[FM18] Tours Football Club

[ChrisWilson]

Tours Football Club

Introduction

Hi guys, my names Chris and I finally decided to do a save out of my comfort zone. Last couple FMs I have only been playing in England. The choice for a club was simple, my girlfriend is from Tours!

Also, this season has been awful for them in real life.

It seems like they are going down as of right now.

Two things to mention about the way I play my FM saves.

1. I stick to two formations only. Traditional 442 and a 4141 when holding onto the lead.

Yes, I am stubborn.

2. I give players nicknames ( not changing their last name ) to have an easier time to analyze and work with my squad. 

It goes something like this  :

GK - Keeper

RD - Right Defender

CD - Central Defender

LD - Left Defender

RW - Right Winger

CM - Central Midfielder

DM - Defensive Midfielder

LW - Left Winger

ST - Striker

Now the second step to this little system of mine is giving each position a number so it sorts the squad in a way I want it to. 

It becomes this :

1     GK   

2     RD   

3     CD   

4     LD   

5     RW   

6     CM   

7     DM   

8     LW   

9     ST   

Now there should not be any questions or confusions regarding the player names!

Club Details

Media prediction has us at 14th and the board expects a mid-table finish.

History

Tours have won the second tier of French football three times in their history but have been stuck in it for the last 9 seasons.

Facilities

A nice stadium and good youth facilities are the highlights. Everything else will need some work.

Finances

Our balance is 355 k after the preseason. The projection DOES NOT look good.

We will take a look at the preseason itself and the transfers in the next update.

As well as the tactic and a squad analysis. 

 

 

[Sheriff7]

They had different logo and colours(purple)  or is just my mistake? Anyway good luck!! 

[ChrisWilson]

6 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

They had different logo and colours(purple)  or is just my mistake? Anyway good luck!! 

The two bottom lines of their crest used to be purple,yes but this is the badge they are using as of right now.

Also, these are the colors for this season.

Thanks! I am excited to see how France reacts to direct 442 football approach. 

[ChrisWilson]

Tours Football Club

Full disclosure: this is going to be a much more detailed story as I like to share my tactical changes and throughs about each game and decision. Updates will come in month by month. I enjoy taking my time with the save as I feel a better connection to the game compared tro when I fly through seasons.

Feel free to let me know which styles do you like more! The quick ones with simple updates of results or more detailed once .

Season 1 Preseason

Transfers

Out

Making 300k from sales of players I was never gonna use was a good transfer window to me.

Valentim - 235k to Lille Olympique Sporting Club

I put in a buy out clause in case he makes it far but I never see him getting in my first team even with years of developing. 

Etcheverria - Loan to KVC Westerlo

Not the worst player at this level but Westerlo offered first-team football to him.

Nanizayamo - 64k (110k) to Sporting Lokeren

Another player that was not going to get in my first team ever.

In

I was happy with the squad from the start. There were two positions I wanted to get backups in, however. Another striker and a left back.

Biró - 30k from Vit. Guimarães

I liked the price as well as his mental attributes at his age. Should be my main back up for the two striker positions.

Taştemur - 50k from Konya Anadolu Selçukspor

This is a big gamble. My scouts did not rate him at all and my Assistant tells me he's not fit for this level.

I think he can do fine as a backup or maybe even a starter. Aggressive with good work rate.

Tactic

 

A simple 442 to start with. Idea is to adjust as we go but the friendlies went just fine with this. The only thing I played with was to look for overlap. Not sure if I want it in just yet as my fullbacks are on attacking and help in attack enough already.

Squad

I am happy with the 22 players in my first team as of right now. There are some areas I would like to upgrade but players that are interested are either the same level as the ones I have or older aging players. 

Keeper

Goda - My number 1. Tall and good in the air. 

Kacou - Not that much worse maybe even better in some areas. Goda has the experience on Kacou though.

Right Defender

Gradit - My captain. Leadership might let him down but he's aggressive and determined.

Lippini - Back up. Trying to get rid of his Player Trait but he might be too old for that. Can also cover on the left.

Central Defender

Cissé - Fourth choice and I hope he does not need to play.

Filippi - Leader at the back. My first choice center back.

Louvion - Only reason he will be a back up is that I want Miguel to develop. Very capable backup.

