higgins Posted November 27, 2016 Share Posted November 27, 2016 As the title suggests this will be a Brentford FC career, played with FM17 and a large database, this is my second career with FM 17, the first in England, I thought about a Brentford save after reading some interesting articles ( from the Guardian, from the Telegraph) about their supposed "moneyball" approach, both the articles are about the use of big data and stats analysis in football, the term moneyball comes from baseball, where such an approach has been, sometimes, successfuful. Football is a different story, but many clubs are trying to make a better use of numbers to sign the right players and to win more games, this won't be strictly a moneyball save but I'll try to employ some of its concepts along the way, I'm not sure this approach could work in football but stats, if a used as a tool, could surely help a small club to overachieve, as Matthew Benham, owner of Brentford and FC Midtjylland, pointed out: Quote “I used to be very sceptical about using individual stats for players,” he added. “I am now slightly more open to them. There are pluses and minuses. The good things is that sometimes a player might be very good at tackles and interceptions but you don’t really realise it because some players who make a lot of tackles by getting in quickly don’t tend to stick in the mind as much as a Stuart Pearce-type player. On the other hand, is a player making a lot of tackles because he is badly positioned in the first place? So these can have a lot of use but they always need context.” Brentford play in the Championship, England 2nd tier, a tough league with many games per season, my first concern is about our squad size, this league will kill you if you can't rotate your players enough. I'm not going to set any particular targets for this save, I can only promise a dirty game of football, we're media predicted to finish 13th, so a top half finish should be decent, we start with 450k available for the market while we need at least 6-7 new players to have two men per role, a careful and smart transfer campaign is on the way... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted November 27, 2016 Author Share Posted November 27, 2016 I have a 4-3-1-2 tactic in mind (you don't see this often in England uh?) so many central midfielders are needed, we have 6 when the game starts, plus Alan Judge 4 months out injured, I added three more in the summer: Gedion Zelalem (loan + 7M agreed price), Olivier Abildgaard and Zsolt Kalmar (loan + 4M agreed price). We had a strong target man up top, German striker Philipp Hoffman, but I wasn't sure about him and I used the money I got (1.7M) to boost my bank balance and bring in other players: 3 strikers (Anton Julis, Carlos Strandberg and Iliya Dimitrov) and 2 defenders (Mason Holgate and Jakob Blabjerg). Strandberg, probably my best signing, is on loan from CSKA and if I find 8 M, I could sign him on a permanent basis, overall I spent 2 M in new signings and sold players for 2.1 M. This is my tactic and my first XI for the oncoming season, we probably lack something in the left defender spot, Rico Henry is 3 months out and Danish u-21 Blabjerg is my only solid option for that place. It's a fluid 4-3-1-2 with wingbacks down both flanks, the right one is more aggressive and always try to reach the byline to put crosses into the box, in the middle of the park 4 central midfielder try to control the tempo of the game, up top a hard working defensive forward and a quick advanced forward lead my attacking line. We play our home games at Griffin Park, a tiny ground with 12.802 seats in London, our facilities aren't impressive, something to fix in the future. I wasn't surprised to see we have got 4 data analysts at the club, I tried to improve our staff with a new Chief scout, Derek Langley and a new fitness coach, Andrzej Bahr, after that we're ready to start... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted November 28, 2016 Author Share Posted November 28, 2016 A mid season update to show you that the bees are not flying so high, after a surprisingly good start, we suddenly became the kings of inconsistency as the fixtures below clearly explain, my main concern is the lack of goals from my strikers, all of them are struggling to convert chances and even if we don't create so much they should do better: Strandberg (15+6 apps) 8 goals Hogan (16+1) 7 goals Julis (13+5) 6 goals Dimitrov (3+7) 1 goal Vibe (3+8) 0 goal Our 12th place is more or less what the board asked for but I'm not satisfied with it and our declining form is a cause for concern, on a positive we're not too far from the playoffs zone, 4 points only but the table is really tight, as usual in the Championship. Some strange defeats happened (Barnsley and Reading at home above all) and paradoxically we were more brilliant when our tactic wasn't fluid yet. In this first half of the season injuries didn't help, I missed two key men like McLeod (10 weeks out) and Maxime Colin (6 weeks) and I haven't got the right subs for them, now Colin is back and I hope he could quickly recover is form, he's a key player in my setup and my strikers really need his support from the right flank. Ryan Woods ( 19 apps, 7.02 Av. rat. with 2 goals and 3 assists) was one of my best players so far and I'm already in talks to renew his contract as Boro and W.B.A. are interested, central defender Harlee Dean was another player who impressed in this first part of the season, even if his traits "Runs with the ball through the centre" and "Gets forward whenever possible" are dangerous for a central defender, I'm retraining him... Some players could leave in January cause the bank balance is going into red territory and I really need to make some changes to the squad, stay tuned! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NDavis95 Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 Nice start! Currently have a save with Brentford and I'm in my fourth season so I will be following this closely. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted November 30, 2016 Author Share Posted November 30, 2016 4 minutes ago, NDavis95 said: Nice start! Currently have a save with Brentford and I'm in my fourth season so I will be following this closely. Thanks, what kind of Brexit did you have in your save? I'm interested... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest El Payaso Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 Always interesting to read about fellow Championship side. How is McEachran doing for you? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted November 30, 2016 Author Share Posted November 30, 2016 7 minutes ago, El Payaso said: Always interesting to read about fellow Championship side. How is McEachran doing for you? Very solid, he played 19 games as my regular DLP, 7.07 av. rat. and 91% pass. with 2 assists, but he should have still room to improve. By the way, the Championship rules! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NDavis95 Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 33 minutes ago, higgins said: Thanks, what kind of Brexit did you have in your save? I'm interested... Actually yet to have Brexit. I shall let you know when it hits though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted November 30, 2016 Author Share Posted November 30, 2016 A quick end of January update, many things happened in this month, first of all the transfers, I sold 4 players in this window, you could call this as a risky move cause at least one of them, Bjelland (DC), has been an important player so far, but I have my reasons. Alan Judge is a good Amc but didn't play a single game so far, injured from the very start, he's 28 years old and like Bjelland already peaked, the clubs came with good offers that I couldn't put down, considering my not so safe bank balance, moreover this could has been the last chance to sell them with profit, moneyball rules suggest to sell and this time I couldn't agree more. Kerschbaumer surprised me a bit in these first months, I considered him to be a fringe player but the Austrian scored 4 goals from midfield, his problem was that his development stalled and I was already targeting a better and younger central midfielder, while Lasse Vibe was unimpressive when employed (thanks Brighton!). As displayed in the last image I retained a small percentage of the money I got available for the transfer market but the books look better, anyway three players joined, Everton centre-back Matthew Pennington came on loan (with a tempting 1.2 M agreed price), French youngsters Marcus Thuram (ST, 1.5 M) and Cristopher Nkunku (Mc, 300 k)) are good prospects, both should be able to put some games under their belt during this second half of the season. I decided to keep the best part for the end of this post, I hope you're still interested, the reason is that we've improved dramatically since my last update, we raised from 12th to 4th in just one month! Most importantly we had an almost perfect month, with brilliant home wins over top teams like Newcastle and Norwich, unpredictable if we think at our previously mixed results. Did the new signings played a role in this cracking run? No, they're still finding their feet in the new league. Ok, but you surely made some smart tweaks to you tactic to provoke such an amazing u-turn? Ahem...I'll be honest here, well...we could say I made a silly mistake when I picked up Harlee Dean and his reckless personal traits (see my last post) for the Dc role with covering duties, maybe it's not the true reason, maybe it's just a coincidence but, you know, I can't believe I made such a rookie mistake, now it's finally fixed, let's see what happens. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcidBurn Posted November 30, 2016 Share Posted November 30, 2016 Flying now! Hopefully secure a playoff spot at least this season Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted November 30, 2016 Author Share Posted November 30, 2016 39 minutes ago, AcidBurn said: Flying now! Hopefully secure a playoff spot at least this season That would be the plan, if we stay strong. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielgear Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 Going steady, best of luck with this Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted December 1, 2016 Author Share Posted December 1, 2016 4 hours ago, danielgear said: Going steady, best of luck with this Thanks for your support bud Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted December 1, 2016 Author Share Posted December 1, 2016 Back in 1986 an underrated Billy Ocean was singing the well known hit "When the going gets tough the tough gets going", but I bet old Billy never played Football Manager and never had to face such an injury crisis, Scott Hogan, my best forward and most prolific goalscorer, will miss entirely the Championship playoffs, a huge blow for our promotion aspirations. Because we did it, we finished 4th losing only one game in the league in these last four months! Probably too many crazy draws (Burton Albion and once again Barnsley) limited our chances to reach direct promotion, but this is still a nice achievement. Anyway, these are the oncoming playoffs semi-finals, probably new signing Marcus Thuram will play as advanced forward in my first XI, he didn't impress me so far but this could be the right time to show his potential.