[FM19] The Frenchman Who Made Vietnam Cheer (Youth-Only)

[Mascarpone]

Phù Đổng FC - July 2024

A decent run of games, but plenty of doubt since we don't look as convincing as we did last year. Sure, we still play the same quality of football that we used to, and the Phu Dong DNA-experiment I've been running with possession-based tactics are still there. But apart from the friendlies, we have been awful going forward. If you look at the table below, for example, you'll see that we have only 16 goals scored, 6 of them coming from our inside forward. Oh, and we missed a really important penalty at one point, cannot remember when for the life of me.

We're in a very similar situation to the one we were in three months ago; an inconsistent mid-table team largely exceeding expectations. Saying that we are safe from relegation would be to unclench, although we are only 9 games away from the end of the season and have a 16-point lead over Da Nang. What is almost certain is that we will not make it to the AFC Cup next season. Our next run of fixtures includes a lot of strong opponents & plenty of congestion. And most importantly:

The chairman worked his magic again. We're hitting a ceiling that I don't know how to surpass, and I'm not sure if the chairman's lack of ambition or our unhealthy finances are the root cause of this scenario recurring. It could also be Binh Duong's love for destroying talent, although he surely should be good enough to start for them already. Truong Van Minh (YP23b) was our best player, and the worst part about it is that I'm convinced that he had the potential to feature for Vietnam and be one of the best players in the league (if he wasn't one of them already). The biggest problem we have is the lack of firepower in the striker spot, and I'm guessing that his ambition to play behind the league's best striker exceeded his love of Phu Dong. Sick of Binh Duong's and the chairman's ideas at this point, and I cannot wait for our finances to hit a more stable point, by any means necessary.

PS: I noticed I forgot to post about our youth intake (and to take screenshots). Key thing to remember; it was really good, until Binh Duong signed the two 5* CA, strongest players in the lot.

[Mascarpone]

Phù Đổng FC — Youth Intake, September 2024

Considering our increased spending into the youth set-up & the change in our reputation from half-a-star to one-star, I had high hopes for this intake. Ideally, I was looking for another left-back, a goalkeeper, and a quality striker to rise through the ranks. We got two of those three positions covered by decent players, and the added bonus of finally seeing a pair of decent 8s makes me excited at the prospect of maybe switching to a flat 4-4-2. The personalities are also much more positive, a reflection of my newly hired head of youth development perhaps. I've only tagged the players I was going to sign, with the added note that I later decided to also sign Phan Thanh Tung (YP24k) to work on our goalkeeper depth.

     

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A pair of full-backs, featuring the extremely talented Nguyen Van Hiep (YP24a), who may just be one of the best players we've ever had in our team according to my head of youth development. Very good defensively (>9 in the tackling-positioning-marking trifecta), this right-back's arrival is unfortunate but may be a blessing in disguise, since Pham Van Anh (our current starter) has been attracting interest from some of the best teams in the league, and there's no doubt in my mind he could go for a decent transfer fee. Also, great mentals and physicals all around, not exactly sure how much he can improve but the report suggests there's a lot of room for that. Here's to hoping Binh Duong don't poach him too. Nguyen Minh Tuan (YP24b) is another full-back, here for depth purposes although he could surpass our current starter's level with ease. The pair of Bui Tan Tai (YP24h) and Tran Van Tuan (YP24e) at the striker role also looks like a potential threat, and it's been a while since I've fielded a Pressing Forward & Target Man combination (back in our promotion season, if memory serves me right). I've also signed a left-midfielder in the speedster that is Do Van Phung (YP24g), as well as a #8 that I hope to turn into a quality deep-lying playmaker in Nguyen Van Phong (YP24o). Although I didn't screenshot him, Tran Anh Tuan (YP24f) will hopefully develop some chemistry with him if he breaks into the first-team, since he has all the characteristics of a mezzala (speed, vision, workrate, working on his finishing) and could form the sort of partnership that'd be lethal in a 442. That was as brief a summary as I could make, the season is already over and I'm preparing a recap at the moment, but this was our best youth intake once again. Almost every position covered with quality and players that look like high-ceiling starters. If the chairman doesn't get greedy, we could entertain another challenge for Asian qualification next season.

