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[FM13] The Third Journey, by noikeee


noikeee

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… Previously, on noikeee’s FM adventures:

1. FM11: Barcelona’ing the way through the lower leagues – is it even possible?

2. FM12: The complete world encyclopedia of insults shouted at virtual footballers

This is episode number 3. My objective is just to have a fun career, like in my previous two incarnations as a football manager for FMCU. I have however learnt from them and have come out stronger. But a new enemy no doubt shall be a brand new match engine, rendering mildly pointless a total of about 50 seasons of experience in the previous 2 games. That is good. Perhaps I’ll struggle again for long like in the FM11 career – spending a decade in the lower leagues was fun. I missed that in FM12.

For this new adventure I’ve picked a starting point so ludicrous I’m pretty sure I’ll stay in the lower levels for a while. But let’s not spoil the surprise yet.

Settings

Database: Medium + all international players, all continental competition club players from all continents

Loaded leagues:

Algeria (3) *

Argentina (2)

Brazil (3)

Bulgaria (2)

Costa Rica (2) *

England (2)

France (3)

Germany (2)

Ghana (1) *

Hungary (2)

Iran (3) *

Italy (4)

Malaysia (2)

Malta (2) *

Mexico (1)

Netherlands (1)

Poland (2)

Portugal (3)

Scotland (4)

Spain (3)

Sweden (4)

Ukraine (2)

Uruguay (3) **

* leagues I created from scratch in the editor

** I extended a level to the Uruguay league in the editor

Past experience: Sunday league footballer.

Enable player attribute masking ticked.

NEW: ASKING PRICE RULE

For this career I’m looking to make things harder by not holding on to players so easily, forcing myself to sell if a strong bid comes along, like any real life manager has to in financially responsible clubs:

1. A player’s maximum asking price is deemed to be the highest of the following 3 values:

1.a) The double of his player value

1.b) The value of the highest valued player in the whole squad

1.c) The value the club paid previously for him

2. I cannot set an asking price higher than the value given by rule #1.

3. I cannot reject a bid higher or equal to the value given by rule #1.

This should end the exploit of setting very high asking prices to my key players – it scared the AI off from making any bids, hence I never lost those players.

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Ooh, managing in Costa Rica sounds interesting...

Unfortunately the editor didn't allow me to set up an Apertura/Clausura season for Costa Rica so it's a bit unrealistic but I hope to go there at some point. But not now, you're a bit off, just by an ocean or so. :D

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Touggourt, 26th of July 2012

dashti_touggourt.gif

This seems a lovely place to start. Not exactly the most exciting place to live in, perhaps, but at least I'm not in full Third World mode. If you're moving to Africa, I suppose there are a lot of shitholes worse than interior Algeria:

11307376.jpg

I am the proud new manager of Nadi Riadhi Baladiat Touggourt, who play in one of the various subdivisions of Algeria's third tier - the Division Nationale Amateur Est.

And this the group of players I'm so proud to be about to meet:

NadiRiadhiBaladiatTouggourt_SquadPlayers-3.jpg

NadiRiadhiBaladiatTouggourt_SquadPlayers-4.jpg

Likely key players

Nacer Moumen (ST) - I think he's our better player and he's 17. A gem, maybe? (I have no idea what's good at this level).

Salah Bouhafs (ST) - A hint of pace and technique means we have another decent striker.

Abdelhak Zouaoui (AMC / AMRL) - Assman gives him 5 stars but assman must be high on something.

Finances and transfers

We're amateur, like all other teams in this level. I've never managed an amateur side but I presume anyone can poach our players for free at anytime - but we don't pay them anything neither so it's fine. We have 432€ in the bank.

Goals for this season

Board asks me mid-table position. Media says 11th place (out of 14 teams, only the 14th is relegated). I don't know.. I guess 10th would be good? I also hope these editor files work fine as I lost patience with testing them properly.

Let's attack the desert!!!

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Looks like a good squad. Let's hope you can take them far!
Unusual place to start.
This sounds fun mate good luck
Best of luck in Algeria.Definitely one of the more interesting starting points.
Lots of potential there. Good luck!
This should be fun.
An Algeria save? Very cool :cool:

Thanks folks, I just hope the league holds up right with no major bugs. At the moment I'm finding it way too easy to sign players on amateur contracts which is a bit iffy - even players my assman and scout deem as "unrealistic signings" always agree to sign, I've only had one guy turning us down and another preferring another club.

