Football Manager 2012 Malaga story, season 5 report: ups and downs

Hey guys and welcome back to my Football Manager 2012 Malaga story, season 5 report. Last season saw my boys break all kinds of records. We won the treble in style and even finished the season with a 9-0 mauling of FC Bayern in the Champions League final. It was a weird year to say the least but this season is focussed around the next generation. My squad is getting huge in a bid to raise some youth while still keeping my top stars to compete at every level making squad rotation a slight issue. Anyway, lets get on with the season and we’ll begin with transfers.

I decided that this was the year to offload a few drifters and replace them with wonderkids. As you can see below, quite a few good players were sold including Sturridge, Camacho, Kameni and Nangis. But none of them will be sorely missed and these sales helped me raise £61 million as well as cut the wage bill.

Now for my signings, a lot of which are regens so I’ll provide their profiles too (you can see those by clicking the players name.) Santos joined from Brazil to be trained on the right wing, while Maradona was available for nothing and I couldn’t resist. Guida and Ricardo could be the best of their generation while Pavoni is a very promising young keeper. Last but not least my two Brazilian forwards of Marcelinho and Vieira are capable of great things but need to improve their pace and acceleration. All these players are under 21 and are the next generation here at Malaga. I spent a total of £33 million including the purchase of first team keeper Stegen but that balances out at a transfer window profit of £28 million

FIFA Club World Cup results

I decided to use the Club World Cup as a platform to introduce my new youth and offer them some experience. This seemed to go down well as Malaga beat Al-Ahli in the semi-final 5-0 and Velez in the final by the same scoreline. The opposition weren’t tough by any means but victories like this will help boost the clubs reputation.

La Liga results — first 20 games

OK, so after a summer of wheeling and dealing I expected a slow start to the season. This led to me picking the strongest XI straight off, but what was to follow caught me off guard. The season started with two draws and a win, then we got going a little before drawing a further three matches and losing away to Barcelona. This form had made it impossible to even touch last seasons record with only half a season gone.

Sure we enjoyed some high scoring matches against weaker opposition but my side were looking weak away from home. This translated to second place, five points behind Real Madrid but with a game in hand.

La Liga results — last 18 games

After a rather bad start (compared to last season) things picked up during the last 18 games. We won 15, drew two and lost just one. In fact things were so tight that the title was decided on the last day of the season…Malaga thrashed Real Sociedad but was that enough?

Unfortunately not, the loss away to Real had made things very tough but if they’d lost on the last day of the season we could have lifted the title. It wasn’t to be and Madrid deserved their glory, guess I’ll just have to come back fighting next season :)

Copa del Ray results

After losing our first league title in four years I was left a little wounded and fearing for other competitions. But the Copa del Ray was a completely different story as we breezed through the early rounds, in fact it wasn’t until the semi-final clash against At. Madrid that we faced a challenge. After squeezing through that tough tie 3-2, we drew Espanyol in the final.

Copa del Ray final vs Espanyol

Venue: Nuevo Estalla, Valencia

Attendance: 75,000

Starting formations:

We’ll start by addressing the fact that Espanyol are not the strongest opponents and anything short of victory would be a disaster. They don’t have any real threat going forward and look fairly average at the back, add the fact that I had a near full strength XI and this should be a white wash.

Match highlights: Click here to see the Copa del Ray final match highlights

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Match stats:

Like I said, Espanyol are weak and my side seem to thrive for the big occasion. I think the most pleasing aspect was how my team controlled play through the middle and any deadly balls started there…I am a big believer in the theory that controlling the middle of the pitch means controlling the game. Plus my new wonderkid Vieira got on the score sheet :)

Champions League results

I always cross my fingers for an easy group draw as it provides ideal game time for the younger players and an opportunity to rest my key stars. So you can imagine my delight when seeing Lyon, Sporting CP and Standard pulled out of the hat. All three sides were beaten at home and away. My most clinical of matches being the 7-0 smashing of Standard away from home.

We finished top of the pile securing the so called easier draw while Lyon made up the numbers.

When the first knockout round draw was made, I couldn’t have wished for a better opponent. Turkish side Fenerbahce have a reasonable squad but nothing to be threatened by and this showed in the 9-0 aggregate win. The quarter-final draw brought about French giants PSG, these guys have far more going forward but again a side I’d expect to beat. My boys did just that winning 3-1 away from home and losing 1-0 in the return leg. A close call but we made it to the semi-final where CSKA Moscow were slaughtered 8-1 on aggregate. The Russian side have a strong squad but shouldn’t have made it so far. Now all that was left to do is beat Manchester United who had already done the domestic double.

Champions League final vs Manchester United

Venue: Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow

Attendance: 63,845

Starting formations:

Now we finally have a solid opponent, Man United have a great strike force, creative midfield and very strong back four. If I tried to pick a weakness I’d suggest the overall age is a little high and Ben Amos isn’t world class but then again I am missing CL top scorer Fierro. Pre-match I was a little nervous but saw us as the favourites and decided the final should be attacked with some forward thinking football. Please watch the highlights as the goal that swung this tie was a wonder strike!

Match highlights: Click here to watch Champions League final highlights

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Match stats:

This was a very even match with some end to end football and the first half could have swung either way. In fact the second half started with United on top until I decided to force the issue bringing on Kagawa and Sterling for Hazard and Weiss who hadn’t performed. Of course Kagawa’s first touch was an incredible free-kick and then Sterling assisted for the second, the match was mine from there. A fantastic victory and after two ridiculous Champions League finals I’m happy to finally win by a proper scoreline. :)

Squads stats and finances

Well that was a weird old season with the squad warming up as things went along. Unfortunately our bad first half season proved costly but we did come through for some silverware in the end. What really impressed me though is that not one single player averaged lower than 7.05. Also I managed to offer each player at least 8 games which is impressive for a side filled with 29 players (all bar Mayer as I want him out.)

With my finances looking extremely healthy I plan on maintaining this and offloading more stars in the summer, its time for the next generation to step in and this means sell, sell, sell. My bank balance would be better than £63 million but I’ve upgraded the training and youth facilities as well as improved the junior coaching, youth recruitment and added a foreign feeder club to gain revenue from other countries. This is all part of my big plan to overtake Barcelona as the best club on and off the pitch.

Job offers

Today we have an extra section to look at, with the European Championships over quite a few managers lost their jobs. While Spain won the competition, Rafa Benitez (I can’t believe he was manager either) decided to depart on a high. I was offered the position and almost accepted until I realised why Benitez left. Looking through the entire setup, Spain have NO great regens and their stars have two years left at best. I really didn’t want to be the manager who saw out Spain’s decline from number 1 in the World.

However, the nation that lost to Spain in the European Championship final has a very bright future with endless talent and a young squad. This nation could be the dominant force in International football if led by the right man, after sacking their manager I wonder who they approached…I think you know where this is going…

Well that is all for today’s Football Manager 2012 Malaga story, season 5 report, sorry for the long update but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. Please join me next time as the new generation is extended further at Malaga and England start their new journey to number one. Until then thanks for reading and please free to comment below.