[FM17] Football, fire and ice: The inside story of Iceland's remarkable rise.

[Jimbokav1971]

An overview of how the other Icelandic clubs have performed in Europe since the start of the save.

KR in Europe. 

I don't care who the opposition is. When you score 10 goals you are doing something right. (Shirak Gyumri are from Armenia by the way).

That's really unlucky to lose to Molde of Norway on away goals. It's an impressive set of performances nevertheless. 

That's another decent performance against Rosenborg of Norway. 

Again, a narrow loss against Ferencvaros of Hungary is decent if frustrating.

Differdange are from Luxembourg, so all things considered, perhaps we could expect more than a 2-0 win in each leg. Another narrow loss, this time to Sion of Switzerland increases teh frustration levels. 

All in all I would say that KH have performed relatively well in Europe and if anything have been a little unlucky in terms of results. 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Toffle]

15 minutes ago, Jupjamie said:

If you've got a big transfer budget, you could go and give the other clubs in Iceland a nice Christmas present to help them become more competitive, which would then help Iceland's reputation as a whole (if they actually use that money wisely, that is).

Wouldn't it be better to boost one or two clubs at a time? By doing so, I feel like you would directly improve icelander club performances in Europe rather than making the league more competitive.

[Jimbokav1971]

11 minutes ago, Jupjamie said:

If you've got a big transfer budget, you could go and give the other clubs in Iceland a nice Christmas present to help them become more competitive, which would then help Iceland's reputation as a whole (if they actually use that money wisely, that is).

I could do, and that is indeed the long-term plan, but the problem is that I need to create a bit of a gap between ourselves and our domestic competition. At the moment, when we lose players to International call-ups, we struggle not to lose and I need our current crop of youngsters to progress past the age of 21 before I can reap the full benefits of their ability, without them being stolen away for periods with the U19's, U20's, or U21's.

I think it will be a while before I am able to throw some cash at a domestic rival I'm afraid. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 minutes ago, Toffle said:

Wouldn't it be better to boost one or two clubs at a time? By doing so, I feel like you would directly improve icelander club performances in Europe rather than making the league more competitive.

I completely agree. 

When I actually do this, I am going to be giving to just 1 specific club and see how I can develop their European performances. I will also prioritise them more highly when it comes to selling players to them.

[LPQR]

great progress here, Jimbo  pushing for that big breakthrough in Europe, too!

[Jimbokav1971]

FH in Europe. 

Zrinjski are from Boz & Herz, but FH will surely have been peeved to relinquish a 2 goal advantage from the 1st leg.

I personally think that a narrow single-goal loss to Hajduk is a better than average result.

While I had to check where IFK Mariehamn are from, (Finland), there was no escaping that one of their scorers in the 1st leg was a certain Ragnar (M.Pro) Tutor who still is a non-playing Tutor for us. What a small world it is. 

I haven't heard of AGF, but I have heard of Aarhus of Denmark and it was they who ended this little run.

How close was this! A loss on pens to Goteborg of Sweden. You may even notice that the FH goal was scored by a product of our academy, albeit one that came through the system before I arrived and who in fact left on a free.

Mlada Boleslav are a Czech team and FH probably thought they had an opportunity to progress. 

If this was Italian Inter rather than Finnish Inter then it would be a much better result. 

FH are the 3rd Pro club in Iceland and again I would say that they have performed reasonably well. Like KR, they seemed to lose out when things got close and lost 1 game on pens and another on away goals. 

[Jimbokav1971]

36 minutes ago, LPQR said:

great progress here, Jimbo  pushing for that big breakthrough in Europe, too!

Pushing? I would say that qualifying for the group stage of the Champions League is a big enough breakthrough for me. 

[Jimbokav1971]

IA in Europe.

(IA are still Semi-Pro by the way so if I was to look to invest money in someone it would be someone like them until they were able to turn Pro).

 

 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Fylkir in Europe.

(Fylkir are still Semi-Pro by the way so if I was to look to invest money in someone it would be someone like them until they were able to turn Pro).

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Fram in Europe.

(Fram are still Semi-Pro by the way so if I was to look to invest money in someone it would be someone like them until they were able to turn Pro).

 

Edited December 27, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Þór in Europe.

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Grotta in Europe.

[Jimbokav1971]

That's all the clubs in the Icelandic Premier Division, but there are other clubs in the First Division who have also appeared in Europe. 

