[FM20] Voltaço

[_Ben_]

2039 mid-point

Despite the concerns, longer term, off the field, on it we are doing amazingly well and on for our third straight title in our eleventh year at this level. We have just extended our winning streak to eleven matches and nobody looks like they're able to compete with us.

---

Things aren't all rosy though...

  

Two early cup exits have left the board rather unhappy with how the whole season is panning out. The main protagonist is our inability to be able to rotate a lot and, those now backup players, are older and quite simply not as good as they once were - Geilton, Rodrigo Dinamite and Lorran Pereira Santos haven't been replaced and even they struggle to play one match of the three that I am regularly playing a week.

[_Ben_]

Maicon

14 years as a player and 7 months as a youth coach, but now Maicon moves on again, taking the managers job at Serie B side Operario. He joins up with ex-Volta players Jefferson Quintanilha and Marcio Ricardo, both of whom he played along side.

[_Ben_]

Player sale

4

As I mentioned - he wasn't going to break into the first team given some pretty considerable shortcomings, but Papel successfully makes the move to Europe and to a league famous for signing Brazilians, developing them and moving them on. We get 40% of whatever they can sell him for, also.

[_Ben_]

Player development - Clei

Clei came through the intake last year and was the second highest rated player, by perceived PA. He was initially a full back but his offensive attributes didn't fill me with much confidence to fulfil a role that is incredibly attacking (Crossing: 7, Dribbling: 6, Work Rate: 9, Acceleration: 9) and he was also behind 19 year old Ernani, who is amongst my best players.

Here is his development over the past year:

What is more important is that he's made these developments whilst also learning a new position from scratch, DM, as seen below. Training him here has allowed me to focus on his defensive attributes - with good development in his Marking, Tackling and Positioning. He's no slouch on the ball either, with good improvements in Passing, First Touch and Vision. I also really like that he rates as one of the better leaders within the team and, from such a central area - this is really important.

Edited September 19, 2020 by _Ben_

[_Ben_]

Player Development - Vinicius

Even as the sixth best player from the last intake - VInicius stood out to me as someone who could very much be a useable player, given the right development. He's made some very strong progress over the last year:

I decided to make use of his 6'4" frame and good defensive ability (Tackling, Bravery, Anticipation and Jumping Reach [ignore the Heading...]) to move him back to the DM role and a bit of an all rounder - not your conventional ball winner but an imposing player who, despite not being the most physical, is going to work the opposition hard to stop them getting past but also utilising the good on the ball ability as well as the Finishing/Long Shots combo that can be deadly.

---

He's yet to make his debut but is definitely on the cards to do so in next year's State competition.

[_Ben_]

Player Development - Lucho

A very talented player and a very talented beard grower at the age of just 16! Lucho was the top rated player through my intake last year and would have played in this year's State leagues but he wasn't 16 in time and therefore ineligible. 

Not looking to change him from his centre back role - I've just tried to push on and develop his ball playing ability and I've been very impressed with his growth.  I worry, a little, about his lack of leadership and, once all of my key areas of improvement are ironed out, will probably see how many Leadership courses I can get him through. 

The development here is a little slower than that of Clei, with most of his key attributes only rising by one point - but he's much younger and is also not a) training with the first team and b) not getting any minutes in the first team at the moment. 

I see him as the long term successor to Lorran Periera Santos but he's going to need probably two more years of development time and two State competitions to get some first team minutes.

[_Ben_]

Player Development - Rodrigo Feria

Who doesn't love a Model Citizen with a different nationality to that of your team?! Rodrigo has made some incredible progress but has given me something to consider:

He has been training as RPM(s) in the DM role with Passing (Passing, First Touch, Technique) as his individual focus. You can see that he's made 2 points on First Touch, 4 on Passing and 3 on Technique but not a great deal elsewhere (obviously this is in context comparing what we'd expect from this personality with a poor trainer). I'm going to move him to a more specialised schedule that focuses on less areas, as seen in my graphic below:

RPM works 19 areas, which means that the development is spread very thinly. I could utilise the A(d) schedule which reduces the amount of areas focused on considerably and this is not a technical heavy role - with only two technical attributes worked on: Marking and Tackling. It would leave his 'worked on attributes' like this:

I think that I've already worked pretty hard on his ball playing ability so a period of time working on these lesser attributes may be useful, even if I have no intention of using him in this role. I am going to add the Strength individual focus, too:

As this works on both his overall Strength and Jumping Reach, which I'd like to accelerate, knowing that they'll naturally grow as he ages but want to push ahead slightly.

