[FM19] River Plate Take Two - The Hook

[zlatanera]

28 minutes ago, nsd said:

Nope, didn't read any recommendations, just really fancied a save outside Europe, had a look through the Argentine league and Belgrano caught my eye. It was a good choice, I'm really enjoying it and it's usually hard for me to get a save to stick. Our finances are currently listed as okay, but we're over £2m in the red with really terrible sponsorships, so I'd say it's definitely misleading. I can't believe the fees/wages you're spending on players, River are on a whole different level!

Ah yeah, they're probably not doing that great on my save then either. In fairness, in the start River weren't actually doing that great - our sponsors expired in December and didn't get new ones until July - and Pratto was our top earner on £12k / week or something. Its only the last 6 months in-game that things have exploded as I've managed to get some money in. Getting an interview with Manchester United definitely helped though, strong-armed the board into giving me more money for wages as I figure if I don't win the Club World Cup in the next couple of seasons I'll get bored of the save anyway. Pezzella was still a rash decision though - he out-earns the next guy by over £10k and the next highest wage in the league is some old Chilean at Racing Club on £22k. Plus, now all my other guys want pay raises. 

[zlatanera]

August 2020

Heading into August I had three real problems:

- A bloated squad (more than the Copa Libertadores 30 maximum)

- An unhappy star player (record signing Lucas Robertone)

- 5 nailed-on starters heading to the Olympics (the perils of a young team)

By the end of August the only one of these problems "solved" is that none of my players got injured at the Olympics, although they were there for the maximum stay as Argentina u23s got the Bronze medal.

Nobody would come remotely close to my asking price for Robertone of £18m (installments accepted) + 50% next sale + arrange friendly, and by remotely close I mean within getting within £5m of that was impossible. So, he stays and hopefully even if he doesn't drop his concerns his form picks up. Meanwhile, players I had been hoping would attract bids such as Frank Fabra and Ignacio Fernandez didn't, despite "major interest" of up to 8 clubs at a time on the former. Fabra didn't draw interest until deadline day and so he got a couple of games as I was trying to boost his value, which backfired somewhat as Nahuel Gallardo then complained about his lack of playing time. He'd just signed a new contract until 2024 so there's no way I was selling, but I thought I'd offer him out for a rip-off loan fee, not expecting anyone to actually come through...

Sporting Lisbon came through and agreed to pay my asking price, which means they're giving me £4m plus wages for a player valued at £4.5m. They're not in an active league, but neither were Pumas, with whom he was NACL runner-up, so hopefully they make a deep run into the Europa League.

This brought my squad down to 30, although I expect to shrink it more before the season's out as I have 8 players for 3 midfield positions and only 21 league games to play them in. 

After a few backfiring experiments towards the back end of last season (a recurring theme) I came up with a newer hopefully more attacking tactic:

And, well, it is working pretty great so far!

We play Independiente in the Copa Libertadores QFs, a rematch of the same stage in the first season, are behind them only on goals scored in the league with Rosario Central the third unbeaten team (Boca have only picked up 2 points from 4 games despite a positive net spend), and have an easy game against Atletico Tucuman in the Copa Argentina to come. 

- 

[zlatanera]

September 2020

What could have been a perfect month, ruined at the end by a farcical loss to lower division opposition in the Copa Argentina. My left back had his hand injured being tackled, and their equaliser came from a mistake from his replacement. Their 2nd was an "own goal" off a corner where a looping header towards the near post, instead of being cleared by the man positioned there appeared to slip through his legs as the goalkeeper dived on top of him, which the game credits as an own goal. Their third was a poorly defended set piece. We should have scored more than one, but that OG was so weird it really irritates me.

The next two months look interesting: we play 15th, 19th and 17th in the league followed by three SuperClasico in 7 days: H in the Copa Libertadores semi-final, away in the Superliga, and away in the Libertadores semi-final again. 

[zlatanera]

October & November 2020

Put 9 past Boca over two games and won my 3rd consecutive Copa Libertadores!

