PJHoutman88
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Posts posted by PJHoutman88
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While we're on the subject of engaging gameplay; I might as well address the OP.
I'm going to say something that might hurt some feelings at SI but hopefully the devs are aware of this; the AI managers aren't very good. They play players out of position or in ways they aren't suited to, they let good players go for way too cheap, or don't play them so they get unhappy - they hold on to rubbish players and over-pay them. When I take over an AI club, I often find the club doesn't have anything resembling a balanced or even realistic squad; there are no left backs, or the club has 8 strikers while the previous manager played a 4-5-1, etc. And personally, I think that's fine. The game is about YOU and the things YOU do. I'm not a game developer, but I understand it would be practically impossible to build a manager AI that would be capable of making good decisions in the way a player would, while keeping the gameplay fun for players, especially those who aren't very good at the game. I would imagine having an AI that's smart enough to hold on to talented players would cause a large part of the player base to switch off - for them, it's just a bit of fun. And I fully understand that.My question to OP is, if you agree with the paragraph I wrote above; why would you essentially want to see AI managers duking it out with each other? Right now, the game's core mechanics are built around the things you as a manager interact with. Scouting, transfers, training, squad dynamics, player interactions, and matches. If you 'buy a club' all these mechanics go out of the window to be replaced with...what? Either the developers would have to create a completely new 'landscape' where AI managers are actually interesting to watch (which I can't really envision in any way), or they would have to create ways that you can influence proceedings...which you already can just by being the manager yourself. Everything you want is already possible with the in-game editor and a bit of role-playing. I don't think it's very fun, but it's absolutely doable.
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48 minutes ago, sorrenmills said:
I used to play a game many years ago called Ultimate Soccer Manager and whilst the on-pitch action wasn't great, there was a whole load of club infrastructure/micromanagement you could indulge in, such as choosing which stands to upgrade and by how much, building Shops, Pubs, Hot-dog stands etc and being able to control the price of souvenirs/beers/hotdogs being sold and so forth. Would love to see some of that implemented into FM - for those who wish to do so, really allow you to micromanage the commercial side of things or delegate it if it's not your bag.
I also played USM'98 for a long while, and it was very enjoyable in it's own way. But in the universe of FM and what it offers to players, there would be a huge problem from a gameplay standpoint. There would be a - fairly easy to calculate - optimal price to set, where you make the absolute most possible profit. This means that, depending on which way it's implemented, either you have to find that price, set it once, and then you're done with this particular part of the game - or you have to keep tinker with it (as the club/reputation/attendance grows/shrinks) whenever the new season starts, after which you'll also be done with it for the rest of the season. The same with building/expanding merchandise shops, pubs and hot-dog stands; it would simply be busywork to keep the club making it's absolute maximum commercial profit. There's no actual gameplay benefit to it except to improve your financial situation ~ which is already implemented in the game through commercial income. It's just abstracted right now, because it's not engaging gameplay.
If it were playable, choosing to delegate this side of the game would essentially cost you money in the long run, so it wouldn't really be a 'choice' to engage with this side of gameplay other than for role-playing reasons.
Contrast training and youth facilities. Improving these gives you the opportunity to improve your player pool, which is what the game revolves around. Managing investments and upgrades to those facilities are actually an important part of the game. Do you save up £10M to improve your youth facilities, or do you sign that striker you've had your eye on for the past three seasons? These results are not linear, which these potential commercial activities would be, and are not easily 'optimizable' - which makes it more of a decision and therefor engaging.0 -
Dulwich Hamlet 2022/23 End of Season
Ken ****ing Cheadle. If I ever come across someone called Ken Cheadle in real life, I might punch them in the face. We were 1-0 up against St. Albans in the playoff semi-final and completely tearing them apart, when Cheadle decided to go for a two-footed lunge deep inside the opposition half. We held on for a long time, but conceded in the 86th minute and ended up losing on penalties.
League Table
We slipped down a little bit but ended up squeaking into the playoffs where we beat Salisbury 2-0 before St. Albans knocked us out. They ended up winning promotion alongside champions Sutton.
Fixtures
Decent form, especially towards the end, with just a couple of hiccups. We had a nice goalscoring run near the end which is promising for next year.
