Career Milan Baros the Late Bloomer (Season 6)

[Ian]

Hello and welcome to my latest career where I will be attempting the late bloomer challenge created by @Foxy. The challenge can be found here so feel free to have a look and maybe you’ll fancy giving it a try yourself as there’s plenty of players to choose from. Basically I need to use a striker who is in his 30’s and get him to score more club goals than he has so far throughout his career. 

I was debating who to use for this challenge for a good few days after it was posted and just couldn’t make my mind up until I saw a tweet on how Milan Baros had just announced that he was going to retire after this current season. Not only that but he’s the last active player from the Liverpool starting lineup that faced AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul. Here he is below just about to be fouled by Peter Cech before we scored the all important winning goal against Chelsea in the semi final to send us through to that unforgettable final.

 

So I had my player and just had to hope he was available on the game as he plays for Banik Ostrava in the Czech Republic which is a league not on the game. I checked and he was there so I had my man and just needed to decide on my team. The first thought was obviously Liverpool but I didn’t really fancy that in truth, the second thought was to take him to one of the Istanbul teams in Turkey and the third was to take him to AC Milan due to them being our opponents that day and also sharing his first name. I really liked the idea of AC Milan purely because I could use the title ‘AC Milan Baros the Late Bloomer’ but didn’t really like the idea in terms of actually playing the save as I’d just recently finished a save in Italy so Istanbul it was. There’s a few teams who play in Istanbul but Milan actually played for Galatasaray around a decade ago so they were my choice as the rivalries between those City teams can be incredibly intense so I felt we didn’t need any of that to distract us from the job at hand.

I got everything set up, took over Galatasaray and proceeded to sign up the main man. We had no issues signing him but he cost £800k which I thought was a touch steep for a 37 year old, it had to be paid though I suppose. He’s looking reasonable in terms of shooting and movement but his physicals are already poor and will only get worse no doubt. His aerial isn’t all that great either and my experience with an ageing Kean last year tells me that with his pace also being low it’ll be unlikely he’ll get many near post corner goals which could’ve really helped our cause. I guess we’ll need to hope he’s somewhat decent at free kicks and penalties especially.

 

I haven’t actually mentioned how many goals we need for this challenge, well as you can see below we require 141 which seems like a decent enough challenge to me.

 

Thanks for reading, I’ll be back with the next update later.

Edited August 10, 2020 by Ian

[Scratch]

You're making me feel bad for taking an easy option with Andy Carroll!! 😄

Milan is 37, so you have to hope he doesn't drop off very quickly. And a 141 will be a challenge. Gonna make it super interesting to watch. I think he'll do alright, but I think you'll have to play on for quite a few seasons! Good luck with it mate.

[Rob]

141. Blimey.

Have fun! 

[FuddledFox]

He looks great and I’m sure it will only take a season a a little bit to hit 141 goals 🙄

[Kanegan]

Looks fun this one. Reckon it will take you 3 seasons to do it. 

[gunnersaur]

Good luck man should be a tough one 

[Mr Tree]

brilliant! i still remember playing with Baros on Pro Evo in my student days, and i'm nearly 40 now - makes sense i suppose, his birthday's around five months before mine. bet he's earned a bit more in his career than i have....

will be interesting to see when he decides to retire - might leave you in the lurch!

good luck!

[AdamNufc]

Jesus @Ian I thought Milan baros was a lot older than he actually is 😂 I thought he retired years ago , remember him for Liverpool but was positive he was late 20s back then Good Luck

 

[samhardy]

You’re due a dramatic fail Ian, it’s going to be this one. I can feel it.

[smoggy90]

Now this is a challenge! Good luck Ian, that’s a lot of goals given his age but you have some good experience with your Kean save last year. 

[Ian]

7 hours ago, Scratch said:

You're making me feel bad for taking an easy option with Andy Carroll!! 😄

Milan is 37, so you have to hope he doesn't drop off very quickly. And a 141 will be a challenge. Gonna make it super interesting to watch. I think he'll do alright, but I think you'll have to play on for quite a few seasons! Good luck with it mate.

