Mikal Posted October 30, 2017 Share Posted October 30, 2017 AS Monaco FC -Les Rouges et Blancs- For my first FM18 save, and particularly to use just for the beta (so this could end in a month, who knows), we’re taking he reigns of one of Europe’s leading clubs of producing outstanding talent. Introduction to the team The man in charge Firstly, I’d like to introduce the manager who will be taking this team forward; Jean ‘Not Pablo Escobar’ Escobar: This man boasts tremendous determination and operational resilience, an ability to get the best out of youngsters who will listen to and do his bidding. He’s a master negotiator who will go to any means to make sure he gets what he wants and comes with a fierce reputation of being a bit of a disciplinarian. An ex-goal keeper in his native land, but his poor shot-stopping forced him into retirement. A quick message from our new man: A match made in heaven I’m sure. The first team squad Already over the 17/18 transfer window AS Monaco have been a busy side getting stripped of a host of title winning assets. The likes of Bakayoko, Bernardo Silva, Benjamin Mendy, all leaving for the cash and stardom of the Premier League, and of course Kylian Mbpappe leaving to rivals PSG for an eyewatering £160m. However, they were able to hang on to some big names such as Thomas Lemar, Fabinho and Sidibe. There’s a strong core of players there, and one I’m sure our man can get the best out of. With those outs came some ins, notably; Keita Balde, Youri Tielemans, Terence Kongolo and Stevan Jovetic. Let’s look at the first team squad as a whole (note: the star ratings are current ability and judged by my assistant). Goalkeepers Danijel Subasic – 32 – Croatian - Distributor Digeo Benaglio – 33 – Swiss - Shot Stopper Analysis; an aging pair of GKs, but certainly enough quality and experience to include them in the squad for this season. Defenders Kamil Glik – 29 – Polish – Central defender; Leader Jemerson – 24 – Brazlian – Central defender; Physical Djibril Sidibe – 24 – French – Full-back; Physical Almamy Toure – 21 – Malian – Full-back; Technical Jorge – 21 – Brazlian – Full-back; Technical Terence Kongolo – 23 – Dutch – Full-back; Physical Andrea Raggi – 32 – Italian – Central defender; Leader Anaysis; a very young defence outside of Glik and Raggi, but with the potential to be an absolutely outstanding backline once they start to further develop. A lot of 3.5*+ players once they’ve hit their potential. I think there’s really good depth and quality in there, especially with a lot of players being able to play in numerous positions. Midfield Fabinho – 23 – Brazlian – Central midfielder; Physical Joao Moutinho – 30 – Portuguese – Playmaker; Technical Thomas Lemar – 21 – French – Winger; Creative Keita Balde – 22 – Senegalese – Winger; Physical Youri Tielemans – 20 – Belgian – Playmaker; Technical Boschilla – 21 – Brazlian – Winger; Technical Rony Lopes – 21 – Portuguese – Winger; Creative Soualiho Meite – 23 – Ivorian – Central midfielder; Physical Rachid Ghezzal – 25 – Algerian – Winger; Physical Adama Traore – 21 – Malian – Playmaker; Creative Analysis; this is where the team can really flourish. Again, outside Moutinho, an extremely young midfield, but one which is full of energy, pace, power, creativity and a load of potential to grow. We’ll need to give these guys as much playing time as possible to really see what they can turn in to. Forwards Radamel Falcao – 31 – Colombian – Complete forward; Intelligent Stevan Jovetic – 27 – Complete forward; Technical Guido Carrillo – 26 – Target Man; Leader Adama Diakhaby – 20 – Complete forward; Technical Anaysis; much more experience upfront, and hopefully we can make that count. Falcao will obviously be #1 choice, and looks very capable if you present him with any given opportunity. Overall, a strong first team squad, with some incredible talents across the pitch and also waiting in the youth teams as well. Transfers Transfer budget: £35.65m Wage budget: £21k p/w remaining Looking at the line-up I’m not sure where desperately needs to strengthen. I think giving this team at least half a season without any radical changes will show if any investment is needed. Tactics A control and a counter tactic will be on the cards. We have the technical and creative ability to break a lot of sides down I reckon, and when teams sit back it will limit counter attacking opportunities. Our likely game-to-game formation is most probably going to be a 4-2-3-1 in this regard. For a counter-attacking inspired tactic I think we’ll go 4-4-2. This leaves us with 2 dangerous strikers upfront ready to pounce, and pace on the flanks to hit the transitions once in possession. We can stay compact, then hit with incredible speed