BillHoudini24

Wednesday at 18:01

Season 2036-2037: Part 1, a busy off-season for Panionios - staff changes, new tactic and upcoming youth promotions

This was one of the most exciting off-seasons I had in a while. It was finally time to restructure my youth staff based on what I wrote in Part 4 of last season. It was also time for a new, more fluid and ambitious tactic since our players have become good enough to challenge for the top 3. Finally, I'll show the players I expect to make their first appearances with the club, ages ranging from 16 to 18. Note that I am a bit forward in the save, so ages and stats/goals will reflect that in the screenshots.

1) Youth Staff Changes - Corstjens was promoted from U19 Manager to First Team Coach, Johansen was let go from his HoY position and we upgraded our youth staff after 7 years:

As I wrote in Part 4 of last season, I was thinking of switching things up regarding the youth staff. Corstjens was a great manager and youth developer, but his preferred formations were a dealbreaker, at least if we wanted to get the maximum of the youth setup. He was part of the team for 10 years though, so I couldn't just fire him. He got promoted to First Team coach, reuniting with a lot of the players he led to 3 championships in 10 years.

His replacement definitely needs development, but he just finished his playing career and there is a foundation to work with. Van de Vrie comes from my favourite football culture, the Dutch one. He likes 4-3-3 DM wide and 4-4-2, He's Determined (19) and works great with youngsters (19). He's also very young, so I hope he can improve with further coaching badges.

Youth Development was another situation. Johansen was proven to be quite good at influencing the youth intakes, most of my best prospects came from his period at the club. The issue was his Player Judgement and the 16 at Working with Youngsters. He was good, we are appreciative of his time in Nea Smyrni, but now as a club that plays in European competitions, I thought we could do a bit better.

Here comes Steve Kean. I usually don't hire people that old, because they usually retire after a couple of seasons, but I couldn't pass the opportunity for Steve. Preferred Formations, check. 19s in Determination and Working with Youngsters, check. Decent Player Judgement and extensive Greek knowledge, check! I am still waiting for this year's intake, but I believe he will improve upon the already great intakes of the past 3 years.

2) New tactic - I can finally play very fluid tactics, got inspired by the best O-zil to the Arsenal and created an Arsenal 2024 tactic, even thought I am a Liverpool fan:

I have been reading Ozil's Twitter posts for a while now and I was very eager to return to Very Fluid tactics since this was what I was mainly doing in the previous FM editions. So far it was not possible, because I believe you need at least decent players for the league's level to play like that.

So I used what Ozil has been preaching about on Twitter as a starting point to make my own version that would be better suited to my team's limitations.

In terms of instructions, not much deviation from Arteta's principles, beautifully outlined by Ozil. The only difference is that I use a Mid Block, as my defenders are the weakest link since forever and I don't trust them playing very high on the pitch with a pressing tactic.

Similarly, I replaced the Roaming Playmaker with the Segundo Volante. Both roles are very physical, but with SV I ask less from my midfielder, which is good because he's not Odegaard. Having two players in the DM area offers nice stability and support to the defenders.

The last difference is the striker's role. Arteta and Ozil use a Complete Forward on Support, to keep all the attacking players closer together and increase attacking fluidity. I cannot do that with my current forwards, most of them are closer to Advanced Forwards, so I made the change to accommodate for that. Lazaridis still participates a lot in our attacking phase, just less often.

Spoiler alert, the tactic has been quite successful so far. :cool:

3) Prospect Watch - an overview of our youth players that will get gradually promoted in the first team during the season:

The off-season is a perfect opportunity to see how my youngsters improved during the last year and check whether we have some potential first team players. Since the latest updates on everything youth-related (staff, facilities, etc), the intakes included plenty of players that could potentially make it as part of the next Panionios core, either as starters, or as squad options. Today I'll show the three more exciting ones.

Pantelis Koutsogiannis - One of the top prospects from 2034, Pantelis looks like he's going to make it into the squad this year. He plays as a DM(S) or SV(S) and his athletic ability along with his already mature mentals make him a standout performer in high level games. He's going to play a lot this year, as the midfield positions are very demanding.

Elidon Bajrami - The best number ten we got through an intake in the last 9-10 years. He still has things to work on (Finishing, Dribbling, Agility), but I believe he's our next number ten, going ahead of Kostas Flessas who was a starter for the last 7-8 years. I like Elidon because he can produce the unexpected and this is what I love about the no10 position.

Napoleon Kasnakidis - Another Perfectionist intake product, leading me to believe that the days of the bad personalities on top prospects are behind us. What can I say about Napoleon? He's the one I am most excited about. He's getting tall and strong already, he's decent technically, has great mentals and his physicals are constantly improving. He will definitely be a starter both as a CB and as a DM(S).

In the next post, I'll probably share a mid-season update, while giving short descriptions of the most important games that we'll play until then. Will we get into the Europa League again? Will we establish ourselves as a top 3 team in Greece?

Wednesday at 17:05

2 hours ago, KrKAlex said:

Looking forward to what is coming up next season! Love this save.. ! Could you maybe update us on your tactic?

I am writing now the off-season update, major tactical update incoming.

Tuesday at 11:05

Season 2035-2036: Part 5, Sooooo, where were we?

Thanks to your interest and a long break from FM's hardcore mode which is the Youth Only Challenge, I was able to come back and continue. It would be a shame to quit now that we have a decent core of players and at least 5 upcoming youngsters. After every long break, I open up the save and I am completely lost. How's the team doing? Who are the in-form players? Should I be getting some more playing time to a breakthrough prospect? In short, where were we?!

