[FM18] Uncle Jimbo's Icelandic Sound Explosion, (featuring other Countries, hopefully, if I get lucky, maybe). (You know, if there is an award for the longest thread title I have a sneaking suspicion that I might just be in with a chance of a nomination).

[Jimbokav1971]

Everything has changed. Chelsea. May 2042.

Man City are a real power-house in my save and to be honest I just assumed they would romp to the title again as they started off in such dominant form. We were just plugging away though, (just the 1 defeat), and I would have been happy with 2nd. We have won the Premier League with a game to spare.

Although we have had a decent 1st XI for a while now, we simply didn't have the strength in depth to challenge for a league title until now and we couldn't even secure a Cup win because of City's dominance. This season our teenagers were able to win Premier league games on their own, (or at least not lose), and the impact this made to morale, (and subsequent performances), meant that it was a really positive snowball effect.  

Although we lost in the Semi's of the FA Cup in extra-time, (to City obviously), we are in the Final of the Champions League, (where we will play Real Madrid). We have a couple of injuries but I'm hopeful that we should win with a full 13 days between out last Premier League game, (where I will field a team of kids), and the Final. 

It would be good to turn a double into a treble. 

[Jimbokav1971]

This Summer's Gonna Hurt. Chelsea. May 2042.

(39a) Fisher (F.Pro) (2039) *.

[Jimbokav1971]

My nemesis. Chelsea. May 2042.

I think we've won just about everything except whatever the Johnston Pain/LDV Vans/Checkawhotsit Trophy between us. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Big Prize. Chelsea. May 2042.

[dllu]

I would say your treble counts for slightly more than Man City's quadruple...  

[Jimbokav1971]

Best in Europe. Chelsea. Jun 2042.

 

[Deisler26]

 

[Bobby_Zamora]

Stop pretending you have a life, @Jimbokav1971

Feed us some updates

[Jimbokav1971]

On 18/09/2018 at 20:54, Bobby_Zamora said:

Stop pretending you have a life, @Jimbokav1971

Feed us some updates

Sorry. I've just started rotating shifts after a long time on earlies and I don't get much time to play when I am on lates. Back on earlies next week so hopefully get some game-time.

[Jimbokav1971]

By the way, if you are reading this, how have you found the idea behind this thread? (Please respond). 

I'm actually really proud that I have kept it going and really stuck with the music theme, but at the same time I'm not sure how into it the readers are. The music has been quite varied and that's on purpose rather than by accident but I'm not sure what you lot think about this. 

The thread is far from over though. 

[Deisler26]

I've hated every minute of it... 

[Jimbokav1971]

Until you come back to me. Chelsea. Aug 2042. 

I've actually spent the weekend playing FM, but not even loaded this save. Instead I have been experimenting with some idea's for FM19. Now that I have some food for thought however, I'm back to the nitty-gritty of games and players that actually mean something. 

With that in mind, I have taken some time over pre-season and just arranged loans for no less than 35 players. 

Most of them don't involve a fee, but 2 in particular are going to be nice little earners. 

The players in question are not good enough to get regular game-time, and are still too young to be used as tutors. It's win-win sending them out on loan and getting £0.5M per month to boot.

 

[Deisler26]

 

[Jimbokav1971]

The Global Elite. Chelsea. September 2042.

Still trailing in the wake of both Arsenal and Man Utd.

[Deisler26]

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Wonderful Tonight. Chelsea. October 2042.

So I'm on "lates" at the moment and have just finished work so am fitting in a little FM while I relax before bed. I have received a message saying that (39a) Fisher (Pro) (2039) * has been showing remarkable improvements in recent training sessions so I clicked on him and really looked. 

I knew he was going to be good, but he has snuck up on me a little. He's valued at £40M+ as a teenager, (without being sold), and I REALLY like his attribute balance, (although stamina needs some attention). Other than that, he is developing rather nicely and there is absolutely no danger of him not getting enough first team opportunities. 

He's already made his Senior England debut, (although he is yet to score), and as a teenager already has a few medals in his cabinet at home. 

