[[FM19] Larne - A tycoon in a small Northern Ireland pond]

On 31/05/2019 at 02:43, The Art of Drowning said:

@coyote of the sea how has brexit affected you?

We can only have 17 foreign players in the squad.  Could also previously sign up players from scotland and england at 15/16 but have to wait until they turn 18 now.

Anyway it's been 3 years in a row now of making the Champions League groups, finishing 3rd and then losing either the first or 2nd game after dropping into the Europa.  Not sure how the next step is achieved, squad is always ridiculously young because once a player has been here a little while he gets unsettled by the big clubs, sold and replaced with someone even younger.

Very little, rules didn't change, though have the same that anyone that isn't North Irish I have to wait til they turn 18 to sign. 

Tough =/, hopefully able to figure it out. Feel you on the young players, seems soon as any of them start going on a run of great form it's time to look for the next lad because the other guy will be gone by the next window. 

[[FM19] Larne - A tycoon in a small Northern Ireland pond]

@Geordieboy52 How much do you want for those newgens? =P, Would love either of those strikers, are they wrecking the league yet? 

Shame Bruce is backing out a bit, especially with some (money wise) competition in the league. 

 

@The Art of Drowning Damn! That'd like double the amount of cash my team had haha. Looks like doing pretty well in Europe too. 

 

Reached the 20/21 transfer deadline after taking a bit of a break from the save, went out and made our biggest offer to date at $1m: 

Won't do pictures of everyone since a lot are just guys brought in to stick in the U20s and hope they develop but some of the guys more around the first team, starting with record transfer Jhon Arteaga:

disappointed a bit in the off the ball but overall really excited to see what he'll add to the team, took a big chance being we hadn't even fully scouted him by the deadline. Nice benefit we can use him in the midfield if need be (considering his strength and jumping I'd like to avoid it though!) 

 

Next is one of our two free transfer, Elijah Dixon-Bonner who I'm really excited about : 

Already making good progress on learning how to play DC considering he started with no knowledge. Looks like a perfect fit for my system with good passing and good pace/Acc. Bonus being great in the air as well. Was super excited he signed for us. 

 

George Byers is another I'm happy with, and has started well for us so far. though lacking a goal still:

After a lot of messing around he's gone back to being my striker as he fits the more withdrawn role with his passing and vision. 

 

Talked about Fraser Sharpe earlier but here is a picture. Trying to train him to play off the wing since I don't he'll work at striker in our current set-up but with his dribbling and first touch hoping he can do damage as the main scorer off the wing (though pace/acceleration is a bit iffy): 

Last picture is Stephen Douglas: 

One more for the future but I've been using him as a rotation piece. LOVE his mentals and hoping he'll develop some really good technical skills to go along with them but we'll see. Being only 18 should help as long as he is willing to stick around a few years.

 

So far kept our league unbeaten run going, haven't been as successful in Europe (as mentioned earlier), Right now Ethan Hamilton and Fraser Sharpe lead the team in goals (4), George Byers leads in assists (4), and Chicksen has the highest rating (7.56). Also lead the league with 14 goals scored and just 2 allowed in the first 6 games. 

[[FM19] Larne - A tycoon in a small Northern Ireland pond]

2020/2021 Pre-season

Being a bit lazy on recapping the old seasons, nothing really that exciting happened anyways =p. This season was our first in the Champions League and it went so well (/s), First Prelim round we faced off with Georgian team Saburtalo. Went up 2-0 with goals from Hamilton and Zelalem, gave one back in the 46th minute, then one of my loanees from last season gets himself sent off in the 60th, but we hang on...til 90+2 when we give up an equalizer and goes to extra time. No-one scores and we go to penalties, with a squad that apparently is horrendous at pens (my best taker on the field had like a 7), as mentioned we lost in pens (not surprising) with us keeping the tradition of our keeper not saving a single one, though at least Mitchell didn't let 12 in AND miss one so...progress?

 

Anyways with that over we could go back to focusing on friendlies and building the real team for this year. Still a WIP but we are mostly set lining up like this: 

 

Ignore the subs, those will change I just didn't have enough homegrowns for the Europa League, boo. Only other for sure change is McEleney will probably move to the Anchorman position but still working on who will partner with Dixon-Bonner, trying to get a newgen North Irish kid that looks pretty decent on loan til he stops pouting that we walked away from talks (I only did because I could buy him outright for like 35k or pay 200k in compensation, tough decision that). 

Jumping reach and tackling are a bit iffy but those mentals at 17 are too much to pass up imo. 

 

Transfers so far, looking to add Arijanety Muric on loan from City in goal, as he's done well enough on trial. Also got loan offers out for Leonardo Da Silva Lopes (possible starting RB), Ante Coric (couldn't pass it up), and Marius Mouandilmadji (looks like a great IF/ST). Though it's a toss-up if Mouandilmadji will get a WP. 

 

Fraser Sharpe and Stephen Douglas are both newgens, Sharpe was brought in when I still used an AF up top so he's a bit of an odd fit now but man do I want to try to figure it out at some point. 16 Finishing, 16 First Touch, 15 Heading, 14 Jumping, and 15 Strength with decent mentals (10 Ant, 12 Movement, 16 Bravery) at 17. Douglas is a year old at 18 and pretty meh (at best) technically but has great mentals (including 14 movement, and 19 teamwork!) and pretty decent physicals. 

 

Someday I'll stop trying to replace everyone at least once a week haha.  But no the problem is like Trent71 said, standards change so much, and for me I get too caught up in the hunt for the next best thing! 

 

EDIT: Wow, such BS, we crash out of the Europa league to ****ing TNS now because of a BS goal in the first leg, then a 120+1 goal in the 2nd. 

