FM16 - Rise of the Basque Country

[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
Basque Studies | Boise State University

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