_Ben_ Posted March 10 Author Share Posted March 10 I really don't want to make this a clickbaity styled post here by not showing the full league table or even the xG table but I do want to focus on the actual outcomes that we've produced from a nearly-completed first half of the season. In our sixteen games, we've won seven and only lost four, with only Heidenheim and Bayern boasting a less defeats than us, with three apiece. Along with Dortmund, we have the best defence in the league, allowing just eleven goals this season but, at the other end, have the fourth worst offence, only finding the net fourteen times. A look at the xG table will tell you that, whilst we've been a little wasteful in front of goal, the issue isn't as exacerbated as previous years and it is, in fact, the other end where we have made the best gains. As I alluded to in the previous update, this cannot last forever - David Raya has been immense and we should've conceded more than double what we actually have. A celebration, yes, but also a huge cause for concern. I'd collated our goalkeeping, defensive, transitional and attacking team stats as well as collated player stats for defenders, midfielders and forwards but I think that there is more to it than that and, for once, I'll take a step back and look at the bigger picture. We simply do not have the personnel to actually compete. All but three players are classed as 'good enough for the 2.Bundesliga' including 'world class' Leon Goretzka and Lucas Paqueta, with only Lawrence, Raya and Tchetchoua deemed to be actually good enough for the top tier. January will see one change within the squad: Abalo's attributes are strong and statistically he's done ok in a side that, now in the second tier, have barely done any defending. However, Kodjo's contract is one that will need looking at again; he's signed for a lower wage than expected but his agent's demands over a release clause, at an amount that - being honest - is a pittance for a player who could be great means that I will need to look again soon. However, that may not be the case given an opportunity that has popped up meaning that this actual update has basically been shelved as my head has been more than just turned! I was all about dynasty building here at Bochum but I think that I may have already reached my glass ceiling. We're going to need significant input over a significant number of years to even think about competing with the best at this level, which, whilst I'm prepared to do, feels like I'll be stagnating as a manager in that time. I'm firm favourite to be installed as their manager and their demands are certainly reasonable. I can't help but think that, whilst this would be a move to a rival club, it's the kind of move that needs to happen for me to reach the next step of my managerial development. I can still rely on the academy, which is actually stronger than here, rather than spend hundreds of millions of pounds but, at least, I can do it a club with a bigger fanbase, better infrastructure and a much higher ceiling... 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrewnaldo Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Oooohh... In terms of realism, that's very hard to turn down. It's also a good time to leave because it doesn't feel, from the outside, like you've had enough time to build anything that you'd be sorry to leave at Bochum? Taking Raya with you then? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielgear Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 5 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said: Oooohh... In terms of realism, that's very hard to turn down. It's also a good time to leave because it doesn't feel, from the outside, like you've had enough time to build anything that you'd be sorry to leave at Bochum? Taking Raya with you then? Agree with Shrew Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 11 Author Share Posted March 11 (edited) 9 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said: Oooohh... In terms of realism, that's very hard to turn down. It's also a good time to leave because it doesn't feel, from the outside, like you've had enough time to build anything that you'd be sorry to leave at Bochum? Taking Raya with you then? 3 hours ago, danielgear said: Agree with Shrew Yeah, I think it's the one isn't it? I've brought through a few players a few players but I've hardly got a connection to them. Plus, all the work around culture and player pathways can and will be replicable here. As good as he’s been, I don't feel like it's realistic to bring Raya with me, in all honesty! Edited March 11 by _Ben_ 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lestri Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Just like Robert Downey Jr's Oscar win today - I think it's time. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BML Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Most managers seem to sign long-term deals before working on getting themselves the sack (and the nice big pay-off that comes with it). Alledgedly I wonder if your new bumper deal will make it harder for Bayer to bring you in and if you may need to resign in order to 'grease the wheels' as it were. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 11 Author Share Posted March 11 7 hours ago, BML said: Most managers seem to sign long-term deals before working on getting themselves the sack (and the nice big pay-off that comes with it). Alledgedly I wonder if your new bumper deal will make it harder for Bayer to bring you in and if you may need to resign in order to 'grease the wheels' as it were. Interesting point. I'm not sure if that was the reason I signed the new deal though! I was touted as favourite for the job and (little spoiler here), the compensation fee wasn't huge as my wage was relatively small at Bochum. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 11 Author Share Posted March 11 Welcome to the Leverkusen diaries. If Bochum wasn’t quite the ‘end goal’ then this place certainly is. With some new, aged, images of Torbjorn, I'm ready to dive head first into this. Given the time I have to play FM these days and the speed in which I play and update, it’s unlikely that this FM will see my journey continue too much further than the gates of this famous club. Sadly, Bayer have fallen into a bit of pit of mid-table nothingness of late and it appears to be my job within – initially – the three years of my contract to turn that around. Memories of the golden era in the early 2000s under the management of coaches such as Christoph Daum and Klaus Toppmöller feel a million miles away. The club achieved unprecedented success during this period, notably finishing as runners-up in the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, and UEFA Champions League in the 2001-2002 season. Despite falling short of major trophies, Leverkusen's performances earned them widespread recognition and respect within the footballing community. Similarly concerningly, the financial situation is of concern to me, especially when nearly €70m was raised this summer, alone, on the sale of Piero Hincapie. As is almost German tradition, the Ecuadorian now resides at Bayer Munich but is not the last of the current real life crop to have moved on but that list did start with the sacking of Xabi Alonso after less than 450 days in the job. Since then, they’ve hired, and sacked a list containing Sergio Conceicao, Arne Slot, Gerhard Strubel, Tony Jantchke and, most recently, Max Schulz – who was part of the Red Bull family in Austria prior to a short and wholly unsuccessful stint in Germany. Over the course of these managers, Alex Grimaldo has moved on, as has Florian Wirtz – annoyingly, for free to Man City – and the likes of Palacios, Schick and Frimpong all find themselves in the Middle East, retired or on a rather crowded Parisian bench, respectively. This job gives me the biggest platform of them all to exhibit the vast expanses of my playing and management style; we’re a huge club, who, as of right now, have no continental football but do possess a vast scouting network and fantastic youth facilities with the draw that Bochum could only dream of. Players such at Boniface, Tapsoba and Hlozek remain from the original crew who didn’t live up to what the real life Xabi is doing right now. It is the former Spanish midfield maestro, a man who brought his unique playing philosophy and tactical acumen to Bayer Leverkusen when he assumed the role of manager, that I can take a lot of inspiration from in my FM playing. Known for his elegant style and astute understanding of the game during his playing career, Alonso's transition to management at Leverkusen has been characterized by several key elements: Possession-based Football: Alonso's managerial style at Bayer Leverkusen emphasizes a possession-based approach to football. He prioritises fluid ball movement, intricate passing sequences, and maintaining control of the game through intelligent positional play. Leverkusen under Alonso seeks to dominate possession to dictate the tempo and rhythm of matches. Tactical Flexibility: Alonso has demonstrated a willingness to adapt his team's tactics based on the strengths of the opposition and the specific context of each match. Leverkusen has showcased tactical flexibility under his guidance, seamlessly transitioning between different formations and systems to exploit opponent weaknesses while maximizing the team's strengths. High Pressing and Intensity: Leverkusen under Alonso often employs a high pressing game, seeking to win the ball back quickly and disrupt opposition build-up play. Alonso emphasizes intense pressure on the ball carrier, coordinated pressing triggers, and collective defensive efforts to regain possession and launch swift counterattacks. Player Development and Youth Integration: As a manager, Alonso has shown a commitment to nurturing young talent and integrating academy graduates into the first team setup. Leverkusen's squad under Alonso features a blend of experienced professionals and promising youngsters, with an emphasis on player development and long-term sustainability. Attacking Fluency: Leverkusen's attacking play under Alonso is characterized by fluid movement, intricate passing combinations, and intelligent off-the-ball runs. Alonso encourages his players to express themselves in the final third, promoting creativity and spontaneity in attacking situations while maintaining defensive solidity and organizational discipline. I always had Xabi down for his 3-4-3 preference and, therefore, didn't really feel a connection to his style but deeper reading around his philosophy does see quite a close match, to be honest. I've watched bits of Bundesliga football this season and, honestly, Bayer have become a team that I'm rooting for - probably because they are the underdog in this and partially because I'd love to see Harry Kane not win the Bundesliga after years of also not winning trophies. Their style of play is fantastic and the way that they took apart Bayern in their 3-0 is just the kind of entertaining football that my board want to see. Yet, actually, it was the tactical nuances in that game that I am way more interested in developing and hope that the board give me enough time, with low enough expectations to try this, make mistakes and grow. Whilst Xabi has sadly retired, an ode to his legacy was my first port of call in terms of building my backroom - bringing back to the club his old assistant, below. The Spaniard came to Leverkusen from top Spanish club Barcelona, where he was assistant coach with the U19s since 2017. In the spring of 2018 he fulfilled the same function with the Barca B team. Bayer 04 sporting director Simon Rolfes recognised Encinas' "very good work" with the Catalan club. And he added “We expect a lot from him, particularly in working with our young players." Encinas' tendencies feel pretty aligned with what I'd like to do and his formation matches my own. He is mentally strong and his ability to work with youngsters will be hugely beneficial to the youth integration policy that I want to instill here. I won't be delegating much to him, given my desire to micromanage tactics and training but the move feels right for us. He'll join a key group of employees, highlighted below. When looking through my staffing, I saw a name that I remembered from CM/FM past. A little bit of digging led me to some more information about a player, who, despite not being a Bayer academy graduate, seems to have found himself very much in the spotlight and part of the furniture at the club. Simon Rolfe s' transition from a distinguished playing career to the role of Sporting Director exemplifies his commitment to Bayer Leverkusen's ethos and values. As a former player, Rolfes brings invaluable insights and experiences to his new role, bridging the gap between the playing squad and the club's management structure. Rolfes has overseen the acquisition of promising young talents and established performers, emphasizing a balance between youth development and experienced professionals. Leverkusen's squad composition reflects Rolfes' vision of building a competitive team capable of challenging for domestic and European honours. As Sporting Director, Simon Rolfes has played a key role in shaping Bayer Leverkusen's footballing philosophy. Leverkusen's playing style emphasizes attacking flair, possession-based football, and tactical flexibility, reflecting Rolfes' commitment to entertaining and dynamic football. Rolfes' vision for Leverkusen transcends immediate results, focusing on sustainable success and the cultivation of a distinctive playing identity. Whilst he is a board member and not an active part of my backroom team, the narrative is that he can feed Kim Falkenberg – who holds both the DoF and Chief Scout roles – with this rationale. I think that this could be the perfect opportunity to really dive into the DoF transfer business; we're (hopefully) well off enough that I can accept poor decisions from him but, by ensuring I do have the final say in transfer dealings, would