Great Southern Land - Turning Australia into a Powerhouse

[wynter]

Australia vs Uruguay 2005, one of the moments that changed the Australian Sporting Landscape forever. Qualifying for their first world cup since 1974, since then Australian Football has gone from strength to strength as it moved into the Asian Confederation. That year also marked the birth of the A-League, Australia's premier Footballing competition, its most successful moment the crowning of Western Sydney Wanderers as winners of the Asian Champions League in 2014.

Objectives for this Save

- Develop Australian Football through the A-League

- Win the Asian Champions League

- Win the Club World Cup

- Make the Top 10 in the World Rankings

And Eventually...

- Win the World Cup

In order to achieve these ambitions I've decided to take charge of Brisbane Roar

Not the strongest team in the competition although they regularly feature at the high end of the table. The squad on hand is very capable and there's enough of a budget that we're able to immediately begin to shape the squad in accordance to our vision.

Tactics

The two systems we'll be playing with differ in terms of vision, but both are geared towards the idea that our squad will be more than capable of playing on the same, or an even hgher level than our opponents. 

4-2-3-1 Wide

Attacking, Fluid

Shorter Passing, Push Higher Up, Close Down More, Roam from Positions

5-3-2-1 DM WB

Control, Fluid

Shorter Passing, Play Out of Defence, Work Ball into the Box, Drop Deeper, Close Down Less, Roam From Positions, Lower Tempo

4-2-3-1 is our primary formation, the sole objective of it is to outscore our opponents, constantly putting them on the back foot. The Higher Defensive line closes the gap between our defence and the midfield at the cost of occassional defensive insecurity. Our philosophy encourages a fluid style of play where the players have more freedom to move, looking to break down or join attacks at their own will. Through closing down more, we relentlessly press the opposition when they're in possession, reducing their opportunities to build up play and winning the ball back as quickly as possible. 

5-3-2-1 is a little experiment I'm curious to try. The idea behind it is a strong defensive team, that keeps possession whilst slowly building up from the back. I did this with our wing backs in mind, playing at a lower tempo to give them plenty of time to make their runs forward, providing our playmaker with greater opportunities. I've yet to give it a whirl though so will only be able to appraise it after some proper testing. 

In terms of taking Australia on as a Country we've neglected to do that, instead we'll bide our time while building our reputation at Brisbane Roar and wait for the opportunity to open up.

 

Next Update will focus on Transfers, Pre-Season and the FFA Cup + The early rounds of our campaign. 

[wynter]

Squad Overview, Transfers, Pre-Season and the FFA Cup

The biggest issue with the squad is a lack of balance. With a 29.5k Salary Cap Tommy Oar and Brett Holman essentially take up 1/3rd of the amount we can offer players between the two of them alone. They are both however great players and Holman in particular is great for tutoring purposes. The other issue is the ageing core of key players.

With almost all of their  contracts expiring at the end of this season though, the main challenge we have is getting the most out of them for one more season before we'll most likely move them on and use the free space to transform the squad into one more geared towards the football we want to play.

Squad Depth issues existed in the Defence and upfront, with only 1.5k in the Salary cap to play with we offloaded Thomas Kristensen to free up another 1.5 and released the players that essentially weren't capable of cutting it in the A-League. Although given their release fees are counted against the salary cap we essentially created no free space, that instead will also be available next season along with our Marquee slots as Mckay and Broich go.

To solve these problems we completed three signings. Leandro and Boxall significantly strengthened our defense with Leandro playing primarily as a Wing Back out right. We also brought in Jose Morales on a free to offer a rotational option up front but we were also helped out with one of our Youth Products developing significantly in the form of Nicholas D'Agostino

With the ambition of developing the next generation of the Socceroos we also signed Gavin De Niese, Andy Kecojevic and Sebastian Pasquali. Kecojevic will hopefully be the long term replacement for Broich (If he can develop his tackling to at least an 8), while De Niese and Pasquali will fight over the Playmaker spot and the role as our sides primary creator. De Niese does have some potential in the BBM role though, so if Pasquali develops quicker than expected he might be shifted down the park. 

Pre-Season

The Australian Pre Season is long. Beginning at the start of July with A-League games not beginning until October. The reason for this is the FFA Cup which begins at the end of the month and continues throughout your pre-season and the beginning stages of the A-League.

Some of the advantages of course include that the long time gives you a great period to get your side to fully understand your tactics, alongside a large amount of scouting time to make sure your signings are perfect for your ambitions.

A shock loss in our first game aside the pre-season was great. As the side began to grasp the tactic the goals began to flow, our defence was still an area that needed addressing and the additional reinforcements provided a bit more steel to our backline in the latter half of the games. The FFA Cup though was the true testing point for our tactic as we lined up against Sydney FC in the First Round.

The Game

We were aided somewhat by Sydney FC deciding to play a 70/30 squad of First Team Members and Backups while we threw our strongest side at them from the moment the whistle blew. Of particular note was the focus on Sydney's backline which was where the majority of the sides backups had been picked, while they're side was still strong in the middle and up front.

The focus of our attacks was almost perfectly varied between all areas as our wingers created havoc out wide. Arana in particular was lethal, continually getting by his man and into the box to create prime chances for our attackers and himself finishing with 2 goals and an assist. On the defensive side the high pressing system aided us greatly continually breaking up play with a total of 89 interceptions spread across the team while we dominated general play with 62% Possession.

All of this meant that in what was genuinely surprising, Sydney FC stood no chance as we romped to a 1-4 win away from home.

FFA Cup

The Cup was deemed unimportant by our board but it carried some prizemoney and given our finances any and all prize money was a useful addition.

