Draakon

This is pretty common, because player evaluation changes right on his birthday. Player who is 16 years 11 months old is often reported having around 1* higher PA than the same player on his 17th birthday. That's pretty confusing, because your own staff should know when his birthday is. More over - the message seems to mix up reports from the near past (touted as possible star) with current evaluation (don't offer a professional contract, 2,5* PA) and hence gives you quite mixed instructions what to do with the youngster.

Competitions In retrospect we did well in all competitions - won the Eredivisie, reached the final of the KNVB Beker and knockout stages of the Champions League. In a lot of ways it was a better season than I expected last Summer, especially our continental campaign. On the other hand - we lost both finals that we played (Johan Cruijff Schaal in the last Summer and KNVB Beker final in April) and our rivals got the better of us in those two games. That’s obviously frustrating and when I try to analyse those two defeats what stands out is that some of our first team players have some problems handling pressure. That’s something you can’t really choose when playing youth only and it costs us in important games like these finals. In the Champions League we tend to hit the wall against big clubs and FC Barcelona had too much quality for us to beat - we can do well in Eredivisie even with a mediocre or unbalanced squad, because I’m good at keeping morale high and players are very familiar with tactics and roles and each other’s movement on the pitch, but against European giants our weaknesses are clear and lack of individual quality is punished by goals we concede. So, in conclusion, an OK season, I guess. We achieved the minimum targets (winning the league and reaching the KNVB Beker Final), overachieving a little in Europe (but not by much), so we can be happy with that. Eredivisie was a bit weaker this year, because the number of small clubs increased, but both FC Groningen and sc Heerenveen bounced back from the Keuken Kampioen Divisie and rejoin top tier in August, so it probably gets a bit more challenging again. The Champions League Final was held between Liverpool and Juventus - Pep Guardiola’s Juventos won it after the penalty shoot-out. Players The main reason to be happy is that we had a really good season in avoiding injuries. There were very many months when I had a full team at my disposal and I wasn’t forced to make too many squad selection changes because of traumas. That’s a recognition to our medical staff, physios and sports scientists. Avoiding injuries helped us to train better and a lot of players made big steps forward - Diyae-Eddine Jermoumi, Amourricho van Axel Dongen, Dramane Guehi, Prince Aning and Nikita Tamm got consistently better through the season and Tamm was eventually labelled as a wonderkid in March, because he’s just 20 years old on already looks too good for the Eredivisie level. We didn’t introduce too many new faces throughout the season, but Ognjen Rajkovic stepped up after Neal Viereck left in January and I was really happy with what I’ve seen from him so far. We could be looking at our new first team centre-back here. Statistics That was the first eleven for this season. As you can see, no player reached 20 goals this season and goals were actually fairly well distributed within the team. Amourricho van Axel Dongen was the best creator in the team - he managed to set up no less than 39 chances in league games alone (44 if I include penalties that he earned) - no player has created more in one season during my time at Ajax. In the whole league season we created 180 chances and that’s another club record. We also continued to be a threat from set pieces - five goals from corners and seven from free kicks, six from penalties. We were extremely good defensively last season and this time we reverted back to our regular ~40 conceded chances in a season level. That’s OK, I guess, considering changes in the defensive line. Awards The only Eredivisie award that came our way was the Golden Boot. Olivier Aertssen won it this time and deservedly so with his 7.65 average rating. I was named as the Eredivisie Manager’s Manager of the Year once again, but none of our goal scorers stood out this season and perhaps surprisingly, none of our youngsters made it into top three in the Young Player of the Season list.

May 2028 Fixtures and Results Two more games to wrap things up in May. We rotated in both games and in the match against SC Cambuur our defensive line included both Rajkovic and Wachowicz, which meant that it was supposed to be a little fragile and Cambuur took advantage of that. However, their goal in the first half came because Mert Alegoz was careless in the goal and allowed their striker to score into the near corner. We equalised quickly enough (Hlynsson with a fine strike), but then started to waste a number of chances. Our finishing was just criminally poor in some situations and in the end it was a late penalty that gave us a 2:1 win. So in the end I wasn’t so upset with our defence (we got that in order in the second half, actually), but our attack was just terrible. Four clear cut chances in this match, but only one goal (penalty) out of them. Outrageous. It was a very similar story against Heracles - we controlled the game well and scored two goals - the highlight of the match was Diyae-Eddine Jermoumi’s first ever goal for Ajax and Olivier Aertssen headed in from a corner, but we created nine half-chances in the game and couldn’t find the target from any of those. Absolutely criminal finishing. Players Nothing to report - everybody is fit and we rotated a lot in those two last games. Player of the Month: Olivier Aertssen - played in both games and did well, scoring against Heracles Goal of the Month: Diyae-Eddine Jermoumi vs. Heracles Almelo - a well struck effort from a narrow angle that landed at the far post. Eredivisie We had 84 points in the end. Rest of the top five offered no surprises, except AZ Alkmaar who continued to be mediocre from start to finish of this season. At the bottom of the table Almere City, SC Cambuur and De Graafschap were relegated. I rate Almere City and De Graafschap too weak for Eredivisie, but SC Cambuur supporters are probably extremely disappointed to go down

April 2028 Fixtures and Results Five more games in April. The strongest opponent in the league is FC Utrecht, but the most important match is obviously the cup final against Feyenoord. The last part of the Eredivisie campaign includes smaller teams and games where we’re clear favourites - we have to keep our concentration up and avoid complacency, but if we play our football the title should be ours. The first match against Excelsior was supposed to be easy, but it really wasn’t. No wonder, as Excelsior is one of the small clubs who have punched over their weight repeatedly this season and they even managed to battle to a 4:4 draw with PSV Eindhoven. We started well enough and took the lead from Nikita Tamm’s deflected shot, but it took only three minutes for Excelsior to equalise - their free kick hit the post and was then played into the six yard box where their player was waiting all alone to put it into the net. Excelsior was dangerous from through balls in the first half and one of those chances led to their second goal and they were leading 2:1 before Guehi’s equaliser made it level before the break. We improved a little in the second half and Guehi gave us the lead with a header. Excelsior had a late chance to equalise, but Mert Alegoz made a crucial save to secure all three points for us. In summary it wasn’t our best performance defensively - too many gaps in defence and too many errors. It was clear why Excelsior has been so good - they found a way to play their game and in the end their xG was actually better than ours. What gave us the edge was perhaps a little advantage in individual quality of players - we finished better and our goalkeeper made a couple of important saves, but actually it was a pretty close game - shots, key passes and chances were fairly even. Kudos to Excelsior. The FC Utrecht win was our best game in April - we controlled the match against a strong opponent from start to finish and didn’t give them any real goal scoring opportunities. Klaassen gave us the lead with a penalty and van Axel Dongen made it 2:0 right before half-time. Kenneth Taylor scored with a great free kick in the second half to decide the game. All around, a great performance and I was really happy with the display. The cup final was the most important match in April, but sadly, we failed to win. It was an even first half, but Feyenoord took the lead in 24’ - a cross came in from our left and everybody in the box missed it, so it fell to Keita Balde at the far post and it was an easy enough finish for him. It took us only four minutes to equalise and Kenneth Taylor scored with another beautiful free kick, repeating his goal from the FC Utrecht match. Unfortunately we allowed Feyenoord to score another goal in 43’ - Ruslan Litvinov slid himself into the six yard box after Can Tas failed to clear the ball and his tackle put it over the line. We tried hard to equalise in the second half, but to Feyenoord’s credit they defended really well and we struggled to create chances. I changed a few things tactically, but in the end I was all out of ideas and we had to accept the defeat. Our xG that was only 0.93 showed how difficult it was to break them down even if it looked like an even battle in midfield. After the cup final disappointment we beated Helmond Sport comfortably in the away match - they never looked like a real threat in this game and we wasted a lot of chances, but we always looked dangerous in attack, especially from set pieces and scored three goals. Sebastien Haller scored a brace in his 200th appearance for Ajax - both were headers and one was from a corner - and Olivier Aertssen headed in an indirect free kick, so set pieces led to two out of three goals, while from open play we managed to waste a lot of good opportunities (especially David Kalokoh). I expected us to secure our title in the home game against Almere City (who were already relegated before the matchday 32), but two hours earlier PSV were beaten by FC Twente at home and so our Eredivisie title was clinched even before the match and home fans could start to celebrate even before the kick-off. The match itself was as easy as expected - we dominated the first half, created six good chances before the break and took a 3:0 lead, but complacency started to creep in after all the goals and in the second half we allowed Almere to score one goal back. That let me be a bit critical towards players in my post-match team talk, but it was still an easy win. Players and Tactics It’s a bit disappointing to fail in the most important game of the month, but in Eredivisie fixtures we’ve done well enough, especially after the cup final when I started to rotate more and give backup players and youngsters more starts. It’s big matches that sometimes cause us problems and this cup final was probably one of those. On the positive note - all players are fit again and we don’t have any problems with injuries, so I have a lot of options to pick from (and on the bench as well). Training is excellent lately and younger players develop nicely and that should lay a good foundation to our next season. Player of the Month: Kenneth Taylor - he’s established himself as a set piece specialist in the team and scored two goals from free kicks this month, setting up two more goals in April. 7.92 average rating in last five games. Goal of the Month: Kenneth Taylor vs. Feyenoord Rotterdam - a beautiful free kick into the top corner in the cup final Eredivisie Two more match days to go, but we have a ten point lead. The runner-up will again be short of 80 points, so the season confirms my estimation that 80 points is usually enough to win the title in Holland. SC Cambuur are relegated along with Almere City and that I didn’t expect. I believe they’re too good to go down, but some smaller teams like Excelsior, Go Ahead Eagles and Helmond Sport had a great season and stayed away from the relegation fight.

