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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.

May [Ligue 1] vs PSG (H) The game that defines the season. Saka is probably out of the game on their side. Beier rallying the troops! Their expected line-up It’s odd seeing Mbappé on the right. He only played 2 games there this season. However, in their last game (Coupe de France final vs Monaco) he played there. Marquinhos is also outside the expected line-up. His physical has declined a lot but he’s still the second-most-used CB in the squad (after Kimpembe). Clearly their right side is way better than their left, so we’ll try to focus there. Late news: Reis is injured and can’t play. Kündig, the backup DM is also out with an injury. Nagy will play as DM and Carboni as RCB. 15 minutes in, we are marginally better, but it’s very balanced and quiet. Vormer already had some attention from the physios but he can keep going. In the 21st minute ESR scores on a rebound. We were a bit careless inside the box. Around the 30-minute mark we are not doing bad, but we need to find the equalizing goal. Mbappé scores in the 49th minute. After a great team play, Beier scores. 1-2 we are back in the game. It’s halftime! Very balanced game. We had a good reaction, especially after their second goal. We need to keep going! Right after the second half started, Bellingham puts the ball past his own goal. 2-2! Mbappé scored again. This time a header. 2-3. Vormer is hurt and needs to be taken off. ASM comes in as well as Castelli for Fujimoto. They are creating better chances and are completing a lot of passes, but I believe we can do it! 3-3! Beier! As crazy as the second half of this season. They are starting to make substitutions: Milinkovic-Savic and Marquinhos for Mudryk and Tanganga. Gouiri moves to LW. Hakimi, Mbappé and ESR are on poor fitness levels. On our side it’s only Daoud feeling tired. Hakimi for Pavard follows. I responded with Hojlund for Daoud with Beier moving to LW. Çalhanoglu and Charier for Pezzella and Zvonarek. Final Whistle! We couldn’t stop them from creating many chances, but we also created some for ourselves. It’s a draw, everything to be decided in the last game. [Ligue 1] vs Lorient (A) Lorient has secured UCL qualification but they are still fighting for 3rd place. We got Reis back, but Vormer is injured so ASM starts and Nagy goes back to RCB. Sorry about not having many words written and many screenshots but I was quite nervous and focused. Endrick scored for them 8 minutes in but it was disallowed for offside. In the 51st minute, Beier scored after a through ball from Fujimoto. The game went on without much happening until the 86th minute were Nagy was sent off when he was already playing as DM. We then ended the game without a striker. But WE WON! WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

It's way more challenging than that. You'll see why in a moment. Sorting Rules: As you said, I have a clear advantage, but my remaining games are: And PSG's remaining games. I play PSG and 3rd-placed Lorient. If we win against them, we are the champions. If we draw, I need to match their result - and that's most likely a win against Nantes (they are in the relegation play-off). If I lose, they have to lose against Nantes and I have to win against Lorient. It would be crazy to win the league at home against PSG. One can only dream!

Congratulations! Having the option to rest the players in the final stages of the season is great and might tip the balance in your favor. Good luck!

NXGN 2029 The winner is Andorran. What are the odds? We have 4 players in the top 50. Miath and Kündig are already part of the first team. Sebek will likely be next year. Rahbek will probably go on loan one more season. April [Ligue 1] vs Bordeaux (A) A 10 for Vormer! 6 Key passes; 6 dribbles; 2 goals; 1 assist. Fantastic performance. [Ligue 1] vs Lyon (H) It’s always a tough game against Lyon. They started in 5-2-3, and we adapted and man-marked their DMs with our CMs and their WBs with our Wingers. Changed the RB to CWB-S (from IWB-S); W-S to RMD-A and MEZ-S to DLP-S. We gained control of the match after the changes and eventually scored. They changed to a 4-2-3-1 at half-time, and we reverted to our usual formation. They scored a goal through a dribble down their right flank. Then, Siquet made a two-footed tackle and was sent off. That’s the third time it happens this year… I don’t want how frequent these are in the game, but as a dominating team, seems to be happening way too much. My players aren’t particularly dirty (at least the reports don’t mention that). Anyway, Fujimoto was subbed off, Carboni in. Nagy to RB; Carboni as RCB; Reis moved to LCM and Zvonarek to RCM. The game was balanced until the end but thy managed to find the winning goal. Of course, PSG wins and is now tied with us… [Ligue 1] vs Lens (A) Just before the game, my assistant manager asks if I want to schedule a team meeting. He wants me to tell the players they are not expected to win… I’m not sure about that. I go along, not as exaggerated but I tell them there’s a lot still to be played. Only Badiashile and Daoud react badly, the others are very positive about our talk. 1-0! Not much but it’s 3 points. We were better, we deserved them. PSG also wins. [Ligue 1] vs Troyes (H) This is most likely the end of our challenge for the title. We are now 2 points behind PSG and still have to play against them. Playing against 5 at the back is always tough. Tried to go wide, but our wingbacks weren’t creating much. [Ligue 1] vs Reims (A) Before our game, PSG drew against Lorient! If we win, we can get level again. There’s still hope! After a half without scoring I have to admit I was getting a bit nervous. It’s hot! Budget for Next Season Amidst the games from this month, we ended up being qualified for UCL and the board set the budgets for next season. 47M! That’s a pretty nice sum. And the wage budget has 1M/month of space (we only have 1 player over 500k/month).

