[FM24] The Builder & The Professor - Stage 4 Manchester United

[keeper#1]

Signed through at least 2030.  The Caen Academy should be fully functional by then.

 

[keeper#1]

Back to the playoffs

[Hootieleece]

Great Job! Building a winning culture to secure the foundations at Caen.

[keeper#1]

Only Metz stand between us and Ligue 1

[keeper#1]

Holy crap, we done did it!  Into Ligue 1.  I need to look at the other boxes to see if I can move to stage 3.  I think I'm close.  I need to go through the inherited academy players.

[keeper#1]

2026-27 Season Review

League Table     xG Table

January-March Fixtures     April-May Fixtures

Individual Stats

Defender of the Year DC Rene Lefeuvre: The 19 year old academy product was our best defender all season.  A good solid player who will be with the club as we move to Ligue 1

Midfielder of the Year RW Moussa Sylla: Right winger in his prime who scored eight goals with nine assists on the season

Forward of the Year CF Norman Bissette: The 22-year old center forward led the squad with 13 goals in our system that spread the goalscoring wealth around.

Team Stats

Finances

The Story

With a shaky backline and team struggling in the middle of the table, Olivier made a bold strategic move.  He had the defensive line drop off from the high line that had been playing.  He told the team to regroup and get the behind the ball after it was lost.  But what did he tell the team to do once they won the ball back?  He told them to attack on the counter.  Bomb forward.  Catch them out of position.  Don't give them a chance to get their defense set.  What happened?  The defense still allowed goals.  Sometimes in bunches.  The offense?  The offense starting scoring goals for fun.  Four goals against Angers (2nd place).  Four goals against Orleans (17th place - no surprise there).  Four goals against Pau (9th place).  You know what else happened?  The defense started to play well.  We had five clean sheets in seven matches.  The team started to zoom up the table.  We finished in 3rd place and got a bye into the semis.  There, we dispatched Troyes in an offensive shootout 3-2.  A berth in the finals and two-legged tie against 16th place Metz.  A tight affair our place had the tie going back to Metz all knotted up at one.  At Metz, we did what did best.  Struck on t the counter twice.  The defense kept Metz off the scoreboard.  The 2-0 victory at Metz led to a 3-1 victory in the two-legged tie and Caen earned a trip back into Ligue 1.  A little look at the unique possession-based counter attacking system Olivier used in the second half of the season with Caen.

Play out of defense: the ball doesn't get bombed forward to quickly and just lumped up to a lone center forward with no support.

Regroup: Gets players behind the ball

An enganche:  Allows the attacking players to make around him - giving him a choice of which attacking runner to play in

A Libero: Provides a late attacking option and a double pivot next to the defending deep lying playmaker

An inverted full-back: Helps create a back three with the center back and wing back but covering the space vacated by the libero.

What goals has Olivier Accomplished

Win League Title - Olivier has never won a league title for Caen but has gotten them into Ligue 1.  We will consider this one as 3/4 achieved.

Sell a player for, at least, 100,000 Euros - Olivier has sold six players for over 100,000 Euros and three players over 1,000,000 euros - accomplished

Have Five Academy Players play 1,000 minutes in the same season - The starred players are inherited academy products.  Olivier is, technically, 27 minutes short of achieving this goal.  But he played one product over 3,000 minutes and another over 2,800 minutes.  We will consider this one - accomplished.

Have an academy player make a U19 or U20 National Team appearance - Tidiam Gomis has made an appearance for the French U20 national team - accomplished

Obtained Continental A & Pro License - Olivier has obtained his A license and is weeks away from receiving his Pro license - accomplished

At this point, I'm willing to say that Olivier has completed Stage 2 and is ready to move on to Stage 3.  The current job market:

There's two jobs on this list that I'm targeting: Lens - an established Ligue 1 team and Gladbach - an established Bundesliga team.

A stretch job would be Valencia.  They teetered on La Liga relegation but found a way to survive.

Applications have been sent to all three clubs.

 

 

Edited November 30, 2023 by keeper#1

[keeper#1]

On to the interview phase:

[SixPointer]

6 hours ago, keeper#1 said:

2026-27 Season Review

League Table     xG Table

January-March Fixtures     April-May Fixtures

Individual Stats

Defender of the Year DC Rene Lefeuvre: The 19 year old academy product was our best defender all season.  A good solid player who will be with the club as we move to Ligue 1

Midfielder of the Year RW Moussa Sylla: Right winger in his prime who scored eight goals with nine assists on the season

Forward of the Year CF Norman Bissette: The 22-year old center forward led the squad with 13 goals in our system that spread the goalscoring wealth around.

