smp20 Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 I absolutely love the youth challenge, I've managed to complete it with a nation in each FM since FM 2014, starting with Rijnsburgse Boys. For those of you not familiar, it involves taking a taking a previously unplayable side from a European nation (this is done by holidaying and taking over one of the newly promoted sides to the lowest playable division) to Top League and Champions League glory without ever signing a player. The only players you can use are the starting squad and those that come through the annual intake. More information on the challenge can be found on this excellent thread: I've already tried my hand at the challenge this year, having completed with Litex of Bulgaria and attempted it with Drumaness Mills of Northern Ireland. However, I am now planning to attempt something that could probably be seen as a bit nuts. My aim is to complete the challenge with every playable nation in Europe! It's going to be a long challenge, and with each nation I will be starting a brand new career, however I want to do it all within one thread. I will be using all of the rules stipulated in the FM17 Youth Academy Challenge thread, no exceptions. Here are all 34 playable nations: I'm going to be starting with Austria to give me the option of attempting the challenge in alphabetical order. However, I haven't completely decided on this so I am open to suggestions as to how I choose my next nation, if I ever get there. Let the marathon begin! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 17, 2017 Author Share Posted January 17, 2017 Challenge Overview Countries Completed (7/34): England - Bury Town (FM14) Holland - Rijnsburgse Boys (FM14) Wales - Afan Lido (FM15) Greece - Aris (FM16) Scotland - Spartans (FM16, SS coming soon) Bulgaria - Litex (FM17) Austria - First Vienna (FM17) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 17, 2017 Author Share Posted January 17, 2017 First Vienna 1894 F.C. So in a rather fitting fashion, my first club are First Vienna. They are the oldest club in Austria and they have a rich history, however you will notice by the club's honours that the club are no longer in the limelight. Honours As you can see, the club's glory days were back in the 1930s and 1940s. They may have 6 top league titles and 4 main cups, though the last time they won these respective competitions was in 1955 and 1937 respectively. Vienna spent the 60s, 70s and 80s as a yo-yo club between the top two divisions, however they were relegated from the top flight in 1992 and have not returned since. In 2001 they were relegated to the third tier and eventually gained promotion back to the 2nd tier in 2009, only to be relegated again in 2014 which is where they remain. Club Info 10th might look like a mid-table finish, but here in Austria that's bottom of the league! There are only 20 clubs in the top two tiers altogether. We hold a fierce rivalry with another historic Vienna club, Wiener SK, of the third tier while we have smaller rivalries with Vienna's big two and divisional rivals Floridsdorfer. We've got a decent fan following for the size of the club and I like the look of the stadium, plenty of room to build other stands! Facilities We've got a decent foundation for a youth challenge and I will be looking to improve this as quickly as I can. I hope the board are ready! Manager Profile As if the norm for this challenge, my manager is woeful!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Gato_In_Goal Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 Good luck on this. I assume you'll try to take clubs with good facilities already or else the challenge will take ages more than it already will Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 17, 2017 Author Share Posted January 17, 2017 2017/18 Half Season Update Results Now what a tight league that is! We went into the winter break on a run of four straight wins which saw us rise to top of the league, however only 4 points separate 1st to 7th in the league. 16 games left, and it's all to play for. One straight spot up or bust. We may have faced 3 'non league' sides and even needed extra-time to negotiate past amatuers Silz/Motz but getting to the final 8 is a great position to be in. We've got a great chance of progressing too, a tie against recently relegated yet struggling Mattersburg awaits. Players These are the players that have most frequently played for us. Overall, the team has played well, particularly defensively. We've struggled a little to score goals with our top scorer scoring just over 1 in 3. All-rounder Jiri Lenko has been leading performer. 6 goals and 3 assists from left-midfield is a good return. Jovan Vujanic is a fantastic performer at centre back, thanks to his pace. He is the interception king! Bizjak is ranked as the stand out player based on ability andhe's backed this up on the pitch with solid performances creating a great partnership with Vujanic. I hate his determination, but Kogler has actually done very well at right wing for us. Staff We've made a fair few changes to our personnel, bringing in familiar names such as Carles Puyol and Brede Hangeland. Our HOYD is the real coup though: Filipczak played until the age of 43 in the depths of Austrian non-league. professional, determined, great with youngsters and his preferred formation is my very own. He's a good coach too, bonus! Youth Upgrades 2 junior coaching upgrades, one of which triggered through negotiations of a new contract as well as an upgrade to our youth recruitment is a fantastic start! We will also be upgrading our youth facilities soon. Also, I love this: That's a, more or less, guaranteed £1.6m a year for us! