[FM24] Malaga - Ten Years After

[warlock]

When Malaga were relegated to Spain's third tier at the end of the 22/23 season, my first save for FM24 was decided. So the journey back to the top begins here...

On April 9, 2013, Malaga were seconds away from a Champions League semi-final. Against Borussia Dortmund - then managed by one J. Klopp - the Spanish side were leading 2-1 on aggregate as the game headed towards injury time. But two goals in two minutes of added time saw the Germans triumph. As shattering as that blow was, Malaga could have not foreseen just how bad things were going to get in the coming decade. 

2010 saw the arrival of a new owner from Qatar, waving imaginary wads of cash and promising to turn the little-know club into a European powerhouse. Early promising signs - the recruitment of Manuel Pelegrini as manager, the signings of the likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Isco and Santi Cazorla - propelled Malaga to the upper reaches of Spanish football, culminating in that Champions League campaign. But that is where it ended as Malaga were subsequently banned from European competition for financial irregularities, promised investment by the new owner failed to materialise, transfer fees disappeared and as the debts piled up the club were relegated from L1 in 2018.

In 2020 the Qatari was stripped of the presidency by a Spanish court and an appointed administrator managed to bring some order to the finances. But on the pitch, matters were not improved and Malaga slipped steadily towards another relegation. 

Now, at the start of the 23/24 season, we begin the long climb back...

[theBlackPrince]

Good luck with Malaga, perfect choice in FM24 with their fall from Europe to the third tier and the struggles along the way!

Looking forward to seeing them work their way back up!

[warlock]

Malaga: July 2023

This isn't my first rodeo with Malaga. In the dying days of FM21 I undertook a brief two-season save aimed at getting them back to L1 and consolidated in the top flight, a task that was accomplished quite comfortably in the time available. It won't be quite that easy this time but on arrival I'm happy to see we still have a handful of familiar faces from that save. The question is whether we can hang on to them... after the latest relegation players are understandably unhappy and looking for the exit. It's also good news that the previous regime have managed to put together a decent squad of free transfers including some who look very good for this level. The latter group includes GK Alfonso Herrero, signed from Mirandes, and CM Manu Molina, from Real Zaragoza, They join long-standing talents that include CB Juande and AMR David Larrubia.

While the squad has numbers there is a lack of balance in some areas - for example, we only have one natural DM while the other possibility in the position is also one of our better CBs. Our backup RB is a natural winger and isn't very good at either position. Some recruitment would be helpful, which brings us to club finances...

At first sight, the finances do not inspire confidence - a transfer budget of precisely £0 and we begin already £2k a week over the wage budget. However, there are some transfer clauses that can be sold to raise funds, although with several players wanted by other clubs, I decided to keep my powder dry until we see how the transfer window plays out.

Tactical approach

After assessing the squad, I set about trying to assemble the pieces into something that looked like a reasonable system. This was complicated by the Primera Federacion - Grupo II (tier 3) registration rules: maximum squad size of 24 players, but all players over the age of 17 must be registered, so no free rotation of 18-20 year-olds when needed. So more by necessity than choice, I settled on this:

Transfer window

Ahead of any outgoing transfers, it left me with only two real holes to fill, a backup at right-back, and a backup at CB to cover for the player I moved to DM. But as they say, no plan survives first contact with the enemy and the transfer offers were quick to arrive. First to depart was CM Ramon Enriquez, somewhat surprising as he was out injured and hadn't played a minute for us. That didn't put off Italian outfit Torino and a £1.5m deal was agreed. Fortunately, we already had adequate cover in central midfield, so no replacement was necessary.

Worse news was the intervention from Southampton, who made a low-ball bid for the aforementioned AMR Larrubia. I took this one personally - in my previous save with Malaga I found David in the C team and promoted him to the first 11 where he became something of a star before and after our promotion. So I was delighted to find him still at the club and was looking forward to another successful spell together. Reluctant to let him go, I agreed that a £1m bid would be enough and, of course, Southampton immediately offered the increased fee.

