[FM18] Uncle Jimbo's Icelandic Sound Explosion, (featuring other Countries, hopefully, if I get lucky, maybe). (You know, if there is an award for the longest thread title I have a sneaking suspicion that I might just be in with a chance of a nomination).

[Wavelberry]

Just now, Jimbokav1971 said:

Thanks. 

Do you mind if I ask if you enjoyed the Youth development aspect of the save or the fact that I added a slight journeyman aspect to it? I'm trying to work out what to do next week for FM19.

I enjoyed the conceit of the thread more than anything but then I am probably in the minority. If you're looking for popular appeal I am not the person to canvass (have you seen my threads?)

[Jimbokav1971]

Naughty Boy. HK. Apr 2043.

I've got a feeling that I'm going to have to bin my Ass Man. 

I have just played the 2nd game and this was the match squad I selected. 

Now other than the fact that we conceded within about 1 min of the kick-off, everything looks great. We scored a shed-load of goals, limited the opposition to very few opportunities and our WBL got a hat-trick. 

The problem is that he didn't actually play at WBL like I asked him to, (so I think the Ass Man over-ruled me). I think I remember this happening before and I basically needed a better Ass man. 

I know that whatever the Ass Man did worked, but that's not the point, I want us to play like I want us to play and if he can't get with the programme then I'm going to have to find someone who can. 

The only problem is, I don't actually want to get rid of him. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Third Time Lucky. HK. Apr 2043. 

This part of the save is all about defending and clean sheets and it took us until the 3rd game to keep a clean sheet. 

We collected our 1st silverware since my return, (in only my 5th game in charge). 

And then I made it a double in my 6th game. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Slight Adjustment. HK. Apr 2043.

The original tactic I showed you needed tweaking. I had made a poor choice of DM role and also the pairing of my 2 roles up front wasn't right. 

The DM was converted to an A(d) and the left hand striker is adapted to a more conservative role depending on who is playing. It might be a TM(s) or a DF(s) or even something else, but it is certainly a foil to the more attacking right hand role.

I'm not quite sure if it's working because it works, or it only works because we have better players, or even possibly if it really works because we have so many players playing out of position. At this stage I'm not overly bothered by who plays and I'm really just trying to get through to the 2043 intake. 

I tried to get the facilities upgraded as soon as I was in, (relying on my reputation), but they weren't having it. Let's see what they say to a double winner! 

[Jimbokav1971]

Coming Home (Pt. II). HK. Apr 2043.

I was desperate for new signings and was delighted that my scouting team had found someone worth going after. 

]

Diot (FRA) (Bal) was already here when I arrived and he has been playing as a WBR. We paid £3.4M rising to £4.2M for him and he is already worth £4.7M at 22 years old. That would seem to be decent business. 

Domagoj (CRO) (F.Det) * was my 1st signing and I paid quite a hefty £2M for him, (all up front). He's already increased in value though and I'm expecting to be able to make a profit on him over the 4 years of his contract. In any case, profit or loss, I needed a centre-half and he fit the bill nicely. 

(24c) Ásgeir Svein (Bal) * was available for a paltry £40k and it seemed to be to cheap to turn down. He's won plenty with us before, and he's already starting to win stuff after his return. He's not going to start a lot of games, but he is going to be vital in resting players while we are so short of numbers. 

[Jimbokav1971]

 

Slowly. HK. May 2043.

Our league form has been decent and the tactic is slowly starting to gel, but I am very much still concentrating on not conceding rather than anything else at the moment. 1 goal conceded in 4 games is a decent start but the less said about the Cup game the better. 

It's all well being unbeaten, (and I personally love it), but if our rivals keep winning and losing rather than drawing, then we could come unstuck if. I have to find the balance between attack and defence, remembering that I'm not watching the games, it's very hard and painfully slow to adapt a tactic. I'm likely to spend the whole of this season just looking at defending, and possibly longer. There are no quick fixed with the IR button. 

Welcome to HK.

Diot (FRA) (Bal) arrived before I did.

Domagoj (CRO) (F.Det) * has firmly ensconced himself on the right hand side of our back 3. 

(24c) Ásgeir Svein (Bal) * is an ageing back-up.

(32b) PYC (FRA) (Det) * was signed for a nominal fee of £66k. He is a product of the Stade Rennais Academy rather than HK or Chelsea and he is here to add depth to the back-line.