[Deisler26]

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Somewhere else. Chelsea. Nov 2042.

[Deisler26]

 

[Jimbokav1971]

The Call-Up. Chelsea. Nov 2042.

 

[Deisler26]

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Champions of the World. Chelsea. Dec 2042.

It's not the best treble in the world, but it's still 3 trophies in the bag.

 

[Jimbokav1971]

You're so very special. Chelsea. Dec 2042,

Yes, I know that's not the name of the song, but it's what I think of it as. 

Ballon d'Or.

World Footballer of the Year.

World Player of the Year.

World Team of the Year.

French Player of the Year.

European Golden Boy.

 

[Deisler26]

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Humiliation. Chelsea. Jan 2043.

I would like to say that I'm not bothered about the poxy Cup, but after already winning a trio of poxy Cups and curently struggling in the league, I was hoping for a "poxy quadruple" or even "poxy quintuple" of rubbish competitions. I think it's safe to say that's looking unlikely now. 

[Deisler26]

 

[Jimbokav1971]

The Wright Stuff. Youth Intake Day. Chelsea. Mar 2043.

I think a lot of us arrive at Youth Intake day and immediately expect loads of 5.0 PA players or else we consider it to be a poor intake. The reality of course is that players can be good even if they are not rated 5.0 PA when they arrive, and equally can flatter to deceive and ultimately disappoint, even if they do show as a Day 1 5.0 PA player. 

When you start off at a club with a poor quality squad, it's relatively easy and even likely that you will get loads of 5.0 PA players through in each intake, because the players that are being promoted are the potential to be significantly better than the rubbish that currently populates your senior squad. We should all know now that the PA of new intake players is being rated against the CA of the best player in your squad, so how good your best players are needs to be considered when looking at how good your Youth Intake might be. 

For a fair bit of the latter stages of this save, my Chelsea team have been pretty average as I didn't have the money, (Abramovic and his millions are long-gone), to go out and splash the cash on the best players in the World, and additionally I wanted to produce as many home-grown youngsters as I could. 

With that in mind, early intakes at Chelsea looked amazing, but weren't really. As things have progressed though, things have gradually improved to the point that we are now a big team again and have some VERY good players. 

If I rate all the players in all Chelsea squads by CA, then I currently have 2 players listed as 4.5 CA. These are the best players at the club and against whom this new intake will be judged. 

Matty is actually described as a World-class midfielder and Ray has won just about every personal footballing accolade known to man over the last couple of years. 

(34a) Matty (F.Det) (2034) * is a product of the Chelsea Academy and has been instrumental in our gradual improvement.

(30a) Ray (Pro) (FRA) (2030) * didn't come through the Chelsea Academy, but did come through the Academy at Stade Rennais when I was there. 

What I am getting at here is that (43a) Wright (Unamb) (2043) * is deemed to have the potential to be better than these 2 superstars! That's pretty damn good

(43a) Wright (Unamb) (2043) *.

At this stage he looks decent, (if unspectacular), and the most pleasing things is where as I have had to play (34a) Matty (F.Det) (2034) * in a role that he isn't ideally suited to, (43a) Wright (Unamb) (2043) * is already pretty suited to the BWM role. It's a shame that this save won't continue long enough for me to see him progress to the full zenith of his powers.

(43b) White (F.Pro).

I quite like a deep or defensive forward because I think it offers more opportunities in a 2 and definitely in a 3, (although haven't used them much in a 1 up top). He looks very physical already, has a decent personality starting point and his finishing will obviously improve over time. 

(43c) Saunders (Bal).

I have developed a deep addiction to 3 at the back and attacking wing-backs in FM18 so a winger, (even a good winger), is something of a waste when they come through the intake. Most of the better one's can be converted to WB's or strikers though and luckily this bloke looks like he can play centrally. His best central role is a Mezzala and I quite like that because I don't really know what to make of that role, (I don't particularly like it, but possibly because of a lack of understanding on my part). In my mind the role is something akin to an Ozil role, albeit that Ozil seems to play from wider out to in, rather than in to wider out. I get that it's a half position between wide and centrally though, and that any defending duties are usually done higher up the pitch, so maybe more like a Lallana, (who I like more than Ozil). Anyway, if this were earlier in the save, this player would interest me because of what he might team me about the Mezz role. 