This post will be mostly about catching up with you and the save. We'll look at how we finished the 2035-2036 season in Greece, Europa League, while re-introducing our key players and top prospects.

A) Greek Superleague and Cup - Competing in the league with increased reputation and more games due to European Qualification:

Playing in Europe for the first time definitely had a negative effect during the "regular" season. I cannot blame the team for getting eliminated early in the Cup, AEK is just unplayable. 13 out of 13 league titles and 5 out 13 cups during the save. They have truly replaced Olympiakos as the "team to beat" in Greece.

Luckily, we were able to find some form during the play-off stage, which helped us in getting a ticket for the Europa League qualifiers. Playing in Europe is crucial for our reputation and cash flow. Having the youth and training facilities of this level is becoming more and more expensive. The same applies to keeping core players.

B) Europa League - A first time to remember:

All those years of waiting were definitely worth it! Our first European campaign was one of the reasons why I am still playing this save. We played against Hajduk Split in the playoffs, winning both ties (0-1 and 2-1), which meant that we would play in the Europa League! There, we were able to hold our own with famous wins over Copenhagen, Maccabi Haifa and Red Bull Salzburg. But our best result was a 1-1 draw with Newcastle, a club with plenty of resources but no top 4 finish in the last 10 years.

But this was only the beginning! After getting into the Knock Out playoffs, we managed to get past Rennes and Wolfsburg, finding ourselves in the EL Quarter Final against the mighty AC Milan! They proved too strong for us, but there is no shame in losing 4-0 to the team that ends up winning the trophy. I could not have wished for a better campaign, we will definitely use the money and reputation moving forward.

C) Panionios Player Watch - Key Players and Top Prospects:

I'll make sure to re-introduce all the main players moving forward, but this is a good opportunity to present the players of the year and the exciting prospects.

Giannis Lazaridis: The Panionios skipper, a product of our first-ever intake was our most important player for another season. His leadership, alongside 21 goals were crucial in a season with very high stakes.

Andrianos Sivilias: Our pacey number 10 was electric during the early stages of the season. He singlehandedly carried us to the Europa League group stages, then fell off but still contributed in the important games. He ended the season with 16 goals and 10 assists, which is by far his best ever.

Alkiviadis Tsiribis: Across Sivilias, we have Alkiviadis. A player who can play all across the AM line, but does not really excel anywhere from an attributes perspective. Nonetheless, he had a breakout season with 4 goals and 15 assists, while playing in various roles (Winger, Inverted Winger, Inside Forward, Attacking Midfielder). Teams from the Championship and Bundesliga 2 are interested for quite a while, so let's see if I can keep him long-term.

Potis Mingos: Let's talk about our brightest prospect. 18 year-old Potis is a versatile player who can play across CB-DM-CM. He's already good enough to start in most teams in the league and I hope that's just the beginning. His creative numbers were nothing to write home about, but in his defence, he mostly played as a "destroyer" in our midfield, or as a CB. Eredivisie clubs have been knocking on our door, but he doesn't seem interested. He has a 20M clause.

Kosmas Daras: The goalkeeping prince that was promised! I spent almost 10 years with mediocre GKs, but it was worth the wait. Kosmas is a perfectionist fella, he's constantly improving, but he still needs a lot of work with his feet. He will be our starting GK for the next 10 years, unless a better player comes along...

The next season will be about consolidating our new league stature while getting experience in European competitions. There are plenty of players who are about to get first team football, so stay tuned!

April 11

I've been playing for many (too many maybe) years. Started with FM06 and played most versions.

I know that SI aims for more impactful updates next year and initially, I appreciated the honesty in admitting they're already focused there. But I was still disappointed with this year's patches.

On the positive side, loved the upgraded graphics, but I skipped 3 versions, so that might be the reason.

The ME is interesting this year, but I think it needs more work, as I think it favours the modern "Pep-Klopp-Arteta" styles too much. Not all teams use positional play, but I think this year the game kinda forces you to.

And this is the main reason for my disappointment with the patches, I hoped that some variety would be added. Still hoping for next year, but I am not holding my breath and that's ok too. At the end of the day, we spend 30-35EUR for a game that offers at least 500-600 hours of gameplay. Back when I was a student, that number would be closer to 1500, but that's a story for another time.

April 10

10 hours ago, KrKAlex said:

I caught up with the story. It was a very nice read, looking forward to read what is coming in the future :).

If you manage to get a national title, you will become a legend for the club . And who knows what comes next at the continental level ... !

Thanks for reading all this!

I think we are getting closer, the finances are good and every intake has 2-3 good prospects.

It’s probably going to be league title first, I struggle when playing knockout matches. :rolleyes:

April 9

On 09/03/2024 at 20:14, Thrashead said:

Is this the end of the story?

Thanks for your interest in my thread!

I am taking a break from this save (and FM tbh) due to time limitations, but the save will continue soon. I am too curious to see if we can properly challenge the Big 4.

March 1

Yes Ben! Very excited about the latest update.

I'll give it some time during the weekend and get back to you.

February 24

Football Nomad: Season 2025/26, just before the winter window - Surviving means adapting

It's been a season of ups and downs already. Just before we have the chance to make changes in our squad again, I thought it would be a good time to write an update on how we are doing in terms of results, but also in terms of tactical adjustments.

When promoted, I usually try to keep a core of players, so that the team has some tactical and social cohesion. This time was no different, with 7 starters being the same as last year. This allowed me to keep my tactical philosophy intact and see where it takes us.

The first "turn" was a pretty rough one. Granted, we faced some of the league's best teams, but 7 points out of 21 is a worrying sign for a team that doesn't want to get into a relegation battle.

