[FM17] Football, fire and ice: The inside story of Iceland's remarkable rise.

[Jimbokav1971]

8 minutes ago, nie jem frytek said:

Reading @Makoto Nakamura thread I saw FK Mladost Lučani leading Serbian league. Since "Mladost" means "Youth" in Serbian I think that it is good candidate for your FM 2018 save @Jimbokav1971. OK, you have played in Serbia in (on?) FM 2016, but don't stop reading here. You can move to Montenegro (rather not popular league) and play with Mladost Podgorica (actually good club for the league they're from). There are more club with "Youth" in their name. AJ Auxerre in France for example, "J" stands for "Youth" here. Jeunesse Esch from Luxembourg, since "Jeunesse" is the "J" from Auxerre's name. I think Juventus Turin is too good club for this kind of save, but wait, there's more. Maybe Gençlerbirliği S.K. from Turkey, another blast from Makoto's thread and it literally means "Youth Union". Another crack at Regensburg would be puntastic too.

I didn't know any of that so thanks. 

Might not go for Serbia again so soon, but it's still good to know. 

I almost started in France this year, ( love the idea of lots of 2nd Nationality and foreigners coming through the ranks). My ptrference in France would actuallly be for a team right down South such as Marseille, Montpellier, Toulouse orCannes, but that was before I knew about the J in AJ Auxerre. 

You are correct that Juve are too good, but I certainly have unfinished business at Regensburg and Gençlerbirliği S.K are a good futr option. 

Thanks again. 

[Koetzer]

There is also YF Juventus in Switzerland lower leagues, sometimes I saw them promoted to playable tires.

[Jellico73]

18 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I almost started in France this year, ( love the idea of lots of 2nd Nationality and foreigners coming through the ranks). My ptrference in France would actuallly be for a team right down South such as Marseille, Montpellier, Toulouse orCannes, but that was before I knew about the J in AJ Auxerre. 

I'm having a blast with my USL Dunkerque save.

 

Jellico73

Edited March 10, 2017 by Jellico73

[nie jem frytek]

13 hours ago, Koetzer said:

There is also YF Juventus in Switzerland lower leagues, sometimes I saw them promoted to playable tires.

I've found another Juventus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CS_Juventus_București

[noikeee]

If we're talking clubs on that theme, the classic one is Young Boys in Switzerland. 

[Jimbokav1971]

I have just had a conversation that I thought I would share with you. 

Model Pro OCD. 

Akkarin

Started conversation: 22 minutes ago · Report

Hi Jim - I hope you don't mind me reaching out to you through a PM. I should warn you that the message below discusses the background mechanics for what constitutes a Model Pro in FM17 (and my questions around whether there has been a change to that), so if you do not want to know about that - please discontinue reading. 

  Hide contents

 

I have been looking into Model Pros a bit in my save, as in previous version I used to get Model Pros through in youth intakes relatively frequently (particularly as I keep a high professionalism HOYD), but this year I haven't seen any. As such I noticed that I did not in fact have any coming through, and started looking around more generally. I found very few, so I decided to look under the hood (through a scouting tool) for the first time, and found that the ones I have scouting knowledge of that has Professionalism of 20 and Amb 10-20 (which should make Model Pro) that are actually classified as Model Pro in the game are all older than 23. There are several, and I have some in my squad, that have the same, but are younger than 23 but are classified as Professional rather than Model Pro. 

As you run a youth save and have Model Pro OCD, could I ask if you have experienced something similar? Do you by any chance have Model Pros in your Iceland game that are below 23? 

I am not sure if this is an issue of 17.3.1 only, or if it started occurring with FM17 more generally. I certainly did not have any Model Pros in my squad before 17.3.1, but I have one regen that has Pro 20, and Amb 12 that has never been classified as Model Pro and he's been around for a few years in game and before 17.3.1. 

I just wonder if this is a conscious decision that they have made, and that the Personality guides therefore need updating, or if it is a bug of some kind, but I did not get a lot of response when I posted on it in the Tactics and Training forum (albeit that I only did so yesterday). 

 

Many thanks for your help, and again I hope you don't mind me reaching out. 

