[FM23] - Moe Bumbercatch - a European journeyman story - chapter 4 - Juventus

[karanhsingh]

We switch to a 4-4-2 attacking and are throwing the kitchen sink in. And then...

Maxi Gomez crosses the ball for Enciso to finish. It's 1-2 and we are back in the game, but still a long way away from what we need

[karanhsingh]

Minutes later, former Brighton boy Ben White does us a massive favour by passing the ball straight to Maxi Gomez. He fires it into the top corner and out of where it's 2-2!

[karanhsingh]

Its a 5 minute blitzkrieg! Wahi crosses the ball for his strike partner to head in. With 59 minutes on the clock, Brighton are winning 3-2 and the EPL trophy is coming to the Amex!!

[karanhsingh]

The game enters the final few minutes. We are holding on. We now go full defensive, and Maxi Gomez is replaced by club captain Lewis Dunk as we switch to 5 at the back for the closing moments.

In the 92nd minute, Arsenal have the ball out wide. A cross comes in which is deflected and then parried by our keeper Robert Sanchez. Our Argentinian wonderkid CB Luis Diaz gets to the ball first and makes a desperate clearance.

What happens next is simply put - unbelievable. The ball ricochets off Dunk and goes into the goal. Its an own goal in the 92nd minute and the score-line is 3-3.

We are devastated. Deflated. I throw Dunk up front as a targetman for the final few minutes. We even somehow fashion a chance for him and he heads just wide.

The final whistle goes. Manchester City are champions. Brighton finish in 2nd place.

[karanhsingh]

The match-stats for the craziest game I have probably ever played on any version of FM.

And the confirmation of the final league table.

The most gut wrenching way to lose out on the title. Seconds away, literally.

[Vakama2619]

Spoiler alert

Spoiler

This ending actually (also devastatingly) reminds me how season 3 of Ted Lasso ended for Richmond

 

[karanhsingh]

1 hour ago, Vakama2619 said:

Spoiler alert

  Reveal hidden contents

This ending actually (also devastatingly) reminds me how season 3 of Ted Lasso ended for Richmond

 

Spoiler

Very true actually good point - only different being they beat Man City in the show. We need to find our own Jamie Tartt 

 

[KlaaZ]

Ooof, harsh. Excellent first season and I'm sure if you'd have had the chance for second place before the season you'd never have believed it but that doesn't make it any less gut wrenching.

[warlock]

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

The most gut wrenching way to lose out on the title

Ah, 'tis a cruel game sometimes. Commiserations, but you can reflect on a great season and build from there

[karanhsingh]

2 hours ago, KlaaZ said:

Ooof, harsh. Excellent first season and I'm sure if you'd have had the chance for second place before the season you'd never have believed it but that doesn't make it any less gut wrenching.

 

2 hours ago, warlock said:

Ah, 'tis a cruel game sometimes. Commiserations, but you can reflect on a great season and build from there

Thanks lads. Yes we go again. Really hope we can win Brighton a trophy soon. 

[Hootieleece]

Unfortunately, another title for Man City......Your team did well and almost pulled it off. On to next season!

 

[karanhsingh]

30 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

Unfortunately, another title for Man City......Your team did well and almost pulled it off. On to next season!

 

Thanks! 

[13th Man]

Oh wow, what a roller coaster on the final day. City seemed determined to make it interesting, and 2nd place is a great achievement, but that doesn’t do much to ease the pain of a comeback that wasn’t.

Time to give it another go next year.

 

[Jogo Bonito]

So close, really bad luck to lose the title like that but a great season anyway. You can't complain about realism with a Lewis Dunk OG either, he has a bit of history there from what I remember. 

[karanhsingh]

14 hours ago, 13th Man said:

Oh wow, what a roller coaster on the final day. City seemed determined to make it interesting, and 2nd place is a great achievement, but that doesn’t do much to ease the pain of a comeback that wasn’t.

Time to give it another go next year.

Very true! Let's hope they are feeling as generous next season.

11 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

So close, really bad luck to lose the title like that but a great season anyway. You can't complain about realism with a Lewis Dunk OG either, he has a bit of history there from what I remember. 

Good point 

[karanhsingh]

So a little bit of analysis to wrap up the season.

According to the xG table we should have finished 3rd, so still in the top 4. However the gap between City and ourselves obviously should have been a lot more, and we did outperform our expected points by a whopping 12. This means, it would be unlikely to expect another title challenge next season. But we should surely aim for top 5 once more.