not be against letting him initiate deals and, if not directly done by him, lead him to them through DoF shortlists. Potentially, my wage structure will be compromised but I will endeavour to set strong constraints on the upper limits of these weekly wages and, essentially, live and die by the sword of bonuses and release clauses, much like a professional manager may do in this modern age. Plus - it gives me more time to focus on the player development aspects... Two other key members of my backroom team, Jorgensen and Bakayoko have enjoyed a journey with me, having originally joined me in Borås with Elfsborg and then moving to Bochum. The Dane has brought through a number of strong players in his time working with me and his methodology and philosophies are largely in line with my own. He'll become a key member of the backroom team at both senior and youth level. My Ivorian coach has a similarly strong set of credentials - as we have demonstrated a strong set of set piece metrics, both offensively and defensively: an area he has sole control of. Around them, I will look to bring through a strong coaching team, pulling Kolo Toure and Zlatan Ibrahimovic with me on this route, too. One thing that stood out from their website was the following quote: "B04 stands for a family-like atmosphere and a transparent club policy, both internally and externally. Transparent management culture is the motto. This means involving employees in all important issues, holding regular staff meetings, but also engaging in an open exchange with the outside world and involving fans, for example with regard to the jersey or catering offers within the framework of various discussion formats. On the one hand, this togetherness promotes the positioning of B04 as an attractive employer brand and, on the other hand, is the basis of the work "for the dream of our fans". " I think that this is absolutely important when considering the staff I am bringing in and how I work with them to listen to, and engage with, their thoughts. Falkenberg might have highly recommended a player to me - therefore I need to listen to that. I'm told that there are concerns with some areas of training - I need to address them. This is the kind of transparency and good-will that I intend to bring here. On the pitch, I must say that the step up is pretty clear to see: Hicham Arkine - a €20m signing from Standard Liege is the jewel in my attacking crown, playing up top with current Leverkusen stars Boniface and Hlozek. The young Belgian is a hugely well rounded attacker, who can contribute to all areas of our attacking play but maybe not quite physical enough to lead the line. Cutting in from the right hand side might be the best option for him, particularly with the Czech on the left and the Nigerian up top. At just €4.6m from Excelsior, Ferhat Duran looks to be an immense talent. He's been here for two years now and, despite not quite hitting the heights possible, came off the back of a season where he scored twenty times from midfield: largely, I imagine, down to his Long Shot ability. He's a little weak defensively but the ability to be that late man in the box will provide opportunities for cutbacks to him, meaning that his trait to come deep will not stop him from effectively joining in. At the back, Tapsoba is still going strong; a man of pretty immense defensive quality but also a player who is really comfortable on the ball and will allow us to play out of defence far more. He'll be flanked by Ozdemir, a bargain €450k defender who looks to have been played out on either flank so far in his career. Aside from these headline stars - there's the typical Bayer method at play here too: Hannibal came in on a free from Man Utd, Hagiwara cost €4.3m from Gamba Osaka, Tom Bischof cost €500k from Wolves, Jevon Simons cost less than €10m from PSV, as did Markovic, a €7m signing from Milan. Linking back to the above point above transparency - a key part of the management of this team will be through the use of conversing with them. Overall, there are a solid group of players, minus maybe Neuer's mercenary status and Duran and Hannibal's outspoken media handling methods. The entire team looks stronger than I've ever had before but, statistically, things aren't quite going to plan. Defensively, we look quite weak and susceptible to crosses into the box and our successes in battles looks lower than I'd like it to be across the backline. Combine that with a high number of blocks for my centre backs and you'll see that, as part of the twenty-seven goals we've conceded this year, I would suggest that a number have come as part of some rash defending and last minute work, some of which - naturally - won't come off. I like that we have a number of progressive players but that, to me, suggests, that we're quite deep in our transition and we're lacking true creativity within the side, although Hannibal is rating quite well. Up top, we need to take more shots, although, when we do, they tend to be relatively high quality. Up top, we've been able to work with two decent aerial threats, but it's likely that Hlozek will play wider and, therefore, get less opportunities in my 433 shape. That quality doesn't just stop at the first team, though: Simo, Noa and Niklas are three of a group of strong youngsters who I have really high hopes for, as they look to follow Stiepermann and Bangura into the first team. At Bochum, I built a strong infrastructure in the U19 team but was never able to really crack the top teams, in particular, Dortmund but this season, I truly believe that there's a chance we can do that. Whilst Schulz will reach the end of his eligibility at this level at the end of this season, both of the aforementioned players can enjoy a further two years developing and honing their skills into the tactical approach I want and the attribute moulds that I need to make my style of play work. Direct from their website, these quotes shows the synergy that I feel I will create with this team whilst managing here: "Our young players receive optimum support and development through targeted individual and team training as well as interesting comparison matches. Of course, we hope that our youth players can develop to the maximum in an environment tailored to them to reveal their full potential and create the opportunity to make the step up to our first team squad." "The development of the personality of our young players has great significance. That includes... ...a performance-oriented and self-motivating attitude to matches and training. …self-critical assessment of own performance and the instructions of the coaching staff. ...a friendly presence. …the ability to have team spirit and cooperation. In addition, it is very important to us to make clear to our young players that school and vocational training take priority. With our U19 and U17 teams in the relevant youth Bundesligas plus the younger age groups we want to play a leading role at the highest level. In addition, we want our young players to be the most talented youth players in the region – and to convey sporting and non-sporting experience through participation in international tournaments and tours. At the same time, we want to contribute to the success of all tournaments we take part in through good sporting performances and a friendly approach from our players, coaches and support staff. We always nurture a co-operative approach to other clubs, the associations, our guests, our opponents and Bayer AG. Our management take a critical approach to their work and youth football in general. The target is to continually improve and be a strong as well as reliable partner. Given all the targeted support, the fun and joy of our players and staff still take centre stage." A match made in heaven! Likewise, their wording about player pathways is something that I'm likely to return to when transfers are being considered: " The value of the youth section at Bayer 04 is high in club political, financial and sporting terms. The cooperation between the first team and the Performance Centre presented by Barmenia is harmonious, practical and sensible. This is based on a concept from Bayer 04. In addition, the fact that the decision makers in the individual sections have worked with each other for a long time is beneficial to the targets set. Special measures in the youth section such as participation in national and international tournaments and performance comparisons are equally supported as conceptual thinking is. Even if the support of the first team is helpful in signing a particularly talented player, there is a dedicated and experienced contact in the youth section. Sporting managing director Simon Rolfes (left, here with the director of the licence team Thomas Eichin) regularly keeps up-to-date with the performance levels and the development of the youth section. This applies particularly to talented players in the U19 and U17 youth teams. There is the principle of the short path. It is no coincidence that Rolfes previously held the position of "director of development and youth" at Bayer 04. That means that players with potential from the youth teams are again and again included in training with the senior to give them early incentive in the sense of individual development." I took over on the day of a fixture, a derby against FC Koln. Therefore, in the instance of realism and, at this point, still with the Assistant - Sven Hubscher - from the old regime, I allowed him to take control of the tie as he would've actually spoken and worked with these players, whereas I had literally just arrived at the club. The result was one that has brought some concerns to me, particularly after watching back the highlights: If ever a game brings back very recent memories, it'd be this. Interestingly, a 433 was adopted as opposed to the regular 442 that Bayer had fielded under Schulz but it was deep and devoid of a cutting edge. A third of the key passes were deep, raking balls from Bischof that somehow found their way onto Boniface, who was unable to apply a finish. The pass combinations show a team that were unable to demonstrate any kind of authority over the centre of the pitch, moving quickly to the flanks but only completing sixteen dribbles, with only three completed crosses coming all game - none from these moves. Arkine moved to ten goal contributions for the season - 0.61 per game - but, aside from that, things really felt a little forced: unconfident but somewhat overcomplicated. My thoughts, after looking at the players, remain built around my core ideology: Extra man in early build up Exploitation of space and numbers Vertical quick paced transition But, given the players I have, I want to press a little more, play a little higher up the pitch and give my players a bit more freedom to do the unexpected. This means that my base instructions may look something like the this. The intention is, as always, to be tactically fluid but work within the domains of a 4231 and a 433 as that is probably what we are best suited for and that is where my experience lies. Obviously, with a DoF who will, within reason, have pretty free reign, I could - should I deem the player and the deal satisfactory - end up with five centre backs and then somewhat be forced into a three at the back shape. Whatever shape we play with and whatever style we end upon, I really want to be successful here and build something that feels like more than a team! Do that, and I'll have a feeling that this could be a pretty good ride! 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Bischof turns into a good player.....I had him in my save at ASSE, but he has become a bit of journeyman after returning to Germany in my save. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slipky Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 On 08/03/2024 at 09:33, _Ben_ said: Thanks! Honestly - things grow and evolve over time: ten years ago, I was using the editors to give myself super teams and destroying morale/fitness before matches so I could win 27-0 or whatever; four years ago, I was using Excel more than actual FM to create visualisations of average player growth between sixteen to eighteen compared to their personality descriptor and now I'm knee deep in tactical thoughts and that element of game realism. It's just built up over the years as my interests in the real-life game have changed and evolved, too. I'd say more than just performances from Raya. He's one of my favourite players and he's currently the best in Europe, in my eyes: Compare that to people like Ramsdale - Arsenal - (-2.05xGP), Maignan - AC Milan - (-0.77xGP), Donnarumma - PSG - (2.94xGP), Seimen - Man City - (0.50xGP) and Mamardashvili - Man Utd - (-0.30xGP) and you'll see just how well he's done and how much he's saved us! We'd be in a right mess without him... Quick question - How'd you managed to fix the XSV% and SV%? It seems broken in my game Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
