FM20 - Athletic Club - Basque in the Bilbao Sunshine

[paperbox]

4 hours ago, Louwen said:

Does anyone know, if *theoretically* Bilbao and Basconia would be able to play in the same league? 

I think they can but the affiliate link between the clubs would probably be terminated

Edited November 17, 2019 by paperbox

[Louwen]

I'm not sure, since Bilbao (B-team) and Basconia isn't affiliated to each other. They're affiliated to Athletic (A-team).

Also, i think the link between them is hardcoded, since it's the "The partnership between the clubs is a long-term deal"-type. 

Does anybody have any experience with this from previous FM's? 

 

[bowieinspace]

57 minutes ago, Louwen said:

I'm not sure, since Bilbao (B-team) and Basconia isn't affiliated to each other. They're affiliated to Athletic (A-team).

Also, i think the link between them is hardcoded, since it's the "The partnership between the clubs is a long-term deal"-type. 

Does anybody have any experience with this from previous FM's? 

 

Unless it’s something they’ve fixed this year Basconia will never be promoted from the unplayable Tercera division so not something you need to worry about.

i don’t believe they would be allowed anyway though unless the B team also got promoted 

Edited November 17, 2019 by bowieinspace

[Louwen]

Got it. 

It always annoyed me, that Basconia wasn't useful of anything else, than for dumping crappy players.

I wanted to add the Tercera divisions, through editor data, and hopefully make them usable. If Bilbao gets promoted, Basconia should be able to get promoted (after adding the league), correct?

[bowieinspace]

14 minutes ago, Louwen said:

Got it. 

It always annoyed me, that Basconia wasn't useful of anything else, than for dumping crappy players.

I wanted to add the Tercera divisions, through editor data, and hopefully make them usable. If Bilbao gets promoted, Basconia should be able to get promoted (after adding the league), correct?

That’s right yeah

[kevbk6222]

8 minutes ago, Louwen said:

Got it. 

It always annoyed me, that Basconia wasn't useful of anything else, than for dumping crappy players.

I wanted to add the Tercera divisions, through editor data, and hopefully make them usable. If Bilbao gets promoted, Basconia should be able to get promoted (after adding the league), correct?

It was possible in FM19 to have the C team get promoted, if you had an edited database, but only if the B team was also promoted or already promoted. It was buggy though, and I had to remove the 4th division as a playable division after that season because of crash dumps. It worked fine for be after that however, with the B team in the 2nd division and the C team in the 3rd division. I think I submitted a bug about it, so who knows if it has been fixed or changed for FM20. 

[Louwen]

Great feedback guys! 

Will enable the custom database, and then remove it, after Basconia gets promoted. 

Seems like it will extend the joy of playing with this amazing club.

[bowieinspace]

4 hours ago, kevbk6222 said:

It was possible in FM19 to have the C team get promoted, if you had an edited database, but only if the B team was also promoted or already promoted. It was buggy though, and I had to remove the 4th division as a playable division after that season because of crash dumps. It worked fine for be after that however, with the B team in the 2nd division and the C team in the 3rd division. I think I submitted a bug about it, so who knows if it has been fixed or changed for FM20. 

I know that B team promotion from unplayable leagues was a bit of a hot topic, as they have added the feature that you can now request a B team from the board if you don't have one. If they haven't got that fixed that feature is kinda wasted so hopefully they're on to it.

[bowieinspace]

2020/21 Season Review - Same, but different?

 

A very promising 2020/21 season saw us repeat our 4th place finish of 19/20. Overall we were marginally better, however the top 3 clubs are a cut above and none of them have given us an opportunity to break that particular monopoly just yet. The biggest positive for us this season was combining the solid 4th place with a competitive Champions League performance, alongside continued rejuvination of the squad. 

In the Champions League we did exceptionally well in our group, coming through a group of Napoli, Chelsea and CSKA Moscow in 1st place! The highlight being doing the double over Napoli. Unfortunately that didn't do us any favours for the knockouts, getting drawn against PSG. Every one of their players would walk in to our squad, and they now have Van Dijk at CB alongside all of their other world class players. We did exceptionally well against PSG, equaling them performance wise in both legs, however were undone by two late wonderstrikes in the first leg, losing that leg 3-1 in an even contest. The second leg ended 0-0 in another tight affair. Unfortunate but very promising.