Miguel - Vice-captain at 20 already. I see bright future in him.  

Left Defender

Konaté - Does not seam to stick out in many areas. Quick and does not get tired. Not sure if he should start.

Taştemur - New left back from Turkey. For now, I think he edges the first team spot for me.

Right Winger

Bayard - Very good winger. Not as quick as I would like but lovely mental attributes. 

Tandia - His speed and flair puts him in the starting eleven in my eyes.

Central Midfielder

Belkebla - Really happy with having him in my squad. Good passing as well as tackling which is great for my system. 

Makhedjouf - Much better technically then Belkalba but slow. Might come in when we need to score.

Defensive Midfielder 

N'Doye - Exactly the player I want. Hard working tackler that does not get tired. 

Raveloson - Maybe the weakest back up of all the backups in the team. Let us hope he does not need to play many games.

Left Winger

Bouazza - Winger on the decline but should do a job as a backup.

Clémence - Expecting a lot out of him. Experiences and well rounded.

Striker

Biró - 3rd choice at the start of the season for me. Good potential on him.

Diarra -  The main striker in this team . Quick and strong. Exactly what he needs in a 442.

Tall -  4th choice striker. Quick and moves into channels which could be useful.

Tshibumbu - Expecting assists not goals from him. Also quick and strong with good technicals for a deep-lying forward.

Friendlies

Attacking wise we look amazing. Except against very very weak teams.

First couple matches will show if this system good enough for the Domino's Ligue 2.

 

[ChrisWilson]

Tours Football Club

Season 1

July/August

Remember when I said that Turkish left-back was a gamble. Yep. He was.

 

Matchday 1

Le Havre - 0:1 LOSS

Even game but we did not finish our chances. They played a 4231 with a very good Playmaker that kept causing us problems entire game. Clear weakness in the 442 system. The space behind the midfield.

 

Matchday 2

Clermont Foot - 1:2 LOSS

Once again we played better but another team using a 4231 with an incredible Playmaker. 14 passing and 13 vision as well as 14 first touch. Two assists and 4 key passes from him.

 

Coupe de la Ligue 1st Round

Union Sportive Orléans - 1:3 LOSS

ANOTHER game where we outplayed them. We had more shots, more possession, more clear cut chances! All goals came from them getting behind our defense, especially on the left. I think Taştemur has had enough chances.

 

Out of Coupe de la Ligue but there is still French Cup to play in.

 

First 3 games

I knew I had to go back into tactics and analyze what was going wrong.

 

Tactic

 

·         DLF to DF - I wanted one of the strikers to drop much deeper when pressing the opposition.

·         Normal defensive line - Too many goals over the defense. Maybe a little to slow as of right now.

·         No offside trap -  Same as above. We will sit back a bit more.

·         CM to BWM -  Not enough aggression and tackling in the middle.

·         CD to BPD -  Too many balls into nowhere from the defense. We are attacking with direct passing so it is expected. Changed the more technical defender's role. ( Later I changed their both roles just asked less technical defender to dribble less )

 

 

 

Taştemur had to go. What a terrible start for him. We lost all games but he has had the lowest ratings in the entire team. Not to point fingers or anything. ( Mostly at the manager that signed him..)

Konaté comes into the first eleven.

 

Matchday 3

Stade de Reims - 5:0 WIN

Absolutely demolished a team predicted to finish 3rd this season. They played a 442 with inside forwards and our wingers had a brilliant game. Changes seemed to work so well.   Miguel played great balls through the middle and N'Doye was involved in tackling the ball much more.

 

Matchday 4

Chamois Niortais FC - 3:2 WIN

Finally, beat the 4231 by dropping N'Doye into DM position creating asymmetric midfield. We conceded towards the end when they went attacking.

 

Matchday 5

AC Ajaccio - 3:1 WIN

Another 4231 we faced where I used the same strategy by dropping N'Doye lower on the pitch. We limited their chances. Got a little lucky by scoring two penalties this game.

 

Last 3 games

 

Tactical changes paid off as well as paying more attention to the opponent during the game. (Dropped even deeper against AC Ajaccio when they still were able to play balls behind our defense)

 

Konaté did not do anything incredible but he put in much better performances. The entire team did really.

 

 

League table

 

Too early to say anything but I like where we are.