and attacking flair when the break arises. For now, these are TBC. Philosophies and objectives - Attacking football; either by dominating possession and chance creation, or through an aggressive counter attacking approach - Focus on the youth; given how many prospects Monaco already have, it would be silly to not carry on this tradition and nurture them into the first team squad - Sell on hype; we won’t be against selling some of our biggest stars for the right price. The intention is to have a system in place where all players are replaceable given time. - Challenge; we should be challenging for the league from the off, and then the focus is on Europe I think for a day-one write up this’ll do. I haven’t even looked at the backroom staff yet, or gotten used to the new shiny buttons of this years version. So for now, Au Revoir. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikal Posted November 5, 2017 Author Share Posted November 5, 2017 2017/18 Transfer window £35m to spend, and I didn’t feel we needed any major overhauls at this stage of the season. A couple million went on shipping out and bringing in new staff. Ins: Angel Correa – Loan (optional future fee: £12.5m) – 22 – Argentinian – Attacking midfield; Creative The Argentine international was our highest profile signing and has been brought into the squad to add some additional creativity and unpredictability. We’ve opted for a loan initially to see what we can get out of him, but if he performs £12.5m will be a snip. Correa is going to feature for us in that attacking midfield spot, and should be able to dictate play from higher up the pitch and play in our forward and widemen with pinpoint passes. Alexandr Golovin - £13.25m – 21 – Russian – Playmaker; Creative A young and exceptionally talented player who already has a host of caps for Russia, Golovin was picked up for his release clause at £13.25m. In a couple seasons time I think we’ll have a superstar on our hands. Undecided yet whether I want to develop him in a deeper midfield role, or further forward. Lucas Tousart - £8.5m – 20 – French – Central midfield; Leader Another young purchase, and one largely for the future, Tousart was brought in from rivals Lyon for a relatively cheap fee considering the potential and current ability of Lucas. He looks a very capable player already and I think he’ll have a part to play this season. Total expenditure: £21.75m Outs (main): Andrea Raggi - £2m – Everton Adama Traore – Loan; £150k p/m – Genk Rony Lopes – Loan; £250k p/m – Derby A small bit of unrest in the squad with the sale of Raggi. At 33 I simply didn’t have space for him in the team with two already great CBs and promising youngsters I’d rather us. Squad Dynamics With that unrest, let’s have a look at how the squad dynamics are looking going into the season Not a lot of surprises here bar maybe Benaglio as an influential player seeing as he was brought in this season. I expect our new signings to start making their way up the ladder. Tactics With the transfer window done and dusted, and equally a few games of the season, this is how we’ll be lining up for majority of the season. A deep 4-2-3-1 utilising one of the new roles in the Segundo Volante – I’ve left the first XI off as we’re got too many injuries for it to be accurate. Most games we’ll start on Standard – Fluid/Flexible and use the following instructions: - More direct passing; I want active forward movement, to supply our forwards movement - Play out of defence; not to needlessly bump long - Work ball into box; in the hope of reducing the longshots - Whipped crosses; to utilise our forwards pace and movement - Push higher up; to help with the high press, not to leave too many gaps in midfield - Close down much more; high pressing - Prevent short GK distribution; reduce the options for the opposition defence August Results Trophée des Champions PSG 1 – 1(p) AS Monaco The first semi-competitive game of the season, last season’s league and cup winners. It was certainly a testing game to see how strong our inevitable league title challengers would be. Relatively even, although you’d have to concede PSG probably edged it. Neymar caused a ruckus, but they couldn’t find the quality in front of goal. We did, however, take the lead initially on 34 mins, but conceded within a minute. It stayed that way until the shootout where we won 3-2, PSG missing 3 pens and us 1. Ligue 1 AS Monaco 2 – 0 Toulouse Dijon FCO 1 – 0 AS Monaco FC Metz 0 – 1 AS Monaco AS Monaco 3 – 0 Olympique de Marseille Match Focus Going to focus on the impressive 3-0 win over OM and ignore the 1-0 defeat to Dijon (it was poor, we were poor). We went into the match vs. OM the much fresher side with OM playing a strong team for their