FM 2016: Oooooh Lilies! - Keep Darmstadt in the Bundesliga!

[Morbs]

Good to see how everyone is progressing with Darmstadt. I'll definitely be returning to manage them in the future, but I'm currently still trying to get a grip on tactics over in West London, in charge of QPR.

Jean-Luc: sensational, if costly, purchase of Hector! Good to see you stay up ( but the skin of your teeth), and hopefully you can build a team that looks up rather than down the table.

I suppose the German Cup gives Darmstadt their only possible run on silverware for the immediate future. How's everyone progressing in that? I think I suffered the pain of going out to a second or third tier side!

Also pleased to see Jungwerth getting some love. Versatile at either RB or as a holding midfielder and one of the most consistent performers for me during a terrible season. And one of the few defensive players who didn't pick up a mountain of yellow or red cards! Diaz was particularly bad for getting sent off.

Also, thanks to this thread I have been keeping an eye out on how the real Darmstadt have been progressing. Obviously they are currently doing exceedingly well to be in 13th but it is all a bit tight down the bottom!

I'm definitely considering getting over to a Darmstadt game before the season is out. Fortunately it Is always pretty cheap to fly from the UK out to Germany, and having seen Köln and Düsseldorf last season, Darmstadt are the team I've got my eye on this year. I hope they stay up, but if they do go down we might not see them back in the Bundesliga for a good while so it would be nice if I could experience them in their wonderfully decrepit stadium playing Bundesliga football before it's too late!

[bobson]

Well, getting close to season end, 1st season. 5 games to go, and in 17th position on 27 pts. Hannover on 28, Augsburg and Hertha on 29. Hertha next!! Then come Bayern, Schalke and Leverkusen, all in top 4...

Only made two signings at beginning of season: Sondre Rossbach as backup keeper and Jose Valencia. Valencia has been a surprise, scoring 19 goals so far. Stroh-Engel has 10 in 23, better than expected.

Mainly playing 3-5-2 either with WB or WM, depending on form and intuition!

[bobson]

Morbs, can I just recommend you a place to go and watch a game if your interested? Me and my buddies go to Hamburg once or twice every season. HSV at Volspark Stadion is pretty fun with 60000 people in place. Last month we got tickets for the Millerntor, home of FC St. Pauli in the 2. Liga.. And what a night that was: The atmosphere in that ground is secong to nothing I´ve witnessed before. We were all completely surprised by the support the team was given. Actually I found myself watching the crowd to such an extent, that I didn´t really see the game itself:lol: I´was later told that St. Pauli had won

[Jean-Luc]

I suppose the German Cup gives Darmstadt their only possible run on silverware for the immediate future. How's everyone progressing in that? I think I suffered the pain of going out to a second or third tier side!

Last year I went out first round. I don't have much hope for any silverware there, as you still probably have to beat Bayern München at one point during the comptetition.

Also pleased to see Jungwerth getting some love. Versatile at either RB or as a holding midfielder and one of the most consistent performers for me during a terrible season. And one of the few defensive players who didn't pick up a mountain of yellow or red cards! Diaz was particularly bad for getting sent off.

Yes, he is very versatile and has been very consistent for me as well. I am trying the Argentine Yeri as RB at the moment, because of his pace, so Jungwirth has at least temporarily lost his place in the starting eleven, but his versatility makes him an excellent candidate for the bench. And I like to replace full backs during the game, either to have some fresh energy in defence or for running forward.

Also, thanks to this thread I have been keeping an eye out on how the real Darmstadt have been progressing. Obviously they are currently doing exceedingly well to be in 13th but it is all a bit tight down the bottom!

They had a very exciting match yesterday against Borussia Mönchengladbach and I find it quite striking, that they seem to be good whenever they are underestimated. Darmstadt dominated the first part, snatching a goal by Heller and then even seeing Gladbach reduced to 10 men after a red card... and that's where something changed and suddenly Darmstadt was not underestimated and Gladbach got his act together and won 3:2. Very unfortunate.

Wagner was very useful upfront again, and he should get a slight upgrade in FM16 to what he is at the moment. Holland was dashing forward a few times, I actually liked what he was doing there. Vrancic still hasn't made it into the first team, but he provided a very useful upgrade in technique after he came on.

I'm definitely considering getting over to a Darmstadt game before the season is out. Fortunately it Is always pretty cheap to fly from the UK out to Germany, and having seen Köln and Düsseldorf last season, Darmstadt are the team I've got my eye on this year. I hope they stay up, but if they do go down we might not see them back in the Bundesliga for a good while so it would be nice if I could experience them in their wonderfully decrepit stadium playing Bundesliga football before it's too late!

