Basque-ing In Success - An Athletic Bilbao Story

[Klippybo]

MAY

Lineup - Simon*, Capa, Yeray, Nunez, Yuri, Dani Garcia, Benat, Gomez, Raul Garcia, Muniain, Aduriz

A missed opportunity to secure Champions League football but I am glad for the point as Sevilla were the dominant force and Unai Simon kept them out and fully deserved his MOM award. Valencia won 2-0 so we are 3pts clear with 2 games left.

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Lineup - Simon, Capa, Yeray*, Martinez, Yuri, Dani Garcia, Benat (Sancet), Gomez, Raul Garcia, Muniain (Cordoba), Aduriz (Fati)

We get back to winning ways here with victory here. Raul Garcia got his first goal in ages which almost secures qualification for the Champions League - we just need 1pt from our final match.

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Lineup - Simon, Capa, Yeray, Martinez, Yuri, Dani Garcia*, Benat (Moriba), Gomez, Raul Garcia, Muniain (Cordoba), Aduriz (Fati)

4th place and Champions League football was secured here as Dani Garcia's 1st league goal of the season got us the points required. It was a shame that Aduriz didn't end his career with a goal and whether or not Benat, Gomez or Raul Garcia will be here next season is also up for debate.

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SUMMARY

The season ended this month with 3 boring matches but we kept 3 clean sheets and got 2 goals to finish 4th in the table. It seems that when Inaki Williams is out of the side we really struggle to score but then with Aduriz in the side we seem to struggle to score lol. Unai Simon was excellent in goal though and has been rewarded with his first international call up for the Euros.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
UNAI SIMON

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[Klippybo]

2019-20 SEASON REVIEW

Season 1 is over and although at times it has been a hugely successful one as we lifted the Copa del Rey and managed to qualify for next seasons Champions League by finishing 4th in the league. The cup win was a massive bonus while 4th in the league was always a target so I cant complain lol.

It wasnt all plain sailing though. We drew far too many games and that was mainly due to us having a 39y/o up front as Aduriz failed to get into double figures in all competitions and he was a massive disappointment. My squad needs looking at but if there arent any possible signings out there I will struggle and might have to be creative with the players I have or even change my tactic which is unthinkable considering I have used the same tactic for the last few FMs lol.

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FINAL LA LIGA TABLE

4th place is good. Only losing 5 games is good. What is not good however is the massive gap to the top 3!!! I suppose we can take some heart in the fact that we inflicted rare defeats to the 2 Madrid clubs. Barcelona have sacked Valverde despite having an OK season.

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FIRST TEAM SQUAD

Goalkeepers - Unai Simon was fantastic and fully deserved his international call up at the end of the season. I managed to play young prospect, Ivan Martinez, a few times and he still looks like a player.

Defenders - The centre half pairing of Yeray (also just called up by Spain) and Inigo Martinez were excellent. I hoped to play Unai Nunez more but I couldnt fit him in and he isnt too happy as a result. Capa was decent at RB while Yuri was magnificent on the left hand side. Work needs done in this area as club stalwarts De Marcos and San Jose want to leave for a new challenge.

Midfielders - Benat was arguably our best player despite only netting 1 goal but he was very consistent. Dani Garcia alongside him did well while Oihan Sancet got plenty of game time and really impressed and even got a few goals. Inaki Williams was immense on the RW as expected while Raul Garcia was far better than expected as the 33y/o netted 13 times which is pretty impressive and could have had more had he not missed a few penalties! Iker Muniain however was our main man as he top scored with 18 goals from the LW.

Forwards - Aritz Aduriz was poor but my options were limited. Fati is a LW but I played him up front when he came off the bench and only ended up being 1 goal behind Aduriz. Guruzeta really needs to step up for next season while Villalibre was almost non existent.

My Player of the Season - Iker Muniain
My Young Player of the Season - Oihan Sancet
Donkey of the Season - Aritz Aduriz
Must Improve Next Season - Gorka Guruzeta

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SUMMER PLANS

It will be mayhem! Of course this will be my first pre-season on FM20 so I wonder if there are any new features or things I will have to do. My first team squad will be far different next season hopefully although we shall see about that. A lot depends on my B team and if they get promoted (they are in the play-offs but no fixtures have been scheduled yet somehow). What I do know is that I need a replacement for Aduriz up front.


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[Klippybo]

PRE-SEASON REVIEW

Out with the old and in with the new was our motto this summer as I totally revolutionised not only my first team squad but also my B team too. The B team got promoted to Liga 123 so will be playing in the 2nd tier of Spanish football so it was imperative that I strengthened them for them to be able to survive at that level. Them surviving is a must as it is a higher level of football for my future prospects to play in.

I am posting this on the opening day of the 2nd season and even now I am not 100% sure of my first XI such has been the changes. I will have to see.

Off the field the club bought the San Mames so that is a great boost although the £65m loan isnt so great.

Here are my transfers.........

