[FM20] Tequila and Mariachi?

[Jimbokav1971]

I haven't read any of your thread at all other than the post you tagged me in. That 1 post is a better laid out and better written version of something that I could have written so you have certainly piqued my interest.

I have a few threads on the list to catch up with and yours will be added to the list. 

Good luck. 

[_Ben_]

November/December 2035

 

We are completely style over substance right now.

To be sat fifth with my top scorer being my centre back from the penalty spot and a grand total of 1.00 GF/90 and 0.64 GA/90 - we're just a team full of possession. A lot of the issue is that Neyveson is in terrible form and my other wingers Samuel (AR: 6.55), Gualberto Esquival (AR: 6.62 ), Ruimar Evaristo (AR: 6.78) and Lyndson (AR: 6.64 ) aren't much better. In fact, we only have two players over the 7.0 AR now. I know that this isn't everything and we are still playing some fantastic football, slicing defences apart, keeping the ball well etc but we are just failing to put it into the net and win games as convincingly as we certainly should.

Given our play, again, I'd take the season ending right now.

[_Ben_]

Wonderkid

Probably the most talked about lad from my academy in recent years. He's turning into something really special!

[_Ben_]

9 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I haven't read any of your thread at all other than the post you tagged me in. That 1 post is a better laid out and better written version of something that I could have written so you have certainly piqued my interest.

I have a few threads on the list to catch up with and yours will be added to the list. 

Good luck. 

Many thanks! Look forward to reading your thoughts.

[XaW]

I haven't read this thread (but I'm starting now!), so I'm answering mostly based on the post you tagged me in @_Ben_.

I've tried to find out what influences intakes mostly, but I don't have any definite answer yet. What I can say, based on my own anecdotal experience is that better staff personalities give better personalities in the intake. To go a bit back I had two posts that made me interested in youth development in FM. The first one was Cleon's thread about development Ajax style. That was back with FM13, and that's when I starting doing things along those lines. Around that time there were also a big thread about the personality and how to look at them. Those two threads, where the ones I used as my basic for how to do things, in addition to @Jimbokav1971, especially his Icelandic adventures.

Now, FM have changed a lot since FM13, so not everything in those threads are 100% correct, but a lot of main topics are more or less the same today. So, for coaches I value their personality higher than the attributes, but I also try to find the best attributes as well. I also try to pick the coach with the fewest coaching badges, since getting those seems to boost their attributes most. So a guy with no badges will grow faster than one with everything, at least that's how I've experienced it.

Another thing regarding intakes, that I copied from a post by @Seb Wassell, is that the HoYD is the most important person in regards to everything around an intake:

Quote

Head of Youth Development (HoYD)
The club’s HoYD is responsible for bringing Newgens into the club. He will influence what “type” of players are selected and can partially or fully pass on his personality to some of these Newgens. The “type” of players selected refers to a player’s position and style, for instance a HoYD with a preferred 4-5-1 formation and a Technical Coaching Style may produce more technically styled midfielders than another HoYD.
The HoYD will also influence the rare “freak” or exceptional Newgens that come through, modifying their ability and style.
This role is filled by the HoYD by default, however if none is employed whichever staff member is set to be responsible for youth development will fill this role.

Note that he is the one that "can partially or fully pass on his personality". So, I think the selection of that staff member is the most important person (other than the manager) at the club, if you are focusing on youth. But not only his personality, but also his style of play.

Also, youth coaching would have an impact, I assume.

Quote

Junior Coaching
The quality and quantity of Junior Coaches at the Club.

Since the U18 coaches work with U18 players, not the "unrevealed newgens", I assume more money into the youth coaching would have better coaches at those levels?

While youth recruitment do give you better players, there's no mentioning of personalities here.

Quote

Producing Newgens
The Clubs with the best Youth Recruitment will generally pick up the best Junior talent from that Nation first, the scale of that talent being determined by the Nation Youth Rating and Game Importance. The lower the Youth Recruitment the further down the pecking order a club will find itself. Two clubs with identical Youth Recruitment will be sorted by Club Reputation. Being lower down this pecking order does not mean quality Newgens cannot be produced, it simply lowers the chances.
Youth Facilities and Junior Coaching then simulate and determine how that Junior progresses in the Club’s Junior system until a Newgen is produced and appears in game. It is at this point that the Current Ability (CA) and Potential Ability (PA) of the newgens are decided. The above factors all contribute to both CA and PA equally.

