[FMT19] União da Bola - Bringing champagne football to Cristiano Ronaldo Island

[noikeee]

Hello. My name is noikeee, I am a veteran virtual football manager of this forum, and after many adventures in the past, am now back after a Guardiola-style sabbatical of several months, in which I've been silently swallowing my vicious hate for the horrendously frustrating FM19 version of the game taking a break from the game to refresh myself. I am now a recent convert to the delights of FM Touch, where you can just ignore tons of pointless BS in the main game and just play some ****ing football. I've also recently hit the mall and bought a dope jacket.

 

feeling cute, might delete later, idk

 

I am feeling energized, ready to rock and roll and have decided that the perfect spot to get back to FM is a one-club career (at least this is the plan at this stage?) at the place that's dearest to me, the island I've lived my whole life. This would be an island that's worldwide known for its incredible landscapes, its sweet wine, flora and fauna, superb moderate weather awful statues of Cristiano Ronaldo.

 

   

 

Football-wise, apart from the legendary talent and ego that is Ronaldo which completely overshadows any other footballing fact from this rock in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, two clubs stand out: Marítimo, the most successful club from the island who I have casually supported all my life, and those arseholes Nacional who are their main rivals, mostly known for a bizarre ultras section of middle aged women and their completely not dodgy at all president. But wait, there is more. You might not have heard about it, but there is a THIRD club from Funchal. I know, shocking, this is a fact that completely flabbergasts people. In fact this club is so unknown that back in 2006, at a particularly difficult time, this dramatic based-in-real-life documentary was shot depicting the life of its last standing fan:

 

 

 

 

We are, of course, talking about CLUBE DE FUTEBOL UNIÃO, better known as União da Madeira. A yo-yo club which has largely been bouncing between divisions 2 and 3 of Portuguese football, it wildly reached the heights of the top tier back between 1989 and 1992, then again between 1993 and 1995, and then, sensationally, 4 years ago in 2015... only to fall back down immediately. And down again. It's back to tier 3 now.

 

Only one piece is missing in this introduction to this career, which I need to hurry because it's bloody late here and I'm badly missing some hours of sleep. My secret weapon, my cunning plan that I've preparing in my basement to take over the world. The tactic that's so evil that actually made me enjoy FM19. I present to you, Champagne Football:

 

 

The details have been explained in depth in the tactics forum - but basically the idea is to play ridiculously attacking football, with direct penetration coming from the wingers and pacey forward, then supported by lots of central players (3 nominal midfielders + a duo of IWBs) that ensure we get loads of passing options and dominate the centre of the pitch, whilst at the base we are supported by two wide open ball playing CBs, split by a half-back, letting us easily build from the back, starting all the way from the sweeper keeper. It's a funky system that demands loads from every player, as essentially every single player has some sort of dual role to play, which sounds like a horror story for a limited third tier side like this, doubly so given this is a club that was recently known for playing some really dull defensive football. But hey I like challenges, and what better one that to turn this unknown lot into top class entertainers?

 

Actual game play will come some other day as I haven't even looked at my squad yet. Vamos União da Bola!!

 

Edited July 22, 2019 by noikeee

[Deisler26]

[abulezz]

Nice - looking forward to this!

[noikeee]

13 hours ago, Deisler26 said:

 

12 hours ago, abulezz said:

Nice - looking forward to this!

Cheers guys, looks like all the same old faces around here, eh?

[noikeee]

Squad introduction

 

That is... a hell of a lot of players. Two things stand out: that there's some pretty amazing players for this level in this squad actually... and that there's some even better players out on loan at higher level clubs.

The stars:

 
A super pacey right winger, rated the highest level player currently in the squad that's actually playing for us. I could do with better finishing but I think he's fine, if I could pick any attribute for my star player to be awesome in it'd be pace anyway.

 
This other guy, who coincidentally is also from Guinea-Bissau, is in my opinion an even better player though. Almost perfect for the striker role, I couldn't ask for anything more (except maybe for not-awful determination). Far too good for this level, 

 
This experienced defender will play either as BPD or HB, I reckon HB is a better fit as I think he's lacking a little in pace to play in our super high defensive line system, but it'll depend on the other available options.

 
A talented creative player who seems a good fit for Trequartista, he's getting a bit too old though, I could do with more pace and it'll only go further down.

Team report comparison

 

We seem to be slightly above average for the division which is fine, and backs up our status as a side that was not too long ago 2 divisions above.

