Top120 - Squad Build at Crvena Zvezda

This was quite a challenge - build a 21 man squad with just 40million, and with no players over 30.

With 10 teams per division the seasons are quite short - Season 1 will kick off on Aug 22nd and the last turn will be on Oct 21. To me these dates were crucial, as they meant that any players bought could not be transferred out during the season due to the 10week transfer ban period. So whoever we buy now, that's our squad for S1.

In SM there are are 2 ways of adding value to a squad - via transfers, or prizemoney. My plan was to attack both of these. Build a first 11 that would be very competitive in the division for S1, then try to maximise potential profit from the squad. For the latter part I tried to pick a number of options from the Free Agent list, so at least I am guaranteed the 25% extra as I bought the for less than CV to start with. Because the squads all start empty it meant there were some very good value players available on that Free Agent list, and with 2 Brazilian teams involved a chance for a quick profit with their review in progress at the moment.


Below is a summary of the squad I have assembled. I would be interested in opinions!

My first 11 will average 86 rating / 26 years old / 3.6m value.

The squad will have an initial value of around 46.2m, boosted by the free agents that were picked up for less than their CV.

***
Goalkeepers

Jose Sa (87/28yrs) - New GK at wolves and was a free agent. Should last me a while and so a bargain at 3m

Dayne St Clair (78/24yrs) - young MLS keeper who has recently been added to the Canadian squad. Just a cheap option for 2nd GK really!

Defenders

Stuart Dallas (88/30yrs) - Very versatile, can play all over midfield and cover both fullback options. Another free agent so very decent value (and right on the 30yr old limit!). Will start at fullback for S1.

Omar Richards (84/23yrs) - I pick him up in as many GWs as possible at the moment. Now at Real Madrid in a back-up capacity, but he has already impressed in pre-season and I hope to see him get some game time at least in cups. A future talent for sure.

Nayef Aguerd (86/25yrs) - Another free agent. 2.6m, for an 86 CB was a bargain. Currently being pursued by West ham, so we might get to to see him in the PL this season.

Marcilio Nino (83/24yrs) - Yet another free agent! The Brazilian recently put in some very decent performances for Brazil at the Olympics and is touted as a long term option for the national side. May also get a small rise when SM finally get around to finishing the brazilian reviews!

Lucas Calegari (78/19yrs) - Another Free agent. Picked up due to the brazil reviews and chance of a rise and some profit!

Oliveira Vanderson (70/20yrs) - As above - Free Agent and Brazilian reviews in mind.

Levi Colwill (70/18yrs) - Another player I have picked up in a few game worlds recently. The young Chelsea defender is highly regarded, and is out on loan to Huddersfield this season, so hopefully he gets good game time there.

Midfielders

Rani Kheidra (87/27yrs) - Another solid free agent. Can cover D/DM/M and cost just 2.9m for an 87 rating.

Martin Hongla (85/23yrs) - Hongla made a decent impression last season but has now gone on loan to Hellas Verona and I hope that will further boost his profile (and rating) in the winter reviews.

Ui-Jo Hwang (86/28yrs) - 2.5m for a very decent winger/forward player. I don't expect a rise from him but will do a job in S1.

Emile Smith-Rowe (86/21yrs) - The jewel in my squad. we took a risk and invested 8m, which is a big chunk of our initial budget. However, seeing he has the #10 shirt at Arsenal he seems in line for a lot of game time this season and should be nailed on to see a rise or two over the next few PL reviews and significantly increase in value. The plan at the moment is to raise a lot of £££ from him in a few seasons time.

Guelor Kanga (86/30yrs) - I felt we should have at least one real CZ player in the squad and he was cheap and a free agent! 1.6m for an 86 rating in S1 makes good financial sense. Most likely will sell him on for a small profit once his TB is up, but gives us a good rating in S1.

Jens-Lys Cajuste (82/22yrs) - Young midfielder from FC Midtjylland but picked up as a free agent. Newcastle and a few championship teams have been rumoured to be looking at him, so worth a punt I though.

Matheus Martinelli (75/19yrs) - A free agent and a Brazilian. should get a rise when Fluminese get reviewed I would hope.

