Shrewnaldo

Are you going with the attributeless version of Ben's skin?

I'm not doing anything unusual with the Newgan manager. I know the 24.2 update mucked all the graphics up because it changed the way the UIDs had to be referenced in the config, adding the requirement for "r-" before the ID number. But if you just download the latest Newgan manager then it has this in it automatically. I've then just paired it with the SortItOutSI "UltraRealistic Newgan Face Cutouts" pack. Simple as that. Thanks, always happy to help develop a few mexicans. I wish I could get more into the system but the restriction on under-18s leaving LigaMX is stopping me. A shame most people hate Irraragori, although I can't say I'm surprised. I'll just pretend that his in-game persona is universally loved.

The question of when to throw them in is a good one and I'm really not sure. I've just mentioned this in the post above but I don't think there's a 'too young' - basically as soon as they're good enough to get a decent rating and maintain morale then I'm tempted to put them in. Is this the 'right way'? I'm really not sure. I know that SI folk have said there is an optimum previously - which is essentially 'not before 18'. But Evidence Based FM didn't find any such correlation in his detailed experiments so I'm ignoring that. In terms of individual training, I try to maximise the key attributes for the role I want them to perform and I use the role training for this. If there are relevant specific weaknesses - in the key attributes or otherwise - then I use the additional focus for this. I haven't really considered this, tbh. I'm guessing at some point I just won't have an option with individual players. The likes of Aguirre will get poached by a super-club eventually so I just have to make sure I've managed the contract well enough to keep the minimum fee clauses nice and high. For those that I want to sell, it'll just be at the point that I know they won't be good enough to fill a role in the club *and* have a better prospect coming up behind them. That could really be at any age.

