Spiegel

Hartlepool supporter here. You’re right - the reason for this would the situation over Challinor. I’d say it’s a stretch to call it a rivalry. Challinor will get grief over the way he left us, but that’s about as far as it goes.

I would say something like this? Fairly similar to how I've been playing on recent saves. 2 - RB - Inverted Wing Back - Support 3 - CB - Centre Back - Cover 4 - CB - Centre Back - Stopper (w/Stay Wide instruction) 6 - LB - Complete Wing Back - Support This should create the back three. The Right Back will move forward into midfield when suitable, and the Left Back will rampage forward. 10 - DM - Deep Lying Playmaker - Defend 11 - MC - Carrilero - Support (or Mezzala - Support) Either of these two roles will have your midfielder take up half-spaces in wider positions. Carrilero is more conservative, and Mezzala more offensive. 9 - MC - Centre Midfielder - Attack (or B2B - Support) 5 - AMR - Inverted Winger - Support (w/Stay Wide Instruction) 11- AML - Inside Forward - Attack 8 - ST - Deep Lying Forward - Support Would also add the Overlap Left Team Instruction to increase the mentality of the IF and CWB.

I think there's value in trying for utility if nothing else. He can win the ball and carry it - should be pretty press resistant aswell. It's just a case of improving that passing. Looking at your Tomiyasu, he's got completely different PPMs to mine - how do you get them to stick? I've been trying to teach Patino to play one-twos and he's just not having it.

January Update, 2023 Made it to January season 2, and things are looking pretty promising. We're currently top of the league after a great start. We have qualified from our Champions League group in second place. We used the group stage to rest our regular players, while developing some of the academy players - not a bad result. Squad Review Goalkeeper Ramsdale's quickly proving himself as one of the league's best, and has also signed a new 5 year deal. Turner has stepped in for cup games and has been excellent. We're under more pressure when playing academy players, and he's had to make some big saves as a result. I have a potential four star academy goalkeeper coming through aswell in Ryan Owen, who'll be developing in the U18s/U23s for now. Full Back Tierney and Tomiyasu are still performing well - both defensively solid, while getting a respectable amount of assists (6 between them). I expect them to remain my starting pair for the foreseeable. Maitland-Niles has been a serviceable backup at RB, and can also fill in other positions from the bench. Could definitely be improved on, but not a priority at this point. Tavares has played fairly regularly this year, and has been quite good - with a 7+ average rating. The left back position is proving a little problematic. Tierney is a "Star Player" and, as I'd noted further up the page, seems to get unhappy if I don't play him every minute of every game. Taveres is also unhappy as he's an agreed "Regular Starter" (as he was at the start of the game), and complains if I try demoting him to a squad player. Joel Lopez is a prospect (potentially 3.5 stars) so it may be a case of moving Taveres on, and using Lopez as a pure backup - not sure. Centre Back I'm quite happy with this position. White and Gabriel are the main pair, with Ballard and Saliba starting in the cup games. Ballard's been more impressive than Saliba, but Saliba appears to have the higher ceiling. Rekik looks a decent prospect, and is currently getting good minutes out on loan at West Brom. Neil Brown remains an excellent prospect, and has appeared from the bench a few times. He'll be supplemented by incoming signings Juan Sebastian Diaz, a left-footed Colombian defender, and Mihajlo Radivojevic, a Serbian who looks like potentially the second coming of Nemanja Vidic. Both join in 2024. Midfield Pivot Another area I'm happy with. Kessie has been a revelation - with 6 goals and 5 assists. He's the key man, and he's partnered by; - Partey, who's essentially a lesser version of Kessie. He's been excellent, with a 7.32 average rating, but is 29 now so may look to take advantage of his great form. - Xhaka has served more as a squad player this year, and isn't thrilled about it. Another pushing 30 who I may move on. - Lokonga is also a squad player. I'm not convinced he'll be a long term starter for us, but is certainly worth keeping around at this point. - Patino has played decent minutes, who I view as the future starter in my midfield. I'm trying to get him to learn One-Twos before I find him a loan, but he won't have it! Ilunga has made a couple of appearances from the bench and looks promising. He'll likely follow a similar path to Patino over the next few years. Front Four Pretty happy here aswell. Martinelli, Saka and Nketiah are typically used out wide and are my top scorers. Reiss Nelson has served a similar goal-scoring function in the cup team so happy with them. Smith Rowe largely competes with Eriksen as the 10. Both have been effective. Omari comes in for cup games and, similar to Patino, needs to learn PPMs before a loan. Odegaard is still my starting striker, he hit 15 goals and 12 assists last term and looks set to match that this season. He's about more than direct contributions though - his movement is key to how we're playing. Balogun has been frustrating - he gets into great positions, but misses far too many easy chances. Likely one for another loan in the transfer window. I have agreed a £13mill deal to bring in Benjamin Sesko from Red Bull Salzburg. At 6"4, and with plenty of pace, he should be a great budget option. Khano Tucker still looks a good option in the academy, though I'm still looking to develop his technical stats.

