UNL: Conclusion of the 17/18 campaign

After a bit of a small blogging hiatus, here is an update on my current FM13 save. I just finished season 6 with Heidelberg (2017/2018) and despite some struggles along the way I think we are establishing ourselves as a real challenge in the UN League. In the previous season we ended up not doing as well as I would like, but this time we managed to end in 6th place after spending months stuck in 7th. Although I secretly hoped for a better position, I admit the competition was fierce, and we also focused a lot in our international efforts, in particular the EURO Cup, which we managed to get to the semi final, only to lose to Liverpool by 3x2 in aggregate. Not a bad performance, which brought in some money and respect from the board. Next season I would definitely want to make it to the top 4 if I can, but that is to be seen.

I think overall I finally got the squad to find its weapon, a 41221 formation, with a fairly attacking mentality. We had a strong period when Arrua was really causing some damage to the opposition with his goals. This young player really was an asset to the team up until he asked to be traded. I was pretty upset about the prospect of losing one of my best current players and one of the players I had invested a lot into for future seasons. The one positive is the fact I managed to get over 11M for him which should help me get some new talent in the following season.

Once Arrua was out, our new Chinese youngster, Zhao Zhengbin, was given a lot more responsibility, and I have to say he delivered wonderfully despite his young age and inexperience. I have great hopes for him and unless he asks to be traded I feel he will eventually be one of our historical players, part of the team that raises the UNL trophy, or so I hope.

There were a few players I would like to highlight from this season. Starting with our top player this season, Zelimir Busic. Once again this great player managed to shine despite not looking terribly impressive when you look at his stats. Somehow he seems to always manage to deliver good performances, getting him a record number of player of the match titles, an extremely high average rating and a place in the top 3 defenders of the league this season. All of this from a seemingly mediocre 27 year old that gets paid less than 6K per week. Just shows that stats will only tell you part of the story.

Jose Goncalves once again deserves attention. This is our reliable and experienced center back, often playing with Busic. While Busic is the man in the air, Goncalves is the one I tend to rely on for most defensive needs.

Zdenek Svoboda, our right winger has also shown to be a valiable player to our club. I will say he is not as consistent as the two center backs, but when he plays well he can have a major impact on our performance. He boasts great speed and a strong crossing ability. He is still young and I have high hopes for this player in the next couple of seasons, when I expect him to really shine.

I've already mentiond Zhengbin, but he really is right now my most exciting player. This is because he is only 19 years old and he has already taken our starting target man position. While Arrua will be missed, Zhengbin really suits the lone striker role I have in my tactics better. He has great overall attributes, but his strength and aerial ability really make him a great player to have up front. This will certainly not be the last time I mention him here.

Lastly, here are some more stats I've collected from this last season... If I have the will I will analyze and post a few more number on later posts.