[FM22] - Club and Country Inca-hoots

[Shrewnaldo]

I'm a little sad that the club has a dolphin in its logo, rather than an owl which would really make that pun work better...

Hello.

Some very few of you may recall that I used to post regularly on the, now sadly departed, forum The Dugout and latterly on a series of personal blogs. With every new edition of FM, the urge to write about my gaming escapades is re-kindled with varying degrees of longevity and, this year being no different, I thought a forum thread such as this would prove the ticket. With luck, the urge will stick around and this thread will provide a suitable outlet to work through the issues I'm having and perhaps provide some light entertainment along the way.

What can you expect?

I tend to enjoy three main aspects of Football Manager: planning, squad development and tactics. Primarily I'd expect to see a lot of that articulated (poorly) here.

What's the save?

Anyone who remembers me from The Dugout days will probably recall my Club and Country saves with Austria and Rapid Wien. I really love this sort of save - taking a relatively lower tier nation and develop them into a side challenging for international honours, using the club side to blood the youth and provide that conveyor belt of talent. It's been many years since I took on a C&C save but I didn't want to "go back" to Austria - not least because of my increasing aversion to 10 or 12 team leagues. Having spent much of the time leading up to FM22's release searching for interesting sides with existing cultures of developing youth but that weren't a dominant force in their league, I stumbled upon a combination that has really grabbed me.

 

That'd be Peru and Academia Deportiva Cantolao.

I've long had a soft spot for Peru - partly from a lifelong desire to visit Machu Picchu and the Nazca Lines, partly because of their phenomenal international kits and partly because of Donny Neyra, legend of FMs past. They also seem a perfect candidate for my sort of Club and Country game. At the start of the FM22 cycle, the game has them ranked 35th in the world, struggling in the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers and with a severely aging squad. This is ideal for me. Any lower and the task becomes far too long-term for my preferred game style. Much higher and it's too easy.

Cantolao, meanwhile, are a smaller club predicted to finish in the bottom half of Liga 1 Movistar but renowned for developing youth talent, not least Claudio Pizarro. Whilst the training and youth facilities are not fantastic in-game, their youth recruitment is excellent including the current star prospect of Peruvian football Yuriel Celi.

With two critical save-related bugs in beta, I'm having to wait until 'full release' before starting the save - crossing my fingers that both will be corrected in the first patch. This may also prompt me to take the opportunity to dabble with the editor and add Peru's second tier as a playable league. This will provide more clubs creating newgens and provide some real fixtures for those teams who do get relegated. One problem being it is not possible to re-create Peru's unique league system - in which two teams are relegated from Liga 1, replaced by one team from Liga 2 and one from the Copa Peru - a nationwide competition of ~250 teams split into unfathomable sub-leagues... something for me to consider over the coming week.

Time in which I'll also do a few posts outlining my planning for the save - some tactical thoughts for how I'd eventually like to see the national side play, some thoughts on recruitment strategies and perhaps a little on the early prospects for Peru.

Hopefully that sounds like an interesting save and something you'll be interested in following along.

 

Index of update posts:

#1 - Planning - International

#2 - Planning - International, Part 2

#3 - Planning - Club

#4 - Planning - Tactics

#5 - Getting Started - Club

#6 - Getting Started - Perú

#7 - Taking on the big boys - Perú

#8 - Sometimes sh*t, sometimes good - Perú

#9 - Depressingly easy - Cantolao

#10 - Taking it to the final round - Perú

#11 - Into the playoffs - Perú

12 - Off to Qatar - Perú

13 - Well I did want a challenge - Cantolao

14 - World Cup 2022 - Perú

15 - Overdue an update - Perú and Cantolao

16 - Copa América - Perú (Part 1)

17 - Copa América - Perú (Part 2)

18 - A star is born. Planning - Cantolao and Perú

19 - World Cup 2026 and club success - Perú and Cantolao

20 - Resignation - Cantolao

21 - Copa América 2028 - Problems - Perú

22 - Planning for World Cup 2030 - Perú

23 - A disappointing end - Perú

Edited January 4, 2022 by Shrewnaldo

[keeper#1]

I like the dolphin in the logo.

[Shrewnaldo]

5 hours ago, keeper#1 said:

I like the dolphin in the logo.

Me too, but Inca-ackackickacktvhtclackick doesn't really work as well as Inca-Hoots for the thread title :-)

Besides, my daughter really likes the dolphin logo. Maybe I could get some sort of dolphin affiliate link going with Pescara 

[keeper#1]

5 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said:

Me too, but Inca-ackackickacktvhtclackick doesn't really work as well as Inca-Hoots for the thread title :-)

Besides, my daughter really likes the dolphin logo. Maybe I could get some sort of dolphin affiliate link going with Pescara 

I need the lower tiers of France to become playable to get a penguin save going.

I want to say they are in the 5th tier these days.

[john1]

Was expecting a owl, when I first saw the title of your thread

Still remember the good old days on The Dugout  

[Jazzbobification]

What are your thoughts on this fm so far Shrew?

[Shrewnaldo]

#1 - Planning - International

As I said in the OP, planning is one of my favourite parts of Football Manager - it's often said that anticipation is better than the real thing and perhaps this also applies to video games. Maybe, therefore, I should treat the interminable wait for the first patch as an opportunity, rather than a problem. 

After nearly 30 years of playing CM/FM, much of my planning comes down to introducing new levels of challenge, if not interest, to a save. Like many FMers, and certainly most who frequent forums and threads such as these, I find a 'standard' game of FM boring and, frankly, far too easy. To spice it up a bit, we all add something to set it apart - perhaps some narrative, perhaps some restrictions or challenges, but certainly something to 'hook us' into the save - make it personal. In the past I've imposed some pretty stringent rules - e.g. on FM20, I played without numerical attributes and instead used a skin devised by FMwkdsoul which replaced the numbers with four coloured grades; on FM21 I wanted to overtake PSG with a Toulouse team that had to make a transfer profit every season, couldn't spend more than £10m on a single player and focused almost exclusively on French players.

