[FM23] Benfica & the Curse of Bela Guttmann

[warlock]

More recognition for our youngsters:

Scott has developed much more quickly than I expected and is now established as one of our most important players.

[Hootieleece]

11 hours ago, warlock said:

Scott has developed much more quickly than I expected and is now established as one of our most important players.

Wolves are after him in IRL. Bristol City turned down $20M.

[john1]

Ooh Benfica! Good luck

[warlock]

January 2023

There's a couple of days remaining in the transfer window but this seems like a good time to recap our performances on the pitch. It's been a good month:

Seven games played, seven games won - and won in some style. Ramos continues to be a goalscoring machine but even if the opposition manage to keep him quiet we're still scoring from all over the pitch. Even DMs Luis and Aursnes got on the scoresheet this month. We also managed to pick up wins against our arch rivals in the Allianz Cup, although it was a close game against Porto in the semi-final:

Porto were good value for their lead before Matio and Tengstedt gave us the lead. Unfortunately, we couldn't hold on and Pepe bagged his second to level it up. In the penalty shootout, Odysseas denid Porto striker Taremi at their first attempt while we slotted home five times to clinch the win.

In the final against Sporting it was the reverse story - they dominated possession and had more shots and the better xG but some lethal finishing from Ramos and Neres gave us comfortable scoreline:

The board weren't bothered about the Allianz Cup but it is the first time in 6 years that Benfica has lifted the trophy and I was happy to claim a first piece of silverware.

Aside from the cup, our league form has allowed us to open a 9-point gap over Sporting and Porto, who dropped points in January:

We have also overhauled Porto as the league's leading scorers while conceding just 8 goals in 18 games. Ramos now has 18 goals in the league and 27 in all competitions, which is doing nothing to dampen the interest in him. Liverpool are making interested noises and transfer deadline day will be a nervous affair. A transfer window update coming next...

[Jogo Bonito]

A good month, he says. Good?  Great work mate.

Before every game in the changing room you should say Vamos Ramos. He is certainly doing well.

[warlock]

January 2023 - transfer window

A busier window than I wanted, and I'm not sure that the team isn't weaker as a result.

The first departure was one I was keen to happen and that was the sale of third-choice striker Petar Musa to Club Bruges for £4m. We'd paid £4.3m for his signature at the end of last season so the board weren't happy with this bit of business but I didn't see him as good enough.

Next came the unwanted attention for two of our best players. First out, Florentino Luis went to Bayern Munich for a flat fee of £40m and then on the same day the excellent Rafa went to Real Madrid for a fee that should reach £39.5m. We couldn't really turn down the moves, either for player happiness or financial reward, and the moves lifted our transfer income for the season to £191m.

While considering how to replace Rafa I decided that since we were playing the on-loan Goncalo Guedes as backup striker, I could usefully deploy him at AML, moving Joao Mario to AMC where Rafa had played most for us. We already have hot prospect Henrique Aroujo in the striker pipeline but he couldn't be recalled from his loan at Wolves. Instead I invested £16m bringing in Brazilian wonderkid Marcos Leonardo:

He's very close to first-team level, and this seemed like a very Benfica thing to do.

As for Luis's replacement at DM we were close to signing another Brazilian. But despite having an offer accepted and his agent confirming his wage demands were acceptable, when it came to the contract negotations they held out for £40k a week - double what had been indicated. So those talks collapsed. Since we already had three capable first-team DMs I decided to replace Luis with another Luis, from the youth squad:

It's something of a gamble but he'll get a few sub appearances and a chance in the cups. He's already made his debut and did well so I'm confident he'll make the grade.

Of the other wanted targets among the squad, Joao Mario remains since we agreed a fee and no-one made an offer, and CB Otamendi is still here but will join Barcelona in the summer on a free transfer.

I thought we were done, but out of nowhere on transfer deadline day Bayern came back for another player, offering a derisory £20m for CB Morato, and almost all of it in long-term installments and conditional payments. For a player easily worth upwards of £30m this was immediately rejected but, of course, Morato kicked off, refusing to accept that I couldn't find a replacement in the time available. Eventually, he agreed to a transfer listing for £30m but Bayern dropped their interest and he remains a Benfica player for the remainder of the season.

