[FM17] A Journeyman Story: Knocking José Mourinho Off His Perch

[noikeee]

 

August-September 2035

 

Transfers

 

Nothing of note happened here other than we loaned out a few players (including promising Croatian striker Veno Tokic), and sold youth winger Telmo Lopes for 850K€ to Liverpool (I didn't rate him at all).

 

 

 

Competitions

 

 

We kicked off the season with a trophy! In the French Supercup (Trophée des Champions), we let PSG open up a lead right after half-time only for our star striker Alaa Hossam to strike twice and turn the match around - despite him STILL being unhappy I turned down a move to Bayern god knows how many months ago.

 

The league began with Hossam still on good form as he struck 3 past a strong Lyon side managed by Guardiola, in a great 5-0 win, but we have been poo in the league since. We were utterly shocked with two consecutive 2-0 defeats to Lens and Angers, and this unsettled us. We did recover with confident wins over both Nice and Metz, but dropped points at home to Dijon, and now we had a really, really tough calendar for the remainder of September. We would survive undefeated but not without dropping some more points - a 88th minute long shot from Vladyslav Pavlov saved us from a defeat at tycoon-owned Marseille (now spearheaded by TWO of my former HSV strikers, Santiago Quiñones and Wilsão), we then very pleasingly beat PSG 2-0, but at Nantes, against an inspired team that has started the league in superb form, we again had to be saved by a late goal to salvage a 2-2 draw.

 

In the Champions League, the toughest fixture of the group has been dealt with already. A trip to Rome ended in a 1-0 win, after a strong performance, with new signing Jose Luis Herrera scoring a precious 1st goal for the club.

 

 

 

This is a strange start, we've been flat out poor in the league, yet have beaten PSG twice, are ahead of them in the table (PSG have had an awful start!!!), and have grabbed a trophy. I'm hoping the Lens/Angers was just a glitch as beyond that I'm pretty happy enough with the rest. A concern is lots of problems to Alaa Hossam upfront, still unhappy and with terrible morale, and now injured for a few weeks as well. By now I want to cut my losses and sell him, but didn't receive any bids in this transfer window.

[Lenzar]

Two losses at the start of the season. If we call that a blip, I'd argue your only poor result was the draw against Dijon. Marseille are historically strong and Nantes are top of the table. Draws away at those teams aren't bad results.

You can turn this around!

[inthisspace]

I think you are at a similar stage as your previous stint at HSV. You are probably seen as favourites against most of the underdogs, so they tend to set up shop against you and hit you on the break or on set pieces. However, PSG and Lyon still sees you as a lower opponent, and so play directly into your hand. 

 

Like the real world, the only way to overcome the former problem is to have superior players to get the first goal and to curb the players' complacency throughout the match. 

It is not a bad start though! 

[noikeee]

 

October-November 2035

 

 

Competitions

 

 

It's been going relatively well in the league. We beat both Lorient and Montpellier - although it took a 86th minute owngoal to finally break the later - but these were both matches at home. Once we had to travel to Caen... very difficult 2-2 draw. This pattern continued. Had no issues beating Bastia at home, but couldn't go further than a goalless draw at Sochaux... only to dominate and easily beat Bordeaux at home again.

 

In the CL, it's a clean sweep. A massive 5-0 over Standard could've been even more, and Fenerbahçe hardly threatened us neither - 3-0. In Turkey they gave us more of a challenge but capitulated in the final half hour and we took the chance to make it a pleasing 4-1 win at the end. We were through already, and after beating Roma 3-1 we have now clinched 1st place in the group with a match to go.

 

 

 

 

A very good pair of months sees us avoid any defeats, qualify for the next round of the CL and get closer in the league, being just 1 point from the top. However there's a serious recurring issue now: we've been brilliant at home this season, but away, in 7 league matches we've only won 1 of them. I need to figure that out fast because that's not good enough and it's costing us too many points.

[noikeee]

On 05/09/2017 at 23:37, Lenzar said:

Two losses at the start of the season. If we call that a blip, I'd argue your only poor result was the draw against Dijon. Marseille are historically strong and Nantes are top of the table. Draws away at those teams aren't bad results.

You can turn this around!

Nah, by now it's becoming clear we have a serious away form problem.

On 06/09/2017 at 02:18, inthisspace said:

I think you are at a similar stage as your previous stint at HSV. You are probably seen as favourites against most of the underdogs, so they tend to set up shop against you and hit you on the break or on set pieces. However, PSG and Lyon still sees you as a lower opponent, and so play directly into your hand. 

 

Like the real world, the only way to overcome the former problem is to have superior players to get the first goal and to curb the players' complacency throughout the match. 

It is not a bad start though! 

It is rather similar indeed, I'd commented the same with some friends earlier. However something weird is going on because I seem to have found the formula to break very defensive teams down at home... and we continue as effective as ever in Europe where the AI doesn't overly respect us and attack us...  but in the league away matches, where the teams are not quite defensive and aggressively fight for the ball but are still somewhat wary of us, it's where we're struggling now!

[ManUtd1]

Talk about narrow margins! A couple results go your way, and you're in.

[VillaSmith]

Ooh, that's bloody tight at the top, just need to see out some of those draws and you should start to pull away 

[noikeee]

12 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

Talk about narrow margins! A couple results go your way, and you're in.

 

11 hours ago, VillaSmith said:

Ooh, that's bloody tight at the top, just need to see out some of those draws and you should start to pull away 

That's exactly what's been happening in December!  I kinda feel guilty for ruining that league table though, 2 points between 1st and 7th was pretty cool!

[inthisspace]

On 09/09/2017 at 05:27, noikeee said:

Nah, by now it's becoming clear we have a serious away form problem.

