[FM24] Vigo - Rise of the Celts

[warlock]

Breaking news...

[Stuniverse]

5 minutes ago, warlock said:

Breaking news...

[SixPointer]

12 hours ago, warlock said:

Breaking news...

Phenomenal 

[warlock]

September 2027

I expected September to be a tough month as we began this season's Champions League journey and faced some of the best sides in LaLiga. But we continue to play at a very high level and emerged with a 100% record - although it wasn't all plain sailing.

We swept aside Atleti and Braga at home before travelling to Sociedad who, as they often do, proved to be a tougher nut to crack. Despite taking an early lead when youngster Telehovschi scored in the 12th minute, we found ourselves 1-2 down at the interval. In the second half we went wider and more considered and managed to find spaces in their defence. Three goals duly followed.

Celtic provided little opposition and received a spanking before league leaders Barcelona made the journey to the far north-west with their troublesome Brazilian Box system:

We took an early lead, they equalised; we regained the lead, they equalised again and then scored another just before halftime. On the hour I pulled off the ineffective Larsen and brought on Guiu to lead the line, and the switch paid immediate dividends as the youngster bagged two goals in the final 20-odd minutes to give us a deserved victory:

The visitors were reduced to hacking us down as they struggled to cope with our relentless counter-attacking. At the other end, GK Hedl had a shocker, conceding from all of Barca's three shots on target.

That result allowed us to overtake the Catalans at the top, although they've since played an extra game:

The Customary Tactical Tinkering

It's probably no surprise that as defending champions we're now facing a lot more defensive systems. And in pre-season and the opening league games, the 433 that was so dominant in the second half of last season was less effective. I've now settled on playing the 433 against 'better' sides and have brought back the old 4231dm system we played through the first half of last season when we need a bit more oomph in attack. It's a simple enough switch - the attacking CM moves up to shadow striker while the more conservative CM drops to DM. Everything else remains the same.

In other news... problematical CB Rafa Marin has realised that he's not as good as he thinks and no-one is whisking him away to riches and glory. A couple of days after the transfer window closed, he formally withdrew his transfer request and has since signed a new deal with a release clause that rose to £97m.

It's probably too early to judge but we might be seeing a change of the guard at striker. No.1 choice Larsen has just one goal from 5 starts; youngster Guiu has 4 from 4 starts and 2 sub appearances. Guiu also has an assist, something that's always been missing from Larsen's game. Something to keep an eye on.

And on the subject of goals, here's why I think we are such an unstoppable force right now:

We score goals from all positions. If the opposition manage to shut down the middle, we score from wide. If they close off the wide areas, we have deeper midfielders who can find the net. Even our fullbacks get in on the act (Bartesaghi has a goal contribution every time he's played this season).

Here's hoping we can keep it up.

[john1]

Impressive!

[Stuniverse]

2 hours ago, warlock said:

I expected September to be a tough month as we began this season's Champions League journey and faced some of the best sides in LaLiga. But we continue to play at a very high level and emerged with a 100% record - although it wasn't all plain sailing.

W\ay to go, @warlock !

[warlock]

November 2027

The run continues...

We're still looking very good in the league, seeing off a host of mid-table teams this month. The blip in the sequence came against lowly Levante; not for the first time in this save we showed we can beat the best but often struggle against lesser opposition. I'm convinced that when our unbeaten run does come to an end it will be against a team at the bottom of the table. We should be taking three points from Levante comfortably but in the event we needed a second-half penalty and a late, late equaliser to save our blushes.

The away trip to Juventus suggested that we still have a way to go before we're competing at the top level of European football. A draw was a creditable result, but having taken an early lead we should have been able to push on and take the victory.

November started with a very good win against Portuguese champions Benfica. Against Villareal we got off to the worst possible start as young CB Muniz diverted a shot past his 'keeper and for 20 minutes the visitors were leading without having a single shot on target. We did enough to take the lead on the stroke of halftime and then shut up shop after the interval.

