[FM20] Updates from Wolves.

[Swills417]

Started my first save on this year’s iteration of the game, after skipping FM2019. After a few of my usual tweaks to the database to future proof any new saves:  

• Closer Youth Ratings for top nations
• Increased value and salary demands for top players in each top nations 
• Implemented a rudimentary Decreto Crescita or Italy’s “Beckham Law” 
• A few minor reputation and contractual changes to players and staff  
• No changes to CA/PA or attributes of players 

Since I haven’t been able to settle on a club for a long term save, I decided to holiday to the games release date in-game, 19th November 2019. Among a number of second-tier teams without a manager – Wolves and Everton had parted with Marco Silva and Nuno Espírito Santo respectively. Wolves sitting 19th in the league, but second in their Europa League group were the obvious club to get started with.  

 

 

I set out a number of “rules” for myself to follow to measure every season:

• Sign 3 players from affiliates in 12 months (over 3 windows)
• Sign players with Fibra (Players with high Team Work, Aggression, Bravery, Determination, Work Rate and Leadership) 
• Sign a maximum of 1 newgen per window 
• Keep squad size small 
• Focus on Set-Pieces 
• Have a goal-scoring central midfielder 

Expectations were surprisingly low as the board only expected avoiding relegation first season and knockouts of the Europa League in the 1st season. Followed by 4 years of qualifying for Europa League. First order of business was to fill staff vacancies in the club. In came ex-Arsenal pair Lehmann and Bergkamp. Plus a raft of coaches and staff signed on 2 year deals to tide us over.  
 
Tactically, I wanted to take the approach of evolution not revolution so we stuck to the 3-5-2 of the previous regime with a flexible counter attacking approach.  

 

My opening game was a tough home again against Leicester City, a game in which we were out shot and out passed. We lost to a Vardy tap-in from a cross. The following game was more impressive as we went to a 5-2-1-2 with Morgan Gibbs-White in the number 10 position. A more positive mentality was also trialled as we were unlucky to lose to Lazio. We qualified for the knock-outs by virtue of a +1 goal difference better than Sevilla. We deserved more than to draw the away game at Aston Villa, with Jota giving us the lead following a goal mouth scramble from one of my corner routines. These three winless games lead to an early change in team shape, which lead to 5 games unbeaten. With Rubin Vinagre  being really impressive in these games assisting and winning a penalty which Raul Jimenez converted against Crystal Palace. The Liverpool game was a massively unexpected result. I rested a number of first team players including Neves and Moutinho. I walked away from the laptop and came back at half time 2-0 up! The Boly goal came about from our corner routine coming to fruition. Whipped delivery to the near post and powerful header! First of many to come?

As we have reached the January window, I will review areas of the squad to be strengthened. Initially I expected to be recruiting a left back, but with Vinagre being instrumental in the previous 5 games has complicated this somewhat. It's also important to keep one eye on the future with the youth intake inbound. 

 

With a reasonable intake inbound but no stand out stars, I will look to plug some gaps and future-proof the squad in the next few transfer windows.  Sticking to the previously mentioned save rules. With the window now upon us, we will look to strengthen the squad where possible. 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2019 by Swills417

[Swills417]

Heading into January on the high of a 5-game unbeaten run, I was initially reluctant to undertake too much surgery on the squad. With only a small amount of players making appearances so far, we needed to bolster out first time squad with proven quality in depth to really make a push up the table in 2020.  

We began the month as we left off in December, with a 3-0 win in our FA cup 3rd draw. Moutinho continuing to impress as Mezzela. After an horrific start which saw us 0-2 down within 15 minutes, we rallied to a draw at home to Chelsea. I would dread to think where this team would be without the goals of Jota.  

During this period, we flirted with a number of players who would significantly improve us. Alex Telles was highlighted as a player with significant Fibra and would be a big improvement over the young, but impressive Ruben Vinagre. We managed to bring him to the table, but we could not agree personal terms. He instead moved to Anfield to play understudy to Andrew Robertson. Noticing James Rodriquez was surplus to requirements at Real Madrid, we entertained the prospect of a real marquee signing. Unfortunately, we could not convince him to come to the table for negotiations. This may be something to revisit later in the season with his contract running down, our director of football may be able to move mountains for him. Another signing that fell through was Lulic, after failing to agree personal terms the player declined to speak to us again before the window closed.  

With the window coming to a close we settled on loan deals for Valverde from Real Madrid and Martinelli from Arsenal. They will join us in February after fulfilling their u-23 national team responsibilities. These will be rotation options that I can hopefully look to secure on a permanent basis or at least another loan next season. Edmond Tapsoba was also signed and will join us in the summer for an initial £11m. He will hopefully fill the gap of young promising defenders at the club and replace the underwhelming Jesús Vallejo who will return the Madrid at the end of the season.  

