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C.D. Alfaro - Segunda Division B2 - 2015/16

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League Past positions Transfers Finances

Season review

Segunda Division B2- 15th

Before the season started I thought this would be a tough challenge, 4 teams go down from this league with the team 5th from bottom playing in a relegation play-off against one of the other 15th place teams from the other leagues at this level.

Well I don't know how this happened to be honest! We started the season in the worst possible form, we lost our opening 7 games, and 11 out of the first 12. We conceded 47 goals in those 11 games. Just let that sink in... Things turned around for us after a 7 (seven) - 0 drubbing at promotion chasing Fuenlabrada. I changed the tactics to include a DM and we subsequently recorded three straight wins including an impressive 2-0 win against a strong Castilla side (Real Madrid B).

Between November and early March we put together some decent mid-table form. Very inconsistent but by and large getting results against the teams around us. However, having just 2 CMs and 2 CDs in the whole squad soon caught up with us and injuries to one of each and long term injuries to our 2 wingers meant we were to a large extent relying on youth in our run in. This put us firmly back in the relegation fight with just 6 points from our last 8 games, finishing 15th...just... after results going our way on the last day we finished 15th and entered the relegation play off. Drawn again Sporting B - no idea if they're any good!

We won 5-2 in the first leg. That scoreline flattered us in a fairly even game with 2 own goals going our way and a late late goal to add an extra (potentially crucial) 5th. We sat tight in the second leg and after a back to the wall job I thought we would sneak 0-0. It took them over 70 mins to break the deadlock, going 2-0 up shortly after. I tweaked things again and we held on with no further highlights in the match. Happy for a boring finish!

We did set one record this season with two games to spare. We'd go on to break this record by a further 4 goals in the end.

Copa del Rey

Lost in the 1st round to Burgos of Segunda Division B1.

Copa RREF

Lost in Premilinary Round to Ecija of Segunda Division B4. Probably should have won this after winning the first leg 3-1.

Star players

'Star' is maybe overstating in what was a long and difficult season, however goals for the team at crucial times put these guys ahead of others.

1st - David Royo - scored some crucial goals during the season to win points/relegation play offs.

2nd - Munilla - our only defender who can defend. Scored a few from Alex Perdiguero's huge throws also. Worried how many we would have conceded without this guy.

3rd - Victor Ramos is our lump upfront, top scorer despite being dropped a few times.

Youth intake

Good looking intake, or maybe due to us being so poor - not sure! Still some of these guys could form the basis of our team in the next few years so will be challenging for a place next year.

YP01A - Jose Manuel Hernández - Good looking CD/DM - sorely need positions.

YP01B - José Gutiérrez - Decent looking centre mid - came straight into the first team due to injuries and did ok.

YP01C - Luis Osia - my assman doesn't really rate this guy but I think he can make a decent full back in the future.

YP01D - Eneko Bravo - he's a central midfielder and so gets a tag by default.

Looking back I don't know why I didn't add this guy as a tag so consider Antonio YP01E (I usually try to stick to 3 tags, honest!).

We did improve junior coaching during the year but unfortunately had our training facilities down graded - really not what we needed.

Next seasons goals

Concede far fewer goals

Bring in youth players

Survive!

(Took some of the screen shots above after the season - will remember this season!)

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bl0u6344 that was close! Survival is always the name of the game at the start of this challenge, so job well done :thup:

XaW, fantastic season, congrats! I am having serious withdrawals from Sweden!

That said, something just happened which means I probably cannot quit my England challenge this year :) and :(

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Jambo 98 - Youth Challenge Attempt 1 - Scotland - Cove Rangers

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Season 6 - 2020/21

Manager Profile

The Competitions

Division - Scottish League 1

Final Position - 8th - Survived

Past Postions - Link

Challenge Cup - Knocked out Semi Final by Queens Park

League Cup - Knocked out round 1 by Stranraer

Scottish Cup - Knocked out round 3 by Morton (entered at Round 3)

The Season Summary

League

This season was all about survival. We started off ok, nicking a couple of early wins and the Challenge cup wins also kept us from slumping in the first month or so. Unfortunately, and maybe predictably, we did start to slump a bit fairly soon. The step up in quality started to show. Although we did hit the bottom of the table, it was always close. We were not cut adrift and we were still in games, not losing heavily (the odd game aside).

Over November and December we picked up, a run of 3 draws followed by 2 wins (with a defeat in between) sent us out of the bottom 2. Jan was a superb month, with 4 wins out of 5 games briefly puting us within 5pts of the playoffs!

We couldnt keep up the good form though, and started to drop off again but always had a good cushion over the bottom 2. A few points picked up in March meant we were soon pretty much safe, although 1 win in our last 8 meant we could only finish 8th. Overall though, delighted to stay up.

Cups

A nice run in the challenge cup, all the way to the Semi and thought we had a chance to go to our first cup final, but we were out of form at the time and Queens Park put us out.