As with Juventus, Spurs denied us another two Champions League points and in much the same manner. We took an early lead, looked to be in command until the final 10 minutes, and then the AI goes 'very attacking' and we can't defend well enough. No matter what I try - and I've tried everything from time-wasting, slowing the game down, switching players from attack to support and support to defend - we can't stop those late goals. The only solution seems to be to make sure we have a two- or three-goal lead going into the final phase, which makes the games where we take an early lead and then fail to build on it particularly frustrating.

Tactical nuances aside, our unbeaten run now stretches to 54 games and you'd think we might be well clear in the league. But Barca continue to snap at our heels and the pressure is constant - especially as our first league game of December is a visit from Real Madrid.

[warlock]

Barca's game in hand, I thought Betis might give them a game:

[Stuniverse]

12 minutes ago, warlock said:

Barca's game in hand, I thought Betis might give them a game:

Well Betis did score a goal 😂⚽️🤣

[warlock]

December 2027

A fantastic month, not just because of what we were able to do, but because of what Barcelona failed to do:

We opened the month with a long trip to Austria and returned with a valuable Champions League win. And followed that with a nervy win against Real Madrid:

The stats suggest a an easy win but it wasn't quite that clear-cut. AMR Gonzalez gave us the lead after 20 minutes, but Madrid fought back and went into the interval 2-1 up. Happily, Gonzalez struck again midway through the second half and we then turned up the heat and found the net twice in the final 10 minutes to give us that comfortable scoreline.

With the Spanish winter break giving us an easier month, we then made the trip to Bilbao to face an Athletic club in crisis - just 4 wins from 17 games and managerless having parted company with former Argentina national coach Lionel Scaloni. We took full advantage of their situation and returned home with a convincing victory.

But perhaps even better than our performances, Barcelona were suddenly struggling:

While we were beating Real Madrid, they limped to a draw against Athletic and, even better, they then succumbed to a humbling loss to Espanyol. Which leaves the LaLiga table looking good for Vigo:

We head into the winter break with a 6pt lead over Barca and - even allowing for their game in hand - a bigger margin over Real Madrid.

We're looking good in the Champions League, too:

We're assured of at least a place in the playoff round and should be able to go straight into the R16 stage, although we have two tough games to come against Inter Milan and Liverpool.

Ahead of the transfer window, I'm not sure what we can do. The coaches tell me that AMR Allende is no longer good enough, but he has 7 goals in 11(9) appearances, which makes him one of our most valuable players. Worse, the recruitment team have failed to identify anyone we can afford who looks better. I'm also aware that we're running with just two strikers in the squad but neither suffers many injuries and a third option seems like a luxury.

The biggest limitation on recruitment is wages. We have plenty of budget available but our highest earner is Strand Larsen on £76k a week. All of the targets who might improve us are already earning £150k and up, which isn't going to work. But we're unbeaten in LaLiiga, unbeaten in Europe - do we need to do anything? 

 

[Stuniverse]

6 hours ago, warlock said:

But perhaps even better than our performances, Barcelona were suddenly struggling:

6 hours ago, warlock said:

While we were beating Real Madrid, they limped to a draw against Athletic and, even better, they then succumbed to a humbling loss to Espanyol. Which leaves the LaLiga table looking good for Vigo:

6 hours ago, warlock said:

We head into the winter break with a 6pt lead over Barca and - even allowing for their game in hand - a bigger margin over Real Madrid.

We're looking good in the Champions League, too:

 

Fantastic stuff, @warlock 

[Carambau]

Espanyol of all teams!!! 

[Fantasista10]

Bit late to the party, catching up on this excellent thread after a little break from the FM world… and wow. Unbelievable achievement to go unbeaten mate 

I hate to see that Milan are also giving you grief as they are with me. Hopefully you can go one step better this season. 

Bartesaghi’s stats are very intriguing, great to see him grow into a top player! 

Looking forward to see if you can go invincible again! 

[warlock]

44 minutes ago, Fantasista10 said:

Bartesaghi’s stats are very intriguing, great to see him grow into a top player! 

He's great but, inevitably, the big clubs are circling. Now just into the January transfer window and while no offers have arrived, he's being watched by Liverpool, Man Utd, and PSG among others. It will be a big blow if we lose him, especially as we don't really need the money he'd bring in.

