Being Basque

April - A poor month!

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April, 2014.
This was a poor month. We lost two games, including one against a side near us in the table, and we drew a game which we should have won on paper. This month saw us play four games, meaning we are only left with three which will be played in May:


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An expected loss against Barcelona and a frustrating 1-0 loss to league standing rivals, Sevilla, whom we had beaten comfortably in the reverse fixture.

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Levante shut us out brilliantly. We attacked for the full 90 minutes and could not crack their 5-man defence down. Another result to add onto the pile of frustrating ones this season.

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Our only win of the month, and it was a fantastic one. Herrera scored a thunderbolt, San Jose tucked in another penalty and Ibai scored another free-kick. 3 much needed points but, unfortunately, the only 3 points we would see this month.

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It took ten minutes for Barcelona to confirm their victory against us. They destroyed us, as expected.

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What a loss. We are now without Ruffier until the final game of the season; we are stuck with the calamitous Iraizoz for our most important games.

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We've dropped down to 5th with three games to go. I'd be delighted if we finished 5th or above!

PLAYER OF THE MONTH:

No-one.

 
May - Europa or Champions League?

So, the time has arrived. The moment of truth. Did we qualify for the Europa League (our target) or overachieve by claiming a Champions League spot? This month saw us play arch-rivals Real Sociedad, which added even more importance to the month. Let's look at the all-deciding results:


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So, we had a humiliating defeat in the derby sandwiched between two fantastic wins. That's six points from nine. Let's look at the Rayo game:

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Poor Rayo. Four times we've played them this season, four times they've failed to get the better of us. Four goals before half-time cemented the three points. Herrera scored with a powerful shot from just outside the box and Susaeta smashed in two finishes from acute angles. Galeano's own-goal was comical as the ball bounced off him following an attempted clearance from the goalkeeper. Aduriz scored a header to make it 5-0 before Rayo picked up a consolation. Benat completed the rout with an outstanding free-kick. Three points closer to Europe!

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What an awful result against our arch-rivals, Real Sociedad. They ran us ragged and completely destroyed our wide-men, Iraola and Balenziaga. There's little to say about this game other than we were outplayed. Four games against our rivals this season, and we've failed to win one. Awful stuff. Going into the final day of the season, we were 5th in the league...

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Two early goals were enough to sweep Almeria aside in our final game of the season. Three vital points, but where did we end up in the league?

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4TH! WE ARE IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE!We missed out on third due to our head-to-head record with rivals Osasuna. Unfortunately, we will have to go through the play-offs in the Champions League, but I'm happy with the overachievement this season! The players were all superb and, despite a few losses, we enjoyed ourselves playing some nice possession-based football yet still scoring heavily!

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Written in stone!

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Look at Muniain, joint for most assists with Messi and Xavi! What a great season he had. Also worth noting how ****** clinical Sola is, hitting the target with 72% of his shots.

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Ibai and Sola joint for top scorer! Sola missed quite a bit of the season due to injury and Ibai was usually a squad player more often than not. I'm happy that the goals were shared around.
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These two were our best players. San Jose's defensive performances outshone those of starlet Aymeric Laporte. We kept a few clean-sheets this season and, more often than not, it was down to San Jose's excellent positioning. San Jose was our 2nd best player, but Iker Muniain wins our Player of the Season award! Muniain was excellent, and this shines even through his figures. 16 assists and 9 goals in all competitions are superb numbers which will only get better as the years go by. He kept our attacks penetrative and incisive, ensuring that we did not get lost in just possession. I have turned down ?27m bids for him from Juventus and PSG but it's only a matter of time before our hands get forced by the big clubs!

THANK YOU FOR JOINING ME ON MY JOURNEY WITH ATHLETIC BILBAO... BUT IT DOES NOT END HERE! WE WILL GO ON NEXT SEASON AND ATTEMPT TO PROGRESS IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE AS WELL AS REMAINING CONSISTENT IN THE LEAGUE. THIS HAS BEEN AN EXCELLENT SEASON BUT IT WILL BE USELESS IF WE DO NOT BUILD ON IT!
 
Congrats Bro hopefully you get a nice transfer budget as you'll prob need to strengthen! Go for inigo Martinez
 
Friendlies and more!

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Friendlies, 2014.

So, after finishing 4th last season, we kick-started the summer. As we waited to see who we would draw in the Champions League play-offs, some friendlies had to be concluded. Here were the results:


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We had some strong friendly performances against sides we are much better than. It was a good test of our youth and fitness. In terms of signings, we only made one, and it was a youth player. Why? I only felt as though we needed to strengthen the AMC and ST areas, but found out that Ruiz de Galarreta and Guillermo returned from their loans. Despite being young, these two players add depth and quality to the side. Plus, the only signings I really wanted were beyond our reach financially: Griezmann, Ruben Pardo, Xabi Alonso. Here is the youth player that we signed:

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Robles comes with some superb stats and will definitely be a starter in the future, providing his development goes by well. Both him and Monasterio are my future stars.

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One of our returning loanees who has some excellent stats and will play a fair few amount of minutes this season.