Thank you Scratch, there’s always the worry that Carroll will just get injured and pack it in so could easily be seen as just the challenge. I just hope I can get one fairly decent season out of Baros to give us a chance but it won’t be easy with first seasons being kind of developmental for the squad.

7 hours ago, Rob said:

141. Blimey.

Have fun! 

Thanks Rob, I thought I’d just go for it and hope for the best, worst that can happen is I fail and then I can easily try another player.

7 hours ago, Foxy said:

He looks great and I’m sure it will only take a season a a little bit to hit 141 goals 🙄

Thank you Foxy, if I can’t hit the 100 goal club the first season I’m going to be disappointed I’d say. Seriously though, hopefully we can do it and get his name on the leaderboard.

7 hours ago, Kanegan said:

Looks fun this one. Reckon it will take you 3 seasons to do it. 

Thank you Kane, hopefully you are right but it’ll be tricky.

7 hours ago, gunnersaur said:

Good luck man should be a tough one 

Thanks Gunnersaur, that it will be I’m sure. Baros did have the best goalscoring spell of his career at Galatasaray but unfortunately that was about a decade ago 😂

6 hours ago, Mr Tree said:

brilliant! i still remember playing with Baros on Pro Evo in my student days, and i'm nearly 40 now - makes sense i suppose, his birthday's around five months before mine. bet he's earned a bit more in his career than i have....

will be interesting to see when he decides to retire - might leave you in the lurch!

good luck!

Thanks Mr Tree, I played those Pro Evo games too and occasionally still play the later PSP versions which were just Pro Evo 6 but updated every year. I have a beast of a tactic for that game.

My main memory of Baros was get the ball, head down and run. He was a decent team player though but you just wanted more goals. He has his European Cup medal though so fair play.

5 hours ago, AdamNufc said:

Jesus @Ian I thought Milan baros was a lot older than he actually is 😂 I thought he retired years ago , remember him for Liverpool but was positive he was late 20s back then Good Luck

 

Thanks Adam, as soon as I saw the tweet I knew he was my man. This could go badly wrong though as I’m even using a new untested system although it is somewhat similar to a few of my others. Hope for the best anyway.

5 hours ago, samhardy said:

You’re due a dramatic fail Ian, it’s going to be this one. I can feel it.

Thank you for your confidence Sam, you could well be right and I have no doubt that’d amuse you no end 😂

4 hours ago, smoggy90 said:

Now this is a challenge! Good luck Ian, that’s a lot of goals given his age but you have some good experience with your Kean save last year. 

Thank you Smoggy, this is what some of the others have overlooked and I’m hoping that that experience will help me here although no disrespect to Baros but he’s no Kean, well not on the game anyway as Kean has yet to prove himself in the real world. 

[Ulysses]

Love the challenge! I have a Czech Republic shirt somewhere with Baros' name on the back. I got it on holiday in Prague after Baros' played a season for Portsmouth in 2008. He didn't score a single goal for us, but still endeared himself to the Pompey fans - I hope he does better for you!

[Ian]

14 hours ago, Ulysses said:

Love the challenge! I have a Czech Republic shirt somewhere with Baros' name on the back. I got it on holiday in Prague after Baros' played a season for Portsmouth in 2008. He didn't score a single goal for us, but still endeared himself to the Pompey fans - I hope he does better for you!

Thank you Ulysses, yes he was one of those where you just wanted more goals. He seemed to work really hard though and I was never disappointed to see him on the team sheet in the days when we had him. Hopefully he’ll be more prolific for me here.

[Charlielfc24]

Hey Ian as a Liverpool fan and only being a young chap when we went to Istanbul. I remember us scoring the equaliser and my my dad and my brother and me cheering the house down what a night. I hope he does wonders for you

[Ian]

54 minutes ago, Charlielfc24 said:

Hey Ian as a Liverpool fan and only being a young chap when we went to Istanbul. I remember us scoring the equaliser and my my dad and my brother and me cheering the house down what a night. I hope he does wonders for you

Thank you Charlie, what a game it was! I had that horrible feeling of doom in my stomach towards the end of the first half and during half time but by the time the second half kicked off I was somewhat relaxed as I’d accepted we’d lose so just hoping for a decent second half or maybe a goal. Gerrard scored the first and you could just sense it was on and it was, brilliant!