It might be very difficult to see the Böllenfalltor stadium, to be honest. As mentioned in the opening post, all matches are completely sold out. Maybe a match against some smaller club like Augsburg on the weekend of the 11th of March or Ingolstadt on 16th or March could produce some leftover tickets. Or joning the guest team somehow, but for most guest fans, it's basically the same feeling: A "once in your lifetime" experience to go and see the old stadium in Darmstadt, so those tickets are sold out often pretty quick as well.

But great to hear that they got themselves some fans outside Germany!

Well, getting close to season end, 1st season. 5 games to go, and in 17th position on 27 pts. Hannover on 28, Augsburg and Hertha on 29. Hertha next!! Then come Bayern, Schalke and Leverkusen, all in top 4...

Only made two signings at beginning of season: Sondre Rossbach as backup keeper and Jose Valencia. Valencia has been a surprise, scoring 19 goals so far. Stroh-Engel has 10 in 23, better than expected.

Mainly playing 3-5-2 either with WB or WM, depending on form and intuition!

I keep my fingers crossed! Although those upcoming matches sound very tough. If you can't overtake Hertha, then it looks rather grim, I'd say.

Surprised that you are playing with wing backs. I alwasy found the full backs not suited for that at all. Maybe I didn't give them enough faith to just try it out for a longer period...

[Jean-Luc]

Morbs, can I just recommend you a place to go and watch a game if your interested? Me and my buddies go to Hamburg once or twice every season. HSV at Volspark Stadion is pretty fun with 60000 people in place.

Darmstadt plays in Hamburg on April 9th. And yes, I could imagine there would be tickets, as Darmstadt won't draw that much of a crowd from the home fans, and they way up to the north for the away fans is pretty far.

Atmosphere in St.Pauli is definitely great. Actually, I am still quite impressed with the atmosphere in Darmstadt as well. For a promoted team who certainly did not fill their stadium 3 years ago, the public is pretty extatic. There are some nice chants going back and forth among the different supporter's groups.

[bobson]

Well it didn´t work out well. Lost my remaining 5 games.. Maybe due to use of wingbacks, who knows? Obviously got the sack!!

Regarding tickets for HSV, the games seem to be near sold out every time I´ve been there, but still had no problem getting tickets, even to bigger games, when keeping an eye out for when the tickets go on general sale.

[bobson]

Applied for available jobs at Hoffenheim and Braunschweig. My name didn´t even make the shortlist of either club

[BoxToBox]

Mid February now, and here's how things stand for me, including January transfers.

Some unhappy players out, and some replacements/opportunities in.

Ondrej Mazuch - Very similar to Slobodan Rajkovic, a good CB in his prime.

Borja San Emeterio - Fantastic young prospect, a quick, hardworking right back/wingback who can whip a cross in as well as defend. Only 18, so can provide cover for Jungwirth for now.

Fabio Daprela - A personal favourie from FM 14 & 15. Solid hardworking left back.wingback who rarely disappoints. Cheap as he had 6 months on his contract.

Dimitri Oberlin - A quick, raw young forward with a bit of everything and stacks of potential, but lacks composure. Scored winners in his first two games, including against Schalke. Rotation for Eggestein.

Adam Maher - A classy technical midfielder, like Gaudino but a notably better in almost everything, especially shooting, but not as hard working. Was transfer listed at PSV, can't remember why.

Mark Uth - Pacey finisher, but for my needs he'll be on the right wing covering for Zivkovic.

Doing well in the league, well clear of relegation for now. We were in the top half for a while but had a nasty run of losses started by a 3-0 hammering by Dortmund, back on for now.

We're into the semi final of the DFB Pokal with an easy run, Munchen Lions, Mainz, Greuther Furth, and RBL. Next up is a tricky tie with Frankfurt, but I think we might have a chance, they beat us last time in the league, but their formation is exploitable and we're stronger(and in depth) than we were for the first game. That said, we'll probably loose now. The other semi is Dortmund/Bayern, which even if we make it, I give us little to no hope of a result.

[Jean-Luc]

Well it didn´t work out well. Lost my remaining 5 games.. Maybe due to use of wingbacks, who knows? Obviously got the sack!!

Oh, no!

What were your seasons expectations? There must be a way to stay on the job for a club who is certainly destined to go down, if you don't set the expectations too high. I am very sure, current manager Dirk Schuster would not lose his job after relegation (although he might leave on his own; he just got elected "Man of the Year" by German football magazin "Kicker". The guy who got the title last year was a certain national coach called Jogi Löw.)

It seems that this thread is suffering from the fact that most of those nice people who want to actively participate get smashed their heads by the game.

[bobson]

Oh, no!

What were your seasons expectations? There must be a way to stay on the job for a club who is certainly destined to go down, if you don't set the expectations too high. I am very sure, current manager Dirk Schuster would not lose his job after relegation (although he might leave on his own; he just got elected "Man of the Year" by German football magazin "Kicker". The guy who got the title last year was a certain national coach called Jogi Löw.)