Squad
David Courtney, Preston Edwards and *hiss* Ken Cheadle all featured in 50 games, Reise Allassani scored a lot of goals again, with Luke Cook coming into the team as a second striker and getting a decent return. Thomas Moss leaded on assists, Emmanuel Gahadzikwa was our best player overall.
Youth Intake
Our fourth 'golden generation' in five years, with at least four players who could feature straight away. Ed Atkinson will be slotting into our first team next year to replace aging Preston Edwards, the others should be getting some experience too.
Finances and Facilities
We moved up to Category 3, which should help youth development.
Conclusion
A really disappointing and frustrating end to the season, but with the youth coming through I have faith that we can actually challenge for the title next season. Every one of our good players has a contract for next year, so if we are losing first teamers, it won't be on a free.
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Dulwich Hamlet 2022/23 Mid-Season
We're way more involved in a title challenge than we have any right to be; we've been very inconstent, but so have our competitors. This means we're only four points off the top, although we do have a much worse goal difference.
League Table
Fourth place is really quite impressive considering how weak our general play has been. There isn't much of the gap either up or down, though, so even a slight downturn in form for our second half might well end up with us around mid-table.
Fixtures
We were unbeaten for quite a while after the start of the season, until we suddenly weren't. Form has dipped quite a bit in the second quarter.
We did okay in the FA Cup, but squandered a 2-0 lead against Vanamara National Nuneaton. The visiting team scored in the 89th and 93rd minute, then beat us comprehensively at their place. We also took league leaders Sutton to a replay, but they defeated us at home.
Squad
Emmanuel Gahadzikwa's taken over from Barry Turner as our playmaker and has been doing very well in that role. Reise Allassani continues to be the dangerman in front of goal, but youth player Luke Cook has scored 2 goals in 2 starts and is showing goalscoring credentials for the U18s and U23s and might be ready for a few more starts in the next few months. Ken Cheadle only had a bit part in our season last year, but has developed well and has started in all our league games so far. His performances could be better, but he's doing alright.
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Is that a new addition to FM? Never seen it before. Or is it only with specific types of chairman?
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So the club just got a partnership with Brentford without my consent. I can't cancel the link for at least one year and it involves (possibly) loaning players to me. What do I do?
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Dulwich Hamlet 2021/22 End of Season
I'm getting very frustated with this team, tbh. Our performances dipped completely out of the blue; teams adjusted to us and started sticking ten men behind the ball, which we were completely unable to deal with - especially with Allassani and Turner, our two best players, out for the most important matches. As a result, we went into the playoffs where we had a rollercoaster against Sutton, winning thanks to two goals in the 117th and 118th minutes, before a completely impotent showing against Welling, possibly due to tiredness; they beat us 2-0 after extra time.
League Table
Bromley ended up taking the league, with only Hemel Hempstead able to keep pace. We slipped down to fifth and had dropped out of the title picture with around eight games left to go. We finished only two points behind with our record from two seasons ago, but it doesn't feel like an achievement when I see how poor we were. Hemel Hempstead dispatched Welling pretty comfortably in the play-off final, winning 4-1 and leaving us with little illusion as to how we might have performed against them.
Staines and Enfield went down without much of a fight, eventually dragging along Maidenhead who are the second Vanarama National side to slip from the playable leagues, after Chelmsford two years ago. Newly promoted Tiverton and Canvey Island gave good accounts of themselves, finishing in the top half.
Bromley also took the FA Trophy, beating York in the final.
Fixtures and Results
We started off pretty brightly, beating Hemel Hempstead and Bromley, two of the strongest teams in the league, but as the second half of the season dragged on we fell to more and more defeats, still scoring but unable to keep our goal clean. Our play-off game against Sutton was absolutely nuts; we conceded in the 110th minute against 10-men Sutton United and looked to be crashing out, but a mistake in their defence allowed Reise Allassani to equalise four minutes later. Dumebi Dumaka was probably too tired to wait for penalties, scoring twice more before the final whistle blew.
