Breaking the Spanish league

The aim for the next few months is to try and break the dominance of the Spanish big two, Real and Barca.

I tend to play most of my games in the British leagues so my lack of knowledge in the Spanish divisions should make this a challenge. Sevilla seemed nicely placed to have a go at the top two, I could have tried to take a lesser side to glory but time constraints mean I can’t play quite as much Footie Manager as I used to. Damned responsibilities.

I’ll update at least a few times a week with the various goings on at Sevilla. Comments/criticisms/tips are more than welcome.

If anyone wants any screen shots just message below, I won’t be putting any up as a matter of course but if you want anything in particular feel free to ask.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy!


Preamble

Sevilla chairman Joes Del Nido welcomes me to the club and sets out the club aims for the coming season, looking at the strength of the playing squad and the strength of the top two teams a title challenge is well beyond us. Euro qualification seems a more realistic prospect and a Champions League run to fill the coffers would be quite nice.

The Euro qualification target gives me a budget of £17 million. The plan is to buy em’ young, aim for players with plenty of potential and build up a side that can break the Madrid/Barcelona domination.

Instead of going down the usual Spanish route of technically gifted players over physical attributes, the focus in the first few seasons is to build up a physically dominating side peppered with a few silky playmakers. My main knowledge is in the British market so I’ll be looking to plunder some EPL teams (read Man City).

The squad is already well equipped for a run at Euro qualification and apart from backing up a few positions the players at my disposal should be able to do the job. Romaric, Navas, Fabiano, Kanoute and Zokora are the better players in the squad. Navas in particular might be difficult to keep hold of for the next few seasons.

Romaric immediately jumps out as a problem player; I can see this is going to be a rocky relationship. He wants to leave the club but his well-rounded midfield stats means there’s no chance of him leaving for less than £7m, a price sure to put off the most eager of suitors.

The first wave of main transfer targets are Hazard, Lukaku, Babacar, Pastore, Phil Jones and Sigurosson. Hoping to land at least two of the above in the coming weeks.


Aug

Babacar is the first signing of the season and comes in at £8.5m, quickly followed by the young but hotly tipped Lenny Nangis for £1.2m. Eden Hazard signs for a risky £16m but his potential could make it well worth the risk. Suddenly with days my transfer budget is gone and I have to pull myself away from the transfer centre.
I was keen on Sigurosson but he wouldn’t even discuss a contract once the bid of £15m had been accepted.

The large wad blown on Babacar and Hazard ate up most of the transfer budget. The Hazard transfer was one that I debated over for a while and if he doesn’t perform it could quickly blow up in my face. Babacar doesn’t have great stats yet and in all honesty doesn’t look as good as the games other young physical striker Lukaku. I decide to give him a chance though, seeing as I sign Lukaku in just about every other FM game I play, I’m gonna mix things up a bit.


The pre-season friendlies provide a good run out but don’t offer much in terms of which players will stand out over the coming season. Matches with Boca and Roma end in a 3-0 win and a 1-1 draw.

The first competitive game of the season puts us up against a Barca reserve side in the Super cup; it’s a good chance to get a semi-competitive game under the belt even if I haven’t heard of 90% of the Barca starting eleven.
The team lines up in a 4-2-4 formation with the wingers playing high up the park and the two central midfielders providing the muscle in the centre of the park.

Ending in a 2-2 draw, the press reaction was positive despite Barca only fielding their reserves.

The Champions league play-off has us paired with Auxerre. A tie that, in theory, should pose no problems. The first leg has us sneaking a 1-2 away win after taking a second half barrage, keeping the much hyped Lukaku at bay.

With the second leg of the Super cup nestled between the CL play-off games, I decide to give the first team a rest. With Sevilla and Barca showing equal distain for the cup, both field reserve teams to scrap it out. Resulting in a 1-0 victory to Barca.

The home leg of the CL tie proves an easier affair with Kanoute hitting two in a 4-2 victory. Champion’s league here we come.


More to follow!

The battle for La Liga continues!


Sep

A season long loan offer for Romaric comes in from Sporting CP, with a view to a permanent move for £2.5m.
Swiftly renegotiated to an immediate transfer for £7m, Sporting CP balk at the price and withdraw. Romaric isn’t at all happy with the situation and my “I’m the boss I decide who stays” stance only upsets him further. Requesting a transfer away, I’m more than happy to oblige, although whoever want him will have cough up!


The CL groups draw us against Anderlecht, Zenit and Dinamo. Looking at the quality of the teams in the group, without trying to be too cocky, it should be a walk in the park to the knockout stages.


A selection crisis among the forwards has the potential for disaster, as only one fit forward reports available for match day selection.
With injuries, international duty and suspensions all hitting at once it ain’t looking good.
A change of tactics has the team line up in the unfamiliar 4-2-3-1, with Hazard playing behind the lone front man. It’s not a tactic I use often, preferring to play with two strikers and having the playmaker roam from deeper in the midfield.

My fears are quashed as young Eden knocks in three and completely runs the show from the AMC role. I'll try the new formation out and see if this level of performance can be kept up.


September see’s the team go unbeaten in all competitions, with notable wins in the CL over Anderlecht and Zenit. Qualification for the knockouts is looking good!

