Conquering Europe

[gkneil]

20 hours ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

Game 20 - October 2082

I've had almost a month to wait since our last game and the final day of the season is here. We're playing Panevyeys, a side who recently beat us 3-0, while Zalgiris play Vilnaius Vytis, who have already been relegated. Riteriai play Jonava and could still win the league if both us and Zalgiris lose.

All comes down to this.

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f**k sake. We weren't even worthy of the draw, and probably should have lost the game but that's a frustrating performance.

It means that we need Vilnaius Vytis, a side who've only won two games all season, to do us a favour. Can they do it?

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HAHAHAHAHA YASSSSS.

Zalgiris missed a penalty and all, which would have won them the league.

It's the lowest points total for a Lithuanian champion in the save, but f**k it.

See you later Lithuania. Next on the list is Belarus.

 

 

A massive Hibs'd it on FM. Love to see it

[oneteaminglasgow]

The 2083 Asian Cup

My first crack at the Asian Cup with India, and we go into it as South Asian champions. That said, most of the sides in the SAFF Championships don't even manage to qualify for the Asian Cup, so probably not the best gauge of quality. The best India have achieved is a handful of semi final appearances, so they have a bit of a track record of doing ok in this.

I played a couple of friendlies to warm up for the tournament.

Oh.

I don't think we're going to do especially well. Australia are one of Asia's best sides, so fair enough but Syria and Laos aren't up to much. Worrying.

And that's the squad. It's better than the squad I took to the SAFF Championships, but there's no world beaters here. Obviously.

Anyway, we've got Jordan, Sri Lanka and South Korea in our group - I would expect two wins and a pumping off South Korea from that.

Here we go...

Spoiler

Wonderful start. First half we started slowly, but gradually grew into it and dominated the match in the second half. We still struggled to create any real chances though, so I was massively relived when our goal finally came along, and then we were able to add another to give the scoreline a more convincing look that we perhaps deserved.

And how did the other match in our group go?

I've got the fear.

That's how the group sits just now though. Should we beat Sri Lanka, that'll almost certainly be enough to put us through, as I'd hugely doubt Jordan will win against the South Koreans.

Spoiler

And that's a very good performance there, admittedly against what should be one of the poorest sides in the tournament. It also means this...

Hooray - we're into the next round.

And what else went on to guarantee that?

They're quite good it would seem. Hopefully we can keep it respectable.

Job done, and we can relax a bit for our final game.

Spoiler

That's not actually too bad, in the circumstances. The sending off is really quite annoying, as he's one of my better players, and that undoubtedly makes us weaker for our second round match. But I think that we've done ok to keep it down to three against a vastly superior team.

Jordan beat Sri Lanka to send them through too, and who will we be facing?

For fucks sake.

Spoiler

Pretty much exactly as expected. Hugely frustrating stuff there - the opening goal was admittedly good, but the other two were just dreadful individual mistakes and it fucked us. 

It's slightly annoying given that one of the other second round ties was Singapore against Uzbekistan while another was Hong Kong and Vietnam. 

Oh well.

Spoiler

China ended up winning, having knocked out both the sides that defeated me along the way.

Well done to them.

Spoiler

Intentionally blank

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

Here we go, it's time to pay a visit to Missus Bunfield.

Armagh City are, obviously, from Armagh - a city most famous for it's association with violence during the troubles. In reality, they're total diddies with very few honours and seem to have only every spent a couple of seasons in the top flight in the mid 2000's. However, in game they're going through a very decent spell, having spent the vast majority of their time in the top flight since the 2060's - they were also the league cup winners in 2077 and runners up in the big cup in 2080. In all that time in the top flight though, their best ever finish was 6th and they managed that once.

This season, we're almost certainly safe from relegation but unlikely to actually do anything much more than that. We're also out of all the cups we compete in, so that's fun.

Northern Ireland's league follows the same format as Scotland's, so we have 7 more games, and the league will split in 2 games time.

Here we go.

[oneteaminglasgow]

Meet the Team - Armagh City - 2083

4 stars is Good player for most NIFL Premiership sides, 3 stars is decent player for same

Ah that's ok. Two decent enough options, definitely improvement needed but it'll do for now I think.