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He's part of the first team squad at the moment and has made four appearances to date. He'll get plenty of minutes in the State league and I'll then re-assess.

[_Ben_]

2039 Youth Intake

The intake wasn't predicted to be amazing - but I think we've got some really good talent from it.

We will be signing every player bar Lua Lucio - who has 1 for Det and is Slack:

• Professionalism 1, Determination 1-9
• Temperament >4, Leader <19

Not a good mix for any kind of development!

Joao Alfama. Isaac Ferretti. Marcelo Candido. Carlos Henrique. Lenilton Farias Lima.

I will add faces to these lot later on!

---

My time away from the game made me forget just how much I'd put in to the analysis side of the youth intakes - so I'm going to revisit a load of charts and stuff for this one...

(N.B - nothing I show here is new and has just been tucked away in an Excel document. I tried to step away from this kind of analysis in this save after all the work I did with my Guadalajara save, but I felt like a change)

My first table was the overview of the player attributes. 

With all of the work that has gone into the backroom team (here is my current Reserve and U20 team, which I know are listed as favoured personnel and I'm sure do impact player personality), I feel that the hidden side of the intake is a little poor. With only three players having a Determination of 15 or greater and nobody with a personality that immediately tells me that their professionalism or ambition is high.

The next column is an overview of their 'non-weighted' attributes, which can give me a bit of an insight into what type of player they are as these could be 20 and have no impact on their CA. There is a nice mix of flair, fit players and determined players.

The next six columns show some very basic areas of the player's game which give me a chance to work out where I want to develop a player to play. For example, Deco is a pretty good team player and a good (in context) playmaker, whereas his speed isn't his strongest attribute - meaning he's probably less useful out on the wing and needs to move in field. Likewise, using Isaac Ferretti as a striker who looks to get on the end of a cross is pretty worthless, given his weak aerial threat. The seventh column in that area just shows their strongest area of the six. I can start to build a good picture here - for example, Patrick is a Determined player who is an aerial threat and is not weak with his intelligence - exactly what I need from a centre back.

The next three columns take averages of their technical, mental and physical attributes and this gives me a good idea of the areas that I need to focus my schedules on. As you can see from the below graphic, I can choose schedules that are technical, mental or physical dominant to either push development or iron out weaknesses. The final columns take an overall average of their attributes and ranks them from one to fifteen based on that.

From the intake - I'd look at Isaac Ferretti and make note of his poor (in comparison) mental attributes compared to physical and mental - so I'm going to be looking at a) a role that he can play whereby his aerial presence won't negatively impact his game and b) a training schedule that means I can spend a lot more effort developing him mentally.

The last columns compare the average of their attributes (something that I am really focusing on with well rounded players) to the perceived potential ability that my coaches have rated them upon entry to the game. For example, I rate Lele as having quite a good current ability but my staff don't feel that he will necessarily develop into a top player whereas we have both pinpointed Joao Alfama as a good player now and potentially the best player from this intake.

---

I am then able to really dig into my top three players: Joao Alfama, Isaac Ferreti and Lenilton Farias Lima.

Alfama looks to be a proper ball winning midfielder with strong results in Work Rate, Pressing, Defence and Endurance. He's not too strong on the ball and does lack intelligence at at the moment, as well as general technical ability.

Ferretti is a pacey winger but, unfortunately, does lack a little both on the ball and his ability to finish. However, he's mobile does work pretty hard which means, If I get him to be a little more intelligent and resistant to the opposition pressing, I can make him into a good threat. He's short, at 5'9" and is, as I mentioned, poor in the air so is certainly not a like-for-like replacement for Joao Fernando, who is considerably bigger and has made a name for himself with being a beast at winning back post headers. 

Lima is pretty similar too, and, in game, is listed as an Inverted Winger. Quite well rounded on the ball but poor in defence means he'll not really be able to be utilised in a supporting role - even if we are the best team and don't do a huge amount of defending. Another one who is poor in the air and not very physical. Should he and Ferretti become my first choice wingers in the next years, we'll need to be shifting away from a game that utilises the power of getting the ball into the box.

