[FM 20] Tiger, Tiger burning bright

[Moonshine]

Around the World: 2021/22

 

Top 10 European Leagues by coefficient (and Denmark):

 

1. England - Premier League Champions: Man City

2. Spain - La Liga Champions: Barcelona (x5)

3. Italy - Serie A Champions: Inter Milan (x3)

4. Germany - Bundesliga Champions: Bayern Munich (x10)

5. France - Ligue 1 Champions: PSG (x5)

6. Portugal - Liga NOS Champions: Benfica (x2)

7. Russia - Premier League Champions: Zenit St Petersburg

8. Netherlands - Eredivisie Champions: Feyenoord (x2)

9. Switzerland - Super League Champions: FC Basel (x3)

10. Austria - Bundesliga Champions: RB Salzburg (x9)

20. Denmark - Superlig Champions: FC Kobenhavn (x4)

 

Champions League:

 

Europa League:

 

Europa Conference League:

 

Edited April 16, 2020 by Moonshine

[Moonshine]

 

 

Middelfart BK - 2022/23

Pre-Season

Nordicbet Liga 1. [Danish Division 2]

Board: Avoid Relegation

Cup: Third Round

Media: 10th (/12)

Odds: 55-1

 

Friendlies:

 

They were quite friendly.

 

Transfers:

 

Out went record appearance holder Casper Johansen, as well as Peter Kristensen and Sunne Balle - realeased on frees. In came some talent on a free. I needed a GK, an AML, and AMC and a DM. I got all of them, and some extras.

 

 

 

 

 

[Moonshine]

Middelfart BK - 2022/23

Nordicbet Liga 1

August

 

Fixtures:

 

I'm not quite sure what's changed. Maybe our new goalkeeper? Maybe a more solid midfield? Maybe its that we have a pretty large squad, and so can rotate. Whatever it is, it's working. 4 clean sheets in the league, 5 wins, we're actually scoring goals (though, including the cup, as usual we have 9 goalscorers for 11 goals...). What an incredible start to the season. We already have half the points of the entirety of the last campaign.

 

Table:

In any other season, that is table-topping form. This season it's apparently good enough only for 4th. Oh well. The important thing is we're 12 points from relegation, and 9 points from the split.

[Moonshine]

Middelfart BK - 2022/23

Nordicbet Liga 1

September

 

Fixtures:

Blimey. It keeps going, who knew. How very exciting. A couple of losses, but that's to be expected - slightly disappoited by the one against Skive whom I should be at least drawing with even without this mad run of form. The Horsens loss is fine - they're the best ream in the division, after all. Nice.

 

Table:

We're 12 points from the relegation section. We may well be safe by game 22. Goodness.

[Moonshine]

Two nice bits of news

 

 

The strange payout continues, and I'm not complaining. The finances remain dire.

 

 

I've ever had an 'A' rating before...

 

[Moonshine]

Middelfart BK - 2022/23

Nordicbet Liga 1

October/November

 

Fixtures:

 

It's not quite as good as before, but 8 points from 15 is OK. A decent performance against Superliga opposition in the cup was nice, though the loss to Nykobing was irritating. 4-1 and 6-1 victories showed a ruthless streak I've not seen from us before.

 

Table:

We have more points from 17 matches than we did from 32 last season... And we're 3 points from staying up, already, which is unreal.

[Moonshine]

World Cup 2022

Host: Qatar

Holders: France

 

Major non-qualifiers: England, Croatia, Ivory Coast, Chile

Out in groups: Ghana, Qatar, Morocco, Venezuela, South Korea, New Zealand, Senegal, Serbia, Greece, Australia, Cameroon, Norway, Nigeria, USA, Portugal, Iran

 

 

Winners: Spain

[Moonshine]

'Don't expect much from this intake.' There's a surprise.

[Moonshine]

The World's Best 2022:

Ballon d'Or: Lautaro Martinez [Manchester City

FIFA Best: Kylianne Mbappe [Manchester City]

World Player of the Year: Lautaro Martinez [Manchester City]

Kopa Trophy (best u21 Player): Ansu Fati [Barcelona]

 

FIFA best XI

 

 

 

 

As an aside, it is frankly ridiculous that Man City have the two best players in the world in Lautaro Martinez and Kylianne Mbappe. They also spent the most money I've ever seen in FM on Mbappe - £216m!!