[[FM19] Larne - A tycoon in a small Northern Ireland pond]

On 30/04/2019 at 15:28, Trent71 said:

@coyote of the sea nice! I always followed Ethan, but never actually got to signing him, how's he developing for you?

He's doing alright, forget where he started but had a couple attributes bump up. For his long shooting ability I'm usually shocked how few he'll bang in. Ignore the Motherwell thing, they made an offer but he didn't like the contract they offered lol. At least he isn't mad at me, like Mitchell got because telling the lads I think we can win the league isn't ambitious enough (it was the only option Mitchell, also maybe don't blow a 2-0 lead in the CL AND not save a single penalty next time, ******)

[[FM19] Larne - A tycoon in a small Northern Ireland pond]

Just finished my 2nd season with Larne, walking the league (shocker) though towards the end it got a bit frustrating as we really struggled to break teams down, relying mostly on set pieces. Still on a 40+ something game unbeaten run, so I can't complain too much! 

 

First season we cake walked the league, going undefeated and winning the Irish Cup, getting us Europa League football the next season. Our big, spending size anyways, transfer that year was bringing in Callum Hulme from Bury for 240k USD, kid was an amazing IF for me, ending up with 14 goals, 10 assists, and a 7.67 rating. Added Veira who did well, Grace NDomba (a DC) ended up being a good find, playing well both that year and this last year. Bought Duarte though, being young and more fitting the style I wanted to play, which he did but wanted to leave to join Peterborough towards the end of the season =(. 

 

2nd season my best signings were Adam Chicksen, who was brought in to be a back-up to Tilney but ended up becoming our first choice after Tilney got hurt for a bit. Abobaker Eisa was another free I picked up after he was released by Dover and he ended up being our top goalscorer this year. Great dribbling and long shots, great flair, would kill the league if he wasn't so inconsistent. Bought Ridge Duah-Adusei, who was supposed to be the starter in Eisa's spot but he went down after 3 games and still hasn't really recovered from it. Looked like he'd be amazing in the league before the injury too. Also added Ethan Hamilton who did alright but always does well in training and Keyendrah Simmonds who worked his way into the rotation with some great cup performances and likewise is a training beast. Hulme left in January though for a record 775k from Norwich, secretly hoping they'll end up upsetting him at some point so we can get him back. 

[Developing my 4123DM Wide ("Tiki-Taka")]

On 17/03/2019 at 12:53, alanfishead said:

So I've been trying to achieve this style of football for a while however struggling to make anything stick! This thread has definitely helped improve things. I've had a decent start to the season (W5 L2). However I'm just not creating good chances. Having watched games in full it was clear in those 5 wins I was riding my luck and eventually it ran out as I've just lost to Stoke away. A game in which I had to settle for 49% possession. My problem is creating CCCs having seen only 3 in 8 games (2 of which were in the same game). My base tactic is below, however the roles do change from game to game. 

 

I'm late to the party (by like a month) but at least figured can use this as a bit of a springboard =p. Looking at the tactic, and I'm ignoring who is playing where for this (I know it does matter, as even in mentioned in this thread, but I'm lazy), it's a bit toothless. 

Yes there are attacking players, but just looking at the opposition backline, are they going to really struggle? No, one FB stays with the winger, the other tucks in to cut off your IF, while the two CDs can focus on dealing with the CM(a) and the DLF. Saying that, this isn't far off and my suggestions to try (hell, if I get bored sometime I might screw around with it in one of my saves) would be to:

 

1) Switch the two CMs

2) Change the FB(s) to either FB(a) or WB(a) (I like WB(a) a bit better but haven't messed around with it too much outside of sides much stronger than the league)

3) Change the IWB(d) to IWB (a)

 

Now the defense is forced into making decisions, the left side FB has to choose between the winger or IWB. Likely the Winger, passing the IWB off to the CD. on the right it's a bit murkier but likely he'd tuck in to take the IF over the WB. But we're at least forcing decisions and being human mistakes can (and likely will) happen. 

Anyways, to the springboard, I've been trying to do this when I have time myself and have found it to work in generally thinking "how would I defend this?" Of course there is 11 players and not 4 (or sometimes 5) on the team but, at least for me, it's easier to focus on the backline and adjust later than try to think in terms of all 11 opposing players and end up with this random mess that ends up not being effective anyways. 

[Teams to Manage - FM19]

On 24/03/2019 at 08:55, Raymond85 said:

yes, and another team starts with -15. I am seriously considering to stop the journeyman save before it started to give them a try lol

Finances in Turkey are a mess in general (at least in real life) supposedly. Think there was a Tifo Football video all about the staggering amounts of debt in the league, seemed it'd be a fun challenge if I wasn't usually the one driving teams into debt lol. 

[Anyone Ever Managed Jamaica National Team?]

Haven't tried it but one suggestion I'd add is to load up MLS and either load players from the US or find a mod that activates the lower leagues in the US. In my current save quite a few of the national team guys are in either MLS or USL (called American Second Division in the game). 

 

If you go back to it, a couple names I'd suggest to look at (with full homer glasses on, so be wary lol) is Kevon Lambert and Jason Johnson, possibly Kevaughn Frater as well. Lambert is your traditional Midfield destroyer type, JJ is a pacy winger/forward type, struggled a bit for goals last year but the year before was a decent scorer. Frater didn't amount to much at Phoenix last year but I think part of that was not really fitting in the system, as he looked a good poacher and came in thought to be a good poacher but just never seemed to fit. He can play on the wings and at AMC in the game it looks like, still scouting though now that I actually can.