HELLO AND WELCOME
A new year, a new FM game and so naturally I do what I do every year and start off with an Athletic Bilbao story and naturally it involves one of the greatest regens ever seen - Aitor Herrera.
As everyone knows the Bilbao signing policy of only signing Basque players means this is truly one of the hardest challenges of FM however going into this save at the start means I can see who turns out great etc before I manage someone else so it is also a scouting mission for future FM saves lol.
So I will be Aitor Herrera as expected and manage Bilbao to greatness. The club has never been relegated but has not won the title since 1984 so that needs to be put right. Also as an aside trying to find Aitor Herrera's heir to the throne at Athletic and possibly even get a son in the game.
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THE CLUB
Nickname - Los Leones (The Lions) Founded - 1898 Ground - San Mames Capacity - 53,289 Rivals - Real Sociedad & Osasuna
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HONOURS
La Liga (8 times) - 1929-30, 1930-31, 1933-34, 1935-36, 1942-43, 1955-56, 1982-83, 1983-84
Copa del Rey (23 times) - 1903, 1904, 1910, 1911, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1921, 1923, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1943, 1944, 1944-45, 1949-50, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1969, 1972-73, 1983-84
PRE-SEASON What a busy pre-season I had. With all the new features in the game it certainly took its time and I pondered for about 10min just on setting my pitch length!! I have selected a tactic etc but god knows if it will work so we shall see.
Due to Athletic's poor season last term we are not in any European competition so that is a big blow for my squad players as there will be few chances to rotate the squad I feel but hopefully that will just be the case for 1 season.
Due to the self imposed transfer restrictions there wasn't much I could do in the market. I had an initial £20m to spend but nobody really to spend it on so I will do a brief transfer summary before doing a squad review.
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TRANSFERS
Just one in. Pelayo Morilla came in from Sporting Gijon for £1.7m. He is 16y/o so I was able to sign him and I have put him into my B team who play in the lower leagues in Spain. When I manage Athletic I am quite active with the B team and want the ultimate goal for them is to win the La Liga 1 2 3 title so hopefully Morilla will develop well down there and improve enough to make the big step up. View attachment 32489
As for players out I sold Mikel Rico to Eibar for £350,000 and loaned out Inigo Lekue and that's it!!!!!
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SQUAD EVALUATION Goalkeepers - Now I thought going into this that with the departure of Kepa Arrizabalaga to Chelsea in the summer that I would have a lack of quality options in goal and that I would have to make a move for Stephane Ruffier of Saint-Etienne but not so! Unai Simon and Alex Remiro are both very good keepers and at 21 and 23 it means I don't have to worry about that position for a good few years.
Defence - In the middle we are very strong. Inigo Martinez is a star player in my team and with San Jose, Yeray and Nunez we have strength and depth and I shouldn't really need to be looking to buy any CBs but if Aymeric Laporte ever becomes available I wouldn't refuse.
At full back we have Yuri on the left and De Marcos on the right. Both should be good enough for 2-3 years but my backups while being solid aren't going to take the club forward to where I want to be in 5-6 seasons time so hopefully my youth intakes can help us out here.
Midfield - At CM we have Benat and Iturraspe to start with Dani Garcia as cover but I have some very good prospects in the system such as Nolaskoain and Sancet so hopefully I can bring them in from time to time to help them develop.
On the RW we are lucky to have two quality wingers. Inaki Williams is our franchise player and should be a key man for years to come while Markel Susaeta is our captain and a very good player. On the LW again we are very strong with Iker Muniain and Inigo Cordoba being my choices there.
In AMC the veteran Raul Garcia is a top quality player and hopefully I can get a tune out of him for 2 seasons or so and in Unai Lopez I have a decent backup.
Forwards - Oh dear. We are in trouble here!!! Aritz Aduriz is our only man here and that is a big responsibility for a 37y/o. If he plays 25 games he will trigger a years extension on his contract so its a fair chance he will be around next season lol.
Asier Villalibre will be my backup. He was attracting interest from the likes of Juventus, Bayern, Man Utd and Chelsea so I thought I would promote him to the first team and see how he goes plus I rewarded him with a new contract. Williams and Cordoba could also play up top I suppose but unless Antoine Griezmann wants to join us my youth intake better come up with a gem sharpish!!!
As an aside Inaki Williams 16y/o brother - Nico - is in my youth team and looks decent enough.
My first game and my first win. It could have been more comfortable had San Jose scored a 2nd half penalty but his effort was saved. The VAR and the checks if the ball was over the line was certainly a new experience! Valladolid had a man sent-off just after they scored so we saw out the game comfortably.
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v Atletico Madrid 0 Athletic Bilbao 1 (Aduriz 53)
Lineup - Simon*, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe, Benat, Williams (Susaeta), Raul Garcia, Muniain (Cordoba), Aduriz
What a win this is! Atletico Madrid dominated in truth but somehow we kept them out and we took the lead early in the 2nd half when Aduriz beat their offside trap to fire the ball into the roof of the net.
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v Athletic Bilbao 2 (Aduriz 35, 86) Real Sociedad 0
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos (Capa), Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe, Benat, Williams, Raul Garcia (Dani Garcia), Muniain (Cordoba), Aduriz*
My first derby match and it ends in victory thanks to a near flawless performance. We dominated this game and had 72% possession which is quite remarkable this early on in a save. My only worry was that we didn't score enough goals with all the possession that we had but Aduriz scored a 2nd to add a bit extra gloss to the scoreline.
