FM12 Big Euro Nation: Small Club to Big Club Challenge

[corinthiano]

A very good season there Manku, some excellent progress and nice to see you managed to convince Gallo to stay. You have a very young and promising side, hope you manage to get out of Liga Vitalis next season!

[Romanista1994]

Nice season Manku, I can see some of your young players making waves in the Liga Sagres in the near future.

[Manku]

Thanks guys, and I hope you are right. I'm tired of playing in the second tier. My finances are deteriorating really fast and I need to get promoted to make some cash. Luckily, once I get promoted I probably won't need to sell more than a couple guys to balance the finances, while still managing to have a competitive team, but it needs to be soon.

[aldojags]

Season Review 2021/22 (10th Season)

Ligue 1 - 4th

Media Prediction: 4th
Board expectation: Qualify for Europa through Ligue 1
Table | Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2 | Graph

Manager History

Disappointed to come 4th given I've been 3rd last couple of seasons, but overall it's where, at the moment, our rightful place is, "best of the rest" outside the big 3 of OM, PSG, + Lyon. Struggled juggling Champions League for the first time and league games, dropped points in league I normally wouldn't, that coupled with a resurgent Lyon this season meant I was removed from Champions League spaces. Only got 74 points this season, whereas last season I got 85.

Think I may have come 3rd if I'd kept clear of injuries, but pretty much my best 2 players, Tony Champion + Oneil Tatlot both spent months on the sidelines, at the same time, so it meant we were short of our 2 deadliest players. I was pleased with how the back up players still fought on without them, but them both coming back into the team coincided with us hammering a few teams, so if I can keep them fit next season, I'm confident of pushing for 3rd.

How PSG managed to not win the league having scored 113 goals with a goal difference in 80's is crazy, but I'm glad they didn't win it after they stole Lubos Matta from me start of season!

Just need to go for it again next season, but I'm really struggling to get closer to the big 3. No players of note seem interested in coming to me, the only deals I can really do is bosmans, it's the only way I appear to sign decent players. All other players cost too much, or they aren't good enough. Still only kicking around with smallest attendance in the league by quite some distance, 8th highest wage in league, and there's 46 clubs in France with more season tickets than me! So don't expect a league win anytime soon, I'd bite your hand off for 3rd next year again, not being in Champions League may be an advantage in disguise.

Champions League - Group Stage (3rd)

Fixtures | Table

Was seeded 4th, and got a tough group with Valencia, AC Milan, + Zenit. I immediately identified an ageing and average looking Zenit as the weak link, and thought I'd try to nick 3rd. Zenit then went on to win the group, I got my 3rd place, and AC Milan had a nightmare, finishing 4th on 4 points (I did the double on them). Was definitely a missed opportunity to get through, but settled for Europa League football after Christmas.


Europa League - 2nd knockout round

Fixtures

I was trailing in the league and decided on just sending a 2nd string into Europa fixtures. Managed an unbelievable result in Donetsk, coming away from the Donbass Arena with a 5-0 advantage going into home leg, which I drew 4-4. I was winning 2-0 in Alkmaar when I threw that tie away. Wasn't too fussed about it anyway, as I said, was desperate to climb the league at this point.

French Cup - 11th round

Fixtures

Midweek games meant I paid no attention to this competition.


Coupe de la Ligue - Semi Finals

Fixtures

PSG hammered us at home in the semi's.


Squad - note some of the players will show stats for reserve team instead of first team, if it says reserves beside their name, then the games shown will probably be reserve team fixture info.

Bold - first choice. *means Viry-Chatillon youth product*

GK

Jimmy Lynch - solid season, injured for 2 months and we missed his experience at the back.

*Ludovic Barbier* - performed fine when asked, but found himself pushed into 3rd choice. Touted as the new Yohan Pele.

Marvin Angloma - had a mixed bag of performances when Lynch was injured. Had a few bad games where he made mistakes, but then we got a 0-0 draw away to PSG, and he was outstanding. Still hoping we can develop both these young keepers into good first team keepers. Dubbed the new Joel Bats.

Defenders

Andrew O'Neill - solid season for the young canadian RB. Improving every year.

Karl Thorpe - solid season rewarded by his first England cap.

Nathaniel Chalobah Steady season, played well at right back when O'Neill was injured.

Cedric Hue - good season for Cedric, has definitely taken number 1 left back slot from Dalibor Ladic.

Dalibor Ladic - does well but only gets a game when I want to rest Hue.

*Jimmy Donaldson* - My utility defender is DRLC so handy man to have in the squad. Long term future I think will be at centre back, but he mainly played full back this season, but he's not really technically good enough to play full back as I like my full backs to play as wing backs. Dubbed the next Laurent Koscielny.

Thorgan Lienard - he wants away, he wants to stay, he wants away, he wants to stay. Getting on my nerves, and I've got a DC coming in on a bosman in the summer so I'll try snd move Thorgan on. It's a shame, he's been with me for about 8 and a half seasons, but he's too much hassle.

Pavel Hanzlik -young Czech full back, does well enough as cover. Will try and maybe loan him out.

*Maxime Reset* - young centre back had a few games from the bench, has 2 star potential which will mean he'll never be first choice but could be good enough back up. Touted as next Phillipe Mexes.

*Girolamo Masciantiano* - limited left back, but does ok.

Midfield

Ali Jellassi - holding midfielder, solid as a rock, and now a regular in the French squad.

Pituca - Brazilian international had a good first season, looking forward to a better year from him next year.

John Larrson - got him on a free from Hearts, and he's done well. Constantly linked with moves to Chelsea, but he's going nowhere.

Oneil Tatlot - missed him when he was injured. But when he's on his game, we are unstoppable.

Dominique Abidoun - been with us since halfway through my first year. Been great watching him develop into the player he is, but he didnt feature much this year, and he came to me end of season wanting away, so I've just sold him to Sevilla for £9.25m, which ain't bad for a 28 year old. Shame he's away I thought I'd keep him until he retired, but I can't turn down that much money for a player who only has 2 years to run on contract and probably won't sign a new one.

Darko Borozan - didn't feature much, need to try and include him more or else his develop will stall.

Lewis More - was planning on selling him, but now Abidoun is away I may keep him.

Daniel Sedlacek - played ok in the abscence of Tatlot in the hole behind the strikers.

Raul Gil - on a big wage and he's another one I'm considering chopping. Doesn't play enough, and when he does, he doesn't impress me too much. But his attributes are solid.

Pep Remedios - sold this guy in Jan for £10m after only 4 months at the club, he looks great, won his first Spain cap whilst with us, but I changed my system and had no space for a left winger, and Malaga appeared to read my mind, came in and offerred me a fortune for him.

Samba Coulibaly - young holding midfielder I got on a free from Auxerre. He looks to have a bright future. Touted as next Rio Mavuba.

*Richard Oueifio* - young midfielder with 2.5 potential. Played a few games from the bench, touted as next Beniot Cheyrou.

*Cedric Borgeouis*- scored in Europa league away to Shaktar. Has 2 star potential, will see how he develops, we've a lot of talent in there at defensive mid, so he may have to be loaned out to feature regularly.

Strikers

Tony Champion - great season, we missed him terribly when he was injured. Can't wait to see how he does next season.

Mohammed Diagne- got an unexpected starting role this season when Matta left us on the eve of the season, I trusted Mohammed to save me from having to buy a replacement, and he done well enough. Runner-up in "Best African Player" award.

Mondor Kessou - in and out the team, some games he was unplayable, then his form would dip, again, he could be for the chop in the summer depending on what I do in the summer.

Rui Silva - back up striker, does ok when called upon. Surprisingly for me, he's won his first Portugal cap since I took this screenie.

*Ilan Roger* - my young protege had a good first year in senior football. Got a few goals off the bench, and his stats improved, especially under the tutelage of Diagne, whom he gained the "model professional" description. Scouts all fancy him as 4-4.5 potential, he's destined for greatness if I handle him right. Will feature more next season, will maybe start him here and there. Dubbed the next Jean-Pierre Papin.

Samuel Preston - when he's on his game he's a threat, but his deal is up in a year, and is on a lot of money, I'm going to try and sell Samuel. It's a shame, I thought he'd be the player than Tony Champion is, but it hasn't worked out and it's cost me £20k per week for 3 seasons to find out!

Juha Salmela - coaches fancy him as 4 star potential, so I'm going to try and involve him next season. He looks average just now, but maybe with a year around the first team he'll kick on.


Youth Intake

Signed a few from this years intake. Patrice Caron - 3 star striker, as is Gregory Michel. Bedir Kaynak - touted as next Louis Saha.

Club Info

Finances - made a lot of cash this season, due to selling a lot of players, and Champ League money. Will definitely suffer a loss this season coming without it!

Facilities - getting both youth & training facilities improved this coming November. Board won't let me increase youth recruitment (average) + junior coaching (excellent).

Transfers - sold a lot of players for a lot of money. Abidoun's upcoming transfer to Seville doesn't feature on this.

Overall Summary

Ultimately disappointed, season of near misses, narrowly missing out on 3rd place + qualifying for knockout round of Champions League. Made a lot of money this year, I feel I should go out and heavily invest, but the players I'd want, all cost too much/aren't interested in joining me, so I'll carry on with what I've got, try and keep developing the youngsters, and see who I can pick up in January on a pre-contract, which has got me some gems so far.

Got these players lined up to come in:

Andy McMahon - solid centre half I had on loan few years back, this must be about the 7th player I've taken on a bosman from Man United!

Mahmoud Rabie - young centre back from Egypt. Full of promise.

Safoun Saidi - need better cover at right back, I struggled down the right when O'Neill was injured. This guy looks steady enough, nothing special but only back up anyways.

Mattia Paganelli - pacy striker from Marseille, could give us that extra quality up front that we may need.