POTY (Non Tagged Youths/original players only)

given that the majority of my first team are probably now youths, and will get updated below, will just mention the 1 non tagged player who stood out again:

Clark Ireland - Our top scorer for the second season running, despite playing in a DF role. His Finishing and Composure dont suggest he will be a big scorer but he keeps defying that!

The Youths

The Intake

Youth Intake Season 6 - a very middle heavy intake, could use a full back or winger or 2......but one stand out for the second year running. Changed my HOYD last year and it seems to have helped a bit, although some of the good stars are tempered by the fact that its weighed against my existing squad who are hardly world beaters.......

The New Tags

YP06a - Gavin Cooper - Ooft, Finishing, composure, flair, speed...........i like this guy a lot. Scored within 2mins on his debut and went on to score 3 in a 7 game cameo spell at the end of the season. Could be the mule........

YP06b - Ross Watson - A tidy DM, who will be retrained to play at DC where we have a more pressing need, and his stats seem to fit that role

The Tag Updates

YP01a - Jamie Campbell - Has really found himself since moving to right midfield, another solid season and has little competition for that spot at the moment

YP01b - Jamie Scott - actually had his best season yet, with some more game time and a far more respectable Ave rating, but attributes wise he isnt developing and has hit 20. Maybe a late bloomer?

YP02a - Danny Gilmour - Performed ably as a back up. We have no other youth in his position and the established started is ageing so Gilmour met yet get a chance as first choice

YP02b - Fraser Ward - A wierd one, in that he now rated as the worst CA of my first team squad, and low PA. So much so that he only wanted a non contract deal not even a part time one. Yet on the pitch, a great season and one of our best players!

YP03a - Steven O'Neil - Moved to a deeper midfield role to allow Jim Bell to take up the advanced position and did a solid job. Him and Bell look like my middle pairing for the forseeable.

YP03b - Michael Scott - Lost to Kilmarnock for £6K compensation in Season 5:(

YP04a - Darren McDonald - still first choice keeper, although an untagged youth took some of his game tame as they look very evenly matched on paper. Will be a battle for him to stay first choice now, but he performs well for me.

YP04b - Fraser McRae - A bit of an injury hit season, out a few times and didnt overly perform when given his change. With the emergence of YP06a, he has a battle to get a starting place anytime soon

YP05a - Jim Bell - Settled in alongside O'Neil and formed a good partnership. Could do with a couple more goals or assists, but overall he is surely here to stay as long as i can keep him under contract

YP05b - Colin Love - Very much a backup, but as a 4th striker he is more than serviceable.

The State of the Club

Finances

End of season picture - Not great. Our board invested £160K mid season to prevent us probably going into administration. We are losing money with our youth set up and even with our wages being reasonably low :( Realistically, Rangers or Celtic away in a cup is the only likely saviour.

Facilities

Current facilities picture - No luck in getting upgrades or becoming professional with the lack of funds.

Changes from last year - No change this year.

Transfers

Transfer History - Minimal departures, although 2 previous first teamers who were now 3rd choice were moaning in Jan so got released.

Career Summary

[b][u]Season          Division                    Final Position           Cups                    Achievements[/u][/b]
  1             Scottish league 2              9th                     Nowt                   Avoided Relegation
  2             Scottish league 2              6th                     Scot cup Rd5         Avoided Relegation
  3             Scottish league 2              10th                   Nowt                    Avoid Relegation (just)
  4             Scottish league 2              9th                     Nowt                    Avoided Relegation
  5             Scottish league 2              1st                     Scot cup Rd5         Promoted!!![
  6             Scottish league 1              8th                    Challenge Cup S/f   Stayed up

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I would love to try this challenge, however I went to try germany out, even the teams that are newly promoted are worth millions. Is anything comparable to the n/S Conference of england? I don't want to be a super strong side first year

Welcome to Sweden! :) The lowest playable league were 3 spots ahead of Conference N/S when I started. Quick season and good intake due to the low standard of the league.

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You have convinced me! Holidaying now. Thanks for the date btw had to find it on your post.

Great, I told ri to add it to the opening post, but he must have missed it. Hope you enjoy your stay :)

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Good season XaW, you'll be in the top division in no time. I think SI have the youth rating for Sweden a bit high since it was the same thing last year, huge amount of youth clearly better than the existing players flooding in. Can't complain though. :D

bl0u6344 - survival no matter how close counts! At least there's potential with your intake, survive another year or two and it'll get easier.

Well done to survive a division up Jambo98, and very nice intake, Cooper looks a star and Watson has great jumping for a guy who is on the short side for a central defender.

I'm struggling with the season length in England too Braumiller, no idea why I try it when I always end up hating it. If things hadn't started looking brighter for my team I was back to Portugal for sure. :lol:

Update from my game - 10 games into the new season and two time Vanarama Conference North player of the year Luke Marsden is still without a club. Screw him and his "your club don't have the financial resources to make my client a worthwhile offer" agent. How you like those £0 a week apples?

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Good season XaW, you'll be in the top division in no time. I think SI have the youth rating for Sweden a bit high since it was the same thing last year, huge amount of youth clearly better than the existing players flooding in. Can't complain though. :D

This was always a thing in very low levels. I played in Malaysia on the last fm and the players in the team to start were just about as awful as it is possible to be so even a terrible youth player was better than the atrocious real player.

