The Return of Aitor Herrera - The Boss of Bilbao

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AUGUST

My first month of competitive games in football management went well as we were unbeaten and qualified for the group stages in the Europa League. I rotated the squad a fair bit during the month with the games coming thick and fast but my players did what was required. The only down side was not being able to punish Osasuna in the derby despite dominating.

There was no more transfer business regarding players coming in to the club - just a couple of youngsters went out on loan.

In the Europa League group stages we were drawn against Hannover, Dnipro and Luzern.

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UEFA Europa League 3rd Qual 1st Leg
Athletic Bilbao 2-0 Eskisehirspor
Muniain, Herrera

My first game ends with a victory but we should have won by more as Aduriz had one chalked off and San Jose missed a penalty.

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UEFA Europa League 3rd Qual 2nd Leg
Eskisehirspor (0) 1-4 Athletic Bilbao (2)
Aduriz 3, Inigo Perez
(Agg: 1-6)

I rested several players here and we did well despite falling behind early on. Lets hope Aduriz will score like this when Llorente is not here!

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Athletic Bilbao 4-2 Real Betis
Susaeta 2, Aduriz, Llorente

A nice way to kick off the league campaign. Llorente came off the bench to grab a goal as I couldnt really drop Aduriz. Muniain scored an O.G. the plonker.

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UEFA Europa League Playoff 1st Leg
Athletic Bilbao 2-0 Atromitos
Aduriz, Ibai Gomez

Another comfortable performance aided by them having a player sent-off early on. Youngster Ruiz de Galarreta was superb as he made 126 passes - 114 were successful.

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Osasuna 1-1 Athletic Bilbao
Herrera

Disapointing this as we dominated and at half-time when we were 1up I instructed the players to not get complacent which they obviously did. Ruiz de Galarreta had a shocker here btw - 5.50 of an average rating lol

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UEFA Europa League Playoff 2nd Leg
Atromitos (0) 1-1 Athletic Bilbao (2)
De Marcos
(Agg: 1-3)

Once again I rested a load of players which resulted in Llorente getting his first start of the season.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
ARITZ ADURIZ
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As we have hardly played any league games and there was no other transfers of note I dont see the need posting screenies there
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Osasuna again your bogus team?. We have to wait for the second round.
 
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SEPTEMBER

The frustrations of football management!!!!! Although on paper we lost two games we could arguably say we deserved to win both games. However the derby defeat to Sociedad means we havent won in any of the derbies so far.

The moment the transfer window closed I transfer listed Fernando Llorente and Arsenal came in with a £30m bid so he will be gone in January. I also agreed to sign on loan keeper Balleste from Malaga for £500,000.

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Athletic Bilbao 3-1 Real Valladolid
Iraola (pen), Aduriz 2

I had the faith!!!!!!!! We absolutely destroyed Valladolid here but with 5min to go we were a goal down and I never made a sub due to our overall performance and I was repaid in kind with 3 goals in the last 5min.

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Espanyol 2-1 Athletic Bilbao
Llorente

Rubbish. Despite ourselves creating 8 clear cut chances in the game we never looked like winning this. We must improve.

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UEFA Europa League Group I
Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Hannover 96
Herrera, Llorente

We were a goal down but once again I was happy with the team performance and we scored 2 goals in as many minutes in the final quarter of the game.

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Athletic Bilbao 3-1 Malaga
Susaeta, San Jose (pen), Aduriz

Nice win this. Aduriz came off the bench to score a nice goal

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Real Sociedad 3-2 Athletic Bilbao
Llorente, Iturraspe

NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! My first derby against Sociedad ends in defeat. We fell behind early on but levelled quickly. They then scored with a dodgy penalty (the FA were silent afterwards when I called the referee a blind barsteward) but we went into half-time level when Iturraspe scored a fantastic team goal. However we lost the game in the second half when Prieto scored his 2nd for them.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
FERNANDO LLORENTE
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I should point out that unlike in FM12 I am watching the key highlights of games during the match. I cant seem to navigate between the screens I used in FM12 quick enough. Also - as in this paragraph here - when I type in blue it is from my point of view, not Aitor's if you know what I mean!​
 
just read all 97 pages cause i didnt read it last year which i am an idiot for not doing great story and hope you get a repeat of everything
 
And we're under way! tough luck with Sociedad man, but they do have some good players for sure.

Quick question though, is it true what i've been reading about the game being harder in general?

And how is Benat for you as a player? Bought him for my Malaga save last year and didnt really impress. Isco played way better and he and Recio made a killer midfield in 2015!
 
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OCTOBER

We did well this month - winning every game! Fromthe thriller against Dnipro to hard fought victories against Atletico Madrid and Valencia! Things are going well - maybe too well!