Fourth Season A Sporting Heritage - The Gaujes of Gijón A successful season, no doubt, as we broke into the European places but frustrations remain due to the poor defensive performances and our tendency to lapse into losing streaks. Three times this season we've gone on winless runs of four games or more - including a six game streak at the back end of January that saw us lose three on the bounce and go out of the cup, and the last five games of the season where we lost four on the bounce and only snuck into Europa League qualification on the final day with a draw. Scoring 14 more than last season is great, conceding 7 more is not. The implementation of 4-3-3 has not been entirely smooth and we've suffered for the lack of two top-quality centre backs and CJ Sánchez's loss of form. The Cuban goalkeeper conceded 0.27 more goals than expected per 90 this season which is really, really poor. It's possible that the 5-2-2-1, which we used just over 20% of the time this season, will get more pitch-time next campaign - although, interestingly, the statistics suggest it may not be the answer to defensive issues anyway. Taking 14 minutes more to create a chance (22% worse) and conceding one 26 minutes faster (31%), it doesn't immediately stand out as being the tactical solution. Perhaps it's as simple as being that goalkeeping issue, something which this would support: Conceding 11 (eleven) goals more than expected... that's just painful. Yet Sánchez is the only current guaje option for in nets. Carlos Gil is coming through the ranks but is 3, maybe 4, seasons away from realistically being a challenger. Can I accept four more seasons of conceding 25% goals than we should? No, no I cannot. So I think I'll just accept that goalkeeper is one of the positions which will need an external player. Which may also be the case for centre-back where Lucas Ferreras, promoted from the B-team last season, has done ok but isn't showing any signs that the expanded top-tier game time will see him develop into a LaLiga player. Now that is disappointing (last 12 months of attribute progression). Yet statistically Ferreras has exceeded the performances of Pelayo and Jorge Meré - the latter a particular let-down following his summer arrival from Olympiakos. Therefore, my intention is to keep Ferreras as back-up to the excellent Rafa Marín and pull José Gragera back from his midfield role to play as a centre-back, thereby freeing up one of the three midfield slots for the excellent prospects we have coming out of the B-team. Brazilian guaje Welton will also be promoted as centre-back cover but allowed to play for the B-team, meaning that I can sell one of Pelayo or Meré. As the 4-3-3 uses an inverted full-back on the left to join the centre backs in a three when we're in possession, Ferreras' ability play both positions covers this naturally and will mean Mexican defender Alejandro Gómez, returning from a successful loan spell with affiliate Atlas, can slot back in to the squad nicely. On the right, Guille Rosas has been first-choice for all four seasons of the save but his performances have dipped slightly this season as he is pushing for a move away - with two years left on his contract, I'm in no rush but Premier League interest could see his £32.5m release clause activated. So that would add an attacking right-back to the goalkeeper on the shopping list. Into midfield and we've a host of options. With Gragera moving to centre-back, it's likely that our first-choice senior options for the three roles will be Jonathan Varane - DM(D), Jonathan González - BBM(S) - and Aarón Molinas - MEZ(AT). Of the three, González is the more likely to be replaced by incoming youngsters. Carlos Rojas and Domingo Escribano have started to pick up a bit of game time and will be fixtures in the squad next term. Both are more suited to the DM(D) role which would see the excellent Varane move into the B2B role and González miss out. For the wider roles, I might have to do a little bit of shopping. Prendes was promoted to the first-team squad last term but completely failed to impress when called upon and will be allowed to leave. Instead, I'd primarily rotated Gaspar, Francesc Polo, Dani Quiepo and the injury-prone Roberto López between the AP(S) on the right and the W(S) on the left. Youngster Polo has been a great success - 4 goals, 5 assists and a healthy 0.14xA/90. My only issue is that he is still only 18 and not the finished product - so do I want to be relying on him as the team's primary creator, completing more passes than his more developed team-mates? Maybe. Quiepo is more of a goal threat than a creator and scored 7 in 18 from the left, plus 5 from 7 when stepping into the slot at 9. Gaspar is really the utility man here - capable of either creating or scoring - but performs best from the left. Roberto López, when fit, was absolutely superb as one of the 10s in the 5-2-2-1 but, for reasons I haven't yet fathomed, was much less effective in the 4-3-3. The only options for youth promotion into the wide areas are 16 year-olds Javi and Ander Aguirre. The latter is ear-marked for the 9 slot and the latter, whilst clearly of future quality, really needs at least one more season in the unders. Which, given the volume of matches we're likely to face, possibly provides scope for another playmaker to come in. Here I would be looking for someone 29+ that can come in with the reputation and the personality to mentor the likes of Polo. Up front, we're covered. In January, I sold Uroš Sremčević, the 2026 NxGn runner-up, to Antwerp for £14.5m and 20% of his next sale. That allowed me to immediately sign Diego López from Brentford for basically the same cost. Sremčević may have been highly valued by the game but he was an infuriatingly inconsistent player who never got the goals his talent seemingly promised. López, on the other hand, is a former guaje who left for Real Madrid in 2017, then spent time at Barca and Valencia before, in my save, moving to the Premier League in 2025. He never quite cut it at the G-Tech and I was only too happy to 'bring him home'. 0.7 goals per 90 is an excellent return so far and he looks like being a great signing. With López clear first choice and Dani Quiepo and able back-up, we also have Peruvian Daniel Bernal returning from loan. The 6'8" striker scored 10 at Mallorca and finished 23rd in this year's list of the world's wonderkids. Yet he isn't gathering the slightest transfer interest and I'm loathe to force the issue and miss out on the value that's clearly there. Signed for just £375k, he's guaranteed profit but I'm hoping for somewhere close to his release clause of £20m with a hefty sell-on clause. If it weren't for the guaje options we have, I'd be more interested in keeping Bernal around but, leaving aside the likes of Rodriguez, Álex and Diawara, I'm just waitin Still only 5'10", his Jumping attribute has already increased by 4 points since spawn and he scored on his debut against Real Betis, beating 6' Patric and 6'2" Álex Pérez to this header. After 24 goals and 9 assists in 20 games for the under-19s, he was promoted to the B-team and scored twice, assisting once in 7 sub appearances. He's going to be phenomenal if he continues to develop like this and the only question is how long do I wait before putting him in the first team? Is 16 too young? I don't think there is a 'too young' in this game, so long as they are already good enough to hold their own and can perform well enough to maintain morale then why not throw them in? So I think Aguirre will bounce between the senior and B-teams this season. All that leaves a shopping list of: first-choice goalkeeper, likely replacement right-back for Rosas and playmaker from the right-wing. I'll also be doing my usual trawl of the Mexican market. González has been solid in the first-team and Abraham Meza made a good contribution in the B-team. They were joined in January by 18 year-old Manuel Rey, signed for just £200k from Orlegi affiliate Santos Laguna. Signed on his 18th birthday, if Rey hangs around until he turns 21 then he'll also qualify as a homegrown Sporting Gijón player. With his Professional personality, he's already looking like a good pick-up and I'm hoping will be the blueprint for Mexican signings going forward. ¡Siempre Sporting!

