Nowhere to Hyde...

[optimusprimal82]

Vanarama National Playoffs - Season 2 (2020-21)

With disappointment still ringing in our ears, we turned our gaze forward and to the forthcoming playoffs; For the uninitiated, the playoffs for the Vanarama leagues have changed in recent years with 6 teams (2nd - 7th) entering. The teams finishing 2nd & 3rd (us & Crewe) receive a bye through to the semi finals, but we'd have to watch who else would make it from Dover, Billericay, Bromley and Wrexham.

Of the teams we could possibly face, Crewe had been the toughest opponents we faced all season - so I was really keen to avoid them - and we'd also failed to beat Wrexham, drawing the home game and losing away. We'd picked up positive results against all of the other sides throughout so I was optimistic if not unnerved by our inconsistencies over the latter half of the year.

Before the playoffs could get underway, the league got in touch to tell us that we'd won the consolation prizes of both Manager and Player of the Month. Yay. I joke and obviously don't mean to be an ungrateful asshat, but in the whole scheme of things these two awards will have more negative connotations than good! The fact that these were the first time we received either of these awards this year (we picked up two young player awards) speaks volumes about the quality of our overall performances this year (if not necessarily our results). Naturally the guy getting the award had to be Nicky Platt - funny how with his contract running down I haven't seen him in the 'idiot trainers' list for a while either?;

 

Getting back to the playoffs, the first round kicked off with Billericay playing Bromley, and Dover taking on Wrexham - the games are now also only 1 leg as opposed to the more traditional two which makes the higher finishing teams home advantage an incredible leg-up. If you'd have asked me prior, I'd have tipped Billericay and Dover but that just proves why you shouldn't take any notice of what I say!  

With the teams decided it was time for the draw; I was so preoccupied with how we might beat Crewe should we have to come up against them I hadn't realised that for finishing second I was also guaranteed a home tie. I'm not certain if it was reflected in game but the official rules suggest I couldn't have played Crewe at this point because they were also guaranteed a home tie so in essence the draw was to see which of the other 2 teams we'd both play. All four teams were visible on the draw screen so maybe something was happening under the hood, or maybe I wasn't 100% paying attention (I was kind of zooming through at this point, mind elsewhere!).

It seemed a long time since I'd had to give Billericay serious thought given their mid-season drop off, but it's a funny old game and sure enough we were paired up with our early season sparring partners. Now we'd beaten them twice this season both Home & Away which afforded me confidence, but I was also aware that both of those games were incredibly tight. Us playing at home was obviously a big advantage, but anyone who plays FM for more than 1-2 seasons will surely notice the general difference in approach that AI teams have in cup/one off games? This would actually be the first playoff fixture I've played in 19 so I was questioning myself a fair bit before the game, trying to decide whether to go with what had worked previously and attack, or whether to expect them to do the same and sit deeper & counter. It was a given for a game of this importance that I'd play on 'full game'; like many I play on 'key highlights' for the majority of the season, switching to more details during bad runs or if making serious tactical changes - I also find the extra information can be valuable in cup games too and these would certainly be no exception. In some ways it can be worse as you prolong the agony, but it's worth it as you can spot the subtle changes in flow which admittedly the ME can sometimes struggle to convey to the user on any detail level below (the shot counter I find is your otherwise best friend this year!).

The media had us pencilled in as the underdogs which was a little odd given form/respective league positions, but as we are still only a semi-pro club I guess our reputation speaks volumes?

Heading into the game, I was a bit surprised that I didn't get any of my usual scout reports or data analysis so I decided to play slightly safer than I maybe would have previously and watch the game unfold; we were still missing our main striker so after what going back and forth on the decision I handed the starting spot to our newest potential superstar (Fraser Meaney - 21A) who - I'm delighted to say - didn't disappoint!

The own goal (naturally - we couldn't just enjoy the game right?) made things pretty nervous late on, but despite conceding the majority of possession we were pretty comfortable and kept them at arms length. I don't enjoy playing as defensively as we did in the second half, but sometimes needs must and many an FM manager comes a cropper (myself included) by twisting when they should stick!

Absolutely delighted with the result but there were ramifications there that I wasn't aware of at the time, namely Morgan James enjoying further disciplinary issues and receiving a ban for what was his 15th yellow card in the league, ruling him - our top scorer and probably best player - out of the final, which we learned shortly after is against Crewe. Not awesome.

 

Bend it like Beckham...

Somewhat irritatingly, the final was scheduled 2.5 weeks after the semi-final, which to most teams would be great news - anyone (and i suspect that will mean almost everyone reading this!) who's ever managed a semi-pro team though will realise that match sharpness can (and often does) drop like a stone between games so I was (quite rightly as it turned out) concerned. As mentioned, we received confirmation through about Morgan James' suspension, meaning we were missing two of our best MC's for the game, Nicky Platt also banned for the game for his sending off 2 games back;

In the build up to the game, Leon Wilson (20H) underwent one of those 'life changing events', with our HoyD telling me his determination had improved overnight - sadly I think at just 2 stars potential his future may already lie elsewhere, but the stat increase is not to be sniffed at & moved him up to 15 which means I'll happily keep him around a bit longer and see how he gets on - he did play two games earlier this season during an injury crisis and did ok after all?

 

As the game drew closer I asked myself the question that I'm sure many of you have asked over the years, "do we really want to get promoted this year?", the logic being that maybe it's better to wait a few years until better prepared etc. I've asked myself that question a lot over the years when playing and I always come to the same conclusion that if it's on offer, you take it as who knows if you'll get the chance again? By and large when playing the game your squad will generally improve, but in a challenge like this or other similarly restricted saves there's no guarantees, and it may even take 4-5 season which is an awfully large amount of hours to play/spend wondering what could have been; going up may mean a pummelling every week but if you can survive, then things can get just that little bit easier, inch by inch, with increased funds/potentially facilities.

Having been promoted last year and finding myself challenging again this year you'd be forgiven for asking why I'd even be thinking like that; it's not so much pessimism, more this feeling of 'no control' in this save as I'm completely at the mercy of the FM gods as to who I get to play with. Whereas in any lower divisions it can be tricky, with full transfers it's possible (although far from guaranteed of course) to overachieve, and do so relatively quickly too, here there's a natural progression that no matter how tactically able or astute the manager, you're unable to completely ignore; signing 16 players/abusing the loan market and giving yourself a big CA/PA bump isn't possible here so even though we've made a great start, there's a CA ceiling heading our way fast, and seeing us struggle against the more capable teams in this division then I expect we'll hit it very soon, not to mention that for the most part I'm not sure the quality gap is all that big between the Vanarama North/South, more that you face a lottery as to which 'relegated/clearly above other sides' teams you find yourself up against? Go back a few posts and compare Leyton Orients leading scorer attributes to my starting STC and you'll clearly see what I mean (my own coaches label our guy as a 'decent backup' to hammer the point home!

With the game coming up fast, thankfully we did get some scouting reports in and to no great surprise they were expected to line up in the same manner they had when beating me previously. 

I hate playing defensively and I'm not too fond of changing formation for the start of a game either, but doing the same thing and expecting different results is the definition of... ignorance? Impotence? I don't know, something like that, irrespective, having tried and failed with my regular approach this year it was clear I needed to do something a little different. Ability wise they're clearly above me, as proven in-game and just by looking at their players in general. I suspect a large part of my problems when playing them is the presence of their high quality DM shutting down my MC's (specifically the more attacking of the two). As my main guy was suspended for this game then perhaps it was a good time to change that role down a little and focus on their apparent weakness (and admittedly strength) to crosses and push my wide midfielders just a little further forward, or even change their role to wingers and make them just a little more attack minded, exploiting the flanks instead of coming up against a superior quality brick wall in the centre? Irrespective, if any game was made for regroup and counter then this was it, I also think reducing our FB's mentality, playing a little narrower and defending a little deeper may help us keep the ball out of our net - it may have reduced our chances of scoring too, but we need to still be in the game towards the latter stages rather than leaking an early goal and leaving ourselves open as we press for an equaliser etc. (NB:My use of tense is/may be all over the place in this post, I started writing it before the games, then decided to play the first one, then thought I'd wait and blah blah blah - basically I changed my min fifty times so it's a combination of planning AND reflection!)  

So what happened next...?

Well the game was a disappointingly drab affair, largely down to me and my negative approach. One thing in our favour playing like that is that we were able to keep the ball very well. When I've tried that in league games I've often found we've been kicked off the ball, largely as a result - I expect - of hard tackling and what I believe in this year's ME to be tackling that's just a little too effective (look at your individual player tackling stats each game as opposed to the overall average and you'll see what i mean)? Irrespective, chances were few and far between with just three shots on target the entire game;

If you're struggling to work out who won from that, don't worry, so were the supporters who woke up when the referee blew his final whistle; no extra time needed, final score;

A single free kick from one of my favourite, most underrated players was enough to win the game and with it our third successive promotion (admittedly just the second with me at the helm)! Now, we're really going to be up against it - time to start nagging the board about making some investments!

[XaW]

Great results in the playoffs! Good luck in the big boys league!

[Hootieleece]

Now that you made the "League" will you go Professional?

I think in terms of training and match sharpness Vanarama is as far as a Semi-Professional team can compete.

Also It will allow you to keep your better players.

[optimusprimal82]

7 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Hey @optimusprimal82

First of all apologies. I used to get round all of the Youth Development threads pretty regularly but it seems I don't even have time for reading anymore. 

I loved your opening post. 

The 1 bit of feedback I would give you is about the above though. 

I don't really agree with your conclusions regarding the different types of personality, but I think you touch on it in the description under "average" - "may be significantly flawed". If they are significantly flawed, then I'm sure you would agree that they are in the avoid bracket rather than the average bracket. 

I also don't agree with some of the descriptions you suggest are "highly desirable" and that you would "sign without worry". I fear you may have to change your thinking somewhat with regards to this type of challenge. If you are doing the Youth Challenge properly, (and I have no reason to doubt that), then there is absolutely no question of not signing your highest potential player from an intake just because he has a poor personality, (even an awful personality). You don't have the ability to get players from elsewhere so your hands are tied. You need to suck it up and hope beyond hope that on Youth Intake Day each season you don't see the words Casual, or Slack beside your best players. 

I'm not going to go through all the personalities one by one, but the one I often talk about is "Balanced". People class it as a middle of the road, average, middling, standard personality simply because of the name. In fact it's nothing of the sort. It's a negative personality, (in my opinion). Forget about the name and look at what actually makes a personality as in the building blocks that re the hidden attributes? The truth is we don't know. (At least we don't know exactly what they are now, but we do know what they used to be and this acts at least as a guide). 

Balanced Pro 1-14, Det 1-14, Amb 1-14, Loy & Spo 1-14

I look at the above as a description, (ignore the word balanced), and I don't think that's average or middling at all. I think that's pretty rubbish. Forget Loyalty and Sportsmanship for a minute and even let's put Ambition to one side. Just concentrate on Pro and Det. We know that they absolutely cannot, under any circumstances be higher than  14, (remember we are assuming that the old values are still accurate here), and they could in fact be as low as 1. So the range is 1-14 which gives you an average attribute of 7-8. If you look at a player and are told that he has Pro and Det values of 7-8, (and we are calling that as an average here), then is that a "middling", "average", "standard" or "medium" personality? My personal opinion is that it absolutely isn't, it's a negative one, but you will have to make your own mind up about that. What I would say however is that things in FM are not always absolute and what I mean by that is that despite my negative opinion on the "Balanced" personality, it's possible that a player will have Pro of 14 and Det of 14 and even Amb of 14 and this would be a far more attractive proposition.

I guess what I'm saying is that you shouldn't get caught up in the names of the personalities. They can be misleading. 

It works the other way too though. You have classed "Very Ambitious" as a "highly desirable" personality and I'm wondering why? 

Very Ambitious Amb 20, Loy 1-9, Det 1-17

While "Very Ambitious" sounds good, what does it actually mean? Well, (again, using the old values which are slightly out of date). what it actually means is above. We know the Amb value, (20), and we also know that the Loyalty will be low, (but not how low), but with regards to Det for example, we don't really know much of anything. 1-17 is quite a big range and while 1 would be rubbish, 17 would be great, so it's a label that can be misleading. When I see templates like this, I wonder what the personality is that it would "pop" to if the player was Very Ambitious but his Det increased from 17, (within range), to 18, (outside range). I also wonder what would happen if the Amb value was only 19 for example or the Loyalty value was 10. 

1. If the Det value pops to 18 then Very Ambitious becomes Driven. This old template suggests that Driven is only triggered with Det of level 20, (but we know it's out of date). This also states that Amb has to be 10-20 and in this case it's just under at 9 and it's still triggering the Driven template. 

Driven Det 20, Amb 10-20

2. If the Loyalty value pops to 10 then Very Ambitious becomes Fairly Determined. (If we look at this though, there are other "triggers" here though that won't be met in all cases. The F.Det template also requires that the Sportsmanship and Pressure attributes are at certain values.  

Fairly Determined Det 15-20, Pro 1-14, Spo 5-20, Pre 1-16

3. If the Amb value drops to 19 then Very Ambitious becomes Ambitious.

Amibitous Amb 16-19, Loy 1-9, Det 1-17

In previous issues of the game, Tutoring was easy and I have had whole squads literally full of Model Pro and Resolute players. The new Mentoring system is far harder to manipulate though. I think that's more realistic though and a significant improvement. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that, (much as it pains me), we need to relax a little about player personalities and to a certain degree except the players, "warts n all", for what they are. We are never going to see a whole squad full of M.Pro players again like I have had in the past, but what you can do is maybe take the really rough edge off a player just by rounding it just a little bit. 

The other thing to consider of course, (and this will be my last comment because I know I'm waffling on), is that while Ambition may be a trait that you want to see in a player, what does a high Ambition attribute actually do in the game? One of the things it does it drive the player to better himself, so if he comes through at a piddly little club such as...... Hyde Utd for example, then he might go to some lengths to get a move to a bigger club at a higher level. He will put himself before the club, (obviously depending on his Pro value). This might be fine in a normal save, but you aren't playing a normal save anymore. You are playing a Youth Only save and you can't just go out and sign a replacement. If a 1st choice player leaves because he is ambitious and wants to play at a higher level, then it is likely to leave a gaping chasm in your squad that is not easy to fill. 

Where as Ambition was previously good, maybe loyal is more what you are looking for now. 

Anyway, apologies for writing so much in response. Hope you are loving the save and good luck. 

Absolutely no need to apologise and thank you for the kind words! I started this thread as something of a 'crutch' for what is my first ever 'academy only' challenge - given the restrictions, I expect(ed) there will be dark times when I can't buy a win and knowing that I'd likely lose a little motivation, I suspected having this here as a sounding board would help me get through; the fact that anyone at all has found it enjoyable/made the time to stop-by/read/reply is a very welcome bonus!

It's a fair cop with regard to the personality stuff; my 'traffic light' diagram was something I drew up not so much for me/experienced players, more for people new to the game - when helping out a few friends/guys over on an FM Discord I contribute to, I realised how many of (what I would consider) the basics people don't get/understand with regard to recruitment & how some people are only even mildly aware of personalities and the impact they can have? Helping them, only to discover that some of them struggle even to use proven download 'game-breaking' tactics, but wanting to get better at the game and maybe start making their own creations to only to grow confused at so many variables, constantly putting  square bricks in round peg holes and unable to fathom what exactly they were doing wrong etc? Consequently I created a few data sheets (example below - appropriately enough called 'the basics') to help with some of that, under the guidance that a lot of it is based on my own opinion, experience and is not a definitive guide.

Admittedly looking at the examples you've mentioned I agree that including Ambitious (or any of it's very/fairly derivatives) in the desirable is maybe pushing it a touch, but I did mainly because it's such an unknown quantity (at least for me) & as it was - at the time - more of a guideline, to get them thinking more about personalities in general and some of the sites I was reading suggested (which I hate - I often find suggestions with little evidence that it's accurate) it now played a more important part in player development (secondary to professionalism & Determination). Naturally I would hate to perpetuate some dodgy information (as we all know forums can have a habit of doing) so I'll look to address it I think, but would be good to know for certain what/how much effect ambition actually has? I actually mention a few posts back (screen shot below) when looking at my first intake that of all the hidden stats, Ambition is maybe the biggest mystery/most ambiguous for me as it can be both a good and bad thing?

As you suggest, loyalty largely crosses over/covers what I'd always understood ambition to mean within the game so either I/the sources I read have placed way too much emphasis on it, or it really is a useful stat now? Is a player that wants to win every single cup/championship in his career any more/less ambitious than the guy who wants to make as much money as possible? Not in my book, and whilst I'd always prefer the first guy, ambition wise alone it's just perhaps their motivations that are different? Perhaps looking at the the Fickle & Mercenary personality types, maybe it is the single worst of the hidden attributes (ignoring injuries/consistency etc)? If 'high ambition + low loyalty = asshat' then maybe having unambitious players with high Determination & Professionalism is the sweet spot?

It's certainly interesting and gives much food for thought regardless...

As for the groups themselves, ideally I would maybe have had 5-6 groups but for the sake of simplicity I stuck with just 3, but absolutely as you've highlighted the middle group can definitely be dodgy. I believe the stats have changed now as you've mentioned, but I believe with the new ones (which you can read here if you've not seen this list) that the idea was that balanced is a bit more helpful because if any of the core contributing stats falls below a certain threshold (believe it's 5-6 for most of the stats) the personality should change to a negative. Now 6 for everything is still atrocious, but that's indeed why I mention the possibility of significant flaw(s) - my general advice to people when I refer them to this is that when buying players, green is good for all ages (obviously take on board your point about ambition etc though), amber is ok for 16-20 year olds (within reason) and reds are always avoid.

