Career Ian attempts the 50/50 1k split challenge with Bruno

[billy2shots]

Monstered that challenge Ian. 

I've enjoyed following this and it's certainly given me food for thought with some new ideas 

[Ian]

On 15/03/2021 at 17:50, Rich said:

Brilliant Ian! Well done on completing the 500/500, but I’m glad you’re going to carry it on for at least another season, I’m intrigued to see how he’ll do 😁

Thank you Richard, I wasn’t sure what to do but was intrigued and also felt like I wasn’t quite ready to get the winter update yet so thought I may as well do another season. It will be interesting to see how he does from the AM position when he really declines. I’ve done and seen others use older strikers and find that as long as they have a decent amount of support around them they can usually still nick the odd goal even when they’re proper bad. Not sure it’ll be the same from the AM position though, guess we may find out here as it looks like he could go south at any time.

On 15/03/2021 at 18:03, Albionic said:

Amazing work mate, you have absolutely smashed it.

Thanks Albionic, he’s certainly been very good. I felt it when I did the Bruno badge challenge so just had to give him another go. 

On 15/03/2021 at 19:35, DLC said:

Fantastic @Ian, I'm intrigued to see how he performs in the coming seasons with him declining at a higher speed now.

Well done mate!

Cheers DLC, yes it will be interesting.

On 15/03/2021 at 19:43, Chelseaplchamps2022 said:

Excellent stuff there Ian! I'm sure you'll be able to get some more magic out of him as always next season!

Thank you Chelsea, hopefully he still has one more good season left in him.

On 15/03/2021 at 19:57, Dai_ said:

Always knew you would get there. Only 10 seasons too. Amazing. Well done, Sir. 👏

Thank you Dai, I am happy to get it done in the 10 as I never really thought we’d manage it. After the first five seasons I thought we could do it but felt it’d take longer than the five years. He seemed to stay decent for much longer than I thought which I think made all the difference.

18 hours ago, broodje kip said:

Brilliant Ian. Give him a massive ending next season!

Thank you Lord Danish, I’ve finished the next season so won’t be long until we find out how he did.

3 hours ago, billy2shots said:

Monstered that challenge Ian. 

I've enjoyed following this and it's certainly given me food for thought with some new ideas 

Thanks Billy, nice to see it inspire others, can only be a good thing.

Edited March 16, 2021 by Ian

[Rob]

Top notch Ian. Brilliantly done.

[DLC]

Fantastic, well done!

[Ian]

On 21/03/2021 at 06:59, Rob said:

Top notch Ian. Brilliantly done.

Thank you Rob, I’m finished this now and ended up playing the final three seasons of his deal so I’ll be back later with the final update.

On 21/03/2021 at 07:27, DLC said:

Fantastic, well done!

Thank you DLC.

[Ian]

Hello and welcome to the final update of this career. The Bruno 50/50 1k challenge was completed in season 10 so all that was left was for me to play on until either Bruno or myself had had enough. I ended up playing a further three seasons so I’ll briefly take you through each season.

 

Season 11

There’s a few relevant team shots under the spoiler below. I’ve included the manager history page and the full fixture list which I think tells the best story about this season. We lost the first game of the season which did concern me as it was always on my mind that at some point Bruno would become a bit of a hindrance in terms of results. I didn’t change anything though and we battled on until we hit a bit of a poor spell starting at the beginning of October and ending in at the start of November. It was too much for me to take so I decided I needed to change something and there were a couple of things I considered. The first was to perhaps change at least one of the CM’s to the BBM role to take the pressure off of the declining Bruno and offer us a bit more going forward which is what I’d done on my goaltopia career when the challengers started to really decline. The second idea was to change Bruno’s role from the T role to a non playmaker role as at this stage he seemed to be beyond the stage of being the main man. I chose the second option and decided to go with the SS role which worked out well as our results really improved and he was still very much a big part of things.

Spoiler

 

He was still the main man in terms of his return with 40 goals and 28 assists but you can see he was rapidly declining by the time we got to the end of the season. I always think of the SS role as a very physical role and it probably showed a bit here as he only suffered one small injury but missed a fair bit of game time due to fitness reasons. The plan was to maybe try the AM role if things continued to go downhill in season 12 with the hope it’d be less physical and result in him getting more time on the pitch.

Spoiler

 

Season 12

The dominance was still there at this stage albeit with a big drop off in terms of league goals. Bruno stole the show in the Champions League final to finish the season in some style. I think that was his only hat trick of the season so he certainly saved his best performance until the end.

Spoiler

 

He ended up with a decent return of 26 goals and 31 assists in 47 games. No injuries but a good few missed games due to fitness. I did put him in the AM role a good few times during the season but not really sure it is all that different to the SS role to be honest. He finished the season in good form which kind of persuaded me that I should at least play another season which would bring him to the end of his deal.