What I saw in those matches was the same trend as last year. Most goals we conceded were either directly from a set piece, or the highlight started from a set piece. That includes throw-ins, in which we freeze and the opponent just walks into the goal. I don't know if it's a Match Engine issue at this point and I don't really care, all I want is to be safe by December. So at the end of September, I decided to slightly tweak my tactic, to try to control the game a little bit more. I am a firm believer that possession, when done right, can keep a team safe.

I only changed one thing to begin with, so that I can keep track of the effect of my tweaks. I kept the 4-3-3 out of possession, but instead of a 3-3-4 with an Inverted Full Back, I went for a 3-3-4 with a Half Back. Ashworth was not performing well as an IFB and the DM(S) in midfield was too adventurous for a bottom-half team like us.

In possession, the formation looks like this:

Evidently, this tweak has more players behind the ball and more players during the build-up phase. I expected more possession and more defensive stability. If you exclude the freak loss in the Greek Cup, we've been doing better.

This run of form finds us in a very good position in the league, already with some distance from the bottom two teams that will be relegated after the league split.

What is interesting is that we have the third best offensive output in the league and a +5 goal difference while being 9th. All that was going on while my starting striker was injured for 7 weeks. Is it a sign that we can challenge for the Championship Group?

If we look at the stats, there is reason for hope:

- We are 5th in average possession with 52%, way lower than last year's 61%, but also the level is different.

Spoiler

- We are second in expected goals. Hopefully with our striker back, we can get our actual numbers even higher.

Spoiler

- My favorite stat, we are first in High Intensity Sprints. This is the result of recruiting based on Work Rate and Determination. I am not simulating 3000 games to test things, but I believe it definitely plays a part in our current situation.

Spoiler

- Finally, we are second in the tackles won ratio, with 81%, again proving that our mid pressing block works pretty well, even in the first tier of Greek football. I just hope we can keep this up all year.

Spoiler

And all this has been happening while we are second to last in wages per year. It was challenging at times to keep the financial structure at modest levels, but I think we'll have to spend more if I stay here and challenge for the European qualification spots.

Spoiler

I am slowing the game down a little bit now, as I am trying to decide whether I should make any transfers during the winter window. I have identified certain areas we can improve, but I also don't want to increase our wage expenses. The club already depends on TV rights and sponsorships, one wrong turn and it might be catastrophic in the future.

February 24

Football Nomad: 2025 preseason - Preparing to fight against the big boys

Surviving in the Greek Super League is usually achievable, since the league splits into a championship and a relegation group in March. So my goal for this preseason is to create a club structure that could sustain Iraklis, even if I leave for a better offer during the season. I have an emotional connection to the team after all, so I wouldn't want to see them relegated again. The focus for the preseason is placed on:

- Replacing notable but aging and/or injury-prone players such as Marcello Trotta and Nikos Vrettos.

- Phasing out the (very) old guard without disturbing the team morale. Vellidis (GK) is 37 and Sokratis (CB) is 36. Their experience will be valuable in the first tier, but they cannot be anything more than squad players at this point.

- Signing promising Greek players to provide depth to our squad. I like having a small squad of players who are versatile enough to play different positions. This allows for better development and fewer complaints.

Starting from replacing last year's protagonists, it was proven way more difficult than I thought, at least while doing it realistically. My 3 scouts and the DoF could not make even a single suggestion that would fit my criteria for a Striker, so I started to panic.

Maybe I made a mistake by letting Trotta go, but he wanted me to double his salary and consider him an Important Player, while he was 33 years old and steadily declining. And to be honest, how easy is to replace a striker who just scored 26 goals? The answer came from the network I am starting to build in northern Europe, this time from Denmark.

Alexander is a tall striker who spent 4 years in Aalesund, scoring just one (1) goal. I know how this sounds, but Trotta had a similar scoring record before joining us. What I like about Alex is that his attribute distribution is well-rounded and that he will do some damage in the air, since we are a team that crosses a lot. Despite my intense pressing and high possession game, the AI describes my tactics as "Wing-Play" from time to time.

For Vrettos and essentially both the AML (IF) and AMR (W) positions, I decided to sign three Greek young players who can play on both sides. This gives me some margin of error, or the luxury of giving more time to the ones who are not yet ready for the big leagues. I will show you here the ones that I expect will play more this year.

Tzimas is a PAOK academy graduate, who doesn't have any clear weaknesses, except for his Quickness. His good technical ability and Composure will make up for that. I hope his exposure at a higher level of football will help him improve, even at 24.

Andrianos is definitely one for the future. He has the right attributes to be a Winger, but he's natural as an AML only, while being right footed. I think that his Technique, Crossing and Physicals will allow him to contribute once he gets used to the level and the way we play.

To wrap up the transfers, let's talk about the very exciting ones. Even thought Eboh was fantastic last year as a box-to-box midfielder with 9 goals and 11 assists, I felt like we needed an upgrade in this position.

Dumont has spent his entire career in Belgium's first tier of football, but he never had more than 10 games per season. I am very excited about his Mental and Physical attributes. His low Passing is definitely an issue, but let's hope it works out.

Finally, Giorgos is the player I was looking for in that Inverted Wingback role. His Off the Ball is a glaring weak spot, but other than that he's great for our level. His positional versatility is just the cherry on top.

The preseason was short in terms of matches and half of them took place before most of the signings, so I cannot offer any insight or predictions based on that. Overall, I think the team is improved and we have a pretty good chance at not even being involved in a relegation battle.

February 22

Football Nomad: 1 year at Thessaloniki with Iraklis, were we able to turn things around?

