Beltsu

First season at Fiorentina. Went a lot better than expected. Won the Conference League and the italian super cup. Still, let me share the pain...

First of all, this will be my first career thread ever, so I hope you enjoy it. After failed saves this year with Parma and Everton (on both of them, I crashed on burned midway through the first season. Lots of defensive errors and bugs, on saves pre-patch), I was undecided between PSV, Atletico and Leeds. In the end, I decided to go for Atletico because I wanted an “easier” save, wanted to play counter-attacking football and was really curious to see what I could get out of João Félix. I'm portuguese, a Boavista FC supporter. I started as a national-experienced manager, with all the badges. So what do I get from it? A bit of pressure from the board and not a lot of respect from the players, from an unknown manager. I’m currently starting season 2, but I’ll give a recap of season 1 on my first post. Season 1 First meeting with the board. Right from the start we are told that we should be presenting a title challenge, reach later UCL stages and a Copa del Rey title challenge for the first season. That’s kind of tough, right from the start, I guess… The supporters want us to play a high press, defensive and direct brand of football, with a lot of set pieces goals. Kind of (not everything) in line for what I have in mind. First thing I check on all my saves is the technical team. Simeone really got the job done with very few coaches. I get keep the assistant manager with me (Nelson Vivas), get rid of some less then decent staff and revamp the coaches team. I think I’m pretty happy with what I’ve got. We’re short on the scouting team, so I revamp that as well. Now, for the main squad: Mostly balanced, but I should really be getting a back-up for Molina as a RB. Since I see no starting place for Saul on my team, I trained him for the RB position (I confess, I forgot he is left footed). TRANSFERS First of all, a side note. I'm not using any wonder kids list. Trying to just use the scouting data and the IRL knowledge that I have of Portuguese football. The initial transfer budget is around 1M €. For this level, really low. To make up some funds, I tried to sell Matheus Cunha (not keen on his decision making and lack of focus) but in the end I stuck with him, as there were no viable offers. So, no moves on the transfer market till January. Come January, I really had to do something to the squad. As Carrasco was one of my highest valued players, I tried to sell him, but again, no decent offers. So I sold Lemar to Simeone who is now managing Tottenham Hotspurs. I really didn't want to sell him, but we needed the money. With the funds we got, we were able to get another RB (Tiago Santos) and a replacement for Lemar (Schjelderup), sold Felipe (his contract was running out) and started to use Witsel as DC when needed. Also bought some kids, to invest in them for the future. Gulliksen looks like a future star, but not yet. I loaned him back till Dec. 2023. In Out TACTICS Tactics wise, I started with a fluid counter-attack 4-2-3-1 and worked from there. I want the team to be fast on the counter, using open spaces, but not too direct. I want to take advantage of my attacking players creativity and off the ball movement. As you can see, I’ve changed some roles and instructions on the base fluid counter-attack 4-2-3-1 formation to try to balance the team and achieve the kind of football that I want. Both WB will run up the flank and provide wideness to the attack. One of the DM is now on a support role, and on harder games, I make them both take a defensive role. Felix has the freedom to attack at the AMC position and Griezmann is used as an IW(a), that sometimes I change to IF(a) to take advantage of the opposition positioning. Morata is used as a CF(s), as a focal point of the attack, creating and finishing. Most of the positions have good backups, but on some positions I change the roles when I substitute them. Starter Backup SK(d) Oblak SK(d) Grbic WB(s) Molina WB(s) Saúl CD(d) Savic CD(d) Felipe CD(d) Gimenez CD(d) Hermoso WB(s) Reinildo WB(s) Reguilón BWM(d) Llorente BWM(d) Kondogbia DMC(s) Koke DMC(s) Witsel IW(a) Griezmann IW(s) De Paul AM(a) João Félix AM(a) Matheus Cunha IW(s) Carrasco W(a) Lemar CF(s) Morata F9 Correa During the pre-season, I only worked this tactic. When the season started, I started working on alternate tactics for games against weaker foes. Custom Gegenpress 4-2-3-1 and Custom Ball Control 4-3-3: Pre-season results were decent (a 2-0 loss against Man United, and the rest just victories against weaker foes). I use my main tactic on all away games and most of the home maches. Against really weak opposition at home, I got for one of the alternatives and try to train the team up to it. Now, for the results by competion... Copa del Rey Easy road till the 4th round, but lost at San Sebastian. Not what I was expecting, but Sociedad wasn’t the easiest of opponents. The game was balanced (ignore the low ball possession. That’s how we roll), but in the end, Oyarzabal goal from a set-piece was what stroke us down. Meh. The board wasn’t happy, but there will be more games next year. CHAMPION’S LEAGUE Lucky draw. I had won the group by match 4. Gave a change to some fringe players on the last 2 games. Draw against Celtic, lost at RB Salzburg. Next up was Bayern. I though we were going down, but we were surprisingly strong against them. We were also lucky that Sabitzer was sent off during the second leg, but we were really good during the game. Next was Barcelona. We had recently won 2-0 against them for La Liga, but this time was different. We were lucky to came way with a draw at Nou Camp. At our home, a Ferran Torres goal, thanks to a Morata mistake when we were defending a corner was enough to defeat us. That ended our UCL campaign, but the board was pleased about it. LaLiga This was fun. We got off to a decent start, until we lost 3 matches in 5. The board and the fans were starting to feel unhappy, but then the team gelled. 18 unbeaten matches streak. 10 wins in a row. Only one defeat since then, against Barcelona. We finished 2nd, losing the title on the last match of the season, when we needed a win and a Real Madrid defeat (they were losing at Athletic until they scored at 74’, ending up winning that game by 1-2). The board were pleased with the 2nd place. We scored a lot of goals in the process, broke the club’s record for victories and points during a single season. But still, Real were better. Tactics wise, I was really pleased with the team and with what we achieved. We gave possession away most of the games, but it was worth it. We won a lot of games on the counter. That's the end of the first post. Next, I'm gonna try to make a recap of my squad performance. The great performers, the flops and a view of the most important games of the season. I hope you're enjoying it so far.

