Welcome to what is – sadly – the final chapter of “A Sporting Life”. My Football Manager 2020 adventure has come to a bitter and premature end after a horrific second season – the conclusion of which you can read right here.
Today’s chapter will begin with a review of the 2020/2021 season. I’ll then go into more depth about where it all went pear-shaped for Sporting CP. There are a couple of areas I will focus on in particular…
SEASON REVIEW
Firstly, let’s look at the wreckage of our season. Before the campaign began, our main objectives were to qualify for the Champions League Group Stage and challenge for the Primeira Liga title. We failed miserably on both counts.
Firstly, let’s look at the Champions League. We easily got past Austria Wien in our first qualifying tie, but then a miserable display of finishing against Spartak Moscow saw us lose our Playoff 1-0 on aggregate. Breaking into Europe’s elite really would have made so much of a difference that being ‘relegated’ to the Europa League felt like a real kick in the teeth.
Getting through our Europa group wasn’t too difficult, though Midtjylland pipped us to top spot. While we did beat Marseille quite comfortably in the Round of 32, we went out to RB Leipzig at the next stage after squandering a first-leg advantage. Falling two rounds earlier than last year was a disappointment, but we could take heart from again losing to the eventual winners, as Leipzig defeated Roma 1-0 in the Final.
Our Primeira Liga failure was even more spectacular. A shaky start quickly left us trailing behind Porto, Benfica and Braga… but after a good run of form between November and early March got us back on track, we then veered off the rails again. In the end, Sporting finished 11 points behind champions Braga – and out of the top three for the first time since 2013.
We again fell to Benfica in the Semi Final of the Allianz Cup (Taça da Liga), though the board didn’t really care about that competition. And then there was the Taça de Portugal. Oh boy, was that a rollercoaster!
After almost being taken to penalties by a third-division team, and then falling behind to a side from the second-tier LigaPro, I doubt anybody expected Sporting to go all the way to the Final. We even had one hand on the trophy, leading Vitória de Guimarães 2-1 just before half-time, but Marcos Acuña‘s early red card eventually took its toll as we fell to a late 3-2 loss.
All that meant Sporting wouldn’t be in the Champions League or even the Europa League in 2021/2022. Instead, we’d be entering the first edition of UEFA’s new third-tier competition – the Europa Conference League. [Sigh]
Jovane Cabral was our star man in a generally miserable season. The 22-year-old winger contributed 11 goals and 10 assists as he took his game to another level. Having played once for his native Cape Verde in a friendly, Jovane has switched his international allegiance to Portugal, who I’m sure will be looking closley at him very soon.
Our central defensive partner of captain Sebastián Coates and newcomer Eray Cömert worked pretty well together, and they took 2nd and 3rd place behind Cabral in the fans’ vote. Cömert was €12million well spent from FC Basel and was rightly named as our ‘Signing of the Season’.
Midfield wonderkid Reinier also did well, considering he was a bit of a panic loan from Real Madrid on the last day of the summer transfer window. The 19-year-old lit up the Alvalade at times, recording an average rating of 7.26 across 16 league games. That AR would have been a lot higher if Reinier had been as reliable at the beginning and the end of his loan spell as he had been during the winter months.
Another Brazilian who shone in our midfield at times during the campaign was Wendel. The box-to-box player scored five goals – the best of which was a breathtaking stunner that won us the Taça de Portugal Semi Final against Marítimo. You can watch our Goal of the Seaon right here:
Another of our samba stars – Luiz Phellype – led the way with 17 goals, though 11 of those in the Europa League, where he was the competition’s leading scorer. Disappointingly, you could count his Primeira Liga goals on the fingers of one hand. Luciano Vietto and Cabral barely bettered his league haul, with six and seven apiece.
Across all competitions, Big Phil and Jovane were the only two Sporting players to reach double figures for goals. Vietto and summer signing Ivan Petryak each chipped in eight goals, as did Andraz Sporar. I effectively froze the frustrating but occasionally fantastic Slovene out of the team from April after a dispute over a new contract escalated.
In terms of average ratings, Acuña led the way on 7.16, though I still won’t forgive him for a stupid early red card that ultimately cost us dear in the Cup Final. Cabral (7.15) and Reinier (7.13) were next, followed by Miguel Luís on 7.10 – a long way short of the stunning 7.48 he recorded last term.
A few other players topped 7 on the average ratings, including Eduardo Quaresma. At just 19, the centre-back took well to playing regular first-team football as his development accelerated. He will surely a big part of this Sporting team for some time to come, if they can keep hold of him.
