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PSG was already better than expected, so I'm happy. But we should have beaten Saint-Étienne. We had a bad pre-season (training-wise) and lack a bit of quality in depth, so every time it gets to 60/70 minutes or if I have to start bench players, our quality drops significantly. I've already played some more games and can say there is good news on the UCL front (not so much on the league, but still on course). Yeah, I really liked it too. Haven't picked it up yet again, but I might use it later in the UCL. I'm also thinking about changing my main formation to a 4-4-2 or a 4-2-3-1 either with 2 DMs, so this will certainly be a starting point. Something I'm really looking into is a playmaker out wide. I've used it again to good effect, you'll see it in the next games.

I don't know about your save, but Kyanno is quite a player on my save.

January [Coupe de France] vs Strasbourg (H) Second round with a L1 team, but we made it easy once again. Next round, we face, yet again, a L1 team. This time it’s Monaco. Still this month. [Ligue 1] vs PSG (H) That game… I watched their last UCL game against At. Madrid and took some notes. They add to what we already know. Mostly: they defend in 4-2-4, both their wingers and their CAM are very attack-minded (Nmecha often drops deeper than ESR); their CBs are in front of the GK in defensive corners, so the best bet is to aim to near and far post not the center; Hakimi and Nuno Mendes need to be tracked, especially Hakimi – when they venture forward, both Bellingham and Vitinha cover for them and leave the middle a bit more vacant. Taking this into account, I created a tactic from scratch: 4-4-2 DM. LM as Wide Playmaker so he moved inside, RST as F9 (it was supposed to be Arda Güler but he caught a cold, so I replaced him with Daoud). Dropped the mentality to cautious, playing a bit more direct and also dropped the lines (both pressure and defensive). They had a game midweek for the Cup and played their best players against a L2 side. Don’t know why they didn’t rest some players, but good for us. In consequence, Vitinha didn’t start, and Fábian was still injured so they started Kimpembe in midfield and Tanganga in the back. Since we had 2v2 in their backline, I opted to try and condition their CBs to their weaker foot, expecting them to play less progressive passes. But I asked my LM to man mark Hakimi and both my strikers to mark the DMC positions, both left and right, respectively. One of the most entertaining 0-0 I’ve played. Very balanced first half. Just like the second. Any team could have won it. In the last 30 minutes, they had to make many changes: Mbappé, ESR, Nmecha, Mendes and Tanganga all left the field. Vitinha came on and I should have changed my tactic a little bit. He was playing as a VOL in front of our DM-D so he had plenty of space before we got to him. Tactically we only changed when Fujimoto came on for Daoud – he dropped to the RCAM position as AM-S (and in the final minutes AM-A). We managed to keep Hakimi quiet, Mbappé is always a threat but even he couldn’t hit a single shot on target. In the last few minutes, we had some chances through Fujimoto and could have scored in some set-pieces as it was noticeable that we were better in those moments. A shame Arda couldn’t play as he could have made a difference and having Daoud on the bench would have helped in the final push. [Ligue 1] vs Lille (A) Quite an easy game in the first half, then the players got tired and I didn’t want to make many subs as I wanted the other players to be fully fit for the midweek game and we could have been in trouble. Good for us they failed to score. [Champions League] vs Benfica (H) Disappointing defeat. We were better all the way. They didn’t do much besides both goals. Once again, our fitness and lack of solutions played a trick on us. We are now on the verge of direct qualification. The last game is against Bayern. I was expecting to make rotations on the last match, but now I can’t risk it. [Ligue 1] vs Saint-Étienne (H) Should have been an easy game, but 2 injuries to both our left-backs (Pezzella and Morales) made us play a youngster (Aarseth), and as he doesn’t have great technical skills I tried by backup 4-3-3 with 2 IWB and 2 MEZ. We dominated possession but had some trouble creating the final chance. However, we were much better in the first half and declined a lot in the second. [Champions League] vs Bayern Munchen (A) Nagelsmann prefers a 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide formation, however, reports suggest he’s playing a 4-2-2-2 DM AM Narrow. First time I’m facing this formation. I attended their game against RB Leipzig but unfortunately, they played the 90 minutes in 4-2-3-1. These are the standings before our match: Benfica plays Austria Wien; Aston Villa plays Legia. We can’t expect them to lose or even draw their games. Our main focus is RB Leipzig. If we win we get their place, if we draw Juve (vs Galatasaray), Milan (vs Celtic) or even Barcelona (vs PSV) are likely to beat us to the spot. They have in fact played in 4-2-2-2. I tried countering that with playing wider than usual, dropping the mentality. In the middle of the game, I tried to man-mark their wing-backs, tried playing out of defence, everything… We were lucky to lose only by 3… It was a disgrace. At least we qualify for the playoff. 2 more games to play isn’t doing us any good, but we are still in the competition. In the meantime, our kids are through to the next round on the Youth League. [Coupe de France] vs Monaco (A) Once again, we control the first half and we die in the second. At least we are through to the quarter-finals. We will play the other Paris team, Paris FC. I have no screenshot of the standings, but we remain in second, tied with Rennes. UCL Draw We were a seeded team, so we avoided Juventus, Arsenal, Chelsea, Leipzig, Barcelona, Liverpool and Frankfurt. We could face: Leverkusen, Inter, Roma, Nice, At. Madrid, PSV, Porto or Braga. Luck hasn’t been kind to us lately. It’s not impossible, however. Let’s see how it goes. Final Squad and Prospects Need to get a good RB next season, and probably sell Balerdi to move Nagy/Rodríguez inside. Need a DM and a CM as Svanberg ends his loan and I'll probably sell one of Reis, Soumaré and Haidara. For the CM position, I'm confident in promoting Castelli. Traoré will get his chance if Arda (or Fujimoto) leaves. For DM, Sithole probably won't be ready to be a starter, so he might go on loan again and I'll have to find another player.

