FM19 - Maltese(rs) Adventures

[Cuomo10]

Im new to the forums but have really enjoyed reading some of the career saves from a few people here. Ive been a long time player of FM and the original CM series and thought i'd share my ambitious adventure into Malta.

Why Malta? Well, im born and raised in England but Italian by blood. My mums side of the family come from Sicily, a town called Palma di Montichiaro. I visit regularly and it is on the south coast of the island. I almost visited Malta during the summer, you can catch a ferry which takes around 1hr 45mins, but we had to cancel, so this is my way of visiting in a virtual, computer generated, Football Manager save.

Im hoping for a long and successful save and one that is a challenge but enjoyable at the same time. I think it goes without saying that with most of the saves where we start at the bottom of a very low reputable nation is to firstly achieve dominance with a club within the country and to then ultimately attempt to dominate or at least challenge in the European club competitions. Im undecided if I am going to treat this as a youth intake only save, I suppose this will obviously add to the difficulty, but as you will soon see, I may have no choice but to bring in a couple of players.

To the game itself...

I have started as alter ego, Fabio Del Bella, who is Italian and with no coaching badges and Sunday league experience.

I chose not to start unemployed and took over at a club called Mdina Knights in the Maltese Lower Divisions, which is the 4th tier in Malta. All of the teams in this league are Amateurs and in fact, not one Maltese team is classed as Professional. The top 2 gain automatic promotion and 3rd place enter a play-off against the team who finishes 3rd from bottom in the league above; the media are predicting 3rd place for us.

I've done a little real life research into my new club and the club is arguably the smallest in Malta and represents a city of approximately 250 residents. From Wikipedia "Mdina is a fortified city in the Northern Region of Malta, which served as the island's capital from antiquity to the medieval period. The city is still confined within its walls, and has a population of just under 300, but it is contiguous with the town of Rabat, which takes its name from the Arabic word for suburb, and has a population of over 11,000". History lesson over.

I have inherited a squad of 17 players across my First Team and U21's and we currently have no other staff members so I have immediately set out to look for an Assistant Manager.

Im currently paying £96 in wages but this relates to just 2 players who I have in on loan as the rest of the squad are on £0 contracts, so depending on what flex I have with transfers, I may terminate these loan signings. My bank balance stands at £50 but it shows £6k coming in through sponsorship's of which I am not too sure where that has gone. 

I am yet to decide on a tactic to be honest, my initial thoughts have been to play a simple 4-4-2 for balance and structure, but based on the current squad a 4-2-3-1/4-5-1 looks more viable as we only have one recognised striker. The continues and progressions will be slow whilst i get to grips with the squad and structure, think more about the tactics and determine where I need to strengthen. Im quite looking forward to this challenge.

I will provide my next update once I complete through the first month or 2 or maybe i'll provide a mini update once pre-season is over, what tactic im going with and if I have brought any new faces in.

[Sheriff7]

Good luck mate. I had a beautiful save there in Fm18 (with Balzan). In game Valeta is pro side (actually they are IRL too) plus  Birkikara and Hibernians gets pro status  very soon.. 

[Cuomo10]

Cheers mate. Oh really, I thought none were whilst scrolling through the teams. Must have scrolled too quickly.

The standard in the 4th tier is quite poor, having some challenges bringing players in and due to the amateur level there are contract offers for a lot of my players regularly

[ManUtd1]

Maltese saves are always good fun. Followed. Good luck!

[Cuomo10]

9 hours ago, ManUtd1 said:

Maltese saves are always good fun. Followed. Good luck!

Thanks! I certainly hope it will be

[Cuomo10]

Pre-Season Update

So the squad was wafer thin but my immediate action was to bring some staff in so I signed an assistant, a coach, a fitness coach, chief scout, scout, head of physio and head of youth development - the board wont allow for any more at the moment.

The first 5 signings were already pre arranged and the rest are who I brought in. We had some gaps all over to be honest but have strengthened and have suitable cover for all areas. One rule I have to follow in Malta is the we are allowed just 1 non Maltese player in the match day squad. Another league rule is that 10 of my starting 11 have to be Maltese. Bringing players in was eventful to say the least as a lot of clubs were in similar positions so a lot of the players I was going after were being pursued by a few other clubs too. At times, I hadnt scouted a player before he was snapped up by a different team and in the middle of this, I was fighting off contract offers for my own players. Due to all the contracts being amateur ones, all signed players are on £0 wages and allowed me to bulk out the team without having to worry about finances. 

The foreigner I brought into the club is Frissell Hunter, an American. 5* PA and CA and for the standard that I am playing some strong attributes for his finishing, pace and composure

There are some highly rated players across the squad but considering the standard im playing at and the quality of my assistant manager it will be interesting to see how they get on when the season starts.

My media prediction has dropped from 3rd to 7th and my board are happy with a mid-table finish. It was a long pre-season and I played 10 friendlies against a mixture of sides; some "non-League", a couple in divisions above us and some against sides in our league.

