pheelf Posted March 2, 2016 Author Share Posted March 2, 2016 Season 2045/2046 THE FINAL Routes to final Immaculata: Champions 3rd Qualifying Round Beat Young Boys 2-1 on aggregate Champions Playoff Round Beat Partizan Belgrade 2-0 on aggregate Group B Lost 3-1 to Juventus (A) Won 3-1 against Schalke 04 (H) Won 1-0 against Sporting Lisbon (A) Lost 1-0 to Sporting Lisbon (H) Won 1-0 against Juventus (H) Won 2-0 against Schalke 04 (A) 1st Knockout Round Beat PSG 2-1 on aggregate Quarter Final Beat Dynamo Kiev 2-1 on aggregate Semi Final Beat Real Madrid 2-0 on aggregate Bayern Munich: Group A Won 2-1 against Manchester City (A) Won 3-0 against Galatasaray (H) Won 6-0 against Dinamo Zagreb (H) Won 2-0 against Dinamo Zagreb (A) Won 1-0 against Manchester City (H) Drew 0-0 against Galatasaray (A) 1st Knockout Round Beat Olympique Lyonnais 2-1 on aggregate Quarter Final Beat Atletico Madrid 5-3 on aggregate Semi Final Beat AS Monaco 2-1 on aggregate VS Here is how the two teams lined up: I've rarely, if ever encountered a Christmas tree since I've been playing this career so it's a totally unfamiliar formation for me to face. Let's break it down to detect weakness. Firstly it's incredibly narrow so if I can get the ball out wide then my players are going to have acres of space in which to operate so my first alteration is to focus passing down the right flank where my winger is. Why not both? Well my left midfielder is cutting inside and thus into traffic so I don't want him to be prioritized to receive the ball whilst I don't really want to change my complete wing back at left back as he should have a lot of space even if it is toward the later part of attacking moves. I'll go with an attacking mentality due to the numbers they have in the central midfield zone. If I give them time and space which they would get with a low tempo and deep line they are going to hurt me badly. No other changes I feel will be necessary so we will see how it pans out Final Score Immaculata 4 Bayern Munich 0 WOW!!...Some things speak for themselves and to be honest that scoreline tells you everything you need to know about the type of season we have had in Europe. I thought that after the game against Real Madrid that I had already seen the best of my team and that if we were going to win the Champions League final that we would need either a huge slice of luck or for my opponents to have the worst performance of their campaign. Therefore for them to put in a performance like that in the final and destroy one of the best teams in the world...well...it goes beyond the call of duty...well beyond. We started this game like men possessed, determined to show the world we weren't out of our depth and that we wanted it more than anybody could ever imagine. 2nd minute into the game Fitzgerald picks the ball up deep in the Bayern Munich half on the right wing and dribbles at their left back, somehow he works the space and gets in a cross which is lofting high into the box. It's so magnificently crafted that it leaves their central defender and goalkeeper in a bit of a pickle. It's coming in at an angle which means the goalkeeper has to come to collect it which if he fails will leave the goal practically open, he jumps for it but doesn't make it so now he's depending on whether the central defender can rise enough to intercept it and head it away...it sails over him and he can't reach it so it falls to Ilic who takes it on the volley and slots it into the unguarded net 1-0...what a start!! Then it gets better...they get a dangerous free kick on the left hand side of our box in the 5th minute. Esfandiari whips it in but it's poor and Yuste heads it clear to the edge of the box where it is picked up by Sovina, they are all over the place and are sprinting to get back into position. He plays a long ball to Ilic who is in acres of space on the left flank and is in behind the two defending players just beyond the half way line. He dribbles the ball forward and the two defenders come across to try and deal with him. He then intelligently switches the play to the right flank where there is acres of space for my players to attack. Benko picks it up on the edge of their area and plays a first time through ball to Fitzgerald who runs on to it. He takes a shot from a narrow angle, the goalkeeper parries it but it's not away...it drops back to him...he now faces an open goal...he composes himself and drills it into the empty net...2-0 and we are not even 10 minutes into the game...I'm elated!! It quietens down a bit but we are still the team on top and I'm almost certain that we've won it but I ward against complacency...Bayern are more than capable of getting back into the game...all it would require is a goal and the tension returns...we are playing really well though so I think twice about making any changes with the view that if we can get a 3rd then it would require a comeback of epic proportions (like the 2005 final) for them to stand any chance. The game rolls on to the 33rd minute...we are really hurting them on the right flank and they haven't quite figured out a way to deal with us. The ball then breaks to Kouassi who is positioned deep in their half on the right flank, he whips in an immaculate cross from deep to the centre of the box which is met by...you guessed it Ilic who hits another magnificent volley into the net...3-0...never would I have dreamed of such a scenario where we would be this comfortable by half time. We see out the rest of the half and we go into the break 3-0. I'm dizzy with excitement and I'm so impressed with what I'm watching that I almost want to leave things as they are and see how many goals we can score but then I force myself to take a reality check. There are 45 minutes remaining...we are in the final against one of the best teams in the world...if they score early in the second half it is very possible that we could start to falter under the pressure so I decide to switch down to a counter mentality. We draw the second half and we are Champions of Europe that is all that is required. We start the 2nd half well enough and restrict them and survive the first 15 minutes like I wanted. Then we get a corner from the right in the 62nd minute...the left footed Nielsen whips the ball in, their central defender Altweck misjudges the flight of the ball...it drops to Ilic who has run and attacked the ball from deep, he again hits it first time on the volley it goes past the goalkeeper...4-0....that's the killer...there is no way we are going to let this slip now....we see out the rest of the game...Gundo's challenge is complete and not a moment too soon...it only took 30 years ....Reggae Boys here we come!! WE ARE CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jengaehassim Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 That's AMAZING! Congratulations! And with a 4-0 no less. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason the Yank Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Incredible. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobby_McDonald Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Now go and celebrate at Oktoberfest. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 Wow, that's incredible! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ropo Posted March 5, 2016 Share Posted March 5, 2016 Brilliant Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted March 6, 2016 Author Share Posted March 6, 2016 Thanks for the support, I thought it was never going to happen but now that it finally has I can set my sights on winning the World Club Championship and Super Cup to complete the set with the Mac. As for the 2nd part of my career well that could be starting really soon as at the end of the season the Jamaican national team boss resigned so I'll be applying for that job in short order. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 Absolutely incredible. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted March 6, 2016 Author Share Posted March 6, 2016 The Immaculate Conception Season 2045/2046 SEASON EXPECTATIONS Try to go as far as I can in Europe THE SEASON League Table – We seem to be getting worse as our number of losses over the season would indicate but the league is becoming more competitive meaning that my main competitors are struggling to be as consistent also. The fact that Linfield made the group stage of the Europa League probably didn't help with the domestic campaign and ultimately led to them missing out on the Champions League UEFA Champions League – HALLELUJAH!!!...My team performed magnificently to bring the trophy home to N. Ireland and they should be ecstatic with their performances. I'm hoping that now I have won it once that it should be easier to win again in future and that the absence of qualifiers next season will allow us to be a bit more relaxed when conducting our transfer business Domestic Cups – Was a shame to miss out on the Co. Antrim Shield but I'm more than satisfied with our performances overall Reserves - Well...they won a double but it wasn't a great year for them. I may start to call up some of my more talented youth prospects to play in the Reserves so they can gain some valuable competitive experience without the pressure of needing to perform like in the first team, they might also benefit by training with the senior team U18s - Clean sweep this time which is to be expected if not demanded THE PLAYERS Squad – What a wonderful bunch of fighters they really are. Unlike previous seasons, I'll only be getting rid of players which I no longer feel can benefit us like Kristensen and Ben Yahia rather than losing players which I would have liked to keep either because they want to leave or because I needed the money. Next season I'll be looking for a world class goalkeeper and possibly another striker which I can utilize for rotation to replace Barsotti whose loan comes to an end but overall I'm more than happy with the squad and its balance although I will be looking over time to get the average age down a bit Transfers – I made a huge profit on my transfer dealings which was great. Ilic was a magnificent free transfer in who proved to be a brilliant striker in Europe where he was played. The Barsotti loan was inspired as he performed magnificently as our domestic striker. Aakenes was decent in patches and Vlachos was great in between the posts. I feel that even though I was unable to replace the quality that left with players of equal ability that the players I did bring in done a great job and it enabled some of my previously unfavoured players to step up to the plate and put in some magnificent performances. I would expect to see this screen have much less activity in future as our reputation rises and we can hang on to our players PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Lukas Juska – Average Rating : 8.52 The guy is just class and that's all you really need to know about him. Even though he ended the season with only 3 goals and 6 assists his consistency on the pitch was immaculate. He had 73% pass completion which is unbelievable for a playmaker in such an advanced position on the pitch considering that as a default he has more risky passes as a PI. His overall contribution was great, so it was a shame when he suffered a torn hamstring and missed the semi-final and final in the Champions League as he certainly deserved a chance to play in those games YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Unfortunately nobody aged 21 or below was in the first team for any consistent length of time so I don’t have anybody to nominate for this honour CLUB DEVELOPMENT Finances – According to the club screen we are classified as Rich which is a far cry from where we were just 12 months ago. We cleared off the measly debt we had and should be comfortable for the next few years. My objective now will be to build up the balance as much as possible so that we can build a new stadium as we have been unable to manage this so far. In my opinion the lack of a quality stadium is the last obstacle standing in our way from turning this club into one of the elite Facilities – We managed to upgrade our youth recruitment which was very nice (about time!!). The training facilities got downgraded so we had to upgrade them again also. The expand stadium option is no longer there unfortunately so my only choice was to ask for a new stadium which was flat out refused because they 'don't see a need as our fanbase isn't big enough and it could be more trouble than its worth'. What a load of crap...we've been selling out practically every game. I thought by winning the Champions League that I could get a new stadium but I think I'll have to wait for them to decide to build one unfortunately so I want to make it as easy as possible for them...having a massive bank balance should help Youth Intake – Meh, I really hope that the upgraded youth recruitment can help this along Average League Attendance – 11068 Our stadium can only hold 11300 so for the board to come to the conclusion that we don't need a new stadium because we can't fill our old one it shows a total lack of not only business sense but common sense also. My hope is that the debt we had was somehow influencing the decision so that now it has been cleared and we are Rich that they feel more comfortable to build a new stadium (which I hope will be named after me...although there are 3 other people on the legends list) REPUTATION DEVELOPMENT League Reputation – Dizzy heights now!!...I'm hoping European progress made by Linfield isn't just a one-off and that the other teams can consistently make progress. They are going to need to in order for the league to move up the table much further than where it is now Club Domestic Reputation – 4* and Continental reputation...wonderful. If we can do well in the World Club Championship there is every chance we can gain Worldwide recognition which would be quite a jump from the National reputation we had at the start of the season. I really can't stand to see Glentoran stuck in the 2nd division, I may ask for them to become an affiliate and loan them the players to get out of the mire, it may not be of much use though as my youth players aren't interested in playing at that level which shows the severe distortion that our success has bought to N. Ireland Club European Reputation – Still not in the top 20 but if we look above only the very best teams still remain above us. We may have had success but we still aren't big enough of a club to realistically put ourselves in the same category as them CAREER OVERVIEW [table][tr][td]Season[/td][td]League[/td][td]Position[/td][td]Achievements[/td][/tr][tr][td]2036/2037[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]Domestic double, Europa League Winners and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2037/2038[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]Domestic treble, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2038/2039[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]Domestic treble, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2039/2040[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]Domestic treble, Finished 4th in UCL Group[/td][/tr][tr][td]2040/2041[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League and League Cup Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2041/2042[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2042/2043[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League and Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Reached Semi-Finals of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2043/2044[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2044/2045[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] ][tr][td]2045/2046[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Champions League Winners and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [/table] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northwood_dk Posted March 6, 2016 Share Posted March 6, 2016 Spend the afternoon reading thru the story from start to finish. Great read and ffantastic performance in the Champions League final. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 5, 2016 Author Share Posted April 5, 2016 Spend the afternoon reading thru the story from start to finish. Great read and fantastic performance in the Champions League final. Glad you enjoyed it, will be posting a new update today Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 5, 2016 Author Share Posted April 5, 2016 The Immaculate Conception Season 2046/2047 SEASON EXPECTATIONS Try to become Champions of the world and retain our European title THE SEASON League Table – We lost 4 times while tinkering with the tactic (6-1 loss to Cliftonville was one) but fairly comfortable overall FIFA Club World Championship – The semis were a breeze but the final was a nightmare. We started really well taking the lead through a penalty and were hardly troubled in the 1st half. We had however picked up 3 yellow cards so I decided to take off my left midfielder as he wasn't having a great game and I thought he might get sent off. I was hoping that my defensive midfielder who already has quite cautious tackling would be able to keep his head and see out the rest of the game without being booked. How did he repay that trust?...By slamming into the side of their attacking midfielder in the 46th minute putting us down to 10 men. To say I was displeased was an understatement and fined him after the game...it changed the whole game and forced us to adopt a counter attacking mentality. It seemed to work pretty well and we even had a one-on-one which could have killed the game off but the longer the half went on the more nervous we became...I thought that we could hold out...we couldn't and they duly equalized in the 83rd minute. At that point I thought we had thrown away our chance but surprisingly we were dogged and held on for penalties. Thankfully my goalkeeper was on form and saved a couple of penalties to give us the win...we sure made it hard on ourselves though UEFA Champions League – What an insipid and limp defense of our title this was. In a word...Pathetic...so bad in fact that we finished rock bottom of our group. I only have myself to blame though as I made a big blunder with the squad selection, I wasn't able to select any right midfielders (due to injury) meaning that I had to play a youth player which was never going to work. Incredibly disappointed with this season after the high of last season UEFA Super Cup – 2 attempts & 2 failures so far...3rd time lucky perhaps? Domestic Cups – Was a bit irked that Linfield prevented a clean sweep but overall satisfactory Reserves - They seem to have been turfed out of the U19 Champions League but not too bad overall U18s - First season in the U19 Champions League wasn't bad, domestically they were perfect THE PLAYERS Squad – I tried to strengthen and spent a fair bit of money in an attempt to retain the Champions League but it proved fruitless. The squad is aging so I've tried to inject a bit of youth into the squad which has been pretty successful. I also tried to balance the squad more as I was bereft of a defensively minded central midfielder and had a plethora of playmaker type players so I made a couple of signings to balance this out. Will try to introduce my youth players into the first team to develop them and help with the registration rules Transfers – Made a small profit which was pleasing, I may have overspent on Galimberti who is considered the next Paolo Rossi but I'm having difficulty acquiring quality players and he was the best available. Before the problem was that we didn't have the reputation to attract the quality needed...well now that has been fixed I have the new problem that the wage demands of the players that will come are astronomical...there is no way we can afford them so may have to resort to loans until we can significantly increase our income PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Lukas Juska – Average Rating : 8.41 Mr. Consistency puts in another great season of performances. He is a good age so could be a first choice for quite a few seasons to come. Wonderful player who may not assist bag loads but regularly 'bosses the midfield' which is all you can really ask for YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Corey Knowles – Average Rating : 7.46 For this youngster the world is truly his oyster. Especially pleasing that he comes from our youth system and could if he wants become a regular for the team and N. Ireland international regular (after getting his first cap at the end of the season). He is brave, uncompromising in the tackle and built like a tank while still being quick and agile. He could have a very bright future should he grasp it CLUB DEVELOPMENT Finances – Although healthier than it has been in a while you can see why we aren't able to consistently compete at the very top of the European game. We simply can't afford to and with the FFP being a consideration we can't afford to overreach in the hope we can make progress because if we don't we would be in a terrible state. I dread to think what kind of a mess we would have to deal with if we weren't able to play in the group stage of the Champions League for even one season. Although in the next section I have some good news which might help us to resolve this problem Facilities – AT LAST!!!...They're going to build a new stadium...Sure...it's not the biggest and will still be smaller than Windsor Park but it's all ours and has much better corporate facilities and undersoil heating (so bye to the plastic pitch!!...good riddance)...In other news we upgraded our training facilities to bring them back up to state of the art...now we wait for the stadium to be built and hope we can again upgrade the youth recruitment but I'm chuffed with that!!... Youth Intake – Considering the investment in this area when I see such a poor intake it's just so disappointing...I would have thought that I would at least get 1 prospect per season but it just isn't working out that way Average League Attendance – 10201 I was actually concerned that we might fall below the 90% average attendance and when I noticed that before my last home game of the season that the figure was 89% I was concerned that the new stadium might be scrapped but we sold out that final home game which pushed us back up to 90% REPUTATION DEVELOPMENT League Reputation – To be expected after a dismal European campaign. Linfield once again made the Europa League group stage which was nice but we lost a Champions League place after this season which isn't good Club Domestic Reputation – How Linfield and Cliftonville are only 0.5* behind me is a total mystery to me considering the massive gulf in the success of the teams. Coleraine have turned pro again after getting a huge cash injection so that will make for a more competitive league for sure Club European Reputation – Our coefficient went up but our overall position dropped by 2 which was a little surprising CAREER OVERVIEW [table][tr][td]Season[/td][td]League[/td][td]Position[/td][td]Achievements[/td][/tr][tr][td]2037/2038[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]Domestic treble, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2038/2039[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]Domestic treble, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2039/2040[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]Domestic treble, Finished 4th in UCL Group[/td][/tr][tr][td]2040/2041[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League and League Cup Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2041/2042[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2042/2043[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League and Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Reached Semi-Finals of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2043/2044[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2044/2045[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2045/2046[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Champions