Skora11

May 1

17 hours ago, Anners said:

Spent ages doing this round up, waiting for the World Cup to end and then closed the tab after doing it all. Ugh. Attempt 2.

Tranent Round-Up

Anyway.. onto a round-up of Tranent!

Goalkeepers:

Paupol Massamba has been our number 1 for just over a decade, but he's starting to come towards the end of his career. We have Matteo Manzoni who is pretty much your bench keeper who "never plays but can do so in a pinch and be okay" kind of keeper. We do have Andrew Bannigan as a good youth prospect who has since this screenshot's been taken gone to relegated Rangers in the Championship and will be their first choice keeper for the 70/71 season.

Full Backs:

We're a bit short in the full back department, but we've got a couple of decent full backs. Joe Brown is our starter at right back with Hamish Grant on the left. We have Kelby Rudden as a back-up who can rotate in, but we tend to use some central defenders in the right back position if we're struggling.

Centre Backs:

We're relatively good in the centre back department, having gone through a bit of a transition with a number of players at the 32/33 stage. Our current starting centre backs are Cameron Macdonald and Jock McGinnes. We've seemingly got 3 players as back-ups who are all relatively the same, with the stand out being Lewis Tart. For youth prospects, Kieran Horgan is looking like our best option at the moment.

Defensive Midfield:

We have what I'd consider the first of our "elite players" here in Ally Collins. Equally adept in central defence and central midfield, I generally play Collins in the heart of the team in defensive midfield. Generally great all-round player who we rejected a £90m bid from Bayern Munich for over the summer. We do have a couple of our central midfielders who can cover, but our best youth prospect is currently Stephen Quinn.

Central Midfielders:

Onto our second elite player in Brian Leighton. I actually thought he'd improve more, but he is on that cusp of being an excellent player so I won't complain too much. The other centre midfield spot is pretty contested at the moment. We have a couple of older players in Ryan Robertson and Sam Gordon, complemented by Ross Irving who can cover the defensive midfield spot too. On the more youthful side, we have Darren Cowan (who opted out of his contract and planned to leave before changing his mind in February thankfully!), Marcelo Pastoriza and apparently high potential Jim Crawford although I can't see it too much!

Wingers:

Similar to our centre back situation, we're blessed to an extent with a lot of 7/10 players but no real extremely strong players. On the right, Callum Currid (who had originally played on the left till the end of this season), Aidan McGinlay and Aleksander Zhelyazkov (who originally started up front as a striker). On the left it's a bit rougher, but looks more promising. James Hudson and Kyle Wilson are 2 options, but we'll likely go with Taylor Malcolm (who appeared on the NXGN list) who has massively shot up in ability in the last 6 months. He even made his Scotland debut before his Tranent debut!

Strikers:

I don't need to say much here - Steve Court is by far our best player and is one of the leading European strikers at this point. He's probably the reason we couldn't get past the Quarter Final in the Champions League until he really made his mark in the team in 2066/67 (we lost to Man City in the final that year in our first appearance). Our best youth prospect is apparently Andrew Kerr - although decent mentally, will take a lot of work. For the time being, our only out and out striker back up is Kamel Amrouche.

Speaking of Steve Court still, it is still quite surprising he only has 19 caps for Scotland, but he's being kept out of the starting striker spot by none other than ex-Tranent man Connor Grant. Although he's probably nearly at the cut off point for Court taking over. Not a horrible situation for Scotland to be in at all!

Around the World:

Premier League - Ligue 1 - Bundesliga - Serie A - La Liga

Champions League - Europa League - Conference League

Euros - World Cup

Looks like some squad you've managed to assemble. Hopefully a Champions League isn't too far away.

April 30

11 hours ago, Anners said:

Previous Post:

2069/70 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish Premiership

League:

A last day league win against St Johnstone of all teams! Although the more interesting thing happened - one of the Old Firm are finally down!

There's not actually much to say about the league this far in - I was rotating massively early in the season which is why we're not putting up 90+ points every season.

Cups:

We got dumped out of the League Cup at the first hurdle for us by Championship side Partick Thistle. Might have gone a biiiit too weak in that game.

Europe:

3-1 up in the Semi Final with 7 minutes left. I'm fed up of losing in absolutely gutting circumstances in the Champions League at the moment!! Very clearly one of the better sides in the CL at the moment, but English sides will be the bane of my existance right now.

