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About corners I would say Jumping to get there, Heading to direct the ball, Strength to have the position, Bravery to go for the ball. Eventually Off the Ball as @SixPointer said to move into the right spot. I would also add Anticipation and Agility as minor contributors. I'm very much in doubt about decisions. The ball was sent your way, you are inside the box, what decision is there to make? But I was trying to follow the game information as possible. Goals from corners are probably harder as they were too easy on earlier versions of the ME, but still I can't go half a season not scoring a single goal from corners. (btw, I had a cup match where eventually Hateboer scored from a corner - the other team was quite weak so any other player would have probably scored as well) Regarding the CMs and AMs, Fujimoto is quite creative, Guendouzi is unhappy but he's our best player by far and Reis has been decent. I would say exchanging Guendouzi with Reis will be a good move (I played one game that way and I liked the result). About the AM/Wingers is the most difficult part. I'm a bit stuck with ASM's contract and the lack of funds to actively change the personnel. The introduction of Harit seems a good choice. Probably giving Guler some more game time will also help as he's not just a creator but also a decent finisher. I'm now also experimenting with roles and duties. I didn't like Harit as IW-A, but it doesn't make sense to keep ASM as W-A. My initial thought was to use his speed to send the ball into space, but he's getting the ball mostly with their full back still to beat. I don't know the answer yet to this dillemma. I really needed another type of winger (I have a dribbler and 2 creative players, not a single shooter/physical presence). I'm also paying more attention to the possession statistic. Each time I see my team going to something like 60% I immediately change pass directedness or tempo. 60% or above seems to translate in just keeping the ball with no intent or keeping the ball too far from their goal (this only relates to my situation as Marseille is definitely not a dominant team in the league - I would expect to get to 60% with PSG rather easily). When I change, it usually has a good result. Moving from FM20 to FM23, I noticed a big change in player roles. They seem to be more "strict" to their definition and with some things happening "under the hood". When do players move, where do they move, the decisions they make, ... For instance, the BPD and the dwelling on the ball, seems like they all have that trait. I'm now finding myself changing my BPD to CD when I play against a 2-forward formation so they move the ball faster. It's strange that there's little info in the game about this and no way affect these settings.

Pretty sure the league will be easy for you. Benfica is a far better team than any other (Porto supporter speaking). The real challenge is clearly the UCL. One thing to your advantage that I feel is very important in this FM: Morale. You win so much, your players will always be in high spirits and it helps a lot on match performance. You have some good youngsters in the squad, even some who are not good enough for the first eleven but can be useful as squad members. Those victories against Juve with no conceded goals and the 5-1 against Ajax show you are on the right path. This journey might be shorter than you have thought.

Youth Intake Preview THREE! Forwards?! In a golden generation? Let’s wait and see, but they got my attention. My underperformance problem As I said on the last post, I wanted to dive into the problem. We are consistently better than the opposition, but we keep drawing games. Looking into the xG table from the previous post, we are 7 goals scored down from where it was expected and we have conceded 3 more. Scoring seems the biggest issue, so I’ll start there. First, let’s look at conversion rates: Name Pos Gls/90 NpxG/90 Sh/90 Conv % npxg/Sh % Dif PSG 1 2,47 1,91 19,33 12,8 9,9 2,9 Lens 2 2,13 1,43 13,07 16,3 10,9 5,4 Nice 3 1,80 1,21 13,60 13,2 8,9 4,3 Monaco 4 2,27 1,86 16,53 13,7 11,3 2,5 Strasbourg 5 1,50 0,87 12,29 12,2 7,1 5,1 Troyes 6 1,40 0,82 9,13 15,3 9,0 6,4 Marseille 7 1,40 1,86 17,53 8,0 10,6 -2,6 Rennes 8 2,29 1,72 14,64 15,6 11,7 3,9 It’s terrible! We have around half the conversion rate of our main opposition. We have the same npxG/90 as Monaco but 0,87 less goals. Almost a goal less than them per match. Where are we missing? Name Gls/90 Shot/90 ShT/90 NP-xG/90 Conv % Hans Hateboer 0,00 0,19 0,06 0,01 0,00 Giuseppe Pezzella 0,00 0,78 0,07 0,05 0,00 Marco Sala 0,00 0,16 0,16 0,00 0,00 Reeve Frosler 0,00 0,18 0,00 0,03 0,00 Name Gls/90 Shot/90 ShT/90 NP-xG/90 Conv % Leonardo Balerdi 0,06 1,58 0,82 0,16 4,00 Chancel Mbemba 0,00 0,60 0,30 0,05 0,00 Samuel Gigot 0,00 0,80 0,00 0,09 0,00 Éric Bailly 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 Name Gls/90 Shot/90 ShT/90 NP-xG/90 Conv % Matteo Guendouzi 0,13 2,56 0,77 0,18 5,00 Kanya Fujimoto 0,32 2,18 0,71 0,20 15,00 Ludovit Reis 0,13 0,97 0,19 0,04 13,00 Arda Güler 0,25 2,35 1,11 0,28 11,00 Boubakary Soumaré 0,00 1,38 0,17 0,05 0,00 Amadou Haïdara 0,00 0,97 0,39 0,06 0,00 Name Gls/90 Shot/90 ShT/90 NP-xG/90 Conv % Akram Afif 0,20 2,69 1,11 0,31 7,00 Allan Saint-Maximin 0,09 1,96 0,68 0,18 4,00 Amine Harit 0,32 2,96 1,16 0,28 11,00 Name Gls/90 Shot/90 ShT/90 NP-xG/90 Conv % Maximilian Beier 0,81 4,31 2,18 0,77 19,00 Bamba Dieng 0,54 2,97 0,81 0,46 18,00 Breakdown by Position: Gls/90 Shot/90 ShT/90 NP-xG/90 Conv % Shots % Gls-npxg Most used 11 1,68 16,24 6,89 1,95 10,3 -0,27 Most Used FBs 0,00 0,97 0,13 0,06 0,0 6,0 -0,06 Most Used CBs 0,06 2,18 1,12 0,21 2,8 13,4 -0,15 Most Used CMs 0,58 5,71 1,48 0,38 10,2 35,2 0,20 Most Used WFs 0,29 4,65 1,79 0,49 6,2 28,6 -0,20 Most Used ST 0,81 4,31 2,18 0,77 18,8 26,5 0,04 FB: No goals here, but they don’t shoot very often (only 6% of our shots). CB: They get shots mostly from set-pieces. Only Balerdi has scored and even he has a very low conversion rate. They amount to 13% of our shots with a 3% conversion rate and a negative difference between goals and npxg of 0,15, in 16 matches that’s around 3 more goals. Problem 1. CM: They get 35% of our shots, conversion rate of 10%. Not too bad. Guendouzi is missing a lot. Maybe he can swap positions with Reis. WF: Both my starters for most of the season have awful conversion rates and together they have 0,29 goals/90 which is quite low, especially considering they are 0,20 under expectations (a bit more than 3 goals over the 16 matches played) and they shoot almost 30% of the team’s shots. Problem 2. ST: Both Beier and Dieng are doing well. A bit unexpected as I had the sense that Beier wasn't a great finisher and was wasting many chances. So the problem resides in 2 very distinctive areas: CB and WF Problem 1 Name Pos Corner Gls DFK Gls IFK Gls PK Gls Set-Piece Gls PSG 1 4 1 2 3 10 Lens 2 4 1 3 1 9 Nice 3 3 1 3 3 10 Monaco 4 7 1 0 1 9 Strasbourg 5 3 0 2 0 5 Troyes 6 1 0 2 1 4 Marseille 7 0 1 0 0 1 Rennes 8 1 1 1 4 7 After the 16th round in the league we “owe” 8 set-piece goals to the top-4. Even against the other teams, we should have about 4 more goals. Remember when I said we should expect 3 more goals from our CBs? That's very close. When you set a player to attack a post, the attributes demanded (according to game information) are: Jumping, Strength, Heading, Bravery, Decisions, Off the Ball and Finishing. CBs will always have low OtB and Fin so comparing it to other players in the league seems to be time wasting. I’ll look into the other attributes. Name Gls Jmp Str Hea Bra Dec Sum Vestergaard 2 19 18 17 15 13 82 Kimpembe 2 14 16 16 18 14 78 Badiashile 3 17 16 15 14 14 76 Marquinhos 2 13 14 15 15 16 73 Now comparing with my players: Name Gls Jmp Str Hea Bra Dec Sum Balerdi 1 15 13 14 12 15 69 Mbemba 0 12 13 14 16 13 68 Gigot 0 14 13 15 15 11 68 Bailly 0 13 14 13 18 8 66 They are clearly on another level. Hateboer is in fact the player with the highest sum of this selection of attributes. Not by a mile, but I’ll try having him as a target for our corners and see how it goes. Name Gls Jmp Str Hea Bra Dec Sum Hateboer 14 14 14 16 12 70 Soumaré 15 16 10 14 14 69 Beier 13 12 13 12 11 61 Might as well try Soumaré as he only lacks heading. Although he's not a starter so that involves more changes. I have my eyes on some players. Let’s see about the budget and what we can do over the winter transfer window. Name Gls Jmp Str Hea Bra Dec Sum Disasi 15 18 16 15 13 77 Bisseck 17 16 13 15 13 74 Zima 17 16 14 13 14 74 Zaharia 13 16 14 18 13 74 Disasi is a squad player for Monaco. He has only played when Badiashile was injured. Bisseck and Zima are transfer listed for 9M and 4.9M respectively. Zaharia is a regen worth 31M so clearly out of range right now. Comparing ratings, they all seem good enough or even better than what I have at my disposal and all are younger than my players (except Disasi is older than Balerdi). Name CB Balerdi 66% Mbemba 66% Gigot 66% Bailly 69% Name CB Disasi 69% Bisseck 68% Zima 68% Zaharia 69% Problem 2 Harit has been playing as RW (W-A) while ASM was injured. I have to be careful managing this as ASM was given a Star Player status, so he might get upset if he sits on the bench too much. I’ll probably try Harit as LW (IW-S; or even switch duties between RW and LW) and Afif and ASM switch as RW. I could also try Dieng as LW, but I don’t think he’s good enough to deserve a starting spot in this team and he doesn’t offer the creativity all the other wingers offer. I also have Fujimoto and Guler who can play as wingers, but their speed is quite low and they have been playing very well as RCM (MEZ-S) so I prefer not to change what is working. In this case, I don’t see a way of us having enough budget to spend here. I asked, they rejected...

I think I know where the problem is. Fixing is another issue. I need to sell so I have funds. But I'll try to figure out a way.

Sertanense Update Night and day from our last season. And they are spending it. Best Players in the World We aren’t still at that level, but we need to pay attention. In the future, we want to have players in this list. In our league, PSG has 4 players: Mbappé #1; Donnarumma #21; Saka #43; Hakimi #49. No other French team has a player in this list. Winter Transfer Window Planning We already have 2 transfers incoming. Both are youngsters who will be important in the future but they aren’t ready yet to make an impact. The first is Maximiliano Rodriguez who I have already included in a previous post. He’s a prospect RB. As he’s not that far off from Frosler, I’ll keep him and sell Frosler. Then I got some reports on Castelli, also Argentinian. Asked the DOF for some insight and he gave him an A+ rating. For 1,2M €, I couldn’t say no. He’ll be a future replacement for either Guendouzi or his backup Haidara. He can also be a replacement for Fujimoto if we decide to sell him (with Guler starting and Castelli as backup). I don’t think Sala is good enough as backup LB, but he has been decent when given the chance, so I’ll leave this for later. We really need an overhaul in the center of the defence. Mbemba is 32, Gigot is 33, and Bailly is 32 (retiring at the season's end). This leaves us only with Balerdi as a player we can count on for the next years. And he has been playing quite well, so now Milan, At. Madrid and Man City are interested in him, so it’ll be hard to keep him. I have some players under my watch, but I need a bigger budget if I want to bring them in. Speaking of which: besides Frosler, I have Milik transfer listed. He is nowhere near the player he was and I don’t have a place for him. Frosler is on 178k/month; Milik on 278k/month. That’s nearly 3M in half a season. It’s good but I need something along 30M just for the CB situation (1 starter and 1 backup). Mbemba and Gigot end their contracts at the end of the season, so they have no sell value. My only option is to bank on Guendouzi or Balerdi. Guendouzi is valued between 63 and 70M; Balerdi is between 33M and 41M. Losing any of them would be a step back, but maybe it’ll help us take 2 steps forward in the future. I also feel the need for a more defensive-minded DM. Right now I’m playing Ludovit Reis and Soumaré as DM. Reis has “Gets Forward Whenever Possible”; Soumaré has 8 for Aggression. Not as important as the CB situation, but I’ll keep an eye on possible deals. Another Tycoon It’s not news, but I hadn’t seen it before. Lorient is also owned by a Tycoon and they are “Rich”. So now there are 3 “Rich” teams (Rennes, Lorient, and PSG) and another owned by a tycoon who’s the biggest spender (Lens). We are 3rd on salary (behind PSG and Lyon) which says more about the lack of strategy and structure than the quality of our team. Ready for December? 6 points out of 4 league games isn’t what we want. We keep having good matches but somewhat bad results. [Ligue 1] vs Strasbourg (A) Final Score: 1-1 D Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 103 – 57 56 – 38 9 – 5 1,88 – 0,84 5 – 2 53 – 47 Individual Highlights Goals Beier Assists Pezzella Rating Tackles Shots on Target Beier 7,8 Guendouzi 5 Beier 5 Pezzella 7,8 Frosler 3 Afif 2 Guendouzi 7,2 Beier 2 Mbemba 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Beier 1,3 Gigot 5 Pezzella 3 Afif 0,3 Pezzella 4 Fujimoto 3 Fujimoto 0,1 Mbemba 4 Soumaré 2 xA Headers Won Dribbles Pezzella 0,6 Gigot 7 Guendouzi 4 Guendouzi 0,3 Pezzella 5 Beier 3 Reis 0,3 Hateboer 4 Afif 3 The first of 3 draws in the league this month. I tried Guler as RW, but he didn't play too well (6.4 Rating). ASM got injured. Harit will play as RW in the next game. [Europa League] vs At. Bilbao (A) Final Score: 3-1 W Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 84 – 42 60 – 27 9 – 1 2,96 – 0,37 7 – 1 60 – 40 Individual Highlights Goals Afif, Beier, Harit Assists Hateboer (x2), Beier Rating Tackles Shots on Target Afif 8,8 Harit 3 Harit 2 Hateboer 8,5 Afif 3 Afif 2 Harit 8,4 Fujimoto 2 Beier 2 xG Interceptions Key Passes Beier 0,9 Hateboer 6 Afif 6 Afif 0,7 Balerdi 4 Hateboer 3 Fujimoto 0,6 Pezzella 3 Guler 3 xA Headers Won Dribbles Afif 1,1 Balerdi 18 Harit 6 Hateboer 0,7 Afif 7 Beier 4 Harit 0,6 Mbemba 4 Sala 3 Quite an easy game against Bilbao. Harit proving he deserves to be in contention for the starting spot. [Ligue 1] vs Nice (H) Final Score: 2-2 D Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 96 – 81 67 – 51 10 – 4 2,12 – 0,63 7 – 1 55 – 45 Individual Highlights Goals Fujimoto, Dieng Assists Harit (x2) Rating Tackles Shots on Target Harit 8,5 Afif 5 Harit 2 Fujimoto 7,7 Pezzella 4 Dieng 2 Pezzella 7,5 Hateboer 4 Beier 2 xG Interceptions Key Passes Afif 0,6 Pezzella 7 Fujimoto 6 Dieng 0,4 Fujimoto 4 Pezzella 4 Fujimoto 0,3 Hateboer 4 Harit 3 xA Headers Won Dribbles Harit 0,6 Balerdi 10 Pezzella 5 Fujimoto 0,4 Pezzella 5 Afif 4 Pezzella 0,4 Hateboer 5 Beier 2 A match made difficult, after a 2-0 start. Statistics favour us and we should have won. Rotations don't work. Harit with 2 assists is enjoying is time on the field. [Ligue 1] vs Rennes (A) Final Score: 1-1 D Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 74 – 64 50 – 43 4 – 6 2,08 – 0,63 3 – 0 52 – 48 Individual Highlights Goals Dieng Assists Harit Rating Tackles Shots on Target Harit 7,3 Pezzella 2 Afif 2 Dieng 7,1 Afif 2 Harit 1 Pezzella 6,9 Balerdi 2 Dieng 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Afif 0,9 Balerdi 6 Harit 3 Dieng 0,5 Pezzella 4 Reis 2 Pezzella 0,3 Hateboer 4 Pezzella 2 xA Headers Won Dribbles Harit 0,5 Balerdi 14 Dieng 4 Guler 0,2 Hateboer 11 Pezzella 3 Reis 0,1 Pezzella 8 Harit 2 The most difficult game of the month. I'm curious about their xG and chances as I had the feeling they were better than us over the course of the match. Harit once again with an assist and the highest rating. [Europa League] vs Sevilla (H) Final Score: 0-1 L Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 69 – 74 46 – 36 2 – 2 0,70 – 0,64 2 – 2 43 – 57 Individual Highlights Goals - Assists - Rating Tackles Shots on Target Frosler 7,0 Frosler 6 Afif 1 Afif 6,8 Afif 5 ASM 1 Guler 6,8 Sala 5 xG Interceptions Key Passes Beier 0,2 Frosler 5 Harit 2 Harit 0,1 Gigot 3 Soumaré 2 ASM 0,1 Soumaré 2 Guler 2 xA Headers Won Dribbles Gigot 0,2 Frosler 4 ASM 5 Afif 0,1 Gigot 4 Guler 3 Guler 0,1 Soumaré 3 Sala 3 This was 1st against 2nd in the Europa League, but I've decided to play a rotated squad as we have easier matches ahead and I needed the focus on the league. It was a rather boring match and if we draw when we clearly beat the opposition in xG, chances and shots on target; then we are destined to lose when we draw in these statistics. [Ligue 1] vs Monaco (H) Final Score: 2-1 W Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 81 – 58 45 – 53 6 – 3 2,11 – 0,88 4 – 2 60 – 40 Individual Highlights Goals Beier, Fujimoto Assists Fujimoto, Beier Rating Tackles Shots on Target Fujimoto 8,8 Guendouzi 3 Beier 2 Beier 8,1 Pezzella 3 Afif 1 Hateboer 7,1 Reis 2 Harit 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Beier 0,8 Hateboer 7 Fujimoto 4 Fujimoto 0,5 Pezzella 5 Harit 3 Harit 0,3 Balerdi 3 Reis 3 xA Headers Won Dribbles Fujimoto 1,0 Mbemba 9 Afif 4 Beier 0,5 Balerdi 9 Harit 4 Reis 0,2 Pezzella 7 Guendouzi 4 We ended the month with a win, and a great won. Fujimoto and Beier ran the match. Averages for all the matches played this month show a way better result than what we had. For/90 Against/90 Shots on Target 6,7 3,5 xG 1,98 0,67 Chances 4,7 1,8 We are not that far from the top places with 6 points separating us from 3rd. I keep insisting on the xG table and it's telling. We should be much better. I'll deep dive into the team and specific player/position statistics to try and learn where we are failing, but I already know our CBs not scoring from IFK and Corners is hurting us a lot.

