_Ben_

August 2023 August has been a baptism of fire to the new league for us! Three points from nine, or 1 PPG won't be enough, based on last season's results, to keep us up. I know it's early days but we have to find ways to keep a little more solid at the back, something which haunted us even as a strong team last season. My problems seem to be deeper though, with me dealing with this issue on a weekly basis: Only Kerem Paykoc is trained at the club and a look at anyone else who is also trained at club leads to nothing, aside from Caglar Soyuncu, who I doubt would be happy to drop down to the second tier from Lyon! Looks like it will be spaces on the bench, which isn't ideal when I can use up to five of ten subs in this division. --- Eyupspor 1-0 Menemenspor Away at a side that finished eighth last season was always going to be a tough start but we battled well, if a little naïve going forward. Star striker from last year Ali got the start but, really, was not to blame for our poor showing in front of goal. When you look at our passing stats, above (left is long, middle is medium and right is short), you can see the big issue that we have with our direct play right now - it's just not sticking. To lose possession nearly as many times as we have completed along pass is nearly as worrying as the ease of the other passes - with 2.6% of all sideways passes being key and 2.2% of all progressive passes being key, despite the poor completion of them. These stats corroborate with what I saw - we either went long and lost it most of the time, or went short and played it around the defence. Something to think about! Their goal was probably the fault of nobodies, although I would have liked stronger hands from the keeper. A deflected cross can go anywhere and, despite our marking not quite being as I would have wanted, there is no real need for an inquisition here. You win some and you lose some like this and I'm not too disheartened as, overall, we were defensively pretty strong. --- Adanaspor 3-2 Menemenspor An absolutely gut-wrenching defeat here. 2-0 up with fifteen left and we come away with nothing. Bah's goal and our threat and want to counter attack is great and something that we'll really need to perfect at this level to be successful and we raced into a two nil lead with Alpay's first goal for us - a shot from a corner. I don't have a lot to say about our their first goal - we maybe should have won the first header and, because we didn't, left their winger open to finish easily but that, again, feels like semantics and just some polishing of positioning. However, their second goal was absolutely down to some awful goalkeeper positioning and left me feeling absolutely furious. The third goal is just a complete capitulation and we just look absolutely unable to stop anything. It's a heart-breaking moment as our attacking play as really good until then and maybe just a pass or two short of getting the final ball right and leading to a goal-scoring chance. It's one of those where - as you can see from the line up, where I have to ease the five new faces in and get them happy and suited to my team. Play like that again and I think we'll win just as many as we don't! A little experiment saw me change the role of Cetin following a race into a 2-0 lead. As DLP(s), his passing range wasn't great and that makes me consider how important a designated playmaker is in a compact, counter attacking formation - instead maybe using a DM role with a few customised tweaks to allow him to become a kind of quarter back. Here is his pass map as DM(s), which, as I said - doesn't show much difference and bodes well for the future, if only to stop the moves where the ball goes back to him, or stops for him - like these eighteen received passes. At this point, we have now lost the same number of games this season already as I did in the entirety of last season. But... ---- Menemenspor 2-0 Genclibirigi We're on the board! But, arguably, our worst performance of the season to date. I guess that's to be expected when a low block meets a 4-4-2 mid/low block with limited pressing from wide, with, probably, a similar level of playing quality. Both goals were low xG chances as our opener, Eralp's first for the club, flew into the back of the net and we doubled our lead with a fizzing effort from Bah after a quick turnover in possession. With twenty-one unsuccessful crosses and just four key passes - down from twelve against Adanspor - it was really not the most beautiful free flowing game but we left with three points and some more confidence. Although they didn't add anything extra today, I am quite happy with the 'make the most of set plays' instruction from the board, as that kind of thing will certainly help us when we face games like this. --- Early season but we're out of the drop zone and I would love it to stay that way!

Early days so far but, combined with a higher line, seems to replicate the ultra-compact shape I managed to make previously. Thanks Jim! I'm really enjoying it and, yes, the time here has certainly padded the stats for my win rate, although I know that'll slow down this term. The old manager is unemployed, which is no surprise really given his 3-3-7 record before I took charge. Many thanks - not really dug into it much yet, but hope to do so as time goes on.

