The FM21 Youth Academy Challenge

[XaW]

We are looking to build a new stadium some time in the future.

And we also got that new youth rating!

[the_hdk]

54 minutes ago, XaW said:

Well, you could check the "add players to playable teams" during creation. Then you can holiday one season and take over the team who finished last in the bottom division. I think that's the rules for those types of lower leagues. @darren1983 will correct me, if I'm wrong.

thanks!  does that also apply to countries without relagation like ireland?

[XaW]

Just now, the_hdk said:

thanks!  does that also apply to countries without relagation like ireland?

I'm not exactly sure what we ended on, but I think we said countries without relegation in vanilla is not eligible for this challenge. We allow it for extreme lower leagues since it won't give any advantage.

[OlivierL]

1 hour ago, XaW said:

  

Folkestone Invicta - Season 2029/30 (Season 9) Review - Sky Bet League Two (4th tier)

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

This season was very interesting in several different ways. First of all, we somehow won the whole league and got another promotion! No clue how we did it, but we sure did! We actually didn't start that great, as we won a few and lost a few. I was content that we would avoid relegation, but then we went on a bit of a run as we won 9 in a row and suddenly were part of the playoff spots. From then on we just slowly climbed up to be a part of the fight for promotion before eventually winning the whole thing. The biggest problem this season has been fatigue on the key players, and I think that explains a few of the losses.

In the FA Cup we beat Crawley Town and Stockport County before we lost to Burnley in the 3rd round. We got haunted by the past, but at least he didn't celebrate his hattrick!

In the EFL Cup we beat Exeter City before losing to Watford in the 2nd round.

In the EFL Trophy we finished 2nd in our group behind Fulham U23, but ahead of Cambridge United and Swindon Town. Then we beat Wolves U23 and Arsenal U23 before we lost to Sheffield United U23 in the quarter final.

The big thing this season was the windfall we got from a sell-on clause, and we've gotten some improvements done to both the youth facilities and the training facilities. The board have also agreed to improve the youth level, so we shall see if that takes effect over the summer. I'm also working on the Continental A licence currently.

Youth

A decent intake, but I had a bit more hope since it was the first one after we turned professional. I hope the future ones will be better after the improvements to the facilities.

Sam Hart 30d is a nice addition to the squad since we need talented defenders.

U18 team:

They didn't play in any league system.

In the FA Youth Cup they beat Aldershot, Cambridge United, Exeter City, and Wolves before losing to MK Dons in the 5th round.

Statistics:

  Reveal hidden contents

We got our first Asian country in Saudi Arabia this season, so only South America remaining.

Trophy cabinet:

Sky Bet League Two - 2029/30
Vanarama National League - 2028/29
Vanarama National League South - 2026/27

FA Trophy - 2028/29

Going fast now ! good job. Love the logo.

[ATW]

The 2022/23 Review

 

The Campaign

A better overall performance than last season, keeping ahead of trouble for the whole season but still far away from challenging at the right end of the table...

2022 Youths

Lee Sharp (22a) - Welsh Keeper - The Young keeper took till game 5 to make his debut, and once he did he did not give it up.  Playing 41 league games, and 44 in total.  Won Young Player of the Year.  Likely to have stiff opposition with the newest intake...

Chris Darby (22b) - English full back - Spent most of the season in the U18's but did make his debut, and ending up playing 5 league games and 7 games in total (all of which were starts)

Adam Marrow (22c) - Young forward - Made 6 starts in all and a further 16 bit part showings from the bench.  

Mohamed Brown (22d) - Aussie who can play down the whole spine of the team made 22 starts in the league and a further 11 appearances from the bench.  Mainly playing in midfield.  

2023 Youth Intake

Tai McCormick (23a) - English Midfielder - Young driven midfielder who looks to have a decent shot and becoming a star with the Club and maybe more.  Will be in the First Team Squad for the 2023/24 season.

James Green (23b) - English Keeper - Will battle it out with YPOS Lee Sharp next season for the No. 1 spot.  Mad scientist level of eccentricity  

Elliot Reilly (23c) - English winger.  Young winger that will be in and around the first team for his first full season.  

Douglas Watt - Young Scottish wingback.  The youngest player in the squad.  Will likely spend the full season in the U18's but lets see where it goes

Transfers

[darren1983]

2 hours ago, XaW said:

Well, you could check the "add players to playable teams" during creation. Then you can holiday one season and take over the team who finished last in the bottom division. I think that's the rules for those types of lower leagues. @darren1983 will correct me, if I'm wrong.

