Eskozia La Brava | “The Jamie Vardy Problem”

13/01/202013/01/2020 ~ Samo ~ 8 Comments

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?

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Eskozia La Brava | We Do Love Playing Away

31/12/201931/12/2019 ~ Samo ~ 3 Comments

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.

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Eskozia La Brava | A Squad Game

19/12/201919/12/2019 ~ Samo ~ 3 Comments

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?

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Eskozia La Brava | La Furia

05/12/201905/12/2019 ~ Samo ~ 11 Comments

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.

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Eskozia La Brava

12/11/201912/11/2019 ~ Samo ~ 10 Comments

SD Eibar shouldn’t be in LaLiga.

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Sempre Vitória | O Fim

09/10/201909/10/2019 ~ Samo ~ 1 Comment

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.

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Sempre Vitória | The Perfect Hattrick

27/09/201927/09/2019 ~ Samo ~ Leave a comment

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…

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Sempre Vitória | Fail Forward

02/09/201902/09/2019 ~ Samo ~ 1 Comment

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…

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Sempre Vitória | The 3-5-2 Tactic Returns

21/08/201921/08/2019 ~ Samo ~ 2 Comments

It’s very difficult to put the heartache of losing out on winning the league title on the last day of the season followed up by losing a cup final a week later to one side but a new season rolling around goes a long way in helping to forget what had come before.

We ended season six trophyless after a very successful couple of years prior. The aim for season seven is obviously to wrestle at least one of those trophies back into our cabinet. We’ll be looking to do it with a new tactical approach.

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Sempre Vitória | The Gamechanger

05/08/201905/08/2019 ~ Samo ~ 1 Comment

As has so often been the case so far in my five and a half seasons in Portugal with Vitória, there’s a three-way title race happening. Benfica and Porto joined us on 35 points going into 2024 and the second half of my sixth season at the club.

We’re still competing on four fronts after progressing to the knockout round of the Champions League for the first time alongside the Taca da Liga and Taca de Portugal.

We’re looking to retain the Primeira Liga title this season, we’ve got some really good players at the club already but sometimes you can’t pass up an opportunity to bring in a next level player. One that could be a gamechanger.

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