FM16: GCZ - Oh, to be a Grasshopper!

[michalgottwald]

Keyboard broken will update in time! Welcome Sarkix and The Big Yellow!

[Jogo Bonito]

I've got laptop charging issues which need to be fixed too! An awful, winless pre-season saw me change formation and despite not bringing a victory it seems a much better fit. Only got to play the season opener in an official match though, and thumped Thun 4-1! Was looking forward to cracking on today, but now have to get this issue fixed before I can play more...

[FM_Grasshopper]

It's great more and more people are involved with GCZ in FM16! Welcome Sarkix and The Big Yellow!

My latest blog post recaps on Season 1. It's written as an End of Seasons Award ceremony, check it out.

I have complete pre-season for Season 2 and I am about to kick on with playing the first few matches of the Swiss Super League. Hopefully I can do this tonight. I will post an update on here soon about transfers, tweaking tactics etc. I also had an awful pre-season too Jogo Bonito - not sure why the players were not up for it!

Speak soon chaps

[Sarkix]

2015/16 - Season Review

So here we go with my 2015/16's review. It's been a great season with a lot of up and downs but I've really enjoyed my first experience in the Swiss Super League. I must say that I'm copying Llew_Arshavin23's season review template.

WÜRTH SCHWEIZER CUP

Our Cup run ended in the 2nd round when we get knocked by Tuggen - I think they play in the 3rd division but ended up reaching the Quarter Finals- with a goal in the 119th minute. To be honest it was totally my mistake - first of all I understimated them and lined up a lot of youngsters and also made a lot of tactical changes with the intention of testing some stuff.

Board Expectations: Reach Semi Final - Knocked out in Second Round

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RAIFFESEN SUPER LEAGUE

We managed to get almost the same amount of points than we got in the first 18 games but our problem in this second half of the season has been the defense - in the first 18 games we had 28 goals against and we ended the season with 61, that's 38 goals in the last 18 games, more than 2 goals per match. I have to fix this for the next season.

If you see the final standings you may think that it was a close race but far from it. Basel could have won the title with 4 or 5 games in hand and we were always like 3-6 points behind them. They lost their last game of the season and that's the reason why we ended just 3 points behind. The main reason why we couldn't compete against them was the stupid amount of injuries we suffered in the last part of the season:

Our CL spot -wich was our priority- was never in doubt as Sion and Young Boys completed an horrible second half of the season.

I'm pleased with the results of the season. Last year we ended in 8th position and next season we're going to fight for a spot in the CL group stage so I cannot complain about it. We have a young squad and Basel has the quality and the money - their salary per annum is 5 times bigger than ours.

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PLAYER STATISTICS - TOP FIVES

*statistics = all competitions

Appearances:-

1. Alexandre Barthe - 35(1)

2. Kim Källström - 34(2)

3. Nemanja Antonov - 34(1)

4. Caio - 31(2)

5. Munas Dabbur - 30(1)

Goals:-

1. Munas Dabbur - 25

2. Caio - 13

3. Nicola Gjorgjev - 11

4. Yoric Ravet - 10

5. Shani Tarashaj - 6

Assists:-

1. Nemanja Antonov - 15

2. Caio - 12

3. Yoric Ravet - 12

4. Benjamin Lüthi - 11

5. Kim Källström - 5

Average Rating:-

1. Caio - 7.41

2. Munas Dabbur - 7.37

3. Yoric Ravet - 7.20

4. Kim Källström - 7.18

5. Nemanja Antonov - 7.16

Full Statistics - All Competitions

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AWARD WINNERS AND RECOGNITION

While we may not have won any silverware as a collective, a number of our players have received critical appraisal for their standout performances throughout the season.

Raiffesen Super League Player of the Year - Caio

Raiffesen Swiss Super League Top Scorer - Munas Dabbur



Raiffesen Swiss Super League Team of the Year - Nemanja Antonov, Alexandre Barthe, Caio, Munas Dabbur, Yoris Ravet (substitute)



Grasshopper's end of the season Awards

GENERAL NEWS

During May, Al-Jaish came with a €2M offer for Nikola Gjorgjev. The offer was slightly better than Liverpool's one during winters' transfer window but it wasn't enough and I don't want the player to play in Qatar.

Of course I rejected the offer but after that Gjorgjev's agent demanded a new and improved contract. To be honest it was a no brainer as he was playing great and he deserved that new contract but I made sure to include €10M minimun release clause for foreing clubs. Why? Because of this:

He has scored 9 goals and provided 4 assists in the Super League this season and he's just 18 years old so we can consider him one of the brightest youth players in Europe. If someone wants to sign him, it's easy - pay €10M and he is free to leave.

In other news, we completed our 3rd signing for the next season - Andreas Wittwer. He has made 31 apps for Thun this season scoring 2 and providing 3 assist. We've payed them €325k and he will be Antonov's replacement in the LB position.

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Well, enough for today... if you want any screenshot feel free to ask.

[FM_Grasshopper]

Great update Sarkix, nicely laid out. It would be good to see Gjorgev's stats in your save, he attracted interest in my save but luckily he is contracted to 2018 before bids came in.

