[FM21] CSA Steaua București - a Throne to Reclaim (Youth Only)

[sherifdinn_]

Crazy progress being made here. will you do a tactics but like old times?

 

[LPQR]

On 27/06/2021 at 21:18, sherifdinn_ said:

Crazy progress being made here. will you do a tactics but like old times?

 

I've run an analysis of the tactics used in this post but I'm actually curious what else I should include in them / what you guys like to see from a tactical analysis - do you feel there's more to add?  

[LPQR]

Season 4 Youth Intake

 

Yet again, I choose to be un-affected by the multitude of 5-star potential rated players simply because the 5-star rating is based upon the current level of the players in the first team, which, let's face it... is pretty terrible. So I am looking at players from the perspective of 'how long before good enough for the 1st team' instead, a perspective based on which, Teodorescu seems indeed to be the absolute highlight of all of our intakes so far:

 

More than good enough to claim a starting spot already, given that our next best striker looks like this:

 

Other 'high potential' players from this intake:

 

 

Daia & Negura also look pretty decent and with a few months of U19 match-time they might be promoted to the 1st team as rotation options. So, to round it up in terms of pros and cons of this intake
 

Pros

1. Top prospect in ST position already good enough for a starting berth in a time where Chipirliu is ageing and rapidly declining

2. Decent coverage position and some handy rotation options for the wide areas

Cons

1. Apart from Teodorescu nobody else looks ready to make the grade to 1st team straight away

2. Low Determination personality for Teodorescu which might considerably slow down his growth coupled with the fact that our options for tutoring at this moment seem pretty bleak, i.e. we don't have players regarded as team leaders that also score high in determination or have a positive personality 

[LPQR]

Season 4 Wrap-Up

 

Season Results

compared to last season, our domestic performance has weakened, both in the league and the cup - we finish 5th in the champions playoff and this time round we miss out on European football, which to be honest... was never on the cards to begin with given the fact hat we were NO1 favorites for relegation at the beginning of the season

 

Squad

this season basically marks the almost complete transition from the old guard of the original squad to the new generations

 

Chipirliu has declined to the point he is no longer a viable 1st team option, and even in these conditions he has managed 20 goals and 3 assists in all competitions

The same can be said about Enceanu, Rasdan, Beta and Wallace - all of them are in their 30s and have declined to the point where they're only good enough as back-up options.

 

Key Players this season

 

Paduretu (CB, youth 2022)

 

Letchin (CB, youth 2023)

Negru (MR, youth 2022)

 

Vochin (CM, youth 2022)

 

Hugely encouraging development from this bunch, particularly Negru & Letchin.

 

Youth to Watch

 

 

 

Rivalry Status

This season marked the return of FC Rapid Bucharest to the 1st division and that only added more flavour to the already comprehensive list of 'Bucharest Derbies' to be played in Liga 1

Dinamo really took a beating from us this season whilst FCSB is simply no match for us at the moment

 

Finances & Club Development

 

 

Rankings

[Hootieleece]

Your team is looking good. You need a little time, but I am sure you will soon be besting your archnemesis: FCSB!

 

[LPQR]

Career Progress

 

 

[LPQR]

14 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

Your team is looking good. You need a little time, but I am sure you will soon be besting your archnemesis: FCSB!

 

yes, we have some players, notably Letchin, Negru & Teodorescu that are really taking us to the next level, now we can only pray for continuously good intakes to help us increase positional depth & quality over the next 2-3 seasons. FCSB however have some really good players in their squad (including some cracking youth) considering the division average level:

 

 

 

So let's see how our rivalry with them develops over the next few seasons - if both us and them can keep our star players in the light of foreign club intervention the derbies should become better with each season going by

[LPQR]

Season 5 - mid-season

League table

 

Intake Preview

 

Antonio Letchin - our absolute superstar 

 

Facilities upgrades

[Hootieleece]

You are in Good shape for a title run if you keep up the 2.00/match pace in the table!

