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Caixa Futebol Academy: Youth Development & Adapting Tactics


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1 hour ago, Ö-zil to the Arsenal! said:

The Jota / Joao Felix partnership is just about the on-form attacking combination in Europe at the moment. Absolutely on fire.
 

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It's cool to see that a form of the 4-3-3 that you used over the years in team page topics is still very much alive. 

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12 hours ago, Rooks said:

It's cool to see that a form of the 4-3-3 that you used over the years in team page topics is still very much alive. 


Thank you. Yes, it's certainly been evolution rather than revolution for quite a number of years now. Not sure what year this is, but the flat 4-3-3 has been a staple since this team back in one of the earliest threads:
 

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4 hours ago, axehan1 said:

46 shots on goal against a decent French team, that is quite impressive:applause:what season are you in @Ö-zil to the Arsenal!?


Season 6. Lyon have a wonderful team, somehow having managed to hold on to a lot of their wonderkids but they play a horrible defensive 4-4-2 with 2 DMs. We're coming up against some very stacked defences these days, which is one of the reasons I switched to Overload as I like relentlessly chewing them up.


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One frustration with this years FM - possibly most - is the inability of the AI to develop their youngsters. Porto and Sporting have just about squandered their very talented academy teams.


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Afonso Sousa sat in the Under 19s and B Team for years, before getting lucky with two productive loan spells and making it into the team. Recent form and his potential warrant a call up to the international squad. Very interesting creative option in midfield:


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We stuttered, early in the post-World Cup cycle with a draw to Austria and loss to France but got back to form with club form translating to international level here:


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Whilst the juggernaut rolled on in Europe:


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 Looking further ahead, long-term Head of Youth Development, Pedro Mil Homens announced he's retiring at the end of the season.


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I'll do my due diligence and see what's available on the market, but we've got a strong internal succession option:


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Finally, I've not commented too much on newgens as they're so random, but the scouts have come back with a very solid looking defender who fits the profile well. Like the idea of an intelligent, technical player with a bit of bite. Plus, I've always had a bit of a soft spot for Nacional having spent a couple of months working in Medellin a couple of years ago :D


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Check out Kristjaan Speakman as a HOYD, he's my second choice after Bernhard Peters usually.

Glad to see you back and always succesful. You have revolutionised my way of playing fm with your Ajax thread. Now that is the only way i can play, and this year's Ajax save is the one that's getting me hooked the most, i'm loving the academy development.

Edited by Raymond85
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54 minutes ago, Raymond85 said:

Check out Kristjaan Speakman as a HOYD, he's my second choice after Bernhard Peters usually.

Glad to see you back and always succesful. You have revolutionised my way of playing fm with your Ajax thread. Now that is the only way i can play, and this year's Ajax save is the one that's getting me hooked the most, i'm loving the academy development.


Thank you :thup: I've not seen much of the new game, but Ajax must have a pretty good squad for this type of style this year. Good to see them having a strong side.

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1 ora fa, Ö-zil to the Arsenal! ha scritto:


Thank you :thup: I've not seen much of the new game, but Ajax must have a pretty good squad for this type of style this year. Good to see them having a strong side.

Some game success stories have not developed irl, Nunnely above everyone, but there are many new exciting prospects, from the top of my head Gravenberch (i'm playing possession football just to accomodate him in the team after Frenkie De Jong leaves), and Brian Brobbey is looking to be a very fun goal scoring machine, hopefully.  But there are a lot of other 16 and 17 year olds who i already brought into Jong Ajax from the second season

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I find it ironic that almost immediately after I'd booted up a Lyon save inspired by this thread, you hammered them :lol:

That SFraser thread linked early on is great, really helped me keep my squad size down as, particularly when playing with a team with a good youth system, squad management is usually why I give up around 30th June 3 seasons in. Your use of Tactical training constantly has also been an idea I've used, constantly adding in modules that train those mental attributes when I have free slots in the new training calendar, for all 3 levels of the club. Benfica's academy is far more stacked than Lyon's though, my scouts are constantly recommending I fill us out by poaching all their youth. 

I've been playing on Attacking, a tactic I came up with imitating Leonardo Jardim just seems to be a brilliant set of TIs where I can keep the defence the same and just adjust the 6 players in front of them depending on the squad - highlights include beating Juventus 3-1 at their own stadium even though this is 1st season, and hammering Barcelona 6-0 with my 2nd choice defence getting a clean sheet - but I'm definitely going to try some stuff with Overload ("Very Attacking" now) 2nd or 3rd season, Aouar-Tousart-Ndombele is a brilliant midfield 3 to start out a save with. 

Do you see a lot of long shots? I'm guessing you do when you have 46 shots, unless you have corners and free kicks in abundance and get shots away off them? 

