At the halfway stage of my third season in Eibar we were sitting in 8th position in La Liga. We’d actually only lost three matches though, the same number as Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, and were five points off Valencia, who were in 4th spot.
I couldn’t have predicted what would happen next…
Continue reading “Eskozia La Brava | Being There to Capitalise”Last time out a really good last few months of the season propelled us to a 6th place finish and Europa League football again for this coming season. Finishing 5th and 6th in my first two seasons at the club isn’t too bad at all. We’re punching well above our weight, our infrastructure is well below the standard that a La Liga club competing in Europe should have.
Heading into my third season I began to question what kind of club we actually are?
Continue reading “Eskozia La Brava | What Kind Of Club Are We?”At the halfway stage of season two we were sitting in the bottom half of the LaLiga table. We’d been turfed out of Ipurua and forced to play our home matches in Alaves’ Mendizorroza stadium. This massively affected our home form across the first half of the season, we had the second worst home form in the league with just a solitary win (technically two, funnily enough we beat Alaves away).
A few tactical tweaks would get us on our way, wouldn’t it?
Continue reading “Eskozia La Brava | “The Jamie Vardy Problem””My first season at Eibar went very well indeed. A 5th place league finish means we head into the Europa League group stage in season two.
It’s a positive financially for the club, but it does mean we have to negotiate a fair few more midweek matches than I was used to during season one. While I had a tight squad contributing to our success last season, rotation will be key in the first half of this season. It might mean a struggle to pick up points too.
Continue reading “Eskozia La Brava | We Do Love Playing Away”At the halfway stage of my first season in charge of Eibar on FM20 we were riding high in the Champions League qualification spots in LaLiga. This surely wouldn’t last but based on our performances, we certainly deserve to be there. A reminder that the board are looking for a mid-table finish which I certainly think we’re on course to deliver.
Could we sneak into Europe for the first time?
Continue reading “Eskozia La Brava | A Squad Game”It’s time to get down to business in the Basque Country. I’ve reached the halfway point of my first season in charge of Eibar on FM20 but before I go into how we’ve done so far, I want to talk about the unique identity I’m looking to implement at the club from the get go.
Continue reading “Eskozia La Brava | La Furia”
That’s it. It’s over. My FM19 save with Vitória in Portugal has come to an end. What a journey.
I’ll go through how season eight finished up first and then round off by looking at my time at the club as a whole. This is going to be emotional.
Continue reading “Sempre Vitória | O Fim”There was yet more heartache last season as we missed out on the title on the last day of the season. Benfica triumphed by one point after coming out on top on our head-to-head record the season before.
After saying I’d be happy going the entirety of FM19 without winning the league with Vitória due to the resources at Benfica and Porto’s disposal, I’m now determined to at least win the league for a second time before FM20 is released. Will it happen this season? It’ll be tough but there’s certainly one player on Primeira Liga title winning form so far this season…
Continue reading “Sempre Vitória | The Perfect Hattrick”
At the halfway point of season seven we were top of the league and ahead of Benfica, who were in 3rd, by nine points. However, they had three valuable games in hand to go level with us. We’d sneaked into the Champions League knockout round. The new 3-5-2 tactic had started to gel after a few initial teething problems. Everything looked fairly rosy…
Continue reading “Sempre Vitória | Fail Forward”