In September, I wrote that CSKA was heading to D2 for the first time since Season 14, well before I took over. My goal was to stay up, and the stats indicated that CSKA was in the hunt for relegation. Fast forward to the end of the season and CSKA is being promoted to D1 for the first time ever!! We’ll be odds-on favorites for relegation. There are a few cards we could play. Accept that we’ll be underdogs in every game, trade in our impressive youth team, or see how we fare through the first third of the season and decide on what chips to play. I don’t want to tear down our team for short-term benefits. But I also want to be more Sunderland than Luton Town. At the end of the day, we’re still in a transition period with only 3 players above 90 (Carnesecchi, Maguire, Carreras) and were quite lucky to get to D1 so soon.
GK: We have starting GK Carnesecchi (90) entering his prime. Mycael may be our starting youth GK or he may leave – it depends on the deals we make and what room we have. Behind him is Miguel Gouveia, a top Portuguese GK prospect.
RB: Alexander Bah (88), the oft-injured Benfica starter is our starter after we jettisoned KWP. Primary backup is a rotation of two 85 youth players Alex Jimenez and Jon Martin, though neither may be a RB as his primary position. Okoduwa and Jean Mambuku are ones for the future.
CB: Harry Maguire (90) remains the starter with fan favorite Chris Richards (88), from nearby Alabama. Mamadou Sarr (87) and Jan-Carlo Simic (85) continue to progress nicely. We have a few players who can cover here: Jon Martin, Alvaro Carreras, and Lerma. There is a significant amount of young depth between Tyler Meiser, Freddie Simmonds, Baba Kourouma, and Ben Hawighorst, Ishe-Samuels Smith, and Ngana. This may be an area to trade youth for experience.
LB: Alvaro Carreras (90) seems to be the locked in Madrid starter, though it’s one of many clubs in turmoil. Kiernan Tierney was also sold this season. Our primary backup is now Alex Jimenez (85).
DM: Jordan Henderson (89) continues to start alongside Pape Gueye (88). Lerma and Romeo Lavia (87) will be backups. This is an area that had a lot of turnover in the youth ranks. Gone are the Senegalese duo. We retain Ze Lucas, Bouabre, and Sekou Kone. We’ve also added Rafa Quintas, Pereira da Gama, Dierckx, and Samba. A lot of young players getting first-team minutes and likely a position that will entirely turnover in the first team in the coming seasons.
CM: Brazilian Matheus Pereira (88) has taken over for Ziyech. Kendry (85) is his primary backup though he is often spotted smoking hookah at the local square dancing bar. Memphis Depay was brought in to challenge in this spot as well. Many of the DM youth qualify here as do players like Odobert and Isaque.
AM: Iago Aspas (89) and Adingra (88) continue to be starters. Bertrand Traore is the main backup with Mastantuono. Odobert continues to wait for Traore and Aspas to falter. Irankunda, Cavan Sullivan, Isaque, and Ndala remain key youth players.
CF: Ciro Immobile (89) is the starter, though his downgrade is only a matter of time. Aspas and Memphis can fill in here as well. This position remains more potential than results with Danns, Konate, N’guessan, and Bro Hansen all fighting injury or youth.
Marketing: The lure of D1 should be enough to get the Texan crowd away from football and into futbol.
Likely starting lineup: Carnesecchi, Bah, Maguire, Richards, Carreras, Gueye, Henderson, Pereira, Aspas, Adingra, Immobile.
Youth lineup: Mycael, Martin, Sarr, Simic, Jimenez, Ze Lucas, Paez, Irankunda, Mastantuono, Odobert, Konate
Goal: Either stay up or avoid complete embarrassment
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