milenec11 Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 1 hour ago, Slipky said: Quick question - How'd you managed to fix the XSV% and SV%? It seems broken in my game i have notice that if you give a little time some games to your keeper to play this issue will "fix" Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 15 Author Share Posted March 15 Within days of starting, I was greeted by a huge bid for Adam Hlozek, meeting the release clause of a man who hasn’t really stood out over the last five or six years. Obviously, Stuttgart - then bottom of the Bundesliga - were desperate to buy themselves out of trouble and, to be honest, I wasn't that bothered about the bid. The problem with such an out unexpected offer so early into my tenure is that I don’t have a lot of things lined up. I like to watch games and get an eye test for a player as well as looking at their statistical outputs. However, I was able to get to a Rapid Wien match after my scouts indicated some areas of potential: Kuhn, Maier and Lackner added to the DoF shopping list after excelling in a couple of games, with my preference being Lackner given his more rounded attribute make up. Then, whilst I was getting excited about that and how else to use some of the money, he rejected the contract. Great. I then made an attempt to use an intermediary but was only able to attract bids of €15m, which, once I had declined that, led to him becoming unhappy and desperate to leave. So I was left with no Lackner, Kuhn or Maier and an unhappy Hlozek. The joys of the transfer window! Ten games into my tenure (plus one under - technically - my stewardship that I left to my staff) feels like a good time to take stock. As always, these are written live and my tactical thoughts often descend into rambling nonsense with little actionable points, but...nevermind! Hertha played a 343 (523 as the game calls it) so I knew that space would be easier to attain centrally, therefore opted for two inverted full backs and a libero, in order to create this shape in build up where each area of transition is more than the defensive one: 3v2 at the back with a 4v3 created by the box. They then have a back five against our three forwards but will need to sacrifice players to even the numbers up and, hopefully, create opportunities like this one where Ferhat Duran can run into Zone 14 to lay off a pass or utilise his shooting ability. The game itself was very even - we didn't actually create a 'big chance' whilst Hertha made two and our xG totals ended with 0.4 of each other, yet we scored four times more than them to give me a pretty perfect start, albeit not entirely comfortably. We retained that shape against Dusseldorf and Hamburg with the midfield duo both getting on the scoresheet as we leapfrogged Fortuna before two silly goals saw us lose to struggling HSV. Boniface – a man very much low on confidence at the moment with one goal in his last nine games – squandered 0.94xG in just forty-five minutes after he was hauled off at half time. Two lapses, both coming in at over 0.5xG chances, allowed the hosts the win and to make the match stats look even in a game that we absolutely dominated. Ferhat, again, was ominous and I cannot understand why, during the previous regime, he was used as DLP and, essentially, allowed no freedom to get around the box as – once again – a strike from 20 yards found the bottom corner, giving him four in his last three games. I hope that, as time goes on, our tactical awareness and understanding of this shape, and shapes following the same ethos, will be fully embedded and I’ll see less of these silly mistakes that are attracting pressure and allowing goals to be scored against us. We battled hard against table toppers Dortmund, matching them blow for blow but outscoring them on xG, spending much of the game chasing the game after going behind early on. I saw some things that I liked during this time; how a higher defensive line, even with no other changes, can change the way the game is played and how passing length can dictate the starting point for forward movement. In trying to see the game out, I shut up shop a little but was nearly cursing my luck when keeper Fischaber’s goal kick was passed straight to a Dortmund attacker, who, fortunately, couldn’t find the net with what would’ve been heartbreak in the last kick of the game. Overall, it was a good point. The same couldn’t be said for the Wolfsburg game – where they dominated possession and, in terms of momentum, pretty much all of the match. Our lead held out until the eighty-fourth minute before two strikes – one thunderbolt and one being another lapse in concentration, saw them take the points. A game of two halves as high-flying Freiburg came to town as we shot ourselves in the foot with some lacklustre transitional play and found ourselves two-nil down at the break. The first water bottle of by B04 career was thrown as we came out and dominated in the second half, scoring 91% of our xG and ending with a non-pen (because we gave away the softest possibly penalty, too) expected goals win. Yet, again, it’s the actual goals that get us the points and we came up short, again. In times like this, I like to reduce my tactical demands to really build the tactic around the player, rather than around the team instructions. We have roles that are ball carriers by nature and, furthermore, other roles than can be manipulated to further allow that, so I don’t need to keep ‘dribble more’ on. Likewise, our natural shape emphasises a central overload so I don’t need to force the play centrally when that is probably stifling some potential attacks down the flanks. The only two In Possession instructions that remain are the passing length – slightly longer and the crossing direction – low, as these can’t be manipulated on a player-by-player basis. Simple but hopefully impactful. Slipping to eleventh before kick-off, a reaction was needed against Heidenheim, but it didn't come as we faded to a 0-0 draw. A clean sheet and a modicum of calmness in our defence, for a change, but a lack of passion, drive and intensity going forward. Finally, a win came our way as we beat form side Augsburg following a Bangura penalty - his first for the club. At the time of the award, he was the most 'positive' body language and, despite being a poor penalty taker, stepped up and scored for me when it really matter We faced the hardest trip of the lot - away to Bayern - but did ourselves relatively proud, even if we accrued under 1xG. Again, our phases of play are getting stronger and more fluid and, on several occasions, we were able to play around Bayern's press but, as has been the case very often, just lacked one really strong pass in a move of ten to fifteen. Boniface eventually ended his scoring drought, coinciding with the fifth game in a row that Hlozek has been poor - I just can't seem to catch a break with them! Despite being hugely comfortable for the majority of the game, we only had three shots against Stuttgart, with two of them going on. Yet again, we conceded a huge xG chance - 0.63xG - but Fischaber was able to claw it back before the visitors halved the deficit. Again - a strong shape but pretty poor excitement and attacking ingenuity, something that I do want to explore. Overall, I've stuck with the 325/3box3 build up that I used successfully at Elfsborg, given the fact that neither full back is particularly strong going forward and, in terms of what I see in transition, it allows an easier return to our defensive shape, limiting times we can get caught on the counter, something which I always feared at Bochum with my aggressive wingback and lopsided back three. It has come - slightly - at the cost of offensive overloads but I'm now relying on more creative and, essentially, better players in my offence, all of whom seem to be going through their own barren spell simultaneously. That being said and keen to avoid the cliche of my squad - I really want a pre-season with this bunch to get them fit and really hone my tactical direction. 90% of them are good enough and I don't need a fire sale and a reshape but I just want to 'do some' coaching with them. My record here at Bayer isn't amazing: We're moving at 1.4PPG at the moment, which, at that pace, sees us just below fifty points for the season, which, whilst disappointing, would be our best total and - likely - our best finish since 2027/28. May is horrible - Gladbach, Koln and Leipzig but we do have to play Bochum, Eintracht, Nurnberg and Bremen next month: four teams that are below us. In that time, I need to see an increase in goal created and goals scored as we're just not making those big chances. At the other end, we are keeping things relatively tight but are so prone to a massive error leading to a big chance. There's lots of lapses in concentration of poor decisions in transition that sees us piled under the pressure, plus, we seem a little shakier from set piece than we ever did at Bochum, too. Europe is still on the cards with seventh going into the Conference League and fifth and sixth into the Europa League. Honestly, a shot at competition recently won by Gladbach, Villa, FC Midtjylland, Chelsea, AEK, Villa, Spurs and Villa seems like a pretty good opportunity and one that exceeds the board's desires of top half. March means a welcome to some new recruits and a little bit of a focus on the youth side: The entire intake was pretty strong and I signed all but the bottom two players from the list, in an attempt to allow each of the players at least one year in the youth side to grow, develop and then to have a decision made about their future, fleshing out some gaps that will appear in the summer when the over-age players are no longer available to play at this level. I agree with the ratings of the staff largely with Maik Vogel, Felix Schulz, Victor Manuel Mayor, Fynn Angerer and Arman Batyrkhanov being the players I have highest hopes for. Really strangely, we have another Maik Schulz - taking the total Maik Schulz's in my game to over six hundred. I do not know if this is a bug or something that everyone is experiencing but it's getting rather strange now! --- With not too long until the end of the season, I'm getting excited for what a full summer can bring to this club! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielgear Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 On 15/03/2024 at 06:54, _Ben_ said: taking the total Maik Schulz's in my game to over six hundred. I do not know if this is a bug or something that everyone is experiencing but it's getting rather strange now! I only have one Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 4 hours ago, danielgear said: I only have one This feels like some kind of post-apocalyptic word where the Schulz family are taking over the world... And that is just the 'Maiks' 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 Just a short one to wrap season nine up for me but one that has given me a lot of ideas and excitement going forward! League round ups, for me, are very difficult when I've not been in charge for the whole season. I'm unable to really dig into team and player stats because half of them are generated under a different manager, who, certainly in this case, had a different ethos and style. That being said, the past seven games have been a great indicator of just what we can do, if I get things right. We're still a bit unsteady in certain areas of our game and do look likely to concede quite a few more goals than we actually do. At the other end, we can be a little unconvincing, to say the least, with a far-too-regular occurrence being an xG total of less than, or close to, one. That being said, we're making some great progress and I am excited to see - statistically - how things are matching up to the playing style that I'm spending a lot of time watching live. With some mandatory purchases from loan deals, I am already starting to get an idea of just how much I'll have to play with in order to make this squad mine over the summer! I saw this amazing blog by Andy (@TacitcalFool on X) and immediately felt like I'd been missing something! Gone are my days where I spent endless hours on Excel, calculating things that I've now skinned into my game but also gone are the days of really being able to calculate what I want. Now that I'm a little more knowledgeable around the building of certain formulae, I have been able to create more complex calculations to do this. Above, you can see the grading of my squad, split into positional areas and a calculation that I can now use going forward to recruit and also identify those who may be more suited to my style. As Andy mentions in his blog, a higher percentage score here doesn't immediately indicate a better player, but does show me areas where I can build upon or where things such as individual foci, mentoring or even smarter recruitment could allow us to improve. Building on my recruitment strategy of young, good personalities and from local non-big 5 leagues (plus Japan and other parts of Asia, which has - historically - always served Germany well), I have created a percentage score for the fit with the Bayer DNA - which encompasses the aforementioned non-attribute areas as well as First Touch, Determination, Decisions, Technique and Pace as I aim to create a dynamic and intelligent team. A harmonic mean, multiplied five times (so that I can better punish those with extreme attributes (see how Schulz drops by 24 points on this scale because he has the top speed of a fridge) then gets multiplied by an amount three times - called the multiplier - with 1 being the greatest, on each area I rate as important. These figures are my own interests or, for the personalities, areas that I've garnered knowledge on and are by no means either set in stone or factually correct. I can then create some nice little exportable profiles, too, as seen below: Whilst it does not replace a statistical view for signing and developing players, it does give me a nice idea of who is most suited to what I'm trying to build here, it does, immediately, show that I have some players who are just not suited to the team; Neuer and Porciani lack the technical ability to make it, whereas players like Boniface and Krejci are older. That doesn't mean to say that I shouldn't be keeping them but it does show that they are maybe not the players who I want to have here long, long term as they'll be unable to contribute. Again, the bias for German youngsters means that my best rated player is actually a youngster out on loan: Archie Reckert. Whilst I believe he will be great, it is purposely there to make me aware of their fit, not their overall quality. I'll be taking this suitability score into the summer transfer window and applying it to my incoming and outgoing signings, hopefully moving the club closer to the ideology that I have! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrewnaldo Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 The Schulz stuff is very, very weird. I don't have many in my Sporting save but I loaded the Hellas / Feralpi save there's 90 or so. I think it was created on the same patch as your current game is? So maybe a patch with recurring newgen names - there was a thing with recurring IDs wasn't there, so maybe a crossover. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 17 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said: The Schulz stuff is very, very weird. I don't have many in my Sporting save but I loaded the Hellas / Feralpi save there's 90 or so. I think it was created on the same patch as your current game is? So maybe a patch with recurring newgen names - there was a thing with recurring IDs wasn't there, so maybe a crossover. Yeah- it’s really annoying. I need to update the fake files for the recent patch to get Brazilian names back so I may add ‘Maik Schulz’ to the banned names list file that sits in there, alongside some other well-known German names! If that doesn’t work - I guess that I’ll be drawn to use the editor to - at least - remove some of the four ‘Schulz’s’ I had through this intake and give them other names contained within the DB. Not ideal - but a pretty straightforward workaround. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 Building from the previous post about developing a style here at Bayer, I also want to really rationalise my decisions about where the players come from. I have long stayed away from central Europe, feeling that there are often far more flair players in South America or fair more rough diamonds in Africa but, fitting in with the board's objectives, I think that there is a real bonus to shopping a bit more locally. Right now, the Bundesliga is the fourth most reputable league in Europe and , because of this, talent is exceedingly expensive, as it is from any of the other leagues of a similar standing. Whilst I do need to get into the mindset that - at this level - the €10m signing is akin to the €500k signing in Sweden and a €70m sale is also akin to a €10m sale tere, I think that there is significantly better value at a number of leagues that - unlike Africa - are loaded within the game and can give me a fully detailed set of statistics as well as a better pathway for player development and the added bonus of modeled youth leagues so that I can identify talent at an even younger age. Particularly interesting to me are those neighbouring nations - Poland, Czechia, Austria and Switzerland - as I feel that the language will be relatively easy to pick up if, in nations like Austria, they don't already know German to, at minimum, a basic level. I will look to reshuffle the recruitment team over the next six to twelve months to ensure that I have sufficient coverage in terms of nationality of my scouts so that I am able to send them to these countries and they already have strong understanding of it. My target costs are between €5m and €15m because that should skim off the bottom end but also keep signings manageable as we will still have to accrue income from players sales to fund them. Those player sales, across the next years, will likely be these players who are then able to move on for a profit, which is exactly what the board wants. At present, the squad is shy of German talent but, in the longer term, I envisage that the only incoming German talents will be those who are too good to say no to or those that are young enough that they are able to spend one or two years within the youth side and, potentially, become home-grown at the club. This should allow opportunities for a steady stream of German talent from within to work alongside those players brought in from lesser European nations. This is not moneyball; that term has been banded far and wide and, the origins of which have largely been forgotten. This is targeted recruitment within set focus areas, again looking to recruit the following type of players: Players Under 23: The board want me to sign U23 players for the first team so it seems a no-brainer that the target area is between 15 and 22, meaning that I can identify, scout, watch and bide my time to get the best deal for a player before he really hits his peak. This does add extra importance in keeping the experienced heads as well as identifying any 30+ players still at their peak who can add that level of been there, done that to our young squad. Strong personalities: I want to become serial winners here at Bayer and, to do that, I need the right mentality. I will look to recruit and develop good personalities and even reject poor personalities if I don't feel I have the tools to develop that player. Versatility: I want to recruit players and develop players who can play across a number of roles, ensuring a need for rounded players who can attack and defend. Decisions, Determination, First Touch, Pace and Technique: In trying to build a slick, vertical footballing system, I feel that these five attributes are key to our playing style so will look both recruit with and develop into these attributes. WIth those parameters in place, I felt energised heading into the summer and have completed my planned business nice and early, leaving me very happy with the outcomes. Following Ipswich’s bid for Simons and an amicable departure where Hlozek agreed a move to the Middle East, I had €38m to spend but had removed two really high earners from the wage bill, yet created two quite big holes within my first team squad. One of the things that I have been enjoying utilising is the 'Team Report' for clubs who have been relegated or, opposingly, teams who have good academies. Krassnitzer fell into the former category. Relegated at Admira Wacker, his stats don't look amazing but there needs to be (from me, mainly), a more holistic approach to this; Thomas' goals scored percentile is above 50%, meaning that, whilst my eyes aren't drawn to a long, green bar, he's still scoring better than half of the players based on data collated from the top twenty European leagues. This context, then added to the fact he hasn't been played as a striker and that - in the two games I watched back - his team are so, so so, bad at retaining the ball, he's actually doing pretty well at completing any dribbles, accruing any xG and is a pretty good player. Originally, I had identified Thomas Lackner as an emergency replacement for Hlozek as he attracted some interest in January. However, that contextual understanding was used again, as Lackner was involved in nine of their thirty-six league goals: 25%, whereas Krassnitzer was involved in ten of their 22: 46% and has eighteen goals over the last two seasons where Admira have finished seventh and twelfth, where they succumbed to relegation. Additionally, Krassnitzer - found after his relegation - was available for around 12.5% of the cost that Lacker would've been given a relegation release clause. This transfer window has been the first where I've completely handed this over to my DoF for signing the players and this is where my first mistake has been made: despite very much being a 'project player' - he's been brought into under the promise of being a star player and, whilst his wage demands are low, the minutes required to keep him happy will be a concern once he sees that I'm not able to, nor want to, make this a reality. My largest outlay of the window - €9m - went on Stepan Pejsa from Sparta Prague. Originally found by my scouts, his stats are phenomenal for a team a who ran Slavia all the way in the domestic competition. Again, my DoF decided that he'd be a star player but I do see him as a much stronger player than Krassnitzer at this point in time. A little too slight to be a lone striker, I intend to use him as a like for like replacement for Hlozek out on the left wing, cutting inside once he has learnt enough of that position for this to become available. At Sparta, he played as part of a front two with a big strong target man, which, to be fair, Boniface could be - should I need to change my style at any point. However, I envisage a combination of his Technique, Dribbling, Flair and Agility making him a really difficult player to mark but need to secure his transformation into a wide man is done carefully at his young age. Again, trying to replace those not fitting with my DNA for those who are, both Neuer and Porciani moved on for a total of €4.5m, whilst I spent that, and a further €4m on two replacements, who meet the versatility requirements allowing me to have less players within the first team. Javorcic arrives from Dinamo with a decent record of ball retention and positive passing and - again - not a bad set of stats defensively, hugely skewed from playing for a strong team that really doesn't do a lot of defending! Pacy enough that he'll assist with our high line and mentally strong, this time, my DoF got it right that he will indeed be a squad player for us, probably backup for Ozdemir at right back, initially. I like that he can play as a holding midfielder, too. The same can be said for Christoph Bauer - a €4m signing from 2.Bundesliga champions Mainz. Whilst not really fitting in with my transfer identity, his stats - like Javorcic's - are somewhat skewed due to little defending and comes into the squad in an area where we do not have the luxury of several promising youth players right now. Yuki Minami is my last planned signing of the window and another project player, initially coming in to learn from Boniface in the striker role. At 5'7", he's slight but quick, agile and very technically strong offering me more options in terms of creating counter attacking, ball carrying forwards. His stats in Japan have been great but I am well aware that there is a significant difference between the quality of players he's played against at JEF United to those he will face in the Bundesliga. Part of my journey, as well as with transfer fees, is to realise that a set of attributes that I used to rate highly in the 11-14 category, are now the same as those in the 14-17 category as those are the levels I am facing week in, week out. The youngster does have the right base to work from and I look forward to see what I can do with him. --- Overall, I'm really quite happy with my first team squad for the current season and, now that I'm up and running with my plans, I think that I can focus on the planned transfer business of replacing like for like as the seasons go on - starting with the aging players of Krecja, then Tapsoba and Boniface. Obviously, I need to contend with players who are pinched from my club or those who are not performing well enough, but that is why I have built (or, at least at this point) envisaged, my recruitment policy, which can now go out and identify shortlists of players worth keeping an eye on. My aim is to have ten to twenty players per position that could be viable targets for the club. In addition to that, I hope that, over the coming years, I can cement a clear pathway for youngsters to move into the first team. One thing that I have been doing of late that I'd previously brushed off is attending the weekly staff meetings. I've been reading and listening to my staff's interests in changing individual foci (of which I ignore for youth team players following the monthly rotation - as spoken about in a post, I think, I wrote when I was at Bochum), but then also looking at what they have to say about player development. Previously, I'd never consider loaning players under 18 out, but, given that our affiliate - Duisburg - are in the 2.Liga and my staff believe that certain players are good enough, I've allowed five young players to move there. They're not predicted to do amazingly well in the second tier but there is a good opportunity for football - in particular for Schulz and Nikolic, of whom I have the highest hopes. Not a huge area for writing here but I'm playing with something and I like it! I've felt that, in the past, we've been quite stagnant at times going forward, so, therefore, want to look to commit more forward whilst still keeping a 3box3 shape. One of my biggests areas for inquiry has been around the role of Ferhat Duran, one of my best players. His ability to fire off long shots has been great and he lacks any kind of defensively ability, but, playing him as an MC - even on attack - meant that he wasn't getting into that Zone 14 enough. Moving him to the AMC role with a SS(a) role is also really interesting for me, given that he has a trait of comes deep. I want to watch and observe how he uses that to find space before arriving late in the box, another trait not necessarily considered for this role. With the new elements of positional play here, I like that he and Boniface can interchange their sides but it does mean that I've gone for wrong footed wingers, rather than more traditional inverted wingers in order to allow some more stretching of the play, although the use of 'Fairly Narrow' for our attacking shape will also sit them narrower but, in essence, keep them wider until later on in the transition. That means that I have to utilise a link up midfielder and, to do that, Hannibal will become the Volante. Whilst I do not really have a right back capable of doing it, I can also move to a mirror image of this and use a HB(d) instead of a DM(d), allowing a wing back - Hagiwara - to overlap. As a team, we'll need to push even higher up and move the press - which isn't particularly incessant - slightly higher to alleviate balls over the top from more creativite players. It's early days but I'm enjoying what I've been seeing in pre-season from it! --- I've been all for the past week or so and have, as such, spent hours staring at FM! I'm completely invested in this save but I do expect to see a decrease in both playing time and posting time as I try to make a return to the real world over the coming days! I hope you've enjoyed the three updates in three days! 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slipky Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 I like the analytical angle you have on transfers. It's a great read and honestly it pushes me to try and do the same thing. Just a quick question that ties into this - How is the difference between a striker with 16 finishing with 40% conversion rate and a striker with 13 finishing and a 66% conversion rate comes into play? For the discussion, let's assume both are playing in mid-table teams. How deep do you go into analyzing a player when making such calls? I'm genuinely curious. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 17 Author Share Posted March 17 53 minutes ago, Slipky said: How deep do you go into analyzing a player when making such calls? Oh, far too deep! I'd first put both players through the comparative tools to see if there is significant discrepancy between their suitability to play for Bayer. If there is nothing really there, then it'd all be down to watching as much football as I can of them and looking at what they do well and what they don't do as well. Of course, there comes the element that not all teams play the way I do but I can get a decent idea of how they interact with other players. Recruitment tends to take weeks and months and I tend to write notes down as I go along. To be honest, it's part of the reason why my business normally gets done so early in the window, because it's been ongoing for so long. The next step, for me, is to use the DoF more in this process. I've just given him the chance to do the actual signing from a single-player list but need to progress that to allowing him to work through a shortlist, as is probably more realistic than how I'm doing it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SixPointer Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 Been away a few weeks……. In Ben terms you miss a lot in that time. What a move to Leverkusen. Have they won’t a Bundesliga title yet? Or can you be first to do so? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrewnaldo Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 I like the look of Krassnitzer a lot. Got to love Austrians I've never let my DOF negotiate contracts etc, can you not set some limits or parameters to it? Seems a bit rubbish that he has free rein to set something like playing time. If not, will you just stick with that approach or try something else? I think you can choose to negotiate the contract yourself, set the playing time and promises and then handover to the DOF? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielgear Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 (edited) 19 hours ago, _Ben_ said: he's been brought into under the promise of being a star player and, whilst his wage demands are low, the minutes required to keep him happy will be a concern once he sees that I'm not able to, nor want to, make this a reality. 34 minutes ago, Shrewnaldo said: I've never let my DOF negotiate contracts etc, can you not set some limits or parameters to it? Seems a bit rubbish that he has free rein to set something like playing time. If not, will you just stick with that approach or try something else? I think you can choose to negotiate the contract yourself, set the playing time and promises and then handover to the DOF? On the transfer targets page you can set limitations. Can also set up who you want to control, so DOF agrees fee, you do contract. I think Bens been doing this but has given full contract to DOF here. Edited March 18 by danielgear Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrewnaldo Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 4 hours ago, danielgear said: On the transfer targets page you can set limitations. Can also set up who you want to control, so DOF agrees fee, you do contract. I think Bens been doing this but has given full contract to DOF here. OK, that's handy. But nothing on promises? Don't know why I'm asking. I'm way too much of a control freak to let my DOF do this Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielgear Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 12 minutes ago, Shrewnaldo said: OK, that's handy. But nothing on promises? Don't know why I'm asking. I'm way too much of a control freak to let my DOF do this No, which can be an issue they promise some unrealistic stuff. I think the contracts have got better as long as you put a limit on them via the Transfer target page. Hard to control a wage structure because whilst you might limit to 50k a week the DOF loves a 30% pay rise after just 20 games played. I would love (and have requested to the team) more personality between DOFs so you’d have ones who are stricter with finances and more shrewd negotiators and then ones who are happy to throw money around. When running tests I’ve not seen massive differences between the negotiation attributes. There are some but long term I’d like it to evolve more. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 18 Author Share Posted March 18 10 hours ago, SixPointer said: What a move to Leverkusen. Have they won’t a Bundesliga title yet? Or can you be first to do so? It's a massive job but I'm loving it! Feels very similar to that step to Atalanta last year but I hope that, this year, I spend a bit more time with the substance element of building this club. Nowhere near a title, it's been all Bayern, which makes the end goal even sweeter. 7 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said: I like the look of Krassnitzer a lot. Got to love Austrians Yeah. He's really impressed me even if he's asking for a transfer because I decided to move he and Pejsa to 'Squad Players' - the latter has dropped it but he hasn't, yet. He's got one goal and four assists from his first three hundred and twenty-five minutes in black and red. 6 hours ago, danielgear said: Can also set up who you want to control, so DOF agrees fee, you do contract. I think Bens been doing this but has given full contract to DOF here. 2 hours ago, danielgear said: Hard to control a wage structure because whilst you might limit to 50k a week the DOF loves a 30% pay rise after just 20 games played. Yes - I've given him full control, using the 'Add as transfer target' feature to decide the price (obviously, I know the ball park figure as I've scouted) and then then the contract. I felt that, with the absence of what you mention Dan, there are going to be ridiculous demands - like him giving the lad below a base wage of €14k p/w and a rise to €41k after 25 games. He's fifteen! If that was me, I'd absolutely be giving messages that 'the new contract has made him complacent' as I'd have a significant nest egg by the time I would be twenty. What is more - twenty five league games for us isn't even that much. I'd give him a couple of years on loan then some time off the bench before giving him a wage not too from halfway towards my self imposed €100k p/w limit. But I do think that, once I'm better at building my shortlists, I'll add in the max contract and then the squad status bit - especially as I'm fine tuning. To be honest, my lie has probably worked out for the best as it brought them more interest in joining us in the first place! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielgear Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 6 minutes ago, _Ben_ said: like him giving the lad below a base wage of €14k p/w and a rise to €41k after 25 games. He's fifteen! I suppose in the DOF head, if he’s 15 he’s not going to get 25 games for a long time so 14k gets him to sign the deal now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 23 Author Share Posted March 23 My old foci felt out-dated and gave me a very broad search criteria, with little identity or alignment with my recruitment targets. Therefore, I've used a similar formula as with my players to generate a suitability rating for my scouting team, looking at the harmonic mean, five times, to create an overall percentage rating. I'm looking for scouts who are able to judge ability and potential but also those adaptable to new countries, disciplined with their work and determined to produce results that can benefit the sporting side of the team. Then, with those still at the club following a raid of other teams, I tried to prioritise sending a scout to the area where they have knowledge - through their first, or additional, nationalities. When that ran out, I just assigned scouts to countries that mean 95% of the twenty one leagues (Scotland and Cyprus remain) are now covered by my scouting team with the remaining staff then being assigned more generic but still focused recruitment jobs across the continent and globe. This new move sits alongside an even more driven academy approach as we are losing around €30m a year and are needing to stay afloat with wholesale changes each summer. The 4231 shape continues to evolve but I feel like it's the direction that is the most suitable for the team, the players I have and my overarching style of play. We're recording the second most dribbles per game, fourteenth least passes in our box and, actually, still have the lowest OPPDA in the league - a sign that we're not entirely gegenpressing our way through things, just yet! There is still a considerable amount left to improve on and I think that we need to continue to work on creating those high-quality chances but it's a move in the right direction! The happiness around our tactical direction largely mirrors my happiness around our league form. We've got through highs and lows and pretty much everything in between - taking points from Bayern and Leipzig but then coming away with nothing against Werder and Dusseldorf as well as a poor draw with relegation-battling Heidenheim. I've been able to - and somewhat forced to - rotate my attacking five considerably as the season has gone on, with long term injuries for Boniface and then a repeated set of short term knocks for the likes of Pejsa, Duran and Krassnizter. However, we've fared pretty well and have been able to make the BayArena a bit of a fortress of late. --- Really (and I mean really) concise one from me here but necessary to catch back up and enjoy a bit of Saturday afternoon FM-ing! 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrewnaldo Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 Do you think OPpDA is working correctly? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
milenec11 Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 2 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said: Do you think OPpDA is working correctly? Nope as many stats Looking in game stats at a goalkeeper of opposition i notice that he had made during the match 13 clearences When i check at search section of the game the same gk it was written none . ?!?!?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 4 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said: Do you think OPpDA is working correctly? The numbers FM produces are silly and way off the real life figures. For comparison, have a look at this season's stats from the Premier League taken from Wyscout: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrewnaldo Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 8 hours ago, Rikulec said: The numbers FM produces are silly and way off the real life figures. For comparison, have a look at this season's stats from the Premier League taken from Wyscout: Yeah, I remember spotting that during the alpha for FM23 when it was introduced ( But I think that's just a different means of calculating the stat rather than the stat itself not working. My concern atm is that it seems to be just wrong - or at least calculated differently for human player games than generated games. It's more of a "feel" than a "know" though. It just "feels" like the human player OPPDA is always oddly high 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 24 Author Share Posted March 24 10 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said: My concern atm is that it seems to be just wrong - or at least calculated differently for human player games than generated games. It's more of a "feel" than a "know" though. It just "feels" like the human player OPPDA is always oddly high It's all over the shop but I know that FM calculates possession in a different way, or, at least, it did. Therefore, I wonder if it is something that I just need to keep comparisons within the game for. We're now pressing more than we ever have done so I'll see if I get a change from the usual 5/6 that we recorded previously. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielgear Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 (edited) 1 hour ago, _Ben_ said: but I know that FM calculates possession in a different way, or, at least, it did They do calculate some data different, like xG. Possession is split of number of passes, ball share is like a chess clock for who has the ball. Pitch tilt is % of passes complete in the opposition final third. Edited March 24 by danielgear 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vladis Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 (edited) @_Ben_ Really like your thoughts process on tactical side of the game. I`m in one boat with you in developing 4231 with my Freiburg side. Our princips of 3-2 build-up are very similar though I`ve found for myself a little trick to make it more dinamic and at the same time not losing its defensive efficiency. Instead of standard IFB-L-BPD-IFB I went with IFB-L-BPD-FB(S) with PI for FB sit narrow, hold shape, run wide with the ball. It looks like this in early phases. Though sometimes depending on situation FB acts like more traditional fullback running down the side leaving 2-2 rest defense (which is ok unless you are facing top class opponent who has high numbers in attack and wanting to hit you on counter). It also allowed me to use IF on that side instead of winger as I got more width. But generally It doesn`t help me with results . In Bundesliga first season all opponents geggenpress you like mad and It`s quite annoying. We don`t have time and space for creating good number of quality chances unless we hit opponents on counter-attacks. Anyway I think you are doing great job here. Patience and tactical consistency will be rewarded. Edited March 26 by Vladis Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 8 hours ago, Vladis said: @_Ben_ Really like your thoughts process on tactical side of the game. I`m in one boat with you in developing 4231 with my Freiburg side. Our princips of 3-2 build-up are very similar though I`ve found for myself a little trick to make it more dinamic and at the same time not losing its defensive efficiency. Instead of standard IFB-L-BPD-IFB I went with IFB-L-BPD-FB(S) with PI for FB sit narrow, hold shape, run wide with the ball. It looks like this in early phases. Though sometimes depending on situation FB acts like more traditional fullback running down the side leaving 2-2 rest defense (which is ok unless you are facing top class opponent who has high numbers in attack and wanting to hit you on counter). It also allowed me to use IF on that side instead of winger as I got more width. But generally It doesn`t help me with results . In Bundesliga first season all opponents geggenpress you like mad and It`s quite annoying. We don`t have time and space for creating good number of quality chances unless we hit opponents on counter-attacks. Anyway I think you are doing great job here. Patience and tactical consistency will be rewarded. Thanks for taking time to read them! It's a really interesting point that you make about that dynamism in build up and I've spent a lot of hours trying to recount which managers allow us to be more progressive from the back and which don't - meaning that there has been some variation with my build up. Yet, what you've presented there is somewhat of the middle ground I may have been missing. My 3-2 build up with two IFB is quite tame at time and relies on a lot of quality from the four attackers and then the VOL in the middle but, on the other end of the spectrum, the shape that I fall back on when teams are sitting back - swapping the backline to a CWB(a)-BPD-L-IFB - provides me with a lot more offensive prowess but a lot less defensive stability. It does definitely feel like slow progress and an even bigger jump to catch Bayern but that, to me, is where the fun lies! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 (edited) A tale of two cities. Leverkusen and not-Leverkusen. Our home record is somewhere near where we want to be, overall. Unbeaten at the BayArena and strong, scoring two goals a game. Yet, our away record has us barely scraping victories, scoring - and conceding - at a goal a game with some absolute mid-table form. In fact, we haven't lost a single home game this season but defeats on the road to Dortmund, Werder, Koln, Bayern, Fortuna and Stuttgart all came without us scoring and averaging just 0.95xG per game, reducing to 0.72 when discounting the 2.33 we accrued against Koln. Looking at those reverse fixtures - we beat Werder 2-0 in the reverse, Fortuna: 2-1, Stuttgart: 3-0 and drew with the Dortmund, Bayern and Koln proving that these are teams we can beat, we just need to be more tactically astute. Nevertheless, I feel that we've performed pretty well - just two places below our prediction with a transitional squad and taking into account the over performances of Stuttgart, who were fighting relegation when I moved to Bayern, and our rivals, Koln. Next season, there will surely be an onus on teams like Wolfsburg, predicted eighth but finished fifteenth as well as the likes of Gladbach, who occupied the top four for the majority of the season, to show a return to form. Yet, for me, we've finished just about where we should've expected: the xPts table has us just about on par, although over performing in each area, something which cannot really be seen as a long term approach! A full season means that I have an accurate picture of how my style is translating on the pitch and, overall, I feel that we're doing pretty well. We're third in the league for dribbles per game - a key metric in how well we carry the ball and move vertically but only register ninth for passes within the opponent's box and tenth for chances created. Our shots are then pretty poor quality - seventeenth in the league at 39% accuracy but we convert 15% of all of them, leaving in fourth in that metric. Pleasingly, our opposition conversion rate sits at a league low 7% but that also is a double edged sword: is it that low because we allow the fewest amount of shots? (no, we are seventh in that metric), or is it that low because Fischhaber has been so good? (yes, he has an xGP of 12.76, second in the league after Stuttgart's keeper, which may well be worth noting for next season). Our defensive line height - 37.58m - puts us seventh, some three metres ahead of Union Berlin but some seven behind Bayern's high line. Interestingly, this line would put us fourth in the Premier League, twelfth in Serie A, fourteenth in La Liga and eighth in Ligue Une. This stat really means nothing in the grand scheme of things but just kind of reassures me that I'm not at either end of the spectrum with what I'm seeing and, therefore, my argument that my high line costs me goals away from home probably isn't that valid. Overall, our general attacking team stats need to be looked at. Some of this is tactical and some of it is player driven, which I hope to unpick a bit more. We lead the league in xG overperformance; granted, some of our goals are wonderful and with players like Duran, we can shoot from long range and maintain a high success rate but we also do not create enough high quality chances - and, in my experience, a lot of those are created (particularly with us as the defending team) by pull backs into the box. Our cross completion - at 12% - is the league low with us attempting 746, the thirteenth best in the league. Neither Minami or, when he played, Boniface really were a huge presence in the box and with Duran's trait to arrive late, I guess it means that we barely had the players occupying the spaces. Furthermore, we're fully mid-table with crosses attempted from set pieces per game, at 7.74 - 35% of our overall crosses. I'm not anti wing-play but, with a VOL and an SS in the middle, I really want to use them. That being said, to be an elite side, we need to have several strings to our bow and do most things well, even if we favour a style of play. That will come - I hope! As the season began to dwindle, I began planning in more depth for next season.With significant losses made this season despite a small wage bill and tight control over transfer spend, I needed to look a little deeper than maybe I would normally. Whilst I’m excited at the news regarding youth graduate Yekini and his lovely sell on clause, money will need to come into the club before it can go back out, hence a more holistic view of finances and performance. I think that it feels like a nice collab with my player stats to look at, firstly, minutes, and then effectiveness based on a financial metric rather than just a performance one. Above are three graphs, split roughly into positional areas - defend, transition, score - showing the total amount of minutes played this season (red) shown as a percentage of the total available, with a further black bar to show the minutes available and not on the pitch, with any space at the end showing minutes they were not available for. Whilst I have renewed some contracts across the season and - therefore - will slightly invalidate small bits of data, I have multiplied the weekly wage by fifty-two and then divided it by the number of minutes that they have played, essentially created a €/min metric to see really who is justifying their wages as our pursestrings tighten. Defensively, I have heavily relied on my two full backs Ozdemir and Hagiwara with the latter costing nearly double but being a key player. There is significant interest from the big boys and Saudi Arabia but, hopefully, my €70m price tag will put them off. At the other end, neither Bischoff (€28,000 until 2034) or Krejci (€38,500 until 2034) have really played that much, even though they aren't paid that much whereas Tapsoba (€67,000 until 2034) has found his minutes dwindling as age catches up to him. In the midfield, the backups - Bangura, Stiepermann and Gottschalt have all worked our pretty expensive with the latter reaching an extension taking him to €36,500 until 2036 - not ideal for just over 25% of the game time played. Up front, the situation with Boniface is pretty clear - €85,000 until 2034 combined with availability for less than three quarters of the game time, meaning he's cost me over €5,000 per minute he's played. Furthermore, if I dig deeper to now look at cost per goal involvement, excluding those such as Fischhaber, Ozdemir and Hagiwara, you'll see that Boniface has cost me over €1m per involvement this season, which is pretty appalling when compared to Minami - €52,000, Krassnizter - €52,000 and even the likes of Gottschalt (€379,600), Bangura (€119,600) and Stierpmann (€273,000). Boniface has been well and truly usurped by a youngster who'd never played in Europe before in Minami. The twenty year old has overperformed his Non Pen xG + xA per 90 buy 0.33 a game, with 0.83 contributions per game, to the Nigerians' 0.43, from an expected 0.41. The only area in which the elder statesman still holds his crown in in his aerial competence, which, if we'd put more crosses into the box, may well have led to more goals. However, significant injuries have hampered Victor's game time and part of me feels that it'd be unfair to really comment on his performance because of that, however, across his career, he's hardly been the prolific 20-goal striker that we really need to kick on with. He's our joint highest earner with twelve months left on his deal and, unfortunately, I think his time here might be coming to an end. Part of me then worries that Yuki, even with sixty-eight goals in 129 games, is a little too inexperienced to lead the line of a Europa League club and that I might need to look elsewhere to replace. One of those replacements who could potentially slide back into a forward role are Pejsa or Arkine, both of whom have had particularly poor years on the wings. I allowed Stepan a bit of time to come in, settle, and learn how to play as a wide forward - feeling that his lack of top end speed might hold him up and that utilising his Flair, Work Rate and Technique from out wide might help us create - but, I feel I might've been wrong. Unlike Boniface, he does have age and time on his side, with another four years at the club. However, with thirteen appearances off the bench given a lack of form, I think he's going to be playing for his future at the start of next season. On the other wing is Arkine, wo has also been pretty poor, ending with just a third of Krassnitzer's goal contributions, at 0.20 per/90. Hicham feels a bit different to Stepan, having been here longer and already demonstrating what a top quality player he is. Mentally, he is a lot stronger than the Czechian and I think, if necessary, he could move back up front, which would, actually, mean that I don't need to recruit a new player. That would give the aforementioned Krassnitzer a bit more game time and allow the likes of Stiepermann and Bangura more, too. Both of those, along with Gottschalt have done really well but all are used as impact subs and I am acutely aware of the difference and step up between a bench option and a key player, of which I don't feel that either of these could necessarily do. The latter is not home grown at the club but the former two bring that, also, which will be even more important as we are in Europe next year. Much to ponder! So much so that I'll leave that for an entirely separate post. The intake was presented to me and felt a little bloated but, as I wanted, some top quality talents. I quickly worked my way through who I felt deserving of a contract and the whittled down of eleven players signed contracts and headed to the youth side. At this point, and - again - with that style over substance approach that does feel like it's coming out more and more, I moved back to my Statman skin and added a graphic on the player popup panel that shows their suitability towards the DNA attributes - first touch, technique, decisions, determination and pace. Whilst my own Excel calculations then add in age and nationality where the game cannot - I felt that this would be a solid base point and, for the most part, the youth players all rate highly on those two additional strands, anyway. The gem of this intake, and Ternana's loss is Francesco D'Anzi. At 16, he's already incredibly well rounded for a job on either wing and has no real holes within his game. Interestingly, my team don't rate is potential ability to be the highest - indicating a ceiling created by really early development. However, now that we are in the almost elite level, I take far less interest in those and just see no end goal for their development. He'll work his way through the changing foci, as do all the youth players but I think will be fast-tracked into some first team minutes very soon. Cevik is the highest rated player from this intake and I think he'd make a decent inside forward/wide forward kind of role but I['m less excited about him than D'Anzi! Joel Kahl is the perfect template for a player style I'm missing so dearly - the role where a player can switch between an IFB(d) and a CWB(a) role, with ease. A lot of the full backs on the market are one or the other but I see good development potential for the young Swedish born lad and his height at full back will certainly be a bonus, too. Ivan Zrilic is a player who really fits in with the club DNA and is, again, quite well rounded for his age. Whilst he's only sixteen, I'm not entirely sold as to whether he has the top speed required for a Shadow Striker role but, then again, feels too weak for a Volante role. A poorer personality than the other players talked about, too, means that he'll have to work really hard to build on is good foundation. Alberto is unlikely to become a top quality keeper but, as another distributor, is so much more aligned to the team's needs than Schulz - who, despite having high potential, will be forming the first wave of mismatched player departures, where the good of the team and the identity of the team trumps that of the individual; see Victor Manuel Mayor and his (heavily incentivised) move to Bayern due to his lack of development, largely caused by his