[FM24] Expedition Andes

[SixPointer]

5 hours ago, warlock said:

Sounds like a great save... plenty of success but still work to do to keep the interest alive 

Definitely, bit of strange update the last one but trying to round off a season took me months to complete is strange.

My plan is to do a sizeable tactical piece and squad building which will outline the goals at Uni de Chile.  

[SixPointer]

Often when I discuss my tactics I'm talking about attacking patterns, oberloads, 1v1's rotations and passing shapes. I suppose when trying to implement a positional playing style, these are the things that are the most interesting. This past season there has of course been huge positives in this area, but something that Coloccini has been implementing has been eye-catching and at times more effective, his defensive planning.

The last line of defence is of course the goalkeeper, Los Azules recruited well in the summer to replace Chilean number one Campos with the young upcoming Yerko Ovalle. He had 15 clean sheets and only conceded 18, quite the first season. His excellent jumping reach, aerial reach, commanding of area, determination and the fact he is 6ft5 makes cross balls a real strong point. Another side story is he can take a penalty having scored his first one at the end of last season, something Coloccini has been known to do before.

Coloccini has been quoted as saying he believes that the only way to succeed defensively is to have everyone collectively working together with the same principles, this started with an aggressive pressing striker leading from the front. A well executed high press will bring turnover in dangerous areas, this is not rocket science but a badly executed one will cause so much damage.

The Argentine has its defensive line sitting the highest in all the league, and they rank second for possession won, which is impressive considering they rank joint top in the league for average possession. Interceptions are slightly above average which could be an area to work on, as with a good high press they should force poor passes or a lack of options and clear passing lanes. Thus said La U allow the least final third passes against, but more interestingly they rank 13th for OPPDA, so while the press is aggressive they do allow the defenders to have the ball.

The first example we have here is the Clásico Universitario derbies, up against the pacey Carlos Escobar, who's been in form. The early stages of more focus on defending properly, the focus was to drop off more and invite crosses, try to nullify the pace in behind. This was the case in both games and twice they failed to register a shot on targets, with Escobar ranking 6.3 and 6.5. This seemed to be the turning point for Los Azules defensive structures.

The Chilean Superclásico's were played three times this season with the extra cup tie. In the first league game up against the league top scorer Ethan Magnasco who also has pace to burn, the system was used again. Here in the overview can now see the plan has been further tweaked to trap outside as well as invite crosses and standing off. The game finished 0-0, but the fact the home side were reduced to 2 shots on target and 0.30 XG and a 6.3 from the striker meant that Coloccini's game plan was vindicated.

He would take it a step further in the second league game of the season, destroying the away side 6-2 in the process.  Lowering the defensive line, dropping off more to limit space in behind. Then forcing play wide by setting pressing traps, then inviting crosses to a aerially superior defence and now the wingers would be shown onto the flank side foot, full backs marked to ensure the play was forced centrally to begin with so that the CM's could be pressed again aiding the plan to force the opponent wide proved to be instrumental in stopping the pacey strikers. now of course Colo-Colo scored twice but from an XG of 0.40 and one goal being when the game was dead and buried.

The other side of the coin, is against tall strikers who like to win crosses in the box, is to of course step up, trap inside and stop crosses and force play inside unfortunately i never captured any screenshots for example of this but im sure ill be able to cover it in detail at some point.

Fluminense

There is no show without punch and I can't do a small tactical update without sharing some more detail of Coloccini's excellent ability to spot weakness in an opponent's systems and exploit it with fantastics positional plays and attacking flair.

The Brazilian side had been on a poor run of form leading into the first leg and a solid 1-0 win put Los Azules in the driving seat, it also allowed them to size up their opponent. They opted to stick with their 4-4-2 system which was heavily reliant on the legendary winger Neymar on the left, at 36 he lacks pace these days but as you would expect he still has a trick or two up his sleeve.

To combat the 4-4-2 and the flamboyant Neymar, Hernandez would shift out to RWB from RCB to man mark Neymar and it was evident that Coloccini told his team to force play down the right side and make Neymar defend. He also switched to a halfback to make a 3v2 in the back line, but the masterstroke was inverting his LWB, Ryena. This allowed him to overload the midfield two, this also forced Fluminese to attack down their right rather than left keeping the ball away from Neymar, this stopped much of their link up play.

The opening goal came from some wonderful positional play, the right hand side overload has drawn the home team over, the IWB Reyna has moved inside and is now forcing confusion between the CM & CB of who will pick him up. Diaz then drops off the front to take the ball on the half turn. 

He slips the ball into Reyna who then threads in through for Ordenes who's been left 1v1 the Chilean wonderkid slots it home and leaves the Brazilian side a mountain to climb.