I'd also maybe add "load all players from nation" as well just to flesh out teams and leagues. Not sure how detailed the research is on players are in the Japanese lower leagues but the more real players you could get in the better really I think.

[LazyBandit]

Alexandroupoli FC Season 4 (2025-26)

League Table

Having lost our best player in the off-season I really expected this season to be one in which we just try to compete, while continuing to build for the future. What I didn't expect to happen was for us to win a decent amount of games. Don't let the league finish fool you though, I struggled to find a tactic that I liked and thought worked. I must've tried 4 or 5 different tactics across these games, but we somehow kept getting results. A decent league finish leaves us in a good place for the promotion playoffs. I decided to go with a attacking tactic to try and get across the finish line for promotion. But would it work?

Promotion Playoffs

Mission accomplished. Going with a more attacking tactic definitely gave us a bit of a push that we needed to go on and get promoted. However in dramatic fashion it took until the very last game of the season and a little bit of luck to overcome the team in 2nd. We still don't have a true striker, and no player has a finishing attribute above 7, so the fact that an attacking mentality was so successful for us was pretty shocking. I'm very happy with these results and can't wait to see what the next season brings us.

Youth Intake Preview

Yet another golden generation to be excited about, but at this level it doesn't mean a whole lot.

Youth Intake

A defensive midfielder that can already serve as a backup is the best of the bunch. Not a lot of great personalities this year, but we finally got in some new nationalities. After promotion I managed to convince the owner to upgrade our youth coaching, so hopefully we get in some higher ability players going forward.

Thodoros Theofylakis - Vasilis Lalas - Christos Baxevanidis

Progress

We managed to get promoted this year so it was a definite success. We also managed to improve our youth recruitment and our junior coaching. Attendance also nearly doubled this year so that was nice to see. I'm both excited about the next season and a bit nervous. But I believe we have what it takes to stay up.

Intake Map

We added Brazil, Italy, and New Zealand in this year's intake

Countries: 5/227 (2.20%)

[Zeldster]

Shaoxing Keqiao

Squad | Transfers | Finances

League: Another 4th place finish, though this year we was in and out of the promotion battle. A measly 2 points from our last 4 games wasn't enough to keep up with the pack. Was hard not to be disappointed with the way we finished but would of required 4 out of 4 wins to reach that 2nd place finish. Went with a 4-3-3DM this season to try and tighten up the defense but seemed to cut the goal scoring threat we held with a 4-4-2. 

Cup: Knocked out by Super League opposition Zhejiang in the 4th round with a 1-0 defeat, with their 1 shot on target. 

NewGens:

Huang Tingfeng 01b: Led the line again with his goal scoring. Actually had a bid of 6.25m accepted by the board for him. Was pleasantly surprised when he turned down the offer and decided to stay with the club.

Huang Yuming 02e: Became a key player in the team from the start of the season and chipped in with 5 goals to boot as a CB.

Ding Ming 02g: Another CB, played well through out the season and became a first team player.

 

Youth Intake 2024:

With clubs poaching my players last year, I managed to get just over 5m in the bank. I promptly pumped that into any improvement I could. I managed to improve my training and youth facilities but was more impressed with my Youth recruitment which was improved twice from fairly basic to average. Another promising intake, a lot of promise in a few players. Also hoping one of the wingers will surpass their potential as the others from previous intakes haven't made much progression. Also signing my players to full time contract straight of the bat to avoid losing them for buttons.

 

Ye Dongsheng 03b 6'6" giant CB who will give my 2 from the previous year a run for their money.

Yu Kui03c will walk into my LB position.

Wei Mingtian 03d will partner Tingfeng 01b going forward as I look to sell my 2nd choice striker Yang Fangzhi.

 

Another little question for anyone. If you look at Ding Ming02g, he is training in new positions without any individual focus in said position. I'm not even playing him as a ST or CM but he has over time become more comfortable in them positions. Is this something that will happen naturally? Only other thing I can think of is when he plays for the u23/u19 he plays there but that hasn't been much this season as he has been a first team starter all season when available. 

Edited August 5, 2021 by Zeldster

[libbyshuss]

2037/38 - Season 17

National League - 3rd

Season Summary

A hugely frustrating season full of ups and downs

League - So the pressure was on. We were now proffessional with a much bigger wage bill than when we were last in this division and had a much better team to boot. It's the first time I went into a season really expecting promotion. We started really well - 9 wins and a draw in our first 11 put us top. We then had a run of 5 games against teams in the chasing pack and drew 1 and lost 4. This prompted a little mini-collapse and in the end we had a run of 6 defeats in 8 games. It dropped us out of the play-offs. We rallied and had a really good new year, going unbeaten in February and March, but the gap between us and leaders Stockport was just too much. In the end we had to settle for third and the play-offs.

