Another blog means another season has flown by here with Ed Lasso at IACC. If you need to catch up on season 2 then go here before reading any further.
So with an incredible first season back in the top division of Argentina, IACC had broken all sorts of club records on the way to a superb 2nd place finish behind the mighty Boca Juniors. Morale was high yet the financial worry still loomed over the club. Would we have to sell our assets to avoid slipping further into the red? How would this affect our competitiveness? Especially with the Copa Libertadores on the horizon? Let’s dive in.
Pre-season Business
In Argentina, even though it’s the end of the season, January still felt very much like a European January in that not a great deal happened. We managed to flog Joaquín Arzura to Millonarios for £500k and Gregorio Rodríguez for £525k, Arzura was a backup in central midfield whilst Rodríguez never left our reserves squad. Much needed cash in the bank and with our transfer revenue % at 5% there was no chance of reinvestment.
That being said I was able to make 3 free transfers within the realms of the wage budget - one a backup GK, Fernando Bersano at LB to replace the outgoing loanee Thomas Ortega and Nehual Tenaglia (now comfortably our highest earner) who I had thought could retrain as my Ball-winning midfielder…
Bersano turned out to be a shrewd operator in the Wing Back - Attack role posting solid creative numbers whilst not doing a huge amount defensively. Tenaglia was injured for much of the League Cup games and when he did return from injury - trained woefully and performed badly at MC in the BWM-D role. His versatility was useful in a small squad covering right back and centre back positions and he ended up primarily used as a ball-playing centre back with the stopper duty. He didn’t set the world alight but he was quite fun to watch when he brought the ball out from the back and pinged a cross-field pass.
League Cup Performance
Becoming a very competitive side now
We’ve fully established ourselves as a quality team in Argentina. Yes, our group was definitely the better one to be in with no River or Boca but we still did superbly well to win 11 or 14 games whilst we also had to juggle the schedule with our first ever endeavour into the Copa Libertadores.
We went through to face Tigre in the QF and thrashed out a 4-3 win before succumbing to a Velez side 2-0 in the semi-final. I was a little disappointed to lose at that stage given how dominant we had been in the group stage but it was a good run and given how far we’ve risen in a short space of time, in context it’s a great achievement.
Copa Libertadores
The Champions League of South America was finally here and safe to say I was pretty excited to take part. I’ve not experienced it on any version of Football Manager EVER so it’s nice to have a first.
Can’t seem to shake Tigre off us
We faced the Brazilian champions Palmeiras, a real mouth-watering tie for my IACC side, as well as bloody Tigre who we’ve played so many times already (and who finished behind us in 3rd last season) then Estudiantes de Merida of Ecuador - the weakest of the 4 sides.
These fixtures were always held midweek so from the outset of the League Cup group phase I had to battle to keep players fit for the Copa Libertadores. I really wanted to prioritise this competition whilst also finishing in the top 4 of the League Cup. Overall I feel I managed to do this but bloody hell it was a struggle at times.
Huge
One aspect of the Copa Libertadores I have yet to mention is the financial benefit it’ll have for a club like IACC. Given the pitiful TV, sponsorship and competition prize money locally if we wanted to continue to progress as a club we HAD to qualify for this competition to take advantage of the money received just for taking part. This, alongside selling players, is the only way to make money in Argentina. This halved our financial deficit. Thank-you very much.
A pleasing first Copa Libertadores
4 wins in the group stage meant we qualified top of the group. Palmeiras away we were lucky to get out of there with only a 1-0 loss, but the return match at home where we won 3-1 I probably didn’t appreciate the magnitude of that win until writing this blog. Palmeiras were the Brazilian champions and, as I now know, the champions again this season just gone - so a 3-1 win against them is a superb win for us Argentinian minnows. Oh and also they were the eventual winners of the competition beating Boca in the final - so technically we’re the best team in South America right? That’s how it works.
We scraped through the 2-legged tie vs Millonarios where we had multiple injuries and fatigue to first team players. Santos then absolutely blew us away at our place, a proper demolition job on my squad that I felt was completely spent by this point. We did somehow go to Brazil and staunchly hold out a 1-0 away win, another landmark victory. Our Copa Libertadores journey was over for this season, the financial benefits were crucial as we brought in £4.8m in prize money. Huge money for us and nearly 3 seasons in we were finally in the green financially. I hope to come back next season and go at least one step further.
Pause / Reflect
Such is the format of football in Argentina that there seems to be relatively little time to take a breather. Both for myself and my squad. Part of me knows this is down to my quick style of playing FM. At the end of the League Cup stage my squad had roughly a month off before the League began and yet, no players went on holiday like I expected - they all hung around the club during this time. Now, I don’t know if I can collectively force them all to bugger off (I think I can individually) and I found this a little strange. But for the life of me I can’t remember if this happened last season as well. So I was left not really knowing whether I should look to keep them fit with friendlies or give them some proper rest. Or both even. In the end I gave them all a week of rest before resuming training mixed in with 3 friendlies (which we won).
I’ve no idea if this had a positive or negative effect on the season ahead - just that it made me think about something different and whether I had managed it properly. Something for me to look out for next season & plan for. Personally I think it may have contributed to mid-league-season-fatigue, but how the frig will I ever know?!
Before we began the league season we had a certain curtain-raiser to compete in first…
Glorious
I’ll admit I had little expectations going into this game but it’s another testament of how far we’ve come. We were far sharper than Boca and it showed - Rodrigo Perez, a 17yr old drafted in due to widespread injuries, bagged his first goal for the club in a fairytale moment, helping us to a 2-0 win. Not a bad way to start the season.
