[FM21] BackTheBulls - Jersey Bulls: a charge into the football league

[Jtomsett11]

April 2042 match day 3

A tight win, but one we should have won by more than 1 goal.

The Spurs draw and City defeat are great, but I still don't think it's going to happen. We need City to lose and United to lose one of their last two games. I can't see both of these events occurring. 

[Jtomsett11]

April 2042 match day 4

City and United won, while Spurs' defeat confirms we're going to finish 3rd at worst. I'm really happy with our recent performances and Bah is now on 18 goals in all competitions this season, which is brilliant as he had an awful first half of the season.

[Jtomsett11]

April 2042 overview

We smashed Chelsea, but United only drew and City won, so third it is for us.

It is only our 4th season in the Premier League since promotion, so to finish on 79 points is really still quite impressive. When you consider the difference between our second half of the season and first, you can see how tactical tweaks have improved us.

If we'd performed similarly to the second half of the season in the first, we'd have won the league by a country mile. 

[Punch]

Wow! You've come from nowhere to take 3rd, and you could argue equal 2nd without goal difference, but that's an impressive comeback to even be that close at the end.

[Jtomsett11]

End of season review

As I alluded to in my last post, we may have fallen short this season compared to last, but we also played in the Champions League for the first time and finished in the top 4 for just the second time ever. I won manager of the year, so it can't have been too bad a performance!

We also sold one of our best players and didn't really even notice, which I think is a testament to the system and our decisions to recruit the right players for the roles we have, which means that even when we have a drop in quality, the players who end up in the roles are well suited to them and so the overall team continues to perform. 

Next year is the last year before we move to a 29000 seater stadium, which I imagine will need instant expansion as we smashed our average attendance this year, probably due to Champions League outings. 

I thought this was a great graph to show our progress. Okay, we have only won 5 leagues on the way to the Premier League, but to add the Carabao Cup and Premier League trophies in our four years since hitting the top flight (and staying there after our one year stay in 2036/37) feels like a huge achievement. I've not really looked at this page before, but I like how it shows the progress Bah is making towards our records. He's 24, so I think he can easily break both records if he stays with us.

Player performances

No record breakers this year, but some new names as Guyot gets 17 assists and wins the most MOTM awards too. Bazan and Morillas essentially started every game at CB which shows perhaps where we need some reinforcement.

There's not much I disagree with here, but Harte did so well at RB in the second half of the season so I feel he was unlucky to miss out on a spot, which would have given us a Jersey-born player in the best eleven. Shame.

Goalkeepers

At 31, I would like to buy a new goalkeeper this summer, although Kubiszyn has performed pretty well over the season. De Rosa is happy as a backup and as he's home grown, I'll keep him in this role until younger players are ready.

Defenders

I can't believe Harte isn't in the TOTY, his win ratio is so much better than Fontana. His output is better, but he was playing a lot more offensively than Fontana was given licence to. On the left, I've been disappointed with Marcos in an offensive capacity, with just 0.8 key passes a game and 3 assists for such an offensive player. Herrero breaks up the game more effectively in the tackle, but was also disappointing offensively. 

At CB, Bazan is the best player we've had in this role probably ever, and won the most headers in the league this season, while his tackle win ratio and pass success ratio is excellent too. Morillas is a great number 2 CB and won't be going anywhere any time soon. Marshall doesn't have good stats at all compared to the other two, but he is home-grown and happy to sit in the bench, so for now he isn't going anywhere unless he kicks up a massive fuss.

Midfield

Wow has Johnston been good since he returned from loan to replace Morais. Okay, we've been in excellent form, but he outperforms Parreiral in pretty much every important statistic. He may start as my number 1 BWM despite his relative lack of ability (but his attributes are all in the right place).

The change to a roaming playmaker has really suited Smiljanic. 9 assists and 1.9 key passes per game has been hugely boosted since my review in December. Cortes isn't particularly happy about his game time, but he got a new contract recently so is just going to have to lump it. To be honest, he's a pretty solid option himself. Are there average ratings good? No, but the underlying statistics aren't bad with 15 assists from this role this year our best return for a long time. 

In the attacking mid role, Palmer and Schutt have both contributed, although the latter has been nowhere near as effective as last year and is now unhappy about my new contact offer not matching £7 million a year. I really like Palmer as a great example of a youth prospect who pretty much always performs and comes up with really key goals and assists. He's happy on a squad role contract.

Wingers/ strikers

It's pretty clear who our standout performers are. Lopez on the right, Guyot on the left. 27 goals and 27 assists between them. Behind them it's a tale of mixed and limited success. Bah scored 18 goals in the end, but was nowhere near as effective as in previous seasons. That very much reflected our season as a whole and it's noticeable that his points/ game shows that when he plays we generally win. Dilrosun wants to leave and has had diminishing returns this and last season, so I'm tempted to let him and use the space for a younger player. Gonzalez had a good season last year, but apart from a bit of run when Bah was out of form, he's never convinced me. Interest in him is high, and he's valued at £59 million. Perhaps it's time to upgrade. Dominguez was signed to replace Scott but offer a LW option once retrained. His retraining has been slow but he is getting there. He scored quite a few, but his contributions were nothing like Guyot or Lopez. Guyot rarely takes any set pieces so is perhaps the best comparison. He lacks PPMs, so perhaps once he's comfortable playing LW we'll add a few of those. Coelho is the other player we used on this wing, but he only played 3 times. If Dilrosun goes, he's nowhere near the quality, but he needs game time to improve as he'll be 18 in July.