This year, I don't want to be so prescriptive with the game rules but, nevertheless, my standard approach to FM will still apply:

• all player recruitment is done through scouting and data analytics, no use of the Player Search screen
• don't sign players that I've bought in other saves (Branco van den Boomen excepted)
• all staff recruitment is done through job adverts or former players, no use of the Staff Search screen
• attribute masking on
• first transfer window disabled
• prioritise youth and domestic players
• prioritise 'preferential' attributes, starting with - Determination, Teamwork, Work Rate, Stamina

All of which are generally associated with club sides. But in this save, I'll be controlling both the club, Cantolao, and the national team, Peru. Some dovetail nicely - particularly prioritising young, domestic players - but others are going to be somewhat contradictory. One key example will be the use of the Player Search screen - whilst I never use it for signings, it tends to be an important screen for international management and identifying newgens who aren't in your National Pool. It's also likely that being the national manager will remove the attribute masking for a lot of the domestic players. I may have to come up with something to work around that.

Getting down to save specific planning, let's deal with the ultimate priority of the save first - the national side.

The immediate problem is glaringly obvious. 14 of the starting international squad are aged 29 and over. Key players such as Jefferson Farfán (36) and Paulo Guerrero (37) aren't approaching the end of the careers - they've exceeded them. The rest of the squad is workmanlike - there are no big standout talents and there's certainly not a host of players at the top level of European football. The highest reputation player is probably Celta Vigo's Renato Tapia who, whilst clearly very handy, isn't exactly a superstar. A new generation of talent is needed and quickly.

Sadly, even there, the starting database is short on options. Just about the only potential star is Cantolao's Yuriel Celi who, to be frank, looks phenomenal.

So what does this mean for my initial plans? Probably two things:

1. I need to start bringing in some younger options as soon as possible
2. To begin with, the national side will be a big underdog and tactics will have to be chosen accordingly

It also means that I'll need to get started on developing newgens as quick as possible, with the knock-on impact to the club's planning.

The FA's initial expectations are pleasingly low - simply asking us to "be competitive" in the CONMEBOL qualifying for World Cup '22. Given the poor start that I'll inherit, this is very welcome and gives me scope to experiment early, both tactically and in terms of personnel, with minimal pressure to get immediate results. The next Copa América isn't until 2024 and that will likely be the first real challenge.

 

 

Edited November 4, 2021 by Shrewnaldo

[Shrewnaldo]

32 minutes ago, john1 said:

Was expecting a owl, when I first saw the title of your thread

Still remember the good old days on The Dugout  

The Dugout was so good. Some really great saves to follow and proper in-depth analysis of the game.

 

20 minutes ago, Jazzbobification said:

What are your thoughts on this fm so far Shrew?

I don't really have any, to be fair. I haven't played it enough I'm afraid. Once I found the two Peru bugs, I've just sat and waited really. I've played a handful of matches with Aberdeen and the new animations look pretty decent. I like the look of the data hub but am disappointed that: a - there aren't more stats in game; b - it isn't useable for recruitment or leagues other than your own; and c - it isn't available for international managers. As long as they fixed the broken stats and analysis from last year, though, I'll be happy enough

[abulezz]

Love the premise, can't wait to read more!

[Shrewnaldo]

#2 - Planning - International, Part 2

Ran out of time earlier, so a little more on planning for the Peru team...

Whilst I'm not entirely giving up on World Cup '22, realistically Copa América 2024 is the next target and preparation starts now. All of our selection choices should have 2024 in mind. Starting the save in June 2021, that means a 3-year cycle to prepare the team. Quite clearly, that means the likes of Farfán and Guerrero are surplus to requirements. Indeed, anyone over the age of 30 should be used only as emergency cover. That means losing the following from the starting squad:

• Immediately:
  • Paulo Guerrero - ST - 37
  • Jefferson Farfán - AMR - 36
  • José Varvallo - GK - 35
• Replaced by the end of 2021:
  • Christian Ramos - DC - 32
  • Horacio Calcaterra - MCR - 32
  • Aldo Corzo - D/WBR - 32
• Replaced by the end of 2022:
  • Carlos Zambrano - DC - 31
  • Gianluca Lapadula - ST - 31
  • Pedro Gallese - GK - 31
  • Luis Advíncula - D/WBR - 31
  • Yoshimar Yotún - WBL - 31

Which would leave the residual starting squad as the rather skeletal:

I'm less than convinced by Cáceda, the goalkeeper, and can't see Gonzáles, Reyna or Lagos being anything other than squad filler in the long-term. All of which is making me reconsider some rather fundamental choices about the save...

There is, though, hope on the horizon. I've already mentioned Celi and, whilst he's a country mile clear of the others, a deeper dive into the database has helped me set up a shortlist that I'll turn into a new National Pool once the patch is out. A few prospects have already made it to Europe - from Malmö's 25-year old playmaker Sergio Peña, to Burlamaqui and Aguilar in the youth teams at Valencia and Man City respectively. Aguilar is on loan in Belgium and, noting that two aging right-backs are to due to be replaced shortly, will come straight into my first squad.

As will Sporting Cristal's Jhilmar Lora who, at 20, is wanted by some mid-table English teams and looks like he could be a very handy player indeed, already being capped 3 times.

On the opposite flank, 21 year-old Marcos López (San José Earthquakes) looks like a ready-made replacement for Yotun; whilst Alianza's Miguel Cornejo and Sporting Cristal's Távara look like exciting options as creative / attacking midfielders.

I'll have a later post on tactical plans for the save but, long story short, I'm looking to move away from adherence to a single formation and instead concentrate on applying the principles of play that I want to see, within a variety of 3-4-3ish systems. Immediate areas of concern are in goal and up front, with centre back facing a medium- to long-term shortage. 'Keeper, in particular, is a massive cause for concern with neither a current option or a prospect that I would consider good enough for international football.

It may well be that I'll need to do something with the club to help mitigate the goalkeeper situation but more on that in the next post...

 

 

 

[_Ben_]

On 04/11/2021 at 00:09, Shrewnaldo said:

Donny Neyra, legend of FMs past

Wonderful to see you posting here Shrew!

Does Donny still exist in this FM? He was a truly wonderful purchase all those years ago.

[Shrewnaldo]

3 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

Wonderful to see you posting here Shrew!

Does Donny still exist in this FM? He was a truly wonderful purchase all those years ago.

Sadly not. I was kind of hoping he'd be around as a staff member but seems like he's just retired.