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 17, 2017 Author Share Posted January 17, 2017 10 minutes ago, The_Gato_In_Goal said: Good luck on this. I assume you'll try to take clubs with good facilities already or else the challenge will take ages more than it already will Cheers . Yes that will be the plan where possible, unless sentiment gets in the way and I just prefer a different side Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 17, 2017 Author Share Posted January 17, 2017 Youth Intake 2018 It looks like a fantastic first intake with at least 6 players I'm excited about. The only player not to get a contract is Ivan Kostic. A cracking right back. He's got pace and good mental attributes and while he may not be technically brilliant, he's in double figures (just) for marking, tackling and technique. We have got every right to be excited, thanks HOYD! I really like Jung. He's a pacy centre back, what's not to like? Possible his anticipation, composure, concentration and positioning, but he's young and has plenty of time to develop these. Puchegger will be re-train as a striker. With the right development, I think he could end up looking like a tidy creative forward. Lampichler has a strange PPM considering he hasn't got any long range ability, but I can live with this. He looks like he could shape into a decent full back, just got to find someone to tutor him. Oohh a keeper who can handle, is determined and has a (fairly) professional personality is always a bonus. Finn is the dark-horse of the intake. He's technically poor, however his mentals are very good and he has pace. Our HOYD ranks him as high in CA but low in PA, let's just hope he's wrong as I'd love this lad to become a key figure in our side. Unfortunately we can't register the intake to play in the league, so unless I decide to play my youngsters in the cup we won't see them in the first team until next season. By which point, I hope they are ready. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 Incredible scenes as we ended up winning the league and the cup! Here's how the season unfolded: League We ended up winning the league on goal difference with just 59 points . What's more is that we went into the last two games 6 points behind leaders Lustenau. Can you imagine how gutted they feel? In all, it was an open, tightly contested league and it was an exciting season. It's been over 25 years, but First Vienna are back with the big boys! Cup An incredible run to the final, we just love scoring in the 78th minute . We had a winnable tie against Mattersburg but it took some doing. In the semi-final we faced neighbourhood giants Rapid Wien and we ended up scraping through to the final with a late Hakan Gokcek goal. He scored in every round bar the final which he was injured for. In the final we faced the other big Vienna side and claimed the trophy with just 3 shots, 2 of which were penalties. However, we did limit Austria Wien to just one half chance and zero clear cut chances despite their dominance of possession. The clubs first cup win since 1937 and a route into Europe, where we will be in the EL 3rd Qualifying Round. Facilities The rewards of our upgrades have already shown, here's hoping for many more! Finances We are in a healthy financial position, though we will be ploughing £800k into the facilities. Transfers Not much to see here Best 11 Kostner ~ Krisch ~ Vujanic ~ Bizjak ~ Maurer ~ Olku ~ Nikolic ~ Kogler ~ Lenko ~ Kurtisi ~ Gokcek Overall, good performances all round, particularly from our centre back partnership and wingers. Vujanic swept up the player of the year award with over 60% of the votes. Lets hope he and Bizjak can do the business in the Bundesliga. We've got a few aging players, so I'm hoping our recent intake are ready to make the step up next season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManUtd1 Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Excellent. Followed for sure! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 16 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said: Excellent. Followed for sure! Cheers I've just caught up with the updates to where I am in game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 Wow that's a bit of an expense Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 Austria In Europe I'm not really sure why Austria's soared up, but this is always good news Champions League Winners Europa League Winners Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManUtd1 Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 That definitely isn't cheap. Isn't it Austria where teams get cash for complying with homegrown player requirements in the top division? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 2 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said: That definitely isn't cheap. Isn't it Austria where teams get cash for complying with homegrown player requirements in the top division? Yes, we got £400k per 9 games (each quarter-season) for playing 12 Austrians might even be more in the top division! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManUtd1 Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Nice! Free money for a youth challenge! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 3 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said: Nice! Free money for a youth challenge! It certainly is nice to get a bit of a reward. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceching You Out Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 No one can accuse you of a lack of ambition! Best of luck on the journey. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I would vote between nuts and having so much time at hand that I envy you... 34 league multiplied by an average 8-10 seasons (thats my estimates on your performance) will require a good deal of seasons...Close to 300. Considering around 50 matches for season... uhm, 15000 matches. That's scary man Anyway, good luck with the challenge, will be interesting to see how you do it in the minnow countries. Following-up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 4 minutes ago, Muttley84 said: I would vote between nuts and having so much time at hand that I envy you... 34 league multiplied by an average 8-10 seasons (thats my estimates on your performance) will require a good deal of seasons...Close to 300. Considering around 50 matches for season... uhm, 15000 matches. That's scary man Anyway, good luck with the challenge, will be interesting to see how you do it in the minnow countries. Following-up. The things is I dont have that much time, i see this taking me months, maybe even years! I have bouts of time I can play a lot, whereas some weeks I will be very limited. I think your calculations are very optimistic :P. It'll take decades with some of the minnows! Im still undecided about how I will chose my next nations. Might pick some at random and create a poll when/if I get to that point. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 7 hours ago, Ceching You Out said: No one can accuse you of a lack of ambition! Best of luck on the journey. Cheers, ambitions may be a bit lofty! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 European Qualifying Campaign I was very happy with our draw for the 3rd qualifying round. Astana have the better players on paper but they were one of the weaker sides we could have faced. We put in an excellent display to win the home leg 2-0 and we were 2-0 up away. Astana managed to grab two goals back but we were way too far ahead for them to catch us. Full player stats for this one because it was one hell of a result . A brace each from youth prospects Frank 18F and Puchegger 18C has put them in real contention for the first eleven. They're there out of necessity at the moment due to all four of our senior strikers being injured, but they may just keep their places long term if they are able to perform like this. Plzen are a decent side, but we could have faced Fiorentina. We followed up the 5-2 thumping with a decent enough 1-1 draw at home. Safely through into the group stage Ouch that is a very, very tough group. We might be able to give Young Boys a game, but PSV and Liverpool are way above our ability. Miscellaneous We've now got the undersoil heating installed, but it wasn't that that caught my eye. I pointed out in the club opening post that there was plenty of space for new stands but I didn't realise this would be represented in game. Expansion capacity of 40k . I love it when you get this message. He might lot look amazing, but this boost to his personality will help him reach his potential and he may feature for the 1st team. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 December 2018: We Need A Miracle I will start with the only positive news of the season so far. We managed to beat Liverpool! We may have lost 8-2 at Anfield, but at least we had our moment of glory! We need to grab hold of such things this season... Absolute dross. We came out the blocks in style winning our first two games, but we capitulated in enormous fashion. Yes, that means that the our form is 0-3-15. I've never hit a low such as this on any FM ever, but we will carry on. We need a bloody miracle. I've got a system that's worked in every league with every side and did the business last season, but it's just not coming together. Injuries haven't helped, but this kind of form is inexplicable. The fans don't think much of me at the moment: Do I change the whole system / philosophy that I adore, or do I shake it up. Oh in other news, we went out in the cup 2nd round to an amateur side. 2-0. At home. Youth Development There has been one positive outcome so far this season and it lies with youth development. So let's focus on something positive at least Ignore the red arrows, he's injured of course, put prior to his injury his development was rapid. He's the first name on the team sheet! Jung is also developing very nicely and has had a fair bit of first team action due to injuries to our formidable partnership of Bizjak - Vujanic. Puchegger got two very important EL qualifying goals for us and has developed well, recently becoming an accomplished striker. Though, he's struggled in the Bundesliga. Awful performances, fantastic development! Kept a clean sheet against Liverpool, pretty sure it was his debut as well! He's developed a few of his attributes. Remember Finn Frank who was rated as just a 3* potential? Turns out the HOYD was wrong! He's the most improved player and he's even been putting together some tidy performances on the pitch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Gato_In_Goal Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 Interesting how the same tactic can take down a premier league side, but not Austrian sides. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 Just now, The_Gato_In_Goal said: Interesting how the same tactic can take down a premier league side, but not Austrian sides. I know I'm pulling my hair out over it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cardiovascular Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 The answer to the title: yes. Yes you are. However, a wonderful first season! Congratulations. Hopefully you can pick up some form in the second half of this season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 Just now, Cardiovascular said: The answer to the title: yes. Yes you are. However, a wonderful first season! Congratulations. Hopefully you can pick up some form in the second half of this season. I think everyone has agreed I'm nuts so far Thanks, here's hoping. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfkllasdfaslkdfj Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 It's interesting to read you but give us more tactical analyzes and squad development. Good stuff. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 This could be a season defining result. First game back from the winter break, we win 4-3 from 3-0 down, all goals scored in 68-84 mins. This could be the momentum we need! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 10 minutes ago, cfkllasdfaslkdfj said: It's interesting to read you but give us more tactical analyzes and squad development. Good stuff. Thanks, would you like me to post up my tactics? I will do an end of season squad review Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfkllasdfaslkdfj Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 2 minutes ago, smp20 said: Thanks, would you like me to post up my tactics? I will do an end of season squad review Yeap, as I'd like to hear about changes you made during season and tightened up instructions to supplement your squad players. Maybe you could portray templates of your players by every position and how to mould worthwhile youth from a dross as well. I like your deep 4-4-2 and the way you play it, notwithstanding I cannot crank it up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 Youth Intake 2019 We may not have the depth that we got in last years intake, but we have one standout player. The likes of Ferstl 19B, Brecht 19C and Schneider 19D are worthwhile tagging but don't look anything special. Unlike this guy: An excellent attribute profile for a defensive midfielder and if I could I'd be playing him straight away. I'm looking forward to seeing how Patrick Thomas gets on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 9 minutes ago, cfkllasdfaslkdfj said: Yeap, as I'd like to hear about changes you made during season and tightened up instructions to supplement your squad players. Maybe you could portray templates of your players by every position and how to mould worthwhile youth from a dross as well. I like your deep 4-4-2 and the way you play it, notwithstanding I cannot crank it up. I have to be honest, I haven't made many tweaks at all to the tactic that has been used across various saves, the only difference is that I don't use a very high line, just a normal one. This may have been to my detriment given our results this season! I will do a full analysis of both with the end of season update. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 Ok so Im currently away and without access to my laptop, I should be able to update over the weekend however. I've also decided that I'm going to make this a cross-FM challenge meaning I will be taking previous FM completions into account as well as it being compatible with FM18. Because lets face it, its going to take a serious amount of time and effort to complete. My previous completions are: FM14 - Bury Town (England), Rijnsburgse Boys (Holland) FM15 - Afan Lido (Wales) FM16 - Aris (Greece), Spartans (Scotland) FM17 - Litex (Bulgaria) So that's 6 out of 34 complete, only 28 to go :P. In post 2 I will update with details of previous challenges. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keano16 Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 Good luck! Great start so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 19, 2017 Author Share Posted January 19, 2017 Cheers @Keano16 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManUtd1 Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Got to love early days in Europe when no one takes you seriously... Bobby, I think they actually mean to play today...they're wearing boots and everything... Nah, mate. That's just for show. Look at the lovelies in the 4th row, yeah?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 10 hours ago, ManUtd1 said: Got to love early days in Europe when no one takes you seriously... Bobby, I think they actually mean to play today...they're wearing boots and everything... Nah, mate. That's just for show. Look at the lovelies in the 4th row, yeah?! Haha yes! Though Liverpool were suitably embarrassed in Vienna, enough so to cause them to come out all guns blazing and thrash us 8-2 at Anfield. I've been reunited with my laptop and a couple of hours spare time so end of season update to come Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 So as you'll notice, we bloody well did it . We stayed up, after being 10 points off safety with 16 games to go. Here's how it panned out. Bundesliga: The Great Escape It's amazing what a winter break can do. We came back refreshed with a fully fit squad (though not for long) and we kicked off with a 4-3 win from 3-0 down. This was followed by two very tricky ties which we lost, but we came back again and did really well. In all, we managed 8 wins 2 draws and 6 losses after the break, including victories over Rapid and Austria Wien. Finn Frank was the star of the show, more on him later . Where did this leave us in the league? We ended up staying up very comfortably, a whole 9 points clear of St. Polten and we almost caught Wacker Innsbruck too. Very, very happy with that second half of the season, it was looking pretty woeful beforehand. I kept faith in my 4-4-2 DM system and I'm glad I did. Red Bull snatched the title away from Sturm Graz in the final match on goal difference, while Rapid came close too. Apart from Austria Wien having a poor season, the league pretty much finished as it was predicted. Players With lots of games played, there was plenty of squad rotation due to jadedness and injuries (season physio report here). We got into our stride after the winter break when we no longer needed to worry about