I was due to update this forum about my pre-season and transfers for Season 2. Sadly broke my ankle yesterday and I cannot make it on to a computer at the moment. Hopefully will be able to get the save going from my Mrs laptop soon, although I think I need to transfer over a manager history db file onto her machine. Will read up on it

[FM_Grasshopper]

Post-Season 1

It wasn't long after celebrating my Domestic Double that I had to deal with the inevitable sale of Munas Dabbur. He wanted to leave for a 'better league', but I was determined to sell for £4m+. Villareal were the only club to offer in excess of this (£4m straight cash with £400k over 12 months). This sale meant I could re-negotiate the contract of Yoric Ravet, so he now stays until 2020 (however there is a £6.5m release clause).

In my transfer plans, I always had Dabbur going in 2016 with Ravet leaving in 2017. The GCZ way seems to be selling 1 big name a year.

I only received 40% of the Dabbur money, so with £1.6m I was on the lookout for players that could improve the squad. I needed 2 Midfielders, a Striker and reluctantly a Goalkeeper. I say reluctantly because Joel Mall was simply outstanding for me in 15/16. He had 17 league clean sheets and made some crucial saves in the Swiss Cup Final.

I knew I could get away with a rotational striker from Season 2, as I am looking for Tarashaj and Kamberi (returning from a loan in the Bundesliga) to step up. Caio can also deputise here also. So I went with Airam Cabrera on a Free Transfer.

In Midfield, I managed to get Peter Niemeyer for £80k. A player known to many FMers. He is a solid DM that can also play in Defence. I plan to move him on as a player/coach in 1-2 years due to his impressive youth coaching stats. Alongside Peter comes Marko Grujic for £1.1m from Red Star Belgrade. He is my major outlay of Season 2.

I plan to develop Grujic for 1-2 years before making him my big money sale in 2018-19. He has a release clause of £11m, which I expect to be triggered at some stage.

The best signing of 16/17 season is Itumeleng Khune, the South African Captain. He signs for £350k and has been given the No.1 jersey following the sale of Vaso Vasic. There's no reason why Khune cannot play on for 7-8 years at the top level. His stats are also perfect for tutoring youngsters.

Pre-season & early Season 2

It was an average pre-season with some really poor performances, as I rotated with the Development squads:

However, the season has started with great promise. A tricky away fixture was negotiated at Luzern with a 2-1 away win. I also had an exceptional performance at home to Basel. Grujic with a sublime performance.

The general formation of 4-3-2-1 formation remains, however certain things have changed. Tarashaj is now my Deep Lying Forward with Caio backing him up as my Shadow Striker. This leaves space in the attacking mid position, so Källström changes from Defence to Support in his Deep Lying Playmaker role.

It's also a more Fluid Team Shape, with players looking for the overlapping Wing Backs and Midfielders. Therefore, we are no longer working the ball into the box. Of course, this will change depending on the Opponent and how they set up.

[Sarkix]

Great update Sarkix, nicely laid out. It would be good to see Gjorgev's stats in your save, he attracted interest in my save but luckily he is contracted to 2018 before bids came in.

I was due to update this forum about my pre-season and transfers for Season 2. Sadly broke my ankle yesterday and I cannot make it on to a computer at the moment. Hopefully will be able to get the save going from my Mrs laptop soon, although I think I need to transfer over a manager history db file onto her machine. Will read up on it

Here you are.

[mark1985]

As I used to live in Switzerland, I will be keeping a close eye on this thread! I did a Swiss save on FM15 and loved it even though I couldn't crack Europe. Managing GC looks interesting but my real life bias might get in the way (hopp hopp hopp Lozärn!). In real life, you're having a great season so far, that said let's both point and laugh at FCZ

[Suggy33]

I'm joining in on this. Inspired by FM Grasshopper Blog which I've seen RT'd on Twitter and piqued my interest. Decided to try and make this my most detailed save ever but we'll see.

Brought in Mario Pavelic on loan from Rapid Wien to cover the DL and DR positions, and Caleb Stanko on loan from Freiburg to play in MC. Had tried grabbing some African talent after signing up a couple of African scouts, but just a bit too pricey at this stage.

In the meantime I loaned out Mergim Brahimi to Lugano.

Not a great first performance, especially. Caio chipped in with assists for Antonov (who assisted Ravet himself) and Gjorgjev. Gjorgjev replaced Ravet in the 70th min who had stubbed his toe, and thankfully he managed to crack home the winner from a tight angle after a short free kick.

[FM_Grasshopper]

Welcome Suggy33, nice to know I inspired you to come here. We look forward to reading your updates!

[Jogo Bonito]

Still unable to use laptop or play but just wanted to say I am enjoying the updates and like that more new managers are arriving. Enjoy all and hopefully see you soon.

Edit: Laptop fixed, and played a few more games now. I haven't won now since my opening day victory though, and I'm surprised to find myself sitting nearer the bottom than the top. We do have a game in hand and really must quickly find the solution to what is not going right.

On a more positive note, my staff recruitment is pretty much sorted now, I'm really pleased with what I have done there. I've not done much in the transfer market - two loans and one free transfer for now, with a couple of free transfers joining up in January (and my most exciting recruit due to arrive in January 2017). I'll add some screen shots of staff and player moves soon...

[Sarkix]

2016/17 - 1st Round Review

Here I'm again lads. I've decided to make an update every 9 League games, so will be 4 updates each season.