Very flattered to hear that I'm inspiring anyone and how they play their game. Martinez should be fantastic but has very quickly become an example of what I was saying in your thread about the speed of generic influence. He's started the game as Ambitious personality and, without being included in a mentoring group, has become Balanced within a month. In the under-19s, his Ambition has dropped by at least one inside a month. How can that happen so quickly without any senior players in the squad and when he's listed as a Team Leader within the under-19s... and yet the mentoring, which is specifically set up to influence such attributes, takes forever if it ever has any impact whatsoever. It's this sort of stuff which drives me absolutely insane with this game. In terms of what I've learned so far... I think most of what I've done is just the well-known stuff that everyone does: individual training, mentoring when I can and prioritising game time. I still find it difficult to balance squad depth in the unders squads with making sure that the right players are getting game time. And match minutes are just so important. The other thing is probably morale. In the second season, the B-team were smashing their way through the Segunda and development soared. In the third season, they had an up-and-down season before finishing mid-table and development stalled. Despite the increased competition reputation of playing in the Primera, my only explanation for the reduced attributional progression is that losing more games has impacted morale and that has in-turn reduced individual development. Unless anyone else has a theory, anyway.

The fourth intake A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón A combination of absolutely loving the save, only playing on Extended Highlights and an additional four hours playing whilst watching the Super Bowl has seen me absolutely fly through season four and already reach intake day. And it looks like being a beaut. The preview was certainly promising but this isn't anyone's first time at the rodeo. What actually arrives could be very, very different. Six elite talents. SIX?! Ok, so we might be on to something here. Let's take them in order of the intake starting with... Elite Talents Vicente Cuadrado - 10? Ok, that's an underwhelming start but even so there's things to like. Some attributes which don't tend to shift much (Decisions, Determination, Flair, Teamwork) are really good. And he's got good Technique and passable technicals for his age. The strength will increase over time whilst he's two-footed. He's ok but have to say I was expecting more. Carlos Cordero - right back A successor to Rosas was the only position for which I had no guajes, so a right back is very, very welcome. And if it weren't for his personality and height, then I'd be very excited about Cordero. But Casual implies irretrievably low Professionalism and it'll make it hard for the youngster to develop whatsoever. Which is such a huge shame as, height side, he's great and would have turned into a star. Álex - 9 Finally, we get a striker who is over 6 foot, although he still can't jump and would get knocked over by a fart. Good finishing, good pace and good touch for a big man, he's got some potential for sure. It's great that he's a different profile to the likes of Rodriguez and Aguirre, opening up all sorts of possibilities for how we can play. My initial reaction, however, is that he won't ever be as good as Golden Boy Elect Ander Aguirre. Mario Martínez - 8 Ok, now *that's* a newgen. Two-footed like nearly all our intakes, he's got mezzala written all over him. The pace should jump up nicely by the time he's 19 whilst he has the inherent Technique, Flair and Off the Ball, with really solid Finishing, Passing and Vision. My only tiny, tiny inconsequential downside is that he's primarily left-footed. As I need to make room for a star left-winger in Javi, the mezzala is going to play on the right with an AP coming inside in front of him. Being predominantly left-footed might hamper that a little but boy am I being picky. Martínez should be great. Iván Elvira - 6/8 Another really solid looking central midfielder, Elvira's personality and media-handling look like the only obvious downside as he looks well-suited to the box-to-box role alongside Martínez's mezzala. Santiago Caballero Pace, Determination and Technique. Plus 14 heading for someone who is 5'1". Interesting. Caballero could be decent but he's a million miles from the afore-mentioned Javi. His lack of ambition might be useful if it means that he's willing to stay as a bench-warmer / squad rotation option. With eleven attributes within 2 points of double-figures, he'll probably look a lot better in 12 months. Top Talent Gerard Monroy - destined to leave Yikes. He'd be just fine if it wasn't for that personality but Determination so far <10 means he's unlikely to amount to much. I also don't play right-wingers due to the obvious talents on the left - I'll likely make a forlorn attempt to retrain him at MC to become a back-up mezzala option but I'm expecting little. Good Talents A back-up 'keeper, a left-back with Determination of 4, a centre back with Determination of 3... it's a real mixed bag but there's a couple who I think could be decent. Víctor - centre-back Another unambitious player but with decent Determination and Unflappable media-handling potentially implying decent Professionalism, there's enough in there to give him a shot. The one thing really holding him back is his Heading which is unlikely to climb much higher than 10 or 11 - probably not good enough for a LaLiga centre back. The rest is handy though. José Carlos Ferrer - Right-back A right-back called Ferrer. Where Cordero has the attributes but a poor personality, Ferrer has the personality but poor attributes. Solid enough physicals, to be fair, but key gaps in Teamwork and Work Rate, not to mention Dribbling. A long shot but definitely one who will stick around. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Again no Mexicans, which is really disappointing. But the biggest disappointment for me is the lack of transference from the HoYD's personality. Professional with Determination of 14, there's very little sign of this throughout the intake. Indeed, about 50% of the newgens have explicitly poor personalities which is really, really disappointing. Having said that, Álex, Cuadrado and Elvira look handy whilst Ferrer and Caballero look to have something. The undoubted star of the intake is Mario Martínez who not only looks like a proper player but also arrives in a position where I didn't have a standout newgen option available. Rojas, Chiripus and Escribano are all really good but are more physical central midfielders; whilst Quiñones leans more towards playmaker than mezzala for me. José Antonio Vaquiero, who could have become that mezzala, broke his lower leg and it remains to be seen how well he'll recover. Overall, though, I'm really pleased with how the newgen stable is developing. We've had at least four players in every intake who look like they'll develop well enough to be first-team members (the links to the original posts will show the attributes at spawn): Intake 1 Seven elite talents, seven good talents, two decent Three years of development Roberto Vacas - stalling somewhat but goalkeepers develop later; Jaime Luis - ticking along and a fixture in the B-team but I think unlikely to make it; Welton - looking like he could turn into a very handy centre back and likely promoted to the first-team squad next term; Escribano - his Determination simply refuses to increase but the rest of his attributes have sky-rocketed as he has made his way into the B-team and a handful of first-team appearances; Luis Ochoa - his attributes were the first to flourish but he's been hampered by a series of minor injuries and looks like he's stagnating; Alejandro Soriano - Ben's favourite, he was ticking along really nicely until he broke his ankle on loan which is putting his development into doubt; Francesc Polo - undoubted star of the first intake, he's already in the first-team squad and smashing it this season with 9 goal involvement in 13 starts and 18 sub appearances. Intake 2: Three elite talents, four top talents, six good talents, two decent Two years of development Manuel Navarro - excellent centre back who just needs to get those technicals going to be a real talent; Raimundo Montiel - centre-back, left-back or wing-back... no-one is quite sure but just like Navarro, he could just do with those technicals ticking up a few points; Carlos Rojas is going to be brilliant - mentoring has managed to massage him from Temperamental to Balanced so far and he needs to get rid of that trait but he's one of my absolute favourites; Tomás - another who broke his leg and now has work to do to catch up; Javier Bravo - all the talent but shocking attitude which is reflected in his really poor development to date, sadly one who will probably be cast aside; Hugo Quiñones - another who has seamlessly made the step up to the B-team and is developing really well including Pace _4 and Passing +3, big fan; Mario Rodríguez - ticking along fine but has failed to really catch fire at any level, he keeps getting benched in favour of the stronger prospects despite clearly having talent, perhaps best to loan out next season; Dani Moya - listed only as a 'decent talent' in the intake, my coaches still don't fancy him but he's developing really well and has been solid for the under-19 side - I'm a fan. Intake 3: Three elite talents, four top talents, six good talents One year of development Carlos Gil - performing well for the under-19s even if there's little in the way of attribute development but then 'keepers develop late; Ander Aguirre - good lord he is going to be brilliant, 33 goal involvements (24G, 9A) for the under-19s saw him promoted to the B-team where he's already bagged twice from four sub appearances - PSG have already indicated interest but he is The One; Javi - has already joined his pal Aguirre in the B-team after 10 goals and 14 assists in 20 starts for the unders; José Manuel Ortega - I wasn't sure what Ortega was when he came through and he's one of the few whose potential has deteriorated, so probably not likely to make it; José Antonio Vaquero - broke his leg and still on his way back but 6 goals, 6 assists in 18 games implies there's still something there; Gabriel Vera - experimental loan to the Segunda looks to have done him some good but still too many gaps in his game for me; Seydou Diawara - the only good talent I highlighted during the intake, Diawara has gone on to prove me very, very right - his progress so far is exceptional with +4 in three attributes and +3 in nine, meaning he now looks like a real prospect. And then intake four above - six elite talents, one top talent, seven good talents, two decent And then there's the Peruvian guy I bought in. I'll need to sell him in the summer. ¡Siempre Sporting!

