Shrewnaldo

How's Fornals responded to being left out of the squad? Sounds like dynamics are an issue with that, Isco and Fekir... Yet not affecting results

Do you think Tchetchoua would accept a loan move for a season? Bring in some experience to cover the survival bid and let him fill his boots somewhere else to develop?

Definitely keen on exploiting the right traits. I already have one midfielder with some useful stuff likes "gets into opposition area" but it's his lack of pace which is holding him back. But it looks like the treq is dead. Just fell off a cliff after a few games and I've shifted back to the DLF(A) which is, thus far, proving a way letter combination with a playmaker at MC Thanks very much! No I don't look at CA/PA it hidden attributes. I did use the editor for the youth training issue I was having but that's it. In terms of inspiration, I just haven't played this way for a while so it was partly a case of brushing off the old play style and partly picking up on others' success. I can specifically recommend the Evidence Based FM videos on intakes and what influences their quality and progression At this point, I'm just a little wary of building towards some traits that become unsuitable if/when I switch the system a bit. But there are some things I see being perennial necessities - a midfield runner, for example. So that's an easy start. One thing I find really interesting is the coaches' feedback if they think a trait is unsuitable for a player. "This trait suits players who can do x and that isn't true of this player" when I hadn't intuitively associated that trait with x at all.

Great effort getting promoted. Even as a reader, it feels crazy that you've been at Bochum two seasons. Feels like you've been playing fast 11 in 17 feels like a decent goalkeeping performance to me, got to be honest. Re Fernandez, was the bigger underperformance on xG or xA? Because the latter isn't really his fault?

I think my issue with the treq dropping deep is that I always think that runners from deep should be more advanced in FM. It's coming with time but the CM(A) and IF(A) don't consistently make that darting movement I'd expect them to. As such, I wonder if it's more about moulding the players around the treq than switching away from the role? The CF(A) is certainly one I've been thinking about and I had a brief experiment in a recent 1-0 loss to Girona. Something didn't quite click for me - again, I think more about how the other roles reacted rather than the CF(A) itself but we didn't get the ball into the final third nearly as much as with the treq. I'd switched the B2B to an AP(S) to reintroduce some creativity so maybe it was just that the ball got pulled a bit deeper by the playmaker effect. I'll keep experimenting.

Brief bit on the squad A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón Conscious that I've prattled on about tactical nonsense for a few posts, I just wanted to give a brief update on the status of the squad and recruitment over the summer. A couple of the deals were pretty straightforward with much maligned Cuban goalkeeper CJ Sánchez finally exhausting my patience with his xGP underperformance. He was replaced by Gaizka Ayesa from Bodø/Glimt. The Sociedad academy player moved to Molde in 2024 before moving even further north in 2026 for £3m. He was the best performing Spanish goalkeeper in terms of xGP and I really like some of his base goalkeeping attributes such as Reflexes and Handling. Whilst I'd prefer his Positioning in particular to be better, he is also really handy at playing out from the back. So far, a step up on Sánchez. I could have continued with Mareo-graduate Carlos Gil, the undoubted Great Asturian Hope for in goals, but I decided that he'd be better off with at least a season in LaLiga2 and Ayesa's arrival meant Gil move to Ferrol on loan without having to accept Sánchez's lettuce wrists. At 27, Ayesa should offer solid re-sale potential in a season or two when Gil is ready for the first team. Really pleased with these moves. Less pleasing was Manuel Navarro's departure to Spurs. I'd just promoted the guaje to the first team and was going to give him 12-18 games in a combination of centre back and inverted full back from the left. I went to offer him a new contract in order to increase his minimum release clause but he turned down our advances, citing the interest from big clubs... and Tottenham duly provided the £8.5m to take him to North London. Where he will no doubt sit on the bench allowing me to re-sign a wasted talent in two seasons. Gutting because Navarro was one of my favourite prospects in defence, second only to fifth intake star Mouriño. With Lucas Ferreras falling short of lofty expectations and the likes of Welton needing another season on loan or in the B-team to develop, I decided to recruit some defensive strength - but twinned with some ballplaying ability. Ladislav Krejčí certainly meets that remit - turning in some exceptional numbers in aerial ability, tackling and progressive passes whilst starring for Sparta Prague since the save began. A left-footer, he can partner Gragera at centre-back meaning he becomes the central of the back three in possession and allows me to use Mexican pair Jesús Orozco Chiquete and Alejandro Gómez as options to cover both centre back and left back. I should also mention Manu Garcíá who I signed on a free from Aris. A Mareo graduate, García moved to Man City in 2014 before loan spells with Alavés, NAC Breda and Toulouse. Never quite making it, he moved to Greece in 2022 and has done pretty well out there - convincing me to bring him back for some homegrown creativity. Sadly, two weeks after finalising his pre-contract, he did his cruciate and it has absolutely killed his physicals. I'm not sure how he'll recover at 30. The guaje (newgen) count in the first-team is now up to 6 with Domingo Escribano, Javi, Hugo Quiñones and Carlos Rojas all promoted full-time to join Polo and Aguirre. It would be 7 but Gil is out on loan. He's not the only one either as I've looked to take advantage of the loan market with two primary reasons in mind: for some it's their last chance to prove they have some potential - Welton, Jaime Luis and Ochoa key on this list for others, it's about making sure they get 25-30 games this season when they'd likely be usurped by stronger prospects already in the B-team and under-19s - Seydou Diawara and José Antonio Vaquero standing out here Speaking of the B-team, they're still in the Primera having finished 3rd last season but failed in the playoffs. Meanwhile my unde-19s won 28 of 30 league games last term, scoring 94 goals whilst they were at it. Sadly, they too fell at the playoffs - beaten 2-1 over two legs by Barcelona's youth team. Lastly, we've had our first full international from the Mareo newgen graduates, with Romanian holding midfielder Florin Chiripuş winning senior caps following his loan move to Cluj. I'd always preferred other options to Chiripus - prioritising the development of Escribano and Rojas in central midfield - but he's clearly a very handy player and will be another one that will be in first-team contention next season if he continues to improve at this rate.