[Charlielfc24]

3 minutes ago, Ian said:

Thank you Charlie, what a game it was! I had that horrible feeling of doom in my stomach towards the end of the first half and during half time but by the time the second half kicked off I was somewhat relaxed as I’d accepted we’d lose so just hoping for a decent second half or maybe a goal. Gerrard scored the first and you could just sense it was on and it was, brilliant!

100% was talking to my dad yesterday about that game and he said the same thing at half time you kinda accepted we will loose but hoping we'd show some class and grab a goal and when the first one went in the crowd went mad and you could sence we had a chance. Il never forget that famous stevie G goal against Olympiakos the commentator everything. Looking forward to seeing that premier league trophy being lifted tonight tho 💪

[Ian]

1 hour ago, Charlielfc24 said:

100% was talking to my dad yesterday about that game and he said the same thing at half time you kinda accepted we will loose but hoping we'd show some class and grab a goal and when the first one went in the crowd went mad and you could sence we had a chance. Il never forget that famous stevie G goal against Olympiakos the commentator everything. Looking forward to seeing that premier league trophy being lifted tonight tho 💪

Yes that Gerrard beauty against Olympiakos was the moment when I really felt we could do something special.

I’m certainly going to enjoy tonight and I was actually going to post the next update to this career but I think I’ll leave that until tomorrow now.

[Rob]

That game was all about Neil Mellor.

[AdamNufc]

Thankfully @Ian isn't anywhere near Anfield meaning we won't be seeing him on sky news topless outside Anfield celebrating tonight with flares and a four pack of Carling 😂 

Looking forward to reading your update 😀

Edited July 22, 2020 by AdamNufc

[Woody]

Best of luck mate. I really hope you do it 👍

[Ian]

15 hours ago, Rob said:

That game was all about Neil Mellor.

Yes he was great, that and his late thunderbolt winner against Arsenal the same year were great moments for him and us fans.

15 hours ago, AdamNufc said:

Thankfully @Ian isn't anywhere near Anfield meaning we won't be seeing him on sky news topless outside Anfield celebrating tonight with flares and a four pack of Carling 😂 

Looking forward to reading your update 😀

A more sensible form of celebration for me. 😂

I heard all of the fireworks going off on the tv and they showed a few fans around the ground but I’ve yet to check the news this morning to see what carnage was caused this time.

15 hours ago, Woody said:

Best of luck mate. I really hope you do it 👍

Thank you Woody, the first season should give us a good idea of whether or not we’ll have a chance.

[Ian]

Season 1

You all now know my chosen player but picking the player and signing him was the easy part with the hard work in setting up our backroom team, making transfers, sorting the training schedules and setting up our tactics to follow. Our challenger is no spring chicken but I still had high hopes for him and my target for the first season was a return of more than 40 goals.

Let’s get things started with the transfers.

 

Transfers

We spent £53m and recouped £17.75m as we reshaped the squad.

Our incomings are described below:

• Caleb Ekuban - A fine looking striker or attacking midfielder who will go by the name of Chris Eubank for the duration of his spell with us.
• Ozan Tufan - A steady looking central midfielder who has experience at this level and buying him also weakened one of our rivals so a win win.
• Maximiliano Meza - A decent attacking midfielder who I hope will shine at this level.
• David Pavelka - Another steady central midfielder. 
• Sergiy Sydorchuk - Yet another central midfielder who I have used on a previous version of the game. He has good attributes and I can see him doing well for us.
• Gustavo Scarpa - A nice Brazilian attacking midfielder.
• Erdoğan Yeşilyurt - Brought in to play on the right wing but can also play on the left so a nice player to have.
• Jardel - A veteran central defender brought on as a stop gap for this season.
• Caner Erkin - Brought in as cheap cover for the left wing. He ended up leaving later on for a decent profit.