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Jimbokav1971

Replied: 5 minutes ago · Report

Interesting question.

The truth is that I don't know the answer to the question you pose and actually the info I am going off goes all the way back to 2014 so it's very possible that the info I am going on is now out of date and is no longer correct. 

Going a little further back, I'm pretty sure that I got Model Pro's appearing aged less than 23 in FM15, but really only dabbled with FM16 so really can't comment on that. 

I have looked, "under the hood" a little on FM17, but I hadn't noticed this and it's not something I want to do on this current save for obvious reasons. 

I will have to keep an eye on it I think. 

Do you mind if I post these messages in my thread?

----------

 

Akkarin

Replied: 1 minute ago · Report

I am certain that I had Model Pros coming through the youth system in FM16, so it's definitely new with this version (just not sure if it was before or after the update). I had a mod saying that Driven personality had some changes to it by design, so could be that Model Pro did with the update as well... 

No I don't mind at all, I am interested in the answer quite genuinely, and might even be interested to have a crack at updating the base info people are using. 

----------

It would be nice to hear some comments from others on this as to  what you have experienced in your FM17 save with regards to this.

[Rikulec]

I've just had a read through your thread. I admire how dedicated you are to your saves and how detailed the descriptions you provide are. Also, it's Iceland. I hope you'll be back in the Champions League next season.

[Jimbokav1971]

"Kriss" 10. (25a) Páll (F.Pro) (2025) *.

Season 1. 2 appearances in initial part-season.
Season 2. 18 appearances including 4 assists.
Season 3. 22 appearances including 3 assists.
Season 4. 24 appearances including 1 goal and 3 assists.
Season 5. 22 appearances.
Season 6. 24 appearances including 1 assist.
Season 7. 21 appearances including 1 goal and 3 assists.
Season 8. 19 appearances including 1 goal and 2 assists.
Season 9. 20 appearances including 2 goals.
Season 10. 20 appearances including 3 assists. 

Summary. While there is no doubt that (25a) Páll (F.Pro) (2025) * has, is and will continue to be a key player for us, in the grand scheme of things, he actually isn't that good. 

He already has 12 Senior National Team Caps, (together with 24 U21 Caps and 3 U21 goals), so it's clear that while left back has been a weakness for us, (he is our best player in that position and is only rated at 2.5 PA stars), it is also a weakness for the senior Icelandic team. We could really do with getting a 4.5 or a 5.0 PA left back through in the next couple of years, but just because we need one, does not mean that's what we will get. FM doesn't work like that I'm afraid.

[noikeee]

23 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

We could really do with getting a 4.5 or a 5.0 PA left back through in the next couple of years, but just because we need one, does not mean that's what we will get. FM doesn't work like that I'm afraid.

Or life.

He's "fairly inconsistent", too. I hate inconsistent players, never play to their level. Burn him.

[alaouskie]

Maybe try Greece next year? Also just read through this and I'm getting anal about the logos lol great save!

[Jimbokav1971]

4 hours ago, alaouskie said:

Maybe try Greece next year? Also just read through this and I'm getting anal about the logos lol great save!

It's the player names that put me off Greece. 

What about the logo's? The lack of them?

[alaouskie]

3 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

It's the player names that put me off Greece. 

What about the logo's? The lack of them?

How you arent using real logos for some teams  im anal about it lol

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, alaouskie said:

How you arent using real logos for some teams  im anal about it lol

The truth is that I never have so I don't know what I'm missing. 

I recently had a chat with @FMAcidphire21 on twitter and he spends time doing kits and stuff and said he couldn't play without it now. It all just seems a bit meh! to me. 

I'm sure if I played just once with updated kits and logo's, (I don't even have the real competition fix installed), then I would be need to do it year on year, but it really doesn't bother me in the slightest, (even when I don't know which Portugese team is which). 

[DazRTaylor]

I love an Icelandic save.  Goood stuff.  I tool FC Huginn to the league title earlier this year and thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Jimbokav1971]

Sponsorship windfall. Mar 2035.

£825 over 5 years? I think I need a new....... whoever agreed to this deal. 

