta. Age 20. I make an enquiry.

For example, the best Basque GK plays for AS Saint-Etienne. We have the 2nd best, although 34 years old, Gorka Iraioz. We also have the 3rd best Basque GK as a backup, and the 4th best is a 20 year old on our senior squad, but out on loan.




Now there is an unusual situation here in Athletic Bilbao. Let me show you...


Team for La Liga – Senior Squad, “Athletic Bilbao”
Team for La Liga Adelante – Reserve Squad, “Bilbao Athletic”
Team for Tercera Div Group 4 – Affiliated Feeder Club “Baskonia”
Team for U19 Youth – Athletic Youth U19

So we have four rosters to manage, not the normal three. I may lean on more signings as a result.



Con cantera y afición, no hace falta importación


The Spanish phrase and motto that built Athletic.

Read more about our Cantera System here:

Athletic Bilbao cantera - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletic_Bilbao_cantera)

As you can see, the majority of players on the senior squad came through the youth ranks here, and that is a vital part of the Athletic identity.

[Abe Sargent]

I let go our Head Physio, who is not Basque. Our scouts are all Basque. We have one coach, a fitness coach, who is not Basque and I let him go as well. I let go some other staff too.

I make an offer to a few better players, and my first signee is 4.5 star fitness coach Julen Masach, and others follow. I make an offer for a 2nd GK coach as well. I cut two U19 coaches, and make an offer to a French/Basque coach as well for that squad.


We have a transfer budget in millions of Euros, as well as a 811k/week budget, and we are at around 800k.

There is a stud Physio at Real Valladolid that I make an offer to be our Head Physio. We’d pay 150k to bring him aboard.

I scheduled a friendly with ourselves.

I come back with my initial scouting reports. Which current Basque studs might be interested in us? Only the best GK, Stephane Ruffler, French and Basque would. I don’t want to make a play for him right now though, as I have the 2nd-4th best GKs on my roster. None of the others are close. And most of my major youth targets aren’t, like this great young 18 year old from Real Sociedad, I like named Mikel Oyarzabel. But there is one who would sign with us, 19 year old Osasuna Mikel Merino. We like him, and we could pay him, but the estimated transfer cost is rough. I hold off on Merino for now.




I have my first presser and then make an enquiry for Merino, just to see what Osasuna might want. He looks like a good future player, and has the right stats for growth and development.


Alright, let’s take a detailed look at my squad. What tactics? What do I need?


Gk – Gorka, 34 years old, 1st team contract, 29k.week, 16 Reflexes, command, 15 aeriel, jumping, 13 one on ones, every mental you want to be good is at least a 13, none more than 16. Slow, has played for us for a long time, and is fine as a GK at this level. He’ll start. Vice Captain.

DC Laporte – Stud, starts. No question.

DC Xabi Exteita – First team, 27 years old, 14/16 jump, head, 16/16 tack, mark, 11/11 speed, not great here against the speedy people of La Liga,

DR Mikel Balenzinga – First Team, 27 years old, 12/11 cross, pass, 14/14 speed, 14 mark, 11 tack. Meh.

DC, DM Ander Iturraspe – First Team, 26 years old, 15 mark, pass, 14 tech, 1st touch, tackle, 11/13 speed, mentals are great.

DC, DMC, MC Mikel San José – 26 years old, 1st team, 18 head, 15 jump, 11/12 speed, 16 mark, 15 tack, 16 str, 14 pass.


DRC Jonás Ramalho – first team, injured 6 months, 22 years old

AMC, MRC, ST – Raul Garcia, key player, 29 years old, 14 pass, finish, 13 technique, every single stat or ability at least an 11. Only a few 16, nothing higher.

AM, MR – Mikel Susaeta – First team, 27 years old, 14/15 speed, 14/14 cross, pass, 15 technique, He’s okay on the outside.

MC/AMC Benat – First Team, 28 years old, 15 pass, tech, first touch, 12/11 speed.


D, M, AM RC Óscar De Marcos – First team, 13/12 cross, pass, 13/14 speed, 9 mark, 11 tack, 11 dribb


AM LC Iker Munlain, 22 years old, 1st team, injured for 6 months


AM, M LC _ Inaki Williams – 17/19 speed, 12/11 cross, pass, 12 first touch, 11 tech, 12 dribb, 12 Finishing, needs to develop a little more. 1st team deal though feels a little too soon.


ST Artiz Arzurz – 34, key player, 19 heading, 15 jump, 16 finish, not fast for this level, looks like a good target man.



Rotation deals – DC, DMC Carlos Jurpegi, who is also my captain, Dm, MC, AMC Mikel Rico, DC, DMC Gorka Elustondo, DRL Eneko Boveda, AML Ibai Gomez,

Backup deals include GK iago Herrain, D Inigo Lekue, ST/AL LC Borja Vigeura, AM LC ST Sabin, DM, ,MC Javier Eraso,


That is way too many First Team deals. I think De Marcos is clearly on the outside looking in, and rotation is a better deal.

[Abe Sargent]

What tactic starts my best 11?

4-5-1?


Aduriz in ST, with target man role. I like San Jose at DC for now, give him the chance to see what he can do. DC Xabi E is my first backup there. DC Laporte is a Ball-Playing Defender

My fullbacks are really weak. Could I do 3-6-1 or 3-5-2 instead? I don’t want to have De Marcos and Mikel Balenzinga out there sucking at the fullback spot, but how will they play? I have three good DCs, and I could start Xabi instead.

Let’s go with the 4-5-1 for now and give them a shot.

At MC I have Raul Garcia, Ander Iturraspe, and Benat. I move Garcia to AMC and as Shadow Striker. Ander has a Deep-Playing playmaker role, and Benat an Advanced Playmaker one.

At the wings I have Susaeta at MR, Winger support, and Inaki Williams, same role on the left. I really like rotational ML Ibai Gomez, and I want to see him in action soon, with his great skills.

I think Gomez may wind up with a bigger role with me. He’s my best set piece person with 17 free kicks, 16 corners, and such, has a 17 cross, 16 long shots, etc. But I want to see what Inaki can bring there on the left side of the pitch first, and I have an injured ML too later on to return, and Gomez could be the odd man out, but again, I like where he is.

[Abe Sargent]

A few days pass. Unai Lopez is named the captain of the U19 squad for Spain. I make him available for loan.


Our enquiry for Mikel Merino with Osasuna has unsettled him after they dismissed the enquiry. I make a bid of 1 mill. Valenica have made an offer to bring one of my scouts on board, and we would make all of the money I lost from the staff contracts I set free at almost 1 mill Euros.

Arsensal has made a 6 mill offer for Unai Lopez and a few others want to loan him. I accept first team loan offers but decline the transfer offer.

We sign the Head Physio and lose 150k.

I have offers up for both of the youth I am chasing. They are not cheap. But I have the cash to plash, and frankly, it’s not like there are a lot of targets out there anyway.


One of my rotation guys is injured in training for a few weeks

[Abe Sargent]

On July 16th, I sign my first target in this window:

http://static.goal.com/306100/306140_heroa.jpg



4.75 mill transfer

Jonathan Espericueta, Hot Prospect, son of two Basque immigrants in Mexico, playing for Tigres, has been on the Athletic radar before, and they were heavily looking at him in 2011 (Here's an article in Spanish for you http://www.reforma.com/aplicacioneslibre/articulo/default.aspx?id=22509&md5=fe41e5cb21e5f05c26ea7f90a7b47549&ta=0dfdbac11765226904c16cb9ad1b2efe&po=1) . Now that he has developed, we are bringing him in.

20 years old
DM, M, AMC,

13/14 speed, 13 stamina, 15 passing, 12 first touch, 14 technique, very good mentals, just one at 8 (aggression) with the rest in double digits and 13 determination.



I drop our transfer kitty and up our salary a bit. One major target left, over at Osasuna

His knocks from our perspective, after getting him here are:

Good player right for Liga Adadelate, the next division down
Counts as an international player
Needs to improve his first touch

Positives?

Determined and that fits our squad
Balanced and normal personality
Potential to be key member of squad
Good pace
Versatile and can play a few positions



I think that’s a good signing. I make him available for loan. I have a plugged up Midfield and want to grow him more, but I like where he is at.

[Abe Sargent]

Did you know?

There was a period when the club had to change its name to Atlético Bilbao, as a result of a decision by Franco to outlaw non-Spanish names and languages. During the 1950s, however, the government’s severe restrictions on foreign-born players in the league greatly helped the Basque club who won several league and cup titles in this time and, in 1956, entered the then-named European Cup for the first time. The club’s successes all helped give the Basque people a sense of identity at a time when they felt very isolated in Spain. There was a famous incident in December 1975, just 15 days after the death of Franco, in which Iribar and Kortabarria, rival captains of Athletic and Real Sociedad, carried the Basque flag – illegal at the time – onto the pitch before a local derby.

[Abe Sargent]

I think that’s a good signing. I make him available for loan. I have a plugged up Midfield and want to grow him more, but I like where he is at.

Unai Lopez heads out on a year long loan to Almeria

I have a Mexican offer to loan out Johnathan, but I was hoping to keep him here. Yeah, let’s keep him closer. I reject the offer, pull him off of loan, and move him to our Bilbao Athletic.

We have a testimonial match with Arsenal on the 25th

I make an offer to extend Unai Lopez by 5 years.

[Abe Sargent]

July 22nd is here, and today I break the bank for Mikel Merino. 9 mill total in kitty and fees, leaving me around 750k in transfer money left.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/U218_UCDfk4/maxresdefault.jpg

DM, M, AM C – Mikel Merino, 13/13 speed, 16 jump, 12 str, 8 fitness, 9 stamina; 13 pass, tack, 1st touch, 12 finish, long shots, technique, 11 marking, Mentals are okay, with a 9 work rate.





Now this is a risky move for a few reasons. First, the cash is heavy for him. Secondly, he can get a little hot, and his sportsmanship is rated as a weakness by our scouts, and now coaches. Third, lower work rate than I would like for a 19 year old kid who needs to grow.

Negatives -

Low fitness
Needs to work on physical regimen
Low Sportsmanship


Positives –

Well suited to Liga play
Professional
Good in Air
Versatile



In real life, this year Mikel Merino would feature heavily in getting Osasuna into promotion playoffs, and then star in winning promotion with three goals in the playoffs, and then Dortmund sweeps in and picks him up for a five year deal and 4 mill Euros, or about half of what we paid, but a year later. But again, I have limited opportunities to target these folks, and I have money. If I don’t, then what am I doing?

Because he is left-footed, I have Mikel Merino begin working on learning the left side of the pitch in an ML role.

[Abe Sargent]

Mikel Merino is not even the best youth named Mikel in the Basque area, but he is an 18 year old future star for Real Sociedad, and not coming anywhere here right now. I like Merino more as a defensive playmaker at the DMC role than anything else, given his defensive minded stats

I make him active for Bilbao B as well.

Today’s testimonial is for Captain and 34 year old Carlos Gurpegi

I obviously play Gurpegi. We tie Arsenal 3-3, and my 34 year old solitary Striker had two goals and an assist and was MOM. So there you are.


Unai Lopez extends his deal to a five year extension

[Abe Sargent]

On the 30th we’ll have our first EURO match vs Odd


We came in 2nd in the Copa Del Rey last year to Barcelona. They won the Liga too, so we are going up against them in the Spanish Super Cup on August 14th. I would love to begin my era in Bilbao with a Super Cup win over Barcelona.


For today’s EURO match, I am starting backup GK Iago Herrein, Mikel Rico for Benat at MC, at ML Ibai Gomez for Inaki Williams, at DL a backup as well. We are at home for today’s matchup. In the 0:20 mark, Suseata crosses to Aduriz for a score. I tell them to do some light tackling and move to control. They have a great flowing move and shot on goal in the 33rd, but Herrein shuts it down. By the half, they have three yellows, and San Jose for us one. There is room for improvement, DON’T GET COMPLACENT! Herrein has two more saves early. I send out DC Gurpegi for San Jose. Ander Iturassepe with a yellow. I pull him for Javier Eraso at MC. In the 80th, I put in a Inaki Williams for a dead tired Suseata. Gurpegi a yellow. We win 1-0. MOM is Suseata with an 8.2 rating.

I was very happy with the result, but I was hoping after scoring that early we’d just swim in goals. But that wasn’t to happen, and we had a strong result with the W.

Aduriz’s goal sets a new club record for Athletic for fastest goal in a match.

[Abe Sargent]

August:

Aug 2nd – Friendly vs Zalla
Aug 6th – Away vs Odd, EURO
Aug 14th - Super Cup vs Barca, 1st leg away
Aug 17th – Super Cup vs Barca, 2nd leg at home
Aug 21st – La Liga, Home vs Barca
Aug 30th – La Liga, Away vs Eibar

And that’s the month of August, mostly known as the pride of the Catalan People vs the pride of the Basque people in three games this month alone.

0-0 tie in the friendly.


EURO match two arrives. Starting is Gurpegi, GK Herrein, Ibei Gomez, Inigo Lekue at DR Mikel Rico for Benat. We give away a score in the 3rd early, with suspicions of offside, and then in the 23rd, I pull an injured Gurpegi. Half 1-0. Nope, that is not allowed. In the 54th, Aduriz gets a score after having a backpass intercepted and passed to him. I sub in a backup DC Gorka, Inaki Williams, Eraso as well, and we win up finishing this game 1-1, and win on aggregate 2-1. Laporte with our only yellow. We got away with that one. Raul Garcia was MOM with an 8.5 rating.

Gurpegi is out for 3-4 weeks with his injury.

We made 100k for our victory and getting to the next stage of the EURO. We are exactly the sort of team with a shot of going far in it, as we are from a major league, such as the Liga, EPL, Serie A and so forth, and thus have a better shot against the next file in a lesser league. Sevilla won the EURO last year. The best team, like a Red Star, CSKA Moscow, Sparta Prague, and such can always win hard. But Odd? Meh.


We drew Inverness for the next round in the EURO.

[Abe Sargent]

We have 40-1 odds for winning La Liga

We sold 44,000 season tickets

Our La Liga home opener vs Barca was moved to the 23rd for our match vs the Scottish team in the EURO n the 20th. The 2nd leg of that match is on the 27th

I make offers to extend the deals of three of our lesser but okay U19 people that I can move to Baskonia, I also make offers to extend our good young GK for four years

Other players with their current deals expiring this year include:

GK Gorka Iraizoz
DC Gurpegi
M Sabin
Backup and good prospect, M Inigo Ruiz de Galaretta, currently on loan
DRC Jonas Ramalho

That;s one starter, one injured long time first teamer, my Captain and rotation guy, and a few backup and youthers. Nothing too major. No reason to jump out of my seat and extend. Gorka Iraizoz is better than my other two GKs, but not by much, and he’s older to boot, so I could slide to Herrein and my youther guy later.

I am starting my full XI discussed earlier for the Super Cup, Leg One. I change my options to reflect the needs of this game, and take about 4 of the 6 suggestions from my coaches. I leave in Gomez at ML, as he is more technically gifted, and the set pieces may give us an edge in a tight match. For the Fans! They start hard. Yellow card for Suseata. Then DC San Jose injures Iniesta in the 33rd and he is subbed off. It’s hard to deal with Iniesta, Messi, Neymar, and Suarez, so I will take any break I can get. Even a knock. About 15 minutes of Barcelona domination follow. An Aduriz goal in the 41st is called offsides. In extra time in the half, Messi hits Suarez for a score, which is not a good time to let a goal through. You can still win tonight! I pull De Marcos for Boveda at the fullback spot. Messi dribbles at the defenses, gets past, and one on one scores in the 64th. We begin to collect cards, and then that’s it. We lose 2-0. Unless we win like 3-0 at home, we aren’t winning the Super Cup.

I choose my Captains and I reverse them and make GK Iraizoz my Captain and Gurpegi my Vice.

[Abe Sargent]

Leg Two arrives. We start the same XI as before. And this time, pretty boring. No cards by either team, not a lot of anything, scoreless at the half. There’s no pressure! My worst player is ST Aduriz. I sub him in the 60s. Rico for Garcia next. We have some shots and pressure in the 70s but nothing comes of it. Inaki Williams heads in. No score, 0-0 draw, they win 2-0 aggregate.



Did you know?

In real life, Athletic actually won the Super Cup after a 4-0 thumping of Barca at home, behind a hattrick by Artiz Aduriz?


All of the youth players I offered deals to accept. I get an offer for....ST Aduriz, the 34 year old ST. Who would want him? Porto, Chelsea and Lyonnais. No thanks. I reject the offers, and then Aduriz wants to meet with me.



Artiz is in an interesting place with our ball club.

Came through our youth ranks.

We stupidly let him go on a free in 2004, and Real Valladolid signed him, he started two years for them and was great.

In 2006, we spent 2.8 Mill to bring him back to us. He started and played 2.5 years

In 2008 we sold him for 6 Mill to Mallorca. He started for them for two years,

In 2010, Valencia bought him for 4.3 mill, and he started two years

In 2012, we bought him from Valencia for 2.5 mill.

So we have spent 5.3 mill in old money to transfer, twice, someone who came through our youth cantera. I am not selling Artiz Aduriz at the age of 34, and then trying to figure out which of these insufficient STs to start. I speak with him, and tell him, gently, he’s not going anywhere, but he takes it to the squad, and I have my Captain and Vice wanting to have a squad meeting. I meet with them, and tell them, again, I have the squad’s best interest at heart, but nobody is going anywhere. They back off.

[Abe Sargent]

Today we head to Inverness to face the Thistle in our EURO match. Back starting is ML Inaki Williams, as well as starting new hire MC Mikel at for a tired Ituraaspe. You have to do much better tonight than last game! In the 19th Raul Garcia, set up by Benat, scores in the box and we are up. 10 minutes later, Suseata crosses to Aduriz and that’s another score folks. Half. DC Xabi for San Jose. Rico in for Banat. Borja Vigeura for Williams. They annoyingly move everyone forward and score in extra time to make it 2-1, instead of 2-0. MOM is Garcia.


I accept a Key Player loan offer for Mikel Merino.

The Board have made it clear our minimum expectations:

Make it to the Playoffs of the EURO, currently at

Qualify for the EURO in La Liga

Quarter Final of the Copa del Rey

[Abe Sargent]

We started our Barcelona trifecta with a loss, and then a tie. Can we win the third match? Starting today is DC Xabi for Laporte, and Inaki Williams remains at ML. We owe these clowns. Get revenge! Through 30 minutes, Barca have just been bringing waves and waves of heat, but no breaking the plain. Iraizoz has looked strong. 11 shots, 4 on target, to our 1 and 1. Two of my players, Banat and Artiz, are knocked up but I want to finish the half and see where they wind up physically. Half. Injuries look okay now. I keep them both in. Gomez for Inaki. Riko for Benat. Vigeura for Artiz. We final get some pressure, and in the last ten minutes a few solid shots are fired. But nothing sinks. MOM is GK Iraizoz with a 9.2 rating. We finished with 4 shots to their 29, and 44% possession to their 56%. And we tied them, and I will take that point against Barcelona all day long.


Now I have an interesting transfer offer. Sevilla. 9 mill. Oscar de Marcos. But the deal is like 4 mill now and a bunch of clauses and stuff. His value is 9.75 mill, signed for four years. I offer 11.5 mill and they pull out. And De Marcos wants to know what’s up. Hey, I’m willing to move a FB, I was looking at it earlier. But that’s not what you are worth. Give me an offer that matches our valuation of you, and I’m willing to talk, and he;s okay with that.


DC Laporte has been called up to the France National Squad.

[Abe Sargent]

Gurpegi is back from injury will miss today’s game vs Inverness. Boveda starts at DL, GK Herrein, ST Villuega. Take control of this Tie! We injure one of theirs in the 16th minute. They get two yellows. Half. Boring first half. Don’t get complacent out there. Sabin for Benat. De Marcos crosses, the ball is heading away by their DC, into their own goal, for a score in the 71st. I send in Eraso. Rico then. We win 1-0, and 3-1 aggregate. MOM is DC Mikel San Jose. You got lucky though, can’t rely on that to keep advancing. An Own Goal? Gave away a late goal away in extra time to give them a shout back? Most of my players get it and look fired up.

We make 2.4 mill for getting to the Group Stage.

Sabin doesn’t like the team talk I gave, when everyone else liked it. ??? He wants to talk about it. Are you kidding me? I talk with him, have no good options, and then he gets pissed and unhappy. Man, I just don’t think Sabin has the same level of ambition and drive the others do. His scout evaluation has him as determined and professional. No clue what happened there,

I get a big, 16 mill negotiated offer with Liverpool for De Marcos. I accept. It’s a route out of the 2 weaker fullback set up I have.


Euro Group D

Athletic
AS Monaco
Standard
Tripolis

So that’s a team from France, Belgium and Greece out there we need to get results against to get out of the Group.

[Abe Sargent]

Our final match of August is here, away vs Eibar. Laporte, Artiz, and more are back. Show me what you can do! We start choppy. They score in the 11th Then in the 23rd, on OG by Iturrape follows. We score, San Jose to Raul Garcia for a goal before the half. Then in extra time, Inaki Williams puts it away. 2-2 half. We can still win! They give us an OG back in the 53rd. Then in the 58th, Garcia with another goal, and its 4-2. I send in DC Gurpegi for Laporte. Viguera for artiz, and then backup DR Lekue in. In Extra time, a random long shot sinks. 4-3. We have to stop letting those happen. Garcia, MOM


So I have a problem. De Marcos. He’s my best fullback, at an admittedly weak area. So I scouted up to see if I wanted to replace him, and guess what I found out? He’s the 2nd best pure fullback among Basque players. Only Chelsea’s César Azpilicueta is better. Another DR is really on, almost, the same level of De Marcos, and younger, over on Real Sociedad. Not interested in me.

So what is the best path?

1). Let De Marcos go. This hurts the Basque Identity as we allow the 2nd best Basque fullback to leave Basque country for Liverpool.

A. If I let him go, sign or play a worse option
B. If I let him go, move to a 3-5-2 or 3-1-4-1-1 or a 3-4-3 or whatever.
C. 16 mill now, and 25% of future sales is a lot of cash
D. If I keep De Marcos, I could easily wind up letting him go later as I naturally bridge to 3 DCs or find replacements for his spot from youthers. Then I never got the money.
E. If I keep De Marcos, I have to find a way to make him happy

2). Keep De Marcos. This lets us keep a top Basque player at the top of his game.

A. De Marcos is playing well for us. In a small sample size, with 2 Liga, 4 EURO, and 2 Super Cup matches, De Marcos has 6.91 average, including the bad ratings everyone had against Barcelona in the Super Cup, and 7.0 and 7.05 in Liga and EURO play.
B. Keep the fullbacks running fine.
C. Move to a 3 defender set, use De Marcos on the MR, ML spot.
D. Selling De Marcos gets us a lot of cash, but I have a limited transfer target market, and I don’t have a lot of options right now


I don’t know what to do.


I just got like 15+ mill offers from three clubs for DC San Jose.

Wow.


Now DC is different. I have Laporte, one of the best already. Others are gone at big names, like Javi Martinez, Inigo Martinez. But then San Jose and Xabi Etxeita are both really, really good, and if I drop De Marcos, running out Etxeita, Laporte, and San Jose is a cool level of power.


Now Tottenham have made an offer for Susaeta.


Wow

I don’t even know what is going on anymore.

I’ll come back to this later.

[Abe Sargent]

So if this were not Athletic Bilbao, what would I do? I’d move San Marcos today, unquestionably. I’d either move off fullbacks entirely, or use the money to sign a few major youth, or one stud youth at the spot to develop, and perhaps bring in an older guy to get me a year or two until we had a better answer. But, again, I could look for other plans.

But what plan is better than De Marcos? We bought him for 300k from Alaves in 2009, and he has played for us since. Any major Basque youth I could use the windfall to chase?

The best one, according to my scouts, with the best potential, is already on my roster.

This is Julen Arellano:

Fullback
18

14, 14 cross, pass, 11,14 speed, 12, 11 jump, head, 12, 13 mark, tack, 12 stamina, 9 strength, fitness, 13 technique, dribble, 10 1st touch, 17 work rate, teamwork, 11 determination, etc.


Our scouts say:

Positive:

Natural at a few positions
Potential to be a good Liga fullback
Balanced personality
Professional
Good team player

Cons:

Currently at Next Level down of ability
Not consistent enough

He is naturally left footed, but has been getting training on the DR side. Potential to be a key member of the 1st team squad, was brought in to the Barcelona squad, failed to make it, and was let go on a free, and we just brought him in about 6 weeks before I arrived. Is Julen Arellano our guy?

And the other option is to just keep De Marcos, but again, use him more at ML and MR and elsewhere, he can play a lot of spots, and having him move around as needed subbing seems pretty useful. I promote Julen to the senior squad. I want to see what he can do and bring.


So, now what?

I reject the offer for San Jose. I need depth at DC, especially if I let De Marcos go. I wish this were a 16 mill offer for my other fullback. But ah well. No thanks San Jose. And I have little reason to sell Suseata right now either, who’s a good solid MR for me thus far.



Anyone I want to chase, youth, etc that I want to upgrade on the last day of the trade window?

Of course, what makes all of this really, really funny is there is a good, 32 year old, fullback out there that was ours for his entire career, until this transfer window, Andoni Iroela, now in New York City, who’s continued presence on this squad would have made the De Marcos deal an easier pill to swallow.





I’d also like to look at other ST options than my current 34 year old guy, who is going to start to fade soon. A few years ago we let Fernando Llorietnte go free. He’s a 16 mill player at Sevilla right now. Mistake. The top ST at Real Sociedad is good, Imanol Agirretxe, but that’s not happening. Inaki Williams can play it, but his 12 finishing, 9 heading, and other average stats don’t allow that to make sense to me. The young Mikel star for Real Sociedad is good. Not happening. Sabin and Viguera are both in the conversation I suppose. What I have to do is make this work with Williams or Sabin or V after he leaves, unless a ST falls out of the sky onto my lap. I do have two STs on my senior squad on loan, but one is this confusing 29 year old guy.

I get back a scouting report on a bunch of youth, and there’s a potential. I make an offer for Osasuna’s 18 year old D, WB R Borja Aizpun. Now he’s a project. Good physical and mental, poor technical. I negotiate a deal for him at 450k.

I have sold De Marcos. I just had my third meeting with a concerned team, and I can’t keep sending out “Nos”. Someone has to go to show that I won’t stand in their way, De Marcos is the most expendable of those with offers. It’s good for Athletic, bad for Basque. I also negotiated a buyback fee of 20 mill into the contract, because hey, we likely have few target options.


We sign Aizpun. I send him to my Baskonia squad.


The window closes

[Abe Sargent]

September

Sept 13th – Home vs Getafe, Liga
Sept 17th – Home vs AS Monaco, EURO
Sept 20th – Away vs Villareal, Liga
Sept 23th – Home vs Real Madrid, Liga
Sept 27th – Away vs R. Sociedad, Liga


Laporte was capped by France.

The matchup vs Getafe arrives. I keep my 4-4-1-1 although I’ve been adding some 3 formations in there too to learn. Getafe at home is the sort of match I want to use with Julen to see where he is at, and I start him at DR. I have the rest of my starting XI as expected. Pick up where you left off! In the 22nd, Inaki Williams dribbles, drives hits Artiz Aduriz for the score. In extra time of the half, Getafe get a red card. I make my normal, 11 vs 10 tactics, such as going wide, upping the tempo, and such. He has a 7.0 rating, but Julen is subbed out for Lekue. I put in Rico for Garcia. I want to keep Garcia fresh for the next EURO game. Sabin for Williams. They get a 2nd red card in the 88th for a professional foul on Aduriz just on this side of the penalty box. We miss the DFK. Game. We win 1-0. We should have had that 2-0 or 3-0, but it’s still a win, right? MOM is MC Ander Iturasspe

[Abe Sargent]

Alright, time for the AS Monaco game. Now, the good news is that we open with them at home, so we have a shot at getting a positive result against the toughest challenge in the Group, that would set us up nicely moving forward. I start Eneko Boveda at DR due to his experience. I pull Benat for Rico. The rest are as expected. They score on the 21st , on a corner kicker, and then Suseata follows, but its waived off for offsides. In the 39th, we score an equalizer off Artiz, assisted by Suseata. A few minutes later, they follow suit. 2-1 half. We can still win this. They have three yellows thus far, to our zero. They power a shot that rifles off our GK into the goal in the 59th. I put in DC Xabi and DR Lekue. Then Vig. We lose 3-1. That was our chance to get points against the major competition, and it didn’t crystallize.


The board have agreed to let me take the Continental PRO coaching course and paid my ticket.

The Villareal match is here. I rest Suseata, Gomez starts, Eraso in at MC, Arellano back at DR. We have a rough first 20 minutes, and I pull back to counter. We hold off, and then they get two yellows and ease off. The rest of the half is quiet. 0-0 half. You can still win this! I send in Sabin for Eraso and Viguera for ST Artiz. Then in the 72nd minute, on a counter, Ibai Gomez finds Viguera, and he scores. 1-0. Williams is dead tired and I send in Lekue for him. San Jose with a yellow card. Here comes Villareal. They are not wanting to lose this match. And we hold and win 1-0. Good job lads. We had 5 shots to their 12, and 44% to their 56% possession and such, and it didn’t matter, because we won.

[Abe Sargent]

For the Real Madrid match, Inaki Williams is too tired, and Suseata and Gomez are in. My MCs are back too, but I’ll leave in DR Julen, who has played well thus far. I leave in Rico for Benat, I have liked him better this far. For the fans! I am going to skip the commentary. We were smashed 3-0. Cristiano Renaldo with 2 goals, including a PK and a corner kick on set pieces. I tell them that I am not pleased with that. We can do better. We cannot let a team like Real Madrid score on set pieces when theya re already a problem elsewhere!


For the away match vs our rival Real Sociedad I put Inaki Williams back into the lineup. That was a very hectic, crazy, 0-0 game. Lots happened, tons of folks tired.

[Abe Sargent]

October:

Oct 1 – Away vs Tripoli, EURO
Oct 4 – Home vs Valencia
Oct 18th – Away vs Deportivo
Oct 22 – Away vs Standard, EURO
Oct 25 – Home vs Sporting


I bring in a few backups for the Tripolis match. Rico finds Suseata for a goal in the 25th. A poor backpass by Arellano is snuffed out and scored on in the 33rd. Banat to Suseata fo a sore in the 38th. Half, 2-1. We can do better. They start getting yellows, I start getting subs, and we end the game, up 2-1. MOM is Suseata. Good win. We get 360k for the win.



I approach the board and convince them to set up a new partnership with a small club. We have a on of affiliated clubs available currently

Baskonia
Numancia
Gernika
Zalla
Zamudio
Txantrea
Sestao River
Portugalete
Indautxu
Burgos
Cultural Durango
Barakaido
Aurrera Ondarroa


Lots of clubs. Notice the trend? All Spanish. What I want to see if my board can put together is an afflation for Pays Basque in France right across the border, thus growing the ties across the region. Some big time players have come through that small region of France, like current players Antoine Griezmann, the best Basque player right now, or GK Stephene Ruffier, the best Basque GK right now, or our own DC Aymeric Laporte. Meanwhile some older players, like Didier Deschamps came through Pays Basque as well. Establishing ties with a local club there would be of a great help, so I hope the club come back from a French club as an option there to build our Basque profile into that region, which is not an area which, historically, Athletic Bilbao has worked in. Now, I don’t know if they will come back with a club there or not as an option, but I hope to have that brought in.

[Abe Sargent]

The Valencia match arrives. I move back in my major players. Like GK Iraizoz. Laporte, DR Lekue, etc. I start Rico at Itarrasupe’s MC spot. He’s a little tired. This is the 275th league appearance for MR Markel Suseata for us. Pick up where you left off! No cards, boring back and forth in the first half with little action. You can win this! I sub in Jonathan Espercueta. Then Gomez. Then Viguera. They get a red in extra time, too late to exploit it. 0-0 draw. Laporte was MOM.


The club was unable to find a suitable club for link-age.


Away vs Deportivo. I will ve starting DC Xavi E for a few games to give him some room to play. We are starting DR Boveda, and Inaki Williams back. Everyone is starting again. Show me what you can do! In the 25th, they score off a counter attack, then collect two yellows. Half. I tell my folks to do better in the next half. I bring in Lekue at DL. Then Raul Garcia drives, hits Artiz for a score in the 63rd and ties it up. In goes Gomez. Then in extra time, they foul us. Ibez Gomez hits a beautiful IFK in and feeds Artiz, who puts it away, and we finish 2-1. That was a great game! We both had 13 shots, 49/51% possession, identical other stas too, so on the board, it was a tie, but that late FK by Gomez got us home, nicely

Our most in-form player has been Banet, and he’s been getting some public plaudits recently as well.

[Abe Sargent]

After everyone has 8 games, we are 4th in the Liga right now. We are aiming for 5-6 for EURO so we are right in there. Now we haven’t been lights out. 4 wins, 3 draws, 1 loss. But we’ve been good enough thus far. If we had traded one tie for a win, we’d be 2nd behind Real Madrid, who, like us, is the only team in the Liga with just one loss thus far.

Gorka Elonstudo is not happy with his lack of playing time despite his rotation assignment and 4 subs. I move his squad status to backup from rotation. Which better reflects his usage. Eraso is not happy, but he is, at least, listed as a backup. Now, Javier has never played for a Liga team until this year with us. I’m sure he wants some liga play. I’ll try to give him his first career start soon just as a way to help him, gently, see how he is likely outclassed by his opposition. I tell Eraso to wait his chance and work into the lineup, and he agrees. In the teamtime, again, a start should help I think to defray his concerns. Sabin is pissed too, and once again, that guy is a pain. I think it may be time to start looking at moving Sabin.