It is rather similar indeed, I'd commented the same with some friends earlier. However something weird is going on because I seem to have found the formula to break very defensive teams down at home... and we continue as effective as ever in Europe where the AI doesn't overly respect us and attack us...  but in the league away matches, where the teams are not quite defensive and aggressively fight for the ball but are still somewhat wary of us, it's where we're struggling now!

Just postulating, but could it be that the away teams you play against tend to switch mentalities more often? Since it is their home ground, I doubt they would be contented with sitting back for 90 minutes. They might up the tempo occasionally to grab a goal. Once that is done, they then sit back on the counter again.

Waiting to see what solution you can come up for the away games. Keep up the good work!

[Dexter_Morgan]

Tight up there but if you keep up the form of the last few months I think you should easily break away

[noikeee]

10 hours ago, inthisspace said:

Just postulating, but could it be that the away teams you play against tend to switch mentalities more often? Since it is their home ground, I doubt they would be contented with sitting back for 90 minutes. They might up the tempo occasionally to grab a goal. Once that is done, they then sit back on the counter again.

Waiting to see what solution you can come up for the away games. Keep up the good work!

I think that's true - they're probably going at us at something like Standard in their stadiums and Defensive/Counter at our home - which leads to the matches playing out slightly different. But I kinda just started winning away matches now without doing anything special (although I'm devising a couple slightly different game plans with slightly different roles).

1 hour ago, Dexter_Morgan said:

Tight up there but if you keep up the form of the last few months I think you should easily break away

Working on that!

[noikeee]

A winnable but not super comfortable tie in the CL last 16. I would've preferred something like Ajax or Dynamo but I guess Leverkusen are far easier than Man Utd...

[noikeee]

The Ballon d'Or this year sees the two biggest sales of my career come 2nd and 3rd:

 

Here's the guy that won this year and the guy that dominated the 3 previous seasons. FM constantly generating heaps of wildly talented classic wingers... of the kind we've not seen in real life since maybe like the Figo and Giggs days when football was rather different. 

[Tajerio]

21 minutes ago, noikeee said:

The Ballon d'Or this year sees the two biggest sales of my career come 2nd and 3rd:

 

Here's the guy that won this year and the guy that dominated the 3 previous seasons. FM constantly generating heaps of wildly talented classic wingers... of the kind we've not seen in real life since maybe like the Figo and Giggs days when football was rather different. 

I've noticed the heaps of wingers myself.  Though in my game the infestation of strikers is worse.  Everybody's got a striker with 17s in finishing, composure, OTB, anticipation, pace, and acceleration, but none of them are brave and none of them can jump.

[noikeee]

3 minutes ago, Tajerio said:

I've noticed the heaps of wingers myself.  Though in my game the infestation of strikers is worse.  Everybody's got a striker with 17s in finishing, composure, OTB, anticipation, pace, and acceleration, but none of them are brave and none of them can jump.

Indeed. This is so annoying as in many of the tactics I find most successful, these kinds of players aren't exactly a perfect fit.

 

Meanwhile, HSV's been collecting a pile of money selling all the players I hired back in my days, for unbelievable fees:

 

[noikeee]

 

December 2035-January 2036

 

 

Transfers

 

One player in, one player out. I rather controversially decided to cash in on homegrown winger Clément Tissot as he entered his thirties. Clément was class but playing ever less these days, so I sent him off to China in a 12M€ deal that could reach 14,75M€. He looked like one player too many in the squad, but afterwards it turns out I couldn't fit in anyone to replace him in the CL registrations and now I'm actually short of players there. Woops.

 

The one guy that came in, was incomprehensibly transfer listed by Barcelona. Poached him by 17,75M€:

 

 

There's talent here and still some potential untapped, so I took the risk to hire him. The idea was to replace Alaa Hossam who's been unhappy for so long now, that some day someone will bid for him again - but it didn't happen this transfer window. The only issue here with Riverola is he'll never be as quick as I want him to be. Also can't be registered this season in the CL for reasons.

 

 

 

Competitions

 

 

The curse is over! We win an away league match! There was dancing in front of the laptop as Saint-Étienne were turned past 2-1, AND Guingamp as well in a magnificent 5-2. It seemed we could do no wrong as in a 2nd half festival we smashed Rennes 5-1 now back in Monaco. The good old away draw reappeared at Lyon but I guess I'm kinda happy enough with that - even if they no longer have Guardiola who they have just sacked! - and then we continued doing good, by beating Lens and Toulouse (very hard narrow home wins), and smashing Nice 3-0 away in the derby. Then in an unfortunate day Metz held us to a 2-2 draw (both goals scored by, imagine, Federico Britos 20A - a long forgotten youth product of my Nacional side 16 years ago!!!), but despite this blip we have now opened a little distance at the top of the league.

 

In the CL, a bunch of backups were used in the final match away to Standard, and they teased the Belgian side with qualification as a win would've let them through. But nope, we were having none of it and the Belgian crowd will have to be happy with a fun 3-3 draw and the only point we've given away this group. Leverkusen awaits us.

 

In the cups, errm, this is where I have poor news, we've been **** - those dreaded away fixtures! We're out of the Coupe de la Ligue already, at the very first hurdle - Angers held us to a 1-1 draw and then beat us on penalties. And in the Coupe de France, we were very nearly embarrassed by Strasbourg who are on level 3 currently, held us to a 0-0 draw for 105 minutes but finally we broke past them with 2 extra-time goals.

 

 

 

 

 

Top of the league, woo! I can't pretend this hasn't been a massive gift by a massively underperforming PSG, as we continue to drop too many points here and there, but we'll take it! The CL is also looking good and the only poor news here is poor performance in the domestic cups - kicked out of one already, and needing extra time to beat minnows in the other. If we can get away with the title and/or a great CL run, I'm okay with flopping in the cups though.