The play-off semi-final was a home game against Wycombe. They'd done the double over us so I was a bit worried, and with good cause as they cruised to a 2-0 win. They then lost the final on penalties to Solihull Moors

FA Cup - our first big giantkilling! Victories over Morpeth, Maidstone and Spennymoor put us into the 3rd round proper, where we were drawn away against Championship Crystal Palace. We then did this:-

Completely FM'd them! The fourth round seemed much more winnable - a home tie against Championship side Charlton. They battered us and cruised to a 4-0 win. Still, the gate and prize money was very welcome!

Players

So the main issues were the ridivulously low average age of the team and the lack of defenders. The board thoughtuffly sold our best defender out from under us for a measly 475k, which we didn't even need, and left us with a skeleton defence. At times all 4 were under 18, which is just asking for trouble. On the other hand, up front it's now ridiculous. I could easily play 6 who would walk into any other conference team. So we went 4-3-3 attacking and not surprisingly broke gaolscoring records with 109 goals scored (57 conceded though, which is still better than when we won the title two seasons ago!)

 

Christopher Agyeman 36A is the main man. 18 and 74 career goals already. I signed him up on a 5 year contract but with a measly 200k non-promotion release clause. As soon as it was triggered, I signed him up for another 5 years! He's so good.....

Vladimir Frydrych is the best though. He came through as a winger, I retrained him as a mezzala and he's now operating at league 1 level according to my Ass Man. He has one year left on his contract and i'm currently getting bids every day for him. For £1m and 50% future sale he can go.

Defence is where i'm really lacking though, to an almost worrying level. 

I do have my first two full internationals though! 

Dick Sherlock 34D made his international debut for Gibraltar (although still a long way off my first team) and Yunus Waiswa 34C is now first choice striker for Uganda. I keep giving him chances in the first team and he stubbornly performs way worse than his attributes CA/PA suggest he should as well. Really frustrating!

Youth

So what I need in my youth preview is defenders, right? I don't need strikers, i got them coming out me ears, I need defenders! So here is what I was offered

yay, midfielders aplenty and another top prospect striker!

Weirdly though, when it came, despite telling me most of my centre backs wouldn't make the grade, the best prospect as a centre back! Not ideal starting attributes and personality though

Might be a while before I can promote him to the first team

Finances and Upgrades

So as well as the board selling my best defender, I also sold one of my keepers for £500k and then got another £500k from a sell on from the Craig McKenzie deal. The cup run gave us another 700k or so so we ended the season with loads of money. We also had a take over where the new board injected another 200k or so

I also had a whinge at the baord about improving youth intake and they said

So, off the field it was amazing season. We made so much profit our tax bill was 300k or something silly!

Career

At this stage it's faintly absurd we're still in the National League. Our facilities are crazy good, our players are too good, surely this time we'll get promoted!

Edited August 5, 2021 by libbyshuss

[libbyshuss]

so, yeah, lost my best player just before the new season. But £1m for a non-league 18 year old is a crazy good deal, especially as he only had 1 year left and he was refusing to sign a new one!

[Winski]

FC Viktoria 1889 Berlin
End of season 2022/2023 review (season 2)
League Table | Competition overview| Finances | Facilities | Transfers | Youth intake | Manager profile | Club Overview

This was an unexpected good season for us. The 2. Bundesliga is a very strong competition, but somehow we finished 8th! This is really a team who likes to play together, it seems. Hero Christopher Theisen even became topsorer of the 2. Bundesliga with 19 goals. What a season for him, again. But also Falcão played fantastic, with 16 goals and 9 assists.
We were knocked out in the first round of DFB Pokal against VfB Stuttgart (0-3).
And because of this 8th place in the 2. Bundesliga, we got € 11.8M price money!!! So we finally could start upgrading our facilities. This is, hopefully, the start of something beautiful.