 

Clémence has played incredibly after the tactic change. Having the BWM on his side lets him receive a lot of the balls won by N'Doye.

Tandia has also been important to the "comeback" in the second half of the month. Wingers working well.

We had an offer for our best young prospect that appeared into under19s at the start of the save.

He seemed like something special however considering our financial situation ( 930k in red in October )

We are a selling club.

 

Transfer

 

Rambaud - great finishing and mentals for his age. 

 

Hopefully, he can make it in Porto.

 

France has proven difficult at the start but with little adjustments, I like where we are heading.

[Sambacutilamba]

I will follow!

[ChrisWilson]

On 2/14/2018 at 02:11, Sambacutilamba said:

I will follow!

Awesome

I have been following your FM Ultimate Team story myself 

[ChrisWilson]

Tours Football Club

Season 1

September

Matchday 6

AJ Auxerre - 0:0 DRAW

Auxerre has some incredible defenders on loan so it was a struggle to break them down. They had one shot 1 target to our 8 . Might need to start thinking on how to break teams like this down more.

 

 

Matchday 7

Paris FC - 2:2 DRAW

Another 4231 that was easy to break down using the same asymmetrical midfield pair until our captain Gradit got sent off. Paris' player literally ran into him. We were not able to hold onto a 2:0 lead.

 

 

 

Matchday 8

Nîmes Olympique -  3:1 WIN

Looks like we are going from 442 system to a 4132 DM Asymmetric M (CR) system as FM likes to call it. ( Basically the formation I have been talking about almost every game ). We shut down Olympique's playmaker easily.

 

This was a bizarre match actually.

 

 

Yup. 3 goals essentially in 2 minutes of added time.

 

Matchday 9

Union Sportive Orléans - 3:1 WIN

We got our revenge. My god does French football love their 4231s. Played higher in this game actually due to their striker being a slow target man.

 

Matchday 10

Stade Brestois 29 - 3:1 WIN

Yep, you guessed it. 4231. We had 19 shots on target this game. Looked very good against a team predicted to finish 5th in the league. They have been struggling, however.

 

Schedule

 

 

League Table

 

 

 

Confidence all-time high right now so ideally top two is where I want to be.

 

 

Clémence once again a key player for us.

 

 

He deserved the new contract. I am still struggling to get a deal that works for both the club and Miguel however. He wants too much money.

 

 

 

Diarra is also finally starting to score somewhat regularly.

 

 

 

 September was a lovely month. Let's hope we can keep this up. Looking forward to more 4231s!

 

 

[Sambacutilamba]

Good month with 3 win and 2 draw, if we continue like this we can take the lead

[ChrisWilson]

Tours Football Club

Season 1

October

Matchday 11

Valenciennes FC - 3:0 WIN

Our star man Clémence was suspended for this game so I was a little bit worried but Bouazza came in and did a great job on the wing. An easy game as Valenciennes did not create any noticeable chances.

 

Matchday 12

Sochaux -  2:0 WIN

They played a 433 with a DM so I was able to push N'Doye higher into our regular 442. Entire game our wingers Tandia and Clémence looked absolutely incredible both finishing with 8.5 rating, 4 key passes, 2 assists and 7.8 rating, 2 key passes and a goal respectively.

 

This win meant we were unbeaten in last 10 games. 8 wins and 2 draws. This is going MUCH better than I expected. I was ready to do a long analysis of each opponent to try and exploit their weaknesses to scrap points up but as of right now I am almost letting the tactic play itself out with minor changes.

 

Just look at all those green lines!

 

 

Last game of October was against  FC Lorient. Predicted to win the league they were 7th only 2 points from 3rd place with a game in hand ( against us ). With a squad much better than ours, wage budget TWICE ours I knew that winning this game would really mean we are up for a title win not just having a good run of games.

 

Look at the disrespect towards us as well. We have to show everyone we are not getting lucky.

 

 

Analysis showed that Lorient plays just like us. Direct fast 442 football from Mickaël Landreau ( I remember having him years ago on FM ) .

 

 

I had a choice to make. Do I stick with the same system or do I change it up against them? I got an itch to do what teams did to us at the start of the season. 4231 . Exactly. 4231 with Makhedjouf as our main playmaker. He has had one start and two sub appearances so far but this is his game.

