[FM20] Tequila and Mariachi?

[_Ben_]

New contract

Don't think I've ever had a basic wage like this before...

[_Ben_]

Exploring Personality in Youth Development

Friday musings...

I wanted to get an overview of how much personality is impacting youth development. I already have my overview here, which is great, but only tells me the average of all, which isn't the full picture. Therefore, I have made these:

A couple of box and whisker charts. Both x axis are sorted on the table that I showed in the overview screenshot, with lowest average developer on the left to highest on the right.

But what do they show?

---

Personality vs Mean Starting Value

I don't think I've ever actually speculated this but personality doesn't seem to have any impact on how good a player is when he starts at the club. The mean lines show that, despite only having one fickle player, he was far better than the few I've had that have had low determination. Actually, he was pretty good (9.4 is 14th best on my overall intake) compared to the Spirited player who was 108th.

Personality vs Growth

So, Spirited is top and, as I've said, that is only one result but what I really like on the whiskers is that despite Light-Hearted, Professional and even F.Pro are lower, on average, they still have the potential to be great performers. Driven, and even Perfectionist perform well but there is very little scope, it seems, for that 'breakout performance' given the lack of a whisker (although there is much smaller data for each group).

---

My big thing here is that I have only tracked one year or development and not the whole flight path, which is a shame.

[_Ben_]

Personality Development Tracker

Now updated to show the mean starting point to further my analysis that personality doesn't have a huge impact on starting CA.

[_Ben_]

Loyalty bonuses

I've left Sergio Busquets in charge of contract renewals and, whilst we have the money, he's gone a little overboard on Loyalty bonuses...

Some quick calculations (excluding all bonuses other than appearance fee and working off an average 35 appearance season) tell me that Claudio Lopez will net €59.7m before his contract expires and Danilo will get €64.1m.

He's currently in talks with probably my best player, Donato, to renew his deal. I dread to think what the terms are!

[_Ben_]

December 2040/January 2041

Sometimes this game pushes you!

Ignoring our wonderful defensive record for a second, I'd just like to address the horrific offensive record of just 1.0 goals/90. Last year we got to 1.7 goals/90 and our record is 2.0 goals/90 - which, in retrospect are still all on the low side compared to what 'big' teams have done in the past. Yet we have three wonderful forwards, play some absolutely fantastic football, create a bucketload of good chances each game - yet can't finish our dinner and end up squandering opportunities to win games, as seen clearly in the Sociedad loss where they scored with one of only two shots on target and we failed to net from our 13 on target.

However, I'm not one to blame the match engine or say the game is rigged and, as this is such a long term project, will take the rough with the smooth and keep going - fresh in the knowledge that it'll take a massive collapse for Real to overtake us this year, even if we'll be somewhere behind Barcelona.

[pheelf]

Looking at your results I actually think you have a good chance of catching and overtaking Barcelona. They aren't in great form either and 7 points isn't insurmountable at this stage of the season. I sense they will fade as the season goes on given their over performance in the first half of the season. Whereas I think your team has slightly under performed and will get better in the 2nd half of the season.

By the law of averages, even though you're well below your record for last year in terms of goals scored per 90 mins I think you are due a period of scoring more frequently to bring you closer to the expected average. I think that will help turn the tide in your favour.

I see reasons to be optimistic even if it probably feels incredibly frustrating for you to watch your games at the moment. I don't see the title race as being over just yet, all it takes is a couple of games where Barcelona drop points and you're right back in the hunt.

Good luck

Edited May 16, 2020 by pheelf

[_Ben_]

Longer term Development Tracking

Something that has been in the forefront of my mind for some while now and something that I'm looking to build in from day 1 of my next save is tracking attributes over a much longer time frame. I don't have backup saves to go back to so I can only really start this from this year and I've got no idea how I'll present it with my other information but, by collating as much as I can, working through what I want and what I don't - I can start to build bigger and more in depth answers.

Here is the first cohort that I'm going to look at - who were initially monitored in 2039/40. This is their 'entry' data:

I then tracked their first year and, like other cohorts, have kind of left them to their own business. However - I am 23 and a bit months (wanted to get this done before the new intake comes in!) past that date so I've just ran their data through again. Unfortunately, I decided to sell some of the players over the summer, so the list in incomplete.