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Anyone else notice that staff wages seem to increase at a higher rate than player wages? I havent had any issues thus far keeping my player wages down, and players dont ask for crazy rises, but my staff seem to want big rises each year. I just let 3 go because they have gone from something like £60 a week to start with to wanting £375 per week! Our top player is on £170 i think....

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Anyone else notice that staff wages seem to increase at a higher rate than player wages? I havent had any issues thus far keeping my player wages down, and players dont ask for crazy rises, but my staff seem to want big rises each year. I just let 3 go because they have gone from something like £60 a week to start with to wanting £375 per week! Our top player is on £170 i think....

I haven't experienced this. My staff are on reasonable wages and usually only want a small wage. I say usually, because it has happened once or twice, but to me that is to be expected.

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[League] [Results] [squad Stats][Transfers][Finances]

Sölvesborgs Season 2 2016-2017

League Summary

Well that was a frustrating but ultimately successful season. With last seasons performances in mind we went into pre-season full of confidence. After a league reshuffle we found ourselves moved in the second division East Gotaland, confidence waned slightly as these were all unknown teams. The season preview suggested we were one of the stronger teams and we approached the season with the aim of winning the league. Two thumping home wins started the campaign, but cracks appeared in our away matches and so the tinkering began.

We managed to sit joint top after 8 games, but were very inconsistent. We hit our worst patch of form with no wins in four, but surprisingly stayed in touch with the top 2 teams. After some more adjustments and meddling we managed to get back to scoring goals and pick up enough wins to be a clear second place, only 2 points behind league leaders Limhahm. Then came another rough couple of games (9 conceded) and our title hopes were fading. The turning point of our season was in the 88th minute away at Hassleholms, 1-1 and desperately needing a win to stay in touch, Gustaffson hits a 30 yard free kick in off the post and we held on to win 2-1. A six pointer against league leaders Limhahm, saw us win 1-0 in an incredibly tight game. We now sat top by 1 point with two games to go. A professional 2-0 win against relegation threatened IFK Malmo, left us with an away game finale. A win would guarantee the league title. In a nerve bitingly close game with few chances we got to half time at 0-0, knowing we had dropped to second in the league. Our breakthrough came after 50 mins, with my CB firing in from close range. We then started to get more conservative. on 75 min, our centre mid got a straight red, cue final reshuffle and extremely defensive football. Thankfully we held on and Solvesborgs were crowned champions after the game.

Less points than last year and a worse goal difference, but several youth players got game time and we won the league, so happy overall.

Cup

We were entered this year and won in the first round. Swapped home advantage in the second round against Falkenberg and was duly eliminated, but not without a fight.

Youth Intake

No depth this year, but two very promising players. Luckily I inherited a young squad so for the time being we can be selective.

Kristoffer Selmer (YP02a) Good finishing, but poor composure. Has decent physical stats and will get involved straigh away

Tobias Bryngelsson (YP02b) I really like the look of this lad. Good passing, teamwork and bravery, he will be the future so will get plenty of opportunities.

Players of the Season

Frank Gustaffson - Again was my most important player, can go missing but those games are few and far between, won Swedish second division midfielder of the season (27 apps, 5 goals, 16 assists)

Previously Tagged

Fredrik Jonson (YP01a) Managed 11 goals this season (one hatrick). Great at carrying the ball and will get in behind opposition back lines but is only deadly at point blank range. Great start to career, but will share game time with Selmer from new intake.

Frej Jonsson (YP02b) My unsung hero. Played 25 league games at centre back and finished with a rating of 7.21. Asked to replace my best player and was more than up for the challenge.

Andreas Engtorp (YP01c) Shared game time with some of the untagged youth players. Managed 17 apps (7.12 rating). Was very solid, unfortunately for him I often used a more creative player in his place. He will be important next year.

Season Review

Not as convincing a league win as I hoped but still amazing. We will need to re-think our approach for next year but we are definitely capable of staying up. More and more staff are showing up on my staff searches, so i hope to fill out my back room finally and hire a decent assistant. Still no facility upgrades. The club loses money, but the board have chipped in a few times to keep us afloat. Two of my goals from last year achieved.

Goals

1) Survive

2) Upgrade something

3) Don't panic change tactics if we lose a game!

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We started brilliantly, going undefeated for our first ten games and sitting on top with 24 points, and even though we hadn't kept a clean sheet we were mostly keeping opponents to a single goal, how easy is this? Well FC United gave as a reality check putting 7 past us next game to knock away any hubris about our defense!

Still we seemed to survive that fine ... what we didn't survive was the flood of misfortune to come. Injuries hit us hard, which compounded the problems of our constantly waterlogged pitch giving us a scheduling nightmare. To make matters worse somehow (18b) Justin Dozzell, top scorer in the division two years running, managed to go over a dozen games without finding the net! When strikers go on a scoring slump it's brutal, they just can't kick straight any more. An injury to him probably saved me the tough choice of sticking to him or dropping him, not that we had many other choices, letting strikers go to make room for higher potential players (who in turn contributed nothing) before the season.