March 2028 Fixtures and Results Another five difficult games in March - we start with the cup semi final against FC Twente (who we failed to beat at Grolsch Veste in February), then we host FC Barcelona (the match I want to get over with as soon as possible) and then we need to prepare for a tough Topper Derby in Eindhoven. We played a good first half against FC Twente and two goals in the last five minutes gave us a deserved 2:0 lead at the break. Dramane Guehi completed his hat-trick from the spot after Kalokoh was tripped in the box and Peter Misidjan headed in a cross from young Pawel Wachowicz to make it 4:0. It was a really confident performance - something I haven’t seen in a while. I didn’t expect us to turn around our 0:4 deficit against FC Barcelona, but I hoped to give them a battle at Johan Cruijff Arena. Sadly, it didn’t seem to be the case in the first half. Peter Aning’s foul in the box gave them a penalty in 13’ and at half-time it was 0:2 without a single good chance for us. We improved somewhat in the second half and at least Dramane Guehi looked determined to prove a point. His goal brought us back into the game and although Barcelona scored again in 66’ we finished strong - two excellent strikes from Guehi (both scored from the edge of the area) made it 3:3 and restored some honour in the end, but to be fair, winning this second leg was never on the cards. The De Graafschap match was supposed to be the easiest game in March and indeed, it was - I rotated a lot and most of the midfield and attackers were not our first eleven players, but Rico Speksnijder scored a flyer and we looked very comfortable after that. Olivier Aertssen headed home a corner to make it 3:0 at half-time and Ognjen Rajkovic scored his first ever goal for Ajax in the second half. De Graafschap couldn’t get into the game at all and as it often happens in matches like that, frustration boiled over, so their striker Nesta Zahui lunged into Bart Smits with two feet up and was sent off in 64’. We looked very dangerous from set pieces (scored two goals from corners in that game) and I was happy with the result, performance and overall attitude that the players displayed - very little complacency in the second half, but only after the job was well done. The Topper derby was a title six-pointer (well, almost - we had an eight point advantage in the table at this point) and a fascinating tactical battle against PSV and their 5-3-2 WB. It was a back and forth game - in the first half PSV had two of the better chances in the game and we managed somehow to hit the woodwork three times, but it ended goalless. In the second half we took the initiative, only to be punished by one counter-attack in 70’. Fine margins decided the result of this game and unfortunately we lost the second league match in this season against PSV (our home game ended 1:2 before Christmas). Very disappointing result, as a draw would have been fair in my opinion. Now we allowed PSV to close the gap and took a hit on our confidence as well. The PSV defeat didn’t affect our confidence, because we won our next away match against Willem II 3:0 and it was a good win - controlled the game from start to finish, scored two goals before the 30’ mark and created eight half-chances through the game. Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson ran the show in midfield and was at his creative best in this game, scoring a goal as well. Three goals and a clean sheet - I was very happy with the reaction and attitude shown by the players. Players I’m kind of happy with how things are going at the moment - we have avoided major injuries for a while and even though some players have skipped a game because of suspension (yellow cards are mounting at this stage of the season). The main issue seems to be contracts - we have all players tied down until at least 2029. That seems OK, considering that the list also includes veterans like Klaassen and Haller, but some of the players have become unsettled and believe that they deserve more money. I’ve tried to dismiss those requests, but in some cases the arguments are valid and so Dramane Guehi earned himself a new £26,500 p/w deal until 2032. He’s scored 17 goals this season so far and his two hat-tricks in March prove that he’s about to become our new first team striker for the coming years, so a raise looks reasonable. At the same time I’m happy to include youth players into the first team squad - Ognjen Rajkovic has done very well in those couple of months after Neal Viereck left. He has featured in the first team and scored his first ever goal for the club in March. First team exposure has sped up his development as a footballer and his attributes show increase in this short time. Player of the Month: Dramane Guehi - seven goals in five games, including hat-tricks against FC Twente and FC Barcelona Goal of the Month: Dramane Guehi vs. FC Barcelona - a well struck effort, fired in from the edge of the area. Eredivisie PSV Eindhoven are still in the title race with six games to go - we have a good five points lead in the table, but the derby win in March gives them a chance. Youth Intake 2028 I expected a decent intake with at least one good winger in it, but instead I got an excellent bunch of players with some unexpected talent in the goal and right-back as well. Calvin Francis is one of the best youngsters in this season’s intake, a determined goalkeeper with no glaring weaknesses. I expect that our goalkeeping coaches can make a first team player out of him. Giorgio Jongebloet is a talented right-back that fits to our WBs role. He’s very young, just 15 years of age and a consistent performer despite his young age. He’s personality is realistic which will be helpful in his career. Very intelligent player, although technical abilities need more work. Mohamed Tahiri has Moroccan roots and he looks like a decent attacking midfielder - makes good decisions, has some flair and professional attitude. He has a nice trait ‘comes deep to get balls’.