The positives, of course, were that this business solved our immediate financial difficulties, freeing up enough money to increase the wage budget, offer one or two youngsters improved deals, and to allow us to move for players who could fill the two backup roles we needed. First arrival was at RB with Jose Gomez joining on loan from Central Cordoba:

At this level the Argentinian offers enough of what we need - decent in defence and with excellent crossing for some added attacking threat. Best of all, he is costing us nothing, with his parent club paying all of his wages for the duration.

Second signing was another loan at CB:

Barbu is a big, strong lad, good in the air and with decent all-round defensive attributes, Importantly, he's a natural left-footer as backup to Juande on that side of defence.

While I'd have liked to bring in more players and better quality, it's obviously difficult to attract those kinds of signings down at the lower levels of the pyramid. I'm also reluctant to make signings who we could quickly outgrow if we manage promotion. So I was happy enough with the finished squad, which left us looking like this:

A very decent First 11, if a little lightweight beyond that. At least the pre-season prediction backs my judgement - we're odds-on favourites to win the title, and our players make up half of the media dream 11.

Now to show it on the pitch...

[wtd]

Good luck, Malaga should be a fun save. Glad to see my Saints playing a small part in the story already (even though it was through a low-ball bid).

[warlock]

17 minutes ago, wtd said:

Glad to see my Saints playing a small part in the story already

I can't complain too much - it strikes me as a very Saints move, especially in the Championship. He's only 21 and has plenty of room to improve.

[roganp]

Malaga should be a popular save this year with recent events. Good luck with the save!

[warlock]

2 hours ago, roganp said:

Malaga should be a popular save this year

Yes, looks that way. They've been included on most of the 'social media' lists of recommended saves that I've seen.

[vegson]

Hey man, I also started a save in Spain, but when I looked at the league overview for Spain I noticed that sponsorship income for 80% of teams were set at 0USD. Inclduing big teams from La liga 1 and 2. I did not notice this problem in different nations. Can you confirm if you have the same problem?

[warlock]

45 minutes ago, vegson said:

Can you confirm if you have the same problem?

No problem in my save. At Malaga I'm getting around £15k a month in sponsorships. Just did a quick "add manager" and took over at Real Madrid and they're getting around £100k a month and, at Christmas first season, they've earned £219m in sponsorship so far this season.

Didn't know you could look at the league overview figures, but here's the picture for L1:

[vegson]

Damn, I envy you haha. I really want to play, but this issue seems to big to ignore. I have no idea why this has happened to me or how I can fix it. This is how L1 is for me, in the lower divisions most teams are listed at 0 sponsorship income.

Edited November 7, 2023 by vegson
a

[warlock]

Malaga, August/September 2023

With a settled squad and a tactic that had done well enough during pre-season, it was time to get our campaign underway. Our first competitive fixture granted us a good opportunity for an early win as Algeciras - predicted to struggle against relegation - hosted us for an away game. For once the pundits called it correctly - title favourites Malaga put the home side to the sword:

AMR Larrubia - showing us what we'd miss when he departed for Southampton - opened the scoring after 15 minutes and set up a further two goals as we cruised to a 5-0 victory. For our first game at the beautiful Rosaleda stadium, we took on another of the division's less-favoured sides in newly-promoted Antequera, who were similarly dispatched without issue:

And we carried that early form into September:

But while we continued to score freely there were the first signs of defensive weakness as we conceded four goals in five games this month. Not a problem as long as we keep outscoring our opponents, but something to keep an eye on. Pleasingly, we appear to have a natural striker in Roberto Fernandez but we're also spreading the scoring throughout the team as CMs Sangalli and Lorenzo, DM Galilea, AMs Hernandez and Villodres, and even FB Dani Sanchez all found the net.

Whether our scoring record is a reflection of match engine issues or merely our status as overwhelming favourites remains to be seen.

[theBlackPrince]

That is how to start a save and show intent for the rest of the season! Will take a few months to see who will be challenging you at the top but pleasing to be finding the net often!

[DaveMUFC]

Great stuff. 

I also started a malaga save and had to sell Robert Fernández as I got a £5m offer for him in Jan. 

