2024
CSKA Season Recap
Since CSKA Moscow TX's founding in September 2022, we've obviously had our purchase by private equity, rebranding, and relocation. Chris' Soccer Kids Academy is home to some of the world's best young talent. But have the on-field product and results improved?
From a results standpoint, I took over a team in the bottom of half of D4 at around the midyear point. CSKA Moscow was a yo-yo team between D2 and D3 through the first 10 seasons of Top100 and were an annual D4 team when I took over. We were promoted into D3 in the second full season, then finished 4th from bottom in D3. We have now yo-yo'd back to D3 after a nice run of form in the 2nd half of the season. In order to say that the on-field product has improved, we need to stay in D3 next season. Anything less will be an on-field failure.
From a talent perspective, there really was no youth academy. By my count I believe there were 10 youth players, mostly Scandinavian. I would say Arne Engels or Nanasi were the best inherited youth. CSKA now boast the likes of Kendry, Mastantuano, Konate, Musah, Odobert and many others. All well and good, but the first team is what matters. The team I inherited had Robert Sanchez (88), Denis Suarez (89), Gaetan Laborde (88), and Chris Smalling (88), Seba Coates (89) as it's over 88 players with a smattering of aging 87s who were about to be downgraded (think Luciano Vietto, Bartosz Berezynski-esque). Our talisman is now Marcelo Brozovic (92) along with 7 other 88+ players. I do think the first team has improved and expect the summer ratings will help our cause a bit.
What does this all mean? CSKA is glad to have been re-promoted to D3. But we need to aim higher. If CSKA yo-yos again, the American owners are likely to cut ties with the current manager. The Board's aim is to take the club to the glory and riches of D1 for the first time in club history.
Mia san mia
With the season 22 just finished, I decided to look back at my time in Bayer till today and write short story about it.
I joined Bayern in the middle of the season 11. In second half of the season, we managed to get club to Top 3 after disaster that happened in season 10, when they finished record low at 9th place. After this season I had to decide how to progress with the club. Bayern had done, in seasons before, some of the deals that they were not ideal for a manager who is thinking in long term and see club like a project and not just temporary step in career. Club had a lot of players that they were in late 20s and beginning of 30s. Slowly we started to buy players with lower age and began with systematic scouting for potential future stars that could help Bayern in long term development. At the same time we had to be really smart and also careful. There was contracts/goals to achieve set by bosses of GW. Most of the contracts that we signed had goal set at minimum Top6 or one of the Cup wins. How hard was the system of contracts, having always in mind present and future, can tell us just a quick look where we can nowadays find some of the big names in football. Is just few clubs that they are still there in top 10 if we compare it with the beginning of Top100 GW. On the other side there are some big clubs, institutions in world of football, that we can see today in lower divisions or having hard time in D1.
Even with this challenging task we managed to finish in next ten full seasons three times in Top 4, managed to win Top100 Cup in first full season in charge (season 12) and again in season 17. In following season 18, we managed to win Charity Shield and season later, 19, we won Top100 Shield. In all season under my work here in Bayern we always finished in Top7 (1x 3rd, 3x 4th, 2x 5th, 2x 6th and 4x 7th). Some may call me “Mister Consistency” but I would rather call myself “Mister Stability” which is hard job to achieve in Top100 GW.
This season, 22, we managed to finish 7th. We were hoping for something more, but I can be satisfied with performance and results of the team after Turn 21. Just short statistic input: till end of Turn 21 Bayern had in average 1,476 points per game (31 points). From this Turn till the end, we managed to achieve (next 17 Turns) 2.0 average points per game, 34 points (small input info - title winner this season, Verona, had 2.05 point in average per game in 38 Turns). This significant difference in average points came when we changed our tactic and arrival of Harry Kane, who will be instrumental in next seasons.
Future of Bayern looks bright. This season we said goodbye to Muller and Griezmann - will be big job to replaced them in starting 11. Loosing 92 and 94 player is bad for now but for the future is right decision. Next season will be last one for our servant Kroos so we are preparing that our young players will get more chances and more responsibility in seasons ahead.