---

I'm excited to get into specifics of schedules and pathways once they sign!

Edited September 19, 2020 by _Ben_

[_Ben_]

Player Development - 2039 Intake

As much as I lauded him as a good ball winning midfielder - I am thinking long term and looking at the type of players who I have coming through ahead of him and thinking that, with less offensive playmakers, I'll need to keep my midfielders more creative. Therefore, I will utilise his 6'1" frame and move him back to a centre back - as, despite having a far few players able to play here - there isn't a huge amount of quality and I can very much see me moving to a three-at-the-back shape soon, with Pacato, Orlandelli, Luis and Lucho hopefully being joined by this lad.

When looking at his development - I think the BPD(d) schedule with Quickness (Pace, Acceleration) will work best for him:

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Sometimes you have to accept a player's weak areas and build what you can around that. With that - there is no way that Ferretti will become the direct replacement for Joao Fernando. However, I still think he's potentially going to be a great inside forward, given that he's potentially going to be better than the aforementioned club icon:

However, I won't be training him as IF(a) as it doesn't really focus on his mental side of the game - an area of weakness that I've already identified. Therefore, I'll use the RMD(a) with a focus on Shooting, for the time being as this works a lot more 'intelligence' attributes.

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Marcelo is pretty well rounded in the DM role, yet only accomplished, so he'll have to spend time training that position but I feel a Reg(s) is more effective than an RPM(s) at this age as it focuses less on his physical attributes, which will naturally develop with age.

When looking at squad depth, below, there are a lot of players ahead of him but Alfama, Lucho, Luiz Alberto and Romario Orlandelli are all actually centre backs - leaving Luis Henrique as my top DM and the likes of Feria and Clei hoping to develop to that level. There is also the aging Geilton who is now predominantly used there so there is a chance that he'll have the opportunity to develop into this position.

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A little lower down the potential list but I really like Lima, even if he has some flaws. A left footed right winger so I have no worries about his link up with potential wing partner Ferretti as he won't be getting to the byline and sticking crosses in. This was another reason why I am looking to ensure that I have talented creative players in the middle of the park so that I can play in half spaces or centrally and I think that Lima could be an important part of that jigsaw.

He's a bit of a strange player overall, with some good but also some poor mental and technical attributes but I'm going to make use of his accomplished ST role and train him as a CF(s) with a focus on Ball Control to try and make him as rounded as possible and able to finish, too. It hits a lot of those mental attributes and will stop him just coming inside with the ball and not really knowing what to do...

---

I'm quite excited about this lot!

[_Ben_]

Team of the future?

As I have mentioned - I have to be reactive to what we get through the academy and I'm finding that I am getting far less offensive creative players and we need to be creative from deeper as we get more and more dominant, therefore I'm thinking that we are going to need to change our style somewhat.

It's always nice to combine those thoughts with some actual players that could play in this team:

This removes the likes of Pacato, Joao Fernando, Edilson, Antonio Jose and Luis Henrique and is, quite possibly a team that could be fielded in about five years, should all of these players reach their potentials.

I'm thinking some kind of fluid 3-4-3 shape with a real emphasis on creativity through the back three and the midfield four allowing freedom for the front three to use their pace and (hopefully) scoring ability.

There is still lots of tweaking with roles and ideas here but it is nice to change things up sometimes and to see where I can take this idea...

[_Ben_]

League champions (again)!!

Seven games to go means my target is now breaking a couple of records that are currently held by Cruzeiro:

Continuing with the 2.68 PPG over our last seven games sees us take 19 points and break that record, just but, I'm obviously going for a 100% run in, even if there are some top teams:

If I can take five wins from those seven, I'll also break record but I can see that Santos and Flamengo are the two teams most likely to stop this happening.

[_Ben_]

Milestone

[Watson156]

I have recently started my own youth only challenge in Brazil, so I decided to re-read all of this thread to make some notes and completely re think how I go about managing a team, training players and the whole of youth development. What you've managed to create is fantastic and something for me to aim for which wont be easy!!

I've got a couple of questions if you don't mind though. 