Past Seasons
Season     Division        Pos    French Cup      League Cup         Europe        Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13     National      4th      8th round        N/A                            Survived Relegation
2013/14     National      8th      7th round        N/A                            N/A
2014/15     National      1st      8th round        N/A                            Champions
2015/16     Ligue 2       6th      7th round        2nd round                      Consolidated
2016/17     Ligue 2       2nd      11th round       4th round                      Promotion
2017/18     Ligue 1       10th     Runners Up       4th round                      Survived
2018/19     Ligue 1       6th      11th Round       2nd round                      Consolidated    
2019/20     Ligue 1       3rd      11th Round       3rd Round                      Qualified for Champ League            
2020/21     Ligue 1       3rd      11th Round       4th Round         EL QF        Qualified for Champ League                        
2021/22     Ligue 1       4th      11th Round       Semi's       CL Group Stages  Qualified for Europa League

Season     Ligue 1         French Cup        Coupe de la Ligue                   Champions Lg          Europa           World Cup/Euros         
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011/12    PSG             PSG                      OM                         Barcelona               Roma            Euros-Germany
2012/13    Lyon            Toulouse                 Lyon                       Inter                   Liverpool
2013/14    Lyon            PSG                      Toulouse                   Barcelona               Porto            WC-Argentina
2014/15    Lyon            Toulouse                 Lyon                       Man Utd                 Stuttgart
2015/16    PSG             Lorient                  Lyon                       Juventus                Man United       Euros-Germany
2016/17    PSG             Sochaux                  PSG                        Benfica                 Arsenal
2017/18    OM              Lorient                  OM                         PSG                     Arsenal          WC- Belgium
2018/19    OM              OM                       RC Lens                    Man Utd                 Barcelona
2019/20    PSG             St Ettiene               Sedan                      Valencia                Hamburg         Euros-Belgium
2020/21    PSG             Valenciennes             OM                         PSG                     Benfica
2021/22    OM              Lyon                     Lyon                       Arsenal                 Fiorentina       WC-England

[PRDH]

Lusitânia Açores - Season Summary - 2039/40

Finances

Key figure - £44,338,323 | Summary

Lost money this season, probably due to progressing as far in the Champions' League as we had done the previous year. Still, we're not exactly hard up.

Club News

1/ Kept both our feeder teams in the top flight again. Just.

Transfers | Transfers | Frees | Loans

This will probably be the last season anything particularly interesting happens here. As we see the final players (apart from a few 15-year-olds) to be signed by the club. And we started to see a few players exiting the club. This trend will continue, there are already deals in place to take two more established players away from the club, and there could well be more to follow.

League - Predicted 1st!! Finally, I know how to get the reputation ahead of Porto's. Just the simple case of 17 consecutive league titles!

Table | Graph

Well, an odd season. The new policy kicked in during the season and at certain times it looked like we might lose the title. However we finished the season very strongly and it actually turned into one of our more comfortable season wins as we ended up 10 points clear of second and 18 clear of third place. This makes our 18th consecutive title and means we continue our domestic dominance in this first phase of our long-term aim of self-sufficiency.

Cups

We put out some odd line ups and often they did well. We won the Supertaça, got to the semi-finals of the Taça de Portugal and lost in the group stages of the League Cup.

Europe

Group Stage | Table

First Knockout Round | 1st Leg | 2nd Leg

Squad

Bold = first choice
*name* = home grown
Italics = Exciting youngster

'Keepers | Players

*Nelson Martins* - 12 apps, 11 conc, 4 cln - Mainly played in the cup, but injuries meant he got some league playing time too. Didn't do badly.

*Ricardo Dias* - 36 apps, 27 conc, 18 cln - Another excellent season for the number 1 keeper. It'll take something special for him to lose his place now!

Defenders | Players

*Rui Fernandes* - 4(1) apps - One of our only homegrown right backs. He's not really good enough for the ensuing project, hopefully we'll have someone through who is better soon.

Jonathan Bazán - 15(1) apps, 1 gl, 4 asts, 1 MoM - Someone who lost out on some playing time due, initially, to injury, but later to the desire for home-grown talent.

Palhinha - 37 apps, 6 asts - Another great season for this import. He kept his place because of the lack of an obvious local replacement for him. He should keep it next season, but there is pressure emerging.

*Ricardo Aleixo* - 10(6) apps, 3 asts - The man who could put pressure on Palhinha. He's young and has a decent spread of skills for a full back. he also managed to impress when he got on the pitch this year, a good prospect I think.

*João Paulo* - 41 apps, 6 gls, 1 ast, 4 MoMs - One player who has exceeded my wildest dreams. I thought he may turn into a decent squad player, instead he's become one of the best defenders in the world. The corner stone of our defence in the future.

*Luis Miguel* - 5(2) apps, 1 gl - Another defender who I think could become a good squad player, and maybe more. He's got decent attributes although his attitude could be better.

*Saad Falah* - 1(3) apps - Just in the cup squad at the moment, but has talent to go beyond that. Time will tell how this Portuguese-Iraqi progresses.

*Rui Lopes* - 28(3) apps, 2 gls, 3 asts, 1 MoM - The ball-playing half of my first choice (and all Azorean) centre half pairing. He and Paulo have an excellent understanding and were a very good partnership domestically.

Stipe Pesic - 39 apps, 1 gl, 3 asts, 1 MoM - His place is less under threat than it ought to be given the new policy, but with the complete dearth of talent in his position he is around for a while now.

Yassine El Amrani - 3(3) apps - Back up, unlikely to be anything more. Looking to get rid over the summer.

*Luís Miguel* - 2(1) apps - Part of the lack of depth at right back. He's a competent professional, but probably not good enough to be a first team regular.

Omar Omar - 1(4) apps - And the prize for least imaginative parents goes to Omar's. He's unfortunate in that he's arrived just as he stops being the player I look for. He will face competition from Aleixo now, and he is unlikely to win out.

Giannakis Louka - 6(1) apps - One who I'll be looking to move on this summer. He's getting antsy at the lack of opportunities and he's only going to fall further back with the new aim.

Midfielders | Players

*Paul Bossman* - 12(11) apps, 1 gl, 1 ast - Something of a proto-breakthrough for the midfielder. The promotion of youth products has shunted him up to number two in the pecking order for the defensive central midfielder role and he played pretty well when given the chance. Could put real pressure on Teixeira over the next couple of years.

*Miguel Teixeira* - 27(6) apps, 2 gls, 6 asts, 1 MoM - Became a vital part of the midfield this season and did not disappoint. He's a really solid player.

Luis Ventura - 15 apps, 6 asts - The young Peruvian got a chance this year due to the injury to Tuominen. He didn't take full advantage as he got injured himself too, but did enough to show he has a future at the club until we find a decent home grown player.

*Moussa Sidibé* - 1(3) apps, 1 gl, 1 ast - Moving further up the pecking order, he needs to work on his dribbling, but has potential to be a squad player and solid pro.

Atanas Radkov - 7 apps, 2 asts, 1 MoM - Been at the club for a long time considering he's so young. Still has a place at the club until we find a proper youth replacement.

*Paulo Jorge Vieira* - 35(1) apps, 8 gls, 9 asts, 2 MoMs - One of the real home grown stars. He's vital to our continued success. Very little he cannot do.

*Sérgio Reforço* - 0(3) apps - Could turn into a useful squad player, probably no more though.

*Luís Santos* - 13(23) apps, 4 gls, 5 asts, 2 MoMs - Would be an undisputed starter in most teams, but Vieira keeps him as a rotation option and a player to bring off the bench. He's still very young and will have a huge part to play in the club's future.

*Álvaro Pinto* - 15(5) apps, 5 gls, 5 asts, 1 MoM - The first proper youth product to emerge and he's still a solid pro and back up player. Doesn't often disappoint, even if he's unlikely to win a game single-handedly.

*Sérgio Rodrigues* - 23(7) apps, 4 gls, 13 asts - The real talent on the right of the pitch. He made the switch over, and the selling of Bentalaa very easy as he's easily good enough for the first team.

*Domingos Gomes* - 2(2) apps - Has potential to be a reasonable squad rotation player, he could turn into more, but I don't think so. Will be useful once the scarcity of players to hand really starts to tell.

Lasse Tuominen - 20 apps, 5 gls, 10 asts, 5 MoMs - He's secure in his position again, because of the lack of players coming through on the left. He's also a great player, which helps!

*João Silva* - 4 apps, 1 ast - One of the pretenders to the left-wing throne. I'm again pretty unconvinced by his potential to become a starter, but we'll see.

Forwards | Players

*Nuno Rosa* - 6(13) apps, 4 gls, 3 asts, 1 MoM - A player I've got high hopes for. He's got plenty of rough edges, but if we can sand them away then he'll be a proper player.

Mihajlo Djokovic - 38 apps, 30 gls, 12 asts, 6 MoMs - A great season for the Serb. He'll be difficult to replace, I think he and Tuominen may be the last non-homegrown players around the club. I'll hold onto them for as long as I can.

*Pedro Cardoso* - 34(2) apps, 32 gls, 6 asts, 9 MoMs - Scored his 200th league goal this campaign, the club captain is the star of the side and an epic example of what can be produced in the Azores!

*Abakar Tigabe* - 12(14) apps, 8 gls, 4 asts, 2 MoMs - Very useful player, he has the talent to be a nuisance off the bench and if there is an injury up front. A decent squad player.

Martin Soos - 6(1) apps, 3 gls, 2 asts - Young Swiss striker who arrived recently, his progress is blocked by the youth players, but I will keep him around for a bit until the youth players bed in properly.

Aims For Next Season Are...

1/ Win league
2/ Get as close to a fully home-grown side as possible

Story So Far...

Season		League			Position		Achievements
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2012/13		Second Division - South	12th			Avoided Relegation (just)
2013/14		Second Division - South 1st			Promoted!
2014/15		Second League		14th			Avoided Relegation
2015/16		Second League		2nd			Promoted!
2016/17		Premier League		13th			Avoided Relegation
2017/18		Premier League		3rd			Qualified for Europa League
2018/19		Premier League		4th			Europa League again
2019/20		Premier League		5th			Europa League again
2020/21		Premier League		1st			Champions!
2021/22		Premier League		2nd			CL Qualification again
2022/23		Premier League		1st			Champions!
2023/24		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2024/25		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2025/26		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2026/27		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2027/28		Premier League		1st			CL Semi Final
2028/29		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2029/30		Premier League		1st			CL Semi Final
2030/31		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2031/32		Premier League		1st			CL Quarters
2032/33		Premier League		1st			CL Quarters and domestic quadruple
2033/34		Premier League		1st 			CL 1st Knockout Round
3034/35		Premier League		1st			CL Quarters
2035/36		Premier League		1st			CL 1st Knockout Round
2036/37		Premier League		1st			CL Quarters
2037/38		Premier League		1st			Champions' League winners
------------------------------------------------Challenge Completed----------------------------------------------
2038/39		Premier League		1st			CL finalists
2039/40		Premier League 		1st			CL 1st Rd

[PRDH]

aldo - Roger is progressing really nicely.