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v Girona 0 Athletic Bilbao 1 (Muniain 23)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos* (Capa), Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe, Benat, Williams, Raul Garcia (Dani Garcia), Muniain, Aduriz (Cordoba)
4 wins out of 4!!! There was a small glitch with our goal as Williams crossed to the far post, Aduriz collected the ball and set up Muniain to score yet Williams got credited with the assist! He then went off injured late on and is out for nearly a month.
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v Rayo Vallecano 0 Athletic Bilbao 2 (San Jose 60pen, Unai Lopez 76)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos*, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe, Benat, Susaeta (Unai Lopez) (Capa), Raul Garcia, Muniain, Aduriz (Cordoba)
Our 100% record continues as we beat the side who have lost all their games this season. We took the lead through a penalty given via VAR and Unai Lopez crashed in a 2nd - he was only on the field for 14min as he came on for Susaeta, scored and then went off injured.
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v Athletic Bilbao 2 (Muniain 3, Pulido 76og) Huesca 0
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose*, Yuri, Iturraspe, Benat (Dani Garcia), Susaeta, Raul Garcia (Cordoba), Muniain, Aduriz (Villalibre)
Another game, another win and another clean sheet as we have kept the opposition out in each of our last 5 games.
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SUMMARY
Well its safe to say that our start of the season has exceeded expectations! To be fair the fixture list has been kind but to beat Atletico Madrid 1-0 away - the only game which they have dropped points in - was a huge result and to win all 6 games while only conceding 1 goal is some achievement considering I went into this blind.
The aim for this season is continental qualification so to already have a 6pt lead over Barcelona and an 8pt lead over Real Madrid is extremely encouraging.
Regarding on how we are playing in matches and how I am finding it I feel as though we are always in control of games but we are just doing enough and no more. We don't look like we are going to blow any team out of the water however if we keep getting 60%+ possession then we wont be struggling. I have also noticed that there is a lot of VAR incidents in the game or goal line technology decisions.
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Athletic Bilbao 1 (Aduriz 5) Celta Vigo 0 Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri*, Iturraspe, Benat, Susaeta (Capa), Unai Lopez (Yeray), Muniain, Aduriz (Villalibre)
The run continues. Yet again we score a goal, dominate possession and just see out the match. I would love to go and win games by 3 or 4 goals but it just wont happen just now. That being said - I took off my AMC and put on a CB and played San Jose as a DMC for the final 25min so me going defensive isn't going to improve our goals record lol.
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v Villarreal 1 (Bacca 62) Athletic Bilbao 0
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez (Nunez), San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe, Benat, Williams (Susaeta), Raul Garcia, Muniain, Aduriz (Cordoba)
Ouch. It was always going to happen at some point as we lose here and end our winning streak. We had 63% of the possession but didn't really create anything and Villarreal matched us for shots on goal and took their best chance and we were punished.
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Athletic Bilbao 3 (Muniain 6, 31, Aduriz 25) Espanyol 1 (David Lopez 5) Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe (Dani Garcia), Benat, Williams, Raul Garcia (Unai Lopez), Muniain*, Aduriz
For the first time we managed to score more than 2 goals in a game. We fell behind early on but quickly levelled within a minute and from then on we dominated and won the match.
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Copa del Rey 4th Round 1st Leg
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Athletic Bilbao 2 (Ganea 67, Morilla 89) Espanyol 1 (Iglesias 90) Lineup - Simon, Capa, Nunez, Yeray, Balenziaga (Ganea*), Dani Garcia, Sancet, Susaeta, Susaeta, Unai Lopez (Morilla), Cordoba, Villalibre (Guruzeta)
Oh but for that away goal. I decided to play my backups here and gave 3 of my top prospects - Sancet, Guruzeta and Morilla - a run out and all largely impressed. Hopefully the away goal wont cost us.
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SUMMARY
Another solid month although we did suffer our first defeat of the season at the hands of Villarreal however we remain top of the table which I am going to enjoy while it lasts!
I decided to play my backups in our cup tie with Espanyol and they managed to sneak a win and hopefully we will go on to progress. I was expecting a tie with a minor side but it was not to be. I have had several players coming to me complaining about the lack of game time but with us not being in Europe and performing so well in the league what can I do?
NOVEMBER
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Leganes 1 (Carrillo 47pen) Athletic Bilbao 2 (Muniain 23, Williams 35)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos (Capa), Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe, Benat, Williams*, Raul Garcia (Unai Lopez), Muniain, Aduriz (Susaeta)
This was a meeting of the 2 surprise teams of the campaing so far as Leganes were lying in 3rd place and we managed to get a good win although it really should have been more comfortable as they had a man sent-off just before half-time. Inaki Williams managed to get his 1st goal of the season.
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Athletic Bilbao 1 (Aduriz 57) Alaves 0
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, Yeray, Yuri*, Iturraspe, Benat, Williams (Susaeta), Unai Lopez (Raul Garcia), Muniain (Cordoba), Aduriz
This was a local derby and Alaves who are struggling really gave us a tough match here but we just edged it. I dropped Raul Garcia as he has been disappointing while Unai Lopez has been training well. San Jose was injured so Yeray came in.