I am aiming at promotion but that is tricky. At this level there's 4 divisions of 18 teams, and out of all of those, only 2 at the end will get promoted after a series of playoffs, so we need to have a seriously good season to make it. I need to have an even deeper look at the squad to figure out if it's achievable, but I think it should be, although ultimately even if we do really well in the regular league season it'll depend on a handful of key matches in the eventual playoffs.

[noikeee]

Pre-season 2018/2019

 

We picked up 2 Brazilians on frees, and another 3 players on loan.

 

 
19yo creative kid, seems a great fit for the left wing.

 
I gave this 32yo Brazilian creative force stupid wages but I think it's worth it for a season. Will play as the Trequartista.

 
The first of the 3 loans. A pretty good left-back.

 
An okay option for box-to-box midfielder but I'd have liked better tackling,

 
Slightly better CB than the ones we had.

I love the IR button. It almost gave me a 100% record in pre-season, including a shock win over Anderlecht, but then we were surprised by Benfica de Castelo Branco in the final friendly.

[noikeee]

August 2018

 

A good start. Two set piece goals weren't quite the "champagne football" I was looking for in the season opener but they count anyway: and then we turned back a 1-0 defficit away to Sanjoanense to a 3-1 win after they got a man sent off.

 

[noikeee]

September 2018

Veteran signing Fellype Gabriel is starting to justify the huge wages we're paying him, as he scores 2 screamers from outside of the area and gets 2 assists. Striker Adul Seidi is also on top form, as well as left-IWB Matheus Leal (another signing), and we proceed in the cup, as well as climb to the top of the league, even if we conceded a 95th minute equaliser against Cesarense.

 

[scarp]

My favourite style of career updates. Good luck - will definitely follow.

[B.W.G]

It's been a nice start to the season

[oriole01]

This should be great fun! Glad you're back and enthused to play again, we missed you. Love the choice of club and the personal factor too.

Could you post a screenshot of Sylla? I remember seeing him featured on a TV show that claimed him as a wonderkid, curious how the game rates him, and if he's got any chance of making it at a top club.

[noikeee]

13 hours ago, scarp said:

My favourite style of career updates. Good luck - will definitely follow.

I certainly strive to provide style, just look at the yellow jacket. 

12 hours ago, B.W.G said:

It's been a nice start to the season

I'm pretty happy with it so far!

8 hours ago, oriole01 said:

This should be great fun! Glad you're back and enthused to play again, we missed you. Love the choice of club and the personal factor too.

Could you post a screenshot of Sylla? I remember seeing him featured on a TV show that claimed him as a wonderkid, curious how the game rates him, and if he's got any chance of making it at a top club.

He's certainly nowhere near wonderkid good, but still stupid good for us.

The other guy we have out on loan, a DM, is even better:

I'm really looking forward to getting them back next year, Sylla in particular would fix a weakness we have at RB. I think what happened here is that the players are just too good to play in the 3rd tier, so instead of the club selling them, they just loaned them out to higher division clubs hoping they'll grow in value, so they can be sold for more next year, or reintegrated in case the club gets promoted back to the 2nd tier.

They're both playing for Famalicão by the way, who in real life got promoted to the 1st tier. That's how good they are...

Edited July 24, 2019 by noikeee

[nsd]

Certainly an interesting tactic! Good to see Gabriel has started well, love it when you risk all the wages on a veteran and it works out. I also love the idea of making island clubs a powerhouse away from the mainland - I had one season with Santa Clara of the Azores, but the game never generated any league fixtures for the season season so it died pretty quickly. Good luck with the champagne football!

[noikeee]

October 2018

 

Well that's some highs and lows! A massive 7-0 drubbing included a poker from winger Aldair who's done nothing before and nothing since; and then we just randomly got kicked out of the cup after Águeda scored 3 with their first 3 shots, completely destroyed Coimbrões away, then it was our turn to get dicked on by Paredes away too. Eh?

We drop to 2nd though that's still good enough for playoffs, if the season would finish now.

 

Edited July 24, 2019 by noikeee

[noikeee]

24 minutes ago, nsd said:

Certainly an interesting tactic! Good to see Gabriel has started well, love it when you risk all the wages on a veteran and it works out. I also love the idea of making island clubs a powerhouse away from the mainland - I had one season with Santa Clara of the Azores, but the game never generated any league fixtures for the season season so it died pretty quickly. Good luck with the champagne football!