Europa League playoff vs. Fimleikafélag Hafnarf Jardar, or “FH” for short, and the fresh legs certainly paid dividends given the times in which the goals came. We were on the possession front-foot from the off, and at points within the first 20 mins we had circa 70% of it – however we didn’t do anything with it. Marseille sat deep and compact and looked to use their reserved energy on the break, where they did look dangerous. Before the first half was out, where no real highlights were noteworthy, we were resorting to ambitious long efforts which summed the half up. Second half, and was surprised to see they didn’t make any changes, and with their players condition drastically degrading, we had a much more express and fruitful half. We pushed higher, we pressed more, and made smarter, more dangerous runs. The opener came from a simple corner, where Glik rose highest and put us 1 up. From here we controlled to an even greater degree. After 60 mins I brought off two of our attackers in Keita and Jovetic, as they flattered to deceive, and on came big man Carrillo and wide man Ghezzal. Ghezzal especially turned the game around and ended the game with 2 assists, which Carrillo held the ball well and made some key passes. Lemar put us 2 up and out of sight on 60 mins, with Ghezzal playing the ball across from outiwde a minute after his arrive. Marseille were dead on their feet and I was hoping we’d put a few more past them, but it took until 84th before Lemar got his 2nd in similar fashion to his first. A good win overall against tough competition. League Table Not an outrageous position after 4 games, still expect us to be there or there about come end of season. PSG still yet to concede… Champions League Group Stage For being first seeds this is incredibly harsh. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikal Posted November 12, 2017 Author Share Posted November 12, 2017 2017/18 September to December Results Ligue 1 We have been on outstanding form, winning 12 league games in a row. Absolutely flying. Not many highscoring results, but when your defence is as good as ours you only need 1. Naturally disappointed by the FC Nantes result, especially coming after the biggest win of the season vs. PSG. League Table No surprise to be sitting pretty at the top, and by a very healthy 10 point margin no less. Champions League For this group, I’m delighted with how we performed, 5 wins and a draw is unbelievable from us (granted both Spurs games we didn’t deserve a point let alone a win in one of them). Dortmund absolutely pathetic. Champions League Table Top of the group, and meeting the board’s expectations of qualifying for the first knockout round. Based on these results, I’ll be disappointed not to get through another round. Coupe de la Ligue Bit of a nothing comp. Supposed to play 6 or 7 of players who featured in previous two games. Played 4 at most, but wanted to rest players and give some rotation/youngsters a chance, and they surprised me and we strolled this match to a full strength looking Marseille. Hit or Miss So we’re half way through the season and it’s time to look at who my Hit and Miss of the season so far are. Hit So coming in as my most impressive player of the half season so far is… Quote That’s right, the crown jewel of this side, one of my favourite players I’ve used in quite some time; Fabinho. A complete midfielder, has it all and can do it all. Apps: 25 Goals: 7 Assists: 2 POM: 5 Av. R: 7.43 Honourable mentions go to: Tousart (cemented himself in the first team), Sidibe, Jorge, Glik, Jemerson (entire defence is outstanding). Miss That brings us onto the Miss of the season so far, and the player spending most of their time in the dunce corner. Quote It’s not the first time in his career he’s come under scrutiny for his lack of goals. Radamel Falcao is my Miss of the half season. Apps: 18 Goals: 7 Assists: 1 POM: 1 Av. R: 6.81 What a cunce. Honourable mentions go to: Jovetic and Correa. And so that takes us to the January window. The board put extra funds into the coffers, so they’ll be money to burn should we wish to. At the moment my only concern is goals. There’s no reliable forward in the squad, and the attacking mid trio are pitching in but not to the extent needed. If an attacking option becomes available we’ll have a look into it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikal Posted November 13, 2017 Author Share Posted November 13, 2017 2017/2018 January Results and Transfer Window Entered the window with little to no ambition of signing anyone unless a real talent was available, plus always good to have a scout of players with 6 months left on their contract, but more on those at a later update. Having said that, we did make a