Edited by zlatanera
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18 hours ago, Raymond85 said:

Some game success stories have not developed irl, Nunnely above everyone, but there are many new exciting prospects, from the top of my head Gravenberch (i'm playing possession football just to accomodate him in the team after Frenkie De Jong leaves), and Brian Brobbey is looking to be a very fun goal scoring machine, hopefully.  But there are a lot of other 16 and 17 year olds who i already brought into Jong Ajax from the second season


Ah, yes. It's always disappointed me that most of the players from the Ajax side I used to play haven't quite hit that potential in real life. Bazoer, Nunnely, Riedewald etc were wonderful players.


 

16 hours ago, zlatanera said:

I find it ironic that almost immediately after I'd booted up a Lyon save inspired by this thread, you hammered them :lol:

That SFraser thread linked early on is great, really helped me keep my squad size down as, particularly when playing with a team with a good youth system, squad management is usually why I give up around 30th June 3 seasons in. Your use of Tactical training constantly has also been an idea I've used, constantly adding in modules that train those mental attributes when I have free slots in the new training calendar, for all 3 levels of the club. Benfica's academy is far more stacked than Lyon's though, my scouts are constantly recommending I fill us out by poaching all their youth. 

I've been playing on Attacking, a tactic I came up with imitating Leonardo Jardim just seems to be a brilliant set of TIs where I can keep the defence the same and just adjust the 6 players in front of them depending on the squad - highlights include beating Juventus 3-1 at their own stadium even though this is 1st season, and hammering Barcelona 6-0 with my 2nd choice defence getting a clean sheet - but I'm definitely going to try some stuff with Overload ("Very Attacking" now) 2nd or 3rd season, Aouar-Tousart-Ndombele is a brilliant midfield 3 to start out a save with. 

Do you see a lot of long shots? I'm guessing you do when you have 46 shots, unless you have corners and free kicks in abundance and get shots away off them? 


:lol: quite a coincidence. Don't start a save with Juve as I'm just setting up to play them in the Champions League knockouts.

Yes, SFraser's stuff is superb. Particularly his stuff about squad management and youth development. This save has really just been implementing many of his ideas.

What set up are you using at Lyon? They've got some very talented players but a different style of play to Benfica.

If you check a few posts back, you should see a more comprehensive answer to the question about long shots :thup:

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4 hours ago, Ö-zil to the Arsenal! said:

:lol: quite a coincidence. Don't start a save with Juve as I'm just setting up to play them in the Champions League knockouts.

Yes, SFraser's stuff is superb. Particularly his stuff about squad management and youth development. This save has really just been implementing many of his ideas.

What set up are you using at Lyon? They've got some very talented players but a different style of play to Benfica.

If you check a few posts back, you should see a more comprehensive answer to the question about long shots :thup:

Aha they're on my list, never played more of a season with either Ronaldo or Messi which needs to be rectified before they're actually past it in about 10 years.

Yeah I don't think I'd even heard of FM when he posted that, let alone joined this forum, so good that you linked back to it.

Yeah, I'd back Aouar-Tousart-Ndombele to hold their own against a Felix-Luis-Fernandes midfield but other than that different squads. I started out playing a possession style, but our attackers either have direct traits (Moussa Dembele, Fekir with two that encourage dribbling) or lack intelligence (the rest), so I knew something slightly more direct was needed. Villarreal's 4-4 draw with Barcelona the other night is probably my platonic ideal of football to be honest, so I switch to using the TIs from my Jardim thread from a couple of months ago, but altered it as a 433 to suit my squad:

51119899_Screenshot2019-04-06at13_54_51.thumb.png.8bd8711a36b861c88ad3539cb541d9a1.png

Aouar and Fekir have PIs. My possession stats are skewed by the first 10 games of the season when I played sterile possession football (above 60% in most games) but we've still got 56% average in the league, which I think is purely due to the shape compared to the 442 and 4411's I used with the same TIs. We've hit 129 goals in all competitions with 4 league games and the Champions League final to go so its definitely working. I spent £73m on defenders as the attack is fine, which seems like a lot but its still less than Madrid spent on Gareth Bale, who got a 6.4 and 6.1 against us.

Much like your flat 433 I seem to have stumbled upon a playing style that just works, as I did something very similar on FM18, so if I win the double the next obvious step is to challenge myself by moving to Overload.

Also I've started to really enjoy the new training module upon re-reading this thread, then actually deciding how to have an identity for my club. I just constantly add in sessions that develop the attributes I value - tactical and technical ones mostly - when my assistant isn't training the players hard enough.

Edited by zlatanera
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12 minuti fa, zlatanera ha scritto:

Aha they're on my list, never played more of a season with either Ronaldo or Messi which needs to be rectified before they're actually past it in about 10 years.

Yeah I don't think I'd even heard of FM when he posted that, let alone joined this forum, so good that you linked back to it.

