Welcome back to my FM21 journeyman series.
It’s almost the end of 2023, and Shama Deadman is now well into his second season at Espinho. In the previous chapter, the Tigres made an unconvincing start to their Terceira Liga campaign and enjoyed a mini-run in the Taça de Portugal, while Shama picked up his first UEFA coaching badge.
Today’s chapter will take us through another busy Portuguese winter. Shama is hoping for a rather less stressful festive period than the last one… but it might not be that simple!
DECEMBER 2023
My Espinho team went into the winter period 10 points clear of relegation in the Terceira Liga. Our recent good form was winning plenty of plaudits… not least from one of my new peers.
Viseu were fourth-from-bottom and had just appointed legendary Austrian forward Toni Polster as their new manager. Ahead of his first home game against us, I spoke about how much I admired Toni, and he repaid the compliment… but that mutual respect didn’t stretch to the players.
I don’t know what Nélson Martins was thinking when he lunged at his opponent like a Wish.com Bruce Lee – and in front of his own manager too! I didn’t care if Nélson was an 18-year-old winger who still needed to mature. As far as I was concerned, his stupidity meant he would be dropped to the youth team for a few weeks!
Thankfully, Nélson’s red card didn’t make much difference. Tiago Palancha headed us into the lead after 14 minutes, before fellow defender Gonçalo Cardoso conceded a potentially costly penalty, which was saved by Kadú. Despite making heavy weather of it, we still came away with all three points!
Our luck was in again when we hosted Braga B. Midfielder Ibrahima Guirassy powered in a stunning long-ranger in the 21st minute, before we survived a string of attacks from our more illustrious visitors. 17-year-old substitute striker Bruno Miguel then marked his senior debut by scoring a last-minute winner… but not in the way that he intended!
We had our own defensive calamity at Felgueiras, giving them a pinball-esque equaliser after Alberto Pinho (another 17-year-old forward) put us ahead very early on. The assist came from Liam Edwards, who then set up another goal for attacking midfielder Rodrigo Gui when we cruised to a 2-0 home win over Caldas! Perhaps the much-maligned Welshman was the answer to that right-wing crisis I was talking about last time…
…or perhaps he wasn’t. Liam wasted a couple of excellent chances as we dominated Rio Ave B but failed to break the deadlock. While our defensive players had another blinder and didn’t allow the Vilacondenses a shot on target, we weren’t quite as lethal going forward as we had been earlier in the season.
Worse was to come just before Christmas, as Vitória de Guimarães B survived a wave of attacks before ending our eight-game unbeaten league run. We were undone by an incisive counter-attack in the 66th minute, but sloppy defending also played its party in just our second home defeat of the season.
Thankfully, we made amends on New Year’s Eve, as the team celebrated my first anniversary in charge by beating Vizela 2-0 on the road. Rodrigo sealed the points after this opener from a young Welshman who’d waited so long to break his Espinho duck. Take a bow, Liam!
Though we had climbed as high as 3rd during our December resurgence, we settled for a more modest 7th position at the end of my first year in Portugal. If we’d turned a couple of those draws into wins, perhaps we’d be right in the promotion mix, but the board were still in high spirits as we said “adeus” to 2023.
Erm… just don’t ask about the finances.
JANUARY 2024
The transfer window opened with some bad news, as Marítimo recalled Dylan Collard from his loan because I wasn’t strictly using him in defensive midfield as promised. The Aussie hadn’t been particularly brilliant, averaging 6.70 in 15 matches, but he did make us more defensively sound and would take some replacing.
Utility forward Adilson Silva also said goodbye, joining fourth-tier Académica/SF for £7,500. Namesake Marco Silva returned after a frustrating spell on loan at Torre de Moncorvo, but the 18-year-old pressing forward would get some first-team opportunities with us.
My response to Marítimo recalling a centre-back from us… was to loan in another of theirs! Rúben Sousa is a technically solid centre-back with good marking and tackling ability, though he does lack a little composure.
