SteinkelssonFM

A curve ball in the market , in the form of Newcastle United. The joys of the transfer window, you take a step back, admire your squad and start to dream of the good times to come...only for Newcastle United to submit a bid for your 'Number 1'. The fee which was presented was that of £49 million, a number which you really can't refuse, especially for a 31 year old, even if he was outstanding last season! I have seen many a blogger and YouTuber give their thoughts on the GK and how they can't see too much difference between a world class keeper and your run of the mill three star player, due to the flaws within the M.E. Lopes' deal was one a multiple signings which Newcastle have made since the start of the game, Dani Olmo joined from RB Leipzig (£62m), William Carvalho from Real Betis (£33m), Joel Veltman from Brighton (£20m), Giorgian De Arrascaeta from Flamengo (6.75m) and Chancel Mbema from Porto for free. Managed now by Paulo Fonseca, I am keen to see how the progress this season in the Premier League. Robert Sanchez is not a flashy goalkeeper. At 6'6" and with a muscular build, he has superb reach (Jumping Reach 18) and can take up strong, deep starting positions safe in the knowledge he has the arm length and dive to get most shots (Reflexes 15). The Spaniard is also very loud, very audible when coming for crosses and holds a significant presence in his area (Command of Area 17). Another strong point is his distribution. Sanchez has excellent feet (Passing 14), he is also adept at throwing the ball out (Throwing 14) which could be an asset in looking to spring the counter through distribution to wide defenders. Musa Barrow is an individual who is great at transitioning quickly into attack, combining his clever body positioning (Agility 15) with creative touches (Flair 16) and turns to set the ball onto his front foot and drive directly at unsteady defences (Acceleration 15 and Pace 16). Despite only holding a DNA profile of 105 (Positioning 2 and Leadership 9) he aligns well with the other attributes (Anticipation 14, Composure 14, Flair 16, Vision 11, Technique 14, Passing 11 and First Touch 14) making him an appealing option. In my opinion every pack of cards holds a 'Joker'. Above is a look at the squad as we enter the second season, with UCL football the rotation will need to be carefully considered to ensure that we don't de-rail our own challenge for silverware, like we nearly did in season one. The Graduates As stated, I aim to promote three players from the Lyon 2 side each year into the first team, this years graduates are as follows. Hugo Vogel will be given the opportunity to breakthrough, playing second string to Emerson. The Frenchman is capped at U18 level and possesses a fairly well rounded profile when looking at his attributes. The standout ones being Tackling 16, Determination 14, Teamwork 14 and Work Rate 15, you can see he isn't like for like when comparing him to the Italian. However, I am certain his engine will get him through games and over time his technical skills improve. Bradley Barcola continues his development and has earnt his place in the first-team off the back if his performances last season. The 19 year old, yet to score in Ligue 1 will need to change that if he is to earn the right to holding down a place with the big boys. At 24 Pape is no doubt a late bloomer. The Senegalese International somehow found himself in the Lyon 2 side despite holding a very strong DNA (114). His standout attributes are First Touch 14, Passing 14, Technique 14, Anticipation 14, Off the Ball 15, Teamwork 15, Work Rate 15, Acceleration 14 and Pace 14, I know right! Ones to Watch Players who are currently in the Lyon 2 side who came close to getting a call up are as follows, let's see how they all progress this season in Lyon 2. On loan last season at Villefranche Beaujolais (National) the midfielder averaged 7.13 and scored 4 goals along with his 4 assists, ideally a loan spell with a Ligue 2 side would be grand. The same applies to Mohamed who had a similar season to Sanchez last season at Lyon for the second team. A loan move to Auxerre was secured at the midpoint of last season for Lenny, he hit the ground running in Ligue 2 scoring 10 goals and adding 2 assists to his name, also grabbing four POTM awards along the way!

Can you actually believe it Che Adams!