With this five minute creation - I can start to calculate and explore:

• Why people may make accelerated progress later in their career (look at Cuerda season 2 compares to Season 1 - 1.2 vs 0.3)
• Try to explore potential ability ceilings
• Carry on with the 'longer term observations' before selling players (rather than move four on after just a year!)

 

[_Ben_]

3 hours ago, pheelf said:

Looking at your results I actually think you have a good chance of catching and overtaking Barcelona. They aren't in great form either and 7 points isn't insurmountable at this stage of the season. I sense they will fade as the season goes on given their over performance in the first half of the season. Whereas I think your team has slightly under performed and will get better in the 2nd half of the season.

By the law of averages, even though you're well below your record for last year in terms of goals scored per 90 mins I think you are due a period of scoring more frequently to bring you closer to the expected average. I think that will help turn the tide in your favour.

I see reasons to be optimistic even if it probably feels incredibly frustrating for you to watch your games at the moment. I don't see the title race as being over just yet, all it takes is a couple of games where Barcelona drop points and you're right back in the hunt.

Good luck

I agree, but I guess I need a really good month...

Oh, wait:

This was February. Much better. More clinical yet able to rotate the team heavily.

----

We are four points off the top of the table now and playing much better. As I mentioned though - we are in for the long haul and in it to develop talent and learn as much as I can about player development and, to be fair, that is now taking precedent over silverware.

[_Ben_]

International call ups

We are fantastically well represented at all levels of international football in Spain.

[_Ben_]

2039/40 Youth Intake Monitoring

What a strange year - my first 'poor' intake which actually appeared really strong on paper but filled with many average personalities and, in a strange link to the perceived ability of the intake, has really struggled.

This year, the highest growth is the lowest that I've had since signing the whole cohort and the progress of them is only marginally away from the worst, back in 2037/38. This year has also seen the largest step backwards - Rafa Zapata has made huge decreases, but this may be because he has learnt a few new positions as he's not been set back by injury and has a personality that largely performs well. Even though he's not ever going to be first team - it's great to see this kind of data because it shows that things are constant and there are no right or wrong answers - I'd have earmarked him as someone who would have done well, to be fair!

----

In terms of looking at those players who started with a really high mean of attributes, it was only Mikel Vera (excuse the typo - he's actually a midfielder) who made the top 10, and he's not improved at all - by far the lowest in the top ten (excluding older players Benjamin and Baena). 

So now, looking at the end for these players - it's also not great. Their mean position is 62nd (around the 50th percentile) on my list of all players tracked and even their % growth (which works out 'better' for lower ability players) isn't promising. 

----

Despite some more good data for my personality tracking, this intake has really disappointed me, progress wide. However, Duarte, Yuste and Vera have all had some good minutes at B team level, which is a bonus for them. Additionally, the B team has been far less effective this year, and is languishing in mid table with much poorer performances, which may be to 'blame' for the lack of additional progress for these three.

With my new '2 and 3 year trackers' - it'll be really interesting to see how this group continues and, despite much temptation, the likes of Zapata, Eze and Esteva will be kept as I look to dive even deeper into this.

[_Ben_]

February/March 2041

Much, much better - even if March was a month of draws, largely.

We suddenly looked much more clinical when moving the CM(s) back to the RPM(s) and changing the wide players to IW(s) and IF(a) instead of two IF(a). Although, we were playing nice football and getting into great positions anyway, so I can't say that this has made us any more dangerous - we've just got a little more clinical!

Still fighting in three competitions sees us face Liverpool in the CL quarters and Valencia in the Copa del Rey final but I'm hoping that this doesn't impact league form too much.

---

I'm already planning for the summer and with even more focus on the academy at the moment I am looking to move on a few non-academy players and replace them with lesser, but homegrown players, hoping that the ability of the whole squad shines through.

[_Ben_]

2040/41 Youth Intake

My favourite day of the season is upon us! This intake was described as mediocre and I am still hoping to get my first ever player poached from another club or from an affiliate (although we only have one - Once Caldas of Colombia). Here is the intake:

Gustavo Aguilar. Josep Aznar. Roberto. Julen Falcon.

A really interesting group here - there are a mix of nationalities, with another two Paraguayans joining the list of players I have previously produced and two African dual nationals. There are a few good personalities - a M.Cit and 2x Pro in there, too and there seems to be some decent signs of potential.