Newgen Update

We have been fortunate with a raft of promising forward players in the first two seasons, partially through our own intake but also via Sociedad/Osasuna. This has allowed us to sell Villalibre for 17.5million GBP to Sporting CP, as following some great success in the B team, a couple of our prospects are ready to step up next season. Villalibre has come on quite well, but his scoring record for me is atrocious. This money is very helpful, as you will see in a second. 

Iker Garcia - Unfortunately no longer a model citizen due to a slight determination drop, but still looking great, and his high flair rating is quite exciting.

Alex Gabilondo - Has always had the edge potential wise of Garcia, but then with mentoring he has become a model citizen as well! So while Iker Garcia lost that personality term, Gabilondo gained it!

Inigo Saenz - A little younger and signed from Osasuna, this lad looks excellent. Between the two above and this guy, our forward line looks set for a bright future. I expect I'll use Iker Garcia wide right rotating with Williams and Gabilondo will be the striker. Saenz we will see when he comes up, but he can play left side, as can Gabilondo..so good options.

I have a few other really promising ones but I may feature them in a future update.

 

Transfers

We are fairly early in the summer window, but it's already been exciting. After being handed a 16 million GBP budget, we didn't have a great deal to play with. However I had a goal. Odriozola has been my primary target since the beginning of the save - he's the one realistic player out there who would be a clear improvement on what I have. He had been unhappy at Real Madrid for a couple of months about wanting a new contract. I thought they would probably offer him a new deal but they didn't. Real still wanted around 80million GBP for him, so with my budget I was pretty limited, I tried making significant instalment based offers but couldn't quite a fee agreed, although I was fairly close. I finally found a workable solution and the board blocked the deal, saying they wouldn't pay more than 40 million for him due to FFP (which is weird cause we were comfortably within FFP limits). I waited patiently until the end of June, praying he remained unhappy and no one else went in, because at the end of June I lost Raul Garcia (100k p/w) off the wage bill, alongside Herrerin. I was also able to clear a few others off the decks for smaller figures. Finally with those outgoings, and the Villalibre deal going through, I was able to secure a deal with no board complaints! Odriozola joins!

 

Squad:

GK: Simon, Fernandez
RB: Odriozola, Capa
LB: Munoz, Rodrigues
CB: Yerary, Nunez, Martinez, Vivian
DM: Moncoyola, Dani Garcia
CM (Attacker): Sancet, Uriarte
CM (Playmaker): Oroz, Ibarrondo
RW: Williams, Garcia
LW: Muniain, Serrano
CF: Cordoba, Gabilondo

Also in the squad - San Jose, Ibai Gomez. I'd probably accept offers for either if they came, but both are team leaders so I'm being cautious offering them out with them going into their final contract year anyway.

 

On a final note, some of our young stars led Bilbao Athletic to promotion via the playoffs, so they will be in the second tier next year!

 

Edited November 18, 2019 by bowieinspace

[dothestrand]

@bowieinspace Fantastic that you've been able to sign Odriozola. I've got Gorosabel as my backup to Capa, but jeez, this would be an upgrade! Great regens as well. Villalibre is a weird one for me too. He often goes long stretches without goals, but he has great all round stats for me - physical, mental and technical so I don't understand why he doesn't score as many as he does (maybe because I play him as a poacher and we probably don't create enough gilt-edged chances?) I finally bit the bullet in my game and signed Moncoyola for 15.5m, more than I wanted, but Osasuna were playing hardball. 

[bowieinspace]

Gabilondo and Garcia are absolutely flying already this season, coming on leaps and bounds! We are playing great too so far.

My top wonderkid from my last post, Julen Uriarte, is so good I don’t know what to do with him. He’s an AMC which I don’t use, but I could play him anywhere...central midfield, wide left or right, or up top and he’d be amazing. two footed with an awesome attribute spread. Right now I’m training him as an AM(s) because I literally can’t decide what to do with him

[bowieinspace]

On 18/11/2019 at 20:45, dothestrand said:

@bowieinspace Fantastic that you've been able to sign Odriozola. I've got Gorosabel as my backup to Capa, but jeez, this would be an upgrade! Great regens as well. Villalibre is a weird one for me too. He often goes long stretches without goals, but he has great all round stats for me - physical, mental and technical so I don't understand why he doesn't score as many as he does (maybe because I play him as a poacher and we probably don't create enough gilt-edged chances?) I finally bit the bullet in my game and signed Moncoyola for 15.5m, more than I wanted, but Osasuna were playing hardball. 

I had the same issue with him, was playing him as a pressing forward and goal scoring was just awful. Last season he scored maybe twice or three times all season in probably 25 appearances!

