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Gundo's FM15 European Adventure Challenge™


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johnnyquest409 well on promotion, first season too!:thup:

podunkboy solid season.

Welcome chrisgreenfield and best of luck in Norway.

This game is tough! I struggled last year in FM14, the difficulty definitely remains! Currently my last five games read; Scored 3 and conceded 24! Chances don't look good for survival.:(

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My Klepp journey is over. Got relegated and subsequently sacked. It's difficult this year again, I didn't make any signings as I wanted to try a youth only challenge to see how I would get on.

Oh well! Back to the drawing board...

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As you can see from the youth academy thread, thats a brutal way to try it this year for sure.
And Just like my attempts in this challenge last year it'll probably take a few more failed attempts before I succeed (avoid relegation first season)!
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I'm not going to write much here bar brief end of season reports as I have a thread in the career section. But basically i'll be trying to complete this challenge using the old Danubian School tactic just to add a bit more of a challenge to this :thup:

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Nes Ziona - Season 2016-2017 Review

National League:

We are predicted to finish 12th, one spot higher than what we finished last season. During the off season the board calls me in to discuss the team performance. They give me an ultimatum of seven points in the next five matches to keep my job. We get 13 points to start off the season in our first five matches. After that, my job stayed secure. We finished the season in fifth place which, although higher than expected, is disappointing. We were in third place for the majority of the season but after the 30 match split of the league we only collected three points out of the seven matches to close the season. That was the lowest of the top eight which brought us down to fifth. The top two were never going to be caught. Overall a pretty good season but I'm worried about the last stretch of games where we conceded way too much and couldn't even get shots on target. I guess that's a problem for next season...

Cups:

Reached what was expected of us from the board but that's it. Nothing to report.

Transfers:

Not a lot of activity here. Kim was the only first team addition to help out the defense. He played every minute this season except for missing the last match due to an injury. The first two were picked up to add cover to the first team. The two last transfers were signed at the end of their contracts and will play next season. Ben-Kasus is a young striker with potential whereas Biancone will challenge for starting position as a central defender.

Squad

Player of the year:

Not much to pick from in terms of individual performance so I am only picking one.

Victor - The young Spanish winger has another good season for the club. 10 goals and 10 assists to go along with his 5 MoMs.

Finances:

Not very good but on the bright side, a takeover happened at the start of the season and the new board doesn't seem to mind pumping in funds to keep us afloat.

Goal for next season:

I would like to really start pushing for promotion but it will be difficult. The quality players available seem to be unreachable for our team. I would also like to have a positive goal difference.

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Do any of the nations have clubs you can start with that are based on small islands away from the mainland?

If I was to guess, I would say probably in Greece. I've played a save last year with a team from the Spanish island of Madeira and the travel expenses were very high which puts you at a disadvantage.

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I cannot do anything for a win in the lower leagues of Norway! Just cannot seem to keep a clean sheet. I score on average 1-3 goals per game, but will always lose! :( has anyone found a specific style of play successful in the lower leagues.. counter? defensive? all-out-attack?

I feel your pain. It is very difficult, especially early seasons in Norway. To be honest I don't think I have really found the key to it this version, as I'm struggling again.

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First Vienna FC 1894 2015/16 Review

Table - Cup Final - Carapina - Gsellmann - Finances

Managers Thoughts

The season certainly went better than expected. We came pretty much straight out of the blocks after the winter break and took a huge grip on the division and played some fantastic football that in the main teams just couldn't cope with. The highlight of the season has to be going to Red Bull Salzburg and winning, that in itself was a lot harder than the cup final.

One thing that surprised me with the tactic was we managed to score a healthy amount of goals, usually when I try and play possession football my sides do have a lack of cutting edge at times so to hit the 90 mark with this side was pretty good going. I'm not going to make any changes to the tactic for this season as I feel if can got out and beat top flight sides with this tactic then it gives us a chance. The other thing is according to reports at least 3/4 players were barely good enough for that division so if it can do that well with poorer players in the side i'd like to see how it goes in it's current form with a squad of roughly the same ability as the division we are in so I can work out from there what changes need doing if any before I disrupt what is obviously at least a half decent tactic.

We averaged between 60 and 65% possession in most games even hitting the 70% mark a few times as well. I expect this to drop a bit this season but we have added some quality too over the summer

That is a decent improvement on last year but I would have liked to get a goalkeeper in too but unfortunately the funds weren't there, hopefully we can address that around Christmas time, for now though i'm very happy with what i've brought in to the club

Something else of note is I have topped a leaderboard on Steam for the first time in any division but even more impressive is as a 2nd division manager I managed to make 2nd place for the total of any division in the country :cool:

Career Overview

Season   Division          Position    Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2015/16  First Division    1st         League and Cup Winners                

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Good luck Gundo I get the feeling with the new ratings system it's a lot harder to judge a player from your intake this year so personally i've been taking anyone that has 3 yellows and a black and above in hope :D

Simply awesome first season Dexter, to win a league and cup double too! Highly impressive.:thup:

Yeah I agree in the past it was fairly easy to weed through the weaker players before releasing them, it's taking some getting used to it this year for sure.

