Les Gones

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, zlatanera said:

And pretty hard to change by more than +3 (or less than -5) due to mentoring replacing tutoring.

Do you think of multiple staff think the same on the first day it’s more accurate? Or is it just a case of them being wowed by the Low Determination guy pulling off a rainbow flick?

A few of my coaches are also top scouts so I wonder if they all agree if that could be a way to hone in on the good ones

I don't think the answer is to look for real-life reasons why the reports are wrong. I just think you need to accept that they can be wrong.  

[zlatanera]

September 2021

Strasbourg (A): ‘B’ team. Max Aarons broke into the England side, and Guilherme Arana quieted down about wanting to leave so all-in-all a good international break for Lyon full backs. Dembélé (3), Martínez and Hadji came up with the goods at Stade de La Meinau.

R. Madrid (H): ‘A’ team. The day before the fixture, reports emerge that Madrid are in for Aouar. Classic Madrid. I know we’re at home, but my squad approving of going Very Attacking versus Real Madrid is a pretty good indicator of our development! The game was pretty much all our way, Memphis missing a clear chance just before half time. 75’ Carvajal got space and instead of playing it into the box pulled it back to Kroos who had time to pick his spot, 1-0. 79’ Bale got it to Kroos a little further out but there was no stopping him, 2-0. My assistant then came out with this gem: “if Toni Kroos is allowed the space we’re currently giving him then he will punish us with his long range shooting”. Yeah, a bit late on that one!

AS Monaco (H): ‘A’ team. 28’ Aarons throw found Aouar on half-way, he played into Ndombele’s path in the centre and we attacked at pace, our CM-De then sliding the ball through for Memphis to put us ahead! 47’ (1st half) our counter ended with Aouar setting up Fekir for 2-0!

Dijon FCO (A): ‘B’ team. I actually fell asleep upon pressing play, but Pintor and Okafor got the job done.

Sparta Prague (A): ‘A’ team. Memphis (2) & Aouar.

PSG Watch

Our perfect start has put us 6 points ahead of Monaco already, but more importantly 9 points ahead of PSG! They drew away at FC Lorient (and at Barcelona in the CL) before winning the rest of their September games.

[zlatanera]

October 2021

Brest (A): ‘B’ team. Okafor assisted Pintor twice, in the 4th and 6th minutes, and although they pulled one back on a counter we were in control throughout.

EA Guingamp (H): ‘B’ team. Evander made his Brazil debut during the break, but all he could talk about is how this would surely make me offer him a new contract. Clearly he really cares about his country! Dembélé, Okafor, Pintor and Guilherme Arana scored for us. Ludovic Blas got two for them.

Beşiktaş (A): ‘A’ team. It took 65 minutes for us to break the deadlock, a Caqueret shot from just outside the area, at which point they still hadn’t had a shot on target. In their own stadium. 73’ they had two, Lopes parrying Mukhtar’s first shot straight back at him, the 2nd went in the net. Zagadou headed us in front 5 minutes later though, and 85’ Memphis rounded off the win.

OM (A): ‘A’ team. Moussa Dembélé was well on course for a career season - he had 9 goals in 9 -  so of course right before one of the toughest away games of the season he fractures his lower leg and is out for 3 months. All my best youth strikers are out on loan so my ‘B’ team will now use Lenny Pintor at ST and Hadji gets an extended stay in the 1st team. Dodô at least recognised his current contract was good enough which is one less headache! 15’ Ndombele decided to plant both his feet into Florian Thauvin’s back, which made things a little difficult. To cope with the dismissal I merely moved Aouar and Gouiri back a position each to go strikerless. A couple of scares but we held out until half time. 52’ a deep misplaced Memphis free kick was headed back into the danger area by Zagadou, and Fekir made space for a cross, which was diverted in by Jorgensen for 1-0 via OG! 68’ we countered from a corner, Memphis -> Fekir -> Gouiri for the goal! 73’ Djene Dakonam’s frustration with Memphis got the better of him and they were down to 10 as well! 91’ We didn’t clear well enough and Laxalt curled one in to make it tense, but we got the win and also will save over £200k once I fine Ndombele!

Amiens SC (H): ‘B’ team. Stiven Mendoza scored after 3 minutes, but we made them regret it. Evander (2), Thomas (2) and Okafor getting the goals. I subbed on Anthony Racioppi on 92’ to get his first league app for the club.

PSG Watch

PSG had a perfect month, so the gap remains at 9 points. More surprising is that Montpellier have also been perfect and are now up in 2nd! With the exception of a home game against us they've arguably played all the tough games in the first half of the season, so perhaps they'll be able to maintain it!

[zlatanera]

November 2021

Beşiktaş A.Ş. (H): ‘A’ team. We’d had 35 shots (15 on target), of which only 5 were from distance, created 4 CCCs and 1 Half-Chance, 13 Corners, and had two goal-line clearances deny us, but at 87’ finally a deep free kick from Fekir was headed home by Denayer to make it 1-0. 93’ they idiotically launched a defensive throw straight at their own goalkeeper, he headed it into Fekir’s path, Fekir then blasted it straight at him but buried the rebound.

Bordeaux (A): ‘A’ team. Aouar scored after 3 minutes, and anyone who stayed for the other 87 wasted a chunk of their day. Interestingly this means that in 8 games against Bordeaux over the save, we’ve yet to concede.

AS Saint-Etienne (H): ‘B’ team. 12’ Hadji robbed Seamus Coleman (he was playing MR ahead of Marusic at DR as they’re that scared of us!) out wide, drove at the retreating defence before playing it centrally to Evander, who drilled it in from just outside the box! 59’ Thomas switched it to Guilherme Arana who ran diagonally into the box, only to be blocked my Marusic at the 6 yard box. Hadji chased it down, back heeled it and Guilherme Arana made it 2-0! 72’ Pintor drove their defence back, and his blocked shot fell to Evander who this time used his left from outside the box to make it 3! That made it 11 wins in a row, beating my own record from 1st season! I finally relented and tried to offer Evander a contract - my final negotiation doubled his wages (£33k -> £66k) but that still wasn’t good enough for his agent (doesn’t help he’s classed as “a very impatient negotiator” and only went more than two rounds because I’m favoured personnel - he reps all of my Brazilian players!).

R. Madrid (A): ‘A’ team. I we don’t lose, we’re through. If we win we have a chance for 1st. 10’ a poor headed clearance by Aarons fell to Mané, who took a touch and put Real ahead. 51’ Bailey managed to out-jump Mendy twice to put them 2 up. 57’ Rafael launched his throw so hard at our man it bounced off to Kroos, who set off Rodrygo on a run, Denayer intercepted his cross but could only smash it into Rafael’s face leaving Kroos with an easy chance which he took. Our attackers should have scored one, but really, this was all on our defence. A litany of individual errors undermining the team effort.

Toulouse FC (A): ‘B’ team. 4’ Evander curled in a free kick from just outside the box. 16’ we countered and although Jimmy Durmaz headed away Pintor’s cross, it fell to Okafor - arriving late - to smash it home on the half-volley! I would upload it but to be honest watching Benjamin Pavard’s goal at the World Cup gets to the gist of it. 23’ Durmaz redeemed himself, a succession of quick passes from a short throw setting him up to hit it home from range for 2-1. 66’ we intercepted their defensive throw, Pintor quickly crossing for Okafor to get his second and our third. 93’ Evander floated in a central indirect free kick and Okafor headed home! A perfect hat-trick! He’d had one disallowed for offside too. To top it all, that set a league consecutive wins record of 19!

PSG Watch

Another perfect month in the league from them as well, putting them up in 2nd 1 point ahead of Montpellier, but that still leaves them 9 points behind us! We play them at home 1st December too, a lot of narrative possibilities there! 

[zlatanera]

December 2021

Paris SG (H): ‘A’ team. We were having so many shots I thought it must be near half time, but no it was only 03:57! Pretty much all highlight from the kick-off. By 05:02 we’d have 3 CCCs and hit the woodwork thrice. 16’ felt like an age but we finally broke through, Gouiri heading in Ndombele’s cross! By 80 minutes it was 5 CCCs, 4 Woodwork so of course at 87’ Cavani broke the offside trap and put them level. Perhaps if I’d subbed off Memphis (rating 6.20, responsible for all those woodwork shots off CCCS) earlier we’d have scored another, but I worried we’d lose his pressing ability and concede (repeated praise in training has his Work Rate up to 14 so he’s no slouch). Oh well, we’re still 9 points clear!

Montpellier (A): ‘B’ team. Montpellier are level on points with PSG, surprising given they’ve finish 18th, 10th, 15th in this save. 6’ Tousart put us in front from a corner. 9’ Chipciu floored Tousart to stop that happening again, and Pintor score the penalty! 90’ their first attacking highlight, and from the corner we countered with Pintor running the length of the pitch before playing it Hadji for 3-0!

Sparta Prague (H): ‘A’ team. Weirdly Sparta Prague have both John Obi Mikel and former Lyon player Marçal in their starting XI. 7’ it took 3 tries but eventually Caqueret scored following a cleared corner. 12’ Gouiri saw his penalty saved. 23’ Fekir ran onto Gouiri’s through ball to score our 2nd. 28’ he returned the favour, turning his man and lofting a ball over the defence for Gouiri to score with two touches! 44’ Zagadou played one over the top for Memphis to make it 4! 45+1 Gouri chased back to central midfield, won the ball, played it out to Fekir who crossed for Memphis to make it 5. Fekir got another assist with a long diagonal on 75’, Hadji hitting it hard and low just inside the box for 6. 77’ Gouiri made it 7.