Well, after reading this, I’ll just wait for the ME patch before I load the game again.

Do you mean the "Hold defensive line" instruction?

You may be right about it, but I'm playing serie B against the likes of Cesena and Ternana. Buffon may lack on some regards, but the CD are the ones making the most mistakes. Giving the ball away, freezing, being disarmed. But let's consider my previous Everton save. I gave up after some 15/20 matches played. 2 clean sheets, with a defensive duo mosltly of Coady and Tarkowsky. Pickford on the goal. Regulard DC ratings below 6.5. Against Arsenal (0-3), they both had below 5.9. It's a regular, either I play a mid block or a low block, with a lot of pressure or not. Last year the game felt too easy, but now it's the other way around. Yes, I may be to blame for failing to understanding the new systems yet, but this is not normal.

Yes, it affects the AI also, but I don't feel like it does as much. A considerate amount of opposition GK are motm on a regular basis. I'm on 9 games played in the season, none one clean sheet. And the games I win are results like 4-3, 3-1, 3-2. A lot of goals, even when I concentrate on the defence. It doesn't feel realistic.

I really have to reinforce the feeling that the defence is broken. I’m managing Parma. Buffon is on a average bellow 6.3. Most of the goals I concede are either from defensive errors or balls over the top. I like challenges, but this feels unfair.

Still, on FM22, when I instructed that, it was like I described that my player worked. Haven’t tried it on FM23 yet.

I thought that playing from the back, with distribute do DLP on the DM role would force the DLP to come closer to the GK. Am I wrong to assume that?

Are you looking for a DLP, with GK instructions to pass to him, and play from the back? Or did I miss understood?