In my first summer, I also managed to get Yamal on a completely free loan from barca, and also Fermin Lopez on a loan for like 1.5k a week! They're pushing me up atm and I'm 8 points clear after 20 games (was 14 points clear but been having a few poor games recently)

[warlock]

1 hour ago, DaveMUFC said:

had to sell Robert Fernández

I'll be fighting tooth and nail to keep him all the way to L1! The guy is a weapon in front of goal and I can't see us replacing him for the money he'd raise.

[warlock]

Malaga, October/November 2023

With seven games played and seven won, 25 goals scored and just 4 conceded, the question was how far we could keep the run going. Quite far, as it happened:

Ibiza presented no real challenge, and against Murcia two late goals snuffed out any hopes they had of a comeback when the home side pulled one back midway through the second half. And the next two fixtures produced no surprises as we found the net 6 times for no reply. Only in the last game of the month, at home to Atletico's B team, did we face the prospect of dropped points:

We jumped out to a two-goal lead within the opening 12 minutes, before their star striker, Moroccan Nabil Toualzi, threw a one-two punch of his own to level it up with 10 minutes to go. AML Kevin Villodres is one of those frustrating players who seems to amble through most of a game without doing much  - and then suddenly explodes into life to produce a moment of brilliance. And he did it here, picking up a loose clearance near the halfway line, ghosting down the left touchline, before a burst of acceleration took him past three defenders into the box and then smashing the ball inside the far post to give us the victory.

November saw more of the same, but the goals conceded were notably higher and prompted a note of caution from the board who were "concerned" in my monthly report card. I am well-aware of the issue and at pains to fend off complacency in the squad. In our, ahem, defence, I'd point out that Intercity are a good side and firmly involved in the promotion hunt, while Castilla - Real Madrid's B-team - have been our closest rivals all season. They also feature a young prospect by the name of Arda Guler, valued at around £30m and a pretty good player at this level:

The final scoreline flattered them enormously - we passed them off the pitch, held a thoroughly-deserved 4-0 lead with 20 minutes to go, and only a flash of brilliance from Guler and a momentary loss of concentration in the dying seconds allowed them to put a veneer on the result.

[Note: I started the save more than a week ago during beta before starting this thread, partly to see whether the save would stick but also to ensure that I didn't need to restart after the full launch. After the December update we'll be back in "real time" as we go into the January transfer window. Thanks for reading.]

[warlock]

Malaga, December 2023

Three more league games and our first fixture in the Copa del Rey - a short month this, as we break early before Christmas and return to action on New Year's Day. Probably to no-one's surprise, we continue our excellent form:

Another three wins in the league to maintain our 100% record, although our struggles to keep a clean sheet are apparent once again. The game against San Fernando provoked my harshest team talk of the season at half-time:

We went behind just after the half-hour mark, against the run of play but - not for the first time this season - thanks to some shambolic defending. Thankfully, the players responded after the interval, although it took a last-minute winner from substitute AMR Hernandez to secure a narrow victory.

The cup tie against Real Oviedo brought a familiar face back to la Rosaleda - one Santi Cazorla, who played for Malaga before joining Arsenal in 2012. Thankfully, his only contribution to this match was to pick up a late yellow card as we comfortably outplayed the side from the tier above:

As we all went home for Christmas my thoughts turned to the impending transfer window, and particularly the future of club captain and our best defender Juande. Back in the summer he had announced his intention to explore his options and with his contract expiring in 6 months, we needed to make a decision. When the squad returned to training at the end of the month I approached his agent: did the player have any interest in signing a new deal? No, came the reply. Would there be interest in a transfer? Yes.

So we offered him out, received a bid of £325k from Real Vallodolid, and he was on his way. Since this outcome was expected, I had already identified a replacement:

Serbian Dragisa Gudelj was playing at Cordoba and performing well, racking up an average rating of 7.2 in 20 appearances this season. Although he has no outstanding attributes, our scouts and coaches rate him as a good player for L2 so I'm confident he'll do a job for us now and after promotion. We may have slightly overpaid at £500k but I'm happy with his arrival.