Andre Trindade (73/20yrs). Copy and paste - young/brazilian/free agent/brazil reviews pending!

Omari Hutchinson (67/17yrs) - This is now the 2nd GW where I have both Emile Smith Rowe and Hutchinson, who is another youngster from Arsenal who is highly regarded. At 67, his rating and value can only go up, surely!!

Miguel Azeez (70/18yrs) - ..and a third young arsenal talent (and no, I don't support them!). Azeez did impress in preseason and it will be interesting to see what Arsenal do with him this season. Would be good to see him get a run in the cups.

Forwards

Miguel Borja (87/28yrs) - Columbian international currently playing for Gremio in Brazil. 87 rated and bought for just 2.8, as a free agent. what's not to like?!

Roko Simic (75/17yrs) - the next Erling Haaland apparantly! just signed with Salzburg and gone out on loan. one for the future.
***

So there we go, thats what Crvena Zvezda will look like for Season 1. Really looking forward to this challenge, and now with business done I head off on holiday for a week and will return in time for kick off!

Good luck to all my fellow 120'ers.


All change at Napoli

Since the last ball of the season was kicked by Napoli, the Italian club have very busy in the transfer market. Here we review the teams options and changes going into the new season.

Goalkeepers.

Napoli brought in Belgium international Kaminski towards the end of the season, with the Manager believing he has the potential to become number one with a slight rating tweak, given he is very much in and around the Belgium squad. Rajkovic is the clubs current number 1 and has been subject of a lot of interest from a number of clubs. Last season he managed 14 clean sheets and 8 Man of the matches to be the clubs most consistent performer. IRL Lille the French Champions have made a move to make him their number 1 keeper, however these is a bit messy, due to an illegal approach. This is expected to rumble on until the window close, however if a move does go through then Rajkovic is likely to be getting a rating incease. It is believed Napoli are still open to a sale, but this has been further complicated after they let young Cerofolini leave yesterday as part of the deal which brought promising defensive midfielder Pantaleao. Napoli will be on the look out for another keeper, before they consider letting Rajkovic go.

Defenders

Napoli's defence was what their season was built on last season. Despite finishing 12th in the league, the club had the fourth best defensive record in division 3 conceding just 38 Goals. What was more incredible is the defence was marshalled by O'Connell 87, Williams, 85, Tymchyk 83 and Moreno 86. Since the end of the season, Phillips and Tymchyk have move on, however the club as brought in Gajic 85, Nastasic 87 and have also agreed to loan Foyth from Bayern, which on paper improves the defensive rating on last season. Napoli have a number of young players who play central defence who they are hopeful can continue to improve to force their way into the team, this includes the likes of Andersen who had a decent Euro's for Denmark.

Midfield

Last season the team rotated between Milner 90, Linnety 88, Herrera 89 and Santamaria in the centre of the park. Bar Linnetty the other three have left the club over the last 24 hours in a surprising move. The Manager went on record that he was looking for one CM this close season, but through trading this number increased to three. In as replacements come Vidal 91 and Moutinho 91, Mooy 87 and Pantaleao. On paper this looks very shrewd business with the midfield collective rating increasing to give the midfield a very strong look for Division 3.

Attack

Scoring goals has been the clubs biggest issue since Mullan took the reigns 3 seasons ago. Last season's top scorer was Herrera from Midfield with just 8 goals, so this is an area that needed to be addressed. The club have sold star player Bamford 89 to Partizan, he moved across as part of the deal which saw Moutinho join the club. However also joining in that deal is Vinicius who has an excellent scoring record in Portugal and although struggled for regular at Spurs whilst on loan last season is still at a decent age and with a rating of 87, He already has a better rating than the other strikers that were already at Napoli prior to the transfer merry go around. Napoli have agreed to let talented star youngster Brereton Diaz 82 leave, despite him due a rise and big clubs circling to take him from Blackburn in real life. He along with talented young defender Erlinc have joined Dnipro who have made the play-off final, in a deal which will see Chris Wood 88 join Napoli. This deal was the catalyst to letting Bamford go, as Mullan wanted a minimum 88 striker to lead his attack next season. Napoli have also brought in Douglas Costa 89, rated, hoping his creativity can lead to more goals. It was the original intention that Costa and Willan 89 would provide the ammunition for the forwards this season. However Willian was then sold on Sunday, heading to Wolfsburg in a deal which sees Stindl 90 come in the opposite direction. Stindl has come at quite a price with Milner and talented young brazilian Helinho also being part of that deal. However on the back of Bamfords 89 departure, Napoli now see themselves with a higher rated striker and a very able back up in Wood, and also Inui 87 who joined towards the end of last season.