And I'm here in no small part thanks to the inspiration of your threads

[Shrewnaldo]

#3 - Planning - Club

The odd thing about Club and Country saves is that, whilst the national side is the over-riding focus, you spend far more time with the club. Picking the right team is therefore critical - somewhere that not only can produce the newgens to populate the national team but will also maintain your interest for 8-10 seasons. That was a consistent issue with my Rapid / Austria games - without using the editor to merge leagues and introduce some long-term competition, the domestic game became boring very quickly.

Hence going with one of the smaller Peruvian sides for this save. Academia Deportiva Cantolao, or just Cantolao, have never won a major title, with the 2016 Liga 2 championship the sole silverware in the cabinet. We're predicted to finish 17th (of 18) and look set to struggle - at least for the first few seasons. But the club isn't there to win trophies - its purpose is to help develop promising youth players, both from its own academy and by 'rescuing' those that have been cast aside or wasted by the bigger clubs.

On that basis, the early planning really needs to look at how we can improve the players currently at our disposal - through better staff and better facilities.

Staff

A complete overhaul of staff is pretty much a prerequisite for every FM save, particularly in leagues like Peru where the backroom is rarely fully populated in the starting database. In Cantolao's case, the board will let me add plenty - the current staff consisting only of an assistant, 3 coaches and 2 physios.

Thinking of the save's objectives and the general lack of finances at the club, I won't be filling every position though. Instead, the strategy will be:

• Assistant - to be replaced. I want my manager to be a good coach but will also delegate all media interactions to him. I play FM to have fun and the media stuff is very definitely not fun. So I'll need an AM with good coaching attributes plus Man Management, Motivation and a suitable Media Handling Style such as Unflappable.
• Coaches - always hire as many as possible. In addition to the standard coaching attributes, I'll be paying close attention to the Working with Youngsters attributes of the staff and also their preferred playing style and personalities. I'd really like to create a consistent club culture through the staff - hopefully helping to influence the newgen creation and maximise the likelihood of positive personalities appearing in the youth intakes
• Performance Analysts - given the Data Hub looks like it could be useful, I'll likely max these out
• Director of Football - not required. Save the money.
• Technical Director - not required. Save the money.
• Scouts - I'm planning to recruit only two scouts of the available five. One to scout the next opposition and one to bring me reports from the domestic game. It's very unlikely that any Peruvian players outside the league will be willing to move back for a small club like Cantolao and, even if they did, I can't see how that would be beneficial to their development. So my recruitment scouting will be two to start with and potentially adding a third towards the end of the season to watch specific players that I'm targetting
•  Recruitment Analysts - with the Data Hub not being available for recruitment purposes, it doesn't make much sense for me to hire any recruitment analysts. The performance analysts do the next match scouting and I can access all the stats I'll need through the league's stats page, the player's profile and the Data Hub scattergraphs.
• Head of Youth Development - I've left this one for last as it's a tough call. It's very unlikely that I'll get an application from someone who ticks all the boxes - attributes, personality, tactical style, playing style... so the question is which do we prioritise. There's also the possibility that I delegate the youth intake role to another member of staff if they have 'good enough' attributes and the HoYD candidates are all terrible. HoYD's can be one of the more expensive members of staff and, whilst I'd be willing to pay for guaranteed better intakes, it doesn't feel worth it for questionable gains... one to be decided once I see the standard of applicants

Facilities

 

Definite room for improvement there. Cantolao are well-known as having one of the most successful youth systems in the country, which is reflected in our excellent Youth Recruitment, but the other facilities are in dire need of investment to help improve the standard of players as they arrive from the academy, and then better training facilities to develop them. Problem being that money is tight in Peru, particularly at the smaller clubs.

Cantolao start with ~£700k in the bank and a wage budget of ~£27k a week. Projected to lose money at an alarming rate, finding cash to invest in the facilities is going to be difficult and will likely involve selling players. With that in mind, transfer profits are going to be an absolute must. Which, being Scottish, suits me just fine but highlights one major problem - 17 members of the senior squad are out of contract at the end of 2021. Seventeen. As I'll be removing transfer budgets in the first window (July) and the paltry wage budget already being maxed out, it looks like we'll be losing quite a few sellable assets for absolutely nothing. New contracts will have to be prioritised for either key first team players or, more pressingly, those key prospects that I absolutely need to get money for - Yuriel Celi being priority number one.

Once players are sold, future transfer clauses are going to be mandatory. As an absolute minimum, I'll be looking to include "25% of next fee" clauses and wish you could stipulate this when agreeing minimum fee release clauses in the players' contracts. I'll also be looking for opportunities where I can be selective about the clubs that my prospects are sold to. For example, let's say Celi has a successful season and prompts end-of-season offers from Chelsea, Porto and Nice. I'd be very concerned that a move to London would see him languish in the reserves, farmed out on loan a few times before being going to West Brom on a free three seasons later. This costs me twice - financially through the loss of a future fee and, more importantly, stunting the growth of the national side's bright new hope. If possible, I'd really like to push these players towards better gateway clubs where they're more likely to develop and earn me a tasty cut on a big move in a few years.

First I need to identify the cash cows. Having decided to start the game in June 2021, FM will simulate the Apertura and the mid-season Copa Bicentenario, leaving me with a handful of friendlies and the 17 games of the Clausura to both avoid relegation and run the rule over the entire squad. I can already see some players that will more than likely be jettisoned at the end of the year - 36 year-old Argentine striker Maximiliano Barreiro and his £1k a week wage standing out like a sore thumb on that list. But there is a swathe of similarish 19-25 year olds who I suspect have some random attributes and will definitely need a little more assessment from actual game time.

I'm planning on employing the same tactical approach with club as with country, so those that make the cut will have to prove themselves suitable. More on that next time...

 

Edited November 5, 2021 by Shrewnaldo

[DefinitelyTaylor]

This catches my eye! I always enjoy following anything related to Peru - in particular the national team. You’re right in your analysis. The team is ageing and has a lot of work to do to replace players like Guerrero who has been key to recent success.

[Matty Aqua]

@Shrewnaldogreat point about selling to right club!

[Shrewnaldo]

8 hours ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

This catches my eye! I always enjoy following anything related to Peru - in particular the national team. You’re right in your analysis. The team is ageing and has a lot of work to do to replace players like Guerrero who has been key to recent success.

Thanks, hope you enjoy the read along

5 hours ago, Matty Aqua said:

@Shrewnaldogreat point about selling to right club!

