Hootieleece

ASSE: Montee les Verts February 2022: Managers Thoughts The team came into February reeling from the Rhone Derby loss and Football could see things beginning to go south on the morale front so that good performances were necessary to maintain the position in the European places. The month was bookended by tough matches against OM and PSG respectively. Honestly M. Football only expected to get 7 points from League games even though his target is to average 2/match. Schedule Highlights The month began with a trip to the ancient port of Marseilles to play our rivals OM in the 11th Round of the Coupe de France. OM got out to an early lead the team kept trying to find a way into the game, but the team scored too late to make a match of it. The analysts thought the result was fair based on Xg. So the team was now out of the Coupe de France.....even though some thought we could have been a contender. M. Football wasn't sure..... Also with January ending the Transfer Window closed..... M. Football continued to put his stamp on the team by letting players go who didn't want to fight for the shirt or their teammates and the fans. After the terrible result against OM, M. Football looked to turn things around at home against Montpelier. The team was on the edges of European places due to its fantastic December run, the team seemed to have hit a rough patch and Ryad Bourbouz would not be able to play the #10. The hero of the evening was Denis Bouanga recently returned from the ACN. He scored an early penalty that was the only goal in the game. According to our analysts and most neutrals the best player on the pitch was the Montpellier GK! The next match would see the team head to Clermont to play our rival. (LOL) Clermont fans thought of it as a rivalry since the teams were both in Ligue 1. M. Football thought of it as a chance to put "little brother in his place" M. Football exuded confidence at the Presser and the players liked it! The match was an affair that showed Clermont couldn't handle the emotions and had TWO players sent off. The only thing that marred our performance was the goal we gave up before half up a man! After the Clermont match Football was looking for a repeat against Strasbourg but this was a classic "trap game" before the big match with PSG that both Football and the players were looking forward to. It was a tough battle between to even teams and the first half proved how even it was in that no one score until First Half Extra time when ASSE took the lead. Strasbourg answered with 2 between the 50-70th minutes and ASSE tied it late on an own goal by Kolscielny. ASSE and fans were celebrating when a Long ball over the top to their CF led to Diallo dribbling around the GK Bernardoni and passing the ball into the net. As angry as M. Football got, he could help but admire the goal! according to the Xg this was one that got away.....the shaky defense again was the culprit. After that disappointment the team had to pull together for a trip to Paris and the Parc des Princes. M. Football had no illusions of task ahead when the probable PSG Lineup looked like this: In all reality ASSE had little chance of winning, but M. Football refused to "park the bus" to try and beat the "Galactic Empire" The pundits and favorites came out of the woodwork for this one..... M. Football backed up his mindset with words..... It was to no avail, there was no way to bridge the chasm of quality between the two teams. Every player in the PSG starting 11 and most players on their bench make more money than our highest earner. In fact 3 players, Mbappe, Messi, and Neymar all make more than the entire ASSE team. Pochettino had kind words after the demolition. Mostly M. Football will learn how to keep his mouth shut and not give rival teams "Bulletin Board Material" Highlights of our destruction were all over the sports casts in France after the game! The xG showed that we were outplayed but it was closer than the scoreboard showed. Again our defense and GK let us down. The passing analysis shows that the team didn't make it to the "Magic Number" of 500 passes and that contributed to the defeat. League Table Analysts Report Management Report

When I play in Germany often a lot of that Prize Money is taken up by "Big Contracts" ($3-4M/Year) for Hot Academy Products. I had a lot of trouble during a while managing Hertha (during my annual Journeyman Save) keeping Payroll costs down because of this as well as having every club bigger than them knocking on the door for the same players. (I was well into the 2030's and most players were Regen's by then) Also none of them were really wonderkids.

I was pretty sure when I got to this point in the Season the team was safe. My ego wanted the European place.....so I can tell myself I know more about football/soccer than then "Experts"!