----

My analysis starts with a look at their current ability:

I sometimes find that there is a correlation between my analysis for ability and the perceived PA, given by my staff on their intake day. However, Julen Falcon, my 5th best rated by PPA, is my 'best' prospect right now and I like him.  

The differences continue:

• Josep Aznar - 8th in CA to 2nd in PPA
• Gregorio Zapata - 3rd in CA to 13th in PPA
• James Saraki - 4th in CA and 14th in PPA

Players like Saraki are always slightly anomalous in terms of using averages of all attributes with no weightings; he rates highly in some mental attributes that I believe 'cost little' in terms of CA 'points' such as Teamwork and Bravery, which bring his overall average up. However - the whole point of the now-three year 'trial' period is to see whether he actually has some potential hidden in there. (N.B. I actually quite like his attribute balance as a bit of Trequartista, maybe, with his good finishing and passing and great first touch and technique combined with his small and quite weak stature and overall good mental attributes).

----

This is how the intake stacks up against the others:

In terms of direct comparison for 'mediocre' intakes it is slightly weaker than that of two years ago but still stronger than a lot of intakes in the past seven or eight years. 

---

When comparing the starting mean attributes of the players, we have three new entrants to our increasingly famous top 20:

The aforementioned Julen Falcon and Gustavo Aguilar enter as does Gregorio Zapata, who, as mentioned before, seems to have a good base but the staff don't think that there is much potential. His Light-Hearted personality has only been seen in this top 20 list once before (Mikel Vera) and he made no improvement whatsoever last year and, on average, Light-Hearted players are ranked 15th out of 24 in my studies into best progressing personality - slightly ominous!

[_Ben_]

Brothers!

I saw that I had another Senegalese player named Seck and thought, out of curiosity, I'd check it out..

Older brother Moussa hasn't made a huge amount of progress and is now spending time at third tier L'Hospitalet in order to try and kick start his development. Younger brother Oumar has a better personality and looks like he could do a little better.

[Mikaelinho]

11 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

2040/41 Youth Intake

My favourite day of the season is upon us! This intake was described as mediocre and I am still hoping to get my first ever player poached from another club or from an affiliate (although we only have one - Once Caldas of Colombia). Here is the intake:

Gustavo Aguilar. Josep Aznar. Roberto. Julen Falcon.

A really interesting group here - there are a mix of nationalities, with another two Paraguayans joining the list of players I have previously produced and two African dual nationals. There are a few good personalities - a M.Cit and 2x Pro in there, too and there seems to be some decent signs of potential.

----

My analysis starts with a look at their current ability:

I sometimes find that there is a correlation between my analysis for ability and the perceived PA, given by my staff on their intake day. However, Julen Falcon, my 5th best rated by PPA, is my 'best' prospect right now and I like him.  

The differences continue:

• Josep Aznar - 8th in CA to 2nd in PPA
• Gregorio Zapata - 3rd in CA to 13th in PPA
• James Saraki - 4th in CA and 14th in PPA

Players like Saraki are always slightly anomalous in terms of using averages of all attributes with no weightings; he rates highly in some mental attributes that I believe 'cost little' in terms of CA 'points' such as Teamwork and Bravery, which bring his overall average up. However - the whole point of the now-three year 'trial' period is to see whether he actually has some potential hidden in there. (N.B. I actually quite like his attribute balance as a bit of Trequartista, maybe, with his good finishing and passing and great first touch and technique combined with his small and quite weak stature and overall good mental attributes).

----

This is how the intake stacks up against the others:

In terms of direct comparison for 'mediocre' intakes it is slightly weaker than that of two years ago but still stronger than a lot of intakes in the past seven or eight years. 

---

When comparing the starting mean attributes of the players, we have three new entrants to our increasingly famous top 20:

The aforementioned Julen Falcon and Gustavo Aguilar enter as does Gregorio Zapata, who, as mentioned before, seems to have a good base but the staff don't think that there is much potential. His Light-Hearted personality has only been seen in this top 20 list once before (Mikel Vera) and he made no improvement whatsoever last year and, on average, Light-Hearted players are ranked 15th out of 24 in my studies into best progressing personality - slightly ominous!

Bravery is one of the attributes with the smallest contribution to RCA, if you don't count the set pieces ones. Teamwork has a slightly bigger effect on RCA, except for central defenders where it's the opposite.

[_Ben_]

Youth Player Values

Something of interest I noticed - which I have literally no idea what it means:

All of the players have signed new contracts - but look at the value of Julen Falcon - over four times that of anyone else. He's also just asked for €10k p/w on his first ever contract!