(43d) Arthur (Unamb).

In the early-mid stages of the Chelsea portion of the save I have really struggled to being through good central defenders, and those that have come through seem small in comparison to the World Class giants that I would come up against in the opposition ranks. A 6'0" 15 year old is plenty big enough though, and I particularly like that his physical ability is currently leaning significantly towards pace rather than power, although the less said about that PPM the better, (even in the middle of a 3). 

(43e) Luther (BRB) (F.Sport).

This bloke almost passed me by and it was only doing research for this post that made me look a little more closely at him. Yes his positioning is lacking a little, but i actually really like him. 

I've really struggled to get a top class GK through the intakes and although some have been decent, there has been nobody to rival Ben (F.Det) HG * who was already at the club when I joined and who has been 1st choice ever since, (making 431(8) appearances during that time). If you wonder how a GK makes 8 sub appearances, then it's because I use the IR button, I have to start Youth players and then let the Ass Man take them off at HT in the very early stages of their development. The normal strategy for someone not using an IR button would be to start the young prospect on the bench and then bring them on once the game is won, but I don't have that luxury with the way I play, so instead they start and then come off. These 8 sub appearances, (although I can't remember), are likely me blooding youth team GK's who were dragged off at HT by the Ass Man.,

(36g) Noel Barrett (Res) has made 10 senior appearances this season, (he had previously made only 1 for us), but in those 10 games he kept 6 clean sheets and has an average rating of 7.03, so while I never thought he was going to be good enough, (and still don't think he is if I'm honest), it shows that it's not impossible for below-par players to perform "up" when given the opportunity. 

Something that I have been looking at over the course of this save is the way that different levels of intakes are announced, (eg. generational talent, golden generation, most gifted etc etc etc). I have found that especially the "golden generation" tags are very misleading, and as such I tend to take everything with a pinch of salt and not get too excited. 

What's really interesting here is that the player identified by my HoYD as "possibly one of the best players of his generation", is actually only the 4th best player of this intake, (ranked by PA remember). 

The HoYD also isn't having his head turned by "early starters" as I call them who come through with decent CA but who will never develop to the level that some "slower starters" might eventually reach.

Here is the top of the intake again, this time ranked by CA, and shows everyone rated at greater than 0.5 CA.

So what is it that makes the HoYD think that (43d) Arthur (Unamb) is going to be so good?

He could be right, but I don't think so.I don't use a scouting tool so there is no way I can check the CA/PA of players, but I can sometimes spot an "anomaly". There is nothing really jumping out at me here though, (although if I was to make some predictions, they would be the following). 

(43a) Wright (Unamb) (2043) * is probably not as good as his PA stars suggest and I would expect his PA rating to be down-graded at some point. 

(43c) Saunders (Bal) is the "early starter" that I mentioned above and it wouldn't be a huge surprise to see his CA upgraded over the next month or so. 

(43n) Bristow (Amb) is a little bit of a strange one too and if I had to pick out just 1 anomaly, then he would be it. He's classed as having 1.0 CA stars on day 1, and CA stars should be a definite absolute because the player is at the club, doesn't require scouting and none of his attributes are hidden by the FoW. We know exactly how good he is right now in comparison to how good the best player at the club is right now. It should be 100% accurate, (or at least as accurate as anything in FM can be). In my experience however, this isn't always the case and I must admit that it's something that I keep meaning to look at but then never get around to. Let's look at him now. 