Squad Stats
Quade Taylor moved back to the heart of our defence after a season at right-back, and played nearly all our matches, only getting rested in some cup games. Barry Turner was our creative outlet in midfield, producing 11 assists and giving more than 3 key passes per game. He was also our best player at just 17 years old. He's also leaving on a free
. Reise Allassani was the top goalscorer, setting a new record for my players at 23 goals in a season. Our change from inside forward to winger meant he played up front and used his finishing and pace to devastating effect more often than not.
Alex Hill broke through into the first team, but the malaise we suffered in the second half of the season definitely effected him. His average rating went down a lot through some sub-standard performances, but he's developing okay and will definitely stay in the team. Preston Edwards did well once against as goalkeeper, but suffered injuries which meant both Perry Lewington and Julian Challis got to defend our goal for a few matches. Ken Cheadle got a couple of matches to show himself, he's been okay.
Youth Intake
Only one usable player this year; Luke Cook is a fine, fine striker. Everyone else is dreadful and won't get any game time unless some miraculous development occurs.
Cook looks ready for first-team football already, I'll be keeping a close eye on his development, especially his finishing, to see if he should be starting ahead of Allassani. A lot will depend on how next season goes in terms of the league standings.
Youth Development (YP2)
Alex Hill's been getting quite a bit of match experience. He's not 18 yet and has played 33 league games already, putting in some decent performances. His development's going okay, and I hope it will accelerate a lot over the next season. We could definitely use a solid right-back. His ball-playing skills aren't very good, but he definitely has the potential to do well for us in defence.
An absolute god of a player in the Vanarama South, he was dominant in nearly every game. I can't blame him for leaving on a free. I absolutely blame him for leaving on a free, because if he stays we'll be in fine shape to mount a title challenge next year. I definitely think he could put in a shift at League Two level right now, though, so I expect he'll have quite a few clubs sniffing after him when he does leave.
John Walsh is a bit of an odd one. His physicals are very good and he's had some appearances off the bench where he showed some usefulness, but his technicals are very poor both as a central midfielder and as a winger. The potential is there, in my opinion, so I'll try to loan him out next year, see if he can get some experience and hopefully develop into at least a capable footballer.
I had hoped for a bit more from Orestis, but he's been eclipsed by pretty much every defender from the YP3 intake. I doubt we'll see much more from him, but he will also be loaned out next year to see if something happens.
Finances and Facilities
Yet another massive profit means we can do further investment in the youth facilities. The last one didn't actually allow us to step up in the Youth Category, so I hope this one does the trick. It'll get us better prospects, if nothing else.
Conclusion
A pretty frustrating season all-round, but I'm not a quitter. Finances remain in excellent shape and we'll continue to be fine for a long time, it's more my own annoyance with the lack of progress that is endangering this save. Between Joe Williams last season and Barry Turner now, we've lost both of our youth players who developed into top players - that's pretty demoralising. I will stick with it for three or four more seasons; just one promotion would be the kick-start we need to keep players at the club.
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- Improve back room staff; I always wait on renewing my staff until one month before their contracts end.
- Decide what youth/reserve/loaned out players I want to give a chance in pre-season.
- Decide which youth players I want to loan out/sell.
- Check the team comparison to set up an initial training plan (then re-assess when the transfer window is done).
- Once the new season has been generated: use Excel to check average attribute numbers and adjust my skin colours accordingly, especially if I’ve been promoted.
- Clean up the shortlist
- This one is purely for flavour: Write down who gets what squad number. I have a couple of traditions in my numbering that I’ve used since FM07 at least, where 19 is the back-up striker, 20 is a tall CB, a playmaker from the U18s gets number 33, etc. etc.
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I always go for coaching attributes over JCA/JPA.
For role-playing purposes, however, I always try to keep them on for a few years and not just upgrade every season.
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Dulwich Hamlet 2021/22 Mid-Season
We're in the mix, and in my opinion we should actually be clear at the top. Most of the points we dropped have been very sloppy considering our good football and dominating play. That said, many of our goals have come late on in matches, so I can't say we've been unlucky.