Edited February 20, 2020 by Mascarpone

[Mascarpone]

Phù Đổng FC — Season Review, October 2024

We knew that the run of fixtures around the end of the season would come to haunt us, but a combination of injuries & suspensions to some of our key players did not help (the transfers early in the season ruined the way I had planned our depth chart). With that being said, to not even grab one point from the Khanh Hoa and Quang Ninh games cost us a lot, but what those last months of the season really show is that our team was just subpar and ran out of fuel, the same way they did a two seasons ago, when we were challenging for an AFC Cup qualifying spot.

And as you can see here, we were clearly too good to be relegated, but way too far from the podium. Our Ha Noi counterparts were 21 points ahead of us, and the competition for the top of the league was just too good for us. It feels like we're hitting a plateau, as every year the new youth that rises through the ranks looks to be improving our squad, but then we lose out on some of our best players to the top teams. Might give it a few seasons to see if anything changes, although motivation is declining for sure. Still, this mid-table finish gave a £144k boost to our finances, making us a much more financially healthy team at the end of the season (which we needed to be, considering our huge youth set-up costs). We also had a little reputation gain for both the club & the league during the post-season, which increased our players' values by around 20%, which may steer the board into thinking that some of the offers we get are clearly not that good. 

This year featured some inductions in our All-Time Best Eleven, with the arrival of Nguyen Van Tuan (YP23m) up top despite a disappointing season where he looked to be very average, to say the least. Pham Van Anh, who already was in that XI, became the second player in our history to pass the 100-appearances mark, which makes plenty of sense considering he's been both loyal & quality starting from that right-back spot. Cao Anh Tuan (YP23n) also joined the XI despite only appearing 16 times this season, although him and Le Manh Dung (YP21n) were our best players this year. Bui Minh Chau (YP22m) also makes a noteworthy appearance, being just shy of an average 7.00 rating over his 56 appearances with us. Next season, we'll try to keep our best youth players grounded by not featuring them in the friendly matches (keeping their profile low), and hopefully their increased value & lowered exposure will keep us safe from the now-reigning champions Binh Duong for a few months.

[Mascarpone]

Phù Đổng FC — Pre-Season, March 2025

Our pre-season was, as usual, very routine. Apart from the first friendly away from home against our new affiliate Pho Hien (who currently play in the second tier), we dominated each game and could've scored 5 or 6 had I not taken off our biggest attacking threats. Because I hadn't settled on a starting XI and a formation yet, I preferred to rotate and get everybody back up to fitness. Also, worthy to mention that in the time between post-season 2024 and now, Nguyen Van Hiep (YP24a) earned himself a call-up to Vietnam U23s despite not having played a senior game yet (and being the first Phu Dong player to get capped at that level). I've also gone past the idea of organizing friendlies for money, simply because there's so few fans actually willing to pay. 

In terms of TV rights, the increase to £76k (+11k from last year) is very healthy to our balance, and is probably caused by both the club's slight increase in reputation, and the league's rise to 24th in reputation in Asia. We also improved on our season ticket sales of last year, going from 78 to 82 tickets despite the increase in price from £34/t to £39/t. All in all, those figures really help our finances, especially considering the absence of a new sponsorship or kit deal, and the lack of unexpected transfer income. Because yes, somehow, we managed to keep everyone grounded at home. Well, everybody except club legend Hoang Thanh Tung, who I did not offer a contract to due to declining relative ability to our squad, leading him to decide to leave our squad. He still deserves recognition for being here for over 4 years, holding club records for appearances (110) and goals scored (67). 

Our squad feels much stronger to me though, so it's very odd to see us being 1000-1 to win the title. I'm expecting at least a mid-table finish this year once again, our squad is growing but still feels a bit thin at certain positions. The bookies still expect Binh Duong to challenge for the title, as per usual, with SLNA & Gia Lai hanging close. But it should be a lot more loose in the middle of the table, which certainly gives us some hope as league prize money is huge for our finances. I've also decided on an Asymmetric 4-4-2 with a pressing forward & inside forward, the formation that helped us gain promotion in a nearly-undefeated season. Let's see how we do!