personality. Five star potential or not, he's wholly unsuited to what I want to create! However, for every departure, there is potential for an arrival or just someone to play themselves into my plans. Yu Ho-Jae arrived in January for €1m and is doing pretty well at the youth level. FYI - if you change the youth team view to this, their stats populate all the graphs and charts I've created, so these are in-game screenshots of their performances in the U19.Liga. Yu already fits in really nicely with the ideology of the club and has two Japanese players that, if he reaches the first team, will surely be able to assist his integration. Again, a strong positive for the new recruitment model and a big thanks to Yushi Sato for finding him! Promising players are coming from closer to home, too. Mushure, despite not really fitting into my DNA or having the top end potential to really make it as a first team player here, has performed really well with fifteen goal contributions in the youth side. This is part of my bigger commitment to the B04 pathway that aims to keep as many players within professional football as possible, giving them a two or three year apprenticeship, if nothing else! I've also lucked out with some loan deals after getting the board to agree to a further affiliate, Ingolstadt, in the 3.Liga Noa Nikolic was on loan at my other feeder, Duisberg, who sat bottom of the 2.Liga. He'd scored twice in twelve and wasn't playing well enough to really kick on. However, moving him down a level has seen the goals fly in and his development skyrocket. Additionally, I then used this opportunity to get three other players there, too, with Bjorklund the only one who'd not been at Duisberg earlier in the season. Whilst playing at the 3.Liga level may not be quite right for their ability, balancing good form with training facilities feels really hard this time around. With Ingolstadt in a playoff to get promoted, I kind of hope they don't - meaning that I still have a team at each professional level of the game to utilise for playing time. Steady progression is better than no progression! I'm hoping that Yekini moves to PSG which should, even after TV money, stabilise us for the summer as to not need a big sale. However, I want to be coy in the transfer market and only bring in if we are really able to upgrade and, given my thoughts here, may have the money from the potential sale of Boniface to reimburse. The quality of German talent is really poor at the moment or, it is good and the player is not interested. Therefore, players like academy graduate Kai Havertz, who is about to leave Arsenal, may be looked at. However, I think that the majority of the summer will be fine tuning the squad and really working with what I have, as their head coach. Die Werkself! Edited March 26 by _Ben_ 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 I was sure that Bischoff would play well for you as he is naturally a Deep Lying Playmaker. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 14 minutes ago, Hootieleece said: I was sure that Bischoff would play well for you as he is naturally a Deep Lying Playmaker. His attributes are weighted quite nicely but he's really not pushed on and achieved what I believe he could have, largely given the fact that he's spent the majority of his development years not playing football: Coming back to us at 24/25 should have meant that he was ready made for this league but sadly, he isn't. I have renewed his contract for another year but, realistically, he's fallen back into third or fourth choice in either of my DM roles. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 28 Author Share Posted March 28 As intended, I made a big jump early in the window and sanctioned the Boniface sale, letting him to go to the Middle East for a fair price for an out of form, aging striker. After a look through both the scouted 'A' rated players, followed by those rated as 'B' – I felt that the window would be significantly tougher than I first imagined. That being said, I was largely happy with the outputs of the remaining squad players and felt that, with the expiry of two key players next summer - team leaders Krecji and Tapsoba - a quieter window – particularly when PSG look less likely to sign Yekini (but we are offered a pitiful sell-on clause) – might be more appropriate. That being said, there is still necessity to find value in the market. The board asked me to spend all of my original transfer budget – a worry – but then told me that, actually, I’d only have €8m available to play with before the Boniface departure. With that, I concluded three sensible deals: The star boy returns. Whilst the deal comes with huge compensation if he has a hand in 15 goals, which, should he do so, see us naturally propel ourselves up the league, Kai Havertz is still a properly good footballer. I have to balance in my head that short-term desire to succeed with the long-term ambitions to build a self-sufficient, attractive-footballing club built from the ground up and, whist Kai is aging, his attribute comparison and statistical comparison gave me enough fuel to ignite the fire that saw Hull spend €8m on Gottschalt. Maybe Kai does only have a year or so left in him but his quality should stay and he’s homegrown at the club as well as being paid a similar amount to Nico and paving the way for any academy graduates that may present themselves over the mid to long term. Kai's ability to operate between the lines, in the half spaces and as a withdrawn forward meant that I felt he could add another series of options in our attacking areas, even if his top end speed and physicality is slightly dwindling. He has, however, never truly been a regular at Arsenal and I hope that the lack of minutes may allow his legs to continue a little longer - just, at least, long enough for me to identify a long term rotational option with Duran. I'm really quite happy with the signing of Pierre Helmes - who cost €6m from Saint Louis City in the MLS. I have craved a full back who can do both; sitting, usually, in the IFB(d) role but then also being tasked with being an aggressive CWB(s)/(a) when we want to force an overload down one side. I think that Helmes does that and, statistically, doesn't look too bad at either. I know that the MLS is a step down and his only top flight German experience comes from seven (substitute) appearances whilst at Dortmund but I was able to purchase a similar type of player in Bauer and give him minutes to settle in and I think that this deal could be quite successful for us. Sebastian Fischer was the last incoming deal and, for just €1.7m, feels like he's somewhat of a bargain. My intention is to ensure that both my goalkeepers are good with their feet but, given that this is an area that generally makes them more valuable, I was conscious that I did not want to break the bank with Fischhaber being a strong number one and Bjorklund showing signs of promise and potential to be ready in a number of years. Ideally, I wanted a seasoned pro but also I wanted a German: fitting in squad regulations is really important and I'd rather ensure that my more expensive and expansive assets came from further afield. But, finding one of those, willing to be a fully fledged backup and fit in with a wage structure that is not complicit with a player returning from Qatar or dropping down to number two, meant that I was very short on options. In the end, I've plumped for an experienced player - but just not at this level. Fischer was a regular for the Bayern II team and has 150 career appearances to his name. Furthermore, he's a big lad and pretty well rounded. The intention is to not actually ever have to use him - with the Europa League and the Pokal being quite key competitions for me, but I cannot venture into an FM24 game now without a sub keeper as I've had to make more replacements in this version than I have in all others, combined. A small profit has been made over the summer and, whilst we've lost one of the two remaining original squad players, just leaving Tapsoba, I feel that we've not necessarily weakened. Kai could well relive the glory years that made him one of the continent's hottest prospects and Pierre fills a slot that was vacant, relieving some of the pressure on Hagiwara ahead of him. This allows further time to develop deeper scouting pools as I look to address at least two major holes next summer: Centre Back Holding Midfielder With the nature of this recruitment, I am aware that each player has his price and, whilst we're not at the pinnacle of European football, players will want to move on and build on their career elsewhere. This gives even more onus on creating deep shortlists of high quality players available to me, whether now or in future and whether affordable now or not. Far too often, I'm turning away from a player because they are currently too expensive or currently not interested, when they need to be retained for the longer term building of my recruitment lists. Then, I need to expand my checking process - utilising reports from several scouts to ensure that I actually know what I'm getting, because that is something that I feel I've been caught out by, too many times. Whilst there are plans afoot for recruitment, I've also been finalising changes to the younger players over the summer and have currently loaned out five of my best prospects: Bjorklund was part of the Ingolstadt team that won the league last year but I want to fast track him into the first team and, when he rejected an extension there, took the chance to get him in the shop window. My old club Elfsborg - now sadly mid-table fodder - were interested in him, providing him exposure to top tier football and European football, way before we are able to. The concern is that the jump may be too big for him and he'll fall apart but I've never seen a keeper with his description and I've seen very few as strong as he is at that age so want to work hard on him. Nikolic decided that he would continue at Ingolstadt after doing so well last year. They've not signed any better players than him so I expect him to continue leading the line but he, like Bjorklund will need to be watched closely as he was very poor this time last year at this level at Duisberg, who'd also been newly promoted. Kuczmann is the third of the ex-Ingolstadt players and he moves to Portugal to, again, play in the top flight at mid-table Famalicao. They're not too dissimilar from us in terms of style and intent to disrupt the big boys but, obviously, at a lower level. Niklas Schulz, who was used pretty much solely from the bench last year - makes a great move to relegated Union Berlin, where I'm told he'll be an important player. Hopefully, the Berlin side will be pushing for promotion and playing well, giving him lots of opportunities to kick on, as he somewhat stalled last year and is now considered to be less likely a superstar. Lastly, Yu moves to Derby, who are a lower half Championship side but do play a very similar style of football to ourselves. The draw of a 46-game season, for me, was big as it means by Korean will get plenty of chances to play at this level and, hopefully, develop. That leaves my youth team squad looking a little depleted but very strong in the remaining areas. My concerns right now are all about not being able to promote youngsters but I feel that I've been able to turn around the youth sector in quite a short amount of time and now have six or seven really high potential talents that could, in a few years, be within the first team. I'm also aware of how much harder it is at an elite level to bring through young players. At a lower quality, like in the Swedish leagues, bringing through less polished players felt considerably easier and I was able to utilise my time at Elfsborg, in particular, to blood them whilst we were winning most games. I need to use this season to give as many minutes to my young players as I can. I certainly know that Thursday night Europa League games will provide those opportunities but I have to be clever about it! I keep coming back to this and doubting myself as to whether I'm being true to my principles but I'm learning, over and over again, that the tactical side to FM is an infinitely deep hole and I'll never reach perfection without creating some ME-killing super tactic, which is exactly against my wants! I'm looking at our opposition more and more and have even skinned some additional analysis stuff into the in-game tablet to try and learn more about the team. However, my thinking is becoming a lot clearer around certain actions that are key in our build up. "We need multiple ways to build up." With the ideology of the extra man, I need to be really clear and confident of how we build up against different teams. Some sides play two up top, whilst others player a striker and a 9.5 in the form of a Shadow Striker, for example. Others use one particularly aggressive inside forward and a striker, whilst some use two inside forwards or even just wide men and an aggressive midfielder. To counter those, I can make my rest defence in a variety of ways, knowing that this rest defence is largely the positioning for the ball being recycled. With our quicker build up, I'm now noticing more and more that our average positions and pass maps are somewhat skewed as the Libero isn't really a passing option more of a second line of rest defence in a turnover of possession. That, in itself is fine but what it does do is reduce the distance between the defenders and increase the distance from the attackers, meaning we gather possession deeper and don't, or can't penetrate as efficiently as teams have recovered. There are times, however, when it works well - here, Markovic, the L(d), has progressed with the ball and is now a passing option, but that has come about from a loss of possession for the opponents and we have hardly any space. Here, we're in our normal 3-2 build up but, probably, could use a 2-3 to create more width for Javorcic to enable a switch of play to the left. It's minutia and it's quick in game notices of these things that will pay off. I'm getting better at it but there is still a long way to go. I'm thinking of a way where I can change my updates to focus a bit more on the tactical developments that don't just lead to paragraphs of words and some hyperlinked images and gifs as this is my true focus right now and the thing bringing me back to FM each and every day! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
