[FM19] Ajax - The Golden Generation

[zlatanera]

Ajax are one of those clubs that truly needs no introduction, so if you'd like one I'll refer you to their wikipedia page, as the club's English-language website apparently hasn't seen some sections updating since 2011. 

More important for me is their more recent achievements - in particular that glorious but ultimately doomed run to the Champions League semi-finals alongside a domestic double in 2018/19. The team of de Ligt, de Jong, van de Beek and Tadic scored an incredible 175 goals in all competitions, coming within minutes of a first champions league final since 1996 and thrilling most of Europe's football fans, if not the world's given the reach of the top continental competition. Dusan Tadic's reinvention as a striker was a shock - he even got a rare 10/10 from L'Équipe against Real Madrid - whilst Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt became two of the most highly-rated players in Europe before moving to Barcelona and Juventus respectively. 

I aim to see if I can equal or better that Ajax team, both in terms of trophies and in terms of scoring goals whilst playing thrilling attacking football. In the long term I'm unsure if I want to 'game the game' slightly and make de Ligt into an Ajax lifer, or if I'll let players move on and renew, just at a slightly slower pace than in real life. 

[zlatanera]

The initial thought was a 4-2-3-1 similar to in real life, and that an Attacking mentality sums up the attitude of a team that scored 175 goals including 4 in a humbling of the European champions at the Bernabéu. After much deliberation I decided the best way to go was to adapt my Monaco recreation yet again as whilst I've in various saves gotten 20 goal seasons out of Huntelaar, David Neres, Dolberg and even Lasse Schöne, to get the sort of numbers Erik ten Hag's team got I need something really aggressive.

Slightly Shorter Passing and Slightly Lower Tempo encourage our technically gifted players to retain control of the ball a bit more - Ajax being the least physically imposing squad I’ve played this style with if we’re constantly chasing up and down the pitch we’ll lose. Focus Play Through The Middle should help increase our compactness by bringing the centre backs closer to the midfield, as otherwise that double Su pairing might be too gung-ho. One tweak I later made from this screenshot is removing Defend Narrower at some point in the first two months of play because my players strongly disagreed with it in match briefings whether we were favourites or underdogs, leading me to consider why this might be the case then realise that it makes no sense to invite crosses when you only have one guy over 6 foot in your back line. 

The only PIs are for the AM-At, who has Take More Risks, Dribble More and Move Into Channels. 

Edited September 28, 2020 by zlatanera
grammar

[zlatanera]

July / August 2018

• SK Sturm Graz (H): van de Beek (17) Labyad (23) Schöne (81)

• SK Sturm Graz (A): Schöne (11) Blind (16, 20) Verny (28)

• Spartak Moscow (H): Huntelaar (16, 45+1) David Neres (18, 73)

• Heracles Almelo (H): Labyad (14, 30) Tadic (40)

• Spartak Moscow (A): After the first leg hammering we decided to change things up and hit the woodwork - a much smaller target than the goal - and managed to do so 3 times. Spartak were playing football however, so we got lucky they weren’t good enough to turn it around!

• VVV-Venlo (A): Cerny (35, 81)

• SLB (A): David Neres (35)

• FC Emmen (H): Blind (10, 45) Caner Cavlan (og 19) de Ligt (57, 81) Have I…turned the club of Cruijff into Tony Pulis’ wet dream?!

• SLB (H): David Neres (8, 34) Blind (22) van de Beek (61)

[zlatanera]

September 2018

• Vitesse (A): Huntelaar (pen 77)

• FC Groningen (H): Huntelaar (43) de Jong (68)

• A. Madrid (H): 9’ Godín made a clearance down the right, Gelson Martins beat Tagliafico to it and crossed, Griezmann turning in at the near post. 24’ on a quick counter Griezmann smashed one top corner from outside the box. 56’ David Neres had twice gotten in behind and shot at goal, when we countered through Ziyech, Tadic and on to van de Beek who slid one in with the Brazilian finishing first time inside Oblak’s near post! Over the next five minutes it was Ziyech’s turn to miss two sitters before David Neres played one in at 62’ that he smashed into the roof of the net! 71’ Lemar crossed from deep and Griezmann rounded Onana to restore Atlético’s lead. We should have won that, the 50-70 minute spell was a period of domination similar to what Ajax were capable in real life.

• Harkemase Boys (A): Labyad (5, 50) Tadic (8, 22, pen 30) van de Beek (36, 48, 73)…yeah, I played the A team against the non-leaguers. After all, its the biggest game of all their careers, it would seem disingenuous to play a bunch of 17 year olds!

• Fortuna Sittard (A): David Neres (20)

[zlatanera]

October 2018

• Man Utd (A): 12’ Mata floated in a corner and Lukaku got some momentum behind him…Onana would have broke his hand if he got near the header. 19’ Sánchez pulled up running through the centre and with a ruthlessness to shame United’s predatory owners we pounced, de Ligt quickly moving it on to Ziyech who drove into the centre and slid a ball in for van de Beek, who placed his shot past De Gea!! At half time I noticed Herrera was single-handedly shutting down our left side so decided to switch de Jong and Schöne’s roles to build more of our play in the spaces Pogba would leave instead. 56’ they hit us on a counter, Pogba defying my expectations in coming deep to win the ball, laying it off to Smalling who sprayed it out to Mata, whose cross found Sánchez just inside the box giving Onana no chance. 69’ we had a free kick in a wide position: Ziyech passed it short to David Neres, who drew the two-man wall towards him before playing it to Schöne on the edge of the box, he squared to to de Jong who lashed it first time into the top corner! 73’ we were behind again through a Fellaini half-volley from the edge of the box. 81’ Matic headed against the post from a corner, it fell kindly for him and he finished from a very tight angle. 89’ a hopeful punt forward was headed away by Mazraoui, Martial retrieved it, burned him and crossed and Rashford headed it in. I’m not saying we deserved to win that - a draw would have been fair - but 5-2 definitely flatters United. We appear to be living up to the 1970 generation’s legacy of glorious failure…

• AZ (H): de Jong (5) Eiting (32) David Neres (47) Dolberg (pen 71)

• Excelsior M (A): Huntelaar (1) Dolberg (43, 52, 88) Cerny (58) Eiting (82)

• Inter (A): 23’ Perisic cut inside and hit a rocket shot off the post, it ricocheted off Onana and in. 42’ from a counter Nainngolan placed a 2nd under Onana’s dive from close range. 68’ Perisic curled another one in from outside the box. Ziyech hit really tame shots a couple of times on the counter late on, but there was nothing glorious about this failure. Problems started at the back - Onana’s clearances forcing our physically imposing frontline [/sarcasm] into a bunch of headers which just allowed Inter to come straight back at us. We’re going to need an Atalanta-esque turnaround in the next 3 games to even get Europa League at this point.

• Feyenoord (H): 15’ de Ligt was forced down under a corner and Tadic converted the penalty! 24’ Tagliafico crossed and under pressure from Ziyech, Larsson headed into his own net! 25’ Tadic played it down the left, Tagliafico crossed and Ziyech volleyed in! 75’ a nice spell of possession on the right saw David Neres come centrally to collect the ball, turn and curl one in with his weak foot from the D! 80’ Clasie spoiled our clean sheet on a rare counter from Feyenoord. 90’ David Neres intercepted just inside the Feyenoord half, moving it on to Eiting, who played Huntelaar into the area, he waited for Vermeer to go to ground then lifted it into the top corner!

• PSV (A): 27’ a miss interception from Tagliafico allowed Luuk de Jong to nip in and finish. 50’ our corner was headed away, van de Beek athletically brought it down and squared it to Eiting who took a touch with his left then hit it with his right from just outside the box! 59’ a good period of possession saw Tagliafico bend in a cross from deep, and Tadic volleyed home from the spot! PSV rallied in added time but we held on for the win!

Edited March 1, 2020 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

November 2018

• Willem II (H): Dolberg (1) Huntelaar (pen 7) Labyad (45) Cerny (45+2) Ekkelenkamp (78)

• Inter (H): We’ve conceded 11 goals in 3 games, so we need to take revenge spectacularly if we’re to have any hopes of still being in Europe come spring. We went at them straight from the kick-off, van de Beek blasting over the bar after 19 seconds. 5’ we kept up the pressure and Mazraoui crossed to the back post for David Neres to score his 10th of the season! 7’ Mazraoui was the provider again, running at the defence from half-way before playing in Tadic who powered in our second! 32’ Ziyech’s corner was headed out, de Ligt returned it to him and his cross found Wöber just inside the area, his volley giving Handanovic no chance! 39’ yet again we had a set piece cleared, de Jong evading his marker and switching it to Tagliafico whose cross was turned in by Ziyech. 83’ Icardi nabbed one on the counter. 84’ van de Beek pounced on a rebound for our fifth!

• Excelsior (A): Schöne (7) Tadic (pen 10) David Neres (38, 40, 61) Ziyech (90+2)

  Incredibly, after the Excelsior game I calculated that we are actually scoring at a higher rate than in real life!

• NAC Breda (A): Schöne (3) David Neres (35) Ziyech (84)

• A. Madrid (A): 11’ we built play down the left before bringing it into the centre to van de Beek, 20 yards out he took a touch and fired one into the top corner! 17’ they equalised as Mazraoui was out of position, forcing de Ligt towards Lemar leaving him an easy ball to compatriot Griezmann to apply the finish. 27’ on a break Griezmann’s cross deflected perfectly into Diego Costa’s path to make it 2. 88’ on a counter it was our turn to get lucky with a deflection, Mazraoui’s cross falling to Dolberg who turned and set up Eiting to level it! Sadly it ended 2-2, eliminating us from the competition on head-to-head after Atlético’s 3-2 win at the ArenA in September.

Edited March 1, 2020 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

December 2018

• ADO Den Haag (H): David Neres (65) Labyad (90+4)

• sc Heerenveen (A): Tadic (40) David Neres (46)

  One day before the trip to MAC³PARK stadion the club was taken over by Thodoris Zagorakis - a Euro 2004 winner with Greece - which on the one hand is a positive as I won’t be lumbered with endless takeover talks, but on the other hand Edwin van der Sar is now off the board. This insistence on Ajax getting a takeover is a bizarre bug left in FM19 and whilst it doesn’t tend to impact the save too much its still a little thing that hurts immersion. I did get a new contract out of it though!