Let me also show you my best players, beside Theisen and Falcao.
My goalkeeper is Melvin Williams, a young goalkeeper and international of Sierra Leone.
Patrick Wolfgang Kapp is my Libero. Great player for us.
Jakob Lewald and Tobias Gunte are my other two central defenders, and are both very important for us.
Berd Nehrig is my captain. He's 36 years old, but still going strong. But his fysics are declining very fast now, so next season will be his last I think.
Kimmo Hovi is my Finnish AMC, together with Falcao and Theisen. Where Falcao and Theisen are shadow strikers, Hovi's role is an advanced playmaker. And he's doing okay in that role. I'm playing a strikerless formation, that's why

A special note for Miloš Radovanović 22c, from last years intake. I recently received this message, and I saw that his personality changed from balanced to perfectionist

Youth intake
I decided to hire a new HoYD: welcome Baptiste Laurent. He simply has better stats and a better personality as my previous HoyD Stefan Karow.
The preview was very promising, and the intake itself was a good one. We got some nice youngsters, with Emrah Arıkan 23a als the player who really stands out.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Winski

[Padders]

Season 75 - 2095/96

Although slightly better season, still not good enough and too inconsistent and 9th place finish

New HOYD and first intake promised so much and look average. Let's see what happens with them in next few season

 

One positive is John Gilmour who came through couple years ago, thrown him in last couple of months and got 9 goals in 9 games

 

 

 

[DazRTaylor]

After three months off from the game, I am getting the itch to come back.  I note with interest @Paddersis back and is about six thousand years in already.  

I don't want to start a new game so may continue with one of my existing saves.

[The7Striker]

How can i run a club like this ? We spend more money paying Tax then in our youth setup 

Edited August 5, 2021 by The7Striker

[hyrule_king]

5 minutes ago, The7Striker said:

How can i run a club like this ? We spend more money paying Tax then in our youth setup 

I take yours on and I will raise you. @The7Striker

Latest Youth Preview

I really don't need anymore Full Backs - Having to play Mane at CB as he is just  too good not to get in the team.

 

Edited August 5, 2021 by hyrule_king

[XaW]

11 minutes ago, The7Striker said:

How can i run a club like this ? We spend more money paying Tax then in our youth setup 

 

5 minutes ago, hyrule_king said:

I take yours on and I will raise you. @The7Striker

[libbyshuss]

I got that beat. I got that beat.

 

I'm really trying not to think about it!

[darren1983]

I feel you guys I really do

[Padders]

1 hour ago, DazRTaylor said:

After three months off from the game, I am getting the itch to come back.  I note with interest @Paddersis back and is about six thousand years in already.  

I don't want to start a new game so may continue with one of my existing saves.

Ha ha you know me. Committed to the end and the grind

[Padders]

Errrmmmmm 

[The7Striker]

35 minutes ago, hyrule_king said:

I take yours on and I will raise you. @The7Striker

Latest Youth Preview

I really don't need anymore Full Backs - Having to play Mane at CB as he is just  too good not to get in the team.

 

 

 

29 minutes ago, XaW said:

 

 

12 minutes ago, libbyshuss said:

I got that beat. I got that beat.

 

I'm really trying not to think about it!

Edited August 5, 2021 by The7Striker

[hyrule_king]

22 minutes ago, darren1983 said:

I feel you guys I really do

[darren1983]

10 minutes ago, hyrule_king said:

I mean the above guys are losing a couple million a year I'm losing 10s of millions  

[The7Striker]

 

And i guess its all over 

Sad but, this year team didnt perform.

Edited August 5, 2021 by The7Striker

[dkouv]

4 hours ago, libbyshuss said:

I got that beat. I got that beat.

This challenge is like running a ponzi scheme, you ramp up your youth setup to unsustainable levels and hope you can sell enough players or get promoted before going bankrupt ))))

[XaW]

3 hours ago, The7Striker said:

And i guess its all over 

Sad but, this year team didnt perform.

Ouch! Feel for you! This challenge is tough!

[The7Striker]

32 minutes ago, XaW said:

Ouch! Feel for you! This challenge is tough!

Yeah but it was my fault.

I took a team that did not have a lot of senior players and i have to jump in 15/16yo players and of course they do mistakes.

[libbyshuss]

12 minutes ago, The7Striker said:

Yeah but it was my fault.

I took a team that did not have a lot of senior players and i have to jump in 15/16yo players and of course they do mistakes.

i did exactly the same. But what else can you do in this challenge? it's a tough one!

[hyrule_king]

1 hour ago, libbyshuss said:

i did exactly the same. But what else can you do in this challenge? it's a tough one!

luckily I have trained my first 4 season intakes well enough that they are capable of 1st team duties, as my senior (original players) leave.