[Jtomsett11]

24 minutes ago, Punch said:

Wow! You've come from nowhere to take 3rd, and you could argue equal 2nd without goal difference, but that's an impressive comeback to even be that close at the end.

Our second half of the season was excellent and we're very close in the end! I'm hoping we can start well next year!

[Jtomsett11]

End of season 2042 attribute analysis

Goalkeepers

Our goalkeepers seem to have all hit their peak, including, disappointingly, Quansah who is a big prospect but has the dreaded unambitious personality coupled with low determination. Kubiszyn is good, but I think we could do better, and he has just 1 year left, and there's a big clue below that I've gone out and recruited someone who is already pretty good but could get much better. More on that later. Long has limited potential, but could be a Jersey-born backup in the future for sure if Hadler and Quansah don't develop further.

Centre backs

Bazan is now world class really and so close to the 90 mark. I'd hoped that Kizito would kick on into the late 70s while on loan, but he's barely improved and it makes me think he's done progressing. I'll keep him in the squad next year but will be on the look-out for another big CB purchase to complement my two very good ones. In the youth ranks, Faulkner is the big prospect and has already been making progress. The others will make up the U23s or U18s or be loaned if they're 19+ and of a reasonable standard i.e. I'm not loaning them to National League level. 

Full backs

Fontana being kept out of the side by Harte is quite amusing when you look at their attributes, but attributes are only part of the story. Hopkins has made some good growth and although he has limited potential, I think a loan spell make benefit him next year to give him more game time to develop. Pelling has also really grown on loan so he'll probably go out again on loan to see how far he can go. Ebbrell has made a great start to life in the U18s with growth that suggests he may be a future option. 

Ball-winning mids

No surprise that my best CB is also rating nearly 90 for this role. Johnston started 10 games in a row at the end of this season and is now likely to be first choice next year as I just can't seem to find decent BWMs. It's one reason that our best ones have been dual CB/CM players such as Morais. I don't think any of our youth will succeed in this position, but then Johnston doesn't set the world on fire with 2* CA and 3* PA, so maybe they'll surprise me!

DLP - (roaming playmaker)

I haven't yet changed the formula to a roaming playmaker, but probably will next year if we continue with the role. In the meantime, we can celebrate.

We've hit the magic 100! Smiljanic is brilliant, it's just the average ratings don't show it. I need to keep him as this sort of player doesn't come along often. Polk has been playing in League One this season, so a loan to the Championship is on for him, while Webb is another really good prospect turning 18 soon with 3* potential who could be involved in the squad in the future. 

Attacking mids

Limited growth here until you get down to Polk. Coelho didn't develop as much as I'd have liked this season, he needs to push on next year.

Wingers

Guyot confirms his world-class status, growth and performances this year. What a player he's turned out to be, and on a free transfer too! Lynch could be an interesting prospect, capped at 3* potential but showing huge growth. He may even pip Coelho to a squad role next year such are his performances in the U23s. Pearson has improved by 5 points in just 2 months... Could we actually have a real player on our hands here? 

Advanced forwards

Bah is still my main man, with the 3 above him usually disappointing in a striker role (Gonzalez did get 27 last season but lots of those were in the cups, including the Conference League). I'm not sold on any of our prospects in this role to be honest, both Coelho and Pearson are better suited elsewhere, while Nsingi and Santos probably won't make the grade (they've struggled on loan) so there may be room for an incoming striker. 

[Punch]

Wow! That squad is coming along nicely. Those numbers are starting to look really impressive.

[Sonic Youth]

9 hours ago, Jtomsett11 said:

We've hit the magic 100! Smiljanic is brilliant

100! Smiljanic, my second favourite player after Lopez (Bah rounds out my top three  )!

Always nice to buy a striker 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Sonic Youth
Striker

[Jtomsett11]

On 29/07/2022 at 07:06, Sonic Youth said:

100! Smiljanic, my second favourite player after Lopez (Bah rounds out my top three  )!

Always nice to buy a striker 

I really like him and although his average rating isn't great, I'm about to offer him a 5 year deal with 2 extra years which will tie him down to a 7 year contract on £200k a week, our highest paid player by £3 million a year. I don't think I'll get more than 3-4 seasons done before the next FM comes out, so that should see him with us until I end the save!

[Jtomsett11]

Transfer window shopping time May 2042

Without going into huge detail, I know there are 3 main areas to strengthen

Squad depth

GK - this is one area, we have De Rosa as a good, homegrown backup, but Kubiszyn is 31 and in the last year of his deal. Younger players need more loan time and are unlikely to challenge for number 1.

RB/LB  - I'm happy with all the players in these roles. At LB we have Pelling and a young brilliant 17 year old who joins when he is 18 in January who may take over from Marcos and Herrero in the long term, but no movement needed. RB, Harte has just signed a new 5 year deal as a squad player and Fontana is good. 

CB - we are short behind Bazan and Morillas of quality. Marshall and Kizito are good backups and homegrown, although the latter will continue on loan if we bring in someone. I want someone fast as Morillas lacks pace (13). 

CM - Despite losing Morais, I'm happy to go with Parreiral and Johnston for BWM and Smiljanic and Cortes for RPM next year. I have found a young homegrown player who may come in but go out on loan and we'll assess him for BWM after a year.