With 8 games in a month, it's only possible to get results with 22 first-team players and it's very hard to build that kind of team. I'm already sweating with 5/6... Great save, I enjoyed following it. Looking forward to the next one.

October was weird… Should have beaten Brest but we didn’t do enough; we were better against PSG and deserved to win but we lost; the opposite happened against Arsenal: they were better, we we got the win. Conceded a lot of shots against Partizan but Beier was in top form [Europa League] vs Partizan (H) Final Score: 3-1 W Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 63 – 34 69 – 29 8 – 10 2,25 – 1,60 6 – 4 62 – 38 Individual Highlights Goals Beier (x3) Assists Soumaré, Fujimoto Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Beier 9,2 Haidara 3 Beier 4 López 8,6 Soumaré 2 Balerdi 2 Soumaré 8,0 Frosler 2 Harit 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Beier 1,3 Pezzella 6 Fujimoto 6 Guler 0,3 Guler 4 Guler 4 Balerdi 0,2 Soumaré 3 Soumaré 3 xA Headers Won Dribbles Guler 0,4 Balerdi 11 Sala 2 Soumaré 0,4 Bailly 7 Frosler 2 Fujimoto 0,4 Soumaré 5 Guler 2 We were slightly better than Troyes and just edged out the game [Ligue 1] vs Troyes (A) Final Score: 1-0 W Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 81 – 73 46 – 29 5 – 2 1,43 – 0,69 2 – 2 56 – 44 Individual Highlights Goals Beier Assists Afif Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target López 7,8 Fujimoto 2 Guendouzi 2 Afif 7,6 Soumaré 1 Guler 1 Hateboer 7,4 Hateboer 1 Afif 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Beier 0,6 ASM 4 Afif 3 Guendouzi 0,3 Mbemba 3 ASM 3 Gigot 0,2 Pezzella 3 Guendouzi 2 xA Headers Won Dribbles Afif 0,6 Gigot 16 ASM 4 ASM 0,3 Hateboer 7 Beier 4 Guendouzi 0,2 Mbemba 6 Hateboer 2 Our best performance of the month, but we didn't get the result. We can be proud we created 11 chances against PSG. [Ligue 1] vs PSG (H) Final Score: 1-2 L Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 61 – 86 43 – 34 8 – 6 2,64 – 1,00 11 – 4 49 – 51 Individual Highlights Goals Fujimoto Assists Beier Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Fujimoto 7,5 Fujimoto 4 Fujimoto 2 Harit 6,9 Pezzella 4 Balerdi 2 ASM 6,8 Guendouzi 3 Beier 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Beier 0,9 Guendouzi 3 ASM 6 Balerdi 0,6 Afif 3 Fujimoto 5 Afif 0,6 Hateboer 2 Guler 1 xA Headers Won Dribbles Fujimoto 0,8 Balerdi 11 Afif 5 ASM 0,5 Hateboer 8 Guendouzi 4 Balerdi 0,3 Beier 6 Pezzella 3 A big win in Europa League against Arsenal [Europa League] vs Arsenal (A) Final Score: 0-1 L Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 57 – 61 39 – 65 3 – 6 1,27 – 1,73 3 – 5 50 – 50 Individual Highlights Goals Beier, Guler Assists Hateboer Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Hateboer 7,5 ASM 3 Reis 1 Guler 7,3 Afif 3 Guler 1 Beier 7,2 Reis 2 Beier 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Guler 0,7 Pezzella 5 Haidara 3 Beier 0,3 Hateboer 4 ASM 2 Harit 0,1 Afif 4 Hateboer 1 xA Headers Won Dribbles López 0,7 Hateboer 6 ASM 4 Hateboer 0,3 Pezzella 6 Beier 4 Beier 0,1 Beier 4 Pezzella 3 And the worst performance of the month against Brest. We were never effective going forward [Ligue 1] vs Brest (H) Final Score: 0-0 D Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 81 – 49 54 – 20 8 – 2 0,95 – 0,17 1 – 1 57 – 43 Individual Highlights Goals - Assists - Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target López 7,4 Frosler 5 Afif 3 Frosler 7,3 Guler 5 Balerdi 2 Balerdi 7,2 Afif 3 Guendouzi 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Harit 0,3 Frosler 4 Guler 3 Afif 0,2 Balerdi 4 Soumaré 2 Beier 0,1 Sala 4 Afif 2 xA Headers Won Dribbles Beier 0,2 Balerdi 13 Frosler 6 Guler 0,2 Soumaré 7 ASM 6 Afif 0,1 Frosler 6 Sala 4 We are in a disappointing 8th place, although we are tied for 4th in GD and 2nd on the xG Table. Scoring has been our problem. Beier has 8 goals (just 4 in the league); Afif scored 2; Saint-Maximin scored 1. My center-backs have yet to score one goal in the league. I'll try Guler as R IW and Harit might have a chance as well. Our form against the last 4: Brest: 0-0 draw; Metz: 0-1 loss; Nantes: 0-0 draw; Angers 3-1 win. I’ll never be mad about losing points to PSG but against the relegation candidates? We must win, no matter what.

Yeah... I'm a bit of a freak about the data. I lose a lot of time with this. And it's time I could spend actually playing the game... Extracting the octagon attributes player by player is the worst, but it is also what provides the most information I can work.

I love him, he adds a lot offensively. He's rotating with Fujimoto on the RCM - MEZ-S position. Attribute-wise: Name Best Pos Injuries Consistency Big Matches Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Comment CM AM WF Arda Guler AM (C) 0 1 0 Resolute 3 11 13 16 15 16 11 11 60% Transfer In 57% 73% 71% Kanya Fujimoto AM (R) 0 2 1 Spirited 7 12 12 15 12 15 6 12 57% 61% 68% 66% The positional ratings are just averages for some of the attributes I deem important for each role. For the MEZ-S I want someone who can play mostly AM, but also CM (for the defence) and WF (for the speed). Stats-wise. Fujimoto has been impressive, so it's not easy to justify taking him off the team, but Arda is getting some game time which is the most important thing as he settles and develops (he's still 21). Name Pos PL Club Apps Mins PoM Gls/90 ShT/90 Asts/90 Ps C/90 Pas % Pr passes/90 OP-KP/90 Ch C/90 Drb/90 Poss Lost/90 Av Rat Kanya Fujimoto M (C) Marseille 9 681 1,00 0,13 0,66 0,26 50,35 82,00 6,61 2,78 4,71 1,06 16,92 7,23 Arda Güler M (C) Marseille 2 (6) 345 1,00 0,26 1,57 0,52 48,00 78,00 8,61 3,13 3,64 2,09 17,74 7,06 Name DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 OPKP/PsC SPKP/PsC ProgP/PsC Prog%+KP% Kanya Fujimoto 4,23 4,50 8,73 -9,52 0,39 6% 3% 13% 22% Arda Güler 4,96 6,79 11,75 -8,61 0,78 7% 2% 18% 27% I'm pretty sure he would excel as a Treq, for instance, in a 4-2-3-1; or even maybe as a F9 on a 4-3-3 with two wingers as IF-A or something like that.

Wage Structure & Team Dynamics Sum 5 837 000,00 € Wage Budget 7 400 000,00 € It needs work, but with the ASM transfer already agreed, the much-needed transfer of Beier and Fujimoto demanding an “Important Player” status, it’s what is possible right now. Pau López and Afif are on low wages in comparison but they are 31 and 29, respectively, so I don’t envision big upgrades for them. Guendouzi wants to leave to play with a better team. I might accept a decent offer. He has been one of our best players so far (as expected), but I don’t want unhappy players here, especially, when they are team leaders. Name Best Pos Age Mins Ability Wage Appearance Fee Agent Begins Expires Transfer Value Agreed Playing Time Pau López GK 31 720 3 227 000,00 € €10 500 Irene Pezzullo - Acquaintance 5/2/2026 30/6/2028 €7,8M - €9,4M Important Player Giuseppe Pezzella D (L) 28 487 3,5 351 000,00 € €16 250 Paolo Piccoli - Own Player 13/12/2024 30/6/2029 €50M - €55M Star Player Matteo Guendouzi M (C) 27 691 4 355 000,00 € €14 250 Dave Green - Own Player 10/7/2023 30/6/2029 €65M - €72M Star Player Kanya Fujimoto AM (R) 27 626 3 348 000,00 € €16 000 Naoko Kasahara - Own Player 15/7/2026 30/6/2030 €45M - €50M Important Player Akram Afif AM (L) 29 612 3,5 298 000,00 € €13 750 Mohammed Al-Sayed - Own Player 10/6/2025 30/6/2028 €41M - €45M Important Player Allan Saint-Maximin AM (L) 29 596 3,5 419 000,00 € €19 250 Romain Cavelier - Acquaintance 1/7/2026 30/6/2029 €49M - €58M Important Player Maximilian Beier AM (L) 23 565 3,5 360 000,00 € €18 750 Felix Brinkies - Acquaintance 26/7/2026 30/6/2031 €51M - €56M Important Player Wage Sum 2 358 000,00 € Total Allowed 2 220 000,00 € 7 Max 4 555 000,00 € In the regular starters group, Balerdi is probably on a higher wage than should be, but he’s wanted so I might let him leave. Amine Harit is also on a high wage and he’s 29, we’ll see how this season goes, but I might have to sell him. Name Best Pos Age Mins Ability Wage Appearance Fee Agent Begins Expires Transfer Value Agreed Playing Time Chancel Mbemba D (R) 32 450 3 230 000,00 € €10 500 Chérubin Zola - Close 15/4/2024 30/6/2027 €6M - €6,6M Regular Starter Hans Hateboer D (R) 32 702 3 300 000,00 € €13 750 Federico Facciolo - Own Player 3/1/2025 30/6/2027 €11M - €12M Regular Starter Leonardo Balerdi D (C) 27 618 3,5 366 000,00 € €16 750 Heiko Richter - Own Player 9/7/2025 30/6/2030 €35M - €44M Regular Starter Ludovit Reis DM 26 691 3 223 000,00 € €10 250 Adrián Rico - Acquaintance 18/8/2025 30/6/2030 €30M - €36M Regular Starter Amine Harit AM (L) 29 314 3 353 000,00 € €16 250 Romain Cavelier - Own Player 11/7/2025 30/6/2028 €25M - €27M Regular Starter Wage Sum 1 472 000,00 € Total Allowed 2 220 000,00 € 5 Max 7 317 142,86 € In the squad players group, there are also some overpaid players: Soumaré, Bailly and Milik are the most obvious. Bailly and Milik are mostly squad fillers, both 32, and I don’t think they’ll count for next season. They are still pretty decent but with need the renewal and a better structure. When I look at his attributes, Soumaré should be a regular starter (although he’s just barely over the regular start max wage as well). He still hasn’t played much this season as he started the season with an injury and Reis-Guendouzi-Fujimoto has been working well, so we’ll see. He’ll definitely have more chances if Guendouzi leaves, but can he fill in the boots? Name Best Pos Age Mins Ability Wage Appearance Fee Agent Begins Expires Transfer Value Agreed Playing Time Gonçalo Tabuaço GK 25 90 2 44 000,00 € €2 200 Ricardo Morais - Acquaintance 1/9/2023 30/6/2028 €160K - €500K Backup Reeve Frosler D (R) 28 150 3 178 000,00 € €10 250 Kabelo Radebe - Own Player 29/1/2026 30/6/2029 €11M - €14M Squad Player Samuel Gigot D (C) 32 462 2,5 132 000,00 € €6 000 - - Acquaintance 31/1/2025 30/6/2027 €5M Squad Player Éric Bailly D (C) 32 90 2,5 293 000,00 € €17 000 - - Own Player 3/1/2026 30/6/2028 €1,6M - €3,4M Squad Player Marco Sala WB (L) 27 281 2,5 78 000,00 € €4 500 Davide Musa - Own Player 1/7/2026 30/6/2030 €2,5M - €5,4M Squad Player Ashraf Hassan M (R) 19 - 2 33 500,00 € €2 200 Mahmoud Radwan - Acquaintance 12/7/2025 30/6/2030 €13,5M - €16,5M Fringe Player Amadou Haïdara M (C) 28 114 3 217 000,00 € €12 500 Coumba Sissoko - Acquaintance 8/7/2025 30/6/2029 €17,5M - €19M Squad Player Boubakary Soumaré M (C) 27 131 3 322 000,00 € €18 500 Luke Morgan - Own Player 1/7/2025 30/6/2029 €12,5M - €15M Squad Player Arda Güler AM (C) 21 255 3 207 000,00 € €12 000 Özgür Yıldız - Own Player 16/7/2026 30/6/2030 €33M - €38M Squad Player Radenko Ristić AM (L) 19 32 2 27 000,00 € €1 700 Nemanja Stanojević - Close 2/2/2026 30/6/2030 €17,5M - €22M Fringe Player Bamba Dieng ST (C) 26 129 2,5 64 500,00 € €3 200 Cheik N'Diaye - Acquaintance 6/1/2024 30/6/2028 €1,7M - €3,9M Fringe Player Arkadiusz Milik ST (C) 32 104 2 278 000,00 € €16 000 Piergiorgio Missaglia - Own Player 16/1/2026 30/6/2028 €2,7M - €3,6M Fringe Player Wage Sum 1 874 000,00 € Total Allowed 2 220 000,00 € 12 Max 11 201 818,18 € About Dynamics, Marseille is a strange team. Harit is a team leader but he doesn’t belong to any social group; Guendouzi is a team leader and his social group mostly has prospects. Even Mbemba and Pezzella, who share personality types have 2 different groups. Somehow this must turn into less groups but bigger groups. September is gone! Not exactly how I intended, but it’s just our second month together, so we are still adapting. Clear win over Angers made easy with a 35-minute send off to one of their strikers. [Ligue 1] vs Angiers (A) Final Score: 3-1 W Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 188 – 28 66 – 24 9 – 2 2,11 – 0,46 6 – 1 59 – 41 Individual Highlights Goals Fujimoto, ASM, Guler Assists Pezzella Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Guler 7,7 Pezzella 3 Beier 4 Pezzella 7,4 Fujimoto 3 Fujimoto 2 ASM 7,3 Ristic 2 Guler 2 xG Interceptions Key Passes Beier 0,8 Balerdi 6 Reis 3 ASM 0,4 Hateboer 4 Afif 3 Fujimoto 0,3 Mbemba 3 Soumaré 3 xA Headers Won Dribbles Ristic 0,3 Balerdi 13 Hateboer 6 Afif 0,2 Pezzella 4 Pezzella 5 Reis 0,2 Mbemba 4 Frosler 4 Then I fielded a partially rotated 11 and we were terrible. Had to sub in my first team and eventually got a draw. [Europa League] vs Astana (A) Final Score: 2-2 D Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 47 – 54 47 – 30 4 – 5 1,77 – 1,24 5 – 3 52 – 48 Individual Highlights Goals Guendouzi, Balerdi Assists Reis, ASM Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Balerdi 8,1 Guler 4 Guler 1 Reis 7,4 Mbemba 4 Guendouzi 1 Guendouzi 7,4 Milik 2 Beier 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Beier 0,5 Mbemba 6 Guler 4 Guler 0,4 Balerdi 4 ASM 4 Balerdi 0,4 Pezzella 3 Reis 4 xA Headers Won Dribbles ASM 0,5 Balerdi 18 Frosler 8 Guendouzi 0,4 Guler 7 ASM 5 Pezzella 0,3 Mbemba 6 Harit 1 We were way better against Lorient and clearly deserved a win, they scored on the last play of the match… [Ligue 1] vs Lorient (H) Final Score: 1-1 D Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 73 – 40 51 – 25 8 – 2 2,45 – 0,55 4 – 1 58 – 42 Individual Highlights Goals Afif Assists ASM Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target ASM 8,1 Reis 3 Guendouzi 4 Afif 7,5 Guendouzi 3 Afif 1 Hateboer 7,1 ASM 3 Milik 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Afif 0,8 Bailly 7 ASM 4 Guendouzi 0,3 Gigot 6 Harit 4 ASM 0,3 Afif 5 Afif 3 xA Headers Won Dribbles ASM 1,1 Hateboer 15 ASM 4 Afif 0,3 Gigot 8 Harit 3 Guler 0,2 Bailly 6 Reis 3 Against Metz we weren’t great, but were clearly the better team. [Ligue 1] vs Metz (A) Final Score: 0-1 L Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 68 – 31 45 – 36 5 – 3 1,73 – 0,54 4 – 0 56 – 44 Individual Highlights Goals - Assists - Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Sala 7,3 Pezzella 6 Balerdi 2 Fujimoto 6,9 Guendouzi 4 Guler 1 Pezzella 6,9 Balerdi 3 Haidara 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Balerdi 0,6 Hateboer 4 Fujimoto 5 Dieng 0,5 Balerdi 4 Guendouzi 2 ASM 0,2 Mbemba 4 Dieng 2 xA Headers Won Dribbles Sala 0,5 Balerdi 11 Guendouzi 6 Dieng 0,3 Hateboer 8 ASM 3 Fujimoto 0,3 Mbemba 5 Harit 3 And lastly, another big test, this time against Lens and we gave them no chance. On the 90th minute they were on 0,23 xG, then they had a big chance and scored the 3-1. [Ligue 1] vs Lens (H) Final Score: 3-1 W Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 66 – 77 56 – 27 6 – 3 0,91 – 1,11 2 – 3 58 – 42 Individual Highlights Goals Reis, Beier, Harit Assists Afif, Pezzella Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Afif 7,7 Guendouzi 3 Reis 1 Balerdi 7,5 Pezzella 3 Afif 1 Pezzella 7,4 Afif 2 Haidara 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Beier 0,4 Balerdi 7 ASM 4 Harit 0,2 Afif 4 Afif 3 Haidara 0,1 Mbemba 3 Reis 2 xA Headers Won Dribbles Afif 0,4 Balerdi 10 Pezzella 8 Pezzella 0,2 Mbemba 7 ASM 6 Balerdi 0,1 ASM 4 Afif 3 In the league we are 7th. But we have been playing better than this and we have beaten Lyon and Lens who should be our competition for the European spots when the season ends. Speaking of Lyon, they are having a very bad start to the season. On the opposite side, Strasbourg was predicted to finish 10th and they sit in 3rd with the same points as 2nd-placed Nice (who has a +7 ! difference between Goals Scored and xG).