Our attack for next season will lead our new captain Harry Kane (30 years), Kroos (34) will be our co-captain. On RW will start Kubo (23) and on LW Doku (22), which goes hand in hand with our policy of development young players and get them ready for future. Substitutions for those three positions will be CF Evanilson (24 years), LW Gibbs-White (24) and RW Brennan Johnson (23).
In midfield will be our wizard Kroos together with Onana (22) and Goretzka (29). Behind are waiting for opportunity three players that we’re really looking forward how they develop in next reviews. Bilal El Khannouss (20), Habib Diarra (20) and Marlon Gomes (20).
In defence experience is always a key factor of stability. Tomiyasu (25) on RB and Robertson (30) on LB will assist our attackers and beside on CB positions we will see Rudiger (31) and Le Normand (27). For the cup games there will be ready players like Dedic (21), Gabbia (24), Lacroix (24) and Mauro Junior (25).
In GK position we are trusting that Onana (28) can keep his head on right place and continue with performance from last two season.
As seen there is a lot of young players that will get a chance in first team in following seasons. But this not all talent that we have in youth team. Amazing youth development department and scouting department managed to bring in some names that are already well know in world of football. Names like Camarda (16), De Cat (15), Cocchi (17), Lewis-Skelly (17), Zeze (18), Guiu (18), Guilherme (18), Uzun (18), Goes (19), Kumbedi (19), De Winter (21) and Rohl (21) are just some of the biggest stars of our youth squad that will represent us in youth competitions in next season and hopefully one day replaced players like Kroos or Kane.
I am proud of story that I managed to do in 519 games in charge. Future of the club is looking bright, and the potential of the team is much higher than when I came to the club. Hopefully our project will develop in right direction and that one day we will be proud on this team when they win Division 1 title - with me being in charge or someone else. It’s a long shot, but we seen already that some of this project, like Verona for example, are working when you give them time. Stability is a key to success in Top100.
Mia san mia (We are who we are)
Division 5 Season 22 Stats and fact review
Shaktar +11 VA and +12 PVA win the title.
It would be hard to deny that Shaktar have the performance of the year in D5, fellow promoted teams Boca and Rubin sit 2nd and 3rd in the stats.
4 more teams have +6 VA, Basel, Villareal, Newcastle and Athletic club showing great managerial talent. Lower down the league Lazio finish as the lowest rated team -13 VA , with Bordeaux who should have finished 2nd on -8 VA and Independiente on -5 VA. Spartak and Dynamo Moscow both have -10VA.
In this division none of the top 3 finished in the top 3 and only Lyon of the lowest 5 finished in the lowest 5 showing that a quick turn around in D5 is easily possible.