I also signed former PSG and Manchester City prospect Claudio Gomes, who was now 23 and desperate to make his mark at senior level. Yes, he’s on £1,000 per week – twice as much as his team-mates, and even more than Edgar Davids is earning! But if you look at those attributes (particularly his Tackling, Aggression and Work Rate), you can understand why I rate Claudio so highly as a midfield enforcer.
Results-wise, we kicked off 2024 with a spate of draws. The first was a smash-and-grab job at 2nd-placed Fafe, who had 28 shots and 3.21 xG but were so wasteful that they only scored once – from a long shot in the 36th minute.
Our chances were much fewer and further between. The equaliser came 30 seconds into the second half, when winger Franculino Djú – who’d been almost constantly injured for the past four months – finally opened his account by stroking in a deflected pass from playmaker José Maçãs.
We then faced another tough game against promotion challengers, and though Vitória de Setúbal scored in the 1st and the 92nd minutes, we actually played pretty well during the 90 minutes in between! Goals from midfielder Ben Davis and the fit-again Miguel Pereira looked to have given us an impressive 2-1 home win, but a late mistake by defender Sylvestre Costa allowed Vitória to steal a draw.
We then endured more late agony at Leça. Pereira scored a hat-trick of goals, only to be caught offside every time, and we didn’t get a legitimate breakthrough until Tiago Palancha headed in an 85th-minute corner from left-back Álvaro Milhazes. That wasn’t the winner, though, as our relegation-threatened hosts levelled deep into stoppage time and we dropped more points.
I decided to give the 4-4-2 another go at Real, where not even Zidane could stop us returning to form. Veteran full-back Gonçalo Cardoso – playing in an unusual left midfield role – headed in our opener before Djú sealed a 2-0 win. Unfortunately, it wasn’t such a great afternoon for forward Vasco Costa, who suffered a serious hip injury and would miss the next two months.
We were back to our clinical best against Alverca, with inverted winger André Raposo and a resurgent Daouda Guèye scoring from our only two shots on target. Unfortunately, Alverca also scored twice – either side of our goals – and we thus endured a fourth draw in five games.
I then witnessed another late goal at Trofense, but this one was in our favour! A scrappy low-quality contest looked like finishing goalless until Maçãs sent a last-ditch ball into the box for Guèye. Though the Senegalese forward was dispossessed, the ball went loose, and an ecstatic Marco Silva poked in a last-gasp winner!
That made it seven games unbeaten. And then… disaster.
Our inspirational goalkeeping vice-captain was injured. An adductor muscle strain meant we had to cope without Kadú for the next two games, both against tough opposition.
João Gonçalo went in goal when Amora paid us a visit, but it all went horribly wrong for him. After conceding our third goal of the match early in the second half, I lost patience and brought on 16-year-old Cláudio Lascarim, who at least stopped the Amorenses from scoring even more.
To be honest, I had a feeling it wouldn’t be our day as soon as the first minute, when Guèye missed an open goal. Daouda would soon limp off injured to be replaced with Marco, whose 89th-minute consolation cut our final deficit to 3-1.
I rewarded Lascarim’s bravery with a full debut at Oliveirense. The league leaders predictably dominated proceedings, but Cláudio made several impressive saves in a surprisingly narrow 2-0 loss. Sadly, our attackers just couldn’t make an impact, even after the Unionistas picked up a 69th-minute red card, and so we finished the month in 8th place.
FEBRUARY 2024
With our finishing still a major cause for concern, I made one more move in the transfer window. The quick and technically-gifted young striker Paulo Agostinho joined us on a free from Sporting CP. Having scored six Segunda Liga goals for Sporting’s B team earlier this season, I hoped Paulo would make a quick impact in the division below.
Meanwhile, I allowed João Gonçalo to leave us a few months early, as he signed for fourth-tier Palmelense. Lascarim’s performances in those last two games had convinced me that the youngster was ready to be promoted to second-choice goalkeeper.