Firstly, you're reading too much into just few games - it could be anything, starting from the opponent's tactics, morale of your teams or just random luck that affects a couple of results. Even the best teams have an off day here or there, unable to perform. Secondly - in games that you're heavy favourites, opponents are more defensive and (depending on quality of your players). Just as in real life football - when you somehow manage to score the first goal (from corner or set piece, or perhaps because of a moment of individual skills or brilliance) then it forces them to open up their game and make things easier for you. If you fail to score in the first half they gain confidence and on the other hand your players could become frustrated and anxious, reducing the chance of scoring even further if you can't affect them with your shouts (I've rarely seen an anxious striker score, for example. He's most likely miss any decent chance that might come his way). Thirdly - It's usually more difficult to score in away games. Even the best team sometimes struggle against bottom teams when playing away and can drop points. Shrewsbury and MK Dons games are away games. It doesn't necessarily mean that something's wrong with your default tactics.

February 2028 Fixtures and Results Goalless draw against FC Twente was a drab match. We were never really good enough in attack, despite hitting the woodwork twice. FC Twente defended well and played smartly at home, so a draw was a fair result. The only positive note from that match is that we continued to keep our clean sheet in consecutive games. Defence has been really good lately and I hoped it would continue. I rotated a lot against De Graafschap - partly because it was a cup game, at home, against a weaker team, but also because of our poor performance in the previous game. We won this game because of a quick brace from Sebastien Haller, although we allowed De Graafschap back into the game later in the first half and even conceded a goal in the second half. Haller completed his hat-trick from the spot. Young Serbian defender Ognjen Rajkovic made his debut in this game and so we were bound to make some defensive errors, but at least we looked much better in attack and it was an improvement from the FC Twente game. We then travelled to Emmen and boy it was another ugly away game for us. We created almost nothing in the first 80 minutes and while we controlled possession (and somehow even managed to hit the woodwork three times) Emmen created better chances. In the end our substitute Stanis Idumbo Muzambo scored the late winner to give us all three points from this away game, but that was an even uglier performance than we had against FC Twente. With that rather mediocre run of games behind us we went to Camp Nou and were trashed by FC Barcelona, as expected. I’m not sure if there was something wrong tactically - I guess that not much because we didn’t concede too many chances, but we were under constant pressure and Barcelona players were so good individually that they were almost impossible to stop. The goals came mostly from individual errors - young Can Tas had a miserable game in defence and Jermoumi couldn’t handle Pedri on our right wing. Ex-Ajax player Frenkie de Jong curled in a free kick to make it 4:0 and that’s the end of the road for us in the Champions League. Our average rating was just 6.32 in this match and I felt like we hit the wall at this stage of the competition. I can expect a better performance at home, but not to win by four goals. Overachieving Go Ahead Eagles pushed us hard in the next match. They started well and in 10’ Guy Mbenza sent a low drive into the bottom corner from 20 metres to make it 0:1 and soon after it was 0:2 after a defensive mistake on our right wing. We started the game with two inexperienced defenders in Can Tas and Rajkovic, but that’s no excuse. We had a real challenge to come back from a two goal deficit and we did well to score in the first half (Haller with a header from Jermoumi’s cross) but in the end of the first period Eagles had another brilliant strike from the edge of area that Jay Gorter couldn’t save and at half-time it was 1:3. A bit harsh and undeserved because we had perhaps been a slightly better team in the first half, but two goals out of nowhere gave Eagles a comfortable lead. My inspirational words at half-time resulted in a quick goal after restart - this time a beautiful strike from Haller who showed that we, too, can finish - and Can Tas headed home a free kick to make it level with still some time to go until the final whistle. We couldn’t find the winner, though, and a dramatic game finished 3:3 - I was proud of the come-back, but that was a much more difficult game than it should have been. Our lead in the table was solid enough at this time, so dropping two points in one game didn’t cost us too much. The Noord-Hollandse derby was another disappointment this month. We started well and in 16’ AZ’s Nigel Gooijer was sent off for his two-footed tackle on Nikita Tamm, so having a numerical advantage allowed us to take full control of this game. To make things better, Kristian Nökkvi Hlynssons scored with a fabulous strike from 21 metres and gave us the lead, but then continued to miss two clear cut chances in a row. That didn’t change much, or at least that was what I thought at the moment, but we couldn’t score the second goal and secure the result. In the second half AZ Alkmaar equalised pretty much out of nowhere, when Jackson Muleka found the bottom corner from outside of the box and that was it. We couldn’t find the winner in the remaining time and another two points dropped in the match that we seemed to control so effortlessly. In conclusion - not too many reasons to celebrate in February - performances have been below par and results have not always come our way. Players There’s been an uneasy feeling that something’s not right with the team and it hurts morale (and with that, performances and results). A few players are unhappy that their transfers fell through in January, Can Tas started sulking when his new contract request was denied. Moha was unhappy with his fine after a poor game against FC Barcelona (most of the players accepted the punishment as justified). There’s something in body language as well that shows during games - more anxiousness, frustration and sometimes complacency all mixed together, even from players who should lead by example, like Haller and Taylor. That’s a challenge to sort things out and find a winning formula before our lead in the table melts away. Player of the Month: Sebastien Haller - a really difficult choice once again, but Haller scored five goals in February and in a couple of games showed his old skills and finishing in front of the goal Goal of the Month: Kristian Nökvvi Hlynsson vs. AZ Alkmaar - a fabulous strike, curled in from 21 metres Contracts Prince Aning signed a new deal - a two years extension that will run until 2032 and give him £32,000 p/w salary. Debutant Ognjen Rajkovic also extended his contract until 2032. Tactics I have experimented more than usual with our tactics in recent weeks. My disappointment started with the poor performances of Nikita Tamm on our left flank (IFs) who disappeared completely in games and his average rating in the last five matches was just around 6.6, so I’ve tried to change something on the left flank to get the best out of him. When looking at his attributes, the obvious choice would be IFa - more direct game, more dribbling with the ball. On the other hand it would leave all four attacking players in ‘attack’ orders and I tried to balance it with changing Haller to CFs - he gets slower anyway with age and can’t dribble away from defenders so easily, but he can still spot a pass and distribute through balls behind the lines. With IFa there’s a question about left-back and I’m switching between FBs and WBs, because I’m afraid that FBa (Aning’s role so far) is just too attacking, combined with IFa. Eredivisie Despite some disappointing results we still have a quite safe six point lead in the table.

I have seen transfer windows where AI overhauls half of the team and sells/buys 6-8 new first team players in one window. So it happens, but on the other hand AI might struggle fitting them to tactics or gelling them all together as a team.