I wonder how much of this is a) reputation b) relatively high starting CA c) an indication of potential?

[_Ben_]

7 minutes ago, Mikaelinho said:

Bravery is one of the attributes with the smallest contribution to RCA, if you don't count the set pieces ones. Teamwork has a slightly bigger effect on RCA, except for central defenders where it's the opposite.

Perfect, thank you! Close to what I thought (and I'd forgotten about set pieces!)

Where have you found this information from as I'd love to have a play with it! It, again, shows that, even my (what I thought are) more concise calculations of ability vs CA could be badly skewed as a terrible player could have 20 for Free Kicks, Corners, Penalties and Long Throws - massively skewing the data.

[Mikaelinho]

I've gotten the numbers from mindlessly spending hours upon hours in the editor, changing one factor at the time to determine their effect on RCA! I could send you what I have on the subject if you like.

[_Ben_]

18 hours ago, Mikaelinho said:

I've gotten the numbers from mindlessly spending hours upon hours in the editor, changing one factor at the time to determine their effect on RCA! I could send you what I have on the subject if you like.

If we could work out those 'RCA free' attributes for each position - then an even more accurate mean could be created in order to understand more about starting ability for players. Go ahead, post away!

[_Ben_]

Player Sale

After a long career with us, I felt that it was time to let Carlos Alberto go. He was influential in our rise but has fallen behind youth products of late and I feel that it's only fair to let him see out the twilight of his career in the Middle East.

[_Ben_]

April 2041

I'll move down to monthly as we hit the key part of our season.

We comfortably beat Pep's Liverpool side and reach the Semi Final of Europe's premier competition for the first time ever and also secured our second Copa del Rey with an easy win over Valencia by our second string.

The league campaign took a hit with the home loss to Real so a re-adjusted target of third place is our new aim.

---

We face Dortmund in the semi final and somehow have to fit seven league games in during the month of May, ending, again, with a trip to the Camp Nou to face Barcelona, who will hopefully be champions and not caring about the dead rubber at this point.

[_Ben_]

B-Team issues

I can't say that I've ever seen the last sentence before! It is true though but one of the perils of a B-team, where they can often be ripped apart season by season with no reputation/ability to sign their own players.

[_Ben_]

May 2041

So our league campaign draws to an end and I eat my hat about the earlier comment I made about finishing above Real, who stormed their way back to retain the La Liga title as we held Barca on the last day of the season.

In the end - this has very much petered out into nothingness - a paltry 42 goals scored, which is our worst offensive performance since 2030/31, our second season in this league. We did, on a positive note, record the best ever defensive record with a fantastic 10 goals conceded but the league has really annoyed me this year as we've just been so inconsistent.

At the other end, I'm delighted that Real Jaen have stopped up but somewhat disappointed that Atletico have turned around their misfortunes from the previous two years.

---

The elephant in the room is the fact that this isn't the end of season review. Well - we just about scraped past Dortmund over two legs, although should have blown them away at home. Our reward is a tie against Inter Milan, by far the biggest club in Italy right now! I'll save that for a separate update...

[_Ben_]

Preview

[_Ben_]

Full Time

We have done it! One of the least pretty games in my career but the biggest prize.

Quite frankly, I've had a less than enjoyable season at the helm this year and, despite this being a welcome surprise, there are a few things I want to consider over the summer. This victory may or may not have helped that decision making.

[_Ben_]

End of season report

I forgot somewhat to rotate and that's a shame as my squad players have not seen the football they deserve and, as such, I am mid-mutiny with at least four of them who are likely to be offloaded. The season, for me, is hinging on our terrible offensive performances and I just can't see past €45m man Quique Garcia and his long barren spells, the two league goals for Ronaldo the utterly woeful performances from Javier Pinto.

The squad will be looking very different next year!

Another one step back, two steps forward approach is coming as I think it was a success bringing through Barreda, Herrero and Almansour so I'm going to raid the B-team again, although they are coming off the back of their worst performance to date so it's a worry for their long term stability as a second tier club.

---

[sherifdinn_]

1 hour ago, _Ben_ said:

Full Time

We have done it! One of the least pretty games in my career but the biggest prize.

Quite frankly, I've had a less than enjoyable season at the helm this year and, despite this being a welcome surprise, there are a few things I want to consider over the summer. This victory may or may not have helped that decision making.

