United Nations League - Season 22/23

This season was another great success. We've managed to once again take the UNL title. This is the third year in a row, and despite our great point count, we still had to wait for the very last game to be able to claim the title. In the last day of the season Heidelberg was only a single point ahead of Minato and we needed to at least do as well as them in order to lift the trophy. Well we did it after beating the Russian side, Kremlin by 1x0. The game wasn't necessarily a close one, but still very exciting. Check out the goal at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx8XaCLhLvQ

 We also managed to win the UN Cup as well which was a great achievement for us, to win both of these on the same season. (check the final @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoDMCKqCPeQ&feature=youtu.be ). It would have been even greater if we had won the Champions League, however, that wasn't in the card. We made it all the way to the semi-final, only to lose by 5x0 on aggregated to Machester City. We did qualify past the group stage despite having Real Madrid, Spartak Moscow and Sparta Prague in our group. We then beat Olympique Lyonnais (3x2), Inter (3x1). Even though our Heidelberg squad is strong enough to do well internationally, we still don't have a team quite at the caliber of some of the richest clubs of the world.

In terms of players, my top picks are our steady captain Antonio Jose. This 23 year old Brazillian centre back played 54 games this season, which is insane and managed an average of 7.60... He's certainly part of the reason we did so well. While Gustavo Orsi had a terrible last few months, he still managed to score 19 goals in 38 games and had an average of 7.44. Tihomir Maric, our vice-captain also did very well, scoring 21 goals in 39 games and had an average of 7.35 overall. A few other favorites of mine were the right winger Kitazawa, who had a wonderful early season which was halted by an injury in which he never really recovered completely. He still had 9 goals and 7.27 average after 30 games. The DM Robson Geraldo was another great player this season, this 20 year old Brazillian had an average of 7.27. Robertinho, our AML also had a great early season but an injury later on did slow him down unfortunately.

Below are some more stats for this season.

 

UNL: Conclusion of the 19/20 season

Another superb season for Heidelberg, we've managed to finish at the best position so far in the UNL and on top of that we made it to the semi final of the Champion's League and were the runners up for the UN Cup. I don't think there is a doubt that this was our best year yet.

We had a very strong season, which mainly featured a good start, where we essentially dominated in the first half of the season during 2019. I feel that Heidelberg began to struggle towards the end mainly due to the number of games we had to play and I believe the team take over that happened around April had a negative impact on the team. It was unfortunate since we may have been able to pull 1st place if it wasn't for that. Instead Minato once again grabbed the 1st prize with 81 points, quite a strong performance. Although this is not the best in UNL's history, in the 14/15 season Minato finished with 87 points and during the 17/18 season Kalavipoeg from Estonia finished first with 81 points. We were in second place with only 66 points, closely followed by Londinium FCwith 65 points. Much like Heidelberg, Londiunium have been improving over the years moving from bottom of the table during

the first 4 seasons to 11th place in 17/18, 6th in 18/19 and now in 3rd place after the 19/20 season. This is definitely a team we will need to keep an eye on for upcoming seasons.

In terms of individual players, one of our highlights is our young striker Zhao who finished the UNL seaosn with 24 goals, 2nd best after the Egyptian Islam Farouk from Londinium FC. Fabian Eiling from Norway (Bygdoy) snatched 3rd place. Zhao was also 2nd in Player of the Year following Farouk and ahead of the Brazillian winger from Londinium, Fernando Cesar. All 3 players are between 21 and 22 years of age, so we can expect that the UNL is only about to get more competitive and full of talent.

UNL: Conclusion of the 18/19 campaign pt.1

After another period without posting and for the most part playing as well, I finished season 7 of the Heidelberg saga. It was a very strong season for the team, which was really what I expected considering how we've been building the team up for the past few seasons. Heidelberg finished the 18/19 season in 3rd place, quite nice, despite the fact that we were #1 for a good while at the end of the season. Unfortunately we had a few bad games in April/May, which were likely due to some injuries and the divided effort between the UNL and the EURO cup. Overall though, I am pleased with the performance of the team this last season. On part 2 I will post more details about some of the highlights.

The UNL winners this time around was the Japanese club Minato. They have been a very strong side since the beginning of the game from what I can recall, and they came in second place last season. The French team La Pichard came in very close in 2nd place. It was unfortunate that the first 3 positions were decided on the very last day of games. Prior to that day La Pichard was actually in first and they were playing Minato and Heidelberg was in 3rd. We could have moved up had we won our match instead of the 2x2 draw but only if La Pichard had won their match. In the end Minato creamed La Pichard 4x1 putting the Japanese side in first place with 73 points and making it so that even winning we would still only clinch the 3rd spot this season.