[abrahamchan777]

i just started a new bilbao save.

As athletic club can sign spanish player under 16 years old, I loaned in ansu fati on 100k monthly fee and 55M optional fee. I am not sure if i can sign him at season 2 but definitely an interesting route to try out. By doing so we can add the basque nationality to fati and make him available to buy later

Edited November 19, 2019 by abrahamchan777

[dothestrand]

1 hour ago, abrahamchan777 said:

i just started a new bilbao save.

As athletic club can sign spanish player under 16 years old, I loaned in ansu fati on 100k monthly fee and 55M optional fee. I am not sure if i can sign him at season 2 but definitely an interesting route to try out. By doing so we can add the basque nationality to fati and make him available to buy later

I suspect if you've not signed him for real before he turns 17, it won't work, but don't do it!

[Pavi]

4 hours ago, dothestrand said:

I suspect if you've not signed him for real before he turns 17, it won't work, but don't do it!

In former FMs if you had someone coming to your club at 16, even on trial for a week, he would acquire the Basque nationality... allowing you to sign him even 10 years later. I haven't checked if they finally changed it.

Edited November 19, 2019 by Pavi

[paperbox]

On 19/11/2019 at 16:52, Pavi said:

In former FMs if you had someone coming to your club at 16, even on trial for a week, he would acquire the Basque nationality... allowing you to sign him even 10 years later. I haven't checked if they finally changed it.

i think it's still that way, as a test I used the editor to move eriksen to athletic and he got a basque nationality straight away.

Edited November 21, 2019 by paperbox

[bowieinspace]

16 minutes ago, paperbox said:

i think it's still that way, as a test I used the editor to move eriksen to athletico and he got a basque nationality straight away.

I’ve been fairly open about this in the past (16year old Spaniard thing) that this is a bit of an abusable loop hole within the game. It allows far too much flexibility. But each to their own, it’s a game and people are welcome to play it as they like. It’s tough for the devs to set up the policy in a way that works. Personally I’d rather see them make it strictly basque nationality only, but you can just play that way if you want anyway so doesn’t really matter  

Edited November 19, 2019 by bowieinspace

[dothestrand]

10 minutes ago, bowieinspace said:

I’ve been fairly open about this in the past (16year old Spaniard thing) that this is a bit of an abusable loop hole within the game. It allows far too much flexibility. But each to their own, it’s a game and people are welcome to play it as they like. It’s tough for the devs to set up the policy in a way that works. Personally I’d rather see them make it strictly basque nationality only, but you can just play that way if you want anyway so doesn’t really matter  

I remember last year when I had an English/Basque player, who I signed from Man City. Can't remember where he was born, somewhere around Manchester, but that was the first time I saw anything like that. I don't know if they can work in say, a player born in Madrid but moved to Bilbao as a kid? 

[bowieinspace]

23 minutes ago, dothestrand said:

I remember last year when I had an English/Basque player, who I signed from Man City. Can't remember where he was born, somewhere around Manchester, but that was the first time I saw anything like that. I don't know if they can work in say, a player born in Madrid but moved to Bilbao as a kid? 

Yeah this would be fine, it’s primarily now based around where their cultural and footballing education took place, footballing in particular. Let’s say for example you had parents who moved to Bilbao when the child was very young, if the child went through youth football locally that wouldn’t be a problem for Athletic. A 16 year old from Madrid who has come through Madrid’s academy would never be considered. 

if you had a kid with basque parents who was born and raised in Manchester, that would be a no go most likely but those decisions are a little case by case 

Edited November 19, 2019 by bowieinspace

[Jean0987654321]

3 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

I’ve been fairly open about this in the past (16year old Spaniard thing) that this is a bit of an abusable loop hole within the game. It allows far too much flexibility. But each to their own, it’s a game and people are welcome to play it as they like. It’s tough for the devs to set up the policy in a way that works. Personally I’d rather see them make it strictly basque nationality only, but you can just play that way if you want anyway so doesn’t really matter  

I did that a first few years when I did the Basque challenge but no more. The save gets to be a bit too easy with such an exploit. Nowadays, I ONLY look for Basque players

[bowieinspace]

26 minutes ago, Jean0987654321 said:

I did that a first few years when I did the Basque challenge but no more. The save gets to be a bit too easy with such an exploit. Nowadays, I ONLY look for Basque players

Yeah personally I think that’s the way to do it! 

[bowieinspace]

A little tactical update as I know some people enjoy this side of it!