Looks good, but will know more once the season starts,

ASSE: Montee les Verts January 2022: Managers Thoughts After the Holidays the team returned to play and confidence was high, but Football wasn't so sure about this team. Too many players were worried about things other than soccer and Football was also trying to remove as many of these individualists as possible while winning games. Football believed in the collective (the Team) and it did well all would reap the benefits. Football also realized that January would be tough due to half the First XI playing in the ACN. The biggest match would be a rematch of the "Rhone Derby" would ASSE win again, this time in Lyon. Football wasn't sure. He just wanted to win as many as possible and vanquish the "Nightmares" that visited him nightly before games of a word where ASSE wasn't doing so well and would find themselves Relegated to Ligue2! Highlights M. Football tried to play a rotated side against the lower league opposition and it almost backfired. The game started well enough, but we couldn't get the ball past their GK and get the second goal. The match went to extra time and Football brought on the stars in the second half to ensure a win. After the match M. Football got news he was dreading..... This player had been carrying the team thus far and he had hoped to be able to reach an agreement with him to stay, but he wanted to "explore his options". In the end M. Football doesn't want players who don't want to be here.....he wants to build a team first culture. In the mean time he expects the player to continue his good performances. M. Football was happy to extend a player who is breaking into the first team and will see considerable Playing time in January because of African Nation Call ups. As a reward for getting past Pau FC the team would have to play our rivals OM. This will be a tricky match! The GM brought in this player on a free to help replace Ryad. I was surprised that such a talented player was available on a free....(as I had signed him for each of my previous French Saves Clermont and Grenoble) He will have to be trained and needs to be mentored but should make a decent rotation option a AMR-IW. The team then had to be ready to resume the season with a match against Angers SCO. The trip to Loire Valley would normally be one that I would expect to win, but the African Nations Call ups and our Starting #9 suspended this should be a tricky match. Just before the match another young prospect was sent on loan to a rival. I accepted because of previous affiliation. Also M. Football went to the board and asked them to make the Academy better because he has decided to go the Youth Route to build the team. I think this meshes well with the team and Board Philosophy. After the Transfer and Board News it was time to play some Football. Ryad Boudebouz carried the team offensively from the #10 and "Kolo" had his best match under Football playing as a Centerback. The core of the team of the team played well..... The Media/Press has a lot of nice things to say about M. Football's tenure as manager so far! Another 5 match winning streak something is going right.....makes me wonder about the Real life team. The analysts said it was a well-played match as well. M. Football likes to see at least 500 passes a match. The 678 meant that the other team was always on the back foot. The team then prepared to host RC Lens in St. Etienne. Football was looking forward to the match, but it was ultimately canceled and rescheduled due to a Blizzard. So then the team had to get ready for another Rhone Derby with hated rivals OL. This time the team would have to travel to Lyon. At least a few of the ANC players back. The Big Match Hype got to Football...... The Match started off badly and got worse after Silva was sent off just before halftime. The team battled but being down a man it wasn't meant to be. In the after match press conferences the press tried to ratchet up the tension between the two teams....... The analysts showed that we didn't play well even though we made more than the "Magic Number" of passes. Football put it down to being under pressure due to being down a man. After the loss to OL the team returned to Stade Geoffrey Guichard to ready themselves to play the rescheduled match against RC Lens. This was a match that on paper ASSE had no business losing..... and the press and fans believed that we were in great form...... In other news Football decided to look for a replacement for Boudebouz. So he found this young French player in Normandy. A bit more of a midfielder than Boudebouz, but it is his Set-Piece Prowess that made Football pull the trigger on the deal. He will be a sub of the bench immediately and a Squad/rotation player afterwards. He will be retrained as a AMR-IW. The match against RC Lens was a desultory affair that angered Football because of the points being thrown away.....mostly because he was beginning to believe that ASSE had European potential even with the shaky defense. Football also chased a reliable #9, but this player turned us down. (He is a player I have seen other players use effectively, but have never signed him) He had been on the transfer list and we matched NYCFC's bid. He would have been the perfect #9 for the "Football System"! Transfer Deadline Day came but Football was amused that ASSE was linked to Matic. He had no idea where that came from.....He had made his two forays into the market. Analysts Report The defense has moved from busy and leaky to quiet and leaky....Football guesses it is an improvement! Manager Report

It wasn't bad. It gave us a foundation for success. (I have finished the season, but haven't caught up writing it) The biggest problems are sorting out the Defense (back 4 and GK) and finding a reliable #9. The second half of the season will see us almost throw it away.....because this is a group of talented individuals and not a team.