This is no need for cliff hungers and click baits, it was a magnificent season for us. I knew I had something to work with and I was optimistic about the new transfers, but what happened was beyond my expectations. This update will focus on the following 3 elements:

- Our successful campaign in the league and my improvement as a manager in terms of badges, contract and reputation

- How my 4-3-3 worked in practice and some observations on the role of the Advanced Forward

- Tribute to our fallen hero

The second tier of Greek football is not at all like the Championship. It's not a huge jump from the third tier, or even the bottom half teams of the first tier. It's a purgatory for professional teams with debt that cannot compete in the division above, while relegation means eternal doom into the depths of Greek local football. So it comes as no surprise to some that not only we won the league, but we also did it with style.

It was close until the end, but this is more the result of Kalamata and Panetolikos being very good teams, than us trying to bottle it. We scored a lot, we played a high tempo game, while also maintaining possession due to our smart pressing traps in the middle of the pitch.

Going back to scoring, it was not even close. I always had faith in the team, because I knew that we would at least score against any opponent.

At the same time, we conceded a lot of goals from set pieces, or we lost focus when games were decided. Those elements I'll have to improve if I stay at Iraklis' first season in the Super League 1 after 2010.

This massive over-performance forced the Iraklis board to give me a new deal and fund my 2 next coaching badges. I was able to negotiate it and get 57k/year, a great improvement that makes my position a tiny bit safer, in case things go wrong next year.

Spoiler

So, was this a result of a balanced tactic, or the recruited players were just too good?

I think Marcelo Trotta is a good example to showcase what happened.

Even thought he played as an Advanced Forward, he was moving more as a Deep Lying Forward, maybe because of our mid pressing block and the narrower team instruction. He was very much involved in holding the ball while waiting for support, but also smashed his scoring record for a single season, scoring 24 goals in 36 games. His previous best was 12 goals in 37 games, while playing in England's League 1. Maybe I was wrong in my assessment of the role all this year. I always thought the AF is just a less one-dimensional poacher, but Trotta turned out to be much more, at least at this level.

Talking about players who stood out, I cannot leave out Eneko Capilla, our number 10. As you might remember, I mentioned that he asked for an insane contract, which I negotiated down to a slightly crazy contract. And oh boy, did he deserve his pay day. He was absolutely dominant all season, he scored 19 goals, outperforming his xG by 7 (!) and provided 8 assists. Another player who had a "career high" year with us, leading me to believe that we might be doing something right here with this 4-3-3 turned into 3-3-4 while in possession.

But even though it was a year full of joy and goals, a terrible injury at the later stages of the season left a bitter taste in our mouths. Nikos Vrettos was my favorite player. Determined, a hard worker, who could also assist in the blink of an eye. No wonder he had the highest average rating in the team (7.42) and the most assists (11). Unfortunately he was also very injury prone. He had a lot of minor injuries during the year, but in the final stretch his ACL burst, leaving him out for 12 to 14 months. Considering his age, injury record and expiring contract, I made the decision to part ways with him.

Now one question has been bothering me since we stopped celebrating the promotion. Should I stay and establish Iraklis as a tier 1 team, or should I cash out the hype around me and look towards the north?

February 20

FM can be a game of suffering, this thread will be a testament to that.

Following!

February 19

Football Nomad: Season 2, episode 1 - A fresh start

As I previously mentioned, most of the contracts in the team were expiring at the end of last season, meaning that we had a big opportunity to start fresh and set our own structure and philosophy. Knowing Greek football, it would not be unrealistic to overhaul a squad, as teams easily make 10-15 changes every summer, especially the ones struggling.

For me this preseason had 3 goals:

- Recruit the right players so we don't overspend and mix youth with experience

- Hire staff that will make my life easier, especially first team coaches and scouts

- Refine my tactical approach based on the final squad

It was a very busy transfer window as you can see. For that reason, I will only focus on the process, instead of showing every single in/out transfer.

Starting with the players who left, it was pretty much an unavoidable situation. I just joined a struggling club and despite our good form, some players would just not sign new deals, either for this year, or the next. In those cases, it's better to just focus my energy elsewhere, so I let them go, ideally with some money, like in the case of Simon Gbegnon, an aging but quality center back. Nicolas Silva was also a major departure, as he would offer a lot of quality both as an AML and as a CM (Mez), but again, he never allowed me to have a contract conversation with him.

Looking at the bright side, all these departures gave us a lot of room in the wage budget, which I could take advantage and shape the team to my liking. To keep things realistic, I wanted the majority of the players to be Greek, or at least players from Greek leagues. A good example of how I think about recruitment is the pair Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Alexis Kalogeropoulos.

Sokratis needs no introduction. With a lucrative career starting from AEK Athens and then playing for Genoa, Werder Bremen, Dortmund, Arsenal and Olympiacos, Sokratis will lead by example, offer stability and mentor the younger Kalogeropoulos.

Alexis Kalogeropoulos is currently on loan to us from Olympiacos, but I will definitely try to keep him here, even if I end up leaving at some point. He is consistent, Determined and shows progress in training every week.

But my big project in the defensive department is Antonis Aidonis. The Greek-German has -almost- all the qualities I am looking in a modern center back. He can pass the ball, has decent technique, while being tall (1.85) and aggressive enough. He's being retrained as a Half Back, mainly because the attributes are there already and it's a role that I like using in FM24.

Besides my defense, I desperately needed a striker with experience in lower league football. Marcelo Trotta and Eloy Gila fit the bill, as both of them have at least a decade of experience in Serie B/C and La Liga 2. Trotta is the started for now, but I will be rotating them to keep them fresh. Their Physicals lead me to believe that I can get a good full year out of them, which is why I offered them 1-year deals.