Tactics wise, I started with a 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress and also applied a 4-1-4-1 DM Wide Direct Counter formation which I thought gave us a little bit more balance. I later dropped the AMC into a MC position for my Gegenpress tactic but Im swaying more towards the Counter formation. The standard of football is awful to put it politely with so many mistakes and the over the top balls that seem to split defences like they werent there at times for the attacker to run on to. The 'keepers are bad and some of the 'attempts' to save shots are comical, but I love it. Zurrieq, who I lost 2-1 to in a friendly are the clear favourites to win the league but on the basis of how the game went and the chances that were created, im hoping that it is going to be a lot more open and if I can get the balance right, push for a top 3 spot. Talking of balance, my £50 soon diminished and a £13k expenditure classed as 'Other' has been paid out. I have no idea what the prize money is going to be like for a while and with a massive 15 season tickets sold, it is going to be a long grind to build a balance. I did ask the board to go and find an affiliate to help with some finances but they came back with no suitable suggestions - great.

I am quite looking forward to this challenge and will look to provide an update at least every 2 game months when the season starts

[Cuomo10]

Regarding prize money, there is £0 on offer for this division. The 2nd division is where the prize money starts

[DazRTaylor]

All the best with this.  

[Cuomo10]

14 hours ago, Sheriff7 said:

Good luck mate. I had a beautiful save there in Fm18 (with Balzan). In game Valeta is pro side (actually they are IRL too) plus  Birkikara and Hibernians gets pro status  very soon.. 

Valletta are semi pro on my game...

[Cuomo10]

3 minutes ago, DazRTaylor said:

All the best with this.  

Cheers mate

[Sheriff7]

44 minutes ago, Cuomo10 said:

Valletta are semi pro on my game...

Well maybe they were pro side in Database I used for Fm18 then. 

[Cuomo10]

Sept & Oct 18

We won our first competitive game 3-1 in the cup against lower opposition and then blew away Attard in our first league game 5-0. This was followed by 3 losses and made me rethink the tactic and switch back to the Gegenpress using the 4-1-4-1 DM Wide formation - unbeaten in 4 since switching and it was almost 4 wins but for a 95th minute equaliser against Ghaxaq. This leaves me top but I have played at least 1 game more than all of the teams in the league and twice as many as pre season favourites, Zurrieq. I find that a little strange as its not like they have been pre-occupied with anything else. My American striker, Hunter, is the leagues top scorer with 8 and he has 10 in 9 overall.

A steady start with the team more than capable of scoring but also very susceptible at the back.

In other news, the club is having an election in November for the Presidency and we signed a 2 year kit sponsor worth £12.5k. With some steady income made through fundraising and gate receipts, we're almost out of the red so its looking better than what is was before the season started.

[Cuomo10]

Nov & Dec 2018

November wasn't the best of months as we lost 3 of the 4 competitive games we played in, but the performances werent too bad and unfortunate that we didnt get a positive result from at least one of 3 losses. Ta'Xbiex are currently top and 8 points clear, and we lost to a 93rd minute goal. Lija A are 2 divisions above us and we pushed them well but conceded a sloppy goal in extra time. The Mtarfa game was really frustrating as we created some 25 chances but could only convert 1 and ended up conceding twice in the last 8 minutes.

December was a better month as we won both league games and the pleasing thing is that we kept 2 clean sheets in the process.

There is a strange arrangement with the fixtures and as you can see, we play just once in January, twice in Feb and have 3 games in March. I'll have to arrange some friendlies to keep the squad sharp and match fit

After most of the teams caught up with their games in hand, we managed to keep hold of 2nd spot. With the exception of the leaders, everyone is taking points off each other and it is making it interesting. Still a couple of teams with a game or games in hand so there will be further changes; just 9 points separates 2nd and 10th. Its pleasing that we are the leagues top scorers but we also have one of the worst defensive records.

My 3 best players so far are:

1. Frissell Hunter, ST; 13 goals in 15 7.31 avg rat
2. Kurt Drakard, MC; 79% pass, 93% tackles, 2 goals and 4 assists 7.27 avg rat
3. Ryan Micallet, AMR; 5 goals in 15 and 3 assists 7.25 avg rat

In other news; A new club president was announced but nothing to report on in terms of changes or investments. My 16 year old left back, Pulis, was called up to the Maltese U21 squad and I have also made a start in obtaining my National C Licence

 

[Cuomo10]

Jan & Feb 2019 Update

Not much to report on as we have only played 3 league games with 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss. We went down to 10 men after 14 minutes in the game we lost and although we made it 1-1 you could sense it was only a matter of time before Kirkop scored. Hunter, our top scorer, was the man to get sent off and faces a 2 match ban (1st game of the ban was against Xgharja). Our last game was 3rd v 4th (at the time of playing) and we took the lead only to be pegged back almost immediately. 