SUMMER TRANSFER WINDOW

As you may remember, Gelmi, Wittwer and Zuber were signed during the last season so the new signings are Basem Morsy, egyptian ST that comes to replace Dabbur (hard task that one), Davide Callá, signed in a free transfer from Basel. This is his second spell at the club and will give Gjorgjev some rest when needed. Our last signing was Mauro Goicoechea, a GK wich is more capable to play the Sweeper-Keeper role than Mall and Vasic.

Apart from Raver and Dabbur, there weren't significants outs in this transfer window. Brahimi and Pnishi both left the club to fellow Super League teams and Vasic was loaned to Vojvodina when we signed Goicoechea. The rest were just young players going out on loan.

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UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

After 2 hard playoffs rounds, there won't be Champions League football in the Letzigrund this season... but we'll have Europa League football:

We managed to qualify for the last playoff after beating Dynamo Kyiv thanks to the away goals. Gjorgjev was pure class in that round with 3 great goals. In the last round we got FC Porto, one of the hardest teams in the draw. We lost 0-1 in the Letzigrund and started 2-0 in the second leg... with nothing to lose we started pushing forward and we were so close to that third goal that would have gave us the ticket for the Champions League's group stage.

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UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

We've been drawn against AC Milan, Villarreal and Maribor in the Europa League's group stage.

Just one game played so far, when Villarreal came to the Letzigrund just to get a 0-1 win.

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RAIFFESEN SUPER LEAGUE

First 9 games of the season. Not the start we were hoping for but our schedule has been very tight this start of the season when we had to focus in 2 competitions so I'm not that much disappointed with the players.

The best news are that we are not conceding that much. Apart from the games against Sion and Basel, when we conceded 3 each, we haven't conceded more than 1 goal a game, keeping 4 clean sheets.

Raiffesen Super League table; as of September 19th

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WÜRTH SCHWEIZER CUP

Just one game played so far, the one corresponding to the first round when we got drawn against Fribourg. We used a mix of substitutes and youth players and managed to get an easy 0-2 win.

We've been drawn against Servette FC in the 2nd round of the competition. Last season we played a friendly against them and we got trashed 0-4 (I was using the youngsters). They are the 3rd club with the most Super League titles after ourselves and Basel (17) but they're now in the 3rd tier because of financial issues.

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GENERAL NEWS

Two great news for the club. After some great performances, we offered Alpsoy a new contract that he was delighted to sign because, well... he loves working with me.

On the other hand, Levent Gülen received his first call up for the Swiss National Team, making his debut against Belarus.

[Jogo Bonito]

Another great update Sarkix, very enjoyable reading!

As promised, here is my first proper update - it hasn't gone well so far but I like that kind of test...

Staff

As usual, my first task upon arrival at a new club is to evaluate the staff. Luckily, GCZ didn't have many and therefore only a couple of terminations were required. That gave me plenty of room to bring in my own people, and I've recruited a few well-known Swiss nationals, a variety of former international footballers, and a rather interesting array of physios

I'd like to ask if anyone has been able to get rid of the useless DOF and club MD Manuel Huber? Due to his director status it isn't possible to terminate his contract, and even when I managed to strike a deal for my preferred DOF, there was no option to 'replace a member of staff'. Very frustrating, as I know exactly who I want to appoint as my new DOF...

Anyway, here is an overview of Swiss Roll's new backroom team. I was quite stunned to coax the legendary Muller away from Munich, whilst Laudrup and Carneiro are probably my other favourite arrivals. I'd like to target a Chief Scout with strong knowledge of the Swiss League, but to be honest I always hand pick my own players anyway so scouts aren't that important to my masterplan.

Retained: Nicolas Dyon, Boris Smiljanic, Johann Vogel

Recruited: Michel Renquin, Martin Brunner, Brian Laudrup, Gerd Muller, Patrik Andersson, Roger Milla, Gregory Tafforeau, Finidi George, Blaise Nkufo, Alain Sutter, Eva Carneiro, Jelena Vuckovic, Cecilia Gutierrez



Future Target: Andreas Brehme

[Jogo Bonito]

Players

I haven't done much in the transfer market, just bringing in free agent Kenyan international midfielder McDonald Mariga, plus a couple of attacking options on loan. Kekutah Manneh is a Gambian forward with pace that will be out of contract at Vancouver in a few months, whilst young Korean prospect Seo Myong-Won is one I would love to bring in permanently if a sensible fee can be agreed. The purpose of bringing in the latter pair was to cover myself in case of injury to Dabbur and/or Caio, both of whom I have been trying to sell. I have received very good offers for both of them, but keep rejecting as I will only accept a deal if the players get loaned back to me. Some of the younger squad members have been allowed to leave on loan in order to gain some experience.

Future transfers already agreed include Tanzanian striker Mbwana Samata and American centre-back Walker Zimmerman, both of whom arrive on free transfers in January upon expiry of their contracts at TP Mazembe and FC Dallas respectively. There are so many attacking players willing to join the club on loan, for free or for modest fees, but I don't want to halt the progress of our own youngsters - so I have really limited myself to just a handful of recruits in these positions. Samata has reportedly been attracting a bit of interest from clubs in Europe recently, and has even been linked to a move from DR Congo in the winter window. The opportunity for me to have two East Africans in my first team was too good to turn down, and I am probably the only top flight club in Europe that can boast this - and possibly the only person who would want to!