[noikeee]

Youth products over the years

 

This is a feature I was going to write around 3 seasons ago, in December 2032, in which I took a bunch of screenshots and wrote some stuff, but then got bored and backed out of it. Amusingly I've just randomly ran into Francisco Britos 20A so I think it's the right time to finish and revisit this! Basically let's see which of my youth products over the years got big in the game!

 

 

 

Central Español (2017-2018)

 

I hardly ever got any impressive players at my Central Español intakes earlier in my career, so it's no huge surprise that none have made it big.

 

 

The highest profile Central Espãnol youth player. This midfielder had a pretty interesting career with some unlikely destinations. Poached by Anderlecht in 2021, a move to Belgium never materialized in a single start, so he returned to Uruguay to play for Cerrito. From there he moved to Peru, and then to Tunisia(!!) to play for Club Africain, before returning to the same Peruvian team, Municipal.

 

Update 2036: Still there at Municipal!

 

 

Had the strange distinction of moving from Central Español to... Nacional, like I did, a few years later once I'd left Uruguay. Things didn't really work out there and he ended up having the best years of his career playing for Fénix.

 

Update 2036: No longer in the database

 

 

 

Nacional (2019-2020)

 

One of the most exciting periods of my career was managing the Nacional talent factory. Some of the greatest youth kids I managed there were from the youth intakes previous to my arrival, but we still generated plenty of stars, specially in the hugely impressive Class of '19.

 

 

I rarely got the chance to play him in Uruguay, but he'd star for me once I left for Holland and bought him for 1.3M€, spending the best season of his career under my management at Twente with 28 goals in the title-winning 22/23. He'd also follow me to Germany but he got signed by Leverkusen for 18M€ whilst I went to HSV. Leverkusen didn't go particularly well and a 22M€ move took him to Southampton where he's been marginally better. Has been quite successful at international level though - 34 goals in 83 apps.

 

Update 2036: Still at Southampton. Weird redistribution of attributes - lost pace but gained finishing/composure. Now up to 101 caps (!!!) and 44 goals!

 

 

 

 

At "birth" I thought he'd be better than Acosta, but he ended up having a lesser career. I bought him for HSV in 2024 for 6,25M€ but he wasn't successful for me and eventually we loaned him to Hertha, then sold him at a loss to Terek. He's since enjoyed his best years of his career in Russia, but only ever got 5 caps for Uruguay.

 

Update 2036: Still at Terek. Playing well, getting 9 to 10 goals every season lately. Unfortunately, hasn't been called up for Uruguay again: stuck at 5 caps.

 

 

 

It very much feels like he could've had a career almost as big as Acosta had someone brought him over to Europe like I did. He was instead poached by León of Mexico and then Monterrey, spending his entire career in the Mexican league. 51 caps and 12 goals for Uruguay.

 

Update 2036: Still at Monterrey, declining fast with a pace of 9 now. Not called up for Uruguay again.

 

 

 

Seriously below in quality compared to his fellow class of 19 mates, but has one bizarre distinction - after a brief season in Portugal, he ended up spending a long period for Nacional's rivals Peñarol!

 

Update 2036: In pre-retirement mode playing in Saudi Arabia after a year in the UAE.

 

 

 

Weirdly doesn't get as much attention for the national team as Acosta and Fernández - 1 goal in 16 caps -, despite a pretty good career in Spain. He's spent pretty much a decade in La Liga playing for Valencia and Deportivo.

 

Update 2036: Enjoying a surprise late renaissance in his career: now up to 10 goals(!!) in 30 caps, so he's been scoring a lot for Uruguay lately, and terrorizing me enough to prompt me to write this up as he's now moved to Metz and scored 2 past my team the last month.

 

 

 

Another Uruguayan international. The centre-back got 9 caps and at some stage my scouts were recommending him often for HSV, but he's not THAT good and has been stuck in Brazil for Coritiba for a long while now.

 

Update 2036: Still at Coritiba, still at the top of his game, but I think he's finished his international career for Uruguay on 11 caps.

 

 

Twente (2021-2024)

 

My Dutch years were hardly that exciting in terms of youth, but there were a couple decent players in there.

 

 

Became a pretty good Eredivisie keeper - has now got 235 appearances for NAC.

 

Update 2036: Out of the database I turned off a few leagues including the Netherlands and I think this got rid of most of my Twente youths. They weren't that great anyway.

[noikeee]

HSV (2025-2033)

 

Now onto current day screenshots. 9 years managing HSV who had quite the youth academy gave me some talents. Warning: this gets LONG in here as I go over many, many players.

 

 

 

Became a pretty good Bundesliga level keeper. Dunno why he didn't choose Portuguese nationality, think he had a chance of becoming an international there.

 

 

 

I had gigantic hopes on this guy which never quite materialized. Still, 11 caps for Bosnia and counting. He's been playing awfully for Bremen though.

 

 

 

This guy always looked like he had some well rounded attributes but just never had that last bit of talent necessary. Yo-yoing between the Bundesliga and the 2.Bundesliga - at the 2nd tier he can score some goals but he always fails at the top division.

 

 

 

Was supposed to be some sort of huge prospect but never made it due to his attributes being all in the wrong places. Now also yo-yoing between the Bundesliga and the 2.Bundesliga, together with Braunschweig.

 

 

 

Seems to have fround his little niche now in the Austrian league and just made the Greek national team too - scoring on his debut!

 

 

 

Stuttgart bizarerely splashed 12M€ on him after a single underwhelming season he made for Rapid Wien... only not to play him. Can still make it with some class attributes, but seems to underperform everywhere.

 

 

 

I spent years pondering on what to do with this guy whose attributes looked absolutely excellent - and still do - but who played like absolute crap compared to them everytime he was sent on loan, due to a "very inconsistent" trait. He might finally get a chance somewhere - Leverkusen just spent 5,5M€ on him this transfer window.