Tbh I wasn't too irresponsible with the veteran wages there, the club is in a surprisingly strong financial situation. I didn't even touch my 114K€ transfer budget and we're also keeping a fairly loose buffer to play with on the wage budget.

[noikeee]

November 2018

An unbeaten month could've been an all-wins month, if it wasn't for 86th and 93rd minute goals from Vildemoinhos in that epic 3-3. That's the price we have to play for trying to play open football. On the upside we're watching lots of goals, and in that win over Espinho which was so important, we watched Aldair take the **** out of their LB, then Fellype Gabriel play the most delicious lofted long ball into a blitzing run from Lucas Sebastian. So satisfying.

This puts us back to 1st now.

 

[abulezz]

Going strong - I don't see any reason why you shouldn't finish the season as 1st!

[noikeee]

"Doesn't matter how many times you try, never give up."

[noikeee]

8 hours ago, abulezz said:

Going strong - I don't see any reason why you shouldn't finish the season as 1st!

That's what I'm aiming for. But unfortunately 1st doesn't grant us promotion, we'd just qualify for the playoff quarter-finals... So no matter how well we do in the league, those crucial last few matches will decide everything.

[noikeee]

December 2018

6 wins in 6, including against the teams in 2nd and 3rd place, heaps of goals with Fellype Gabriel, Aldair and Adul Seidi now all already in double figures, and a 10 points lead at the top of the table. I guess this wasn't a bad month?

 

[kingjericho]

Looking good so far!

I always think about FMT but then I never fully give it a try... what do you see as the best and worst of it vs the full version?

[noikeee]

19 minutes ago, kingjericho said:

Looking good so far!

I always think about FMT but then I never fully give it a try... what do you see as the best and worst of it vs the full version?

best:

• it's so much quicker to process than the main game
• you have to think about a lot less micro-management than the main game, so many boring tasks in the main game don't even exist, such as team talks, press conferences, the media, training has just the bare basics that you need to mould a player, you don't have to hire many staff, just one for each area etc. It takes away tons of BORING **** which just makes the game feel more fun again. You just worry about playing football matches, tactics and transfers.
• in theory this means it's ideal for me as i get to play long-term careers much more quickly, I'm not that much of a micro-manager these days

worst:

• you can't use add-on leagues as far as i know, you're limited to the leagues that come with the game. Personally I think this is the biggest drawback, no playing in the English 10th tier or the San Marino league etc
• youth intakes are a bit limited to just a handful of players per year from what I've seen. Tbh most players you get in a full FM normal youth intake are absolute rubbish, so if the game just automatically picks the best of them, I don't even miss full intakes that much!
• it can be annoying how it tries to sell you cheating "features" such as magic sponge to get rid of player injuries etc. Literally sell you as those features you'd have to pay for! You can ignore it all but it's annoying.
• some base features you have to "unlock" after playing for a while and getting Steam achievements, or pay for. Basic features like, start a career with an international side. That is seriously not cool.
• there's the odd thing here and there that feels a little too oversimplified, for example i've noticed some leagues have the foreigner players rules simplified to the extent anyone can hire any foreigners they want, which is a bit too much. Also there's no squad registration rules etc. The oversimplification can feel a little unrealistic in some things
• Some screens have less stats available which is annoying for a stats nerd like me. Both team and player stats.
• I wouldn't recommend it if you want to micro-manage, since you lose that sense of total depth. I really really don't want to, so overall for now it seems fine for me.

Edited July 25, 2019 by noikeee

[kingjericho]

Thanks. I'm not the biggest fan of the level of detail the full version has evolved to in recent years, but on the other hand I still want to have good coaches and youth intakes, and I rely a lot on deep scouting.

[john1]

Noikee!! Missed you around here!!

At this point, I am expecting you to get promoted  Loving the style of writing too  

 

[noikeee]

17 hours ago, kingjericho said:

Thanks. I'm not the biggest fan of the level of detail the full version has evolved to in recent years, but on the other hand I still want to have good coaches and youth intakes, and I rely a lot on deep scouting.

Honestly the only real reason there not to try it is the youth intakes. Scouting is pretty much the exact same, except you don't directly hire scouts, you have a certain number of them and the only guy who has stats is the chief scout. Coaches well you still have to hire a coach and a assistant manager.

2 hours ago, john1 said:

Noikee!! Missed you around here!!

At this point, I am expecting you to get promoted  Loving the style of writing too  

Thanks man, looks like this forum is more or less the same 15 guys or so that have wandered around here for the last decade. 

