cemendur88
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Posts posted by cemendur88
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2 minutes ago, bowieinspace said:
Yeah I’ve definitely had a few good ones in the right positions. Right back is a small concern as no decent basque right backs have come through yet on my save, but Odriozola has a few years left and Sanchez is decent (but he is a retrained CM) so I’m ok for a little while. Aside from that I’m pretty well covered for a while I think. I could put out a pretty solid team of newgens now..
ojeda
sanchez, Lafuente, Delgado, Sukunza
inigo uriarte, julen uriarte, Ander dulce (not featured but a well rounded back up player)
exposito, Garcia and Gabilondo.
Just lacking a good bbm really there.Ojeda is the only quality keeper I have had come through and he was nabbed off Sociedad. You’re right though about previous years, last year I had world class keepers coming through what felt like every year!
I long to get a keeper as good as Diego Arteaga was for me last year. Best keeper I've ever had on any FM save ever! And that was from a save full of them, really interesting how it seems to have changed this year. Posting my season summary next, that will show the areas I've been lucky in with newgens, and where I'm suffering.
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14 hours ago, bowieinspace said:
Yeah I’ve had some crackers, getting Julen Uriarte, Iker Garcia and Gabilondo early on has helped a lot by improving two fairly weak positions. Ojeda looks like he’s going to world class doesn’t he...great attribute spread and room to grow!
The other one that excites me is Fran Gonzalez, again a great attribute spread and could be a top tier player I think
Personally very envious of Ojeda, had no newgen keeper come through that looks anywhere near as good as him (which is bizarrely opposite to my last few saves on previous FM's with Athletic where there were always too many decent GK newgens!). I'll post up my latest season summary soon and more and more of my squad is now newgens but still a few areas I've got some longer-term worries about if some promising youth candidates don't come through in those positions soon. You look like you're well sorted for a long time to come with the players you have, and amazing over half your starting XI is now newgens.
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Congrats on one hell of a season! That's an amazing team you're building there, very envious of a fair few of those newgens. Ojeda looks like he is going to boss it in goal for the next decade, and definitely doesn't hurt having players like Lafuente, Uriate and Garcia in the team as well. Nicely done.
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12 hours ago, dothestrand said:
Is this CB from Barcelona (bought for his release fee) worth 44m? With Inigo Martinez on his way out, he's the best Basque CB besides Yeray.
Very nice, definitely worth the money for a newgen of that quality.
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1 hour ago, bowieinspace said:
Yeah he's pretty good! He rotates in my team with Mikel Merino
Nice, he's by far the biggest new plus to playing as Athletic on this version of FM, definitely helps offset how many of the usual 'old-guard' have either left or don't have long left at the start.
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3 hours ago, bowieinspace said:
@cemendur88 given how good Oroz has turned out to be for you, can you nickname him The Wizard of Oroz?
Hah well I think I have to now! That's an awesome nickname suggestion. Has he not been as good for you in your save?
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3 minutes ago, dothestrand said:
Not much, I'd have to recall some guys on loan to cover the wide and central positions who're miles off his ability. I've rejected it. It's Jan 2024 and we're currently 4th so I can't risk dropping out of the CL places with the board not completely happy with the club's position.
Yeah sounds like the best, his skill and versatility can be hard to replace.
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1 minute ago, dothestrand said:
If a 29yo Williams who isn't your first choice across LWF, RWF or CF is worth 19m and a Chinese club will pay 47m, would you sell? That's my dilemma.
Question is how much depth you have if you sell him, and if there's someone you could buy with the money. If you feel fine without him in the squad then i'd take the cash. The problem I always find is that there's always so few players you could ever spend money from transfer fees on.
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Well, 2023/24 was a season of great success for us. We completed the triple of the league, cup and super cup and even made it into the Champions Cup semi-finals! The league was a tight run battle with Real Madrid but we secured the title with one game to go.
Team-wise it's certainly feeling like a period of succession. I let Herrando, who had been filling in at CB, go as he just wasn't good enough and didn't really have any room to grow. I also sold Sancet who has been surpassed by other players in CM. Two other players, Cordoba and Sanchez (newgen DM) were sent on loan. Heading into 24/25 Martinez, Larrazabal, and Gorosabel are all in the last year of their contract and I think only the last one will get a new one. Williams is now 20, Yeray 29, Rodrigues 30, so need to start getting their replacements ready for when they do leave.
