Awaking the Lion: Sporting Clube de Portugal (Sporting Lisbon)

pdavis

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Being a portuguese from Lisbon, I am a great fan of Sporting Clube de Portugal. Over the recent years, the Club has been directed by some awful chairmen. The consequence is a long walk through the desert, with only 2 national leagues won over the last 20 years, the last one in 2002. Even worse, the Club was left on the verge of finantial breakdown, and that pretty much the scenario that the new chairman, Bruno de Carvalho, wants to fight this season, the first one after the worst league placemente in the history of Sporting. The situation is really complicated.

"Due to the finantial dificulties Sporting is facing, we need to hire a newcomer to manage the main squad. However, we didn't pick just about any manager. David is a Sporting fan since the day he was born, and has deep knowledge of anything related to the Club. During his whole life, he observed football matches, attended to Sporting training and had an internship at Campomaiorense, a team affiliated to Sporting. We have great trust in this pick, and we'll give him time to work and lead Sporting back to the top. The lion is waking up" - these were the words President Bruno de Carvalho used to present David Oliveira, new Club manager for the season.

Managerial Press Conference

" I am extremely happy to take charge at the Club I supported my whole life. Although this is my first job, I absolutely believe my talent and my ability to make Sporting stand on his feet once again."

"It is true that there's not much money available, but one also has to consider that Sporting has one of the best youth academies in the world. I will take advantage of that while building the squad. Not only will we have young quality playing, but also we will be able to gain some € selling them along the seasons."

"Realistically speaking, we are outsiders in the fight for the title. However, our history demands that we play every match to win. So, our minimum will be the 3rd place, meaning the qualification for the Champions League, but we will face each match as it was our last. Only like that can we aim to the top".

Next update: Squad, tactics and transfer movement.
 
Love Sporting Lisbon. Be monitoring your thread closely good luck :)
 
Transfer Market: It didnt' go down exactly well for us. We had only 4m € to spend, and many players deemed as transfer listed, and so i hoped to receive decent bids for them, allowing me to generate funds for new signings. Well, not only did I not receive decent bids, but I got no bids at all. Keeping it short, I wanted to sell Bouhlarouz, Onyewu, Pranjic, Gelson, Evaldo, Grimi, Jeffren and Bojinov. But, the results I got were:
View attachment 366122

Meaning, I only sold Evaldo and loaned Grimi. Decided to release Bouhlarouz, Gelson and Bojinov because I really wouldn't play them and their wages were heavy on the budget. As for Onyewu, Pranjic and Jeffrén, they stay to add some experience to a squad made of youngsters, and I'll try to play them as much as I can to get some bids in January.

As for signings, I only got my priorities. With only Rubio as a striker in the squad, I signed Vosse from Genk and Ghilas from second league side Moreirense. Now, I am really happy with my striking options. As for Danny Fox, he came because I needed a left back and I had no money to sign one, so I had to go for the loan. He's not a bad player, but will only stay one season.

Tactics: I will have three: One for matches where I believe to be stronger than the opponent:
View attachment 366123

One to play when I think I am the underdog:
View attachment 366124

And one to save points from any match:
View attachment 366125

Preseason: It was fairly good. We only lost the last two matches, where I played youngsters from the B team to boost their morale and watch them play. As for the first 3 matches, I was really happy with what I saw. The first month of Liga Zon Sagres seems to be a nice one, with matches against newly promoted Arouca and Belenenses. However, we can't allow ourselves to go easy, or we can lose points right at the start.

View attachment 366126
 
August 2012

Starting the season, we had to clash against two newcomers in the top flight. Although we were favourites for both matches, we needed to keep focused and playing at a high level. We did just that.


Away match against Arouca for our first fixture in Liga Zon Sagres. We had to enter with full intensity and so we did. Jelle Vossen pretty much made the game easy for us, scoring 1-0 4 minutes in the first half. Then, Onyewu doubled our advantage heading a corner ball into the net. From that moment on, we just needed to control the match and keep the ball on our side. We did so, and there still was time for Vossen to completely kill the match with his second goal on the debut.