I think I just find the inconsistency in the feature irritating and, like I say, that the squad influences outside of mentoring (squad culture or traits) can happen faster and completely randomly. The latter particularly irritates my need for control. I tried your multiple tutor way, Ben, and it does appear to have had an impact (obviously no control against which I can test the impact). Will keep experimenting

Yeah I'm aware of all of that - the only thing I was wondering was the multiple mentors to single mentee, versus single mentor to multiple mentees. I'd always gone with the latter. But I just generally find mentoring to be of limited use these days. I was going to say "completely ineffectual" but literally just now my mentee has ticked over from Temperamental to Balanced so effectual... just very slowly. And it's that pace which irritates me. Doing all the right things with hierarchy, social group, training unit etc yet the impact of Mentoring is way slower and less reliable than the impact on Determination to general squad members. Surely, if anything, mentoring should just be faster than non-mentoring impacts? Anyway, I'm at danger of derailing Ben's threads again :-D

Loving this. Are you having the same issue I'm having with the getting the right wing-back's starting position to be high enough? I like that he plays relatively deep through the defensive and into the middle third, but as the ball progresses through the middle-third I'd really like him to play as high and wide as possible but feel like the only way I can do this is by changing the team's overall mentality - which I'm loathe to do. You mentioned Mentoring too - how successful are you finding that? I noticed that in a previous screenshot you'd gone with multiple senior mentors to a single mentee. This is not how I've done it in the past, but I've been having very little success with this. Is your method more fruitful?

Thanks. The one thing that's holding me back from using the editor is that the reason for it is the low rep - something which I'm taking advantage of because it also results in the lower expectations of the board. So it feels a bit hypocritical

Ok, so I said I wasn't going to spend all that money but I decided to go a little crazy on deadline day. Ahead of deadline day, I signed one of those quality Mexicans I was talking about as diminutive ball-winner Jonathan González joins from MLS. Lemina is now 33 and Nacho Martin isn't quite hitting LaLiga quality so this is a nice bit of cover with a Mexican angle to fit into the Orlegi strategy. Similar Mexican influences can be seen in the loan signing of Juan Castro, who just provides some cover in the unders, and Abraham Meza - who I reckon is better than my coaches think. I plan to turn him into a right wingback - the only position where I don't have any Mareo newgen of quality. Meza already has good physicals and mentals, along with a positive personality and just needs a little Work Rate, Crossing and Dribbling to make a good wingback. Francisco Moreno will be taking the exact same journey but in the first team. Again, good starting physicals and mentals with a positive personality and not a million miles off on the technicals. Guille Rosas is the clear first-choice at right-back but there isn't much after him and some of the players have been complaining about a lack of depth in this position. Whilst Moreno is not an Asturian, he was born in Santa María de Cayón - just over the regional border in Cantabria. He makes the 100 mile switch from Santander and straight into the first-team squad. Where he will be joined by guaje Jorge Meré, who had been transfer listed at Olympiakos after returning to Europe from Mexican affiliate, but not Orlegi owned, Club América. His personality and Leadership aren't where I'd want them but he offers the experienced option we've lost with Pablo Insua leaving for regular game time in LaLiga2 with Burgos. The last signing is one that I wasn't sure about - not because of his ability but because it doesn't quite chime with the theme of the save. 6'8" Peruvian Daniel Bernal joins from Club Allianza for his ridiculously low release clause of £375k. He's already had three caps for Perú, scoring against Morocco and DR Congo in friendlies. In any other save, I'd have been all over him as he's exactly my kind of striker. But I'm clearly going to be prioritising my own strikers such as Polo, Rodriguez and Aguirre... so is there room for Bernal? Given this match engine and the way I play, I reckon Bernal would outperform all of them at 9 but I'm just going to use him as a cash cow. He's gone out on loan to Mallorca and he'll likely bag a hatful in LaLiga2 then give me another option next summer. In other news, the 4-3-3 has started pretty well.

OK, thanks. In that case, can I canvas opinions in here of whether this is OK, or a cheat? Reminder - the game has never let me ask for improvements to the youth facilities. Ever. They were downgraded to 3.5 stars when we were in LaLiga2. Conversely, I've been able to ask and have approved, improvements to Training Facilities, Youth Recruitment and Junior Coaching such that they are all maxed out The root cause appears to be reputation, which only applies to the Youth Training facilities for... reasons I am considering using the in-game editor to bump the facilities by two points this season, and charge myself £2.5m. If the problem persists, I'll then bump it again in 2 years at a cost of £4.5m Thoughts? Legit or cheat?