| GK | DEF | MID | ATT | Top18 | Ave | ETOT | Pre | Fin | VA | PVA | |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 87.0 | 87.8 | 87.6 | 87.0 | 83.0 | 86.5 | 217.23 | 12 | 1 | 11 | 12.00 |
| Boca Juniors | 88.0 | 86.3 | 88.6 | 88.0 | 83.0 | 86.8 | 217.60 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 2.33 |
| Rubin Kazan | 88.0 | 87.3 | 88.4 | 89.0 | 84.0 | 87.3 | 219.01 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 2.00 |
| FC Basel | 87.0 | 87.8 | 87.2 | 87.0 | 85.0 | 86.8 | 217.15 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 1.00 |
| Villarreal CF | 86.0 | 87.5 | 87.2 | 87.0 | 85.0 | 86.5 | 216.83 | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0.88 |
| Newcastle United | 87.0 | 87.0 | 86.8 | 87.0 | 85.0 | 86.6 | 216.23 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 0.64 |
| Dynamo Kyiv | 86.0 | 87.0 | 87.4 | 89.0 | 86.0 | 87.1 | 218.01 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 0.60 |
| Athletic Club | 87.0 | 86.0 | 86.6 | 87.0 | 84.0 | 86.1 | 215.15 | 20 | 14 | 6 | 0.50 |
| Feyenoord | 88.0 | 86.3 | 86.8 | 88.0 | 86.0 | 87.0 | 216.52 | 16 | 13 | 3 | 0.31 |
| FK Partizan | 87.0 | 85.5 | 87.0 | 89.0 | 82.0 | 86.1 | 216.13 | 18 | 15 | 3 | 0.27 |
| Besiktas JK | 88.0 | 87.0 | 87.4 | 88.0 | 85.0 | 87.1 | 217.48 | 10 | 9 | 1 | 0.22 |
| AZ Alkmaar | 87.0 | 88.3 | 88.2 | 89.0 | 86.0 | 87.7 | 219.77 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 0.00 |
| Olympique Lyonnais | 87.0 | 86.3 | 87.4 | 87.0 | 85.0 | 86.5 | 216.11 | 19 | 20 | -1 | 0.00 |
| Olympique Marseille | 87.0 | 88.0 | 87.2 | 87.0 | 86.0 | 87.0 | 217.47 | 11 | 12 | -1 | 0.00 |
| Chievo Verona | 88.0 | 86.5 | 86.8 | 88.0 | 85.0 | 86.9 | 216.60 | 15 | 19 | -4 | -0.16 |
| Dynamo Moskva | 87.0 | 87.0 | 88.0 | 88.0 | 85.0 | 87.0 | 217.84 | 8 | 18 | -10 | -0.50 |
| Spartak Moskva | 87.0 | 87.5 | 88.6 | 88.0 | 85.0 | 87.2 | 218.72 | 6 | 16 | -10 | -0.56 |
| Independiente | 89.0 | 88.3 | 88.6 | 90.0 | 85.0 | 88.2 | 220.86 | 1 | 6 | -5 | -0.67 |
| Girondins Bordeaux | 87.0 | 88.0 | 87.2 | 91.0 | 85.0 | 87.6 | 219.95 | 2 | 10 | -8 | -0.70 |
| SS Lazio | 89.0 | 87.5 | 89.2 | 88.0 | 84.0 | 87.5 | 219.32 | 4 | 17 | -13 | -0.71 |
Division 4 Season 22 Stats and Facts review.
Fiorentina +16 VA lead the stats in the wildest division of them all.
Division 4 was incredibly tight at the start and this has led to some mad VA and PVA.
Fiorentina top of the stats and 2nd in the league with a PVA of +8.50 lead league winners Brugge who were 3 places above expected. Sevilla with +10 VA make the playoffs and Napoli who should have relegated also have +10 VA. Montpellier on +5 VA and Wolfsburg on +4 are notable over performers.
When it went wrong it really did. Augsburg who should have won the league were relegated and Ajax have had a mighty fall on -10 VA. Tornio also relegated on – 10 VA. The only predicted relegation team to drop were predictably Atalanta. 6 of the top 7 did finish in those positions.
| GK | DEF | MID | ATT | Top18 | Ave | ETOT | Pre | Fin | VA | PVA | |
