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Mid-Season Update Competitions: Ligue 1 Massive contribution from one of the best players I ever had in FM: Niclas Rahbek. UCL: Particularly interesting that are youngsters are thriving in the UCL: Podstawski, 18, 4 goals + 2 assists; Kitoko, 16, 2g + 1a; Sueur, 17, 1g+1a. Winter Transfer Window Quite busy, but we managed to make some interesting deals: OUT A bunch of reserves with limited potential; Lucas Pires was our reserve LB and Tozé was our rotating DM and RW, but not exactly the first choice. IN Machuca, Triki and Hubery are U17 players. Petreski is a 21-year-old who can still develop and either be a backup or at least be sold for profit. The same goes for Johansen. Vini is the replacement for Tozé. He can play both as MEZ-A and LW. Tejeda is a winger turned LB. He isn't top quality but with the lack of attacking WBs, I decided to try him out. Dionisi is a piece of business. He has english nationality, has decent potential and was available for just 2M. Got him in, loaned him to Toulouse, and expect to profit a lot from his sale to a Premier League team. Tactics I have settled with my 4-3-3 DM Wide. In possession is a 2-1-3-4. I've also created the inverted version to cause different types to problems, but haven't used much. Regarding my spreadsheet, I've changed a few things: Added a calculated Potential Rating: a very simple formula just based on a linear evolution until a players is 23 (as expected doesn't work very well for GKs, but it's a work in progress). Added a personality check and a potential check. On the Squad Analytics Tab, I've changed the Ability and Potential to the BPR values from the table above (instead of the scout assessment). This way it's calculated automatically once I upload my squad. I've also created an Evolution screen to track my players' development from the beginning of the season (or when they got in the squad):

Quick Update: I got back to Marseille. Initially, I was thinking about waiting for a different type of job, maybe in Italy or Spain, but clearly, Marseille was the best job available and already had a squad built with my ideas. 2 new visuals to study my squad: The first one is based on "Talent Analytics". Based on ability and potential, I set my players into categories. Then with the risk/impact binomial, I can check if I need to be looking at someone to cover an eventual exit. [Risk: 2 for players with someone interested; 3 for players who already have an offer or said they want out] | [Impact: this is more on feeling - 2 if I feel I have a sub, but I'm not 100% sure he can replace him; 3 - 2nd best is nowhere near in quality ] The second one is an overview of all the players with a contract. [Monthly Expenses: Monthly Wage + 4* Appearance Fee] [Wage Group Limit: Based on the 30+30+30+10 division of wages] [Best Rating: I have a calculation for each position based on the octagon attributes] [Total Rating: All octagon attributes added] [Prob Columns: Checks for potential issues with players - Age if they are equal or over 31; Wage if they are over their wage group limit; Rate if they are below 72 in best and 60 in total - then they add to the 4th column]

An interesting turn of events... After the post-season meeting with the board, I was called for another post-season meeting with the board and they decided to sack me. Oh well...

One more update as another season has gone by. Left Marseille as intended and soon I got some interviews. Managing at Anfield after Klopp left was an honor so I took the challenge. Quite an offer as well. They ended last season in 5th with 67 points; R16 on UCL; FA 3rd Round; and Carabao 4th Round. There was a vision I was required to meet: Work within budget is my usual; reputation is always tricky. Don't plan on having signing aging players so not important those 1/2-year contract rules. Sign youngsters fits me; play defensive is not usually my cup of tea; play possession is also a nice fit. The squad I inherited had some challenges. Plenty of players 31+ and many wanting out. Also, quite a decent size of players who weren't developed properly and I could see there was some potential there, but difficult to predict if they'll ever be the players needed to play for Liverpool. First, the outs: Didn't want to sell Konaté, but I'm not one to fight players to stay so, I sold him. He was 30 already, so this was probably the last chance to make some money on him. Vanderson was kept in the team until January but his performances weren't great and I had Trent and Saelemaekers to play RB. The rest were mostly backups or 21/22-year-olds who were not good enough. IN: Kelleher wanted out and Allison was 37, so I needed to take care of the goal for the next few years and I went for Dinis Baldé who I brought to Marseille and was on loan at Braga. Quite expensive but couldn't find any other decent youngster. He's only 20 so he'll be around for long. Konaté left so I needed another CB. Louis Costa (a regen) was on my shortlist from my time at Marseille and he wanted to leave so I chose him. 23 years old, 193cm. Another one for the long run. I needed a fast player upfront so got Alex from Grêmio. 20-year-old, 17 ACC, 15 PAC, 17 DRI, left-footed and can play both RW or ST. Also one for the future. Quite cheap for his quality. Bauer, Guzmán, Edison, Iribarren were all brought in as prospects. In January, needed to reinforce the CB position as my 4th CB wasn't good enough and Louis Costa is always in need of a rest (don't know why as he has 14 Natural Fitness). So I loaned in Badiashile who wasn't playing at Marseille and I knew how good he was. For the LB position, I had Tsimikas, who was 34 and was steadily declining and a regen who wasn't doing very well so I decided to try Prince Aning. Both these loans came with option-to-buy clauses in case I won the league. And I learned that money was kept out of the balance until the end of the season... The season was going quite well until I had a very poor run. 3 points out of 12 in the league; eliminated from UCL; and barely got through in the FA Cup. I had been trying to play a 4-2-3-1 to move away from the 4-3-3 and try and be a more defensively solid side as it was asked by the board, but it wasn't working. In that match against Everton, I decided to go back to my Marseille 4-3-3 and ended the season playing very well and only allowing 2 goals in the last 4 games. However, it wasn't enough and we could only get to 6th place with 1 less point than last season. So it was 6th in PL; QF in UCL; Runner-Up in FA Cup; 4th Round in Carabao. Similar to last season, but I need to do much better next time. I ended the season meeting with the board as they were considering my future at the club. Besides all actual football, I don't like how the finances are. Next season I'll keep getting rid of deadwood and try and lower the wages. A season for learning. Let's see if I'm up to the task next season.