The first leg against Boca was a demolition, but the two that followed were absolute classics. In the league game José Mauri had a straight red after 4 minutes, they were 1-0 up after 8 and by the 28th minute it was 3-2, with young Lucas Beltrán, "the next Gabriel Batistuta", having scored 2 and assisted the other of our 3 goals. In the 2nd leg of the semi-final it was Boca's turn to have an early straight red (9th minute) but after 37 minutes it was 3-1 to them, with Ramón Ábila getting a hat-trick, and the fun didn't stop until the 94th minute when former Boca player Frank Fabra scored our 3rd for a 6-4 aggregate win. 

The Libertadores final was also a made one - Elías López scored an own goal in the 3rd minute to put Fluminense ahead, Lucas Pratto scored a penalty in the 64th to equalise (his 15th penalty under me out of 60 goals total over 28 months) and Lucas Beltrán scored the winner in the 84th minute, a rocket of a half-volley. 

"Beltrágol" as he may soon be known, if I can't think of something better, really looks to have something about him - no wasted attributes in any area that won't help him score goals - and I'm experimenting with him by not adding any traits to see if it helps or hinders him in comparison with Benjamin Rollheiser who will have 5 traits when he's finished learning the current one. Hopefully mentoring from Perfectionist Lucas Pratto rubs off on him too.

 

[zlatanera]

December 2020

A reserve team probably deserved to win against Independiente, but most importantly nobody got injured. Toronto we're almost too easily dispatched, but they injured Frank Fabra which would come back to bite us.

I made some tweaks at the start, slightly too defensive, which had Real all over us but unable to do anything about it until a soft penalty. To my surprise, when switching my wing-backs back to Attack duties we equalised, but when Bale scored I assumed it was all over, cue actually shouting "YES!!!!!" at LMQ's equaliser. That Fabra injury came back to bite us in extra time, Olivera was knackered leading me to field Ignacio Fernandez ("competent" WBL) at left-back. Cue him doing the classic "dawdle near the byline then get tackled" move, a quick counter and James had them in front. They then shredded us on the counter twice more, their superior athleticism showing through. 

Should I manage to finally win the Superleague Cup and Copa Argentina, and retain Libertadores, I could see 2021's Club World Cup Final potentially being the last game of the save - if I can't win it then, I doubt I'll have it in me to keep going for another whole year. 

[zlatanera]

January 2021

Only the one competitive game in January - a routine 4-1 win over Defensia y Justicia, where Lucas Beltrán scored his first career hat-trick. 

We were quite active in the transfer market, however. Gonzalo Montiel kicked off about lack of playing time, so will spend the 2nd half of the season on loan at PSV for £1.3m, José Mauri did the same and was offloaded to Frosinone for £7m (as he was a free transfer that's a solid profit), Ignacio Fernandez was the wrong side of 30 and not a regular or a useful mentor, managed to get £8m from Huddersfield for him. Iván Rossi also complained about playing time, so Atletico Mineiro will pay £2.2m loan fee then a mandatory £4m future fee. Goalkeeper Cristian Álvarez, meanwhile, was demanding double his wages but was declining so I allowed him to negotiate a pre-contract with Liverpool then got rid for £625k. 

3/5 outgoings were midfielders and a few player are now getting worried about depth, no doubt made worse by two of the players I class as midfielders not being natural CMs. That won't last long, as I've finally found a newgen worth investing in:

Although perhaps slightly lacking in technicality, Diego Enríquez could easily anchor our midfield for 15 years...or as long as it takes until Barcelona or someone of their ilk comes in for him. 

[zlatanera]

February 2021

A complete collapse against Velez - from 1-0 up we conceded two direct off set pieces, two off the confusion of set pieces and one penalty. We then followed that up by conceding two in the first 4 minutes against Boca, I was worried about just how much of a difference those 5 Communication points Álvarez had over Gómez was making. We then showed great character in fighting back to 3-2 up, before a fraudulent equaliser (Abila kicking Sibille's legs out from under him - "a mistake" apparently - to get the ball before crossing for the goal) and then lost after missing our 7th penalty. A reserve lineup managed not to lose against Talleres, we were lucky in the second leg of the Recopa before closing out the month with a set piece-aided demolition of San Lorenzo. 