Somehow we managed to stay in touch with the playoffs, although it took a good closing run right through to our last game to sneak into the last place. That cost us dearly though, as we lost two players in the final game, including a now in form Dozzell. This meant heading into the playoffs with both our first choice strikers out.

Did a really solid job in the home game to take away a 2-0 lead from it, but that was wiped out within 6 minutes of the return leg! We steadied but just when I though we'd force extra time one of our center backs misplaced a pass that allowed their striker a run through to goal and he made no mistake. Threw what we had at them until the end but we were out of options by that point.

Definitely some positives to take from the year, our defense finally looked worthy of its name (at least at times), while our offensive dropoff was more due to personnel than tactics I feel. Dozzell, perhaps in a moment of weakness during his form slump, or perhaps because of our league position, agreed to extend his contract. And we didn't miss Luke Marsden at all - who despite getting interest from League 2 teams remains sat at home on his couch watching daytime TV.

Key Players

  • (16g) Nigel Ellerbeck - MC - Was an untagged after thought when he arrived, but has put in over 200 league games and achieved our highest rating this year. Has really become our best midfielder, and for much of the year his 11 goals led the chart for us.
  • Joe Peacock - MR - One of only two original players, and took over Marsden's role from the other wing, providing us with 20 assists.
  • (18a) Kenny Hatch - ST - First player who I've really been happy with as a support striker, unfortunately his natural fitness makes it hard to play him on anything less than a 7 day rest.
  • (21a) Gareth Strong - ML/ST - Big quick left footed striker turned into a wing, who contributes early? Lets hope the similarities with Marsden end when it comes to signing his next contract!
  • (19f) Marcus Corrigan - DC/DL - A complete lack of left footed fullbacks has pushed him wide. No real attacking threat but solid defensively.

Youth Intake

A big list of decent prospects here. The problem right now is the first team already has a lot of prospects who aren't quite ready competing for a shot. This is starting to cause problems as they get restless and want playing time.

  • (23a) Aidan Potter - ST/AML - Another player from our factory of physically gifted lefties. Like Marsden and Strong before him, will be trained to play left wing in addition to striker.
  • (23b) Kenneth Causer - DC - Our first Aussie! Good mentals but a little small for DC for my tastes, might retrain to play the more defensive role in my midfield pair?
  • (23c) Simon Cummins - MC/DM/ML/MR - Somewhat of an all rounder, better centrally although where ever he plays lack of stamina will hurt.
  • (23d) Nathan Carden - MC/DM/ML - Has lots of potential and a good physical base to work with, but not really the ideal stats for either a central or wide role.
  • (23e) Roy Nardiello - DR/DL/DC/MR - Right back if the most confusing position to me at the moment, lots of prospects but nobody has really made it their own.
  • (23f) Oliver Carrillo - DL/DR - Either footed left backs are great for the versatility they bring, but with a positioning of 2 they're a liability.
  • (23g) Callum McKenzie - MC/DM/ML - Weak passing/tackling/marking will hold him back, will need to develop rapidly to get attention.

Previous Season Goals

Playoffs - Achieved.

Next Season Goals

  • Promotion!
  • Decide on which prospects are worth persisting with, and give them games even if it costs us the above goal
  • Be decisive and move players on who don't have a realistic chance of decent playing time

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Sanno11 - Great season and congrats on promotion!

Shakes - Tough luck, but you almost made it. I'm experiencing much the same as you. Young talents wanting first team football way to early and talking about leaving. I've managed to keep most of them happy so far, but I'm not sure for how long. Might have to be brutal with some players this season and end some contracts with real talents to hold the squad harmony high.

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XaW - Enkjöpings SK FK - Division 1 Norra - 2018

Before the season started I was unsure about how I thought this would do. Since we did so well last season I had high hopes, but at the same time this is a tier higher. I checked the other teams and there were only one team who were professional(Degerfors), the rest semi-pro as us. I also noticed that Sandviken IF was rated as one of the best team in the league. Funny enough, they are a team that started out in our division the first season and got promoted from there then. In the end they got promoted ahead of Degerfors (Who won in the playoff) and will be in Superettan next season. Hopefully we can join them in some season. For our own part we started with a win in the opening match, but then noticed the higher level of football. We lost some matches, but managed to slowly pick some points here and there. I struggled with the striker spot as no striker managed to score or do a good job, but then I settled on Carl Kardum (YP3a) as he scored twice in a match. When he got into the squad we really found our form and won 4 matches in a row to push us up the table. After setting the squad better we were in good form and were almost in contention for the playoff spot when hit our second patch of trouble winning only once in the final 6 matches. Still, a very respectable 8th finish in our first season in a higher tier is very good and I'm very happy with the season.

We got our first try in Svenska Cupen this season. We beat non-league Bele Barkaby FF 4-0 in the 1st round before losing to 0-3 away against top tier AIK in front of over 17,000 people.