1) I think after reading through that your first real step to get the constant mentoring success was by buying Jaja. As I am unable to buy players to help me with mentoring, is there anything that you can recommend that might help me either improve my current players so I can start mentoring with some success or so I start to get youth players with better personalities.  I have terrible facilities so I am sure that wont be of any help. The one thing that I have done is bought in good personalities for my under 20's (Manager & Assistant both Perfectionists, 3 coaches all Professional) 

2) I saw this graph that breaks down each position/role/duty training for strikers and I was wandering have you got graphs for all of the positions and are they downloadable?

15 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

 

 

3) On your League Table you have average points. Is there any chance you can tell me how to do that? 

Thanks a lot for all the help you've given me so far.

[sherifdinn_]

On 29/08/2020 at 14:37, _Ben_ said:

Moving players 'back'

I have an obsession with having players all over the pitch who are comfortable playing football and one of the ways I like to do this is by 'moving players backwards' - i.e. moving them further away from the opposition goal but retaining their technical ability. I was just having a look through my squad and here are a few examples that I've found:

None of these players (maybe Vinicius aside) have any real hope of making our first team but I think it makes a player way more rounded and sellable, plus, it's fun!

I like wingers who are able to play as wing backs, considering that the roles, in modern football, are so similar. I'd normally look at a cut off of five in some defensive areas as a starting point, as you can see below with Adalto Amorim's attributes:

<5 in heading and tackling and >5 in marking and positioning but a decent crossing, dribbling, technique and overall physical ability - far more important for my full backs as we are a team who attacks a lot and are, overall, normally stronger than the opposition. Maybe I'd refrain from trying to convert him if we were relegation candidates, but we aren't - it's always interesting to see how the AI uses him when/if he moves on, too.

I also like players over 6 foot tall with any kind of ball playing ability to retrain as centre backs (Orlandelli is my best example of that) and those DMs who aren't as tall to move to inverted/normal wing backs (Christian is my best first team example of this). Playmaking AMs, such as Luis Henrique move back to become deep lying playmakers (especially as his finishing isn't too strong) and I've even gone with the 'Dion Dublin' of converting tall centre forward Adilo to a centre back and a bit of a **** kicker role!

--

Doing it at a young age with a low threshold for your cut off - as seen by the development that Giovanni has made (not changed position but showing how much something can be improved):

I think I can turn a full back with poor tackling and positioning into someone with at least decent attributes in those areas. Plus, it gives me a very versatile squad:

What are the differences here?

• I'd use Team A (left) to utilise a small attacker (Dinamite is smaller than 6') but a physical AM as Pereira Santos is a good ball winner. I'd use Geilton against a really offensive left wing back and Joao Francisco could make a good false nine if the opposition are playing a bit deeper and we need to find space. Biondo at right back is a good playmaker which assists with the loss I make playing Geilton further forward.
• I'd use Team B (middle) when playing against a real open side as there are six playmakers (Dinamite, DMs and AMs) so we'd be able to create a lot of chances.
• I'd use Team C (right) against a strong centre back pairing but a team with no DMs as Cleber's clever movement as a F9 could move them out of space to allow Joao Fernando in to goalscoring areas. Henrique out wide is a good playamking opportunity and a great chance to link up with Joao Francisco, who is also a natural playmaker. Some mettle in the DM role with Christian and one playmaking DC and one 'regular' DC gives some balance.

This is not even my whole team nor my best players but it's something I insist on as a squad develops. I haven't even touched on changing the actual shape (something I've very much neglected) here nor roles and how different players play the same role...

What would you do for a fullback lacking pace (12<) but decent defensive ability?

[_Ben_]

1 hour ago, sherifdinn_ said:

What would you do for a fullback lacking pace (12<) but decent defensive ability?

Good on the ball - either an IWB or a DM depending on my needs.

Tall - probably a centre back.

Do you have an example or is that just hypothetical?

[_Ben_]

Thanks for the kind comments @Watson156 - I also appreciate the 'Team: Aston Villa' part of your profile!

7 hours ago, Watson156 said:

1) I think after reading through that your first real step to get the constant mentoring success was by buying Jaja. As I am unable to buy players to help me with mentoring, is there anything that you can recommend that might help me either improve my current players so I can start mentoring with some success or so I start to get youth players with better personalities.  I have terrible facilities so I am sure that wont be of any help. The one thing that I have done is bought in good personalities for my under 20's (Manager & Assistant both Perfectionists, 3 coaches all Professional) 

I 100% jumped a few steps by signing Jaja and, you're right, he was really the catalyst of it all - being 'in charge' of my first mentoring group and then watching the personalities multiply from there. I would like to assume that there is a link between facilities, reputation and personalities but that isn't going to be set in stone - you're still going to be able to get a Model Citizen at a low level squad, for example, but it does seem less common.