Finally, I had to hire basically the entire staff, with a couple of exceptions.

I'm glad I spent the time to do so, because now we have one of the best staff structures in the league.

February 18

Football Nomad: Season 1, episode 2 and season finale

As I prepared you for in the pilot post, season 1 would be short. The reason for that is that I joined Iraklis in February, just in time for the relegation play offs. In last years format, 1 team gets relegated before the split and then 6 teams will battle for 3 safety tickets.

I inherited a squad full of aging and defeated players who wanted to leave at the end of the season. Things were not looking good at all, so I decided to gamble and still move forward with my philosophy. You might have guessed some of my preferences because of the pilot. I want to combine Klopp's intensity and player development, with Guardiola's positional fluidity and passing patterns. Will this be possible with a relegation candidate and in the middle of the season?

A few notes about this first draft:

The mid block is used for 2 reasons, (1) because our defense is too slow for any higher placement and (2) because that way we can set smart traps in the middle of the pitch and take advantage of our opponents mistakes.

The aim is to create triangles and situations with +1 players in every attacking space.

The IFB on the left will create a back 3. Same with the IWB, he will play close to the DM and BBM, creating a triad in midfield. Then the Mezzala will function as a modern "number 10", while the Winger provides width and the IF creates problem next to the striker. What I am expecting to see is the following:

At the same time, I had to deal with an empty staff room, as everyone left with the previous manager. But there was no time for that and I wanted to recruit proper staff members that can actually contribute to our system. What happened next was insane.

We were unplayable most of the time. The 6 game unbeaten streak helped fix morale and filled me with belief that not only we can survive this year, but also set the foundations for a promotion push next year. After the final game of the season we found ourselves comfortably avoiding relegation.

But who shined? It cannot be the tactics and locker room speeches of a 28 year old inexperienced manager. I will focus on the players I was able to keep and to be fair, I only tried to keep the ones who really stood out. Having 15 contracts expire was a perfect opportunity for a clean state.

Markos Vellidis (GK) - Markos is a known name for fans of Greek football. He is a Panathinaikos academy graduate who ended up having a long career in the first tier, playing for PAOK and Aris among others. He is the oldest player of the team, but also our leader. He ended up having an average rating of 6.93 and 9 clean sheets. That's very promising considering he played for an under-performing team for most of the year.

Johnson Eboh (CM) - Johnson is the typical lower league box-to-box midfielder. A lot to be desired from a technical perspective, but he's a good athlete with decent mental attributes. His work rate and decisions were vital in our survival run. He averaged a 7.00, while also having 3 goals and 4 assists. He definitely earned his one-year extension.

Eneko Capilla (CM) - Coming from the land of the Basques, Capilla is the player with most quality in the squad. He's very creative, as well as an great set piece taker. Not the best athlete, but he wouldn't play here if he was. He asked for a crazy contract, which I ended up negotiating down to slightly crazy. He also averaged a 7.0, while having 4 goals and 6 assists. I expect more from him next year, once he knows his role in our system a bit better.

Christos Kountouriotis (IF) - Another Panathinaikos academy graduate, Christos scored some very important goals to keep us up in my first season as a football manager. He's decent in all aspects of the game, but his "Running with ball down Right" might be an issue. In my first 13 games it wasn't a problem, as he scored 5 goals, provided 2 assists and averaged a pretty good 7.12.

Having the relegation battle out of the way, I can finally set up a proper structure, with my own staff and training methods. The goal is to continue progressing, but deep down I would be disappointed if we are not involved in a promotion battle. Granted, we played against teams at the bottom of the table, but I believe that we can turn this team into contenders with a few targeted transfers.

February 18

48 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

Good luck! I had wanted to manage in Greece last year but my journey took me away from it.

In terms of the skin - what is it you’re missing? I can DM you an update with staff attributes later on but happy to take any requests from you!

Thank you Ben! Greece is quite interesting, especially in the first tier. Surpassing the Big 4 (Olympiacos, AEK, Panathinaikos, PAOK) is challenging, more so since the introduction of the Championship playoffs. I've played 11 seasons there during my youth-only save, which leads me to believe that I won't stay long in this one, 3 seasons tops.

The skin is absolutely brilliant, definitely makes the game better in my opinion. The reasons I haven't reached out with any concrete feedback are that I know you don't monetize it and that I am not an expert on skin development.

Just today, I was able to make it darker and add the "traditional" colors for "Position familiarity". This took it from 9 to 10/10

I am looking forward to the staff attributes update, I think that's the only element missing for my updates here.

February 18

Football Nomad: Season 1, pilot

Disclaimer: Loosely based on real events

I was always very much into football. Growing up in the late 90s-early 00s, I was lucky enough to see some incredible matches and players. Liverpool's Champions League in 2005, the Serie A derbies with Totti, Del Piero, Maldini and Zanetti, Ronaldinho's era at La Liga and the emergence of Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo's insane transformation from a flashy winger into a lethal striker and many more.

More than watching, I loved playing. I started out as a striker, but when the other kids caught up with me biologically, I started playing as a number 8 and 6. Unfortunately, I was a better student and writer than a footballer, so my parents' ultimatum forced me to stop early and focus on school. I reached semi-pro while getting my first degree, but that was it. Since then, I've been a policy analyst during the day and Football Manager gamer at night.

All that until last summer, when I quit my day job and started studying for the first coaching qualification. I received it through the mail last month and since then, I've been applying to jobs.

So this is me. 28 years old, no job and just one coaching qualification. I've been very picky when applying to jobs, but my girlfriend's frustration would have forced me to look into the lowest leagues, that is if I didn't get lucky.