[noikeee]

The way "champagne football" has played out for us this season has been perhaps slightly disappointing, a bit overly direct, so this was one of the most satisfying goals so far, even if nothing particularly special. Highlights what happens when the opposition defends deep and we press on our central superiority - a chain of central passes opens up, everyone links to each other, which leads to a nicely placed Adul Seidi goal from just outside of the area:

(the animations look so ****ing terrible when exported to video for whatever reason  ) 

[noikeee]

Well as the opposition starts parking the bus more and more against us, we're starting to see more and more of this. This is the very next game. The first goal is somewhat similar to the goal above with a central build-up, though the final "assist" is a bit pinball-like The 2nd goal is quite classy though - a really nice short through-ball that is finished by the left IWB (!) running all the way to goal. 

 

[noikeee]

January 2019

 

We may be comfortably leading the league, but with a fair bit of transfer budget and good options in the market, why not further improve the squad? So we hired 2 guys.

 
RB was a problem position, not anymore. Leandro Silva who arrives from Felgueiras is not quite a great fit for the IWB role, but he's certainly a good player and a step-up from the options we had.

 
We had Yannick overperforming at MC, but I reckoned this Bruno Loureiro guy looked better. I think he's an excellent fit at BBM, he can do a bit of everything. He's excellent at picking out passes, great at reading the game, has okay physicals, and can very much do a job both attacking and defending.
 

By this stage we are just breezing, and waiting for the end of the regular season for the promotion matches that really matter. There's been a couple of less convincing wins lately but that's nitpicking.

 

[noikeee]

February 2019

Well that's a bit of a wobble. A masterclass from both striker Adul Seidi and recent signing, midfielder Bruno Loureiro, put us back into the wins route. With these draws we have, however, lost a big chunk of our lead at the top, which is now down to just 4 points. The good news is that the gap to 3rd place is enormous and therefore playoffs qualification is nowhere near being at risk.

 

[abulezz]

You got this - I didn't know first doesn't bring automatic promotion, so hopefully your form will pick back up!

[noikeee]

March 2019

 

A tricky month saw us face 2nd and 3rd and I think we passed the test, suddenly increasing our points gap back up to 10. The game against Mêda was funny, we went a man down early and still won 6-2.

And we already have this on the bag:

 

 

[noikeee]

See that "Wnt" box? Means he's wanted by... Fiorentina.

What the flying ****.  

[Felio]

Good ole' União. They were a forever fixture of the old Segunda Liga, a team never good enough to break into the top tier and stay (like Rio Ave or Paços de Ferreira) but also never bad enough to truly sink into the Third and below, given their player base.  Their blue and yellow kit is just as jarring in real life, too. Still, though, the biggest challenge here is to survive the dreaded promotion playoffs (with some dangerous teams lurking like União de Leiria or some of the usual suspects). GL with them and I hope you show the Big Three what for. Maybe even hire Ronaldo when he finally retires, as a coach? xD

[noikeee]

NOOOOOO

That's our best player out of the key matches of the season...

[noikeee]

On 28/07/2019 at 11:16, abulezz said:

You got this - I didn't know first doesn't bring automatic promotion, so hopefully your form will pick back up!

We just need the lads to be at their best at those key playoff matches...

On 30/07/2019 at 18:26, Felio said:

Good ole' União. They were a forever fixture of the old Segunda Liga, a team never good enough to break into the top tier and stay (like Rio Ave or Paços de Ferreira) but also never bad enough to truly sink into the Third and below, given their player base.  Their blue and yellow kit is just as jarring in real life, too. Still, though, the biggest challenge here is to survive the dreaded promotion playoffs (with some dangerous teams lurking like União de Leiria or some of the usual suspects). GL with them and I hope you show the Big Three what for. Maybe even hire Ronaldo when he finally retires, as a coach? xD

Brilliant, that's an idea for the future for sure!

[noikeee]

April 2019

 

A meaningless month with playoff qualification already secured, and 1st place never remotely threatened, but it was nice to finish the regular season with a 5-0 win over another side from the island (even if just a B team).

 

 

Edited August 1, 2019 by noikeee

[noikeee]

Wtf, how is this possible, they were in the same division as us. I'm pretty certain this is not how this is meant to work.

I don't know if this is a good draw or a bad draw, I have a feeling it's not good news, we struggled a little against them in the regular season, beating them 2-1 away and drawing 0-0 at home.

If we win, we play the winner of Felgueiras v Benfica Castelo Branco for promotion.