On the eve of the window I'm not planning on any further business - I'm delighted by our performances and happy with the squad. But a few of our better players are shown as wanted, most concerning being star striker Roberto Fernandez who is being scouted by Italian side Parma. So far, he has no interest in the move but I'm watching matters closely.

[Fantasista10]

13 hours ago, warlock said:

Another three wins in the league to maintain our 100% record, although our struggles to keep a clean sheet are apparent once again.

Following this with great interest as I’m also playing with Malaga at the moment. Almost finished the first season, just clinched the title with 5 games to spare. It’s been great fun, I suspect next season will be a lot more challenging in L2.

Regarding your struggles to keep a clean sheet: I have also had a real problem keeping the goals out, despite having the best Expected Goals Against by some margin. We were leading the league in all stats and metrics, but now can only boast the second best defensive record with 35 conceded in 33. 

After seeing your defensive struggles, I am wondering if it’s just an issue with the defence/goalkeepers at Malaga - or maybe just the goal-friendly Match Engine, rather than any glaring tactical issues. 

Nevertheless, you seem to be on an unstoppable run. I can’t quite boast the same record, as we got XG’d (or FM’d) a few times and did end up losing 5 games so far but 80pts from 33 games is not too shabby. Keep up the good work!

[warlock]

39 minutes ago, Fantasista10 said:

I suspect next season will be a lot more challenging in L2

I suspect that, too!

40 minutes ago, Fantasista10 said:

Regarding your struggles to keep a clean sheet

I need to take a closer look at our defensive performance to see if I can figure out what the problem - if any - really is. First thoughts: a lot of the goals against are coming towards the end of games when the AI goes aggressive, so we might need to take steps to prevent that; we're playing with a high defensive line, so dropping that back a step (especially late in the game) might be a good idea; we're scoring loads so, despite the board and supporter concerns about goals conceded, I'm not inclined to make changes that might blunt our attacking play.

The outcome of these ponderings will be recorded in the thread 

[Fantasista10]

9 minutes ago, warlock said:

First thoughts: a lot of the goals against are coming towards the end of games when the AI goes aggressive, so we might need to take steps to prevent that; we're playing with a high defensive line, so dropping that back a step (especially late in the game) might be a good idea; we're scoring loads so, despite the board and supporter concerns about goals conceded, I'm not inclined to make changes that might blunt our attacking play.

I have the exact same issue - most of our goals conceded tend to come late on, in the last 15-20 minutes especially:

They tend to be from crosses as well. Most teams we come up against tend to use 'Wing Play' which I'm starting to think could be a little over powered as well.

You are right though, some adjustments can be made to counter that, and definitely not at the expense of the attacking play. 

Like yourself, I have not done much to address the issue, since we are outscoring our opponents anyway - but something to keep an eye on especially next season in the Second Division. 

[warlock]

Malaga, January 2024

As things transpired, we navigated the tranfer window without difficulty - Juande left, Gudelj arrived, and no-one bid for striker Fernandez. Southampton did come in for our hot midfield prospect Dani Lorenzo but never came to close to my valuation. The bids were rejected, the player didn't seem bothered, and we carried on regardless.

There will have to be a busy summer window though... it has become apparent that neither of our two backup strikers are good enough, and we'll need better backups at DM and AML as well.

Meanwhile, we continue to perform to a high level on the pitch, although January did see us drop our first points of the season:

As always seems to be the way, Algeciras were firmly rooted to the bottom of the table yet, somehow, they're the only team in the division we can't beat! And we should have:

It was an all-round poor performance, with none of our front 6 rating better than a 6.5 but xG suggests we were unlucky not to find a winner.

I was much happier with the draw in our next game, a cup tie against the famed Athletic of Bilbao:

They had the better chances but we restricted them to just 3 shots on target and GK Herrero was equal to all of them. Then in the penalty shootout, he proved to be the matchwinner as he saved Athletic's sixth spotkick while we scored all of ours.

Sadly, we couldn't equal that feat against another L1 side when Rayo Vallecano came to La Rosaleda. We did extremely well to keep the scores level through normal and extra time but our luck deserted us in the shootout.