For a competition with teams from the lower levels of the Australian Leagues we got a horror draw, featuring both Melbourne sides as well as Perth Glory who are all considered genuine locks for the Top 6 and the A-League Finals series. The run was great, the extra time victories against both Melbourne teams were great moments, particularly against Melbourne City given Broich had been sent off in Stoppage time, so we scored 3 extra goals with only 10 men.

We managed our way to the final where we were up against Kecojevic's old club in South Hobart. They weren't able to stand in our way.

First Trophy of the Save attained, now onto the League.

[Keano16]

Great start!

[wynter]

A-League Update

A loss in our first game was inconvenient, but with Kecojovic, De Niese, Fofanah, Pasquali, Oar and McClaren all away on International it was an understandable inconvenience. Seeing how our team responded in the next match vs Newcastle Jets was the true test and they turned on the style to romp to a 4-2 win away from home. 

From there we've got off to a great start. The only games we haven't won have been against the top two teams on the Leaderboard in the from of Adelaide United and Perth Glory. 

Our tactic is fulfilling it's primary ambitions as we look to pile on the goals, leading the way in the Shots on Target Category by a margin of 21 after 11 games. 

In addition we're 2nd for overall possession, third for most tackles made whilst simultaneously 8th in most fouls. Which is a key aspect of our game, massive yet clean turnover of the ball to enable us to immediately attack the opposition whilst vulnerable. Our biggest issue definitely lies in our backline which as it stands lacks the ability of our midfield and strikeforce. From next season and with some hopefully key reinforcements we'll be able to properly evaluate the success or failure of the backline and any changes that may need to be made in order for it to properly withstand pressure. 

In Good news though we've climbed to the top of the table, tied with points alongside Adelaide but our superior GD gives us pole position as we look to the second half of the season. 

Player of the Update

Jamie Maclaren

10 Games, 14 Goals, 2 Assists, 8.21 Average Rating

Having him on the field essentially ensures our victory at this point of the season, constantly has his eye open for goal and is scoring at the rate of a goal every 50.9 minutes. 

Next update will feature the end of the Season and our Progress through the Early stages of the Asian Champions League.

[wynter]

2016/17 End of Season Update

Schedule
Disappointing end to the season, our early form vanished midway through and while we were definitely winning games, we were also dropping them and losing valuable points left and right. Or defensive frailty was definitely our biggest weakness and I probably should have adjusted the tactics but I decided to stick with it and instead look for better defensive options for next year.

We finished 2nd, 6 points behind Perth Glory, a team we have still yet to beat and we weren’t looking forward to facing them in the Finals Series.
While the side was struggling in the league, continental football was another matter entirely, breezing through the Playoff with a simple 2-0 win over Binh Duong. Our Group opponents were Jeju, Hachioji Tigre and Bangkok United. The media expected us to struggle vs Jeju but also had us down to qualify for the Knockouts in Second Place in the face of relatively simple opposition.

Qualification sealed, but not in the way the pundits expected. Demolishing our group with ease, racking up 16 goals from 6 games and remaining unbeaten through the group stage, setting up a Knockout Tie vs Ulsan was a handy way to make a statement of intent about this competition.

Before that match however was the A-League Finals Series where we entered in the Semi-Finals vs Adelaide. A win would have us progressing to the Grand Final vs either Newcastle Jets or our nemesis Perth. I actually wanted Perth in the final in order to finally try and get a result against them, only for Newcastle to shock everyone and pull off a surprise upset.

On the other hand our side raced to a 3-0 lead vs Adelaide by the 48th minute but after that were forced to hold on to a shaky 3-2 victory as we eventually fended off a terrific comeback that had me biting my nails in the closing minutes.

We’d lost to Newcastle once this season, while winning 2 matches. So they had the ability to challenge us, but we also had the belief that we were the better side. We went down early in the 11th minute, but bounced back in the 14th to level the scores at 1-1 before D’Agostino netted a tidy double to set the score at 3-1. Keeping the Jets peeled back in their own half as the side searched for more goals meant they spent the entire second half clinging to a more respectful score than being a definite threat and full time blew on a comfortable victory sending Broich and McKay out in style.

Player of the Season
Jamie Maclaren
21 Appearances 25 goals 
7.67 Rating

The best compliment I think I can give him is that when he was on the field we won the game, simple as that. The patch where he struggled with injury also coincided with our worst run. A tad too reliant on him perhaps?

Next update will have our ACL Knockout Exploits, Transfers and Departures for the next season and our First Youth Intake.
 

[Steel Eagle]

Definitely following this with interest, am planning a similar save myself, just waiting until the 17.3 patch comes out.  I think your spot on with shifting some of the older players on some big wages, the club is certainly one that brings young players through in real life.  The 4231 line up and instructions looks pretty close to how they play as well, hope you can hang onto Maclaren, he is a goal machine.  Good luck with the save.

  Out of curiosity, do you have any other Asian leagues open?

[wynter]

25 minutes ago, Steel Eagle said:

Definitely following this with interest, am planning a similar save myself, just waiting until the 17.3 patch comes out.  I think your spot on with shifting some of the older players on some big wages, the club is certainly one that brings young players through in real life.  The 4231 line up and instructions looks pretty close to how they play as well, hope you can hang onto Maclaren, he is a goal machine.  Good luck with the save.

  Out of curiosity, do you have any other Asian leagues open?

Hey mate, here's the Leagues at the time of the update 

Adding some European Leagues in England, Germany and Spain to open up some more room for development and shift some of the hopefully really good prospects out to Europe to let them shine. I also might take over a European Team in the future to control said development myself. Not too sure yet. 

[wynter]

Pre-Season 2017/18, Youth Intake and Asian Champions League

Transfers | Finances | Schedule

Youth Intake

A pretty successful intake all things considered. Our side found a future First Team Goalkeeper in Matthew Davies, while Kieran Kelly will hopefully take after Tommy Oar and be a natural successor to the Left Wing Position, provided I can raise those mentals with tutoring. Cole has probably come to the wrong club, or come at the wrong time as he's 4th choice in a pecking order that involves a sole striker slot. Decent potential though.