For the Euro match, I’m starting Julen at DL, and the rest of the team as expected. Keep our good run going against Standard! A corner kick by Banet into the box results in a penalty and yellow card for a heavy foul in the box. Up steps Raul Garcia, and he drills the PK. Lots of pressure by them, and some good shots by us, nothing sinks. Half, 1-0. Things are going well, but you can do better! I sub in San Jose in the MC spot. Vigeuara for Artiz next. Then they score a late equalizer and I put in Gurpegi. Tie, 1-1.


I have players that are against Sabin and feel he shouldn’t be on the first team, like Gomez. I have some oddly pissed off players at starting time. Take Lekue, with a backup role. He has started 1, and subbed another 5 times, in our 8 Liga games. Why is that something that bothers you as a backup? I got him to back off, but in real life, I’d silently walk to the chalkboard (or dry erase board), and write: “Number of Liga games we’ve played: 8. Number of games Lekue has started: 1. Number of games Lekue has subbed: 5. Total number of games Lekue has played in: 6. Percentage of Liga games Lekue has played in 75%.”

Sabin is causing more drama. Announcing in the press he won’t resign. I put him on our transfer list. I offer him, and accept two offers out in Greece.

[Abe Sargent]

We have the match vs newly promoted Sporting today. Good time to give Eraso that start so he can feel what it’s like. I also bench Artiz because he’s tired from the last game for Viguera. Benat, also tired, is heading out for the game. Keep up our (Liga) run! On a corner in the 15thm Raul Garcia hits DC Xabim who is blocked from shooting, so he heads it to a now open Laporte for a score. DL Balenzinga with a card. Garcia finds Suseata charging in off the wing for a score in the 37th. 2-0 half. Suseata is banged up so I send in Gomez. Garcia feeds Veguera for a score in the 57th. I pull the encarded Balenzinga for Boveda. Rico heads in as well. We win 3-0, MOM is Garcia. Well done!

Suseata is out for a week with a bruised shin

I let Sabin go for 925k to PAOK in Greece.

[Abe Sargent]

November


Nov 2- Away vs Real Betis
Nov 5 – Home vs Standard, EURO
Nov 8 – Home vs Espanyol
Nov 22 – Away vs Granada
Nov 26 – Away vs Monaco, EURO
Nov 29 – Away vs Rayo

Our Real Betis game arrives, and I move San Jose back into the defense for this game. I also have all of my starters back, and Gomez starting for a wounded Suseata. We begin controlling the game, and a Gomez corner kick falls to Laporte, who sinks it. Then about 5 minutes later, Garcia drives, hits Artiz on a scoring run, and Artiz Aduriz scores and in the 16th minute, it’s 2-0 us. Expecting pressure, I ease back to counter. Half. Let’s head out there and finish this. Yellow to Benat. I pull him for Rico immediately. No sense messing with cards right now to get a double and the give Real Betis a chance to dial themselves back into this game. On a great flowing play, Rico springs free, drives at goal, slides it to Garcia who finds Artiz for another score in the 66th. I send out Eraso for Iturassepe. Inaki is tired, and I send in Boveda. That’s it, we crush Real Betis 3-0, and Garcia is MOM.

[Abe Sargent]

Gorka Est... has said he is now fine with his place on the squad moving forward. I want to reward that was play, so I start him in San Jose’s spot for a game.

Laporte comes to me and wants me to let him go. I point out that, as of right now, he has no suitors, but he wants me actively look to move him. I tell him no, that’s not happening. The team wants to meet, I meet with them, and get them to back off their claim. But seriously, Laporte is going precisely nowhere.

For today’s starting EURO match vs Standard, I give Rico and Leuke starts and Gorka starts. In the 11th, Benat scores on an beautiful deep pass and assist by Rico. 8 minutes later, Williams crosses to Artiz Aduriz for a score. In the 28th, they get a fluke score off a long range assist that bounces in. Benat fires a long shot at goal that is deadly on target, and the ball bounces after the GK punches it aside, and a DC tries to clear it, but OG. I sub in Espericueta. Balenzinga got a yellow I send in Boveda. Benat is MOM and we win 3-1. Good job!


Carlos Gurpegi has approached and is talking about heading out. He’s 35. He’s been at the club his whole life. I offer him to help on the coaching side of things as well as remain a player. But he wants to play first team football. I will actively, look to let him go, given his service to the club, and where he is today and what my needs are. I transfer list him, and offer him to clubs. No one is interested. I approach Gurpegi and tell him and he agrees to work the phone and get his name out there for potential clubs.

[Abe Sargent]

In the starting lineup is Suseata, returning from his injury, San Jose and Laporte, and at DR Julen Arrelano. Espanyol will fall! Hopefully! Keep up the run! They come hard and fast, and I pull back to counter and tight marking. We manage to survive but it’s half time. We head back and in the 55th minute, we give away a controversial penalty in the box, and they shoot and score. I send in Rico, Falco, and Viguere, and nothing comes of it, and we lose, 1-0. That’s just our 2nd loss, but a home loss vs the #14 team, that’s not how you get to be at or near the top of the table at the end of the season.

That sucked

Iker Munlain is beginning to return from injury.

I issue Sabin a warning for not showing up for a training session.

For today’s Granada game, Gomez remains in the starting role as Inaki Williams is tired returning from internationals. Rico starts too. Pick up where you left off! They get a red card at the 32:23 mark, and a PK, which Artiz steps up and knocks the PK down. I head to my up-a-man change up. San Jose steps up and drills the PK. The moment San Jose gets a yellow, I pull him for DC Xabi Exeita. Rico injured, I send in Viguera. Half. Keep it up. Gomez injured, in goes Williams. On a counter, with a 1:1 shot, they score in the 77th. We both start attacking the net relentlessly for the final ten minutes, trying to turn this into a win. No one scores, and we tie 1-1. MOM is Artiz. We tied after being up for 2/3rds of the game. Not acceptable folks.

Rico is out 3-4 weeks. Gomez for 2 weeks.

[Abe Sargent]

The hardest of the Euro matches is here, away vs Monaco. Now, right now, with 2 games left, we have 7 points, AS has 12. Tripolis has 3, and Standard 1. So we can lose badly, and still make it out if Standard wins. But I would love dearly to get a result here today. Love it to death. Laporte is jaded and I bench him for Exeita. Garcia and Williams back into the starting lineup. In the first 10 minutes, they fire a long shot that lofts over our GK and into goal. Beautiful, and impossible to defend Smart play. We hold up though, and it’s 1-0 at the half. We can still do this! I have a tired Benat so in heads Espericueta. Then I send in Viguera and Lekue. At the 81st minute mark, they drive and end a possession with another score, and then a 3rd in extra time, and we lose 3-0. Standard won 3-0.

[Abe Sargent]

I am going to try a new tactic for a bit, we’ve worked on it well.

3-1-3-1-2

Basically, a 3-5-2, with a DMC and AMC

In the DCs I have Laporte, San Jose, and Exeita – Laporte in middle with Ball Playign Defender role. The other two generic center defenders

At DMC I will be running several players to see how is best, starting there is Iturrasape. DMC< Support

At ST1 is Borja Viguera, with a Deep Lying Forward, support, although he’s arguably better as an Advanced Forward, but Artiz is my man. ST2 is Artiz Aduriz as a Target Man – Attack.

At AMC is Raul Garcia. AM role, attack

At MR Susseata will be my lead, at ML, I like Williams, Gomez, and maybe Iker Munlain later on

At MC is Benat. – Roaming Playmaker. He’s been one of my best in-form players. Can he pick up this massive role upgrade?

Now, I want to try out Borja, who I feel is good enough to be my #2 striker, and Garcia can, but he’s so good at the AMC role. If Borja does’t fly, then I’ll move Garcia up, and then either Benat or another of my many middles will move to AMC. Maybe Williams there, as he is not a perfect sell on the left side of the pitch, for Iker Munlain or someone like Rico my future guys like Mikel M.

Now, the players on the outside looking in are my fullbacks. Now I can run some of them at DC, like Boveda, although his stats aren’t DC-like.

[Abe Sargent]

We’ll try the 3-1-3-1-2 role vs Rayo today, the 15th ranked team in the Liga. Today is GK Iraizoz’s 275th game for Athletic. I’m expecting a much better game today. We have them knock around our goal a few times, and I am countering, so we have a few tries too, but otherwise, a quiet, card-less half. We can still win this! In the 51st, Suseata crosses to Artiz for a beautifully headed score. Two cards for Rayo quickly follow as it seems they may be unraveling. I sub in Espericueta for a tired Benat. Then Gorka El... at DMC. Vigura feeds Artiz in the 69th for another score. Lekue later. Garcia gives away a penalty in the 89th. Lethally on target....but Iraizoz blocks it. This is his 275th game for us, he’s not letting any scores arrive! He’s going to earn that clean sheet. On a counter attack, Vigeura finds Artiz for a score in extra time, giving him a hattrick on the day. Artiz is obviously MOM.

That was a good win. They had three times the shots, and more possession, but our defense held, and they stopped a PK, and we got three lethal shots in there as well. Got to love the result of that new tactic. For now, I will leave in Viguera, with his 2 assists this game.

[Abe Sargent]

December


Dec 2 – Away vs Guiju, Copa del Rey, 1st Leg
Dec 6 – Home vs Malaga
Dec 10 - Home vs Tripolis, EURO
Dec 13 – Away vs Atletico
Dec 16 – Home vs Guiju, 2nd Leg
Dec 20 = Home vs Levante
Dec 30 – Away vs Celta


For the Guiju match, I start backup GK, DMC Gorka E, Lekue on ML for a tired Williams, with injured Gomez unable to play, and the rest as expected. Boring, 0-0 draw. Sucked.

I drop Balenzinga to rotation. Malaga arrives. They score in the 5th. No more scores in the first half. Show me something else! I sub in Balenzinga at ML. Inaki Williams is hit by Suseata for a score in the 61st. Then again a assist by Raul Garcia for a goal 8 minutes later. I sub in some others, and then they score in the 83rd, off a Laporte OG, and it winds up a 2-2 tie. MOM is Inaki Williams.

[Abe Sargent]

Inaki Williams is the next in the “You Need to Let Me Move On” camp. That’s not happening.

For today’s final EURO game, we are 3 points over Standard, and they have AS Monaco to worry about. We are at home. If we win or tie, we get out. If we lose, and Standard doesn’t win, then we get out. Rico is still out for his injury. Susaeta is tired, and I send in Gomez and move Williams to the MR spot. Williams hits Artiz for a score in the 26th. Williams injures one of their players in the 38th, and they have to be replaced. Half. Keep it up! Boveda heads in. Eraso too. Laporte gives away a PK in the 79th, and they score. Then Gomez hits Artiz for a score in the 82nd. Espericueta next. We win 2-1, and Artiz Arduriz is MOM.

We are out of the EURO Group Stage

We get more of the sweet, sweet EURO Cash.

I will give Gurpegi a start and give Laporte a game off. For the Athletico game, away, I have Gurpegi, Suseata, Rico is still not back. Let’s win this one! Heavy rain today. On my gosh, aduriz just had this beautiful 25-meter strike on goal in the 5th minute. Benat just got him perfectly out there. Garcia picks up a knock in the 25th. I send in Balezinga, and then send Mikel to the ML for Inaki Williams. The best Basque player in the world scores back on us in the 33rd. By the half they collect 4 cards. 1-1 half. Keep it up, and we can win. Williams is tired, and I send in Espercueta. They get a 5th and 6th card. They fire in a DFK in the 77th. Boveda heads in. Game. We lose 2-1. That was Artiz’s 200th appearance for Athletic.

We draw Girondins de Bourdeaux in the EURO Knock Out stage

[Abe Sargent]

Rico is back, as is Munlain. For today’s 2nd leg, I am back to Laporte, the backup Gk, and a few others swaps like Eraso at DMC and Espericueta at AMC. Impress me! In the 11th, Benat hits Aduriz for a score. Half. Keep it up! Rico for Espericueta. They score an equalizer in the 58th that gets waived offsides. Suseata gets a pass, drives to goal, and is fouled in the box in the 63rd. San Jose’s PK is blocked. I pull him for Gurpegi. They score in the 77th. In goes Iban Gomez at the ML, and I move to attacking. In the 88th, Gomez hits Vigeura for a score. We pull back to counter. We hold on and win. MOM is Benat.

We get Deportivo next in the Spanish Cup (Copa del Rey)

Jonas Ramalho isi back from injury too

Sabin doesn’t show up for training, and I fine him a week’s wage. Again, he thinks it is unfair.

Back in the starting lineup for the Levante match are GK Iraizuz, MR Williams, and Garcia. Show me what you got! They score in the 20th and then get some cards, and our 8 shots see none on target in the 1st half. Show me something else! In the 55th, Viguera hits the goal with a stolen pass. I send in Gomez. Gomez hits Williams, playing at the AMC spot in lieu of Artiz who I pulled, and Williams scores in the 71st. I send in Rico and Gorka E. I bounce Williams to striker, and am running Rico, Vig, and Williams in the triangle. Williams scores again in the 79th. He pounced on a rebound for the score. After being down 1-0 at the half, we come back for a 3-1 victory. Good job! MOM is Inaki Williams.

[Young Drachma]

Always here for FM16 dynasties, especially alt brand ones like this. Good detail.

[Abe Sargent]

These players’ contracts are up in 6

DC Gurpegi
GK Iraizoz
DRC Jonas Ramalho
I make offers to around 20 youth and backups at Bilbao and Baskonia.

Our final game of the year arrives vs Celta. All of my starters are back. We let them score in the 25th, and it’s 0-1 at the half. Show me something else! Well, what they show me is losing. We allow another goal to Celta, and lose 2-0.

That leaves us at 3rd in the liga, although Barca at 6 have a few games in hand.

It’s December 31st. Anyone I want to bring in on a free next year? We have some solid rotational or backup options, but not Basque players that entice me. Just one entices me.

21 year old Pablo Hervias, plays for Real Sociedad. Been out on loan to lots of clubs. Wants just a backup deal, but I could see him as a rotation for my senior squad. I make the offer for around 3 years, 10k week. He plays AM, M LRC, with some good technical stats like 17 dribbling.

That’s it for now.

Some of my youth begin to sign with me.

[Abe Sargent]

Always here for FM16 dynasties, especially alt brand ones like this. Good detail.

Thanks!!!

[Abe Sargent]

January, 2016

Jan 3rd – Home vs Las Palmas
Jan 6th – Away vs Deportivo, 1st Leg, Copa del Rey
Jan 9th -Away vs Sevilla
Jan 13th – Home vs Deportivo, 2nd Leg
Jan 17th – Away vs Barcelona
Jan 24th – Home vs Eibar
Jan 31st – Away vs Getafe


Mesut Ozzl named World Golden Ball Winner and World Player of the Year.

Inaki Williams wins Goal of the Month


Sabin signs and heads out.


Due to the healthy financial aspects of the club, the Board have given me millions more money for the transfer kitty.

I move one of my our best young players, DC Yeray to the Senior Squad, I’d like to give him a few starts here and there to help his development.

Did you know that...in real life, next year, Yeray and Laporte will start together and be considered of the best young tandems at DC in football? However, his delay at the top would come from testicular cancer that hit him at a very young age.





My board agrees to upgrade our youth facilities even more than now. We spend 8 mill to make it happen

Anyone I want to chase with my huge stack o’ cash? No, only the ones that aren’t interested are there and available for the cash.

We have signed Pablo Hervias for next year.


For today’s match vs Las Palmas, I am starting DC Yeray for Xabi Ex, MC Rico and my other normal XI. For the fans! They get a red cynical foul in the 42:45 mark and I make some changes. Viguera is injured and I send in Balenzinga and move Inaki illaims to ST. Then Williams gets a score from Raul Garcia in the first half extra time. Half. Keep it up! Espericueta heads in. DC Gorka for Yeray, who has a 7.0 rating. Balenzinga a yellow. Game, we win 1-0. Garcia, MOM.

Vigeura injured for a week.

[Abe Sargent]

I get a few offers for San Jose from major clubs. Because San Jose is actually one of my best DMCs as well, and now that I have a DMC on my tactics, he’s more important than before.

Manchester United want to know if Laporte is for sale. His current value is 25 mill, and his minimum release fee is 50mill. So if someone wants a young up and coming stud at DC who is mostly developed, I don’t think 50 mill is too low to pay.

I offer San Jose a new contract that increases his pay by 10k.week.

I register some of my people. Laporte doesn’t like that I rejected ManUtd’s enquiry.


The first match of the Spanish Cup has arrived. I start Ikan Munlain at ML and Williams for Viguera Yeray is back out for DC Xabi Ex. For the Fans! I start defensively with a counter strategy as we are on the road. They collect a score in the 8th minute, and I remain defensive, and go for tighter marking and such. They attack, but nothing happens, save for a pair of yellows. Half, down 1-0. Show me something else! In put in Gomez for Munlain, and then Williams jumps on a rebound and scores, 1-1 at the 65th. Yeray heads in. A few minutes later, they score on a counter attack. I send in Rico. Then in the 81st minute, Suseata feeds Williams for a score and it’s tied. Here comes a Deportivo onslaught. Three shots on target turned aside, and it’s a 2-2 tie, which gives us a strong away goal aggregate moving into the next match.


I have offers for Iturrape and San Jose that are all lower than the value of the player. Nope. Not happening.

[Abe Sargent]

I make no changes to my squad for today’s away game vs Sevilla. They are the 4th ranked team in the Liga right now, and are playing hot football. This is Laporte’s 100 game for the club. Our counter defense holds up against a variety of barrages, until the 34th when they crack our defense with a cross. Half. You can do better! I sub in Gomez early for a tired Suseata. Then Rico heads in for Benat. In the 75th minute, Inaki Williams hits paydirt with a beautiful Ituraspe pass to spruing him free and it’s tied. Eraso for Garcia. Here comes the Sevilla assault. They score in extra time, 2-1 victory. Ah well, I thought we had that one tied, but it happens. They had 38 shots to our 5.

Thirty.

Eight.

Shots.

Sevilla crosses us in the Liga standings.

I reject an offer for ST Artiz and he wants more money, so I offer another deal.

I need to rest some players for this Deportivo match. Starting are San Jose at DMC, Yeray at DC, ML Gomez. Guard against complacency. Hard rain here today. Quiet first half, 0-0 at the half. I pull back a little. Gomez to Williams for a score in the 49th. They nail a long shot from deep in the 56th. Yellow for DC Xabi Ex, I pull him for Eneko Boveda. Munlain and Rico head in. And that’s game, 1-1. We are through on Away Goals.


Next up in the Cup is Villareal.

[Abe Sargent]

Arellano heads out on loan. I don’t have an fullback spots for him to play right now. .

San Jose signs his deal with us, Aduriz as well.


Next up is the away match vs Barcelona. This is a major battle. Back in starting is Munlain and my full slate of DCs with my normal DMC in place. Prove a point! We start counter. They drive and score in the 8th, not an auspicious start. But that’s all. Short story, we lose 1-0 Not a surprise. Aduriz hasn’t scored in a while, and now I’m getting the typical pushback of “What is going on?”


Viguera is back from injury. But I am making no changes to today’s home game, 1st leg in the quarters vs Villareal. I gave everyone some training time off to regain health, and the y are back and ready. Win this match! We are playing in heavy rain today. San Jose with an early yellow. Artiz hits Raul Garcia for a score in the 34th, and it’s half time, and we are up 1-0. We can push further! They score in the 49th, and then I sub in Gorka E for San Jose and I sub in Gomez. Then we score, and Gomez hits Garcia in the 71st. Almost immediately, Villeraeal strike back in the 73rd, and it’s 2-2. Then in the 82nd, again, Gomez hits Garcia, and he scores. His hat trick. We hold on and win, 3-2. Garcia is MOM. Now that’s a bad away goal allowance, I will need to tie or win on the far end to win , but we at least won. Good win!

[Abe Sargent]

For the home match vs Eibar, Viguera is back from injury, I am also starting Yeray and Rico, for tired players. Williams is tired and benched. Pick up where you left off! Suseata hits Artiz for a score in the 9th. Then they get some cards, and Muniain hits Artiz for a score just before he is injured and I pull him for Balinzinga, and then half, 2-0. Don’t get complacent. They don’t. I sub in Gorka and Eraso. We win 2-0. MOM is Artiz.


Muniain is out for a week or so.

Given how important today;s 2nd away leg is vs. Villareal, I need my best in, so I have Inaki Williams at ML, and DC Xabi and Benat all in. Keep it going! I begin controlling. Iturraspe gets an early yellow. They foul Aduriz, and Benat sinks the DFk in the 16th. I ease to counter. In the 33rd they score after a lot of moving forward and lots of pressure. On a counter, Ardiz finds Garcia for a score. Half, we are up 2-1 here and 5-3 aggregate. Don’t get complacent! On a corner, Benat finds Aduriz, but he’s blocked, so he finds San Jose for a score in the 53rd. I send in Gorka at DMC for the yellowed predecessor. Then Gomez for a tired Williams. They score off a corner as well in the 73rd. Boveda in. We win 3-2 here as well, 6-4 aggregate. Good win!


We face Real Madrid in the Semis, and Barcelona faces Espanyol.

[Abe Sargent]

The transfer window is about the close. Anybody I want to chase? I would like another Striker on my senior squad. It would be nice for injury rotation, putting in someone when they are tired and more. Right now, all of my Strikers start most games at AMC, ML, ST and ST with Garcia, Williams, Jorguea and Aduriz as my 4 STs. But we have none to promote and none to play.


Our last game of the month arrives vs Getafe. I start Yeray and move San Jose to DMC. Heavy rain today. Boring game. Subbed in Muniain, Boveda, and Gomez. Inaki Williams was injured a bit. 0-0 draw broken by them in the 81st, and then Gomez hits Vinguera in the 89th to equalize and it’s a 1-1 draw. MOM is Viguera. Far from pleased with that draw against the 17th best team in the liga.

Williams out for a week.

[Abe Sargent]

If you recall, we were predicted to finish 6th in Liga. We are, in fact, In 6th right now after 22 games. And we are about to have a Madrid heavy February. I make Iker Munian a major new contract, given that he’s quite good. Now I expect Jonas Ramalho to walk. The other young injured player, but Munian is really, really good, young, and has a lot of potential. Ramalho will take a 3 year rotation year for less than 20k a year, but even with me running 3 DCs right now that is Laporte, San Jose, Yeray, Xabi Exeite, are all better than him. Maybe injury slowed him, but Munian was not slowed and looks sexy as all get. He can play M or AM at all three positions well, and unconvincing at ST. I wouldn’t play him at ST. 13 finishing isn’t where you want to be, although 18 Flair is good.

Let’s take a closer look at Munian, who I expect is a key part of my team moving forward.




Youngest Athletic player ever to appear for the senior team at 16 years old.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/d4/0f/0c/d40f0c35da94ae4d123ca881ea56b961.jpg


Just turned 23.
17-14 speed, 14/15 cross, pass, 16 technique, 1st touch, 17 dribbling, 13 finish, 12 long shots, 17 agility, 16 balance, just 6 STR, and 7 jump, 18 flair, 15 work rate, Off the ball, brave, anticipation, determination, 14 composure, vision, etc.

Again, like Laporte and to a lesser degree Williams, who is still improving, this guy feels like a wonderkid that was developed here.

Williams injures himself in training and will be out for a few days and miss the next match certainly.

[Abe Sargent]

February

Feb 3 – Real Madrid, Home, Copa del Rey, 1st Leg
Feb 7 – Home vs Villareal
Feb 10 – Away vs Real Madrid, Copa 2nd Leg
Feb 14 – Away vs Real Madrid
Feb 18 – Home vs Girondins ds Bourdeaux, EURO 1st Leg
Feb 22 – Home vs Real Sociedad, Liga vs our main rival
Feb 25 – Away vs Girondins de Bourdeaux, 2nd Leg
Feb 28 – Away vs Valencia

Now that’s a packed schedule! If we were not in the Copa or EURO anymore, we’d only have 4 liga games, but instead we have 8 games in 28 days, 2 games a week. And they are not easy games. Real Madrid three times? Euro knockout vs a good French team twice? Our rival? Valencia, away, is 3rd in the liga right now, and Villareal was hard to beat and we barely did twice, 3-2 each time, in the Rey and they cannot be taken lightly. This could be the month that we put everything together and begin to remind people of who Athletic is. Get hot in February, against the 1st and 3rd best teams in the league right now, and we can help to push up from 6th. But you can see the congested schedule there.

Olympiakos makes an offer to Jonas. He begins to work on taking Greek courses now. I take an offer to loan Espericueta to PAOK, they want to use him as a key midfielder. But the paperwork falls through (They reached out to us a few hours before the Greek deadline).


Did you know, in real life, in this year in the Copa del Rey, Athletic Bilbao lost to Barcelona in the Quarters? So by making it to the Semis, we are one step past them. Of course, last year, Athletic made it to the final before losing to Barcelona.


For the 1st leg today, I cannot start Benat, he is too tired, so Rico is starting for us. Iturasspe is back at DMC, and I have Wlliams injured, with Munian in. The match vs Real Madrid is here. It’s raining! Get us vengeance! My goal is to play well at home and get a win, even a narrow one, and then set up a tie on the road. Like normal, I begin controlling at home. DC Xabi Ex gets a yellow very early on. In the 22nd minute, Suseata finds Artiz for a score. Rico drove and bounced the ball outside to an unmarked and driving Suseata who crosses for the header to Artiz. A few of the Real Madrid starts appear to be tired early. They get two yellows in the 27th and 29th. They are starting to move forward hard, so I move to counter for the rest of the half. A lethal shot from Ronaldo is just barely turned aside by Iraizoz. More shots turned aside. In the 44th, Artiz is driving on a counter, slides the ball to Munian who drives past two defenders and scores. Half, 2-0 us. Good job, don’t get complacent given this is Real Madrid. I move to things like retain possession. I pull Xabi for...Yeray? No, how about Gurpegi? That works. I’d rather the 35 very old savvy vet than the young unblooded DC in a Cup match of this level. As of the half, we have 6 shots, 4 on target, they have 10 and 2. They sub two in the 50s. And a third in the 63rd, so all of their subs are out very early. Hmmm... Normally I have my squad tackle light. Do I want to change that and try to bruise them? Not with our own congested schedule, I don’t want to injure one of my own players. I put in Lekue for Suseate to try and get him a game later as he begins to tire. They keep coming, but we have occasional moments where we push as well. Garcia is too tired to make the next game, but Itaurraspe is not, so I pull him for Espericueta. In the 85th minute, Real Madrid has 22 shots, 8 on target and keep coming. Can we hold the 2-0 lead? With no away goal allowed? That would set us up marvelously next week. Game. 2-0 us. Nobody gave us a chance, well done! MOM is Iker Muniain.

Barca lost at home 1-0 to Espanyol. Both underdogs won today.

I assign some rests. We need to get people healthy. DC Xabi is banned for the next Cup match due to collecting too many yellows. Muniain signs the new deal for 4 years.

[Abe Sargent]

Major players who came through our youth ranks on our starting squad:

GK Iraizoz
DC Laporte
DC Yeray
DC Gurpegi
DC San Jose
DC Xabi E
DMC Itturraspe
MC Benat
MR Suseata
M Williams
M Munian
ST Arduriz
M Eraso
D Boveda

But, some of these left and then came back, like Arduriz and San Jose, who was sold to Liverpool young for 400k, and then repurchased for 3 mill later. But many of the older ones, like Suseata and Gerpegi and DMC Iturraspe have all started a ton of games for Athletic.

For the Villareal match, Williams is not back from injury, and Garcia is too tired to play. I have Muniain in the AMC role, and Gomez starting on the left, and in the middle, Benat returns. Keep on going! Artiz pounces on a rebound and shoots for goal in the 21st. And then nothing. Vey quiet. I ease back to standard. They get two yellows. Half. Good so far, room for improvement. They score in the 46th minute, and I move to attacking. No, this is not happening. I send in Yeray for an underperforming DC Xabi. In the 63rd, Viguera hits paydirt after a Suseata pass sets him up. I ease back to Standard again. I pull Gomez for Balenzinga. Rico for Benat. They tackle and foul Artiz in the penalty box, ad San Jose steps up and....scores the PK in the 83rd. We win 3-1. MOM is not on our team, oddly. That was an important win as we had a game in hand and played that, and won, and moved right on up the table lots.

We have one of the highest cross-to-score ratios in the league. Having a target man with a 19 heading helps.

[Abe Sargent]

Our final match vs Real Madrid in the Semis arrives, away. Williams is back from injury and starting. I pull Viguera and have Williams at ST across from Artiz, with Muniain at ML, and Raul Garcia back. I have Gurpegi starting at DC after DC Xabi is out for the match. Don’t get complacent! I begin looking to counter. Williams is in in part because he is so fast, and countering can work with him well. That works to perfection, at the 3:34 mark, Williams’s counter right past their defense and wins a 1:1 with their GK. Artiz with the assist. Real Madrid is not going away without a fight, here comes the pressure. Isco find James Rodriguez in the 9th and we are tied. Renaldo a score in the 11th. Then Benzama a score in the 13th. We injure Isco. More flurries of shots come, no score. Half, we are down3-1. Now technically, if we hold we’ll win on away goals. But what I really want is a 2nd goal. Then they would have to score two goals to beat us and win at least 5-2. Forget aggregate. I am far from pleased! Renaldo scores in the 49th. I pull San Jose for Yeray. Rico for Benat. We’ve had a few opportunities here and there to get that 2nd goal. And then it finally breaks. Iturasspe hits Williams for a goal in the 77th. Now it’s 4-2 and we are tied, and up on aggregate. Can we hold? I send in Gomez. In the 83rd, they had four shots on target with 3 rebounds, and all punched, or body blocked by Iraizoz. Three minutes of extra time and.....game. We lose 4-2, and win on Aggregate with the away goal rule 4-4. Now, here’s a great stat for you: 41 shots by RM, 20 on target. We had 9 and 5.

Barca won 2-0, and we will play them again in a rematch of last year’s Copa del Rey final.

Balenzinga has now trained to the point where he can play ML. I want to give him a start here to see what he can do, as a reward for training, but I have too many major games in a row. We head to Real Madrid for our third match with them in four games. Hopefully, we won’t get a 4-2 drubbing like we just did. DC Xabi is back, and I start my full starting XI. I rested them for two days each after the last match. We score first, after Suseata crosses dangerly to Artiz, he shoots, and a DC intercedes and tries to clear and OGs instead. Then Renaldo scores in the 39th. Half. Keep it up! A lot of back and forth, and not that much action goal-ward. I send in Rico, Gomez, and Yeray, in that order. We tie 1-1. Good job everyone!

[Abe Sargent]

The EURO match arrives. Rico starts for Benat. On a corner, Garcia hits DC Xabi for a score in the 6th. Then in the 16th, Williams hits Muniain for a score. Then in the 19th, Artiz falls on a rebound and shoots for goal and it’s 3-0 almost as fast as Real Madrid did to us a few days ago. They have three yellows. They claw one back in the 33rd. Half, we are up 3-1. Get out there and finish this lads. I send in Viguera, Expericueta, and Balenzinga. Good win, MOM is Garcia.


Did you know that, in real life, Athletic won their group stage in the Europa League against AZ, Partisan, and Augburg, all from major divisions and names you know, with 13 points, and then beat Marseilles and Valencia and made it to the quarter finals before losing to Sevilla on penalties, who would win the whole thing after beating Liverpool 3-1 in the final?


So we have gone one round better in the Copa, did not win the Super Cup like Athletic did in real life, and would have to go pretty far to make it as far as we did in real life in the EURO. However, in real life, Athletic would finish la liga 5th, which is about where we are right now this year. Rayo, Getafe, and Levante would be relegated. Barca would win, and Real Madrid and At. Madrid would be 2nd and 3rd.



Gurpegi has signed a contract to head out at the end of the year.


For today;s Basque Derby game vs Real Sociedad, I am starting most fo my XI, but Williams is out for Viguera. Pick up where you left off! That was a very, emphasis on very, boring game. 0-0 draw. 12 shots, 1 on target for us, and 14 and 5 for them.

[Abe Sargent]

Can we hold our serve for the away match vs Girondins de Bourdeaux? Suseata is too tired, and I move Williams there and leave Vigeura at ST. DC Yeray for a tired and jaded Laporte. Go out there and take control of this tie! I begin countering as we are on the road in France. They get a nice move and score in the 27th. Beautiful football. Half, 1-0 them. So it’s 3-2 us on aggregate. We have to score a goal. If we hold, and they finish 2-0, and then we lose on aggregate. I am not happy with that performance! They have collected 3 yellows in the 2nd half, although many were for repeating fouls. And there it is. They sink a beautiful long shot in the 55th to go to 2-0. I slide to control for a bit. Too dangerous on the road for attacking. Gomez heads in. Suseata next. In the 71st, they score again. We injure one of their players. Just one more goal, and it’s a tie again, and we’d have the same away score. Rico in next. I do everything I can to make this goal work. Up tempo. Attacking, etc. Game. We lose 3-0, and I tell them I am unhappy with that performance.

