Post by Dillon (OSA) on Nov 3, 2019 19:40:20 GMT
After a big season ended with us losing a cup final to Real, we were at a crossroads in where to go. We could double down and sell the youths up for a big push for a title or we could sell out the team, accept relegation and go full youth with the game's first level 4 academy. What I didn't expect was the ability to do both, secure the best youth in the game and push forward with a strong squad for season 29.
We had a retiree or two at the end of last season which dented our first team squad, however we've replaced well with Kerzhakov (35 year old 28.9) coming in, and we have our newest prodigy Rose (18 year old 25!!!) arriving from Rangers for a record fee for a youth, 101m. At the other end in the reserves we've secured Baresi (17 year old 21) in a move that will give us three super youth defenders to bank on for the future meaning we should only need to supplement with 2-3 older defenders in order to maintain success. Next season will see us aim this onto midfielders to increase our super youth quota from 1 to 3 there giving us a total of 7 outfield 'super youths'. Excluding keepers this will mean 70% of our first XI will be filled with the best the game has to offer going forward. This is another rebuild for Osasuna, this time not taking a team of 23-25 rated players and building an Elite worthy team but instead this time going for stability and long term titles in order to dominate the game. The Osasuna project is turning a new corner, the focus on a production line to maintain the growth of the club is beginning to take shape and with a steady supply of youths coming through we should be able to start selling off some good players to maximise our squad, stadium and growths.
Shaw has been a personal project of mine for many seasons, leaving those who rivalled him way behind. He enters the season 100 abs away from being 34 rated at 27 years old (worth noting under the current rules he'd be 27 years old and 37 rated excluding the 15x abs, donations only!), he'll begin to carry us through games and this season in particular should compliment Rose at the heart of our defence.
At the end of my first season in charge of Osasuna the team lined up with the below as we escaped relegation on the last day with a game against Werder Bremen:
T_Snelders 29 hol 30 GK
M_Abel 35 ger 26 DF
T_Derijck 33 mex 24 DF
P_Chimbonda 35 nig 24 DF
K_Abrha 28 isr 24 DF
E_Manson 29 fin 25 MF
K_El_Ahmadi 25 eng 24 MF
D_Platt 32 eng 24 MF
D_Hart 22 eng 23 MF
J_MacBright 31 sco 24 FW
S_Corchia 24 fra 24 FW
An average age of 29.36 and an average rating of 24.73. That is comparable to this seasons starting XI of 32.5 (30* if it's the team I'll likely play to maximise abs gains long terms) and an average rating of 31.45 (*30.82). In 10 seasons we've sacrificed +3.14/0.64 years per player but we've gained +6.72/6.09 skill points per player. Over the course of it we've gained 2.14/1.94 skill point per year sacrificed. Osasuna have gone from a club on the verge of total collapse into Division 2 fodder, the likes of Dortmund and Manchester United to being a pretty steady and competitive edition in each season's Elite league.
Here's hoping we have another season of success and are able to look back and see more gains as a club, plenty of competitive clubs in the Elite this season but we should fancy our chances again this season. We'd be happy with a repeat of last season's opener in mauling Real Madrid. 10 seasons is a long time, and as a first time manager there's been a lot of learning along the way. Here's to the next 10!!
We had a retiree or two at the end of last season which dented our first team squad, however we've replaced well with Kerzhakov (35 year old 28.9) coming in, and we have our newest prodigy Rose (18 year old 25!!!) arriving from Rangers for a record fee for a youth, 101m. At the other end in the reserves we've secured Baresi (17 year old 21) in a move that will give us three super youth defenders to bank on for the future meaning we should only need to supplement with 2-3 older defenders in order to maintain success. Next season will see us aim this onto midfielders to increase our super youth quota from 1 to 3 there giving us a total of 7 outfield 'super youths'. Excluding keepers this will mean 70% of our first XI will be filled with the best the game has to offer going forward. This is another rebuild for Osasuna, this time not taking a team of 23-25 rated players and building an Elite worthy team but instead this time going for stability and long term titles in order to dominate the game. The Osasuna project is turning a new corner, the focus on a production line to maintain the growth of the club is beginning to take shape and with a steady supply of youths coming through we should be able to start selling off some good players to maximise our squad, stadium and growths.
Shaw has been a personal project of mine for many seasons, leaving those who rivalled him way behind. He enters the season 100 abs away from being 34 rated at 27 years old (worth noting under the current rules he'd be 27 years old and 37 rated excluding the 15x abs, donations only!), he'll begin to carry us through games and this season in particular should compliment Rose at the heart of our defence.
At the end of my first season in charge of Osasuna the team lined up with the below as we escaped relegation on the last day with a game against Werder Bremen:
T_Snelders 29 hol 30 GK
M_Abel 35 ger 26 DF
T_Derijck 33 mex 24 DF
P_Chimbonda 35 nig 24 DF
K_Abrha 28 isr 24 DF
E_Manson 29 fin 25 MF
K_El_Ahmadi 25 eng 24 MF
D_Platt 32 eng 24 MF
D_Hart 22 eng 23 MF
J_MacBright 31 sco 24 FW
S_Corchia 24 fra 24 FW
An average age of 29.36 and an average rating of 24.73. That is comparable to this seasons starting XI of 32.5 (30* if it's the team I'll likely play to maximise abs gains long terms) and an average rating of 31.45 (*30.82). In 10 seasons we've sacrificed +3.14/0.64 years per player but we've gained +6.72/6.09 skill points per player. Over the course of it we've gained 2.14/1.94 skill point per year sacrificed. Osasuna have gone from a club on the verge of total collapse into Division 2 fodder, the likes of Dortmund and Manchester United to being a pretty steady and competitive edition in each season's Elite league.
Here's hoping we have another season of success and are able to look back and see more gains as a club, plenty of competitive clubs in the Elite this season but we should fancy our chances again this season. We'd be happy with a repeat of last season's opener in mauling Real Madrid. 10 seasons is a long time, and as a first time manager there's been a lot of learning along the way. Here's to the next 10!!