[Jimbokav1971]

12 hours ago, DazRTaylor said:

I love an Icelandic save.  Goood stuff.  I tool FC Huginn to the league title earlier this year and thoroughly enjoyed it.

You did well, because they are not exactly setting the World alight in this save. 

 

[noikeee]

15 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Sponsorship windfall. Mar 2035.

£825 over 5 years? I think I need a new....... whoever agreed to this deal. 

It's 825£ more than you'd have without the deal. That's profit already. Don't be greedy.

[Jimbokav1971]

10 Players called up to Senior Icelandic squad. Mar 2035.

The previous highest was 9 players called up to the senior squad. 

Of the 23 man squad, an additional 5 players are a product of our academy bit have since moved on to other clubs. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Horror start to 2035 Season.

That's really poor. I am actually playing this season for the 2nd time after my laptop and I lost most of the previous attempt. I know for a fact that we won the League Cup the first time, (conceding just 1 goal in the process), and then also went and won the Charity Shield comfortably before going on a run of victories in the league without conceding a goal. I had changed the tactics in that save and in attempting to do the same things again I have obviously blundered. 

The writing was on the wall when we conceded 5 goals before the Semi-Fina of the League Cup, and after losing the Semi and conceding 2 goals I sort of knew we were in trouble. FH gave us the hiding we deserved and then Fram made sure that I realised that it wasn't just a Cup thing. 

I have gone back to basics in an attempt to re-create a solid tactic and if need be I will go to 3 at the back, (I think I actually have a sweeper too). 

[kandersson]

quick info if you're still interested: after 17.3 update the debski hair pack has become slightly faulty (see the case of the ugly Ribeiro) but the 2016 pack is now working quite well!

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Day 2035. 

That's a pretty good intake for a few different reasons. 

1. The positions that we are in most need of are left back and left wing. We got a 5.0 left back so I am not complaining at all.
2. What we often find is if we get a 5.0 player, then the average standard of the other players will be low. In this case we have 5 more players at 3,0 or higher, (which is pretty good).
3. An area where we are quite weak, (although not as weak as our left side), is up front, so it's good that we got a couple of options there too. 
4. The professionalism within the intake is phenomenal! 8 of the 16 players in the intake are (F.Pro) or better, and then we have 2x (L.Det) which could be anything between 5-20. That's very good when you consider that my HoYD is..... [goes to check].... is a (Pro) actually so that makes sense. I haven't become involved with signing staff, (even HoyD), because basically I just can't be bothered to. If I see that the DoF, (signing staff is his only role), has signed a duffer, then I just sack him and let him sign another one. 
5. The determination levels are a negative, but it's really not an issue. 
6. The workrate attributes look good. 
7. The GK looks decent too straight out of the box. 

"Kriss" 20. (35a) Valdi (F.Pro) (2035) *.

The latest "Kriss" doesn't look that special I admit, but when you consider that (35g) Jón Rag (Bal) has more potential than our best current left back, then it speaks volumes for what a big step forward this will be. 

Left Back depth. 

(35b) Rafn Andri (Pro).

This GK might only have 4.0 PA, and we already have a GK with 3.5 CA & PA and another with 5.0 PA, but I just like his attribute balance. I think he will be a good GK if I lose either of the others. The fact that he is a (Pro) too is excellent news. 

 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, kandersson said:

quick info if you're still interested: after 17.3 update the debski hair pack has become slightly faulty (see the case of the ugly Ribeiro) but the 2016 pack is now working quite well!

If I'm honest, I quite like that some of the hair is faulty if it produces players like Ugly Ribeiro. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Am I in danger of being sacked? 

[Jimbokav1971]

2035 Season Update (Part 1)_. 

I'm going to do this season update in a different style because...... well because it's different to other seasons. 

Upper League Cup. 