• PEC Zwolle (A): Cerny (56, 62) Ziyech (79)

• Man Utd (H): Although merely matching Inter’s result would see us make the Europa League thanks to head-to-head, I want revenge. David Neres picking up an injury against Heerenveen that puts him out until 2019 was therefore not ideal. Vaclav Cerny isn’t good enough - for all the goals he just can’t hit a cross to save himself - so I gambled on Kasper Dolberg out wide instead. Sickness to Tagliafico meant Wöber (8 Crossing) was our DL too and again I prioritised Eiting’s fitness over Schöne in the middle. United lined up in a 4-1-4-1 because its José Mourinho away in Europe and who cares if they hit 5 past us at home he’s not going to change now is he? The first half went to type, us dominating every statistic except fouls. 60’ I made my big move, adding Work Ball Into Box. 64’ Fred launched a throw over the head of Lingard and he picked up his 2nd yellow trying to use Eiting as a springboard to reach it. 73’ as we ramped up the pressure Herrera went in two-footed on Tadic and got himself a red too! We generated a couple of chances including one ‘Clear Cut Chance’ after that, especially once putting on Huntelaar as a Poacher to sit in the box given they were that deep but ultimately couldn’t find the final ball. Inter meanwhile came back from 2-0 down against Atlético, Icardi levelling it up in the 89th minute but luckily it stayed 2-2 so we go through to the Europa League thanks to that walloping we gave them in November! Daley Blind got MOTM too, playing a centre back, which Mourinho must have hated  The whole Eredivisie will have breathed a sigh of relief when Atlético held out asrested this team could probably hit 100 points. Real Madrid, incredibly, will be in the 2nd tier competition with us after finishing 3rd in their group behind Porto and Lyon.

• De Graafschaap (H): Tadic (23, 53) van de Beek (76)

• Excelsior (H): Ziyech (95) Huntelaar (100, 120+1) Tadic (102)

• FC Utrecht (A): Dolberg (32, 48) Tadic (53, 57) Ziyech (83, 90+5) Blind (90+3)

[zlatanera]

Mid-Season Review

I’ve started to like to do mid-season review to take stock of things - it allows me to regain some perspective if things aren’t going my way (not much of an issue here) or look at if I can still keep the good times going or if there are warning signs for a fall coming that I may be able to prevent.

Negatives:

• Well, there’s only one here: our exit from the Champions League. It was an incredibly tough group, with 10 Champions League between 3 of the teams and 2 recent final appearances for the other. But the way we played I’d argue we should have qualified - a look at Clear Cut Chances shows why I might think that:

• As you can see, we passed up 8 opportunities for goals - and they definitely came in our 2 draws with Man Utd and Atlético and our loss to Atlético, so could have potentially seen things look much differently. But as I said, it was a very tough group.

Positives:

• Goalscoring. I mentioned the real life Ajax’s hitting 175 goals over the season in 2018/19. Right now in 32 games we’ve scored 101! It’s not like we’re just hammering the Eredivisie whipping boys either as we’ve put 4 past Spartak Moscow, 5 past Benfica, 4 against Atlético, 5 against Inter and 5 against Feyenoord!

• By just a rough estimation from glancing at this I think I’ll have a total of 9 players on double figures for goals by the end of the season (including Daley Blind!!) whilst the Moroccan trio of Mazraoui, Ziyech and Labyad could each hit 20 assists!

• We’re running away with it in the league, unbeaten and presently on track for 96 points! The record is 89, and although I expect a slight drop-off due to European commitments I honestly think we can do it! The goalscoring record may have to wait until next season however, as Ajax hit 120 in 1985/86 (a certain Marco van Basten got 37) which would require us to somehow increase our rate of scoring - barring purchasing the editor and bumping up Ziyech’s Finishing attribute I don’t see it happening. Still, something to maintain the longevity of the save!

Edited March 2, 2020 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

Winter Transfer Window 2019

Well the main aim going into the January window was to hold on to our squad without them all getting unsettled. This was a partial success - Ziyech has been promised Champions League football, de Jong is publicly unhappy but the rest are contented in their roles.

I did manage to shift on some deadwood though, Orejuela is on a year-long loan back to Colombia although I do eventually hope to profit on him, but the rest are irrelevant.

Our secondary aim was to perhaps strengthen in the academy - in particular we’re weak in quality at both full back positions and defensive midfield where despite at first glance appearing to have ample potential we instead have a lot of young midfielders with low Determination and Natural Fitness. I had two young Danish targets and one of those - Frederik Nørrestrand - didn’t come off as he chose to remain with Brøndby and go out on loan instead. The screenshot above is a bit of a giveaway but the other did! Christensen, apparently also known as Jaxe, has already played senior games for FC Nordsjælland despite his tender age but will remain in our youth ranks for the next year or two. Technically minded but not lacking bite, he’s pretty much a perfect signing for the future.

Edited March 13, 2020 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

January 2019

• sc Heerenveen (H): Tadic (8) Ziyech (39) Wöber (68)

• Feyenoord (A): This was a real end-to-end game, with abysmal finishing all round. It took until 68’ for us to find the breakthrough, de Ligt rising highest to power home Ziyech’s corner. I thought that was that but 90+4’ Tagliafico appeared to push Botteghin under a corner, VAR gave a penalty, Toornstra stepped up and…Onana saved it!

• AZ (A): Labyad (31) Tadic (32, 70) Wöber (36) Eiting (89). AZ are actually only 5 points off our incredible pace in the Eredivisie (we’re the only team to defeat them) so I was quite surprised that it turned out this one-sided given I rotated a bit.

[zlatanera]

February 2019

• VVV-Venlo (H): Tadic (5, 13, 83) de Ligt (74) Ziyech (89)

• Heracles Almelo (A): Ziyech (6) de Ligt (32) Tadic (pen 45+3)

• Roma (H): 23’ we built from the back following a Roma goal kick, then de Jong played it out to David Neres who cut inside and switched it to Dolberg, he took a touch then crossed to the back post where the Brazilian finished the one-two with a volley! 32’ We went all the way back to Blind who played it down the left for David Neres, his sudden burst of acceleration on the edge of the box drew a lunge from Florenzi winning a penalty and seeing the Roman sent off. Dolberg converted! 42’ van de Beek floated in a corner to the near post and de Ligt headed down beyond Olsen! 45+2’ another van de Beek corner saw El Shaarawy knock it down across his own goal and Tadic bundled it into the net! 70’ de Jong and Tagliafico exchanged passes from a throw before the Dutchman crossed into the box, Dolberg took it down at the far post, cut in and placed it below Olsen’s dive! 78’ Labyad’s free kick hit the top corner woodwork, van de Beek’s rebound hit Olsen and his slide got the job done for our 6th!

• NAC Breda (H): Huntelaar (4) Cerny (59, 79) Ziyech (74)

• Roma (A): Realistically Roma aren’t coming back into this. Early on Ziyech twice was through only for Kolarov to make a last-ditch recovery and I thought we could hit another 6. 38’ following a a short throw Dzeko crossed to the back post and Ünder headed in. 42’ Onana took his kick long out to Wöber, he drove past his man and laid it off to David Neres who knocked it inside to van de Beek, he launched a pass between Kolarov and the centre back for Ziyech, who hit it first time with his right past Olsen! 46’ following kick-off Ünder received it wide right, drove into the centre and unloaded from 30 yards into the top corner. I wish he’d done that when I managed Roma! 55’ Roma countered and Dzeko’s first shot one-v-one with Onana rebounded and he scored with the second. 72’ Ünder got a run again, his shot was blocked by Blind straight into the path of Dzeko and now Roma had 4. We just don’t seem to be even trying to tackle them. 90’ Dzeko headed in Ünder’s corner. There’s a strange inevitability to us where if we score first we’re hitting at minimum 3 past you, but if you get a goal against us we’re quite vulnerable.

• ADO Den Haag (A): van de Beek (17) Ziyech (41) de Jong (60)

[zlatanera]

March 2019

• PEC Zwolle (H): .

• Viktoria Plzen (A): 6’ they went long from a free kick and we just destroyed them: de Ligt, Schöne, van de Beek all heading it on to Tadic, out to David Neres, he takes out 4 players with a curved pass and Ziyech smashes it first time low into the net! 10’ Ziyech swung in the corner, de Ligt headed towards goal and Kübl caught it…as everyone retreated up field Tadic waited straight in front of him, he booted it straight at Tadic and it rebounded in! 13’ we hit them on the counter, David Neres inside our own half launching a diagonal for Ziyech then volleying in the return from 6 yards! 43’ another counter, Ziyech expertly finding David Neres, who delayed his run this time, half-volleying at chest height from 18 yards! 46’ Ziyech launched a long diagonal for DN, Kubata intercepted but he tackled him and gave it to van de Beek, his shot was blocked but ricocheted forwards again and Tadic slid in ahead of Kübl to get our fifth! 81’ David Neres had his hat-trick, heading in Rasmus Nissen Kristensen’s deep cross from 6 yards.

• Fortuna Sittard (H): van de Beek (17) de Jong (21) Tadic (34) David Neres (40, 88)

• Viktoria Plzen (H): Bandé (48, 62) Schöne (77) Labyad (82) Ziyech (85)

• FC Utrecht (H): David Neres (6, 9) Ziyech (26) Dolberg (pen 90+4)

• PSV (H): 6’ from their goal kick Wöber recovered the ball, gave it to de Jong who charged out of defence before playing it to Huntelaar, he held it up then knocked it out wide to David Neres, who drove towards the box then swung it over to Schöne at the D, he volleyed it low into the net! 26’ we expertly played through the middle, de Jong -> Schöne -> van de Beek -> David Neres who beat two men to get into the D then hit a perfect weak footed shot that clipped the post on the way in! 44’ PSV pulled one back, Pereiro crossing from inside the box for Ramselaar to lash in a volley at the back post. By 64’ de Ligt had hit the post 4!! times - 3 from Labyad corners and 1 from Schöne’s deep free kick. 69’ Tagliafico took his throw short over the halfway line to van de Beek, he turned and gave it to DN who drove infield before playing a pass into the path of Labyad whose first-time volley inside the box rocketed past the goalkeeper for number three! 78’ Schöne tried to loft the ball over the 188cm Pereiro, he intercepted, sprinted to the edge of our box and played in de Jong who placed his shot past Onana. 80’ a pass launched down our right went over Rasmus Nissen Kristensen’s headed, Berwijn crossed and de Jong equalised with a header.