We're still utilising the 4-1-2-3 (or 4-3-3 if you prefer to call it that) system, with the same key philosophies as always, however we've made some key tweaks.

Roles and Duties:

I have previously been using a half back and aggressive full backs, however I wasn't a fan of how the half back was playing that role alongside an overall attacking mentality. I wanted the half back to form more of a back 3 in transition to manage the counter attack, but too often he was too far up the pitch and we were being caught on the counter attack with only our two cb's back. This wasn't what I wanted at all, and I couldn't work around it within this mentality. Secondly I have found the IW (S) role on the left wasn't as effective as I was hoping, and I was concerned that sometimes they were competing for space sometimes with the CM (A). Following on from the change to the DM role (moved to a DM (D), I have focused instead on the full backs being a little more balanced in their mentality, so a WB (D) on the left and a FB (S) on the right. This fits in nicely with the winger role on the left also changing to a W (A). I went for the W (A) role because I wanted a role that would stretch teams rather than cut inside, because with the WB (D) behind them I needed someone who would go to the byline here and there. When I play Muniain in that role he will cut inside anyway, but Serrano is an out and out winger, so I can have that play quite differently depending on who is on the pitch, so it's adaptable. Finally I switched the PF (A) to a F9 (S), as I wanted them to do more linking of the play. With the left winger moved to an attack duty, and a raumdeuter on the right and a CM (A) coming from deep, I wanted the forward to play slightly differently, and cause issues for the central defenders by moving off the line.

As is always the case with these tweaks, removing TI's and taking the tactic back to it's roots often generates the preferred outcome when you get the right roles in place, so I stripped back the TI's a touch:

Run at defence removed - meant our play around the opposition box was limited, I wanted to see quicker passing to break down stubborn defences rather than attempted dribbles
Low Crosses changed to whipped - Against packed defences our crosses just weren't getting through
Be More Expressive removed - just no need for it when the system was working properly
Waste time sometimes - Now we never waste time and keep the intensity up. If we need to waste time I have a defensive tactic I switch to late in games
Line of engagement - Shifted up the pitch a little, I was quite happy press a little higher and adjust on the fly as needs be, so set to the default value to start games (previously slightly lower)
Slightly Shorter passing - I wanted us to play quickly, but equally I felt sometimes we were trying to be too direct and were just giving the ball away needlessly. Slightly shorter passing on an attacking mentality still gives us a lot of range, but just tones it down a little bit and this is quite key.

In terms of PI's I have all of my midfielders tackling harder, and some shorter passing instructions on my right sided CB, and LB as I wanted to make sure they direct play to the central midfield. 

Now we are seeing crisper passing around the box and doing a better job of breaking down stubborn defences, I'm seeing the CM (A) score more goals and find more space in the box due to the role changes on the LW and CF positions. The F9 is dropping a little deeper which is creating space for the CM A and RMD on the right, but he's still getting in the box himself to score goals when the situation allows. All in all, this is working really nicely now!

 

Edited November 20, 2019 by bowieinspace

[dothestrand]

I'm halfway into the third season and have the joys of my first club president elections. Aitor Elizegi stood down and his replacement was touted in the press as looking to hire Valverde (unemployed) as my replacement. So I'm basically on probation. I would love a new president to come in and say "wow, you're doing a great job. We'd love to keep you on". We're likely to be battling for 5th/6th with Villareal this season as Valencia are having an amazing season. Gah! And the board are concerned about the lack of youth team players in the squad!!!

[bowieinspace]

39 minutes ago, dothestrand said:

I'm halfway into the third season and have the joys of my first club president elections. Aitor Elizegi stood down and his replacement was touted in the press as looking to hire Valverde (unemployed) as my replacement. So I'm basically on probation. I would love a new president to come in and say "wow, you're doing a great job. We'd love to keep you on". We're likely to be battling for 5th/6th with Villareal this season as Valencia are having an amazing season. Gah! And the board are concerned about the lack of youth team players in the squad!!!

I'm at that point too! So far all of the candidates haven't wanted to make any promises so fingers crossed some wildcard president doesn't come in, wanting Mourinho.

[cemendur88]

4 hours ago, dothestrand said:

I'm halfway into the third season and have the joys of my first club president elections. Aitor Elizegi stood down and his replacement was touted in the press as looking to hire Valverde (unemployed) as my replacement. So I'm basically on probation. I would love a new president to come in and say "wow, you're doing a great job. We'd love to keep you on". We're likely to be battling for 5th/6th with Villareal this season as Valencia are having an amazing season. Gah! And the board are concerned about the lack of youth team players in the squad!!!