[zlatanera]

March 2021

Two 1-0's in the continental competition for my reserve team (which plays with a much deeper defensive line and line of engagement because Jonatan Maidana has 4 Acceleration 3 Pace), and my best XI swept aside Union Santa Fe, but at the end of the month fell to a VAR penalty against Belgrano (my record against them is now W0 D1 L3, definitely my bogey team). It didn't matter though, because we were confirmed Superliga champions a day before!

Only 1 league game, 4 Libertadores, 1 Copa Argentina and however far I get into the Superleague Cup remaining in the season, and I'm feeling like this may be the last season I play. Unlike FM18 where the sheer zaniness of a period where I played 19 games in 47 days in 2019/20 had me hooked, the lack of league action in this save is quite boring, as is the lack of variety in our goals (21 Corner and 32 Cross assists in our last 50 games). I don't care that I blew my one chance at the Supercopa Argentina, but I do want to win the Superleague Cup after all my meddling kept holding me back the past two seasons.

[zlatanera]

April 2021

We went out with a wimper in our final Superliga game, so I responded by doubling down on my instincts and playing youth for the games against the weakest team in my Libertadores group, and the Nueva Chicago game, with 3 players making their debuts this month, 2 of whom scored. 

The Nueva Chicago came I took real pleasure in - in the first half a team with 5 players under 20 blew them away, and by the end Jonatan Maidana (35) scored a header off a corner from Andrés D'Alessandro (40). D'Alessandro played 30 minutes of that game with these physicals:

Retirement at the end of the season is definitely a good call!

[nsd]

13 hours ago, zlatanera said:

at the end of the month fell to a VAR penalty against Belgrano (my record against them is now W0 D1 L3, definitely my bogey team).

I can't say I don't enjoy this stat 

 

It's a shame you're getting a little tired of the save, but understandable with your domination over the league and the lack of goal variety. Winning the CWC would be a great way to bow out.

[zlatanera]

17 minutes ago, nsd said:

I can't say I don't enjoy this stat 

 

It's a shame you're getting a little tired of the save, but understandable with your domination over the league and the lack of goal variety. Winning the CWC would be a great way to bow out.

There's so much for the footballing romantic to love in it - I'd bought their best player and he got a 6.2 against them. The thing with the CWC is I have to play the entire season just to get to it, and there's always the chance that I could lose in the semi-final anyway if Guangzhou Evergrande are in it. 

Part of the reason for trying to wrap it up at the end of the season is so I can go back to it - my longest-running save each FM tends to be one played in two parts, once when the game's new and once when its about to be replaced.  

[zlatanera]

May / June 2021

An unbeaten month saw us finally get that Superleague Cup for our trophy cabinet. The final itself was pretty tense: Exequiel Palacios got himself a straight red for deciding to boot one of their wingers clean off the pitch when there was no danger, Lucas Pratto scored an "FM19 dubious push VAR penalty"™ in the second half and we hung on for the victory!

Technically our first leg against Cruzeiro in the Libertadores in July counts as part of the 2020/21 season, but I think I'm going to leave it here for now, perhaps to return at a later date. The Club World Cup would be an incredible challenge but other than that I've won everything I want to - I simply don't care about the Copa (and Supercopa) Argentina, the Superleague Cup only bothered me because I knew I'd thrown it away with my tactical meddling - other than the Copa Sudamericana, which I can't qualify for unless I do badly, in which case I can't compete in CWC.

Future Planning

Just because I'm putting this on ice for now, doesn't mean I don't stop looking ahead in the save! On free transfer arranged;

The younger brother of PSG / Betis's Giovani, slightly lacking in Anticipation and Flair but otherwise a good AM for this level.