I'm very well aware that the main areas of the team to improve are central defence and central midfield, but at this early stage I couldn't land a better defender than Zimmerman for free. That part of the side will continue to be worked on going forward, but the most exciting signing for me will come to fruition in January 2017, when Victor Osimhen arrives. He's a really talented 16-year old Nigerian striker, and a compensation fee of £9.5k was an absolute no-brainer for this young kid, who was the recent star of the youth World Cup.

I've also got my eye on a few payers already based in Switzerland, with Challenge League side Lausanne being my main area of interest. I'd like to snap up their left-back Nicolas Getaz, to be my back-up option, and possibly striker Quentin Rushenguziminega. They will have to drop their asking price though, and the latter would only be taken if I am short of striking options - which doesn't seem likely at the current stage. The other club I will look to raid as we progress is Sion, as there are a number of players there that would strengthen this club.

Tactics

I've experimented with a few formations so far, but need to keep something similar to 41212. My main wish is to have at least three attacking players on the pitch at all times (ideally I would like four), with most of the other players having the responsibility to work hard and stifle the opposition. Basically, I want to be solid and structured in defence and midfield, and allow my attacking trio/quartet to go and win the game for me with pace and movement. You can see my approach and team instructions at the top of the image below.

I'm rotating Caio and Myong-Won in the support slot, with the former used as an enganche and the latter used as a shadow striker if I need a bit more movement. Subtle tweaks to the roles of my defensive midfielder and central midfield pair are still being tested. This formation does seem to suit Ravet, who has been the most impressive performer in the Swiss Super League so far.

Performance

Well, if so far you think I have it all worked out, you would be wrong. Pre-season was awful, and despite a great start in the opening league match, we have struggled so far. There are small signs of improvement in recent weeks, but plenty of work to be done. Luckily, Basel have also found it tricky so far, and with fairly low board expectations, my job should be secure anyway. A target remains to earn a European finish, and this should still be possible. Unfortunately, I don't think I will be a first season winner like I was in FM15 though!

[False 9]

Jogo Bonito, what database set up do you use?

[Jogo Bonito]

Large, custom option - appx 100,000 players. I include all players of African nationality, if that's the part you are missing out on?

[FM_Grasshopper]

Great update Jogo. You have done some lovely work with regards to the backroom staff. Perhaps the best I've seen so far. I am also yet to get rid of Huber but my immediate priority from Day 1 was a quality HoYD and U18s coaches. It's certainly something I need to revisit when I can increase my staffing budget.

You're finding diamonds in the rough in Africa! Samata and Osimhen looks very promising (if a little one footed). Maybe look to train the PPM 'avoid using weaker foot'. At 16 years old, Osimhen can certainly be polished into a top GCZ striker with at least 5 years training/tutoring.

If you could turn a few of those draws into wins, you would be flying high at the top. It seems nobody wants to win the league, so I'm confident you will climb if you keep tweaking. If it helps, I found Dabbur a better DLF than a AF. I'm not sure if his PPM of 'Static Target Man' conflicted with his instructions to run the channels. So I changed him to DLF in the first quarter of the season. Shadow and a DLF work very well for me.

I look forward to reading more!

I should be able to update on here soon as I am now in Oct 2016, so I plan to post on here once I make it to the Winter break (Season 2). There's been short snippets on my Twitter feed but I will go into more detail here. I've had loads more time for FM than previous planned as I broke my ankle, so I haven't left the house (apart from Hospital visits) since last weekend! I managed to get a 5 hour uninterrupted binge this morning, unheard of with a 15 month baby girl haha

[Jogo Bonito]

Cheers FM_G. Yes, I have high hopes for Osimhen, but time will tell. I just thought he was a perfect type of signing for this club. It's interesting about Dabbur. In reality I would say he is very far from being a static target man, his off the ball stat of 16 would match his ability to make space and hit the channels too. I'm not sure that having a DLF would work with a F9 and SS (or enganche), as they may all end up in the same zones, but it's a good point you made and food for thought. I've slightly tweaked the team instructions, making us structured, counter attacking and passing in to space. I removed the clear balls to flanks command too.

Sorry to hear about your ankle, but what better time to cram lots of FM in to your day - I look forward to your next update anyway!

[FM_Grasshopper]

I'm not sure that having a DLF would work with a F9 and SS (or enganche), as they may all end up in the same zones, but it's a good point you made and food for thought. I've slightly tweaked the team instructions, making us structured, counter attacking and passing in to space. I removed the clear balls to flanks command too.!

Yeh, perhaps look at the average positions with and without the ball in order to see if your attack is congested. You want you strikers close but not at the detriment of the overall attack.

I am too impatient to get a F9 working well in a system. I always feel I'm sacrificing a player so genuinely tend to avoid it. For me, Ravet is a great Inside Forward and was my Season 1 POTY. I'm sure if you tweak right, you can get GCZ firing in the goals with a F9. Good luck.

[Jogo Bonito]

I'll see how it goes. Ironically, I think it was at GCZ a year ago when I last used a F9 - but Ravet seems to fit in to that role very well for me. I think it was Ben Khalifa that I used there last year, but the memory isn't what it once was

In case any of you guys are using them, we have a few more of our squad in the face pack now, plus a few other Swiss youngsters that might catch your eye in the future.

[FM_Grasshopper]

1st half of Season 2 is complete!