Nationwide the best prospect came through the FFA Centre of Excellence and he was snapped up immediately in the form of Darren Byrne

Unfortunately he has English Nationality and the U21's British Team took him into their squad on Day 1. Not beneficial to future plans of World Domination if he decides to play for them once he matures.

Transfers

The key aim of this window was to strengthen our backline while simultaneously identifying future prospects to buy in the future or immediately if the timing was right (Free agents with high potential or Youth Intake prospects at lower level Australian clubs to look at in January). 

Nemanja Janicic and Anthony Golec were both signed. Janicic for the first team and Golec due to his Australian Nationality and ability to rotate in and out of the side due to fitness/injury. Janicic is intended to partner Luke De Vere  who we chose to keep. In terms of prospects Brandon O'Neill was brought in on a free transfer. 23 Years old yet his PA still reads 4.5 so he has the ability to develop into a great talent provided I can get him enough game-time.

Major Signings (Janicic Excluded) were Park Yong-Woo and Kyle Lafferty

Woo provided a solid midfield option with the removal of Broich and McKay from our squad, partnering Kecojevic or Byrne in midfied when our side is at its strongest. Lafferty can play across the entire front three and offers some diversity and genuine quality up front which was difficult to find due to Australia's lack of 'great' strikers.

Asian Champions League

The Grand Final being the swansong of Broich and McKay turned out to be a complete lie when on the final day of their contracts we also played our 2nd leg of the 2nd Knockout Round vs Ulsan. After losing the first leg 1-2 Away from home it was all hands on deck as they played a vital part of our midfield to sneak us over the line, turning the away defeat into a 3-1 victory at home. They left the club the next day.

One of the major issues with the ACL registration though, and not one I'm sure exists IRL or not was that the registration for the Quarter Final and Beyond was 4 days before our new arrivals joined the team. So after ridding ourselves of Broich, McKay, North et; all we actually had to play the rest of the Finals with 15 registered men in place of our expected squad of 23. Of those 15, 6 were back-ups the previous season or didn't play at all.

Not the best of situations to be in when your next opponent was Shanggang featuring these guys.

We turned in one of the performances of our lives away from home, battling it out to a 3-3 Draw, taking the lead several times only to see it snatched back due to their arguably superior quality. We lucked out in Elkeson being injured, and Gyan not playing so we only faced Hulk and Mussachio in Leg 1. The return leg back at our 'Home' in Robina Park was set to be an absolute thriller.

Leg 2 fulfilled its promise and more, going down 0-2 inside the first 12 minutes it looked like our run was over before Duckworth gave us a glimmer of hope in the 26th with a screamer from outside the box. D'Agostino leveled the scores on the stroke of Half-time to send us in at 2-2 and winning on away goals.

From there we roared out of the blocks to dominate the first 25 minutes of the second half, D'Agostino adding a second and Fofanah nabbing another goal to put us 4-2 up. D'Ag then further justified his selection in place of Maclaren by getting his hat-trick in the 73rd and giving us what should have been an unassailable 5-2 lead.

It was at that point Shanggang finally roared back into the game, scoring two quick goals to reply and it was suddenly 5-4 with 10 minutes left. From there we battened down the hatches and rode our luck as the pressure mounted, full time finally blowing and we secured our route to the Semi-Final in dramatic fashion.

Our Next opponent for a place in the Final

Australian Football coming out on top either way.

Our hard work has also been acknowledged with interest from other clubs. Most notably Suwon Bluewings in South Korea which was a very tempting offer at the time with a notably larger budget to work with. For now though we'll stick to Australia and developing our younger talent.

 

 

[ManUtd1]

Excellent start, and a great read!  Will be following!

[HawkAussie]

A great start for Australia football there.

[Jolanthustrel]

On 2/27/2017 at 12:35, wynter said:

 

Nationwide the best prospect came through the FFA Centre of Excellence and he was snapped up immediately in the form of Darren Byrne

Unfortunately he has English Nationality and the U21's British Team took him into their squad on Day 1. Not beneficial to future plans of World Domination if he decides to play for them once he matures.

 

 

 

That's Disappointing. Too bad they can't make anyone coming through FFA COE declared for nation. I thought that was the case for anyone coming through there after to us losing quite a few players like Josip Simunic.

[wynter]

Have some more free time so I decided to get back into this one.

Champions League Semi Final

Leg 1

Brisbane Roar vs Adelaide United

Not being able to register the new signings our squad was severely limited, even so we snuck a 1-0 win with one of the auto-generated players in Paul Ross actually giving us the win. We had a dearth of attacking players at our disposal but absolutely no defence seeing as that's the area we cleared out in the prior window. Luckily we controlled the game fairly well and limited their chances with Adelaide only getting 6 shots the whole game and only one on target.

Leg 2

Young getting injured in the leadup meant that our goalkeeper was also auto-generated in this match, unfortunately he wasn't very good and the lack of bite in our midfield, with Kecojevic and Duckworth not being the greatest tacklers meant we were very fragile at the back and we paid for it. The game wasn't very close and we got ran over in the 2nd half as Adelaide entered the ACL Grand Final.

Hyundai A-League (RS)

Great start in the league again, interesting counterpoint with Mariners giving us some very tough games while they languish in last place. Attendance is pretty average, a small boost from last year by roughly a thousand people. It's at this point I'd genuinely prefer us playing out of Robina stadium all the time as their 27k capacity is better than selling 11-20k tickets in a 55k seater stadium. Unfortunately we only seem to get that stadium for ACL games.