Tactical Iterations Amidst a rebuilding project, trying to find the perfect tactic is delusional. My first try is a 4-3-3 DM Wide much in line with what I used at Sertanense. Now I’ve added a RPM as DM because Guendouzi offers a lot more than any midfielder I ever had and DLF/TF as ST since none of my strikers is particularly fast. In the first game, although it was against a much smaller team and without much familiarity with the system, I felt Guendouzi was far away from the action and wasn’t too involved. I’ve then decided to try a system I had already tried in friendlies at Sertanense. Note: Don’t mind players selected, some are off their positions. Doesn’t seem to be working that well, probably a bit too complicated to implement this on a new team. I revert to the 4-3-3 DM Wide, now with some transfers in and dropping the idea of Guendouzi as RPM. DM spot switches between DM-S, DLP-S and DM-D to adapt to opposition. I’ve also switched in-game to the tactic with the WP since it suits Amine Harit, Fujimoto, and even Afif. It allows exploring width with the LW coming inside and opening up space for the LWB. Final Squad and Transfers Summary Apart from the transfers of Sala and Saint-Maximin, we agreed to sign Maximilian Beier to replace Toni Martinez and Arda Güler to replace Parfait Guiagon. Beier offers versatility and pace and is under 23. Arda Güler is a technically brilliant U21 player. As a bonus, he accepted the role of squad player. I’ve also added some youngsters who came on a cheap. On the way out from the first team, besides Toni and Parfait, Kolasinac (who had been on loan) and Nico Melamed were also sold. And I got some more knowledge of the rules… Review of the French market More about Lens is below. And the summary of our “ins and outs” IN OUT (Only valued transfers, frees and loans are not on image) And the squad summary Name Best Pos Personality ShStop Physical Speed Mental Comm Ecc Aerial Dist Total * Pau López GK Fairly Professional 16 12 13 13 9 7 13 14 61% Gonçalo Tabuaço GK Fairly Determined 14 11 10 12 9 7 13 14 56% Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Hans Hateboer D (R) Resolute 13 13 13 9 12 11 14 14 62% -1 Reeve Frosler D (R) Fairly Determined 13 11 15 9 9 11 8 13 56% -4 Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Giuseppe Pezzella D (L) Resilient 13 14 15 10 11 11 12 14 63% -2 Marco Sala D (L) Fairly Professional 12 12 14 11 9 12 8 12 56% -3 Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Samuel Gigot D (C) Driven 14 12 11 13 10 11 15 14 63% -4 Chancel Mbemba D (C) Resilient 13 13 14 11 9 11 14 14 62% -4 Éric Bailly D (C) Fairly Professional 15 15 15 9 7 10 13 12 60% -8 Leonardo Balerdi D (C) Spirited 14 12 12 9 9 10 14 13 58% -5 Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Matteo Guendouzi M (C) Balanced 14 14 15 15 13 15 12 14 70% -1 Boubakary Soumaré DM Fairly Ambitious 13 14 11 14 12 14 12 13 64% -1 Amadou Haïdara M (C) Ambitious 12 13 13 13 12 14 9 13 62% 0 Ludovit Reis DM Resolute 12 14 12 13 11 12 9 14 61% -1 Arda Guler AM (C) Resolute 3 11 13 16 15 16 11 11 60% 12 Amine Harit AM (C) Balanced 7 11 14 16 12 15 6 11 57% 5 Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Akram Afif AM (L) Fairly Determined 4 12 15 15 14 15 6 12 58% 10 Kanya Fujimoto AM (R) Spirited 7 12 12 15 12 15 6 12 57% 5 Allan Saint-Maximin AM (L) Fairly Ambitious 3 13 16 15 12 16 5 11 57% 9 Radenko Ristic AM (L) Driven 4 10 15 11 10 13 7 11 51% 6 Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Maximilian Beier ST (C) Professional 8 13 16 13 14 13 13 12 64% 6 Bamba Dieng ST (C) Fairly Ambitious 7 12 15 11 14 13 10 12 59% 7 Arkadiusz Milik ST (C) Ambitious 4 11 10 12 14 13 13 14 57% 10 Opposition PSG we all know very well and now Lens who were just promoted are owned by a Tycoon. They are predicted 1st and 2nd. Name Prediction Manager Formation TEC MEN PHY Average Rank Angers 18 Moulin 5-3-2 DM WB 69 70 78 72 14 Bordeaux 12 Guion 4-3-3 DM Wide 70 71 78 73 13 Brest 14 Le Guen 5-2-3 DM Wide 71 68 77 72 16 Lens 2 Tudor 5-2-2-1 DM AM 76 73 79 76 6 Lille 9 Koeman 4-3-3 DM Wide 77 73 76 75 7 Lorient 8 Almeyda 4-3-3 DM Wide 73 71 78 74 9 Lyon 5 Stéphan 5-2-1-2 DM AM 76 75 78 76 5 Marseille 6 Leal 4-3-3 DM Wide 79 75 75 76 4 Metz 13 Petrescu 4-3-3 DM Wide 71 69 76 72 15 Monaco 3 Clement 4-4-2 76 74 79 76 3 Montpellier 16 Blanc 5-3-2 DM WB 69 71 72 70 18 Nantes 17 Sagnol 4-4-2 Diamond Narrow 70 71 71 71 17 Nice 7 Conceição 4-3-3 DM Wide 74 71 74 73 11 PSG 1 Garitano 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide 85 82 80 83 1 Rennes 4 Genesio 4-4-2 79 75 77 77 2 Saint-Étienne 11 Grosso 4-3-3 DM Wide 75 73 76 75 8 Strasbourg 10 Bachar 4-3-3 DM Wide 73 69 78 73 12 Troyes 15 Diarra 5-3-2 DM WB 72 72 77 74 10 TEC - Dribbling, First Touch, Passing MEN - Anticipation, Concentration, Decisions PHY - Jumping, Pace, Strength Regarding the attributes, we are quite well-rounded except for physical. Joint second in both Technical and Mental but we are 4th last in Physical. I believe it'll change when I rebuild my defense. Jumping is where we are further from average. About formations: 8 managers using 4-3-3 DM Wide, 12 using 4 at the back. I feel like having a working 4-2-3-1 would help. I'll try to develop something in the friendlies along the season. New Affiliate All the affiliates Marseille had were local clubs and such a team needed presence outside. This is the first affiliate I asked for, and the board let me have the final word. Minnesota, it is. Allows us to increase our brand in the USA. First Games of the Season Decent start to the season. Results were worse than performances, but we'll get there. [Ligue 1] vs Nantes (A) Final Score: 0-0 D Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 101 – 51 44 – 32 7 – 1 3,08 – 0,47 8 – 1 54 – 46 Individual Highlights Goals - Assists - Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Pezzella 7,7 Fujimoto 5 Beier 3 Guendouzi 7,5 Guendouzi 3 Guendouzi 1 Mbemba 7,4 Beier 2 Fujimoto 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Beier 0,9 Mbemba 5 Fujimoto 7 Harit 0,4 Gigot 4 Pezzella 5 Afif 0,4 Hateboer 4 ASM 3 xA Headers Won Dribbles Pezzella 0,9 Gigot 14 Pezzella 8 Guendouzi 0,6 Mbemba 10 Afif 5 Fujimoto 0,5 Balerdi 6 Guendouzi 4 Over 3 xG, 8 chances, no goals. We kept them at bay. [Ligue 1] vs Lille (H) Final Score: 5-0 W Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 71 – 40 46 – 29 8 - 0 2,98 – 0,21 6 – 1 48 – 52 Individual Highlights Goals Afif, Beier, Reis, Guendouzi, Harit Assists Sala, Afif, Guler (x2), Fujimoto Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Fujimoto 8,2 Guendouzi 4 Beier 2 Harit 7,9 Beier 3 Balerdi 1 Guler 7,9 Fujimoto 3 Harit 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Beier 1,0 Hateboer 4 Fujimoto 5 Guendouzi 0,9 Guendouzi 3 Guler 4 Guler 0,2 Balerdi 2 ASM 2 xA Headers Won Dribbles Fujimoto 1,1 Balerdi 11 Sala 7 ASM 0,8 Hateboer 4 Harit 4 Harit 0,2 Gigot 4 Guendouzi 3 For the goals we didn't score against Nantes. Great team goal against Lille – don’t know how to record longer, but it was a first-touch pass by Fujimoto from a Sala’s pass. [Ligue 1] vs Bordeaux (A) Final Score: 0-1 L Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 67 – 81 49 – 40 4 – 1 0,88 – 0,46 4 – 0 47 – 53 Individual Highlights Goals - Assists - Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Hateboer 7,0 Sala 8 Guler 1 Guendouzi 7,0 Hateboer 5 ASM 1 Fujimoto 6,9 Afif 3 Afif 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Guendouzi 0,3 Gigot 4 Guendouzi 3 Guler 0,2 Hateboer 4 Fujimoto 2 Afif 0,2 Guendouzi 4 ASM 2 xA Headers Won Dribbles Fujimoto 0,3 Hateboer 7 ASM 7 Beier 0,2 Gigot 6 Guendouzi 4 ASM 0,1 Beier 4 Beier 2 Once again we were better but this time with a low xG. [Ligue 1] vs Lyon (H) Final Score: 1-0 W Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 52 – 81 38 – 47 5 – 2 1,12 – 0,17 2 – 0 42 – 58 Individual Highlights Goals Beier Assists Guendouzi Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Beier 8,0 Hateboer 4 Beier 3 Guendouzi 7,6 Fujimoto 3 Fujimoto 1 Hateboer 7,4 Afif 3 Balerdi 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Beier 0,8 Balerdi 4 Fujimoto 3 Balerdi 0,1 Guendouzi 3 Guendouzi 2 Fujimoto 0,1 Gigot 3 Beier 2 xA Headers Won Dribbles Guendouzi 0,6 Hateboer 7 Beier 5 Fujimoto 0,3 Gigot 7 Hateboer 3 Beier 0,1 Guendouzi 3 Guler 3 The first big test and we were definitely better. We have beaten every team in shots on target, xG and Chances created. On average: For/90 Against/90 Shots on Target 6,0 1,0 xG 2,02 0,33 Chances 5,0 0,5 xG Table shows we have been better than our standing shows And the actual standings with Lens starting strong.

Great run of games! Most GD and points is promising. Is this the year you break the (not-so-bad) curse of 3rd in the Premier? Best of luck to you! Hope you can win the league!