[Mascarpone]

Phù Đổng FC — May 2025

The switch to 4-4-2 this season seems to have given us momentum that we've needed for a while now. We started off with strong wins against mid-table teams Hai Phong & DT Long An, before letting two slip past against Quang Nam in a ridiculously unlucky game for us (we hit the woodwork 4 times). We then followed up with another pair of successes in the league against arguably weaker sides than us, then narrowly losing against current-leaders Gia Lai, and going back to an inconsistent with two mirror-performances against Nam Dinh and SLNA, respectively.

This should be taken with a grain of salt, as a win for SLNA would let them slide ahead of us into fourth place. Still, this is a strong start to the season & very reminiscent to the year when we looked like contenders for the title. Our form is a bit shaky though, and with a hard run of fixtures I am preparing for the worst. With that being said, we've hit half of last year's point totals in only 8 games, which suggests improvement if anything. It's crazy what happens when the board doesn't sell your players. On that note, Nguyen Van Hiep (YP24a) seems to have become a regular for Vietnam U23, which shows how competent of a player he is. Surprised we haven't even seen interest from Binh Duong yet, he must be one of those high-CA-low-PA combinations. I'm not complaining though!

[Mascarpone]

Phù Đổng FC — May 2025

No words.

As you can see, we're doing much worse than we were early on in the season. It really is a mix of our competition picking up the pace and us suffering the consequences of having a thin squad in terms of quality depth at some key positions. Binh Duong and SLNA have AFC Cup qualification basically on lock, but the three-point distance between 3rd and 7th makes for an interesting ending to the season. Not to us, though.

This is a snapshot of the injuries our team suffered at one point in time (mid-June?). Ngo Hong Viet (YP21d) & Tran Minh Chien (YP22l) is our centre-back pairing, Ngo Anh Dung (YP21m), Nguyen Huu Thang (YP22o) are also starters, and Nguyen Dinh Bao (YP24c) could be considered a starter since his presence as pressing forward is key in games where we're considered underdogs (which is most games). FM found a way to turn our fortunes around, which made us take less points our last 13 games than in the first 8. We'll see how the season unwinds, continental competition seems pretty far-fetched, so we'll aim to finish the season as well as possible and hold on to our standing. 

[Mascarpone]

Phù Đổng FC — Youth Intake, October 2025

A great intake, arguably our best since the start of the save. Sure, the last one may have been more prolific in terms of 5-star players, but this gives us good quality depth. Two starter-quality centre-backs is amazing, and gives us depth that is very needed at this position; the fact that both of them have even more potential is an added bonus, really, even if the personalities aren't great. The two tagged midfielders will also be useful, and the striker may even be a starter next year.

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Without going too far in the evaluation of these prospects, the standouts are quite obvious. Nguyen Hong Son (YP25a) comes to mind, he's likely to slot in somewhere in our formation, may even provoke a change to a three-man midfield with more advanced wingers. Not exactly sure where the two goalkeepers and the striker will rank in our hierarchy by the time next season starts. One of the two centre-backs will take Tran Minh Chien (YP23c)'s place in the starting lineup, and the other one will share the bench with him. Again, those players' roles will all depend on the transfer window and whether or not we can keep our best players grounded at Phu Dong. Next, season review!

[Mascarpone]

Phù Đổng FC — Season Review, October 2025

Mixed emotions about those last five games, securing a draw on the final matchday was key in us securing this position, especially considering our form going into the Da Nang tie. The 7-3 loss hurts a lot, even more considering all I said about us trying to establish a rivalry with Binh Duong. They did have to pay us £1.1k (+4.9k in future instalments) after Pham Van Thanh (YP23a)'s transfer to Hai Phong. 