So we are out. We also lost two full rounds earlier than real life Athletic did. We get more EURO cash too


We finish Hell Month with an away game at #4, Valencia. We didn’t do too well in some of our matches, we are out of the EURO, but we took down Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey, tied them on the road in the liga, but then just laid an egg at home vs our rival. So, if we can take something good from this heavy match, I’ll be a happy Andoni Santxixt. Laporte and Suseata back in the starting lineup, Yaray is in for DC Xabi Ex, tired, and Rico is in for a dead Benat at MC. They get a yellow early. Williams injured in the 10th minute, Viguera heads in. Yeray gets a yellow in the 23rd, quiet, 0-0 half. We can still win this! I send in Gomez. I put in Gurpegi for Yeray. They score in the 78th. Yellow to Suseata. Ibai Gomez fouls them in the box in extra time. They score the PK and we lose 2-0. I’m not happy with that. Valencia moves to 2nd. We could have jumped from 6th to 3rd with that win.

[Abe Sargent]

March

March 2 – Home vs Deportivo
March 5 – Away vs Sporting
March 13 – Home vs Getafe
March 15 – Youth intake in Spain
March 19 – Away vs Espanyol


For today’s match vs Deportivo, I start Gorka Es... at DMC versus them, and then Williams is injured for a few days and is out, so Virguera is in. DC Xabi Etxeita is back. Benat as well. They score first, and then Suseata hits Artiz for a counter in the 33rd. Garcia gets a yellow but injures and forces one of their folks off. Halftime. You can still win this! Yellow to Artiz. I pull Garcia for Rico, and then they score in the 60th. Eraso and Yeray head in, to no effect. We lose 2-1. That sucked. You have to do better! That drops us to 7th in the liga.


Williams is back for the Sporting match, as is my normal DMC. Heavy rain today is soaking everything. I begin countering. We have a beautiful assist to Williams from Suseata for goal in the 17th. Themn Williams collects a loose ball for a score in the 34th. Benat to Artiz for a score three minutes later. Half, Keep it going! Garcia finds Williams for the hattrick in the 51st. Williams finds Artiz for a goal in the 55th. Yeray and Balenzinga head in. Benat injured a bit, I send in Rico. Suseata finds Artiz for a score in the 79th. 2 hattricks. On a corner, Laporte finds goal in the 83rd. They are frustrating and collecting cards. They foul Artiz in the box, and a penalty is called. San Jose steps up and...makes it 8 in the 88th minute. We win EIGHT-ZERO!!! MOM is Williams obviously. That was an awesome win lads. 8-0, on the road, with a counter philosophy the entire time.

[Abe Sargent]

Benat is out for two weeks, I’ll start Rico or Muniain in his place, and I could drop Williams to ML and put in Viguera. Espericueta wants to be loaned out and I agree.

Five of our players make team of the week, obviously.

I give Espericueta a start for today’s Real Betis game in the AMC spot. Yeray is in too. Carry straight on from last match! Rico to Aduriz, score in the 5th. They hit us on a corner in the 44th. 1-1 half. You can still win this! Williams hits Aduriz in the 56th minute. San Jose gets a yellow, so I send in Gurpegi for him. I send in Gomez. A 3rd Aduriz goal is waived offsides. I send in Eraso. We hold and win 2-1. MOM is Rico.

Next up, Youth intake day.

[Abe Sargent]

Here we go.

At. Bilbao lives and dies by its youth academy more so than any other club in football so....

We get some players in. I am told there is a Striker candidate, ST Asier Perez who could be the best of his generation. Perez appears to be the best of the lot by a lot.

I send out my scouts to various youth camps. Anyone else out there that impresses me? Yes, Unai Zabala, AM L with a Tercera club, CD Elgorria.

Sestao River, one of our affiliated clubs, has a really good guy too.

I make Perez a hot prospect full-time offer right now, and full-time youngster offers to most of the rest.


I get Artiz tutoring Perez.

I offer to bring in Unai Zabala on a 3 year hot prospect deal. He signs with us. They get a few hundred k, and he’ll join in the next transfer window.


Espanyol arrives. Benat is back. Pick up where you left off! Boring first half, no scores, cards, or fun. 0-0 Half. You can still win this! I sub in Espericueta and Gomez. Then Gorka at DC. In extra time, they have a goal scored, that is offsides on my replay, but was not called. We lose 1-0. Unlucky!


My continental coaching license is complete.


I sign a new 3 year deal to extend my stay with Athletic, although we’ve done nothing major.

[Abe Sargent]

April

April 2 – Home vs Granada
April 10 – Home vs Rayo
April 17 – Away vs Malaga
April 20 – Home vs Ath. Madrid
April 24 – Away vs Levante
April 30 - Celta



With just a handful of games left, let me give you the Liga table right now:

1. Real Madrid, 61
2. Valencia, 53
3. Granada, 51
4. At. Madrid, 51
5. Celta, 50
6. Athletic Bilbao, 47
7. Sevilla, 46
8. R. Sociedad, 44
9. Malaga, 43
10. Levante, 42
11. Deportivo, 41
12. Barcelona, 40

Yes, Barcelona are in 12th. That is not a typo or an error. They had some injuries to their top players. So I have, in April, games against #3, #9, #4, #10 and #5. Not the easiest run of games. Only Rayo, at 16th right now, would be an “easy” game. But if I can bring it here later, then there is every chance of walking away with a move up to the charts. From 4 up, you have Champions qual, and from 5-6 Euro. We are expected 6th (In real life we hit 5th this year.) So, let’s hope for the best, right? Right!


Which is why winning today vs Granada at home is key to unlocking the last 8 games of the season. We had 2 weeks off for everyone to get healthy, so I am starting my best XI. This is Munlian’s 200th game for us. I begin controlling. Garcia with an early yellow in the 4th minute. In the 18th, Suseata finds Benat for a goal. Then late in the 44th, they score an equalizer 1-1 half. Nope, this is not happening. I move to attacking. Keep on going! I sub in Viguera for Garcia with his card, and then Yeray for Xabi E, and then I call for another sub, and before it happens, Viguera hits Artiz for a score in the 78th minute. I pull back from attacking. Here comes Rico on. I do my normal “Retain possession” “
tighter mark” “waste time” stuff. We win 2-1, and Mom is Benat. Good job!!!

That’s a quality win folks. I know the #6 team in any league winning 2-1 vs the #3 team in any league may not be news. But it was needed. 7 games left. Now Barca got a huge win 4-0 over Real Madrid and moved up to 10th.

[Abe Sargent]

For the Rayo match, I start Yeray, Espericueta, and Gorka at DMC. This will raise Espericueta’s salary for his 10th league appearance to 20k from 12.5k, but I’m okay with that. For the Fans!!! They collect one and then another yellow. In the 21st, Artiz finds Williams for a score. Card for Muniain. They push hard in the final minutes before the half but fail to score. 1-0 half. Don’t get complacent out there. Benat agrees, as his sinks it in the 47th. I pull Muniain for Gomez. Unusually, Laporte gets a yellow. I put in DC Xabi Etxeitz for him. Gomez finds Artiz in the 77th. I send in Eraso for Benat. We win 3-0. MOM is Artiz Aduriz.



The Malaga match is here. I put my best XI out there. As we are on the road, I begin countering. They score in the 9th off a counter, San Jose misses a PK a few minutes later, they score again, and then Garcia hits Artiz for a score, and it’s 2-1 half. Should have been 2-2. Show me something different! They head out, and I sub San Jose for Yarey, and then I send in Gomez. In the 66th, they score again off a penalty by Xabi. Rico heads in. We lose 3-1. Well, there went our attempt to move up the league table. We both had 50% possession and 14 shots. But we lost, in part because San Jose, with a 15 PK, 14 finishing couldn’t make a PK. He wasn’t even blocked, he flat out missed. That was a messy game for us, with us giving away a PK and not getting a PK to sink.

That loss drops us to 7th with 5 games left.

[Abe Sargent]

We have At. Madrid today, and play against the best Basque player. We are home, which helps. I handed out 2 days of rests for most of my starters, and we will retain my best XI, however, Yeray is in for San Jose. Vengeance! They get a yellow and an injury early. My early control tactic was a bust as we almost give up a goal to Greisman, so I move to standard. 0-0 half. I send in Rico. I move to attacking late, but nope. No win, 0-0 tie. That was Suseata’s 300th league game for us.


Because Grenada lost, we moved to 6th.

It’ll be hard at this point to get to 4:

1. Real Madrid, 67
2. Valencia, 59
3. At. Madrid, 58
4. Celta, 57
5. Sevilla, 56
6. Athletic, 54
7. Granada, 54
8. Levante, 51
9. Malaga, 50
10. Barca, 48

So at this point, with 4 games left, it’s not going to be easy to get to 4. Right now, winning out could just result in us finishing no higher than 5th or so. Now our GD of +18 is 2nd best in the league after Real Madrid’s 21. So in ties, hopefully we can push with our strong differential. But still, we need to put on a show.

Getting only 1 points out of the last 2 matches hurt badly.

[Abe Sargent]

I put in San Jose back in, and we have our full slate of starters. I start countering. For the Fans! We can beat Levante. I hope. They score in the 5th. Yellow to Benat. I move to control. Then Suseata crosses and finds Artiz in the 29th for a score, and I move back to standard. In the 37th, Williams passes to Suseata, and he sinks it, and we are up 2-1. Half. Don’t get complacent! Muniain gives his guy wayyyy too much space and he dribbles and crosses for a score in the 55th. I move to attacking. I send in Rico and Yeray. In the 67th, on a corner kick, the ball falls to Yeray, he is covered, he slides it to San Jose who isn’t, and San Jose scores. Back to counter again. Gomez in. We hold on and win 3-2. MOM is Suseata. That was a good, fun game.

3 games left.

Real Madrid have officially won La Liga.

I pull Xabi Ex for Gorka for a game or two he’s playing in bad form. I have the final match of the month, the Celta game. Other than that, no changes to the squad. Vengeance against these guys! Very little happens, no cards, 0-0 half. About half way through I moved to attacking with little result. You can still win! I send in Eraso and Viguera. In the 67th, off a corner, San Jose finds Gorka for a score. Nothing else happens, and we wind up winnin 1-0, and MOM is Gorka. Hey, it was an ugly win, but right now, I’ll take any win you give me.

2 games left

[Abe Sargent]

May

May 9 – Away vs Las Palmas
May 15 – Home vs Sevilla
May 21 – Final, Copa del Rey, vs Barcelona


With 2 games left, Las Palmas and Sporting were relegated.


Current table, everyone at 36 games

Real Madrid, 76
At. Madrid, 64
Valencia, 61
Athletic, 60
Granada, 59
Celta, 58
Sevilla, 57

We cannot be caught by Levante at #8, 6 points begin Granada.

So as you can see, we are in 4th, barely. Very barely. Assuming we get a result against relegated Las Palmas, we would need a good result in the last match, but it’s there.

Gorka was injured in training for 2 weeks, so Xabi Ex heads back into the DC spot.

Inaki Williams wants to move to a bigger club, but I just have my captain to talk to him and skip the conversation. We have two games left, and right now, we are in the running for sweet sweet Champion platy and cash. So hush now.



Real Madrid lose 3-2 aggregate in the Semi Finals of the EURO to Galatasaray. Tottenham beat Napoli to set up those two in the final.

Before today’s Las Palmas Game, everyone else played, and I have a game in hand. We dropped to 5th if we lose we keep that spot. If we win, we get to 3rd. For today, I am starting Gomez, and Gurpegi. I want to give Gurpegi a final start before he heads out, and a start against the already-related-have-nothing-to-play-for Las Palmas is better than at home vs Sevilla next week. Relax, we’ve got this! I’m glad I started countering, because they are coming hard. We survive. On a counter, Garcia finds Williams for a score in the 17th. 2 minutes later, Benat is injured, and I send in Rifo to sub for him. They get a great cross and score in the 33rd. Then they score again in the 35th. 1-2 them at the half. Oh no we aren’t. I move to attacking and question their desire to win. I send in Viguera and Muniain. Card for Laporte. In the 83rd, Artiz hits Williams for a score and we tie 2-2. That sucked hard.


That was horrible. We are clearly “That Team” the won that drops odd games late to get it out of the right zone. Benat is out for a week and will miss the finale.

We are in a three-way tie with Valencia, ourselves, and Grenada at 61 points each at 3-5th. We are 4th right now on tie breakers.

[Abe Sargent]

Inaki Williams has been called up for the senior Spain squad.


Inaki Williams wins Spanish Young Player of the Year


For our last game, Benat is out, injured, and Rico starts at MC. I have Sevilla at home today. I begin controlling. This is GK Iraizoz’s 300th appearance for us. For the fans! Now, the good news is Barcelona have Grenada, so if they win, likely, then we should have help beating this three-way-tie. They score in the 4th. I make some changes, and then in the 25th, Artiz is hit by Suseata for a score. Kevin Gameiro is injured and leaves the pitch (and will be out for 3 months) Half. No cards. We can still win! Only we don’t. No more scores. We tie 1-1.

Now we still wind up 4th. Final table:


1. Real Madrid, 82
2. At. Madrid, 68
3. Valencia, 64
4. Athletic, 62
5. Granada, 62
6. Celta, 60
7. Sevilla, 58
8. Barca, 57
9. Levante, 55
10. Malaga, 55
11. Real Sociedad, 50
12. Deportivo, 49
13. Eibar, 45
14. Espanyol, 45
15. Real Betis, 39
16. Getafe, 39
17. Villareal, 37
18. Rayo, 36
19. Sporting, 28
20. Las Palmas, 28

[Abe Sargent]

We got 4.75 mill and handed out 1.5 mill in bonuses.


Ronaldo won some awards

ST Artiz Arduriz was the Top Spanish Goalscorer for the year.

Laporte and Arduriz were named in the Liga Top 11.

Ready for the Copa?

Now I’m not sure, but I believe that if we win, then the EURO invitation would go to 7th in the liga, which is Sevilla, not 2nd in the Copa del Rey.

I have some staff retiring.

Tottenham win the EURO 3-2 over Galatasaray.

We get 10.51 mill in EURO Cash

[Abe Sargent]

https://www.vbetnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/copadelrey.jpg

The Finals

I make no changes to my squad for tonight’s Copa del Rey. Athletic and Barcelona are the two winningest clubs in Spanish football in the Copa. Can we oust Barcelona? We’ll find out. I will begin countering. Benat is a little out still from injury. So it’s Rico in the middle.

Can the lads from Basque beat the lads from Catalonia?

We had a higher place on the league charts by four places. But will that translate here?

Vengeance! I begin counter, tackling hard, marking tight, and keeping possession. We hit them on a counter in the 33rd minute when Artiz finds Xabi Etxeitz on a IFK. Half. Not bad. 1-0. Stats aren’t overwhelming in Barca’s favor like I would fear. We have 6 shots, 2 on target to their 8 and 3, stuff like that. Not bad thus far, keep it going. We injure Iniesta, and he is subbed out. First yellow of the match is to Suseata. I pull him for Gomez, given how good Gomez is in set pieces maybe we can do some more. Artiz with a yellow. Muniain feeds Artiz on a counter and he scores in the 63rd. I would expect Barca to move forward very, very, quickly. Up until now, they didn’t have a shot in the 2nd half thus far, still at 8, but the club is moving hard. Shots head out. Garcia with a yellow. Viguera for Garcia. Rico with a yellow in the 77th. Espericueta for Rico. Muniain and Vigeura with fouls late and cards. We win 2-0. MOM is Iturassape.

Great Job!!!


Now I think the reason we won was the heavy tackling. We kept them off rhythm all game lang. I have played light tackling all season long, to keep on our feet, and to not just lay off the light tackling, but to come nasty and strong was, I think, a surprise. Final stats? Barca with 13 shots, 5 on target. We had possession just 45% of the game, but our 11 shots, 4 on target were pretty good, and we got a set piece score which helped. Yes, we got a ton of cards, but I pulled them out as it happened, and kept us short on the potential for double red-ding. It’s basically like we just Hack-a-Shaqed Barca.

After the loss in the Copa, and the bad campaign, Barca sacked their manager, Luis Enrique.

We make more sweet cash for winning it all.

[Abe Sargent]

Liga Stats:

Arduriz, most goals at 24,

Suseata – Most distance ran per game with 9 miles average

Suseata – Most assists with 12

Gorka Iraizoz, most saves held, and most saves parried.

Laporte, most interceptions made, by 55, He had 500, next was 445.


Others with high, were Garcia’s 9 assists, Arduriz’s 2nd best number r of minutes/goal, Benat’s 2nd best cross completion, Laporte’s 3rd most key headers,

Fan’s Player of the Season – Inaki Williams
Fan’s Goal of the Season – Inaki Williams
Fan;s Young Player of the Season -Inaki Williams
Signing of the Season – Espericueta

[Abe Sargent]

I hold the end of season meeting, and I want to get to Champion’s Cup again.


We are adding under-soil heating to the stadium.

Bayern beat Juve to win the Champions Cup

Aguerro was named Best Player in Europe

Williams is capped for Spain.

Now that we have qualified for Champion Play, anyone interested in coming here who may not have been before? Any targets I want to pursue?

None that I wanted to chase who would improve my squad. And that is the issue. Improving my squad.

I find a pair of interesting French youth. Only one might, and I mean might, make the cut as a backup or rotation player for me. I make an offer to the Sestao River youther we saw earlier as well.

Again, I am all Basque.

[Abe Sargent]

Now, let’s begin to look at next year. Where am I with my squad?

I took over this team, and I was mostly encouraged to sell De Marcos, and then I also have let go Sabin, and now Gurpegi, Jonas Ramalho and potentially Ikaizoz.

Why my Gk?

Well, because I already have my next GK on my roster, the young guy currently on loan. Meet:



GK Kepa Arrizabalaga

21 years old
2.5 million, Hot Prospect

http://www.elcorreo.com/noticias/201602/11/media/cortadas/kepa--575x323.jpg

We will be calling him Kepa for short.

He won the U19 EUFA Champs in 2012 as the starter

Was called up for Spanish national squad in 2017 as cover for the top two GKs, but has not started and been capped yet (In real life)

Been called the next Santiago Canizares. (Santiago Cañizares - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santiago_Ca%C3%B1izares))


Here is what my coaches say:

Weaknesses:

Prone to injury

Strengths:

Aerial
Shot Stopping
Very well suited for Liga football right now
Professional
Consistent


Seems good, right?

Given that Kepa will be my starter moving forward, why should I retain 35 year old Iraizoz? I have a backup already after all. There are a lot of people out there who have called, not Inaki Williams, not Laporte, not Yeray, but Kepa the best young and future star in the Athletic queue coming up. You think he would have been called up in real life at age 22 for Spain’s senior squad?

[Abe Sargent]

Bilbao, our B team, is increasing its stadium by 5000 seats.

I have signed these youthers:

15 year old French, Basque Julen Merino, fullback, 30k from Bayonnais

16 year old Spanish, Basque Alain Martinez, middie, 100k, Sestao River – I love his high work rate and determination, with lower skills elsewhere, but he has the attitude to fix it.

16 year old French, Basque Mikel Viller, fullback, 275k to Stade Mayenne.


I get offers from FC Nantes for one of my guys on the B squad, for Ager Aketxe, one of the best players on the team. 22 years old. Plays M, AM RLC, ST. Worth 1.7 mill, Hot Prospect deal, and I was thinking about calling him up to the senior squad as a rotational development guy to replace some of the others I might let go. But here is Nantes wanting him for a couple million. Sell? Or keep?


Let me take a look at my loanees who are coming back on my senior squad.


GK Kepa, duh

M Mikel Merino


30 year old ST Keke. Nah

Middle, Íñigo Ruiz de Galarreta, whom I resigned

Jon Aurtenetxe, DC, L

Guillermo, ST,

DC Unai Bustinza

Unai López, duh.

Julen Arellano, fullback


I don’t see Aketxe getting played over Merino or Lopez or Espericueta. So do I want a backup that badly? Nah. He’s not as good now as those, so why would I give him time over them?

We agree to 1.7 mill, 25% next sale, and a 4 mill buyback clause.

[Abe Sargent]

PSG wants Williams and made a decent offer. 20 mill up front, 13.5 mill over the next year, and 30% profit of next sale.

But here’s the thing. I cannot let Williams walk. Period. It can’t happen. I cannot win the Liga any time in the foreseeable future without Williams. Here let me show you:

My ideal Athletic, five years from now:

ST Asier Perez, Williams
AMC Merino
R/L Muniain,
MC Espericueta,

DC Laporte, Yeray
GK Kepa


Sub, or rotation quality, Unai Lopez

And that’s probably it for those I know. And a fully developed Perez, Merino, Yeray, Kepa, Lopez, and Espericueta would look great next to Laporte Williams and Muniain.

And that’s basically the squad that I see right now that could do some damage.

I cannot let people in that future core go. Williams cannot go. Muniain cannot go. You get the idea, And that ideal squad assumes everyone develops, and that doesn’t always happen.

We announce 3 new sponsorship deals for 32.5 mill annually. We got hit with a 16.26 mill tax bill,


Williams is pissed that he was unable to get the sweet sweet PSG cash, so I offer him a new deal.

2 days later he signs:

80,000/week
Through 2021
Min release fee of 100,000,000.


That basically doubled his cash, kept the same date for the end of the contract he already had with us, so he is not contributing to the team any longer than he already was, and doubled his min release fee.

He is now our highest paid player.

[Abe Sargent]

Now there is a bit of a “cheat” for Bilbao. If I want, I can sign any 16 year old Spanish player, and they will gain the Basque nationality while playing for us in our youth system.

Aketxe heads out to Nantes.

We rose from 32 to 27 in the Europe club rankings, and we’ll easily meet the homegrown rule for Champion;s play this year.

Rumors in the market are that Balenzinga is a target for Sevilla. I talk to him, and I do agree to sell him for the right price, if they offer

I have been resigning staff, younger players, and more

I offer this studly 29 year old Head of Youth Development at Eibar, Mikel Gonzalez, to take over the role with us. He considers. If he accepts, we’ll pay Eibar 700k. We currently have no Head of Youth Development. He signs the next day. This guy is amazingly good, watch out.

I find this 36 year old player, Mikel Alonso, for Real Union who will be a stud coach or Ass Man, but he just wants to be a player this year, so I have offered Real Union some cash, 200k, for the transfer, and then offered hm a 1 year backup deal to come on board and help out and then, hopefully, to keep him as a coach moving forward.

He joins two days later

[Abe Sargent]

Heading out today, July 1st, is Gurpegi, and many others. We are bringing in the three youth and the two backups of Hervias and Villar.

Do I want to loan Merino? I just got a 1st team offer from Getafe, in the Liga. He’s growable. But will I have enough space here with my crowded midfield this year? Maybe not...

So I agree to the loan with Getafe.

So I have three good, young middies I want to grow. Espericueta, Unai Lopez, and Merino, but none of them are my best three or four current players.

I have these good middies – Iker Muniain, potentially Williams but I often play him at ST, Benat, Iturrasape, Gomez, and then Rico, Eraso, Espericueta, Lopez, Merino, and Hervias is good too. And potentially Raul Garcia as well. So given the fact that I have depth, and given the fact that I need to move players, does it make sense to loan out a Merino or Lopez while playing Eraso?

Right now, I would expect to start:

AMC – Garcia, Williams, Muniain
DMC – Inturraspe
MR – Suseata, Williams
ML – Muniain, Williams, Gomez

And then Rico, Espericueta, Merino, Hervias, and Lopez. Too many good middies.

This is my coach evaluation for these spots, current value:

MC – 3 stars for Benat, Iturra, Lopez,2.5 stars – San Jose, Espericuerta, Merino, Rico
MR – 3.5 starts, Williams, 3 stars Suseata, 2.5 Hervias, Lopez
ML – 3.5 Muniain, 3 Williams, 2.5 Gomez,
AMC – 3.5 stars, Williams, Garcia, 3 stars Muniain, Lopez
DMC – 3.5 stars, Iturra, 2.5 San Jose, Merino

ST – 3.5 stars, Williams, 3 stars, Aduriz, no one else is higher than 2, where Viguera hits.
DC – 4 stars, Laporte, 3.5 stars, San Jose, 2.5 stars Yeray, Xabi Etx


So given that, for now, I expect to run Williams and Aduriz rather than Vigeura and Aduriz. That opens up a spot for my team. Right now, last year they were Benat, Iturraspe, Suseata, Garica, and Muniain. I don’t think you can really argue that. You also don’t see San Jose at DMC or MC often because he is so vital at DC for me.

And today you can see each of those leading one of those categories. Benat is the best in the middle. Inturra at DMC. Suseata at MR. Mun at ML. And Garcia at AMC, so I was using them in their best spot. Now I like Garcia better as a shadow striker than the support role he played, but that formation doesn’t need it.

So I am seeing this year my starting XI:

GK Kepa
DC Laporte, Yeray, San Jose
DMC Iturra
AMC Garcia
MR Suseata
ML Mun
MC Benat
ST Williams, Arduriz

But here are some of the issues that come with that...

1. Age. Aduriz, 35 years old, one example
2. No growth out of defense. Yeray and Kepa are the only ones in there that are still growing. Williams has a little more room for growth. All of these other players have finished their development.
3. How do I develop an Unai Lopez or Espericueta or Merino in this formation, given Rico, Hervias, already in this list.


And now which is better? Giving Unai Lopez a season of Liga starts at Granada or the occasional one with me? How many subs can Unai get? But, he is better right now than some of my backups. He’s a solid body. He’s my 2nd best AMC option given that Williams and Muniain are needed elsewhere. He’s my 2nd best option at MC, and you’ll note he scores better than Rico at that spot. So Lopez is juuuust about to start making the list. But the others are on the inside looking in.

Now the major issue is Merino. My coaches think he’s a future potential 4 star middie, but 2.5 right now and suited for Liga. If I keep Merino, then I could try and squeeze in some subs for lesser games, and potentially tutor him. So Merino has the highest upside, and Lopez is the best right now, and Espericueta is being mentored by Rico and I hate to break that connection. It’s rough.

[Abe Sargent]

I offer backup DR Bustinza for sale. We get a 250k offer from Las Palmas and I take it.

I accept a 2.2 mill offer from Levante for Balezinga.

I transfer list Eraso. I have too many players at Mid to muss with Eraso anymore. There’s no space on my roster for him. I accept a 2.1 mill offer from Olympiakos for him.

I accept first team loan offers from other Liga clubs for Unai Lopez. I want to give him one more year of loan development.

Merino locks down the deal with Getafe. I send Espericueta out on loan. I can call one of them back later if I need the depth and development.

I loan out Julen Arellano

Out head Eraso, Bustina and Balenzinga officially.

I convince our board to approve me to have two more coaches for the senior squad.

I make an offer for David Lopez, a current 33 year old player, to come in as a coach/player.

I also offer a deal to thus studly GK coach over at Granada, Inaki Garcia Sandin. I want to ensure I am developing Kepa well.

Unai Lopez heads out.

I get another offer for Laporte for Bayern, and I refuse. Like Inaki, I agree to an extension for 80k, and give myself 100,000,000 min release fee.

[Abe Sargent]

Well the unlikely just became likely. Remember the other Mikel? The one who was a lot better, but our scouts said Real Sociedad was not going to sell, and he was not going to come? Well, I just made an offer for the guy.

Mikel Oyarzabel, 19, plays various mid positions
14 mill transfer
30k a year, over 5 years

He’s called the next Josep Guardiola. The media uses the term wonderkid. The opportunity to bring him in, right now, and immediately play him, and build him into a creative force for Atheltic moving forward would be very, very sexy.

Scouts?

Very Fast
Determined
Versatile
Professional
Would be willing to join for a loan, but not permanently
Club unlikely to sell

But money talks, and I have an offer on the table to steal this guy from our rivals.

My current transfer budget is 22 mill after the deals I took. I have the cash for Oyarzabel.

http://outsideoftheboot.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Mikel-Oyarzabal-2016.png

Scout Report: Mikel Oyarzabal | Real Sociedad's Intelligent Winger | Outside of the Boot (http://outsideoftheboot.com/2016/10/13/scout-report-mikel-oyarzabal/)

[Abe Sargent]

I confirm my expectations with the Board for

1. Finish in EURO
2. Get Quarters of Cup
3. Get to Group Phase of Champion

That’s it.

I sign a new Chief Scout, from another club, and he knows of this hot potential 16 year old Spanish kid named Fran at Villareal. Now we think it’d cost around 3.5 mill to unhook him.

As I mentioned before, I can sign 16 year old Spaniards and they will get the Basque nationality after playing in our youth system. That is cogent. Is it a cheat? And is Fran good enough to make me do it?

So, let’s example Basque policy more to find an answer, and Laporte is a good test case.

Laporte:

Great grand parents, Basque ethnicity. Had no other connections to Basque country. Was discovered by Athletic, they wanted to bring him to their youth academy, they agreed for him to head to Bayonnais in Pays Basque in France for a year, and then brought over to Athletic proper, as he was too young to leave France, and then the next year, joined Athletic’s youth program properly.





Williams:

Parents are African, not Basque ethnicity. Immigrated to Bilbao. Williams was born in Bilbao, and came through the local ranks.



Kepa:

Born in Basque country, parents are Basque.


Espericueta:

Grandparents were Basque immigrants to Mexico. One parent full Basque. No other Basque connection. Athletic was going to bring him into your youth academy, but decided not to.


Four different stories of young Basque youth. Kepa is obvious. Basque regionally, culturally, and ethnically. But Williams has no Basque ethic heritage, yet was born right here in Bilbao. Laporte had none other than great grandparents, and then did a year in the Basque French country to get him up to speed.

So what does it mean to be Basque? And would chasing this un-Basqued hot 16 year old count, if he went through our youth system and gained it?

1. His story would be unidentical to Laporte. Laporte is 1/4 Basque. Espericueta 1/2. Those details matter.
2. FIFA doesn’t have an identity for regions as opposed to nations. But if I remember correctly, Was Laporte considered to be Basque before? The FIFA rule is to have a clear connection. Fran was born in Valencia. The FIFA rule is living there for (initially two but now five) years, or having one grandparent. Thus, under that rule, Laporte and Esper are in. Similarly to Williams who lived here in Basque country his whole life.
3. Could Fran have a connection? Maybe? But there is no bio, and his name is Spanish Juan Ramón Fernández, not Basque.

So here is the question, really. Is going after Fran cheating? Or is it playing fair?

If I go after Fran, is that a one-time thing, or am I opening the floodgates?

The point here is that one of Athletic’s signing rules is that someone has to have been at a Basque youth Clube, so in the game, you can sign a Spanish 16 year old and bring them through a youth club, and they’ll gain Basque-ness.

Here – what is the difference between Fran and Williams? Neither is Basque ethnically?

But, and here is the key, if Laporte had to spend a year at another Basque team in order to qualify, then then his Basque credentials were not otherwise good enough.

Ultimately, this comes down to one major question...

[Abe Sargent]

What does it mean to be Basque?


Like many places in Europe and Asia, where national borders were not formed by colonial interests, national identity is often synonymous with ethnic identity. This is the land of my people. Both people and land are in play. Ireland is the land of the Irish ethnicity, in addition to the geographic region. It’s both. This is often hard for someone from a nation like the US to understand. I do not identify as an American with anything other than a national geographic identity that comes with cultural and other attachments. But American is not a race or ethnicity. But Azerbaijan? Turkey? Czech Republic? Ukraine? These are. And similar to Basque, we have inner regions of other nations that are as well – Sicily or Scotland are good examples of internal areas with the ethnic and geographical area.

What does it mean to be Scottish? Sicilian? Catalan? Basque?

And, more importantly, does it apply here?

For example, imagine that we have a company’s regional job center in Sicily, and they want to hire 50% Sicilians in order to make sure that they are culturally sensitive to their local community. Is an American immigrant who has never been to Sicily but was born in the US the son of two Sicilian parents Sicilian enough for this policy? What about someone who has never been to Sicily, and was born in the US and only is 1/8th? What about a local person who was born in Sicily to tourists, and then moved out of the country after a few weeks post-birth, but they have Italian citizenship and were born there? What about a student who studied abroad in Sicily for four years, and then moved on? Would any of those count?

When the word, term, and concept mean two things, what does is mean to be Basque?

[Abe Sargent]

So I did some research. And there are players who were recruited and played youth for Osasuna or Real Sociedad who had no connection to Basque heritage or geographically, who were later signed by Athletic. In fact, that’s pretty common.

So, if Athletic is willing to consider someone who was the child of 2nd gen immigrants in Mexico, or a French player outside the region, or players who have no ethnic or geographic connection who come through the youth ranks of other Basque teams, then why not Fran?

But that’s the issue. If I start this now, where does it stop? Will I be bringing in all of the big, hot players moving forward each year? That won’t be hard.

So the game challenge is obvious. If I just bring in Fran and then lead to many other hot future candidates, then I have subverted the Basque issues of this challenge by being Spain only instead of Basque only. Now some national-only things would work. A Belgium team with only Belgian players could be real challenge. But Spain is almost as easy as Brazil or Argentina would be. It is a hotbed of young talent. Limiting myself to Spain only is a pretty minor limitation.

Now, I also took over this role intending to spread into French/Basque territory more and become more of a pan-Basque presence.

That is why I love that I have that offer on for Mikel. But Fran?

Now Fran actually plays a position I could need on my long-term radar, DMC.

So, here is the rule I am considering.

1). If a young hot 16 year old prospect is brought to my attention by my own scouts, or in this case, lead scout, then I can make a play.
2). I limit myself to one a year. Or at most 1 every other year.

It’s not like Athletic opened up the floodgates post-Laporte. They found him scouting.

Alright, so let’s do that limited style method. I make an offer for Fran.