Wingers and attacking mids  - again pretty happy here, even with Dilrosun likely to depart. Lopez, Guyot and Schutt and Palmer have all contributed heavily, while Dominguez can play both sides (eventually). I may be slightly lighter on the AML option as only 2 can play there, verses 3 plus some youth players for RW, but Guyot has played most games so I'll take the chance, plus I want to keep Dominguez happy with game time. 

Strikers - this is the other big target, as Gonzalez hasn't worked out this season and Bah needs competition. 

 

So, shopping list: GK, ST and CB, in that order probably. 

[Jtomsett11]

Striker and goalkeeper search May 2042

The goalkeeper deal was done in April as I didn't want a repeat of last year when we missed out on our target.

Overall, El-Morabet is rated 82.48, just above Kubiszyn, but he's a bit more balanced, lacking a 18 for throwing and 19 for one on ones, but sharing those out for more 16's and 17's. His command of the area and communication, plus agility are the areas I'd most like to improve, BUT I feel good about getting him in on a long deal for £35 million rising to £41 million. 

Striker wise, we had many more targets due to our growing reputation by the end of the season than we did mid-season.

Now, you can see from their ratings, that these are top quality strikers. After scouting and talking to agents, two emerged as the best options, Keskin and Alaoui. Interestingly, Keskin has barely been used by Man City since signing for £147 million from Bayern, and is rated at just 3 star by my scouts despite his sensational score. It's probably his one-footedness that increases his rating, BUT to achieve 97.06 across 15 attribute categories implies you must be pretty damn good. Alaoui is much younger and was also sensational last season in France. I decided to... get them both!

Keskin joins on loan really to see if we can get more out of him than City. If it doesn't work out, we're paying £6 million for a year. If it does work out, we have an option for £64 million, although his wages may put paid to buying him.

Alaoui is a permanent purchase. I think he looks absolutely class. His work rate and determination can be moved up by a few fines for poor performances. 

We now have 4 strikers here, so I quickly sanctioned the sale of Gonzalez. 

Leaving us with 3 for 1 spot. Let's just see how it goes as I want to challenge for the cups next year as well as the league, so strength in depth is needed for that.

We've also sold Dempsey and Dilrosun, leaving us making a huge profit this year.

We currently sit on over £200 million, despite having splurged on new contracts and new signings. Just a potential CB addition to go on our shopping list.

[Punch]

Good business so far. Looking forward to see how it comes together this season.

[Jtomsett11]

Pre-season June-July 2042

Pre-season saw us face some pretty decent teams as I wanted to test out some tweaks to home and away tactics.

We've got a reasonable start, but Liverpool and Tottenham will be hard games. 

The media reckon we're set for just 11th, but I think top four and a trophy, or at least some cup runs, is a must this season again. Do I really want to challenge for the title? Yes!

While the media may not rank our team especially highly, Smiljanic is in the Media Dream 11, while Alaoui and Bah are both contenders for top goal scorer. 

One thing I've noticed, which will help our youth intakes and potential for signings, is a boost to our reputation to continental. We're the 7th biggest club in England now so that's really something. Whether I play enough seasons for the youth impact to be seen is another question. 

Our squad for this season looks like this. It's our highest average rating by over a point.

Transfers and contracts

We've not done any other business. A few players have rejected us, and we do have two unhappy players Guyot and Herrero as we've rejected big bids.

Herrero is the one I'd let go as we have a brilliant LB joining in January, plus there's several targets we could acquire if needed. I'm waiting on any bids for £60 million. One contract signing that's really important is Bazan. He's by far our best CB, and to be honest we still need another world class CB if we are to really compete. At least he'll be here for the foreseeable future.

On with the season! Can we start better than we did last year?

[Jtomsett11]

August 2042

I'm not overly happy with this to be honest, we've chopped and changed tactics quite a bit and it feels a lot like the start of last season. I think I need to settle on something and stick to it as instant result and tactic fiddling game by game is quite the guessing game. 

The Brighton game was bonkers. The Liverpool game was a set play and a long range effort. The Tottenham game was a snorefest.

One positive is Alaoui's start.

The league is obviously in its early stages. United's top goalscorer has 11 already in the league and he's only played 3 of the games... Newcastle yet to concede a goal.

Transfers and contracts

Parreiral and Schutt have both signed new 5 year deals so I'm pleased with that. Herrero departs and in comes Diego. I like his physicals! I really liked Herrero, but he wanted to leave and we make a really good profit, plus he really isn't that good.

September

The Champions League draw wasn't very kind.

I still think second is reasonable, but we've never played in the Europa League so I'd happily finish third!

If we can not lose against PSG, go through in the cup and win all our league games I'll be a very happy man. 

[Jtomsett11]

September 2042

Great news! Followed by:

However, he'd already done the damage in the latter two league games this month by this point. 

After the PSG game (a fluked draw with two penalties), I decided to quit playing around, go back to a higher line with offside trap and leave it there with match plans in place to drop to our away tactic if we're winning late on. 3 wins without conceding followed, so I think I may just stick to it for a couple of months regardless (he says now!). 

We're up to third, but my word Newcastle and United are going well.

Mazzieri has nearly beaten his league goals record in 6 games. Mind you, Alaoui has 8 from 6 so he's made a great start to his career here and is the much needed addition of quality in the striker role I knew we needed despite my loyalty to Bah. 

