So after the bug in my most recent save, another story had to come to an end unfortunately! So this is a new beginning for me and after toying with the idea of a one club save, I didn't want to pigeon-hole myself into a specific type of save or restrict myself either! Basically, the plan is for this save to not encounter any bugs and last a long, long time and playing this way should enable me to do that.
The title of the story is 'Following In Their Footsteps', but whose footsteps am I talking about. Well, the top managers in Europe today - Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti....the list goes on! All these guys have a similar profile in the fact that they have all had professional playing careers before turning their hands to management and when they did go into the managerial side of the game, their reputation bagged them pretty big jobs early on in their careers! Klopp started out at Mainz 05, before a big move to Dortmund. Mourinho started at Benfica, but was managing Porto within 2 years before moving to some of the biggest clubs in the world. Pep went straight in at Barcelona after a brief spell in charge of the B team, whilst Ancelotti was managing Parma within a year of his career starting, before moving to the giants of Italian football Juventus and AC Milan. Even the newest managers coming through like Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard have followed a similar trend, bagging decent jobs for their first in the managerial side of the game!
So my profile will be exactly the same as theirs as I begin my football management journey. Normally if I start unemployed, it will be as a manager with no playing experience and no coaching badges. But following the trend of the above names, I'll begin this save as an ex professional footballer with international experience/recognition, and with a Continental Pro License to my name as well! This should ensure that I bag a decent job early on and kick start my career rather than starting at the very bottom and spending years building myself up!
This story/save could take multiple paths. There's no doubt it could become a one club save, as I may experience success with a club I fall in love with and stay there for my entire career. It may be a case of moving from one club to another, bigger clubs each time to progress me career. It may even be that I end up with a new job every single season! Who knows....there is no plan apart from to get my name up there in the headlights amongst Europe's elite and be recognised as one of the best managers to grace the game!
I will start the save with the countries/divisions that I intend to use for the entire save, so England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Holland, Portugal and Scotland have all been loaded! The jobs that are available at the start of my journey are as above. The Bayern Munich role might be out of reach for my first job, but there are a couple of others that appeal!
I immediately expressed my interest in the jobs at Mainz, Hannover, Barnsley and CS Maritimo. With my reputation, it isn't long before all 4 clubs invite me to interviews, of which I attend all of them!
I received job offers from three of the clubs. Now where do I go...
Interesting start mate! I always enjoy the Portuguese leagues, Some excellent regens too! Barnsley have a strong history and im not that sure of Mainz! Either way what ever you chose it will be a good read!
Following In Their Footsteps; Chapter 1 Sunday 14th July 2019
So it wasn’t the most lucrative offer of the three that I received, but was probably the most challenging and success at CS Maritimo will most likely gain me more recognition in the long run! The club are based on the small island of Madeira, in the capital city of Funchal.
The announcement of my appointment is made, with many raising eyebrows, despite my previous reputation in the game!
In my new job, the board want me to ideally follow some guidelines with regards to the culture of the club. We need to be playing entertaining football, signing players from domestic rivals with a particular focus on Brazilian footballers apparently! It’s also important that I develop players through the youth system.
Over the course of the next 5 years, I need to try to identify players we can sign and make a future profit on, whilst strictly working within the wage budget. As far as the club’s progression goes, the target this season is to finish in the top half of the Liga NOS…the top tier of Portuguese football. From then on, the board only expect us to maintain a top half finish, as it seems the club may not have it in them to progress further than that!
Last season, the club finished outside of the top half in 12th! Impressively, the club have been in the top flight ever since 1985, although they have never finish above 5th during that period!
The club have a healthy looking trophy cabinet, although all from lower league football. They have never won the top flight or either of the two major cup competitions.
My first home is the Estadio do Maritimo, with a capacity of 10,600. The stadium was recently rebuilt in 2016.
Financially, we are very stable with more than £6.5 million in the bank! The club isn’t rich by any stretch of the imagination, but are ticking over nicely! I only have £300k available to spend on new players, but there is £8k in the wage budget still available.
With the club’s focus on Brazilian players, there’s actually more Brazilians than Portuguese in the first team squad! It’s a very multi-cultural squad with a total of 13 nations represented!! According to my coaching staff’s feedback, the squad is pretty decent by all accounts, with most players rated at 3 stars or more. I also have a squad that looks taylor-made for my favourite formation of a 4-2-3-1!
My best player is possible centre back Lucas Africo, but strangely he is out on loan at Estoril Praia, so won’t be available to me for my first season at least! Slightly frustrating and very weird that my best player would be out on loan at a Portuguese side in the division below!!
