Career Dr. 1899 completes the Spinal Surgery Challenge

[1899]

“LET THE SURGERIES BEGIN!”, the mad doctor shouted as he opened up the green operating curtains, “This corpse is getting a new head, a heart, spine and maybe even a set of lungs.”

“We just have the €50M though”, the nurse coolly responded.

Disappointed, he shook his head as he sighed, “I guess we’ll have to make do with just the spine then.”

“Not the head or the heart, dear doctor?”

“There’s enough spineless bastards out there already”, the mad doctor replied and so our story begins...

 

THE CHALLENGE
Lo and behold the original challenge, as created by some numbers guy. To sum things up, were bringing in three central players to Benevento in hopes of bagging some Serie A points.  

THE TEAM
The TL;DR review of Benevento is that it’s a crap team with little quality throughout, and about half of their starting eleven are loanees. This, courtesy of Wikipedia, is a list of their Notable players:

Semi-inspiring stuff that but starting today, that’s all going to change as there’s a new sheriff surgeon in town, and he’s bringing some fresh blood with him. The trio chosen to form our new central line are: 

*imaginary drum roll*

In DEFENSE: Coming out of Sao Paolo, Brazil to become a modern-day Kaiser Franz, your new favorite libero, Rodrigo Caio. Caio is an OK defender with a decent set of feet attached to his scrawny legs. The main reason for his inclusion is his familiarity with the sweeper position because all cool teams should have a libero in them. Goals- and assist wise, expectations are low so any contribution would be a welcome addition.

 
Caio going through the motions after finding out he’s been transferred to Benevento

In MIDFIELD: Joining him from the South American continent, an old buddy of mine that scored some points for me at Sevilla (granted it was another 7-8 years down the line). From Cordoba, Argentina, Emanuel Reynoso. The challenge calls for goals and assists aplenty from my chosen three, and Reynoso will be our creative outlet manning the central midfield, as well as being our #1 choice on corners and free-kicks.

 
Reynoso was obviously thrilled by his transfer as well

And finally, at STRIKER: By far our most famous inclusion. A recent example of how quick things can turn in modern day football. If everything had gone to plan, this lad should have just played out his final year of a contract with Manchester City. Now, he’ll play for newcomers Benevento instead. I really wanted it to be Balotelli and it almost was Balotelli, but it isn’t Balotelli (wage demands and injury proneness hindered this). Instead, the final piece to our puzzle, adding some much-needed experience and power, is the 31-year old Spaniard Alvaro Negredo.

 
Alvaro Negredo tried to chase us off with his ‘scary monster’ pose. Jokes on him as it didn't work and now he'll end up looking silly on the internet for no reason. 

 

There it is, our spine complete and the team ready to rip the Serie A to pieces. I forgot to save pics of the guys upon purchase so you'll have to use your imagination to fit the Benevento logo above their heads rather than their former club. Cash spent is well within the limits so scrub in and prepare for the next update while I decide on how I’m going to share my progress with you guys. 

 

 

Oh, I almost forgot – for those of you taking instructions literally, you may now *end imaginary drum roll*. Thanks for playing!

Edited February 2, 2018 by 1899

[Titjes]

Good luck with this hard challenge  

[FuddledFox]

I like the players you have picked. Good luck with this I look forward to seeing how you get on.

[BatiGoal]

I like your picks. This is looking promising. Goodluck!

[1899]

Surgical records, part I – An animated corpse

I didn’t bother setting up any particular objectives for this challenge, rather than the obvious target of getting myself as many points as possible in the league, with my spine players being integral contributors to that success. First, a quick look into the operating room.

The mad doctor was puzzled. “Why isn’t ze midfielder assisting? The little brat disappoints me greatly.”

“But how about that striker – a real beaut, ain’t he?”, the nurse responded, diverting the doctor’s attention.

“He does have a nice beard and appears to be of some footballing quality. By my calculations, he is eight times the man of ze midfieder.”

“What about the libero?”

“Liber-who? No one cares about defenders.”