I kind of want to experiment a bit with this, but I'm still having so much fun with FM20, that I haven't done things like that yet.

Now, I guess I should read this whole thread, to see if I'm simply writing stuff you already knew, or if I have brought something new to the table...

[Jimbokav1971]

1 minute ago, XaW said:

The first one was Cleon's thread about development Ajax style. That was back with FM13, and that's when I starting doing things along those lines.

This is the Bible as far as Youth Development is concerned. Granted it has become the Old Testament and is a little out of date in some areas, the general principles in it remain largely the same. There was a time when I had that thread permanently open on my browser. 

[Jimbokav1971]

4 minutes ago, XaW said:

Another thing regarding intakes, that I copied from a post by @Seb Wassell, is that the HoYD is the most important person in regards to everything around an intake:

Seb has come out with some really insightful stuff over the last 18 months or so. I know SI don't like spoon-feeding us, but I think the willingness to allow him to clarify things in this area have been a real step forward. When Seb talks about this, listen, think, go back and read again and think some more. He's actually very good at imparting info. 

[XaW]

3 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

This is the Bible as far as Youth Development is concerned. Granted it has become the Old Testament and is a little out of date in some areas, the general principles in it remain largely the same. There was a time when I had that thread permanently open on my browser. 

Yeah, I still use the book mark and read some when I'm unsure of things.

Just now, Jimbokav1971 said:

Seb has come out with some really insightful stuff over the last 18 months or so. I know SI don't like spoon-feeding us, but I think the willingness to allow him to clarify things in this area have been a real step forward. When Seb talks about this, listen, think, go back and read again and think some more. He's actually very good at imparting info. 

Yes, and especially since the development centre came to be, he has been very forthcoming regarding things that were a bit unclear in the past. The first post in the youth challenge thread contains the quotes I posted and a few more bits of info.

[_Ben_]

Wonderful insight from both of you, thanks @Jimbokav1971 and @XaW!

I'll pick out a few things:

37 minutes ago, XaW said:

What I can say, based on my own anecdotal experience is that better staff personalities give better personalities in the intake

I am finding this, too. Again, from a small sample. No M.Citizen in thirteen intakes but three in the last two since appointing a M.Citizen HoYD. Time will tell on whether than continues.

38 minutes ago, XaW said:

So, for coaches I value their personality higher than the attributes, but I also try to find the best attributes as well. I also try to pick the coach with the fewest coaching badges, since getting those seems to boost their attributes most. So a guy with no badges will grow faster than one with everything, at least that's how I've experienced it.

This is now my plan moving forward - as I've never been able to change a coaches personality.

35 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

This is the Bible as far as Youth Development is concerned. Granted it has become the Old Testament and is a little out of date in some areas, the general principles in it remain largely the same.

I can't tell you how many times I've read this! Thanks for the re-link though.

--

If we are all kind of unsure, I'll see what I can find out and report back!

[_Ben_]

Youth Intake Preview

This looks great!

• My wingers are performing badly and there isn't much depth (Alejandro and Almansour aside).
• Attacking midfielder could be the academy player to displace Neyveson/Ronaldo at some point.
• Forwards can always be retrained to goalscoring midfielders.
• I'm stacked for wing backs so that's fine
• I have Ortega and Herrero who are standout prospects at CB so not too worried.

The only negative is that I don't have any decent looking defensive midfielders and we are short there!

[_Ben_]

Mohamoud Almansour and Gualberto Esquivel - Player Development

(I'm very much talking about potential here and assuming that both of these players will reach it)

I currently have the above winger, Almansour, nearly a year into his career here and Gualberto Esquivel, half a season into his first team and a year and a half into his tenure here. The problem is that they both play in the same place. 

----

I've got a couple of options, and I'm unsure which to go for:

Option One - Convert Almansour to a right sided inside forward.

• He's got great finishing
• I always prefer inside forwards who can finish to be cutting inside rather than being forced outside to narrow the angle.
• Esquivel can continue as a playmaker type on the left - he'll be deeper and, as such, I'm not as worried about his foot.
• Dario Samaniego (RB) is not quite as offensive so it's ok to have a more attacking player ahead of him.
• Almansour can't cross so this removes the idea of him being pushed wide and forced to put balls in to the box, whereas Esquivel can do this.

 

Option Two - Convert Esquivel to a right sided playmaker

• My Mez(A) is currently on the right side so this removes two really offensive players from one side of the pitch
• The RPM(S) is on the left side of the midfield two so this could create some good interplay. 
• Having a playmaker who can cut inside will open up some space.

