As we approach the halfway point in the season, let’s have a look at who is sucking oranges or lemons, and who is going to be getting the hairdryer treatment for their efforts so far.
Division Five
Partizan, Lyon, Feyenoord and Spartak currently occupy the bottom four places, three points adrift of Lazio after sixteen games.
Hugely disappointing for Lazio, expected to finish fourth at the start of the season, and Spartak (sixth).
Partizan, Lyon and Feyenoord are all doing more or less as expected, but will surely want to try to improve results in the second half of the season. Feyenoord (relegated last season), in particular, will want to avoid a second successive bottom three finish.
At the top, Shakhtar are already an incredible nine points clear of Basel in second. Rubin, Newcastle, AZ, Independiente and Kyiv are all chasing.
Shakhtar and Basel are really over-achieving so far, as they were expected to finish mid-table at best, so kudos to their managers Dan, on his Top 100 return, and Josh for bucking a lot of unwarranted transfer criticism last season.
Newcastle, like last season, are also doing much better than the stats suggested they would. It would be good if their manager was more active in the game world.
Rubin, AZ, Independiente and Kyiv are all doing more or less what was expected, and will hope to push on in the second half of the season.
A quick shout-out for Wayne at Athletic Club, who were tipped to prop-up the entire game world, but instead sit in eighth place. Athletic also surprised everyone by topping their tough-looking Youth Cup group, so that’s a really great all-round effort so far this season.
Division Four
Incredibly, Augsburg are rock bottom of D4. Tipped to top the table, the German club just missed out on promotion to D3 last season under very experienced and successful manager Paddy. It’s hard to know what’s gone wrong so far, but you would hope that Paddy can turn his season around in the second half. One small consolation is that they have reached Round 4 in both the Top 100 Cup and Shield.
Ajax are in a similar situation, and will be very keen to avoid what would be a third successive relegation for the club.
New Atalanta and Top 100 manager Russell has a really tough job on his hands to stave off relegation, but he’s had a decent start in the Youth Cup with a couple of really good results, so fingers crossed for him.
At the top of D3, Wolfsburg are going great guns under new manager Freddie, while Brugge and Santos will be hoping to complete second successive promotion seasons.
Olympiacos are having another good season, and Lokomotiv are motoring under new manager Landucci. Montpellier are doing much better than expected under manager Stuart, although they will be disappointed with their failings in the Youth Cup.
Division Three
Twente and Hoffenheim are where the stats predicted they will end up, but both have strengthened so will hope to climb up the table.
Galatasaray are the big underperformers so far. Sassuolo and Stuttgart had good starts, but have worryingly dropped off since. A change of manager at Stuttgart may halt that decline – or may not, as much criticism has been directed at new gaffer Feargal’s transfer activity.
At the top, Zagreb are flying under Dave Inglis, while Spurs are super-charged under Pedro (who has successfully avoided yet another transfer ban… so far!).
Flamengo were expected to follow last season’s promotion with a similar effort this time, and manager Carl will hope to push on from mid-table in the second half of the season.
Inter and Hamburg are there or thereabouts and will hope to improve as the season goes on.
Standard Liege have been horrible so far and are the big underachievers in D3 to date.
Division Two
Werder Bremen and Southampton are exactly where the stats predicted they will finish the season at the bottom of D2. Managers DouDou and RJ have their work cut out to save their seasons.
Everton are the big underachievers so far. Expected to challenge for the playoffs at least, they sit second bottom under new manager Scallotti – the most successful manager in Top 100 history (according to some).
Liverpool are also struggling this time around, and it will be interesting to see how Chris’s ageing side can move forward as the season progresses.
At the top, Milan (expected to go down) are the big overachievers in D2, in second. The cup experts are out of the cups and can concentrate on the league. If they can keep this up, it surely won’t be long before a “big club” comes in for manager Andrew?
Manchester City, Levante, Internacional, Sporting and Schalke are all up there where they were expected to be, so it’s going to be a very tough second half in D2.
Division One
Villa, Valencia and Fenerbahce are all in the bottom three where they are expected to stay. Villa look to have given up all hope.
As usual, Glen’s Espanyol (expected to finish last) continue to surprise and punch above their weight (just).
New Manchester United manager Tharani will be hoping to move up the table with his new signings and impressive start.
At the top, Porto have got off to a flying start for once, and will be hoping they can keep their form going all season. Barcelona and Leicester are both doing better than either of their managers might have hoped at the start of the season, while the big (perennial) underachievers to date are Bojan’s perennial title no-hopers Bayern.*
*UPDATE: Bojan rightly complained that I am wrong to mischaracterise his team as perennial underachievers. Looking back through the records, I can see that Bojan has consistently achieved or bettered his expected league position of sixth or seventh in all of his ten seasons at the helm. I therefore unreservedly apologise and retract my incorrect earlier smear.
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