Matejcek (CZE) (F.Loyal) cost £1.3M from Dinamo Zagreb, but I like his versatility while we are short of numbers, 

Ómar Ingi (Bal) HG is a full-back who can play on both sides and is a previous product of our Academy. 

Davíð Aðal (Bal) HG is another full back who prefers the right but can fill in on the left and again is a previous product of our Academy. 

Victor Gest (Unamb) HG is a 3rd full-back brought in during this window by me. The role asked of my wide defenders is physically demanding and I need at least 2 on each side just to survive. 

Petar Ibriks (CRO) (Res) is a central midfielder who should be able to adapt to a range of central roles. He's already a full International at the age of 22 and he also has a personality that will be used to tutor others once he reaches 24.

Fannar (Bal) is a current (ISL) International and the price of just £230,000 seemed too good to turn down. 

Future Transfers Out.

If the above looks like I'm being a bit free with the cash, I should reassure you that I have already done the following deals to bring in approx £15M in July. 

[Jimbokav1971]

 

Flight Facilities. HK. Jun 2043.

3 wins and 2 draws means that we are still undefeated in the league after 9 games in the league. 

It's still tight though with Grindavik just 2 points behind and then FH and Briedablik 2 more points behind them.

The 1st goal we conceded in the league this season was an indirect free-kick I think.

The 2nd and 3rd goals were at the beginning of this month in a game where we had a player sent off. 

The 4th goal was scored by a product of our own Academy. 

I'm not happy that we have conceded 4 goals, but when you look at the shambles that is the squad, I should actually be delighted how things are going. 

Facilities. 

Youth Recruitment was already at "Extensive" (which means level 19-20 to me and I have just asked for it to be upgraded and they have agreed. This should mean that Youth recruitment has now popped to level 20 and is now maxed out. 

I also asked to improve the Youth Facilities too, (well they can only say no), and while they did say no initially, I managed to persuade them to change their minds. 

The Youth Facilities were already at "Good", (which means level 12-13 to me). The board have agreed to upgrade them so they should either stay at "Good" or pop to "Great", (Level 14-15).

The Transfers Out have now finally gone through meaning that we have made a net profit of £5M, despite buying players to the tune of approx. £10M.

 

[Bobby_Zamora]

I love your threads, man! Yours and @abulezz are the only ones I spend time reading.

Just keep doing what you're doing. I know there are probably a ton of people that quietly enjoy your games.

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, Bobby_Zamora said:

I love your threads, man! Yours and @abulezz are the only ones I spend time reading.

Just keep doing what you're doing. I know there are probably a ton of people that quietly enjoy your games.

Thanks @Bobby_ZamoraI really appreciate that. Do you mind if I ask what it is you like about my threads? Is it the Youth Only aspect of the save, (like @abulezz) or is it the way we do our updates, or is it something else? I'm undecided what I'm going to do for FM19 so want as many opinions as possible.

[Jimbokav1971]

Seventeen. HK. Jul 2043.

We are able to register 25 players for European competition, but such is the paucity of numbers at the club I have only been able to register 17 players. 

2 are injured and another is a non-playing tutor who's contract expires shortly. When is Youth Intake day in Iceland again? August or September I think. (Not too far away).

[Jimbokav1971]

20 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

The Wright Stuff. Youth Intake Day. Chelsea. Mar 2043.

I think a lot of us arrive at Youth Intake day and immediately expect loads of 5.0 PA players or else we consider it to be a poor intake. The reality of course is that players can be good even if they are not rated 5.0 PA when they arrive, and equally can flatter to deceive and ultimately disappoint, even if they do show as a Day 1 5.0 PA player. 

When you start off at a club with a poor quality squad, it's relatively easy and even likely that you will get loads of 5.0 PA players through in each intake, because the players that are being promoted are the potential to be significantly better than the rubbish that currently populates your senior squad. We should all know now that the PA of new intake players is being rated against the CA of the best player in your squad, so how good your best players are needs to be considered when looking at how good your Youth Intake might be. 

For a fair bit of the latter stages of this save, my Chelsea team have been pretty average as I didn't have the money, (Abramovic and his millions are long-gone), to go out and splash the cash on the best players in the World, and additionally I wanted to produce as many home-grown youngsters as I could. 

With that in mind, early intakes at Chelsea looked amazing, but weren't really. As things have progressed though, things have gradually improved to the point that we are now a big team again and have some VERY good players. 