I had that in the same season as well, got constant media stories that I was on the verge of the sack for 3-4 games in a row and then suddenly everything was fine. Hopefully same for you.

 

[dothestrand]

1 hour ago, cemendur88 said:

I had that in the same season as well, got constant media stories that I was on the verge of the sack for 3-4 games in a row and then suddenly everything was fine. Hopefully same for you.

 

It always happened in FM19, every season. Didn't matter if you'd won the league the season before or anything, just that we're judging you on results from now. No gratitude. 

[bowieinspace]

Just posted this in the bugs forum, quite concerned. Anyone else having a similar issue? @dothestrand particular interested in your info here as you are around the same period as me having recently gone through elections

 

Edited November 20, 2019 by bowieinspace

[dothestrand]

24 minutes ago, bowieinspace said:

Just posted this in the bugs forum, quite concerned. Anyone else having a similar issue? @dothestrand particular interested in your info here as you are around the same period as me having recently gone through elections

 

Weird, now its changed to 'very pleased' by the April. I haven't given a debut to any additional players. So maybe it just goes away?

[bowieinspace]

4 minutes ago, dothestrand said:

Weird, now its changed to 'very pleased' by the April. I haven't given a debut to any additional players. So maybe it just goes away?

Ok well I'll keep an eye on this, hopefully it goes away!

[dothestrand]

2 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

Ok well I'll keep an eye on this, hopefully it goes away!

And now they're complaining I don't sign enough u23 players! 

I finished 5th in 21-22. Valencia were just too good and there was no catching them. Might be the end of the road for some players - Yuri, Dani Garcia, Pardo, Unai Lopez. I've got plenty of young players who can take their spots in the first team. I'm a bit disappointed but we surpassed our points tallies from the last two seasons, so it's not all doom and gloom. Hopefully we'll be back in the CL next season. 

We also have a 28m transfer budget (finally, some generosity from the board!) but not sure we can realistically sign anyone to improve the side. 

Edited November 20, 2019 by dothestrand

[bowieinspace]

7 minutes ago, dothestrand said:

And now they're complaining I don't sign enough u23 players! 

I finished 5th in 21-22. Valencia were just too good and there was no catching them. Might be the end of the road for some players - Yuri, Dani Garcia, Pardo, Unai Lopez. I've got plenty of young players who can take their spots in the first team. I'm a bit disappointed but we surpassed our points tallies from the last two seasons, so it's not all doom and gloom. Hopefully we'll be back in the CL next season. 

We also have a 28m transfer budget (finally, some generosity from the board!) but not sure we can realistically sign anyone to improve the side. 

Unlucky on the league result. Yeah I think there's a few bugs around the new club vision stuff they are working through.

I've given a few debuts to youth team players and my issue has somewhat disappeared (they're satisified now and not disappointed), however I've updated my bug report and will leave it with them because there's no way it should have been there in the first place...I think the new board weren't considering the previous players I had brought through from the academy against that policy.

[bowieinspace]

Just had an epic final day, three way title show down. Will so a season review/update later  

[bowieinspace]

2021/22 Season Review - Would you want to bet against us?

 

A remarkable 2021/22 season saw massive development from some of our young stars. Mikel San Jose, Ibai Gomez, Herrerin, Villalibre, Larrazabal and Lekue all left the club at some stage during this season, while the signing of Alvaro Odriozola in the summer before the season gave us a fantastic platform to improve...and improve we did.

Competitions

A great effort in La Liga saw us improve by 16 points on the previous year, propelling us in to the conversation for the league title. It came down to the final day, with Real securing the title with a win. Ourselves and Barca also won, but Real had to draw on the final day for either of us to have a chance. Barca went behind early but ended up cruising to a 4-1 victory in the second half, while Real were 0-0 for quite a long time before romping home for the title.

We flew out of the blocks in the first half of the season, and had a narrow lead come the Christmas break. The second half of the season saw the lead switch frequently between us, Barca and Real Madrid. However Real won their last 6 games on the spin, including a last minute 2-1 victory over Atletico away with a couple of games to go. We ended up winning 4 and drawing 2 of our last 6, so it was possible we could have won it but I can't complain, we did very well to get that close given the gap in quality of the squads.