couple of signings to call out. Martin Odegaard - £8.75m - 19 - Norwegian - Attacking midfield; Creative One of the most recognised u21s in world football by name and reputation alone. At £8.75m, I think this could be a real bargain. Big wage for someone so young, but I expect him to feature a lot for the squad over the coming years. I did look into bringing Correa in for his £12m fee to get an idea of what his cost would be, and he wanted astronomical wages, so he'll be gone in the summer. Dayot Upamecano - £12.5m - 19 - French - Central defender; Physical We've had some issues with CB options for rotation and injuries, and when I saw Upamencano available we snapped at the chance to take him off Redbull Leipzig's hands. He looks brilliant for his age and certainly one capable of staking a claim for a first team spot in the future. Total expenditure: £22m No outs of note. Ligue 1 Another perfect month where we played 8 matches in total (9 if we're including the Lyon game, which I am). More goals conceded this month, which is expected with rotation and tiredness, but we improved on our goalscoring. Falcao putting in a shift for a change, looking to rid himself of the end of season cunce cap. Odegaard also netting on his debut, where we played the game with 10 men from the 10th minute after a Glik red card. League Table 13 points is the gap now. We look unstoppable in the league at present. Real quality in the squad and the depth we have is impressive. Coupe de France A competition the board expect us to win. We enter in the 9th round, meaning if we get to the final there's 5 matches between us. Very comfortable. Jovetic finding his level. Coupe de la Ligue A competition purely for rotation and youngsters to feature in. Cruised to the final where we'll face PSG. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikal Posted November 13, 2017 Author Share Posted November 13, 2017 Also if anyone's interested, here's how some of the other leagues are faring at the end of Jan. Premier League Championship Bundesliga Serie A La Liga Eredevisie Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikal Posted November 18, 2017 Author Share Posted November 18, 2017 2017/18 February to (some of) April Results Ligue 1 Another very good set of results here keeping 6 cleansheets out of 8. Very difficult to be aggrieved by that. An under-performance vs. Angers, just one of those games. But followed up with a good win vs. a tricky Dijon to get us back on track. Obviously, the result that stands out the most here is the 2-0 defeat to PSG. This came shortly after a CL game, and the rotation and tired legs had taken its toll. I'd be more worried by the result if we hadn't had such an impressive run prior. League Table Not much you can say about that. 9 points clear with a game in hand. 7 points to guarantee the league. Another reason I wasn't too concerned with the PSG defeat given the gap we had. Here we can see the title run in. Almost an identical set of final fixtures. SHOULDN'T be a problem to wrap the league up... Champions League 1st Knockout Round Atletico Madrid Atletico Madrid 1 - 0 AS Monaco The first leg didn't go to plan, as we walked away with a defeat. It was an even game on the face of things, but A. Madrid's top two of Griezmann and Diego Costa caused us all sorts of problems. A very complete partnership. The 4-4-2 caused us issues again, even with the added bodies in midfield. Griezmann with the one and only goal of the game on 21 minutes. We couldn't respond. AS Monaco 2 - 0 Atletico Madrid The difference a home leg makes! And this was where we really made the numbers in midfield count. Madrid started the game with pretty poor fitness on their players, so was important to make most of that by making them chase the ball. We dominated from the off this time round, creating chance after chance, but went into the break at 0-0. Still pretty confident going into the second half, especially with their depleted fitness. Our first came on 57 through a lovely finish from Moutinho to tie the leg up. 65 mins and Atleti had taken both Griezmann and Costa off, what a sight. We did leave it mighty late to get the winner as it came on 84 minutes through Toussart, who's becoming one of my favourite players. Final result: AS Monaco 2 - 1 Atletico Madrid Champions League Quarter Finals Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham 1 - 2 AS Monaco Our group stage compatriots. A win and a draw there puts us mentally in the lead. The game starts and Kane scores after 8 minutes. ****. I thought our luck vs. Spurs had finally run out, the group tage results were quite fortunate. However, Spurs were their own worst enemies, gifting us a penalty early in the second half.... And then another on 88 minutes. Fabinho slotting both home. Cheers, Spurs. AS Monaco 2 - 1 Tottenham A repeat result, except this time it was us to get the early goal as Boschilla scores on 9 minutes. We put ourselves two up with the last kick of the half. Crushing for Spurs. 