[FM23] Jacinto Leal - Story of my Managerial Life

[warlock]

4 hours ago, lfds89 said:

The board is concerned with the number of conceded goals

Yeah, I've had that with Benfica - best defence in the league for 2 seasons but the board is still 'concerned'

[lfds89]

Last match of February and March

[Champions League] vs Ajax (H)

First of all, my first assessment was perhaps a little too optimistic. Ajax are indeed a great team. The squad depth report showed players rated 4 or 4,5 stars when compared to mine in every position besides GK.

They play in a 4-3-3 DM, just like us. Apart from the individual quality, didn’t see a big reason to change how we play, so only gave Beier the instruction to mark the DM zone.

5 minutes in and ASM scores the opener. Then, ASM wins the penalty but Arda fails to score. And last piece of play by ASM as he suffers another tackle and asks to be subbed off. Harit comes in.

The second half wasn’t eventful, and we had to sub off some tired players. The match ended as it was in the first half.

In the end, it was a shame we didn’t score the penalty as it would put us in a much more comfortable position for the second leg.

ASM was MOTM playing 27 minutes! He already has 3 MOTM performances in this UCL, which shows his importance to us.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Metz (A)

5 for Beier in a half! He destroyed them. 2 of his goals were just him pressing, winning the ball and finishing. Also, one more assist for Vormer, as I’m starting to feel impressed by him.

In other games, Lyon lost and we are 7 points away from them.

 

[Champions League] vs Ajax (A)

13 minutes in we got a red card, they were playing much better than in the first leg. We changed to a 4-2-3-0 with Arda as CAM; then 4-2-2-1 with Daoud as ST. They eventually scored a goal. In the 80^th minute, Soumaré had an injury and I was prompted to take him off the field, but he could play on, so I decided to keep him, although his fitness levels were terrible. In the 90^th minute, the same happened to them, but they decided to remove their player. We were 10v10, but with a player severely conditioned. We got to extra-time, which meant I could make one more substitution. Soumaré was out and in came Fujimoto, Haidara played RB and Nagy went to DM. Not much has happened in extra-time and we went to penalties.

They miss their first!

We score! 0-1!

1-2, 2-3, and they miss another. If we score, we are through! Haidara on the spot… HE SCORES!!!!

It was way more emotional than I thought it would be. We defended really well, they never created big chances, and I’m so proud of these guys! Brilliant!

10M in the bank and Soumaré is only out for 2 days. All good.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Sochaux (H)

Easy win. Rennes draw against Monaco, so we get our 2^nd place back. Next week is Rennes vs Lyon so it’s guaranteed at least one of them will lose points.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Ajaccio (A)

Some repetitions from the previous games: 5 goals scored in the last 4 league games, multiple goals from Beier in a single game, and another direct free kick by Arda (he also scored one against Sochaux). The first time we hit an xG of 5! Just a shame we conceded one.

With this game, we have equalized PSG in goals scored. Quite an achievement for such a big difference in quality.

 

In the other game, Rennes won 4-2, so we almost guaranteed the 3^rd place as we have 10 points to Lyon with 7 matches to play.

 

And the standings:

With some individual performances to mention:

 

And surely, player of the month. Only Arda and Daoud have scored more goals in the whole season than Beier in a single month.

 

Also a mention to Badiashile: we conceded 5 goals in 13 games since he arrived, and this includes: 2x Ajax; 2x At Madrid, Monaco; and Rennes. He also has the 2nd highest average rating in our squad with 7.35 (behind Beier).

 

Youth Update

 

These are not just youth players, with Beier and Turati with a chance to get their first national games. Miath was only capped at U18 and he now advances to U20; Gustavo Blanco also moves from the U19 of Spain to U20; Koné debuts for the Ivory Coast U20. Some youngsters are already being called up to their national teams (some were found exactly that way).

 

Our U19 team was eliminated in the Quarter-Finals of the Youth League.

 

And our Youth Intake:

After getting Miath last season, I couldn’t really ask for much especially since our youth recruitment is just “good”. Still, Diallo looks a decent prospect.

Name	Best Pos	Personality	Age	ShStop	Physical	Speed	Mental	Comm	Ecc	Aerial	Dist	Total	Status
Kokou Bebou	GK	Resilient	16	8	9	10	10	7	1	13	7	41%	P3
Tayrik Pineau	GK	Balanced	15	11	7	7	7	6	2	12	8	38%	P2,5

Name	Best Pos	Personality	Age	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Status	Best Rating	Best Position
Abdou Diallo	AM (L)	Fairly Determined	15	4	8	12	11	11	12	9	9	48%	P4	55%	WF
Daniel Simon	ST (C)	Fairly Professional	15	3	8	12	9	10	10	7	10	43%	P2,5	51%	WF
Jordan Vincent	AM (C)	Unambitious	15	5	9	9	10	9	12	4	9	42%	P3	50%	AM
Sacha Jammet	AM (L)	Fairly Loyal	15	5	8	12	11	8	10	8	8	44%	P4	49%	WF
Frédéric Dupont	ST (C)	Low Self Belief	16	2	8	11	9	8	12	10	9	43%	P2	49%	WF
Rodrigo Patrocínio	D (L)	Fairly Determined	15	10	9	8	6	6	8	10	10	42%	P3	49%	CB
Gennaro Leo	M (L)	Fairly Professional	16	3	7	13	7	7	11	2	8	36%	P2,5	46%	WF
Yaovi Alassani	D (C)	Fairly Professional	15	9	9	7	5	6	4	9	9	36%	P2,5	45%	CB
Abdoul Karim Mara	WB (L)	Unambitious	16	8	11	9	7	6	8	6	9	40%	P2,5	45%	FB
Marwane Rougier	M (R)	Fickle	15	2	8	12	9	6	10	3	7	36%	P2,5	44%	WF
Ahmed Mokhtari	DM	Unambitious	15	6	8	8	10	5	6	5	9	36%	P2,5	39%	CM
Ali Boura	AM (R)	Casual	15	4	9	12	7	7	8	5	5	36%	P2,5	39%	WF

 

We also have 2 players featured on the NXGN 2028 list:

Both were recruited in the Winter window and have yet to play for us. Was expecting to see Miath here, but I guess he hasn’t played enough to be considered (probably doesn’t have the reputation needed).

 

UCL Draw

 

2 German teams; 2 English; 1 Italian; 1 Portuguese; 1 Dutch; and 1 Spanish team out. Still in the competition: 2 French; 3 English; 2 Italian; 1 German team

We get Arsenal. 2^nd in the Premier League, managed by Pep. A 33-year-old Raheem Sterling is their top performer with an average rating of 7,50 across 12 matches (he arrived in January); then it’s Fábio Vieira, Tierney, Gabriel Jesus, and Manu Koné. They are the team with the fewest conceded goals in the league; 5^th in goals scored; 3^rd in chances created; 2^nd in Final Third Passes; 2^nd in Final Third Passes Against. They seem to be taking the ball away from their goal.

 

The next phase is already known as well:

[warlock]

That's a good month, I think. Champions League is tough, as I'm finding on my save, but I think we'll take a penalty shootout win over Ajax every time

[lfds89]

17 horas atrás, warlock disse:

Yeah, I've had that with Benfica - best defence in the league for 2 seasons but the board is still 'concerned'

Some things I will never understand. This month they aren't concerned any longer.

 

6 horas atrás, warlock disse:

That's a good month, I think. Champions League is tough, as I'm finding on my save, but I think we'll take a penalty shootout win over Ajax every time

Yes, pretty good. The calendar helps. We played 3 of the last 4 teams in the league and with opportunity to rest.

The penalty shootout is not good for the heart, but a win is a win, and I wouldn't mind winning the UCL even if I got there through penalties in all rounds. The crazy thing about this type of competition is that luck plays a big part. A sending-off; an own goal; a misplaced header; a fluke, etc can change the whole match and decide the winner.

[warlock]

4 hours ago, lfds89 said:

luck plays a big part

Very much. In the league an occasional blip doesn't hurt you much; in Europe one bad result can send you out.

Exciting, isn't it

[lfds89]

Em 04/09/2023 em 12:51, warlock disse:

Very much. In the league an occasional blip doesn't hurt you much; in Europe one bad result can send you out.

Exciting, isn't it

Quite exciting indeed.

 

Although can't say the same thing about the French league. In fact, against PSG seems like one bad result and I'm out of the race.

[lfds89]

Loanees

We have to loan our prospects since our B-Team can’t play in a competitive division. I don’t like it, but it seems like our best bet right now. Next year, I plan for some players to go to Marítimo (our affiliate) and they’ll play in the Portuguese Second League.

I like to see everybody being given minutes.

 

Asking for Improvements

I asked the board for 2 improvements: junior coaching and youth recruitment.

First was a no… Disappointing but we are already on “Excellent”.

Second was a yes! Finally, we improve the recruitment. From next year on, I expect better players to come through the ranks and Miath will be the leader.

 

Then, we finished some work:

 

Current facilities are as follows:

We still need to improve, but we are on the right path.

 

April

[Ligue 1] vs Bordeaux (A)

We had some trouble finding the net, but otherwise a controlled game.

 

[Champions League] vs Arsenal (A)

We started the game with a “Cautious” mentality, and didn’t change the rest of the instructions. Beier suffered a touch when Koné got injured (20 minutes in), he kept playing but near half time he had to be taken off.

When they scored I tried to play more positively, but we couldn’t do much.

1-0 leaves the score open for the second leg. Let’s hope we can do better in front of our fans.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Auxerre (H)

Auxerre are dead last on the table with no chance of moving up, so I rotated the whole team. Even gave minutes to Husser who has been training with the first team squad (in hopes of a personality change, but to no avail).

With this win, we are told we have secured qualification to the Europa League, but in fact, we are already top-4 and that means UCL. Also, we had a bonus payment to a staff member due to UCL qualification.

 

[Champions League] vs Arsenal (H)

For the home match, decided to make little changes: Beier playing as DLF-A so he could provide support to the midfield. And asked the team to focus play down both sides so we get the ball to the lane and make their very attacking wingers (Martinelli and Sterling) defend. I also upped the tempo a bit. Feel like at this level it’s almost mandatory. And lastly, a big change in personnel: Arda starts on the bench. Yes, my best player isn’t on the starting eleven for what is probably the most important match of the season. Why? Exactly, because it is a big match and he isn’t comfortable in these games. I’ll let Fujimoto start, who has been having a brilliant season as well and he can be my secret weapon late in the game.