[zlatanera]

Youth Intake 2019

Overall a really poor bunch, especially for a club with our facilities. Only 5 decent personalities, an appalling lack of technicality for an Ajax intake and not much potential either. I’ll most likely sign Jeroen van den Berg and Edward van Weerderburg to add some better personalities to the group, then Mukhlis Yusuf, Edmond Antersijn, Mart Lohy, Kay Babb, Alvaro Esperance, Ìlhan Demir and Emiel Grootenboer for their modest potential.

Demir is the one bright spot of the intake, a ‘potential best of his generation’ player with no major weaknesses in his game that need rectified - training him as an Inverted Winger on Attack should get all the necessary attributes improving. That personality will hold him back though, hopefully if I improve the Under 19s' general character it will have an effect on him. 

[zlatanera]

April 2019

• FC Emmen (A): Huntelaar (pen 5, 36, 66) Eiting (25) Ziyech (41) Tadic (57) David Neres (90+2). A perfect hat-trick for Huntelaar!

• Willem II (A): Huntelaar (pen 7, 44) Eiting (80)

• RB Leipzig (H): Leipzig are the top scorers in the competition with 36 goals in 16 games. We’re already 13th with 18 in 4! So there’s no way this is a 0-0. 5’ Onana caught a cross, booted it up field and David Neres was through on goal, but he blasted over the bar from close range. 37’ from a Leipzig corner we countered, de Jong spraying it out to Ziyech who crossed low at the near post for Tadic to squeeze it in! 59’ Leipzig countered, Klostermann crossing from deep for Forsberg to volley home at the back post. 72’ van de Beek had it in the net but was correctly called back for offside. 77’ Wöber received the ball from Onana and strode out of defence up the left before lofting a long diagonal towards the box, Ziyech volleyed it in at a tight angle with his weak foot! 81’ Forsberg levelled it up, assisted by Sabitzer. 87’ another end-to-end sequence saw Sabitzer curl another cross for Forsberg to turn in. With some better finishing on either side that could have easily been 7-7 (David Neres got a 6.0 after missing another one-on-one) but Leipzig are firmly in the driving seat for this one, especially with both David Neres and Blind missing the 2nd leg with suspensions.

A day before the Excelsior match we won the Eredivisie after ADO Den Haag beat AZ at AFAS Stadion!

• Excelsior (H): Bandé (7, 90) David Neres (29) Cerny (63)

• RB Leipzig (A): Because we have absolutely all the luck [/sarcasm] Dusan Tadic twisted his ankle in training the day before the trip to Germany - if we’re lucky he’ll be fit for the last couple of games of the season - which combined with suspensions to David Neres and Blind meant we were missing 3 of our first choice 11. I decided to change things up tactically and go for an aggressive 4-2-4 with Huntelaar and Dolberg as a partnership up top - all our possession in the first leg didn’t help after all. The first half was scrappy chaos - Ziyech expertly sliding through the back of someone here, Werner heading over there, Dolberg rounding the centre back then passing it in the keeper’s arms etc. 68’ Leipzig got the breakthrough, Saracchi’s cross evading everyone except Sabitzer who lurked just inside the box and directed it across Onana into the bottom corner. That proved to be the only goal of the game, so we’re finally out of Europe. Frustrating, as with better finishing we could have won, yet at the same time better finishing from Leipzig could have truly embarrassed us. There is also the lingering suspicion that I may have done a Bayern-era Guardiola and out-tacticed myself.

• FC Groningen (A): Cerny (45) Schöne (49) Dolberg (59, 64)

• Vitesse (H): de Ligt (3) van de Beek (21) Eiting (27) David Neres (31)

• De Graafschap (A): Huntelaar (16, pen 23, 48, 58, 62) Schöne (41) Ziyech (83). Huntelaar got a perfect 10.0!

[zlatanera]

May 2019

• AZ (A): With only 3 days until the cup final I would have considered resting players, but instead I really want to go for those records so we line up pretty much full strength, with Dolberg and Nissen Kristensen coming in for van de Beek and Mazraoui. In the first half the only chances came AZ’s way as they looked to hit us on the counter with Boadu’s pace. 53’ Til got on the ball in the box and despite having no forward options de Ligt went through the back of him. Vejinovic slotted the penalty away. 69’ Tagliafico gave it to David Neres who was hauled down, Tagliafico played the advantage, to de Jong, Eiting, Ziyech right of centre played a first-time ball to David Neres who took a touch and drilled a shot past Bizot! 75’ I went to a 4-2-4, Labyad replacing de Jong. 87’ from a short throw on the left it was quickly worked over to RNK, he drilled a cross which Dolberg managed to redirect in at the near post! 90+3’ from an AZ cross we countered, RNK clearing to Labyad on half-way, he carried it 20 yards then slide it over for Huntelaar, who finished the game off from the D! That’s the points record!

• Vitesse (N): Chelsea reserves are all that stand between us and glory. The game is at De Kuip, so I’m sure the crowd will favour the team in yellow. Marco van Basten was bullish in the press conference, telling reporters we aim to outplay them - good to see him toeing the party line. Tadic is only fit for the bench so Dolberg is our striker, whilst Labyad (7 assists so far in the competition) takes over from Ziyech as our Trequartista. 6’ Blind won back Eduardo’s goal kick and gave it to de Ligt, Scheme played it out to Labyad who dribbled across halfway then curled a ball into the box for Dolberg, a last ditch slide tackle from Kruiswijk took him round the keeper and he tapped it in! 16’ they quickly played down our left, Karavaev crossing to Buitink - who strangely appears to be black - who played it over for Musonda to level it up. 22’ Labyad swung in the corner, de Ligt headed back across goal and Dolberg smashed it into the net! 47’ from a short throw it was quickly moved to de Jong, whose shot almost ripped the net! 71’ some nice interplay between Mazraoui, Labyad and Schöne following a goal kick opened up space for van de Beek to play a scything through ball for David Neres to latch onto and score his 30th of the season! 88’ we were camped on the edge of the Vitesse box and somehow Eiting saw that a short straight pass would put Dolberg in to seal his hat-trick! That’s the club’s first cup triumph since 2010!

• FC Utrecht (H): I realised before this match that this is my first FM19 Ajax save where I haven’t made sure that Ryan Gravenberch becomes the club’s youngest ever player. I debated putting him in for this one, then decided given I need to score 6 to set the all-time record I wanted to go full strength. He gains nothing for sitting on the bench either, so he’ll get a look in next season. 4’ Ziyech laid it off to Tadic at the edge of the box, he turned his man and smashed one into the net! 9’ we countered from a Utrecht corner, Tadic playing a clever one-two with David Neres down the left before crossing for Ziyech to volley it in! 15’ van de Beek played into Huntelaar in the middle, he knocked it over to Ziyech at the edge of the box and he slid it into the path of Tadic who made it 3! 59’ Willem Janssen played a one-two with Venema at half-way, turned inside and crossed towards the back post frmo about 30 yards but it snuck under Onana’s crossbar for a fluke goal. 76’ de Ligt won back a Utrecht goal kick on half-way, knocked it down to van de Beek, de Jong switched it out left for David Neres who crossed for Ziyech to volley in another! 90+1’ Ziyech crossed in a free kick, de Ligt headed back across goal and Wöber turned it in! That matches the record!

[zlatanera]

Final League Table & Player Stats

What. A. Season!

We absolutely destroyed the competition domestically, beating the previous points record by 5, equalling the 1994/95 vintage’s unbeaten season and the 120 goals scored by the Marco van Basten-led 1985/86 Ajax team (who actually came 2nd).

Winning the league and cup double matches the achievement of Erik ten Hag’s side domestically, and although we fell short of their outstanding achievements in the Champions League we still gave a good showing of ourselves in both European competitions. As well as that however, I’d set myself what I thought was an incredibly unlikely goal of matching their 175 goals over the season. Well, we smashed past that, hitting 199! 120 in the Eredivisie, 32 in the Cup, 27 in the Champions League and 20 in the Europa League!

In a way this is an ideal first season for me - I have proof concept in the ridiculous amount of goals we scored, job security thanks to the domestic double and the way in which we achieved it, but unfinished business in both European competitions and in attempting to beat the van Basten vintage’s league goals record which should help prolong my interest.

As you may have guessed, some of my players put up some incredible numbers. Given I didn’t rotate my entire outfield every game like in my Lyon save, having 8 players on double figures for goals and 5 for assists is great.

David Neres was definitely our most valuable player with a 30 goal season from the flanks, something that is unheard of outside of a certain duo! Klaas-Jan Huntelaar ended up with more goals than starts despite his advancing years whilst I finally managed to get a tune out of Hakim Ziyech with his 23 goals and 21 assists.

More interesting to me though were the numbers of two of my backups, Vaclav Cerny and Zakaria Labyad. Labyad, despite being so unprofessional he only trains his penalty taking, excelled subbing for Ziyech in the Trequartista role - we probably wouldn’t have made it through Champions League qualifiers without him. Cerny’s numbers meanwhile show that we could survive without David Neres - that its the system getting the best out of the LW, as whilst he has good attributes in all the right areas (of the highlighted ones for IF-Su the only low ones are Long Shots and Balance) he’s far below the Brazilian’s calibre.

Finally, despite missing a month with injury and starting with no positional familiarity at striker I got 29 goals out of Dusan Tadic! My previous experiments with him as a striker tended to derail seasons so for him to hit the form he did was a very pleasant surprise. With 18 goals in the Eredivisie he was the top scorer - level with Jean-Christophe Bahebeck of FC Utrecht but having played fewer games.

Edited March 4, 2020 by zlatanera

[Boss]

Really interesting thread this! Will be following along as I try to replicate something similar with my current PSV side

[zlatanera]

@Boss appreciate the interest but I wouldn't hold your breath for more updates. The Bruno Fernandes revolution has me itching to finally have another Man Utd save (my last one finished January 2019) and although I've got through the summer window twice in this Ajax career it just doesn't stick at the moment. 