Team Stats

Finances

The Story

With a shaky backline and team struggling in the middle of the table, Olivier made a bold strategic move.  He had the defensive line drop off from the high line that had been playing.  He told the team to regroup and get the behind the ball after it was lost.  But what did he tell the team to do once they won the ball back?  He told them to attack on the counter.  Bomb forward.  Catch them out of position.  Don't give them a chance to get their defense set.  What happened?  The defense still allowed goals.  Sometimes in bunches.  The offense?  The offense starting scoring goals for fun.  Four goals against Angers (2nd place).  Four goals against Orleans (17th place - no surprise there).  Four goals against Pau (9th place).  You know what else happened?  The defense started to play well.  We had five clean sheets in seven matches.  The team started to zoom up the table.  We finished in 3rd place and got a bye into the semis.  There, we dispatched Troyes in an offensive shootout 3-2.  A berth in the finals and two-legged tie against 16th place Metz.  A tight affair our place had the tie going back to Metz all knotted up at one.  At Metz, we did what did best.  Struck on t the counter twice.  The defense kept Metz off the scoreboard.  The 2-0 victory at Metz led to a 3-1 victory in the two-legged tie and Caen earned a trip back into Ligue 1.  A little look at the unique possession-based counter attacking system Olivier used in the second half of the season with Caen.

Play out of defense: the ball doesn't get bombed forward to quickly and just lumped up to a lone center forward with no support.

Regroup: Gets players behind the ball

An enganche:  Allows the attacking players to make around him - giving him a choice of which attacking runner to play in

A Libero: Provides a late attacking option and a double pivot next to the defending deep lying playmaker

An inverted full-back: Helps create a back three with the center back and wing back but covering the space vacated by the libero.

What goals has Olivier Accomplished

Win League Title - Olivier has never won a league title for Caen but has gotten them into Ligue 1.  We will consider this one as 3/4 achieved.

Sell a player for, at least, 100,000 Euros - Olivier has sold six players for over 100,000 Euros and three players over 1,000,000 euros - accomplished

Have Five Academy Players play 1,000 minutes in the same season - The starred players are inherited academy products.  Olivier is, technically, 27 minutes short of achieving this goal.  But he played one product over 3,000 minutes and another over 2,800 minutes.  We will consider this one - accomplished.

Have an academy player make a U19 or U20 National Team appearance - Tidiam Gomis has made an appearance for the French U20 national team - accomplished

Obtained Continental A & Pro License - Olivier has obtained his A license and is weeks away from receiving his Pro license - accomplished

At this point, I'm willing to say that Olivier has completed Stage 2 and is ready to move on to Stage 3.  The current job market:

There's two jobs on this list that I'm targeting: Lens - an established Ligue 1 team and Gladbach - an established Bundesliga team.

A stretch job would be Valencia.  They teetered on La Liga relegation but found a way to survive.

Applications have been sent to all three clubs.

 

 

Nice to see the builder continue! It’s a great idea. I never used to journeyman until I found the happel challenge, now every save I do will be a journey….  I think 

[Hootieleece]

Hope you get the Lens Job. It is the natural progression of the career.

[keeper#1]

Stage 3 - RC Lens

This is going to be a hard stage for Olivier to conquer.  I'm going to split up the first goal into winning the league and the cup but in different seasons - Olivier has to deal with the PSG juggernaut in Ligue 1 and it's going to hard to win either competition let alone both competitions in the same season.

The sell a player for 1,000,000 Euros or more should be easy for Olivier to check off.

I'll need to go through a star the inherited academy players like I did at Caen for the next two goals.

He's already obtained or about to obtain both of those coaching licenses.

The squad, in it's present form, is a contender for the Europa League/Conference so this should be another easy goal for Olivier to reach.

The toughest goal will be the first and could tie Olivier to Lens for a long time. 

Disregard the line that says Lens finished 4th last season.  They actually finished 11th which is why they fired their manager.  The wage budget is 450% increase in the wage budget Olivier would have at Caen.  Olivier takes a step back in transfer budget but he has yet to dip his toes in the Lens transfer market and start selling players for a profit.

Olivier's journey thus far has been a zig-zagging path through the north of France.  Starting in the northeast corner but Germany at Nancy before moving to the Normandy Region at Caen and now to the north central city of Lens which is very close to the Belgian potentially setting up a pipeline of Belgian talent to the club.

Full Roster Breakdown and Summer Transfer Window (coming soon)

[Hootieleece]

Good Luck with Lens! I will look forward to seeing you lead the rebellion against the Galactic Empire that is PSG!

 

[Jogo Bonito]

Good luck on stage 3 with RC Lens!

[keeper#1]

32 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Good luck on stage 3 with RC Lens!

Thanks.  I could be here awhile.  Gonna take a lot to knock off PSG!

[Shrewnaldo]

Surprised you stayed in France. Given the PSG challenge you've pointed out and the stage 3 requirements, I thought you'd nip off to Belgium or something. 