 

Love you too, Pep!

 

17 minutes in, we concede a penalty and they score.

I switched Daoud to IW-S (from IW-A). Feel like he needs to drop a bit more and participate more so he can collectively be more dangerous.

Said and one, just 3 minutes after, Daoud plays into Beier who then plays to Haidara and we equalize.

Around the 30-minute mark, they have a big chance on a play where we make 2 goal-line clearances.

The first half ends. They have been the better team, but we are giving them a fight.

Daoud is feeling tired so I sub him off in the 53^rd minute for Harit. Friedrich also comes in. His aerial strength might be decisive in set-pieces. 7 minutes later, Arda comes in for a tired Fujimoto.

Great second half, but we needed just one goal to at least take it into extra time and couldn’t get it.

I’m happy for the guys and for the club! We surely are on the right path.

 

10M more in the bank, and we got the information about our budget for next season:

50M is quite nice!

 

And for the other matches:

Villa destroyed PSG! The deciding goal was at 90+4! Ouch!

Remaining teams in European Competitions: Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Villa; Espanyol, Monaco, Sevilla, Leeds; Rennes, Celta, West Ham, Feyenoord.

5 English teams; 3 Spanish teams; 2 French teams; 1 German team; 1 Dutch.

We are on the run to have one more team in the UCL

 

[Ligue 1] vs Lorient (A)

It’s almost like the season has ended…

One of, if not our worst match since I arrived. 62% possession without creating anything.

 

[Coupe de France] vs PSG (A)

I used the same tactic I had developed before and it worked. Difficult game as expected, but we are through!

 

We’ll play Lyon in the Final.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Monaco (H)

Difficult end of season. Players are tired, even with rotation, the ones on the bench don’t come in ready.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Lyon (A)

We now have 2 games against Lyon in a row. The first one is for the league. With 3 games left to play, if we win, we guarantee 3^rd place and direct entry into the UCL league stage.

 

They had their game against Metz after our game against Monaco, so I took a trip to Metz to watch it.

They played a 5-2-3. Very typical of them to play without a proper striker.

No point in asking my team to counter as they always keep 3 men in the midfield line.

They mostly build up through Quarta and Varela. Don’t know if I should press them or mark them. I think I’m happy with them hitting long balls to the wingers. I’ll have Maxi/Nagy and Pezzella who are pretty good defenders.

Varela’s passes in the first half against Metz (somehow he’s not set as DLP, maybe because Maleh is AP on the wing):

Quarta doesn’t venture as much:

 

Sergi Cardona has lost the ball more than any other player: 18 times just in the first half. If he plays against us, I’m happy to let him have the ball. Don’t know if I can take advantage of this. With 3 at the back, it’s difficult to hit them for losing possession so high up the pitch.

 

On the other side, it’s their CBs and Quarta (BWM) winning possession for them.

Weak spots are the wings and Varela.

 

Actually… I’m thinking “can we go 3v3 against their backline?” Having Daoud, Beier and Arda running against their back 3 seems powerful. We would have to change a lot in formation, but not quite in style. Turati; Nagy/Maxi, Friedrich/Balerdi/Carboni, Badiashile; ASM?, Soumaré/Reis, Svanberg/Haidara, Pezzella; Arda, Beier, Daoud… I like it. Besides ASM as only wide player, but with Nagy/Maxi as RCB he has a good cover.

 

Late in the game, they changed to a 4-2-3-1. I must pay attention to the change.

I started out with a 3-4-2-1. Daoud (SS-A) and Arda (T-A) behind Beier (AF-A).

 

They started in their predicted 5-2-3. I soon realized both Daoud and Arda were getting too deep when we didn’t have the ball and so ruining our plan. I changed to a 3-4-1-2 with Arda as AP-A behind Beier and Daoud (both AF-A – I don’t want Arda as T-A as it has “Move Into Channels” locked; also means I should have started with Beier in another role).

 

ASM recovers the ball, Arda gets to it, and finds Beier behind their defensive line. It could have gone to either of my 2 strikers.

1-0 ends the first half.

Quite balanced.

 

In the second half, they scored in a through ball from the wing. ASM was very late to his position and Cardona was free to play the pass. Our 3 at the back were also not coordinated.

I hadn’t noticed they had already changed to 4-2-3-1. Exactly what I said before that I should be paying attention to… So now we move back to our usual 4-3-3.

Instantly Arda creates a great chance for Daoud, he shoots and… Beier blocks it… Clear goal… And he was offside…

I want to say we were better in the second half, if only marginally.

That chance should have been a goal.

It ends 1-1.

Third place is a guarantee. And I’m confident about the Cup Final.

 

[SixPointer]

I love your work! Feel you’re building something special in Marseille it’s a place I would very like to end up at some point. There champions league triumph is one of great delight!

Paris have ran away with it again this year but i fancy you to topple them in the not so distant future. I seen you tinker with a some what 343 shape. Give the flat front three ago. Even use midfielders, Guler would probably make a very interesting False 9

[lfds89]

3 horas atrás, SixPointer disse:

I love your work! Feel you’re building something special in Marseille it’s a place I would very like to end up at some point. There champions league triumph is one of great delight!

Paris have ran away with it again this year but i fancy you to topple them in the not so distant future. I seen you tinker with a some what 343 shape. Give the flat front three ago. Even use midfielders, Guler would probably make a very interesting False 9

Thanks! Really appreciate it.

My objectives right now are: to do well in UCL (R16/QF,...) and win the League. Next year with 1 CM and 1 RB and if nobody leaves, I think we can give PSG a fight. But I don't think I will be able to hold Beier and/or Güler. And they are going for Musiala. If they join Musiala with Saka, Bellingham and Mbappé, only injuries can put us in contention.

I'm not the greatest fan of 3 at-the-back formations, I've only used it this time to counter this specific threat. But might tinker a bit in the future. I have a pretty decent squad to try it as I have plenty of good defenders.

Güler is great in every place in the field. He suffered a bit when we lost Guendouzi because he turned into the only real creator in the middle, so he was heavily targeted. I've used him as F9 against PSG and he might be useful there (if we lose Beier I wouldn't mind playing Arda as F9 with inside forwards, for instance).

 

[warlock]

On 10/09/2023 at 00:32, lfds89 said:

I’m confident about the Cup Final

Good luck - feels like a season where you deserve some silverware

[lfds89]

5 horas atrás, warlock disse:

Good luck - feels like a season where you deserve some silverware

Yeah... About that... Update coming soon

[lfds89]

May

[Coupe de France] vs Lyon (N)

Don’t know if it’s good or bad that the board doesn’t expect us to win this. But our supporters want it and I want it as well.

We start with: Atubolu; Nagy, Friedrich, Badiashile; Svanberg, Soumaré, Fujimoto, Pezzella; Arda; Beier, Daoud.

I was planning on playing again in the 3-4-1-2 but just as the game started I noticed they were playing in 4-2-3-1 so back to 4-3-3. Fortunately, my players can play multiple positions so we can switch between formations easily.

They scored in the 37^th minute through a counter and that was it. I eventually threw everybody up in a 4-2-4 but we couldn’t create anything…

 

It was our first chance at silverware and we completely bottled it. The fact that we had prepared for a completely different game, ruined it all. Maybe I could have stayed in 3-4-1-2 and see how it played out. Congratulations to Lyon!

 

[Ligue 1] vs Lens (H)

Now we only have 2^nd place to fight for and that’s not particularly interesting (same European qualification and 2M more prize money).

I would love to have Beier and Arda as top scorer and top assister in the league, though. Right now, Beier has 2 more goals than Mbappé and 6 more than Kalimuendo; Arda is 1 assist behind Saka.

 

We win, but Beier didn’t score and Arda didn’t assist… In fact they were our worst performers. Shame!

Rennes won their game so they have 2 more points than us. They play Troyes (10^th) in the next game.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Nice (A)

Rennes played before us and won their game, which means we finished in 3^rd.

This time, we lost, but Arda assisted Beier.

 

And the season finally ends.

We made 9 more points than last year; scored 12 more and conceded 7 less.

The xG table puts us in 2^nd.

We have the top scorer in Beier with 32 goals in 31 games and Arda is joint-second in assists with 13 in 29 and 2 sub-appearances.

 

The youth team won their league again.

4 more goals for Miath. What a beast!

His form in the last matches of the season was insane! Clearly a level above the competition.

 

End of Season Stats

50 games for Beier and almost 4000 minutes! I can’t do this to him or any other player again.

41 goals for Beier, 12 for Arda and 11 for Daoud. I was too reliant on Beier, need to diversify.

4 guys broke the double-digit mark in assists: Arda with 17; Daoud with 14; Harit with 11 and ASM with 10.

 

Accolades & Finances

Beier is the German Footballer of the Year but isn’t going to the Euros with the National Team…

Odd that his goals didn’t grant him the record for most goals in a season. Just checked: Josip Skoblar scored 49 in 70/71.

 

We made money! Lots!

 

Contracts

We are 6^th in salary in the league. With 50M in the transfer budget, it doesn’t make sense to keep it like this when we want to keep some players with us.

 

The first one to be offered a new contract was Arda. He still had a “squad player” status. He’s interested in a new contract so that’s an easy one. After talking with his agent, DOF takes control of the negotiations.

Wage: 337k. Wants: 435-555k

 

I also tried Beier, but he has some interest in him, and his agent tells me he doesn’t want to talk about contracts now.

 

Then we have some players ending their contracts next season: Pezzella, ASM, Soumaré, Haidara, Friedrich, Hateboer, Atubolu, and 2 youngsters: Carrière and Husser.

The first is Pezzella. He ends his contract next season, is on a big wage, turned 30 this season and he’s not the greatest fit for the LWB position as I want a more attack-minded player. But, he’s one of the best players I have and makes no sense to let him go now. I talked to his agent and he demands more than what he has now. Tricky situation. I stalled, but I’ll have to handle this one myself.

Wage: 351k. Wants: 377-477k

I want him for 2 more years.

Maybe I jumped too soon when talking with his agent. He has a club option to extend his contract, so I don’t need to negotiate with him. Done!

 

Next is ASM. 31, but he was on the first eleven all season long. Next year I plan on playing Vormer there. Wants a big wage and big status. I’ll have to handle it.

Wage: 419k. Wants: 430-546k.