Always going to be a risk of prospects wasting away in someone else's reserves. I think we're going to need a fair chunk of luck along with some effort at influencing the destinations of these players

[Shrewnaldo]

#4 - Planning - Tactics

Like most FM players, I tend to have a pretty fixed idea in my head of how I want my teams to play and this doesn't tend to change much from save to save or version to version. There are certain principles which are more-or-less consistent across all of my games, regardless of whether these have manifested themselves in a 4-1-4-1, 4-3-3, 4-4-2 diamond, 4-2-3-1 or similar. However, in recent years I've become dogmatically attached to a back four with a screening DM. This is largely a symptom of one of my defensive principles.

I've tried 3 centre back systems many times and, sooner or later, end up losing patience with my inability to overcome the weaknesses such systems present in their FM implementation. However, this year, even before the announcement of the 'wide centre back' role, I'd decided to push myself out of my 4-1- comfort zone, and the WCB has just made that a certainty. I won't, however, abandon the general principles with which I want to see football played and these will be applied equally to both the club and international sides:

• clean sheets are worth, on average, 2.5 points so all tactics are built from the back forwards
• I like to play out from the back, dominate the ball and use possession as a defensive tactic
• once we do go forward, I like to play through the lines quickly - whether that be on the counter or after drawing opponents onto us by holding the ball in deep positions first
• the most important areas of the pitch are 'the pockets', or zone 14, or whatever you want to call it - the central space in front of the defensive line
  • I want to exploit this area when attacking - whether this be from a striker dropping off, one #10, two #10s or - one of my personal favourites - using a playmaker moving inside from the wide positions;
  • and protect it when defending - whether with a DM or maintaining a compact shape from back to front
• at least one central midfielder has to hold his position - partly to protect the defence and partly to provide an easy 'out ball' for any forward player looking to retain possession

Although these principles are going to be embedded within systems that use three centre backs, I'm going to try and avoid simply settling on one formation and tactic. It's become too easy for me to plop in a standard 4-3-3 and just roll that out every game. Particularly for international matches, I really want to rotate my attacking options to counter the opposition's weaknesses, both in personnel and system. I haven't played any matches in the FM22 engine yet to test anything but I think we'll go through rotations something like this:

Obviously the available personnel will also influence the positions but the principles of play should be clear throughout and, once both the club and international side are stronger, we should look to impose our strategy on the opposition - relying less on the counter attacking low block. The bottom two options are the two which really interest me in the long-term and I'd ideally look to rotate between two wide #10s and two central #10s. The one thing which might stop me is the preponderance of young Peruvian wide players - most of whom look to be more traditional winger types than wide #10s. As is always the case in club and country saves, if the RNG of newgen creation provides wingers that don't fit into my preconceived ideas, then I'll just have to adapt.

 

 

 

 

[Chris_ANZFM]

Unlike some others I’ve not had the pleasure of reading you work before but I am already massively captivated by what I’ve seen so far. Very much looking forward to seeing how this develops. 

[SteinkelssonFM]

Yes @Shrewnaldo I will absolutely be following this save and look forward to how it progresses...follow button clicked! 

[sc91]

@Shrewnaldo long time since I saw that name, whatever happened to The Dugout? 

 

[Shrewnaldo]

1 hour ago, Chris_ANZFM said:

Unlike some others I’ve not had the pleasure of reading you work before but I am already massively captivated by what I’ve seen so far. Very much looking forward to seeing how this develops. 

Thanks Chris, I hope it's a fun ride 👍

1 hour ago, MattyLewis11 said:

Yes @Shrewnaldo I will absolutely be following this save and look forward to how it progresses...follow button clicked! 

Cheers Matty, similarly I'm already following along with your story as we both count the hours to Tuesday 

10 minutes ago, sc91 said:

@Shrewnaldo long time since I saw that name, whatever happened to The Dugout? 

 

I think it stopped around 2014 or 15, maybe? Forums in general just became less popular and it probably just wasn't worth the bother for Mark any longer

It was really good for a while though. Around FM09 or FM10, the Your Game and Tactics sub-forums were the best FM "content" on t'interwebz

[_Ben_]

2 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said:

It was really good for a while though. Around FM09 or FM10, the Your Game and Tactics sub-forums were the best FM "content" on t'interwebz

I absolutely second this! I looked at the FM Now forum the other day but it sadly never reached the heights of TD.

[Shrewnaldo]

2 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

I absolutely second this! I looked at the FM Now forum the other day but it sadly never reached the heights of TD.

Seems like forums just aren't a thing these days - too many other platforms for folk to use. And "content" isn't really the same any more. At risk of sounding like an old git and aware that I'm not exactly the target audience, but the state of most FM "content" these days is quite something and is probably more suited to the visual mediums than written forums.

Edited November 7, 2021 by Shrewnaldo

[F0rzaH]

Really looking forward to this @Shrewnaldo I'll be following with interest,

[Shrewnaldo]

Nice one @F0rzaH - I didn't realise you still lurked around FM forums. Sad to see you lost your unbeaten record against Motherwell on Saturday

[Shrewnaldo]

So it looks like this won't be happening for a while. The Peru league bug has not been fixed, so Peru is currently unplayable.

[keeper#1]

[Tommo_]

Do you have something else lined up in the meantime, Shrew? I was looking forward to a classic C&C save. 

[Shrewnaldo]

3 hours ago, Tommo_ said:

Do you have something else lined up in the meantime, Shrew? I was looking forward to a classic C&C save. 

I'm playing a save as Cartagena in Spain just now but just updating on twitter. Seems there are quite a few broken leagues at the moment, along with quite a few other bugs, so just thought I'd have a straightforward save until the wider game is a bit more stable. Assuming that patch is a while off, I'll hopefully come back to this once I'm finished at Cartagena 

[Shrewnaldo]

So looks like this could be back on the cards sooner than expected...

[Jazzbobification]

Having teased the first goal on Twitter, is this back? 🤞

[Shrewnaldo]

2 hours ago, Jazzbobification said:

Having teased the first goal on Twitter, is this back? 🤞

Maybe, yes. I've started the save and just want to make sure that it catches before doing an update. I was enjoying the Cartagena side save so I can always go back to that if this doesn't hook me. Enjoying it early doors though 

[Shrewnaldo]

#5 - Getting Started - Club

With SI fixing the Peruvian league bug quicker than anticipated, I am indeed back to the club and country idea raised previously. In the intervening period, I played a season with Spanish second tier side Cartagena which was pretty fun and may be something I return to in the future. One major effect of the season on the Mediterranean coast is that I'd already had the chance to work through some 3-4-3ish systems in the FM22 engine and so have something of a headstart from my anticipated initiation in the Andes.