FM22: LES GONNES — SEASON ONE ANALYSIS Season one has been completed and I must say I am really enjoying my time in France, a league which I will no doubt appear in again with the next edition of Football Manager. As always PSG have dominated the league, they finished the season with a goal difference of +75. (How can I compete with that) Taking Qatar out of the equation the competition between ourselves, OGC Nice and Monaco was fierce, everything you would want in a title race. Credit goes Christophe Galtier and his OGC team as they only succumbed to three defeats across the campaign (Troyes, Lens and Lyon) in which they outperformed their expected points by +19. Angers were the side which performed worse than expected (-11 points) However, even when looking at the table using xPTS they still finished rock bottom. Our performances deteriorated significantly over the month of March, a trend which had often occurred during my time in France with OGC Nice in FM21. I often associated this with the winter break and also the return of continental football increasing the demand of the playing squad. One win in eight fixtures was enough for me to trial out my Mario Zagallo tactic with OL, given the fact we have an abundance of 10s (list) the false 4–3–3 felt like a great option. Looking at our general performance in the league we can be proud that we have performed above all metrics highlighted in the general performance radar. The 91% pass completion is one which I am proud of given the fact that my aim was to implement a possession based (vertical) game. Looking at the ‘Team Attacking’ visualisation within the hub, it highlights just how good we were on the ball, drawing 15.45 fouls per game. We also averaged 15.16 shots per game and boasted a Shots on Target Ratio of 47.40 which was above the league average, the boys weren’t wasteful with their decision making in this department. On the flipside, our ‘Team Defending’ visualisation has been heavily impacted by our dominance of the ball, we have performed less clearances, blocks and attempted less tackles than the average side, which is pretty self-explanatory. Looking at our end of season tool, the good old squad analysis, individuals such as Damien Da Silva, Julian Pollersbeck, Karl Toko Ekambi and potentially Jerome Boateng (Highest earner £82k p/w) can look to be moved along. The squad have a total of seven players frequently featuring who are in their prime, three players who are experienced and and three players in their youth gaining above average minutes, offering a good blend. Due to the potential departure of Boateng, I have opted on securing the signature of Oumar Solet. The 22-year-old defender returns to OL after departing for Austria at the end of 2019/20, Solet has a primary DNA score of 77 and total of 119. Moussa continued his emphatic form in front of goal to secure the Ligue 1 Golden Boot. My love for analysis took me down another rabbit hole where I compared his performances to the top scorers in the other four of the big five leagues. (eyebrows will be raised when you look at the winners). Dusan Vlahovic secured the European Golden boot with 27 goals in Serie A. However, looking purely at non-penalty goals our Frenchman finished joint top with Valencia’s Maxi Gomez. Che Adams of Southampton boasted the best conversion rate, whilst Erling Haaland amassed the most shots with a whopping 155. Dembele really stood out when looking at his non-penalty expected goal per shot score of 0.14, this figure was significantly higher than the majority of the field with only Gomez scoring a value over 0.10. This credits both Dembele and the teams ability to present the forward with opportunities in good goal scoring positions, I’m not entirely certain but I think a clear cut chance has an xG of 0.15 which speaks volumes. Moussa has been fundamental in OL’s successs in Ligue 1 this season, he has doubled our second highest goal contributor in Houssem Aouar, to say we are over reliant on the Frenchman is probably an understatement at present. Despite Faivre, Emerson and Aouar all having good seasons in relation to goals and assists, if you take Moussa out of the squad we don’t have anyone to lead the line at his level. Therefore, there is a necessity to secure the signing of an individual who is happy to play second or even third string (not to block the development of Barcola). In my opinion I am thinking of someone like Zlatan Ibrahimovic (1016 minutes played) and the impact he has had for Milan across their Scudetto winning season. Aulas and his vison for the club to have an improved synergy to the OL DNA lead me to create the below visual/tracker which shows how the playing squad align to the DNA. The primary attributes are those that are greatly linked to the mental attributes of the player (Anticipation, Composure, Flair, Leadership, Positioning and Vision) whilst the secondary are more technical (First Touch, Passing and Technique) The below is an example of how player shortlists are created within the game, the custom view enables me to easily see at a glance how potential targets align with the OL DNA. This example focusses on central midfielders, Tanguy Ndombele is set to leave OL at the end of the season and Habib Keita hasn’t shown his ability to fill the void when provided with chances in the team, therefore there is a need to strengthen this area of the squad. Many of you will have noticed that Matias Vecino is available on a free transfer at the end of the first season. The Uruguayan is an attractive option to bolster any side and his primary DNA score of 80 made him too good to refuse. Vecino, a player who has just finished his prime and entering the decent of his career is a mental beast and will absolutely add significant value both on and off the pitch. Diversity is the spice of life right! It would have been exceptionally rude of myself to not sign my golden boy Ludovic Blas, my go to midfielder within Football Manager. The 24 year old signature was secured from Nantes for £6.25 million, Blas has a primary DNA score of 78 (ranked 5) and when combined with his secondary DNA (46) sees him score a total of 124 (5th place). His ability to operate as the advanced playmaker (433) or even shadow striker (False 433) makes him the perfect acquisition for such a small fee. Given the fact that Emerson would be scheduled to leave Lyon at the end of his loan spell it was necessary to explore the market to establish if there is anyone available who is delivering outputs week in week out at a similar level to the Italian. The below is an analysis of all left sided defenders who have accumulated over 2,000 minutes of league football across the 2021/22 season in the top five leagues (England, France, Spain, Germany and Italy) along with Portugal and the Netherlands. Apologies in advance — medium isn’t the best for uploading images! However, you can see when slicing the data across two metrics. Clear cut chances per 90 (vertical) and Dribbles per 90 (Horizontal) adds real emphasis in relation the outputs which Emerson has created whilst wearing an OL shirt, he is an outlier and would be hard to replace. Ben Chilwell and Thierry Correia are hitting dribbles per 90 (2.4)closest to Emerson (3.4), however both individuals are out of our price range. Whilst only Nuno Mendes and Maximilian Wittek are out performing the Italian in relation to chances created per 90. Don’t get me wrong we still looked at a few of the potentials, Federico Dimarco of Inter (wanted £100k p/w contract), Owen Wijndal (£30m price-tag and wanted by Europe’s elite), Borna Sosa and Rico Henry were also considered although a move to a new league could be a potential problem and for that decision along with the data analysis helped to make us decide to submit an offer. Emerson was delighted to agree terms with OL, the Italian joins from Chelsea after his exceptional season on loan, the initial fee is £17m with a further £17m to be paid across a three year period. I am just going to leave this here…