I’ll try to convince him to stay for 2 years.

Had to offer him 455k for 2 years as an Important Player. Next season, I’ll drop him slowly and change his status.

 

Soumaré: 29, switched with Reis in the first eleven. Not the best fit for the position, but he’s a good player to have in the team. Also wants more money and a big status.

Wage: 322k. Wants: 343-435k.

I’ll possibly try to sell him. Don’t think he merits all that and a big place in the squad.

 

Haidara: 30, he’s been a backup. Can play DM, CM and RW so I like to have him, but he isn’t fulcral. Also wants to play Mezzala.

Wage: 217k. Wants: 231-300k.

I’ll most likely sell him.

 

Friedrich: 32, he’s the one who gets us goals from corners and has been our best CB alongside Badiashile. Next year, Maxi and Nagy will probably play more as CB and I have Carboni who can also play there. I would like to keep him next season, but don’t see a reason to keep him longer. Being 33 at the end of next season, I don’t think he’ll be worth much (he isn’t already), so no offer for him.

 

Hateboer, 34, captain. He’s been declining and doesn’t have the skills to be an option any longer. I also have some young players coming through. I don’t even want him in the squad for next season, so that’s definitely a decision not to offer him a contract.

 

Atubolu, 25, backup GK. He was statistically my best GK this season, but his attributes are quite far from Turati, so it might be only related to the easier games he played. Next season I already have a young GK incoming and Atubolu has a low transfer value, so no point in offering another contract.

 

Regarding youngsters, there are two different situations. Husser has been training with the first team all year while I tried to change his personality, but couldn’t. He isn’t developing a lot, so unless he improves next season, I won’t offer him a contract. Carrière seems to have decent potential and has been developing well. Lucky me, he has a trigger to extend his contract and I’ll use it.

 

Career & Most Used 11

Season	Year	Club	League	Position	Cup	Stage	CC	Stage
01	2022/2023	Sertanense	PT4	1st	TdP	First Round	DNP	-
02	2023/2024	Sertanense	PT3	3rd	TdP	Sixth Round	DNP	-
03	2024/2025	Sertanense	PT2	3rd	TdP	Third Round	DNP	-
04	2025/2026	Sertanense	PT1	9th	TdP	Third Round	DNP	-
05	2026/2027	Marseille	FR1	3rd	CdF	Third Round	UEL	Semi-Final
06	2027/2028	Marseille	FR1	3rd	CdF	Finalist	UCL	Quarter-Final

 

Season	Year	League PPG	League Win %	League GF	League GA
01	2022/2023	2,27	69%	70	32
02	2023/2024	1,56	44%	33	26
03	2024/2025	1,76	50%	59	36
04	2025/2026	1,29	35%	46	50
05	2026/2027	1,79	50%	70	37
06	2027/2028	2,06	62%	82	30

 

Season	Year	Most Goals	Most Assists	Most POM	Highest AvR
01	2022/2023	Karamoko – 31	Quaresma – 9	Karamoko – 8	Kisley – 7,42
02	2023/2024	Karamoko – 23	P Mendes – 10	Karamoko – 5	L Madeira – 7,26
03	2024/2025	Karamoko – 21	Miccoli – 8	Karamoko – 7	Karamoko – 7,10
04	2025/2026	Karamoko – 22	Costinha – 9	Costinha – 4	Karamoko – 7,02
05	2026/2027	Beier – 30	A Harit – 12	Beier – 10	Beier – 7,34
06	2027/2028	Beier – 41	A Güler – 17	Beier – 9	Beier – 7,38

 

Season	Year	Income	Expenditure	Profit	Avg Attendance
01	2022/2023	1 353 447,00 €	1 411 118,00 €	-57 671,00 €	662
02	2023/2024	1 485 040,00 €	1 942 059,00 €	-457 019,00 €	1266
03	2024/2025	9 730 336,00 €	11 047 343,00 €	-1 317 007,00 €	1876
04	2025/2026	6 747 649,00 €	7 290 128,00 €	-542 479,00 €	5296
05	2026/2027	269 469 620,00 €	252 138 019,00 €	17 331 601,00 €	56937
06	2027/2028	409 927 727,00 €	354 595 554,00 €	55 332 173,00 €	62557

 

Some Marseille players already make the team of my most used players.

Name	Position	Apps	Goals	Seasons	Club
Daniel Azevedo	GK	78	0	23-26	Sertanense
Tiago Melo	RB	67	4	23-26	Sertanense
Luís Ferreira	CB	121	11	22-26	Sertanense
Leonardo Balerdi	CB	75	2	26-28	Marseille
Giuseppe Pezzella	LB	75	0	26-28	Marseille
João Castro	CM	99	12	23-26	Sertanense
Luís Madeira	CM	99	9	23-26	Sertanense
Arda Güler	CM	90	18	26-28	Marseille
Allan Saint-Maximin	RW	81	11	26-28	Marseille
Denilson	LW	117	21	22-26	Sertanense
Mohamed Karamoko	ST	129	97	22-26	Sertanense

 

Around the World

Nation	Top3	Relegated
England	Liverpool, City, Tottenham	Brentford, Fulham, Blackburn
France	PSG, Rennes, Marseille	Metz, Auxerre
Germany	Bayern, Leipzig, Dortmund	Mainz, Augsburg
Holland	Feyenoord, Ajax, PSV	Zwolle, Volendam, Emmen
Italy	Juventus, AC Milan, Inter	Genoa, Pisa, Benevento
Portugal	Benfica, Porto, Braga	Lourosa, Boavista, Casa Pia
Spain	Barcelona, Real, Atlético	Almería, Girona, Cádiz
Competition	Winner	Finalist
UCL	Bayern	Liverpool
UEL	Leeds	Monaco
UECL	West Ham	Rennes

 

[warlock]

10 hours ago, lfds89 said:

We made 9 more points than last year; scored 12 more and conceded 7 less

That's good progress. Just got to keep plugging away and hope PSG slip up somewhere

[SixPointer]

Bridging the gap to PSG is always going to be a project due to the resources, while you dropped points from last year XG places you higher so has some things went your way you would sit second. 
 

Good move securing new deals for players Guler especially, have you lined up any signings to try take that next step?

[lfds89]

8 horas atrás, warlock disse:

That's good progress. Just got to keep plugging away and hope PSG slip up somewhere

 

3 horas atrás, SixPointer disse:

Bridging the gap to PSG is always going to be a project due to the resources, while you dropped points from last year XG places you higher so has some things went your way you would sit second. 
 

Good move securing new deals for players Guler especially, have you lined up any signings to try take that next step?

I would have loved some silverware and 2nd place was attainable, but I'm happy. Rennes has Kalimuendo, Terrier and Gulliksen who make them run. Just hope somebody buys Kalimuendo and I'm pretty sure they take a tumble. (They must be thinking the same about Beier and us)

 

Never thought Guler would accept this wage, but his reputation is still low when compared to his ability so I get to keep him.

 

Regarding transfers, there are 2 positions to fill in the starting lineup: RB and CM. Do I have the money to make them is a good question. Who can I bring in is also another good question.

For the RB spot I don't have many doubts. My scouts have found 2 players with interesting statistics. Either one is around 40-50M. So that's my budget gone...

For the CM, I'm looking into some players: 2 players who have been here before and 2 players from our league. Value range from 25-70M ...

I need to sell for at least one of them.

[lfds89]

Individual accolades

Beier dethrones Mbappé who won the last 2 editions. An all-French-League podium in the European Golden Shoe.

 

Turati gets his first cap.

 

Up in the Rankings

And we helped get Nice into the UCL.

 

Naturally, our reputation grew a bit. We are now 2^nd in Ligue 1 and 26^th in Europe.

 

 

This is a small update before the transfer window.

It's almost over and it was a busy one.

[lfds89]

Transfer Window

I want to make my team capable of battling PSG.

In my mind, I want a starting RB and a starting CM, if nobody leaves.

I plan to sell Haidara, Soumaré and Balerdi. Probably will get around 40M for them. Just negotiated a clause for Ristic. We had 40% of the profit and they bought the clause for 10M (he would have to be sold for 50M, which I don’t think he will).

We had 45M inherited from last season as I had already spent 9,5M in a prospect GK and a prospect RB.

 

Jofré will most likely be loaned out to have game time, but it will be between him and Sebek to fight for a place in the first team.

He’s non-EU so that might be a deciding factor.

 

Bruno Luís is a massive talent. Will be on loan this season so he can play more often. But I expect him to be a starter in 2 years.

 

For the RB spot there are 2 targets right now: Hugo Siquet and Diogo Travassos.

Siquet is a bit better in the air, Travassos is a bit more technical, but they are quite balanced.

Statistically, Siquet had 8 assists, Travassos only had 2 in a better team. Funny that Siquet plays at Freiburg and their striker was the one I had arranged for a transfer had Beier not accepted the offer. He was top scorer in Germany so my scouting got it right in both players. They also have Emil Hojlund (the younger brother of Rasmus) with a 6M release clause for teams in UCL. I feel tempted if he accepts being a backup. Not that different from Beier as well:

 

Another player in the squad, although this one is only on loan, is Zvonarek. He was also on loan with us. I picked him up cheaply at the time and mainly wanted him as a backup option for several positions. Now, he seems like a good fit for the CM vacant role.

Still, the benchmark is Guendouzi and he’s a bit off but not so far.

Nkili is also an option but he’s very expensive and I don’t think I’ll have the money for him. He was on loan with us when I arrived, and there was an option to buy I didn't take to gather funds for Beier.

We have other two options in sight: Kephren Thuram and Gulliksen. This would weaken our rivals while making us stronger (and to some extent PSG…).

Tried Thuram but he doesn’t want to join due to our rivalry. Even asked Badiashile to talk to him as they are friends, but he kept his word. I respect that.

He ended up at Napoli. Good enough for me as he’s no longer a rival.

Gulliksen doesn’t enjoy big matches… I can’t play both him and Güler in big matches, so he’s mostly out of the question. And he wants 700k+ in wages

 

Siquet has a release clause of 41M for UCL teams. Zvonarek is valued below 30M so I would need a budget of 70M plus wages. Doable. I also expect to sell some youngsters which might help with some money.

Siquet has increased his wage demands to 435-571 which is not doable for me right now. Got into negotiations with Travassos and his agent demanded 500+. Back to square one. I’ll probably have to work with Sebek/Maxi/Jofré.