He looks ok. Nothing special, but his attributes seem relatively well balanced for a DL. It's a little unusual that a decent CA is twinned with such a meagre PA, but it's not impossible either. If we take the CA as an absolutely accurate figure, (because none of his attributes are greyed out or fogged in any way, then the only thing that can be wrong is his PA. It's unlikely that his PA is going to be any lower, (although it's still possible), but I think it's more likely that his PA will actually be higher than the 2.0 shown. I will keep an eye on him over the next week or so, (real time week), and see how things change between now and the release of FM19. 

[Deisler26]

As to why your 'best player' is actually the fourth best?

 

[Deisler26]

Congratulations on your award again. You bastard 

[Jimbokav1971]

4 minutes ago, Deisler26 said:

Congratulations on your award again. You bastard 

At least you are not bitter. 

Apologies for stealing your thunder. 

I don't know what I'm going to do with FM19, but I think I have to do something unusual in terms of the updates. The music was good but I have done that now. Any suggestions? 

Books? 

Films?

[Deisler26]

Maybe follow the plot of the LotR Trilogy.

Just adapt your moves and teams to that?

[Jimbokav1971]

56 minutes ago, Deisler26 said:

Maybe follow the plot of the LotR Trilogy.

Just adapt your moves and teams to that?

I think that involves too much thought and planning from me. I know my limitations. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Rumors. Chelsea. Mar 2043. 

Surely there is no way I would leave current Champions league and Premier League Champions Chelsea and move back to Iceland...... 

The stumbling blocks are that I don't think HK can pay the compensation that Chelsea would demand for me. I certainly know that was a problem when I thought about doing this before. 

[Jimbokav1971]

 

Not long left. Chelsea. Mar 2043.

Moving back to Iceland has been on my mind on and off for a while, so I keep declining offers of a new contract just so I could leave. The problem is that I still don't think HK could afford to buy out my contract even though there is only 3 months left on my contract. 3 months at £94,000 per month is still £282,000 and I'm not sure they would be willing to  pay that even if I think they probably have the cash available. 

[Deisler26]

 

[Jimbokav1971]

How to quit a job. Chelsea. Mar 2043. 

Why am I even thinking about making HK pay a fee for me. I'm outa here!

[Deisler26]

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Interested. Unemployed. Mar 2043.

Ex-Chelsea Manager thank you very much. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Home is where the Heart is. HK. Apr 2043.

[Deisler26]

 

[Jimbokav1971]

My Boys. HK. Apr 2043.

GK's.

This typifies the whole squad if I'm honest. We have 2 home-grown players who have better PA than the CA of 2 FGN GK's, but they are not getting the playing time that would most benefit their development. 

Kristóf Þór (Res) HG obviously has the best PA and has a (Res) personality so he would seem to be putting his hand up to become immediate 1st choice. 

Alex (CHI) (F.Amb) is the best GK at the club, (by CA), but he is worth £1.3M and it would seem to make sense to sell him as he doesn't have a desirable personality. We don't need the money, but £1.3M is still £1.3M. Even if Kristóf Þór (Res) HG were to get injured, then I would still prefer to play Axel Garð (Bal) HG ahead of a FGN player. 

Axel Garð (Bal) HG is a year behind Kristóf Þór (Res) HG in terms of development, (and his PA isn't as good), but I still think he is plenty good for domestic Icelandic football.

Baffoe (GHA) (Res) is another FGN player, but he is not worth selling because he has a low valuation, and his (Res) personality makes him a good tutoring option. I also like his attribute balance if I'm honest, (and just might be tempted to play him in big games or ahead of a big game). 

Davíð Kristján (Cas) HG isn't very good. 

DL's & WB's.

How on Earth can we only have 1 player at the club who can play at DL or WBL? (He's injured too), (and FGN!)

Munoz (FRA) (F.Pro) is actually decent though. So other than the fact that he is French, and injured, and we have absolutely no back-up at all, I'm quite happy. 

DR's & WB's.

Oh this is funny now. As well as only having 1 DL/WBL at the club, (who is injured), we also have only 1 DR/WBR and he is out on loan in Cyprus) 

Haukur Ásberg (Unamb) HG isn't great, but he is HG and he is the only DR/WBR we have at the club so I have immediately re-called him from Cyprus.