League Table
There's six teams in direct competition for the title, so there's no telling where we might finish as of yet. We're nine points clear off 8th place which should give us a comfortable buffer provided our form doesn't take a dreadful turn. Bishop's Stortford had looked one of the best teams in the league for a long time, but their form has been tailing off recently,
Fixtures
Pretty good results all round with no huge blotches of red or yellow. The defeat against Hampton & Richmond was a bit unlucky, our goalkeeper Preston Edwards got injured after 13 minutes - and in proper LLM stylee we didn't have a goalie on the bench. So we went for possession, but they still managed to break through our defence and put us to the sword.
Our FA Cup win against Vanarama National side Boreham Wood was a great result, we played them off the park. Our subsequent 1st round defeat to Torquay was unlucky, but deserved. In the FA Trophy, Wealdstone wore us down and took us to extra time, where they got a late goal past us to knock us out in the premilinary rounds.
Squad
Reese Allassani has been our danger man, stepping in after Dumebi Dumaka (10 goals in the first 6 games) got injured. Dumaka's been unable to regain his place in the side due to Allassani's fine form. Barry Turner has been dominating the opposition and, like Joe Williams last season, is on his way out. The 17-year old does not want to renew his contract, so he'll walk away on a free transfer. Maybe that will change if we get promoted, but we will need his help to get there. Hartlepool are already interested in the playmaker, but I will not be letting him go this season. The finances are in excellent shape, so there would be no need to sell. Thomas Moss has been getting shifts on the wing, where he has been playing very well, providing goals and assists.
Barbadian right-back Alex Hill has been getting a lot of game time and has been putting in some good performances. It looks like he will be a starting defender for us for the foreseeable future.
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Dulwich Hamlet 2020/21 End of Season Report
Absolute scenes after the final league game, followed by a bitter aftertaste. I had explained how poorly we had been playing in the last update, but in the second half of the season we were absolutely brilliant. I ended up not going for the 4-4-2 I was laying out, instead choosing to play a more defensive version of our 4-1-3-2. It worked like a dream. Away from home we weren't faultless, but our home record was nigh impeccable and we were, if not in title winning form, then definitely 'easy playoffs' form. We only conceded 16 goals in the new year and put in a ridiculous run of form towards the end to secure a place in the playoffs. I have to blame myself for our exit there, though. I said I had to go to work but I wanted to squeeze out the first round before I left. I didn't pay enough attention to the match and we lost 3-2 from 3-0 down. I'm a silly, silly goose.
League Table
We got lucky in the end, Gloucester and Havant & W dropping points on the final day to let us pip St. Albans to 7th place in a straight confrontation. Dartford were good value for their title, Woking survived with a late run of good form. Concord were the surprise package of the season, along with Weston-super-Mare.
Fixtures and Results
Like I said, some pretty good form, particularly towards the end of the season. The cup game against Gainsborough was disappointing, they were beatable. Our worst results were against the top four, failing to pick up a single win against them. The main adaptation to our tactic was that we started playing 'work ball into box' which severely cut down on our wasteful shooting from midfield and Allassani.
Squad
Preston Edwards played every game except the FA Cup tie with Barnstaple. Reise Allassani managed to avoid the serious injuries he had in the past two seasons and didn't throw a hissy fit once, so he got to 42 apps, where he played pretty well, involved in a goal every other game. Dumebi Dumaka played very well in the last few games, adapting to his new DLF role and providing a good option to continue our build-up play. Emmanuel Gahadzikwa and Barry Turner were my starting central midfielders in the second half of the season and played together pretty well, they should be my partnership for the forthcoming seasons, Nathan Ferguson will sit deeper behind them to allow them to focus on their passing and attacking prowess. Joe Williams decided he got too big for the club and won't sign a new contract, so he was replaced by George Canoville as the season progressed, the 18-year old will get the chance to make the CB position his own next season.
Youth Intake
Yet another 'golden generation', this time I actually agree with that assessment. Quite a few of the players in this team should develop to at least Vanarama South standard. We might have progressed beyond that by then, but I would expect between 6 and 8 of this youth squad to feature regularly over the next five seasons. Karl Blake already made his debut, coming on off the bench in our 4-2 win over Concord.
