Review of Hamburger’s season

At the start of Season 20, I had a team half full of 89, 90, 91 and even 92 rated players.

Unfortunately, they had an average age of 93, and a tradeable value of about £94 each.

And even with their decent ratings, my side’s average was still better than only four or five teams in Division Two.

STICKY SITUATION
I was in a sticky situation.

I could stick with what I had and maybe challenge for the playoffs (if I got my tactics right more times than not).

Or, if the SM gods were against me, I could spend the season fighting relegation.

Or I could make the most of what little player exchange value my players still had and rebuild.

TEA AND BISCUITS
With the end of contracts thrust upon us, I felt that I had to be bold.

It was now or never.

If I didn’t move them on now, my players would only decrease in value (and ratings).

They would cost a fortune in tea, biscuits and nappies, before retiring and leaving me with nothing.

To allow me to focus on some kind of rebuild, I brought in a previously unknown but extremely precocious tactical coach, Guglielmo Bardelli.

IMAGINARY FRIEND
My imaginary friend would take over control of all match preparation, team selection, formation and tactical decisions for almost all of the season.

On the few occasions I intervened, we lost.

Bardelli pulled off some audacious wins – Sao Paulo home and away, Genoa in the Shield, Sporting away, Chelsea and Barcelona in the Youth Cup.

We topped the table early on.

But as the season progressed, I was selling ratings for youth and he had less and less to play with (except in the Youth Cup, of course, where he had more and more).

CLEAN SHEETS
More importantly, perhaps, than a few big wins against big teams and big managers, Bardelli ensured victories over teams we knew we had to beat to have any hope of avoiding relegation – including double 1-0 wins over Zenit and River Plate.

Peter Gulacsi was a revelation in goal and between him and his replacement Kepa they kept 12 clean sheets.

We started the season with a 90 rated team of pensioners – Gulacsi, Clauss, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Alba, Naby Keita, Cabella, Luis Suarez, Ashley Young, Slimani, The Ox, Willian, and Enzo Perez.

ALL GONE
They’ve all gone.

Gulacsi (somewhat unfairly I felt) got a -1 in the reviews, as did Vertonghen, Alba, and Luis Suarez.

Naby somewhow retained his 90 rating, but expect he will be at 88 next time.

In their place, I’ve got Kepa (who got a +1 and is now Real Madrid’s new goalkeeper), Marcus Pedersen, Jaka Bijol (who somehow didn’t get a rise this time despite being one of the best performing CBs in Serie A), Quentin Merlin, Sambi Lokonga, Jose Cifuentes, Angelo Stiller (to complete move next season), Emile Smith Rowe, Morgan Gibbs-White, Ander Barrenetxea, Georginio Rutter, Yann Karamoh and Cameron Archer, among others.

NO THOUGHT
I also let go of Willian Pacho (for Smith Rowe), Savio and Ratkov (for Tom Krauss for the Youth Cup effort), and Asllani (for Turati, again for Youth Cup). When I let Pacho go, I had no thought of getting beyond the second round of the Youth Cup, but really did need to strengthen our midfield options for the first team.

My team now has an average rating of 87, which is a huge drop. Alessandro at Ajax tried something similar and unfortunately paid with relegation and his job.

TERRIFIC ACHIEVEMENT
So I was over the moon to finish in 13th place for the second season running, with two more points than before.

We also finished third in the Youth Cup, which was a terrific achievement considering we started with a 67 rated goalkeeper, and a team average of 79 for the opening group game. We’re well set for next season, too.

CRAZY TACTICS
Next season in D2 is going to be very tough. I took over tactical operations again for the final few games of the season, as Guglielmo Bardelli started conceding huge amounts of goals with, frankly, some crazy tactics. He’s now the Technical Director of Football.

Hopefully I can find the right combination to win enough points to stay up, and buy some time for my players to develop in real life and in SM ratings. I’m not saying we have world beaters, but I think the club overall is in a much better position for value and potential going forward than it was at the start of the season.