In terms of team stats we have 32 goal from 13 games, the next best is 25, we also have a 50% shot on target ratio and sit second for total shots and average possession. Looking at the teams this year Perth is definitely going to be our biggest rival yet again this year, still yet to get a legitimate win against them. Goals conceded remains our biggest issue and to try and deal with that we've swapped Dimitri Petratos for a new fullback in Stefan Nigro

Hopefully he gives us some solidity at the back and offers something going forward. Biggest issue is Janicic's lack of fitness, only been able to play in 5 league games so far giving Golec far more gametime than I envisioned. Hopefully the second half of the year proves better for him.

Player of the Season

Alusine Fofanah

13 Games, 4 goals, 6 assists

7.19 AR

Worked his way into being a starting player for the squad, generally playing out right but when Pasquali's on International Duty etc; he's been getting a ton of gametime in the AMC position and causing general havoc for the opposition. Not our best player rating wise, but definitely the most improved since last year.

 

Hopefully the next update is quicker, cheers lads. 

[wynter]

World Cup Draw

May the Footballing Gods have Mercy

[wynter]

2017/18 - End of Season Update

We didn't continue our run of form after the ;ast update, losing 7 of our players to the U23 Asian Cup put a dent in our title aspirations as we hit a patcy run of form without several of our best guys. Praising Fofanah in the last update turned out to be a curse as he tore his hamstring just a few games later and didn't come back until the finals. By then it was too late as we lost the title to Adelaide by 5 points.

To make matters worse, we drew our nemesis in Perth Glory in the Semi-Final,going down on penalties to end the season without a title after our successful outing last year.

Looking at our squad, the evident weakness is at the back, with Nigro signing for out right our next solution is to shore up the Left Back position, with that in mind our primary target for this season is

Scott Jamieson

With Tommy Oar's wages out of control at 5.75k p/w at almost 20% of our budget we've decided to clear him out and his replacement will be an old FM Wonderkid in German Pacheco

In Good News we crushed our group, getting into the Knockouts rounds once again of the Asian Champions League. This time we're only lacking two members who we'll be releasing and the squad is totally registered for a full tilt at a successful campaign.

Our immediate focus though is the World Cup with the first game vs Switzerland a month out. I decided it was time to move onto the next generation and our full squad for the games will be.

We're the youngest squad in the tournament and almost all of the players will be available and in their prime come 2022. Our aim for this one in particular is hopefully a result vs Switzerland and to finish a respectable 3rd, as I doubt we'll get anything vs Chile or France.

[wynter]

Before the next update wanted to take a second to praise our beloved God

Hail Maclaren

[wynter]

World Cup

Match 1

Australia vs Switzerland

A very tight affair to kick off our World Cup campaign against arguably the weakest side in the group. We chose to play on the counter in the first half, switching up to a 4-1-2-3, our aim was to clinch a single goal and grind out a victory. Of course aims rarely go according to script and after conceding a penalty in the 49th it was time to go on the offensive and the game transformed into an end to end match-up. Leckie was taken down in the box from a corner and we levelled the match from the penalty spot, Sainsbury then earned himself a red card and Embolo capitalised to put Switzerland up 2-1. From kickoff a wonderful cross by Oar put Giannou through and we equalised not a minute later to get a point out of a great contest.

Match 2

Australia vs Chile

There were no such plans to keep our backs to the wall against the South Americans due to their quality attacking line-up, instead the aim was to keep them on the back foot and try and capitalise off their weaker defensive line. We had a very lucky game, Ryan pulling off some quality saves and our defense restricting their 22 shots to just 7 on target. In the second half we got one chance at their goal and we capitalised with Halloran putting us up and we somehow survived to claim a 1-0 victory and qualify for the 2nd Knockout Round.

Match 3

Australia vs France

Defence was not the right option.

Standings

Round of 16

Realising that we couldn't sit back, we decided to go for it against the heavily favoured lions.

It was a match where we actually controlled the game, 12-9 Shotswise, 55-45% possession but we weren't able to put the ball in the back of the net and unfortunately, that's where the lions thrived.

An exit at a much later stage than anticipated, especially considering I wasn't aiming to make inroads in the WC until at least 2026.

In Club related news Byrne has been poached after a bidding way between Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. Joining the blues for 2.5mil up front with the potential to turn into 6mil later down the track, a move the board deemed to good to turn down.

[wynter]

Transfers and Asian Champions League

With Byrne's sale (Not leaving until January though) we had some cash to burn and we decided to load up on the quality Youngsters throughout Australia.

Our Youth Intake was actually great for us again and it gave us arguably my favorite prospect in Dominic Driscoll.

Great passing and technique for his age, immediately signed him on to be tutored by Yong-Woo who raised his Determination form 8 to a nice 12. His physical stats as they are leave a bit to be desired but with Byrne leaving in January I think we've got a ready-made replacement to slot into the team. Definitely a weaker player as of now, but with the potential to be just as good.

Biggest departures were Oar and Lafferty, Lafferty stayed for a season and netted me a nice profit of 1.1million whereas Oar cleared out a large portion of our salary cap, which we put to great effect, resiging Jamie Maclaren for another 4 years and giving one of our newest signings in Luke Wilson a professional contract. Wilson also has a ton of potential, so drawing that out and picking where to play him are two challenges we need to deal with quickly.

An interesting battle out of the new signings is going to be Rhys Oliver vs Evgenios Tsiolakidis. I at this stage favour Oliver but Tsio is rated higher and has a much better finishing stat. How they develop over this season will be the biggest test.

As a massive Torino Fan and with Oar leaving, we had a need for Depth across the Front 4 and I had a free Marquee Spot. So I couldn't say no to snapping up Alessio Cerci, one of my favorite players to ever play in the Granata colors on a free transfer. And with great Mentals for an attacking player he's also a solid player for the others to learn from.