| ACF Fiorentina | 88.0 | 87.0 | 87.2 | 87.0 | 85.0 | 86.8 | 216.67 | 18 | 2 | 16 | 8.50 |
| Club Brugge KV | 88.0 | 88.0 | 88.0 | 89.0 | 85.0 | 87.6 | 219.41 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4.00 |
| SEVILLA | 88.0 | 86.8 | 87.6 | 87.0 | 86.0 | 87.1 | 216.91 | 16 | 6 | 10 | 1.83 |
| SSC Napoli | 88.0 | 87.0 | 86.8 | 87.5 | 85.0 | 86.9 | 216.64 | 19 | 9 | 10 | 1.22 |
| Olympiacos | 88.0 | 87.5 | 88.0 | 89.0 | 86.0 | 87.7 | 219.13 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 1.00 |
| VfL Wolfsburg | 88.0 | 87.0 | 87.6 | 88.0 | 86.0 | 87.3 | 217.76 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0.63 |
| Montpellier HSC | 88.0 | 87.0 | 87.2 | 87.0 | 86.0 | 87.0 | 216.79 | 17 | 12 | 5 | 0.50 |
| Lokomotiv Moskva | 88.0 | 87.0 | 88.0 | 88.0 | 83.0 | 86.8 | 217.72 | 13 | 10 | 3 | 0.40 |
| AS Monaco | 89.0 | 86.8 | 88.6 | 89.0 | 86.0 | 87.9 | 219.13 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0.40 |
| AS Saint-Etienne | 87.0 | 87.3 | 87.2 | 88.0 | 85.0 | 86.9 | 217.40 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 0.36 |
| CSKA Moskva | 86.0 | 87.8 | 88.8 | 89.0 | 86.0 | 87.5 | 219.73 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0.33 |
| Atalanta BC | 88.0 | 86.0 | 87.2 | 88.0 | 85.0 | 86.8 | 216.52 | 20 | 20 | 0 | 0.05 |
| PSV | 88.0 | 86.8 | 86.8 | 89.0 | 82.0 | 86.5 | 217.09 | 15 | 17 | -2 | -0.06 |
| AS Roma | 87.0 | 88.3 | 87.2 | 88.0 | 85.0 | 87.1 | 218.20 | 11 | 14 | -3 | -0.14 |
| Santos FC | 88.0 | 87.8 | 88.3 | 88.0 | 87.0 | 87.8 | 219.00 | 8 | 13 | -5 | -0.31 |
| Zenit Saint Petersburg | 88.0 | 86.8 | 88.2 | 89.0 | 83.0 | 87.0 | 218.33 | 10 | 16 | -6 | -0.31 |
| Torino | 89.0 | 87.3 | 88.2 | 88.0 | 87.0 | 87.9 | 218.68 | 9 | 19 | -10 | -0.47 |
| Lille OSC | 90.0 | 87.3 | 88.8 | 89.0 | 86.0 | 88.2 | 219.81 | 2 | 7 | -5 | -0.57 |
| Ajax | 89.0 | 87.5 | 88.6 | 89.0 | 82.0 | 87.2 | 219.25 | 5 | 15 | -10 | -0.60 |
| FC Augsburg | 89.0 | 88.0 | 88.2 | 89.0 | 87.0 | 88.2 | 219.93 | 1 | 18 | -17 | -0.89 |
Division 3 Season 22 Stats and Facts review.
Swans sail away majestically with 1st in league best VA and PVA in division.
Always a strong favourite to over perform with a lethal attack Swansea never the less finished 6 places above expected. Playoff bound palace 2nd in the stats with a VA of +6 are ranked just above Zagreb who came in 2nd in the league. Another team with +6 VA is Dnipro; while finishing 9th they should have been 15th so a return to form to the overperformers of the past. A shout out to Beddows and Sampdoria who on +4VA were the other notable over achievers.
It all went wrong for Liege who just escaped relegation on -9 VA and Galatasaray who didn’t also on – 9 VA. Borussia Monchengladbach also fell into the relegation hole on -6 VA. The top of the table was fairly close to what was predicted and lower down there was a fair correlation with the predicted relegation teams usually 2 to 3 places higher if they escaped.
