After the first few games I realised that the League was a bit too hot for the ageing side I had, so I concentrated (fruitlessly, as it happened) on the Champions League, and put the second-string players in the League squad. The team then just settled, like sediment in a river, to the bottom of the League.

I haven't actively tanked (e.g striker in goal, goalkeeper in the forward line), the team just hasn't been good enough. I've been picking up a few mid-Q, multi-role 5* players gradually over the season and been experimenting which positions they are best in, and winnowing out the older, low*, low-Q players. Just two of those to go, and one is putting up a rearguard action in a (probably futile - I am the Management) bid to avoid the chop.

Hopefully things will be back to competitive normality next season.