I think Lens have a great academy of though, which makes some of the other challenges easier? 

[keeper#1]

6 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said:

Surprised you stayed in France. Given the PSG challenge you've pointed out and the stage 3 requirements, I thought you'd nip off to Belgium or something. 

I think Lens have a great academy of though, which makes some of the other challenges easier? 

None of the Belgian jobs were available.  PSG will be tough to beat.  Maybe the Qataris stop caring about football and pull their money out.  If that doesn't happen, maybe a Stage 3A evolves and I move off to Belgium or The Netherlands.  

[keeper#1]

Summer 2027 Update

Transfers

CM Bruno Costa (loan): Costa joins us on loan from Benfica as a short term replacement for the departing Taylor Booth.  A much more attacking focused midfielder than the more all-around Booth.  Olivier could have dipped into the transfer market for a replacement but it would have come at the cost of going over the wage budget.

LF/RF Sorriso (5.75M from Athletico Paranaense):  Sorriso is a replacement for the outgoing Tadeo Allende.  Much like the loan deal, Sorriso was the best player that Olivier could find on the market that find the wage budget.  Sorriso has the potential to be a good player for the club and has the ability to play both wing forward positions in the 4-3-3 that Olivier is bringing into Lens.

League Table    xG Table

Fixtures

Individual Stats

Finances

The Story

Olivier's first order of business was to clear out some salary as the club was way over the wage budget when he arrived.  That meant some starters, like Booth and Allende, had to go.  Olivier, though, did get taken to the cleaners on his first big deal.  Arsenal wanted to bring in promising winger Ayouh Malin and initially made an offer around 10 million range.  Olivier declined the offer.  Malin was upset that Olivier declined the offer and the club and Malin agreed that the club would accept an offer of 12.5 million.  Arsenal came back with a negotiable 12.5 million offer and a 30% next sale clause.  Olivier tried to squeeze an extra 2.5 million out of the deal and Arsenal declined.  A week later, Arsenal came back with a non-negotiable .13.5 million euro offer with no next sale clause.  At the risk of upsetting a player, Olivier accepted the deal and one of the better prospects left the club.

On the field, Lens made a hot start winning their four matches using a possession-based counter-attacking 4-3-3 tactic very similar to the 4-2-3-1 tactic that he used with Caen.  The defense needs to play catch up to the offense who has started out hot with 12 goals in five matches.  The defense has only one clean sheet in those first five matches so the offense needed the hot start to keep the club in the top half of the table.  The defense has been leaky at the wrong times and allowed too many low-percentage goals especially on set pieces.  Olivier will need to sit down with the set piece coach and tighten things up in that area so they can keep clean sheets and not drop points in matches that should be wins or draws. 

[keeper#1]

My Tactical Thoughts

It's rare that I go in depth with a tactical post because, as a former goalkeeper, my knowledge of tactics is very limited.  It's just stop the ball from the going in the net.  That was the range of coaching I got playing as a goalkeeper in the late 80's and early 90's.  Yeah, I'm old.  With the improved movement in the match engine, I can get a better feel of my tactics and what works and what doesn't but more importantly....why it's working or not working.  So, here we go with the tactic that I've given the creative name of Lens Counter Pressure.

It's a very simple but effective tactic.  We keep the passes short.  We play the ball out of defense until we have a late lead and then we let the goalkeeper punt the ball long so our backline isn't under pressure by an opposing front line that is looking for a way back into the game.  We try to create space with just a mid-block out of possession and don't try to counter press.  Counter pressing leads to early turnovers which one hand are good but doesn't allow us to create the space we need to put together a successful attack.  When we do win the ball, we counter with pace and get the ball from front to back quickly.  Play Fast Break Football get into the offensive third before the defense has a chance to set up.  When we play from the back, we ask our front line to NOT get forward quickly so we have space to attack into.  When the opposition has the ball, we attempt to squeeze them into one side of the pitch and then attack the ball carrier, win the ball and start the counter.  Some examples below:

Here's our basic set-up when we are bringing the ball out of the back.  We've got a five-man front line with the left and right wing forwards sitting wide but not too wide because we want them to hedge inside to create a dilemma for the wingbacks.  The two center midfielder are also pushing forward with the BBM in the left center channel (channel 2) and the mezzala in the right center channel (channel 4).  This is where the wingbacks have a dilemma.  Do they stay wide and cover the wingbacks at the expense of the two runners in channels 2 & 4.  Or do they pinch in and cover the more central runners at the expense of the wing forwards driving forward  in channels 1 & 5.  Occupying Channel 3 is the complete forward (on support duty).  Here puts the center backs and defensive midfielder under pressure.  Ideally they should have enough coverage since it's a 3v3 situation.  But any indecision by any of the defenders, the line is broken and we are in behind them.  