March [Ligue 1] vs Monaco (H) Beier with 3 more and an important win for us. [Champions League] vs Dortmund (A) We were good in the first half, but non-existent in the second. They scored, so they carry the advantage to the second leg. [Ligue 1] vs Rennes (A) Reis was sent off too soon and left us a man short for an hour. We managed to hang for a lot of the time, but then they scored. 3 points away from PSG. [Champions League] vs Dortmund (A) It’s ridiculous but I didn’t want to risk my first eleven, so I played a full-rotation eleven. I need to be totally focused in the league. 2-2, two goals from “The Mountain”. Vormer was subbed in and out. He came on early and was tired by the 70th minute. We lose on aggregate, now we can focus on the league. We leave the UCL for another season. [Ligue 1] vs Saint-Étienne (H) We started with a goal just 25 seconds into the match and were superior every minute of the game. 7 matches to go and only 3 points between us and PSG. We play them in the second to last game of the season. Hope they lose points by then. They are still in the UCL and Coupe de France so at least they have more risk of injuries and fatigue build-up. Youth Intake Decent potentials, awful personalities and worse-than-expected starting ability. All the investments in junior coaching and these lot feel quite bad. The star of the bunch: Kyllian Terrien. Interest in my players I know we are not a big team in Europe yet, so it’s only natural the sharks come after our players. This is the one I’m most concerned about losing. Not only because of his skill and contribution to the team, but he’s a French player and I would love to have a French-dominant team and Daoud is a key piece to achieve this goal. Turati is also wanted by many teams and I agreed to let him go for 39M. Elsewhere, Chelsea want Siquet; Lens want Castelli and West Ham want Ludovit Reis.

Development Name Best Pos TOT TEC MEN PHY Andrei Nagy DM 6 1 4 1 Lovro Zvonarek AM (L) 0 0 0 0 Mettin Vormer AM (L) 4,5 3 0,5 1 Karim Daoud AM (L) 2 1 0 1 Mickael Charier M (C) 0,5 0 0,5 0 Tammo Kündig DM 4 0,5 2 1,5 Jonathan Castelli AM (C) -1 -1 0,5 -0,5 Thomas Scherrer M (C) 1,5 1 0,5 0 Gustavo Blanco AM (L) 1 0 0 1 Birkir Porarinsson D (C) 0 0 0 0 Gérald Miath ST (C) 3,5 0 2,5 1 Abdou Diallo AM (L) 6 1,5 2,5 2 Sacha Jammet AM (L) 15 2,5 8 4,5 Arthur Carriere D (R) 2 0 0,5 1,5 Daniel Simon ST (C) 14 2 8 4 Antonin Pellegrin D (R) 3 0 1 2 Mateo Lambert DM 3 0,5 1,5 1 Rodrigo Patrocínio D (L) 1 0 0,5 0,5 Yaovi Alassani D (L) 10 2 5,5 2,5 Cheikh Ndaw M (C) 4,5 1 0,5 3 80,5 15 38,5 27 I decided to gather the data only for U23 players with a potential of over 3 stars (and due to the restraint of data access, only players in any of the squads). Glad to see Nagy, Vormer, and Daoud getting close to their full potential. Charier had some chances but needs more playing time. I wanted to loan Scherrer but he's important as Homegrown. Blanco, Castelli, Birkir, and Miath need a lot more playing time at this level or higher so they can develop. The kids are doing alright. I was expecting a bit more from Diallo, but Jammet and Simon are developing really well. UCL Round of 16 Draw It’s the round of 16 in the UCL, so it’s not terrible but Dortmund is fighting Bayern for the league title. February [Ligue 1] vs Strasbourg (H) Remember that striker I had who was scoring over 1 goal/90? His form since the contract renewal: Don’t know what’s happening with Beier. Not that I expected him to keep that outrageous form, but wasn’t expecting such a dip either. [Ligue 1] vs Nice (A) Beier back to scoring and we win. PSG lost. [Ligue 1] vs Montpellier (H) Great win. Not rated very highly, but Pezzella had a great performance. Passed the ball 104 times with a 91% completion rate, 7 dribbles, 2 key passes, 3 tackles on 100% completion rate, and 2 interceptions. [Ligue 1] vs Lille (A) We were winning 1-0 and I was probably too hungry and wanted that second goal to give us some rest, instead, we suffered one and when I tried to get the 3 points back, they scored another one. A bit unfair, but probably also a bit stupid on my part. We end the month 6 points above PSG. Last month we both lost points to Sochaux, this month we both lost points to Lille. As long as we are copycats we have the title in our hands. It’s easy to tell Mbappé is regaining form as he’s surging through the player stats rankings. Youth League After a great league phase run, we ran into Bayern and lost 1-0. I’m happy for them.