Despite frustrations in the transfer market, our performances on the pitch were outstanding. Moutinho being hugely impressive with a vital goal  against Crystal Palance and a late penalty against Brentford in the FA Cup. Morgan Gibbs-White has also excelled in the Mezzela role as Moutinho’s deputy. He has begun to make noise about wanting a new contract, so we will aim to pin him down to a long-term deal. As a bonus both him and Pedro Neto appeared in the Young Player of the Month for January 2020, proving the Molineux youngsters are prospects to be reckoned with! 

   

With Brexit shelved, a thought this would be a good time to finally arrange some scouting assignments. Initially, I was dismayed to discover all of our scouts were English with little or no knowledge of other countries. I dismissed 3 of the least impressive and recruited scouts with a greater understanding of European footballing leagues. This should enable us to proactively recruit in the summer months. 

 

February will bring the international break and our first and second leg against AS Roma in the Europa League first knockout round. We are up to the top half of the table into 9th place. A strong unbeaten run has propelled us from 19th to 9th. 

Edited December 5, 2019 by Swills417

[Swills417]

 

 February began and we continued our great form with 2 straight forward victories in the league. Next up was our Europa league first leg fixture against AS Roma. Dzeko struck within 3 minutes to give Roma the initiative in the tie with an away goal. We battled back to 2-1 at half time, before a Jota picked the ball up deep in our half and on the counter proceeded to beat the last man and score past the Roma keeper to enable us to take charge of the tie. We ended the game with 38% passion in total with our counter attacking game paying dividends on the big stage.

The game against Bournemouth was our first defeat of 2019 and ended our run at 13 games undefeated in all competitions, 11 in the league. We rested a few first teamers with one eye on the second leg in Italy. When that game came around, we never really had control and we were unlucky to go out on away goals with Zaniolo striking late, unmarked from a corner. Our European dream was over.  

Following our disappointed of being knocked out of Europe at the first knockout round. We duly dispatched Aston Villa. Before a double header with Leicester City. It looks as though both teams prioritized the opposing  match that the other. We lined up a weaker in the FA Cup tie and full strength in the league, and won the league game while Leicester advanced in the cup. Two tough games followed at home to Manchester United and Tottenham. We were unlucky against United, which the score line flattered. We had a goal disallowed by VAR and then proceeded the concede right after. We were also flat against Tottenham, conceding and losing via a long range effort from their right back. We have seemed to drop our performance levels at the crunch point of the season. Injuries and suspensions to key personnel such as Moutinho, Boly and Neves having exacerbated this inconsistency.

We also received our youth intake. With no standout candidates, we will look to utilise the market to correct this. We will focus on signing those fibra players who will help establish a grass-roots level culture at the club.

 

By the end of competitive fixtures in March, we had surrendered our "best of the rest" position to Bournemouth. We have a mixed bag with our run it, with tough fixtures against Arsenal and Manchester City on the horizon. However, with no threat of relegation and being unlikely to be able to secure European football I will look to blitz the next few games and take a look into the second season with Wolves. 

 

--

 

 

Edited December 16, 2019 by Swills417

[Swills417]

April/May 2020

We began April with a disappointing loss to Watford, our 3rd straight defeat in the Premier League. Our form having suffered massively without Moutinho and Neves in midfield. As talented and promising Morgan Gibbs-White and Valverde are, they do not provide that dynamic partnership that the Portuguese duo perform.  These players have been instrumental in everything we do. Securing quality understudies will be a challenge for next season. Our form in the next few games took an alarming nose dive with no wins in our any league games this month. Admitted, I was not expecting much from the Manchester City or Arsenal games. However, to lose to relegation threatened Watford and play out a scoreless dress at home to Norwich was immensely disappointing. The absence of Moutinho this month seriously hurt.  

Into the May fixtures and being safely marooned in mid-table, we secured our status as a premier league team. The lowest bar to be met, but still a requirement checked off. We proceeded to dispatch both Newcastle and Brighton without much fuss, who both employed back 3’s. Something to keep an eye out for. This was before the season closer away to Everton where a limp display saw us lose 2-0.  

To summarise my first few months at Wolves, we managed to rise from 19th to 9th, made it into the knockouts of the Europa League but lacked a domestic cup run. We were better on the road than at home, claiming the major scalp of a 3-0 win at Anfield. In contrast, at Molinuex we were vulnerable only winning 6 games, with only one of them against a team that finished above us.  

 

A number of interesting statistics present themselves which tell a story of the inner-make up of our Wolves side. Wily Boly, by quite a margin, won the most key headers out of all players in the league. Most likely a consequence of leaving space to wingers because our full backs being caught high up the pitch and Boly clearing the crosses. Conner Coady also scored high in this stat.  

 Ruben Vinagre had the highest tackles per game in the league, with the attacking full-back showing a side to his game that went unnoticed. He also collected quite a number of mistakes. Our young player of the season showing his mettle alongside his craft and naivety  in a breakthrough year for him. 