Next month is a real mix. The 3 home games should all be wins, but the next two away games are really tough. I'd love 3 wins in the league, 4 points in the Champions League and through in the cup. 

[Sonic Youth]

Jersey have started well, with Newcastle and Man Utd running hot.

Recruitment has gone well, with your new exciting striker Alaoui starting well.

This coming month is going to see how good Man Utd is and which European competition you’ll end up in.

[Jtomsett11]

5 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Jersey have started well, with Newcastle and Man Utd running hot.

Recruitment has gone well, with your new exciting striker Alaoui starting well.

This coming month is going to see how good Man Utd is and which European competition you’ll end up in.

Yes I agree, it's a really important month and we need to do well to continue to pick up momentum. Something I'm working on a lot more after reading @Jimbokav1971's thread is partnerships, so I've been trying to get my main partnerships up to speed as quickly as possible so they are comfortable playing together, and ensuring that any changes to the side don't affect partnerships too much. It's definitely had an impact in October!

[Jtomsett11]

October 2042

A belter of a month really, with only the draw against Benfica perhaps a disappointment as we conceded twice early on and then had to fight back. That led to a slight adjustment of match plans to use our home tactic away from home, but with the addition of a dropped defensive line for the first 25 minutes. The United away result was excellent and to then beat Everton, who were 5th at the time is also excellent.

Okay, we may be slightly 'wasteful', but we're hitting good numbers of goals and we're much better at the back. Bar the Benfica game, we have conceded a direct free kick (Everton), and two goals where the ball bounced around the box (United and Villa). We're going to concede some goals, but I don't mind them as much when we're not being cut open for them.

The results leave us 4th, but there's a gap starting to grow to the group below, plus United dropped points meaning we're just 3 behind them. Newcastle are absolutely on one. We face them away from home soon. It is worth remembering we knocked them out of the cup pretty easily, also away from home.

The Champions League is looking particularly tight.

We have played two home games, but crucially we have Benfica at home next, meaning we could have a 3 point gap and head to head advantage if we beat them, allowing us to lose to PSG away (inevitable) and then we'll just need to beat Ajax away to guarantee our place. 

Player performances

I've been really pleased with the impact of Alaoui who now has 10 in 10 league games. Bah has 4 in 7 cup and league games this season, so is still doing well but is definitely number 2 now. I've not used Keskin apart from in the League Cup against Pompey. Guyot is still the assist king with 9 in 9 games and many of those have come in a short space of time as he was awful for 2-3 games where he sulked about not getting a move to Barcelona.

Other players to have impressed are Cortes who has been helped by taking penalties this season, but he's been much better as backup to Smiljanic this season than last. Diego has made a really strong start as well, especially defensively where he has the highest number of interceptions of any defender so far. Interestingly, top of the points per game ratio chart is Kizito who has started alongside Bazan 9 times as I attempt to build a partnership between them (Bazan and Morillas have a strong partnership, while Marshall has partnerships with Kizito and Morillas but I don't like playing the two weaker CBs together as it often leads to lost cup games!). Okay, he's played the weaker teams, but we've only had 1 draw (Tottenham) and 8 wins in those games. Finally, Dominguez deserves a shout out for finally performing in the winger roles (both left and right) that he was bought for, and to be honest outperforming Lopez who isn't even averaging above 7 (he's been my highest averaging player for a number of seasons).

Next up, it doesn't get much easier with the crunch game with Benfica and big games against Arsenal and Newcastle before PSG. Southampton at home is probably our only relatively straight-forward 3 points.

[Jimbokav1971]

26 minutes ago, Jtomsett11 said:

Yes I agree, it's a really important month and we need to do well to continue to pick up momentum. Something I'm working on a lot more after reading @Jimbokav1971's thread is partnerships, so I've been trying to get my main partnerships up to speed as quickly as possible so they are comfortable playing together, and ensuring that any changes to the side don't affect partnerships too much. It's definitely had an impact in October!

Really hope this works for you. You obviously need a bigger squad to do it, but the knock-on effects of rotating "groups" of players  is significant. The additional benefits are that you become less reliant on individual players, (because you are giving more game-time to fringe players), so youth development is easier, but the increased performance levels of playing fresh players really is huge. The only slight issue is that you have to keep doing it. You can't just rotate once a month or the players you rotate in won't be ready. You also have to have a hectic fixture list. You look like you've got that covered though. 

[Sonic Youth]

What’s happening to Lopez? Is he unhappy about something?

[Jtomsett11]

On 08/08/2022 at 22:56, Jimbokav1971 said:

Really hope this works for you. You obviously need a bigger squad to do it, but the knock-on effects of rotating "groups" of players  is significant. The additional benefits are that you become less reliant on individual players, (because you are giving more game-time to fringe players), so youth development is easier, but the increased performance levels of playing fresh players really is huge. The only slight issue is that you have to keep doing it. You can't just rotate once a month or the players you rotate in won't be ready. You also have to have a hectic fixture list. You look like you've got that covered though. 

I definitely find it tougher to stick to in months where most games are key! It's a work in progress at least!

On 09/08/2022 at 09:54, Sonic Youth said:

What’s happening to Lopez? Is he unhappy about something?

Not particularly, but I think the difference this season is Dominguez was playing well enough to rotate with him and then did better than him for a while. Now Dominguez has thrown his toys out of the pram about not playing enough and put in two shocking performances (giving away 2 goals) and Lopez has played really well, so it seems they can't all play well!

