Athletic Bilbao - FM 2014

[DaddyTorgo]

See below post #5, finally got it cut-n-pasted in.

[Grover]

This is such a fun game to play. I love the restrictions on Basque players. It's fantastic. Can't wait to see you do this.

[bulletsponge]

aww Daddy must have realised he wasnt good enough to do it


the Bilbao job came open in my current game and i considered making a new manager to play them, but i took the NY job instead

[DaddyTorgo]

Nope - have a great 4 page writeup with screenshots and all.

Only when I try to copy & paste it in it just shows up as a blank fucking post.

[DaddyTorgo]

Basques in Europe

A club in crisis. A preseason prediction of a 15th place finish. The acrimonious departure of the club’s most talented goal scorer since Telmo Zarra. What were Athletic Bilbao to do in order to avoid the drop and usher in their new generation in the new San Mames?

The controversial answer – to look outside the region for a savior. A coach willing to work within the strictures of the system. And that’s where Josu Urrutia found me, a 33 year old American with no previous head-coaching experience on the professional level.

I was nothing if not up for the task – looking at it as a way to really make my mark upon the footballing world if nothing else. A way to get my foot in the door at a level that I never thought would be possible before today.

I did warn Mr. Urrutia that, contrary to past coaches, I might bring in some foreign staff – although the players themselves would remain, as always, Basque. I brought in 4 foreign staff members – an assistant coach, a U19 assistant coach, a GK coach and a U19 physio to assist me in implementing my new vision for the club.

What follows is a synopsis of my first season in charge, where I was simply too busy to stop and keep a daily diary.

After looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the team available to me, I determined that our absolute strength was in the midfield, and that we only had two serviceable strikers. Rather than play a 4-5-1, I decided to throw caution to the wind and institute a system that I had been tinkering with on whiteboards and in games of Football Manager, a full-fledged 4-6-0.






The tactic is designed to allow the two Attacking Midfield Wings (Inside Forwards) to swap positions and cut infield, with service from the two Central Midfielders and the Central Attacking Midfielder (Shadow Striker or sometimes just Attacking Midfielder). Frequent overlaps and passes into space at a high tempo should ensure a great deal of motion, moving the defense around and creating openings for runs to exploit.

Against dangerous squads I retained the same basic shape, but pulled the CM's back to defensive mindsets and modified the instructions to promote holding onto the ball and maintaining a more defensively compact shape.



After deciding on this tactic, I bit the bullet, literally, and resolved to get rid of my two strikers, Kike Sola and Artiz Aduritz off of my books in order to free up payroll space. Ideally I would sell them for at least a minimal amount of money, but in reality their payroll space was almost equally as valuable to a cash-strapped club such as we were.

Defense and Central Midfield looked solid, but I knew that I would need more depth in Attacking Midfield – particularly attacking midfielders who could finish the chances that they would be creating for each other, in order to ensure I had a couple players with the scoring touch.

The crown jewel of my acquisitions was Raul Garcia, brought in from Atletico Madrid for $2 million before the season began. My intention was to shift MC/AMC Ander Herrera and his poor finishing back into MC and slot Raul Garcia in at AMC as the primary scoring option.

In the midyear transfer window I added 4 players – promising young GK Oier Olazabal, and 3 attacking midfield options due to a 3 month injury sustained by Garcia on December 22nd. Igor Gabilondo, Javier Barkero, and David Lopez would provide attacking options. Gabilondo and Barkero were short-term solutions, already at the age of 35, with Barkero still a very talented player, but Lopez at 31 has more of a longer-term future in my plans.



Results





Herrera resisted my attempts to replace him as the primary finisher, as you will see below. My midfielders performed as I had hoped they would given their talent, with goals coming from all across it. Aymeric Laporte shined in defense, and contributed all of his goals off set pieces, particularly corner kicks.











Beginning later in the season I realized that my squad typically had difficulty maintaining clean sheets due to the high tempo, so I began to dial the tempo down once we had achieved a 2 goal lead, while keeping everything else the same.


AWARDS

For my efforts during the year, I was voted the Liga BBVA Head Coach of the Year.

Aymeric Laporte and Benat were selected in the Liga BBVA Tearm of the Season First 11. Iker Munian and Markel Susaeta were selected as substitutes for the Team of the Season.

As a result of my success and the improved finances of the team, the Board has announced plans to install undersoil heating in the new San Mames stadium during the offseason.

SEASON 2

My payroll budget (currently roughly $42m USD) was raised to $62m USD by the Board, along with a $10m USD transfer kitty. With this money I decided to look into bringing in reinforcements who could aid us in our League campaign and in attaining respectability in Europe.