I've also handed out some monster contracts: Lucas Martínez Quarta on £28k/week until 2028, Luis Olivera on £17k until 2028, Exequiel Palacios on £33k until 2029 and Benjamín Rollheiser on £26k until 2029, so if I do come back to the save the spine of my team is tied up for the long term.

Finally, a look at how the best of my first youth intake is coming along. Lugo's form was a key reason in offloading 3 central midfielders in January as his high Stamina means he never really needs a rest, especially given the lack of games in Argentina on FM19. He's been trained as a BBM as I think that's what his engine combined with well-rounded technical and mental faculties mean he'll be best suited for. 

[craigd84]

this is looking good pal. Keep it up.

[zlatanera]

Ret-conned my title a la George Lucas with "A New Hope". 

I will be continuing the save, but using only players from my academy. So no players bought in young, none of my older ones either. All other players will be loaned / sold (the two players pre-arranged coming in aren't going to be easy to sell straight away after all).

[zlatanera]

July 2021

After merely 1 week of off-season, we were back into a heavy pre-season schedule. Between that, and the Copa Libertadores squad registration being before the transfer window began, and a few friendlies giving us injuries to key players, I went into the Cruzeiro game with about 5 fit players and the rest of the lineup (and bench) on 70% or below. That we only lost 2-0 (I believe we can beat them by 3-4 at home) and didn't get any more injuries was a miracle. 

[zlatanera]

August 2021

As part of my new academy-only focus, I had a lot of outgoings. For both Robertone and Martinez I got 50% sell-on clauses included in the deal as they're young, with room to improve, and have gone to clubs that are not at the top of the global transfer market food chain. With Fabra, Andrade, Pratto and Batalla it was just a case of trying to get their value. I didn't want to lose Andrade or Batalla, but the former was asking to leave for over 6 months and the latter was refusing to sign a new contract going into his final year because Chelsea were interested. When they eventually came in, they wouldn't even offer £1m so he ended up at Verona instead. Anyone I couldn't get rid of was loaned out for a fee as a lot of them have long contracts, so I could potentially make quite significant sums out of them given my previous record with loan fees (Andrade previously brought in £3.8m for 18 months in MLS, Batalla £1m for a year at Leganés, Nahuel Gallardo £4m for a year at Sporting being the peak). 

I suddenly found myself flush with cash, and upon scouting around for academy products found a few were willing to come back! Giovanni Simeone was almost secured before going to Wolfsburg for £100k/week, he would have probably accepted around £77k but I thought 66 was enough given it was double what anyone else was on, likewise loan moves for Sebastián Driussi and Guido Rodriguez fell through as they went for Lazio and Marseille respectively. However, two did go through: Manuel Lanzini came in as a similar calibre player to Andrade to be my first choice playmaker on a 5 year contract, and a dearth of defensive central midfield options led me to set the national transfer record to bring back Matías Kranevitter on  £55k/week, making him one of the highest paid players on the continent (Palmeiras have a few guys getting towards £60k). Luckily we had a 40% sell-on for Kranevitter, so we get £4m back. 

As well as going academy-only, to spice things up I decided to put my goalkeeper on free kicks and penalties a la @Jimbokav1971. 

I was offered an interview with Barcelona, but declined as I had no urgent facilities upgrades necessitating me holding a job offer over the board's heads. 

The league structure changed yet again, this season. A packed calendar sees us play 38 games from August to April before the Superleague Cup (which in real life I imagine will disappear after if not the 2018/19 season, then when they finally bring the league down to 20 teams). Plenty of games to develop youngsters, and it makes it that dropping points isn't quite as devastating as before (the league champions of the last three seasons - Boca, then us twice - have lost a combined 7 games as 25, 23 and then 21-game seasons made every game feel like a cup final). 

