Stomalomalus

So I'm giving one more go at creating a system for my team, Brentford. And while the 4-3-3 works OK, the 5-3-2 does not. This is mainly because the forwards and more offensive midfielders do not close off passing lanes like they do in real life. Is there a way to recreate this in FM? Or is this something we're just going to have to wait and hope for? At the moment it just seems like the low block is a bit redundant as I just conceded a soft goal because we left the passing lanes free from defense all the way forward, something that would never happen IRL (unless your name is Nathan Collins and you're playing against Wolves lol)

So, I started a Spurs save for a bit of a change. And wanted to buy different players to what I'm used to. Turned off first window and found myself comfortable by Christmas, but wanted to improve. Time for a massive rebuild, lol. Out went Rodon, Sanchez, Tanganga, and Davies, and in came Schlotterbeck and Alvarez. And also in was Dries Mertens - not my usual signing. He was immense. Oh, and at the start of the season, I signed Cabella on a free. Finished 3rd behind a runaway Liverpool and Man City, and won the EURO II, thrashing Feyenoord in the final. So now came the rebuild. In came Onana, Strakoshka, Kamara, Kessie, Zagadou, and Danilo Perreira on frees - that last was a mistake. In came Marcus Edwards, Singo, Omar Richards, Kaiky, Ilias Akhomach, and James Maddison. And late, I added Elanga on loan to up my Home Grown for the Champions League and give me more pace off the bench. Out went Cabella, Dier, Bentancur, Bergwijn, Doherty, Carter-Vickers, Gill, Lo Celso, Ndombele, while Sessegnon, Scarlett, Devine, Dorrington, and Donley went out on loan. Looking forward to seeing how my new look team performs, this is my first choice lineup now, though there will be plenty of rotation.

A great run until the World Cup pushed us up toward the top of the table, but Norwich and Brighton were already running away with the league. And then my usually winter slump came. Poor results and injuries, including Sam Greenwood, who was having a stonking season, dropped me very close to leaving the playoffs. And then January bought upheval, as both Ebosele and Bird wanted to leave. I kept the former, though he wouldn't be happy, but Bird left for Watford for 9m. In his place came Josh Dasilva from Brentford, while I also bought in Phillips from Liverpool on loan and Sieb up top, also on loan. Greenwood finished the season with the golden boot with 34 league goals, while Dowell got the most assists, with a huge 24, at least half of which came from open play. And we won the playoff final, beating Stoke to get promotion. It started well enough. Liverpool wanted OK money for both Phillips and Morton, and while Leeds wanted a bit much for Greenwood, I thought it was doable. Then Bielik came asking for a new contract. Fine, let's talk. 70k a week. Jeez. So he left for Russia. Sibley, Thompson, Goode and Dowell all also wanted new contracts, but with wages in the 20s, that was fine. Cut into my wage budget for new signings, though. Morton then didn't want to sign. Greenwood wanted insane wages. Ajax wouldn't loan Unavar back. But suddenly I noticed Gvardiol was available for 24m. Sure, it was half my budget on a player I didn't exactly need, but still. So I signed him. Who wouldn't. Phillips joined, too, as did Soumare from Leicester and Flynn Downes from Swansea. Cardoso also joined from West Ham for pittance, and Roerslev joined to replace Burnley bound Ebosele. Which left me with a forward problem. No-one wanted to join. At least no-one of the quality I was after. Nketiah said no. Greenwood wanted too much. Sieb turned me down. All loanees came with huge fees. I ended up with a choice between Jebbison from Sheffield United for almost 20m or Koita from Salzburg for 7m... Yeah, I wonder who I went for. The whole aim with signings is that they have resale value. I didn't want to splash out on players I'd make a loss on. Pre-season went well, despite some niggling injuries, and I was very tempted to promote a couple of youths to the first team squad. In the end I loaned them out instead. I looked at both Lewis-Potter and Johnson from Forest as attacking midfielders, but they both wanted to be star players...that wasn't going to happen. I thought I'd take my time, but before the first game, I lost DaSilva and Strelec to injury, along with Knight. So I signed Kozlowski on loan from Brighton to fill the gap, and then tried to fill the final forward slot. After a lot of searching, Hwang Hee-Chan joined from Wolves for a bargain fee, but only after the first game of the season...which I'll get to later. So my squad was: GK: Gunn, Davies, FoulkesRB: Roerslev, McDonaldCB: Gvardiol, Goode, Phillips, Cardoso, BalutaLB: Buchanan, NkounkoDM: SoumareBWM: Thompson, DownesBTB: Knight, SibleySS: DasilvaAP: Dowell, KozlowskiAF: Koita, Strelec, Hwang First game of the season is against Liverpool. Kozlowski had just joined, DaSilva passed a fitness test but was in no state to start, Nkounko was out, McDonald had no fitness, and Knight and Strelec both missed out. Hwang hadn't signed yet. We were losing 1-0, no big deal against Liverpool, when Koita went and got himself sent off. Sigh. Duncan had to come on, despite me trying to usher him out the door. 5-0 it ended. Not good. We have an exciting signing arriving in January, Roony Bardghji, let's hope we're not cut adrift by then.