Stjarnan in Europe.

[Jimbokav1971]

Vikingur R in Europe.

[Jimbokav1971]

IBV in Europe.

[Jimbokav1971]

Vestri in Europe.

That's everyone in the Premier Division and First Division.

[LPQR]

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Pushing? I would say that qualifying for the group stage of the Champions League is a big enough breakthrough for me. 

wow, didn't see that, congrats! 

[Jimbokav1971]

1st Champions League Group Stage draw. Aug 2028.

• Phase 1. Qualify for the Champions League Group Stage.
• Phase 2. Get a Champions League point.
• Phase 3. Not finish bottom of group.
• Phase 4. Qualify for Knockout Stages. 
• Get to the Final.
• Win the competition.

Well, at least Phase 1 is done. 

Man Utd, Dortmund and Ajax. 

Welcome to the Champions League. 

Edited December 27, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Potential transfer update. Aug 2028.

We have 10 players at the club with 5.0 PA. Top of the list is (26b) Páll Stefán (Spirit) who has recently been the subject of a £400.000 bid from PSG. The bid was rejected out of hand, but the fact that it was PSG that made the bid caught my attention so I had a look to see who else was interested. There are only 3 clubs interested, but they just happen to be AC.Milan, Liverpool and Man Utd. I think it's reasonable to suggest that (26b) Páll Stefán (Spirit) might just be special, (at least for us). 

While he has 4 years left on his contract, (and I have absolutely no intention of selling him before I am ready), it's likely that despite our millions in the bank, our Chairman, (or future Chairman more likely), will still cash in on him at some point. This doesn't fill me with dread however, and in actual fact, while it seems obvious that he has the best PA of our right wingers, there are others who I hope have at least a similar PA and one whom I prefer his attribute balance, 

AMR Depth.

The 2nd name on the above list is (27d) Snær Jakob (F.Pro) and while he is obviously poorer in the mental department, I initially preferred him to (26b) Páll Stefán (Spirit) and it's only his development that has seen the gap widen. I would happily sell (26b) Páll Stefán (Spirit) right now if I knew that (27d) Snær Jakob (F.Pro) would take up the slack a little and that his development would kick on. As it is, there is absolutely no guarantee of this so I will just be content with what I have available. 

[Toffle]

What a draw.. reminds me when my beloved team (Auxerre) drew Real Madrid, AC Milan (Ibra was still there) and Ajax in 2010/2011 UCL.

Pretty sure you'll reach phase 2 and get a miracle point at home 

Edited December 27, 2016 by Toffle

[Jimbokav1971]

2 minutes ago, Toffle said:

What a draw.. reminds me when my beloved team (Auxerre) drew Real Madrid, AC Milan (Ibra was still there) and Ajax in 2010/2011 UCL.

I never seem to have good draws in recent versions of FM. I just take it on the chin, play the kids and count the cash. 

The only thing I have to be careful of is not playing the kids too long as we develop so that we miss out on valuable coefficient points. I've been guilty of that a little in other saves I think. I think I'm safe playing the kids here though, (although might have a little pop in the home game against Ajax just to see how we get on). 

[Jimbokav1971]

(26b) Páll Stefán (Spirit) may have just turned 18 last month, but he has just made his debut for the Senior National Team and scored the winner in a 3-2 friendly win over Scotland. 

The bad news however is that his International goal-scoring debut has created something of a transfer frenzy and where as previously just PSG, Man Utd, Liverpool and Milan were the interested parties, now I have received bids from Juve, Chelsea, PSG, Anderlecht, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City, Real Madrid, Atletico, Sevilla and Spurs, ranging from £450,000 to £1.2M. I have rejected them all and added a valuation of £10M.

[Edit]

They are all back in for him and the bidding has now jumped to £2.3M (He's valued at £60,000).

[Edit2]

PSG leading the way now and it's up to £3.9M.

[Edit3]

Sevilla have just tabled a bid of £6M, but before you get carried away it's only £1.3M up front and there is no way he is going for that. (Luckily the Chairman agrees). 

[Edit4] 

OMG.I thought that was the end of the Transfer Window. I've got another whole month to go. 

Edited December 27, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Planned Training Facilities Upgrade. Sep 2028.

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Welcome to the Big Time. Sep 2028.