However - you're definitely on the right track with personalities of your staff even if SI have never actually confirmed that it impacts more than the HoYD. Every player seems to have at least one or two of the youth/reserve coaches as favoured personnel and I'm sure there is a link.

7 hours ago, Watson156 said:

2) I saw this graph that breaks down each position/role/duty training for strikers and I was wandering have you got graphs for all of the positions and are they downloadable?

It isn't! Just something that I made. Here is a screenshot of all of it and, I can send it you via an Excel document if you want to edit it? There is nothing behind the scenes at all - just me counting up the spread of each attribute training schedule.

7 hours ago, Watson156 said:

3) On your League Table you have average points. Is there any chance you can tell me how to do that? 

I edited a panel, which I've attached.

Place it in #skin name#/panels/competition if you are using a custom skin!

---

Hope that helps - feel free to fire away any more questions you have!

league stage panel views.xml

[_Ben_]

Run-in mini update

So far, so good.

Two wins from four needed and nine points from twelve required to break both records.

We face:

• Goianiense (H) - 12th
• Vasco (A) - 6th
• Santos (H) - 4th
• Flamengo (H) - 3rd

Not the easiest but we can get drop points in one of those games and still break both records...

[_Ben_]

Run-in mini update two

Win record is ours - now to beat either Santos or Flamengo to take the points record.

Another thing I've spotted is that Santos hold the record for most goals, 104, so that might be on the cards next year!

Edited September 20, 2020 by _Ben_

[_Ben_]

Run-in mini update three

Job done!

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I have my eyes on some records for next season, too:

We will equal the 'matches won in a row' if we beat Flamengo in the last game of the season so a winning start to the 2040 campaign will see me break this record!

[Watson156]

2 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

Thanks for the kind comments @Watson156 - I also appreciate the 'Team: Aston Villa' part of your profile!

I 100% jumped a few steps by signing Jaja and, you're right, he was really the catalyst of it all - being 'in charge' of my first mentoring group and then watching the personalities multiply from there. I would like to assume that there is a link between facilities, reputation and personalities but that isn't going to be set in stone - you're still going to be able to get a Model Citizen at a low level squad, for example, but it does seem less common.

However - you're definitely on the right track with personalities of your staff even if SI have never actually confirmed that it impacts more than the HoYD. Every player seems to have at least one or two of the youth/reserve coaches as favoured personnel and I'm sure there is a link.

It isn't! Just something that I made. Here is a screenshot of all of it and, I can send it you via an Excel document if you want to edit it? There is nothing behind the scenes at all - just me counting up the spread of each attribute training schedule.

I edited a panel, which I've attached.

Place it in #skin name#/panels/competition if you are using a custom skin!

---

Hope that helps - feel free to fire away any more questions you have!

league stage panel views.xml 19.09 kB · 1 download

Thanks very much for the reply. With regards to my first point about staff, presumably with staff personalities I am looking for the same type of personalities as I am with players (Model Citizen, Model Pro etc.)? Thanks for the schedule pictures they are amazing and just what I was looking for, I am nowhere near clever enough to make something like that, and it does make it a lot easier to see what each schedule does laid out right in front of you. Also, thanks for the skin files. Really appreciate it.

Congrats on the league title. What's the overall aim now? Is it just to carry on winning things and also the Club World Cup or do you have something specific in mind?

[_Ben_]

1 hour ago, Watson156 said:

With regards to my first point about staff, presumably with staff personalities I am looking for the same type of personalities as I am with players (Model Citizen, Model Pro etc.)?

Exactly that, yes. 

1 hour ago, Watson156 said:

Thanks for the schedule pictures they are amazing and just what I was looking for, I am nowhere near clever enough to make something like that, and it does make it a lot easier to see what each schedule does laid out right in front of you.

I felt that I needed something that gave me an overview of different ways to train my players and, viola, I just made that! It was a bit of a pain to count them all up but has served its purpose on more than a few occasions now.

1 hour ago, Watson156 said:

Also, thanks for the skin files. Really appreciate it.