If I rate all the players in all Chelsea squads by CA, then I currently have 2 players listed as 4.5 CA. These are the best players at the club and against whom this new intake will be judged. 

Matty is actually described as a World-class midfielder and Ray has won just about every personal footballing accolade known to man over the last couple of years. 

(34a) Matty (F.Det) (2034) * is a product of the Chelsea Academy and has been instrumental in our gradual improvement.

(30a) Ray (Pro) (FRA) (2030) * didn't come through the Chelsea Academy, but did come through the Academy at Stade Rennais when I was there. 

What I am getting at here is that (43a) Wright (Unamb) (2043) * is deemed to have the potential to be better than these 2 superstars! That's pretty damn good

(43a) Wright (Unamb) (2043) *.

At this stage he looks decent, (if unspectacular), and the most pleasing things is where as I have had to play (34a) Matty (F.Det) (2034) * in a role that he isn't ideally suited to, (43a) Wright (Unamb) (2043) * is already pretty suited to the BWM role. It's a shame that this save won't continue long enough for me to see him progress to the full zenith of his powers.

(43b) White (F.Pro).

I quite like a deep or defensive forward because I think it offers more opportunities in a 2 and definitely in a 3, (although haven't used them much in a 1 up top). He looks very physical already, has a decent personality starting point and his finishing will obviously improve over time. 

(43c) Saunders (Bal).

I have developed a deep addiction to 3 at the back and attacking wing-backs in FM18 so a winger, (even a good winger), is something of a waste when they come through the intake. Most of the better one's can be converted to WB's or strikers though and luckily this bloke looks like he can play centrally. His best central role is a Mezzala and I quite like that because I don't really know what to make of that role, (I don't particularly like it, but possibly because of a lack of understanding on my part). In my mind the role is something akin to an Ozil role, albeit that Ozil seems to play from wider out to in, rather than in to wider out. I get that it's a half position between wide and centrally though, and that any defending duties are usually done higher up the pitch, so maybe more like a Lallana, (who I like more than Ozil). Anyway, if this were earlier in the save, this player would interest me because of what he might team me about the Mezz role. 

(43d) Arthur (Unamb).

In the early-mid stages of the Chelsea portion of the save I have really struggled to being through good central defenders, and those that have come through seem small in comparison to the World Class giants that I would come up against in the opposition ranks. A 6'0" 15 year old is plenty big enough though, and I particularly like that his physical ability is currently leaning significantly towards pace rather than power, although the less said about that PPM the better, (even in the middle of a 3). 

(43e) Luther (BRB) (F.Sport).

This bloke almost passed me by and it was only doing research for this post that made me look a little more closely at him. Yes his positioning is lacking a little, but i actually really like him. 

I've really struggled to get a top class GK through the intakes and although some have been decent, there has been nobody to rival Ben (F.Det) HG * who was already at the club when I joined and who has been 1st choice ever since, (making 431(8) appearances during that time). If you wonder how a GK makes 8 sub appearances, then it's because I use the IR button, I have to start Youth players and then let the Ass Man take them off at HT in the very early stages of their development. The normal strategy for someone not using an IR button would be to start the young prospect on the bench and then bring them on once the game is won, but I don't have that luxury with the way I play, so instead they start and then come off. These 8 sub appearances, (although I can't remember), are likely me blooding youth team GK's who were dragged off at HT by the Ass Man.,

(36g) Noel Barrett (Res) has made 10 senior appearances this season, (he had previously made only 1 for us), but in those 10 games he kept 6 clean sheets and has an average rating of 7.03, so while I never thought he was going to be good enough, (and still don't think he is if I'm honest), it shows that it's not impossible for below-par players to perform "up" when given the opportunity. 

Something that I have been looking at over the course of this save is the way that different levels of intakes are announced, (eg. generational talent, golden generation, most gifted etc etc etc). I have found that especially the "golden generation" tags are very misleading, and as such I tend to take everything with a pinch of salt and not get too excited. 

What's really interesting here is that the player identified by my HoYD as "possibly one of the best players of his generation", is actually only the 4th best player of this intake, (ranked by PA remember). 

The HoYD also isn't having his head turned by "early starters" as I call them who come through with decent CA but who will never develop to the level that some "slower starters" might eventually reach.

Here is the top of the intake again, this time ranked by CA, and shows everyone rated at greater than 0.5 CA.