Describe your reaction scoring so late in the game

[_Ben_]

11 minutes ago, sherifdinn_ said:

Describe your reaction scoring so late in the game

Very little emotion, to be fair!

We didn't necessarily deserve a lot but I always back ourselves fitness wise as our game isn't too high intense so extra time should have been good to us. It's all the better that the winner is a youth graduate, though - so there was a fairly reminiscent look at his profile after the game!

[_Ben_]

2041 Club World Cup

Because we needed another competition rather than a summer break...

Time to get my head down, finalise some difficult sales and re-find some love in this save!

[kidthekid]

Congrats on the champions league win. That should make up for the league disappointment. No?

[_Ben_]

7 hours ago, kidthekid said:

Congrats on the champions league win. That should make up for the league disappointment. No?

Thank you.

It did, yes. Last night's session was, for the first time, a drag, and I can't say that I really enjoyed playing the matches that I did. However - I've slept on it, made some big transfers and I feel that I've got back to where this save should be at - meaning that it definitely has legs to continue for the foreseeable. 

[_Ben_]

Summer 2041

I needed this!

I felt that my squad had got a little away from what I first intended this game to be - a youth academy focused save with clever scouting and recruitment. My first team was bloated and, away from the superstars, the backup players were players who I'd signed and who had not become the players that they had promised to be.

So here are the summer transfers, to date:

Gustavo Martelli. Ronaldo. Celsinho. Neyveson. Diego Samaniego. Javier Pinto.

I believe that each one of these transfers is justified and that, actually, we haven't lost anything in this process.

Martelli was a slightly sad one - he came through the same intake as Barreda, Herrero and Almansour and was developing quite nicely. However, he's not once been in any of the main social groups and, as such, has failed to integrate with the team, form any positive relationships or develop his personality. Seeing a youth player leave is always sad but, again, it's the job of this academy to churn out way more talents that can actually be on the field at once. Next up was Ronaldo, who left for a little less than I wanted but I forgot about his release clause. His scoring record has been somewhat patchy over the previous years and probably only survived due to the name. Celsinho was a player who I kind of forgot about last year - largely due to the decent form of Janderson. He was a team leader and, of course, got angry about his lack of playing time so I moved him on for what is now my record sale. The final three have moved to what is now my feeder club Shanghai SIPG and are all being paid extortionately. Neyveson, despite his affinity to the club and my affinity to him, wanted to move on and, continuing tradition, I have been reluctant to stand in the way of that. My in-game son Diego moved on because, like Celsinho, struggled for first team football and got very angry and Javier Pinto, despite his potential, had one of the worst seasons I've ever witnessed.

----

To fill the gaps left by these sales, I have promoted six B-team players to the first team. Whilst they may be lesser in quality, I believe that they have enough potential to be as good as these players and come with far less wage demands and playing time assurances. 

Below you can see the first team and B team DNA for each role and how they fit.

First Team DNA. B-Team DNA. 

-----

I am able to now run with three (and nearly four) solid teams, which shows the depth that we still have. I've added their ability and potential stars to these screenshots to help visualise my squad planning.

First Team

My first XI is still unbelievably strong - with five 'Elite' players (Garcia will be Elite once his wonderkid tag has gone, too) and strength in every area. It's a young squad, with an average age of 23.45 but the quality is there with only one of those players not being recognised at international level. The best thing, for me, is that five of this side (Barreda, Herrero, Garcia, Escobar and Almansour) are academy graduates.

There will be less rotation this year and this side will play the most important matches rather than being dotted through games. I'm hoping to keep them fresher at the start of the year (whilst keeping them happy with play time) and hope they will come to the fore in our busy end of season months.

First Development Team/Backup

Now the slightly contentious bit. This is now my 'backup' squad - changing terminology slightly from the rotation squad. These players are in the first team and will play in the lesser games, including European group games and cup matches. Espinoza, Ibero, Frances, Jimenez, Sanchez and Gonzalez have all came up from the B squad this year and Zaros has returned from a loan spell at Villarreal. They join Mejia as youth graduates in a squad whereby I'd like to, eventually, have eleven players who have graduated from my academy (Fulvio, Fernandes, Henrique and Zaros did not).

This team looks far weaker, star rating wise, at least but for a club of our size - the 2* players are actually good enough to play at this level and this level of football will be a good experience to them, particularly playing and training along side a superstar first XI. 