Line 69 onwards in there! It's not that I 'made it work' - I merely moved the whole panel across. I did have four of them showing but I couldn't work out how to stop them all showing, and rotating through, the same statistics! competition news side panel.xml

I don't want to put them in for the sake of it - i.e. if I can click twice to get there, one click isn't too much of a saving, unless I'm playing with the view. I have these now: Overview New Season Preview New Odds New Transfers Positions (taking from Tato)

Of course... Again, can't get the titles to show up for home form/away form/passes in final third for/passes in final third against! It's just pulling from a - now edited - competition team stats overview.xml Also managed to play around with some slightly extra tabs, too.

Thank you for collating this! I know where it is but haven't taken the time to put it all together. I've used some of that and now have got to this on my competition overview: Can't seem to get the title's (faded text) in grey above the custom stats though, yet.

Lots of lovely competition overviews today! Here is where mine is at after a bit of work on it last week: I have used Woz's base for this so will be re-working the tabbed containers at the top over the coming days.

My version of the skin has those on but I only packaged up the panels I’ve personally made in that release in the first post. I may decide to add them in for a ‘final’ release, yes, but they are quite easy to add in yourself from other skins if you want it in the meantime.

Yeah, I had nothing set in stone last year so these are basically crafted around my own play style, which is good. The tight defence, however, might not be the easiest to achieve. --- Thanks! I agree that Eralp, in particular, looks strong. Hopefully we can be a team that is greater than the sum of it's parts and do pretty well! ---- Tactically, we're naïve, but, I guess I expect that given our level and lack of team cohesion due to half a new team! I've played the first two matches and delved into a little bit more detail with some screenshots and will add the depth to go with over the new few days. It's going to be a long old season!

Not something I’ll be doing, sorry. I wanted to make a whole move away from that so wouldn’t have it on the next tab. If you want to see attributes in the usual manner, just look on the Attribute tab of their profile.

