[FM13] The Third Journey, by noikeee

[noikeee]

Good thread, and enjoying. It's kind of late to toss this in, but your old goalkeeper "retiring from professional football" just means he won't signy for a pro side anymore. He will stay in the game as a semi-pro or and amateur however. When he actually retires, he will go away as a player as per usual. It was something introduced into FM12 I believe.

Thanks. I actually figured that out later but I had already released the keeper on a free, we didn't miss him so it's alright. We're amateur of course so he could still play for us.

Here's a nice little video to make up for 3 seasons of disappointment - Touggourt finally play some proper football like a proper team and score a proper goal:

[video=youtube;M93482coD8c]

[CarltonBanks]

Very solid looking play in that video. I'm sure you'll be wanting to see that all season long!

[AK22]

Meh! Just hoof the ball forward

[noikeee]

Very solid looking play in that video. I'm sure you'll be wanting to see that all season long!

I wish. I am using a bit of a play-like-Barça set of shouts which explains the intricate teamplay, and that's a bit amusing after the trainwreck that was my attempt to make lower league sides play like Barcelona back in my FM11 career. Ever since I've tried to be a tad more functional however I've tried everything to get my team ticking this time, and playing tiki-taka-esque may actually make some sense due to my advantage over other teams being mostly technical.

Results have been mixed but I still think I'm doing better ever since I reverted back to 4-3-3 late last season, and started using this shorter passing style. I've not been able to play much FM lately but we're I think 6 matches into the league season and sitting in 4th or so.

Meh! Just hoof the ball forward

I do wonder whether I'm missing out for not having a big, tall, powerful brute upfront... all strikers I've had have been of the quick, light variety. They fit my current style though.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Meh! Just hoof the ball forward

Like Stoke?

[noikeee]

September-November 2015

Fixtures

It was not a particularly fantastic start to the league with a draw at Aïn M’lila, then a shocking home loss to Chaouia, but somehow I still felt a positive vibe in our play and stuck to it. It was the right call. We would back that up with a hard fought 3-2 away win at Khenchela, then 2 convincing home wins. A blip with a defeat at Skikda ensued – we still seem weaker away from home – but since then we’ve won 3 out of 4, with the remaining match being an away draw at the league leaders'.

Player on focus

Abderrahim Saïdi (DC) – Losing our CB duo of Bala/Ragdi in the Summer had made me quite worried about this position, and to be fair we are conceding slightly too many goals for my liking. However one of their replacements Saïdi leads my average rating charts by a fair distance and has proved invaluable upfront as well with 3 goals.

Striker Kamel Zeghl has been good too with 5 goals and 2 assists, as well as goalscoring midfielder Mehdi Derouache (I use him as Central Midfield/Attack role) who is on 4 goals all from runs from deep.

Competitions

CNFA – Est:

Coupe d’Algeria: we host CNFA Centre side JSM Chéraga at home in the 1st round, that’s a draw clearly within our reach.

Summary

This is the first time since the early days of the first season that I can seriously say I am happy with what I’m getting from my players – it’s been a huge improvement over last season. We now have a plan, we win and even play good football. Unfortunately MSP Batna have been a level above us but I think we can keep up here in 2nd, and then hopefully catch them.

[withnail316]

Well done for sticking with it. It's the rough seasons that make the good ones so much sweeter! Fingers crossed it's your season this time around...

[deltablue]

Better start this time...

[B.W.G]

Made a very good start so far,hopefully you can keep your form up and MSP Batna slip up.

[cerud]

Very good start

[AK22]

Much better this season

Like Stoke?

Yes, like Stoke! Although, Mr Pulis wouldn't agree!

[noikeee]

Well done for sticking with it. It's the rough seasons that make the good ones so much sweeter! Fingers crossed it's your season this time around...

Absolutely, difficult careers feel much more rewarding than win win win all the time. However when you're down and clueless as what to do to change things they can be very much not fun too... thankfully I'm seemingly past that point now.

Better start this time...

Very good start

Much better this season

Thanks.

Made a very good start so far,hopefully you can keep your form up and MSP Batna slip up.

I'm afraid they did slip up but only as much as we did so the situation is the exact same after 2 months. More to follow.