Overall, it was a fun run in the cup and we did far better than our L3 status would suggest. But in the league:

We passed the halfway point of the season this month and carry a 15pt lead into the second half, enjoying by far the best attacking record and also the fewest goals conceded.

We're also doing well financially:

This was the big news this month:

Note to self: spend that transfer budget before the end of the season while its still available.

Edited November 12, 2023 by warlock

[robterrace]

Getting the sell on is a fantastic help really, allows you to consolidate a few things, as well as build more.

[roganp]

That windfall from the Horta transfer should set you up nicely for next season. Seems like you’ll have some work to do!

[warlock]

7 hours ago, robterrace said:

Getting the sell on is a fantastic help

Hi Rob, hope you're well .

Someone at Malaga has been pretty shrewd with their transfer business - there's a few of those 15% sell-on clauses, although Horta was always likely to be the big one. 

I'll be rather miffed if we mess up promotion from our current position, but we'll need smart recruitment to push on in L2.

[Dong21]

I've just come across your latest thread @warlock - It sounds like things are going very well for you on and off the pitch.

I was on holiday in Malaga last month for my last trip (and last bit of sun) of the year. Lovely place, although it was during the international break so didn't get a chance to watch a game. 

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Dong21 said:

I've just come across your latest thread

Good to have you on board 

We usually spend a week along the coast towards Marbella every June. I really must make an effort to take in a Malaga game next year - hopefully they'll be heading towards promotion!

[Sizeman21]

Really enjoying your updates so far Warlock, keep them coming. Good luck!

[DefinitelyTaylor]

Stellar work going on here. Incredible result against Bilbao and very unfortunate not to follow it up against Vallecano. 

[warlock]

9 hours ago, Sizeman21 said:

Really enjoying your updates

36 minutes ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

Stellar work going on here

Thank you both .

[john1]

Good luck with Malaga

[Carambau]

Marching on! Promotion should be in the bag already! Looking forward to your future transfers  

[warlock]

Malaga, February 2024

After dropping our first points of the season in January, and suffering our first defeat - albeit against L1 opposition in the cup - I was disappointed that we again snatched a draw from the jaws of victory in February:

First choice AMR Juan Hernandez would miss most of the month with a thigh injury and we certainly missed his creativity and scoring ability. His backup, Hatam Abaida is a good prospect and has done well of the bench so far this season, but when AML Villodres also picked up an injury we were left with few options on either side of the attack.

Against Baleares we were forced to play Abaida on the left and Zuniga - a natural striker - on the right. And while it worked to a point - both getting on the scoresheet, with Zuniga's first goal of the season in 15 appearances - we were never really comfortable:

We looked in control for the first 20 minutes, jumping out to a 2-0 lead, but the visitors upped their game and we couldn't find a way to cope. It was no surprise when we went in all-square at half-time. Early in the second half we restored a narrow lead when LB Dani Sanchez bagged another penalty for us, but when Baleares grabbed a late equaliser we could have no complaints. Both teams arguably overperformed their xG but it was hard to deny that a draw was a fair result.

We managed to secure maximum points from the rest of our games this month, but conceding 5 goals in 4 games is never going to make happy reading. The bright spot was a goal for Fernandez in our final game - our star striker had looked distinctly out of sorts in his last 4 appearances and we have to hope he gets back to the stellar performances that marked the first half of his season.

In better news, and as a measure of how well we're doing overall, we have already broken a number of league records with a little more than half the season gone - most wins in a row (20 to mid January), longest unbeaten streak (26 to date), and most goals scored (82 so far).

Overall, we're a long way from a slump but the last two months have seen us record our poorest form of the season, and I'm keen to ensure we maintain higher standards to the end of the campaign. Complacency and half-arsed attitudes will not be tolerated.

[Stuniverse]

Strong start to your first season at Malaga, @warlock.

[roganp]

Probably a little bit of complacency kicking in from the squad as you've been so dominant, but still you're ticking along nicely with the wins. Good stuff!