Kadú returned from injury in a 1-1 draw with Louletano – our fifth straight winless home game. Though Rodrigo saved us a point after we trailed at the break, a couple of devastating injuries meant this felt more like a defeat. Our top scorer Guèye (10 goals) broke his arm, and our leading assister Milhazes (8 assists) tore a groin muscle, which meant we would be without two of our top performers until April.
We somehow managed to get through it, with an impressive performance at Olhanense kicking off an unexpected winning streak. Pereira set the ball rolling before the hosts equalised, but Agostinho headed in the clincher on his debut. However, we now had another major injury to deal with…
SERIOUSLY? That’s the second time Djú’s had an ACL tear this season! Are his ligaments made of plasticine?!
[Sigh] Add another entry to his injury file…
Djú’s latest setback meant that ‘kung-fu kid’ Martins got another chance, which the 18-year-old took by grabbing the winner at home to Berço. At the other end of the age scale, 33-year-old Cardoso was the hero when we came from behind to win at Marinhense.
Miguel Pereira finally ended another lengthy goal drought as we ground out another narrow home victory, this time against Pedras Rubras. Drago wasn’t quite so clinical in our next match, missing a first-half penalty as we trailed Benfica CB 1-0 at the interval. Thankfully, Agostinho bagged a brace in another 2-1 comeback win on the road.
And after a fantastic February, Espinho were up to 4th place – just eight points off the promotion spots, with a dozen matches still to play! Can our injury-ravaged squad somehow pull this off, or is it only a matter of time before reality bites again?
TROUBLESHOOTING
I’ve been writing a lot about our injury woes – not just in this post, but over the whole season. As you can see from this chart, we consistently picked up more injuries each month compared to last season… and they’re not just minor knocks either.
These are all the moderate or major injuries we’ve had so far that have lasted for at least three weeks:
So, why is this happening?
Remember, I didn’t take charge of Espinho until New Year’s Eve last season. Injuries steadily increased over my first two months in charge, and since then, the team has had more fitness problems than during the last regime. I can only conclude, then, that I’M doing something wrong.
Before this season began, I focussed on bringing in fitter, harder-working players. I subjected my players to plenty of physical training in pre-season, just like some bloke suggested. Short-term pain for long-term gain.
But… maybe I’ve pushed them too far. Players are dropping like flies in training, and hardly a match goes by without someone having to come off hurt (often about five minutes after I’ve made my last substitution). [Editor’s note: I’m running a custom mod that adds more injuries and makes them occur more regularly, but even so, this is still extreme.]
So, in February, I made a few changes to try and alleviate these issues. I arranged fewer, less intense training sessions, and occasionally given players a day off if they’re exhausted and/or at high risk of injury. I brought in a second physiotherapist. Most importantly, I tweaked my tactics to require less intensity.
The 4-2-3-1 has undergone quite a few changes, which should hopefully make us more potent going forward. For starters, I’ve dropped our line of engagement a bit lower, which should encourage the opposition to come forward a bit more and leave our attacking players with more space to exploit. We’re also looking to stretch play out a bit more when in possession, so that we don’t congest the centre.
And this is the counter-attacking 4-4-2 I’ve been using a bit more lately, particularly on the road. We are keeping things simple in midfield (no ball-hogging playmakers), with our creativity mainly coming out wide.
Though front threes are in vogue nowadays, we’ve actually had better luck on the scoring front with two central strikers. Perhaps Paulo and Drago could become the next Shearer and Sutton… or at least the next Liam Edwards and Jamie Wilson.
Injuries have gone down, form has gone up, and we’re suddenly on for an unlikely promotion challenge. For me, that’s what football management is all about – identifying an issue, fixing it, and making other changes to stop it from affecting your team again.
Wow! Now that’s what you call a turnaround!
Can Espinho now finish the job and secure Shama’s first promotion as a football manager? Please come back on Friday for the 2023/2024 season finale, as the Tigres eye up a place in the Segunda Liga!
Thanks for reading!
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