Mamadi Bari is a bit special  by the way. 28 yo Portugese World Class International with 49 goals from 77 caps and valued at £42M, He came through the academy at Sporting before signing for Utd for £20.5M in 2023. 

So..... we took 41 fans away, (out of 71,895). 

[Edit]

Old Trafford has a capacity of 75,635 so i guess they didn't give us too much of an allocation. 

Edited December 27, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

It's the last league game of the season and we need a draw to secure the title, (although we could still lose and win the title if results go our way). 

This is our result. 

There is something very satisfying about sticking 10 goals past the opposition with no reply. 

I think it's safe to say that we have won the title.

The player who scored the 4 goals probably deserves a mention. 

(27c) Arnþór Ari (F.Pro) came through the youth intake last season and in just 3(6) games this season he has now scored 11 goals and created 2 assists. That's not too shabby at all for a 17 year old. 

Edited December 28, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Shevchenko]

Not to shabby for a striker with "Pass rather than score" PPM

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Shevchenko said:

Not to shabby for a striker with "Pass rather than score" PPM

Yep. I've tried to get him to unlearn it twice, but no luck yet.

[Jimbokav1971]

Wow! 

 

Edited December 28, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Toffle]

Amazing!

Could you give us more details on how you're using the IR button? I don't know much about it, but if I remember well you can ask your team to play a certain way for each game.

[Jimbokav1971]

15 minutes ago, Toffle said:

Amazing!

Could you give us more details on how you're using the IR button? I don't know much about it, but if I remember well you can ask your team to play a certain way for each game.

If you are playing FM Touch, then you can create a match-plan that triggers certain actions to be implemented at certain points of the game depending on the score. 

With full-fat FM however, although you can use the match plan feature, (I think), if your team suffers an injury then a replacement is NOT made. As a result it is not something that I am prepared to use. Instead I set the starting tactic and the starting line-up, and then I basically leave my Ass Man in charge to do as he sees fit.

Is that what you mean?

[Ceching You Out]

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

If you are playing FM Touch, then you can create a match-plan that triggers certain actions to be implemented at certain points of the game depending on the score. 

With full-fat FM however, although you can use the match plan feature, (I think), if your team suffers an injury then a replacement is NOT made. As a result it is not something that I am prepared to use. Instead I set the starting tactic and the starting line-up, and then I basically leave my Ass Man in charge to do as he sees fit.

Is that what you mean?

One other note for anyone considering IR -- based on my experience your Assistant will use the formation and roles you've chosen and the 11 players you've selected, but he may move players between positions. For example, the player in the left CM slot may start in the right CM slot. This can make some tactics very tricky for IRing if they're dependent on a certain type of player in a specific role or you have starters natural in a position other than where you want them.

[Chantu9Y]

Wow what a great result against Dortmund! Who would you say is your best youth product thus far in the save?

[Jimbokav1971]

6 hours ago, Ceching You Out said:

One other note for anyone considering IR -- based on my experience your Assistant will use the formation and roles you've chosen and the 11 players you've selected, but he may move players between positions. For example, the player in the left CM slot may start in the right CM slot. This can make some tactics very tricky for IRing if they're dependent on a certain type of player in a specific role or you have starters natural in a position other than where you want them.

That's not something that I have noticed, but I've certainly sèen my Ass Man decide that what we are doing isn't working and made 3 HT subs.

There is often some cross-over between similar type players introduced from the bench, (my 2 wingers and AMC often come on in different positions if they can play in other areas). I have never seen a player start in a position other than which I picked him. Ever. 

Maybe it's linked to attributes, yours or the Ass Man?

[Edit]

When people have complained of this, they are often in the habit of using the Ass Man to pick the match squad. I never do this and it's possibke that the Ass Man has picked a different starting XI than yiu woukd and you haven't noticed until it's too late. Not sure if that's the case here.

Edited December 29, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Chantu9Y said:

Who would you say is your best youth product thus far in the save?

Well it depends how you rate them. 

If you are talking pure PA then it's probably the young winger that came through last season and everyone is making bids for, (game not loaded up so can't tell yiu his name). If you are talking who has been most influential or.contributed most, then possibly my previous left winger who cane through the academy quute early, or even a succession of good GK's. 

I'm over-due an update charting the development of the best players from each intake so I wil probably look to do that when I get to Jan 2029, (which will most likely be over the week3nd sometime.