Youth Prospects
Despite what my assistant manager thinks, I actually believe Wordsworth to be the most interesting prospect because his attributes actually already suit his role. Only his marking lets him down, while Cheadle actually has quite a few things to work on. Of course, it's quite likely that a few months of development might completely rebalance my opinion. Blake should be a useful squad player at the least, capable of filling in at left-back or in the midfield positions. Challis is the first semi-decent GK prospect we've had. I doubt he'll ever truly become a first-team player with the gaps in his game, but with Preston Edwards turning 32 this season, I need a replacement sooner rather than later.
Youth Development
Now that some of the first youth intake players have turned 18, it's probably as good a time as any to check in on the development of our four top players from that year.
Brian Hewitt's probably developed the least of these four, he's also had the least playing time. When he did come on, he's been either invisible or mediocre. To be fair to him, we've been training on tactical, defending and fitness over the past year-and-a-half, not ball control or attacking which would suit his position best. I'm considering sending him out on loan so he at least gets some game time, because with Clunis aging, we will need an AMR to step up properly within the next two years.
David Courtney has been decidedly poor when he's played, but he's only turning 18 over the summer. I'm holding out hope for his short-term development, and will continue to give him games on left-back. His performances in training have not been stellar, so I will monitor how he improves over the next six months and then make a decision whether to invest in him further or move on to one of the other potential first-team left-backs.
Emmanuel Gahadzikwa has had a lot of matches. He's been playing very regularly and very well in a playmaker role, and has recently adapted his play pretty well when used as a CM-S. He definitely has a long-term future at the club and should be a starter next season.
George Canoville hasn't had a lot of time to shine in his natural DC position, but when he's played he's been pretty solid. He's still slow and his performances next season will decide if I adapt my tactics to suit him or if things are fine as they are. With Joe Williams likely to leave the club, Canoville should be a first teamer.
Finances and Facilities
Profits continue to be steady, another 300K+ over the last season. This is very useful, because it means there's no hurry to get promoted. So my dreadful decision to rush the Braintree game isn't costing us just yet.
Internationals
We've also had our first international call-up just after the season ended.
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Have to go to work so can't play the playoffs yet, but couldn't wait to share this. Absolute scenes as we beat St. Albans 1-0 in the final game of the season to pip them to a playoff spot by lottery.
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I'm not certain @andbec, but I would assume an U18 team will be created at the next youth intake. If you're unsure, you could always just simulate a season until the next youth intake and see what happens, then revert to your old save and actually play the season through.
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Dulwich Hamlet 2020/21 Mid-Season
We've been dire, both offensively and defensively. Conceding a lot more goals than last season while we have not been able to adequately replace Faal upfront. I predicted we would languish in mid-table, but on current form we might start getting embroiled in a relegation battle. I'm laying out a 4-4-2 narrow diamond as we speak, dropping our current 4-1-2-3.
League Table
Ten points off sixth place while relegation is only four points away. I think we're probably too good to get relegated, but we need to buck our ideas up quick in order not to get into a nervy position. I highly doubt we'll reach play-offs this year, so we might as well treat it as a development year. Fortunately, the board are fine as long as we avoid relegation.
Fixtures
Only six points from the last nine games shows how poor we have been. I've probably been tinkering with tactics a bit too much and I'm going to take some time tonight to set up properly and stick to a tactic for 10 games in a row.
To make matters worse, we went out in the FA Cup to 8th tier Barnstaple. I have to take the full blame for that, I was overconfident and played nearly a full youth team, which went about as well as you would expect.
The FA Trophy went a bit better. We beat Tilbury 1-0 and then beat Vanarama National side Hayes & Yeading in a replay, even though we had player with 10 men since the 30th minute. Mohamed Mohamed was the match winner in the replay, coming off the bench in the 87th minute to score with his first touch of the game.Squad
David Courtney and Nathan Green have been switching in and out at left-back, with neither of them playing anywhere near an acceptable level. Nathan Ferguson and Nyren Clunis have been the best players for our side, while our top scorer Omar Koroma scored six goals in the first four games and dropped off after that. We'll need to get goals from somewhere soon if we want to finish the season in a comfortable manner.