A gamble A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón Since the start of FM24, I've consistently complained that I had don't have any money to spend. Through FeralpiSalò and Hellas Verona, then three seasons at Sporting Gijón I've been relying on finding bargains with the minimal funds at my disposal. This season, the Sporting board has given me over £12m to spend and I've decided not to use it. Go figure. Or rather, I'm not going to use it all. I've still brought in a couple of key cogs and overspent on at least one of them but much of the money will remain in our burgeoning coffers. Instead, I'm going to take the gamble of just throwing a few youngsters straight into first-team football. The board have very reasonable expectations and will be content with us just avoiding relegation, only expecting that we'll be an "established LaLiga team" by 2029/30 (in 4 seasons' time). This gives me licence to experiment with no pressure for immediate success and, with long-term success my priority, I decided to take that opportunity. Three youngsters who probably aren't quite ready are making the immediate step up - Lucas Ferreras, Enol Prendes and Francesc Polo will let me judge the impact of game time on three different profiles of player. Ferreras is about the right age and should make it as a good squad player; Prendes is probably past the point of optimum development but still has some growth; Polo has lots of potential but has slowed in the last year. They'll come into a first-team squad that is going to split its time between the 5-2-2-1 I've played so far, and the 4-3-3 I think we'll transition into in the long-term. This has made squad planning a little awkward as we need to fit into two system - 5-2-2-1 on the top of each screenshot and 4-3-3 on the bottom. All the green shows the number of players being promoted into the next team up, which is really pleasing to see. You can also see that we have, whether it's 5-2-2-1 or 4-3-3, 34 or 35 players in the funnel who are 'trained at club', i.e. Mareo graduates; 14-16 who are 'trained in nation'; and just 7 who are neither. This is even more pleasing when you see that at least 9 of the 'trained in nation' players are newgens who have come through the Mareo academy and will tick over into 'trained at club' within the next couple of years. Some of these players look the business and should represent an exciting future for the club and although I expect this season to be a bit of a struggle, personally I'm excited to start using the 4-3-3. This is probably just my preferred way of playing overall and, as I'd said above, uses my number one favourite role in all of Football Manager - the AP(S) from out wide. This is the basic starting system that I'm looking to use and I'm already really enjoying the shape. The ability to use an IFB has helped me reproduce what is becoming my favoured build up shape of a 3-1 / diamond. As opposed to the 3-2 or 2-3 build-up that I'd used before, this releases an extra player forward to play between the lines and link play to the front 5. The wingback also does this on the right, but I'm finding the box-to-box midfielder is fantastic at receiving the ball centrally in space. A random example from a friendly we've just played - and a particularly helpful example as the B2B doesn't actually receive it here but it's a handy indication. You can see the deep diamond with our 6, Damian, on the ball and he ends up playing the pass to Molinas, the AP(S) at AMR who works a 2v1 with over-lapping right-back Garcia. But what I am particularly liking is the left winger (López), mezzala (Lemina) and 9 (Sremcevic) are all making runs in behind which forces the defence deep. Whilst these are difficult low percentage passes, the B2B (Nacho) has dropped into space behind the opposition midfield. Another example which also shows why I am now preferring the 3-1 shape at the back. Here, the left centre-back Diego has reacted to a clearance and has taken the ball down the line with the left-winger (López) making the run inside. The mezzala, 9 and AMR are also in the box so Nacho is free to play the edge of the box and support the marauding centre back. The other two centre-backs have shifted over and the 6 is holding his shape to protect against the counter and make the out-ball to the opposition striker virtually impossible. So I'm pleased with how the 4-3-3 is working out so far, and the can see from the squad planning that it certainly suits the best newgens coming through - which is entirely the point. The first-team wasn't quite covered in every area and I've made two signings to cover areas that didn't have any promotable options. Diego Sánchez is an odd one. A guaje who left us for Southampton two seasons ago, but with a loan-back option for two seasons... he was then transfer-listed by Southampton for £2.2m and I've brought him straight back. It's definitely more than he's worth as he wasn't even our first-choice wingback last term. However, he has the ability to play both an overlapping wingback in the 5-2-2-1 and the inverted fullback in the 4-3-3... and he's a guaje. So not a difficult choice. Roberto López also covers multiple options - capable of playing as one of the 10s in the 5-2-2-1, or as the mezzala, AMR or AML in the 4-3-3. That's four positions of cover for £2.1m which I'm really pleased with. In the save's first season, he was on loan at Tenerife in LaLiga2 and had 30 goal contributions in 38 starts (17 goals / 13 assists). That phenomenal record earned him a move to Ligue 1 with Lille. Two mediocre seasons later, I'm hoping he can recreate his Iberian form. There's still potential for one more signing. I'm conscious that our Mexican contingent has dwindled this season as I've let Alejandro Gómez return home on loan, as well as permanent departures for Sebastian Valenzuela, Luis Guerrero and Kevin Picón. Having used the in-game editor to restore the cancelled affiliations with Atlas and Santos Laguna, I really feel like I should pay more attention to this side of the save. So I'm working on one or two deals for Mexicans of genuine quality but we'll see. Unlike last season, it's a tough start with Atlético first up. I'm anticipating a bit of a struggle this term but hopefully nothing too drastic and enough game time to encourage the development of our gems. Ferreras, Prendes and Polo may be the only three who have been added to the first team full-time, but there's a host of others that will come in for a game or two here and there. ¡Siempre Sporting!