[warlock]

January 2028

A long, tough month to start the new year as we played 8 games in four competitions:

But first, transfer business... there was none. Media gossip about interest in our players came to nothing, no bids were received. And since no players left, we had no need - and no registration room - to bring in anyone else.

On the pitch, we continued our imperious unbeaten run in the league - four games played, four games won, 10 goals scored, two conceded. We came close to an upset in the Supercopa, narrowly losing to Barcelona, and avoided an upset in the Copa del Rey as we crushed Mercia on their own turf.

The Champions League was rather more interesting. A visit from Italian giants Inter had the potential to be a defeat but the visitors seemed only to have the ambition of not losing as they played virtually the whole match in a defensive stance. Fortunately, two goals in four minutes in the final quarter-hour gave us the win we deserved. Despite our excellent form, I fully expected us to return from Liverpool empty-handed but once again the team showed character and twice came from behind to secure a draw. We also had a good chance to win it in the final minutes as we found our DM Barranechea on the edge of the Liverpool box. He controlled it well, took a moment to steady himself, and smashed his shot against the post. Since we had already qualified for the Round of 16, I could afford to be philosophical about the miss.

I've lost track of where our unbeaten run stands but it's probably around 60 games without defeat now, and the loss to Barcelona in the Supercopa is our only defeat of the season in any competition. In Europe we're not quite as convincing, as evidenced by draws against Juventus, Spurs and Liverpool.

We continue to spread the goals around the squad - we've scored 64 goals in 21 league matches, and Strand Larsen is still our top scorer with 9. I have no idea how long we can keep it going, but we'll do our best.

[john1]

Wow what an month

[rich ruzzian]

Great month and always lovely if you can keep the squad together in january 

[warlock]

February 2028

February saw us lose the first game of the season we actually cared about. A defeat to Barcelona in the Supercopa was irrelevant to our hopes for the season, but defeat in the Copa del Rey was a different matter:

We ended January with a less-than-convincing 1-0 win over lowly Almeria and opened February with an even less convincing 1-0 win over L2 cup opponents Huesca. When we lost in the next round of the cup, against Athletic of Bilbao, it wasn't a complete shock. But it was a miserable performance against a team we'd never lost to before in the save.

We did better against Sevilla when we returned to LaLiga duties, but followed that good victory with another poor draw against Cadiz. The real positive from this spell was that second-placed Barcelona were also struggling, dropping four points in this mid-month set of fixtures.

Yet again, we showed bouncebackability with a good victory against Atleti before what could turn out to be a crucial title-decider against Barca. It wasn't our best performance of the season, but it might be the best result:

They had the best of the possession, created the most - and better - chances but the lads showed incredible spirit and fight to take the three points. We did take an unlikely lead through Larsen after 20 minutes, but Barca always looked dangerous and levelled the game before halftime. After the break Barca created a number of chances but squandered the opportunities until Pedri gave them the lead with less than 20 minutes to play. I'd have happily settled for a draw but at that point it looked like a certain defeat. But two substitutes changed the game. First Gonzalez, on for a tiring Allende, found himself free at the back post and swept home the equalizer.  Then, miraculously with the clock counting down the final seconds, RB Fresneda  picked up the ball on the right wing, drove into the box and fired past Ter Stegen to give us an unlikely victory.

We weren't great, but we were absolutely Sparta!

Real Madrid also took advantage of the result to move up into second place but we remain top of LaLiga... and unbeaten still:

Despite that, our form seems fragile - we're capable of beating the Top 8 sides but often struggle to win = or are forced to share points - against teams in the bottom half of the table, and that seems to be down to individual performances since the turn of the year. Only eight players of the first-team squad of 22 have average ratings above 7.0 for their last 5 appearances, and some are doing much worse - CB Rafa Marin, both AMLs Rego and Prestianni, and both AMRs Allende and Gonzalez are performing well below the required standard this year... and also below the standard they all set in the first half of the season. I'm hoping it's just a temporary loss of form because I'm struggling to identify any other cause.

Better news is that our first-choice fullbacks are performing at an extremely high level. RB Antoine Mendy leads the group for assists with 17 from 28 starts and, perhaps even better, LB Davide Bartesaghi has 14 assists and 9 goals from 25 starts. If only their team-mates were as consistent!