Caqueret looks like a Ngolo Kante that also has some playmaking skill! Great pick up for your midfield.

Great Gameplan against Pep. I usually don't have the patience...... Possesion/Passing the ball to play "Keep away" is actually a defense I approve of! Used it quite a bit with my teams when we are underdogs. It is sort of what I am doing with ASSE right now. Since the defense is shaky.... works most of the time unless a play a team committed to the High Press/Gengenpressing. I am also a fan of Balanced Mentality and Standard Defense Line and Line of Engagement. I often only have to up the mentality to Positive to get results without changing anything in my tactical setup (roles or Pi's)

ASSE: Montee les Verts Winter Break 2021 During Christmas break Football decided to shake up the staff. Specifically, the Scouting Staff. He had been less than happy with all of the reports about 33+ "has beens" and "Never will be's" being offered to him as replacements for players that were leaving. Yes, there were players that were upset with their playing time and ASSE as "Farm Team" needed young players to develop and sell for profit. Somehow the General Manager and Chief Scout didn't get the memo! All of the scouts had been working on the "General Focus" which I had set to 15–25-year-old players. Unfortunately, I kept getting 30 somethings. So M. Football decided to dole out the Assignments himself. He sent the appropriate scout (Scouting Knowledge) to a country or region that ASSE was interested in recruiting in the next 6 months which should get the Staff prepared for the Summer Transfer Window. These are the new assignments and reflect the fact that ASSE and Football want to find young Francophone African players to develop and sell fitting the vision of the club and fitting with the players already here. Mentor Groups Also, he had set them up earlier, but now seemed like a good time to explain Football's Player Personality Development Plan. When he set's up Mentoring groups He uses Mentors (Starters or High Influence Players) with "good" personalities for each role group in the club and pair them with 1-2 young players from that position group that needed mentoring. Sometimes not every group will have a mentee, but when an appropriate player is brought into the team he is assigned to the group he would learn the most from based on his position and role. The groups a kept small no more than 3-5 players at a time preferably with mentors outnumbering mentees. Also not all Starting Players and Highly Influential Players are part of the mentoring program. (Balanced Personalities need not apply) Thanks for Reading!