This is a big update, so I'll divide it into two: the first one is about transfers, then I'll post about the games. First Award for Daoud Coaching Qualification I now have the Continental Pro Licence. This is now my profile: Since taking my last licence the difference is: Attacking +1; Defending +2; Fitness +1; Technical +2; Mental +2; Working With Youngsters +2 Determination +1; Player Knowledge +1; Youngster Knowledge +1; Level of Discipline +1; People Management +2; Motivating +2 Winter Transfer Market Two big concerns regarding our squad: CB and DM. Nagy and Maxi are good defenders but they lack height. My aerial threats are Mai and Friedrich. Mai doesn’t have the quality to play UCL and fight PSG; Friedrich is 32 so I can’t count on him for much longer. In the DM spot I have been playing Soumaré and Reis. Reis has a Get Forward trait that doesn’t suit the position; Soumaré has “tries killer balls often” which I don’t want in a more cautious role. I’ve been trying to remove these traits, but no success yet. Also, neither of them is a particularly strong defender. I also have Haidara who has been playing well this season as CM but he’s even worse at defending so I haven’t played him there yet. Money doesn’t help as we have 20M available. We have 2 clauses near the trigger: 5M for Arda and 8M for Beier, which will leave us with just 7M. On this front, Harit will renew is contract for 100k/month less. That gives us a bit extra room, but not much. I need to sell someone to make this happen. From all our loans, Koffi doesn’t have much potential, but he was unhappy so I decided to bring him back. He’ll most likely be loaned out again. Ristic was also brought back because he didn’t play a single game for Gent. I don’t know if he’ll stay or not. This brings us to Afif. He ends is contract in the end of the season and he has been asking for wages that we simply can’t pay him. He’s on 300k and is asking for wages around 550k. He’s 31 and has been our worst performer from the 4 wingers. Lucky for us, there are teams interested in buying him now, so we might get something around 15M plus his wages. Done deal with Burnley! We now have the funds to go for a CB, so after some research we found Carboni. Not the biggest threat in the air, but decent; can play both CB and LB; he’s left-footed and we had no left-footed CB. And he accepts a squad player status. Then, something I wasn’t expecting: The situation is: he’s a team leader; one of our best players (if not the best); 28 years-old; and has 1,5 years left in his contract. He’s also worth 89-98M. Financially, it would be wise to sell him now. Sportingly, I sincerely doubt it. Other players might become unhappy and I don’t think I could replace him with someone as good as or better than him. And a few days later he handed over a request to leave (this was just before the PSG game). Juventus came with an offer of around 60M we rejected, he got mad, I agreed to let him go for 87M. Juventus came back with some more offers, I eventually let him go for 74+9. The board gives me 55M. Club record fees for this transfer and for a season. Where are we spending it? I wanted someone who could make an impact and move us a level. So Badiashile was the choice. I asked the DOF to handle it and he made an offer with everything upfront… Don’t know if this was the best option but at least he was able to negotiate a pretty decent contract and with no promises. Badiashile ticks some important factors I want to take into account: French player (still uncapped with Fofana, Saliba, Lucas Hernández and Upamecano taking his place – Lucas is 31); we weaken a rival; he’s one of the best in the league in the air; a player that can match PSG’s quality. After his arrival and Carboni, we now had one too many CBs and Mai was triggered. We received two bids from Udinese and Roma. He opted for Roma. He was bought as a backup and to try and prove we could do better in corners. He did his job and we sold him with a 250k profit. After all this, we still had a busy deadline day. It started with an offer for Ristic from Man Utd. He’s reported to have a 5-star potential, but he’s 20 and isn’t developing. Nothing much happened to him here and when he was on loan. I decided to accept it. It’s only 5M upfront and can increase to 13,5M over time however, it has a future profit percentage of 40%. He was bought for 325k so either way we make a big profit (although some will go to his former club). For almost the same price we sold him, we got Vormer. He’s the same age and same potential, but he’s closer to being ready to play for us. We also got Svanberg on loan from Inter to replace Guendouzi. On 174k p/m and with a squad player status and no mandatory future fee. Good for depth. And lastly, 2 youngsters to bolster our defensive prospects that were lacking: Sebek and Balazic. Sebek can either play as RB or CB. He wanted to be loaned out and his club wanted him, so I left him stay until the end of the season at Slovan Bratislava. Balazic was at Maribor. He’s a CB who can also play DM. His low aggression (3) and bravery (8) are concerns, but I think he can develop into a pretty decent CB. He’ll remain at Maribor until the end of the season. Overall: we are weaker in midfield and slightly weaker in attack (although Afif was already losing his place to Daoud); we are way better in defence and we have more options for the future. OUT Name Best Pos Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Comment FB CB CM AM WF ST Matteo Guendouzi M (C) 14 14 15 15 12 15 12 14 69% 72% 70% 71% Akram Afif AM (L) 4 13 15 15 14 14 6 12 58% 69% 70% Lars Lukas Mai D (C) 13 11 11 11 8 11 16 13 59% 66% Radenko Ristic AM (L) 4 11 16 11 9 13 7 11 51% P5 55% 60% 56% IN Name Best Pos Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Comment FB CB CM AM WF ST Benoit Badiashile D (C) 15 14 14 12 9 11 16 14 66% 68% 74% Andrea Carboni D (C) 14 13 13 11 8 9 15 14 61% 63% 70% Mattias Svanberg M (C) 12 13 14 14 13 14 11 13 65% Loan In 66% 68% 68% Mettin Vormer AM (L) 5 13 16 13 13 13 11 12 60% P5 64% 67% 65%

I definitely have to make a revision of the pre-season. This season, I was too focused on the transfers, I let my assistant handle everything and my players never got to decent levels of fitness. I've also read @danielgear's article. Will follow from there. About the rest, I used to do it a bit like what you do, but then I saw EBFM's videos and opted for the more generic training (like you have on 16th Oct, for instance). I'll probably go back to that. It feels more realistic and I don't see such an improvement in development. Just one more question: do you make specific training schedules for youth or do you use the same as for the senior team? Thanks for taking the time!