Looks like something out of Red Dead Redemption.

I had to google it, I'm out of the loop when it comes to gaming besides FM. :(

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Pre-season 2012

dashti_touggourt.gif

Transfers (in)

I hired 15 guys most of them veterans who are much much much better than the ones we had. These are the picks of the lot:

Noureddine Belmahdi (GK) – 37yo awesome goalie.

Mehdi Defnoune (DC) – Another vet (33yo), should be our better centre-back.

Billel Harkas (DM / D/MC) – Zero pace at the ancient age of 37 but he’s IMMENSE. Very very very complete.

Sabri Khellaf (AMC /MC) – Within normal age for a change (27), nice creative midfielder.

Rabie Meddour (DL / DRC, WBL) – Good versatile fullback.

Zahereddine Bordjiba (MC) – Another granddad (35), is a great creative force and one hell of a long shot taker, his long range missiles have already caused damage in the friendlies.

Nabil Besbes (DC / DL) – Very good centre-back.

Hichem Haddad (DR / WB/MR) – Our top right back but I’m considering playing him higher up as MR.

Fayçal Trabelsi (ML) – Hugely promising 17 year old who should be our starting winger on the left already.

The remaining signings were: Fateh Amaouche (towering CB), Karim Chikhaoui (MC), Slimane Bouregaa (keeper), Omar Zeghba (leftback), and Mohamed Amine Gheribi (right winger). Needless to say all signings were on frees.

Transfers (out)

Useless Abdelaziz Boukhiar (left winger) and Hafid Mansouri (keeper) were booted out.

Final squad for the 2012-2013 season

NadiRiadhiBaladiatTouggourt_SquadPlayers.jpg

NadiRiadhiBaladiatTouggourt_SquadPlayers-2.jpg

We basically cherry picked from all our opponents, so I’m bloody well confident we’re now one of the best sides in the division if not the best.

Fixtures

NadiRiadhiBaladiatTouggourt_FixturesSchedule-2.jpg

This looks boring, and well, it was. I couldn’t get anyone else to accept a friendly so I just kept on using the U19s to keep fitness. I still have another one to play because the actual league starts mid-September.

Good news is the improvement from match to match was very noticeable, as more and more signings arrived and my players got used to my classic flat 4-4-2 (I hate the tactic, but it fits the team).

Competitions

CNFA – Est: starts mid-September

Coupe d’Algeria: first round is drawn late November

Summary

The team is miles better after all the signings and I suspect we’re going to fight for the top places. But I really can’t know for sure until any meaningful match happens.

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Good Luck with this!

Looks like you had a busy window!:p

To say the least! Though I've had windows I've hired 20+ players in the past so this is not by any means an all-time record. :D

I bet your signings has brought the average age of the squad up. The keeper looks quality.

Yeah I hired a lot of veterans though we're not the oldest side in the league. As for the keeper (Belmahdi) he's saved our asses multiple times already, but also had a bit of a shocker recently in a big game. Overall I'm very happy with him though.

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September-November 2012

dashti_touggourt.gif

Fixtures

NadiRiadhiBaladiatTouggourt_FixturesSchedule.jpg

Past the final U19 friendly (I was getting VERY bored), the league started and we surprised everyone who didn’t look at our great new signings, by blitzing past everyone the first few fixtures. We got 6 wins in our first 6 matches scoring loads of goals and not conceding many neither – big highlight being the demolition of Khenchela 5-0 away. It looked like we were about to blast into the distance as we topped the early table.

However, as a tougher run of matches approached, the writing was on the wall – the 3-2 over title challengers Skikda had already been difficult with a 93rd minute winner. Chaouia killed our run by beating us at home 0-1, and we also lost points at Biskra albeit a 1-1 draw was still fairly encouraging. Sh*t however hit the fan when another top side, Ain M’lila beat us 1-3 at our home and we finally lost the table lead.

A 1-0 win over Ramdane Djamel with a late goal was hardly a convincing turnaround, but we need to start from somewhere to get over this bad run.

Player on focus

Said Belabid (ST) – Not one of my signings, but has spearheaded our attack with great success, scoring 8 so far.