Winter Transfer Window Marra was on loan and he’s back. Soumaré is the first to leave. Didn’t want him to go, but his wages were always too high and his contract ended this season, so we managed to still make some money out of him. I’m considering moving Nagy to DM and keeping Birkir or Marra as 4th option CB or recalling Jofré from his loan. Jofré can play DM, CB and RB. I can also recall Kündig who has the potential for 5 stars and is a DM. Eventually, he decided for Kündig. GREAT NEWS! Beier accepts a new contract! Harit is the second to leave. I recalled Gustavo Blanco from loan. He’s still a bit far from the level needed but he wasn’t playing much and he was occupying a national loan vacancy. Harit only participated in 5 games, so I don’t expect to need Blanco that much. Maxi and Turati had offers. Accepted the one for Maxi has he’s not a starter but don’t want to lose Turati right now. I compromised with him on letting him go for 39M. He’s my starter, Italian international. Man City made a ridiculous bid of 23M with installments. They are way too far. To replace Maxi, we go back to the options I laid out before for Soumaré: Birkir, Marra and Jofré. I’m tempted to keep Birkir, loan Marra and let Jofré keep his place at Brest (they are fighting for promotion in the 2nd tier). Marra goes to Vitesse on loan. Maxi signs for Man City. 36M, maybe 55M. Bought him at the end of the contract. A massive piece of business. Wasn’t expecting it when I signed him. He was cover for RB and CB, and eventually became an important part of the squad. I’m sad to see him leave, but can’t say no to such business. By the way, Man City already have Arda and Maxi and are interested in Turati. I might move there next as I already know the players… Along with these sales comes a new record: There was some interest in Badiashile so I decided to offer him a new contract. Interest is gone for the time being. We used some of the money we gathered to invest in some young players. I let the DOF make some purchases for our 2nd Team. Some players have questionable potential and interest for us, but they are cheap so we don’t have much to lose. Name Best Pos Personality Age Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Status FB CB CM AM WF ST Niclas Rahbek ST (C) Perfectionist 18 5 14 14 11 11 13 9 11 55% P5 57% 48% 59% 59% 63% 61% Dexter Sneddon D (R) Driven 20 11 14 15 9 6 9 9 14 54% P3,5 63% 59% 58% 42% 53% 52% Jaime Garcia ST (C) Fickle 19 6 10 13 10 13 12 12 10 54% P4,5 51% 49% 54% 57% 61% 60% Nicolò Bozetto M (C) Fairly Determined 20 7 11 11 15 12 12 7 10 53% P3,5 51% 43% 57% 66% 61% 57% Max Nordh D (C) Driven 18 13 12 11 8 8 8 12 13 53% P4 57% 61% 52% 40% 45% 49% Tomás Villa M (C) Fairly Professional 18 11 11 10 13 10 12 6 11 53% P4 55% 47% 56% 60% 56% 51% Sérgio Silva AM (R) Spirited 20 3 12 15 9 13 12 7 10 51% P3 52% 41% 55% 55% 63% 60% Emilio Montesinos AM (R) Mercenary 19 4 12 12 11 10 14 8 9 50% P4,5 51% 41% 54% 60% 61% 56% Dani AM (L) Perfectionist 19 4 13 14 10 9 13 5 12 50% P4 56% 41% 57% 55% 61% 54% Milos Manic AM (R) Determined 20 8 12 15 7 8 9 9 12 50% P3,5 56% 52% 53% 40% 53% 52% Marco Manuzzi M (C) Mercenary 17 4 11 11 14 9 12 5 9 47% P4,5 47% 35% 53% 61% 57% 51% Atubolu, as expected, will leave when the season ends. Have the option to sell him now, but I really want to keep him here as backup for Turati. Deadline day didn’t have any action besides some loan-out deals. Overall, it’s not a transfer window I like. We lost a lot of quality in our second string and when you want to compete in various competitions, you need a good second string. However, no one from the first eleven left and we even got them new contracts. And we have some more prospects to work on. January [Ligue 1] vs Ajaccio (H) 5-0! Tastes even better after PSG and Lyon lose points. PSG drew against last-placed Sochaux! [Ligue 1] vs Nantes (H) Easy win, made easier after the red card. Lyon lost again, and so did Rennes. Rennes is now 17 points away; Lyon is 14. It’s between me and PSG now unless something catastrophic happens. [Champions League] vs AC Milan (H) After the Tuesday games, we were through to the knockout round. I’ll still play my strongest team as I’ll try to go for the Round of 16 directly. 2 goals in 7 minutes sets us in the way, but Nagy is sent off for a hard tackle in the halfway line. Daoud comes off and Beier plays on the left. Challenging to play one man down against one of the best teams in Europe. They score in the 88th minute and we still have an injury and have to play with 9 men which seems like an eternal time (but in fact only 2 minutes). We secured the win. They played their hearts out. Love these guys! [Ligue 1] vs Sochaux (A) Shameful performance… They have 6 points in the league, there’s no excuse to not win this game. [I was laughing about PSG drawing against them... Almost instant karma] We end January 6 points above PSG. [Champions League] vs Tottenham (A) A draw is good enough. We get through to the Round of 16. PSG is with us. Rennes and Nice have to go through the Knockout Round. Lyon was eliminated. [Coupe de France] vs Nancy (H) Home humiliation… Nancy is in the relegation zone in the 2nd tier… Unbelievable! The transfer window is probably starting to show. I’ve played my second team and with the loss of Maxi, Soumaré and Harit it is much worse. We can’t rely much on depth.