I am 18 league games into Season 2 and it's time to review before I kick off the Winter Break. My wishes going into the season were (1) to be top at Christmas (something we didn't do last year), (2) continue with European football into 2017 and (3) play more desirable attacking football. We've achieved all of that...

Swiss Super League

We're top at Christmas by 7 points! Top scorers with also the joint best defence!

It's been a very solid run, with only one loss to Basel (my main competitors).

Here is my league performers:

Since Dabbur left us, we've been missing that 20 goal a season striker. So we've redistributed the goals around the team well. To do this, we had to change the tactics slightly to be a bit more direct in our approach (no more Work The Ball Into The Box). My team is looking for the overlap in wide areas and we are continuing with the fluid system. My Deep Lying Playmaker (Källström) also now has the license to move forward, I expect to leak a few more goals...but the benefits should out-way the goals conceded. Due to the fluid system we are playing our formation on appearance is misleading:

When we control the game, like we're capable of, we are very high and expansive. These are our average positions with the ball after 45 mins (with heat map overlay) during our two best league performances (both were 4-0 home wins):

UEFA Champions League

It has been very hard to translate the above in the Champions League. Teams are vastly superior and have more of the ball, however an empathic 5-1 win against Anderlecht meant I am stumbling into the Europa League via a superior better Head-to-Head record. Anderlecht approached the game with a very deep 4-2-2-2 DM formation. This played into my hands, especially after I played even higher than normal resulting me dominating possession and chances.

Swiss Cup

It's not all good news from me unfortunately. I am unable to defend my Swiss Cup crown. An awful performance away at Servette FC meant I went out on penalties. I fielded a strong team, but I suspect the match coming between Champions League fixtures was just too much for the players.

Winter Break

I asked the Board nicely for extra transfer funds after continuing with European football into 2017 and they have allowed £1.7m to be ploughed back into the playing squad. I arranged for Gjorgjev and Loosli to have new deals, plus other youngsters. The only downside is that Gjorgjev now has a £9.75m release clause.

Hopefully I will be able to bring in a few youngsters to bed them in before I sell any 1st teamers. I always had my mind on selling Ravet & Caio in the Summer of 2017. I will update you again on any player movements in Jan 2017.

[Jogo Bonito]

Great update FM_G

All is going well in the league, shame about the cup. Amazing you are still in Europe after that campaign, but good for the balance. Hopefully you'll hold off Basel after the break.

[FM_Grasshopper]

Great update FM_G

All is going well in the league, shame about the cup. Amazing you are still in Europe after that campaign, but good for the balance. Hopefully you'll hold off Basel after the break.

Cheers. Yes, I'm the luckiest manager ever. To get Europa League after that CL performance!

I've drawn Sevilla in the 1st Knockout Round, so I expect to go out. That will mean all focus is on the league. I think last year Basel had a similar lead at Christmas and mucked up. So I need to be careful.

Look forward to reading updates from others soon

[Jogo Bonito]

FMG, concentrating on the league probably won't be a bad thing to be honest. It's definitely yours to lose though!

So, now at the rather long and boring mid-season break in season 1, which as we all know is the halfway stage with 18 of 36 games completed. Things were quite a bit better since my previous update, but the last two results haven't been great. I'm confident of pushing on for at least a Europa League spot, and look forward to having a couple more players in my squad in the winter window when Zimmerman and Samata arrive. Kallstrom (who I was unable to sell and had found himself in my team because of it) is out injured for a couple of months, so I probably still won't be able to get him out of the club. I am still willing to let Dabbur leave if a decent bid arrives - and with Samata arriving, I'm not too worried if I don't get a loan back option now. I'm considering an offer to keep Manneh (who has done well and is a great bench option with his pace) but might decide to give that slot to Samata and let the support come from the youngsters already at the club. It's unlikely therefore to be a busy transfer window, and I don't expect I will be adding to the two advanced deals already arranged. Perhaps another central midfielder and possibly a young player to be left-back understudy could be brought in, but it's not looking likely.

[Sarkix]

2016/17 - 2st Round Review

Here I'm again lads. Sorry for the delay but I'm now in Spain for the next week and couldn't update before.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

What can I say? We started loosing our first 3 games... and we ended up going through after beating Milan 1-0 in the Letzigrund. Truly unbelievable.

We've been drawn against Sporting CP in the 1st knockout stage.

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RAIFFESEN SUPER LEAGUE

We've managed to get 4 more points than in the first 9 games of the season so I'm pretty happy with our display although we had the chance to be top of the table when we faced Basel but as you can see we lost again against them.

Just 7 goals conceded in this round... and 4 of them were in the last 2 games. As you can see, we are not that team that made goals just for fun as we did last season. Why? Because Dabbur isn't in the team anymore and the goals are more redistributed between all the players.

Raiffesen Super League table; as of December 10th

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WÜRTH SCHWEIZER CUP

As I said in the last update, I knew Servette's game was going to be a tough one and I was right. We just beat them after the penalty shootout. In the next round we were drawn against Tuggen. If you remember, Tuggen knocked us of the Cup last season with a goal in the 119th minute. Oh, revenge is so sweet!

We've been drawn against Thun in the Quarter-finals to be played in March.

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GENERAL NEWS

Two more news. Luthi, who is the player with the highest average rating of our team, will be out for the next 10 months.

On the other hand, Shani Tarashaj received his first call up for the Swiss National Team, making his debut against Egypt.