July 2023 A rag-tag group of incoming transfers built around some statistical work and then a lot of DoF usage, which, at this level, isn't far off what would be realistic. "Oi, scout, find me a new left winger that can play football!" Would be the question and Alpay Kocakli might be the answer. Fresh from a, well, erm.. spell, at Sanliurfaspor, in the same league that we played in last year. His overall statistics tell me he made 18(7) appearances for a total of 1,562 minutes with two goals from 3.01 xG and three assists from 2.89 xA. Overall, his metrics aren't amazing, except for one... Dribbles. He sits proudly in the best quadrant for progressive dribbling, for me, meaning that he dribbles and is then able to lay the ball off before being fouled. Whilst winning fouls is all well and good, Mr Grealish at Villa springs to mind, the ability to lay the ball off first is also important to me here. Not quite dynamite, but pacey enough and a decent bit of agility to him, I think that he could be a pretty solid find from the recruitment team. Next in is Serdarcan Eralp, from Genclerbirgili, who play at the level we play at right now. With 18(14) appearances, two goals from 2.71 xG, six assists from 5.72 xA, he's, again, nothing spectacular. However, for a team that finished in the bottom half and a player who didn't not get many starting minutes, to be in the green quadrant again for Attacking Output is a really strong position to be in. An assist every three games, roughly, is a pretty strong metric for a player if they were playing from the start each week and that's what he's hitting off the bench. I look forward to seeing how he and Gokhan Tore play the AM role for us. Ozan Oruc comes in as a player who I want to learn to develop. On loan at non-league 1922 Konyaspor, he's somehow prevented 0.26 xG - but I know that these metrics don't work in leagues that aren't modelled. I'm more interested in the 76% save rate - which is good but also the fact that he's held 23 shots put parried 75. A clear sign of an eccentric kid who needs some grounding. However, my recruitment team raved about his potential and decided that he'd be worth a gamble. The National-2 is hardly a place where talent is developed but that is where last incoming of the moth, loanee Elhadj Bah, spent last season, on loan from Samsunspor. Six goals, from 6.41xG and no assists from 1.64xG are, again, not great but he's experienced open age football and offers me some much needed Pace off the bench for a year. He has played at this level before, albeit briefly for Samsunspor and his wage demands are fairly comfortable. It feels, and looks, thanks to this chart - like an old squad and is lacking anything developmental and certainly anything academy based, which is not where I want to end up. However, at this stage - to be able to have a squad of twenty-odd players who, with the right coaching and tactical nous, could stay in this division, feels a million miles better than what I saw at the end of May! --- Pre-season is a time for me to put some finishing touches to our style, with, in particular, focus on our defensive play, which was terrible even as a strong team in the league. We still have a couple of games left of pre-season as I've looked to go fairly intense with friendlies in order to bed in our new recruits and ensure that fitness is not another barrier, behind, possibly, ability, in order for us to get results. We warmed up with a good trio of wins against teams of lesser standing than us in the domestic game but threw a 2-0 lead away against Panionios, of the Greek second tier. Whilst I always make a full eleven changes at half time, this was a pretty poor end result for a game that we battled really hard in. There is nothing particularly tactical I felt about the concessions as I look to build on my shape and am currently at this point: A couple of amendments to our shape from last year - with the creativity of Sahverdi Cetin, I've opted for a DLP rather than a DM and that may also decrease the passing length, although I still want us to go from back to front, quickly, but, ideally, through the players rather than up and over. As I cannot have an IWB with two defensive midfielders, I've asked the FB(s) on the left to sit a little narrower and cut inside, hopefully filling the gap vacated in transitional play. In our first friendly, you can see, roughly, the attacking shape - as we move into a 2-4-1-3 kind of position. I, ideally, want free roam for that AM between the lines and am happy that I have most vertical areas covered although there is a general lack of width on the left hand side now. With the build up here happening on the left, he is also a little further forward than he would be when we move down the right and that creates more of a 3-3-1-3 shape for us. I may tip the Pass Into Space on but that is game dependent on the opposition and whether we have full vertical corridors free, but, in the instance above, I didn't feel it would be beneficial to us. The main changes come in terms of out of possession shape. I've moved to a complete Low Block now but have increased the Defensive Line in order to really compact the shape. To make us a little harder to break down, still, I've told the team to Regroup when we lose the ball. I know that this may impact our ability to win the first and second ball - something I lamented last season, but, with the amount of long balls I'm seeing at this level, getting ourselves back into position is key. Not shown here, and often opposition dependent is the Trap Outside instruction - which will make our shape narrower and naturally push players out wide. We have a relatively tall defence, the sixth highest in the league and plenty of cover on the flanks - a conservative full back or a defensive minded DM. You can see in this extreme example - with Panionios chasing the game - that we are still quite narrow and compact vertically with quite a high line. Unfortunately, we offer no pressure to the centre backs, who, annoyingly, are able to ping a 60 yard pass between our lines and they finish - but that's a rare occurrence. If it starts happening all of the time - I'll do something about it, but, like a screamer from 25 yards, sometimes I just accept that it happens and move on! I hope that this shape can merge defensive solidarity with direct, counter attacking football and then we can also do our thing at set pieces, which, strangely, looks a lot like what the board also want...

Thanks! This was on my to-do list and I’ve amended now, exactly as you’ve said there. Just working through some more QoL stuff really and then I’ll get it all together.

Just a quick update on this... 1. Staff panels are now complete: Here is human manager: As well as AI manager and any other staff. I'm going to come back to this in future to see how I can get panels to change depending on staff members (e.g. physio not showing transfer stats, for example) but that'll come when I revisit these panels. 2. Player Popups are now complete: A selector panel controls whether you see attributes or statistics and it's fully changeable for goalkeepers, too. You can see a brief overview of their current statistics here before changing the tab for a more detailed breakdown. A couple of the names have had to change - 'Ball Control' to 'Control' for example, but it still matches up with the Additional Training options as intended. However - I'm just working through an issue where every player has the same colours (my own team's primary and secondary) on their popup, regardless of who they play for. If I can't fix this, it may come in a later update. 3. Skin colours now match FM23. I've updated the settings folder so now the backgrounds are blue and the highlights are cyan/light blue. This is an easy removal if you'd rather the black background or have your own colour scheme. --- I will package all of this up over the coming days and add re-upload the skin with this new version as well as all of the little changes I've made elsewhere and have uploaded xmls for in this thread. The next jobs are reworking the club screen, manager home page and tactics screen - again to include as much statistical data and information as possible without looking crowded.