[aldojags]

Yeah he's coming along not too bad. I'm desperately trying not to invest in a new striker, I think I need more back up, but that would limit my youngsters chances, so I'll trying to hold off the urge!

Omar Omar - so good they named him twice!

I'm sure you noticed by Joao Paulo's deal is up in 2 years, that's when I usually renew - just incase you didn't notice! Paulo Jorge Viera is ridiculous! Luis Santos has a huge future. I like that you've kept Alvara Pinto around, he's not the best player in your squad by any means, but it all began with him! What's with the high squad numbers PRDH? I love looking at your squad, some amount of talent through your ranks. How do you play the Serbian and Cardoso? What roles do you assign them? You enjoying the challenge? Not getting fed up of the limitations of not signing anyone?

[PRDH]

aldo - Thanks for the heads up on Joao Paulo, I hadn't noticed. Contract has been offered! The high numbers were part of a system that I started when they started coming through. I gave the youngsters their positional number preceded by 9, so Cardoso is 99. Then, when that was gone, the next youngster in that position went into the 80s. It was just a thing I started and the numbers have stuck. I'm always slightly worried about changing them.

Cardoso is my advanced forward playing on the right of the front two and Djokovic is my deep-lying, playmaking forward. I'm enjoying the limitations at the moment. It gives me time to look at other stuff. Not looked at the player search, apart from the 15-year-olds for half a season now.

Yeah, give him as many chances as possible. Hopefully one day you'll realise he's as good as the rest of your squad, that's what happened to me with Cardoso.

[aldojags]

I'm surprised to see Cardoso only has 49 caps, I would have thought playing for Portugal he'd be at tournaments etc, and would have a few more than that by now?

Yeah I agree about the numbers, get too superstitious to ever change someone's squad number. Just wondered if it was 99 because you had that big a squad once upon a time! Yeah I think that day is still a couple of years off for Roger, but I'm absolutely convinced he'll be top drawer when he matures, cannot wait for that day! It's just whether to spend cash on a striker to tide us over until then! Tony Champion is brilliant, Mohamed Diagne is a favourite of mines, but he's not got enough quality for my liking. I'm bringin in a guy from Marseille though, he could be the answer. Think I'll hold off. Got 2-3 strikers who are younger than Roger coming through who I'm also excited about, going to give them game time rather than spend money on someone like Lubos Matta who'll take 2 years to get up to speed, then bugger off anyways!

[PRDH]

I'm surprised to see Cardoso only has 49 caps, I would have thought playing for Portugal he'd be at tournaments etc, and would have a few more than that by now?

Yeah, Portugal are pretty terrible in game now. They have reached a stage where they don't always qualify for the tournaments, and then very rarely progress beyond the group stages, so not as many caps up for grabs.

[aldojags]

Ah well that will explain it. How they can be terrible with your players at their disposal I'll never know, they've got a world class keeper, centre half, centre mid, and centre forward all from you.

[aldojags]

When do you guys move your youth prospects into senior squad in order to get them on better training schedules?

[Romanista1994]

aldojags - Shame that you dropped a place in the league, but your club is growing and the youngsters that are starting to come through are proof of that. Could see you going the same way as PRDH after completion.
PRDH - Fantastic stuff from Cardoso and the other youth players aren't looking half bad either.

When do you guys move your youth prospects into senior squad in order to get them on better training schedules?

Those that are good enough (either as first choice or backup) go into the first team instantly. The ones that aren't get moved up to the first team when the coaches say they aren't making progress anymore in their reports.

[aldojags]

aldojags - Shame that you dropped a place in the league, but your club is growing and the youngsters that are starting to come through are proof of that. Could see you going the same way as PRDH after completion.



Those that are good enough (either as first choice or backup) go into the first team instantly. The ones that aren't get moved up to the first team when the coaches say they aren't making progress anymore in their reports.

Thanks romanista that makes perfect sense, think that's how I'll judge it from now on.

Yeh well I need to complete it first! Feel a LONG way off that just now. But yeah I'd love to do something like that. Last 2-3 seasons I've got a few decent youngsters through, and in last couple of days in my save I've got junior coaching increased to exceptional, and youth recruitment to above average, so they quality of the youngsters will hopefully improve further. My hand is forced in a way, I'm not big enough a club to go out and spend millions every summer like Lyon PSG & Marseille, at the minute I've got near £40m in bank, but thats with prize money from Champ league that I won't have this season, I can see myself losing £1m-£1.5m per month this year, and I've in process of building new youth/training facilities which cost £5m, so in a year my finances will be halfed at least, so my hand is forced into looking at anyone I can possibly develop, even if it's into a squad player, so will be interesting looking at my squad in 5-10 seasons, see what % is made up of home grown players.

[PRDH]

aldojags - Yup, I do the same as romanista. The top players go into the first team immediately to get them on the best schedules and, if I'm honest, to remind me they are there and to give them some game time (though they are all set as available for the reserves. Those who are not quite there, stay in he U-19s until I see signs of improvement, at which point they make their way up.

[rlipscombe]

Been away for a few days so just caught up....

PRDH - like the look of your transfer policy. Will be interested to see how it develops…
Corinthiano - well done on promotion – flew through that league!! Good luck in the top league. Nice prize money there for a win too! EDIT: great first season in the top flight especially given your rapid rise. Onwards from here as DodgeeD says…
LLR - so close to the title – unlucky mate. Great progress though – good luck next season.
Manku - unlucky mate – tough season there. Hopefully you can improve next season which looking at it you did!!
Vikeologist - well done on replicating the CL win in your final ‘Shire season.
Berty1978 - welcome back to the challenge

i still haven't managed to get my season review done so will try and get it done in the coming days...

[ghostwriter]

aldojags - how many cheap regen Africans did you sign whilst in the National Division? So far, 2.5 seasons in, I have 8(!) (2*CAM, 2*SEN, 3*CIV + a CAM / Benin guy) along with an Algerian I stole from the club he was on trial with. That is clearly many many more than any other club in the division. As I have no money they have all been signed at the end of their contracts and no other club has shown any interest in them whatsoever. It just seem a bit strange, and maybe even marginally unfair that I am tapping this market but no one else is. Consider the 3 that have just signed: Marcel Ngouadjio, Patrick Amadou, Hamed Toure. They all have Ligue 1 potential and are more or less already the best players in their position at the club.
Then again, equally, it is not exactly fair that a newly promoted club like Grenoble (admittedly recently in Ligue 1) can sign players like Antonino Pagliari on loan.

Anyway, after a horrific start of 1 point from 4 games we have considerably sorted ourselves out. Insomuch that we have not lost since (and only drawn twice)! In 2nd at Christmas with a game in hand (another waterlogged pitch postponement) and thru to the 9th round of the Cup thanks to a win on penalties away at Ligue 2 leaders Montpellier. Let's hope we can keep this up...

[aldojags]

gw - i signed tonnes, I know what you mean, felt a bit like cheating, as no-one else touched them, I got them for free and on cheap wages, but it fits in with rules of challenge-ie they played in nations we can scout - so I totally abused it and found so many great players - have a look at players I signed using this method, I signed all these players in the National, and this is how they turned out. Since these screenies were taken, I've since sold Abiola to Palermo for £1.9m, and have just sold Abidoun to Sevilla for £9.2m! But I still have Agbessi and Kessou.

My advice is go for it, definitely helps climb the leagues. Hope you keep up the good work and get promoted, you like similar to my team in so much as you'll probably find Ligue 2 quite easy with a young team and loads of potential, so you'll do well once you start climbing.

Just been offerred this, but heartbreakingly had to turn it down!! I didn't apply for it so I'm obviously well thought of by my countrymen!

[aldojags]

You've inspired me prdh, 10 out of starting 11 came through my ranks. Only one I've signed from starting line up was the centre half Rabie, other than that completely all homegrown talent! Don't get me wrong, some of these kids won't make it with me, but still nice to give them a run out every once in a while! Something I'm going to look to do more often in Europe this season as I'm focusing solely on league, so will use Europa to experiment a bit.


edit: following on from that qualifier my Europa League has been drawn and I don't want to seem complacent, but I think even my under 19's will get out of this group - Dinamo Moscow (who I hammered twice in this comp 2 years ago), Maribor, & Austria Vienna. A total let off considering some of the groups that were drawn - Atletico + Fiorentina in same group for example.

[PRDH]

Great job aldo! Once you complete we can have a battle of the youth set ups!

It's a really weird project this now. I look at my squad think, for example, 'I'm a bit thin for playmaking forwards if anything happens to Djokovic'. But then there's nothing I can do about it. I've found myself with a list of positions I hope come up in the next intake (right back, left winger, playmaking forward if you're interested). I'm not regretting the decision, but it is an interesting quandary to be in. Especially as some positions are ridiculously well stocked - the centre of both midfield and defence mainly.

[aldojags]

Yeah I think at some stage you'll maybe end up having to change things tactically, to suit whatever you have at your disposal. Either that or retrain.


edit:

Great job aldo! Once you complete we can have a battle of the youth set ups!

Hmmmm, could be the most one sided battle in the history of battles! I'm eagerly awaiting the day one of my youth players gets senior international cap. I hoped it would be Jimmy Donaldson, but he's got to get over his wanting to play for France phase, so until he accepts he's not good enough and wants to play for Scotland, he won't get capped. I had a left back from St Pierre & Miquelon few years back, even he didn't get called up! So it'll be exciting to see who gets capped. Ilan Roger may over take them all, I can see him being good enough for France 1st team in 3-4 years.

[Andy Sava]

Holstein Kiel - 2012/2013
Table | Squad | Transfers | Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2 | Manager Profile

Season Overview

League Finish - 14th
Media Prediction - 18th
Stadium expansion plans announced - 1707 seats will be added
Fans player of the year - Fiete Sykora
Best Eleven

For a first season it was...let's say decent. Some games we played brilliantly, some games we played like 2 years old. What bothered me was that my players seemed to like throwing games that we should have won (like this). I did not expect a first season promotion but i would have liked to finish higher and we could have but we lost games at the wrong moments.

Transfers

As usual in my first season with a low division team i got alot of players for free in order to keep my finances safe in the first season and still try to get more depth in my team. The finances part did not go so well Anyway here are the most notable players that i signed this season:

Simone Pecorini (Position - DM/M C, Games played - 26, Goals - 6, Assists - 2, MoM - 1, Average rating - 7.17) - Best transfer of the season in my opinion. Former italian youth international managed to secure a first team position right away after signing him. He was doing very well until he got injured in the second part of the season, after that he did ok but not as great as before the injury.