[Moonshine]

Middelfart BK - 2022/23

Nordicbet Liga 1

March

 

We bought a couple of players in over the winter, including our first ever money-signing! Theo Chendri joins Englishman Jack Ritchie from Longford in Ireland, where my analyst spotted him getting 10 goals. Kenneth Elgaard is one for the future - a replacement perhaps for the lacklustre Lucas Moller Jensen

 

 

 

 

Fixtures:

Back to the crux of the matter - 3 points was all that mattered this month, as I'm guaranteed to stay in the league by way of being in the Promotion stage after the split! Chendri scoring on his debut against the club that sold him was nice, too.

 

 

Table:

 

[Moonshine]

Middelfart BK - 2022/23

Nordicbet Liga 1

Early April

 

Fixtures:

 

Two draws, but that's OK. I don't care about any of the rest of the season. I'm thrilled just to stay up.

 

Table:

[Moonshine]

 

[Moonshine]

Middelfart BK - 2022/23

Nordicbet Liga 1

Late April

 

Fixtures:

We've forgotten how to score again. 2 goals in 8 games, and I'm back to swapping my tactics around to zero success. We'll go gung ho and see what happens for the remainder of the season.

 

Table:

[Moonshine]

 

Edited April 16, 2020 by Moonshine

[Mr_Demus]

9 hours ago, Moonshine said:

Two nice bits of news

 

 

The strange payout continues, and I'm not complaining. The finances remain dire.

 

 

I've ever had an 'A' rating before...

 

Not a bug. It's TV money, which is distrubuted after 11, 22 and 32 games I think.

[alanfm93]

Ah Emil Lyng a total fraud of a footballer i still have nightmares about him

[Moonshine]

10 hours ago, alanfm93 said:

Ah Emil Lyng a total fraud of a footballer i still have nightmares about him

He's great I tell you. He's fallen somewhat off a cliff this season (he's dropped from 3.5* to 1.5* in one season) and will be released, but he's been a solid performer for a team that simply can't score.

 

12 hours ago, Mr_Demus said:

Not a bug. It's TV money, which is distrubuted after 11, 22 and 32 games I think.

That makes sense! It would be useful to have it clarified in the rules, but every penny counts. I'm now £2m in the red, which sucks.

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2019/20

Youth Intake:

 

I really don't like my youth intakes here. But we have no money to make the academy better, so they'll continue to suck. I signed down to 'g' anyway, as they all go on one year deals and I can release them if they stay ****.

 

[Moonshine]

Middelfart BK - 2022/23

Nordicbet Liga 1

May

 

Fixtures:

The rot continued. We ended the season with four draws, and only four goals scored, in fourteen games. I've no idea what went wrong, but thank god we did so well at the start of the season. The squad think we're certainties to go down next season. They might be right.

 

Table:

 

[Moonshine]

  

 

 

Middelfart BK - 2022/23

Season Summary

 

Final Position: 5th [of 12]

 

 

 

The Squad:

 

 

The Awards:

 

 

 

 

Best XI:

 

All time:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stale Arntesberg

Nikolaj Boesen     Alexander Molberg     Magnus Pedersen     Nikolaj Hagelskaer

Jacob Reus

Tobias Bjornebye

Theo Chendri     Mads Kaalund       Emil Lyng

Noah Iversen

 

[Moonshine]

Around the World: 2022/23

 

Top 10 European Leagues by coefficient (and Denmark):

 

1. England - Premier League Champions: Chelsea

2. Spain - La Liga Champions: Barcelona (x6)

3. Italy - Serie A Champions: Inter Milan (x4)

4. Germany - Bundesliga Champions: Bayern Munich (x11)

5. France - Ligue 1 Champions: PSG (x6)

6. Portugal - Liga NOS Champions: Benfica (x3)

7. Netherlands - Eredivisie Champions: Ajax

8. Switzerland - Super League Champions: FC Basel (x4)

9. Sweden - Allsvenskan Champions: Djurgardens

10. Scotland - Premier League Champions: Rangers

 

17. Denmark - Superlig Champions: FC Kobenhavn (x5)

 

Champions League:

 

Europa League:

 

Europa Conference League:

 

[Moonshine]

 

Middelfart BK - 2023/4

Pre-Season

Nordicbet Liga 1. [Danish Division 2]

Board: Fight Bravely against Relegation

Cup: Third Round

Media: 11th (/12)

Odds: 45-1

 

Friendlies:

Meaningless. Though we're scoring again?