Thanks @_Ben_ the aim for this save is to complete Aulas' three year cycle and see what can be achieved. That in itself would be grand for me given my recent form (or lack of). Appreciate the compliment on the tracking tool (spreadsheet) not all tracking tools need to be complex, this very basic sheet ticks the boxes for me and helps to keep players outside of the main squad on my radar.

All to play for as we approach the end of season one, PSG will in Ligue 1. However, the excitement comes below them with three sides chasing the two UCL places. @SixPointer looking at those away defeats in greater detail, there is indeed a little trend. PSG away (1-2) - off the back of FC Midtjylland away in the UEL. Nice away (1-2) - off the back of Slovan Bratislava away in UEL. Montpellier (0-2) away - off the back of PSV Eindhoven away in UEL. Monaco away (0-1) - off the back of Coupe de France 11th round Lorient away (0-1) - off the back of Coupe de France Semi final I think squad depth is having an impact when presented with the above. @karanhsingh we could be on for a final vs Real Betis

It is fairly tight at the top, Monaco have just defeated PSG to give OGC Nice a slither of hope in the race for the Ligue 1 title. As for us, March has been our worst month to date which has seen us pick up our only victory in the second knockout round of the Europa League. Our strength lies with our performance at home, we are one of three leagues who are still yet to taste defeat in front of our own fans! On the flip side our 22 points away from home is only enough to see us joint fifth... There are two players in the race for the OL player of the season IMO Dembele (10 POTM awards) and Emerson (8 POTM awards) Unfortunately, the Italian's impressive form hasn't gone a miss from his parent club and with no pre-arranged option to buy it looks as if our main priority in relation to summer recruitment is going to be a left-sided wing-back (attack). You guessed it, a bigger piece on this recruitment/selection will follow....likely after or as a part of the season analysis.