On the plus side, I do have another very good centre back available to me in Zainadine Junior. The 31 year old Mozambique international looks like a great player and will certainly be my main man at the centre of the back 4 this year!
Turning my attention to the attacking department, Jorge Correa is another one of my best 3 players! He’ll definitely be one of my main threats as he wreaks havoc down the right wing and with good dribbling ability, good technique and plenty of flair, he will definitely help me provide that entertaining football that the board want to see!
I need a little more cohesion amongst the team, which will come as we play more games. The dressing room atmosphere and the team’s reaction to my appointment is all good!
Although none of my youngsters are ready for exposure to the first team, I do have a few ‘ones to watch’ for the future.
Following In Their Footsteps – Chapter 2 Friday 9th August 2019
The code of conduct shows the players that I won’t stand for missing training or going AWOL and big fines will be handed out for that! Straight red cards will also be heavily punished as I enforce a ‘no bull sh*t’ approach to the club’s fine system.
Incoming Transfer; I’m not exactly light on defensive midfielders in my squad, but three of them are out on loan (despite looking like they could do a job for us)! So I needed to bring someone in to provide some cover in that area and Dario Maltese was available on a free transfer so I snapped him up! The 26 year old Italian is definitely good enough to get some game time here this year, providing he settles in to Portuguese football OK.
Incoming Transfer; Another player that was available on a free transfer and could add some depth to the squad was 35 year old attacking midfielder, Bjorn Lindemann. A proper journeyman player with 18 clubs behind him and nearly 500 professional appearances, he can still act as an impact sub for us and maybe chip in with some assists and the odd goal from attacking midfield positions before he hangs up his boots!
We are rank outsiders at 250/1 to win the title this season, but that is still better than 8 other sides in the division, with us predicted a 10th placed finish this year by the bookies! No surprise to see the usual suspects of Porto and Benfica as the hot favourites to contest the title.
Pre season went well enough, with 4 wins and a draw. The most impressive stat was probably the fact that we only conceded a single goal across the 5 friendlies, although we did play weaker opposition in every game.
This is the tactic I’ve come up with throughout pre season. The formation will predominantly stay the same, but player roles do change slightly if I rotate certain players in the team….some wide men play as wingers, some as inside forwards/inverted wingers. Some DMs play as Segundo Volante, Deep Playmaker, or Defensive Midfielder roles. It’s good as it gives me a different dynamic on matches when I makes substitutions rather than replacing one ineffective player in a role that isn’t working with another!
My first competitive game in charge will be in the Taca Da Liga CTT (effectively the Portuguese League Cup) and we’ll take on CD Feirense from the division below!
Taca Da Liga CTT – Second Phase
CD Feirense vs CS Maritimo
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Positive
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Bebeto (Nanu 39), Z.Junior, D.Kerkez, R.Ferreira, P.Pelagio, D.Maltese, J.Correa, J.Cley (B.Lindemann 64), E.Costa, L.Cardoso (D.Maeda 64)
The worst possible start to my managerial career as we are knocked out of the first cup competition of the year by lower league opposition! We simply weren’t good enough and didn’t look up for this at all! Must do better! Man of the Match; Kwame Nsor (CD Feirense)
Zainadine Junior gets the captain’s armband for my first season in charge.
It’s no surprise to see the media dream 11 made up of mostly Porto and Benfica players, with only Braga and Sporting able to sneak a player in each!
I think we’ve been handed possibly the toughest start any team in Portuguese football has ever had!! Wish me luck!!
Following In Their Footsteps – Chapter 3
Tuesday 17th September 2019
Liga NOS – Matchday 1 FC Porto vs CS Maritimo
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, D.Kerkez, R.Ferreira (China 74), P.Pelagio, J.Vukovic, J.Correa, J.Cley, E.Costa (L.Barrera 3), L.Nequecaur (D.Maeda 74)
A good result away at arguably the best team in the country! We needed a good performance here after the shocker in the cup a week earlier and the lads stepped up their game significantly! Man of the Match; Vincent Aboubakar (FC Porto)
Injury; Edgar Costa went off early against Porto and will miss virtually the entire season after damaging his cruciate ligaments! He was looking likely to be my first choice in the wide left midfield role, so this is a real blow!
Liga NOS – Matchday 2
CS Maritimo vs SL Benfica
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, D.Kerkez, R.Ferreira, P.Pelagio, J.Vukovic, J.Correa, J.Cley, L.Barrera (Marcelinho 62), L.Nequecaur (D.Maeda 62)
Another good point against another of the best sides in the country! We really held our own in this game too and had a couple of opportunities where we really should have gone in front, but poor finishing let us down! Still, a good draw at the end of the day! Man of the Match; Pizzi (SL Benfica)
After picking up that injury in the opening game of the season, Edgar Costa has decided to hang up his boots!
