E Pluribus Unum

[Dan]

Jesus steps down

Today has shook the very foundations of Sport Lisboa e Benfica as manage Jorge Jesus has stepped down from his post as head coach.

Jorge Jesus has managed Benfica since June 2009, when he took over from the struggling Quique Flores. In his first year with the Reds, he led them to their first league title in five years of waiting, being instantly loved by fans.

Adding to his league victory, he also captured the Portuguese League Cup in both 09-10 and 10-11. His spell at the club is believed to be over after a fallout with higher management. Jorge Jesus had this to say in his press conference as he left the Estadio da Luz for one last time.

My time here at Benfica has sadly come to an end. I have loved it here but regretfully I must leave. After falling a massive twenty one points behind champions Porto last campaign, I felt we needed a big budget in order to capture the title again. However, the chairman did not share my ambition. It is a massive regret to leave these fans behind and I leave here with a heavy heart. Thank you Benfica.

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[cfc12345]

Ohhhhhhhh yessssssss! You know what a huge fan I am of your stories following of course

 

[Dan]

Benfica announce their new man
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After the departure of well loved Jorge Jesus just days ago, the Benfica board have moved quickly to sign a new head coach.


The man to take the job was none other than Benfica and AC Milan legend Rui Costa. In a shortlist that included big names such as former Turkey manager Guus Hiddink. After being caretaker at Chelsea last season, Hiddink would have welcomed the return to club management. Former Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti was also in the running, after being sacked from Chelsea, the Italian would have been a grea selection for the Benfica board to make. Out of these hopefuls though, the former general manager of the club, Rui Costa was appointed.
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We offered Rui the job as we lknew he had the passion to take the club forward like no other candidate could. Rui loves the club and will strive to improve our situation. We are delighted to have him on board.
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The new Benfica boss Rui Costa has had a colourful playing career, before joining Benfica in a non-playing role back in 2008. Costa started his career at Benfica, but was loaned to Fafe for a year in which he scored six goals. Once returning to the senior team, Costa never looked back. In three years, from 1991 to 1994, Rui Costa made 107 appearances for Benfica, scoring 18 goals. After this though, he had to leave after Fiorentina made a bid of around £4,000,000, which had to be accepted as Benfica were under financial difficulties.

He stayed at Fiorentina for seven years, while here he made a massive 239 appearances for the club, making a huge impression. He scored forty goals in this time, and even at a time when the great Zinedine Zidane was playing in the same league, Costa was named the best number 10 player in Serie A a number of times.

In the 2001-02 season, Fatih Terim, the coach of Fiorentina left for AC Milan, and took Rui Costa with him. It is believed that AC paid around £30,000,000 for the influential midfielder, becoming AC Milan's most expensive signing of all time. In five years at the San Siro, he played 169 times, scoring just four times. When Kaka came to the club, it spelt the end for Rui Costa's time in Italy.

Rui Costa celebrating with Seedorf, Pirlo and Ambrosini during his Milan days.

On 25 May 2006, Costa's return to Benfica to play for the forthcoming season was announced in a press conference. He had been released from Milan after both the player and the club reached an agreement to end his contract. Costa also gave up his €4.6 million per year contract to play in the club that, year after year, had dreamt of his return. Costa's affection for Benfica is publicly known and so is his desire to end his career at the Portuguese club. In his final stint at the club he loved, he played 43 times and scored five goals before announcing his retirement in May 2008.

A day later, Costa was announced as the director of football at Benfica and was the key figure in bringing Quique Flores to the club. He also influenced the signings of many a high profile signing such as Pablo Aimar, Javier Saviola and Jose Antonio Reyes.

Three years later, he is announced as Benfica's new manager and this is what he had to say.

I am absolutely delighted to take charge of a club I love, and to be given the chance without any managerial experience is fantastic. Benfica is a club I love but I aim to build the foundations of a great managerial career with this great club. My ultimate aim is to follow such great managers as Jose Mourinho and Felipao in building a great career for myself. One day I may leave Benfica, but I will bring this club joy first, before I go anywhere.

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[Dan]

Benfica complete their summer swoops

It is deadline day here at Estadio da Luz but we have heard that Benfica boss Rui Costa has already completed his deals for the window.


In his first deal of the window, which took place on the very first day, the Portuguese side completed the signing of Brazilian playmaker Wilian, from Shakhtar Donetsk. The deal is worth around £8,000,000 and the playmaker and his new manager both believe he will be worth the money.


The second and third signings of the window were within two days of each other. Both players were right backs to provide cover to Benfica's weak right flank of the defence. The first was of Daniel Carvajal. The nineteen year old full back joins the club on a season long loan from Spanish giants Real Madrid. Carvajal relishes the opportunity of getting some first team games in Portugal.


The final signing of the window for Benfica was an experienced head. After two years at Spanish side Lazio, thirty three year old former Deportivo player Lionel Scaloni joins the club. Lionel will be an old head amongst a relatively young dressing room, and after his £500,000 move, may help to settle the youngsters amongst the team.


Benfica also got rid of a few players, including Maxi Pereira, leaving the club for £1,500,000 to Palermo. Full transfers are shown below.

Rui Costa had this to say:
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I am delighted with all my signings, in and out. Players needed to leave the club to make way for players with more quality, that will help make us into champions. Willian is one of those players. He is extremely talented and I believe in him. The thoughts on him linking up with Oscar and Pablo are what dreams are made of. I just hope I can reproduce this on the pitch.​

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[slbenficacoach]

Hey I shall follow of course, as a Benfica fan
Can't say I'm a big fan of our pieces of business though <.< Willian is not needed (Aimar has one season more having bruno cesar and gaitan as substitutes) . And Maxi altough I'm not such a big fan (in FM, real life he's boss) and Scaloni also uneeded but hey it's our game ;D
good luck!