SW's/DC's.

I haven't looked at central players yet, but I would expect there to be quite a few of them in the hope that they must have been playing 3 at the back, and they must be decent because they haven't even had WB's to help them. 

It's not what I was hoping for at all. There is no SW, (yes I was hoping), and there are really only 4 players in contention for 1st team duties and 1 of them is a FGN player and another is actually a DM. 

Auðun Magnús (Bal) HG might not be quite as good, (in terms of CA), as Bjarki Jako (Bal) HG, but they are at very different stages of their careers and it is he who will be the defensive lynch-pin of the side moving forward. 

DM's & MC's.

With no wide defenders and not exactly loads of central defenders, I was hoping that we would at least have a few central midfielders. It looks like this is indeed the case, but if we remove the 4 players who are more suited to playing at AMC, the 1 SC, 1 DC and the 3 DM's, it only leaves us with 2 players most suited to playing in the MC line. We also have another player out on loan in Cyprus, (this time with significant potential), so he will be returning. 

I'm starting to think that the previous manager might have been playing with 3 at the back, 2 DM's

Kjartan Eyjólf (Bal) is probably the best central midfielder that we have available and it's this, and his lack of partners, that make me thing that there must be 2 DM's sitting behind them. There is no doubting that he is a decent player, (or certainly was in his day), but he's very forward-thinking and It's this that makes me wonder how the previous manager was setting them up without conceding goals galore. 

Aron Pálsson (Bal) HG is the star of the midfield show in terms of PA, but even then he is still more suited to playing further forward, although I really like the look of him.

Wingers. 

I have hardly played with these at all in FM18, such is my preference for 3 at the back, but I might not have an option here. (Actually, I think it FAR more likely that I will be shoe-horning some of them into unfamiliar WB roles. 

Janicijevic (SRB) (F.Det) looks pretty impressive, but lets see how impressive he looks at WBL with those PPM's.

Diot (FRA) (Bal) looks almost as impressive on the right, and as well as not having a contrasting PPM, he has age on his side. 

Pétur Ólafsson (Bal) looks excellent, but I'm not really sure how I'm going to squeeze him into the line-up, (possibly TM), but the fact that he's not a product of the Hk Academy suggests that he might not have a future under me, (depending who I can entice back). 

SC's.

It would seem that this is where the strength of the squad lies with no less than 5 players valued at £1M+ in this area. 

Úlfur (F.Det) HG is the player that jumps out at me, despite the fact that he is out on loan at another Premier Division club, (not for long), and at least according to the CA star rating he seems to be on a par with players such as Kristjón Þór (F.Sport) and Pétur Ólafsson (Bal) who who are valued at £5.4 & £3.5M respectively. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Choices. HK. Apr 2043.

This is the squad ranked by PA and while the top 4 players all have a very low value, the fact that the 25th ranked player, (by PA remember), is valued at £5.5M, suggests that things might be looking ok in the long term. 

Obviously there are problems with depths in multiple areas, but in terms of plain outright ability, (and especially in potential), then there is certainly reason for optimism. 

I plan on flogging most of the foreigners if I can get anything decent for them, (the exception being the older of the 2 FGN GK's who is a (Res) personality. I will be keeping him as a tutor and hopefully a non-playing one at that. 

I obviously need to bring in players and with that in mind I will be first looking at players who have previously come through our Academy before moving on. 

[Deisler26]

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Where have all the good people gone? HK. Mar 2043.

Gunnar Logi (Bal) HG joined Milan for £1.3M before moving onto Lazio for £1,8M.

Magnús Þór (Res) HG was sold to Benfica for £2.4M last season and the teenager has already collected 7 Senior caps. I would love to get him back in, (even on loan), but I'm not sure how realistic that is. I think he is gone for good.

Andri Magnús (Bal) went to AS Nancy for £1.3M, but he has just moved to Burnley for £3.3M. He's 30 years old and not a product of the HK Academy, so good luck to him.