ASSE: Montee les Verts December 2021: Taking it on the Run Schedule Manager's Thoughts As December got started M. Football wanted to leave the "November Rain" behind. It had been an ugly month, fortunately the Football gods had scheduled 5 matches against lower table opponents including a Coupe de France 9th round match against AC Ajaccio of Ligue2. This was a winnable month and Football was looking for at least 8 points. Other than the "beautiful" heart stopper against Stade de Reims on the road, the matches were dominated by ASSE individual brilliance and flair. Highlights The month started out with a trip to Brittany to visit the City of Brest. Main man Wahbi Kkazri started off the scoring and another was put in by CM Neyou. Brest attempted to make it a game with a goal against run of play, but Miguel Trauco sealed the match with a goal late in overtime. The team then returned to Stade Geoffrey Guichard to host Stade Rennais FC from Brittany as well..... The team was the favored but would need a good outing to overcome Rennes. It was a close run thing......on a different day a different result....probably! Stade Rennais "Parked the bus" and just refused to leave their box. Not a bad passing map.....It is how we kept possession to eventually break down their defense. The RC Lens manager that was eyeing a few ASSE players for his team got fired. and for all the Saudi Haters......Newcastle fired Eddie Howe. The Youth Intake preview looks promising....... The next match would see the team travel to the Cathedral City of Reims. We were favored, but Football smelled a trap! Home underdogs are always tough to beat. Especially when a rotated team is fielded. It also didn't help that we would be playing a team managed by Claude Puel.... M. Football only had nice things to say about him! Which was a good thing considering that his tableproppers pushed the team to the brink with two goals from Moussa Dembele. Luckily "Le Stephanois" scored two goals late to rescue victory from the jaws of defeat. After the escape in Reims "Les Verts" headed home to host a Coupe de France match against AC Ajaccio. Football let his squad players have the match as a reward for waiting patiently for their chance. The AC Ajaccio manager was putting up a brave face..... The team won the match late after finally breaking down their dogged defense. Bad News for January! The team will lose 5 Starters to the African Cup of Nations. As a reward for beating AC Ajaccio the team heads to Pau to play Pau FC in the next round. The Last match before the Christmas Break is against struggling FC Nantes. The boys from Nantes would visit Stade Geoffrey Guichard and we hoped to give the crowd a Xmas Present of a win! Dominant Win we were clicking on all cylinders and pressed them hard with the Gengenpress version of our Tactic. Passed the ball and kept possession did a great imitation of Liverpool! League Table Analysts Report Our Attacking numbers are quite good. Player of the Month Aimenn Mouefek The young CM played well in the CM-D position on the left side of the formation with his tackling really helping to break up opposition attacks. Manager Report The board is happy and the bank balance is healthy and the team should stay in the black for the season if projections are correct. Thanks for Reading!

Make sure you put in Team Bonding Sessions after all games and Community Outreach before Home Games to help with Morale and Teamwork/Cohesion. Eventually after a win or before a close home game have a team meeting to fire up the troops! Eventually things will go your way just need to get that first win! Morale is very important to both winning and losing streaks and performance on the field. Almost more important than tactics.

It all depends, I can often find a good to very good player on a Free Transfer from one of the big Six. Usually someone who should be playing, but the AI bought the biggest Rep player for the position over the summer. Always send your scouts to get U21 reports from the Big English teams around September. Then shortlist and fully scout any prospects to find out the contract situation. You can usually poach one on a "Free" that might cost you a bit in January. You can also gamble that the AI won't resign them and wait to sign in June or July.

You are right about the surprising loss and relegation IRL, but if you saw how much woodwork and sitters my opponents miss, you would be wondering how we are doing as well as we are. The defense is still shaky, but We are good going forward with our flair and skill. PSG spends $150M on just 3 players, but arguably they are 3 of the top 10 attackers in the world. The rest of the team all make more than my biggest earner. We can't really compete unless I get lucky in the Transfer Market or Youth Intake. There is hope, but we are very much a Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde team...... never really know which one is going to show up. It all depends on how we do in April....

Maybe Spain is harder, because it is 3 teams you have to beat not just PSG. Even though PSG is a tough hill to climb. Especially when they spend $150M/year on just 3 players!

It looks like your competitive tactically (no big losses). Is it a morale problem?

Astronomical fees for Homegrown English Players......say it isn't so! I call it the "Grealish" Effect or the "Maguire" Madness.....