Yeah, I'd back Aouar-Tousart-Ndombele to hold their own against a Felix-Luis-Fernandes midfield but other than that different squads. I started out playing a possession style, but our attackers either have direct traits (Moussa Dembele, Fekir with two that encourage dribbling) or lack intelligence (the rest), so I knew something slightly more direct was needed. Villarreal's 4-4 draw with Barcelona the other night is probably my platonic ideal of football to be honest, so I switch to using the TIs from my Jardim thread from a couple of months ago, but altered it as a 433 to suit my squad:

51119899_Screenshot2019-04-06at13_54_51.thumb.png.8bd8711a36b861c88ad3539cb541d9a1.png

Aouar and Fekir have PIs. My possession stats are skewed by the first 10 games of the season when I played sterile possession football (above 60% in most games) but we've still got 56% average in the league, which I think is purely due to the shape compared to the 442 and 4411's I used with the same TIs. We've hit 129 goals in all competitions with 4 league games and the Champions League final to go so its definitely working. I spent £73m on defenders as the attack is fine, which seems like a lot but its still less than Madrid spent on Gareth Bale, who got a 6.4 and 6.1 against us.

Much like your flat 433 I seem to have stumbled upon a playing style that just works, as I did something very similar on FM18, so if I win the double the next obvious step is to challenge myself by moving to Overload.

Also I've started to really enjoy the new training module upon re-reading this thread, then actually deciding how to have an identity for my club. I just constantly add in sessions that develop the attributes I value - tactical and technical ones mostly - when my assistant isn't training the players hard enough.

Well well, i might be going to nibble some things from your playbook, as i am seeing my possession game is become sterile when teams learnt how to deal with me (low block-high press seems to make me just pass aimlessly all match. I like your ideas

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33 minutes ago, Raymond85 said:

Well well, i might be going to nibble some things from your playbook, as i am seeing my possession game is become sterile when teams learnt how to deal with me (low block-high press seems to make me just pass aimlessly all match. I like your ideas

I just copied Leonardo Jardim. But one thing I have noticed is that increasing defensive line and line of engagement further when already on Positive mentality or higher can lead to the other team just getting boxed in to such a tight shape that your only hope is a long shot. I tend to just completely lose my head in frustration when I can't break a team down, but when I actually remember things like this, I find that the counter-intuitive action of dropping the press can open a team up.

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Enjoying getting back into this save now I've got a couple of weekends of downtime.. :hammer:


João Felix won World Player of the Year..


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..whilst Jota destroyed Pep Guardiola's Juventus as the machine rolls on in Europe.
 

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Yet another world class youth intake secures the next generation of talent for the club.


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Brimming with potential along with unambitious, casual and spineless personalities to strike fear into the rest of Europe.


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Starting to think this game is cursed :lol: Joking aside, this illustrates the random element and sometimes you can do everything possible to maximise the chances of producing talented newgens but still not make it. Make other plans, be patient and move on. In a nutshell, this is why I'm not overly interested in writing about newgens in this thread. Scouts are out in force in U19 leagues around the world, in order to fill my U19 squad for next season.


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The league is once again beyond doubt. The strength of our squad means that we're able to really rotate the likes of Dantas, João Felix, Jota, Embalo, Martinez etc, etc due to the strength of our replacement options. I've already posted about the core of Alvaro, Pedro Rodrigues and Oliveira but this year Lo Celso, Almada, Trincão and Aragon (our only newgen) have really stepped up and I'd like to write a post - when I get time - about how they play together, which is similar but slightly different to our first team.

They're also giving me more options outside of the core 4-3-3 to change things up using substitutes, which is interesting.

We finished off Juventus with ease.


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Then rolled over Tottenham over two legs who are plodding along around the same level they're currently at in real life, competing with Arsenal for 4th.


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Power dynamics of European football have changed, a little.

Under Guardiola, Manchester City managed consecutive league and Champions League titles. Pep moved on to Juventus and Luis Enrique came in and started well, winning the title but Mourinho's Man Utd overtook them by a point last season. Man City are now 5th and Man Utd 10 points clear at the top, so expect I'd expect Enrique gone in the summer. Liverpool have fallen off to the lower end of the top 6, whilst Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham are still in the mix without ever really contending.

Real Madrid and Barcelona have very aging squads. Ronaldo is 38 years old and still on consecutive 30+ goal seasons, but we beat the comfortably in the groups and Manchester United just knocked them out of the Champions League. Messi retires at the end of the season and is now a backup midfielder. Suares, Pique and Busquets all well into their mid-30s. Looking at their squad it looks like they're in financial trouble, or just their signings have been rubbish. Total rebuild required.

Juventus still dominate Italy under Guardiola. No real progress from any of their challengers.

PSG now boast an attack of Mbappe - best player in the world now - alongside Neymar, Martial and James Rodrigues. Monaco aren't really close.

German sides look quite exciting. Bayern have won the league every year so far, but Dortmund will win the league this season. Dortmund have an attack of Sancho, Dolberg, Neres and Isak with Weigl, Thiago and Sergio Gomez in midfield, but a weaker defence. Bayern have a strong core of Tah, Kimmich, Alaba, Sanches, Goretzka and Diawara with Malcolm, Guedes, Jovic, Lozano and Brandt up front. However, neither made it past the Champions League first knockout.

Champions League Semi-Finalists:

  • Benfica
  • PSG
  • Barcelona or Manchester City
  • Manchester United

PSG and Utd seem our biggest competition.