Season Objectives and Budget I’m curious about this. I think Marseille should be aiming higher, but I can’t even change the league objectives for this year, so I’ll take it. First View of the Club Last season only one player got decent minutes while being under 25 years of age: the loanee who is not at the club this season. Club vision: sign players under 23. To make things worse, we already had 2 signings arranged: Allan Saint-Maximin, 29, LW and Marco Sala, 27, LB. Starting with ASM, last year Afif was the left winger; he had 7,23 average rating, scored 10 and was POM 5 times. Highest average rating, highest league goalscorer, highest average rating. And now ASM is the player on the highest wage in the whole squad… Marco Sala will be facing the competition of Pezzella which is probably our second or third best player. At least Sala is on low wages and his status is only of a squad player. I would’ve preferred someone younger, but that’s not the worst. When I got here, we had around 91 players under contract over our 3 squads. My aim is to cut this down to 22 first-team players, 18 B-Team players and 18 U19 players (total of 58; that’s a cut of 33 players). I’ll probably cut even more, because I don’t think we need so many players, but let’s do small steps. 8 players were released over contract ending; 10 players were sold; 1 was loaned out. We bought ASM and Sala as I told before and a youngster for the U19. That makes it 16 less players. Even before players got back from holidays. To help with the squad building, Fujimoto, Toni Martinez and Guiagon asked for improved deals, with demands way over what they are worth. Probably a consequence of the ASM contract. And Gigot wants me to accept an offer by Sporting… Our reputation also seems to be a problem. This is probably a chance for a total rebuild, but as it is the main squad follows: Name Best Pos Personality ShStop Physical Speed Mental Comm Ecc Aerial Dist Total * Comment Pau López GK Fairly Professional 16 12 13 13 9 7 13 14 61% Gonçalo Tabuaço GK Fairly Determined 14 11 10 12 9 7 13 14 56% Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Comment Hans Hateboer D (R) Resolute 13 13 13 9 12 11 14 14 62% -1 Reeve Frosler D (R) Fairly Determined 13 11 15 9 9 11 8 13 56% -4 Either Foot Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Comment Giuseppe Pezzella D (L) Resilient 13 14 15 10 11 11 12 14 63% -2 Marco Sala D (L) Fairly Professional 12 12 14 11 9 12 8 12 56% -3 Transfer In Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Comment Samuel Gigot D (C) Driven 14 12 11 13 10 11 15 14 63% -4 Chancel Mbemba D (C) Resilient 13 13 14 11 9 11 14 14 62% -4 Éric Bailly D (C) Fairly Professional 15 15 15 9 7 10 13 12 60% -8 Leonardo Balerdi D (C) Spirited 14 12 12 9 9 10 14 13 58% -5 Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Comment Matteo Guendouzi DM Balanced 14 14 15 15 13 15 12 14 70% -1 Boubakary Soumaré M (C) Fairly Ambitious 13 14 11 14 12 14 12 13 64% -1 Amadou Haïdara M (C) Ambitious 12 13 13 13 12 14 9 13 62% 0 Ludovit Reis DM Resolute 12 14 12 13 11 12 9 14 61% -1 Nico Melamed AM (C) Fairly Determined 9 13 14 13 12 12 7 13 58% 3 Parfait Guiagon AM (C) Ambitious 8 11 13 14 12 14 6 12 56% 4 Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Comment Akram Afif AM (L) Fairly Determined 4 12 15 15 14 15 6 12 58% 10 Kanya Fujimoto AM (R) Spirited 7 12 12 15 12 15 6 12 57% 5 Allan Saint-Maximin AM (L) Fairly Ambitious 3 13 16 15 12 16 5 11 57% 9 Radenko Ristic AM (L) Driven 4 10 15 11 10 13 7 11 51% 6 U19 – P5 Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Comment Toni Martínez ST (C) Spirited 6 13 13 11 14 12 15 13 61% 8 Amine Harit ST (C) Balanced 7 11 14 16 12 15 6 11 57% 5 Arkadiusz Milik ST (C) Ambitious 4 11 10 12 14 13 13 14 57% 10 Amine Harit is considered a ST because that's where he played last season, but most likely he'll play either CM/CAM or Wing. Along with the best prospects so far: Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Status Maximiliano Rodriguez D (R) Determined 14 12 14 8 8 9 10 14 56% -6 U19 – P4,5 Thomas Scherrer M (C) Light-Hearted 8 12 13 12 7 13 8 12 53% -1 U17 – P5 Nenad Mitrovic ST (C) Temperamental 1 12 12 10 12 12 11 11 51% 11 U19 – P3,5 Noah Gil ST (C) Fickle 2 12 9 12 11 14 9 12 51% 9 U19 – P3,5 Radenko Ristic AM (L) Driven 4 10 15 11 10 13 7 11 51% 6 U19 – P5 Ashraf Hassan AM (R) Driven 7 12 14 9 8 12 7 11 50% 1 U19 – P4 Patrick Guldager D (C) Professional 12 10 8 6 7 9 14 13 49% -5 U19 – P4,5 Gael Lafont AM (R) Balanced 4 12 14 11 11 13 7 7 49% 7 U19 – P4,5 João Sousa M (R) Fairly Sporting 7 10 11 8 7 12 11 10 48% 0 U17 – P4,5 Recep Akyel ST (C) Fairly Ambitious 3 11 11 8 13 11 11 8 48% 10 U19 – P3,5 Mamadou Maiga M (R) Balanced 6 11 9 12 8 11 9 10 48% 2 U17 – P4 José Hourcade M (R) Balanced 3 13 15 11 8 13 4 9 48% 5 U19 – P4,5 Xavier Patrac AM (R) Fairly Loyal 2 11 13 11 8 13 9 8 47% 6 U19 – P3,5 Willem Pander D (L) Temperamental 11 10 12 7 6 6 10 12 46% -5 U19 – P3,5 Axel Vincent M (C) Fairly Professional 6 9 12 10 7 12 5 10 44% 1 U17 – P4 Baptiste Bertrand M (L) Balanced 5 10 11 10 9 11 5 10 44% 4 U17 – P4,5 Salif Keita AM (R) Balanced 3 11 13 12 8 10 4 9 44% 5 U17 – P4 Aissa Boucetta D (R) Balanced 9 10 10 7 3 6 10 11 41% -6 U19 – P3,5 Fabrice Husser AM (R) Balanced 1 9 14 8 10 11 8 5 41% 9 U17 – P4 Arthur Carriere D (R) Fairly Professional 10 8 8 7 6 8 7 12 41% -4 U17 – P4 Note: P5 means Potential 5 stars according to Assistant Manager. U19 and U17 doesn't mean they'll play there, it means they are in that age category. I'm still deciding who stays and trains with the first-team and who's loaned out. Mitrovic will certainly stay and I'll try and change his personality, Noah Gil seems like he needs that too, the rest have decent enough personalities so they can be loaned out right away. Scherrer and Ristic will stay as I intend to give them minutes.

A big step for the youth team They’ll now compete with the big boys. Investment is needed to keep up with them, but it shows Sertanense is on the right path. The bonuses I don’t mind paying We are safe from relegation. Objective achieved! Prophetically, in the last game Karamoko and Luís Ferreira scored our goals. The guys who have been with me since the beginning and they are still leading the team. We achieved a very important position to build on next year. It’s a mixed feeling: I loved my time at Sertanense and I’m sad to leave, but I feel like I need a different challenge. Individually, Karamoko was just 1 goal shy from being crowned the top goalscorer, but he must be proud of himself. Career Summary Season Year Club League Position Cup Stage PPG Win % GF GA 01 2022/2023 Sertanense PT4 1st TdP First Round 2,27 69% 70 32 02 2023/2024 Sertanense PT3 3rd TdP Sixth Round 1,56 44% 33 26 03 2024/2025 Sertanense PT2 3rd TdP Third Round 1,76 50% 59 36 04 2025/2026 Sertanense PT1 9th TdP Third Round 1,29 35% 46 50 PPG, Win%, Goals For and Goals Against are stats for League only. Season Year Club Most Goals Most Assists Most POM Highest AvR 01 2022/2023 Sertanense Karamoko – 31 Quaresma – 9 Karamoko – 8 Kisley – 7,42 02 2023/2024 Sertanense Karamoko – 23 P Mendes – 10 Karamoko – 5 L Madeira – 7,26 03 2024/2025 Sertanense Karamoko – 21 Miccoli – 8 Karamoko – 7 Karamoko – 7,10 04 2025/2026 Sertanense Karamoko – 22 Costinha – 9 Costinha – 4 Karamoko – 7,02 Karamoko is still the man who scores, this time Costinha was the creator. Shout-out to Schurrle who also had a great season. Season Year Club Income Expenditure Profit Avg Attendance 01 2022/2023 Sertanense 1 353 447,00 € 1 411 118,00 € -57 671,00 € 662 02 2023/2024 Sertanense 1 485 040,00 € 1 942 059,00 € -457 019,00 € 1266 03 2024/2025 Sertanense 9 730 336,00 € 11 047 343,00 € -1 317 007,00 € 1876 04 2025/2026 Sertanense 6 747 649,00 € 7 290 128,00 € -542 479,00 € 5296 Finances keep going on a downward trend, but I'm pretty sure the team will have new sponsors and will turn this around. All-Time Appearances and Goals Name Position Apps Goals Seasons Club Daniel Azevedo GK 78 0 23-26 Sertanense Tiago Melo RB 67 4 23-26 Sertanense Luís Ferreira CB 121 11 22-26 Sertanense Levi Faustino CB 51 2 24-26 Sertanense Daniel Andrade LB 69 0 23-26 Sertanense João Castro CM 99 12 23-26 Sertanense Luís Madeira CM 99 9 23-26 Sertanense Miccoli CM 84 6 22-26 Sertanense Herculano Cassamá RW 60 10 23-26 Sertanense Denilson LW 117 21 22-26 Sertanense Mohamed Karamoko ST 129 97 22-26 Sertanense The guys who have been with me the longest. Some centurions, a shame that both Castro and Madeira didn't get to make game number 100. And Karamoko on the verge of goal 100! Marseille When they contacted me, they were 7th in the league. They have finished in 5th and qualified for the Europa League. I attended their last game of the season and this was how they started the match: They lost 2-0 to Strasbourg who finished just after them. I’ll go into more detail about the squad in future posts.

Youth Team dominated their league They are now through to the second phase. 6 teams in 2 groups, top-3 is promoted to the U19 First Division. New Youth Candidates A new batch of youngsters just arrived. I won’t be here to develop them, but hope at least one of them can make it into the first team. We got 1 professional and 1 fairly professional; 3 consistent and 1 very consistent; 1 either footed player. This is all new and great. Name Best Pos Injuries Consistency Big Matches Personality Technical Mental Physical Total ShStop Physical Speed Mental Comm Ecc Aerial Dist Total * Filipe Quintaneiro GK -1 -2 0 Professional 8 7 7 22 9 6 6 9 8 19 6 6 43% Name Best Pos Injuries Consistency Big Matches Personality Technical Mental Physical Total Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Jonatas Marreiros AM (R) 0 1 0 Fairly Professional 7 8 9 24 3 8 11 8 8 9 6 9 39% 5 Tutinho ST (C) 0 1 0 Balanced 6 6 9 21 1 9 11 6 11 10 2 6 35% 10 Ivan Sales D (C) 0 1 0 Low Determination 6 7 8 21 8 7 8 5 5 7 11 8 37% -3 Micael Lopes AM (L) 0 -1 0 Balanced 4 7 9 20 3 7 13 8 8 5 5 7 35% 5 Reto Salgaro D (C) 0 -1 0 Balanced 7 7 9 23 11 8 9 5 7 8 9 8 41% -4 Ivan Maia M (C) 0 2 0 Unambitious 5 8 9 22 9 8 10 7 6 7 8 9 40% -3 Ivan Flor AM (C) 0 -1 0 Balanced 6 9 6 21 5 6 7 10 7 10 5 9 37% 2 If I had to put my chips on someone, it would be Reto Salgaro. Not as DC but maybe as DM. I also like Tutinho and Ivan Flor. Of course, if Marreiros is touted as elite, he must be at least decent. I’m curious about scouting all my youth when I’m at Marseille. Pretty sure they’ll be below standard, but there might be a surprise. NXGN Surely we don’t have anyone in the list, but Marseille has. No.33, the winger Hassan. The Statement! Yeah… about that… We made a statement against Casa Pia: we were terrible, out of depth, it was appalling, and I was disgusted it our performance. Surely we had a red card soon (17 minutes in) but we were just non existent on the field. Not any better in other games: 1-1 against Santa Clara when they got one player sent off and there were 45 minutes to play, could not create a single chance and eventually lost the game; same story against Sporting – 2-2 when they got a man sent off at minute 67, lost the game at 90+2; against Moreirense we managed to win but they scored at 90+3 and just after the kick-off had another good chance to score. All in all, it's 6 points in 5 games, which is over 1 ppg. The standings do us a favor, but we haven’t been playing football except for the game against Feirense. In the meantime, Karamoko had 4 goals against Feirense, 1 against Sporting and 1 against Moreirense and is back in contention for the Top Goalscorer award. And the last 6 games of the season: Only Boavista and Portimonense are below us on the table, so it might be a sad goodbye to Sertanense, but we have achieved the objective of staying in this league, so overall it was a good season no matter what happens in these last games.

One more month and five more games played It was quite difficult, but once again we managed to be above 1 ppg with a surprise win. The first game was against Estoril. I usually watch games in Extended Highlights, but I had a friendly before where I switched to Key, and forgot about it. Couldn’t see what was happening, thought it was just one of those games where nothing happens and couldn’t make any changes to impact the match. My fault entirely. [Primeira Liga] vs Estoril (A) Final Score: 0-1 L Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 66 – 92 40 – 67 3 – 5 0,72 – 1,04 1 – 2 38 – 62 Individual Highlights Goals - Assists - Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target L Ferreira 7,4 Frimpong 7 Karamoko 1 Frimpong 7,1 Culubali 3 Culubali 1 L Madeira 7,0 Costinha 3 Cassamá 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Karamoko 0,2 L Ferreira 10 Schurrle 3 Culubali 0,2 B Caldeira 6 L Madeira 2 Miccoli 0,1 Frimpong 5 Costinha 1 xA Headers Won Dribbles Culubali 0,2 L Ferreira 6 B Ventura 3 B Caldeira 0,2 Frimpong 4 Frimpong 3 Miccoli 0,1 M Raposo 4 B Caldeira 3 Then it was Chaves. We were so much better and really deserved to win this match. [Primeira Liga] vs Chaves (H) Final Score: 0-1 L Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 70 – 65 45 – 26 5 – 4 1,75 – 0,74 5 – 1 53 – 47 Individual Highlights Goals - Assists - Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target L Madeira 7,3 Costinha 4 Edu P 2 Costinha 7,1 Frimpong 3 L Ferreira 1 J Castro 6,9 B Ventura 3 Karamoko 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Karamoko 0,5 L Ferreira 4 L Madeira 6 L Madeira 0,3 L Madeira 4 B Caldeira 4 Schurrle 0,3 Ricciulli 2 Schurrle 3 xA Headers Won Dribbles L Madeira 0,6 Ricciulli 10 Frimpong 4 Costinha 0,4 L Ferreira 8 Karamoko 3 B Ventura 0,2 Karamoko 7 B Ventura 3 Then we remembered we need to win some matches. It was a dull match without big chances for either team, but we managed to keep them to 0 shots on target and 0 chances created. Very proud of the team to play such football against Vitória de Guimarães. [Primeira Liga] vs Vitória de Guimarães (A) Final Score: 1-0 W Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 36 – 94 38 – 41 2 – 0 0,58 – 0,58 2 – 0 50 – 50 Individual Highlights Goals Karamoko Assists J Castro Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target J Castro 7,8 Schurrle 7 L Faustino 1 Karamoko 7,5 L Madeira 3 Karamoko 1 J López 7,4 J Castro 3 xG Interceptions Key Passes Karamoko 0,3 J Castro 4 B Ventura 3 L Faustino 0,1 Denilson 4 J Castro 2 Schurrle 0,1 Schurrle 3 Denilson 1 xA Headers Won Dribbles J Castro 0,3 L Ferreira 6 Karamoko 5 B Ventura 0,1 Frimpong 5 J Castro 3 L Ferreira 0,1 L Faustino 4 Schurrle 3 Following our first win, came our second. This was our first big win. We had drawn to Benfica in the first round and managed to beat them at our home. A delight for the supporters (who still rate me as “C+” though…) [Primeira Liga] vs Benfica (H) Final Score: 2-0 W Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 57 – 72 29 – 54 3 – 4 0,63 – 0,90 1 – 2 49 – 51 Individual Highlights Goals Karamoko, Miccoli Assists J Castro, Karamoko Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Karamoko 7,8 B Caldeira 5 Cassamá 1 Ricciulli 7,5 Schurrle 3 Miccoli 1 J López 7,4 Ricciulli 3 Karamoko 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Miccoli 0,2 Schurrle 4 Culubali 2 Culubali 0,1 Ricciulli 4 B Caldeira 2 L Madeira 0,1 B Caldeira 4 Karamoko 1 xA Headers Won Dribbles Karamoko 0,2 Ricciulli 7 B Ventura 5 B Caldeira 0,1 Frimpong 4 Karamoko 5 Cassamá 0,1 L Faustino 3 Last game, already in March was against Porto. I had to sub off Daniel Azevedo, our starting GK has he had been real bad in training for 2 weeks in a row and his performances were taking a dip as well; Caldeira, starting RB, was suspended; Karamoko suspended; Costinha injured; Lacx still injured; Frimpong unfit; Denilson recovering from an injury. So I had to field a rotated eleven and gave some youngsters a chance to participate (Castanheira, Tahiri and Carvalhais got a chance to play). [Primeira Liga] vs Porto (A) Final Score: 0-3 L Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 43 – 132 38 – 75 1 – 11 0,13 – 2,22 0 – 4 44 – 56 Individual Highlights Goals - Assists - Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Denilson 6,9 T Melo 4 Edu P 1 L Faustino 6,8 Denilson 3 J López 6,7 Culubai 2 xG Interceptions Key Passes J Castro 0,1 L Ferreira 5 Tahiri 1 L Faustino 3 Denilson 1 T Melo 2 Carvalhais 1 xA Headers Won Dribbles T Melo 6 Cassamá 3 Cassamá 4 Tahiri 2 L Faustino 3 Culubali 1 No, I didn't forget to fill in half the table... We were just that bad... Here are the standings: I don’t feel threatened by Casa Pia or any of the other relegation candidates, but we’ll still try to make the most points we can. The next 5 games are very interesting. We play Santa Clara and Sporting which are very difficult matches and then we play the bottom-3. We have to make a statement against them.