As for one of your first concerns, yep I'm absolutely having to just 'get on with it' as part of the challenge, you're absolutely right and I learned very quickly that I have no wiggle room whatsoever to be fussy with this lot's personalities. I may not like it but holy heck, if they can kick a ball better than the next guy then they're playing, irrespective if they sulk because the club don't get them a birthday cake! My best player/top scorer has a determination stat of 2 with this side which is normally unthinkable for me - but I'm enjoying the loss of control and the fact the save is forcing me to go against what I believe to be right/has worked so well for me for so long - obviously reading so many posts/careers here I'm already aware, but it's still reaffirmed to me 100% that my way may definitely work, but there are absolutely other approaches that can bring success, which is incredibly rewarding!  

[optimusprimal82]

5 hours ago, XaW said:

Fraser Meaney

For me, his future would be as a midfielder. I don't see him as a striker because of the low finishing and not much of neither pace nor jumping.

Also a good midfielder, and getting two players such as those, I would at least see if a tactic with an AM is something that could be done with the rest of the squad.

Very close league! Good luck in the playoffs!

 

3 hours ago, XaW said:

Great results in the playoffs! Good luck in the big boys league!

Thank you - support has been a big help on the way and lord knows we'll need it next year, know I said that at the last promotion but i'm expecting to hit a wall next year!

Agree wholeheartedly about Fraser Meaney (21A) and in an ideal world I'd totally want him as an AMC/MC, but we are really (really) struggling for strikers and it's making the squad unhappy now with the majority of them complaining about a lack of depth in attack. Stephen Wells (20A) is the only other prospect of note, but his PA is only on par with my current first choice so it's a compromise I'm going to have to make for now at least, especially as we're so well stocked in MC already. In an ideal world, whilst we fight relegation etc for the next few years, I'll play this guy up front whilst other youngsters develop/we recruit more and organically we get stronger, I can begin to play more offensively & i can move him - and indeed Ged - back to their natural positions.

 

2 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Now that you made the "League" will you go Professional?

I think in terms of training and match sharpness Vanarama is as far as a Semi-Professional team can compete.

Also It will allow you to keep your better players.

Geezus, I'd have gone professional when we got promoted last year if I'd been able - it nearly cost us the promotion this year I believe as our fitness just lagged behind and punished us around the Christmas period! I'll be back in the game shortly and rest assured it will be the first thing I ask for - I did try and blackmail persuade them into it earlier in the year but they slapped my request away and (in my head at least) laughed me out of the room!  

[Jimbokav1971]

13 minutes ago, optimusprimal82 said:

 

 

Do you mind if I ask where you are getting those templates from? 

Are they new or homemade or just living somewhere where I haven't noticed them? 

No real argument with anything you have said. So much of this game is down to subjective opinion rather than cold hard facts, (because that's the way that SI want it). 

I remember that for ages I believed that as far as young player development, Pro ruled all and that Det was largely an "on-field" modifier. It turns out that I was wrong and that both Det and Amb, (and something else I think), were deemed by the powers at be to be "equally responsible for the development of young players. I thought it was wrong at the time but have since come around to that way of thinking with Det, but I must admit that I struggle to see the effects of Amb impacting in the same way as Pro & Det, and none of the experiments that I have done or seen suggest otherwise. That being said, SI make the game and not me so there is at the very least some nagging doubt there in my mind. (I can't remember what the 4th attribute was but I remember at the time thinking that it was ridiculous and must have erased it from my memory in silent protest. 

Something else I noticed, (in older versions of the game), is that "Leader" doesn't always have positive connotations. Certainly his leadership value is high, but where as this was once linked to either Pro or Det or both, now it seems to be s standalone template in which both positive and negative personalities have been "hidden" by the "Leader" template. 

The current definition doesn't suggest any negative connotations, so either I am wrong or it has changed since I saw it last. 

I went looking in the manual earlier while replying to your post and noticed the updated definition of Determination. 

This is significantly different to the very much on-pitch definition that used to be given.

For me personally, I think of Pro and Det as working in tandem in the same way that I used to think that Pro worked, and despite the fact that I know SI have stared that Amb is on an equal footing, It trails long behind in importance to me.  

 

[optimusprimal82]

5 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Do you mind if I ask where you are getting those templates from? 

Are they new or homemade or just living somewhere where I haven't noticed them? 

No real argument with anything you have said. So much of this game is down to subjective opinion rather than cold hard facts, (because that's the way that SI want it). 

I remember that for ages I believed that as far as young player development, Pro ruled all and that Det was largely an "on-field" modifier. It turns out that I was wrong and that both Det and Amb, (and something else I think), were deemed by the powers at be to be "equally responsible for the development of young players. I thought it was wrong at the time but have since come around to that way of thinking with Det, but I must admit that I struggle to see the effects of Amb impacting in the same way as Pro & Det, and none of the experiments that I have done or seen suggest otherwise. That being said, SI make the game and not me so there is at the very least some nagging doubt there in my mind. (I can't remember what the 4th attribute was but I remember at the time thinking that it was ridiculous and must have erased it from my memory in silent protest. 

Something else I noticed, (in older versions of the game), is that "Leader" doesn't always have positive connotations. Certainly his leadership value is high, but where as this was once linked to either Pro or Det or both, now it seems to be s standalone template in which both positive and negative personalities have been "hidden" by the "Leader" template. 

The current definition doesn't suggest any negative connotations, so either I am wrong or it has changed since I saw it last. 

I went looking in the manual earlier while replying to your post and noticed the updated definition of Determination. 

This is significantly different to the very much on-pitch definition that used to be given.

For me personally, I think of Pro and Det as working in tandem in the same way that I used to think that Pro worked, and despite the fact that I know SI have stared that Amb is on an equal footing, It trails long behind in importance to me.  

 

Apologies, I put the link in my last post but realise that hyperlinks are coloured so darkly on these forums that they're difficult to spot -  I should have made it clearer but you can see the full list here, some helpful soul posted it in GD a few months back; it even has the media handling style's which is how I've determined some of the professionalism levels of my guys (obviously no idea of the value, just that as a lot of them are 'level headed' then they should be >13 which is reasonable enough - 14 has always been my 'low sweet spot' with mental stats). I am led to believe from the original thread that he tested these fully but I'll attach my usual healthy dollop of 'it doesn't come from SI so beware' sauce to it just to be safe, hate to give anyone a bad steer!

I hadn't realised that SI had actually ever confirmed ambition played a big part, but it makes sense as there were three different sites all listing ambitious personalities as favourable - I did the naughty sheep thing of believing it because it was consistently captured but it's reassuring to know for (sort of) sure? Although like you, I've never really paid it much attention and have done just fine using Prof & Determination over the years? I guess if model citizen has high ambition then it's good enough for me, but also interesting to note it has the lowest base threshold of all of the contributing stats so possibly the least important? Pure conjecture at this point now anyway I guess, and the proof of the pudding and all that!

There have definitely been tweaks to determination over the years but i've not always been across the changes myself; I had one of those random in-game events on my previous save where the players determination dropped by 10 overnight, when discussing it on the Discord chat someone suggested

"That has been in since last years FM when they made determination less important to development. It can now go up as well as down. Those messages tell you when they do. Not like pre FM18 when it was fixed and essential to development" 

When pushed for an elaboration/reference, none was sadly forthcoming which had me scratching my head for a bit as I don't ever remember seeing anything suggesting it was less important, but it would potentially go along with your thinking that Prof was the key stat? I touch on it in another of my posts here that I always thought Professionalism was the most responsible stat for a players training performance, yet I have a guy who's always 'in the red' yet has a media style of 'level headed' and has professionalism listed as one of his strengths under coach report. His determination however is dreadful at just 2 (yes, two!) so Determination (or perhaps ambition? or both?) must also play a part?

It's definitely a tricky area because the more they document about it, the easier it becomes, but I certainly think at times the ambiguity can be unhelpful, particularly when effect/meaning can/may change under the hood and the only real way we have of becoming aware is the occasional tooltip? I know the last thing people want to hear when they're asking you for help is "i think" but again, for the most part what I do know/assume/understand seems to work pretty well - as it clearly does for you - so I take small comfort knowing I'm (probably) more right than wrong?  

[Jimbokav1971]

3 minutes ago, optimusprimal82 said:

I know the last thing people want to hear when they're asking you for help is "i think" but again, for the most part what I do know/assume/understand seems to work pretty well - as it clearly does for you - so I take small comfort knowing I'm (probably) more right than wrong?  

I think this is one of the most important things to remember with regards to the internet in general, (and particularly across the political landscape at the moment), that just because someone prepares a nice pretty blog or a colourful leaflet, doesn't make it any more true than something scrawled in poo on the back of a toilet door. People believe what is written, especially if it is well -presented and I think it's important to differentiate between what we think and what we know.

[Jimbokav1971]

4 hours ago, coolestrock said:

 

I haven't gone through this fully yet, but..... 

[optimusprimal82]

7 hours ago, coolestrock said:

I enjoy reading how different people play the game , my way of playing is pretty basic , even playing basic its very easy to win everything in the game though , but once you win everything it can get boring , so i tend to read pages like this because they are so interesting , i'm currently giving Optimusprimals way of playing a go because its so well written and gives me something else to to think about when buying and picking players 

If there are any Newbies out there or wanting a different way of playing the game during matches i can very highly recommend using his mentality guide :

2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I haven't gone through this fully yet, but..... 

 

 

Thanks gents - in very real danger of making me blush though! 

If anyone wants to see the whole thing with all of the supporting text you can find it over here;

 

[optimusprimal82]

 

Season 2 - End of Year Review - 2020/21

Competitions

Vanarama National League | Board Expectation - Fight Relegation | Media Prediction: 24/24 | Actual Finish: 2/24 (promoted via playoffs)

Think back over your (likely) many years of playing FM/CM and which of the saves/season tend to live longest in the memory? Yes champions league and top division wins are nice, but rarely - at least for me - do they carry with them the same level of satisfaction as from a season such as this. Written off by everyone (again), we achieved my second (and Hyde's third) promotion in as many years. It was plain sailing at the halfway point as teams had casually turned up thinking they could run us over, only to watch on as we counter attacked them to death. Sadly, word got out and a combination of factors ensured we wouldn't have everything our own way - teams started playing slightly more defensively against us & our Semi-professional status (one of just 5 teams in the division) caused us problems as match sharpness and fitness became serious issues as the fixtures piled up and we endured a horrendous run of form. With other teams (notably Crewe and Leyton Orient) putting together quite astonishing runs it's to my guys credit that we managed to stop the rot and finish the regulation season unbeaten in six, fighting back to 2nd place overall, just 1 point behind 1st.

Suffering through the disappointment of missing automatic promotion - something that had appeared to be within our grasp for so long - our attention turned to the playoffs, and with old foes Billericay dispatched in a close game, we came up against a Crewe side that had bested us previously both home and away. In a move that would make a Mourinho purr, we channelled our inner 'National Express', killed the game (and likely a few supporters) stone dead and snuck back up north with a 'free kick powered' 1-0 win and promotion in our bag! It's been an emotional rollercoaster that I could well have done without but what a way to finish, and I can certainly see this being one of those seasons I'll still be reminiscing about/referencing in ten years time!

 

English FA Trophy | Board Expectation - Second Round | Achieved: Third Round Exit (Bromley)

Another season, another year I give close to zero cares about the FA Trophy! As the only thing more laughable than the prize money for this cup is the state of our club finances, this little run actually did yield some reward, but given the state of our squad around the Christmas period it may actually have been a false-positive. As it is I played a fully changed side in the third round and we went out to a Bromley team we'd more than matched in the league. No real surprise that Port Vale won the thing, player for player they had a great squad, they were just abysmal in the league for ages until they changed manager late on (which inspired a mini-revival).

 

English FA Cup | Board Expectation - Reach First Round | Achieved: Second Round Exit (Oldham Athletic)

We were just one round away from the potential 'money zone', but yet again we were handed an away game, this time against Oldham having knocked out Coventry on their own patch in the previous round. Sadly the gulf in class was too much but we did at least make some money out of it, with our finances bumped back towards the 100k mark. It's not Man City lottery levels but very welcome nonetheless!

 

The 'Cup Draw' Table

Regular readers will have spotted me mentioning this throughout the season; we - the players - perceive a lot of things as we play the game with (understandably) a fair degree of bias. Now a lot of people have been suspicious/paranoid about just how random cup draws are for a long time. I largely haven't cared all that much, but I did notice on a previous save how frequently I seem to get handed an away fixture - a trend that seems to have carried forward to this game. To either prove myself wrong or lend support to a theory, I've been keeping a running total of how the draws have gone down - maybe I'm just the unluckiest manager around, maybe if we all start taking note we'll spot a trend - who knows - but it's a bit of fun and irrespective; to be the best you have to beat the best!

 

Youth Intake 2021

A very different group this year; whilst my first year was a long list of 'average to fairly good' players, I'd say this years intake was lower overall on quality in depth, but with the benefit of having a couple of diamonds sat on top. Fraser Meaney (21A) looks very much like a star in the making and is almost good enough for the first team already. Bit of a conundrum with him because he's naturally an AMC but competent at both MC and STC. Ordinarily I think his stats befit an MC more, but we have a serious problem with quality up front that is upsetting our better players, so needs must for now and this young un' will be tasked with doing what our existing strikers struggle so much with, namely putting the ball in the net!

Ged O'Neill (21B) is also very much worth keeping an eye on, as is Sam Guest (21C) although the latter's personality makes him a potentially dangerous proposition (temperamental, volatile & confrontational) with morale being so important/precious.

 

Transfers

Another year of 'not a lot happening' for us, but Janni Lipka agreed a pre-contract deal so will leave us this summer; he's 31 now and doesn't play all that often, but he's been a solid backup player in my short time here so I wish him well! Some crazy (crazy!) numbers in the league overall with Aldershot signing 38 players and selling/releasing just 1? Tranmere wren't far behind with their 36/2 total too - absolutely nuts!

Squad Statistics

Top Scorer - Morgan James (14) | Most Assists - Luke Porritt (15) | Top Rating - Morgan James (7.25)

Lower numbers across the board this year highlight the fact that although still a successful season, we were not the same force as the year previous and probably overachieved given the squads overall level of quality. Morgan James was again our top scorer, but such is his role in the side that - striker aside - it should always likely be the case. As for the strikers, obviously spend enough time on the forum and you'll notice people mentioning that strikers are maybe not scoring enough as a whole in this years vintage. That may be afflicting us a touch, but on the whole I'd say we'd be better looking closer to home for now as it's clear our current strikers are short of the level required and it's only going to get worse next year as we go up another level! Hopefully Fraser Meaney (21A) can adapt quickly and get amongst the goals sufficiently to keep us safe, otherwise we might still be relying on Tom Pratt - with 13 goals this year he wasn't terrible but he still has a horrible tendency to miss important chances and score the 3rd/4th goal.

 

Vanarama National League Player of The Season: Macauley Bonne (Leyton Orient)

With 35 goals in 38 appearances, Leyton Orient certainly weren't having striker issues! It'd be wrong to suggest they were a one-man team, but this fellas goals were a huge reason behind their surge up the table in the second half of the season! It'll be interesting to see if they can keep him as they move up a division.

 

Vanarama National League Top Goalscorer: Macauley Bonne (33 goals)

Yep, no real surprises here, Macauley ran away with the award with 2nd and 3rd way behind on 23 goals apiece. Our top league scorer (Morgan James) was equal 16th with 13

 

Vanarama National League Manager of The Season: Optimus Prime

Second year in a row - thank you very much!

 

Hyde United FC Awards Night: 

 

Managers Player of The Season: Grant Roberts

Second time in succession but this is about more than just his promotion winning free kick! It's noticeable that our terrible run of form coincided with him being injured for 6 weeks (and then waiting another 2 for him to regain full fitness/match sharpness). An absolutely vital cog in our midfield, he's the guy that let's the other play and with 10 goals himself, 6 assists and 7 'PoM' awards this year he's yet again had a great season. My biggest concern is obviously that at his age (30) he's as good as he'll ever be which may not quite be enough for next year and there's no-one yet ready to step into his boots.

Special mention for our goalkeeper - probably the most important position on the field yet the fact I've not mentioned him (I don't think?) throughout this entire thread speaks volumes of how ell he's done and flown under the radar. He has the odd mistake in him, but who doesn't at this level - myself included - and he's been great for us so far and would again be another difficult player to replace - luckily at 27 he's got a few years left yet, let's hope that League two isn't a bridge too far for him though!

 

In other news

Premier League Winners: Manchester United

FA cup Winners: Manchester City

League Cup Winners: Manchester United

Champions League Winners: Manchester United

Europa League Winners: Arsenal

La Liga Winners: Real Madrid

Bundesliga Winners: Bayern Munich

Serie A Winners: Juventus

 

Board room updates

Just a few days after gaining promotion the board surprised me by suggesting that we turn professional - now I don't know if it's mandatory for League Two or not, but nevertheless it's very welcome and should help us with fitness enormously - can't wait to renegotiate all those contracts!