 

 

 

Quite possibly my favourite youth player of all at HSV and I even got him some first team playing time at some stage - but he would later play the best football of his career yet, on loan to Leverkusen. Now permanently sold to Mainz and then to Wolfsburg, he's disappointingly playing like absolute crap, which makes no sense because he's pretty good.

 

 

 

Still at HSV, his career so far has been a rather unremarkable years and years of being a backup, but I'm including him here because he's now become an Albanian international with 1 cap.

 

 

 

Jerome the Libero! He never quite looked like he'd make it for us whilst I was at HSV, but seems to have found his level for now at Köln as a pretty useful player for a midtable Bundesliga side.

 

 

 

I never rated this guy much, but he seems like he could be a late bloomer kind of guy who's silently coming good. Found his niche smashing goals for Dresden in the 2.Bundesliga for now.

 

 

 

Another of the yo-yoers, he seems to be one of the better of them. Having a rather decent season for Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga this year, I think he's bound to have a nice long career in the Bundesliga.

 

 

 

Still contracted to HSV, his career doesn't seem to be going anywhere for now, but I think this is a quietly underrated guy who could still do something later on.

 

 

 

Aged 21 and still contracted to HSV, this guy already has two relegations from the top level in his CV: Metz from Ligue 1 and Magdeburg from the Bundesliga.

 

 

 

A specialist poacher-like player who's really good at running and shooting, and rather crap at anything else, his career seems to be heading into nowhere at the age of 20.

 

 

 

Woah, I don't remember him being this good. Growing into a rather nice fullback here, but 3 years out on loan to Bundesliga teams have given him a lot of appearances but always with some pretty terrible ratings.

 

 

 

What's with the fullbacks? I don't remember this guy at all neither - but he seems to be quietly growing good. Playing rather excellently for Dresden in the 2.Bundesliga.

 

 

 

Wow!! Finally, a genuinely very exciting prospect. Could this become the best HSV youth of all? He has grown absolutely immensely - his initial screenshot, which is pretty much what I remember of him, is a joke by comparison - and is starting to come good on loan for Köln in the Bundesliga.

 

 

 

Also exciting, the class of 32 seems to have been one of the better ones for me in Germany. 7 goals last year and another 7 this year both on loan to Dresden in the 2.Bundesliga but he is playing some crap football this year.

 

 

 

Still a bit early to say. Looks good, but I would've expected him to have grown more already. Has already won a U19 Euros and a U20 World Cup though!

[noikeee]

Monaco (2035-2036)

 

Finally onto Monaco. This is an absolutely ace academy - just see how many homegrown players we have in our senior squad or on loan juuuust breaking into it - but it's yet to give me that elusive top class player in the years I've been here.

 

 

 

You might have all the stars for potential but I'm not seeing the skills yet buddy. The skills are all in the wrong places without a coherent player in here: I see pace and technique but no finishing or dribbling or crossing or passing.

 

 

 

Much more to my liking. Still a massive long way to go but at least this is indeed a coherent player.

 

 

 

And what about this potential gem of a fullback, heh? Needs more pace, or anything standout indeed, but I'm surprised at just how he's been growing in everything needed. Red circle for consistency could be a massive red flag though.

 

 

 

Also quietly coming rather good. Missing a couple key attributes to be a proper BWM though.

 

 

 

Mr. 5 stars potential can become a good player yes, but needs to work on his tackling.

 

 

 

Another potentially good Portuguese right-back who is also **** for consistency.

[noikeee]

Other academy graduates over the years

 

 

You think I'm over here? Just with the odd 30 players or so? Ha! We're barely starting. So far I've covered all the guys that popped out of the youth academies whilst I was there, but what about all the other homegrown players I managed for my various clubs, that I invested so much in growing them, with some of them becoming some of my favourite players of the entire career?

 

 

 

 

Trinidad was an interesting case because, despite popping up at Nacional, his career would span another 2 clubs I managed. I was skeptical of his potential and sold him to Monaco (13 years before I'd take over Monaco)... who loaned him to my first team Central Español. He turned out a disappointment at Monaco and would spend most of his career with Paços de Ferreira and Hajduk, and only made the Uruguay national team once.

 

 

 

One half of a sublime duo of strikers who terrorised South America for one glorious season in which they lifted the Libertadores for me. The craziest thing about Merlo is he was loaned off to Juventud de Las Piedras just the year before he became instrumental in my Libertadores-winning side... Somewhat disappointingly, after I left Nacional sold him to Mexico's Cruz Azul for a 11M€ fee, and he'd spend his entire career there. He did become a regular for Uruguay though, scoring 12 goals in 45 caps.

 

 

 

The other half of that spectacular duo of strikers. A goal machine for that glorious season, Daniel flattered to decieve. His career would be rather unremarkable - immediately moved to Bologna for 7.5M€ and he'd spend over a decade there, as a Serie A player granted, but without making much of an impact, his best season scoring 14 goals. Now playing for Strasbourg /who I played in the cup this year!!) in French level 3. Capped 11 times for Uruguay but somehow failed to score a goal.

 

 

 

Quite possibly the most talented of the Nacional lads whilst I was there, his career would sadly be of a journeyman backup keeper across Europe. A 3,1M€ move to Atlético would be the biggest fee he moved for, as he also represented Besiktas and Crystal Palace with only really being #1 for a single season at Palace. Now in his twilight years representing Empoli in Serie B. Did get 39 caps for Uruguay, however.

 

 

 

Out of these Nacional guys quite possibly the one who reached the highest level (other than Christian Acosta 19B who we covered in the previous posts). The money kept flowing as Fluminense paid 6,5M€ for him, Sporting 12,5M€ and then Southampton 27,5M€. He's spend most of his career for Southampton in the Premier League, however with invariably poor ratings. Recently had a short unsuccessful stint for Milan before now heading to the Czech Republic for a retirement package. Got a rather satisfying 83 caps.