After moving some of the transfer budget into wages to accomodate increases for Ramos, Neres and a couple of others, we have £30m in the kitty and I'll be spending it as soon as possible before the board decide to snaffle the cash. But I'm also wary of blocking that path to first-team football for some of the youngsters - there's a boatload of talent in the junior squads but I'm wary about pushing them too far too soon.

[Jogo Bonito]

Unlucky to have some of the talents poached. I remember Rafa and Luis fondly from my time there. At least you kept hold of Ramos, Neres, Joao Mario and Morato.

The new player Marcos Leonardo and Rafael Luis are typical Benfica transfers and both look good. Well, Luis looks a bit shy to be honest....

Agree, give the young players games and they'll probably really kick on as a result of the opportunities.

[warlock]

13 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Luis looks a bit shy to be honest...

Quietly determined .

[lfds89]

1 hora atrás, warlock disse:

As for Luis's replacement at DM we were close to signing another Brazilian. But despite having an offer accepted and his agent confirming his wage demands were acceptable, when it came to the contract negotations they held out for £40k a week - double what had been indicated.

I think the wage demands are adapted to your wage budget. For instance, if the player is interested he will accept less the lower your wage budget is, but he'll also demand higher wages if you have more available. Don't know if this was the case, but if you had scouted him before selling Rafa/Florentino and then made a bid afterward, without changing the wage budget, the player would ask for more after the bid was accepted.

[Gee_Simpson]

@warlock I ran a test save with my tactic and I was on 47 points after 18 games 🤣 I stopped at that point. I had a GD of 41 though, 3 less than you, but still crazily similar.

Do you use attribute masking btw or do you not bother with it? I was wondering how you found Hezze so quickly in the summer window. I'm definitely starting this ASAP, been in my plans for the past 2 weeks now. From reading various reviews from FM players on Leonardo, he's actually now my preferred choice over Vitor Roque. He seems to be a prolific goalscorer at any level. I really like the look of Elye Wahi too but I would imagine he would cost a crazy amount.

Loving your updates btw, I've been trying to ignore the transfers from real life, just got to get comfortable with the fact it doesn't really matter. It's FM23  not 24, so best to enjoy these players whilst they are still available, and wait until FM24 for a proper updated database 👍🏻 I would love to sign Alex Scott, but also want Matheus França, who is very similar but slightly less developed at the same age as Scott. They both have the same potential range.

I noticed you are considering switching Mario to AMC, he done really well there for me in the test save. He does play on the wing irl but I was using him exclusively at AMC, with Rafa at AML.

Edited July 17, 2023 by Gee_Simpson

[warlock]

3 hours ago, lfds89 said:

he'll also demand higher wages if you have more available

Interesting! I imagine it doesn't work the other way where they'll accept a lower wage when money's tight. Scumbags

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Do you use attribute masking

Not in this save  - I do when I play a LLM save but in cases like this it just slows things down when I have a good scouting team covering the whole world. Players still need scouting to uncover hidden traits and such.

2 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

I've been trying to ignore the transfers from real life... it doesn't really matter

Hold that thought

2 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

I noticed you are considering switching Mario to AMC

He's already played at AMC quite a bit when Rafa missed a few weeks with injury. Of the regular front 4 and their backups, only Ramos, Schjelderup and Neres have fixed positions - Mario, Guedes and Tengstedt have moved around quite a bit as needed, and Scott has played at both DM (volante) and AMC. Rafa played all across the AM line and did well everywhere - he'll be missed.

Get stuck in, mate - it's a fun save!

[Captain_T]

Am 10.7.2023 um 20:23 schrieb warlock:

This is my first real 4231 save this year. I played it almost exclusively in FM22 but early experiments this year failed dismally - I think because of the new emphasis on DM double pivots. I read a lot of posts and watched a lot of Youtube videos about it and it seems to be working so far

Sounds interesting!

Do you have a picture of your complete tactic?

[warlock]

6 hours ago, Captain_T said:

Do you have a picture of your complete tactic?

I'll try to remember when I'm in FM tonight. But it started with this post on View from the Touchline:

https://www.viewfromthetouchline.com/2023/04/21/benfica-roger-schmidt-fm23-tactical-recreation/

The changes I can remember are: 'balanced' mentality for tough games; both WBs on support; dropped the AP at AML for an inverted winger on support; AMC role depends on who plays; my own preference for "stay on feet".