The second goal is almost a carbon copy on Ordenes part, breaking in behind the full back again to link onto Sierra's perfectly weighted through ball. 

The build up play is similar in the sense that Reyna comes centrally and links play with Diaz, before Sierra unleashes the killer ball. Notice how Loyola has dropped in to make the back three while Reyna makes the double pivot when the attacking phase is formed, this draws the opponent narrow and allows the wide men to get 1v1.

[Lestri]

54 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

To combat the 4-4-2 and the flamboyant Neymar, Hernandez would shift out to RWB from RCB to man mark Neymar and it was evident that Coloccini told his team to force play down the right side and make Neymar defend. He also switched to a halfback to make a 3v2 in the back line, but the masterstroke was inverting his LWB, Ryena. This allowed him to overload the midfield two, this also forced Fluminese to attack down their right rather than left keeping the ball away from Neymar, this stopped much of their link up play.

The opening goal came from some wonderful positional play, the right hand side overload has drawn the home team over, the IWB Reyna has moved inside and is now forcing confusion between the CM & CB of who will pick him up. Diaz then drops off the front to take the ball on the half turn. 

He slips the ball into Reyna who then threads in through for Ordenes who's been left 1v1 the Chilean wonderkid slots it home and leaves the Brazilian side a mountain to climb.

*Chefs kiss* - love the analysis here. I must confess, the last few years I have been a stickler for doing my tactic and not tinkering based on the opposition, but this type of analysis does make me think about a different style of playing it!

[Hootieleece]

Great write up and beautiful job of "Tinkering" but not really changing the formation or the tactic. I wish I was astute enough to do the same.

[SixPointer]

15 hours ago, Lestri said:

*Chefs kiss* - love the analysis here. I must confess, the last few years I have been a stickler for doing my tactic and not tinkering based on the opposition, but this type of analysis does make me think about a different style of playing it!

I have three systems with the same overall philosophy and principles. But with slight tweaks. They can mostly cover all scenarios, they focus either down left, middle or right. And the roles are built to do so. But on occasions when needed like changing to half back to counter act the 2 man front line i definitely tweak. I would say it’s mostly a role or duty, or personnel that gets changed. In this instances all three. The half back for the role, the IWB onto attack to create the central overload higher up. And Hernandez shifting to the RWB to be the more defensive option on Neymar. The other option could have been to use a IFB(D) and leave the half back as the DM. But that would take the RB away from neymar as he was making up the back three to overload the front two.

Small tweaks, but you need to know the opponents game plan and study them properly and it doesn’t always work but it certainly makes the game more enjoyable as  your changing something and looking at the match properly to see it working for me that’s the most enjoyable part. Especially when it works like here.

2 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Great write up and beautiful job of "Tinkering" but not really changing the formation or the tactic. I wish I was astute enough to do the same.

Yeah that’s the key, not re doing everything. If you’re looking for a good place to start i apply real life ideas

Alex Ferguson’s use of Park Ji Sung man marking players is one I like, think he done it to pirlo. A good example of using a particular player with a skill set for such a task.

 

 

 

[SixPointer]

[warlock]

All the best managers do invincible seasons . Congratulations 

[SixPointer]

On 23/05/2024 at 01:35, warlock said:

All the best managers do invincible seasons . Congratulations 

Thanks man. Working on rounding up the season. The most annoying year of FM cause am loving the save but struggling for time to write and play. 

[SixPointer]

2029 Season Review

The League was won in remarkable style, finishing the season unbeaten. The first time it's been done since 1934, When Audax Italiano achieved the same feat.

The current run is 40 games unbeaten in the league, Coloccini has turned them into a winning machine, especially at home with them at present being unbeaten in three seasons in the league at the Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos.

Several records were broken by the mighty La U. The goal scoring record for the league was broken, Colo Colo’s 103 goals was equaled in the Superclasico after beating them 4-0, great bragging rights, the record now sits at 108 goals with La U. They also now hold the record for the biggest winning streak with 17 games on the spin, as well as the best point total with 84.

The Copa Chile was won, the Supercopa was won to make it back to back domestic trebles for Los Azules and the curly haired Argentinain. The Supercopa was Coloccini's 100th game in charge and the disposed of Union Espanola 2-0 to bring home the traditional curtain raiser.

The Copa Chile was an unusual run of games, avoiding the big derbies but having a close call in the semi's relying on penalties. A passing masterclass (Pass map) in the final however followed and led to a 5-1 win and the rest is history.

La Chile were once again knocked out at the quarter final stage of the Copa Libertadores, leaving many people questioning if Coloccini has taken them as far as he can on the continental front. 