Other key transfers.

Napoli have also added exciting youngsters Joseph, Babi, Khadra, Olaru, Roberts and Garcia. Going into the new season despite signing quite a few veterans, Napoli only have 15 players over the age of 25, and statistically the squads rating has increased through the transfer activity carried out so far.

Managers view

I'm thrilled with the business we've done. Three seasons ago we could not trade with Managed clubs, as quite frankly we had nothing to trade with. Its been a slow painful rebuild with a high turnover of players to try and get our squad rating and value up, so we can actually compete. The squad when I came would of struggled in Division 5 and had been broken up to the extent, that it was going to take a long time before it was realistically going to be able to compete again. I think last season, we over achieved in fact many were tipping is for a third successive relegation. However we stuck at it and have traded ourselves into a decent position going into next season. Some excellent sides of come up from division 4, whilst some top squads have been relegated from Division 2. We are under no illusions that next season will be one of trying to survive again. However last season we finished just 6 points outside the play off zone, and beat the sides who got promoted. That tells me we are on a bit of a journey but we are beginning to benefit from the work being put in. From a personal point of view I want to push for a top 10 finish next season, and if we can be in and around things towards the last few weeks of the season, then I do not see any reason why we can't surprise one or two, and make a push for the play offs. I think there is goals in this team, and there is certainly a lot of experienced heads. I'd like another centre midfielder and 87 plus CB, however at this stage it's unlikely we will be able to add those players, as we've run out of tradeable options/assets for now."


Napoli to cash in on Bamford.

Napoli tonight confirmed, Bamford will be sold when his transfer ban is up, after a host of enquiries came in over the weekend. "He is our biggest asset, and will rise again in ratings. We were looking to build around him this season, however when teams with far more assets than us come calling we have to consider the short term goal of the team. We've been offered some good 2 for 1's for him. Our stipulation was one needed to be a FC, who can play in our first 11, whilst the other was a MC who can also make our first 11. We've had 3 clubs meet this valuation. Other players who may also depart before the season start include Brereton Diaz. Its been a crazy 24 hours with clubs waking up to what we saw when we signed him. He has taken Chile by storm and has also joined Neymar and Beckham as Pepsi cola's latest pin up boy, as he has just done an advert. He is due a nice rise on the next update, and if the bih move happens IRL with Leeds and Sevilla both registering interest he could really take off. Tobias may also move on with a few clubs in for him, but at this stage we want first team players and wont entertain any more youth players. Its going to ge a busy close season.


Cruzeiro - going down, but on the way up.

Good day to you all!

As you all know, it's been a disappointing season for Cruzeiro, finishing a frustrating campaign in 19th in Division 4, condemning them back to Division 5 football next season. Boss Robérto Downinho was relieved of managerial duties to give the board time to plan what the next step is for the leadership of the squad. After 6 intense hours of deliberation between midnight and the following sunrise the board elected to reinstate Downinho as the only suitable candidate for the job, stating his commitment and passion for the club as the reasons.

Season 14 definitely goes down as a failure in the eyes of the majority. A step back, and back to square one. However, it's very easy to see past the progress the club has made in the last year. Downinho is by personality a modest man, normally not one to blow his own trumpet. However, some data has surfaced showing the improvement of the Cruzeiro players and squad since the very beginning of his tenure, and the results are pretty impressive.

This spreadsheet shows the team when Downinho took over, and what has happened to the players' ratings since.

With no disrespect to the previous Cruzeiro manager, Josh, upon analysing the squad, Robérto decided a squad overhaul was the objective. Josh had achieved playoffs near promotion with this squad, which was a fantastic achievement, but Robérto felt the majority of the players were too old and on a downward trajectory, and the rest had very little potential or immediate chances of rising. Looking at the column of the players ratings now, it appears Downinho was right.