We've been drawn against Real Madrid in the Champions League Round of 16. Our recent record against the giants of Spanish football has been good but we'll need to be at our best to progress. Happily, we have an easier LaLiga schedule in March and I'm hopeful that we'll be able to consolidate our lead at the top.

[warlock]

March 2028

Another disappointment this month. We're out of the Champions League - despite holding Real Madrid to a draw in the away tie, we couldn't get it done at home:

It was a pretty close game but we conceded a penalty in the first half and we couldn't find an equaliser.

For the rest of the month it was business as usual in the league, although the home draw against a struggling Vallecano side was another disappointment:

Whether it was a Champions League hangover I don't know, but we were very poor, especially as they played the last 15 minutes with 10 men and we still couldn't break them down.

We were much better against Levante, especially as backup striker Guiu found the net for the first time since the end of the ice age, and we added another two victories to end the month, retaining our hold on top spot in the league:

Even if Madrid and Barcelona win their games in hand, we'll still hold a 6pt margin. We've also confirmed our spot in next season's Champions League:

Nothing to play for, then, except back-to-back LaLiga titles... and consecutive invincible seasons 

[Stuniverse]

7 hours ago, warlock said:

Another disappointment this month. We're out of the Champions League - despite holding Real Madrid to a draw in the away tie, we couldn't get it done at home:

No disgrace in losing to Real Madrid but still disappointing to go out at home after your recent good run against them.

7 hours ago, warlock said:

Nothing to play for, then, except back-to-back LaLiga titles... and consecutive invincible seasons 

Back-to-back titles is nothing to be sneezed at.

One invincible season, in a league where you play Barcelona and Real Madrid twice, is an outstanding achievement. To go invincible twice would be beyond awesome.

Good luck 🍀⚽️🤞

[Carambau]

Tough times in an otherwise wonderful season... this happened to me a lot - when i thought I was gonna dominate I mostly failed but THEN did exactly that in the season after. So... just wait for next season and everything is gonna be ok  

[warlock]

Anyone looking for a creative central midfielder, I can highly recommend this guy:

This from a recent game against Real Betis. Playing as a carrilero he absolutely bossed the game.

[warlock]

April 2028

A perfect month that saw us recapture some of the sparkling form that carried us to the top of the league back in the autumn. Not a hint of complacency, no end-of-season nerves - we were efficient and ruthless.

And we did it while missing some key players. After his opening goal against Villareal, AML Rego hobbled off with sprained ankle ligaments. Next game against Sociedad, backup AML Prestianni scored... and then hobbled off with a groin strain. Both would miss the next 3 or 4 games, which meant we had to reshuffle the players to cover but we took it all in our stride.

Meanwhile, Barcelona suffered defeat to Sevilla, dropping further behind, and Real Madrid had a disastrous month:

All of which meant that the final match of the month took on increased significance - if we lost it would prise open the door to our rivals but if we won...

Three games to go, then, and the possibility of a consecutive invincible season. Here's hoping the squad can remain focussed and see this through!

[AlfieLucas]

Congrats on another title win. And one invincible season is a huge feat, two in a row? Wowsers.

[warlock]

End of season, 2028

Three games remained in the LaLiga season, and they weren't the easiest. First up, Athletic of Bilbao - who had knocked us out of the Copa del Rey a few weeks earlier. We wanted revenge, and we got it:

We restricted them to just 3 shots on goal, none on target, in another ruthless performance.

Next came Espanyol, another tricky fixture against a team who were firmly in the European qualification slots and with ambitions to finish as high possible:

At halftime it looked as though we'd done enough to secure the victory, but the home side fought to the end and scored a deserved equaliser 5 minutes from the end.

Finally, we faced lowly Getafe and were grateful we had home advantage for this one. We often seem to struggle against lesser opposition and this match was no exception:

I've noted before that we've played many games where we score early and then fail to push on, and here was another. No matter how dominant you are, there's always the possibility of a late corner or free kick and suddenly you go from a comfortable lead to hanging on for the draw - or worse. Thankfully, this time we were never really under threat and claimed the win with no late drama.