Alin Ciobanu (ROM) (Pro) went to Leicester for £1.9M before moving onto West Brom for £1.8M, but it's strange to see HK making a loss on the deal as they bought him for £2.5M

Jon Amick (Bal) was born in the USA and came through at Portland before being signed on a free by HK. He has received 22 INT caps for his adopted home Nation and moved to Steaua Bucharest a couple of seasons ago.

Giorgi (GEO) (Resil) might not be from Iceland, but 100+ Caps for anyone is good in my book. 

(24b) Kristinn Geirn (F.Det) * has a nickname that was left over from my 1st period at the club. He might be old and slow, but he would still get in our team I think. It's interesting to see that although he was given a * by me back in 2024, (18 years ago), although he has had a good career and become an International and won loads of stuff in Iceland, he never became a top top player. 

(24c) Ásgeir Svein (F.Sport) * is another with a name left over from my previous tenure. 

Unnar Hilmar (Bal) HG possibly went to Juve too early, and his development might have been better served by staying in the Pepsi-deildn for a little longer. 

#

Trausti Pál (F.Sport) HG is currently being farmed out on loan from Monaco. I would love to get him in, but I'm not sure how realstic that is. The club sold him FAR too early and for FAR too little in my opinion. He's still only 22 now so I think we sold him when he was 18 years old for just £1.4M

That's about it in terms of sales for the past few years. It's possible that players have just retired, but I've even searched for free transfers and there seems to be nobody of any note released. I wonder how many of the Youth Team they have actually been offering contracts to? 

2042. They signed 5, but released 4 youth players on a free.

2041. They signed 5, but released 3 youth players on a free. 

2040. They signed 5, but released 3 youth players on a free.

2039. They signed 7, but released 2 youth players on a free. 

2038. They signed 7, but released 4 youth players on a free.

2037. They signed 6.

2036. They signed 7, but released 2 youth players on a free.

2035. They signed 6, but released 3 youth players on a free. 

Assuming that in the main they were signing the better players from the youth intake each season, it's surprising that..... well that the squad is in such ropey shape. Then again, we are not saying that they have bad players. I am saying that they have an un-balanced squad and that's not the same thing at all. 

They also have £16M in the bank which is not to be sniffed at. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

Before you arrived. HK. Mar 2043.

The Champions League Group stage didn't look too much fun, but to be honest that was to be expected having looked at the squad. 

That we managed to beat Feyenoord over 2 legs is more of a surprise, and only losing to 2 goals against Milan in each leg is also a pleasant surprise. 

Not quite a 100% record domestically, (and too many goals going in but we know all about that), but unbeaten is unbeaten. 

Edited October 14, 2018 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Gods Plan. HK. Mar 2043.

The way I have played earlier in this save it was all about scoring 1 more than the opposition, but I am going to try and do the opposite here despite the fact that I on;y have central defenders. My thinking is that if I can keep things tight, then whoever I play up front should be too strong for any domestic defenders that we face. (That's the plan anyway, mine rather than God's). I will be delighted with lots of 1-0's to us and even a few 0-0's won't bother me. Conceding domestic goals will bother me. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Unstoppable. HK. Apr 2043.

Not a bad message to get after your 1st game. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sale of the Century. HK. Apr 2043.

There are some players here who are just valued at too much to not sell them. Add in that there are better players, (well players with better PA), waiting in the wings, and that I am keen to get back to a focus on home produced players, well some of them just had to go. 

£2.7M for a 29yo (ECU) SC. 

£2.7M for a 30yo (ISL) AMR. (He wasn't HG at club).

£5.5M for a 26yo (ISL) SC. (He wasn't HG at club). 

 

[Wavelberry]

Really enjoyed this save and the updates this year Jimbo. 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 minutes ago, Wavelberry said:

Really enjoyed this save and the updates this year Jimbo. 

Thanks. 

Do you mind if I ask if you enjoyed the Youth development aspect of the save or the fact that I added a slight journeyman aspect to it? I'm trying to work out what to do next week for FM19.