December [Ligue 1] vs Lyon (H) We were tied in points in the league, so this was a massive game for us. I started with Turati; Nagy, Rodríguez, Friedrich, Pezzella; Reis, Fujimoto, Guendouzi; ASM, Afif, Beier. 4-3-3 DM. Guendouzi as BWM, the rest as usual. I wanted Guendouzi as BWM so he’s more aggressive without the ball, mainly on their double pivot. He would also play a bit closer to the DM and eventually attract one of their DMs (although they would still have 3+1 in the middle). It’s always tricky for the striker to play against these bottom-heavy formations. They started in a 5-2-3. It’s their manager preferred formation, but they have been playing 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide. They play Cherki or Aouar upfront, so they are counting on goals from their IFs. Taking this into account, I wanted them to play wide, not letting their wingers move inside and be a threat. Also no point in pressing upfront as they have numbers. Didn’t happen much until half-time. Then I noticed Guendouzi was having some trouble with his passes. 9 intercepted and 6 unsuccessful. One example where he’s pressed by two players and has another in from of him and “punts” it. Another one, this time with less pressure. He tries to find Daoud in space. In other situations, the ball was lost because he was trying to find Beier. I tried some changes: Pezzella as WB-A, Daoud as IW-S and Beier as CF-A. Looking into it with more detail, maybe I could have just ticked off the pass into space instruction or asked him to play shorter/fewer risky passes. However, it worked as he only lost possession with passes 6 times in the second-half (subbed of in the 79th minute). This change also allowed us to play 5v5 against their deeper line. Since we were controlling them, it didn’t feel like much of a risk. Our positions in the first-half: And until the goal: How the goal started: The 2-3-5 pattern and 1v1 in the offensive line is clear. Eventually, the goal came from a bit of a scramble. Beier was dribbling towards their box, Stergiou tackled the ball into ASM, he was dribbling when Cardona tackled him, then he recovered and crossed to Daoud who finished on the far post (note: on the commentary it said that ASM surged past Cardona and crossed – the visual was a bit different). After our goal they immediately change to 4-2-3-1 and we revert our changes to our traditional style. There were no more chances for both sides until the game ended. Ending the game with 0 shots on target conceded and below 0,20 xG conceded is great. We could have won by a bigger margin, but I’m fine with this result. [Champions League] vs PAOK (A) Tougher than I expected. Although we were superior, we were finding it difficult to score. Hateboer clearly can’t play as IWB-S. He has a trait that kills it in my tactic: “Gets Forward Whenever Possible”. He gets into positions as if he were a IWB-A. When I switched to Maxi Rodríguez, the team became more stable and they ceased to create chances. In the end, Miath found Harit in the box and we got the winning goal. To add to this, Miath played the next day for our youth squad in the Youth League and scored 3 more. He now has UCL: 1 goal + 1 assist in 2 sub appearances Ligue 1: 2 goals in 6 sub appearances France U19 National Team: 2 goals in 2(1) appearances Youth League: 6 goals in 2(1) appearances French U19 League: 14 goals in 7 appearances He’s still 16! [Ligue 1] vs Lens (A) Can’t explain this one… 2 shots from long range, 1 lucky goal from a corner; 1 goal-line clearance, and 1 shot hit the woodwork,… Don’t get me wrong we allowed them to play. They fielded in a Direct Counter 5-2-2-1 AM, unusual tactic. In spite of being a direct counter tactic, the players with the most passes in their team are both DMs. I asked my players to stay off their CBs and press+tackle their second line: WB+DM. Eventually asked ASM to man-mark their LWB so our RB could man-mark their LCAM and our DM would man-mark their RCAM and we got 2v2 in midfield and 2v1 in the last line (our CBs vs their striker). Probably should have asked Beier to be close to one of their DMs. We are now definitely out of the race against PSG and both Lyon and Rennes won their games so they are now close to us. [Coupe de France] vs Ajaccio (H) Quite an easy game before we get some rest and get prepared for the second part of the season. Youth Intake Preview Looks quite bad. We really need to invest in the youth recruitment which is only deemed as “Good”. I also changed the responsibility for the intake to my DOF as he has JPA/JPP of 18/19, extensive knowledge of many countries, “fairly determined” personality and a higher reputation than our actual HOYD. Mighy have been a mistake on my part. New affiliate club Marítimo from Portugal. Their finances are not good, but they have pretty decent facilities.

Show me the money! And it’s gone… World’s Best Mbappé was the winner. We have no players in the top-50. From the league: Mbappé #1; Bellingham #21; Donnarumma #28; Saka #31. The unexpected: Koundé, Barcelona #10; Salah, Liverpool, 35-years old #17; Porro, Tottenham #18; Ricci, At. Madrid #26; Gaya, Valencia #32; Oyarzábal, Real Sociedad #34; Tielemans, Inter #38. November [Champions League] vs Liverpool (H) Nice, balanced game. Might have won had I played my first eleven, but I’m happy with our performance (except Turati and Balerdi, they have been awful). Our second goal was a beauty. It’s a shame there’s no easy way to record the whole play, but I’ll show you the end. Before this, the ball passed through everyone in the team except Turati GK and Harit RW. Once again, the IWB positioning and influence on the play makes me happy. [Ligue 1] vs Auxerre (A) Once again, Arda fails to score the penalty to put us in the lead, but this time the team responded magnificently. Beier with a hat-trick was the notorious man of the match, but I want to put the spotlight on ASM: 6 key passes, 9 dribbles, 3 shots on target, 1 assist. A complete offensive game. [Ligue 1] vs Lorient (H) We conceded first but managed to turn it around. Daoud with another great performance. Important win as Lorient are 5th. [Champions League] vs Betis (A) Tough game. I had some players needing a rest so I had to switch the team a bit, I believe it hurt us, mostly on defence. This time I can’t fault Turati, he did very well. [Ligue 1] vs Monaco (A) We couldn’t deal with their strikers and it cost us. An abysmal game by Guendouzi as well. Mai's rating is deceiving. He lost his duels against Emegha. Tried to move them inside so we could defend 3v2 in the middle but it was never effective. Maybe due to Guendouzi's bad game. I also have to be careful with fitness: Guendouzi, Pezzella, Arda, and Nagy were all tired and had to be substituted. They are our core along with Beier and I can’t have them last 60 minutes every game. Standings We have the same goals scored as PSG and “only” 4 more conceded. 7 points away from 5th-placed. 2,27 ppg. Next month we play Lyon and Lens for the League to end the first round and we also play in the Cup and against PAOK for the UCL. Speaking of which: Rennes vs PSG Was looking forward to this game. This is our biggest opposition to 2nd place (alongside Lyon) versus our biggest opposition to 1st. PSG's only 2 losses this season were against teams who play 2 strikers (Monaco in the League and Club Brugge in UCL). Rennes play a 4-4-2 so it could be an important factor. Dembélé scored from a tight corner following a corner. Tanganga equalized with a header from a set-piece. Then Nmecha took the ball away from João Mário and scored in a 1v1 against the GK. And the last goal was a team move. Rennes only created danger in bursts. They only had one half-chance through a combination between both strikers. PSG rotated a bit and their CAM was more involved than usual. Not much information to use here... Maybe thinking about playing my IW-A as IF-A so he's closer to the striker and they can combine.

"Temperamental" personality is a straight no for me. They are the worst to deal with. 21 foci? How many scouts do you have?

Both Vitinha and Bellingham. They have 69 and 65 passes completed/90 respectively and around 9,5 progressive passes/90 (each). Vitinha is the DLP, and Bellingham's role is BWM. I use the % as a quick way to evaluate players. For each position, I select some of the stats from the octagon and average them in relation to 20 in each stat. They are not even weighted, so it's really basic, but it's easier for me to get a first impression of the player.