Here comes Iraklis. Normally, it would seem like an unrealistic first job, as they are in Greece's second tier, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Iraklis is the team of my father's side of the family, they're in a pretty tough spot and a relegation further down would mean the end of a very historic club. I applied, while everyone around me said I was crazy, but I got it! After being rejected by Den Haag (Dutch 2nd tier) and Viktoria Koln (German 3rd tier), I finally have a job.

Having said that let's lay down the goals for this journeyman save:

Combine the Klopp and Guardiola principles in tactics
Reach the Greek Hall of Fame
Dethrone a top 5 league hegemon (Bayern, PSG, etc)
Win a European title
Have a player win the Ballon D'Or

In addition to those, I want to keep things as realistic as possible, without making the game feel like a chore. I want to manage in the Netherlands, because this is the country I live irl. I moved there from Greece, so this would be a realistic next step. I won't use the search function for players and I'll only sign players suggested by my scouts, agents or Director of Football.

Going back to Iraklis, they've been really bad this year and relegation looks pretty likely. The goal is to keep them in the second tier and rebuild the squad, as most players are considering their options.

Some of you might have read my youth-only save. I am not abandoning it, but some limitations in mentoring and tactics don't allow me to enjoy it in big stretches. This save is a break, where I can focus more on scouting, recruiting, negotiating and job hunting, aspects of the game that are completely missing in a youth-only save.

Drawing inspiration from @_Ben_ @Shrewnaldo and @Cleon, I want to focus more on writing and game-related details, instead of having a standard template of updates. Some times I might focus on tactical struggles, or individual players. Some other time I might have a half season update, or talk about important games in detail. I will be using the default skin alongside Ben's, depending on the occasion, so apologies in advance for any visual inconsistencies.

I already finished the first season, as it was quite short and wanted to see if the narrative would stick with me. I will update you soon on that.

February 18

I think you did well with Bravo, those cases never work in my experience, especially in clubs with pressure to perform. Let's see how he does at Napoli.

I also agree with what is said about sticking to tactics, I have a feeling that the issue is with individual players under-performing, and not with the tactic/philosophy.

February 17

Very interesting save and Spain is the right place to do it with all those salary restrictions. Eager to see how your Mexican recruitment will pay off in the long term, it's one of the Latin America countries that I haven't focused on.

February 17

Your posts are always inspiring Ben! The level of detail and the eye for statistics allows for a different fm experience.

I also like the changes you made in your tactical outline, it's normal to refine your approach as you move forward.

I think third time is the charm, next year Bundesliga!

February 12

Season 2035-2036: Part 4, Player development after 12 years and time for staff decisions

A post without any matches played, or any players shining, or me complaining about our schedule . Instead, I will try to write down my thoughts about player development in FM24 after playing 12 (and a half by the time of this post) seasons of pure youth development. First I am going to talk about how I handled individual training so far, then we are going to have a look at my squad personality problems and finally, it might be time to change youth staff, after more than a decade of having a stable structure.

A) Philosophy around individual training - Or in other words, what worked for me since I started playing FM back in 2006:

I just realised I've been playing this game for 18 years, Jesus! Anyway, as you can imagine I've seen most changes in the training department and I have been using a combination of methods:

1) Training players in the position I want them to play, example - Ardit Abazi is one of the most promising players from last year's intake. The plan is for him to be the successor of Sivilias as an Inside Forward (AML). On intake day he was Ineffectual as an AML and natural as an AMR, so since then I've been training him in the role and side I plan on using him.

2) Training players in the role of their position that trains the most attributes, meaning the most versatile role. I usually do this with players that I believe have a lot of potential and want to get the most out of them, example - Potis Mingos was the fourth most promising player of his year according to my Youth staff, but I quickly realised they were wrong. He rose through the ranks already in the first year, evident by the fact he has played 43 games while only being 17 years old. I use him in 3 different positions, as he's at least accomplished as a CB, DM and MC. With all that in mind, I ended up training him as a Box-to-Box midfielder, as it's the most versatile role in midfield and trains attributes that Mingos will find useful in any role he might play, such as Passing, Tacking, Anticipation, Decisions, Pace and Strength.

For many years, that would be it for me. If you exclude the occasional trait, I wouldn't touch anything else in the Training tab. I was particularly scared of giving my players Additional Focus, to avoid unhappiness issues and injuries. I might change it this year thought, after seeing a worrying trend that will be showcased with the following example:

Alkiviadis has been a good performer for us, as expected from my staff on the 2031 intake day. The issue is that I've been training him both as an Inverted Winger and Inside Forward for 4 years, without seeing any increase of his physicals. Maybe his potential is limited and it's already being "spent" in his Technical and Mental attributes, but he's only 20, so I am starting to believe that I should put players in an Individual Focus in cases of development like this. Alkiviadis is not an exception by the way, but probably the rule. Same issue with Set Piece attributes (Corners, Free Kicks and Penalties). None of my players has an attribute higher than 12 in any of these, so I might have to start training them separately.

B) Squad personalities and the limits of mentoring in Youth Only saves:

All these years I've known that the Head of Youth Development (and the Youth Staff in general) influence intake personalities. For that reason, I hired the best personalities I could find as a struggling Greek team, around 6-7 years ago.

On top of that, I also have a Perfectionist HoYD.

Despite all that, my main squad's personalities can be found below:

Understandably, this takes away any chance for mentoring groups. All my established players, think Team Leaders and Highly Influential Players, have anything between 8 and 12 in Determination and Balanced/Ambitious/Unambitious personalities. The result of that over the years is worsening the personalities of all the young players that get promoted in the first team. Most of them have lost 1 or 2 points in Determination. My next starting goalie was promoted in the first team as a Perfectionist and now is just Fairly Determined.

