smp20 Posted January 26, 2017 Author Share Posted January 26, 2017 Bundesliga Austria Wien stormed the league with a record-breaking 90 points. They were just superb. We ended up 2nd place on 75 points which every other year would have won you the league. They beat us every time we played them this season which was very disappointing. Rapid Wien on the other hand were shocking. Overall I'm happy with the performance, but I want to to do better next year. Austrian Cup Yep you guessed it, Austria Wien knocked us out in the cup. 0-0-5 record vs them this year...LASK Linz beat them in the final 1-0. Europa League A quick recap on our brilliant run Players Facilities Finances Transfers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManUtd1 Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Tremendously impressive, man. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 26, 2017 Author Share Posted January 26, 2017 Cheers @ManUtd1 It's been a topsy turvy ride in the league: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 26, 2017 Author Share Posted January 26, 2017 The board managed to strike a 'recruit foreign youngsters' deal with Danubio, one of the best academies in the world! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cardiovascular Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Absolutlely brilliant! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keano16 Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 Thought you were screwed with that CL group but you performed admirably and the EL win wasn't half bad either! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shaunwwfc Posted January 26, 2017 Share Posted January 26, 2017 On 20/01/2017 at 13:19, smp20 said: 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. Brilliant story and thread. I find myself drawn to your tactical ideas. Is it pretty much a plug in play type of system? Given your results, I find it outstanding in all fairness. It seems like one in which would bring a red card every other game to either one of the DMs given the aggressiveness of the TIs - is this something you find yourself having to work around? Also, I see many players that are lacking in pace, do you use a more restictive set of TIs when this is the case? Do you never go away from the Attacking mentality and simply alter the defensive line and/or closing down settings or do you simply go with a lesser stategy? I find myself a sucker for more "robust" CBs like Huth/Morgan at Leicester rather than the more rapid type that I imagine your tactics would be need. Sorry to put the focus solely on tactics but I find myself genuinely intrigued by great results with what seems on your posts generally the same tactic each time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 26, 2017 Author Share Posted January 26, 2017 2 hours ago, Cardiovascular said: Absolutlely brilliant! 2 hours ago, Keano16 said: Thought you were screwed with that CL group but you performed admirably and the EL win wasn't half bad either! Cheers guys Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 1 hour ago, Shauny1990 said: Brilliant story and thread. I find myself drawn to your tactical ideas. Is it pretty much a plug in play type of system? Given your results, I find it outstanding in all fairness. It seems like one in which would bring a red card every other game to either one of the DMs given the aggressiveness of the TIs - is this something you find yourself having to work around? Also, I see many players that are lacking in pace, do you use a more restictive set of TIs when this is the case? Do you never go away from the Attacking mentality and simply alter the defensive line and/or closing down settings or do you simply go with a lesser stategy? I find myself a sucker for more "robust" CBs like Huth/Morgan at Leicester rather than the more rapid type that I imagine your tactics would be need. Sorry to put the focus solely on tactics but I find myself genuinely intrigued by great results with what seems on your posts generally the same tactic each time. Cheers Shauny1990. Happy to delve into tactics! It is more or less a plug and play system, I rarely change much at all. As you'll see in this save, I suffer from a lot of reds and yellows in DM. Ideally, I sub DMs if they are booked, but in this save Patrick Thomas spends a bit more time on the pitch and often ends up with a second yellow. Basically because the other DMs I have would weaken us significantly. If we end up going down to 10, I will play with one up top. We are a little less potent of course, but the system works as it should and we are still a threat on the counter with the two wingers and lone forward. In fact, sometimes it works in our favour because the other team push high / go for broke against 10 men. The only change I've made from the Getafe tactic is that I've set the defensive line to 'normal', but it's still pretty high due to the team mentality. I'd have no qualms playing a Morgan type centre back (I did so with a Leicester save on FM16) but I'd need a very quick one alongside him. Yes same tactic with minor tweaks across many saves and iterations