Even more shocking was this landing in my inbox the day after;

Now this must be mandatory as our average attendance was only around 30% of capacity. The worst part besides the fact we didn't need it otherwise is the cost and even more so as it seems to have put us at financial risk with our status now listed as 'Insecure' for the first time;

We're in the black right now, but the upcoming loan repayments of 9k per month have added a fairly large burden, can only hope the increased revenue covers it off!

 

Final Thoughts

Obviously having gained promotion my complaints should be minor but that was a tough old season. We overachieved tremendously and it'll be interesting to see whether it comes back to bite us next year as -with no capacity to improve - I suspect the CA ceiling will hit us hard! We were already punching well above our weight, and the disparity between teams such as ourselves & Crewe highlighted the level of team we will likely face next year. Yes we beat them in the final, but it was largely down to luck as we set out to spoil, rather than beat them and they dispatched us comfortably in both league games. Seems odd to be so pessimistic on the back of another success, but we really struggled to score goals this year despite the healthy 'for' stat, with many of them coming in clutches. I mentioned in my early season updates how we had been so so lucky with teams missing penalties and whatnot and that turned around further in as we found the going much tougher. 

Predictions for next season: Narrowly avoid relegation whilst enjoying dreadful cup runs/early exits

[optimusprimal82]

Season 3 Preview

Tearing through pre-season now with the fixtures having just been released, no transfer news to speak of (somewhat unsurprisingly) so we shouldn't face too many dramas, although with the change to Professional status naturally we've been busy renegotiating with half the squad!

 

The real cost of promotion...?

As mentioned in my previous post, the board have taken the (awesome) step of turning us fully professional, not to mention improving our tiny little stadium to meet the League Two criteria. Naturally there are cost increases that go with this, the first being a hefty loan requiring us to pay 9k per month - until we're playing getting people through the turnstiles I'm unsure exactly how much damage that'll do, but hopefully with a slightly increased capacity & attendance - not to mention the increased TV revenue - I'm hoping it won't have too much of an direct impact, ignoring the obvious 108kp/y we now can't spend on other upgrades!

With the change, naturally there's a slight increase in first team wages from moving up a division and renegotiating, the bigger issue - and this is kind of on me - is a huge £105p/w increase for each and every youth player - cack! Yes I'd signed everyone from both of my intakes prior as it was only £5p/w per player which was obviously much less of a burden! Free transfers are out of the question right now so I'll just have to suck it up - luckily I'm still within my wage budget, I'll just have to be a lot more stringent with the intakes going forward!

With the TV revenue sorted and a new Kit sponsorship deal signed worth a whopping (sigh) £1.8kp/a, our finances recovered from 'Insecure' to the lofty heights of 'ok' - naturally I took this as a sign from the FM gods that I should ask for facility improvements, all of which were swiftly rejected.

 

So just how high is that mountain we're about to climb...?

Clearly we've overachieved a fair bit during the last two season so reality was always going to come and bite us at some point and this may well be the season we get found out. Across the board it's hard to find another team that are - to put it delicately - as bad as we are...

According to our best scout we have 4 players who're in 'great' territory but we'll need a few more to step up this year if we're to avoid the drop. It's hard to judge in FM sometimes exactly how easy/tough you'll find it because the opposition can make things a little too easy when you're a minnow by playing far too openly and leaving themselves ripe for the counter... I'm not saying that means we'll do well this year, but I'm hoping it does mean we can get enough points on the board early in thee season so that we're not frantically looking over our shoulders later in the year!

Looking at the league wide comparisons it's a little more clear why I'm trying to downplay our chances;

Anyone reading since the start will have noticed me mention previously how physically challenged we are overall as a squad, and that isn't something that our youth intake has managed to solve just yet. Worryingly we're last for the majority which certainly doesn't bode well - we'll need to ensure that this year more than any other we work well as a team and play above the sum of our parts! The other important thing to remember is that of course this isn't static by any means and my guys have only in the last 7 days started training full time for the first time so hopefully the benefits of that - coupled with the development of a few younger players - will help us at least claw back some of the deficit over the season!

Going by these screens, Cheltenham & newly relegated Doncaster have the strongest overall squads so it'll be interesting to see how they get on, as it will of course Leyton Orient, our fellow National League up-and-comers!

 

Evolution, not revolution...

Another year brings with it birthdays and sadly a few more of my guys have had a chat with father time and called it a day; Janni Lipka was already leaving on a free (so becomes our first official transfer!), but Nicky Platt (DMC), Ross Daly (MC) & Chib Chilaka (backup STC) have followed him out of the door, both of them retiring from the game (which saved me a tricky contract decision with Platt!). With recruitment firmly on the 'banned' list we'll have to look to our youth team to plug the gaps, so this year I've promoted Fraser Meaney (21A - MC/AMC/STC), Emeka Jibrin (20B - MR), Ged O'Neill (21B - MC/AMC) & Stephen Dawson (21E - ML) to the senior squad - only Meaney is really ready for first team duty but needs must so good luck to them all, we'll definitely need it!

From a squad/Ass Man point of view this is our team for the year;

But naturally I like to dig a little deeper so squad list updated for the year ahead;

From looking quickly it seems that the general quality of the squad has dropped relative to last year, but I'm not sure under closer investigation that it's all that different (albeit still not cause for celebration);

2 players rated 4* or higher

6 players rated 3-3.5*

6 players rated 2-2.5*

9 players rated below 2*

I think what we can see is that we're still following the general trend of having a decent first XI but struggling beyond that - keeping our players fit and rested this year for the key games could be crucial and it may be wise to fully ignore the cup games.

 

Where's the safety net...?

Looking back at the last three seasons 42 is the average points total for safety which - as I say every year - sounds an awful lot when you're sat on 0. Win 14 games and we should be there or there about - sounds easy right?  

I doubt this'll be required knowledge this season, but 83 points on average would be enough to win the league - worth noting that all three winners scored a fair few more than that though! 3 teams also gain automatic promotion from this league with another going up via the playoffs. Premature to be looking at that I reckon but worth bearing in mind looking forward!

 

Ransom demands...

One of the 'perks' of turning professional has been renegotiating everyone's contract to Full Time. Our best player (Morgan James) for the last two seasons naturally saw this as his chance to make a few quid and was demanding £1.2kp/w. It took two attempts but we finally got it done, unfortunately we're paying him much higher than i'd like at £900p/w but needs must for now, hopefully in a year or two we'll have someone better come through and I can cash him in!

The role of the underdog...

We've been written off every year so far so who's surprised to see it happen again? Our board expect a failed relegation fight, as does the media - bring it on I say!

 

[optimusprimal82]

What was I saying about keeping everyone fit? Just over a week to go until the season starts, friendly against Grantham, think they misunderstood and thought we were playing the FA cup final! First choice MR and best defender down for a month or two!

[Jimbokav1971]

26 minutes ago, optimusprimal82 said:

There is lots to like in this thread and much as I am personally keen on the written word, I'm very aware that not everyone's minds works in the same way and I also know that a lot of "youngsters" much prefer a visual representation of some sort rather than a paragraph or 2 of  written explanation. 

This stands out as brilliant though. Not just because it shows us a huge amount of information in 1 relatively small graphic, but it allows you a sneak-peak into Opti's mind, (I hope you don't mind that abbreviation but your name is just too long). 

Name, age, tag and year joined are all quite standard, but then we have best position and 2nd position, (competent + only). Apologies for not having read the whole thread or any of his previous stuff, but that hints at 2 things. 1. He's not at all against playing a player out of position, (and possibly prefers a smaller squad size as a result), but he also thinks that there is a limit under which he won't play them out of position. It asks the reader the question, "why is he doing that?" and "can I do that?"

The next bit is "best role" and I think that's something that's missed by quite a few people. You've got someone who is a pretty good DR, but there is an enormous difference between a FB(d) and a WB(a) in the defend line. This makes you question whether you are actually getting the best out of your own players if this isn't something you are looking at already. Imagine asking a proper wing-back, (like Doherty at Wolves for example), to play a very defensive and restricted role. You wouldn't be getting the best out of him at all. 

Retrain position sounds simple, but how easy is it to forget what the plan is for this player or that player, (especially if you have a big squad). This allows you to make a decision in the cold light of day and then stick to that decision as the save progresses. 

The next column is preferred foot and this is something that I have fallen foul of before. A RWB who is left footed can play as an inverted WB, but he might be more suited to being retrained as a LWB. When you play for quite a while without realising your mistake..... well let's just say you tend to not make the mistake again. 

Determination. Fine. 
Workrate. Fine.
Teamwork. Fine. 
Natural fitness. Even fine at a push. 

Bravery. Now this is one that a lot of people, (me included), ignore, or at the very least prioritise lower down the pecking order. 

This is what Bravery means to a lot of people and to be honest it's a bit of a wishy-washy definition that doesn't really do anyone any favours. (Come on SI!!!) 

If only there was an alternative definition for bravery that we could use, like in the manual for example..... What? You mean there is? Well why don't SI use the same definition the whole time? Answers on a postcard to the boffins at SI Towers. 

I think you would agree that quite a marked difference in definitions and in particular notice should be taken of "They will compete more often in the air". 

Personality. Fine. Just remember not to get caught up in what the word means to you and concentrate more on the template that makes up that personality. 

Professionalism. Sometimes you know this via the personality, but more often than not this will be hidden so you need to look at coach reports and/or media handling style in conjunction with personality to gain some info. 

Pressure. This is not something I look at all, (so some for thought there for me). But what do you think Opti hopes to gain from having this info? For a start he can probably demand more from these types of players without it coming back to bite him on the bum.

Important matches. I think a lot of us forget about things like this, but of you have someone who goes missing in big matches, (it's been levelled at the likes of Ozil, Pogba, Lewendowski & Higuain), then maybe they are the players to get you to a Final, but they might not be the player to win you the Final. It does make a difference I promise. If you haven't got this info to hand, it's easy to forget that your striker who has smashed 30+ goals this season really shouldn't start in the Cup of Playoff Final because his performance is likely to be lower than usual. 

Injury susceptibility. I think the this is less important than it used to be because you get so much info from the medical centre, but it's still something to be considered, especially when buying players and offering new long-term contracts. 

Consistency. I really think this is important but of course it's a hidden attribute. That's fine, you can still get an idea from your coach feedback. 

CA & PA. remember that this is just a brief snap-shot into a players ability. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't still use it as "at a glance" info. 

REALLY like this. 

[optimusprimal82]

Well we expected that this season was going to be tough and it certainly is so far, but the good news is that it's not all doom and gloom!

 

Win, lose or... What was the other choice?

Well it's pretty clear we're going to be up against it for a lot of this year but we've still managed to get some decent results along with the inevitable hidings (nope, refusing to make that pun!);

NB: Forgot to post the table originally, just added it now - you'll notice there's an extra game played (which we lost!) hence why it doesn't match.

It was clear from the first minute of the first game that we were in the big leagues as we struggled for any sort of possession, being harassed out of it far too frequently - not altogether unsurprising given our technical skills are so below the average for this league! Now the issue with this lot is that playing too direct isn't an altogether great idea either as we're blessed neither aerially or in terms of pace so I had to gamble a bit and dropped the overall mentality whilst changing a couple of roles to be slightly more attacking in compensation. Some may think that a strange move but my thinking has always been that you've got to make your own luck when facing relegation like this - sitting and hoping not to concede is very anti-football (save for the odd important game) and isn't a viable long term strategy to me so I'd rather go for it and fall on my sword (and obviously that doesn't mean going very attacking with a 4-2-4).

As you can see from the results, so far it's paying off-ish - especially so when you consider that 3 of our main guys have been injured and our overall best player is playing at about 50% whilst he has a sulk (see below). We're doing pretty well in most of the games if i'm honest but it's obvious our lack of quality in front of goal is costing us, as is the superiority overall of the oppositions attacking players. When we take the lead I'm often able to close it out, but even then it's squeaky bum time every game as the opposition come on strong and we always look good for a mistake (or two)! Naturally this more cavalier approach can and will backfire, as evidenced in the Coventry & Yeovil games, the latter of which was actually a lot closer than the scoreline suggests with my striker (again) missing a penalty which would have tied the game, only to see Yeovil add two more in the last ten minutes as I tried in vain to chase the game - it's those sort of mistakes/fine details that will add up over the season, but 3 wins out of 7 isn't a terrible return with the squad we've got and would see us safe if we carried on at that ratio (obviously not an accurate yardstick at all but you get my point I'm sure!)

The other bonus is that young Fraser Meaney (21A) entered the record books with his one and only goal of the season (so far)!

 

Promises, Promises...

I hate moaning about the game so please bear with me whilst I get it out of my system: Promises. Aaaargh!! I love the idea and thinking behind the dynamics in the game and the promises are a good addition, they're just right now in that 'clumsy initial stage' that I think we've seen so many times before with new features (remember how haphazard mentoring was the first year it came in? Players hating each other if you got it wrong etc?). I've mentioned a few times that my strikers are VERY iffy and a lot of my squad have been noting their concerns over the lack of depth in our attack. Morgan James - our PotY for the last 2 seasons - came to see me about it asking what I was going to do to about it. Now obviously I couldn't lie and say we'd buy someone so I told him that we've got some good youngsters coming through and to be patient - to my delight he accepted that, but naturally that put a promise in the ledger that for reasons unknown expired at the end of the transfer window, net result being one unhappy player coming to see me to tell me how unhappy he is as he can't trust me and wants to move. Wonderful. He is now training like an asshat and despite playing every league game is well below the level he normally plays at and has 0 goals so far despite being in the 'prime' scoring position in the team. I've had to change him up a little bit and play someone else there (rotating between a few guys) whilst he gets over his sulk but we really need him right now and it's a little frustrating when I don't think I particularly did much wrong!

 

That age old problem returns...

If there's one thing that's defined this save so far it's the complete lack of a decent goalscorer - I've actually been thankful so many times that the FM gods sought to bless me with a decent GK straight out of the gate (as I often find that it's one of the most difficult positions to fill with real quality) but I have considered a few times if I'd have traded one for the other? I don't think I would if i'm being totally honest but the fact I'm even contemplating it shows the difficulty I'm having in getting my boys up front to fire regularly. Tom Pratt has had the most of the opportunities again but continues to score in (annoyingly tiny and infrequent) patches, with mails like this arriving 3-4 times a season;

This division is just a bit beyond Stephen Wells (20A) at the moment so he's struggled when he's played and Fraser Meaney (21A) has done ok but largely been utilised elsewhere as we deal with injuries and Mr Sulks. If we only get one decent player this year I have everything crossed that it's a high-ish level striker whose finishing is higher than 7 (that's my current highest save for a really young winger - fine for the Vanarama, not so much for League two!)

 

The half-full cup...

I understand why some managers play a complete B team in the cups, especially when the cups have such little meaning like the Checkatrade trophy - anyone here a fan of a team in it and actually care about it? We (naturally) were drawn into a group of death but fortunately my board don't expect us to get past the group stage;

Heading into the first game (Burnley U23's) I was so apathetic I fielded a completely reserve (not even including my usual subs) lineup who - lo and behold - only went and won the bleeding game (albeit on penalties)! I hadn't realised that there was prize money for winning the group games but the 10k we got as a result is obviously very welcome;

but did it even cover the cost of staging the match?

If we get knocked out then I certainly won't be shedding any tears!

 

The other 'other' cup...

Yep, cups everywhere this season - I think League two may actually be my least favourite league to manage in from England partly because of that, makes for such a long season? - so naturally a chance to get our home/away scoreboard ticking again aaaaaand yep, yet another away fixture, this time to Scunthorpe. Anyone paying attention above will see that we lost the game but board expectations were met so I cared exactly 0%;

Please do let me know how you get on with cup draws because if there is something dodgy going on I'm all too happy to raise it with the powers that be, just right now I suspect my sample size is too small and could still be (perhaps quite rightly) dismissed as nothing but bad luck.

 

Saving the best for last...

So with the Checkatrade 'windfall' in my grubby mitt I decided to take a look at my bank balance only to be amazed to see that it had crept up over 300k for the first time due to season tickets! Sensing that now might finally be the time I approached the board, only to be rebuffed yet again when asking for Youth facility improvements but - much to my amazement - they yielded when I pleaded to both Youth Recruitment AND junior Coaching budget improvements making these officially our first upgrades; back of the net!

[optimusprimal82]

2 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

There is lots to like in this thread and much as I am personally keen on the written word, I'm very aware that not everyone's minds works in the same way and I also know that a lot of "youngsters" much prefer a visual representation of some sort rather than a paragraph or 2 of  written explanation. 

This stands out as brilliant though. Not just because it shows us a huge amount of information in 1 relatively small graphic, but it allows you a sneak-peak into Opti's mind, (I hope you don't mind that abbreviation but your name is just too long). 

Name, age, tag and year joined are all quite standard, but then we have best position and 2nd position, (competent + only). Apologies for not having read the whole thread or any of his previous stuff, but that hints at 2 things. 1. He's not at all against playing a player out of position, (and possibly prefers a smaller squad size as a result), but he also thinks that there is a limit under which he won't play them out of position. It asks the reader the question, "why is he doing that?" and "can I do that?"

The next bit is "best role" and I think that's something that's missed by quite a few people. You've got someone who is a pretty good DR, but there is an enormous difference between a FB(d) and a WB(a) in the defend line. This makes you question whether you are actually getting the best out of your own players if this isn't something you are looking at already. Imagine asking a proper wing-back, (like Doherty at Wolves for example), to play a very defensive and restricted role. You wouldn't be getting the best out of him at all. 