Daniel Gareis (Position - DR, Games played - 37, Assists - 2, MoM - 2, Average rating - 7.06) - Integral part of my defense even if sometimes he did silly mistakes that led to dissapointing results.

Thorben Stadler (Position - DL, Games played - 15, Assists - 5, Average rating - 7.03) - Was my main left defender, until he went on an injury spree. He would get injured, come back and then get injured again. During the season all of my left defenders got injured atleast twice each, it was a nightmare; i was lucky i had 5 of them.

German Third Division

We started the league with a 2-2 draw against Werder II having the lead twice but failing to keep it. During the season we had ups&downs, unbeaten streaks, losing streaks, good games, bad games. To summarise this season had everything...except constant good play. During the first few games in the league came a very very suriprising game against FC Bayern II which finished 9-0 for us. I have no ideea how. In the second part we managed to get a 2-1 win against league winners Burghausen.

All in all, even if the season was not very good, the team gave me the impression that it is capable of very good games if they keep their focus.

Key players

Only three players didn't get to play this season. The rest had their chances at securing a first team spot however only a few managed to impress.

Fiete Sykora (Position - Striker, Games played - 25, Goals - 20, Assists - 4, MoM - 4, Average rating - 7.16) - Great striker, good team player. This season he knew where the goal is. The problem is that his contract expires and i can not get my board to give me more money for player wages and i will not be able to keep him for another season. Looks like i will have to find another striker.

Tim Hofmann (Position - DC, Games played - 37, Goals - 3, Assists - 1, MoM - 4, Average rating - 7.15) - Easily my best defender this season.

Sofien Chahed (Position - DM, Games played - 36, Goals - 1, Assists - 1, MoM - 1, Average rating - 7.01) - Very good defensive midfielder, knew how to play in key moments and helped the team very well.

Conclusion

We avoided relegation which was the objective this season but i was not really pleased only finishing in 14th place. Financially we did not do very good even if i did my best to stay under the wage budget and play it safe on the transfer market.

Next season

For the next season we need to up our game no matter what. I am still thinking about how i will approach the season financially, it gives me headaches. I could risk it all in and force the promotion with expensive transfers but if it doesn't work and we fail to gain promotion we will be doomed. One of my biggest worries is replacing Sykora, which was a very good striker for this league.

[rlipscombe]

aldojags - feel your pain on the Scotland job... sure it will come round again though...
Andy Sava - tough first season but you have established yourself there and hopefully you will kick on next season from there.

[Andy Sava]

After 7 games in my second season with Kiel we sit in 3rd place with 4 wins and 3 draws. Definitly better than last season but i am a little scared of what's to come in the season.

[aldojags]

Good start there andy sava. I've had a decent start myself but long way to go. 7 games gone, 1 point behind PSG, who I've got next.

I'm reading "Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football", any of you ever read it? I'm only about halfway through but it's quite good so far, although the author is getting on my nerves insisting there's a connection with dutch architecture and dutch football, how they make the most of their space or something, I'm not buying it I'm afraid. But the bits about Ajax under Rinus Michels bringing through total football, totally makes me want to invent some revolutionary tactic on FM. How would you go about making a possession heavy tactic? short passing obviously, and then commands pass to feet, retain possession, and play out of defence? Maybe also work ball into box?

Anyone ever used a libero? Hard to find players who can play there.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Parla Rotation Update

Well with the knowledge of last time I attempted to play Europe, League and Cup together with 1 team, I knew I needed a good enough 2nd XI to be able to compete on all fronts, as such I made sure of it this season. I now have what I see as two solid top teams, and either can field themselves on a week leading the team. It means my top side will play the better teams, while my second XI will play the remaining games.

So the first time Rotation comes into play is a run of Deportivo (BBVA), Bordeaux (CL), Cartegena (BBVA), Sporting (BBVA), Valladolid (BBVA), CSKA Moscow (CL), R.Sociedad (BBVA). So the back-ups will play first, and then the teams will alternate through this run. The league games work well as Cartegena & Valladolid were in Adelante last season, Deoprtivo & R.Sociedad finished 15th & 16th, while Sporting, the game my seniors will play, finished 11th.

This is a mini report on the first two games.

15.09.2024 vs Deportivo 3:1
Gabelia (2,5,pen 54)

This was the first game by our youngsters, and they showed some great skill as they dispatched the Deportivo side, the only regulars in the side are keeper Zaragoza, and midfielders Ireke & Yildirim (As Bife & Domingos are injured for 2 months). I was very please as they managed to dispatch this side, and I don't feel I need to mix some seniors in meaning I can save them for the bigger games.

18.09.2024 at Bordeaux 3:2
Delalic (28), Ostergaard (78), Linhart (83)

And this game cemented my rotation policy as the seniors came in (+Delalic as Montiquin served a suspension) and controlled the game after conceding early. Bordeaux put a late consolation goal in the net as well, but all up we were the better side and as such stepped up and took the lead in the group as CSKA overcame ManU 1:0 following a red card to a ManU player.

So that is the beginning of my rotation, and it looks like it will work, though I badly need another MC, and am currently hunting out a free transfer.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Manku - A very good season there, you are building well. Don't worry about the losses, finances will improve once you make it to the top level.

Aldojags - Wow a lot of action for you since I commentated last. A good solid result there in both the league and in Europe, looks like we are at similar stages in the challenge. I am envious of your prospects, though seeing that some of them only start with 3 stars, maybe I should start giving some of mine a shot, as I am not blooding them unless they get 4 stars potential, as that is my normal starting line-up standard.

PRDH - Completely dominant in the league once again, disappointing in the Champs League, and I am really looking forward to see how you new transfer policy works and whether you cna sustain your success without making transfers into the club.

Andy Sava - A solid first season there, as others have said it is tough enough to avoid relegation that first season. Once you have done that you can then step up and push upwards. Good Luck going forwards in Germany and chasing down Rlipscombe in that top division.

On the use of a Libero, I haven't even thought about it, though if I found a good one I suppose I would. My general tactic is as below:

                        Keeper(D)
Fullback(S), Centre Back(D), Centre Back(D), Fullback(S)
            Deep Playmaker(S), Centre Mid (S)
         Winger(A), Attacking Mid(S), Winger(A)
                  Advanced Forward(A)

When actually playing it looks more like a 4-3-3 as the wingers get right up, and play as 2nd and 3rd wingers, while the attacking midfielder sits at the top of the box and feeds either side, the two fullbacks are generally crossing it in a lot as well, this means that I can end up with three players in the box who can all get goals. I have been playing this set-up for a few seasons now and it seems to work well, though it's not as good defensively as I would like. The two centre mids have had several different roles, but I am still yet to settle on them as the play in these positions seems to come and go.

[aldojags]

I have tried that tactic so many times and it never works for me. I feel I get outnumbered in midfield using that, and I usually end up losing/drawing games I expect to win. I just feel so much better with someone sitting in front of back 4.

My team has quite a few players with great attributes, but are only rated at 2.5 stars, which I take as a decent player, and I try to have a few 4 star players to supplement it if I can. So if I've got a prospect with 3 stars for example I get them involved ASAP. I've been lucky last 2 seasons I've had Roger- 4.5 stars, and Michel & Caron this year - 3-3.5 stars, so if they all hit their potential I'll have 3 cracking strikers there. Hoping in this next update for a couple of midfielders/defenders.

Looks like your rotation is working well there anyways. I rotate for Europe, but it's always my reserve squad for Europa League as I want to focus on getting back into top 3. Looks like your doing well mate, has Montiquin picked up this season?

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Yeah I admit defensively I am weak, and I have thought about moving the Deep Lying Playmaker back and making him an anchor man. Just not sure if it will affect us going forward or not.

Okies, so with the players you look more at attributes, I do that, but I always find it hard with my Youth because they are soo far behind my starting eleven when they come into the side, and they don't compare to what I can purchase. I guess when I played in Portugal they appeared better because it was harder to get youngsters in as I couldn't afford to splash 2M on anyone, which I can with ease now.

Rotation has worked alright so far, just playing R.Sociedad at the moment, but the run has gone like this: Deportivo 3:1, Bordeaux 3:2, Cartegena 3:3, Sporting 1:0, Valladolid 3:0 & CSKA Moscow 2:2. I was a bit disappointed to get the two draws, against Cartegena we were always chasing the game while against Moscow they turned it around at half time and came back from 2:0 to draw with us.

Montiquin has performed alright, but may get beaten out by Lapin or Delalic, he is 4(2) 2G 2A 7.08, Lapin has 17 goals in 10 games for the Youth side, Delalic has been injured for 4 weeks, but is 4(1) 1G 1A 6.95. Going to be interesting. The story of the season has to be the Wingers as Keiffer had the Left Wing spot at the start following injuries to Nangis & Rousseau, and Gabelia got some rotation and they both stepped up and now have claimed the roles for themselves right now: Keiffer 4(1) 1G 3A 7.38 & Gabelia 5(1) 6G 3A 7.90

Good Luck getting back into the top 3, I also understand the reserves playing in Europa, is probably something I should've done when I was in that competition. Hopefully you get some midfielders or defenders and that your strikers develop how they should.

I am now looking to the next period of rotation and trying to decide which games the reserves play and which games the seniors play: Espanyol (BBVA 10th), Man Utd (CL), Betis (BBVA 13th), At.Madrid (BBVA 8th), Levante (BBVA NE), Man Utd (CL), Granada (BBVA 4th). There is a 12 day gap before this run, and a 13 day break after it, so this will help with fitness, but I would think Manchester & Madrid will see my seniors, and they will then hopefully be fit enough for a run against Granada as well.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

In the Are you Kidding Me? moment of the week, the 4th round of the Spanish Cup has been drawn, and we are facing Xerez. Yes that is the same Xerez that is currently our feeder club, and the one I am trying to get promoted so we can have better play for our youngsters.

[aldojags]

Do they have "can play against own team" in the loan agreement?