----

I'm erring on the side of option one...

[metallimuse]

So with regards to coaches/staff having big input...

Does their preferred tactics/formation/playing style have much impact on player development?

With my HOYD/Ass Man/Under X managers I have been rigid with getting people in who share my same tactical and playing style, I'd assume it is beneficial but is it something I should be overly concerned about? 

Certainly my HOYD I feel it is important but maybe less so the other roles?

[wesl]

Seeing how goalscoring has been an issue, I would move Esquivel further back and try to field a front 3 of more 'natural goalscorers'. But I think you should take into account what kind of 'lower-end' prospects you have in the right wing or as midfield playmakers.

[_Ben_]

2 hours ago, metallimuse said:

So with regards to coaches/staff having big input...

Does their preferred tactics/formation/playing style have much impact on player development?

With my HOYD/Ass Man/Under X managers I have been rigid with getting people in who share my same tactical and playing style, I'd assume it is beneficial but is it something I should be overly concerned about? 

Certainly my HOYD I feel it is important but maybe less so the other roles?

I don't know, is the short answer but I've always felt like there is more to it, hence my current investigation.

The HoYD's personality and formations/style etc, definitely - and that has been confirmed. All other staff, I would say yes to. Interestingly, and maybe because I've been here so long, whenever I sign anyone - they automatically take the clubs preferred style of play:

I, as a rule, have tried to keep the formations roughly the same - a 4-4-1-1 has flat midfielders whereas a 4-2-3-1 has wingers, but that is fine with retraining. It is only the 4-3-1-2 of the U19 Assistant who differs from this, but not hugely.

If it does nothing in game, then, for me, it's worth it for cosmetic/immersion purposes.

[_Ben_]

2 hours ago, wesl said:

Seeing how goalscoring has been an issue, I would move Esquivel further back and try to field a front 3 of more 'natural goalscorers'. But I think you should take into account what kind of 'lower-end' prospects you have in the right wing or as midfield playmakers.

Here is my squad depth outside of the first team:

AML: Paulinho Pizarro, 

AMR: Almansour (above), Alejandro, Felipe Amor, 

Then there are several poorer prospects who are being developed as part of the club ethos.

---

So, in hindsight, it makes sense to keep one of them there. However, I'm tempted to move for Quique Garcia as he's unhappy at Celta. It'll be a massive transfer but if I can unsettle him, he'd be ideal on the left I think (he's stronger on his right foot and, as I said, I like to play wrong-footed forwards). I think a front three of Garcia, Neyveson and Almansour (should he develop) would give me enough finishing ability.

But where for Esquivel? I am toying with left back also, but Celsinho is a star player and he'd really have to fulfil all of his potential to usurp him. He would, however, make a nice WB/IF combo on the left hand side though.

Lots to think about!

[_Ben_]

New signing?

The charm offensive begins. Not sure I want to pay that much for him but we've got the money...

[_Ben_]

Milestone

That's 1.25 GF vs 0.77 GA with a 47% win percentage.

Made even more pleasing with how tight we've been financially:

That works out at just €361k per transfer in and €1.218m per transfer out.

Edited April 10, 2020 by _Ben_

[_Ben_]

Quique Garcia watch

Context: Sergio Busquets was watching him and Celta are bottom of the league. If he can do that for them, imagine what he could do for us?!

[_Ben_]

Quique Garcia watch

So, we've carried on watching him and I got Carlos Alberto to try and promote the club to him. Interestingly, I noticed that the deal amount had dropped from €68m to €45.5m - maybe an indication that I was wearing them down. I decided to up the constant €30m I was offered to €45m and it was accepted.

His agent has accepted the below offer and I'll see where this goes:

---

With Celta bottom and him having a 25% relegation reduction to his wages, I could probably get him cheaper but Barca and Watford (no joke - they're a good team now!) are circling. This is literally the most money I've ever spent on FM but I think it's a good deal. Just a reminder - this is Quique and he's maybe the best 20 year old in Europe right now:

 

[Mikaelinho]

Wow, Quique looks like the finished product at age 20. What a player!

