If at first you don't succeed, blame the game and try again - A San Marino Youth Challenge 2.0

[Bedese]

Turns out Spezia are really good. I don't know why I expected otherwise.

[BoxToBox]

This is why I save about 10 times an in game week.

I'd save at half time in games, if I could.

[Bedese]

1 minute ago, BoxToBox said:

This is why I save about 10 times an in game week.

I'd save at half time in games, if I could.

Imagine the world of cheating possibilities that would open up  

[BoxToBox]

1 minute ago, Jupjamie said:

Imagine the world of cheating possibilities that would open up  

It'd be insane!

[Jimbokav1971]

I lost from Nov 2026 to the penultimate game of 2027. 

I didn't get out of the Champions League group stage 1st time around, but when re-playing it, resukts were better and I finished 3rd so made the Europa League knockout rounds. I felt dirty though and was thinking about throwing the 1st knosckout round, onkly to be drawn holders Man City.

Problem solved. ?

[Bedese]

7 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I lost from Nov 2026 to the penultimate game of 2027. 

I didn't get out of the Champions League group stage 1st time around, but when re-playing it, resukts were better and I finished 3rd so made the Europa League knockout rounds. I felt dirty though and was thinking about throwing the 1st knosckout round, onkly to be drawn holders Man City.

Problem solved. ?

It's nice when the game fixes your problems for you  

[Benjoe]

Interesting thread and a peculiar case with both HoYDs effects and league and club reputation going nowhere.

My thought on the HoYD situation is, that it makes sense that only a few of the players brought through the intake is affected by his personality and style. The better he is the more he affects them, perhaps? 
But as it says in the message from the YI he has ie "had a notable influence in bringing through xx and yy with coaching style and personality". This indicates that only some of the players have been affected by him and that the rest of the players are generated by various other factors. These could probably include all sorts of factors, like club history of players and style, squad personality, tactics practiced, national tendencies (if there are any),  coaching styles of other staff members etc. I've had numerous players who came through the YI and had other coaches as favorites but without the HoYD being one which could indicate their influence. 

Your club and league reputation not going forward - actually decreasing - despite succes in league and some international succes is a bit weird. Could it be some national factor due to population or lack of international succes from the national team or something? Or maybe just some weird bug that happens in that particular league. 

Anyways it's quite cool with all the excel work you're doing! Sad about the loss of some save progress but you'll recoup it quickly! Keep it up mate.

[Bedese]

On 30/09/2016 at 16:26, Benjoe said:

Interesting thread and a peculiar case with both HoYDs effects and league and club reputation going nowhere.

My thought on the HoYD situation is, that it makes sense that only a few of the players brought through the intake is affected by his personality and style. The better he is the more he affects them, perhaps? 
But as it says in the message from the YI he has ie "had a notable influence in bringing through xx and yy with coaching style and personality". This indicates that only some of the players have been affected by him and that the rest of the players are generated by various other factors. These could probably include all sorts of factors, like club history of players and style, squad personality, tactics practiced, national tendencies (if there are any),  coaching styles of other staff members etc. I've had numerous players who came through the YI and had other coaches as favorites but without the HoYD being one which could indicate their influence. 

Your club and league reputation not going forward - actually decreasing - despite succes in league and some international succes is a bit weird. Could it be some national factor due to population or lack of international succes from the national team or something? Or maybe just some weird bug that happens in that particular league. 

Anyways it's quite cool with all the excel work you're doing! Sad about the loss of some save progress but you'll recoup it quickly! Keep it up mate.

The problem is, it's pretty much impossible to test that HOYD theory out without a whole lot of time spent doing research using the editor. You might be right (personally I suspect you are), but there's no feasible way to check.

From @endtime's excellent research, it seems like the club reputation goes down because that we're so much better than all the other teams in San Marino, and drawing or losing to them in the league means our reputation takes a huge hit (because our reputation outweighs theirs by so much, the game sees that as a huge upset and one that means we should lose a load of points.) But we don't get any rep points for winning domestic games, because the other teams have such a low rep - so domestic football is essentially a reputation minefield.