As you can see, I have had to play friendlies to plug the gaps to try and keep the players as close to match fit as possible, and now with around 3 weeks to wait until our next league game I am going to have to arrange some more. There isnt much scope of choice in regards to who we can play either.

We're currently 3rd with 6 games left to play. We have a chance if we can build some momentum but as you can see it is still very tight. We're 3 points off Zurrieq, who we play next so I think this potentially is a game we need to try and get something from so we dont lose more ground on them. We play 3 of the bottom 4 in the run-in but to be honest, everyone is capable of beating each other as it is quite open. Ive still be using the 4-1-4-1 DM Wide Gegenpress formation and tactic but im going to use the next few friendlies as a trial for a change in formation as I need to try and sure us up at the back a little bit

We lost our 'keeper to the league leaders but I have replaced him with a 16 year old who in fact has better CA rating (4.5*) and 5* PA. We brought in a couple of new faces; a 4* CA centre back and a 16 year old right winger who came highly recommended. I wasnt put off by their 1* CA (5*PA) as he has put in a couple of decent performances. There is no change who my top 3 performers are

As the youth intake date draws closer, I have finally been able to persuade the board to increase the Junior coaching and youth recruitment. Im keen to see what my HoYD brings in and if there could be any Maltese gems amongst them.

[Cuomo10]

End of Season Update

Before getting into the remaining fixtures, first thing to look at is the Youth Intake, which wasnt great to be honest. All 5* PA but only one who was more than 0.5* CA who has a 2.5* CA. Shaun Azzopardi is an AMC but I will look develop him into a CM, maybe an AP. I have kept him and just 2 others and decided to release all of the others who either had very low determination or was unambitious. The other 2 that I kept both had steady physicals as well. I will look to keep improving the Junior coaching and youth recruitment to help generate a little more quality at the next intake.

As mentioned in my last update, I began looking at other tactics and formations. We were scoring but conceding too many for my liking and looked for a way to make the team a little more solid at the back. I had the opportunity to play 3 friendlies before my next league game against Zurrieq and in those games I tried 3 at the back with WB and also a flat back 5. I decided to go with the 5-3-2 as opposed to the 5-4-1 but this didnt go to plan as we lost 2-0 against Zurrieq who overan run in midfield. I decided to change to the 5-4-1 with a cautious mentality after this game and I am glad I did as we finished the season unbeaten, winning 4 of our last 5 league games. 

There were a lot of changes in a short space of time as We had the chance to go top if we beat Mtarfa in our penultimate game and although we created a few chances, we couldnt put one away - one thing that was pleasing since the formation change is not only how much stronger we became defensively but also the amount of chances we were creating. This led to a final day showdown against Marsaskala who were top and 2 points ahead of us. Thankfully, our star player of the season Frissell Hunter bagged a hat-trick and secured us the win and also top spot and secured us a play-off spot as both Zurrieq and Ta'Xbiex had their final games to play. Both lost their games meaning that we went up as Champions.

I have to say that it was a strange season and very competitive. Only 3 points separated 1st to 5th and I dont think its everyday that a team who lost almost a 3rd of their league games become Champions. But I will certainly take it.

Hunter was my best player finishing as the leagues top scorer with 17 in 20 and there is interest from some 1st division sides that I am going to have to try and fight off.

Im not sure what to expect for next season and I dont completely know how big the difference is in terms of strength of opponents in the 2nd division but I will be looking to strengthen in places and let some players go who have decreased in ability over the course of the season.

Finances are sound and we're now £6k in the black. There are hardly any outgoings at the moment and im hoping that the promotion will attract a few more fans to increase the attendances and ultimately the gate receipts.

Im studying for my National B Licence and will see if the board can allow for another coach or 2 as some of the players have been moaning about the quality of training.

Onto Season 2...

[Cuomo10]

Pre-Season 19/20

I asked for a 5 week pre-season and by the time we play our first league game it will be almost 2 months (13/09/19). I bulked out the friendlies playing against a mixture of teams and also spent some time trying out  4-5-1 formation. 

We turned semi-pro during pre-season so now need to be mindful of wages and add-ons. Although there have been no outlay on wages for the new arrivals, they all wanted add-ons which includes the current crop of players for when I had to offer them a new contract when another side made a bid; this happened frequently. I was happy with my dealings until one of my main defenders, Faruggia was snapped up just before deadline day was over. This was really annoying as it now leaves me short of a CB. My Maltese U21 left back left as they accepted Zurrieq's offer over mine but I have brought in some steady players at this level who I am hoping will perform well.

I obtained my National B licence and I am now studying for my A Licence and have also increased our Junior coaching and Youth recruitment.