PSG changed from Faivre to Garitano in 06/2026, so that has affected last season and this one. Don't know what was Faivre's formation and style as he has retired. Garitano plays a Fluid Counter in 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide. About the players, there weren't many changes either. 3 seasons ago they got Lukas Nmecha and Locatelli and mostly only lost Renato Sanches. They had no backup Striker then, Ekitike was never an option for them so he didn't develop; last season they got no one but Nmecha had a very decent season; and this year they got Bellingham. Probably it also has to do with the whole league. There is no clear "best of the rest", so you have many teams at almost the same level: Rennes, Lyon, Lorient, Lens, Lille, Monaco and us. Then Strasbourg, Troyes and Saint-Étienne had really great seasons last year. All these 10 teams can beat all of the others in a single game, but they are all far from PSG. So while they are all competing with each other, they are creating a bigger gap to PSG. For instance, this year Rennes spent 62M but they have almost the same quality as last season, it's all about Kalimuendo still. If I can mitigate that improvement? I don't know if there's something I can actively do. I can't steal players they want to buy; I can't unsettle their players; I can't help other teams fight them or build their squads... I'm only noticing a problem in their defence: Kimpembe is 32, Marquinhos 33, their backups are Tanganga and Nelsson. Edit: Just to add a comparison between my first 11 and theirs: Name Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total FB CB CM AM WF ST Hakimi 12 14 18 14 15 14 9 13 68% 71% Andrei Nagy 14 14 14 12 10 12 13 15 65% 69% Name Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total FB CB CM AM WF ST N Mendes 12 13 15 12 12 13 9 13 62% 66% Giuseppe Pezzella 13 14 15 10 11 11 12 14 63% 67% Name Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total FB CB CM AM WF ST Kimpembe 16 15 14 10 10 11 15 16 67% 78% Marquinhos 16 13 12 12 10 12 13 16 65% 73% Marvin Friedrich 14 12 12 10 9 9 16 13 59% 69% Maximiliano Rodriguez 15 13 15 9 8 10 12 14 60% 68% Name Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total FB CB CM AM WF ST Vitinha 13 14 14 16 13 16 5 15 66% 74% Bellingham 13 15 16 16 15 16 13 16 75% 76% Matteo Guendouzi 14 14 15 15 12 15 12 14 69% 72% Boubakary Soumaré 13 15 11 14 12 14 12 13 65% 69% Name Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total FB CB CM AM WF ST ESR 8 13 15 16 13 15 9 13 64% 71% Arda Guler 4 12 13 16 15 16 11 11 61% 73% Name Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total FB CB CM AM WF ST Saka 10 15 16 15 14 15 8 15 68% 75% Mbappé 4 15 20 16 18 18 7 14 70% 86% Akram Afif 4 13 15 15 14 14 6 12 58% 70% Amine Harit 7 11 14 16 12 15 5 11 57% 68% Name Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total FB CB CM AM WF ST Nmecha 6 14 15 13 14 14 13 13 64% 69% Maximilian Beier 8 13 15 13 14 13 13 12 63% 67% Only 2 spots where I compete: Arda over ESR at CAM and Pezzella over Mendes at LB.

As prompt I've been using: "<Nation> football player, second nationality <2nd Nationality>, <Name>, <Age> years old, <Team> kit, face only". Then I make 4 images, select one and remove the background. I like the results so far

It was a problem I had last season, mainly in the first half. We lost way too many points against bottom-5 teams. This year we already played against the current bottom-5 and we have: Montpellier (3-0 W); Metz (6-1 W); Sochaux (0-2 L); Ajaccio (5-0 W); Auxerre (6-0 W - will be on the next post). Overall, I can be pretty happy with those. We have been dominant with clear wins. The Sochaux game was really the only outlier. It's a shame that before the missed penalty we were not having that type of game. We were playing as usual, creating some chances. We had 0.40 xG in the first 10 minutes with 2 shots on target and then we "flatlined" until half-time and they scored through a penalty... I checked PSG's results across the last 3 seasons: [25 / 7 / 2], 2,41 ppg ; [26 / 5 / 3], 2,44 ppg ; [29 / 3 / 2], 2,65 ppg; and this season they are on [12 / 0 / 1], 2,77 ppg. We are on 2,38 ppg, had we won against Sochaux we would be on 2,62 ppg. We are getting there. They'll still lose more points this season, I don't think they can keep this rhythm (at least I hope they don't). Let's wait and see.

Speaking of the situation IRL, U23 is just a continuity from the youth system. They are still playing with players of the same age group. When you are at a B team, you play against everyone. It's a bigger world. Porto doesn't have a U23 team for instance, as they don't see value in that league.

It's fantastic. Now I've stopped playing and I'm making faces for every player lol

I've mostly shown the octagon for some players, but if you want I can post the attribute page. And yes, that's definitely it. Last season, it was the first in Marseille and I wanted to get a grip of the players I had and the level of the competition. Now, I'm constantly checking my player's attributes and traits (this was most important when changing Maxi to CB and Guendouzi to RPM) and trying little changes to see where we can be better. Right now, only thing I can't understand is Turati. Atubolu only has 6 attributes where he's better than Turati and mostly by 1 or 2. In the rest, Turati is miles better but he simply can't perform. I'm hoping it's about adaptability and he soon starts playing better. Maxi Guendouzi

@Jtomsett11 can you post an example of your training schedule, please? I've been working around mine, but I'm not happy with the results on young players. I get one or two developing really well but mostly is not satisfying.

How do you do that?