Youth Intake:

Not too much here - was gutted to see the Madagascar player not be good. We've also gone shopping in Brazil it seems?

Other Business:

Another NXGN player here - Malcolm was actually still in my under 18s at this point!

A Steve Court update as well as he's pretty much world class at this point - the first one I've been able to keep a hold of (and he's signed a new contract!):

Absolutely popped off this year with 49 goals - full stats here. He signed a new contract half way through the season (after making noises about wanting to leave), so I'm actually confident of keeping him for the forseeable future. He's only 21 as well, so this Champions League window I've mentioned might be a long one!

Last 5 Years:

Court is incredible!

Who are the other top players you have at the moment? Leighton seems to lead the assists/highest average rating more often than not!

April 17

13 hours ago, Padders said:

Season 97 - 2019/20 - SBC

You are going to love this bottlejob

Sat top two, for 99% of the season

Last game of the season, have to beat Stockport who are 21st and already avoided relegation

We of course lose that and finish 3rd , two points top and one point off 2nd

Playoff Semi Final, we lost first leg 0-1 but turnaround the 2nd leg to win 5-0

Of course we lost the final vs Cardiff 1-3 AET

Looks like you've had quite a few elite talents coming through past few seasons and a number of decent players under 25 so looks promising for next few seasons.

Any of those coming through stand out?

Seems your Brazilian full back is doing well!

April 10

On 04/04/2024 at 13:54, Skora11 said:

I have started one with FC United of Manchester. Decent enough first season without being spectacular, finished mid table after going 8 games without a win to start the campaign (lack of a goalie really costing me as would have been 4th based on xG table).

Made a better start to season 2 and in the play-off positions after 10 games. Will post a more detailed update when I get the chance.

Second season petered out after a dismal end to the season. Was only playing with a few players and not rotating the team enough and think this caught up. My 3 best players all refused to sign new deals and I didn't think about the 2 year option you can offer (along with the max 2 year deals at part time level) and have seriously struggled season 3. Poor GK's in each intake - almost as bad as my greyed out options, along with a poor defense meant it was impossible to stop conceding goals.

Third season looks like it could be game over, although got a great youth intake preview which has kept me going trying to fight to stay up. If this fails I am going to re-start the challenge with FC United of Manchester and learn from the mistake I have made in this attempt.

April 4

3 hours ago, Padders said:

Lots of new people starting the challenge recently

Great to see

Good luck all

I have started one with FC United of Manchester. Decent enough first season without being spectacular, finished mid table after going 8 games without a win to start the campaign (lack of a goalie really costing me as would have been 4th based on xG table).

Made a better start to season 2 and in the play-off positions after 10 games. Will post a more detailed update when I get the chance.

March 13

Your best players that you have posted above don't seem to fit the 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 style as none of the best 5 or 6 players are 'wingers'. Your two best players are definitely your two full backs.

For me it makes most sense to change formation completely to get the absolute best out of these two players by pushing them into the wing back positions and play them in an attacking manner. I would suggest tweaking he formation to have these two players providing the width with maybe 2 players in the AM strata behind a lone striker. You have a few good central players there so definitely have enough to fill the middle of the park.

February 12

On 09/02/2024 at 16:09, Padders said:

Season 55 - 2078/79 - SBC

Out of absolute nowhere we have finished 3rd and in the playoffs

Something clicked with the front 3 and scored loads of goals

We beat Crystal Palace over the two legs in Semi Finals 4-3 on aggregate

We play Ipswich in the final

A terrible start, going 3-0 down in the first half

BUT

The lads turned it around to draw 3-3 AET

On to penalties we go.............

We win 5-4 on penalites!

Into the Premier League we go

One thing I will say, absolutely no way we are ready for PL

Upgrade in training facilities approved

Once getting out the conference it has been a fairly quick rise 👏

Who are your best players and the best youngsters coming through?

February 8

16 hours ago, Anners said:

Previous Post:

2059/60 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish Premiership

League:

Nearly the most sane and calm league we've had in Scotland for about 20 years now. Everyone roughly finished whereabouts they should finish, with Celtic and Hearts underachieving quite a bit here. We had a bit of a shocking start (8 points from the first 7 games) which meant we lost ground on Hibs who almost led from start to finish. We're now at the point where we've got one of the best defences in the league finally (it helps when you're able to keep your players!) with the back-ups being of a decent enough standard to sub in as well. We finished poorly as well which didn't help, although reasons for that are below...