[zlatanera]

Affiliate-less

A slight glitch happened with our affiliates, FC Volendam and Almere City. Volendam’s affiliation only has one term strangely - that playing in the same division will terminate it. Yet they got promoted from the Keuken Kampioen Divisie and the affiliation is intact.

Almere City meanwhile, are much more closely intertwined with Ajax. Their youth teams share facilities with ours, and one of the terms of the affiliation is that they can’t get promoted. Yet they did, through the play-offs, same as Volendam, and the affiliation was terminated.

I severed the links to Volendam too, not before signing their one youth talent in Cor van Hoeven, just to reclaim a little bit of realism.

[zlatanera]

Staff Transfers

We lost significant experience from the backroom staff over the summer as Urbain Haesaert (Ajax Scout 2004-19), John Steen Olsen (Ajax Scout 1998-2019, discoverer of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Christian Eriksen and Kasper Dolberg) and Pim van Dord (Ajax Head Physio 1985-2019).

I did find quality - if not quite as high quality - replacements, but the staff hire I’m most excited about is the return of an icon in Rafael van der Vaart!

After his initial triumphant return to Hamburg in 2013, van der Vaart’s career quickly wound down with short spells at Real Betis, FC Midtjylland and Esbjerg fB, before he hung up his boots sooner than planned in order to join us. He was great though, scoring 52 Eredivisie goals for Ajax before his first move to the Bundesliga. Hopefully he’ll help track down our next great attacking midfielder!

[Boss]

Are you continuing with this save now then? Great news if so

[zlatanera]

@Boss Yeah, I considered Man Utd but then got so caught up in deciding whether I want 19.3 and to try and make Rashford an all-time great or if I wanted to go full alternate history on 19.1 and get the best out of Lukaku and Sánchez, in the end I went back to this one. I want to play it long enough to actually see Gravenberch, Brobbey etc. somewhere close to their potential, even if I'm never going to get €100m bids for Mazroui like one player did in the early days of FM19. 

[zlatanera]

Summer Transfer Window 2019

Frenkie calmed down after PSG finally cooled their interest in him...only for them to switch their attentions to David Neres, delivering insultingly low bids that nevertheless unsettled him despite only signing a new contract in June. His form didn't dip though. I considered bringing in Viktor Fischer and his Perfectionist personality as part of my project to #makeamsterdamdanishagain, but despite Overmars' assertions otherwise in his report København were in no mood to sell. That means he's still around for next window at least. Overall though it was a really good window, strengthening the one area of the first team that needed it, perhaps overdoing it in swelling the youth ranks and shifting out a bunch of deadwood and leaving a little money to spare for further investment.

Although pairing de Jong with Schöne in easy games and Eiting in tough games worked quite well I still wanted another star in the centre - a Gemini pivot if you will - and Palacios, someone I hadn't managed since late 2018, fit the bill - he's technical and creative enough to step in for de Jong if needed but a little bit more physical so should play well alongside him too. No traits is nice as well, I'll probably keep it that way. €11m release clause was nifty also. Just a really good transfer.

When I saw one of the best creative prospects in the game was available, and could probably fit on the same charter flight from Buenos Aires as Palacios, I swooped! In all seriousness though I've wanted to manage Almada for a while, now is the time to do it. He'll play for Jong Ajax mostly but train with the first team to get mentored, then should be rotating in 2020/21. He'd need a huge upgrade in Acceleration to be the next Messi, but he might be the next Riquelme and that's still pretty darn special!

When Almere City knocked Heerenveen down a division we may have lost an affiliate, but we gained a relegation release clause bargain in Pierie! Similar to Almada he'll train with the 1st team but mostly play for Jong Ajax, I did promise him cup games too, and I intend to keep that promise. Equally comfortable at left and central defence I see him as Tagliafico's long-term replacement as we're set for centre backs with de Ligt, Blind, Veltman, Schuurs, Wöber and the promising van Gelderen. 

He didn't get away from me for long! After snubbing us to remain at Brøndby but go out on loan, Nørrestrand finally saw the light and I had this one wrapped up before the Eredivisie season had finished. With Schöne close to retiring and RNK looking close to his peak already (will probably negotiate bids for him next summer) Nørrestrand may well be next Dane up. For our budget he's a great prospect though - already quite pacy but still growing his physique, technically strong and mentally not too shabby - and I expect him to at the very least return our investment 10 times over. 

Our youth ranks have quite a bit of potential in there, but hurting it is one hell of a lot of guys with 4 Determination Balanced personalities, not only are they not developing but they're dragging others down with them. Proper will hopefully help rectify that - with that Leadership and personality I made him captain of the Under 19s and he's already a Team Leader down there. It doesn't help that he actually looks like quite a tidy player - no Gravenberch or Almada but perhaps a future club stalwart, filling in whilst the headline makers burn bright and shoot off to pastures new. 

Even before the Proper signing I didn't really need another attacking midfielder in the youth ranks. But van Hoeven came through our (now terminated) affiliate FC Volendam's ranks which I scouted on intake day, and he has a good personality to throw into the mix in the youth team. That he could potentially turn out to be a good Eredivisie player by that potential rating is at bonus at this point. 

In keeping with the theme of signing two prospects in a position we don't really need one in, I took our Slovak affiliate's only newgen off their hands. Again Kralovic is mostly signed for his personality, but whilst I expect Nørrestrand to turn out the better player he does have some potential, and on my previous long save with Lyon I found it quite difficult to spot decent full backs with more than 10 Technique so getting one inside the first year is nice. 

[zlatanera]

Mentoring

I thought I’d talk a little bit about the methods I’m using for mentoring, why I think they’ll work and then return to it later in the season to see if they have worked.

I generally like to keep my groups small - if you follow the assistant’s advice you can end up with an entire XI in one mentoring group, which makes it harder to monitor. I usually try to match some combination of position, social group (nefariously fluid, this one) and nationality, as well as obviously always having the mentor more influential than potential mentees. I also like to group favoured personnel together.

 

Joël Veltman’s group is made up of himself and two young players who share the same nationality and position as him. Although Veltman isn’t a Team Leader, that both of his mentees are Others in my head means he’ll still have a great influence over them. EDIT: I just noticed for some reason despite only being Highly Influential Veltman's rated as having a Significant influence over the group - I guess this is to do with his status as a former captain, the leadership skills playing a part? Also possibly indicative of him being the next Team Leader when Huntelaar and/or Schöne departs. 

Nicolás Tagliafico’s group is my attempt to double down on his influence as he’s also in charge of welcoming both Palacios and Almada to the club. David Neres is added in to have the whole social group in one unit, but also as his mentoring last season by Hakim Ziyech didn’t take.

Daley Blind’s group was assembled by two methods. Firstly as a fellow Model Citizen D (C), Wöber was added in. Secondly de Ligt and de Jong are Highly Influential so needed a Team Leader to mentor them - only Blind have both the influence and higher determination than them both - with Carel Eiting being added in as all three have each other set as favoured personnel.

Lasse Schöne’s group, similar to Tagliafico’s, holds his fellow countrymen. Then I added in van de Beek as they share a position. Onana is there as I just didn’t have anywhere to put him, and he seems quite professional (easily calmed down about a bid that came in from Dortmund) so hopefully will gel well with his mentor.

Finally we have Hakim Ziyech’s group. Last season he mentored both Mazroui and David Neres. Mazroui had ZIyech set as favoured personnel so I paired them up, David Neres was less influential than Ziyech and shared a position. Mazroui’s Determination went up by 2 points, so he stays but I got rid of David Neres. There was nobody left to mentor, so I added in their fellow Dutch-Moroccan Labyad. He doesn’t have a good personality but has so little influence I have no concerns about him dragging Mazroui down, rather he’s simply there to fulfil the criteria of a 3-person group so Ziyech can do his work.

Edited March 15, 2020 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

August 2019

• PSV (H): The Super Cup is clearly so important [/sarcasm] that it isn’t even held in a neutral stadium. Ironically this makes me more keen to win it given we’re in front of our own fans - we can’t be allowing rivals to come to Amsterdam and leave happy after all. The first half was a bit of a bore as both teams pressed effectively, meaning both were only able to keep possession deep within their own halves. 51’ more of the same as we forced PSV back to the keeper, but he dawdled and allowed Huntelaar - Huntelaar! - to close him down before lumping it towards Bergwijn at half-way, Mazroui won the header, Ziyech took it down and cut infield before crossing for Labyad to volley in from the spot! Moroccan Magic! 90’ we broke from a PSV free kick, Mazraoui launching a pinpoint pass into the PSV half for Ziyech, who carried it to the byline and crossed for the sub Dolberg to volley in our 2nd!

• AIK (A): Ziyech (47, 90+4) Palacios (73)

• Vitesse (A): David Neres (11, 24, 48) Tadic (17) Ziyech (45+2)

• AIK (H): Labyad (21) David Neres (27) Ziyech (pen 50, 52)

• FC Emmen (H): David Neres (27, 31) Schöne (53)

 

Somebody's been watching videos of Paul Scholes!

• Rangers (A): Ziyech (75)

• NAC Breda (A): Ziyech (pen 19, 64) Palacios (27) de Ligt (90+5)

• Rangers (H): Palacios (8)

 

Edited March 13, 2020 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

Welcoming Period

When a new signing arrives, we get the option to choose a player to welcome them to the club. Initially I always just went with the recommendation, but then I read up a bit more and it appears to be quite a powerful tool when you use it wisely. The welcoming period is around 3 months, so I can now see what difference my choices made.

I used three players on welcoming duties:

• Lasse Schöne - Model Citizen, 15 Determination
• Daley Blind - Model Citizen, 17 Determination
• Nicolás Tagliafico - Professional, 15 Determination.

The new signings saw the following changes:

• Dirk Proper - Resolute 17 - welcomed by Blind, no change.
• Kik Pierie - Balanced 13 - welcomed by Blind, now Spirited 14.
• Exequiel Palacios - Fairly Determined 15 - welcomed by Tagliafico, now Resolute 15.
• Vladimir Kralovic - Driven 20 - welcomed by Schöne (perhaps the wrong choice, Blind would have been better), now Driven 19.
• Frederik Nørrestrand - Ambitious 13 - welcomed by Schöne, now Ambitious 14.
• Thiago Almada - Balanced 13 - welcomed by Tagliafico, now Balanced 14.
• Cor van Hoeven - Determined 18 - welcomed by Schöne, now Resolute 17.