[karanhsingh]

Now let's talk about the squad performances. Maxi Gomez unsurprisingly finishes as our top scorer with 24 goals. Rieder had a great first season in England, topping the league assist charts with 15, as well as contributing 6 goals. Would love to see him hit double figures.

Enciso was always a threat on the left flank but ultimately underperformed in terms of xG, still 5 goals and 8 assists is not a bad return. Moder emerged as our first choice BBM over the course of the season scoring 9 times and edging countrymate Kozlowski from the team. At the back, Webster was excellent but he now seems to be ageing a bit with his physical attributes already declining. The future of the defense clearly lies with Argentinian wonderkid Pablo Ruiz Diaz who has made a great start to life in England.

[karanhsingh]

Fabian Rieder also officially won the "signing of the season" award, beating out some stiff competition. A great vindication for the young Swiss international who followed Bumbercatch from Young Boys to Brighton, and is now actually starring for Switzerland in the 2026 WC in game.

[karanhsingh]

Speaking of Bumbercatch, he just completed the Continental A qualification and is now officially a "4 star" manager.

There are job openings at Arsenal, Chelsea and PSG over the summer, but Moe is not applying as he is not really interested in any of those clubs. Besides, there is still work to be done at Brighton, who will get at the very least another season.

Looking ahead, he has drawn up a little short-list of clubs he would look at managing when the time does come to move:

England - the only club really of interest now is the one he (I) supports - Manchester United. Shockingly, they have not sacked their manager despite just finishing 12th in the league.

Germany - Dortmund or Schalke would be interesting, but both are doing relatively well having finished 3rd and 7th respectively. However, someone needs to break the Bayern hegemony there.

France - Marseille is the only club that really interests there. They finished 5th in the league but miles off the title. Shockingly, PSG did not win the league (hence they don't have a manager), they finished 2nd behind AS Monaco.

Italy - would love to manage Roma at some point but they don't seem to need any help winning 2 of the last 3 Serie As. Milan or Napoli could be interesting.

[karanhsingh]

When FM replicates real life - we almost got a young Argentinian World Cup winner from Brighton as Ruiz Diaz played a solid role for his country at the WC. Unfortunately, they had to settle for the runners up spot this time losing out to France in the final.

The youngster also won the Best Young Player though, as his stock continues to rise.

[karanhsingh]

Speaking of international football, I will ask the readers to suspend their expectations of realism a bit, as we have decided to take up an international role as well.

Not quite the "red devils" Bumbercatch thought he would be managing soon... Belgium have flattered to deceive in recent years and the golden generation has pretty much come and gone, with de Bruyne & Hazard now having retired. Only Lukaku remains from that lot.

Looking at this as a bit of a free hit - see what if anything can be accomplished at the 2028 Euros.

[karanhsingh]

Going for broke - there is a significant change in transfer strategy this summer as Bumbercatch has decided to invest in proven quality talent as opposed to bargain youngsters. The club seems really keen to give it a proper go this season across different competitions.

The transfer record was broken not once but twice in a matter of days, with Pedro Neto and Mohammed Salisu joining for fellow PL clubs. Neto was one of the best wingers in the league last season with 12 goals and 10 assists. At 26, he should now be in the prime of his career. Same is the case with Salisu who has established himself as an excellent defender and at 27 is also a good age for a CB. It is felt he can be a good partner for the young Argentinian wonderkid, with Dunk & Webster now getting on in years.

And so the total transfer budget of 105m given was all spent over the summer - and then some. Moe is very happy with the squad now as there is not a single weak point anywhere.

The books were balanced by a number of departures, the most significant being Strefezza and Lotomba.

 

[Swaban]

Rico Lewis looks like a bargain at that price, any idea why he was so cheap?

[SixPointer]

Nice to see the loyalty to your young boys signing winning signing of the season. A nice touch 

[karanhsingh]

1 hour ago, Swaban said:

Rico Lewis looks like a bargain at that price, any idea why he was so cheap?

His development has stalled and barely got any games at City. I see it happens often with young talents at big clubs. It's the same also with Garnacho and Mainoo at United. 

35 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Nice to see the loyalty to your young boys signing winning signing of the season. A nice touch 

Yes love that!

[karanhsingh]

Time for another end of year review from the Amex: here are the fixtures thus far

Its been pretty good overall, although we concede far too many goals and I really don't know how to stop that. My latest attempt is to change the DM role from support to defensive and see if that helps at all.

Until the last one week which saw us win 3 in a row we were like 5+ points off the pace, but now it seems like we may just find ourselves in another title race. That being said, we do play Man City away from home next.