About that contract and some more improvements Their first offer was 67,5k. I’m on 65k. It’s laughable. Only thing I liked about the offer was the duration: 4 years. Shows they want me here for long-term. My counter-offer was 80k, 50% drop if we are relegated, 150k prize for winning the league. Then we went back and forth and ended up with: 72,5k + 80k prize money + 50% reduction if relegated for 4 years. Rennes’ manager is Artur Jorge and he’s on 152k. Feel like I’m way underpaid, but I still don’t have the Pro Licence, so I concede a bit. If the season goes to plan, then we’ll talk at the end of it. Following this, they came to me to ask if I wanted to increase the Wage Budget, which I agreed but then move the fee to the Transfer Budget as I feel the Wage is good as it is for now. I don’t understand where those numbers come from. Basically, we had a 7M budget and it was increased to 7,7M. Transferring that to the Transfer Budget, we managed to increase it from 2M to almost 10M. And as they were so willing, I requested an upgrade in training facilities. They are “Excellent” already, but it’s always good to upgrade what we can. Just a shame it's only ready in April. October [Ligue 1] vs Metz (H) Some important things to note here: I tried Guendouzi as RPM. Feels like it suits him. Miath got not just his first goal in Ligue 1, but also his second! And he’s now the youngest ever to score in Ligue 1 (to add to the last accolade of being the youngest to score in the UCL). Inspired by @_Ben_, I looked into Metz’s manager style and as it was Route One, I dropped my defensive line. They barely created any chances with only 2 shots on target and 0,51 xG. The IWB (Maxi Rodríguez, “18”) I’m trying, created the first goal with a through ball to the MEZ (Arda Güler, “10”). Their LFB and LW were attracted to Harit (RW) and Arda (RCM) took advantage of that space. And the IWB-MEZ connection was also crucial in the second one: Maxi was in an interior position, played into Arda, who found Afif (“8”) behind their defensive line and he passed it to Beier ("9") who just had to tap it in. [Ligue 1] vs Sochaux (A) We are on a great run, and when do we decide to bottle it? Against the (arguably) worst team in the league. Arda missed the penalty, then decided to take the day off; and so did Beier and Afif. Terrible. I talked to them after the game, and they responded positively. Also spoke to Turati who has an average rating of 6,61 (worst of all the squad) and 1 clean sheet out of 8 games. My GK needs to do better. It’s not all on the defenders. [Champions League] vs Braga (H) 2 early goals set us on the way, Braga never got a shot on target. I’ve decided to move Rodríguez to BPD as he’s been improving his defensive attributes, Nagy played on the right as IWB. Atubolu deserved his chance, mainly after Turati’s poor performances. And with a 7,4, he’s keeping his place. 3 games, 3 wins in the UCL. In the last 3 seasons, the last-placed team in the play-off always had 9 points, the last-placed team with direct qualification had 17/17/16. We have 9 already and there’s no reason we can’t beat PAOK, Benfica and Betis to make it 9 more and end with 18, even if we don’t get any points from the games against Liverpool and Bayern. Bayern game is the last of the series, and so If we are qualified already, it’ll be time to rest players. [Ligue 1] vs Ajaccio (H) We weren’t as good as the score shows. I would even say they were better than us in the whole first-half. We then made some corrections: Guendouzi was set to BBM instead of RPM; showed them inside (I should have it from the start as we had 3x2 in the midfield); and dropped the defensive line a bit and we controlled the second-half. First-Half: Second-Half: [Ligue 1] vs Bordeaux (H) When we play well, we make it seem easy. Beier with 2 goals, Arda Güler with 8 key passes, Nagy and Rodríguez were incredible in defence. Standings If it wasn't for that Sochaux match, it would have been a perfect month and we would be just 2 points away from PSG and already 8 away from 5th. Also, Lyon has only lost 1 match in the last 2 months (against PSG) and won all the others. Surprisingly, Lens has been way below expectations and is only 10th. Contracts Still need some adjustments. They are not easy to make. Name Best Pos Age Mins Ability Wage Appearance Fee Agent Begins Expires Transfer Value Agreed Playing Time Stefano Turati GK 26 630 3,5 187 000,00 € €8 500 Alessandro Greggio - Acquaintance 10/7/2027 30/6/2032 €26M - €33M Important Player Giuseppe Pezzella D (L) 29 750 3,5 351 000,00 € €16 250 Paolo Piccoli - Close 13/12/2024 30/6/2029 €49M - €53M Star Player Andrei Nagy DM 20 731 3,5 84 500,00 € €3 900 Grigore Croitoru - Close 1/1/2027 30/6/2031 €129M - €150M Important Player Matteo Guendouzi M (C) 28 724 4 372 000,00 € €14 250 Zoé Warmez - Acquaintance 10/7/2023 30/6/2029 €86M - €95M Star Player Akram Afif AM (L) 30 403 3 298 000,00 € €13 750 Mohammed Al-Sayed - Very Close 10/6/2025 30/6/2028 €27M - €29M Important Player Allan Saint-Maximin AM (L) 30 384 3 419 000,00 € €19 250 Romain Cavelier - Close 1/7/2026 30/6/2029 €52M - €62M Important Player Maximilian Beier AM (L) 24 845 3,5 378 000,00 € €18 750 Felix Brinkies - Very Close 26/7/2026 30/6/2031 €84M Important Player Wage Sum 2 089 500,00 € Total Allowed 2 220 000,00 € 7 Max 4 555 000,00 € We have too many important/star players. Pezzella still is our only choice as LB, Morales needs to develop a lot. Afif and ASM are 30, so they need to slowly leave their places. Daoud is pushing for the LW position, but I need my prospects to develop (Hassan, Ristic, Tozé, Castelli, Lafont) so they can also be part of the first team and then the first eleven. Nagy is on a low wage for his value and importance to the team. That also needs to be revised soon. We have some spare budget and he has many years left in his contract, so it’s a good time to do that. Name Best Pos Age Mins Ability Wage Appearance Fee Agent Begins Expires Transfer Value Agreed Playing Time Hans Hateboer D (R) 33 52 2,5 206 000,00 € €9 750 Federico Facciolo - Acquaintance 5/4/2027 30/6/2029 €3,2M - €4,3M Regular Starter Leonardo Balerdi D (C) 28 778 3 366 000,00 € €16 750 Heiko Richter - Very Close 9/7/2025 30/6/2030 €30M - €37M Regular Starter Ludovit Reis DM 27 342 3 223 000,00 € €10 250 Adrián Rico - Acquaintance 18/8/2025 30/6/2030 €41M - €49M Regular Starter Kanya Fujimoto M (C) 28 183 3 348 000,00 € €16 000 Naoko Kasahara - Acquaintance 15/7/2026 30/6/2030 €46M - €50M Regular Starter Amine Harit AM (L) 30 580 3 353 000,00 € €16 250 Romain Cavelier - Acquaintance 11/7/2025 30/6/2028 €12M - €13,5M Regular Starter Wage Sum 1 496 000,00 € Total Allowed 2 220 000,00 € 5 Max 7 317 142,86 € From the “Regular Starters” group, I would want them all to become squad players. Hateboer is declining; Reis lost his place to Soumaré; I don’t fully trust Balerdi and plan to sell him and give his place to Rodríguez; Fujimoto has been replaced by Arda Güler; Harit has always been a second option in both wings, he needs to accept that he’s not a starter. If all of them drop, wages need to be revised as they are all above the limit for that group. Name Best Pos Age Mins Ability Wage Appearance Fee Agent Begins Expires Transfer Value Agreed Playing Time Noah Atubolu GK 25 360 2 132 000,00 € €10 000 Uwe Lindel - Acquaintance 10/6/2027 30/6/2029 €700K - €1M Backup Maximiliano Rodríguez D (R) 20 356 3 58 000,00 € €4 000 Aaron Llanos - Very Close 1/1/2027 30/6/2031 €65M - €92M Squad Player Lars Lukas Mai D (C) 27 720 2,5 94 000,00 € €5 500 Marc Peters - Acquaintance 1/2/2027 30/6/2030 €7,6M - €9,2M Squad Player Marvin Friedrich D (C) 31 333 3 167 000,00 € €9 250 Martin Wittek - Close 1/2/2027 30/6/2029 €3,7M - €8M Squad Player Federico Morales D (L) 20 240 2,5 47 500,00 € €2 700 Sergio García - Acquaintance 21/6/2027 30/6/2032 €5,8M - €7M Squad Player Amadou Haïdara M (C) 29 189 2,5 217 000,00 € €12 500 Coumba Sissoko - Very Close 8/7/2025 30/6/2029 €15M - €16,5M Squad Player Boubakary Soumaré M (C) 28 770 3 322 000,00 € €18 500 Luke Morgan - Close 1/7/2025 30/6/2029 €6M - €7,4M Squad Player Arda Güler AM (C) 22 703 3,5 337 000,00 € €12 000 Özgür Yıldız - Very Close 16/7/2026 30/6/2030 €79M - €89M Squad Player Karim Daoud AM (L) 20 510 3 113 000,00 € €6 750 Rodrigue Santiago - Very Close 7/8/2027 30/6/2031 €43M - €50M Squad Player Wage Sum 1 487 500,00 € Total Allowed 2 220 000,00 € 9 Max 11 201 818,18 € In the “Squad Player” section, we have some players that need to be promoted. Rodríguez, Soumaré and Güler are the most obvious; Daoud will make the jump next season as well. Really wanted Morales to develop, but he hasn’t shown many good signs. Might need to search for another player and loan him out. Atubolu, Mai, Friedrich are good where they are. Haïdara is my main doubt. He has been dropping his attributes and I can probably replace him with Scherrer, Castelli, Traoré or even Sithole next season.