Word of note too to teenager winger Fayçal Trabelsi who has 5 goals and 5 assists, but his performances have cooled off a bit recently after a great start.

Competitions

CNFA – Est:

DivisionNationaleAmateur-Est_OverviewStages.jpg

Coupe d’Algeria: travelling to meet MB Hassasna in the first round, they’re at the same level we are but in another subdivision.

Summary

A dominant beginning with 6 wins was so easy I thought I had no challenge here this season – complete mistake as meeting some tougher sides brought us back to reality. We’re still at the top and I’m bloody well confident I can put a title fight together – and only the title could bring a much desired promotion.

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Good luck dude!

Tks.

That's an impressive start to the league. Hopefully, a few wins will move you up and offer some space in the table.

Unfortunately after playing a few more matches I'm not feeling that vibe from my side. :(

Said Belabid looks like a great poacher for that level of play!

Good luck on your career :D

He is, I'm a bit surprised by his goalscoring records as in the beginning I identified the other 2 forwards as key men but he's been far better.

Good start to the season :thup:

Tks.

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December 2012-January 2013

dashti_touggourt.gif

Transfers (in)

Quite an injection of talent was input into the team in January with the following 6 signings:

Mohammed Boussefiane (AML / AMC, ST) – Massive attacking talent that should really boost our side.

Taimmy Négrèche (ST) – Epic pace for this level, to the point I took a punt and dropped goalmachine Beladib to make up space upfront for him!

Sid Ahmed Chaïba (AMR / MR) – U20 international at the age of 18, that says it all about this kid’s fabulous skills, just a shame he lacks a bit of pace because technically he’s very gifted.

Mehdi Derouache (AMR / MRC, AMC) – And this one is an U20 international at the age of 17. Probably slightly below Chaiba in talent but equally promising.

Toufik Youcef (WBL / D/ML) – I don’t know why my assman doesn’t rate him, but he seems a proper good attacking fullback to me.

Mohamed Amine Bala (DC) – Towering centre-back.

Transfers (out)

Nassim Larbi (M/AMR), Brahim Cherif El Ouazzani (DL) and Youcef Bakir (DLC) were beyond awful and all released on frees.

Fixtures

NadiRiadhiBaladiatTouggourt_FixturesSchedule-1.jpg

We seemed to be slightly on an upward trend again in the league with an hugely entertaining 5-3 away win over Tébessa, then another hard fought win over Magra, when we hit a bad patch drawing 3 matches – all 3 against poor opposition.

This obviously set us back big time in the title fight so I went out to hire all those players in the January window. It seemed to work perfectly against Djidjel with 5 signings making their debuts and 2 of them scoring the goals. That was followed by a great win at a difficult field in Skikda, but to my shock we were then awful vs Khenchela, a game we ought to have won. We did came from 2 goals down late in the game but only a penalty save in injury time ensured a meagre point.

In the cup we went out to Hassasna to win 4-1 with Belabid scoring an hat-trick in a surprisingly easy tie.

Player on focus

Taimmy Négréche (ST) – Belabid was on a roll in December hitting 6 which upped his total to 14, but once Taimmy arrived the place must be his really, look at his skills and 3 goals in 3 starts confirm it.

Another man who was on a roll but was disturbed by the new guys, is right-winger Mohamed Amine Gheribi who had a freak run of 4 goals in December.

Competitions

CNFA – Est:

DivisionNationaleAmateur-Est_OverviewStages-1.jpg

Coupe d’Algeria: meeting WA Boufarik away in the 2nd round, another team from the CNFA – Centre which is same level as us, different subdivision.

Summary

A blip in the league forced me to rush to the market and I have reinforced the squad with some great talents. However it may be too late, as we now need to break past 3 teams in the table and turn around a 6 points deficit in the 7 remaining matches if we’re to get promoted.

We are about to play the 3 teams above us in February and that will decide everything. Can we still pull it off?

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Chaiba looks like he could be your best player with those attributes, and am I the only one that thinks Derouache looks 10 years old in that picture?!

