Football Manager 2012 Malaga story — season 2 report, threes a crowd

Hey guys, welcome back to sunny Spain and my Football Manager 2012 Malaga story. Last season was a success as Malaga finished 3rd and secured that all important Champions League qualification. With expectations rising I was left to ponder what my side were capable of and decided any transfers would have to be aimed towards the future. Building a young unit seemed like the best way to topple Barcelona and Real Madrid’s dominance as the leagues front runners. Did my little plan work, or had I left Malaga with too much inexperience? Lets find out in my end of season report for 2012/13.

The season started with a welcomed surprise in the form of a stadium expansion. The board could only afford an extra 4,750 seats but this bumpered my capacity up to 33,713.

I was very, very busy during the transfer window trying to secure some talent for the future. You all know my Y2G system and my hope is to test in FM 2012. Testing such a system requires any over 30’s to leave the club and also any deadwood which helped me raise around £30 million. You can see the volume of players leaving Malaga was probably a little risky from the screenshot below.

As for my transfers in, well I think they speak for them self. No signings were made over the age of 22 and 6 are under the age of 19. These guys will need to settle quick and this season could be used as a transitional period but I do think we’ve found some of the Worlds best talent. You can read about some of these wonderkids on the scouting network.

Now that you’ve seen the usual pre-season stuff, lets get down to the important part, results. Today I’ll be doing things in a slightly different order, starting with the Copa del Ray, then the Champions League and finally my league form.

Copa del Ray results

This tournament was a pain last season, despite fighting through some tough fixtures we were thrashed by Real in the latter stages. Drawing Barcelona or Real Madrid is like the touch of death, your tournament is over the second their name is pulled out of the hat. This season held a similar fate, we progressed well to the quarter-final but then drew Barcelona who beat us 5-3 on aggregate.

Champions League results

So we were eliminated from the Copa del Ray but I still had my first season of European football to look forward to. The group stage draw brought about some tough opposition in Porto, Juventus and CSKA Moscow. But my boys caused a fair few upsets winning two and drawing the other four fixtures, my favourite came at home to Porto as we won 3-0. I was dead proud but had we done enough to qualify for the next round?

Of course we had, CSKA finished top and Malaga finished 4 points clear of Juventus in second. If we’d managed to convert any of our chances in the final game we’d heave beaten the Russians and finished above them. Ow well, maybe we’ll get lucky and miss out on all the big teams for the First Knockout round.

Hmmm, well we drew Manchester Utd in the next round. Considering they were last season finalists I had no hopes and turned my thoughts to La Liga. We drew the first leg at 1-1. I was sure my European dream was over and told the lads there was no pressure in the second leg as we were mega underdogs. But that seemed to work and then this happened (click here to see Man Utd match highlights.) That shocking performance left me utterly stunned but through to the quarter-final where we beat Marseille on penalties. Manchester City were drawn in the semi’s but proved too strong as we were eliminated 3-0 on aggregate.

La Liga results — August to December

Now onto the final stage of this post and probably the most important, my results in La Liga. The first half season was absolutely phenomenal. Malaga won 15 of their 17 fixtures and lost the other two coming up against Real Madrid and Barcelona. Despite this great form we still weren’t top as Barcelona were unbeaten. :(

La Liga results — January to May

All I could do was keep winning and hope to see Barcelona slip up eventually. My last 21 games featured17 victories, 4 draws and zero losses. An outstanding record that included us beating Barcelona 3-1. Despite this great run it all came down to the last game against Xerez away. If we won the title would be ours (click here to see Xerez game highlights.)

La Liga table

We won the last game in style and reached a gigantic 100 points, this was just enough to fend off Barcelona who finished on 98. Real Madrid fell off the pace during their last 8 games but still managed third just 7 points behind us.

This league is very tough and at times I thought my team would crumble under the pressure, but we pulled through for a memorable title victory. Every season will be different but one things for sure, there will always be three teams competing and three really is a crowd!

Team analysis

After such an awesome season you’d expect some great average ratings and while a few players stood out it was the overall unit that made a difference. My three young centre backs had an incredible season hitting top of the list and chipping in with 25 goals between them. Weiss was outstanding from the right wing scoring 16 goals and assisting 14, while the ever strong Cazorla assisted 19 times. Niang was probably my best and most dangerous striker with 17 goals.

Player of the season: Vladimir Weiss

Most improved youngster: Carlos Fierro

Best signing: Danny Wilson

Three of my best wonderkids gained the plaudits during the yearly youngster of the year awards smashing the ceremony and taking the top three. Niang finished 1st while Danny Wilson and Jack Robinson fought for second and third. The future really does look bright for Malaga.

All that is left to look at is the clubs finances which were in dyer straights just six months ago. Malaga found themselves in debt by £20 million and consistently losing more than £3 million a month. This was due to my monthly instalments from a couple of transfers, but once we’d reached the knockout stages in Europe those instalments were balanced out by prize money. After the season was done all the prize money helped us get closer to that safe mark and despite been £1.1 million in the red I’m not worried. A lot of my transfers are fully paid off now so that should save us a fair chunk of cash.

Well that is all for today, season 2 went better than planned and has left me to ponder how I can improve. I think the big issue is been classed as underdogs during ever match in Europe. I need to change that if we’re ever to compete, so get ready for more signings in the summer. :) My next Football Manager 2012 Malaga story update will be in a similar format and contain the entire third season. Until then please feel free to ask any questions and I look forward to reading your comments as always.