Retrain position sounds simple, but how easy is it to forget what the plan is for this player or that player, (especially if you have a big squad). This allows you to make a decision in the cold light of day and then stick to that decision as the save progresses. 

The next column is preferred foot and this is something that I have fallen foul of before. A RWB who is left footed can play as an inverted WB, but he might be more suited to being retrained as a LWB. When you play for quite a while without realising your mistake..... well let's just say you tend to not make the mistake again. 

Determination. Fine. 
Workrate. Fine.
Teamwork. Fine. 
Natural fitness. Even fine at a push. 

Bravery. Now this is one that a lot of people, (me included), ignore, or at the very least prioritise lower down the pecking order. 

This is what Bravery means to a lot of people and to be honest it's a bit of a wishy-washy definition that doesn't really do anyone any favours. (Come on SI!!!) 

If only there was an alternative definition for bravery that we could use, like in the manual for example..... What? You mean there is? Well why don't SI use the same definition the whole time? Answers on a postcard to the boffins at SI Towers. 

I think you would agree that quite a marked difference in definitions and in particular notice should be taken of "They will compete more often in the air". 

Personality. Fine. Just remember not to get caught up in what the word means to you and concentrate more on the template that makes up that personality. 

Professionalism. Sometimes you know this via the personality, but more often than not this will be hidden so you need to look at coach reports and/or media handling style in conjunction with personality to gain some info. 

Pressure. This is not something I look at all, (so some for thought there for me). But what do you think Opti hopes to gain from having this info? For a start he can probably demand more from these types of players without it coming back to bite him on the bum.

Important matches. I think a lot of us forget about things like this, but of you have someone who goes missing in big matches, (it's been levelled at the likes of Ozil, Pogba, Lewendowski & Higuain), then maybe they are the players to get you to a Final, but they might not be the player to win you the Final. It does make a difference I promise. If you haven't got this info to hand, it's easy to forget that your striker who has smashed 30+ goals this season really shouldn't start in the Cup of Playoff Final because his performance is likely to be lower than usual. 

Injury susceptibility. I think the this is less important than it used to be because you get so much info from the medical centre, but it's still something to be considered, especially when buying players and offering new long-term contracts. 

Consistency. I really think this is important but of course it's a hidden attribute. That's fine, you can still get an idea from your coach feedback. 

CA & PA. remember that this is just a brief snap-shot into a players ability. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't still use it as "at a glance" info. 

REALLY like this. 

Thank you sir - tis late here now in the land of Kangaroos so afraid I shan't be able to do your post justice with the reply it undoubtedly deserves but appreciate both the kind words and analysis/explanation for others, especially newer players who I hope in 20-30 years will still be writing posts like the epic reads in this forum, mainly so I can read them from a retirement villa somewhere like Hawaii!  

Just quickly, I keep an eye on those attributes but I don't class them all as vital for the player in his position - something like teamwork I look at across my defensive line for example, if they're all high then I'll definitely look to use offside trap, if not then I'll stay away as it can be a liability. Same is true for things like work rate/natural fitness/teamwork with regard to counter-press; super popular this year, but a press is only as good as the weakest link so if you've got a Balotelli in your team or even the best presser who's just tired, you run the risk of the opposition beating the press and catching you with 2-3 (maybe more) players out of position. Appreciate that logic may be a little too football which doesn't always translate well to the FM match engine but it certainly doesn't do any harm I'm sure!

TL:DR - some attributes I class as essential for the player/players role, others feed more into my team instructions/tactical whole.

 

Quick pick of the attributes I look for (have posted it before but appreciate this thread is looooong) and roughly the importance I attach to them by position (and naturally these are far from set in stone);

 

[XaW]

31 minutes ago, optimusprimal82 said:

Please do let me know how you get on with cup draws

In Hungary it's always the highest rated team away in the early rounds, so whenever I face "non-league" teams I'm always away. In the later stages 4th round and onwards all rounds are two-legged, so I'm afraid I can't be of much help.

You do have a good start, at least compared to what was expected. Unless you are a tactical mastermind in addition to your amazing attention to details, then this season should simply be focused on survival. I ran through League Two and One, but that was after my players had had matured for 6 years in the VNL...

[optimusprimal82]

12 hours ago, XaW said:

In Hungary it's always the highest rated team away in the early rounds, so whenever I face "non-league" teams I'm always away. In the later stages 4th round and onwards all rounds are two-legged, so I'm afraid I can't be of much help.

You do have a good start, at least compared to what was expected. Unless you are a tactical mastermind in addition to your amazing attention to details, then this season should simply be focused on survival. I ran through League Two and One, but that was after my players had had matured for 6 years in the VNL...

Ah ok, that makes sense! I actually think - aside from the two legs/extra games part - that I like that idea, gives the lower teams more of a chance? Not sure how popular it would be in England with top flight managers/players complaining (maybe quite rightly given the money involved) of injury risks from poor pitches etc. Suspect a lot of the lower teams would prefer to play away too now I think of it because of the extra gate receipt cash? Sigh, as much as money has helped improve the game, can't help but feel it's sold a little of it's soul at the same time!

I certainly do ok tactically but would never put myself into 'Cleon' levels and even then, I'm not sure he'd be able to get this lot promoted this year! I'm nice and calm about our situation; it's going to be tough and I'm expecting a fair few fluctuations along the way but I've proven we can win games at this level, we just have to play to our absolute maximum and hope we catch the other side on an off day! In-game it's obvious that we're out of our depth as all of our numbers are down and even just watching we're clearly mismatched. Going very easy on the team talks in general which is helping give us an edge at times but with lower morale the body language is understandably not great a times - as you suggest though, all we need to do this year is finish 22nd and mission accomplished! If we can get another 1-2 decent players in through the intake and some of these guys develop then we can hopefully inch up the table from there - so long as the board/fans don't lose patience before then of course!

Interesting looking at the table; with my - let's call it adventurous - approach, we've conceded second most in the league already but also scored more than the teams below us. Taken at face value that would be an alarming sign but I think I'll persevere a little longer because 9 of those goals came in 2 games which is to be expected I guess - would much rather ship 9 in 2 and then restrict in the others? I'm going to concede in most games this year anyway so by my own twisted logic I'd rather 'win one and lose two heavily' than 'draw two and lose one'? Maybe I'm just odd though?! I always think of Blackpool's year in the premier league when facing a relegation battle - ok they ultimately didn't survive, but holy heck did they give it a good crack and have fun along the way! Obviously it's been misery for them since then so I maybe shouldn't use them as a model example but hopefully you all get my point - let's give it a go and die trying than slowly slipping out of the league by boring everyone and choking on low scoring losses/draws?  

 

 

[optimusprimal82]

Another month down with lots of red to show for it - surprisingly though I'm still feeling quite upbeat despite the fact we're losing (sometimes heavily?)? There have been a few absolute kickers results wise, but happily it works both ways and we snatched an almost impossible 3 points from Oldham which keeps us at least on course for our target!

 

Picking your games...

Now obviously I've mentioned my plan to play positively wherever possible this year but that doesn't mean that I'm suicidal/stupid - there are some games where naturally I'll set up more defensively as I know I'll otherwise be on a hiding to nothing! Oldham was one such game;

Riding high in 2nd they visited our temporary home bringing with them a sizeable support, as the match started I realised very quickly we were significantly out matched and changed our shape after just 5 minutes to prevent the inevitable. Sadly the changes weren't enough and they promptly took the lead. Aware that pushing forward now against them would likely lead to more concessions I stuck with it only to be rewarded with a red card in the 22nd minute for best player/Mr Sulk himself Morgan James (still without a goal this season and playing as a shadow of himself). Expecting this to open the flood gates I changed to an even more defensive shape, leaving our striker up top as an out ball more in hope than expectation but following my groans as our deputising MR launched a cross straight out of play, their GK responded with a very average goal kick that we (unusually) got to first in the aerial duel, landing at the feet of our ML, he played in our STC who (even more unusually) let the ball roll across him before finding the far corner!

The rest of the game followed pretty predictable pattern, with Oldham laying siege to our goal and us collecting yellow cards like they were going out of fashion! Making it into the 80's with the score still tied I dared to dream of sneaking an unlikely point when our STC - on a rare foray forward - went down in the box; penalty! Now Tom Pratt - our very average first choice striker - is supposedly our best penalty taker but holy geezus he is still bad at them. Really bad. Nervous as anything that he'd take out a spectator with his kick, I watched on in abject disbelief as he bulged the net and we took the lead, against the run of play, and with 10 men. Unbelievable. There weren't many more changes I could make from a defensive point of view from then on; we'd made all three subs (players were understandably tired) and we were as deep/defensive as I dared go but despite a few scares it made little difference as we held our nerve to take an incredible and unlikely 3 points! With both drama - not to mention gate receipts - like that I'd happily play them every week (but definitely one of those games I'd lose the other 9/10 times if we played them multiple times!)

 

Of course there is another edge to the sword and we felt it's keen sting just a few weeks later as we got the chance to renew rivalries with Leyton Orient! As the team who'd usurped us at the top of the division last year I was all too aware that - on paper at least - they were the better side, but they too were having a dodgy season like us and were actually below us in the table when the game kicked off. Aware that this was a chance for a precious 3 points that would put us ahead of schedule I started more cautiously than I otherwise might, cursing our luck as we conceded inside the first 15 minutes again. I pushed us slightly further forward in search of an equaliser and was duly rewarded when Fraser Meaney (21A) got himself on the scoresheet - now whether to stick or twist? If I'd been playing at home I'd have undoubtedly gone on the attack - at least a little - but perhaps inhibited by the way last years Vanarama league top scorer Macauley Bonne was zipping around for them (discovered after the game he currently only has 2 goals from 14 games this season) I decided to stand down a little and try to stay in the game until at least the mid point of the second half. Yup terrible plan, oh hindsight how I love thee!

Clearly rattled by my equaliser, Orient went on the offensive and we just had no answer to it, conceding at 31, 34 & 43 minutes with them scoring seemingly at will. Licking our wounds at HT I managed to gee them up a little but a mistake from our DCL gifted Orient's other striker his hat trick. Feeling mildly irritated and sensing we had little left to lose I freed my guys up and let them have at it - if only I'd just done it sooner! As soon as I changed us up to our more direct, attacking baseline we started playing with the urgency we'd previously been lacking - now it may have been because Orient had retread a little, satisfied that the points were their's but who can truly say? What followed was a blitz as our substitute enforced side went at it, pulling three goals back to make the scoreline even crazier, but at least a touch more respectable! Sadly we weren't able to complete the comeback, but the rousing response from my guys was very welcome and gave serious food for thought in the games ahead.

 

Learn from my mistakes...

All but liars make them and - as many much wiser folk have stated before - the secret is to learn from them, or at least help others to! You may (or may not) have spotted this little nugget I wrote in my season preview post?

Aware that we were still within our wage budget I was unimpressed with myself but thought little of it until I was digging around in the finances and spotted just how much my 'recruit them all' philosophy had cost us - ouch! Yup, 140k per year on a lot of players who sadly won't likely ever make it is pretty painful now, but lesson learned - as soon as I can I'll be shipping some of our lower quality kids out of the squad and out into the wider world. Means that recruiting from this years intake is also going to be very interesting as I'll have to be more stringent for the next few years until such an amount doesn't really make us blink any more - if only we could play a team like Oldham every week it'd be a complete non-issue! As it stands, that sort of outlay could get close to paying for a youth upgrade or two so annoyed at myself - at least a little - for maybe setting us back a touch.

 

A bad case of the Darren Anderton's?

The hope was that going full time would help us to keep our players fit and ensure we keep our first XI on the pitch as much as possible. Suspensions are one thing (that I'll come to in a second) but injuries this year are hitting us much harder. Rocked by 3 before the season even started, we've picked them up on a consistent basis since which leads me to believe I need to rotate just a little more - the issue is the quality drop-off is such that it's almost worth the risk of injury in specific games to try and get the 3 points and accept defeat in the next 2-3 games. Our MR has been the most notable absentee this year having managed just 3 games so far, being injured for the rest of the time. 

 

Lack of discipline is (literally) costing us...

I guess that conceding more fouls was to be expected given that ability wise we're just below the quality overall, but even then, the numbers we've picked up over the last 5 games has been insane and seen us collect two fines in short succession;

You might recall I had a similar issue in my first season and I largely reduced it by switching away from Counter-Pressing (in favour of regroup) but we're already doing that right now so I'll have to dig a little deeper; we're currently 3/4 on the pressing intensity scale which I suspect coupled with 5/11 players being told to tackle harder is having an effect, either that or referees in this league are much tougher in general? Unsurprisingly this little run has seen us surge to the top of the ill-discipline table and I'll have to address that as it's costing us real cash-money but also because of the inevitable suspensions and we can't fight relegation with half a team missing for silly reasons like this!

 

Youth team scheduling...

Not had this problem before, so far this season I'd say maybe 70% of my U18 games have been played on the same day as my first team ones, the obvious issue there being that players I select to play in the U18 squad aren't available. As we have a - quality wise at least - relatively small squad, I keep it supplemented with some of the younger guys, having them in the first team squad but making them available. Issue when games are played on the same day is that I can't make them available and then if i don't pick them they're not playing any football that week? Not world ending but irritating all the same.

 

Ten wins from safety...?

As mentioned in the preview, 42 has been the average points total required to be safe in this division which means I've set us a primary target of 14 wins for the season to give us at least a fighting chance. 4 wins from 12 games sounds tragic but it is still at least on target, we just have to make sure we win 2 (and preferably 3) from our next 9 fixtures, which based on form so far should be doable? The Stevenage game coming up gives us a good chance for some points, as would the Rochdale game have done if they hadn't just changed manager, but needless to say I'll be planning ahead and trying to work out our escape route, in the meantime I'll leave another little countdown in my posts so you can see at a glance how close - or indeed far away - we are to the 42 point mark (and remember we could still go down even then if other teams have a great season)!

[optimusprimal82]

A (large) chink of light...?

Now this - ladies and gents - is more like it! I'd be lying if I said I hadn't started to worry a touch when writing the last update; despite a steady start and the fact we were on course to hit my personal targets, obviously seeing your side slide down the table to sit just outside the relegation zone is a tad worrying. With a tricky away game to Chesterfield coming up I was beginning to doubt whether my 'attack is the best form of defence' approach really was/is the best way going forward but then my Ass Man interjected with a suggestion of a team meeting to try and lift morale around the place. Obviously I knew they existed in the game, but I'd be lying if I said it had even crossed my mind to try and arrange one - morale is such a big part it seems of performance in FM (and has been for a while) that any opportunity to maximise it should be taken - so I did, to great effect!

Yes that's right, following our team chat we went out and had the month of our lives - a month that may well go a long way to ensuring our survival! I made a few tactical tweaks as mentioned last time, mainly to reduce the number of fouls/cards and also to tweak the attacking balance a touch - it can be hard when you're not scoring enough but still conceding to know exactly which way to turn, but the fact we've still been competitive was reason enough for me to not change too much (too much too soon and how do you know what worked and what didn't for example?).

I'm a big fan of 'Wide Midfielders' in the game, mainly because they're a blank canvas/less restrictive in terms of PI's; way back in my first season I changed away from them (as you may recall) in a tweak to encourage my wide players to get more goals - as we were crossing a lot it made sense to use wingers instead (mainly as they're listed as my wide players preferred roles etc). This season our crossing stats are - somewhat unsurprisingly - way down again (we were 18th when I made the change - stupidly didn't take a screen grab, apologies!), presumably as a result of our lack of physicality/aerial ability but possibly also because when attacking we're often on the counter which means we don't get a whole lot of bodies forward into the box? Previously my MC Mezzala would often be charging in but I've changed - for now - that role to a more traditional BBM in order to get him helping out a little more in our own half whilst we struggle for possession. As a result of all this I've changed the wide guys to Wide Midfielders and put their emphasis more on through balls and - something of a rarity for me - changed them to crossing from deep (and less often) to save them losing the ball against what are often superior quality full backs.

As you can see from this months results - whether it's the team meeting or the tactical tweaks - we've had a blinder, only coming unstuck when we played a (vastly) superior Grimsby side battling for the playoffs! We've had some luck along the way for sure - our win away at Notts County relied on a penalty and an own goal, not to mention that the first two goals against Rochdale were from deflections - but that's football and I have no doubt that I'll be on the receiving end some time soon!

Perhaps the biggest boon this month has been that our best player - top rated/top scorer/highest match rating/fans poty - Morgan James FINALLY got over his sulk and decided he wanted to play football again. Having top scored in each of the previous two season with 20 & 14 respectively, he had gone the entire season without finding the net once so far, playing and training like a turnip and with a rating in the mid 6's. This guy is the only player in my team rated at 4.5 stars for CA so with our limited quality you can bet your bottom that we were all feeling the effects! Thankfully this mail arrived in my inbox one morning;

And finally the little 'UNH' disappeared from next to his name and it's been on like Donkey Kong ever since - 2 goals, 2 assists and a PoM in 4 games showing that he's back with us - just a shame I can't get a refund on some of that £900p/w!