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I tend to find it overestimates the ones that have a little bit more starting ability then after a couple of years their potential stars drop off one at a time, have to really wait it out until you have any real idea where his level is. I guess this makes sense though.

Presumably the same happens in reverse with players that looked rubbish and had rubbish ratings so I never would have bothered trying to train them.

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Mandalskameratene Season Review 2015/2016

I knew it was going to be a long season when the Media predicted me to finish 13th / 14 and the board were asking for the team to battle bravely against relegation. The first month was diabolical, and I was unable to sign ANY staff (due to club reputation I presume). What started as a horrible 4 months, ended like a fairytale.. I beat two of the top 3 teams within the last 6 games and set myself up for a relegation decider in the last game. Our fate was not in our own hands, but If we won and either Senja or Drobak-Frogn didn't, we would be safe from relegation and I would almost certainly keep my job. The game started fantasticly and we were 3-0 up by halftime. We ended up winning 4-1 and Drobak-Frogn had lost against a top half team. The team had done it, I was safe, and so we look to improve on our position next year!

Manager Profile: I seem to have increased my global coaching skills over the first season. Probably down to the fact I was unable to sign an Assistant Manager, therefore I have run all training sessions. I have yet to participate in any coaching badges either.

League: As I previously mentioned, a shocking first half of the season, but once I got settled with 3 variations of the 4-2-3-1 formation, I started to grind results out, and win the majority of those big 6 pointers.

Cup: A shocking display in the cup where I was knocked out in the first round from a lower league team. Not even worth a picture I'm afraid.

Finances: Not too sure on the finances as the post-season break is a long one, so I dare say I will lose a fair chunk of money during this spell

Key Players:

Trond Gunnar Bekker: Has played 25 out of 26 League games and scored a whopping 24 goals. Started the season as a AMR but was scoring for fun at ST when my previous forward was out injured. He's a 25yr Regen, who will most certainly continue as my preferred forward during the new season.

Played 25.. Scored 24.. Assist 6.. POM 5.. AVG Rating 7.32..League Top Scorer

:applause:

Kristian Reisaeter: Again played a vast majority of the league games, usually in the middle of the park, but occasionally drifting forward into the AMC of my 4-2-3-1 formation. A cracking first season for a 17yr Regen who appeared from my youth squad at the start of the season.

Played 21(1).. Scored 3.. Assist 5.. POM 1.. AVG Rating 7.01

Oyvind Johannessen: My rock solid defender [i call him that even though we conceded 57 goals in 26 games. Im sure without this rock, it could of been an awful lot higher. Again, his preferred position is LB however he has suited the CB role all season.

Next Season

Develop some of the upcoming youth players

Look at signing an Assistant Manager [if possible]

Aim higher and go for a Mid-table finish

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Jambo 98 - Gundo's Challenge - Denmark - FC Djursland

FC-Djursland.png

Opening post

Manager Profile

Club info

Facilities

Squad

Having a break from the youth academy challenge as i need the excitement of scouting and signing and trialists! So i decided i will give this ago again this year. Enjoyed Czech a couple of years ago, but this year i have gone to Denmark (I was eating a bacon sarnie when trying to choose a country, simples...)

The club i have chosen are a new club. Best i can tell, from translating some danish pages, they were formed when 4 smaller regional clubs got together to form one "superclub" with the aim of playing in the first division within 4 years. I chose them as they have a clean history, plus i like the Milan-esque colors.

Squad is pretty thin, and all on amateur contracts so some work to be done. Looking further ahead, if we are to be a success the small stadium may become an issue. But then again We might not draw many fans out in deepest Jutland.

Now to figure out what tactics to play in Denmark......

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To be honest im not sure. This save is over for sure. I am really tempted to put FM15 back on the shelf until at least one more patch comes out to fix the ME :( I am really not enjoying the current version one bit.

Given that it will probably be months, i guess i might try another save and try to ignore my many gripes. I still have the Denmark save from reset day, so might retry in Denmark or might try Croatia or Serbia.

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I couldnt resist going again in Denmark. Different team this time, not going to put up an OP until im sure i am at least going to finish a season! I have the required screenshots saved just incase, and so far, touch wood...........