milenec11 Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 one question are shareble this new skin version? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 28 Author Share Posted March 28 49 minutes ago, milenec11 said: one question are shareble this new skin version? Thanks for your contribution to the FM Careers Update section of the site. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrewnaldo Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 I'm loving the recruitment posts... maybe a little bit too much as they're prompting a bit of nostalgia for my Feralpi/Hellas save. I don't get the opportunity to do this sort of recruitment much in my Sporting save... giving me some thoughts of a return to Italy... I'm also loving the bar charts you've done on cost per minute played. Really effective way of showing which players are over-valued and should be moved on. Would you think about doing something similar with other statistics? Goal contributions would be the obvious one but I wonder if it would also work with selected statistics for specific roles? Progressive passes and xA for deep creators, for example? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
milenec11 Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 1 hour ago, _Ben_ said: Thanks for your contribution to the FM Careers Update section of the site. how to contribute !?!!?!? i do not have your caliber in coaching Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 12 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said: I'm loving the recruitment posts... maybe a little bit too much as they're prompting a bit of nostalgia for my Feralpi/Hellas save. I don't get the opportunity to do this sort of recruitment much in my Sporting save... giving me some thoughts of a return to Italy... I'm also loving the bar charts you've done on cost per minute played. Really effective way of showing which players are over-valued and should be moved on. Would you think about doing something similar with other statistics? Goal contributions would be the obvious one but I wonder if it would also work with selected statistics for specific roles? Progressive passes and xA for deep creators, for example? I hope that I haven't pulled too far! The Sporting save is one of my favourites to read this year! Yeah - I did do one for goal contributions but didn't split it into areas, just leaving it as raw data and hyperlinking it. My concern with digging deeper is that I'm not entirely sure there are areas of the game that all outfield players are contributing too. I could progressive passes but that'd really stop my strikers from rating highly as, at the end of the day, it's anyone and everyone's job to score! I will need to dig deeper into positional units to try and find what I can compare like for like with. I'm nearly at the ten league game mark of this season so will stop, take stock and write some thoughts down. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 It would appear that, right now, everything I touch is turning to gold. I'm able to experiment with various shapes in build ups and attacks: the 3-2 build up with HB and two IWB as well as a potent DLF/SS combo that has brought about the best in Kai Havertz. The xG table has us on par and doing what we should be (but note poor old Koln down there!) and we've finally addressed our shaky away form. Rather than go into specifics of each game and each tactical move, I've actually just sat back and enjoyed some fantastic football and feel that I'm getting much better at finding, and reacting to, tactical opportunities. In the 3-2 build up image, above, we faced Stuttgart, who, before this, had played two up top - I think an AF(a) and a CF, probably on attack. For the majority of the game, they'd pressed high and left us 2v2 in our defence, so I made the change to bring a HB in and push the wing backs on a bit further and narrower. This was great until, ironically, the moment I paused to take the screenshot - which then seemed to be the start of the time that they'd switched to what I'd assume would be a DLF(s) or F9(s) and they no longer pressed 2v2, going with banks of four then two roamers up top. This then led to me reverting to my original style and continuing to put pressure on the opponents. In the end, we didn't win the game but I feel that it was the kind of game that, without the close eye, we'd have lost. This is progress. Additionally, I'm loving the busy Thursday-Sunday scheduling as it is making me consider the squad rotation. At some point, with the small first team, it'll catch up to us but I'm able to heavily rotate, following a 60/30 principle, where my weekend squad will often come on for the latter stages to keep fitness levels up. This, again largely poorer opposition who are tiring, makes those periods of time quite fun for us! At an elite level, I'm acutely aware of the large impact that significant numbers of tiny impacts can have. For those not au-fait with the term 'marginal gains' - I implore you to read up on Dave Brailsford's work with Team Sky. As a football manager, and, as a FM football manager, one of the easiest things to do is go out and sign players. Now, I'm not against that - not by any stretch of the imagination - and nor do I criticise those who rebuild a team each year and see miraculous results. However, for my own realism impact, I try to stick away from doing that and, instead, work to get the best out of each player. There are ceilings for almost everyone and I've not managed at a high enough level - your PSG, Man City, Barca, Real etc - for such a long time that I don't really know what an unlimited ceiling looks like in terms of CA but I like to try and find ways to break through that ceiling, particularly with focus on the collective as opposed to the individual. My intention for this season, with only three players - neither of who were nailed on first team players - arriving, was to ensure that my players were doing better than last year. Whether that was through training, tactics, morale management, target setting or just interactions. Below, I have compared the per90 outputs from last season with those so far from this season, expressing them as a percentage change: The caveat is that we have played more easy matches this season: Bergisch Gladbach, Rapid and Sparta are not Bundesliga level teams but, really, the impact of that is minimal in the bigger picture, and is certainly less important than the fact that this data is harvested from three months rather than nine. There are clearly some parts of the data that hold more significance than others - Tapsoba's 0.44 goals/90 this season dwarfs his 0.04 from last but, really, that is not where my focus lies. I'd considered creating an average percentage change area to this that created an overall score but I'm not sure what I'd gain from knowing that Tapsoba is 125% better this season than last, particularly when the data is so hugely skewed from a penalty that I allowed him to take against Dortmund. It would also suggest that Fischhaber, my first choice keeper, has decreased his outputs by 31%, largely because he hasn't actually created any expected assists or progressive passes yet this season. However, there are some really positive things that I can extrapolate from the data: Hicham, who I was really concerned about last year, has already surpassed his goal involvement total in the league from last season and has settled in really well into an AF(a) role when needed with each of his five goals this season coming whilst playing there. If I was to look back at the data, I'd be worrying that his progressive passes have diminished but, again, when taken contextually, he's actually far less like to progress the ball when he's the furthest man forward. The ability for him to play in multiple offensive roles is also really important but him finding his scoring boots in probably the most. Ferhat Duran has turned into the most creative player in the Bundesliga with 11 goal contributions (4G, 7A) and is looking menacing when linking up with a DLF ahead of him against certain defensive structures. His 84% increase on open play key passes means that I'm finally getting him into roles where can be really dangerous and his long range shooting from an average 0.12xG/shot sits at 12%, which I am not too unhappy with. Jordan Bangura has become the cup specialist! With six goal contributions (3G, 3A) in the Bundesliga, his outputs of three assists in three in Europe and two goals and an assist in two Pokal games means that he's one of the top performers in the country at present. I've set him a target of ten league assists and he's currently at 0.36 per ninety, which isn't too bad but will need a continued push for him to reach that. As I have mentioned before, by using the Squad view button, I can change to see just Bundesliga stats for my team and compare Bangura's outputs to his overall, which shows he's not a one trick pony and can do it everywhere! Lastly, Tom has become a much better player this year, improving his creativity and attacking outputs from the VOL(s) role - and has been the go-to in Europe so far. In terms of direct comparisons, which is what this can do, I'd go as far as saying that he's performing better than Hannibal, although the sample size of less than five hundred minutes, largely against weaker opponents does skew that. But, again, competition is good. It pushes these players on. One player who has struggled, though, is Stepan Pejsa: You can't win with them all and, ironically, it's the eye test and not the numbers that are doing it for me with the young Czechia international, who has also seen himself demoted from the full squad. He's got three goal contributions, two of which are in the league - meaning he's a third of the way to reaching his total of last season. However, he just looks so ungainly out on the wing and his decision making and final ball are just lacking. His personality has also regressed from Fairly Professional and he's not among the top five or ten trainers within the first team. That being said, he's still only twenty and - according to my staff - has potential left to grow into and, if all still fails, would represent quite a significant profit on the €9m I spent on him. However, the B04 way and my way is to not give up on him, just yet! Die Werkself! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrewnaldo Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 Looks like you're smashing it Have you adjusted those metrics for possession, compared to your average from last season? It would be useful for some of the passing and defensive metrics. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Ben_ Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 31 minutes ago, Shrewnaldo said: Looks like you're smashing it I still can't look past Bayern. They're simply too to let us off any more times! There's a week where we face our toughest Europa League tie - away at Man Utd - before travelling to Bayern. I think that'll be fun for my nerves and the overall outcomes of our season. Pulling ahead of teams like Leipzig, Gladbach and Dortmund this season, though, would be immense and show real progression towards the end goal. 34 minutes ago, Shrewnaldo said: Have you adjusted those metrics for possession, compared to your average from last season? It would be useful for some of the passing and defensive metrics. No, I've not used pAdj for anything here but will have a look into it. We've definitely upped our ball share this season but, that being said, I've been a lot hotter on changing those situations where we can - i.e. when they're pressing with a 1-1 and we have a 3-2 in early transition and, as such, often just play it back and forth between us. I think that I'm still on scratching the surface of ways that I can judge the quality of my players and the improvements (or lack of) of their performances. I think that setting my stall out for the coming years at Bayer will give me a really good opportunity to explore them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shrewnaldo Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 I was thinking about that 3-2 in early possession and the tendency to just knock it about - I wondered whether it's just for lack of options to play through. Looking at the 3-2 set-up you posted earlier, I'm wondering if you're ever tempted to leave more players further forward? Or perhaps just wide? I know one of your principles is to have at least one extra player in the build-up but there you're effectively play 5v2, or maybe 5v1.5. I know it's just a snapshot but if you play the ball into your "2" of the 3-2 and the defence's front 1.5/2 are the ones to close them down, that leaves the two banks of four undisrupted and difficult to play through - at least centrally. Would you be tempted to leave a player or two further forward or wide? I think someone else mentioned it above, but leaving one of the wingbacks as a non-inverted option then allows you to play out down the flank and maybe develop a 3v2 in the wide area - or at least just stretch the play to pull the banks of four wider? I'm absolutely certain that this will have occurred to you and you've thought it all though, just interested in your thought process (apologies if this is somewhere in the thread above) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Payaso Posted March 30 Share Posted March 30 Wow! This story has come far since the last time I properly checked in. Going to be good read for Sunday. Any particular reason why you decided to go back to attributes? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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