We didn’t get the best of starts, the first game being a 1-0 loss away to Roma and the second a fortunate 0-0 draw at home to Napoli to get us off the mark. Things picked up, and we went on a smashing three-game run in September, before coming back to earth with a couple of draws in October. 

  

With 10 games played, the Serie A table looked like this, with the high-flying witches of Benevento at 4^th placee. We’re off to a much better start than our real-life counterparts (although they still have us beat in keeper goals), and on pace for 80 points which would be a great score, but we’re a bit more entertaining than I’d wish. As the rules of this challenge means you’re paying twice the points for a goal conceded compared to goals scored, I would have preferred a more cautious approach but as soon as we try to sit back the opposition just overwhelms us. Let’s see what we can do going forward.

 

[1899]

Surgical records, part II – The patient survives!

A win in the 22^nd round, with Inter dropping points in the same round saw the red and yellow side soar into the top of the table. This was all going well above expectations and the squad was firing. But football history is filled with smaller teams overachieving to start the season, just to be found out in the latter parts and tumble down the table. Was this Benevento side really the team to break that trend and keep it up throughout the season?

Spoiler

Damn straight we are! From an expected worst all the way into first, with a respectable 85 points means the surgery will have to be considered a major success – or maybe the Benevento squad was just sneakily potent? To find out, let’s move on to the individual scores. Let’s keep the order from before, starting with defender Rodrigo Caio:

Nine points from a central defender is a great score in my book. His assist totals are aided from a partial run as corner kick when I noted that his libero role meant that he was staying back in these situations, while Reynoso’s delivery wasn’t exactly lighting up the scoreboard either.

Next up, is midfield virtuoso Emanuel Reynoso whose attributes developed nicely as the season went on, but his production was a bit hit-and-miss as I was struggling getting him involved enough and his delivery from FKs and CKs where disappointing.

In the end, he got an acceptable score of 12 goals and 12 assists, having split time between playing as a central and slightly off-set AM as well as some sporadic time in the CM position.
 

Last but certainly not least, the bearded Spaniard with the carefully groomed eyebrows, Alvaro Negredo:

A massive score from our hitman with 36 goals and 4 assists. Playing as a lone striker, he was getting plenty of chances and had an impressive conversion rate as well. A late-season injury meant he missed the final five games, otherwise his score would have likely been even more dominant.

Final score
Pick out your calculators, time to do some math.

• Team points: 85 x 0.5 = 42.5 points
• Goals scored: 75 x 0.5 = 37.5 points
• Goals conceded: 33 = -33 points

• Player points: 0+9+12+12+36+4 = 73 x 0,5 = 36.5 points
• POTY Bonus: 0, as it was hogged by Negredo – selfish git.

 Total score: 42.5 + 37.5 – 33 + 36.5 = 83.5 points

“I don’t know how to feel about this.”, your favorite doctor conceded.

The response was immediate and ended the need for any further conversation. “Men don’t feel. They conquer and they move on.”

 

Thanks for reading and see you on the leader board! 

 

Edited February 2, 2018 by 1899

[kts365]

Fantastic result mate. You did well.

[FuddledFox]

Great season. I really enjoyed reading about your exploits with the witches.

[1899]

Thanks guys! I had a really good time with this save, and the single-season challenge is a nice change of pace to the substantially longer Herrera run.  

Pleased with the score as well, although I still believe there's a lot of room for improvement by tightening things up in the back, getting better production from your mid and maybe also try to take advantage of that 15pt POTY bonus. It's the equivalent of 30 spine-player points and should, if done right, compensate for a possible drop in production from your spine. Looking forward to see any others have a go to see how we measure up. 

[BatiGoal]

Whoa, didn't expect that tbh. Great job! Very tough to beat that I think. Congrats! 

[gunnersaur]

Great stuff man ... What tactic are you using?

[Titjes]

What a great score you got  will be very hatd to beat I think

[1899]

Thanks to you as well. I agree that it's a big score, but far from unbeatable

The tactics I used was mainly these two, switching a bit depending on what the opposition were doing. Be advised that the players below don't reflect my first XI as by now, all the loanees have returned to their teams.