FM Manager

About the table I already spoke in the previous post:

“This season we did more 1 point than last year! We scored less 6 goals and conceded 1 less. We lost points against: Nacional da Madeira draw away; Porto draw away; V. Guimaraes loss away; Aves draw away and Académica draw home!

These last two draws were caused by the team being involved in the Champions League! We failed again to finish the season without any defeat… Maybe next year. Yet my primary goal will be to make more than 80 points!

Sporting without having signed any new player did a great season! Porto was somehow worst, mainly due to selling some key players…

The surprise this season were Maritimo and Naval. The disappointments were Braga and Nacional da Madeira!”

We did not win anything in these stats apart from Javi Garcia in pass completion… This is because Porto and Sporting got out of international competitions really early and because I tend to rotate my team quite often due to the Champions League matches!

We had the best defence and average attendance!

Finally we won the Cup! And against Porto which was a plus! It was a nice path until the final. With Belenenses we were close to get out…

We had to play with my B team because the final was 3 days after a Barcelona match… We ended by losing in the penalty shot out… It was the only trophy that we did not win this season!!!…

This was far one time. The season started with a win in the Super Cup the second in a row!

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment!

This season we did more 1 point than last year! We scored less 6 goals and conceded 1 less. We lost points against: Nacional da Madeira draw away; Porto draw away; V. Guimaraes loss away; Aves draw away and Académica draw home!

These last two draws were caused by the team being involved in the Champions League! We failed again to finish the season without any defeat… Maybe next year. Yet my primary goal will be to make more than 80 points!

Sporting without having signed any new player did a great season! Porto was somehow worst, mainly due to selling some key players…

The surprise this season were Maritimo and Naval. The disappointments were Braga and Nacional da Madeira!

GK

Roberto impressed me this season! Enyeama got injured and did not play any match in April and May! Roberto was up to the task and helped us winning the Champions League… I won’t by any GK next season! Moreira is important because he counts has home grown player!

DC

Our captain Luisão has an amazing season especially in the offensive side. 8 goals is impressive for a central defender. His tackles worry me though and with 32 years old I might need a new central defender! Sidnei was the player with more matches and the numbers explain why! Great season! Jorgensen behaved good but Mangala did not. He will be sold. Roderick Miranda is a good back up!

DR/L

Santon and Vrsaljko are very important to maintain the defensive consistency! They were brilliant in that task and I’m happy with them! Insua and Jonathan behaved better in the offensive and proved to be very useful!

MDF

Javi Garcia and Amorim have the limited role of balancing the midfield and helping in the back. They were good, and Amorim impressed in the assistances and tackles. I’m thinking in replacing Javi Garcia if I manage to sell him!

MC

Martins is getting older and this season he scored less. He was still important though in making decisive assistances! Belluschi had a great first season and proved to be much better than Alex Witsel! He will stay with us for the next season! I will try to find another central midfielder though preferably Portuguese!

WINGERS

Weiss was incredible! 12 goals and 15 assistances for goal! Wow! Besides he scored the goal in the Champions League final!!! What a signing this season! Gaitan got injured in the last matches but nevertheless he made 21!!! Assistances! Unbelievable! These two guys are our key players!

Adu accomplished his objectives but I might sell him in the end of the season, because I need more Portuguese players. Lamela and Urreta will be sold for sure!!

NR10

Parejo did not start well but as the season developed he also developed. 14 passes for goal is a very good number and it was good to exchange him with Pablo Aimar! I hope next season he will be even better! The other nr 10, Lucas, had a great season. He is more objective than Parejo, scoring more! I like them to be different, gives me more options according to the matches!

ST

Cardozo was impressive with his 30 goals! He did a better season than last year! Jara was also really good when he played. He got injured for 4 months but still managed to overcome it! Destro disappointed and will be sold!

18 matches: 14wins, 2 draws, 2 losses! But who cares?? We got the titles!!!

I’m worried with my finances. It’s hard to find income for our team! Even by winning the Champions League we did not have that much profit! I might be forced to sell some players at the end of the season…

I don’t think this is working well in FM. After my season this is the confidence???