It seems that this thread is suffering from the fact that most of those nice people who want to actively participate get smashed their heads by the game.

I set my season expectation to avoid direct relegation, so the sacking seems kind of fair.. I love the fact that you have to work so hard for every single point during the season, and I´m sure my teams failings are predominantly up to poor tactics descisions by me

Maybe I should just try all over?

[BoxToBox]

[tmason122]

Good luck with that! Tell us how it goes, I ran Dortmund pretty close in both my games, but lost both 2-1 in the end.

[BoxToBox]

Good luck with that! Tell us how it goes, I ran Dortmund pretty close in both my games, but lost both 2-1 in the end.

Attempted a defensive/possession game, combined with fouling them off the park(28 fouls!) for a shock 2-1 win after going down a goal.

Lost some key players in the summer(Zivkovic especially), but made a lot of money, and spent loads more and built a pretty strong squad, far stronger than our "attempt to avoid relegation" task needs. Into next Jan now, in the first KO of the Europa and sitting in 3rd, 5 points behind Dortmund and Bayern, but I expect to fall away at least a bit.

[timbo1988]

I have just finished my second season in the league and finished 4th so am in the Champions league qualifiers!

Only problem is most of my success was built upon 4 or 5 big buys (over 48month payments) and loan players!

Start of the 3rd season have been given a budget of 2 million!

I need to sign 2 left backs, 1 keeper (ideally first choice but can get by), 1 backup RB, 2 backup Cb, 1 backup box to box midfielder, 1 left winger (backup), 1 dip playmaker backup!

I have just received a bid for my star player (marcelo Meli) I asked Dortmund for 30 million thinking it was too much but they bid it! Do I accept and have a more balanced squad or reject it and keep him? He has been my star performer both seasons and runs every game!

[BoxToBox]

Hard to loose a talent like Meli, but if you badly need the money...

[timbo1988]

Hard to loose a talent like Meli, but if you badly need the money...

I turned it down based one the fact I have 30 million in the bank but the board don't want to let me have it for some reason!

I managed to sign lots of loan players as backups and one or two frees who aren't the best but will do a job! My major loan signings were Begovic and Rabiot!

For the last two years I had Rolando Aaron's who was incredible but Newcastle wanted him back this year!

[BoxToBox]

Ahh, that's alright then!

[Morbs]

Darmstadt plays in Hamburg on April 9th. And yes, I could imagine there would be tickets, as Darmstadt won't draw that much of a crowd from the home fans, and they way up to the north for the away fans is pretty far.

Atmosphere in St.Pauli is definitely great. Actually, I am still quite impressed with the atmosphere in Darmstadt as well. For a promoted team who certainly did not fill their stadium 3 years ago, the public is pretty extatic. There are some nice chants going back and forth among the different supporter's groups.

Thanks to Bob and Jean-Luc for those tips! March is usually a good time for me to get away, so those dates for games that may be possible to get tickets to is very helpful also!

Stunning work from Timbo to come 4th in your second season- I suspect you'll know have Freedom of the City and the fans will already be campaigning for a stand to have its name changed in honour of your achievement!

Good to see a fair few people getting stuck in and having a go as the Lilies!

[BoxToBox]

Season 2 in the bag.

They've given me 6m to spend(my own fault for the massive budget stretching in the first two seasons, to be honest), not sure I'll be able to repeat this lucky season, never mind close the gap on Bayern.

I may end up loosing key players again, I suppose, which would fund hopefully upgrades with CL quality players available, but I'd expect sidesteps.

[bobson]

After my failed attempt to keep ´98 in the Bundesliga, and subsequently getting sacked, I set out to try again. On my first save I predominantly played 3-5-2 or 5-3-2.

For my next try I build a 4-1-2-3 and as on the first save set it up with a counter strategy. First 3 games of the season:

H Stuttgart 0-1

A Mainz 0-1

A Bremen 0-2

Okay, something had to change.

Sold:

Heller, Gondorf and Sailer

Signed:

Jose Valencia FREE

Sondre Rossbach £100k

Damián Schmidt £400k

Loaned:

Kyle Lafferty, Norwich

Jérémy Hélan, Sheffield Wed.

Mike van der Hoorn, Ajax

I´ve seen a lot of poor defending and really poor passing when trying to soak up pressure and go direct upon winning the ball. More often than not we only have 1 shot on target, and around 40 percent possesion.

So I set the team up in a simple 4-4-2, standard mentality, structured, and TI´s of higher defensive line and close down more.

"Let´s be a part of the match", or something like that, the thinking behind it. And then let the roles that I chosse, dictate the way we play, and be my tool for making changes during a game if need be.