In-game changes include tempo and passing length, depending on whether we need to control games a bit or go more direct. Drop the line of engagement if the AI is bypassing our press. It's quite an aggressive tactic so WBIB is often added if we're shooting and missing a lot.

It produces some beautiful football, but I'm not sure it will work for every team - Benfica has a huge amount of creativity and attacking threat in the front four.

[Gee_Simpson]

18 hours ago, warlock said:

Get stuck in, mate - it's a fun save!

Looking forward to it 

[lfds89]

Em 17/07/2023 em 23:02, warlock disse:

Interesting! I imagine it doesn't work the other way where they'll accept a lower wage when money's tight. Scumbags

If the player is interested, yes, I do believe so. But it's just a theory, nothing I can prove (not that I tried). It just seems to happen with me.

[karanhsingh]

Great season so far mate - and while that was a bit of a rough transfer window I am sure you will emerge strong from it regardless. The new Luis should develop quite quickly given his personality. 

[warlock]

February 2023

With team cohesion and tactical familiarity now at a high level, we've settled into a great vein of form - Ramos is scoring at a rate better than a goal a game, the defence is rock-solid and Odysseas seems to have ironed out most of the mistakes he was making early in the season. He's now on course to set a new league record for clean sheets in a season.

But, of course, this save is about the Champions League and we returned to action this month with the first R16 tie against Europa Cup specialists Sevilla:

It turned out to be a closely contested match, although the home side managed to take the lead midway through the first half. We redoubled our efforts after the interval but it took us a while to find the breakthrough. RB Bah sprinted down the wing before delivering a low cross into the Sevilla area where Guedes was able to hit a first-time shot into the roof of the net. It was no more than we deserved but came as a relief since it looked as though we'd be returning home empty-handed. With the scores level for the return match, I'll be disappointed if we fail to progress in the home leg.

I'm still trying to spend at least some of our remaining transfer budget to tie up some summer signings early but with little luck so far. The main requirement is a CB - Otamendi will leave in June and LCB Morato wants out, so a first-choice left-footer is needed. Goncalo Guedes will return to Wolves at the end of his loan and Joao Mario also wants out, so we need replacements there. And I'd like an upgrade at LB, our weakest position. Ironically, while we have a wealth of talent in the B and youth teams most of it is in areas where we're already strong.

[Gee_Simpson]

1 hour ago, warlock said:

February 2023

With team cohesion and tactical familiarity now at a high level, we've settled into a great vein of form - Ramos is scoring at a rate better than a goal a game, the defence is rock-solid and Odysseas seems to have ironed out most of the mistakes he was making early in the season. He's now on course to set a new league record for clean sheets in a season.

But, of course, this save is about the Champions League and we returned to action this month with the first R16 tie against Europa Cup specialists Sevilla:

It turned out to be a closely contested match, although the home side managed to take the lead midway through the first half. We redoubled our efforts after the interval but it took us a while to find the breakthrough. RB Bah sprinted down the wing before delivering a low cross into the Sevilla area where Guedes was able to hit a first-time shot into the roof of the net. It was no more than we deserved but came as a relief since it looked as though we'd be returning home empty-handed. With the scores level for the return match, I'll be disappointed if we fail to progress in the home leg.

I'm still trying to spend at least some of our remaining transfer budget to tie up some summer signings early but with little luck so far. The main requirement is a CB - Otamendi will leave in June and LCB Morato wants out, so a first-choice left-footer is needed. Goncalo Guedes will return to Wolves at the end of his loan and Joao Mario also wants out, so we need replacements there. And I'd like an upgrade at LB, our weakest position. Ironically, while we have a wealth of talent in the B and youth teams most of it is in areas where we're already strong.

Brilliant results there. Obviously morale has a big impact in this game, so once you get into your stride the positive results just seem to keep coming. How has Fran Garcia performed for you in general? I really like the look of Adrien Truffert, he's even less developed than Garcia but has a lot of room to grow. I'll probably go for him in my save, he's a LB I've wanted to try for a while now.

I see no goals from Marcos Leonardo there. Have you given him much game time or has he been kept out of the team so far?