European football or the cup. Finn Frank had an outstanding season picking up all 3 awards firming himself as my favourite player. I still can't believe how poorly he was rated in reports to start with. He even managed to make it into the Bundesliga team of the year. Player screenshots will come as part of a season preview, where I will post up my tactics too. Club Development Considering we were packing out our stadium, this is great news! We also get to play half a season in Austria Wien's stadium, which hopefully will see us collect some nice gate receipts against the bigger sides. A double whammy of facility upgrades, always good news! After not having any increases during the season, at the end of the season we were able to increase both. This is really shaping up well now. Facilities Looking good Finances Even after the cash being splashed on facilities we are looking healthy. However, we do now have some sizable loans to pay off and no Euro money to fall back on. Transfers Nothing to see here... Miscellaneous I find these commercial updates pretty interesting. A bit more money in the sponsorship coffers is always welcome. Austria loses it's automatic CL and EL spots, looks like we might be a bit of a yo-yo nation. On the plus side, as a club we had a sharp rise in our co-efficients. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 SMP20's Philosophy - Inspired by Sacchi Ok so I've cheated a little here. I created a tactical overview for my Getafe thread and I went into a fair amount of detail so I've copied and pasted it taking out the squad building as it's not relevant for youth only saves. Chances are this will be my strategy going forward wherever I end up. I'm a sucker for Sacchi-style play and I've used versions of it with success on FM13, 14, 16 and 17 - only on FM15 and for the last patch on FM14 did I deviate and used a strikerless 4-1-2-3 approach. Tactic Additional Individual Instructions: GK - Roll it out, Distribute to Full Backs, DMs - Play more risky passes, All Players - shoot less often Attacking Strategy A very fluid, attacking approach lends itself to an aggressive, creative style of play. Our very fluid shape gives each player a high level of creative freedom, which is something that I want to encourage. We play at a high tempo, looking to move the ball forward quickly into dangerous. However, I also don't want to waste possession of the ball, so we aim to keep it on the ground (short) for the most part and play it out from the back. Our primary attacking aim is to get the ball into our strikers who can link up with each other or with the wingers breaking into the final third, hence the fairly narrow approach, but I don't want to be too restrictive in the way we do that and the players have the creative freedom to choose their attacking style. Whether that's getting the ball into the strikers feet asap and playing 1-2s, bombing down the wing and delivering, playing through balls from the DM or any other way they can think of I don't mind, variety is the key. And of course, there is the deadly counter attack. Defensive Strategy The combination of the very fluid shape and high line brings the lines of the team together. Also opting for DMs instead of MCs gets rid of any central gaps making it nigh on impossible for teams to break through centrally, providing there are no individual errors. We press very high up the pitch with the aim to win the ball high in the oppositions half. If a team progresses into our half we organise with two solid banks of 4, complete with tight marking giving no player the time or space to exploit us. Our key area for winning the ball is in the DM area, where we press aggressively to prevent the opposition being able to take on our back 4. If, for whatever reason, the opposition can play a long ball over the top / through ball or they dribble past our DM strata then we rely on the pace of our back line (particularly our CBs). Our pressing style acts as a machine, where there is little room for individual error. We spend most of the season concentrating our match prep on 'Defensive Positioning' - Arrigo Sacchi would call this shadow play. Attacking Strategy in Action Lethal Counter A large amount of our goals will come from deadly counter attacks. Often we will win the ball in the DM strata and launch an attack utilising 2 or more of our front 4. Wing Play With a tactic using two attacking wingers it would be nonsensical to not utilise them fully. Here you can see our left winger beating his full-back 1v1 and whip a ball into the box. Typical 4-4-2 wing play at it's best. Front 2 Link Up Play Here we have two examples of when our two forwards have linked up to score using a high tempo, pace and good off the ball movement. The complete forward drops deep, playing the advanced forward through on both occasion. The four goals you've seen so far were all from the 4-1 win vs Real Madrid at the Bernebeu. DM Through Balls Here is an example where our DM, Pepelu, plays a risky pass over the top between the full back and central defender. This is a very common way for us to score goals. The DMs don't get that many assists, but they are often very involved in the build up play; the assist to the assist being their speciality. Defensive Strategy in Action The High Press Here is a great example of our high pressing style. First our strikers put a lot of pressure and win the first time round, lose it, but our DMs are pressing high and win it back. You missed Penaranda tucking it away... Winning the Ball in DM strata Here are some examples of us winning the ball in the DM strata, often leading to deadly counters. Aggressive Centre-Back Play Here is an example of Ro-Shaun Williams playing as an aggressive centre back, leaving the back line to win the ball in the opposition half, recovering when the ball is lost and tackling Inaki Williams shortly after before he can break into the final third. This is typical play from our centre backs. CBs soaking up Through Balls This is where the pace of our centre backs is crucial. If we haven't managed to get pressure on the ball quick enough (no 14) and the opposition can play it through/over the top then our centre backs spring into action and soak it up - as you can see Ilori doing here. The Machine In Action Here you can see our machine in action. Double-teaming (pressure, cover), including tracking runs from the striker (no. 9), stop the team from breaking us down through the middle and the tight marking stops them from being able to play it wide or over the top. We won the ball soon after. These clips are from the 6-0 cup win vs Bilbao. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 2019 Staff Overview I don't usually post much about my staff and I don't really know why because having the right backroom is integral to any football club, even more so for a youth challenge where these are the only personnel that you can sign. I always have a firm eye on staff member's personality and I aim to bring in plenty of personnel with professional personalities, ideally model professional. On top of this, I will never hire someone with determination less than 10 and ideally 15+. The only member that doesn't fit this model is my 'spineless' self . A convenient point to put up my latest manager profile. I'm still useless on the training field, but at least a little better than where I started. My current assistant manager and my best member of staff. He is ideal for the role and I can see him being my number 2 for years to come. He was exactly the kind of player I like too, here's his profile just before he retired. On top of personality, obviously ability on the training field is very important and I'm very happy with this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 2019/20 Squad Preview This is my desired starting 11 for the new season. Berisha, Sahinturk and Gokcek are all original players that are home grown at club, while Kostner, Schibany and Bizjak being the only players not home grown at the club. 8/11 starters home grown at the club is excellent at this stage and I'm quietly confident of doing better than last season. That extra year for our youngsters to develop and the addition of Patrick Thomas makes us stronger. Goalkeepers Kostner is a very decent keeper who is well suited to the top league. He is also a perfect sweeper keeper; he's got a bit of pace, he can rush out and he's even pretty good outfield, check out position graph . Eichammer is a good understudy to Kostner and he did well in his 8 appearances last season. I fully expect him to be his long term replacement, unless of course we get a star keeper through the intakes. Right Backs He struggled a little performance wise last season, but his development has been outstanding. He has quickly become the best player in the team and I hope his upward trajectory continues. He will perform better this season I'm sure. Krisch is an extremely versatile player who will be our ultimate cover-man this season. Left Backs Leonhard fell out with his tutor last year and also didn't get the best of average ratings. However, he's developed nicely and I fully expect an improved performance from him this year. Maurer is another versatile player who will be providing cover. He has an excellent attribute spread barring one; determination, which is very disappointing. Centre Backs Bizjak is our other 4.5* CA player (along with Finke) and he adds a bit of quality to the defensive line. I'm not a huge fan of all his attributes, but he's decisive and has a good physical profile. Jung become a regular starter part-way through last season and has come on leaps and bounds. I'm trying to increase his aerial ability via working on his jumping and whilst he's up an inch in height he's still under 6 foot. Not too bothered though, pace is more important in my back line. He was player of the year last season but pace on it's own wasn't enough to cut it in the Bundesliga. He's still a great backup option but Jung gets the nod ahead of him now. Defensive Midfielders Berisha is a solid all rounder and although he was mostly used as a back up option last season on reflection, and due to the fact he's HG at club, I think I'd rather use him at DM over Maurer and Krisch. Olku is another good backup player. He lacks the all round mental attributes to be a key player. His current ability is ranked lower than our other DMs but I actually think he's better than most of them. He will be a starter in order to help his development; give him 6 months I bet he will be rated higher. Wingers The man, the machine. Finn Frank has all the makings to become a cult hero at the club. Ok, he lacks technique and dribbling ability which are of course key attributes for a winger, but he makes up for this with his pure pace, work rate, determination and aggression. My kind of player. First season Sahinturk was pretty average, making 20 appearances (most from the bench) but failed to score or assist any goals. Last season, he established himself as first choice left winger with some solid performances and he has developed well. He's been on intensive quickness training and has been tutored to increase his determination which seems to have made a huge difference in his performances. Kogler. Another low-determination player, but he can play in any attacking role. He even played up top a lot last season when we had our injury crisis. As much as I hate having low-det. players in the side, Kogler is still integral to the squad, if only as a cover man now. Strikers Gokcek missed