Now since these changes, we only played 2 matches:

H Frankfurt 2-0

A Wolfsburg 2-2

In the Wolfsburg game I actually tried a defensive 3-4-3 (Cleon), and by half-time we were 0-2 down. Impatient as I am, I went "back" to the new tactic, and we pulled it back to 2-2.

Oh, and these last 2 games saw us having:

8 on target, 57% pos. vs frankfurt

7 on target, 52% pos. vs wolfsburg

Let´s see how it goes onwards; I am not getting sacked again!!

[Wyer]

Going to make this my next save once I've finished current season.

Target for me when even I play a save is to get a new ground....

[BoxToBox]

Third season finished up, we managed to take the league when Bayern had a really off season.

[soriwaatm]

Hey guys. I have been silent readers to this thread. I find this thread quite interesting. I'm a fan of Bundesliga, FC Bayern particularly. But I find no challenge playing FC Bayern. In my last save, I played FC Bayern in the first season, managed to win Bundesliga and Champions League. So I moved on to Hoffenheim, which quite decent team. Successfully built top class youth and training facilities, and convinced the president to setup extensive youth recruitment. Not quite succesful, as I always struggled to reach continental spot with resourceful team. In 2022, I moved on to Juve, which I didn't continue afterwards, because I find lack of motivation playing outside the Bundesliga. One of the reason also the many of wonderkids I have been found in Hoffe, which is quite sad to leave them behind.

So I am starting a new save, and this time is going to be Darmstadt. I'm not quite good with tactics, especially defensive and counter attacking tactics, which will be quite often used for Darmstadt. I hope I can also update my save regularly here, guys

And I'm planning this Darmstadt save as long-term, which I plan to setup top youth facilities and recruitment.

[soriwaatm]

Third season finished up, we managed to take the league when Bayern had a really off season.

Well, how could you that?? I struggled with Hoffe just to take the continental spot.

Very nice, tho

[BoxToBox]

Well, how could you that?? I struggled with Hoffe just to take the continental spot.

Very nice, tho

Ruthless money-spinning, to be honest. Lots of money in every year, lots out, even in the earlier years when it stretched finances to the limit.

[soriwaatm]

Ruthless money-spinning, to be honest. Lots of money in every year, lots out, even in the earlier years when it stretched finances to the limit.

Just realized you consistently put SV98 at the top of the league after the (about) 10th week. Very Impressive

[BoxToBox]

4th season down.

[naufal husain]

well... reached end of season...

im not very happy at all

[tmason122]

well... reached end of season...

im not very happy at all

Did better than me I got them relegated in my first season, haha. Don´t be too harsh on yourself, I think keeping Darmstadt up in the 1st season is a pretty good achievement!

[JackJCFC]

Just started a save with these guys, currently in the middle of pre season.

I'm going to try and come out and play an attacking brand of football so that will be interesting . It will be a 4-3-3 so i definitely need some depth in the centre of the park as i feel we're quite weak there.

So far i've only got Bertrand Traore on loan but Rausch has picked up an injury that leaves him out for 10 months so he literally won't feature at all this season i imagine, a big blow.

[Jean-Luc]

Hey everybody, following your updates with interest. I am in holiday without internet connection. Be back in a few days. Keep up the interesting stuff!

[naufal husain]

Thats enough. I will make a new save. I lost every match and i dont know whats wrong with my team

[tmason122]

Thats enough. I will make a new save. I lost every match and i dont know whats wrong with my team

How far into the season did you get?

[naufal husain]

Its my second season, and im very frustated...

[Wyer]

Just setting out on my German adventure!

[Jean-Luc]

Just setting out on my German adventure!

Welcome to the thread and curious to read more about it!

I have been silent during the Christmas holidays, but I finished the first half of the season 2016/17 yesterday, and I will give you an update shortly. Prepare for some interesting developments.

Interestingly, I am still playing with a quite big chunk of the initial first season squad, and I think I have a better handling now for them. Adding the right striker and two good fullbacks has remarkably improved performance. I am almost intrigued to start a complete news save again, just to see how I could maybe end up better than relegation playoff with these additions to the initial starting eleven. (Then again, initial transfer budget might be a problem to achieve that...).

[Jean-Luc]

Season 2016/17 - Winter break

Jean-Luc

Quick reminder: I had survived the first season 2015/16 barely, with a relegation battle against SC Freiburg, and subsequently had purchased a few new players to strenghthen the squad, mainly picking from relegated Hoffenheim (Uth & Schär) and Köln (Hector & Zoller). My last update was from matchday 9 and Darmstadt was placed 5th. Now the first half is played, 17 matchdays, and Germany enjoys its long winter break.

And?

The SV Darmstadt 98 is still high up the table: 6th position!

As you can see, the league is very tight, with three clubs on 26 points, and 11th place just a mere 3 points away, but... hey! 6th place!!