[Abe Sargent]

Our stud GK coach arrives. My first 5 star trainer in shot stopping. I mutually terminate one of my other GK coaches to bring in someone else.

Germany won the 2016 Euro

Oh my goodness. I signed another scout to replace my retired one, and he sent me in his initial report another major 5 star 16 year old Spanish recruit. Wow This was a ST named Roberto Leon. Barcelona want him too.


We come to a 3.5 mill deal for Fran.

Laporte heads out to public and says he is happily willing to remain at San Mames,

AM LRC, MC, Mikel Oyarzabal arrives for 15 mill after bonuses and such.

http://www.fichajes.net/files/mikel_oyarzabal_1.jpg

Coach Report includes:

Good speed
Determined
Well suited for LIGA ball
Versatile

Needs to be trained on stamina

Stats include: 14/14 speed, 19 determination (was mentored by someone already to raise it), 15 work rate, 13 technique, 1st touch, finish, long shots, jump, 14 aggression, anticip, flair, decisions, balance, agility, 15 teamwork.

Weaknesses include – 8 stamina, 11 pass, cross. I want to work on getting those three up, but as you can see, the 19 year old “wonderkid” and the next Josep Guardiola. .

[Abe Sargent]

I sign the 33 year old Alberto Perez Zamarrio to my coach staff. He retires to take on the role. He is a 4 star tactical coach, which upgrades my coaching there from 3.5 stars. He was once a Athletic player, although mostly lower level at clubs like Baskonia and Zamudia, every single club he was at is in our network of affialted clubs. He’s a good, solid, high quality coach.

Yeray injures himself in training for the season for about 2 weeks.

Fran joins us
Perez and Arduriz got together last semester, and ST Perez got his great determination. That’ll help a lot I suspect.

I link:

Fran and Iturraspe
Xabi Et. And Yeray

Our undersoil heating is complete

We sign backup player/coach David Lopez, 33 years old, who played with Athletic for 5 years once. He agrees to take a coaching course. He plays a lot of midfielder positions, and certainly would not be a bad sub if needed. As a coach, he starts as a four star shooting coach, and could improve as he gets better. He improves our shooting by a full star. No Basque coach is better at shooting training, only managers or higher are better.

I have a bunch of away friendlies I schedule to test my players and to get n away games for teams in our framework of clubs. We win the first 5-0. The second 3-0. The 3ed 1-0. Then August arrived

I still have Iraizoz on my roster on a month to month contract. No one made him an offer. I drop him to Vice, and name Artiz Arduriz my Captain. Everyone loves the appointment of Arduriz. Benat would have been my Vice had I not wanted to keep some consistency with Iraizoz from last year.

Speculation in the media is that Boveda is a target of Real Betis. He came to me to ask about transferring if they made an offer, and I agree to do so.

I make our pitch smaller to discourage people going wide against my one player on the flank.

[Abe Sargent]

August


Aug 3 – Friendly
Aug 6 – Friendly
Aug 8 - Friendly
Aug 12 – Home vs Real Madrid, Leg One of Super Cup
Aug 21 – Away vs Valencia, Liga
Aug 28 – Home vs Barcelona, Liga
Aug 31 – Away vs Real Madrid, Leg Two of Super Cup


We win 8-0

We draw Shakhtar and play them on the 17th and 23rd of this month for the Champions play-in.

We are 3-1 favorites for winning the Liga, and have the 4th best odds after Real Madrid, At. Madrid and Barca.

We win 4-1.

This is my best guess for starters and subs right now:

GK – Kepa, Herrain, Iraizoz
DC – Laporte, San Jose, Etxeitx, Yeray, Gorka, Mikel Alonso, Boveda
DMC – Iturraspe, San Jose, Gorka, Fran, Alonso
MC – Benat, Rico, Hervias, Lopez
MR – Suseata, Muniain, Williams, Hervias, Lopez
ML – Muniain, Williams, Gomez, Hervias, Lopez
AMC – Garcia, Muniain, Williams, Oyarzabel, Hervias, Rico
ST Artiz, Williams, Vigeura, Garcia

[Abe Sargent]

Super Cup Leg Cup

Today, Iturraspe is banned for too many cards last year, and I am playing San Jose there, and Yeray at DC. They score 2 in the first half, and then I tell my people to show me something else! Then in the second half, I send in Lopez and Viguera before Garcia finds Aduriz for a score in the 68th. Yellow for Muniain. No more scores, we lose 1-2.

I start my best XI for the match vs Shakhtar. We get an early advantage in the 9th minute, and two shots are fired, rebound, and Garcia puts it away. Then they retaliate in the 14th, and they get one, two, three yellows. They score again in the 31st. Then Williams is driving on counter, and the GK heads out to stop him, and he unselfishly feeds Garcia for a score. They score in extra time, and it’s 2-2 at the half. I pull back and try to protect this tie, a 2-2 away goal tie is strong, but I was playing pretty aggressively in the 1st half with a control mindset so I switch to countering. I send in Lopez and Gomez and Yeray. In the 85th, Garcia finds Artiz for a score. They claw back in the 87th. Game, 3-3, mom Is Garcia.

That is not a bad platform for the final leg. It’ll be hard in a tie for them to beat 3 ags. All I have to do is tie or win at home.

[Abe Sargent]

The Valencia game arrives. Rico and Yeray for Benat and San Jose, both tired from the game, and I want to rest them for the 2nd leg at Shakhtar. This is Rico’s 100th appearance for us. I begin countering. Good luck and let’s begin the Liga with a positive result away vs a heavy. We lose 3-0. Not the start I was hoping for. It included a penalty given by Yeray.

I convince my club to invest in better training facilities


For today’s 2nd leg vs Shakhtar, we are starting my full XI, and I gave rests to Suseata and Itarraspe for getting them ready. Suseata finds Williams in the 5th for a score. On a corner, Benat finds Xabi who heads to Laporte for the score and it’s 2-0 us in the 17th. Williams finds Aduriz for a score in the 21st. Muniain picks up a knock and I send in Hervias. DC Xabi E has a yellow. They get a score in the 41st off a corner. Then in extra time, Benat on another corner finds Hervias for a score. 4-1 us at the half. Nicely done, keep it going. On a IFK, Benat finds Laporte for a score in the 49th. I put in Yeray for Xabi Etxeitx. San Jose with a yellow. They score a long shot in the 55th. In the 68th, Benat finds Artiz for a score. I put in Oyarzabel for Garcia. In the 72nd, Suseata finds Benat for a score. We win 7-2. Benat is clearly MOM. I am very, very, very pleased with that win.

Muniain is out for 3-4 weeks.

That was dominating.

We get 14 mill for our win and making it to the group stage.

Champions Group C:

Porto
Tottenham
Kobenhaven
Athletic

Well, there goes that Champion Group stage. I hope we’ll look forward to next year!:)

[Abe Sargent]

Given his current ability, I will be starting Gomez for today’s home game vs Barcelona at the ML spot. In the 10th minute, Suarez finds Messi for a score. Then we drive, and in the 33rd, a penalty is given against us. Up steps Gomez and...he scores. Half. 1-1. Well, that wasn’t bad. We can do better though! Keep it up! They have about 15 minutes of coming forward and missing, and then it is capped by a Suarez assisted goal to Neymar, but it is called offsides. Garcia pounces on a loose ball in the 77th and scores. We send in a few subs like Boveda, and then that’s it. We win 2-1. Suarez is MOM. Good job!



When I started this dynasty, we had a number of players already on loan, many on my senior squad, and I sold a few already here and there, like Hurtanda. But many are not loan-able, they have finished developing, and they are fine in an absolute emergency, but they aren’t good. I have enough coverage that I don’t need this fullback Jon Auttentxe, as one example, and these players really are of the quality f a next-level-down player. I transfer list a few and try to move them before the Real Madrid game, as they are not registered for anything due to the size of my Senior Squad.

I move one, ST Guillermo, down to Bilbao, my B squad.

I sell Artexte for 900k to Granada

[Abe Sargent]

The Real Madrid away match arrives. Now we are not going to win. I have a bunch of international call ups, but they do not, I am playing against C. Renaldo without Laporte on defense, for example. I am missing players like the injured Muniain and Williams. So I am playing counter and tight marking and heavy tackling. If I can push them off their game, I will do so all day long, and hopefully subs like Yeray and Viguera can get me a win. And they do. In the 33rd minute of a quiet, muscular game, Viguera scores for us after a pass from Gomez to Aduriz is snuffed out and he falls on it before any defenders can. They score in the 41st with Rodriguez. Half, 1-1 tie, we are down 3-2 aggregate. Unlucky! Yeray gives up a PK in the 50th, and Renaldo steps up to take it....but Kepa saves. I send in Lopez and Boveda. Despite our heavy tackling I’ve gotten no flags. Gorka for Iturraspe. From the 80th minute on I move to control, trying to level it up. If we can score here, we’ll tie 3-3 and each have one away goal. Game. They win 3-2 on aggregate, which is not bad considering. Congrats Real Madrid.

I have a few good wins last year to hang my hat on, like 2-0 over RM in Bilbao with the Spanish Cup, and 2-0 over Barca in the finals at a neutral site, and the 2-1 win in Liga over Barca too. We just need to stop dropping games to scrubs like we did multiple times.

[Abe Sargent]

September

Sept 3 – Away Friendly
Sept 10 – Away vs Espanyol
Sept 13 – Home vs Kobenhaven, Champions
Sept 17 – Home vs At. Madrid
Sept 21 = Home vs Celta
Sept 25 – Away vs Real Madrid
Sept 28 – Away vs Tottenham, Champions

Williams just scored his first international goal for Spain

A few of our players on month-to-month chose to leave, and Gorka Iraizoz is among them. I name Benat the new Vice Captain.

We won the friendly 5-1 after playing my backup GK Herrein.

I sell ST Kike Sola, a 30 year old backup ST we purchased three years ago for 4 mill to a Romanian club for 1.7 mill.


Time for the Espanyol match. Pick up where you left off! I am starting Hervias for the wounded Muniain. In the first half, no cards or scores , but lots of action. We had like 15 shots, to their 11. Almost even possession, 0-0 half. Not bad, but there is room for improvement. In the 49th minute, Inaki Williams intercepts the ball and drives and scores. The in the 56th, San Jose misses an interception and a cross hits home and they equalize. I pull him for Mikel Alonso. I move to controlling. In heads Rico for a tired Benat. Rico feeds Aduriz perfectly in an attack run on the goal and just scores. That was an awesome pass by the guy. I ease back to standard. Lopez sent in for Suseata. In the 85th, Williams feeds Aduriz a goal. We win 3-1, we wound up with 24 shots, they only had 4 in the second half and were 15, we had more possession, no cards to their three, and more. We dominated Espanyol. MOM is Williams.

[Abe Sargent]

I hand out some rests to get them ready for the Kobenhaven match. I leave in the same starting squad, including Hervias, as he played well. I might give Lopez a start here soon, but not today. Pick up where you left off, and then 7-2 shellacking of Shakhtar you delivered! They score in the 15th minute. They get the match’s first yellow in the 28th. Suseata us having a strong game, three crosses deadly to Aduriz, all three strong shots, all blocked by Kobenhaven’s GK. In the 33rd, their guy with a yellow gets another and is sent off. I make a few changes. Williams gets a goal kick, dribbles, drives, and scores. Garcia is injured and I send in Mikel Oyarzabel. We are 1-1 at the half. Good job, but don’t, get, complacent. I send in Rico. In the 65th, Rico finds Artiz for a score. I send in Yeray. In the 83rd, Suseata finds Oyarzabel for a score. We win 3-1. MOM is Inaki Williams. Good job!

We get 1.5 mill for winning, and Porto defeated Tottenham 1-0 so we both have 3 points.



Garcia twisted his ankle and is out for a few days and will miss today’s At. Madrid game, but should be back later. I will leave in Oyarzabel to give him an official start. I also put in Gomez for Hervias. Hervias was fine, but I want to slide to the more professional Gomez for this big match. Keep our run going! Oyarzabel finds Artiz on an attack run and he scores in the 28thLaporte takes out one of their STs and he has to head out. Half, we are up 1-0. Not bad considering the competition, but let’s not get complacent here. Gomez hits Williams on an attack run in the 48th, and then crosses not to Williams but Suseata behind him on an attack run in the 51st, and Suseata puts it away. 3-0. I send in Viguera,Boveda, and Lopez for a tired Benat. David Lopez sinks a DFK on the 83rd. That’s his 50th liga goal. We win 4-0, Gomez is MOM.I am very pleased with that result!

Anyways, you can see why I have developed a liking for Gomez. He is savvy.

[MrBug708]

Can a player acquire Basque nationality if he sticks with your team? Or is there a complete transfer embargo on the team for non-basque players?

[Abe Sargent]

The Celta match arrives. Now, as long as Oyarzabel’s name is on the score sheets for an assist or score, I am going to leave him in the AMC position for Garcia. He’s hot right now. Muniain is back, but I move him to the bench, with the eye to bring him back for the away Real Madrid match next, and I’ll leave in Gomez, as he had a great game last game. Yeray starts for DC Xabi Etxeitx. Pick up from where you left off! I begin controlling. Benat to Oyarzabel for a goal in the 19th. Half. Not bad, but room for improvement. Yeray with a yellow. I send in DC Gorka, Viguera, and Muniain. In the 85th, Celta score off a corner, and that’s game. 1-1 tie. Annoying! If we are beating At. Madrid 4-0, then we should not be tying Celta 1-1.

In the Real Madrid game, I have Garcia back, even though I like what Oyarzabel has done, given the largess of the match. They score in the 4th, and then Garcia scores in the 25th from a Artiz pass. Half. You can win this. In the 53rd, Suseata is injured and I send in Hervias, and then a few minutes later, they tackle Williams just outside of the penalty box, and Benat sinks the DFK. I send in Rico and Gomez and we get a few yellows. Real Madrid opens the flood gates after going down 2-1 in the 62nd, and then they manage to score in the 88th. Tie game 2-2. They have 39 shots and 17 on target, vs our 6 and 3. So a 2-2 score line is fine. I think getting a point here was well done. That was Laporte’s 125 liga game for us



Suseata is out for a month. I’m starting Hervias for today’s match vs Tottenham. They score in the 11th, and then Garcia finds Williams in the 22nd for a score. Half. Then we let them score three goals and it’s 4-1 to end it. Subs were Viguera, Yeray, and Gomez. Porto won and have six points.

[Abe Sargent]

Can a player acquire Basque nationality if he sticks with your team? Or is there a complete transfer embargo on the team for non-basque players?

Good question!

Only 16 year olds can with Atlethic. Other teams, like Real Sociedad and Eibar can bring in someone and they will gain it after a while, but Athletic can;t even sign them. The idea with 16 year olds is that Athletic does, on occasion, bring in non-Basque players in real life through their youth ranks, and they gain it. There are also examples of non-Basque players brought onto teams like Real Sosciedad who gained Basque-ness there, and then Athletic later brought them in. But, again, being Basque is not a legal entity nor a FIFA-designated identity so it's murky at times, you know?

[Abe Sargent]

October

Oct 1 – Away vs Osasuna
Oct 9 – Away Friendly
Oct 15 – Home vs Real Betis
Oct 19 – Away vs Porto, Champ
Oct 23 – Home vs Eibar
Oct 26 – Away vs Valladolid
Oct 30 – Away vs Malaga

David Lopez’s long range DFK goal was ranked 2nd best Spanish Goal in the League for the month


For today’s Osasuna match, we have starting Yeray for Laporte, Rico for Benat, and Hervias is still in, as my subs for tiredness. I want to see a much better performance! Williams finds Aduriz in the 5th for a score, and then Williams scores twice more in the first half with assists by Rico and Muniain. Half, 3-0. Keep it going! Remember that Osasuna are one of our rivals along with R. Sociedad. Lekue for Hervias, Mikel Alonzo for Yeray. Lopez for Muniain after he gets a yellow. We win 3-0, and MOM is Williams. Good job!

Iban Gomez signs a new deal with us for 3 more years, at 19k/week, in his rotational arrangement.

Our friendly is a win 7-0.

Mikel Alonso was injured in training and is out for a month.

I am starting Lopez for the Real Betis game, but everyone else is as expected. Keep up your run! At the 0:44 mark, one of their defenders clatters Artiz to the ground and he gets a yellow, and that is a frequent flyer who’ll be suspended next game. Garcia finds Williams on an attack run in the 16th. Benat a yellow. On a corner, Lopez finds DC Xabi Ex for a score in the 29th. Half. Keep it going! I pull Benat for Rico. Xabi a yellow and I pull him for DC Gorka. Vinguera heads in to spell Artiz. They score in extra time and we win 2-1. MOM is Garcia.

[Abe Sargent]

Laporte is jaded and needs to be rested. I’ll have Yeray start a game or two for him. I order him to rest for 3 days when I see who we have next – away vs Porto.

That game arrives. We have a decent start, in the rain, and close up shop, 0-0 half, after they were blowing out in the first 15 minutes and I shifted to heavy tackling and trying to break them up. After that, none of their shots fell on goal. Get us that one goal! They do on a counter, Hervias finds Artiz. Then we send in Yeray for an injured Xabi, and I pull a yellow carded Benat for Rico. Then they score on a corner in the 68th, Final sub is Gomez. They score in the 76th, and that’s game, 2-1 them.

DC Xabi is injured for a few weeks, and Yeray will start for them.


I start Fran at DMC for the Eibar match. We score twice in the first 5 minutes, with Williams and Artiz both hitting the net. Artiz again in the 41st, and it’s 3-0 at the half. Keep it going! I pull Fran and his 7/3 rating and tired for Gorka, and then Vig and Lopez head in as well. We win 3-0, MOM is Williams. Artiz picked up a knock late after the subs happened, and is out for a week with injury.


Suseata is back.

Four of my players made Team of the Week.

[Abe Sargent]

Mikel Oyarzabel approaches me about starting, which is fair actually, given that he has had a goal or assist in every game he plays, and I was thinking of giving him today’s start at the AMC spot anyways. Oyarzabel is good quality already, he’s just not at Garcia’s level, as Garcia is, arguably, my 3rd or 4th best player. Starting today for the Real Valladolid match is Boveda at DC for Laporte, Yeray for the wounded DC Maxi Ex, Viguera for the wounded Artiz, and Oyarzabel, as well as a returned Suseata. Carry on from the last match! In the 41st, Williams finds Oyarzabel for a score. Half. Keep it up. We only allowed two shots in the first half, on the road here. In the 63rd, Williams finds Oyarzabel for another goal. I send in Hervias and Lopez for the wingers. DC Gorka for San Jose heads in. Good win, well done, 2-0 us, MOM is Oyarzabel with the game’s both goals, and it was nice in a game when Artiz was out that I had a good scoring option out there who delivered.

Oyarzabel, 3 starts, 2 subs, in Champion and Liga play. 4 goals, 1 assist.

Inaki Williams is a natural at attacking midfield, but I think he is perfectly fine in the Complete Forward role alongside Artiz.

For the final match of the month, vs Malaga, Boveda is replaced by a now rested and ready Laporte, Artiz is healed but needs a couple more days to be ready in terms of fitness, so Viguera remains, and Rico is in for Benat, as well as Oyarzabel for now, as the hot leg and all. Vengeance! They score twice in the first half, and a few cards are handed out. Show me something better! And they do. In the 50th, Oyarzabel collects a Williams assists for a goal. Then in the 58th, Viguera hits Oyarzabel for another. I send in Gorka and Gomez and finally Lopez. Then in the 81st they score one goal to crack our defense and we lose 3-2. We collected 4 yellows. That was Iturrape’s 200th game for us.

Two more goals for Oyarzabel

[Abe Sargent]

November

Nov 1 – Home vs Porto, Champ
Nov 6 – Home vs Cordoba
Nov 20 – Away vs Sevilla
Nov 23 – Away vs Kobenhaven, Champ
Nov 26 – Home vs Deportivo
Nov 30 – Home vs Tottenham



For the Porto game, I am starting Raul Garcia, and I have Artiz back from injury and starting as well as Benat back after being tired. Right now in Group C, we are third with 3 points. Porto has 9, and Tottenham 6. If we manage to upend Porto or Tottenham in our place, and then beat Kobenhaven away, we’d only have 9 points, and still would not be guaranteed to qualify as we are three down right now. But at least it would help, so that it was I want. Two out of three. Vengeance! In the first 25 minutes, Porto have barely had the ball and haven’t even gotten off a shot. Then they score in the 26th minute on their first shot, a counter. A few minutes later, Williams feeds Artiz for a counter-score. Wiliams scores in extra time and it’s 2-1 us at the break. Don’t get complacent. I send in Gomez and Lopez. Williams hits Garcia for a score. Gorka at DMC heads in. We win 3-1, MOM is Williams.

Now, that win may, ultimately not matter much because Tottenham won, on the road, vs Kobenhaven.

Champion Group C

Porto, 9 points, +1 GD
Tottenham, 9 points, +9 GD
Athletic, 6 Points, 0 GD
Kobenhaven, 0 points, -10 GD

Now we have a shot, technically. If we win out then we’d finish with 12 points. That would include a loss for Tottenham. Assuming:

Porto beats Kobenhaven, we beat Kobenhaven, and we beat Tottenham, then we’d be at 12, 9, and 9, and 0, but if Tottenham can get a single point from Porto, then they would beat us.

So it’s still up for grabs, but we need two wins and some stuff to fall our way.

[Abe Sargent]

Mikel Alonzo is back from injury

Iturraspe signs a new 5 year deal for 80k/week.


I will be starting Boveda today, and the rest of my first XI, including Garcia. We are looking to take down Cordoba. It’s raining. Keep up the run! We come out and just dominate. Here are the stats:

Goals: Laporte, Artiz, Williams, Garcia

Assists: Williams, Suseata, Benat, Garcia

Subs – Rico, Gorka, Lopez

MOM is Garcia.


For today’s away match vs Sevilla, Xabi Ext is back from injury and starting, and moves in. The rest of my starting XI are in as well. This is a major game as we are currently 2nd in Liga vs the current #4 team. All of my best players are out and about. Pick up from where you left off! I play countering. Lots of movement, and we finish the first half with three more shots than Sevilla, but no goals and not a lot of movement. You can still win this! The first half was ours statistically, the second is theirs. They comes forward hard. I send in Rico, Hervias, and Alonso and move defensive from counter. In the 88th minute, DC Alonso finds Hervias for a score. We sneak out that win 1-0. Good job!


Players this year that have come to me wanting more ball include Boveda, Hervias, among others.

Our youth facilities are upgraded.


Boveda has been good recently, and Xabi is very tired after his first match back from injury, so I start Boveda in today’s away matchup against Kobenhaven. I moved in Oyarzabel as well. For the fans! Iturrasape finds Artiz on a counter for score in the 25th. Half. Don’t get complacent! Suseata for Artiz in the 59th. I send in Lekue for Boveda. Viguera for a tired Williams. Rico for Iturrasape. We win 2-0, Mom is Iturrassape, and good job!

[Abe Sargent]

Tottenham won 3-0 over Porto.

Champion’s Group C

Tottenham, 12 points, +12 GD
Athletic, 9 points, +2 GD
Porto, 9 points, -2 GD
Kobenhaven, 0 points, -12 GD


So we moved to 2nd. It will come down to the final week, and we have Tottenham, and Porto has Kobenhaven. If we both win, we’d have a three-way tie at 36 points a piece. But if Kobenhaven could keep Porto down, and we win, then we are in.

[Abe Sargent]

For the home game vs Deportivo, I start Yeray, Fran at DMC, Rico, and Garcia is back in. Luckily I pulled Williams early enough to keep him fresh. Vengeance! Suseata with an early yellow card. Early on, Garcia finds Artiz for a score in the 23rd, and then they hit us back in extra time. Half, 1-1. I sub in Xabi, Gomez, and Lopez. We cannot break their goal and it;s a tie, 1-1. That’s not acceptable!


Our final Champ game arrives, Home vs Tottenham. They score in the 21st and.....that’s it. We lose 0-1. Boring match. Few shots on goal by either team, etc. Quite simply, that was not good enough....


Wait....???


Porto lost to Kobenhaven....

We finish second, tied with Porto on points, and win the tiebreaker!!!

I feel like we backed into that, but okay.

I recall Arellano from his loan after the Manager and I talk more and he wasn’t going to play him, despite our agreement otherwise. So I pulled him back.

[Abe Sargent]

December

Dec 4 – Away vs Granada
Dec 7 – Away vs Recreativo, Copa
Dec 11 – Away vs Villareal
Dec 14 – Home vs Recvraetivo, Copa
Dec 19 – Home vs R. Sociedad


For the Granada match, I start Yeray. We score early on a Benat corner to Laporte, who slides it to San Jose for the score. Suseata is injured and I send in Hervias. Half. We are up 1-0. Don’t get complacent! Our foes score in the 55th. I send in Viguera and Boveda. We win 2-1, and MOM is GK Kepa. Good job!

Suseata is out for two weeks. I’ll start Hervias for him.


For the Cup match, I start mostly subs, save for a few key starters here and there. We win 1-0.

I want to try something different for the Villareal match. I leave Oyarzabel at AMC and move Raul Garcia to MR. Will that work? Pick up where you left off! We don’t. 1-1 tie on the road here. We can’t be dropping points to chumps like this. Williams hit Artiz for a score.

[Abe Sargent]

The Champion’s Draw happens, and we get last year’s winner – Bayern Munich.

The next Cup match arrives. I send in a sub group, We win 3-1, and Viguera was MOM with 2 goals.

We get Espanyol next in the Copa del rey

I extend Julen Arellano’s contract by a few years and 11k/week.

I start my A Team for the R Sociedad Basque Trophy match. For the fans!!! Williams hits Artiz for a score in the 19th minute on a break away. They get one, two yellows, and then Laporte injures one of their middies, but it’s a knock and they remain in. Half. We are up 1-0. Don’t get complacent! Williams hits Artiz on another counter, and defenders are closing from both sides, so he shoots it long, 20 yards from goal and sinks it. It’s his 200th goal. Suseata picks up a knock and Hervias heads in. Rico follows. Gomez too. A third yellow for them. A fourth follows. We win 2-0, went cardless, and MOM is Artiz Aduriz. Good win! That was Gomez’s 125th appearance for us

Suseata out for 2 weeks.

[Abe Sargent]

I spend some time looking at player’s contracts given that we are done with our games for 2016, our next match is on January 1.

Contracts that end this year:

Mikel Alonso, great coach prospect, but couldn’t get him to that sort fo deal, so on a one year backup deal

Gorka E

Suseata

DC Xabi Ext

Viguera


Here’s the problem with Suseata thus far:

3 injuries
12 starts in Liga, 1 goal, 2 assists. Last year he led the liga in assists with 12.

Is that someone I want to commit to? Our coach thinks he has declined slightly as a footballer in the last few months. Would he sign a rotation contract instead of starter? He does, I offer three years at a reduced salary and rotation status from first team.

I make a three year extension offer to Borja Viguera, and this is mainly due to a lack of options right now at the ST spot.

I also get a three year rotation deal offered to Xabi Exteita

With everyone now with 17 games, here is the early table heading into the winter break:

1. Barca, 41 points
2. Athletic, 37 points
3. Valencia, 32
4. Sevilla, 32
5. At. Madrid, 30
6. Real Madrid, 28
7. R. Sociedad, 27
8. Malaga, 25
9. Espanyol, 23
10. Getafe, 23

Not bad!

All of my players sign the deals we offered.

Ready?

Andoni Santxitz is named French Manager of the Year.

I just made an offer to an expiring Basque player with an expiring contract and with a big, giant, name. Get ready if he agrees.


Garcia is injured with a cold for a few days and will miss some games. Oyarzabel will start for him until he returns.

[Abe Sargent]

January


Jan 1 – Home vs Getafe
Jan 4 – Home vs Espanyol, Copa del Rey, 1st Leg
Jan 8 – Home vs Levante
Jan 11 Away vs Espanyol, 2nd leg
Jan 15 – Home vs Valencia
Jan 22 - Away vs Barcelona
Jan 29 – Away vs Espanyol


Ozil wins World Golden Ball and World Player of the Year.

Due to our successful financial position, the board agree to give me millions more in transfer cash.

The Getafe match arrives. Keep up our run! Williams fires off a counter attack assist to Artiz in the 26th. Hervias is starting today, Suseata is better but too tired to start. Iturrasape with a yellow, and we deliver an injury to our foe. Gomez in for Muniain too, by the by. They score in the 34th, and then we force an injury another off. Half, 1-1. Show me something else! I send in Lopez, Yeary and Boveda. In the 85th, Lopez launches a beautiful cross and assist to Benat for a goal. We win 2-1.

[Abe Sargent]

I just doubled down. I spoke with my board chairman, and for a certain Basque stud, he has agreed to up our transfer kitty. After massaging my salary, I have around 25 mill prior to the cash bonus. I have made this guy an offer, and if he agrees, get ready...



We sign him!

Welcome the best Basque player in the world


Antoine Greismann

http://cdn.images.express.co.uk/img/dynamic/galleries/x701/223406.jpg

Came through the Real Sociedad ranks. Was sold to At. Madrid for 30 Mill. They almost doubled that with their sale. He is an iron man in value. His first season for AM in the liga he has 22 goals. He has loads of awards, success internationally, domestically, and continentally. Key player, 175k a week.

Now, why him?

Well, first, he is the best Basque player out there, as a French/Basque guy. No question about how powerful he is. He is a stud of a player. He is the best addition you can make, bar none. Transfer targets are limited, but no one is sad to sign Greizmann

Secondly, I expect to see him replace Artiz Aduriz next year fully as my main weapon.

Artiz? He’s 35, and will be 36 before the season finishes. He’s often been slow to drop, but that had begun a bit.

I see Griezmann starting at ST this year, and we’ll bounce Artiz or Williams beside him, although I could move Williams back to the natural place on the left or right edge. And then next year, I think a Williams/Griezmann combo at ST would be deafening.

Remember:

Raul Garcia is 30
Artiz is 35
Suseata is 29


But Griezmann is just 25.

Third, this hurts a division rival. I just signed away the best player At. Madrid have. That’s not nothing.

Fourth, I need to win the liga. That means I need to be able to beat Barcelona, Real Madrid, and At. Madrid reliably. That can’t happen without a Messi on my team. A player that just pushes, like Renaldo or Messi. I just took away AM’s Messi, and brought him over to my side. I have my Neymar, Jr or my Messi with Greizmann. This strongly increases my chance of pushing for the liga, this season, and given I am solidly in #2, with only Barca above me, this gives me a push.

Fifth, I need to compete in the Champion league. That isn’t happening with my squad the way it currently looks. Griezmann changes that dynamic. I am immediately more legitimatized to win against a Bayern or a Paris or a Tottenham.

And again, I AM ALL BASQUE. Hear my fellow Leones roar! (Leones, the Lion, is the mascot of the team)

No Basque team has ever won the Champion’s league. We have 8 liga trophies, and Real Sociedad has 2, but no one has a Champion trophy. I don’t think it happens until we get all of the great Basque options together on one team.

For example, consider this team:


GK – Kepa or Ruffier
DC Laporte, Javi Martinez
DR, DL – César Azpilicueta, Inigo Martinez
DMC – Xabi Alonso
MR Williams
MC Ander Herrera
ML Muniain
ST Griezzmann, Garcia or Artiz or Fernado Lloriente

Could that pan-Basque team win? Possibly! I think a team with Javi, Zabi, Laporte, Inaki Williams, Greizmann, Herrera, Azpilicueta and more would be rough to stop.

So considering my goal, the main question to ask instead is...

Why would I not sign Greizmann?

[MrBug708]

Good question!

Only 16 year olds can with Atlethic. Other teams, like Real Sociedad and Eibar can bring in someone and they will gain it after a while, but Athletic can;t even sign them. The idea with 16 year olds is that Athletic does, on occasion, bring in non-Basque players in real life through their youth ranks, and they gain it. There are also examples of non-Basque players brought onto teams like Real Sosciedad who gained Basque-ness there, and then Athletic later brought them in. But, again, being Basque is not a legal entity nor a FIFA-designated identity so it's murky at times, you know?

I'm playing FM17 and AB had a Mali player on their roster. He has Basque nationality. On further review, he's from Parla Spain which is in Madrid. He came through the Gefate youth ranks, but at 18, moved to AB. Can't tell if he gained Basque nationality or always had it.

[Abe Sargent]

One of the reasons why Greizmann mentioned he wanted to join us, for the first time since he’s been on my radar, was that we are still in the Champion’s league. We are the only Spanish team to make it out of the Group Stage. Now sure, I think we backed out in that last game and got lucky that Kobenhaven beat Porto to send us on, but still, we are still playing. Real Madrid came 3rd in a group won by Arsenal, and 2nd by Galatasaray, At. Madrid was 3rd behind Juve and Wolfburg, and Valencia was 3rd behind Man Utd and Paris. Understandable.

But we are out! And we have to face defending champion, but we can do it, right?

So for fun, and this will not count, I go to sleep, and go on holiday until the end of the season. Just t see where the AI would get me. I finish 3rd in liga, and win the Spanish Cup again, and lose to Bayern. We also had two major injuries, including a month-long one to Kepa from a training exercise that hurt and a 3 month one by Inaki Williams.

[Abe Sargent]

I'm playing FM17 and AB had a Mali player on their roster. He has Basque nationality. On further review, he's from Parla Spain which is in Madrid. He came through the Gefate youth ranks, but at 18, moved to AB. Can't tell if he gained Basque nationality or always had it.


Yeah, it's possible this player is not unlike Espericueta or Laporte with Basque linage, but immigrants. There have been players in the Athletic system that could, or did, play for African nations.