[Jtomsett11]

November 2042

On the face of it, these results are mostly really positive. We beat Arsenal and Newcastle in the league, two tough games, plus won the key match against Benfica. However, we've still conceded a stupid number of goals and it came back to bite against Southampton.

Watching back the goals, we've got a lot of errors from silly mistakes in and around the box, plus some issues from our high line. The high line issues I can accept; we have two much weaker CBs who in an ideal world would be replaced (Kizito and Marshall), but they're both home grown and we currently need them for the quotas. Most of the through high line issues tend to involve them. However, errors from new LB Diego (punting the ball at his own man) and two from Dominguez (giving the ball away of the edge of the box in two different games) are examples of poor defending. We do have a new goalkeeper this year, so sometimes these things take time to improve. 

We really should be winning this game though!

Annoyingly, if we'd have won, we'd be top on goal difference. Newcastle lost to us and then away to United. As it is, we've closed the gap to top to 2 points, but we're still 4th and realistically, if we continue our form, in a three-way battle for the title as I fully expect Newcastle to drop off. The good news is we're considerably better than we were at this point last year. 

The Champions League is going down to the final game, but with Benfica away at PSG and us just having to match their result away at Ajax, we really should be finishing second in the group. Benfica could still qualify by winning, so we do need to aim to win.

December is another tough month. West Ham and Bournemouth should be 6 points, while you'd also hope we beat West Brom, but the Chelsea away, Wolves away and City away games all have the potential to be very difficult. If we go into January in touching distance of top we'll have done an excellent job. If not, we just need to make sure we're solid in the top four. 

[Punch]

The schedule makers seem to like killing players around December

[Jtomsett11]

December 2042

The month started in dodgy fashion as we conceded 8 goals in 3 games, 6 of those from set pieces!! I realised two things at this point. One, we have a dearth of tall players beyond our keepers and CBs. Our BWM can be used for height (minimum 13 jumping) while our RBs aren't too bad (minimum 12), but beyond that we have limited options unless I want to change all our routines every game (I don't). For example, if I use Cortes to man mark somebody, the rotation option in MCL is Smiljanic who has 7 for jumping. Similarly, Bah can jump, but Alaiou cannot. This is a problem, but one I can probably just about work around. However, in most games we'll have 5 players available with 12+ jumping and just 2 with 15+ so if we're up against tall sides, we're likely to concede anyway. Something to think about in future transfer windows.

Two, since changing tactics my defensive routines are no longer there. I feel like a right plonker as this has probably caused us a few bad results in the last few seasons. Since changing it and dropping tight marking, we conceded just once in the league and twice to United with our fully rotated squad (and United are pretty good). 

Look at the xG from those games with 3 goals conceded.

Verses

Small sample, but much better and no impact on our creation.

I'm really impressed with our league form. We beat Man City without our main goalkeeper and Bazan while Cortes was on his last legs having played a ridiculous number of games in a row due to Smiljanic being injured (the injury below is since coming back for one game).

Our form sees us move up into second position. Wow it's tight at the top! Newcastle are still on top of the pile, while City responded to losing to us by beating United who also inexplicably lost 3-0 to Bournemouth the game before.

In the Champions League, Benfica did the double over PSG meaning our result left the table looking like this.

Incredibly, PSG are going to play in the Europa League despite being top for most of the group stages. 

We were rewarded with a tricky tie against Atletico Madrid. They're currently 8th in La Liga, so potentially we could get through. It's only our second ever knockout appearance so we just have to take it as it comes!

January

I think this is a much more favourable set of fixtures, although Liverpool and Tottenham will be tough. This is a real chance to push for first by the end of the month. 

Partnerships

I've been a lot better this month at using my partnerships, even if that means using weaker players. Dominguez is the one player not responding at all at the moment due to unhappiness over selection (I've now reduced him from key player to squad player so hopefully once he gets over it he'll be happy) which is causing issues as it means a much weaker forward line. However, the first team now looks like this.

Note, Smiljanic and Johnston are paired and normally first choice, but due to the former's injuries I've had to rotate our BWMs and leave Cortes playing every game. The 'reserves' don't look quite as good yet, but we're getting there! 

[Jtomsett11]

Youth intake preview Dec 2042

This looks a very poor intake to me. We'll see what comes through!

[Sonic Youth]

Still poised to take advantage of any slip-ups of other title challengers, especially if those defensive foibles are now minimised, and your partnership boosts your team play.

Progress in Europe, with A. Madrid better than Bayern Munich in my opinion.

I guess you’ll need to wait and see with your youth intake from the looks of things.

[Jtomsett11]

On 13/08/2022 at 04:49, Sonic Youth said:

Still poised to take advantage of any slip-ups of other title challengers, especially if those defensive foibles are now minimised, and your partnership boosts your team play.

Progress in Europe, with A. Madrid better than Bayern Munich in my opinion.

I guess you’ll need to wait and see with your youth intake from the looks of things.

Yes it's very finely balanced and I'm a much happier manager overall this season. Youth intake from last season I now have two players one 4* and one 4.5* potential so if we don't have anything decent this time that's probably fair enough!