[warlock]

Malaga, March 2024

With 7 games to go, we've clinched the title! We were odds-on favourites to do so, right from the start of the season, but it's a relief to get it done:

It would probably be something of an exaggeration to suggest we suffered a bit of a wobble in January and February, but compared to the rest of the season our form definitely dipped. But the squad knuckled down and produced some excellent performances in March:

Man of the month was undoubtedly Roberto Fernandez, who not only scored 5 times this month but also claimed a new Malaga record for goals scored in a season by taking his tally to 30 so far:

Our aim for the remainder of the season is to maintain our excellent form and - hopefully - to claim an invincible season but, inevitably, thoughts now turn to life in L2. If there's a downside to securing the title this early it is that I failed in my aim to spend the £1.5m transfer kitty at my disposal. As soon as promotion was certain the board announced the budgets for next season and declined to increase the transfer budget although, to be fair, they have boosted the wage budget by an extra £30k per week. I'm generally happy with the First 11 a couple of players are on expiring contracts and will need replacing. We also need better backups throughout the squad and it will take some careful investment to make the most of the money available.

[john1]

Congrats on winning the league

[theBlackPrince]

Walked the title, Malaga back on the right way up the Leagues!!

[warlock]

2 hours ago, theBlackPrince said:

Walked the title

Yeah, all the pre-season predictions said we would. And we did!

We'll see just how good we are in L2. Or not 

[warlock]

Malaga, end of season 2024

Well... having won the title at the end of March, it turns out we had to win it again in June. Having played through to what I thought was the end of the season I had an unexpected in-box message saying we had to play a title decider against Lugo, who won the other Primera Federacion division.

April/May

With the 'title' decided so early I was concerned that the players would switch off and cruise to the end of the season, even though we had a chance of an invincible season. In the event, I needn't have worried:

Although we had a couple of narrow results - the 4-3 against Recreativo Granada and away at San Fernando were closer than I'd have liked - the players remained professional and committed and we saw out a remarkable season: played 38, won 36, drawn 2, lost 0.

Just as we were celebrating and looking forward to a summer on the beach, that unwelcome email arrived. Looking at Lugo's performance they had won 24 but lost 5 so, at first sight, they weren't on our level. And in the opening game of the two-leg decider, that looked to be a fair assessment. But after twice leading, we were eventually pegged back and finished the tie on level terms:

For the return leg we were forced to play a weakened team, with AML Hernandez out injured, and first-choice CB-R Monte missing on international duty (I was also rather stunned to learn that for these title-deciding games we were restricted to a 5-man subs bench rather than the 12-man bench of the rest of the season). After the first leg I had learned not to underestimate Lugo but I was still taken aback when they had the barefaced cheek to take a lead after just 5 minutes:

We did well to recover and moved ahead on the scoreboard just after the break, but were pegged back on the hour mark. CM Man Molina appeared to have secured the win in the 74th minute with a 25-yard drive into the bottom corner but there was plenty of drama remaining. Having made all 3 subs, we lost star striker Roberto Fernandez to a knee injury, forcing us to play out the match with 10 men. That injury also saw 6 minutes of time added on and Lugo looked to have scored a heart-breaking equaliser in the 5th minute of added time. To the relief of the home fans, the strike was ruled out for offside and, nerves duly shredded, we survived to take the victory.

So, at last, we can turn our thoughts to the transfer window. With two loans ending at CB and RB, those were our two most pressing requirements, but other business will be required. Backup striker Dioni had done a good job covering at AML but didn't look like making the step up to L2 and I was wondering how to ease him out without upsetting the squad; happily, he decided to retire at the end of the season but will need replacing. And second-choice LB Victor Garcia had shown occasional flashes of ability but often went missing and was consistently one of our worst performers in training. I'd had to warn him of this several times during the season and in our most recent chat he'd accused me of unfair treatment. So he is now transfer listed and will also have to be replaced.

Coming next time, building for life in L2...

[Dong21]

6 hours ago, warlock said:

That injury also saw 6 minutes of time added on and Lugo looked to have scored a heart-breaking equaliser in the 5th minute of added time. To the relief of the home fans, the strike was ruled out for offside and, nerves duly shredded, we survived to take the victory.