For example:

Yanis Rahmani, came through AB's youth ranks in 2011/2012 year. Born near Paris. No Basque lineage. I could n;t find if he was, or was not, living in Pays BAsque in France at some point in time or not, sorry.


Jonas Ramalho, born in Bilbao, son of Angolan immigrant and local Basque woman, came through youth academy ranks, plays for Angolan national squad.


My research into this topic picked up this SI article, in case you were wondering. One line in here that seemed relevant to the Fran question is this:

"Athletic's policy states -- except that it doesn't "state" at all, of course -- that players are eligible if they are Basque and/or formed as footballers in the Basque Country"

"Athletic also have players that they have brought from elsewhere to form part of Lezama, joining the club at a pre-professional level" (Lezama is their youth academy)

https://www.si.com/more-sports/2011/11/23/jonas


Oh, and there was a line in there that inspired some of my recent acquisitions -

"They (Athletic) have come to be considered a kind of unofficial Basque national team"


So if I am a Basque national team, I need the Javi Martinez, Ander Herrera, César Azpilicueta, Xabi Alonso, Iñigo Martínez Berridi and Antoine Greizmann, right?

[Abe Sargent]

For the Cup match, I put in Greizmann for Suseata, and then move Williams to MR, with my normal starting XI save for Oyarzabel. We open. In the 12th, Artiz is carried off the field on a stretcher. I move Williams back to ST and then in heads Suseata. In the 35th, Griezmann scores on his debut. Assist by....GK Kepa! Half, we are up 1-0. Mikel Oyarzabel is injured and Garcia heads in. Lopez for a tired Benat. Garcia finds Griezmann for a score in the 81st. Here comes Espanyol, they are not looking to fade. They score off a corner in the 86th. We win 2-0, MOM is Greizmann


Artiz injured his hamstring, and will be out for 3 months Oyarzabel is out for a month instead.

I will be playing Greizmann as a Trequista ST along Williams’ complete forward role.



The big name player I was hoping to sign for free next year was Xabi Alonso, and he has agreed to join us for the next two years! Key player, 175k/week.


For the Levante home game I am starting Yeray and Rico. We win 3-0, with two goals by Williams, one by Muniain, assists by Lopez, Gomez, and Williams. Rico was injured, Williams MOM.

Rico is out for a week.

I loan Arellano.

[Abe Sargent]

Today we have our final match vs Espanyol for the Copa del Rey. Take control of this tie! I have most of my starting XI out there right now. Goals by Williams and Muniain, assists by Williams and Garcia. We win 2-0, subs are Gomez, Boveda, and Hervias. We have some more injuries during the game to Suseata and Garcia. We win 2-0 and get through 4-1 aggregate to the next round. Good job! Williams my MOM.

We made it to the Quarter Final where we play Levante. Luckily both injuries are short term in the area of a week or so.


Remember how we began the season with a 3-0 loss on the road vs Valencia? Vengeance! I start Muniain at AMC and Gomez at ML. We get early push. Scores by Williams, Greizmann and Greizman in the first half, here in the rain in Bilbao. Half. Keep it up! They get a penalty from San Jose and take it. Gomez with a card, I send in Lopez, Boveda. They foul and Iturasspe hits the DFK. Then in the 88th, Griezmann hits goal off another Williams assist for his hat trick. Game, MOM, Griezmann, we win 5-1.

We thumped Valencia!

Inaki Williams has learned how to beat the offside trap.

[Abe Sargent]

Yeray came back learning a lot from the hook up with Mentor DC Xabi Exteite.

Starting for the Quarter Final Cup match vs Levante is DC Xabi, DMC Gorka, and Suseata is back from injury. Keep it up! You can do it! Williams picks up two early scores in the first 15 minutes. Hervias and Muniain with assists. And then we never score again. In the 51st, they score off a counter and they never score again either. I sent in Mikel Alonso, Boveda, and Lopez. MOM is Williams.

That victory sets a new club record of 8 wins in a row. Get ready because that is about to change!

I have loaned people like Lekue, Fran, and a bunch of youth this window as I didn’t use them as much as I wanted.

Garcia is back for today’s Barcelona match. Now this is one of the most important matches this year in the liga. Right now, after 20 matches, we are 2 points behind leaders Barcelona. Win this, and we move to 1st. This is Benat’s 100th liga game for us.. We have a solid game early, not a lot of action. Only twice in the first half do I think Barcelona are about to Barcelona me, but on the 2nd of those, Neymar just blows up and scores in the 37th. Half. 1-0. You can do better than that! I send in Yeray, Gomez, and Gorka. But we never get that score. We lose 1-0. Unlucky!

[Abe Sargent]

Our away game vas Levante for the Quarters 2nd leg has arrived. I have Rico start at MC for Benat, who is tired. Other than that, my players are the same as before. The first leg win here means nothing. Go get me that tie! We have a lot of close run-ins, but Muniain finds Griezmann for a goal in the 34th. They have two yellows. Half, 1-0. Don’t get complacent. We won the first leg just 2-1. Get that win! I put in Viguera for a tired and underperforming Williams, right now my worst player on the pitch with a 6.20 rating. They score in the 61st. Garcia is very tired, so I send in Gomez for him and switch Gomez and Muniain. Hervias for Suseata. From an Iturasape assist, Gomez scores in the 88th and we end that concern of a late goal and identical score on away goals. We win 2-1 here, 4-2 aggregate. Good job!

In other Copa del Rey news, Barca beat At. Madrid, Real Madrid devastate Sevilla, Real Sociedad upend Granada.

We get....Barcelona next....I was hoping to get our Rival Real Sociedad, but that was not to be.

Today, for the home Espanyol match, I start Gomez for Suseata. Benat is back in, and otherwise, our starting group remains. Controlling start, you can win this! They score, and we respond in the first ten minutes, with Laporte hitting Xabi on a corner. Half. Show me something else! I send in Boveda, Rico, and Lopez. They don’t and we tie them 1-1. MOM was Xabi Exteita. You were not good enough today!

[Abe Sargent]

February

Feb 1 – Home vs Barcelona, Semi Finals, 1st leg
Feb 5 – Away vs At. Madrid
Feb 8 – Home vs Bayern, 1st leg Champion
Feb 11 – Away vs Celta
Feb 15 – Away vs Barca, 2nd leg
Feb 19 – Home vs Real Madrid
Feb 24 – Home vs Osasuna
Feb 28 – Away vs Bayern, 2nd Leg, Champions

Big month! 2 games vs Barcelona, 2 vs Bayern, and 2 vs At. and Real Madrid in liga.



Suseata is back in my starting XI for this match. Everyone else is the same. Messi is out, injured. Vengeance! On a long range FK in the 15th from Benat to Griezmann, the goal is there, but their GK dives to block it, it falls lose and Xabi Exteita puts it away. Goal. In the 39th, Suseata drives the ball to the corner, crosses, and hits Griezmann for a goal. 2-0 half. This is Barcelona. Do not get complacent. This is not won at 2-0. Benat fires a DFK into goal in the 58th. I sub in Yeray for Laporte. Lopez for Suseata. Williams hits Griezmann for a goal in the 78th but it is called offsides. I send in Boveda for Iturrasape, and move San Jose to that spot. We win 3-0. We just dominated them on the match. We had 2x as many shots, 4x as many on target (8 to 2), more possession, better tackling and passing rates, more interceptions, etc. Xabi Exteita is MOM. Good win!


Oyarzzabel’s injury has concluded, so I am starting him for the At. Madrid match at AMC. I was looking to rest Griezmann for this match and save him, but I could not register him for Champion’s play as he already played for At. Madrid prior to us signing him, and thus can’t be double dipped. Keep our run going! I start counter style. It’s snowing today in Madrid. We have a bad start, they score a goal in eh 11th, and we get a yellow right after. Half. We aren’t really in the game thus far. Show me something else! In the 54th, At. Madrid hits us again, and I send out subs and more but nothing. We push, but nothing falls. We lose 2-0, we had 3 more shots, and 1 more on target, but just could never get going in goal.

[Abe Sargent]

For the Bayern match, I am starting Viguera at ST along Williams with an advanced forward role. It would be fine to run this with Artiz and Williams, or Greizmann and anyone, but without Artiz and Greizmann, this is going to be an unknown game. For the fans! They grab two cards before Mueller scores for them in the 40th. Half. Show me something else! Laporte carded in the 49th. Muniain carded a few minutes later. In the 52nd, Suseata feeds Williams a score. In the 58thm Viguera is injured. I change my tactic. I drop Viguera to AMC, move Garcia to a shadow striker, sub in Oyarzabal, make him an advanced playmaker, and we head back. Yeray heads in for Laporte. Gomez for Muniain. Iturraspe with a card. Game, 1-1 tie. Not our night, I suppose.

Viguera out for 10 days


For the Celta match, I am starting Rico, Hervias, Yeray, Greizmann, Oyarzabal and Lopez for my normal starters. I want to give some resting to my peoples. In the last few games, with us stumbling in liga, we have let Barcelona drive on up in the rankings above us. Get this win! It’s raining hard to day. I begin countering. We score early, with Muniain finding Greizmann for a goal. They return a score in the 22nd. Then they get a yellow and a minor injury. Half. 1-1. You can still win this! In the 61st, Oyarzabals this Williams for a counter score and we are up. I send in Boveda, Gomez, and Alonso. Score holds, and we win 2-1. Good win and Greizmann is MOM.

[Abe Sargent]

Our away match vs Barcelona arrives. Now, if you’ll recall, we thumped them good in our place 3-0. No away goals or anything, so we just need a professional result. I move back my starting lineup. This is Barcelona at home, don’t get complacent out there! Grab this tie! Suseata to Williams for a goal at the 2:44 mark is called off. Suarez hits us in the 29th. Benat fires a IFK from around the halfway mark to San Jose who just misses. And then the onslaught begins. Half. Keep it up! We clamp down defensively, and keep them from scoring, we lose 1-0, win 3-1 aggregate, and MOM is GK Kepa.

I link up Hervias and Lopez for a mentorship


I make no major changes, other than Yeray starting, in my squad for today’s home game vs Real Madrid. For the fans! A positive result here would really help. This is San Jose’s 225 league appearance for us. They are currently 3rd in the liga. Suseata hits Williams for a score in the 33rd, and then they score back in the 44th. Half. 1-1. We can do better than that! Then a goal in the 49th. I send in Gomez, Boveda, and Rico. Nothing. We lose 2-1.

Lopez upped his coaching creds and he is enrolling in another coaching course.

[Abe Sargent]

Real Sociedad beat real Madrid 3-2 aggregate to ,make it to the Copa del Rey final to face us

Gomez is injured in training and out for 2 weeks.

Viguera is back and I put him on the bench for the match vs Osasuna in case I need him. I start Oyarzabal today. Osasuna, as a reminder, is one of our, now promoted, rivals. So for the fans! Oyarzabal is assisted by Griezmann for a goal in the 15th minute of the match, with our control dynamic. Then Benat hits Griezmann in the 22nd. In the 26th, Williams is hit by Griezmann for a goal. Half. Stats, we’re odd. We have 6 shots, 3 on target, and all have sunk, so we haven’t had this massive offensive explosion on the pitch, outside of hitting goal. Very pleased, and keep it going! I sub in Gorka at DMC. In the 63rd, they foul Griezmann in the box, hard, and San Jose makes the PK easily. I send in Hervias. Rico next. Suseata finds Oyzrzabel for a goal in the 82nd. Game, we win 5-0, and MOM is Griezmann with a goal and 3 assists.


Yeray learns how to switch the ball to the other flank.

Our away game vs Bayern arrives. We have to win, or tie with a 2-2 or more score, in order to win on aggregate. I can’t play Artiz (long term injury) or Griezmann (unavailable) so I am dropping my 2nd ST< playing Williams up front alone, and running multiple AMs out there to support, such as Oyarzabal and Garcia with a shadow striker role. For the fans!!! Inaki Williams with an interception goal to get us started in the 7th, and then they score in the 12th. Cards to Xabi Etxeita and Benat in the first 15 minutes. Iturrasape is injured late in the 1st, but I keep him in for now. Half. Get me one more goal! If we can score another goal in the 2nd half, then they need two to win on aggregate. San Jose with a yellow. Bayern’s fist yellow comes at the 63 mark. I send in Yeray. Rico. I send in Lopez late for Muniain because he is really good at penalties. 1-1 at the end of regulation. Extra time. Raul Garcia gives up a penalty in the 116th minute, and they sink the pk. We lose 2-1, 3-2 aggregate. Unlucky.

We got a sweet 5.5 mill gift

[Abe Sargent]

March

Mar 6 – Away vs Betis
Mar 10 – Home vs Valladolid
Mar 15 – Away vs Eibar
Mar 18 – Home vs Malaga
Mar 28 – Youth club comes in
Mar 29 – Away vs Cordoba


Gomez is back from his injury for the Betis game. For the fans! We start out with a Greizmann to Williams goal in the 28th. Then a few yellows for them. Suseata is injured, and Hevias heads in to replace him. They score back in the 37th, and its tied at the half. You got to do better! Garcia finds Benat for a goal in the 63rd. I send in Yeray and Rico, and the score holds. We win 2-1. Suseata out for a week.


Boveda wants me to transfer him, I tell him not right now.

The Valladolid match arrives. I have Hervias, Rico, Gomez, and Yeray starting. Keep our run going! Hervias to Williams, goal, 9th minute. Yeray gashes his head. Gomez fires a DFK from long range, it rattles back off the crossbar and Williams finishes. Williams a massive break way, drives at goal, GK comes out to stop him, dives for the ball and Williams jukes away, and scores on an open net. That’s his hattrick in the first TWENTY TWO minutes! Williams to Griezmann for a goal in the 28th. Boveda for the lightly injured Yeray. Half. Wow. Keep it going! Lopez heads in. They muscle in a score in the 77th. Oyarzabal heads in. We win 4-1, MOM is Williams. Yeray out for a week.

[Abe Sargent]

The board have announced plans to expand by 12666 seats, at a cost of 107 mill, for around 14 months.


Real Madrid lost on the road to #4 Sevilla, so this win pushed us back into #2. We’d been at #3 for around a month.

Next up is Eibar. I have Oyarzabal starting, as well as Munian, Xabi Etxeita, and Hervias starting. Heavy rain. In the 5th, Williams scores, and then Benat does in the 9th. Yellow to Iturrasape. Williams scores in the 19th and then 29th,. Both off Griezmann assists Another hattrick for him. San Jose gets a yellow card for a in-the-box penalty. They make the PK. Griezmann with a score of his own in the 43rd. Good job, keep it going! I pull my DMC for Gorka. On a corner, Benat finds Laporte for a gal in the 62nd. I send in Lopez for Hervias. Boveda next. Game. We win 6-1. MOM is Williams. Great job! They had 20 shots to our 15, 10 on target to our 8, and 57% of possession. But we blew them off the carpet.

Benat won Spanish Goal of the Week

SIX of my players made the Spanish Team of the Week – Kepa, Williams, Benat, Greizmann, Xabi Ext, Laporte


On March 25th, Artiz Aduriz has finished his injury. The coach report shows he has dropped in ability during his injury, and he is not even close to match fit, so I want to ease him back into the starting lineup.

[Abe Sargent]

March 28th arrives. Any major youth players that came out of our academy? Last year we began with a solid ST that looked very, very good. Anyone else? Not really any major talent, not yet. Maybe one or two who could be on the level of a Gomez or a Exteita if they were brought up right, but not otherwise.

We reach out to other Basque youth camps and such to see if anyone is hitting my radar. The best Basque youth came out of the Real Sociedad camp, and I put him on my radar, but even he looks lesser. My scout report says he’s dumb as a rock and not interested in playing for us.


The Cordoba match arrives. We begin countering. Pick up where you left off! They score once, and then again in the first 30 minutes. Yellow for Garcia. Half. Show me something else from this 2-0 crap! In the 51st, Hervias was booked. Greizmann hits goal in the 60th off a Williams assist. Then Hervias finds Garcia in the 73rd for a score, and it’s locked up at 2-2. Finally, in extra time, Williams hits Garcia for the game winning goal, late. We had 22 shots to Cordoba’s 9, and unlike normal, we weren’t as proficient. Good comeback win! Garcia is MOM.

[Abe Sargent]

April

April 3rd – Away vs Deportivo
April 8 – Home vs Sevilla
April 12 – Home vs Malaga
April 15 – Home vs Granada
April 22 – Away vs Real Sociedad
April 30 – Home vs Villareal

Benat won liga Goal of the Month for March.

Quick liga check:

1. Barcelona, 30 games, 69 points
2. Real Madrid, 31 games, 65 points
3. Athletic, 30 games, 65 points
4. Sevilla, 31 games, 61
5. At. Madrid, 31 games, 51 points
6. Valencia 31, 50 points
7. Villareal, 31 games, 48 points
8. Malaga, 31 games, 41 points
9. Espanyol, 30 games, 40 points
10. R. Sociedad, 31 games, 39 points


So, as you can see, we finished the easy run of games in March, and had the heady pressure of February with matches against Barca, RM, and Valencia. But now we have a run of upper level games, but again, no heavies. The biggest games are home vs Sevilla, at #4, and away at our rivals at #10, with the home matches against #7 and #8 in there as well.


David Lopez comes down with a long term two week virus and we let him deal with it at home.

Real Valladolid, with 6 games left, have been relegated

I move Williams to MR and move Artiz to tag team with Greizmann. Let’s see what sort of Magic they might work together. I begin countering. In the 10th minute, Artiz picks up a minor knock. I’ll play him until the half and replace him then, for fitness. They have two yellows, one from injurying Artiz. On a IFK, Benat finds Laporte for goal. A third yellow for them falls. Half. I send in Suseata for Artiz. I send in Boveda and Rico. Iturrasape with a late yellow. In the 90th, Suseata finds Griezmann on an attack run for a goal. Garcia adds a yellow in injury time. Game We win 2-0. Good job!

[Abe Sargent]

Artiz out for 2-3 weeks for a damaged foot.


Our youthers sign, and I begin some individualized training as well as offer some for loans and move some up from the U19 squad to Baskonia immediately. I have a fullback that 7 Tercera clubs want to come down and play immediately and start for them, so I accept those offers for Enrique Irbarren.


I start Yeray and Suseata for the Sevilla game. For the fans!!! I begin with a controlling pace. We’ll see if that works soon enough. They push hard, and I edge back to standard, and then countering. We survive. Half 0-0. You can still win this one! We don’t. 0-0 draw. It felt like an away game! We had 6 shots, they had 25. I tried everything I knew, from switching my middies to changing tactics, and nothing worked.


We have qualified for the Champion’s Cup, with 6 games to play. Barca dropped a game to Espanyol on the road two weeks ago (who are playing spoiler right now. The next game they went into At. Madrid and beat them 3-1).

Initial budgets are 1.75mill weekly and 36 mill transfer

Well I;ve got good news and bad news and worst news:

Good News – Barcelona just lost
Bad News – They lost to Real Madrid
Worst News – Bilbao, our B club just lost and moved into the top relegation spot from the Adalente division

I find a solid youth contract French Basque player at low level team and make him an offer to join us.

[Abe Sargent]

I start Oyarzabal for today’s Malaga match. Vengeance! I left Yeray in, btw. Muniain finds Oyarzabal for a goal in the 31st. Half. Not bad, but room for improvement! I send in Etxeita. Another Oyarzabal score in the 63rd. Another Muniain assist. In heads Boveda for an underperforming Laporte. Rico heads in for Benat. The game’s first card is for them in the 79th. Game. We win 2-0, MOM is Muniain.


David Lopez returns from his virus.


The Granada games arrives, and I make no major changes to my roster. Pick up where you left off! We have an odd...game (I left for the movie, and came back and it had finished, with subs and such intact). We win 3-2, with two assists and a goal by Greizmann, and goals by Oyarzabal, San Jose, and Gomez found Griezmann for the go-ahead score in the 63rd. Iturrassape was injured early, and he’ll be out for around a week. MOM was Griezmann.


Bilbao beat Sporting 4-2 to pull out of relegation zone for now. Every team 1-5 won their game too, no movement on the board. With four games left:

1. Barca, 76
2. Athletic, 75
3. RM, 74
4. Sevilla, 65
5. Valencia, 54
6. At. Madrid, 51


Those are the Euro qualifications right now. You can see just how in front we have blazed right now

[Abe Sargent]

Artiz is back from injury, but for the rest of the season, I see him as a sub only, replacing Viguera on the bench. I have dropped his team usage from key player to first team.

For the away Real Sociedad match, I am starting both ex-Sociedad players Greizmann and Oyarzabal. I have San Jose at DMC and Etxeita at DC with Itarraspe out on injury. He should be back for the next match. As an away game against our rival, I feel this is the last obvious land mine on the liga schedule for us. For the fans!!! And there it is. Another Oyarzabal goal in the 28th minute. A Williams shot rebound from the GK and was finished by Mikel. They hit us back the next minute. Half. No cards, quiet match. We are 10 and 7 shots on target, and they 8 and 3. We have been lethal, just not hitting. 51/49 possession. Get that win! Xabi has been not good, and I send in Boveda for him. Hervias for Suseata. In the 81st, Griezmann hits Williams for a score. Rico heads in. We have three more good shots on goal. We win 2-1, and MOM is Griezmann. Good win!

[Abe Sargent]

Yeray’s agent approaches me about getting his client a new deal...Hmm...

I make him a rotation offer for 5 years total, and 24k/week

The other teams chasing us won too.

Bilbao won 4-2 vs Rayo.

Yeray signs

Villareal is here. I keep the same XI save for Iturrasape is in. I am at home, and begin controlling. Keep up this run!!! Muniain crosses to Suseata, who leaps up and heads it to Williams for the lone score in the half by either team. Room for improvement! I sub in Gomez and Rico, and then Greizmann hits Williams for another score in the 77th. In goes Yeray. They score right back in the 83rd. That gives them a way back into the match, so we need to watch out. Game, we win 2-1. MOM is Williams. Good win!


Everyone else of import also wins. 2 games left. Eibar is relegated, one Basque team back down. I hate to see you go!

[Abe Sargent]

May

May 7 – Away vs Levante
May 13 – Real Madrid, Copa del Rey, Real Sociedad
May 21 – Away vs Getafe


The short of it. We win 2-1 on the road, MOM and two goals by Williams, assist by Griezmann and Muniain.

Everyone else won too.

[Abe Sargent]

Copa Del Rey Final

http://sportsmaza.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Copa-Del-Rey.jpg


We have been in the finals three straight times, and are trying to win it in back to back years.

We begin controlling.

FOR THE FANS!!!

This is a final against our major rival. You can’t not show up for this game. They score in the 6th minute. Sixth. I ease back to Standard. We injure one of their wingers in the 14th. Half, we are down 0-1. Show me something else!!! They look motivated. In the 60th I move to attacking. I send in Yeray. I pull Oyarzabal for Garcia. On a corner in the 77th, they foul San Jose, and that;s a penalty! Can we make it....? Up steps San Jose and...yes we can make it! I hold my last sub in case we need it for extra time. Back to Standard. Game. Extra time. Go get me that goal!!! I send in Gomez for a very tired Muniain, who has just a 6.9 rating right now vs Suseata’s 7.7. They collect two yellows in extra time. At the 99:19 mark, Williams finds Greizmann on an attack run and he sinks it. Half. Can we hold onto this one-goal lead for the last 15 minutes? On a FK dangerous close, Gomez leans in and hits Benat for a score. Gomez is a professional, he often shows up in big games. Time. We win 3-1. MOM was not on my roster. Good win! We finished with 0 cards to their 4.

[Abe Sargent]

Get ready...

Inaki Williams won Spanish Player of the Year over big names like Koke, Dani Carvajal and more.

Mikel Oyarzabal won Spanish Young Player of the Year with his 11 goals, 2 assists from the midfield position in 15 liga starts. He dedicates the award to me.

David Lopez and Mikel Alonso announce their retirement from the game. Lopez is a great coach, and he’ll remain with us in that role moving forward. One of the key reasons I brought in Alonso was to mentor and coach, and now that he’s retiring, hopefully I can try and keep him as a studly coach. I make him a coach offer for us for three years.

DC Gurpegi announces he will retire. Alonso agrees to the coach job we offered him

[Abe Sargent]

Going into the final week, everyone has an easier match, save for Barca, who head to Sevilla to finish on the road with them. If we can win, and Barca falls, then we can emerge with the win

Final match vs Getafe. Here we go! I start Garcia. For the fans, let’s get them one more win! Well that was a boring 1st half. What else could I talk about? They have two yellows? Umm...Real Madrid is up 3-0 at the half? Barca is down 0-1 at the half? Get me that win! Suseata crosses to Muniain over three defender, one misses a key header, and Muniain scores in the 49th. I slide to things like tight marking and retaining possession. I put in Artiz for Garcia and swap him and Williams on the pitch. Hervias for Suseata is next. Boveda last. They have two more yellows. We win 1-0.


And we won the liga!

[Abe Sargent]

I was not expecting that year 2, I thought Barca had it sewn up when they were 10-12 points over everyone else for much fo the season, but a few losses here and there dropped them, including losses to Espanyol, Sevilla, and such.

Final table, and this is close.

1. Athletic, 87 points
2. Real Madrid, 86
3. Barca, 85
4. Sevilla, 68
5. Valencia, 62
6. At. Madrid, 59
7. Celta, 55
8. Betis, 55
9. Espanyol, 49
10. Villareal, 49
11. Levante, 48
12. Malaga, 48
13. Granada, 45
14. Real Sociedad, 44
15. Getafe, 40
16. Osasuna, 40
17. Deportivo, 40
18. Cordoba, 35
19. Eibar, 29
20. Real Valladolid, 15


And there we go! Now, because we did the double and won both the Cup and the Liga out of nowhere (we were never 1st until the last week, and we were often 3rd), the EURO bid drops to Celta, so they will head to the Europa League next year.

This is the 9th liga win for Athletic, and the 25 Copa.

We get a lot of blood money for winning.

[Abe Sargent]

So, again for fun, I go on vacation for a year and then head to bed. What will happen next year, with the addition of Xabi Alonso to the squad?

We finish 3rd behind Real Madrid and Celta, and ahead of Barcelona at 5th, Valencia at 4th, and At. Madrid at 6th. They did make it out of a Champ Group stage that included Milan, Benfica, and Buraspor, before losing to Arsenal 4-1 aggregate the next round, won the Super Cup, lost in the Semi-Finals of the Spanish Cup to At. Madrid 4-4 aggregate on away goals. Not the best year. But obviously, not a flash in the pan either, with three separate years in a row on the Champion level even without any guidance. And of course, you never know what wound up happening. You could have players injured long term that could not be replaced by new signings and stuff like that, but they used their own tactics, and I can see they went 4 wide at the back with Boveda getting a lot of play, well, that doesn’t fit my team much in terms of talent, and I wouldn’t have done that, but still, you can see the results with a 3rd place finish in the liga remains, even with a manager on holiday handicap.

[Abe Sargent]

UD Melilla, from my other Spanish dynasty, just got promoted to Adelante...



Messi was the liga top goalscorer with 28 goals, Williams was 2nd with 25


With his 18 assists and 25 goals, ,Williams wins top goalscorer.

Andoni Santxitz was named Manager of the Year

Laporte was named in Liga Team of the Year, Williams and Greizmann subs

Players held an awards ceremony and:

Signing of the Season – Griezmann
Goal of the Season – Benat
Young Player of the Season – Williams

Fan’s Player of the Season – Greizmann




I am totally shocked that we won the liga that fast. I thought it was going to be year 3-4 instead and year 5-6 for the Champion’s League.

We have announced an upgrade of the training facilities.

Now, let’s look at stats for liga play only

Most MOM was Messi with 12, our best was Williams with 8

The best avg rating was Carvajal with 8.08. Williams was 7th with 7.72.

In goals, Messi was first with 28, Williams had 25, Griezmann was 5th with 18 goals total for us and At. Madrid.

For % fo shots on target, the best was 65% by Atletico’s Yannick Carrasico. 5th in the liga was Oyarzabal with 59% and Raul Garcia right behind him with 58%.

Three players led the league with 18 assists, Neymar, Williams, and Griezmann. Our best middle was Benat at 8.

Griezmann was 8th in key passes.

Not a great year for my middles. Not a lot of assists, dribbles, crosses, etc.

None of my defenders were top 20 in tackles/game. Laporte was 9th in number of key tackles.

San Jose 10th in key headers, Laporte 15th

Iturrasape 4th in headers won ratio

The fewest goals conceded by a GK was 20 at Real Madrid. We conceded 33 and Kepa came in 6th. 13 clean sheets, 6th best. Kepa was 2nd in saves held, and 5th in saves parried.

Kepa was clearly one of our good results. At the age of 22 was already a quality GK in one of the hardest flights in European football. He’s now worth 6 mill and a rising star. Switching to him made a lot of sense.

My midfield drops may be to the many starts I handed out to Suseata, Lopez, Gomez, Muniain, Benat, Rico, Hervias, and more, but to be fair, this is also due in part t the heavy and constant injury-ness of Suseata.

Here is Suseata’s stat line for us:

25 liga starts, 1 goal, 6 assists, which is still not bad. Muniain had 28 starts and 3 and 5.

Man Utd beat Tottenham for the Champion’s Cup

[Abe Sargent]

I get that sweet, sweet TV revenue cash for the year for Champion’s play


So I have, on my shortlist, all of the best Basque players, and every so often I scout them, to see if their interest in joining me, or not, has shifted. I am not chasing someone who has not shifted interest. Take, as a good example, Griezmann. At first there was no interest in joining our club. Then in December, as I was reviewing players with our big injection of cash from the club, and massaging my way-under-budget annual weekly budget, I did another scouting, and saw, for the first time, he’d be interested in joining our club. But they thought he’d be around 50 mill. Well, it wound up being 60, but the club was behind it, upped my transfer game, and it worked.

So, of the remaining Basque power players out there, any more interested in heading over?

Javi Martinez? At Man City right now, no
Ander Herrera? At Man Utd right now. Yes. Estimated cost, 45-65 mill. Huh.
Iñigo Martínez Berridi? At R. Sociedad. No
César Azpilicueta? At Chelsea right now. No

See why I do this?

Iraizoz retires. I make him a U19 coaching offer. He joins us. He is my only U19 GK Coach. He begins at 3.5 stars as a coach for us. I encourage him to up his coaching quals, and the board agrees to pay them.

Mikel Alonso improves our tactical coaching to 4 stars from 3.5 previously. Again, he’s good. And I want to be proactive with good Basque coaches. No, I don’t have the have the same fidelity to coaching as I do to playing....but why not?

Are there any future Alonso’s or Lopez’s I want to bring in at the coaching level?

I make offers to a new U19 physio, a new scout named Txofe,

I found him. 36 year old player, way back in the Tercera division. Looks like a strong future Ball Control coach. Now, I have two coaching gigs stuck at 3.5 stars – ball control and attacking. I suspect he’ll up our ball control coaching to four stars, and I have one open spot on my coaching roster, so I make David Malo an offer as a coach for two years.

[Abe Sargent]

I get an interesting offer for Hervias from Olympique Lyonnais for 7.5 mill.

Do I want to do this?

I have a midfielder logjam –

Suseata
Hervias
Gomez
Muniain
Benat
Garcia
Iturrasape
Merino
Unai Lopez
David Lopez (about to retire)
Rico
Oyarzabal
Espericeuta


So seriously? This is a decent way out of that mess, right?

Now, the good news is that Hervias is fully developed and still young, unlike the fully developed older players like Suseata or Rico (32).

But, the bad news is that I was considering giving Hervias a more prominent role this year and moving forward. I got him for free, so this would be all profit. He is worth 6.75 mill. Can I get that upped?

My main four transfers in last year were Hervias, Oyarzabal, Fran, and Griezmann. All but Fran were Real Sociedad youth academy folks. How much can I negotiate this too? They appear about to offer for his min release fee, 9.25 mill. So I make an offer for 9 mill, with a buyback option of 15. They agree. Ah well, maybe I should have negotiated that buyout fee more. Now it is out of my hands. But, at the time, signing a young backup middie in a crowded room for free seems like a big, 9 mill offer wasn’t coming, right?

So, in this year’s youth system, all of the best new youthers came out of Barcelona or Madrid. Any great young talent out there for me to chase? The best is a Barca DC, and that is good, because I was hoping to find a future DC to groom.

Yeray, 22
Laporte, 23
Etxeita, 29
San Jose, 28


In five years, they would be 27, 28, 34, and 33. Where are my starters then?

Hervias takes the deal and heads out. Again, I am 9 mill richer, but still.

[Abe Sargent]

Laporte now avoids use of his weaker foot

I make some more youther offers.

Last year we brought in 375 mill and made, 87 mill after expenditures, including the transfers, wages and investments in our infrastructure

I make a 625k offer to a youther on Osasuna’s squad. But I can’t talk him into joining us at this stage.

The 2022 World Cup has been moved to Morocco

Our current transfer budget is 44 mill.

We are now the 16th wealthiest club in the world, our new kit sponsorship is 2.5 mill annually.

David Malo has become our new coach.

On July 1st, Xabi Alonso and a youther arrive.

I agree to a loan offer for Lekue. I also agree to a Adelante team’s offer of key player ST for Perez.

The U21 Euro championship dream team announced Williams as one of their players chosen.

