SixPointer

Only two points a drift of fourth. Does that still get you a UCL spot?

Looks a very sensible move, cutting some big wages and filling the gap with a few players you’re taking a chance on. If it comes of it will be a masterful stroke

Congratulations on the coupe de France!! Huge moment, a sign of things come. Restoring a French giant isn’t easy, especially one with demanding fans!

Ahh well. There loss! Just show them what they missed by winning everything possible

Beautiful written Matty! I’ve done the opposite in my first year in Venezuela. I was using the half back as my lone DM. Now I’ve opted for a DLP. I loved the half backs movement, you get perfect Salida lavolpiana now without having to shift the wing backs. I just needed someone with a little more flair as I’ve now opted to try the new IFB role.

A nice way to bow out with a trophy shrew. Peru sounds fun come join me in South America

Love that you’ve started at your local club mate! Following as always, best of luck

Love it when a tactical tweak turns things around. Nothing more satisfying in life (don’t tell my wife I said that) 🤣

Sore one! Plus side the academy’s still producing sublime talent. I’ve taken to adding faces to my own hot prospects. Only the ones I feel like will make it. But there nowhere near the standard of your elite levels

I love the polish league. I wish I had stayed with my Ruch Chorzow a few editions ago when they were down at the very bottom. I see now they have bounced back. I feel there is always so many clubs with great potential

Top four is still a good finish, especially for a season filled with frustrating inconsistent form.

I think when the interest wavers it’s time to change. I suffered massively towards the end of the Happel challenge, but we becoming a chore. If this is the end? What next?

Team bonding definitely a welcome bonus. Especially when trying to improve teamwork which is one of my key attributes. I’ll add it in myself Welcome aboard! I must say in my research it’s was always going to be my first stop! Yeah, suppose it’s the drawbacks of custom database but the guys making them do such a great job! I take my hat off to them really. Yeah it’s starting to take shape but I’m still inbetween a mix of styles. A proper pre season and a good recruitment drive should open up more doors. Loving some of the new behaviours from roles but I would be foolish to say I’ve mastered how to combine them just yet. But that’s what has my focus now, I finally feel like I can grow a tactic. I don’t want it to end up like a plug in play either much like my last save. Where I didn’t have to change much at all game to game. I feel like am getting back into the tactical depths, which we both know i adore. Welcome along my man! You can find them in the steam work shops. You just subscribe to them there. If you need help doing so drop me a message and I can show you. The people making them do an amazing job, for all over the world packs.

The first season on the Andes is complete, while it was disruptive due to a change of club there were some good foundations built, some harsh lessons learnt but overall it now has its hooks in me. Competition performance - In the league we just missed out on a Copa Libertadores slot, while I thought it was down to goal difference, apparently it comes down to a random choice as we tied for fourth place. In the end the board is satisfied enough with the slight turnaround in fortunes since Fabricio arrived. The Copa Venezuela was a sore spot. We did however go out to the league winners in ¼ finals, Caracas our rivals knocked them out on their way to winning it. As for the Copa Sudamericana, a shambles as we get knocked out in the preliminary rounds by a team that finished 6 places below us in the league. Our attacking performance stands above average, we scored +12 over our XG which is one of the most pleasing aspects from the first season. Our pass completion is above average but from the dynamics you can see it needs to improve for it to become the best in the league. Defensively again we are ranked above average, a real plus point is how much possession we won and the amount of clean sheets, but averaging 1.46 goals against isn't good enough and needs to be addressed as conceding 41 goals as season will get us nowhere fast, especially seven over two games against the league winners. Our pressing also needs improving and is probably a large part of the problem, OPPDA sitting well above average but our defensive line height is improving. I feel like this is the one area that's going to take some time to tactically perfect. Our tactical periodisation for a game week, Our aim is review and recover from the previous game, take what we learned and begin to apply it to our next game. The start of the week is aimed at recovery and the fundamentals of our game, then as the week progresses we work tactically on the next game then apply more specific sessions for the upcoming opponent. The intensity through the week is tapered up then down, allowing the players to be in the best physical and mental condition coming into the next game, while each induction session is to be trained in game-like situations the entity is managed. In its most basic form tactical periodisation is a methodology which prioritises preparing the players for the games by making the training game like. Each session is devoted to the style of play and tactics, and in game scenarios. Training must be well thought out and planned to achieve ultimate preparation for each game. Attributes which are key to our tactical ideals, game model and are now going to be our basic level DNA, have been Identified, I have eight crucial attributes, that i will demand of each player am going to settle for 10 as acceptable for the time being, younger players at this level ill accept 8, with a view of improving them. Passing First Touch Technique Anticipation Composure Decisions Teamwork Vision Tactically I stated i wanted to grow into a style, with that in mind i still have to the basis of what i want to end up at, and with the changes to FM24 player roles, i think it's only fair i go back to a positional style of play, much like i did with Ruch, and Sparta Rotterdam previously. Positional is a commonly used systematic ideology for a team to play within. Players are encouraged to occupy certain zones on the pitch, which advantage the team’s structure and individual dynamics. It works to enable teams to progress the ball forwards through the creation of triangles or diamonds that give the ball-carrier space and several passing options at any given time. Then, by drawing an opponent towards the ball, a player will free up a teammate elsewhere to receive the next pass. The most obvious proponent of the system is of course Pep, but there are many others, in fact it originated from the great dutch total football teams before Johan Cruyff brought it to Barcelona and Pep. El Loco, Marcelo Biesla was called the best in the world by Pep so it would be foolish of Coloccini not to take notice of his fellow countryman. A season down and while it was unsettled by changes of club, it already clear that at this level your not going to be able to tick every single box tactically, i have already learned the hard way, at both clubs i found i was to expanse and conceded many goals, so this is where the growth of the tactical system will come. On the other side of the coin there have been some good examples of overloads, and 1v1, 2v1 and fluent attacking football, so the foundations have already started to form at such an early stage, which is good considering the disruption. A small teaser of hopefully more of what's to come, clearly you can see the left hand side overload pulling the opponents defence over, while leaving 1v1 and 2v2 in attacking positions. I will also cover transfer and squad building in the second season previews.