League Winners and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2046/2047[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield, Irish Cup & Club World Championship Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][/table] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 5, 2016 Author Share Posted April 5, 2016 The Immaculate Conception Season 2046/2047 SEASON EXPECTATIONS During this period we had the Caribbean Championship (officially known as the Caribbean Cup) so it would be nice to get a victory in that and wrestle back domination of the tournament from Trinidad & Tobago who have won it the last couple of times it has been played in the game although Jamaica holds the most titles overall with 17 wins compared to T&T's 12 victories. I also have a couple of friendlies against decent-ish sides (Cuba and Venezuela) which I'd like to win in preparation for the Gold Cup next season THE SEASON Fixtures Part 1 - Oh hell!!...I had to experiment in the final didn't I...I couldn't resist it...Seeing as I knew that T&T would be much stiffer competition than the rest of the teams I faced I decided to go less attacking which quite simply didn't work and they taught us a good lesson that we won't soon forget. Thankfully it's a biennial tournament so I'll get another shot at it before (hopefully) I go to the World Cup in 2050 which is my only objective with the Reggae Boys. Perusing some of the teams in my section that I'll have to overcome to qualify is daunting though...Mexico, USA, Costa Rica are all filled with quality players who ply their trade in top leagues...at least I can take some solace in the fact that it has been done twice before in 2026 and 2038 so we are overdue ...I wasn't in charge for the first 2 games but I was pleased to grab a win against Cuba. Fixtures Part 2 - Not much to report here with routine wins against the US VI and Martinique. I was however ecstatic to get a narrow win against a quality Venezuela team which gives me some encouragement that we can pull off a result against what many would consider vastly better players. We are going to need to learn how to play as the underdog quickly as we are going to need that skill to have any chance of making the 2050 World Cup in Brazil. For those that are interested, the 2022 World Cup was taken away from Qatar and given to Canada (slightly odd choice but they hosted the Women's World Cup so not so unexpected)...what was strange though was that they liked it so much there that they hosted the next World Cup in 2026 in Canada too...I'm pretty sure that's not supposed to happen!!... THE PLAYERS National Team - Not the best to be fair...Stoke midfielder Da Costa is the star by far and we have a few decent players in and around the squad but our central midfield is concerning me greatly and our lack of quality strikers outside of McCammon who is decent is concerning as if he gets injured we haven't got any real quality upfront. I'm hoping that by giving the young players some caps that a bigger club might come in for those players so that they can develop a bit in a better environment with good facilities but that might just be wishful thinking. I'm still not in a position to be able to help the national team from Immaculata as my youth recruitment still isn't up to scratch as I need to rise another 2 levels to max it out. I might fire my HoYD for a Jamaican nationality one in the hope that he might be able to bring in some dual nationality Jamaican players that I can train myself but then again the player might decide if he's of decent quality to play for N. Ireland so it's not a guaranteed solution. Maybe I can try getting a feeder club in Jamaica but then again I'm not entirely convinced that would help much either. Without being able to directly influence the quality of players coming through I feel this is going to make this a real challenge without question NEXT SEASON PLANS We have the Gold Cup which will be a good opportunity for us to measure ourselves up against our main competitors for World Cup qualification. If we can do well there then it would give us great momentum going into the 3rd qualifying round of North American qualifiers which is straight knockout. The winners of those ties get drawn into 3 groups of 4 where the top 2 qualify for the 'hex' which is the 5th round that consists of a round robin between the 6 teams competing. Top 3 of the hex qualify for the World Cup with 4th going into the playoff against an AFC team. If I can be better than 2 teams in the 'hex' I'll have a chance at the playoff or better so that has to be my objective (provided we can get to that stage which is not guaranteed) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 7, 2016 Author Share Posted April 7, 2016 The Immaculate Conception Season 2047/2048 SEASON EXPECTATIONS Do better in Europe than last years debacle and try to get the illusive perfect domestic season THE SEASON League Table – We won it comfortably but I can't see us ever getting the perfect season due to the horrendous fixture congestion we have to endure. We also have to deal with the propensity of the league fixture schedulers to cluster the hardest fixtures together around vitally important European fixtures making me have to face the better teams with under strength sides UEFA Champions League – This was a lot better than last season, we even had hopes of making the knockout rounds on matchday 6. All we had to do was win against Dynamo Kiev and hope that PSG couldn't win against the group whipping boys Malmo. Well...they drew which was a great shock but we threw away the opportunity and lost which was assisted by losing Sovina to a red card in the first half which made the task practically impossible, perhaps if we had a slightly stronger 4th seeded team to take points off the other teams we might have been able to qualify but instead we had to settle for the Europa League knockouts UEFA Europa League – When we drew Arsenal in the 1st knockout round I was fully expecting to get knocked out straight away. As a consequence I decided to change the mentality of the tactic and played counter throughout the games in the competition. To my surprise it proved really effective and we pulled off a miraculous win at home to the Gunners. In the second leg I kept things the same and fully expected them to beat us...which they did but we scored twice putting us through on away goals which pleased me greatly. The Borussia MGB tie proved to be very similar with us getting through on the away goals rule. In the end Inter proved a step too far but overall I feel we performed well, especially when you consider that we were playing a youth central defence owing to injuries and the lack of ability to add more than 3 players at the squad registration at the end of the January transfer window Domestic Cups – I'm somewhat disappointed not to do the clean sweep here. The Irish Cup draws were very kind up until we had to play Cliftonville in the semi finals on the Saturday after having played Inter on the Thursday, as a result I was forced to play a weakened side which led to our narrow loss Reserves – Pretty poor by their standards but they were weakened as I loaned out a number of players U18s - Like the Reserves I decided to loan out quite a few players to aid their development which led to the weakened side performing below par THE PLAYERS Squad – Overall we are pretty strong, with the acquisition of Guven and Vojvodic on a free transfer being particularly pleasing. Glaringly obvious are the weaknesses through the centre of defence and defensive midfield, top clubs kept putting in offers and unsettled the best players we had in those positions and they will need to be replaced in the summer transfer window. I will be seeking a new central defender, a defensive midielder and a central midfielder to replace Nouble who leaves the club on a Bosman to Everton Transfers – All the outs which are not shown were youth players whose contracts expired. We made a nice healthy profit on transfers and I was very pleased with my transfer dealings. I tried to sign some Jamaicans to send them out on loan to help with the national side which seems to be yielding some success. I also signed an affiliation with Bohemians in Ireland so that I can get work permits for players as a result I may add the Irish leagues to my game so that they can play games and develop better. I am slightly annoyed however that clubs seem to be getting my players on the cheap, I sold Knowles for £1.9M to Chelsea + clauses and he is now valued at £7.25M which is impressive for a 19 year old Northern Irish player PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Lukas Juska – Average Rating : 8.24 The guy rarely has a bad game and even though he is only listed as an icon on the club screen, to me he is a legend without any shadow of a doubt. If I can find a young upstart with great potential I'll try to get him to tutor them as if he could rub off his level of consistency on them we would have one great player on our hands YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Karim Aarab – Average Rating : 8.37 He came in on loan and was absolutely magnificent and fully deserves the label of being the next Eden Hazard. He may not be considered a wonderkid but surely he can't be that far off and with some development could be really great, I was hoping to extend his loan for another season but his team want to give him a chance in the first team and to be honest, I can't blame them...he has every chance of being one of the greats and will do wonders for a team like Zulte Waregem CLUB DEVELOPMENT Finances – This is why we need the new stadium as quickly as we can get it, we are missing out on so much income and I know that we could probably sell out our ground in the champions league maybe 2 or 3 times over. In a season when we made huge profit from our transfer dealings, made the QF of the Europa League we ended up with a huge loss, so huge in fact that we were failing the FFP at the point the screenshot was taken. Seeing this I decided to sell some of the clauses for my players which bought in around £9M, additionally the board decided to pump in £6M which gave us a balance of around £16M. We thankfully then passed the FFP meaning we can play in Europe next season, I dread to think what would have happened had we failed and didn't have those clauses to bring us back into compliance. Gladly, I managed to hold on to some of the more lucrative transfer clauses such as the Persson one where I have a 20% profit clause on a player I sold for £9M to Bayern Munich who is now valued at £24.5M, so should I need it that money is available to me Facilities – One more season and we get the keys to our brand spanking new stadium which will be a massive step forward for us in securing the long term future of the club. The youth facilities downgraded so once the FFP was passed I asked for them to be upgraded to max them out once again which the board duly obliged to. We still can't upgrade our youth recruitment which is probably holding us back from getting any real quality players from outside Northern Ireland, we need to be able cast a wider net to improve our chances of finding the stars of tomorrow, I'm not sure what is really holding this back and what I can do to make the option in the board request screen available...is it a money issue? Youth Intake – My first intake under my new Jamaican HoYD and what do I get...well...maybe one player who could in the future be decent......For all the investment I've made to only have produced ONE (Knowles) really quality prospect...it's so disheartening Average League Attendance – 10598 Can't wait to get into the new stadium...we have been waiting quite some time. In other news, in what must be considered a bug I've found that when I play games in 3D and look at our home stadium (Olympia) it appears to have reverted back to it's original size (300 capacity). Although the attendance is what it should be I'm unsure what is happening here as it wasn't doing that before the new stadium was announced but I'm hoping that when I move into my new stadium it will be something that I won't have to concern myself with REPUTATION DEVELOPMENT League Reputation – We're slipping, we're falling, we can't get up but we've got to get on our feet so we can catch this up. We slip in the rankings yet again meaning I have to face the ignominy of starting in the 2nd round qualifiers of the Champions League again unless I can win a European trophy next season. It's crazy to think that only two seasons ago we had two spots in the Champions League and how quickly things have deteriorated. Cliftonville made the group stage of the Europa League and Linfield did that for the last 2 seasons before that so the other teams are putting in a better showing but it's still not enough to arrest the slide Club Domestic Reputation – I feel we are being capped by the standard of league meaning to get beyond 4* isn't going to happen unless I consistently win the Champions League Club European Reputation – The rate of our descent seems to have increased, we need a big season in Europe next season to sort this out and reverse the decline CAREER OVERVIEW [table][tr][td]Season[/td][td]League[/td][td]Position[/td][td]Achievements[/td][/tr][tr][td]2038/2039[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]Domestic treble, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2039/2040[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]Domestic treble, Finished 4th in UCL Group[/td][/tr][tr][td]2040/2041[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League and League Cup Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2041/2042[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2042/2043[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League and Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Reached Semi-Finals of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2043/2044[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2044/2045[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2045/2046[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Champions League Winners and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2046/2047[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield, Irish Cup & Club World Championship Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2047/2048[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield & League Cup Winners, Reached Quarter Finals of Europa League and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][/table] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 8, 2016 Author Share Posted April 8, 2016 The Immaculate Conception Season 2047/2048 SEASON EXPECTATIONS Try to do our best in the Gold Cup and at the least qualify from our group, anything beyond that would be considered beyond expectations. I also know that I'm likely to face one of the big 2 at the tournament (USA or Mexico) so the objective against them would be to keep the scoreline respectable and try to pull off a shock. As the World Cup qualifiers start during this period, the aim has to be to get through the 3rd Qualifying Round and put ourselves in as strong a position as possible in the group stage of the 4th Qualifying Round so we can have a chance at making the 'hex' THE SEASON Fixtures Part 1 – I have to say that I'm relatively satisfied with our performances in the Gold Cup. We started well with an unexpectedly comfortable win against Canada which was our main competitor for the runners up spot in the group. We then followed that up with a fantastically entertaining 5-3 loss to Mexico. The scoreline in truth probably flattered Mexico and it was only late in the game when they were able to put the game to bed. I was thrilled that we managed to score 3 times against them and gives me encouragement that if we can be a bit more solid at the back we might just be able to pull off a result against them at some point. The final game of the group against Nicaragua was practically a dead rubber game and we performed well to give them a resounding 5-0 trashing which sent them home with no points and the worst goal difference of all the teams competing in the tournament. The Quarter Final draw was rather unkind pitting us up against what would be the eventual winners of the trophy when we could have drawn T&T or Costa Rica which would have been far more competitive I feel. We gave it our best shot and we actually took the lead after 10 minutes, I was so shocked that I kind of froze and kept us on the Control mentality that we started the game with which was really a mistake on my part. They then equalized 8 minutes later, took the lead just before half time and scored a penalty in the 66th minute to comfortably win the game. I perhaps should have reacted once we took the lead and switched the mentality down to Counter which may have helped us to hold on to the lead a little bit longer but I've learned a great deal from the game as I now know that I can score against this sort of opposition and have a plan if I should take the lead against them. I think my experiences in the Europa League of using the Counter mentality should show me that it can be very effective when playing against higher quality opposition. After the Gold Cup we had a couple of cannon fodder friendlies and then the draw for the 3rd Round Qualifiers. We drew Nicaragua!!...Where the Gold Cup draw was unkind the 3rd Round draw was very agreeable. I had no doubt that we were going to win that tie comfortably and so it proved with an emphatic 9-0 trouncing of them on aggregate. Seeing the ease with which we progressed I then thought that as way for the game to get back at me the 4th round group draw was going to be very hard. After all we could draw any number of teams outside the Big 2 of great quality so I treated it with a degree of foreboding. Thankfully, I needn't have been as concerned as we drew the US, Canada and Barbados. Barbados should be an easy 6 points and the key to the group would be how we fared against Canada. If I could get anything out of the US that would be great but not essential to our progression from the group. I was rather pleased with the draw as the other groups were: Group A with Honduras, Mexico, T&T and Guatemala Group C with Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador and Haiti Had I been drawn into either of those I think I would have had a much tougher challenge to finish 2nd. Another bonus is that I know that at least 2 other quality sides aren't going to make it to the 'hex' so I went into the group in buoyant mood. The first game against the US was a throwaway game and the toughest we would face. I didn't harbour much hope of us getting a result and in the end I was happy with only losing by the 2-0 margin. The next game as I saw it would be the key to the whole group. If we could grab a win we would be in a great position and it would take a lot of the pressure off our trip to Canada in the spring. My players sensed the importance of the game and came out of the dressing room fired up and raring to go. We then went on to systematically dismantle Canada within 22 minutes racing to a magnificent 3-0 lead. After that the rest of the game was practically a formality and we ended up with a 4-2 win which put us in a great position. Fixtures Part 2 - It was Barbados at home next and we duly dispatched them to move up to 2nd and into a qualifying position. Even though we had beaten Canada so convincingly at home I knew that it would count for nothing if we put in a poor performance away and lost by more than a two goal margin. I needn't have worried and we should have probably beaten them after having raced into a 2-0 lead but two headed goals from corners from them spared their blushes and the game ended 2-2. As a result we are 2nd and 3 points clear of them with a +5 goal difference on them with the US to play at home and Barbados to play against away. Barring a miracle from them leading to them beating the US I think it's fair to say that we will be playing in the 'hex' in this qualifying campaign. THE PLAYERS National Team - We're getting there and already I can see the team is far stronger than last year. I have been trying to pull a little skullduggery here and there by trying to convince some dual nationality Jamaicans into the national team which has worked for a couple of players but failed for others. I'll keep trying though and maybe when they see that they have gotten to 23/24 years old and still haven't been capped by England they might start to think a little differently and accept a call-up rather than keep rejecting my advances. The spine of the side is still somewhat worrying though and I have already had to talk to Foster twice about him reconsidering his retirement, thankfully it has worked as he captains the side and has scored a number of important goals throughout the qualifying campaign (each time scoring a brace against Canada home and away). We could do with a solid central defender or two along with a quality central midfielder as we are severely lacking in that department. NEXT SEASON PLANS Next season should bring us through to the 'hex' where the real fun starts and I think we will be competing in another Caribbean Cup and Gold Cup. We won't be able to know whether we will be making the World Cup at the end of next season but we should have a very good indication whether we have a chance. Panama looks like they might make the 'hex' so that's good as I feel we might be able to beat them twice, the other likely qualifiers are Costa Rica, USA, Mexico and Honduras. If I want to make the playoff, somehow I have to figure out a way to be better than at least one of those other teams. It's going to be interesting and challenging times ahead but that's why I took the job I suppose Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 8, 2016 Author Share Posted April 8, 2016 Tactics: After noticing the diminishing performances of the team I felt that it was time to once again evolve the tactic especially now that I have to take into consideration using the tactic for Jamaica. The main issues I had with the tactic were that when teams parked the bus against us we found it very difficult to break them down even with the attacking mentality and if we went behind to them we could practically guarantee we were going to lose the game as our ability to score goals was inconsistent and players would become frustrated easily. When we had the luxury of scoring first we usually went on to defend the lead well but we can't depend on that and must develop a knack for turning games around. I also noticed a lot of issues when we came up against stronger sides which would dominate us throughout the game and my attacking potency would be blunted as my strikers would practically be feeding on scraps for the vast majority of the game making some of my best players practically irrelevant. The high defensive line of the attacking mentality in combination with the high press would often lead to players being caught well out of position for no real attacking benefit for the most part which led to many situations where we would be getting countered by the bigger team which is a big 'no no' when you have less capable players. Therefore I decided to change the tactic to the one below: Here are some of the features of the new tactic: 1) Mentality has been changed from Attacking to Control After reading about what others have written about the different mentalities I've come to the realization that Attacking isn't going to be a mentality that I should start games with and should be used sparingly and in very specific circumstances. I can see it being useful in situations where the opposition has gone ultra attacking against me and I want to compress the time and space they have on the ball and where I feel that having extra players forward might be effective as they are likely to have time and space in dangerous positions as the opposition has largely abandoned their defensive responsibilities but I know that will only occur in a small amount of cases. I feel starting games which I feel my team can have a go in with the control mentality is just about right. It allows us to have a degree of adventure which I feel is needed to score goals whilst not overly compromising our defensive stability. I chose not to switch back to Standard as I've come to realize what the mentality truly represents, it's an 'on the fence' type attitude to the game which for me gives the initiative for the game to the opposition from the start. I want to impose my game on the opposition from the start, not wait and see how it goes and react accordingly which could just be asking for trouble especially when you factor in how difficult we find it to turn games around with our shape. I also have decided that I will be a lot more flexible when it comes to how I use my mentalities but for the majority of games I'll be starting with control. If I'm coming against much stronger opposition however I'll switch down to Counter and play a more cautious game to take into account that I'm likely to be facing a team with better players who wish to attack me, therefore being defensively solid takes greater priority if we are to remain in the game. 2) Changed my left flank from a Complete Wing Back (Attack) behind a Wide Midfielder (Support) to a Wing Back (Attack) behind a Wide Midfielder (Attack) which has the cut inside and sit narrower PI My reasoning for this is that I don't really want my LB to be roaming around the place and feeling the need to dribble with the ball from my defensive third up the pitch and playing themselves into trouble. I also don't particularly like the 'Stay Wider' component of the role as I feel it can detract from the defensive stability that I'm seeking and leaves too big a gap between my LCB and my LB. I do however still want to stretch the pitch on the left flank as well as the right flank so having a player that gets forward later on in moves and puts in dangerous crosses is what I can get from the role. I decided to give the Wide Midfielder an Attack duty as I want him driving from the midfield and getting close enough to my Advanced Forward to provide consistent support while creating space for my wing back to operate in as he seeks to draw the opposition right back inward creating space for my wingback to overlap and attack. 