[noikeee]

December 2015-January 2016

Transfers (in)

Pretty calm Winter with only one man arriving and none departing:

Merouane Ferhat (ML) – Bit of a needless signing since I already had one winger named M. Ferhat as a rarely used backup (his first name is Malek), this one does have a bit of potential though.

Fixtures

It seemed like our league form was flawless, we continued the happy story from previous months by being on course to clean out December, getting heavy wins over Biskra and Collo and just about finishing off M’lila. However what came next caught us by surprise – Djidjel and Chaouia are upper table opponents but I certainly didn’t expect my team’s ideas to dry up resulting in 2 defeats! Things picked up slowly with a late goal win over Guelma, we had another underwhelming home draw with Khenchela, but are now back to seemingly good form with 2 wins on the run again, albeit against Hamra Annaba we had to turn around a 0-1 to 3-1 with 20 minutes remaining.

In the cup I tried to be clever and play a backup side vs Chéraga, it nearly backfired but bringing Derouache from the bench worked wonders, as the midfielder had one of his days when his runs from deep are godlike and thanks to them he scored a brace.

Player on focus

Abderrahim Saïdi (DC) – Yes it’s Saïdi again and how could I pick anyone else when he continues to be the boss of defence while scoring multiple key goals? He got us the winner against both M’lila and Guelma, and for a highly unusual stretch of 4 games was the only of our players to score. 8 goals for a centre-back is fantastic and he’s also refused a move to a professional side in Ligue 2 to stick with us!

Again I have to mention striker Kamel Zeghl, who scored another 8 goals (he’s now on 13 this season), including a hat-trick vs Collo and a fantastic long range shot vs Skikda. Unfortunately he just picked up a 4/5 week injury and we’re screwed.

Competitions

CNFA – Est:

Coupe d’Algeria: next up in the 2nd round is a travel away to SA Mohammadia from Ligue 2, think that’ll be the end of our cup run.

Summary

It’s a massive shame we had a wobble with 2 defeats and 1 draw. We’re still doing much better than last year and seem to be back to consistency, but being 5 points away from Batna with 7 matches remaining doesn’t render me hugely positive for promotion. We do have a 6-pointer home match vs Batna coming up which could salvage a title run, but don’t expect us to go up, other difficult fixtures are yet to come, I’m not particularly fancying back-to-back away trips to Biskra and Djijdel in March.

[SRL88]

Going along nicely so far, just a shame on those two defeats.

[B.W.G]

Much improved on last season,shame about your blips as well.

[AcidBurn]

Shame about the losses MSP Batna look like they are in cracking form. Good luck dude, hopefully they'll slip up.

[snootyjim]

Really coming on this season - maybe not this year, but you're definitely on an upward trajectory. Hope you make it.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Yes, like Stoke! Although, Mr Pulis wouldn't agree!

That's because his paedo look has a rose tint.

[noikeee]

Going along nicely so far, just a shame on those two defeats.

Much improved on last season,shame about your blips as well.

Thanks, but I probably lost my chance of promotion in those matches.

Shame about the losses MSP Batna look like they are in cracking form. Good luck dude, hopefully they'll slip up.

Batna did c*ck up a couple times, the problem is we did the same at the same time, hopefully we'll still crack a minor miracle to beat them in the remaining 7 games.

Really coming on this season - maybe not this year, but you're definitely on an upward trajectory. Hope you make it.

Yeah I think I've made some rather big tactical breakthroughs lately, I've wrote a lot in the tactics forum if anyone's interested in that sort of thing.

That's because his paedo look has a rose tint.

I'm not following very well this side conversation but not sure I want to neither.

[noikeee]

Checking out Batna's calendar has suddenly made me more optimistic:

5 consecutive away matches. Surely they won't just get win after win?

[withnail316]

Fingers crossed you can close the gap... all you can do is win your own games I guess.

[noikeee]

Fingers crossed you can close the gap... all you can do is win your own games I guess.

I'm afraid we've not done our part. But I haven't finished the season yet so a full update won't come yet.

[noikeee]

NRB Touggourt - Youth intake 2016

Best player

Reda Fellahi

Not sure why I even bother posting this anymore.