Get in! Great result away at Sporting who look like they’re not quite over their problems over the past couple of seasons! We defended brilliantly in this game and when we got our good chances, we tucked them away neatly as well. An all round solid display from my lads! Man of the Match; Jorge Correa (CS Maritimo)
We struggled to compete in the 1st half of this game and were lucky to get to the break only a goal down. However, the second half was a completely different story and we came out with intent, creating chance after chance after chance, but just couldn’t find the equalizer! So the 2nd goal they scored was a real hammer blow, completely against the run of play, but it unfortunately put the game out of our reach and we experience defeat in the league for the first time this season! Man of the Match; Wallace (SC Braga)
Liga NOS – Matchday 5
Vitoria De Guimaraes vs CS Maritimo
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, D.Kerkez (D.Grolli 70), R.Ferreira, P.Pelagio, D.Maltese, J.Correa, B.Lindemann, L.Barrera, D.Maeda (R.Pinho 75)
Vitoria are another very good side in the Portuguese top tier and have had their fair share of Europa League football over recent seasons, but in all honesty I was just happy to be playing a game of football against a team that weren’t seen as a Portuguese giant. And with our very slightly easier opposition, we recorded a thumping win as we smashed 5 goals past them, sending out a statement to the rest of the division! Man of the Match; Leandro Barrera (CS Maritimo)
Incoming Loan; On transfer deadline day, I was on the hunt for a central defender who could bolster my back line this season! With my transfer funds limited to just £160,000 I decided that a loan option would be best and I managed to snap up a very decent little player to add to the squad. 22 year old Chilean, Francisco Sierralta comes in from Udinese on a season long loan and is good enough to come in and push my current crop of centre backs for a starting place in the team straight from the off! A very determined individual, with good tackling and marking ability and he’s not exactly a slowcoach either. An addition I am really pleased with!
The rich get richer as Benfica and Porto rake in some massive transfer fees this window!
Injury; Star player, Jorge Correa will miss up to a month of action after picking up an injury in training! He’s made a good start to the season and will be a big miss over the next few games!
Injury; It was lucky I brought in another centre back on deadline day, as I lose Douglas Grolli to injury for a few weeks as well!
Liga NOS – Matchday 6
CS Maritimo vs CD Santa Clara
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Bebeto, Z.Junior, D.Kerkez (F.Sierralta 81), R.Ferreira, P.Pelagio, D.Maltese, Erivaldo, B.Lindemann (J.Cley 72), L.Barrera, D.Maeda (R.Pinho 60)
With less than half an hour gone, we looked dead and buried in this one as we found ourselves 3-0 down! However, what I then witnessed was a spirited and determined display from my lads that would leave any manager proud of their team! We fought back to 3-3 and from that point, we were well on top and looked like the only side that would go on to win this game. We didn’t but considering the circumstances, I have to be happy with a point! Man of the Match; Leandro Barrera (CS Maritimo)
Considering the opening fixtures we’ve had, we could have easily been sitting in the relegation places with little to no points at this stage. As it happens though, we have made an impressive start and find ourselves right up in the top half of the table, just 4 points off the top and with only a single defeat to our name!
Leandro Barrera leads the way in the early race for the golden boot after an impressive start to the campaign!
Following In Their Footsteps – Chapter 4
Friday 15th November 2019
Liga NOS – Matchday 7 Gil Vicente vs CS Maritimo
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, R.Ferreira, P.Pelagio, D.Maltese, Erivaldo, B.Lindemann, L.Barrera, R.Pinho (D.Maeda 64)
A comfortable away win over struggling Gil Vicente. They never troubled us here and it only ever looked like a matter of how many we might score. On the day, 2 goals was plenty to take all 3 points! Man of the Match; Leandro Barrera (CS Maritimo)
Liga NOS – Matchday 8
CS Maritimo vs Rio Ave
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Balanced
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, R.Ferreira, P.Pelagio, D.Maltese, Erivaldo (J.Correa 61), B.Lindemann (J.Cley 61), L.Barrera, R.Pinho (D.Maeda 71)
It’s a mystery how this game ended with such a low score after both teams mustered up 38 shots between them, of which 8 were clear cut!! With both teams misfiring in front of goal, it was a headed effort from a corner which earned Rio Ave the win! Man of the Matchl Aderllan Santos (Rio Ave)
The 3rd round of the Taca De Portugal Placard is drawn and we will go away to Casa Pia from the division below.