Carlos Gurpegi joins our U19 coaching ranks

[Abe Sargent]

I have two major offers for first team players from Genoa for Espericueta and AS Monaco for Unai Lopez. AS Monoco just won the Ligue 1 last year, so that is a good first team loan offer. Lopez, last year, starting in the liga, was 33 starts for Espanyol, 4 goals, 9 assists, 4 MOM, 7.13 rating. Can’t fault that.

I want to keep Unai Lopez here though, and use him much like I used Hervias or the other Lopez last year. I also want to up his determination with a good mentorship. I pull him off loan.

What about Espericueta? Mikel Merino?

Gorka E has left the club.

I just pored over my youth, Baskonia, Bilbao squads to make offers for people I want to retain past 2018.







Long Term, 3 years later:

GK Kepa
DC Laporte, Yeray either San Jose or Etxeita
DMC Kepa
AMC Oyarzabal?
MR Unai Lopez
ML Muniain
MC Merino or Espericueta
ST Williams, Griezmann, Perez?

But we have a lot of natural AMs. Espericueta, Merino, Muniain, Williams, Oyarzabal, Garcia, Lopez, Griezmann, etc.

Could I do a system where I have three AMs behind 1 ST?

Let me see if I can create that strength as a long term tactic to begin to study. Can I make that work on the pitch if that is where our future strength as Basque nation is? Basically a 3-6-1? Let me look that up.

There are a few ways I think we could make that work:

3-2-4-1 – With 2 DMCs, 2 LR, 2 AMCs, 1 ST. Another would be to run both wing backs and AMs on the R and L spots, but that would give me just two middles in the middle with one ST.

How about what would essentially be a 3-1-2-3-1? 1 ST, AMC, AMR, AML, DMC, 2 MC. Would that work? Another option might be, 3-1-3-2-1 where I just pull a ST back to AMC. I have a lot of future AM players that will be at or better than liga starters – Merino, Oyarzabal, Espericueta, in addition to Williams, Muniain, etc.

Could a long term plan work with Perez as my key ST? Assuming he develops as I hope? I could see a Perez-led ST team with Greizmann, Williams, Oyarzabal and many more just blowing up Europe. But that is a long time coming.

[Abe Sargent]

For last year, I basically rotated Garcia and Oyarzabal. Now, what I could have done was just send Oyarzabal out on loan full time somewhere, and left my team as is. But we ran him here and there, and by the end of the season, he was looking good. Now, Garcia is no joke. He can’t be playing on the wing, his skill set doesn’t match. And he is a fully developed 30 year old guy who can blow stuff up all day long.

But here, let’s compare for Oyarzabal:

Other than stamina, Oyarzabal is either even (they both have STR of 14) or better than Garcia at every physical stat. This includes 15/15 speed to 13/11. Garcia has 6 better fitness.

Oyarzabal is 2 better at dribbling and 1 better at technique. Other than those, Garcia is better technically. That includes 3 better first touch, 4 better heading, 1 better finishing, 2 better passing, 1 better long shots, 2 better tackling, etc.

Mentally, Oyarzabal is 8 better determination, and slightly better vision and anticipation. Garcia is better at most other stats (they are even on some like work rate)

So, overall, Oyarzabal is more physically gifted worse technically and mentally. But he is only 20 and still growing. Here’s an interesting stat:

Garcia has had about 350 liga games. In his career, he has 53 goals. An average of 1 goal every 7 games.

Oyarzabal, granted from a small sample size, 21 apps, 14 goals.

Now, let’s look at in this specific role with me:

Two years ago:

Garcia, 34 liga games, 2 goals, 9 assists, was 2nd most in assists on my team

Last year:

Garcia, 23 liga games, 6 goals, 3 assists

Oyarzabal, 16 games, 11 goals, 2 assists


Combined – 17 goals, 5 assists for my AMC spot last year. Not bad, right?

Am I going to continue this? I mean, if we assume that Oyarzabal slows down, and got just double those stats over a year of 38 games, then that’s 22 and 4. He had clearly did better in this role that Garcia, with a bit of a note. I eased him into the role, and early on, his starts often came against weaker teams in the league, so we want to make sure that is on the table too,

So, where do I go from here?

[Abe Sargent]

New Signing:

http://www.ghanaguardian.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/3-15.jpg

114 caps, 16 goals

Best position is DMC


175k, 2 years, with an extension for another if he wants,

You know him! 20 passing! Won three Champions Cups with three separate teams - Real Madrid, Liverpool, Bayern, world World Cup and Euro 2008 and 2012. Xabi Alonso heads back home. Came through Real Sociedad ranks, then was sold to Liverpool, then to Real Madrid, then to Bayern, and now joins us for free.

Welcome back ho,me Xabi! I hope he'll retire with us. He's 35 right now. And he is still a stud. 17 technique? 15 first touch? He's savyy, smart, great at set pieces, and more.

Welcome!

[Abe Sargent]

And how about DMC? Obviously, Xabi is going to replace Iturrasape there for the year, although I expect to move him in here and there. I went ahead and bumped him to rotation so there won’t be any major surprises.

I will be calling Xabi Etxeita just Etxeita for the duration, and Xabi Alonso as Xabi. We’ve had multiple Alonsos and Xabis, but I wanted to be fair there.


I go ahead and loan out Merino and Espericueta, with the understanding that they are still a part of my long-term plans. Merino is pissed I am loaning him out, he wants to play for me this year, but I talk him into it. There is still room for his development, and I don’t think 5-6 starts, and 15 subs is going to make it happen.

Would Fran benefit from linking up with Xabi Alonso?

I loan out Lekue and Merino officially.

I have a bid for one of my backup STs on the Bilbao squad. Gorka Santamaria. Came through our youth ranks. I take a 2 mill now, 1.750m for the next year, 30% of next sale, from a liga Adelante team. He’s been playing for a Adelante team already in Bilbao, so they know him there. That’s about what he is worth (2.75) right now, so I am okay with that move, get some cash, and have plenty of other ST options as well.

ST Perez, Arellano, Espericueta heads out, another few youthers head out too.

We sell Santamaria

We got 35 mill in TV rights for liga

I reject the loan offers for Fran and pull him off the loan list as I connected him and Xabi. That’ll be a big deal.

We have the gauntlet of 8 friendlies coming up, all away, all with chump teams we have affiliates with.

[Abe Sargent]

Anyone I want to make an offer to? I have a ton of cash I can splash, around 49 mill in transfer kitty.

Right now:

Budget – 1.7 mill, spending 1.556 mill

Transfer – 48.75 mill

The one area I feel week is in long-term DC.

I check out my major prospects. Here are ones I LIKE:


16 years old –

DR Irbarren
MR Prieto

17 years old –

Fran, MC, DMC
Perez, ST
Unai Zabala, ML
Alain Martinez, MR




20 –

Unai Nunez, DR
Julen Arellano, DR/L


Notice the lack of a quality DC there.

I have found an issue with the youth club. I cannot sign French/Spanish youth players. I have the 15 year old in France named Paco Figueroa to my team. Why not? We’ve brought French players into our youth group before? And he is French and Spanish. I check to see if there is a workshop fix for that bug, given he is Spanish too.

I see no fixes. Why can’t I sign a French/Spanish player who is still Spanish, if they are of age? Isn’t that a bug? Again, Athletic have brought many French-only players, one who has split parentage should be no issue, right?

So I open up the player editor and grab the worst player that exists, a Frenchie with a 15 potential from some scrub team and I try to add Basque nationality to him. It does not work. I can’t find Basque, or Pays Basque or anything else in the system to add. I can’t find anything in the workshop either.

My guess is that Basque-ness is a hidden, unedit-able toggle for a player in the game. That would have been one way to make it work. Change them to Basque, and then if they sign, leave it, and if not, change it back. Something like that.

I sign a Basque youther, for 155k, Gorka, from Sestao River, who is, at best, not a starter in the Liga, but maybe more of a backup. I move him to my U19 squad.

I loan off a few more youth here and there.

Friendly scores thus far are 3-1, 1-0, 5-2,

I have an offer to sell a youth player who never developed to Rayo. I take it, for 75k and 50% of next sale. He’s worth 35k right now.

Gomez is injured in a friendly that we win 7-0. He is out for 6-7 weeks.

[Abe Sargent]

August

Aug 1 – Friendly
Aug 3 – Fr
Aug 5- Fr
Aug 7 – FR
Aug 12 – Super Cup Leg One, Away vs Real Sociedad
Aug 15 – Leg Two, Home
Aug 20 – Home vs Rayo
Aug 27 – Away vs Celta


We win 3-0, 5-0, 6-0, and 07.

I name Benat and Xabi Alonso my Captain and Vice


Ready for the first leg of the Super Cup? I have Xabi Alonso fully invested in my side’s tactics. For the Fans! I begin countering as we are on the road. They score in the 5th minute off a counter, after a great shot by Williams was turned aside. They score again in the 35th. Half. We are down 2-0. Show me something else! Williams finds Benat for a score in the 49th. They injure Benat, and I pull him for Iturrasape. Williams finds Greizmann for a score in the 55th. , and now we are tied 2-2. I send in Yeray. They score in the 65th. Then in the 68th, they foul Williams hard in the box, and Xabi Alonso, who is an amazing PK specialist, puts it away easily. Then they score in the 73rd. I send in Artiz for a tired and underperforming Suseata and move Williams to MR. They score again in the 80th, 5-3. Then Williams scores off a shot that rebounded to him and he put away in the 85. And that is the final score, we lose, 5-4, MOM is Williams. They had 5 cards. Wow.

[Abe Sargent]

Benat out for 2-3 weeks, and I will start Iturrasape in that spot today in the home match vs our rival. Vengeance! I begin standard. Griezmann scores in the 25th. Then they get a yellow and that’s it. Quiet half. 1-0 half. Don’t get complacent, go out there and take ahold of this tie. Garcia scores in the 51st, and then Suseata follows. I send in Rico and Yeray. Then in the 73rd, they score, and it’s 3-1. Boveda in. In the 79th, they score again, and suddenly, we are tied on aggregate, so I move to counter expecting them to pull forward hard. No additional scores, and we survive, 7-7 tied, win on away goals, MOM is Griezmann. Congrats on the win!

Now I am a little concerned, statistically, on defense

At home: Sociedad had 9 shots, 6 on target. (We had 26 and 15). They got 2 goals from that.

Away, in their place, they had 14 shots, 8 on target, with 5 goals from that

So, in two games, they scored 7 goals with 14 shots on target, an average of 50%. That is horrible. And that’s not in one game, but in two. The only way we were in contention was our good offense, and a gift penalty in the box Williams scores off a shot that rebounded to him and he put away in the 55th

We cannot sustain that level of goals allowed. I’m not sure what happened. Maybe R. Sociedad just had our number.

[Abe Sargent]

David Lopez completed a coaching license.

My hope this season is that the Williams and Greizmann show continue to just blow up the goal-scoring charts.
For the opening Rayo game, I start Yeray and Unai Lopez for Suseata. For the fans! In the 16th minute, Griezmann finds Williams for a score. Then Unai does so 14 minutes later in the 30th. Nothing else happens. Keep it up! Unai just launches a beautiful ball that carves the defense and Williams puts it away in the 55th and that it is hattrick. Rayo are getting frustrated and fouling now. I send in Rico. Etxeita follows. Unai with a yellow. They wound Garcia a bit and I send in Viguera. We win 3-0, MOM is Williams. Good job everyone!
Three players named in team of the week, Yeray, and my strikers

We get 12 mill for making it to the Champ Group Stage

The Champ Group Draw is here. We are seeded first.

Group B

Athletic
Benfica
Gelsenkirchen
BATE (Belarus)

That’s doable I think.

In the first two matches, Barca have two losses. Rough start for them. It is not impossible by any means, but losing two earlier will make it a lot harder to win the liga.

[Abe Sargent]

For today’s Celta game, I am starting Oyarzabel, and Rico. Yeary and Unai Lopez remain in, given how good they did. Benat is back from his injury today, but still tired, so he won’t be on our roster, and Rico has his back. I begin countering, Celta is not a team to take lightly. Pick up where you left off! We open up with a Griezmann to Williams goal in the 15th. Then in the 31st, Williams hits Rico for a goal. They score in the 39th, and then Lopez hits Williams in extra time. Half 3-1 us. Keep it up! In the 2nd half, it’s quiet, and I send in Boveda, and then Williams is knocked around, and loses some stamina, and I send in Artiz. In the 74th, they score, and ratchet it up to 3-2. Then I send in Viguera for a tired and underperforming Muniain, and move Greizmann to ML. In the 85th, they score again, and we tie, 3-3 on the road. MOM is Williams. I am far from pleased with that result! Celta was 21 shots, and 14 on target, and we were 18 and 9, so that was not unreasonable to tie, but again, I feel like we are allowing too many goals thus far.

I am keeping Unai Lopez in the starting MR role for now, given his 3 assists in two games. I move Suseata to a rotation option. Nevermind, he already was. You already know my concerns here, about his dropping assist numbers and frequent injuries. Hervias wasn’t this great replacement, but perhaps Unai Lopez is precisely that person.

It’s transfer deadline day. Any moves I want to make? Got him. The youther agrees to come to me from Barca. I also have a scout point out a young 16 year old ST who’s good too. I make offer to him as well.

I sign him for 7.5 mill. ST Pedro Santamaria. From Real Madrid.

I sign the Barca wonderkid on defense Xavier Mora. Barca would not come in under his min release fee of 24.5 mill, so that’s what I spent.

At 16, Mora is already 14 mark, tack, 10 head, 11 jump. Plays DC, DM, and MC. Coach summary is versatile, determined, ambitious, good at marking, ability to be in the right place is best attribute. I link Etxeita and him for mentoring, and hope to bring that 13 determination up to a 16. Mora is considered to be the best Spanish player in his year graduating from all academies last year.

I also link up Santamaria and Artiz.

My transfer budget is down to a measly 15 mill :)

I get a late offer for GK Herrain, but that is not happening. I need him, as Kepa is getting international call ups now. At. Madrid signed two huge players, each for 30+ mill.

At the end of the transfer window, I have 25 players out for loan! All of those are first team or key player deals and should get planet of play,

[Abe Sargent]

September

Sept 9 – Home vs Osasuna
Sept 12 – Home vs BATE, Champion
Sept 16 – Away vs Malaga
Sept 19 – Away vs Las Palmas
Sept 24 – Home vs Real Sociedad
Sept 28 – Away vs Benfica, Champion

I make an offer to extend GK Herrein’s backup deal by a year and raise his salary by 5k/week.

Gomez is back from his injury. Benat is back in the starting lineup for the Osasuna match. I am running Garcia today at AMC. For the fans! I begin controlling. Griezmann to Williams in the 15th on a lovely counter. Then Williams returns the favor and Griezmann gest goal in the 27th, and Benat finds Xabi Alonso for goal. Half, 3-0. Nicely done, don’t let up. I send in Gomez. Xavier Mora, the new signee, heads in next. Williams to Alonso for another score. Artiz for Griezmann. We win 4-0. MOM is Xabi Alonso. Mora is the youngest player to ever play for Athletic, which seems odd given how much youth matters. Actually, Mora was just one day younger than Muniain when he set the youngest player record!

The third game of the season coming up for Barca is hard, as they head to face Real Madrid at home. What will happen? Real Madrid win 2-0, and Barca is now 0 for 3.

Xabi and Williams in Team of Week

Ready for Europe play? Benat is suspended and I start Iturraspe. I start Oyarzabal as well. Here we go! For the fans!!! I have begun controlling. Let’s do this simply, because there would otherwise be too much:

5th minute, Goal Williams
16 – Goal Williams
24 – Goal Williams
33rd – 2nd yellow, red, BATE player sent off
37th – Griezmann injured lightly, Artiz sent in. before he heads off...
38th – Goal Griezmann
44th – Goal Williams
Half time. We have more goals (5) then they have shots (1).
55th – Goal Williams
64th – Rico subs in for DC Etzeita
66th – Goal Williams
73rd – Sub, Gomez for Muniain
78th – Goal, Artiz

We win 8-0. MOM is obvious Williams and his six goal show

Holy crap!

Williams set a record. The most goals in a Champion’s game was previously 5 in 2012 for Barcelona’s Messi vs Leverkusen.
Greizmann is out for a week with a gashed hand

[Abe Sargent]

For the away match vs Malaga, I start Artiz and Garcia. Pick up from where you left off! I begin countering. I respect Malaga too much. They start the scoring in the 12th. San Jose gave away a penalty and they got the PK. We follow when Unai Lopez sets up Williams for a goal. Half. 1-1. We can still win this game! I want to get a goal from Artiz, but he’s not doing much, so I send in recent signee Santamaria in the 68th, to give him some experience. Yellows by Xabi and San Jose. I send in Yeray and Gomez. In the 81st, Santamaria shoots, the GK pushes back, he shoots again and scores. Then they score back in the 88th. 2-2 draw. I’m displeased.

Santamaria is Athletics’ youngest ever goalscorer.

Today we are playing a fun game. It’s called, guess how many losses in a row Barca can rack up before they fire their manager. Unfortunately, they beat the mighty Almeria in their place 3-0 to get their first win

I have a few tired people benching for the Las Palmas match. We are starting Suseata, Itrrasape at DMC, Yeray for San Jose. Greizmann is back from injury. This is the 225 league appearance for Iturrasape for us. I begin countering. Quiet first half. 5 shots, 1 on target by us. Do better! In the 53rd, they lightly injure Williams, so I send in Artiz. I send in San Jose. I send in Gomez. Artiz scores in the 84th, and we win 1-0. Yellow late to Etxeita. MOM is Garcia
Williams has a wounded toe, and will be out for a week.

Barca beat the mighty Deportivo 2-0 in Barcelona. Then they lose 2-0 to At. Madrid.

[Abe Sargent]

We host our rivals. I start our best XI. Artiz for Williams, who should be back for the Benfica match. For the FaNs! Quiet first half. Half. Show me something else! They do! Garcia hits Artiz in the 51st. I send in Suseata. Griezmann hits Xabi Alonso for a goal. In goes Iturrasape. Greizmann hits Garcia for a goal. Rico in. Game, we win 3-0, MOM is Garcia.

Good win!

Benfica match is here, and we are away and countering. I make no changes to my squad. Pick up from where you left off last match! Once again, we’ll have a lot of fast stuff here:

7th – Williams goal
12th – Muniain Goal
19th – Williams Goal
40th – Garcia goal
Half, 4-0 score
55th – Sub Gomez for Muniain
57th – Goal for Benfica
61st – Goal for Benfica
68th – Sub Yeray for San Jose
76th – Penalty given by Yeray. Kepa blocks PK
78th – Goal by Garcia
79th – Sub, Rico for Benat
86th – Yellow for Yeray

Game, 5-2, MOM is Garcia. They had 24 shots, 10 on target, we had 14 and 10.


The Granada match is here. Quick results, we win 4-0, with goals by Williams, Oyarzabal, Griezmann, and Williams. Assists by Garcia, Garcia, and Williams. MOM is Williams.

[Abe Sargent]

October

Oct 15 – Away vs Valencia
Oct 18 – Away vs Gelsenkirchen, Champ’s
Oct 22 – Away vs Real Madrid
Oct 25 – Home vs Barcelona
Oct 28 – Home vs Almeria
Oct 31 – Home vs Gelsenkirchen, Champs

Now that is rough patch. Away games against Valencia, Gelsenkirchen, Real Madrid, and home vs Barca and Gelsen. Only Almeria looks okay there, and even Barcelona beat Almeria.

We draw Lugo in the Copa del Rey

Barca has two more losses, on the road vs Sevilla and hosting Real Betis., With 8 games, they are currently 17th in the Liga.

Pick up where you left off vs Valencia! I begin countering. We injure a Valencian in the 9th minute of play. Valencia have been all over our side of the pitch. They get a yellow in the 27th. Another in the 29th. Half, 0-0. Keep going, we can win this one! I send in Rico, Boveda, and Iturrasape. We tie 0-0. They had 32 shots, 14 on target, to our 7 and 2. MOM is Etxeita

Upgrade for training facilities completed.

The away match vs Gelsenkirchen is here. I begin countering, and Oyarzabal is starting. We have a big set of pressure early, but it settles around the 11th minute and things dial back to normal. Oyarzabal to Muniain for a goal in the 33rd. Then in the 44th, he hits Williams for a score. 2-0 half. Don’t get complacent out there! And apparently, they do not, because Benat feeds Williams a goal in the 57th. I send in Suseata, Yeray, and Iturrasape. We hold off, and win 3-0. Mom is Oyarzabal. Good win!

We are dominating our group. As is Real Madrid. They were in a very very tough draw, Real Madrid, Kobenhaven, Bayern and Juve. The group of death, but they have 9 points in three games and are looking quality to win.

[Abe Sargent]

I put Boveda on the transfer list and then place him on a backup role. He wants big boy football, and he deserves it. And I need a sub who’s better at DC than him. So I transfer list him

We have not beaten Real Madrid in the last six games against them. I have 1 win in 8 games against them. I have my best XI for this away match. We lose 4-1.

The Barca match is here, and in prep, I handed out a day of rests to keep ,my starting Xi vs them. We have a much better Barcelona record than a Real Madrid one. This is Inaki Williams 100th game for us, and the 225th for Muniain. I want to see a much better performance than last time! Muniain to Griezmann for goal in the 33rd. U. Lopez to Williams in the 43rd. Half, we are up 2-0. Don’t get complacent out there! Lopez to Muniain for a goal in the 47. Neymar grabs a goal in the 56th. I San Jose gifts a penalty in the 59th, and messi of course sinks it. I immediately pull him for Yeray and Iturrasape heads in too. Rico later. Can we hold on? We can! We win 3-2. Good job.

And, as expected, Barca have just sacked their manager. Barcelona, this season is 18th in the liga after 10 games. They have 9 points from 3 wins over Almeria, Deportivo, and barely over Getafe. They have lost to Atletico, Athletic, Real Madrid, Villareal, Valencia, Real Betis and Sevilla. Now, to be fair, those are all of the good teams. Last year, Barca, RM, AM, us, Val and Sev were 1-6, right. Celta was 7th. Right now Betis is 4th and having a good early start, and very much in form. But still, I imagine that it is clearly time for a managerial change.

That is the second time in my dynasty that a defeat over Barcelona by us led to a managerial change, the first was after the Copa del Rey final where we beat them and they didn’t make it to Europe that year as a result of their poor Liga placement.

[Abe Sargent]

For the Almeria match, I start Yeray, Gomez, Rico, and Suseata. Gomez to Garcia, 21st, Gomez to Williams, 22nd, Gomez to Suseata, 41st, half. We are up 3-0. In a desperation to score, they sink a long shot from way out in the 52nd. Garcia to Williams in the 61st. I send in San Jose, Iturraspe. We win 4-1. Gomez was MOM.

Our Gelsenkirchen match here here. I send in my lads controlling and with my starting XI again. We are pushed early. We give up a penalty in the 7th but Kepa blocks it. Then we give up a goal in the 12th. I push back to Standard. They keep coming forward, and eventually I slide back to countering just before the half. In extra time, Greizzman gets a counter on from Muniain and sinks it Half, we are down 1-1. They have considerably more possession and shots that we do. I tell them to get another goal! We head out. They score in the 55th. I send in two subs, and then Williams gets a goal from Lopez n the 69th. I send in Oyarzabal. We tie them 2-2. Well, I could have slid to countering earlier when I saw how the match was going, so that could have been my fault.

[Abe Sargent]

November

Nov 5 – Home vs Deportivo
Nov 19 Away vs At. Madrid
Nov 22 – Away vs BATE, Champ
Nov 26 – Away vs Sevilla
Nov 29 – Away vs Lugo

Deportivo is here, and I run out Oyarzabal. Match? 4-1 to us. 2 goals by Greizmann, 1 by Williams, 1 by Muniian. 2 assists by Oyarzabal, 1 by Williams, MOM is Griezmann. We were down 1-0 at the half and came back and just trounced the 2nd half.

Etxeita injures his knee in training and is out for 2-3 weeks.

Nov 14 – Spain loses to Wales in the World Cup Quals elimination round and is eliminated. They will not be playing in the 2018 World Cup. Their manager was sacked.

Andoni Santxitz calls a press conference....let’s join that already in progress...

“And I think part of the Spanish squad problem was due to two fatal errors. The first was on the selection of the squad itself. There were players not chosen, and those chosen, that never worked together. A team is more than a group of the best eleven players you have. They have to work together, and support each other. How do you have each other’s backs when something goes wrong? How can you deal with the top flight talent from other squads if you aren’t in tune? It’s more than mere numbers. And the selection policy was never there.

The second major issue was tactically. The previous management assumed that the Spanish squad was the same it has already been. It’s not. It has improved and grown better in some ways, and yet worsened in others. Spain today is not Spain yesterday, and the current management was totally unable to understand that.

I could have taken my Athletic club, added in the best Basque stars not currently playing for us, and won qualification to the World Cup with the same group and matches as Spain. In the group, Spain dropped games to Albania among others, while getting just a playoff appearance, and then lost to Wales twice, 2-1 and 1-0 to lose 3-1 aggregate. If you cannot put a good performance together and get qualified against a team currently ranked 42nd in the FIFA rankings, then I have to question your management, selection, and tactics.

And that is why I have officially applied for the Spanish National Manager position...”

[Abe Sargent]

The At. Madrid match arrives, and we begin countering. They score twice, and then Oyarzabal gets a Griezmann assists for goal. Half, 2-1 them. We score again, Williams to Griezmann, and then Williams scores by himself off an intercepted pass. We hold on and win 3-2, MOM is Oyarzabal.

The BATE match arrives and I start Suseata but make no other major changes. We win 4-0, 2 goals by Griezmann, 1 by Williams 1 by Muniain, MOM is Muniain.

Michel was appointed manager of Spain.

I start Iturraspe in the middle for the Sevilla match. We win 3-1. 2 assists by Griezmann, and one by laporte. Scores by Williams, Williams, and Garcia. Subs by Garcia, Rico, and Unai Lopez. MOM is Williams. Yellow by Muniain

The Lugo match arrives. I start Artiz today. I have some other backups and rotation people in.

[Abe Sargent]

So I have a major update for this dynasty.

I wanted to finish this dynasty and resolve what happened for three major reasons.

The first is that the dynasty is interestingly timely given the independence movement in Catalan right now. It seems fitting to explore it.

The second is that I was away for a week and a half at a workshop and training for my new company that I work for. I only had my work lappy with me, so I had downloaded FM and played it all up and down, taking copious notes as I went.



The third reason is that a new video game was about to be released that I had to play Culdcept revolt. It came out yesterday and I have my copy.

So I finished the dynasty, and now I want to update it. I am going to do two things. First, I'll give you the results, so you'll know, right up front, what wound up happening. Then I'll continue the story here in November and slow roll the details, like normal.


Let's do this!

[Abe Sargent]

Athletic Bilbao's Goals:

To win the Liga again
To win the Champion's Cup for the first time



Year One -

Lost Super Cup to Barca
Finish 4th in Liga
Beat Barcelona to win Spanish Cup

Big Signings -

Mikel Merino, 9 mill
Johnathan Espericueta, 4.75 mill

Big Losses:

Oscar De Marcos - 16 mill


Year Two:

We lose Super Cup to Real Madrid
Won the Spanish Cup over Real Madrid
Liga - Finished 1st
Champions - Knocked out by Bayern M in the 1st knockout round after Group Stage


Major moves -

Big Signings -

Pablo Hervias, free
Mikel Oyarzabal, 14.75 mill
Fran, 3.5 mill
Antoine Griezmann, 55 mill

Major Losses:

None really
Mikel Balenzinga - 2.2 mill
Javier Eraso, 2.1 mill


Year Three:

Defeated Real Sociedad for Super Cup Victory
Liga - 2nd place finish to a Real Madrid who just dominated
Lost to At. Madrid in 5th round of Spanish Cup
Champions - Knocked out in Quarter Final by Real Madrid

Real Madrid won Liga, Spanish Cup, and Champions league

Major Signings -

Additions -

Xabi Alonso, free
Pedro Santamaria, 7.75 mill
Javi Martinez, 65 mill
Xabier Mora, 24.5 mill

Losses of Note:

Pablo Hervias, 9 mill


Year Four:

Lost in final vs At. Madrid in Spanish Cup

Won Liga

Champions - Defeated Man City, and many others, but lost to Juve in the Semi Finals.

Juve win in finals 3-1.



Transfer Notes:

Major Additions -

Arkaitz Ramirez, 2.5 mill


Major Losses -

Markel Suseata, 3.5 mill


ADDED:

2018 World Cup

Won by France 2-0 over England in the Finals.

In the finals, Antoine Griezmann scored both goals and was MOM. Named Best XI for World Cup.





Year Five:

Won Super Cup over At. Madrid
Won Spanish Cup over Barcelona
Got 3rd in Liga behind Real Madrid and At. Madrid.
Knocked out in Champion's Cup, Group Stage


Transfer Notes

Major Additions -

None of note


Major Losses -

Benat - 5.5 mill
Yeray - 24 mill



Year Six -

Got 2nd in Liga to Real Madrid
Lost Super Cup to Real Madrid
Lost Spanish Cup to Real Madrid

Real Madrid made it to the Champion's Cup finals again. But they lost. They almost had a perfect season, with just one loss in Liga play.

We defeated them 2-1 in the Champion;s Final, with goals by Oyarzabal and Williams.

We got that ECC victory in year six, a few years later than I was aiming for and expecting, but it was still worth it!


Major Additions -

Andoni Alonso - 5.5 mill


Major Losses -

Javi Martinez, 9 mill
Xabi Alonso retires



EDIT -

Totals Across Six Years -

Liga Wins - 2, Years 2 and 4
Spanish Cups - 3 Cups, Years 1, 2 and 5
Super Cups - 2 Cups, Years 3 and 5
ECC Champions - 1, Year 6


That seems like a pretty decent parabola for a team that has always been successful, but which is clearly playing at the top of its game right now.

EDIT 2 - I added in the 2018 World Cup too as it reflected well on two of my players...

[Abe Sargent]

December

Dec 2 – Away vs Real Betis
Dec 5 – Home vs Benfica, Champ
Dec 9 – Away vs Villareal
Dec 13 – Home vs Luga, Copa del rey
Dec 16 – Home vs Levante
Dec 31 – Away vs Getafe

The board just met with me to increase our transfer budget. It is now EIGHTY-SEVEN MILLION DOLLARS!
:)

And that’s after I spend like 35 mill for the two youth earlier. Too bad there are no more Griezmann’s out there.

We have two players short listed for the World Player of the Year, Griezmann and Williams.

I will be giving you some shorter match results here. Doing a lot of others things and just sort of letting games run, and giving them half attention.

Betis – We win 2-1. Greizmann, MOM, was 2 goals, assists by Williams and U. Lopez. Subs – Ituraspe, Etxeita, Garcia. Garcia injured in match. Out for a week with a bruised jaw.

After training, Williams is now more comfortable using his weaker foot.

I make a big, megabucks deal to Inaki Williams.

I have been unhappy with Benat’s performance. For a few games, I am starting Iturraspe in the MC spot

[Abe Sargent]

Benfica – We win 2-0. MOM is Griezmann with 1 goal, 1 goal by Williams. Assists by Griezmann and Iturraspe.


Villareal – Tie, 2-2. Williams and Greizmann with goals, Williams assist, Williams MOM.

Williams signs 5 year deal, 220k/week, key player, 180 mill min release fee

We draw Arsenal in the Champ drawing. Real Madrid have Gelsenkirchen, and Barca Chelsea.

Luga – We win 3-0, 6-0 aggregate. Gomez injured for a week in the game. MOM Suseata.

[Abe Sargent]

We get Atletico next round
Levate – We win 6-0. Goals – 2x Laporte, 1xSan Jose, Williams, Griezmann, Oyarzabal; Assists, by Zabi Alonso, Oyarzabal, Laporte, Williams. MOM is Laporte.

Setting at 18th, Real Sociedad fire their manager
I make Benat a new offer for three years, rotation. He signs.
Unai Lopez has adapted his game to the right wing

Players who’s contracts run out this year include Artiz, Boveda, Lekue (on loan),

I offer backup ST Guilerllmo, who is leading Bilbao to 6th right now in the Adelante a renewed 3 yaer backup deal

Deschamp won French Manager of the Year. Santxitz got 2nd.

Getafe – We win 4-1. 2 goals by Williams, 1 by Griezmann, 1 by Garcia. Williams, Muniain, Iturraspe with assists. Mom is Williams.

[Abe Sargent]

January

Williams wins three major awards:

Inaki Williams – World Golden Ball (57 goals in 56 games) – 430 voting points, Ozil 2nd with 307, and Hazard 3rd with 167 points.
Inaki Williams - World Player of the Year (Ozil 2nd, Griezmann was 3rd)

Williams – Chosen as Striker in World Team of the Year, Griezmann was sub.

Great job Inaki!

French Player of the Year:

Griezmann 1st, Pogba 2nd, Anthony Martial 3rd

See what I meant when I said we signed away At. Madrid’s Messi? Not as good, obviously, but he’s still top shelf quality.

One thing I think Xabi Alonso likes about us is his brother, Mikel Alonso, is one of our coaching staff now. I also like him a lot and am looking at Mikel as my next Ass Man.

Anyone I want to buy? Anyone I want to chase?

I make a few enquiries and such here and there. Could I make an offer for Ander Hererara and put him at my MC spot?

[Abe Sargent]

January

Jan 3 – Home vs At. Madrid, Copa del Rey
Jan 6 – Away vs Espanyol
Jan 10 – Away vs At, Copa
Jan 14 – Home vs Celta
Jan 21 – Away vs Rayo
Jan 28 – Away vs Osasuna

Porto made an offer of 7 mill for Unai Lopez. No thanks. If I were to sell him, it wouldn’t be for that.