Not OP, but I believe can answer that: 22A is the best graduate from the 2022 youth intake, 22B is the second best, and so on.

December [Ligue 1] vs Reims (H) This one felt really good. It wasn’t just about this game, but mostly because PSG drew against Lorient, which gives us a 3 point lead. Individually: Beier scored 2 more; Atubolu has played 4 matches and yet to concede a goal. [Champions League] vs Malmö (A) Should have been a more comprehensive win, but we got the 3 points and managed to rest some players for the big game ahead. [Ligue 1] vs PSG (A) Just 2 days to prepare for the game against PSG so I decided to keep the same formation. Their starting line-up. They have been using SMS as a striker. 7 minutes in we score following a corner. Badiashile is the goalscorer. In the 20th minute they scored on a rebound, but it was disallowed as SMS was offside in the first ball. Mbappé’s fitness is dropping sharply. This will certainly help us. Half time arrives and they have 2 yellow cards: Hakimi (RB) and Kimpembe (LCB). I’ll ask Daoud to play as W-S so he plays wider and into Hakimi. Hope we can get a second yellow on him. Besides our goal we haven’t done much, but we are also keeping them at bay. Around the 60th minute, they took Hakimi away, probably afraid of the second yellow. Pavard came in. Daoud is also tired, so ASM comes in. Mbappé is also out. Mudryk comes in. A couple more changes and some minutes after, they desperately change to a 4-4-2 with Tanganga upfront. Switched my LCM to BWM-S (now was Castelli) and DM to A-D. In the 86th minute, they have one more goal disallowed for offside. And in the last minutes, we get to keep more of the ball and close out the match. It wasn’t a beautiful game, but we played head-to-head with PSG and won. Lyon drew against Nice. Rennes lost to Monaco. This was the last league game before Christmas break, so we went on holiday after a 15-0-2 half of the season; 6 points away from PSG and 9 points away from Lyon. Individually Beier has been a monster. And the team as a whole has been great. xG table shows how good we have been. [Coupe de France] vs Ajaccio (H) A bit unlucky on the draw as we get a tier 1 team in the first round we play. At least it’s Ajaccio who are 17th in the league. Once again, we made it harder against Ajaccio than what was supposed. Had to bring in Zvonarek and Beier. Funnily enough, Scherrer, the kid, scored the goal that settled any doubts. [Coupe de France] vs Bordeaux (H) We get another team from the 1st tier. Looking around, PSG and Lyon have drawn each other. Great way to end the year, although we were only dominant after their red card. I tried Nagy as DM; Vormer as LW; and Daoud as ST. Vormer scored and assisted in that position; Nagy controlled that space quite well; and Daoud scored one as ST (the other one was as LW). Miath got some minutes and scored 2 more. I don’t want to rush him, but I always love playing him. Youth Intake Preview Even after all the improvements we had, it doesn’t seem like we’ll have any luck this year. Winter Transfer Window Preview Heading into it, I must say I’m a bit afraid. Too many of our players are wanted by other teams, some of them powerful teams and they might disrupt our squad. Let’s hope not. The wanted ones: Turati and Atubolu; Maxi, Birkir; Fujimoto, Castelli, Soumaré; Beier. Harit also asked to leave. He hasn’t been played that well, he’s 31 and he’s on quite a high wage, so I’ll let him go.

