Dan

To be honest with the rate I go on these I'd not be surprised if I got promoted and then into Europe in two years. Because as you say the others aren't good. I'd imagine actually cracking a European league phase is pretty tricky though with someone like these.

Think it's pretty revealing how not far off every player we have does better elsewhere.

I read the total opposite. I suppose the caveat is that all of these other clubs with no money are in the same boat and outsmarting the AI is like out-negotiating Jon Rudkin. It's getting above Zvezda I worry about. The fact Serbia pays so little in wages makes it very hard to even get any decent foreign players anyway. I mean there's barely even any point in scouting like Scandinavia this time around. Obviously it's dependant on Zvezda themselves. Croatia was easy with Varazdin but Dinamo went to pot pretty quickly and Hajduk were in relegation danger at one point. On the flip side the Prague teams stayed good throughout the whole of my save there and PAOK were a serious team for most of the Greece save - kept it interesting tbh.

It's not impossible, honestly. If we don't pull clear in these next four I'll be extremely worried.

I agree completely - this team hasn't really earned my trust yet. But QPR, Preston and Wednesday are all looking worse than us at the minute and we need to beat all three. I'd throw Watford into that as well but I just can't believe this lot can win five in a row. I thought it about Bristol City as well. Another team we caught at a brilliant time. If we have anything about us, we take a minimum of 8 from this last 4. It's as good a run of fixtures as you could ask for. Literally all of the on the beach teams.

I think Blackburn look in real trouble. They're performing probably the worst of the five and have the hardest run in. They've gotten worse for the managerial change. Our next four are brilliant. Save the obvious about Wednesday, but QPR and Preston have gone off a cliff themselves. We've really caught those two and Bristol City at a good time. I just cannot put my finger on West Brom. I feel like they've been really unlucky but there's clearly a mentality problem with them as well. Just seemingly incapable of holding out and getting a win. The amount of games they've blown late is mental.

I stress I'm saying this as somebody who thinks that the Premier League is the strongest league - I think our average team, say Brentford, is better than the Spanish or German equivalent. But in terms of actually hammering home the dominance I tend to find there's too much emphasis on less important games and when the chips are down, English sides are often found wanting. It's very much the case with the national team as well. It's probably a good thing for the overall health of football that this happens, because English sides financially have the ability to really dominate and generally it just doesn't really happen. I do concede that Real Madrid are a big reason for it, and Sevilla back in the day as well. I mean if this Arsenal side is the best team in Europe then just wrap it all up. I suspect they will meet their match in Europe soon - I don't think they're capable of knocking out Barcelona and then Bayern.

Was wondering this - highly unlikely but they look absolutely dreadful at the minute and sliding down the table. Looking at the fixtures I think I'd have WBA and Blackburn now after this midweek. But this literally changes every matchday.

This is classic English sides in Europe. Dominate where it's less important and found out when the pressure's on.

Oxford Blackburn isn't that important, would sooner Blackburn of the two but it isn't a gamechanger as it pulls Blackburn back in. West Brom winning is shit though. At the end of the day it's all extremely tight and if we get our own house in order we'll be OK. That's a big if with us but I'm quite encouraged by how dreadful QPR look - we've got to beat them.

Very torn. Too early to say. Well done on him being the first manager since Maresca I've not wanted out after five games. I have reservations because he's definitely got a track record of favouring experience, which just hasn't really worked for us. But do I believe our board can downgrade - absolutely, and this is what I see happening.

Bloody hell

Welcome to the future. I nearly ended up being these on 24 but went for someone else, so them coming up again is the world (the wheel) telling me that I'm meant to manage these, and I quite liked the idea of it before but just fancied Croatia more. OFK Vrsac of the Serbian 2nd tier. Now I've done a bit of digging into Serbia and this could be another level of difficulty altogether. Pretty much every league in Europe, largely thanks to the Champions League money, is dominated by a couple of teams who secured the bag and monopolised the league. This is very much true of Serbia, where Crvena Zvezda absolutely walk the league year in, year out. But Serbia feels uniquely tricky for two main reasons on top of this. The first is there is absolutely no money in the league. I did a bit of digging and found that in Croatia's top tier, 9 of the 10 teams pay £1mil a year or more in wages (Vukovar the exception) while in Serbia, only 4 out of 16 do. So Vukovar, expected to go down with a whimper in Croatia, would be pushing for Europe in Serbia. Similar sorts of situations in Hungary and Romania as well which are other leagues I have active. The other is that they have a very strict domestic player policy where as it is now, you can only name 4 foreign players in your squad. So the league has absolutely no money, and with what little money you have, you have a very limited pool of players you can bring in. It's similar to Portugal but with a lower standard, less freedom in who comes in and a fraction of the money. What I expect is that I will actually get up to the top tier pretty quickly (despite a prediction of 11th) and establish. But actually getting above the big teams is going to be a mission and a half even for somebody who has pissed as much time on the game as I have. So the trick is to get to a European league phase as quickly as possible (which will be very hard in itself) and use that money to upgrade youth intakes and whatnot. What Serbia does have in its favour is it does produce decent players for its size. But having seen this league system, it's not hard to see why it lags quite a way behind a comparable neighbour. This could be a real slog but looking forward to chucking many hours away trying to crack it.

Tottenham are just extraordinary. They hit a new low every time they play

Hoping he doesn't stick with Reid/Ayew.

He had a good game bar the penalty. Got away with that one.

It's possible. I guess we'll never know but that clean sheet feels as big as winning itself. Huge monkey off our backs there.

Glad for him. He's dropped off as the season's gone on but I still have him nowhere near one of the biggest offenders.

That penalty save is enormous. Game changer.

If we don't win this we're toast.

Have they really had 4 corners after 5 minutes?

For **** sake

The Galatasaray game will be good I agree! But how do we think it'll be at Leicester?

It's a wrap for Greece. We win the league but lose the cup final to PAOK. New destination has been decided, and my god, this is going to be an absolute pig of a save on the face of it, but I like a challenge.

Oh I know. I've absolutely no confidence whatsoever. But this is an opportunity - as is the weekend.