You mean like this one? If so, yes. Although I've obviously annotated it with the lines etc using the SnagIt I often find myself reverting to the 2d when I'm doing tactics analysis stuff

Tactics Schmactics Part Two continued... So for the second half I've decided to give the left-winger a PI to get further forward. I like that he drops off to offer an option out of defence and hopefully draw the press from the opposition right-back but I do want him to then push forward and look to get the ball back in behind. So we'll see if this makes a difference. Pretty uneventful 20 minutes or so but, after 64 minutes it is noticeable how knackered my four advanced midfielders are. A relatively high pressing, attacking system will do that to you I guess - recorded at about 75% or 'high' intensity on the tactics screen. So I guess it's either substitutions or reducing the intensity. Given we're 2-0 up, a bit of both makes sense so I start with the two in the middle. Guaje Hugo Quiñones comes on for Varane as the B2B and Roberto López replaces Molinas at CM(A). I've also reduced the tempo in the TIs and removed the Pass Into Space TI which appears to have done nothing whatsoever. Finally, I've pulled us back to a mid-block but kept the trigger press at mid-high. After 70 minutes, there's still little of note occurring but Gaspar at AML is injured and comes off for Javi. The latter is left-footed so it'll be interesting to see how he performs differently to the right-footed Gaspar. I also take the opportunity to sub off Rosas, knackered at CWB, and bring on Francisco Moreno. Incidentally, I've been keeping an eye on how Betis are playing and they haven't really changed much yet. Rodri, their best player, looks to be getting further forward from centre mid but I'm still comfortable with the cover we have from the 3 centre-backs and Escribano as a sitting DM. 10 minutes to go and Betis have definitely started throwing players forward more. I'm not worried about the flanks where we're 2v1 but I've decided to change the B2B to a CM(D), just holding his position more to provide protection. Polo comes on for López at AMR. Ok, really quiet second half sees us leave Seville with a solid 2-0 win against a very handy Betis side. Some thoughts: Defensively we were once again brilliant. Betis had only 4 shots for 0.39xG and failed to hit the target. Whilst they had more possession with 54%, you can see from their 'passes received map' below that they've had very few successful passes into dangerous areas and a lot of their possession comes from passing it between their back 3 and wingbacks. We've had 12 shots for 1.34xG and put 5 on target. So that's ok but we haven't created many really good chances at all. Gragera's goal (left corner of the 6-yard box) has come from a knocked-down set-piece. This makes me doubt the repeatability of the result, despite a good win (shot map below). I really like how using the treq gets my 9 more involved in the game, dropping off the line and encouraging a pass through the lines into advanced areas. However, the trade-off seems to be less involvement for the two central midfielders, receiving only 19 and 34 passes before being subbed off in the 66th minute. Once again, I'm annoyed that the match analysis doesn't show 'Progressive Passes' as a match event because I'd really like to see which players have made most from which positions. But it doesn't. Because reasons. Whilst I liked the treq dropping off to get involved in play, he only took one shot in this match - from the second phase after a corner. This isn't ideal for your striker - it'd be fine if a couple of other players were getting 3-4 shots per game. But they're not. My left-winger had 4 shots but only 1 from 'proper' open play. It's possible that we'd create more if our treq had more suited attributes. Aguirre got one assist from a lovely through ball to the inside forward but his Passing and Vision aren't yet anywhere near good enough to play as a treq. Part of my problem is that he, along with my other strikers, are far more suited to playing high and looking to get in behind. So perhaps Aguirre as the inside forward would be a better long-term option. I really want to get something other than an AF working coherently and this role is probably the lynchpin in getting that whole chance creation thing ticking. The other option is to put Aguirre back in as a Poacher or perhaps a Complete Forward and change the B2B role into the playmaker. An experiment for another match perhaps. I'd welcome any thoughts anyone has based on the screenshots and meandering rubbish I've spouted so far. Always keen for others to prompt ideas in my little head.