3) Changed my right flank from a Full back (Attack) behind a Winger (Attack) to a Full back (Support) behind a Winger (Attack) As I decided to be more aggressive on my left flank I needed to be more conservative on my right flank in order to provide a balance. I think this achieves that aim whilst still creating some 2 vs 1 situations on the right flank when the opposition only plays with one player on the left flank. 4) Changed my Ball Winning Midfielder (Support) to a Deep Lying Playmaker (Support) This was done for a number of reasons. Firstly, I don't have a really good ball winner in my side making the utilization of the role rather pointless. Secondly, I've come to see the ball winner as being too aggressive and he would often get pulled out of position making the job of my holding midfielder that much more difficult considering he would often be tasked with taking care of more than one player. Thirdly, I had an overabundance of quality playmakers in my midfield and I was wasting their ability by forcing them to play a role which didn't suit them. Lastly, I think that playing the Deep Lying Playmaker gives me a creative pivot in the middle third of the pitch which I lacked with too much responsibility being on my Wide Midfielder to provide the creative input from deep which didn't suit the attributes of my LM players. 5) Changed my Central Midfielder (Defend) to a Defensive Midfielder (Defend) and pushed the player from CM to DM while giving the 'Mark Tighter' PI Of all the changes I've made I believe this one has had the most impact in resolving some of the issues I highlighted earlier. I needed a shield for my central defence and while having the player in the CM was okay it left an area of the pitch which is most important when defending practically unguarded meaning that my central defenders would constantly have to concern themselves with dealing with opposition players in the AMC position or even players that would attack that space leaving them vulnerable especially to counter attacks. I have positioned the player offset to the left to offer added security for my left flank which is very attacking. The 'Mark Tighter' PI was added so that he would constantly harass any attacking midfielders in the zone as the most important factors influencing how a player performs in that zone is time and space to pick out passes so I want to deny them that whenever possible. I also made the change as I found it very difficult to find quality defensively minded players that played in the CM position where as there is an absolute glut of top quality defensively minded players who play in the DM position. The role has also provided me with another pivot in the defensive third so my defenders all should have an easier time picking a player out to start attacks 6) Retained the Advanced Playmaker (Attack) role Saw no reason to change this. I had toyed with the idea of putting the player on support but thought against it as I would be losing a lot of attacking threat while reducing the number of players I had making runs into the box which isn't great when you have wingers and wing backs needing targets to find with their crosses 7) Kept team shape as Flexible Being more Structured wouldn't make sense as my formation is relatively flat and I need movement between lines and to reduce isolation of my players. My players also aren't the best in the world individually so that wouldn't have been useful. Going more Fluid also wouldn't help me as I don't want players who are clearly not capable (such as defenders) feeling the need be creative and play hollywood passes all over the park which inevitably would lead to a lot of misplaced passes. 8) Retained the PI 'Fewer Risky Passes' to my LB and RB They have the job to get forward and support attacks and not be playmakers I think this helps establish that notion The coming season will be the first full season adopting all aspects of the tactic so it will be interesting to see how it performs Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 11, 2016 Author Share Posted April 11, 2016 The Immaculate Conception Season 2048/2049 SEASON EXPECTATIONS Improve in Europe so that the damage to the league reputation can begin to be mended and aim for a clean sweep and perfect season domestically THE SEASON League Table – While it was nice to see a big fat 0 in the L column we drew over a quarter of all the games so it wasn't the best of undefeated seasons UEFA Champions League – Unlike many seasons before I felt we were very unlucky not to make the knockout stages after finishing the group with an impressive 8 points and a winning head to head record against both Schalke 04 and Shaktar Donetsk. We held 2nd going into the final matchday but it was always going to be difficult to pick up a result at Anfield whilst Schalke had the relatively easy task of beating Shaktar at home to overtake us which they did. I feel the damage was done at home to Shaktar for us, had we been able to hold on to our lead we probably would have gone through but it was another valuable learning experience UEFA Europa League – This was a wonderful run and a great consolation after missing out on the Champions League knockout stages. We started against CSKA Moscow where I decided to play Counter throughout both ties which gave us a nice 4-3 victory on aggregate. Next up was PSV, this proved to be quite an interesting tie. The first leg was a bit of a roller coaster, I started with the Counter mentality and within the first 30 minutes they were 2-0 up. I was stunned and thought that our run was over but then just before half time one of their players got a red card after a wreckless tackle in the centre of the park. Seeing this, in the second half I decided to play the Control mentality knowing that they most likely were going to try and hold what they had. That proved to to be their undoing as we stormed back and scored 3 to hold a narrow lead going into the 2nd leg. Knowing that the onus was going to be on them to score in the 2nd leg I decided to play the Counter mentality and it worked like a charm giving us a narrow 2-1 win in the Philips Stadion too. Now we are into the quarters where we failed last year, this time the opposition would be Borussia Dortmund. They are far stronger than us so I decided for both ties to play Counter regardless of the situation in the game (unless a player was sent off). We managed a 0-0 in Signal Iduna Park which I thought was impressive but was disappointed to not get any away goals. 2nd leg at home we race to a 3-0 lead within 30 minutes, I kick my feet up and coast to the final whistle, when they score in the 76th minute it's too little, too late. For the semi-final draw I was a bit confused as to how to feel about it. I was happy in a way to get the weakest team left in the draw (the others being Valencia and Arsenal) but then I was slightly disappointed as I felt it could have been better to have drawn the hardest team in Arsenal as I had beaten them over 2 legs before. Having the draw this way meant that I would have to beat either Valencia or Arsenal in a one off tie which I felt would have been extremely difficult. The Semi Final was a fairly close affair. I felt we could have a go against Fenerbache so started with the Control mentality. When they scored in the 19th minute you could have forgiven me for thinking I made an error but I stuck with it as we were playing well and they scored from their only opportunity after a mistake from one of my defenders. We managed to turn it around and gained the lead in the 88th minute which was promptly followed with a switch down to Counter. The tie was on a knife-edge and could swing either way so I decided to go to Turkey and play the Counter mentality. They scored right before half time which threw out that plan and I decided to start the 2nd half with the Control mentality. It worked as we scored in the 67th minute to equalize. Not wanting to risk extra time I then once again switched down to Counter which worked well as even though they tried their best to attack us they couldn't break through so off to Spain we went to play in the final against Arsenal. I felt to have any chance in a one-off tie against Arsenal we were going to need to be solid at the back and try to catch them out on the counter as they committed men forward to attack us. Therefore I started the game with the Counter mentality, it didn't really work out unfortunately and they had the lead within 10 minutes. I didn't want to change the mentality as they had pace to burn up front and playing a higher line and adopting a higher press would have almost been suicidal so I stuck to the gameplan. We had a few chances to equalize but they effectively killed off the game with a goal just after half time. We had a goal disallowed late on which might have offered us a glimmer of hope and way back but overall we were never really in the game enough to get a result and Arsenal deserved to win. It was a shame to miss out and not have another go at the UEFA Super Cup but I was happy enough with our appearance in the final after a couple of disappointing seasons in Europe Domestic Cups – The clean sweep was wrenched away pretty early with a semi final loss to Cliftonville but overall a satisfactory domestic cup season especially given some of our large victories and 5-0 win in the Irish Cup Final (which to be fair could have been more if we were bothered and not thinking about the Europa League final) Reserves – They almost won it all but fell at the semi final stage of the Intermediate Cup U18s - I know they may be weakened but this was an abysmal season with the only saving grace being they won the league THE PLAYERS Squad – I was determined to strengthen us which I felt was done well. Some of the wages are a bit high but this is the type of squad we are going to need to compete in Europe. I went into the loan market to keep costs down which worked out well also. I will be looking to replace the players who will finish their loans and look for a goalkeeper. The next season may be a season of high value outgoings with a number of my players having interested clubs so I will need to replace anybody who ends up leaving as I still don't think we are in a position where we can turn down big money offers Transfers – I was very happy to bring in the loans I did as Knowles was a former player who counts as home grown and is considered a wonderkid, Marcucci is also considered a wonderkid so I was delighted to be able to have 2 great players at the club. I'm still seeking to buy Jamaicans and loan them out which has been helpful with my international career. Once again we made a very nice profit with our transfer dealings which is very pleasing and has become rather essential to keep our money situation in check. I was delighted to get £12.25M for the 28 year old Vojvodic while Hadzic was complaining so £4.5M from Napoli was very welcome. I felt the squad needed some experience which I bought in with Riso, Svendsen, Haustrels and Saidi which may be on large wages but offer us balance to counter all the young loanees we had PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Serdal Guven – Average Rating : 8.05 He is a world class winger that I got for free which makes this all the sweeter when you look at his attributes and value. I may struggle to hold on to him as Spurs are interested and he has a release clause of £14.2M in his contract but his contribution has been nothing short of outstanding this season YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Gabriele Marcucci – Average Rating : 8.27 The wonderkid won Danske Bank Premier Player of the year which was richly deserved. He assisted 28 times throughout the season which is extraordinary when you consider his attributes aren't that special (his passing and technique are only 12) but he has been ruthlessly efficient which is probably why he has such great stats. His parent club AS Roma want to give him a chance in the 1st team so we will be losing him next season, I feel that given enough development he could probably reach a standard close to that of Andrea Pirlo in his prime which no doubt will delight his parent club. I hope in the future he recalls his great season with us and that maybe one day he'll return CLUB DEVELOPMENT Finances – Again the board had to pump in £6M to keep us from falling foul of the FFP rules, although strangely we seem to failing by -£10M or so over the period before the decision is made but then miraculously on the day of the decision we have a +£30M over the period so I'm either not understanding the rules or we aren't really failing when it says we are. I hope that now we have our new stadium we can fill it so that I can start pestering the board for expansions. We might be getting a huge windfall next season from transfer fees and players leaving which will be great as it will give us a nice balance to play with putting all our financial concerns behind us. Facilities – There we go....we've come home. Finally we have good corporate facilities instead of basic which will make those Champions League nights much more lucrative. I feel the grass surface and undersoil heating will also help our passing game which should make life a lot harder for teams that want to park the bus against us and pump long balls all game up the pitch. I am a little disappointed that the potential expansion capacity is only 34,550 however as I feel we could expand to that rather quickly (within 5 seasons maybe) and then we would be left to wait another 15 years before we have a chance at another new stadium. However, now that the expand stadium option is back I'll be trying for that as I want to have the biggest stadium in Northern Ireland as soon as we can. Our training facilities once again downgraded so I upgraded those again. I'm still waiting for the opportunity to upgrade our youth recruitment which is taking its sweet time it seems. Youth Intake – Maybe one can be decent but other than that...garbage. The youth recruitment is really hurting us here as the players are coming from N. Ireland only which can't be expected to produce more than one or two superstars per generation. I feel that if we get to upgrade to the next stage of youth recruitment we probably will be able to get players from the continent and then the next stage after that the world, I'm hoping once we have a nice big bank balance and are considered 'Rich' that the option will become available Average League Attendance – 10754 I'll be interested to see what our league attendances are like and how many season tickets we can sell. Linfield sold the most season tickets this season with 4380 while we sold only 1822 which was only marginally more than 3rd placed Cliftonville which sold 1804. I'd like to significantly close that gap in ST sales if possible. I'm hoping we can sell out the majority of our games but I know that I'm going to come up against teams with very small fanbases in the league which may well skew the average negatively, I'd be happy to make the average attendance of 90% to be honest but hope that I can still expand even if we don't REPUTATION DEVELOPMENT League Reputation – What a difference a good season for us in Europe can make. We are right back up into the teens and have regained entering teams at later qualifying rounds in the Europa League from next season. This has all been done with no help from any of the other teams in N. Ireland as none did well this season. Hopefully we can do well next season (hopefully with a little help from Cliftonville, Coleraine and Ballymena United) and regain our 2nd Champions League spot. Linfield need to shape up though as they missed out on Europe all together Club Domestic Reputation – I don't think this is going to change an awful lot until we can start winning the Champions League regularly Club European Reputation – More than happy to be in the top 20 PREVIOUS 10 SEASONS CAREER OVERVIEW [table][tr][td]Season[/td][td]League[/td][td]Position[/td][td]Achievements[/td][/tr][tr][td]2039/2040[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]Domestic treble, Finished 4th in UCL Group[/td][/tr][tr][td]2040/2041[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League and League Cup Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2041/2042[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2042/2043[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League and Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Reached Semi-Finals of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2043/2044[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2044/2045[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2045/2046[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Champions League Winners and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2046/2047[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield, Irish Cup & Club World Championship Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2047/2048[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield & League Cup Winners, Reached Quarter Finals of Europa League and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2048/2049[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup & Irish Cup Winners, Reached Final of Europa League and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [/table] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 11, 2016 Author Share Posted April 11, 2016 The Immaculate Conception Season 2048/2049 SEASON EXPECTATIONS We started the season with the final 2 games of the North American 4th Qualifying Round. We were in a strong position to finish 2nd so we wanted to confirm our place in the 'hex' and start that well also. It wouldn't hurt to 'right' the 'wrong' either and win the Caribbean Cup against what would most likely be T&T. The Gold Cup starts after the season end so I haven't included it in the write up although I'd like to do well in that tournament also considering it may be the last time I compete in it THE SEASON Fixtures Part 1 – I have got to say that this has been a wonderful period in my Jamaican national team career. To not lose one game for an entire year has been nothing short of brilliant. We started with a game at Independence Park against the USA. I decided to play the game on the Counter mentality which really stifled them as they struggled to break us down. 88th minute comes around and I'm content just to see out the draw which was what I was hoping for. We put a cross in from the right their defender tries to intercept it, he makes a terrible contact with it and the ball goes into the USA goal. We win the game and book our place in the 'hex'. The fact that we won the game is practically irrelevant, what really made me happy was that our performance was magnificent. We defended resolutely and showed an iron will to keep them out while still offering a threat to them upfront, if we can perform like that in the 'hex' I feel we'll have a great chance of qualifying for the World Cup. With our place secure I decided to put a reserve side out to play Barbados who we beat narrowly to finish the group level on points with the USA who drew with Canada. The fact that they only were above us thanks to goal difference gave us a tremendous boost going into the Caribbean Cup. The 2nd Round of the Caribbean Cup was practically a procession as we won every game followed by an easy friendly victory against St. Kitts and Nevis. Then the real challenge started as we opened our 'hex' campaign (which incidentally Panama didn't make after a collapse). First up, a home game against Costa Rica. They are a good side but I want to start the group strong so start with the Control mentality. We start brilliantly and score after 4 minutes through Baldwin. We don't hold the lead for long though and they equalize after 7 minutes. The rest of the game plays out rather uneventfully with them marginally on top but a draw in our first game of the 'hex' is a good sign. Then it's time to go to the USA and play them. In what at the time I considered one of the hardest games of the group. I therefore decide to play the Counter mentality. We score within 10 minutes to gain a shock lead. Now I realize that if we are going to win this game it isn't going to be like the last time we played them when we scored really late giving them no real opportunity to come back. In this game we are going to have to defend a lead for a large proportion of the game. Somehow we manage it and we win in America. A wonderful result which deals a significant psychological blow to one of our main rivals for the top 4. 4 points after two games of the 'hex' is more than I could have asked for and makes me optimistic that we might just be able qualify automatically. After the high of the 'hex' came the relatively straightforward 3rd Round of the Caribbean Cup which resulted in 3 wins and no goals conceded. The final as expected was against T&T where I decided that we were going to play a Control mentality against. We took the lead in the 19th minute to which they responded by equalizing shortly after in the 23rd minute. We then scored another 2 in the first half to hold a 3-1 lead at half time and added another in the 69th to win the Cup. I'm happy to win the Caribbean Cup (which may be the only silverware I win with Jamaica) and I was especially pleased to gain our revenge against T&T in such an emphatic manner Fixtures Part 2 - The four results you can see have made me turn the dream of qualifying automatically for the World Cup from a pipe dream into what is increasingly becoming a likely outcome as it leaves us in a great position with 3 home games to play out of our final 4. The first game against Honduras away was incredibly dangerous and as a result I decided on the Counter mentality. We took the lead in the the 15th minute through Foster to which they replied with an equalizer in the 28th minute. I would have been satisfied with the draw but then Foster scored again and gave us the lead in the 61st minute which we hold for the rest of the game. Great result which shows just how important Foster is in the team and how happy I am that I was able to convince him not to retire from international football. Next up was El Salvador at home. I felt we could be a bit more adventurous against them so start the game under Control. We take the lead in the 41st minute and have a narrow 1-0 lead at half time. At this point I switch down to Counter as they need to score where as we need to be more solid defensively. It works and we end up with another win giving us an astonishing 10 points after 4 games putting us clear in 2nd place behind Mexico. The next two games however are much more difficult. Away to Costa Rica and Mexico. We go to Costa Rica with the Counter mentality which was working until they scored just before half time. We stick with the plan and the game plays on and on without anything happening. 