a lot of last season and he was sorely missed. When he was fit, he scored important goals. He's home grown at the club and he's determined, making him our best tutor. I hope he can keep fit next season. Schibany's goalscoring record is terrible. In 60 league appearances, he's managed just 11 goals. Nevertheless, he's the second best striker we have on paper, so hopefully he will improve! Sutcu also has 11 goals to him name in 59 appearances, though he has more of an excuse as most of these appearances have been off the bench. His mental attributes really let him down. Puchegger broke into the first team when we had no-one else to play upfront and despite playing poorly in the league, he helped us qualify for Europe with two important goals. He was starting to look like he was getting somewhere, but then broke his leg and he is still out for 2-3 months. Hopefully when he comes back from injury he can pick up with his development again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManUtd1 Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Congrats on staying up - great push to save the season! It certainly looks like you're primed for a better year, overall. The European cash is nice, but there can be a cost domestically. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkehwbu Posted January 20, 2017 Share Posted January 20, 2017 Am I the only one wondering how First Vienna finished second in the German bundesliga and won the Austrian Bundesliga same season? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 2 hours ago, ManUtd1 said: Congrats on staying up - great push to save the season! It certainly looks like you're primed for a better year, overall. The European cash is nice, but there can be a cost domestically. Cheer . Yeah I'm actually quite pleased that we're not playing European football this season. It helped us financially of course, but it added a hectic schedule on a threadbare squad - no wonder we struggled with injuries. I'm looking forward to focusing on the league, i think Europa on a newly promoted side was just too much. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 20, 2017 Author Share Posted January 20, 2017 1 hour ago, clarkehwbu said: Am I the only one wondering how First Vienna finished second in the German bundesliga and won the Austrian Bundesliga same season? This was during the Second World War when Austria (or parts of it?) became part of Germany. From what I've read, the Austrian Bundesliga acted as like a regional championship which fed into the German championship, which was more of a knockout tournament/cup than a league at that stage. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 2019/20 Mid-Season Review Well we are in a much better position than this time last year . That can't be said for the other two Vienna sides who are having atrocious seasons so far. As it stands we are on top of Vienna! We've had an easy route in the cup so far playing non-league sides. We've been able to play lots of our rotation / youth players in these fixtures and Puchegger made his comeback from a broken leg in style . We should beat Horn, who are struggling in the 2nd tier. We've managed to stay more or less injury free and our youngsters have been getting plenty of game time. I'm having to reject bids for Finke, Lampichler and Frank in January. They're all tied down to 2023 or 2024 thanks to optional contract extensions. Let's hope by that stage they will be willing to stay on! Ferstl has gone up in my estimation . Twice this has happened in my save so far, lucky! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 Youth Intake 2020 An intake with the quality and depth of the first one and 5 players worth tagging. I'm going to be a lot harsher going forward as to who gets offered a contract. If I don't like the look of them, then they don't get signed. Generally the lower star players will only get signed if they have good personalities, in this case none of them did so only the 5 tagged players were signed. Part of my reasoning for this is that our U18s, despite being given an invitation, never play in a youth league. They end up having friendlies arranged. Going forward, my youngsters will be placed in the B team who play in a lower league and therefore get stats generated even if I can't see the matches. The top ones will be place in the first team. Usually I end up with huge reserve/youth squads but this time round I'm going to be more ruthless. Wachter is rated very highly by the HOYD and hopefully he can live up to these expectations. He will need to be trained at ML but that shouldn't take long. He's got pace but lacks mentally. Will see if I can get him tutored, though we're lacking quality tutors. Martinovic is my personal favourite from the intake. He's got all the right attributes to become a good complete forward and he is good enough to play first team football straight away. He's mentally and physically well-rounded, though he lacks finishing and composure. If he lives up to his potential he could become a first team player for sure. A pacey full back who will provide competition for Lampichler in the not too distant future. Very determined, man mountain centre back. I will be working on his pace. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 Spoiler 7 games to go... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManUtd1 Posted January 21, 2017 Share Posted January 21, 2017 Nice! Tight at the top, but you can do it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 21, 2017 Author Share Posted January 21, 2017 6 hours ago, ManUtd1 said: Nice! Tight at the top, but you can do it. You'll find out in just a moment Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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