 

We are going to exploit the space behind their midfield and he is a perfect player to do it. Just look at him!

 

PERFECT for an AP role on attack. Tries killer balls often and Shoots from distance with 14 long shots. This is going to be his game of the season. 

 

The length of time I spent on figuring out the perfect 4231 for this game might be worrying. Maybe I am giving them to much respect. Thinking too much of just another game. But I decided to go through with it at the end.

 

Pushing the wingers higher up as well. We are going to attack. We are going to show Lorient who is supposed to be predicted to finish first. We are going to show what an underdog can do.

 

Matchday 13

FC Lorient - 3:1 WIN

This was so enjoyable to watch. It could have backfired but it worked in a perfect way.

Diarra being lethal up front.

 

 

Makhedjouf doing exactly what asked of him.

 

 

Two chances and 5 key passes! FIVE!

 

The only negative is Tandia getting injured. He has been one of the most important players so far. Let's see if Bayard  can replace him. He has been asking for first-team football.

 

 

I guess I am not as stubborn to stick to a 442 after doing that to the best team in the league. I cannot wait to do this to Monaco's 442!

 

Schedule

 

League

 

Some nice records.

 

 

Absolutely flawless month.

 

Diarra with a quiet game against Sochaux but otherwise a great month for him.

 

 

Deserved contract after the last two months.

 

 

Did I mention how good it felt to beat FC Lorient . I think I will mention it again.

 

 

It felt great guys.

 

[Sambacutilamba]

16 ore fa, ChrisWilson ha scritto:

 

It felt great guys.

 

Now we understand how much is important  

[ChrisWilson]

Tours Football Club

Season 1

November

 

Matchday 14

Bourg en Bresse - 2:1 WIN

Bourg played a diamond 442 and my adjustments were asking the full backs to be more attacking to exploit their lack of width.

 

Bayard proving that he deserves his chance so far.

 

 

Records

More than happy to receive this little email from Tony after every game.

 

French Cup 7th round 

Olympique Noisy-le-Sec - 3:0 WIN

A lower league team with only one real player on their roster. Squad rotation game.

 

Biró finally had his first start.

 

Matchday 15

LB Châteauroux - 1:1 DRAW

Châteauroux used a 433 and deserved to win this game. They were quick in their attacks and great in defence. We got lucky to take a point from this game.

 

Matchday 16

Gazélec FC Ajaccio - 2:1 WIN

Another tough game , Ajaccio's 4141 with a target man was difficult to break down. We were 1:0 down when I pushed the wingers higher on the pitch and it helped Diarra get two goals for us.

               

Matchday 17

US Quevilly Rouen - 4:3 WIN

A rough close game. Rouen are bottom of the league but their counter attacks have been some of the best I have faced this season so far. Their 442 lined up well against ours.

Two goals from Diarra and Tshibumbu to get us the win.

 

Schedule

 

 

League Table

 

A big surprise from Bayard  as I was not sure if he would fit into the system straight away. Had an impact in EVERY game this month.

 

 

N'Doye deserves a mention as well. He is really growing into his BWM role.

 

 

Another great month for us. We have not lost in almost four months!

[ChrisWilson]

Tours Football Club

Season 1

December

French Cup 8th round

Chamois Niortais FC - 7:0 WIN

Holy. We played them earlier in the season it was a close game. They had their first team for this game as well but we dominated in every way possible. Chamois is third in the league at the moment as well.

 

Who do I even single out? The entire team has played incredible.

 

 

 

Lovely.

 

 

Matchday 18

Nancy Lorraine -  2:0 WIN

A routine win against a passive possession based 433 from Nancy. As soon as we got the ball the game came alive. Two completely opposites sides.

 

Thanks, Tony!

 

 

During an analyzing process for the next game, I got excited seeing a new formation.

 

 

 

Lens are sitting in 17th so it might not have been successful so far but after looking at average positions in their last game I got a little worried.

 

 

 

Are we going to run through them with our exceptional wingers or is their midfield going to overwhelms ours? If they manage to create chances they will score. Their striker is second best scorer after Diarra in the league so far.

 

The main goal is to win the league but the secondary goal is to not lose any games until the end of the season.