80th minute rolls around and I decide that we might as well go for it and I switch to Overload and try to rescue a point which could be vital in the final reckoning. It doesn't appear to be working and they nearly kill off the game more than once. Then I think that all hope is lost as we get a final highlight. I think that it's the final whistle highlight so don't expect anything. A cross is then whipped in from the left flank into their box. It is of great quality and confuses the defence, it is then met on the volley by Flemmings who puts it into an unguarded net. We score in the 94th minute to rescue a point and move onto 11 points. I think when we look back that this result against one of the main rivals for automatic qualification may be the turning point. We then go to Mexico and the enormous and imposing Stadio Azteca where we have to play against the best team in North America in front of over 100,000 people. I went counter but it was not to avail as they gave us a sound beating with Sanchez scoring 4 against us. We weren't helped by the massive injury list we collected by that point but they were just too strong and if we are going to do well in the Gold Cup I feel that at some point we are going to have to beat them which if this result is anything to go by is going to be nigh on impossible. However, this is how the 'hex' stands after 6 games. If you had offered me that scenario of being 3 points clear of 4th place and the playoff, having to play the 2 weakest teams of the group in the final 4 games with a game against the USA at home who we we have beaten the last two times we have played them, I would have taken that gladly. A win and a draw out of the last 4 games would probably qualify us I feel so we should aim for that if possible THE PLAYERS National Team - We are stronger as I managed to convince my player McBride to accept a call up. Unfortunately, the central midfield is a great concern for me in addition to the goalkeeper. We just haven't had any decent central midfielders come through of any quality to suggest that I could develop them which is worrying as I feel that if we could strengthen here we would have a much more complete squad to give us a fighting chance if we make it to the World Cup. As it stands, we are a year out from the World Cup and I'm seriously considering dropping the CM to a DM and going with two DM players. The DM we have available aren't even that great and are only slightly better than the CM's we have in the national pool but things are becoming desperate for us NEXT SEASON PLANS Would be nice to win the Gold Cup as it could be our last chance to do so given that we look likely to qualify for the World Cup but I can only see it being possible if we get a bit of luck. It would take something like another team knocking out Mexico for us to have a chance I feel as I just can't envisage a scenario where we could beat them unless they get hampered in some way. As for the 'hex', give me 4 points out of the final 4 games and I'll be happy. That means a win at home to Honduras and a draw away to El Salvador. If we could get anything out of the USA at home that would be helpful but I'm thankful that I'm in the position that I'm not depending on it. We are almost at the end of our journey with the Reggae Boyz...can we reach our destination or we will fall short? It's gonna be one hell of ride... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 14, 2016 Author Share Posted April 14, 2016 The Immaculate Conception Season 2049/2050 SEASON EXPECTATIONS Perform in Europe and try to rebuild the reputation THE SEASON League Table – Aside from our early titles, this was one of the poorest performances we've had. We won games 3 or 4 nil which we should have been by winning 7 or 8 and we lost or drew a lot of games against our main rivals. As a result of this I've decided to shake up the tactic for next season and go back to my Championship Manager days UEFA Champions League – We played Counter throughout the knockout stages and it was all going rather smoothly until we had an injury crisis against Chelsea Domestic Cups – I wasn't pleased with the lackluster performances that led to us only winning the Co. Antrim Shield and will be demanding more next season Reserves – Mediocrity is becoming a club policy it seems, well that is unacceptable and I demand higher standards U18s – I think it's slightly unfair that my U18s are pitted against U19s in the Champions League but we are going to have to find a way to deal with this THE PLAYERS Squad – I went all in with the loans this season in an attempt to cut the wage bill (which was almost £500,000pw) which worked well as we went far in Europe. We have a massive inequality with regards to wages which doesn't correlate at all with performances. In fact some of my best performers were among the lowest paid in my first team. I will be looking to get rid of a few high wage earners this summer and sign some loans Transfers – A nice profit again with the loan signings proving to be very nice additions. If I can keep picking up quality players on a free then I see no reason to change it. Riso and Saidi were sold as their wages were too high, if I can get the wage budget down to a more manageable £150,000pw (~ £7.2Mpy) then the Champions League group stage money should cover all of our wage budget so we can start to build the bank balance PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Vegard Hausties – Average Rating : 8.19 I was forced to use him more than I expected as Juska picked up a terrible injury lasting months. He certainly didn't let me down and put in some quality performances and provided the most assists in my team. Unfortunately, he has now suffered a bad injury so it will be interesting to see whether he can bounce back YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Andrew O’Hare – Average Rating : 7.45 It may appear a surprise to see him given the award but he actually performed really well when he was called upon (except the UCL Semi where he was played out of position). He didn't play all that much but was one of the most productive players in the team when he was given the nod. In only 13 appearances in the league he scored 8 times and assisted 5 times which is really quite decent for a left midfielder especially given his attributes CLUB DEVELOPMENT Finances – They are good but they could be so much better if we didn't have such a high and crippling wage bill. I may also start to take care of staff contract extensions rather than leaving that to my Chairman who signs only year extensions as that bill has gotten out of control also. I need to become a 'Rich' club so that I can have a chance to upgrade the youth recruitment and pay for stadium expansions with cash. I think I may have taken my eye off the ball and been negligent in contract negotiations up to this point. I took care to remove yearly wage rises but that is about it and I feel that I may need to be a little more 'cute' and try to get players to sign contracts based more on performances. Clauses are my friends, especially when it comes to negotiating with older players who may want a last big payday. We cannot afford to be so generous and have players rake in massive wages without having to perform, if they want to be taking home that money every week then they need to earn it!! Players will either have to accept the new policy or leave as the club needs to be that ruthless in order to get the finances on track Facilities – We managed to get a relatively large expansion (~30%) which we had to take a loan of £8M to fund owing to our low bank balance. In future I would like to be able to pay for these expansions with cash as the debt burden isn't helpful. I still can't upgrade youth recruitment but I know that I probably need to turn 'Rich' in order to do that Youth Intake – One of the better intakes we've had and Uprichard looks like he could become quite a good player Average League Attendance – 14918 up 4164 Season Ticket Sales – 2159 up 337 I'm happy that in October next season we will have the largest stadium in N. Ireland and that we have significantly closed the gap in season ticket sales. REPUTATION DEVELOPMENT League Reputation – To be one place below 3.5* is a fantastic achievement. If we can repeat or better our performance in Europe next season we might just be able to gain the 3.5* reputation. I was also pleased that from the season after next we get back our additional Champions League spot Club Domestic Reputation – Nothing really happening here. Are Glentoran ever going to come back? Every season they seem to be closer to getting relegated than they are to being promoted. It's a real shame that the Big 2 derby hasn't been in the top flight since 2035, I'm tempted to almost try and get them as an affiliate to help them out, I'm sick of seeing teams like Portstewart and Armagh get promoted as they have dreadfully small fanbases and I can guarantee that they don't fill their small allocation of seats when they come to play us Club European Reputation – Nice to be up there but I don't really want to overtake Barcelona as I can sometimes get a real quality freebie from them which I find tremendously useful PREVIOUS 10 SEASONS CAREER OVERVIEW [table][tr][td]Season[/td][td]League[/td][td]Position[/td][td]Achievements[/td][/tr][tr][td]2040/2041[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League and League Cup Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2041/2042[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2042/2043[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League and Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Reached Semi-Finals of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2043/2044[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2044/2045[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2045/2046[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Champions League Winners and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2046/2047[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield, Irish Cup & Club World Championship Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2047/2048[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield & League Cup Winners, Reached Quarter Finals of Europa League and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2048/2049[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup & Irish Cup Winners, Reached Final of Europa League and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2049/2050[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Reached Semi Final of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][/table] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rikulec Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 Looks like the club really is growing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 14, 2016 Author Share Posted April 14, 2016 The Immaculate Conception Season 2049/2050 SEASON EXPECTATIONS Qualify for the World Cup by securing a top 3 place in the 'hex' and try to do the best we can in what could be our last attempt at the Gold Cup THE SEASON Fixtures Part 1 – WE'RE GOING TO BRAZIL!!! We made it but only just!!...First up was the Gold Cup The group stage was a bit of struggle and we looked uncompetitive against the US which was worrying, the group stage finished like this: I was glad to make it through but owing to our 2nd place finish I knew we could draw Mexico which would have been an excruciatingly hard team to beat but thankfully we drew Honduras which posed less of a threat. We managed to hold them and won on penalties to draw against the team I was most dreading in Mexico in the Semi Final. We gave it the best we could but they are just so far ahead of us that even after I decided to go Counter it made no difference and they beat us comfortably. At least we won the 3rd place playoff to end up with the bronze medal but I guess it is just one trophy I'm never going to win with Jamaica. Next up was the real deal, it was time to try and book our place in Brazil. Well it started pretty badly actually as we couldn't repeat our heroics against the US and got beaten at home by them allowing them to overtake us. I felt that coming so soon after the poor performance against them in the Gold Cup that there was still some residual trauma in the team and they were unable to rise to the occasion. Thankfully we went to El Salvador next and won which gave our flailing campaign a much needed shot in the arm. I didn't realize at the time but it was this victory which practically secured our place as we lost the final two rather disappointingly. Honduras beating us secured their place in the playoff and the 'hex' finished as shown below: I was thankful that we had performed better earlier in the campaign as we only gained 3 points from our final 4 games when I wanted 4. The manner of the defeats also were very concerning as we didn't even score in any of the defeats but at least we made it. Had we fallen to 4th position we would have had to play Peru in the playoff which I know would have been very difficult for us. It turned out to be too much for Honduras as they were beaten so I'm thankful that I didn't have to go through that. I scheduled some friendlies against some difficult nations and then promptly awaited the group stage draw in December. We were in Pot 2 and ended up in Group H which is shown below: An interesting group for sure but I was rather disheartened to draw two European nations especially since one of them was the defending world champions Italy. I feel in order to have any chance in the group we are going to have to keep the score down as much as possible against Italy who we play first. Then try desperately to scrape a draw against Croatia in the hope that we still have a chance then win the final game against South Africa to give ourselves a hope of making the knockout stages. We are going to need a lot of luck and most likely we won't even get a point but we'll see what we can do. The friendlies were scheduled before the draw but I was glad to come up against two teams of comparable ability to those we are going to face in the group. We lost both but at least we scored against both Senegal and Australia which is something Fixtures Part 2 - We had two more friendlies in March before the buildup to the tournament against Brazil itself and Northern Ireland. I was quite happy with the result against Brazil and took encouragement from the fact that we kept the score respectable against a team of that quality and actually scored a couple. Unfortunately, any positive feeling I had after that result evaporated when we lost to Northern Ireland by the same 2 goals margin when they are nowhere near the same standard of team. We drew both the games against Brazilian club teams heading into the tournament THE PLAYERS National Team - We've come a long way and are stronger than we have been in a long time but I know that it's going to take these players playing way beyond their abilities in order for us to get anywhere in the World Cup. I tried again to desperately appeal for a couple of talented youngsters who have dual nationality to accept a call up with the lure of playing at the World Cup in Brazil but they rejected the call up which was a crushing blow. They would rather not play any international football at all (as they are yet to be capped by England) than play for us in the biggest tournament in the world, that is such a depressing reality and shows such a lack of ambition from them. Ah well...let's try our best to show them what they've missed out on...TO BRAZIL!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 14, 2016 Author Share Posted April 14, 2016 WORLD CUP 2050GROUP H PREVIEW Group H presents what could become a very fascinating group with 2046 World Cup Winners Italy pitted against perennial underachievers and potential dark horses Croatia. The group also features South Africa, a team who is appearing in their first finals since 2038 in the USA. It will also give the world a chance to once again view the Reggae Boyz who appear in their first tournament since 2038 also. Now a preview of the teams:A team filled with quality throughout will be looking to star striker Frano Skof to bag the goals needed for them to progress to the later stages of the tournament. In what should prove a relatively easy passage through the group stage barring any slip ups they will be looking to use the group to build momentum so that they can repeat or improve on last time where they finished 3rd after beating Spain on penalties in the 3rd/4th playoff. They will also be seeking to shake away the underachiever tag from previous world cups and establish themselves as an elite national team. Since the 2014 World Cup they have only qualified for the World Cup 3 times so will be hoping to grasp this opportunityPredicted finish in Group : 2nd The defending champions will feel buoyant after getting such an easy draw for the group stage which without any serious under performing should give them nothing more than a fleeting challenge from perhaps Croatia. The Italians will be looking to Prince Duncan to help steer them into the later stages as they try to defend their title. Prince Duncan has experience of big tournaments and at Benfica has guided his team to the UEFA Champions League title last year and the Club World Championship in what is fast becoming for him an impressive medal collection. They haven't had the best of times since the last time the world cup was held in Brazil with their only win being in 2046 and a final appearance in 2026. The Gli Azzurri will be hoping that this year will be one of celebration as they hope for World Cup number 6 Predicted finish in Group : 1st The Reggae Boyz are undoubtedly one of the weakest teams that will play in the World Cup in Brazil but after beating the odds even to get to the tournament they will relish the opportunity to face off against the very best team in international football. If Jamaica are to leave the tournament with anything but the wooden spoon it will be seen as a great achievement and they will depend heavily on the form of players like 31 year old Nicholas Da Costa to put in some great performances to upset the odds. They haven't made a World Cup appearance since the World Cup in the USA in 2038 where they finished bottom of their group. They also made the World Cup in 2026 and have almost settled into a trend of making every third tournament Predicted finish in Group : 4th The South African team will go into the group stage with a sense of cautious optimism. They aren't quite the level of Italy but should view it as quite conceivable that a result against Croatia shouldn't be out of the question. The key to progression for Bafana Bafana will be determined by how they fare against Croatia and whether they can beat them and potentially claim 2nd. How they perform will be influenced by how their key player Thabiso Motaung can perform on the left wing. The Napoli player will be able to count on his vast experience of top competitions and his national teams success will depend on how he translates that experience onto the weaker members of the squad. They have made the World Cup twice since we were last in Brazil in 2038 and 2034 but will be hoping for better than the 4th and 3rd placed finishes in the group which they achieved in those world cups respectivelyPredicted finish in Group : 3rd Below are our odds for winning the tournament: 5000-1 As was expected we are seen as one of the weakest teams in the tournament, well...we are...but that hasn't stopped us from beating 'so called' better sides before has it, so why should it now?...Anything we do is a bonus so lets see if we can't start an earthquake in Brazil and send some shockwaves around the footballing world...LET US BEGIN Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 14, 2016 Author Share Posted April 14, 2016 WORLD CUP 2050GROUP H MATCHDAY 1 VS This is how we lined up:First thing that screams out at me is that they are playing a top heavy formation so they want to score as many as they can and attack. As a result I decide to play the Counter mentality and add two instructions to take advantage of the shape they are playing. Firstly, I add the instruction to exploit the flanks as there is clearly a weakness there and we should be able to generate some nice 2 vs 1 if we can get the ball out there quickly enough. Secondly, I add the instruction to push slightly higher as I don't really want to give those 3 attacking midfielders the time and space to rip us to shreds and pick out passes for their star man to run on to so by compressing the space I should be able to balance the deep line that I get from playing the Counter mentalityOverall, I'm not expecting to get a result here and will be aiming to keep the score down so that I can give myself a chance if it comes down to goal difference FINAL SCORE Italy 3 Jamaica 0 That is what is known as a pasting. We were pummeled from minute 1 to minute 90 by them and any ideas of getting a narrow defeat soon disappeared after they scored 2 within the first 25 minutes. The first goal came from a cross deep in our half that was whipped in low by their right back who my left back decided should have as much time and space as he wanted (probably a consequence of the increased narrowness of the Counter mentality). The cross was met on the volley by Prince Duncan and after only 13 minutes we were behind and fearing the worst. Then in the 21st minute a cross from a corner prompts Wilkinson to raise his foot and concede a very soft penalty. Prince Duncan steps up to take the penalty sends the goalkeeper the wrong way and it's 2-0. Mercifully they only get one more clear cut chance in the half which is saved brilliantly by Blaine. The second half starts in a reasonable fashion and McBride even has a great chance to pull one back but blazes over the bar. The reprieve doesn't last long though and in the 56th minute a corner is flicked on at the near post to the centre of the box where Ricci is for some reason which is completely beyond me unmarked and has a tap in on the volley to make it 3-0. Game over and we aren't even putting up much resistance. We manage to keep them at 3 but to be honest it was only through the brilliant work of our goalkeeper that we weren't completely embarrassed. After the first round of games this is the table: The fact that Croatia dismantled South Africa so easily was the worst possible result for us as it now means we basically have to beat Croatia because of the huge goal difference swing required. I'm shocked at that dreadful performance by South Africa who have to face Italy next, if they perform like that again they are going to be ripped to pieces by Italy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 14, 2016 Author Share Posted April 14, 2016 WORLD CUP 2050GROUP H MATCHDAY 2 VS This is how we lined up:There doesn't appear to be