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Those were our ins and outs. I'd like to thank Rayo for spending silly money on our deadwood.

That concludes the boring part... The next update will be of the first month of the 2nd season!
 
August - The Champions League!

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August, 2014.

I was extremely excited for this month because it would see us participate in our first Champions League match since I took over. I was never expecting an easy side when doing the draw of the Champions League play-offs, but I was devastated when I saw that we drew MANCHESTER UNITED. Yep, we drew them. Don't ask me how they even finished 4th in their 1st season considering the fact that they always storm the league. I was annoyed as we seemed to be facing an early exit before the competition really even started. Here were the all-important results for this month's league and Champions League games:


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And so we have dropped down into the Europa League. I'm still happy because 1) we're playing European football and 2) we held our own against Manchester United. Despite that loss against United, we remained unbeaten throughout the month in the league!

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To welcome another season of exciting football at the San Mames, we welcomed newly-promoted Sporting Gijon who duly got their arses kicked. Guillermo, a returning striker, scored twice on his Athletic Bilbao debut - he seems to be a cracking player. His first goal was assisted by Aurtenetxe, another returning left-back, who would go on to remain in the first-team for the entirety of this month. Ibai Gomez started the season like he ended it - scoring - and Muniain got taken off for a fractured cheekbone injury which would rule him out for the rest of the month. A great start to the season, bar that injury.

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The first-leg... And what a tie it was! United dominated, but we defended excellently. Laporte and San Jose were mesmerising in keeping Van Persie/Rooney quiet whereas Aurtenetxe shut the flairy Nani down for the entirety of the game. San Jose's penalty in the 31st minute instigated us switching to a very defensive approach, looking to defend the lead. Unfortunately, Ruffier turned a ball into his own net 9 minutes later and we were left to defend a draw, as well as an away goal. Fellaini's sending off was great as he dominated aerially all game.

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A decent result against a strong Sevilla side. Sola's goal came after a long period of Sevilla dominance. Cuenca and Rakitic's injuries eased the pressure off us as Sevilla could well have scored two more goals before we even got a chance to equalise. Overall, I was fine with the point. My eyes were half-set on the exciting second leg!

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What an annoying way to lose. We set out to defend our away goal from the get-go, and were doing fine until Herrera's sending off for a two-footed challenge on Rooney left us with only 9 outfield players. United found it easier to flood our midfield, but still struggled to penetrate our defence. Eventually, after 67 minutes of relentless attacking, Van Persie scored a goal which raised suspicions of offside. Despite the loss, I was happy with how we performed. Champions League will definitely be a mainstay next season - hopefully we'll finish 3rd - but at least we didn't exit Europe entirely. We dropped into the Europa league and, as a top-seeded club, drew a relatively easy group:

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No side here will remotely trouble us apart from maybe the away trip at Trabzonspor in Turkey. Other than that, I expect us to finish 1st and do it without losing once.

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To end the month, we performed in front of our own fans against newly-promoted Real Zaragoza. Despite their early opener, we never failed to remind them how harsh La Liga is. With only 4 shots on target, we scored three goals. Susaeta scored from a tight angle, Herrera fired in a shot from just outside the box and substitute Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta applied a fine header to an Aurtenetxe cross to deliver the three points. 7 points from a possible 9 in the opening month - I'm happy with that!

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A good start.



PLAYER OF THE MONTH:

Jon Aurtenetxe.

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Aurtenetxe was excellent all month as he kept Balenziaga out of the side. He assisted twice and kept two clean-sheets. His performance vs Nani in both legs was mouth-watering as he kept the Portuguese international quite for a cumulative 180 minutes. I'm glad that he has returned from his loan spell - he adds depth to a left-back position which was quite weak last season.
 
Looking good man! Unlucky with drawing United in The UCL.
Monasterio looks ridiculous good, that technique as well as mentals!
 
September - Win x5

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September, 2014.

What a superb month from all involved! We won all 5 games, including our first Europa League game at home to Red Bull Salzburg. Let's take a look at the results:


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Three clean-sheets, five wins including one over our arch-rivals and the ever so tough Atletico Madrid. We also beat Rayo, a side who were our punching bag last season.

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Rayo! We meet again! And this time... Well... You haven't really changed much. A strong defensive performance in the first-half was enough to leave us frustrated, yet we persisted and, with 18 minutes to go, found a winner through substitute Kike Sola. Sola's goal was assisted by Unai Lopez, who came on two minutes prior. Lopez also scored and then went on to assist Susaeta's injury time goal. Unai Lopez was the game changer - a statement that will be made for years to come at this football club. Unai Lopez is the future. An impressive way to start the month. 3 points!

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Boom! Three points in our first Europa League match this season! Unai Lopez, rewarded for his excellent performance on the weekend, opened the scoring. Benat fired in a free-kick five minutes later, but Salzburg's Vittek pulled one back instantly. Susaeta just can't stop scoring and, on the stroke of half-time, latched onto a Muniain through ball to squeeze the ball past the on-rushing goalkeeper. Susaeta would repeat this goal - assisted by Sola - with 11 minutes to go. That completed the rout and added three points to our name!