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Valencia 1 (Rodrigo 69) Athletic Bilbao 0
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe, Benat, Williams, Unai Lopez (Raul Garcia), Muniain (Cordoba), Aduriz (Susaeta)
We suffer only our 2nd defeat of the season here but we were hampered as both Muniain and Unai Lopez were both taken off injured in the first 20min so that may have affected the performance.
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SUMMARY
We only had 3 games this month so it just flew by. We beat our fellow surprise outfit Leganes 2-1 and then edged out lowly Alaves in a rivalry fixture but we then underperformed when we lost out to Valencia 1-0. We end the month still top of the table by a point but the big 3 are circling just beneath us like sharks in the water.
Off the field I signed a new contract with the club with a 10k pay rise so that is good while I promoted Pelayo Morilla to the first team as the B team somehow weren't playing him (along with the other 2 prospects I like) and the coaches said he would be more suited to being with the big boys so we shall see how he gets on.
v Getafe 0 Athletic Bilbao 3 (De Marcos 14, Raul Garcia 17, Aduriz 37) Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe (Dani Garcia), Benat, Williams (Morilla), Raul Garcia*, Cordoba, Aduriz (Villalibre)
This is our best performance of the season so far as we completely outplayed Getafe. Raul Garcia finally put in a top notch performance and his goal was a delight as he volleyed in first time from 20 yards.
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Copa del Rey 4th Round 2nd Leg
v Espanyol 1 (Zinchenko 73) Athletic Bilbao 3 (Villalibre 17, Yuri 29, Williams 34) (Agg: 2-5)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Nunez, Yeray, Yuri*, Dani Garcia (Ganea), Sancet (Nolaskoain), Williams, Morilla (Guruzeta), Cordoba, Villalibre
I am very proud of my team here as a largely backup side comfortably beat a full strength Espanyol side. Villalibre headed in the first, Yuri curled home a free-kick and Williams finished them off.
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Athletic Bilbao 0 Real Betis 0
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri*, Iturraspe (Dani Garcia), Benat, Williams, Raul Garcia (Morilla), Cordoba, Aduriz (Villalibre)
Amazingly this is our first draw of the season. This was a nothing match - dull and boring throughout.
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v Levante 0 Athletic Bilbao 1 (Williams 90)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos*, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe (Dani Garcia), Benat, Williams, Raul Garcia, Cordoba (Susaeta), Aduriz (Villalibre)
We were seconds away from a successive draw but Williams latched onto a rebound and won us the match against one of our local rivals.
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SUMMARY
That's 2018 done for and what a first 6 months we have had. We end the year in the heart of the title race although not for one minute do I think we can pull this off. Having said that we have only conceded 5 goals in 15 league games which is amazing.
Our position is largely false as we have not yet played Real Madrid, Barcelona or Sevilla and looking at January's fixtures we are due to face all 3 plus Atletico Madrid in a row. Lets see where we stand after that run of fixtures.
In the Copa del Rey we will play Getafe in the next round of the cup.
JANUARY
Copa del Rey 5th Round 1st Leg v
Athletic Bilbao 3 (Aduriz 18, Martinez 84, Benat 90) Getafe 0 Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe, Benat*, Williams (Susaeta), Raul Garcia (Dani Garcia), Muniain (Morilla), Aduriz
A good win and by a margin that should mean I can play my backups in the 2nd leg. Martinez scored direct from a free-kick (never knew he had it in him tbh) and then Benat scored one minutes later.
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v Eibar 0 Athletic Bilbao 2 (Unai Lopez 21, Villalibre 89)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe, Benat, Williams (Susaeta), Unai Lopez*, Muniain (Cordoba), Aduriz (Villalibre)
Unbelievably and very annoyingly my job is in a precarious position due to the new chairman taking over after the presidential elections and it emerged that a poor result here would result in my sacking. Fortunately my players produced a fine away performance against a fellow Basque side to hopefully boost the boards confidence in me.
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Copa del Rey 5th Round 2nd Leg v Getafe 0 Athletic Bilbao 1 (Unai Lopez 20) (Agg: 0-4)
Lineup - Simon, Capa, Nunez, Yeray, Balenziaga, Dani Garcia (Nolaskoain), Sancet, Susaeta, Unai Lopez* (Morilla), Cordoba, Villalibre (Guruzeta)
Again apparently I am one game away from the sack but my backups won out here. My next 4 league fixtures are against Sevilla, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico plus home and away cup ties againt Sevilla so this save may be ending prematurely...….
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Athletic Bilbao 0 Sevilla 0
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos (Capa), Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe, Benat, Williams, Unai Lopez (Cordoba), Muniain, Aduriz (Villalibre)
A boring no-score draw but it is our 5th clean sheet in a row in the league.
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Copa del Rey Quarter-Final v
Sevilla 1 (Ben Yedder 54) Athletic Bilbao 1 (Cordoba 73) Lineup - Simon, Capa, Martinez, Yeray, Ganea (Balenziaga), Dani Garcia, Sancet (Nolaskoain), Susaeta, Morilla, Cordoba, Villalibre (Guruzeta)
I think my job is safe now - not that the board have said anything but I have gone from precarious to secure in my job security rating. I had to play a weakened side here as Barcelona are up next and I want a full strength side for that game. In the end we got a great away draw but maybe we missed an opportunity as they played the last 15min with 10 men.