[Jogo Bonito]

Nice update Sarkix, always good to read how everybody is getting on - especially as we have all taken different routes.

I completed season 1 but couldn't get internet access to either take screen shots or post them up. I managed to make some considered sales in the winter window, and although it had an effect on some parts of the team, it allowed us to bank over £2m more than I spent in that window. It was three first team players that left me (not particularly a good situation to be in) but I thought it worth the risk for future progress, and one of them was a real shock to me as he refused my new contract offer and signed a pre-agreement with another club instead! At that point I thought I was better off cashing-in and getting a small fee for a 'buy now' deal, and promoting his complaining understudy to my starting X1.

Three new players came in, including one (very) big money signing in a position I really needed to improve. It was a lot of money to lay out, but he is a teenager so should become a massive asset in value terms. The second new arrival is a free transfer Swiss player, and finally I have another young kid joining in 2017 when he is old enough to leave his home country.

I'll get the images and season summary posted up soon (hopefully).

[King Costly]

This has been a great read chaps, bravo!

I'm playing in Switzerland atm, although with Vaduz, and the league really does have an intimate feel with just the ten teams. It gives it a really different dynamic to most top European divisions.

I saw a couple of mentions of Nedim Bajrami, has anybody seen him progress much yet? I'm almost ten years in and he's one of my better players at Vaduz. He is phenomenal at DLP and dictates games for us.

I imagine with human development, rather than AI, he could become a real force.

[FM_Grasshopper]

This has been a great read chaps, bravo!

I'm playing in Switzerland atm, although with Vaduz, and the league really does have an intimate feel with just the ten teams. It gives it a really different dynamic to most top European divisions.

I saw a couple of mentions of Nedim Bajrami, has anybody seen him progress much yet? I'm almost ten years in and he's one of my better players at Vaduz. He is phenomenal at DLP and dictates games for us.

I imagine with human development, rather than AI, he could become a real force.

I agree - really like the smaller league of 10 teams.

Re: Bajrami

I had hoped he would have kicked on in my save. This is him in April 2017 at 18 years of age. His Determination (from 9 to 17) and Personality has (from Balanced to Spirited) has increased through tutoring.

He is still nowhere near 1st team ready, but he does have another 2 years on his contract to develop. A loan move in 2017/18 (Season 3) might help.

Can we see him in your save?

[Hoarau]

What a thread. Just read from top to bottom..

Grasshoppers have just hit top spot on my save to do list! I've got a few saves on the go but thinking of ditching one.. This could be my next project.

[VirtuosoFlame92]

Ive just read the whole thread too and i must say i find it captivating. Im sold on every nook and cranny of this save. Ive never managed in switzerland before but thats about to change. Im going to start this save straight after work and will post how i get on here....tonight i become a Grasshopper!!!

Couple of questions first. What face and logo packs do you use? And also i was wondering whether to disable ttansfer budgets in the first window so i can assess the squad properly. My only concern is that potential transfer targets sale value might increase resulting in me missing out. What do you think?

[King Costly]

I agree - really like the smaller league of 10 teams.

Re: Bajrami

I had hoped he would have kicked on in my save. This is him in April 2017 at 18 years of age. His Determination (from 9 to 17) and Personality has (from Balanced to Spirited) has increased through tutoring.

He is still nowhere near 1st team ready, but he does have another 2 years on his contract to develop. A loan move in 2017/18 (Season 3) might help.

Can we see him in your save?

I picked him up in 2022-23 and he helped spearhead our Challenge League title win. He then performed even better in the Super League and was a key man as we somehow won the title in our second season. His stats aren't mind-blowing but he performed brilliantly for me and was first on the teamsheet.

He's dipped a bit this season as I left and the AI manager obviously isn't getting as much out of him. Still a very solid player for me, one of my favourites from this journeyman save.

[Jogo Bonito]

It's great to have a few more people joining the party, will look forward to more updates. I'm very much on my save but still can't do the screen shots or updates yet.

One thing I missed which is a big frustration was in Gulen's contract. Under contract for a few years and improving nicely, he was my key defender and I would never have let him go. All of a sudden I got news he wanted to talk to Lyon if a bid came in, which I would have blocked. This then highlighted to me that he had a £5k release clause to foreign clubs! Yes, just £5k for my £1.7m defender. His agent wouldn't let me even discuss a new deal so I couldn't remove the clause. I then tried all sorts of trickery including swap offers with other Swiss clubs and a specific offer to them for £1m but nobody was biting. I think next time I move on a day, a bid will come in and all my plans will fall apart.

Very disappointing. Did you all suffer from this?

[VirtuosoFlame92]

It's great to have a few more people joining the party, will look forward to more updates. I'm very much on my save but still can't do the screen shots or updates yet.

One thing I missed which is a big frustration was in Gulen's contract. Under contract for a few years and improving nicely, he was my key defender and I would never have let him go. All of a sudden I got news he wanted to talk to Lyon if a bid came in, which I would have blocked. This then highlighted to me that he had a £5k release clause to foreign clubs! Yes, just £5k for my £1.7m defender. His agent wouldn't let me even discuss a new deal so I couldn't remove the clause. I then tried all sorts of trickery including swap offers with other Swiss clubs and a specific offer to them for £1m but nobody was biting. I think next time I move on a day, a bid will come in and all my plans will fall apart.