I use Notepad to edit the xml files. I suggest you have a look around this forum as there are much better guide writers and people who explain their processes than me!

Easier than that! I guessed it wouldn't be because I had that on my skin last year. Manager tenure seems to break it and, understandably because it's looking up a value, in days, for a job that doesn't exist! For conformity, I've taken it from the Human panel too - but that's another thing completed that I can tick off!

I know. The funny thing is that it works on other non-players not contracted to my club, just unemployed managers crashes the whole game, so I expect it to be a lookup value as opposed to a code error.

Hi all, Just after a bit of help... I have created a human panel overview that looks like this: The code is exactly the same for non players, with things renamed and moved over to the correct folder. It looks like this. I can view non-managers in Staff Search but if I try to look at out of work managers, like this: The game crashes: --- I'm going to presume it's got something to do with the match stats in the top corner? Can anybody shed any further light on it please? Thanks!

Hit a brick wall with this. Put the panel with the messy table back in and now it shows nothing. I wonder if the ‘widget class’ that links to the panel has any say in it? I just don’t know what you’d call that, though…

Considering both you and Shrew are here - I thought you may have been announcing the re-introduction of one of The Dugout's moderators...

It does feel like a bug, yes, but I've never really seen it before to judge whether it should be happening and whether my players are actually good enough to ensure that it does. I really hope so Tore is the game-changer. I've found recruiting in my normal way almost impossible this summer as the players who want to join us simply aren't playing football at any level! Absolutely. I didn't expect promotion and nor do I think it's particularly realistic to fly through the leagues but, given the time it now takes me to get through games and months, I want to give myself enough time to have a proper crack at Serie A/Champions League at some point in this iteration (which is odd as the game isn't even out yet). I'd happily six this out for six months to make a sideways move to another second tier team, with a much bigger financial and fan base and a better reputation, and see where I can go from there. Given the last season, I back myself to turn a club around so I'd happily drop down a few positions if we're not dead last! Here are my stats, so far: If I go back to FM21 and FM22 - I recall that my first jobs: Meyrin and Mashuk (must have a thing about teams starting with an 'M'!) lasted under a year as I moved on quite quickly. At Meyrin, I won promotion and then managed to jump another league to the second tier, just midway through my second season whereas, at Mashuk, I took the Anji job as a fallen giant in the same league. If I look at this second tier, there are a few clubs with some really good pedigree that have fallen from the Super Lig in the past few years: I'd happily move to anyone with a better rating than ours and see where I go can from there! Thanks! Didn't get to finish with Groningen so eager to make some quicker moves here, although I want it to still feel realistic and not that I'm just winning everything. I think the big difference I'm seeing on the pitch is the quality (or lack of it) of the players but I've never been this tactically engrossed at this kind of level before! One day, I'll be able to start developing players and using more detailed stats to measure them - which is what I'd built the skin for!

Is that something with my skin? A) I actually don’t know the answer, because… B) It was never my intention to release anything match wise simply because, as you can see, these panels aren’t things I’ve done myself. They are basically taken from elsewhere and I haven’t fully credited the right people. It’s on my list to work through but if it has been released, it’s been done accidentally and I apologise to anyone who hasn’t been credited for their work on these panels - mainly Wozzie and his Tato skin.

Truly appreciate this Keysi. I’ve seen the issues you’ve gone through as a skinner and fully understand your reasons to not release this year. But the little things like this, especially as I’m a ‘first time releaser’ make me feel more at ease about this process.

Interested to see what you can get from this. To be honest, just a table of the statistics on each club overview page would be an absolute game-changer for me! But, with it being temperamental, I'm thinking of where it may work - Data Hub maybe?

Yes! This means you've got something working and got that bug back! Looking forward to this.

I think that I'm going to just drip feed some new stuff in here as time goes on rather than create a new download for just the smallest things. I've made a couple of quality of life amendments that fit in with the style of seeing as much info as possible wherever possible. Recruitment Overview: (Regular Version) Specific Recruitment Focus: (Regular Version) Squad Planner: (Regular version) --- Active recruitment focuses panel.xml and scouting overview panel.xml need to go in Statman/panels/club team squad planner panel.xml in Statman/panels/team - or, whichever skin you are using! active recruitment focuses panel.xml scouting overview panel.xml team squad planner panel.xml