[_Ben_]

January/February 2036

I don't know if you can pinpoint the exact moment we changed our shape - but I'll tell you: after 90 dour minutes against UCAM Murcia. We moved from the strikerless 4-1-2-3 to a similarly strikerless (in play, anyway) 4-1-2-3. The formation uses Ronaldo as a F9, dropping back into the midfield to play and has seen Neyveson switch to the wider roles, for now. If he plays on the left, I move the Mez(a) to the right as these are my two most offensive players (on Very attacking) and it's been nice to see them make play as the two most advanced players. If he moves to the right, again as an IF(a), we simply flip the midfield around. I'm yet to fully decide on whether to have an IW(s) or an IF(s) on the other side. The IW's mentality is Balanced whereas the IF is Attacking - so it'll be a tool I can use in matches. The best change though, for me, has been the use of the TI 'Overlap' on either flank. It means that, despite using an IWB(s) on both sides - the one on the side that we are attacking, comes past the IW(s) and up to the IF(a) whilst the other one tucks inside, essentially as a deep and (formerly) wide pivot.

This highlight, which led to a wonderful goal by Neyveson shows our style here. Marlon Lucas, number two, playing at right back, starts his overlap whereas Celsinho, the number three, and left back, sits inside alongside number 6, Carlos Alberto, who was the DM at the time. Some nice, patient play between my midfield, (number 10 is Escobar, number 8 is Bono and number 11 is Lyndson) before the ball is moved out wide to the most offensive player on the pitch, number 9 Neyveson - who then finishes really well.

----

Over the past two months, we've played fantastic football. Player form is massively increased and we are doing much better - hence the wonderful winning streak we put together. I was worried that it'd backfired but tired legs got us through the Osasuna and Levante game before we roared back with a great win at Zaragoza. We scored three wonder goals against Mallorca: Ronaldo volleying in from 12 yards following a crossfield ball to Samuel who's cushioned header found the Brazilian's right peg, Samuel himself scoring a 20 yard screamer from the right side of the box and Mejia scoring a 20-yard volley on his left peg and then continued against Celta with an easy win. We were poor against Valladolid and got away with a point after Fulvio saved a penalty but finished unbeaten after a good win over Sociedad and another draw against Valladolid.

Our cup form has been good as we've knocked out Sevilla and fortunately held our nerve against a rotated, but still strong, Barca side. We played well in an even tie against Sociedad and the away leg victory gives me real hope that we can make our first ever Copa del Rey final. We'll more than likely face Athletic if we make the final as they're 3-0 up from their away leg at Depor.

We are also still in the Europa League, but we seemed to get a bye for the first round of knockout fixtures - never the less I am concerned about being in three competitions and how the fixture pile up will affect our small squad. I will have to be incredibly careful with rotation over the next few months.

----

I also let a couple of B-team players leave: Guillen and Juan Francisco move on as part of my promise to develop players fit for professional football if not my own squads. I will get 50% of their next fee on the chance that they develop well. 

In first team news, Israel Escobar has signed a new 5-year deal as I look to tie down a player that, admittedly, I didn't really fancy when he generated but has now become probably the best youth player I've produced. Here is my top 5 as well as the data from their first year in the academy:

5. Alex Villasanti

4. Juan Jose Bono

3. Juan Francisco Mejia

2. Diego Samaniego

1. Israel Escobar

With the improvemt in Training Facilities in the past few years, it'd be interesting to see how the likes of Bono would have developed if he'd entered now - instead, he's made only the 30th (of 50+) best growth over the year and was the only one to get first team minutes. Also, Alex played in the first ever B-team season; a really poor squad that just about held it's own and I wonder if that poor team held back his performances and his development, somewhat.

It's time to put some effort into developing a centre back and a forward - I'm hoping that Herrero and Almansour (who has incredibly quickly moved to an accomplished AMR - literally, he's gone from nothing to accomplished in 1 month of training and playing there)  to fill those gaps!

----

At the start of the lockdown, I was getting a little bored of this save and, I must admit, with the poor on-field performances in the last eighteen months, was close to giving up. This tactical tweak and a look through some players has really re-invigorated the save for me and I'm now really excited about my youth intake and finishing the season strong.

[_Ben_]

5 hours ago, Mikaelinho said:

Wow, Quique looks like the finished product at age 20. What a player!

He certainly is! If I am being ultra critical - I'd like some better natural fitness and I think his mental attributes could do with growing (concentration and off the ball) as well as his personality, but, for 20 and for a price that is €70m+ less than I thought I'd pay - I won't complain!

