Top 100

SC Internacional Season 4 Analysis and Season 5 Preview

Welcome to a belated review of SC Internacional's journey so far in Division 2 in Top 100. Season 3 brought us promotion to the dizzy heights of Division 2, and with it the rubbing of shoulders with big teams like Manchester United, Internazionale, AS Roma and Everton among many others. Season 4 was widely expected to be difficult for us, with many touting us favourites for immediate relegation, and who can blame them when on paper SC Internacional don't look worthy to compete in this division. Even our own chairman had only expected us to avoid relegation at best.

The Season

New faces at the start of season 4 such as Andreas Samaris, Luca Antonelli, Raul Jimenez and Luciano Narsingh gave us a new stronger look ready for the challenge ahead. We started the season respectively, forming a sort of "win 1, draw 1, lose 1" pattern for a few weeks that saw us sit mid table or thereabouts.
Then came a crash in form, a low point of the season in December. Three straight losses to Internazionale, Roma and Ajax, culminating in a 6 game winless streak saw us plummet too close to the relegation zone for comfort. The positive thing was that we hadn't lost badly, mostly to 1 goal margins and never more than 2 goals, and we fought well in games but just lacked a cutting edge. So it was decision time for me as manager, do I keep faith in the players that had brought us this far or do I delve into the transfer market?
Well a bit of both really, one then the other. Our fortunes turned in January as we embarked on an 8 game unbeaten run lasting almost all of January, including a 5 game winning streak against Benfica, Lyon, Fenerbahce,  Newcastle and CSKA Moskva to equal a club record and see us enter the top half of the table. Our attacking quartet of Bakambu, Jimenez, Ntep and newly risen to 88 Plea were doing a decent job, though perhaps Bakambu wasn't doing enough for what is expected of an 89 rated player but I kept faith in him.
So naturally it was a bit of a gamble to mix things up with transfers after this good form, but some were to tempting to refuse. (see transfers paragraph for more details)
However with younger defensive reinforcements brought in and some new attacking faces arriving, our form continued to be generally very good. Some important victories followed against the likes of league leaders Everton and play-off hopefuls Genoa and Sevilla to put Internacional surprisingly in the playoff positions briefly with 4 games to go to give us slim hope of a 3rd successive promotion... could we??
Haha. No, sadly not. As a poor end of season run of 4 defeats saw those blurry dreams shattered before they had even become vivid. We dropped out of the playoffs and finished in 10th, which based on the season on the whole is an excellent achievement and well above our expectations.

The Cups
Again this season, as with last season this is barely worth a mention unfortunately. We finished bottom of Club World Cup group 9 with only 1 win in 8 games.
We reached round 3 of Top 100 Cup losing to Liverpool. Beating Dynamo Kiev and Hellas Verona.
And we were knocked out of the Top 100 Shield in round 1 by Stuttgart.

Mid season risers

In last season's analysis I mentioned some players to watch, and as expected they've risen to become more integral members of the first team.

Alassane Plea 85>88

He went straight into the starting 11 and has become a key player for us with goals and assists.

Willi Orban 83>87

He has become a useful backup centre back and even starts at right back now sometimes. Huge rise and will surely rise more next time.

Diego Demme 83>86

His versatility made him a useful option as backup in defence and midfield. But was later trades away.

Mid season arrivals

Edin Višća - AM,F(RL) - 88

Luciano Narsingh wasn't doing the job for us in the league or in real life, so we managed to switch him out for Bosnian star of Istanbul Başakşehir, who are challenging for a Süperlig title, so a chance of rising to 89? Happy to have him on board either way and he made an immediate impact for us, scoring on his debut. Deal was with Udinese.

David Lopez - DM(C) - 88

A lynchpin for Espanyol in real life. A good 4 years younger than our previous option Valdifiori. Deal was with Udinese again, with our left back Luca Antonelli going the other way.

Stefan Bell - D(C) - 88

Good young centre backs are like gold dust in Top100 for a small team, so to get a solid performer of only 25 years of age with potential to rise at Mainz in the Bundesliga was a no brainer. He partners Mikel San Jose in our defence. Our best performer Paul-Georges Ntep had to leave but with Alassane Plea ready to step in that wasn't a problem. Deal was with Man Utd.

Andujar Coke - D (RL),DM,M,AM (R) - 89

A versatile fullback/ winger, Coke was able to fill a void at left back and wasn't too costly. The out of favour Valdifiori and Ander Capa were exchanged with Olympiacos.

Hernan Perez 87 AM - With the arrival of Bell, veteran centre back Bruno Alves was surplus to requirements, so we brought in a backup winger from Espanyol.

Yuya Kubo - AM,F (RLC) - 85

After a real life transfer from Swiss team BSC Young Boys to KAA Gent in Belgium, I hoped he'd step up to the challenge of a bigger team, and he has! Already scored 6 goals for them since February and marked his full international debut with a goal for Japan last month. Certainly one to watch and should rise to 86/87 fairly soon. Arrived from Marseille in exchange for Gonzalo Escalante.