In the 12 months + since then the team has undergone numerous transitions and player trade-ups, with the objective always to improve the first team rating and reduce the squad age if possible. This kind of change takes years to maximise and is still a continuous work in progress. The team has come on leaps and bounds since the start, the boss is always looking for trades, always scouting for talent around the world, which will only add more value and interest to the team. Here's how the team looks now.

The charts show a respectable average rating increase and a dramatic average age decrease.

The first team average rating has increased from between 85/86 to 87/88, a big difference in the starting 11 in relation to being able to compete with other teams. Just as importantly this includes 5 players rated between 88 and 90, a huge improvement on our best player formerly being 87 (and over 30 years old). It's almost 100% factual that the higher rated players perform better and provide match winning contributions, and players like Haller, Traoré and Golovin certainly give Cruzeiro a better chance. This group of players is almost fully consists of players that are not yet passed or reached their peak, with a couple of experienced veterans thrown in for rating balance. In most of the team there is still room for rating growth.

Whilst Robérto has done his very best to build a first team with solidity and longevity, the same dedication has been given the the youth team and young players. Belief that there's always hidden gems out there in the external market makes the manager resilient in his quest to unearth them. In plenty of countries and divisions can you find a young player gathering good gametime, take the gamble on them, then time will tell. An ordinary example of which is Piero Hincapie, signed cheaply from Talleres at the beginning of the year, became an undisputed starter for club, then made his international bow. Subsequently he's put in stellar performances for Ecuador in the Copa America, and is now highly sought-after both in real life and in Top100... (can't go a day without getting a bid or a counter for him!) There may well be more like this in the youth team, that will either become valuable assets for the future or trade bait.

So the season has been poor, Downinho accepts that, though also placing blame on injuries, suspensions and early red cards ruining matches, feeling the SM match engine has rained down its fair share of misfortune on the team. Another couple more wins and Cruziero would have been safe, a couple of better tactical implementations on matchdays could've done that too. But Robérto is positive going back to the drawing board for the new season. Late season form has shown improvement from the new signings and strengthening of the team, and the players seem to have finally gained a bit of cohesion. Bounce-back promotion is an uncertainty at this stage, as there's sure to be a lot of strong teams to compete with, as well as a slice of luck required here and there. But one thing is guaranteed, Cruzeiro will be stronger and will continue to build to be better until results do finally come.

Thank you for reading!


Arsenal Review

 

as1

What a tough second season in Division One,  we hoped to improve on 6th, but selling Lewandowski maybe was not the best idea, but i was trying to take a longer term view on the clubs players.

lewy  #MISSED

In came Mane , Casemiro and Werner but playing with tactics trying to find the right blend didnt quite work and we became very inconsistent in the league, far too many draws and losses.

league

What helped the season was taking part again in the Youth Cup a great run with a top young team lead by  Captain Vanhuesden and we had a great time in the World Club Cup,  i was over the moon to win this competition , every team best players available, so a real test and some tough games playing in form Barcelona in the semi final and then Levante in the final.

Capture

The Final

levant

 

Another fantastic Cup run in the SMFA Shield narrowly beating Hertha in a tough semi final, has left Arsenal with a very difficult game against Alex and Manchester City, who he has really turned around doing magnificent in the league and already with the the Youth Cup in hand, he has a taste fot it and not just the JD & Coke afterwards.

alex

Top players on form for City also in the cup and a great team.

man

Lets hope we can creat a great final, we are missing two signifiacnt players in Koulibaly and Conman but this gives chances to Calvert Lewin and new man Rudiger and then its on to the new season.

Preperation for next season has being taking place as Rudiger comes in to the back line most likely Ginter moving to right back and we line up as below at our strongest.

new

Squad depth is very hard when trying to build at the same time, my reserves at there weakest next season..

res

Youth Team

I am hoping keeper makes it for the age cap a signifcant drop again and we need to look at the CB area before the tournament starts, but also to keep within the squad cap.

youth

The 21 somethings, have some fine pedigree and hopefully will come good, but i am in a little limbo on waiting for them to progress.

23

Well thats my planning and players for the end of this season and the up and coming season, always a plan just doesnt always work.