They eased through the group stage winning 5 and losing 1. Before taking out Corinthians, who rumour has it has offered La U’s manager a job previously. Santos ultimately brought their campaign to an end, Coloccini won't be happy with the 0-0 at home, after losing 3-2 away, with their record at home he would have really fancied his chances turning it around.

Leading the way in some many metrics is always a good sign you're doing things right, when you couple it with a lethal attack and a solid defence it's usually the perfect combination and that's exactly what Coloccini and his men got.

Something that has become synonymous with the argentinean is the amount of goals they scored from set plays, in particular corners and when you consider they scored 25 in the league alone and 9 indirect free kicks it's easy to see why. Yerko Ovalle, our goal scoring goalkeeper, netted 9 penalties as well, his 11 rating for penalty taking is making for a typical south american story, its something again that Coloccini has done previously provided he has the correct player.

The corners have really become a real get out of jail clause at times, they really can be the difference between a win, loss or draw. Big Vic has been an assassin in that sense, scoring a hat trick of headers from corners in a game where we struggled to break the opposition down, he finished the season with 13 goals and if my memory serves me right they all came from set plays, the attention to detail which his manager goes to really paying of for the big man.

Wonderkid Simon Ordenes is voted the best Chilean player in the world this year, after a sensational season, which also saw him named the league's player of the year and young player of the year. He has yet to be capped for his country which I am actually starting to think is a bug. Most of his teammates are making the squads regularly.

It wasn't all plain sailing for Coloccini's protege, his head was turned for a period of time from some of the biggest clubs in Europe and he asked to leave and put in a transfer request after a chat. He had an extension clause which had been activated and deterred some interest he then spoke with his manager who he holds in the highest regard after she gave him his chance at 16, and has led him to the top of his game he decided to sign a bumper contract.

His progress under the man who unleashed him is sensational but it was also noted that he dipped around the time that teams were unsettling him, after he signed his new deal he skyrocketed again and celebrated the new deal with a hatrick in the very next game. 

He has played a massive part in elevating the club's status in world football on the academy front, along with his manager. Now recognised as the 10th best academy in the world, Coloccini has cherry picked talent from other Chilean clubs but with Oredens, Arancibia, Rios, Ulloa, Espejo and Febrero all in his first team squad he's showed his ability to develop players, haven given them all their debuts since his arrival at the club. He also has the next generation lined up.

Unfortunately Ordenes was the only one to remove his request and realise the grass wasnt greener on the other side. There was a huge amount of interest in players, it was reported that several players had clauses activated to extend their deal by a year which did stave off a lot of interest.

Reyna requested a transfer and left for 3.3 million, a huge 3 million profit and La Chile got the last laugh as they dumped Corinthians out of the Copa Libertadores just before he signed the deal, his loss. Mehssatou came for free and left when his 1.8 million release clause was activated, a good chunk of profit again, for a player who never nailed down his spot. Valencia and Medina were sold at the start of the season as they were surplus to requirements and turning 28 was the last time to get good fees for them.

The biggest saga was Breiner Sierra who had been nothing short of outstanding since his arrival, he was always destined for bigger things, he had accepted a new deal with a bigger release clause but again it was activated and he's never going to turn down 61,000 a week is he. Leaving a huge hole in the midfield.

Uribe had been signed beforehand but was more to cover all aspects in midfield, the young chilean is very much a jack of all trades making him the ideal player for rotating in and out for players out of form or for a specific role against certain opponents. He finished the season with 8 goals and 4 assists, not bad considering he was mainly used to disrupt other teams playmakers. 

Aceval was also on board before Reyna departed and the young Chilean much like Uribe had a decent first season, 6 assists and 2 goals. He had to learn to invert which he is still struggling with when his manager deploys him in that role. More suited to bombing down the left. Tagaliafico was brought in to mentor him.

Summary

To think La U lost a couple key players and still managed to have an unbeaten league season and bring home a domestic treble is testament to what Coloccini is doing in the chilean capital.

People are questioning if he needs a new challenge? Has he taken them to the highest point he can? With a young squad and an eye for supplying the square with talent from the country and continent and a blossoming youth academy, people inside the club think he is just getting started……. The man himself is coy and says you'll have to wait and just see.

[Lestri]

2 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Wonderkid Simon Ordenes is voted the best Chilean player in the world this year, after a sensational season, which also saw him named the league's player of the year and young player of the year. He has yet to be capped for his country which I am actually starting to think is a bug. Most of his teammates are making the squads regularly.

The type of player that if I was an European club I'd be thinking that release clause is an absolute bargain! What a player. 

[SixPointer]

1 hour ago, Lestri said:

The type of player that if I was an European club I'd be thinking that release clause is an absolute bargain! What a player. 