In the Champions League we got through our group of Fiorentina, Porto and Bayern Munich, then beat Inter in the last 16 (3-0, 0-1). However int he quarter final we got pummeled by Man City. We actually beat them in the second leg at San Mames but it was all over by then after they put 4 past us in Manchester.

Copa Del Rey, we got outplayed by Espanyol, no idea why as we had a decent team out! Then in the Supercopa we lost on penalities to Atletico after conceding twice in the last 5 minutes to draw 2-2.

Overall, delighted with the season and our performance as we took a massive step forwards. The squad is really coming on now and our young players are going to make this a successful save I think, we've been remarkably fortunate with the quality of Basque regens thus far.

Also Oroz won young player of the year!

As you can see, Barca and Real have done some exciting transfer business and are really tough to beat now. 

 

Newgens

Alex Gabilondo - Massive development this year. Still a bit unsure if his future lies in a withdrawn CF role or as a CM, he can do both naturally though so We will see!

Iker Garcia - He had the biggest impact on our season, he's a top goalscorer whether he plays on the right as a raumdeuter or in the CF role as a F9. Massive improvement and contribution this season

Julen Uriarte - Continued improvement and he is going to be an important player for us this year, I think he is going to end up being a world class superstar. I've decided to settle him in as a central midfielder as our wide forward roles are quite stacked right now. He can play either a CM (A) role or a AP (S) role in our system without too much trouble, but I'm training him as a CM specifically to get his tackling attribute up a bit.

Andoni Lafuente - Still working on his personality through mentoring, sadly not much improvement yet but fingers crossed. He looks set to be a quality CB, and this will mean Dani Vivian goes out on loan this season. Lafuente will be our 4th CB next season

Ignacio Suzunza - New kid on the block, recently joined from Real Sociedad. Has a lot of development to do but could eventually replace Munoz

Inigo Saenz - Will be leading the line for the B team this coming season, with a view for a loan or first team involvement in the future. Picked up from Eibar at 16, he's improving well.

Jose Angel Martinez - The long term future of the DM role as it stands. He has some improving to do, so will spend this season representing the B team in the Segunda. 

Roberto Exposito - Another promising forward player, one for the future!

 

 

Edited November 22, 2019 by bowieinspace

[tajj7]

Started a Bilbao save last night, not had much chance but to look at the squad, set some scouting assignments and sack most of the staff. 

I noticed the squad is ageing, which gives me an itch, I typically don't like having a load of 29-32 year olds knocking about but I presume I'll need to curb that side of my FM play.  

[bowieinspace]

25 minutes ago, tajj7 said:

Started a Bilbao save last night, not had much chance but to look at the squad, set some scouting assignments and sack most of the staff. 

I noticed the squad is ageing, which gives me an itch, I typically don't like having a load of 29-32 year olds knocking about but I presume I'll need to curb that side of my FM play.  

Yeah I think FM has a natural focus towards younger players, I think a lot of personality attributes and perhaps some mental ones could move more than they currently do to make 31-33 year olds a little more attractive. 
 

Anyway from an Athletic point of view your statement is only partially true...the first season yes it’s definitely the case because you have to work with what you have, however long term it’s not the case as the save is so focused around youth development. You’ll find yourself quickly transitioning some of the older faces out come January and the end of the first season  

[cemendur88]

Had a nail-biting end to the 4th season, all came down to the final day.

Disappointing not to win it after such a good season, but well Barcelona and Real Madrid were amazing (though apparently not enough for Madrid, they sacked Zidane!). Will post more on my team later, but looks like this might be Muniain's last season as he demanded to leave and went on loan to Ajax, did well enough without so will try and cash in on him. Martinez thankfully doesn't seem to have suffered too much from his long injury so will see how the summer goes then update on what my team looks like going into season 5 and the progress of my best youngsters.

[dothestrand]

@bowieinspace @cemendur88 Fantastic seasons both, sounds like you're making awesome progress. 

I only just worked out how mentoring works. Does it have a big effect? What's the best method? Have a group of younger players and add Williams/Muniain/Martinez to it?

I'm finding some of my younger players have stamina/strength levels that are low and don't increase. I put them on intense endurance training with little effect. Is that counterproductive? Will it just naturally increase with match experience? I don't like any players with lower than 12 (I find a fair few youth players have strength 1!!!!)

[cemendur88]

Honestly, I tend to ask my assistant to assign mentoring groups once a season and leave it at that. Seems to have a good effect on players though be careful if you don't want certain players to gain PPMs as influential players in groups will pass them on. 