Behind the attacking five is the unique supporting three.  We have a wingback (support) on the left.  At the base of the midfield triangle is a regista to provide a playmaking option.  Then pushing out of the defensive line is a supporting libero which gives us yet another playmaker in the midfield.  In this situation, you see our libero with the ball and he has the defense in a tight situation.  He has space to drive at the defensive line.  Which has drawn the center-back's attention since you can see him looking straight at the libero which puts the wingback in a potential 1vs2 situation with the mezzala in Channel 4 and right forward in Channel 5.  He also has a recycling option to his right with the tucked-in inverted fullback and to his left with the deeper sitting covering centerback.

The libero made the choice of passing to the mezzala in channel 3 which caused the wingback and centerback to collapse to him.  One quick pass to the right forward left the forward with a free run on the goal who made the game 1-0 Lens.

Setting Up The Counter

In this attempted breakout by Angers, the center back has the ball.  Our front three has dropped off and given him space to move the ball.  But what do you notice?  We have all ten field players hedged to the ball-side of the pitch.  There are long range field switching options to the back and winger but by the time the ball gets there, the defense could have time to shift that side of the pitch and have the defense set up.  Lee chooses to pass into the "strong side" of the pitch and let's see what happens.

A few passes later, one of their midfielders, Bahoya, has ended up with the ball but in a bad situation.  He has back to the attacking goal.  All of his passing options are marked and we have an extra player tracking back to set up the trap and give us a free player if we are able to turn the ball over to start our own attack.

Bahoya makes the poor choice of trying to dribble into the open space and potentially out of the situation.  However, the winger on that side does not run toward our goal to create space for Bahoya and drag the defender with him.  One of the midfielder runs into the space vacated by Bahoya but he is double marked by the center back and the defensive midfielder.  Bahoya is in a bad place and turns the ball over.  The trap has been sprung and the counter attack is on.

We get the ball to our regista, Fabian, who has all kinds of time and space with the ball.  He could dribble with the ball but he could be quickly double-teamed by Angers.  The box to box midfielder is streaking to fill Channel 2 while our center forward sits in Channel 4 to see what develops and the mezzala looks to fill Channel 3 as a way to occupy the defense and create confusion.  Fabian shifts the ball from right to left and gets the ball to our left winger who is isolated 1v1 on the left back.

Our left winger, Kouame, has a step on the left back and has started to pull the back line apart.  The center back on the left side has started to shade over to cover for the beaten left back.  As a result, the rest of back line has started to shift over as well creating it's own set of problems.  As Kouame drives from Channel 1 into Channel 2, the BBM has stopped his run creating space for Kouame's run.  Kouame sees that there is a passing line to the center forward since the center backs are no longer tight to each other.  He hits the diagonal ball into the center forward, Wahi.

And it's 3-0 Lens heading into halftime.

[Hootieleece]

Great Tactical Post! I wish I knew as much about tactics as you do. Because all I know about football/soccer tactics has come from books, gym class, and this forum. Which is why I never really go into detail in my updates. Also, I shamelessly "borrow" other people's tactics as well.

But this year I am trying NOT to do that.

[keeper#1]

I'm trying to make the tactic work using a basic tactical theory: When you are on defense, you want to make the field as small as possible so it's easier to defend.  When you are on offense, you want to make the field as big as possible so it's harder to defend.  So far, it seems to be working.

[keeper#1]

2027-28 Midseason Update

League Table     xG Table

September-December Fixtures

Individual Statistics

Team Statistics

General Team Analytics

Finances

Defender of the First Half GK Brice Samba

Midfielder of the First Half CM Ludovit Reis

Forward of the First Half RF Niklas Odegard

The Story

Lens, thanks to Olivier's unique counter with possession tactic, was able to get off to a hot start to the 2027-28 Ligue 1 campaign rattling off some big wins and even upsetting PSG 2-1.  As the calendar turned to November and December, the goals have started to dry up.  Teams are regrouping faster against Lens and not giving them the space behind the defensive lines to exploit.  They are forcing Lens to build up through the lines which they are having a hard time achieving.  A month-long injury to center forward Elye Wahi has not helped matters either as this has forced Olivier to juggle the front line and none of the replacements have the complete skill set that Wahi has.  The midfield lost some players to the 2027 African Cup of Nations which cost us some depth there as we had a couple of matches get rescheduled causing some fixture congestion where that midfield depth could have been helpful.

There is a lot of transfer interest in Wahi from big EPL clubs and some interest from mid-tier EPL and top-flight not Big Five league clubs in our forward of the first half Niklas Odegard.  The scouts have been hitting the pavement hard looking for replacements for these two players should the right offer come in for their services.  It will take a big offer for me to part with Wahi.  He is a great player for us but we also know that he has probably outgrown the club.  Odegard is more replaceable but it will still take the right offer for us to let him go.