Gutted that this guy wont sign a new contract:

[XaW]

 

Folkestone Invicta - Season 2030/31 (Season 10) Review - Sky Bet League One (3rd tier)

Table | Squad | Transfers | Finances

So two straight promotions and no more. We are not that out of our level yet, but we are facing better teams now. We continued the trend of scoring loads of goals, but unfortunately also conceding loads. Still, I'm more than happy about this season, especially considering we lost two of our best defenders before the start. The emerging legend that is Ryan Doyle 23f one again had a great season for us, scoring and assisting lots. Franck Koné 24e is still his partner up top, but are now facing competition from Sam Fitton 28b. Andrea Zanichelli 28a took control as our best defender, and Corey Bond 29d is challenging to be our best midfielder. So the squad keeps improving, and if we manage to keep the ones I want the next few seasons, then perhaps another promotion is not out of the question.

In the FA Cup we beat Accrington Stanley before a rotated side lost to Doncaster in the 2nd round.

In the EFL Cup we beat Barnet before losing to Swansea in the 2nd round.

In the EFL Trophy we won our group ahead of Fulham U23, Wycombe, and Notts County. Then we beat Wrexham, Southampton U23, Gillingham, Arsenal U23, and finally Rotherham in the final to take the trophy home.

I managed to spend the rest of the money this season on improvements to the facilities. The board have agreed to bump up the youth level this summer as well. In addition to that I finished the Continental A licence and have started on the Continental Pro one.

Youth

A much better intake with some serious talent. Really happy about this.

Ethan O'Driscoll 31d is a very good attacking full back. As we all know those are quite rare, so I'm very happy with this kid.

U18 team:

After many years of friendlies they finally joined a league system. In the U18 Youth Alliance League South-East they finished on top as winners.

In the U18 Youth Alliance Cup they won their group ahead of Newport County, Forest Green, Ebbsfleet, and Cambridge United. Then they beat MK Dons and Colchester before they lost to Leyton Orient in the final to finish as runners-up.

In the FA Youth Cup they beat Newport County, Dag & Red, and Fulham before losing to Wolves in the 4th round.

Statistics:

Spoiler

More variety though most countries were on the list. We did add Guyana and Sweden though. So that means we finally have all continents on the list!

Trophy cabinet:

Sky Bet League Two - 2029/30
Vanarama National League - 2028/29
Vanarama National League South - 2026/27
(U18) Youth Alliance League South-East - 2030/31

EFL Trophy - 2030/31
FA Trophy - 2028/29

[The7Striker]

1 hour ago, libbyshuss said:

i did exactly the same. But what else can you do in this challenge? it's a tough one!

Yeah. Well i think this one will be different. One like @hyrule_king had with more original players.

 

 

 

Welcome to Karsiyaka

 

 

[the_hdk]

nice...I have started a backup challange with Karsiyaka too! good luck!

you start with really a huge squad. gives for alot  of choices how you want to play.

 

btw i tried teh japanese custom league...but its impossible. you cannot even give players amateur contracts...and 3/4 of my beginning squad got poached. its literally impossible.

Edited August 5, 2021 by the_hdk

[OlivierL]

Intro

Rot-Weiss Essen -  Season 1 Review - 2021-2022 - 3. Liga - Promoted !

Squad | Transfers | Finances | Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2

A quick promotion is always good, I expected us high but not this high. This was a very strong Liga after all. For a long time I had to compete against Nürnberg and Bayern 2 . In the first round we lost a lot of points in injury time. In the second round we had a tough time in the end but we still managed to become champions with a win in the second round against Bayern 2 (with players like Fiete Arp and Nurnberg etc). Not easy to have seven bench players because of U23 rule, this will solve itself in the future but now I often had four or five players on the bench because I only had four suitable U23 players available.

We didn't featured in the DFB-Pokal this season.

Our second team didn't play in any  league system and our U19 finished the A-Junioren-Bundesliga West on the 5th place.

Weber was our best player, he signed a new contract so i'm very happy. Pronichev is a great striker, he scored 21 goals.

Key Players

  

Academy graduate with most Appearances (This season)

/

Youth Intake 2022

Not a good intake but some very good personalities. I Signed them all but they are very expensive so next time i'll only sign the one's with best PA / Personality.

The one with the most PA , not sure he will make it.

Not going to post a lot of details but the nationalities tracker is fun to do. 

Academy graduates promoted to the first team (Next Season)

I will give him some game time .

Miscellaneous

After our promotion i was able to improve again.

Season Facts

 

Edited October 8, 2021 by OlivierL

[Perre8]

nice work @OlivierL good improvements already!

intake looks okay!

[The7Striker]

7 minutes ago, the_hdk said:

nice...I have started a backup challange with Karsiyaka too! good luck!

you start with really a huge squad. gives for alot  of choices how you want to play.