We actually made a profit this season, but that was much down to the TV-deal who gave us £110k throughout the season, and the income from the cup game against AIK who gave us about £150k after I sold my home draw to them for £70k + percentage of the attendance fees. I'm trying to get the youth facilities upgraded, but we can't afford it yet.

Youth players:

New Players:

Our poorest youth intake so far and only 2 players worthy of getting tagged, but one is a beast(at this level anyhow).

Jonas Österberg (YP4a) - A great midfielder. Went straight into the first team and did good. Needs some work on his passing, but other than that he's amazing(Other than low bravery, but he is going to be tutored).

Tom Johansson (YP4b) - Talented midfielder with most capabilities in the offensive strata.

Third intake:

Carl Kardum (YP3a) - Great season after he became the first choice up front. Selected in Team of the Year in the division.

Nicklas Carlson (YP3b) - Got some matches and did good. Already hassling me about more playing time.

Rasmus Englund (YP3c) - Got his debut and are progressing good.

New - Håkan Ericsson (YP3d) - He progressed in heaps and bounds this season and got some matches. Gave him a tag.

Second intake:

Stefan Skoglund (YP2a) - Another solid season on the right back.

Jens Ahl (YP2b) - A good season, but was hoping for more from him.

Christoffer Berggren (YP2c) - Second choice DM now, got a couple of games.

Stefan Johansson (YP2d) - Got some matches and progressing good.

First Intake:

Mohammad Claesson (YP1a) - Once again plagued by injuries. Did good when he was fit, but his progress has stopped. Need to step up and stay fit.

Erik Johansson (YP1b) - Didn't do much other than complain this season. I'm in dire need of a talented goalkeeper!

Raad Hassan (YP1c) - Got some matches at the start of the season, but disappointed.

Axel Johansson (YP1d) - Poor season from him, expected much more than he delivered.

Daniel Claesson (YP1e) - Solid as ever in the back. Our coaches rate him as inconsistent, but almost never have a poor game to me.

Rikard Österberg (YP1f) - In a downhill curve now, but still our best left back.

Original talents:

Miika Lyyski (YP0a) - Another good season, but not as good as the last few seasons.

Erik Claesson (YP0b) - Another fantastic season. Part of Team of the Year in the division.

Ture Håkansson (former YP0c) - Seems like Elfsborg have ruined him completely. Now not rated among the top 6 striker in my squad by the coaches.

Season	|         League            |  Position	|    Europe	|       Top scorer      	|    Achievments
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2015	| Division 2 Norra Svealand |	11th	|      N/A	| Kushtrim Trimi (15)   	|   Avoided relegation
2016	| Division 2 Norra Svealand |	 4th	|      N/A	| Mohammad Claesson (YP1a) (11) |   Solid season
2017	| Division 2 Norra Svealand |	 1st	|      N/A	| Ludwig Wallinder (24)		|   Promoted as champion
2018	| Division 1 Norra 	    |	 8th	|      N/A	| Carl Kardum (YP3a) (14)	|   Mid table

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So many updates to read through :D great to see so many giving this a prolonged effort across a few countries.

Xaw - Nice progress in Sweden. Looks like each season has been a step forward which is nice, avoiding the steps back that a few of us suffer! Osterberg looks a great midfielder, but can Bravery go up with tutoring? i didnt think so?

Shakes - On an upwards curve as well it looks. Seems like you are facing a similar situation as me, when you get a large amount of "good" but not "amazing" prospects, all about the same level and progressing at the same speed. Becomes hard to prioritise game time and find your best 11 i find. Although with the massive long seasons you have, a big squad can only be good

Sanno11 - Brynglesson looks a lovely player for that level, could possibly be a DLP or similar. Hopefully the one to push you over the edge for promotion:thup:

bl9u6344 - Great to see someone going in Spain, i enjoyed a go last season with Castellon i think it was, some nice prospects tend to come through in that part of the world

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For me, just revamped my squad analysis at the end of the season. I had changed around a few players since i first built it, and wanted to add in some more potential roles. Some interesting bits/directions out of it:

  • Although my Ass Man rates my untagged youth keeper as 2 full stars of CA better than YP04a, the attributes dont bear this out. YP04a is marginally better.
  • I need to look at this incase i have the formula wrong, but my best keeper is only rated as 26% suitable for the role! The average in positional players at my level is 45 - 50% suitable. Might just be some of the wierd attributes picked as "key" for keepers
  • I have a bunch of very similar, not very good CB options. None have particularly great potential or CA stars, but the one that comes out as best suited isnt one i would have picked. An untagged youth from my last intake, Dean Hendry. Will give him a go
  • Ross Watson (YP06b) i had mentioned i would retrain to be CB. Actually the analysis shows he is not well suited to such a role, so he will need to battle for a place in Centre Midfield
  • I have 3 left wingers, none of whom are good.
  • Patrick Martin, my long time scorer in the eary seasons, is actually as well suited to being a winger as he is a striker. He is left footed. See above point and figure out my action here :D
  • Jim Bell (YP05a) and Steven O'Neill (YP03a) are both pretty much equally adept at DLP(d) or CM(a) - the 2 roles i used in my engine room. A nice problem to have, as they can switch around in game or depending other availability during the season

.