 

Transfers:

 

Not seen on this is the continuing sweeping changes to the old guard. Out on frees went Esben Petersen (83 apps under me/106 overall), Peter Jul Nielsen (63/128 apps), Kristoffer Gjaetterman (90/190 apps), Emil Lyng (114 apps) and Kim Elgaard (81/103 apps) - essentially the spine of the team for our first three seasons.

Just the two replacements (the other two are amateurs my B team have signed), as I'm going to try and ride out this season before upgrading the squad - a new star DC in Belgian Matthias Boessarts, and the re-signing of DL Adis Spahic on loan, who I had a couple of seasons

 

Elsewhere, we got some cash finally:

 

And I had my first interview elsewhere:

 

[Moonshine]

Middelfart BK - 2023/4

Nordicbet Liga 1

August

 

Fixtures:

 

It's not quite the wonderful start of last season, but we're scoring goals which is nice.

 

Table:

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Moonshine

[Moonshine]

Middelfart BK - 2023/4

Nordicbet Liga 1

September

 

Fixtures:

Back to not being able to score. Meh.

 

Table:

 

 

More cash is nice.

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Moonshine

[Moonshine]

Middelfart BK - 2023/24

Nordicbet Liga 1

October

 

Fixtures:

 

A better set of results, yes, but our boring brand of football continues. I'm becoming rapidly disillusioned.

 

Table:

[Moonshine]

Time to move on?

 

I have to admit that the interview with OB at the start of the season turned my head somewhat. Our terrible goalscoring form, and our lack of finances for signings or facilities, means I can't kick on at all. Take, for example, Lucas Moller Jensen. When I started at the club, he was a 5* prospect, with 2* CA at 19. I'd have expected him to kick into gear, to improve such that he was a superstar for my level by now. Instead, he's a 2.5* player with 5* PA still - which suggests he's been stymied by the club's facilities, which I can't improve as I'm losing £3-600,000 a season.

On top of that, as I'm so far in the red, my wage budget has never gone over £10k p/w. I've managed to keep it down - I now spend £8k from a budget of £9.1k - but it means I'm limited to players that don't improve the team. I think 10th, where I am at the moment, is the natural position of the club. Last season was a fluke - as we saw in a winless last 14 games, with just the 4 goals scored.

I've reinvented this aging team, yes. But I'm not 100% sure its for the better. So I'll be on the lookout for jobs at this level, or the same level in Sweden and Norway, and I might just try them out.

[Moonshine]

Interview

 

I applied for the bottom team in the Superliga, because why not. They offered me an interview, but turned me down in favour of their former manager, and the bloke OB sacked before they interviewed me.

 

 

[Moonshine]

Middelfart BK - 2023/24

Nordicbet Liga 1

November/December

 

Fixtures:

We continue with our slightly boring football, but draws against Sonderskye and particularly away at top-of-the-table OB are particularly good. I still want to leave, I think.

 

Table:

[Moonshine]

Rubbish

[Moonshine]

The World's Best 2023:

Ballon d'Or: Erling Haaland [Chelsea]

FIFA Best: Kylianne Mbappe [Manchester City]

World Player of the Year: Erling Haaland [Chelsea]

Kopa Trophy (best u21 Player): Kaue Costa Ferreira [Benfica - Regen]

 

FIFA best XI

 

 

 

Edited April 17, 2020 by Moonshine

[Moonshine]

[Moonshine]

 

HB Koge

 

 

 

 

Well, isn't this exciting. I've taken charge of a team just a single place ahead of me in 9th the table, but with a significantly better squad. They've spent the whole save to date in remarkable consistent form in the NordicBet Liga - in fact they finished a place below me last season.

 

Squad:

 

It's a smaller squad than I'm used to, but I like it. The front four look good - and like they might (whisper it) score goals. Morten Johansen is a genuine youth product, and looks very sexy.

 

The Facilities:

 

Comparatively, these are far superior to Middelfart. They had poor training, poor youth, basic academy coaching and limited youth recruitment. We're better in every department - and it shows with the candidates page:

 

 

The Finances:

 

These are troubling, but we have a £17k wage budget which is nice, and, as I said, a much better squad. Sod it. Let's see what happens.

 

The aims:

 

We're 7 points from the promotion stage with 5 to play, and aren't going to make it. Our aim is to 'win' the relegation stage, I think. The board don't care. This season is a write off for them.

[Moonshine]

 

HB Koge - 2023/24

Nordicbet Liga 1

March

 

Fixtures:

As I get to know my new team, we seem to score quite freely and played very well. The smallness of the squad is immediately apparent, however, as four injuries mean I have 6 B-team players on the bench against Fredericia.