ASSE: Montee les Verts November 2021: Back to Earth Manager's Thoughts The tactical tweaks worked well in October and M. Football looked forward to November another short month because of an International Break. This time however the team would be visited by the Stormtroopers of the Galactic Empire of Oil. M. Football was sure that the team would lose but he would at least try. Even though he knew the only way to beat them was to play with teamwork and work rate that ASSE just didn't have. Individually all the players on PSG were better than ASSE and often made more than the WHOLE Team as well. M. Football was just hoping to get through the month playing respectable football and start another run in December. Highlights The Intenational Break ended, and we were visited by "Local Rival/Petit frere " Clermont. Newly Promoted Clermont had upset OL 7-0 a few weeks before......the team had to be at its best! Former Favorites commented on our form in the press. ratcheting up the pressure a bit! I decided to Gengenpress them at the start before sitting back in our usual press....It worked well led to two early goals and in the second half I returned to our main tactic and scored a 3rd goal. The only thing that marred the performance was the fact the team gave up a goal to a late long ball. (Also, it was nice to see old friends....) The main man put in a shift from the AMR position. This is a nice streak , but M. Football is unsure the team can keep it going..... The analysts had lots of nice things to say about our Gameplan. The next match was one most people including M. Football were sure that ASSE would win..... M. Football was confident and set up with his 4-2-3-1 (balanced) and was ready to go.....unfortunately he forgot the adage of being wary of home underdogs...... Ike Ugbo ate his spinach before the game and played the match of his life! He was unstoppable......and thing went down hill for ASSE from there. After the disaster at Troyes it wouldn't get any easier with PSG coming to town. Stating the obvious! Messi, Neymar, and Mbappe together make 5X as much as the ENTIRE ASSE team! With Messi making almost 3X. The team played but had no answer for Angel Di Maria playing in place of Mbappe...... After the two beat downs M. Football went in search of anything that could be as good news. And he found the French Cup Draw..... League Table Analysts Report According to the Analysts we are just about where we should be even after being shutout twice this month! Player of the Month Enzo Crivelli According to the nerds Crivelli played the best overall even though he failed to hit the back of the net. He has many attributes M. Football likes but not hitting the net doesn't help his cause in making the loan permanent. Management Report Thanks for Reading!

I was debating between 3 clubs: ASSE, Hertha, PNE. Each had its benefits and drawbacks. So, I asked in another thread for a team to manage. @MattyLewis11 put a podcast link about ASSE in the replies, I listened and was hooked. I have played more than I have written but can say that bad tactical management (too many players of the same type vying for playing time) and the possible sale of the club led to a toxic mix that led to relegation. I noticed the problems almost right away and after looking at the Analysts Report and Assman Report on the team the answers were obvious. I will say that my version did better in real life......34 points at Christmas Break.

I have been a bit of a fan of theirs for a while. For no real reason other than they aren't PSG. I basically have a favorite team in each country and ASSE was it. They had a little bit of Chicago Cubs pre 2016 (baseball) feel to them even as they really dove into their role as Farm Club for the Bigger teams. Great Local Support and a there will always be next season vibe, I read that the team is for sale hopefully someone with deep pockets buys them and returns them quickly to Ligue 1. PS. The only country that I don't have a favorite team is Spain......

ASSE: Montee les Verts October 2021: Rising like a Phoenix Manager's Thoughts After the horrific month of September M. Football had to do something or this would be the shortest Career Update in History! He used the data available to him to make some changes to the tactical framework he already had based on the data and what he saw during games. The players fit the formation it was just a tweaking to take advantage of what the team does well and minimize the weaknesses. That included dropping the mentality and the aggressive defensive line and the tight marking. The team would continue use its flair to unlock defenses and try Set Pieces more often. All of this led to a remarkable run of games in October that saw the team regain form and play to potential. This is still a work in progress, but I think the team will be safe from relegation unlike "Real Life". Especially because other than PSG we have already played the TOP 5 teams in Ligue 1. Schedule Highlights The first match after the Tactical changes was a trip to Strasbourg. The Home team was definitely favored but it was a winnable match. The match was an ugly one as the players tried out the new tactical framework. We created chances which was good, but Strasbourg defended valiantly. The team finally broke through off a Corner in the 86th minute. Unfortunately, a lack of concentration by the defense let another long ball over the top lead to a score.....where our pacy defenders out paced. After the dissapointment in Alsace the team returned home to St. Etienne looking for a victory......The next opponent was Angers SCO. The Angers SCO Manager had some things to say about us, but was also trying to spark some complacency in the team as well! The game was a thriller....the team went down, but responded with two unanswered goals one by Khzari to win it! As the analysis shows after the slow start we really controlled the match. The last match of the month would see the team travel to Lorraine and the Fortress City of Metz. The Home team was favored, but M. Football thought the team had a chance! another slow start, but the team responded immediately and then took over the match, but the opponents defended tenaciously! Until another Set Piece ended it with victory to the Green Team! This victory started the team getting decent press about the turn around that started with the "miraculous" Victory against OL. XG shows that we started slowly but grew into the game. The way we did it was to use our individual skill to retain possession to keep the other team from scoring. We did so by making 661 Passes! and the defense is better because of the possession We work less on defense because we control the game. This isn't how M. Football wants to play, but the most important thing is to avoid relegation..... The IRL Relegation haunts this save since many of the same players were part of it. League Table Player Awards The player of the month had the Ligue 1 Goal of the Month. Manager Report I think the Board might allow M. Football to keep his job.....for now! Financial Report The team has a healthy balance but must not overspend in the transfer market. "Moneyball" will become the name of the game. With Player sales allowing the recruitment of new players to the team. Thanks for Reading!