I really like your breakdown by style. Besides "Play out of Defence" against Gegenpress do you have any "defaults" against other styles? Speaking of which: I'm guessing since pressing is not really fine-tuned in FM, it still works best if you have a numerical advantage. Like in the first image, you have 4+1+1 (or 2+3+1) vs 3+2, there's always a free man. Do you take that into account? (I still can't think of any formation where you wouldn't have the numerical advantage with 6 players in the build-up - no preset formation presses with 6 players in FM, I think)

A look into the opposition An overview of prediction, managers and preferred formations. Key notes: 5 teams with 2 strikers 4-3-3 still dominant Only 4 teams with 3/5 at the back Quite a team there: Petrescu, Blanc, Tudor, Grosso, Diarra, Almeyda, Garritano, Clement, Conceição, Sheva! Name Prediction Manager Formation Ajaccio 17 Pantaloni 4-4-2 Auxerre 16 Shevchenko 4-3-3 DM Wide Bordeaux 12 Guion 4-3-3 DM Wide Lens 2 Tudor 5-2-2-1 DM AM Lille 9 Jovicevic 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide Lorient 7 Almeyda 4-3-3 DM Wide Lyon 6 Martínez 5-2-3 DM Wide Marseille 5 Leal 4-3-3 DM Wide Metz 14 Petrescu 4-3-3 DM Wide Monaco 4 Clement 4-4-2 Montpellier 13 Blanc 5-3-2 DM WB Nice 8 Conceição 4-3-3 DM Wide PSG 1 Garitano 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide Rennes 3 Jorge 4-4-2 Saint-Étienne 11 Grosso 4-3-3 DM Wide Sochaux 18 Rey 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide Strasbourg 10 Bachar 4-3-3 DM Wide Troyes 15 Diarra 5-3-2 DM WB 5-3-2 DM WB 2 4-3-3 DM Wide 8 5-2-3 DM Wide 1 5-2-2-1 DM AM 1 4-4-2 3 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide 3 And a sum of top-5 attributes. Once again: TEC: Dribbling, First Touch, Passing, Technique; MEN: Anticipation, Concentration, Decisions; PHY: Jumping, Pace, Strength. Name Prediction TEC MEN PHY Average Rank Ajaccio 17 70 67 75 71 17 Auxerre 16 70 71 75 72 16 Bordeaux 12 71 70 77 73 13 Lens 2 76 75 76 76 7 Lille 9 77 73 78 76 5 Lorient 7 74 73 80 75 8 Lyon 6 77 75 78 77 4 Marseille 5 79 75 77 77 3 Metz 14 73 71 75 73 12 Monaco 4 74 74 77 75 9 Montpellier 13 72 71 76 73 13 Nice 8 75 78 76 76 6 PSG 1 85 83 81 83 1 Rennes 3 79 75 81 78 2 Saint-Étienne 11 70 71 76 72 15 Sochaux 18 70 67 72 70 18 Strasbourg 10 74 71 79 75 10 Troyes 15 70 72 77 73 11 Rank 2 5 8 3 Looking at the attributes, we need more anticipation, pace, and strength. With some renovation of the central defenders, we'll probably get there; wingers will also have to be changed in a few seasons. September [Ligue 1] vs Rennes (H) Besides PSG, Rennes is the biggest contender. In this game we were superior, but Kalimuendo is always there to make some damage. Beier missing a penalty didn't help us. [Champions League] vs Porto (A) My first game in the UCL and my first win as well. Might turn out to be a very important win. Let's see how the rest of the games go. [Ligue 1] vs Troyes (A) An early goal helped us set the tone, then a penalty and one more goal from a set-piece. [Ligue 1] vs Montpellier (H) We've easily beaten our rivals. They didn't even record a shot on goal. Set-pieces are helping us. [Ligue 1] vs Strasbourg (A) Strasbourg is a challenging team, but we proved our worth. Letting them shoot as much and getting to an xG of 1,00 might be a bit too much. Improvements in defence are needed. Belardi's average rating has been poor and Mai and Friedrich only have decent average ratings due to their goals. [Champions League] vs Austria Wien (H) Easy win. In the second half, I gave a European debut to 3 U19 players: Vincent, Husser, and Miath. Only Miath seems to be on his way to being a first-team player, but why not give them the chance? In this game, Miath set a new team and UCL record: Standings PSG lost to Monaco; Rennes only lost a point to us in our draw; Lorient lost 2 and drew 1. Arda Güler has been impressive. I had no reason to start him over Fujimoto but figured I should give him the place so he could start and develop. Part of the assists come from set-pieces. And on the other statistics, you can see who we are facing: Kalimuendo is the big star at Rennes; Mbappé, Saka, Hakimi and Nmecha are taking PSG to the top. Meanwhile, Beier has been underperforming maybe due to the rejected bid. In the UCL It doesn’t mean much at this stage, but being upfront is always nice. New contract is on the way

Good luck with this new adventure. UCL isn't easy for a Portuguese team. Let's see who gets there first you or @warlock. Just messing with you guys!