[Shrewnaldo]

How much do you think you'll get for the Wahi? Are you looking for a like-for-like replacement, or taking the chance for a change of approach? 

[keeper#1]

4 minutes ago, Shrewnaldo said:

How much do you think you'll get for the Wahi? Are you looking for a like-for-like replacement, or taking the chance for a change of approach? 

Newcastle came in with a 134M offer, after adding in all the clauses, on the first day of the window.  My only negotiation was shift the transfer to the end of season.  They turned down the offer.  Hoping they come back with another bid before the window closes.  

As for a replacement, I'd like to get someone similar in the age 20-22 category.  I've have Wilfried Pettijean as an internal option as well.  But I don't think he's quite ready for the everyday starting job.  He could be there in a season or two which is why I want that bridge player to hold job until he's ready.

[keeper#1]

Winter 2028 Transfer Window - Three In Three Out

The transfer window saw three senior team players depart the club and three players coming in their place.  The first player to leave was backup goalkepper Paul Nardi who left the club for Burnley on a small fee.  Coming in his place is 18-year old Danish goalkeeper Elias Andersen.  He cost us a decent amount of money but we did not have a lot of young goalkeepers at the club so we were kind of stuck here.  One of the two big moves materialized on deadline day when right forward Niklas Odegard left for Leverkusen.  The deal is for 16 million euros with clauses that could increase the total deal to 21 million euros.  I was disappointed for Odegard to leave but I was able to quickly replace him with Luicano Lencina from Huracan for only 2.6 million euros and clauses could take the total cost of the deal to 3.2 million.  Lencina has lots of room to grow into the position but hopefully he can develop into the player that Odegard became when he left the club.  The last deal was unexpected as Odilon Kossourou finally reached a breaking point with his lack of playing time and wanted out.  I could not find a permanent deal for him but I was able to convince Ajax to take him on loan with an option to buy.  Not ideal but good enough to get an unhappy player out of the locker room   In his place comes promising center back from Manchester United, Niki Gaskell.  Gaskell has the potential to be a great buy for the club at either the center back or defensive midfield position.  Now, we have this young core of players in the senior team.

 

These eight U21 players are part of the senior team roster as we head into the back half of the season.  Ochoa and Pelletier are both graduates of the Lens Academy and promoted from the 2nd team to get some game experience as they are starting to stagnate there since I don't have the fourth tier of French football loaded for this season.  This is where the Lens 2nd team resides but with the league not loaded, they aren't getting real game matches other than friendlies.  Wilfried Petitjean is another graduate of the Lens Academy and has been with the senior team since the beginning of the season.  The other five have been brought in by Olivier since he took over at Lens.  A good solid core to drive the club forward to the future.  

Most importantly, @Shrewnaldo, I was able to keep Wahi at the club.  He's under contract until 2031 so I felt no pressure to move when Newcastle came in with their one and only offer.  He's content for now since no club has met his asking price to leave the club.

[Shrewnaldo]

Can I just check there was a typo above and Newcastle didn't offer £134m?!

What's the Saudi window? Any clubs still showing interest?

[keeper#1]

18 minutes ago, Shrewnaldo said:

Can I just check there was a typo above and Newcastle didn't offer £134m?!

What's the Saudi window? Any clubs still showing interest?

134M euros.  Yeah, that wasn't a typo.  I just wanted them to wait until June and they refused.  I liked the offer but tried to squeeze six more months out of him.

No other club is interested at the moment including the Saudis.

Edited December 7, 2023 by keeper#1

[keeper#1]

2027-28 Season Review

League Table     xG Table

January-May Fixtures

Individual Stats

Team Stats

General Performance Analytics     Team Attacking Analytics      Team Defending Analytics

Defender of the Year CB Kevin Danso: Danso was our best defender for the entire season as goalkeeper Bryce Samba's form dipped in the second half of the season.  Danso had the difficult job of being the central pivot in our last line of defense.  He had to be strong in the air and in the tackle but good enough on the ball to get it up to our midfielders once he won the ball.  A tough job but Danso did this job great all season long.

Midfielder of the Year CM Ludovit Reis: Like Danso, Reis had the toughest job in the midfield.  He wasn't a creator or our primary goalscorer in the midfield.  He had to do everything.  He had to track back to assist the defense and break up attacks in the midfield.  He had to get forward and be an additional body in the box to occupy defenders while freeing up space for the primary attackers.  Reis finished the season with 2.56 tackles/90 while scoring six goals and chipping in seven assists on the season.