For the first time, Javi Martinez is interested in rejoining Athletic. But now he is 29. Do I want a DC that old? I make an enquiry.

What about 28 year old Ander Herrera? Does he want in? Could I run him out there?

I feel like Martinez is a major opportunity to improve my squad. Here’s why:

LIGA Ratings:

Laporte, 7.34
Etxeita, 7.17
Yeray, 6.85
San Jose, 7.10

We are almost half of a season under our belt. Neither San Jose, nor Yeray, are playing well right now. When you consider just how good our liga record is (13-4-1) and that low rating from Yeray and to a lesser degree San Jose, that’s not good. Last year Yeray finished 7.10, and San Jose has never been more than around 7, he was 7.05 last year and 7.06 the other. And the inflated penalty kick success ratings could be a factor here too. So imagine we bring in Martinez. Now I can really do a good job developing my youther, loan him out after the mentorship, and such, start Javi, move San Jose to rotation, and run San Jose, Etx, Yeray at my third spot, while the other one heads out.

We have also been allowing just too many goals in games, and our star offense is getting us out, but we can’t rely on 5-4 losses on the road or such .

[Abe Sargent]

I reject an offer from Unai Lopez, but many others are banging on my door, so his agent asks for a better deal, and I accept and make him a 5 year, 40k/wk deal.

I submit enquiries, and work out deals with both to get both if I want. We negotiated 65 mill up front with Man City, so I just offered that. Then Ander Herrera would be very little money up front, but a lot more over time. It would be 70 mill total over 18 months, with 15 mill up front.

I have offers submitted for those players. I do want Martinez, and I am very much considering grabbing Herrera too, and giving him my MC spot, so we’d have a bigger playmaker at MC than Benat, or Iturraspe, or Rico. But, the one thing holding me back there are my upcoming youth, like Espericueta or Merino, who I think could play well there too.

Time to table this talk for the 5th leg of the Copa del Rey.

We host At. Madrid today. I have my starting XI including Benat out there. They score in the 5th against us. Lopez a card in the 15th. Garcia looks good. An almost assist for goal turned away at the last moment in the 26th. Half! You can win this! They bang up Griezmann and I send in Artiz. Yellow for Benat. I heads Rico. I send in Gomez as well. They injure Artiz in the 78th. We’re down a man for the last 12 minutes. The score holds, and we lose 1-0. Not good enough!

Artiz out for three weeks.

I sign Javi Martinez for 65 mill and a few mill in bonuses and such too. I move San Jose to rotation status from first team. I go ahead and move him to start. He’ll be fine for the Espanyol matchup. We have an agreement with Ander, but I ultimately agree to reject the offer. He’s a good player, but again, I feel I have the talent to be fine at MC. It’s not a place of need on my roster.

AC Milan made a 9 mill offer for Suseata.
Fran learned a lot from the linkage with Etxeita. I now make him available for loan.

Espaynol is here. I start Suseata and Oyarzabal in addition to Javi Martinez. For the fans!

5th – They score
Half. You can do better!
54th – Williams score, Greizmann assits

61st – Oyarzabal assist, Benat goal
65th – Williams goal, Greizmann assist
68th – Sub – Gomez
70th -0 They injure Williams, Sub Viguera
75th – Score by Espanyol
83rd – Score by Espanyol
Extra Time – Score by Espanyol.

We lose 4-3. Not good enough!

[Abe Sargent]

Williams out for 5-7 days for an injured ankle. He’ll miss the Copa match, as well Artiz...

Lopez signs his new deal offer. Fran heads out on loan to Getafe for a first team deal.

We will start Viguera at ST. I start San Jose for Martinez for the At. Madrid Copa match. Vengeance! Begin countering. Boring half, 0-0. You can still win this! They had 4 shots, 2 on target to our 2 and 1. They start getting yellows for persistent fouling, especially on Griezmann. I sub in Lopez, Rico, and Iturraspe. In the 75th I move forward to control. Get one score, and it’s extra time. Well, that’s game. MOM is Laporte, and we had a 0-0 tie, and lose 1-0 on aggregate.

We are knocked out of the Copa del Rey in the 5th leg. Also knocked out to Celta is Real Madrid. Williams should be back for the next game.

We host Celta, the 4th best team in the liga right now. They are on a high from taking out Real Madrid from the Spanish Cup, and we need to be careful. I have my best XI including Javi Martinez out there. For the fans! This is Laporte’s anniversary league game for us. Williams to Griezmann in the 7th for a goal. Half. Don’t get complacent! We have 10 and 3 on target to their 9 and 2. Unai Lopez finds Williams on a break away in the 57th. I ease back to standard. Oyarzabal to Greizmann in the 62nd. I send in Gomez and Iturraspe. Griezzmann to Williams in the 71st on another counter. I slide in Yeray. We win 4-0, MOM is Williams.

That’s my Athletic! After Celta clocked Real Madrid twice and knocked them out resoundingly 4-1 aggregate, we just trounced them, despite our morale tipping, despite their high, we just blew them off the pitch 4-0. That’s my team!

Javi Martinez, Greizzman, Kepa, Williams and Laporte all named Liga team of the Week!

[Abe Sargent]

I start Gomez for Muniain, who is getting jaded today, and will do so for a few matches. Rayo might just be 19th, but I begin countering anyway. Pick up where you left off last game!! We win 3-1. MOM is Williams, with a hattrick, and assists by Gomez, Benat, and Oyarzabal.



Valencia just eviscerate Barca 5-0 at home to knock them out of the Copa del Rey. At. Madrid lost to Granada, Celta took out Malaga 5-2 aggregate, and Real Sociedad took down Villareal, leaving an odd quartet to fight over the Copa del Rey.


During training, Rico twisted his ankle and will be out 3-4 weeks.

I start San Jose and leave in Gomez for the Osasuna match. Garcia in too. We begin strong, 3-1, with a lot of pressure and two goals by Williams, plus they gave us an OG. Then in the 36th minute, Laporte does a nasty red card level foul in the box. PK, and he is sent off. I move to contain, shift my tactics, and they made the PK, so it’s just 3-2. But we hold and win 3-2. Good win.

We are told that the red card was harsh, so I appeal the decision to ban Laporte for a match.

[Abe Sargent]

February

Feb 3 – Home vs Malaga
Feb 10 – Home vs Las Palmas
Feb 13 – Away vs Arsenal
Feb 17 – Away vs Real Sociedad
Feb 23 – Away vs Granada
Feb 28 – Home vs Valencia

I tried to sell Boveda all month to no success

The FA has agreed to rescind Laporte’s one-match ban.

I start Yeray today for the Malaga home game. Gomez remains in too. Artiz is back from injury. For the Fans! Griezmann to Williams, 6th, Gomez in the 28th. They score in extra time, 2-1 half. Don’t get complacent! We hold on to win, Gomez is MOM.

I will continue to leave Gomez in at ML for a bit as he is the hot leg right now.

Granada and Celta will play the Copa del Rey Final

We play and beat Las Palmas 3-0. 2 goals, MOM to Williams, 2 Assists to Griezmann, score by Oyarzabal

[Abe Sargent]

Arsenal is here. We begin countering, and it’ more than 30 minutes in before we get a single shot on goal. They get a goal early, and another in the 33rd. We score in extra time as Williams finds Griezmann. Half, 2-1 them. Unlucky so far! In the 2nd half, I send in Iturraspe and Gómez after Muniain gives away a goal in the 57th after failing to mark a winger at all and the free cross converts. Then Garcia hits Williams for goal. In goes Yeray. We lose 3-2. Not bad all things considering. I feel like that gives us a chance at home in the 2nd leg, given our high number of away goals and -1 current score.

For the Real Sociedad match, Gomez is heading right back into my starting lineup. We win 3-4, with a PK by Xabi Alonso, goals by Griezmann, Williams and Etxeita. They had an OG by GK Kepa, so we each gave away a goal.

Muniain now capable of placing his shots

Rico is back from injury, and I start him today in the middle. We have a rough away game vs #6 Granada. I start Gomez again, and this is his 150th appearance for us. In the first half, I have goals by Griezmann and Garcia. With Lopez and Williams assists. Don’t get complacent!!! They hit us back in the 61st off a corner kick. I send in Yeray and Iturraspe. Lopez crosses to Griezmann in the 76th for another score. Xabi Alonso collects a yellow so I send in San Jose to bench him. Gomez to Williams in the 84th for a goal. We win 4-1. We did not win that game statistically. They had 26 shots, 11 on target, but just one goal, and we had 12 and 7. But we got a win. Massively. MOM is Griezmann.

ST Santamaria and Artiz got along fabulously, and now Santamaria has Artiz’s huge determination. (18)

DC Mora and Etxeita gone on well, and now he has Exts. Determination (17)

I move their status’s to hot prospects, and list them each for loans.

[Abe Sargent]

March

Mar 1 – Home vs Valencia
Mar 4 – Away vs Barcelona
Mar 7 – Home vs Arsenal, Champ
Mar 11 – Away vs Almeria
Mar 17 – Youth intake occurs, and the academy graduates of Lezama hit our class.
Mar 25 – Home vs Real Madrid

Real Madrid has not lost a game in the Liga eyet. If they have not lost by the 25th, then I want to be the first to do so!

We win 2-1 vs Valencia. Garcia with 2 goals. MOM. Assists by U. Lopez and Williams.

The away game vs Barcelona is next. For the fans! I have Muniain back in. I handed out rests to a few of my key players like Xabi Alonso, Williams, Griezmann, and Laporte. Xabi with an early yellow. We ghold them off in the first half, but they score early in the second, in the 48th minute, and then we hold them off for the rest of the game. We lose 1-0, and our GK was MOM. They had 15 shots on target out of 29.

We host Arsenal. We lose away 2-3, so we have a good shot today at home. Vengeance! I want to begin standard to get a feel for a game. After 15 minutes, we have 2 shots, 0 on target to their 2 and 1 and 51/49% possession in our favor. Lopez collects a yellow card. Half, 0-0. Show me some passion! Some desire! In the 49th, Lopez hits Griezmann for a shot he puts it in. 1-0 us. Now that’s what I am talking about, right? Then in the 54th, they counter with a score of their own. A few minutes later, they have a vicious foul and a red card. I send in Rico and Gomez. In the 77th, Lopez finds Benat for a goal. I send my folks to counter, and Yeary heads in. We hold and win 2-1, which gets us through 4-4 on aggregate, with the away goal kicking in to send us through. Good job! MOM is Unai Lopez

Chelsea knocked out Barcelona 5-0 aggregate.

We made it to the Champion Quarters.

[Abe Sargent]

Almeria arrives. I start Suseata, Oyarzabal among others. I begin countering as Almeria will move into 5th place with this home win over us. Yes, Almeria. Into 5th place. In the Liga. You can win this! Early on, Javi Martinez with a card. Suseata finds Williams on an attack run in the 35th. Half. Don’t get complacent! We play strong defense, but have little else going on. Rico heads in, and then gets a card almost a minute later. Etxeita and Garcia are in. The in the 78th, Muniain hits Williams for another scor,e and we hold and win 2-0, with Williams MOM. Good job!

Real Madrid and Juve finish up their legs in the Champion’s First Knockout leg and move to the quarters with us. Paris took out Man Utd and Dortmund ended the Milanese dreams of Champion gold.

Champion’s League Quarter final Draw:

Tottenham
Juve
Real Madrid
Athletic
Paris
Chelsea
Dortmund
Man City

We get Real Madrid. Yuck. Tottenham vs Chelsea, Paris vs Dortmund, Juve vs Man City.


Our first match is March 27th. Our other liga home match vs real Madrid is moved to the 24th to accommodate that, so we will have, back to back, matches at home vs Real Madrid.

The youth intake day arrived. I take a look at the youth here to see if any resonate with me. A few. Any major Spanish players elsewhere? Nope, it appears to be a weak year for Spanish football. Our best is a young ST, but he is nowhere near my other two youth down there. I loan him out, name of Pablo Larranizar.

The first, Liga, match against Real Madrid arrives. I move Iturraspe into my MC post. We owe these idiots! I begin countering to get a feel for the game. These guys have not lost all year, and we almost never beat them. They just set a liga record for most consecutive games without a loss. I want to end that now. Today. In the driving rain. Oyarzabal to Griezmann for a goal in the 6th. Oyarzabal with a card in the 31st. We keep them from scoring and its 1-0 at the half. Don’t get complacent out there! They savage Williams and drop his health to 44 percent, although no injuries. I send in Artiz for him. San Jose and Gomez head in. In the 81st, ST Lukalu gets a goal. A late equalizer. Can we match? I the 83rd, they get 2nd foul trying to hit Gomez hard and they are tossed off. I move forward hard, but will it be enough to get another goal? Artiz has two sitters, great assists by Gomez and Muniain but can’t get it in. Game, 1-1 tie.

We have qualified for the Champion’s League next year too. We are 16 points ahead of 3rd place in the Liga, and just 5 behind Real Madrid who has been in first the whole year.

I hand out three straight days of rest for Williams. He got up to 91% and I’ll play him today for the first leg of the Champion Quarter Final. For the fans! I again begin countering. They score in the 9th. This time they are dominating us on the pitch. We are lucky to be down just one at the half. Show me something else! Where we are winning is set pieces, fouls, and cards. They have 4 yellows, 11 fouls to our 1, and have given us some good looks on FKs. They score in the 68th. Garcia and Rico head in. Lopez to Garcia in the 81st for a goal, and that could be a way back in to this match. I make a few changes here, such as moving to control. Yeray heads in. Nope, They score in the 88th, and we lose 3-1.

I just can’t crack Real Madrid. Barcelona? Sure. Real Sociedad? Okay. But Real Madrid I have played 12 times and beaten once.

Our final match of the month arrives, the Liga one vs At. Madrid. They are one of our three league losses earlier this year. Vengeance! At home, I don’t have the respect for these guys like I do the other Madrid team, and I begin controlling. If I need to pullback I can. After 15 minutes, I have 5 shots, none on target and they have 0. Griezmann with a goal in the 18th. We get to half 1-0. Don’t let up! Williams and Griezmann each score in the first ten minutes of the 2nd half before they return the favor in the 58th, and then that is the last score. We win 3-1 and MOM is Griezmann.

[Abe Sargent]

April

Apr 4 – Away vs Real Madrid, 2nd leg,ECC
Apr 7 – Away vs Deportivo
Apr 14 – Home vs Sevilla
Apr 18 – Away vs Real Betis
Apr 22 – Home vs Villareal
Apr 29 – Away vs Levante

Not exactly a gauntlet to end the season...

I start Garcia and Suseata and Benat for the away match. Vengeance! I begin controlling. They score in the 30th. Half. Do better than this! In the 61st, Suseata finds Williams for a score. We come forward, and nothing results, I send in Gomez, Yeray and Rico. We tie them 1-1 here, MOM is Kepa. We lose 4-2 aggregate.

14 games, 1 win.

Good effort

Juv, Chelsea and Dortmund join Real Madrid in the semis.

The Deportivo match arrives. They are 20th in the Liga. We start controlling. No scores, but we dominate the first half. At the half I tell them to knock it off and win this thing. They do. We win 3-0, with goals by Williams, Garcia and Lopez, and assists by Griezmann and Williams, my MOM. Laporte was injured in the game and is out for 2-3 weeks.

We win 2-1 vs Sevilla. I was hoping for a bigger score but it was not to be. San Jose is MOM with a goal, and Griezmann the other score.

[Abe Sargent]

We head out to Real Betis. I begin standard. In the first half, Williams has a hat trick of goal-age, with 2 assists from Benat and a 3rd from Muniain. Half! Keep it up! I make some subs and send in Yeray, Rico, and Oyarzabal, but no more scores follow until the 87th, when Williams scores once more, and we win 4-0. MOM is obviously Williams.

In the match, Suseata is injured with a bruised head. He is out for a week or so.

The 41 goals Williams recorded in the liga is a new Athletic record for season in a liga score. The most was previously 38 by Telmo Zarra in 1951!

Villarreal! Get out there and pick up where you left off!!! Williams is injured early, but Griezmann, Garcia, and Yeray all score and we win 3-0. Good job! Griezmann is MOM. Williams is only out for three days.

Laporte returns from injury, and Williams does two days ago and rested since then, he’s at 88% but I’m playing him. Carry straight on from last match! We score twice in the first half, with goals by Williams and Muniain. Then they injure Muniain and I send in Gomez for him. Half. Don’t get complacent. We let a goal in the 54th snake through. In the 92nd minute in extra time, on a corner, San Jose scores, and we with 3-1. Good job!

Muniain is out for a few weeks and will miss the rest of the season

Deportivo is relegated.

[Abe Sargent]

May

May 6 – Home vs Getafe
May 13 – Home vs Espanyol

Juventus drops Chelsea to make it to the final of the Champions Cup.


Real Madrid takes down Dortmund to do the same

The Getafe match arrives. I start Yeray, Gomez, and Oyarzabal. Pick up where you left off! I begin controlling. In the 5th minute, Williams finds Greizmann for a lovely goal, then in the 7th, again, and in the 11th minute, U Lopez crosses to Griezmann for a score, and Griezmann has a hattrick by the ELEVENTH minute at the 10:16 mark! They come forward, but nothing comes of it. Half. Don’t let up! Lopez to Griezmann in the 59th, bounces back off the GP and their GK tries to clear and gives us a an OG. Rico and Etxeita head in. On a corner in the 68th, Gomez fires at Etxeita, who is covered and heads to Laporte who is now unmarked and he finishes. Final sub, Artiz. We win 5-0, MOM is Griezmann. We had no cards, to their 4, 44% of possession, and 22 shots to their 11.

The agent of Oyarzabal wants an improved deal for his client. Okay. I make an offer. We agree to 50k/week, five years, hot prospect deal, and 90 min min release fee.

At the ripe age of 23, our coaches believe that Kepa has reached his max as a goalie will not grow anymore, but this guy is good.

During training, Xabi Alonso is injured, and he’ll miss the final game of the season. I start Iturraspe in his spot for today’s Espanyol game. Vengeance! Espanyol, Real Madrid and At. Madrid are the only three Liga losses I have this season. Get out there and make them pay. And not just in pennies. 7th minute, Benat finds Williams. In the 36th, Unai Lopez hits Williams for another goal. Espanyol is not going away quietly, and have a few positive options in the rest of the half. 2-0. Don’t get complacent! On a FK, Gomez hits Laporte for as core in the 63rd. I send in Artiz who may be leaving us at the end of this year. David Lopez replaces Gomez. Rico for Benat. We win 3-0. MOM is Williams. Great job folks!

[Abe Sargent]

So we came in 2nd in the liga. So sad.

Final Table:

1. Real Madrid, 100 points
2. Athletic, 95 points
3. Atletico, 72
4. Celta, 58
5. Granada, 52
6. Valencia, 52
7. Sevilla, 52
8. Espanyol, 52
9. Malaga, 52
10. Barcelona, 51
11. Levante, 48
12. Almeria, 48
13. Betis, 47
14. Villareal, 43
15. R. Sociedad, 40
16. Getafe, 39
17. Osasuna, 38
18. Rayo, 38
19. Deportivo, 37
20. Las Palmas, 37

So, as you can see, Real Madrid had an epic season. We had more than enough points to win in a normal season. We actually won The Liga last year with 87 points, so we had an 8 points improvement in our score, which is a good accomplishment for us. Real Madrid won two years ago, my first with Athletic, with 82 points. 95 points would normally be running around with The Liga. But not this year. 0 losses, 31 wins and 7 ties. That is a huge result.

Willliams’ 8.30 rating in his 37 Liga games is a new high
Williams wins Spanish Player of the Year
With 44 Liga Goals, Williams wins Top Goalscorer,
With 44 Goals and 18 Assists in league player, Williams wins Top Spanish Goalscorer
Santxitz got 2nd in Manager of the Year voting
Four players named to Liga Dream Team – Williams, Laporte, Griezmann, and Unai Lopez.

[Abe Sargent]

Fan Awards:

Fan’s Player of the Season – Williams
Goal of the Season – Griezmann vs Laporte
Signing of the Season – Xabi Alonso
Young Player of the Season – Williams

Celta beats Granada 3-0 to win the Spanish Cup.

Williams wins Spanish Player of the Year
Oyarzabal wins Young Player of the Year

LIGA Stats:

Most MOM, 14, Inaki Williams. 2nd best was 9.

Muniain was 5th most in avg yards/game run

Best rating was Williams 8.30, and then at 3rd was Griezmann with 7.92.

Williams 44 goals blew away the 30 of Cristiano Renaldo and in 4th was Griezmann with 24. That is the same number Artiz had when he led the Liga in goals two years ago, btw.

Avg minutes per goal – best at 72.50 is Williams,

Garcia was 3rd best with % of shots on target

Xabi Alonso was 4/4 on PKs, and has the 2nd most in the Liga

In assists, the liga leader was Unai Lopez with 19. In 2nd was Williams with 18. In 3rd was Griezmann with 16.

Griezmann was tied for 2nd most key passes behind only Messi with 189,

Xabi Alonso was 6th best in pass completion

Williams was 6th best dribbles per game

Laporte was 4th best in key headers.

Laporte was 4th best in key interceptions

Javi Martinez was 3rd best in headers won ratio

Kepa was 3rd fewest goals allowed.

Kepa had the 2nd most clean sheets

Kepa was 2nd most saves held

Kepa was 5th best in saves parried

Well I think that Lopez just owns the MR spot moving forward, and Suseata can continue on a rotation or sub basis. Suseata did lead the LIGA in assists two years ago, but only had 12 assists in 36 games. Lopez had 19 in 32 games. That’s a big difference in goalmaking.

Lopez had a 7.47 rating in Liga play, and he is basically done growing at this point.

Now next year I’ll have tough decisions to make at AMC and MC spots, but U. Lopez is basically all in for MR, right?

Inaki Williams scored...61 goals for our team in senior play in Cups, Champion, and League play this year. Many players that are good, won’t score 61 in a career. And he is just 23 years old. Holy crap. He just plays so well, even though he’s really really great, he’s not the top echelon of player. He plays like Messi, but looks like a Mess. And we are playing him out of position at ST. And we are playing him not in his natural ST role, but as a support Complete Forward. He only has a finishing of 13, just a passing of 14, just a crossing of 14, just a technique of 13, just a first touch of 13. How is he doing that well? He’s smart, mega fast, and just has that “it” factor.

I don’t know if you noticed, but Williams at ST after I picked up Griezmann is very, very different than Williams with Artiz. With Artiz, it was all about assists, helping Artiz and others get balls, and feeding them. But with Griezmann, he is just on another level. As soon as Griezmann comes in he is getting hattricks, and back to back hatricks the month after Griezmann arrives and more. They clearly appear to be a better striking tandem than I and A.

And I don’t know if you have notice, but when one of this duo had to lay with Artiz, Viguera, a youther ST or another, their on the pitch results dropped considerably. They are just magical together.

Unai Lopez had 30 assists across all competitions

[Abe Sargent]

Real Madrid wins 1-0 over Juve to win the Champion’s Cup, and they have won both the Liga and the Champion’s Cup.

Inaki Williams led the Champion’s Cup in goals with 15 and Unai Lopez in assists with 9

Williams wins the Gold Boot award
He was our lone representative in the Champion Dream Team

Artiz has announced he will retire In a month. He’s 37, and his stats have begun to drop and it’s to find a spot on a squad where Griezmann and Williams are just doing so well out there.

One of my GK coaches is retiring.

I resign a few scouts and my Director of Football.

I do the whole, “Let’s leave this run for a year and see what would happen.”

We would finish 3rd in Liga behind Real Madrid and Valencia, with AT Madrid 4th and Barca 5th. We would, however, win the Champion’s Cup with a 2-0 victory over Liverpool, who defeated Real Madrid in the Quarters, then Paris in the Semis, while we took out Gelsenkirchen in the Semis, Olympiakos in the Quarters, and Benfica in the First Knockout Round.

Now, if you want, I could call it! But that doesn’t count to me! But again, I think it’s interesting to have the Path not Taken concept.

Let’s look at my staff.
I will be letting my Ass Man go, and then either offering to Mikel Alonso or finding another, and I think Mikel absolutely has it going on. I have four first team coaches leaving this year: Imaz, Amada, Basauri, Masach. Any I want to keep?

Basauri is retiring. Others?

Imaz should go. Amado is okay, 4 star fitness, MAsaucj is 4.5

I make an offer to the latter immediately. I offer a 1-year deal for Amado to continue with us.

Griezmann wins Best Player in Europe

Eibar won the playoffs and are promoted back to the Liga. Welcome back my fellow Basque partners!

Big teams are coming for my players again, including for Inaki Williams.

I sign Kepa for a 5 year, 55k/week, first team deal with a 100 mill min release fee.

I am doing a training camp out in San Diego for 10 days.

So, I have four first squad players heading out. Boveda, Lekue, Artiz (retiring) and Rico. Rico is a 33-year-old rotation/backup for us. All of them are expendable at this point.

I make an offer for Artiz to be a U19 coach. He accepts

We are now the 14th richest club out there

[Abe Sargent]

My Ass Man takes an offer as a coach instead of an Ass Man with us, for a lot more money. He’s a good coach in training, but otherwise, he’s very weak. Mikel Alonso is considering our offer for his spot. Got to get the right people in the right seats to succeed at this level.

Real Sociedad just sold one of their most promising youth players to PSG for 6 mill.

I actually make an offer to bring back Lekue for two years. Let’s move him to Bilbao in the Adelante to help them win games and such. Nah, let’s withdraw it want to see him flourish, not play outside of his natural position at a lower level.

Boveda heads out to Tel-Aviv. Good luck!

Mikel Alonso steps into the role as our new Assistant Manager. He’s 38, has a continental B license and is working on the next one. He came through the R. Sociedad ranks much like his younger brother, Xabi Alonso, and never broke through, ,was loaned, played at lower level clubs, and they cut him in 2008. He signed with Tenarife and they kept getting promoted and relegated, promoted and relegated from the Liga, and then went abroad to clubs like Charlton and some lower lever play. He emerged at Real Union, here in Basque country, in the Segunda division two below the Liga when I saw how good of a management he was, and we transferred him from Real Union, and now he was a backup, then a coach, and now my handpicked Assistant Manager. He’s that good, and getting better:

Tactical Knowledge – 17
Motivating – 16
Determination – 16
Judge Pot – 15
Judge Current – 14
Young – 16
Man Manage – 15
Discipline - 11
Two good coaching fields – Mental 15, and Tactics, 18

That is a great Assistant Manager. I am confident that you can see precisely what I saw in him, although, again, he has gotten better with courses. He will continue his role as my 4 star Attacking coach.

I sign Xabier Mancisdor, a great GK coach to replace the one about to retire.

[Abe Sargent]

July 2 – Our training camp has begun!

I have set up a 10 year testimonial friendly for Markel Suseata with the local LA Galaxy on July 12th.

I am already getting loan offers for my top flight talent, like Espericueta, Merino, and Arellano.

I offer new deals to players like Fran and other big time youth that I want to keep at the club,

I have agreed to sell Xiker, one of my weaker youth, to Sporting for 150k.
If I ran fullbacks on my squad, Arellano is ready to go.

I will be retaining Espericueta and Merino this year, and moving them into my lineup as subs and backups and rotational players. Not unlike Rico.

By the way, Espericueta has been capped 12 times thus far by Mexico.

I sell Xiker, I have an offer for Ander Iturrraspe’s younger brother to sell him for 450k and I take it.

[Abe Sargent]

Under my request, Athletic Bilbao have released an online database like a heavy Wikipedia with a lot of information and profile on every member of the club, as well as every current Basque player playing professional football, with the ultimate goal of including every known Basque player as well.

[Abe Sargent]

I make an offer to Alain Oyarzun, an unsigned middle who played for Real Sociedad for a backup deal, and I expect to send him to my B squad for now.

After extending a lot of youth deals and giving out some bonsues, I have 31 mill in transfer money running around. My current expenditure level is 2.15 mill, and I have 2.6 mill in budget, so I ould find some more cash there if I needed as well.

Our expectation is to qualify for Europe and get past the Group Stage.

I easily convince the club to invest in better youth facilities and they do. They will invest 7.5 mill and finish 10/10/19, fourteen months later.

Getafe have made an offer to buy Íñigo Ruiz de Galarreta, one of my good backups. Ummm... Alright, let’s do it. I agree to it.

Our only players in the World Cup right now are Laporte and Griezmann with France and Espericeuta with Mexico, and they got 2nd in their Group, and France won theirs. Then Mexico lost 3-2 to Romania in extra time and were knocked out.

France has beaten Brazil in the first knockout round 1-0
Beaten Romania 2-0
Beat Uruguay 1-0

And will now be playing in the Final against the winner of tomorrow’s Argentina vs England Semi Final.

England wins 2-1, and the 2018 World Cup Final will be France vs England

We agree to host friendlies with Arsenel and Gelsenkirchen. I want to bring in folks we’ve had recent Champion success against to test us in friendlies.

I sell Gorka Iturraspe for about 750k total, plus a large sell on fee.

[Abe Sargent]

The Suseata Testimonial is about to begin. Now Markel Suseata has never, ever, played for another club than us, not even on loan. So I wanted to find a club where we are trying to build our international footprint. Out west in the USA there are a lot of Basque immigrants, and in fact two schools out here, including UN Reno have a Basque Studies program as a major.
University of Nevada, Reno - Center for Basque Studies (http://basque.unr.edu/)
Basque Studies | Boise State University (https://basquestudies.boisestate.edu/)

So having a Testimonial for Suseata seems appropriate out here, and the class of the area is the LA Galaxy.

I am starting Viguera instead of Griezmann, and then the rest of the starting XI you expect, and Suseata at MR instead of Unai Lopez. Williams twists his ankle, and I send in Garcia. In the 37th, Oyarzabal intercepts the ball, feeds Garcia for a goal. They hit us back in PT, and we are tied 1-1 at the half. We can still win this one! I send in many subs. In the 48th, Gomez to Garcia, header rattles off crossbar, Viguera sinks it. We win 2-1. Good job. MOM is Garcia.

Williams is out for 2 weeks. Luckily, he’ll miss two friendlies.

Our training camp ends, and we head to Bilbao.

Oyarzun signs with us.

France beats England 2-0, and Griezmann had 2 goals, was MOM and named to Best XI for the World Cup.

[Abe Sargent]

Like I said, Griezmann is like a light French Messi. France’s Paul Pogpa won the World Cup Best Player, and I am sure you can imagine the zest of Pogpa and Griezmann working together.

I sell Inigo Ruiz.

Whoops, looks like I forgot to select Testimonial when I choose the LA friendly. Ah well. (I clicked on the screen saying, would you like to schedule a testimonial?) I set a home Testimonial with Real Madrid for Sunday, July 22nd

Arsenal Friendly? 0-0 tie. MOM is Kepa

Real Madrid Testimonial for Suseata!

We have, in the stands, Sabin, Eneko Boveda, Mikel Balenzinga, and other former players who played with Suseata in his 11 years and 387 senior team games for us!

I didn’t play Suseata in the pevious match becuase I wanted him to healthy for today’s matach. I am starting Garcia in Williams’s normal spot, and otherwise have my best XI available like Benat, Xabi Alonso, Javi Martinez, Kepa, Muniain, Laporte, Griezmann, etc. Vengeance! After a nasty foul on Oyarzabal in the 18th, they get a red card. Suseata to Griezmann in the 22nd. Goal. Half. Don’t get complacent out there! I make some subs. Griezmann goal in the 68th. We win 2-0. MOM is Suseata, with a 9.0 rating. Good job!

Gelsenkirchen Friendly? We lose 3-2.

Yearay has learned how to avoid using his weaker foot

I head to the board and they agree to offer me a new deal. I sign for 3 years, 50k/week, with some sick bonuses for winning things.

Away Friendly results: 5-0, 8-0, 3-0, 5-0, 9-0, 5-1, 6-2, 5-0

[Abe Sargent]

I swap my captain and vice. Benat is now vice and Xabi Alonso now captain. 3/4s of the players on my team love that I named Xabi Alonso as my captain. I move Garcia to rotation status. I will be giving Espericueta, Merino, Iturraspe, Garcia, and Oyarzabal all starts up in here, along with Gomez, Muniain, Suseata, and U Lopez.

Now, if you’ll recall, Merino is a little more defensively minded, and the other youthers tend towards more of an offensive mindset, other than my true DMCs of Javi Martinez, San Jose, or Xabi Alonso.

Current Squad:

GK – Kepa, Herrein
3 starters DC – Laporte, Martinez, rotating Etxeita, San Jose, Yeray
DMC – Alonso, Iturraspe, Martinez, San Jose, Merino
MC – Benat, Espericeuta, Merino, Garcia, Oyarzabal, Iturrasape, Lopez
AMC – Garcia, Oyazabal, Espericueta, Muniain, Williams, Merino, Benat, Lopez
MR – Unai Lopez, Suseata, Williams, Muniain, Gomez, Garcia (emergency only)
ML – Muniain, Gomez, Williams, Lopez
2x ST – Griezmann, Williams, Viguera, Garcia

I expect to use Viguera for Greizmann and Garcia for Williams when I need to sub one for injury or something. I will leave Viguera on the bench.

