FC Barcelona - NewEra [FM21]

[Mmanager5]

After the most difficult season in the history of the Catalan club, a season in which many things happened: from Messi's burofax, the vote of no confidence in President Bartomeu, weaker performances during the season, the arrival of President Joan Laporta, the financial crash, to the latest events about Lionel Messi's departure . The president of Laporta decided to bring new blood to the first team and replace the coachingl staff headed by Ronaldo Koeman, and bring one of the legends of the Catalan club, Victor Valdes, to his position. Victor Valdes needs no special introduction. He played 387 appearances for Barcelona, and he also played 20 times for the Spanish national team. So far in his coaching career, he has led youth clubs, and Barcelona will be his first real challenge.

In the coming period, the goals will be the financial stabilization of the club and the return of La Masia. So Barcelona fans can forget the arrival of expensive players for at least the next few months, and players like Riqui Puig, Eric Garcia, Alex Collado, Nico, Gavi and others will be watched more on the field. In the coming days, Valdes will complete his coaching team, and after that make a plan for the preparations for the new season.

Visca el Barca!!! ​

/I hope you enjoy this story. I start the save, 7.6.2021 with new transfers (Griezmann at Atletico, de Jong in Barcelona), and a ticked no transfer option in the first transfer window. The next part after the first games played./

 

[Mmanager5]

PART 1 - Season-opening

COACHING STAFF

Victor Valdes' first task was to choose assistants. The job was made easier by the fact that the coaches at the club were already Jose Ramon de la Fuente, Dani Romero, Albert Roca and Jaume Bartres, coaches who will be in charge of goalkeeping positions and the physical fitness of the players. Such a coaching team has been reinforced by Inaki Bergara, Joan Barbara, Michele Salzarulo and Dennis Bergkamp. Former Milan and Ajax player, Marco Van Basten has been chosen as Victor Valdes' first assistant.

PRE-SEASON

Although during the pre-season, Victor Valdes did not have a full roster available due to the national obligations of several players, first the EURO, and later the Olympic Games, excellent results were achieved. Barcelona played 4 friendly matches and recorded 4 wins with a goal difference of 8: 3. During this period, all players had equal minutes, and in the matches, young players also got the opportunity: Balde, Nico, Gavi, Demir, Collado.

LA LIGA

After a great preseason, the time has come for the first game. By the will of the draw, Barcelona went on a hot visit to the Basque at the opening of the season, to the always uncomfortable San Mames.

The match started in a strong rhythm and both of them attacked and wanted to end the match with a victory. It was 26 minutes when Dani Garcia sent a great long ball behind the back of the stopper pair Pique - Garcia, and Inaki Williams headed the ball down to Muniain who effectively hit the Barcelona net. The wait was just over half an hour until the next goal, and the wait was interrupted by debutant Depay, who scored on Dembele's assist. 4 minutes later Jordi Alba broke through on the left side and returned the ball to Depay, who scored his second goal of the match and set the final score. By the end of the game, Barcelona tried to increase the advantage, but the shots of Dembele, Coutinho and de Jong were stopped by Unai Simon.

In the second round, Barcelona welcomed Cadiz at their Camp Nou. Throughout the game, Barcelona dictated the tempo and kept the initiative on the field, the result was the goals of Jordi Alba and Yusuf Demir.

In the third round of a new away game, we are now going to the east of Spain, Villareal, to the Estadio de la Ceramica. And finally a new very sure victory despite the minimal results. The only goal in the match was scored by Depay, who made his way to the leader of the team with safe steps.

After 3 rounds, we have 100% performance and we are the only team with such performance.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

The Champions League group draw was held and Barcelona took their place in the 2nd pot and certainly drew the toughest clubs they could draw, English champions Manchester City, Italian representative Atalanta and Danish champions Midtjylland. You can also watch the entire schedule of matches that Barcelona will play by the end of the year.