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I imagine the wages the likes of Suarez and Messi are on at Barcelona are absolutely crippling them financially as anybody who would want to take them off their hands wouldn't be able to pay them. Would be an interesting project, take them over and go back to the youth system as no doubt they've squandered some incredible talents as the big clubs usually do on FM.

Those youth intakes are some of the worst I've seen on FM, even accounting for your first team being brilliant which affects star ratings. With those personalities are you sure your HoYD isn't a Sporting / Porto double-agent? 

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The two Joao's destroying Man Utd in the group stage.

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I'm toying with the idea of training Joao Carvalho as a deep lying forward.

FMfTSwC.jpg?1

I like the idea of him getting the ball deep and turning and running with it.His new trait is coming along nicely too.

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1 hour ago, axehan1 said:

This guy has the potential to be a very good player but he rejects all tutors, any ideas on how to get him to be tutored?Otherwise i'll have to let him go.

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Very little I think mate. I had a young player on my FM18 United save who rejected all tutors. Dybala, Sanchez, Lukaku, Martial... He just refused everyone. About all I could do was tutor everyone around him to hope that the squad brought his personality up.

I have been inspired by this thread to start a save espousing some of the principles @Ö-zil to the Arsenal! has been espousing... however I am starting my save with Greek 2nd Division side Aris. They dont have pots of cash, have no youth team of which to speak and a very unbalanced squad. It should make it a nice challenge bringing through some young guns there, with the eventual aim to be winning the champions league!

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On 07/04/2019 at 17:15, axehan1 said:

The two Joao's destroying Man Utd in the group stage.

0OzJKe6.jpg?1

I'm toying with the idea of training Joao Carvalho as a deep lying forward.

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I like the idea of him getting the ball deep and turning and running with it.His new trait is coming along nicely too.


:thup: I'm really enjoying seeing that you're getting results as well. Funny we've got two different sets of two Joãos. I guess you've got Felix in there somewhere?

Interesting to see the academy played in a different way. You're obviously having success with João Carvalho and earlier in the thread a couple of people talked about Batista, neither of which got too far for me but shows how players can develop under different circumstances.

How did you go with Carvalho up front?

Whilst I like an out-and-out forward in most circumstances, each season it's been increasingly difficult to keep hold of Lautaro Martinez. If that happens, replacing him externally would be beyond impossible given our wage structure. Goncalo Oliveira could undoubtedly step up and do a good job and take on the goalscoring responsibility - particularly given that Jota, João Felix and Umbalo contribute considerably - but I'd be concerned about the general play. There's also nobody really pushing through in that position from the youth setup, but there's midfielders pushing to get in all over the place so a strikerless variant could be an option.

In fact, I've been training both Jota and João to play there but I am still apprehensive.

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Over the course of 2022/23 season, development of fringe players has improved the squad depth greatly.


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I've already mentioned Alvaro, Rodrigues and Oliveira playing crucial roles. Trincão has been superb and on the fringe of the first choice eleven for a while, but Diego Leite and an Argentinian trio of Gionvani Lo Celso, Thiago Almada and Lucás Aragon have broken through this season.


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Whilst most of these fit into our usual 4-3-3, I'll also rotate with a simpler version of the 4-3-3 which maintains the same style of play but simplifies the midfield to suit Lo Celso and Almada.


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Lo Celso is developed into a player with wonderful technical ability and intelligence. Plays on the left-side of the midfield trio.


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Signed for a bargain £3.6m after two reasonable loan spells, but failing to break through at PSG. He's now been on the fringe of the first team for a number of years and is pushing hard.


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Almada is a very similar player. Very intelligent player with excellent decision making and technical ability.


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Also been with us for a few years. Signed very young and given a debut season in Benfica B before getting a couple of first team appearances and spending a solid year with Inter Milan. Also now ready to play a more substantial role.


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Tactically, I've not quite got them in their best roles.

We're playing a very standard 4-3-3 structure with inside forwards cutting in to create an attacking trident, wingbacks overlapping for width and central midfielders controlling the middle.

Lo Celso and Almada now suit the "free 8" role we see Guardiola using at Man City perfectly.


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Wouldn't necessarily change the role, but the instructions could be used to free them up quite a bit.

The big obstacle to this right now is I'd need Wingers rather than Inside Forwards in order to stretch play and open up that space however both Trincão and Aragon are left footers and I sold Nuno Santos so no longer have a natural right winger.

Fullbacks could invert and whilst Pinheiro and Costa aren't quite ready right now, they could be next season.

In which case I'll be shopping for a right winger!

Edited by Ö-zil to the Arsenal!
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Next update is the latter stages of the Champions League.


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Premier League Champions, Jose Mourinho's Manchester United have shaped up significantly more strongly than they did in real life.


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They use a difficult to break down 4-1-4-1, whilst we enjoy a near clean bill of health with the strength of the squad allowing us to use key players sparingly in the league.


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The first leg resulted in a typically tough 1-1 draw. The first side we've failed to defeat in Europe this season.