The season saw quite some ups and downs.

We had a small winning streak against Wolfsburg, Stuttgart and in the cup against RB Leipzig, then some draws, a rather crazy 3-3 against Mönchengladbach, before losing 0-1 away in Mainz (who are, truth be told, incredibly strong this year, sitting in 4th place at the moment).

The most depressing match was a crashing 1-4 loss away in Leverkusen, but the end December saw us soaring again to old heights.

The match of the season so far was a win against Bayern München!

And not just any win. Have you noticed? Bayern sits top of the league with 10 matches won, 6 draws and only one defeat. That's right! ONE defeat! Against Darmstadt!!

The match was an incredible show of our new counter attack tactic. Everything clicked together. As you can see, Bayern managed 24 shots, but only 8 on goal and had a possession of 63%. Darmstadt, meanwhile, had a meager 8 shots - but one goal, and even one missed penalty (where I belatedly realized that I had not adapted the penalty takers to the new transfers...).

The formation looks like this:

It's somewhat similar to what I tried to set up last year but failed miserably, when Marcel Heller was our only quick player, and he had to be played on the wing, but failed to make any decent center runs. This time, we have Mark Uth as striker. Not as quick as Heller, but quick enough for a counter. And a goal scoring machine with 11 goals total so far. He is assisted by two useful full backs with Hector on the left and the Argentine Yeri on the right. Also three capable defenders and two very capable defensive midfielders. I got 30 year old Yannick Cahuzac on board from SC Bastia to be a backup for Peter Niemeyer, and he actually proved to be an equally gifted player. Maybe not quite as tough, but very hard working (Teamwork 18, Bravery 17), and quite consistent.

Our second formation still uses the core of the team that managed to stay up last season, and is still pretty similar, but has adapted.

I use less Team Instructions, have set the team shape to flexible and the mentality to standard. Only "Drop Deeper", "close down more" and "tighter marking" are still in place. The wing backs can play more aggressively, if needed, both Hector and Yeri can easily play on Attack duty. Heller can play both left or right wing, and has proved to be quite effective as inside forward, if the full back behind him is set to Attack duty. I struggled first who to team Heller up with as a partner on the other flank. Both Kempe and Kiwomya played there, but Kempe is better played central and Kiwomya is quick, but still very young.

In the end, I found a surprising solution by using the new Simon Zoller (initially meant as backup for Uth) as Raumdeuter. He is quite unpredictable there, playing wide or cutting inside, and scoring more than he did as a striker.

With 8 goals, Mark Uth ranks on fourth place in the top goalscoring table, behind players like Lewandowski and Berardi (who joined Dortmund from Italy).

Some things have still stayed the same: Aytac Sulu is still incredibly strong with his headers.

And Mathenia has turned out to be a very resilient goalkeeper.

Obviously, using counter attacking as one formation makes us concede quite a few shots on goal. And all in all, we are conceding more than last season (while also scoring more), but Mathenia is still a very helpful asset in the back. 7 clean sheets are not that bad neither.

The crowds are still loving us.

Darmstadt had 4 sellouts and the Böllenfalltor is packed 99% on average.

... while we are still the team that pays the tiniest wages.

€ 16 million per year. Newly promoted RB Leipzig pays double. Bayern München pays ten times that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Player of the season (so far):

Mario Vrancic - Vrancic is still the heart and soul of the team. Withouth him as Advanced Playmaker, the team immediatly loses creativity, vision and nifty passing options. In fact, I realize that I don't have a real backup for him. Young Pagliarini is still too... young. And Gomis will never become what Vrancic is today. I will have to look into that position more closely for next year.

Signing of the season (so far):

Mark Uth - I must admit, I had not expected him to turn out that strong. He is the goalscorer the team direly needed last season. Surprisingly, the team works, all in all, better with a quick, unpredictable Poacher who can also play as a False Nine or a Complete Forward than with the type of Target Man Darmstadt originally had in Dominik Stroh-Engel and Sandro Wagner.

Other players of note:

Jonas Hector - Our € 4 million transfer (who can rise to 6-7 million total) has performed well, although not as spectacular as his price tag gave reasons to hope for. Fabian Holland still gets his matches as a replacement when Hector is tired. Then again, Hector does deliver of course, because he provides a very important stability defensively and as an attacking option, which lends more options in general to our team.

Fabian Schär - The Swiss Central Defender who joined us from relegated TSG Hoffenheim (like Uth) performs nicely as a Ball Playing Defender, adding another layer of creativity where we had none before. He also did make quite a few mistakes though, and has "2 mistakes leading to goals" in his statistics.

Yannick Cahuzac - Came for € 120,000 from Bastia, and proves to be a real bargain. Great backup for Niemeyer, but can also play as a fullback (without the attacking option though), making him an almost sure pick for the bench in every match.