of FM. I've plunged many an hour into fine tuning my Sacchi-system Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 2024/25 Mid-Season Review Bundesliga A very solid first half in the league. Our only defeat came against Austria Wien, who we finally beat in the return tie to give us some breathing space. Both of our draws have been 2-2 with LASK Linz. Austria Cup We're out of the cup, but at least our second string managed to beat Austria Wien . Champions League Here's were the magic has been happening. I was gutted when I saw the draw, but dumbfounded when we went on to thrash Real Madrid 5-2 in the opening game. We even managed a score draw at the Bernebeu! Getting the double over Juve was revenge for them stealing two of our right backs. Our only poor result was away to Plzen who beat us at their place. As you'd expect with a 4-1-1 record, we topped the group . We'll be in the CL knockout rounds for the first time. There were some odd results going about, including Plzen 6-5 Real and Fenerbahce 7-4 Bayern. A few upsets too, Juventus, Man Utd, Atletico, Bayern and Real will all have to put up with EL while Chelsea finished rock bottom! Interestingly, Austria Wien won their group also. A good draw for us, perhaps only better by Panathinaikos or Legia. I wonder if there will be any further upsets. Exciting so far! Players Is there a way to describe someone who's greater than a legend? That's Diederichs, who just can't stop scoring. 36 goals in 26 games, including 7 in 6 CL. Patrick Thomas has also been outstanding and Deinert is having his best season yet. I've managed to reject £30m bids for him so far. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oriole01 Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Jesus, I thought your goal was just to win the league with all of the countries, not the ****ing Champions League every single time! Yeah man, you are nuts . Of course I'll be supporting your efforts all the way through though. Seems like you're at least knocking on the doorstep of completing Austria, keep it up! Can't imagine this being done in small countries like Iceland or Northern Ireland though, would take decades. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
R7Now Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Well, that Champions League campaign sure escalated quickly! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 8 hours ago, oriole01 said: Jesus, I thought your goal was just to win the league with all of the countries, not the ****ing Champions League every single time! Yeah man, you are nuts . Of course I'll be supporting your efforts all the way through though. Seems like you're at least knocking on the doorstep of completing Austria, keep it up! Can't imagine this being done in small countries like Iceland or Northern Ireland though, would take decades. Thanks for your support as always . Yes the CL is the ultimate aim and it will be very tough in the minor nations. I've done it before though with Afan Lido of Wales, so it's doable. I've had a stab at Northern Ireland already which went sour so I'm looking forward to making amends there. 4 hours ago, R7Now said: Well, that Champions League campaign sure escalated quickly! It certainly did . We're looking like a force to be reckoned with! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 My manager profile - 8 years on and I'm looking a bit better Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 This is huuuuuuge money for Austria, but when you're not spending your transfer budget you can afford to pay your stars the big bucks. That's Diederichs tied down until 2032 unless the board intervene. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 2025 Youth Intake Nothing to shout about this year The assistant picked him out as the player of the intake, yet doesn't even rate Becker himself . He should develop quickly, but a long way to go to get into the first team. Technically able, but lacking pretty much everywhere else. Decent at first glance, but his lack of jumping ability will hinder him at centre back. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 Champions League First Knockout Round 1st Leg Very pleased with this result. Both of our first team keepers were out injured for 1-2 weeks and we were without stalwart Patrick Thomas through suspension. In terms of chances it was an even game, but Anderlecht looked good in possession. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 Champions League First Knockout Round 2nd Leg It was a lot closer than I wanted it to be but we did it . Diederichs had the chance to make it 2-0 in the dying seconds from the penalty spot but missed. Luckily Anderlecht didn't get another chance to attack. Arsenal thrashed current holders 5-0 making them the team to be afraid of. Austrian Wien almost came back against Fenerbahce but the 3-0 deficit was too much in the end for them. Interestingly, 3 Italian sides in the QF, while there are no Spanish sides and only one English side. I will take this draw! We've avoided Arsenal and perhaps the only side I'd rather face is Fenerbahce. A re-match from last years EL Semi-final awaits Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