I haven't thought much about it. As you say, there's plenty of time until we play again. I'll probably have to adapt a little bit. Drop the wingers to the midfield strata, play more direct, and lower the block. Something along those lines. Don't know if they are the only ones in the way. Lorient and Rennes are quite strong as well and even Lyon is much better than what they played last season. There's also something to keep in mind: the difference between PSG and all the other teams is much bigger than mine to the others; that means they are less likely to have those 0-0/1-1 games or those games where we concede 1 shot in a counter, they score and we keep missing,

The Season has started [Ligue 1] vs Nice (H) Clear winners, we were way better. Great way to start the season, Beier at top level and Daoud had his debut with an assist. [Ligue 1] vs PSG (A) They are so much better than us. Mbappé didn’t play, but Hakimi ran us to the ground. This is also a team that can afford to play Bellingham as BWM… And by the way, I liked their right side with a FB – CWB-A ; RCDM – BWM-D (or S?) ; RW – IF-S (or A?). Right winger moved inside, CWB took care of the wide space and the BWM provided cover out wide (he was very wide, almost like a CAR). Needs a top-level wing back but who knows if I’ll have one in the future. This was one of their combinations where Hakimi played to Bellingham and he found Saka in depth. Beier was never in the game, so I gave Miath some minutes. He got a taste of a big game. Still managed to get a shot and a dribble. And he got a record: [Ligue 1] vs Lille (H) This marks my 200th career game. We made it easy. It’s great to see this kind of display. And ironically, they had to pay me for using a player. [Ligue 1] vs Saint-Étienne (A) We scored early but couldn’t score the second, making it harder for us. Then they scored and it was quite a nervous game until Arda Güler and Beier connected and we controlled the game until the end. It wasn’t hard to guess who’s top of the table, is it? One last signing? Maybe two? I know I don’t really need another attacking midfielder, nor a central midfielder, but his attributes were too good to pass on a 500k transfer. Souleymane already has one cap for Ivory Coast. Well, it wasn’t just one. We also found Joshua Sithole, an 18-year-old already capped for Australia. He’s natural at CB, can play CM, either footed and with a resolute personality. I’m thinking of him as either a prospect CDM or RB. He could play LB as well, but he doesn’t seem as attacking as I want my LB to be. Focus now is on a CB and a GK for the future. Probably only in the next summer window or when we sell one of our most valuable players. And at the last minute, we receive a bid for Beier. Just with 2 hours left! And he wants to leave. No way I can replace him on such short notice. 55+15. I talk to him and he’s ambitious. He wants to win the UCL and we both know it’s unlikely to do it here, but I compromise with him and promise to let him leave for 84M. I should add that Arsenal seems as unlikely as us. They have been 5th, 6th and 4th in the last 3 seasons... Final Squad & Prospect Squad Hassan ended up being loaned out to Vitória de Guimarães, but for organisation, I'll keep him here. Name Best Pos Personality Stefano Turati GK Spirited 25 Noah Atubolu GK Balanced 25 Name Best Pos Personality FB Andrei Nagy D (R) Fairly Determined 19 69% Maximiliano Rodriguez D (R) Determined 20 66% Name Best Pos Personality FB Giuseppe Pezzella D (L) Resilient 29 67% Federico Morales D (L) Fairly Determined 19 62% Name Best Pos Personality CB Marvin Friedrich D (C) Fairly Professional 31 69% Hans Hateboer D (C) Resolute 33 66% Lars Lukas Mai D (C) Spirited 27 66% Leonardo Balerdi D (C) Spirited 28 66% Name Best Pos Personality CM Matteo Guendouzi M (C) Balanced 28 72% Boubakary Soumaré DM Fairly Ambitious 28 69% Ludovit Reis DM Resolute 27 66% Amadou Haïdara M (C) Ambitious 29 63% Name Best Pos Personality AM Arda Guler AM (C) Resolute 22 73% Kanya Fujimoto AM (R) Spirited 28 69% Name Best Pos Personality WF Akram Afif AM (L) Fairly Determined 30 70% Amine Harit AM (C) Balanced 30 68% Allan Saint-Maximin AM (L) Fairly Ambitious 30 68% Ashraf Hassan AM (R) Driven 20 58% Name Best Pos Personality ST Maximilian Beier ST (C) Professional 24 67% Karim Daoud ST (C) Model Citizen 20 64% Prospects - Most of them are loaned out; some are still changing positions as they develop. Name Best Pos Personality Age Ricardo Planche GK Fairly Professional 19 Gregory Bauduiin GK Fickle 16 Name Best Pos Personality Age FB Joshua Sithole D (C) Resolute 18 60% Arthur Carriere D (R) Fairly Professional 16 52% Name Best Pos Personality Age FB João Sousa M (C) Fairly Sporting 18 51% Kaylan Hamidou D (L) Balanced 21 52% Name Best Pos Personality Age CB Patrick Guldager D (C) Professional 20 63% JD Koffi D (C) Determined 22 60% Jérémy Dumas D (C) Mercenary 18 54% Joel Tchami D (C) Fickle 18 51% Name Best Pos Personality Age CM Jonathan Castelli AM (C) Determined 20 61% Souleymane Traore AM (C) Resilient 19 59% Thomas Scherrer M (C) Light-Hearted 18 57% Axel Vincent M (C) Fairly Professional 17 51% Name Best Pos Personality Age AM Mamadou Maiga M (C) Balanced 18 54% Amadou N’Diaye AM (L) Balanced 18 53% Name Best Pos Personality Age WF Radenko Ristic AM (L) Driven 20 61% Ashraf Hassan AM (R) Driven 20 58% Tozé Sá Martins AM (R) Balanced 19 57% Gael Lafont AM (R) Balanced 21 57% Name Best Pos Personality Age ST Marco Travaglini ST (C) Ambitious 20 60% Gérald Miath ST (C) Balanced 16 50% Champions League Fixtures We’ll be spending some time in Portugal: Porto were champions 3 times out of the last 4; Benfica was the other champions in those years and finished 2nd in the other seasons; Braga was champion 5 season ago and has finished 3rd ever since; then there’s Betis who finished 4th in La Liga 2 times in a row; PAOK who are 2-time Greek champions; Austria Wien who were champions last season but were out of top-3 for the 4 seasons before this one; and the big ones: Liverpool and Bayern. We have to beat PAOK and Austria Wien, I don’t see anything special about the Betis team; Braga is the same; Benfica and Porto have decent teams, but are beatable; and we’ll try our best against the other two. Another thing I’ll have to take into account is fatigue/condition (with heavy rotation) and training schedule. Last season we had very regular schedules: Sunday – Thursday – Sunday. This season we will have: Friday/Saturday – Tuesday – Saturday/Sunday; Saturday/Sunday – Wednesday – Sunday. So, I need three training schedules for the week before, and four schedules for the UCL week. Finances Overview The evolution since I arrived. Last year after August there was a big dip. This year, we have CL money coming in, it’ll help us. Status is Rich! We have also dropped a bit in wages (7,3M to 6,5M). The wage structure isn’t still in order, but at least the spending is more controlled. With this information, it's hard to understand such a low budget, but I'll have to manage it.