Edited July 20, 2023 by Gee_Simpson

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Gee_Simpson said:

How has Fran Garcia performed for you in general? I really like the look of Adrien Truffert

Garcia has done okay - not spectacular but I'm happy enough with his performances. Agreed about Truffert - he always comes up in scout reports but I've never managed to sign him yet.

1 hour ago, Gee_Simpson said:

I see no goals from Marcos Leonardo there

Funny you should mention that... he's had a few starts and more sub appearances, but he just turned in the most spectacular performance. But you'll have to wait for the next update to see that

[warlock]

There might be some depth at this club:

[Guest]

Teams at the end of the season for Ramos. Those numbers are incredible

 

[warlock]

7 hours ago, Crazy_Ivan said:

Teams at the end of the season for Ramos

My nightmare, in gif form

@Gee_Simpson Sorry to keep you waiting for the update. I kinda forgot I had to drive from London to Newcastle on Friday afternoon for father-in-law's 90th birthday, and just got back about an hour ago. Will try to update tonight!

[BadAss88]

@warlock I'm just starting my own save with Benfica at the moment! And was also thinking about a 4-2-3-1 DM Wide with a BWM and SV..so still curious for the rest of your setup!

[warlock]

7 minutes ago, BadAss88 said:

curious for the rest of your setup!

Here's where we are right now:

I switched out the BWM because we were picking up too many yellow cards. Both WBs are told to cross more often (to encourage earlier crosses rather than running to the byline), all of the front 4 are told to take more risks and all, except Neres, told to roam.

Good luck!

[warlock]

March 2023

The month where Brazilian wonderkid Marcos Leonardo came of age:

The Santa Clara game was not his debut - he'd made a couple of Allianz Cup appearances back in January and played well without finding the net. He was on the bench for this one and, with the Sevilla match on the horizon, I took a lacklustre Ramos off and brought the youngster on and he bagged his first goal for the club in the dying minutes.

Against Sevilla, with the scores tied after the away leg, the Spaniards took an early lead and were doing an excellent job of keeping Ramos quiet. After 15 minutes of the second half I decided to change things up and made the same switch in strikers and the youngster repaid my faith almost immediately. Then, with the game in extra time, he took the game by the scruff of the neck and banged in a Neres through-ball before icing the cake in added added time to put us through to the quarter-final where we'll face PSG.

To prove that there is such a thing as a European hangover, we then struggled to a draw against relegation-threatened Gil Vicente.

The Brazilian's scoring form couldn't have been better timed as Ramos put in three very mediocre performances this month. That said, it's difficult to be critical given his 36 goals in all competitions, but having someone who can pick up when Ramos is struggling is excactly what I wanted from the new signing.

In other news, Sporting and Porto have continued to drop points and we have a 13pt lead at the top of the table. We now have a two-week international break before a busy April that features 8 games, including the two legs against PSG in Europe, and the first leg of the semi-final of the Taca de Portugal Placard against Familicao. So a chance of a domestic treble, even if the Champions League looks like a tough challenge.

[warlock]

Just got my first youth intake:

Lopes looks like the pick of the bunch:

Look at that passing and vision for a 15-year-old

[Gee_Simpson]

@warlock

Loving the update, great to see Leonardo do well because he's my main striker target. It used to be Vitor Roque as I mentioned before but he's more of a well rounded striker whereas Leonardo is more of a pure goalscorer, just what I like. The youth is what drew me to Benfica in the first place, everything is set up for it to be a wonderkid factory. They also have the most potential wonderkids in the entire game, I think it's around 25 players which is insane, even more than Ajax. Lopes looks amazing 😍

I'm definitely starting tonight haha, just been busy the past week. Nice to see @BadAss88 finally going with Benfica too 😊

Our tactics are very similar too, I'll post mine in a minute 👍🏻

Edited July 23, 2023 by Gee_Simpson

[Gee_Simpson]

Similar but some differences. I'm starting with short passing but might switch to standard passing also for more vertical passing, it's probably something I'll experiment with. Not sure about tempo so left it at standard for now. My press is even more intense, I'm slightly worried that it will leave me exposed but I like to see intense pressing irl, think Klopp's Dortmund, so that's why I have it maxed out. I have my AMC set to roam, just to give him a kind of free role, he's the main creator obviously because he's a playmaker role. Interesting that you have all the front 4 set to roam, I would imagine it can create some nice passages of play.