In a Lisbon derby, we received Belenenses at Estádio José Alvalade. After a difficult first half, in which we didn't manage to create any danger, I told the lads at half time that we needed to patch up. We took it up a notch and solved the match in 13 minutes. Labyad with a long shot, Vossen finishing a team play and Danny Fox with a diagonal shot in the box made the score comfortable enough for us.


We lead the Liga Zon Sagres due to the fact that we didn't concede any goals. It might just be the begining, but I'm very happy with what the team is producing. We'll see if we can keep up on the right track.
 
September 2012


Not the best month for us. In 12 possible points, we only managed to gain 5. It would be terrible, if 2 of them hadn't been conquered agains title contenders Porto and Braga.


This match is clearly the type of match we should be winning. We were clearly better than Académica, had more possession and shots at goal. But football is won with goals, and we failed to produce them. Salim Cissè is a player we tried to sign during August, and that in real life is already signed. Bottom line: they scored a goal and we didn't, so they deserve the win. Simple as that.



Observing the match from this point of view, the fact that we didn't win is a tremendous injustice. In 4 shots, they scored 2 goals, showing that efficiency is a great asset in the world of football. As for our team, we only woke up after being 0-2 down, but even playing with 10 men we were able to score an equaliser. Vossen and Capel, in the space of 3 minutes, took the advantage on 2 counter attacks and secured a point that could have easily been 3.


Our only win during the month. The squad were motivated by the draw against Porto, and we began the match intense and aggressive. Despite having less possession, we produced more chances and took them. Vossen scored once again, but we failed to secure the advantage. That would change in second half, with a great volley strike from Eric Dier and a late tranquilizer by Diego Capel.


It's as boring as it seems. Low number of strikes, low number of chances created and a 0-0 draw. Fair enough and 'nuff said.


Naturally, we came down in the table. It's not dramatic though, as we are only 5 points away from the lead, and we already played Porto and Braga. I'm optimistic towards the rest of the season, but it's still to early to establish how far can we go.
 
October 2012

Good month to recover from the one before. We didn't play that well during the month, but we nailed 3 wins in 3 matches. Only a one goal difference though, so we'll need to increase our finishing right away.

First match of the month was extremely hard. Paços de Ferreira finished 3rd in real life Liga Zon Sagres, so we knew we were in to a tough one. It really was, but Jelle Vossen stole the 3 points with a powerful header. We created a lot more chances, but had a little less possession. We didn't have enough finishing accuracy to turn this into an easy match, which we should have.

Portuguese Cup match against a lower division side. We should have beaten then massively, as i didn't even spare too many players. Truth is we couldn't finish well enough, although we had decent possession and number of strikes. Only with a penalty could we achieve security. We need to improve.


Another short 1-0 score. Sure, it's enough to secure the 3 points, but I get extremely angry while looking at the screen and seing goals after goals being missed. We really need to start putting the ball in the net more often.


As result for our two league wins over the month, we escalated to the third place, and are still 5 points away from Benfica. It's still too early in the season, so this distance is not dramatic. We just need to keep up the good work, and I'm sure we'll be nearer the top soon.
 
What did you do with Sunil Chettri? Do you play him?
 
Why did you let all those players to go for free?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you find it difficult to sell players there is a way and RAIKAN has a thread about it. SEARCH THE BLEEDING FORUM!!!

Ill follow anyways ...
 
Why did you let all those players to go for free?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you find it difficult to sell players there is a way and RAIKAN has a thread about it. SEARCH THE BLEEDING FORUM!!!

Ill follow anyways ...
Jesus, chill out dude.
 
I'm sorry for my absence. I had a crash on my computer, and so it took me a lot to fix it. Lost all data though, and so I'll begin a new story with Sporting Lisbon tonight. I'll keep posting in this thread, if that's ok. As a plus, I'll be able to begin my journey with the updated squad, which is fairly better than the last one.
 
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