Some of the key players this season included our Chinese striker Zhao who managed to be the best young player this season. Despite his young age and inexperience, Zhao is slowly becoming our primary forward, usually in a Target Man role. Some other important players were Svoboda, our right winger, another young player with a great career ahead of him. Our young defensive pair Kelisson Roberto and Antonio
Jose. These two are also very young and have been playing like grown ups this entire season. As I keep saying, we've had a few struggles in the last few seasons but I feel that this was the first season where our young side full of potential is starting to blossom. We have a ton of players under 22 years of age that are replacing our veterans very often that will become superstars in a season or two, putting us in a very comfortable position. The heavy scouting and emphasis on young players will pay off in the end.

Some of the surprises in terms of the UNL final standings was the fact that Kalevipoeg really dropped quite a bit from where they were in the last few years, they actually won the UNL last season and only placed 8th this year. ASS Riga also dropped big time, being one of the teams relegated this season. This Latvian team went from being on the top of the table for quite a few seasons to a complete collapse, and I'm not sure why. Beyond these two baltic teams, we also saw the Italian team R&R, the Finnish FC Suomi and the Portuguese Atletico da Baixa, all being relegated this year.  Kobenhavn and Bygdoy just missed getting relegated by a couple of points and will get to keep their UNL spot for next year. R&R were 4th place last year, which also makes it a bit of a surprise to see them drop like that. Germany will continue to have 3 teams in the UNL next year, making it the country with the most teams in the first division. I supposed if you count the UK as one nation then they also have 3 (Glasgow, London United and Londinium FC, ?or is it 4 if you count Wales too?).

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.

UNL - November was an improvement

The month of November was a slight improvement from October... at least we didn't lose any game, but I still feel that this season we have been struggling a bit. It is almost halfway through this season and we find ourselves in 11th place with 22 points (5-7-3), 17 goals for and 13 against.

In terms of players, Juan Graciano Arrua is still our strongest contributer, with an average of 7.72 from 7(1) games, including 8 goals, 2 assists and an impressive 83% passing success. Other players that should be highlighted are Jose Goncalvez, Zelimir Busic, Leo Lacroix and Dannis Gester.

EURO Cup success !

What great progress! We managed to achieve something I had little hope of doing. We tied a  contested leg 1 game. We started it with a lead, which we eventually lost. This first game did however give me a sense that we had a chance of moving to the next round.

Following this, we played a league game against Kyiv, which despite our victory, proved challenging, ending with a late goal by Busic. It was hard work, but this was our first league win this season and actually our first league goal as well.

Finally, a major game we need a result. Partizan started the game with the advantage that a goaless game would favor them. We went in with our traditional 4-4-2 formation instead of the 4132 I had used in the previous game. This allowed us a good early goal from Defederico. Partizan managed to tie the game halfway. Both teams ended up scoring again, and despite our lack of dominace during this match, we managed to hold a draw which gave us the away goal advantage, enough to reward us with the 1.8M prize, and the spot on the next round of the EURO Cup.

UNL - S04 Tactics for upcoming big game

Game 2 was against London United. It was a tough game to be sure, and the 0x0 result was not the worst outcome for us. We applied our standard 4-4-2 tactic that we used against Lombardia.

---

Our next game however, will be an important one. We will be playing Partizan in our very first EURO Cup game. We were probably given a reasonable opponent for our first round, which could help get us comfortable in this new competition. For this upcoming game I intend to use the same 4-4-2 formation, with a few changes to our roster. I will be using Defederico as my Advanced Forward/Poacher postition. He may be the extra push we need to get our first real goal this season.
Along him, I am introducing Chappuis in the midfield. I'm hoping he will add some more defensive power to our side. Due to injury I also have a reserve quality defence, where Panoilias is playing the main role, with Hermannsson doing some of the covering. In the back wings we have Hrvoje Cale and Xavier Arellano, which are part of our rotation.
We may swap formations mid game depending on the situation. I fully intend to win this first game, so if I need an offensive boost, this could be the answer.
 

UNL: 15/16 season begins - The third year of our campaign

 After a reasonably positive pre season, we started this 15/16 season with a game against AC Lombardia. This is an Italian side that has been in the main league since its inception, attaining 11th place in season 1, 4th place in season 2 and a large drop to 13th place last season.

I decided to play our 4-4-2 tactic since I still feel that it offers the safest game for us, and I really wanted to make a good start this season. I feel I need that good start in order to maintain a good position while playing some of the other cup games this season.

 Now, just for good measure I thought I would show some of our players, including two new additions this season Sebastian Eguren and Oscar Ortega. Eguren, was a very cheap aquisition due to his age, however I felt that we could benefit from such an experienced player. Ortega is exactly the opposite situation. He is a strong player with an even stronger future ahead of him.

Season 3 is done, and despite my short summary of it, was a very exciting one. I had few expectations from the team, since this was our debut, and they surpassed all of them. In our first season playing the top league, we managed to come out in 5th place, certainly not a small feat.