The only role and duty I'm not set on is the AMR, I currently have him as a IF (S) but could potentially change him to IW (A) like you have him. I asked someone what they thought and they advised me to stick with the IF (S) because it offers more variety, I'll see how he performs. Obviously an IF is more of a goalscorer rather than a creator, even on support. One of my main aims is to get the striker to score as many as possible, and I think the IW (A) would offer more creativity. I plan to change the keeper to a SK (S) or SK (A) when I replace Vlachodimos, I'm looking at Alban Lafont.

Edited July 23, 2023 by Gee_Simpson

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Interesting that you have all the front 4 set to roam

Neres isn't but does it anyway. He just popped up on the left side of the opposition box and slid in a pass for a Ramos tap-in.

1 hour ago, Gee_Simpson said:

One of my main aims is to get the striker to score as many as possible, and I think the IW (A) would offer more creativity

Neres has 12 goals and 16 assists - I think you're right that an IF would perhaps take away from Ramos's scoring record.

If you can hang on to Grimaldo I think it makes sense to organise the defence and midfield the way you have it - WB-att on the left with a DM-def covering. I'll probably do something similar since I've just signed Ajax's Owen Wijndal to join in the summer - he looks like an upgrade on Ristic.

As for the aggressive press, I don't see why it wouldn't work. It's just not to my taste

[Gee_Simpson]

55 minutes ago, warlock said:

Neres isn't but does it anyway. He just popped up on the left side of the opposition box and slid in a pass for a Ramos tap-in.

Ah yeah sorry, forgot you said he didn't have roam on.

55 minutes ago, warlock said:

Neres has 12 goals and 16 assists - I think you're right that an IF would perhaps take away from Ramos's scoring record.

If you can hang on to Grimaldo I think it makes sense to organise the defence and midfield the way you have it - WB-att on the left with a DM-def covering. I'll probably do something similar since I've just signed Ajax's Owen Wijndal to join in the summer - he looks like an upgrade on Ristic.

As for the aggressive press, I don't see why it wouldn't work. It's just not to my taste

Yeah 12 goals and 16 assists, that's impressive. I'll keep an eye on the IF (S) and if he takes away from the striker then I'll switch to IW (A) on the right too. 

I did want to keep Grimaldo, but the fact you got £30m for him is tempting. Alternatively I could sell Joao Mario to raise the money for signings instead. I like Joao Mario on paper but his simple passes trait worries me a bit, plus he's older. It will be him or Grimaldo who goes. I was planning on bringing in Truffert to replace Grimaldo, he has 15 for crossing already and is only 20 years old. I noticed when testing my tactic that the WB (A) scores a few goals himself and Truffert has 12 for finishing so could easily get a couple. Grimaldo is pure quality though, not amazing defensively but has the DM on his side. How has Joao Mario performed for you?

Edited July 23, 2023 by Gee_Simpson

[warlock]

18 minutes ago, Gee_Simpson said:

How has Joao Mario performed for you?

Absolutely brilliant! But he is getting on a bit, so that's a decision you'll have to make

[warlock]

April 2023

A tough month of mixed fortunes. On the one hand:

And on the other:

Facing just a one-goal deficit going into the second leg I was hopeful we might have a chance, but those hopes vanished when our defence was caught flat-footed and allowed Mbappe to race through and score in the third minute. The curse remains!

The rest of the month was pretty good, although we developed a nasty habit of conceding early goals  - we went behind against Braga, and were two down against Familcao inside 5 minutes in the Taca de Portugal, although we were fantastic for the remainder of the game.

We clinched the title with the win against Braga so a bit of hangover against Sporting was perhaps to be expected, especially as the visitors are still battling for Champions League qualification.

My biggest headache now is what we'll do when I lose Goncalo Ramos, as seems inevitable. His tally for the season includes 31 goals from 22 league starts, and another 14 in other competitions. It's no surprise that he's wanted by a couple of big clubs:

He has no minimum fee clause and is valued at around £40m - all I can do, I think, is maximise the money we get for him. Next season we might have no option but to rely on two youngsters - Leonardo and the returning Henrique Araujo. Both are doing well but are a long way short of Ramos's ability for now.