Any how off i go scouting for a under 21 centre back.

All best for the end of season play offs and well done to the managers and contributors to this great game world.

 

Read More →


SM Top 100 TV - End of Season 15 Show

Join Beddows, Achiellos, Wheels and Lupton as they discuss the end of season in Top100 - review division by division - did you get a mention?

Who will win the play offs? What do they think of contracts? DP? Managerial Merry go round and the blog?

What are the plans for Top100 moving forwards?

[youtu.be/fZTrVf3vb...](https://youtu.be/fZTrVf3vbI4)

D5 Season 15 Stats and facts review.

The winner takes it all with Bordeaux taking 1st in the stats and the league.

+8 VA , +9 PVA,  the perfect combo to win the league, with West Ham in 2nd on +14 VA and 3rd place Leicester on +9 VA. In fact the top 5 side in the stats were the top 5 in the league.

Olympic Lyon and AZ also had +8 VA and a great performance.

Oddly the top 6 teams in the predictions came in the lowest 6 places. Olympiacos, Spartak and Athletic Club were notable by their underperformance.

  GK DEF MID ATT Top18 Ave ETOT Pre Fin VA PVA
Girondins Bordeaux  88.0 87.0 87.8 88.0 83.0 86.8 217.52 9 1 8 9.00
West Ham United  87.0 86.5 87.3 87.5 86.0 86.9 216.64 16 2 14 7.50
Leicester City  87.0 87.3 87.8 87.0 86.0 87.0 217.31 12 3 9 3.33
Sampdoria  87.0 87.3 87.5 87.5 86.0 87.1 217.44 10 4 6 1.75
VfB Stuttgart  89.0 87.8 87.3 87.0 85.0 87.2 217.43 11 5 6 1.40
Olympique Lyonnais  87.0 87.5 87.0 87.0 86.0 86.9 216.91 15 7 8 1.29
AZ Alkmaar  87.0 86.5 87.0 87.0 82.0 85.9 215.63 18 10 8 0.90
Torino  87.0 87.0 87.5 87.5 85.0 86.8 217.12 14 9 5 0.67
Málaga CF  87.0 86.8 87.0 87.0 83.0 86.2 215.95 17 11 6 0.64
AS Saint-Etienne  86.0 86.0 87.0 87.0 85.0 86.2 215.47 19 13 6 0.54
Montpellier HSC  88.0 87.3 88.5 88.0 86.0 87.6 218.68 7 6 1 0.33
Independiente  87.0 85.0 86.5 85.0 82.0 85.1 212.73 20 20 0 0.05
FC Twente  87.0 86.8 87.3 88.0 86.0 87.0 217.16 13 19 -6 -0.26
Internazionale  89.0 87.5 87.3 87.5 86.0 87.5 217.68 8 17 -9 -0.47
São Paulo FC  88.0 88.5 87.8 89.0 86.0 87.9 219.73 3 8 -5 -0.50
Sunderland  88.0 87.3 88.3 89.5 86.0 87.8 219.46 4 12 -8 -0.58
Boca Juniors  88.0 86.5 87.5 90.5 85.0 87.5 218.79 5 15 -10 -0.60
Athletic Club  87.0 87.5 88.5 88.0 86.0 87.4 218.76 6 18 -12 -0.61
Olympiacos  88.0 88.5 89.0 88.0 84.0 87.5 219.84 2 16 -14 -0.81
Spartak Moskva  88.0 88.0 89.3 88.0 86.0 87.9 219.88 1 14 -13 -0.86

D4 Season 15 Stats and facts review.

Crystal Palace +5 PVA the stats leaders.


Zagreb may have won the league but not the battle of the stats as Palace who also had +9 VA pushed them close.  Celta and Lokomotiv Moscow had +11 and +12 VA making them 2nd and 3rd in the PVA charts, notable +8 VA for PSV and +9 for Atalanta.

At the wrong end -12 VA for 2nd ranked Dynamo Moscow leaves them in last place for PVA with predicted 4th spot Swansea on -16 VA just above them.

2 teams who should have finished in the top 10 were relegated.