Travassos ended up in Lens with a 700+ wage.

Done deal with Zvonarek.

 

Balerdi and Haidara are out.

13 + 25 = 38M in the bank! And around 500k per month saved.

 

Got around 50M to spend.

I returned to Siquet and managed to get a deal. Not ideal, but I wanted a more attacking right-back and there were not many choices in the market. He'll be our highest earner.

 

Can’t understand the mathematics here, but this transfer still left me with 35M to spend.

Morales received some offers, but he isn’t developing well, so I accepted it and went for a backup.

Better than Morales, understudy to Pezzella.

Also, not a coincidence: one of Beier’s favored personnel.

Morales goes to Real Sociedad. Not much money in but he has a 25% future profit clause.

I'll have to find another prospect LB.
 

Also got an offer for Friedrich. I’m really not interested in letting him go, but he’s 32 and he wanted me to accept one of the offers, so I did.

Eventually, he opted for Braga. Funny they mention a “princely 120k per match”. He scored 9 goals in a season and a half, I’m happy with everything he gave us.

 

Got Odriozola in. I’ll move Maxi to RB and have Odriozola as a backup to Siquet.

 

Then we got an offer for Maxi that got me thinking.

If it was negotiable and I could change the installments and the number of games until we got the rest of the payment, I would have accepted it. 51M is fantastic for a 2^nd eleven player. I really like him, but he’s not a great CB nor a great FB so he doesn’t really fit. And he occupies a non-EU slot (out of 4 available). We got him on a free so that would be crazy profit and pretty sure the board would have liked it. He wasn't interested so decided to refuse it. A few days later, Bayer (who made this offer) came for me and asked me to attend an interview. I politely declined. Still have work to do here.

 

I had my eyes on a young French midfielder, Charier. Not cheap, but I like his potential and always like to have more domestic players.

He played a full season in the French and in the Belgium first tier already, so quite experienced for his age. He certainly won’t get as many minutes here, but he’ll be a nice option to have around.

I was planning on keeping Sebek in the squad but had to involve him in the transfer. He’ll go to Troyes for this season and have minutes in a Ligue 1 team, it’s probably the best.

 

One month to go until the summer window ends, but from my side, it’s done!

 

Summary (so far) :

GK: Stays the same.

RB: Nagy and Maxi play CB, Hateboer left; Siquet and Odriozola in.

LB: Morales out; Çalhanoglu in.

CB: As said before, Nagy and Maxi are “full-time” CB; Friedrich and Balerdi are out.

DM: Stays the same.

CM: Haidara out, Svanberg’s loan ended; Charier and Zvonarek in, Castelli back from loan.

RW: Stays the same.

LW: Stays the same.

ST: Stays the same.

The plan is to have 23 or 24 players in the squad and I want all of them to be able to play in the first-team. More on the squad when the transfer window officially ends.

I believe we are better overall right now. Vormer, Daoud, Miath, Maxi and Nagy are youngsters who developed last season and the ones who were bought are better than those who left the club.

[lfds89]

Forgot this:

[lfds89]

Staff Overhaul

Had plenty of staff ending their contracts in the end of last season so took the chance to make an overhaul and increase the staff quality.

Most of them answered an advert and we signed them; only a few were picked from the database.

 

Preseason Matches and Training

I followed @danielgear and @Jtomsett11 preseason training and schedule. Gave it my twist.

 

Played my second line in the first game of each cup and the first eleven in the final. There was a training camp scheduled so had to play Huesca there with no second match that weekend.

Could’ve probably played better teams in the last cup, but it was a test. Next year might do it a little differently.

 

Schedules:

 

Tactic Review

The changes are:

Slightly Higher Tempo: we are better than most teams, with highly technical players, so makes sense to play a bit faster and with more purpose. Plan to drop it to control the game late.

Focus Play Down Both Wings: tried it and liked the result. The team tilts towards the sides and creates numerical advantages near the ball. Downside: if they recover the ball and send it to the other wing, we’ll lack players there. I also plan to drop it when we are winning comfortably so it’s easier to maintain shape.

High Press: Last season, I dropped both the pressing and defensive lines. Don’t think I need to do that. Beier has a high work rate (16), Daoud has 13 and Vormer has 12. They are all fast so they can recover easily if their opposition gets past them.

 

I also have a second tactic with a slight tweak in roles I want to use throughout the season: RB to WB-A/CWB-A; RW to AP-S; RCM to CAR-S/BWM-S.

 

Season Preview

5^th? Don’t think so…

But nice to see some of my players in the key players list of the Ligue 1.

[lfds89]

Final Transfers & Squad

It was all quiet from my last update until the deadline day. Then Arda and his agent came into my office.

And the offer is terrible for a player of his quality.

I tried talking to him and convincing him to stay but he really wants to go. I don’t want unhappy players here to disrupt the whole squad. Especially when we are doing so well (as you’ll see next).

I won’t sign anyone to replace him as Charier can replace him. Fujimoto, Castelli and Zvonarek can also play his position.

 

Opted to use the money in some more prospects. Hermes Marra, CB and Tammo Kündig, DM. They’ll both stay at their clubs on loan until the end of the season.

Hermes

Tammo

 

In the last minute, I decided to make a bid for Emil Hojlund. I had talked about my interest in him before. He’s good enough for backup and I feel Miath isn’t ready yet to be a first-team player (he’ll still be around).

 

This is the final squad.

22 players and 1 prospect defender, 1 prospect midfielder and 1 prospect striker. I feel like I have depth.

It was a big blow to lose Arda (especially in such a bad deal), but hope others can make up for him.
 

And the prospect squad (although some are already included in the first team).

 

With the end of the transfer window, the season preview was reviewed and now we are expected to finish 6^th by the media, Arda is naturally out of the media dream eleven and key players list, but Nagy got in.

 

August

[Ligue 1] vs Lorient (H)

The season opener and against a candidate for UCL. We lined up with: Turati; Siquet, Nagy, Badiashile, Pezzella; Reis, Arda, Zvonarek; Vormer, Daoud, Beier.

If this is a preview of what is to come, it’s brilliant. Totally dominating. They only scored on a pass that was too short from Zvonarek and Endrick with his quality created the goal.

2 for Beier to start the season, and Daoud also got on the scoresheet. On the creative side: Zvonarek, Vormer and Reis created the goals.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Ajaccio (A)

I wasn’t expecting many difficulties by Ajaccio and it got easier with a red card in the 9^th minute. Both CBs scored but we had some trouble breaking them down. We should have created more chances.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Nantes (A)

Took a bit to break the deadlock, but once we did it turned into a very easy game. Restrained them to 0,01 xG.

Besides the starters, some good feelings about Charier who came on in the 60^th minute and still made 3 key passes, and Çalhanoglu who scored.

Note for future fixtures: Beier as AF-A seems to get in an offside way too often; improved massively when I changed him to DLF-A.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Sochaux (H)

A 4-0 win rounds off a perfect month. Although the schedule has been kind to us facing 3 teams who will most likely be involved in the relegation battle but leaving no doubts in these games speaks volumes of our level right now.

In this game, also changed Beier to DLF-A midway through the first half. Also tried Arda as MEZ-A (got an assist and a goal after the change).

The only downside is Beier is out for 3 weeks. Luckily the next one is just international games, so that leaves only 2 weeks of competitive matches. As Hojlund has just arrived, Daoud will likely play in his place with Vormer moving to the left and ASM back in the starting eleven.

 

Impressive start to Lyon as well and they had more difficult matches. They have beaten Rennes, Monaco, Lille and Montpellier.

Performing very well as a team.

Individually, Zvonarek has really been shining. With 2 goals and 2 assists to add to the statistics shown on the screen.

 

UCL Fixtures

Much tougher than last season. 3 of them should be clear wins, the other 5 are quite balanced.

The registration is difficult and have to leave someone out. Castelli was the chosen one. We have other players who can play in his position and his place in the squad hierarchy is still low so if he gets unhappy won’t be hard to deal with it.

As expected he wanted to talk and it went fine, he understood it was a difficult decision to make.

[lfds89]

Opposition Report

 

PSG is clearly still above the rest. We are now second, although very close to Lyon. I feel we will get some distance with some of the youngsters' development.

 

September

[Ligue 1] vs Strasbourg (A)

We started the game after PSG had drawn and Lyon had lost, so was a good time to win them some points. But we had injuries to Beier and Daoud and with Arda just leaving there was a fair bit of rotation needed.

We messed it up… Miath still managed to get a goal and maybe I should have started him over Hojlund who isn’t familiar with our tactic yet.

 

[Champions League] vs Juventus (A)

Started well, but we couldn’t maintain the rhythm. We are still not at this level, especially when we have to field a second-string team.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Nice (H)

We are finding it a bit hard to move past Arda and Beier still out isn’t helping.

Still, we got the win. Nice only has 2 points in 6 games, which is bad for a team predicted 8^th.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Montpellier (A)

They are 17^th, got a draw against PSG, and won against us… Unbelievable…

We finished the game with 0! shots on target…

4 points away from PSG already.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Lille (H)

With Beier and Daoud near full fitness, the game went smoother. Their goal made us tremble a bit, but we managed to see it off.

PSG defeated Rennes, Lyon drew against Lens and Lorient drew against Monaco. Every rival besides PSG lost points.

 

And this is how September ends in the league:

 

[Champions League] vs PAOK (H)

We left it late, but Daoud changed the whole game. He came in the 57^th minute, we scored our first in the 58^th. He then proceeded to create 6 key passes and 3 chances.
 

October

[Ligue 1] vs Monaco (A)

Important win away from home.

On the same day, Rennes and Lorient drew and Lyon lost.

If PSG could lose some points, “that would be great”.
 

[Ligue 1] vs Rennes (H)

The first big test of the season. We were better throughout the match, but those last minutes were nerve-wracking.

Rennes is now 5 points away.

 

[Champions League] vs Roma (A)

Balanced game. We had to rotate some players after the Rennes game. 1 point, might be important.
 

[Ligue 1] vs Saint-Étienne (A)

Just before we played, Lyon beat PSG 4-1! Not sure if this is good or bad for us, but I’ll take PSG losing points.

It was harder than it looks. We had to get Castelli on the field with his high work rate to take control of the midfield as Charier wasn’t being capable of handling this task.

We end the week just one point away from PSG. It’s on!
 