 

 

 

One of the most important players in my whole career as I built a Twente side around him, having noticed him as a huge star of the future immediately once I arrived in Holland. After a slow start, he quickly became a key player. Once I moved to Germany to manage HSV, I brought him with me for a 15M€ fee and he'd play another 7 seasons for me at an excellent level. Aging, I sold him to Tottenham who he briefly represented with moderate success before still getting a nice 12M€ move to Milan, and he seems to still be bossing Serie A at the age of 34. 53 caps for the Netherlands.

 

 

 

There wasn't that much homegrown talent when I arrived at HSV, but this striker looked mildly talented. Unfortunately, despite being included in the senior squad for a couple of years, he never quite cut it for me. He has become a journeyman striker in the Bundesliga, with some inconsistent but still relevant success, a 11 goal season for Hoffenheim his best yet although he seems to be on track to beat that for Bremen this year.

 

 

 

We're already onto the present Monaco days here, and be ready because the list of homegrown talents is long. At the top of the list is the undeniably talented Ange Pierre Bourdon. Whilst the #10 slot is part of a rotation system Bourdon has been 1st choice for periods, but isn't having a particularly great season this year - earlier on my arrival at Monaco led to him finally getting his first 2 French caps.

 

 

 

We're just getting started with Monaco AMCs - here I present to you guys the European Golden Boy award winner of 2034. Inconsistent on paper, Mario is nevertheless wildly talented and is enjoying his best season yet with some 9 goals in the league. Has been called up to the French squad several times but not given playing time yet.

 

 

 

Yes, there's a third homegrown AMC in this squad. Sold to Man Utd for peanuts when he was a kid, I rectified that by buying him back last year for 7,75M€, and whilst his performances at the beginning underwhelmed, he's having a better season this time around.

 

 

 

The guy I just sold to China. After an entire career for Monaco, which got him a single France cap in 2031, and a rather excellent 15 goals and 16 assists for me last season, this year with the new guys around he lost space and I thought to sell him for 12M€ whilst I could still get some cash for him, as he's aged 30.

 

 

 

On the brink of the first team, but frustratingly for him there's 4 CBs in the squad who are just a wee bit better. I don't quite trust him at the very top level but he's definitely useful, and I'd like to have him for registration purposes.

 

 

 

Did you guys know I've been sending out a wonderkid on loan for the past couple of years? Julien is class and I'm thinking of integrating him in the senior squad for next year, but he doesn't quite fit any of midfield roles perfectly.

 

 

 

... but this 17 year old kid is right behind him, and this is the player I'm excited about. An excellent fit for my CM/D-with-BWM-traits role, he's got a superb future for the club, surely.

 

 

 

There's 2 other large talents aged 17 in our academy, too. This left-back is very promising but "very inconsistent" is the kind of thing I run away from.

 

 

 

Whereas Miguel Sommier could be the next in line of our very long line of succession for quality homegrown AMCs. Lots of room to develop yet, but there's definitely a player here.

[noikeee]

Ok, that should really be enough for now. 

[noikeee]

[noikeee]

 

[noikeee]

 

Youth intake 2036

 

 

 

 

 

 

Probably a bit of a ****** time for this to come up now that I've spammed the whole page with a neverending number of player screenshots. Alexis Jourdan looks class and there could still be something in the other 3 lads. A good year.

[noikeee]

The scoreline looks much happier than how actually comfortable this tie was. Before we woke up with a quality final half hour in the 2nd leg, these were two tense, tight matches where we never looked in control, even after getting the away goal in Germany - but then they got the away goal in Monaco too and we had to kick off into another level to go through.

This sets up the following match:

Uh-oh. This is awkward. I was hoping for Brugge, but once Brugge came out there was not a single decent option left. Still, I would've liked to have avoided my former team. Despite all the players they've sold, they're still ridiculously good, and working better under the command of Sebastian Rode than of myself.

 

Meanwhile, this is the final number for the "matches without losing" all-time record we achieved this season:

I'm very proud. Bastia away for the league stopped the run.

[noikeee]

 

February-March 2036

 

 

Competitions

 

 

Sick of away draws and hardly fought narrow wins, I tried a different tactical setup against Dijon away - something like a flat 4-4-2 with a WP in the right and an advanced IF/S on the left... and we annihilated Dijon 6-1. I was shocked and started to insist on this tactic often. Sadly, we'd never repeat such a performance. At home against super-rich Marseille we scrapped a draw, and then managed to win in Paris against Oil-Saint-Germain - a good showing in two of the toughest fixtures in the calendar all season. However, it wouldn't last. Two disappointing draws against Nantes (at home!) and Lorient made me question my new tactics, and by now I was returning to the old ways. This did give us a massive 5-1 win at Montpellier, and a narrow 1-0 over Caen, but then the superb run of 39 matches without losing came at an end in Corsica, losing 1-0 to Bastia. Against Sochaux, we returned at our best, with another big, 5-1 win. However by now PSG and Rennes are very close!!

 

In the Champions League, a 1-1 in Germany was good but not comfortable, and although we did well in the return leg to go 1 goal ahead, Leverkusen tied again... resetting everything. Thankfully we then had a very inspired final half hour scoring another 3 goals, and we're through to the same quarter-finals we reached last year, but this time I have to face my old side HSV.

 

In the cup, minnows Drancy were hardly any opposition and easily trounced 5-0.

 

 

 

 

It's crunch time, decisions time, anything can happen. We remain ahead in the league but now feeling very heavy pressure from PSG and Rennes. In Europe, a tough tie against HSV looks like it could be our end; whilst we are also in the cup and with a chance of getting something out of it. Can we get at least one trophy this season? Either the league (PSG has won it 23 years in a row) or the CL (Monaco never won it) would be historic.

[noikeee]

Errrrm, bit of a calendar fail here?