  GK DEF MID ATT Top18 Ave ETOT Pre Fin VA PVA
Crystal Palace  89.0 87.3 88.3 88.0 86.0 87.7 218.60 11 2 9 5.00
Lokomotiv Moskva  88.0 86.3 87.8 89.0 85.0 87.2 217.81 16 5 11 2.40
Celta Vigo  85.0 87.5 87.0 87.5 85.0 86.4 216.88 20 8 12 1.63
Atalanta BC  87.0 86.3 87.3 88.5 86.0 87.0 217.09 19 10 9 1.00
PSV  88.0 87.5 87.5 87.5 84.0 86.9 217.52 17 9 8 1.00
FK Partizan  88.0 89.0 89.5 90.5 86.0 88.6 222.51 1 1 0 1.00
Lille OSC  90.0 87.3 88.8 88.5 85.0 87.9 219.33 6 4 2 0.75
ACF Fiorentina  88.0 88.3 87.5 88.0 87.0 87.8 218.80 10 7 3 0.57
Feyenoord  89.0 88.0 87.5 89.0 86.0 87.9 219.25 8 6 2 0.50
Fenerbahçe SK  89.0 87.3 87.8 88.5 83.0 87.1 218.17 14 11 3 0.36
FC AUGSBURG  88.0 88.5 88.5 91.0 85.0 88.2 221.51 3 3 0 0.33
VfL Wolfsburg  89.0 86.8 88.0 88.5 86.0 87.7 218.33 13 13 0 0.08
Cruzeiro  87.0 87.0 87.5 88.0 85.0 86.9 217.44 18 19 -1 0.00
Olympique Marseille  87.0 87.3 88.3 87.5 86.0 87.2 218.04 15 16 -1 0.00
Shakhtar Donetsk  89.0 87.5 88.3 87.5 86.0 87.7 218.48 12 18 -6 -0.28
Rubin Kazan  89.0 88.3 87.5 88.5 85.0 87.7 219.01 9 17 -8 -0.41
Villarreal CF  88.0 87.3 88.3 89.0 87.0 87.9 219.25 7 15 -8 -0.47
Beşiktaş JK  88.0 88.0 89.0 88.5 85.0 87.7 219.89 5 12 -7 -0.50
Swansea City  88.0 88.3 88.3 89.0 87.0 88.1 220.05 4 20 -16 -0.75
Dynamo Moskva  88.0 89.3 89.0 89.5 86.0 88.4 221.66 2 14 -12 -0.79

D3 Season 15 Stats and facts review.

Galatasaray top the stats in 2nd spot.

Some great over performance in D3.


Galatasaray in 2nd with a VA of +9 and a PVA of +5.00 are the well deserved stats leaders.  Relegation favoured Dnipro made the playoffs and 2nd spot in the stats table and an incredible +16 VA.

River Plate 3rd in real life and the stats sit just above league winners Aston Villa.

Notable +6 VA for Chievo and Zenit.

Flamengo and Dinamo Zagreb had poor seasons, Flamengo -12 VA,  Zagreb could yet saved their season in the playoffs.

CSKA on -7 VA and relegation are also worth a mention.