[Ligue 1] vs Bordeaux (H)

Before we played, PSG lost some more points, drawing 1-1 against Lens.

Marvellous! 4-0, 3 for Beier.

 

We are top of the league! We just have to keep this up for 22 more games... Just that.

Beier has been in brutal form! 15 goals in 9 and 1.

Daoud, Zvonarek and Vormer are in the top-4 in assists.

I’ve been very impressed with Vormer and Zvonarek with a lot of progression and danger created.

 

[Champions League] vs Aston Villa (H)

And a win against Villa with almost a full squad rotation. Only Turati, Daoud and Zvonarek started and Daoud and Zvonarek were eventually substituted.

 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by lfds89

[lfds89]

Best Manager of the Year

It’s not a big award, but it’s nice to be recognized and add an award to the trophy case.

 

GOAL 50

We don’t have any players as expected. Nice to see Guendouzi taking #50.

Besides Mbappé, the French league only has Bellingham #13, Saka #35, Donnarumma #40.

Regarding French players, besides Mbappé: Camavinga, Real Madrid, #7; Tchouameni, Real Madrid, #10; Koundé, Barcelona, #11; Manu Koné, Arsenal, #22; Theo Hernández, AC Milan, #25; Maignan, AC Milan, #27; Upamecano, Juventus, #29; Aït-Nouri, Man City, #45; Nkunku, Leipzig, #47 and as said before Guendouzi, Juventus, #50.

There are still no regens in the list. They should be near. An english midfielder, a spanish striker and a french winger have high reputation and are first-choice players in big teams.

 

Improvements

 

November

[Ligue 1] vs Lyon (A)

The month started with a challenge. Lyon, Away. Just a few days after we both had a UCL match.

We started with our strongest eleven except for Daoud who had been suffering from food poisoning. Instead, ASM got the nod.

They were a bit low on fitness. I thought from the start we could take advantage of that.

It was a balanced first half and Beier got a got just before half-time.

In the 51^st minute, they drew level.

That’s when I decided we had to punish their fitness. Increased our pressing and harder tackling all over. Daoud came in. Zvonarek was feeling tired so Castelli was also in. Then Vormer was tired and I had no other winger on the bench so decided to convert Siquet to WB-A and play Fujimoto on the wing as AP-S. Then, Siquet got tired. Had to get Maxi to that position even though he has “Stays back at all times”. We were pressing, regaining the ball, and getting the ball into the box, but with no end product. All-in, it had to be. Hojlund got in, and moved Beier to the wing as IF-A. I knew we’d be narrow because Maxi wouldn’t give us the width, but I didn’t have any better options.

Then, Beier got a 1v1 against the GK but he missed. And in the 88^th minute, a handball from them in their box gave us a penalty and Beier took it.

5 points away from Lyon and 8 points away from Rennes as they lose their match. We have beaten Lyon and Rennes, our main opposition for the 2^nd spot. Can we beat PSG and claim a very much-deserved 1^st-place? PSG is 4 games away still. First, we have other matches to play and we have to win them to have a chance.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Lens (H)

Another dominating performance against rivals. 9 key passes from Fujimoto, 8 dribbles from Vormer (in 74 minutes). I was expecting a bit more from Castelli, but he still got the assist, so that’s okay for now.

Speaking of Vormer, we bought him for 6M last season. He’s now valued 71-93M! We owe 30% of the profit to Sparta Rotterdam, but we can still make a decent profit out of him and sportingly he’s been an immense asset.

 

[Champions League] vs Besiktas (H)

So, let’s do some math. From the last 4 seasons we know: 17+ points guarantee Round of 16 qualification; 10+ points guarantee Knockout Round qualification; 14 points guarantee being seeded in the Knockout Round (13 was enough in every season except last). We have 7 points and we still have to play: Besiktas (H), Malmö (A), Milan (H), Tottenham (A). Milan is 1^st in the Serie A with 6 points over Inter; Tottenham are 9^th in the Premier League (Son and Kane are 35+ and still in the starting eleven…). Beating Besiktas and Malmö is a must, although we only need 10 to qualify. We have the chance to be seeded if we beat or draw with Milan or Tottenham (considering we win the other 2 games). To qualify to the Round of 16, we need 3 wins and a draw at least. I feel like that’s going to be quite hard and I would prefer to keep my players fresh for the league and just go for the 13/14 points.

In summary, the plan is: to get the win against Besiktas and Malmö, play a rotated squad against Tottenham and Milan, and whatever happens, happens.

 

Something I’m trying especially against teams we are superior to is turning the MEZ-S into MEZ-A. Since the striker is mostly our only goalscorer, I have been thinking about having a second player join him in the box. In this game, I asked Charier to be our MEZ-A and it proved a good option as he netted 2 goals.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Troyes (A)

Statistics suggest a different match than what happened. We scored early, but the rest of the match was dominated by Troyes. We defended well and they didn’t manage to create any clear chance on goal and only got 1 shot on target.

It’s also this type of games that proves we are on the right track. We don’t need to play well to win and keep the opposition at bay.

About why we had some trouble in this game: I think it’s fitness. My players were tired around the 60 minute mark.

 

We remain in first place, still only one point away from PSG but now we have 7 points to Lyon.

 

Loanees

In the meantime, Casian Porumboiu, our striker on loan to Marítimo shows great form.

He was both Player of the Month and Young Player of the Month in the Second League.

 

Ante Balazic was also nominated Young Player of the Month but he won the award in the Portuguese top tier.

 

Overall our players have plenty of playing time.

[lfds89]

December

[Ligue 1] vs Reims (H)

This one felt really good. It wasn’t just about this game, but mostly because PSG drew against Lorient, which gives us a 3 point lead.

Individually: Beier scored 2 more; Atubolu has played 4 matches and yet to concede a goal.

 

[Champions League] vs Malmö (A)

Should have been a more comprehensive win, but we got the 3 points and managed to rest some players for the big game ahead.
 

[Ligue 1] vs PSG (A)

Just 2 days to prepare for the game against PSG so I decided to keep the same formation.

Their starting line-up.

They have been using SMS as a striker.

7 minutes in we score following a corner. Badiashile is the goalscorer.

In the 20^th minute they scored on a rebound, but it was disallowed as SMS was offside in the first ball.

Mbappé’s fitness is dropping sharply. This will certainly help us.

Half time arrives and they have 2 yellow cards: Hakimi (RB) and Kimpembe (LCB). I’ll ask Daoud to play as W-S so he plays wider and into Hakimi. Hope we can get a second yellow on him.

Besides our goal we haven’t done much, but we are also keeping them at bay.

Around the 60^th minute, they took Hakimi away, probably afraid of the second yellow. Pavard came in. Daoud is also tired, so ASM comes in.

Mbappé is also out. Mudryk comes in.

A couple more changes and some minutes after, they desperately change to a 4-4-2 with Tanganga upfront.

Switched my LCM to BWM-S (now was Castelli) and DM to A-D.

In the 86^th minute, they have one more goal disallowed for offside.

And in the last minutes, we get to keep more of the ball and close out the match.

It wasn’t a beautiful game, but we played head-to-head with PSG and won.

Lyon drew against Nice. Rennes lost to Monaco.

 

This was the last league game before Christmas break, so we went on holiday after a 15-0-2 half of the season; 6 points away from PSG and 9 points away from Lyon.

Individually Beier has been a monster.

And the team as a whole has been great.

xG table shows how good we have been.

 

[Coupe de France] vs Ajaccio (H)

A bit unlucky on the draw as we get a tier 1 team in the first round we play. At least it’s Ajaccio who are 17^th in the league.

Once again, we made it harder against Ajaccio than what was supposed. Had to bring in Zvonarek and Beier. Funnily enough, Scherrer, the kid, scored the goal that settled any doubts.

 

[Coupe de France] vs Bordeaux (H)

We get another team from the 1^st tier. Looking around, PSG and Lyon have drawn each other.

Great way to end the year, although we were only dominant after their red card.

I tried Nagy as DM; Vormer as LW; and Daoud as ST. Vormer scored and assisted in that position; Nagy controlled that space quite well; and Daoud scored one as ST (the other one was as LW).

Miath got some minutes and scored 2 more. I don’t want to rush him, but I always love playing him.

 

Youth Intake Preview

Even after all the improvements we had, it doesn’t seem like we’ll have any luck this year.

 

Winter Transfer Window Preview

Heading into it, I must say I’m a bit afraid. Too many of our players are wanted by other teams, some of them powerful teams and they might disrupt our squad. Let’s hope not.

The wanted ones: Turati and Atubolu; Maxi, Birkir; Fujimoto, Castelli, Soumaré; Beier.

Harit also asked to leave. He hasn’t been played that well, he’s 31 and he’s on quite a high wage, so I’ll let him go.

[lfds89]

Winter Transfer Window

Marra was on loan and he’s back.

Soumaré is the first to leave.

Didn’t want him to go, but his wages were always too high and his contract ended this season, so we managed to still make some money out of him. I’m considering moving Nagy to DM and keeping Birkir or Marra as 4^th option CB or recalling Jofré from his loan. Jofré can play DM, CB and RB. I can also recall Kündig who has the potential for 5 stars and is a DM. Eventually, he decided for Kündig.

 

GREAT NEWS!

Beier accepts a new contract!

Harit is the second to leave.

I recalled Gustavo Blanco from loan. He’s still a bit far from the level needed but he wasn’t playing much and he was occupying a national loan vacancy. Harit only participated in 5 games, so I don’t expect to need Blanco that much.

Maxi and Turati had offers. Accepted the one for Maxi has he’s not a starter but don’t want to lose Turati right now. I compromised with him on letting him go for 39M. He’s my starter, Italian international. Man City made a ridiculous bid of 23M with installments. They are way too far.

To replace Maxi, we go back to the options I laid out before for Soumaré: Birkir, Marra and Jofré. I’m tempted to keep Birkir, loan Marra and let Jofré keep his place at Brest (they are fighting for promotion in the 2^nd tier).

Marra goes to Vitesse on loan.

Maxi signs for Man City. 36M, maybe 55M. Bought him at the end of the contract. A massive piece of business. Wasn’t expecting it when I signed him. He was cover for RB and CB, and eventually became an important part of the squad. I’m sad to see him leave, but can’t say no to such business.

By the way, Man City already have Arda and Maxi and are interested in Turati. I might move there next as I already know the players…

Along with these sales comes a new record:

 

There was some interest in Badiashile so I decided to offer him a new contract.