Europe:

Still not the big trophy, but we're getting closer and closer every few years!

Results:

Hide contents

We lost 3 games in the Europa League and somehow both of them were to teams that I really shouldn't have been losing to! We really should have breezed past Betis in the Semi Final too, but we surrendered a 2-0 lead to somehow lose 4-2 and then blew them off the park in the return leg in Scotland.

On first glance, facing Liverpool in a European final, I expected a bit of a battering considering my record against English sides. However they're actually a mid-table team at the moment, only getting into Europe by finishing 7th, only 2 points ahead of 11th!

We left it a liiiiitle bit late, but Zhelyazkov is becoming a bit of a hero for us! Top scorer in the Europa League itself with 14 goals, he left his most important 2 till the last moment! I'd have actually been incredibly disappointed if we lost considering how tight it was.

Cups:

In the words of a great poet, "Oops, I did it again!".

That's 4 consecutive Scottish Cups for us now. We're apparently a cup team now. Might actually help in the Champions League if we can get out the League Phase next year! We're still not good enough to go far in the main cup though, so anything past the Round of 16 in the Champions League would be a success for us really.

Youth Intake:

Although what does help is a rather decent intake! 2 Full 5 star potentials, both with Perfectionist personalities? Loving. It.

Cameron Macdonald and Bede Simon both look rather decent, although the last few prospects we've had like this haven't actually got anywhere close to decent ability so I'm a bit more cautious now! They will obviously be helped by our beloved Solomon Frimpong in the under 18s whilst he finishes his career. He's still not fallen off from the last screenshot (although the physicals are starting to go). Still popped up with another 11 goal season in 32 league games, so he's still very useful.

He's also on 969 total appearances for the club, so there might be some lovely 90th minute sub appearances for him next season to get him to the 1000 mark!

Full History:

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Last 5 Years:

What are your two 5* perfectionist youth intake starting atts like? With the perfectionist personalities they will develop rapidly I would imagine.

February 1

57 minutes ago, Padders said:

Season 42 - 2065/66 - SBL2

We have drawn Man Utd in the 4th Round of the FA Cup

And managed to draw 3-3 for a replay at Old Trafford

and we nearly FM'd them

Losing in ET

Nice chunk of cash though

In the league, we managed to finish 4th and into the playoffs again

Our form was very good going into the playoffs, only losing 2 of the last 12 games

We took that form into the playoffs beating Dorking in the Semi Finals

and Accrington in the Final

Into League One we go...............

Won Manager of the Season and had three players in Team of the Season

Flying now 👏

Who are your best players and are they ready for the step up to League 1?

January 29

14 minutes ago, Ein said:

Most top teams will play an attacking/high press style* because they can afford to buy the best players but it's still possible to do well/overachieve with defensive/counter attacking tactics. West Ham are a case in point. The OP's point is that it no longer seems possible to do well with a defensive tactic, as West Ham are doing IRL, in contract to an offensive tactic like gegenpress.

*The claim is in itself arguable. We've had winners of European competitions (West Ham, Roma), winners of the Serie A (Conte's Inter), winners of La Liga (Atletico). Juventus are currently second with below average possession and progressive passes, etc.

The teams you have mentioned might set up in a more defensive minded formation but there is no way you can say Conte's or Simeone's teams don't do a hell of a lot of pressing.

January 29

How many successful teams play a defensive style these days IRL?

If you look at just about every top team in world football they play a high press style.

January 17

4 hours ago, ToMexico!! said:

The save is struggling to bring them through at the Spanish sides, it seems to have dried up since the first intake. I'm going to persevere as I'm enjoying the save but I may have to select another nation like Comoros or Seychelles and bring their players in to help strengthen and improve the side.

I look forward to seeing your newgens.

Here is my wonderkid French Basque. Although he was born in Bilbao.

January 17

I currently have a Bilbao save on the go so really interesting following your save.

Once I am home I will post a link of a few French Basque regens I have came through the academy so far.

January 3

On 26/12/2023 at 23:39, bold013hades said:

Here is a guide I wrote up for doing just what you're looking for.

Thanks, will check that out!

December 23, 2023

17 hours ago, Dr Naysay said:

You can but with the editor and not the in game editor and it can be time consuming at first. Go in to the editor and click on regions and then type in Ayrshire and then go on to cities. Like so.