Tactics Schmactics - Part Dos A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón Ok, so I found this useful - apologies if it's not a great read as I spam out a few random thoughts during the match, but I find this sort of process really helps me sort out my thoughts about the tactics so I'm doing it again. This time away at Real Betis. In-between the Real Sociedad win, I played Getafe at home and won 3-0 in a relatively impressive scoreline if not performance. Some concerns remained, not least that my striker didn't manage a single tactic. So I'm going to play out the next match with all in-possession instructions removed. Thus: Betis, meanwhile, are starting with a 5-3-2 (using a DM). They've won both home games so far but have lost their two away matches 5-1 and 8-1... So let's play it out and tweak as I go. So the first thing is pretty simple - we've developed play out of defence from the left, crossed midfield with the left winger coming inside and the got the right wingback free to make a cross. We getting decent numbers in the box but I wouldn't say we're flooding it. More importantly, the four players getting into the box are 5'9" Molinas, 5'7" Gaspar, 5'9" Diego López and 5'11" Aguirre. The floated cross which Rosas puts in just isn't it. Indeed crosses aren't really a forté for us at all, so I've added a PI to Rosas as CWB(A) to cross less often and added a TI for low crosses so those we do make are better suited to our attackers. It's also made me wonder whether a winger is the right choice for the left - with their hard-coded 'cross more often' option. But there are no other roles which would keep the player wide in the way I want. Something to keep an eye on when the winger gets the ball in advanced areas. For the moment, he's just coming inside all the time as I'm using right-footed Gaspar on the left wing. After 18 minutes, we've scored. The ball is played out of defence on the left, Gaspar at left wing has played the ball inside to our DM who then plays it forward to Aguirre. This is the Trequartista at 9 who has dropped off deep, takes the ball on the turn and the plays a great through ball for inside forward Diego López from AMR to run through and score. I really like this goal - a lot happens that I want to happen. From the left-winger drawing the press and pulling the right wingback high, to the treq dropping into space, to the inside forward and CM(A) both threatening in behind. Very pleasing. If I'm being picky then I'd really like the left-winger, circled in red, to have played the pass and then looked to run the line for a potential return ball so I'm wondering whether he needs to be switched to an Attack duty or perhaps just a PI to get further forward. Another one just to keep an eye on. I've seen this a few times so just highlighting one example of many. With the treq dropping off the line like this, it encourages a high press from the defensive line and clearly Betis are playing very high here. We've played the ball through Escribano at DM and Molinas at CM(A) to Aguirre at 9. Diego López as the inside forward on the right is threatening in behind and I'd like Aguirre to make the pass into the space. Instead he chooses to play it to López's feet at his back shoulder. It may be because Aguirre isn't entirely suited to Treq thanks to his Passing and Vision, but I'm going to implement the Passes into Space TI for the rest of the half and see if it makes a difference. 2-0 just before half-time as we get a wide free-kick in line with the 18 yard line, swing it to the back post and centre-back Orozco Chiquete knocks it down for his partner Gragera to knock it in from close range. Also lovely. Half-time and I'll take that so far. I'd like to be more dominant in terms of possession and feel like we've given away too many final third passes, implying too much established possession for Betis. But then they are the home side and predicted to finish two places above us so let's not get too worried about it. Second half to follow later as I'm running out of image space.