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The second leg presented more of an opportunity, with Mourinho opting for the free-flowing defence set up.. :lol:


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Thank you very much, Jose. This allowed us to pin them back and pummel them into a heavy defeat.


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The league is absolutely broken. Now we 100% focus goes into retaining the Champions League..

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On ‎12‎/‎04‎/‎2019 at 11:51, Ö-zil to the Arsenal! said:


:thup: I'm really enjoying seeing that you're getting results as well. Funny we've got two different sets of two Joãos. I guess you've got Felix in there somewhere?

Interesting to see the academy played in a different way. You're obviously having success with João Carvalho and earlier in the thread a couple of people talked about Batista, neither of which got too far for me but shows how players can develop under different circumstances.

How did you go with Carvalho up front?

Whilst I like an out-and-out forward in most circumstances, each season it's been increasingly difficult to keep hold of Lautaro Martinez. If that happens, replacing him externally would be beyond impossible given our wage structure. Goncalo Oliveira could undoubtedly step up and do a good job and take on the goalscoring responsibility - particularly given that Jota, João Felix and Umbalo contribute considerably - but I'd be concerned about the general play. There's also nobody really pushing through in that position from the youth setup, but there's midfielders pushing to get in all over the place so a strikerless variant could be an option.

In fact, I've been training both Jota and João to play there but I am still apprehensive.

Very disappointing, he wanted to be the main man and be a "key player", which I wasn't prepared to do so he went to West Brom for £20m.

Not the best piece of business but it got money in the bank which as you know is important when you manage Benfica.

GApmFAO.jpg?1

VPPmGU0.jpg?1

The Champions League is my "Holy Grail" two Finals in two years and both were valiant but ultimately disappointing defeats, I almost felt like Benfica's reputation as a lesser reputable club was the deciding factor when you look at some of the "Big" clubs that we dismantled along the way to both finals.

We wont be beaten though,we're stronger every year, eventually we will win it.

T1WUqNV.jpg?1

Tiago Dantas is the player Benfica will be built around,technically excellent, mentally sound and in 2/3 years he will be able to hold his own against anyone in world football.

His value is a joke, worth just £1.2m when he is just about the best 19 year old in Europe.

My core midfield trio of Florentino Luis(defensive mid) -Tiago Dantas(Dlp/Ap) - and Gedson Fernandes(mez) are an absolute machine.Behind them we have Ruben Dias and Pedro Alvaro at centre back, two fantastic young centre halves who dominate any strike partnership the Portuguese league has to offer.

LBqKUg9.jpg?1

The vultures have been circling for the past three transfer windows but i'm seeling nobody.Not one player in my 1st team squad is valued above £35m and some of the transfer bids have been ludicrously low.

XU2RDtX.jpg?1

Very happy with the way we're playing although we could score more.I may push us to attacking/fluid but I don't think we can pull off Oveload just yet.

Raul Jimenez has had three fantastic seasons as my main striker scoring 79 league goals in three seasons but he is 29 now and it's time to think about the future, this coming 4th season he will start as no1 but slowly but surely a new name will emerge.

37kcoC4.jpg?2

Ze Gomes is the leading candidate,very adept at the Deep Lying Forward role especially with his "comes deep to get the ball",he connects well with my midfield three and opens a ton of space for the two Joao's to exploit.

MriZNcG.jpg?1

Duk is an exciting prospect, a pure goalscorer who I think can be molded into any type of striker,he might get some Cup game time but will play mostly for the B team while he learns a couple of traits.

The youth squad are developing nicely but a couple of my "golden generation", my first youth intake just will not be tutored by anybody which for me is a real disappointment.I risk losing a couple of potential world beaters if I can't find a suitable tutor.

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Nelson Aleixo, balanced personality and outspoken media-handling(if that means anything) refuses tutoring.If I can't get him tutored then I will develop him the best I can and then move him on for a healthy profit.

 

 

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22
16 minutes ago, axehan1 said:

Very disappointing, he wanted to be the main man and be a "key player", which I wasn't prepared to do so he went to West Brom for £20m.

Not the best piece of business but it got money in the bank which as you know is important when you manage Benfica.

GApmFAO.jpg?1

VPPmGU0.jpg?1

The Champions League is my "Holy Grail" two Finals in two years and both were valiant but ultimately disappointing defeats, I almost felt like Benfica's reputation as a lesser reputable club was the deciding factor when you look at some of the "Big" clubs that we dismantled along the way to both finals.

We wont be beaten though,we're stronger every year, eventually we will win it.

T1WUqNV.jpg?1

Tiago Dantas is the player Benfica will be built around,technically excellent, mentally sound and in 2/3 years he will be able to hold his own against anyone in world football.

His value is a joke, worth just £1.2m when he is just about the best 19 year old in Europe.

My core midfield trio of Florentino Luis(defensive mid) -Tiago Dantas(Dlp/Ap) - and Gedson Fernandes(mez) are an absolute machine.Behind them we have Ruben Dias and Pedro Alvaro at centre back, two fantastic young centre halves who dominate any strike partnership the Portuguese league has to offer.