  GK DEF MID ATT Top18 Ave ETOT Pre Fin VA PVA
Galatasaray SK  88.0 87.5 88.8 88.0 86.0 87.7 219.08 11 2 9 5.00
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk  86.0 87.8 87.3 87.5 85.0 86.7 217.44 20 4 16 4.25
River Plate  88.0 88.3 88.3 89.0 86.0 87.9 219.93 9 3 6 2.33
Aston Villa  90.0 88.5 89.8 90.0 87.0 89.1 222.34 2 1 1 2.00
Zenit Saint Petersburg  89.0 87.5 87.8 88.0 86.0 87.7 218.40 16 10 6 0.70
Chievo Verona  88.0 87.3 88.5 87.0 86.0 87.4 218.03 17 11 6 0.64
Borussia Mönchengladbach  88.0 87.0 89.5 88.5 82.0 87.0 219.13 10 7 3 0.57
SSC Napoli  87.0 88.5 88.8 87.0 83.0 86.9 218.75 15 12 3 0.33
FC Basel  88.0 88.5 87.0 88.0 82.0 86.7 218.00 18 16 2 0.19
Celtic  87.0 86.8 88.3 87.5 86.0 87.1 217.64 19 19 0 0.05
Manchester United  88.0 88.5 89.8 90.5 83.0 88.0 221.95 4 5 -1 0.00
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim  88.0 88.3 88.5 89.0 86.0 88.0 220.13 7 9 -2 -0.11
1. FC Köln  88.0 87.3 89.0 87.5 86.0 87.6 218.76 14 18 -4 -0.17
Club Brugge KV  88.0 88.0 88.8 87.5 85.0 87.5 219.04 12 17 -5 -0.24
West Bromwich Albion  89.0 88.8 89.8 90.0 82.0 87.9 221.82 5 8 -3 -0.25
CSKA Moskva  87.0 87.8 88.8 88.0 84.0 87.1 218.92 13 20 -7 -0.30
Sporting CP  88.0 88.3 88.5 89.0 85.0 87.8 220.01 8 14 -6 -0.36
Udinese Calcio  88.0 88.8 89.0 89.0 86.0 88.2 220.93 6 13 -7 -0.46
Dinamo Zagreb  89.0 88.5 89.3 91.0 86.0 88.8 222.35 1 6 -5 -0.67
Flamengo  88.0 89.3 89.0 90.0 86.0 88.5 221.98 3 15 -12 -0.73

D2 Season 15 Stats and facts review.

Stoke the top the stats chart but “only “ make the play-offs.


Hellas may feel that they did what they had to but Stoke finishing 4th and 8 places above where they should have been is a greater achievement statistically. Levante also finishing top half when tipped for relegation with a +10 VA is another stunning achievement.

Notably Sevilla also avoided relegation from D2 7 places above where predicted.

Werder , Southampton and Everton all had poor seasons missing out on the play off spots they should have got with Sassuolo being relegated on the lowest VA.

  GK DEF MID ATT Top18 Ave ETOT Pre Fin VA PVA
Stoke City  89.0 88.5 90.0 88.0 85.0 88.1 220.88 12 4 8 2.25
Levante UD  89.0 87.5 87.8 88.5 85.0 87.6 218.61 19 9 10 1.22
Hellas Verona  89.0 90.8 90.5 92.0 86.0 89.7 225.80 1 1 0 1.00
Sevilla  89.0 87.5 87.3 88.5 85.0 87.5 218.21 20 13 7 0.62
Liverpool  90.0 89.0 90.0 91.0 82.0 88.4 222.99 8 6 2 0.50
SL Benfica  93.0 90.5 91.0 90.0 89.0 90.7 225.54 2 2 0 0.50
Ajax  89.0 87.8 90.0 90.5 85.0 88.5 221.91 9 7 2 0.43
Tottenham Hotspur  90.0 89.5 90.5 89.5 86.0 89.1 223.30 6 5 1 0.40
Santos FC  88.0 88.0 88.3 90.5 86.0 88.2 220.71 14 11 3 0.36
Standard Liège  88.0 90.3 89.5 91.5 87.0 89.3 224.32 3 3 0 0.33
Newcastle United  87.0 88.3 89.0 88.0 86.0 87.7 219.76 16 15 1 0.13
SS Lazio  86.0 87.8 88.8 88.0 86.0 87.3 219.04 17 18 -1 0.00
Dynamo Kyiv  89.0 86.5 87.3 90.5 85.0 87.7 218.71 18 20 -2 -0.05
Hamburger SV  91.0 88.0 88.0 89.5 83.0 87.9 219.86 15 17 -2 -0.06
AS Monaco  88.0 89.0 89.5 89.5 85.0 88.2 221.74 10 12 -2 -0.08
FC Schalke 04  90.0 88.0 88.3 90.0 87.0 88.7 220.74 13 16 -3 -0.13
Sassuolo  91.0 90.3 88.3 88.5 85.0 88.6 221.45 11 19 -8 -0.37
Everton  88.0 89.8 90.3 90.5 87.0 89.1 223.83 4 8 -4 -0.38
Southampton  88.0 89.5 90.3 90.5 87.0 89.1 223.63 5 10 -5 -0.40
Werder Bremen  89.0 89.5 90.3 89.5 88.0 89.3 223.22 7 14 -7 -0.43