Thanks! My problem with trying to achieve more with this team is squad depth. I have a decent enough starting eleven, and decent backups for CB and RB, but the rest is just a bit off the required level for a Portuguese first-tier. For instance, in this run of games I had Lacx out; for some time, Bruno Ventura was also out. I only had Cassamá as an option for the right inside forward spot. He's good coming off the bench, but nowhere near a starter (his ratings were all between 6.1 and 6.3 when starting). If it happens to Karamoko, I will try Cassamá or Culubali, but the drop will likely be significant.

Job Offer Interviews and... NEW JOB!! (on the way) After the declared interest by the media of Boavista and Saint-Étienne, here’s the first formal offer for an interview, this time by Casa Pia. I politely declined as they sit bottom of the table. A few days after it was Marseille. I attended the interview and asked to be hired at the end of the season. I wasn’t the favorite before and I’m still the second choice after the interview (Matías Almeyda, former Inter and Lazio player and current Lorient manager is the favorite). The next day they offer me the chance to propose changes to backroom staff and the next day they make an offer. 61,5k/month – 2 years, starting at the end of the season (01/06/2026). I ask for a bonus for winning the league and an increase in salary to 65k. They agree right away. Done deal! I understand that now I have no saying on my players’ transfer status, which is odd in the middle of a transfer window, but I respect that. Funny enough, I had a player on trial with Sertanense and ended the trial because he wanted a lot more than I could pay him; the next day Marseille sign him. We still have a job to do at Sertanense. Back to that. Completed another Coaching Licence I now have a Coaching Licence A. Since the last time I posted this, here are the changes: Attacking +3; Defending +1; Tactical +1; Technical +1; Mental +1 Determination +1; Player Knowledge +1; Youngster Knowledge +4; Level of Discipline +2; People Management +2; Motivating +4. End of the Transfer Window As I said, there wasn’t much to do in this transfer window. Ultimately decided to let some players leave on loan so they could get more competitive playing time. Half a season left The month wasn’t impressive, but can’t say it was bad either: 2 losses, 1 win, and 3 draws (that's 1.0 ppg which is above our objective for the season). [Primeira Liga] vs Gil Vicente (A) Final Score: 2-4 L Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 47 – 88 25 – 49 4 – 6 1,82 – 1,80 6 – 6 34 – 66 Individual Highlights Goals Schurrle (pen), Karamoko Assists Costinha Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Schurrle 7,2 Costinha 6 Schurrle 2 Karamoko 7,1 B Caldeira 4 Karamoko 1 Costinha 6,9 Karamoko 2 B Caldeira 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Schurrle 0,9 B Caldeira 5 Schurrle 4 Karamoko 0,4 T Melo 2 L Madeira 1 Cassamá 0,2 Edu P 2 Costinha 1 xA Headers Won Dribbles Schurrle 0,5 Cassamá 3 L Madeira 3 Costinha 0,2 Edu P 3 Schurrle 2 Karamoko 0,1 L Ferreira 3 D Andrade 2 A balanced game where we didn't have much of the ball. From almost the same xG, they scored 2 more than us and that obviously makes a big difference. [Primeira Liga] vs Famalicão (A) Final Score: 0-0 D Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 65 – 94 31 – 47 6 – 1 1,05 – 0,76 2 – 1 44 – 56 Individual Highlights Goals - Assists - Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Costinha 7,4 L Madeira 5 Karamoko 1 D Azevedo 7,3 Karamoko 4 L Madeira 7,0 B Caldeira 4 xG Interceptions Key Passes Karamoko 0,8 D Andrade 4 Costinha 3 Schurrle 0,1 Schurrle 4 Schurrle 2 L Ferreira 0,1 L Madeira 3 Edu P 1 xA Headers Won Dribbles Costinha 0,7 L Ferreira 4 Karamoko 3 M Raposo 0,2 Cassamá 3 Costinha 3 L Madeira 0,1 L Faustino 3 Denilson 1 An odd game without goals. We had chances, once again but didn't take them. It was the start of Karamoko's mini drought. [Primeira Liga] vs Braga (H) Final Score: 1-1 D Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 76 – 52 43 – 43 2 – 4 0,92 – 0,85 1 – 3 58 – 42 Individual Highlights Goals J Castro Assists Karamoko Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target J Castro 7,9 Frimpong 4 J Castro 1 Schurrle 6,8 Karamoko 2 B Ventura 1 Costinha 6,8 T Melo 2 xG Interceptions Key Passes B Ventura 0,3 Ricciulli 4 J Castro 4 Karamoko 0,2 B Caldeira 3 Costinha 1 Cassamá 0,2 J Castro 2 Schurrle 1 xA Headers Won Dribbles B Ventura 0,3 Ricciulli 10 Karamoko 2 J Castro 0,2 Cassamá 3 Denilson 2 Costinha 0,1 B Caldeira 2 Frimpong 2 They should be winning these games, but we showed our value. Great performance, although not many shots on target. It's like a win. [Primeira Liga] vs Boavista (H) Final Score: 2-0 W Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 77 – 53 31 – 36 6 – 3 1,55 – 1,28 3 – 3 60 – 40 Individual Highlights Goals Costinha, Miccoli Assists B Caldeira, Cassamá Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target B Caldeira 8,1 L Ferreira 3 Costinha 2 Cassamá 7,7 B Caldeira 3 Miccoli 1 L Ferreira 7,7 Costinha 3 B Caldeira 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Costinha 0,7 B Caldeira 6 Frimpong 4 Miccoli 0,3 L Ferreira 3 Cassamá 2 Culubali 0,1 Frimpong 2 Culubali 2 xA Headers Won Dribbles B Caldeira 0,6 L Ferreira 11 B Caldeira 3 Cassamá 0,5 Frimpong 7 Frimpong 3 Frimpong 0,2 Ricciulli 7 B Ventura 2 A lot of possession, 6 shots on target, 2 goals. We were great throughout the match. [Primeira Liga] vs Portimonense (A) Final Score: 2-2 D Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 62 – 71 45 – 43 6 – 4 2,01 – 1,02 3 – 4 54 – 46 Individual Highlights Goals Costinha, L Faustino Assists B Ventura (x2) Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target B Ventura 8,3 J Castro 3 Karamoko 2 L Faustino 7,4 Frimpong 2 L Ferreira 1 D Andrade 6,9 Costinha 2 L Faustino 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Costinha 0,7 T Melo 5 B Ventura 4 Karamoko 0,6 L Faustino 3 T Melo 3 L Faustino 0,2 Frimpong 2 J Castro 1 xA Headers Won Dribbles B Ventura 1,1 L Ferreira 10 Schurrle 2 Schurrle 0,5 L Faustino 10 Costinha 2 T Melo 0,2 Frimpong 7 B Ventura 2 Another draw. This time we have to blame it on our defence. They didn't create much but scored 2. Bruno Ventura helped us in the front with 2 assists. [Primeira Liga] vs Arouca (H) Final Score: 1-2 L Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 63 – 32 40 – 26 4 – 6 1,31 – 1,42 2 – 3 51 – 49 Individual Highlights Goals Karamoko Assists Costinha Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Karamoko 7,4 Frimpong 7 Karamoko 2 Costinha 6,9 Schurrle 3 L Faustino 1 T Melo 6,9 Costinha 2 L Ferreira 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Cassamá 0,4 T Melo 3 T Melo 3 Karamoko 0,3 Frimpong 2 L Madeira 3 Edu P 0,1 B Caldeira 2 Frimpong 3 xA Headers Won Dribbles Cassamá 0,3 L Ferreira 7 Karamoko 3 Schurrle 0,2 L Faustino 6 B Ventura 2 T Melo 0,2 Frimpong 5 Costinha 2 The last game of the month and the end of the drought for Karamoko, too bad we didn't follow that with a win. It was a balanced match, We had many key passes but the last touch wasn't there. We are still on the top side of the table. 11 points away from the relegation playoff spot; 7 points away from the objective of 32 (78% of the objective in 53% of the competition); 1,39 ppg. 4 games in February. It would be nice to get to our objective this month, but it’s going to be difficult.

Wasn't planning on doing an upgrade so soon, but managed to find some time and figured the turn of the year was a good stopping point. More development on the new tactic This is its current formation. PI for RCM is Roam From Position and Stay Wider; for the CM I tried Dribble More, but eventually added Run at Defence to Team Instructions now I’m trying the Get Further Forward Instruction. Tried it out in a friendly. Played the first half with the first team and although the opposition was from a lower level, I’m happy with the low number of shots and final third passes allowed and our shots on target. These are the stats from just the first half. And the players who made it: I wanted a focus on Costinha and surely got it: 3 key passes, 5 dribbles, and 3 shots on target. That’s 11 offensive actions in 50 minutes (for context, he is averaging 4,72 offensive actions / 90). This was against a 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond. I then tested it against a 4-3-3 DM Wide and it wasn’t this effective (nor I was expecting to maintain this level). More surprising was Costinha’s performance difference: 0 key passes, 1 dribble, 1 shot on target. It makes sense that this tactic favours playing against narrow formations as it makes the ball travel very wide and I’m not playing against many teams with these formations (in the league there are none…). I’ll keep testing in the next friendlies. Since we are out of the 2 cups we have time for them. [Opposition Formations Screen] First International Player At the same time I was experimenting with tactics, Ricciulli was making his debut for Guinea-Bissau. Job Offers/Interest Some news about interest in my services by 2 teams: first it was Boavista. They are 18th but they have an interesting squad. Pretty sure I could do a bit better with the added opportunity of the winter transfer window to make some adjustments. I decided to deny interest. I’m really invested in finishing this season at Sertanense (unless a no-brainer offer happens). I was the leading candidate for the job before my answer but hadn’t been contacted by the club yet. Then it was Saint-Étienne. A historic club in France. They were out of the first league for 2 seasons, last season managed to stay in the first tier through the playoffs and this season they are again in 16th. They have a player valued between 61 and 78 M€ and their highest wage is 206k/month (for context my highest wage is below 7k and highest value is 700k-1M). I didn’t comment on the interest. I’m not the leading candidate, nor I think I’m in contention. Although I’m not following through with this interest, it’s always nice to know of it. Development over the last 6 months Name Position TOT TEC MEN PHY Daniel Azevedo GK 0,5 0 0 0,5 Joan López GK 0 0 0 0 Bernardo Caldeira D (R) 0,5 0 0,5 0 Tiago Melo D (R) 0 0 0 0 Godfried Frimpong D (L) 1 0 1 0 Daniel Andrade D (L) 0 0 0 0 Marcos Raposo D (C) 0 0 0 0 L Faustino D (C) 0 0 0 0 Luís Ferreira D (C) 0 0 0 0 Joao Ricciulli D (C) 0 0 0 0 Schurrle M (C) 2 0,5 1,5 0 Bruno Ventura M (C) 0 0 0 0 João Castro M (C) 1 0 0,5 0,5 Luís Madeira DM 0 0 0 0 Edu Pinheiro DM 0 0 0 0 Miccoli M (C) 0 0 0 0 Lacx AM (R) 0 0 0 0 Herculano Cassamá AM (R) 2,5 0 2 0,5 Costinha AM (L) 3 0,5 2,5 0 Denilson AM (L) 2 0 2 0 Mohamed Karamoko ST (C) 0 0 0 0 Youssef Chermiti ST (C) -0,5 0 -0,5 0 Senior Squad 12 1 9,5 1,5 Costinha, Cassamá, Schurrle and Denilson with small improvements. The rest of the squad isn’t getting any better (or worse…). Name Position TOT TEC MEN PHY Hugo Lima GK 2,5 0 0 2,5 Dinis GK 4,5 0 1,5 3 Marco Castanheira D (R) 2,5 0 0,5 2 Luís Soares D (L) 5,5 0,5 0 5 Lukas Benay D (C) 3,5 0 2,5 1 Henrique Carneiro D (C) 4 0 2,5 1,5 Brahim Tahiri M (C) 4 0 2,5 1,5 Ricardo Dias M (C) 5 1,5 3 0,5 Domingos Culubali AM (R) 13,5 2 5 6,5 Eduino Gomes AM (L) 7 1,5 1,5 4 João Bacôco AM (L) 0 0 0 0 Biruk Tadesse AM (R) 8,5 1 5 2,5 Anthony Pratas ST (C) 7,5 1,5 2 4 Youth Squad 61 8 24,5 28,5 It’s a different story in the youth squad. Some great development here: Culubali with a +13,5, Tadesse with a +8,5 and Pratas with a +7,5 are the main “winners”. Should be said that I’m not tracking development for GK Technical Attributes but Lima and Dinis had a nice growth. It’s January already I don’t really understand the calendar. We should be close to midway through the league but we have just played 12 games. I had 2 months with only 2 official matches and other two with 3 matches. Now we have January with 6 and March with 5… We are on the right course, with 2 wins and a draw since the last update. As you can see I’ve been messing around with my tactics and decided to start all 3 games with 3 different formations. However, I ended every game playing my base 4-3-3 DM Wide. [Primeira Liga] vs Feirense (A) Final Score: 1-1 D Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 120 – 19 60 – 28 8 – 4 2,33 – 1,23 4 – 3 63 – 37 Individual Highlights Goals Karamoko Assists Lacx Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target L Ferreira 7,4 Frimpong 5 B Caldeira 2 Frimpong 7,3 Lacx 4 Karamoko 2 Costinha 7,1 M Raposo 3 Costinha 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Karamoko 1,0 L Ferreira 7 Costinha 5 Lacx 0,3 M Raposo 4 Frimpong 4 Costinha 0,3 B Caldeira 2 B Caldeira 4 xA Headers Won Dribbles Costinha 0,8 L Ferreira 15 B Caldeira 5 Frimpong 0,5 Frimpong 8 J Castro 4 B Caldeira 0,3 Lacx 5 Lacx 2 We should have won as we were way better, but I'll take any point I can. Great game by Caldeira with 4 key passes and 5 dribbles. [Primeira Liga] vs Moreirense (H) Final Score: 2-1 W Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 48 – 50 43 – 43 5 – 2 1,49 – 0,85 3 – 3 45 – 55 Individual Highlights Goals Karamoko, L Ferreira Assists Costinha, Schurrle Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Costinha 8,0 B Caldeira 7 L Ferreira 2 Schurrle 7,6 Costinha 4 M Raposo 1 L Ferreira 7,5 Frimpong 3 J Castro 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Karamoko 1,1 B Caldeira 4 Costinha 4 Costinha 0,2 Schurrle 4 Lacx 3 L Ferreira 0,1 T Melo 3 B Caldeira 3 xA Headers Won Dribbles Costinha 0,6 Frimpong 6 B Caldeira 4 Lacx 0,5 M Raposo 3 Frimpong 4 Schurrle 0,3 Schurrle 3 Costinha 4 Close battle but we were more efficient. Costinha was great with 4 dribbles and 4 key passes. [Primeira Liga] vs Tondela (A) Final Score: 1-0 W Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 55 – 51 36 – 36 5 – 3 1,54 – 1,10 5 – 1 57 – 43 Individual Highlights Goals Karamoko Assists Schurrle Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Schurrle 7,7 Frimpong 4 Schurrle 2 L Madeira 7,3 B Caldeira 3 Karamoko 2 D Azevedo 7,3 Schurrle 2 Denilson 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Karamoko 1,0 Costinha 7 Schurrle 4 L Faustino 0,2 L Ferreira 5 L Madeira 4 Denilson 0,2 B Caldeira 4 Denilson 3 xA Headers Won Dribbles Schurrle 0,7 L Ferreira 5 Frimpong 4 Denilson 0,3 L Faustino 5 Karamoko 3 L Madeira 0,2 Edu P 4 Schurrle 2 We just edged it. We managed to keep their striker, Cordero out of the game; and a monstrous game by Schurrle: 2 shots on target, 4 key passes, 2 dribbles, and 1 assist! We are now 6th! Regarding the objectives, we have 19 points which is 59% of the goal in 35% of the season and 10 points clear from the playoff (that’s 4 games in hand!). So we are quite ahead of the schedule. As I said before, we now have a busy month ahead of us: Gil Vicente is 10th; Famalicão is 14th; Braga is 3rd; Boavista 18th; Portimonense 13th; and Arouca 12th. The big challenge here is Braga, but Gil Vicente finished 5th last season so they are quite strong as well. Transfer Window Plans I’m not planning any big changes in this transfer window. Chermiti’s loan ends now (don’t know why the agreement was only for half season, but Sporting doesn’t want to extend it). Since we are comfortable in the league, I’ll take this chance to give some youngsters the playing time they need. Culubali and Pratas have been developing well and they deserve the chance. There’s also the case for Cassamá. His development has stalled a bit, but right now his attributes aren’t that far off from Karamoko, so I might try him at striker. I’m struggling a bit to find where to play Culubali. He isn’t as fast or as physical as I would like my striker to be. He’s well rounded, so he might be a good CAM (however I don’t play one…). Pratas is still a long way from being a first-team player, but some minutes in the senior squad might boost his development. Chermiti leaving opens up a spot for another Sporting player to arrive on loan. I’ll check if there’s any interesting player available (GK, RB and RW are the positions I need the most upgrades). Still trying to work on the youth team, so I’m bringing in João Carvalhais. Resolute personality, 18 years old, can play RB and CB, 195 cm. I’ll probably loan him out as he doesn’t need to work on his personality and he won’t have minutes as we are flooded with good CBs right now. If any crazy piece of business shows up, I might take it, but I’m mostly looking into players I can bring at end of contract as I don’t want to take another hit on the finances.

