Alic-Anti Football - Getting stuck in to Spain

[Junkhead]

Background

I have been playing Football/Championship Manager literally since the beginning, and I have always been incredibly bad at it.  Well, that's not completely true - I built a Hell of a side around Mark Collis and Ferah Orosco when I was about 14.  Of course, I didn't realise they were fake players and though I had, through some stroke of genius, stumbled upon the next Pele & Maradona.  

I discovered the LLaMa ethos through this forum many years later and loved it.  With the rules around enhanced realism, it was kind of ok to be bad at the game - and that suited me down to the ground.  Long term games where I never got into the top division of any country were common place, but I was satisfied that I had, at least, failed in the RIGHT way.
In recent years, with less time to play with, I have found my interest waning.  When you are only able to spend a few hours a week with the game, hours of setting up defensive set piece positioning can seem like something of a waste of time when you go on to concede 4 goals from corners in your opening game.  So I find myself stuck between striving for the realism that the LLaMa ethos demands, whilst trying to balance that with a reason to justify spending so much time on something which frustrates me so much.
Having missed the odd version, spent time on FM Touch instead of full fat, and tried all sorts of new leagues via the editor, I found myself ending up having the best game I'd had in years on FM20.  Instead of the lower league journeyman games I would normally give up on, I stayed at Aldershot Town for years, bringing players up through the youth system & winning ugly - because the players I had made that the only way.  Eventually, having taken a job at another club, the save lost it's shine.  But I feel refreshed, and ready to go again - and I am hoping that playing the save alongside my first ever update on these forums will keep me going....
(disclaimer - it might not.  On the off chance anyone does become interested in my save, I apologise in advance )

The mission

My tactics in my Aldershot save were based soley on hitting the ball long & having runners from midfield.  I would normally try to play passing football, which can be a bit hit & miss at lower levels (and probably added to my many frustrating failures).  However, the necessity to make do with what i had and desire to create a club culture and mould players coming into the side via the new Development Centre kept me going.  
Now, instead of doing what I would usually do and try to play decent passing football to bring me success in leagues that are not suited to it, I am going to do the opposite.  My aim is to win ugly.  Build a team of aggressive, powerful, workhorses who essentially bully the opposition into submission.

Not in England though.
In the land of Tiki-Taka.

My aim is to not only upset the Spanish applecart, but to demoralise it & beat it within an inch of it's life.  And win La Liga.

(disclaimer - I almost certainly will not win La Liga.  The only top league I have won on full fat FM in the last 20 years is Haiti.  In fairness to me though, has anyone else here won the Haitian League?!?!)

 

The Manager & the club

Meet Dani Monoyarda.  He's a former professional footballer born on Gibraltar.  Being a LLaMa, I would normally play as myself, so this is uncharted territory for me.  Given the club I have chosen is very good for this level, and being as I am horrendous at the game, I needed to up the experience level to buy me a bit more time.  Being a former pro gives me a two year contract rather than the one year that Sunday League Footballer would normally allow.

And it had to be Hercules.  I feel like it was meant to be.  Who better to strong arm my way up the leagues with than a side named after a really strong bloke.  I've taken a bit of a risk picking Hercules because expectations are high.  They were, after all, in the top division a decade ago & finished as runners up last season. 
But, they don't seem to care what type of football I play (thankfully) and have very good infastructure at this level.  And they are named after a really strong bloke.

(Disclaimer - updates are likely to be slow & detailed.  Because that is not only how I play, but also how I am)

Edited August 16, 2020 by Junkhead
Changed title

[Junkhead]

The Staff

With my constant striving for realism, I tend to let the board control the DOF at the beginning of a save, particularly if there is already one at the club.  Usually they are rubbish, but luckily Hercules have a decent one for this level - former Real Madrid, Osasuna & Hercules forward Javier Portillo.  He represented Hercules in each division on the way down to this low point, and had a decent career.  Could probably do with him on the pitch rather than in the boardroom though.  Either way, he is decent for this level, has a good range of scouting knowledge & favours a direct style, so I'm quite pleased with him.