[Jtomsett11]

Mid-season analysis Dec 2042

Goalkeepers

New keeper El-Morabet hasn't hit the same average ratings and save ratios he was hitting with his former club, but he's done pretty well so far and will only get better in my opinion. I'm not sure how long De Rosa will be happy to sit as third choice keeper, although he'll be second choice when Kubiszyn leaves on a free at the end of his contract. 

Defenders

My two RBs, Harte and Fontana are putting out relatively similar numbers. Harte is slightly better in the tackle and at intercepting, Fontana is slightly more creative and wins more headers. My LB's are interesting, as Diego has better numbers across the park with the exception of chance creation. However, his cross % is higher than Marcos and he's very new to the club, so I usually see numbers improve over time.

CB wise, Bazan is clearly our best player and apart from tackles, where per game he lags behind the others, he's ahead on all the numbers. Kizito is having his best season for us now I've partnered him with Bazan, although you can see how much Morillas and Bazan dominate in the air due to their height as their key headers are 3x higher than Marshall and Kizito. That's very impressive for Morillas seeing as he's played 450 minutes less than Bazan. I think it's clear we need an upgrade in this department, but I'm starting to hope at least one of the upgrades with arrive from our youth intake from last year (Faulkner). 

Midfielders

In central midfield, we have quite a few low ratings, with Johnston having the highest average. We've shared games really well this year and I'm pleased with this. I think Johnston has done really well; he boasts a better % tackle success ratio to Parreiral and also creates more. He wins less headers % wise and interceptions, but considering his relative lack of ability, he's doing really well.

Smiljanic has the lowest average despite the highest number of assists from CM. 4 of Cortes' goals have come from the penalty spot, but his key passes are also just about higher than Smiljanic. Neither player is doing fantastic to be honest as my problems with this position continue. However, their underlying stats are also not horrible - they both tackle well and create some chances and score some goals.

At AMC, Schutt is winning the performance battle with Palmer, who has had a poor season by his standards. Palmer signed a new contract and seems to be complacent. 

Forwards and wingers

Guyot is way out in front again, with 9 goals and 13 assists from just 16 starts. What a player he is. Yes, he takes a lot of set plays, but his key passes and assists aren't just from those opportunities and neither are his goals. Lopez has picked up on the right recently, but his 8 goal contributions is way down on his normal level. Dominguez played well early on, but his unhappiness has led to his form dropping off a cliff, which I hope changes soon, as I'm finding pairing him with Coelho on the right is a big risk as the young 18 year old isn't very consistent yet. However, his assist and 2 goals all came this month, so I think having some faith in him is starting to pay off. 

Upfront, Bah has been somewhat displaced by Alaoui who has 18 goals from 17 starts. Keskin played while Bah was injured and did well in a few games, but it's likely City will recall him. Have I given him a fair chance? Not really, but he's been useful to have in the squad. In future it would be good perhaps to have a young striker with bag loads of potential as the third option, but picking up someone like that is challenging.

Overall thoughts

I must say the number of appearances show I've been rotating a lot more, which has been successful and I think that's down to picking the games wisely and also not always picking all the worst partnerships together. For example, Marcos plays with Guyot, so Diego plays with Dominguez and I'm trying to partner the latter with Lopez and Fontana so that Guyot can take the pressure off Coelho when he plays with Harte. I'm going to continue with this and hope that regular game time also means that Dominguez ends up happy so he starts performing again, making him and Lopez a dangerous second pairing.

[Punch]

Good to see the partnerships is working well for you. It's not something I have reported on, but it clearly makes a difference. Also adds an extra element to the game when you need to pick rotation players or rest regulars.

[Jtomsett11]

January 2043

One of the most frustrating months of FM for a long time. Alaoui was at the African Cup of Nations and Keskin was recalled by City which then left Bah leading the line. He scored in our cup games, but was hopeless in the league. I'm really starting to get concerned at our home grown players. Palmer has had a poor season as has Bah. Harte has been culpable for a few goals this month while Kizito and Johnston have been playing but aren't improving enough. Statistics wise they are fine, but when I see big moments in game highlights, it's often my home-grown players letting us down.

The Rotherham loss was particularly bad, with two horrendous errors from El-Morabet. 

Our other results, apart from the FA Cup defeat which was comprehensive, can essentially be put down to poor finishing. 

Frustrating to go out of the cup in a winnable game and to lose/ draw winnable fixtures.

I think we've blown our chances of the title, and it looks like we just need to seal top 4 now and see how we do in the Champions League.

Transfer window

We bought in Barroso, who we agreed a deal with 2 years ago. He looks like a great LB prospect. He scores 83.12 on the attribute analysis already, making him our second best LB at just 18.

We've also had some stupid bids for Cortes, which were turned down simply as I couldn't see a reasonable replacement.

That was the first.

This was the last.

Ridiculous money, but no point selling if we can't use it and he's been good this season.

Awards and records

Yay, something good from this month!

What a year he's had. Shame Morocco lost the African Nations to Senegal on penalties  

February is up next. Here are the fixtures. I won't be jinxing myself by saying anything about their difficulty!

[Jtomsett11]

February 2043

Ah, it's the hope that kills you. A faultless month, with Alaoui returning for 2 goals in the Champions League. I have stuck to my first team this month, with very little rotation and just tried to win games by strength. 

We actually outplayed every team this month, including United. The Villa game we led 2-0 and 3-1 until the 86th minute so it looks closer than it is. 