any instructions which I feel if we were to add would much improve how we play against the 4-4-2. I decide to play the Counter mentality again though as I know Croatia are a strong side and I need to be cautious against themOwing to their thrashing of South Africa they are likely to be on a high so would I have preferred to have played South Africa if I'm honest so that I could play against them when perhaps they were coming off a loss to Italy but we have to deal with what we've got. I am however rather disappointed to be in the situation where realistically if we are to stand any chance of qualifying we need to beat them. I hope for a win but would be satisfied with a draw in the hope that Italy can do us a favour and beat them handsomely on Matchday 3 FINAL SCORE Jamaica 1 Croatia 1 We can't be too disappointed with that result as for a large portion of the game it appeared that we may lose it. We started well and created some nice half chances and held them to very little for the opening 20 minutes. Unfortunately for us and this is where the quality really tells a piece of absolutely outstanding skill from Skof gave them the lead in the 24th minute. He picked up the ball just outside our d with our defender Neita and Paulwell well positioned infront of him. Neita then goes to close him down and win the ball, Skof then spins with the ball and takes Neita out of the game leaving a gaping hole between Paulwell and my left back McFarlane. Skof attacks the space and with great dribbling and speed bursts in behind the back line to face my goalkeeper. He hits a wonderful shot low past the goalkeeper and they have the lead. Nothing we can really do about that as the defenders positioning wasn't bad. They get another couple of good chances to score but Blaine saves and keeps us in the game at half timeSecond half starts and we give away a penalty within the first minute. I was absolutely furious especially since it was yet again another harsh decision against us. Skof steps up to take it but this time he smashes it onto the underside of the crossbar and it bounces out to safety. Thank ****...The game then proceeds nervously without much chances for either team until in the 68th minute we play some nice interchanges of passes which leads to a slide rule pass being made which splits the Croatia defence wide open. McBride then dribbles after the pass and is one on one with the goalkeeper. Accepting the chance he then gently caresses the ball into the bottom corner to make it 1-1 and it's all up for grabs again and I can sense that maybe we can get the win we need. I thought it may give us the momentum in the game to grab another but the game just fizzles out as both teams seem content with the point. After that match the table is as follows:In a much improved performance by South Africa they only lose narrowly 1-0 to Italy. Mathematically we are still in with a chance but realistically we would need a combination of circumstances which just aren't going to happen. If we could beat South Africa (the bigger the margin the better) and Croatia somehow lose heavily to Italy we could qualify on goal difference but that's not going to happen as we need to make up 8 goals, South Africa really did a number on us when they lost so heavily Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 14, 2016 Author Share Posted April 14, 2016 WORLD CUP 2050GROUP H MATCHDAY 3 VSThis is how we lined up:What a bizarre formation. It indicates to me that even though they haven't got a hope of a qualifying themselves that they are still looking to attack us and deny us a place. As a result I have gone with the Counter mentality as even though it won't bag us a lot of goals I want to encourage them out to attack us and to hit the masses of space they are going to leave on the flanks.This is a Hail Mary last gasp chance to try and qualify 2nd. We aren't going to switch to attacking unless it looks like it might be possible for us to with a narrow win get through so I will be keeping a keen eye on what happens in the other game between Italy and Croatia, if we see the goals flying in against Croatia I may try and be a bit more bold but if not I'll just be happy to get a draw and finish 3rd which will equal our best performance in any World Cup which happened in 1998 FINAL SCORE Jamaica 0 South Africa 1 This was such a cruel way to end our tournament and the manner of the defeat was so harsh. I felt that South Africa was there for the taking and on the evidence of how the game panned out I was right. In contradiction with the very attacking looking formation they adopted they actually didn't do much of any attacking at all instead choosing to stifle us and snuff out any faint hopes we had of winning the game. No matter how hard we tried to break them down and score they just frustrated us again and again. When I saw the goal go in for Croatia in the 21st minute against Italy I knew the game was up and instead focused on trying to keep the point and finish 3rd. It appeared to be working and the half ended with very little goal mouth actionThe second half was akin to watching paint dry and was one of the most insipid halves of football I've ever had the misfortune of watching. Literally nothing happened except the goal for them. What really took the biscuit was the manner of that goal, it wasn't a moment of brilliance like the goal we conceded against Croatia from Skof or a well struck shot like Prince Duncan. They got a corner in the 76th minute, the resulting cross was then deflected and the ball ricocheted around the penalty box like a pinball before falling to Zweli. He then struck one of the lamest scuffed shots I've ever seen which took a deflection off their player Banda and then slowly trickled over the line. We tried to get level but couldn't so ended our campaign with a loss to plant us to the bottom of the table which ended as follows:Amazingly, Croatia topped the group with a narrow 1-0 win against Italy. Well there you have it...with that our World Cup journey is over and my tenure as Jamaican national team boss has come to an end. I don't know whether I'll return to international management and it would take an interesting project such as building N. Ireland to win the Euros or World Cup or getting an African or Asian country to the World Cup final for me to consider dipping my toe back into the water but for now I'll just be managing Immaculata and focusing on them Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 14, 2016 Author Share Posted April 14, 2016 Looks like the club really is growing. Thanks...that's the hope...if I can continue to build the club up I'm sure that success must follow as opposed to what has been in previous times of overspending to try to bring success while the club stagnates Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raware Posted April 14, 2016 Share Posted April 14, 2016 Tough luck on the international front but domestically you're looking great . Don't tell Jason The Yank how well you're doing...he wouldn't be happy! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 15, 2016 Author Share Posted April 15, 2016 Tough luck on the international front but domestically you're looking great .Don't tell Jason The Yank how well you're doing...he wouldn't be happy! Cheers, was always going to take a miracle for us to do anything at the World Cup but the building of the club has continued at a good pace which I'll show in my next end of season report As for Jason The Yank...no comment Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 15, 2016 Author Share Posted April 15, 2016 Tactics After getting a bit tired of seeing us struggle to break down a bunch of 'park the bus' teams and observing a severe lack of goals I decided to completely ditch the mock 'Invincibles' tactic and revisit a shape which worked great in championship manager...I bring you the DIAMOND... Therefore I decided to change the tactic to the one below: I've decided to go with a slighty offset diamond after watching the match engine play out my tactic and observed that when the opposition had a goal kick that my AM and DM were practically positioned on top of one another leaving an already empty midfield zone even emptier. With the offset, when the opposition has the ball it plays out more like a flat 4-4-2 with the AM dropping back in line with the DM which is a lot more stable defensively. I've stuck with the Control mentality as I want my team to play with a sense of adventure and Flexible as I'm happy for my full backs to be more defensive in nature to allow for the marauding wingers ahead of them. I will consider changes to mentality if the opposition is much stronger and I need to be more cautious but will stick with Control for the majority of the games which should be against weaker opposition. I don't feel that any TIs would really enhance the style...maybe 'Hit Early Crosses' to try and take advantage of teams which over commit men forward as I have two forwards high up the pitch but it will be an instruction I use sparingly I've decided to play with 2 up front as I want to get into the face of my opponents and employ a high press on their back line. That should hopefully force their defenders which usually have the poorest passing ability in the team to rush and clear the ball long which I hope will be inaccurate so we can intercept and regain possession easier. The goalkeeper no longer has any PI's and the two forwards, wingers, central defenders and attacking midfielder all have only the default PIs. I've added 'Close Down Less' to the DM as I don't want him getting pulled out of position too much while I have my fullbacks with the PI to play 'Fewer Risky Passes' as playmaking isn't their job from a deep and wide position. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 16, 2016 Author Share Posted April 16, 2016 The Immaculate Conception Season 2050/2051 SEASON EXPECTATIONS Continue to build the infrastructure of the club so that we can set the club up for the future and try to remain competitive in Europe while the transition is taking place THE SEASON League Table – One of the strongest challenges we have had for many seasons. It was only thanks to Coleraine holding Cliftonville to a draw on the last matchday that we managed to win the title on goal difference but it was an almighty struggle as we entered the split 7 points behind Cliftonville. Much like in real life with Leicester City, they were very much helped by not playing in Europe while we had to endure once again some dreadful fixture congestion which led to us dropping points. On more than one occasion we had to play 4 fixtures within a week. I think I'm going to need to sacrifice the domestic cups to ensure that we can field stronger sides in the league and Europe to avoid this sort of nail biting finish again UEFA Champions League – Not the best really but to be expected given the transformation I am attempting to perform behind the scenes at the club. We held hopes of finishing 3rd into Matchday 6 and even took the lead against Celtic but they roared back to ensure no post December European football Domestic Cups – As good as it gets but I would trade them all for a more comfortable league win and further progression in Europe Reserves – A nice double for them U18s – Dominant domestically but severely lacking in Europe THE PLAYERS Squad – The transformation to a younger, low wage side is well under way with only a few more holdouts such as Kouassi and Haustries that need to be moved on. McBride will be released at the end of the season and now that I have built a large balance I'll be on the lookout for talented youngsters (who should be much cheaper) who I can develop into the stars of tomorrow. I hope to get Wanderley back on loan from Barcelona as he scored an incredible 49 goals for us this year and I didn't have to pay them a penny. His contribution to the team has been great for us especially given Galimberti and his injury troubles Transfers – A whopping great profit was very appreciated while also cutting the wage bill down to size. I spent quite big getting in some talented youngsters (Bulovic is now considered a wonderkid) and loans. Next season will be much the same as I try to build a talented young side ready to take on Europe PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Jan Astrom – Average Rating : 8.24 The talented winger assisted for fun this year and looks to have a great future ahead of him YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Alen Isidorovic – Average Rating : 8.02 A brilliant loan signing who we will be losing next season as his parent club Partizan want to give him a chance in the first team CLUB DEVELOPMENT Finances – That's more like it!...This was also taken before the board decided to pump in another £9M to bring the balance to ~£32M which puts us in great shape going forward. I sold a number of player clauses for big money while cutting the wage bill which has made us more sustainable overall. I am however slightly concerned with the huge debt burden that the club seems to be taking on (explained in the next section). We still aren't 'Rich' but given another ~£10M we will get from competing in the Champions League group stage we might just be able to reach that tag next season Facilities – I think this is probably the game changer when it comes to our long term financial stability. This expansion takes us into what I consider the upper echelons of revenue generation and will mean that wages ~£30Kpw for most players should no longer be beyond us after next season. It will be a bit of a pain playing at Windsor Park for a season as that pitch is going to get wrecked given all the teams that will play on it. Next season you are going to have the N. Irish national team (full time), Linfield (full time), Us (full time), Cliftonville (in Europe), Coleraine (in Europe) and Portadown (in Europe). On the one hand I want other teams to be successful in Europe but on the other hand we risk turning the pitch into a swamp. Still no ability to upgrade youth recruitment but I feel we are getting close to being 'Rich' which might give us the opportunity although we now have over £40M in outstanding debt Youth Intake – A couple of nice prospects but we need that expansion to our youth recruitment as I feel that would be the second game changer for us Average League Attendance – 16503 up 1585 Season Ticket Sales – 2715 up 556 Seem to be going in the right direction but we will be somewhat hamstrung next season with how much we can increase due to the ground sharing at Windsor Park REPUTATION DEVELOPMENT League Reputation – I'll take that considering our poor performance in Europe Club Domestic Reputation – No major changes, I signed an affiliation with Glenavon and will try to get another with Glentoran so that I can help them back into the top flight so that I don't have to stomach watching teams like Portstewart with their minuscule followings play in the top flight next season Club European Reputation – A good season in Europe should repair the damage PREVIOUS 10 SEASONS CAREER OVERVIEW [table][tr][td]Season[/td][td]League[/td][td]Position[/td][td]Achievements[/td][/tr][tr][td]2041/2042[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2042/2043[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League and Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Reached Semi-Finals of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2043/2044[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2044/2045[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2045/2046[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Champions League Winners and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2046/2047[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield, Irish Cup & Club World Championship Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2047/2048[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield & League Cup Winners, Reached Quarter Finals of Europa League and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2048/2049[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup & Irish Cup Winners, Reached Final of Europa League and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2049/2050[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Reached Semi Final of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2050/2051[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Irish Cup, League Cup & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [/table] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 17, 2016 Author Share Posted April 17, 2016 The Immaculate Conception Season 2051/2052 SEASON EXPECTATIONS While we await our return home the aim has to be to win the league more comfortably and improve on last seasons poor European performance THE SEASON League Table – Much better, even though we got less points than last season UEFA Champions League – A very good season although owing to injury we had to field a youth goalkeeper against Real Madrid in the quarter final which led to the defenders having a nightmare making us ship double figures. We were however considered the biggest overachievers Domestic Cups – To be expected given the decision to sacrifice these cups for Europe and the league Reserves – Almost a clean sweep U18s – Not great THE PLAYERS Squad – I decided against getting any loans and instead opted to buy a bunch of talented youngsters to develop. Overall it has been a relatively successful project as the wage bill has fallen and I have a good bunch of players who are developing nicely and most have market values higher than I signed them for. The last 2 players with basic wages above £20Kpw will be leaving with Kouassi and Haustreis. Eleftheriou will be leaving on a free transfer for Sunderland but unless I get some exceptional offers for my young stars this will largely be the team for next season Transfers – I spent big to get in the best young talent I could find. I'm very pleased with the result as the resale value for most of the players I bought is much higher with much room to increase as the players are given time to develop PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Sefa Tasci – Average Rating : 7.88 A fantastic striker who has greatly improved over the season. I had to spend big to get him but with such impressive attributes there is every chance that he could make it right to the very top of the game YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Paulo Sa – Average Rating : 7.71 Last season I wasn't too enamored with him as I felt that his overall contribution wasn't great and he was definitely overshadowed by the magnificent Wanderley. This season he stepped up to the plate in his absence and has been impressing greatly and done magnificently in the league. He also has much room to get even better so it will be interesting to see how the Sa and Tasci partnership shapes up next season CLUB DEVELOPMENT Finances – I spent big which led to the balance taking a massive hit. Thankfully, the board decided to inject £13.75M into the coffers which was nice which allowed us to upgrade both the training and youth facilities which had downgraded. I'm happy with the situation though as I won't need to spend this sort of money next season as the squad has already been built. I am also confident that I should be able to hold onto my better players unless I get crazy money which I can't refuse which should enable me to get in a quality replacement. We also move back to our upgraded stadium for next season which should also give us greater revenue along with automatically being in the group stage of the Champions League which should give us ~£10M Facilities – Upgraded both youth and training facilities. The Windsor Park pitch actually stood up to the brutal punishment it took with all the games that were played on it which was surprising but it will be nice to go back to our stadium which will be the biggest by far in N. Ireland which should help us spread the wealth a bit when teams are drawn away to us in the cups. As we spent big we aren't close to being 'Rich' which would enable a youth recruitment upgrade but I can see that soon becoming a possibility Youth Intake – Nothing special this time Average League Attendance – 16979 up 476 Season Ticket Sales – 3736 up 1021 As I expected we couldn't really rise the average attendance significantly due to the ground share but I'm really impressed with the season ticket sales. We are now only around 600 behind Linfield which is great and I feel that we should be able to overtake them next season REPUTATION DEVELOPMENT League Reputation – I was a little surprised with the slight drop as we had a fairly decent season in Europe and Linfield made the 1st Knockout Round of the Europa League which was the first time for any other N. Irish club except us. If the N. Irish teams can step up their game a bit more and put in stronger performances in Europe we might just be able to start rising again as I don't feel further progress up the rankings can be achieved alone. Institute also qualified for Europe through the fair play which was nice to see and they performed well to progress from the 1st Qualifying Round to reach the 3rd Qualifying Round Club Domestic Reputation – No real change. I did attempt to get Glentoran as an affiliate but was refused as the financial situation wasn't good at the time so I will try again next season Club European Reputation – Decent, although we need to be winning the Champions League to make any progress here PREVIOUS 10 SEASONS CAREER OVERVIEW [table][tr][td]Season[/td][td]League[/td][td]Position[/td][td]Achievements[/td][/tr][tr][td]2042/2043[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League and Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Reached Semi-Finals of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2043/2044[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2044/2045[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2045/2046[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Champions League Winners and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2046/2047[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield, Irish Cup & Club World Championship Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2047/2048[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield & League Cup Winners, Reached Quarter Finals of Europa League and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2048/2049[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup & Irish Cup Winners, Reached Final of Europa League and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2049/2050[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Reached Semi Final of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2050/2051[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Irish Cup, League Cup & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2051/2052[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League Winners, Reached Quarter Finals of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [/table] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted April 24, 2016 Author Share Posted April 24, 2016 The Immaculate Conception Season 2052/2053 SEASON EXPECTATIONS Try to turn our new huge stadium into a fortress domestically and in Europe THE SEASON League Table – PERFECTION!!...An amazing season which will never be surpassed UEFA Champions League – A perfect example of how finishing 2nd in the group stage can give you a very difficult draw. We actually looked good in the first leg against Arsenal and took a 2-0 lead, unfortunately for us they came back to draw the first leg 2-2 and crushed us at the Emirates Domestic Cups – Nothing for us again this year Reserves – What a great season for them...liking all that green!! U18s – The cup win was the only bright spot in a pretty poor season THE PLAYERS Squad – We look pretty strong but will need strengthening if we are to again challenge properly for the Champions League. The GK, MC and ST position could all do with a top player to bolster the squad Transfers – Amrani was a magnificent signing, Knezevic looked a good buy but he broke his leg in September and was out for 5 months so we didn't really get to see much from him. Fuente was great on loan and Dahl is a talented youngster who could have a great future. We made a nice profit although it was a shame to lose Tasci who much like most of the outs wanted to leave or they would disrupt squad harmony so I let them go. PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Jan Astrom – Average Rating : 8.09 A really superb winger who assisted for fun. I like the fact that he is good with both feet as that makes him somewhat unpredictable and difficult for opposing fullbacks to deal with YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Mohamed Amrani – Average Rating : 8.00 He rotated with Astrom and at times it was difficult to tell which one was the first choice as he performed as well as Astrom. He has admirers but they aren't of such a reputation to have me concerned, the fact that my coaches think he has reached his potential is somewhat concerning though as he is only 21 years old, I hope they are wrong CLUB DEVELOPMENT Finances – I sold a number of clauses to bring us up to the £20M mark which I feel is a good figure to keep the balance at given that it makes us 'Rich'. I don't feel we will have many more problems financially and the aim will be to pay off our loans which now stand at £31.6M Facilities – I would have liked to max out the capacity of the stadium but the option isn't available. The option to upgrade the youth recruitment is also not there, maybe we need to pay off our debts to get this done Youth Intake – One potentially good player, interestingly, we must be doing something right as every player I have marked with a star seems to always attract the interest of top EPL teams which is a bit of a mixed blessing. On the one hand we can get massive money from selling clauses which allows us to build our balance but on the other it hurts our ability to meet the European home grown squad registration rules Average League Attendance – 28121 up 11142 Season Ticket Sales – 3977 up 241 A very nice rise in the attendance in our expanded stadium. We sold out twice but the figure is somewhat skewed lower by the terrible away followings of teams like Tobermore United and Portstewart. Getting real close to Linfield for the top spot in season ticket sales, I hope we can overtake them next season REPUTATION DEVELOPMENT League Reputation – Any rise at this point is always welcome. Both Linfield and Coleraine made the Europa League group stage which was great while Cliftonville only narrowly missed out. If they can keep that sort of performance up and we can go further in the Champions League I can see the league jumping into the top 10 next season Club Domestic Reputation – I tried to get a affiliation with Glentoran to help them back into the top flight but the two clubs boards couldn't agree which was disappointing. When I looked at the Championship One table and then saw them relegated my disappointment quickly turned to despair. Next season will see the top flight joined by the massive international fanbases of Armagh City and Ballinamallard United...great ...... Club European Reputation – Always good to see a rise PREVIOUS 10 SEASONS CAREER OVERVIEW [table][tr][td]Season[/td][td]League[/td][td]Position[/td][td]Achievements[/td][/tr][tr][td]2043/2044[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2044/2045[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2045/2046[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Champions League Winners and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2046/2047[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield, Irish Cup & Club World Championship Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2047/2048[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield & League Cup Winners, Reached Quarter Finals of Europa League and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2048/2049[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup & Irish Cup Winners, Reached Final of Europa League and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2049/2050[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Reached Semi Final of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2050/2051[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Irish Cup, League Cup & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2051/2052[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League Winners, Reached Quarter Finals of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2052/2053[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [/table] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jengaehassim Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 100% is amazing, there's always some games where things just don't go right. Are you using the diamond in Europe too? Seems a bit risky to me. How's motivation to the save after the UCL win? Feels like finances should be more comfortable at this point. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted May 5, 2016 Author Share Posted May 5, 2016 100% is amazing, there's always some games where things just don't go right. Are you using the diamond in Europe too? Seems a bit risky to me.How's motivation to the save after the UCL win? Feels like finances should be more comfortable at this point. I've ditched the diamond as I adopted it in the hope that by having more numbers up front and in the face of my opponents that teams which parked the bus against me would struggle. Unfortunately, all that really happened was the isolation of my two forwards with massive gaps between players in the midfield making retention of the ball practically impossible which had negative knock on effects for chance creation. After the 'shock' value wore off for opposition teams the tactic became very inconsistent and required moments of brilliance from my players in order to create chances and score goals. I therefore changed it by the end of season 2051/2052 and have been on a bit of a tactical journey since then playing a 4-4-2, 4-4-1-1, 4-1DM-3-1-1 Wide and trying wingers vs wide midfielders, central midfielders vs deep lying playmakers, attacking midfielders vs advanced playmakers. I've also tried 0 TIs and loads of PIs, some TIs and minimal PIs and tried a number of different mentalities until I ended up with my current system. As of March 2054, I've decided to return to the 4-4-1-1 shape but this time I've added some TIs and changed some of the roles which I feel compliment the way I want my team to play. The improvement has been dramatic and once the tactic became fluid some of the football has been breathtaking. For e.g. the final day against Linfield at home where I needed to win (next seasons report) I destroyed them 8-0 playing some of the best football of the career so far, tika tika around the edge of the box, great interchanges of passes and excellent movement off the ball creating overloads. I'm also most happy that it appears to play even better when teams come out and try to attack me as it exploits space in the final third so I can definitely envision it being strong in Europe too. As for your second question, if I can speak candidly, the motivation is seriously on the wane for me. The season is so long in N. Ireland (38 league games + 5 Irish Cup games + 5 League Cup games + 4 Co. Antrim Shield games + replays and that's before I even think about Europe) and I don't holiday and haven't done so at all for this career. As I'm so far into the career it's slowing down as the processing time between fixtures has definitely increased. The club has come a long way without a doubt but it still doesn't feel like we are a big club that can regularly compete with the top teams. The finances are also a source of great frustration for me as you're right they should be a lot more comfortable than they are. The loans are still bleeding money out and will be for a few more seasons to come, my wage bill has rocketed (needed to retain my best players), we haven't made a European final since 2048/2049 for revenue, our sponsorship deals are being renewed for lower amounts than previously and to top it all off our domestic attendances are decreasing thanks to some teams with tiny fanbases (sometimes I can actually count the number of fans they bring) coming into the top flight which doesn't look like improving anytime soon as I'm struggling to get my affiliates Glenavon and Glentoran back into the top flight. I'll keep going as there is still some unfinished business to sort...UEFA Super Cup...Perfect domestic season (+ all the cups)...trying to get the Big 2 match back in the top flight...getting to number one in the competition ranking (which probably will never happen as the other teams aren't doing well in Europe)...maybe a new bigger stadium. It's a bit of a struggle at the moment to remain motivated to play this career but I'm hoping that my new tactic can revive our fortunes in Europe and help push us on to the next level. If we can be more successful on the pitch and play entertaining and quality football then the feeling should begin to permeate through the club and the off the pitch issues should resolve in time. Sorry for the essay Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted May 5, 2016 Author Share Posted May 5, 2016 The Immaculate Conception Season 2053/2054 SEASON EXPECTATIONS Try to win it all domestically and progress far in Europe THE SEASON League Table – We lost too many times while I tinkered with the tactic but just made it in the end. It was slightly worrying to lose 3/4 to Coleraine and that will need serious correction next season UEFA Champions League – We deserved to go no further as we surrendered against Chelsea, we need to develop a backbone and play our game regardless of our opponent Domestic Cups – Something is better than nothing I suppose Reserves – Compared with last season this was poor U18s – To be expected given that once they are 17 I put the players on the loan list which weakens the youth squad dramatically THE PLAYERS Squad – With a squad like this I'm finding it hard to understand why we can't make strides in Europe but it's just not working out at the moment. The defenders and left wing looks a little weak so money will have to be invested there. I'm also rather unhappy with the increasing wage inequality I'm observing so if I get good offers then Sa and Vecchi may be leaving Transfers – I'm having great difficulty in holding on to my HG players as the offers roll in from big EPL teams. When Man Utd offer you £11.25M for a youngster who isn't nowhere near being the finished article I find that offer impossible to resist. I know I'm not getting full value for money as Isidorovic is now valued at £21.5M but we still need the money for the time being as even with the new stadium we still aren't financially sustainable PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Jan Astrom – Average Rating : 8.14 A great player who has PPMs which perfectly suit our new tactic. He is wanted by Spurs so we might have a battle on our hands to keep him YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Nathan Petit – Average Rating : 8.19 I felt this was an inspired loan signing. The wonderkid won the DBP Young Player of the Year and was magnificent throughout. I tried to extend the loan but unsurprisingly Standard said they wanted to give him a chance in the first team. He is going to leave one massive gap in our attacking midfield which is going to be practically impossible to fill with a player of his quality CLUB DEVELOPMENT Finances – Even though we are considered 'Rich' and have a club value of £125M which puts us 75th on the rich list we just don't feel like a club in that situation. Our outstanding debt stands at £26.08M with the earliest loan maturing in 2057. Owing to this debt the club cut my wage budget which isn't particularly helpful when we are in need of improvement in so many areas Facilities – The effect of having a low balance is that no options to improve the club off the field are available. I still can't request a stadium expansion to bring us up the max and I still can't ask for an increase to youth recruitment which has become really tiresome. If we can get the balance to around the £50M or so mark then maybe we can make a move but until then we are stuck in this horrible stagnation Youth Intake – Maybe two potentially decent strikers, I'm hoping that even though those players are nowhere near good enough for us that they can go on loan to my affiliates and help them in their quest for promotion Average League Attendance – 26399 down 1722 Season Ticket Sales – 4033 up 56 Still in 2nd with ST sales and a reduction in average attendance, we seem to be going backwards REPUTATION DEVELOPMENT League Reputation – A drop of one place isn't too bad considering the poor season N. Irish teams have had although far more damaging is this. At least we still have two Champions League spots ...We really need to up our game or risk unraveling everything we have built Club Domestic Reputation – Glenavon finished 3rd in NIFL C1 losing in the playoff and Portstewart will replace Armagh in the top flight next season. Glentoran finished a pathetic 6th in NIFL C2 which is dreadful for them and their 'Obscure' reputation. When you look and see that Glentoran had a higher average attendance (581) in NIFL C2 than Institute (517) did in the DBP you can begin to see why we need them back along with Glenavon (450) in NIFL C1 and why we need to get rid of teams like Ards (631) and Ballinamallard United (674). If the league is to strengthen as a whole then we need to have stronger teams in the top flight that are more able to compete financially as the bottom 6 as it stands are way off. If we can get drawn at home to Glentoran in the cups we might be able to give them the financial boost they need to get out of their predicament, the longer they languish down there the harder it's going to be to get them out of it as my loan players don't want to go there as it stands now anyway Club European Reputation – Expected given our lack of progress in Europe PREVIOUS 10 SEASONS CAREER OVERVIEW [table][tr][td]Season[/td][td]League[/td][td]Position[/td][td]Achievements[/td][/tr][tr][td]2044/2045[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2045/2046[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Champions League Winners and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2046/2047[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield, Irish Cup & Club World Championship Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2047/2048[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield & League Cup Winners, Reached Quarter Finals of Europa League and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2048/2049[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup & Irish Cup Winners, Reached Final of Europa League and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2049/2050[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Reached Semi Final of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2050/2051[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Irish Cup, League Cup & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2051/2052[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League Winners, Reached Quarter Finals of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2052/2053[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2053/2054[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League and Irish Cup Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][/table] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted May 5, 2016 Author Share Posted May 5, 2016 Tactics After seeing the flop of the diamond shape which led to us winning the title only by luck I decided to go on a bit of a journey to try to discover what works and what doesn't. It has proven to be quite the adventure and led to the development of the following tactic Therefore I decided to change the tactic to the one below: Pictures created courtesy of www.footballuser.com Rather than just post the formation which you will already have seen (4-4-1-1) which doesn't particularly tell much about how the team plays I decided to park that idea and instead post the off the ball (Blue jerseys) and on the ball (Red jerseys) shapes which give an idea of how we set up to defend and how we set up to attack. I have stuck with the Standard mentality as even though it's a bit of an 'on the fence' strategy it fits nicely with what I was trying to achieve in the sense that it was a blank canvas for me to build from. I have also stuck with Flexible fluidity as I want my defensive shape to be solid without players deviating from their roles too much while still allowing them some creative freedom. Team Instructions 1) RUN AT DEFENCE I chose this as I want my team in the final third to take on their opponents and try to drive into the box. I done this for a couple of reasons, firstly, defenders really dislike having to deal with players running at them and would much prefer them to play lateral passes all day long so that they can retain their defensive shape and aren't constantly having to make decisions as to whether to close down or not. Secondly, although trying to pass through teams is seen as desirable and attractive to watch (Barcelona are the masters of this) it's dead end football unless you have the right players that are exceptional off the ball and make great decisions. In effect though it's just delaying the inevitable. The whole point is to break through the defence and score goals so eventually penetration into scoring positions is going to be required and the easiest way I can see of doing this consistently is by dribbling with the ball into dangerous areas. I also see it carrying a far lower risk of turning over possession in dangerous areas than always opting to play a pass which has every chance of being intercepted, especially in the congested central zone of the oppositions defence. It also helps with creating space for others by dragging defenders out of position and quick players who are agile should have a great time against defenders who are slow and make poorer decisions. Playing the instruction also has the bonus of meaning that mistimed tackles from the opposition are likely to lead to free kicks in dangerous areas or perhaps even penalties given to us 2) LOOK FOR OVERLAP As my wide midfielders are cutting inside I need them to look to pass it to my fullbacks in order to create width. When my WM have dribbled into cul de sacs and have no viable forward pass they need a relief pass to free themselves which is achieved by using the instruction. I have observed occasions where my left midfielder has driven infield with the ball and got into trouble then played a backward pass to my DLP who then passes to the fullback on the wing which frees the player and allows him to find space 3) CLOSE DOWN MORE For the longest time I believed that the more you increased the closing down the more attacking you were trying to be as when you move up the mentality ladder (Standard -> Control for example) this increases by default. I have come to understand though that the assumption was incorrect and in fact in the system which I'm using it is more of a defensive shout. Confusing?...Yes...but let me explain. First of all lets talk about what happens when you hardly close down at all in the 4-4-1-1 shape. The opposition players have masses of space in between the lines, you give them space and you give them time, time to think about passes, time to dribble and work themselves into a better position and time for players to pick out runners off the ball. This is no good at all as even though the defensive shape is intact there is a massive amount of ways for the opposition to exploit the shape. Now lets talk about what happens when you close down more in the 4-4-1-1 shape. The opposition players don't have the same depth to operate in which denies them time. By denying them time it forces them to rush which increases the chances of them misplacing passes, it also forces them to go wide to find space which results in them having to dribble the ball into less dangerous areas of the pitch and doesn't give them as much time to pick out off the ball runners. This is much better defensively as the amount of ways that the opposition can exploit the formation are reduced. It also demands that the opposition players perform exceptional pieces of skill and passes to break through which helps us to defend more effectively. Only the best players in the world can regularly operate effectively with so little space and time on the ball so it will be interesting to see how they deal with it when we play in the Champions League Player Instructions All have the default instructions which come with the role with the exception of the following: 1) GOALKEEPER HAS FEWER RISKY PASSES AND DISTRIBUTE TO FULL BACKS The intention being that I don't want my goalkeeper pumping the ball long and turning over the ball cheaply. As my fullbacks are attacking and they tend to be in space after goal kicks I decided it would be best to get the ball to them to start attacks 2) FULL BACKS HAVE SHOOT LESS OFTEN AND FEWER RISKY PASSES I don't have a Roberto Carlos in my ranks and even though some full backs have in the past been decent free kick takers (Harte, Irwin) I don't want them taking shots as a general strategy. The fewer risky passes makes sense as they are constantly going to be wide and mainly deep so I'd prefer my more advanced players to try to play the defence splitting passes 3) CENTRAL MIDFIELDER HAS CLOSE DOWN LESS First and foremost this is my holding player which doesn't work if he's being pulled out of position all the time. By default the player has the instruction to 'Close Down More' so I added this to cancel that out meaning he will close down the same amount as the rest of my team 4) WIDE MIDFIELDERS HAVE CUT INSIDE WITH BALL They tend to be the best dribblers in my team so it really came down to a simple choice. Do I want them running with the ball into dangerous areas or not. By having them cut inside I lose none of the width as my fullbacks create that while also putting dangerous dribblers into a very difficult area of the pitch for the opposition to deal with I've thought this out and I'm hoping that it can perform the way it has been in the Champions League, if it does then it could be the last time I have to make any serious alterations...here's hoping anyway Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jengaehassim Posted May 5, 2016 Share Posted May 5, 2016 I appreciate the amount of detail in the answers to my questions, thank you. I agree with you about the season being too long, and I also wouldn't holiday because the trophy isn't as guaranteed as it could. Now, about your tatic: The amount of players on attacking duty seriously bothers me. Maybe I'm being a bit conservative, but only one player on support is not enough. Obviously my opinion without seeing the team play doesn't count as much, but I feel like your attacking players will try to rush things and the DLP will be the only one trying to create something more patiently. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted May 5, 2016 Author Share Posted May 5, 2016 I appreciate the amount of detail in the answers to my questions, thank you. I agree with you about the season being too long, and I also wouldn't holiday because the trophy isn't as guaranteed as it could.Now, about your tatic: The amount of players on attacking duty seriously bothers me. Maybe I'm being a bit conservative, but only one player on support is not enough. Obviously my opinion without seeing the team play doesn't count as much, but I feel like your attacking players will try to rush things and the DLP will be the only one trying to create something more patiently. I take your point and on first appearances it does seem that way but the reality of the way it plays out in the match engine isn't quite as rushed as you think. I know that if I was to post that on the tactics section of the forum I'd probably get a rollocking as it appears to break every 'rule' laid out in guides like the pairs and combinations. I have 2 attack duties on the wings, I have attack duties for my AM and ST but it doesn't really have a negative impact at all on our defense at all and plays out rather conservatively. To test the tactic I decided to play The Saviour Cometh challenge in FMT on Hard difficulty with the team that was predicted to finish last (14th). In this case it was Ballyclare in NIFL C1. Below are the fixtures: My first game was the game highlighted in orange and look at how defensively solid we were. I guess the only way you can see how it works is if you try it for yourself and see how it goes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted May 23, 2016 Author Share Posted May 23, 2016 The Immaculate Conception Season 2054/2055 SEASON EXPECTATIONS Improve on last season and see if the new tactic can revitalize our performances in Europe THE SEASON League Table – We were never really threatened and had the title wrapped up by the time of the split UEFA Champions League – It took us nearly a decade but we are champions of Europe again. The tactic shone and with slight alterations against Atletico and Schalke by playing slightly narrower and pushing up to compress the pitch we were able to pull off a remarkable run which ended in our victory. The final was surprisingly straightforward even though we did fall behind against Chelsea. After so many years of hurt this one feels even more special than the first and I hope that it is a watershed moment for the club so that going forward we won't have to wait so long again to complete our hat-trick of wins Domestic Cups – Can't ask for more than a full haul Reserves – Since we have some fairly decent players in the Reserves this was quite disappointing U18s – Mixed feelings about this one. They managed to get out of a difficult U19 Champions League group after being severely weakened thanks to my loaning policy but then went on to lose to Valerenga U19s THE PLAYERS Squad – When I look at the squad I don't see the best team in all of Europe there so I was pleasantly surprised that they managed to win all the competitions that they competed in. I think it might have a lot to do with abandoning my policy of signing players based on star ratings alone and now instead I give attributes much greater attention so I can get players with the best ability to perform the role in my tactic. As I have a bit of money I will be looking to spend a bit of cash in the summer as I'm going to need to replace some of the weaker players which will be leaving Transfers – I decided to splash the cash a bit to land some real quality at right back and left midfield. It was also quite pleasing to bring back Lavery on loan and still make a nice profit in the transfer market. I made a couple of big sales in Vecchi and Martinsson, with Knezvic and Norris also going through the door. You can also see the large amounts of loans I made to Glentoran and Glenavon in order to help them in their quests for promotion PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Nikola Milosavljevic – Average Rating : 8.00 The £8M may have appeared slightly overpriced but after the season he has just had it was worth every penny. The guy was a model of consistency throughout and managed to chip in with a few assists which was very useful, he is a good age and could hold down that right back slot for a good few years to come. Unfortunately, he has a minimum release clause of £11.25M and interest from Sevilla so may get poached next season YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Emil Bergstrom – Average Rating : 7.60 He won the DBP Young player of the year and quite rightly so. His physical attributes are brilliant and he has shown much improvement over the season. I feel he may also be slightly ahead of the curve when it comes to his mental attributes for a player who is only 21. He could improve quite significantly going forward so Jacko may need to watch his back considering how seamlessly he slotted in when he was injured Another player of note was our goalkeeper Englund that was named in the Champions League dream team of the season which I thought was pretty impressive CLUB DEVELOPMENT Finances – The balance is roughly £8M less than that shown in the screenshot as the board paid off some debt and I needed to upgrade the training facilities again after they downgraded. The debt is now down to £16M and the club has a value of £164M. We aren't comfortable but I'm far more optimistic that we are getting closer to that situation and perhaps over the next few seasons we could become self sustaining. We are considered 'Rich' which is always nice to see Facilities – Had to upgrade the training facilities at a cost of £2.5M but still have no option to do anything else Youth Intake – To be expected given that we can't pick from a bigger pool of players Average League Attendance – 29890 up 3491 Season Ticket Sales – 4290 up 257 We recovered all the reduction to average attendance that happened last season and added some. The average is under 90% capacity so there is no reason for a stadium expansion just yet. The season ticket sales went up nicely but we are still only 2nd with Linfield selling 4388. I'm hoping next season will finally be the year we overtake them, our season ticket price is still lower so it's a little disappointing we haven't managed to do it as yet. Unfortunately, I can see the average attendances taking a bit of a hit considering we will be joined in the top flight next season by Tobermore United and Queens University who will probably only bring a handful of fans to our stadium REPUTATION DEVELOPMENT League Reputation – I guess I'm happy enough with that although it'll probably take a few seasons of winning the Champions League to put us up any further. We need the other teams to give a greater helping hand to get us to progress. To be fair to some of the other teams, Linfield managed to make the 2nd knockout round of the Europa League losing to Athletic Bilbao after finishing 2nd in their group behind Arsenal and Coleraine were really unlucky to miss out on the knockout stages by falling down due to the head to head record they had with Partizan. The rest were rubbish and until more of them turn pro that's how it will remain Club Domestic Reputation – Even with all the loans I gave to Glenavon they only managed a lowly 10th place in NIFL C1 which was awful but at least my loans helped Glentoran to become Champions of NIFL C2. It was looking a bit dicey for them but a great last third of the season symbolized by a wonderful winning run saw them fly up the table. Next season I want to loan them both some more players and see both Glenavon and Glentoran get promoted but I know that may prove very difficult, if I could do it one at a time then that would be great, Glenavon next season and Glentoran the season after Club European Reputation – Champions League winners but only considered the 21st best club in Europe doesn't seem quite right PREVIOUS 10 SEASONS CAREER OVERVIEW [table][tr][td]Season[/td][td]League[/td][td]Position[/td][td]Achievements[/td][/tr][tr][td]2045/2046[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup and Irish Cup Winners, Champions League Winners and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2046/2047[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield, Irish Cup & Club World Championship Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2047/2048[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield & League Cup Winners, Reached Quarter Finals of Europa League and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2048/2049[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup & Irish Cup Winners, Reached Final of Europa League and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2049/2050[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Reached Semi Final of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2050/2051[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Irish Cup, League Cup & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2051/2052[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League Winners, Reached Quarter Finals of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2052/2053[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2053/2054[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League and Irish Cup Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2054/2055[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Irish Cup, League Cup and Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Champions League Winners and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][/table] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted May 28, 2016 Author Share Posted May 28, 2016 The Immaculate Conception Season 2055/2056 SEASON EXPECTATIONS After last seasons Champions League win the hope was to claim the last piece of silverware to evade us, the UEFA Super Cup. Outside of that it would be great to try to defend all of our titles THE SEASON League Table – Not as comfortable this time around but never truly in doubt FIFA Club World Championship - The semi was easier than expected but the final was far more of a challenge but no matter, we won and it increased the club reputation to 'Worldwide' in the process which was great UEFA Champions League – The group stage was more of a struggle than it should have been but we made it through only to come up against Man City who outclassed us, not the best way to defend our title but it could have been worse UEFA Super Cup - The trophy collection is now complete and what a wonderful way to do it also. We demolished Real Madrid and had it not been for 2 silly red cards we could have easily won by a 6 or 7 goal margin Domestic Cups – Another clean sweep with Linfield providing the greatest challenge Reserves – Given how weak they were this was quite an impressive season U18s – Not bad considering how the vast majority of my youth players were out on loan THE PLAYERS Squad – I tried my best to strengthen where possible but when I look at the squad I'm not seeing the quality of player we need to win the Champions League on a regular basis. I am going to need to redeploy the wage cap and start to ship out some high earners and replace them with young upstarts with better resale value as I don't feel that I'm getting value for money. For e.g. Sa is on £50Kp/w and only scored 33 times, on the face of it this may appear good but it's not all that impressive considering some of the dross that he plays against, he should be scoring at least 50 goals a season in N. Ireland but has never managed it Transfers – I've decided to show cash only deals in the screenshot as otherwise the loans would take up the majority and I wouldn't be able to fit the most important deals on the screenshot. The idea was to spend big to enable us to defend our titles. Unfortunately, even though the quality of the player is decent it hasn't worked out. I sold the players I did because they were destroying the morale of the team and wanted to leave, Otero's departure was especially acrimonious PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Ariel Liccardo – Average Rating : 8.33 He assisted and scored plenty which was great so I'm hoping for more of the same next season YOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Alexander Gartner – Average Rating : 8.11 I came across this player when trying to find a replacement for Milosavljevic as in the player search he has the best attributes for the full back (attack) role. Therefore I've been trying to retrain him to be a full back and it has been working but is taking some time. An average rating of 8.11 for a player who doesn't even play in the position is exceptional and it makes me optimistic about how well he will perform once he is comfortable in the position CLUB DEVELOPMENT Finances – This is why spending big on transfer fees is so crippling for us. I've had to sell all the clauses just to keep us out of the red and up to a balance of ~£2M but we are everything but stable at the moment. The next season will see many player sales as even with our massive stadium and champions league income we still aren't making enough money. The £283K per month we pay on our loans isn't helping, the average ticket price of £17.03 and season ticket price of £293 is hardly helpful either. The domestic TV and prize money sucks and sponsorship deals which only amount to ~£1M a season don't even pay Sa's wages for 6 months. Overall, we need to be very careful or we could end up in a debt spiral Facilities – The youth facilities downgraded but as I don't have the money to upgrade, it will have to wait. Given the terrible youth players, I'm not in a rush to spend the money to be honest Youth Intake – Total garbage Average League Attendance – 28109 down 1781 Season Ticket Sales – 4511 up 221 On the plus side we have overtaken Linfield for season ticket sales but have declined with attendances which isn't so good. Even worse for the fact that our reputation is so high. Hopefully the new reputation level will fully kick in next season and we can see a rise in average attendance REPUTATION DEVELOPMENT League Reputation – Somewhat disappointing given our success, Linfield were the only other N. Irish team to at least make a group stage so it hasn't been the best of seasons for the league, worse still when I saw this message show up in the inbox Club Domestic Reputation – Superb to be 4.5* and have 'Worldwide' recognition but even better news comes in the fact that the 'Big 2' derby is coming back next season . Glentoran, a season after promotion from NIFL C2 managed to squeeze through to the promotion playoff by finishing 3rd. They then went on to beat Glenavon in the semis and Queens University in the final to rejoin the top flight. It's been 20 years so it's about ******* time, now to get Glenavon up. It's great because I feel that if they could survive the first few seasons Glentoran could easily establish themselves and make the league stronger as a whole. It's going to be great for attendances given that in NIFL C1 they had an attendance which would rank 9th in the top flight. They should be able to get enough money in the first season to ensure that should they get relegated it won't be as difficult to get promoted again. It's not all milk and honey though as they will be joined by Limavady United which I'm sure will have the fans flocking to come see them . I'm hoping I can still help Glentoran out with loans even after the affiliation gets cancelled but I feel they should be better than Limavady so should only need to stay up through the playoff. I will focus my other loans on Glenavon who I'm hoping can get promoted automatically Club European Reputation – Still only 20th best? PREVIOUS 10 SEASONS CAREER OVERVIEW [table][tr][td]Season[/td][td]League[/td][td]Position[/td][td]Achievements[/td][/tr][tr][td]2046/2047[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield, Irish Cup & Club World Championship Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2047/2048[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Co. Antrim Shield & League Cup Winners, Reached Quarter Finals of Europa League and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2048/2049[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, League Cup & Irish Cup Winners, Reached Final of Europa League and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr] [tr][td]2049/2050[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Reached Semi Final of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2050/2051[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Irish Cup, League Cup & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Finished 4th in UCL Group and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2051/2052[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League Winners, Reached Quarter Finals of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2052/2053[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2053/2054[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League and Irish Cup Winners, Reached 1st Knockout Round of UCL and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2054/2055[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Irish Cup, League Cup and Co. Antrim Shield Winners, Champions League Winners and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][tr][td]2055/2056[/td][td]Danske Bank Premier[/td][td]1st[/td][td]League, Irish Cup, League Cup and Co. Antrim Shield Winners, FIFA Club World Championship and UEFA Super Cup Winners and Manager of the Year[/td][/tr][/table] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted June 7, 2016 Author Share Posted June 7, 2016 IMMACULATA F.C. The Immaculate Conception Season 2056 / 2057 SEASON EXPECTATIONS Put in a better challenge for the Champions League and hopefully gain another clean sweep domestically THE SEASON League Table – Linfield were an irritation but we still prevailedUEFA Champions League – 2 points in the group was a pitiable return, the lack of ability to consistently challenge for the title is becoming an embarrassmentDomestic Cups – So we won the League Cup...who cares?Reserves – Nice to clean up in the domestic cups but finishing 2nd and getting knocked out in the 2nd Round of the youth invitational wasn't greatU18s – Not bad, can't see it getting better until we can improve our youth recruitment though THE PLAYERS Squad – We are so mediocre at the moment and our performances in Europe are indicative of that. Sa will be shipped out as our last major wage earner and we will need to strengthenTransfers – A huge profit in our transfer dealings but still we struggle to build a large balancePLAYER OF THE SEASON – Mohamed Amrani – Average Rating : 8.23 A bright light in an otherwise average side. His average rating is good but overall only 14 assists and 11 goals isn't all that impressive given the weakness of the league we are playing inYOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Andrija Milosevic – Average Rating : 7.94 A great looking left back who joined us on loan. His attributes are magnificent but we won't be able to hold on to him for next season CLUB DEVELOPMENT Finances – A depressingly familiar sight which belies our so called 'Rich' status. Perhaps there may be some light at the end of the tunnel as our chairman wants to leave. An Israeli tycoon looked like he might be interested but pulled out last minute so now we have interest from a consortium which I'm hoping will invest heavily in the club, pay off some debt and allow us to improve our youth recruitmentFacilities – Upgrading the youth facilities again but can't see there being much point with the low potential of the regensYouth Intake – GarbageAVERAGE LEAGUE ATTENDANCE – 29601 up 1492 SEASON TICKET SALES – 4843 up 332 Well at least we appear to be on the upward trend which is promising REPUTATION DEVELOPMENT League Reputation – A little disappointing that it hasn't improved given that Linfield made the Champions League group stage after beating Zenit and Dortmund. Coleraine also made the Europa League group stage so we had our best representation ever but still not enough to make the reputation improveClub Domestic Reputation – Was great to see Glentoran hold on and stay up but was mortified to see Glenavon get relegated to NIFL C2 even though we loaned them players good for NIFL C1. I'm hoping that Glentoran can stay up a little while longer to establish themselves but next season could be a real challenge as I don't think that Portstewart will be as bad as Limavady were which gave them a buffer from the automatic relegation spot. Wasn't pleased to lose our Worldwide reputationClub European Reputation – Given the terrible performances in Europe this wasn't actually that bad PREVIOUS 5 SEASONS 2052/2053 DBP Winners, 1st KR of UCL and M.O.T.Y. 2053/2054 DBP & Irish Cup Winners, 1st KR of UCL and M.O.T.Y. 2054/2055 DBP, Irish Cup, League Cup & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, UCL Winners and M.O.T.Y. 2055/2056 DBP, Irish Cup, League Cup & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, FIFA CWC Winners and M.O.T.Y. 2056/2057 DBP & League Cup Winners, 4th in UCL Group and M.O.T.Y. TROPHY CABINET Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted August 14, 2016 Author Share Posted August 14, 2016 Tactics Needing to create a tactic which would take us to the next level and turn us into regular competitors for the Champions League I felt that the previous tactic had run its course and wasn't delivering for the team anymore. Something fresh was needed while not abandoning the 4-4-1-1 shape. I also feel that I have a better understanding of the shape and have adjusted my thinking and altered the roles which are used within the tactic. Therefore I developed the tactic given below: Pictures created courtesy of www.footballuser.com I have stuck with the Standard mentality as I feel I needed a basic foundation to start building on and also kept the fluidity at Flexible as I feel I can get what I want without altering it. You will also notice that I have changed some of the roles. Seeing as the 4-4-1-1 isn't a top heavy formation there isn't much point in trying to create a direct game with fast transitions, with 2 potential targets only it made no sense to continue with the Deep Lying Playmaker who I feel is more suited to top heavy formations with targets up front (a 4-2-3-1 would suit the role better with wingers). I also saw no reason to continue having an attacking midfielder on attack as he plays similarly to a shadow striker which again suits a direct style and catching teams out on the break with early crosses which isn't the style I wanted to create. Team Instructions 1) SHORTER PASSING After much thinking I believe that this instruction alone will give me what I need to play the 4-4-1-1 shape effectively. It also alters two other instructions which I feel emphasise the style I want better. The tempo is lowered which I feel is important as I need the lower tempo so that my players get the opportunity to work the ball up the pitch and also so that my advanced playmaker has time to think and pick out the passes needed to hurt the opposition. I want to build patiently from the back through the midfield to the advanced playmaker so he can get on the ball and work his magic. The instruction also reduces width which should help with ball retention and as the shape is wide anyway it shouldn't adversely affect our ability to stretch teams while also helping us to maintain possession more effectively. Player Instructions 1) GOALKEEPER (DEFEND) Pass It Shorter, Fewer Risky Passes & Distribute to Full Backs I don't want my goalkeeper hoofing it and losing possession. If we want to build from the back my goalkeeper needs to distribute accordingly. I have chosen to distribute to the full backs as they will often have the most space and less pressure when trying to play out from the back 2) CENTRAL DEFENDER (DEFEND) Shoot Less Often, Dribble Less, Fewer Risky Passes & Hold Position I saw no good reason to mess with the defaults. I don't want them to play hoof ball whilst I don't expect them to be playmakers either, this role gives me the best compromise as opposed to a limited defender or ball playing defender and should help us to retain possession. On occasion we may get the defender holding onto the ball for too long but they should have reasonable passing options around them. I wanted a solid line of defence so chose not to incorporate a stopper / cover combination as I have that infront of them from my central midfielders 3) FULL BACK (ATTACK) Cross More Often & Get Further Forward I chose full backs as I want them to be more defensively minded and also because I didn't want the dribbling component offered by wingbacks as I have dribblers ahead of them in wide midfield. The job is pick up the