This our worst league finish in 4 seasons mainly because of the injuries we had to suffer in the busiest period of the season. Our form took a dip around June and never truly recovered, leading us to a disappointing 10th-place finish (that is still likely to help our reputation). We were predicted to go down though, as usual, so this over-performing was very appreciated by the board. 

Our lineup is also starting to grow in both ability and experience. Le Manh Dung (YP21n) and Nguyen Van Tuan (YP23m) had amazing individual seasons, Cao Anh Tuan (YP23n) also had a good season and received a well-deserved U19 call-up; would not be surprised if Binh Duong came knocking for him once again in the next transfer window. Lai Van Long also spent the season working on the appearances record, surpassing Hoang Thanh Tung's totals and hitting 118 league appearances in his time at the club. Also, great news for our finances with this new kit sponsor. All in all, bit of a disappointing season but if we can keep our best players home like we did last winter, every season will be better than the one before. On to the next!

[Sheriff7]

Hi mate.Great workWhich skin you use there?

[Mascarpone]

On 01/03/2020 at 02:42, Sheriff7 said:

Hi mate.Great workWhich skin you use there?

Thanks mate! I've been using the FM19 Neub Skin, dark.

[Mascarpone]

Phù Đổng FC — March 2026

After pre-season, we've decided to go for an asymmetric 4-4-2 with Le Manh Dung (YP21n) featuring as an inside forward on the right side. Do Xuan Binh (YP25f) is one of four players from the last intake to make it in the starting lineup, even if he'll likely be rotating with Nguyen Van Dung (YP22p). Note the quality of our midfield, including another recent youth product in Nguyen Hong Son (YP25a) earning a spot alongside one of the club's greatest ever players in a two-man pairing in the midfield. The attack will likely change, Nguyen Van Cuong (YP25c) is fighting with three other players of similar ability for that position; a decent problem to have, although they all have 3rd-tier/2nd-tier ability according to my HOYD; not Van Tuan though, he's top-tier quality!

We're seeing more and more of our players make it to the national team, maybe a result of our club and players' reputations growing over time. Nguyen Van Hiep (YP24a) is already a regular for the U23s and if I'm being honest, I'm not exactly sure how he hasn't got an international call-up yet. His competition is Martin Trinh, the only Vietnamese to play abroad (in Sweden, second tier iirc), which may explain why. Nguyen Van Tuan (YP23m), Nguyen Hong Son (YP25a) and Ho Van Phong (YP25g) also got U19 call-ups, which is even more impressive considering the latter two are only 16 years of age.

 

Nguyen Van Hiep (YP24a) is apparently considered the best player in the league, only one year after rising through our ranks. He's been impressive, but hasn't garnered interest from Binh Duong so surely, he can't be that good?! Regardless, this is very impressive and gives a good indication of the level of our squad. We also have much better odds for the title than last year, at 200-1 to win the title, with newly promoted teams both being 5 times less likely to win the title. This'll be a close race though, the team has been getting increasingly better and who knows where we'll be sitting by the end of the season. No expectations but to exceed this media prediction this season, we'll hope for the best but we have to stay up this year, at least that's the board's take on the situation.

[Mascarpone]

Phù Đổng FC — May 2026

I have no words. I knew this was going to be a tough season, but we somehow managed to fail in grabbing a point in our first six league games, which is a club record. As is customary at this point, we started the season with a loss against Binh Duong at home, before getting well-deserved losses against Quang Nam & SLNA, the latter of which hurt even more considering we conceded an 81st minute penalty and that they are fighting for the title. Without getting too deep in the cup exit, the most frustrating game was the 6-0 record loss against Dak Lak, favourites to go down. At that point, I realized we needed to change something and opted for a flat 4-4-2 instead of the usual asymmetric 4-3-1-2; despite the loss, we looked more convincing and created two great chances; an accomplishment for us, since we had only scored two league goals at the time. We followed with a convincing display away at Da Nang and getting our first point, before winning against relegation favourites Kien Giang and conceding a draw in a game we should've won against Quang Ninh.