So what is it that makes the HoYD think that (43d) Arthur (Unamb) is going to be so good?

He could be right, but I don't think so.I don't use a scouting tool so there is no way I can check the CA/PA of players, but I can sometimes spot an "anomaly". There is nothing really jumping out at me here though, (although if I was to make some predictions, they would be the following). 

(43a) Wright (Unamb) (2043) * is probably not as good as his PA stars suggest and I would expect his PA rating to be down-graded at some point. 

(43c) Saunders (Bal) is the "early starter" that I mentioned above and it wouldn't be a huge surprise to see his CA upgraded over the next month or so. 

(43n) Bristow (Amb) is a little bit of a strange one too and if I had to pick out just 1 anomaly, then he would be it. He's classed as having 1.0 CA stars on day 1, and CA stars should be a definite absolute because the player is at the club, doesn't require scouting and none of his attributes are hidden by the FoW. We know exactly how good he is right now in comparison to how good the best player at the club is right now. It should be 100% accurate, (or at least as accurate as anything in FM can be). In my experience however, this isn't always the case and I must admit that it's something that I keep meaning to look at but then never get around to. Let's look at him now. 

He looks ok. Nothing special, but his attributes seem relatively well balanced for a DL. It's a little unusual that a decent CA is twinned with such a meagre PA, but it's not impossible either. If we take the CA as an absolutely accurate figure, (because none of his attributes are greyed out or fogged in any way, then the only thing that can be wrong is his PA. It's unlikely that his PA is going to be any lower, (although it's still possible), but I think it's more likely that his PA will actually be higher than the 2.0 shown. I will keep an eye on him over the next week or so, (real time week), and see how things change between now and the release of FM19. 

I've just noticed something that I thought is worth sharing. 

In this previous post, it was highlighted to me that (43d) Arthur (Unamb) might be a "generational talent". 

From my point of view (43a) Wright (Unamb) (2043) was the brightest talent in the group, but surprisingly not only was he not offered a contract by Chelsea, (I did offer him a contract but whoever came in after me obviously withdrew the offer or simply released him. Possibly even more surprisingly, he then wasn't offered a new contract by anyone else and retired. 

This is absolutely criminal. I personally think that this guy at the bottom, (Darren Wright), had the potential to be amazing, but he wasn't even offered a youth contract. I'm tempted to go back, (I have a save on that day because I always save after Youth Intake now), and see if I can develop him into something special by just holidaying just to prove this point. You know, I might just be tempted to do that actually. 

I mean just look at him!

You might even notice the "Dynamics" section at the bottom and note that he is classed as an Influential Player, (within the Youth Team remember), which further suggests that there is "some reason" why he is a bit special and is deemed more influential than other Youth Players at the club. The more I look at him, the better he looks actually. I know I offered him a Youth Contract, (because I offer everyone a Youth contract), so this was a conscious decision to either withdraw the offer or even release him. Then, after being released, nobody else came in for him. 

Of the players that haven't retired, none of them are at Chelsea. 

(43b) White (F.Pro) is at Stoke U23's.

(43c) Saunders (Bal) is at Watford U18's.

(43e) Luther (BRB) (F.Sport) is at Brighton U23's.

(43g) Sinn'kaye (F.Amb) is at Nottm Forest U23's.

Really not happy about this and it possibly explains why HK are in the state they are in. Every club I leave should be absolutely geared up for success with such good facilities and infrastructure. For this then to be abandoned just seems strange. 

[Wavelberry]

This is to do with how the AI squad builds and identifies and it still far too much tied into pure PA and CA numbers. Makes the decisions they make seem baffling. Not sure how far along they will be to fixing it in FM19.

[Jimbokav1971]

Parking the Bus. HK. Jul 2043.

[Jimbokav1971]

So close to not conceding for a whole month. HK. Jul 2043.

After going almost the whole month without conceding, we finally lost our concentration in the 92nd minute, (91 minutes and 10 seconds to be precise), against FK Aktobe of Kazakhstan. I've got the right hump! I had already picked out the song I was going to post for going the whole month without conceding and it's like the FM Gods were watching and thought to themselves, "nah, he's getting a bit ahead of himself here. Let's stick one in just to tech him a lesson!" 

[Edit]

Forgot to post the League table. 

We have Partizan in the next round of the Champions League by the way. 