Is FM24 too easy? Maybe, but I can honestly say that it never felt easy and it did require some storming late comebacks to remain undefeated. Perhaps the most remarkable thing is that we have a good squad but not a great one, with few genuine stars. Even at the end of the season we have no-one in the media dream 11, which is made up exclusively of Barcelona and Real Madrid players. Instead, we're all about team performance and we have few weak links.

I was inclined to end the save at this point but now I'm thinking that one more season and another crack at the Champions League might be in order. But it will depend, I think, on the transfer window and whether I can keep the squad together. The board have given me a transfer budget of £40m, which - in terms of players who could improve us - isn't much. We'll see what happens.

[Stuniverse]

8 hours ago, warlock said:

Is FM24 too easy? Maybe, but I can honestly say that it never felt easy and it did require some storming late comebacks to remain undefeated. Perhaps the most remarkable thing is that we have a good squad but not a great one, with few genuine stars. Even at the end of the season we have no-one in the media dream 11, which is made up exclusively of Barcelona and Real Madrid players. Instead, we're all about team performance and we have few weak links.

 Congratulations on another unbeaten season.

Is FM24 too easy? I'm not sure. I haven't gone unbeaten on my save ever (now in my 11th season) but I have won the top league in Norway (where I'm managing) for the last three seasons and am currently at the top again a third of the way through the current season but, like you, it doesn't feel easy and the title has always been decided on the last day.

8 hours ago, warlock said:

I was inclined to end the save at this point but now I'm thinking that one more season and another crack at the Champions League might be in order. But it will depend, I think, on the transfer window and whether I can keep the squad together. The board have given me a transfer budget of £40m, which - in terms of players who could improve us - isn't much. We'll see what happens.

I hope you give it another season but only if you're feeling it. 

Edited May 20 by Stuniverse

[rich ruzzian]

One more try for the Champions League! Amazing save to follow. 

[g1nh0]

My biggest gripe with this year's game, along with the overpowered roles and imbalance of tactics has been how easy the game is this year. It was a real step back from FM 23 imo.

Consequently it makes it harder to get really immersed into a save, and when you make an invincible or a UCL triumph with an inferior team, you actually want that feeling to have been a rarity and earnt with great difficulty. I haven't had that satisfaction at all in this year's game.

The game was definitely designed to be noob friendly this year, to attract younger and new players to the game and boost sales for next year's game with better graphics, as SI know that the experienced players don't have any other choice with a football management sim.

Nevertheless, two Invincibles in a row in Spain vs them two giants is a magnificent feat - but you can't consider your time at Vigo truly complete until you nail that Champions League!

Good Luck and make it happen  

[warlock]

I'm afraid it's time to call this one done. Was away for a couple of days earlier in the week and played a bit when I got back. But the engagement has gone, just going through the motions.

I can't summon much enthusiasm for another save right now... might be time to take a break from FM for a week or two.

Thanks to everyone who read, upvoted and commented - much appreciated 

[Carambau]

What a ride! Thank you for the Entertainment  

I can feel you, regarding FM saves atm...

Edited Thursday at 15:28 by Carambau

[SixPointer]

On 23/05/2024 at 16:21, warlock said:

I'm afraid it's time to call this one done. Was away for a couple of days earlier in the week and played a bit when I got back. But the engagement has gone, just going through the motions.

I can't summon much enthusiasm for another save right now... might be time to take a break from FM for a week or two.

Thanks to everyone who read, upvoted and commented - much appreciated 

I think once you start going unbeaten at that level it’s hard to stay focused. Winning at ease for me takes away the tactical battle which is what am finding in Chile just now. But I have the ability to change the angle of the save. So perhaps a journeyman type save would be a good idea for you mate. Considering you like the one clubs saves (much like I did before my Happel challenges) 

[warlock]

1 hour ago, SixPointer said:

perhaps a journeyman type save would be a good idea

Yes, I'll have to give that some thought 

[AlfieLucas]

Great save you've had, shame you're not carrying on. Would've loved to see Celta dominate Europe as well.