The league table is far from pretty, but in terms of form we must be around mid-table. Despite the mess, it's important to notice the number of games played and our goal differential, which was strongly affected by the Da Nang loss. An awful start to the season, but there's plenty of football left to play and we'll have to be working hard to turn it around and escape the relegation zone.

[Mascarpone]

Phù Đổng FC — August 2026

Outside of the Binh Duong loss we suffered (away), most of these results are us overachieving. The Kien Giang draw is frustrating for so many reasons, mainly because we dominated them in terms of clear cut chances. Losing by only one goal against three of the top four teams is not bad in itself, and stealing a draw against Gia Lai was a good result as well (although we should've gotten a point against SLNA, if it wasn't for an 81st minute penalty we conceded). Solid defensive performances all around.

Which have brought us clear of the relegation zone. Our form, excluding the run of losses against at the beginning of the season, would've essentially guaranteed us a mid-table finish, but I can't complain about the results we've been getting. And the team has been making progress, Nguyen Van Hiep (YP24a) was actually wanted in Europe by Valenciennes (French Ligue 2) for a few weeks, before they withdrew their interest in early August. He doesn't want to renew (contract expires in October 2027), and they haven't offered us anything yet, so we may be forced to let him go on a free; or worst yet, have to offer him out on our own terms in the Winter. He keeps progressing though, so they may see a ceiling in him that we can't even comprehend (his CA is already 5* here). It's interesting that they're scouting all the way in Vietnam though, but if we can get a resale clause, I'm not complaining; it's for the greater good of the NT & the save after all!

[Mascarpone]

Phù Đổng FC — Youth Intake, October 2026

Yet another solid intake, we're getting important depth at many key positions and an absolutely stellar striker, who may become the next big thing. This was also labeled as a golden generation, just like the eight (or nine?) crops before, but the main thing to retain from this is the lower PA recommendations. Our team seems to be getting better & harder to break into, at least quality-wise! Also, a few players from the neighbouring city of Dong Ha, including the star of the intake.

   

   

Five players were worthy of being tagged, the most interesting one taking the name of Le Van Thanh (YP26a). Physically and mentally, he looks much better than the rest of the team except for a few senior players, and he has a nice reputation & personality which will do wonders for his development, as will the free-kick taking duties he'll take on. Nguyen Van Giang (YP26b) is the other key player here, as he'll be our starting left-back and rotating with Pham Van Aanh, who's hit somewhat of a ceiling in his development despite being an amazing servitor to the club (and one of our best players, ever). With Nguyen Van Hiep (YP24a)'s contract expiring fairly soon and him being reluctant to sign again, both Van Aanh and Van Giang may end up sharing the fullback roles, due to the former's versatility. Hopefully, our U23 international will decide to renew his trust in the team!

[Mascarpone]

Phù Đổng FC — Season Review, October 2026

Lots of close games, the missed opportunities against Da Nang and Quang Ninh made it feel like we were definitely a relegation team, but the dominating win against Nam Dinh was enough to see us five points clear of the relegation play-offs.

It wasn't pretty, but in the end we've managed to climb out of the relegation zone and stay clear off of another play-off to stay in the top tier. The awful run of fixtures early in the year definitely affected our league position, and our finances have looked a bit shaky, but this is one of the realities of a youth academy challenge after all. Regardless of how I feel about the results, we managed to meet media expectations by achieving a 12th-place finish above the two newly promoted teams.

Plenty of quality players in this XI, which features the inclusion of young superstar Nguyen Van Hiep (YP24a) and our starting goalkeeper Nguyen Van Dung (YP22p), both of which had great seasons individually despite being let down by the rest of the team. Our captain Ngo Hong Viet (YP21d) also overtook the appearances record set by his teammate, achieving a very similar average rating over time. In other news, although he isn't listed, Duong Van Viet (YP21f) has officially become the first Phù Dong product to make his debut with the Vietnam NT! Granted, he did it as a Binh Duong player, but this doesn't take away from the fact that the academy is gaining some sort of standing and reputation. Onto the next season, as usual!

PS: If you'd like more screenshots of certain players, tactics, squads, transfers, feel free to ask!