 

[Cuomo10]

Sept & Oct 2019

Although we've not won in 3, we have made a steady start by winning, drawing and losing 2. We opened against San Gwann who are one of the favourites to go up and despite the 2-0 scoreline, we played well and if for better finishing we could have got something from the game. With the exception of the 3-1 victory, goals have been hard to come by. We are creating chances but not taking them and some instances we're not even troubling the 'keeper. I'd be more concerned if we werent creating as many chances and maybe a few changes across training may help. We dont have much opportunity in being flexible with training as we are limited to a few sessions a week but I will see if some attacking focus may help and not effect our defensive play

We are having a similar situation with the scheduling of league games so I am having to organise friendlies to keep players sharp. One advantage this season is that I accepted the invitation into the U21 league which I can also use to keep first team players match fit should I have a gap between games.

No other real news of note to report on

[Cuomo10]

Nov & Dec 2019

November wasnt the greatest month in terms of league games, we lost 2 and drawn 1. We just werent taking any chances. My star player and striker from last season, Hunter, just wasnt firing. I made the decision to switch the formation and i've gone a little outside my comfort zone but a formation that I do actually like. I switched in December and seen immediate results. With the exception of the San Gwann game, where we had 3 main players suspended, we looked good. We looked dangerous when attacking, solid defensively and we are holding more possession. Although 3rd from bottom im only 5 points off 2nd place so the league results this last month were very important.

The tactic is a 4-2-3-1 DM Asymmetric with the Gegenpress tactical style. Im not paying too much attention to the positional roles but am looking to draft in players, the right players, to fit the roles where possible. 

In the cup, we have done really well. We beat Qormi who are a league above us and we then beat St Andrews who are in the Premier League. We didnt get dominated and fully deserved the win against St Andrews. We've got Hibernians next up who won the Premier League last season so this will be a massive challenge.

Ive drafted in a new centre back who will be arriving in the coming days when the window re-opens and will be looking for a central midfielder who is BWM

Im studying for my Continental C Licence that I had to push to get as I requested this in November when the results werent going for us and the board were reluctant but they gave in.

Ive been approached for 3 different jobs; 2 in my league and 1 from the Premier League. I refused all 3.

Financially we are losing money. Im not making much from gate receipts and although not paying any wages to players, they are all asking for appearance fee's and other bonuses which is now taking its toll.

[Cuomo10]

Jan & Feb 2020

What a difference the change in tactic has made! 8 league games unbeaten with 5 clean sheets and 16 goals; we'd only scored 12 in 11 league games prior to this run. We were 3rd from bottom approaching the start of January but we have propelled ourselves to 2nd in the league and a point behind top spot with 5 games to play - promotion is a real possibility and we travel to top of the league in 2 games time. I am ecstatic with the tactic at the moment as the amount of chances we are creating is very high. Hunter has found his shooting boots and bagged a couple recently and a couple of my 1st year youth intake players are performing well, especially Azzopardi who is playing in the AMC position and growing into it very well. He is beginning to command a place in the starting line up and is contributing more through phases of play and his attacking threat. Defensively we have been solid and the 2 players that came in during the Jan window and slotted in nicely. A new CB, Cassar, and a DMC, Azzopardi (another one) allowing me to move Mallia into the BWM central role and its a move that has worked really well.

We have a months break before our next game, so will have a week off and then play a couple friendlies to keep the team sharp.

We crashed out of the cup against a very strong Hibernians side, which I was expecting. We were poor to be honest.

 

Youth Intake

My second youth intake and we have a potential gem with 4* CA, the only downside is their personality and low determination. I will be try to change that with some mentoring and I am going to look to bring in at least one experienced player, where possible, with a strong personality and good determination to try and improve on some of these. Another player of note with 2* CA but again, not the best personality. I am going to be keeping a few more than what I did last season and see if I can develop any of them further.

 

Finances are still on the slide, at least when the season ends I wont be paying anything out as the outgoings are generally appearance triggered, and if we can achieve back to back promotion I'd imagine a little extra TV revenue and hopefully an increase in gate receipts.

[Cuomo10]

End of Season 19/20

We've done it!! Back to back promotions achieved and The Knights will be playing in the First Division next season! We hit some great form after changing the formation and tactical approach and we never looked back. Despite beating league winners Fgura we couldnt catch them up but I am more than happy with 2nd place after the board wanted us to maintain Second Division status. A slight blip after the loss against promotion rivals Marsaskala, saw them take the advantage and we dropped to 3rd place. The win against St Venera guaranteed us a play-off spot. Marsaskala played a day before us and a draw would almost see them over the line and clinch promotion but they lost 4-1 at home meaning that if we beat Luqa we would go up. The boys delivered with a 2-0 victory.

My player of the season will have to be Hunter again as without his goals we would not have done as well as we did. 16 in 22 league games is a great return considering that he was 5 in 13 at one point.

Midfielder Stefan Micallef was my best performer with a 7.16 avg rating and 6 goals from midfield. Azzopardi put in some quality performances towards the end of the season and I have high hopes for him next season playing behind Hunter.