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Jambo 98 - Gundo's Challenge - Denmark - Aarhus Fremad

Aarhus_Fremad.png

Opening post

Manager Profile

Club info

Facilities

Squad

So after a woeful failure first time in Denmark with a very new club, this time i go to surely one of the oldest clubs in Denmark. This should, in theory, be a touch easier as the club come with a bigger reputation and slightly better class of player in the squad to start. That said, some improvement will be needed and the entire squad starts on AMA contracts.

Different tactical approach and different squad building approach needed this time. I am confident i will make it to at least end of season one! Getting out of the bottom league wont be easy with only one promotion spot.

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Does anyone have kits for Swedish lower leagues?

FM Base will have i would think. I am using the same gfx pack i downloaded for FM13 (just copy it across to the new directory each year) and it has badges/logos and kits for every lower league i have ever played on.

Meanwhile i discovered Denmark has a 4 month winter break in the season :eek: a bit wierd as it means a 30 game season still gives me lots of mid week fixtures, as its squeezed into shorter time. I can at least say with certainty that i will be writing up an end of season update this time!

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Jambo 98 - Gundo's Challenge - Denmark - Aarhus Fremad

Aarhus_Fremad.png

Season1 - 2015/16 - Danish Second Division West

Manager Profile

Season Summary

Final League Position - 2nd

Past Positions - Graph

So overall i have to be very very pleased with that. We started out tipped to finish 9th, so we were clearly not a weak team despite being newly promoted. I had a clear plan in mind for this save. I had chosen a tactic and approach (451 flat and counter attacking) and i knew i needed some key acquisitions to make the tactic work. I wanted:

  • A a big tall strong centre back to deal with crosses. At this level i would have to sacrafice other attributes and focus on just ability to head everything clear - Roi Danielson came in on a free and is a beast of a man...95kg....He did exactly what was asked. Nothing flashy but headed clear anything that came near him
  • A creative/attacking midfielder to link the play, vital with our set up - Scouts found Mads Kokholm floating around on a free, and i loved the look of him. A youngster too. He seems to have real issues lasting more than 75mins in a game but was a nice creative influence
  • A fast winger to give us a wide out ball (important for my tactic) - Lasse Hansen was on a free and recovering from a cruciate injury meaning he was cheap wage wise, his attributes actually dropped a bit but his performances out wide were great
  • Of course, a lone striker. My model for this role was Kenny Miller for Scotland a few years ago - A hard working lone man (DF role in my set up) who is also mobile and can finish (ok that bit isnt like Miller...). We had to hit the loan market for this one and found a youngster Patrick Rasmunsen . Although his final goal total wasnt that impressive, he performed well and was a key link man for us.

Although we finished second, we were never really in the hunt for the only promotion spot. Skive IK were always miles clear at the top. We battled around the 2nd/3rd/4th area most of the season, the odd blip set us back from pulling clear in second. We actually had a blip with 3 to go, losing then drawing meaning we were 4th going into the last day. Results went our way on the last day to lift us back up to second, but boy it was tight around that area.

Our youth intake was disapointing, signed a couple but i also focused scouting on looking for youngsters for the jan transfer window. A few seem to get released in Denmark at that time and we picked up some promising freebies to add to the sqaud next year. The value of getting the team right from day one was that i didnt need panic buys in Jan. None of my regular first 11 changed through the season.

Overall im optimistic, other than one issue......

Finances

Not good - we are losing money despite no transfer fees being paid and being well below the wage budget :( Not sure i see a way to reverse this, just hope for a board injection

Next Season

1) Replace Rasmussen as his loan ends

2) Mount a promotion challenge

3) Develop some of my promising youth.

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Nes Ziona - Israeli National League - Season 2017-18 Review

Season Summary

After finishing fifth the previous year, my hopes are high going in the new season. After winning three out of the first five matches, I think I can maybe put up a challenge for one of the two promotion spots especially for the reason that last season's relegated sides from the Premier do not seem as strong. Well, all that hopefulness gets crushed as we then go on a ten match winless streak. I find myself fighting against relegation instead of playing with the big boys at the top. That sequence really hurt us. We pick ourselves up after a lot of hard work (tactical tweaking) and overcome many injuries to key players and in the following 22 matches, we only lose five. That is good enough for ninth. We collected only one point less than our successful season last year so overall I am happy. Of course it's not promotion but after hitting rock bottom I'll take this.

Table

As usual, not much to report where cups are concerned. We achieved what the board wanted of us, and nothing more.