 

From our forward players, the accuracy of Jota’s shots were a particular highlight. PLaying from an inside forwrad position, he was a consistent goal threat and we struggled when he was absent from the team. Ruben Neves also caught the high in terms of chances created from a deeper position than the players who also scored high in this stat in the league. Moutinho was a surprise absentee from this list, which upon further research, suggests is due to only making 26 appearances this season in the league. With his main contributions coming in Europe in the form of 7 assists.  

 

Our fans player was Raul Jimenez who lead the line superbly for us this season pipping Neves and Boly to the award. As previously mentioned our young left back won our young player of the season awards, with our best eleven being the below: 

 

In a quick review of how the Premier League and other divisions and cups for season 2019/20. Manchester United won the league in suprising fashion, with Liverpool and City both struggling to meet their “in real life” standards. Arsenal qualified for the Champions League, with Chelsea and Tottenham missing out – costing Pochetino his job. Lampard perhaps saved by a Carabou Cup win earlier in the season. Watford and Bournmouth will play out the FA Cup final and the Champions League final will be contested between Manchester City and surprise package Lyon. Benefica and Inter Milan will play out the Europa League final before this.  

Around the World, Barcelona pipped Real Madrid to the title with 95 points to their 93. Juventus made it 9 in a row, with Lazio as their closest (yet still far) challengers. Likewise Bayern once again won Bundesliga with PSG wrapping up Ligue 1. No real surpises here.  

Moving forward, we will look to decide upcoming transfer targets, with an eye on strengthening key positions and sign a number of young understudies. As part of this season wrap-up, a quick reflextion of how this season measured up in terms of aims:

• Sign 3 players from affiliates in 12 months (over 3 windows)
  •  First affiliated club with the club was Cambridge in league 2. We will look to expand our network to a European club at the earliest opportunity. 
• Sign players with Fibra (Players with high Team Work, Aggression, Bravery, Determination, Work Rate and Leadership) 
  •  With no permanent transfers made in January, we will look to recruit some players of this calibre in the summer 2020 window. 
• Sign a maximum of 1 newgen per window 
  • No newgens signed so far. 
• Keep squad size small 
  • As earlier, no permanent signings have been made while a few outgoings occurred in January. 
• Focus on Set-Pieces 
  • We scored only 6 goals from Corners in the league and 2 from indirect free kicks. 
• Have a goal-scoring central midfielder 
  • Neither Neves or Moutinho stood out in this regards with 5 and 4 goals in all competitions respectively. This will inform recruitment strategy.  

Next update will include  our pre-season preparations, new contracts, coaches and training approached and hopefully a few incoming transfers. 

Edited December 17, 2019 by Swills417

[Swills417]

Pre-Season 2020

We began the off-season by identifying a number of key targets for positions we needed strengthening. We needed a first team option on the right wing as Neto and Traore are not without their deficiencies. We also needed high calibre rotation options for central midfield and defensive midfield. Potentially also a “defence first” full back to bolster our numbers. Our first move was to ensure our talisman was tied down in a long-term deal. There is a release clause included in the contract, but I hope we will be in a position to promote from within when and if Jota ever departs. We were set an initial budget of £78m for the upcoming season. The board generosity, will hopefully be repaid with shrewd recruitment.

Our first signing was the recruitment of another Jota,  a young winger who can play either flank and is either footed from Benfica. Hopefully, the double pronged attack of Jota x2 will cause havoc not just for commentators! We also brought in Herbie Kane for a small fee from Liverpool to bolster the home-grown contingent within the squad. He should only be used as a back-up player who will earn the chance to prove himself during periods where we will rotate. Our second major signing was Santiago Ascabiar from Stuggart. The hard tackling defensive midfielder was brought in for a £30m fee, who will provide stern competition for Dendonker, who may even move into our back line. 

A number of outgoings also threatened. We manage to retain both Coady and Boly who kicked up a fuss both for different reasons. Boly, due to me breaking the promise to improve our coaching and Coady as he wanted to play in the Champions League. I reminded him that he is one of our leaders in the dressing room and he backed down. 

Our training camp took us to the sunny shores of Scotland, where we will begin our pre-season training. This was followed by a brief tour of the squads home from home, Portugal. There we beat the likes of Sporting Lisbon and Vittoria comprehensively.

 

The biggest surprise of the window was yet to come, James Rodriguez’s contract expired with Real Madrid and I set our Director of Football the task of bringing him to Molineux. By some miracle, he agreed to join and at a fraction of his Madrid wages. No outlandish promises were made, a real coup for the club. Ben Worman, the outstanding youth prospect from our affiliate Cambridge was signed in staggered £750k deal. Following this, a pair of Gomes’ signed, both Portuguese and one regen. The board blocked the transfer of Valverde as they were concerned with the lack of Portuguese signings, which was a disappointment. However, we had plenty of options in his position so I wasn't overly concerned. 

Overall, I was very satisfied with our transfer incoming and outgoings. 
 

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by Swills417