And that's also pretty decent. Having options in every position here is more than I usually inherit so I'll take that.

That's a fair bit weaker though, given some of these players are better elsewhere. Will need to look to address that.

On the face of it, I have a couple of very decent players here - I'll just need to work out who to put where and make the best of it. McClean and King at centre half probably as I'll need McClean at right back. Will work something out.

And Jason Ross will do fine there.

On the face of it, I think this squad should be doing better than they are.

[oneteaminglasgow]

February 2083

Just the one game where I took charge this month, and it was a shambles. Just terrible stuff. A lot of work needs done with this mob.

There's 18 points to play for, so we're basically safe barring a fucking ludicrous sequence of results involving Portadown winning almost every game, and us picking up no points and a large goal difference swing.

Should be fine. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

March 2083

Made an early move to try and reshape the team a bit, to the limited extent that I'm able to just now, but in comes Brian Collins, a 30 year old striker who's spent his entire career with Linfield until now. He looks like he'll be a good penalty box striker with his finishing, touch and movement, but I probably shouldn't expect much else out of him. 

Spoiler

Another month with just the one game, and we lost it again. Better than last time out, we actually looked like a vaguely competent side but not enough to get anything.

And it means the table stays fairly similar, although we're now officially definitely staying up.

India

Couple of decent friendly results, and Alex Patil is a young, potentially very decent, striker so good to see him get a couple of goals. Decided I'm going to hang around with India and try to get them to a World Cup and then see what happens.

[Richey Edwards]

I'd have had the pipe and slippers out after about ten seasons.

Great job on the thread. Always a good read.

[oneteaminglasgow]

April 2083

Took us a while, but what a way to get my first win with Armagh - absolutely pumped them.

Prior to that, we weren't very good. Portadown game we were coasting and then threw away 2 goals before having to desperately save ourselves. Missed a penalty against Newry City too, so probably should have had more points but ultimately these games didn't mean much so just need to move on to next season now.

And that's how the table finishes up.

Board aren't judging me on it, so doesn't matter too much. Need to get better for next season though.

[oneteaminglasgow]

Our draw for the Second Qualifying Round for the World Cup. Only the top team definitely gets through, as do the 4 best runners up from the 8 groups, but hopefully we won't need to worry about that.

After this, we'll have another stage to navigate to get to the World Cup

[oneteaminglasgow]

June 2083

Two friendlies, one fine result, one not so fine. Don't care that much. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

Transfers 2083

A whole load of outgoing players. I'll be honest, I have absolutely no idea who any of them are or if they're any good. 

And much fewer players coming in, and hopefully all guys who'll improve the team.

Craig O'Kane is a centre midfielder who joins to be a ball winner for me. His game should be limited to running about a lot and tackling people, but he'll do that pretty well. Will need someone to pass the ball put next to him, but hopefully I'll have that covered.

Spoiler

Dale Davis is a defensively solid right back, and I'm more than happy with that.

Spoiler

Carl Dallas is a striker/right winger, and he'll be backup in both positions. That said, he was the league's top scorer last season so anything close to that and we'll be laughing.

Spoiler

Lee Forde joins us on loan until mid-December, and I've offered him a contract to sign on a free after that. He was part of my Finn Harps side, and is pretty decent. Will be the player I put beside O'Kane.

Spoiler

Jonny O'Hare was here on loan last season, and rejoins for this season. Decent enough left back, better than what I had otherwise.

Spoiler

Kian Bulkeley is a centre half, and will be either second or third choice, with a view to him firmly cementing a place in the first 11 in coming seasons. Looks good enough, plenty of scope to improve as well.

Spoiler

 

[oneteaminglasgow]

July & August 2083

I'll take that. Given the disastrous start to my reign last season, I'm very pleased.

Late win against Larne too - lovely.

