Well, it happened again – I lost interest and I deleted the save. So while this is Part 4, it’s technically Part 1. But regardless, this is all about Inter Leipzig.
It’s been 2.5 years since I started the original save and a lot has changed from the team I took to the Bundesliga. The significant difference is the depleted squad (I forgot to get a screenshot or print out the text file so trust me on that).
To get Inter Leipzig into the playable German league system, I replaced a club from the Regionalliga Nord with Inter and increased the max stadium expansion to 25,000 to avoid issues if we got into Europe. Currently, we’re on 2,500 and our training facilities are “awful”.
I’m also following a set of rules I’ve called Cruijffonomics which I semi-used on the Notts County save. I won’t be as strict with this.
Season 1 goals
- Promotion to 2. Bundesliga
Got to focus on the league when I’m starting from scratch. Cups will be more important when the squad expands.
Transfers
| Date | Player In | From | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15.7.18 | Santiago Visentin | Free Transfer | Free |
| 22.7.18 | Jannis Schweinsteiger* | Free Transfer | Free |
| 23.7.18 | Yannick Lange* | Free Transfer | Free |
| 23.7.18 | Niklas Semlits* | Free Transfer | Free |
| 27.7.18 | Daniel Pérez | Free Transfer | Free |
| 27.7.18 | Bernd Pfeifer* | Free Transfer | Free |
| 28.7.18 | Karl-Heinz Schön* | Free Transfer | Free |
| 10.8.18 | Kevin Debaty | Free Transfer | Free |
| 14.8.18 | Nyeko Sinclair | Free Transfer | Free |
| 1.12.18 | Markus Rauffmann* | Free Transfer | Free |
| 13.1.19 | Uwe Gospodarek* | Free Transfer | Free |
(* – Coaching staff)
I didn’t realise there was a short window and ended up with just enough for a starting 11. That meant greyed out players had to stop in every so often and filled the bench for every match.
League
| Pos. | Team | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | Pts. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Braunschweig | 34 | 24 | 6 | 4 | 73 | 36 | 78 |
| 2nd | Inter Leipzig | 34 | 24 | 3 | 7 | 104 | 57 | 75 |
| 3rd | Halle | 34 | 18 | 9 | 7 | 63 | 42 | 63 |
| 4th | Uerdingen | 34 | 18 | 8 | 8 | 63 | 38 | 62 |
| 5th | Magdeburg | 34 | 16 | 11 | 7 | 64 | 49 | 59 |
| 6th | Rostock | 34 | 15 | 8 | 11 | 64 | 60 | 53 |
| 7th | M¨nster | 34 | 16 | 3 | 15 | 61 | 65 | 51 |
| 8th | Duisburg | 34 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 52 | 56 | 48 |
| 9th | Viktoria Köln | 34 | 13 | 7 | 14 | 48 | 49 | 46 |
| 10th | Nordhausen | 34 | 12 | 6 | 16 | 54 | 69 | 42 |
| 11th | Fortuna Köln | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 61 | 68 | 41 |
| 12th | Cottbus | 34 | 11 | 7 | 16 | 58 | 67 | 40 |
| 13th | Erfurt | 34 | 11 | 5 | 18 | 61 | 75 | 38 |
| 14th | Lübeck | 34 | 10 | 6 | 18 | 53 | 63 | 36 |
| 15th | Werder Bremen (A) | 34 | 10 | 5 | 19 | 48 | 62 | 35 |
| 16th | Lotte | 34 | 7 | 11 | 16 | 50 | 66 | 32 |
| 17th | Chemnitz | 34 | 7 | 8 | 19 | 42 | 68 | 29 |
| 18th | Oberhausen | 34 | 8 | 3 | 23 | 32 | 61 | 27 |
I was actually 5 points clear for a few games by my keeper Debaty decided to forget how to play football (he got a 2 in one game) and we lost 7 games. Our offense was very strong but our defence wasn’t, so that’s something I want to reinforce for next season.
The cups
No cup matches in this league (on 01/02 at least)
Key players
Braima Candé – 7.72
My defensive midfielders are nearly always my best players in a season. They’re the lynchpins of my squads and CM 01/02 heavily weighted their importance in the engine.
Interestingly, Candé has never played for Inter Leipzig in real life but he was part of Sporting CP’s youth team. He’s also a right back in real life. But in this game, he was an important DMC (who is, unfortunately, leaving at the end of the season).
Arlind Shoshi – 7.68
20 goals in 34 appearances is a quality first season and at 23, he has a few seasons in him before he invariably gets bought or leaves on a free.
And in real life, he does play for Inter Leipzig, with 5 in 12 this/last season.
Next season
I’ve got a stack of players coming through on free transfers and because I don’t have a reserve team, I want to get as many players as I can.
Join me for Part 5 to see how I got on!