[Captain_T]

Am 30.4.2024 um 15:09 schrieb warlock:

February 2027

Transfer window

January turned out to be quiet with little of the reported interest in our players amounting to much. No-one bid for Larsen, which was a relief, and the only minor issue was a Liverpool bid for CB Rafa Marin - he wanted to go, I said I'd agree when someone met his £66m release clause, he said that was fair... then immediately put in a transfer request. However, he seems happy enough to wait for the big money bid.

I did have a number of backup players I felt had reached the end of the road with Vigo and we managed to move most of them on. Disappointing striker Joveljic joined Al-Wehda for £7.5m, a small profit; AML Luca De La Torre had been declining rapidly and was sold to Leicester for £7.5m; and AMR Miguel Rodriguez was loaned to Vitoria de Guimaraes who are paying £130k a month with an optional £3.8m future fee. Finally, we were forced to sell CB Taylor Harwood-Bellis after he complained about a lack of game time and couldn't be persuaded. He went to Lazio in a deal that should reach £10.75m.

With the existing squad depth we had adequate replacements for most of these, but I brought in reinforcements for two positions. At CB I found what I think will be a major upgrade on THB:

Mane joins for £11.25m from Dortmund. He needs some development but at 21 he has plenty of time to improve. He's already made 5 first-team appearances and proved himself to be a capable backup to Marin.

I was uncertain about a replacement for Rodriguez at AMR but when the scouting team flagged a player who had done extremely well in my Southampton save, I decided to renew our acquaintance:

He's not quite the same player in this universe but he's not at all bad, and he's just the kind of small, tricky, elbows-out winger I like - fast, agile, good with the ball and a decent finisher. For just £3.1m from Uruguayan outfit Penarol he was also an absolute bargain, as shown by the immediate uptick in his value. He already has two goals and 6 assists in his short time here.

Results

The defeat to Barca in the Supercopa was irrelevant, although we did well to push them all the way. But a week later we went one better and beat them in the league. An honourable draw at Old Trafford in the Champions League was another good result but we finished the month with the players pretty much dead on their feet... a narrow defeat to Leverkusen meant we would have to play the Champions League knockout round, and a disappointing draw at lowly Osasuna was a major disappointment after we grabbed the lead after just 3 minutes.

If we were struggling at the end of January, we flew through February, racking up some seriously impressive performances - beating arch-rivals Sociedad in the Copa del Rey, home and away victories against Fiorentina in Europe and a remarkable thumping - again! - of Real Madrid. Strand Larsen has been on fire, finding the net four times against Madrid and adding another 5 strikes this month. When he needed resting, youngster Marc Guiu has been an excellent deputy with 4G/3A in 5 starts and 13 sub appearances.

Larsen now has 32 goals from 35 appearances in all competitions and his radical improvement is, at least in part, due to a tactical switch. I started experimenting with a 433dm towards the end of last year. The double-pivot in the previous 4231 was excellent defensively but - since I don't have anyone capable of playing a progressive role like a volante - it lacked support in attack. Paradoxically, the 4231 also crowded out Larsen as the front four jammed the opposition area in attack. I hoped the 433 would give us a better balance but I didn't anticipate Larsen's incredible response to the extra space.

Since New Year, we've been playing the new system exclusively:

It's largely based on the 'control possession' preset with much simplified TIs - shorter passing, work ball, counter-press and a compressed defence with a higher defensive line and a mid-block. I'll usually start on 'balanced' or 'positive' and switch according to the game state.

We go into March fighting on multiple fronts. The league is a close two-horse race between us and Real Madrid:

Incredibly, we remain the only unbeaten team in the league. March will also see us play Spurs in the Champions League R16 and the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final against Madrid.

I'm always interested in the tactical things of a save. So, after some time you switched from 4231 to 433.

If I remember correctly, you mentioned before that you don't use Gegenpress/counter press.

But with this shown tactic (433) you described you used Gegenpress/Counter press. Did I understand correctly? Is it because your opponents were sitting deep now?

 

Edited Saturday at 12:12 by Captain_T

[warlock]

5 hours ago, Captain_T said:

you described you used Gegenpress/Counter press

Gegenpress is much more than counter-press. We played in a mid-block, standard tempo, pressing 'more often' but never 'much more often'. In my mind, that's a million miles from gegenpressing.