I'm sure I'd still get assists out of him - he's usually one of my higher assist makers and gets advanced when we're in the final third. It's how he plays in the defensive and middle third that's the issue. Perhaps yours is more advanced thanks to that HB splitting the centre-backs and then effectively turning the DR wingback into a WBR wingback, pushing him higher. But I don't want to use a HB - it annoys me that it's just a case of selecting presets to get basic positioning, instead of just being able to tell the players where I want them to play through the thirds. I can't see any way in which I can get that rightback to have a higher starting position when we're playing through the defensive and middle thirds. There just aren't instructions to allow me to do it. I expect that would help with his starting position but I don't want to do that because the AI doesn't use a 4-3-3 with WB instead of FBs. I'd feel like I was exploiting the game by doing that so I always stick to the defensive shapes that are also available to the AI. I might try that but my expectation is that it won't work. A CWB(A) in an attacking system already has 'very attacking' mentality - despite how he actually behaves on the pitch. The overlap instruction is supposed to reduce the mentality of the AMR and increase that of the DR - but the DR's is already maxed out so... Worth a shot though, even if I don't want to be forced into also reducing the AMR's mentality (although I've just looked and the AMR's mentality always stays as 'very attacking'). I think in my next match, I'm going to remove all in-possession TIs and PIs, to revert to the vanilla and then build from there. I'm really happy with how we're playing defensively so those are fine but reckon a complete reset going forward will be the best way forward, pun intended.

Continued... As expected, the IWB(D) sees the regista and always acts as if they form a double-pivot - thereby holding a much wider position than I want. I'm ok with the regista dropping deep for the ball here as he's that sort of playmaker but I really want the defensive cover to sit inside where I've indicated. I like the #7 holding the width better and I'm enjoying the use of the lone Trequartista up front - even if I feel he could do with a bit more support laterally. Regarding the build-up shape, I guess I have a few options: use two IFBs and a libero to re-create the 3-1 in possession. I don't like this idea as I want to have a 4-1-4-1 shape out of possession and I don't want the in-possession-6 to automatically think he has to retreat to his centre back spot in defensive transition. I like the use of one IFB and a DM Stick with the one IFB and use the DM as a holding player again, i.e. back to the DM(D) which I really like or perhaps even a DLP to give him more licence for line-breaking passes. The question then becomes what to do with the right-back. I want him to be where the #7 is in the screenshot above when we're playing through the middle third but the presets won't allow that and so I'm just stumped. I can't use him as any sort of IWB because then the DM assumes it's a double-pivot and shifts over - again, I don't want that. Switch the AMR to an inside forward on the basis that he'll hold the width as we play through the thirds, then come inside once the ball is moving into the final third as the wingback looks to move forward. This is fine but by god is it boring So that leaves us with a much more orthodox shape in possession, I guess. The centrebacks and IFB are forming the three (ish) and the #8 is sitting in front as the DLP. The #9 as Treq has chosen to drop off here but we have three options threatening in behind. So it's fine. But what is the right back (#12) doing here? What's the point of him? He offers absolutely nothing where he is - he has no hope of getting on the ball, the #6 is offering the pass wide, he isn't covering against any counter threat, he isn't offering a pass through the lines, he isn't even occupying a defender. He's doing absolutely nothing. I really hate non-inverted fullbacks in FM. We ended up winning this game 1-0, our phenomenal goal coming from right-footed left-winger Gaspar who picked the ball up on the intersection of the touchline and halfway line then dribbled past their defence before scoring a belter into the bottom corner. It was not a classic. 9 shots all game. La Real's first coming in the 76th minute as we completely shut them down. So clearly there are some big positives from how we're playing. Defensively, we're great (or at least we were in this game against Real Sociedad's 4-2-3-1), and we've dominated possession in the way I want. Plus we were away to the team expected to finish 5th whilst we're predicted to finish 11th. But just as clearly, there's still a lot of work to be done in terms of making us more of an attacking threat. I think I'll have to just revert to the boring, boring DLP at DM, CWB(A) and IF(A) combination on the right with the two midfield roles swapped. As much as I love the AP(S) from out wide, watching the full match has indicated that it isn't working. The striker role continues to be a conundrum. I am not going to use an AF. It's the obvious answer and I always default to it but no. I'm adamant that I'll be able to use a different role. I certainly liked aspects of the trequartista but the lack of runners in behind is always an issue in FM unless you're using a high striker. So lots still to think about. Our next game is home to Getafe and another I'll work through in full detail.