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Xaw - Nice progress in Sweden. Looks like each season has been a step forward which is nice, avoiding the steps back that a few of us suffer! Osterberg looks a great midfielder, but can Bravery go up with tutoring? i didnt think so?

It can't? I though it could, but I guess I'll find out when the tutoring is done. I'm hoping it does. Regarding progress I think it's mostly due to the low standard of the Swedish lower leagues. I think the top 2 tiers are way better than the bottom 2 tiers here. I'm guessing most would do well in the poorer ones with youth, but I think I'm going to struggle if I get promoted. I've played some friendlies against Superettan-teams (2nd tier) and lost horribly, so I think the difference of quality between Superettan and Division 1 is big.

Regarding your other post, I find my assistant usually tells me the same as the spreadsheet, but with some small differences that's nice to know. But now that you mention it, I've forgotten to update my spreadsheet for a while. So, that's what I'm going to do now :)

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Shreddie - Scotland - Wick Academy - 2015/16

Manager Profile (Sorry done after the first season)

http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag260/jbarritt/Home_MyProfileProfile_zpsab70355d.png

http://i1370.photobucket.com/albums/ag260/jbarritt/Home_MyProfileInformation_zps66b90188.png

Season 1

Season Overview

League - 8th

Cups:

Challenge Cup - 1st Round - Stenhousemuir (H) 0-1

League Cup - 1st Round - Hearts (H) 0-4

Scottish Cup - 2nd Round - St Andrews Utd (H) 1-2

Summary

With just 3 of us on the staff list (Myself & Player/Coach Manson & Chairman Chris Kennedy) the first act was to build an appropriate team capable of dealing with and bringing through some talented young players. Stuart Cameron was given the Ass. Manager role after his release from former league rivals Deveronvale. Welshman and youth specialist Scott Ruscoe was brought in to manage the U20 side in preparation of the arrivals in 2016 and former Stoke icon and long throw specialist Rory Delay was given the U20 coaching role. Kenny Hendry given the job of coaching the senior side.

League -

A tough first season with a season high of 5th, which as expected slowly faded throughout the season to eventually settle in 8th place. A squad of 17 players (including 3 goalkeepers) battled well through a long and tiring season. I guess the main achievement of the season was keeping a healthy and fit squad to pick from for most weeks although the double game weeks (of which there are plenty) were tough on a barely rotated side. A midseason slump with top scorer Weir going through a barren spell in front goal resulted in needing a point with 3 games to go for survival. Once achieved it was a good time to blood some young guns who will be looking at getting more game time next season.

Cups -

Horrid. Other than a well fought game with Stenhousemuir from the league above it was disappointing with the low point being a home loss against Highlands side St Andrews. Definitely something to improve upon next season.

I guess what we've all been waiting for and the whole reason for the challenge.....The Youths

Youth Intake (apologies again - screenshot taken at the end of season but all players were signed up)

Gave 3 players a go in the first team at the end of season so I'll do a rundown on them.

Archie Campbell - Central Midfielder who I'm hoping to shoehorn into a Defensive Midfielder....decent passing and tackling stats and with high leaderships stats a potential captain for the side in the future.

Gary Brown - Central defender who looks like he could be ok as long as we don't play too high up the pitch with his lack of pace! With only two senior CDs in the squad I fully expect him to get a lot of game time next season.

Chris Mitchell - Attacking Midfielder who made his debut on the last game of the season. Full of pace and flair, if my backroom team can develop his technical abilties then could be making a few more appearances next season.

Finances & Transfers

Transfers - Nothing to see here

Finances - Stable for now. A cup run would be decent with the existing squads contracts being upgraded.

Go easy on me please, first go at this on here! Hopefully check back in later with some more updates.

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Solid first season there, Shreddie. Campbell looks promising, though I don't know the level in Scotland, so don't rely on me knowing :p At least you survived and got in some youngsters so you should have a decent size squad for the next season. A minor thing though, your transfers screenshot only shows active transfers, not transfer history. No biggie, just letting you know :) Great to have you aboard!

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Dulwich Hamlet

Season 5 Review (2019/20)

League Table | League Positions Graph | Squad Stats | Transfers | Finances

Competitions

Conference South : 5th - Results 1 | Results 2 - For the 3rd season in a row, we lost in Playoff Final !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Player of the Year

Again Alex Przespolewski. Despite his diminshing finishing, he top scored in the league from his Deep Lying Forward role.

Season Review

Let's hope FM15 is a firm believer in karma, because if it does I am in for some outstanding good fortune further down the line......

With a game to go, we found ourselves outside of the playoffs in 6th spot, needing a final day win and Staines to fail to win. It was going well, we were being held 0-0, but Staines were down 0-2. Approaching the hour mark, and Staines hit 2 in 4 minutes and they were 2-2, needing 1 goal to secure their playoff spot. Meanwhile we were still 0-0, and so it stayed until the 87th minute, when we finally made the break through! Staines failed to score, and after being denied time after time for the first 87 minutes, we then found the net twice in injury time!