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Dulwich Hamlet 2019/20 End of Season
Well, we did indeed make the play-offs and we did indeed drop too many points to threaten champions Welling, but it looked like we were mounting a title challenge for a long time. A carroussel of attacking injuries, where one player would drop out as soon as another became fit, ended up costing us. Muhammadu Faal suffered a broken lower leg and that pretty much ended our title hopes; we looked a distinctly mediocre side without his physical presence up front, and our form reflected this.
League Table
We dropped off towards the end, only winning two of our last nine league games, we had been in second place for quite a while before that. Welling were very solid and didn't drop many points at all. Our late-season decline meant we didn't avoid a first round tie. Like last year, we faced Hampton & Richmond, but we were not able to brush them aside this time. A goalless 90 minutes led to extra time, where Thomas Moss gave us the lead on 94 minutes. A 104th minute equaliser from Owen James meant the match was decided on penalties, where we lost 8-7, youngster Brian Hewitt, on off the bench, missing the decisive kick.
Hayes & Yeading ended up securing back-to-back promotions, whilst Chelmsford get relegated for the second time in two seasons. Chesham go right back down, Farnborough secured a miracle survival with an 89th minute equaliser against Weston-super-mare on the last day of the season, condemning Whitehawk to relegation.
Fixtures
A pretty weak end of season showing. Muhammadu Faal broke his leg in the 1-3 win at Bromley, and the effect it had on our form is plain to see. We looked dire and our lack of physicality upfront definitely played a major part in it. Faal also doesn't want to renew his contract, so it looks like we will need to completely rethink our approach next season. The Eastbourne defeat was a freak result after we had comfortably dispatched Havant & W and Welling.
Injuries
We had six attacking first-teamers available to us in Koroma, Moss, Faal, Clunis, Allassani and Dumaka. As you can see, they spent a lot of time on the sideline collectively. Nearly all of the injuries were suffered in matches; we might have been a bit unlucky, but I might consider stepping back from our physical play a little bit.
Squad and Stats
Emmanuel Gahadzikwa put in some very good performances in the second half of the season, which is very promising for the future. Thomas Moss ends up top scorer with 16 goals, 9 of which came in the FA Cup. Dumebi Dumaka and Muhammadu Faal scored all their goals in the league. Tanny Abrahams gave a bucketload of assists, which almost made up for his extremely wasteful shooting from distance. Preston Edwards, who kept us in a few games we definitely should have lost, was the only ever-present player. Sanchez Ming ended up getting dropped from the side through the emergence of Joe Williams as a first-team defender. Reise Allassani had another strop on, reconsidered once again and extended his contract for another year. I'm expecting him to change his mind once again in September.
Youth Intake
Yet another 'golden generation' according to Blissett, but the stand-out player is Barry Turner who would probably have been good enough to feature in the last few games of the season, but I wanted to take my time to see how I could fit him in the side. The other player I might see making appearances in the short-term is Alex Hill. That Barbadian right-back will hopefully become a viable option at right-back so Quade Taylor can move back to the centre of defence.
Finances and Facilities
We made a 450K profit last season, so more than enough in the kitty for an upgrade to the youth facilities, which will also move us up a youth level. Hopefully our U18 players will actually play some 'competitive' football then, rather than a weekly friendly.
Conclusion
A bit of a slog at the end of the season doesn't bode well for next year. I'll keep asking Faal if he wants to stay, but if he leaves we'll need to rethink our approach completely. There's hope though, Barry Turner should be a star player for us if we use him right. I'll have a bit of a tinker to see if we can build a tactic around an AMC playmaker. Next season will be very hit and miss, I think, as we try to turn players like Courtney and Gahadzikwa into actual first-teamers. My prediction is that we'll languish in mid-table unlike these first two seasons. Let's hope the board don't get too demanding.
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Dulwich Hamlet 2019/20 (mid-season update)
We're on our way to second consecutive play-offs place. Didn't quite expect we'd do this well, but things have quite simply been excellent compared to the quality in our squad.
League table
We've managed to cut out the draws we suffered from last season, which essentially puts us in a very comfortable position going into the second half of the season. The gap with 8th place is pretty wide and we should be able to hold on to a playoff place barring anything but a total collapse. The title is basically out of view unless we drop nothing in the remaining games, which I strongly doubt. Bromley and Chelmsford are in danger of back-to-back relegations, while newly promoted Hayes & Yeading are threatening the league leaders. Chesham and Farnborough, the other two promoted teams, look dead in the water.