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The Basque derby! The big one! We lost this derby twice last season, but this season is all about righting the wrongs from last season. This game was tight, and incredibly even throughout. The lack of chances meant the game flew by. In the 92nd minute, substitute Ibai Gomez turned the burners on and beat Martinez for pace, only for the full-back to hack him down. I was expecting the draw, but jumped for joy when a penalty was given. This penalty was the final kick of the game and, as he did countless times last season, San Jose scored. A massive 3 points over our rivals, which boosted an already high squad morale. What a start to the season!

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This was an unexpectedly tough game, despite our four goals. Levante took the lead, but we pegged them back three minutes later via an excellently struck Sola penalty. Then, a goal frenzy in the space of five minutes meant that we put the game past Levante. Susaeta scored again... And then again. Sandwiched between those two goals was another Sola goal. Ruben Garcia would score a consolation with two minutes to go. A game heavily-influenced by goals, but thankfully Levante were on the receiving end.

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A great result against an extremely strong Atletico side, who parted with neither Costa nor Koke in the summer. Their side was undeniably strong, yet it was the mighty Athletic Bilbao who triumphed. Suseata scored yet again this month, which triggered our counter-attacking approach, looking to frustrate Atletico yet break with pace. It worked, and we held on. A strong way to finish an exciting month! We're unbeaten in the league after seven games!

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2nd! I'd be delighted if that's where we finished this season, although that'd mean breaking up the duopoly of the league - Barcelona and Real Madrid. But that's the aim of this save!

PLAYER OF THE MONTH:

Markel Susaeta.

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What a month Susaeta had, scoring six goals in five games including the all important winner against Atletico. Ever since last season, I noticed that he has a knack for scoring goals which is great to have whenever our strikers are struggling to hit the net!



 
Looking good man! Unlucky with drawing United in The UCL.
Monasterio looks ridiculous good, that technique as well as mentals!
Currently trying to loan him out to an affiliate club. Can't wait to see how he progresses over the next 2-3 years!
 
October - Sustaining the run!

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October, 2014.
After going a month unbeaten prior to this, I was looking for us to find consistency and continue to climb up the table. Despite the lack of signings, we have found the perfect formation and starting XI - this is key with Athletic Bilbao because most of the time you will only be promoting youth. Let's see how this month played out:


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Those green circles are great to look at. Six fantastic wins and the unbeaten run continues. Before trawling into the games, let's look at a signing we made:


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Ivan Arroyo joins the side for little under ?1m. He is definitely one for the future, whether it be at AMC, STC or AMR.

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We started off the month with our 2nd Europa League group game, away at Trabzonspor. On paper, this would be the trickiest tie of all our group games... But even then it was a game which we should win. And we did just that. Substitutes Guillermo and Ibai Gomez scored in the space of three minutes after their team-mates had spent a good 70 minutes wasting chance after chance.

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The score-line suggests it was tight, but we dominated from start to finish. The only problem here was that we were struggling to get shots on target after Herrera's sensational 28-yard screamer in the 13th minute. Regardless, we picked up another win in the league!

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This was a tight encounter. Twice we scored, twice they pulled it back. Skjelbred scored two superb goals against us, sandwiched between another Herrera thunderbolt and a Benat free-kick. The "we score, you score" mentality ended when Laporte applied a fantastic header to a Muniain corner-kick. Just before the game ended, Susaeta did his trademark tight-angle finish and there we were, picking up another 3 points.

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Our 3rd Europa League game against one of the weakest sides in the competition! 2-0 really should have been 5 or 6, but we opted for controlling the game in a relaxed manner as opposed to draining our energy in an attempt to maul them. Guillermo scored a poacher's finish on the stroke of half-time and Ibai, just after the second-half kicked off, scored another one of his sublime free-kicks.

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Give Guillermo a ****** knighthood! Betis dominated us for the entire game, surprisingly. Our only two shots on target culminated in goals. Guillermo opened the scoring with another close-range finish, yet that would be our only chance until the final minute. We restricted Betis to long range shooting, due to excellent defending, but ended up regretting that when Jorge Molina sunk a long-range shot past Ruffier. We were headed for a draw - I had accepted that this would not end in a win - until a long punt forward from Ruffier was latched onto by Guillermo who graciously lifted the ball over Adan sending our away fans into absolute delirium! A dramatic way to end the game and sum up another three points.

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A great result to end the month against newly-promoted Mallorca. 3 goals in the space of 14 minutes pretty much sealed the win before even 30 minutes were played. Muniain scored a header, assisted Guillermo's header with a great cross and then Herrera did it all himself with a mazy run and calm finish. Xumetra scored in added time of the first-half, but that was a mere consolation. Mikel San Jose scored a towering header from a corner, assisted by the mighty Iker Muniain!

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Unbeaten in the league after 11. Incredible stuff!

PLAYER OF THE MONTH:

Guillermo.