 

[noikeee]

Get in!! We're through! I'm so proud of my players! They did amazingly well in both matches, and although HSV came super strong in the final few minutes and nearly turned everything around, we held through.

 

The semi-finals draw is out:

And it's an all-French semi-final! An extremely rare occurence, I'm not actually sure this ever happened in history before. Neither team has ever won the Champions League (yes, PSG even after 23 titles in a row, the best they did was ONE presence in the final, that they lost to Man Utd in 32/33), so this is exciting times for both clubs. Meanwhile, we're also still split by only 1 point in the Ligue 1...

[ManUtd1]

Oooh...big semifinal, man.  Good luck!

[kidthekid]

Yaaassss!!!

[deltablue]

Good luck against PSG. 

[john1]

Good to see you got one over HSV  Hopefully you can get past PSG!

[Dexter_Morgan]

Shame you got PSG, hopefully you can beat them and hold on in the league

[noikeee]

On 16/09/2017 at 01:36, ManUtd1 said:

Oooh...big semifinal, man.  Good luck!

 

On 16/09/2017 at 04:05, kidthekid said:

Yaaassss!!!

 

On 16/09/2017 at 10:05, deltablue said:

Good luck against PSG. 

 

17 hours ago, john1 said:

Good to see you got one over HSV  Hopefully you can get past PSG!

 

6 hours ago, Dexter_Morgan said:

Shame you got PSG, hopefully you can beat them and hold on in the league

 

Geez, I feel under a little pressure here with so much support.

@Dexter_Morgan I don't think it's a "shame" we got PSG. At this stage every team left is so silly strong it doesn't really matter. Plus we've beaten them a couple of times in the French competitions, so we know in a good day it can go our way.

[noikeee]

Hooray! Champions League final! This is quickly turning into a vintage season for the club! I thought we were done when PSG scored the first goal which was the away goal they needed to go through, but then we turned it around. However there was still time for legendary striker Ariel Grassi (a kind of a lesser successor of Messi of the 2020s/2030s for Argentina/Barcelona who moved to PSG 2 years ago) to get the 2-2 and we suffered for the final few minutes knowing another PSG goal would put them through... but we held on.

 

And it's a familiar opponent in the final, one I routinely faced for years and years whilst managing HSV. A 32 years old Tinajero seems better than ever and leads the CL scoring charts with 16 goals - including the 108th minute winner over Real Madrid in the semi-finals. Could well be my final chance to get some minor revenge over him!

[john1]

Boom   

[noikeee]

 

Gee, thanks. I had no idea about him.

[noikeee]

UEFA Champions League final: Man Utd - Monaco

 

Build-Up

 

Hello and welcome to a special coverage of a UEFA Champions League final yet again!! This time we are at the Arena Amsterdam to cover a meeting between ex-José Mourinho's Man Utd - now managed by a 54 year old German, Markus Feulner, a former journeyman midfielder who has had quite a lot more success as a manager, having won the Bundesliga for Dortmund, La Liga for Real Madrid and the Premier League for Man Utd -; and Henrique dos Santos' plucky Monaco side, which returns Monaco to a CL final 32 years after the last time, in which Monaco lost to Henrique's childhood club FC Porto, then managed by José Mourinho.

 

Both teams come in a high, having - SPOILER ALERT - both won their respective national championships: Man Utd an incredible 11th consecutive Premier League title, having seamlessly replaced Mourinho with Feulner; and Monaco abruptly interrupting a similarly sublime run but by PSG, who won 23 in a row but have now been stopped by the Monegasque side, which hadn't won the title themselves since 2000 (in this universe, of course, Leonardo Jardim's 16/17 side didn't win the title, PSG did). Man Utd are obvious favourites given that they won 3 CL titles in a row not long ago, but the current reigning champions are their own rivals Man City:

 

 

 

 

 

Onto the starting 11s:

 

 

Man Utd are largely built, of course, around the legendary Mexican striker Juan de Jesús Tinajero, who has scored 16 goals in 12 starts in the Champions League this season. He is pretty much unstoppable, and is supported by an impressive midfield, although wingers Keith Horne (32) and Chris Schmitt (34) are now veterans. A highly interesting fact is that there's two other former Henrique dos Santos' players for his HSV side, namely the extraordinary holding midfielder Granit Rrapaj, whose value is currently estimated at a dizzying 72M€; and Japanese fullback Masataka Miyagawa, who Henrique adapted to the right flank to play as a IWB - this remains the player's usual position and role up to these days.

 

Monaco are near maximum strenght but still miss Mauro Correa as a right-back, due to his extremely serious injury; and have decided against using Mexican striker Luis Marquez, who was merely 80% fit, so the attacking options are looking rather lightweight in the bench, with only Jose Luis Herrera as the only recognisable striker and/or winger. Otherwise, however, this is the strongest 11 bar Correa.

[noikeee]

UEFA Champions League final: Man Utd - Monaco

 

1st Half

 

Minute 9: Good chance for Monaco! A lateral freekick near the area hit by Kai Weis finds the head of Mohamed Houssem Baya, but the Tunisian CB's header is cleared off the line by Boyd Lange!

 

Minute 14: Another chance for Monaco! The plucky Monegasque side is starting well here. Alaa Hossam drops deep and finds space for a killer through ball into Kai Weis, but the German winger shoots straight at Marzucchi, who tips it for a corner.

 

Minute 15: Monaco again. A cross from the left is taken down by Kai Weis, feeding Valerius-Lambèse perfectly for the volley already within the area, but it goes straight at the keeper again... who nearly drops it! But still catches the ball.

 

Minute 21: GOAL FOR MONACO!!! 0-1!! A very quick counter down the right wing sees Kai Weis' through ball play into Alaa Hossam perfectly, and the Egyptian striker doesn't miss from an angle!