 

[Dan]

Hey I shall follow of course, as a Benfica fan
Can't say I'm a big fan of our pieces of business though <.< Willian is not needed (Aimar has one season more having bruno cesar and gaitan as substitutes) . And Maxi altough I'm not such a big fan (in FM, real life he's boss) and Scaloni also uneeded but hey it's our game ;D
good luck!

Thanks for the comment, but I play Willian, Gaitan and Aimar all in the same attacking line. As AML, AMR and AMC and it is working great. Will post the tactic sometime.

 

[slbenficacoach]

I'm sure it does but the ones you had like Nolito and Enzo Perez are awesome too ;P (enzo perez more though, gets around 20 assists season if played correctly) I should post mine too. It's all about overload and extremely attacking ^^ But I guess you did it cause you don't have the huge sentimental value I have with players there, it's all good . good luck again ^^

 

[Rangers26]

Any screen shots of tactics? I like seeing other peoples formations and line ups for certain teams.

 

[cfc12345]

Good signings Dan

 

[Dan]

I will post tactics when I am sobre and able

 

[Average Joe]

Sorry I hadn't seen this mate! Rui Costa loved him at Milan! And I quite like Benfica too! Will keep my eye on this

 

[Dan]

Its time for me to reveal how Rui Costa coped with his first six months of managementm here at Sporting Lisboa e Benfica.

Pre-season

The pre-season was pretty good, despite the two losses, we scored plenty of goals and had three solid victories. Cardozo and Saviola impressed me so I will be looking at one of those two to kick start our season.

August - Games 1-5

We kicked off the season with a bang, and a massive win at home to Maritimo. Cardozo and Gaitan were very impressive, both getting hattricks to give us an emphatic win. A home loss to Kiev was very disappointing for me and I could tell that the players had not gelled with each other. This was followed by a stinking loss at Leiria which I was disgusted with. It did not get any better as we were battered by Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine and they showed us an exit from the Champions League at the earliest opportunity. Finishing the month with a steady two goal victory at Gil Vicente will hopefully have settled the lads nerves and given them a bit of confidence.

September - Games 6-10

We started off the month with a home game in the league against Guimaraes, where we outclassed them, as Oscar was star of the show once again. Next we ventured into the Europa League, where we had been drawn in an easy group alongside Metalist, FC Vaslui and Red Bull Salzburg. We started our campaign with an impressive win against Vaslui. This was followed by a very disappointing visit to Madeira, where we scored two but failed to win. Our final league game of the month came against Pacos Ferreira and we murdered them. Cardozo with four goals ripped them apart. The final game of the month was in the Europa League as we travelled to take on Metalist. Aimar's half hour strike was cancelled out on the hour mark as we gained one point from the game.

October - Games 11-15

October was the month of goals. We started off the month in an away trip against Beira-Mar. Five goals to us gave us a great win and we went on rolling. The next game was our first round match in the Taco de Portugal where we took on minnows Porto da Cruz. I unleashed the first team on da Cruz and we returned with a somewhat satisfactory 9-0 win. Another victory followed int he Europa League as we dispatched of Red Bull Salzburg by four goals to one. The same scoreline belonged to us as we took on Braga at home in the league, Aimar impressing me very much. We finished the month with a nervy but good victory against Vitoria Setúbal.

November - Games 16-19

We started the month in the Europa League with a trip to Austria to face off against Red Bull Salzburg. a goal from Pablo Aimar was enough to see us walk away with another win. The next game in the month was a home league game against Olhanense. Four goals scored by us was enough to see us walk away with another emphatic win. The third game of a short month for us came up against Santa Clara in the Taco de portugal as we travelled to face off against Orangina opposition. An impressive Willian performance saw us through as we walked over them for a 5-2 win. We finished November with a very disappointing result as Rio Ave held strong to deny us even a point.

December - Games 20-24

The first game of the festive month of December was our penultimate Europa League group game against Vaslui. Braces from Saviola and Willian aswell as a Gaitán goal were just about enough to see off the brave Romanian outfit. The next game came up against Olhanense in the Taco de Portugal. Despite having twenty more shots than their opponents, it was the visitors who advanced through to the next round as somehow, Benfica could not find the back of the net. The first league game of the month was probably their most crucial home game of the season so far, against rivals Sporting Lisbon. Despite pegging the visitors into their own half for much of the match, Oscar Cardozo's goal was cancelled out by a Rubio goal, yet the home side could not find a winner. Our final Europa League group game came next and despite already qualifying as winners, I still wanted a win. I got one. Gaitan's goal was all that seperated the two sides but it was one that sent us through with an impressive 16 points. We finished the year in impressive fashion as we travelled to Academica. A brace from Aimar, added to Saviola and Gaitan goals saw us triumph emphatically to end the year with a win.

Tables

After being dumped out of the Champions League, we entered the Europa League into what looked like a pretty easy group. It proved to be. Five wins out of six saw us come away group winners and I am very impressed with the side for getting the job done.

The first knockout round draw gave us a very hard tie. I think we will need to get an away goal in Madrid to give us a nice chance and I believe with the freedom we are scoring with, we can do it. Pretty confident despite facing off against a good side.

Just less than half way, we lie two points behind. Porto have played like machines, going thirteen games without losing and only conceding four, but they haven't played us yet. If we can turn them over at our place, I have a lot of confidence we can take the league. Very impressed with what I have seen so far from our players.

 

[Poppa_ChesterCityFC]

Very good start, I'll definately follow.

 

[cfc12345]

Pretty good first six months The league will be yours