Working it out tactically A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón I've paused my game halfway through a match at Real Sociedad and will use this post to record my thoughts tactically for the rest of this match. Above, I'd alluded to the tactical issues we'd been having and how they'd led to attacking impotence over and over again. Over the summer break, I'd experimented a bit with 4-2-3-1 but it never, ever works out for me and I always come back to the 4-3-3 shape. Defensively, I just much prefer the 4-1-4-1 shape that it provides and feel like I should be able to work out how to mesh the team into a coherent attacking unit from the 4-3-3 base. Surely? This is the 4-3-3 base that I've been looking to use and is pretty much what brought us a lot of success before, offensively at least, falling to pieces last season. This season, I've decided that I simply want to be better going forward and so have decided to revamp the approach - starting with a switch to an Attacking mentality and a higher press. I want to be more on the front foot so logic dictates this is a sensible place to start. (note, the striker role is very much a W-i-P) We lost the opening game of the season 2-1 away at Real Madrid, hardly an embarrassment and we went toe-to-toe with them for quite a while. We then beat Almería 3-1 at home - although aided by an early red card for the visitors. Regardless, signs of progress. I then decided to watch the next few games in full match and see if I can figure out where I'm going wrong. It's been quite enlightening really and has shown a number of things that I just didn't notice watching on highlights, even comprehensive. So much so that I decided I needed to write them down to: a - remember them all; and b - work out in my head what to do about it. So first up: Here we've been playing out from the back and our left-back, playing as an IFB, has played the ball into the B2B midfielder. Gonzalez has turned and looked to play forward where he has only two options ahead of him. Versus 6 La Real defenders. I know we're playing out from the back but it immediately feels like we need to commit more bodies forward. I like the positioning of Molinas [the CM(A)] and of Polo [the AP(S)] to occupy the left midfielder and the left-back. But I had really expected Rosas, playing as a CWB(A), to be taking up a more advanced position that he is. I really want him up where the yellow arrow is indicating - looking to overload the right-hand side and either pull the left-back out to cover him or be able to exploit the wide open space that's available. Immediately, this is a huge disappointment for me and something that I have noticed time and again with wingbacks from the defensive line. They are preset to stay within the defensive third when you are building from the back and I find it inordinately frustrating that I just can't tell him to play 20 yards further forward. Perhaps if my DM were a half-back and splitting the centre-backs, then the wingbacks would push higher - but I want to use an IFB to create the back three in possession and keep the DM central in front of them at all times. Instead, the back four stay as a back four until we've played into the middle third. Just very frustrating. Later in the same move, Rosas has eventually got the ball down the line, taken on the fullback and put a cross into the box... to one player - a striker who isn't particularly good in the air. We have very little presence in the box and the CM(A), B2B and left winger are all too slow to offer options in the box. It's a curious combination of the play developing far too slowly to exploit the space in the first picture and then, after 5 passes and eventually getting the ball to the same player, too quick for the supporting central runs. Here the ball has been recycled back to our 'keeper and then played out to Gragera - nominally the right centre-back but here forming the right of the three in-possession. I really like that we're stretching the La Real defence with #21 at left-back and #2 at right-back pulled out to the extremes of the box-width. This leave a large area for the two centre-backs to cover and then large gaps in-between. I've paused the game here and would really like to see our #7 (López) make the run indicated, looking for the long-ball over the top from Gragera. Alternatively, Gragera could carry the ball and wait until a defender commits himself and the look for to exploit a potential overload on our right-flank or switch the play to where we've isolated the right back against our left-winger on a 1v1. Instead, he carries the ball right a little and then plays a short pass to our Complete Wingback on Attack Duty in an Attacking system who has retreated to the halfway line. 🤪 At this point, I'm coming to the sad conclusion that the AP(S) from out wide - a role I really love - just isn't working out. When watching on just highlights, I really like the way the AP(S) drops deep and allows the CM(A) and wingback to break beyond him. Watching on full match, I'm seeing how rarely that actually happens and how often he is simply cramping the space occupied by others. Also, the way the CWB(A) is operating as we play through the thirds is just awful and means that we lack any advanced width until we've established final third possession. This isn't the way that I want to play. So at half-time, I've switched things up. Rosas (RB) is injured and is replaced by a more conservative player. So I'm going to switch to this for the second half. It's a bit of an experiment really but I'm looking for the RB to step inside and play in front of the three defenders when we have the ball. That allows Varane to roam forward as a Regista with 'gets further forward' instruction. The CM(A) switches to the left and allows the right-winger to hopefully be isolated against the left-back - with a ball-winner protecting the flank. No idea if it'll work. Incidentally it's 0-0 and whilst we've only had 4 shots for 0.48xG, Real Sociedad have had none. And they're the home team. Before I see anything else, the immediate problem right from kick-off is the regista is so much more aggressive in the press and vacates the DM slot way too early for my liking. The BWM(S) is also a problem because he drops deep through the defensive to middle third transition and sits on top of the IWB(D). So I've switched that midfielder immediately back to a B2B. Ok, posting as I've run out of image space. Will follow up with the next part