Scoring tables
Here are the scoring tables:

Alassane Plea has been a revelation since his rise to 88, earning him player of the season award with 9 goals and 10 assists from 28 games. Raul Jiménez had a respectable first season here. Cederic Bakambu's sub-par tally is a cause for concern. Another honourable mention is our long serving keeper Becker Alisson, notching 13 clean sheets and shortlisted for the Golden Glove award again. Has performed well above his rating. Only conceding more than 2 goals in a game on 1 occasion this season.

Alisson: another great season in goal, 13 clean sheets.








New season arrivals
Internacional have decided to bring in some young talent with potential to rise at the expense of some of their bigger name players. Planning for the future. We have made a few good deals following this protocol:

Marcel Sabitzer - AM,F(RLC) - 87

Olympique Lyonnais drove a hard bargain with this one, they obviously rated him as highly as we do. And as we felt Cedric Bakambu wasn't doing enough to warrant his 89 rating, the straight swap was proposed and accepted. In real life another member of the young Leipzig revelations and should be looking at a rise to 88 in the next review.

Alessandro Schöpf - M,AM(RLC) - 87

Another young Austrian also 23 years of age playing in the Bundesliga, this one for Schalke. The versatile midfielder is also playing regularly and well in real life and should also rise to 88 I predict next time. Acquired from Swansea City in exchange for Raul Jiménez and a couple of youth.

Yussuf Poulsen - AM(RL),F(RLC) - 87

Yet another young forward from Leipzig... (You'd think I was trying to get the entire team!) Acquired from Girondins Bordeaux with fellow Leipzig midfielder Diego Demme and Hernan Perez going the other way. Sad to see Demme leave as he was certain to rise too but we wanted more attacking options, and Poulsen is still only 22 with a good chance to rise to 88 soon.

Lucas Mendes - D(LC) - 87

We were in need of a new starting left back as I had decided to use our current left back Coke as a right winger this season. So a swap was agreed with Swansea City with Guram Kashia going the other way.


Remy Cabella - M(C),AM(RLC) - 88

Bought from Liverpool with Andreas Samaris moved the opposite way. I was unhappy with Samaris's performances this season, 0 goals or assists and low ratings from centre midfield. Cabella has made an immediate impact playing in CM. Scored and assisted in preseason friendlies and scored on his proper debut too. His attacking flair will bring more to the central midfield. He's playing well in real life for Marseille too, which is always a bonus for me.

Nemanja Radoja - DM,M(C) - 87

Our most recent acquisition, joined from Malaga in exchange for Rogelio Funes Mori and a youth. Funes Mori was surplus to requirements after an influx of new attacking arrivals, and the loss of Demme and Kashia left us short of a back up DM. Thankfully the deal met Malaga's requirements too and was the final piece to our puzzle. Radoja is a player I like and is having a good season at Celta Vigo. Dare I say he could reach 88 in next review? I do hope so!

Oliveira Elkeson - AM (C),F (RLC) - 87

Bought from Dynamo Zagreb in exchange for Dong Won Ji and a youth. Has scored a f##k-ton of goals in the Chinese Super League but SM didn't feel the need to rise him. So he will remain a substitute and cup player.

Other players to watch (aside from the aforementioned)

Willi Orban - D (RC) - 87
Makes our list again, after his +4 earlier in the season he's looking at another rise to 88 at the end of the season as he continues to excel at Bundesliga revelation RB Leipzig. Will be an undisputed starter for us when this happened as his list of admiring teams in the setup continues to grow (on 10 at this moment). Prediction: 87>88

Ibrahim Amadou - DM (C) - 85

The French-born Cameroonian is having a breakthrough season at Lille and is considered to be be a great talent, so much so that they've tied him to a new long term contract. The defensive midfielder should have a future in our team as probably the most promising in his position now that Demme has left. Prediction: 85>87

Joris Gnagnon - CB - 80

Having a breakthrough season in Ligue 1 in real life and has received a call-up to the France U21 side. The 20 year old is a starter at centre back for Stade Rennes and is gathering a lot of interest. He is one youth that I'll be keeping hold of and expecting a rise in the next review. He could be a future star... time will tell. Prediction: 80>85

Season 5
So with all the changes to the team, this is typically the squad I will pick for league games this season:

 *With the inclusion of Marcel Sabitzer (who is currently suspended) in place of Alessandro Schöpf who would drop to the bench.

The chairman of SC Internacional has stated that he expects us to avoid relegation from Division 2 again this season. Taking into account last season's 10th place finish and taking a slight rating reduction in our starting 11, I would say this is a realistic target. My own prediction is 13th place this season, despite being tipped for relegation based on team rating. I proved this wrong every season so far so I think I can do it again!

Thank you for reading my article (sorry if it dragged on a bit). Hope you all have a fun season in Top100!

Robérto Downinho