The league rep is presumably just because our own club rep fluctuates, but everyone else in San Marino's rep is pretty much through the floor. The weakest team in Andorra is way out ahead of the highest rep team in San Marino beside ourselves. So we can't ever really progress, because we're being weighed down by everyone else.

Thank you for your comments  

[Bedese]

Youth Intake Day!

This is getting ridiculous now.

[Bedese]

Season Review!

League

We drew too many games and the playoffs were tougher than they should have been, but we got the job done in the end. We played La Florita twice and didn't beat them either time, which is the first time in a long, long time that's happened. I don't know for sure, but I'd be very surprised if it had happened before in the last 50 years.

Schedule

Squad

Simone Zafferani (YP141) and Remo Serao (YP131) are excellent on the wings.

Other Teams: All lost in the First Qualifying Round of Europa.

[Benjoe]

Jesus. What a YI, time to pop the champagne! 

1 hour ago, Jupjamie said:

The problem is, it's pretty much impossible to test that HOYD theory out without a whole lot of time spent doing research using the editor. You might be right (personally I suspect you are), but there's no feasible way to check.

From @endtime's excellent research, it seems like the club reputation goes down because that we're so much better than all the other teams in San Marino, and drawing or losing to them in the league means our reputation takes a huge hit (because our reputation outweighs theirs by so much, the game sees that as a huge upset and one that means we should lose a load of points.) But we don't get any rep points for winning domestic games, because the other teams have such a low rep - so domestic football is essentially a reputation minefield.

The league rep is presumably just because our own club rep fluctuates, but everyone else in San Marino's rep is pretty much through the floor. The weakest team in Andorra is way out ahead of the highest rep team in San Marino beside ourselves. So we can't ever really progress, because we're being weighed down by everyone else.

Thank you for your comments  

Yeah I realize it's going to be a real time-eater to actually test it out thoroughly enough to provide some evidence. I also just had a YI where 2 of the players allegedly came through by the influence of my HoYD, but both were 'balanced' and he is 'jovial' and one of them were a Wing Back and he doesn't use wing backs in either of his preferred formations.  It's kind of a confusing situation. 

Oh, well in that case it's been figured out why, but it's still ridiculous as it makes it impossible to do anything to progress unless you have a massive campaign internationally to get some progress. Really difficult to progress and with those players - if you can call them that - that's coming through your YI it looks hard if possible even. 

We're the one's thanking!  

[Bedese]

Yeah, we haven't had too much luck with our last few intakes  

[Bedese]

[Bedese]

That's better  

[Bedese]

The worst draw possible by a country mile. The difference in quality between their squad and ours is laughable.

[Bedese]

I hate them just as much as Dinamo.

[Bedese]

Montpellier are a good team, but considering the other options were Porto and Roma, I'll take this one.

[Bedese]

Hmm...

[Bedese]

So, this second leg is kind of a big deal. It's been 13 years since we've made the groups, and our finances are absolutely horrific because of it. If we want to actually make some progress in this save, we need to become Europa Group regulars sooner rather than later, and holding on against Montpellier would be huge.

 

With that said... could we hold on? Or would we buckle under the pressure?

 

 

 

 

 

We're back in the groups! We had an absolute shocker at the back to gift them two goals, but a thunderbolt from Marino Berti (YP137) and a composed finish from Silvano Zonzini meant that it ultimately didn't matter. Here we go  

[Bedese]

It's not the easiest of groups, but there were harder ones out there. Hopefully we can nick a point against someone and improve our coefficient and finances.

[RCtheOnly]

Been following your progress in this thread for a while and I'm impressed by your determination to continue despite the setbacks with your reputation and recent youth intakes, hopefully getting into the groups can give you some financial stability for some years. Make San Giovanni great (?) again!

[Bedese]

36 minutes ago, RCtheOnly said:

Been following your progress in this thread for a while and I'm impressed by your determination to continue despite the setbacks with your reputation and recent youth intakes, hopefully getting into the groups can give you some financial stability for some years. Make San Giovanni great (?) again!

Thanks RC!

[Bedese]

[BoxToBox]

Cracking bit of progress currently.

Hopefully a bit of coin and chance to kick on.

[Bedese]

20 minutes ago, BoxToBox said:

Cracking bit of progress currently.