I'll be thrilled if we can finish fifth this season.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Does anyone else have the same idea I have that if you have two players who are around about the same quality you want to sign you will, generally, go for the one from the shitter country? You just reminded me with yer Welsh centre back. The fact he's Welsh means he'll have a good two years of playing U21 football, against good quality opposition, and under decent coaches even if it's for a limited time so, in theory, will improve at a faster rate than someone of the same quality from England who is nowhere near the youth squad.

Does the game even take that into consideration?

[CaspianChris]

You still with the Indian national team as well as I was going to ask what the quality was like there. 

Would imagine it's not particularly though and something like a 5th seed UEFA nation. 

[oneteaminglasgow]

4 hours ago, AsimButtHitsASix said:

Does anyone else have the same idea I have that if you have two players who are around about the same quality you want to sign you will, generally, go for the one from the shitter country? You just reminded me with yer Welsh centre back. The fact he's Welsh means he'll have a good two years of playing U21 football, against good quality opposition, and under decent coaches even if it's for a limited time so, in theory, will improve at a faster rate than someone of the same quality from England who is nowhere near the youth squad.

Does the game even take that into consideration?

I like to sign players from shite countries but had never really considered the above tbh. I just always enjoy the idea of some mid table Irish mob (for example) kicking about with a left winger from Guam. 

3 hours ago, CaspianChris said:

You still with the Indian national team as well as I was going to ask what the quality was like there. 

Would imagine it's not particularly though and something like a 5th seed UEFA nation. 

I’m still with them, and the quality is absolutely shite. I’ll get some screenshots of my better players later on and you can judge for yourself. 

[CaspianChris]

35 minutes ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

I like to sign players from shite countries but had never really considered the above tbh. I just always enjoy the idea of some mid table Irish mob (for example) kicking about with a left winger from Guam. 

I’m still with them, and the quality is absolutely shite. I’ll get some screenshots of my better players later on and you can judge for yourself. 

That will be good thank you.

[oneteaminglasgow]

5 hours ago, CaspianChris said:

That will be good thank you.

As agreed, here's some of my players. My best player, by an absolute country mile, is Debjit Deb who plays for Melbourne City. He's one of only two foreign based players I have in my current squad - the other one plays in Luxembourg for my old side Swift Hesperange.

Spoiler

After that, there's a fairly substantial drop in quality. Next best is probably Kunal Abranches, a centre half. He's ok enough I suppose.

Spoiler

Then it's mostly complete dross, a selection of which can be viewed below.

Spoiler

The brightest young player we have at the minute is Alex Patil, an 18 year old striker and he's... well, judge for yourself.

Spoiler

So aye, as I said it's mostly absolute shite. I'll put it this way - I think my Lithuania and Latvia sides were both better. 

Edited February 9, 2022 by oneteaminglasgow

[oneteaminglasgow]

September 2083

A couple of shockers but we got back on track with the win against Ballymena. Linfield and Crusaders will probably be some of the better sides in the league, so fair enough.

Comfortably midtable just now. It looks like Portadown are having a smashing season and have bottom all wrapped up, so that's nice.

India

Unspectacular, but a solid start to the World Cup Qualifying.

And we're in poll position. Most of these countries are garbage.

[CaspianChris]

I see what you mean by that lack of any real quality at India.

Finishing 6 even if only 18 does not inspire confidence in a striker.

[oneteaminglasgow]

October 2083

Good month. We were 4-1 up against Dungannon before nearly throwing it away, but managed to hold out in the end. Glentoran the only real negative, but they are a side who haven't finished outside the top two in the league for 30 years, and have won the title 24 times in that period - so fair enough really.

Portadown are pish, and pleased to still be in the League Cup where we'll be playing Linfield in the quarter final.

That's the first third of the pre-split season done now (plus one game) and we're doing pretty well. It's very tight between 3rd and 7th, so still not sure where I think we'll finish - top half is the aim this season, and then see what happens in the European places playoff.

As I mentioned above, Portadown are an absolute gang. They've conceded at least two in every single game so far.

India

A good win in the world cup qualifier against Bangladesh, although it's a game we should be winning every time. And then a friendly win over Northern Mariana Islands - a side who aren't affiliated with FIFA and who appear to be one of the worst international teams on the planet.

Should be something of a procession from here.