A few days ago I stumbled across an open letter to the Olympique Lyonnais (OL) fans from their owner and president Jean-Michel Aulas. Aulas has been fighting Lyon’s corner for more than 30 years and is renowned for being a gentleman who has a bit of a reputation for being outspoken and forthright with his views. His letter was written with two rounds remaining before the close of the 2021–2022 Ligue 1 season, in which OL have failed to secure a European spot. Lyon is the home to Olympique Lyonnais, one of French footballs most storied clubs. OL were founded in 1950 but, for the most part played a bit-part role in French Football until they were purchased in 1987 by the eclectic Jean-Michael Aulas. OL finally broke through for their first Ligue 1 title in 2001/02, following that up with seven championships in a row until the club’s last in 2008. Underlying the club’s success in the 21st century has been the emergence of an abundance of elite academy talents. In total Olympique Lyonnais generated almost 200 million in transfer revenue through sales of their 1990–1998 academy crop. These are Les Gones, ‘the kids’: the products of a proud city, a proud region, with a deep connection to place and the football team that represents it. From the above quote my interpretation is that Aulas wants to bring the focus back to what has served OL so well for the past few decades, the integration of youth into the first team. With the Under 18s winning ‘The Gambardella’ (U18 cup) this season, crowning an exceptional moment for both the club and les Gones, given the 25 year absence since OL were last crowned victorious, Aulas has good foundations to build on. However, the above quotation highlights that Aulas will not be dismissive of any external talent as long as he believes they are compatible with the philosophy of the club. Again the understanding, appreciation and ability to resonate with these values are essential to recruitment of non-playing staff. I suppose the integration of individuals who have first hand experience of the club help to keep the core values at the forefront of Aulas’ club. THE OL DNA Aulas has made reference to the OL DNA many times in his letter, which I have touched upon above. I wanted to explore if I could pinpoint the OL ‘DNA’, this would be then used as a filtering tool when profiling players to ensure that external acquisitions maintained a synergy with the rest of the playing squad. For me, when applying a DNA model I like to focus on the mental attributes of the team, the brain is the basis of everything we do: how we behave, communicate, feel, remember, pay attention, create, influence and decide. Anticipation — How well a player can predict the movements and other actions of his teammates and opposition players. Composure — How unaffected a player is by mental pressure when making a decision or performing his chosen action. Flair — How well a player takes opportunities to attempt unexpected actions when he is on the ball. Leadership — How inspirational and motivational a player is to his teammates. Positioning — How well a player moves and positions himself, in order to deal with an opposition attack. (Preferred) Vision — How well a player observes the options available to him when he is on the ball. If you don’t have the right cognition, other attributes (Technical, Physical), for me don’t matter. The above attributes are those which are at least 0.5 over the league average and will be desired when scouting players. First Touch — How well a player can control the ball and set it up for his next action when receiving it. Passing  — How accurately a player can pass the ball to his intended target. Technique — How well a player perform more challenging technical actions when he is on the ball. The above technical attributes are those which will then be desired from individuals as these will ensure that the individuals can fit into the style of play which we will be looking to play, which is a quick passing style of possession and movement CLUB CULTURE The culture focuses on what Aulas delivered in his open letter, a need for the development of players using the club’s youth system and a preference towards domestic talent. Looking into Olympique Lyonnais affiliate network you can see OL’s scouts have eyes not just all over the city, but the entire Rhône-Alpes region. The club has links with smaller local teams, creating two-way relationships that give them greater access to the cream of the crop. But Lyon pay attention to players all over France — Ben Arfa, picked up from Paris, was one of there best non-local recruits. THE SQUAD THE TACTIC This tactic is very much the out of the box vertical tiki-taka with a few changes to the player roles to suit the playing staff. There are no PI at present, apart from those which I have selected for the DM, with the view to this player adopting a more riskier approach both on and off the ball with the ‘take more risks’ to get his creative juices flowing and ‘tackle harder’. The DM will often be the first player opponents engage with on transition, I want it to be an experience which they don’t forget too soon. THE DATABASE Daveincid Medium DB Check out the size of the boy… with 64 playable leagues in 41 Nations with 204,000 players, thanks to Daveincid and the reccomneded game and database setup which can be found on Passion4FM. This setup will guarantee a well balanced transfer market, and strong competitors. All matches will be played out in full detail, resulting in comprehensive statistics for the other leagues, leading to a better quality of data analysis. THE OBJECTIVES Aulas made reference to a three-year cycle, therefore my aim is to see how far I can take his club over that time period. I am well aware that if achieved, this will be my longest FM22 save (yes, I have had what we call in Bristol a mare!) The five year plan is to continue to be recognised as ‘the best of the rest’ which in my opinion translates as UEFA Champions League qualification through Ligue 1 and the ability to compete on all fronts year in year out. Given the nickname of the club, Les Gones (the kids) it would be rude of me not to try and hold some significance around this being a youth development save. Therefore I will look to apply some of my knowledge which I captured in FM22: Youth development — building a football club and focus on providing the first team with three players per season from either Lyon 2 or the U19s.

It would be lovely to see a running flow of xG for and against within the fixtures/results view to see how both fluctuate over a period of time. At present I am having to write them all into excel to see a comparison over time.