Nîmes (A): ‘B’ team. Injuries are mounting up so we start with 3 newness: Pascal Lacroix (DR), Olivier Michaud (DC) and Hadji. Okafor (2) and Martínez had it wrapped up inside 25 minutes.

EA Guingamp (H): ‘A’ team, but Racioppi got the nod in goal as Coupe de la Ligue is the 2nd least important trophy (after Trophée des Champions) and he needs at least a couple of games per season. Gouiri (2), Aouar, Memphis, Pintor and Lacroix (his 1st goal, a volley from the edge of the area!) got the goals.

FC Nantes (H): ‘A’ team. 88’ it had been a dour game, before late sub Rafael beat 3 men down the right before intelligently passing to El Hadj Coly - our player on loan to Nantes - thus triggering a counter, finally drawing them out of shape. We regained possession, and Memphis scored at the back post for the 100th league goal of his career!

SM Caen (A): ‘B’ team. Evander, Pintor & Memphis with the goals.

PSG Watch

They only played three league games this month due to the Club World Cup (which they won), but  after three consecutive 1-1 comeback draws (away to us, Marseille and Toulouse) they'll still be a minimum of 13 points behind!

[zlatanera]

January Awards

Okafor follows in the footsteps of Mbappé and...um...Josh Sargent in winning this storied, illustrious award (established 2018).

Antoine Griezmann had won this award the last three seasons, but the strength of Ligue 1's top two means he doesn't even make the final three this year! 

Previous winners in this save were Memphis (2018), Neymar (2019) and Álex Grimaldo (2020).

Zagadou denied the chance to make it three in a row as Thomas has impressed in what really is his breakthrough year. 

Nabil Fekir was in the top three alongside Sadio Mané and winner Cristiano Ronaldo for World Golden Ball, World Footballer of the Year and World Player of the Year.

[john1]

Decent month Good to see your own players winning major awards  Can I see screenshot of Thomas?

[zlatanera]

@john1

The absence of unnecessary technicals makes him look worse than he is - in this save I generally look at First Touch, Passing, Technique then move to the 2nd column anyway. He can't get a game at AM because I have Aouar (who is incredible) and Evander (whose Long Shots would be wasted further back), so I shoehorned him in at DLP. I wanted to keep him without traits (something I've only so far had luck doing for Amine Gouiri) but he picked up Plays One-Twos from Aouar, Runs With Ball Through Centre, Runs With Ball Often and Tries Killer Balls Often from Fekir so I added Comes Deep To Get Ball to help him play as a DLP better. With those traits he does sometimes act like a budget Frenkie de Jong as I'd hoped. 

Maxence Caqueret is the best of the academy products for my money, and is part of the reason I reconfigured my midfield:

Just a wonderfully technical, intelligent player but not lightweight so can successfully conduct a midfield in the big games (something I wouldn't trust Thomas to do). Irritatingly Ndbombele keeps passing on Knocks Ball Past Opponent to people who don't need it, like Aouar and now Caqueret (wasn't there 6 days earlier in-game). Hopefully I can train it off him as it doesn't suit his game at all, and if used at the wrong moment could actually cost us games, but may need to move on Tanguy if this keeps happening. 

 

[john1]

Both looks absolutely brilliant! Especially Caqueret  

[zlatanera]

January 2022

Annecy FC (A): ‘A’ team. Annecy actually gave us a bit of a fright - we’d hit the woodwork 4 times when, with their first shot on target (and one of only two shots all game), wing back 3. Dorian Lévêque smashed one into the near top corner from just inside the left side of the box at 50’. It took us until 77’ to score, Fekir from inside the box. Memphis (free kick) and Okafor (on for Fekir, who sprained his ankle ligaments and will miss January) finished them off.

LOSC (A): ‘B’ team. LOSC had an entirely foreign XI in this match, so hopefully all the neutrals were on our side when Dembélé got our only goal, and when Samassékou cleared off the line at 90+4!
AS Monaco (H): ‘A’ team featuring Racioppi in goal. 9’ Tielemans scored from outside the box via a heavy deflection. 17’ Memphis equalised with a free kick. 23’ Memphis put us ahead with another free kick - same place on the pitch, put in the same area of the goal! 33’ he went off injured, preventing any chance of a free kick hat-trick. 86’ we countered, Gouiri receiving the ball just inside their half and laying it back to Okafor, who sprinted straight down the middle through their defence and finished with his weak foot for 3-1!

FC Lorient (H): ‘B’ team. With both our 1st choice wingers out, Peter Deering (2019 intake) is promoted to see what he can do opposite Hadji on the left. Nothing of note, it turned out. Samsseékou, Thomas and Pintor getting the goals.

RC Lens (A): ‘A’ team. The perfect time to play Lens as they’d just sold their star player Moussa Diaby (5 goals 5 assists i.e. involved in 2/5 of their goals) and had no time to replace him. Pintor and Aouar (2) finding the net.

Paris SG (H): ‘B’ team with Racioppi. Maycon put them ahead mid-way through the 1st half, but Hadji got us level on 51’. I forgot that Coupe de la Ligue doesn’t do extra time so only made one (enforced) substitute, brining on Fekir - coincidentally on paper one of our best penalty takers but in practicality very hit-and-miss.

 

Mbappé…saved by Racioppi!

Dembélé…scored!

Milinkovic-Savic…scored!

Fekir…scored!

Jovic…scored!

Dodô…scored!

Éder Militão…scored!

Guilherme Arana…saved by Sergio Rico

Grimaldo…saved and held by Racioppi!

Okafor…scored! We’re through!

 

Strasbourg (H): ‘A’ team. 14’ Fekir put his injury behind him, bursting into the box and scoring. 51’ Aarons drove inside from the flank and tried to play in Mendy, it was headed away but he got to that, and sent a left-footed rocket into the top corner! 59’ Zagadou headed in from a corner. 65’ McTominay pulled one back with a screamer. 83’ Pintor scored a penalty.

PSG Watch

A draw against Montpellier to go with their loss to me - all their other games were won - means that now the gap, should they win both games in hand, would still be 15 points!

Edited August 23, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

January Transfers 2022

There was actually no movement in or out of the club, although that's not for lack of trying either by myself or by big clubs around Europe. Liverpool unsettled Memphis and Lucas Tousart (we play them in the CL 1st knockout round, so this is really a dick move by Zidane) although they're happy with a promise that we'll get to the "latter stages" i.e. beat the team they want to move to. Zagadou was unhappy at not joining Real Madrid, Guilherme Arana wants a "stronger squad" but again has a promise to do well in the CL to keep him happy. PSG unsettled both my right backs, and Evander still wants a new contract. In fairness, 9 goals and 7 assists in 15 appearances is impressive, but I think I can replace him (and may move away from using an AMC next season anyway). Dodô calmed down early October about his. One positive was Moussa Dembélé seeing the total lack of offers in January and deciding that was enough of my promise to sell him for £77m, he's signed a new contract! I'll still listen to offers in summer though, as Georginio Rutter is joint top scorer in the Bundesliga (with Timo Werner) and Rodrigo Rocha Santos will probably get Spanish citizenship if I extend his loan until late July. 

Meanwhile we did move for a young Argentine midfielder, Fernando Herrera of River Plate. Already capped age 21 despite playing in his domestic league, he was happy with our £35k/week contract offer and I planned to loan him out until summer when moving on Evander would free up a space for him. Then Milan came in...

...yeah, we're not competing with that contract! At least until 2024 when our debts are fully cleared (currently paying £2.3m / month).

We did sign a staff member in January though, and I thought I'd share it due to his somewhat different background for a scout.

Ariedo Braida was a reasonably successful journeyman player, appearing for 10 different clubs across the top 3 tiers of Italian football from 1962 to 1981. He was then General Manager of Milan for the entirety of Silvio Berlusconi's wildly successful ownership of the club, before in 2015 moving on to be a director at Barcelona (where he presumably is in real life). He left them in 2021, I guess they replaced their board in an election, and apparently fancied getting back down on the grass as he agreed to be a Scout for us!

Finally, a pre-arranged transfer for summer:

We have four nEU slots filled, and two players out on loan trying to gain Spanish citizenship to get around it but when someone like this is available, you don't say no! Other than 7 Flair he's pretty much my ideal CWB, and given the lowest Flair in my central midfield and my defence is 9 - even most of my CBs have 12+ Flair - it can't hurt to have someone keeping it simple! 

Edited August 24, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

February 2022

Reims (A): ‘B’ team. Okafor and Pintor (2) put us through.

Liverpool (H): ‘A’ team, missing Okafor (who would have been my 1st choice impact sub) being ineligible. 12’ they were all over us, and when the ball fell to Keïta outside the box I knew what was coming: he took a couple of touches and buried it in the top corner. The game was pretty even in terms of chances, but one notable thing was that we couldn’t unleash any of our usually devastating counters due to the superior physicality of the Gedson Fernandes - Fabinho - Keïta midfield. 60’ we won possession high on the right but were forced to retreat all the way back to Lopes. He played it out to Zagadou, who strode out before playing it to Memphis, who turned and played it over the top into the box for Gouiri to level it up! The game ended 1-1 which isn’t ideal. Hopefully by the 2nd leg in March we’ll be up to full strength - Fekir and Memphis weren’t especially up to speed in this game…oh wait, Memphis is suspended now anyway   Interesting note from the match report, Keïta’s goal was referred to as an Exocet shot!