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v Barcelona 4 (Messi 6, 17, 85, Roberto 45) Athletic Bilbao 1 (Muniain 38)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos (Capa), Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe, Benat, Williams, Unai Lopez (Morilla), Muniain, Aduriz (Cordoba)
We got Messi'd here. I was interested to see if my tactic that we were using would work against Barca and it did to a point as we matched them for shots on goals and had 60% possession but we couldn't control Messi as he was immense. We had conceded 5 goals in the league before this game!
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Copa del Rey Quarter-Final 2nd Leg v Athletic Bilbao 3 (Aduriz 15, 46, Morilla 83) Sevilla 1 (Gonalons 21) (Agg: 4-2) Lineup - Simon, De Marcos (Capa), Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe, Benat (Dani Garcia), Williams, Unai Lopez (Morilla), Muniain, Aduriz*
Back to winning ways but we were helped by the fact that they had 2 men sent-off in the second half when we were 2-1 up.
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Athletic Bilbao 1 (Aduriz 11) Atletico Madrid 1 (Gimenez 33) Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose (Yeray), Yuri, Iturraspe (Dani Garcia), Benat, Williams (Susaeta), Unai Lopez, Muniain, Aduriz*
Atletico are 6pts ahead of us but we have a game in hand so to get a draw is ok considering most of my team are shattered. San Jose went off injured and is out for a month.
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Copa del Rey Semi-Final 1st Leg v
Valencia 1 (Rodrigo 33) Athletic Bilbao 1 (Muniain 90) Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, Yeray, Yuri, Iturraspe, Benat, Williams (Susaeta), Unai Lopez (Morilla), Muniain, Aduriz (Cordoba)
The month ends with a good away draw in the cup semi. I was overjoyed when Muniain struck in injury time to give us the vital away goal.
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SUMMARY
This month was a long, long, long slog. With so many games against such tough opposition in such a short period time with the added pressure of fighting for my job really made this month a challenge. Add in me rejecting bids for several of my players and therefor making them unhappy meant this month was not enjoyable.
Results wise in the league we did ok. We lost 4-1 to Barcelona but other than that we were unbeaten. With my tactic we are really struggling to score goals despite having the majority of possession but with the players I have I will stick with it until the end of the season. We finish the month clinging on to 4th place with a game in hand.
In the Copa del Rey we are so close to reaching the final after we knocked out Getafe and Sevilla before drawing 1-1 away to Valencia in the first leg of the semi.
Transfers wise I brought in 2 or 3 for my B team but I did bring in David Garcia from Osasuna for £450,000 to cover the CB area. View attachment 31911
Leaving the club was Christian Ganea for £2.4m and Unai Nunez was loaned out for 6 months. I rejected Barcelona's £28m bid for Yuri, Man Utd's £18m bid for De Marcos and Real Betis' £6m bid for Capa.
We make it into the final!!! We got off to a perfect start by going up 2 goals up in the first 15min and we cruised it until they scored with a few minutes to goal.
This was our game in hand and we managed to defeat an out of sorts Real Madrid who were 18th in the form table going into this. We are now a whopping 11pts clear of Real Madrid which is amazing.
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v
Athletic Bilbao 3 (Aduriz 7, 77, Williams 35)
Girona 1 (Portu 8)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos (Capa), Martinez (David Garcia), Yeray, Yuri, Iturraspe, Benat, Williams*, Raul Garcia, Muniain (Cordoba), Aduriz
Inaki Williams was immense here as he set up both of Aduriz's goals as well as getting one for himself. Unfortunately for us Iturraspe got injured near the end and will be out for 3 months. Girona sacked their manager after the game.
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v Athletic Bilbao 2 (Raul Garcia 56, Sancet 86)
Rayo Vallecano 0
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose (Yeray), Yuri, Dani Garcia, Benat (Sancet), Williams, Raul Garcia*, Muniain, Aduriz (Susaeta)
That's 5 wins in a row now. Raul Garcia gave us the lead with a stunning long range strike and then Sancet - who I called up to the first team squad to cover Iturraspe's injury - scored his first goal for us to seal the 3pts.
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v Huesca 0 Athletic Bilbao 1 (Aduriz 12)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri*, Dani Garcia, Benat (Sancet), Williams (Susaeta), Raul Garcia, Muniain (Cordoba), Aduriz
6 wins on the spin! Aduriz made his 25th league appearance of the season which kicked in a clause in his contract where it gets extended by another year.
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SUMMARY
February was an excellent month for us as we won all 7 of our games including 6 in the league to not only put us right back into the title race but also book our place in the Copa del Rey final where we will come up against Barcelona.
The highlight of the month was the 2-1 victory over Real Madrid but the shine of that result is dulled a bit due to the fact that Real Madrid are absolutely hopeless this season and probably wont make the Champions League. We however are looking all set for a top 4 finish that guarantees Champions League football so all is good.
March's fixtures aren't too bad either so we shall see how we get on but most importantly we will have our first youth intake. Fingers crossed.
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Celta Vigo 0 Athletic Bilbao 0 Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri*, Dani Garcia, Benat (Sancet), Williams, Raul Garcia (Unai Lopez), Muniain, Aduriz (Cordoba)
Our winning streak comes to an end here. This was a missed opportunity as we, as usual, had over 60% of possession but this time we peppered their goal with 16 shots but we didn't create a single clear cut chance.