Injury; Bebeto is the latest player to pick up an injury and will miss about a month!
Taca De Portugal Placard – 3rd Round
Casa Pia vs CS Maritimo
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, R.Ferreira, P.Pelagio, D.Maltese, Erivaldo, J.Correa, L.Barrera, D.Maeda
After being knocked out of the other cup competition by lower league opposition, I was keen to ensure the same thing didn’t happen here and kept a strong lineup to show my intentions. It paid off as the lads went out and recorded a comfortable victory to see us into the next round. Man of the Match; Daizen Maeda (CS Maritimo)
We get the worst possible draw in the 4th round, going away to Porto!
Liga NOS – Matchday 9
Desportivo Das Aves vs CS Maritimo
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, R.Ferreira, P.Pelagio, J.Vukovic, Erivaldo (J.Correa 62), J.Cley, L.Barrera (China 84), D.Maeda
After going in front so early, we then squandered a number of chances to extend our lead and I was worried that our opponents would punish us for that. Luckily, they weren’t good enough to capitalize on our complacency in front of goal and Maeda eventually put the game out of their reach in injury time! Man of the Match; Daizen Maeda (CS Maritimo)
Liga NOS – Matchday 10
CS Maritimo vs Vitoria De Setubal
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, China, P.Pelagio (Sent Off 65), J.Vukovic, Erivaldo (D.Maltese 66), J.Correa, L.Barrera (J.Cley 62), D.Maeda
An easy victory for us and one that never really looked in any doubt! Daizen Maeda has hit a goalscoring streak and bagged another 2 here, whilst Jorge Correa had a great game playing through the middle rather than out wide and contributed with a goal and 2 assists from his advanced playmaker role! Man of the Match; Daizen Maeda (CS Maritimo)
Liga NOS – Matchday 11
Pacos De Ferreira vs CS Maritimo
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, China, D.Maltese, J.Vukovic, Erivaldo, J.Correa, L.Barrera, D.Maeda (R.Pinho 73)
To be fair to Pacos, they were better than us on the day as we turned in a lacklustre display and in the end might be slightly lucky to walk away with a draw. Man of the Match; Zainadine Junior (CS Maritimo)
That’s pretty impressive to be fair…Benfica are responsible for bringing through 35 players that are now plying their trade in the Portuguese top tier! On the other hand, our contribution is just 5!
Liga NOS – Matchday 12
CS Maritimo vs Belenenses SAD
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, China, P.Pelagio, J.Vukovic, Erivaldo, J.Correa, L.Barrera, D.Maeda
Not our biggest scoreline of the season, but probably our easiest win here! Belenenses were really poor and I see them really struggling to stay up this season based on their performance! Man of the Match; Nanu (CS Maritimo)
With twelve games now played in the league, we are just over a third of the way through our season and if you’d have offered me a top 4 spot at this stage at the start of the campaign, I’d have bitten your hand off for it! But that’s exactly where we find ourselves…is it too early to start dreaming of European qualification in my first season in charge?!
Leandro Barrera continues to lead the way for the golden boot, whilst Daizen Maeda is now also closing in on the leaders after his run of goalscoring form!
Following In Their Footsteps – Chapter 5
Wednesday 8th January 2020
Taca De Portugal Placard – 4th Round FC Porto vs CS Maritimo
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Bebeto, D.Kerkez, F.Sierralta, China (R.Ferreira 63), P.Pelagio, J.Vukovic, Erivaldo, J.Correa, L.Barrera (J.Cley 63), D.Maeda (R.Pinho 63)
Due to playing for his country, Zainadine Junior was jaded and unavailable to play here and missing my captain and number 1 centre back cost us dearly as we were absolutely trounced by Porto! They destroyed us and we’re out of another cup! Just the league to focus on now! Man of the Match; Vincent Aboubakar (FC Porto)
Liga NOS – Matchday 13
Moreirense FC vs CS Maritimo
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, R.Ferreira, P.Pelagio, D.Maltese, Erivaldo, J.Correa, L.Barrera, D.Maeda
Immediately back to winning ways in the league following our cup exit to Porto! We nicked it right at the death with an injury time winner from top goalscorer, Leandro Barrera, as he hammered home a powerful finish after a neat turn inside the box. Man of the Match; Luther Singh (Moreirense FC)
Liga NOS – Matchday 14
CS Maritimo vs Portimonense SC
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, R.Ferreira, P.Pelagio, D.Maltese, Erivaldo (B.Lindemann 83), J.Correa, L.Barrera, D.Maeda (R.Pinho 63)
Portimonense came into this game 7th in the league and had only 3 defeats to their name this season, so this wasn’t going to be easy for us! We were the better team throughout though and the only side that looked like winning, but the goal never came as we spurned a number of good chances, and so have to settle for a draw! Man of the Match; Jorge Correa (CS Maritimo)
Liga NOS – Matchday 15
CD Tondela vs CS Maritimo
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Bebeto, D.Kerkez, F.Sierralta, R.Ferreira, P.Pelagio, J.Vukovic, Erivaldo, J.Correa, L.Barrera, R.Pinho
The last time I left Zainadine Junior out of the starting lineup, we were thumped by Porto conceding 5 goals in the process. So I was a little anxious about giving my captain a rest here, but needs must! We were a lot more solid without him today though and managed to chalk up a decent away win with a solid display all round! Man of the Match; Erivaldo (CS Maritimo)
I asked the board to invest a bit of money into our youth recruitment, which they have kindly agreed to.