The long term approach for this team is to give my youngsters game time in La Liga and move them on if there are new players below them showing promise. It is unlikely that many/any of these players will usurp the superstars above them.

B Team

My B-team was, once again, decimated over the summer and I do have my worries as whether this team can remain in the second tier. As a development tool, I'd like each first team player to have completed at least two years in this group (Miguel Angel Garcia was an exception and I have a feeling that Julen Falcon may be, too) before either going out on loan to the top division or coming into what is now my 'backup side.'

This side, as you'd expect, is predominantly youth graduates (although I've just signed Rodrigo as I can't turn down a dual national Brazilian/Spaniard!) and I'm tempted to find some B-team only experienced players to play with this group, but that is a future project. The group has some potential but this is, for me, about getting games in at a young age to ready yourself for getting to the next squad up.

---

I feel a little more connected to the teams again and hopefully we can overcome our tactical worries of last year and push on again!

 

[_Ben_]

Un-funny jokes...

Bookies have tipped two of my players to be among the best, but their odds on the top goalscorer are very offensive...

[_Ben_]

Expanding the trophy cabinet

With a victory in the Super Cup...

N.B. I really wanted a Europa League to complete the European trio but sadly we got 'too big too fast' and now dropping in to the Europa League would almost certainly see my lose my job!

Edited May 18, 2020 by _Ben_

[_Ben_]

International recognition

Israel Escobar becomes the last of my 'first XI' to receive international recognition as the nine Spaniards from that squad get a call up.

[_Ben_]

Champions League Draw

Much tougher than the bye I pretty much got last year!

Monaco

On a bit of a downward turn and only came third in their group last year. Made the quarter final in two of the three years previously though and predicted 2nd in Ligue 1 with Spaniard, and ex-Sevilla and Watford manager Jacobo Montes at the helm.

AC Milan

Finished second behind city rivals Inter last year but have been eliminated at the group stages in four of the last six years and last made decent inroads eleven years ago when they got to the semi finals. Managed by Mexican Jaime Lozano, who had some success with Marseille.

Galatasary

Pretty poor record in the group stage, only getting out of them five times in twenty one years and the typical Turkish squad filled with lots of old Brazilian talent and my ex-player Jorge Navarro.

[_Ben_]

Milestone

Here's to the next 1,000!

[LUFCspeni]

Excellent Champions League win! I think in real life you would be the only team to win it without every being champions of their own country.

[_Ben_]

36 minutes ago, LUFCspeni said:

Excellent Champions League win! I think in real life you would be the only team to win it without every being champions of their own country.

Thank you!

Also - what a fact! I've done a little bit of digging to add some more meat to that. Just to validate the points, here are the list of winners during my game time.

• We are indeed the first team to win the competition without ever having won our domestic league. Bayer Leverkusen are the team that have gone the furthest (runners up) without winning their league. That stands in game, too. This is largely due to the fact that, until 1996/97, you had to win your league to compete. Man Utd were the first team to win the competition after not winning the league, back in 1999. In game, Real did that in 2019 when Barca won the 2018 (real life) La Liga. They then repeated that in 2024/25 and 2025/26 during Barca's reign in domestic competition and Sevilla also did it in 2036/37, again after Barca had won the previous La Liga.
• Liverpool have won the Premier League so they can now add the PL to the English First Division and Champions League. I don't think there have been any significant changes to leagues elsewhere that would create this kind of possibility.
• Nottingham Forest have 3 Champions League/European Cups and only one title and I think they're the only team where the ratio is skewed this way - so it'll be interesting to compare our numbers to that.

 

[_Ben_]

July/August/September 2041

A solid, if unspectacular start to the season.

With the Club World Cup taking up all of the summer, we didn't need much of a pre-season and, as I battle to keep my players match fit, yet not injured, I decided to go for just four friendlies against a selection of decent-ish sides. 

The season started with an easy victory over Porto, to win our first European Super Cup but the rest of August was poor - struggling to make any kind of headway against teams we really should be beating. September was similar, albeit with a bit of a breakthrough against a poor Alaves sides but then we messed that up with a poor performance at Villarreal.

In the Champions League I also badly underestimated the quality of Monaco and we were hammed away from home. We should have enough about us to qualify easily but I guess it's rare that the current holders start their defence so badly!