Very disappointing. Did you all suffer from this?

Just checked his contract and I cant see such clause. Is his original contract the one that runs till 2017?

[Jogo Bonito]

I just checked. It looks like it is my error. I must have given him a new contract as it expired in 2019. The agent must have sneaked that clause in without me spotting it as I would never have entertained that idea willingly.

Anyway, I couldn't do much as over 30 foreign clubs bid the £5k fee and he moved to Lyon. I'm also disappointed that Gerd Muller has decided to retire in the summer.

I've sent seven youngsters out on loan to help the wages. The board only gave me £126k for transfers but with the Gulen debacle I had to blow it all (and more) on a decent centre back. The other two arrivals were free transfers from Lausanne. Not really the way I had planned to tackle the second season.

[Hoarau]

I'll be reviewing the squad and doing all my preseason work tomorrow, as I've just got that out the way with Darmstadt, so hopefully I can get that done and throw a wee update up tomorrow evening and maybe even get a league game or two in.

EDIT - unlucky Jogo, that sounds horrific, did you get a CB? Let me recommend Harold Cummings.

[Jogo Bonito]

Welcome aboard! Good luck, it's really tough to do much at the start unless you sell your soul (Dabbur, Caio, Ravet etc).

Yeah it looks like I have made a right mess of this now. But better my mistake than a game error...

I got so wrapped up in the Gulen thing and trying to replace him that the new season was upon me. I hadn't arranged any friendlies!!!

As an experiment it's worth noting that training and no matches really doesn't prepare the squad too well! Just lost the opener 2-1 at Sion and my new defender from Egypt got a 4.8 rating. Good start for the new captain...

It's not a whim really, being one year after I shortlisted him to be Gulen's eventual partner. Then in my mid-season tour we played a couple of games against the top Egyptian clubs on their turf, as Egypt seems to have a history of sending players to Switzerland. I'm sure he will come good and the £325k fee will be justified, but I haven't made this easy for myself.

[evertonmarc]

Sounds like Everton are about to sign Shani Tarashaj in real life (but loan him back to Grasshoppers for this season)

[mayihavecookie]

Sounds like Everton are about to sign Shani Tarashaj in real life (but loan him back to Grasshoppers for this season)

Yes, seems like it's fixed now. Transfer fee around CHF 4M. Good talent for the Swiss League but to be honest I don't think he'll make it in the PL.

[evertonmarc]

Yes, seems like it's fixed now. Transfer fee around CHF 4M. Good talent for the Swiss League but to be honest I don't think he'll make it in the PL.

Noooo don't tell me that!! ;o)

You are supposed to say he's the next messi!!

[mayihavecookie]

Let's hope I'm wrong, I would be happy for him if he made it.

He made a huge step forward compared to last season and if he continues to improve like this who knows how good he can become. Also he is a pretty sick finisher! I just can't quite imagine him playing next to a player of Lukaku's mold yet. Having him loaned back to Grasshoppers for the rest of the season surely is a good option for everyone involved.

[Hoarau]

I'm nearly done with my preseason friendlies, it's taking longe than I thought due to more transfer business being done that I had intended... As I have done the unthinkable, some of you will not approve but I felt it necessary.

Oh and I man-love wee Tarashaj, what a player.

[Hoarau]

What is happening at Basel? Ha!

[Jogo Bonito]

Fine start Hoarau. I never get off to a good start at any club, I don't know how everybody else manages it! Amazing stuff from Basel, never seen anything like that from them before! I'm probably one of those not surprised if you were very busy in the transfer market...which makes your solid start all the more commendable.

I'm at the winter break of season 2 now, and have slowly recovered from the Gulen catastrophe. However after having to buy a new centre back to replace him, I realised we needed to cash in on another asset when I couldnt even afford a monthly loan wage of £325 for my chosen back-up full back.

That sale brought in around £2m, but hadn't been my plan and we really struggled early on, particularly in attack. Things have improved since then, and I even bagged a (good) replacement from within the Swiss league for a bargain fee of just over £300k.

One of these days when I can load up images there will be a monster update of the first two seasons. You have all been warned

[VirtuosoFlame92]

Dudes, I really want to give you an update on my Grasshoppers save but I cant get my head around how to upload screenshots. Would you still be interested if I gave you an update anyway? Doing well and enjoying it but theres a lot of areas in which I can improve and you guys would help a lot is all.

On another note, Ronaldinho is at Basel on my save and Young Boys are rock bottom by 10 points with no wins after 14 games. I had a great start (due to playing lots of games against really bad teams in pre season to improve, morale, fitness and tactical familiarity) and although things are not too bad at the moment, if I carry on drawing as many games I will not finish top and 2nd place will be beyond me.

No transfers as I disabled first window budgets. I was however still able to bring in Mcdonald Mariga on a free.

Oh yes and Basel and doing great either. So you were totally right Michalgottwald this league has an enormous sense of identity. I'm taking just as much enjoyment finding out about other clubs and seeing how their seasons are unfolding as I am my Grasshoppers team.

Id love to show you my tactics etc. but as I said, I'm currently struggling with uploading screenshots.

[Hoarau]

This just keeps getting better & better

[FM_Grasshopper]

Firstly, welcome to all those new to the thread - GCZ is a rewarding challenge in FM16. Here's an end of season 2 review:

Champions (again)!