Chaiba's definitely one of our better players, not sure about outright best but about there. As for the dodgy pic I think it's just you he seems like a regular 17yo kid. Now how on earth the guys at Sortitoutsi get those pics, I have no idea but their Megapack is a mega pack. :thup:

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February-March 2013

dashti_touggourt.gif

Fixtures

NadiRiadhiBaladiatTouggourt_FixturesSchedule-3.jpg

We knew the first few league matches in February were going to be difficult and we needed to win them – a draw at Chaouia was good in theory but not under the circumstances as it almost killed our title chances, then a defat at Ain M’lila ended them for good. However the bad run continued even as we hosted Biskra and travelled to Ramdane Djamel – we couldn’t stop leaking goals.

Then out of the blue everything clicked: a massive 5-0 demolition of Hamra Annaba away. Was that a sign the new players were about to deliver? No. We ended the season with another 2 hugely disappointing results against modest opposition at home.

In the cup the story was the same as we crashed out 2-0 to Boufarik, a team within our reach.

Player on focus

Sid Ahmed Chaïba (MR) – Awful in February like everyone else, but seemed to come good in March and has now shown a few flashes of his talent – 3 goals and 4 assists.

Competitions

CNFA – Est:

DivisionNationaleAmateur-Est_OverviewStages-2.jpg

Coupe d’Algeria: lost to WA Boufarik 0-2 in the 2nd round.

Summary

Awful end as apparently bringing in better players made us play worse, and inconsistent too. I am now a bit lost tactically too as neither the initial 4-4-2 or a few 4-5-1 variants seem to work, I haven’t figured out what’s the main problem and haven't figured out a clear plan as to how should we play football.

Overall it was still a positive season to come 4th given the midtable expectations, but with the array of talent I brought in we should’ve been able to come a lot closer to promotion.

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Season review 2012/2013

dashti_touggourt.gif

Tactics and usual starting eleven

NadiRiadhiBaladiatTouggourt_TacticsTeam.jpg

There were many tactical variations this first season but most of my successful time we orbited around the good old flat classic 4-4-2, which I hate with a passion but definitely fitted my team at the beginning. Now I’m not so sure.

The biggest problem with this version is that the 2 forwards just stay upfront all match and never defend, but I was a lot less dangerous when I swapped a ST for a AM.

Squad

NadiRiadhiBaladiatTouggourt_SquadPlayers-1.jpg

NadiRiadhiBaladiatTouggourt_SquadPlayers-2-1.jpg

Top 5 key players of the season

5. Taimmy Négrèche (ST) – Took off Belabid’s place with a bang when he arrived in January but then faded a bit. 6 goals in 10 matches.

4. Fayçal Trabelsi (ML) – Brilliant at the very beginning then disappeared. 5 goals and 7 assists.

3. Billel Harkas (MC, DM) – Oozing class in the midfield all year but at the age of 38 is starting to become beyond static and may retire, hopefully not.

2. Mehdi Defnoune (DC) – One of the few who spent all year on the side and never lost any credibility, good centre-back.

1. Said Belabid (ST) – 14 goals and 9 assists meant he was by far our best attacking performer even if Négrèche took his place later.

Career overview

[b]Season   League             Cups                          International         Notes[/b]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NRB Touggourt (Algeria)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12/13    CNFA Est - 4th     Coupe d'Algerie 2nd rnd 

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Was a good first season,hopefully you have some solid foundation to build upon.
Good first year, I think.
Decent first year. Something to build from.

Thanks, I think it was alright given the early expectations yet disappointing given the talent I signed afterwards.

Good progress so far, your value rule is going to make stuff really tough in a while.

Good idea though, always thought it was a bit flawed.

Good first season. I'm really interested to see how you will get on especially with the transfer rule. Good luck :D

For now it's not an issue as we're amateur though I am a little surprised few have tried to poach our players. In the new season I've finally had a few bids for them but I could renew contracts with all except one guy I didn't really want anyway.

I'm wondering though whether it's a good idea to make the game even harder for me, when I'm already clearly having a lot of problems making good players play well!

Shame the year tailed off as it did, but still a decent attempt overall.

Hopefully this form won't carry forward into the new season, otherwise I can't see you staying employed for too long!

The board still only wants a midtable finish this season so I should be safe, but any repeat of such rotten form and I'll probably resign on my own as my pride can't take that!