With practical opportunities to improve my team at the top-end limited by the restriction of only signing Basque players, and not having a budget or a reputation sufficient to lure back any of the highest-profile Basque players out there (Javi Martinez, Mikel Arteta), my options were limited. I decided to expend $6.5m USD on upgrading "between the sticks," signing Bayonne, France’s own Stephane Ruffier who projects to immediately take over the starting GK duties.

Scratch what I just said. A "Godfather-offer" to Arteta has been enough to lure him back to Spain from Arsenal. It cost me $6.25m USD ($4.3 upfront and the rest in clauses), and his wage package is an exorbitant (for Bilbao) $4.3m USD/yr, with the added kicker that if/when he gets sold he gets 50% of the proceeds. At his age though (32), and given his minimum release clause represents nearly a 5x premium over what I’ll pay for him, that gamble is worth it. He’ll be pulling the strings in midfield as we venture into Europe, and the only way I could be happier would be if I had the money to bring back Llorente and Javi Martinez too.

Also joining us will be a 15 year old MC/DMC from Bayonne, France named Loic Michaud, a squad-rotation left/right defender named Javier Flano from Pamplona, and another "on the cheap" attacking midfielder, David De Paula from Durango.

There are multiple inbound offers that are causing me concern, a $27m USD offer for Iker Munian from PSG and a $21.5m USD offer for Ander Herrera from Real Madrid, and a $19.5m USD offer from A.C. Milan for Susaeta, and a $40m offer for Munian from Barcelona. That represents a pretty penny for a club of our stature, but these players are fundamental to us having a degree of success in Europe. I rejected all of the offers, but I imagine that if we perform well over the course of the coming year again I’ll have to sell some of these guys on to prevent them from becoming unhappy.

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Nope - have a great 4 page writeup with screenshots and all.

Only when I try to copy & paste it in it just shows up as a blank fucking post.

That's because it's too long for the board's limitations. You need to split it up.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Izulde

That's because it's too long for the board's limitations. You need to split it up.

Is it though? I copied it into WordPad and pasted it in from Internet Explorer (vs. FF) and it was fine, as above.

[bulletsponge]

nice. making me want to try out a Bilbao run

[DaddyTorgo]

World Cup recap coming tonight

[Grover]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

World Cup recap coming tonight

Canada knocked out England on penalties in mine. Beautiful.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Grover

Canada knocked out England on penalties in mine. Beautiful.

You'll have to wait to see what happened in mine, but I can confirm that I cover both Canada and England in the writeup. I don't want to spoil it though!

[DaddyTorgo]

World Cup

The 2014 World Cup featured some outstanding play by favorites, some surprise upsets and Cinderella-teams, and the surprise of Lucas Moura outshining Neymar. The goal of the tournament was scored by the USA's own Landon Donovan, and the eventual finalists pitched a virtual shutout of the World Cup "Dream Team" Top 11, with only Ukraine's Eugene Seleznyov breaking the stranglehold of the starter's roles. 78,838 attended England's game against Brazil, and Ivory Coast romped to the tournament's biggest win, a 6-0 shellacking of Norway, with Wilfred Bony potting 4 goals, equaling Fernando Llorente of Spain for the most prolific single game performance.

Group Stage

Group A (England, Brazil, Morocco, South Korea)
Brazil had a disappointing tournament beginning, coming in second in their group behind a rampant England (9pts, 0 goals allowed), finishing with just 4 points, 1 ahead of lowly Morocco.

Group B (Portugal, France, Japan, Peru)
Portugal and France finished joint-top with 5 points, 1 ahead of Japan in this tight group. Portugal claimed the top spot by virtue of goal differential.

Group C (Ivory Coast, USA, Norway, Argentina)
Improbably, Ivory Coast topped the group with 7 points and no goals allowed. The USA finished 1-1-1 for 4 points, good enough for second place ahead of Norway on goal differential (0 vs. -5). Argentina stumbled badly, going 0-1-2 for just a single point.

Group D (Iran, Ukraine, Uruguay, Nigeria)
Iran top the group! 6 points, 2 ahead of Ukraine, who edge out Uruguay on goal differential.

Group E (Italy, Tunisia, Belgium, Australia)
Italy secure top spot with 7 points, ahead of Tunisia. Belgium miss out by a point.

Group F (Germany, Slovenia, Honduras, Paraguay)
Germany and Slovenia finish joint-top with 5 points, with Germany claiming the top spot on a coin-flip based on their equal goal differential and 0-0 draw with Slovenia.

Group G (Spain, Mexico, Greece, Ecuador)
Spain advance on 7 points, with Mexico close behind on 6.