Thanks for the support! I'll probably need some time until I have a new update as life has been getting in the way and I'm a slow player, but I can say we keep going in the right direction.

Comparing attributes to the rest of the league I've summed top-5 highest values for each attribute in each team to get a feel of the opposition. It shows our fast progression through the tiers. I'll have to make sure we can play above our level and expect some teams will play way below theirs. Top 5 Sum Name Prediction Drb Fir Pas Tec Ant Cnt Dec Jmp Pac Str TEC MEN PHY Average Rank Arouca 12th 67 68 69 74 70 68 72 78 71 70 70 70 73 71 11 Benfica 1st 78 81 79 81 78 76 78 79 79 74 80 77 77 78 1 Boavista 8th 70 72 67 73 70 69 65 78 72 72 71 68 74 71 10 Braga 4th 74 74 73 78 76 75 68 78 77 76 75 73 77 75 4 Casa Pia 13th 67 72 70 73 66 67 68 70 69 70 71 67 70 69 15 Chaves 14th 69 70 68 70 68 66 65 82 73 76 69 66 77 71 11 Estoril de Praia 9th 69 71 73 74 72 75 67 74 74 67 72 71 72 72 8 Famalicão 10th 71 73 71 75 73 69 67 73 75 70 73 70 73 72 7 Feirense 17th 66 65 68 68 69 68 65 76 72 67 67 67 72 68 17 Gil Vicente 6th 71 70 74 72 69 73 70 74 71 72 72 71 72 72 8 Moreirense 16th 63 66 70 72 66 66 71 78 66 68 68 68 71 69 16 Portimonense 11th 76 68 77 74 77 69 65 76 74 74 74 70 75 73 5 Porto 2nd 78 76 76 80 81 77 74 83 78 80 78 77 80 78 1 Santa Clara 5th 67 65 72 70 68 66 69 75 75 70 69 68 73 70 14 Sertanense 18th 67 65 63 69 65 66 66 73 70 63 66 66 69 67 18 Sporting 3rd 81 73 71 78 77 78 71 78 78 73 76 75 76 76 3 Tondela 15th 71 71 67 69 72 67 65 77 72 68 70 68 72 70 13 Vitória Guimarães 7th 70 70 71 74 71 69 69 81 74 75 71 70 77 72 6 Sertanense Rank 13 16 18 16 18 15 13 16 16 18 18 18 18 18 Tactics for the season I will keep the 4-3-3 DM Wide as the main tactic. No real change yet. I’m working on a 4-2-3-1 DM Wide variation as Schurrle and Madeira can play from deep. Although neither of them is a Volante and I really think I need one to give movement to the midfield. Another thing I will experiment in a friendly is moving LW to LM. Costinha has great passing and dribbling but LW is a very attacking position even when playing on support. I’ll also have to make room for his movement inwards. Something like this? Looks strange... Comparing my players' stats to last season Name Ps C/90 Pas % Hdrs W/90 Hdr % Av Rat DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 Held – P+T Held % Daniel Azevedo 24,87 88,00 0,00 0,00 6,85 0,56 0,00 0,56 4,08 0,00 0,00 0,69 63% Daniel Azevedo 21,91 85,00 0,00 0,00 6,83 0,27 0,00 0,27 3,00 0,00 0,00 1,09 69% GK -2,96 -3,00 0,00 0,00 -0,02 -0,29 0,00 -0,29 -1,08 0,00 0,00 0,40 0,06 Daniel Azevedo is still our number 1. Name Ps C/90 Pas % Hdrs W/90 Hdr % Av Rat DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 OPKP/PsC SPKP/PsC ProgP/PsC Prog%+KP% Tiago Melo 42,48 83,00 4,10 73,00 6,95 7,65 2,66 10,31 2,01 0,32 0,03 3% 3% 13% 19% Tiago Melo 40,84 79,00 3,56 77,00 6,78 7,57 2,83 10,40 -0,74 0,30 -0,03 4% 3% 20% 27% RB -1,64 -4,00 -0,54 4,00 -0,17 -0,08 0,17 0,09 -2,75 -0,02 -0,06 0,01 0,00 0,07 0,08 I think Caldeira will eventually take Melo's spot but right now he still has the most minutes. Name Ps C/90 Pas % Hdrs W/90 Hdr % Av Rat DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 OPKP/PsC SPKP/PsC ProgP/PsC Prog%+KP% Pedro Martins 53,34 87,00 3,16 63,00 6,89 7,95 2,69 10,64 2,06 0,19 -0,01 2% 0% 9% 11% Godfried Frimpong 43,81 84,00 4,43 75,00 6,73 6,29 2,16 8,45 -1,76 0,10 0,00 2% 0% 9% 11% LB -9,53 -3,00 1,27 12,00 -0,16 -1,66 -0,53 -2,19 -3,82 -0,09 0,01 0,00 0,00 0,00 0,00 I'm not sold on Frimpong. He's clearly better than Andrade, but neither of them are having great games. Name Ps C/90 Pas % Hdrs W/90 Hdr % Av Rat DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 OPKP/PsC SPKP/PsC ProgP/PsC Prog%+KP% Luís Ferreira 73,00 92,00 9,14 72,00 7,09 5,08 0,52 5,60 14,38 0,09 0,02 0% 0% 8% 8% Luís Ferreira 58,33 94,00 7,56 76,00 6,77 4,22 0,77 4,99 10,66 0,00 -0,06 0% 0% 7% 7% CB1 -14,67 2,00 -1,58 4,00 -0,32 -0,86 0,25 -0,61 -3,72 -0,09 -0,08 0,00 0,00 -0,01 -0,01 Luís Ferreira keeps his spot for the moment. Name Ps C/90 Pas % Hdrs W/90 Hdr % Av Rat DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 OPKP/PsC SPKP/PsC ProgP/PsC Prog%+KP% Levi Faustino 80,74 93,00 8,93 72,00 6,90 4,49 0,40 4,89 11,64 0,04 0,01 0% 0% 7% 7% João Ricciulli 58,59 87,00 8,12 73,00 6,81 3,65 0,59 4,24 4,12 0,35 0,27 0% 0% 5% 5% CB2 -22,15 -6,00 -0,81 1,00 -0,09 -0,84 0,19 -0,65 -7,52 0,31 0,26 0,00 0,00 -0,01 -0,01 João Ricciulli has gained his place mainly for his heading ability which has already granted us some goals and points. Levi Faustino is now 4th in the pecking order. Raposo will probably get this spot in the future. Name Ps C/90 Pas % Hdrs W/90 Hdr % Av Rat DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 OPKP/PsC SPKP/PsC ProgP/PsC Prog%+KP% Edu Pinheiro 60,53 85,00 5,68 87,00 6,87 3,20 1,81 5,01 -0,55 0,13 -0,03 2% 0% 13% 15% Luís Madeira 52,47 83,00 1,64 46,00 6,88 3,98 2,87 6,85 -4,25 0,14 -0,04 2% 0% 14% 16% CDM -8,06 -2,00 -4,04 -41,00 0,01 0,78 1,06 1,84 -3,70 0,01 -0,01 0,00 0,00 0,01 0,02 I've been rotating between Edu and Luís Madeira. Edu gets me more possession (mostly through headers won), Madeira creates more. Name Ps C/90 Pas % Hdrs W/90 Hdr % Av Rat DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 OPKP/PsC SPKP/PsC ProgP/PsC Prog%+KP% Luís Madeira 54,94 86,00 2,52 59,00 7,04 3,08 3,33 6,41 -4,56 0,32 0,06 4% 0% 12% 16% Schurrle 40,58 87,00 1,03 33,00 6,89 3,70 2,05 5,75 -2,98 0,31 0,19 2% 1% 10% 12% RCM -14,36 1,00 -1,49 -26,00 -0,15 0,62 -1,28 -0,66 1,58 -0,01 0,13 -0,01 0,01 -0,02 -0,03 Schurrle started the season strong but he has been playing worse. We also had some though games. Let's see if he picks up his form. Name Ps C/90 Pas % Hdrs W/90 Hdr % Av Rat DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 OPKP/PsC SPKP/PsC ProgP/PsC Prog%+KP% João Castro 53,39 86,00 1,49 35,00 7,08 4,05 4,23 8,28 -6,13 0,30 0,09 3% 1% 12% 16% João Castro 41,43 84,00 1,06 31,00 6,70 3,84 2,24 6,08 -3,30 0,13 0,01 2% 0% 12% 14% LCM -11,96 -2,00 -0,43 -4,00 -0,38 -0,21 -1,99 -2,20 2,83 -0,17 -0,08 -0,01 -0,01 0,00 -0,02 João Castro kept his place from last season but he hasn't been able to create as much as last season. Bruno Ventura has been playing in both RCM, LCM and also as RW so his stats are skewed - however, he provides a bigger threat from set-pieces (we only scored from corners when he's on the pitch). Miccoli is our last option, but he isn't good enough for this level, so he will only play as a last resort. Name Ps C/90 Pas % Hdrs W/90 Hdr % Av Rat DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 OPKP/PsC SPKP/PsC ProgP/PsC Prog%+KP% Lacx 27,68 74,00 4,34 56,00 6,93 4,75 5,63 10,38 -9,79 0,48 0,09 5% 0% 10% 16% Lacx 33,83 75,00 2,46 30,00 6,81 6,57 4,52 11,09 -9,64 0,21 -0,24 7% 0% 12% 18% RW 6,15 1,00 -1,88 -26,00 -0,12 1,82 -1,11 0,71 0,15 -0,27 -0,33 0,01 0,00 0,01 0,02 Lacx saw a big drecrease on his aerial ability, probably shows how much more physical the first tier is. Ventura has played in this position and Cassamá is also getting some minutes here. More on Cassamá later (not in this post). Name Ps C/90 Pas % Hdrs W/90 Hdr % Av Rat DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 OPKP/PsC SPKP/PsC ProgP/PsC Prog%+KP% Denilson 32,55 79,00 2,11 33,00 7,01 5,01 5,34 10,35 -6,74 0,58 0,15 6% 0% 10% 17% Costinha 29,31 83,00 1,94 24,00 6,92 5,97 4,72 10,69 -3,47 0,70 0,05 8% 0% 10% 18% LW -3,24 4,00 -0,17 -9,00 -0,09 0,96 -0,62 0,34 3,27 0,12 -0,10 0,01 0,00 0,00 0,01 Costinha has also played as RW, and he's probably our best player. Denilson has also been playing well. He's a decent backup even at this level. Name Ps C/90 Pas % Hdrs W/90 Hdr % Av Rat DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 OPKP/PsC SPKP/PsC ProgP/PsC Prog%+KP% Mohamed Karamoko 15,03 82,00 2,42 23,00 7,10 2,42 4,50 6,92 -4,16 0,90 -0,01 7% 0% 3% 10% Mohamed Karamoko 14,25 87,00 1,50 15,00 7,05 1,95 3,90 5,85 -4,50 0,90 0,43 7% 0% 4% 12% ST -0,78 5,00 -0,92 -8,00 -0,05 -0,47 -0,60 -1,07 -0,34 0,00 0,44 0,00 0,00 0,01 0,02 Karamoko's inconsistency has been showing, he's also mostly a one-trick pony. He gets behind the defence and scores, there's not much else he can do. Chermiti has been doing well also but I was counting on him being a bigger aerial threat and he only wins 25% of his duels. The plan for the next striker is someone with greater physical stats while also being pacey and tall. I need all those threats up top. Out of the Cups but we keep fighting in the League I always like being involved in cup play. Winning them is partially chance, but it helps with squad rotation, extra money and it’s a good place to give some youngsters playing time. We were out of the League Cup still in the preseason, and we lost the first game we played in the National Cup. [Primeira Liga] vs Benfica (A) Final Score: 1-1 D Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 38 – 111 35 – 59 2 – 6 0,83 – 1,79 1 – 3 46 – 54 Individual Highlights Goals Denilson Assists Lacx Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Lacx 7,2 Frimpong 5 Denilson 1 Denilson 7,1 Denilson 2 Chermiti 1 M Raposo 6,8 L Madeira 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Denilson 0,8 Frimpong 5 Lacx 2 M Raposo 4 Edu P 1 Denilson 4 L Madeira 1 xA Headers Won Dribbles Lacx 0,8 M Raposo 5 Denilson 2 Cassamá 4 Cassamá 2 L Madeira 3 Chermiti 2 Managed to create 1 chance and score it. They are clearly far superior to us, but we showed up to the fight. [Primeira Liga] vs Porto (H) Final Score: 2-3 L Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 68 – 43 46 – 25 4 – 7 1,66 – 3,30 3 – 5 53 – 47 Individual Highlights Goals Ricciulli, Chermiti Assists T Melo, D Andrade Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Ricciulli 7,5 Costinha 4 Chermiti 2 Chermiti 7,2 T Melo 3 Ricciulli 1 D Andrade 7,2 L Madeira 2 Costinha 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Chermiti 1,2 Ricciulli 5 T Melo 4 Costinha 0,2 M Raposo 4 L Madeira 2 J Castro 0,1 T Melo 2 B Ventura 1 xA Headers Won Dribbles Schurrle 0,6 Ricciulli 19 L Madeira 2 Miccoli 0,3 M Raposo 4 B Ventura 2 T Melo 0,2 Costinha 4 Frimpong 1 Our first big home game (although not in our stadium). We scored 2 against them, I can only be happy with our performance. [Primeira Liga] vs Santa Clara (A) Final Score: 2-3 L Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 31 – 100 24 – 45 2 – 8 1,15 – 1,74 3 – 3 41 – 59 Individual Highlights Goals Karamoko, Schurrle Assists Costinha (x2) Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Costinha 8,2 Lacx 6 Karamoko 1 B Caldeira 7,2 Denilson 3 Schurrle 1 Lacx 7,1 J Castro 3 xG Interceptions Key Passes Karamoko 0,5 Lacx 7 Costinha 3 Schurrle 0,5 Costinha 3 Lacx 1 Lacx 0,1 B Caldeira 2 T Melo 1 xA Headers Won Dribbles B Caldeira 0,5 Ricciulli 7 Costinha 4 Costinha 0,4 Frimpong 3 J Castro 2 Lacx 0,2 L Ferreira 3 D Andrade 1 Now, this is not the Santa Clara team you should expect. Their president is a tycoon and they have some great players like Veretout. Another game were we scored 2 goals. [Primeira Liga] vs Casa Pia (H) Final Score: 1-0 W Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 65 – 46 61 – 27 3 – 3 1,45 – 2,71 5 – 5 57 – 43 Individual Highlights Goals Karamoko Assists Cassamá Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Lacx 7,7 Lacx 8 B Caldeira 1 D Azevedo 7,7 Costinha 3 Karamoko 1 Karamoko 7,6 Edu P 2 Ricciulli 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Chermiti 0,8 B Caldeira 10 Lacx 4 Karamoko 0,3 Costinha 4 Costinha 3 J Castro 0,2 Edu P 2 Cassamá 1 xA Headers Won Dribbles Lacx 0,9 M Raposo 9 Lacx 3 Cassamá 0,2 Frimpong 9 Frimpong 2 Schurrle 0,2 Edu P 7 Cassamá 1 We really needed this win after 5 games without getting the 3 points. It came late, but it was deserved. 3 of their chances and most of their xG was from a single event (a mess inside our box following a corner). Only 3 more games until the year ends and the winter transfer window is open. Feirense, Moreirense and Tondela – that’s 18th, 13th and 4th respectively. Tondela kept their form from last season and had a great start to the season. We are 6 points above the relegation playoff having played Benfica and Porto already; over 1 ppg and at 38% of the objective (32 points) having played 26% of the games. Someone deserves a chance We are clearly better than our opposition in the U19 League, but if there’s someone playing above the level is Pratas. He already got a seat in a game, he will probably have his chance over the season. Really need to give some playing time to the youngsters, but I prefer doing it when/if relegation is not an issue.