 

[karanhsingh]

The squad stats will show that Maxi Gomez once again is the main man this season, already scoring 18 times with a further 6 assists. Pedro Neto has made a good start to life in Brighton with 9 goals and 7 assists giving our attack a whole new dimension. Rieder also is having an impressive second season. Pablo Ruiz Diaz has been good, even if the defense seems to be underperforming as a whole.

[SteinkelssonFM]

Neto seems to have settled in fast, Emil Holm also has been doing well with all those assists. 

I have my eye on kasper koslowski, considering the apparent lack of game time, he seems to be doing quite well from the bench. 🇵🇱

[Swaban]

a mere point behind City is incredible work, I believe!

[karanhsingh]

7 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

Neto seems to have settled in fast, Emil Holm also has been doing well with all those assists. 

I have my eye on kasper koslowski, considering the apparent lack of game time, he seems to be doing quite well from the bench. 🇵🇱

Yes actually Holm deserves a mention as well, he seems a good find at RB. We have two Polish mids actually Moder and Koslowski, Moder was the more impressive one last season but it seems to be the reverse this time around. 

7 hours ago, Swaban said:

a mere point behind City is incredible work, I believe!

Thank you! Although it was 4 points just moments later 

[13th Man]

Sounds like you may have lost to City, but still looking in good position to challenge again. I like the way you’re signing established players to compliment the up and coming youngsters! Should give a platform for them to succeed while keeping things solid as well.

[Jogo Bonito]

Excellent progress continuing there. Rieder did very well, a little more surprised about Maxi Gomez though. Wahi did very well as a youngster for me at Montpellier a few versions back. Maybe in time he might play a more significant role, or will he always be an understudy?

[karanhsingh]

3 hours ago, 13th Man said:

Sounds like you may have lost to City, but still looking in good position to challenge again. I like the way you’re signing established players to compliment the up and coming youngsters! Should give a platform for them to succeed while keeping things solid as well.

Thank you! Yes these aren't the sort of transfers I usually partake in on FM, but I think it's necessary to be competitive in this league.

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Excellent progress continuing there. Rieder did very well, a little more surprised about Maxi Gomez though. Wahi did very well as a youngster for me at Montpellier a few versions back. Maybe in time he might play a more significant role, or will he always be an understudy?

Cheers, me too about Maxi! Regarding Wahi - I think he will remain a squad player at best. In my last save in Germany I remember him top scoring in Bundesliga, so he either had a lower potential this time out or the EPL is just that much harder.

[karanhsingh]

Since we are getting to the business end of the season, will split the updates now. Here are Jan and Feb 2027.

As you can see, it's been good in the league except the losses at City and Spurs. We finished 10th in the Champions League table which means we went through to the play-offs. I was most impressed with how we deservedly dispatched off Juventus. We now face FC Porto in the Round of 16 so I feel we have a real chance of reaching the quarter finals at the first time of asking which would be great.

As for the updated league table:

Being 8 points off the pace, I think competing for the title is a far shot now. Would rather focus on both the cup competitions and aim to secure European football which I am confident will happen anyway.

Also the league is not helping matters by scheduling our next game vs Arsenal just 48 hours before the UCL clash vs Porto. Absolutely ridiculous!

[SteinkelssonFM]

Huge W against Arsenal, please tell me the flow of goals, just trying to capture the emotion of that game. 

[karanhsingh]

5 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

Huge W against Arsenal, please tell me the flow of goals, just trying to capture the emotion of that game. 

Crazy game! It was 1-0 to us, then 1-1, then 2-1 to us, then 2-2 and then finally Maxi Gomez grabs the winner in the 72nd minute. A nervy finish to the game, as you can imagime.

[karanhsingh]

March has come and gone - and it was another great month. We have managed to get past Porto which means we are officially UEFA Champions League quarter finalists. But the bad news is - we have to face the best team in the game - Manchester City.

As you can see we also beat West Ham in the FA Cup quarters to set up a Wembley date with Spurs. IF we manage to get past them, we will once again surely come up against Man City in the final as they play Stoke in the other semi. Honestly, getting sick at the sight of them.

Fun fact - while Erling Haaland is surely the best striker in the game, he apparently only decided to start properly scoring from the moment Moe arrived in England. First 3 in-game seasons he had 12, 17 and 16 league goals - last season he had 38 league goals and 49 in all comps. This season at the end of March he is on33 league goals and 47 in all comps. 