[Gee_Simpson]

League double, nice one. Ramos on fire, I hope he can do the same for me. I was already planning on selling him after the 1st season also, no matter how well he does.

Shame about the Champions League but that's the challenge I suppose. Would have been boring to win it in the 1st season!

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Shame about the Champions League but that's the challenge I suppose

Quite so - wouldn't have been much of a save if we'd strolled to the European title first time of asking

[warlock]

June 2023

So we accomplished the domestic treble. Of course, the only thing that really matters is that we'll be back in the Champions League next season.

With the title already ours  the remaining league games were a dead rubber, but I was pleased that the players didn't let up and maintained their performance levels:

Our title-winning margin eventually ended at a staggering 22 points as Porto and Sporting continued to stumble. We boasted the best offence with 101 goals scored, and the best defence with just 18 goals conceded, ending the season on a 21-game unbeaten run.

Ramos was the league's top scorer, Alex Scott was joint-second in the assists table, and Odysseas led the league for clean sheets with 20.

As first seasons in a save go, this one couldn't have been much better. Now it remains to find the players who can take us up a notch in Europe.

 

[Gee_Simpson]

On 23/07/2023 at 20:49, BadAss88 said:

@warlock I'm just starting my own save with Benfica at the moment! And was also thinking about a 4-2-3-1 DM Wide with a BWM and SV..so still curious for the rest of your setup!

How is your season going?

[BadAss88]

4 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

How is your season going?

Still 1st of July  

I've appointed a completly new staff (except the Head of Youth Development) and I'm now analysing all the players! Benfica's team is pretty big so I'm still busy with all the youth players.

Otamendi wanted to explore his options, so I'm gonna sell him to Brighton for € 6M and I'm probably gonna sell Chiquinho as well. I've triggered the contract extension clause of Grimaldo for an extra season.
Incoming priority's will be 2 DM's and probably a new GK, but haven't explored the market yet.

I have settled for a 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide which is a mix of yours and @warlock tactical setup:

PF-A
IW-S   SS-A   IW-A

DM-D   SV-S
WB-A   CD-D   CD-D   WB-S
SK-D

 

Edited July 28, 2023 by BadAss88

[Gee_Simpson]

1 hour ago, BadAss88 said:

Still 1st of July  

I've appointed a completly new staff (except the Head of Youth Development) and I'm now analysing all the players! Benfica's team is pretty big so I'm still busy with all the youth players.

Otamendi wanted to explore his options, so I'm gonna sell him to Brighton for € 6M and I'm probably gonna sell Chiquinho as well. I've triggered the contract extension clause of Grimaldo for an extra season.
Incoming priority's will be 2 DM's and probably a new GK, but haven't explored the market yet.

I have settled for a 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide which is a mix of yours and @warlock tactical setup:

PF-A
IW-S   SS-A   IW-A

DM-D   SV-S
WB-A   CD-D   CD-D   WB-S
SK-D

 

Lol yeah I take a while to progress at the start also 

I was going to leave the staff for season 1 because I can't be bothered but I'll just go through with it, for the first team at least, better to get them in ASAP. The squads are massive, the biggest I've ever managed in a FM game, so it's quite overwhelming for me atm! 😬

Edited July 28, 2023 by Gee_Simpson

[warlock]

Some of the staff aren't very good - I wasn't happy with the Assistant Manager, DoF and some of the coaches, but the wages were so high that I couldn't bring myself to bin them off. A lot of changes have been made in the 2023 summer window, though.

And I'm still struggling with squad sizes, and the fact there's a B team as well as the youth squads. I delegate a lot of day-to-day stuff but there's still a lot to keep an eye on.

But it's a fun save!

[Jogo Bonito]

On 29/07/2023 at 02:20, warlock said:

Some of the staff aren't very good - I wasn't happy with the Assistant Manager, DoF and some of the coaches, but the wages were so high that I couldn't bring myself to bin them off. A lot of changes have been made in the 2023 summer window, though.

And I'm still struggling with squad sizes, and the fact there's a B team as well as the youth squads. I delegate a lot of day-to-day stuff but there's still a lot to keep an eye on.