I mentioned earlier that this is the 2nd time I have played this season after I suffered a crash. We conceded just 1 goal while winning the Upper League Cup the 1st time round and started the league season with a very impressive run of clean sheets. As a result, although we were winning, I knew that things weren't right when we conceded in 4 different Group games. When we conceded again in the Quarter-Finals, (and only won on penalties), I knew we were in trouble. If you look at the dates of the Quarter's and Semi's, you will see that there are just 3 days between them, (with another 3 days before the final). As a result I have developed a strategy of playing a 1st choice team in the Quarters and the Final and rotating the whole team for the Semi. Although we have lost Semi's over the years, I think this is a better tactic than playing tired players. As a result, when our 2nd string, (albeit not Reserves), lost in the Semi, it wasn't really a surprise at all. 

The Upper League Cup history shows us that the strategy of rotating players for the Semi has been relatively successful and since 2022 we have made the Final on all but 2 occasions previously, and this now makes a 3rd instance. However you look at it, it's not a good start to the season. 

 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

2035 Season. (Update 2). 

Although I knew that something was wrong, (I had overhauled the tactic during the close season), I mist admit that I had just got a bit used to pressing continue and then IR'ing the match so I didn't think too much of it and ploughed on regardless. I was given cause to regret this as we then conceded 4 goals in our equivalent of the Charity Shield 

Conceding 4 goals in a domestic game is just about unheard of, (in fact let's go back and check.... ok, it has happened a few times over the years) 

It was a real shock to the system though. Losing 1 of the Cups? Ok, things happen. Losing 2 in quick succession? I was starting to worry.

[Jimbokav1971]

2035 Season. (Update 3). 

We were into the league season now and I had to put our Cup frailties and our defensive woes behind us and hit the ground running. I started with a strong with few injuries and I was confident......

It proved to be false bravado or at at the very least miss-placed confidence as we dropped a whopping 12 points in the opening month where we played 7 games and won just twice. Usually this wouldn't have been a disaster and we would just over-haul our rivals and it would all be a lot of worry about nothing, but this season FH seemed to be on a roll and although we drew with them at their place in game #2, they didn't lose until game #9 when we beat them at our place. By this stage they had collected 21 points from 9 matches and although our win against them gave us  24 points, we had actually played 12 matches. They had games in hand and were playing well. We needed to really put pressure on them now and I make them crack and this would allow us an easy late-season romp to the title as normal. 

I had properly started a new tactic from scratch by this stage and I was at the very least hopeful of keeping things tight defensively, (I hate conceding any goals never mind about conceding regularly and God forbid 4 goals in 1 match.

No sooner had we beaten FH to go ahead of them on points, (albeit with them having 3 games in hand), then we immediately coughed up an easy 3 points to Grindavik as they played us at our own game and came out 1-0 winners at home in a game of few chances for either side. It was just one of those days I'm afraid and even in hindsight, there was nothing wrong with the tactic and nothing that I could have done, (at least not while being wiling to do no more than press the IR button). 

We remained unbeaten for the next 8 games, (drawing just twice), but it still wasn't enough for us to secure the title and FH were crowned Champions with 1 game remaining. 

It was a reasonable run of form, but nothing more than that. Being held to 0-0 away to KV is sort of understandable, but losing to Aegir at home is not. In mitigating circumstances, we had 36 players away on International duty when we drew to Aegir, but we still need to be winning these games. Having said that, usually this would still have been enough to overhaul FH, but on this occasion they just kept on performing and just didn't slip up as we needed them to.

FH form.  

You can't argue with form like that and I haven't got any complaints about them being crowned Champions. They deserved it so well done to them,  After we beat them in the 10th game, they dropped just 1 point between then and the end of the season. We did our bit with a win and a draw against them, but they were very good against everyone else. 

The last game of the season saw us already resigned to Runners Up and with this in mind I played a very young side. Needless to say, while the youngsters will have benefited from the experience, we lost again to end the season as we had started it, on a sour note. 

I guess that's what you get when you play a 16 year old up front with his only replacement also 16 years old. 

League Table.

It wasn't even close in the end. Like I said, FH were very worth winners.

To show you how much of a chock this was, here is the history for the Premier League in recent years. 

I suppose I need to have a look at what's the reason behind the improved performances and consistency of FH. 

 

[DazRTaylor]

After the start you had, second is good.