And that brings me to my last point of this post and maybe the hardest, since I get attached to these lines of code/pixels on a screen.

C) U19 Manager and Head of Youth Development - time for a change:

I have been working with my U19 Manager, Wouter Corstjens, since he retired as a professional player back in 2025. 10 years together, he was the one playing the next stars of the Panionios squad. Back then he seemed like a bargain for a newly promoted team and has never wanted to leave. His attributes are great and he has a Resolute personality. Then why change, you might ask. His preferred formation is totally different from what we play in the first team and his team selections have always been a bit weird. Nonetheless, he won 3 league titles with us, so if I decide to change, I'll keep him as a coach for the first team.

Finally, my Head of Youth Development is Stefan Johansen. He also joined us after he stopped playing professionally and brought us quite a few good or useful players with decent (or even better) personalities.

The issue with him is that he likes 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1, we play none of those formations at the moment, but it would be ok if he had 4-2-3-1 as his first formation. The second issue is that 16 on Working with Youngsters and those 6s in Player Judgement. I believe that as a Europa League team now, we can find someone better. I'll make a shorter post with possible replacements for both.

February 11

Finally caught up with your thread Ben! Took me a week of slow reading, as I wanted to understand your thought process and how to get the most out of your skin.

I want to achieve something similar with you in the tactical department, but I play a Youth-Only save, which is even more frustrating as you can imagine.

I've tried 2 different combinations:

Var1 - Halfback drops deep to form a "3 at the back" shape, while the wing backs provide width.

This allows for more options in the attacking phase, but leaves me more vulnerable to crosses.

Spoiler

Var2 - IFB on the left creates the "3 at the back" shape, my midfield is more fluid/creative and the IWB is the "free role" player.

This was my preferred option for at least 4 seasons, but it is highly dependent on the IWB. If he plays well, everything ticks. Otherwise, we become way too predictable.

Spoiler

I don't know if my rumbling helps, but I think you're getting somewhere. It's tough to see exactly what you want in tactics, especially since you had a different approach in the previous FM editions.

February 10

Season 2035-2036: Part 3, juggling domestic and European games for the first time, how did we do?

September was a mixed bag of results. We played 5 league and 2 Europa League games, and we had 2 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses. It was difficult to keep playing my best players and unfortunately the rotation options (mostly kids or underdeveloped players) were not up to the task. If I have to find a positive, it would be our position in the league. But more on that later.

Away against Aris (Greek Super League):

We started the month well, playing a good game against newly promoted Aris. A screamer from Mantzoros (26a), a set piece goal from Manikas (26e) and tap-in from Lazaridis (23g) were more than enough to give us the three points.

Away against Atromitos (Greek Super League):

Horrible game, we only had pointless possession and we were never in the game. Made it too easy for a struggling Atromitos side.

Home against OFI(Greek Super League):

Remember OFI? It was the team that beat us 4-1 during preseason. Before the game OFI was 3rd and I was worried we'll have a difficult afternoon. Fortunately, two quick goals by the Panionios captain were enough to put us in the driver's seat and we never looked back. Tsiribis (31a) made it 3-0, he deserved a goal after a very complete game. He ended up having 1 goal and 1 assist.

Home against KRC Genk (Europa League):

Our first ever Europa League game was against a strong Genk side. We started magnificently with a classic Sivilias (24b) goal, but then our starting right back got sent off and the momentum shifter dramatically. Robin Mirisola did a number on us, scoring 4 goals against 10 men. What would have been if we played 11vs11? We'll never know.

Away against Volos (Greek Super League):

The most frustrating game of the month. We had two goals disallowed, they score a very soft penalty and we missed 3 clear cut chances. It's one of those days I guess. I blame this on the mid-week game and the loss of morale.

Away against Partizan (Europa League):

This was another low quality game, but I cannot complain since it was very close. A draw would be more fair, but our lack of authority in set pieces came back to bite us.

Home against Levadeiakos (Greek Super League):

An even game against a Levadeiakos team that pushes for the Championship Group every year since 2031. Rotated the side again and lost 2 points because of it.

You might have noticed a scoring problem. We didn't forget how to score, we just lost Lazaridis for most of those games with a knee injury. Sivilias came back to earth after a great first month, so here we go.

Despite not winning as much, things are not so bad. Yes, we have 0 points in big boys Europa League, but that was to be expected. We might have had 2 points with a bit of luck, but it didn't happen. In the league we are doing pretty well and I think we'll be ok in the end. It's interesting that Olympiacos, AEK, PAOK and Panathinaikos are struggling at the same time. Maybe it's time for a new Greek champion?

MVP of the month - Giannis Lazaridis (23g): Our captain managed to score 3 goals while playing half the games, which tells you everything about the rest of the players and the month we had. He's back from injury soon, so I hope we can get back on track.

February 10

Season 2035-2036: Part 2, Got thrown in the deep, did we manage to swim?

End of August was challenging. The priority was to get into the Europa League group stage, mostly to keep our finances safe. After that, it would be nice to not get battered by AEK or Olympiacos. Morale is always important, but this year with all these extra games, it's going to be crucial.

Away against AEK (Greek Super League):

It was a very weird game to start the season. AEK was dominating in the first half, but our goalkeeper Tzanoulinos (25a) kept us in the game. Then in the second half, Sivilias' (24b) heroics started. 2 goals by cutting inside, the first one was a wonderful chip over the AEK goalkeeper. Our vice captain Akis Kontopidis (28c) scored his first goal for Panionios, after 6 years of drought! It would be fair to say that we had a lucky start of the season.