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Pre-season 2013

dashti_touggourt.gif

Transfers (in)

Quite a few new faces again, mostly for defensive positions:

Amar Deffaf (DM / DRC, MC) – My new first choice defensive-minded midfielder with plenty of versatility to cover for other positions.

Mareck Amiri (DL / DC, WBL) – New first choice left-back.

Farid Hamlil (DC / DR) – Rotation player for centreback and rightback positions.

Rabah Hazi (DR / WBR) – Another alternative for rightback, have been using him in pre-season.

Boulbaba Saafi (DC / SW) – Our first foreigner! Fantastic signing and he should be our #1 centre-back now.

Mohamed Djarit (AML / ML, AMR) – Decent winger who has shown surprising pre-season form.

Antara Khattala (GK) – Our keeper being 38 I needed a strong alternative.

Laid Belhamel (DM / MC) – Getting a bit slow but another very classy midfielder is always necessary.

Abdelmoutaleb Ghodbane (ST) – Very very good striker who should relegate Négrèche to the bench.

Transfers (out)

So many were released on frees I’d rather just post a screenshot instead of listing them all.

Veteran midfielder Zahereddine Bordjiba was the first to be poached by another club – I let him go without much fuss.

Final squad for the 2013-2014 season

NadiRiadhiBaladiatTouggourt_SquadPlayers-5.jpg

NadiRiadhiBaladiatTouggourt_SquadPlayers-2-2.jpg

This is looking better now with no obvious awful backups like last year.

Fixtures

NadiRiadhiBaladiatTouggourt_FixturesSchedule-4.jpg

These pre-seasons are awfully boring as I can’t book friendlies against anyone else. A very bad sign is the amount of goals I’m conceding – we even lost a game to our U19s!! - and I will experiment with a few different settings in the final friendly next month.

Competitions

CNFA – Est: starts mid-September

Coupe d’Algeria: first round is drawn late November

Summary

Signing a lot of good defenders seems to haven’t improved our defending and I’m worried, but the squad is stronger again and pre-season means nothing – let’s see what happens when the real matches kick in.

We will face more difficult opposition this year in the CNFA Est as the team that got relegated into the mix is a professional side called AS Khroub.

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Decent first season Noikee.

Again thanks but I'm not entirely sure it was that good!

That is a huge 1st squad!

I always use big squads (I'd rather have too many players than coming into a match with both our left wingers unavailable), and we're not paying anything to anyone so there's not much incentive to let anyone go.

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September-November 2013

dashti_touggourt.gif

Fixtures

NadiRiadhiBaladiatTouggourt_FixturesSchedule-5.jpg

Past the final friendly with El Oued, the league started in brilliant fashion as we blasted past Ramdane Djamel 4-0 away, Ghodbane starring with a hat-trick on his competitive debut for us. However any possible momentum from there was ruined by meeting the league’s only professional side AS Khroub the next match, when we were humiliated 3-0 at home. That opened up a bit of an inconsistent run culminating at our worst in a defeat at Hamra Annaba.

Desperate to extract the potential from my side I’ve switched to a 4-3-3 since the Ain Beida match and the results have been encouraging. Depending on the perspective we’re now on a 5 match unbeaten run, or have dropped points in 3 separate occasions and have conceded loads. I’d rather be optimistic as that’s the vibe I’m getting from the pitch.

Player on focus

Mohamed Boussefiane (AML, ST, AMC) – Really excelled once I switched from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 and moved him from 2nd striker to AML – he got a brace vs Ain Beida, another vs Djidjel and is on 7 goals, remarkably prolific stuff for a winger.

The man upfront Abdelmoutaled Ghodbane is also on 7 goals; and I’d also like to mention rightback Rabah Hazi who has been on fabulous form, including a ridiculous goal vs Chaouia when he took the ball in his half and ran the length of the pitch to beat the keeper in a counter-attack.

Competitions

CNFA – Est:

DivisionNationaleAmateur-Est_OverviewStages-3.jpg

Coupe d’Algeria: not the kindest draw as we meet Ligue 2 side AB Merouana away in the first round.

Summary

Player for player we’re better than everyone else bar Khroub so we should be 2nd, and we’re not. However after a fairly worrying patch we now seem back on track after switching to the 4-3-3, and the pack behind Khroub is within our reach so I am confident we can climb to 2nd eventually – that’s the aim I’m setting for ourselves.

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