Group H (Holland, Algeria, Serbia, Canada)
Holland put in a dominant group stage, taking 9 points and giving up 0 goals, much like England. Algeria secure second place on 6 points. Canada win the booby prize as the only team with 0 points, and a -7 goal differential (although to look on the bright side they scored 2).

[DaddyTorgo]

Second Round

England 2 : 0 France
Both goals by Glen Johnson in extra time (103, 119).

Brazil 1 : 0 Portugal
Oscar for Brazil. Oh, did I forget to mention that CR7 missed the tournament due to injury?

Ivory Coast 2 : 3 Ukraine
In a relatively even match Ukraine come out ahead.

USA 3 : 1 Iran
Yes, this actually happened. Goals by Landon Donovan (’50), Clint (’63), and Michael Bradley (’85) were enough to cancel out the own goal by Timmy Chandler (’53) and secure the USA the win at the Maracana. Brad Guzan started for the US in net (not due to an injury is all I can tell you).

Italy 1 : 0 Slovenia
Italy neuter overmatched Slovenia, who muster only 2 shots on target (4 overall). Claudio Marchisio nets in the 46th minute for the Azzurri.

Germany 2 : 0 Tunisia
Poor Tunisia – their sole shot on target during the match was the game-winner for Germany (own goal).

Algeria 0 : 3 Spain
Algeria muster an impressive 45% possession and 4 shots on target, but the game is over when Llorente nets Spain’s second goal in the 42nd minute to buffer Pique’s 22nd minute strike. Sergio Ramos would add insult to injury in the 67th minute by bulging the ole onion bag.

Holland 0 : 3 Mexico
El Tri triumph over the Dutch thanks to a Carlos Vela brace. Holland plays a man down after Douglas is sent off for a horror-tackle that takes Chicharito out of the game in the 22nd minute (conceding 2 after that point).

[DaddyTorgo]

Quarterfinals

England 0 : 0 USA (pk)
The US advances on penalties (3-2) after an even match.

Brazil 2: 3 Ukraine
Brazil were knocked out courtesy of an 88th minute Andriy Yarmolenko goal. Despite Ukraine playing a man down for the second half due to a red-card, Brazil were unable to capitalize and score more than 1 goal in the second half.

Italy 2 : 0 Mexico
Davide Santon and Di Natale for Italy.

Germany 1 : 3 Spain
Robert Kraus for the Krauts was more than canceled out by Juan Mata, Llorente, and Cesc. To Germany’s credit, they managed to play an even match with Spain.

[DaddyTorgo]

Semifinals

USA 0 : 4 Spain
Spain had an easier time of it in the Semis than in the Quarters, dominating USA (62-38 possession, 24-7 shots, 15-3 shots on target). Llorente bagged 4 goals, including 2 penalties.

Ukraine 2 : 3 Italy
Despite the final scoreline looking as it did, Italy never looked like losing. Ukraine got an 89th minute goal from Yarmolenko to make it look respectable, but Italy’s 3 tallies in 15 minutes in the first half (’12, ’19, ’27) had them secure.

[DaddyTorgo]

Third Place Game

USA 1 : 3 Ukraine
USA were well outplayed by Ukraine and fell to a Roman Zozulya hat-trick. Landon Donovan grabbed a consolation goal after the USA was down 3 (’78), but it was far too little, too late.



World Cup Final



Spain 0 : 1 Italy
Played before 78,838 at the Maracana in Rio. It was a dry day, 93 degrees Fahrenheit. The match was refereed by Dutchman Bjorn Kuipers.


The Match Itself
Spain lost Gerard Pique in the 17th minute to a straight-red after a two-footed tackle from-behind on Pablo Osvaldo around 35-40yds from goal, and were well bottled-up by Italy after that (62% to 38% possession), with only 9% possession in the offensive third, while losing the midfield battle 36% to 25%. Italy achieved an impressive 15% offensive possession, and out-shot Spain 14-6 (7-2 on target). Pablo Osvaldo scored what would be the World Cup winner in stoppage time of the first half, finishing a Davide Santon cross at the back post with a tap-in.


Awards
Spain’s Fernando Llorente won the World Cup Golden Boot with 8 goals, and Italian defender Davide Santon was the player of the tournament. Gigi Buffon was the top goalkeeper, and Lucas Moura of Brazil was voted the Best Young Player.

World Cup Dream Team First 11
GK - Gigi Buffon
DL - Jordi Alba
DCs - Leonardo Bonucci, Sergio Ramos
DR - Davide Santon
ML - David Silva
MCs - Javi Martinez, Claudio Marchisio
MR - Juan Mata
FCs - Fernando Llorente, Eugene Seleznyov

[DaddyTorgo]

Bump - 2014/2015 update coming tonight. Just took a bunch of year-end screenies.