Loved the descriptors.

Wage Structure I’m keeping the 30+30+30+10 structure. We are a long way off the thresholds but the number of players in each status is not right. As I said last season, we are going through many changes, so it’ll take time to settle. Star Players + Important Players Name Best Pos Age Mins Ability Wage Appearance Fee Agent Begins Expires Transfer Value Agreed Playing Time Daniel Azevedo GK 27 450 3 1 500,00 € 70,00 € Pedro Dias - Very Close 7/1/2024 30/6/2026 €20K - €110K First-Choice Goalkeeper Bernardo Caldeira D (R) 25 209 3 3 100,00 € 150,00 € Pedro Dias - Acquaintance 1/7/2025 30/6/2028 €45K - €85K Important Player Levi Faustino D (R) 24 44 4 4 600,00 € 170,00 € Ricardo Morais - Very Close 24/7/2024 30/6/2028 €75K - €375K Important Player Luís Ferreira D (C) 24 450 3 3 000,00 € 110,00 € Rui Magalhães - Very Close 26/6/2023 30/6/2027 €350K - €600K Star Player Luís Madeira M (C) 22 240 3 2 600,00 € 95,00 € Leandro Carvalho - Very Close 15/2/2024 30/6/2027 €40K - €600K Important Player João Castro AM (C) 24 283 3 3 200,00 € 120,00 € Dário Silva - Very Close 1/7/2023 30/6/2027 €90K - €450K Important Player Godfried Frimpong AM (L) 26 364 3,5 6 750,00 € 550,00 € Leandro Carvalho - Acquaintance 1/7/2025 30/6/2028 €120K - €450K Important Player Mohamed Karamoko ST (C) 23 279 3,5 6 500,00 € 200,00 € Alejandro Vega - Very Close 15/1/2025 30/6/2029 €350K - €1M Important Player Wage Sum 31 250,00 € Total Allowed 39 000,00 € 8 Max 4 9 750,00 € Regular Starters Name Best Pos Age Mins Ability Wage Appearance Fee Agent Begins Expires Transfer Value Agreed Playing Time Edu Pinheiro DM 27 194 2,5 3 200,00 € 120,00 € Fábio Rodrigues - Very Close 10/7/2024 30/6/2027 €190K - €325K Regular Starter Bruno Ventura AM (R) 24 345 3 2 600,00 € 120,00 € Pedro Alminhas - Close 1/7/2025 30/6/2028 €45K - €375K Regular Starter Lacx AM (R) 24 126 3,5 3 500,00 € 150,00 € Vasco Matos - Very Close 18/12/2024 30/6/2028 €90K - €850K Regular Starter Denilson AM (L) 25 312 3 2 600,00 € 90,00 € Mojammel Hossain - Very Close 3/11/2023 30/6/2026 €65K - €275K Regular Starter Wage Sum 11 900,00 € Total Allowed 39 000,00 € 4 Max 7 5 571,43 € Backups Name Best Pos Age Mins Ability Wage Appearance Fee Agent Begins Expires Transfer Value Agreed Playing Time Joan López GK 23 - 3,5 4 600,00 € 675,00 € Augusto Quintana - Acquaintance 1/9/2025 30/6/2026 €45K - €450K Cup Goalkeeper Hugo Lima GK 17 - 1,5 875,00 € 40,00 € Rafa Carvalho - Very Close 7/3/2025 30/6/2027 €30K - €325K Backup João Ricciulli D (C) 25 315 3 3 200,00 € 170,00 € Leandro Carvalho - Very Close 27/1/2025 30/6/2027 €60K - €250K Impact Sub Marcos Raposo D (C) 25 - 3,5 4 000,00 € 170,00 € Dário Silva - Own Player 25/8/2025 30/6/2027 €24K - €180K Squad Player Daniel Andrade D (L) 25 86 2 2 500,00 € 110,00 € Dário Silva - Very Close 12/5/2025 30/6/2027 €4K - €28K Squad Player Miccoli M (C) 27 - 2 2 400,00 € 100,00 € Vasco Matos - Very Close 6/1/2024 30/6/2026 €18K - €90K Fringe Player Schurrle M (C) 24 347 4 2 100,00 € 200,00 € Ricardo Morais - Acquaintance 1/7/2025 30/6/2028 €700K - €1M Squad Player Tiago Melo AM (R) 28 241 2,5 3 000,00 € 150,00 € Pedro Dias - Very Close 31/1/2024 30/6/2026 €50K - €230K Squad Player Costinha AM (R) 24 216 3,5 3 700,00 € 220,00 € Rafa Carvalho - Very Close 11/7/2025 30/6/2027 €190K - €350K Squad Player Herculano Cassamá AM (R) 18 228 2,5 2 900,00 € 80,00 € Miguel Serra - Very Close 23/7/2024 30/6/2027 €50K - €500K Impact Sub Youssef Chermiti ST (C) 21 115 3,5 0,00 € 825,00 € Rafa Carvalho - Acquaintance 6/7/2025 2/1/2026 €350K - €3,4M Impact Sub Wage Sum 29 275,00 € Total Allowed 39 000,00 € 11 Max 11 3 545,45 € Youth Name Best Pos Age Mins Ability Wage Appearance Fee Agent Begins Expires Transfer Value Agreed Playing Time Marco Castanheira D (R) 16 - 275,00 € 0,00 € Francisco Valente - Very Close 3/1/2025 30/6/2027 €45K - €1M Future Prospect Lukas Benay D (C) 17 91 675,00 € 35,00 € - - Very Close 15/4/2025 30/6/2027 €12K - €130K Future Prospect Innocent Chembezi M (R) 17 - 600,00 € 40,00 € - - Acquaintance 2/6/2025 30/6/2028 €0 Future Prospect Ricardo Dias AM (R) 18 - 750,00 € 40,00 € Francisco Valente - Very Close 26/10/2024 30/6/2027 €12K - €110K Breakthrough Prospect Biruk Tadesse AM (R) 16 - 275,00 € 0,00 € - - Acquaintance 30/3/2025 30/6/2029 €0 - €22K Youngster Domingos Culubali AM (L) 16 15 275,00 € 0,00 € José Araújo - Very Close 3/4/2024 30/6/2027 €325K - €850K Future Prospect Eduino Gomes AM (L) 17 - 850,00 € 45,00 € Miguel Morais - Very Close 20/5/2025 30/6/2028 €30K - €325K Breakthrough Prospect Anthony Pratas ST (C) 17 - 750,00 € 40,00 € - - Very Close 24/5/2025 30/6/2027 €2,5K - €24K Future Prospect Wage Sum 4 450,00 € Total Allowed 13 000,00 € 8 No Max 1 300,00 € First games of the season The league cup (Allianz Cup) calendar is a mess, it starts too soon and wrecked the preseason. We were still building the team and trying things out when we had those games. Managed to get through the first game and won in penalties. Lost the second. One less competition. Good for fitness, bad for business… It was a pretty nice start in the league: 2 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss. 8 goals for, 6 against. The league standings don’t say much as everyone has a different number of games played, but we are above 1 ppg so that’s good. 8 points also means we have 25% of the objective for the season. Next 2 games are Benfica and Porto, so we should have 2 more losses, but we’ll still be above 1 ppg. Below the match screens for the league games: [Primeira Liga] vs Estoril (H) Final Score: 0-1 L Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 80 – 57 52 – 26 1 – 3 0,58 – 0,69 0 – 3 48 – 52 Individual Highlights Goals - Assists - Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target L Ferreira 7,0 Costinha 7 Cassamá 1 T Melo 6,9 Schurrle 3 Frimpong 6,9 L Madeira 2 xG Interceptions Key Passes Lacx 0,2 T Melo 7 Costinha 3 J Castro 0,1 L Ferreira 5 Lacx 2 L Ferreira 0,1 Ricciulli 4 Schurrle 2 xA Headers Won Dribbles Schurrle 0,1 L Ferreira 17 T Melo 4 Costinha 0,1 Ricciulli 8 L Madeira 2 L Madeira 0,1 Frimpong 7 Costinha 1 Our introduction to the league. They created more chances and had more shots on target, we didn't do much and deserved the loss. [Primeira Liga] vs Arouca (A) Final Score: 5-4 W Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 42 – 61 35 – 62 8 – 5 2,35 – 1,58 6 – 3 39 – 61 Individual Highlights Goals Karamoko (x2), Schurrle, Ricciulli, Chermiti Assists B Ventura (x2), Denilson, Frimpong, B Caldeira Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Karamoko 8,4 Denilson 7 Karamoko 2 Chermiti 7,7 Schurrle 4 Chermiti 2 Schurrle 7,7 L Ferreira 4 Costinha 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Chermiti 0,7 L Ferreira 6 T Melo 3 Karamoko 0,7 Denilson 3 Frimpong 3 L Madeira 0,2 Frimpong 3 B Ventura 3 xA Headers Won Dribbles B Ventura 0,6 L Ferreira 13 Frimpong 5 Denilson 0,5 T Melo 4 Denilson 4 B Caldeira 0,4 Ricciulli 3 Karamoko 2 Crazy game with 9 goals. Bruno Ventura showing why we bought him. We were the better team and we shouldn't have conceded as much as we did. [Primeira Liga] vs Famalicão (H) Final Score: 2-0 W Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 65 – 68 45 – 44 4 – 6 1,13 – 0,74 2 – 1 35 – 65 Individual Highlights Goals Schurrle, Costinha Assists Costinha, Denilson Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Costinha 8,1 T Melo 6 Costinha 1 Schurrle 7,7 J Castro 5 Schurrle 1 D Azevedo 7,7 Karamoko 3 L Ferreira 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Culubali 0,5 T Melo 5 T Melo 4 B Ventura 0,2 J Castro 3 Denilson 3 Schurrle 0,1 Schurrle 3 Schurrle 3 xA Headers Won Dribbles Cassamá 0,6 Ricciulli 6 Schurrle 4 Costinha 0,1 T Melo 5 Karamoko 3 Denilson 0,1 L Ferreira 4 Costinha 2 Another win. A game where they took the ball from us, but we were more efficient and created more chances and had a higher xG. [Primeira Liga] vs Chaves (A) Final Score: 0-0 D Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 63 – 74 39 – 43 6 – 1 1,16 – 0,87 2 – 2 44 – 56 Individual Highlights Goals - Assists - Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target L Madeira 7,4 B Ventura 7 Chermiti 2 D Azevedo 7,3 B Caldeira 6 L Ferreira 2 Frimpong 7,1 L Madeira 5 Ricciulli 1 xG Interceptions Key Passes Chermiti 0,6 T Melo 4 B Ventura 4 B Ventura 0,2 L Madeira 3 B Caldeira 3 L Ferreira 0,1 J Castro 2 Karamoko 2 xA Headers Won Dribbles B Ventura 0,4 Ricciulli 9 L Madeira 3 Frimpong 0,3 L Ferreira 5 Denilson 1 Karamoko 0,1 Frimpong 4 B Ventura 1 The first of two draws. 6 shots on target to 1 and 1,16 xG, we should have scored at least one. [Primeira Liga] vs Vitória de Guimarães (H) Final Score: 1-1 D Final Third Passes Progressive Passes Shots on Target xG Chances Possession % 81 – 50 52 – 41 9 – 2 2,73 – 0,56 8 – 1 43 – 57 Individual Highlights Goals Karamoko Assists L Madeira Av Rat Tackles Shots on Target Karamoko 8,1 Frimpong 5 T Melo 2 L Madeira 7,8 Schurrle 3 Costinha 2 Costinha 7,2 T Melo 2 Karamoko 2 xG Interceptions Key Passes Karamoko 1,1 Miccoli 3 Costinha 4 Lacx 0,6 T Melo 3 Edu P 2 J Castro 0,3 Costinha 3 Schurrle 2 xA Headers Won Dribbles L Madeira 0,7 Ricciulli 6 Karamoko 4 Karamoko 0,6 L Ferreira 4 Costinha 3 Costinha 0,5 T Melo 4 Miccoli 2 The second draw. We were so much better than Guimarães, we should have made the 2-1 and grabbed the 3 points.

