Six Continents (take two)

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Here we go!


As you can see the league is going great. I'm clear at the top by four points ahead of Internacional. The wankers. I really fucking hate them. Bored of the sight of out greatest rivals. Also note the embarrassing loss away to some dross from Ecuador before spanking them at home to teach them a lesson. 

So how is the Copa Libertadores going??



I fucking hate Internacional



I really fucking hate Internacional



Internacional are scum

At the fourth attempt I finally managed to play in a continental tournament and lose.

I'm just gonna need to suck it up. What happens next is all my best players who have been itching to leave but accepting my excuses for dingying money from big foreign clubs will probably go. The young guys I've signed will need to step up. I feel a bit deflated to be honest. It was all going so well.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

[AsimButtHitsASix]

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Nearly shat the bed with two draws in the last two games when I only needed one win to seal the league. Right. Third season in Brazil. Internacional won the Copa Libertadores again so need to stop them getting three in a row. There's been a slight change of tactic for playing against bigger teams so let's see how it goes this year. Will zoom past the shitey state league and get onto it ASAP

 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

I am now one of the "great" Scottish managers. Nice one

 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

I won Brazilian manager of the year and everyone outside started applauding. 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Last season, by any "real life" metric, was a great success. Winning the Brazilian Cup and Copa Sudamerica in the first year, and qualifying for Libertadores, was a great springboard and, then we went on to win the Brazilian League. Great stuff. However our closest rivals Internacional won the Libertadores for the 2nd year in a row and knocked us out en route. So my main aim is always gonna be that cup so still felt like a failure. So now I need to focus solely on that and, especially, beating Internacional who are becoming a bit of a bogey team: especially away from home.

So signings...


Of the players who left Schneiger was supposed to be a back up across defence last season but ended up playing 40 games with an average rating above 7.5. However he is a very defensive minded full back so was happy to let him leave. Enamorado barely played in the two years I had him so chuffed to get that for him (three times what my predecessor paid) and Jori was still a good keeper but the boy we signed last year was better and our young keepers have enough about them to be 2nd choice this year. Luca Franco seems to have always been on the fringes of the squad before I arrived but I papped him out on loan where he scored loads for other clubs but still can't get in my team. Kemerson was some reserve guy I never used.

We had the best defence in Brazil last year but something about it still felt "off" to me so I wanted to splash out and really strengthen it. Tupa (see below) is a D RC wonderkid who made the team of the year last year and Jamaica has a few caps for Brazil. I nearly signed him in my first year but he went to Inter for £15,000,000. He never played much so I got him home for a steal in comparison. However last year's big signing, Bade, is keeping him out the team so he's already a bit annoyed. Pepe's loan deal ended and I wanted improvement so Tanzi (also pictured) is my first choice left winger. Ohlsson came in as 2nd choice but, already, a youngster called Cacapa has possibly demoted him to third. Adalgiso is not ready to lead the line yet but scouts raved about him and big European clubs were circling. Fernando Jose has been on loan for a coupla years, playing about a dozen games, and I decided to make it a permanent deal because I think he'll go onto be first choice soon enough. 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Brief recap so far of the season: We're about to start Serie A. Which means we've already had the state league, the Brazilian Supercopa and the start of the Libertadores group stages and Euro qualifiers with France

So let's get France out of the way

Piece of piss. That first game v Poland was very annoying. 20odd shots to 1 and they equalised in injury time. Got Czech Republic, Wales and Croatia in my group for the Euros this summer.

Beat Cruzerio to win the Super Cup. Lost to Internacional in the A1 stage final but beat them in the semis of the A2 stage and then beat them very convincingly in the overall final. After that defeat I did make a few changes to my "away to better teams" tactic and that got us the 0-0 draw, where we were the better team, in the 2nd game against them. So confident about those tricky away ties in the Libertadores this season. A little unlucky to have another Brazilian club in our Libertadores draw and Paranaense are another bogey team. Played poorly on the day but hoping to make up for it in the return game. Will qualify for the next round anyway. 

 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

I know my squad looks MASSIVE but the state league is almost like a preseason. It's a great time to give squad players and youngsters game time so I start off with a larger squad which whittles itself down (usually with players going off on loan) as the season progresses.


Also snapped up one of my G R&F heroes when they inexplicably released Zhe Chenjie on a free but turns out he's a bit shite. Likewise Carlos Guzman was raved about my scouts when I first arrived and he went out on a free only for me to realise his stats had nose dived. They're on about 15k pw each as well. Ah well. 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Might do a more full update later but look at this...

