Half-time report

Espanyol tonight drew 1-1 with Porto to move up to 8th at the half way stage of the season.

Predicted to finish 18th and ultimately be relegated its been a solid first half of the season for the Spanish side. Wins against Giants , Chelsea, Bayern, Barcelona and Dortmund is an impressive haul from the first 19 games.

The Manager has continued to wheel and deal with no less than 34 deals completed during the first half of the season, as the clubs trading model through activity continues to see the team continually punch above its weight season upon season.

Early cup exits have been off set by a strong run in the WCC Cup, whilst the youth team qualified for the knockout stages with a 100% win record.

Every season the club identifies experienced heads who can do a job for a season, to compensate for the thriving academy which is now the strongest its ever been. Sesko has been joined by German International Maximilian Beier and Brazilan International Vitor Roque this season in what’s becoming an embarrassment of riches in the youth striking department. Just this past week another German kid was scoring a hat-trick on his Werder Bremen debut in Keke Topp, whilst teenage sensation Ben Seghir was also on target along with fellow youth player Lamine Camara as Monaco beat Lyon in France.

it’s been a good August for Espanyols youth team with Rodriguez, Delorge, Beire, Camara, Mawissa , Topp and Amenda all securing big money moves to big clubs which will ultimately see them rise again at the next update due to the big values they moved for. All have already settled into first team action.

No fewer than 32 players received a rise during the latest round updates with players like Baturina, Wharton, Sesko, Beire and Perez now getting league minutes for the first team despite still being youth players following positive rises to bring them into contention.

There has been some high profile exits too with Olmo, Firmino, Laporte, Felix , Sterling , Otavio, Pepe, Collins , De Paul, Almada , Jones , Marcia , Gomes and Kamada amongst others exiting throughout the season.

“We are well ahead of where we should be, first team wise its a very small squad with just 15 first team players which includes two goalkeepers. However tactically we are grinding results out through flexibility and not being set on one formation. We change from game to game to maximise options but also to catch out the opposition. Its going to be a tough old slog to get the 13 points we need over the next 19 games with Felix and Laporte due to exit, however we are hopeful that Douglas Luiz’s arrival will boost us. The Saudi update saw the team take a big hit with drops to 3 of the starting 11, though we’ve responded well by winning 2 and drawing 1 of last three fixtures. There is some big clubs chasing us down, and with all updates now done, it’s going to come down to smart transfers for many of those , especially as injuries and suspensions hit. Nothing is won first half of the season, however we’ve given ourselves a fantastic platform to once again defy the odds and retain our division 1 status ahead of November’s updates which should boost us again. The aim is to stay up and if that’s 17th we would take that right now. Its getting harder to get deals done with easily a 50% drop in activity in the market through inactivity of the community. With each job change it appears to have stifled the market further with active Managers leaving and their clubs being taken by less active. Of course with a progressive squad of players as we have in our academy, the less activity there is, the better our chances of success becomes”.