Forward of the Year CF Elye Wahi: Wahi led the line for us all season.  He scored 19 goals which was good enough for 3rd in Ligue 1.  But most importantly, he did not get upset when I turned down Newcastle's monster bid for him in the winter transfer window.  Now, Chelsea and Manchester United are looking into his services for next season.  I doubt I will be able to hold them off during the summer window.

Top Youth Academy Product CM Ilies Terrier 28A

Finances

The Story

Olivier watched the league quickly adapt to his counter possession tactic in the second half of the season.  Teams started to put more pressure on his defense and midfielders.  This caused a lot of turnovers and the opposition was able to turn the tables on Olivier.  Now, the opposition could quickly counter and put Lens down early.  This allowed the opposition to sit back and make Lens slog through ten field players and the goalie to just get a shot on goal.  Olivier thought this was an offensive problem.  It was not until he sat down with the season stats that the offense was one of the most efficient in the league.  They led the league at goal conversion percent at 18%.  The problem was they didn't create enough chances to make them a truly elite team.  The defense did not respond quickly enough when the offense turned the ball over.  The defense ranked toward the bottom in opposition passes before defensive action.  The defense does have some flaws out on the wings especially the right wing which will need to be rectified in the offseason.  The biggest question of the offseason will be if and when Elye Wahi will depart the club.  If he does depart, it will leave a big hole in the offense and goalscoring which will need to be filled.  On the plus side, he will depart for A LOT of money and the club can go out and purchase a replacement or bridge center forward until the young players are ready to take over.  The biggest plus is the club has European football to look forward to next season as they qualified for the Europa Conference.  This is will be a great opportunity for the younger players to make an impact at the club and accelerate their development.

 

[Deisler26]

A great season. Europe proved to be a tough stretch for me, so make sure you have 2+ for every position 

[keeper#1]

Right now with some transfers out.  I'll just be happy to have one at some positions to start the season.  My scouting department really let me down during the season and it's hamstringing me this transfer window.

[Hootieleece]

1 hour ago, keeper#1 said:

My scouting department really let me down during the season and it's hamstringing me this transfer window.

Same problem here. I'm supposed to be signing under 23 players for the first team and the Scouting department always comes back with 29-32 year olds. I don't set assignments because I don't think I would be allowed based on my background as a manager.

 

[Jogo Bonito]

Wahi is a name I remember well from time managing in France with Montpellier. If he stays, great. If he goes for that kind of money, you'll be able to improve the whole squad. That's a comfortable position for you either way.

Do you think you can improve on 7th next season or will you be satisfied to just match it?

[keeper#1]

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Wahi is a name I remember well from time managing in France with Montpellier. If he stays, great. If he goes for that kind of money, you'll be able to improve the whole squad. That's a comfortable position for you either way.

Do you think you can improve on 7th next season or will you be satisfied to just match it?

Lens bought Wahi from Montpeiller for 30M back in 2023-24.  We sold him to Manchester United for 100M+23M in performance clauses and a 20% profit sell on clause.  We are in a good place financially...if only my scouts can find players.  I had a couple of players lined up but bigger clubs swooped in and took them from us.  Damn you Liverpool, Dortmund and Galatasaray.

I'm hopeful that we can just match our 7th place from last season.

Edited December 9, 2023 by keeper#1

[keeper#1]

3 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Same problem here. I'm supposed to be signing under 23 players for the first team and the Scouting department always comes back with 29-32 year olds. I don't set assignments because I don't think I would be allowed based on my background as a manager.

 

Mine don't come back with anything.  Maybe one or two players per assignment.  Very frustrating.  I've started to manually scout just find players.

[keeper#1]

Sometimes my travel agent job has its perks.  Today, I got to go on a behind the scenes tour of the cruise ship that I'm currently sailing on.  It included a stop on the bridge.

And I have drinking quest to complete by Friday at 11:59 pm.

 

Edited December 12, 2023 by keeper#1

[keeper#1]

Summer 2028 Transfer Window and Early Matches

An update while I'm on my "work trip" because it's raining at my stop in Honduras and my beach excursion was cancelled due to weather.

The window started with the early sale of Elye Wahi to Manchester United for 100M euros plus another 23M when he plays 50 matches for United.  I can do a lot of squad rebuilding with the funds generated from that transfer.

July and August Fixtures

League Table

Individual Stats

Europa Conference League Phase Fixture List

Finances

New Tactic - Lens Squeeze Play - more on this in a later post when I back on dry land

The Story

The sale of Wahi to United gave Olivier the ability to do some tactical rethinking and reshaping of the first team.  He was sent some footage of a field hockey team in New York (a team that I umpired IRL this season) that played with a very interesting system.  They played on the attack.  What made the tactic unique was in defense.  When opposition had a 16-yard hit (think goal kick in soccer/football terms), they set up with all ten field players with 25 yards of the ball and all on the ball side of the field.  The defense has three options: a) try to slog through all ten opposition players, b) quickly cycle the ball to the weak side or c) play over the top.  Olivier liked what he watched on the game film and wanted to bring that style of squeeze play system to Lens.  With the money from the Wahi, he had the funds to help build a team to play such a tactic.