Best Manager of the Year It’s not a big award, but it’s nice to be recognized and add an award to the trophy case. GOAL 50 We don’t have any players as expected. Nice to see Guendouzi taking #50. Besides Mbappé, the French league only has Bellingham #13, Saka #35, Donnarumma #40. Regarding French players, besides Mbappé: Camavinga, Real Madrid, #7; Tchouameni, Real Madrid, #10; Koundé, Barcelona, #11; Manu Koné, Arsenal, #22; Theo Hernández, AC Milan, #25; Maignan, AC Milan, #27; Upamecano, Juventus, #29; Aït-Nouri, Man City, #45; Nkunku, Leipzig, #47 and as said before Guendouzi, Juventus, #50. There are still no regens in the list. They should be near. An english midfielder, a spanish striker and a french winger have high reputation and are first-choice players in big teams. Improvements November [Ligue 1] vs Lyon (A) The month started with a challenge. Lyon, Away. Just a few days after we both had a UCL match. We started with our strongest eleven except for Daoud who had been suffering from food poisoning. Instead, ASM got the nod. They were a bit low on fitness. I thought from the start we could take advantage of that. It was a balanced first half and Beier got a got just before half-time. In the 51st minute, they drew level. That’s when I decided we had to punish their fitness. Increased our pressing and harder tackling all over. Daoud came in. Zvonarek was feeling tired so Castelli was also in. Then Vormer was tired and I had no other winger on the bench so decided to convert Siquet to WB-A and play Fujimoto on the wing as AP-S. Then, Siquet got tired. Had to get Maxi to that position even though he has “Stays back at all times”. We were pressing, regaining the ball, and getting the ball into the box, but with no end product. All-in, it had to be. Hojlund got in, and moved Beier to the wing as IF-A. I knew we’d be narrow because Maxi wouldn’t give us the width, but I didn’t have any better options. Then, Beier got a 1v1 against the GK but he missed. And in the 88th minute, a handball from them in their box gave us a penalty and Beier took it. 5 points away from Lyon and 8 points away from Rennes as they lose their match. We have beaten Lyon and Rennes, our main opposition for the 2nd spot. Can we beat PSG and claim a very much-deserved 1st-place? PSG is 4 games away still. First, we have other matches to play and we have to win them to have a chance. [Ligue 1] vs Lens (H) Another dominating performance against rivals. 9 key passes from Fujimoto, 8 dribbles from Vormer (in 74 minutes). I was expecting a bit more from Castelli, but he still got the assist, so that’s okay for now. Speaking of Vormer, we bought him for 6M last season. He’s now valued 71-93M! We owe 30% of the profit to Sparta Rotterdam, but we can still make a decent profit out of him and sportingly he’s been an immense asset. [Champions League] vs Besiktas (H) So, let’s do some math. From the last 4 seasons we know: 17+ points guarantee Round of 16 qualification; 10+ points guarantee Knockout Round qualification; 14 points guarantee being seeded in the Knockout Round (13 was enough in every season except last). We have 7 points and we still have to play: Besiktas (H), Malmö (A), Milan (H), Tottenham (A). Milan is 1st in the Serie A with 6 points over Inter; Tottenham are 9th in the Premier League (Son and Kane are 35+ and still in the starting eleven…). Beating Besiktas and Malmö is a must, although we only need 10 to qualify. We have the chance to be seeded if we beat or draw with Milan or Tottenham (considering we win the other 2 games). To qualify to the Round of 16, we need 3 wins and a draw at least. I feel like that’s going to be quite hard and I would prefer to keep my players fresh for the league and just go for the 13/14 points. In summary, the plan is: to get the win against Besiktas and Malmö, play a rotated squad against Tottenham and Milan, and whatever happens, happens. Something I’m trying especially against teams we are superior to is turning the MEZ-S into MEZ-A. Since the striker is mostly our only goalscorer, I have been thinking about having a second player join him in the box. In this game, I asked Charier to be our MEZ-A and it proved a good option as he netted 2 goals. [Ligue 1] vs Troyes (A) Statistics suggest a different match than what happened. We scored early, but the rest of the match was dominated by Troyes. We defended well and they didn’t manage to create any clear chance on goal and only got 1 shot on target. It’s also this type of games that proves we are on the right track. We don’t need to play well to win and keep the opposition at bay. About why we had some trouble in this game: I think it’s fitness. My players were tired around the 60 minute mark. We remain in first place, still only one point away from PSG but now we have 7 points to Lyon. Loanees In the meantime, Casian Porumboiu, our striker on loan to Marítimo shows great form. He was both Player of the Month and Young Player of the Month in the Second League. Ante Balazic was also nominated Young Player of the Month but he won the award in the Portuguese top tier. Overall our players have plenty of playing time.