I've made a good start, top of league after 9 games, won 7 drawn 2. A lot of it is down to this guy, whom I picked up on a bosman from Marseille (he scored 2 against them in a 2-2 draw in my 2nd game of season), he's been in sensational form. Tactically I've been switching it, playing a 4 1 2 2 1 counter attack away from home, and a 4 1 2 1 2 attacking formation at home, seems to be working ok. Anticipating a poor run at some point if/when injuries hit, but I'm quietly confident of regaining a place in the top 3.


edit: since that screenie was taken, I've played 1 match, where Paganelli scored 2 goals in the opening 30 minutes, taking his tally for the season so far to 12 goals in 10 games. He then proceeded to tear his hamstring and is now out 2-3 months...I'm so annoyed I could scream. Team working like a dream just now, and he's been deadly in the poacher role. I can't see anyone else coming in and doing what he did. I really hate this game sometimes!

[aldojags]

I'm really miffed...asked over a year ago to get youth/training facilities improved...you know the usual story, in planning from November through to August, where they are confirmed to start building, pay £5m in my case, due for completion end of October. Then the news item comes up to say completed....I go to facilities screen, and they are exactly the same

The money has definitely come out my funds, but they are both still what they were pre-season, top training facilities, average youth. Anyone had any experience of this? £5m down the toilet for nothin! Bloody cowboy builders

[PRDH]

LLR - Pretty much sums up my career in the Azores! Dominant in Portugal, disappointing in Europe. Yeah, I'm wondering when my team will lose it's edge in Portugal too.
aldo - Yeah, that's going to be the problem. Will aim to keep the same formation for as long as I can, retraining to fill the trickier positions, but I don't know how long that'll be possible.

[rlipscombe]

aldojags - the thought of developing tactics is always one i toy with but i kind of don't want to upset the applecart so to speak in terms of performance. i'd love to get a good 4231 formation going but i love to sign strikers! keep being drawn back to 442...

[aldojags]

I know it's too much to risk, I've thought about it maybe for pre-season. Really depends on what you have at your disposal. I play 41212 diamond as my best 4 players are a dm, 2 cm's, and an am, so I get to utilise them all and I'm relatively consistent with it. But I lack width with it so want to try other things, changed my full backs to wing back duty, and that does push them right up the pitch, so that may work well for me.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

I think it was back in my Fafe days that I first tried to make a good 4-2-3-1, but I kept finding the issue being a hole behind my midfield and the opposition exploited it to get 3 players matched up with my 2 central defenders. I think with the current tactic the difference is that my Deep Lying Playmaker may have a support tag, but he has a mentality below the rest of the midfield so he actually plays almost in the anchorman role and hence helps upfront. Of course I also had a striker shortage early in this game, though now with Montiquin, Lapin, Freitas, Delalic and others we could probably field a couple of strikers upfront, but it seems my tactic is working right now:

22.10.2024 vs Manchester United 6:0
Keiffer (11), de Man (17,86), Montiquin (62,81), Legendre (65)

Just WOW, an incredible effort by my boys, we dominated them all over the park. I am delighted with that, and it seems that keeping my players fit and rested for the big games is paying off, though it is hurting my league form as we drew against Espanyol and now sit 4th, 7pts off Real Madrid after only 8 games.

[aldojags]

That is a ridiculous scoreline LLR, outstanding effort! Did Man United field a full strength side? What an incredible result.

I've just qualified out of my Europa group, with 15 out of 18 points. My reward in the knockout round - Dortmund. Should push my reserves to the limit!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Yeah it was their A-side on the park, but just as a sign of my teams unpredictable nature, the next game was away to Betis and we lost 3:0. I know my club is weak away from home, and it is something we really need to work on.

Congrats on making it through the Europa League, go hard and beat Dortmund.

[corinthiano]

I know it's too much to risk, I've thought about it maybe for pre-season. Really depends on what you have at your disposal. I play 41212 diamond as my best 4 players are a dm, 2 cm's, and an am, so I get to utilise them all and I'm relatively consistent with it. But I lack width with it so want to try other things, changed my full backs to wing back duty, and that does push them right up the pitch, so that may work well for me.

I play exactly the same formation and have the full-back on a wing back role, works a treat. If you use the shout "Play Wider" as well it really helps.

[aldojags]

thanks for the tip I'll give it a try

[corinthiano]

aldojags - shame you missed out on CL football, the money would have been nice, have to agree with PRDH and say Roger is progressing very nicely, I have high hopes for him!
PRDH - Good season considering all these changes, but I have to say it is odd seeing Porto fall so much, do you think that might have helped you with the comfortable leaguewin?
rlispcombe - thanks for the comments, the prize money in Turkey is pretty helpful! Definately a lot more money here than in Portugal.
Andy Sava - solid first season, I can understand you feeling a little frustrated but the main thing is you have consolidated in the league.
LLR - What a result against Man. Utd, very impressive!

On the whole formation front I have used the 4-1-2-1-2 since FM10 and before that it was a 3-2-2-1-2, I just dont like wingers or wide midfielders in my team, always go for attacking full-backs or wing-backs and a lot of play through the middle. Actually using the shouts this version has really helped my tactics as I was able to compensate for the flaws in my formation by getting the team to play wider and not shoot at every opportunity, playing a patient passing game.

[aldojags]

I know Ilan Roger has got most of my air time on this forum, but I thought I would post a couple of pics of 2 youngsters who've both got themselves on the scoresheet in the past month or so.

Younous Thomas scored in Europa league, his attributes aren't much to look at, but coaches fancy him as 2.5 potential, which would make him a very handy squad player, so I'll give him time. Plus he has got great natural pace.

And Gregory Michel, coaches fancy him as 3.5 potential, which is what the likes of Tony Champion is at just now and he's my top striker, so I think this kid could go far. He scored in Coupe de la Ligue away to Stade de Reims. Got the goal today, on his 16th birthday, and marked the day with a goal, an assist, and signing his first ever professional contract Also makes him youngest ever coupe de la ligue goal scorer.

I just had a look back at PRDH save back when Cardoso was just a kid, and I've got to say, in my opinion, he's far better than Roger is at the same stage, Cardoso's technical stats are excellent for a 16 yr old. Roger doesn't really have that I would say. He still looks to have high potential, but maybe me hoping for a world class striker is a bit premature!

Cardoso at 16

Roger at 16

I know it's wrong to compare, but was just looking for a bench mark, if I wanted him to turn out as good as Cardoso, how he would need to look just now. I don't think he's as good as the Azorean!

edit: prdh I hope you don't mind me stealing your link? I'm making my way through your seasons one by one, I like the wee school report thing you used to do! I suppose there'd be no point in doing it anymore as you'd eventually end up doing it for all your players with the way your taking your club now. Viera was frightening when he first came through aswell.

[Romanista1994]

Andy Sava - Solid first season, the goals against records of those "B" teams are scary though!
aldojags - The problem with Thomas is that he's weak mentally and technically. Due to his decent off the ball, dribbling and teamwork plus his great speed he'll get into some good positions, but he'll generally lack the end product to be a great player. If you manage to get him to make all round increases with his quickness attributes reaching 17/18 he'll be a very effective player nonetheless. A PPM that might be worth considering is 'Places Shots' so that he wastes less chances by blasting them over or wide due to his low finishing/composure.

Michel is a far more complete player, though he'll need a lot of work on his first touch. I can definitely see why your coaches rate him though.

As for the Cardoso/Roger comparison don't be too disheartened, some of Roger's technical and mental attributes are already higher and he is far, far quicker at this stage of his career.
A couple of attributes that I'd train up are his technique and first touch and then teach him to 'Shoot with Power' when he's about 18/19, because goalkeepers can't cope with a powerful, well-struck and accurate shot.

[PRDH]

aldo - Not at all. Yeah I liked the school report things, but I felt the numbers were getting out of hand. I might start them again for players under 19 or something. I think my reports might get an overhaul this year too, I'm not sure how, but I'll experiment when I write it. Yeah, I'm starting to think Vieira is actually a better player than Cardoso, but he grabs fewer headlines because he's pulling the strings rather than finishing moves off. Still, I'm not going to complain, I love them both equally (just about).

If anything I'd say Roger is a more complete player at 16 than Cardoso was. He's already got pace and the technical stats aren't that different. He's going to be a phenomenal striker, potentially better than Cardoso because I had to plough a lot of training and the resulting CA increases into getting his pace up to a reasonable level. His technical talents haven't actually changed that much.

[aldojags]

There's definitely work to be done on the youngsters. Something I've never done is individual schedules, but I may need to start if I'm taking it seriously and trying to fully develop them. How do you increase mental stats though? My coaches have good mental coaching mostly, but is it mainly tutoring and growing older?

edit: thanks for the advice there romanista I'll give it a try, can I hire you as my assistant manager!?

[Romanista1994]

There's definitely work to be done on the youngsters. Something I've never done is individual schedules, but I may need to start if I'm taking it seriously and trying to fully develop them. How do you increase mental stats though? My coaches have good mental coaching mostly, but is it mainly tutoring and growing older?

The tactics category trains anticipation, composure, concentration, decisions and teamwork. Work rate is in the strength category. Off the ball is in attacking, while positioning is in defending. That's all the trainable mental attributes I think.

I highly recommend using individual schedules, they've given me great results ever since I started using them. A good way of easing your workload when creating them is starting with players under 21 that you intend to keep and then creating them as new players of that age come in. It's much more difficult to reshape the attributes of older players (which is essentially what training does in FM, playing matches is what makes a player better), so creating individual schedules for them is less useful.

[aldojags]

cheers I'll start having a look then at the younger players, hopefully get good results.

[Romanista1994]

cheers I'll start having a look then at the younger players, hopefully get good results.

These threads could be useful if you're going to make individual schedules:

Shameless plug.
Cleon's approach.

There's lots of other good threads about this in the Tactics and Training Forum. Those of SFraser (who sadly passed away last year) are a particular highlight and most of them are collected in a stickied guide.

[PRDH]

As if to illustrate a point Cardoso has completely forgotten how to score. This is, I think, his first run of poor form in his time in the first time.

[aldojags]

I think he's read the forum and saw you saying Viera was better player...you've shattered his confidence!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

I think he's read the forum and saw you saying Viera was better player...you've shattered his confidence!

This

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Well I failed to make the Champions League Knockouts because a Linesman was too fat to run the line and made a bad call. He called Montiquin offside, he was clearly on, replays with lines showed he was on, that goal would've made the 1:2 loss, a 2:2 draw meaning we tied with CSKA, both games between us were 2:2 so my goal diff being better would've seen me through. I want to know who gave him a gold watch?

According to the news article afterwards, "He made the correct decision" and I have been warned...? Replays clearly showed him onside at the time of the pass, this is horrendous...