As usual, my tactical meddling held us back - the first two games I decided to return to the 4312, but ME changes since I last played this save making set pieces less OP means I can't just Pulis my way to victory. I then returned to last season's 442 diamond for 4 games, where our Libertadores title defence ended badly, leaving Independiente's 4 in a row from 1972-5 likely to remain a record for the foreseeable future, before in the last two games settling on what is effectively the Vertical Tiki-Taka preset, minus a Regista as we don't have any. My decision to stick my GK on set pieces instantly paid off as he missed a penalty against Newell's before conceding a 91st minute goal. He was also sluggish to get back after taking a free kick and one of their players nearly scored from half-way because of it, so at least I'm going to be looking at the matches!  

[zlatanera]

September 2021

A decent month, Racing Club prevent us from creating a chance, which was frustrating. Talleres Cordoba scored after 14 seconds with a brilliant assist, and we equalised late on with Rollheiser lobbing the goalkeeper from outside the box - our supersized pitch (120x90m) taketh away, our supersized pitch giveth.

Speaking of the pitch, I'm thinking perhaps next season I should shrink it as we're still going to be better technically than most teams and most likely playing a narrow style, at the moment our width is giving other teams more space into which they can counter. Although it is also so large that rare opposition corners never clear the first man, let alone get towards the back post (where we would have problems, as my usual starting XI only has 3 players over 180cm).

Oh, and our goalkeeper Agustín Gomez got his first career goal with a penalty against Rosario Central!

[zlatanera]

October 2021

Two losses either side of four straight wins pretty much sums up this bunch - sometimes we just don't turn up, but when we do we're unstoppable. The Boca game was a highlight, Agustín Gómez following up an assist in the previous game with his 2nd penalty goal of the season, before Lucas Beltrán nabbed himself a hat-trick. 

[john1]

Good to see you fired up this save  

[zlatanera]

@john1 yeah was managing Dortmund, going to change tactics every year and it was going well too, but just tired of Europe. Between the relative equality at the top of the league in this save, my self-imposed limitations in terms of signings and tactics, and now we're up to 38 the sheer number of games, there's plenty to keep this save interesting  

 

[zlatanera]

November 2021

An unspectacular month, unless you count Racing Club's opener - my GK smashed a free kick into the wall, half-heartedly chased after the ball but was beaten to it by their man, who passed it to Ricardo Centurion, who smashed it in from 67 yards - meaning my wait for the Copa Argentina continues. Set pieces may need looking at. 

Speaking of my GK, he scored penalties against both Independiente Rivadavia and Argentines Jrs. making him our 4th top scorer this season after Beltrán, Belloni and Rollheiser. 

There's only one game left before the winter break but its late, so here's how the table stands:

With a game in hand over the top 2, we're not out of the running yet, but I think I may be killing myself through my principles. I'm wedded to some variation of a 4312 shape, and have great players at ST (even if Rollheiser is streaky), AM, CB and FB. However, take away my first choice midfield of Lugo, Kranevitter and Palacios and we're very poor. Other than Diego Lugo, who thankfully barely misses a game due to great physicals, our academy just hasn't produced anyone in that position - there's about 4 CBs on loan who could put in a shift and one at the club who has 5 star potential, and at least 6 strikers with brilliant potential too, but barely anything happening in the middle. I may have to start re-training the more technical CBs.  

Finally, Germán Pezzella is my new favourite player of FM19: not only is he dependable on the pitch, he's got the magic touch of being able to talk players out of their concerns! Without him I'd have about 8 guys who haven't played due to our early Libertadores exit on my back, he's a brilliant VC.

[john1]

Not bad month :thup:

I am going to start new save in Argentina, as I am curious with South American teams, might go for Newell or San Lorenzo.

[zlatanera]

8 minutes ago, john1 said:

Not bad month

I am going to start new save in Argentina, as I am curious with South American teams, might go for Newell or San Lorenzo.

Both decent-sized sides, with some good prospects - Joaquín Torres at Newell's turned into a top player for my Real Sociedad team on the last FM. Make sure you load up some of the top European leagues so you get some interest in your players though as it gets boring after a while if you can't turn a profit on anyone.