January 2028 Fixtures and Results We had back to back away games against PEC Zwolle to begin our new year with, prompting journalists to ask me in a press conference how we would approach the week - should we stay in Zwolle between games or travel back and forth. Somehow my assistant manager forgot to book a friendly for us in January (or failed to do so) and we were somewhat lacking in match fitness in the first match because of that. It didn’t matter though, because we won both games comfortably. Zwolle scored a consolation goal late in the first match, but otherwise had no answers. I actually liked the second game more because we were more in control of the match and created better chances in attack, even though we failed to score more than once. Despite that we were never in trouble and took three points to the table and progressed to the next round in KNVB Beker. Vitesse provided a bigger test for us at Johan Cruijff Arena. It was a competitive first half and our opponents had two good opportunities to score. The best moment came when Luka Štor curled hit the post with a free kick from a promising position. In the second half we looked more in control of the game and created much better chances. It was substitute Sebastien Haller who eventually scored the winner. A narrow win, but well deserved because we were clearly a better team after the break. We continued with 1:0 wins against Fortuna Sittard. I tried something new tactically and asked Prince Aning to overlap more on the left. It led to some interesting movements and crosses, but didn’t lead to any real chances. Generally we played well, but somehow managed to hit the woodwork three times in the game and Hlynsson’s strong attempt in the first half resulted in the only goal in the game. I expected more goals and we certainly deserved more, but a win is a win. Players Not much to report here - only four games after Winter break and a number of mediocre performances as a team. Transfer window caused some fuss and speculation, but it settled down after the deadline day. At least everyone is fit and healthy. Player of the Month: Amourricho van Axel Dongen - played well in attack, scored good goals against PEC Zwolle in both games Goal of the Month: Amourricho van Axel Dongen vs. PEC Zwolle - a technical volley that he hit perfectly into the net. Transfer Window There was some interest in several of our players in the Winter transfer window, but most of the bids were around £10m and I’m not so keen to allow our first team players to leave for such a small fee. We currently lack a real star that could attract big clubs and get a fee around £40-50m (perhaps Kenneth Taylor, Jay Gorter or Amourricho van Axel Dongen) and we lack adequate cover in certain positions that prevent us selling unless the fee is really good. However, I’ve been certain for a long time that some players’ performances in the Ajax system and formation exceed their actual ability by some margin and it sometimes lures big clubs to make a bid for them. Eintracht Frankfurt offered £6,75m for Neal Viereck this January and this bid was in fact too good to turn down. £6,75m + 20% next transfer fee clause for a 23 years old player who is close to his full potential and who I know is nowhere near Bundesliga standard - thank you very much. Viereck has been a useful squad player in my system - he doesn’t have any real weaknesses as a centre-back, but at the same time lacks any real strengths - no main attribute is higher than 14 and while he’s consistent enough, he doesn’t enjoy big matches and has a balanced personality, so he’s no mentor material and in a long run there’s no point keeping him around for more than necessary. He went off to Germany to disappoint some Frankfurt supporters and I’m pretty sure he won’t cut it in the top leagues. Most likely he’ll be back in Eredivisie in 3-4 seasons. I also allowed 20 years old Luciano Gladon to join Sparta Rotterdam for free - the youngster featured for Jong Ajax, but couldn’t make it into the first team. On the transfer deadline day there were bids for Jonathan Koppers, David Kalokoh and Juremy Jansen and I was willing to accept them all, but when the negotiations reached an agreement, it was already too late to make things official and transfers fell through. All of these players have a bit of a doubtful personality, so if anybody could move on it’s them. And if somebody is willing to pay £9,5m for David Kalokoh (as was the bid I received from Belgium) then it’s too good to turn down if the player is worth £5m at most. Eredivisie Our wins in January have extended our lead in the table, but FC Utrecht have made a good run in the past months and have challenged PSV and Feyenoord to the runner up place. AZ Alkmaar is still in no man’s land and it leaves the final European place up for grabs. Vitesse is an obvious candidate, but Go Ahead Eagles and Fortuna Sittard have both had a tremendous season so far and they’re trying to challenge big teams for that. Three clubs remain locked at the bottom of the table. SC Cambuur and De Graafschap will fight for the play-off place, but Almere City looks to go down - they don’t have necessary quality to play in Eredivisie and it shows in every single game.

The game is not too easy. You're making it too easy for yourself. You're selecting a top league top club to manage, with great resources (transfer budget, staff, youth system) and you have plenty of previous experience with FM so i assume your tactics, team talks etc. are quite spot on to begin with. In those conditions the game is supposed to be easy! You could do a lot differently to make the game more challenging - choose a different personality and background (sunday league footballer), start without reputation or badges, or just start from a lower division club without proper coaching staff or stadium - it gets more challenging and takes more time to reach higher. I agree that "game too easy" could be said if almost anybody can take some League 2 team to Champions League winners with less than 10 seasons, but starting with ManU and then complaining that you're winning most of the games ... that's kind of expectation for ManU, isn't it?

I believe that how AI teams will play against you (or any other team) is connected to two things: 1) general approach that teams play with lower mentality settings in away games and more attacking at home (same formation, but for example balanced at home and cautious in away) by default 2) pre-match predictions (bookies coefficients) that you see in match preview that pretty much indicates who's the favourite. Being small team in good form and high in the table in January doesn't necessarily make you favourites in a game against bigger clubs. I don't know how exactly those bookies predictions are calculated - I assume that both reputation, form and home/away factors are taken into account. I've noticed that against some teams we're favourites at home and they're favourites in their home game against us. Anyway I believe that those predictions will give you a hint how AI could approach his game against you. Last, but not least it's affected by how the match starts and who scores first. If you find the first goal your game could be fairly easy, but when you somehow concede first you have to be prepared that AI will start to protect the lead and finding an equaliser could be more difficult than finding the opening goal, depending on tactics of both teams.

I believe it was connected to reputation and therefore affects player morale and support to manager. It's important at the start of the save. Once you start winning on your own and build relationships with players it doesn't matter that much.

I play youth only save with a rule that I have to sell the player if certain value is met buy another club (around £40m). It keeps it a bit challenging, because I'm bound to lose most of my best players at some point before they turn 25 years old, but if the youth system is built up they can be replaced. Youth only save also forces you to change tactics from time to time because instead scouting for players who fit your tactics you need to tweak your tactics around the players you have. So a lot of PI-s for me. On the other hand there is a risk that at some point you are short of players in certain positions because the academy doesn't give you any and you need to go on with a mediocre goalkeeper or left-footed right back or something like that. At the same time youth only save renders scouting and recruiting pretty much useless. Opposition report is the only value they provide and their scouting reports are generally just overview what's going on in footballing world. I skip all recruitment meetings and my scouting staff gets handsomely paid without any serious responsibility, so we're good I've found Champions League impossible to win with youth only rule. I've reached quarter finals several times, but no further, because in top eight you're bound to go against big clubs and Liverpool, Manchester City, Arsenal and Bayern have become too much of an obstacle. Perhaps I haven't found a proper tactics for those games. I agree that morale has a huge impact on the game. Also tactical familiarity plays role - if you have the core of the team in place and they train their roles every day and play side-by-side and go from one winning streak to other it's very powerful recipe and you're not easily derailed by competitors.

Couple of things: 1) Not sure if you should 'counter-attack' when you're pressing high and mentality is positive (meaning you're slight favourite?). It might prevent building up good attacks. 2) You need a bit more bodies forward. I play similar formation, but one full-back is WBs and other is FBa (when I'm favourite), so they join the attack sooner. Also, you might switch your BWMs to BBMs when you need a goal and switch to him back to BWMs when you have the lead (or play against bigger teams).

Interesting choice of roles. Nunez is not the worst CF, but as stated above, three attacking roles is a bit too much. CFs could do it but with this formation and tactical setup (short passes, WBIB) CFs should be someone who is a very good creative passer. What we think about CF is a sort of target man, but with quick feet, good passing and excellent finishing, so the game thinks that to be a good CF you need at least some sort of target man qualities (especially decent height/size and heading ability). It actually isn't so, because your CF could perform well enough without being threat in the air. Let's look on your tactics once again. There's not a lot of crosses coming towards him when passing is set to short and WBIB instruction. Your players don't cross nearly enough to use his height. What's more important is how he could link up with two IFa-s. CFs could do it, but he needs to be able to hold up the ball, have a good vision and passing. He has the size and vision, but passing is a bit poor to give those sweet through balls into the box that your IFa-s could feed from. I remember using midfield roles DMCd, DLPs and CMa when playing 4-3-3.