 

Edited October 15, 2018 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Wavelberry said:

This is to do with how the AI squad builds and identifies and it still far too much tied into pure PA and CA numbers. Makes the decisions they make seem baffling. Not sure how far along they will be to fixing it in FM19.

If it was just the CA and PA in terms of number crunching, then why wouldn't they have kept that (43a) kid? 

I can't prove he was going to be good, but everything I know about FM and youth intakes tells me he was going to be between good and phenomenal. I think I'm going to load it back up and holiday tonight and see what I can find out. I obviously won't have actual PA's but would like to see what they have missed out on here and whether I am right or not. 

In fact I have a better idea. When the Beta comes out I'm going to crank up FM19 and then holiday this in the background so I can sort of track it. The speed won't slow me down at all because I will be pouring over stuff. 

After that I'm off to the bugs forum I think. 

It's not so much that Chelsea didn't sign him, (even though I think that's wrong). It's that nobody else has signed him and he has just vanished out of the game. 

[Jimbokav1971]

 

Razor sings the blues. HK. Aug 2043. Youth Intake Day

I think Razor covers most of it, but if I were to expand on his song I would remind you that I don't use wingers and then point you at players (43b), (43c), (43d), (43e), (43h) & (43m). 

I don't think it's the worst intake I've ever had, (in fact I know it isn't). but it's not far off it. 

[Edit]

Ok, maybe I'm being a bit harsh on this group of youngsters. 

If I filter the whole squad by PA, then (43a) Breki (Bal) (2043) is the 10th best player at the club. 

If you ignore the Croatian, the Frenchman, the Austrian and the Serb, then he is 6th best player at the club, (rated by PA remember). 

4 of the players above him are valued at close to £5M.

No, if he can reach the same 4.0 CA level that the others have achieved then it won't be a complete disaster. As for all the wingers..... I will have to see what I do with them. 

Edited October 15, 2018 by Jimbokav1971

[Minuy600]

What's the average attendance over there in Iceland, now that it seems to be very decent country on your save?

[Jimbokav1971]

48 minutes ago, Minuy600 said:

What's the average attendance over there in Iceland, now that it seems to be very decent country on your save?

[Jimbokav1971]

Priorities. HK. Aug 2043.

2 losses in 3 league games sounds like we have hit an awful run of form, but the reality is that we just prioritised qualifying for the Group stages of the Champions league ahead of keeping clean sheets in the league. I'm quite chuffed that we ran them so close in the 2 games and won the other game with a squad completely rotated and also missing 6 players through injury.

We've been drawn against Monaco, Napoli and Porto in what is a pretty tough group., (at least for us). The  domestic league fixtures finish just before the 1st Napoli game, so I will probably look to field a weakened/rotated squad in the 1st 2 games and then give the other games everything without having to worry about domestic fixtures and tiredness.

The simple reason for prioritising Europe over clean sheets in the league, is money. 

Money isn't the only good news though. Every time we rotate the squad we give an opportunity to kids and fringe players.

In addition to that, the recent youth intake have been re-evaluated by the coaching staff. 

This is the rating of the top 3 players, (by PA).

This is what it is now. 4.0, 3.5 & 3.5 has been replaced by 4.0, 4.5 & 4.0. That will do nicely thanks.  

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Treble. HK. Sep 2043. 

We had games in hand on league leaders Afturelding, but they had the points on the board and we were going to drop 4 points during the 5-game run-in. 

Luckily for us, Afturelding dropped more points than we did. It was them that beat us back in August as they went on a 6-game winning streak, but when it came to the crunch they lost thir bottle and dropped all 6 points available over the last 2 games of the season. 1 win would have seen them win the title on goal difference, (I think), but instead they returned with absolutely nothing. I'm not sure they will get a better opportunity to beat us because I have properly stretched the squad in anticipating of NOT reaching the Champions League Group stages, but the money earned, (£13M just for getting there on top of everything else), means that I will certainly be splashing out on some young talent when I get the chance. They might beat us next season or the season after, but this was when we were at our weakest. We should never have won the title this season, especially while also qualifying for the Champions League with such a threadbare squad. 

Afturelding have never been a rival of mine before in FM, so I am quite keen to give them a good and proper beating.

9 goals conceded over the league season is more than I would have liked at the start, but in the end I think we have done well to keep it down as low as we did. next season I would like to aim to concede a maximum of 5, and remain unbeaten. 