Fixtures
Our start was pretty inconsistent, with away defeats to Hemel Hempstead and Welling and a thrashing to home against Havant & W. Ever since then, however, we've bucked up our ideas and put together a pretty decent run, only recently marred by a series of defeats against St. Albans and Bishop's Stortford. We recovered, taking revenge on Hemel Hempstead and are coming up against whipping boys Chesham next, in an effort to restore morale after those defeats.
The FA Cup went well, with a spectacular win over local rivals Tooting & Mitcham. Thomas Moss, our home-grown striker, put five past the Isthmian Premier side and followed up with a hattrick against Tonbridge Angels in the next qualifying round. We beat Chippenham to score a place in the 1st round proper, where we played our first competitive game against Football League opposition. Despite an early goal from Moss, putting his FA Cup total up to 9 for the season, we were no match for our fellow Londoners.
The FA Trophy was less of a success, Whitehawk bounced back from the 5-1 hammering we gave them two weeks before and knocked us out in the 3rd qualifying round to the dismay of the board and our fans.Squad
A few surprises for those of you who read my last post; Tanny Abrahams has been ever-present, though this is mostly because Omar Koroma has been injured all season. He's only recently recovered and his attributes have taken a sharp decline, so I am unsure how much longer he'll feature in our first 16. Joe Williams has been a revelation after I started giving him some playing time and holds a starting place for the forseeable future. David Courtney and Emmanual Gadhazike have had their fair share of playing time and are developing okay. Thomas Moss looks explosive, but it's important to remember 8 of his 13 goals came in FA Cup matches against lower-tier opposition. Instead, his starting place has been going to Dumebi Dumaka who did not score in 13 apps last season, but has been far more reliable this year. Reise Allassani has been suffering from unhappiness once again and is relegated to the bench when everyone is fit.
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Dulwich Hamlet 2018/19
I decided to go for this challenge on FM18. I picked Dulwich Hamlet. Billericay were available, but I thought it would probably be too easy to get promotion and I prefer a few years to settle in. First things first: I got pretty lucky in terms of the youth players who had appeared at the club before I came. Four of them were servicable, one of them is even very good. He just needs his finishing to go up a little if we want him to be a first teamer in the Vanamara South:
Season review
The first season went pretty well. Finished 6th after a pretty poor start, which led to me tweaking some tactics and playing with a DM instead of an AM. We took apart Hampton & Richmond in the first round of the play-offs in a 4-0 win, before Maidstone demolished us in the semi-finals. I'm not too unhappy with the play-off defeat though, as I'm pretty sure I would not be able to keep the Hamlet up at this moment. We were pretty inconsistent at times, particularly in the second half of the season where we did have a few disappointing draws and defeats. I'm not certain if that was because the opposition started to adapt to my tactics or if we were just poor. The FA Cup exit against Hungerford was a pretty poor result considering they got relegated with only 16 points. Though when you look at our Tranmere defeat in the FA Trophy, I doubt we'd have had a chance against any of the higher tier teams.
My colleagues recognize pure class when they see it.
Squad Stats (end of 17/18 season)
Nyren Clunis influenced our game with goals and assists from right wing, but there's also a honourable mention for Tanashe 'Tanny' Abrahams. He came into the team after our first choice midfielder left in August and his replacement, Omar Koroma suffered a lengthy spell on the sidelines. Tanny was very consistent and constantly helped out the attack from central midfield. Muhammadu Faal has a very useful combination of height and pace that we will hopefully be able to use even more effectively next season. Sanchez Ming being ever-present shows how poor our defensive depth was. A pretty poor player, but we didn't have anyone else who could do a job at right-back.