Simon Zoller - Was not happy to be the backup for Uth, until I had the idea to play him on the left wing. Now unfortunately injured for 5-6 weeks. Hope to have him back after the winter break. Very similar to Uth, but not as versatile.

Alex Kiwomya - Bought for € 750,000 from Chelsea, the young winger has developed a bit. Concentration has gone up from 9 to 10, Determination from 12 to 15 (I assume due to tutoring by Marcel Heller), Stamina from 9 to 10. I am not using him as often as initially planned though, because of the new option that Zoller poses on the left, and also because of our counter formation that does not need any wingers. He still has the hightest potential of the team, together with Fabian Schär and Nicolas Pagliarini. Bit surprisingly, he also has the highest pass completion rate (see first picture, 78%), which is not how I remember him from watching the matches. Have to check that out...

[Hoarau]

After getting bogged down with too many saves I deleted all but 4 & have just started a 5th with this gloriously fun club. The thread really makes a save for me and after getting bitten the same way with Leeds & Grasshoppers this thread sold me.

Only played three preseason friendlies, haven't sold anyone but I'm massively scouring for bodies.

I've made one signing so far, Jose Valencia comes in to add real pace and cutting edge I felt lacked in the front line.

I also took the chance to reshape the back room, bringing in Andress Brehme as DoF, Gerd Muller as a coach & Johan Mjailby as asst manager. I also added some other staff I'll post about when I do a proper update once the transfer window closes.

I've got a save with Dortmund(I have man love for Klopp & Reus, aswell as a mission to bring Gotze back)currently aswell and it's a real chalk and cheese difference with the two. Love the Bundesliga!

[Jean-Luc]

Hey, Hoarau, that's awesome, welcome to the thread!

I checked out Jose Valencia in the web (don't have FM at hand), but there's not too much about him. Pace definitly sounds like a good idea though.

I am actually thinking of updating the opening postings, and adding some of the information I gathered while playing my 1,5 seasons with the squad.

[Hoarau]

Cheers Jean_Luc, this thread really is a great read, awesome work man.

I'm actually sticking with the squad that's here, I'll supplement it to give us some depth. I'd never heard of Valencia until Welsh recommend him in the Leeds thread, he's a handful so hopefully he can give us something different.

I'm playing with a lone frontman and two wide attacking wingers, so Valencia's pace will combine well with Heller and Rausch, that's a packet front three to lead our counter attacks.

Is there anyone in particular I should be looking to sell early to either free up wages of get some transfer budget in?

[Jean-Luc]

Is there anyone in particular I should be looking to sell early to either free up wages of get some transfer budget in?

Ivana and Stegmayer are both clearly not made for the Bundesliga, and are sidelined even in real life. They were part of the "old squad" who gained promotion, but have reached their limit. Sailer is also probably not needed, but you gotta love Sailer ("the longest beard of the Bundesliga"), who is also a fan favourite, and whose mental attributes set him apart, so from a RPG perpective, I still find it hard to sell him (although I finally put him on the transfer list in winter 2016/17).

I did not really use Gorka neither, although he might become useful if you need a tall Central Defender to counter a specific heading threat. And if you already got Valencia on board, you could probably think of selling either DSE or Wagner, as both are (at least in FM16) very similar target men. Wagner actually needs a bit of a push in the next SI update. He plays much better in Darmstadt than he did at his previous club in Berlin.

You could also look into bringing on a full back on either side who can actually cross and pass and gives you more attacking flexibility. Neither Holland, Garics nor Diaz are really up for that. Maybe among those, Holland is still the most useful player. In a way, four full backs (including Jungwirth, if you don't need him as DM) are even a bit too much (if you escape injury problems). Caldirola can also cover in emergency as left full back, as can Rausch (who started his career as full back).

edit: I might have mentioned that I am actually also playing Leeds at the moment (although in FM15), and both Byram and Taylor would make great full backs for Darmstadt in my opinion. But prices and wages in the Championship are above what a club as Darmstadt can afford in the start of the game.

[BoxToBox]

If I remember correctly, Byram is an 8-12m buy, but after a season you can usually get Taylor pretty cheaply.

[Jean-Luc]

I readjusted the season expectations to "mid table finish", which got me € 1,5 million more transfer money and € 150,000/week more wages (which is quite a lot, given the humble beginnings). I had my hopes high to get somebody fresh new in, but realized that I had to spend all that money on new contracts with existing players.

Uth had a release clause of € 3 million in his contract and had already reached € 3,4 million value (that did go quick, though), and I did not want to take chances. I also gave Heller a new contract, although he is 30+ years old now. Did not expect him to be useful still, but he is still pretty amazing on his flank.