Spoiler

 

Season 13

We finished things off with a clean sweep but a massive drop off in league goals which I feel was largely due to Bruno losing the ability to assist from corners. I had replays on and I’m pretty sure he didn’t even manage one assist from a corner all season.

Spoiler

 

 

I realised towards the end of the season that if we went all of the way in the CWC that Bruno’s contract would run out and he’d miss the final. I didn’t really like the idea of that, so in advance I asked him if he’d reconsider his planned retirement. He agreed.

 

He wouldn’t entertain signing a new deal though.

 

I was still hopeful that he’d stay on beyond the end of his deal in a rolling contract to allow him to play in the final which we did end up getting to but unfortunately he left just before. I’m somewhat happy in some ways as this kind of finalises things and I can accept that this is the end. I mean, I didn’t want to go any further but if he’d have accepted signing a new deal just for the one game you just know I’d have maxed it out to five years and there’d be part of me thinking I should continue so I’m glad it’s ended like this in truth.

 

A big drop off in assists for the main man this year and it’s his corner taking ability that is largely responsible I feel. Still a decent enough return of 29 goals and 14 assists in his final season and a combined total of 1,357 goals and assists over the 13 seasons which we’re happy with. I took this shot before the final game as I wanted Bruno on it and didn’t know whether he would be staying or going at this stage so there will be some stats missed off from the final game.

 

He’s pretty much gone now but no doubt he’d still be able to at least score the odd goal with a decent team behind him.

 

Here’s the final manager profile shot. I must’ve missed a few red cards again to hinder my discipline and no shortage of money spent.

 

Score

 

Striker Peak Years Challenge (Completed after five seasons)
 

Spoiler

 

Season 1

Bruno Fernandes: 62 goals and 50 assists in 53 games

Romelu Lukaku: 65 goals and 20 assists in 56 games

Andrea Belotti: 33 goals and 19 assists in 48 games

Season Total: 160 goals and 89 assists in 157 games = 249 points

 

Season 2

Bruno Fernandes: 71 goals and 68 assists in 61 games

Romelu Lukaku: 67 goals and 22 assists in 57 games

Andrea Belotti: 34 goals and 19 assists in 58 games

Season Total: 172 goals and 109 assists in 176 games = 281 points

 

Season 3

Bruno Fernandes: 61 goals and 55 assists in 51 games

Romelu Lukaku: 75 goals and 16 assists in 56 games

Andrea Belotti: 24 goals and 22 assists in 48 games

Season Total: 160 goals and 93 assists in 155 games = 253 points

 

Season 4

Bruno Fernandes: 77 goals and 47 assists in 55 games

Romelu Lukaku: 48 goals and 38 assists in 55 games

Andrea Belotti: 24 goals and 20 assists in 48 games

Season Total: 149 goals and 105 assists in 158 games = 254 points

 

Season 5

Bruno Fernandes: 89 goals and 60 assists in 59 games

Romelu Lukaku: 63 goals and 26 assists in 62 games

Andrea Belotti: 34 goals and 28 assists in 59 games

Season Total: 186 goals and 114 assists in 180 games = 300 points

 

Overall

Bruno Fernandes: 360 goals and 280 assists in 279 games = 640 points

Romelu Lukaku: 318 goals and 122 assists in 286 games = 440 points

Andrea Belotti: 149 goals and 108 assists in 261 games = 257 points

Grand Total: 827 goals and 510 assists in 826 games = 1,337 points

 

 

50/50 1k Split Challenge

 

Bruno Fernandes

Season 01: 62 goals and 50 assists in 53 games

Season 02: 71 goals and 68 assists in 61 games

Season 03: 61 goals and 55 assists in 51 games

Season 04: 77 goals and 47 assists in 55 games

Season 05: 89 goals and 60 assists in 59 games

Season 06: 66 goals and 55 assists in 57 games

Season 07: 68 goals and 64 assists in 58 games

Season 08: 70 goals and 55 assists in 56 games

Season 09: 44 goals and 36 assists in 48 games

Season 10: 49 goals and 42 assists in 50 games

Season 11: 40 goals and 28 assists in 43 games

Season 12: 26 goals and 31 assists in 47 games

Season 13: 29 goals and 14 assists in 48 games

Grand Total: 752 goals and 605 assists in 686 games

Challenge Total: 1,357 points

 

Thank you for following along.

The End.

Edited March 23, 2021 by Ian

[Rich]

That was such an awesome career Ian, really enjoyed following that, he done brilliantly right until the end even with poor stats. Great stuff and well done 😁

[FuddledFox]

Incredible numbers by Bruno, well played 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[Chelseaplchamps2022]

Great career mate, interesting to note that he declined a lot better than DCL and Richarlison in your Goaltopia career!

[Kanegan]

Brilliant career mate. The challenge with Bruno was especially nuts. Enjoyed it throughout.