[Jimbokav1971]

International Call-Ups. Nov 2035. 

I'm pretty sure that 37 players called up at once is a record, and it also doesn't include the non-Icelandic players in the squad, of which we have 1 Serbian and 2 Portugese players currently in aged group squads. (Oh. Cancel that actually). I can see that 2 of the 3 have been included this time and squashed in beneath the (ISL) U21's.

• 8 in the (ISL) U19's.
• 18 in the (ISL) U21's. (That's pretty impressive out of a 23 man squad). 
• 1 in the (POR) U21's. 
• 1 in the (SRB) U21's.
• 9 in the (ISL) squad. (14 of the squad are actually products of our academy and we have 5 more players still at the club who have been capped for (ISL) at senior level but who are not included in this particular squad for whatever reason).

 

[Jimbokav1971]

National Team update. Nov 2035.

Spear-headed by the HK academy, the Icelandic National Team are slowly starting to get their act together. Second place doesn't auto-qualify you for the EURO's, but they are doing as well as they can be expected to do in that group, so no complaints from me.

 

 

[DazRTaylor]

What an outrageous academy!  40 of the 69 players picked for Icelandic national team duty come from HK.  

[Jimbokav1971]

21 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said:

What an outrageous academy!  40 of the 69 players picked for Icelandic national team duty come from HK.  

Yep. Things are developing nicely. There are some pretty decent players in that U21 squad so I would expect our Senior squad numbers to nothing but rise. 

[mjaferrie]

That's what it's all about!

[Jimbokav1971]

European Update. Dec 2035. 

Champions League.  Things were fine in the 2nd Qualifying Round and I was really pleased when we smashed Red Star Belgrade in the 3rd Qualifying Round and I sort of expected us to progress through the Playoffs and into the Group Stages. Although we played reasonably well in the away leg, (losing narrowly in a 7-goal thriller), the damage was done at home where we just didn't turn up and suffered a really poor 0-2 home defeat. 

I actually wasn't too bothered at all because it had crossed my mind before the Dinamo game whether or not I should "throw" the game to avoid another winless Champions League Group Stage, and instead replace it with a EUROPA League Group that we might have a chance of getting something out of, (other than money). In the end I decided not to, not that it made any difference as Dinamo obviously had their own ideas about playing in the Champions League Group Stages. 

Europa League Group Stages. We started with a wallopping of Villarreal that shocked me as much as it did them, and when we followed it up with a win over BATE I started to dream about the Knockout stages. Alas, reality soon set in and we were left trailing both Villarreal and Braga, but all in all I'm happy with both the European campaign as a whole and the EUROPA League in particular.   

[Jimbokav1971]

17 minutes ago, mjaferrie said:

That's what it's all about!

Thanks. Have been reading a lot of the other Youth threads this week but yours got pushed to back of list because it's 15 pages long. 

I'm sure I will catch u soon. 

[Jimbokav1971]

"Kriss" 11. (26a) Emil (Driven) (2026) *.

Season 1. 6(1) appearances including 1 goal and 1 assist. 
Season 2. 9(2) appearances including 2 goals and 2 assists. 
Season 3. 18(10) appearances including 5 goals and 7 assists. 
Season 4. 17(7) appearances including 3 goals and 5 assists. 
Season 5. 22(7) appearances including 3 goals and 6 assists. 
Season 6. No games played.
Transferred to Lyon in France for £5M.
Season 7(a). 0(5) appearances for Lyon. 
Season 7(b). 0(1) appearance for Lyon Reserves. 
Season 8(a). 1(8) appearances for Lyon.
Season 8(b). 15 appearances including 2 goals and 5 assists for Lyon Reserves. 
Season 9. 9(9) appearances including 1 goal and 6 assists while on loan at Besiktas in Turkey. 
Season 10(a). 7 appearances for Lyon. 
Season 10(b). 10 appearances including 2 assists for Lyon Reserves.
Transferred to Besiktas in Turkey for £2.1M.
Season 11. 5(2) appearances. 
Season 12. 10(12) appearances including 2 goals and 4 assists. 
Season 13. 17(5) appearances including 2 goals and 4 assists. 