ball from the Goalkeeper and play a simple pass to a midfielder and make off the ball runs down the left flank 4) FULL BACK (SUPPORT) Cross From Deep No alterations necessary as I feel that the role is just to again get the ball to the more creative players and offer backup for the players ahead of him 5) CENTRAL MIDFIELDER (DEFEND) Shoot Less Often, Hold Position & Close Down More I added Shoot Less Often to the defaults as he is very unlikely to be in a position to take a good shot and would be striking from distance which more than likely would waste possession which I don't want. All I want from the player in the role is for them to recycle possession and be combative in the centre of the park and that's all 6) CENTRAL MIDFIELDER (SUPPORT) None I'm going to allow the player in the role to interpret it how they wish. I feel this is needed as it adds an element of unpredictability and makes substitutions interesting as without changing the role I can completely change how the central midfield operates. For e.g. if I start with a ball winner type and get a lead and we start to struggle with possession as the opposition tries to get level then I can swap them out for a playmaker type which is more comfortable on the ball and will help us to retain the ball better (well at least that's the theory) 7) WIDE MIDFIELDER (SUPPORT) Dribble More, More Risky Passes, Cut Inside With Ball & Cross Less Often I basically recreated the Inside Forward (Support) role from a deeper position. I feel it works as he should have space to cut into as the central midfielder beside him should always be dropping deeper while he should also drag defenders inside with his dribbling that should create space for my full back to overlap 8) WIDE MIDFIELDER (ATTACK) Dribble More, Cross More Often, Cross From Byline, Run Wide With Ball, More Risky Passes & Get Further Forward In this case I recreated the Winger (Attack) role without having the Stay Wider component which doesn't help when trying to keep the distances between players reasonable enough to accommodate a shorter passing game. I feel he should provide width earlier than the left flank producing a layered attack down the flanks and should he get into trouble while dribbling with the ball he should have ample support around him so he can make a pass then run to lose his marker 9) ADVANCED PLAYMAKER (ATTACK) Move Into Channels, Shoot Less Often, Dribble More & More Risky Passes The star in my midfield who will act as the pivot between my attack and midfield. I chose the attack duty as he has two more conservative central midfielders behind him so if he can dribble with the ball and 'Move Into Channels' he should be able to pull the defenders out of position which should create space for my striker. Failing that he can also be used to provide an option to recycle possession and make passes to players down the flanks to change the emphasis of the attack and stretch teams. Of all the players in the team his role is quite possibly the most important and I will get the best player I can for the position 10) ADVANCED FORWARD (ATTACK) Dribble More, Get Further Forward & Move Into Channels I chose not go for a Poacher even though he should have plenty of support which could justify it. Quite simply he is there to score goals but I want him to also offer some creative presence while leading the line and harassing the defenders. By offering some creativity he should be able to bring others into the game and hopefully create some chances for others to score also Corners This had proven quite a bugbear for me as I felt that I wasn't generating nearly enough goals from corners while also being susceptible to conceding from corners on a regular basis. Wanting to avoid this cheap concession of goals I had a look at how I set up at corners and immediately it became apparent to me why I was having these problems. When attacking corners I didn't have my best headers of the ball standing where they could cause most damage and my most vulnerable zone when defending corners wasn't being defended properly so therefore I made the changes to these. CORNER DEFEND LEFT AND CORNER DEFEND RIGHT As the fullbacks are more defensively minded I've decided to have them zonally mark the centre of the box with my central midfielder (defend) in between them and get my central defenders to man mark rather than mark the tallest players. I have my weakest headers of the ball on the posts and my AMC sniffing around on the edge of the box to look out for rebounds and play quick passes up to the Advanced Forward to catch teams on the break. I also have prevented short corners by having my wide midfielders close down the corners as they won't offer much in the box when defending corners and are quick enough to be able to close down the short pass better. CORNER ATTACK LEFT AND CORNER ATTACK RIGHT After seeing a lack of bodies in the danger zone with my previous attempts I have decided to have my best headers of the ball stand in front of the goal. My striker should harass the opposition goalkeeper while my central midfielders should attack the posts in the hope they can get a knockdown from the central defenders or pounce on any rebounds. My other wide midfielder attacks from deep while my playmaker lurks at the edge of the box anticipating any ball falling to him giving the opportunity to pass or shoot. I've kept back my fullbacks for cover as they are probably the second quickest players in the team so can deal better with counter attacks should the attacking corner break down, they tend not to be tall enough to be a threat in the box anyway. I feel the tactic shouldn't need to evolve much further and the results have been impressive. It simultaneously manages to keep teams which attack us at bay with good defending while it gives teams which park the bus against us enough space to commit forward enough to generate space for my attackers. I'm also very encouraged that I now very rarely concede any goals from corners while upping my ability to score from corners also. It's also producing an enjoyable style of football and generally we dominate possession in games. The variety of goals also is very interesting, through balls are common as are crosses and dribbles. I think it's the best I've had yet so lets see if can produce the goods going forward Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted August 14, 2016 Author Share Posted August 14, 2016 IMMACULATA F.C. The Immaculate Conception Season 2057 / 2058 SEASON EXPECTATIONS Try to win the league in a more convincing manner while putting in a less lamentable effort in Europe THE SEASON League Table – A much more comfortable margin of victory than last season but we don't seem to be storming the league like we probably should be given the quality of players at our disposalUEFA Champions League – We started the group well with 2 wins from our first two games but the gap between us and the elite was clear to see when we couldn't get any points out of Real Madrid, it took a narrow win at home to Zenit to put us into the knockout stages. We finished 2nd so drew a group winner with PSG, on reflection it would have been better if we had finished 3rd and had a run at the Europa League. Our defenders gave a shockingly bad performance leading to our worst defeat in 6 years. The 2nd leg was just a formality, I don't know how I'm going to close the gap as we just don't have the money but we are going to have to tryDomestic Cups – It was going to be a clean sweep until we had a shocker in the Irish Cup Final and lost our disciplineReserves – Understandable given the weakness of the squad but still rather disappointing even with the Reserve League titleU18s – I list for loan all my youth players once they turn 17 so they can get first team football which may explain the poor performance given how thin the squad generally is THE PLAYERS Squad – Overpaid and aging isn't exactly where I want the squad to be but it's where we find ourselves. There seems to be no real correlation between wages and performances at all and it may be time for a lot of the higher earners to move on which could prove difficult as I can't imagine many clubs would be willing to give them such generous contracts. We could lose Zongo and Millicevic and I don't feel it would make any appreciable difference to our quality. Daire Murphy will definitely be leaving as he did nothing but kick up a stink the whole season ruining morale and more than likely resulting in poorer performancesTransfers – A loss this time around in our transfer dealings which didn't really help the bank balance. I was more impressed with the free transfers in as opposed to the cash dealsPLAYER OF THE SEASON – Mohamed Amrani – Average Rating : 8.33 A class act in a team of average players. Given the wages we are paying some of the squad the fact that this player can have the highest average rating two seasons in a row is a rather damning indictment of our overall quality. I'm glad that he is performing so well but he shouldn't really be outshining other players in the manner he isYOUNG PLAYER OF THE SEASON – Rachid El Amrani – Average Rating : 7.39 A further example of the inequality that exists in the squad. He gets paid 1/10th of what I pay Zongo but in 18 games he scored 19 goals while Zongo only scored 15 goals in 27 appearances. He's 10 years younger with a bright future also. If I can ship out Zongo he will become my first choice striker without question CLUB DEVELOPMENT Finances – The money situation is really bad at the moment with the board having to pump in yet more money to keep us afloat. I'll also need at some point to spend money on upgrading the training facilities as they have downgraded again. I thought that we were no longer a selling club but even given how much the club has developed we still can't drop that moniker. We need to sell, sell, sell and bring in some talented youngsters to develop. I'm also beginning to think that the squad may be too bloated and need cutting anyway, 2 players in each position should be plenty with youth players coming in should we get injuriesFacilities – We got a message saying that our stadium expansion had been blocked by the council which would have maxed it out but as we aren't selling out all games anyway it's not a great lossYouth Intake – Better than usual but no real stars here, we just can't seem to attract anybody outside of Northern Ireland even though we have established youth recruitment, we need to find a way to improve our scope but I'm still thinking about how how to achieve thatAVERAGE LEAGUE ATTENDANCE – 29868 up 267 SEASON TICKET SALES – 4901 up 58 I do appreciate the improvement even though it is only incremental in nature. Maybe next season we can break the 5000 mark with regards to season tickets. Curiously, our average ticket prices are only £19.08 which ranks 4th in the league and our season tickets are £327 which is 5th in the league. Given our success that is an absolute bargain, come and watch the 2 time European Champions for less than a score, we should be selling out a lot more games than we do but we suffer because of the poor support of the lower clubs in the league (why we can't just slash their allocation to near zero I don't know) REPUTATION DEVELOPMENT League Reputation – Unexpected given the poor performances of the N. Irish teams in Europe but any boost I'll take. I was especially pleased to see this, one less round to have to go through is always welcomeClub Domestic Reputation – Sitting pretty on top which is nice. Was very disappointed to see Glentoran put in such a dreadful performance in the league, they didn't win a single game and once again the top flight loses one of the better supported teams. At least Glenavon will be back in the 2nd tier next season. I'm hoping that the couple of seasons Glentoran spent in the top flight has given them the finances to bounce back much more easily than previously, after all they are getting relegated out of a much better league than the last time they spent a season in the top flight in 2035/36 when it was the 40th most reputable league in EuropeClub European Reputation – Wavy gravy, need to consistently do well in Europe if this is going to improve at all PREVIOUS 5 SEASONS 2053/2054 DBP & Irish Cup Winners, 1st KR of UCL and M.O.T.Y. 2054/2055 DBP, Irish Cup, League Cup & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, UCL Winners and M.O.T.Y. 2055/2056 DBP, Irish Cup, League Cup & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, FIFA CWC Winners and M.O.T.Y. 2056/2057 DBP & League Cup Winners, 4th in UCL Group and M.O.T.Y. 2057/2058 DBP, League Cup & Co. Antrim Shield Winners, 1st KR of UCL and M.O.T.Y. TROPHY CABINET Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted September 25, 2016 Author Share Posted September 25, 2016 Playing the attribute game Having seen the struggle for the club to take the next step and become perennial challengers for the Champions League I think it's time to adapt the way in which I'm playing the game. The tactic is solid after many refinements and the infrastructure behind the scenes has been built to an extent where we should be capable of success. The only thing lacking is the performances on the pitch which I feel comes down to the players. After reading some of the great articles on the tactical forum I've come to understand that the star ratings are practically meaningless and the game is all about attributes and getting the right attributes to match the style of play which is to be adopted (Club DNA) while also getting in the right sort of personalities and traits into the squad. The game I want my team to play is a patient, short passing game when going forward which depends on good movement and intelligence to create space when attacking and a low block when defending to encourage the opponent to pull themselves out of shape leaving themselves exposed to counter attacking opportunities. As a result I've settled on the following 'Club DNA' (listed in descending importance) : 1) First Touch Described as how easily the player can get the ball under control and set it up appropriately for the next action. This is the most vital aspect of playing the passing game that the tactic seeks to adopt. I want my players to be confident on the ball which should help with ball retention and buildup play. If this is poor I can see it having an adverse affect on our ability to retain the ball which is fundamental to our style of play. 2) Acceleration Described as how easily the player can get up to maximum speed. It would also be useful if the player has good pace also but as I want to play a lower tempo game what I'm seeking is the ability of my players to easily lose their markers and find space with short bursts of acceleration. Higher acceleration allows this as players can dart off into space and be the first to loose balls which is all important when trying to retain possession. It should also help us defensively as should they break our two defensive lines our players should be able to keep up with them more easily. 3) Decisions Described as how capable the player is of evaluating the options available to them. This is really important as I want my players to make smart choices when on the ball and off the ball. 4) Anticipation Described as how well a player can predict the movement of teammates and opposition players. I need my players to have good awareness of their environment and be able to correctly predict how the play is going to develop which in conjunction with the good decisions attribute should see them controlling the space around them rather than reacting to it. 5) Composure Described as how well a player can cope with pressure when making decisions. This is important as it dictates how willing my players will be to adhere to the passing game. Should they succumb to pressure easily they will act in rash and unpredictable ways which can only hurt the style of play I want to adopt. These 5 key attributes should be the baseline for all players (except Goalkeepers). Using the scale of 1-20 given I therefore consider 10 to be the baseline for which the attribute of the player would be considered competent. Therefore my new signing policy will be that anybody which falls below 50 when all the attributes are added will not be signed. This allows for a player to have say FT 11 ACC 10 DEC 9 ANT 10 COM 10, therefore attributes below the baseline in one aspect can be compensated for with great attributes in other departments. I will also be slightly more lenient with players with a lot of room to develop (U20s) and train additional attributes that are a weakness. I've also added the following 'Positional DNA' as I feel there are certain attributes I want from specific roles in the team in addition to the 'Club DNA' : Central Defender (Defend) DCL DCR Heading, Marking, Tackling, Positioning, Jumping Reach, Strength Full Back (Support) DR Marking, Passing, Tackling, Positioning, Stamina Full Back (Attack) DL Crossing, Marking, Tackling, Off the Ball, Positioning, Stamina Central Midfielder (Defend) MCL Marking, Passing, Tackling, Positioning, Stamina, Passing, Technique Central Midfielder (Support) MCR Passing, Technique, Off the Ball, Positioning, Stamina Wide Midfielder (Support) ML Dribbling, Passing, Technique, Off the Ball, Vision, Stamina Wide Midfielder (Attack) MR Crossing, Dribbling, Passing, Technique, Off the Ball, Pace, Stamina Advanced Playmaker (Attack) AMC Dribbling, Passing, Technique, Flair, Off the Ball, Vision Advanced Forward (Attack) STC Dribbling, Finishing, Heading, Off the Ball, Agility, Balance, Flair I feel if that I use these attributes to guide my player recruitment and player development that I can turn the club around and put together better performances on the pitch. In my next post I'll give an analysis of the current first team squad and how they match up to the new philosophy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted September 25, 2016 Author Share Posted September 25, 2016 Central Defenders Andreas Jorgensen : Club DNA 60/100 Not bad but his first touch is lacking Darko Millicevic : Club DNA 61/100 Marginally better than Jorgensen which means that he should operate in the system slightly above average Jean-Charles Lambert : Club DNA 65/100 Even though he is not considered one of our best defenders he matches the key attributes the best so far Paddy Woods : Club DNA 62/100 Another middling player who while a great defender is only going to perform above average in the system Eivind Hamre : Club DNA 64/100 Our final first team defender again in the mid 60s for attributes Overall, the impression I gather is that these players lack confidence on the ball and haven't got the best acceleration. I am however encouraged that the youngest Hamre who can still develop is at the upper end of the scale so can be made to suit the system better with time. As the other defenders are approaching the later stages of their career perhaps over time this can be improved by bringing through younger central defenders which are more suited. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted September 25, 2016 Author Share Posted September 25, 2016 Full Backs Jim Hodge : Club DNA 64/100 His composure lets him down slightly as the other attributes are good so he will be made to work on that additionally Alex Simon : Club DNA 63/100 A little bit average but very good acceleration Michael Gilmore : Club DNA 56/100 The poorest so far, he has a good personality but he is approaching the end of his ability to develop physically if he hasn't reached it already Filip Svilar : Club DNA 66/100 Not bad Maybe for players in the defensive strata perhaps mid-high 60s is probably a good number to aim for as the majority seem to cluster around this range. Perhaps the left back area will be an area of interest to invest in getting a player which more closely matches the Club DNA. If I can get a few players above 70 I think I'll be well on the way to having a team which is comfortable in playing from the back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted September 25, 2016 Author Share Posted September 25, 2016 Central Midfielders Anthony Schaap : Club DNA 62/100 I'm a little disappointed as although he doesn't have an attribute below 10 he doesn't really have any great attributes either Eric Asante : Club DNA 68/100 Nearly above 70 but another player who would benefit from being more composed on the ball Tim Ros : Club DNA 67/100 A more attacking minded central midfielder so I'm not overly happy to not break the 70 mark Still not breaking the 70 mark is a little disappointing and I will definitely be looking for a central midfielder that does. We need to control the middle of the park to make our passing game work well and the fact is as it stands we don't as these players are only slightly above average in their ability to control the ball. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted September 25, 2016 Author Share Posted September 25, 2016 Wide Midfielders Mohamed Amrani : Club DNA 64/100 An average player with respect to the DNA but a good performer in the team so I am a little conflicted about him Alexander Gartner : Club DNA 70/100 Our first player which breaks the 70 mark which I'm very pleased about, he also is still developing Elouan Guerin : Club DNA 70/100 Very suited to the role in the team and the system which we play so will be a regular player Ariel Liccardo : Club DNA 67/100 His mental attributes will need to improve which should happen as he ages Brian Lecky : Club DNA 67/100 The 21 year old matches the DNA as much as the much older Liccardo so in a short time could surpass him Fernando : Club DNA 65/100 He may not get that many games so I may take some of the interested clubs up on any offer that comes in I'm pleased to an extent but would much prefer if my wide midfielders were more composed on the ball as they are likely to find themselves in advanced positions where they are likely to come under pressure from the opposition. If I can find better I'll try to but we seem to be heavily stacked in these positions so players will have to leave before I can try to find more suitable players. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted September 25, 2016 Author Share Posted September 25, 2016 Advanced Playmakers Jiri Mucha : Club DNA 71/100 I have to say that I expect much better from my playmaker and want a player who is at least 80/100 as they are the person that dictates the play in the final third Colin Richardson : Club DNA 62/100 Nowhere near the required standard and it's no surprise that we lack assists from players in the role I most definitely will need to invest and find a quality playmaker who can control the play more effectively. I may need to look toward the more experienced end of the spectrum so that I can find a player with high enough mental attributes to go with the required demands of the technical attributes. Having a bit of flair would also be welcome as I need a degree of unpredictability from the player. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted September 25, 2016 Author Share Posted September 25, 2016 Advanced Forwards Siaka Zongo : Club DNA 75/100 Very good, if he had a slightly better first touch and was more composed he would be a truly top striker but for the wage and his age I think I could do better Neil Murphy : Club DNA 68/100 Way below the standard that we need, given that he's valued at £10M and was signed on a free there would be no harm in shipping him out Rachid El Amrani : Club DNA 69/100 Has some way to go but at such a young age there is every chance he can make it eventually I would really like a 80+ for my striker as more than any other role in the team they will need to show all aspects of the Club DNA most clearly. Therefore I'm looking for an attribute value of at least 16 in each to get what I'm looking for, it may come at the cost of other attributes such as finishing etc but I am willing to sacrifice that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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