Guillermo was superb this month, scoring five goals in six games including single-handedly delivering three points to the club. When he came back from his loan spell, I only expected him to play second-fiddle to Sola but right now it is Sola who is playing second-fiddle to him. Here are Guillermo's stats, since I haven't showcased them yet:

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21-years of age with still some work to do on his stats. His finishing is bonkers!​
 
November - This is unreal!

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November, 2014

Well, I may as well deliver you the great news: we won every single game again this month. That's three months in a row with nothing but wins. I'm utterly delighted with the side:



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Only two goals conceded all month, including four clean-sheets. This was another flawless month.

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Plain-sailing. An easy game, and an easy three points. We were calm, stroked the ball around and practically toyed with Valladolid on a cold Sunday evening. Herrera scored yet again, and the same goes for Guillermo. Both players' goals came from rebounds.

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Away at Vaslui, resting nine players... Simple win. Aduriz bagged a double of headers in his first appearance of the season. Gurpegi scored a close-range volley from a corner-kick. This Europa League group is just too easy for us!

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Can anyone stop us? We've practically won by half-time in most games. Susaeta scored another goal this season from another tight-angle. Aurtenetxe then went on a mazy run and finished past Roberto. Aurtenetxe would then be taken down in the box by Roberto... Mikel San Jose stepped up and calmly did what he does best: score from the spot. Granada's late goal was a mere consolation for the Andalucian club.

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This game was incredibly tight, especially after Laporte's sending off. Laporte opened the scoring on the 53rd minute with a simple header from a corner, but would end up seeing red five minutes later. Malaga prospered from this and scored a header via El Zhar. When all the pressure seemed to be on us, we broke on the counter. Muniain split Malaga's defence wide open with a pass to Susaeta, who slipped in Sola... Our experienced striker had the goal at his mercy and put the game to bed.

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Again, we rotated heavily. Another win, which now means we have qualified! Ibai Gomez's free-kick was enough to allow us to play our simple, possession-based football as we bored Salzburg to death.

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It is done!

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A great win in the derby! Osasuna were unbeaten against us last season, so it was great to put them to the sword. Aurtenetxe's sending off allowed Osasuna to overload the flanks, but Herrera's early goal and Guillermo's late goal was enough to knock Osasuna off their perch. Ruffier kept Osasuna at bay with three magnificent saves in the first-half.

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Don't you just love breaking records?

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Real Madrid slipped up! We are top of the league!

PLAYER OF THE MONTH:

Ruffier.


Ruffier was excellent all month, picking up two man of the match awards, four clean-sheets and conceding only two goals. He has been incredibly reliable from the day he step foot into this club! What a player!
 
December - The run of wins comes to an end!

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December, 2014.

So, yeah, we finally lost. After 23 wins in a row, we have finally been stopped. It had to happen at some point, but our run was phenomenal. I like to think that our loss is a mere blip and not a dip in form.


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Four wins... And then an unfortunate loss against Catalan giants Barcelona.

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Susaeta extended his contract - glad to have tied him down following serious interest from Valencia and A.C Milan. He will be key for the next few years, without a doubt.

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An easy away game against At. Baleares, a Segunda B side whom we drew for the 4th round of the cup. We rotated the entire team apart from Guillermo - hard to drop him as he is in sensational goalscoring form. Our star striker scored twice with two easy finishes following ground-crosses from Iraola and Aurtenetxe. Ivan Arroyo - our youth player - scored his first goal for the club too. Iraola's sending off made me realise just how much we need a decent 2nd choice right-back... We may look to bring one in, in January, but there is a lack of quality Basque players in that position. Anyways, a comfortable result against a poor side.

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An excellent performance from Toquero in a dead-rubber match. We already qualified, so this was just a good chance to extend our unbeaten run. Toquero scored with two headers and Ibai Gomez sealed the deal with a stunning free-kick. The awful news from this game would be Herrera's injury...


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3 months. That's right. 3 ****** months without our star midfielder. Awful stuff, but it does give Unai Lopez a chance to make that AMC role his own as well as our youngster Arroyo, who will pick up a few games in Herrera's absence.

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Six games. Six wins. Only one goal conceded! The surprise in this group was the qualification of Vaslui. I was expecting Trabzonspor to join us in the knockout stages. Speaking of the knockout stages, let's see who we drew for the first and second knockout stages:

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Saint-Etienne. A side who are quite good, but we are a level above them. Ruffier set to play against his former club! Let's hope he's at the top of his game. Should we beat them, we will play one of these two:

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Two extremely tough opponents in Zenit/Ajax. Hoping for Zenit as I feel they are the weaker of the two.

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Finally, a league game! What a performance from 17-year-old Ivan Arroyo, who came off the bench in the 37th minute - Unai Lopez had a knock - and assisted Guillermo's goal as well as scoring one himself. We are blessed with a plethora of talented young players.

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A simple game, and a comfortable win. I made 10 changes to the side - the only remaining player from the Valencia game was youngster Ivan Arroyo. We set out to control the game, dominate possession and really just run down the clock. I didn't want to risk any injuries. Arroyo, though, scored once again and amassed his 3rd man of the match award of the month. He is shining in Herrera's absence.