 

[karanhsingh]

Letchin is starting to look pretty good!

[LPQR]

Season 5 - Youth Intake

 

 

 

What can I say, absolutely delighted with this intake! From all points of view:

1) We have a couple of players who will go straight into the first team, Moise (who looks like a beast already for our level), Delcea & Ghilea

2) Determination is much higher on average for the top-rated potential players than in previous intakes

3) Delightful position coverage: we could potentially secure both wing-back positions, second striker & centre back pair to Letchin all in one go with this intake

Now the only hope that I have is that we are not let down by 'dodgy' 5-star potential ratings and these players will actually continue growing and improving

 

[LPQR]

Season 5 - Cup Final

 

first cup final for Steaua since its' re-founding in 2017

 

aaaand we do it!

 

and a decent cash boost thanks to this success 

season wrap-up in a bit

[LPQR]

Season 5 Wrap-Up

 

Key Players

Teodorescu (youth 2024)

bagged 17 goals in the league and 2 in the cup and has become, by far, the best striker in our team this season

 

Letchin (youth 2023)

the absolute monster in the team, Letchin is our best player by a very very big margin and I hope I will be able to keep him at least 2-3 more season. thank god i've inserted a 2 year 'optional contract extension by club' option in his initial contract

 

Vochin (youth 2022)

 what can be said - the absolute heartbeat of the team, never afraid to put in a challenge and providing some neat passing too in midfield

 

Negru (youth 2022)

If we only look at results and not attribute development, Negru is the revelation of the season for me - 11 goals and 14 assists in the league & cup this year as our right WM(A)

 

Sapunaru (youth 2023)

10 assists for a wing-back has to be a good result no matter the system the league or the expectations -absolutely delighted with Sapunaru's contribution and it goes to show just how important wing-backs are in our system

 

Club Issues

really really hate this kind of stuff - shouldn't this kind of upgrade be automatically issued in this case? I'm afraid to wonder if IRL clubs actually function like that

anyways, took some convincing but we should be back on track by September

 

Finances

 

The irony of football manager - board, seriously, didn't you get it by now? it's a youth only save, we do not need a transfer budget that EXCEEDS OUR F***** BALANCE!

 

Rankings

Obviously the fact that we were not involved in any european competitions this season left it's mark on the club ranking but I'm very happy to see the league jumped a spot up regardless

 

[john1]

Fantastic season  Letchin, looks incredible good with those attributes  

[LPQR]

Season 6 - EUROPA Conference League qualifiers

We we pretty lucky to have drawn much easier opponents than the previous time, even so...

 

We qualify for the group stage for the first time!

Group

 

 

Edited July 7, 2021 by LPQR

[LPQR]

Season 6 - mid-season

League

 

Europa Conference League

 

Still can't believe those results with Sociedad 

 

aaand yet again, the mid-season facilities upgrade is approved!

[john1]

Superb results in Europa Conference League  Great to see the club are currently upgrading the facilities  

[LPQR]

47 minutes ago, john1 said:

Superb results in Europa Conference League  Great to see the club are currently upgrading the facilities  

yes, pretty chuffed with our first group showing! facilities are slowly but surely getting top-drawer

[walterjocoski]

very good, my mate.

[LPQR]

Season 6 - the 'Letchin' problem

after a few rejected transfers for our absolute superstar and juuuust about convincing the board to reject a 4M offer they have accepted on my behalf, I've decided that the best course of action for now is to negotiate this offer myself, getting him to play for us on loan at least until the end of the season given our ongoing campaign in the EUROPA conference league

 

sad to have to let our best academy product so far leave but I feel that should there have been another offer on deadline day the board would have accepted it without me being able to change their minds again and it might have not been on our terms

 

[Hootieleece]

Transfer Money often makes Boards go crazy!

At least you get to keep him a little while longer.

 

[LPQR]

1 hour ago, Hootieleece said:

Transfer Money often makes Boards go crazy!

At least you get to keep him a little while longer.