Summer Transfer Activity

Olivier builds his teams from the inside out and from the back to the front.  He needed to solidify the goalkeeper position first and that was done with the acquisition of Michele Di Gregorio from Monza for 8.25M.  Not a great long-term buy low/sell high type of player but a solid netminder who can start while Elias Andersen continues to develop and slowly take more of the match time at the goalkeeper spot.  He moved forward to the center back position - this is already a position of relative strength - but has shown signs of cracks.  Olivier brought in Mika Faye on loan from Barcelona to see if he has the ability to move one of the established center backs out of the position.  Out wide, American Sergio Dest was available on free from Barcelona.  Not good enough to stay in the Barca squad but definitely good enough to take over the right back position at Lens.  Olivier also scooped up youngster Chris Jung as a long-term right-back project from Lyngby.  Continuing to move forward into the defensive midfield: he poached the Barcelona squad a third time for creative defensive midfielder Pau Prim.  He could become the long term partner for defensive midfield destroyer from Mexico: Abraham Huerta.  Moving on the attacking midfield line, a pair of players were brought in basically on free signings.  Cher Ndour from PSG and Dijon Kameri from RB Salzburg.  Kameri cost us a little bit of compensation money to Salzberg but he worth much more than 6k in comp money that we paid to sign him.  Both play in the central attacking midfield but we have a lot more matches now that we are in Europe so there should be plenty of playing time for both of them.  Who did we get to replace Wahi at center forward?  We went into Switzerland and signed a 18-year old, who is already getting caps for the Swiss National Team, Reto Braun.  He looks like the ideal replacement for Wahi and we will be able to turn a tidy profit for him in a few seasons.  Lastly, we did sign a center-back project from Monaco in U21 international Remi Pinelli.

 

[Shrewnaldo]

16 hours ago, keeper#1 said:

Summer 2028 Transfer Window and Early Matches

An update while I'm on my "work trip" because it's raining at my stop in Honduras and my beach excursion was cancelled due to weather.

 

 

Talk about first world problems... 

 

That's some amount of money for Wahi. I'll be interested to see how Ndour gets on. I've looked at him a few times but he's always been just out of my price range. I reckon he looks really interesting as a runner from deep, getting on the end of crosses with his height 

[Jogo Bonito]

A big sum for Wahi, well done indeed. Hopefully the redistribution of proceeds across the squad will make you a stronger force.

[keeper#1]

I hope so too and I haven't even spent all of the funds generated from the sale either.

[keeper#1]

2028-29 Midseason Update

I've spent the last two days on my cruise stuck at sea due to the weather.  My stop in the Bahamas was cancelled because of high winds (34+ mph) and rolling seas.  All of the beach activities were moved inside but they didn't lower the volume so the main atrium is very loud.  I don't do very loud so I've spent most of the day in my stateroom playing FM while watching it rain.  It's just like home!

League Table     xG Table

Europa Conference Table

Youth Candidates Preview

September-December Fixtures

Individual Stats

Finances

Defender of the First Half RB Sergino Dest

Midfielder of the First Half DM Fabian

Forward of the First Half CM Reto Braun

[Jogo Bonito]

Good form there, well positioned to challenge (most of) the top clubs. Enjoy your days at sea!

[keeper#1]

4 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Good form there, well positioned to challenge (most of) the top clubs. Enjoy your days at sea!

There was nothing "enjoyable" about them.  40 mph (64 kph) winds on deck and 10 foot (3 m) waves at sea.  Fortunately, the ship is big and had stabilizers so never really felt the ship swaying.  If you stayed closer to the center of the ship, you felt it less since the ship is a pendulum in the waves.  At night, the waves just rock you to sleep.  Now at the airport lounge hoping the weather cooperates enough so I can fly home. 

[keeper#1]

2029 Youth Intake

Full Youth Intake  Average DNA Score: 121.17

CB Timothy Rey 29A (DNA Score: 120)

GK Noah Caron 29B (DNA Score: 102)

AM Gregory Schultz 29C (DNA Score: 152)

AM Anthony Geay 29D (DNA Score: 140)

RW Laurent Soler 29E (DNA Score: 116)

As I am trying to turn Lens into a French version of the Ajax Academy, I am including the DNA Score of the entire class and the top five players of each class using @MattyLewis11 DNA methodology. 