No worries! I saw you'd posted in the skins forum so I then presumed you'd have a decent understanding of how it works.

1 hour ago, Watson156 said:

Congrats on the league title. What's the overall aim now? Is it just to carry on winning things and also the Club World Cup or do you have something specific in mind?

I'd like to hit a few of those records as well as some of the individual ones too but, with my playing time decreasing hugely since lockdown, I think getting through to the 2041 CWC is a good aim now and then to just see where I go from there. Joao Fernando will be 30 when we play in that tournament and it'd certainly be nice to see how he ends his career. I'm certainly thinking of 'regista-ering' him - he does look pretty well suited to that role to be fair...

[_Ben_]

2039 Review - The Record Breakers edition

Just the one thing to focus on here as both our Liberdatores and Copa do Brasil campaigns ended at the Quarter Final - meaning we've only added one trophy to the Supercopa, Recopa do Sudamerica and Carioca State - all of which we'd won before April was out.

However - this is a record breaking season in the league. The first three-peat since Corinthians between 2025 and 2027 along with the most points and league wins in an absolutely groundbreaking team performance. Individually, Joao Fernando not only broke Roberto Dinamite's now-fifty year old goalscoring record in Serie B but also surpassed his domestic record which, when discounting the likes of Pele and Romario - who allegedly counted friendlies and exhibition games, is certainly an incredible feat.

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As you'd expect - performances have been really strong throughout with Geilton still being amongst my top players, moving seamlessly into the centre of the park and laying on 21 goals, scoring three times himself. There will be a changing of the guard as I look to offload Edilson, who, right now, may be the best Brazilian to not ever win a cap (don't quote me on that - I'll do some research!) as I feel it's fitting that he can see his career out in Europe at a level where he truly belongs, allowing youngster Artur into the fold. Following my crash earlier in the season, I did not 're-sell' Rodrigo Dinamite but he's in talks to move to Mexico right now as I feel like a bit of a re-shuffle would be nice - even if there are more goals to achieve next year.

---

It's now 18 months until the CWC in 2041 in Spain. That is my goal now. There hasn't been a South American winner since the format change (way back in 2012 with Corinthians) and our third place in 2037 is the best that a non-European has done since Cruz Azul were runners up in 2020, before it expanded. I'm going to do everything I can to win this competition! 

[_Ben_]

Geilton Testimonial

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The main squad were joined by Jefferson Quintanilha, Joao Carlos, Filipe Marinho, Pacheco and an ancient Andreson to honour my joint favourite player from this save! I also played my oldest squad, which allowed the likes of Pereira Santos and Dinamite to feature with Geilton for what will probably be the last time.

The game, as you can see from the scoreline above, was not a contest but it was capped by a lovely performance from the man everyone came to watch, even if he did miss a penalty!

[_Ben_]

Loan

6 months at Osasuna, a mid-table La Liga club gives Edilson his shot in Europe and gives me the opportunity to play Artur in the early season and still have this lad back for 80% of the Serie A campaign.

[_Ben_]

Player Sale

I will re-iterate the importance of the early sale of Rodrigo Dinamite as the £8m his sale to China brought in allowed me to kick start facility upgrades. Since returning, he's been solid. Unlike the move to Sevilla in my now-lost-to-a-crash save, he'll play for America, which is great.

[_Ben_]

2040 Supercopa

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Victory number five is secured with all of those five coming in the last six years and our fourth in a row - showing how unbearably strong we now are. We also broke our own record for all competition games won in a row:

A victory in our first Serie A game, away at Santos, would see us break the league record but I envisage that our own club record will extend as we have the Carioca State, Liberdatores group stages and Copa do Brasil early rounds to play before that point.

 

[_Ben_]

Winning run OVER!

Obviously, not a single one of these 34 shots could find the net as our 21 game winning streak is ended by the might Bangu*

*Bangu are a Serie D side!

[_Ben_]

2040 Taca Guanabara

Another first stage victory for us, even if it looks unlikely we'd qualify for the final following the stalemate with Bangu. I've been able to rotate pretty heavily and the 3-4-3 formation has made a competitive debut, which has been a success.

[_Ben_]

National team production

Not at a level where we are controlling this, yet.

