CD Numancia de Soria: Rekindling an Old Flame

Good month against Barca B but unlucky in the other matches. Bloody refs.

The Matches

Numancia 1 - 1 Mallorca

Recreativo 0 - 3 Numancia

- IBan made his 2nd appearance here, coming in off the bench to replace Christ Ntangu due to exhaustion. We were already up and he did well.

Ponferradina 0 - 2 Numancia

Numancia 2 - 1 Deportivo

This was a potential preview of a playoff match, as Numancia clinched the 4th seed in the playoffs and 6th place in the league with this victory, and Deportivo has already clinched a playoff spot and could have gone for an automatic promotion spot but this loss hurts their chances.

Carlos Akapo Suffers Twisted Knee

Numancia's stalwart fullback Carlos Akapo has suffered a twisted knee and will miss about 4 weeks, which is a serious blow to Numancia's promotion hopes as Akapo has been a top player for them this season.

Highlights

An excellent goal by Sergi Enrich on the counter.

A goal that gave me great peace of mind!

The Table

Manager's Comments

WE'VE MADE THE PLAYOFFS! It's interesting though, the championship, 2nd autopromotion, and 4 playoff slots are all locked up. The playoff seeding is to be determined, but the only thing that is still being played for are the remaining relegation slots. Thankfully I can take things easy for the final 2 matches, and hope for no major injuries.

Great results and congrats on making the playoffs

Great results! You're one of my favourite writers on here Eb! Keep it up

The Matches

Alaves 0 - 0 Numancia

Giorgi Makaridze Out for Rest of Season

Numancia is going to have to scramble to find a goalkeeper after Giorgi Makaridze damaged his shoulder and will miss the rest of the season. Raul Fernandez was the backup goalkeeper, but his loan was terminated earlier this season.

Numancia 4 - 6 Eibar

Welcome to Numancia, Jerome Idir! Oh, By the Way, You're Going to be Thrown Into an Important Playoff Match. No Pressure, Kid!

21 year old Algerian goalkeeper Jerome Idir has been signed to Numancia after I couldn't sleep thanks to having nightmares about Eibar putting 6 in the net. Thankfully, I could register him. He's not Giorgi Makaridze, but he's not Mauricio Torres, either, and he's going to give me some peace of mind.

The Table

Playoff Seedings

#1 Zaragoza - #4 Numancia (Zaragoza won the regular season series 4-2)
#2 Deportivo - #3 Murcia (Deportivo won the regular season series 6-5)

Manager's Comments

While these matches were meaningless, the injuries certainly weren't. For the benefit of those who have fast internet connections, and because I'm not a good sportswriter, I will be capturing the playoff matches on video and posting them in the next update!

The Videos

Numancia - Zaragoza

Zaragoza - Numancia

The Matches

The Aftermath

If you're reading this, you probably know we took a harsh 5-3 extra time playoff loss to Zaragoza last season. It really sucked, because I thought we would make it to La Liga, but I did do better than how I did in FM13 my first season, finishing 10th. I really want to make that playoff push, though.

Season Recap

The Bloodbath

I wanted to resign Bedoya and Regalon but they wanted too much money, and I wanted to focus on signing younger players. In addition, getting rid of incumbent older players in favor of fresh young ones tends to create an environment where my players are more loyal, since they're used to the idea of me being the manager.

The New Arrivals

Remember? I love center mids!

More Transfers!

He's kind of slow but I think he'll be good on the right side as an inside forward.

He'll be good for the left side.

He's weirdly creative for a fullback and with the style I play he should be a good fit. Adrian Ripa will be a good backup and Iban still needs a few more years in the pressure-cooker.

Because I may as well sign someone who's actually Spanish! He'll get a lot of time at the left wing.

- Julio Alvarez to Caracas on a free transfer. He was losing his physical attributes incredibly fast and he wanted to go home to Venezuela, so it's a win-win.

- Natalio on season long loan to Ponferradina with 50% of his wages paid. It's better than paying 100% of his wages, although not ideal.

- Ivan Bolado has been sold to Celta for 230,000 after he wouldn't stop whinging about not getting a new contract after I declined a transfer offer.

With Bolado sold, we needed another striker, and Deniz Poro, while short on technicality, is a very intriguing option.

You Want Carlos Akapo For 300K? Get the -bleep- out!

Teams have been inquiring for Akapo but we're not so desperate for crack money that we'd sell him for 300k.

Preseason Odds

7:4, not bad. Also interesting to see over 35 million Euros spent in transfer fees by Liga Adelante clubs, and none by us.

The Matches

Modena 0 - 2 Numancia

Two Injured

It's a bit of a pain in the ass to see one of your new acquisitions go down seconds after getting subbed in, but Boyd Stevens will be out 4 weeks with a twisted knee. Thankfully he'll be back relatively soon, but he'll miss important gelling time with his teammates. Lars Gulpen suffered a gashed leg and will be out 3-4 weeks.