FIRST TEAM SQUAD
Goalkeepers
Unai Simon - an absolute rock in goal, clear first choice for now and many years to come
Alvaro Fernandez - couldn't wish for a better back-up, he's more than happy with the occasional cup-game and good enough to step up for the few times Simon has been injured
Defenders
Enrique Arteaga - the record signing of 22/23 when I asked the board to buy him, he's become the first choice right back with more room to develop
Andoni Gorosabel - a very solid player, he should be good for 4-5 years by when hopefully a young prospect will have appeared for this position
Unai Nunez - first choice at CB and in his prime
Yeray - lines up alongside Nunez, still in his prime but starting to plan for his replacement
Inigo Martinez - amazingly didn't lose too many attribute points when he had his broken leg for 6 months, but last season he began to noticeably decline. Out of contract at the end of the season and will let him good, been a great servant to the club
Joselu - bought from Sociedad last year, can play at CB or DM but think CB will be his future, like his technical skills
Eneko Nunez - been developing in the U19s for the past couple of seasons, promoted to learn from Martinez before he leaves, hoping to develop his technical skills more but looks very solid already
Aihen Munoz - since signing from Sociedad been very reliable first choice LB, remains so for now
Kevin Rodrigues - a great back-up and rotation option, starting to come towards the end of his time here and thankfully have a young prospect coming through to replace him
Midfielders
Jon Moncayola - an absolute machine last season, highest assists in La Liga. Thrived in a change to my tactics with him first choice as a DLP in the DM spot
Peru Nolaskoain - almost cruel he has to compete with Moncayola, but both of their positional versatility means they get plenty of games
Borja Sanchez - signed from Eibar in 20/21, he's been a solid backup at DM but his lack of technical skills means i'm looking to move him on so he's gone on loan this season
Aimar Oroz - by far the best signing I've made in this save, been absolute first choice at CM for many seasons now. Going to be at the heart of the team for the next ten years
Mikel Merino - great since signing in 22/23, solid alongside Oroz and love his versatility
Ivan Martin - signed last season to provide depth after Muniain left, he was a disappointment, being ranked as one of the worst signings in La Liga last season. Will give him this season to see if he can prove himself, otherwise there are youngsters coming through who can take his spot
Mikel Agirre - lovely newgen who player superbly for the B-team last year and now promoted to help with depth in the first team
Attackers
Inaki Williams - first choice at right wing and done great since I've switched to using AMR, will remain first choice there until he leaves
Gaizka Larrazabal - done great as a rotation option, but clearly reached his limited, his contract is running out so face the choice of either letting him go or extending depending on what happens to Williams
Pablo Sukunza - promoted from U19s, can play on right or up-front, and one of the players threatening Larrazabal's place
Inigo Alonso - the best newgen to come through from any youth intake so far, first choice on left wing and had an amazing season last year
Nico Serrano - has faded a little in recent years, was one of the best performers for a few seasons but has lacked consistency recently
Inigo Cordoba - not as good upfront as Villalibre, and third choice on the left so let him go on loan as his time at the club is probably coming to an end
Asier Villalibre - been a real surprise this year, has flourished since I've adjusted tactics and now plays as a F9 upfront, will remain first choice until on of the youth prospects come through
YOUTH PROSPECTS
Goalkeepers
Igor Jimenez - now first choice with the B-team, looks to be a longer term replacement for Fernandez as backup keeper
Josu Rodriguez - a very promising keeper, perhaps the long term Simon replacement unless any better keepers come through in the years to come
Defenders
Josu Alonso - originally looked to be the best long-term CB option but hasn't developed as well as I hoped. First year in B-team he went backwards but improved last year, however is likely to remain with the B-team
Ricardo Infante - bought from Iruna as an early attempt to add long-term depth at LB, hasn't really developed much and now future is really with B-team
Inigo Pascual - a great CB prospect, perhaps the Yeray replacement in a few years
Borja Sanchez - not to be confused with the Borja Sanchez DM, he was in the latest youth intake and hooray for a LB with good crossing stats! He looks like he could be better than Munoz soon enough
Midfielders
Jesus Larrinaga - solid CM, promoted to B-team this year to replace Agirre, hoping he can improve even more
Imanol Ojeda - him and Larrinaga dominated at CM for the U19s, hoping he can do the same for B-team, one of these two is likely to replace Martin if he continues to disappoint
Andoni Etxeberria - another from the latest youth intake, bags of potential and looks to me the likeliest long-term replacement for Merino
Attackers
Borja Bacaicoa - bags of potential but hasn't developed as much as I'd like with B-team so far, going to make sure he gets more game time this season and see how he does
Ander Villar - was part of first team briefly, but wasn't performing so went back to B-team, had some great seasons with them so a decent backup when needed
Xabi Irate - another who can play on right or upfront, hoping he can develop well with Williams time at the club having a limited time left
Erik Martinez - bought from Pamplona, his stats aren't the best but has lots of potential so hoping another year in the U19s will show good improvement
Javier Vera - perhaps the star of the latest youth intake, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't long before he's better than Villalibre
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Overall squad has good depth, and plenty of young prospects who are either already knocking on first-team door or look like they will be soon enough. As said before was probably worrying too much about progress of youngsters, and the most recent youth intake has definitely added prospects in areas that were needed. Looking forward to how this season goes.