Two nice wins in both legs of the playoff semi finals saw us in our 3rd playoff final in 3 years, against inform Welling who had won 4 in a row, and unbeaten in 8.

And......

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Yep, back to back to back playoff final defeats. This one wasn't a late heartbreaker like the last two though, we were simply outplayed by a very in-form team :(

Youth Intake

Wow! A great batch of kids, with a nice distribution of playing positions and some good potential for our league. And check out YP 05D!!

Nick Tompkins (YP 05A) - Good looking left back, if we can get his tackling up a few points. His marking and positioning are nice for his level, which are usually the deficient attributes I have found at our level

Emmanuel Kehinde (YP 05B) - A tiny little guy, but I love his starting passing and flair. He will find it tough for a season or two to force into the first team, but if next to a tough partner he has the potential to shine

Seb Vanson (YP 05C) - I really like the look of Seb for our level. Good pace and finishing to begin with. Was injured when I had both senior FCs out and missed his chance this year, expecting him to have several chances next year

Andy Talbott (YP 05D) - Ok, this is the headliner! My son Andy has appeared in the u18s! And he isn't terrible. A natural right winger, but he can also play MC, MR and FC which are all part of my flat 442 tactic. Nice pace, flair, dribbling and finishing means he will play at FC or MR (winger). When I had an injury crisis upfront he took his chance in style, hitting 7 in 7. I am sure he will be afforded more chances than usual as I am now very biased! Downside is his injury proneness, which reared its head already as he got injured for the remainder of the season.

Mel Dovey (YP 05E) - Another striker option, again with decent pace and finishing.

Russ Chapman (YP 05F) - A giant of a central defender standing at 6' 5". Going to need to improve before first team action, but he is a welcome addition

Andrew Hall (YP 05G) - A decent looking full back with nice tackling and pace.

Victor Kalu (YP 05H) - Victor is a nice flair option out on our right side of midfield

Laurence Powell (YP 05I) - Another right sided option, but definitely behind Andy and Victor Kalu

Miscellaneous

So the two big talking points are easily the 3rd playoff final defeat in a row and the appearance of my son Andy, who is a decent player for this level!

Andy managed 7 goals in 7 starts up front and an initial sub appearance before what (according to his coach report) could be a fairly common occurance, a season ending injury.

This season we adopted a new approach to our games. We had a set tactic, a 442 with set player roles, but for every home game we exclusively used the Attacking mentality and for every away game we used the Defensive mentality. I was fairly happy with the results from this, especially how potent the away defensive approach still was.

For next season I have another different approach I have been wanting to try out, and I will be (and will document it in another post later once I have updated my spreadsheet for its implementation).

Season 6 Targets

* A fourth playoff final?

* Upgrade something

Trophy Cabinet

we named the tan moth Noodle.....

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Ok, so for season 06 with Dulwich Hamlet I am going to be implementing a new tactical approach for the season.

Dubbed 'The Variable 442'.

I will have a set formation (again, standard 422) and a set mentality (I want to play Counter home and away now I have a little pace in the side).

For each of the positions I have a set duty I want played in that spot (Defend, Support, Attack - and Cover for one of the DCs - Full listing below). This should give me a rough shape / set-up.

What makes this approach a little different (for me at least) is that I will set up each player in the squad to play their best role for that position, in the Player page of the tactics screen.

The idea here is to have a constant set-up and shape, but the players are not just plugged into a role/position, they play their best role for that positions duty.

The only exceptions to this are Target Man roles for the forwards. These will be ignored, as they can completely alter how the team sets up. The set-up I am going with is;

My Counter 442 is going to be set-up

GK - xxxxxxx (Defend)

DR - xxxxxxx (Support)

DCr - xxxxxxx (Cover)

DCl - xxxxxxx (Defend)

DL - xxxxxxx (Support)

MR - xxxxxxx (Support)

MCr - xxxxxxx (Defend)

MCl - xxxxxxx (Support)

ML - xxxxxxx (Attack)

FCr - xxxxxxx (Support)

FCl - xxxxxxx (Attack)

After going through my spreadsheet I have made all the individual player additions to the tactic.

For example, in the MCL position the player there will always play with a Support duty, but what role depends on which is their best role. Terry Harvey (YP 02A) will play as an Advanced Playmaker Support. Luke Brine (YP 04A) will play as a Ball Winning Midfielder Support, etc.....

In the FCL position, it will always be an Attack duty. Depending on the player in question, this could be a Poacher, Advanced Forward or Deep Lying Forward (Attack), depending what they are best suited to.

This is going to be interesting.

Will players playing in a prefered role instead of being a square peg in a round hole improve team performance?

Will constantly changing roles in the side as players come in and out of the team hurt us?

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Are you going to use your belief about a player's best role or the ass man? Because my ass man tends to think everyone is a defensive forward, ball winning midfielder or limited fullback, which would make for a crap tactic I suspect.

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Are you going to use your belief about a player's best role or the ass man? Because my ass man tends to think everyone is a defensive forward, ball winning midfielder or limited fullback, which would make for a crap tactic I suspect.