Spoiler

 

Team Results

We started off the season in good fashion and won our first trophy with the main man opening the scoring from the penalty spot in extra time.

 

Things didn’t go so well for us in the Champions League but we did finish third in our group which would mean we’d drop into the Europa League which seemed like a much better level for us.

 

We battled on in the league and ended up top at the halfway stage so looking good for glory there.

 

Everything seemed to be unraveling during this disastrous spell beginning at the end of February and as you can see our Europa League hopes were dashed by a good Napoli side.

 

We weathered that bad period and went on a great run which resulted in us winning the league and booking a place in the cup final.

 

Here was the final league table and you can see it was relatively comfortable even though Beşiktaş offered plenty of resistance.

 

The cup was also won a few days later to round off a great domestic campaign.

 

Milan Baros

This is the moment where I’d like to show you a nice highlight game with Baros maybe scoring a hat trick or even better but unfortunately there was none of that going on so we’ll have to make do with this where he scored a brace of goals.

 

Just the one injury but with his stamina being poor he struggled for fitness at times which is something I’ll just have to get used to.

 

The opening season turned out to be a bit damp for Milan as all he could muster was 24 goals in 48 games. I’ve got him up top on his own but with two SS’s behind him to offer plenty of support as I’m not convinced he can be all alone up there without just hindering our results. I’m going to stick with this for now though as he’s only going to get worse but I feel I may have jumped the gun and he might’ve had one decent season in him as more of a main man in the system so I could really regret this later.

 

Manager

Spoiler

 

Score

 

Season 1

Milan Baros: 24 goals in 48 games

Target: 141

 

I now scuttle off to the next season with my tail between my legs and just hope for better. I haven’t given up yet though as he’s proved to be good from the penalty spot and he knocked in a few free kicks so with an improved squad behind him you never know.

 

Thank you all for following and hopefully some of you still have confidence in Milan and myself.

Edited July 23, 2020 by Ian

[AdamNufc]

Let's hope Baros can play into his 40s @Ian Maybe you've bitten off too much more than you can chew but if anyone can do it I'm sure you will! 24 ain't too bad a start it could of been worse , keep going and I'm sure you will get there! Good luck 😀

[Rob]

Oooohhhh this is going to be a good one.

Still, there was something awry with your transfer section. Weirdness happened. 

[Kanegan]

Well, the challenge is well and truly on. 

[Ian]

11 hours ago, AdamNufc said:

Let's hope Baros can play into his 40s @Ian Maybe you've bitten off too much more than you can chew but if anyone can do it I'm sure you will! 24 ain't too bad a start it could of been worse , keep going and I'm sure you will get there! Good luck 😀

Thank you Adam, I still retain hope, just need at least a similar return at the very minimum next season. That would still leave us around 80-90 short so I may have bitten off more than I can chew but we can just hope.

11 hours ago, Rob said:

Oooohhhh this is going to be a good one.

Still, there was something awry with your transfer section. Weirdness happened. 

Thank you Rob, yes I’m disappointed in Scott as he’d be just the man for this league but he didn’t fancy it and decided to go backpacking in Thailand instead. I won’t forget this so it may be the last you’ll see of Scott and I together.

6 hours ago, Kanegan said:

Well, the challenge is well and truly on. 

Thanks Kane, it certainly is and I said last time that the first season would tell us how doable this was but now it’s the second season that should tell us more. I’m still hoping for a touch more goals as although he’ll continue to decline the squad should improve. 

[smoggy90]

Good start mate and this will certainly be a challenge, I have every confidence in you and Baros though so keep up the good work!

[Charlielfc24]

18 hours ago, Ian said:

Season 1

You all now know my chosen player but picking the player and signing him was the easy part with the hard work in setting up our backroom team, making transfers, sorting the training schedules and setting up our tactics to follow. Our challenger is no spring chicken but I still had high hopes for him and my target for the first season was a return of more than 40 goals.