The other interesting things of note this month both concerned Stevenage; they were 2nd bottom on just 8 points in my last update with a monster of a month in terms of fixtures, not least playing away to league leaders Shrewsbury. Colour me slightly confused when not only do they turn over Shrewsbury, but also playoff bound Crawley? They've slipped a little since then but still, to add 10 points in one month bodes very well for them and makes me super grateful we rallied when we did! Our game against was a cagey affair presumably as a result of both teams having their respective tails up, but the tonic for me was that this was the first game of the season where I'd been able to field my actual first choice XI in it's entirety - made such a huge difference! More worrying is that player for player, my best XI this season is actually the exact same best XI from my first season - none of the younger guys have yet managed to step up sufficiently to make a claim - with Roberts and Hughes both now in their twilight we best hope that something happens on that front soon! Chris Sutherland picked up yet another injury since then so the first XI dream is over, but whilst I think our league position is a little false right now, I'm actually much more confident that we have what it takes to stay up!

 

No place like home...

Only other news this month is that our stadium improvements were completed and we moved back home (which maybe played a part in our form upturn too?). Worryingly there's only room for expansion up to 6000 which means when we have the funds we'll likely build a new stadium - sad really considering Hyde have (apparently) been playing at Ewen Fields since 1906!

[optimusprimal82]

A cup run to nowhere...?

A bit of an odd month with cup games coming just when we didn't need them - and sure enough more injuries showed up soon after!

The obvious good news is that both FA cup games we got this month were long awaited home draws and consequently we navigated them pretty efficiently despite me playing weakened teams. Making it to the third round had me excited with the prospect of a big Premier League team and a big pay day buuuuut nope. We drew Fleetwood. Away. Boooo!

We were knocked out of the Checkatrade - I played a team comprised entirely of U18's and they did well to only go down by 3 away to Shrewsbury - they're about 11 points ahead now at the top of our league?

Seems as good a place as any to update the cup draw scoreboard;

Looking back at the league, a solid win at Crawley was followed up by a game I could describe as both fortunate and frustrating; they had a guy sent off midway through the first half but we were just unable to properly capitalise - the way the game was going pre-red card though I think we'd have done well to come away with anything so definitely a point gained rather than 2 lost? Northampton scored their winner late which hurt, but 4/9 points isn't terrible and keeps us in the hunt - hilariously after the Crawley game we were ever so briefly in the playoff spots which the media were quick to pick up on, though rest assured the form book has caught up with us again since! Still we trundle on!

 

The rise of Meaney...

Fraser Meaney (21A) was obviously the standout of last years youth intake and I've slowly been working him into the team this year. Playing in both STC & MC he's done pretty well but certainly over the last 6 weeks he's started to hit his stride. I'm careful not to play him too much, get him injured or worse still, attract unwanted eyes, but going on coach reports he may well be the best player in the team in a year or two and has a decent personality (Fairly Professional) to boot!

I should give another mention here whilst we're on the subject of youth players for Elijah Gabriel too - he was one of the youth players at the club when I took over and, whilst he's not a first XI player yet, he's improved sufficiently I now feel confident enough to play him in first team games and let my regular DL deputise at ML etc - I love having that level of versatility in the lower leagues as it can really get you out of a jam!

 

Interviews everywhere...

Guess I should have seen this coming having stormed through the coaching qualifications as fast as I have - spent the first few months of this season rejecting media questions about other jobs but now the interview requests have started like an avalanche - in the last 6 weeks I've been offered interviews by Oxford United, Bury, Bradford, Swansea, Sheffield United & Fulham which is insane!? I attended the Oxford (because it was first) and Swansea ones with a view to gaining sufficient leverage to blackmail persuade the board to buy a few more upgrades; unfortunately the plan didn't work as they're worried about finances.

 

A moving target...

Onward we march...

[Hootieleece]

Doing well I see.

I think Meaney will be a good player for you. I am overjoyed when a player is ANY kind of Professional Personality...I could tell you about having a "Fickle" Captain

Why do you need 8 Wins when you only need 12 points to make your target?

[optimusprimal82]

1 minute ago, Hootieleece said:

Doing well I see.

I think Meaney will be a good player for you. I am overjoyed when a player is ANY kind of Professional Personality...I could tell you about having a "Fickle" Captain

Why do you need 8 Wins when you only need 12 points to make your target?

We're doing pretty well considering the gulf in class for sure, but I've just literally finished what was a pretty miserable December! Thankfully that run in October cushions us against months like this and I think we'll be ok, could just do with getting back to winning ways soon as there have been the first rumbles of discontent from the supporters!

I'm very much hoping for Meaney to become the star - hopefully supported by a few others - but a coach report has just had me scratching my head really regarding our supposed current best player;

If he's 4.5 stars and only a leading player for the Vanarama North/South then...? Got a feeling from and reputation play a part in that rating alongside ability so I won't pay it too much attention; I mean I'm aware that player by player we're the weakest in the division - the reports tell me so - but if he's only at that level, what does that make the rest of my guys? Also have to bear in mind my Ass Man is just 9 & 10 for CA/PA judging.

>ahem< I don't - thanks for the spot! (changed the fields around and forgot to edit the values!

[optimusprimal82]

Green with envy...

Well December certainly brought us back to earth - a miserable month results wise, not helped by us having 3 away games in a row!

The first game against Wycombe was a disaster as they were comfortably bottom of the table at the time (and now Stevenage are back there?). Despite taking the lead twice, we were pegged back both times having missed a penalty and seen a goal chalked off for offside. I briefly mentioned penalties a few posts back; Tom Pratt, our first choice striker has comfortably the best Penalty Taking stat at 12, but he has a conversion rate this season of just 50% (3/6). The good thing is we seem to get a fair few (league leaders with 5 this year), but it's heartbreaking when we miss them so regularly, as naturally they tend not to come when 5-0 up (as if this season!) but usually when 1-0 down or tied with 5 to play - perhaps his hidden pressure stat is low single figures or his composure of 8 really is that bad? Not sure entirely which, but I'm hoping that someone else comes along shortly who can take over from him (although I suspect he may shortly lose his place in the team to Meaney anyway).

The rest of the games were pretty nondescript really; the Cambridge game was very even and we had chances against Scunthorpe but so did they? A draw may have been fairer but there's nothing fair in football, unfortunately they took their chances and we didn't. I could only look on in jealous admiration against Shrewsbury as their team contains some great players for this division such as Callum Gribbin & Ro-Shaun Williams, both current Man Utd youth prospects and superior to anyone in my side - I was happy with the scoreline!

Morale is naturally through the floor and - despite winning back to back promotions using the very same (albeit different under the hood) formation, the fans aren't impressed, with the murmurs of discontent starting to be heard;

Luckily the board still seem to be with me - for now!

[optimusprimal82]

See - this is what complaining gets you - all my talk about the cup draws and it comes back to bite me!  

When we drew Fleetwood away I assumed that would be it for our cup run (they're doing decently in the league above) and fielded a semi-weakened team accordingly - naturally it'll be part of the next update but - sneak preview - we won the game despite ceding the majority of possession and chances! Going into the fourth round I knew our chances of getting a big team (and thus windfall) were good and sure enough we were paired with Man CIty, but tragically it will take place at our tiny little stadium which means we'll almost certainly go out with a single figure percentage of what we would have earned at the Etihad! D'oh!

[Hootieleece]

Park the Bus! Park the Bus! Park the Bus!

Have your entire team Man-Mark Aguero!

Play for the replay....

 

Morgan James doesn't seem to be your "type" of player....Low Determination and lack of Consistency and dreads big matches...How the Hell did he become a fan favorite?

[optimusprimal82]

Oh I will be parking the bus-iest of buses, don't you worry!  

Leaving reality for a second to live in the dream world; winning 2-1 in the final 5, do you let them equalise to guarantee the replay, or defend for your lives knowing you'll likely be at home to the lowest ranked team left in the comp next round? We got ~£1-6 million in my second season in my FC United save (mentioned before how we always seemed to draw City in that game?) from playing them away which carried us through the next couple of years and allowed us to get a massive leap in facility improvements so gutted in a lot of ways to miss out on that, but I also - maybe i'm a masochist - reflected after closing down last night that maybe it's better this way as using City's oil money might feel a little bit dirty? Funny how we spin things to make ourselves feel better!

It's always been Gabriel Jesus on 19 that causes me misery against City for some reason? They did have him playing with Mbappe in my last game though so maybe he was more my focus? Bit of a good news/bad news situation looking at City's squad right now - Aguero left in the summer (on a free to Bordeaux, now aged 33) , but they replaced him with some 'little known guy' named Icardi! >sobs<

Absolutely 100% nail on the head regarding Morgan James - my friend even jokingly pointed out my 'backhandedly negative tone' towards him when I write and I guess he has a point? Top scorer and rated player in both of my first seasons yet I actively dislike him and much prefer his MC colleague (Grant Roberts)? I think it stems from early contract negotiations with James - he always asks for way more than anyone else and is super impatient, so much so that he has an agent now and renewal was actually easier dealing with him than the player directly (the world's gone mad!)! I guess I'm super down on him this year though because of the way he played for those few months whilst he was sulking? In a lot of ways I'm grateful for him & this save though because - as you mention - his mentals are the absolute opposite of what I look for, yet with my hands tied, his suitability for my beloved Mezzala/Carrilero MC combo and the fact the coaches suggested he had a lot of potential I had to give him a try and he started scoring pretty much from the off! As you can see, his numbers this season are by far the worst - I expect a big dip as we're obviously doing relatively badly compared to the previous seasons but even then, his more defensive sidekick has played two games less and scored 5 goals more!;

[optimusprimal82]

Big Match Special - Hyde United vs Manchester City

Pre-Match Build up..

Nope, if you've been away for a while you haven't missed THAT much! We're still rocking the lower leagues (League Two right now) but have had some strangely lucky draws in the FA cup this year and find ourselves in the fourth round, plucked out of the hat to play a Man City team you could describe as both awesome and ridiculous!

As many of you know, the greater Manchester area is a hotbed of Football with an almost insane amount of clubs catering to the areas footballing needs! Whilst obviously United & City share the limelight, there are of course recent up and comers such as FC United & Salford City, but there is also a multitude of other teams, some of which have been around for a looooong long time and stretch all the way down the football pyramid. If you're interested in the nitty gritty details, you can find that over here, but for now let's focus on our immediate vicinity as the Etihad is - probably as a complete surprise to most of the current City players - just 7 miles away!

Adding extra spice to this derby game is the recent shared history between the two teams; yes the eagle eyed will have spotted this in my very post;

You can read the full - or at least one side of the - story for yourself here, but what cooperation there was, is no more - that makes this even more of a grudge match, with the added spice that the Hyde United manager is a Manchester United supporter of 30+ years... Yes, there's enough heat in this one to gently warm even the biggest sausage, ignoring the obvious fact that the contestants couldn't be more outmatched (give us time City, give us time!)!

 

Building up to the game itself, it shouldn't come as any surprise that the media, ex-players and anyone else presented with a platform has written us off - we're struggling in League Two whilst they're... well, it's City? As the scout reports come in it appears that City will be resting a number of their stars, but the players on show will in all likelihood still be (way) too good for us, just a little bit sad that the capacity crowd may not get the chance to see De Bruyne, Sterling, (Leon) Bailey & Icardi strut their stuff at the 'Fields!

NB: Don't let the '4th' in the scout report fool you - they're 4-5 games behind the majority of the PL for some reason (late stages of most cups but even then?)

 

Tactically - let's face it - I don't have many options so I won't go into too much detail; we have little to no hope even parking three buses on the field, but we'll keep it as tight as we can and try and take them back to their place - we'll need a miracle but I beat them in the league cup final with a much weaker team reduced to 9 men a save ago, so who's to say what is and isn't possible?

 

Game day

We have some serious fitness issues heading into the game due to a midweek match I prioritised as I felt it winnable (a good decision with hindsight!); 6 of our best 11 are at less than 85% fitness so we're going to have to rotate - not exactly world ending as we were unlikely to win on technical merit anyway! As much as the riches of a replay/next round appeal, it's not worth it to me to risk the rest of our season with injuries so our lineup consists of just 3 players from our 'best 11' (Crook/GK, Sutherland/MR & Fagbola/DC).

Tactically we're still lining up in a 4141 but we're starting out defensively, which I expect (and my coaches recommend) to change to 'very' pretty soon. I could start with 'very' but I like to have something to change to in order to at least exert any sort of influence? Not sure there's all that much difference between the two but call it a psychological thing! I've re-added hard tackling for this game only and kept pressing at 3/4 (with regroup turned on), also stopping my wide players from 'dribbling more' (NB: I don't tell them to dribble less because none of my guys passing is super awesome and I find if you restrict them too much it can be counter-intuitive)

Ok, we're ready - let's do this!

City lineup almost exactly as the scout suggested, the only change being their DCR - obviously a weaker side but still with players like Mendy, Foden & Mahrez in their lineup!

Just 2 minutes on the clock and City nearly score with their first attack of the game - young forward Ben Knight is played through on goal but our keeper does wonderfully to divert the ball behind for a corner, which comes to nothing. Or does it?

Yes, in the very next minute our keeper rolls it to our young FB who starts a counter attack with a long direct ball to our striker (Stephen Wells - 20A - chosen specifically because he's by far the fastest of our forwards); before the ball even gets there he's fouled by the defender with what looks like no more than a simple hipcheck - yet to the incredulity of everyone the referee reaches for a card!

Yes that's right, City have a legitimate reason to be annoyed here with a red card for the most innocuous of fouls. Feeling sorry for them for about 2 seconds I realise it's City we're playing and - more importantly - we've got 87 minutes left to play with 11 vs 10, dare we dream?!

Short answer is no, we do not. In the 15th minute, our CB Fagbola - one of the three first teamers on the pitch - let's the City striker get ahead of him in the box as the cross comes in; somewhat stupidly having seen how competent the referee is, he decides to try a gentle push on the backside of the opponent, only to watch on in horror as the young lad tumbles to the ground and the referee - maybe eager to atone - points at the spot. Cack.

Now our GK is something of a hero when it comes to penalties; I'm not sure if the game saves the stats (if it does I can't find where) but he has saved far more than Pratt has scored to put it bluntly. Needless to say - sadly - Mahrez did what he's paid to and tucked the penalty away in the corner. Time to swap the football boots for mountain climbers!

It was difficult to know what to do in terms of approach following the red card... Obviously they're a man down but the lads they have on the pitch are still leagues (literally and figuratively) above ours so attacking seemed like a dumb idea. I decided to go with the notion of staying in the game until late on when perhaps they'd tire (due to the numerical disadvantage). By the end of the gmae it was clear that plan was folly - probably due to just better fitness levels overall it's safe to say that at the final whistle they were at least a match for us fitness wise if not slightly better? We're getting ahead of ourselves in any case!

Playing it safe, my guys were keeping possession reasonably well and City - presumably backing off with a man down and having taken the lead - were strangely passive for a while. They demonstrated to us soon after not to take them lightly however when a swift counter saw them through on goal (again) with our GK (Crook) coming to our rescue (again). I just want to give another shout out to our GK here - I've mentioned a few times how Morgan James is our best player yet I always forget (because he just never complains or kicks up any fuss)  that Crook is rated exactly the same ability wise and it's he who is listed as the key player on the club screen, not Sulky McMoanface!

We managed to make it to half time without further concession but with also no chances on the board (save a tepid free kick); geeing my boys up they responded magnificently and we went out for the second half with me believing in the impossible!

Just 3 minutes of the second half were on the board when a cross from City's right was missed by our young DCL and fell at the feet of their onrushing striker who buried it... into row G! An unbelievable miss and yet another reprieve (their third CCC of the game so far!).

The game crept forward and it was painful to watch at times, knowing that at some point with just a single goal deficit we needed to have a go, but fearful of exactly how quickly they'd punish us if we got it wrong - we got a stark reminder in the 63rd minute as a lovely ball from the middle cut our defence to ribbons with their winger this time being the man with headlines in his eyes - obviously our fairy godmother was here today though as Crook again pulled a save from his top drawer to deny them once more!

At 70 minutes it was indeed us that were looking a little tired so I rang the changes, bringing on 3 subs and changing from our defensive approach to something more balanced. The results were positive; within 5 minutes we'd had two - admittedly awful - shots, one from long range and the other from just inside the area. Irrespective, having the ball in their area and being in a position to shoot was improvement enough! The joy was short lived when City threatened again soon after, but somehow, some way they contrived to miss what should almost certainly have been a goal?

We entered the final 10 minutes and - the odd shot aside - we didn't look like we were going to get back into the game, with City looking the more threatening if anyone - what happened next though almost beggars belief and would have seen me raging if we'd been on the receiving end! City were toying with us by pinging the ball around their backline; as they played it forward into midfield, Phil Foden spun and turned away from our MC (Roberts) but took a moment to look up at which point our MC recovered and... flattened him? Somewhat unbelievably the referee waved play on, affording our MR a free run down the wing as the ball had landed at his feet...! With no invitation necessary he hoisted the ball into the box which was met - with exquisite timing - by the onrushing midfield run of Francis Meaney (21A) who placed his shot brilliantly past a helpless City GK, sparking wondrous scenes inside the former home of City's own reserve team (so likely Phil Foden may have played there)!

With just a few minutes left on the clock I decided not to risk anything and tightened things up, only to nearly faint as City almost won it in added time but my guys - most of them backups - held on for a famous result! City will rightly feel aggrieved - lord knows I'd have been livid - but they're still in the cup and live to fight another day!

I can understand Pep's frustration here;

Don't understand why the media are being so harsh on us though - guess the coding looks at 11 vs 10 rather than donkeys vs superstars?