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Oh well, off to Switzerland to play Young Boys in the Europa League now.

[corinthiano]

That is harsh LLR, got to hate those Russian gas and oil magnates befriending the officials!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

That is harsh LLR, got to hate those Russian gas and oil magnates befriending the officials!

Oh well, we will continue our battle on other fronts, first game at our newly expanded stadium saw us beat Getafe 4-1 in front of 26,000 screaming fans. Jesus Montiquin scored a brace in his 150th league game for Parla. And now we have the Christmas break before we face Villareal in the Spanish Cup. The league sees us sitting 6th, 11pts behind Real Madrid in 1st. Basic table as below:

Team         Pts
R.Madrid      43
Barcelona     38
At.Madrid     35
Granada       33 (Game in Hand)
Betis         32
Parla         32

I am actually reasonably happy with that position, and the closeness to the top given 9 of the 17 games have been played by my 2nd XI.

[corinthiano]

That is pretty tight, I assume you will now play your first XI in the league and second string in the Europa League? Also, out of interest, how come Granada are doing reasonably well, were they taken over?

[Lower Leagues Rule]

I am thinking my Top team will now play the league, unless I see an easy league game, and a chance at the title in the Europa League, also depends on the Spanish Cup run and who I am facing there as well. Well it started about 4-5 seasons ago Granada started to turn it around, in real life they were promoted 2009/10 to Liga Adelante and then straight to Liga BBVA in 2010/11, and then survived in 17th. Pretty similar in my game, they survived, then were relegated two seasons later, won the title and came straight back up. Seem to be a reasonably strong squad, not sure if there was a take over, but they have been strong for a while. They are still a feeder club to Udinese, but don't seem to have received any players from them this season.

[corinthiano]

Cheers for the info, I had seen them close to the top in your save last season and that is why I wondered. They get a bit coverage in Portugal because of Carlos Martins so I kinda know the team...

[aldojags]

Sorry if I'm being gullible LLR but can you do lines on a replay or were you being funny? I've never noticed that, I'm goin to start using it and giving the officials dogs abuse!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Sorry if I'm being gullible LLR but can you do lines on a replay or were you being funny? I've never noticed that, I'm goin to start using it and giving the officials dogs abuse!

I don't know how to make them appear, but sometimes when they do a replay of offside it shows flashing lines, one in the colour of your team, one the colour of the opposition, in this case the lines showed him onside. I wish I could put them there myself lol.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Well I very nearly lost Ostergaard in the January window, Barcelona came in and offered his release fee, as such it was accepted immediately. I had to offer him a large new contract (12k per week) to keep him, but it has made his release clause 20M now, and if anyone offers that I will probably let him go as my young turkish player could replace him if necessary.

[aldojags]

I remember seeing Ostergaard as a young 17 yr old, he looked very promising, I'm glad he's obviously fulfilled his promise if Barcelona were sniffing around him. I always try and avoid minimum fee release clauses they drive me insane. All my top players have £100m asking price, and whilst there's plenty clubs interested, I never get a bid, so I'm quite happy with that.

[aldojags]

Just got this season's youth intake, nothing mind blowing but a couple of players worth a mention.

Firstly, Recep Alici - a young French/Turkish right back rated at 3 star potential.

And Charles Modeste, of French/Martinique nationality, a defensive mid, with already impressive technical attributes, just need to beef him up physically, but he looks to be pretty decent. May sign 1 or 2 others just to bulk u u19 squad, but nothing else really exciting there.

Hired a Uruguayan & Serbian scouts earlier this year, so I guess that's why I've got those nationalities represented.

[corinthiano]

Great to keep Ostergaard around, always nice to see when a pplayer decides to stay instead of moving to a big club. aldojags, unfortunately I dont think release clauses are optional in Spain, but are contractual and depend on the wage the player is earning. I could be wrong, so please correct me if I am wrong LLR.

I didnt have such a nice story recently at Hacettepe, my best player on paper Mohammed Al-Sallal has a very annoying agent who rejected any offer I made straight away. With one year left on his contract and 5 days before the window shut I decided to offer Mohammed around with a replacement already in line. He was valued at € 1.2 M, so I was disappointed to only get 200k bids for him even though there was lots of interest. I kept him on and decided to just let him go on a free at the end of the season. However, his performances hadnt been great at the start of the season and I spotted a good Egyptian available on a Bosman who would arrive in December should I decide to sign him. I thought sod it, went for it and offered Mohammed around seeing as I wouldnt be able to accommodate so many foreigners in my side. I was pleasently surprised to get 500k offers, still well below his valuation but it ll do.

EDIT: aldojags - a couple of decent players there, I like the look of Modest. Alici is already better than my current RB, our problem position for the last couple of years, a loan would be appreciated

[aldojags]

I would if I could corinthiano! Plus he already speaks Turkish with it being his 2nd nationality, so he'd be ideal for loan to Hacettepe!

I think Modest may be a bit of a prima donna though! He's now on youth contract, I went to offer him a pre-contract so he turns professional on his 16th birthday. I always drop the players demands, and maybe cut out one of the clauses if they're asking for it, like yearly wage rise. I didn't do that much damage to his wage, only dropped it by about £200, and he opted out of the negotiations right away! So I'll give him a month to calm down then go back. I'm always keen to get the younger players signed up quickly on professional terms so no-one can come and steal them, I'd only get a few quid compo. Marseille are usually making bids fairly on for my youth team players, past 2 seasons they come in right away with offers of £1m for example, so I'll try and get these guys signed up quick.

[corinthiano]

I do the same too, offer out a professional deal straight away. I tend to drop the yearly wage rise unless they walk out of negotiations a couple of times and agree to double their wage after 20 appearances for the first team.

[aldojags]

How often do you guys "rest all players"?

My training schedules are the highest part of medium you can get. And the games have been coming thick and fast recently with Europa League along with domestic games, and a few injuries are creeping into the squad, so an international break came up there, we had 2 weeks until next game, so I gave them all a week off.

I do this quite regularly, what about you guys?

[Lower Leagues Rule]

As corinthiano has said, it seems almost compulsory to have minimum release fees in Spain. I don't know if they must be part of it, but I cannot get rid of them with any player who is good enough. So I am generally lifting their wage demands so as to increase the minimum release clause and removing all other clauses. It means I can end up with some large wages, but avoiding most release clauses, at the time I signed Ostergaard he was worth not much.

As for Rest, I use it on any players that will be playing a game less than 6 days later, to make sure they will get back to fitness. With the rotation this season, there has been a lot less of it. I also use it when a player is coming back from injury, I feel they put them back into training too early, so I put them on rest for a week from the day they go orange INJ, and this seems to bring them back better off.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Just saw this in the GD and thought it could be an interesting discussion in here as well:

How Much did you Pay for your Top 22 Players, and how much are they now Worth?

AD Parla 2024/25 (Liga BBVA Runners-up)

|-----|---------------------|--------|--------|
| Pos | Name                |  Fee   | Value  |
|-----|---------------------|--------|--------|
|  GK | Dario Zaragoza      |  Free  | €4.30M | 
|  RB | Soren Ostergaard    |  Free  | €3.00M |
|  CB | Kevin de Man        | €5.25M | €8.25M |
|  CB | Juan Carlos Sanchez |  Free  | €8.50M |
|  LB | Zdenek Moravec      | €0.40M | €4.70M |
|  CM | Ercan Yildirim      |  Free  | €4.00M |
|  CM | Bife                | €1.30M | €3.30M |
|  RW | Besik Gabelia       | €0.14M | €2.80M |
|  AM | Christophe Legendre |  Free  | €2.70M |
|  LW | John Keiffer        | €2.00M | €2.60M |
|  ST | Jesus Montiquin     | €1.30M | €2.20M |
|-----|---------------------|--------|--------|
|  S1 | Ramzan Voronov      |  Free  | €0.55M |
|  S2 | Mehmet Comaktekin   | €1.70M | €2.10M |
|  S3 | Liam Parry          |  Free  | €4.70M |
|  S4 | Phil Wills          |  Free  | €2.00M | 
|  S5 | Andrey Agapov       | €5.75M | €5.25M |
|  S6 | Stephane Ireke      | €4.50M | €4.80M |
|  S7 | Giulliano Lori      |  Free  | €1.50M |
|  S8 | Ondrej Linhart      |  €65k  | €3.30M |
|  S9 | Antonio Jesus Sola  | €9.00M | €9.00M |
| S10 | Jacques Nangis      | €1.90M | €1.60M |
| S11 | Amirudin Delalic    | €1.20M | €2.90M |
|-----|---------------------|--------|--------|


Total Paid:  €34.505M Average: €1.57M
Total Value: €83.050M Average: €3.78M 
Total Gain:  €48.545M Average: €2.21M

Well I have to say I am surprised at how little I actually spent on my starting XI, even since de Man knocked Parry out of the starting team, I only spent 10.39 million Euros on those 11 players. I have to say I have built this squad over a few years, if I had included my next eleven players there is a bit more money spent, but now that I am competing I am spending a bunch of money on the future of the club to try and guarantee our future as a top club.

[PRDH]

LLR - That is interesting, I'd have joined in with mine, but my youth players totally skew the results as there are only three signed players in the first team now!

[Romanista1994]

Just saw this in the GD and thought it could be an interesting discussion in here as well:

Thread I made.

LLR - That is interesting, I'd have joined in with mine, but my youth players totally skew the results as there are only three signed players in the first team now!

Youth players skewing the results is fine, when I started the same thread last year I was bringing through a lot of youth players at Roma as well.

[aldojags]

This is a crackin spot LLR great idea. I'm bosman crazy so I'll be interested to see my results...




How Much did you Pay for your Top 22 Players, and how much are they now Worth?