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@bowieinspace thanks for the very detailed info! I'd say main things you do I don't at the moment is move players to main team even when only playing for B-team, and being more involved with team and individual training, things i'll definitely have to think about though the reason I don't do them at the moment is I'm a bit lazy!
Also, for my slight complaining about lack of first team quality newgens so far I'm now, towards the end of my fifth season, at the point where I've got a bunch who now need to transition to the first-team squad, will post a summary of my squad and youth prospects once the season is done. So think I was definitely premature in feeling a bit hard-done by with them.
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2 minutes ago, dothestrand said:
I'll keep run of the mill new regens in the u19s but as I can't seem to really control the training of the B/C squads, I tend to loan them out to the best side possible, who'll give them regular game time. That said, I don't know how effective that is. I always ask for reports on every performance, and I don't think many of them perform well on loan, so maybe this stifles their progress. I think I do have some regens who look good at 17-18 and then plateau.
My current trend is to always been best newgens in U19s until they're at least 18 and then either promote to senior squad if they look good enough or otherwise go to B-team for good game time as they'll be playing with first team tactics there and the B-team are in the 2nd division now. Has always done okay but @bowieinspace looks to have had some excellent development so curious to see how he differs. I've definitely had those newgens who look awesome and then go nowhere as well as plenty of weak ones who turn into amazing players, always tricky to know who will for certain become part of the first team eventually.
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Some amazing newgens there @bowieinspace very jealous of some of them. I've only had a few come through to the first team so far, will do an update on them once I've finished my current season. Do you have a defined path for players from U19s > first team?
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Honestly, I tend to ask my assistant to assign mentoring groups once a season and leave it at that. Seems to have a good effect on players though be careful if you don't want certain players to gain PPMs as influential players in groups will pass them on.
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Had a nail-biting end to the 4th season, all came down to the final day.
Disappointing not to win it after such a good season, but well Barcelona and Real Madrid were amazing (though apparently not enough for Madrid, they sacked Zidane!). Will post more on my team later, but looks like this might be Muniain's last season as he demanded to leave and went on loan to Ajax, did well enough without so will try and cash in on him. Martinez thankfully doesn't seem to have suffered too much from his long injury so will see how the summer goes then update on what my team looks like going into season 5 and the progress of my best youngsters.
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4 hours ago, dothestrand said:
I'm halfway into the third season and have the joys of my first club president elections. Aitor Elizegi stood down and his replacement was touted in the press as looking to hire Valverde (unemployed) as my replacement. So I'm basically on probation. I would love a new president to come in and say "wow, you're doing a great job. We'd love to keep you on". We're likely to be battling for 5th/6th with Villareal this season as Valencia are having an amazing season. Gah! And the board are concerned about the lack of youth team players in the squad!!!
I had that in the same season as well, got constant media stories that I was on the verge of the sack for 3-4 games in a row and then suddenly everything was fine. Hopefully same for you.
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Well just started the World Cup winter break in 2022 and Martinez has broken his leg. He's out for 5 to 7 months. I've registered Herrando as his replacement but certainly going to be weaker for it. Not got many other good young central defenders coming through so hoping I get some good ones in the next youth intake. Luckily next two months is just easy friendlies to keep people fit whilst the World Cup's on.
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Ouch, that's definitely longer than it's ever lasted for in my save so far. Not sure what's going on there, maybe another problem to do with the beta? Can't imagine how annoying that must be for you.
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Like a couple of months at a time? Generally they get to a point in the season, want to move to a bigger club, I refuse, and after the club does well in the season their unhappiness generally goes away.
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Moncayola I paid the £16m release clause for but he's been well worth it for my side, definitely one of the best DM/CM options you can get in this years game.
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I've had the big players unhappy on-and-off for most of my 3 and a bit seasons so far, think it's just gonna be a thing on the beta for now. Luckily they now all have good enough release causes that I can keep them at the club no matter how unhappy they get.