The remaining issue with my squad is related to Sebastian Pasquali

Definitely the best prospect at the club and easily the best prospect for the Australian team. With a year and a half left on his contract he's playing hardball, wanting a salary rise to 3.1k per week and a Release Clause of 1.7mil. As we're only spending 23k of our Cap meeting his wages is easy, but the RC leaves me a bit unenthused at the prospect. I also want to see how he does in Europe so I'm hoping a club comes and snatches him up.

Champions League

Following our exit from the A-League Finals we had ample time to prepare for the First Knockout stage of the ACL, with almost none of our squad leaving this time we also had a fully available team to take a tilt at the title.

We steamrolled Jiangsu

Seoul provided an interesting challenge in the first leg before a Maclaren inspired side romped home in Leg 2 as he bagged himself a hat-trick. Oar also played his final game here, getting a brace to send himself out in style.

So of course we were at the Semi-Final and what better a team to play than our arch-nemesis.

Maclaren once again led the way in the first leg, scoring two as we raced away to a 4-1 win, however injuries ahead of the second leg meant our backline was exposed and the tie rapidly became very difficult to survive.

We decided to defend given our absence of defenders but that just opened us up to mistakes that the glory capitalised on and at Halftime they were ahead 3-0, 4-4 on Aggregate but they carried a vital away goal. In the second half we switched back to our tried and tested attacking formation and Byrne came to the rescue with a stunning free kick from 20 out, before Glory conceded from a corner and we escaped with a 3-2 loss but winners of a great tie.

Finals

A potent threat, a strong line-up featuring old Newcastle United target Modibo Maiga, Victor Ayala and Jurgen Locadia.

We dominated from start to finish.

Players of the Tournament

Our two starlets earning significant rewards. Maclaren destroyed the goalscoring charts and Oar providing a barrage of assists from the left wing. We rightfully dominated Team of the Tournament.

Next Up

The CLUB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Sneak peek

 

 

[wynter]

Club World Cup

With no expectations on our team for this tournament I decided to set a very simple goal of getting 3rd place. With 1.5mil in Prizemoney just for achieving that aim we'd definitely be able to garner some financial might and finally invest in our facilities. To get into the Semi-Finals though, we first had to beat one team.

First Match

Brisbane Roar vs Al-Ahli

Unfortunately the week out from the Tournament our Main Threat Alessio Cerci suffered a Hip Injury, sidelining him for two months. Despite that I was still optimistic that we could get a result. That optimism was well founded as we dominated the game with 22 shots to 8 racing out to a 5-1 lead by the 60th minute, from which we decided to rest our stars for the key game ahead. Ahli pulled two goals back, but by that time we were in cruise control. Maclaren bagging a brace and leading the way like the legend that he is backed up by a dominating performance from Pasquali as he tore their defence to shreds with his ability.

Second Match

Brisbane Roar vs Boca Juniors

Luckily we drew the South American side for the semi-final and not the European Giant. Even so, I didn't expect anything big from the match and remembering the horrors of the France game for Australia I decided to still play with the attacking verve that's been a staple of our side since my appointment to manager.

0-1 1-1 2-1 2-2 2-3 3-3 and then finally Pacheco nabs us a winner in the 87th to send us through to the final. Honestly, one of the most enjoyable games I've watched in a long time by FM, end to end football in a really tight game. Heart in mouth whenever Tevez would get the ball and the joy when Golec leveled immediately after we went down.

Our opponent in the final

The day before the final I gave our defenders a heart attack with this boisterous declaration.

But then this happened.

We actually went toe to toe with Barcelona and not only that, we had them on the back-foot for the majority of the game. Complacency on their end or our side was ridiculously inspired, I'm not quite sure. We won.

A few days later we'd pick up the FFA Cup vs Melbourne Victory and before we're even half-way through the A-League season, we sit holding a treble, with 2 more trophies in play.

[mrdanbartlett]

I think one major issue for you might be the salary cap.........I'm managing 2 years now in OZ and found that my better players are wanting to double their contracts after we had some success in the league, which puts a real strain on the cap.

Plus as you cannot sign players from the other A-League sides it makes it hard to get in players as the OZ players in Europe will be on much higher wages already.

The youth seem ok but I've found even with good facilities they aren't progressing that well - perhaps due to the league not having the most amazing rep?

To beat Barca your tactic must be punching well above it's sum of parts (player wise).  

Also seems you have more than 4 foreign looking names there? 

 

[wynter]

14 minutes ago, mrdanbartlett said:

I think one major issue for you might be the salary cap.........I'm managing 2 years now in OZ and found that my better players are wanting to double their contracts after we had some success in the league, which puts a real strain on the cap.

Plus as you cannot sign players from the other A-League sides it makes it hard to get in players as the OZ players in Europe will be on much higher wages already.

The youth seem ok but I've found even with good facilities they aren't progressing that well - perhaps due to the league not having the most amazing rep?

To beat Barca your tactic must be punching well above it's sum of parts (player wise).  

Also seems you have more than 4 foreign looking names there? 

 

Yeah, I remember doing it last year as well and having a tricky time tempting players back from overseas. My preferred tactic (I was at the Victory), was getting the best NPL players for 2k and then developing them through before moving them on for high prices. The squad is always in transition, but that's also what makes Australia really fun for me, constantly making a competitive team despite the cap rules. It also helps with the Aus team internationally as I start making a quality pool of prospects.

The AI does let me down though, and often my club is the only one that really 'develops' anyone. I generally think the A-League is best for the 16-20 range and then their growth does seem to stagnate, definitely think Pasquali would be even better if he'd been in the Serie A or a similar level league for the past two years, but there's also no guarantee the AI would play him. 

As for the foreign players, Janicic, Woo, Pacheco and Cerci are those guys while the rest of the guys are all at least partly Aussie. 