| GK | DEF | MID | ATT | Top18 | Ave | ETOT | Pre | Fin | VA | PVA | |
| Swansea City | 87.0 | 88.3 | 88.6 | 91.0 | 87.0 | 88.4 | 221.51 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 7.00 |
| Crystal Palace | 88.0 | 88.3 | 88.5 | 89.5 | 86.0 | 88.1 | 220.46 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 1.17 |
| Dinamo Zagreb | 89.0 | 88.8 | 88.6 | 91.0 | 86.0 | 88.7 | 222.03 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1.00 |
| Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 88.0 | 87.3 | 88.8 | 88.5 | 86.0 | 87.7 | 219.21 | 15 | 9 | 6 | 0.78 |
| West Ham United | 89.0 | 88.5 | 88.8 | 90.0 | 86.0 | 88.5 | 221.34 | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0.43 |
| Sampdoria | 87.0 | 88.0 | 87.8 | 89.0 | 85.0 | 87.4 | 219.13 | 16 | 12 | 4 | 0.42 |
| Cruzeiro | 89.0 | 88.8 | 88.8 | 88.0 | 85.0 | 87.9 | 220.12 | 13 | 11 | 2 | 0.27 |
| US Sassuolo | 88.0 | 86.8 | 87.6 | 88.0 | 85.0 | 87.1 | 217.44 | 18 | 15 | 3 | 0.27 |
| TSG 1899 Hoffenheim | 86.0 | 87.0 | 87.6 | 88.0 | 85.0 | 86.7 | 217.40 | 19 | 16 | 3 | 0.25 |
| Hamburger SV | 92.0 | 89.3 | 89.2 | 89.0 | 86.0 | 89.1 | 221.97 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0.25 |
| Tottenham Hotspur | 88.0 | 89.0 | 88.8 | 89.0 | 85.0 | 88.0 | 220.85 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 0.20 |
| FC Twente | 87.0 | 85.0 | 85.8 | 86.0 | 83.0 | 85.4 | 212.90 | 20 | 19 | 1 | 0.11 |
| VfB Stuttgart | 89.0 | 87.3 | 88.6 | 88.0 | 85.0 | 87.6 | 218.76 | 17 | 18 | -1 | 0.00 |
| Sunderland | 89.0 | 89.5 | 89.0 | 89.0 | 85.0 | 88.3 | 221.53 | 6 | 8 | -2 | -0.13 |
| Málaga CF | 88.0 | 88.8 | 89.2 | 89.0 | 85.0 | 88.0 | 220.97 | 10 | 13 | -3 | -0.15 |
| Borussia Mönchengladbach | 87.0 | 87.8 | 88.4 | 89.0 | 85.0 | 87.4 | 219.41 | 14 | 20 | -6 | -0.25 |
| Internazionale | 90.0 | 90.3 | 90.6 | 91.0 | 87.0 | 89.8 | 225.07 | 1 | 3 | -2 | -0.33 |
| Flamengo | 88.0 | 88.8 | 89.8 | 91.0 | 87.0 | 88.9 | 222.99 | 2 | 5 | -3 | -0.40 |
| Galatasaray SK | 88.0 | 89.0 | 89.4 | 89.0 | 86.0 | 88.3 | 221.45 | 8 | 17 | -9 | -0.47 |
| Standard Liège | 91.0 | 88.0 | 89.6 | 90.0 | 85.0 | 88.7 | 221.70 | 5 | 14 | -9 | -0.57 |
Division 2 Season 22 Stats and Facts review
+14 VA Milan top the stats
A team that was a relegation favourite gets auto promotion is a great success story. 5 pts clear of 4th and a well-deserved promotion for AC Milan.
Man City may feel that they did all they could and won the league with room to spare in the end but that is what they should have achieved so they are 2nd in the stats. Play off Stoke on +4 VA and their companions in the lottery Hertha are 3rd and 4th in the stats. River Plate also escaped the relegation zone and have +5 VA.
The big flops in division 2 were relegated Celta on -5VA and more so Everton on -10 who also go down. Liverpool and Sporting would hope for much better next season.
Werder and Southampton were relegated as predicted, 7/8 of the predicted top 8 finished in those positions. Perhaps indicating the top of D2 in less random than the lower half.