 

[optimusprimal82]

You can almost taste it...

Safety, that is. Yes a very good month has put us within - what I believe will be - touching distance of safety! We fell at the final hurdle in trying to make it our first month unbeaten (thanks to a last minute winner for Southend) but having beaten Fleetwood away AND held City at home it's hard to be too upset, and instead I'm feeling much better after a difficult December!

The biggest positive as the season has gone on is how both the team and myself have adapted to the league and how we are now drawing a lot of games that we'd previously have lost. Obviously there's room for improvement and I need to be watchful that we're not drawing games we should win but I feel I've roughly found the sweet spot for our teams ability level and whilst obviously our league position isn't amazing, we're pretty comfortable and still cranking out wins with regularity - the draws help keep morale in a decent zone too which in turn no doubt helps protect against losses!

The match against Southend was naturally frustrating; with us having taken the lead, they managed to run it around before we scored an equaliser on 70 minutes. The game looked to be fizzling out before a hopeful long ball forward reaped the reward for them in the 92nd minute. I could complain but it'd be somewhat churlish after the month we've had; not content with robbing City of a deserved result, we also did the same to Yeovil! With a 1-0 lead they missed a penalty late in the first half - if they'd scored that I'm not sure we'd have recovered but as it was we managed to scramble an equaliser (a rare goal from a corner) before we won - and duly converted - a penalty of our own! I'm not sure why we're getting so many penalties this season, pure conjecture but it could be something to do with the physical nature of the league and our relatively lightweight strike-force? Who knows, but no doubt once I get someone more capable of scoring them they'll dry up!

Looking ahead, we could be in for another rough month in February; there's an outside chance of a result against Oldham & the Orient game is very winnable, but that will likely depend on the fitness and morale of my guys by then as we could foreseeably have lost 3 games on the spin by the time we take the field!

Not bad with 15 games still to play - can't see Stevenage and Cheltenham almost doubling their win total in such a short space of time?

 

The gift that keeps on giving...

Naturally we had a full house for the City game which broke all of our previous attendance/gate receipt records;

Now of course we don't get all of that 100k (although I believe Premier League teams often let the minnow sides keep the receipts in such fixtures - take note SI, for you have robbed me! ), but it bodes well for the reverse fixture. Either way it's been a good month and an obvious bonus, including the receipt money from the Fleetwood game which also attracted a good crowd;

Obviously we're on a hiding to nothing in the return leg, but with (hopefully) a decent turn out we should get a decent pay day, but even then little bonuses like this help;

As soon as that money is in the bank I'm sure you can guess what I'll be speaking to my board about!!

Should we actually manage to achieve the unthinkable, another sizeable carrot has been dangled;

 

Wacky Fixture scheduling...

I touched on this briefly in my December update but I dug into it a little more afterwards - always looking for reasons as to why we have such good/bad form so I can replicate/avoid said conditions; Seems the FM fixture computer is having a tough old season too;

It's to our credit I guess that we were able to take any sort of form into January following that horror show, but seriously, 6 away games out of 8 is pretty poor on the planning front. I know there have always been blips and lord knows it must be a difficult job trying to code all that across so many leagues etc but I don't remember it being this bad for a while? Suspect it's a knock-on from us doing reasonably well in the cups but either way it's an obstacle we had to overcome!

[optimusprimal82]

[optimusprimal82]

Melting the Mastercard...

Sadly our cup run is at an end but I'm already hard at work putting their - or rather their supporters - money to good use!

With that little windfall safely tucked away, aware that it won't actually go all that far & knowing our boards proclivity not to spend anything I set about asking nicely - slight hiccup in that I couldn't ask for all facilities due to recent requests being rejected buuuut;

I'd love to improve youth recruitment too but still waiting for that one to become an option again! Some might say I'm wasting money on training ground improvements but getting decent youngsters in is only one half of the equation - I need them to keep improving whilst they're here too! Youth facilities are something else I could look at but anyone good enough for the first team in the next year os so will likely be in the top squad anyway so may not benefit.

Just playing through February now and then it should be (almost?) youth intake time again!? Definitely need to cull a fair few of my current youngsters this year so might be a good time to take stock now before the new kids arrive!

[Tgwri1s]

On 21/03/2019 at 09:49, XaW said:

Youth Facilities
The facilities available for Juniors only. Impacts upon newgen quality.

Isn't Youth Facilities exactly what you want to upgrade based on what XaW posted earlier in the thread?

I used to think the same thing as you, that my squad's U18/U19s train at those facilities, but according to that quote that's not the case and it sounds like it could certainly improve the quality of the intake

[optimusprimal82]

1 hour ago, Tgwri1s said:

Isn't Youth Facilities exactly what you want to upgrade based on what XaW posted earlier in the thread?

I used to think the same thing as you, that my squad's U18/U19s train at those facilities, but according to that quote that's not the case and it sounds like it could certainly improve the quality of the intake

You are 100% correct - not sure why I got that muddled? Just asked them as a consequence but nope, sitting like a big fat dragon atop a pile of shiny gold (£1.1 million if you prefer), they told me in no uncertain terms to jog on. The hidden chairman stats (and no doubt underlying club finances) are playing a part here I'm sure, it wasn't even nearly as tough to get improvements out of the FC United board in my previous save (albeit they're a slightly bigger club). Guess the other bonus with FCU is they had elections every 2 years so if i didn't have a chairman i liked he often wasn't around very long!

[XaW]

49 minutes ago, optimusprimal82 said:

Just asked them as a consequence but nope, sitting like a big fat dragon atop a pile of shiny gold (£1.1 million if you prefer), they told me in no uncertain terms to jog on.

I've actually noticed that asking straight after getting a pile of gold, as you did, often will result in a resounding "NO". However, waiting a couple of weeks will give a more pleasing answer. I *think/suspect* that the board don't realize changes to the financial state before the monthly rollover comes along. I don't have any evidence to support this, other than my own anecdotal experience, but I'll offer it none the less. I've had success by waiting for the month to pass and by the Flying Spaghetti Monster I'll stick with that as His Noodly Appendage will.

Great result against City though, and ties like that really give life to the club you are managing. Especially in a youth focused team! Upgrading facilities, youth coaching and youth recruitment is all you can do to improve the intakes and thus player quality (except training/mentoring).

[Hovis Dexter]

May I ask a general question about scouts? You’ve mentioned scouting the opposition for which you need one scout but in view of the fact that you are undertaking an academy challenge do you have any other scouts? If so why, and for what do you use them?

[optimusprimal82]

3 hours ago, XaW said:

I've actually noticed that asking straight after getting a pile of gold, as you did, often will result in a resounding "NO". However, waiting a couple of weeks will give a more pleasing answer. I *think/suspect* that the board don't realize changes to the financial state before the monthly rollover comes along. I don't have any evidence to support this, other than my own anecdotal experience, but I'll offer it none the less. I've had success by waiting for the month to pass and by the Flying Spaghetti Monster I'll stick with that as His Noodly Appendage will.

Great result against City though, and ties like that really give life to the club you are managing. Especially in a youth focused team! Upgrading facilities, youth coaching and youth recruitment is all you can do to improve the intakes and thus player quality (except training/mentoring).

Thanks for the tip, will definitely take it under advisement - let's hope it pays off!  

I started to get greedy eyes when we drew Man Utd in the next round (goodness only knows what my skinflint chariman was doing!) - then reality hit and I remembered the small matter of having to beat City! Our time will come of course, but hey, it was fun whilst it lasted - just a shame about the fallout after it (more on that soon!)

 

2 hours ago, Hovis Dexter said:

May I ask a general question about scouts? You’ve mentioned scouting the opposition for which you need one scout but in view of the fact that you are undertaking an academy challenge do you have any other scouts? If so why, and for what do you use them?

I'm not sure how others are doing it but yep, as you suggest I have minimal scouting staff (2/4) as there isn't much need and i like to save whatever cash I can wherever possible. As well as scouting the opposition I also hire a data analyst and get them to prep info for the games too - every little helps etc!

I will likely hire more scouts going forward, but that's mainly because I'm nosey and I like to be able to see beyond the mask when looking at opposition players etc - the scout report can also give you a reverse idea of how strong relatively that player is to your own side (super in-depth but can be of use maybe in cup finals etc?).

 

[optimusprimal82]

Making room...

The next youth intake day is fast approaching and I've got a mild headache thinking about it; I can't say I'm not excited, but because - as you may remember - I did 'a stupid' by signing everyone from our previous two intakes and not getting rid of any of them before we went pro (thus all £5p/w contracts became £110p/w which is a significant outlay for a club like Hyde!)! The knock-on effect has been thus;

Now naturally not all of those are bad contracts, but by my estimate we're probably throwing a good £1-2kp/w away which again, is not something a club of this size can afford to take lightly. With a cull needed I thought I'd share with you a few more secrets from up my scruffy sleeve, this time how I go about planning transfers/succession (and mentoring used to feed right into this too). I'm not at all saying that this is what you should be doing - for many this would simply be overkill - but if you like to work with a lot of young players it can be beneficial and help you prioritise development, ensuring you don't miss someone/accidentally buy a player when you've got a great youngster.

Obviously given the coaches ability to calculate PA incorrectly I like to give the young guys as much times as I'm able, but we've got a 14JPA coach now which reduces his error margin to approximately 30%, at least if you look at it with my simplistic/crude calculation (I like to at least base it in some logic);

Now acknowledging I need to get rid of some young players is one thing, identifying which ones need to go is another... One way is naturally to kick out the 10-15 lowest potential players and have done, but when we're blocked from buying new lads in is that the safest approach? Whilst obviously CA/PA are universal, there also has to be an element of relativity to the players natural position. A 2 star PA left back may not sound much, but if he's one of only two and the other is rated 1 star PA then surely you keep the 2? So how best to assess this?

By now you'll all have likely seen my yearly squad spreadsheet, and that I also complete something similar for each yearly intake? At the end of each season (and occasionally during) I add/remove players from the main squad list as appropriate, keeping it to just those players I keep/want in my main squad so I've got an 'at a glance' list of what I'm working with. The flaw in that plan is future/succession planning - naturally I've a keen eye so I can try and keep on top of it, I could also lump everyone into one big spreadsheet and try and control it from there; the way I do it is to group players by their positions and organise them in a hierarchy, updating each year/as players improve so i know who's my top dog(s), my best prospect and so I can identify a potential weakness before it happens, or sometimes you can spot ones you didn't even know existed (specifically if players start to decline early)!

With the new intake arriving shortly this was the perfect time to run my squad through the gauntlet and weed out as many players as I could to ascertain who's unfortunately going to be on the chopping block;

Now obviously there are more positions than that but - unless people really want to see them all - I don't think there's a need to post all of them? The premise is simple when I'm looking at each area, I define my primary/first choice, a good & solid backup (usually a young, high PA player) and then the reserves tend to be there to cover injuries and are usually 'the next cabs off the rank' PA wise. Now in a perfect worl you'd perhaps get one (or two for DC) of these guys every 4-5 years so you could cycle them between U18-U23-BKUP-1st seamlessly, but we all know nothing is that simple.

Taking my goalkeepers as an easy example; Peter Crook is an excellent keeper for me currently, and whilst he's certainly got some years left in him yet, the cupboard looks pretty bear in terms of a high PA replacement. Now if Hodges had higher PA then that might cause a bit of an issue as I doubt he'd be happy to play understudy, but zoom time on 4 years, Crook will be 31 and I'll be looking to pass the baton across - yet who out of those guys look likely to make the grade? There's obviously another BKUP to come out of them (at which point it'll be time for Hodges to move on, but it lets me see at a glance that GK is a position I'd class as under 'medium threat'right now.

Looking at any of the other three positions selected and I'm sure you'll see why I've stuck with my same starting XI for so long, not to mention why our performances drop off when we rotate - the quality just isn't there, either in the BKUP's or in the U18's. That doesn't - at least in this challenge - mean that I can just get rid of them all, not when you consider that 2 stars is better than no stars? Whether I like it or not, sometimes needs must!

The eagle eyed may spot a slight variation on the MC/STC pages, namely a bias/type field; these two positions are a little different than others on the field. With my DC's I'll look at which foot they prefer when choosing a primary/bkup pair - I don't always go with the two highest CA's - and the same is true for my MC's albeit to an even greater degree. On top of which foot they favour (and i'm sure a couple of mine are 'non-footed') I also - as I'm sure many of you do - like to get the pairing right so I've maybe got an attack minded player partnering a defensive/support? Think about some of the best midfielders you've ever watched and rest assured you'll likely recall the guy/one of the guys/some of the guys he played alongside and you can see how their types often blend/compliment the other - Pirlo & Gattuso, Scholes & Keane, Petit & Vieira, Xavi, Iniesta & Busquets, Alonso, Mascherano & Gerrard - and it is this that I try to think about when picking pairs/trios here. With my 4141 I can be a little bolder with the MC 2 but the idea is still the same.

Going through the whole side doesn't take all that long once the initial (boring) data entry is complete, and at the end of it we get an automagically generated list of names that I'll sadly be telling soon that they aren't going to make it in league football.

NB: Positional breakdown can also be useful - sometimes you'll have a player who can play in multiple positions and be redundant for one but needed for the other.

I was hoping for a few more than that but even getting rid of these lot free's up ~£1.4kp/w so definitely not too shabby. Once the new intake arrives I'll run the rule over them at a base level before comparing them here again like this in the hope I can offload a couple more I was a little undecided about - every penny saved is a big help at this level, and I shouldn't underestimate the workload on the coaches too!

[Hootieleece]

Youth Clean out! I'm all for it. especially since I really enjoy the game AFTER the real players are gone...

I try to find a good assman for reports and a decent HOYD with a good Personality, but after that I finalize ALL signings. 

On youth intake day I only sign the 3 Star and above potential players (Will dip to a two star, if I am desperate for a backup in a certain position in a youth save)

In my current save in Italy (mostly youth) I have 25 first squad players, 21 under 20's, 17 under 18's.

5 first teamers would be under 20's if this was a regular save.

I NEVER carry more than 80 players at anyone time...and only if I'm a top club.

Gotta keep expenses down!

[optimusprimal82]

5 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Youth Clean out! I'm all for it. especially since I really enjoy the game AFTER the real players are gone...

I try to find a good assman for reports and a decent HOYD with a good Personality, but after that I finalize ALL signings. 

On youth intake day I only sign the 3 Star and above potential players (Will dip to a two star, if I am desperate for a backup in a certain position in a youth save)

In my current save in Italy (mostly youth) I have 25 first squad players, 21 under 20's, 17 under 18's.

5 first teamers would be under 20's if this was a regular save.

I NEVER carry more than 80 players at anyone time...and only if I'm a top club.

Gotta keep expenses down!

Sounds like a good way to stay on top of things and keep the squad nice and tidy!

One thing I forgot to highlight in the above post is that we finally have an amendment to my starting XI, with Fraser Meaney (21A) having now developed sufficiently to be our best option at STC (and also good enough to be a starter in midfield). It's been a long time coming but it's a great feeling to have someone finally make it - even better when Elijah Gabriel (who was a youth player when I took over) isn't far behind (unfortunately he's behind one of my few 4 star players; he's actually good enough to start at RB now, but I only trained him to play there as cover, not super keen to have a left footer playing at RB)!

Was going to go into this all in more detail in the last post but sadly ran out of time so guess I'll do it now! There's actually another 7-8 I'd like to get rid of but as you can see, right now I don't have a choice when it comes to using 2 star players - in some extreme cases having to go lower than that!   Just at the end of Feb now so the new youth intake should be somewhere around here if history is anything to go by, hopefully the reinforcements will help in that department; going through the team as I did I obviously can see that I need quality all over to improve, but most important positions in terms of cover/quality improvement needed are;

GK - could do with a first team able prospect in the next 2-3 years to cover against an ageing Peter Crook (based on a youth player needing 3-4 season to develop to first team readiness). Backup options are ok for now, but being greedy maybe in 4-5 years I could get a solid 3-3.5 star option I could use in cup games?

 

DC - Starting to become a serious problem and something our intake hasn't been kind on so far; our first choice options are already struggling to meet the standard (With Quansah often playing at DMC). None of these guys are the quickest and that will become even harder once they turn 30 and their physicals start to decline so we need a couple of players capable of playing here in the next 1-2 years else there could be trouble ahead. Naturally we could get a quality DMC which frees Quansah up to move back to the DC line (he's a natural in both positions) which honestly seems more likely than getting two first team quality DC's through in such a short time frame!

 

DL - Happy with DL for now. If we get a quality DR/someone who can play there as cover then so much the better.

 

DR - Another weak area. We have lots of bodies who can play there but no-one of such quality they can make the position their own. Gabriel looks good but as mentioned above, his left foot makes me loathe to promote him to first choice on the right!

 

DMC - Happy with the age/quality of Quansah and Thomson is certainly doing a job when called upon so reasonably happy. Only risks to this position are that our DC's are ageing and if I have to move Quansah back (which i'd like to in a lot of ways as he's better than either of my first choice DC's - but they're at the same time better than his DMC backups) then we have no-one of a similar quality coming through.

