[FM14] Cleaning up the house in Porto

[afailed10]

F.C. Porto, the oldest and most successful football team in Portugal is currently under one of the darkest seasons of the last 20 years. However, what sets us apart from other rivals, is that we always grow stronger once we fall and get back up and a spell of dominance comes again.

But this time the problems are not that simple, it isn't something you can easily fix with just sacking the manager or splashing 50M on Andy Carroll. The club philosophies must be changed back to how it was 10 years ago. The interests of the (huge amount) club's directors and staff must all be one for the team and not for their own profit as it is now.

The club needs to go back to its roots and favor their own product of players instead of running a business with football agents and reducing Manager's control to a minimum.

Furthermore, it's time to change.

The current manager was dismissed after the dreadful season. Money hungry directors and incompetent staff are under the process of renewal. This time, the new manager will have full control of the football squad, the selection of players and the club philosophy with which results and fan satisfaction are the requirement as it is always with this ambitious club. Agent's relations will be reduced to a minimum as they were identified as a negative impact of the club by taking big influence in player's contract and transfers decisions turning our club in a money making machine instead of a football club.

Fans still remember home made legends in the club like Ricardo Carvalho, Vitor Baía, Jorge Costa and other that had tremendous success after being "re-institutionalized" like the cases of Deco, Maniche and suchs. These kind of references are lacking to kids and old fans.

The new manager is a 26 year old rookie who has proven his worth managing youth national teams abroad and learning from some of the best managers of the football world. Yes that's me.

I think everyone knows this club so i will start with my objectives which will make this a different save than the usual one i make (i always start the FM series with Porto my fav team with the sole purpose of winning)

My Goals in order of importance:

1st - develop youth into the first team and turn them world class.

2nd - develop an attacking and attractive football philosophy across all club.

3rd - don't spend more than 5M€ on a player

4th - don't exceed 250k/m on player wages, unless is a home made world beater.

Club expectations :

- Win the league.

My first season goals:

-Win the league with my own made attacking and flamboyant tactic.

-respect the above transfer\wages requirements.

Youth Development

So basically i will follow the same parameters as in the Ajax' thread. I will focus on cleaning up the staff room and hiring a team aimed at develop youngsters. I will focus all my budget on improving facilities except for the odd wonderkid regen and tutors.

Some good prospects:

Mauro Caballero: 18 / 175cm / Fierro type player / balanced personality - This one already has some interesting attributes, good anticipation and off the ball as well as acceleration but needs a Tutor to get off that Balanced personality.

Rafa: 18 / 177cm / all around left back / spirited - Doesn't need further tutoring just match time and attribute tailoring.

Podstawski - 18 / 181 / Intelligent defensive mid / fairly professional - Decent mental attributes but terrible physical stats, needs match time and a tutor along with physical training.

André Silva - 17 / 177 / Spectacular striker / fairly professional - needs further tutoring and overall striker training.

These are the only ones i can see taking place on the senior squad next season. I will cut down both B and u19 teams to 16 players to assure playing time.

Tactics

The biggest challenge of this save is to recreate a tactic i have always wanted to but never succeeded. I am not talking about any real life tactic here but the impressive AI's Arsenal team of the earlier FMs (10, 11 or even 9).

I can't recall most things and honestly i cba to install the game on this slow machine just to study the tactic because it would not only need some game time to let Arsenal's ai team blend through preseason but also it's a complete different ME than FM14.

What i can remember clearly is:

-strict 433 or 451 like the above with little roaming. (that was impressive they always kept their shape with only a couple exceptions)

-FAST but precise passing to feet. (This is what i think i will struggle the most with because my players always seem very slow to pass the ball and they end out sloppy too often)

-Strong adventurous CM running with the ball to break the opposition defense (they had andre ayew and he was a monster there, he was one of the fews that got out of position but it was seldom)

These are the basic principles and the ones i would really love to emulate. So from my quick theoretical studies i came to this (With a slight mistake in the CBs as i will be starting them in Cover duty):

Now according to the mentality ladder in the sticky thread it should translate player duties into:

GK: Cycle Possession

CBs: Cover Duty (All Roles): Disrupt Attacks

DL/R: Keep Possession (will be checking this out closely. If they pass into space i will try personal instructions)

Halfback: Keep Possession Away From Pressure

MC: Spearhead Attacking Moves from the Hole (attack only)

Deep Lying Playmaker (All Duties): Keep Possession Under Pressure

AML/R: Penetrate Gaps Intermittently (attack duty)

ST (Lone Striker): Draw Off Defenders - I will be testing this out first and see how involved he is with the general play. I want the team to pass the ball like a clock.

PPMs are far from perfect but i will keep you updated with how this main tactic pans out in the friendlies but i was considering posting this on the tactics forum and i probably will, the tactics section, because i will need help for sure so send your tips, they will be very welcome.

What i will do next: Sell players that are not starters and no tutoring qualities. Rebuild the staff team and set the best i can Head of Youth Management as well as manager and coaches. They will be using my tactics though.