Does Raya speak German? Wonder if that's why his influence isn't yet significant? Some signing that

Thanks! I have considered him as a fullback, given the crossing particularly. But I *really* like the combination of Aggression, Bravery and Positioning that he's got going on. If his Strength can grow nicely into his 20s then I'm keen to put him in the middle. If not, then I could well return to the full-back idea. And I know what you're saying and keeping his morale up for the development boost. It's something that bothers me about sending players on loan to weaker sides in relatively good leagues for their level. It's always a risk they just end up slumping in a rubbish team.

What the heck happened here? A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón What an odd season. Our defensive performance improved by 10 goals in the league but our overall performance deteriorated from last season - only by two games really, turning two wins into an extra draw and an extra loss to record five fewer points. That, however, saw us drop to 9th and fail to qualify for Europe next season so it has to go down as a big disappointment. And it's not really hard to see why we failed to capitalise on the stronger defence. Whilst Valencia's xG underperformance was nominally worse than ours, ours represents an 11.8% underperformance against our measly xG of 48.7. From the fourth best attack to the 8th worst, I really can't put my finger on any reason for the sudden dip in goalscoring ability across the entire squad. Clearly the worst culprit was primary 9 Diego López who still ended our season as top scorer but only thanks to Copa del Rey goals against minnows. He managed just 5 in the league this term and might well find himself jettisoned in the summer. Yet overall, it has to go down as a pretty successful season overall. Faced with continental competition for the first time, we still managed a top half finish and were knocked out by Real Madrid in the domestic cup - but the Europa League rather summed up our season. We were moderately dreadful in the league phase - then bizarrely smashed 6 past Qarabag and beat Spurs away to drag ourselves through to the knockouts. We then hammered Young Boys, Braga and Bologna in the home legs before rather less comfortable away fixtures which eventually saw us come unstuck in Italy. And how. We were absolutely cruising on the hour, 5-1 up on aggregate and in complete control of the game. But Chiquete, our best centre back, had gone off injured and Bologna stuck on Chaka Traoré who proceeded to score a hat-trick and assist the other to take us first to extra-time and ultimately to penalties where we'd lose out. Bologna would go on to lose to Man Utd in the final. That second leg came in a group of end-of-season fixtures which saw us conceded 17 goals in 5 games, with our previously rock-solid defence falling to pieces and costing us not only the Europa League quarter but also a chance to re-enter the tournament next season - taking just 7 points from the last 27 available. Dire. I then spent a bit of my 'parental taxi' time this weekend having a think about the save and where we've gone wrong this season. My conclusion, so far, is that I have fallen into the same trap I always do when I revert to 4-3-3: I try to cover every base and the tactic ends up becoming a vanilla meh of nothingness. We're fine, defensively pretty solid for the most part and create mid-table level of chances. With mid-table levels of players, that gets you... well... mid-table. I need to get back out of the vanilla and get some sort of tactical thought together on how to utilise the best players at my disposal. And this includes the best prospects at my disposal - several of which will be promoted to the senior team again this season. Despite the loss of European football and the 8-12 extra matches that goes with it, I want to continue that development route so Manuel Navarro, Hugo Quiñones and Javi will come into the first team squad. They may also be joined by Mario Martínez, Seydou Diawara and latest starlet Jonathan Mouriño. The latter three are more likely to be brought in for the odd game here and there, rather than permanent fixtures in the squad. And what system will these players come into, as I try to digress from the 'vanilla'? Why, an attacking 4-2-3-1 with a high press of course. What could be less vanilla than that?! But, in all seriousness, this suits the players at my disposal and looks to exploit the excellent creativity we have at 10 with Aarón Molinas and Roberto López, and the number of players we have who suit the double pivot. It also keeps the attacking right wing-back given Rosas is one of our best players and allows me to retain the 3-1 build-up shape that I've been enjoying using the IFB to form the 3 and the BWM(D) holding the centre in front of them. Our defensive personnel aren't world beaters so we've been tending to use possession as a defensive tactic and this will look to continue that, whilst I'm hoping the use of a natural 10 will bring us more success in getting the creative players into the right positions - as well as giving that 10 extra runners in front of him for those searching passes. I'm looking forward to working through it and stealing some of the analytical ideas from Ben. Not content with stealing from one fellow FMer, I also really liked the squad planning spreadsheet which Doop posted and have plagiarised the sort of format to improve upon my earlier efforts. This will be fully populated for next season. Finally, I realised that I had forgotten to post our game time statistics and a check back against the targets I'd set at the start of the save. So here are the tables, updated for the last two campaigns. And that has to be the most pleasing bit of all. The entire premise of the save is to make Sporting a successful team but through the development of players from the Mareo academy. We've now met both the 60% target for the number of players in the first team who are 'homegrown', and smashed the 50% threshold for giving the guajes gametime. Ok, this season might have been a blip on the smooth path to world domination but, within the constraints I've set myself, I reckon it's something we can happily accept. ¡Siempre Sporting!