LBqKUg9.jpg?1

The vultures have been circling for the past three transfer windows but i'm seeling nobody.Not one player in my 1st team squad is valued above £35m and some of the transfer bids have been ludicrously low.

XU2RDtX.jpg?1

Very happy with the way we're playing although we could score more.I may push us to attacking/fluid but I don't think we can pull off Oveload just yet.

Raul Jimenez has had three fantastic seasons as my main striker scoring 79 league goals in three seasons but he is 29 now and it's time to think about the future, this coming 4th season he will start as no1 but slowly but surely a new name will emerge.

37kcoC4.jpg?2

Ze Gomes is the leading candidate,very adept at the Deep Lying Forward role especially with his "comes deep to get the ball",he connects well with my midfield three and opens a ton of space for the two Joao's to exploit.

MriZNcG.jpg?1

Duk is an exciting prospect, a pure goalscorer who I think can be molded into any type of striker,he might get some Cup game time but will play mostly for the B team while he learns a couple of traits.

The youth squad are developing nicely but a couple of my "golden generation", my first youth intake just will not be tutored by anybody which for me is a real disappointment.I risk losing a couple of potential world beaters if I can't find a suitable tutor.

O3txosB.jpg?1

Nelson Aleixo, balanced personality and outspoken media-handling(if that means anything) refuses tutoring.If I can't get him tutored then I will develop him the best I can and then move him on for a healthy profit.


Unlucky in the Champions League there, but happy to see Dantas coming through. What a superb player.

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@axehan1

This is the kid that I had who was unwilling to be tutored by anyone on my United save. He has a confrontational and outspoken media handling style too...

Loaiza.thumb.jpg.59ff5f5837a7acdfac9fb7d62f961a63.jpg

Looking at him and some of the other youngsters on that save that I neglected to develop, I feel bad. I got involved in the shiny big stars instead of really using the United Academy. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of youngsters given a chance but I threw them in too early with no rhyme or reason. I paid very little thought to the training of these kids, which is why so many of them have ended up going out on load at the age of 17 instead of waiting until 19 and getting lots of youth football and training.

Reading this thread through, I might have to go and revisit my club to see if I can make ammends. I feel like I have ruined that save now, which is a crying shame to be honest.

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16 hours ago, KI Heynckes said:

@Ö-zil to the Arsenal! could you maybe elabarote on your loan strategy? I see you negotiate high monthly fees, but what do you do with wage controbution? For example when having a player with 3 Mio wage it's better to let them pay his wage instead of getting 150k every month I think.


You should be able to find a fairly comprehensive overview throughout the thread, but essentially the development path for a young player is:

  1. One or two seasons in the U19s where they're tutored and develop reasonably quickly due to the facilities.
  2. At 18 or 19, promoted to the B Team for their first season of competitive football. Tutored again, so by this point they've been tutored 2-3 times and have strong personalities.
  3. When ready, they'll need to be playing in the Primeira Liga.
    1. Early in the save, there was often room on the fringes of my first team squad. Less so these days.
    2. Typically a free loan, playing 100% of wages and guaranteeing first-team football.
      • Eg Oliveira banged in nearly a goal a game at Maritmo so I recalled him amid an injury crisis and he's been in the squad since.
    3. If they can't secure this, they're probably released or stay with the B Team if there's room and I'm unsure.
  4. The strength of our squad now, means it's still difficult to get into the first team squad so I try to get them a year in one of the top European Leagues.
    • Always 100% of wages and guaranteeing first team football, now charging £100k-£300k per month.
    • Almada did a year at Inter Milan, Aragon went to Atletico Madrid, Vitinho is at Juventus now, Svilar at Real Madrid, Ze Gomes at Sevilla, Horta at Roma, Centelles at Bayern, Batista at Leverkusen, Lambiel (newgen?) at Milan, Saldanha at Fiorentina.
    • The monthly fee helps to tick over, but the main benefit is either having the player return to the club first-team ready, or maintaining ownership of the player as their value increases so you can cash in whenever you need to meet FFP regulations.

For example, I'll be looking for a right-sided attacker next season and I'll have Vitinho returning from a year at Juventus and Ze Gomes from Sevilla as options in addition to anyone in the academy.


Fg9pOQy.png
 

This game has been different, in that my intakes have been horrendous. Not a single newgen from the club is near the first team at the moment, so I've been relying on overseas scouting, also largely unsuccessfully outside of Aragon.

EDIT: I should also add that there are eye-watering sums of money flying around Europe at the moment. We've got the budget for a large transfer fee but cannot compete on wages. With the right timing, most of our team could attract fees of £100m+ but we need to plan well in advance to have a replacement.

Edited by Ö-zil to the Arsenal!
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The 2022/23 Champions League Final is done, capping our best season yet.


OfDvHdv.png


We won everything available and broke all the points and goalscoring records, and everyone's really hitting their peak at the same time.

Embalo scored 2 and set up 3 in the final, Jota was the top scorer in every competition, Felix consistently outstanding but the highlight for me has been Dantas.