Let’s get things started with the transfers.

 

Transfers

We spent £53m and recouped £17.75m as we reshaped the squad.

Our incomings are described below:

• Caleb Ekuban - A fine looking striker or attacking midfielder who will go by the name of Chris Eubank for the duration of his spell with us.
• Ozan Tufan - A steady looking central midfielder who has experience at this level and buying him also weakened one of our rivals so a win win.
• Maximiliano Meza - A decent attacking midfielder who I hope will shine at this level.
• David Pavelka - Another steady central midfielder. 
• Sergiy Sydorchuk - Yet another central midfielder who I have used on a previous version of the game. He has good attributes and I can see him doing well for us.
• Gustavo Scarpa - A nice Brazilian attacking midfielder.
• Erdoğan Yeşilyurt - Brought in to play on the right wing but can also play on the left so a nice player to have.
• Jardel - A veteran central defender brought on as a stop gap for this season.
• Caner Erkin - Brought in as cheap cover for the left wing. He ended up leaving later on for a decent profit.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Team Results

We started off the season in good fashion and won our first trophy with the main man opening the scoring from the penalty spot in extra time.

 

Things didn’t go so well for us in the Champions League but we did finish third in our group which would mean we’d drop into the Europa League which seemed like a much better level for us.

 

We battled on in the league and ended up top at the halfway stage so looking good for glory there.

 

Everything seemed to be unraveling during this disastrous spell beginning at the end of February and as you can see our Europa League hopes were dashed by a good Napoli side.

 

We weathered that bad period and went on a great run which resulted in us winning the league and booking a place in the cup final.

 

Here was the final league table and you can see it was relatively comfortable even though Beşiktaş offered plenty of resistance.

 

The cup was also won a few days later to round off a great domestic campaign.

 

Milan Baros

This is the moment where I’d like to show you a nice highlight game with Baros maybe scoring a hat trick or even better but unfortunately there was none of that going on so we’ll have to make do with this where he scored a brace of goals.

 

Just the one injury but with his stamina being poor he struggled for fitness at times which is something I’ll just have to get used to.

 

The opening season turned out to be a bit damp for Milan as all he could muster was 24 goals in 48 games. I’ve got him up top on his own but with two SS’s behind him to offer plenty of support as I’m not convinced he can be all alone up there without just hindering our results. I’m going to stick with this for now though as he’s only going to get worse but I feel I may have jumped the gun and he might’ve had one decent season in him as more of a main man in the system so I could really regret this later.

 

Manager

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Score

 

Season 1

Milan Baros: 24 goals in 48 games

Target: 141

 

I now scuttle off to the next season with my tail between my legs and just hope for better. I haven’t given up yet though as he’s proved to be good from the penalty spot and he knocked in a few free kicks so with an improved squad behind him you never know.

 

Thank you all for following and hopefully some of you still have confidence in Milan and myself.

Dam not a bad start considering his age he got more than i predicted i thought he wouldnt stay fit enough for you. Good luck man 

[Ian]

8 hours ago, smoggy90 said:

Good start mate and this will certainly be a challenge, I have every confidence in you and Baros though so keep up the good work!

Thank you Smoggy, we still have hope and hopefully the squad around him will improve.

6 hours ago, Charlielfc24 said:

Dam not a bad start considering his age he got more than i predicted i thought he wouldnt stay fit enough for you. Good luck man 

Thank you Charlie, he’s been really good so far when it comes to injuries. I’ve been taking him off early in games to try and keep him fit which can be frustrating when he’s failed to score but I feel it has to be done so he can play the next game. We’ll just have to see how he does next season. 

[Scratch]

Don't worry mate. The second season is the one where they take off and score a boatload and confuse everyone making predictions... 😄

Though I've got to say he looks a bit rough. It's likely to be a hard ask of him, he'll have to play on for some years. I reckon he'll score 32 next season. But anyway, this save is all the more interesting because it's not straightforward. Gonna keep us all glued to our seats.