4-1 on agg. at this point and not much in the way of a comeback. Our home performances are very strong, we dominate most sides regardless of quality. On 70 mins I made a couple of subs to rest some key players, and then we instantly conceded... But held on with little difficulty. Final result: AS Monaco 4 - 2 Tottenham Champions League Semi Final Opponents Champions League Story So Far A quick 'tree' look at how the other fixtures have fared from the first knockout round. Coupe de France Since the 7-0 win vs. the farmers of France, we played, and beat, Dijon in a tightly contested game, and some more farmers in Marignane Gignac - a game I'm pretty disappointed to have only won 2-0 given the absolute vast difference in quality. That brings us on to Brest, I think it's fair to say these draws have been pretty nice for us. Coupe de la Ligue Final AS Monaco 1 - 1(p) PSG We played a mix of first team and rotation/youngsters as this fell only a few days before the first match vs. Spurs. PSG the better side in all and field a very strong XI. Disappointed to have not won given the extremely late equaliser - the last thing we really wanted was ET and forced us into some changes to bring first teamers on. However, the usual Mr. Reliable from the spot was the only to let us down, and we miss out on a trophy nobody cares about on penalties. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted November 18, 2017 Share Posted November 18, 2017 Running away with the title! Good signings you have brought in Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikal Posted November 20, 2017 Author Share Posted November 20, 2017 2017/18 End of Season Ligue 1 Results As you can tell, we finish the season as league champions! Was it ever in doubt?! As last post, we lost the game vs. EA Guingamp 2-1 and got hit with a string of injuries as well. These 4-4-2's man, I don't half struggle away from home. Jimmy Briand with the game of his life. But after that, we got a hard fought win against relegation bound Amiens, but followed it up with a slight change of tactic and a 4-0 win over Rennes, meaning we only needed a point vs. SM Caen to secure the title. We took the lead in that game before going 2-1 behind - I thought surely we weren't taking this to the actual wire. But Jovetic showing some worth, and got the late equaliser which would have sealed the title, but stole the 3 points at the death. Holidayed the final two games . Final League Table Champions League Semi Finals Manchester United Man. Utd. 2 - 1 AS Monaco United the set piece specialists. Who'd have thought. We simply weren't good enough in the defence to cope with the pressure United put on us. Mkhitaryan scoring after the 4th minute before we were gifted a pen in the 45th to level things up. But United were too strong after the break. They had a pen of their own on 56 minutes, which Lukaku skied - but 4 minutes later Mkhi doubles his tally after a bit of a scramble. 2-1 FT; not the worst result, an away goal, only need a 1-0 in the home leg to get through to the final. Simples, right? AS Monaco 0 - 2 Man. Utd. No, not bloody simples. Two corners, two goals. Murdered on set pieces. Final result: AS Monaco 1 - 4 Manchester United United went on to face Man. City in the final. City won 2-1 after extra time with a bit of an AGUERROOOOO moment as he scores the winner in the 117th minute. Coupe de France Semi Final Brest FC AS Monaco 1 - 0 Brest FC By far and away the better side in this game, but our finishing, or more accurately (or not) our hitting the target was poor. Brest didn't threaten, but as the game progressed it felt like 'one of those' games where they get one chance and take it. But... We got the breakthrough on 60 mins through Jovetic, and we held on to that for a spot in the final. Coupe de France Final AS Monaco 1 - 2 PSG This match started really well for us, taking the lead through the in-form Jovetic after only 16 minutes. But that's probably where the it ends. It was relatively even in the first half in terms of stats, but Pastore was the difference maker this game. The equaliser came on 25 mins where he found some space and put it in the top corner, I think Subasic could have done better. Then gets the winner on the stroke of half time. Another set piece mishap from us. The second half has to be the dullest half I've ever seen with a grand total whopping zero highlights. It kind of just ended. We offered nothing. Poor. And our record against PSG this season continues to be lacklustre. Squad Review Top scorer: Keita Balde - 19 Highest av. rating: Fabinho - 7.48 Most assists: Joao Moutinho - 15 Best pass %: Lucas Tousart - 89% Most POM awards: Fabinho - 9 I'm happy with the squad overall. We're just shy of the World Class level. A lack of goals and tightening up at the back on set pieces will need to be the aim for next season. 