 

btw i tried teh japanese custom league...but its impossible. you cannot even give players amateur contracts...and 3/4 of my beginning squad got poached. its literally impossible.

Thanks. They do, shame the best player wants to leave, well at least in my save.

[hyrule_king]

I was bored so did a print screen of the last two seasons player stats, added them all up in google sheets and created a table of Player stats Increases and decreases, Mane is the standout and a big surprise for me in terms of overall attributes is Lourenco 2c.

Player Number	Player Name	Season 6	Season 7	Diference
1	Adelino Trindade 4e	253	260	7
2	Adérito Gasopo 4g	207	213	6
3	Alexandre Júnior 3h	258	265	7
4	André Veloso 5e	166	167	1
5	António Moreira 1d	290	291	1
6	António Rebelo 1c	298	310	12
7	Bernardo Blackwell 4i	203	208	5
8	Bruno Monteiro 4c	225	235	10
9	Daniel Pinho 3i	158	163	5
11	Dino Henriques 2g	260	257	-3
12	Diogo Sousa 5h	212	221	9
13	Elói Rebelo 4d	228	234	6
14	Emmanuel Owusu	212	207	-5
15	Esteban Marie 3a	241	245	4
16	Evandro Barros	291	292	1
17	Felizardo Figueira 4a	293	305	12
18	Fernando Pinheiro 1b	306	308	2
19	Fernando Ricciulli 3e	234	229	-5
20	Flávio Cardoso	204	207	3
21	Francisco Rocha 4b	244	257	13
22	Francisco Wanderson 3j	199	193	-6
23	Gabriel Melício	267	272	5
24	Gilberto 5d	231	232	1
25	Gonçalo Maria 5b	282	289	7
26	Ivo Palma	258	258	0
27	João Mendes 5i	192	197	5
28	João Pereira	250	248	-2
29	Joaquim Vilela	319	323	4
30	José Martins 5g	200	207	7
31	José Sérgio 3f	270	260	-10
32	Leonardo Henriques 4j	233	230	-3
33	Luís Lourenço 2c	322	329	7
34	Manu Prata 5k	232	237	5
35	Marcos Bonifácio 2i	223	222	-1
36	Marcos Brazão 4n	261	260	-1
37	Noah Camichel 5c	276	272	-4
38	Nuno Lopes 5m	176	177	1
39	Paulo Delgado 3g	228	227	-1
40	Paulo Filipe 3c	243	252	9
41	Paulo Infante 3k	268	263	-5
42	Pavel Orlov 4f	239	240	1
43	Pedro Baltazar 2p	252	254	2
44	Pedro Silva	268	261	-7
45	Renato Aires 3d	201	202	1
46	Renato Esteves 5f	239	248	9
47	Ricardo Martins 4l	234	240	6
48	Roberto Caramelo 5h	216	226	10
49	Rodrigo Atanásio	282	281	-1
50	Rui Lamas 1a	319	329	10
51	Rui Pinto 2n	194	196	2
52	Saturnin Aïklounon 4h	283	288	5
53	Simon Gatto 2o	180	180	0
54	Tomás Martins	319	311	-8
55	Uander 2e	236	235	-1
56	Valdo Culubali 4m	257	276	19
57	Vladimir Mané 3b	244	276	32
58	Wender 5j	212	216	4
59	Wilson Ezequiel 5a	207	210	3
60	Wilson Miguel 4k	225	219	-6
61	Yannik Fritz 2b	268	267	-1

[toshimitzou1]

Okay. Avoided relegation but made no progress as I had hoped.

After looking back over endless highlights from this season's matches think I have isolated the problem. Here is the tactic I was promoted with and have stuck with for the past three seasons:

In the second tier, the right side of my tactic was strong with the WTM eagerly supported by the onrushing Mezzala and a FB Support instructed to get further forward. If a chance was not forthcoming often the LW was able to exploit any remaining space and was supported by a FB Attack willing to cross again to the WTM or recycle play through the Advanced Playmaker.

Over three seasons in the top tier, with results largely remaining the same, I have made the decision to analyse and reconsider the virtues of my squad and tactic.