[noikeee]

February-March 2016

Fixtures

This looked so promising. We continued our good form in the league with a win at Aïn Beïda, however lost points to Tébessa then were unexpected and set us up badly for the big game vs Batna, which we had to win if we were to continue our promotion push. It went awfully wrong, Batna outplayed us, albeit somehow we scored 2 in the final minutes and salvaged an insufficient draw.

Emphasis then turned into securing at least 2nd place in the away matches vs the direct opposition of Biskra and Djidjel. Again we were awful. Against Biskra my tactics backfired horribly wrong, as I didn’t predict their forward with 4/5 for acceleration/pace would score an hat-trick from 3 through balls – and against Djidjel we were unlucky. To finish it off in style, we nearly lost at home to last place Collo although a 89th minute equalizer from ourselves did relegate them.

In the cup we pulled a brilliant upset winning at professional Ligue 2 team Mohammadia by sitting deep and tight. 1-0, goal nicked in a corner. I tried to do the same once we drew Ligue 1 side Béjaïa, but they were too strong for us and the run ended there, albeit we hardly disgraced ourselves with a 2-0 defeat to much superior opposition.

Player on focus

Farid Salhi (AML, AMR, ST) – Everybody’s been on pretty poor form lately, but the versatile Salhi at least has continued his consistent stream of assists. He ends the season with 10 of them, which is pretty handy for who missed a lot of games to injury.

Competitions

CNFA – Est:

Coupe d’Algeria: beaten 0-2 at home in the 3rd round by top tier team JSM Béjaïa.

Summary

Ouch, I didn’t imagine such a steep dip in form was even possible, I thought we were past this point. We just did very badly in every one of the 3 key matches and were uninspired vs the poorer opposition too. At least we managed to pull a nice upset in the cup.

Ultimately to come 4th again is very disappointing, even if 48 points is the best total out of my 4 seasons in the desert. Yeah 4th is much better than the media prediction of 11th - but much worse than the actual talent in my side, which is the best in the division or at least joint best together with Batna.

[noikeee]

Season review 2015/2016

Tactics and usual starting eleven

I sticked to the 4-3-3 formation all season long, but used a lot of different shouts throughout the matches depending on the situations.

Squad

Top 5 key players of the season

5. Omar Labdi (DC) – I’m unsure whether he was truly good or whether his 7.03 rating is just a consequence of the seemingly slightly inflated ratings for centre-backs.

4. Mehdi Derouache (MC, AMR) – A fantastic goalscorer from the very deep MC position, at least until I lauded his role in the tactics forum mid-season, because ever since he scored not a single goal more. 7 goals, 4 assists.

3. Farid Salhi (AML, AMR, ST) – Didn’t miss as much time to injury as I initially feared, which was nice as he became as influential as I expected – 11 assists, 5 goals.

2. Kamel Zeghl (ST, AMR, AML) – In the beginning I expected Salhi to be upfront and Zeghl on the wings but it was the opposite that tended to happen, and Zeghl was quite prolific becoming our top scorer with 15 goals.

1. Abderrahim Saïdi (DC) – Proved to be an absolutely freakish goalscoring centre-back, and I swear I’m not doing anything dodgy with the set piece routines. 10 goals!! 7.40 average rating is by far the best in the team too.

Career overview

[b]Season   League             Cups                          International         Notes[/b]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NRB Touggourt (Algeria)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12/13    CNFA Est - 4th     Coupe d'Algerie 2nd rnd 
13/14    CNFA Est - 3rd     Coupe d'Algerie 2nd rnd 
14/15    CNFA Est - 6th     Coupe d'Algerie 1st rnd
15/16    CNFA Est - 4th     Coupe d'Algerie 3rd rnd 

[noikeee]

Touggourt, 26th of March 2016

Exactly 3 years and 9 months after arriving in the middle of the desert for a managing job, I quit. It just had to be done, 4 seasons of cringe-worthy disappointment were enough. I used Touggourt as a tactical sandbox (pardon the pun), pushing on year after year purely on the faith that one day I'd figure out the tactics and get this team playing. I built a new team every transfer window as my players got poached, and new similar players no better no worse signed every year. Ultimately I didn't get anywhere. We had the best team in the division every since my very first signings 4 years ago, yet never held on for a title challenge for a full season.