2018/19 Season Competition board expectations (mine) Ligue 1: Win (win) Champions League: Reach first knockout round (semi finals) Coupe de France: Win (win) Coupe de la Ligue: Not important (same) Transfers With the Mbappe money coming in we have an eye watering £229m to spend. Areas of focus: - Goal keeper; I think it's time we freshened things up here with a top drawer keeper - Striker; we need a better man upfront. Falcao and Jovetic just don't cut it. Keita did okay up there but he's not a striker - Backups; need a backup LB mostly Other than the above, I really do think the squad is in incredible shape. Here's a bit of a transfer sneak-peak of something already tied up. Can you guess who? Ah, and we're getting a new stadium so we don't have to rent off the council. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikal Posted November 20, 2017 Author Share Posted November 20, 2017 Also if anyone knows how to paste and not keep those weird white backgrounds that'd be great Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikal Posted November 28, 2017 Author Share Posted November 28, 2017 2018/19 Transfer window "Four through the door for AS Monaco in £327m transfer window spend" Well, 4 main signings anyway. Let's get to it. Alexis Sanchez - Free - 29 - Chilean - Inside Forward I'm sure you all guessed right, but we fought off competition in Jan time to secure the services of Sanchez on a free. Not the spring chicken he once was, but you just can't pass an opportunity up like that. Dele Alli - £105m - 22 - English - Attacking Midfield Right, here me out. Correa was leaving. That's my justification for this signing. He's bloody good though, and not even the most ridiculous transfer of the window. Paulo Dybala - £125m (rising to £150m) - 24 - Argentinian - Striker OK now the most expensive signing of the window. Paulo Dybala. Because if you have the money you don't hesitate. I mean we don't have the sustainable income for it, but I had the funds at the time. What a signing, love it. Eden Hazard - £90m - 27 - Belgian - Inside Forward So... Yeah. We finished the transfer window by bringing in Eden Hazard (these are all in date order). We didn't need to, we had Lemar and Keita to play one flank with Sanchez on the other, but why wouldn't you. I've absolutely unsettled a few players when this signing went through. But it's Hazard. Actually, one more signing of note. Ruben Dias - Loan - 21 - Portuguese - Centre Back I am convinced I can't win the Champions League without this guy in my squad. So my lucky charm is here. Total expenditure: £327m As you'd expect with such lavish incomings, we needed to offset the books (a bit) with some outgoings. Kylian Mbappe - £160m - PSG Stevan Jovetic - £27m - Barcelona Radamel Falcao - £22.5m - Everton Guido Carrilo - £10m - Burnley Diego Benaglio - £2.5m - Watford Total income: £232m All the players left that we had intended to get rid of. Falcao, despite his strong dressing room stance, was taking up a foreign player spot which Sanchez needed. The New Look Squad Obviously the main signings all feature, knocking the harshly done Keita and Lemar to the subs bench. No changes to the defensive mid and defence personnel. Couple younger players promoted to first team to provide defensive backup if needed. Finances 18/19 Season Projection Looking pretty rosy there I must say. Dig deep, Mr. Chairman. August Results Trophée des Champions PSG 0 – 1 AS Monaco A match we totally dominated but failed to capitalise on the chances we had. Jemerson scored the one and only goal after 18 minutes from a set-piece. All our new signings featured and largely did poor, just failing to hit the target. We ended with 21 shots 7 on target, to PSGs 4 and 1. I expect better, but put it down to a bedding in phase. Ligue 1 3 played and 3 wins, as you'd expect. We dominated them all, as you'd expect. Will be looking to improve on our points and goals tally from last season. Champions League Group Draw Team - Country - 17/18 league finish - Key player AS Monaco - France - 1st - Paulo Dybala Arsenal - England - 3rd - Mesut Ozil Dynamo Kyiv - Ukraine - 2nd - Eugene Khacheridi FC Krasnodar - Russia - 3rd - Soslan Djanaev I would expect little to no trouble qualifying from the group despite some hostile matches in Russia and Ukraine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.