I'm not commenting on your overall tactic, but about WBa issue I'd say that it's about creating space and currently you're not creating enough space on the left for him to run into. Think about what do you want him to do? I understand from PI-s that he should move forward, stay wide and deliver crosses, and he's excellent in that. Well, IWs is also a wide player who crosses (and sometimes cuts in), so depending on your IWs PI-s they occupy the same space and trying to do the same thing. Start with changing your IWs to IFs (as Cloud9 already suggested) and check how IFs and BBMs work side-by-side. You could also include 'overlap left' instructions if that's the move you want to exploit on the left.

The correct answer depends on who you manage (league and reputation) and what you're trying to achieve. My principles: 1. If a bigger and more reputable club comes in (some of European giants, for example) for a decent enough fee I let everybody go, even first team star players. The main idea is not to stand on the way of player's development and aspirations to play in a bigger club/league. Decent fee in that situation is anything around £50m or more. 2. I lean heavily on youth development so players around 23-24 years of age have got plenty of first team football in my team and also are close to their full potential. What happens next is often tied to their personality. If it's 'balanced' or otherwise unremarkable, I allow them to leave before they get too influential in the squad. If they're determined/ambitious/driven/professional etc. I try to keep at least some around. If the player is in the club still when 27-28 years of age the interest of big clubs seems to fade away slowly and they tend to stay put until the end of their career. 3. Contract management. Try to make the deal 18-24 months before their contract runs out or their fee is much smaller.

I take fatigue into account, but not injury risk, unless it's "very high". I don't start players who are just recovering from injuries (light training) and take fatigue into account when I make substitutions. However, I believe I rotate fair amount. There are usually some easier games in the schedule, especially home games against bottom third clubs in the league or cup games against lower division clubs. That's the best time to rotate and give chances to youngsters or bench players. My usual aim is to give around 10 starts (+ substitutions) for all players and no more than 40 for any player. I manage in Eredivisie which is a 18-club-league, so we have around 45-50 matches in a season (depending how successful we are in Europe). The trickiest part is with goalkeepers. So to get 10 starts he has to start in at least a couple of cup matches, probably at least home games against bottom third clubs (= 6 games) and if we secure the title early enough he'll complete his 10 games late in the season. Avoid discontent through managing expectations. Don't promise what you can't deliver. Always try to tune playing time expectations down a noth when agreeing contract terms. Players agree to that in more times than you'd expect. I usually have players in the squad who have playing time agreements waaay below their actual game time, for example squad player/first team player level has "fringe player" or "breakthrough prospect" in his current deal, so they're delighted with their game time. Keep your squad fairly small. Definitely no more than 25 players. I usually start the season with 22-23 players and try to fill the ranks with a couple of youngsters when injuries struck or they develop enough, but usually I have no problems with injuries. Look for versatility - you don't need specifically 22 equal players (two to each position). Three equal centre-backs is usually enough to rotate and give everyone enough game time. Midfielders and wingers could play in several roles etc.

December 2027 Fixtures and Results We battled for a difficult 0:0 draw at AFAS Stadion. In the first half we were lucky, because Jay Gorter saved a penalty after Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson handballed in our box, but the rest of the match was pretty much back and forth - both teams tried to go for the winning goal, but failed to create good enough chances, so when it remained goalless it looked like a fair reflection of the proceedings on the pitch. We went to Kyiv to play the game that didn’t decide anything and that was a fun match of football. Can Tas scored his first goal for the club to get things going for us and after the first 40 minutes we were leading 3:0, but then Tamm committed a foul in our box and Dynamo had a late penalty to make it 3:1 before half-time and they scored right after the second half kick-off and suddenly were very much back in the game. This is where their firepower ended, though - we controlled the game well after the 60’ mark and added two more goals to finish off our group stage with a great result. Travelling fans obviously enjoyed entertaining football, because the weather was as dreadful as expected in Ukraine in December - cold and half-snowy. Our 3:0 win over SC Cambuur was a more routine affair. We had good control over the game and looked dangerous from set pieces, but were very unlucky to hit the woodwork three times in this game. Nikita Tamm gave us the lead in the second half, Neal Viereck scored his first goal of the season to secure our result and a late goal from Haller made it 3:0. Last two goals came from set pieces and Kenneth Taylor’s distribution from dead ball situations looked really dangerous, so even if Cambuur managed to somewhat limit us from open play, they struggled against our set pieces. I expected an easy game against the Keuken Kampioen Divisie side NAC Breda in the cup, but it was a real struggle. We were perhaps a little bit optimistic and I made nine changes in the starting line-up, so our game was completely out of sync. We started well and scored from the spot to take the lead in the first half, but Breda came out of the gates storming after the break and they had momentum in the first five minutes of the second half, resulting in a foul in our box by Idumbo Muzambo and conceded penalty that made it 1:1. We struggled to create chances in the second half (which is understandable, because too many players were not used to each other or just short of match fitness) so in the end I brought on van Axel Dongen and Haller who combined the winning goal late in the game. Haller found himself in a one-on-one situation against the goalkeeper and just fired it into the top corner - a true striker’s finish that put us over the line. Ugly win and just a few decent performances (rating-wise) in the whole team. Feyenoord had a serious drop in form in December - perhaps also affected by their 0:5 defeat against Real Madrid in the Champions League, but they dropped points in Eredivisie against Helmond and FC Twente and they looked a little bit fragile because of that. And Johan Cruijff Arena is not the place to come to if you’re not confident in your ability to win, so we piled up to their misery with a 2:0 win. The match itself was a fairly drab affair - we had one good chance in the first half when Sebastien Haller’s header was parried by their goalkeeper, but Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson was there to tuck the loose ball in. Amourricho van Axel Dongen doubled our lead in the second half with a lovely chip - very skillful finish from him. The rest of the match was careful and not particularly exciting (some whistles and boos sounded from the crowd to signal that the fans expected more entertainment), but I was very happy with our defensive effort - we didn’t allow Feyenoord to create any real chances in this game and that’s exactly what you want to do if you’re 2:0 up against your rivals. Very good result in my books and fourth clean sheet in a row in Eredivisie. That’s the way. The last game of the year was the away trip to Erve Asito. Heracles is a good side (by Eredivisie standards) and capable of causing problems to any team in their home, so I predicted a tricky game and it was. We had a good first half and were leading 2:0 - David Kalokoh impressed me with an excellent finish from just outside of the area - when a doubtful decision awarded Heracles a penalty and that reduced our lead to 2:1 at half-time. Heracles scored their second goal after the break and were back to level terms. I had to make changes - Moha and Dramane Guehi came on and Guehi scored on a counter soon after his substitution, so that worked out well. Moha wrapped things up with a free header from point blank range minutes before the final whistle. We were much better after substitutions, especially in attack, we managed to create more chances than we did in the first half, but I can’t be happy with how we allowed Heracles to equalise from 2:0. To concede two goals against any Eredivisie side is too much anyway, so I can’t be pleased with that sort of performance. Players Injury problems that started to mount in November are mostly behind us now and players returned to full fitness. The schedule has been really difficult with not much time between games, and because some of the games mattered more than others, I could rotate more. That in turn led to some inconsistent performances, but generally we did well and some of the players had a good chance to impress. We’re halfway in the season and from the first 17 league games we collected 42 points - things go as planned here. At the same time our goals were distributed evenly between players and Dramane Guehi was the first one to reach 10 goals. It causes some selection headaches because we don’t have a reliable scorer, but on the other hand the winner can come from anywhere. Player of the Month: Neal Viereck - really difficult choice once again. Viereck didn’t start all of the games, but put in two key performances this month and we kept a clean sheet in all of the three games he started. Has to show something. Goal of the Month: David Kalokoh vs. Heracles Almelo - great finish from 18 metres Contracts Kenneth Taylor extended his deal with Ajax until 2032. He’s our highest earner with £60,000 p/w wages, but he’s a quality player in midfield and leads the team forward. Olivier Aertssen also signed a new 5-year deal and Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson earned himself a big raise with his performances in this season. With those deals I tied down three key players for the future and made it more difficult for other clubs to lure them away in Summer. Youth Intake Preview Another intake report from our head of youth development that is marked as “excellent”, but I have my reservations about those promises for a while now. At least one good winger is promised, with a decent striker and some OK attacking midfielders. Not much for our defensive line, though. Eredivisie We’re slowly increasing our lead in the table. Feyenoord had a pretty awful month and they dropped to fourth place. Champions League We finished our group strong. Five wins and 15 points was a lot more than expected, but we’re unlucky to get FC Barcelona in the first knockout round. We’re nowhere at their level and I expect us to exit in February.