oche balboa Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Fantastic stuff mate Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 19 minutes ago, oche balboa said: Fantastic stuff mate Cheers, we're within touching distance of completing the challenge in Austria now! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 Champions League Quarter Final 1st Leg An excellent result in Portugal, giving us a great chance for further progression! Considering we were without our best defender and only decent right back Deinert we defended admirably, forcing Porto to shoot from long. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkehwbu Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Great first leg win Smp! Can I ask quickly i'm having a bit of trouble on my thread uploading my images, where do you upload yours too? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 3 minutes ago, clarkehwbu said: Great first leg win Smp! Can I ask quickly i'm having a bit of trouble on my thread uploading my images, where do you upload yours too? Cheers . I use a mixture of jing to save to my computer then upload with imgur if I'm not updating straight away or gyazo if I know i'll be updating very soon. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
clarkehwbu Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 4 minutes ago, smp20 said: Cheers . I use a mixture of jing to save to my computer then upload with imgur if I'm not updating straight away or gyazo if I know i'll be updating very soon. Thanks man, i'll look to see if that helps me! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 Champions League Quarter Final 2nd Leg Into the semi finals!!! We made hard work of it against 10 men and Porto almost clawed it back on away goals, but in the end the 1-0 away win was enough to see us through on aggregate. No surprises here, Arsenal convincingly through and looking like favourites to win it. I'm just glad we didn't get Arsenal! Juve will be after revenge for us beating them twice in the groups. Given those results, I'm quietly confident but it's a double ended sword. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManUtd1 Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Excellent work! Looking forward to seeing how the semis go, given the Juventus draw. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 2 hours ago, ManUtd1 said: Excellent work! Looking forward to seeing how the semis go, given the Juventus draw. Cheers @ManUtd1 - semi-finals played on the train, update to follow! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nextqprmanager Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 smp20, Fantastic post, read it all [ in between work oc ] I would like to have home-grown English players from youth at QPR - ( into Prem at 1st attempt.) Got some good staff, but I have found changing the U23`s & U`18`s staff particularly difficult Any advice pls? - I see that you have good tactics, I assume get good staff [ would your staff be ok for Prem? ] & Training , but how do you do it? Sorry for ramble, but I was turned down to improve Youth. What should I be doing? thx in adv Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 Champions League Semi-Final 1st Leg A fantastic first leg putting us in a great position going forward, though I'm worried about Juve's away goal. We continued our winning streak against them and to be honest I was surprised at how average their team is, they've done well to get here. Champions League Semi-Final 2nd Leg We're into the final!!! Juve named the exact starting 11 and formation but shapes went out the window for both sides after two straight reds. It was an end to end affair, but as normal we kept them mostly to long efforts and finally broke through with De Laet. I was always worried at 0-0 Preparation for the Final Well, as expected Arsenal made it to the final. They're going to be a real tough team to face. Bring it on! Lets hope we can follow in the footsteps of our youngsters. They were runners up in 22/23 and Quarter-finalists in 23/24 so it was brewing. Bundesliga We won the league Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 37 minutes ago, nextqprmanager said: smp20, Fantastic post, read it all [ in between work oc ] I would like to have home-grown English players from youth at QPR - ( into Prem at 1st attempt.) Got some good staff, but I have found changing the U23`s & U`18`s staff particularly difficult Any advice pls? - I see that you have good tactics, I assume get good staff [ would your staff be ok for Prem? ] & Training , but how do you do it? Sorry for ramble, but I was turned down to improve Youth. What should I be doing? thx in adv These are my non-first team staff (+ HOYD) I look mostly at personality here. To be honest my best youngsters will be training with the first team from 17 onward so I haven't brought in loads of coaches. Firstly, I'd look to negotatiate ''looking to bring through youngsters'' in your philosophies. This will help make the board more willing to accept youth related upgrades. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Austria - Checked in 30 min'. What's next? :)) Even if you don't succeed this season, Congrats on the amazing and fast progress. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 This happened, just after I won the match 1-0, Diederichs latched onto a De Laet wonderball. I was just changing the settings to upload the goal! Bloody hell. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 53 minutes ago, Muttley84 said: Austria - Checked in 30 min'. What's next? :)) Even if you don't succeed this season, Congrats on the amazing and fast progress. Haha we will see update to follow! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 Champions League Final, June 7th 2025 Arsenal's line-up included 9 players labelled as ''world-class'', though they were without two of their key players - Tizzard and Pashaj - through injury. With Pep Guardiola as manager we knew exactly the kind of football they'd be playing and I'd be hoping to hit them on the counter. The FM Gods smiled on us as we won the game 4-0, quite bizarre! Same result as previously played (I was furious when it crashed), but a huge margin. It was a close game as well in terms of chances, we just made the most of ours. Buzzing!!! First Vienna have now completed the youth academy challenge Next up, season review with final player screenshots. Dream Team Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bartrcm Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Incredible stuff!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
nextqprmanager Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Great CL win what was the 1-0 winning game that crashed? ps. so you have not had any problems fielding young sides ? [ throwing it back in Hansen`s face! ] Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManUtd1 Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Woohoo! Congratulations on a job very well done. A very quick rise to the top! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pheelf Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 How do you do these things? Taking a 2nd division Austrian team to Champions League glory all in the space of 10 days? I doff my hat to you sir...absolutely incredible Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ceching You Out Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Quite ridiculous. Well done! One wrinkle you could add to this -- players you've brought through at one club are available to be purchased at the next. So wherever you land next, you could bring along any of the Austrian players you've developed. It's actually a challenge I've pondered trying myself after seeing yours. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 2 hours ago, Bartrcm said: Incredible stuff!!! Thanks @Bartrcm 1 hour ago, nextqprmanager said: Great CL win what was the 1-0 winning game that crashed? ps. so you have not had any problems fielding young sides ? [ throwing it back in Hansen`s face! ] Thanks . The 1-0 win was the CL final which had to be replayed. Thankfully with the same result, but even bigger scoreline! Definitely no problems fielding the youngsters, no need for 53 minutes ago, ManUtd1 said: Woohoo! Congratulations on a job very well done. A very quick rise to the top! Cheers @ManUtd1 - it was a lot quicker than I imagined. Things just seemed to click once I had that settled first team with 3 stars - Thomas, Deinert and Diederichs! 44 minutes ago, pheelf said: How do you do these things? Taking a 2nd division Austrian team to Champions League glory all in the space of 10 days? I doff my hat to you sir...absolutely incredible A lot of time on my hands recently cheers @pheelf. 18 minutes ago, Ceching You Out said: Quite ridiculous. Well done! One wrinkle you could add to this -- players you've brought through at one club are available to be purchased at the next. So wherever you land next, you could bring along any of the Austrian players you've developed. It's actually a challenge I've pondered trying myself after seeing yours. Cheers @Ceching You Out. I have thought about ways I'd continue on with the same manager, but it would be very difficult to do so using the rules in place for the Youth Academy Challenge. Therefore wherever I end up next, will be with a new save. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muttley84 Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 Curious if you will have the same speed in Belarus also. You should also put down Bulgaria as achievement, I don't see the reason of playing again there if you're gonna start from 2017 each time. Will be following! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 2 minutes ago, Muttley84 said: Curious if you will have the same speed in Belarus also. You should also put down Bulgaria as achievement, I don't see the reason of playing again there if you're gonna start from 2017 each time. Will be following! Cheers @Muttley84! I'm not sure exactly which 'pattern' I'm going to do it in. I started with Austria so I couldn't rule out doing it alphabetically. But I might pick and choose, or at least do the Feb-Nov (or thereabouts) after the patch, so I have two proper start dates available with potentially different clubs opening up more options. I'm making this an across-FM challenge so all challenge completions before FM17 count and I can move over to FM18 too. That means Holland, England, Wales, Greece, Scotland, Bulgaria and now Austria are all ticked off . Need to update post #2 with that. In the meantime, I'm going to get round to the end of season update with the screenshots I've saved up and play a 'lap of honour' season while I decide what's next. I may even put it to a vote. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Gato_In_Goal Posted January 27, 2017 Share Posted January 27, 2017 You cease to amaze me with how quickly you can complete these challenges I forget if you're just doing the nations in the game or using a database? Will you manage something like Andorra next? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 2024/25 proved to be the season that we did it. Challenge #1 complete, lots more to go... Bundesliga Austria Wien were breathing down our necks for a while but we pulled away in the end and won the league comfortably. We didn't match their 90 points of last season however. Red Bull had another poor season despite being the biggest spenders as usual. They've just hired Jesus to save them, a 70-year-old Jorge Jesus that is . Austrian Cup A disappointing run, though it wasn't a competition we were taking seriously. I even fielded a second string side and they managed to win after we'd suffered 7 consecutive losses vs them, go figure! Rapid beat Wacker Innsbruck in the final after extra time. Innbruck were seconds away from winning it, despite nearly getting relegated from the second tier. Champions League A tasty reminder of how good we were in the Champions League. Juventus must absolutely hate us. The only side that beat us were Viktoria Plzen away. We started with a 5-1 victory against Real Madrid and finished with a 4-0 win against Arsenal (fortunately so) - the middle wasn't too shabby either! Club Information The club is now worth over £200m and is the best supported club in Austria. I'm pretty sure our rivalries with both Rapid & Austria Wien have grown whilst we've developed a competitive rivalry with Red Bull Salzburg - are they jealous . Diederichs and I are now club legends, whilst Martinovic and Thomas are icons. Transfers This season we ended up selling Eisner and Puchegger because they we're no longer going to get any game time, but they've got every reason to be happy with the part they've played. Puchegger was ever-present in the 20/21 season, while Eisner came out of nowhere and ended up being a cover player for centre back and defensive midfield. Finances All debts were paid off and the youth facilities are being upgraded for around £5m, but we've still got a hefty £65m in the bank. Facilities We're back in the Hohe Warte after a season in the national stadium. I imagine it will be full every match, shame we won't get the 50-55k crowds we were getting for rival matches. Our setup is one 'notch' away from perfect, which will be in place very soon. Overall Best 11 A mixture of old and new in the overall best 11. Oliver Jung ended up as the greatest appearance holder, while Diederichs is the standout performer as you would expect. Bizjak is still going for BATE and recently made his international debut for Slovenia, while Maurer is still plying his trade in the Eerste Liga. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 27, 2017 Author Share Posted January 27, 2017 2 minutes ago, The_Gato_In_Goal said: You cease to amaze me with how quickly you can complete these challenges I forget if you're just doing the nations in the game or using a database? Will you manage something like Andorra next? Cheers @The_Gato_In_Goal - I think Austria is a great place for this challenge . I'm only using the 'out the box' nations, as per the Youth Academy Challenge rules. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 28, 2017 Author Share Posted January 28, 2017 The Challenge Winning Squad The additions of Michael Zauner and Rocco Porro and the development of some of our up and coming 'Golden Generation' strengthened our squad significantly from last season. Here's the squad in full. Goalkeepers Ilunga came from our feeder club RKC and over the last 18 months gained the no.1 shirt. His physical attributes are incredible for a keeper and judging by his eccentricity and rushing out he is a bit of a loon . Lost his spot as first choice keeper but he's still a great backup to have. He's managed to pick up a couple of caps for the NT. Right Backs Deinert is really starting to live up to the 'best of his generation' tag. Give it a couple of years he will be world class. Yes he's useless, but Wolfgang couldn't give two Fuchs because he's still here and getting game time . Deinert needs his down time... Left Backs Rahn would have been gutted to miss the CL final as he was ever-present in the competition before then. He's moulded into a very capable full back. Lampichler is the oldest player in the team, but isn't in the limelight as much as he was in his teens. He still pips the back