Summary. (26a) Emil (Driven) (2026) * would have been a big player for us had he stayed, but the simple reality is that we couldn't afford to turn a bid of £5M down for him at that stage of the save. On the plus side, we did get to see him play for us for 5 seasons before he moved on and and it's often the case in saves like this where boig players leave before we really get a chance to see much of them at all. In hindsight it probably looks as if his move to France was a mistake, (at least from a playing point of view), however he has since moved to Turkey and looks like he has still got enough about him that he is able to resurrect his career. He would walk straight into our starting line-up at the moment so obviously I am keen to keep tabs on him. Although valued at £2.4M currently, my scout estimates that he might be available for between £4.8M-£7.25M. I would be willing to pay that in a second however his current wages of £17.25k per week is more than I am able/willing to spend. 

[Jimbokav1971]

The best player produced by the club during this save?

 

[Rikulec]

He looks cracking.

[Akkarin]

Wow but he looks tremendous - do you have a screenshot from around the time he was sold?

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Akkarin said:

Wow but he looks tremendous - do you have a screenshot from around the time he was sold?

There is a picture of him half way down page 12, (just before he was sold).

 

[kidthekid]

wow. Your academy is really doing wonders. Iceland's youth rating must be low, so that's outstanding

[Jimbokav1971]

U19's Champions League. 2035. 

I''m actually a big fan of this competition during the game, but I'm not sure that it's working as intended.

We miss out the Group stages and then come in at the First Qualifying Round. 

We moved through the 1st and 2nd Qualifying Rounds with ease, (after missing the Group Stage), and then went into the 1st Knockout Round. (I think the game has this wrong). We beat R.Madrid anyway before meeting Chelsea in the 2nd Qualifying Round, (who proved just too strong).

This is how the competition looks after our exit. 

I'm not managing these games or even selecting squads. I am doing nothing except nicking the best U19's for the Senior squad. I really need to give them a go with a full strength squad to see what they would do. It might even be worth me managing them just to win it once in this save. 

 

Edited March 25, 2017 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

13 hours ago, kidthekid said:

wow. Your academy is really doing wonders. Iceland's youth rating must be low, so that's outstanding

Things are going well in that respect, but it's been far from easy. 

All the way through this save I have tried to prioritise PA over CA where possible when it comes to selection, and that's really only changed in European games. It's the reason why we lose so many games, (relatively speaking). I'm pretty sure that if I prioritised league results ahead of European results then a perfect 100% domestic season would be a realistic aim and in the future perhaps even an effort at 0 league goals conceded might be worth a go. 

I have never withdrawn players from an International squad and in the last couple of years I don't even bother postponing games, (because the players are tired anyway after playing on International duty and all it does is create a fixture pile-up anyway). Instead I just let them get on with it, (37 players missing the last time). and play the games anyway. When and if I go for a 100% record or a 0 League goals against record then I might have to have a re-think over that. 

We are staying at £40M+ even with not qualifying for the Group stages of the Champions League for the last 2 years, (approx £10M per season lost), but actually it might be worth it in terms of coefficient points gained if we continue to do as well in the EUROPA League Group stages as we did this season. Wages have started to balloon though as I have managed to tie down some of our better players to longer contracts, and the playing side of the club has never been so strong. If we still had (27e) Rób Örn Pál (Pro) * at the club, (and let me point out to anyone who hasn't heard me on this subject before, that he was only the 5th best in terms of PA when he came through the academy so make of that what you will.......), then we would be not just qualifying for the Group Stages of the Champions League but progressing to the Knockout stages too. 

The following graphic speaks volumes about the current situation at the club. 

Striker depth.

You will see that 29yo (23a) Vífill (M.Pro) (2023) * is the only striker currently in the Senior Icelandic squad, and you will also notice that he has a CA of just 2.0 and his PA is 2.0 too. That's to be expected if I'm honest considering his age and I'm not complaining at all about him because he has done us proud. The problem is that he came through the academy in 2023 and it's 2035 now and although (32d) Viðar Árna (F.Pro), (29d) Örn Ólason (Pro) and (29c) Axel Guð (F.Pro) are on a par with him, (if not ahead), he's still in contention 12 years after he came through the academy! 