 

 

 

Minute 22: First shot for Utd, who have been poor so far. Tinajero shoots from just outside the area... just wide past the post.

 

Minute 23: Uh-oh, Man Utd are feisty now. Tinajero feeds Horne with a killer ball within the area, but Zézé tips it for a corner. And from the corner, Tinajero heads it at the keeper.

 

Minute 29: First yellow card of the night in Amsterdam is for Monaco's right-back Nabil Zeriouh.

 

Minute 30: GOAL FOR MONACO!!! 0-2!! A corner by Dele Kabiru finds Munganga in the nearpost, who heads it to the other centre-back, Mohamed Houssem Baya, and he buries it at the far post!! Baya is said to choke in the big matches but it certainly doesn't look like it here!

 

 

Minute 32: Crap, both of our fullbacks have yellows: Allan sees one as well.

 

 

 

Minute 38: GOAL FOR MONACO!! 0-3!! A superb team play sees Hossam find Mario Bernard in space, who in turn finds Kai Weis in space! And the German wide man buries it in at the keeper's near post! The whole band of forwards does a dance by the corner flag!

 

 

 

 

Minute 39: Valerius-Lambése's freekick goes high.

 

 

 

Half-time: Wow, I didn't expect this. I expected a tight match, but this has just been a massacre, and in our favour. We look like we have one hand in the European Cup, but we've been known this season to open up big leads only then to wobble later - recently did this against PSG in the semi-finals. Can we hold on for just another 45 minutes?

 

[noikeee]

UEFA Champions League final: Man Utd - Monaco

 

2nd Half

 

Minute 45: Uh, interesting, Man Utd switch to a flat 4-4-2. What the hell?

 

Minute 46: Man Utd hit the bar!!!! Two of my former HSV players! Tinajero takes the corner and Granit Rrapaj heads it straight into the woodwork!

 

Minute 48: My first substitution. The carded Allan goes out for another left-back, Ibrahim Tetteh.

 

Minute 50: GOAL FOR MONACO!!! 0-4!!! It is a massacre in here. This time it's Valerius-Lambèse's long through ball that finds Hossam, and he doesn't miss, scoring his 2nd of the night!

 

 

 

Minute 52: Boussouar's long shot forces Zézé into a difficult save for a corner.

 

 

 

Minute 66: Miyagawa's deflected long shot again forces Zézé to put it into a corner.

 

Minute 69: Good chance for Monaco to get the 5th. Bernard drifts into the right-wing, and crosses it low for Hossam, but the Egyptian striker fails to get the hat-trick by firing it straight at Marzucchi!

 

Minute 73: Massive chance for Utd!! Lange's clearance suddenly finds Tinajero completely isolated, but the Mexican Jesus craps himself and boots it well high!!

 

 

Minute 76: 2nd switch for us. Valerius-Lambèse has just seen a yellow, so it's time for him to go and Takis Eleftherakis to come in his place. Superb performance from our homegrown midfielder - who played for our opponents Man Utd for a few years - with that beautiful assist earlier.

 

 

 

 

Minute 86: The final switch, Vladyslav Pavlov comes in for the tired Brinquedo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FULL TIME! It's over! We're European champions with a completely unexpected incredible performance!

 

 

 

 

 

I finally break into the worldwide Hall of Fame, and my gullible players who I've promised a Champions League title actually got it!

 

 

 

[noikeee]

 

April-May 2036

 

 

Competitions

 

 

April started with the cup quarter-final. That didn't go great. Thanks to a bug (I presume) half my team was still travelling from international fixtures and I barely had enough players to play. We took a goalless draw all the way to penalties and lost there to Lens.

 

Then onto the Champions League. This has been covered here. The tie against my former team, HSV, started with a nice narrow 1-0 win at home, then a rollercoaster 3-2 defeat away in which we thought we had things well covered but then got a scary last few minutes as HSV turned it around. Then we were up against domestic rivals PSG. We started the first leg in superb fashion, going 3-0 up, but frustratingly we started leaking goals later, and this finished 4-3, gifting them 3 very valuable away goals. Back in Paris, it was a thriller, we let them get the goal they needed, only to turn the match around to our favour, but again like against HSV we conceded one and finished the game praying for PSG not to get the final goal they needed again. But nope, all the way through to Amsterdam - in which we tanked Man Utd 4-0 in the crazy way you just witnessed above.

 

But, what about the Ligue 1? We nearly stuffed it up with a draw at Bordeaux... but PSG drew that day as well. Then we got going, somewhat surprisingly with the whole cramped calendar. We beat Saint-Étienne, Toulouse, and Guingamp. And PSG had dropped points again! So now we had a 5 points lead and 2 matches to go - a win at Rennes and we were champions. However, Rennes utterly outplayed us and we were very fortunate to even equalize. Nevertheless, we reached the final match at home to Angers needing only a point to become champions. The only problem? Angers have kind of been our bogey team recently. But not this time, as Alaa Hossam rose to the occasion with an incredible 4 goals plus 1 assist in a massive 5-0 win. Champions of France, 36 years later. And PSG's 23 year championships run is over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow, what a fantastic season this turned out to be. I wanted to properly challenge PSG, turns out we did that and even more, as for the first time in my career I achieve the league+Champions League double. This Monaco side seems a wee bit below my HSV side at its best in talent, but it has now already surpassed it. This has actually put me in a bit of an unexpected place, as I'm wondering what do I do now. Continue at Monaco and go for the Club World Cup, or start a different project? I need to have a think.

[noikeee]

 

Season review 2035/36

 

It's a massive landmark season for Monaco - first French title in 36 years, and first European title ever.

 

 

Finances

 

I'm surprised after a CL win we only have 37M€ in the bank.

 

 

Statistics, best 11, and top 5 players of the season

 

 

 

5. Dele Kabiru (AML) - Another good but not outstanding season from a player that has the talent to dominate Europe. 19 goals, 13 assists.