[mrdanbartlett]

'NPL players for 2k ' - do you mean players from the league below?  Or from that weird 'youth' team that seems to have a bunch of good players?

I'm wondering to move on from OZ in my current save, I walked the league in the first season but struggled this year and only by pure luck won it on the last day of the season.  I wanted to get the board to upgrade the facilities but they rejected for financial reasons, even though we have 3m+ in the bank. 

[wynter]

14 minutes ago, mrdanbartlett said:

'NPL players for 2k ' - do you mean players from the league below?  Or from that weird 'youth' team that seems to have a bunch of good players?

I'm wondering to move on from OZ in my current save, I walked the league in the first season but struggled this year and only by pure luck won it on the last day of the season.  I wanted to get the board to upgrade the facilities but they rejected for financial reasons, even though we have 3m+ in the bank. 

Yeah players from the league below, I browse around on intake day and pick the ones I want. Any bid of 2k for players from that league is accepted so it's an easy way to get quality youth. 

Or at least a much more cost effective system than picking up the A-League level ones since they're generally 200-500k in compensation.

I actually had a fun save with the Mariners a few years ago, the main advice I'd give is Youth contracts are a life saver as you don't need to register (as I'm sure you've figured out) and generally my Marquees are cost-effective rather than the absolute best I can get. Cerci was a stretch from that, but that's because he's one of my favorite players so I was too tempted haha

[mrdanbartlett]

Mariners - ha that is exactly who I'm managing  

 

I managed to get Tom Davies in on loan, he was v good for this level and I managed to buy him at the end of the deal, cost me £850k and £12k a week (next highest earner is £2,5k), I also got Matty Taylor on a free for £2500 and he was amazing.

I say was........both of them got long term injuries, talk about bad luck this season.

Sorry if I've dragged this off topic, but I appreciate your advice, the youth contracts are good for sure.

[wynter]

12 hours ago, mrdanbartlett said:

Mariners - ha that is exactly who I'm managing  

 

I managed to get Tom Davies in on loan, he was v good for this level and I managed to buy him at the end of the deal, cost me £850k and £12k a week (next highest earner is £2,5k), I also got Matty Taylor on a free for £2500 and he was amazing.

I say was........both of them got long term injuries, talk about bad luck this season.

Sorry if I've dragged this off topic, but I appreciate your advice, the youth contracts are good for sure.

Nice, my general approach, especially financially is to only pick up free unless we sell a player for big money. 

Loading up Korea is generally a good idea and Iran loads up a ton of quality footballers. 

With contracts I elect to load up on bonuses as they don't count to the cap. So Maclaren is only getting 2.4kpw I think but he gets 1.1k appearance money and a big goal bonus. Which considering he scores almost every game I'm surprised he hasn't driven us broke. 

I generally wouldn't do massive bonuses anywhere, but with the A-League it's crazy important. Most guys will accept a similar wage if you drive their bonuses up and maybe put in an RC above their value at tad. 

I only do that for players I can go without though. 

[wynter]

So this might be the dumbest link I've ever seen in a game, and I got the Inter Job when I was managing Victory in a previous FM. 

Listed as one of the Top Candidates for the Bayern Munich role after only managing for 2.5 seasons. Very successful seasons, but still insane when you think about it. If they offer an actual Interview it'll be hilarious.

On a sidenote, with Byrne finally gone to Chelsea and Woo injured, looking at testing out a new tactic with my lack of midfielders.

Any thoughts/criticisms?

[mrdanbartlett]

Huge tip re the bonus info, thank you!!

[wynter]

So Our Success Continentally has done a lot of harm to our A-League Campaign, putting doubts into the prospect of a quintuple.

The main issue's been match time, with only 17/27 games played in the League, we've still played 33 for the season and with the ACL Group Stage about to get underway we'll have hit 49 by the time we even make finals, so ideally we'll play 51 games this season, and with the Knockout Rounds immediately following the A-League Grand Final, 53 before the squad finally goes on leave. A herculean season, only possible due to the sheer number of Youth Players we have as squad rotation has peaked at 34 players getting to wear the Orange this season.

A really inconsistent start cost us valuable points as we juggled the squad through the ACL Knockout Rounds, post the CWC our form has definitely picked up but we're still 8 points behind League Leaders in Perth and our final match against them will be vital if we're to have any hope of finally grabbing our first Regular Season Trophy.

In good news, the sheer number of matches we've played has meant plenty of opportunities for my Youth Players and two of the most impressive developers have been Kecojevic and Tsiolakidis

I think Kecojoevic would benefit even greater from moving to another club to ensure a consistent stream of matches, but with interest scant he looks to be staying here for another season at least.

With Byrne gone we had a free slot in our squad and that goes to Dylan Ryan, an 18 year old we picked up for 80k from Liverpool. Technically he's very basic, and with that strength and jumping his CB career is going to be very difficult, but it'll be a nice challenge to see what I can eke out of him and hopefully we can create a future weapon for the Socceroos backline. 

Our ACL Group has been drawn and it represents a fun challenge as we look to retain.

Future of this Save

I'm thinking of going with Brisbane for another 18 months before I'll leave the club. That should give me enough time to develop the youth considerably and from there I'll either look at shifting into Europe, with France, England and Germany loaded or I'll look at another A-League club. Of course by that time the Socceroos will be looking at qualifying for the WC again and I might take the reigns off Graham Arnold.

 

[wynter]

I said 18 months, but a very interesting job's come up

Wouldn't mind staying in Aus for a bit longer, but the main aim of the save is to boost the NT and with BMG's facilities I definitely could improve some of our players at a much quicker pace. Additionally the league is much tougher so their development would definitely be aided that way as well...

Decisions, decisions.

[mrdanbartlett]

So would your plan be to take over there and then just buy as many OZ players as possible?  