Cup Fixtures.

League Fixtures.

I will do a European update including all fixtures once we are knocked out. 

Summary. I quite enjoyed the defensive slant I put on things this season. It made a refreshing change from the goal-fest that I have seen through much of FM18. An unbeaten season season is the aim next season, (shouldn't be too hard), and I want to concede few goals too. I think 5 or under is a reasonable target for next season. At the moment we just have too many player playing out of position and at the same time I am struggling for defensive roles to create partnerships up front. (They can't both score all the goals. Someone has to do the donkey work. As we become stronger I would like to dispense with the DM in favour an something in the AMC slot, but I think it's unlikely that we will get that far what with FM19 due any day now.  

[Deisler26]

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Icon. HK. Sep 2043.

Bothered. I was already an Icon at H

I was already a legend at Chelsea, (which is 1 better than Icon, but shouldn't that be the other way round?)

Nothing at all at Stade Rennais though.

[Jimbokav1971]

 

Acolyte. HK. Sep 2043.

(23a) Frans (Res) (2023) * was a player who came through my youth intake while at HK and whom I then took onto Stade Rennais where he enjoyed yet more success. It's great that he has gone into management, great that I am one of his favoured personnel and great that he is learning his trade back in Iceland, (and doing rather well too).

[Jimbokav1971]

Provider. HK. Oct 2043.

14 of the 23 players in the Senior Icelandic squad are products of our Academy. 2 more are at the club now, and a further 2 spent some portion of the development phase of their career at the club. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Expanding. HK. Dec 2043.

[Jimbokav1971]

Upgrade. HK. Dec 2043.

 

[Jimbokav1971]

-40%. HK. Jan 2044.

This deal actually has nothing to do with me because I was at Chelsea when it was done, but it's nice to see that the Chairman, (it's probably not even the same one I had the last time I was here), learned something from my 1st stint in charge. 

Looking at his history, he looks much older, but he's actually only 23. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Iceland National side. 2043.

Despite finishing 3rd behind Spain and Sweden, Iceland still have a chance of making the finals. 

Some of those score-lines are pretty impressive. I'm not managing them, but I wonder are they playing 3 up front and reaping the benefit? 

Away to San Marino (7-0) I can't tell you what they played, but (36) Sig Þráinn (Realist) HG scored 6 goals. 
At home to Estonia (4-0) they played a 4231.
At home to San Marino (10-0) they played an Attacking 352 with (36) Sig Þráinn (Realist) HG scoring 5 goals. 

Away to Moldova (7-0) they played a 4231 wide and (36) Sig Þráinn (Realist) HG scored 4 more goals.

After scoring 15 goals in 3 games for the National side, (36) Sig Þráinn (Realist) HG is even outscoring a certain Giovanni Semprini @Makoto Nakamura  (and I'm not even managing him!)

18 goals in 16 Caps at the age of 23, (managed by the AI). 

I don't think I've ever seen anything like this at International level before. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Europe. Almost The FInal Countdown. Jan 2044.

I'm obviously going to stop playing this when the FM19 Beta is released, but until then.....

I thought that this season might be the last, but I have absolutely loved it and the European campaign has added to it. 

We qualified pretty easily for the Group stages.

We threw the 1st game against AS Monaco by fielding a completely rotated side in order to concentrate on the league, but other than that, we lost at home to Monaco and away to Porto, each time by a single goal.

Unfortunately, although Monaco beat us twice, they won only 1 other game as Porto beat them to the top of the group. Had the roles been reversed then we would have qualified for the knockout stages bu virtue of having a better head to head record against them. 

As it is, Porto and Monaco go marching on, we go into the Europa League knockout stages and Napoli go home. 

[ManUtd1]

[Jimbokav1971]

Don't get better than that. HK. May 2044.

I think that's the youth recruitment maxed out at level 20 now, (or at the very least level 19), (just in time for the last intake. 

Junior coaching is at exceptional, (level 20), so that's maxed out too. 

Our Youth Facilities are currently "good", (which is level 12-13), so there is room for improvement there. 

Our Training Facilities are also at "good", (which again related to level 12-13), so more improvement available there too. I was able to ask for an improvement in the Training Facilities. This should take us to level 13-14 which is good-great.

[Jimbokav1971]

Tears. HK. Mar 2044.

I think we have previously made the Semi-Final of the Europa League, and I was hoping for more of the same again. Unfortunately Swansea were very strong defensively and beat us is 2 close games. 