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Athletic Bilbao 1 (Raul Garcia 49) Villarreal 0 Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Dani Garcia, Benat, Williams (Susaeta), Raul Garcia*, Muniain (Cordoba), Aduriz (Yeray)
Raul Garcia doesn't score tap ins as once again his goal was a strike from distance. This was a very good performance as we had 69% possession and had 24 shots on goal - if only we could convert a higher percentage of our chances. Martinez got sent-off near the end.
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v Espanyol 0 Athletic Bilbao 0 Lineup - Simon, De Marcos*, Yeray, San Jose, Yuri, Sancet, Benat, Williams, Raul Garcia (Unai Lopez), Muniain (Cordoba), Aduriz (Villalibre)
Once again we drop points despite dominating and having more shots than the opposition. Atletico Madrid beat Barcelona 5-1 beforehand inflicting upon them their first defeat of the season.
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v
Athletic Bilbao 4 (Aduriz 52, 68, Williams 72, Muniain 80) Leganes 1 (Recio 47) Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose (Yeray), Yuri (Capa), Dani Garcia, Benat, Williams, Raul Garcia (Unai Lopez), Muniain, Aduriz
For the first time this season we score 4 goals in a match. San Jose missed a first half penalty so it could have been more.
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SUMMARY
We go into the penultimate month of the season joint top of the table and in fine form as we are unbeaten in our last 11 league games. Our defence has been immense as we have only conceded 14 goals in the league which is incredible - especially when you take into account that 4 were conceded in 1 game against Barcelona. I don't know how the head to head record works tbh as we have a better one over Atletico yet they are still ahead of us. Too complicated to work out lol.
There was actually some transfer news during the month. Two MLS teams put in bids for Aduriz and Benat which I might have accepted had the bids been in the summer but I cant let them go just now. Mikel Balenziaga though is joining Villarreal for £2m in the summer.
The youth intake was pretty good. We got three 4* potential players. Two strikers and a centre half with the centre half looking the best prospect I think. There was a couple of other players that I signed for potential B team players. View attachment 31674View attachment 31673View attachment 31672
APRIL
v Alaves 0 Athletic Bilbao 1 (San Jose 13)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose*, Balenziaga, Dani Garcia, Benat, Williams, Raul Garcia (Morilla), Cordoba (Unai Lopez), Aduriz (Villalibre)
Barcelona weren't playing but Atletico Madrid one however because of our head to head record we jump up from 3rd to top of the table. Cordoba got injured here and is out for a month.
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Athletic Bilbao 0 Valencia 1 (Soler 50)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Dani Garcia, Benat (Sancet), Williams (Susaeta), Raul Garcia, Muniain, Aduriz (Villalibre)
This is a crushing defeat. We dominated the first half but couldn't score and then they scored with the first attack of the 2nd half and we just couldn't equalise. This ends our 12 game unbeaten run. To make matters worse Muniain got injured and is out for a couple of weeks.
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Athletic Bilbao 2 (Williams 6, Dani Garcia 58) Getafe 0
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez (Yeray), San Jose, Yuri, Dani Garcia*, Benat (Sancet), Williams, Raul Garcia, Morilla, Aduriz (Villalibre)
Back to winning ways. Dani Garcia's goal I would think will be our goal of the season as he smashed in a long range effort from 35 yards.
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Athletic Bilbao 2 (Aduriz 42, Unai Lopez 71) Levante 1 (Mayoral 41) Lineup - Simon, De Marcos (Capa), Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Dani Garcia, Benat (Sancet), Williams, Raul Garcia (Unai Lopez), Morilla, Aduriz
This was a tough match. We were terrible in the first half and were fortunate to go in level but in the 2nd half we were more like our usual selves and deserved the winner. The normally excellent Yuri had a nightmare here - possibly the worst individual performance by any of my players this season.
Our previous meeting ended 0-0 and this draw all but ends our title chances realistically. It could have been different had Raul Garcia's first half goal not been disallowed. Pelayo Morilla got injured and is out for 3 months.
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v Real Madrid 0 Athletic Bilbao 0
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose*, Yuri, Dani Garcia (Sancet), Benat, Williams, Raul Garcia (Unai Lopez), Muniain, Aduriz (Villalibre)
Normally this would be a good point but at this stage of the season we need wins and not draws.
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SUMMARY
Normally this would be an OK month but it signalled the end of our unlikely title challenge but that's ok as we are way ahead of where we I expected us to be. The results that killed us this month was the home defeat to Valencia and the nil nil draws against Real Madrid and Real Betis.
All that is left is for us to secure Champions League football and then there is the small fact of the Copa del Rey final!
v
Athletic Bilbao 2 (Aduriz 8, Susaeta 44, Bigas 52og) Eibar 1 (De Blasis 18)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Dani Garcia, Benat (Sancet), Susaeta (Capa), Raul Garcia, Muniain*, Aduriz
This win secures us Champions League football for next season and our starting transfer budget is £13m. Not much to work with both in financial terms and in players lol.