GCZ did it again. A really solid season, where we improved offensively. No longer reliant on Dabbur for all the goals, we managed to spread the goals around and were a real threat with the fluid 4-3-2-1 system. Our H2H against Basel was poor (losing 3), but we managed to comeback from these defeats every time to remain consistent.

Here are my league performers. Notable mentions must go to Captain Kim Källström, Taye Taiwo, Nemanja Antonov and Nikola Gjorgjev who were simply outstanding. Especially Gjorgjev...who displaced Ravet (last season's POTY) as my 1st choice AMR. Nikola came into the team in December 2016 and powered his way to become the League's Top Scorer. Quite a fabulous achievement for a 19 year old. Unfortunately he has a release clause of £9.75m in his contract, it's only a question of when he leaves GCZ and not if.

We also had a few extra games in Europe, including an incredible result away at Sevilla. Those that follow my Twitter account probably saw the drama unfold as I 'live tweeted' events that saw it go all the way to Extra Time.

I am already well ahead of where I want to be in my save. I outlined my Challenge a few months back here. I will still be keeping with the restrictions, so 2017/18 is the final season before I have to include at least 5 Homegrown GCZ players in the match day squad for each domestic match (league and cup). To be honest, I am pretty much doing this...but at least it forces me not to go and buy 11 wonderkids. This is also the final season of me keeping to a £15k p/w wage cap per player. From 2018/19 it will be £30k p/w!

There'll be departures this summer, ideally I want to move on Ravet (who is now 2nd choice at AMR) and Caio who is out of contract the following season. I have already announced some 17/18 signings through Twitter...but I will make a separate post here in a week or so time. There's also the risk of good young players leave like Tarashaj and Gjorgjev...as major European clubs make them unsettled. Despite winning back to back titles, it seems I am not immune to having my best players taken from me!

Also, for those interested in the next generation of GGZ talent...take a look at what my U18s did here: http://fmgrasshopper.com/blog/

Thanks for reading

[FM_Grasshopper]

Dudes, I really want to give you an update on my Grasshoppers save but I cant get my head around how to upload screenshots.

Id love to show you my tactics etc. but as I said, I'm currently struggling with uploading screenshots.

I use photobucket.com. Then grab the IMG URL and use the tools in the forum (insert Image). Happy to help further should you need it...

[VirtuosoFlame92]

Ok here goes. I'm confident I can get these screenshots to work, so I'm going to steam roll ahead with an update.

First of all, I loaded up the game and selected 'disable first window transfer budgets'. This was so I could get a better handle of my squad before the mayhem of an actual transfer window. I didn't want to sell someone based on a reflex decision, only to find out later he was in fact one of my better players. That said I was able to pick up one player on a free transfer. Mcdonald Mariga.

Based on the squad and its strengths and weaknesses, I thought a 4-2-3-1 formation would work best, with a 4-1-2-2-1 as backup for the trickier ties. I had already decided that my instructions would alter slightly from match to match, but thought id keep some traits such as playing with a high defensive line, closing down a lot and going in hard on our opponents a constant.

Whilst ive stayed loyal to the basic setup, the instructions and the way we play has changed a lot over time. I used 'work ball into box' quite a lot early on. This worked great in the first month or so, until teams just lined up two banks between me and the goal. So I changed to 'hit early crosses' and a 'quicker tempo' etc.

Either way we've managed to be top of the pile come the mid-season break, but with Basel finding there feet and only five points between 1st and 6th anything could happen and a drop in form could prove fatal.

Dabbur was playing well. Nothing spectacular though. He had interest in him since the start of the game (first window budgets were disabled remember). So along came January and a bid from Wolfsburg of 3.8m (I already set an asking price of 7.5m) which I rejected because I wasn't sure I wanted to sell him. Then Munas comes up to me asking why it was rejected yadda yadda yadda.... I offered him to clubs for 7.5m. Then around six bids came in, all 3.8m from sides like Genoa, Schalke, Fiorentina etc. but I noticed Monaco at the bottom and thought id try and take their unwanted cash. It went something like this:

Monaco: 3.8m for Dabbur?

Me: Try closer to 7m

Monaco: Ok heres 7million

So I got around 3.5million back in the transfer kitty with which I bought these guys for 350k

[/img]

Really excited about these two and the second half of the season. Great game so far. Thank you for introducing me to it.

[/img]

[Hoarau]

Worst thing ever, one of my kids manages to delete my save! Been trying to restore since dinner time, no joy.

Committing the worst FM crime ever, restarting but pre-editing my ins and outs to the dates they happened in game.. I know for shame, but I was having an amazing save.

[Jogo Bonito]

Great updates as always in here.

FMG, very good work. Two titles in two years is a really tough act to follow for all of us. In fact, I'm not sure I ever will manage that.

Very brave of you Mr Flame to disable the first budget, but Mariga was a great signing - he has been really reliable for me. Great negotiating on Dabbur too!

I'm so pleased I never went with the really tempting squad at Sion, as it's so much easier to connect with GCZ and be a real part of the thread. Will get my images posted up this week, as internet facilities will be properly available again.

Hoarau, sorry to hear that. Personally I dont see a crime in mirroring your transfer business to get you back to where you were before. I reckon your kids must be Zurich fans

One more thing. Your namesake keeps causing me all sorts of trouble at Young Boys. Can you have a word please? Ta!