The European dream is over, (possibly for the last time), (at least until FM19 comes out). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Bitter Sweet double. HK. 

We might have done the rubbish double, but we lost a game in the League Cup for the 1st time in 5 seasons. 

I played about with the roles/duties of my midfield trio during this period, (although the loss was not down to that), before reverting to the old roles/duties.

[Jimbokav1971]

Complete. HK. May 2044.

[Jimbokav1971]

Almost Perfect. HK. May 2044.

Typical! We go through the month with wins and clean-sheets in all the league games, but them concede a goal in the Cup to our old rivals Stjarnan. 

[Bobby_Zamora]

On 15/10/2018 at 03:20, Jimbokav1971 said:

Thanks @Bobby_ZamoraI really appreciate that. Do you mind if I ask what it is you like about my threads? Is it the Youth Only aspect of the save, (like @abulezz) or is it the way we do our updates, or is it something else? I'm undecided what I'm going to do for FM19 so want as many opinions as possible.

Sure!

I like the way you do updates and following whatever the story is -- be it San Marino, gk goal tally or HK. I don't know -- it fires me up to play FM, too.

The music theme has made me giggle on occasion

I just like reading what you write & your immersion in the gameworld. That's all

Edited October 17, 2018 by Bobby_Zamora

[Jimbokav1971]

Ranking. HK. Jun 2044.

 

[turnip]

Man I hate those 5-year rolling aggregates. 

I can see where the Argentina FA got the idea for their ass-backwards league rules

[Jimbokav1971]

7 hours ago, turnip said:

Man I hate those 5-year rolling aggregates. 

I can see where the Argentina FA got the idea for their ass-backwards league rules

I've just got used to them now. I'm not aware of a better system or what Argentina use. Aren't all coefficients Worldwide calculated in the same way? 

[Jimbokav1971]

Unhappy. HK. Jun 2044.

I don't mind losing, but conceding 2 goals to domestic opposition, (at home), should just not happy anymore. Yes there were mitigating circumstances in that we had players away on International duty, but my policy is that we don't re-arrange/postpone matches because (a) I want players to go on International duty, and (b) it's an opportunity for someone else to come in and get some playing time that will aid their development. I would rather we concede goals and lose games with this strategy, than re-call players from International squads.

That said, I'm still very unhappy about conceding 2 goals in 1 game. 

That it comes after we kept a clean sheet in the Cup, (but still lost), is no surprise and is something that I should have taken into account. There is often a knock from a negative result that continues to the next game. Should have gone big in the league game to make up for it.  

I call this sort of thing the #SnowballEffect and I think I am more likely to experience it than other who play the game because I pay such little interest to media interaction. As a result I don't make use of the tools at my disposal in order to counter this. It's probably something I need to look at for FM19, but the reality is that I just don't enjoy it so not sure if I can be arsed. I might even go so far as to say I would rather lose the odd game than have to respond to every media request. Christ, I'm not even managing the games so I certainly don't want to be doing media interviews. 

We've already conceded 5 goals in the league after only 9 games. Not happy. REALLY not happy. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Busy. HK. Jun 2044.

It sounded like I was making excuses over International call-ups in the last post so I wanted to explain.

I think we had 5 of our best players missing, but they didn't just go missing for a little bit. They seemed to be gone for ages. They missed 2 games travelling and 5 more games in between. 

Ahhhhh. It was the European Championships. Of course they were gone for ages. Silly me. I've got used to playing in France/England and when their season starts/finishes. It's different in Iceland. 

Thanks God Iceland lost in extra time to Hungary in the Playoffs Semi-Final or I might have been missing a whole teams-worth. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Out of the Blue. HK. Jul 2044.

With the imminent release of FM19 I've obviously rejected these offers, but even if this save had ages to go, the only Nation I would be keen on managing is Icelend.

 

Edited October 18, 2018 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Leaking goals. HK. Jul 2044.

We were unbeaten this month, but that's no longer the level against which we judge ourselves. 

the 2 goals against Breidablik might be explained away by me playing a slightly more technical player in the Anchor role, but even without that game, we still conceded 2 other goals. We are really not performing well at all at the moment. 

We had risen to 1st in the league, but dropped back to 2nd again with the draw against..... IF, (for short). 

Edited October 18, 2018 by Jimbokav1971