[Matto97]

Started a Bilbao save this year as I've always been a bit of a Mourinho and never took youth development seriously with my own academy products so I feel this will be a good way to force myself to learn how to develop and use them lol. I've just entered the January transfer window and i am comfortably marooned in 4th position, 7 points clear of 3rd and 5th. I seem to be able to take the game to everyone below me on the table home or away but I have lost all 3 to the "big three" although all 3 were away from home. I have not really used any youth other then the young players who're already established in the first team, no European competition means the first team depth has covered me. I noticed in your squad review you noted Aritz Aduriz may be over the hill this season but he's still got it for me, sitting 2nd top scorer in the league on 10 goals in 15 starts, going to miss him big time when I release him at the end of the season! Villaibre does give me hope though as he has scored 6 all off the bench so he may become a good starter.

 

Now if I may ask how have you set up responsibilities to managing your B and C teams? Do you delegate anything to your staff? I'm kind of overwhelmed at the thought of hiring and firing staff, players and doing contract renewals for all 3 teams. I'm usually in the prem where the under 23's and 18's are fairly straight forward. Is there anything I can safely delegate without messing up youth development too bad?

[bowieinspace]

3 hours ago, Matto97 said:

Started a Bilbao save this year as I've always been a bit of a Mourinho and never took youth development seriously with my own academy products so I feel this will be a good way to force myself to learn how to develop and use them lol. I've just entered the January transfer window and i am comfortably marooned in 4th position, 7 points clear of 3rd and 5th. I seem to be able to take the game to everyone below me on the table home or away but I have lost all 3 to the "big three" although all 3 were away from home. I have not really used any youth other then the young players who're already established in the first team, no European competition means the first team depth has covered me. I noticed in your squad review you noted Aritz Aduriz may be over the hill this season but he's still got it for me, sitting 2nd top scorer in the league on 10 goals in 15 starts, going to miss him big time when I release him at the end of the season! Villaibre does give me hope though as he has scored 6 all off the bench so he may become a good starter.

 

Now if I may ask how have you set up responsibilities to managing your B and C teams? Do you delegate anything to your staff? I'm kind of overwhelmed at the thought of hiring and firing staff, players and doing contract renewals for all 3 teams. I'm usually in the prem where the under 23's and 18's are fairly straight forward. Is there anything I can safely delegate without messing up youth development too bad?

Welcome!

Aduriz can definitely do a job for a season. Villalibre is good, and Williams and Córdoba are both decent up front too so you’ll be ok. 

For the B and C teams I delegate a fair amount. Don’t worry too much about the C team, in an unplayable league of a low standard, just use it to maroon players you will never use and delegate everything for that team.

For the rest, I decided this year to have a technical director, no dof and no loan manager. The technical director handles all of our B team staff except the manager, and all of the under 19s staff except the manager. He’s a very good technical director so hires some really good people. I can then focus on all of the first team staff and I just keep an eye on the youth coaches he has brought in just in case I need to intervene. 

On the playing side I do contract renewals for all except the C team. B team contracts don’t take that long and I have good prospects there regularly so don’t like to take the risk.

[Matto97]

6 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

Welcome!

Aduriz can definitely do a job for a season. Villalibre is good, and Williams and Córdoba are both decent up front too so you’ll be ok. 

For the B and C teams I delegate a fair amount. Don’t worry too much about the C team, in an unplayable league of a low standard, just use it to maroon players you will never use and delegate everything for that team.

For the rest, I decided this year to have a technical director, no dof and no loan manager. The technical director handles all of our B team staff except the manager, and all of the under 19s staff except the manager. He’s a very good technical director so hires some really good people. I can then focus on all of the first team staff and I just keep an eye on the youth coaches he has brought in just in case I need to intervene. 

On the playing side I do contract renewals for all except the C team. B team contracts don’t take that long and I have good prospects there regularly so don’t like to take the risk.

Thanks for the input I'll be setting mine up like yours, using the c team as a dumping ground for rubbish players is a smart idea, and will let all my good prospects and first team fringe short on match fitness get more playing time. 

[bowieinspace]

2 hours ago, Matto97 said:

Thanks for the input I'll be setting mine up like yours, using the c team as a dumping ground for rubbish players is a smart idea, and will let all my good prospects and first team fringe short on match fitness get more playing time. 