So turns out I made a happy mistake. It showed my next season transfer budget as 64k. But at the end of the season, I was given 16m to spend. Needless to say, I wasn't spending that much, but I did end up spending a little more than planned. In came: Charlie Goode CB 2m Tudor Baluta CB/DM Free Angus Gunn GK 400k Adam Davies GK 500k Kieran Dowell CAM 115k Niels Nkounko LB 1.2m David Strelec CF 4m I also renewed the loans of Naci Unuvar, Tyler Morton, and Sam Greenwood. That leaves me, after loans out, with a first team squad of: GK: Gunn, Davies, Foulkes RB: Ebosele, McDonald, Bardell CB: Goode, Davies, Baluta, Sane LB: Buchanan, Nkounko, McDonald DM: Morton, Bielik, Bird, Baluta BWM: Thompson, Bird, Bielik BTB: Knight, Sibley, Bird SS: Naci Unuvar, Strelec, Solskjaer AP: Dowell, Sibley, Unuvar AF: Greenwood, Strelec, Unuvar With players covering across multiple positions, I like to have three players for each position. So we're sorted there with Bielik also capable at CB. Season has started well. First game was 0-0 against relegated Norwich, and second was a 1-0 loss against Hull - with another 1-0 loss to Middlesbrough in the Carabao sandwiched. Since then, all wins. Hoping for promotion, to be honest. I will need to do some pretty substantial rebuilding to the squad if that happens, especially at CB, but as both Davies and Sane will leave at the end of the season, I'd have needed to anyway. Need to get there first, which means wins, wins, wins.

Game 42 and a last minute winner from Sam Greenwood against champions elect Fulham saw us mathematically safe from the drop, in 13th place with 52 points. Tom Lawrence has been magnificent for a different reason recently, as corner goals have dried up, he's found his shooting boots in a new role as AP instead of SS. He's not even our top assist maker, that goes to Sibley, who has been superb. Tied everyone I want down to a contract for next season. This is my squad right now, minus the loans: GK - Foulkes and Roberts - yeah, I need a first team goalie or 2. RB - Ebosele and McDonald - these two have been very good. Byrne is always injured, and his wages are better elsewhere, so no new contract. LB - Buchanan - that's it right now. I like the look of Grewal-Pollard, but not sure he's up to it. I've had loanee Adaramola in to back up Buchanan since Jan. CB - Sane, Davies, Cachin - again, need a new body in here, though Bielik can cover. DM-DLPd - Bielik and Bird - both can cover elsewhere. Morton has been excellent on loan, I wouldn't say no to taking him again. BWMs - Thomson - Bird has mainly played here, but Thomson is looking good, imo, for a lot of games next season. BTB - Sibley and Knight - Definitely good enough here. SS - Ebiowei - need someone here, for sure. APa - no-one. Sibley can play here, and well, but another place I need someone. Lawrence would be good to keep...but not sure that's going to happen, and his wages are huge. AF - Duncan and Stretton - Not good enough. Duncan could be backup next season, but Stretton isn't good enough. Need someone here, I'd like Greenwood or Simic back. So, work to be done. I'm looking at a lot of Man City youth to come in, and checking on who becomes available for transfer. I didn't get a big takeover, so no real money to spend. Will have to wheel and deal, so a cup run would be nice. Get some attention in.

So today's quick run took us to 21 games played, and saw us escape the relegation zone. Wonderful win over Bristol City sees us in 21st. In bad news, though, Lawrence has asked to leave. I told him I'd accept offers, but won't actively sell him. Part of me hopes no-one comes in for him, but also, it might be worth cashing in on him now, as he doesn't want to stay anyway. Question is, who to replace him with? McAtee has gone on loan to Hull and Cole Palmer is in City's first team squad. Hopefully they still make him available for loan in Jan, then I could replace Lawrence with him, potentially. Bielik is also approaching fitness. I may just look to change up my formation slightly, as Morrison isn't working in CAM as an APa. Maybe I drop that position back to the centre and have a 41311. I'll have to have a think about that. Otherwise, maybe Knight moves forward. Not sure Karabec is good enough for the starring role as SS.

A quick follow up before I turn off the computer. So after 5 without a win, it's now 5 won in a row. The team meeting worked. After 17, we've crept up to +7 points. Without the points deduction, we'd be just outside the playoffs. Of course, Curtis Davies has been great, but he's only our joint top scorer with Sam Greenwood, who's been very good these past games. Lawrence is still far our best player, though. Festy has been incredible since stringing together a run of games, though: looking forward to how he develops.

Sold him. Wages were too high and I still wanted to try and keep Lawrence. Bought in Alnwick as backup instead, he's on 2k a week, that's a huge difference. But my changes worked. Held a team meeting, told Allsop I believed, and Morrison, too, and we thrashed Luton 5-1. Also restored Plange, who looked good up top, and bought Morton back in at the base of midfield. Also helps to have a fit Festy at RB, he's a difference maker.

Started a Derby save. Struggling a little with bad luck, poor finishing, and poor keeping. Got lucky that I got taken over before the end of the transfer window, and didn't lose anyone. I could sign Lamine Sane on a free transfer, and then bring in Billy Koumetio, Sam Greenwood, Tyler Morton, and Adam Karabec on loan. After a decent start, I've just gone 5 without winning, culminating in our worst performance, a 3-0 loss to relegation rivals Preston. The thing is, they beat us on xG...just. Alsopp is conceding way too many, and our forwards are wasteful. We're scoring 1.5/game from an xG of 1.7, which is OK. But we're conceding 1.8 from an xGa of 1.3. So something needs to give. I'm going to give Alsopp a rollicking and hope that improves things. I've struggled to keep my wing backs fit, been a lot of rotation, especially on the right. Lawrence is going to leave on a free, which is a shame, but also we have the problem that our performances are linked to his. We need to solve that.