 

MC - Were it not for our striker issues then we'd be covered for the more attacking side of my MC pairing for a while to come. Question marks remain over Morgan James commitment and mental stats but he's quality when he deems himself ready to play - interestingly he's gained another half a star potential wise since the start of the season. Meaney also has quality but he's currently first choice at STC as he's clearly better than our other options and is improving at a great rate so the gap will only increase. Grant Roberts has been my workhorse every season and has done a stellar job backup up at MR with all of Sutherlands injury problems this year, but he's 30 now & over the next year or so he's going to be very difficult to replace; quality wise we have got replacements,  but only based purely on star value, it's his consistency and professionalism that have been key, hopefully he rubs off on a few during his final few years! Otherwise, we certainly have the numbers, just again, overall quality is on the low side (the two gems aside) if either of them were to be poached away we'd obviously struggle to replace them.

 

ML - Porritt is having a good season all things considered and - questionable mental stats aside - is decent enough that ML isn't a priority. Gabriel's emergence at LB has also freed up our first choice LB (Brownhill) to play further forward when needed, being accomplished in that position. Dawson has been in the first team squad all season & has struggled with the standard (which isn't really his fault at his age), playing 9 times without a goal or assist & struggling for form - he's a little lower potential wise than I'd like but whilst his stats are average, they're in the right places and he's mentally quite good so if nothing else he's a decent option to keep around, and the best of the three young guys.

 

MR - Could definitely do with some help here; Sutherland is having a dreadful season and all the move to full time seems to have done for him is grant him special access to the physio's room. With 14 weeks missed just with the injuries themselves (not counting regaining fitness/match sharpness) it's questionable whether we'll be able to rely on him much going forward. Roberts & Harrison can do a job (and have done well when asked this season) but the position is there for anyone eager to grab the chance - Jibrin potentially could make it his own for a few years but he's developing so slowly (painful Determination likely not helping) that he may miss his chance to ever be more than a decent backup.

 

STC - The problem position of my save so far. It's been painful to watch poor Tom Pratt struggle so often and despite his decent physical stats, it seems that Stephen Wells (20A) is likely to be another patchy scorer going forward. Biggest problem is that none of the guys - even Fraser Meaney (21A) with all his potential - are natural finishers, with a lowly '7' being the highest they can muster between them. Now I'm not expecting 18's of course down at this level, but I'd at least be looking for ~10 for this league, with fingers crossed for a 12? The type of striker we get in also plays a big part; the other issue for Pratt is that he doesn't excel in any area, not technically, not physically, not aerially, which means it's hard to tweak anything to get any more out of him - in contrast, Stephen Wells sin't the quickest player in the game but with acceleration/pace of 15/13 he can certainly play on the shoulder of some of the slow moving monsters in this division and we can bring him into the game that way (useful when teams are attacking us so much). Meaney is a different type of player again, being an AMC naturally his stats lend themselves to a DLF sort of role. Long story short, whilst we have a bit of quality and potential now in Meaney & Wells, they're very different players and whilst can obviously both do a job in the opposites role, it'd be great if I could pull Meaney back to MC and have a naturally gifted finisher up top.

[optimusprimal82]

Back to reality...

The excitement of our cup run was quickly extinguished as City ruthlessly dispatched us without ever really leaving 3rd gear. I can level absolutely no criticism at my guys, they were on a hiding to nothing and long term the funds they've brought in will (hopefully) do us the world of good! With the cup gone, attention turned back to league survival and.... well, let's just say I wasn't wrong with my prediction that this would be a tough month? Ouch!

Yep, a truly shocking month performance wise with very little of positive note to mention. Usually when we dip like this it's due to fixture pileup, fatigue or injuries, but there was plenty of rest and only a few knocks so we can't really blame anyone except ourselves this time, just a combination of non-performances and the home draw with Orient was particularly disappointing - that man Macauley Bonne coming back to haunt us once more! The fact my notes page (i make a quick list of things to include in my monthly writeup whilst i play else I'd forget stuff!) is almost empty speaks volumes to the abysmal show we put on, the only things worth mentioning being a new Hyde United record of games without winning, not something I'm particularly proud of! If my last few posts have shown anything, it's that we are down on quality compared to other teams in the league so I shouldn't be too hard on my guys, especially as these fixtures were pretty tough - Oldham are a giant of a side physically and Swindon  & Doncaster are right in the thick of the promotion/playoff race. Next month see's us playing a lot more of the teams around us with Stevenage in particular being a game we should be looking to win. Worryingly Cheltenham have been on a bit of a charge again, and whilst realistically I'd expect we should have enough, the gap is down to just 7 points now and another month like this one could see us dragged towards the drop zone - it's in our own hands though, and whilst one win see's us achieve our pre-season points target, two I think should all but secure our status for next year.

NB: This table screen contains the first fixture of March too - was so keen to lift us form our slump I was just bashing through. Needless to say we lost that one too so it didn't make much difference to the overall picture of things!

In other news...

No idea what - if any - impact this will have but never had it happen before so interesting all the same;

A nice little bonus for Charlie Collinge (21F - ML) too;

Means his determination has now improved to 13 but afraid that may not be enough to help him break into the first team, although it did save him from my axe during the youth cull!

Should be youth intake update next - fingers crossed for something good (first intake with any of my updates in effect!)

 

[optimusprimal82]

Youth Intake  - Season 3 (2021/22)

Yes it's that time of year again, an opportunity for me to hone my data entry skills and - quite literally - type far too many numbers into a spreadsheet! We're crying out for more quality in the side overall so anyone with high potential will be very welcome, but if I were to narrow it down to a few positions specifically I'd like to see reinforced it'd be DC and STC, with decent additions to MR/ML if that's not being too greedy? Let's see what the FM gods have granted us in any case!

Now I'd love to get some sort of understanding around the HoyD's description each year - 'wonderfully talented' is music to my ears, but then how does it compare to last years projected 'golden generation' when only one player from that group has so far stood out? I suspect the HoyD's JPA stat is maybe to blame with him judging the kids and incorrectly (because he's rubbish) overrating their PA significantly, leading him to contend that "OMG - we've got 8 players with 4+ stars potential!?"...? I could be wrong, but it'll be interesting to see if the rhetoric is dialled back as we get better staff in who are better judges of the young un's for sure!

 

Anyway, to business;

Ok, so at first glance I'm seeing a lot of stars which is very (very) welcome but we know by now that the ratings on my squad screen are often vastly different to the better coaches opinions so I'll keep my gun in it's holster just a while longer yet! My eyes are immediately drawn to the fact that a couple of the stronger players play in 'weak positions' for the team so that's another plus, as is the young DC looking almost first team ready now ability wise; less exciting is 'Temperamental' cropping up a few times for the second year in a row - one of my least favourite personalities (unless you like red cards in derby games/important matches?) it suggests that it's perhaps a weakness of my HoyD like ambition may have been for the guy before him? His personality is Determined which doesn't tell us much, and his Media Handling Style also bears no relation to his temperament - with our rise up the divisions and improved rep I suspect we can maybe upgrade him a little now so it might be worth a quick look around - have to be careful though as his determination and professionalism (the latter reveal by his MHS) are very decent so not worth upgrading unless we can keep them at similar levels! UPDATE: Looks like we're sticking with this guy and his dodgy photo a while longer yet - still clearly the best of the bunch available so we obviously haven't improved all that much!

 

Having collated all of the usual data we see the following picture emerging;

Looking through the players as I was compiling the data I was making my usual observations and notes as I went, but the two standouts for me may well be Lewis Brown (22D) and Michael Skelton (22A), the latter of which reminds me very much of Fraser Meaney (21A) both positionally, potential and attribute wise. Other observations were;

• Allan Cahill (22E) has decent potential but is noted as being very slow by the coaches (6/5 for acc/pac) which is an issue
• Owen Willis (22C) has a lot of potential but an average and vague personality coupled with the abysmal MHS combo of Outspoken, Volatile & Confrontational. As players are so delicate in this years game and morale is so so important it's a massive risk to take him into the fold and get him established as a key member of the squad as should anything not go his way then he'll very effectively be able to hold me to ransom. It's hard to ignore someone with a lofty 4 stars potential (and would be a bit stupid considering our current plight) but I'm writing this here as a warning to future me that I told us so!
• Gavin Lane (22P) is left footed only but his defensive stats (tackling/positioning/anticipation) are abysmal and is much better suited to the MCR role in our current tactical setup. Not against playing left footers at MCR & right at MCL but a consideration all the same. Sadly I don't think it will be an issue given his potential.
• Steve Stewart (22N) is absolutely the sort of player i'd normally be on the lookout for, sadly he doesn't appear to have the requisite potential needed to take us forward, but it may be enough to stick around for a year or two.
• Frank Lawlor (22L) - the only natural STC in the group - has awful finishing (5) and is already competent at MC, a position he's much better suited for. If he's to stay (which looks unlikely), recommend he retrains to become a natural midfielder

Put side by side, it seems the squad view and coaches ratings aren't all that different this year - although we're yet to play the U18 vs youth prospect game after which I suspect the squad ratings will adjust slightly:

 

So who to keep...?

The (hopefully multi) million dollar question! One way of making the decision as to who to keep would be to pick everyone with 2/3+ star potential, but I'd rather follow my succession planning & rate them against the current options in their respective positions and see if any of them are an upgrade, keeping them if so,

Goalkeepers

Better potentially than any of the current backups/reserves. Ian Pollock (22F) is the first to be retained - he may never oust Crook but has enough to see off the others and should see one of Lockwood or Kyle leave the club in the near future;

Ian Pollock (22F) - Keep

 

Central Defenders

Another easy decision as the two young DC's are better potentially than either of our current 1st choices. Lewis Brown (22D) is already pushing for a first team spot at just 15 years of age (which brings with it a warning having seen similarly excellent youngsters who sometimes don't develop any further) and Allan Cahill (22E) isn't far behind current backup option Lloyd Adkins. The other 3 young guys may still have a future purely due to the age of Hughes & Fagbola but they've already been outclassed so will need to develop quickly lest they face the axe;

Allan Cahill (22E), Lewis Brown (22D) - Keep

 

Defender Left

A tough group to break into as one of the strongest positions in our side currently, but Sean Berwick (22K) just makes the cut, pushing Dane May (21M) onto the axe list;

Sean Berwick (22K) - Keep

 

Defender Right

Something of a problem position, can Owen Willis (22C) keep from complaining long enough to push for a place in the team and make it his own? Ability wise he's a bit behind the others right now, but potentially he can be better than any of them. Another nail in Dane May's (21M) coffin see's him confirmed as being set for release now with Jon Forrest (21D) needing to look over his shoulder;

Owen Willis (22C) - Keep

 

Defensive Midfield

No options at all here this year. We're well stocked and covered here for now so no real concerns but naturally if the trend continues we may have to look at a tactical change to redress the squads balance.

 

Midfield Centre

A lot of competition in this group but still plenty of room for quality improvements. Sadly Gavin Lane (22P) just isn't going to cut it so misses out, as does Steve Stewart (22N), great mental stats & all! Antony Goldberg (22H) can count himself unlucky, but as another attacking option we just don't have the room for him with just 2 star potential - if he'd been more defensively minded I could have made more of a case for him. Lastly, Frank Lawlor (22L) - naturally a striker - would be much better as an MC (imo) but can't make the cut here either so that's 4 from 4 MC prospects that don't make the grade this year;

Gavin Lane (22P), Steve Stewart (22N), Antony Goldberg (22H), Frank Lawlor (22L) - Rejected

 

Midfield Left

When analysing wide players I take into consideration both regular ML/MR's and their more attacking counterparts so no real need to analyse them separately - I tend to make sure all of my wide players can play both positions anyway to allow me greater in-game flexibility. Just the two to choose from this year on the left but sadly none of Anthony Ellis (22J), Kevin Devine (22I) or Alistair Dobson (22M) seem to have enough about them to be worth keeping;

Anthony Ellis (22J), Kevin Devine (22I), Alistair Dobson (22M) - Rejected

 

Midfield Right

We've yet to have a really good wing prospect come through so goodness only knows now would be the time for it to happen with first choice MR Chris Sutherland spending more than half the season on the treatment table so far! Luckily the FM gods seem to have sensed our need with three potentials making the cut; Owen Willis (22C) is a DR by trade but can more than ably deputise at MR, Owen O'Keefe (22G) & Joe Nolan (22B) are both upgrades on what we already have so they too find their services will be retained, the knock-on being that Bobby Smith (21J) is now deemed surplus to requirements. Kris Parker (22O) sadly doesn't make the cut;

Owen O'Keefe (22G), Joe Nolan (22B) - Keep

Kris Parker (22O) - Rejected

 

Strikers

It's something of a running joke now how consistently bad our forward line is/has been and despite the arrival of Michael Skelton (22A) to add some much needed quality, he's a very similar player to Fraser Meaney (21A) so may not solve the 'clinical finishing' issue but does give us greater options up top. As mentioned above, the only out and out striker in this group Frank Lawlor (22L) sadly isn't going to make the grade and has already been cut;

Michael Skelton (22A) - Keep

 

Decision Time...

With all that being done, we now have our completed list for this year and the good news is that there seems to be some real quality here and if the guys can reach their potential we should see improvements in quite a few positions - remains to be seen if we'll reach 50% as a retain value in future, as our squad gets better I expect the attrition rate to become higher;

 

[optimusprimal82]

Best Prospects 2022

With the decisions made and contracts signed let's have a quick look at our top 4 from this year's intake - please note that the letters are assigned during my intake in order of potential AND position favouring forwards first (hence Skelton got A as the most attacking of the 4*'s). For my money Lewis Brown looks to be the pick of this bunch, though I'll be hoping that his acceleration/pace improve as he gets a bit older, not to mention his marking & concentration.

Michael Skelton (22A)

 

Joe Nolan (22B)

 

Owen Willis (22C)

 

Lewis Brown (22D)

 

[XaW]

Some really nice potential there.

At first glace Skelton looks like a very decent link-up striker, even with low-ish finishing skills. Though his 4 Off the ball is an issue, at least it would be for me, unless you are looking to use him in a VERY stationary role.

Lewis Brown looks like the real deal. Needs a bit work on his marking (and strength, but that should come naturally with age), other than that he should be good for you. He is a bit on the short side for my likening, but at least his jumping reach is in the double digits. Otherwise he might be retrained to be a cracking DM with great work rate and bravery and reasonable passing.

[optimusprimal82]

Yeah Skelton definitely has some skills, but that 'off the ball' is a bit of a drag (one of my essential stats too!). I'm less fussy about attributes at this level overall, but I fear something so fundamental - especially given the seemingly finicky nature of strikers in this years engine - may hang around his neck a little. Got him on additional training in the hope it makes a difference whilst he's young, but haven't had much success using it in any of my saves so far, getting an occasional 1 point raise before either the coach says we don't need to improve it any more(?!) or the player starts complaining about the extra training. Temptation is there to retrain him as an attacking MC, but seems a waste of his point pool and as you say, off the ball aside he could play very nicely as a DLF/F9 maybe with support from wide areas.

I'm very excited by Brown but you're bang on about his height - weirdly I seem to be having that problem consistently with my intakes, with only 1-2 over 185cm? Our team as a whole is really poor in terms of height and physicality, something ruthlessly exploited by Oldham recently;

Yep, we're bottom both for average height and weight. And most other things if im being honest!  

Cahill has reasonable potential, is 190cm and opposite footed to Brown so might be they end up as a pairing and his height covers for Brown - issue then of course is that neither is particularly quick? Dilemmas everywhere!  

 

[XaW]

40 minutes ago, optimusprimal82 said:

I'm very excited by Brown but you're bang on about his height - weirdly I seem to be having that problem consistently with my intakes, with only 1-2 over 185cm?

Luckily height isn't much of a factor other than taken into account when displaying jumping reach. So since he has 10 he has a good leap for someone his size. You might try to improve his pace and acceleration though, to let him be the cover while Cahill is the big grumpy stopper that clatters forwards ahead of him?

[optimusprimal82]

My kingdom for a striker...!

What a frustrating month March was; buoyed by the injection of quality from this year's intake we headed into what we hoped would be a more successful month, looking to end the dreadful winless run we were on! If drinking from the half-full glass then yes, we only lost two games this month which is a huge improvement over February, but simple fact is that we're struggling massively in front of goal, finding the net just 7 times in our last 12 games (and conceding 22). Performances in game haven't altered all that much (although we did play some tough sides lat month so we struggled a bit in those), what is noticeable though is just how many chances we're currently missing and I can only really put that down to the pervasive low morale that such a run inflicts - to better illustrate my point;

The one bright spot - and this saved a hairdryer treatment or two - was an insane comeback against Stevenage; already identified as a potential relegation six-pointer I was more focused on not losing given our awful form. As is the norm, they were heavy favourites despite league position and it showed early on as they played us off the park for the first ten minutes. I quickly changed things up and we worked our way back into the game only to receive a sucker punch at the end of the first half, going in 1-0 down. The second half was a lesson in abject frustration as we missed chance after chance, even changing up to a more attacking approach doing little save adding to our shots off target tally. With us heading into 90 minutes and staring down the barrel, I went FM-crazy and all out, 'demanding more'and more is certainly what I got - what a way to end the streak and get our final 'target win'!

Turns out that kind of luck can swing both ways, but that's a story for next time, for now this is the month as it happened;

So there we are, just 5 games to go and we're almost safe. Cheltenham are enjoying a it of a rally and I'll admit that our dodgy form was certainly giving me cause for concern but I'm much more relieved now. The highest points total of a team that's been relegated from this division in this save is 43, but I'll be honest and admit that I'd still like to get another result in the bag to make sure, but we're not in a terrible position and frankly, if we go down from here then we ultimately deserve it!