So all but two - those whose Determination matched that of the player in charge of welcoming them - saw a determination change of +/- 1 whilst three of the players saw the personality descriptor change to one that, to me at least, is superior to what they were before. Given the most I've seen from mentoring is a 2 Determination change over 12 months, this is a very powerful mechanism that shouldn't be ignored. 

Edited March 13, 2020 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

September 2019

• PEC Zwolle (A): Tadic (54, 60)

• De Graafschap (H): Almada (82)

• Shakhtar (H): 19’ Shakhtar took a free kick wide of the box, de Ligt stopped the first header, Onana dove on the rebound but it squirmed free and Petryak turned it in. 36’ we worked it around the edge of the box to van de Beek, Maycon dived in and the ball ended up at Ziyech’s feet, he slid it in to Kristensen who drove a shot low into the net! 44’ they countered, Taison crossing in for Junior Moraes to finish. 45+3’ we won back their goal kick and quickly played through the centre to David Neres, who beat two men on his way towards the D then played in Ziyech, who beat the goalkeeper for sheer power! 75’ yet another slide tackle assist, sadly for Junior Moraes to grab his 2nd. 90’ we played around their box, Tagliafico giving it to Tadic who laid it off to the late arriving van de Beek to rocket one into the bottom corner! Well, with defending like that we’re not going to go far.

• Rijnsburge Boys (A): Dolberg (20) Schöne (pen 24) Almada (26) Labyad (58) Wöber (66)

• Heracles Almelo (H): 14’ Heracles floated in a free kick from deep, Onana charged out and punched it into the channel where David Neres picked it up, dribbled from left to right burning multiple players with his pace before crossing from the byline for van de Beek to head in! A Baudry own goal (65) and Dolberg header (85) finished them off, but we should have scored more.

Edited March 13, 2020 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

October 2019

• Galatasaray (A): 26’ the ball was put out due to David Neres picking up a knock. Tagliafico threw it back into play and for some reason Belhanda decided to head it into the path of van de Beek, he gave it to Tadic who laid it off for Palacios to smash one into the net from outside the box! 43’ Tagliafico was drew upfield by Feghouli but Dolberg didn’t track Maicon, who then had acres of space to cross in and under pressure from Younes, Nissen Kristensen headed into his own net. 57’ again the Belhanda-Feghouli-Maicon combo was too much and this time Blind scored the own goal. 81’ from a Galata free kick we countered through Dolberg who crossed for his fellow sub Labyad to volley us level! 83’ another counter, Labyad crossing for Ziyech to put us ahead!

• FC Twente (H): Almada (4) Dolberg (16, 20, 23, 29) Tadic (17) Huntelaar (51) de Ligt (84)

I switched Huntelaar to Poacher and went to a 4-2-4 in order to get him in the box to nab his first goal of the season and instead he went and did that!

• FC Eindhoven (A): Huntelaar (7) Almada (22) Labyad (90+4)

• Paris SG (A): Neither us or PSG are good at keeping clean sheets, so this could be a long one. 12’ Tagliafico played it back to Onana, a poor first touch left him with few options and Cavani stole in and put PSG ahead. 19’ the entire team stood still as Ayrton Lucas drove down the flank from half-way, cut in and fed Mbappé who made it 2. 48’ Neymar went down the left and crossed for Cavani, Onana saved from him twice and Mbappé buried the 3rd rebound. 50’ Mazroui headed down Areola’s long clearance, Palacios took it down and played it down the line for Ziyech whose low cross was turned in by Tadic! 53’ Tagliafico’s throw by the corner was intercepted by Danilo, Tagliafico in turn intercepted his pass and crossed for Palacios who volleyed in with his weak foot! Strange that we’ve shipped 3 in both home games. That leaves the group with PSG on 6, us and Shakhtar on 4 and Galatasaray on 3, very close!

• FC Volendam (A): Tadic (pen 73)

• FC Utrecht (A): Dolberg (16)

[zlatanera]

November 2019

• PSV (H): 4’ Rosario was sent off for a professional foul on Tadic. 10’ we hit them on the counter, de Ligt heading down their goal kick and playing it to Palacios on half-way, carried into the final third he fed Ziyech whose left-footed shot went in the bottom corner! 18’ Berwijn played a free kick short to Paal, whose square ball was completely missed by Blind and Hendrix managed to squeeze in a low shot. 30’ de Ligt intercepted Wiedwald’s clearance at half-way, Tadic took it down and slipped between two men before playing in Ziyech, his first shot hit the post but he slid and got to the rebound first to put us in front! 87’ Another wayward long goal kick from Wiedwald was headed down by Wöber to Dolberg, his through ball took out 6 men leaving Tadic one on one with the keeper and he made no mistake! We hit the woodwork an insane 6 times in that match!

• Paris SG (H): This squad isn’t set up for a sudden pivot to the values of Cholismo so I didn’t change the tactic, but I did the personnel - Dolberg offering more physicality than Tadic up front and Wöber similarly getting the nod over Blind. 23’ Prevent Short GK Distribution worked a treat, Wöber heading the ball away, David Neres picking it up at half-way and running to the edge of the box, drawing 5 men to him, before squaring it for Dolberg who beat Areola with a left-footed shot! 71’ de Jong went off injured, replaced by Eiting. 83’ Palacios picked up a knock, Tadic on in a completely reconfigured midfield. Despite 5 minutes added time we held on, Onana probably deserving MOTM honours for an incredible 94th minute save from Chiesa, although David Neres picked it up instead.

• Almere City (A): Schöne (pen 72). I blame myself for us not scoring more - El Maach (our loanee) made 10 saves whilst ahead of him Aberkane and Bakboord (also ours) were imperious even before Eiting got a red card.

• Willem II (H): Wöber (12) Labyad (29, 62) van de Beek (52). 2-0, 2-3, 3-3, 3-4 and then 4-4, there was absolutely no defending going on here.

• Shakhtar (A): 26’ a succession of near-misses and partially cleared corners finally came to an end when Ziyech curled one towards the back post and Wöber rose highest to head in! The next highlight wasn’t until the 92nd minute when Wöber’s throw on the left turned into a Shakhtar counter before he turned it into an Ajax counter-counter that eventually ended up with David Neres missing a sitter. The Austrian, who spent 60 minutes at centre back then 35 at left back, deservedly got MOTM for dragging us across the line into the knockouts!

Edited March 15, 2020 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

Jurgen Passelenkamp aka the risks of loaning talent

The loan market is an integral part of FM unless you're truly coldblooded. Like most people, when I have a talent I can't fit in the first team yet but believe (usually incorrectly given how I tend to hold a squad together) I will in the future, I look for a loan move. This Ajax team currently has 11 players out on loan, and all but one (Luis Orejuela) is expected to return improved and eventually compete for a first team place. One whom I had a lot of trouble finding a place for was Jurgen Ekkelenkamp, or 'Tackelenkamp' as he was nicknamed after fouling Cristiano Ronaldo.

Tackelenkamp, Summer 2019

Unlike most of the midfield talents in the youth ranks Ekkelenkamp isn't a creative midfielder with good Dribbling and Flair, but rather looks to be the next goalscoring CM for Ajax in the mould of Siem de Jong and Davy Klaassen. I trained him Tries First Time Shots to aid in this endeavour, and despite constantly alternating between a holding midfield role and the AM role in our 4-2-3-1 he scored 10 goals for 2018/19's dominant Jong Ajax side. I really struggled to find anywhere for him to go - ideally I wanted a club with not much competition for an AM spot, who were going to be mid-table or higher (he's not going to gain anything being starved of chances) and played football the right way. It took a couple of offers but eventually the best bet I got was an inquiry from Willem II offering Rotation playing time. A solid mid-table club, Willem II have some good players in the likes of Atakan Akkaynak in the centre, Timo Wellenreuther in goal and Fran Sol up front, and their manager Alex Pastoor plays an adventurous 4-4-2 - not the ideal formation but Ekkelenkamp is a natural CM and I felt like he could push to be Akkaynak's regular partner. I also loaned them Mitchel Bakker as first choice DL and Nicolas Kühn to rotate between striker and the left flank. 

Passelenkamp, thinks he's going to replace Frenkie de Jong

As of 26th November 2019 in-game all 3 are getting playing time, with an injury to Akkaynak meaning Ekkelenkamp has started 13 games for the club, scoring 2 goals. So what's the problem, am I really posting about how I successfully loaned somebody? No. Look closer, he's picked up some traits. Three to be precise. That injury to Akkaynak led to Ekkelenkamp taking on his Deep Lying Playmaker - Support role in the midfield, which fine, can't hurt him to touch the ball more, but Akkaynak, being such a talent I considered signing him, must be quite influential in the Tricolores dressing room because he's passed on all of his traits in Comes Deep To Get Ball, Dictates Tempo and Likes To Switch Ball To Other Flank. So now our midfield goal threat is going to run away from the goal to pick up the ball and spray it out to a winger then be too far behind the play to use his shooting. Even if he does keep developing, given the low likelihood of unlearning all those traits he may not have a future at Ajax as I have better options for the role he's evolving in to. 

So yeah, lack of playing time isn't the only risk with loan moves!  

[zlatanera]

December 2019

• Groningen (H): David Neres (35) Dolberg (pen 63) Palacios (73) de Jong (90+1) van de Beek (90+5)

• Excelsior (A): Huntelaar (30)

• ADO Den Haag (H): Labyad (18) Almada (71) Huntelaar (pen 90+2)

• Galatasaray (H): We’re through on head-to-head, but although Shakhtar also beat PSG 1-0 at home I don’t back them to do it in Paris, and finishing 1st gets us a much better draw so I’m going full strength here. 4’ Nagatomo took a short throw, got it back and crossed, Geis half-volleyed it into the net. 37’ Ziyech’s corner front the left was aimed towards the near post and Blind powered in a header! 86’ they got us with a counter, Kravets firing in from distance from Belhanda’s pass. 90+2’ another Ziyech corner, de Ligt heading in this time! 90+3’ Linnes hauled down Labayd, I thought he was the last man but the ref just gave a wide free kick, I sent everyone forwards but Ziyech just shot it straight into the side netting. We should have won that, and PSG scoring 4 in 20 minutes means we go through in 2nd and now get one of Real Madrid, Arsenal, Bayern, Barcelona, Juventus, Man City or Liverpool (PSV and Sporting were in the other pot).