| GK | DEF | MID | ATT | Top18 | Ave | ETOT | Pre | Fin | VA | PVA | |
| AC Milan | 88.0 | 88.8 | 88.8 | 89.0 | 87.0 | 88.3 | 220.89 | 17 | 3 | 14 | 5.00 |
| Manchester City | 94.0 | 90.8 | 92.8 | 93.0 | 86.0 | 91.3 | 228.89 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1.00 |
| Stoke City | 90.0 | 89.8 | 90.2 | 91.0 | 87.0 | 89.6 | 224.35 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0.75 |
| Hertha BSC | 90.0 | 89.0 | 89.4 | 91.0 | 86.0 | 89.1 | 222.99 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0.50 |
| Levante UD | 90.0 | 90.8 | 91.2 | 91.0 | 87.0 | 90.0 | 225.95 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0.50 |
| Udinese Calcio | 88.0 | 89.0 | 89.6 | 89.0 | 87.0 | 88.5 | 221.73 | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0.44 |
| River Plate | 90.0 | 87.5 | 89.0 | 89.0 | 85.0 | 88.1 | 220.05 | 19 | 14 | 5 | 0.43 |
| West Bromwich Albion | 91.0 | 89.0 | 89.0 | 89.0 | 85.0 | 88.6 | 221.37 | 15 | 12 | 3 | 0.33 |
| Celtic | 89.0 | 88.8 | 88.8 | 89.5 | 86.0 | 88.4 | 221.18 | 16 | 13 | 3 | 0.31 |
| RSC Anderlecht | 90.0 | 89.8 | 89.4 | 89.0 | 87.0 | 89.0 | 222.41 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 0.10 |
| Werder Bremen | 88.0 | 88.8 | 88.0 | 89.0 | 85.0 | 87.8 | 220.01 | 20 | 20 | 0 | 0.05 |
| Southampton | 89.0 | 88.0 | 89.2 | 89.0 | 85.0 | 88.0 | 220.49 | 18 | 19 | -1 | 0.00 |
| 1. FC Köln | 89.0 | 88.5 | 89.0 | 90.0 | 85.0 | 88.3 | 221.38 | 14 | 16 | -2 | -0.06 |
| Paris Saint-Germain | 88.0 | 90.0 | 89.2 | 90.0 | 87.0 | 88.8 | 222.86 | 9 | 11 | -2 | -0.09 |
| FC Schalke 04 | 91.0 | 90.0 | 90.2 | 91.0 | 86.0 | 89.6 | 224.55 | 5 | 7 | -2 | -0.14 |
| SC Internacional | 90.0 | 89.5 | 89.8 | 93.0 | 88.0 | 90.1 | 225.25 | 3 | 5 | -2 | -0.20 |
| Liverpool | 88.0 | 90.3 | 88.8 | 89.0 | 87.0 | 88.6 | 222.09 | 11 | 15 | -4 | -0.20 |
| Celta Vigo | 88.0 | 87.5 | 89.6 | 91.0 | 86.0 | 88.4 | 221.71 | 13 | 18 | -5 | -0.22 |
| Sporting CP | 90.0 | 89.8 | 90.4 | 92.0 | 86.0 | 89.6 | 225.04 | 4 | 8 | -4 | -0.38 |
| Everton | 89.0 | 90.5 | 90.8 | 90.0 | 84.0 | 88.9 | 224.30 | 7 | 17 | -10 | -0.53 |
Division 1 Season22 Stats and facts review.
All Hail Hellas.
For those new to the league VA = Value added , how many places above your predicted position your club finishes.
PVA = Positional value added, which takes into account where you finished.
The top of the table leaves you little room to get a good PVA in D1. Hellas finished 1 place better than they should and top the stats and the league. Chelsea who finished 1 place behind are also 2nd in the stats, with over performing Sao Paulo with the best league VA of +6 3rd in the stats. A shout out to Geno also 4th in the stats on +4 VA.
The only shout out underperformers were Juventus, 4 places below predicted and Atletico on -7VA who are the worse place statistically. Only Espanyol escaped relegation as predicted with all 4 relegated sides coming from the 6 lowest rated and all 4 top side from the 4 highest rated.