Interest is gone for the time being.

 

We used some of the money we gathered to invest in some young players. I let the DOF make some purchases for our 2^nd Team. Some players have questionable potential and interest for us, but they are cheap so we don’t have much to lose.

Name	Best Pos	Personality	Age	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Status	FB	CB	CM	AM	WF	ST
Niclas Rahbek	ST (C)	Perfectionist	18	5	14	14	11	11	13	9	11	55%	P5	57%	48%	59%	59%	63%	61%
Dexter Sneddon	D (R)	Driven	20	11	14	15	9	6	9	9	14	54%	P3,5	63%	59%	58%	42%	53%	52%
Jaime Garcia	ST (C)	Fickle	19	6	10	13	10	13	12	12	10	54%	P4,5	51%	49%	54%	57%	61%	60%
Nicolò Bozetto	M (C)	Fairly Determined	20	7	11	11	15	12	12	7	10	53%	P3,5	51%	43%	57%	66%	61%	57%
Max Nordh	D (C)	Driven	18	13	12	11	8	8	8	12	13	53%	P4	57%	61%	52%	40%	45%	49%
Tomás Villa	M (C)	Fairly Professional	18	11	11	10	13	10	12	6	11	53%	P4	55%	47%	56%	60%	56%	51%
Sérgio Silva	AM (R)	Spirited	20	3	12	15	9	13	12	7	10	51%	P3	52%	41%	55%	55%	63%	60%
Emilio Montesinos	AM (R)	Mercenary	19	4	12	12	11	10	14	8	9	50%	P4,5	51%	41%	54%	60%	61%	56%
Dani	AM (L)	Perfectionist	19	4	13	14	10	9	13	5	12	50%	P4	56%	41%	57%	55%	61%	54%
Milos Manic	AM (R)	Determined	20	8	12	15	7	8	9	9	12	50%	P3,5	56%	52%	53%	40%	53%	52%
Marco Manuzzi	M (C)	Mercenary	17	4	11	11	14	9	12	5	9	47%	P4,5	47%	35%	53%	61%	57%	51%

 

Atubolu, as expected, will leave when the season ends.

Have the option to sell him now, but I really want to keep him here as backup for Turati.

 

Deadline day didn’t have any action besides some loan-out deals.

 

Overall, it’s not a transfer window I like. We lost a lot of quality in our second string and when you want to compete in various competitions, you need a good second string.

However, no one from the first eleven left and we even got them new contracts. And we have some more prospects to work on.

 

January

[Ligue 1] vs Ajaccio (H)

5-0! Tastes even better after PSG and Lyon lose points. PSG drew against last-placed Sochaux!

 

[Ligue 1] vs Nantes (H)

Easy win, made easier after the red card.

Lyon lost again, and so did Rennes. Rennes is now 17 points away; Lyon is 14. It’s between me and PSG now unless something catastrophic happens.

 

[Champions League] vs AC Milan (H)

After the Tuesday games, we were through to the knockout round. I’ll still play my strongest team as I’ll try to go for the Round of 16 directly.

 

2 goals in 7 minutes sets us in the way, but Nagy is sent off for a hard tackle in the halfway line. Daoud comes off and Beier plays on the left. Challenging to play one man down against one of the best teams in Europe. They score in the 88^th minute and we still have an injury and have to play with 9 men which seems like an eternal time (but in fact only 2 minutes). We secured the win.

They played their hearts out. Love these guys!

 

[Ligue 1] vs Sochaux (A)

Shameful performance… They have 6 points in the league, there’s no excuse to not win this game.

[I was laughing about PSG drawing against them... Almost instant karma]

 

We end January 6 points above PSG.

 

[Champions League] vs Tottenham (A)

A draw is good enough.

 

We get through to the Round of 16. PSG is with us. Rennes and Nice have to go through the Knockout Round. Lyon was eliminated.

 

[Coupe de France] vs Nancy (H)

Home humiliation… Nancy is in the relegation zone in the 2^nd tier… Unbelievable!

The transfer window is probably starting to show. I’ve played my second team and with the loss of Maxi, Soumaré and Harit it is much worse. We can’t rely much on depth.

[lfds89]

Development

 

Name	Best Pos	TOT	TEC	MEN	PHY
Andrei Nagy	DM	6	1	4	1
Lovro Zvonarek	AM (L)	0	0	0	0
Mettin Vormer	AM (L)	4,5	3	0,5	1
Karim Daoud	AM (L)	2	1	0	1
Mickael Charier	M (C)	0,5	0	0,5	0
Tammo Kündig	DM	4	0,5	2	1,5
Jonathan Castelli	AM (C)	-1	-1	0,5	-0,5
Thomas Scherrer	M (C)	1,5	1	0,5	0
Gustavo Blanco	AM (L)	1	0	0	1
Birkir Porarinsson	D (C)	0	0	0	0
Gérald Miath	ST (C)	3,5	0	2,5	1
Abdou Diallo	AM (L)	6	1,5	2,5	2
Sacha Jammet	AM (L)	15	2,5	8	4,5
Arthur Carriere	D (R)	2	0	0,5	1,5
Daniel Simon	ST (C)	14	2	8	4
Antonin Pellegrin	D (R)	3	0	1	2
Mateo Lambert	DM	3	0,5	1,5	1
Rodrigo Patrocínio	D (L)	1	0	0,5	0,5
Yaovi Alassani	D (L)	10	2	5,5	2,5
Cheikh Ndaw	M (C)	4,5	1	0,5	3
		80,5	15	38,5	27

 

I decided to gather the data only for U23 players with a potential of over 3 stars (and due to the restraint of data access, only players in any of the squads).

Glad to see Nagy, Vormer, and Daoud getting close to their full potential.

Charier had some chances but needs more playing time. I wanted to loan Scherrer but he's important as Homegrown. Blanco, Castelli, Birkir, and Miath need a lot more playing time at this level or higher so they can develop.

The kids are doing alright. I was expecting a bit more from Diallo, but Jammet and Simon are developing really well.

 

UCL Round of 16 Draw

It’s the round of 16 in the UCL, so it’s not terrible but Dortmund is fighting Bayern for the league title.

 

February

[Ligue 1] vs Strasbourg (H)

 

Remember that striker I had who was scoring over 1 goal/90? His form since the contract renewal:

Don’t know what’s happening with Beier. Not that I expected him to keep that outrageous form, but wasn’t expecting such a dip either.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Nice (A)

Beier back to scoring and we win.

PSG lost.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Montpellier (H)

Great win.

Not rated very highly, but Pezzella had a great performance. Passed the ball 104 times with a 91% completion rate, 7 dribbles, 2 key passes, 3 tackles on 100% completion rate, and 2 interceptions.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Lille (A)

We were winning 1-0 and I was probably too hungry and wanted that second goal to give us some rest, instead, we suffered one and when I tried to get the 3 points back, they scored another one. A bit unfair, but probably also a bit stupid on my part.

 

We end the month 6 points above PSG. Last month we both lost points to Sochaux, this month we both lost points to Lille. As long as we are copycats we have the title in our hands.

 

It’s easy to tell Mbappé is regaining form as he’s surging through the player stats rankings.

 

Youth League

After a great league phase run, we ran into Bayern and lost 1-0. I’m happy for them.

[lfds89]

March

[Ligue 1] vs Monaco (H)

Beier with 3 more and an important win for us.

 

[Champions League] vs Dortmund (A)

We were good in the first half, but non-existent in the second. They scored, so they carry the advantage to the second leg.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Rennes (A)

Reis was sent off too soon and left us a man short for an hour. We managed to hang for a lot of the time, but then they scored.

3 points away from PSG.

 

[Champions League] vs Dortmund (A)

It’s ridiculous but I didn’t want to risk my first eleven, so I played a full-rotation eleven. I need to be totally focused in the league.

2-2, two goals from “The Mountain”.

Vormer was subbed in and out. He came on early and was tired by the 70^th minute.

We lose on aggregate, now we can focus on the league. We leave the UCL for another season.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Saint-Étienne (H)

We started with a goal just 25 seconds into the match and were superior every minute of the game.

 

7 matches to go and only 3 points between us and PSG. We play them in the second to last game of the season. Hope they lose points by then. They are still in the UCL and Coupe de France so at least they have more risk of injuries and fatigue build-up.

 

Youth Intake

Decent potentials, awful personalities and worse-than-expected starting ability. All the investments in junior coaching and these lot feel quite bad.

 

The star of the bunch: Kyllian Terrien.

 

Interest in my players

I know we are not a big team in Europe yet, so it’s only natural the sharks come after our players.

This is the one I’m most concerned about losing. Not only because of his skill and contribution to the team, but he’s a French player and I would love to have a French-dominant team and Daoud is a key piece to achieve this goal.

Turati is also wanted by many teams and I agreed to let him go for 39M.

 

Elsewhere, Chelsea want Siquet; Lens want Castelli and West Ham want Ludovit Reis.

[lfds89]

NXGN 2029

The winner is Andorran. What are the odds?

We have 4 players in the top 50.

Miath and Kündig are already part of the first team. Sebek will likely be next year. Rahbek will probably go on loan one more season.

 

April

[Ligue 1] vs Bordeaux (A)

A 10 for Vormer! 6 Key passes; 6 dribbles; 2 goals; 1 assist. Fantastic performance.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Lyon (H)

It’s always a tough game against Lyon. They started in 5-2-3, and we adapted and man-marked their DMs with our CMs and their WBs with our Wingers. Changed the RB to CWB-S (from IWB-S); W-S to RMD-A and MEZ-S to DLP-S.

We gained control of the match after the changes and eventually scored.

They changed to a 4-2-3-1 at half-time, and we reverted to our usual formation.

They scored a goal through a dribble down their right flank.

Then, Siquet made a two-footed tackle and was sent off. That’s the third time it happens this year… I don’t want how frequent these are in the game, but as a dominating team, seems to be happening way too much. My players aren’t particularly dirty (at least the reports don’t mention that).

Anyway, Fujimoto was subbed off, Carboni in. Nagy to RB; Carboni as RCB; Reis moved to LCM and Zvonarek to RCM.

The game was balanced until the end but thy managed to find the winning goal.

 

Of course, PSG wins and is now tied with us…

 

[Ligue 1] vs Lens (A)

Just before the game, my assistant manager asks if I want to schedule a team meeting. He wants me to tell the players they are not expected to win… I’m not sure about that.