[Abe Sargent]

Now, a few notes –

Espericueta is fully developed, and now 23. And he looks good. If I am not running him, that’s stupid. That is a missed opportunity. His best stats are 17 passing, 15 first touch, techniqiue, 15/16 speed, and so forth. Now, his most natural position is Advanced Playmayer role at MC, which he owns as supporting. But he is clearly developed and ready to be used. You can run him out there at AMC all day long, but MC is the natural fit for him

Merino is mostly developed. 14/14 speed, 15 pass, tech, first touch, and such. His stats, compared to Espericueta’s are much better at defense, he has a 17 jumping, 13 heading, 13 marking, etc. His most natural role is a Deep Lying Playmaker in a support capacity, which he excels in. 16 decisions, 16 positioning. He was loaned to Getafe for three year, had more than 60 LIGA starts for tham, and averged more than 7.20 in those starts. He’s ready for LIGA ball. You can run him at AMC, but that’s not the best fit for this team. I’ve got way too many players out there that work for AMC better than him. At DMC however, he’s a good, solid fit. I think, in a traditional 4-4-2 where you have two MCs working together, an advanced playmaker role for Espericeuta and a deep lying one for Merino would really help them work well together. But, I like Merino better in the middle because he’s more well rounded, and I see him as more of a Rico, Benat, or Iturraspe for defensive minded football that can also pass and play up. Currently, my MC is set to a Box to Box role, whch Benat is alright in, although he, like Merino, is better at DL Playmaker,

Over the summer time, Garcia’s strengeth and stamina each dropped one. He is 32, and is is probably time. Meanwhile, Oyarzabal is improving and almost there. So, as of now, I expect that Oyarzabal is going to be getting more starts this year, and bigger ones too.

Irregardless of postion, my best, current players, with their age beside them:

Griezmann, 27
Williams, 24
Laporte, 24
Javi Martinez, 29
Oyarzabal, 21
Espericueta, 23
Muniain, 25
Kepa, 24
Xabi Alonso, 36, has been dropping, still this good
Merino, 21
Garcia, 32
Unai Lopez, 22
San Jose, 29
Iturraspe, 29
Benat, 31
Yeray, 23
Suseata, 30
Etxeita, 30
Gomez, 28
GK Herrein, 30
Viguera, 31

That’s my first team. As you can see, players like Suseata, Etxeita, Benat, Gomez, and Vigeura, whom were with the squad when I inherited it, have been built around or underneath. I put the ages next to them so you could sort of see the last hold-outs from when I took over that were good, but four years later have, mostly moved on, retired, been sold, and so forth. The initial team that started Sabin, De Marcos, Balenzinga, Artiz, GK Iraizoz and such is moved on, and you can see the ones above here that are now fighting youth and better players. How does a Gomez, Garcia, Etxeita, Suseata, Benat or Iturraspe fight through the number of quality players, often younger, that are now here. Only three major big-name additions have occurred in the last four years, and there were no additions this past year at all. Xabi Alonso, Griezmann, and Javi Martinez, 2 of which are in my top four, and the other is the best DMC on my team bar none but will likely play just one or two more years before I turn that spot over, not to Iturraspe or Merino or Martinez or San Jose, but to Fran, who is 18 and should be ready to go by them.

I grew up the stars already on my roster, like Kepa, Laporte, Williams, Lopez and Muniain, or picked up others and grew them, like Merino, Espericeuta, and Oyarzabal.

I believe that this will be the year that my squad shifts and you will see more players elsewhere.


I am getting big time offers from some clubs for one of my U19 youth, Iker Prieto, a 17 year old ML. Bayern is the most recent, but he’s not making a big offer of cash. They make an offer at his min release clause of 3.1 mill, so he may sign with them and head out.

The odds have us favored 7-4 to win the LIGA, behind RM even, and no one else really in the conversation.

[Abe Sargent]

I link up Viguera and a youth from last yaer ST who I move to my main squad but make available for Bakonia matches

Prieto heads off to Bayern Munich for 3 mill.

We open the season with a home game vs Celta. I start my normal XI, with Garcia, Benat, etc all in. San Jose starts at DC. For the fans!!! Griezmann to Williams at the 4:04 mark, Goal... In the 9th, in a break, Griezmann shoots, blocked by GK, Williams finishes. In the 10th minute, Williams hits goal again, and there is his hattrick. IN THE TENTH MINUTE OF THE GAME (At the 9:51 mark to be precise).

Wow

Celta are not going away easily and they are pushing hard, so I slide back to counter for the reast of the half. Benat feeds Williams dangerously, he gives it to Griezmann, the ball is tackled, Williams scoops itup and scores in the 39th. Half. Don’t let up! By the 49th, Celta have used their subs and have three cards. I move to tackle heavily. Garcia to Williams, goal, 52nd. Laporte with a key interception, loops the ball down to Griezmann, who hoofs it lovely where defenders can’t get to it to Williams on a counter for a long shot outside the box, goal, 54th minute. Do I pull Williams now that he has SIX goals?

Nope!

I send in Yeray and Suseata. Benat hits a DFK for goal in the 69th. Iturraspe in. They get a goal in the 86th. (I think my team sort of stopped playing there.) We win 7-1. Ummm....MOM is Williams? Yup! They had 56% of possession and 13 shots. We got 7 goals on 16 shots. So we were clinical out there

6 of our players were in LIGA Team of the Week!

Whoa! Did I just find a good Basque youth out there? A Pays Basque player from France, Javier Goiria, is in the Auxurre youth club, 15 years old. Looks like he could be another solid youth prospect like the many I head out and grab. My scouts like Goiria and we offer to bring in the youth.

Oyarzabal was just called up the Spanish Senior squad.

[Abe Sargent]

In the Champions knockout round, Liverpool were trounced and are out.

Group Stages!

We, of course, get that sweet sexy kitty cash.

We are seeded 2nd

Group E:

Bayern
Athletic
Shakhtar
AFC Astra (Romania)

I randomly make 350k when someone we sold 5 years ago with a good sell on fee was sold to Deportivo.

I have signed Goiria for 650k. He will arrive next year when he turns 16.

I scout a bunch of R. Sociedad players and try to see some youth or something I can bring in and weaken my rivals. I sign a good youther for 150k and then a made offers for two strong candidates for later for 1.5 mill total. My goal is to get them loaned out or here and developing. But Real Sociedad made them both big, over-paying reactions and they returned to their club.

Can I get Osasuna to do the same? Definitely not.

End of the transfer dead line arrives. We have 28 players on loan, including the guy we just signed, who had 6 bidders for his loan services.

[Abe Sargent]

Bout to head out for the day to the local Baltimore Zoo.

So here you are, one final update real quick.

September

Sept 1 – Away vs At, ,Madrid.
Sept 15 – Home vs Real Madrid
Sept 19 – Home vs Bayern, Champion
Sept 22 – Home vs Espanyol
Sept 26 – Away vs Valencia
Sept 29 – Away vs Cordoba





For the away game to start off Sept, I start Merino at MC, Etxeita and Oyarzabal. Pick up where you left off!!! I begin countering, respecting our foe too much to do else. On a counter, they hit us for a score in the 23rd. Then Griezmann to Williams in the 27th. Yellow to Merino. Half, 1-1. We can still win this thing! Merino to Williams for a goal in the 55th. I send in Ander Iturraspe for Merino due to his yellow. Yeray and Suseata head in as well. We win 2-1, after holding on, nice on-the-road comeback and good win. MOM is Williams.

Let me check. I want to finish this dynasty after investing a lot of time up front. But is there a way that doesn’t involve going on holiday?

The Real Madrid match is here. I keep my attacking ways up. They get a penalty in the 19th and score. We injure Ronaldo in the 33rd. Then we score twice in the first half by Oyarzabal and Benat. Half. They come back and score twice before Greizmann hits goal, and it’s a 3-3 tie. Ronaldo is out for 7-9 weeks with a wounded shoulder

[Abe Sargent]

Bayern is here. We tie 1-1. MO as Muniain, Goal – Muniaian to Oyarzabal. They injured Benat for a week.

Espanyol – We win 3-1. MOM is Xabi Alsono, 2 goals by Griezmann, 1 by Xabi.

Valencia – They injure Kepa in the 44th, and he has to leave the pitch, after a strong 0-0 game thus far. Iturraspe injured too and heads off. I do not normally run a GK on the side. Hey, if my main is badly injured, I was likely loisng with that sub, I’d rather have options for the team from the rest, so San Jose will be my Kepa. Suseata in. We lose 3-0.

Iturraspe – out for 1 week

Kepa – Out for.....TWO MONTHS with a wounded shoulder. Time for Iago Herein to earn his money!

Cordoba – Injury to Benat, again, we win 5-1, MOM is Oyarzabal, 2 goals and 1 assist, Alsono, Williams and Griezmann with scores too. Xabi Alonso set a record for oldest Athletic goalscorer.

Benat out for a week

[Abe Sargent]

October

Oct 2 – Away vs Astra, Champions
Oct 6 – Home vs Osasuna
Oct 20 – Away vs Malaga
Oct 23 – Away vs Shakhtar
Oct 27 – Home vs Oviedo
Oct 31 – Away vs Real Sociedad

Espericueta now has Spanish citizenship

Astra – We win 3-0, MOM is Gomez, with an assist. Goals by Alonso, Laporte, and Williams.
Osasuna? 2-0, MOM is Lopez, with him and Gomez scoring. Griezmann injured early. Out for 2-3 weeks. Luckily, most of that is without a game on our part.

Real Madrid just lost on the road against Eibar, so their LIGA streak without a loss ends at 55 games. That’s right, fall at the hands of Basque country!

Merino has learned to switch the ball to the opposite flank.

Malaga – Viguera starting, Muniain back (not playing well at times), Benat back from injury, 1-1 tie. MOM is Laprote


Like Merino, Espericueta has learned to switch the ball to the other flank too

[Abe Sargent]

Shakhtar – We win 3-2. MOM is Lopez with 2 Assists, and goals by Williams, San Jose, and Oyarzabal. We now have 7 points from the first three games, as does Bayern


Oviedo – I start bakup signee Alain Oyarzun at ML. He gets an assist as does Oyarzabal in the first half to our STs. And then he hits Oyarzabal for a goal in the 61st. We win 3-0. MoM is Oyarzun! Nice debut there!


Real Sociedad – I leave Oyarzun in, as the hot leg. If he can show up for us on the road vs our rivals, then I may have a more permannt spot in my rotation other than just giving him the rare game, like Viguera. Garcia for Oyarzabal, Suseata. This is Laporte’s 200 app for us. Benat with an early yellow, they score two in the first half, and we are down nasty. Show me soethinge else. I pull Benat and an underperforming Oyarzun (6.3 rating) for Espericueta, and then move Williams to ML, and Garcia to ST and Esper to AMC. Etxeita heads in. And then it begins. Griezmann to Exteita on a corner kick, goal, 72nd minute. Espericueta with a finish after a Williams cross to him is intercepted, but he falls on the ball and still scores in the 82nd. And then in the 86th, Williams to Griezmann for a goal. We win 3-2 late!!!!! Mom is Griezmann

That moved us to first in the Liga, as both Real Madrid and Granada stumbled with losses.

And that may end the Oyarzun experiment. I’ll give him another start later to see.

[Abe Sargent]

November

Nov 4 – Away vs Villareal
Nov 7 – Home vs Shakhtar
Nov 10 – Home vs Eibar
Nov 24 – Home vs Levante
Nov 27 – Away vs Bayern


Villareal - Real Betis just hosted and dropped Real Madrid 3-2. We can get more distance over out erstwhile rivals here. Start – Oyarzabal, Mun, Lopez, Merino. 0-0 half. Griez to Will in the 59th, goal. Looks good. I send out Mun, very underperforming at ML, and then Iturraspe for a tired Xabi and San Jose. In the 81st, they score back on a nice flowing move. 1-1. Then in the 87th, Lopez finds G for a goal, and we win 2-1. I’ll take it.


Ronaldo returns to Real Madrid this week, so they dropped a lot of points while he was out, losing two games in Euro, and three in the Liga, and that may have set them back too much to recover in either place. Right now they are 4th in their Champion’s Group with a 1 point in three games, having tied Dortmund prior to the injury. We each had 17 shots, 9 on target, and 48% to their 52% possession, 8 to 7 fouls, etc. So a win there, admittedly late, makes me a happy Abe.


Unai Lopez can place his shots now! He is called up to the Spain squad. I bump Muniain’s status down to rotation.

Shakhtar – I start Gomez at ML, Benat and San Jose and Garcia. The last time we hosted Shaktar in our place we drubbed them. But I’ll just take a win. Benat with a yellow in the 33rd, and they score in the 35th. Half. In the 49th, Benat gets another card, and is sent off. Crap! I change my formation and send in Iturraspe for Garica. Williams finds G for a goal in the 61st. Yeray in. Suseata too. We manage to hold on and get the tie minus a person. 1-1.

[Abe Sargent]

I move Etxeita to a backup role.

Eibar – I start Oyarzun, Espericueta, and Iturraspe for a tired Xabi Alonso. Home vs Eibar is a low hoop to jump through for Oyarzun. We win 4-1, MOM is G with 2 goals, 1 assit, Williams with 2 Gs, assist by Oyarzun, Oyarzabal.


Kepa is back from his injury

Oyarzabal capped by Spain in a friendly vs Chile

Levante – Muniain, Benat, Alonso, Yeray, and Oyarzabal in the lineup. We win 2-0. Each of Oyarzabal and Greizmann assisted the other for goals. NM, Oyarzabal just got another goal in extra time, 3-0 instead. But G hit ‘em up. Mom is Oyarzabal. Duh.

Williams is jaded and in need of rest. I’ll give him some time off, and Garcia a start or two.

Suseata comes to me and wants to move on to meet a new challenge. After talking with him, I agree to move him.

I transfer list Suseata


Bayern – We lose 1-3. They have qualified, we are one point ahead of Shakhtar with one game left. We have Astra left, they have Bayern, so that gives us a big edge.

[Abe Sargent]

December

Dec 1 – Away vs Almeria
Dec 5 – Away vs Zamora, Spanish Cup
Dec 9 – Away vs Barcelona
Dec 12 – Home vs Astra
Dec 16 – Home vs Betis
Dec 19 - Home s Zamaora, SC
Dec 23 – Home vs Granada


WOW. The board just came to me and told me that they wanted to increase my transfer cash. I now have a budget in excess of 100 mill. Not that there are many people to pursue, but it’s nice to know I could.


Let’s delve into my Muniain concerns. It looks like he does well in ratings, but his stats aren’t there.

Take last year, LIGA:

Muniain, 30 games, 3 goals, 6 assists, 0 MOM, 7.36 rating

And then the year before:

Muniain, 33 games, 3 goals, 5 assists, 1 MOM, 7.25 rating

That’s 63 games, 6 goals, 11 assists, and 1 MOM in two years, but his rating is good. That’s not where I want my ML. Remember we were scoring in buckets last year.

I think part of this might be his pass/cross, with is 14/13, but Lopez is 15/15 and had 19 assists last year. Suseata was 14/14 and had 12 in a single year.

What about Gomez? Remembering that he is mostly a sub, he has 19 games, and 1 goal and 8 assists last year and 1 and 6 the previous year with 18 liga games. So I want to give Gomez an extended run of games to see if he can improve on Muniain’s numbers.

[Abe Sargent]

Almeria – Williams is back in for jadedness, and I expect to bring him back for the Barca match and let him rest for a full week with some rests after today.. We barely win 1-0. But we won. Oyarzabal to Williams our lone goal. MOM is Williams


Zamora – Backup starting time! We win 4-3, with 2 assits by Oyarzun and Suseata, MOM Is Suseata, goals by Garica, Garcia, Viguera, Yeray.


Barca – 0-0 half. They have a goal in the 49th called offsides, btu Messi hits Neymar for goal in the 55th. Then Kepa gets the ball, launches it beaituffuly downfield, and Inaki the speed demon runs under it, dribbles, finds Griezmann for goal in the 63rd. I send in the subs. G hits Williams back in the 82nd. We hold and win 2-1. Good job, MOM is Griezmann. That’s Barcelona these days. No one fears them. They have missed two Euro competitions out of the last three years, and we’re beating them 2-1 in their house. All of the names are the same, but they have lost that Barcelona je ne sais quai.


Going into that match we were favored.

[Abe Sargent]

Real Madrid was officially knocked out of their Group Stage when Dortmund beat Lille 4-3. They needed a tie, and a win over group winner Galatasaray.

Astra – If we flat out win, then we make it out. We can tie and make it out. We can lose, and if Bayern beats Shakhtar, we are out. We have a lot of routes to qualify. Laporte with an early card. We win 2-0, Unai Lopez is MOM with a goal from Gomez and an assist to Williams.

We are out.

We sell Suseata to PAOK for 3.5 mill.

He’s been a great servant, never played elsewhere, and he wants that chance, and Unai Lopez has moved, well, into his spot, so it makes sense, and it reduces my density at Midfielder as well.


Betis – We win 4-0, goals by Williams, Greizmann, Oyarzabal and Williams. Assit by Gomez, and the Griezmann. MOM is Williams. The second goal was Williams’ 100th goal for us

We get Galatasaray in the 1st Knockout round.


Zamora – backup time again, take 2. Just 5 of my normal starters are here. We win 2-0 with goals by Muniain and Oyarzabal, Mom is Griezmann.

We get Girona next

[Abe Sargent]

Granada - We host the #2 team in the Liga right now with Granada. I will start wth my normal tactics and pull back if needed. We lose 0-2.

On the 30th, I make offers to a number of our people with expiring contracts. Youth, backups, etc.

I have Viguera, Etxeita, Garcia and Gomez with deals ending. You can see why I might want to let a few of those go, namely the first two. I could let Etxeita go and promote one of my youther DCs to his spot as my 5th and a sub. He’s 31 and not getting any younger. Viguera is an obvious choice too, although, again, he’s been fine in spot duty here and there. I offer to extend Gomez by one year, and increase his salary 5k. He’ll probably be fine with that.

I leave the other three in the air for now. Of them, I am happy to see Etxeita and Viguera go, and Garcia still has something.

Zidane won French Manager of the Year, Santxitz got 2nd.

According to scouts, Kepa is now the best GK among Basque players. Herrein is 3rd.

I call up my best youth GKing and get Herrein working on tutoring him. I need to prepare in case I get the deadly double injury to Kepa and Herrein. Now I could just try and purchase the #2 or #4 folks out there. But why?


Current table:


1. Athletic, 17 games, 41 points
2. Granada, 17 games, 36 points
3. Real Madrid, 15 games, 30 points
4. Barcelona, 17 games, 30 points
5. At, Madrid, 29
6. Celta, 28
7. Espanyol, 26
8. Valencia, 26


Those are the teams with 25+ points right now. If RM win their games in hand, then we are 5 points in front of all of the competition. We are 13, 2, and 2.

[Abe Sargent]

January

Jan 5 – Away vs Sevilla
Jan 9 – Away vs Girona, Spanish Cup 1st Leg
Jan 12 – Home vs Getafe
Jan 16 – Home vs Girona, 2nd leg
Jan 20 - Away vs Celta
Jan 27 – Home vs At, Madrid

Get ready for the trifecta...

As I mentioned, this is the Basque Messi:


Griezmann wins the World Golden Ball award! 30 goals in 48 games, and did a great job in the World Cup, and got France a win with a MOM and 2 goal performance in their 2-0 defeat of England, so the world really knows this BASQUE player!

Greizmann wins World Player of the Year. In both cases, Paul Pogba was 2nd. Again, they are just magnificent together on the French squad.

Greizmann is named in the World Team of the Year

Griezmann won French Player of the Year

I was hoping Oyarzabal would win Golden Boy, but he came in 3rd.


Thanks buddy!

Mikel Alonso with another coachign corse in the bag.

Suseata heads out.

Alcorocn drop Real Madrid from the Spanish Cup on penalties after both games were 0-0 ties.

David Lopez officially retires after I offer him a 5 year deal as a coach only, and he accepts. I’m sure I have mentioned this before, but he is one of the best Basque coaches out there.

[Abe Sargent]

Sevilla – This is my 200th game. All startrs in, including Benat, and Gomez. We win 3-2, 2 goals by Williams, 2 asists by the Gr, goal by Gomez,


Girona – Backup time! We win 1-0, MOM is Laporte.

Getafe? They injure Gomez. He was MOM, with a goal. We win 3-1. Goals to Williams and Greizmann to. Gomez is out for a week and Muniain will spell him

Oyarzabal adapts his game to central dribbling fun times.

Girona - Backups again! We win 2-0, Goals by Garcia and Espercueta. MOM is Muniain.

[Abe Sargent]

We draw Real Sociedad next.

Celta – Benat with a goal in the 1st half. They equalize in the 57th. Then we score twice more and win 3-1. Goals by Xabi Alonso and Espericueta. MOM is benat.


Real Sociedad – Spanish Cup leg 1 away arrives. I make no major changes to my squad save for San Jose in. 2-2 tie, MOM is Kepa. Goals by Williamsx2.


At. Madrid – We are down 1-0 at the half, then score 3 in the 2nd half by Benat, Oyarzabalx2, ast by Williams and Lopezzx2, and Lopz is MOM


Real Sociedad, Leg 2 here at home – We win 2-0, MOM is Gomez.


Next is Real Betis.

I reject a few desperate offers for Laporte, Griezmann and Williams. LOL..

Exteita is heading to Deportivo next yaer.

[Abe Sargent]

February

Feb 2 – Away vs Real Madrid
Feb 7 – Real Betis, 1st Leg, Semi Final
Feb 9 – Home vs Valenica
Feb 13 – Real Betis, 2nd Leg
Feb 16 – Away vs Espanyol
Feb 19 – Home vs Galatsaray, Champ, 1st leg
Feb 23 – Home vs Osasuna


In a very good match, we win 3-2 on the road at Madrid. They scored, we mauled, we went up, they squared, we finished. MOM is Williams with 2 goals, and Laporte the other.


Real Betis – It’s a tight 1-1 game. They led most of the game, but U Lopez scored late and kept us in it. He’s the MOM too.


Valencia – We lose 2-1, only score was Williams

Real Betis – We win 2-0, mOM is Garcia, him and Williams with goals. We win 3-1 aggregate. Congrats on making it to the finals! We will be playing against At. Madrid.

[Abe Sargent]

Espanyol – We win 4-0, MOM is Lopez, with a goal and assist. 2 assists and a goal by Oyarzabal, goals by Williams and Griezmann too.


Galatasaray - I start my best XI. We win 3-0, MOM is Williams with 2 goals.

Viguera and Garcia, my young ST, really got along well and that linkup worked


Osasuna – We are down 2-0 at the half and then recover to win 3-2. Gaols by Lopez, Gomez, Williams, and assists by Gomez, Garcia.

[Abe Sargent]

March

Mar 2 – Home vs Cordoba
Mar 5 – Home vs Malaga
Mar 9 – Away vs Oviedo
Mar 13 – Away vs Galatasaray
Mar 17 – Home vs Real Sociedad
Mar 24 – Home vs Villareal
Mar 27 – New Youth Players Arrive!!!


We defeat Cordoba 3-0, with goals by Williams and Griezx2. Mom is Griez. Lopez was injured and had to be replaced late

Lopez is out for 10 days to 2 weeks. I am to have him back for the RS match

After training, Merino will no longer dive into tackles.

Malaga – We win 4-2, with both Oyarzabal and Griez 2 gaosl each. They injure Gomez, MOM, who’ll be out for 6-8 weeks. Munian will start at MR and Oyarzun at ML.


Oviedo – 4-0 thumping, with Williams, MOM, 2 goals and a assist, Xabi a goal, Benat a goal, and assists with Oyarzun, Muniain, and Benat too.

[Abe Sargent]

Galatasaray – We tie them 1-1 on the road, with Williams the score. We are through 4-1 aggregate.

R. Sociedad – We have Unai Lopez back on the right flank. We win 1-0, goal by Laporte on FK by Griezmann, which I will take.

We draw Man City in the Championship

Villareal – We win 3-1, MOM is Griezmann, goals by Espericueta, Oyarzbaal and him. Javi Martinez’s 250th appearance for us.

Lopez is not capable of dictating the tempo of the game

Youth intake:

A few decent prospects with us, I make offers to a decent one out at Osasuna, but Eibar has an absolute future house at DR in their stable. He looks raring to go! Out side of the Basque clubs, nobody has any major Basque players. Only a couple of major Non-Basque youth prospects are there, and I am going to stop bringing in non-Basque players into my youth academy, we’re doing well and there’s no need to do too much more of it, even if it is realistic.

Sevilla appears to have a pretty good Basque GK that came through their ranks I scout him up. I’m really searching for another GK in case I need one later. The best non-Basque youth players are a DR, MC, and ST for Real Madrid, Barca, and Valencia.


I sign youth from Txantrea, Osasuna, Osasuna

Do I want to pay to bring in a stud DL prospect? Yeah, why not? I agree to Eibar for a 2.5 mill deal.

We sign him. All of these youth will join us in the next transfer window. What about that GK?

We agree to a 2.9 mill deal with Sevilla, but he’s not interested in negotiating. I’ll come back later, maybe.

Unai Lopez is capped.

Espericueta now capable of dictating tempo

[Abe Sargent]

April

Apr 7 – Away vs Eibar
Apr 10 – Home vs Almeria
Apr 13 – Home vs Barcelona
Apr 16 – Away vs Man City, Champion
Apr 21 – Away vs Levante
Apr 24 – Home vs Man City
Apr 28 – Away vs Real Betis



Eibar – Goals by Xabi Alonso (PK), Williams, Williams, Muniain, assisits by lopezx2, Griezmann and Alonso. We win 4-1, MOM is Lopez.

That win qualifies us for Champions play next year.

Almeria – We win 3-0, MOM is Oyarzabal, with a goal and two assists, and others by Williams and Griezmann. Yeray is injured for two weeks.

The 20 assists Griezmann has is now a new Liga record.

Barcelona – Because they are currently 2nd, if Barca looses to us,we win the LIGA. 1-1 tie, Bent stuck a DFK for us.

Oyarzabal is out for a month after an injury from the Barca match.

[Abe Sargent]

We lose 3-1 on thr road at Man City.

Levante – We win 1-0, and MOM is Lopez who set up Williams for the game’s only score.


We have won the LIGA!


Yeray and Gomez has returned from injury.


Man City, take 2 – I hand out a set of rests to everyone for winning the Liga and to help them prepare for today’s home game. We lost 1-3 on the raod, but that away goal by Williams does suggest a potential route to victory,with a 2-0 victory at home one way in. I have changed up several of my default instrutctions to my team to try and eek out a 2nd leg victory here. Williams scores a counter in the 11th to et things started. They are fouling heavy, and have 3 cards in 25 minutes, and then a double foul, and that midfielde is sent off in the 31st. I push ahead. Half. 1-0. Get me a goal! Maybe 3! It’s getting tight and down to the wire. I sent in San Jose for a tired Laporte, Iturraspe and Gomez, but nothing. Extra time? Yes! On a IFK, they hit Javi Martinez in the 90+3 mark goal GOALLLALSDFDSASOPDFsogiagjfgho!

Whew!

We win 2-0, and that’s 3-3 aggregate, and we win on away goals.

Whew!

MOM was a Yeray.

All of the teams left are big name and big time – Chelsea, Juve, Milan, and they beat Paris, Gelsenkirchen, and Zenit, in addition to our removal of Man City from the competition. We get Juventus for the Semi.

San Jose is injured in practice and will out for 10 days

Real Betis – We win 2-1, MOM is Williams with a goal, Garcia the other goal.

I offer Espericueta a new deal. He signs. Rotation, 70k/week, 5 years

[Abe Sargent]

May

May 5 – Home vs Granada
May 8 – Away vs Juventus, ECC
May 11 - Home vs Sevilla
May 14 – Home vs Juventus, ECC
May 18 – Neutral vs At. Madrid, Copa del Rey Final
May 26 – Home vs Getafe


Granada – They score twice early and we hit twie back with goals by Williams and Griezmann, then they score in extra time, 3-2 half. Wow. Alright. Then OG off a corner, thanks! In the 47th. Another goal by Granada in the 74th. Then the Griezmannn equalizes in the 81st. Then they give us yet another OWN GOAL in the 84th. And then they score back in the 86th. We, confusingly, win 5-4.


We lose at Juve 3-0. Looks like this run is over.

Sevilla – We win 1-0, sole score is a Lopez to Greizmann goal. Lopez was MOM.


Juve? We lose 0-3. Again...

[Abe Sargent]

Copa del rey vs At. Madrid! Maybe we’ll bounce back here and today? Let’s get that victory! Oyarzabal is back from his injury and standing today. They score first in the 16th minute. And then........nothing. I send in Gomez, San Jose, Iturraspe, and try everything...nothing. We finish with 6 shots, 2 on target to their 11 and 3. Boring game they manage to win early.



Inaki Williams wins Spanish Player of the Year. Unai Lopez got 2nd.

Xabi Alonso announces he will retire at the end of his contract with us in 18 months.


Getafe – We win 3-0, and Williams is MOM with a hattrick of fun times.

[Abe Sargent]

LIGA Table:

1. Athletic, 99 points
2. Barca, 82
3. Real Madrid, 81
4. Valencia, 62
5. Granada, 61
6. At. Madrid, 60
7. Malaga, 58
8. Celta, 57
9. Sevilla, 54
10. Real Sociedad, 52
11. Expanyol, 50
12. Real Betis, 48
13. Levante, 46
14. Almeria, 45
15. Getafe, 44
16. Osasuna, 41
17. Cordoba, 37
18. Eibar, 31
19. Villareal, 25
20. Real Oviedo, 18


Well there you are! Our 2nd LIGA title, and move of the top teams are precisely those you would expect. Barcelona recovered their expected pace this year.


Neymar set a new LIGA rating with 8.31 rating, beating Willlliams’ 8.30 last yaer.

Diego Suarez is LIGA Player of the Year and Griezmann came in 2nd.

Williams wins Top Goalscorer and Top Spanish Goalscorer with Oyarzabal 2nd for that award,

Kepa came in 2nd for top Spanish Gk

Santxitz won Manager of the Year.

Four Atheltic players in Liga Team of the Year –

Unai Lopez, Griezmann, Williams, Laporte


Remember at the beginning of the dynasty when I put Laporte, Williams and Lopez on notice as the future of the team? Huh.

[Abe Sargent]

Stats:

Neymar’s 9 MOM was the most, our most was 3rd with William’s and Lopez’s 7 each

At 8.04, Dani Carahal’s ratins was the best. We had 3rd, 4th, and 5th with Griezmann, 7.95, Lopez, 7.91, and Williams, 7.80. Oyarzabal was 11th with 7.60, and Xabi Alsono 13th with 7.55

Williams’s 38 goals led the LIGa, Suarez’s 30 was next, and then Griezmann was 3rd with 28 goals. Oyarzabal was tied for 12th most goals with 15.

Williams 88.77 minutes per goal was the best rate.

Benat’s 57% was 4th best for % of shots on target, and Oyarzabal was 5th with 56%

Alonso had 4 PKs, 2nd most in LIGA

Griezmann’s 20 assists led the LIGA, and Loepz was tied for 2nd most with 16. Oyarzabl was tired for 5th with 12

At 185, Griezzman was 3rd in key passes

At 88%, Alonso led the LIGA is pass completed %.

With an average of 7.11 Lopez led the LIGA in dribbles per game, and the next best was almost 2 full dribbles fewer. Williams was 10th with 4.37

Laporte was 5th in key tackles with 35, 5th nin key headers with 122, and 4th in intereceptions with 466.

GK Kepa conceded the 2nd fewest goals, had the 5th most clean sheets, and dropped to 9th and 7th in saves held and parried.


Good years by everyone!!!

[Abe Sargent]

Fan Awards:

Fans Player of the Season – Unai Lopez

Fans Goal of the Season, Lopez vs Real Betis,

Signing of the Season – Alain Oyarzun

Young Player of the Season – Unai Lopez


Xabi Alonso has to be happy with captaining us to a LIGA title.

In the Champions Cup, Juve beats Milan 3-1

Unai Lopez was selected for the Champions Cup Dream Team as the MR starter.


Whoa. Barca will not be going to the Champions Cup next year after failing to get a license for financial reasons! They must be seriously in debt. That means Messi will miss Champions play three of out the last five years. That’s just off.


Williams wins the European Golden Shoe for best marksman.

[Abe Sargent]

I make offers for two players on the Tercera divison club, Arnedo, for 60k each to be staff of mine, and I made both players staff offers, and they accept.

GK linkup with Herrerin and my youther is completed. Viguera is out. I have Garcia on month to month. I don’t know why, I figured someone would have made him an offer by now.

Garcia:

LIGA:

2015/16 – 34 starts, 2 goals, 9 assists, 7.12 rating, used as Shadow Striker, his best skill set, with Artiz up top

2016/17 – 23 games, 6 goals, 3 assists, 7.47 rating, used as an AMC alongside Artiz and Williams and then Greizmann and Williams after he was brought in and Artiz was out for a few months with injury

2017/18 – 27 games, 11 goals, 7 assists, 7.54 rating, used as AMC alongside Oyarzabal

2018/19 – 24 games, 1 goal, 5 assist, 7.09 rating. Final year with us, used alongside Oyarzabal

Now, this year you can see why I moved to Oyarzabal for most of the year, as my default starter when not injured for a month. Here are Garcia’s ages for those four years, 29, 30, 31, and 32. So now Garcia is 32, he has more then 100 LIGA games for us, and in those, either starting or subbing, he brought in 20 goals and 24 assists, which are not bad numbers. I figure someone would have signed him for free. He’s still good. I don’t want to hand him a backup deal when I need to get starts to Espericueta and Oyarzabal moving forward. But I am sure you can see that we are in a good place with this guy moving forward, right?