His original release clause was 3 million as well! Delighted to get him up to 17 million! 

[SixPointer]

A defeat comes in the league after 53 games smashing the previous record of 44 games by Palestino which has stood since 1978.

Qualified top of the group in the Copa Libertadores, and have been drawn against Fluminense...... again.

The save is at a bit of a crossroads now Coloccini is starting to feel the need for a new challenge he's become tactically stagnant. His favored choice would be to return to his homeland, that would lead him to either Atletico Tucuman or Godoy Cruz in the top flight if he is to stay true to his Andes journey. Although that doesn't leave much option to capture other clubs on the continent as it would be a backwards step, unless he failed at either.

The biggest job in Colombia has just become available. Atlético Nacional hold the record for most top flight titles (19) They have won 2 Copa Libertadores (1989 & 2016). The issue is its a backward step? The clubs are considered to have the same reputation, both are through the group stages of the Copa Libertadores, both won their respective league titles last season. The wage budget is slightly bigger in Chile, but this offers a fresh challenge.

In Chile Colo-Colo and Universidad Católica arent mounting a serious challenge, I'm trying to approach this realistically as well. Does Coloccini want one more go at continental glory with La U? does he hold out for a place in his homeland? or does he take the punt and jump to the green of Medellin that of Atletico.

I'm open to some advice and suggestions
 

[BML]

Based on your description, and from my own saves on the continent, Chile > Columbia feels like too much of a sideways step for somebody with the success of Coloccini at this stage on his career.

Narratively I would only expect him to move to a job in Argentina (or maybe even a cheeky appointment in Brazil if the original premise is ignored) if he is staying on the continent.

[Michaelinho]

Really interesting save so far! Like the narrative for this save. 

In regards to the choice at hand it seems logical to go for the Medellin job. As this brings you one step closer to potentially ticking off a couple of the save objectives. On the other hand the suggestion of BML seems fair as well. A move to a bigger club/league is to be expected, based on the results. In the end it comes down to what you prefer. Focus on the save objectives and tick them off asap. Or work on a the story that has the potential to develop into something really interesting. 

[SixPointer]

7 hours ago, BML said:

Based on your description, and from my own saves on the continent, Chile > Columbia feels like too much of a sideways step for somebody with the success of Coloccini at this stage on his career.

Narratively I would only expect him to move to a job in Argentina (or maybe even a cheeky appointment in Brazil if the original premise is ignored) if he is staying on the continent.

The Columbian league is ranked third on the continent while the Chilean league is ranked 7th. So the league is definitely higher rated, the clubs are rated about the same is being issue.

I don’t have any interest in moving to Brazil, I can’t be bothered with the state championship setup. Argentina is definitely on the cards. I would like to keep it to the Andes story. I would make one exception. San Lorenzo as it was his boyhood team.

1 hour ago, Michaelinho said:

Really interesting save so far! Like the narrative for this save. 

In regards to the choice at hand it seems logical to go for the Medellin job. As this brings you one step closer to potentially ticking off a couple of the save objectives. On the other hand the suggestion of BML seems fair as well. A move to a bigger club/league is to be expected, based on the results. In the end it comes down to what you prefer. Focus on the save objectives and tick them off asap. Or work on a the story that has the potential to develop into something really interesting. 

I think a big issue is a probably to the jump to UNI De Chile to soon, it’s going to be hard to drop down and catch the rest of the Andes now. Plus I took on a big challenge knowing my work life balance 🤣. 
 

The way I see it is. I either gamble in Colombia on the bigger league, the clubs are about the same. The only reason would be for a fresh challenge.

Stay at La U, because the hard work is done and while colo-colo aren’t pushing me hard enough domestically I could have one more crack at the CL. Then hold out for Godoy Cruz or Atletico Tuca or San Lorenzo. 
 

The big issue is am so divided, if it’s Colombia the. It’s gonna be at least three seasons or so there. Then potentially Argentina. But is it a side step much like you suggest @BML

I’m going to sleep on it I think and see.

thanks to both of you for input and advice. Definitely helping the decision process. 

[SixPointer]

The Atletico job is not going to be applied for. It’s to much of a similar step, it doesn’t make for a good story line either.

Coloccini has decided to stay in chile. 
for now at least… Argentina now seems like the best option for a next move. Given the limited game time it makes for a better story. Capturing the smaller Andes leagues will come in his twilight perhaps.

Godoy Cruz aren’t on the best run of form so I’ll keep a close eye there. 
Atlético Tucumán have been high flying currently ranked 5th best in the country these would be the main two options. 

Mendoza are bottom of the league but would provide a big challenge but would be a step down as would San Martin in the second tier.