 

Table:

 

[Moonshine]

 

HB Koge - 2023/24

Youth Intake:

 

A decent intake? MADNESS. I knew I'd moved here for a reason. Morgensen looks pretty sexy, actually.

 

[Moonshine]

 

HB Koge - 2023/24

Nordicbet Liga 1

Early April

 

Fixtures:

 

Argh. The Vendyssel game was a kick in the teeth as we went 2-0 up, only to concede a hattrick from a WBL playing out of position and scoring the winner in the 96th minute.

 

Table:

 

Work to do. We face Middelfart in our first game in the relegation mini-league, which will be interesting

Edited April 17, 2020 by Moonshine

[Moonshine]

 

HB Koge - 2023/24

Nordicbet Liga 1

Late April

 

Fixtures:

Two games, two Dieudonne goals, two 1-0 wins. That'll do nicely.

 

Table:

https://gyazo.com/970e136199f0935f77117184a9146b74

Vendsyssel lost to Hobro and Jammerbugt, Hobro lost to us. My quest to finish top of the relegation zone continues!

[Moonshine]

It's your tactics, stupid

 

So, here's the thing. I'm playing, for the first time, with instant result - and am enjoying FM more than I have for a while, watching the goals afterwards and not being slowed down. I imported a tactic (well remade a tactic) that I had come up with on FM Touch on the iPad, hoping that what had worked for Chelsea and Atletico Bilbao on there might well work in FM proper. And for a while it seemed it did.

Now, however, when I find myself as underdogs, I see the failings of the tactic. As a favourite - or even a top half team - the tactic's bonuses, which were an extremely solid defence (take a look at that second season - 20 clean sheets in 33 games), were not enough to make up for the deficiencies, which are an atrocious attack. I'm 5 games in to a seven match May, and once again I haven't troubled the net at all.

 

Here's what I was playing, with a tweak to positive and a couple of changes to instruction when I was at home and favourites:

 

 

A weird formation, with the idea that the mezzala and the shadow striker would provide the goals. The DLF could also be a TM, and he'd knock things down for others to score. It hasn't worked. So keeping to the ideals of a solid defence, but three up front, and direct football, here' what's I'm going to try out now.

 

 

Let's see what happens, eh?

[Moonshine]

 

HB Koge - 2023/24

Nordicbet Liga 1

May/June

 

Fixtures:

 

So, after 5 games without a goal (and obviously without a win) I changed my tactics, as above, and it seemed to work with three wins from three, with a weak back 5. The squad was ravaged by injuries and suspensions - I had red cards in four of the eight games in May, including the two with the new tactic in place, and all of my defense was out at one point. The loss to Middelfart stung though, and I've got a serious rebuilding job on my hands here. The squad is too small, and not good enough beyond the base 11.

 

Table:

It's not 'top of the relegation group,' but I still feel vindicated by leaving Middelfart. When I left, Hoge were 3 points ahead of them. I finish a solid 12 clear.

 

[Moonshine]

 

HB Koge - 2023/24

Nordicbet Liga 1

Season Summary

 

Final Position: 9th [of 12]

 

The Squad:

 

 

Oh god, the squad. I will be losing Abdel Diarra on a free at the end of the season (he wants too much) as well as Johannesson on loan, and by reckoning need: at least 2 DCs, an MC or 2, and a backup AML/R. I've a backup DL incoming, but that's it.

 

The Awards:

 

 

 

 

Best XI:

 

 

 

Casper Hauervig

Bardhec Bytyqi    Marian Huja    Morten Johannesen (Yth)    Soren Overgaard

Marco Mauno Johannesen          Magnus Hauser

Ronald Arevalo     Tobias Christensen       Yao Dieudonne

Christian Toftdal

 

[Moonshine]

Around the World: 2023/4

 

Top 10 European Leagues by coefficient (and Denmark):

 

1. England - Premier League Champions: Man City

2. Spain - La Liga Champions: Barcelona (x7)

3. Italy - Serie A Champions: Inter Milan (x5)

4. Germany - Bundesliga Champions: Bayern Munich (x12)

5. France - Ligue 1 Champions: PSG (x7)

6. Portugal - Liga NOS Champions: Benfica (x4)

7. Switzerland - Super League Champions: FC Basel (x5)

8. Netherlands - Eredivisie Champions: Ajax (x2)

9. Belgium - Jupiler League Champions: Standard Liege

10. Scotland - Premier League Champions: Celtic

 