Theres no doubt that I will need to review the squad and bring in some additional players who have the quality to complete in the First Division. There are a number of players who have declined over the course of the season and their CA is lower than at the start of the season. I will be looking to release these players and replace with players of a better standard, hopefully.

My scouts have been busy and I will have more players to check through. Im not wanting to panic buy and will try to ensure that I find the right players to fit the tactic.

Youth recruitment and junior coaching has been improved again and the standards have increased al-be-it making more of a dent into my finances.

Im now studying for my Continental B Licence and nicely working my way through the qualifications.

On to season 3...

[Cuomo10]

Preseason and Sept 2020

Expectations for the coming season is to avoid relegation. During my end of season meeting I told the squad that I want us to achieve a mid-table position - every player reacted negatively! The form when switching formation has me a little too confident, we'll soon see...

 

Our form during preseason was sketchy and it had me thinking. I didnt want to change the tactic but delved into the transfer market to try and draft in some additional quality. Although some players caught my eye, I didnt think they were any better than my current squad and with 4 or 5 very decent youth players I decided against it and kept with the same squad (I released a couple of players) and want to try and blood some of the youngsters a bit more this season.

 

We're 3 wins from 3 league games and I could not have hoped for a better start. 8 goals and 0 conceded across the 3 games, dominating possession, restricting the opposition and feeling really confident.

 

3 of my youth players are in starting 11 and each are holding their own. 2 are from season 1's intake and the latest addition, Steve Borg, is from last seasons intake and is currently 5* CA. Azzopardi missed the first game but has 3 assists in his first 2 games and Micallef is starting to become a real threat out on the left. Hunter has 5 goals in 3 games and looks in really good nick. For those with an eagle eye, you will have noticed that I've moved my AMC from the AMLC to AMRC position and moved my striker to outside left position which gives me even more balance. We're averaging 62% possession across the 3 games which is really pleasing.

 

TV revenue for this season has increased from £18k to £50k and im hoping my average attendance will continue to increase. It's currently 239 against 195 from last season.

We're slightly in the black and the TV revenue and increased gate receipts will help offset the additional youth setup costs I have incurred since improving these further. Currently we have adequate junior coaching and average youth recruitment. I'd like to increase this again before my next intake to see if we can draft in a couple more decent players during the next intake.

[Cuomo10]

Oct & Nov 2020

After an undefeated start to the season, we are still unbeaten. A run of 5 draws out of six allowed a couple of teams catch up on me. The win against Qormi was a big result as they were top. We've managed to keep it tight at the back again keeping clean sheets in our last 3 after not keeping one for 5 games. I was leading in 3 of the 4 score draws and somehow managed to bottle a 3-0 lead against Zejtun! Nevertheless we are top again and all other teams have at least a game in hand over us. We have huge goal difference advantage over the rest of the league and this could become important towards the end of the season.

 

Frissell Hunter has been in top, top form. his 13 goals in 11 games have helped us massively, and then this happens...

 

A massive blow as he has contributed to 50% of our goals. I have a young striker called Sciberras who is decent and has scored in Hunters absence so I am hoping that he can fill the void somewhat. My next top scorer is Azzopardi with 4 so no pressure.

In the grand scheme of things I have to be more than happy. The board wanted me to avoid relegation and the media predicted that i'd finish 4th from bottom so to be top with just under half of the season completed is a solid achievement so far. I'm very pleased defensively having only conceded 8 goals and keeping 7 clean sheets; I feel my defence will be important in the absence of Hunter if someone else doesn't step up to the plate to bang the goals in.

[Cuomo10]

Dec '20 & Jan '21

We've lost our unbeaten run and some of our momentum. It has seen us fall 4 points behind Qormi who also have a game in hand. As mentioned in my last update, my goal difference could become important in our pursuit of promotion. 

 

Not sure for the dip in form. I suppose we may have been punching above our weight considering the boards expectations but we are not dominating the ball as we were nor are we looking as dangerous.

[withnail316]

Unlucky with the injury, but you are flying again. Best of luck going for 3 in a row.

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

[Cuomo10]

The second Premier League club to come sniffing. Ive declined their interview

 

[Cuomo10]

1 minute ago, withnail316 said:

Unlucky with the injury, but you are flying again. Best of luck going for 3 in a row!

He was a big loss and im putting it down to coincedence that our form dipped whilst he was out. He is back now and scored in his first game back so hopefully we can push on from here.

Notice you're a Notts fan. You from Nottingham? 

You Reds  

[withnail316]

1 minute ago, Cuomo10 said:

He was a big loss and im putting it down to coincedence that our form dipped whilst he was out. He is back now and scored in his first game back so hopefully we can push on from here.

Notice you're a Notts fan. You from Nottingham? 

You Reds  

I am chief, yeah. Unlike most Notts fans I haven't got much against that lot from over the river. Tend to save it for the twelve-fingered mob up the road...