The League Campaign
Here’s where things got pretty interesting; the summer transfer window opened for us and all clubs around the world and our progress had not gone unnoticed it seems. I still didn’t have a huge amount of wriggle room budget-wise (still with only 5% transfer revenue as well) so knew I’d have to sell ahead of the new league campaign and hope I could be savvy enough to bring in enough quality to replace any outgoings.
Franco Watson, an IACC legend in the making, leaves for the south coast of England
The Supercopa Argentina was played on the 14th July with the season starting the following week, so as you can see all outgoings come at quite a crucial time early in the league season. Especially as the Copa Libertadores knockout games kick in around about now as well. But bringing in £17.25m was fantastic for our finances if a little bittersweet. Faraj, Mereles & Farioli were squad options who won’t be missed. Cucchi was a standout performer last season yet unreasonable wage demands led to his sale to Spain. Santiago Mele has been a phenomenon in goal since he joined and to lose him to Sp*rs is unpleasant. However, £3.1m is a great fee and he rejoins us on loan for the season so my panic at having to replace him is eased.
The biggest loss by far though is our golden boy, our Nueva Joya, Franco Watson who left for a fee I couldn’t refuse. He’s been the main cog in the IACC machine and to leave a month into the new season is painful. After he left this news item came through…
Watson in there alongside some big SA names
A standout player in the region’s biggest competition - I sincerely hope that IACC can find another Nueva Joya through our youth system in the coming seasons. He doesn’t get a grand farewell like I envisaged but maybe he’ll be back one day.
Despite bringing in a nice chunk of cash my transfer budget was still paltry in comparison. So I played the free agent and loan market as best I could. Reinhart was brought in to temporarily fill the creative void left by Franco Watson as I couldn’t find anyone better within my budget. Charpentier added depth to the strikeforce with Cucchi leaving and the much-loved FM star Maxi Romero joined us on a free which I considered quite a coup for IACC.
Finally we signed a young lad called Rayan from Brazil who I really do have high hopes for.
So how did things fare in the league after our best midfielder and attacker were sold?
5 wins and 1 loss to begin the season was pretty good. Then we really did stutter to go winless in our next 5 games before spanking the ever present Tigre 3-0 in a much needed return to form. Our 2 legged tie with Santos was squeezed into the middle of this barren run and I definitely know my rotation and squad management contributed to the poor results. We sat outside the top 6 and therefore outside those teams who qualified for the Copa Libertadores.
Thankfully, with all our focus now on the league season we turned into an irrepressible force in our remaining 13 games losing just the once and winning 11. I feel this upturn in form was a result of a few things:
1. Maxi Romero
His first 5 or 6 games he really struggled for fitness having played no football for a while before joining us. Then he picked up a small knock and I was wondering whether he would ever work out for IACC. I needn’t have feared. Fast forward to season ends and he’d bagged 15 goals & 4 assists in 21 appearances including a few absolute beauties along the way. His stats really show how well he performed in the end.
2. Santiago Rodriguez
Santi’s stats were fantastic this season as well. 35 games, 10 goals and 14 assists. Through injuries and fatigue I felt in the first half of the season I had to shoehorn players into certain positions or roles. In the 2nd half players flourished by being fresher and also played in one position and role. Santi flourished when finally put in the Winger(Attack) role from ML and provided the creativity and end product that Franco Watson used to.
Ooooh Santi-baby
3. Rayan
Rayan has become an Ed Lasso favourite, at 6ft 2inches he’s an imposing young man who joined us having played very little football. A natural inverted winger at AMR I’d hoped to retrain him to MR where he could function in the same role.
Things didn’t go to plan early on
This is the true meaning of progress, maybe. He was useless at MR in his first few games to the point I thought I’ll try him elsewhere. He was largely useless everywhere else. I was forced into persevering with him and back to MR he went, this time on the attacking duty of an inverted winger & in the second half of the season he flourished.
His expected attacking output ended up the best in the league with elite numbers posted for open play xA/90, goals/90 and non-penalty xG/90 contributing assists and key passes as well. He was a joy to watch at times and at 19 I can see him having a cracking full season next year.
So how did the table look on the final day?
River usurped Boca to become champions with their incredibly affective, direct style of play. Our form in the 2nd half of the season sees us comfortably in 3rd and not too far off the best 2 teams in Argentina. We may have finished one place lower than last season but definite progress has been made once again - it was nice to finish as the league’s top scorers as well. But just look at how Boca and River just don’t concede many goals. That’s the gap we need to bridge.
The Seeds of Turmoil
As the curtain comes down on another season at IACC I can reflect it as one of progress and enjoyment. It was definitely the most challenging season so far and more challenges no doubt await on the horizon. Our increased reputation and standing in South America means that more clubs are taking notice of our players and internally, our current crop of stars now want to be paid the same as their rivals over at River and Boca - the problem is we still don’t have their resources. So some tough decisions await as the seeds of turmoil swirl in the wind again ahead of Ed Lasso’s 4th season in charge. I want us to close the gap on the top 2 and yet can we do so if we keep having to sell key players each year? Maybe, with our finances in better ways than before, we can start to bring in more talented players and improve our facilities to produce our own. I’m still awaiting the next Paulo Dybala to walk through our doors.
I didn’t even mention we beat Boca…again. How far can this team go?
Until next time!