[13th Man]

Title maybe out of reach, but that does free you up to possibility make cup and European runs.

Good luck v Haaland. I found the key was disrupting the midfield and build up play as much as possible. Not headless chicken pressing, obviously, but high, compact block has been effective…

[karanhsingh]

39 minutes ago, 13th Man said:

Title maybe out of reach, but that does free you up to possibility make cup and European runs.

Good luck v Haaland. I found the key was disrupting the midfield and build up play as much as possible. Not headless chicken pressing, obviously, but high, compact block has been effective…

So you'd play a high press along with a high line? It's worth trying I suppose - last few times i didn't play a high line against them so perhaps we weren't compact enough. 

[Hootieleece]

38 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

So you'd play a high press along with a high line? It's worth trying I suppose - last few times i didn't play a high line against them so perhaps we weren't compact enough. 

Either that or "Park the Bus"......and that is a 50/50 proposition that usually at best ends in a draw.

 

[SixPointer]

Bring home some cups and finishing in the top four will be a fantastic season.

I agree with 13th man cut of the supply lines to the big Viking is your best bet!

[karanhsingh]

5 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

Bring home some cups and finishing in the top four will be a fantastic season.

I agree with 13th man cut of the supply lines to the big Viking is your best bet!

I have an update here... coming up shortly!

[karanhsingh]

Okay, so time to fully focus on the Cups. Man City first in the UEFA Champions League quarters. 

A scary thought, as they are arguably the best club side in the world. While scouting them (once again), I come across the Viking beast Erling Haaland. Wait, what?! He is injured! And it says, for 6-8 weeks. Which means he will definitely miss both legs, and he is expected back just around the time of the FA Cup final (if we make it there).

This is like a new lease of life. Off we go to the Etihad.

A proper game. A terrible start with Goncalo Ramos running through and scoring from a KDB through ball. The high line was not working, we dropped it back. We start growing into the game. A howler from Ederson gives Pedro Neto an empty net to score into, and it's 1-1 at HT.

We start the second half well but just as big teams often seem to do, they score when they are on the back foot. It's a real sucker punch. We are huffing and puffing but unable to get through. Then a huge break in the 83rd minute as KDB goes off injured and they don't have any subs left. They have to see the game out with 10 men.

We go very attacking and widen the play. The pressure tells as Pedro Neto crosses it in for our sub striker Elye Wahi to equalise in the 90th minute. A 2-2 draw away from home will do us nicely.

[SixPointer]

Can’t have any complaints with the first leg result! A real shot at home to go through!

[karanhsingh]

A week later we welcome a Haaland-less Man City to the Amex. It's a really nervy affair, with neither side wanting to make a mistake and go behind.

But, we finally break the deadlock in the 82nd minute, with wonderkid CB Ruiz Diaz heading home a Pedro Neto corner. After this it's all hands on deck to protect our lead at any cost. We make it. Man City are out. Brighton are in the semi-finals of the Champions League!

Key takeaway - Man City without Haaland are actually human.

[SixPointer]

Sublime!!! 

[karanhsingh]

Our reward:

Leverkusen won an all German affair vs Dortmund in the QF. The other semi is also England vs Germany - Spurs vs Bayern.

This is a good draw - its 3rd in the EPL vs 3rd in Bundesliga - we actually have a shot of reaching the final of the Champions League!!

[karanhsingh]

Now we switch our attention to Wembley for the FA Cup semi final vs Spurs.

Spurs line up in a 3-5-2 with Kane and Son up front. While both are no doubt excellent players, but at ages 33 and 34 they don't possess much pace anymore. This enables us to play a high line with a compact press and squeeze the play.

We have a dream start as that man Ruiz Diaz heads a goal in the 2nd minute from a corner once again. Its 1-0 at HT but definitely a deserved lead as per the balance of play.

And then we manage to double our lead at the start of the 2nd half as Guehi handles the ball from a corner. Maxi Gomez dispatches the penalty without a problem. From there its all about protecting the lead.

We do concede on the 76th minute as Pedro Porro crosses the ball and Son finishes it via a deflection. That makes the end very nervy indeed but we manage to hold out.

And guess what, it was almost Stoke in the finals! But no - City did it in ET. Let's just hope they somehow don't have Haaland back by then

[SixPointer]

On the cusp of a remarkable season!

[Jogo Bonito]

As has already been said, what a season you're having so far! A stroke of luck with the man from Leeds missing both legs of the game against you, but they still have quality and it's no easy task to beat them over two legs. Good luck with the remaining big games!