As previously mentioned, I decided to start the save in July 2021 - in the middle of the Peruvian season, meaning the AI has simulated the Apertura, the mid-season Bicentenario Cup and a handful of international matches.  I have, as always, disabled the first transfer window meaning that everyone will be playing with the IRL squads for the whole of the first campaign. For additional 'realism', I've loaded every vanilla league in South America along with the major European leagues, Mexico and the USA. This should provide better AI squad-building and player development for both my own players that move to these markets, and my international competitors. Finally, I've increased the Match Detail level for all South American continental competition matches and international matches - to ensure that effects like altitude apply to all games.

At the time of writing, I've played just 5 league games with Cantolao, taking us up to the first international break. It's all gone rather well, it has to be said.

Which has put us top of the Clausura table with a third of the games played, and pushed us into 4th on the overall table. With Universitario one of Perú's biggest clubs and Melgar predicted to finish 4th, then we have to be pleased with that start. The only, very pedantic downside is our partial reliance on the form of striker Ivan Luquetta who is, sadly, American.

Other standout performers include 18 year-old centre back Arón Sánchez, winger Gino Guerrero and Yuriel 'the big hope' Celi. Sadly, IRL, it seems Celi is throwing away his talent and may end up in jail, having been arrested for possession of drugs and a firearm. In my FM22 universe, however, he's been great with a goal and four assists to date. Which is why this was basically the first item of business.

The minimum fee clause is lower than I'd have liked but he insisted on something. At least we'll be guaranteed some sort of fee and, with the state of the finances, we'll need all the money we can get.

Celi joins a host of other key players such as Gambetta, Guerrero and Luquetta on new contracts but others such as wing-back Tajima and 'keeper Limousin, who I'd really like to keep, are asking for wages far beyond our means. I get the feeling that finances are going to be a recurring problem in this save and will lead to higher turnover of personnel that I'm used to.  The finances have also prevented any improvement to the club's training facilities and getting staff of any sort of quality is proving enormously difficult. So far, the staff strategy above has succeeded only in bringing in an Assistant (doubling up as HoYD), one coach, two scouts and 2 performance analysts. 

Speaking of youth development, one unforeseen consequence of starting in July may well be that the first season newgens aren't created - at least the Development Centre is currently not providing me with a preview of the intake, about a week before it's due to arrive. It wouldn't be the end of the world but I'd be a bit hacked off.

There are a couple of areas which we really need to strengthen quickly - despite our early success. A young Peruvian striker would be the absolute ideal - with our domestic options looking a pale imitation of American Luquetta; whilst right wing-back and left wing are other areas of weakness. We've made a start on transfer planning with a bit of scouting and identifying the vast swathe of players out of contract come the end of the season. One of whom, 29 year-old Sport Boys midfielder Tarek Carranza, will be joining on a free in January - whilst a 29 year-old may not scream "club and country" save, he will provide valuable experience and leadership and allow me to move on two rotation options whose wages exceed his own.

For now, though, attention turns to the national team as we face our first set of fixtures - Uruguay at home, Paraguay away then Chile back in Lima. All inside a week. As a taster of what's to come, here's my first Perú squad - dropping big names Jefferson Fárfan and Paolo Guerrero.

Edited November 18, 2021 by Shrewnaldo

[Robson 07]

Good luck Shrew on behalf of England Away (EA) .  Mind you I can't believe it isn't Rapid Wien although that Matthias Sindelar avatar reassures me somewhat that its really you.

[Shrewnaldo]

30 minutes ago, Robson 07 said:

Good luck Shrew on behalf of England Away (EA) .  Mind you I can't believe it isn't Rapid Wien although that Matthias Sindelar avatar reassures me somewhat that its really you.

Nice one EA, it's been a long time. I hope you're well

Nice to see a few old Dugout folk still around. Are you posting a thread on here too? 

[Tommo_]

14 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said:

dropping big names Jefferson Fárfan and Paolo Guerrero.

Any comments in media after not selecting them? 

Good luck, Shrew - solid effort with your start at club level. 

[Shrewnaldo]

#6 - Getting Started - Perú

Having started in July 2021, the AI had simulated Perú's start to World Cup 2022 qualifying - very much a mixed bag with narrow wins over Venezuela and Bolivia, bookmarking losses to Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador. That'd leave us in 8th place - CONMEBOL's qualifying being a single 10-team table with the top 4 automatically on the plane to Qatar, and the team in 5th playing off against the Oceanic champions, likely New Zealand.

Our first fixtures would see us face Uruguay and Chile at home, either side of a trip to Paraguay.

As detailed in the planning posts, the long-term strategy is to develop the national team into a technically competent, attractive side playing in a 3-4-3ish system that looks to control the ball first and foremost. As such, and noting the number of talented wide Peruvian attackers, we'd start that journey with this system.

And with this starting squad:

As previously outlined, this meant dropping veterans Jefferson Fárfan (35, 97 caps) and Paolo Guerrero (37, 106 caps), along with a number of less reputable players over 32. Interestingly, @Tommo_, whilst there was some news items about it, the game recognised that these were players at the wrong end of their careers and, as such, the news was caveated with the expectation that Naldo Musaraña had seen this as time to bring in fresh blood.

Nevertheless, there were a number of pretty tough decisions - specifically at centre back and wide midfield, where there are a number of decent, similar options and very few standouts. 

And we couldn't really have got off to a worse start. Uruguay, lining up in a 4-4-2 with quality all over the park, were just far too good for us and, in hindsight, I should have played far more conservatively and then tried to hit them on the break. But I'd figured that a front two of Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez wasn't going to get in behind us too often so went with the high line with a view to dominating the ball in the middle of the park. Bentancur and Valverde were just far too good for us and, with De Arrascaeta coming inside off the left flank to supplement the middle two, we had a lot of sterile, useless possession.

Lesson learned for upcoming fixtures against the better sides - play on the counter more.