Brest (H): ‘B’ team. An incredible 2-0. In the first half both Hadji and Samassékou had goals disallowed for offside by VAR, before both sides’ goalkeepers heroically saved penalties. In the last 15 minutes we finally broke them, Tousart flicking Hadji’s free kick back across goal for Dembélé, before bullying Zouhair Feddal into smashing the ball into his own net following our corner.

Dijon FCO (H): ‘B’ team. Dembélé and Martínez got the goals whilst Lenny Pintor is sadly out 3 months with a torn hamstring.

AS Monaco (A): ‘A’ team. 10’ Tsygankov finished Digne’s cross at the back post, before 5 minutes later Carrasco picked up a headed clearance, manoeuvred some room in the box and made it 2-0. 18’ Denayer decided to stoop and head away their goal kick even though it was just above waist-height, Caqueret rushed back and bailed him out, playing it up the line to Fekir who ran then played it into the box for Memphis to make it 2-1. 35’ Aarons crossed from the right corner of the box (not the touchline) and inexperienced DC Doumbia headed it straight at his CB partner Bastoni, who was forced to try and head it back to him, allowing Gouiri to steal in and level it up! 37’ Carrasco had a goal disallowed for offside. 45+1 we didn’t properly clear and Gutierrez scored from 18 yards. 65’ after an uneventful start to the 2nd half Gouiri’s hold up play out right allowed him to release Aarons, whose cross to the back post was headed home by Aouar! 70’ we were outmuscled on a corner and it fell to Carrasco who put them back ahead. 78’ quick passing from a throw opened up space 30 yards from goal for Caqueret, who drew us level again! The capacity crowd certainly got their money’s worth!

OM (H): ‘B’ team - a risk, but with only 2 days between this an the Liverpool game I have to risk sacrificing my unbeaten season for a shot at getting through in the CL and holding onto 3 of my best players. 6’ Samassékou held up play on half-way, with 5 players around him for easy options. He chose Thomas, who quickly moved it onto Memphis who cut in and played it over the defence for Okafor to hit on the half-volley, rocketing into the goal for 1-0! 26’ Martínez headed in Memphis’ corner - set piece delivery training paying off! 30’ a team move started by Lopes saw Okafor cut inside and lay it off to Memphis just outside the box, Memphis turned and curled it in to the far top corner for 3! 59’ a rapid counter from a corner for our fourth: Michaud heading clear, Thomas lashing it out of the box, Memphis chasing that down and running half the pitch to cross for Evander!

PSG Watch

Well out in 2nd now, our draw in Monaco and them catching up their games in hand has narrowed the gap to 13 points! After they lost only one game in 2019/20, you've got to imagine if we make it to our rematch at Parc des Princes in late April they'll come at us with all they've got, regardless of the gap (or lack of one) in the league.

[zlatanera]

Youth Intake 2022

In terms of number of high quality players, and just the general personalities of the group, this lot suck. I'm waiting until after the trial game to make any decisions but I imagine it'll be a case of just signing the ones with good personalities to have an effect on the next year's intake when they sign on to the u19s. 

Mohamed Marouf is probably the only half-decent prospect at first glance, and he's another CB! We apparently are going to be the next version of 70s through 2005 Milan, constantly bringing through central defenders. 

EDIT: In the end we only signed four players; Gary O'Hanlon, Mohamed Marouf, Jacky Valentin and Jean-Baptista Giraud.

Edited August 24, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

March & April 2022

Liverpool (A): ‘A’ team. The big one. If we lose, not only are we out of the Champions League but Memphis and Lucas Tousart will definitely want to leave, and Guilherme Arana’s promise of winning silverware will be delayed, potentially affecting his performances further. Not ideal then that injuries and suspensions rob us of 3/4 of our wingers. 17’ we play out of the back well from a throw, before Aouar found Gouiri dropping into space with about 6 Liverpool players around him, who picked out a through ball to Fekir arriving in the area to put us ahead! 37’ Fekir hit a free kick 30 yards out on the right, straight down the middle of the goal dipping under the crossbar at the last, fooling Alisson and making it 2-0! Not much happened in the 2nd half, although rating and his substitution suggested Hadji had given Alexander-Arnold one hell of a chasing, until 80’ when an Alisson save from point blank prevent Aouar from really wrapping things up. A brilliant away win led by our captain!

EA Guingamp (A): ‘B’ team. Aarons calmed down after PSG cooled their interest in him (probably because they realised they have 4 guys in their 1st team who play RB). Dembélé and Samassékou scored.

Bordeaux (H): ‘A’ team. A close escape. 11’ Freuler bundled one home from a free kick, and it took us until 80’ to break them down, Okafor’s shot from a corner deflecting off their man on the post onto the back of Costil and in.

Toulouse FC (H): ‘B’ team. This had to be moved because of international fixtures (why they keep scheduling them in the international break I have no idea), with 10 first team players still away the  day before the game. One (or two) positive(s) was that Caqueret and Gouiri made their international debuts, with Gouiri scoring! Another was Real Madrid cooling their interest in Zagadou, so now he’s happy again! The match itself was a non-event, Dembélé grabbing the only goal.

Amiens SC (A): ‘A’ team. They had 2 shots. We had 29. Memphis got our goal.

Brest (A): ‘B’ team with Racioppi in goal. Evander finally gave up on wanting a new contract! He may still be moved on at the end of the season to free up a nEU slot though. But given he was averaging 7.84 whilst unsettled I can’t wait to see what he does now he’s happy! 32’ Samassékou threw an elbow at a Brest player so we were a man down. 69’ we had a seemingly innocuous bit of possession, but Hadji spotted Dembélé’s run and he lashed it into the goal for 1-0! 76’ Okafor chased back a Brest counter, then ran straight through them back towards goal before laying it off for Dembélé to get 2! 78’ Ninga curled one in to make things tense again, but we held on for the win!

Barcelona (H): ‘A’ team. Amine Gouiri going out for a month the day of the match was not ideal. 2’ it looked like they were going to score straight from kick-off, but Zagadou robbed Paulinho and set Memphis away on the counter, he eventually crossed for Aouar to lash a volley into the top corner! 47’ they did us on the counter, Paulinho smashing one past Lopes to level it, but 51’ Aouar put us back in front from Mendy’s cross! 56’ Memphis won a penalty, but ter Stegen denied Aouar his hat-trick. 73’ Denayer bundled home from a corner. That away goal means this tie definitely isn’t over, but a win is a win!

Amiens SC (H): ‘B’ team. 32’ Evander scored a free kick! 35’ when a pass to Hadji was cut out Oumar Traoré recovered it, dribbled round two players into the box and placed one into the bottom corner with his weak foot for his first goal for the club! 46’ Victorien Angban got his 2nd yellow and they were down to 10. 74’ Traoré headed in his 2nd! 79’ Okafor added our fourth, and less than a minute later Evander added our fifth from just outside the area!

Barcelona (A): ‘A’ team. 3’ they countered and Lo Celso could only shin it onto the post…and it bounced in off Lopes’ back. 34’ we’d hit the woodwork 4 times in the 5 minutes after their opener, but it just wouldn’t go in, and then after a bit of quiet Messi scored a free kick, putting them ahead due to away goals. 47’ we missed another couple of chances and then Lo Celso scored their 3rd. 52’ Messi swung in a free kick and Busquets headed home. I asked my team to Show Some Passion as this was abysmal, and hooked Mandy and Aouar. 56’ they went straight off a goal kick up to our end and Paulinho finished from an extreme angle. An absolute travesty of a performance.

AS Saint-Etienne (A): ‘A’ team. 28’ Fekir, on half-way, spotted Dembélé’s run and played it through the defence, where Moussa absolutely lashed it into the back of the net! Then as it was ticking away towards half time, Fekir came deep to receive the ball, turned and ran with it before smashing it in from 30 yards! In the 2nd half we had some bad luck with injuries - Rafael came on then went off 1 minute later with a torn thigh (3 months) whilst Fekir picked up a 1 month injury as well.

Toulouse FC (H): ‘B’ team. Injuries really starting to bite, we fielded 4 newgens in this one. 21’ Evander put us ahead from the spot. 24’ Evander looked up just inside our half, spotted the run of Traoré and lofted it over the top for him to make it 2-0!

Montpellier (H): ‘A’ team. 4’ Memphis picked up the ball wide and deep on the left, drove straight at the goal and unloaded from 25 yards! 57’ Denayer headed in our 2nd from a corner.

Nîmes (H): ‘B’ team. With only two days from the Montpellier game and 1!!! until we go to Paris, I’m trying as hard as I can not to risk a first teamer, with 2 newgens on the bench to go with the 3 on the pitch. 17’ Thomas came deep to collect for the centre backs then burst forward into the Nîmes half, before laying off to Deering who skinned his man then crossed for Hadji to hit the half-volley for 1-0! 25’ Evander played a through ball from deep for Traoré to make it 2-0. 29’ following a short throw Samassékou crossed to the back post for Deering to make it 3 with his first goal for the club!

Paris SG (A): ‘A’ team. So not only is this an away game against our main rivals, and the antithesis to everything we stand for as a club…it’s also potentially the game that could secure the title!…and the most likely place to lose our unbeaten streak! So it would certainly have been nice to have Nabil Fekir fit. As it is we have 10/11 of our best XI, whilst Mbappé is suspended so they’re in the same boat.

9’ they did us on the counter, Jovic applying the finishing touch. 14’ Neymar added their second. 37’ Zagadou hit the bar with a header.