up spot ahead of Fork (out on loan) and Joao Silva who's been a star in our U19 CL winning campaign. Centre Backs Winkler also missed the CL final, though it was his own fault as he hacked down a Juve player with two feet in the Semis. He fits our system extremely well thanks to his pace. Vasic, or the Monster as I call him, is a 15 stone 6'7 Bosnian centre back who frightens the life out of strikers. He's really gained in pace too so he's not a big, slow awkward centre back anymore. Zauner is a bit of an all rounder as far as centre back goes and he has one thing that our other one's haven't - incredible work rate. He's one for the future, that's for sure. Jung is now our 4th choice centre back after many years in the starting 11. He's still a great option to have. Defensive Midfielders The main man Paddy 'Red Card' Thomas had an excellent campaign. He even managed to not get sent off in the CL, despite being booked 9 times. Finally a rightful parter for Thomas, no disrespect to his predecessors. Porro, plucked from feeder club Livorno, oozes class. Wallner was previously untagged (hence the 21Z) but has actually developed into a very tidy backup option. Not bad for a no-hoper! Kevin Bakker emerged on the scene after we sold Anton Berisha and the ex-RKC lad has actually been a solid performer. He and Wallner share the backup DM role. Right Wingers Kupper has done very well since coming into the squad and there's still margin for improvement development wise. There's always room for one favourite and Finn Frank is mine. He is technically woeful, but is a grafter with pace. Performed above his ability for many seasons, even the HOYD didn't rate him to start with. True, he hasn't really improved since 17, but you can't argue with his performances. Left Wingers Wachter can waltz past defenders like they're not there, which seems to go above and beyond his attribute map. A key performer in all competitions and has provided 75 assists in his career. Petersen is a decent back-up option, though nothing more. Diederichs is a complete legend. 12 champions league goals, just insane. Can I take him with me wherever I go? When fit Auer was the chosen partner for Diederichs. Performs very well in the advanced forward role. Star of the Europa League final last season and he's now a proven goalscorer. 26 goals in 26 starts, if you were to look at it that way. Martinovic is now getting limited time on the pitch due to the emergence of better talents, but he will forever remain an icon for the club. Honours We've bulked out the trophy cabinet somewhat in our time, adding to the clubs proud history Competitions It wasn't all plain sailing throughout the save - particularly looking back to the first half of the 2018/19 season which was catastrophic. I even thought of shaking up the tactics/philosophy but I'm bloody glad I didn't now. We've been fortunate to have a crack at Europe right from our second season, only once not qualifying for either EL/CL group stages back in 2021/22. A rapid improvement from 3rd place finishes to trophy winners The Manager With my UEFA Pro Licence fresh from print, this is how I look. A decent all round coach. It's clear to see the attributes that won't improve over time. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 28, 2017 Author Share Posted January 28, 2017 So in my lap of honour season, the boys are back . Finke will only be a rotation player, but at least it will mean we won't need Wolfgang Fuchs. He spent 4 season out on loan, never making an appearance for Juve before being sold to Braga for £2.9m. Fresh from a loan spell at Villarreal, unlike Finke, Sabic did make 15 appearances for Juventus. Our right hand side is looking a whole lot stronger! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
R7Now Posted January 28, 2017 Share Posted January 28, 2017 I'm pretty sure the FM gods gifted you Jurgen. What an incredible player. Just dominating every side he faces. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 28, 2017 Author Share Posted January 28, 2017 14 minutes ago, R7Now said: I'm pretty sure the FM gods gifted you Jurgen. What an incredible player. Just dominating every side he faces. He certainly is a gift! Reminds me of Nentidis, a regen I had with Aris on FM16 that basically did the same. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smp20 Posted January 28, 2017 Author Share Posted January 28, 2017 Right, I've been doing some thinking and I've decided that I'm going to put my next nation down to a vote. However, I've narrowed it down to where I fancy taking a stab at next. I want to manage in a big nation so that it's a real struggle to win the domestic title. I've ruled out Germany for the moment because it's a little too close to Austria (fancy different sounding regens). Here's my options: 1. Spain 2. Portugal 3. France 4. Italy I will go with whichever has the most votes by the time I've properly finished my last season with First Vienna. Give reasons if you fancy . Thanks for taking the time to read my thread! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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