PiJ1xON.png


Captain for club & country and the absolute heartbeat of the team. He's simply in absolute control, pulling the strings behind everything we do.


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Personally, my favourite player, I can think of having in an FM save in a long time.

Thinking tactics, for a moment. With the national team, I'm using Dantas centrally flanked my two creative midfielders in free roles which creates a 2-3-5 shape in attack and I'm really enjoying it. Wondering if this could be applied at club level..


LzrIJ3B.png

Edited by Ö-zil to the Arsenal!
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On 17/04/2019 at 15:08, gpassosbh said:

Hello @Ö-zil to the Arsenal!, no plans to play on FM19??


I must say, watching the latest Ajax team has planted the seeds of temptation but life's been busy this year and the upgrade just hasn't appealed to me. Will see what next year holds.

Edited by Ö-zil to the Arsenal!
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@Ö-zil to the Arsenal! you havent missed anything in FM19 mate. Count yourself lucky to still have the cash in your pocket.

Having watched Barcalona absolutely wreck United on Tuesday and seeing the poor state that the squad is in I decided that a new FM18 save was needed. One where I actually planned out and implemented a philosophy, bringing through the youth teams in the right way to maximise thier ability and also my revenue stream. To that end, not one of my players will go on loan until they are 19 and have had a full season in the U-23's, to ensure that all personality and traits have been sorted out the way I want them to be. I have completely overhauled the coaching staff to ensure that I am at 4.5-5 stars for everything from the U-18's up, including Physio.

I have a plan for training my U-18's. Tutor first, for personality and hopefully some traits that are useful. I am going to run the training on a 3 Week Tactical, 2 Week Physical, 3 Week Technical pattern, with individual focuses being assigned to match the 8 week cycle. I want to develop some well rounded players, able to compete physically in the EPL and yet also be technically very proficient and mentally first rate. No pressure there then.

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9 hours ago, Garrlor said:

@Ö-zil to the Arsenal! you havent missed anything in FM19 mate. Count yourself lucky to still have the cash in your pocket.

Having watched Barcalona absolutely wreck United on Tuesday and seeing the poor state that the squad is in I decided that a new FM18 save was needed. One where I actually planned out and implemented a philosophy, bringing through the youth teams in the right way to maximise thier ability and also my revenue stream. To that end, not one of my players will go on loan until they are 19 and have had a full season in the U-23's, to ensure that all personality and traits have been sorted out the way I want them to be. I have completely overhauled the coaching staff to ensure that I am at 4.5-5 stars for everything from the U-18's up, including Physio.

I have a plan for training my U-18's. Tutor first, for personality and hopefully some traits that are useful. I am going to run the training on a 3 Week Tactical, 2 Week Physical, 3 Week Technical pattern, with individual focuses being assigned to match the 8 week cycle. I want to develop some well rounded players, able to compete physically in the EPL and yet also be technically very proficient and mentally first rate. No pressure there then.

Interesting. Let us know how you go! :thup:

There's a couple of big sides about who either need or will soon need a drastic rebuild, so it could be interesting. I'm keeping an eye on the big European clubs in my save and there's a few interesting options but I'm certainly going to attempt the next season at Benfica to attempt 3-in-a-row Champions Leagues and getting Portugal to World and European Champions.

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Toying with ideas ahead of the 2023/24 season. It's going to be difficult to top last season so it's likely to be more of the same.

My one observation on last season is that the midfield could be more attacking and my tactical preference is for the 4-3-3 which becomes a 2-3-5 in attack. I'm thinking about experimenting with Dantas and João Felix in "Free 8" roles.


T4J3TkQ.png


There's something I don't like about playing two playmakers and ideally, I'd like Dantas in the deeper central role with the attacking 5 ahead of him but that puts a lot of attacking responsibility on Florentino Luis and I'm not 100% sure. Replacing him would be a huge risk.

The eleven might change a little bit as there's already big bids coming through for Grimaldo and Victor Bobsin and I've got ready-made replacements in the squad. We'll see.

The other big name likely to leave is Trincão. He's a £100m+ player in the current market and I've got him, Embalo and Aragon as left-sided attackers and more coming through. He's too good not to be in the first team and he's not good enough to get in so I'll move him on to somewhere he can run the show.

Meanwhile, Aragon is ready to play a greater role.


I0xZX6q.png


He'll still be in that mid-week squad, but they're going to get a lot of game time this season with the Club World Championship and Euro 2024 in the summer. My first choice team is going to be Champions League and necessary league games, otherwise heavily rotated.

I've re-shuffled that team, around Aragon.

 

 vmdAQhH.png


The sentimental side of me likes the Argentinian combination of Aragon, Almada and Lo Celso after the old Aimar, Saviola and Di Maria team, years ago.

Roles in the AM(C) position are some of the most hotly debated, but as usual, I prefer the simple option.


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At international level, Bragança has developed massively.


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He looks perfect for the Inverted Wingback role. I am actually going to throw money at him, if Sporting will sell, in order to retrain him. We'll see.