63’ we finally got one, Dembélé turning in Aarons’ cross at close range. 76’ a move where pretty much the entire team touched the ball as we were forced to retreat to the centre backs before working it forward and wide to Aarons, who cut inside and curled it over the defence into the path of Memphis, who volleyed it in for 2-2! 94:58 Dembélé had a goal disallowed by VAR for offside, but we’ll take that draw!

Edited August 28, 2019 by zlatanera

[john1]

Shame woodwork denied you to score few goals against Barcelona  

Edited August 28, 2019 by john1

[zlatanera]

4 hours ago, john1 said:

Shame woodwork denied you to score few goals against Barcelona  

Honestly, there's so many shots off the woodwork this season. I feel like every time we score less than 4 it comes up in the post-match press conference! 

Either its something structural in the ME where a tactic like this generates fewer stupid long shots than in FM18 by having more woodwork and blocked shots, or we're actually underperforming and better finishing would see us score even more goals. This graphic suggests it might, incredibly, be the latter:

Given we've scored 148 goals in all competitions at an average of over 2.6 per game - 96 league (in 36 games), 15 Coupe de France (in 5 matches so far), 12 Coupe de la Ligue (in 4 matches), 4 Trophée des Champions & 21 Champions League (in 10 matches) - a significant increase in that conversion rate would see ridiculous goalscoring! 

To put our numbers in a little perspective, that's a higher ratio of goals per game than Man City last season (although 2017-18 they scored higher).

Edited August 29, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

May 2022

Nîmes (H): ‘B’ team. 1 point is enough to win the title, but of course we’re going for the win and potential for record points. So of course what followed was 95 minutes of last-ditch defending by Nîmes: 7 saves, 11 blocks and 2 saved by the post. I forgot to screenshot it but one of the saves prevented the whole ball crossing the line by about 2mm!

Of course, despite that disappointing result, we clinched the title! In 2020/21 we got 96 points and came 2nd, this season we have 96 points with 2 games left, and are champions! Of course there are two more games to go for us to really make history…

FC Nantes (A): ‘A’ team. Nantes, in 9th, strangely are managerless as Thierry Henry moved on to Anderlecht. Ideally they’ll get 1, our two loanees Bard and Coly assisting each other, and we’ll get about 5. 9’ Aouar’s corner was flicked on by Denayer for Ndombele to finish! 14’ another corner by Aouar, this time Ndombele’s back post header was the first touch, 2-0! 16’ a Mendy-led counter allowed Okafor to get our 3rd. 32’ Memphis scored a close range free kick! 61’ from a short throw Ndombele crossed for Okafor to head in our 5th. One negative was Pintor, brought on at 45’ to gain match fitness, going off injured inside 20 minutes - he’ll be out for a month having only returned 1 game ago from a 2 month spell sidelined. In terms of our loanees, Coly went off injured in the 1st half, and Bard at WBL ended on a 6.0.

Rennes (H): ‘B’ team. 9’ Dembélé saw his penalty saved. 19’ pressure from Deering and Dembélé as they attempted to get to a cross saw Jorge Pulido smash it into the roof of his own net attempting to clear! 36’ Deering got onto the end of Guilherme Arana’s cross for 2-0! 41’ Okafor headed in from Evander’s corner. 67’ with a real Poacher’s effort Dembélé got his 50th league goal for the club!

Gaz. Ajaccio (N): ‘A’ team. We’ve got a ways to go to beat PSG’s 5 on the bounce, but if we win this we join Red Star (1920/21-1922/23) and LOSC (1945/46-1947/48) as the only others to win the Coupe de France 3 times in a row. Gazélec Ajaccio somehow managed to beat Dijon FCO and Monaco on their way to their first ever final, despite coming dead last in Ligue 2. We’re “only” missing four players: Max Aarons (injured), Lenny Pintor (injured), Rafael (injured) and Titouan Thomas (international duty with the under 20s). The latter should have enough appearances to get a medal should we win this (we should).

4’ Dodô got acres of space on the right to drill in a cross that Memphis turned into a 1-0 lead!

6’ they naively attempted to play out of the back following a turnover, Fekir won it back, flicked it on to Gouiri who played in Aouar to sit the keeper down and make it 2!

7’ Aouar cut into the middle and played one over the top from deep for Fekir to score our 3rd.

55’ felt like an age for our 4th to come, Caqueret running through the middle on a counter before played it to Memphis who set up Fekir.

76’ Mendy played a long diagonal to Gouri to get No. 5 (and somehow only his 10th of the season)

It ended at 5-0 securing a domestic treble, a pretty special way to end the season! (A quadruple if you count Trophée des Champions).

[zlatanera]

2021/22 Final League Table & Club Awards

So yeah, unbeaten season baby! Weirdly we actually had the 2nd best defensive record (PSG had the best) but we had the best attack. We stumbled a bit late on, 4 of our 6 draws coming in the final ten games as fixture congestion came to bite, but we'd built up such a commanding lead that it was still in the bag. Finishing 7 points clear of a team with 4x the wage budget of us, who had a net spend of £144m compared to our -£36m is incredible!

Montpellier are definitely the surprise package, holding off PSG for 2nd for a few months before dropping away into the Europa League spots, before getting back up to 3rd and Champions League football for the first time since 2012. Lyon can take some credit for the success of Nîmes, having produced their manager (Bruno Genesio), captain (Anthony Briançon) and vice-captain (Jordan Ferri). The biggest disappointment is that Saint-Etienne were in 19th at Christmas yet climbed out of the relegation zone.

Can't disagree with that Memphis shout, he's been our main man for at least two seasons now. Tousart deservedly getting in there with 21% of the vote after adapting brilliantly to a new position, although I'm surprised not to see Fekir get recognition given his numbers and that he scored our goal of the season in the derby no less. Samassékou gets signing of the season by default as the only other one was loaned out!

Okafor really kicked on this season, £37m looking cheap even though we've got him loaned back for 24 months. Some goalscoring / assisting stats:

Memphis - 29(4) apps, 23 goals, 13 assists

Moussa Dembélé - 26(3) apps, 19 goals, 4 assists

Noah Okafor - 26(6) apps, 17 goals, 9 assists

Lenny Pintor - 20(1) apps, 14 goals, 7 assists

Houssem Aouar - 31(2) apps, 13 goals, 7 assists

Evander - 24(4) apps, 13 goals, 10 assists

Nabil Fekir - 26(7) apps, 11 goals, 18 assists

Amine Gouiri - 23(1) apps, 10 goals, 6 assists

 I was disappointed with Gouiri's numbers, to be honest. Although I guess playing in the 'A' team can actually hinder them as he gets all the games where the other team can actually withstand us. He's also not normally a penalty taker whereas Dembélé scored 5 penalties. For a guy who was unhappy for half the season, to the point of using his first international appearance as a platform to ask for a new contract, Evander put up some impressive numbers too.

Edited August 30, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

Champions League Review

I'm only posting this because of the sheer unlikeliness of Fiorentina winning the Champions League, even on FM, although Fekir averaging an 8.00 is damn impressive. But yeah, the Viola beat the Barcelona side that embarrassed us in the semis on their way to getting long overdue revenge for the 1957 European Cup final! They don't even have an especially outstanding squad, although loaning Nicolas Dominguez from PSG to compete in the midfield was smart, and they didn't lose Giovanni Simeone. 

That 'Best Match' made me go back a few posts, and my god that selection really does appear to be random: How on Earth did the final, an epic comeback / collapse, not get best match in 2020/21?!

Edited August 30, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

 

An Indefinite Hiatus

Title is self-explanatory. I've just gotten a little bored of the save now. I may return to it (and may now switch back to my Freiburg save, or go off to a different league) given I don't intend to purchase FM20, but for now its run its course. I always like to leave my saves in post-season, with no decisions made on transfers, so I can go back and go in a different direction, so that's what I've done here too - saved it on 10th June 2022, the opening of the French transfer window. 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2019 by zlatanera

[Sysiphus]

Read it all yesterday. Good thread and a fun read. Congratulations on your achievements.

[zlatanera]

@Sysiphus Thanks! I mainly do this as my own record - I find its better than just keeping folders of screenshots of landmark events of the save on my computer - but I do try to be at least an adequate read.

[04texag]

Great read, good stuff. Found this through ozil's thread. 

I had a question as I was going through it. When committed like you are to one main tactic, season in and season out, do you just load this one tactic in the tactics module? Or do you add slight variations to slots 2 and 3?

Also, what tactical modifications if any do you make in big champions league games or like PSG away?

 

Thanks!

[zlatanera]

15 hours ago, 04texag said:

Great read, good stuff. Found this through ozil's thread. 

I had a question as I was going through it. When committed like you are to one main tactic, season in and season out, do you just load this one tactic in the tactics module? Or do you add slight variations to slots 2 and 3?

Also, what tactical modifications if any do you make in big champions league games or like PSG away?

 

Thanks!

Cheers!

Nope, I don't load a secondary tactic. I haven't even saved the tactics, I just look at the thread if I need to recreate them. I also think it encourages me to make more minor tweaks rather than throwing the whole thing out and switching to something completely different in the 2nd slot - the mid-season shift in 2020/21 aside. 