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UEFA Europa League Group I
Dnipro 3-4 Athletic Bilbao
Susaeta 3, Muniain

My long brown locks turned to grey in this game. 1 up very early on we found ourselves 3-1 down with 20min left but somehow we fought back to get the win. I didnt do much defending in my playing career which is showing in our goals conceded tally!!!!!

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Athletic Bilbao 2-0 Atletico Madrid
Herrera, Aduriz

This was the first game where I was going to get a real pointer as to how good we are at the moment and we came away with the 3pts. Aduriz came off the bench to score a late breakaway goal.

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Valencia 1-3 Athletic Bilbao
Susaeta, Llorente, De Marcos

What a great result this was! Like Atletico, Valencia are struggling and we piled on the misery here. We were 2up and cruising but Herrera got sent-off and as a newbie in this management malarky I went super defensive. Sure enough they pulled one back but almost immediately sub Oscar De Marcos scored a breakaway goal taking the ball from his own half to score!

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UEFA Europa League Group I
Athletic Bilbao 2-1 FC Luzern
Toquero, Aduriz

Gave a few players a rest here as we sent Luzern back to Switzerland with their toblerones sticking out of their bums (possibly)

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Athletic Bilbao 2-0 Getafe
De Marcos, Benat

Another good performance but the fact that our keeper, Raul Fernandez, got a rating of 8.70 and the MOM award tells its own story. Llorente had a goal chalked off too.

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Copa del Rey 4th Round 1st Leg
Eibar 1-3 Athletic Bilbao
Toquero, Inigo Perez, De Marcos

Once again I played the backup players and we got the win - Inigo Perez got sent-off though.

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
MARKEL SUSAETA
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karan10489 said:
And we're under way! tough luck with Sociedad man, but they do have some good players for sure.

Quick question though, is it true what i've been reading about the game being harder in general?

And how is Benat for you as a player? Bought him for my Malaga save last year and didnt really impress. Isco played way better and he and Recio made a killer midfield in 2015!
Click to expand...

Benat has been decent but not as good as he was for me in FM12

As for it being harder I am not sure to be honest. Results wise I feel its ok but I am struggling with the new interface but I guess that will change in time
 
i aint the only one lol it is a bit confusing...keep up the great work
 
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NOVEMBER

Plenty of goals was to be had during this month as we scored 20 times in 6 games and even managed to concede 9! Overall though we have maintained our good run however we did lose to Real Madrid in the league which is to be expected really.

Progress was also made in both of the cup competitions which was nice - lets hope we get the luck of the draw in the next rounds.

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Granada 4-5 Athletic Bilbao
Llorente, Inigo Perez 2, San Jose (pen), Benat

WOW!!!!!! We took the lead thanks to a great Llorente goal (think Ba's volley v Reading this season) and afterwards it all went crazy! 2-1 up, 4-2 up, back to 4-4 and Benat won it for us with 3min left. SCARY BISCUITS INDEED!!!!! Methinks I need another defensive coach.................

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UEFA Europa League Group I
FC Luzern 1-5 Athletic Bilbao
De Marcos, Fernandez, Ansermin (og), Toquero, Inigo Perez

We played most of this match with 10 men as Gurpegi got sent-off. We went a goal down but fought back and youngster Guillermo Fernandez put us ahead and then they had a man sent-off. After that it was one way traffic and we returned to Bilbao with 3pts and our suitcases full of duty free toblerones, knives, cheese and clocks - unfortunately the board arent paying me enough to set up a bank account whilst in the country.................

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Real Madrid 4-2 Athletic Bilbao
Muniain, Inigo Perez

I am sure I pick 4 defenders and a goalkeeper each game to start - beginning to think otherwise! We were totally outplayed here........

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UEFA Europa League Group I
Hannover 96 0-3 Athletic Bilbao
De Marcos 2, Toquero

We had already qualified but a win is a win regardless.

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Athletic Bilbao 2-0 Deportivo La Coruna
Amorebieta, Llorente

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Copa del Rey 4th Round 2nd Leg
Athletic Bilbao (3) 3-0 Eibar (1)
De Marcos, Iturraspe, Ekiza
(Agg: 6-1)

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
INIGO PEREZ
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View attachment 281435

I noticed that against Granada when we were awarded a penalty Inigo Perez didnt take it for his hat-trick - never used to happen in previous years games also I feel I should apologise on Aitor's behalf if he has offended any Swiss people reading this!​
 
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excellent kicking *** man, soon the past winners screen will all be bilbao. love your stories!!!!!
 
Good to see this story is going :) Good start to the Aitor reign! I was quick to start a Bilbao save this year, after your story last year, made me want to try doing similar :)
 
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