Reise Allassani started out making a lot of noise about wanting to leave, which led to me benching him for Thomas Moss. In January, Reise decided to stay, at which point he came back into the team and scored 14 from 22. Moss faded from view a little bit after this, but with 33 apps (19 starts) he's got a bit of experience. Joe Williams and Nicholas Inniss got some minutes off the bench, but their attributes don't really suit any of their positions and I'm not sure they'll have a place in the team long-term. David Courtney was the first player from the youth intake who got to make his debut. He's a pretty decent left-back for his age, and with Woking already sniffing around for him I think we might have to keep a close eye on his contract. He does look pretty good and he'll be gradually slipping into the first team next season.Youth Intake and prospects
When it comes to the youth intake, HOYD Luther Blissett speaks of a 'golden generation'. I'm not sure I'd go that far, but I did find four players who should get some minutes next season. It's just a pity literally everyone else in the youth intake was absolute trash (: Player screenshots in spoiler.
Spoiler
Brian Hewitt is a winger who probably needs a bit more pace before he can make an impact, but he should be a decent backup for a role we don't have many players for.
David Courtney, who I mentioned previously, is a talented left-back. He's got decent stats in most areas but needs to improve a lot on the mental side. We don't have any tutors to get his personality up to something better, so hopefully we'll just see some natural improvements.
Emmanuel Gahadzikwa is a bit of an odd one. He's got a few good attributes, but he's a really weird mishmash. I doubt he'll be able to play any one role comfortably unless we see some big improvements to his mentals and physicals.
George Canoville is one of those players who you hope you won't have to use. He's a towering centre-back who could hopefully take advantage of his sheer size and menacing play to keep opponents off the ball, because if he has to actually tackle of run he's wildly out of his depth. He'll be our 5th choice centre-back but should get some games in pre-season and off the bench. He can also play as a defensive forward and it could be argued his attributes suit that role best of all, but considering my other strikers, I'm not sure he'll get a look in at that position.
Finances
Our finances are actually very impressive. I hadn't really played any (English) LLM games on FM so I'm not sure if the LLM finances model has just improved or if our 1200-man attendance is making us a lot of money, but at the very least we have a decent bank balance which allowed us to get in a pretty broad staff.
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From now on I'll update every half-season, so less of a infodump next time
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1 minute ago, KUBI said:
Discard = gone forever, Acknowledge = could be suggested again.
In that case, it doesn't work, because players I discard keep coming back
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WWhat's the difference between 'Discard' and 'Acknowledge' in the scouting screen? They seem to serve the exact same function.
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2 minutes ago, KUBI said:
I give you an arrow, because I remember you.
I'll give YOU an arrow...
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3 minutes ago, Rashidi said:
Dynamics>Happiness. There should be a big grid showing which areas the players are unhappy about, there’s a lot of detail there already
I know that, but you can't see the trend on that one. You can't see why it went down compared to for instance two weeks ago. My point is that if there's an arrow showing a trend, you should be able to see why the trend's happening.
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14 minutes ago, Dagenham_Dave said:
Emotional heart? Have a word, it's a computer game.
Anyway, since the update, I've noticed that when an own goal is scored, the flashing commentary shows that it's a goal for the opposition, presumably because it's one of their players who 'scores'. Sloppy stuff SI in a game which has been riddled with sloppiness since the beta.
I've already logged this in the bug forum. It's supposed to be under review.
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. Reise Allassani was the top goalscorer, setting a new record for my players at 23 goals in a season. Our change from inside forward to winger meant he played up front and used his finishing and pace to devastating effect more often than not. 
What Do Yo Look For In A Striker?
in Football Manager General Discussion
Posted
Obviously, things are different depending on what type of team I play, but when I'm a title chasing side with a creative midfield, I play with a lone striker. Caveat here is that I'm still playing FM18.
What I want from my striker is to keep popping up in front of the goalkeeper. My wingers and AMC tend to be good enough to do their own thing, they don't need support from the front man. Absolutely imperative for me are Composure, Off the Ball, Determination, Anticipation. Quickness (both attributes, where I will weight acceleration a bit higher), first touch, technique, dribbling are also very useful since he's a lone striker. Finishing is pretty secondary, as is strength.
I added screenshots for my Universidad de Chile striker Javier Urbina. You can see that he is no world-beater in terms of attributes, but his mentals means he gets into so many scoring positions that even with 5 finishing he'd be a 'goal a game' striker. It's not just in the league either, he was fantastic in continental competition too.