No worries, just remember that the B team isn't like an u23 or reserve team in English football, because the B team is playing in a professional division in it's own right, against other professional clubs. Therefore it has player registration rules in the same way any other club does, and this means you can't have players registered for the first team playing for the B team. Players under the age of 19 on the 1st of January of that season can switch freely between teams, but if the player is older, they can only play for one or the other. That makes it difficult to use the B team for the purpose of fitness for your back up first team players

[tajj7]

Started my save now, 8 games and doing pretty well only lost the 1 game away to Barcelona and have already beaten Valencia, Athletic Madrid and Sociedad at home. 

Not signed anyone but some 16 year old from Celta that my DOF did and the Fernandes guy as a another left back option but didn't notice he was on loan so he won't join until next year.  I have about 4 players weirdly wanted by Chinese clubs, so hopefully that won't be a problem.

Strikers is the issue, Williams is doing ok, but actually had his best game as an inverted winger when I got injuries. I've tried Raul Garcia as the DLF he has all the stats for it but has performed so bad even the board have voiced concerns about his performances! His attributes are also plummeting like a stone already 

Probably my best performer has been Ibai Gomez, together with my centre-mid combo of Dani Garia and Benat. 

[Otis]

I'm back for another year of Athletic. I plan to play this save all year so I should get a good 20/30 seasons. 

[Matto97]

3 hours ago, tajj7 said:

Started my save now, 8 games and doing pretty well only lost the 1 game away to Barcelona and have already beaten Valencia, Athletic Madrid and Sociedad at home. 

Not signed anyone but some 16 year old from Celta that my DOF did and the Fernandes guy as a another left back option but didn't notice he was on loan so he won't join until next year.  I have about 4 players weirdly wanted by Chinese clubs, so hopefully that won't be a problem.

Strikers is the issue, Williams is doing ok, but actually had his best game as an inverted winger when I got injuries. I've tried Raul Garcia as the DLF he has all the stats for it but has performed so bad even the board have voiced concerns about his performances! His attributes are also plummeting like a stone already 

Probably my best performer has been Ibai Gomez, together with my centre-mid combo of Dani Garia and Benat. 

Raul Garcia is just garbage it seems no matter what role you play him or where on the pitch, which is sad because he's been great for Athletic IRL over the last few years and still has great stats and personality at the start of the save. I had filling in at AM (S), SS, DLF and DLP off the bench and he never had one good game. Sold him to Mexico in January paying half his massive wage just to get him out of the squad because his physicals were plummeting for me too and Unai Lopez does a much better role coming in off the bench.

[tajj7]

4 hours ago, Matto97 said:

Raul Garcia is just garbage it seems no matter what role you play him or where on the pitch, which is sad because he's been great for Athletic IRL over the last few years and still has great stats and personality at the start of the save. I had filling in at AM (S), SS, DLF and DLP off the bench and he never had one good game. Sold him to Mexico in January paying half his massive wage just to get him out of the squad because his physicals were plummeting for me too and Unai Lopez does a much better role coming in off the bench.

Yeh his physicals surprise me, yeh he has just turned 33 but he has natural fitness of 16 so I thought he'd be fine for the rest of the season at least but has started to decline a lot in barely 3 months, I might do the same and sell him in January, to be honest he doesn't fit my system anyway. 

[paperbox]

15 minutes ago, tajj7 said:

Yeh his physicals surprise me, yeh he has just turned 33 but he has natural fitness of 16 so I thought he'd be fine for the rest of the season at least but has started to decline a lot in barely 3 months, I might do the same and sell him in January, to be honest he doesn't fit my system anyway. 

He played great for me as a cm the first 2 seasons

[tajj7]

3 minutes ago, paperbox said:

He played great for me as a cm the first 2 seasons

I'm playing a 4-2-2-2 with two DMs so just don't have space for him. 

[bowieinspace]

20 minutes ago, tajj7 said:

Yeh his physicals surprise me, yeh he has just turned 33 but he has natural fitness of 16 so I thought he'd be fine for the rest of the season at least but has started to decline a lot in barely 3 months, I might do the same and sell him in January, to be honest he doesn't fit my system anyway. 

Yeah his decline seems quite bizarre given his natural fitness

4 minutes ago, paperbox said:

He played great for me as a cm the first 2 seasons

Yep CM only position I've ever got any joy from him this year or previous years in FM, he's just odd on FM. I think his off the ball and finishing should probably be higher so he does the shadow striker type thing properly that he does in real life...right now he's a bit of a jack of all trades master of none...CM seems to be the only place for him

[paperbox]

Does anyone know how i can make the B and C team play with my tactics? I can't seem to find it in the staff responsibilities

Edited November 23, 2019 by paperbox