The problem with this form, is it probably comes too little too late. City are 5 points clear, and although we play them at home on the last day of the season, their run in is a lot nicer than ours. I just don't trust us to find the form to win the title. However, it's nice to have played well and won 4 league games in a row and stand a real chance of making the Quarters of the Champions League, which would be the furthest we've ever gone.

We got 79 points last season, so with 9 games to go we should beat that really. We got 93 the year we won the title. I think we might have to get close to 90 by winning every game to really stand a chance of beating City. Next up, some teams that we may or may not beat. I'm saying nothing!

One thing of slight concern is our finances. I've tried not to spend stupid amounts on wages, and we're significantly below the average expenditure, but we're also in just a 21k stadium, with a new one only 29k which we move into in June. Couple that with relative low amount of corporate and sponsorship income and we're losing a lot of money a month.

At this rate, we're looking at £40 million + after prize money for losses per year. Essentially, we're going to have to keep selling some players every now and then to fund our current squad. That's not a huge problem, but it's one to be aware of.

[Punch]

I was more shocked to see Rotherham in the Premier League than you lose to them

 

I've not seen any weird climbs like that in my save yet

[Jtomsett11]

21 hours ago, Punch said:

I was more shocked to see Rotherham in the Premier League than you lose to them

 

I've not seen any weird climbs like that in my save yet

Yes, going back to the first season, they're the only side I can find in the Premier League who started in League One. Shocking really!

[Jtomsett11]

March 2043

Alaoui missed the first game due to an early international call-up ().

We then sealed the all important victory against Atletico to take us into the Quarter finals of the Champions League, where we face Tottenham.

If we beat them, it's Dortmund or Real awaiting us.

We then decided to have two red cards in two games. Lopez was off in the first minute against Arsenal, and Harte in the 21st minute against Newcastle.

I think that puts paid to any title hopes.

It would be good to win 4 of our last 6 games to at least tie last season's 79 points. If we can get 80, that would be our second highest total ever. Really though, it's all about the Champions League now. 

 

 

[Jtomsett11]

Youth intake 2043

Now, the preview said this wasn't an impressive intake.

I've not named beyond Sousa as those personalities and lack of current or potential ability mean they'll never play for us. I may sign Trentini. 

However, I'm actually relatively pleased with this. And once I'd signed them, with a few bumps in scout opinion, you can see why.

This is every home-grown player in the squad by potential ability. Faulkner and Pearson from 2042 have swapped order all season (both have had 3.5 and 4.5 star potential) so who knows how good they'll be, but you can see 4 of the 2043 intake in the top 5 for potential. That means they could be the best players to come through the academy ever. I now have players worth £80 million with clearly huge CA. So actually, the last two intakes are full of promising players who could be huge upgrades on my current home-grown players e.g. Kizito, Palmer, Johnston, Bah and Marshall (not from our youth intake). Of the top 7, only Olsen has a really poor personality (unambitious coupled with 5 for determination). Could we have some really solid, if not potentially elite players here? I am thinking of promoting Faulkner into the first team next year in the place of Marshall perhaps. 

In terms of attributes, they're also the best bunch, with the first 70 rated player as well.

Here's the top profiles, plus an update on how Faulkner's doing.

[Jtomsett11]

April Part 1

A huge win sends us into the Semi finals of the Champions League, where we are facing... Real Madrid. It doesn't get much tougher, but at least this season is turning out to be exciting in one way!

We put out weaker teams against Southampton and Chelsea, but we shouldn't be losing both. El-Morabet continues his really worrying form, which hasn't really been picked up in average ratings or in match reports, or in errors leading to goals. However, watching the highlights, his shot-stopping against Southampton was poor and his positioning against Chelsea and West Ham cost us a goal in each game. Looking at his anticipation and positioning, he has 13 and 15, whereas Kubiszyn has 12 and 16, so pretty much the same. I'm hoping it's just his debut season in a big league and he'll improve, as he's rated as a world class keeper. He's been anything but this season, and I'd say he's cost us 10 points. Obviously, without watching all the games, he may have saved us 10 points elsewhere. 

I'm glad we beat West Ham, even if we needed 86th and 89th minute goals to seal the win. Something isn't quite right since the turn of the year in offense as well as the documented goalkeeping issues. I don't think my tactics are spot on, but the career has been based on instant result and I'm loath to change that now and go in depth and look for tactical adjustments. I think if I did I could probably win the league more easily though (but I'd still be in League One probably). 

If we beat Real Madrid, Porto would be ideal finalists to face. That's a big if though.

We needed that win against West Ham to ensure we're very likely to finish 4th. We should get 4 points from the final 3 games without too much trouble, even if we do rotate the squad against Bournemouth if we are still in the tie after the home leg against Madrid.

One final thing this month, is this.

Ouch. That's without us spending more than we received in transfers too. We need that new stadium, and then we need to expand it quickly, or we're going to have to sell key players before too long and we're going to struggle to keep up with the wage demands of the better players. 

 

[Sonic Youth]

That’s some rollercoaster you’re on!

Excellent form in Europe, hanging on in the league, and needing a new board who are more realistic with infrastructure.

Looks like you’ve got a decent youth intake too. Let’s hope your thoughts about recent intakes are accurate 

Go Jersey v’s Real Madrid!

[Jtomsett11]

On 21/08/2022 at 08:46, Sonic Youth said:

That’s some rollercoaster you’re on!

Excellent form in Europe, hanging on in the league, and needing a new board who are more realistic with infrastructure.