Ps: Excuse me for my poor english it is difficult to read understand, next posts will be more images i promise Cheers and have fun!

[afailed10]

Start of the season Update

The first two transfers were mainly for tutoring as i was short on quality tutors with the right personalities. Milinkovic actually doesn't play bad at all.

Now, Manuel Fernandes... this is easily explained... Looking at team comparison i have the best defense in the league and also the best stats on teamworking and workrate. However we were lacking creativity and flair in the final third. So just before the end of August we were offered Manuel Fernandes for a small fee and i just couldn't see any drawbacks signing such player that would fit perfectly in the football i want to play. He has the right PPMs and amazing attributes. I know i said i wouldn't go over 5M or so on a transfer but this one amounts to 7.5M with the bonus although i didn't pay more than 4M upfront. He was just a very important signing to pass on.

I didn't sell any player because there was no need but my budget of 18M was all spent with these players and upgrades on senior\youth facilities and coaching.

Results

I was about to give up on FM until the patch came out yesterday. The selected cup game against Barreirense was when the new patch was on and several things changed, most importantly the first touch which allowed me to get closer to the football i wanted to display. Before that, we were getting solid wins but the results were often misleading. Our play was solid at the back but still conceding too many CCCs. No idea how i kept so many clean sheets. Our attack was not creating much chances but the finishing was clinical.

After the patch and with some tactical adjustments the play became flamboyant with forwards roaming around and creating passing options to the maestro Manuel Fernandes. With his high flair and technique he could put the ball wherever he wanted and became key to solve the tight defenses we always faced.

Champions league had a terrible start. Drawing home against CSKA who were very strong with their 442 diamond, conceding very little space and with a very good Rasmus Elm whom i could never control during the game. Against Galatasaray we started early with 2-0 advantage but somehow we went to lose 4-2. The third game was crucial and i saved all my best players to that fixture. We had to go for the 3 points or we would almost be out the Champions League. I knew they would play the 442 with 2DMCs and annoying wide midfielders. So i pressed high, made my MCs press higher and closed down their playmakers. They had almost no shots at all during the game but i didn't create many chances. However we were thoroughly superior as fully deserved our 1-0 win. Not impressive but very important.

We received them at home and with less defending concerns we smashed them 4-1. The fifth game was crucial again, as CSKA was already qualified but Galatasaray on 2nd place i had to win or, at least, get a draw and win against the Turks on the last round. Somehow the Russians underestimated us and gave us too much space. Jackson Martinez scored an hattrick and Manuel Fernandes had a stunning display. 5-1 win we jumped to the first place. Now there's on fixture left, a draw is enough to secure the next phase but we will need to be at our best.

I have no illusions with going far in the Champions League especially with a rather young side and attacking philosophy.

Tactics

Still running with the 433 but with some tweaks. I made it more simple with less instructions. Removed tempo settings as i let the playmaker dictate tempo. There is also no passing instructions as i change the width and defensive line according the the opposition so it wouldn't make much sense to play short passing with a low defensive line, imo. Also changed the Halfback into a Anchorman as it connects more with the possession and gives a stronger presence in the Def. midfield. The halfback was playing like Busquets but leaves gaps in the back. It's not something definite and i will test it around more. Basically i run an advanced playmaker with a boxtobox midfield but again i change things around depending on the players i see fit to play, however it's safe to say the playmaker is the most important player here as he is key to break through defenses launching beautiful passes to advancing wingers, striker and also midfielder and wingbacks as you will see next.

here, the right wingback danilo starts the play and you can see our shape

Anderlech as most teams i face, sit deep with 2 layers of defense which are hard to break down. Varela comes deep to offer the pass and drags along the left back.

Here Lucho offers an easy pass option.

You can see the player movement once the playmaker gets the ball.

Danilo scores from a very simple but beautiful play. Fernandes pass was very pleasing to watch.

As you can see in the last picture there are still some problems. Well, the tactic is not yet fluid and i don't have the left wingback on an attack duty like Danilo, just to keep some balance but sitting deep on an attacking transition is pretty useless. Jackson, the forward, does a good job of dropping deep and dragging the defenders with him but i don't want him to run away from the defense in panic like a chicken. Maybe something happened there i don't know, there is only so far a manager can see from the touchline. I will tweak around the forward and left side especially and see if i can improve.

Next is Sporting CP away, one of the three main Portuguese teams and i am sure it will be very difficult to go for the 3 points but i will study their 433 a bit and see how can i render those fast wingers useless.

Youth development is going well with all tutors busy teaching the kids, but it's still too early to show developments. But many of them are having playing time being Kelvin the most influencial one.

January transfer window is coming soon and i might need to sell one important players to keep the finances healthy. We are still high on wages with players like Lucho on 350k\month. Might be his last year on the team.

Stay tuned for more and thanks for reading.

[shnen]

interesting, good luck

[fmFutbolManager]

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