The new formation works a treat and only requires tinkering when Hazard gets sent off and banned for a further two matches. Silly boy.

More to follow!

Hey, I signed Khouma Babacar for my Liverpool squad for cover for my injured star striker Suarez, and he his 16goals for me since i signed him in January, play him as a poacher with Kanoute as the Target Man and see how it goes, and you can use Hazard as a Inside Forward..

looking really good mate and quite an interesting read,

unfortunately for me, Eden Hazard never performs going to take another risk on him tho

Good luck mate and keep it up

Micah

Thanks for the feedback folks.

I've got Hazard playing as an inside forward on the left now Craig. Seems to be working nicely. Cant quite shake the habit of playing two strikers!

As the season takes shape Sevilla play their first match against the big guns

Oct

Defeat to fellow Euro hopefuls Athletico dishes out the first loss of the campaign. With a quality throughout the team that Sevilla lack, Athletico are going to be tough to beat in the race for the 3rd place automatic CL spot.


Fourth round of the Spanish cup gives us a two legged tie against 2nd Division Real Union. A 5-2 away victory in the first leg followed by a 1-1 draw in the home leg has us through to the next round.


The first match against either of the big two has pitted against Barca at the Nou Camp. Instead of the usual 4-2-3-1, I switch things up with to a more defensive 4-3-3 with Zokora sitting in the defensive midfielder holding position.

The plan to contain and strike on the break is proved futile as the defending league champions rush into a 2-0 lead within ten minutes, forcing a more attacking shift in style in an vain attempt to chase the game.

If ever there was a team that could hold possession this Barca team is it, for the next 80 minutes we hardly touch the ball, although the nine bookings picked up shows the players aren’t afraid to get stuck in when the chips are down and a goal from Fazio at the death restores some pride to see it ending 2-1.


Seeing as the club is pretty decent financial shape, £19m in the black, the board decide to furnish me with a £2m transfer kitty. Rather than splurge on a new player its about time I got in some coaching staff to up the training standards of the club.

I’ve been eyeing up the stats of the current coaches and the attributes are so poor it should be illegal for some of these guys to get near a football team.
A swift foray into the staffing market see’s every member of the backroom staff contracts mutually terminated, bar the assistant, with new coaches brought in from around the globe.

The assistant manager, Gonzalo Hurtado, is only spared the chop thanks to the meaty contract he seems to have negotiated for himself and the lack of any real quality available to replace him. His stats are piss-poor at best but I’ll suffer him till next season and get a decent number two in.

More to follow!

reallyy good man,

i followed what you did with hazard and played him inside forward, first game he got 2 goals and won me the game from 1-0 down thanks man

also how is Lukaku getting on has he played alot ?

Nov

The home leg against struggling Champ league Dinamo provides a nice boost to the goal difference with a 4-2 rout. With a finally fit Fabiano notching up at hat-trick against the Group H fodder. The 3 points qualifies us for the next round so the two remaining games allow for the blooding of a few youngsters.

The good form of the team has convinced Romaric to stay. Welcoming him back with open arms, interest in him remains high with no less than 10 clubs displaying major interest in the player. The asking price is dropped a notch to £6.5m in the hope that I can use the monies to fund some Redknapp-esque January window wheeling and dealing.


A big match against fellow high flyers Valencia ends in a 4-2 victory. Palop puts in an amazing shift in goal, earning a 9.3 MOM rating to help us leap into 5th place, with a game in hand against bottom of the table Hercules.

The same weekends result throw up the first defeat of the season to Madrid, succumbing to a 1-3 defeat to fierce rivals Atletico Madrid. Forlan grabs a double in the local derby.

Fellow giants Barca aren’t fairing quite as well, managing only 5 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses. The Catalans have lost Puyol to knee tendonitis for 4 months and Messi has been laid low with a sprained ankle, putting him on the side-lines for up to 6 weeks. The talismanic attacker scoring 7 in 11 appearances so far.



There’s bad news when Diego Capel gets a hip injury putting him out for 12 weeks. With moving Hazard to a more central position instead of on the wing, Capel has really flourished out on the left, providing 9 assists and three goals in 14 appearances. Losing him for three months is a big loss. While his stats aren’t great he’s really become a pivotal part of the team.


The loss of Capel hit’s the team hard, despite a big 4-2 home win to Valencia we go on to drop points to Zaragoza, Mallorca and Villarreal.
The performances haven’t been too bad, despite the poor results, with the team managing a high number of shots on goal in each game. The conversion to goals isn’t good enough though, Kanoute and Fabiano aren’t quite hitting form we need to push for a CL spot. Babacar knocks in a couple from the bench and starts showing some potential but an injury at the end of the month put him out for three weeks stalling any momentum he might have picked up.


Getting a feel for the team now, it’s clear that the delivery from the back isn’t great, with all the defenders preferring to hoof it up the park rather than play it out to the midfield. A couple of left/right backs who can whip in a decent cross would go down nicely as well.


The league table starts to take some shape at the end of November as Sevilla sit just outside the CL spot in 5th on 26 points, with Real and Villarreal leading the pack on 37 and 35 points. Barca move into third despite a poor start to the season on 30 points, notching up three defeats already.


More to follow!