I go along, not as exaggerated but I tell them there’s a lot still to be played. Only Badiashile and Daoud react badly, the others are very positive about our talk.

 

1-0! Not much but it’s 3 points. We were better, we deserved them.

PSG also wins.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Troyes (H)

This is most likely the end of our challenge for the title. We are now 2 points behind PSG and still have to play against them.

Playing against 5 at the back is always tough. Tried to go wide, but our wingbacks weren’t creating much.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Reims (A)

Before our game, PSG drew against Lorient! If we win, we can get level again. There’s still hope!

After a half without scoring I have to admit I was getting a bit nervous.

 

It’s hot!

 

Budget for Next Season

Amidst the games from this month, we ended up being qualified for UCL and the board set the budgets for next season.

47M! That’s a pretty nice sum. And the wage budget has 1M/month of space (we only have 1 player over 500k/month).

[warlock]

Is it goal difference or head-to-head that determines the league? That's a massive GD in your favour.

Shame about the Troyes result but if you can match PSG's results the title should be yours.

[lfds89]

7 horas atrás, warlock disse:

Is it goal difference or head-to-head that determines the league? That's a massive GD in your favour.

Shame about the Troyes result but if you can match PSG's results the title should be yours.

It's way more challenging than that. You'll see why in a moment.

Sorting Rules:

As you said, I have a clear advantage, but my remaining games are:

And PSG's remaining games.

 

I play PSG and 3rd-placed Lorient. If we win against them, we are the champions. If we draw, I need to match their result - and that's most likely a win against Nantes (they are in the relegation play-off). If I lose, they have to lose against Nantes and I have to win against Lorient.

It would be crazy to win the league at home against PSG. One can only dream!

[warlock]

4 hours ago, lfds89 said:

It would be crazy to win the league at home against PSG

The stuff of legends

[lfds89]

May

[Ligue 1] vs PSG (H)

The game that defines the season.

Saka is probably out of the game on their side.

 

Beier rallying the troops!

 

Their expected line-up

It’s odd seeing Mbappé on the right. He only played 2 games there this season. However, in their last game (Coupe de France final vs Monaco) he played there. Marquinhos is also outside the expected line-up. His physical has declined a lot but he’s still the second-most-used CB in the squad (after Kimpembe).

Clearly their right side is way better than their left, so we’ll try to focus there.

 

Late news: Reis is injured and can’t play. Kündig, the backup DM is also out with an injury. Nagy will play as DM and Carboni as RCB.

 

 

15 minutes in, we are marginally better, but it’s very balanced and quiet. Vormer already had some attention from the physios but he can keep going.

 

In the 21^st minute ESR scores on a rebound. We were a bit careless inside the box.

 

Around the 30-minute mark we are not doing bad, but we need to find the equalizing goal.

 

Mbappé scores in the 49^th minute.

 

After a great team play, Beier scores. 1-2 we are back in the game.

 

It’s halftime! Very balanced game. We had a good reaction, especially after their second goal. We need to keep going!

 

Right after the second half started, Bellingham puts the ball past his own goal. 2-2!

 

Mbappé scored again. This time a header. 2-3.

 

Vormer is hurt and needs to be taken off. ASM comes in as well as Castelli for Fujimoto.

 

They are creating better chances and are completing a lot of passes, but I believe we can do it!

 

3-3! Beier!

 

As crazy as the second half of this season.

 

They are starting to make substitutions: Milinkovic-Savic and Marquinhos for Mudryk and Tanganga. Gouiri moves to LW. Hakimi, Mbappé and ESR are on poor fitness levels. On our side it’s only Daoud feeling tired.

 

Hakimi for Pavard follows. I responded with Hojlund for Daoud with Beier moving to LW.

 

Çalhanoglu and Charier for Pezzella and Zvonarek.

 

Final Whistle!

 

We couldn’t stop them from creating many chances, but we also created some for ourselves.

 

It’s a draw, everything to be decided in the last game.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Lorient (A)

Lorient has secured UCL qualification but they are still fighting for 3^rd place.

 

We got Reis back, but Vormer is injured so ASM starts and Nagy goes back to RCB.

 

Sorry about not having many words written and many screenshots but I was quite nervous and focused.

 

Endrick scored for them 8 minutes in but it was disallowed for offside.

 

In the 51^st minute, Beier scored after a through ball from Fujimoto.

 

The game went on without much happening until the 86^th minute were Nagy was sent off when he was already playing as DM. We then ended the game without a striker.

 

But WE WON!

 

 

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

[warlock]

2 hours ago, lfds89 said:

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

Well played!

Bet you were a bag of nerves through that Lorient match

[lfds89]

36 minutos atrás, warlock disse:

Well played!

Bet you were a bag of nerves through that Lorient match

I was! Couldn't write anything. We had some opportunities but couldn't score; Beier was always on offside; that Endrick disallowed goal... Way too stressful way to end the season.

I made a mess in the winter transfer window. But you live and you learn. When fighting for a league, keep the best. When I sold Maxi, Harit and Soumaré I lost the chance to have a more peaceful second half, and maybe we could have fought for a better Coupe de France run and a better UCL run as well as not losing so many points in the league.

I don't know if I'll keep playing and if I do, I don't know if I'll have the time to post as I will start a post-graduation course next week, but I'm sure I learned a lot about squad building for big goals.

[warlock]

17 minutes ago, lfds89 said:

I will start a post-graduation course next week

Good luck with that

As for the save, it's been fun to follow. I'll probably wrap up the Benfica save in the next day or so and then start looking forward to FM24.

[lfds89]

10 horas atrás, warlock disse:

Good luck with that

As for the save, it's been fun to follow. I'll probably wrap up the Benfica save in the next day or so and then start looking forward to FM24.

Thanks!

Don't know if I'll get FM24 or keep playing FM23. I don't usually buy every version. I'll decide by Christmas.

[lfds89]

Quick Update on the Season. I don't have much time to play, but kept going with Marseille. Almost a perfect season.

In the league, a draw in the last game left me nervous as we needed at least one point to secure the title.

 

We also won the Cup and "Trophée des Champions" (Supercup). We only got to the QF in the UCL. We undeservedly lost the first leg 3-0 and couldn't get back in the tie for the 2nd leg.

 

Regarding the squad: before this season started we got some offer for Turati and Siquet. They wanted to leave, so I let them. Got Casadei in as Nottm Forest were relegated and he had a 10M relegation release clause.

This season we also made some changes. Most important: Lazar Samardzic on a heavy salary, but was worth it. Switched backup LB (Max Paul for Kerim), got a new GK (Gorter), and a new backup RB (Arnau Martínez). In the winter transfer window, Charier (regen, CAM) wanted me to accept the Real Madrid bid and so I did and brought in Opoku (regen, CAM) and Paquetá as backup. All the others are youngsters.

 

Individual Stats (sorted by minutes played)

Beier with 1,10 gls/90 was once again our standout performer. Badiashile was a great help with some corner goals and a lot of possession won (Thorarinsson as well); Daoud, Vormer, Tozé, Samardzic, Zvonarek, Casadei had phenomenal seasons.

 

Our loanees have also performed well (sorted by recommendation). I expect a lot from Rahbek; Dinis will certainly be our starting GK; Kündig and Castelli will soon be part of the squad; Nordh will also be a part but he might need some time.

 

We got here on 26/27 and we broke some records

 

Financially the team is in a much better position (with a lot of money still to be received this season)

 

I want to win the UCL, but I'm a bit tired of the French League, so I will leave Marseille and see where I can find a spot.

[lfds89]

One more update as another season has gone by. Left Marseille as intended and soon I got some interviews. Managing at Anfield after Klopp left was an honor so I took the challenge. Quite an offer as well.

 

They ended last season in 5th with 67 points; R16 on UCL; FA 3rd Round; and Carabao 4th Round.

There was a vision I was required to meet:

Work within budget is my usual; reputation is always tricky. Don't plan on having signing aging players so not important those 1/2-year contract rules.

 

Sign youngsters fits me; play defensive is not usually my cup of tea; play possession is also a nice fit.

 

The squad I inherited had some challenges. Plenty of players 31+ and many wanting out. Also, quite a decent size of players who weren't developed properly and I could see there was some potential there, but difficult to predict if they'll ever be the players needed to play for Liverpool.

First, the outs:

Didn't want to sell Konaté, but I'm not one to fight players to stay so, I sold him. He was 30 already, so this was probably the last chance to make some money on him. Vanderson was kept in the team until January but his performances weren't great and I had Trent and Saelemaekers to play RB.

The rest were mostly backups or 21/22-year-olds who were not good enough.

IN:

Kelleher wanted out and Allison was 37, so I needed to take care of the goal for the next few years and I went for Dinis Baldé who I brought to Marseille and was on loan at Braga. Quite expensive but couldn't find any other decent youngster. He's only 20 so he'll be around for long.

Konaté left so I needed another CB. Louis Costa (a regen) was on my shortlist from my time at Marseille and he wanted to leave so I chose him. 23 years old, 193cm. Another one for the long run.

I needed a fast player upfront so got Alex from Grêmio. 20-year-old, 17 ACC, 15 PAC, 17 DRI, left-footed and can play both RW or ST. Also one for the future. Quite cheap for his quality.

Bauer, Guzmán, Edison, Iribarren were all brought in as prospects.

In January, needed to reinforce the CB position as my 4th CB wasn't good enough and Louis Costa is always in need of a rest (don't know why as he has 14 Natural Fitness). So I loaned in Badiashile who wasn't playing at Marseille and I knew how good he was.

For the LB position, I had Tsimikas, who was 34 and was steadily declining and a regen who wasn't doing very well so I decided to try Prince Aning.

Both these loans came with option-to-buy clauses in case I won the league. And I learned that money was kept out of the balance until the end of the season...

The season was going quite well until I had a very poor run. 

3 points out of 12 in the league; eliminated from UCL; and barely got through in the FA Cup.

I had been trying to play a 4-2-3-1 to move away from the 4-3-3 and try and be a more defensively solid side as it was asked by the board, but it wasn't working. In that match against Everton, I decided to go back to my Marseille 4-3-3 and ended the season playing very well and only allowing 2 goals in the last 4 games.

However, it wasn't enough and we could only get to 6th place with 1 less point than last season.