Away against Hajduk (Europa League Playoffs):

Another tough away game, this time against Hajduk Split. It was a very close game, with no team really taking any risks. We finally got our break, when Sivilias (24b) scored a nice goal after... yeah you guessed it, cutting inside from the left wing. Qualification in the group stage is now in our hands.

Home against Olympiacos (Greek Super League):

What a month, another difficult game! Olympiacos might not be what they once were, but it's still a team that spends a lot of money and has a squad with more quality than ours. Our team was quite tired after the mid-week game against Hajduk and Olympiacos took advantage of that. We were dominated for most of the game, which was reflected in Olympiacos drawing first blood with a header in a 2v1 situation. Luckily, Sivilias (24b) was able to get a penalty for us, which the Panionios skipper Giannis Lazaridis (23g) was able to convert, despite his 6 Penalty Taking, which is btw the highest in the team. After the penalty we did better, but didn't have any major chances to get the win. I'll take the draw considering our schedule.

Home against Hajduk (Europa League Playoffs):

August was clearly Sivilias' (24b) month! Another crucial goal, despite not liking big matches, taking the pressure off us. Hajduk proved hard to beat, but our box-to-box mid Makis Skamantzouras (26h) arrived late in the area and with a nicely placed shot gave us the win and along with it, 3.4M euros for our participation in the group stage.

We are going up against some serious teams, which makes me afraid for our morale during the season, but let's try to stay positive. We're in our first continental competition!

MVP of the month - Andrianos Sivilias (24b): Who else would it be? Andrianos scored 4 crucial goals in 4 games, outperforming his 1.79xG by far. This is also reflected in his 7.55 average rating. The funny thing is that we had a difficult summer, as he was demanding a crazy new contract, which I ended up giving him after 2 rounds of negotiations, because we would be way worse without him. Will he keep it up?

February 10

Season 2035-2036: Part 1, Preseason struggles and formation tinkering

It was a rather uneventful preseason transfer-wise. Luckily all our best players wanted to stay and no major sides were interested in them. For that reason, I proceeded in renewing contracts and loaning out players aged 18-20 that are not yet at the main squad's level. This means that we have to keep an eye on 14 players, playing mostly in Greece's second league.

The only exception is Faton Basha (29b), who's going to play in Belgium's first division. He was quite promising back in 2029, but midfielders from later intakes seem to have developed better and faster. I hope we can get some money for him next year, after a good season in Belgium.

After playing a 4-3-3 (4-1-2-2-1) for years, I thought about trying something else, which is generally not the best idea after having your most successful season in the save. Anyway, I tried the following system in the preseason, which was similar in terms of instruction with what we were doing before, just pressed higher.

Needless to say, it didn't work as planned. Too many shots, not enough quality chances and very leaky at the back.

Against Turkish side Altinordu, we won thanks to a last minute goal by our Segundo Volante, but it was alarming that we conceded 2 goals with the opponent having just 0.26 xG.

Similar game against Lokomotiv Plovdiv. They scored with 5 shots (1 on target) and 0.64 xG. Meanwhile, we had 23 shots but not really any clear cut chances. We equalised thanks to a long shot by one of our 17 year olds that took part in the preseason tour.

On the last "serious" friendly before the start of the season, we got battered by relegation candidate OFI. Same situation, low quality shots and 4 goals conceded on 1.68 xG. That was it for me, I cannot risk finishing outside of the Championship Group in the league, especially in a year with increased matches because of our European qualification. So I went back to my tested and trusted formation of the previous years. It is largely based on a Rashidi video about Positional Play, so I take no credit for it.

The first month is going to be difficult. We play against league hegemons AEK, the falling giants Olympiacos and we have the Europa League playoffs in between.

I am not very optimistic based on what I've seen during the preseason, but to be fair to the team, our main squad keepers were injured.

February 10

13 hours ago, Padders said:

February 6

Season 2034-2035: Our best season yet, Panionios has finally arrived!

Last season we made it into the Championship Group for the first time. This year I felt the pressure of repeating this feat, but things turned out to be a little bit easier. Giannis Lazaridis (23g) was once again the undisputed starting striker and after changing his role into an Advanced Forward, he had a hell of a year! The Panionios captain scored 19 goals and provided 4 assists in 33 games getting us into the 3rd place and the qualification to the Europa League! At the same time, PAOK chocked massively in the playoffs, basically handing AEK yet another title (13 straight). At this point, I really don't know when they'll stop winning.

In the cup, we had another decent campaign, but ended up losing to Olympiacos, after two close matches.

The U19 team continues to prove that we are the best Greek academy, by winning their second title in a row. Definitely a good sign for the future, but I'll get to that later.

This year's youth intake was a very good one, as we finally got not just 1, but 2 promising strikers.

Giannis Antonis (35b) looks like the real deal! Determined, promising technicals and not a midget, I think he's going to be our next number 9.

Giorgos Apostolidis (35d) looks useful as well, but his Determination worries me. It will be interesting to see how they develop. They'll both get plenty of chances, since we're quite short on strikers.

Ardit Abazi (35c) is a very promising wide player, who will probably become our starting Inside Forward. He's Determined and his technicals look quite good already.

Finally, I couldn't leave out the most promising player of this intake, at least according to my staff. He looks great already, also Determined and will be able to play all over the central areas of the pitch. He's being retrained as a Ball Playing Defender.

I will wrap this up with my first "Manager of the Year" award. It was a defining year in my attempt to win everything with a bunch of kids from Athens.

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Posts posted by BillHoudini24