 

[_Ben_]

2040 Taca Rio (and Carioca State)

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A 100% second stage along with another win over Flamengo (our head to head record is now firmly turned in our favour) sees us win the Taca Rio as well as our ninth successive Carioca State. We are still, sadly, thirty four titles behind Flamengo but the fact that all nine of these are successive shows how strong we are in this state. When you look at the overall table you can see that there are three of my satellite sides, which is great, and the third top scorer, Arilson, is on loan at Serie C Boavista (RJ) from us.

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I have a Liberdatores tie in between but there is 13 days before we kick off the Brasiliero and another chance to put ourselves in the record books - something which I'm really starting to focus on right now.

[_Ben_]

Volta Redonda vs Santos preview

You could say that there is a lot hanging on this game...

Go 5 at the back and play for a 1-0?!

[_Ben_]

19 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

Go 5 at the back and play for a 1-0?!

It was kind of five-at-the-back but the result was never in doubt!

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Brasiliero Team Records

I now hold two positive ones here. I won't reach 16 league victories and I won't be the first team to go unbeaten so it won't count on this part.

With a 20k seater stadium - we won't be winning anything here...

I've got my eyes on the biggest win but I don't know how I can really influence much for that and I now need to go another thirteen games without defeat to break the record held by Corinthians of 29 games as well as a further seven games without conceding to break that record. The tally of 104 goals looks a long way off with us getting 90 last year and Flamengo 88 in 2024 being the only two times to get over the 80 goal mark.

 

[karanhsingh]

I just caught up with this amazing thread, great work @_Ben_ !!

Couple of questions for you, if you will indulge me.

- if you do get a good potential player through who does not have a positive personality, what is the best way to change that? Would you just rely on the overall personality of the squad & the youth staff rubbing off on him? Promote him to senior team and put him in a mentoring group? Anything else?

- have you found loan moves beneficial during your run in the development of players, or keeping them around at your club is better? I suppose in your unique situation with the sheer number of games, you were able to give all the promising players sufficient game-time. But in other leagues, that may not be possible.

- do you have any tips on squeezing those final 10-15 points of PA/CA difference out of players? I often find that my players develop to close to their potential, but I am unable to get them to actually hit their PA. 

Cheers and KUTGW!

[_Ben_]

On 24/09/2020 at 09:08, karanhsingh said:

I just caught up with this amazing thread, great work @_Ben_ !!

Thanks!

On 24/09/2020 at 09:08, karanhsingh said:

- if you do get a good potential player through who does not have a positive personality, what is the best way to change that? Would you just rely on the overall personality of the squad & the youth staff rubbing off on him? Promote him to senior team and put him in a mentoring group? Anything else?

Very hard at the start but now, given that the whole squad is essentially maxed out in terms of Pro and Det - it just happens quite naturally and then mentoring gives it a little boost. I, personally, wouldn't have a player in the senior team who I didn't plan to give major game time too - I'd let them play and train at their level as I think that's more realistic. 

On 24/09/2020 at 09:08, karanhsingh said:

- have you found loan moves beneficial during your run in the development of players, or keeping them around at your club is better? I suppose in your unique situation with the sheer number of games, you were able to give all the promising players sufficient game-time. But in other leagues, that may not be possible.

They've been very poor. I haven't really used them and hope SI do a bit more to make them the catalyst for development.  I have, however, had success with using a loan for the 'shop window' which has allowed players to move on.

On 24/09/2020 at 09:08, karanhsingh said:

- do you have any tips on squeezing those final 10-15 points of PA/CA difference out of players? I often find that my players develop to close to their potential, but I am unable to get them to actually hit their PA. 

I like to really vary focus/training schedule and even position. I don't look at the numerical figures and often find that naturally the CA estimation comes down to meet the PA as they age so can't tell you exactly if I do it well!

[_Ben_]

Record Breaker

After some individual milestones now...

A nice 52 minute cameo for Ferretti, which gives him two new records! Given that 16 is the legal limit for playing league football in Brazil, it's not going to be easy to beat this!

[_Ben_]

Player Sales

I forgot to post these from earlier in the season:

Stalwart Pereira Santos moves on to end his career in Argentina,

and Antonino moves to Club Brugge for £7.5m after never really setting the world alight.

I also received a few million for some other sales, including a surprising £7.5m for Magno Teofilio Viana, who had never broken into my first team. This takes my overall sales to a staggering:

That half a billion mark isn't far off!

 

[karanhsingh]

8 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

Thanks!