With the transfer window only 3 weeks away, I also asked them if I could have a little bit of money to spend next month. They have agreed to make some funds available, although I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to do with £343,000.
Liga NOS – Matchday 16
CS Maritimo vs FC Famalicao
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Bebeto, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, R.Ferreira, P.Pelagio, J.Vukovic, Erivaldo (B.Lindemann 76), J.Correa, Marcelinho, D.Maeda (R.Pinho 76)
The scoreline wasn’t as convincing as it should have been, considering our dominance throughout the game, but a win’s a win and it’s another 3 points on the board! Man of the Match; Bebeto (CS Maritimo)
We’re now unbeaten in 8 games in the league and during that run, we have only conceded 2 goals, keeping 6 clean sheets! In true Jose Mourinho style, we have a water-tight defence!
Injury; Left back, China, will be unavailable for a month after picking up an injury in training.
My numbers in central midfield have been bolstered with the return of Jean Cleber who has completed his loan spell at CSA. He looks like a good player and someone who can definitely contend for a spot in the startling lineup!
Easy as you like against bottom side, Boavista! Our 10th league win of the season is their 10th defeat and it was all very straightforward for us today! 21 shots on goal and 63% of the possession equals complete domination! Man of the Match; Pedro Pelagio (CS Maritimo)
I know we’ve played one or two more games than most of the teams around us, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that we are having a wonderful season so far! At the half way stage, only Porto sit above us in the table and we boast the 3rd best attack and 2nd best defence in the division as well! Let’s hope we can keep this up into the 2nd half of the campaign!
Amir Abedzadeh is now joint 1st on clean sheets kept for the season with 9. The Iranian keeper is really proving he’s the main to take us forward between the sticks under my tenure here and doesn’t need replacing any time soon.
Great stuff, hopefully there wont be any bugs this time!
Interested to see that Famalicao are doing so well considering they signed 30 players in the transfer window!
I dont think I've ever seen one team sign so many before.
Great stuff, hopefully there wont be any bugs this time!
Interested to see that Famalicao are doing so well considering they signed 30 players in the transfer window!
I dont think I've ever seen one team sign so many before.
It's a crazy number of players to sign, but as you say it seems to be working for them at the moment. Maybe I should look to nick one or two of their scouts!
Cheers mate....the team has definitely surprised me so far this season and getting some positive results in those tough early fixtures set us up nicely I think so that we could overpower weaker opposition afterwards.
Following In Their Footsteps – Chapter 6
Saturday 22nd February 2020
Firstly, you’ll notice I changed skins at this point in the save. I do love the FLUT skin, but it was lagging and making my game drag with delays in loading screens.
Liga NOS – Matchday 18
CS Maritimo vs FC Porto
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Cautious
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Bebeto, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, L.Andrade, P.Pelagio, J.Vukovic (D.Maltese 66), Erivaldo, J.Correa, L.Barrera, D.Maeda (R.Pinho 66)
The first of a really tough run of fixtures as we repeat the games that we started the season with. 17 minutes into the game, we thought we’d taken the lead only for VAR to rule out Maeda’s effort for offside! If that goal had stood, this might have been a different game, but in the end Porto’s clinical finishing shone through and that’s where they won it. We gave a decent account of ourselves though, having 61% of the possession and creating more chances than them….just wasn’t our day! Man of the Match; Ze Luis (FC Porto)
Sporting have been steadily improving as the season goes in and going into this game, it was a case of 3rd vs 4th in the table! Now, it wasn’t ideal that both my first choice centre backs were unavailable for this one (Zainadine Junior was suspended whilst Francisco Sierralta was away on international duty), and the two lads that came in did struggle a little as we fall to back to back defeats for the first time under my management! Man of the Match; Yannick Bolasie (Sporting CP)
Outgoing Transfer; Brazilian striker, Getterson, has been struggling to get anywhere near my starting lineup this year and it was time to move him on. He goes home to Brazil and joins Fortaleza for a fee of £73,000.