 

Head of youth what now...?

I don't usually pay even the slightest bit of attention to the players my HoyD recommends we sign following the intake game, preferring to make my own decisions. What i've noticed in passing is a general trend for my HoyD to recommend we sign nearly everyone; not so this year with him suggesting strangely few, and more bizarrely omitting 4* prospect Joe Nolan but recommending two that I've decided are far inferior to our current crop. Always makes me slightly paranoid when something like that happens - I largely don't trust the staff opinions all that much but something led him to that decision so only natural I second guess him at least a little bit (ignored it now and moved on though!

 

Coming soon...

Final 6 games of the season - let's finish it off lads and stay in this festering bog of a league for another year!  

[optimusprimal82]

April fools!

I'm not sure it was ever really in doubt as we headed into April but we did it! I know it might sound strange having been on the end of 21 painful defeats in the league but it was a thoroughly enjoyable season and one that - in no small part due to our FA cup run - may shape the trajectory of our next few years! With multiple facility improvements sanctioned by the board and the best youth intake we've had so far, I'm optimistic that we can do even better next year! Promotion? I think that's likely a step too far right now, but certainly when this years group mature a little and with the possible addition of 2-3 next year we may be only a few years away as opposed to the 5-6 I was envisaging after the first ten games - obviously this is all dependent on players developing well and us keeping hold of them so as ever, watch this space!

The month started poorly as our strikers were just constantly skewing any chances that they could get;

Now with us struggling for goals and with him not scoring when played as an STC, I'd pulled Fraser Meaney (21A) back into MC and he'd kept his account ticking over. Realising that Pratt & Wells were seriously struggling I had no choice but to restore him to the forward line & following a small - but apparently important - tactical tweak, he suddenly burst into life, scoring 4 in the final two games of the season so some food for thought there for me next year!

You may recall that we robbed Stevenage of their win last month, well the tables were truly turned when 3-2 up away to Grimsby; looking pretty comfortable (which isn't always a guarantee with this lot) our left back had one of those moments you just can't believe you've seen and dove into a tackle deep within the penalty box, earning a second yellow and conceding the penalty which was duly dispatched. To run salt in my grumpy wounds, the referee played well past the allotted 3 minutes added time only for Grimbsy to net a winner courtesy of a mistake by our DR - not a great day to be a full back!

It sounds silly to say that you feel both 'happy and proud' to finish 19th, but honestly, with this group I couldn't be more delighted - I truly feel that we've worked wonders looking at the ability gap (if you missed that post, read here) and whilst at times it's been super frustrating (particularly these last few months as we've missed chance after chance) the net result is a super rewarding feeling and a desire to get straight back at the wheel and go again! It seems my pre-season target of 42 points was pretty close, but thank goodness we (far) exceeded it else there might have been some serious bottom-based squeaking going on! I'll have a rethink for next year, but I think 48 sounds far safer (if not equally daunting!)

Board confidence has taken a slight dip over the course of the season which in some ways feels a bit of a surprise, but the 'untouchable' status was - I guess - as a result of overachieving by so much? Whilst we exceeded their expectations this year, it wasn't anywhere near the same margin (although honestly it feels like it!);

To celebrate another year in the division I decided to treat myself and thus asked the board to spend a little more of the City money, somewhat surprisingly they agreed after a little persuasion!

So yet another improvement on the way - can't wait now for next years intake!

 

Special mention...

We all have heroes in the game; people we either looked up to or love(d) to watch, maybe even emulated when we were playing ourselves? This lad - who has been in the news a fair bit lately for someone not keen on the spotlight - was, is and always will be one of my favourite players to have ever graced the game, so whilst it's cheesy, it's also a little bit awesome for his fictional and not at all related FM-self to offer me words of praise!  

End of season review coming up next!

[optimusprimal82]

Season 3 - End of Year Review - 2021/22

Competitions

Sky Bet League Two | Board Expectation - Fight Relegation | Media Prediction: 24/24 | Actual Finish: 19/24

Well what a season that was! It's no fun getting beaten almost every week, but the fact we had (just about) enough of a fighting chance made for an incredibly enjoyable ride! Would I be saying the same thing if we'd gone down? I think it's safe to say I'd not be as annoyingly chirpy, but this year has been as important as much for the success off the pitch as on it and it's there that I take great satisfaction  - the improvements made will hopefully accelerate our progression over the next few years, our intake this year possibly being a good demonstration of that with the quality in general seeming a cut above the previous years!

I could go through the season and list our problems on the football side, easy examples being we concede too many and don't score enough - but what team finishing 19th doesn't have those issues, they're pretty fundamental after all?! In a lot of ways I think we've worked miracles to stay up when looking at the team report comparisons - we're still so far behind the rest of the league in so many categories that you could actually argue that this is again a year of over-achievement?

I'm cautiously optimistic heading into next year, obviously we were lucky in some respects that there were two teams comfortably - at least in a playing sense - worse than us (although we did struggle still when playing them both) but we don't know if that will be the case next year and I'd much prefer we focus on ourselves in any case. The concern is obviously stopping the bad runs when they crop up as there were two instances this year where it didn't look as if we'd be able to buy a win - when our side is in great spirits we miss too many chances, when we're miserable we struggle to understand what a chance even is! October and January were key months for us, collecting 13 and 12 points respectively and if we can, I'd like to maybe stagger those over the season a little more as I'm not sure it's sustainable to rely on 4-5 game winning bursts to dig us out of trouble, especially when we've proved that 8 game streaks without winning are our speciality!

With four good quality additions from the intake the hope is we can push on a little with senior stalwarts like Grant Roberts & Matty Hughes now in their 30's and on the slippery slope of decline; next season may be a little too soon for them to have a huge impact - taking the super-talented Fraser Meaney (21A) from the year before as an example, it wasn't until the final third of the season that he really started to show what he can do - so we'll need to have patience, but the squad overall feels stronger heading into next year so we don't really have anything to fear (unless the board set ridiculous expectations of course!).

 

Checkatrade Trophy | Board Expectation - Group Stage | Achieved: Group Stage Exit

A cup I absolutely could care less about, whatever genius decided having a midweek competition with groups and associated fixtures needs their head examined - how clubs at this level can fulfil all their obligations is beyond me, the amount of fixtures would have a premier league manager crying! For some reason the board expectations for this competition have disappeared from my competitions/confidence screens but I recall that they expected us to go out in the group stages and I was more than happy to oblige, playing kids in every game. As it happens we had an incredibly tough group anyway with Shrewsbury - who led the league for the majority of the season - going through comfortably.

 

English FA Cup | Board Expectation - Reach First Round | Achieved: Fourth Round Exit (Manchester City)

The story of our season! To pour a little cold water on my 'every cup game is away' theory we were handed a few generous home draws early in the competition before an incredibly tough looking away fixture to Fleetwood came out of the hat in the third round. With the potential riches of the fourth round just a stones throw away I was a little gutted as with our league form I couldn't sensibly suggest that we had any chance of winning away to a team from a higher division (especially as they'd beaten us emphatically in the Checkatrade already this season!) but win we did, the game setting us up for a great little run of form.

To my immediate delight and then disappointment, we drew Man City in the next round, but as the penny dropped that we'd be the home side I started to count the lost thousands of pounds we could have got from an away fixture. Going into the game with nought but a fools hope, we had the most ridiculous luck I think I've witnessed with City getting a red card for a challenge that was questionable just as a foul, and then scoring from a chance presented by a tackle that Vinny Jones would have been proud of! In the end it doesn't matter, we got the unthinkable draw which means we got our away day in the sun and the riches that go with it!

Of course we had no chance in the reverse leg, going down 3-0 and with the subsequent morale drop sending our league form off a cliff, but the cash injection we received has already been put to good use with multiple facility upgrades in the works which bodes incredibly well for the next few seasons! Naturally we can't rely on cup runs like this every year, but whilst we're down in these divisions if we can get one say every 4-5 years then it could make all the difference in terms of timeline and progression so it's certainly worth maybe prioritising the FA cup whenever possible!

 

Carabao Cup | Board Expectation - Reach First Round | Achieved: First Round Exit (Scunthorpe)

Another one where the board expectations have disappeared but again, they had set minimum requirements; If the draw had been at home instead of away then we may have had more of a chance, as it was I suspected we would struggle to beat 'The Iron' so rested accordingly to save our players for the league and the game reached it's natural conclusion.

 

The 'Cup Draw' Table

The scoreboard swung back towards the home side a little this year but it was still a pretty close run thing overall - will definitely be hoping for more home draws to help us get a bit further in the cups next year, just please FM gods, away games for any premier league team fixtures?

 

Youth Intake 2022

The first year where I've gotten really excited. Obviously by now you'll all have seen me wax lyrical about Fraser Meaney (21A) but one man alone - as good as he is - won't make all that much difference. Two years ago we had average quality but a deep pool, last year we had a very shallow pool with good quality, this year we seemed to get the best of both worlds with four players seemingly set to improve our starting XI (depending on how they develop) which is more than anyone can realistically expect?

Lewis Brown (22D) is the pick of the bunch for me, a very solid looking defender (albeit with a few caveats which is natural at this level) that if he develops like I hope & we can keep with us should be a rock in the team we can build around. Michael Skelton (22A) also looks talented and brings some much needed quality to our forward line (although nailing down his best position and role is a little tricky), with Joe Nolan (22B) & Owen Willis (22C) rounding out our potentially awesome foursome!

With the improvements we've made and the ones still happening I'm pretty hopeful that next year will see a similar yield with hopefully another 3-4 who can really push us on and get us fighting at the top end of the table (and hopefully have enough to keep us up afterwards!)

Michael Skelton (22A)

 

Joe Nolan (22B)

 

Owen Willis (22C)

 

Lewis Brown (22D)

 

Transfers

Nice and quiet - the way I like it (at least in this save) with our first, one and only departure being Janni Lipka - an ageing MC - leaving on a free. Janni's played 38 times this year for his new club so the move was clearly good for him as I doubt he'd have got much game time with the amount of young lads coming though in MC. Noticed that the League two window doesn't actually capture his departure, not sure why that is, maybe a slight miss in timings of his contract ending/the English transfer window opening?

Not transfers as such, but with spiralling youth wage costs I've set a lot of the U18's for release this summer which saddens me but sadly w're not a charity and these lads either don't have the potential or lack the work ethic to realise it. I always think twice before hitting release because when developing youngsters there's no guarantees and a decision may come back to haunt you, but for every additional face there's both a financial & physical cost (facilities and coaches etc) so it makes sense and I hope a lot of them find new clubs and make it in the game, albeit at a lower level - would love to see my 'tags' infecting the leagues for years to come!

 

Squad Statistics

Top Scorer - Fraser Meaney 21A (14) | Most Assists - Luke Porritt (9) | Top Rating - Morgan James (7.05)

Lower numbers across the board again this year perfectly highlighting our struggles in this division. The story may well have been different had Morgan James - top scorer in the previous two seasons - not downed tools for half the season over an apparent unkept promise; he finally snapped out of it a good few months into the season whilst on 0 goals yet finished with 11 which shows his importance still to our side. He'd actually have taken the top scorer award for the third consecutive year had it not been for a sudden burst of form from Fraser Meaney (21A) in the final two games; Fraser had a slow start to the season, still being just below the level of others in the team, yet frequent appearances in the cups/from the bench helped his development along and he's now comfortably part of the first XI. Like the other strikers he was having issues finding the net, but only when played as an STC, let's hope the tactical tweaks that inspired the end of season goal haul are the answer to our goalscoring prayers and he can carry that form throughout next year!

Another good season for Luke Porritt, the worlds worst trainer; I've had reservations about him since the very first season yet he's constantly put good numbers up and finished third overall in the league for assists which for a team finishing 19th isn't too shabby at all. His wing partner Chris Sutherland however had a nightmare, missing over 5 months of the season due to injury, meaning we were using makeshifts there all year which undoubtedly did our cause serious harm. Joe Nolan (22B) is a new right winger with bags of potential so the hope is he can develop and bring to the right hand side what Luke has to the left - fingers crossed!

 

Sky Bet League 2 Player of The Season: Gareth Bye (Swindon)

The first season that Hyde United had no nominee's; the creative force behind Swindon's successful promotion charge, Gareth scored 15 goals and registered 10 assists with an average rating of 7.29, impressive numbers showing why he was a worthy winner overall.

 

Sky Bet League Two Top Goalscorer: Marcus Sheldon (Northampton - 26 goals)

Pretty close at the top this year, my guys sadly miles behind (11 being our top league total)

 

Sky Bet League 2 Manager of The Season: Steven Pressley (Swindon)

Hmph. Reckon they need a shake up in the voting.

 

Hyde United FC Awards Night: 

Shortly to be renamed the 'Morgan James' award, his third win in three years - be interesting to see if he has competition next year (or if he's still around to receive it having just asked to leave!), specifically from Fraser Meaney (21A)

 

Managers Player of The Season: Keenan Quansah

An absolute rock at DMC, this guy has hardly missed a game and has had his work cut out as we've been constantly put under pressure by teams that are just simply better than us. With none of the drama from someone like Morgan James, this guy just gets on with it and kicks up little fuss - like this;

Comfortable at both DMC & DC, I'd actually like to play him in the backline a little more often, but such is his quality that he leaves impossible boots to fill in that key midfield anchor position. With age very much on his side, I expect him to a fixture of the side for a while yet!

 

In other news

Premier League Winners: Manchester United (3rd year in a row)

FA cup Winners: Liverpool

League Cup Winners: West Ham

Champions League Winners: Manchester United (3rd win in 4 years)

Europa League Winners: Tottenham Hotspur

La Liga Winners: Barcelona

Bundesliga Winners: Borussia Dortmund

Serie A Winners: Napoli

 

Board room updates

A little odd to find this in my inbox considering that we already had works in the pipeline - I hope that it means they're increasing the improvement level and that it's not some weird bug where we get to pay twice for the privilege of a very average upgrade?  

 

As soon as this became an option again I asked the question and fluttered my eyelashes accordingly - improvements, improvements everywhere!

 

Depressingly low numbers but more money is better than less!

 

My stock has fallen slightly with the board but overall they're still pretty pleased; so long as they don't raise expectations unrealistically and we don't have a disaster of a season I should be ok next year?

 

Final Thoughts

Obviously in a new league and having overachieved for two years we were bound to hit a wall at some point and this was that year. A year of consolidation whilst we maintained our status and awaited much needed new blood. The concern last season with just one player standing out from the intake is that it could be a very slow process progressing and the concern as to whether the board and fans would be ok with that - following this years intake though things are definitely looking up, not least due to the impressive amount of improvements we've been able to make off the back of an incredible cup run. there's no guarantees that next years intake will be half as good, but the improvements should average out at least over the next few years and supply us with the tools needed to move up a division (or two!). People told me before I started this challenge that the first 2-3 years would be the hardest whilst you wait for even the first years intake to develop and in some ways we've bucked that trend, but now those chickens are coming home to roost as with a two division jump it's clear that almost all of the first years intake are below the current standard.

Predictions for next season: Same as this year, a struggle against relegation with players developing whilst enjoying dreadful cup runs/early exits; we finished 19th this year so i'll be happy with 18th!

[XaW]

3 hours ago, optimusprimal82 said:

would love to see my 'tags' infecting the leagues for years to come!

I also enjoy things like this. I always tag each and everyone of my youth players. Suddenly I see them in the team I'm playing against, and get a sense of pride in that even though he got sold/released from my club after a while, he still fought on and make a career. Kind of a fatherly pride to see the young'un have made it on his own.

A great season for you, and with another year of development you should see the benefits soon. The trick is always giving the youngsters enough gametime, but not too much. I've always had the mentality of "good enough is old enough" so I'm usually blooding them way too soon and way to often.

Good luck next season, I think you'll en up just below the playoffs, and then get promoted the season after next. No pressure!

[optimusprimal82]

2 hours ago, XaW said:

I also enjoy things like this. I always tag each and everyone of my youth players. Suddenly I see them in the team I'm playing against, and get a sense of pride in that even though he got sold/released from my club after a while, he still fought on and make a career. Kind of a fatherly pride to see the young'un have made it on his own.

A great season for you, and with another year of development you should see the benefits soon. The trick is always giving the youngsters enough gametime, but not too much. I've always had the mentality of "good enough is old enough" so I'm usually blooding them way too soon and way to often.

Good luck next season, I think you'll en up just below the playoffs, and then get promoted the season after next. No pressure!

Yeah it's cool seeing them become successful, love seeing those little stories play out! I always like seeing my loan players help get their team promoted and all that stupid sort of stuff. The only time I weirdly drop all sentimentality out of the window is when they hit 30 and I can't get them out of the team fast enough - I'll keep them around for mentoring or whatnot but despite being fiercely loyal for most of their career it appears - in FM at least - that I am supremely ageist! Thankfully my employer does not subscribe to this same theory else I would have been out on my bottom a long time ago!  

Do you find that 19 (and maybe 18?) are far harsher when it comes to rotating? I am also a stickler for throwing kids at the team (and you mentioning that has inspired my next post!) as soon as I can but in recent versions have found that the game - quite rightly imo - has gotten the balance between tactics and player ability down much better? Not saying it's perfect - I still think I've overachieved with these guys for example - but I found I could rotate the kids in with much less risk say in FM12/13/14? All conjecture and opinion, but just a constant thought I've had whilst playing through 19!

Ha, thanks... I think?