Part of the reason I didn't give up earlier, is that I don't feel I've done enough to move anywhere else. I started on the worst possible level, I look at the other active leagues I have and even the shittier ones aren't as bad as the Algerian 3rd division. However it's worth noting that for all my disappointments, I have beaten my club's media prediction every year and by some margin so my reputation may have gained something, if minimal.

I do have a couple of possible destinations in my mind, but we'll see what comes up. In the mean time I remind you the full list of them:

[b]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) **[/b]

[i]* leagues I created from scratch in the editor
** I extended a level to the Uruguay league in the editor[/i]

[noikeee]

Johor Bahru, 30th of April 2016

From the middle of the desert, to a massive 1.4 million population city packed with skyscrapers!! I have just arrived at Malaysia:

My new club is Johor FC, at least that’s how it’s named in FM because in real life apparently it already has changed names to Darul Takzim FC. After a couple seasons in the top tier of Malaysia which is named the Astro Malaysia Liga Super (in which the club actually nabbed a spectacular 2nd place twice), it was relegated last season to the 2nd tier, the Astro Malaysia Liga Premier. Unfortunately, dreams of going straight back up (and this is what the board want – they aim to win the league), have been shattered by the grim reality so far. These are the standings as I am presented as the new manager:

And this is the lot I’m unfortunate enough to be stuck with:

Likely key players

Mohd Syuhiran Zainal (DC) – Not a terrible centre-back by any means, seems pretty much at the level I had in Algeria for this position (was theoretically one of my worst though). He’s however on a long term injury and on a transfer-request feud with the club!

Muhd Shafiq Jamal (ST) – And this is where things turn worrying, if this is our best striker that doesn’t render me hugely confident…

Famirul Asraf Sayuti (MR / AMR) – Finding a 3rd key player was a struggle, this guy was who impressed me the most from skimming quickly between a couple other player profiles.

Finances

A very healthy 134K€ in the bank is rather nice, as is the news of a 24.6K€/month wage budget and a 27K€ transfer budget. That’s right I have moved to a team with full blown professional status! No more poaching of amateur players. This activates the controversial “asking price rule” as mentioned in the career’s initial post:

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.

Goals for this season

I’m already very worried, when I go into the board confidence screen it says they want us to win the league. That’s quite simply impossible. Going out of this relegation scrap we seem to be in would be a start.

[deltablue]

Quite a change of scenery!

[AK22]

And there's a McDonalds! That's progress!

Good luck!

[noikeee]

Quite a change of scenery!

Yeah at least it's still quite warm weather, I was considering swapping Algeria for Sweden instead! Desert to snow!

And there's a McDonalds! That's progress!

Good luck!

Not that big progress - they had a lovely camel burger down there in Touggourt.

[withnail316]

Interesting move! Don't blame you for quitting in the end, best of luck in Malaysia.

[shnen]

good luck

[B.W.G]

Best of luck in Malaysia

[DodgeeD]

Love the photo of the guy wnadering off into the desert

Best of luck in Malaysia!

[AcidBurn]

Good luck in Malaysia, that 5 star striker is not the best lol.

[noikeee]

Interesting move! Don't blame you for quitting in the end, best of luck in Malaysia.

good luck

Best of luck in Malaysia

Love the photo of the guy wnadering off into the desert

Best of luck in Malaysia!

Good luck in Malaysia, that 5 star striker is not the best lol.

All the good luck wishes must've worked because I've just won the FM equivalent of a lottery, totally bizarre stuff, explanations soon.

[Makoto Nakamura]

Johor have been taken over by a tycoon?

[noikeee]

Johor have been taken over by a tycoon?

Nope... it's weirder stuff.

[noikeee]

May-July 2016

Transfers (in)

I hired a few guys on frees as the remainder of the league season panned out:

Patrick Wleh (ST) – Massive upgrade on the striker department, turned out to be a brilliant signing with 7 goals in 8 matches.

Mohd Radzi Jasman (DC) – We very badly lacked tall CBs, absolutely had to hire one.

Muhd Fariq Zainal Abidin (DM) – Barely decent DM, I’m playing him as CM and retraining him.

Abdul Shukor Zahari (AML / ML) – My options for left winger were absolutely appalling, to the point this kid looked like a passable signing.

Asep Sudradjat (ST / AMC) – That’s 2nd foreigner spot filled after the signing of Wleh, this Indonesian youngster brings height to the attack.