The rollercoaster of emotions that is this game! Congrats on your promotion.

Looking forward to seeing who you add to your squad for the campaign in L2.

[Jogo Bonito]

Congratulations on the promotion. That was a scare after you thought it was already done & dusted, but class came through to save the day 

[warlock]

34 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Congratulations on the promotion

Howdy, stranger . Good to see you stop by.

[Jogo Bonito]

22 hours ago, warlock said:

Howdy, stranger . Good to see you stop by.

I thought it was about time I checked up on you 

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

about time I checked up on you 

I always welcome adult supervision .

[warlock]

Malaga, July 2024

A bit of an odd update, this one, because there isn't a lot to talk about. It has been a long, slow and difficult transfer window and it still has weeks to run.

I managed to get the two most urgent bits of recruitment done before the end of last season - with loans ending for our backup RB and backup CB replacements were essential:

Pelayo is a graduate of Barcelona's youth academy. While he isn't good enough for them I'm sure he can do a good job for us. I was looking for a left-footer but he's comfortable on both sides and, since his contract was expiring, we snapped him up on a free deal.

Nunez is much more the finished article. Originally scouted as a backup at RB, he is clearly an upgrade on what we had and instantly becomes first choice for the position. He was also on an expiring contract, so we bagged him for free from Amorebieta.

Unfortunately, that's where the rebuild ground to a halt. I attempted to sign another two players but was stymied when the board wouldn't allow me to offer more than £400-500 a week in wages, despite the fact we had more than £20,000 available. It was only when the season ticked over that the reason became obvious:

We're subject to a salary cap, and with a bunch of promotion wage increases, and returning loans, we were theoretically at risk of exceeding it. Unfortunately, the consequence has been that many of my targets have been signed by other clubs in the meantime. In an ideal situation, I'd be looking to sign a new LB, upgrade at DM, a backup at AML or AMR, and a striker to push Fernandez (who is attracting a lot of transfer interest).

Just to rub salt into the wounds, there's another gotcha in the registration requirements - only players of 17 or younger do not have to be registered, but anyone registered for the first team is not allowed to play for the B team or u19s. We have two or three youngsters (18 and 19) who could be brought up to the first team squad but I'd want to make them available for the u19s as well. Can't do that (and if I do promote them, they have to be earning a minimum of £1,200 a week).

And to throw another complication into the mix, the registration screen shows the current salary spend at £70k, but the club's accounting shows a committed spend of £93k including bonuses. So it isn't clear whether I have £26k or £3k available. I guess I'll find out when I next try to sign someone 

 

[Jogo Bonito]

Tough window there mate. There are some other countries that I think have a similar issue with the young players being prevented from playing in other teams of the club. I cannot really see how that helps their development. That's quite a big variance on committed wages, given that you are in July it doesn't seem likely that it is allocated for returning loan players, so not sure on that. Assume it's not relating to players you have/had lined up to join. So you have 21 registered and/or available players now?

[warlock]

44 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

So you have 21 registered and/or available players now?

Yes, although that includes a transfer-listed LB and we don't have a backup AML - those are the two positions that need sorting.

As for the finances, the only explanation I can think of is various bonuses - Fernandez, for example, has a £800 goal bonus, while GK Herrero has a £875 clean sheet bonus. I guess appearance fees also rack up.

All part of the challenge!

[Jogo Bonito]

Those sort of things never used to count against committed spending, but possibly it might be the case on FM24.

I have every confidence in you to meet this challenge and will be watching 

[warlock]

Transfer window, part 2

The financial complications of the last post eventually resolved themselves - it turns out the registration salary cap is counted completely differently to the board's wage allowance, and we were able to complete the 25-man squad without coming close to the £96k cap. We did miss out on some targets but I'm happy enough with the business done.