From there note all the cities or villages listed in there. Then go in to your game scouting section set up a scouting search filter like what i have done for Galicia here and you will get all the players from that region. I do wish SI would offer a regional search option in the scouting section that would make this all easier.

Thanks, is this a list of all the cities it shows in the editor? If there isn't a way to hardcode I'm not really keen on buying the editor just to check this.

If there are others, could you list them for me if possible and I'll add the custom filters. Thanks again pal.

December 22, 2023

Hi guys,

I am looking to re-create the Bilbao philosophy for my local team (Kilmarnock) and wondering if this is something that can be done with the use of the in-game editor? I would like to only be able to sign players from Ayrshire and see if I can lead them to glory.

Thanks

December 21, 2023

I am looking to replicate the Bilbao model with my local team (Kilmarnock). Does anyone know how to implement a strict board policy where I could only sign Ayrshire based players?

December 18, 2023

15 hours ago, skybluedave said:

I'm gonna have to stop this save

For some reason I can't offer anyone any wages anymore and I don't know why. Maximum I can offer youth players is 1k a week so can't get my first batch of (very good) youth candidates contract

I'm well under my wage budget by 100 odd grand. Both club one and league salary one.

I'm guessing it's coz I'm in the red for balance but that should clear once next season roles around, bit harsh that this would stop me offering even basic wages for youth guys

Just get your DoF to sign the recommended youth players and then can offer them full time contracts in next season.

I think it's due to FFP but should sort itself out when new season starts.

December 14, 2023

4 hours ago, makavali said:

Saw this on Reddit today. Second season, managing Brighton, and the guy wins the QUINTUPLE. I don't care if they used an overpowered tactic or bought every OP wonderkid, it should not be possible. Not sure whether we should cry or laugh.

Also, I noticed above that someone said that there are a lot of goals being scored at the very beginning of a match and I've noticed as well. If you're a strong favorite, you will be up 2-0 within the first 20 minutes, killing any kind of potential drama. It's so easy and so predictable that I've completely stopped playing the game. I truly truly truly hope that the difficulty question will be looked into within the next patch.

This really tells you nothing. Did they save-scum until getting desired results? Add another manager and give Brighton extra money/players? Use the in-game editor? Use a formation that exploits the ME?

December 14, 2023

22 minutes ago, Anners said:

Previous Post:

2049/50 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish Premiership

League:

I'd say I was the biggest disaster in the league. Until I say St Johnstone finished 2nd, 4 points behind champions Celtic last year. This league is getting incredibly weird.

The only way I can describe this season, to which I would say 9th is flattering (especially given the points total), is that you see them teams that over achieve and get a European spot, then struggle to handle the games and the demand that comes with it? Yeah that was us. We had a massive injury crisis which led to Fordyce being out for 2/3rds of the season, Frimpong just couldn't stay fit and we couldn't keep the same 11 on the pitch. Add to that, the African Nations meant when Frimpong eventually got fit, he went away for a month too!

Europe:

Oooh, I've got a fancy Europe bit now! For one season anyway...

I was actually reasonably surprised we managed to get through Besiktas, given we were already picking up injuries at the point. We had to give a debut to Callum Liddell (who is mostly just reserves) who promptly scored a 15th minute goal in the away leg in Turkey which actually got us through. Then I don't even know what happened in the Maccabi Haifa game, but that was alright! Though you can mostly sum up my European adventure by saying Tranent 0-2 Fiorentina. Playing a team in the knockouts straight away that you've faced in the League Phase is a bit weird.

Youth Intake:

Very meh, probably the worst I've had in this save so far.

In other youth/team news though, we've had 3 players on the NXGN list:

Although quite soon after this, Blackburn activated Proychev's release clause, so we've sadly lost him. We do seem to have a fairly strong group of left backs, so it isn't a huge loss.

Facilities wise, we've managed to get a new stadium!

Though I'm actually quite gutted by the name - I wanted at least a Legend/Icon named stadium. Foresters Park where we play now is being sold out every game with a 5,000 capacity so this should do nicely. It'll also mean if we get European football again we can play in our stadium as ours was too small.

And finally, we did get a takeover...... but not the Tycoon one sadly. It actually puts to bed the question of ownership as I don't think I've actually had this many attempts before?

That's a lot of screenshots from me for a change - but we seem to be making that next step off the field. Now if we can only match that on the field!