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So, we have drawn Malaga. I am quite happy with that as they are a side whom we should be beating. I would love to go on a long domestic cup run but it always seems as though one of the big clubs are waiting to halt our run. I have a good feeling about the Europa League though.

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Well, here's our first loss! No shame in losing against the reigning champions and, to be honest, we were equal to them all game. Benat opened the scoring with a volley but Barcelona shut us down immediately. The 2nd half was dominated by Barcelona, but we had the best chance of the game as youngster Unai Lopez came off the bench and hit the post from improbable range. I was happy with the performance.

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2nd in the league, level on points with Real Madrid whom we play next. I know, right. It sucks playing the top two back-to-back, but we'll try our hardest to get a positive result, or at least performance.

PLAYER OF THE MONTH:

IVAN ARROYO.

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Arroyo was superb this month, scoring three goals - two in the cup and the winner against Valencia - as well as coming up with two assists. I'm excited for his future and, despite playing most naturally as a striker, I think we will mould him into an AMC should his passing improve, of course.​
 
January - A new signing!

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January, 2015.

Another season where we don't make a signing in the summer, but instead in January. This isn't particularly intentional, it's just that some better players become available in January. Well, before the results of the month, here is our new signing.


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Estrada isn't anything special but, for ?1.1m, he brings depth and versatility to the squad. We were in dire need of a good 2nd choice right-back. He can play anywhere along either wing.

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3 losses this month - two in the league, one in the cup. We did beat Barcelona, though. But was it enough?

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I had high hopes for this game, but we were steamrolled by Real Madrid. The less said about this game, the better. They destroyed us and rightfully go 3 points ahead of us in the league.

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A result which pretty much puts us in the next round without really having to play the 2nd leg. Laporte scored twice from Muniain corners - he is beginning to become a massive threat in the air. Guillermo completed the first-half rout, prospering from another Muniain assist. Benat made it 4-0 with a header before Malaga scored twice to give the game an edgy final 24 minutes.

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I'm pretty sure I have mentioned this before: I hate playing against Villarreal. Their wingers always destroy any Spanish team I play with. This game was no different. I detest them. Guillermo's opener made me forget about the demons, but they quickly returned with two first-half goals from dos Santos and Berardi. Our 3rd loss of the season - let's not make a habit of them.

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Ah, another comfortable possession-based performance. It all seemed to be heading to a 0-0 result, but Guillermo scored yet again to seal another win and progression into the next round where we will square off against FC Barcelona. Again.

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A nice way to bounce back after that annoying loss to Villarreal. Despite scoring first, Sporting Gijon did little in this game. Muniain scored his 2nd goal of the season with a tap-in. Balenziaga, early in the second half, scored with a shot across the 'keeper and Isma's own-goal cemented the three points. Guillermo's injury would only put him out of action for 3 days.

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Another loss to Barcelona, this time in the cup. Barcelona dominated, which was to be expected. We struggled to do anything in the final third and paid for it. We have a mountain to climb in the second leg.

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Dani Estrada scores on his league debut! A sensational hit from just outside the box as he makes a marauding run down his flank. I have fallen in love. Susaeta scored from a free-kick to put breathing space between us and Sevilla, but that breathing space was quickly restricted following Rakitic's header. The final 20 minutes were painful as Sevilla mounted attack after attack, but we weathered the storm and came out with the three points.

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We genuinely went all-out attack from the get-go. I thought they would destroy us if we did so, but took the risk. It paid off. We dominated from start to finish. Laporte scored yet again this month with a header and Mikel Rico scored another header a few minutes into the second half. We then proceeded to defending incredibly as Laporte made block after block. Penalties beckoned. I did not have high hopes, but played regardless. With my fingers crossed and eyes squinted, this was the pinnacle of our cup campaign: win and we knock out the best side, lose and we fail once again to reach the quarter-finals. Sola missed his penalty, and Barcelona hit all five of theirs in. A frustrating end to an otherwise impeccable performance.

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3rd, level on points with Barcelona... But we have a game in hand.

PLAYER OF THE MONTH:
AYMERIC LAPORTE.
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Laporte scored three goals and defended impressively all month. It's great to have him fit for a prolonged time because last season he was out for 4 months and, to be frank, he never really performed highly since returning. This is the best of Laporte. And that excites me.​
 
Barca have had some incredible form since their bad early season form! Surprised they have been able to catch you. Still reckon you can get at least 2nd though ;) Nice story man, keep it up!
 
Barca have had some incredible form since their bad early season form! Surprised they have been able to catch you. Still reckon you can get at least 2nd though ;) Nice story man, keep it up!

I hope so, although my final three league games are against Barcelona, Real Madrid & Villarreal. Have to at least beat two of them to finish 2nd, I feel.
 
February - Knockout stages!

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February, 2015.