Sorry for going back so much. Something caught my attention: have you set your new HOYD to be responsible for the youth intake? I'm asking this because it was your DOF presenting the info, which might suggest it's him responsible for it. The change in the affiliate link is great for your purposes. Getting those Mexican youngsters from teams with such high reputation in their countries will certainly help you a lot.

Quick Update on the Season. I don't have much time to play, but kept going with Marseille. Almost a perfect season. In the league, a draw in the last game left me nervous as we needed at least one point to secure the title. We also won the Cup and "Trophée des Champions" (Supercup). We only got to the QF in the UCL. We undeservedly lost the first leg 3-0 and couldn't get back in the tie for the 2nd leg. Regarding the squad: before this season started we got some offer for Turati and Siquet. They wanted to leave, so I let them. Got Casadei in as Nottm Forest were relegated and he had a 10M relegation release clause. This season we also made some changes. Most important: Lazar Samardzic on a heavy salary, but was worth it. Switched backup LB (Max Paul for Kerim), got a new GK (Gorter), and a new backup RB (Arnau Martínez). In the winter transfer window, Charier (regen, CAM) wanted me to accept the Real Madrid bid and so I did and brought in Opoku (regen, CAM) and Paquetá as backup. All the others are youngsters. Individual Stats (sorted by minutes played) Beier with 1,10 gls/90 was once again our standout performer. Badiashile was a great help with some corner goals and a lot of possession won (Thorarinsson as well); Daoud, Vormer, Tozé, Samardzic, Zvonarek, Casadei had phenomenal seasons. Our loanees have also performed well (sorted by recommendation). I expect a lot from Rahbek; Dinis will certainly be our starting GK; Kündig and Castelli will soon be part of the squad; Nordh will also be a part but he might need some time. We got here on 26/27 and we broke some records Financially the team is in a much better position (with a lot of money still to be received this season) I want to win the UCL, but I'm a bit tired of the French League, so I will leave Marseille and see where I can find a spot.

You should see the movie. It's brilliant (IMO)

Sorry, but I couldn't help having the sound in my head: "Dags... Do you like dags?" Good luck with the new challenge!

Good luck for the end of the season! Vivar seems like a great prospect. Even if he doesn't develop to be a star, with those technical attributes he can always be an asset in the first team

I haven't spent much time here as work and study are using most of my time, so I hadn't noticed you had already started a new journey. It's a great read as always, and the skin is getting better with each iteration. Just a question I was dealing with the last time I played: can you somehow filter by position played instead of "natural/accomplished" position? I could never find the option, but on the development screen and on the form screen, players have the statistics distributed by playing position (and even role), so the game is tracking that.

Congratulations! I'll be waiting for your save in FM24.

Amazing efficiency! Ready for City?

That 4-2 against Liverpool looks solid. The away trip is always difficult, well every game is difficult at that stage of UCL... Good luck! Edit: 4-3, Messed it up.

Thanks! Don't know if I'll get FM24 or keep playing FM23. I don't usually buy every version. I'll decide by Christmas.

I was! Couldn't write anything. We had some opportunities but couldn't score; Beier was always on offside; that Endrick disallowed goal... Way too stressful way to end the season. I made a mess in the winter transfer window. But you live and you learn. When fighting for a league, keep the best. When I sold Maxi, Harit and Soumaré I lost the chance to have a more peaceful second half, and maybe we could have fought for a better Coupe de France run and a better UCL run as well as not losing so many points in the league. I don't know if I'll keep playing and if I do, I don't know if I'll have the time to post as I will start a post-graduation course next week, but I'm sure I learned a lot about squad building for big goals.