At least here I’m untouchable…

For the fans this was our best eleven! Has I said previously this is not accurate since it does not account for the differences in the season appearances… Mangala for example just played easy games…

Thanks for reading! Comments are welcomed!

Let’s analyse this season Champions League:

It was a year full of surprises! Weaker teams made their way until later stages… I think I deserved to win. In the knock out phase our games were incredible!

Higuain was impressive, 11 goals in just 8 matches plus 4 assistances!!! I was really lucky to overcome Madrid! Gaitan finished third! He missed the final and was the player that most deserved to have the chance to play it… He might had won the prize. Maybe next year!

Another player of ours in the 3^rd place. Cardozo transformed itself in a world class striker this season! We was brilliant together with Gaitan leading the team until the final victory!

I had written before that our defensive line was the secret for our success. Here is the proof! The dream team is composed by our 4 defenders plus Gaitan! It’s sad that Roberto wasn’t recognized because he impressed me against Barcelona and Real Madrid!

Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment!

I’ve been managing Benfica for the past two seasons and we conquered the following:

2010/2011

League

Bwin Cup

Super Cup

2011/2012

Champions League

League

National Cup

Super Cup

One week ago I run a survey to know which team should I manage next and the result was Malaga CF!!!

What would you like me to do? Stay with Benfica one more year or move to the Spanish side?

Thanks for reading! I would like your feedback.

The big day arrived! As I told you when I started my blog wining this competition was the biggest goal for my team. We have a very reach history, being present in 7 finals but just winning the trophy 2!!! The last time we were in the final was in 1990 and we lost against PSV in the penalty shootout…

This year we had a great performance in this competition! We finished second with the same points of Arsenal, and in front of Spartak Moscow and Honka! Then we beat Liverpool 3-0h and 2-1a, then Barcelona 1-0h and 4-0a and finally Real Madrid 2-0a and 1-2h.

Maybe because of that we are considered favourites by the press:

Has you can see since 1962 that we don’t lift the trophy… Tottenham never did!

I have several problems for this match. From my A team Enyeama, Carlos Martins and Gaitan are injured. Then Jonathan and Lamela are also unavailable. Insua cannot play because I have few Portuguese players so there was no room for him… Then, Parejo and Adu will start the match with a low fitness level… The same for the substitutes due to the match against Porto. Lucas just recovered from injury! Problems and problems! Yet this will be my starting eleven!

The starting elevens and tactics for the two teams are:

Pretty tricky the Tottenham one! Bale and Maggio could be full backs so they are betting on the consistence! Modric may cause trouble to our defense playing in that position…

It was time to play!

Tactic: 4-3-3

CCCCHHHHHAAAAMMMMMPIIIIOOOOOONNNNSSSSS!!!!!!!! We did it!!!!! What a season and what a game!!!

I was afraid of Tottenham approach and besides this was an unique opportunity for a team like Benfica… So I decided to play in 4-3-3. This was the tactic that brought us until the final and worked pretty well against stronger sides… Like this I could also control Modric’s actions with Javi Garcia marking him! The match was pretty tactic with the teams not taking any chances… there weren’t many opportunities in the first half! I kept with my tactic since I did not want to take any risks… the same happened with Tottenham… They had more possession but I dominated in terms of shots! In a moment that I was thinking how to deal with the extra time Weiss scored!! GGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!! A dramatic end to the match!!! I paused the game and ordered my full backs just to defend. I also did some substitutions to make the time pass… And soon the match was over!

49 years after we win the title!!! We made history!

Weiss was incredible this season! What a great signing and what a great way to end the season! The players did not impress, but has I said it was a pretty tactical match… you can also see that I was waiting for extra time to make replacements… with the goal I could make the time pass with three substitutions!

We dominated in stats. We had 3 clear cut chances and should have scored before! Yet I’m more than happy with the team!!!

The fans deserve it!

I’m ecstatic too!

Apparently Eriksson is also! It was in Benfica that he started his European career. He lost a Cup of the Cups final but won the Championship!

We won four titles this season: Champions League, Championship, Cup and Super Cup! We just missed Bwin Cup, lost in the final against Porto in the penalties…

Thanks for reading! Comments are welcomed!