• Vitesse (H): Ziyech (3) David Neres (7) Tadic (22) Huntelaar (pen 57)

• VVV-Venlo (H): Huntelaar (pen 5) Labyad (18) Tadic (62) Dolberg (72, 90)

• FC Emmen (A): David Neres (20) de Jong (27) de Ligt (62) van de Beek (77)

[zlatanera]

Winter Transfer Window 2020

For all the time it took me to get through this window, there were actually no incomings or outgoings in January, although not for the lack of trying on my own part or Celta Vigo's. They moved for Labyad, already unsettled as he wanted an increase on his €5k/week contract - a perfectly valid request but I'm not going to give him a wage rise when I intend to move him on in the summer - and when Steven Bergwijn was transfer-listed by PSV I did consider negotiating, but the Boeren wisely asked me double what they asked Porto so now he's off in another division and Labyad is still here. 

Lasse Schöne meanwhile did one incredible pivot - going into the new year he was planning to retire, wanting a job coaching the Under 19s but for about 4x what every other youth coach gets paid, so I intended to wait him out (also I had no spare slots). Then half of MLS came in for him, and he was willing to continue but his agent demanded €80k basic and I withdrew. Then he sacked his agent and agreed a new €15k/week deal until 2021 with an extension if he plays 10 Eredivisie matches! That does however mean that a renewal for Joël Veltman, in anticipation of losing Schöne's influence over the squad, may have been a mistake. 

We did get a couple of changes set for the summer:

Huntelaar is still scoring at an impressive rate: 10 goals in 13 starts this season, even if 4 are penalties. However he's fully set on retiring, so I've agreed for him to join the Under 19s coaching setup at the end of the season!

Benjamin van Leer's contract expires in 2021, and although I'd have no problem letting it run down he is hinting at complaining about playing time, plus Onana might decide he's outgrown the club. So I needed someone with low enough wage demands to fit into the squad as a backup, ideally with high professionalism, yet enough quality to step up should Onana leave us in the lurch (my top target for replacing him, David Raya, moved to Man City and now earns more than any of our players). Enter Josip Posavec:

Overall a step down for Onana yet still perfectly suited as a Sweeper Keeper, he's actually a better shot-stopper than the Cameroonian but fell out of favour at Palermo, being loaned to Hajduk for 2018/19 and unable to win his spot back ahead of Alberto Brignoli in the current season. The elder 'keeper moved to Wolves in this window so hopefully he gets 6 months of simulated game time before his move. His Spirited personality is one of the better ones too. One negative is his agent insisted on First Team squad status, so I might have to play him in the Champions League qualifiers and cup games in order to keep him on side. But overall a deal I'm very happy with! 

EDIT: Completely forgot I managed to offload Luis Orejuela to Stade Malherbe Caen for €1.6m after he returned from a loan spell in his homeland. The board aren't happy but he was never going to feature for the first team so I just got rid. 

Edited March 16, 2020 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

January 2020

I received job offers from both Roma and Chelsea in December as they dispensed with Eusebio Di Francesco and Maurizio Sarri. I declined of course, as I intend to make this a one-club save. I do wonder if that was a mistake, perhaps if I'd gone to the interview I could have bartered myself some more coaching slots for retiring heroes in exchange for staying in my post...

• NAC Breda (H): Huntelaar (32) David Neres (40)

• Feyenoord (A): Unlike last season the top three are the Big Three, Feyenoord are behind PSV on goal difference, 5 points behind us with a game in hand. I’m calling that still in touch given we struggled in our last match. 27’ Ziyech corner, Blind at the near post, 1-0! 35’ Botteghin intercepted Mazroui’s low cross from deep, gave it to van Beek, he gave it to Haps who sold him down the river by returning it, Tadic took it off him, Ziyech’s cross ricocheted off van Beek’s legs and across to David Neres who smashed it into the roof of the net! 37’ Larsson played a one-two with Vilhena, drove towards the edge of the box with Mazraoui keeping pace but nobody challenging him then placed it into the bottom corner. 64’ Tagliafico takes a throw just inside the final third short to Eiting, gets it backs and crosses, Tadic heads it in at the near post! 83’ Kristensen had a throw near the corner flag, Palacios whipped it into the box, Eiting headed it towards goal,  Tadic managed to manoeuvre acres of space on the 6 yard box, held off 4 challengers and the goalkeeper and squeezed a shot in!

The previous record was held by Louis van Gaal’s team from 8th May 1994 to 1st April 1996! 

• De Graafschap (H): Dolberg (13) Huntelaar (pen 22, 38, 73) van de Beek (33)

• ADO Den Haag (H): Tadic (58) Dolberg (88)

 

[zlatanera]

Mentoring, 6 Months Later

A look back at one of the two successes of 2018/19's mentoring, Noussair Mazraoui, suggests if its working you'll see changes approximately every 6 months. I set up the groups in late July 2019, so reaching 1st February 2020 I thought it would be an idea to see what's worked and if / how I might change things. Here's the groups I set up:

On 13/03/2020 at 00:35, zlatanera said:

Here's where we're at now:

Kik Pierie's personality changed to Spirited and increased by 1 Determination - as I previously outlined though, this was due to the powerful Welcome feature. Perr Schuurs saw no change.

Palacios similarly became Resolute due to welcoming, David Neres yet again saw no change, but Thiago Almada is a resounding success - his determination increased 1 point through welcoming, and then another through mentoring so he's now 15 Determination Resolute!

Matthijs de Ligt saw his Determination increase by 1 and his personality change from Resolute to Spirited. Nobody else in this group saw a change though. 

There were no changes in personality in Schöne's group - partially because all the players are highly influential and one (Dolberg) already matches personalities with him. However in a negative, Donny van de Beek, whom I'd been trying to mould similar to how he apparently is in FM20 (Gets Into Opposition Area, Gets Further Forward, Moves Into Channels) instead picked up two traits from Schöne - Dictates Tempo, which whilst not what I wanted probably suits him as in attribute terms he's a goalscoring playmaker, and Dwells On Ball, which is one of the few straight up negative traits in the game. So basically a worse version of the transformation of 'Passelenkamp'. He's being trained to remove the latter trait, and is apparently making fine progress towards this, but I'm not optimistic.

In Ziyech's group finally, in part due to Mazraoui's rising stature in the footballing world, there has been absolutely no change. Whilst pairing the two friends worked in the first season it no longer seems viable. More concerningly Mazraoui just isn't developing despite 60 appearances under me so far (57 starts). 

So in summary, a mixed bag. The effect of Schöne and Blind in maintaining Dolberg and Wöber's great personalities should not go understated but other than that only two successes and 1 trait-based failure. Another thing you may notice is that the squad is now a more cohesive group with just two social groups and Labyad, instead of three as there were in August. Time for some changes:

Veltman was clearly having no effect on Pierie and Schuurs despite common positions, nationalities and social groups. So I moved them over to Daley Blind who has already had a proven effect on Pierie. I then sent Eiting the opposite way, hopefully taking advantage of Veltman’s high influence on the squad without the risks associated with Schöne. Ziyech’s group was abolished completely, so I put Mazraoui in here because…well he could have gone in any group but I want to keep them small and needed an extra in this one. 

David Neres was removed from Tagliafico’s group, but I left the Argentines together despite both Palacios and Almada seemingly being better suited to mentoring by Schöne or Blind. Almada has so many traits he probably wouldn’t be affected but I quite like my blank slate Palacios, so I’ll just keep them together and maintain their good personalities - more than 15 Determination is a waste if you ask me.

I decided to move Wöber over to Schöne’s group just to free up some space with Blind, and added de Jong in there as despite the differing social groups I have a feeling if Blind couldn’t positively influence him Schöne might be able to. Given his playing style I'm slightly less worried about him picking up that trait from Schöne. I also moved Onana from the Schöne group to the Blind group although given he is soon turning 24 I don’t expect much chance of a change.

Finally I decided to bring in Huntelaar as a mentor to see if we can get a change out of David Neres. Donny van de Beek is in there too as I’d rather maintain his Fairly Professional personality with a low risk of getting unwanted traits than keep him with Schöne.

Edited March 16, 2020 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

An Unexpected Success

I got an unexpected positive inbox item amidst all the injuries and fixture congestion, one I've never seen before in 6 years of playing Football Manager...

That's right, in the space of three months Donny van de Beek actually unlearned the negative Dwells On Ball trait!!

I'll still be cautious to monitor the progress of any players mentored by Lasse Schöne, but I'm really happy about this, firsts get rarer and rarer the more you play FM but this truly is one.

[zlatanera]

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Edited March 16, 2020 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

February 2020

• PEC Zwolle (A): Huntelaar (33)

• AZ (H): The wonderful ability of the Eredivisie to move fixtures around to help our European changes (as opposed to the Premier League which seems to actively want to hurt your chances), we play both legs of the Noord-Hollandse derby over 4 days. 30' we won Bizot's goal kick at the back, and quickly went Blind - Palacios - Eiting, out to Tagliafico who cut in and curled in a cross towards the far post where Ziyech rushed in and powered a header past the keeper! 53' AZ countered, Idrissi standing up an inviting cross for Stengs to smash a chest height volley past Onana. 62' Mazraoui took a throw, van de Beek flicked it into the box and Ziyech was hauled down. Dolberg's spot kick nearly tore the net out! 67' Eiting paused in the centre before dribbling out into the AZ half then playing it out wide for Dolberg, his drilled first-time cross was intercepted by Ampadu but Tadic blocked his clearance with a slide-interception-shot, a true poacher's goal! 73' our turn to counter, Tadic collecting it just outside our box, carrying it into the final third before playing it ahead of Ziyech, his first touch took him into the box and he shaped to put it across the keeper before drilling it inside the near post!