I really need  (32d) Viðar Árna (F.Pro) or (29d) Örn Ólason (Pro) to progress to their max PA levels in order to push on to the next level. I've considered adapting the formation and playing 2 up top, but that might mean actual work on my part and it also might mean we....... see, I am having to think about this too much as it is. I've toyed with the idea of playing too much up front but I don't want to change the way I play this save and that might bring an enforced change.

At the moment I am just plugging away and looking to develop/tutor/mould/fine-tune the players as I go. It's working well for the main part, but I think the next thing I need is a complete overhaul of the staff situation, (which I can't be bothered with at the moment). 

[Jimbokav1971]

The BIG 4 players, (who have left the club and moved on to bigger and better things).

I feel a little let down by the 4 BIG players that have left the club and moved on to bigger and better teams. It hasn't really worked out that well for any of them in terms of playing time, and obviously their development has suffered as a result.

I never really got a chance to develop any sort of rapport with (26b) Páll Stefán (Spirit) *. He was only at the club for 2 full season and if I remember correctly we had considerable strength on the right flank at the time. Of course I played him because of his PA, but when you know that someone is going to come in and nick him off you for however much money that you will not be able to go and buy a replacement with.... well it sours thins somewhat. There was no doubting his potential though and it was not a surprise at all when Man City paid £7.5M for him. Unfortunately, while the move might have made him rich, it didn't see him actually play much and in his first 5 years at City he only made 7 starts, (and 9 appearances in total). You just can't develop a player without playing him, (at least not to optimum levels), and so his development was stunted. He's starting to make an impact now but to be honest I would like to see him move somewhere else, (anywhere else), where he is at least going to play every week. He's too good to be sitting on the bench. 

(27e) Rób Örn Pál (Pro) * is the one of these four players that I have touched on recently and he is by far the bigger loss, (at least as far as I'm concerned). In only his 3rd full season with us he scored 28 goals, (19 in the league), and nobody has since got close to that. He's still featuring more from the bench for Spurs than he is starting, but he is at least getting reasonable game-time and importantly making good use of it. He's scored 31 goals for Spurs in 29(51) appearances and has also notched 24 goals for Iceland in 47 appearances. If he was still with us, God only knows where we would be. 

I had real hopes that (27b) Viktor (Driven) * would go on to become a Worldclass midfielder, (after being our first Wonderkid), but he hasn't developed at City as I would hope and I wonder if his move to Spain and regular football for Atletico might have come too late for him to reach his original potential. 

(28b) Árni (F.Pro) * Is a player I really liked. Unlike some of the others, he stayed with us for a while before leaving, (the 1st part-season and then 5 more seasons plus we got him back on loan for a 6th season), so I was able to create more of a bond with him. If he was going to be a top top top end full-back then you would want his crossing and dribbling to be higher, (I would settle for just his crossing being better actually), but I think he is very very good. What makes it even better is that while we initially got £5M for him, (and I was happy with that), we also got 50% of £7M, (his next fee), only 1 year after he played his last loan game for us. Lovely stuff!

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Final update on the 2035 International Season. 

I had shown you all but the 2nd Spain game before, but didn't think for a minute that we would get anything out of it, (did you notice the "we" there by the way?) 

(27e) Rób Örn Pál (Pro) * obviously had a big season at International level, and I think the picture below speaks hugely of his importance to the National Team. 

There are two 2nd placed teams who finished on 15 points and I'm not entirely sure, but I think this means that we are in the EURO's. 

Actually, I have just notices that big "Q" so I know we have qualified now. 

[Jimbokav1971]

U20's Runners-Up in French Invitational Tournament. (I think that's the Toulon tournament).

History. I don't usually pay too much attention to this, (unless we have already achieved big things with the NT and I am ticking of things I can win). We lost in a 3rd Place Playoff in 2034 and it was this that sort of brought it to the forefront of my mind. I must have missed it at the time, (or just forgotten), but we won the trophy in 2027. Looking at the scorers back then, it is dominated by our current Model Pro left winger and the right winger who is at Man City. They literally tore teams apart from the flanks. We beat Slovenia in the Final after what was an easy Group.