It did not surprise me to see Minato as the top team either. This is a team that came out of League 2, in the first year, to rule. They have been doing well all from day one, getting first place in the second league's first year with 64 points. Even then, they were a strong team. In the second year they took the UNL title, just like they did this year. Minato has definitely been a well managed team with some of our big stars. They will likely become a difficult challenge in the future. Just as a side note, Minato was also in the "Champion's cup" this year, however they were only able to get 4 points in the group stage, where At. Madrid and Man. City moved on.

Anyway, enough of the Japanese club,here are the results from this season. As can be seen, we had a strong start, with a "no loss" spell for a while, an OK mid season and a shaky last stretch.

In terms of what players were successful, here are some stats. Special attention to our own Konan, who has been extremely effective so far for our side. His average ratings so far have been 7.22, 7.46 amd 7.51 this last season. A very strong carreer so far

In terms of awards, this is what we have:

Player of the Year:
Haris Seferovic (Minato)
Georgy Dzantiev (Minato)
Davide Chiumiento (Clube Paulista)

 Goalie of the Season
Esteban Andrada (84 Munchen, 6.9avg)
Benjamin Siegrist (Kobenhavn, 6.99avg)
Swen Konig (Minato, 7.05avg)

Defender of the Season
Gaetano Berardi (Clube Paulista, 7.61)
Giordano (Clube Paulista, 7.58)
Timm Klose (ASS Riga, 7.58)

Midfielder of the Season
Nicusor Stanciu (La Pichard, 7.24)
Fabian Frei (Minato, 7.49)
Sekou Sanogo (Celtic Tigers, 7.51)

Striker of the Season
Dzengis Cavusevic (Celtic Tigers, 7.51)
Axel Cedric Konan (Heidelberg, 7.51)
Marco Schneuwly (Anatolia SK, 7.34)

Playmaker of the Season
Georgy Dzantiev (Minato, 7.73)
Yohandry Orozco (Kobenhavn, 7.18)
Florian Berisha (Geneve FC, 7.22)

Popular badge
Haris Seferovic (Minato, 8.08)
Georgy Dzantiev (Minato, 7.73)
Davide Chiumiento (Clube Paulista, 7.47)

UN's Goalscorer
Haris Seferovic (Minato, 34G/11A)
Dzengis Cavusevic (Celtic Tigers, 22g/2a)
Nico Abegglen (Clube Paulista, 21g/6a)

***

Of course, here are some more stats about my team.

The UN Cup this year was won by Minato as well, after beating Kobenhavn (1x0) in the final, along with Beograd (3x0), Kalevipoeg (3x1), London United (2x0), Terror Australis (2x0)

Finally, just for curiosity, here are the results from Division 2 (league)

 

UNL - S02 review and stats

Things are slowly becoming more interesting with this save and in my DB. I just finished my 13/14 season, which is season 2, and despite our slight struggles in the second half of the season, we still ended up with a much sought after promotion to the main league. This time around the promotions went to us (Heidelberg), Taipei 101 (which did have a fairly promising season in 12/13), Celtic Tigers (extremely powerful team this season) and St. Davids City.

In terms of league positions this is what ended up happening:

 Here are our fixtures for the season. We had a really strong start, winning our first 6 games, at which point the team did hit a bit of a slump which I feel we didn't really recover from until mid frebruary. During this point we lost quite a few important games including our loss to Inter Zagreb and Celtic Tigers, which are likely the reason we didn't end the season a bit higher up. I shouldn't complain too much since we did manage a promotion, and during the playoffs we needed to perform and it happened for us.

Our last game was against Kalevipoeg, one of the stronger teams this season, winning group B despite being one of the weakest group winners. Here are the stats for our last game and the fixtures for the playoff games in League 2.

Lastly, here are some stats from our players and the League 1 standings.

Some of my favorite players this season were:

Axel Cedric Konan, my favorite striker up until this point. He ended up with the best average this season and a great 13 goals in 26 appearances. Our top scorer was actually Defederico, our new Argentinian striker however.

In the midfield Dennis Gerster made sure to deliver again this season. He had a 90% pass completion rate, which surprisingly wasn't our best, but this guy is just such a well rounded midfielder. This wasn't unnoticed by other teams either. There were many large offers in the mid season trade window for him, including a few offers of 2.7M dollars for him. These were hard to turn down, but he is simply too valuable for our team right now. Selling him at that point could have easily cost us the promotion.

Resit Kucukkaya was the one surprise for me this season. He ended up with 10 assists, 5 goals and an average rating of 7.31 in 28 games. I was hesitant to keep him our capitain, but I did not regret the decision in the end. He delivered a mature performance for us.


In terms of transfers here is a summary:

A few remarks on those. Defederico was our striker purchase this year, for 20k I bought my top scorer for last season. Not a bad deal. Leo Lacroix was another purchase which I see as an investment. He is only 22 years old, and cost me almost 600k, but I do believe I can develop him into a 1M+ full back.