• AZ (A): 23' Bizot saved Huntelaar's penalty. From the resulting corner we won a throw, van de Beek tried to cross through four players and it ricocheted to Schöne whose cross was turned in by Dolberg! 28' Eiting brought the ball out of defence before spraying it out wide to Ziyech, he took out half the AZ team with his through ball which Huntelaar finished first time! 49' almost an all-Danish goal, Schöne squaring it to Rasmus Nissen Kristensen, his cross headed towards goal by Dolberg onto the bar, onto Bizot's back and into the net! 51' Vejinovic curled in a free kick. 59' an AZ counter, Stengs carrying it to the byline then crossing for Boadu to steer it in. 66' our counter, Dolberg sprinting down the left then launching a ball to the edge of the area, Huntelaar took it down, held off two challenges and shot into the bottom corner!

• Arsenal (H): I don't expect us to win this tie, Aubameyang is lethal against teams that play progressive football on FM because unlike in real life Arsenal can actually defend said progressive football in the first place. Not helping matters is we're missing Frenkie de Jong (although Eiting has been doing a passable imitation) and David Neres, as well as Zakaria Labyad meaning our bench is depleted. 24' everything exactly as I expected - we dominated but couldn't find the killer quality, then Özil ran half the length of the pitch and gave it to Lingard, crossed to Mkhitaryan who cut back for Aubameyang to make it 1-0. 37' they tried to counter again but Wöber intercepted just inside the Arsenal half and played it to Tadic, his no-look pass gave van de Beek space, passed to Dolberg on the edge of the box, he played it into Palacios' path and his rocket shot from the edge of the D beat Cech! Ziyech missed a couple of great chances before half time. 60' Dolberg went off injured, Thiago Almada the only option in that position. 63' Mazraoui threw it to van de Beek, got it back, his cross was headed away as far as Eiting whose cut little ball gave it to Almada in the box, he smashed a first time shot across Cech into the net! 77' Wöber had it in the net off a corner but VAR disallowed it as Tadic was obstructing the keeper in an offside position. 79' Mazraoui overlapped Ziyech and launched a high cross towards the far post, Almada's acrobatic volley at a tight angle went in! That was one hell of a game - we created 5 CCC's and had 31 shots, they 1 and 9, respectively - that leaves it in an interesting position for the 2nd leg. Dolberg will miss a month, sadly.

• FC Utrecht (H): van de Beek (16) Huntelaar (67)

• Heracles Almelo (A): Ziyech (36) Eiting (82). Those violent wannabe Greek warriors broke Ziyech’s leg, ending his season.

• FC Twente (A): Palacios (26) Huntelaar (pen 65) Brobbey (86). That’s a debut goal for Brobbey!

• Almere City (H): Huntelaar (pen 29) Schuurs (54) Labyad (66). Gravenberch got a first assist (for Labyad) on his 2nd appearance for the club!

[zlatanera]

Youth Intake 2020

Overall I'd argue this is a marginally better intake than last year's, although seemingly in compensation for that we don't have a potentially world class talent this time. I think I'll actually sign the whole lot of them - most of them have decent personalities (in Determination at least, I'm not so keen on Mercenaries and Unambitious youngsters) and its looking like I'll graduate quite a few of my Under 19s to Jong Ajax over the summer so I'll need bodies - I'd much rather just nab my own guys on youth contracts than have to look outside for someone who'll probably only be good enough for RKC Waalwijk in the long run. 

There's no real outstanding candidate but I thought I'd show two of the players I'll definitely sign:

Sven van Huizen was highlighted by Oualli when announcing the intake, and although I'm not sure I can every have a goalkeeper with 1 First Touch given Onana averages 20 passes per game, I find newgens with decent (or in this case great) Rushing Out of decent quality are even rarer than in real life. 

Raymon Zuiverloon is a two-footed striker (not perfectly, Left is Very Strong, Right is Strong) which is just a wonderful thing to have, and his natural Aggression coupled with already high Acceleration, Anticipation and Finishing mean with some tutelage from Huntelaar and work from me to round out his game I think he can become a great goalscorer. 

[zlatanera]

March 2020

• Arsenal (A): In recognition that away from home we are most likely going to get ruined here, I dropped the wide men down to the midfield strata (T -> WP) and removed the shorter passing and lower tempo. Ideally I would have fielded Dolberg up top to counter but he’s injured so I chose Tadic over the 36 year old Huntelaar. 25’ Ramsey went off injured, removing a bit of bite from their midfield. 30’ our Counter-Press instruction saw Mbabu end up with half the pitch to himself so I removed it. 35’ Tagliafico took an attacking throw, threw it straight to Özil who ran the length of the pitch and crossed for Lallana to score. No, I didn’t sell Tagliafico to Arsenal, it was our throw. It was that stupid. 45’ a Labyad free kick, well saved by Leno, was our first shot. 66’ our 2nd shot of the game, also a Labyad free kick, ricocheted to half-way for Aubameyang but a heroic block from de Ligt a yard out led to us countering and having another shot, this time Tadic one on one with Leno who saved one-handed with a wrist of steel. 86’ de Jong went off injured. 89’ a loose header from Mazraoui, up in midfield because of it, led to a patient Arsenal attack that saw Lallana receive a cross with only Onana to beat 6 yards out yet smash it off the outside of the post. We rode our luck there, Arsenal generating 3 CCC’s (Tadic’s shot was one for us) and quite a few counters snuffed out by last ditch slide tackles, but we’re through! I gave the players 2 days off for that effort (and also to ensure I have some players left).

• PSV (A): PSV are now managed by Peter Bosz, and replaced Berwijn well with Boschilia who is scoring or assisting at a rate of more than 1:1. We lost Dennis Bergkamp from our backroom staff hours before the game as he chose to assist Patrick Vieira at Torino. Lasse Schöne is shaping up as a promising coach but has low Working With Youngsters so I’m going to keep the slot open for him. 12’ Tagliafico effectively set up a rondo with a couple of PSV players in it deep on the left before we played it up to Tadic on the touchline, he cut inside as if Klaiber was merely a mirage before seeking out Dolberg, Haps intercepted but nodded the cross down across goal and Palacios pounced to give us the lead! 15’ we countered their corner through Dolberg who beat former Ajax man Malen before heading out wide, his floated cross had 6 black shirts and 2 red under it, van de Beek smashing a half volley past Wiedwald! 40’ Boschilia corner, Gutiérrez headed in. 64’ Boschilia’s curved cross found Male who evaded de Ligt’s challenge and placed his shot past Onana. 82’ Tagliafico threw it to Almada, he played it back to David Neres who squared it to Palacios, he took a couple of touches towards the box then shot and scored! An entirely South American goal!

• Feyenoord (H): If PSV lose or draw we can seal the title here with a win. 15’ some good interplay down the left saw Tagliafico cross from deep, Tadic volleying past Vermeer from 6 yards out! That turned out to be the only goal of the game as De Trots van Zuid defended deep looking to hit us on the break and we fouled them before they could even try. PSV’s hammering of Vitesse meaning we must wait another few days for our coronation.

PSV lost away to Heracles before we could play our fixture against Volendam, meaning we’ve retained the league!

• FC Volendam (H): de Ligt (7) van de Beek (42, 44, pen 69)

• Willem II (A): Tadic (37) van de Beek (47, 79)

When Exequiel Palacios - 9 Finishing, 9 Long Shots - hit double figures for goals, I realised it was partially because he has excellent technique but also mostly because, particularly as sides play ever more defensive against us, the CM-Su gets many opportunities to shoot from around 19-21 yards (my throw-in routine is also set up to encourage this). Starting with the FC Volendam game, in order to accommodate Thiago Almada as a striker (I'm training him as a Pressing Forward as he's too slow and work-shy) I ended up dropping both Tadic (to AM-At) and van de Beek (CM-Su) back one position. Then van de Beek almost doubled his tally for the season with 5 goals in 2 games - 3 long shots, 1 where he arrived late in the box, and 1 penalty. I may have been too blinded by reality to see how best to utilise him...

[zlatanera]

Another Staff Transfer

Wesley Sneijder - still Ajax's record sale in this game's alternate reality - retired in December 2019 so when the board opened up another coaching slot for Jong Ajax he was top of the list. Hopefully we'll see him apply himself to improving his coaching skills as much as he did his playing skills.

Edited March 17, 2020 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

April 2020

• Almere City (H): Labyad (29, 54) Huntelaar (58)

• Liverpool (H): Much like in real life Liverpool won last season’s Champions League and finished runners up in the Premier League. They’re not running away with it this season, but I don’t think we have a single player who would get into their team. 9’ Henderson clearly disagreed with that assessment, and due to worrying they’d sign de Jong to replace him he dove into his back two-footed. He got a red, and Frenkie was un-harmed! 45’ van de Beek swung in the corner but van Dijk intercepted, David Neres recovered it and dinked a cute little ball into the mix, Wöber got his head on it and diverted it in! 63’ Tagliafico took the throw near the corner flag, David Neres gave it to de Jong who turned and crossed, Tadic could have just powered it in at the near post but for maximum embarrassment looped his header over Alisson’s despairing dive! 90+1’ Milner went back to van Dijk, he switched it out to Robertson in acres of space, his ball to the 18 yard line was just missed by Wöber and Insigne scored. Ah, it would have been perfect until the away goal.

• FC Groningen (A): Eiting (29)

That’s a record from the Cruyff era gone - previously it was 3rd October 1971 - 1st April 1972 - as well as extending our unbeaten streak to 66!