PLAYER-BY-PLAYER STATS
WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG?
That’s the question, all right. Well… I think it started to go wrong when I decided to manage Sporting in the first place!
Okay, maybe I’m being harsh, but I do have a point. When deciding on which team to manage after finally buying FM20 in August, it basically came down to either Sporting or Braga.
A good part of me wanted to manage the latter because they’ve never won the Primeira Liga in real life. Also, one of my favourite ever FM newgens was a free signing from Braga. However, I was drawn more towards Sporting because of their traditions, and the fact they hadn’t won the league for nearly two decades after being overshadowed by city rivals Benfica.
Typically, my Leões limped home 4th in the second season as Braga were finally crowned champions – thanks largely to the consistently brilliant performances of on-loan Sporting midfielder Daniel Bragança. [Sigh]
But let’s forget about Braga for a moment. What actually went wrong in that second season, especially after we came quite close to winning the league 12 months earlier?
For starters, I must make clear that it wasn’t a case of us choking in the big games. We were undefeated in six meetings with the top three, even taking maximum points against Porto. We could have also recorded two wins against Benfica, but they equalised in injury-time at the Estádio da Luz after we’d beaten them 1-0 at the Alvalade.
If anything, it was against the lesser teams that we failed to deliver. We slipped up against three of the bottom four – only picking up one point against Belenenses SAD, losing at home to Santa Clara, and almost suffering the same fate against Portimonense (who finished dead last!).
Now compare and contrast our home league form from last season, and compare it to this season’s. Straight away, you’ll notice that we dropped 12 points and 14 goals in league games at the Alvalade compared to last term. That’s a lot of points and goals.
While we averaged two goals a game at home last term, that average barely got above one this time. Five visiting teams kept clean sheets at the Alvalade – Braga, Rio Ave and Belenenses all secured 0-0 draws, while Famalicão and Boavista each came away with 1-0 wins.
We also struggled in front of our own fans in the Europa League, suffering home defeats to Midtjylland and Austria Wien in the Group Stage, and then to RB Leipzig in the knockout phase. Remember that on our run to the Semi Finals in 2019/2020, we didn’t lose any of our 14 matches and were only knocked out on the away goals rule.
Away from home, we actually weren’t too bad. We picked up 35 league points on our travels (four MORE than last term) and won 10 games. Our only road defeats were a 2-1 vs Belenenses in March, and then a 5-1 vs Paços de Ferreira on the final day, when I left out many of my star players.
FIRING BLANKS
Let’s now look at some of our attacking stats. We apparently created nigh on 100 ‘chances’ – at least 15 more than anyone else in the division. Football Manager’s interpretation of what actually counts as a ‘chance’ is a bit iffy, in all honesty, but this does suggest that we are very good at creating chances…
…but the problem is, we’re far less impressive at converting them. We were outscored by the three teams above us, with the champions scoring 17 more goals than us. Despite only creating 67 ‘chances’, Braga found the net 69 times. That they got 54% of their shots on target and had a 14% shot conversion rate shows just how clinical they were.
By comparison, our stats made for gloomy reading. Our shots on target ratio of 42% was THE worst in the division (even being marginally worse than relegated Moreirense’s). We had a shot conversion rate of 8%, which is comfortably below average. Indeed, it was as low as 5% at certain points in the season!
There’ve been more than a few games this season where we got plenty of shots off but only scored once or twice, if at all. Here’s a list of all matches this season where we got at least 20 shots on goal, but failed to win:
| OPPONENT | COMPETITION | SPORTING SHOTS (ON TARGET) | RESULT |
| Spartak Moscow (H) | Champions League | 25 (7) | Drew 0-0 |
| Santa Clara (H) | Primeira Liga | 26 (8) | Lost 1-2 |
| Braga (H) | Primeira Liga | 20 (9) | Drew 0-0 |
| Midtjylland (H) | Europa League | 20 (8) | Lost 2-3 |
| Belenenses SAD (H) | Primeira Liga | 21 (10) | Drew 0-0 |
| Austria Wien (H) | Europa League | 24 (12) | Lost 2-3 |
| Famalicão (H) | Primeira Liga | 23 (12) | Lost 0-1 |
| Belenenses SAD (A) | Primeira Liga | 25 (8) | Lost 1-2 |
| Boavista (H) | Primeira Liga | 26 (9) | Lost 0-1 |
| Portimonense (H) | Primeira Liga | 21 (7) | Drew 1-1 |
You might have noticed some patterns there. All but one of those games were at home, often against defensive-minded teams who sit deep and soak up pressure before counter-attacking. Our shots on target ratio was also below 50% in each of those matches, with two exceptions.