I got one player on board for Summer 2017 as a free transfer, and hopefully he can be my future playmaker, although I am a bit worried about some of his mental stats. My goal initially was only to hire players with a high teamwork as this seemed to be such a dominant streak in the team and I wanted to preserve that. He is a bit selfish, though. Let's wait and see. Did also cost me a chunk of money.

Strangely, although the information still claims I have € 80,000 wages and € 300,000 transfer money left, my board seems to have set in restrictions for maximum wages (those typical annoying "not more than € 1000"), so there's no way I can get anybody else. Does anybody know how and why exactly this happens? Is it because we are making loss? Why would they hand me the money in the first place? I had it a few times in the past, but I remember it happens normally if I am reaching the end of my funds.

So, I have to hope to achieve mid table with the current squad. There's a risk I am taking... Before I always tried to be super conservative in my expectations.

[tmason122]

I readjusted the season expectations to "mid table finish", which got me € 1,5 million more transfer money and € 150,000/week more wages (which is quite a lot, given the humble beginnings). I had my hopes high to get somebody fresh new in, but realized that I had to spend all that money on new contracts with existing players.

Uth had a release clause of € 3 million in his contract and had already reached € 3,4 million value (that did go quick, though), and I did not want to take chances. I also gave Heller a new contract, although he is 30+ years old now. Did not expect him to be useful still, but he is still pretty amazing on his flank.

I got one player on board for Summer 2017 as a free transfer, and hopefully he can be my future playmaker, although I am a bit worried about some of his mental stats. My goal initially was only to hire players with a high teamwork as this seemed to be such a dominant streak in the team and I wanted to preserve that. He is a bit selfish, though. Let's wait and see. Did also cost me a chunk of money.

Strangely, although the information still claims I have € 80,000 wages and € 300,000 transfer money left, my board seems to have set in restrictions for maximum wages (those typical annoying "not more than € 1000"), so there's no way I can get anybody else. Does anybody know how and why exactly this happens? Is it because we are making loss? Why would they hand me the money in the first place? I had it a few times in the past, but I remember it happens normally if I am reaching the end of my funds.

So, I have to hope to achieve mid table with the current squad. There's a risk I am taking... Before I always tried to be super conservative in my expectations.

I´ve had a similar problem before.... If you go to your finances screen and look for ¨Allowed yearly player wage expenditure¨ and ¨Projected yearly wage expenditure¨ and compare the two values. If the Projected yearly wage expenditure is higher than the Allowed then that could be your problem....

[Jean-Luc]

I´ve had a similar problem before.... If you go to your finances screen and look for ¨Allowed yearly player wage expenditure¨ and ¨Projected yearly wage expenditure¨ and compare the two values. If the Projected yearly wage expenditure is higher than the Allowed then that could be your problem....

The fact that FM16 displays and projects the future wages for the coming season correctly and knows how to distinguish between this season and next season is for me one of those tiny "big" great new features that make FM16 so much better than its predecessors. So, no, the projection for next season is just fine. There is still room. That's what irritates me.

We are € 4 million in debt at the moment though, projected to reach € -11 million at the end of the season. Which of course will be covered by the TV money and the money for Bundesliga ranking. Unfortunately, the projection somehow does not take this properly into account. We got 20 million last year, IIRC, and that was relegation battle spot, so, hopefully, it should be even more this time.

[Hoarau]

Darmstadt 15/16

Overview :



Preseason was a success, weak teams but it was good to gel the squad with some wins, boost morale. I'm sure I'll be on the end of a few spankings but i'm hopeful we can pick up enough points to survive. The squad has some good players already in it, really happy with the performances of Rausch, Heller & Stroh-Engel. Quite excited about the difference between Darmstadt & Dortmund, the struggle looks to be a long one but i'm sure it'll be rewarding in the long run.

The funds at the club are very limited and seems like there wont be much investment, hows the money if you survive the first season?

----------------------------------

Transfer Centre :

I'm going to use as many of the original squad as I can but there were obvious holes and weaknesses I needed to address, the depth was a worry so I've filled the squad out. I'm quite excited about some of the signings, my DoF brought in Traore and Pflucke which I was really happy with, both young energetic attacking midfielders, they'll give us an edge we didn't have. Jose Valencia I've had in other saves and he's explosive, can turn a game and grab an all too vital goal. Another player I'm excited about is Harold Cummings, a young CB from Panama who has the potential to be a real solid Bundesliga defender.

Ins & Outs -

[Jean-Luc]

Stroh-Engel was in real life absolutely dominating the 3. Liga, was already struggling in the 2. Bundesliga, and seems now a bit overwhelmed. I also did not find him too useful on my save, as he was too slow to keep up when Heller was making his quick counter attacks.

The funds at the club are very limited and seems like there wont be much investment, hows the money if you survive the first season?