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Athletic Bilbao 0 Barcelona 0 Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez*, San Jose, Yuri, Dani Garcia, Benat, Williams (Susaeta), Raul Garcia, Muniain (Cordoba), Aduriz (Villalibre)
This was a good result I suppose as we dominated possession and were the better side and that is a good sign for the cup final. It also dents Barcelona's title hopes.
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Sevilla 3 (Chema 31, Silva 80, Muriel 82) Athletic Bilbao 0
Meh. We couldn't move up nor down in the table so I played my backups and they were useless. Sevilla become only the 2nd team to score more than one goal against us in a league match this season.
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Copa del Rey Final
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Barcelona 1 (Dembele 66) Athletic Bilbao 2 (Williams 13, San Jose 90pen)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Dani Garcia (Iturraspe), Benat, Williams, Raul Garcia, Muniain (Cordoba), Aduriz (Susaeta)
WE WIN THE COPA DEL REY!!!!!!!
This was a great result and performance as we win the cup for the 24th time and we get my first trophy in this save. We took the lead when Williams finished from close range and we were looking good but they levelled midway through the 2nd half. Then going into stoppage time Suarez was adjudged to have pushed Raul Garcia in the box and after using VAR we got the penalty which San Jose converted to give us the glory.
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SUMMARY
So that is season No1 done and what an ending to it we had! Our league campaign fizzled out and although we easily beat Eibar and drew with Barcelona the defeat against Sevilla (albeit with a backup side) really annoyed me as the 3 goals conceded meant we reached 20 goals against in the league.
Sacrificing that game however was worth it in the end as we won the Copa del Rey by beating Barcelona 2-1 thanks to a last minute penalty from San Jose. That victory meant Barcelona ended the season without a trophy and Ernesto Valverde got the sack immediately afterwards.
Season one is done and it was pretty good as we finished 3rd in the league and won the Copa del Rey. Before the season started I hoped for a European spot so it was mission accomplished. We led the way in the title race for a while and were right in the mix until near the end of April and then we dropped points and Atletico and Barcelona moved ahead of us and in the end the gap was 10pts. We did however finish 5pts clear of Valencia and 11pts clear of Real Madrid who could only qualify for the Europa League.
In the Copa del Rey we defeated Espanyol, Getafe, Sevilla and Valencia to reach the final against Barcelona where we won 2-1 deservedly. When I do a Bilbao save I set myself a target of winning something every year after I win my first trophy so to get off the mark so early is both pleasing and a challenge!
Regarding how the team played I am naturally delighted with the defensive side of thigs as we only conceded 20 league goals with 4 coming against Barcelona and 3 against Sevilla on the final day. We dominate possession every match and get plenty shots on goal but we just don't convert enough chances and possibly we don't create enough clear cut chances. In time it will change when I get better players but needs must just now.
As for my B team they finished midtable in a disappointing season for them. I may end up strengthening their squad more than the first team squad during the summer lol.
I am generally pretty pleased with how people got on. Yuri was the standout player by far while Muniain, Williams and Aduriz did well although I expected more goals from Williams and Raul Garcia certainly should have scored more.
My Player of the Year - Yuri My Young Player of the Year - Unai Simon Donkey of the Year - Mikel Balenziaga
-- PRE-SEASON PLANS
We don't have much money to spend as the club is currently in debt to the tune of £12m but that wasn't helped by giving Williams and Simon new contracts and big pay rises. What is huge though is that Aritz Aduriz is retiring so I will need to figure out who to play up front. I also need to bring in a new left back as Balenziaga is leaving which means I will only be left with Yuri.
This summer I had to make some big decisions and some surprising ones. I had about £13m going into the transfer window so although the likes of Odriozola, Javi Martinez, Kepa and Ander Herrera were interested in joining us it was never going to happen. Added to that I had to figure out who would play up front after Aduriz's retirement.
It wasn't just the first team I was looking after though and I spent nearly £3m on players for my B team - most of them used to play for Bilbao anyway!
I have spent a total of £8.75m and have received £23m so far but there is still a week or so to go in the window. I rejected a £39m bid from PSG for Mikel San Jose and a Chinese club bid £18m for Oscar De Marcos.
Now for the transfers...…
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PLAYERS OUT
The highest transfer fee I received was the £11.75m I received from Bayer Leverkusen for Raul Garcia. He was one of my best players but he was on £100k a week and is 33y/o so I was happy to take the cash plus I have Morilla waiting in the wings amongst others for the AMC position. Raul Garcia only scored 3 goals last season so I hope that can be bettered.
A deal for an initial £3.8m rising to £4.7m was reached with WBA for Benat. Like Raul Garcia he was on a big wage and with his contract expiring at the end of the season and with him being 32y/o I thought it was a good deal. He was one of our highest earners too.
All the rest of the departures were players who were out on loan last season or who didn't feature for us apart from Balenziaga who joined Villarreal for £2m. Inigo Lekue joined Eibar for £2.1m, Iago Herrerin joined Rayo Vallecano for £1.3m, Sabin Merino joined Getafe for £1.1m and Mikel Vesga joined Real Oviedo for £950,000.