[Ceching You Out]

1 hour ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

That's not something that I have noticed, but I've certainly sèen my Ass Man decide that what we are doing isn't working and made 3 HT subs.

There is often some cross-over between similar type players introduced from the bench, (my 2 wingers and AMC often come on in different positions if they can play in other areas). I have never seen a player start in a position other than which I picked him. Ever. 

Maybe it's linked to attributes, yours or the Ass Man?

[Edit]

When people have complained of this, they are often in the habit of using the Ass Man to pick the match squad. I never do this and it's possibke that the Ass Man has picked a different starting XI than yiu woukd and you haven't noticed until it's too late. Not sure if that's the case here.

I can rule out the latter -- I never let the Assistant choose the team. My attributes are maxed with worldclass reputation so I would bet against that being a cause too. I can't say for certain it's not an anomaly with FM15 (or less likely, maybe even the skin I'm using), but it's worth checking. Use a formation with two players playing in the other's natural positions then check the formation or heat map after IRing.

It becomes much more obvious in my save when I play an unconventional tactic. Playing a 3-4-3 strikerless led to my selected AMCR starting at AMC, AMC at AMCL, AMCL at LM, LM at RM, and RM at AMCR. Needless to say I won't be using IR too much when that happens .

[Jimbokav1971]

That sounds pretty sensible. I suppose I'm quite lucky in that the roles are quite clearly defined and there isn't an awful lot of cross-over from one to the other in my tactic.

A centre half who can also play full back for example is never going to be confused with one of our actual full backs for example. 

The 3 behind the striker can be swapped and occasionally are, but I don't mind that at all. These 3 are never swapped with the lone striker though.

Its possible that the middle 2 are swapped though, and I'm not sure I would notice even if this were to hapen. The roles are different and altough I have players who play in both, generally I will have a preference for a particukar role for each player at the very least.

[Edit]

1 possible reason for me not seeing this is that I like to use partnerships so players work as a team within a team and if 1 isnt available it might mean that the other is not selected as a result. Thats hugely the case with my centre backs for example, although less so with my midfield 2.

Edited December 29, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

14 hours ago, Chantu9Y said:

Wow what a great result against Dortmund! Who would you say is your best youth product thus far in the save?

Now I've got the game loaded up I thought I would give you a proper answer.

This is my squad ranked by CA. 

At the top of the pile by 0.5 CA star sits 18 yo (26b) Páll Stefán (Spirit).

If you look at who has been the best player over the course of the save so far then it becomes a little more difficult. 

The next pic shows all time appearances for all players still at the club.

(17a) Baldur (F.Pro) (2017) * has been our 1st choice left winger for a while now. He is 27 yo now and has 2 Senior INT caps to add to his 22 U21 Caps and 2 goals. 

You might find it strange that someone considered one of our best players over the course of the save has featured so infrequently in league games, but theb reality is that league games often have to take a back-seat in terms of priority to domestic Cup games and European games where a bad performance might mean the end of the road. There are only 22 league games last season and we lost 3 and drew 6 more but still managed to win the league by 2 points. As long as we win then it doesn't matter by how many points, (although I am interested in going unbeaten and I would properly love to set a special defensive season record. At the moment though, I'm actually using league games as experience for youngsters. In terms of benefit to the young players development, league games are key and yes of course I can and do play them in Europe sometimes, it's the league where I can really rest whole swathes of players, safe in the knowledge that even if we do lose, (I properly hate losing), then it actually won't matter in the grand scheme of things. 

• Winning competitions is important.
• Getting as far as we can in all Cup competitions is important, (even if only to maximise the number of available games to aid player development).
• Progression in Europe is important Financially.
• Progression in Europe is important in terms of improving our reputation, (which will become key as the save continues to develop).
   

[Jimbokav1971]

Reputation. Nov 2028.

This pic shows ourselves, FH & KR who are the Professional clubs, and IA are simply there by virtue of being ahead of KR.

I find it a little strange that our rep is still only 2.5 National when we have been in the group stages of either the Europa League or Champions League for 4 successive seasons now. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Champions League Update. Season 2028. 

It was the 1st time that we have qualified for the Champions League Group Stage, (4-3 on aggregate against Basel), and a win against Dortmund at home made it all the sweeter. The difference in cash between The Europa League and Champions League is huge, and when you add in that we have still nabbed some coefficient points then it's win/win baby!