I don't  really, which is probably why I haven't won it!  I've found myself, both in how I build tactics and the sort of players I sign, completely unable to do a 1-0 shutout so I always aim to outscore people away from home. I might make a tweak such as making us more direct by removing the Lower Tempo or Shorter Passing instructions, as I did to great effect in the CL final to go from 1-1 to 3-1 up (although we then chucked it away in added time). This particular squad where all my midfielders keep picking up the Knocks Ball Past Opponent trait is particularly unsuited for trying to play defensive keep-ball, so I'll always be on the front foot. I might make a choice in terms of personnel to make us more defensive though - if I really wanted to put a door-bolt across midfield I've play the ball-winning duo of Tousart and Samassékou as opposed to my more adventurous standard CM pairings, or again to take the example of the CL final I chose Lisandro Martínez over Dan-Axel Zagadou as although they're both technical, the Argentine has much more acceleration to deal with the likes of Mbappé whereas Zagadou would be better-suited to battling a target man (his high pace means he can still recover when we're playing a high line against most teams though).   

[zlatanera]

I gave a detailed breakdown of my corner routine for the past one-and-a-half seasons of this save over in the tactics forum, thought I'd link it here too.

 

Edited September 11, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

In an attempt to rekindle my love for this save, I'm going to do a kinda Hall of Fame for all the members of my 'Invincibles', position by position. First up...

Goalkeepers

 

Anthony Lopes has been my first choice from day one, and has gone from strength to strength in this save averaging 7.00+ in 3 of the 4 seasons so far. His form was so strong that I decided to offload the younger André Onana after two years despite the Cameroonian being in the goal for our Champions League run in 2020/21. With 328 league appearances under his belt, and being a relatively spritely (for a goalkeeper) 31, the Lyon lifer could come close to Serge Chiesa's record of 477 appearances before his career is done. His form has transferred onto the international stage too, usurping Rui Patricio as Portuguese No. 1 in 2019/20 and showing no signs of letting anyone else in.

 

Another academy product, I had hoped to get more development out of Racioppi, but after 2 seasons at US Orléans he did at least return to the club playing at a decent level for Ligue 1. I would have liked better Rushing Out but he's not deficient in any other way and has good technical ability which suits our game. He deputised ably for Lopes this season, averaging 7.06 in his 6 appearances, but didn't actually get a league winners' medal. I'm not expecting him to suddenly become the next Buffon, but if he'd be happy as a backup GK for the next decade that would be ideal.

Edited September 21, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

Full Backs

 

Norwich didn't seem to know what they had with Aarons - he made a mere 7 appearances in 2018/19 before spending the second half of the season on loan helping Burnley stay up in the division above. He still cost us £11m - that's English players for you - but has been worth every penny, locking down his place as first choice DR almost immediately. 51 appearances over 3 seasons my not sound like much, but that's my squad rotation policy for you - its actually 85 in all competitions, with this season being his strongest at an average rating of 7.55. He's also broken into the England squad, but only as a substitute - in fairness if I had Trent Alexander-Arnold I wouldn't play him either!

 

The closest thing to a Daniel Alves replacement, Dodô has actually been something of a disappointment since arriving from Shakhtar for £18.5m. Missing the second half of his first season with cruciate damage - not his fault. Asking for a new contract whilst in the recovery stage, then moaning about it for 6 months? His fault. Briefly calming down only to demand a move to our rivals PSG? His fault. On the pitch he's always delivered, averaging 7.39 in 2021/22. He may end up being moved on due to a combination of his constant complaints and non-EU player restrictions, especially when we have a replacement lined up (Edmar Rondon is more of a glorified Gary Neville - highly professional and no Flair) but to be honest it'll still have been worth it. He's got a couple of caps for Brazil, but so far has been unable to usurp Danilo.

 

One who was at the club when I started, Mendy has been mr. dependable on the left flank, making 127 appearances under me. Such is his consistency that although his "backup" probably looks slightly better on paper I wouldn't think of leaving him out of big games. He's been in and out of the France side, but that's mostly due to their incredible strength in defence, even with namesake Benjamin Mendy ravaged by injury.

 

Any in-game 'Bargain of the Century' list would include this man. Guilherme Arana was transfer-listed by Sevilla, and arrived for a mere £3.1m with Marçal going the other way for £10m. He started like a man with a fire lit beneath him, averaging a 7.98 as we won the title in my first season, but dropped off, averaging "only" 7.53 over his 95 appearances so far. 

 

Much as I love him from his Manchester United days I had serious doubts about Rafael - low Composure, Concentration and Positioning gave the impression he would be poor for our system, which generally demands a lot from the full backs. On the contrary, he's been absolutely incredible - laying on 13 assists in 2018/19 and remaining part of the 'B' team until this season where he became a backup, used mostly as a substitute. He's largely avoided injury, but he also never complained when being demoted - unless Fluminense want to bring him back home I'm hoping he'll end his career with us and join the backroom staff. That he didn't add to his 2 Brazil caps in the 2018/19 season is an absolute travesty, he was possibly the most effective full back in the world that year. 

Edited September 19, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

Central Defenders

 

Another one who I had doubts about, who was shipped out as soon as possible on a previous save, Denayer has instead become one of my main men in this save, forming great partnerships with first Marcelo and then Martínez at the heart of the defence. He's been a mainstay for Belgium the past two seasons as well.

 

Lucas Tousart is just brilliant. A great professional, he's developed well in training and excelled first in central midfield and then most recently as a centre back, rotating with Denayer. He's my Vice Captain, and wears the armband in about half of our matches. He understandably hasn't broken into the France squad, but that suits me just fine as it means he's always available for us - a couple  of stupid red cards in 2019/20 notwithstanding - and has racked up 148 appearances under me so far.

 

Another transfer-listed bargain, and one of 3 PSG academy grads in the squad alongside Mendy and Dembélé, he hasn't actually developed that much but Zagadou was strong in all the right areas already, so it didn't matter too much. Despite the emergence of Martínez (see below), he's formed such a strong partnership with Denayer I've seen no reason to demote him to rotation option. Given the strength at centre back in France, gaining his first full cap this season is an incredible achievement to go with all his team successes. 

 

A £3m release clause bargain, Martínez is now one of the best ball-playing defenders in the world. For a club of our stature to call him a rotation option is just fantastic, he's a full Argentina international after all. No matter what issues we face butting up against the non-EU restrictions he's going nowhere as long as I can keep them, he'll at least double his 101 appearances for the club. 

Edited September 19, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

Central Midfielders

 

When I promoted him from the academy I knew Caqueret would become good...but not this good!! Another who made his international debut this year, he's one of the most well-rounded technical midfielders around, racking up 92% pass completion this season. At only 22 my coaches think he can become even better, which is terrifying for anyone charged with pressing him to win the ball back! 

 

In 2019/20 Tanguy Ndombele single-handedly saved the season - whilst our attack was stuttering, he popped up with 15 goals from midfield, 14 of them from outside the box. But he's no one-season-wonder, he's adapted well to his new CM-De role whilst still getting a few goals and assists. He's arguably been held back by the emergence of Caqueret, and every time I go to press Continue on this save I consider switching to a 4-3-3 to get him a bit more involved. Despite this his performances haven't been ignored by France managers, he's picked up 17 caps since March 2020.

 

Another I promoted from within, Thomas would probably make more highlight reels further forward, but at DLP he interprets it differently to Caqueret - whereas he is more of a conductor, Thomas acts like a budget Frenkie de Jong, breaking the lines with his dribbling before playing it forward. I had considered blooding him a season earlier, but Martin Terrier was still looking like a potential world-beater. Still, from 2020/21 onwards he's been a regular feature of the first team, and can only get better!

 

I had to wait longer than I'd like to get my hands on Samassékou when Bayern made him a big-money signing, but he was worth the wait. A natural DLP he performs very well as Ndombele's backup, his energy and positional sense helping stabilise us with full backs bombing on and three very aggressive attacking midfielders - although he's one of very few players in the squad averaging under a 7.00 that's just because of his selfless interpretation of his role, and I wouldn't sell him easily.

Edited September 19, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

Attacking Midfielders

 

Signed to fill a specific need - that of someone capable off set pieces to go into the 'B' lineup, but still young, technical and intelligent - Evander has more than fulfilled his role. 20 goals and 20 assists over two seasons, a few of which turned games on their heads, he's been great. He averaged a 7.76 in 2021/22 which is just nuts, and flys in the face of all those people who say AMCs can't perform given not that many of his goals were from free kicks. One whose future I'm truly torn on - do I cash in with 2 years remaining on his contract and allow Titouan Thomas a run at AMC, or do I keep him for his ability to break a stubborn defence in an instant and sign him to a juicy new contract? In all honesty those 2 appearances for the Selecao probably show which way I should go - its not like they're ever short of technical attacking midfielders after all! 

 

Although the game rates him as a natural DLP I've used Aouar further forward all throughout this career and he's excelled. He managed to average over a 7.00 in his first two seasons despite barely ever making the highlights, before coming alive once I switched him to be a Shadow Striker in the past two seasons. 2020/21 was definitely his most eye-catching with 17 goals, but 13 goals and 7 assists last year wasn't exactly a poor output either. He's a firm favourite with France now too, making 14 starts for them  in 2021/22. Despite the talented players all around him, I made him my main man for this save and he's repaying me handsomely. 

 

Captain Fantastic (when he's fit), despite racking up 14 separate injuries over the save, 7 of which were between 2 weeks and 2 months in duration, he's contributed 55 goals and 51 assists so far over my managerial career. A threat with the ball at his feet either through running, passing or shooting as well as a weapon from set pieces, Fekir is a key part of the puzzle. Hopefully he an have an injury-free season in the duration of his current contract to see just how good he could be! 