14. Denmark - Superlig Champions: FC Midtjylland

 

Champions League:

 

Europa League:

 

Europa Conference League:

 

[Moonshine]

European Championships 2024

Host: Germany

Holders: Germany

 

Out in groups: Israel, Bosnia, Ukraine, Kosovo, Serbia, Romania, Denmark, Poland

 

 

 

Winners: Portugal

 

 

[Moonshine]

Holy smokes

 

Interestingly, while browsing the Euros, I kept seeing one name crop up - Phillip Kandziora. Winner of the best player, golden boot and young player of the tournament, all while playing for a Germany side that were eliminated, humiliatingly, after just 4 matches against Ireland in their home Euros. I love those first spurts of newgens in FM - the first stirrings of a world class player. I love it even more when that player is 18 years old and has a frankly ridiculous 16 goals in 13 caps.

 

 

Elsewhere, there's an Australian at Midtjylland with 45 caps (but he's a 24 y/o regen, who seems to have appeared at 19), and more impressively, the greatest Faroese player of all time - Hjalgrim Bjartalid is a 22 y/o at Monaco, who is worth £59m and has 37 caps for the Faroes at DR. He appeared at Midtjylland, who seem to recur here, before being bought after 3 seasons for £16m - a Danish transfer record. The Faroes, with him and a colleague in the Man Utd reserves (bought from Silkeborg for £500k at 17) have actually managed a few wins in their time though they remain in Nations League D with Andorra and Gibraltar. 

Edited April 18, 2020 by Moonshine

[Moonshine]

 

HB Koge - 2024/35

Pre-Season

Nordicbet Liga 1. [Danish Division 2]

Board: Top Half

Cup: Fourth Round

Media: 7th (/12)

Odds: 9-1

 

Friendlies:

New tactic seems to be working...

 

Transfers:

 

Pretty decent business, all told. I managed to keep hold of most of my best players - I will be looking to sell down the line, once I have some kind of production line set up - and I managed to sign some players too. Sadly Christian Tostdahl had to be sold - it felt unrealistic to keep him when I negotiated up to £160k with a 30% sell on, and he wanted to leave.  Nicolaj Boesen comes in from the old club, Middelfart, as my backup DL. I managed to re-sign Marco Mauno Johannesson (not to be confused with Gustav Johansen or with Morten Johannsen (Yth) for that matter...) as a starting mezzala. At DC, though perhaps a little pricey, came Brandon Onkony after 5 seasons at Hobro, as did Thomas Sennichsheh. Per Ingerlslev, who came on loan as a backup, and Martin Stokholm are decent MCs. Finally, Fleming Hansen was signed as a backup with Torstdahl gone.

 

[Moonshine]

Taking back control:

 

One thing I've not seen before - I tried to sign a Scottish DC on loan from Rangers, because he popped up in my scout reports. But I couldn't as he need a work permit. Brexit, eh? Really, a great choice Britain. Congrats.

 

 

 

[Moonshine]

 

HB Koge - 2024/25

Nordicbet Liga 1

August

 

Fixtures:

It started well... Esbjerg is a good result as they've just gone down, and the 0-0 with Naestved is much more impressive than it looks as we were down to 9 men by halftime...

 

Table:

 

Middelfart haven't won a single gmae

[Moonshine]

Oooooh...

 

 

Maybe he's quite good then

[Moonshine]

Also oooh. I'll have to look out for him:

 

[Moonshine]

 

HB Koge - 2024/25

Nordicbet Liga 1

September

 

Fixtures:

All in all, a decent round of games considering I'm down a couple of strikers and Marius Elvius hadn't scored in 48(!!) games before the match against Nykobing. The loss to Hobro was annoying, as I was 2-0 up. Brondby in the cup is understandable. They're a smidge better than me, after all.

 

Table:

 

 

Middelfart botton. We look OK for the top half.

[Moonshine]

 

HB Koge - 2024/25

Nordicbet Liga 1

October

 

Fixtures:

Three games, seven points, nothing conceded. Not bad really.

 

Table:

We're just three points from the promotion spots, which is unexpectedly pleasant. Middelfart are crumbling.

[Moonshine]

 

HB Koge - 2024/25

Nordicbet Liga 1

November/December

 

Fixtures:

Fundamentally boring. We should have won against both Fredericia and Aarhus. Bonus, it's now 7 games without conceding.

 

Table:

It's seriously tight at the top. We aren't scoring much, but our defense is second to none. Any of the top five could go up at this point.

November