[Cuomo10]

Haha! My old man used to take me to watch both Notts and Forest, back when Warnock was there. Tommy Johnson, Mark Draper etc, they had a good team back then. You happy with the new appointment?

[withnail316]

2 minutes ago, Cuomo10 said:

Haha! My old man used to take me to watch both Notts and Forest, back when Warnock was there. Tommy Johnson, Mark Draper etc, they had a good team back then. You happy with the new appointment?

I started going to Notts when Mickey Walker came in. I used to go to both grounds too, most of my mates are reds and I just loved going to football. And yeah, of those linked he was the preferred choice by a distance.

Anyway, I shall avoid hijacking your thread otherwise I'll probably start ranting about what a shambles we are!

[Cuomo10]

6 minutes ago, withnail316 said:

I started going to Notts when Mickey Walker came in. I used to go to both grounds too, most of my mates are reds and I just loved going to football. And yeah, of those linked he was the preferred choice by a distance.

Anyway, I shall avoid hijacking your thread otherwise I'll probably start ranting about what a shambles we are!

No worries and all the best for the rest of the season!

[withnail316]

1 minute ago, Cuomo10 said:

No worries and all the best for the rest of the season!

You too mate. Although I haven't got much against your lot, I'm not convinced I could say "I hope you finally go up this year" and mean it, so...err, may the Force be with you!

[Cuomo10]

The second time that these have offered me an interview. Ive declined it again

[ryanlion28]

St Andrews are one of the weakest teams in the top flight. Sliema have a good history but are sorta a mid-table team atm.

Are you gonna stick with Mdina? And have you considered taking on the Malta national job?

The teams fairly weak but there a few good players around with dual nationality in England.

I'm part Maltese and in the first season you signed someone who has the exact same name as me!

[Cuomo10]

Youth Intake 2021

Cannot complain about this years intake as we have a 5* CA player for the 2nd successive season. In addition we also have 2 players with 4* CA and 1 with 3.5* CA. On paper, this years intake shows more potential than last years. I will need to work on Zammit's determination however.

[Cuomo10]

End of Season 20/21

We had an awful second half of the season and won twice since the turn of the year. It truly was a tale of 2 halves as we looked unstoppable pre Jan.

I stuck with the tactic, rightly or wrongly, but we never got going.

Trying to pin point what went wrong: -

• Experience - there isnt a lot of experience across the team, especially in midfield. For large parts of the season my oldest starting midfielder was 20 years old
• Hunter - it could be a coincidence but we lost our bite and attacking threat when he picked up his injury
• Reality - the board wanted me to avoid relegation. We were underdogs in most games

 With such a good start to the season, maybe we got over confident. Although we have achieved when looking back at the seasons expectations, it is still difficult not to hide the disappointment of what could have been...

The chairman renewed my contract but has now added 2 philosophy's of signing high profile players and signing good youngsters. I tried to change the latter to develop my own youth but there was no interest.

One thing is for sure and that is I am going to bring in some experience and try to add some quality. I have released quite a few players who have decreased in regards to their CA. A couple of my youngsters have played a fair amount this season and have not increased their CA. Their PA is still sound but I was hoping for a bit more against their CA.

In hindsight, maintaining First Division status should be a good thing as I can try to build a squad that can be consistent across the season and if we did achieve a 3rd successive promotion then I think we would have found it very difficult in the Premier.

[kidthekid]

Just read this. Really rapid progress. Nice work.

[Cuomo10]

18 hours ago, ryanlion28 said:

St Andrews are one of the weakest teams in the top flight. Sliema have a good history but are sorta a mid-table team atm.

Are you gonna stick with Mdina? And have you considered taking on the Malta national job?

The teams fairly weak but there a few good players around with dual nationality in England.

I'm part Maltese and in the first season you signed someone who has the exact same name as me!

My plan is to stay with them yes, I don't really like changing clubs that much unless I've planned to pre save.

Taking over Malta has crossed my mind but I want to focus on trying to push Mdina as far as possible at club level.

Oh really? Who? 

[Cuomo10]

1 hour ago, kidthekid said:

Just read this. Really rapid progress. Nice work.

Cheers. Wasn't expecting back to back promotions. Last season was a disappointment due to the great start but I've brought in a couple of players on precontracts before the season ended and need to mix youth and experience a bit better for the next season. 

[Cuomo10]

Still in the middle of preseason but have lost John Zammit to Gzira of the Premier League. Gutted about this as he was 5* CA from the last youth intake.

[Cuomo10]

Pre-Season 21/22

My aim during pre-season was to try and bring in some more experience and a little extra quality. I have to admit that its been difficult as the level of player I can attract to the club is still minimal. In terms of PA, there is plenty however, they are all young and I'd prefer to call upon some of my own and thats what I intend to do. In terms of CA, there wasnt a great deal of choice and I have only been able to bring in 2 players who I feel might make the difference. 