 

The rest of the staff at the club initially are very good indeed for this level, particularly the manager of the Youth Team & Head of Youth Development.  I have concerns that they are a bit too refined for us, what with their love of Catenaccio & passing.  I want to create a culture of aggression and kick & rush at this club, so I was going to teach them a lesson & sack them for being such cultured & stylish individuals, but a search of the staff available to replace them indicated I wouldn't be able to get anyone anywhere near as good.  So I've kept them, but will be keeping a close eye on who they bring through.  If we get a load of Iniesta or Xavi types rather than your Goikoetxea's or Nadal's, their feet won't touch.

Pleased with the new assistant, who is former Scotland international Willie Donachie.  He likes a bit of route one and got a bonus point for once being employed by Millwall.  He does look like quite a nice man though, so we will have to make sure he's up to breeding the monsters I want at the club.

 

 

[Junkhead]

Despite liking passing football, Goalkeeping coach Miguel Ausina survives the purge of staff on the basis he is cheap and there is little else available.  Roberto Navajas, who isn't particularly good, is bought in to work alongside him.  He is also cheap, and does like to hoof it, so that's excellent news.

They are joined by Jose Mascaros who is our new fitness coach.  He likes direct football and is good at fitness coaching, so that's good.  Basic grasp of English is also nice because my Manager, Assistant & now the fitness coach can have a good gossip about the players behind their backs & not many of them will be able to understand what we're saying.

And to round off the coaching team, I am thrilled to have been able to snag Michael Brown & Brian McBride.  Brown is actually quite a good coach, but he was also sent off for three different teams in the Premier League which is a more than good enough reason to bring him in.  He doesn't really look pleased to have joined though.  

McBride seems happy enough, I am not 100% sure he knows what he has let himself in for.  He does have a preference for long ball football though so maybe he's just excited to be part of whatever the hell I am building here.  Good luck to him.

I've also hired some scouts & physios, but I didn't really pay attention to their preferred styles & passing since physios don't train anyone & scouts spend all of their time away from the club anyway.

 

Edited August 16, 2020 by Junkhead
spelling

[karanhsingh]

Interesting, following this!

[Junkhead]

The Squad

Pretty good, although there are LOTS of wingers.  Which would normally be ok.  However I don't really intend on playing with wingers.  I just want to hoof the ball up the pitch, try and score, win it back & hoof it again.  However, this dream may need to be put on hold because, although I do have a plan, I also want to keep my job.  I will be seeing how things go, but if the only way to keep my job early on is to compromise & play down the sides a bit, then that's a decision I will make at the time.

Standouts in the squad are a couple of strikers who are both good in the air;

And three very good Centre Halves who are hopefully going to net a load of goals from set pieces. Llorca in particular looks like he might be able to handle himself, but he has the "Does not dive into tackles" preferred move, which upsets me;

I am sure they are all looking forward to coming back from their holidays to find that they now have a Manager who has no idea what he is doing and a bunch of kick & rush merchants running training.  Particularly the wingers, who are all being re-trained as Mezzalas 

I've set up three tactics, but this is the one I like best. I imagine it has loads of holes in it & I'm going to get ripped to bits.  I cannot wait. 

Edited August 16, 2020 by Junkhead
spelling

[Junkhead]

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Interesting, following this!

[Junkhead]

Told you progress would be slow.....

Preseason done, and as usual I am getting itchy feet to the point I don't know if I will stick with the save.  What seemed great fun a week ago doesn't seem so fun now.  I am going to stick with it for a bit though & see what happens.  First game of the season is away at Barca B which could go either way.  How these first few games go will no doubt be the decider of if I see the save out for any longer or not.  I don't know why I get itchy feet.

Preseason was excellent.  We only lost twice and this tactic seems to result in a silly amount of goals, as you can see.  The loss against Valencia was bordering on heroic, whereas the one against Jove was awful.  We create so many chances with the main tactic I have been using & just pump the ball into the area consistently.  My three main strikers have scored 20 goal in pre-season between them, so I can't see how we're not going to do well this season.

 

Had my first argument with a player.  He was right if I am honest, but I didn't let him know that.  Right back Felipe Alfonso was furious when I didn't register him.  I couldn't.  I had too many over-23 players.  I am hoping our relationship isn't too damaged as he is a good player at this level, but someone had to miss out.  I have limited options in the B team, but what I do have is two right backs.  This, and the fact that only my defensive tactic includes full backs, meant that it was Alfonso who missed out.  Told him he couldn't leave though.  And he can't.  I have first window transfers turned off so he's just going to have to wait.