This is actually a really cool idea.........imagine taking over a English club and signing only OZ players, do you think you could still get all those youths at 2k?  WOuld they sign for a lower league english side? I guess you couldn'ty scout them though and maybe work permit issues?

 

 

[wynter]

Wouldn't say as many as possible, there are definitely some I think could make it in Europe and I'd love to bring Pasquali, Driscoll and maybe Maclaren over as I think all of them are genuinely capable of playing at that level. 

At most I'd bring in 5 of the current players at the Roar (Those 3 + Tsiolakidis and a regen RB), those I think could actually benefit from being in Europe, rather than just some guys that might do something. 

[Adelaidean]

Always happy to see an Australia-focused save. Great read so far, keep up the good work!

[PaulHartman71]

Enjoying this so far 

[DodgeeD]

I had a fun few seasons with Perth Glory on my FM15 career - good to see more Aussie focused action. It would be cool/potentially useful if you could set up affiliate links between some teams in Europe and A-League sides.

[wynter]

In the depths of the FFA headquarters

"The season's coming to a cracking end isn't it? 5 points between Glory and Roar, 3 games left. We need to put in a call to Fox and get them to let us stream the match on FTA, ratings will be off the charts."

"About that sir." The assistant stammers, looking back at his clipboard as the president glares at him.

"Yes?"

"The Roar have put in a request to delay their upcoming match."

"Denied."

"But sir-"

"Denied."

"I really-"

"Denied."

The Presidents eyes gleam with lethal intent, the assistant shakes, a bundle of nerves as his boss reaches forward and takes hold of his drink, the liquid swirling in the glass as he continues to stare down his assistant. "Anything you'd like to add Jerry?"

The assistant runs from the room. Blessed silence reigns as the president reclines in his seat and turns the TV on, surely the Roar could get through this weekends game.

Couldn't they?

The availability of our first team

Didn't even get an option to postpone 

(May or may not have been slightly inspired by reading ManUtd1's thread last night )

[Keano16]

What are you complaining about? I'm more concerned about poor Jerry.

[wynter]

We couldn't hold on.

Our arch nemesis picks up the title. Right when we had a chance to make up the points gap next week.

Someone Hold Me.

 

End of season update next. Featuring more love for this Maclaren guy.

[wynter]

22 hours ago, Adelaidean said:

Always happy to see an Australia-focused save. Great read so far, keep up the good work!

 

22 hours ago, PaulHartman71 said:

Enjoying this so far 

 

19 hours ago, DodgeeD said:

I had a fun few seasons with Perth Glory on my FM15 career - good to see more Aussie focused action. It would be cool/potentially useful if you could set up affiliate links between some teams in Europe and A-League sides.

Thanks guys, yeah I find the Aus League is crazy fun once you get into it. Makes me wonder why I've never tried the MLS, but that's a conundrum for another year. 

3 hours ago, Keano16 said:

What are you complaining about? I'm more concerned about poor Jerry.

The President better hope he's missing from the Grand Final Presentation (Provided we can make it of course!) 

[wynter]

We must find a way.

Honestly had no idea our history was that close. I do refer to them as our rivals and the toughest opponent we have, but I assumed we actually had a leg up on them. This tie is definitely about the bragging rights now...

[ManUtd1]

Really enjoying the thread, man - lots of info, immersive and that bit of irreverence...all around great stuff. 

[wynter]

President Falls off Stage!

Disaster has struck the A-League Grand Final presentation as FFA President, Simon Droffel has fallen off of the stage, plummeting to the floor as concerned onlookers rush to his aid. Paramedics were thankfully on scene and he has been rushed to the hospital for scans after he suffered an awkward landing. 

No one is quite sure how the President fell, however numerous onlookers believe they saw the Brisbane Roar Manager muttering "Justice for Wellington." Under his breath as Droffel lay prone on the floor.

Rumours have been swirling regarding, the high tensions between the manager and the FFA president have been high following Woodbridge's prompt resignation from the national team after guiding them to the Last 16 of the World Cup. 

 Of course, nothing could deter the Roar and their supporters, affectionately known as 'The Den' from celebrating long into the night after they picked up their fourth trophy for the season. Of course this success has left questions being asked of Woodbridge's future at the club after reported interest from both Bayern and Borussia Mochengladbach earlier in the season.

How long will their manager resist the siren song of Europe?

YES BOYS <3

Aided by a stupid red card on the Glory end, but a win nonetheless as we romped away to a convincing 3-1 victory to pick up our 5th A-League Finals title in the Competitions 14 year history.

Immediately following up we had our ACL R16 before our Squad Break.

Sad to see another A-League club knocked out, but a win is a win.

We've reclaimed the Australian role from Graham Arnold after a certain debacle where Tsiolakidis was never called up and is now operating under the Greek colors, arguably the best Forward Aus has had in years, our goal from this point on is going to be ensuring something like this doesn't happen in the lead-up to 2022.

Squad wise a great year for Frank Morrison

Really excited about this guy, especially as our right flank has generally been one of Australia's weak points post Wilkshere. Hopefully he can kick on with extended gametime next season.

I've still yet to win the Regular Season, and I think that's what's going to tempt me to hang on for one more year, unless a VERY tempting offer comes in from Europe.

To finally fix our defensive woes we've decided to sadly get rid of Cerci, and we've become very ambitious in our chase.

 

24, still some room to grow and the pedigree of coming from one of Europe's greatest clubs. Welcome Pawel Dawidowicz from Benfica

[wynter]

18th in the Bundesliga with a $91million dollar war chest on offer. Only 5 points off a mid-table position, their season is definitely salvageable.

The latest side to offer us an interview, and provided we get offered the job, might be the side that finally turns our head.