Bl**dy awful! No other words for this performance as Braga complete the double over us! Man of the Match; Andre Horta (SC Braga)
It was a relatively quiet January window in Portugal with no major business done in or out.
Liga NOS – Matchday 21
CS Maritimo vs Vitoria De Guimaraes
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, R.Ferreira, J.Cleber, J.Vukovic, Erivaldo (B.Lindemann 63), J.Correa, L.Barrera (J.Cley 63), D.Maeda (R.Pinho 63)
The wheels are well and truly coming off as we are well beaten again and that makes it 4 league defeats in a row! Our quest to qualify for European competition next year is now looking at serious risk and we need to turn this form around quickly! Man of the Match; Davidson (Vitoria De Guimaraes)
Liga NOS – Matchday 22
CD Santa Clara vs CS Maritimo
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, D.Kerkez, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, R.Ferreira, P.Pelagio, J.Vukovic, J.Correa (Erivaldo 61), B.Lindemann, Marcelinho (L.Barrera 61), D.Maeda (R.Pinho 77)
A couple of changes to the starting lineup in the hope it would inspire a better performance from the lads! But it didn’t work and again we were shocking out there and this time we didn’t have the excuse that we were playing one of the best teams in the league either! Worrying times! Man of the Match; Joao Afonso (CD Santa Clara)
That’s five defeats in a row and what’s really worrying is that we’ve only managed to put the ball in the back of the net once in those five games!
Liga NOS – Matchday 23
SL Benfica vs CS Maritimo
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Balanced
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Bebeto, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, China (R.Ferreira 67), P.Pelagio, J.Vukovic, Erivaldo, J.Correa, L.Barrera (Marcelinho 81), L.Nequecaur
Where on earth did that come from?! I don’t know and I don’t care…what a result!! Hopefully this will provide a massive boost in confidence for the lads!! People might say we were lucky to win as they missed a last minute penalty, but in fact it would have been really harsh if they had equalized so late in the game after we played so well for 90 minutes! Man of the Match; Luciano Nequecaur (CS Maritimo)
Liga NOS – Matchday 24
CS Maritimo vs Gil Vicente
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, China, P.Pelagio, J.Vukovic, Erivaldo, J.Correa (J.Cley 79), Marcelinho (L.Barrera 58), L.Nequecaur (D.Maeda 58)
We weren’t able to capitalize on the Benfica result and follow up with another victory here, despite being the better side on the day. Our finishing let us down and it’s becoming obvious that the thing my team is really missing is a top class striker! Man of the Match; Henrique Gomes (Gil Vicente)
Outgoing Transfer; Central defender, Marcao, spent the first half of the season out on loan and since he returned, he hasn’t made a single appearance for me, so I was more than happy to let him return to Brazil as America Mineiro came in with an offer of £350k for him!
Liga NOS – Matchday 25
Rio Ave vs CS Maritimo
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, D.Kerkez, R.Ferreira, P.Pelagio, J.Cleber, J.Correa (Erivaldo 45), J.Cley, L.Barrera, R.Pinho (D.Maeda 45)
It’s so frustrating to watch us play at the moment as our build up play is decent and again we created 23 chances, but our finishing is absolutely terrible at the moment and only managing a single goal here was not good enough. Rio only created half the amount of chances we did, but they’ve got better finishers than us and again that was the difference! Man of the Match; Mehdi Taremi (Rio Ave)
Seven defeats in our last eight games is relegation form and that’s seen us drop right down the table into 8th! With 10 games remaining, our chances of a top 5 finish are not over and we’re still within touching distance of those positions, but we need to get our form back on track ASAP if we’re going to fulfill our dreams of European qualification this season!