Full History:

Hide contents

Last 5 Years:

Don't think you are too far away now. Been following your progress with great interest. I'll eventually re-start my challenge in Scotland after a Bilbao save I have got going.

December 13, 2023

3 hours ago, Mitza said:

I'm losing my mind over this. I've replayed two games about 7-8 times each, against Chelsea and Aston Villa. Every time with different tactics, different team selections, different mentalities, different approaches over all.

I've won the PL, UCL and cup last year as Brighton and have a world class squad. This tactic and the slightly more defenisve variations got me a quadruple last season.

Replayed this Aston Villa game and conceded 3 goals in the first 30 minutes for the third replay in a row. Three goals out of 3 shots in 0.31 xG.

And guess what, just as I was writing this post, it happened again - for the fourth time in a row, conceded 3 in the first 30 minutes. EDIT: four goals* in under 30 min. Two out of random free kicks.

My world class attackers (attached) shoot every one-on-one and tap-in wide, or in the post. Never seems to happen as bad in home games. Goalkeeper blasts it long when there are no opposition players around my defence with distribute to centre/full backs on.

On a winning streak, finished first in the UCL qualifiers, fighting for the title, could win 5-0 in a home game against 2nd place. Morale of most of my squad is deep green (perfect or excellent). Aston Villa has won 2 and lost 3 out of their last 7 games.

I'm strongly against FM conspiracy theories, but the games makes it really hard to disregard the allegations that it forces you on a bad form when you're doing too well.

Rant over, but I'm curious if anyone else has tested replays and experienced the same

You're listing off your achievements while also essentially admitting to save scumming

Take the L and move on...

December 1, 2023

4 hours ago, Anners said:

I had the thought of "should I put a screenshot in" as well!

Here he is - made the Ghana 40 man World Cup Squad but didn't get picked sadly:

Top class for that level.

What has his progression been like since he came through? Obviously part-time will stunt the growth but has he still improved a decent amount in that time?

December 1, 2023

5 minutes ago, Anners said:

Previous Post:

2041/42 Season Report

Club: Tranent FC (Scotland)
League: Scottish Championship

League:

Bit disappointed from this season - we had an extremely poor middle of the season and just couldn't pick up the points. As long as I can keep Solomon Frimpong, I think we'll keep in the top half of the table anyway. Thankfully, he's actually quite happy and signed another deal too. I've also made him captain so you might as well change our name from Tranent to Frimpong FC!

We got to the fifth round of the cup again - but we didn't draw Hibs this time, but instead the other side of Edinburgh in Hearts. A 2-1 loss knocked us out at the stage we seem to be getting to every year, so it's not too disheartening. More just where we'd expect to be every year.

Youth Intake:

To match the very mid season, we get a very mid youth intake. Nothing much to really say here either!

Little round up here - Youth Setup costs are still absolutely killing us and we need to get promoted in the next couple of years to be able to offset the costs I think. That, or selling Frimpong as his value is getting up to the £2m mark. He managed a club record 34 goals this season and is going from strength to strength, so to sell him would be to somewhat admit defeat as we're completely reliant on him. Could be some very difficult decisions ahead if we don't get promoted.

Enjoying following your journey with Tranent after having started one in Scotland and getting Cowdenbeath (although still in the job, I just couldn't get in to it). I might start another in Scotland at some point right enough.

Would be great to see a screenshot of Frimpong, enjoy seeing how players have progressed (if at all, when still part time).

November 24, 2023

Have started a save with Bilbao and really enjoying it so far. I am currently in January and have myself sitting 3rd, with the pick out result beating Barca away 2-0 with the 2nd goal being an absolutely beauty. Must have been 30 odd passes building out from the back and playing through the Barca press.

Anyway, Guruzeta may not have the greatest attributes in the game but he scores the goals when thrown in. Scored a few vital winners from the bench and also when he gets a start seems to pop up with a few. Nico Williams is on fire with 14 goals from 20 games and a 6 or so assists from the right wing. He is currently unhappy though as City put an £80mil offer in which I knocked back. All his team mates have agreed with my treatment though (apart from Inaki).

My only signing, which I have only just made in the January window, is Alvaro Djalo.

November 17, 2023

2 hours ago, heutheo said:

2 updates

1. 18 games winless run (90 minutes)

2. this guy

so please just pray that I won't get sacked before he is 17 and I can actually play him

Would it hamper his development if you were to play him before then?

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Posts posted by Skora11