So it was 6th in PL; QF in UCL; Runner-Up in FA Cup; 4th Round in Carabao. Similar to last season, but I need to do much better next time. I ended the season meeting with the board as they were considering my future at the club.

 

Besides all actual football, I don't like how the finances are. Next season I'll keep getting rid of deadwood and try and lower the wages.

 

A season for learning. Let's see if I'm up to the task next season.

 

[lfds89]

An interesting turn of events... After the post-season meeting with the board, I was called for another post-season meeting with the board and they decided to sack me. Oh well...

 

[lfds89]

Quick Update: I got back to Marseille. Initially, I was thinking about waiting for a different type of job, maybe in Italy or Spain, but clearly, Marseille was the best job available and already had a squad built with my ideas.

2 new visuals to study my squad:

The first one is based on "Talent Analytics". Based on ability and potential, I set my players into categories. Then with the risk/impact binomial, I can check if I need to be looking at someone to cover an eventual exit.

[Risk: 2 for players with someone interested; 3 for players who already have an offer or said they want out] | [Impact: this is more on feeling - 2 if I feel I have a sub, but I'm not 100% sure he can replace him; 3 - 2nd best is nowhere near in quality ]

 

The second one is an overview of all the players with a contract.

[Monthly Expenses: Monthly Wage + 4* Appearance Fee]

[Wage Group Limit: Based on the 30+30+30+10 division of wages]

[Best Rating: I have a calculation for each position based on the octagon attributes]

[Total Rating: All octagon attributes added]

[Prob Columns: Checks for potential issues with players - Age if they are equal or over 31; Wage if they are over their wage group limit; Rate if they are below 72 in best and 60 in total - then they add to the 4th column]

 

 

[lfds89]

Mid-Season Update

Competitions:

Ligue 1

Massive contribution from one of the best players I ever had in FM: Niclas Rahbek.

UCL:

Particularly interesting that are youngsters are thriving in the UCL: Podstawski, 18, 4 goals + 2 assists; Kitoko, 16, 2g + 1a; Sueur, 17, 1g+1a.

 

Winter Transfer Window

Quite busy, but we managed to make some interesting deals:

OUT

A bunch of reserves with limited potential; Lucas Pires was our reserve LB and Tozé was our rotating DM and RW, but not exactly the first choice.

 

IN

Machuca, Triki and Hubery are U17 players.

Petreski is a 21-year-old who can still develop and either be a backup or at least be sold for profit. The same goes for Johansen.

Vini is the replacement for Tozé. He can play both as MEZ-A and LW.

Tejeda is a winger turned LB. He isn't top quality but with the lack of attacking WBs, I decided to try him out.

Dionisi is a piece of business. He has english nationality, has decent potential and was available for just 2M. Got him in, loaned him to Toulouse, and expect to profit a lot from his sale to a Premier League team.

 

Tactics

I have settled with my 4-3-3 DM Wide. In possession is a 2-1-3-4. I've also created the inverted version to cause different types to problems, but haven't used much.

 

Regarding my spreadsheet, I've changed a few things:

Added a calculated Potential Rating: a very simple formula just based on a linear evolution until a players is 23 (as expected doesn't work very well for GKs, but it's a work in progress).

Added a personality check and a potential check.

 

On the Squad Analytics Tab, I've changed the Ability and Potential to the BPR values from the table above (instead of the scout assessment). This way it's calculated automatically once I upload my squad.

I've also created an Evolution screen to track my players' development from the beginning of the season (or when they got in the squad):

 

[lfds89]

The first time I've seen this message

 

I don't need to add the season is going wonderful.

I've also kept working on my spreadsheet and I'll soon write an update with the end of the season and all the changes.

[lfds89]

Way better than expected. We were the best team in Europe. We had some problems in the Semi-Final of the UCL, but after beating AC Milan, it was between PSG (who we had beaten in the League, in the Cup and in the Supercup) and Real Madrid who played a 4-3-3 the formation we are most comfortable playing against.

UCL:

 

In the League, 14 wins and 3 losses and a monstrous month of February with 22 goals scored in 4 matches.

 

Clearly the best season I had in any FM.

 

The Danish monster

I don't expect to keep him for next season.

I'm thinking about changing things up a bit.

 

The youth team also won the Youth League:

 

And a few youngsters played their part on this season's success:

Kitoko, Sueur and Gabriel have come through the academy. Next year, I'll add a few more homegrown players and French players so I have a more "domestic" team.

And everybody with 800+ minutes. Noticeable that Vormer, Zvonarek and Daoud are expected starters but have suffered long injuries and we still managed to be this good without them. Credit to all the subs that came on for them, mainly Beier who played as LW, RW and ST throughout the season.

Over 10g+10a: Max Beier and Rahbek. Was expecting Vormer to score more often and Daoud to assist more. Casadei was also near.

 

And also the overall career stats:

Season

Year

Club

League

Position

Cup

Stage

CC

Stage

League PPG

League Win %

League GF

League GA

01

2022/2023

Sertanense

PT4

1st

TdP

First Round

DNP

-

2,27

69%

70

32

02

2023/2024

Sertanense

PT3

3rd

TdP

Sixth Round

DNP

-

1,56

44%

33

26

03

2024/2025

Sertanense

PT2

3rd

TdP

Third Round

DNP

-

1,76

50%

59

36

04

2025/2026

Sertanense

PT1

9th

TdP

Third Round

DNP

-

1,29

35%

46

50

05

2026/2027

Marseille

FR1

3rd

CdF

Third Round

UEL

SF

1,79

50%

70

37

06

2027/2028

Marseille

FR1

3rd

CdF

Finalist

UCL

QF

2,06

62%

82

30

07

2028/2029

Marseille

FR1

1st

CdF

11th Round

UCL

R16

2,38

76%

84

19

08

2029/2030

Marseille

FR1

1st

CdF

Winner

UCL

QF

2,41

74%

86

26

09

2030/2031

Liverpool

EN1

6th

FA

Finalist

UCL

QF

1,74

50%

62

36

10

2031/2032

Marseille

FR1

1st

CdF

Winner

UCL

Winner

2,44

79%

104

32

 

The career top performers:

Season	Year	Club	Most Goals	Most Assists	Most POM	Highest AvR
01	2022/2023	Sertanense	Karamoko – 31	Quaresma – 9	Karamoko – 8	Kisley – 7,42
02	2023/2024	Sertanense	Karamoko – 23	P Mendes – 10	Karamoko – 5	L Madeira – 7,26
03	2024/2025	Sertanense	Karamoko – 21	Miccoli – 8	Karamoko – 7	Karamoko – 7,10
04	2025/2026	Sertanense	Karamoko – 22	Costinha – 9	Costinha – 4	Karamoko – 7,02
05	2026/2027	Marseille	Beier – 30	A Harit – 12	Beier – 10	Beier – 7,34
06	2027/2028	Marseille	Beier – 41	A Güler – 17	Beier – 9	Beier – 7,38
07	2028/2029	Marseille	Beier – 39	M Vormer – 18	Beier – 11	Beier – 7,53
08	2029/2030	Marseille	Beier – 45	L Samardzic – 15	Beier – 14	Beier – 7,55
09	2030/2031	Liverpool	Darwin – 19	Harvey Elliot – 9	Harvey Elliot – 4	Darwin – 7,19
10	2031/2032	Marseille	Rahbek – 48	L Zvonarek – 21	Rahbek – 14	Rahbek – 7,66

 

And the financial/attendance situation:

Season	Year	Club	Income	Expenditure	Profit	Avg Attendance
01	2022/2023	Sertanense	1 353 447,00 €	1 411 118,00 €	-57 671,00 €	662
02	2023/2024	Sertanense	1 485 040,00 €	1 942 059,00 €	-457 019,00 €	1266
03	2024/2025	Sertanense	9 730 336,00 €	11 047 343,00 €	-1 317 007,00 €	1876
04	2025/2026	Sertanense	6 747 649,00 €	7 290 128,00 €	-542 479,00 €	5296
05	2026/2027	Marseille	269 469 620,00 €	252 138 019,00 €	17 331 601,00 €	56937
06	2027/2028	Marseille	424 402 996,00 €	360 698 906,00 €	63 704 090,00 €	62557
07	2028/2029	Marseille	442 381 644,00 €	431 762 494,00 €	10 619 150,00 €	61342
08	2029/2030	Marseille	461 276 053,00 €	434 403 627,00 €	26 872 426,00 €	63857
09	2030/2031	Liverpool	628 881 818,00 €	862 201 336,00 €	-233 319 518,00 €	59498
10	2031/2032	Marseille	607 322 846,00 €	555 843 675,00 €	51 479 171,00 €	64334

 

And a look at the most-used players over the 10 years of managing:

Name	Position	Apps	Goals	Seasons	Club
Daniel Azevedo	GK	78	0	23-26	Sertanense
Tomás Jofré	RB	86	0	29-30/31-32	Marseille
Andrei Nagy	CB	180	10	26-30/31-32	Marseille
Luís Ferreira	CB	121	11	22-26	Sertanense
Giuseppe Pezzella	LB	153	1	26-30	Marseille
Kanya Fujimoto	CM	135	21	26-30	Marseille
Ludovit Reis	DM	133	7	26-30	Marseille
Lovro Zvonarek	CM	126	12	28-30/31-32	Marseille
Mettin Vormer	RW	120	16	27-30/31-32	Marseille
Karim Daoud	LW	172	59	27-30/31-32	Marseille
Maximilian Beier	ST/LW	225	176	26-30/31-32	Marseille

Now dominated by Marseille players, with Beier being the first to break the 200-game barrier.

 

I'll leave the spreadsheet update to another post as this is getting too big.

[lfds89]

I've made some changes to the spreadsheet as I've said before.

I added a new comment on the evolution tracking sheet to check for high-potential players (players with a higher-than-expected evolution in 1 season).

I've added a column that shows every position the player is good enough to play in (over a threshold or above 98% of the best position rating)

And since I find some roles are a mix of 2 positions, I also added a calculation for every role:

This then allows me to check the depth in each position based on a minimum rating:

(some transfers-in already included)

I've also reviewed how the rating has evolved from season 6 to season 10 with some players and reworked the math behind the calculation and I also have a board for every role in potential and the depth in every role.

The Potential check on the evaluation page is also calculated differently.

All these updates were also done on the spreadsheet for scouting. This then leads to a sheet comparing my top 10 players in each position and the top 10 players in the scouting spreadsheet.