Finished 4th in my first season, and made the FA Cup Semi-Finals. Not a tremendous season by any stretch, but one I think is fairly realistic based on the quality of the squad. For the second season, my aim is to consolidate our position in the top four, grab a domestic cup and give a good account of ourselves in Europe. I've culled a significant portion of the U23/loan players - with the view that we create a clear path from the U18 side to the first team. We've managed to get £102mill from outgoing players - largely the players who were out on loan; Torreira, Bellerin, Mari, Mavropanos etc. The only outgoing players who played for us last year are Leno, who moves to Bayern for £7.5mill, and Elneny, who moves to Lazio on a bosman. Incomings have been minimal. Matt Turner's pre-arranged deal has gone through, and he arrives for £5mill. He will be Ramsdale's understudy for the upcoming season. Franck Kessie signs on a free to replace/improve upon Elneny. Christian Eriksen also joins on a free - he'll replace loanee Eden Hazard as a rotation option in the front four. I'm training him as a false-nine to compete with Odegaard. Ballard, Saliba, Rekik, Maitland-Niles, Nelson and Balogun all rejoin the first team following their loans to provide further squad depth now we're also in Europe. In terms of the homegrown 'Athletic Podcast' challenge. I still have Patino and Hutchinson around the first team squad. I'm trying to get them to learn the 'Plays One-Twos' PPM before I consider loaning them out, but no luck so far. I also have some very promising looking academy players; Neil Brown (4-5* potential) has Welsh U21 caps to his name at 16, a professional personality, and well rounded attribute profile. I've been working on his ball-control and weak foot, and he's coming along quite nicely. Khano Tucker (4-5* potential) is an athletic, versatile forward with high potential. He's lacking a bit technically at the moment, so I'm training him quite heavily. He's got a resolute personality so hopefully that will help. Regis Ilunga (4-4.5* potential) looks to be a player ideal for the double-pivot. He has intelligence, and can carry/pass the ball at speed. I'm looking to develop his Anticipation/Positioning this season.

This one's a bit frustrating. Kieran Tierney - team leader - is complaining that he's not getting enough minutes. I've reloaded the save to try every possible interaction and there's no turning him around. I even bought the In Game Editor to try and fix, only to realise i'd disabled it when I started the save! :')

I started an Arsenal game on the back of the podcast a few days ago funnily enough! Just made it to January 1st in the first season. After a poor start, we have managed to claw my way into fourth place after a great run in December. Didn't make any signings or sales in the initial transfer window, as I've only really managed lower league sides of late, and wanted to get to know the players etc. Currently running a 4-2-3-1, with Odegaard as the false-nine - inspired by @Ö-zil to the Arsenal!'s thread in the tactic forum. He's performing really well in the role. For the January window, there's a few outgoings; I have agreed for Lacazette to move to Spartak Moscow for £4.3mill. Rob Holding's going on loan to Aston Villa with a mandatory £18mill future fee. Cedric looks likely to move to either Wolves or Villarreal for £12mill. Elneny's also likely moving, despite playing well, to Dinamo Moscow, at the end of his contract. I'm trying to keep incoming players to a minimum to allow me to develop younger players, but I am currently in negotiations for Franck Kessie for a free transfer at the end of the season. He'll take Elneny's spot in the team.