My 'marquee' signing was Nikolai Muscat. 4.5* CA and a central midfielder. However, he wanted me to bring in some additional quality in midfield as part of a promise to proceed with the contract negotiations. This didnt go to plan and he is now unhappy and wanting to move away. In addition to this, he picked up an injury during presason and is now out for 5-6 weeks. As you can see attribute wise, there is nothing to get excited about but my scouts raved on about him.

 

Pre-Season went ok. We started with a defeat but went on to pick up 4 wins. The loss against Premier League side Tarxien was tough as we dominated but conceded 2 penalties. 

Tactic wise, I dropped my CM (when Muscat got injured) to another DM role after the Tarxien game and decided to allow the team to play a little wider and it had the desired effect. But the last 3 friendlies were against weaker opposition so we will see how it pan out in the league.

 

The board are wanting a mid-table finish whilst the media predict me to finish 4th from bottom. I'm confident are securing a mid-table finish but would really like to improve on last season's 6th place, but wouldnt begrudge finishing there.

 

We've received an additional £5k for TV revenue so will make around £55k for the season, this should more than cover my youth set ups and wages/bonuses that will be going out.

We sold an extra 2 season tickets this season; 34 die hard Mdina fans to try and entertain.

A couple of my young players that I had decent expectations of arent really progressing. A winger, Micallef, who came in during the first intake has played a decent amount of games, approx 40 over the past 2 seasons, but has not improved his 1* CA. Although he is still 18 and 5* PA, im still hopeful that he can improve. As mentioned in a post yesterday, we have lost our start player from last seasons intake. I had really high hoped for him as he 5* CA rated and would have slotted straight in.

[Cuomo10]

Sept & Oct 2021

A slight feeling of deja vu as we have made an unbeaten start to the campaign. We opened up with a credible draw against Pleita who are the favourites to go up. We opened the scoring but conceded late on. Some solid performances came with back to back wins and I was very happy with the 1-1 draw against San Gwann who were the leaders at the time. We finished September with back to back wins and 2 clean sheets. 11 goals scored and just 2 conceded in our opening 6 games is a steady start.

We've taken top spot after our start al-be-it on goal difference. Dropping the CM to a DMC role seems to have made a positive difference and the approach to play a little wider is definitely proving successful. My 2 wide men have been the stand out performers in terms of goals, both with 4 apiece. Ayrton Grech, who is 19, is starting to be a key player and with 3 assists to add to his 4 goals, he is my stand out player so far. 

I have a decent mix of experience and youth amongst the team and hopefully we can sustain this going into a very busy November.

[Cuomo10]

Well...my stand out player probably misses all games in November.

[Cuomo10]

Nov 2021

A busy November which warrants its own update. 8 games played with 5 wins, 2 draws and our first defeat of the season. Some solid performances again but we fell way short against Mosta. Although still top of the league, San Gwann are 4 points behind with 3 games in hand. We have a bit of day light now against the chasing pack and even if they all win their games in hand we will still be in the top 2.

5 clean sheets during the month and just 6 goals conceded in 13 league games. If we can continue to keep it tight at the back then we have a strong chance of really pushing for the top 2.

 

Grech is still my stand out player and he returned sooner than expected to add a goal and 2 assists.

The fixtures start to quieten down somewhat as we only have 2 in December. Im hoping that we dont experience the same collapse as we did last season and can really push on in the second half of the season

[Cuomo10]

Dec 21 & Jan 22

December saw us crash out of the cup against Naxxar who were promoted to the Premier League last season and also saw us get comprehensively beat against a struggling Rabat 3-1 at home.

January was much improved as we went unbeaten across the 3 games, winning 2 and keeping clean sheets. The victory against San Gwann was a big one as the win saw us overtake them in 1st place. Although not scoring many this season, averaging just 1.5 goals a game, we are very solid defensively a we have only conceded 9 in 17 games. An additional thing that I have been focusing more on is arranging my own training sessions. We were always doing the same thing such as; 'Overall', 'Attacking', and 'Defending', mixed in with some Match Prep. I have been choosing more specialised areas from Chance creation, defending engaged and more variety of choice through Match Prep options - it seems to be having the desired effect.

Fgura are in some very good form in 3rd spot having won their last 5 on the spin, but I have a 10 point advantage over Dingli in 4th. With 9 games left to go, we are in a very positive position with a real chance of finishing in the top 3 (but secretly I want the title!)

Grech is still my best player with an average rating of 7.27 however he has only added 2 assists in his last 5 for us. Nikolai Muscat seems an inspired singing and maybe what I was missing last season, adding some valuable experience. He is no longer unhappy after I didnt keep my promise of bringing adding some 'quality' in the midfield. I have been very pleased with my LB, Muscat, at just 17 he has slotted in perfectly and is one of my better performers this season. I have a decent showing of youth intake players in the squad with starters, arguably can be 5 with Steve Borg 2a (I have 2 Steve Borg's that came through during the same intake) who would play in Mallia's position. Azzopardi was showing good potential last season but he has been hit with a couple of injuries and it seems to have hampered him. I fear this could be his last season for me.