In other transfer news as I finish the transfer window for this summer I managed to persuade the board to spend £47.5m on a 17-year old RB newgen from Barca. It was his release clause. By far best RB newgen to come through so far, but he goes into the U19s for now until he's ready to replace Lekue. Uriate has also been promoted to the first team for extra depth in CM.
Dani Garcia and Capa have also left this window, now just got to work out if I want to keep Martinez as his contract is running out but he wants so much damn money. Got a few young prospects who could come up to replace him, but none close to his level yet. Muniain has asked to leave as he's achieved all he wants at the club. I've agreed to list him as Oroz has replaced him at first choice and the depth at CM is now Oroz, Merino, Munian, Nolaskoain (first choice DM), Sancet, Moncayola (backup DM), Uriate.
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3 hours ago, weematt7 said:
How is Sancet and Nolaskoian doing in everyones saves, done really well for me on FM19.
Here they are at the start of the 22/23 season for me.
They've both been pretty good, Nolaskoain more-so than Sancet, he's made the HB role in my formation his own.
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7 hours ago, bowieinspace said:
In to March 2020 now.
Marooned in 4th in the league, 8 points clear of 5th, but some way off the top 3 as well. Just sold Yuri to China for near 40million GBP, brought in Munoz for his release clause. Certainly on CA this is a downgrade and Balenziaga will be filling in as Yuri left immediately but no Munoz until the summer... however Yuri was north of 30, so the opportunity to get that much money for him and get Munoz in, with plenty leftover was too good of an option given our league situation.
I've found Munoz and Rodrigues to be very solid at left back in my game, had no regrets letting Yuri go for them.
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Congrats! He looks to be one hell of a player already.
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19 hours ago, kevbk6222 said:
That's exciting for sure. One thing I've ended up doing a few different times over the years with Athletic saves is moving wide midfielders or wingers back to fullback. If any of the wingers come through with 8s/9s in marking or tackling I'd consider training them to be attacking fullbacks. One of the best players on my save in FM19 was a wingback who came through the youth intake with no experience at the position. He grew to have defensive attributes around 11/12, which was ok considering he was elite going forward.
Well they've come through now. They've not been described as a golden generation but there are 6 players with first team potential.
Pablo Sukunza - AMR, decent starting stats, think he's best being retrained as a MR to fit in my formation than as a ST. However he is 6'4" so could be one hell of a ST if he can get his strength up
Egoitz Goni - ML, not great stats but apparently potential, certainly question marks over him
Imanol Ojeda - solid looking CM, could work as either the AP or BBM in my formation with some training, definitely liking his starting mental and physical stats
Eneko Nunez - CD with good marking and tackling, probably best on the right of my defence and sure I'll be able to get his passing and technique up to where I would like
Juan Manuel Rodriguez - another AMR, has MR as a starting position too so possibly an even better option for retraining there than Sukunza
Igor Jimenez - GK with good starting stats, hoping he can develop into a good backup or even challenge Simon in the future
Overall a really good group of youth candidates. Shame none of the wide players have decent enough defensive skills to be retrained as DR/DL, but my attacking positions will now have plenty of young options coming through.
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FM20 - Athletic Club - Basque in the Bilbao Sunshine
in Good Player & Team Guide
Posted
24/25 SEASON SUMMARY
Another great season, we triumphed in the league once again thanks to a long unbeaten run, though we still struggle against Real Madrid and Barcelona at times, a weakness that would come to haunt us in the Spanish Cup Final and Champions Cup semi's as we lost both to Real which was frustrating.
Transfer-wise a few big moves happened in the January window. Inigo Martinez left to China as his contract was running down, and I bought in Roberto Lopez from Sociedad to add more depth on the left, as Larrazabal's contract was also coming to an end and he wasn't getting much game time so Serrano was now the main rotation option with Williams on the right. End of the season saw Inigo Cordoba leave on a free as he'd been out on loan all season. Ivan Martin was sold to Schalke after another disappointing season. Borja Sanchez, the newgen DM, was also sold after spending the season out on loan due to his lack of technical skills.
So here is how the team is looking going into the 25/26 season.
FIRST TEAM SQUAD
Goalkeepers
Defenders
Midfielders
Attackers
YOUTH PROSPECTS/BACKUPS
Goalkeepers
Defenders
Midfielders
Attackers
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Very happy with some of the newgens coming through, but the lack of DM's and CM's is a slight concern, as well as a long-term newgen who could be an upgrade for Simon. Rodriguez looks like he will do a good job, but will not be as solid as Simon is. Fingers crossed for next years youth intake. There has also been a complete lack of any decent Basque newgens from other teams over the last season, so I'm completely dependent on who comes through at Athletic which also doesn't help.