SaLUY7A.png

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1 hour ago, Ö-zil to the Arsenal! said:

Interesting. Let us know how you go! :thup:

There's a couple of big sides about who either need or will soon need a drastic rebuild, so it could be interesting. I'm keeping an eye on the big European clubs in my save and there's a few interesting options but I'm certainly going to attempt the next season at Benfica to attempt 3-in-a-row Champions Leagues and getting Portugal to World and European Champions.

I lost the Super Cup to Real 3-2. They dominated possesion but I had more chances. 4 CCC to thier 1, so I know that my ideas are working going forward. I think my players may be a bit too passive in closing down my opponents, so I am going to try adding in a TI to close down more and see what that brings me in my first few league games. I am also struggling with having to play Ashley Young as a left back (Who hasn't seen that one recently?) and Chris Smalling as a CB. To be honest with you, the only reason Jones and Smalling are still at the club is the fact that they are English and I don't want to rock the boat too much in the dressing room.

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Using this set up, shamelessly plugged from someone not too far away, i have created a lot going forward. I am blessed at the moment with having some very intelligent midfielders in Carrick, Blind, Matic and Hererra. Pogba is probably my biggest problem, as I need to find a way of getting him into games more. If needed I can sell him however! Lingard and Mata on the right wing are interesting options. Both cut inside from the right, Mata will drop deep while Lingard will play 1-2's. This means I have a lot of natural variety on the right as they like to chose when to follow PPM's and TI's which I like to be honest. As I can move towards Fluid I think I will see even more out of them.

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Youth development has just gone through the roof 4 seasons in,most of the squad have professional personalities,hard working individuals.

I wont rush them into the first team though,they'll continue to develop in the U19 squad.

URol8T9.jpg?1

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On 19/04/2019 at 07:46, Ö-zil to the Arsenal! said:

Toying with ideas ahead of the 2023/24 season. It's going to be difficult to top last season so it's likely to be more of the same.

My one observation on last season is that the midfield could be more attacking and my tactical preference is for the 4-3-3 which becomes a 2-3-5 in attack. I'm thinking about experimenting with Dantas and João Felix in "Free 8" roles.


T4J3TkQ.png


There's something I don't like about playing two playmakers and ideally, I'd like Dantas in the deeper central role with the attacking 5 ahead of him but that puts a lot of attacking responsibility on Florentino Luis and I'm not 100% sure. Replacing him would be a huge risk.

I wonder how Dantas will do in the RPM role since his flair is quite low (at least on FM19 it is)

You also said said:

 
 
1
Quote

The eleven might change a little bit as there's already big bids coming through for Grimaldo and Victor Bobsin and I've got ready-made replacements in the squad. We'll see.

Have you considered toying with the 343 total football? It hurts me seeing all that potential in Fernandes being used as an all-around FB. Would love to see you giving it a go.

Something like:

660523134_Screenshot2019-04-20at14_42_14.thumb.png.c697535ccab67248d306e1eaacd068cc.png

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26 minutes ago, MadOnion said:

Beautiful :D Did I read your mind or is that just a theory?? Would love to see some analysis.
That midfield looks absolutely unstoppable.


It's always one of my 'go to' formations. Certainly one of my top 3 ways to set up so it's never a million miles away. I like the idea of Gedson Fernandes in midfield though.

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69iInMG.png


Figured we might need another creative, attacking midfielder :cool:

I think this is actually the first time ever I've gone over the £100m barrier for a player. It's happening quite regularly in this save and we've got a couple of options to recoup the cash. Will see if it comes off.

Edited by Ö-zil to the Arsenal!
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1 hour ago, john1 said:

What is his attributes like? I am not overly keen on mouth watering money for him :D


He's an absolutely lovely player.


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He's also still a fair way off his potential, which is rated very highly even at international level. Eventually, he'll become cheaper once his wage demands go beyond Porto's budget, but if we buy now we can tutor him.

Playing the transfer market in this save is interesting. We've got loads of money in the bank, but it's very difficult to sign anybody. The calibre of player we need has wage demands well beyond our budget and players who've already made it into the top leagues are reluctant to play in a weaker league.

So far, we've managed to keep a reasonable lid on wages but the Benfica business model needs transfer fees to sustain it.


1xW3N05.png

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3 hours ago, Ö-zil to the Arsenal! said:

69iInMG.png


Figured we might need another creative, attacking midfielder :cool:

I think this is actually the first time ever I've gone over the £100m barrier for a player. It's happening quite regularly in this save and we've got a couple of options to recoup the cash. Will see if it comes off.

I'll be surprised if he swaps Porto for Benfica,I've tried to get their young keeper Costa(think his name is) and he has absolutely no interest in playing for a big rival.

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2 hours ago, axehan1 said:

I'll be surprised if he swaps Porto for Benfica,I've tried to get their young keeper Costa(think his name is) and he has absolutely no interest in playing for a big rival.


He will do it for £80k per week. Yea, I had the same thing for the first few years but the reputation has widened enough now that I can persuade players to join for a premium. Porto and Sporting have excellent academies as well so there's a few great options there.

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