 

I had 3 Premier League clubs all offer me the role as manager in a matter or weeks. All 3 were respectfully declined. Gzira and Qormi are in a relegation battle whilst Floriana seem safe(ish) in 9th.

[Cuomo10]

Feb & Mar 22

A great couple of months which has maintained our unbeaten run since the turn of the year. 4 wins and 2 draws across the 6 games has seen us guarantee a play-off spot and with 3 games to go it is completely in our hands for the title. We're 6 points ahead of San Gwann in 2nd and barring a complete disaster the title should be ours.

3 more clean sheets over the last 6 games and a few more goals scored is keeping me pleased. Really impressed with us at the back although I feel that I may need to try and draft in a better quality CB for next season.

Nikolai Muscat has continued to impress and has passed Grech with his average rating of 7.30 but a special mention has to go to my star striker so far during this save, Frissell Hunter. Largely quiet so far this season, he has stepped up when it has mattered and has bagged 9 goals in his last 4 games taking his seasons tally to 16 and 63 in 82 games across the 4 seasons for us. Only a few games ago I was in the mindset of thinking I am going to need to seriously look at a new striker for next season but he has now given me food for thought proving he still has what it takes. Whether or not he can produce it at the next level remains to be seen.

 

On the face of it, the Youth Intake was ok with 2 players showing decent CA but Zerafa's determination is 1 which is such a shame. I was hoping that we may have been able to bring a decent striker through during the intake but it wasnt to be. With the exception of Zerafa and Grech, there are no other players taking my attention.

 

Hopefully we can see out these last 3 games, secure the title and then plan for our first venture into the Premier League...

[DavidBeckham]

Good luck for your last three cup finals mate! \o/

[Cuomo10]

4 hours ago, DavidBeckham said:

Good luck for your last three cup finals mate! \o/

Cheers mate! 

[Cuomo10]

End of Season 21/22

A historic time as Mdina will be playing Premier League football for the first time! We were able to clinch the First Division title for the first time and achieve our 3rd promotion in 4 seasons

 

The 4-0 win against Kalkara proved enough in the end and we go up as Champions. Just 3 defeats all season and only 14 goals conceded across our 26 league games.

 

A quality season from Ayrton Grech with 8 goals, 14 assists and average rating of 7.31 means he is our player of the season. Nikolai Muscat certainly proved to be an influential signing as he finished with a 7.27 rating. Hunter came good towards the end of the season and scored when it mattered by scoring 10 times in our last 7 games. GK Micallef is just 16 years old and kept 13 clean sheets in 22 games.

Across the season I have seen some of my players CA decline and although I have a tendency to be loyal to the players, the gulf in class in the Prem is wider than the 3 divisions we have played in so far. Im looking to stick with the same formation and tactics but I have been trying to develop an effective alternative tactic, based on a 4-4-2 model; I will trialling this further during pre-season and will be looking to play some friendlies against teams in the Prem as I think this will be more effective to determine if both tactics could work.

Some shrewd scouting is required and I will be looking to improve the starting 11. My 2 CB's, Cassar and Licari, are 2 that have slightly declined. I have a couple of decent young CB's like Bonnici but a new CB is one of my top targets. As much as I have admired and appreciated what Hunter has produced for us, he is another who has declined, just 2.5* CA now. He was 5* when he first signed but I am not sure if he can produce in the Prem, he will certainly get his chance but another striker is a priority as the other options currently in the squad do not fill me with confidence.

It will be interesting to see what the TV revenue will be like in the Prem. For the current season we received £55k which was over an increase of over £30k compared to the 2nd Division. I now need to try and build a balance as I would like to improve a level for my adequate Junior coaching and average youth recruitment during next season. Our balance is current £2.5k and has swung around £5k either way during the last 12-18 months. We're guaranteed £20.5k for finishing first which will help and by maintaining Prem status next season, that guarantee at least £21k for finishing at least 4th from bottom. The thing I like about these type of saves is that you have to be extremely mindful of the finances and try to forecast what you could be receiving to help manoeuvre in different areas. 

On to the Premier League...

[Cuomo10]

Just an update on finances.

We were given £20.3k for achieving first place, but had to pay out £33.5k in squad bonuses for finishing first. However we have just received £47.5k for our final league position. Balance now stands at £34.3k.

[Cuomo10]

15 minutes ago, Cuomo10 said:

Just an update on finances.

We were given £20.3k for achieving first place, but had to pay out £33.5k in squad bonuses for finishing first. However we have just received £47.5k for our final league position. Balance now stands at £34.3k.

In addition to this we have been hit with £2.5k tax bill but have secured a new kit sponsor bringing in £30.5k over the next 2 seasons. Balance over £50k now and our previous highest balance was £18k...