---

My graduates have had a decent bit of playing time so far this season, in the 'easier' games (although I'd have wanted better victories in those games). Here is how they compare to my senior players in a couple of areas:

Kind of a difficult comparison to make when Sanchez plays a very different central midfield role to Danilo, for example and I have mixed centre backs and full backs into the same data capture but it looks promising, so far. Felipe Jimenez has been far more creative than I'd have expected from the DM role and is the only new face to have picked up a PoTM award. In the defence, I'd expect to see an higher number of tackles and a lower number of interceptions simply down to the intelligence difference between the players.

[_Ben_]

Talent Production

[metallimuse]

Well done on the Champions League mate.

Your first team looks frightening now. So impressed with how you've managed the club and the results you've had.

[_Ben_]

Demolition

I've always stood by this group of players and this tactical style and that, when things go right, they go really right:

[_Ben_]

46 minutes ago, metallimuse said:

Well done on the Champions League mate.

Your first team looks frightening now. So impressed with how you've managed the club and the results you've had.

Thank you!

Yeah - the first team is ridiculously strong right now - definitely the best XI I have ever assembled. The results are coming, with time, but it's certainly a slow process.

[Mikaelinho]

On 17/05/2020 at 18:32, _Ben_ said:

If we could work out those 'RCA free' attributes for each position - then an even more accurate mean could be created in order to understand more about starting ability for players. Go ahead, post away!

Sorry for taking so long! I've been playing around trying to create a visual presentation of how the different attributes contribute to the RCA. 0 is no contribution at all and 5 is highest possible. It's divided into positions in a table below. 

[Mikaelinho]

Awesome results by the way. Winning the Champions League is massive!

[OlivierL]

Great topic and inspiration. I'm calculating my youth and first team players (and decide who can stay or be retrained after every youth intake , with this excel  :

I hope u can write a blog or something about all your calculations they look great.

 

Any tips @_Ben_ for keeping track of the players's progress ?

Edited May 19, 2020 by OlivierL

[_Ben_]

8 hours ago, Mikaelinho said:

Sorry for taking so long! I've been playing around trying to create a visual presentation of how the different attributes contribute to the RCA. 0 is no contribution at all and 5 is highest possible. It's divided into positions in a table below. 

Wow!

Not really sure how to interpret those. Which do you think is more true/accurate?

A) A centre back with high decisions is likely to have a higher CA due to the weighting?

B) There is no indication of a player's ability by just looking at their aggression, determination or flair?

---

Both are interesting statements that hold a lot of weight in what we think we know about CA, and, as such, how we improve it.

[_Ben_]

8 hours ago, Mikaelinho said:

Awesome results by the way. Winning the Champions League is massive!

Thank you! It's been a real slog but I can see another 5 or so years, at least, with this club and structure going before I retire somewhere easy!

[_Ben_]

1 hour ago, OlivierL said:

Great topic and inspiration. I'm calculating my youth and first team players (and decide who can stay or be retrained after every youth intake , with this excel  :

I hope u can write a blog or something about all your calculations they look great.

 

Any tips @_Ben_ for keeping track of the players's progress ?

Thanks for the comment! I was reading over your thread earlier and I'm going to keep a close eye going forward.

The 'easiest' thing I'd do here is just run the exact same report next season on a different Excel sheet and, rather than show those amounts - show their new averages subtract that, so you can see an improvement, or otherwise.

I am waaay down the rabbit hole tracking every member of my squad (now that they are all brought in/through by me) so I'd suggest having a read of @Mikaelinho's thread as he, at the start anyway, focuses on far fewer players and I believe gets his approach spot on.

Let me know if you want any assistance creating/editing and tracking documents or just want to see 'behind the scenes' of mine for any inspiration.

[OlivierL]

4 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

Thanks for the comment! I was reading over your thread earlier and I'm going to keep a close eye going forward.

The 'easiest' thing I'd do here is just run the exact same report next season on a different Excel sheet and, rather than show those amounts - show their new averages subtract that, so you can see an improvement, or otherwise.

I am waaay down the rabbit hole tracking every member of my squad (now that they are all brought in/through by me) so I'd suggest having a read of @Mikaelinho's thread as he, at the start anyway, focuses on far fewer players and I believe gets his approach spot on.

Let me know if you want any assistance creating/editing and tracking documents or just want to see 'behind the scenes' of mine for any inspiration.

Thanks ! i'll send u a PM .