 

I decided to change the formation completely just for this game.

 

 

 

4411 with two mids starting deeper with an option to play 4231 by pushing the wingers higher if we need to be more attacking. Dropped the midfielders lower so that they do not exploit the "Playmaker" space.

 

Matchday 19      

RC Lens - 2:1 WIN

Just like I expected we struggled even with the tactical adjustments. Lens ended up having 63% possession and kept opening up our defense through the middle. Got to be thankful to our key men Clémence and Diarra. First for a rating of 7.8  and 3 key passes as well as creating two goals and second for good off the ball movement in both goals.

 

At the end of the day, it has to be hard for our opponents playing against this kind of team morale and team dynamics.

 

 

Schedule

 

 

League table

 

 

Started perfectly but did get rough at the end of the month against Lens. Six points lead but we still have to be on our toes every game.

 

Also, I want to show you the top prospect in the club as of right now. The one that has not been sold yet.

 

Lebrun - A great defender for his age. If his composure and anticipation grow I can see him being in the first team eventually. Unless we sell him of course.

 

Next month we have a VERY important and exciting game in the French Cup against Toulouse FC. They are 13th in Ligue 1 right now and have been using a very direct and attacking 4231 .

 

I would love to test ourselves against a much better team than the ones in Ligue 2!

[ChrisWilson]

Tours Football Club

Season 1

January ( Part 1 )

 

January started with positive news.

A little too much money for Miguel still but I guess if I am going to make him my future captain it might be time to raise his wage.

 

 

 

Um I thought this was at the end of the season but I will take it. I guess manager of the "year" not season!

 

 

 

Deserved forDiarra.

 

 

 

 

 

I had almost three weeks to prepare for Toulouse FC. I wanted to go into the game with a tactic made to beat their team.

 

 

 

That is a formation I have not used this year but I could make it work with my players. Should work well against their 4231 as well.

 

We were playing home so the last decision I hate to make was do we keep going attacking or do we go counter-attacking against them. I am sticking to what we know mentality wise.

 

Tactic

Creating exactly the formation they are weak against

 

Pushing the wingers higher

Dropping the DF into the DM position with the DLP on defend role

BWM d to BWM s

CM s to CM a

Slightly deeper line due to their forward being quick

Low crosses due to their defenders being incredible in the air

 

 

Removed get stuck in, do not really want to play that game against an aggressive team

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Makhedjouf once again gets a chance for an important game. This time in the DM position as a DLP D. He did well last time I decided to switch it up.

 

There it was. Adjusting to the opponent, something I have not done since the Lorient game.

 

As usual, the slight wonder if I should have stuck with the 442 or a 442 asymmetrical system we have used sinks in before the game starts.

 

French Cup 9th round

Toulouse FC - 1:1 (6:5 penalties) WIN

What a game.

 

 

20 minutes in I ticked get stuck in back because we were just watching them pass the ball even with closing down on high.

 

Low cross got us a goal! Assist from the right by Tandia to our star man Clémence.

 

Makhedjouf once again did great ending the game with 3 key passes meanwhile Tandia was the man of the match. 3 chances and 4 key passes plus an assist from him.

 

A save in the penalties from Goda  got us through.

 

There are some positives from the formation change but I also can see some mistakes I made. As long as we got the win that is all that matters.

 

We got FC Bordeaux in the 10th round at the end of the month. I already started doing my research on them. 4th in the league with a 4123 DM we just used.

 

Matchday 20

Clermont Foot - 1:0 WIN

This might be where we lose our momentum. A very close game against a team in 17th place. Belkebla with 6 key passes and 95 passes completed out of 103.

 

Tony with the good news.

 

 

Matchday 21

Stade de Reims - 3:0 LOSS

Like I predicted. Having such a good run we were going to fall at some point. Unfortunate that this is how. Dominated. We looked slow and lost. One shot on target to their 10.

 

I am stuck with the decision to stick through this month or make changes to freshen things up.

 

Schedule

 

 

League Table

 

 

5 points off second place but we do play Chamois Niortais FC in 3rd next. With the run we have had I am greedy and want the title not just the promotion now.

 

Schedule

 

 

We play 3rd Chamois Niortais FC and 13th AC Ajaccio as well as the important FC Bordeaux game in the second half of this month.