Interestingly, after signing the good ones, we're now up to 4 Elite Talents and 2 Top Talents, including one that I didn't even include in the wrap up above. I don't see it. But like you say, Mouriño is undoubtedly the star of the show. He's already signed his professional contract - the question is just how long until I introduce him to the first team. He really isn't that far off.

This is really interesting. Can you walk me through what you did with Kozíc? Was he always in the first-team squad? Or did you move him up just for the mentoring and then make him available for unders games? Was he solo or multi tutored? In terms of Samake and Bothmann, their Determination is already fine for development. There's a threshold at 10 - under which development suffers and over which development is boosted. But, iirc from Evidence Based FM's videos, there is no further improvement after 10. Of course, Determination is useful for more than development so I'm not saying you shouldn't at least attempt an improvement.

Frustrating as that xG underperformance is, you can't really beat disappointed with that start to the season. Has your xG/shot gone down? Nearly 0.14 is really quite good but I'm guessing that's reduced a lot since promotion? The shots per 90 from individual players still look really healthy

Havertz is a hell of a signing. How are you planning on using him? I see he's not in any of your formation graphics above

Interesting switch up of roles for the 4-3-3. Definitely food for thought in your build up play. I'm sort of the opposite to you in that my 4-3-3 is defensively solid but offensively tepid, so something for me to consider as I'm amending it over the summer. More parallels between our games - I tried to sign Raya but he turned me down on financials. Meanwhile, you'll know Pérez is a Sporting youth graduate and has been excellent me. Sadly his staff attributes are rubbish in my save. I assume the relatively low final third passes (including the drop) is because you're playing quickly once you've baited the press and played out of the middle third?