Following In Their Footsteps – Chapter 7
Monday 6th April 2020
Liga NOS – Matchday 26 CS Maritimo vs Desportivo Das Aves
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, D.Kerkez, China, P.Pelagio, J.Cleber, Erivaldo, J.Correa, L.Barrera, R.Pinho (D.Maeda 65)
This was our first in a run of games against teams that we should be beating, so it was important to get off to a positive start with a win! We did win the game with ease and a more direct approach from me as I tweaked the tactical setup seemed to work a treat! Man of the Match; Pedro Pelagio (CS Maritimo)
Liga NOS – Matchday 27
Vitoria De Setubal vs CS Maritimo
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, D.Kerkez, R.Ferreira, P.Pelagio, J.Cleber, Erivaldo (B.Lindemann 83), J.Correa, L.Barrera, R.Pinho (D.Maeda 83)
Really disappointing that again we follow up a good result with a really bad one! We should be beating teams like Setubal who are in the bottom half of the table and there’s no real excuses for not delivering here! We are ultra inconsistent at the moment and it’s frustrating the life out of me! Man of the Match; Nuno Valente (Vitoria De Setubal)
Liga NOS – Matchday 28
CS Maritimo vs Pacos De Ferreira
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, R.Ferreira, P.Pelagio, J.Cleber (J.Vukovic 75), Erivaldo, J.Correa, L.Barrera, D.Maeda (R.Pinho 58)
Much, much better! We dominated the game from start to finish. The highlight for me was the passing from deep midfield from Pedro Pelagio as he pulled off no less than 8 key passes in the game! The 19 year old literally controlled the game for us! Man of the Match; Pedro Pelagio (CS Maritimo)
Liga NOS – Matchday 29
Belenenses SAD vs CS Maritimo
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Balanced
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, China (R.Ferreira 64), P.Pelagio, J.Cleber, Erivaldo, J.Correa, L.Barrera (Marcelinho 32), D.Maeda
Belenenses came into this one rock bottom of the division and after beating them 3-0 earlier in the season already, I expected another comfortable victory here! Now we got the win, but it wasn’t in great style and we actually found ourselves under a lot of pressure at times, particularly in the 2nd half! If Belenenses had better attackers, we might not have won this game! Man of the Match; Nanu (CS Maritimo)
Injury; Rodrigo Pinho looked like he was just about to hit some form, having scored 3 goals in his last 3 games, but that progress has been thwarted as he’ll now miss 4 weeks with injury!
The youth intake this season isn’t the strongest, with only a couple of players looking like they might one day be a squad player at best!
The best of a bad bunch looks like Mario Alves. The 16 year old plays the attacking midfield role and to be fair he does already have a keen eye for a decent pass and his mental stats are not the worst! We’ll keep an eye on him, although I won’t hold my breath for a future superstar!
Liga NOS – Matchday 30
CS Maritimo vs Moreirense FC
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Nanu, Z.Junior, D.Kerkez, R.Ferreira (China 45), D.Maltese, J.Cleber, Erivaldo, J.Correa, L.Barrera (Marcelinho 59), D.Maeda (L.Nequecaur 59)
Moreirense are fighting for their lives to stay in this division and they simply out-worked us in this game. They fought harder and looked like they wanted it more than us! A disappointing result from my point of view though and probably one that puts paid to any chances we had of finishing in the top 5 this year and qualifying for Europe next season! Man of the Match; Tormena (Moreirense FC)
With just 4 league games remaining, it looks very unlikely that we’ll be finishing in the top 5 now! However, if we’re looking to put a positive spin on things then we will finish no lower than 8th which is still 2 places above the media prediction at the start of the season and does meet the board’s expectations of a top half finish in my first season in charge! Let’s just try to finish as strongly as we can though and see what happens!
We’ve been playing a decent possession game all season and only Benfica and Rio Ave have a better average possession than us in the whole division!
At this stage of the season, this is a massive win over Portimonense who were 6th at kick off and like us, are chasing down the top 5 places! It just about keeps any hopes we had of finishing in the European qualification places alive! Man of the Match; Daizen Maeda (CS Maritimo)
Liga NOS – Matchday 32
CS Maritimo vs CD Tondela
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Balanced
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Bebeto, Z.Junior, F.Sierralta, China, P.Pelagio, J.Cleber, Erivaldo, J.Correa, L.Barrera (Marcelinho 66), D.Maeda
A very nice win as we are starting to build some momentum again, having now won 4 of our last 5 games! Man of the Match; Jorge Correa (CS Maritimo)
With 2 games remaining, we have a shot at finishing 5th. We just need Vitoria De Guimaraes to lose one of their remaining matches as long as we win both of ours!! It’s a slim chance….but it is a chance!!
Liga NOS – Matchday 33
FC Famalicao vs CS Maritimo
Formation; 4-2-3-1 DM Wide, Mentality; Attacking
Lineup; A.Abedzadeh, Bebeto, Z.Junior, D.Kerkez, R.Ferreira, P.Pelagio, J.Cleber (R.Santos 65), Erivaldo, J.Correa, L.Barrera (Marcelinho 65), D.Maeda
A couple of late goals kept our European qualification hopes alive until the final day of the season! It was well deserved though as we’d been well on top throughout ever since going behind in the 7th minute! Man of the Match; Daizen Maeda (CS Maritimo)
Unfortunately for us, Vitoria De Guimaraes also won their penultimate game which means it’s going down to the very last game of the season to see who sneaks that 5th placed spot! The cards are all in their hands as a draw will do them and their final game is against already relegated Belenenses SAD! It will also come down to the final game to see who lifts the title between Porto and Benfica!