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcidBurn Posted December 1, 2016 Share Posted December 1, 2016 I hate the playoffs lost three finals in a row with Crewe on FM11 and it still haunts me today! Good luck! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted December 1, 2016 Author Share Posted December 1, 2016 4 minutes ago, AcidBurn said: I hate the playoffs lost three finals in a row with Crewe on FM11 and it still haunts me today! Good luck! Me too, always unpredictable, not a good way to end a season, it will be a carnage Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleon Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Good luck with the playoffs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Bladesman Posted December 2, 2016 Share Posted December 2, 2016 Playoffs have a habit of making the unlikeliest of heroes... Hope Thuram comes good for you! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted December 2, 2016 Author Share Posted December 2, 2016 1 hour ago, Cleon said: Good luck with the playoffs. 1 hour ago, Super Bladesman said: Playoffs have a habit of making the unlikeliest of heroes... Hope Thuram comes good for you! Thanks mates, I should be able to update the thread today with my results. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted December 2, 2016 Author Share Posted December 2, 2016 We could say that we came, we saw...but we didn't conquer, our EPL dream simply faded away leaving me upset not for the travel but for the gloomy finale. I knew there were better teams in the league, better than Brentford I mean, but losing in the playoffs semifinal playing so poorly vs. Huddersfield is a huge disappointment. Basically we went out cause we conceded a goal in added time, at the end of the first leg match, damn' Nakhi Well scored his third and we're out, the second game was probably the worst display of football we offered this season, Marcus Thuram has been great in the first game (goal + assist) then disappeared in the second. Anyway, it's time to reconsider the season as whole and I must say there are a lot of positives: we obtained more than expected, some interesting youngsters (Rico Henry, Julis, Blabjerg and Nkunku) are growing up and our financial situation is steadily improving. Next season the team should be stronger and better equipped to challenge for the promotion once again. I don't think too many players will leave, probably we just need to add more depth, I'd love to keep Zelalem with me but 7M are a lot of money , I could try to renew his loan, not sure if Arsenal are interested though. Harlee Dean has been included in the Championship team of the year and will be a key player in next season squad as well, go there to see my overall players stats if you're interested. Reading, Norwich and Derby (playoffs winners) have been promoted to the EPL, while Sunderland, Swansea and Hull City have been relegated, some strong opponents are waiting for me... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted December 3, 2016 Author Share Posted December 3, 2016 This is the period of the year when you usually make your plans for the future, arranging transfers, renewing contracts and trying to improve the facilities at your club, so you could imagine how glad I was when I received this: In two years we'll play in a modern and larger stadium, Griffin Park served us well but it's tiny and can't satisfy all the tickets requests from the fans, meanwhile the board accepted to improve our traing facilities (1 year - 1.1 M cost) as well, this club is growing up! Lionel Road? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted December 4, 2016 Author Share Posted December 4, 2016 We're going to approach our second season with the clear intent to achieve promotion, I think the team is improved after this market window and after last season finale I added more depth to the squad without overspending. This session started with three players who left Griffin Park: John Egan (Dc), Jota (Amc) and Akaki Gogia (Mr), the last two never played for us last season, they were on loan abroad and we definitely won't miss them. Most importantly we got a lot of money from these deals , 13 M that will surely boost our balance, I'm sure that the board decision to build a new stadium is somehow linked to our improved financial asset. But we're not just a selling club, we signed some players as well: I'm satisfied with these deals, Ongenda and Sakor for free are amazing deals, I wasn't sure the first would have accepted to join a Championship team from PSG but he was glad to sign a three-year deal with the Bees, he's a really versatile player being able to play in the hole or as a striker, even his personal traits suit well the role I have in mind for him, advanced playmaker with license to run and bustle... Andrea Barberis is a deep lying playmaker, this Italian midfielder will be McEachran backup while Matthew Pennington will cover the DC spot alongside Harlee Dean, our new captain. Then I signed Joe Gomez on loan from Liverpool, the boy had another cruciate ligaments injury last year, the second in two seasons, and never played a game for the Reds; I know he's a bet I will employ him as a rotation option and see if he could recover his old form, there's a clause in his contract, an option to buy for 12.99 M! The looks of my first team squad didn't change too much from last season, the only new face is Ongenda but I firmly believe this squad could fight for the promotion with more rotation options, fingers crossed! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted December 6, 2016 Author Share Posted December 6, 2016 It's time for a mid season update, as the banner says we're in January of our second season and our main target was to achieve promotion, so far so good cause we're leading the table by 15 points! More than expected, we're flying and destroying opponents, I hope we can keep this run going till the end so that you can claim your prize.... As described in my previous post the squad didn't change so much but the results did, we're conceding less (24 in 29 games) and we have the best defensive record of the league, but we're strong in other areas as well. Scott Hogan is still my best striker with 17 goals, followed by Julis (16) and Thuram (10), Ongenda is doing well playing in the hole behind two strikers, not the classic number ten but a sort of swiss knife capable to unlock our opponents defences with his perpetual running. In January I signed a right defender on loan, Cristopher Glombard, because I sold Nico Yennaris to Los Angeles galaxy for 5 M, another decent deal for a player who was nothing more than a backup. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted December 7, 2016 Author Share Posted December 7, 2016 We finally did it! We're going up and in a stylish way, league champions with 106 points and 105 goals scored, I'm really proud of my young players (we have the lowest average age of the league: 23.15) who stayed focused all the season long to achieve this. These are my best XI players of the season, 8 out of 11 were members of the original Brentford squad when I started this save, while Julis, Ongenda and Pennington joined the team later. All the players had a great season but some guys offered terrific displays: Scott Hogan (MVP and best scorer with 23), Lukas Julis (21 goals), Marcus Thuram (20 goals in 18 apps!) Hervin Ongenda (11 goals & 14 assist from the hole) and Maxime Colin (10 assits from the right flank) above all the others. The plan right now would be to keep all these guys and try to overachieve in the EPL with them, but I know some tweaks could be needed, let me think about that later, It's time to celebrate! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcidBurn Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 Nice one, interesting to see what budgets and stuff are available next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted December 9, 2016 Author Share Posted December 9, 2016 15 hours ago, AcidBurn said: Nice one, interesting to see what budgets and stuff are available next season. 30 M for transfers and 30 for wages. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
IgnorantLobster Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 Great stuff! Being a Bristol City fan I enjoy a Championship save, it's a great but tough league. Might seem a strange question, but how exactly do you go about find your players to sign? There seems to be a big mix of players from all different European leagues, and some interesting signings. It's where the value is mostly, and what Bristol City are trying to do in real life. Keep it up, will be interesting to see how you do in the Premier League. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest El Payaso Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 I always enjoy the approach where you don't replace the original team with new players in few seasons. So a lot of credit for you if you try the Premier league with mostly your current squad. The difficulty level is what it is so I appreciate players who are trying to challenge themselves. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltablue Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 You must be making quite a buzz Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted December 9, 2016 Author Share Posted December 9, 2016 1 hour ago, IgnorantLobster said: Great stuff! Being a Bristol City fan I enjoy a Championship save, it's a great but tough league. Might seem a strange question, but how exactly do you go about find your players to sign? There seems to be a big mix of players from all different European leagues, and some interesting signings. It's where the value is mostly, and what Bristol City are trying to do in real life. Keep it up, will be interesting to see how you do in the Premier League. Thanks, it's a good question. Let's say that if you have a well defined tactical asset it's easier to know what kind of players you're looking for, then when you're on a budget you need to scout leagues where you can still find good value for your money, Mitteleuropa, for example, is a good place to find undervalued players, like Julis. 1 hour ago, El Payaso said: I always enjoy the approach where you don't replace the original team with new players in few seasons. So a lot of credit for you if you try the Premier league with mostly your current squad. The difficulty level is what it is so I appreciate players who are trying to challenge themselves. That would be my idea to make things more interesting, very often too much money ruins a good save, this is why I don't want to use the budget available for next season transfers, I'm going to sell 2-3 players and then I'll replace them with the money received. Thanks for your comments. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
higgins Posted December 9, 2016 Author Share Posted December 9, 2016 8 minutes ago, deltablue said: You must be making quite a buzz Indeed.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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