I think if you want to play progressive football, you have to press to a degree - it's no use just sitting back and passively hoping the opposition will give you the ball back. So yes, we counter-pressed, no we didn't gegenpress.

[El Payaso]

56 minutes ago, warlock said:

Gegenpress is much more than counter-press. We played in a mid-block, standard tempo, pressing 'more often' but never 'much more often'. In my mind, that's a million miles from gegenpressing.

I think if you want to play progressive football, you have to press to a degree - it's no use just sitting back and passively hoping the opposition will give you the ball back. So yes, we counter-pressed, no we didn't gegenpress.

It's kinda funny or more like sad that the discussions have come to this. I mean, people picking up single team instruction and at least indirectly accusing others using some meta or game breaking tactical systems. Obviously I do apologise if this was not the intention here by @Captain_T which might well be.

For me FM is a type of game where the players should not be avoiding certain styles because they are op. It is the responsibility of the developers to create balance no matter what system you play. 

I haven't really read this thread at all because I mainly enjoy career updates where human players struggle. 

But great job with Celta. An unbeaten season is always difficult to pull-off and when achieving that, it is a great moment to go for a new challenge. 

[warlock]

I didn't take the question as any kind of accusation, but I do think there's a lot of confusion in the community because any kind of press tends to attract the 'gegenpress' label. And my objection to gegenpressing has nothing to do with whether it's OP or meta or exploitative... I just don't like that kind of football in real life. So I don't play that way in FM, but I wouldn't criticise anyone for doing it. Each to their own 

[Captain_T]

vor 27 Minuten schrieb El Payaso:

It's kinda funny or more like sad that the discussions have come to this. I mean, people picking up single team instruction and at least indirectly accusing others using some meta or game breaking tactical systems. Obviously I do apologise if this was not the intention here by @Captain_T which might well be.

For me FM is a type of game where the players should not be avoiding certain styles because they are op. It is the responsibility of the developers to create balance no matter what system you play. 

I haven't really read this thread at all because I mainly enjoy career updates where human players struggle. 

But great job with Celta. An unbeaten season is always difficult to pull-off and when achieving that, it is a great moment to go for a new challenge. 

My intention was, that I like to know the tactical ideas and why the tactic changed. 

Because I also play a save with Celta at the moment and maybe I can get some good tactical ideas. That's all.

[warlock]

1 minute ago, Captain_T said:

I like to know the tactical ideas and why the tactic changed

Before FM18 I played 442 or 4411 almost exclusively, because that's what I grew up with (I'm very, very old ). Since then, I've played 433 more often than not, although in FM21 and FM22 I used a narrow diamond (either 41212, 4132 or 4312) regularly. I like the diamond because you can make quite significant changes by shifting just one player. It also makes squad recruitment and management a lot simpler because you don't have to worry about how wingers vs inside forwards play in the system. At the start of FM23 I struggled to get a diamond to work so I switched back to the 433. However, at some point (don't remember who or why - ) I found myself with a squad that was crying out for the 4231, so I tried it and it worked.

You might guess from this that I'm not particularly "tactically" driven - I'm much more focused on trying to find what works with the squad of players I have.

As for tactical changes, sometimes I change it - as you suspected - because as my team improves, the AI changes in response. But I also sometimes change it on a whim because I think we're becoming predictable, or because we hit a run of bad form and my usual tweaks don't have the desired effect.

Good luck with Vigo - I really enjoyed the three seasons I did there. If I can offer any advice just ask 

[Jogo Bonito]

An epic save of impressive success sir, and an achievement I don't think any real Celta manager will match ever 

Is it too easy? I think it is. But I personally always have struggles and rarely waltz to a title so I give full credit for doing here what you did. I don't think I ever managed a season unbeaten, so two on the bounce in Spain against the giants is exceptional. It's another job well done in my book.

Looking forward to seeing where you may surface next. For me I haven't found a new home yet but probably will be in Italy. Haven't had time to select 'the project' yet as many contenders, and will be away in UK & Sicily in June. Another bash with Palermo might trump the other options after that.

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Jogo Bonito