Squad

No one really stepped up to have an amazing season this year. My top scorer only collected 16. I've integrated a little more of the youths into the squad which I'm happy about. Playing in a league with foreign restrictions kinda forces you to do that. Here are the key performers this season:

Idan Zion - Forced me to play him by making me promise more playing time early into the season. I'm glad I did because he overplayed first choice right full back. He finished the season with 10 assists.

Usama Sha'aban - Better season from my number one striker. He was unfortunately injured for an extended period of time which affected his total output. I'm still happy with his team leading 16 goals. Only one year is left of his contract so I'll have to decide early on if I should try and replace him or if he's good enough. I do have a few youngsters who have impressed in the position so we'll see.

Ya'acov Golan - Golan is probably my favorite player on the team. He makes things happen and I'm always waiting for him to do something good and he usually delivers. Didn't have the best season in terms of stats with only two goals and 11 assists. Weirdly, Golan refused all season long to negotiate a new contract. His contract expired, no one even looked at him even though he's quality, young and Israeli. He then accepted to rejoin me for about half of what he was making before. Also, his stats for the season disappeared from his history which is unfortunate :-(

Or Vered - So this guy was awesome for us while dealing with injuries to both our right wingers. He's really not much to look at, only rated two silver stars! He had five goals and nine assists and really rocked it. His pace was key. Not sure if he'll ever get that much playing time again but I appreciated his contribution this season.

Transfers

I'm of the opinion that if a team comes in with an offer to purchase a fringe player, why would I say no. It gives me the chance to find someone that could actually challenge and make the lineup better. Two new signings for next season, Benbenisti is hopefully an upgrade on surprise package Or Vered (see key players) on the right. The other new signing is actually Golan who left us for exactly 3 days before re-signing.

Finances

Surviving because of regular investments by the board. We will probably have to become self sufficient at some point...

Goals:

Get back to the upper half of the table.

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First Vienna FC 1894 January - May 2016/17

Table - Euro Group - Finances - Achabar - Overbeek - Owaamar - MOTY

Managers Thoughts

I'd have happily taken 4th place at the start of the season and in fact I am happy with the position but the defence has really got to me and it feels a bit of a disappointment conceding so many as it makes me wonder how much better we could have done if things were tighter back there. With that in mind 4 of our 7 signings this summer were at the back 6

I don't think these signings will completely solve the problem but there are some really big improvements back there especially in goal and DM and if we concede anything like the 120 goals we did last year then i'll have to look to make big changes to this tactic. As the money was there once I was satisfied with the back for this year I decided to add a little to the attacking 3rd too because with the injuries we had last year we were short at times so I felt it was important to add there too.

I have no real aim for the season but I think considering we've improved the side considerably 4th again should be the minimum

Career Overview

Season   Division          Position    Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2015/16  First Division    1st         League and Cup Winners  
2016/17  Premier Division  4th              

Jambo98 Good first season there hopefully you can build on that.

Duroliponte Shame you went a bit in reverse this year, it sounds like you are suffering the same injuries I am :( What level is your youth coaching at now?

bg0123 Sounds like it was a bit of bad luck that put you back there, hopefully you'll do better this year

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First Vienna FC 1894 January - May 2017/18

Table - Europa League Fixtures - Europa Group - Europa League Final - Mazzitelli - Overbeek - Trani - Finances

Managers Thoughts

Well what a season that was. To win 1 trophy was unexpected but to bag 2 was out of this world. The Europa I only thought we may win when we made the final, it was a tough group to get out of so to get as far as we did, especially with facing Roma in the knockout. The league I only dreamt of when we went 3-2 up in the final game as even with games in hand 5 of the last 6 were away games because Red Bull were so strong so i'm probably happier winning the title than I am the Europa :eek:

I was moaning a lot about the goals we conceded earlier but after Christmas it was only the Europa and and a small handful of games that were really bad, in fact it turned out that we conceded 38 goals few than last season

The other 3 tactics on there must be from times we've been down to 10 men or less because i've stuck with the formation throughout the save, so maybe the game works out what is closest when this happens :confused:

No expectations again this season bar make sure we are top 2, we enter the CL at the group stage which is a massive plus both financially and in terms of not rotating early on in the season and possibly losing ground.

Career Overview

Season   Division          Position    Achievements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2015/16  First Division    1st         League and Cup Winners  
2016/17  Premier Division  4th
2017/18  Premier Division  1st         League and Europa League Winners              

I'm not sure without checking, but the budget has been increased twice since I started and the intake for the 2021 season have far more attributes in the 10-14 range than I've seen before.

Noticed your thread in the career section so i'll be following more closely from in there :cool:

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Duroliponte. Hopefully you can challenge next season. :thup:

Dexter. Well done on the league title. To concede that many and score that much, is quite something! Your tactics/formation are pretty attacking :)

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