A month packed with great results. Without saying much, let's take a look at them:

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Some fantastic results, and one painful. *sorry about the poor screen cap, I only just noticed when uploading right now*

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A tight game to kick start the month. It took us 50 minutes to break the deadlock. Unai Lopez continues to shine this season as he scored a sumptuous volley. Alamo equalised shortly, but Muniain being felled in the box led to another San Jose perfectly struck penalty. He's yet to miss one under my tutelage.

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Rayo! Our very own personal punching bag. Yet again, we register a high-scoring win against them. It's sad because they are in the relegation zone, meaning we may not get an easy six points next season. Anyways, enough of the jabs at them. An 11 minute goal blitz practically sealed the win. Unai Lopez went crazy, opening the scoring and then assisting all three of Guillermo's goals. Guillermo can't stop scoring - I'm so happy I decided not to buy a striker in the summer and, instead, place my focus on him. He is a superb poacher.

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Ah, this was annoying. The Basque derby is always tight, and this game was no different. Unai Lopez scored, again, as the game swung from Real Sociedad dominance to Athletic Bilbao dominance. I guess karma came back to bite us in the ****: we scored late against Real Sociedad in the reverse fixture, and they went on and gave us a taste of our own medicine when Carrasco equalised in the 86th minute. Dropped points are annoying, but this game always looked like one where we would not register all three.

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Saint-Etienne absolutely demolished. I was thinking this would be a tight 1st leg, but we turned on the burners from the 1st minute on wards. Guillermo bagged another two, Unai Lopez scored also. Muniain and Iraola added to the scoreline. Balzaretti's goal a mere consolation. Surely we have won the tie?

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Atletico Madrid - whom I expected to struggle against due to our heavy rotation - were awful. Defensively, they were a shambles and we took advantage of this. Guillermo kept up his great goal scoring form and Gurpegi prospered from two Ibai Gomez corners. Toquero, the work-horse, cemented the win with a fine finish from just inside the box.

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Our European unbeaten run is over, but we are through regardless. Saint-Etienne came out all guns blazing and scared the living **** out of us. Three early first-half goals from them seemed to fill their side with confidence but, when De Marcos scored, we knew it was all over. A loss on the night, but a 7-4 win on aggregate. And we are through... To play...

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Looking forward to playing the Dutch giants. We are probably at the same level, so it will be an even game, I presume. Excited nonetheless!

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2nd place with a game in hand. I think we have pretty much cemented an automatic Champions League place for next season!

PLAYER OF THE MONTH:

UNAI LOPEZ.

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What can I say about Unai Lopez other than he is the brightest young player at the club. He scores, he assists and, above all, he outplays pretty much everyone on the same pitch as him. I highlighted him as our key youngster last season, and he has not let me down since filling in for Herrera. I expect him to reach full potential.​
 
March - Youth intake!

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March, 2015.
March, my favourite month of the year! Forget the important fixtures... It's all about youth intake day. With a club like Athletic Bilbao, you are bound to get some stars. So, before I reveal this month's fixtures, let's look at our new youth players:

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Ander Ramos has some decent stats for his age, and that high determination will help him fulfill his potential. This is a position which we don't really use in our formation, but it is great to have that option if Ramos develops as predicted.

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Revuelta looks really good, defensively. His crossing etc. needs much work, but a lot of time will definitely be spent on developing him.

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Now this guy, this guy looks unbelievable. Look at that finishing! With Aduriz leaving on a free in the summer, we could opt to promote Rodriguez leaving us with four strikers: Toquero, Rodriguez, Sola, Guillermo. Anyways, enough of the future and more about the present matter: our results.

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A disappointing way to start and end the month, but the fixtures sandwiched between those were sensational!

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A frustrating game as we picked up two injuries - already with a rotated side - and took the lead late into the first-half. Unfortunately, we struggled to do much after the two injuries and Levante targeted my weak RB spot. A cross from Ruben Garcia was finished with ease by Roger.

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Another side absolutely mauled by us this season. Five goals in the opening 44 minutes left Espanyol gutless. Guillermo bagged two "poacher's" goals - Iker Muniain assisting both. The man assisting scored his goal from an acute angle. Unfortunately, Herrera picked up an injury a couple of games after his return but, thankfully, it wasn't serious at all. Laporte scored a header, Muniain assist, and Ibai scored one of his free-kicks.

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"I just want an away goal" - that's what I told myself when playing this game. I feared the worst when I saw the wonderkid, Gabriel Barbosa, spearheading their attack. He opened the scoring early in the game, but what followed was superb. We absolutely annihilated them in midfield, barely giving them a sniff of the ball. Iturraspe scored a header, Susaeta scored with a simple tap-in. Before we knew it, we had two away goals and a lead against the Dutch giants. Guillermo put in another of his simple goals, taking his tally to 29 in all competitions for the season.

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Well, Getafe are one of those sides who I struggle to play against away from home in FM. I play quite a lot with Spanish sides, so that's how I'm able to pin-point the sides I'm weakest against. Muniain opened the scoring, Sarabia equalised 5 minutes later. The game then became ridiculously tight, both sides being restricted to shooting from range. With 12 minutes to go, substitute Unai Lopez found a gap in Getafe's defence, slipping a through ball into the path of the lethal Guillermo. Our star man did what he does best: place the ball past the goalkeeper.