The Fifth Intake A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón Later, I'll post some detail on how this topsy-turvy season is going but for now it's the best part of the year - the newgen intake. This was the preview, so much as it means nothing whatsoever And that turned into this on the day: So here we go, reacting live. All very exciting. Elite Talents Jonathan Mouriño - Centre back Ok, ok. There's an awful lot to like there. Already 6'1" at 15, his strength *should* increase very quickly in a few years and the rest of his physicals are starting from a great base. Of his mentals, only the Teamwork is lower than you'd like whilst his technicals aren't far off at all. I really like that's he both brave and aggressive with excellent starting Positioning - whilst his Technique and First Touch are already first-team ready as a ball-playing defender. Long story short, Mouriño is very definitely A Special One. Alberto - Right wing Back to the more normal standard of newgens now - promising but a lot of gaps. Physically Alberto passes muster and he has clear technical strengths in First Touch, Passing and Technique - with the Flair to exploit. Crossing, Dribblins, Off The Ball and Vision are just one away from double-digits and I think Alberto's 'eye test' will be so much more favourable when these tick over. But I doubt he'll make an elite winger, in the truest sense, from a starting point of 9 for Crossing and Dribbling. Clearly, the passing is a strength but Composure, Decisions and Vision are perhaps too low for an elite playmaker. Top Talents Carlos Camacho - Goalkeeper Our 17 year old prospect in goal Carlos Gil (3rd intake) is already in the first-team and Spain's under-21 'keeper, so we're no longer desperate for a newgen goalie. Camacho is, I think, a good prospect but I can't see him usurping Gil as first choice. Starting points of 5 for Communication and 7 for Handling and Positioning are just way too low. Even increases by 5 for all three will only get him to mediocre LaLiga level. A good back-up? Perhaps. Oscar Villanueva - Striker Nice beard for 15. 6'4" and good feet for a big man with that Dribbling, First Touch and Technique. Plus the mentals look decent for a worker but there's quite a few gaps there for me. Physicals are a long way off really. As a finisher, he's really got a long way to go (7 for Finishing & Composure). As a link player his Passing and Vision are poor (6 & 7). As a hold-up player his Aggression (8), Bravery (6) and Strength (4) are way behind par. I'm not sure what to make of Villanueva. Juan Salazar - Right winger Another winger who can't cross. Good personality so he should develop nicely but into what? He can't cross, can barely dribble and can't finish. The game has him listed as a playmaker and I can see why but still with gaps and I don't particularly like using right-footed playmakers from wide on the right. Another one that stumps me. I'm afraid the rest are dross - including two Gambians and an Equatoguinean for reasons that surpass understanding... and still no Mexicans. So all-in-all, this has to be the worst intake of the five to date. Mouriño is definitely a winner whilst two or three of the others look to have some sort of promise, even if I'm not sure in what role. Thankfully, we already have a raft of talent that's making it's way through the system so I can afford an off year here or there. Indeed, the talent has started to make its way into the first-team, where I've decided to use the mistake of understrengthening in the market as an opportunity to just commit with the youth. More than 2000 minutes so far for Ferreras and Polo, over 1000 for Escribano, Moreno, Rojas, Gil and Aguirre. The last of these is clearly the pick of the bunch with 7 first-team goals but Carlos Rojas (intake 2) is the one who has seen the biggest improvement from the game time. Still only 18, he should have another year or so of high-level progression before slowing down a little in his 20s. This has made me consider whether my policy of 2 years in the under-19s, 2 years in the B-team and only then progression into the first-team is the correct one. All these players have more than held their own at LaLiga level, indeed most of them have far exceeded the performances implied by their attributes and are effectively playing to their PA, rather than CA. See Carlos Gil for a prime example. So whilst I still have the best part of £20m in the transfer budget, I decided to double-down on the mistake in January and didn't bring in reinforcements. What will be will be this season and I reckon we still have an outside chance of making it back into Europe, where we've been having a jolly old time this season - turning in a shocking performance in the league phase before disposing of Young Boys and Braga 5-3 a-piece to meet Bologna in the Europa League quarters. I had considered bringing additional youth players into the first team to cater for the additional games but, thanks to yet another wonder B-team bug in FM24, you can't use unregistered youth players after the 31 Jan registration date - even though I could previously. But for next season, the successes of Aguirre, Rojas and Escribano will see likes of Chirpus, Manuel Rey, Quiñones, Welton and Javi brought into the top squad. Whilst it won't ever become a 'youth only' save, I should only be looking for signings down the spine of the team - always with positive personalities to add mentoring to the quality. One other big lesson from this season - make sure I have recall clauses in loan deals. I've moved quite a few players into Primera and Segunda clubs on loan and whilst the majority of them have become first choice, Mario Rodriguez has been woefully under-used. Unfortunately I failed to notice that his loan club removed the recall clause and I have no option but to watch Tudelano consign a very promising player to another wasted season. Rodriguez is an outlier, however, and most of our youth is ticking along very nicely indeed. ¡Siempre Sporting!

The board just want mid-table, so we shouldn't be in too much danger so long as I can avoid a relegation battle. Our form has continued to fluctuate but we're helped out by the league being a bit crazy. We've just beat Betis 2-0 to rise from 15th to 7th. The bunching through the middle of the table is crazy. I've also just decided to go all out on the development kick and have promoted newgens Welton, Javi and Aguirre from the b-team. I've also decided to experiment massively and pulled Carlos Gil into the first team for the last 7 games. Guess which 'keeper has performed better? The now 17 year-old has 4 clean sheet in 7 games and an xGP/90 of 0.22. Sanchez has 4 clean sheets in 14 and an xGP/90 of negative 0.2. Who knows how that works. To give you an idea of how much I've committed to the 'screw it' approach, we ended that 2-0 win over Betis with the following ages on the pitch: 17, 19, 30, 25, 21, 19, 27, 18, 19, 17 and 17. The two goals were scored by Aguirre (17) and Moreno (19), the latter assisted by Javi (17).

I like the simplicity of training the skills that your team has been underperforming at. I need to check my schedules for chance conversion Looks like Can Uzun has been doing really well for you. How are you using him?

I know you said "struggles" but Europa semis is pretty handy, particularly given it's unlucky to get Real at that point Looks like a big clear out. Do the new signings mean a new system?

Hopefully. Nothing is going right for us just now. I set up a friendly during the international break to get some confidence back and Gaspar, one of our best attacking players, broke his leg.