 

4. Mohamed Houssem Baya (DC) - A superb season from a CB that formed an incredibly duo with Munganga, on excellent 7.52 ratings.

 

3. Loric Munganga (DC) - Even better. The Belgian CB had the season of his life, as he registered 7.56 ratings.

 

2. Kai Weis (AMR, AML, ST) - Magnificent. Kai Weis has been absolutely instrumental ever since he arrived 2 seasons ago, and remained at the top of his game scoring 23 goals whilst also getting 19 assists - 9 of them in the Champions League.

 

1. Alaa Hossam (ST) - Despite being still massively pissed off he hasn't been allowed to leave the club, he ended up being the absolute key piece in both our historical triumphs, in the league and the Champions League - just notice the 4 goals in the final league round, and the 2 goals in the CL final. Weirdly, despite being top scorer (26 goals), his 17 assists of which 16 came in the league meant he finished as the guy with most assists in all of Ligue 1! A striker played alone upfront!

 

 

 

 

Hall of fame watch

 

A landmark here - with the 2 big trophies I finally broke into the top 20 of all-time, straight into 18th place with 2264 points, in-between Bob Paisley and Miguel Muñoz.

 

 

 

Career progress table

 

*** CLUB ***

Season   League                  Cups                              Continental                    Other
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Central Español (Uruguay)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2016     Segunda Div - 4th       
2017     Segunda Div - 1st                                                                        Champions, promoted
2018     Camp. Uruguayo - 2nd (Ap. 4th, Int. finalists, Cl. 3rd)                                  Qualified for Libertadores
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nacional (Uruguay)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2019     Camp. Uruguayo - 1st (Ap. 4th, Int. Grps 2nd , Cl. 1st)   Libertadores 1st Pre. Rnd      Lost Champions Playoff
2020     Camp. Uruguayo - 1st (Ap. 2nd, Int. winners, Cl. 1st)     Libertadores winners           League+Int+Libertadores treble
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twente (Netherlands)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020/21  Eredivisie - 13th                                                                        Joined in December
2021/22  Eredivisie - 9th        KNVB Beker semi-final
2022/23  Eredivisie - 1st        KNVB Beker 3rd round                                             Champions
2023/24  Eredivisie - 1st        KNVB Beker winners, JCS winners   CL groups, EL semi-finals      Won domestic double+Supercup
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HSV (Germany)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2024/25  Bundesliga - 2nd        DFB-Pokal quarter final                                          Qualified for Champions League
2025/26  Bundesliga - 4th        DFB-Pokal quarter final           CL groups, EL 1st KO round     Qualified for Champions League
2026/27  Bundesliga - 1st        DFB-Pokal winners                 CL 1st KO round                Won domestic double
2027/28  Bundesliga - 2nd        DFB-Pokal winners, Supercup finl. CL winners                     Champions League + Cup double
2028/29  Bundesliga - 2nd        DFB-Pokal 3rd rnd, Supercup finl. CL 1st KO r, USC win, CWC fin. Only won UEFA Supercup
2029/30  Bundesliga - 3rd        DFB-Pokal 2nd rnd, Supercup finl. CL quarter-finals
2030/31  Bundesliga - 3rd        DFB-Pokal semi-finals             CL finalists
2031/32  Bundesliga - 2nd        DFB-Pokal finalists               CL semi-finals
2032/33  Bundesliga - 3rd        DFB-Pokal winners, Supercup win.  CL quarter-finals              Cup+Supercup silverware
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Monaco (France)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2033/34  Ligue 1 - 4th           CpFr finalists, CpLg semi-finals  EL 2nd KO round                Joined in December
2034/35  Ligue 1 - 2nd           CpFr winners, CpLg finalists      CL quarter-finals
2035/36  Ligue 1 - 1st           TdC win, CpFr 1/4f, CpLg 4th rnd  CL winners                     League + CL double
 
*** INTERNATIONAL ***

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ivory Coast U23s
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2024     Olympics - finalists
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Portugal U23s
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2028     Olympics - winners
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Costa Rica
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2030     World Cup playoff - winners, qualified for World Cup
2030     World Cup - group stage
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iran
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2031     Asian Cup - quarter-finals

 

[ManUtd1]

What a final!!!

Shia would be so proud.

[Rikulec]

Great performance, great result.

[noikeee]

7 hours ago, Rikulec said:

Great performance, great result.

 

17 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

What a final!!!

Shia would be so proud.

 

 

Thanks.

I can only be flattered that Shia's a Monaco fan.

[noikeee]

I posted this image when I moved from HSV to Monaco but actually, now this is the end. For real.

 

Just think this feels like the perfect time to call it quits on this career:

- I reach a milestone of 20 completed seasons

- finally win a league+CL double

- finally break into the Hall of Fame top 20 - not quite beating Mourinho, but at least something on that note

- most importantly, I finally got revenge over Tinajero. 

 

Ultimately, this career ended a bit short of my goals which were sustained world domination (maybe if I continued with Monaco), and the Mourinho HOF thing, but there's still plenty of landmarks to remember:

- First time since FM12 I actually win the Champions League!

- First time I win the CL and the Libertadores in the same career

- First time I win the CL with two different teams in the same career

- First time I win the Libertadores with a team from outside the big 2 (Argentina/Brazil)

- First time I win the Bundesliga

 

Thanks for following, and the thread on a new career should be up very soon.

[Rikulec]

Feels like a natural thing to do with FM18 just around the corner. Unless you have something else up your sleeve...

[noikeee]

44 minutes ago, Rikulec said:

Feels like a natural thing to do with FM18 just around the corner. Unless you have something else up your sleeve...

Yes.  

[ManUtd1]

It does feel natural, even if it isn't quite the glorious run you had aimed for.

Altogether, a great save and career.

[deltablue]

You had a good run