I am going off of the scoring from my spreadsheet.

With being specific about the duties for each position a lot of those are avoided.

** Both full backs are Support duty, so only Full Back (support), Wing Back (support) and Inverted Wing Back (support) are options.

** Only one of the FC roles is a support duty, so only 1 defensive forward will ever potentially be in a starting 11 (which I really like the role anyway).

** Of the 17 MCs I have set up for the support MC role, 10 are Ball Winning Midfielders, 6 are Advanced Playmakers and 1 actually fell into a Box to Box role

** Of the 17 MCs I have set up for the defend MC role, 11 are Ball Winning Midfielders, 6 are Deep Lying Playmakers.

Depending on the game, you can pick so you have 2 ball winners, 2 play makers or (as will be my intention more often than not) 1 of each.

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Nice work getting a son Braumiller. I thought briefly i had this in season 4 when i saw a Youth prospect come through with the same name, but alas he wasnt a son :( (Common name i guess).

Interesting tactical approach, but i think as Shakes mentioned, you might see some strange recomendations. I find Limited full back seems to come up a lot. The other thing to consider is that not all roles can play all duties, which might mess with your set duty approach?

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I might need a new tactical approach myself i feel. The base formation and roles seem to work well, and are largely fitted to the players. However its ugly football and it doesnt seem likely to do anything better than keep me up in this division (and even then thats a stretch this season so far :( )

The big aspect is that by far my 2 best players are my 2 CMs. Yet i play direct football, which combined with a high line means we just bypass these 2 talents all the time. I perhaps need to tweak things to start to make sure i get the best out my stand out players.

Food for thought :)

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Wow, three times losing the playoff final is hard, Braumiller! I think that karma you were looking for came quickly in the form of your son. And even a talented one! I'll promise you that if somehow (some years into the future as I am only in my thirties ingame) I get a son, I can promise you he will be utter trash.

I think your theory about the players and variable roles are an interesting one and I can't wait to see some answers after your next season.

Regarding my own game, I'm currently in the competition for promotion, but we are 3 team having a dogfight for the single promotion spot and the single playoff spot. We currently have the same amount of points and very similar goal difference. Going to be exciting to see what happens, but I have faith (and hopefully karma since I can't see any signs of any sons yet...)

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Interesting tactical approach, but i think as Shakes mentioned, you might see some strange recomendations. I find Limited full back seems to come up a lot. The other thing to consider is that not all roles can play all duties, which might mess with your set duty approach?

With my duty structure though I have removed a lot of the potential weirdness.

Here is the breakdown of the player set roles per position.

DR & DL (Support)

* Full Back Support (7 DR, 6 DL)

* Wing Back Support (2 DR, 0 DL)

* Inverted Wing Back (0 DR, 0 DL)

DC (Defend)

* Central Defender Defend (0)

* Ball Playing Defender Defend (0)

* Limited Defender Defend (all)

DC (Cover)

* Central Defender Cover (0)

* Ball Playing Defender Cover (0)

* Limited Defender Cover (all)

MR (Support)

* Wide Midfielder Support (0)

* Winger Support (6)

* Defensive Winger Support (1)

* Wide Playmaker Support (0)

MCR (Defend)

* Central Midfielder Defend (0)

* Deep Lying Playmaker Defend (6)

* Ball Winning Midfielder Defend (11)

MCL (Support)

* Central Midfielder Support (0)

* Deep Lying Playmaker Support (0)

* Ball Winning Midfielder Support (10)

* Box to Box Midfielder Support (1)

* Advanced Playmaker Support (6)

* Roaming Playmaker Support (0)

ML (Attack)

* Wide Midfielder Attack (3)

* Winger Attack (5)

* Wide Playmaker (0)

FCR (Support)

* Complete Forward Support (0)

* Deep Lying Forward Support (3)

* Defensive Forward Support (10)

* False Nine Support (0)

FCL (Attack)

* Advanced Forward Attack (5)

* Complete Forward Attack (0)

* Deep Lying Forward Attack (2)

* Poacher Attack (6)

* Trequartista Attack (0)

Managed to get myself into December during a late night session last night (Thanksgiving week here in the US and I took Mon-Wed off work to go with the Thursday & Friday we get off anyway!) and without tempting the FM forums curse, I will definitely be seeing this tactical approach through until the end of the season.

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Good job guys.

Braumiller That playoff loses are heartbreaking. But Premier division is going to be extremely though. 46 games per season, lots of professional clubs. So its probably better to spend first 4-5 seasons in lowest division and then make a jump to higher division. Your chances of survival will be much higher.

Shakes Good job. You definitely have some physical freaks for this division. If you develop them just a little bit more, you will have a great team.

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Braumiller - Hard luck mate. Incredible consistency though. I love the detail you're going into. Very jealous you have your son.

Well done XaW on surviving, sounds like it was comfortable which bodes well for the future.

Great progress Shakes, hope the upwards curve continues. Very interested to see whether you or Braumiller can achieve promotion next season.

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