ES Viry-Chatillon (Ligue 1)

|-----|---------------------|--------|--------|
| Pos | Name                |  Fee   | Value  |
|-----|---------------------|--------|--------|
|  GK | Jimmy Lynch      |  Free  | £3.00m | 
|  RB | Andrew O'Neill    |  Free  | £2.70M |
|  CB | Nathaniel Chalobah        | Free | £4.0M |
|  CB | Karl Thorpe |  Free  | £4.60M |
|  LB | Cedric Hue      | Free | £3.50M |
|  DM | John Larrson      |  Free  | £4.70M |
|  CM | Ali Jelassi                | Free | £10.75M |
|  CM | Pituca       | £5.75m | £6.75M |
|  AM | Oneil Tatlot |  Free  | £10.50M |
|  ST | Tony Champion        | Free | £6.25M |
|  ST | Mattia Panagelli    | Free | £4.50M |
|-----|---------------------|--------|--------|
|  S1 | Muralha      |  £1.7m  | £1.7M |
|  S2 | Safoun Saidi   | Free | £2.80M |
|  S3 | Mahmoud Rabie          |  £575k  | £1.60M |
|  S4 | Jimmy Donaldson         |  Free  | £2.60M | 
|  S5 | Dalibor Ladic       | Free | £1.40M |
|  S6 | Raul Gil      | Free | £3.00M |
|  S7 | Darko Borozan      |  £575k  | £3.40M |
|  S8 | Andy McMahon      |  Free  | £3.50M |
|  S9 | Daniel Sedlacek  | Free | £2.30M |
| S10 | Mondor Kessou      | Free | £2.30M |
| S11 | Ilan Roger    | Free | £2.70M |
|-----|---------------------|--------|--------|


Total Paid:  £8.60M Average: £390,909
Total Value: £88.55M Average: £4.02M 
Total Gain:  £79.95M Average: £3.63M

I was expecting results like this, I very rarely pay big money for someone unless they are special, like Pituca I always wait until Jan and get lots of pre-contracts on decent young players and build them up. To think I got Jelassi and Tatlot for free is amazing. France are ranked 2nd in World, and they 2 are their 2 central mids, I'm delighted with them.

edit:sorry it's a bit of a mess I tried copying the code from LLR

also just noticed prdh saying about his youth players - I don't have as many as him but in that list Donaldson and Roger came through my ranks so that may skew the results like prdh said


AND can I also throw in...£390,000 a head is quite good for a squad THAT HAS JUST WON LIGUE 1!!! YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!

will try and get review up tonight, prob more likely tomorrow! What a nervous night it has been but it's all over with a game to spare!

[Romanista1994]

AND can I also throw in...£390,000 a head is quite good for a squad THAT HAS JUST WON LIGUE 1!!! YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!

Brilliant, really glad you've won it. CL winners next season. You heard it here first.

[aldojags]

Hahahaha, hmmm I dunno about that! Who would have thought a computer game could put you through these emotions. Been playin fm all day, this morning I was end of Jan, had a 12 point lead over Lyon, then they went on a horrendous run, but out of nowhere PSG, who started season awful, put together a dream run, over took me by 2 points, but they then lost a game and drew a game in succession, I took advantage, and won the league away to Rennes.

edit: your all invited as my guests of honor to the trophy ceremony after our last game of season at home to Lorient!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Thread I made.

LOL didn't notice that, but love the idea.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Congrats Aldojags, awesome to see you win the league. Good Luck with the Champions League from here.

[corinthiano]

Well done aldojags, brilliant you have done it! Looking forward to reading the report!

[aldojags]

cheers guys, great feeling of achievement I must say! In the process of taking my screenshots, report will probably be tomorrow.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Also have just noticed, but it looks like I might make it to a full first XI of different Nationalities, if/when Lapin or Delalic overtake Montiquin as the best striker in my team. My current line-up:

|-----|---------------------|--------|---------|
| Pos | Name                | Nation | 2nd Nat |
|-----|---------------------|--------|---------|
|  GK | Dario Zaragoza      |  ARG   |  None   | 
|  RB | Soren Ostergaard    |  DEN   |  None   | 
|  CB | Kevin de Man        |  NED   |  None   | 
|  CB | Juan Carlos Sanchez |  MEX   |   CAN   | 
|  LB | Zdenek Moravec      |  CZE   |  None   | 
|  CM | Ercan Yildirim      |  TUR   |  None   | 
|  CM | Bife                |  BRA   |   AUT   | 
|  RW | Besik Gabelia       |  GEO   |  None   | 
|  AM | Christophe Legendre |  FRA   |  None   | 
|  LW | John Keiffer        |  BEL   |  None   | 
|  ST | Jesus Montiquin     |  ARG   |   ESP   | 
|-----|---------------------|--------|---------|

And only Montiquin is Listed as Spanish here, Bife is also Spanish, not shown here. I suppose I am a little disappointed with this, but I can't find Spanish players as good as my foreigners for cheap enough.

[aldojags]

prdh it was yourself who had the guy descazals from Djibtoui wasn't it? I think this may be his younger brother!? Thinkin of signing this guy, got a few quid now I've won the league, don't want to get carried away and sign too many players then my youngsters don't get a chance. But I need to be able to compete on lots of fronts next season so will need a squad of 25 quality players.

[Lower Leagues Rule]

LOL - Leading Sevilla 3:1 (83:38 on Clock) and Zaragoza gets injured, I don't have a sub keeper, so in steps Jesus Montiquin to attempt to stop something.

Final score = 3:2, but even Zaragoza wouldn't have saved the goal that went in.

[aldojags]

this is why you should always put in a clause for next transfer!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Well that is going to help isn't it. Got any thoughts for your 10M?

[corinthiano]

LLR - that is surely a very international team, I remember having the same problem in my Real save, I almost had no Portuguese players in the squad because foreign players were available at such a lower prize. This is why I think I am enjoying Turkey a bit more, in the Süper Lig you can have a maximum of 6 foreign players in you first XI and 8 in the match day squad. Whilst finding good Turkish players is tough when compared to what is available outside the country, it at least guarantees that some part of the team remains local, keeping a bit more of the identity I suppose.

aldojags - 10 M like that is awesome to get, will surely help out! You must be loaded now you have won Ligue 1 though, right? How are your finances?

Over at Hacettepe it has been a good season so far, we are in the fight for European qualification, although it is very tight at the moment. A top 5 finish will guarantee Europe next season, 6th will do as well depending on the Cup winner, which wont be us as Galatasaray just knocked us out in the quarters. Our league form has been strong though so I am hopeful we can finish in the top 5.

EDIT: Forgot to mention the important bit, we are 4th at the half way stage

[ri916]

Aldojags- Congratulations on winning ligue 1 and I'm sure you will complete the challenge in the next few seasons. I have to give credit to you for not just spending loads of money on big name players and walking the league and champions league. 8.60 million for a ligue 1 winning squad is just incredible! you have made some great transfers. Good luck winning the champions league and I really hope you will give my challenge a crack after you have completed this.

[PRDH]

Congrats aldojags! Great achievement. Time for the Champions League. Hope you don't have as long between first league title and European success as I did! Oh, and yeah, Descazals was my player (now sub-standard youth coach, but you can't let a man with more than 600 appearances go hungry can you...). He's a good player!

[cameronross]

Man its hard to keep the motivation, I dont know how you guys can be in your 30th season! you's are incredible!! Im gonna have to start again. Any leagues to recommend having a crack at?

Scrap that im giving Germany a try, and im going to try and keep you all updated as the rules state. Bear with me though cause im new!!!

[corinthiano]

Best of luck cameronross, I find the main thing that keeps me going is seeing how the squad slowly gets better and better. Patience is definately needed though!

[Lower Leagues Rule]

Welcome aboard Cameronross, good luck in Germany, and I agree with Corinthiano, patience is needed, but you can look for other things as well. Whether it is the next big youth prospect, getting a record with your striker. Doing better than the year before, or even just targeting one particular player and getting him into the squad. I also find sharing stuff with everyone in here really keeps me going, and reading their stories as well as the support i get for my own.

Corinthiano - It is a bit frustrating, because I believe it is also causing the downfall of the Spanish National side as they are 27th in the world, and not been above 15th in 5+ years now. I think that might be an aim for me, see if I can bring through some good players of my own and put them in the National Side.

My Best Spanish Players (Original Team): Antonio Jesus Sola (Betis), Idriss (Malaga), Cesar (Parla), Borja (Parla), Juan Carlos Granero (Parla), The Rest.
My Best Naturalised Spaniards: Jose Frietas, Jesus Montiquin, Bife (All of these will not play for France)

Not much to start with, but it is something. Sola at least is good enough, hopefully I can get some reasonable prospects in March and train them up. I might also look out for some other Spanish Prospects, because Madrid & Barca aren't helping (Starter has 10+ apps at halfway stage):
R.Madrid = 3 Naturalised Starters, 0 Born Spaniards
Barcelona = 5 Naturalised Starters, 0 Born Spaniards
At.Madrid = 1 Naturalised Starter, 1 Born Spaniard (All are Spanish Capped, 3 Spaniards with 9 starts)
Granada = 2 Naturalised Starters, 3 Born Spaniards (All are Spanish Capped)
Betis = 3 Naturalised Starters, 3 Born Spaniards (1 Naturalised is Spanish Capped)
So in the top 6 sides in Spain (Including Parla) there are only 12 Spanish Eligible players starting on a regular basis. This is quite disappointing, and does explain to me why we have a national side falling apart. This sets a plan in place for me now.

[PRDH]

cameronross - Yeah, I'm with corinthiano, it's the squad developing that keeps me interested too. Good luck in Germany, hope you can keep going and you get some success.
LLR - What's the domestic bias in the league over all? For a long time the Portuguese side have been pretty poor and we've now got 40% of the players in the league being Portuguese. My team, for a comparison, is now 82% but the national team is still rubbish!

[aldojags]

My internet isnt working getting sent a new modem next few days will post update then, using phone just now.

[Manku]

Ramon Ramirez's
Real Massama
2018/2019
Recap

Liga Vitalis
Media Prediction: 14th
Board Expectation: Top Half Finish
My Target: Promotion

Season Aims:
Promotion
Score at least 50 35
Concede at most 35 32


Table (Graph) | Squad | Transfers | Fixtures (1 | 2)

Liga Vitalis:
This season we were looking to build upon last season's momentum and finally achieve promotion. We started the season very well, and by the end of december we were on the promotion race, and on a 7 game unbeaten streak. In January, Bakayoko went to play in the African Cup of Nations and left Real with no keeper. I had to scramble on the transfer market to get an awful keeper on loan. Needless to say we broke the streak and went on a losing streak. I was hoping for Ivory Coast to be kicked out of the tournament soon, but they won it instead. After Bakayoko's return, we got back on our feet, but the matches we had lost revealed themselves crucial for our final position.


Taca de Portugal:
Once again we went all the way to quarter-finals in the Portuguese Cup, and eventually lost to Nacional da Madeira (3-1) on extra time. It was a very good run, and I was sad we lost on the way we did –they tied the game on the 89th minute. On our way to the quarter finals we beat Fayal (4-0), Lamego (6-0), Rio Ave on penalties(0-0), Moreirense (4-0), and Pacos Ferreira (1-0).