I've just realised, (in mentioning the win against Dortmund), that we have the return fixture in Germany still to play and I forgot about it because it is on the 2029 fixture list rather than 2028 so I missed it. It's a freebie anyway because we have 3 points and some coefficient points in the bag to boot. Man Utd away was the only fixture in which we were out-classed, (and we really were).  

[Jimbokav1971]

New Stadium complete. Nov 2028.

[Jimbokav1971]

Where is the protest button? (Not that it will work).

[Edit]

I protested at the transfer, (twice), but to no avail. 

With it now done and dusted that he is going, I decided I would try and get a deal more to my liking. 

I offered him out for £5M +50% re-sale value and a friendly and wondered who would bite.

PSG, Juve, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, & AC.Milan all came back with bids of approx £2.1M + 30% of profit, but that wasn't enough so I countered again.

PSG accepted £5M + 50% +  a friendly + a season long loan, (not sure who's season though).
 

Edited December 31, 2016 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

I think I preferred our old stadium. Feb 2029. 

Old Stadium.

New Stadium. 

 

[hasdgfas]

The new one looks a bit...commercial. There's not a ton of character to it from those screenshots.

[Toffle]

I'm sure it'll look better once crowded.

[Bedese]

God, that's a miserable looking ground. Get some fireworks in!

[BoxToBox]

Yeah, that new stadium's a bit naff.

[Chantu9Y]

Agree, liked the old one better. Your boy looks to be a star in the making. Shame he's leaving but nice price tag for him!

[Jimbokav1971]

Rubbish result. May 2029.

The above result was the Champions Cup, (aka Charity Shield). It's no biggy at all that we lost (really), but there are a few things that jump out at me,  

• Possession is good, but possession for it's own sake it's not what we are after. During the close-season I tweaked our tactics to give us more possession, but unless the results come with it, then the situation may have to be reversed. 
• Clear cut chances are not something that I put great importance in. Until someone can give me an accurate definition of what is and isn't a ccc, then what is the point wasting time looking at this as an analysis tool.
• What really catches my eye is the 17 corners we were awarded. I haven't watched the match, (even the goals yet), but when I delve into the analysis section it indicates that we were awarded only 15 corners rather than 17. It could be that attacking free-kicks in wide attacking areas are classed as corners, (they are certainly defended like corners so maybe). In any case, whether we were awarded 15 corners or 17 corners, we simply aren't making he most of them. I'm not expecting to be scoring loads of goals from corners, but when you have 15-17 in a single game.... well then I expect to convert at least one of them.

Corner strategy.

There seem to be only 3 options for corner delivery options in FM17. In FM16, (or FM15, I can't remember), I had found reasonable success by delivering centrally to the edge of the area, to a "lurker" in space who was able to either take a long shot at goal or play someone else in after drawing defenders to him and opening space for someone else to exploit. Despite putting a bit of work into this at the outset, what I am currently doing isn't working so I am going to try and find something that does. I don't know what it is yet, but "corners" will be a side project that I will be investing time in over the next couple of seasons. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Corner strategy development.

So I have created 3 new attacking corner set-ups for each side and I have just played my first game since the above post.

While the winning score-line of 4-1 is largely irrelevant in this particular contect, 2 of the goals at least came from corners. 

We scored 1 goal on the counter from their 1 and only attacking corner, and another goal from 1 of our 10 attacking corners, (albeit about 3rd phase). 

Something that I have just noticed, looking at all our corner deliveries, and 9 of 10 of them were delivered to the near post, with the 10th being taken short. What happened to the far post option?

All in all it was a decent initial 1st step. I saw the opposition GK come and flap at, (and get absolutely nowhere near), the ball, and we also retained possession and recycled the ball well on a number of occasions. 

[Carninho]

Great read again I do have a few questions:

how many coaches do you have now? and have you been able to gain 5* coaching for every area yet (or is this not the same in FMT?)

can you setup any commercial feeder clubs yet (USA, China, Japan etc)?

do you think that the short seasons hamper the player development in anyway, or is it a benefit? I assume that the players CA increases faster with match minutes, but is it possible that the game boosts the player dev knowing the max league fixtures to compensate? Or its just a simple % of games played vs games available to play? I know you tend to have saves in small leagues dont you?