Visca el Barca!!! ​

 

[Mmanager5]

PART 2 - Septembar

After a great start to the season and after the first national team break, it was time to get into a crazy rhythm of games, so we played practically the whole month in the rhythm of Wednesday-Saturday and played 6 games, and recorded 3 wins, 2 losses and 1 draw. A very bad game in Granada resulted in a defeat, we can regret the draw against Getafe, because we played a great game with 8 chances, but the Getafe goalkeeper, Soria, played a career game. It is certain that those two mistakes shook the team and that they took away the self-confidence we had until then. But the season must go on, after Granada things we need to correct in a very difficult match against previously undefeated team yet. Valencia.

We enter the game very timidly, so there are no great chances in the first half, and the initiative changed every few minutes, of course no one created any great chances. In the second half, we started more decisively and aggressively, already at the beginning of the half we created several chances, and Aguero scored after a great half-counter. That goal warmed up the game even more, so Gaya brilliantly centered the ball into the box, and Hugo Duro managed best and scored an equalizing goal. By the end of the game, De Jong, Dembele, Aguero, Depay tried to put Barca in the lead, and on the other hand it was Paulista and Alderate. However, the most successful was Depay. In the end, a definitely deserved victory, before a very difficult match against Manchester City, our self-confidence grew.

We expected a very difficult match against Manchester City, but we still wanted to win. The match starts great for us, in the 9th minute Alba crosses, and Dembele heads the goalkeeper Ederson and brings Barcelona to the lead. In the 25th minute, after a long attack, Puig sent the ball behind the back of the defense and he pushed Fati into a great opportunity, but Fati's shot was defended by Ederson. In the 36th minute, Man City came to an equalizing goal over Gundogan, with a great shot from the edge of 16m. In the second half, Coutinho has the first opportunity when he shoots right next to the goalpost from the edge of 16m. In the 65th minute and City had their chance, De Bruyne threw the ball from a free kick, and on the right post Fernandinho reacted best, but only hit the post. In the 68th minute, City's semi-counter follows, Sterling changes sides and finds Bernadro Silva who immediately pass the ball in the space where De Bruyne runs and goes out on Ter Stegen in a 1v1 situation, and places the ball in the opposite corner and hits the net to lead Manchester. By the end of the game, Barcelona tried in every way to reach the goal, but failed. We can say that we were better than City, which can be seen in the statistics, but still we did not find a recipe for their duo De Bruyne - Gundogan who played a fantastic match.

At the end you can see the tables of La Liga and the Champions League. Next month, the hellish schedule continues, we will play derby matches against Espanyol and Real Madrid, in the Champions League against Atalanta, and by the end of October we will play matches against Real Betis, Elche, Leaganes.

Visca el Barça!​

 

[Mmanager5]

PART 3 - October


The month of October revealed the main flaw of Barcelona, and that is an ineffective attack and that is the only reason why only two victories were recorded in the month of October, although there were no defeats. In every game, Barcelona held the ball, in most of the matches controlled the game, but there was no realization. Certainly we cannot be satisfied with such results.

The first El Clasico of the season went smoothly, with no big chances on either side. Pique had the greatest opportunity in the 51st minute after a corner kick, the ball came to Pique, but Barcelona's central defender shot poorly and the ball went next to the goal. We must add the fact that Real Madrid had a player less than 40 minutes when Carvajal received a red card. Which means that Real Madrid can absolutely be satisfied with this result.

Despite the poorer results, the positions in the table did not change excessively. Atletico Madrid justifies the title of the main favorite to win La Liga with their result. In the Champions League, we share second place with Atalanta, but due to a better goal difference, we are in second place. And Manchester City has practically already secured the first position and the passage to the knockout phase of the Champions League.

Next month, November, we will have two Champions League matches, against Atalanta away and against the Danish representative Midtjylland at Camp Nou, and La Liga matches against Mallorca, Alaves and Osasuna. We need to fix the impression next month.

 

[Mmanager5]

PART 4 - November and December

After weaker results in September and October, better results come in the next two months, in which we played 9 games and achieved a score of 6 wins and 3 draws. We continued the series undefeated, and we are currently on 15 games undefeated. We hope that this series will continue. We still lack realization in the attack phase, but we will certainly try to solve this problem in the next transfer window.