[wynter]

2018/19 Season Update

Transfers|Finances

A lot of Outgoings, very few incomings. That was due to us offering a lot of our youth players full time contracts to tie them down, I'm not sure if that has the added bonus of giving them more training time. If it does it was a nice decision on my end haha.

Most impressive player is rapidly turning into Luke Wilson, the decision to use him to replace Byrne was well justified.

Only getting better and we handed him his first cap vs Nepal in our World Cup Qualifiers.

Asian Champions League

No one can stop us, into the final we've headed against very familiar opponents.

Rematch of last year, our squad slightly weaker as we transition, but still a strong force to be reckoned with. The key aspect of the encounter this time was Maclaren injuring himself for the Socceroos and being unavailable for both ties.

Leg 1

We did what was needed, a fully professional performance as we eked out what remained of Janicic's legs to keep a clean sheet and put us firmly in control of the tie.

Leg 2

They surged to a 4-1 lead and without our talisman it seemed that we were going to fall short. An amazing run from Pacheco following kickoff saw a beautiful cross to the back post that was dispatched with ease. Away goals secured, and Janicic would come up huge once again in Dawidowicz's absence to header in the lucrative one goal lead as we win the tie 4-5.

Champions Again.

And now for

The Offer

BMG turned us down last year for Slutskiy, turns out the change was a very short term one as he lasted less than 9 months. This time we're wanted.

Comes with a heavy heart as we finally have a firm hand on the A-League Regular season, and it's very tempting to stick around and pick up that one final trophy.

At the same time, that's not the main aim of the save, honestly a very difficult decision. I will be tasked with getting them out of 15th and into the Europa League Positions. Not an easy task but with half a season left to go it's very achievable. Added benefit that they've crashed out of every available cup, so I only need to focus on the Domestic Front.

[wynter]

Time for a change of scenery

We arrive in Germany and 30 minutes later we're in the Stadium for the first match under my reign.

Not impressive but there were some promising things throughout. Unfortunately Hermann wants to leave, so we've disposed of him and made a few signings on deadline day.

Pasquali gets drafted over and my plans to keep working on Driscoll are aided by the fact the Roar don't want him. Slightly irritating as if I didn't pick him up all the time I've put in would have gone by the wayside. 3* isn't  great but once he learns German I can get Kramer or Damoud to put some time into tutoring him and hopefully that'll soar. Pasquali is 4* and Morrison 3.5* definitely the potential to be future first teamers. Following Hermann's departure Deulofeu wanted out of Everton and the Spaniard is a definite trade up.

So what went wrong for BMG this season?

The early stages of Slutskiy's reign were promising.

And then it collapsed.

The squad is vastly underachieving, Kramer, Damoud and Elvedi are all insanely good players and they're backed up by one of the best prospects in the game in Dusan Vlahovic. They have solid players in every position, if a little unexceptional but at worst they should be mid-table.

Our first move has been to inject some young blood into the squad, elevating some of their promising youth players.

Holscher, Ates, Rodriguez

Out of all of them though, I REALLY like the look of Kubicki

So much so that from next season I'll probably be looking at a 2/3 CAM system to accommodate both Pasquali and himself. We have insane depth in that role actually with Thorgan Hazard, Didavi and a Serbian Regen who's currently away on loan for this season.

9 points off a European spot, a game in hand and 15 matches to play to make up the difference. The challenge starts now.

And with a new team comes a new system, with Deulofeu, the Roar one is still in effect, but we'll also be testing this out in certain games as I get a feel for it. 

[wynter]

Pasquali comes off the bench to save our ass in a classic. 

We had a late chance to snatch the winner but Vlahovic headed wide.

https://i.gyazo.com/25afed07318159e4c15419c88405a10a.mp4

DLWD to start our reign, not amazing, but small signs of the team getting their **** together.

[wynter]

The Borussia System

Decided to get started on our 3 CAM System now and it's a bundle of fun

To sum it up, it's just great football to watch. While I may be a goalkeeper, I've always enjoyed fun, fast attacking play and this system epitomises that when it gets going, with our three CAMs wreaking havoc in the backline while Vlahovic (5/5) and Werner (3/2) profit

Unfortunately for our two centrebacks, it's a nightmare to cover and we're leaking goals. I probably should have battened down the hatches at 4-2, but I wanted to see how far it could go. Bad management on my end I suppose. I think that both of my Centre-backs need to be fast enough to cover for our offensive forays and neither Hubner or Vestergaard can do that. I may look at elevating Ates into the first team for a spell and judging how it works.

Sealing the Gap

Oh, if anyone has some tips on how I can rework the defence, feel free to throw it down, generally I throw all caution to the wind and neglect that side entirely haha

[mrdanbartlett]

Will you be buying an OZ players soon? 

[wynter]

11 minutes ago, mrdanbartlett said:

Will you be buying an OZ players soon? 

Already coming in. 

[mrdanbartlett]

Cool, would love to see a real solid base of OZ players in your team. (otherwise the thread becomes a bit void).  Maybe try and get an affiliation set up with your old club?  Long shot of course...

 

WP no issue?  What did you have to pay for him?  

[wynter]

Wouldn't be able to get a solid hand on affiliates until I can control feeders etc; 

Normally I'd at least be looking to play Morrison off the bench since the guy ahead of him is only marginally better but I need points at this stage of the proceedings. 

Long-term I definitely want a solid Aussie core, it's just getting good enough players that are actually worth the investment. With the WC three years out there's plenty of still time for rebuilding. 

Burns was 2.5 mil but with that Adelaide get money for facilities etc; so no qualms. 

(Switch was also as Roar were getting a tad stale, at the end of the BMG contract I'm probably heading back. Ideally to Wanderers or Newcastle Jets/whoever's bottom. Makes it more interesting)

[mrdanbartlett]

Cool, enjoying this thread for sure.