Analysis Conclusions:

• The attacking Mezzalas and supporting Right Full backs I have at my disposal completely lack Pace; in the second tier they were at least average, but in the top tier they do not have the required Pace to both support the attack and and recover defensively. As such, when the WTM was receiving the ball early in a transition, very often he was too isolated, leaving him with the limited options of holding on to the ball, crossing to the LW or finding the striker. More often than not, the limited choices resulted in a turnover of possession.
• I kept the high block and extremely urgent pressing in place as my squad has the top tier's highest ratings for Determination, Teamwork and Workrate. My mistake was thinking this alone would be enough to press high up the pitch and pressure the opposition. All of the Pace in my squad resides almost exclusively in my left sided players (LW and LB). This applies not only to my starting XI but to youth prospects coming through the pipeline. The remaining players are comparatively slow and asking them to press high has, upon review, been a poor tactical decision. Without the supporting Physical attributes, it appears that High Pressing is difficult to achieve.
• My anchorman was receiving the ball more often than my advanced playmaker. After conclusion, this is due to the strength of my opposition who were able to effectively pressure my ball carriers in the final third and limit the opportunity to find the Advance Playmaker in space.

Tactical Changes to be made:

IMHO, for the WTM to be effective he needs supporting runs and passing options on all sides. Now, in my entire squad and youth squads, there aren't any promising Right Sided Full backs with anything near the current or potential amount of Pace required for this level of football. I am not looking for world class Pace, 14 or above in Pace, Acceleration and Workrate would suffice. If I were to persist with the current framework, this is the best potential RB I have at my disposal:

Even with purely physical training to boost those Pace attributes, i would have a player who would struggle to be an effective threat or component in the final third.

At left back however, I already have this youngster, described by my coaches as a Consistent performer, performing well enough and showing promise.

In addition, he is deputised by an adequate second LB:

And Just look at the depth potential at LW:

So, in addition to my two first choice LWs's I have SIX further players coming through with decent promise and all with decent Pace.

What do I do with this analysis: PLAN FOR THE FUTURE. To date, I had been lazily waiting for my players to improve enough to execute my current tactical plans. NO MORE!: Here is what I am working towards and am looking to implement by the start of the upcoming season:

With the potential of the young LW's running six players deep and with a long ruminated assessment of my current squads strengths I have implemented the following training methods and tactical principles to form a 5 year plan:

• With all my Pace present in my left sided players, I have switched the WTM to the left flank and have two high potential youngsters in the pipeline whom can far exceed my present WTM's current ability.
• I will retrain two of my high potential Left Wingers to play the Left Wing Back role. At the moment I have two players whom are competent in the position but lack the attacking attributes to be the full package. They will suffice for the forthcoming season or two, at which point I plan to unleash converted wingers.
• With three at the back and a holding playmaker, there should be sufficient defensive stability to allow converted wingers to be slightly deficient in their defensive attributes.
• As opposed to the season past, where two of my three usable center backs were under 180cm, I now have three Brave center backs over 188cm whom have come through from the youth ranks. This has encouraged me to stick with a narrow defending width, far more confident in our capacity to deal with high balls in from the wings or deep.
• I am retraining my two existing LW's to play on the right flank as Inverted Wingers, where they will seek to stretch the playin front of a defensive Wing Back offering an out ball but told to remain in place. With all four of my Right backs having a maximum of 10 Pace, this should allow them to play more to their strengths - positioning and workrate.
• I have surrounded my WTM with passing options: By using the attacking wing back in the defensive midfield strata, I am hoping overlapping support will be more readily available from a higher starting point on the pitch. A Deep Lying Playmaker may not be making runs beyond the WTM, but should offer an easy pass to feet if the Deep Lying forward or Wing Back are not available. In such a way the Deep Lying Playmaker will have the option to move the play back to the WTM, make use of his midfield partner, play in the DLF or play in a 'now Pacey' Inverted winger on the right hand side. 
• Most of my players occupy the defensive strata of the pitch and a low block should encourage our players to engage in their battles in areas of numerical superiority. The less urgent pressing should prevent our players being exposed for their lack of pace and the positive mentality has been employed to ensure that when we do gain possession, we do not lose the ball deep in our half through over - conservative passing choices. In addition, the positive mentality will also assist in ensuring that less urgent pressing is not over conservative and will still result in aggressive engagement when required. Regroup has been selected to ensure that we are fighting our battles in the correct location, closer to our goal, where we have strength in numbers.

That is all the theory for now. Before I begin my campaign for the 2029-2030 season, here are the critical players upon whom my hopes depend on:

Wide Target Man:

He has struggled in the top division to-date, but I feel that has been more my fault than his. Next up are the two players who can really allow him to thrive.

Left Wing Back:

Deep Lying Playmaker: This guy is my only player described as 'Superleague' level in my coach reports. I am dismayed that I have not got the most out of him to date. By employing him deeper, and offering three protective center backs behind him, I hope to see some decent performances this season.