 

Plenty of managers both in real life and FM aren't fond of a January signing, but when Okafor joined in January 2020 I was soon wishing I'd got him in earlier. That was his breakthrough season as he got 15 goals and 10 assists for Basel and Lyon combined, and £14.25m was a bargain. He was so good in 2021/22 though that £37m + 2 year loan back deal I struck with Liverpool is starting to make me look like a mug. The scousers will be getting a guy who is excellent technically and mentally, yet also physical enough to beat defenders through pace, strength, or just out-jumping them. 

 

I hadn't got much out of Pintor in a previous save and the AI never seems to develop him much either so I was concerned that I was wasting my time on him...I was not. The young winger has hit double figures in all 3 seasons he's been part of the first team, and was on course for a 20-goal season before a torn hamstring in February 2022. He's no Memphis, but he's an able deputy with room for further improvement. 

 

The save MVP so far, Memphis has been far from the infuriatingly inconsistent performer we see in real life. He's barely missed a game I needed him for, and his great international record of 33 goals pales in comparison to his production for us: 79 goals and 49 assists over the save puts him at similar numbers to Messi, Neymar and Mbappé. I'll probably have to sell him at the end of the next season - 29 will probably be his peak valuation - so I'm going to enjoy him whilst I have him. For all his attacking prowess I'm still amazed I managed to get his Work Rate up 3 points to make him a better contributor to the press. 

 

Finally, the first newgen to break into my first team! Mostly due to injuries Hadji picked up enough appearances to gain a Ligue 1 winners' medal, but he wasn't just there to make up the numbers as he scored 5 and assisted 6 in 23 appearances. He'll probably be sent off on a loan next season but then will hopefully slot in the year after if I move on Memphis as predicted. 

Edited September 19, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

Strikers

 

The only remnant from the thrilling FM18 Guebbels-Gouiri-Maolida attack, Amine Gouiri's development has been something special, and at 22 he's only getting better. He suffered a slight drop-off in production this season as he was promoted to the 'A' team, getting some slightly tougher defences to get past, but he's still already scored 51 goals for the club! Scoring on his France debut was pretty incredible too.

 

Moussa handled the step-up from SPL with ease, scoring a career high 24 league goals in 2018/19. He's only added 26 more in the next 3 seasons, but that's mostly due to my heavy rotation - it's 78 in all competitions. I keep expecting to have to sell him, or that defences will get so massed that his direct traits will hamper him, but he keeps performing so he'll be around another year or two. He has a knack for scoring against his former club PSG too which is fun - he has 6 goals against them so far. He's another who doesn't make the France squad because its a ridiculously strong squad - I can't argue for his inclusion over Mbappé or Griezmann. 

Edited September 19, 2019 by zlatanera

[Carambau]

Just read the whole story! Congratulations on doing so well with OL

[zlatanera]

Summer Transfers 2022 (Incoming) - Newgens

We made 6 signings in the summer window, although if you include Edmar Rondon joining after his January transfer it's 7...but if you count that you won't count one made for next summer so then its back down to 6. Let's call it 6, shall we? Anyway, only one goes straight into the first team squad, and he's also the only one who really exists as we're now getting to the point where the newgens are coming good - given my reluctance to sign anyone over 23 they're also now making up most of my shortlist. 

First up, the big one. Claudio Gomes is one of the best young midfielders in the game, possibly the best French one who wasn't already at Lyon, and up until now City had been completely unwilling to negotiate (I enquire 2-3 times every transfer window). When they quoted me upwards of £60m this time I initially leant for "reject", but then decided to negotiate them down to a "reasonable" £44m. 4x his value then, double his value now he's with us but there really is no similar cheaper option available. So that's our transfer record more than doubled (previously it was still Lísandro Lopez from Porto back in the 2000s), and the squad unbalanced as I already had 4 good CMs, so now Titouan Thomas will learn to play RW, but he's so good I had to do it. 

Next up, one for the future. Memphis is getting towards 30 so in summer 2023 I intend to negotiate offers for him. As such, I started looking around for a replacement. Our academy had only produced exceptional left-footed wingers so far, and although there are also 3 strikers on the books who could probably do a shift on the left flank I decided to go out and look for a natural, particularly as I think Pintor might be peaking too. Solomon was the outstanding candidate - a very complete player, with some outstanding Dribbling ability which should be fun to watch (the highest in the current squad is Fekir and Evander with 16, which is fun). He won't replace Memphis' dead-ball ability but hopefully he'll win plenty of opportunities for someone else to step up there. He also had a £20.5m release clause, but as I wanted the transfer for a year's time, I knew I'd need to negotiate. Shakhtar were thankfully quite pragmatic - realising they'd get to keep the guy for another season, they accepted the clause's value over 4 years + 10% profit and a friendly with the best side in France and one of the best to watch on the planet (yeah, I'm modest!). So he'll rock up at Lyon in 2023, hopefully well on his way to fluency in French and ready to terrify some full-backs! 

One of 3 impulse buys, I'd been monitoring Léclerc for a year or so when I noticed he was transfer listed for a measly £675k! I managed to get that paid in instalments (it's an obsession now) by adding on 10% profit as I felt bad for Nantes as his (now forgotten by me) reasons for requesting a transfer seemed harsh. He was loaned out to Reims in Ligue 2, where he also actually spent last season (they were one of three options I gave him, so he must have liked it there). He made 20 starts last time, so I'm hoping for 30 and some good development this time. 

Another somewhat impulsive purchase, although I'd long monitored Jorge Correa I much preferred Fernando Herrera, whom I mentioned in a previous post had rejected us as AC Milan offered 5x the wages we did. However at 22 he still had room to at least improve his value if not his ability, and had a very cheap release clause as well as having good attributes in all the right areas. So I went for it, and now he's off to Sevilla for two seasons to make his (and hopefully my) fortune, and perhaps if he picks up Spanish nationality that'll allow him to come back into our side right around his mid-20s peak. 

Less of an impulse buy this one - Damián Ramírez combines into fill the gap in the production line of left wingers. He's two-footed, reasonably good technically and mentally but young enough to improve significantly and also may potentially end up replacing Memphis' free kicks. A heavily incentivised transfer means we we win either way - whether he's just flipped for profit after a couple of years, or plays 20 games for Argentina and we have to pay out another £1m! He's been sent to FC Lorient to hopefully be a catalyst for them coming straight back up from Ligue 2, as no decent Spanish club was interested so I prioritised his development over gaining EU citizenship.

Finally a true rarity for me - a deadline day transfer! Austin Bekker had only come onto my radar in the past 6 months or so as I don't really target North America for scouting - South Americans are generally more technical, and also have the bonus of needing only 2 years on Spain to stop taking up a valuable nEU slot in our squad registration. 119 first team appearances, 100 of them starts, even in MLS that's something to sit up and take notice of! Anyway, I had no plans to move for him but Freiburg forced my hand with a bid rising to £9m with incentives. I came in and turned Toronto's execs' heads my way with £10m guaranteed plus profit, then loaned him out to Freiburg anyway! Despite being rated as a BBM I probably see him long term as a replacement for Samassékou as the more defensive option at CM-De rotating with Ndombele, but those Long Shots and Flair will be a potent weapon. 

This purchase also highlighted a reason why you don't want to do a youth development save in MLS - at £10m Bekker became the most expensive transfer out of Canada in history (Alphonso Davies the previous record), yet MLS gave Toronto a measly £500,000 of that! I might have to flip him after a few years just to see if MLS pockets most of the sell-on too. Truly shameless behaviour from the league there. 

 

[zlatanera]

Summer Transfers 2022 (Outgoing) - Well, you know what they say about records...

A mere year after André Onana overtook Alexandre Lacazette as our record sale, Dodô finally moves on after 3 transfer windows of asking and beats it by £1m! There were about 20 rounds of negotiations with Atlético, but eventually I got them to pony up £20m over his value as given his incredible form since joining I wanted much more than double the initial £18m we paid for him. The only other permanent departure, strangely, was also a right back as Andy Minolien wasn't developing and didn't look like he'd be worth the time. I doubt he'll ever move for more than that £350k, but I got a sell-on clause just in case. Other than that it was just a case of renewing a bunch of loans (Giorginio Rutter got Supporters' Player of the Year in his first season at Borussia Mönchengladbach, scoring 18 goals, so I happily let Jardim have him another year and sent Michaud over to help them out at the other end of the pitch), and loaning out the two best of our first youth intake - Oumar Traoré had lots of interest, and hopefully will ape Rutter's Bundesliga success. Fouad Hadji, with more first team experience under his belt was surprisingly harder to shift as nobody wanted him as a Key Player, but I decided Ajax would at least offer 6 CL group stage matches and he was probably better than all of their wingers. One to monitor though.

Again as with previous windows this one was probably defined more by who didn't leave than who did. Titouan Thomas surprisingly asked to leave after Bayer Leverkusen, flush with £72m of Kai Havertz money from PSG, offer to loan him and pay no wages, whilst Man City moved for all of my full backs - Guilherme Arana has been promised we'll go far in Europe whilst Max Aarons and Ferland Mendy will just have to get over it. Finally another newgen, Peter Deering, and English left-footed inside forward, caught the attention of Spurs. I promised him we'd win a trophy, and although he's done that merely one game in the season he's still waiting, so it could turn out to be a bug-induced premature sale at this rate. 