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PLAYERS OUT

As you can see I was selling pretty much all of my players aged 30 or over. Dont forget Aduriz retired also so I effectively let go my backup CB, AMR and RB and also my first choice ST, AMC and CM. Getting over £20m for my old players is not bad tbh and I wish them all well although none will be coming back!!

I had a humungous £42m offer from China for Unai Nunez and I would have sold him but I just couldnt risk it as I didnt have an adequate replacement. I was also offered £35m for Yuri and £15m for Capa but I wasnt interested. Crazily one of my U19 regens attracted interest and Atletico Madrid offered me a crazy £8m for him which I might regret not accepting.

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PLAYERS IN

So there you have it. Ignore Gil, Olabe, Etxeberria and Ivan Martin as they were all brought in to strengthen the B side as was Ewan Urain whose situation is just crazy. He was in my C squad last year and couldnt make it into my B side yet Arsenal signed him on a free and he is now worth £9m!!!! Rediculous.

My most expensive signing is that of Mikel Royo who came in from Metz for £9m. It is a pricy deal however I couldnt offer him a loan offer so I decided to bite the bullet and bring him in. The ST position is up for grabs so the 16y/o Frenchman could get his chance.

I also overpaid for Pablo Hervias who joined from Valladolid for £7.25m but I desperately needed another RW. Hervias had a great season with Valladolid so hopefully he will contribute for me and keep Inaki Williams honest.

As you can see I brought back Ansu Fati and Ilaix Moriba back to the club from Barcelona on loan but this time for 2 seasons. I was never going to pay the release fee (£86m and £56m respectively) to get them even if I could have afforded it so I thought a 2 year loan would suit both parties.

I brought in a couple of regens with Miguel and Victor coming in from Real Madrid and they are most worthy of a screenshot lol.

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FIRST TEAM SQUAD

We are looking not too bad although there is a lack of strength and depth at CB and obviously up front we dont know what is going to happen. I would have sold Ganea but couldnt find a better replacement so he stayed while Nolaskoain and Vivian have been promoted to the first team squad.

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HOPES FOR THE SEASON

Quite simple - win a trophy! That could be a tough ask but we did it last season. A top 4 finish is a must while the board want me to reach the 1st knockout round in the Champions League.

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[itsMurph]

Solid start in your first season and laying down the foundations for season 2. Looking forward to it!

 

[Sam91]

Royo looks very solid!!

 

[Klippybo]

AUGUST

Lineup - Simon, Lekue, Yeray, Martinez, Yuri, Dani Garcia, Moriba, Williams, Muniain (Nunez), Fati*, Royo

Its fair to say I didn't expect this result on the opening day! My youngsters did me proud as we rattled in 5 goals despite having a man sent-off early on in the 2nd half. Royo thundered in a debut goal while Fati bagged a hat-trick.

Tactically I decided to put Moriba in front of Sancet and move Muniain in to AMC and play Fati as AML while Royo edged out Guruzeta as striker. Capa was injured so Lekue came in.

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Lineup - Simon, Lekue, Yeray, Nunez, Yuri, Dani Garcia (Sancet), Moriba, Williams (Hervias), Muniain, Fati*, Royo (Guruzeta)

Fati is at it again!!!! Amazingly he grabs another hat-trick as we win a topsy turvy game. We were 2-0 up and then inexplicably found ourselves 3-2 down but we fought back to get the win thanks to my on loan Barcelona duo.

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Lineup - Simon, Lekue, Yeray (Nunez), Martinez, Yuri, Dani Garcia, Sancet, Williams (Hervias), Muniain, Cordoba, Royo (Guruzeta)

We were outplayed and outclassed here and I was also made to pay for not insisting that Fati and Moriba could play against their parent club. We were shocking here and Barcelona should have scored 4 or 5.

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SUMMARY

Season 2 is underway and we got off to a flyer as we thumped in 9 goals in our first 2 games to get victories although Barcelona then brought us back down to earth with a bump as they easily beat us. My young players have done me proud so far and hopefully we can kick on and progress from last season.

There were transfer dealings as I brought in 3 players. All 3 were for the B team although 2 were for the future. Firstly I spent £2.4m on goalkeeper Aitor Fernandez....

I then brought in 2 young defenders on loan to give them Basque nationality. Both look like tremendous prospects and we shall see how their careers develop and maybe I will bring them in permanently in the future.

Finally in the Champions League we have been given a nightmare draw as Liverpool and Juventus lie in wait alongside Fenerbahce.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
ANSU FATI

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LA LIGA

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[Klippybo]

There has been a murder!!!!

Gutted, raging, and all the other expletives. I don't know what has happened but the save has crashed. I try and reload it but nothing happens. I don't think I switched it off while saving but that is a possibility with alcohol induced playing. I do have backups but cant be arsed doing pre-season again so I will have to call time and resurface somewhere else (you can probably guess where lol).

But don't worry - Aitor and I will be back in Bilbao in the future.​