But it's a fun save!

Me and you both struggle with these squad sizes. I remember it from my time at Benfica, and it was the same at Feyenoord. So many good young players, but the pressure to win games made it hard to play them often enough.

[Hootieleece]

15 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Me and you both struggle with these squad sizes. I remember it from my time at Benfica, and it was the same at Feyenoord. So many good young players, but the pressure to win games made it hard to play them often enough.

That is a problem I have at PNE as well, but it is also that I have a "Core" I am happy with......but in the upcoming season more young players will get playing time with Champions League and Premier League play stretching the rotation a bit.

Edited July 31, 2023 by Hootieleece

[Hootieleece]

On 28/07/2023 at 19:49, Gee_Simpson said:

Lol yeah I take a while to progress at the start also 

I was going to leave the staff for season 1 because I can't be bothered but I'll just go through with it, for the first team at least, better to get them in ASAP. The squads are massive, the biggest I've ever managed in a FM game, so it's quite overwhelming for me atm! 😬

 

On 28/07/2023 at 20:20, warlock said:

Some of the staff aren't very good - I wasn't happy with the Assistant Manager, DoF and some of the coaches, but the wages were so high that I couldn't bring myself to bin them off. A lot of changes have been made in the 2023 summer window, though.

And I'm still struggling with squad sizes, and the fact there's a B team as well as the youth squads. I delegate a lot of day-to-day stuff but there's still a lot to keep an eye on.

But it's a fun save!

Still struggling with squad sizes as well. My U-21 squad is massive and I loan out 10-15 players from it usually.

[warlock]

August 2023

Transfer window

We have navigated the transfer window and, to be honest, it's been a bit of a shambles. Before we get to the ins and outs, some background. First-choice LCB Morato wanted out back in January; we agreed I'd sell him for £20m and no offers approaching that level were received. When the squad returned from the summer break, his low-level unhappiness exploded - stories in the media about how I'd broken too many promises and he no longer trusted me. Next thing I know, Odysseas is leading a rebellion with *every single first-team player* siding with Morato and demanding I do something. So I offered him out again, £20m - way under his actual value - and no offers came in. The squad remained unhappy with me.

Separately, and also back in January, I'd agreed to sell star striker Goncalo Ramos if we received £70m. A couple of offers were received at about half that amount. They were rejected and Ramos was fine with it.

When the transfer window opened I wasn't planning on moving on anyone else, although Joao Mario wanted away and Goncalo Guedes was returning to Wolves. We had a pre-arranged deal for Ajax LB Owen Wijndal to join as an upgrade at LB, but second-choice Mihailo Ristic offered us good cover at DM so I was open to keeping him. I wasn't planning on replacing Mario because Danish forward Casper Tengstedt had developed really well over the course of the first season. Although I was aware that we could lose Ramos, I didn't feel able to sign a top-class striker until and unless he actually departed.

Which he did, the week before transfer deadline day in a £70m deal to Tottenham. Which provoked another squad meltdown, again led by Vlachodemos. Here's the result:

And the board's view;

So I'm deep in the proverbial with little option but to keep my head down and hope we keep winning.

As to the actual transfer business, we eventually lost Mario on loan to Inter - no agreement to sell but a deal that will net us around £2m over the season. Tengstedt left for RB Leipzig for £6.5m which, despite the board's unhappiness, seemed like a reasonable deal for a player who wanted the move and above his actual value. And Diogo Spencer left on a free after his contract expired with my DoF and coaches telling me he wasn't good enough for a new contract. Apart from the aforementioned Ramos, no other first-team players were moved out. But with a number of youngsters sold or loaned, we brought in £70m and spent £73m while saving a pile of money on wages.

What did we get for our money? Ater the Wijndal deal my priority was a CB, not for Morata but Otamendi who left for Barcelona after his contract expired. The player chosen was RB Salzburg's Strahinja Pavlovic:

He reminds me of a young Nemanja Vidic and I have no doubt he'll be great for us.

With Tengstedt departing we needed another option at AMR, and I turned to a personal favourite Francisco Conceição:

We gave another £15m to Ajax, and arguably overpaid, but I think he's a massive upgrade on Tengstedt who did well for us and I expect no less of the young Portuguese.