[zlatanera]

July / August 2022

Paris SG (N): I’d talked this game down in the press conference, insisting that we didn’t really care about it, but other than rotating my goalkeeper and giving young Peter Deering a start this was a strong side (Dembélé getting the nod over Gouiri so he can spite his former club). PSG sold Mbappé to Man City in summer and brought in Kai Havertz - so whilst they have one less pacy threat up front, they’ve got yet another guy who is both physically and technically impressive in the centre. 12’ a good team move, featuring Memphis repeatedly battling to win the ball back after losing it on the run, saw Edmar Rondon in acres of space, he crossed it and Dembélé headed in at the near post! 32’ Mendy couldn’t cope with the apparently revolutionary move of his opposite number cutting inside with the ball, and Neymar gratefully received the ball, beating Martínez and equalising from close range. 63’ Aouar received the ball deep on the left, spotted Dembélé’s offside trap-breaking run and lifted it over to him, he took it on the run and smashed it into the bottom corner! Despite tempting fate by fielding a back four of Denayer - Tousart - Samassékou - Rafael for the final 10 minutes we got a deserved win.

LOSC (A): 3’ a great team move allowed Mendy to cross from inside the box for Aouar to put us 1-0 up. 19’ Memphis set up Fekir to make it 2! 47’ the wide duo did it again for 3. 78’ lax defending off a corner let them pull on back.

FC Nantes (H): 33’ Guilherme Arana hit the bar, Nantes’ GK saved Thomas’ rebound but he rushed in and finished at the second time of asking for 1-0. 54’ Zagadou headed in Pintor’s corner. 80’ Okafor assisted Pintor to finish off a devastating counter-attack! 88’ Edmar Rondon cut into the box and cleverly drew a foul from their DL, and Dembélé scored the penalty.

Dijon FCO (A): 22’ Fekir’s shot was deflected to the edge of the box and Ndombele took a touch before finishing low with his weak foot for 1-0! 73’ Aouar added our 2nd from the spot.

Toulouse FC (H): I literally just forgot to watch this one, but the match report says we went behind from an indirect free kick (#FM19 amiright?) before a brace from Evander (a header, surprisingly, and a shot from outside the area, less surprisingly) brought us the win. We hit the woodwork twice and dominated statistically, but I yelled at the players at full time all the same, and they seem fired up so that’s good!

Switzerland's national team maintains its odd August awards season, Okafor making the step up from 2021's Rookie of the Season to 2022's Player of the Season. As part of the Claudio Gomes-induced reshuffle he's going to be a backup for his final season at Lyon unless we get hit with injuries, but I hope he still gets to play internationals. 

[Hootieleece]

Keeping a young team I see. Since you are putting players out to pasture at 22!

[zlatanera]

September 2022

EA Guingamp (A): First half they couldn’t get out of their own box but we couldn’t find the finish. 53’ Edmar Rondon got acres of space out on the right and stood it up for Dembélé to head us in front. Then 58’ they won the ball back from our attacking throw, and rather than counter they tried to build from the back, but as their goalkeeper two-footed their centre-back from behind Dembélé pounced on the loose ball to make it 2! 63’ Zagadou bundled home from a corner, before at 71’ Evander received the ball at the top of the D and curled it into the bottom corner! 90’ Dembélé sealed his hat-trick with a penalty.

Dinamo (H): 11’ Gouiri drifted into the channel and played it to Aouar, just right of central about 40 yards from goal, who drove towards the Dinamo area and finished low with his weak foot for 1-0! 46’ we broke and Marko Maric in the Dinamo goal saved from Gouiri, Aouar, then Fekir but Memphis was just too much for him so it was 2. Okafor and Fekir finished them off in the 2nd half.

FC Metz (H): Dembélé (2) and Pintor did the business.

Young Boys (A): 49’ we failed to clear a corner properly and they took the lead through Luan Capanni. 62’ Gouiri pulled one back from around the penalty spot, but we couldn’t find the winner.

Rennes (A): Injuries to two of our Brazil internationals - Evander and Guilherme Arana - meant a couple of youngsters getting a chance in Peter Deering at AMR and Christian Pernot at DC. 3’ and Deering was credited with an assist as he laid it off to Thomas near the touchline, Thomas then dribbling into the box past 3 players and finishing low with his weaker foot! 15’ Dembélé scored a great penalty - the GK dived the right way and covered nearly the whole goal but it was that low and close to the post that it still found its way in - to make it 2. 65’ Pintor delayed his cross long enough for Deering to arrive in the box, towering obove his full back to make it 3! 83’ Ji Dong-Won pulled one back after a rare mistake from Martínez.

Man Utd (A): An even game, but we somehow ended up losing 2-0 through Lewandowski and LIngard.

[04texag]

Good to see you are back at it after your break.

 

What are you doing tactically this season?

[zlatanera]

@Hootieleece 22 is the new 32!

@04texag I'm using the same tactic as the previous season - I can't increase mentality beyond Very Attacking, and I feel like if we can avoid Messi putting in an all-time performance against us we could go all the way in the Champions League this season before I have to start letting players leave (Memphis will hopefully go at the end of the season as he's 29, and all my full backs keep getting unsettled by Man City so hopefully if I let them have one they'll leave the others alone). 

[zlatanera]

October-November 2022

OM (H): 5’ Gouiri missed a penalty. 8’ Thomas put us ahead with a sliding finish! 47’ Tousart got our 2nd from Memphis’ free kick.

Bordeaux (A): 20’ they took the lead through an Argentine newgen, but within 5 minutes we equalised through Pintor. 45’ Pintor turned provider for Thomas to put us in front! Pintor finished them off on 81 minutes. That made it an absurd 60 games unbeaten in the league!

Amien SC (H): So for some reason the SuperClásico took place right in the middle of our busiest month, so we were missing our starting DR (Rondon) and DCL (Martínez). 6’ and it didn’t seem like this would be a problem, Tousart heading us in front from a corner. 11’ Gouiri chested down a headed clearance and made it 2 on the volley! 47’ Gouiri added our 3rd. 75’ Gouiri got his hat-trick with. penalty.

SM Caen (A): Truly bizarre scenes as they kick-off, pass back under fear of Gouiri’s press and Kelvin Almian passes the ball from the edge of the box past his own goalkeeper into the net! 12 seconds and we’re ahead! 14’ Claudio Gomes got his first goal for the club from just inside the area. 17’ Christian Pernot headed home his first senior goal from a corner! By 34’ we’d also had two goals disallowed for marginal offsides as Caen really just couldn’t defend. Pintor added another in the second half as we mostly just looked to control the game and rest for the two big ones ahead.

AS Saint-Etienne (A): 4’ Aouar put us ahead from outside the box - his “Reasonable” left foot has been lethal so far this season! 6’ we undid all his hard work conceding to Rocky Bushiri off a corner. 9’ Aouar again took things into his own hands, scoring with his right from further out than the first goal! 20’ from a short throw Aouar crossed for Caqueret to bury it from outside of the box and make it 3! 25’ Caqueret got his 2nd from a similar spot. 51’ Caqueret played a one-two with Mandy outside the box and curled his hat-trick goal into the top corner!

Man Utd (H): We were by far the better team, yet Aouar missed the best chance of the game then two indirect free kicks did for us. First we failed to clear, and a deflection fell kindly for Martial. Then Manolas ran onto one and finished from a very tight angle to give United a flattering scoreline.

Reims (H): We absolutely battered them in the first half but couldn’t break through. 47’ and we did, Edmar Rondon crossing for Pintor to tap in at the back post. 61’ Evander played his corner out to Deering on the edge of the box, the young Englishman took a couple of touches then finished with his weak foot for 2-0!

Paris SG (A): Memphis had been underwhelming all season - a few cut-back assists but only 1 goal. At the other end we had further issues with Anthony Lopes picking up an injury that would see him miss this game - I like Racioppi but he’s good enough for a top Ligue 2 side at best, so I went into this hoping our defence played a blinder to save him from too much work. 33’ we countered and he finally got his 2nd goal of the season! 82’ we worked the ball forward from Racioppi and when Mendy crossed from deep, Gouiri made an excellent dummy run to allow Fekir space to seemingly finish the game off. 84’ however some lazy defending saw Grimaldo sneak in at the back post to pull one back. We held on though to keep our 100% record in the league. That’s 7 games in a row unbeaten against PSG, and you have to go back to August 2020 for the last time they beat us in 90 minutes!

Dinamo (A): *yawn*

[zlatanera]

Mid-Season Update

The Qatar World Cup means we have a truncated season - after 14 league games (13 for some teams) Ligue 1 doesn't return until January, and obviously neither of the domestic cups have begun yet either. The Champions League group stage doesn't finish until the new year either. So now seemed as good of a time as any to show where I stand going into the dumbest World Cup yet!

14 of our squad are heading off to sweat to death in the desert. Evander is perhaps unlucky to not make the Brazil squad as although he's been injured for a while, Guilherme Arana was out longer yet still made it. However such a complete full back is a lot harder to come across than a technical AM, especially in Brazil. I consider it a travesty Lucas Tousart has yet to be capped given his strong form over the duration of the save in two positions, although I wouldn't expect him to make it to the WC given the strength of France's player pool. One final interesting note - Max Aarons is the only member of England's squad not domestically based as FM has not successfully imitated this emerging trend of young English talents heading to the Bundesliga.

Disappointing results away from home, and a 2-0 home loss to Man Utd, leave us in danger of dropping into the Europa League...which I might actually try to force by fielding a weak team against Young Boys, as I'd quite like to have a shot at it with this squad, especially when it'll be single-legged ties. Most likely we'll overcome them in the final round of the group though. Still, disappointing results so far.