Transfer Window Update I wanted a new GK but I didn’t know how to handle Pau López. Then tried to include him in an exchange with West Ham and they accepted. Paid below 8M upfront and 4,5M in 2 installments. And he’s on a lower wage than Pau. On the other way, something I believe to be an important piece of business. Might be making a mistake, but it’s on me. Mitrovic has shown signs of decent potential and developed a bit when he was on loan. But he’s temperamental and I don’t like that. If he develops into a great player we have the 35% of profit and a buyback clause, so we win either way, I think. I had 2 doubts about my squad: the 4th winger spot and the backup striker. Regarding the first subject, I had Castelli, Ristic, Hassan and Tozé as options to fill the space. Castelli Ristic Hassan Tozé They are all basically the same age; Ristic is the only left-footed; Tozé and Castelli can also play CM; Hassan and Castelli are non-EU; they are all rated with a potential of at least 4 stars. Tozé was the first to leave on loan. He had a decent loan last season at Valencia and they were interested again, so he went there. Don’t think he’s good enough to merit a spot yet. I wanted to keep Castelli, but he doesn’t have the speed I want for a winger and in midfield I already have decent options, so loaning him seemed a decent idea. He went to Málaga. Ristic was the best of the bunch in the preseason. This was the most difficult one. I didn’t have a great choice to send him on loan (only one team made an offer), but he’s too good to be a 4th option. So that left me with Hassan. He has the least potential from all 4, has the speed, has workrate and a great personality, and although his passing attribute is low, he has vision and technique. On the second part of the dilemma, after selling Mitrovic, I had Travaglini and Miath as the only sensible options. But I should add Afif and Harit as players who can play as strikers. Travaglini Miath Just like Ristic, I felt like Travaglini could do better on loan, and would be a waste to have him just as a backup (since my 2nd team doesn’t play in a competitive league). He went on loan to Guingamp on the 2nd tier. Miath is only 16, but he has done his work in the preseason. 4 goals in 6 starting appearances and a sub one. One goal against Hannover (Germany 1st tier) and two goals against Seattle Sounders (MLS team) which is quite impressive. He has the bonus of being able to play for the U19 when he’s not needed on the first team. But just when I was about to “close the shop” and leave it at that, I made an exploratory offer for a Frecnch wonderkid, Daoud, from Nantes (I was trying to offload them Sala whom they were interested in). His form is not that impressive with 11 goals in 28 appearances on the 2nd tier, but his attributes are, and his personality is fantastic. They rejected the first offer, didn’t even try to negotiate anything; for the sake of it I sent another offer only marginally better and they accepted it. Couldn’t offload Sala as he was not interested in moving there, but I bought him nonetheless. Now Miath will be occupied with the U19 team, while still training with the senior squad and Daoud will be our backup and he’s also a decent backup for the LW spot. So, if I can find a loan for Hassan, he goes. He won’t get many chances here and I prefer to have a smaller squad. Where do I buy my players from? Inspired by @SixPointer, I was curious with something he said: I don’t have a lot of data to look into, but just from the first 3 transfer windows: Arda Güler – Fenerbahçe – Turkey 1st Tier Tozé Sá Martins – Belenenses – Portugal 2nd Tier Max Beier – Hoffenheim – Germany 1st Tier Maxi Rodriguez – Newell’s – Argentina 1st Tier Andrei Nagy – Cluj – Romania 1st Tier Jonathan Castelli – Olimpo – Argentina 3rd Tier Marco Travaglini – Indep. Santa Fe – Colombia 1st Tier Lukas Mai – Lugano – Switzerland 1st Tier Marvin Friedrich – Strasbourg – France 1st Tier Noah Atubolu – Eibar – Spain 1st Tier (although after relegation confirmed) Federico Morales – Lanús – Argentina 1st Tier Stefano Turati – West Ham – England 1st Tier Karim Daoud – Nantes – France 2nd Tier Right now, I can't say I focus on specific places… Argentina has been my main target, but with only 4 non-EU spaces, this needs to stop. I would like to buy more in the inside market, mostly high-potential kids as France develops a lot of talent. Top Player Odds Odd indeed… Nagy was never a starter last season. Season Preview and Objectives The media prediction for us is not very enthusiastic: 7th. Tied with Lyon and Lorient and above Nice. Don’t know if I agree with this, but let’s wait and see. A league still clearly dominated by PSG And Boadu might leave… The board wants a top-4 finish so we can keep going to the UCL. In the Coupe de France, the board has set the goal in the QF, but I’ll try and win it as I promised Beier we would fight for silverware. For the UCL, the board only wants me to be competitive. It’s my first time managing a team in this competition, so I’m glad there’s no pressure to succeed, but we’ll do our best. Tactics for the Season The first tactic and most likely to use is the same which ended last season: 4-3-3 with a DM. Then a 4-2-3-1. I’m still working on it. I want to give Arda Güler some emphasis. And the last one is a variation of the first. Mostly a formation with more creativity, to use where/when I expect to dominate the other team.

Clearly Marseille could do with a better manager