Transfers (out)

I got rid of (free transferred) veteran striker Christian Lamin Conteh.

Fixtures

My league debut couldn’t have gone better with a 1-0 away win albeit rather lucky, at home we were not as good however with 2 consecutive 2-2 draws, new signing Wleh scoring all the goals. Then it was time for the Johor derby, we lost that 3-0 but then FM crashdumped and in the replay we won 2-1 which was better... unfortunately a bit of a slump followed with another 2 home draws and a away defeat, and we finished with a narrow win and an away draw. Throughout everything was marked by rather inconsistent form but every single match felt close. We beat relegation comfortably but hardly did anything out of the ordinary.

Then just after the final match I was in shock as I received this message:

What the f*ck?

The rules state the “top 2 teams go up”… but “depending on the results of previous season’s Astro Piala Malaysia” (a competition that resembles a League Cup). I went to check the results and in 2015 we were awful in that competition, bottom of the very initial group stage, many of our league’s opponents were much better there. However, in 2014 we reached the final. Does “previous season” refers to 2 years ago?

Bottom line is – we got promoted because 2 years ago we reached the league cup final. Apparently. This is the most bizarre thing that’s ever happened to me in FM.

Player on focus

Patrick Wleh (ST) – My new signing, who scored 7 in 8. Every single other player was very, very sh*t.

Competitions

Liga Premier:

Piala FA: Lost in the semi-final before my arrival.

Piala Malaysia: Starts in August.

Summary

I never imagined Asia would be this weird. I’m trying to play a bog standard 4-4-2 and the quality of our football has been desperately awful as a result (and as a result of the player’s abilities too, certainly), but hey. We got promoted. Somehow.

The season doesn’t end here because now the Astro Piala Malaysia, aka The Weird League Cup That Hands Out Promotions For Free In The Distant Future, begins next month. Seasons are yearly in Malaysia, January to December.

[noikeee]

... continuing on the weirdness theme:

[B.W.G]

So you finish 7th and get promoted due to appearing in a league cup final.It's a promotion no matter how it happened so well done

As for England winning,I'd report that as a bug!

[noikeee]

So you finish 7th and get promoted due to appearing in a league cup final.It's a promotion no matter how it happened so well done

As for England winning,I'd report that as a bug!

I'm so proud!

I regret however to inform that contrary to what I previously stated, we haven't done enough in the league to qualify for my new favorite competition, the Astro Piala Malaysia. Which means despite this season ending in early July, our next competitive match is in... January. Six months of space bar continue or holiday mode... not fun.

[snootyjim]

How bizarre! It's one of the reasons I like managing in Asia, I never quite know what to expect - although I've never seen anything quite like that.

Pity about Algeria, but can't blame you at all for leaving, amateur clubs are particularly irritating in FM and that league did not seem particularly fair either. Best of luck for the next season in Malaysia.

[markyosullivan]

Haven't seen many people manage in Malaysia, nice work on the promotion.

[Nobby_McDonald]

Crap looking ground in a nice looking city.

[deltablue]

Interesting way to go up.

[AK22]

Lucky boy!

[AcidBurn]

That's a brilliant way to get promoted!

[noikeee]

How bizarre! It's one of the reasons I like managing in Asia, I never quite know what to expect - although I've never seen anything quite like that.

Pity about Algeria, but can't blame you at all for leaving, amateur clubs are particularly irritating in FM and that league did not seem particularly fair either. Best of luck for the next season in Malaysia.

I'm actually not enjoying Asia very much, this particular promotion business, while it's nice we were benefited, rather makes me worried at what other random events may catch me out by surprise.

Haven't seen many people manage in Malaysia, nice work on the promotion.

Nice work? I did absolutely nothing.

Crap looking ground in a nice looking city.

Trust me it's not just the ground, everything about football is crap in Malaysia.

Interesting way to go up.

Lucky boy!

That's a brilliant way to get promoted!

I've been thinking and I've found no reason whatsoever for that rule to exist.. it just make no sense, glad it went to my team though.

[noikeee]

Johor FC - Youth intake 2016

Best player

Mohd Hilmi Azman

Best youth intake ever!!!!!111 Well, relatively speaking.