November 2027 Fixtures and Results Another six games in November and some tricky away fixtures in the list that also includes two tough Champions League matches against FC Porto and AS Roma. We started with a trip to Estadio do Dragao. I didn’t expect FC Porto to roll over after we defeated them 5:0 in Amsterdam and prepared for a difficult match. We opted for a cautious mentality, but our usual 4-2-3-1 wide formation. The first half was a fairly even battle - FC Porto had a few good attempts on target, but chances were rare and neither of the two teams wanted to take too many risks. Draw suited us well, so we continued in this fashion into the second half, but in 49’ FC Porto found a goal from a corner and we needed to change things. I made substitutions, switched back to a balanced and then positive mentality and we had the momentum in the second half, but couldn’t score the equaliser. Sebastien Haller had the best opportunity of the game with a free header on point blank range just a few minutes from the final whistle, but he somehow managed to send it wide - his goalless run extends to more than seven hours of football now and I’m starting to get worried about him. In the end we had to accept a narrow defeat, even though I felt we deserved to get something out of this game - in retrospect cautious mentality was a bit too careful and we lost our creativity in attack. On the other hand we showed our poor finishing again - our xG was slightly better than FC Porto’s, but we couldn’t capitalise on that and left without a goal. That’s something to think about. FC Utrecht didn’t seem to be an easy opponent either, especially away from home. I made some changes in our line-up to keep players fresh. The game started well for us, because FC Utrecht’s Stefan Lainer was sent off in 11’ for a two-footed tackle on Moha and playing 11 against 10 made our situation a lot easier. However, we couldn’t really capitalise on the situation and failed to put FC Utrecht under real pressure - we had some half-chances and small initiative, but I expected a lot more considering our numerical advantage. We finally managed to take the lead in the second half - Kenneth Taylor scored a wonderful free kick that went in off the bar, but still failed to take all three points, because we allowed FC Utrecht to stun us with a counter-attack in 87’. Late equaliser was seriously frustrating and I let the team know how I felt. Most of the players failed to impress me in this game - not sure if we made something wrong tactically or we just lack leaders on the pitch. We were favourites against FC Emmen and had home advantage, too, but it was another frustrating game for me as a manager. We couldn’t create anything in attack, Peter Misidjan was again completely ineffectual in the AMCa role and our only good moment in the first half came in 45’ (that Dramane Guehi missed). It was a pretty similar second half and FC Emmen did extremely well to nullify our attacks. van Axel Dongen hit the post once, but Prince Aning finally saved our sorry ***es in 81’ with a great strike. That goal gave us all three points, but I had little positive words about the performance. It was a different story against AS Roma. Playing big clubs at home is often easier than expected, because they tend to switch their formation too defensive and give away midfield too easily, so I chose to retain our usual positive 4-2-3-1 formation, but just brought our lines back a notch. It worked as a treat in the first half - we created a great moment in 16’ when Haller was getting through on goal, but he was tripped from behind and we got a penalty that he scored himself. Amourricho van Axel Dongen then scored a brace with two well-executed runs behind the lines, both times breaking Mourinho’s offside trap and both times VAR confirmed that he was, in fact, onside before receiving the ball. The first half was just brilliant and our game plan executed to perfection. I switched to a balanced mentality in the second half and we gave away some momentum, but were never under real pressure defensively, avoiding unnecessary risks and keeping our lead intact. Haller hit the post in 74’, but neither of the teams created too many good chances after the break. I was really happy with our mature performance and with a 3:0 win we secured our first place in the group. Great game. Fortuna Sittard is a club that can always mix it up against any club and at home they were difficult opponents. We had a solid 20 minutes at the start and Amourricho van Axel Dongen had an early attempt from some way out that their goalkeeper failed to stop. It went into the book as an own goal, but we looked really good at the start of the game before Fortuna slowly regained their feet and got back into the match. They equalised from a corner in the second half, but then we switched to another gear - Davy Klassen scored and added another goal from the penalty. Nikita Tamm scored with an outstanding finish and Guehi wrapped things up with our fifth goal. In the second half we showed some really good attacking football and Fortuna had no answers to our quality. We continued in good rhythm against PEC Zwolle - controlled the game in the first half, scored three goals and could make early substitutions and play a quite relaxed second half with our three goals lead. Players In the beginning of November I had more criticism than praise to share, as several players failed to perform even when results finally went our way. Peter Misidjan disappointed me once again against FC Emmen and fell out of favour and Sebastien Haller scored only once (a penalty against AS Roma) despite scoring six goals for his national team in just one game. Things improved a little at the end of the month - Davy Klassen and Dramane Guehi led the lines and our finishing stats improved as well. Player of the Month: Rico Speksnijder - he played more after our first two games and his involvement seemed to improve our game a lot. Goal of the Month: Rico Speksnijder vs. PEC Zwolle - a brilliant strike, curled into the top corner from the edge of area Jasper Vogels earned a new contract and his deal (that was about to run out in 2029) was extended until 2031 with a moderate increase in wages. His performance against AS Roma was really good (incredible that he’s just 18 years old!) and his agent promptly saw a chance for a raise. My intention was to keep him in the club long term and so I didn’t mind it at all. Injuries We enjoyed relatively injury-free three months, but it wasn’t the case in November. It all started with midfielder Bart Smits who sprained his knee ligaments in training in the beginning of November and was sidelined for around 3-5 weeks. He’s a breakthrough player and wasn’t likely to feature too much for us, but that sort of injury is serious enough and he’s the first player to be away from the pitch for that long this season. But an injury bug continued to bite us - Moha suffered a fractured toe in an international match and he’ll be out for around 4-5 weeks as well. Kenneth Taylor twisted his knee in training and had to miss games against FC Emmen and Prince Aning (who did brilliantly to win the match against FC Emmen for us) suffered abdominal strain soon after and had to skip two weeks of training and matches. Eredivisie We have a small lead now. Bottom three start to shape up as well - surprising to see SC Cambuur struggle for so long, but they’ve been really poor so far. AZ Alkmaar made a decision and appointed Bernd Storck as their new manager and Oliver Neuville took charge of SC Cambuur. Andries Jonker was sacked by FC Twente. Champions League Other news from European football: Jürgen Klopp was sacked from FC Liverpool - their league campaign had started poorly and Liverpool was just 8th in the Premier League table, so Klopp lost his job despite winning the Champions League in 2024 in my save. Despite that triumph Manchester City have dominated the league and won the Premier League title seven years in a row, so other big clubs are trying to change something to challenge for the trophy.