Trapani 3 - 2 Numancia

Isidoro Injures Groin

Isidoro will be out about 4 weeks with a groin strain; as Isidoro is the 2nd choice right fullback he will be given every chance to recover.

FC Oss 3 - 2 Numancia

Carpi 1 - 0 Numancia

Numancia 0 - 3 Grenada

Manager's Comments

This wasn't the best of preseasons as injuries and drama hurt us, but I think we'll be up for a good season.

Very nice and detailed update, look forward to the season!

The Matches

Numancia 2 - 1 Mirandes

Hahahaha! What a way to start the season, with a hurt Sergi Enrich coming off the bench to score a stoppage time winner off a corner kick after Numancia was reduced to 9 players by injuries!

Of course, nothing's ever easy as a football manager

Kevin Pannewitz suffered a hernia and will be out 6-7 weeks. Thankfully there are options to cover his anchor man slot, but Kevin Pannewitz is really good and will be missed. (Just kidding. I've already had him turned into glue...that was a joke, son! A funny!)

San Fernando 1 - 2 Numancia

- Jack Baldwin was named to the Liga Adelante Team of the Week for his performance

Numancia 0 - 1 Celta

- Former Numancia player Ivan Bolado scored the winning goal for Celta, but it was a poor game.

The Table

Manager's Comments

A pretty good start so far, I'd like to have the Celta match back but it's cancelled out by the completely improbable win against Mirandes. The defense is good and we get plenty of possession, but there are just certain errors, and sometimes the attack just isn't as strong as I'd like it to be.

Good start, keep it up mate

Transfer Deadline Day

The most interesting deal is Bruno's 10 million Euro sale to Napoli. Villarreal could do a lot with that money, it's interesting to see how they follow up with that sale.

The Matches

Eibar 3 - 4 Numancia

Eibar are very pesky, but we put them away!
- Yohan Croizet named to Team of the Week for his 2-goal performance

Copa Del Rey Second Round
Numancia - Villarreal

Tenerife 0 - 1 Numancia

Match of the Month
Numancia - Hercules

- Jesse Joronen named to Team of the Week substitutes

Numancia 4 - 2 Sabadell

- Amazingly, Eddy scored a goal after twisting his ankle. He was subbed out afterwards, but won't be returning for 6-7 weeks.
- Emiliano Velazquez named to Team of the Week first team, Yohan Croizet named to Team of the Week substitutes.

The Table

Manager's Comments

Things are still going well for us, with Yohan Croizet being our leading goalscorer with 5 goals. It seems like the attack only wants to work when the defense isn't, which could prove to be a problem.

Match of the Month

As you can tell, I have adopted a new policy for streaming cup games and a league match of the month. I would normally put this to a vote for next month, but with #3 Numancia facing off with #1 Deportivo at the beginning of the month, that will be the Match of the Month.

A very solid start to the campaign, hopefully it can continue!

Good start to the campaing !
Good match vs Villarreal , good luck man .

The Matches

Del Pino Hails Croizet

Former Numancia player Javier Del Pino had good things to say about winger Yohan Croizet, who has 5 goals for the season, and compared him to Miguel Bedoya, a former teammate.

Numancia Match of the Month
Deportivo - Numancia

Real Madrid Castilla 1 - 4 Numancia

- I started a scrub team goalkeeper because my top two keepers were off on international duty. I forgot!
- Jack Baldwin named to Team of the Week First XI
- Sergi Enrich and Emiliano Velazquez named to TotW subs.

Former Santos HOYD Joins Numancia

As a club like Numancia, you have to keep player wage costs down. Youth players are cheaper than other teams' players, so it makes sense to invest in a quality HoYD. Look at this guy, he's a beast!

Copa del Rey Third Round
Hercules 2 - 5 Numancia

- 16 year old Luis Rodriguez had a breakout performance, coming in and scoring two goals after Deniz Poro had to leave with an injury very early into the game.

Numancia 2 - 1 Huesca

- Julian Luque named to Team of the Week First XI.

The board actually does something nice for once

The board has told me they paid off the club's debts to save it from receivership. The club was 4.7 million Euros in debt. It just makes getting access to the La Liga money that more important, and developing the club's reputation so our players are worth more.

Jaen 3 - 0 Numancia

- Jesse Joronen named to Team of the Week First XI.

The Table

Manager's Comments

It sucks we couldn't get the win against Jaen because it would give us an unbeaten month and keep us tops, but we're still doing well. I'm aiming for an automatic promotion, because silliness can happen in the playoffs.

If we just pretend the Jaen game never happened, that was a great away point at Deportivo and an even better month overall. Good the board could pay off your debts