 

Absolutely. What I don't like is the fact that it's very seldom the AI takes into account the sporting element as well. I mean, to put in perspective:

You as a club want to sell your best defender who is just 18 years of age mid-season when you have qualified for the Euro knock-out round that happens in March. Wouldn't it make more sense from both, financial and sporting points of view to sell him at the end of the season? Surely the player will cost more then even if the team fails to advance to the quarter finals and you will also get to give it your best shot at the competition featuring quality at the back. Why sell him now? Club is not in the red financially, quite the opposite, doing very well, also the player himself issued no 'ultimatums' regarding leaving.

Saying that I do realize I'm asking for a lot from the game, but just leaving it out there as a random rant))

[Muttley84]

11 minutes ago, LPQR said:

Saying that I do realize I'm asking for a lot from the game, but just leaving it out there as a random rant))

Dude, at least you got the money from the deal back in the club. The game is better than reality in this regard, because you know in real life you would get pennies out of the 4M.

[LPQR]

1 hour ago, Muttley84 said:

Dude, at least you got the money from the deal back in the club. The game is better than reality in this regard, because you know in real life you would get pennies out of the 4M.

absolutely spot on however in this particular case hugely pointless given the fact that all of this money goes into our transfer budget which we will not use in any way 

[LPQR]

Season 6 - Youth Intake

Pretty please with this, particularly with the fact that we might finally get an upgrade on Pacionel (who is still our main DLP 6 seasons in) in the name of Savu. Bica's bravery and workrate also looks great, hopefully he grows well into the PF role. We might have a systematic problem with personalities, though, and I suspect it's because of extremely low ambition hidden attributes for our HOYD despite the fact that he looks great on paper:

. Apart from the fact that we get players with <5 determination nearly 7/10 personalities are unambitious or low self belief which is pretty annoying. 

 

 

Fodor

 

Bica

 

Dragomir

 

Savu

 

Abaluta

[Hootieleece]

HOYD is a problem position for me as well. Mine is decent but the youth personalities are terrible.

[LPQR]

Season 6 - Europa Conference League

 

Second Knockout Round

First Leg

Second Leg

 

Quarter Final

first leg

second leg

 

Through to the semi-final, ladies and gents!!!

 

[LPQR]

Season 6 - Europa Conference League

Semi Final

first leg

second leg

Well, they've been too tough for us and this is where our incredible European journey ends this season. We've managed something no Romanian club has done since 2006 (it was an absolute heartbreak that match - still remember watching it with my dad and just not believing what happened) It has to be said, the EURO conference league is weaker than the EUROPA league and most likely it would have been difficult to do this playing teams like Arsenal, Spurs or Milan in the knock-out phases however this will be crucial for the league rankings since we've had no other team from Romania make it past the group stages in the last few seasons.

We've also got a total of $5.3M in prize money from our participation in the EURO Conf Cup and we will get a lot more from TV rights at the end of the season.

 

 

 

[deez0r]

Great run there! 

[scarp]

Fantastic results. Letchin looks like an absolute beasts, I believe "balanced" is not the best personality for HOYD - although I think it's a little bit random anyway.

[LPQR]

9 hours ago, scarp said:

Fantastic results. Letchin looks like an absolute beasts, I believe "balanced" is not the best personality for HOYD - although I think it's a little bit random anyway.

Yes, it depends a lot on hidden attributes like ambition, professionalism, sportsmanship, etc. 

What I've found interesting in this year's FM is that you can get players with a very high attribute on determination and at the same time their personality would be 'unambitious' (see Delcea's example from a couple of intakes ago). This seems a bit counter-intuitive but I guess it could make sense. The bottom line or conclusion, however is that in this year's edition determination matters a lot less than before as a result - the key attributes when it comes to how well a player will develop and behave are ambition and professionalism and both of them are 'hidden'. From what I've seen so far, determination will only play a big part in match-time, deciding how your team reacts when being behind on scoreline.