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We're through to the quarter finals... But this game wasn't without its drama. We went 2-0 up early on, but what followed was a barrage of Ajax attacks. Despite having the chance to score two in the opening 30 minutes, Klaassen stepped up for his penalty, only to feel the wrath of Ruffier's excellent penalty stopping gloves. Guillermo sentenced the game with his 2nd goal, in the 91st minute.

View attachment 380508This will be a very, very tight game. I think this may be where we fall in the cup, but I hope not. If we do beat CSKA Moscow, here's who we may face in the semi-finals...

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I would absolutely love to play Chelsea, mainly because of how big a side they are. We'd probably get knocked out, but it'd be fun. I guess.

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Arghhhhhh, what an annoying result. The less said about this game, the better. You can see what happened for yourselves.

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7 games to go! Can we finish 2nd? We'll try, but the problem is that we have Real Madrid and Barcelona back-to-back. The probability of us losing both will be high, which means Barcelona could get one point ahead of us.

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Guillermo was our PLAYER OF THE MONTH! He scored a heap of goals this month. Here are his stats for the season thus far.
 
April - fixture congestion!

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April, 2015.
This month was tough - we were forced to rotate heavily due to fixture congestion and played some crucial European games.


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Here are our results for April. Some incredible European games sandwiched between a run of league games.

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Despite the scoreline, this game was incredibly tight. We struggled to create after Unai Lopez's superb finish inside the first-half. Mallorca equalised half-way through the second half... The game looked destined to end 1-1. Enter Aduriz, in the 85th minute! Aduriz forced an own-goal in the 88th minute and then killed the game off with a superb header deep into added time.

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This was an extremely open 1st leg, away in Russia. It was always bound to be tough, and that remained a constant theme throughout at Soriano banged in a hat-trick. Muniain's late goal kept us in the tie, ensuring we'd have two away goals and only a one goal deficit to overturn.

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Ugh, an unnecessarily awful performance. We seemed hungover from that loss in Moscow. Despite leading twice, Valladolid were strong enough to keep pulling it back. Two goals in eight minutes from the away side meant we'd end this game with just one point. Herrera performed superbly, pulling off two assists in a game devoid of moments of magic.

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WE'RE THROUGH TO THE SEMI-FINAL! This game was a great performance, and what I was looking for. We aimed to keep CSKA Moscow's superb attack at bay, as well as finding our all important goal. We defended excellently, and caught them on the break when Herrera slipped in Guillermo. Our star striker comfortably rolled the ball past Akinfeev. Our opponents in the semi-final? None other than English giants, Chelsea FC.


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A simple and comfortable win. Two goals in either half was enough to down Malaga. Our away form is sensational - we have only lost twice away from home all season. Guillermo scored yet again. He is utterly superb.

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A great win against one of the in-form sides in the league this season. San Jose and Unai Lopez bagged either side of Moreno's goal to hand us the three points in a tight game.

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This was an extremely frustrating derby game. It included a late-ish equaliser, and a red card against us. One point against a side we should have beaten. We are surrendering our 2nd place to Barcelona with these silly dropped points.

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What an explosive final seven minutes. Three goals in those final seven after a solid defensive performance from us. Chelsea's superior work-rate gave them a huge advantage, one which we could not overcome. Regardless, we got the all-important away goal and took a narrow loss to the San Mames! Fingers crossed we go to the final... Atletico/Leverkusen await.

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Laporte missed the first leg, yet we defended really well without him for the most part. It'll be great to have him back for the all-important 2nd leg.

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Guardiola - Spain's manager - traveled to Stamford Bridge to watch our best performers. It'd be incredible if even one of them got a call-up.

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We have qualified for the Champions League!


PLAYER OF THE MONTH.

Ander Herrera.

View attachment 380219It's great to have Herrera back. He knows how to dictate the tempo of the game and he picked up a few crucial assists. A great player on his day - shame he missed most of the season.​
 
May - The Curtain Draws

The final month. Let's look at the fixtures.


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The tough games all come flooding in. Some good results, though.

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What a horrible, horrible result. This was a must win game, considering our final three league games following would be Real Madrid, Barcelona and Villarreal. Valencia steamrolled us, and this has pretty much confirmed our 3rd place finish barring some excellence against Barcelona/Real Madrid.

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This was, by far, the best game of FM I have played this year. It was exciting, pulsating and gut-wrenching. Chelsea opened the scoring early on as we kick-started the game in an attacking manner. We continued with this as it now meant we needed to score twice just to take it to extra-time. The game carried on as Chelsea hit the target again and again. Ruffier was the true hero here. With five minutes to go, substitute Susaeta set up Ibai Gomez for what I thought would be a consolation goal. With just one minute of the game left, Susaeta stepped up to take a free-kick... He beat Courtois, hands down, and sent me into absolute delirium. I went bonkers - it's one of those games where you realise that FM plays with the little strings of your heart. Deep into the 1st half of extra-time, substitute Aduriz placed a thumping header past Courtois. What a goal, and what a mental game! We switched to contain and looked to defend what would be my greatest win on FM this year. But, 4 minutes later, Pedro scored and added the all important away goal to the scoreline. It was painful, but I couldn't be angry at the side. We were amazing! We reached the semi-finals and were just 17 minutes way from the final. The Europa League was fun, but I hope we never play there again now that we have confirmed Champions League for next season.