Is it an acknowledged bug? I hate using the editor, even to fix this stuff as it feels kinda cheaty. So I'm really hesitant but it's holding my save back and feels like it's just an error in the game.

Love this. I find myself in similar situations where I will fall into a trial-and-error mindset of just finding something that works, unless I force myself into more strategical thinking where I have a defined end goal and some metrics to judge the success of that. This is right up my street - although we definitely have a few key differences in preferred approach, there are obvious overlaps. Will you be coming back at the end of each season to 'report' against these metrics? Amen.

I think you're both right. I'll use the editor to add them back in and see if I can properly set it so that they're permanent affiliations and linked by the same owners. And, of course, reinforce the newgen link from our previous successful renegotiation. The other one I'm considering is the youth facilities. The game has never given me the option to ask for improved youth facilities and they're currently stuck at three and a half stars. After a bit of experimenting, it seems this is linked to club rep. In my opinion this is just stupid - I was ok to ask for improved training facilities, youth recruitment and junior coaching until they're 20/20 - so why are youth facilities different? I'm considering using the editor to bump the youth facilities and remove, let's say, £3m from the bank balance to 'pay for them'. Thoughts?

The game has automatically cancelled our affiliations with the other two Orlegi clubs. This is truly, truly frustrating EDIT - I'm thinking of using the in-game editor to add these back in. They're owned by the same company, I just think this is the game's fault for recording the relationship poorly.

Cheers, always appreciated. I still like the longer posts as a way of organising my thoughts but the shorter ones are fine for the intermittent updates. Sames. I think the 4-3-3 with the AP on the right is going to align nicely with the rest of my thoughts. Helps me use a winger on the left and keep an AF or similar type of forward - both of which align with the styles of the best newgens we have coming through. We also have enough midfielders that I really think I need to use at least 3 in the middle. And lastly, there's a couple of centre backs who can play as an IFB on the left - this would balance nicely with the winger in front of him and get me back into the 3-1 / diamond build-up that I've been enjoying with the 5-2-2-1. Positives all round.

I didn't know that re the Rest option. Sadly, the icon would indicate that this would include Recovery. Otherwise, you could blast an Endurance session (which the utilised players would skip) and then Recovery for all EBFM's tests indicated Recovery sessions improved average injury time from 12 days to 8. Might not seem that significant if it were every spread as 4 days per player, but reducing injuries by a third sounds pretty good to me. Sorry for hijacking your thread Ben!

The only issue there is that Recovery sessions reduce injuries and injury susceptibility of the players who were picked on pitch day, cf a rest. Rest, meanwhile, is marginally better for fatigue and general condition recovery. But if you want that injury protection, then you can't rest players on MD+1