Edited August 1, 2019 by noikeee

[noikeee]

Well this started bloody great, but them getting 2 goals back puts a bit of doubt into the 2nd leg.

The good news is Fellype Gabriel will probably be back already. Unfortunately Adul Seidi might have to sit out this match due to a knock he picked up on the 1st leg, and he is a big player for us to miss as well.

[noikeee]

Wow, we managed to just about escape. They scored two early screamers but we fought back immediately and got back ahead on away goals. It was an incredibly tough match as they pushed forward and had chances, they had 1 goal disallowed, we had 2 goals disallowed, it ultimately ended like this.

Felgueiras are the team that stands in our way from promotion - if we beat them in the 2 legged semi-final we are up.

[noikeee]

Our board are tough to please...

[noikeee]

This was another extraordinarily tough match. Felgueiras had several huge chances and we were rather lucky not to concede the away goal. At the end they switched to an attacking 3-4-3, this gave us lots of space to play in, and we added a 2nd. It's ultimately a great result and we're so close to promotion now.

[noikeee]

May 2019

We can see sunshine at the end of the tunnel...

 

[noikeee]

 

 

Yes!

It's the weirdest way to clinch promotion, a 0-0 draw despite us playing ultra attacking and Felgueiras switching to a 3-4-3 midmatch too. Doesn't matter, we're up, the toughest barrier in this career, to escape this tricky division, has been jumped.

We still have a "final" to play against Fafe to figure out who's champions at this level. This is just a 1-leg match, and we have been randomly drawn at home, which we welcome!

[noikeee]

Totally one-sided, what a way to clinch the championship and finish the season!

[noikeee]

June 2019

Job done.

 

[kidthekid]

Great first season. I hope the board confidence has reverted back to a positive one, following your promotion.

[noikeee]

Squad review 2018/2019

Keeper

 

An okay but not particularly outstanding keeper, I'm not entirely sure why Nacional are willing to loan him to us for free for next year again, he's 27, they should be offloading him instead of paying him wages... I want to hire an upgrade anyway.

Centerbacks

 

This duo did great even if on paper they're not that amazing, the loanee Inácio Miguel was the strongest of the 2, I've just managed to sign him permanently on a free transfer for next year.

IWBs

 

January signing Leandro Silva did very well on the right flank, but Benfica loanee Matheus Leal was utterly outstanding and possibly the single best player in the squad - I'm delighted to announce I've managed to renew his loan too. 6 goals (mostly from FKs) and 10 assists!

Midfielders - HB and BBM

 

The least performing players in this side, which makes sense since these are secondary supporting roles, not directly involved in goals. Adapted CB Tony Correia did okay at halfback, whereas January signing Bruno Loureiro did only slightly better at BBM - I insisted on him here since on paper he's so good, but the theoretically much inferior Yannick, who I played as BBM until January, got better ratings and more goals/assists.

Wingers

 

I'm not entirely sure why on the left Lucas Sebastian was all about assisting (13 assists, 8 goals) and on the right Aldair was all about scoring (16 goals, 9 assists) but I'm fine with this arrangement. Aldair in particular had a storming season.

Trequartista

 

Veteran Fellype Gabriel had an unreal first half of the season as Trequartista, but his performances went downwards as the year went on. Still, 17 goals (!!!) and 6 assists made this a wonderful season, probably his last at this level. Was worth it to pay him that much.

Striker

 

Guinea-Bissau international Adul Seidi was another star player, I can't remotely argue against his 21 goals and 6 assists, he simply did the job.

Prospects

 

There's none, really. I'm including here 21yo keeper Daniel Clemente just because he has 4 stars of potential and Fiorentina were ridiculously shortlisting him a few months ago, but he's crap.

[noikeee]

15 minutes ago, kidthekid said:

Great first season. I hope the board confidence has reverted back to a positive one, following your promotion.

Yeah looks like I just did the bare minimum enough to keep them happy.  

[noikeee]

On 28/07/2019 at 00:00, noikeee said:

The way "champagne football" has played out for us this season has been perhaps slightly disappointing, a bit overly direct, so this was one of the most satisfying goals so far, even if nothing particularly special. Highlights what happens when the opposition defends deep and we press on our central superiority - a chain of central passes opens up, everyone links to each other, which leads to a nicely placed Adul Seidi goal from just outside of the area:

(the animations look so ****ing terrible when exported to video for whatever reason  ) 

This got the award for the club's goal of the season!

[noikeee]

That was a waste of time.