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An inevitable loss to Barcelona, but we actually performed superbly. Ibai's double in the space of four minutes twice brought us back into the game. Unfortunately, Neymar was in inspired form and couldn't help but tear us apart.

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I was happy with this result, but unfortunately it meant nothing to the overall picture of the season. We had the lead for 11 minutes until Ronaldo, individually, tore us apart. Thankfully, Ibai's cross in the 87th minute was turned in by Varane. We deserved the draw, and it was great to finally have some luck on our side against the big clubs.

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Well, this was a fantastic way to end the season against our bogey side! Guillermo scored his final goal of the season - 35th - and Ibai continued to impress this month. Berardi's own-goal summed up Villarreal's poor afternoon. 3 points, 3rd place and a fantastic platform for our upcoming 3rd season.


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So, we finish two points off second. 84 points is an amazing points tally which would have won us the Premier League, Serie A and Bundesliga this season. Regardless, let's take a look at some stats for the end of the season:

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Incredible shots on target ratio for a player who scored 21 league goals (Guillermo). Muniain comes 3rd in the assists chart - beating his tally for last season (in all competitions). Rico picks up a bucket load of yellows and Ruffier plays every single league game. In fact, he only missed two games - both legs vs At. Baleares.

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Incredible feat as three of our players make up the La Liga Young Player of the Year award! Unai Lopez wins it - rightly so - as Guillermo and Laporte beat players like Neymar/Isco/Volland to the award.

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Only Guillermo makes the La Liga Team of the Season first 11. San Jose makes the bench.

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Here are our top 5 assist-makers this season. Muniain tore **** up, as did Unai Lopez. Great to see all of our more advanced players getting some excellent numbers.

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Our top 5 goal scorers - the same names as the top 5 assist-makers. The gulf in goals is funny to look at Guillermo scored a whole 22 goals more than Susaeta. Let's look at our top 5 Players of the season, starting from #5:

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#5. Iraola had a superb season, and fully deserved his contract extension. We finally got a back-up for him, which meant he could perform at a higher level without facing any sort of fatigue. He picked up 9 assists, which is a healthy number for a full-back. It's a shame he's getting on, but that's why we signed Estrada!

View attachment 380093#4. Laporte was part of a defence which, up until February, conceded very little. He is amazing, and will be world class without a shadow of a doubt. He is a great blocker of the ball, but also tends to make heaps of interceptions and crucial tackles. Not to mention he is quite a threat, aerially, in both ends of the pitch. Six goals to his name this season.

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#3. Unai Lopez had an incredible season, assisting 15 times and scoring eight goals. That's 23 direct contributions in just 27 games. His vision is unbelievable, and his finishing is surprisingly great. I'll be getting rid of some deadwood midfielders in the summer to finally make Unai Lopez a mainstay in the starting 11. The league's Young Player of the Year - only enough to be my 3rd best player of the year, which speaks volumes of how well some others performed.

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#2. Mikel San Jose had an impressive season, registering the best average rating of any player in the squad who played more than 10 games. When I took over, he wasn't even 2nd choice and now he is arguably our best defender. He is the most consistent defender, and is crucial as our penalty taker - yet to miss one since I took over last season. He bagged six goals this season, but was also part of a defence which conceded very little. San Jose is a brick in defence - nobody can get past him. I'm so happy to have him and Laporte as our main two.

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#1. Guillermo was the best player to wear the shirt this season. This was his first season in the first-team, following an OK loan spell at Getafe where he scored just 8 goals. I opted against signing a new striker in the summer because I thought he would be a good 2nd choice to Sola. After a couple of games, it turned out that Sola would play second choice to this incredible striker. Guillermo is clinical, but doesn't just restrict his game to goals - he picked up ten assists this season. He made 45 direct contributions in 45 appearances. I can't wait for him to continue developing. I can see Guardiola calling him up to the national team soon. Why? Guillermo was the highest scoring Spaniard in World Football this season. The future is bright here in Bilbao!

So, the season comes to an end. This month was our final one of a very, very good season. We end with a points tally worthy of winning most leagues in other countries, but not good enough to trump the abnormal duopoly. We had an excellent time in the Europa League, too. Next season, I want to win one trophy and properly challenge for the title. The future really is bright, and we will be looking to integrate more youth in the side next season. We need to buy at least one centre-back as GURPEGI and EKIZA will be leaving on a free. Gurpegi is retiring after spending 17 years at the club. He leaves as a legend. We will look to sign an experienced CB and maybe promote a youngster to have four CBs for the start of next season! This summer will definitely see one or two new signings.
 
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