Despite being away from home, I figured Paraguay were very much not a better side but boy did we make hard work of this. Lining up in a 4-2-3-1 with Newcastle's Miguel Almiron offering a pacy threat behind Torino's Antonio Sanabria, we really got away with this one. I'd hoped the penalty would settle us down but Paraguay continued to dominate and Lapadula's late winner, his first for Perú, came from a wide freekick that was incredibly badly defended - the ball bouncing between two Paraguayan defenders at the near post to Lapadula, almost unmarked, at the far. I'd have been mightily hacked off had that one gone in against me. Regardless, a first win with the national team and a handy morale boost ahead of rivals Chile...

 

Where Raúl Ruidíaz finally woke up. I'd probably have started Lapidula in this game had he been fit but three games in seven days isn't ideal for these international breaks and Seattle striker Ruidíaz took his opportunity for redemption. In truth, we really dominated this game and were good value for the win. With Chile's 4-2-3-1 fielding an incredibly slow centre-back pairing of Gary Medel and Francisco Serralta, I quickly realised that Ruidíaz's pace was going to be the key factor. It was he who got in behind to be taken down for the penalty, which he duly dispatched. Medel was subbed off after struggling badly against the pace but replaced by another slow defender in Monaco's Guillermo Maripán, who was himself outpaced easily by Ruidíaz, who ran onto Peña's lovely through ball to round the 'keeper and get his second before nabbing his hat-trick by deflecting a Yuriel Celi shot in off his arse five minutes later.

Given the rivalry between the two nations, the FA was delighted with both this result and the three fixtures as a whole, all of which has left the table looking interesting and more competitive already.

I won't get too excited though. Next up is another triple header - Venezuela and then the small matter of Argentina and Brazil back-to-back.

 

[Robson 07]

On 19/11/2021 at 09:33, Shrewnaldo said:

Nice one EA, it's been a long time. I hope you're well

Nice to see a few old Dugout folk still around. Are you posting a thread on here too? 

Very well thanks, same to you.  I'm not planning a game thread...but I'll keep an eye on you and @_Ben_

[Shrewnaldo]

#7 - Taking on the big boys - Perú

The second set of international qualifiers would see us take on the range of South American talents - from qualifying whipping boys Venezuela, to the giants of Argentina and Brazil. With just a month between the two sets of fixtures, there weren't many changes to the squad, indeed just two. San José's left wingback Marcos López and Sporting Cristal's right wingback Jhilmar Lora were both out injured, with Man City's Kluiverth Aguilar coming in on the right flank, and Christofer González of Sporting Cristal an additional midfield option, allowing Yoshimar Yotún to move out to the left flank.

This time round, I faced quite a few questions from the press regarding the absence of the veteran players, indeed Paolo Guerrero approached me himself asking why I'd left him out - which is a nice touch. Whilst he begrudgingly accepted my insistence on bringing through the next generation, he hasn't yet formally retired from international football - nor has Jefferson Fárfan, whose shocking form at Allianza would probably see him miss out anyway.

Nevertheless, the squad still isn't as young as I would like, with a lot of players in that bracket a few years either side of 30. Disappointingly, the first tranche of newgens didn't arrive either - likely the impact of having started the game halfway through the Peruvian season and bypassing the date which triggers the intakes. I might, therefore, need to revisit a few of the 18-23 year olds that I'd written off... for now, we play with what we've got.

Which was more than enough to see off a poor Venezuelan side who managed just 3 shots all game. Frustratingly, we rather took our foot off the pedal after the second went in and bizarrely our 'keeper ended up as man of the match. But this was an absolutely routine victory in a game when we were barely troubled and didn't need to get out of second gear. Which would probably help for the double header coming up...

There's little doubt that Argentina saw this as a bit of a gimme. Clear at the top of the qualifying group and enjoying a long unbeaten run, they rested the likes of Messi and were still comfortably dominating us until Di María sold the jersey with a shocking two-footed challenge mid-way through the first half. Having learned our lesson from the Uruguay game, I'd switched up to a 5-4-1 diamond, bringing Celta Vigo's Renato Tapia, probably our best player, into the back line and using the Pedro Aquino, of Mexican club América and one of my personal favourites, as a conservative screen in front of the 3 centre backs. We had one plan to score - playing it in behind for Ruidíaz to use his pace but, in the end, the Seattle striker barely touched the ball.

Even after Di María's red, I decided not to chase the game. We just aren't good enough even against ten players of the quality in Argentina's squad and the goalless draw was, in my view, a fantastic result.

Which almost got even better against Brazil. With Ruidíaz knackered from chasing shadows against Argentina, I went with the same 5-4-1 but put winger André Carrillo up top instead - back-up striker Gianluca Lapadula lacking the requisite pace. It worked early with a break down the left and Yotún squaring for Carrillo to knock it in from 5 yards. A classic case of scoring too early, however, as Brazil roared to life and absolutely murdered us for 15 minutes, Neymar scoring at the back post from a Gabriel Jesus cross. Expecting the Seleção to then batter us into next week, they instead took their foot off the gas and the rest of the game was a relatively low-key affair. Indeed, we had the best chance to win it when that man Carrillo raced onto a Peña through ball, crashed it off the underside of the bar and came this close to nicking an improbable 3 points for La Blanquirroja.

Regardless, 5 points from those 3 games is a fantastic return and really puts us in strong contention for 5th spot and the resulting playoff place. Perhaps Qatar '22 isn't such an unrealistic target after all.

Next up, Colombia and a big game against playoff rivals Ecuador.

[DefinitelyTaylor]

Fantastic stuff . Two excellent results against the two big boys compounded by victories against Paraguay, Chile and Venezuela. It seems you have really learnt from the lessons Uruguay dished out.

[Shrewnaldo]

#8 - Sometimes sh*t, sometimes good - Perú

Another double header of qualifiers followed in November and, full of confidence from the results against Argentina and Brazil, I thought we'd have nothing to fear from a trip to Cali before the crucial head-to-head against our main rivals for the playoff spot, Ecuador.

Injuries would again force a couple of changes - this time first-choice 'keeper Gallese was out with a dislocated shoulder and Yuriel Celi, the sole representative from our own club Cantolao, still out with the calf strain suffered against Venezuela. That meant three relatively inexperiencd 'keepers in the squad with Alejandro Duarte, another at Sporting Cristal, coming in as Gallese's replacement and my choice to take the gloves in both games. Further forward, Alianza's Miguel Cornejo - who I'd identified in the prep posts - came in for his first caps as Celi's replacement. With Jhilmar Lora back in the squad and joined by Sporting Cristal's pair Gianfranco Chávez and Gerald Távara and Fuenlebrada's Aldair Fuentes, that's five players 23 and under which seems a good start on bringing through the next generation.