Ligue 1 on the other hand is much more pleasant to look at - we're perfect! We still haven't played Monaco, but we went to Parc des Princes and won which is probably the toughest assignment, and our goal difference is higher than anyone else's points total, which is nuts! I'm not a journalist writing about the Premier League, so I don't think an 8 point lead is insurmountable, but its not nothing either, so hopefully we can see it through and level up with St Etienne's 10 titles. 

Edited October 26, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

Good Signs for the Future

PSG had been talking for the past two months about how Lisandro Martínez was their primary target, so I was expecting a rubbish non-negotiable bid any day now...instead they came in with a negotiable, entirely cash offer of £112m! Obviously I talked Martínez out of it and then rejected, but this is a good indicator for when I eventually do cash in and rebuild - that opening offer matches the highest bid I've ever accepted for a player on FM (Alvaro Odriozola's £112m release clause on FM18, where he also went to PSG) and the only bids I've ever had higher were for Matthijs de Ligt on a previous save.

[john1]

22 minutes ago, zlatanera said:

Good Signs for the Future

PSG had been talking for the past two months about how Lisandro Martínez was their primary target, so I was expecting a rubbish non-negotiable bid any day now...instead they came in with a negotiable, entirely cash offer of £112m! Obviously I talked Martínez out of it and then rejected, but this is a good indicator for when I eventually do cash in and rebuild - that opening offer matches the highest bid I've ever accepted for a player on FM (Alvaro Odriozola's £112m release clause on FM18, where he also went to PSG) and the only bids I've ever had higher were for Matthijs de Ligt on a previous save.

Massive offer and good to see you have accepted it and rebuild for the future   

[zlatanera]

3 hours ago, john1 said:

Massive offer and good to see you have accepted it and rebuild for the future   

No I rejected it, he’s only 24! I can get more. There aren’t many left-footed CDs about either, especially ones with 16 Technique. Although given Mbappé went for £179m in this save perhaps I’ve made a huge mistake...

[john1]

7 hours ago, zlatanera said:

No I rejected it, he’s only 24! I can get more. There aren’t many left-footed CDs about either, especially ones with 16 Technique. Although given Mbappé went for £179m in this save perhaps I’ve made a huge mistake...

Oh my bad  Probably due to watching World Cup     

[zlatanera]

World Cup 2022

Of my 14 participants Memphis and Noah Okafor's respective nations didn't make it out of their groups. Jason Denayer's Belgium going out to Croatia wasn't too much of a surprise, and given the amount of wonderkids Portugal have in FM19 to see them beating Spain was pleasant, but unsurprising. Half of my defence knocked out a quarter of my defence in the Argentina-Brazil tie, but the real shock was France failing to get past USA. I blame it on their only starting Aouar out of the Lyon contingent. To say that Max Aarons' England beat Portugal would be highly misleading as he couldn't get onto the pitch ahead of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez, but then strangely he started both the semi-final and the final, the latter being a game where both sides had Lyon right backs. Aarons was actually England's highest rated player in the final with a 7.3, staying on the pitch for the whole 120 minutes! 

Alex Sandro held off Guilherme Arana for the entirety of Brazil's run, but Edmar Rondon was their main man at right-back (and a player search suggests he's so far ahead of any competitors he could get 150 caps) as he started all but one of their games, scoring 1 and assisting 2 to deservedly get a place in the Dream Team.

This award suggests that Brazil were good in a very Brazilian way, with very attacking full backs. As a United fan I can only dream that Rashford hits the sort of form that allows him to top-score a World Cup. 

Edited October 28, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

An Annual Award

He may not be able to displace Alex Sandro for his national team, but Guilherme Arana's domestic form was deservedly rewarded. It's not quite that stretch when he first signed and our one-dimensional tactic saw him assist 8 goals in 11 starts, but it's still pretty damn good!

[zlatanera]

January Transfer Window 2023 - Megabucks

Only the one signing this window, Sousa Vaz has been on my radar since he was 16 and agreed personal terms last January only for his club to activate a one year extension. He most likely won't ever play for the first team, but should generate a substantial profit after a loan or two. I was also intrigued to have someone whose natural role is Shadow Striker. 

Edited October 28, 2019 by zlatanera

[zlatanera]

December 2022 - January 2023

Bordeaux (H):  9’ Dembélé gave us the lead from close range. 16’ we failed to clear a corner and they equalised through Javier Villegas (Argentine newgen). 19’ Rafael beat his man down the right and crossed for Dembélé to restore our lead. 37’ Evander made it 3 on the counter. 42’ Evander’s free kick hit the post and presented itself perfectly for Pernot to make it 4! 75’ Pim Jacobs (Dutch newgen) pulled one back for them.
Nîmes (H): Fekir (2, a missed penalty & one disallowed for offside by VAR), Memphis and Martínez scored as we didn’t even let them have a shot.

Young Boys (H): We’d made a meal of qualification so far - anything other than a win would see us finish 3rd as Young Boys had already beaten us once. 36’ a good move saw Dembélé smash one off the crossbar from close range, and Evander put the rebound in the net for 1-0. 51’ a poor touch from Paulinho (no, not any of the ones you’re thinking of :P ) broke down their counter, and under pressure from Pintor the Portuguese decided to launch it back to his keeper from the edge of the box, Gazzaniga in the Young Boys goal was forced to head it away and Pintor sprinted in and smashed it on the volley from just inside the box to make it 2! As Moussa Dembélé kept going close with headers I was convinced we were going to throw it away, but the stats show the game was never in doubt so we’re through the group!

Strasbourg (H): 3’ the lads tried something unorthodox with a deep throw-in: Tanguy Ndomblele flung the ball into the box like a black Rory Delap, whilst about 10 feet beneath the ball Houssem Aouar ran backwards over his marker’s feet and won us a free kick. Fekir then decided to shoot at Martínez’ head instead of crossing so it came to nothing. 29’ they got it right from a corner, Martínez heading home at the far post. 71’ they lumped it clear at a corner and Dante Vanzeir managed to get past his man into the box and finish from a tight angle to level it up. 80’ yet another corner, this time by Memphis, headed on by Martínez and headed in by Ndombele!

Paris SG (H: There were 3 PSG youth products and 4 Lyon academy grads on the pitch…and they all played for us! 58’ we played out of the back after Deering recovered possession, he got it back from Pernot and lofted it diagonally towards the edge of he box, Pintor rising above his man to head it towards goal and Thomas getting their seconds before the goalkeeper to gently volley it in! 70’ Chiesa wriggled away from his man and play it to Nicolás Domínguez - fresh off my withdrawing from contract negotiations - who switched it out to the edge of the box where Luka Jovic hit it first time to level it. 90’ I made a triple substitution for penalties, but instead it paid off with a goal! Gouiri (sub) taking knocking Samassékou’s throw back to him first time, it was quickly moved on to Aouar (sub) who jinked in from wide on the right to about 5 yards outside the box and drilled at shot in at the near post!

Montepellier (A): A dreadful game - only highlights were us getting yellows, until on 80’ we managed to double down by letting Sergio Reguilón run right at the box and try to feed an attacker, only for Mendy to give away a penalty and get himself sent off. Reguilón sent Lopes the wrong way to set us staring at our first league defeat in 67 games. We went a lot more direct, to the extent of sacrificing our AMC position, dropping Aouar back to midfield and bringing on Rafael to fill DL, as it would be bypassed anyway. It paid off almost instantly as our counter-counter saw Rafael hit it long into the channels for Memphis to chase down and cross for Fekir to equalise! So after 17 games we’re no longer perfect, but still unbeaten!

AS Cannes (A): Zagadou, Own Goal, Dembélé & Thomas.

Troyes (H): Gouiri, Memphis & Aouar

Montpellier (A): Much more comfortable than our last trip to Stade Louis Nicollin, Pintor and Dembélé (2) getting the goals.

AS Monaco (A): 24’ Aarons failed to block Lucas Digne’s deep cross and Pellegri rose to head them into the lead. 64’ Fekir whipped in a free kick from the left, Aouar lost out on his header but Gouiri knocked the second ball down to Martínez who cleverly held it up then played it out to Aouar, who took a couple of touches and drilled it into the bottom corner! 76’ from a corner Alessandro Bastoni rose and powered a header beyond the goalkeeper!!…his own goalkeeper! 83’ with Viktor Fischer going nowhere Caqueret decided to trip him in the box and gift Monaco a penalty. Pellegri didn’t waste the opportunity to level things up. 94’ we mounted one last attack, Mandy looked to cross from near the corner flag but Vrsajko scythed him down with two feet, and from the resulting counter Willem Geubbels scored the winner. Dreadful refereeing ends our unbeaten streak at an incredible 69 games, or 22 months.

Havre AC (A): Okafor, Gouiri (2) & Own Goal.

I made some changes to my tactics during this period - starting in the December games I simplified my attacking trio's roles to IF-At, AM-At, IF-At, then for the PSG game onwards it was as you see above. Results would probably have stayed as spectacular as previously but I'm only using Noah Okafor as an impact sub this season in order to further develop Titouan Thomas, when the Swiss' pace and dribbling could provide an extra element from the start. The only change to team instructions was to increase pressing. 

[zlatanera]

Just an interesting screenshot

As a stated aim of this save is to have a possession style, it shouldn't surprise you guys that Lyon have most of the ball in most games, and therefore our defenders don't have to do much tackling. However, 13 tackles in 25 games for Martínez shows you just how dominant we are - that's barely over 1 tackle every two games! Looking back over his form he's attempted 9 and won 8 in the games it shows, so it's not like he's trying and failing either. 

Edited October 29, 2019 by zlatanera