Hopefully a bit of coin and chance to kick on.

Thanks BoxtoBox  

[Bedese]

We had a pretty good campaign, with that point in our last game a just reward for our efforts.

[Ceching You Out]

 

5 hours ago, Jupjamie said:

 

We're back in the groups! We had an absolute shocker at the back to gift them two goals, but a thunderbolt from Marino Berti (YP137) and a composed finish from Silvano Zonzini meant that it ultimately didn't matter. Here we go  

 

If anyone else wants to know their future, just let me know. I'm only clairvoyant on the second Tuesday of every other month, so plan your questions accordingly.

[jengaehassim]

YES! Did you make any changes to the tactic? How do you feel it's working against stronger clubs?

 

7 hours ago, Jupjamie said:

 

Poor @Ceching You Out

[Bedese]

Thanks guys  

@jengaehassim, since I posted the 4-1-4-1 originally, I've only tweaked the mentality (changed it from defensive to counter), the RM from being a wide midfielder to a W(A) because we needed a lot more strength going forward, and then a couple of player instructions, which are:

 

GK: Distribute to FBs, take short kicks, slow pace down (we don't have a physical presence upfront, so I'd rather keep it short and retain possession than hoof it up and have to fight for the second ball).

FBs: Shoot less often, Dribble less, Stay wider, Run wide with ball - I want my FBs to provide width and support the wingers, but can't afford them to get caught in possession.

BBM: Get further forward - When we attack, having the BBM look to get involved opens up a lot more opportunities, and it's rare that he ever gets caught too far upfield.

DLF: Roam from position, Move into channels - With a lone striker who's not a physical presence, we have to have him moving around and dragging defenders with him. If he's standing static in the centre, all they have to do is stick a CB on him and we're absolutely screwed.

 

The only team instruction I have on at all is 'low crosses'. Here's what it looks like, just to show you:

It's still not perfect - and as I say that, I realise the perfect opportunity to test and tweak things would have been the Europa group games. Damnit. I'm happy with it defensively (I blame our woeful defenders for the goals we concede, rather than the tactic), but there's a few things I'd like to improve when we're on the ball. Most notably is that the team - especially when playing from deep - are too happy to just whack the ball forwards to no-one in particular, squandering possession and putting us right back under pressure.

Now, fixing that could be a case of just setting the team to shorter passing - but doing that could also completely change the way the team plays and make us far less effective. There's a real nuance to the tactical side of the game, and I'm trying to go about it in a smarter way than I perhaps have been doing in past seasons, where I'd change a few things at once because I felt the tactic needed them, but then not be able to assess how each instruction had altered the playing style, both on it's own and in combination with the others.

 

[deltablue]

Well done on an improved European season. 

[Bedese]

1 hour ago, deltablue said:

Well done on an improved European season. 

Thanks Delta  

[Ceching You Out]

21 hours ago, jengaehassim said:

YES! Did you make any changes to the tactic? How do you feel it's working against stronger clubs?

 

Poor @Ceching You Out

I forgot to add my customary "BOOOOOOOO!" when I see Avenir Beggen losing in someone else's game 

[Bedese]

12 hours ago, Ceching You Out said:

I forgot to add my customary "BOOOOOOOO!" when I see Avenir Beggen losing in someone else's game 

To be fair, 6-0 is actually pretty decent for them  

[Bedese]

Youth Intake Day!

 

 He looks good. He's not fantastic currently, but we do need a DM (we have one in the entire squad and he's not that good), and it's been so long since we've had anyone worth tagging we'll just take what we can get. Hopefully he can hit that 4* PA.

 

He doesn't look great, but his potential makes him worth tagging.

 

Ditto.

 

 

[Bedese]

Season Review!

League

We needed extra time in the final, but promptly pumped four past La Florita. It's going well.

Schedule

Squad

No-one really worth talking about, this year. 

Other Teams: All lost in the First Qualifying Round of Europa.

[Bedese]

[Bedese]

[Bedese]

They're a good team, but this is the kind of game we need to win if we want to properly progress in Europe.