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PLAYERS IN
My biggest signing is actually one I mentioned earlier in the post as I brought in Ander Herrera on loan from Man Utd. He is valued at around £50m so to bring him in for only £35k a week is a real steal and I am delighted to have him back at the club and he replaces Benat. View attachment 31448
The biggest fee spent so far is pretty embarrassing so far as I spent £4.4m to bring back Cristian Ganea back to the club from Lille just 6 months after I sold him for £1.8m. I needed a new backup LB and he was the best one that was available. View attachment 31447
Two more players were brought in for the first team squad. Pablo Hervias joined from Eibar on a free while Ager Aketxe returned to the club from Toronto FC on a free. Both players will be backups. View attachment 31446 View attachment 31445
I am not going to bother showing the players who I signed for the B team,
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FIRST TEAM
I will go with the same tactic as last season but I feel my squad is weaker this term. Although I have replaced Benat I haven't done the same with Raul Garcia and Aduriz. Herrera will replace Benat in CM and I think I will move Inaki Williams up front and have Susaeta as my RW although he is ageing. Pelayo Morilla might not be at the same level as Unai Lopez or Aketxe just now but he has the potential to be much better so I will go with the youngster.
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AUGUST
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Athletic Bilbao 3 (Unai Lopez 63, Yuri 83, Herrera 89pen) Atletico Madrid 2 (Saul 70, Koke 76) Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, Yeray, Yuri, Iturraspe, Herrera, Susaeta, Morilla (Unai Lopez), Muniain, Williams
With the first game of the season we win our first trophy of the season. Substitute Unai Lopez put us in front before we threw the lead away but Yuri levelled and then Herrera scored a penalty near the end to win the game on his return to the club.
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Athletic Bilbao 5 (Muniain 13, Herrera 16pen, 43pen, Williams 50, 51) Huesca 0 Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, Yeray, Yuri, Iturraspe, Herrera*, Susaeta, Morilla (Unai Lopez), Muniain, Williams (Villalibre)
What is this tomfoolery? 5 goals scored!!!!! We were excellent here and fully deserved the big winning margin. Herrera (albeit due to penalties) has scored the same amount of goals in 2 games that it took Raul Garcia to do last season in 34 games.
It isn't all good news though - Williams got injured and is out for 4 weeks or so - just as well there is an international break coming up!
Btw - we aren't even top - Valencia were 6-0 up against Osasuna in the first half and won 7-1.
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OTHER NEWS
In the Champions League we have been given a nightmare group - Bayern Munich, Man City and FC Kobenhavn. It looks like we may be dipping into the Europa League lol.
As for the transfer window - La Liga welcomes Paul Pogba who joins Barcelona. View attachment 31430
Wow. 5 goals one week, 4 goals the next and already Ander Herrrera has 5 goals from CM - he even scored a header here although the other 4 have been penalties.
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v Athletic Bilbao 1 (Morilla 79) Atletico Madrid 1 (Vitolo 30)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe (Dani Garcia), Herrera, Hervias, Morilla (Aketxe), Muniain, Villalibre (Cordoba)
A decent enough point although it could have been all 3 as Ander Herrera had a goal disallowed. He is on fire at the minute lol.
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UEFA Champions League Group G v FC Kobenhavn 0 Athletic Bilbao 1 (Muniain 53)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe, Herrera, Hervias, Morilla (Unai Lopez), Muniain, Williams (Villalibre)
It was imperative that we own this game and we just did it although we had to rely on Unai Simon saving a penalty late on.
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Sevilla 3 (Muriel 47, Promes 50, Kjaer 87) Athletic Bilbao 1 (Martinez 59)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri (Ganea), Iturraspe (Dani Garcia), Herrera, Hervias (Unai Lopez), Morilla, Muniain, Williams
Sevilla thumped us 3-0 on the last day last season and they handed us another sound beating here. They seem to be our bogey team.
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Espanyol 0 Athletic Bilbao 3 (Muniain 7, Williams 79, Aketxe 90)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri (Ganea), Iturraspe, Herrera, Hervias*, Unai Lopez (Aketxe), Muniain, Williams
We bounce back with a great win here. Muniain headed us in front, Williams sealed it and in stoppage time Ager Aketxe scored a free-kick from 30 yards. Pablo Hervias got 2 assists and played really well.
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Athletic Bilbao 1 (Dani Garcia 82) Valencia 0
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Ganea, Iturraspe, Dani Garcia*, Hervias (Susaeta), Morilla (Unai Lopez), Muniain (Cordoba), Williams
I am delighted with this win as we get revenge for the two league defeats last season. It was a tight game but they had Kondogbia sent-off and from the resulting free-kick Dani Garcia headed us ahead.
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SUMMARY
Overall September wasn't too bad a month. In the league we got a got a decent draw against the champions Atletico Madrid and a fantastic win over Valencia plus convincing victories over Espanyol and Real Oviedo however we did lose heavily to Sevilla which was an aberration.
In the Champions League we defeated FC Kobenhavn which was vital as we have Man City and Bayern Munich next. I am not resigned to having a Europa League campaign after Xmas but it is more than likely lol.
My B team have started the season well and are riding high in the league with 4 wins out of 6 - lets hope that continues.
OCTOBER UEFA Champions League Group G v
Athletic Bilbao 2 (Williams 10, 44) Manchester City 2 (Ganea 19og, Fernandes 87)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez (Yeray), San Jose, Ganea, Iturraspe (Dani Garcia), Herrera, Hervias, Morilla (Unai Lopez), Muniain, Williams*
Individual mistakes cost us big time here. Firstly Ganea needlessly scored an own goal and secondly we got caught in possession on the edge of the box for their 2nd goal. We really should have won this match as we missed several clear cut chances. Still it was a good result I suppose.