 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Well Real Madrid, AC Milan and Bayern Munich all offered me interviews but I wasn't allowed to delay my arrival until the end of the Brazilian season so all were patched. I dunno if I woulda been offered them if I had done the interviews in full but without the option of waiting til January I never even bothered finishing the interviews.



Paranaense were unbeaten against me in a few games and a bit of a bogey team so unlucky to get drawn against another Brasileirao team in the group stage. They beat me 1-0 at home. I beat them 2-1 away and hammered a Uruguayan and Ecuadorean team to top the group. What did we get for such a fine performance?



Coulda been a bit better there for f**k's sake.

Also went through to the 5th round of the Copa de Brasil with the worst performance since I got here. Beat regular relegation battlers Avai 4-0 away so played a 2nd string in the home game. There were no untried youngsters. There were internationals in this team. Every player had started at least six games already this season. Was guys who have been playing but just aren't my first XI. Hammered 4-0. Unbelieveable. Went straight to pens. 

As you can see the league form is patchy leaving me here



Still early doors but a potential 9 points behind the leaders is a bit troubling. I aint fussed about the league really. I just want to win the Libertadores. But to do that I need everyone happy and confidence flying and these shitey defeats aren't helping. 

[AsimButtHitsASix]

The side quest was time for the EUROS. Gonna give this a bit of space because winning a big international tournament was the reason I went France at all. So here's how it's going

Two friendlies before we started. One against decent opposition and one against some dross to get folk happy. 



Played our "defensive" formation against Slovenia to get some practise in with it. I had just signed an 18 year old centre back from the US Virgin Islands on a free. Mostly for a laugh but also because he MIGHT turn into a decent squad player. Good marking and tackling. He already had 12 caps or something so I thought I can see how he does against Mbappe. 

30 minutes and six goals for Mbappe later I realise he might not be the next Aldair after all. 

TO THE GROUP STAGES





Looked like Wales would sneak through with me with a 0-0 draw against Croatia and the better goal difference until a 93rd minute Croatia goal. Hammered all of these teams. Croatia and Wales both scored with their only goals on target. Croatia's when we were 4-0 up and Wales when we were 2-0 up with ten minutes to go. They then had a really good chance they missed in injury time to snatch a draw.

But, overall, we defended brilliantly, scored a barrel load and our midfielder due were immense. Played the same starting XI for the first two games and dropped them all for the third when we had already qualified. Due to our keeper not making a single save in the first two games, and being at fault for Croatia's goal, I was tempted to keep the 2nd choice keeper in goal for the knockout rounds. 

The keeper is a 19 year old wonderkid in goal for Stuttgart. Our right back is a 20 year old winderkid who also plays at Stuttgart. The rest of the team are "real life" players so ye know them all.



Aside from Le Roux battling it out with some right back at Napoli for right back this has been my preferred first choice XI for about a year now. Here's the rest of the squad



I didn't take that right back from Napoli with me instead I took Tolisso, who I hadn't picked in well over a year, as he had a bit more versatility and I knew Kadima would get time on the right wing at points. With him being a winger, as opposed to an inside forward, it meant Tolisso could play inverted wing back on that occasion and still do a job as a regular wing back.

Also of note in that squad is Oumar Solet and Moussa Dembele who I've dingied for countless squads but I brought in ahead of guys who had played more for a bit of experience. Phillipe Roy has ten goals in thirteen caps but isn't getting in ahead of Mbappe, ever, and Pogba's just been released on a free from AC Milan a year after suffering the same fate from PSG. He's still amazing tho'. 

Edited May 15, 2020 by AsimButtHitsASix

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Ye'd think after running away with the group I would get an easy draw in the next round.

 

Nope. I, France, ranked 1st in the world, got drawn against the team 2nd in the world...

[AsimButtHitsASix]

2nd round. We were drawn to the 2nd rated team in the world.... England

However their Euros campaign had started badly



A decent win versus an average Switzerland side was followed up with a defeat and a draw to average Albanian and Swedish sides. As you can see I forgot to cut out their result against us so .... spoiler alert? Anyway we hammered them 1-0

It really was a hammering. We should have been out of sight by halftime. I think we had 20 shots on goal before they mustered one. They had a decent chance when Tomori headed over the bar from a corner but they never offered any threat. They switched to the two DMC in the 2nd half which restricted our changes after we steamrollered them in the 1st half but we never seemed in danger. TIME FOR THE QUARTER FINALS. Which is against...