[broodje kip]

Brilliant finish Ian! A very great career and surely one of the best this year

[Dai_]

Loved following this. What an epic career. Brilliant score and always good to get the closure of him not signing a new deal to tempt you into continuing. 

Well done, Sir.

[DLC]

Brilliant finish to a brilliant career @Ian, this has been one of my favourites and a fantastic read! Well done!

[Ian]

22 hours ago, Rich said:

That was such an awesome career Ian, really enjoyed following that, he done brilliantly right until the end even with poor stats. Great stuff and well done 😁

Thank you Richard, he certainly stood the test of time. He was gradually going downhill the last three seasons but it was really only the last one where it became a big struggle for him.

21 hours ago, FuddledFox said:

Incredible numbers by Bruno, well played 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Thanks Mr Fox, he certainly is very good.

19 hours ago, Chelseaplchamps2022 said:

Great career mate, interesting to note that he declined a lot better than DCL and Richarlison in your Goaltopia career!

Thank you Chelsea, yes he stayed very good for a lot longer than I was expecting. Certainly compared to the two Everton boys anyway.

19 hours ago, Kanegan said:

Brilliant career mate. The challenge with Bruno was especially nuts. Enjoyed it throughout.

Thank you Kane, he’s pretty good to say the least. Maybe there’s others players who could do similar in this system but I can’t say I’d be confident I could get anyone to do better than him.

15 hours ago, broodje kip said:

Brilliant finish Ian! A very great career and surely one of the best this year

Thanks Lord Danish, it ended up being a nice one to play and definitely better than I thought it’d be when I started.

14 hours ago, Dai_ said:

Loved following this. What an epic career. Brilliant score and always good to get the closure of him not signing a new deal to tempt you into continuing. 

Well done, Sir.

Thanks Dai, I’m glad with how it ended, properly finalises it.

11 hours ago, DLC said:

Brilliant finish to a brilliant career @Ian, this has been one of my favourites and a fantastic read! Well done!

Thank you DLC, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I enjoyed playing and posting it too.

[Scratch]

Well done Ian!

Just read all the way through and that's an epic career, especially from Bruno. A couple of those earlier seasons were insane! 

I laughed at the bit about praying for an injury - I do that too when my main player(s) go for an injury free run. I mean it's great, but at some point you start thinking "he better have one soon, I can't write he was injury free again"! Of course, this time around your prayers were answered and it was the start of the great decline. 

Anyway, great career and incredible Bruno, well done mate.

[Rob]

Brilliant return. Incredible.

[Ian]

On 25/03/2021 at 02:33, Scratch said:

Well done Ian!

Just read all the way through and that's an epic career, especially from Bruno. A couple of those earlier seasons were insane! 

I laughed at the bit about praying for an injury - I do that too when my main player(s) go for an injury free run. I mean it's great, but at some point you start thinking "he better have one soon, I can't write he was injury free again"! Of course, this time around your prayers were answered and it was the start of the great decline. 

Anyway, great career and incredible Bruno, well done mate.

Thank you Scratch, he’s just so good and seems incredibly consistent. Not much more I can say about him really.

Yeah it got like that for a while with the injury, he certainly seems very resilient and because things were always going well with him there was never any temptation to push him hard which probably helps too. I’ve had other saves where I may be tempted to put a player in for even just a half even if they were tired but never had any of those thoughts here, it was just a case of “If he’s slightly tired, he’s not playing”.

On 25/03/2021 at 14:13, Rob said:

Brilliant return. Incredible.

Thank you very much Rob.

[StuartM]

This one was a real eye opener, massive numbers over such a long period. Well done again!

[Albionic]

Great career Ian, some absolutely insane numbers along the way.

[Ian]

1 hour ago, StuartM said:

This one was a real eye opener, massive numbers over such a long period. Well done again!

Thank you Stuart, he did very well. I didn’t expect to be in a position to continue alone with Bruno after the first five seasons but was left with little choice the way it was going.

52 minutes ago, Albionic said:

Great career Ian, some absolutely insane numbers along the way.

Thank you Albionic, I’ll have to try your badge challenge next I think.

[Scratch]

11 hours ago, Ian said:

Yeah it got like that for a while with the injury, he certainly seems very resilient and because things were always going well with him there was never any temptation to push him hard which probably helps too. I’ve had other saves where I may be tempted to put a player in for even just a half even if they were tired but never had any of those thoughts here, it was just a case of “If he’s slightly tired, he’s not playing”.

Yeah, I often use very rarely injured players like Esposito and Badji and Sargent, which helps, and I religiously rest them when they get to Slightly Tired and sometimes give them a couple of games off just for the hell of it. I am pretty sure they don't score as much when they get tired, so I rest them half to protect against injury and half because it probably leads to more goals anyway.

[Stuttgartsteve]

Ian this is amazing and I dont know where to start