| Gk | Def | Mid | Att | Top18 | Ave | ETOT | Pre | Fin | VA | PVA | |
| Hellas Verona | 94.0 | 92.3 | 92.8 | 96.0 | 89.0 | 92.8 | 232.40 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2.00 |
| Chelsea | 95.0 | 92.0 | 93.3 | 95.3 | 85.0 | 92.1 | 231.83 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1.50 |
| São Paulo F | 90.0 | 90.0 | 91.2 | 92.0 | 86.0 | 89.8 | 225.88 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 1.40 |
| Genoa CFC | 90.0 | 90.8 | 90.6 | 90.0 | 87.0 | 89.7 | 224.82 | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0.50 |
| Barcelona | 92.0 | 91.0 | 91.8 | 93.0 | 86.0 | 90.8 | 228.05 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0.50 |
| Leicester City | 90.0 | 91.3 | 91.2 | 92.0 | 85.0 | 89.9 | 226.76 | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0.38 |
| RCD Espanyol | 88.0 | 87.0 | 91.0 | 89.7 | 87.0 | 88.5 | 221.68 | 20 | 16 | 4 | 0.31 |
| Bayer Leverkusen | 90.0 | 89.8 | 90.6 | 90.0 | 87.0 | 89.5 | 224.02 | 16 | 15 | 1 | 0.13 |
| Real Madrid | 89.0 | 90.0 | 90.4 | 92.0 | 87.0 | 89.7 | 225.24 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 0.08 |
| SL Benfica | 95.0 | 89.8 | 90.0 | 91.3 | 86.0 | 90.4 | 224.87 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 0.08 |
| Fenerbahçe SK | 88.0 | 89.3 | 89.9 | 90.0 | 86.0 | 88.6 | 222.69 | 18 | 18 | 0 | 0.06 |
| Aston Villa | 88.0 | 89.5 | 89.6 | 90.0 | 85.0 | 88.4 | 222.54 | 19 | 20 | -1 | 0.00 |
| Bayern München | 91.0 | 91.8 | 92.8 | 94.0 | 86.0 | 91.1 | 229.98 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 0.00 |
| FC Porto | 94.0 | 91.5 | 93.8 | 96.0 | 86.0 | 92.3 | 232.20 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 0.00 |
| Valencia CF | 88.0 | 88.5 | 89.6 | 92.0 | 86.0 | 88.8 | 223.16 | 17 | 19 | -2 | -0.05 |
| Manchester United | 89.0 | 90.5 | 90.0 | 91.0 | 83.0 | 88.7 | 224.19 | 15 | 17 | -2 | -0.06 |
| Arsenal | 90.0 | 91.3 | 91.6 | 92.0 | 86.0 | 90.2 | 227.20 | 9 | 11 | -2 | -0.09 |
| Borussia Dortmund | 92.0 | 92.8 | 93.8 | 95.0 | 87.0 | 92.1 | 232.47 | 1 | 3 | -2 | -0.33 |
| Juventus | 93.0 | 93.3 | 92.4 | 92.0 | 89.0 | 91.9 | 230.16 | 5 | 9 | -4 | -0.33 |
| Atlético Madrid | 91.0 | 90.8 | 90.6 | 95.0 | 86.0 | 90.7 | 228.07 | 7 | 14 | -7 | -0.43 |
Most Last Place Managers
I did think twice about posting this, as I don't want to upset anyone. It's just a game at the end of the day, and these are just stats which don't always tell the whole story.
For one thing, there are plenty of managers here who have won titles and trophies as well, and who are active and valued members of the Top 100 community. Sometimes it just needs a change of luck, club, or maybe perseverance to stay with one club to achieve success.
Obviously, Most Bottoms is a record no one wants, but the stats (and the bottoms) are there staring me in the face so it's impossible to ignore.
Now, it should be noted at this point that while those managers winning title after title and never finishing lower than 2nd place are great managers, those managers finishing bottom more often than most are simply unlucky. The SM algorithm was out to get them. The match engine is rubbish. They had bad teams given to them. Real life got in the way.
All these are perfectly valid excuses, of course, and if it wasn't for the guys occupying positions 4-20 in the table every season there would be no winners or runners-up.
And without their perseverance in the face of season after season of hopelessness there would be no Top 100.
So, without further ado, let's get right down to it, and see the faces behind these bottoms, as it were, er.
In reverse order....
There are quite a few managers who have TWO bottom place finishes on their record. Jamie Alldridge, Alex Borel, Padraig Corcoran, Gareth Crisp, Joao Alves, Nicky Thomson, Walter Gogh (two and a half, really). Some of those were double relegations, some were double relegations with different clubs.
On THREE 20th place finishes, we have Lee Adams, Gianluca Ghio, Feargal Hickey, Ashley Holtom, Alessandro Ioli, Rahul, Gerrit Vogeleer.
Lee Adams starts us off. If you look at Lee's overall record, you can see he also suffered five more relegation seasons.
So in EIGHT out of his sixteen seasons in Top 100 he got relegated. I don't know how he stuck it out so long. Ironically he quit last season after his best ever finish in 8th with Spartak!
Independiente are currently 6th in D5 under manager Ginaluca Ghio with one to play. Gianluca had the misfortune to start Top 100 with three successive last place finishes! They're doing a lot better now, and even won the Top 100 Shield last season!