The two matches that have been characterized as the most difficult and at the same time derby matches are Atletico Madrid and Manchester City in the last round of the Champions League. First we went to visit Wanda Metropolitan. Before the game, we were left without Jordi Alba, so Dest had to fill the position of left back. The first opportunity was waited until the 42nd minute when De Paul shot from over 20 meters from Ter Stegen's goal, but the shot went outside the goal. Until the first opportunity in the second half, they waited until the 50th minute. De Jong won the ball and sent a long pass to Aguero, a bad assessment by the Atletico Madrid central defenders allowed Aguero to go to a 1v1 situation against Oblak, Aguero passed Oblak and put the ball into the net for the Catalans' big celebration. By the end of the game, Barcelona controlled the situation on the field and did not allow Atletico to threaten more dangerously. With this victory, Barcelona inflicted the first defeat on Atletico Madrid this season.

We played the second derby in rainy Manchester at the Etihad against the popular Citizens. We decided to play a surprise, so before the game we change the formation to 3421, so the starting 11 looks like this: Ter Stegen - Garcia, Pique, Araujo - Sergi Roberto, Busquets, Pjanić, Coutinho - Pedri, Aguero - Fati. It turned out that we hit with a change of formation, we played a great game, dominated in most of the game and created chances, but unfortunately the poor realization showed again at the end of the draw. In the 9th minute, Busquets throws the ball into City's penalty area, Fati hits the post, and Pedri sends the rebound into Ederson's net. After 10 minutes Pedri comes up again after Fati sent the ball behind the Stones, but Pedri misses the goal. New opportunity for Barcelona, Coutinho sends a great ball into space, Fati comes to it and shoots, but Ederson defends. In the 27th minute Foden passes on the right side of Barcelona and sends a cross to the second post and Mahrez scores for the equalizer. There was a lull until the 53rd minute when Fernandinho had a great opportunity, but Ter Stegen defended well. By the end of the game, Fati had great opportunities on one side, but also Gabriel Jesus on the other side, when after a great corner, they missed a goal from the top five.

After the games are played, the tables look like this.

There will now be a two-week break in which the team will regenerate. In January, we will play against Seville, Athletic, Villareal, Cadiz and Celta Vigo, we will also play in the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup, where we will play against Real Madrid in the semifinals. In the 1/8 finals of the Champions League, we will cross the spear against the Italian representative of Juventus, who passed the group stage as the first place and thus left behind Bayern Munich, Leicester and PSV Eindhoven.

Visca el Barça​

 

[Mmanager5]

PART 5 - January 2022

We definitely showed the best game and results this month, and at the beginning of the month we secured the Spanish Super Cup trophy in two difficult matches. We also continued the great series without a loss, which now amounts to 24 games in all competitions.

As part of the Spanish Super Cup, we played two tough games against the toughest rivals Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. Both games ended in a penalty series, which means that we spent a lot of energy. And before the Super Cup games, we were left without Coutinho and Frenkie De Jong who got injured.

We also did a pretty good transition period. We didn't get rid of all the players, no one was interested in Umtiti, and the transfer of Dembele was practically over, but he suffered an injury that will cause him to miss 2-3 months. Naby Keita was not planned at the start as a possible reinforcement, nor were we looking for a player in the midfield, but due to a Busquets injury at 6 months we had to bring in a replacement.

And the right reinforcements were agreed in January, but they come in the summer after the expiration of the contract with the current clubs.

In the table, we got closer to Atletico and if we hadn't played a draw against Celta, we would have been in the first position.

Visca el Barça​

 

[Mmanager5]

PART 6 - February and March

Two new great months. The undefeated streak continues and now stands at 37 games in all competitions. The development of the season follows, the matches of the 1/4 finals CL with PSG and the finals of the Copa del Rey with Real Madrid and the finals of La Liga. Tough schedule in the last two months.