Quarter final time and it's the 2nd derby match in a row! This time against our neighbours Belgium. Also rated in the top 10 in the world. But, like England, their campaign has been dodgy so far



They were hammered by the Netherlands. Germany almost went out in the group stage thanks to Belgium's draw with them and Kosovo are a very good team in the game so that 4-0 win is almost as impressive as Holland smashing Belgium. They seemed to have swatted an average Croatia side away but not as well as we had. So would I face the team that was tore apart by the Dutch, the hard fought draw against the Germans or the side that pummelled Kosovo?



A little bit from option A and  a little from option B.  Hammered them. Do not recall a single highlight in their favour until an 88th minute free kick that went past the post. When I saw that highlight come up, at that time, my heart sank. it would be so typical to have over a dozen shots on target and lose to the other team's only highlight. Luckily we scored early doors in Extra Time but look how fucked my team is now! Ideally I would rotate a couple of players with one eye on the potential final but both my CMs got booked again which means I need to play my 2nd choice in the middle. Without Camavinga especially I don't care weaken the team anywhere else.

Semi final against the only team to score more than us in the competition so far. The Dutch



I never realised that the Dutch had played 120 minutes in their last two games so I was shiting it about my players dropping like flies through exhaustion. I went with my best possible XI whereas the Dutch rotated a wee bit.



A fairly even match until the last half hour when we were in complete control and were unlucky to add to our tally. Weird the way that worked out considering how fucked we are compared to them. Our wonderkid Stuttgart keeper repayed my faith in this game. He made two wonder saves. One at 0-0 and another early in the 1st half. Pogna was immense as well. His assist for the goal was a thing of absolute beauty that split the defence apart from just inside the centre circle and Dembele ran onto it and curled it into the corner. 

Did you know that 4 years ago, before I took the French job, the French got to the final of the Euros only to lose to Portugal? What's the odds of that happening again?

A solid defence and only one game went to extra time. They're fitter than us as well. I started worrying that a boring, defensive Portuguese team would be able to shitfest it until we ran out of steam. 

 

 

But it was not to be! They started this match like men possessed. They had managed 10 shots, four on target, before I got one away. Somehow I managed to keep it 0-0 to halftime despite their entire domination. But we were fading fast. When they scored at the start of the 2nd half Le Roux was already below 60% fitness with a few others not far off. Diallo came on as an inverted wing back and Dembele came off to let Kadima streetch the game on the right. Although neither really shone something changed and we took control of the game. However it took until the 91st minute for Mbappe to score. A cross from the left was headed back down to him by Bensalem, who must have remained up from a corner or something, and he smashed it into the net. He was put through by Cherki at the start of Extra time and another tidy finish saw us go 2-1 up! Almost immediately a ball over the top saw Upamecano crumble onto the floor to let Resende through for Portugal. He sliced his shot but our centre back's game was over moments after I had used my last sub. I dropped Camavinga into centre back, Lemar ino central midfield from AMC and MBappe went to AMC as a shadow striker. I never went defensive. Instead hoping good, attacking wing play would keep the ball in their half and Mbappe has the pace to get onto cross from the AMC position. It seemed to work as despite our players fitness levels dropping to that of your average Glaswegian there were no real chances for Portugal. France are the European champions

Now the question is do I stick with this France team for the World Cup or seek pastures new? The team that won the Euros is, undoubtedly, an aging side in a few areas but the team but I've been playing younger players when possible and they're ready to step up. Or I could take the England job and make them lose every game on purpose for a laugh.

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Well those spoiler tags turned out to be a fucking riot! I should pay more attention when using them

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Quick vote. Which country should I manage next and why? (Or remain with France)


 

[Stellaboz]

Wales. I recently went them for about 4 games then canned the idea due to how sh*te they were. Ended up going Belgium and having a jolly through Euro qualifying as a side-quest. 

[Bully Wee Villa]

Scotland, because you have been doing too well and need to suffer.

[mrpaddyx]

Scotland!

[AsimButtHitsASix]

Not my side quest but Brazil won the Copa America and my new centre back, Tupe, got player of the tournament. He went away uncapped and came back with 5 caps and 2 goals to his name and, due to a contract clause that meant his wages doubled after five caps, an extra £14,000 per week. Raging. Players in the Brazilian league NEVER get capped so I didn't see the harm. He's clearly world class. A few players have had their minimum release clauses met and are sure to leave but Pepé is back on a free transfer after his failure in Europe. We sold him for £19,000,000 the year before I arrived, I got him back on a two year loan only paying his wages with no fees, he went back to Europe for six months, released on a free, and signed up again. I might not even play him much but he's a club legend and worth bringing in. Also, due to the Olympics, Copa America and Euros there were no games for Gremio for a month and when we came back for the Copa de Brasil games v Vasco De Gama I had up to 17 players on international duty. Squeezed through all the same.