Only Jimmy Gouldie at Southampton last season amassed fewer points in a season than Ginaluca in his first season.
Feargal Hickey has not had the luck of the Irish with him for his hattrick of bottoms, and now a fifth relegation with Stuttgart this season.
Hattrick for Ashley Holtom! Five clubs in six seasons. Two successive 20th places was enough.
Alessandro Ioli had a tough start in Top 100 with three last place finishes in his first five seasons at Bordeaux.
Within two seasons of leaving, he won D3 with Dynamo Kyiv and is undoubtedly their most successful manager.
Now, I think that Rahul is held in very high regard by most, if not all, of us as a manager and for his work on ratings predictions (particularly on the old forums). But Rahul also has three bottom places to his name.
Last of the triple fallen crown winners is Gerrit Vogeleer. I remember Gerrit in the early seasons seemingly always finishing bottom, and wondering what he had done to merit such bad luck season after season no matter which team he had.
Are there any managers who have FOUR bottoms? YES! There is one. But he also has FIVE bottoms!
Here he is, our winner! Golden Bear!
Now, to be fair to GB, I know last season was a difficult one for him personally. He's another like Gerrit who I remember having an incredibly unlucky run back in the early days with five relegations in seven seasons, including three back-to-back each with different clubs.
Let's finish on a positive note - Bear is a mainstay in Top 100 from the beginning, and took Atalanta to the D5 title in S12 (although he quit to take Anderlecht before the final games and so doesn't have that officially on his record), took Anderlecht back to D1 in his first season there, and won D5 again with his current team AZ. He's got an outside chance of the top three again this season, and must have a good chance in the playoffs otherwise.
Games of the Week
D5
- Boca v. Lyon
- Lyon sit bottom of top 100 but can still play spoiler as Chris Union's Boca look to secure promotion to D4.
- AZ v. Independiente
- AZ could leapfrog Boca with a Boca loss (or a resounding win coupled with a Boca tie). Independiente is comfortably in the playoffs - will Gianluca look to rest his team?
- Lazio v. Shakhtar
- Lazio need a point to stay out of the bottom 3. They take on runaway league leaders led by Dan Wallace. Could we see an upset with one team playing only for pride?
D4
- CSKA v, Sevilla
- A point will see CSKA promoted while Sevilla likely need a win. It should be a cagey match.
- Olympiacos v. Wolfsburg
- Wolfsburg are look to climb back into the playoffs while Olympiacos have an outside chance at automatic promotion.
- Zenit/Augsburg/PSV/Ajax/Torino
- None play each other, all can be relegated. The bottom of D4 is tight.
D3
- Inter v. Sunderland
- Assuming any point deductions for the Italian side will take effect next year, Inter is playing for auto promotion while Sunderland led by Alessandro look to make it into the playoffs
- Hamburg v. Stuttgart
- Stuttgart look to play spoilers and keep the commish's team in the playoffs.
- Gala v. Sassuolo
- Attila v. Hussain as Sassuolo look to stay above the relegation zone, which is likely barring a 2 goal defeat.
D2
With promotion and relegation decided (!!!) the last playoff spot is the only thing up for grabs. Schalke take on Liverpool, Sporting face Manchester City, and Udinese take on a hapless Celtic team. Only one will be playoff-bound
D1
- Hellas v. Chelsea
- It's the game of the week as league leaders Hellas take on Chelsea. Chelsea need a win to secure another playoff title while Andre's Hellas side can squeak by with a draw.
- Espanyol v. Sao Paolo
- Another McKenzie will be seeking a win to finish top 4. In his way is Glen's Espanyol team, which is doing a deep dive to end the season as it looks to stave off Manchester United in the final relegation spot.
- Manchester United v, Bayern
- Bayern can't move much in the table but Bojan can ease Glen's worries by getting a result against Tharani's Man United side.
Youth Cup Final
Levante won their fifth Youth Cup beating Benfica 4-1 over two legs.
The Spanish team dominated both games to win their fourth Youth Cup in a row.
Benfica lost in the final for the second season running.
Congrats to Salvo, and commiserations to Gregg.