I approve, although we have only one decent stadium with 10-12 000 capacity, so getting tickets would be a challenge

Commentary often describes what actually is prevented on the pitch. For example commentary says that "player X crosses for the far post" but in reality the cross is blocked by full-back and it goes for a corner. I you read commentary it makes you believe that the cross was actually delivered to that area. Instead, it was mere intention that was prevented by arriving defender. I believe the same goes for the chip in the video. Commentary says it was a chip, the attacker actually tried to pull it off, but instead it got deflected in. I believe we have very different grievances about the game here. One is that player should not do stupid mistakes and illogical decisions. Well, in fact they do and in real life it happens on the highest level as well. Perhaps not so frequently, but sometimes "too frequently" is also just a matter of perspective. If you sit in front of your PC and play through the whole season in one weekend you see a lot of stuff in two days that seem too frequent. But for the whole season it's actually spread out in real life and if you'd make a highlight reel of some football league now when the season is over (in June) you'd see a lot of stupid goals there as well. The other is that the game doesn't give feedback about those mistakes. Yes, the players are imperfect. They make mistakes. Obviously if your decision attribute is 10 out of 20, you're bound to make some judgment errors and not to follow instructions 100% through 90 minutes of football. But it should be somewhat more evident to make it clearer for the manager if he can/should do something about player instructions or is it just the quality of the player that has let him down. My personal take as a football manager in FM is to seek answer to a question: "did I fail as a manager or not?". If my team plays well, creates chances, but in the end loses because of a clear individual mistake or poor finishing, then there's nothing wrong with tactics. Perhaps with squad selection, but not with tactics. No need to rush with changes. But it's more complex when we're shut down well in attack and the other team's game plan seems to work better. Then it's tactical and I need to know what to do. Sadly - no assistant manager or data analyst provides me with decent information what to do.

October 2027 Fixtures and Results Home game against Go Ahead Eagles was the first one where we dropped points in the league. I rotated the team boldly again - it has worked out on several occasions in September, but this time it backfired. Some of the attacking players were nervous and we lacked creativity up front. Bart Smits curled his free kick against the crossbar in the first half injury time, but it was the closest we got to goal before substitutions in the second half started to have an effect. van Axel Dongen crossed for Nikita Tamm for a simple finish from close range, but in 77’ Helmond had a crack and their winger Gustav Elkjaer scored with a lovely finish - it wasn’t even a proper chance, but the goal was enough to steal a point from Johan Cruijff Arena. I was pretty upset with the result, because I felt we conceded two cheap points to Feyenoord in the title race. Feyenoord caught us in the table as a result and our next match after the international break was a trip to De Kuip. There was visible tension in both teams in the Klassieker derby, because it looked like a title decider already in October. Both teams were level in the table and a win here was about to give a huge boost for one that could mean more than three points alone. We started a little better and in 14’ we took the lead - Davy Klaassen sent a deep cross to the far post where Nikita Tamm won a header to send the ball into the net. In 29’ Amourricho van Axel Dongen hit the post and it looked like we had a decent control over the match, but in the very next attack Luis Sinisterra equalised with a powerful header. He lifted off near the edge of the area and I can’t even blame Jermoumi for not marking him tighter there, but the header was a real belter that landed in the goal. Questions about Jay Gorter’s positioning, perhaps, but not much we could do about that goal. Decisive moments in the game happened in the second half, though, when Feyenoord’s Fredrik Aursnes was sent off for his late tackle on Jermoumi - that happened in 51’ and we had almost 40 minutes to find a winner. Feyenoord dropped deep and defended well for the most part of this second half and we struggled to create good chances, but in injury time Aning was tripped in the box and Davy Klaassen scored the winner from the spot. That was a sucker punch for Feyenoord and honestly, a goal I didn’t really expect us to score at that point, because we had been rather dull in the first half despite playing 11 vs. 10 for a long period. I felt that we got first lucky with the red card that really hampered Feyenoord’s pressure to our goal and then the late penalty was a little undeserved, so - not happy with the performance, but delighted with the result. We managed to continue this momentum into our next Champions League match against FC Porto - we started at home, with a positive mentality and Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson gave us the lead with a curling effort from 20 metres - a brilliant goal from the midfielder that left FC Porto game plan ineffective. We had a narrow 1:0 lead at half-time, but both Hlynsson and Amourricho van Axel Dongen carried a knock from the first half and I had to make early substitutions because of that. However, we raised our game in the second half - Dramane Guehi scored soon after the kick-off, Moha added another goal with a well struck effort and then FC Porto seemed to collapse completely - two more goals from Nikita Tamm and Moha made it 5:0 and it turned to be a true humiliation for the Portuguese side. We celebrated a brilliant result with our fans for some time after the final whistle - that’s three for three in the Champions League and that win gave us a really strong platform to reach the latter stages of the competition. After two good wins I was optimistic before the Topper derby against PSV Eindhoven - confidence was high and we had scored a lot of goals. In addition it was my 300th game in football management. We started well and had a number of good chances in the first half. Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson hit the post as well, before PSV’s Oliver saw his free kick clip the crossbar. The first half ended goalless, but we were clearly the better team on the pitch and should have been 2:0 up, but the finishing was just terrible - 15/2 shooting in the first 45 minutes, about what my assistant dryly noted that ‘our shooting has been average’. What average? It was a disaster to say the least. Unfortunately we continued in the same manner - Dramane Guehi hit the volley against the post before PSV hit us on a counter in 67’. We reacted well and Nikita Tamm equalised in the very next attack, but in 85’ Fran Villalba scored his second goal of the game after Olivier Aertssen just gifted him the ball near our box and PSV took advantage of that individual error. Terrible result for us, because we didn’t deserve that. We should have won that easily in the first half, but wasted our moments and allowed PSV to steal the win. Our shooting was 23/4, with 3.00 xG - that shows how awful our finishing was in this game. The defeat ended our unbeaten streak that reached 58 games in Eredivisie. Something that’s difficult to repeat. I hoped to bounce back with a win against Excelsior. Our opponents were just promoted to Eredivisie, but found themselves in 7th place before the match and their manager is none other than Ajax legend Patrick Kluivert, so I guess we need to take them seriously. We had momentum in the first half and a number of good chances, but our finishing was again terrible and we went to half-time without a goal. We finally got a breakthrough in the second half - two quick goals within two minutes. Then Excelsior’s David Sambissa received his second yellow card and was sent off and in the final 20 minutes we played with freedom and confidence, scoring three more goals and finishing the game off in style. I was happy with the second half, but couldn’t forget how cramped we looked before the break, so I can’t be fully satisfied with the football we showed. Tactics and Players It’s been a rollercoaster month and things have sometimes worked out for us and sometimes haven’t. We played our best football against FC Porto, had a lot of luck against Feyenoord and no luck at all against PSV Eindhoven, so that evened out a bit, but we failed to dominate against Eagles and Excelsior (at least in the first half) and this is where our performance was clearly below par. In Johan Cruijff Arena I expect us to dominate the game and create chances, especially against smaller teams, and failing to do so leaves question marks about some player’s performances. Mostly our problems lie with poor finishing, and I’m not sure if it’s a technical or mental problem. Sebastien Haller has been goalless all month and Dramane Guehi has been very inconsistent. In fact, inconsistency is the keyword in attack. van Axel Dongen is the only reliable attacking player, but I never know what to expect from others - sometimes I get great games and beautiful goals, but in other matches they disappear completely. Peter Misidjan has failed to perform recently and we’re clearly worse in attack when he’s on the pitch. In the beginning of the season he was sharing game time with Hlynsson, but I’ve come to trust the Icelander more and Misidjan needs to work hard to earn his place back in the first team. Defensively I’ve become painfully aware that Can Tas might be too short for a centre-back. He’s good with the ball and very good in tackling, but his short stature and 9 for a jumping attribute is easily exploited by teams who play long ball. Losing headers in midfield and playing with a high defensive line is a dangerous combination, because it leaves too much space to nod the headers into and we’ve conceded too many chances like that. For next games I need to check what sort of strikers we’re up against and choose my defenders accordingly. Player of the Month: Nikita Tamm - played in four games in October and scored in all of them. Not exactly brilliant performances, but did what he could in all games. Goal of the Month: Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson vs. FC Porto - a beautiful goal from 20 metres that led to a brilliant wn Contracts Davy Klaassen extended his contract for another season and we’ll have him around until 2029. David Kalokoh also signed a new 5-year deal, although I’m afraid that the £20,000 p/w wages that his agent was able to get is a tad overpaid in our wage structure. Eredivisie Top of the table looks pretty tight - our defeat in the Topper derby allowed PSV Eindhoven to close the gap and Feyenoord is also right on our tails. There are some interesting teams in the top half of the table - FC Emmen and Excelsior certainly don’t look like contenders for European places, but here they are. AZ Alkmaar are underachieving and sit in the middle of the table - they’ve got just one point from October games and although that list includes defeats to PSV and Feyenoord, losing against Go Ahead Eagles (0:3 at home!) and Willem II is unacceptable, so Jurgen Streppel was sacked after the Eagles’ result. Clubs at the bottom also made decisions - Torsten Frings was sacked by Almere City before the international break in October. That was quick! On the other hand - their start to the season was just appalling. Almere appointed Jelle Huijberts as their new head coach and he’s probably the first regen manager in Eredivisie in this save. David Healy was also sacked by SC Cambuur - their 17th position is not good enough, knowing how many smaller teams we have in the league this season. Champions League With three wins we’ve put ourselves in the best possible position, especially with FC Porto struggling. A draw against Dynamo Kyiv is enough to secure our qualification.