• Liverpool (A): Similar to how we scraped through against Arsenal, I dropped our shape into a 4-4-1-1 with Palacios as a more conservative WP option on the right and Dolberg up top to add pace on the counter. Liverpool came at us in an aggressive 4-2-3-1 featuring the endangered Daniel Sturridge up top. 2’ we got a corner inside 30 seconds, it was cleared away to Tagliafico who hit it straight back down the left to Tadic, he played a one-two with David Neres then curled a cross towards the far post, Palacios heading in! 17’ de Ligt took a free kick just inside the Liverpool half short to de Jong, he played it into space on the left and Tagliafico ran onto it and crossed to the near post, Dolberg’s header too powerful for Alisson! 35’ van Dijk played a pass down the left for Insigne, he crossed and Sturridge applied a sliding finish. 46’ in one flowing move from the kick-off, Insigne got it just inside our half, drove infield to the edge of the box then unleashed a rocket shot that beat Onana at the near post. 49’ van de Beek “impeded” Fabinho under a corner and VAR gave a penalty, Fabinho converted it. 70’ we had a free kick on the left of the Liverpool area, Tadic bent it low around the wall and in! 88’ Robertson threw it to Insigne in our area, he turned his man and shot, Wöber blocked it but it fell to Firmino with Onana on the floor so it was 4-3. I told the team to Concentrate. 90’ Van Dijk played it long, Pierie got it with his back to goal and Pavon breathing down his neck and played it back to Onana,  he took a touch then played it straight to Pavon’s feet and the Argentine scored. 90+2’ they kept the ball well from an attacking free kick and Insigne worked space for Firmino whose first-time shot wrong-footed Onana. That was a PSG-esque collapse, all 3 goals coming as tiredness forced me to swap Pierie, Blind and Almada for Tagliafico, de Jong and Dolberg - I think the latter switch was the worst as Dolberg had been a good pressure valve, but I just thought Huntelaar was too slow. Still, Europa League quarter finals in 2018/19 followed by Champions League quarter finals in 2019/20 is undeniable progress!

• ADO Den Haag (A): David Neres (17)

• Excelsior (H): David Neres (16, 21, 70, 71) Dolberg (19, 58) Huntelaar (51) Tadic (68)

Above is 70' and below is 71' in that last game - I think this is what it would look like if FM implemented a 'Play Like Messi' button!

[zlatanera]

May 2020

• 17’ Wiedwald punched away Labyad’s corner, van de Beek sprayed it back out wide, Labyad floated it in and Taduc nodded in at the near post. 24’ we countered, Mazraoui launched it forward to Huntelaar, out wide to David Neres who ran to the byline then crossed for Labyad to volley in! 63’ following a PSV corner a Gutiérrez pass (I think, he just hit it) deflected wildly into the box and Malen pounced to pull one back. 72’ Malen was put clean through, hit a rocket shot but Onana stood up to it, and the even more powerful rebound! That save clinched our double double!

[zlatanera]

Final League Table & Player Stats

Another wildly successful season on the domestic front (with progression in Europe as well) as I'm yet to lose a domestic match - that's 81 games unbeaten!

We did however suffer a truly horrendous drop off in our attacking output with only 104 goals in the league. We conceded two more as well, yet we just kept on winning - currently 22 in a row - leading to us smashing our own points record by a further 4 with 98. The maximum points possible in the league is 102! PSV also improved by 6 points and made it out of their CL group which can only help our coefficient, whilst Feyenoord picked up 25!! more points than last time. Utrecht went through 3 managers since last season as Dick Advocaat retired, Quique Sánchez Flores left to manage at San Mamés and Henk de Jong came in from De Graafschap, but I was surprised to see Heracles make it all the way to fourth and through the European places play-off.

André Onana topped the clean sheets for the second year in a row, and despite playing less than half of the games Hakim Ziyech had the most MotM awards (6) and most assists (10). Fran Sol, still at Willem II, top-scored with 17 - scoring 59 goals in 4 seasons for a solidly mid-table team is impressive!

Most of my key men in attack had at least one month-long injury, alongside Ziyech's season ending in March, which explains why nobody hit 20 goals. Yet we still had 8 men reach double figures! Our overall play was definitely worse with him in the team but Huntelaar would only need one half-chance to score. Dolberg had something of a second breakout season before missing a month, whilst Tadic was moved back more than last season yet still came up with the goods. David Neres struggled after his injury before roaring back into form with 4 goals and 3 assists in his last 3 games, whilst Zakaria Labyad continued to be worth more than the €5k/week I'm paying him. As I've previously stated I was quite surprised with Palacios' stats but the results when moving van de Beek back suggests if I persevered with this tactic I could have a 20 goal season from a midfielder if I used one that could finish for the entire season. Ziyech was truly our MVP though, he's now contributed to 78 goals in, well, 18 months!

[Boss]

Well done mate! This is a really interesting read

[zlatanera]

@Boss Thanks! I’m finding this playing style really helps maintain my interest in the rare case I lose as I’ll tend to still score 2-4 goals and feel like we’re progressing in the right direction. Transfer windows are tough though, I have to to be ruthless in order to not let my squad be so bloated I ditch the save, yet I’m also a sucker for keeping a squad together and having favourite players I just won’t ditch. 

[john1]

Fantastic season overall in domestic and Europe  Good to see you bringing ex players back into coaching capacity  

[zlatanera]

Another Unexpected Behind-the-Scenes Success

I nearly had a problem with Kik Pierie as I’d promised he’d play in cup games when I signed him, but apparently playing every minute of the Super Cup and Dutch Cup wasn’t satisfactory. Or the 9 league appearances. He must have interpreted it as meaning he’d play in the Champions League which…no,That’s more important than the league and defeats the purpose of the promise...

That's the first time I've ever had a player come round from a perceived broken promise! 

Everyone between Hamburg (who just won the 2. Bundesliga) and Chelsea (2nd in the EPL, runners-up in 2019's Europa League) is interested in him, but this interaction suggests high professionalism so I'm confident he'll stay with us. 

[zlatanera]

'Goal-Scoring Machine'

I just love that description! Interestingly - and I believe these records are accurate as Clarence Seedorf is listed as the club's youngest player - Huntelaar's goal in our final league game of the season made him the club's oldest ever goalscorer, whilst his appearance in the Dutch Cup Final made him the club's oldest ever player! His 157 goals put him 6th on the club's all-time top scorers list, significantly behind Piet Keizer but ahead of one Marco van Basten, among others.

[zlatanera]

Training Overhaul

For the last two seasons I've taken full control of training for all three squads, using the same routines for all of them which were inspired by this post on Strikerless. The results were...ok. I had probably taken the sample images he shows too much to heart as the core of my routines. I re-read a couple of threads on the subject (FM19 Training - A Brief Guide & FM2020 - The Unofficially Official Training and Mentoring Guide) as well as the first piece, then came up with eleven presets that I can quickly adjust with fixtures. These are a work in process - I'd want to wait a whole season to see if I get too many training injuries before formulating a final verdict on if I'll keep them for other saves - but I thought I'd share them whilst the rationale is still fresh in my mind. 

• Pre-Season:

Spoiler

pre-season (0g)

All 3 sections have the same pre-season routines which are incredibly intense in order to boost fitness levels as much as possible - its my attempt to put some Atlético-style grit into what is otherwise a team of artistes. I decided to have only four fixtures in pre-season this year, so we had a week of no training (above), then played Ajax Under 19s, Jong Ajax and Ajax Cape Town on consecutive weekends with the set-up below.

pre-season (1g)

Then finally we had a two-game week where we played Ajax Amateurs as a nice warm-up for the Super Cup against PSV like so:

pre-season (2g)

I can attest that this didn't lead to an abnormally large amount of injuries, so hopefully it will lead to an abnormally low level come spring!

• Ajax & Jong Ajax:

Spoiler

Jong Ajax, despite being predominantly 18 year olds, train using the same schedules as the first team since they also play in a professional division, but their individual training is on double intensity as they'll still have fewer fixtures than the first team and I'm a little skeptical about the Keuken Kampioen Divisie's level. 

big match

A routine I won't use until the business end of the season, a re-read of those guides taught me that match preparation sessions' boosts don't stack, so when we have a week until a big game I only use one of each. Then I added in all the set piece sessions to give us a real kick for our dead ball prowess, and shadow play fills a couple of slots without unnecessarily increasing injury risk. Come the end of the season we'll have great tactical familiarity so instead of Match Review I use Team Bonding as S2 post-game so the squad can continue toasting their victory! (hopefully).

Ajax (1g)

Despite what I just said about match prep not stacking you'll notice a heavy focus on it here. Why? Because Match Practice, Def. Shape and Att. Movement train players' individual roles - if they're in the first team we don't need to focus on making well-rounded players, but keep them working on their specialisms. Goalkeeping sessions give them a work out, and given we're scouting for technically rounded players anyway I figured I'd add in Tactical to further work on what we can control. Also quite a few of the roles I like to train don't work the Decisions or Teamwork attributes, which we now have covered in three sessions each.

Ajax (2g)

With fixture congestion we really don't want to overwork the players here, Match Practice might be unsuitable but given the other two sessions on the free day aren't very intense I think its a good compromise to not underwork the team either. So we still get four sessions on individual roles (three for goalkeepers) and some work on those two mental attributes.

international week 1 / winter break

Most of our players will be off on international duty, but if they aren't its most likely because they're young players who haven't hit the national coaches' radar yet and can handle an intense workload, so for the first week we get some good physical work in. This can also double up as a schedule to keep fitness up in the winter break (I don't like mid-season friendlies).

International week 2

For the second week of an international break we have to balance my desire to work my players hard with the need to make sure players don't come straight back off national team duty and pull a hamstring. They usually return Wednesday-Saturday so after a brief continuation of the heavy physical training we then go into the standard match training + goalkeeping set-up for the remainder of the week to ease them back into things. 

Those international break routines are the ones I worry may need revising - if I go into the group stages of the Champions League with no fit players I'll change things up!

• Ajax Under 19s:

Spoiler

Similar to Jong Ajax, my Under 19s players train their individual focusses on double intensity. Given the lower match load they'll generally get a much higher training load, and I don't bother with Match Review as they're just training a generic 4-3-3 with no instructions.

youth (0g)

If there are no games on the youth team get a pre-season-esque physical workout for 6 days as I've found the young talents at the club physically lacking. Also per this article in the New York Times part of Cruyff's revolution in 2011 was a recognition that they need to get players physically ready at a younger age.

youth (1g)

youth (2g)

In most cases however, the youth team will get a very well-rounded set of sessions designed to work on all attributes of the game. Some of these sessions feature work on individual roles for the players not included as the main focus, but predominantly its about producing complete players - I train each youngster in 2-3 positions as well. In order to maximise training time I use the lowest-intensity schedules - Goalkeeping, Tactical and Possession on the day following a match. 

 

[zlatanera]

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Edited March 22, 2020 by zlatanera