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Athletic Bilbao 3 (Williams 22, 40, 60) Real Sociedad 1 (Solanke 33) Lineup - Simon, De Marcos (Capa), Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe (Dani Garcia), Herrera, Hervias (Susaeta), Morilla, Muniain, Williams*
We win the Vasco derby thanks to a superb Inaki Williams hat-trick. He is on fire at the moment and we aren't missing Aduriz at all. Muniain also played really well.
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Athletic Bilbao 2 (Muniain 55, Herrera 78pen) Leganes 0 Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri*, Iturraspe, Herrera, Susaeta (Hervias), Morilla (Unai Lopez), Muniain, Williams
A comfortable victory. We probably should have scored more but I cant complain too much.
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UEFA Champions League Group G v Bayern Munich 3 (Bailey 22, 74, Lewandowski 60) Athletic Bilbao 1 (Dani Garcia 81)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe, Herrera (Dani Garcia), Susaeta (Hervias), Morilla (Unai Lopez), Muniain, Williams
We were totally outclassed here as Bayern dominated throughout and for what I think is the first time our opponents had more possession than us. We need to learn from this.
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v Real Betis 0 Athletic Bilbao 2 (Williams 71, 81)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe (Dani Garcia), Herrera, Susaeta, Morilla (Unai Lopez), Muniain (Cordoba), Williams*
This game seemed to be heading for a draw until Inaki Williams pounced on a short back pass to put us in front and then he latched onto a rare punt down the field to round the keeper to make it 2-0 and safe. Unfortunately Muniain got injured and is out for a month.
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Copa del Rey 4th Round 1st Leg v
Celta Vigo 0 Athletic Bilbao 0
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Nunez, Yeray, Ganea, Iturraspe, Herrera, Susaeta (Hervias), Morilla (Unai Lopez), Cordoba, Williams (Villalibre)
A disappointing result as we couldn't even get an away goal but we were understrength so its maybe understandable.
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SUMMARY
This month started with 2 huge games as we drew with Man City and beat Real Sociedad and then we got some decent wins in the league although a bad defeat away to Bayern Munich was sandwiched in between and we ended the month with a no score draw against Celta Vigo in the Copa del Rey.
Inaki Williams really came into some form as he scored 7 goals during the month. I think now that we have Williams' pace in behind opposition defences is really making a difference whereas last term we had the target man - Aduriz.
We really should have won this match as we were dominant throughout but we stupidly gave away a penalty in the first minute which set us back. We missed several chances too and despite being without 4 first choice players we played well enough to win but it was not to be.
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UEFA Champions Group G v
Athletic Bilbao 2 (Williams 64, 74)
Bayern Munich 1 (Boateng 36) Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Ganea, Iturraspe (Dani Garcia), Herrera, Susaeta, Morilla (Unai Lopez), Cordoba (Hervias), Williams*
A fantastic win which puts us a point above Bayern Munich and level on points with Man City. I had actually decided to take Williams off but he scored before the substitution was made and I kept him on fortunately. Ander Herrera missed a penalty early on.
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Athletic Bilbao 2 (Yuri 19, Hervias 86) Deportivo La Coruna 0
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Yeray, San Jose, Yuri*, Iturraspe (Sancet), Dani Garcia, Hervias, Morilla (Unai Lopez), Cordoba, Williams (Villalibre) We should have scored much more than the 2 that we did. Hervias seems to be outperforming Susaeta in the RW spot while Cordoba impressed with 2 assists. Teenager Morilla is needing a rest and I may give him a break - he hasn't been amazing but he is young and he is developing.
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Osasuna 0 Athletic Bilbao 1 (Hervias 13)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri*, Iturraspe, Herrera, Hervias, Unai Lopez (Aketxe), Cordoba, Williams
After Real Sociedad, Osasuna are our biggest rivals so it was nice to get the win here. Unai Lopez got injured and will be out for a month.
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UEFA Champions League Group G v
Athletic Bilbao 2 (Williams 11, 52) FC Kobenhavn 0
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe, Dani Garcia (Sancet), Hervias, Aketxe, Cordoba (Morilla), Williams*
This win sees us move to the top of the group on 10pts with a game to go and normally 10pts is enough to get you through but if we lose to Man City they will go above us and I presume Bayern will get something against Kobenhavn so we are still in a precarious position.
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Levante 0 Athletic Bilbao 2 (Morilla 29, Herrera 42pen)
Lineup - Simon, De Marcos*, Martinez, San Jose, Yuri, Iturraspe, Herrera, Hervias (Susaeta), Morilla, Cordoba, Williams (Villalibre)
3 wins and 3 clean sheets in a row in the league now. Morilla was playing as a trequirista earlier in the season but finally he is a natural attacking midfielder so I played him in that role and he scored the first.
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SUMMARY
November didn't start off to well as we lost to Villarreal but after that we were pitch perfect as we won every match with the highlight being the 2-1 victory over Bayern Munich and that sees us both top of the league and top of our Champions League group but even though we are clear at the top in the Champions League with a game left I still think we will struggle to qualify.
Next month will be huge as we have to play Barcelona and Real Madrid as well as our Champions League match with Man City so we shall see what happens with that.