[keeper#1]

2028-29 End of Season Update

League Table     xG Table

January-May Fixtures

Individual Stats

Defender of the Year LB/CB Mika Faye (on loan from Barcelona): Faye was a very versatile defender for us this season.  Can play both the left back and center back positions.  Started to take over the starting left back job from Antonee Robinson toward the end of the season.  We may need to activate his 7.75 optional loan transfer fee before the end of his loan.  Need to see how other priorities in the transfer window shake out.

Midfielder of the Year DM Fabian: The age-less Fabian put in a great final season for Lens in the 28-29 season.  I've already secured a younger replacement for the player with the highest Lens DNA Score at the club.  Not the greatest stats with six goals and one assist on the season. But his experience was vital for our defense this season.

Forward of the Year CF Reto Braun: The 2028-29 NextGen Wonderkid of the Year led the squad with 17 goals in all competitions including 15 goals in Ligue 1 play which was good enough for 5th in the league.  At just 18 years old, this rapidly developing talent will be a player for us to build around in the coming seasons before one of the major clubs come in for his services.

Finances

The Story

Lens rode a 16-match unbeaten streak in the middle of the season to finish the season in second place but ten points behind league champion PSG.  Good enough to skip over the Europa League and go from the Europa Conference to the Champions League for the 29-30 season.  The question will be "are we ready for Champions League football?"  We have some players who are getting on the wrong side of 30 years old and are looking for new challenges and we need to see if our internal options are good enough before we go out and look at options outside the club.  Here's what our priorities are in the transfer market:

• A deep-lying playmaker to replace Fabian - this priority has already been filled
• Playmaking right winger
• Figuring out if Faye stays or goes back to Barcelona
• Center back depth
• Center forward depth

 

Here's how the Lens Academy stands after two seasons of using the @MattyLewis11Ajax Way Methodology

The kids seemed to do okay this season

Lens 2 Table

U19 Lens Table

Edited December 19, 2023 by keeper#1

[Shrewnaldo]

Seems a bit odd that the NxGn player of the year 'only' has 4* potential in a Ligue 1 club 

[SteinkelssonFM]

A fellow FM'er using the DNA Pathway spreadsheet, things you love to see! 

You have a few good players in that intake, I already like the look of Schultz.

How do you think you will approach recruitment, what is the strategy to improve the quality of the squad ready for UCL?

[keeper#1]

6 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said:

Seems a bit odd that the NxGn player of the year 'only' has 4* potential in a Ligue 1 club 

He could have a low PA ceiling.  One of those players who peaks early and then never finds that next gear to become truly elite.  But, right now, he's going to be one of the first names in the starting XI so he will continue to develop and, hopefully, grow.

6 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

A fellow FM'er using the DNA Pathway spreadsheet, things you love to see! 

You have a few good players in that intake, I already like the look of Schultz.

How do you think you will approach recruitment, what is the strategy to improve the quality of the squad ready for UCL?

The strategy is to see what players we have ready to make the jump up to the senior team and give them the first crack at becoming members of the senior team.  If we have a position where we don't have someone ready, I'll look for players from the outside.  The final pathways sheet is broken down into senior team, reserve team, and U19 team which is why there is some overlap with the pathways as some players get stuck behind other players.  Not all of those players are with the club especially in the reserve team as some of them are out on loan with other clubs where they could get playing time.

Lens is two seasons away from moving into a new stadium so I need to have some level of fiscal responsibility so we don't go deep into debt and be forced to sell players.  

[warlock]

12 hours ago, keeper#1 said:

in second place but ten points behind league champion PSG

The eternal conundrum! Good luck with the next attempt 

[keeper#1]

39 minutes ago, warlock said:

The eternal conundrum! Good luck with the next attempt 

Rennes broke the PSG machine and won the title in the 2027-28 season.  It can be done.  I just don't have the right squad balance, at present, to do it.

Rennes have quietly built the second best club in France.

[warlock]

19 minutes ago, keeper#1 said:

Rennes broke the PSG machine and won the title in the 2027-28 season

Is it too late to nick all their players 

[keeper#1]

Sorry Lazio!

Let's take a look at the objectives:

Olivier has not won the Coupe de France or Ligue 1 

Olivier has sold a player for, at least, 1,000,000 Euros

Olivier has NOT had five academy players play 2,000 minutes in the same season

Olivier has had an academy player make a Senior National Team appearance

Olivier has his UEFA A and UEFA Pro Licenses

Oliver has reached the Europa League or Europa Conference League Phase

 

He has only achieved four of the six objectives and for those reasons, his job at Lens is not finished so he rejected Lazio without even taking an interview and took the personality hit to "unambitious" by declining the interview.

[Shrewnaldo]

Huh, I've never noticed that personality impact from declining interviews before. Is that a new thing?

Good work on turning down Lazio though. Not a fan, regardless of the lack of completed objectives.