One thing I've really noticed is how many Sporting Cristal players we're bringing into the national side. They were favourites for the domestic title and have a really great academy, so here's hoping they can continue to develop the talent we'll need going forward.

As @DefinitelyTaylormentioned above, we'd surely learned our lessons from the Uruguay thumping, right? Draws with Argentina and Brazil meant we had this low block, counter idea nailed down... well not quite. I went with the 5-4-1 diamond again, Sporting Cristal's Gerald Távara playing as the 10 behind pace-man Raúl Ruidíaz and Tapia this time used as the screen in front of the defence. Sadly, things didn't really work out too well.

We were awful - absolutely dreadful. Our goal was an absolute shocker of an own goal, an FM special with a cross coming off Davinson Sánchez's heels as he faced the other direction and sneaking in at the near post. It was our only 'shot' of the first half as Los Cafeteros dominated from start to finish. I'm not even sure what we can learn from this game - we were so bad that it's tempting to just put it down as "one of those games". There were certainly questions about a couple of individual performers - primarily centre back Miguel Araujo, who had a shocker against Zapata, and striker Ruidíaz who didn't get a sniff all game but, to be fair, no-one had a good match. Colombia were just better. The next match was the big one.

And we were so, so much better. The early goal for Ecuador was mightily concerning, it has to be said, but we'd started really well and they scored through a freak deflection straight into Sornoza's path 2 yards from goal. Expecting a deeper line and having been disappointed with Ruidíáz more often than not, I brought in Benevento's Gianluca Lapadula up top. With a bit more physicality and some phenomenal mental attributes, he was outstanding and fully deserved his two goals. I'm only sad that he's 31, not 21, but he will likely lead the line for the remaining World Cup Qualifiers. Malmö's Sergio Peña was also excellent, playing as the attacking runner of the two central midfielders and getting on the end of a Lapadula cross to put the game beyond Ecuador. 

Some disappointments remain though - André Carrillo continues to struggle, the 30 year-old's only decent match having come against Brazil when I ostensibly played him out of position. Centre back Araujo was again poor and has likely played himself out of a starting spot for the remaining fixtures.

The young players who came in all had solid games and, pleasingly, I'm starting to see bigger clubs interested in some of our best players. Southampton are keen on Renato Tapia, Monaco are monitoring Gianfranco Chávez and Gerald Távara whilst wingback Lora is being tracked by a series of clubs including Norwich and Bologna. Better facilities and game time in higher reputation leagues would be fantastic to help develop these guys so with any luck there will be some moves soon.

As it stands, that victory over Ecuador has kept us, just, in 5th. Our remaining fixtures are quite so it could go well go down to the wire:

• Perú - Bolivia (A), Paraguay (H), Uruguay (A), Chile (A)
• Ecuador - Paraguay (H), Venezuela (H), Chile (A), Argentina (A)

Meanwhile, Brazil are in freefall having taken just 5 points from the last 8 qualifiers. With Uruguay, Argentina and Colombia still to play, could it be the Seleçao who falls out of the qualification spaces - and both ourselves and Ecuador sneaking in? Sounds unthinkable but, on current form, it's a possibility.

 

 

 

[F0rzaH]

Enjoyed catching up with this @Shrewnaldo it would be fairly epic if Brazil continued their free fall and dropped below you. 

[Shrewnaldo]

1 hour ago, F0rzaH said:

Enjoyed catching up with this @Shrewnaldo it would be fairly epic if Brazil continued their free fall and dropped below you. 

Cheers Forza. Tite's job is already listed as 'very insecure' so surely it's only a matter of time before he's punted and someone comes in to rescue him? Having said that, if he makes it to the next international break then he'll be in charge for their games against Venezuela and Uruguay. If they go badly and he's sacked, that gives his successor the unenviable task of rescuing matters in a trip to Argentina and a home game against Colombia. Daunting.

[Shrewnaldo]

#9 - Depressingly Easy - Cantolao

Before deciding on this save, I'd searched long and hard for the perfect combination of a challenging nation and a club which had a great academy but weren't one of the strongest teams in the league. I really wanted the domestic game to remain competitive for many seasons, providing interest whilst we developed the nation. With Cantolao one of the smaller sides in Perú and predicted to finish 17th, that seemed like the perfect fit. Sadly, it hasn't worked out like that and we've won the title first season.

I'd taken over mid-season, with the AI having led Cantolao to a 7th placed finish in the Apertura groups (out of 9), winning just 2 games. Regardless, the Clausura performances, combined with 2 added points from our reserves winning their league, would see us top the Overall Table by 3 points from Sporting Cristal, and then go on to beat Alianza, the Apertura champions, 5-0 over the double-legged Champions Final.

All very boring.

I don't even feel like I did anything unusual. With the first transfer window disabled, I didn't sign anyone and used the starting squad throughout - not exactly filled with superstars but there are a few standouts like 'keeper Limousin, wing-back Tajima, on-loan midfielder Patricio Arce and aforementioned Yuriel Celi, all decent for this level. We played a relatively straightforward 3-4-3 system throughout the year, primarily something like this - without using any OP gegenpressing, 3 striker, offset striker or corner set-ups. 

Looking at the squad's statistics for the season....

...there are a few standout performers. American striker Ivan Luquetta is an obvious one, scoring at just over a goal a game is a bit ludicrous; whilst Mario Tajima's 14 league assists from the right flank were key. This might help to make it more difficult next season as Tajima is refusing to sign a new contract and will be off to a bigger club, whilst Luquetta, who may stay after signing a new contract, is going to be dropped in favour of Peruvian youth striker Carlos Noriega - or a new signing if I manage to bring one in. We'll also be losing Argentinian 'keeper and captain Christian Limousin as I refuse to pay him £3k a week. Finally, Patricio Arce, who has been excellent from the CM(A) position all season, will likely return to Sporting Cristal after completing his loan - his performances here having convinced the Lima side to extend his contract.

And perhaps the finances will also help introduce more challenge. We might lose a handful of first team players but there's unlikely to be any cash available for replacements so it's probable that we'll be restricted to free transfers in an effort to both defend our title and take a stab at the Cope Libertadores.