Central CB:

Both footed, brave and 'relatively' strong- after only a year in the U19's, he is now my highest rate defender. I introduced him in the back-end of last season and have big hopes for him in the middle of the back three where, as a stopper, he will be tasked with stepping out of the defensive trio as the first point of aggression from my defensive unit.

Forgive me if the post was long. Any feedback would be appreciated (apart from suggesting I need more runners inside my WTM. With the players I have in my squad and coming through, this will not be a viable option for a while). 

Wish me luck!!!

Edited August 5, 2021 by toshimitzou1
sic

[toshimitzou1]

New tactic in place and what a result against last years runner up!

The only had two shots from inside the 18 yard box. Superb low block performance.

[hyrule_king]

New Target Man.

[the_hdk]

Really angry about this. We could easily get 20mln...or 10mln and 50%...but noooooo the idiot accepted 7,75mln.

 

the resign button looks tempting

 

[libbyshuss]

46 minutes ago, the_hdk said:

Really angry about this. We could easily get 20mln...or 10mln and 50%...but noooooo the idiot accepted 7,75mln.

honestly, idiotic boards are the worst thing about this challenge. they drive me nuts!

[hyrule_king]

Season 7 Review

So Season 7, another let down for overall performance but am really looking forward to next season as I saw glimpses of some great things happening with my 4th year Intakes. The current (7th intake) players look a massive step up from previous intakes, watched a few of the Under 19 games and they seem so much technically better than any of the others.

Goal of the Season

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXCZv0_MgO0

Bruno Monteiro is really coming into his own, he looks a real clincal finisher and if i can create more chances for him he could be the first 20 goal a season player we have had.

1ST Team

Youth Team (They decided to start up a B team , which is completely pointless as it is just more financial burden on this financially stricken club)

Highest Progress from Last Years Intake

Possible Superstars from New Intake

To summarise a little bit, We are starting to get some real quality in the youth teams and the first team If I can actually pull my finger out and create a well balanced tactic could do some great things.

Edited August 6, 2021 by hyrule_king

[the_hdk]

8 minutes ago, libbyshuss said:

honestly, idiotic boards are the worst thing about this challenge. they drive me nuts!

its a huge setback. by years. I was finally building a team that can win the championship year in and out and maybe qualify for CL....but thats gone now. back to an averege 3 star goaly with no further potential.

[Padders]

Season 76 - 2096/97

What a gutting end to the season

Went to bed last night, sitting top with 10 games to go. As usual you lose the first game back when you load the game back up, first loss in 11!!

Penultimate game of the season, sitting 3rd and playing 2nd place Hull who were 2 points ahead. 3-1 up and concede two goals in the last 2 minutes!

Then get hammered in the Play Offs against Coventry 1-7

Yet again tell the team at end of season team meeting that we are looking to avoid relegation.

We have just finished 3rd................

[hyrule_king]

21 minutes ago, Padders said:

Season 76 - 2096/97

What a gutting end to the season

Went to bed last night, sitting top with 10 games to go. As usual you lose the first game back when you load the game back up, first loss in 11!!

Penultimate game of the season, sitting 3rd and playing 2nd place Hull who were 2 points ahead. 3-1 up and concede two goals in the last 2 minutes!

Then get hammered in the Play Offs against Coventry 1-7

Yet again tell the team at end of season team meeting that we are looking to avoid relegation.

We have just finished 3rd................

What formation are you playing to get your Strikers scoring so many?

[Padders]

19 minutes ago, hyrule_king said:

What formation are you playing to get your Strikers scoring so many?

4-4-2 but its a very attacking formation

[libbyshuss]

55 minutes ago, Padders said:

As usual you lose the first game back when you load the game back up, first loss in 11!!

that's why i always try to finish the day on a loss! i can't stand saving in the middle of a good run!

[Padders]

12 minutes ago, libbyshuss said:

that's why i always try to finish the day on a loss! i can't stand saving in the middle of a good run!

Yeah I know what you mean but don't like finishing on a loss either and just gone top when I turned it off so was shutting down on a high

[The7Striker]

Burak is that you ?? 

 

[JAwtunes]

Penultimate game of the season.  Our only decent keeper was injured and we lost for the first time in 9 games.  I thought we had basically blown our chance of winning the league but Slovan (our city rivals) lost too.  So we go into the final game of the season ahead of Slovan on head-to-head record only.  Oh, and the last game of the season is at Slovan.

This is why we love FM!

 

 

Spoiler

RESULT

in front of over 20k Slovan Bratislava fans!!

 

 

Edited August 6, 2021 by JAwtunes