Opposition Report PSG is clearly still above the rest. We are now second, although very close to Lyon. I feel we will get some distance with some of the youngsters' development. September [Ligue 1] vs Strasbourg (A) We started the game after PSG had drawn and Lyon had lost, so was a good time to win them some points. But we had injuries to Beier and Daoud and with Arda just leaving there was a fair bit of rotation needed. We messed it up… Miath still managed to get a goal and maybe I should have started him over Hojlund who isn’t familiar with our tactic yet. [Champions League] vs Juventus (A) Started well, but we couldn’t maintain the rhythm. We are still not at this level, especially when we have to field a second-string team. [Ligue 1] vs Nice (H) We are finding it a bit hard to move past Arda and Beier still out isn’t helping. Still, we got the win. Nice only has 2 points in 6 games, which is bad for a team predicted 8th. [Ligue 1] vs Montpellier (A) They are 17th, got a draw against PSG, and won against us… Unbelievable… We finished the game with 0! shots on target… 4 points away from PSG already. [Ligue 1] vs Lille (H) With Beier and Daoud near full fitness, the game went smoother. Their goal made us tremble a bit, but we managed to see it off. PSG defeated Rennes, Lyon drew against Lens and Lorient drew against Monaco. Every rival besides PSG lost points. And this is how September ends in the league: [Champions League] vs PAOK (H) We left it late, but Daoud changed the whole game. He came in the 57th minute, we scored our first in the 58th. He then proceeded to create 6 key passes and 3 chances. October [Ligue 1] vs Monaco (A) Important win away from home. On the same day, Rennes and Lorient drew and Lyon lost. If PSG could lose some points, “that would be great”. [Ligue 1] vs Rennes (H) The first big test of the season. We were better throughout the match, but those last minutes were nerve-wracking. Rennes is now 5 points away. [Champions League] vs Roma (A) Balanced game. We had to rotate some players after the Rennes game. 1 point, might be important. [Ligue 1] vs Saint-Étienne (A) Just before we played, Lyon beat PSG 4-1! Not sure if this is good or bad for us, but I’ll take PSG losing points. It was harder than it looks. We had to get Castelli on the field with his high work rate to take control of the midfield as Charier wasn’t being capable of handling this task. We end the week just one point away from PSG. It’s on! [Ligue 1] vs Bordeaux (H) Before we played, PSG lost some more points, drawing 1-1 against Lens. Marvellous! 4-0, 3 for Beier. We are top of the league! We just have to keep this up for 22 more games... Just that. Beier has been in brutal form! 15 goals in 9 and 1. Daoud, Zvonarek and Vormer are in the top-4 in assists. I’ve been very impressed with Vormer and Zvonarek with a lot of progression and danger created. [Champions League] vs Aston Villa (H) And a win against Villa with almost a full squad rotation. Only Turati, Daoud and Zvonarek started and Daoud and Zvonarek were eventually substituted.