Our final game of the season was against a Boavista side in 17th who knew that a win could potentially see them stay up, so they had every bit as much to play for as we did! And it was a really tight game as well that could have gone either way! As it stood, it was in our favour that the result went with the only difference being a single strike from an in form forward, Daizen Maeda! Job done our end! Man of the Match; Pedro Pelagio (CS Maritimo)
Unfortunately, Vitoria De Guimaraes also got their job done on the final day!!
And that means that we miss out on the top 5 by just 3 points! Still, a 6th placed finish is very respectable in my first season in charge and exceeds the expectations of the board and the fans, whilst the media will likely be quietly impressed with my performance as manager during my first season on the scene as well! Porto lift the title by a single point over Benfica and they were miles ahead of the chasing pack!
Even though we miss out on European qualification, I have set my mark by achieving a club record points total with CS Maritimo this season!
Following In Their Footsteps – Chapter 9
End of Season 2019/20
Competition Winners; Liga NOS; FC Porto
Liga II Ledman; CD Feirense
Taca De Portugal Placard; FC Porto
Taca Da Liga CTT; SL Benfica
Supertaca Candido De Oliveira; SL Benfica
UEFA Champions League; Atletico Madrid
UEFA Europa League; Sevilla
Our league performance was good and as mentioned in the previous post, I managed to set a club record points haul which should at least put my name down in the history books for something. Our performance in the cups could have been better, although there was no shame in going out to double winners Porto in the Taca De Portugal Placard!
Apparently, the board are only satisfied with my performance as manager. I’m guessing this is due to our underachievement in the cups, but I thought the league performance would have outweighed that!
The fans struggled to make up their mind this year as to who their favourite player was, but I’m pleased that 19 year old Pedro Pelagio just nicked it in the end as he has a very bright future ahead of him and if the fans can get right behind the youngster then it might help me convince him to stay for the long term! He also picked up the Young Player of the Season award as well!
I’m adhering to most of the board’s requests as to the club’s culture and I met their expectation of a top half finish this year. Same again next season will keep them happy!
All good on the squad dynamics front and I have a very happy team at the end of my first season in charge!
Records have been broken all over the place this season. On top of our record points haul, Daizen Maeda broke the goalscoring record and man of the match awards for the club, whilst my keeper set a new clean sheets tally and Jorge Correa set a new high for the assists!
Looking over the squad, it’s good to see that a few players scored average ratings above the 7.0 benchmark that I generally look for! Amir Abedzadeh was ever present between the sticks this season and looked solid enough so I’ll definitely look to keep him as my number 1 keeper next season. At the back, captain Zainadine Junior stepped up to the plate and led by example, whilst the on loan Francisco Sierralta was brilliant alongside him. Bebeto and Nanu shared the right back position and there was little to choose between them! Jean Cleber was given a chance during the second half of the season after he returned from a loan and proved he is more than worthy of a spot in my team, but it was Pedro Pelagio that really impressed in those DM roles for me. Quietly impressed with the job done by Dario Maltese though who I brought in. In attack, our first team choices of Erivaldo, Correa, Barrera and Maeda all gave me a great season, but it was clear we lacked quality in backups and the squad depth is not good enough in the attacking area. Maeda finished the season very strongly to claim the top goalscorer slot, whilst it was Correa who led the way on assists!
My Player of the Season; Jorge Correa My Young Player of the Season (U23); Pedro Pelagio
Must Do Better; Bjorn Lindemann Biggest Disappointment; Jhon Cley
The commercial summary for the club looks healthy enough with everything on the up!
And the club’s finances look healthy enough with nearly £3 million in the bank. I will have a tiny budget to work from again this Summer though of just £275k, whilst there is about £5k available in the wage budget. It’s going to have to be a very shrewd transfer window for me I think!
Plans for the Summer; With very little money available to me, I am going to have to be very clever this Summer and try to bring in some loanees and a couple of free transfers by the looks of it. I will keep a close eye on the market and try to pick up some bargains. There will also be efforts to sell off some players in the squad that didn’t quite cut it this season, but I have to be very careful not to leave myself short of players!
Aside from the drop in form mid season, Overall that was a good season! I was surprised to see how little Daizen Maeda was valued at considering he was your top scorer! Im sure with some good business you will be challenging top 5 next season!