Third Season A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón At no point were we in any danger of relegation whatsoever. Having started with the kindest of fixture lists, after 5 games we'd already won 11 points towards my season target of 32. We had a couple of sticky spells but that's to be expected from a newly promoted side. In the end, we were comfortably mid-table and only failed to qualify for Europe because I started experimenting with tactics in the last six games. 50 goals scored (10th best in the league), 50 conceded (6th best) and 7 points from Europe. I'll take that. Little surprise in our top performers: C.J. Sánchez - the extra game time I gave the Mareo graduate last season has paid dividends as Sánchez has proven himself to be a very capable goalkeeper, with 0.1 goals prevented per 90 (8th best in La Liga) José Gragera - really solid season for the returning guaje, slotting into his new position seamlessly. With 73% header win ratio and 78% tackle success rate, he was actually our most technically adept centre back. Guille Rosas - another guaje, Rosas has been our best player for all three seasons. Not quite as creative this term, he nevertheless ends with a creditable 8 assists and jount-top 0.69 chances created per 90. RB Leipzig did trigger Rosas' £22.5m release clause, only for the wingback to sign a new contract with an increased release fee. Aarón Molinas - the Argentine took a while to get going despite joining after last season's loan but ended the campaign with a team-leading 10 assists, not to mention 7 goals. Uroš Sremčević - the Serbian finally found some consistent form this season and exceeded his xG to score 14 league goals and 2 in the cup. The biggest surprise of the season was that Sremčević finished second in the NxGn awards - behind only Lamine Yamal as the world's leading wonderkid. There's a £15m release clause there waiting for someone to trigger - something I wouldn't be too disappointed by, despite the goals. All of this was achieved using the 5-2-2-1 shape, with two DMs and two AMs - and it's performed really well, probably over-achieving with the players at my disposal. It's also afforded me the opportunity to continue the progression towards a guaje-dominated squad. Yet my indecision has struck with a vengeance and I'm not sure that I'll continue with the 5-2-2-1 into next season. It's not just thoughts of what we might play in a few seasons when the newgens start to demand game time, it's also just my natural boredom with playing the same system for multiple seasons - and a perennial curiosity in how to get us playing better football. Regular readers of my threads will know that I never have any problems defensively but that I always, always struggle to combine that with sufficient attacking play. 50 goals in 38 matches isn't bad for a promoted side, to be fair, but a quick look at the 'combined' table shows something unexpected. We have scored 32 goals away from home and just 18 at El Molinón. We also conceded 35 against just 15 at home, but it is clear that our home form simply wasn't good enough and it looks like we can afford to be much more adventurous on home soil. That will likely mean that we dispense with the back 5 in home games (with obvious exceptions) and use the additional player in an advanced area - perhaps switching to a 4-2-3-1 or a system with two strikers. I'd particularly like to go with the latter as I think we will need to work towards this eventually. I'm a fan of midfield diamonds and I can see this as a natural evolution from the narrow midfield options that I'm currently using. That doesn't necessarily help when it comes to the newgens and those wingers that have arrived. Except I've been looking again at those wingers and reckon they could quite easily play central roles - Javi as a midfield runner and Aguirre as a 9. All that, though, ignores one crucial point. Reading Ben's thread, I'm so very tempted to bring back my absolute favourite role in all of FM - the AP(S) from out wide. With an abundance of natural wingers on the left and no corresponding option on the right, the space is open to retrain one of the creative 10s to play AMR. Polo and Ochoa would be the obvious options, being primarily left-footed - Polo perhaps the Attack duty to Ochoa's support. Both are players that I was considering bringing straight into the first-team in an effort to fast-track their development but will, at worst, join the B-team. And it is this move which is the most pressing for the long-term tactical conundrum. I plan to sack the current B-team manager due to under-performance in the Primera, missing out on the playoffs - and I'll need to find a replacement whose preferred tactic matches whatever my long-term vision might become. That is not always easy. So a summer of indecision and prolonged recruitment struggles. And I haven't even talked about signing players for the first-team. ¡Siempre Sporting!

I have spend approximately a million hours considering just this question - or indeed even more drastic changes as I'd outlined above. I've mucked around at the end of this season with 4-3-3s, 4-4-2s, diamonds... my indecision knows no bounds

Interesting that the game sees it as side-step - looks like La U have dropped down a bit, or maybe you'd just done so well with Deportivo to boost their rep. Phenomenal move either way. Looking forward to the deep dive and hopefully some tasty Chilean newgens

For the Schalke match, is the #11 the AP(S) on the right-wing? He seems to have held his width a lot more than I would have expected - which I'm assuming is down to the positioning of the IWB behind him. So I'm just wondering how that works through build-up - does he stay wide to receive the ball then cut into his left foot looking for the pass inside, or does he still roam off the touchline as he would if there were an overlapping fullback behind him? Love this idea. Definitely stealing that.

I'd agree on the first team - I'd like Ferreras and Polo to be making the step up soonish. No funds yet from the newgens but the IRL guajes have been attracting interest. Indeed, RB Leipzig met Rosas' £22.5m minimum fee release clause but he decided to sign a new contract with us instead - and his release fee is now £32.5m. I don't think it'll be long before a few of them start attracting bids though. I did consider it but I don't really like playing systems that the AI doesn't use - so I tend to stick to fullbacks or wingbacks. Even if I did go to a flat 3-4 at the back (with ML/MR) then I don't see the wingers' defensive attributes being enough to cover the flank. Unless and until we're a top team, I don't think that sort of vulnerability is viable. I like him too but think he needs to play in a two, or with someone at 10 - which might be a problem with the wingers.