While Ramos was still with us I had been playing Marcos Leonardo at AML but after our star striker left things had to change. Of the responses available to me in the second rebellion meeting I was reluctant to promise the signing of a world-class replacement, although I would have if one had been available (top target, Porto's Evanilson, went to Liverpool). Instead I opted to say I would give opportunities to our youngsters, namely Leonardo and Henrique Araujo, who had excelled on loan at Watford. According to Vlachodemos, he was delighted with my commitment to youth; he lied:

In any event, without Leonardo on the left we needed another option there:

Another Dutch talent and, for the £14m we paid Villareal, a bargain.

Meanwhile, Wijndal suffered a major injury, which meant Ristic had to return to LB duties, which left us light in defensive midfield. So, with transfer budget available, I signed another good prospect:

For £11.5m Rovella looks like good value, especially as he can play both the creative and defensive DM roles we use.

And that concluded our business... or so I thought. The window closed and Morato was still hanging around like a bad smell. Then 24 hours later it turned out the Italian window was still open, Napoli made a lowball loan-to-buy offer for the CB, and in the circumstances I didn't feel able to reject this one. At least, I thought, morale would improve as he got his move away. But no... everyone still hates me. As I said, a shambles of a transfer window that leaves us without a top-quality striker and a man short in central defence .

In better news, the off-field turmoil did not affect our performances on the pitch:

We opened the campaign with a storming victory over Porto to claim the Supertaca, and followed that with a 100% record in the league, including a battling win away at Sporting. I will continue to protest my innocence in the Morato debacle, but time will tell if my failure to replace Ramos proves to be a huge mistake on my part.

[SixPointer]

Just catching up bud. Sublime first season albeit the curse remains. Madness how the squad turned on you, especially when winning a treble but it’s the hard part of being the worlds best selling club! 

[Jogo Bonito]

It looks like four good signings. Hoping the loss of Ramos will not ruin your season, certainly a good start despite the unrest.

On that subject, you had a really tough ride there. A successful manager of the club should expect more support, but your players sound a bit 'entitled' in their reactions. Hopefully the results will calm things down, and maybe some of the youngsters will prove able deputies if given some opportunities. Best of luck my friend.

[Hootieleece]

Sell the ring leaders! and then find a leading player that supports you and make him Captain!  That is what I did with a player rebellion in my PNE save. Also try to have weekly team bonding sessions during training.

[warlock]

September 2023

Another month completed and everything is going swimmingly on the pitch:

Three wins in the league without conceding a goal; a first-round win in the Allianz Cup, albeit needing an added-time winner; and the start of our Champions League campaign.

Which provided the highlight of the month as we started with an away trip to Spanish bigwigs Atletico of Madrid. Everybody wrote us off for this one and, to be honest, I'd have snatched your hand off if offered a draw. But despite going behind twice we emerged with a fantastic - if somewhat fortunate - victory:

Two other points of note this month... First, how quickly and how well our new signings have settled in, with goals and assists from Pavlovic, Rovella, Danjuma and Conceicao; and second, we're getting goals from our two young strikers - Araujo has 2 from 3(1) appearances, and Leonardo 3 from 3(2). But both have been eclipsed by the performances of Andrea Schjelderup who has 6 from 6 and leads the scoring chart.

We're also enjoying the league's only 100% record:

And financially, we're in clover:

£36m available for transfers in January if necessary, and £60k a week in spare wage budget.

The only cloud on the horizon is the continued unhappiness in the squad and with Vlachodimos in particular. However, he's now waiting to see if I fulfill my promise of playing youngsters up front so I'm hopeful he'll come around eventually.

October will be a short month with just one league game and the start of our defence of the Taca de Portugal Placard, plus two more games in the Champions League - a tricky visit from Marseille, and an away trip to Danish outfit Randers. If we can see off the Frenchmen we'll be well-placed for qualification in double-quick time.

[Jogo Bonito]

Faultless. Harmony obviously doesn't stop your quality - great work mate.

[Gee_Simpson]

On 03/08/2023 at 00:37, warlock said:

Another Dutch talent and, for the £14m we paid Villareal, a bargain.

How did you manage to sign him for such a low fee? He's worth something like £40m at the start of the game 😅