I’ve only really started to experiment with the roles and positional play. Last year I went down a different tactical route as I had became a little frustrated with positional play. But I’m going full tilt into it now the happel challenge is done. I don’t think we will ever get a perfect ME footballs to fast moving, but I agree with you that we have to enjoy the good parts and try look past the bad.

Sounds like you have an idea what is tactically limiting you which is always a good start point to tweak

Yeah, I can’t have any complaints really. I was hoping it would have been kept from the board a little longer so that I would have had a more clean cut decision. But the minute I applied that was me sacked 🤣

Things started really well in Mérida, but the players weren’t going to be able to play the style I want to this year. The two best players were 35 and 38 and there wasn’t really much talent coming in. Would I have made it work most likely, as we were playing well counter attacking. Deportivo however a set up for much more long term success and have a decent bunch of youth players ready to grow into the style of play. The conveyer belt is something am very excited to get going. Vivas signed a new deal which is a real bonus but chacon will need to go this window as he’s not for signing.

I feel your pain my man

Deportivo Táchira Fútbol Club, is a Venezuelan club whose main sport is football. It is based in the city of San Cristóbal, capital of the State of Táchira. It is located in a mountainous region of Western Venezuela. The city is situated 818 metres (2,684 ft) above sea level in the northern Andes overlooking the Torbes River, 56 kilometres (35 mi) from the Colombian border. Deportivo Táchira is one of the great Venezuelan teams and since its foundation in 1974 has participated in the First Division of the Venezuelan Football Championship, making it the only Venezuelan team that has never fallen or participated in the lower category. Currently it holds the first position of the historical classification of the Venezuelan Primera División with 2229 points. At the international level, it is the Venezuelan club with the most appearances in the Copa Libertadores. Its best international participation was its advance to the quarter-finals unbeaten in the Copa Libertadores 2004. It is one of two Venezuelan clubs that have advanced past the first phase of the Copa Libertadores, or reached the quarter-finals. Games between Deportivo Táchira and Estudiantes de Mérida are known as the Clásico de Los Andes(meaning Andes' Derby). However, in recent years games between Deportivo Táchira and Caracashave been known as the modern derby, because of the successful performance of both teams. The team's supporters are known as aurinegros("gold-and-blacks"). The supporters are mainly divided into three groups; La Torcida Aurinegra , La Avalancha Sur, and Comando Sur. Several of the team's supporters have committed violent acts in the past towards the supporters of opposing teams. One of the most tragic events took place on December 17, 2000, when the club and Caracas drew 2–2, which gave the Copa República Bolivariana de Venezuela's title to Caracas, causing angry supporters of Deportivo Táchira to burn the Caracas team bus. While it was a tough decision whether to apply or not I think it's clear to see this is a huge upgrade in terms of club stature. So making the four hour journey down the road wasn't taken lightly, especially as my old club sat top of the pile. Whereas it's clear to see why the Deportivo manager was sacked, trailing the top of the league by 11 points and playing two more games. They remain in the Copa Venezuela and to make things even more interesting they have drawn Merida in the fourth round. The club has two of Venezuela’s biggest talents, in Yerson Chacón and Carlos Vivas. Both are attracting interest in Europe already and it will be a task to hold them but the money earned should allow us to re-invest in an already fledgling youth system. Players of the calibre will now allow me to get tactically innovative. I feel like this is home for a while now, this is the place to win the two major trophies up for grabs here and try to make an impression on the continental front.

Very controversial, Coloccini has crossed the Venezuelan Andean derby divide. He was sacked after applying for a rival managerial position. When I did my research on all the Andean clubs, this was one that really piqued my interest and was number one on the list for Venezuela. So when they started to struggle I thought I had to take my shot. I think it adds an interesting spin on things already so early in the save, it certainly will light up the Andean derby!

Inconsistency is one of the most frustrating things ever. I think if you’re playing really bad it’s easy to look at what’s wrong and fix it. When your inconsistent, tactically and visually your seeing a lot of good things that you like so it’s harder to change things as you don’t want to lose the good stuff.

Good luck in Naples. One of my favourite cities in the world!

Nice piece about third man runs, I think now more than ever we should be able to create these situations in game. Overloads and third man runs thanks to the work done on positional play.

Yeah it happened Something like that update is pending