Better. Much better, in fact, but still no splashing cash. If I remember correctly, I had € 5-6 million at my disposal for transfer, but that was including selling a few players. I normally put much more money into wages anyway, so it's difficult to name a sum. TV and prize money in Germany is far away from the Premier League of course. And it will also depend on where you end your season, obviously. But you'll definitly be able to make two or three "real" transfers in the summer break. Remember, I brought Jonas Hector (who is a young German international), Mark Uth, Simon Zoller and Fabian Schär in. All four are very decent mid table players.

Remember also that the highest transfer fee ever that real life Darmstadt paid, was € 500,000 for Vrancic.

I'm going to use as many of the original squad as I can but there were obvious holes and weaknesses I needed to address, the depth was a worry so I've filled the squad out. I'm quite excited about some of the signings, my DoF brought in Traore and Pflucke which I was really happy with, both young energetic attacking midfielders, they'll give us an edge we didn't have. Jose Valencia I've had in other saves and he's explosive, can turn a game and grab an all too vital goal. Another player I'm excited about is Harold Cummings, a young CB from Panama who has the potential to be a real solid Bundesliga defender.

I always love original squad saves, and I found this squad extremely tricky to put into a good formation and tactic (although I would do things differently if I were playing again), so really looking forward to how you tackle it.

Do you use your DoF a lot? I never did so in past FM versions, but realized already that he is actually much more useful in FM16. I just keep forgetting him. There's a certain vibe of real life football roleplaying feeling when your club hands you players THEY bought and you didn't have a say.

[Hoarau]

What a first league game!



Anyone who knows me round here knows i'm always on the look out for a bargain, in most of my games, sans exceptions like Dortmund, I always love to find a free transfer or bosman before paying huge sums. I also use the loan market quite a lot at first while funds are tight. That's good to hear there is room to grow financially, I do the same as yourself were I load up the wages using any excess transfer funds I have.

Yeah its only been over the last few versions of FM ive started to use the DoF, last years was the year I saw real improvement followed by this years being the most realistic feeling. I like it as different DoF's bring different players to your attention that I may not necessarily have on my radar.

[Jogo Bonito]

Hoarau, I can't believe you brought in Gerd Muller and Andreas Brehme

Muller retired after one season with me at Grasshoppers unfortunately, as did Brehme.

Cracking thread to read still, even for those of us not managing here.

[TheJanitor]

Dramstadt - Pre-season 2015/16

So I decided on starting with Darmstadt after being inspired by this really awesome team guide. This is the first time I'm giving updates from my save, mostly because I'm hoping it will keep me motivated on playing. When starting a new career with a team, I tend to ask the captain how the team is generally feeling, and for the first time I got "Moral could be better, to be honest". The team in general looks a bit not confident about remaining in the Bundesliga, but I'm that if we will start well it will change.

One of my targets is to incorporate youngsters from the academy and try to develop them. Even if they won't develope into key players, I'm still looking for them to have a successful career, as back-ups or as lower-league legends . For this reason I'm tutoring every one of them. Here is a quick run-down:

Johann Aumann - Decent young keeper, I like him the best of my young talents which probably speaks volumes about the state of my youth. At best, he will be a back-up, but a decent one. Got him tutored by Platins and now he is Fairly Professional, which is a good personality for a back-up.

Noel Wembacher - Young CB, got some decent attributes, but very low Anticipation and Concentration means he will never be in my plans (unless something drastic happens). I will try and develop him, give him some game time with hopes of selling for a decent fee.

Ali Kazimi - Kazimi is a Left Winger. That's all I got. Were you expecting the next Giggs? He isn't. But again, could be profitable in the future, maybe a capable back-up if he improve dramatically.

For my tactics, I'm starting with a counter-attacking 4-4-1-1, trying to play it safe. This is the dealing for the summer:

2015/2016 Summer Transfers

Hegazi is pretty much a younger version of Gorka, only better. A 24 years old international on a free and a cheap wage. Sadly got injured on the pre-season but when he returns I'm hoping for him to create a strong partnership with Sulu. Dwamena is and Gomis joined after spoting them on this guide, mainly to offer some back-up option, but they might develope into first team players (well, Dwamena atleast). Not much in departures, Montalvo is the only youngster I thought was not good enough. He is pretty much Wembacher without any redeemable qualities to him. Stegmayer and Gorka are no longer needed and seem to have done their job for the club and I'm pleased I got any money of them. Surprisingly they are both plying their trades now in Turkey.

Pre-season Results

Pre-season went well, sadly Heller picked up an injury that will keep him out for 2-3 months. Shame, but I'm keeping faith with Rausch and he did well against Elversberg in the cup, providing a great cross for Stroh-Engel to score. In terms of tactics, it is working well but my team looks worryingly weak against crosses from deeper areas.

First match of the Bundesliga at home against Hannover, it is definitly win-able and I'm hoping for a good one.