Splashed the cash, but you didn't buy 3 players for every position because you can't decide.......like a certain FM player I know......

I like the idea of praising players but I often find it backfires especially when asked for by the coaching staff meetings. Ajax Spending the most money in a transfer window.....SHOCKING! The clearout was needed.

ASSE Tactical Interlude The International Break came at a great time for M. Football. It allowed him to really digest some things the "nerds" were trying to tell him about the team. It was obvious that the team couldn't play like Man City or Liverpool for more than a Half.....something had to change. So M. Football decided to look at some of the simpler comparisons of the team to help make some tweaks to the main tactic. The first comparison shows that as suspected the team has gifted Set-Piece Takers, but can't head a ball! Skillfull attackers with out much else.....A team of individualists that didn't work too hard or together! Something that will have to change in the club DNA for next Season! Physically a weak fast team of individuals that will need to to play keep away from other teams to be successful. Smart, fast Technical players that individually will have to find a way to score..... The Assman's report wasn't much different than the analyst's...... This all gave M. Football something to think about.....the old way had worked by luck against OL, but things needed to change if there were to be improvements. (This is the Gengenpress Version) The major tweaks were to the roles of the players......Three players had their role changed. The AMC went from being a Trequarista to an AP-A so he would have more defensive responsibility. The Center backs roles would change from BPD-D's to NCB-ST and CD-D roles which the players available were better for. Other Changes included changing the mentality to Balanced from Positive. Other instructions that were changed included no more shorter passing, Higher line of engagement, Higher defensive line, and Offside Trap. From now on the Team would set up deeper (Standard) to lessen the Balls over the top.....pass more directly to each other and Play for Set Pieces. This would allow the team to use its attributes effectively in attack while shoring up the defense. Thanks for Reading!

IRL: St. Etienne were relegated to Ligue 2 after falling in penalties against AJ Auxerre. AJ Auxerre is something of a Bogey team for them. AS Saint-Etienne vs AJ Auxerre statistics for most recent head to head matches AS Saint-Etienne AJ Auxerre 32 Matches 32 14 Home Matches 18 18 Away Matches 14 33 Total Goals 40 1.03 Average Goals Scored 1.25 5 Wins 13 13 Losses 5 14 Draws 14 Last 5 games & match results between AS Saint-Etienne and AJ Auxerre May 29, 2022 Ligue 1 21/22 AS Saint-Etienne 1 - 1 AJ Auxerre May 26, 2022 Ligue 1 21/22 AJ Auxerre 1 - 1 AS Saint-Etienne February 1, 2017 Coupe de France 16/17 AJ Auxerre 3 - 0 AS Saint-Etienne February 25, 2012 Ligue 1 11/12 AJ Auxerre 0 - 0 AS Saint-Etienne October 1, 2011 Ligue 1 11/12 AS Saint-Etienne 1 - 1 AJ Auxerre So the result was almost predictable. Now back to saving fictional ASSE!

Young Teams work better especially if you rotate and never promise players too much playing time. Great for development as well, with all the prospect getting playing time in the First team. Try and keep PT promises to Squad if possible.