Squad. There are 20 players in this squad and 15 of them came from our academy. There is 1 player you can't see in the following picture, but you can see all our 15.

Fixtures. Look, I know that French Guina and Bangladesh are rubbish, (and we still lost in the final), but let's just acknowledge that this is progress of some sort at least. 

 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Season 2036. Update 1. 

As well as 15 U20 players missing at the French Youth Invitational, we also have 7 players away at the EURO's with the Senior squad. It effectively means that we are 22 players down even when the U21's or U19's aren't playing and we are in the middle of the season and although some games seem to have been auto-cancelled, (I didn't have to request postponements), other games have to be played as normal. To say that it's been tough to play these games while Le Tournoi and the EURO's have been on at the same time would be an understatement. Thanks to some pre-season fine-tuning however, things have been going ok. 

We have completed steps 1 and 2 of the quadruple, (I am determined to win everything after losing out on the League and 2 more trophies last season). We have relied on 4 OG's, 4 GK goals and a number of fringe players, (my squad is huge on purpose), and it's the only way to cope with the issues mentioned above. 

I wasn't happy with things defensively youth, 7 times we conceded 1 goal in 11 games. We looked decent going forward but 7 in 11 is just too much to concede so I had another little re-think tactically.  
 

Edited March 26, 2017 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Season 2036. Update 2.

We went the first 7 games of the season, (and without conceding a goal). 

When you add 3 Cup games into the mix it means that we had gone 10 games without conceding, (for the first time), and this was my reward. 

While not conceding was exactly what I was after, (and I have tried and failed a number of times to get past 9 clean sheets in a row), it actually hasn't helped us in the grand scheme of things because the team that beat us now sits at the top of the table, 4 points ahead of us with 8 games played each. 

The real surprise here is that there are now 4 teams who have each lost just once, and what particularly got me is that KR have conceded only 1 goal in 8 games, (we have conceded 2 after the last game).

As there are only 22 league games in a season here, it's going to be quite hard to claw these points back from FH. Even if we beat them and win all our other games too, we will still be relying on someone else taking points of  them, (something that only Stjarnan have managed so far. 

I can't really complain though. The latest tweak in the tactic was designed with a view to making us stronger at the back. It's done exactly that and now I have to solve a new problem of how to win close games rather than drawing, (especially when we have 30+ players away on International duty). 

[Edit]

I'm not a huge one for stats in isolation. I prefer to look at the bigger picture and the chances themselves when the situation warrants it. That being said. I think the following shows that it would be remiss of me to change too much on the basis of a single loss. 

I certainly need to work on attacking corners, but them scoring 2 goals from just 1 shot on target suggests that there isn't too much wrong and it might well have just been one of those days. Add in that they are actually a decent team and sometimes you have to take defeat on the chin and hope that 1 loss doesn't turn into 2 losses and a draw. 
 

Edited March 26, 2017 by Jimbokav1971

[acidmonkey]

silly question and im too lazy to go back through the thread, but what does the brackets mean on each player?

(26d) Adam Siguroar (Res)

??

[Reggiana]

7 hours ago, acidmonkey said:

silly question and im too lazy to go back through the thread, but what does the brackets mean on each player?

(26d) Adam Siguroar (Res)

??

The first bracket is the year they came through with a letter for where they were ranked in terms of Potential Ability in that year's intake. Second bracket is their personality, which I believe Jimbo updates whenever it changes.

 

So Adam was the 4th best player by potential ability in the 2026 youth intake and he has a resolute personality.

[Jimbokav1971]

23 minutes ago, Reggiana said:

The first bracket is the year they came through with a letter for where they were ranked in terms of Potential Ability in that year's intake. Second bracket is their personality, which I believe Jimbo updates whenever it changes.

 

So Adam was the 4th best player by potential ability in the 2026 youth intake and he has a resolute personality.

Spot on.

Glad to see someone is paying attention.