Very hard at the start but now, given that the whole squad is essentially maxed out in terms of Pro and Det - it just happens quite naturally and then mentoring gives it a little boost. I, personally, wouldn't have a player in the senior team who I didn't plan to give major game time too - I'd let them play and train at their level as I think that's more realistic. 

They've been very poor. I haven't really used them and hope SI do a bit more to make them the catalyst for development.  I have, however, had success with using a loan for the 'shop window' which has allowed players to move on.

I like to really vary focus/training schedule and even position. I don't look at the numerical figures and often find that naturally the CA estimation comes down to meet the PA as they age so can't tell you exactly if I do it well!

Thanks, makes a lot of sense. 

I agree that loans should be a lot more effective, I have found many instances where my players on loan get enough football, at a good level, and are playing well - yet the come back after a year with zero improvement. It is quite frustrating.

[keeper#1]

On 29/09/2020 at 01:55, karanhsingh said:

Thanks, makes a lot of sense. 

I agree that loans should be a lot more effective, I have found many instances where my players on loan get enough football, at a good level, and are playing well - yet the come back after a year with zero improvement. It is quite frustrating.

You're almost better off having a 23-man senior, 23-man reserve/U23 team, and a 18-man U18 team to make sure that everyone in the pipeline gets the right amount of playing time before they reach the senior team.

[karanhsingh]

7 hours ago, keeper#1 said:

You're almost better off having a 23-man senior, 23-man reserve/U23 team, and a 18-man U18 team to make sure that everyone in the pipeline gets the right amount of playing time before they reach the senior team.

That would be way too much for me to handle!

[_Ben_]

On 01/10/2020 at 00:16, keeper#1 said:

You're almost better off having a 23-man senior, 23-man reserve/U23 team, and a 18-man U18 team to make sure that everyone in the pipeline gets the right amount of playing time before they reach the senior team.

When I'm aiming to 'shape a club' with a DNA, I really like this kind of idea. For this save, it's been all about the individual breaking through and, as such, I've let them have a bit of free reign and move between squads as well as focusing on/letting staff focus on those who really need the minutes to develop.

[_Ben_]

Youth Intake Preview

In what is probably going to be my last intake, I'm rewarded with, well, a right back.

[_Ben_]

Record gone

And we were terrible, too...

---

If my plan is to end this save after the CWC next year, we have around 35 games left in the league and, I guess, if I want that record, I can't afford to lose any more!

 

[Sonic Youth]

I was wondering if you’d look at playing until Joao retired.

[_Ben_]

On 05/10/2020 at 13:54, Sonic Youth said:

I was wondering if you’d look at playing until Joao retired.

I'd love to! However, with FM21 being six or so weeks away - you've just got to look at my playing time. In the first six weeks of this save, I completed twelve seasons but I haven't even managed three over the last six weeks.

We will see. I have nothing else I want to achieve elsewhere so, as long as there is no beta, I'll be playing as Volta!

[_Ben_]

2040 Youth Intake

Not a lot to write home about and Julio appears to be the best of them...

EDIT: After posting an image - I agree with the issue @Jimbokav1971and others have raised - this is unreadable without a click, making quick browsing stupidly hard...

Edited October 6, 2020 by _Ben_

[Robson 07]

Come on @_Ben_ dude let's see some more  magic 

[_Ben_]

On 08/10/2020 at 23:49, Robson 07 said:

Come on @_Ben_ dude let's see some more  magic 

I'm trying! My playing time and quality of posts has fallen off a cliff of late but, with FM21 around the corner, I hope I can pick it back up!

[_Ben_]

Youth Intake (again)

Another laptop crash so we're back at the intake again:

Just like last time, it's pretty shocking...

(However, the image issues seem to be fixed?)

[Robson 07]

2 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

I'm trying! My playing time and quality of posts has fallen off a cliff of late but, with FM21 around the corner, I hope I can pick it back up!

Are all your posts here now @_Ben_ and not FM Now?

[_Ben_]

13 minutes ago, Robson 07 said:

Are all your posts here now @_Ben_ and not FM Now?

Yes. I was having some troubles with the website mid-way through my first save of this edition so stopped posting there and then never really went back, which is a shame as it's a great place.

EDIT: I can't actually log into it at the moment, either...

Edited October 11, 2020 by _Ben_