As mentioned last time, the most urgent needs were a backup AML, and a new LB to replace the transfer-listed Victor Garcia. The latter left for peanuts but did free up his £2,5k wages. To replace him I brought back a Malaga old boy in the form of Cristo Romero:

He spent last year on the bench at Portuguese outfit Vitoria Guimaraes and was happy to come home on a season-long loan. He's quick and although his mentals could do with improvement, he has the crossing, dribbling and other technical ability I want from our more progressive wingback.

A backup for AML Kevin Villodres was hard to find but eventually we found someone I'm happy with:

Joining us from Betis Deportivo for just £70k, Yassin has decent all-round ability and has already had an impact with a goal and 2 assists in his first 3 starts.

Having said I'd like an upgrade on our backup DM, I was impressed with our current player's form in pre-season but unimpressed by the lack of application from CM Manu Molina. He had been one of our better players in L3 but, at 32, his physicals have declined rapidly and he's doing poorly in training. I decided an upgrade here was a better investment, especially as we found a good free transfer option:

Although a natural AMC, he's equally comfortable playing the attacking mezzala role we're now using and, while his stamina and fitness could be better, he brings bags of creativity and excellent set-piece ability to the team.

But our greatest business of the summer was the transfer that didn't happen. Star striker Fernandez was the subject of repeated bids and I was eventually forced to agree that we would sell him if a bid of more than £1.8m arrived. Real Betis then came in with a deal that was guaranteed to hit £2.2m and I reluctantly agreed the sale. Then, after two weeks' behind-the-scenes negotiation, he turned them down!! Cue much rejoicing at La Rosaleda.

Early form

We started our L2 campaign amid much uncertainty, compounded by semi-serious injuries to Villodres, Romero and RB Gabilondo that kept them out for 4 weeks each. But, having been invincible in L3, could we keep it up?

No, we couldn't.

Our opening fixture saw us travel to Elche where we produced the most lacklustre performance of my time here:

We never threatened, couldn't even win a corner, and I feared the worst for the season.

I don't know if it was the injuries, or first-day nerves, but happily we recovered strongly and put in three good performances to claim our first 3 victories, with Fernandez yet again proving his importance to this team. In our last game of the month a one-goal lead at half-time meant we were (very) briefly top of the division, but we simply didn't turn up after the interval and allowed Deportivo to dominate the second half.

As we go into September, there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful. We are required only to avoid relegation but currently sit in the playoff spots, just one win behind the league leaders. We have what looks like a decent squad for this level, and plenty of cash available if January transfers are necessary. A top-half finish would do me fine, and maybe we can do better...

[warlock]

September, 2024

Let's talk tactical tinkering...

You might remember that, despite our invincible season, we were very leaky in defence in L3. I tried a number of tweaks with the aim of making us more solid without blunting our attack. And nothing really worked. Looking at our first five games this season, we put up a record of 3-1-1 - not bad for a newly-promoted side. But I saw the same issues and conceding 5 goals in our opening 5 fixtures did not seem like a sustainable basis for our post-promotion prospects. So I decided on something a little more radical: we inverted our midfield triangle, from this:

To this:

Simple in theory - 2 DMs would give us a bit more defensive stability and create a box shape with the two CBs. The question was, would it compromise our attack?

No, it didn't. Another 5 games but this month we recorded 5 wins, 3 clean sheets and conceded just 2 goals. Of course, it wasn't just about the tactical shift - the contribution of new arrivals Yassin Fekir and Chema Nunez have also been important, as has the emergence of Haitam Abaida as our first-choice AMR, edging ahead of Juan Hernandez who had been one of our most important players in season 1.

That run of results in September pushed us to a place I did not foresee at any time this season:

Star man Fernandez has taken up his usual position as our leading scorer (and second overall in the league), while another new boy, RB Alvaro Nunez has 5 assists in 8 starts, with Fekir setting up another 4.

We're also looking good financially:

So the club is on an upward trajectory; long my it continue!

[Jogo Bonito]

Fantastic progress there, very pleased to see the defensive improvements especially.

My limited game time on this version has not been so much fun - not the results particularly, but the sheer volume of goals. You've shown that it can be done in a more structured manner, which gives small hope for the future.

You seem to have made some smart signings, and I hope that you can keep this run of form going!