So it’s not as if we keep running into mediocre goalkeepers who suddenly play like Manuel Neuer on steroids. This isn’t a case of us being ‘FMed’ (which doesn’t exist, by the way). Many of our shots are genuinely poor-quality ones that are easily blocked or saved, or desperate efforts from outside the area that don’t get near the target.
Indeed, the most extreme example of our profligacy isn’t even on that list, because we actually won that game. It was our opening Taça de Portugal match at third-division side Benfica CB, where it took us 120 minutes to finally score with our 16th shot on target (36th overall). For the stattos out there, that’s a pathetic shot conversion rate of 2.8%.
So that’s a kinda long-winded way of saying… it’s my tactics.
Here’s the 4-3-3 system I finished the season with. It generally works well away from home, where our hosts tend to play more expansive football. It’s also got us some impressive results against bigger teams like Benfica and Porto, who will attack us anyway and leave themselves more vulnerable at the back.
The most recent changes I’ve made to this system include turning on ‘Pass Into Space’, which instructs players to look for open spaces for team-mates to exploit. I’ve also converted the right-winger to an inside-forward, which has partly contributed to an upturn in form for Vietto – a skilful dribber who’s mainly right-footed but is also pretty comfortable on his left.
What this tactic is less adept at, though, is breaking down those lesser teams who sit deep and throw bodies into their penalty box to stop us scoring. In those situations, I often ended up switching to this direct ‘Plan B’, which helped us create more chances against those Portuguese Burnleys but only occasionally made a real difference.
Believe me, I’ve tried plenty of other ideas I’ve gathered from other FMers on various FM sites, yet I’m still having problems at home. This isn’t a new thing for me either; my FM19 saves with Fiorentina, Shrewsbury and Lyn all ended in failure because my teams couldn’t beat similar or weaker teams on our own ground when it really mattered.
So yeah… I’m genuinely out of ideas when it comes to how I approach home games, especially those where we’re the heavy favourites. I seriously would appreciate some advice on what to do, so I can bear that in mind for FM21.
THE END
So why am I ending this save now, after just two years? Wasn’t there a five-year plan or something? Honestly, this second season has been such a nightmare that it’s pretty much ruined my objectives for this entire save.
The end goal was to win the Primeira Liga, and also to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League. What this campaign has shown, though, is that we’re not consistent enough to go the distance in the PL title race. I cannot see us winning the league next season, and probably not the year after either.
With regards to the Champions League, I expected us to be in the Group Stage at least by the third season. Failure to even get into next year’s qualifiers – even when Portugal had three places up for grabs – is a real killer. Braga and Porto (and probably Benfica as well) will now get a slice of the UEFA jackpot, while we’ll have to slum it in the Europa Conference League.
While the ECL offers us a realistic hope of continental silverware, it’s not a competition I had any interest in playing in during this save. My secondary objective – in case we failed to reach the CL knockouts – was to win the Europa League, not some third-rate Zombie Intertoto Cup.
I was on the brink of quitting this save twice before, but now I really do feel like I can’t continue. With the FM21 beta likely coming out in a fortnight’s time, I maybe had one more season left on FM20 – two at a push. With our title dreams now less realistic than ever, and no Champions League to go for, I just don’t see the point in slogging through another season that will surely only add to my frustration.
So I’m officially calling time on my stop-start love-hate affair with FM20. I had some fun trying to save Burnley during the free fortnight in March, and also during my first season at Sporting after finally buying the game in August. But while I did get my money’s worth out of this game, it’s not one I’ll look back too fondly on.
Some of the match engine quirks I mentioned in my FM20 review after playing the demo in November were addressed in later patches, but other issues remained. The ME just didn’t seem as fluid as FM19’s was, and I also had major complaints about the user interface. FM20 was probably my least favourite version of Football Manager since FM07 or FM08 (which is saying a lot).
Even so, this hasn’t dampened my enthusiasm for FM21, and I’m already looking forward to getting stuck into the new game. If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll probably have a good idea of what my FM21 plans are, but I’ll go into more detail about them in another blog post very soon.
Before I leave you, I’d like to thank you for reading this story over the last couple of months, even if it hasn’t had the ideal ending.
If you’ve enjoyed this little adventure or would like to give some feedback, feel free to let me know either in the comments below or on Twitter. I’ll happily take any feedback on board for my next blog career on FM21.
“Adeus, Sporting.”
Fuller FM 
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