Transfer Window Here’s the summary of the transfer window and the comparison I had already shown Bruno Ventura and Bernardo Caldeira. New screenshots were taken a few games into the season so they have some statistics from official matches. We signed Godfried Frimpong as a LB. We needed an upgrade in this position and Pedro Martins had left due to the end of his loan. Schurrle wasn’t planned but he was ending his contract and his demands were quite low so he brought him in. He can play in all 3 midfield positions, but will most likely play as either RCM or LCM. He’ll occupy Pedro Mendes’ space in the squad. Chermiti is our loanee from Sporting (we can only have one from each team in Primeira Liga). He offers an aerial threat but he also has some speed. João Pedro ended his loan so there was a vacant space to fill. Costinha comes in to upgrade on Gonçalo Gomes. He also seems to be better than Denilson, but they’ll fight for the spot. I got him in a trade involving 2 other players (my first in FM): Bastian and Ruster were traded. I wanted one more quality CB to fill Bastian’s place so I went for Marcos Raposo and he’s my biggest signing yet. Fortunately, I managed to bring him as a Squad Player so I don’t need to cause any turmoil in the squad. I was also keen on bringing a quality CB so I can retrain Levi as DM. I feel I could do with a more defensive-minded one. On the last day, I brought in on loan Joan López. He’ll be a backup mostly. Not my proudest moment in business, but I didn’t trust Daniel Júnior to be my backup so I loaned him out and got Joan. Ricardo Ferreira and Wilson Fernandes are youngsters who can play CM or wing positions. First-Team Squad Let’s talk about the first-team squad: GK I wanted someone better than Azevedo but couldn’t find anyone, so he’ll do. At least I believe the backup was improved. Hugo Lima will be available for the U19 Name Best Pos Personality ShStop Physical Speed Mental Comm Ecc Aerial Dist Total Daniel Azevedo GK Fairly Professional 12 10 8 11 11 8 15 10 53% Joan López GK Fairly Determined 11 8 10 11 10 5 13 13 51% RB Tiago Melo and Caldeira are two good choices. I think I’ll be happy rotating both. Marco Castanheira will train with the first-team. I’m also retraining him to play in midfield as he’s only 156cm and he’ll be a liability in defence. Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Bernardo Caldeira D (R) Balanced 12 11 13 10 9 10 6 12 52% -3 Tiago Melo D (R) Fairly Sporting 9 10 12 10 10 10 8 9 49% 1 LB Frimpong seems to be a step up from Andrade. Let’s see if he shows what he’s worth. Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Godfried Frimpong D (L) Balanced 11 12 14 9 9 11 9 10 53% -2 Daniel Andrade D (L) Balanced 10 9 9 10 8 11 7 10 46% -2 CB I’m confident I have 4 different but very good options. Benay will keep training with the first-team squad but he’ll be available to play for the U19. Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Marcos Raposo D (C) Balanced 13 10 11 9 10 8 13 12 54% -3 L Faustino D (C) Balanced 12 11 11 9 8 9 12 12 53% -4 Luís Ferreira D (C) Balanced 12 10 11 8 9 8 13 10 51% -3 Joao Ricciulli D (C) Balanced 11 11 11 7 7 8 14 11 50% -4 DM Luís Madeira will play this position with Edu Pinheiro. I’m comfortable using both. Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Edu Pinheiro DM Balanced 10 11 10 11 9 11 13 12 54% -1 Luís Madeira DM Balanced 10 10 11 10 10 11 9 11 51% 0 CM Madeira can also be an option here, but Schurrle and Castro are the most likely first-choices. Ventura is a threat on corners, so he’ll have plenty of game time as I need every threat I can. Miccoli will possibly play few minutes, but his personality is important. Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Schurrle M (C) Balanced 9 10 12 14 12 11 7 11 54% 3 Bruno Ventura M (C) Balanced 8 10 10 9 12 13 7 11 50% 4 João Castro M (C) Balanced 7 10 10 12 10 12 7 10 49% 3 Miccoli M (C) Resolute 8 10 12 11 7 10 3 12 46% -1 RW Lacx and Cassamá will be my first and second options. Costinha and Ventura can also play there, even Melo. We have plenty to choose from. Culubali will train with the first-team. Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Lacx AM (R) Balanced 5 13 13 9 11 12 12 11 54% 6 Herculano Cassamá AM (R) Mercenary 3 10 13 10 11 10 8 10 47% 8 LW Costinha and Denilson will probably rotate unless someone really catches on. Eduino Gomes is training with the first-team. Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Costinha AM (L) Fairly Sporting 6 10 14 14 12 13 5 11 53% 6 Denilson AM (L) Balanced 6 10 12 12 10 12 6 9 48% 4 ST Karamoko is our star, Chermiti will provide the aerial threat if needed and is a great backup for Karamoko’s inconsistency. Pratas is with the team. Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Youssef Chermiti ST (C) Balanced 5 11 12 11 12 12 13 9 53% 7 Mohamed Karamoko ST (C) Balanced 4 12 14 9 11 11 9 9 49% 7 Building for the Future When I first got here, we had no future in our youth team. We now got some decent players who might be part of the team in the future. Some were grown here, others I had to buy from smaller teams, but they give us a base to work on. Name Best Pos Personality ShStop Physical Speed Mental Comm Ecc Aerial Dist Total Hugo Lima GK Fairly Determined 11 7 2 9 11 8 9 9 41% Dinis GK Fairly Ambitious 9 6 8 8 9 4 10 7 38% Name Best Pos Personality Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Att-Def Marco Castanheira D (R) Light-Hearted 8 10 9 12 9 8 4 8 43% 1 Luís Soares D (L) Balanced 6 9 10 6 5 7 7 11 38% -1 Lukas Benay D (C) Unambitious 9 9 9 4 7 5 11 11 41% -2 Henrique Carneiro D (C) Unambitious 11 7 7 4 5 6 9 7 35% -6 Wilson Fernandes M (C) Professional 8 11 9 12 9 11 7 9 48% 1 Ricardo Ferreira M (C) Driven 2 9 11 12 8 10 2 11 41% 6 Brahim Tahiri M (C) Spirited 5 6 9 10 7 11 8 8 40% 2 Ricardo Dias M (C) Unambitious 2 8 12 9 8 9 3 9 38% 6 Herculano Cassamá AM (R) Mercenary 3 10 13 10 11 10 8 10 47% 8 Domingos Culubali AM (R) Sporting 4 10 10 11 9 11 9 9 46% 5 Luís Rascão AM (R) Balanced 3 9 14 10 8 10 7 7 43% 5 Eduino Gomes AM (L) Mercenary 3 9 13 9 7 11 8 7 42% 4 João Bacôco AM (L) Realist 2 9 13 9 6 10 3 8 38% 4 Biruk Tadesse AM (R) Spirited 3 7 11 8 7 10 4 8 36% 4 Anthony Pratas ST (C) Balanced 3 8 12 5 12 9 6 6 38% 9 Scouting – Recruitment Focuses Just like last season, our recruitment focuses will aim to provide depth to our knowledge. League Expectations and Objective It’s not hard to guess everyone expects us to finish last. It’s also telling the difference in wages compared to the rest of the league. Although, some teams starting the season with “insecure” finances might be good for us as it sometimes unsettles players. In the 22/23 season, the first team to finish above relegation places had 31 points, then 30 points (although tied with a relegated team), last year it was Famalicão with 32. So our objective will be 32 points (0,94 ppg / 11 wins).

End-of-Season Stats Minute Distribution by Position Name % Min Daniel Azevedo 76% Daniel Júnior 24% Name % Min Tiago Melo 66% Filipe Pereira 34% Name % Min Pedro Martins 50% Daniel Andrade 49% Name % Min Luís Ferreira 78% Levi Faustino 66% Bastian 24% João Ricciulli 22% Lukas Benay 2% Name % Min João Castro 80% Luís Madeira 73% Edu Pinheiro 57% Miccoli 44% Pedro Mendes 28% Samuel Justo 17% Name % Min Denilson 75% Lacx 65% Herculano Cassamá 31% Ruster 22% Gonçalo Gomes 20% Name % Min Mohamed Karamoko 69% João Pedro 17% Domingos Culubali 3% Daniel Azevedo was the clear number one; Tiago Melo lost his place in the final games as he doesn't like big matches but he was my first choice throughout the season; clear doubts between both options at LB; Luís Ferreira was my first option as CB, mostly accompanied by Faustino but late in the season Ricciulli also played a fair bit (he only joined in late January); João Castro and Madeira played most of the time and then both Edu Pinheiro and Miccoli rotated; Denilson and Lacx were first choices, but was nice to see Cassamá involved so much; upfront Karamoko was the main man (ST numbers don't add up to 100% because Lacx and Cassamá also played there). Goal Participation / POM / Average Rating Name Apps PoM Gls Ast Av Rat Daniel Azevedo 32 0,00 0,00 0,00 6,85 Daniel Júnior 10 0,00 0,00 0,00 6,81 Name Apps PoM Gls Ast Av Rat Tiago Melo 30 (5) 2,00 2,00 7,00 6,95 Filipe Pereira 12 (11) 0,00 0,00 2,00 6,77 Name Apps PoM Gls Ast Av Rat Pedro Martins 21 (9) 2,00 0,00 4,00 6,89 Daniel Andrade 21 (10) 0,00 0,00 6,00 6,83 Name Apps PoM Gls Ast Av Rat Luís Ferreira 33 (1) 4,00 3,00 0,00 7,09 Levi Faustino 29 (2) 0,00 1,00 0,00 6,90 Bastian 8 (14) 0,00 3,00 0,00 6,84 João Ricciulli 9 (1) 0,00 0,00 0,00 6,79 Lukas Benay 1 (2) 0,00 0,00 0,00 6,65 Name Apps PoM Gls Ast Av Rat João Castro 35 (2) 3,00 6,00 4,00 7,08 Luís Madeira 34 3,00 5,00 5,00 7,04 Edu Pinheiro 26 (1) 1,00 0,00 3,00 6,87 Miccoli 17 (14) 0,00 0,00 8,00 6,95 Pedro Mendes 10 (15) 0,00 2,00 2,00 6,80 Samuel Justo 4 (15) 0,00 0,00 1,00 6,76 Name Apps PoM Gls Ast Av Rat Denilson 37 (2) 2,00 10,00 8,00 7,01 Lacx 33 (1) 0,00 9,00 4,00 6,93 Herculano Cassamá 8 (21) 4,00 9,00 2,00 7,00 Ruster 5 (18) 0,00 2,00 4,00 6,81 Gonçalo Gomes 4 (18) 0,00 3,00 1,00 6,79 Name Apps PoM Gls Ast Av Rat Mohamed Karamoko 33 (2) 7,00 21,00 5,00 7,10 João Pedro 5 (15) 0,00 5,00 1,00 6,78 Domingos Culubali 1 (2) 0,00 0,00 0,00 6,50 6 players with double-digits in Goals + Assists is great. Karamoko obviously topped the scoring charts; Denilson was second; Lacx and Cassamá drew for third (although Cassamá played considerably less time). Miccoli and Denilson drew for assists, Tiago Melo was third. Advanced Stats Name Apps DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 Held – P+T Held % Daniel Azevedo 32 0,56 0,00 0,56 4,08 0,00 0,00 0,69 63% Daniel Júnior 10 0,80 0,00 0,80 5,20 0,00 0,00 0,60 64% Name Apps DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 OPKP/PsC SPKP/PsC ProgP/PsC Prog%+KP% PossW/DA Fls/Tck PW/Fls Tiago Melo 30 (5) 7,65 2,66 10,31 2,01 0,32 0,03 3% 3% 13% 19% 2,13 0,58 9,44 Filipe Pereira 12 (11) 7,37 2,34 9,71 4,11 0,14 -0,01 2% 0% 13% 15% 2,34 0,38 12,84 Name Apps DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 OPKP/PsC SPKP/PsC ProgP/PsC Prog%+KP% PossW/DA Fls/Tck PW/Fls Pedro Martins 21 (9) 7,95 2,69 10,64 2,06 0,19 -0,01 2% 0% 9% 11% 1,97 0,60 9,34 Daniel Andrade 21 (10) 7,43 2,73 10,16 1,36 0,29 -0,01 3% 1% 10% 14% 1,96 0,36 15,00 Name Apps DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 OPKP/PsC SPKP/PsC ProgP/PsC Prog%+KP% PossW/DA Fls/Tck PW/Fls Luís Ferreira 33 (1) 5,08 0,52 5,60 14,38 0,09 0,02 0% 0% 8% 8% 4,20 0,74 30,35 Levi Faustino 29 (2) 4,49 0,40 4,89 11,64 0,04 0,01 0% 0% 7% 7% 4,27 0,58 48,17 Bastian 8 (14) 5,05 0,97 6,02 -1,95 0,29 0,13 1% 0% 14% 15% 4,70 0,00 0,00 João Ricciulli 9 (1) 5,25 0,33 5,58 7,88 0,00 -0,03 0% 0% 3% 4% 3,65 0,27 58,33 Lukas Benay 1 (2) 6,07 2,02 8,09 3,03 0,00 -0,01 0% 0% 7% 7% 4,50 0,00 0,00 Name Apps DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 OPKP/PsC SPKP/PsC ProgP/PsC Prog%+KP% PossW/DA Fls/Tck PW/Fls João Castro 35 (2) 4,05 4,23 8,28 -6,13 0,30 0,09 3% 1% 12% 16% 1,74 0,10 33,86 Luís Madeira 34 3,08 3,33 6,41 -4,56 0,32 0,06 4% 0% 12% 16% 2,40 0,54 8,37 Edu Pinheiro 26 (1) 3,20 1,81 5,01 -0,55 0,13 -0,03 2% 0% 13% 15% 3,45 0,60 10,92 Miccoli 17 (14) 4,31 2,78 7,09 -6,38 0,44 -0,09 3% 2% 11% 15% 1,90 0,46 7,89 Pedro Mendes 10 (15) 3,92 1,96 5,88 -5,79 0,34 0,15 3% 3% 10% 16% 1,98 0,42 9,11 Samuel Justo 4 (15) 4,22 1,55 5,77 -4,51 0,14 -0,12 2% 0% 11% 12% 1,70 0,20 16,99 Name Apps DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 OPKP/PsC SPKP/PsC ProgP/PsC Prog%+KP% PossW/DA Fls/Tck PW/Fls Denilson 37 (2) 5,01 5,34 10,35 -6,74 0,58 0,15 6% 0% 10% 17% 1,54 0,45 6,05 Lacx 33 (1) 4,75 5,63 10,38 -9,79 0,48 0,09 5% 0% 10% 16% 1,47 0,52 4,73 Herculano Cassamá 8 (21) 3,89 4,52 8,41 -8,64 0,86 0,41 5% 0% 11% 17% 1,68 0,55 4,94 Ruster 5 (18) 4,37 5,02 9,39 -7,42 0,66 0,02 4% 0% 8% 12% 1,45 0,58 4,14 Gonçalo Gomes 4 (18) 4,33 4,69 9,02 -6,74 0,48 0,20 7% 0% 16% 23% 1,83 0,88 2,87 Name Apps DA OA D+O Poss +/- G+A /90 Gls-npxg /90 OPKP/PsC SPKP/PsC ProgP/PsC Prog%+KP% PossW/DA Fls/Tck PW/Fls Mohamed Karamoko 33 (2) 2,42 4,50 6,92 -4,16 0,90 -0,01 7% 0% 3% 10% 1,57 1,09 3,06 João Pedro 5 (15) 0,72 4,44 5,16 -7,47 0,86 0,20 6% 0% 3% 9% 3,58 0,00 0,00 Domingos Culubali 1 (2) 2,73 0,00 2,73 -10,91 0,00 -0,05 0% 0% 0% 0% 1,33 1,00 2,00 I've said it before, Bastian is a liability with a negative Possession +/-; Gonçalo Gomes had a strange season: he has decent stats but is overall performance isn't great. Cassamá was very efficient with 0.86 G+A / 90 (perhaps also a bit lucky with 0.41 of overperformance) but still needs to have more offensive actions. I was expecting a bit more from Edu Pinheiro but he almost had a positive Possession +/- and Possession Won / Defensive Actions was the greatest from all midfield (I'm thinking it has to do with his headers won). Still on Bastian, it's strange that a "punt" that reaches the target is the same as a progressive pass - maybe there needs to be a formula to separate clearances from actual passes. New Staff In the usual end-of-season analysis, I decided to bring in some new members of the staff and decided not to renew with some people. Bruno Matos, 34, HOSS Nuno Pereira, 34, Performance Analyst Alberto Carvalho, 54, Fitness Coach André Ferreira, 34, Fitness Coach Francisco Ferreira, 21, Recruitment Analyst All of the above were recruited through our network of known staff. The 2 below were recruited through an advert Jacobo Montes, 40, Perfomance Analyst Pedro Villegas, 31, Sports Scientist We are still looking for one more coach (maybe 2). Career Season Year Club League Position Cup Stage 01 2022/2023 Sertanense PT4 1st TdP First Round 02 2023/2024 Sertanense PT3 3rd TdP Sixth Round 03 2024/2025 Sertanense PT2 3rd TdP Third Round 3 consecutive promotions are great, Getting to late rounds is starting to get mandatory, but the draw isn't always easy. PPG Win % GF GA Most Goals Most Assists Most POM Highest AvR 2,27 69 70 32 Karamoko – 31 Quaresma – 9 Karamoko – 8 Kisley – 7,42 1,56 44 33 26 Karamoko – 23 P Mendes – 10 Karamoko – 5 L Madeira – 7,26 1,76 50 59 36 Karamoko – 21 Miccoli – 8 Karamoko – 7 Karamoko – 7,10 PPG, win ratio, Goals For and Goals Against are league-only stats. The others are overall stats. We've increased our win ratio and PPG, however we didn't have anyone with such high average ratings as in the seasons before. Income Expenditure Profit Avg Attendance 1 353 447,00 € 1 411 118,00 € -57 671,00 € 662 1 485 040,00 € 1 942 059,00 € -457 019,00 € 1266 9 730 336,00 € 11 047 343,00 € -1 317 007,00 € 1876 Income and Expenditure already have the 7.5M for the stadium. The financial situation is not good, but I've been working under the budget a lot so there's not much I can do about it. Name Position Apps Goals Seasons Daniel Júnior GK 54 0 22-25 Alexandre Lavrador RB 44 0 22-24 Luís Ferreira CB 90 7 22-25 Bastian CB 42 10 23-25 Daniel Andrade LB 53 0 23-25 Pedro Mendes CM 81 7 22-25 Miccoli CM 72 4 22-25 João Castro CM 68 10 23-25 Kisley RW 40 14 22-24 Denilson LW 91 18 22-25 Mohamed Karamoko ST 96 75 22-25 My most used eleven in my career. 3 guys near the 100-game mark. B Team Since we are in the first tier and already have a decent amount of youngsters, I decided to go for a B team. My Assistant Manager, Timmy Simons will be the Manager. They will play in the Distrital (tier 5, not in the game). Awards We managed to pick up some individual awards Having both my CM in here feels great, but Karamoko and Luís Ferreira deserve a special mention: they were here from the start. From tier-4 to tier-1! New contract! I asked the president for a new contract and he accepted. I was on a 7,5k/month; his first offer was 8,25k, I asked for 10k and after a bit of negotiation I eventually got it. 3-year, 10k/month. The second lowest wage for a manager in this tier is 17,5k, but I could never get to that point yet.