Season 1 has come to a close and it was so enjoyable.
We ended the last update right in the mix for European football next season, but our form had suffered a blip since switching to full manual.
We managed to stop the rot with a couple of draws and a narrow win away to Qarabag. As you can see the goals have really dried up, we needed an own goal to get the win but 5 points out of 3 games just allowed us to steady the ship a little bit:
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So into the final 3 games. I was still a bit unsure as to where I needed to finish in order to qualify for Europe, the eligibility rules seemed a bit vague. All that we could do is win our games and hope for the best, which is exactly what we did:
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1-0 may seem like a boring scoreline but all of those games were really tense and had winning goals which were scored after the 80th minute. Agata rediscovered his early season form to get back amongst the goals. Cellini popped up with a screamer in the last minute against Partizan in order to give us a valuable win.
So after 34 games and the season finale, it left us finishing in 5th, 10 points behind eventual champions Dínamo Zagreb who have led the way since the early weeks of the season.
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Overall, a fantastic season. Given the squad size and overall rating, the best I had probably hoped for was a respectable mid-table finish. After a great mid-season run we were able to break into that top part of the league and stay there. Unfortunately, it was not enough to get us into Europe next season. I am at the start of Season 2 and it looks like only the top 3 plus the cup winners (Dynamo Kiev) have qualified. So moving forward, a top 3 finish will be the aim.
I am not too downbeat though, I do think European football would have come a season too soon given the size of the squad and the rebuild we need to achieve.
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Goals are obviously an issue but Agata was a standout player for us. Eleven goals is not as prolific as some may want, but he consistently delivered in big moments and scored some crucial goals for us. Other special mentions for Valeny, who was excellent at RB despite his declining stats. He was one of our main threats bombing down the wing and supplying Agata with crosses. Cellini also had an excellent season scoring a coupmegoals from DM and being an absolute general in midfield, I’ll be sad to move some of these guys on over the next season or two. Just like in the original PES days, the default players become real cult heroes.
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I’m not sure how none of our defenders made it into the team of the season, despite having the best goals against record in the league. Benedetto was our bogey player this season and seemed to tear us apart every time we played Kiev, he scored a hattrick to dump us out of the cup.
Onwards and upwards we go.
I’ve already made a couple of new signings at the start of season 2 and I will reveal all in the next update!