[Bedese]

We absolutely battered them. We had 7 half chances, they had 1 CCC (and it didn't really look that clear cut, to be honest). We scrambled one home from a corner, but couldn't find a second goal. A 1-0 home win does set us up nicely, but I wish we could have converted another chance.

[Bedese]

That's why I wanted the second goal. They finished their chances better than we did in the away leg, and we're sent packing in a winnable tie because of it.

[Bedese]

Sigh.

[Bedese]

I have two possible explanations for this game:

1: Roma are really, really bad at shooting.

2: Jacopo Casadei (YP135) has discovered a new breed of supersteroids.

Right now, I'm thinking it's both. Casadei had a 9.4. He saved 16 shots, including a penalty. The record for the most shots saved in any WC match in history is Tim Howard - with 15. After extra time. The BPL record is 14. Out of the 29 GKs to save a shot in the BPL this season, 17 have saved less since the season started than Casadei did in 90 minutes.

Essentially, Casadei might have had the best day of any goalkeeper in football history. I feel proud.

[BoxToBox]

The Great Wall of San Giovanni, as he's also known.

[Bedese]

Well, we made them work for it.

[beardymouse]

What an incredible thread - you have some incredible patience! Thanks for sharing

Do you think the falling quality of youth intakes is attributable to the downgrading of your facilities? Any chance of spending that EURO money on upgrading before it's all gone?

[Bedese]

2 hours ago, beardymouse said:

What an incredible thread - you have some incredible patience! Thanks for sharing

Do you think the falling quality of youth intakes is attributable to the downgrading of your facilities? Any chance of spending that EURO money on upgrading before it's all gone?

Thank you!

As far as I know, it shouldn't be. Junior Coaching is related to how high your players CA is the day they enter your academy - that's been at the highest level possible since near the start of the save, so it shouldn't be a reason for our quality of intakes wavering so much.

Youth facilities and training facilities only affect the rate at which your players develop - so how fast they convert CA into PA. Now, that's not really the problem for us (we could do better at it with better facilities, but it's not hugely detrimental as things stand).

The problem is all down to youth recruitment, which is the real key to intake day, as that's what affects the overall quality of the players you get in your intake. Ours is on the lowest level possible and it has been since the very start. We can't upgrade it due to reputation (if you didn't see it, endtime did a fantastic post on why our reputation is staying so low a couple of pages back). Until we get that up, we can't expect for any miracles to happen in the intakes, and we'll basically have to work with what we've got.

I don't think I'm going to spend any of my Europa earnings on facilities. It would be nice to have them at a higher level, but I'm more concerned about just keeping money in the pot, as boring as that sounds. We pretty much run at a loss every season, and when your finances get you into danger, your chairman decides to sell everyone at the club when a bid comes in for them, no matter how pathetic the bid is. Are our facilities holding us back? Possibly very slightly - but it's nowhere near the reduction in quality we'd face if our chairman sold our best players because money was tight.

 

[dynaboyj]

God, that Jacopo Casadei is insane. Shame it didn't come to anything, but maybe like Tim Howard he'll be immortalized for those saves.

[deltablue]

Pity you couldn't finish Partizan off when you had the chance.

[Bedese]

I just want to thank you guys for all the support you've given me over these two saves. At the FMCU awards we were nominated for a staggering 5/10 of the awards - Best Thread Name, Best Fountain of Youth Career, Best Newcomer, Best FMCU thread and Best Manager. Those last two are especially crazy to me - Best FMCU thread because it's absolutely awesome that 1 or more of you found this thread the most enjoyable to read on the entire board this year, and Best Manager because after 200 years of winning absolutely f*** all, someone decided that my failure to understand what a defensive tactic is was worth a vote  

I actually won the 'Best Newcomer' award, which is amazing. Genuinely, I'm thrilled to bits with that. If you voted for this thread in anything, thank you so much. If you didn't, thank you for reading and joining along with me on this wacky journey, and I hope you've enjoyed it.

My aim is to carry on with this save at least until FM 17 comes out, and maybe even beyond that. Which gives us enough time to try and achieve something in Europe. Lets have at it!

Forza San Giovanni!

[Bedese]

Youth Intake Day!

We could actually do with a new keeper, although he'll have a hard job replacing Jacopo 'the brick wall' Casadei.