Portuguese League Cup:
Ended last in the 1st phase with a (0W-3L) record. Not much else to point out about this one.

New Players:
ST: Sliwinski A young striker I brought in as a backup for Gallo, because of Melgarejo's injury. He ended up entering in a rotation system, and put up some impressive displays.
MC: Buick A talented midfielder, whom I snatched from Cruzeiro. He joined during the January transfer window, and made some played a few games. He will definitely play way more next season, though.

Note: The rest of the team was basically the same as last season, no big changes.

Future:
Next season I'll try once again to be promoted. Hopefully the guys will be mature enough, and the new center back I signed will make a difference.

Aims:
Promotion
Score at least 45
Concede less than 35

[Lower Leagues Rule]

LLR - What's the domestic bias in the league over all? For a long time the Portuguese side have been pretty poor and we've now got 40% of the players in the league being Portuguese. My team, for a comparison, is now 82% but the national team is still rubbish!

Well seems my club is 32% and the league is 48% (Forgot I could check that). I really think this is something that needs some sort of work in Football Manager, the transfer policy of clubs, though maybe the problem relates to quality of players in active leagues vs non-active, not sure what the issue actually is, might do some experimenting and see what the issue is.

[siLKEAPE]

What a wonderful thread this is, so many amazing achievements! Will soon post a pre-season report on my Citta di Pontedera team that won the Serie A in the 2017/18 season.

[PRDH]

Wowser! Just rolled up in Madrid for the Champions League 1st Rd 1st Leg. Wondered whether my team could compete shorn of so many international stars. I shouldn't have worried. We won 0-5 which puts me in a decent position for the second leg!

[siLKEAPE]

Città di Pontedera

Pre-season 2018/19


After our surprising Serie-A title last season I am now hoping we can consolidate our position among the top teams in Italy. As our chase for the title last season was greatly helped by the fact that the other top teams had horrible seasons, I think it will be harder this year. Many of the top teams have splashed out record transfer fees and the league will contain many interesting new players this season. We are predicted at 9^th, but I think we might be able to get in the top 4 once again unless CL-football totally destroys us.



First-team Squad

Goalkeepers:

Sergio* - Arrived for 3k£ in 2014, when we were playing in Serie C1. He has kept his place in the first XI since then, rarely having a bad game. A club legend.

Damien Launay – Arrived on a free from Nancy in 2017. Played a few cup games last season, but was mainly stationed in the u-19 team. I am looking to loan him out and bring in an older backup as he needs playing time to develop further. Dubbed the new Joel Bats.

Full-backs:

Riccardo Agresti – Arrived this summer (2018) for 400k£ from Empoli. He is going to be used as backup in the DR and DC positions.

Kamil Jalocha* - Arrived for 635k£ from polish side Lechia in 2017. Played almost every game last season and was very consistent. Both Tottenham and Arsenal have made enquiries about him but he is going nowhere.

Asmir Alickovic - Arrived on a free from Bayern in the summer of 2017. Solid, but not quite as solid as Jalocha is on the right.

Marcello Martinelli – Arrived on a free this summer from Juventus. Currently backup, but might overtake Alickovic if he improves as rapidly as he has done since his arrival.

Central Defenders:

Jorge Soares – Arrived in 2013 when we were still playing in Serie C2. He has been developing nicely along with the clubs promotions, but I think he might be peaking soon. Anyway he is a club legend!

Leonardo Wehrli* – Arrived on a free from Young Boys in 2017. He had an amazing first season with us and scored 13 goals in 38 league games. His attributes isn’t the best but he is really solid and is attracting interest from Premier League clubs.

Pedro Brito* - Arrived this summer for 2,5m£ from River. An amazing talent already dubbed the new Daniel Passarella and described as a wonderkid. Even scored on his debut against Inter!

Jaroslav Tichy – Arrived this summer for 1,5m£ from Bristol City. My scouts went nuts when they discovered this guy. I am hoping that his great working rate paired with his professional personality will result in a good development.

Defensive Midfielders:

Stanislav Vavrik – Arrived on a free from Slovakian side Nitra in 2017. Handy player as he can play DC, DMC and MC. He played a few games last season and developed nicely. Good at winning the ball and a distributing it.

Giuseppe Fiorani – Arrived this summer for 2m£ from Empoli. He is an awesome talent and I am just waiting for him to be labeled the next Andrea Pirlo, which I think will describe his style of play nicely.

Valentino Flavi – Arrived in 2016 for 600k£ from Frosinone. He is a real consistent player who rarely misses a game. He has a great personality and is describes as a wonderkid. Hopefully the Fiorani – Flavi duo will serve my Pontedera team in many years to come, and perhaps also the Italian national side.

Central, Attacking Midfielders:

Koen Koster – Arrived in the winter of 2016 for 450K£ from Antwerp. Has huge potential , but I don’t think he will fulfill it unless his attitude changes. Hopefully I will succeed in loaning him out.

Pavel Georgiev* – Arrived last summer for 6,5m£ from AZ Alkmaar. A real solid midfielder with amazing mental attributes. Started really badly after the transfer, but he picked up and managed 13 assists in 30 games last season. Described as a wonderkid.

David Lopez Montana* – Arrived in the winter of 2016 for 70k£ from U.D Logrones. He is a smart and creative playmaker with good physique also.

Wingers:

Uche Opara* - Arrived in the summer of 2016 for 3,5m£ from E.S Setif. Uche is an extraordinary player. He is almost impossible to stop and is making fun of almost every left back in the league. I imagine there is a lot of Opara-shirts among our fans.

Jean-Marie Marchetti – Arrived this summer for 2,5m£ from Monaco. As my chairman sold my previous left winger to Roma over my head for 4m£, I needed a replacement. Marchetti’s attributes is almost identical to the winger I lost to Roma .

Jeroen Ouwerkerk – Arrived this summer on loan from AZ Alkmaar. Backup.

Strikers:

Alessandro Pieroni* - Arrived on a free in the summer of 2015 from Frosinone. This wonderkid is already a legend for us, and is still labeled the new Christian Vieri. So far I have succeeded in fighting off his chasing clubs, hoping he will stay loyal to us.

Emmanuelle Ferrari – Arrived on a free in the summer of 2015 from Forli. He is a very talented poacher, but he still had a horrible season last year. I have tweaked the tactic to suit him better with Pieroni as his partner, hoping this season he will do better.

Ante Grgic - Arrived in the winter of 2018 for 825k£ from Hajduk. I brought in this guy to give Ferrari competition for the poacher role.

Augustin Martin Martin – Arrived this summer on loan from Stuttgart. Mainly backup, but I feel he could really become a cracking player.

As you can see, my squad is very young. I am now trying not to sign anyone unless they are free in an attempt to try and boost the clubs facilities instead of spending money on transfer fees. We are also moving into our new stadium named “Lippi Stadium” next summer, named after club legend Marcello Lippi of course.

During the preseason I have also experimented with a new formation and it is going really well so far, with us beating Inter 3-0 in the Supercup-Final.

The formation

3-2-3-2

I wonder what I will do with my full-backs if I settle for this formation. Perhaps I could retrain them to become defensive wingers.


Città di Pontederas under me: History + Trophies

[rlipscombe]

aldojags - congrats on your first Ligue 1 title... good luck in the CL next season
cameronross - it can be a bit of a slog but the rewards are worth it. good luck in germany - a league i manage in and am enjoying.

[corinthiano]

Missed out on Europe in the last league game of the season due to a 89th minute winner in another game. Gutted as we had been in European positions all season, but I am encouraged as we really have settled well in the Süper Lig and with some additions to the squad could make a bigger impact next season. A report will come sometime in t eh next 3-4 days as I am quite busy with work this week.

[Manku]

We were playing brilliantly, until my every other player started breaking his leg.

[PRDH]

Once again it's that time of the year again:

Lusitânia Açores - Youth Intake - 2041

Well if last year was the year of the defensive midfielder, it appears this time out my youth coaches have been concentrating on full backs. The top four prospects all feel most at home on the flanks of the defence, and three of them on the right. The full intake looks a little like this, not the best, but by no means the worst that could have come through. Time for a more in-depth look at the top prospects.

Shéu Sousa - defender (right) - 3.5-star potential - It's a position I've been crying out for, and here we - the joint top prospect emerges as a player born in Angra do Heroísmo itself and in this position. This is a good thing. In terms of initial ability he finds most of his highest stats on the physical side, with pace and stamina at a level I'd be happy with already. Apart from that he has a decent base for improvement in his defensive abilities (you can just about tell which position he plays from his stats). High hopes for this lad, he's definitely the best home produced right back at the club, although last year's top player Duarte is close to completing his positional transition. With two home grown players showing for this position, I will be tempted to get rid of the current incumbent Pesic sooner rather than later now.

António Reis - defender (left) - 3.5-star potential - Rated as having the same potential as Sousa and the one picked out by my assistant as having the potential to be 'one of the best players of his generation' but I am slightly unconvinced and rate Sousa as the superior talent. Also born on my island, though in Cardoso's home town of Vila Nova, he again has decent physical stats but he is technically a far weaker player. His determination is high, a good sign, and so I am willing to be proven wrong, but for now I'm dubious. Will hopefully develop into a good squad player, but at the moment I'm not convinced it'll be anything more.

Vasco Silva - defender (right) - 2.5-star potential - Another Azorean full back, but something of a step down in terms of potential with one star less than the previous players. Another to come through with decent physical stats, but realistically his technical stats are far below where I would expect a future starters to be at this point. Hopefully he can develop into a decent fringe player, but even that may be beyond him.

Mário Figueiredo - defender (right) - 2-star potential - Another born within shouting distance of the stadium but another step down in terms of potential. Interestingly I would rate him slightly higher than Silva. He has a better defensive base to work from though mentally he is weaker and will need to be tutored straight away to get the determination and other stats up. Probably won't make it, especially as there are now other right backs ahead in the queue, but will follow with interest.

Final assessment | This year's intake has addressed some needs within the squad, and I have reasonable expectations that Sousa may make it into the first team equation, but the rest, well, we'll see. None of the players are obvious stars as the likes of Cardoso and Vieira were, but then neither was Paulo and he's turned into a stunning player. Ultimately we won't be able to judge the class of '41 for a few years I suspect.