Looks like you’ve got a decent youth intake too. Let’s hope your thoughts about recent intakes are accurate 

Go Jersey v’s Real Madrid!

Yeah, talk about needing a new board.

Thanks guys!

[Jtomsett11]

April Part 2

Wow, what a result! 5-2 gives us real hope for the return leg.

A few more results in the Premier League for other teams leaves us almost certain of fourth, with a possibility of third. We can equal our 79 points from last season, but the reserves will be out against Bournemouth who are up next!

[Jtomsett11]

May 2043 Premier League

We'll deal with the Premier League first.

The Man City win involved a change of tactics, dropping our RPM to a DLP (d) and asking the full backs to overlap. To be honest, I am really concerned with our form. We've been pretty appalling since we started focusing on the Champions League. Look at our second half of the season.

If you compare that to the first half below, you can see we've conceded the same number of goals, but scored 14 less which isn't far off 1 a game less. My biggest concern is that when we've needed to rotate the squad, the squad hasn't been good enough and we've lost too many games. Work to do ahead of next season.

The board are still happy though.

Oh, and here's the final table. 73 points represents our third highest total, but we've gone from 93 points to 79 to 73 in the last three seasons. Still, it's Champions League football again next year I suppose! Speaking of the Champions League...

[Jtomsett11]

May 2043 Champions League

It's not a convincing away performance, but who cares, we're into the Champions League final! 

I spent the build up to the final contemplating El-Morabet or Kubiszyn for the GK spot, as I'd dropped El-Morabet for the City game and Kubiszyn had a great game. However, in the Champions League, El-Morabet has done really well, so I decided to stick with him (just about).

Cortes may have scored the goal, but El-Morabet was our second best performer, making 6 saves. 

Our lifting of the trophy goes down as a huge overachievement.

There's no doubting that our Champions League run came at the cost of finishing well in the Premier League, but it was definitely worth it. We are Champions of Europe!

[Punch]

Congrats

Thats an awesome achievement

[Sonic Youth]

That’s some way to finish the season! All of that frustration in the league blown away in an instance. Congrats  

[Jtomsett11]

9 hours ago, Punch said:

Congrats

Thats an awesome achievement

 

8 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

That’s some way to finish the season! All of that frustration in the league blown away in an instance. Congrats  

Thanks both! I can't quite believe we've won it considering our end of season form in the league. It feels quite the fluke but I'll take it! Now I need to consider how to be more consistent and stronger across the competitions. 

[Jtomsett11]

End of season 2042/43 review Part 1

I've decided to do something slightly different for the attribute changes and player performance review as I always feel I post about it only considering the season gone, but really I'm already planning who will play next year and who needs to be signed. So, I'll do it this time position by position looking at squad depth, growth and performance from the players as I've enjoyed reading @Jimbokav1971's approach to analysing squad depth by position and think this may be more useful for me, and help the reader to understand my thought process more easily.

The club performance review continues but is relatively brief, so it'll be two posts at the end of the season (although I may split the positions into several posts).

Our league form may be dropping year on year since the peak of winning the league in 2040/41, but we've gone deeper in Europe in the last two seasons at a higher level and this year we've gone one better and won the Champions League. A really impressive achievement, but one I'm keen to build on. We now have 3 top level trophies: the Premier League (1), the Carabao cup (1) and the Champions League (1). I did consider stopping after the Champions League win as I think I'll purchase FM23, but I think I can probably get 1-2 more seasons in perhaps before then (work and life duties dependent!). I'd like to win a few more trophies if possible.

We are due a new stadium (29K), now in October, which is much needed. Our finances have been boosted by player sales (£50 million profit on transfers this season) and prize money, but we'll be paying higher wages now we're a higher reputation club I'm sure.

We're now the 7th highest rep team in the world. Surely that'll boost the youth intake?

One other area I'd be keen on in the next couple of seasons, if we can fit them in, is getting more youth players into the first team. I've given up on Jersey-born players as we're now getting so few through the intake, but we had just one of our youth are making the team of the year this year, and really he's a backup, Johnston.

Records

As you can see from below, Guyot actually only equals Lopez's 23 assists from 2039/40. His 4 goals in a game also equals the record I think. Kubiszyn is our oldest ever player which says something about how I play the game!

All-time best eleven

I haven't shown our all-time best eleven for a while. There's a few active Jersey players, such as Lopez, Kubiszyn, De Rosa and Bah, but many players who stuck around for a long time in the early days when our youth products were often much better than players we could bring in. Geddes probably remains my favourite. His goal:game ratio was PHENOMENAL. 

[Punch]

Awesome to see how far your club has come.

[Sonic Youth]

Curious about your new approach to ranking your players 

Bah is a midfielder in your best ever team? Can he?

Geddes was a revelation when he played for you 

[Jtomsett11]

As you can probably tell, I never made it any further as work took over my life slightly! Thanks to everyone who followed, posted, upvoted or took an interest in this journey! Although I'm slightly sad I didn't play any further, I feel I achieved my original aims and can now move on to FM23 as I have some (limited) time available to play again!

BackTheBulls!

[Punch]

Congrats on an awesome save.

This was one of the first stories that I read on these forums, and inspired, and helped me to choose a team, learn how to study attributes, track improvements, and write about it here as well, so for that, I say thank you!

Best of luck with what ever is next, and I hope you find a save that is as fun in FM23, and share it with us of course.