Speaking of which, Flamengo were this year's champions, defeating fellow Brazilians Sao Paulo in the final, and also won the Brazilian title. Meanwhile Boca won the Sudamericana but are trailing Racing in their domestic league. Unión Española took the Chilean title, I think Junior have won it in Colombia (it's a really weird looking table, I don't know) and Nacional pipped Peñarol in the league and then beat them 3-2 in the Uruguayan Championship playoff. Sometimes it's difficult to just see what's happening in South American leagues... jeez.

So what's next? Well our first transfer window primarily. This will see a lot of dead wood leave the club and all three squads get severely trimmed into just those who are either first team options or will ever develop into candidates. That will hopefully free up a lot of wage room to bring in two or three players in key positions that will be weakened by outgoing personnel - primarily right wingback and a midfield runner. And this may eventually be where the challenge arrives in the club part of the save. Because money is shockingly rare in Perú and recruitment is going to be a massive challenge. This rather neatly underlines just how hard it's going to be to generate money...

 

Edited November 21, 2021 by Shrewnaldo

[Shrewnaldo]

#10 - Taking it to the final round - Perú

The penultimate round of qualifiers for World Cup '22 passed with relatively little of interest to note. We would face relatively soft games with a trip to Bolivia followed by our final home game, against Paraguay.

The squad entrusted with seeing out these games was fairly uncontroversial. Fárfan and Guerrero continued to miss out, whilst I also dropped centre-back Miguel Araujo after a series of shocking performances. Celi was back following his injury and the only complete newcomer was Sporting Cristal's left back Nilson Loyola (27) who replaced Saint-Etienne's Trauco, injured.

Against a weak Bolivian side, we went with out standard 3-4-3 and, in truth, should have been far more comfortable in this game. In the end, we had to rely on a beautiful Yuriel Celi free-kick to take the points and keep the pressure on Brazil and Ecuador, who beat Venezuela and Paraguay respectively.

Similarly in the second game, we really should have made this more comfortable for ourselves. We were utterly dominant in the first half and went ahead through a fantastic André Carrillo half-volley from 15 yards, before Gerald Távara repeated Celi's feat from the Bolivia match and put a 20 yard freekick into the top corner over the wall. Wingback Loyola, in just his 7th cap, nearly sold the jerseys with a red card leaving us short-handed for half an hour but, whilst Paraguay were clearly stronger after the sending off, we managed to see out the game without much drama.

Whilst Ecuador beat Venezuela courtesy of a late penalty, Brazil could only limp to a draw at home to a Uruguay side who'd played 80 minutes with a man fewer, having had Giménez sent off on 11 minutes. 

Which means we head into March's final set of fixtures with just a point separating Brazil, us and Ecuador - one team will qualify automatically, one will make the playoff and one will face heartbreak and no route to Qatar '22. It's impossible to predict who will come out on top, with the remaining fixtures difficult for all three teams:

Perhaps we have a small advantage in that we don't have to play Argentina, but with La Albiceleste already qualified it's possible they'll take the foot off... although hopefully not against arch-rivals Brazil. Our first game against Uruguay is a stinker. They absolutely thumped us 3-0 in my first game in charge and technically still need points to guarantee qualification. Indeed with just 3 points separating Colombia in 2nd and Ecuador in 6th, there's scope for a huge, if unlikely, shock.

Ideally, Colombia will slip up against Venezuela in their first game and need something going into their final match in Brazil, but I'm banking on 4 points being enough for at least the playoff spot. So many permutations and maybes that the best thing to do is just concentrate on winning our own games and hope that's enough.

Edited November 23, 2021 by Shrewnaldo

[Shrewnaldo]

Mini-update because this is completely crazy

Brazil had 3 men sent off and lost 4-1 in Argentina, whilst we were 2-0 down at half time and came back to win. Which means that, going into the last game, Brazil are in only the playoff spot:

And with results going the way they did, Colombia aren't mathematically guaranteed promotion yet so will have something to play for... and Brazil now have a lot of suspensions... Ecuador travel to Argentina... it's a shame there isn't a mechanism in the game for them to roll over if it'd help put their arch-rivals out. An interesting final day approaches...

[keeper#1]

I don't see a way that Peru falls all the way to 6th place.

[Shrewnaldo]

If Brazil and Uruguay win, whilst Ecuador beat Argentina and we lose to Chile with a 6 goal swing... unlikely yes, but possible

[Shrewnaldo]

#11 - Into the playoff - Perú

I forgot to update on this last night but, following the absolutely insane penultimate round of games and Brazil's 8-man defeat to Argentina, we threw away our chance at automatic qualification by getting roundly thrashed in Chile.

To be fair, the game itself was far more even than the scoreline suggests - with 14 shots apiece and Perú actually bettering our rivals' xG by 2.55 to 2.07. But our 'keeper Gallese had a poor game and we Lapadula, who was otherwise outstanding, squandered a host of chances - wracking up 1.27xG on his own.

Equally disappointingly, Brazil managed to dig themselves out of trouble in spectacular fashion by thumping Colombia 5-0 in the final match, despite their suspensions from the feisty match in Buenos Aires. Uruguay also won but at least Argentina did us a favour in also beating Ecuador and thereby ensuring that we'd qualify for the playoffs. Mad though it seems, had we beat Chile we'd have finished second.

I was expecting to face an Oceanic side in the playoff but it seems like the system has changed somewhat and, whilst New Zealand will play Saudi Arabia, we will face a double-legged playoff with Jamaica for a place in Qatar '22. With Michail Antonio, Leon Bailey and Demarai Gray a genuinely decent front three, it might be more challenging than I'd anticipated.

Nevertheless, playoffs is a far better outcome than I had anticipated since taking charge of the national side.  My record so far stands at:

• Played   12
• Won        7
• Drawn    2
• Lost        3
• Goals scored  20
• Goals against 17

Clearly the defence is the area of most concern and we do have a bad habit of the odd heavy defeat - 9 of those goals have been conceded in just two games, away in Colombia and Chile. On the other hand, Gallese topped the clean sheets chart for CONMEBOL qualifying with 5; and we held Argentina and Brazil to away draws - albeit with extenuating circumstances in both. So working out that approach to away games against strong sides is something that really has to happen soon.

 

[DefinitelyTaylor]

Very unfortunate not to qualify automatically however I still fancy you to beat Jamaica in the play-offs. Good luck!