In the table, we overtook Atletico Madrid and a certain point stock. Surely a difficult and uncertain end to the season awaits us.

Visca el Barça​

 

[Mmanager5]

PART 7 - END OF SEASON

The long and exciting season has come to an end. We can absolutely characterize it as successful. La Liga, the Spanish Super Cup and the Copa Del Rey have been won, we have had a 38-match unbeaten streak in all competitions, the undefeated streak in the league is still ongoing and currently stands at 32 matches. A series of 38 undefeated games in all competitions was interrupted by the PSG team in the first game of the Quarter final of the Champions League. But, I can be satisfied with that match as well, we did everything to achieve a positive result, but still the individual quality of Neymar, Mbappe, Messi and others turned that duel in favor of PSG. Within La Liga, the fight for the title was active until the 37th round, when we beat Atletico Madrid once again in a mutual match and thus secured the trophy of the Spanish champions.

The table shows a lot of draws on our side, which is the result of a lack of efficiency in those games. But in the whole season we recorded only one defeat and that was against Granada in the 6th round of La Liga. We have the best defense in the league with only 21 goals conceded, which is why Ter Stegen received the award for the best goalkeeper in the league.

In the picture you can also see the entire main statistics of the first team. It is pointed out that we do not have goalscorer players, so the main task over the summer will be to improve the attacking lethality of the team.

And lastly, you can see the individual awards our team has received. Victor Valdes is the best coach in La Liga, Ter Stegen is the best goalkeeper in La Liga and as many as 10 Barcelona players in the La Liga season. What follows is a transition period in which we got almost all the money from the club's cashbox available, all to make a competitive team for the biggest ranges next season.

Visca el Barça​

 

[Mmanager5]

PART 8 - FIFA WORLD CUP (PRESEASON OF 2ND SEASON)

We played the FIFA Club World Cup practically the whole pre-season. We won 3rd place and we had a few tough games. Now we have 2 weeks left to refresh the team and play for the new season in which the World Cup in Qatar awaits us.

We did a few great things in the field of transfers. The team has already been joined by players agreed in January, Dybala, Moukoko and Bright Arrey-Mbi, and he will play for the B team. Also, Yusuf Demir was bought from Rapid Wien. Atletico Madrid bought Griezmann, so we received another € 40 million for transfers. While Dembele with several Barca B players left the team after the contract expired. And the contract with Samuel Umtiti was terminated after the end of the season.

The first new player for next season is, Argentine striker Lautaro Martinez. It comes from Inter for a fixed price of 90 million €, and with a few bonuses the final price can reach 100 million €. By the end of the transfer window, we expect 2 or 3 more new players, and only the best players in the world can come to Barcelona. And the president of Laporta has provided a large budget for new players, and it amounts to over 200 million €.

Visca el Barça​

 

[Mmanager5]

PART 9 - SECOND SEASON OPENING

We did a great transfer period, we strengthened the team with several great players. Dybala, Moukoko, Arezo free arrivals, you were already familiar with the arrival of Lautaro Martinez, and after him came Sergej Milinković-Savić for 85 million € fixed part and another 11 million € through possible bonuses. The next transfer is a real bomb, it took a long time to negotiate, practically 2 months, and in the end De Ligt moved to Barcelona in a transfer worth 109 million €, and even another 30 million € through possible bonuses. And finally, the left back from Dortmund for 55 million € fixed transfer with 20 million € bonuses came Raphael Guerrerio. Mingueza, Depay and Alba left the club.

Squad depth:

The game is great, which is confirmed by the results, new players fit into the game very quickly, and with the arrival of Dybala and Martinez, our efficiency increased. But the game against Elche revealed that we do not have a recipe for every tactic our opponent prepares.

We started well in the league, took first place, but still lost it after the draw against Elche. We failed in order to spend the whole season in the first place. In the Champions League, we drew perhaps the most difficult group, but we certainly have to go to the highest goals this season with the current team.

We have 2 months of phantom football ahead of us, practically matches every 3 days.

Visca el Barça​