Good question, but what I've noted in FM22 training ratings are a bit biased towards younger players. It looks like it's easier to get 9.00+ rating if you're 20 compared to 30 years old players. It seems like training rating is more connected to development rather than actual work that is put in, so it might be a bit unfair in this regard. As cited above assistant managers sometimes make their suggestions that seem to be based on training, but I'm not certain what time period is taken into account there - last week, last month or last three months.

September 2027 For the first time in a while we had most of the players with the club during international break - Jay Gorter was with the Holland national team, Estonians were away too, but most of our 21-22 years old players didn’t earn the call-up and had a chance to train for two weeks. Champions League will kick off in September, but Eredivisie fixtures offer smaller and/or newly-promoted clubs that we should beat easily, so balancing easy with tough nicely. Fixtures and Results Firstly, we hosted newly-promoted Almere City at Johan Cruijff Arena. I expected an easy win and in the end it was, but mainly because Almere players were overly aggressive and their defender Ko Matsubara received his second yellow card just after nine minutes of football. That made our situation a lot easier, but Almere continued to foul in every possible chance and collected yellows with almost every foul, so in the second half their second player was sent off by referee Kevin Blom. Meanwhile, some football was played and we scored four goals - the most spectacular one was Peter Misidjan’s wonderful finish from the edge of the area. Kevin Blom fell under a lot of criticism after the match, because Almere City finished with 27 fouls, 10 bookings and two red cards. On one hand they did foul a lot, but on the other hand I have to agree with the Almere City manager who pointed out questionable refereeing performance, because in the first 10-15 minutes there was a booking for almost every single foul and that looked a bit too harsh. Kevin Blom received a 4.1 rating for his refereeing performance, but at least it was to our favour this time. Home game against Dynamo Kyiv was probably our easiest Champions League fixture on paper and indeed we were clearly the better team on the pitch as well. We dominated possession in front of the home fans from start to finish, but managed to waste most of our chances in this game. Peter Misidjan moved very well in attack, found all sorts of spaces in the box and got himself into open positions to take a shot and it was he who finally scored from a loose ball after van Axel Dongen’s attempt was parried away by the Dynamo goalkeeper. However, we continued to throw away chances in the second half - both Sebastien Haller and Nikita Tamm blew their ccc-s and I started to think that this is a win that me might somehow blunder away in the end, but we didn’t - substitute Dramane Guehi showed his teammates how to finish and sent a curling strike into the top corner from the edge of area to put this game to bed. Statistics were incredible in the end - 10 chances created (3 clear cut chances) with 4.55 xG, but only one goal scored from all of them. I was very happy with our general performance - we controlled possession and created moments in attack - but our finishing needs to improve. I chose to rotate the team in the next two matches against Helmond and De Graafschap in order to give game time for the players who have come on as substitutes. I’m glad to say that it didn’t backfire, but it wasn’t as smooth as I anticipated either. We missed penalties in both games (Guehi vs. Helmond and Sebastien Haller vs. De Graafschap) and made things more difficult than they should have been with a rather terrible finishing. However, we scored three goals in both matches and the best one was Rico Speksnijeder’s effort from 23 metres that curled into the top corner. Plenty of chances in both games (xG over 3.00) but finishing left a lot to be desired. Our trip to Rome was the most difficult match in September and I decided to approach it differently. In our pre-season friendlies we had moderate success with a defensive mentality and I opted for it in the away game against AS Roma. I also lowered our lines a little and switched Davy Klaassen’s role to BWMs. It worked perfectly in the first half - we scored a quick goal and limited AS Roma chances well. Klaassen worked hard in midfield and his interceptions initiated several counter-attacks. We had the initiative and when Olivier Aertssen doubled our lead from a corner before half-time it looked well-deserved. My positive half-time feedback had an impact for the first 15 minutes after the break, but old fox Jose Mourinho had changed the approach and momentum switched to AS Roma - we found ourselves under pressure around 60’ and after the third dangerous set piece situation their tall midfielder Bryan Cristante headed home from a corner. Despite losing momentum we defended well in the remainder of the game and didn’t allow any real chances to our opponents, so we returned from Rome with a very valuable three points. Players There were both easier and more difficult games in September and almost everybody got their chance to impress. Even David Kalokoh and Stanis Idumbo Muzambo who haven’t started a game yet have at least four appearances from the bench. We managed to remain quite injury-free - only Mert Alegoz suffered torn wrist ligaments (a rather serious trauma for a goalkeeper) and he had to stay away from the first team action) but everybody else has trained well and match load hasn’t been too high for anyone. Player of the Month: Amourricho van Axel Dongen - he’s continued to be our best creative player up front and it isn’t his fault that the finishing from teammates has been sometimes below par Goal of the Month: Rico Speksnijder vs. Helmond Sport - brilliant strike, curled in from 23 metres Another news item confirmed our excellent youth work. Apparently we’re no 2 in top league player development (although some way behind Barcelona in this regard). Eredivisie We’re leading the table. PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord made a 1:1 draw, so Feyenoord are two points behind us, but PSV and AZ Alkmaar have lost a lot more ground already. Champions League Excellent start to our campaign. FC Porto and AS Roma made a draw in the first round and it was a favourable result for us as well. AS Roma are probably disappointed with their first two games, but so is FC Porto who somehow lost to Dynamo Kyiv, so the table after two rounds is very intriguing.