Here is a comparison between he and Spain's best player as well as the last winner of the Ballon D'Or:

Luis Robles

Attributes

Comparison

Maurizio Simonini

Attributes

Comparison

Robles is in a world of his own scoring wise but Simonini is an interesting comparison, as they are both Either footed. He's certainly one of the best forwards in the game, and may go on to be the best. It's a great move for the club but kind of a shame that the first truly world class player won't be from my academy.

 

[_Ben_]

Europa League Draw

There's no easy games at this stage of the competition. I'll take Werder - fifth in the Bundesliga. If you compare it to the Champions League Draw, we've managed to avoid any real titans in the competition, but further progress won't be easy.

[_Ben_]

Squad Progress

Something new I wanted to look at this year is the overall development of all of the players within the team, to look at what happens after the year that I normally monitor in terms of development trends. It'll also show me those players who have peaked, and, probably, have reached their potentially as well as show me players who have declined.

Firstly - the players who have made the most development in their time. These are players who, on the whole, have had three data entry points as they were my youth intake last season, so I have their mean attribute score at the start and at the end:

There is little surprise in the names here as they are the top players largely on my Youth Development Tracker - although it's interesting to see that in the (near) year since they came from the tracking - that the best growth is 'only' 1 mean point - whereas Abel Gonzalez nearly doubled that last year. Catalan and Amor look as if they'll be joining the top ten list on the player development after this year.

Overall, as seen by how un-green the 'Best' column is - these palyers aren't amongst my best players yet and none of them feature in the first team. It's Jose Angel who tops the list with a ridiculous amount of development in the two years since his arrival at the club - it;s just a shame he isn't getting many minutes in the B-team.

This is to be expected here really and I will predominantly use my 'First Year Tracker' to see who is destined for the first team and this will be kept to look at those late bloomers, of which I haven't really noticed in my save.

---

The below graph is interesting - it shows who has made no (or very very little) progress this year:

Now - using the colour scale - I can exclude players from my 'fire' list - Bono, Alberto, Neyveson  and Samaniego are all safe as they are important members of the squad. Lyndson, Villasanti, Samuel, Navarro and Oprea are all squad members who are dispensable but in light of my steady build, probably won't move on. However - look at the likes of Israel Gonzalez (in his fourth season) and Miguel Angel Miyar (destined to be my worst first season developer ever) - and we've found players who really need to be out of the club. From this data - I can start piecing together data on what makes a poor developer:

Gonzalez:

• Unambitious (Ambition 1-5, Loyalty 11-20, Professionalism <18, Leader <19)
• Level Headed (Professionalism 13-20, Loyalty 12-20)
• Poor (less than 5) Determination

Miyar:

• Low Determination (Professionalism <18, Leader <19)
• Media Friendly (no extra info gained)
• Poor (less than 5) Determination

Felipe:

• Fickle (Loyalty 4-6, Ambition 16-20, Determination <17, Professionalism <18, Leader <19)
• Outspoken (Controversy 15-20)
• Volatile (Temperament 3-6)
• Confrontational (Temperament 1-7, Sportsmanship 1-7)
• Good (10-14) Determination.

Small sample here but it looks as if Ambition plays a part, particularly with Gonzalez when he's reasonably professional but it's also important to look at the media handling as it seems that Felipe has the worst three - he's controversial, has an awful temperament and isn't a good sportsman. 

---

It's also interesting to look at Alberto Ropero who is actually decreasing in ability. He is not the strongest member of the first team but I can probably attribute that to a two month injury he suffered, missing a lot of the season, taking away some physical ability and reducing his bravery.

[_Ben_]

International call ups

Beating our record set earlier in the season and the U21 backline of Samaniego - Fernandez - X - Celsinho is look very Guadalajara based!

[_Ben_]

First Senior Spanish International

Kind of fitting that it's against Mexico, the country that the save was initially based around and kind of fitting that it was a Brazilian to Spanish convert - like I've had a lot of in this save. He did ok:

[_Ben_]

2036 Youth Intake

Ok - so a pretty much overhauled youth setup, coaching wise, shouldn't really impact the quality of players that come into this intake but I'm trying to figure out if they impact the personalities of them. Below is the breakdown of the favoured personnel:

Again - I am to blame for a lot of the poor personalities (the scale goes green-orange-yellow-red) as nobody with a good personality will join, probably due to the importance of ambition. Reguero seems to also be the stem of several poor personalities that like him:

Reguero:

Professional: Professionalism 18-19, Temperament 10-20

Unflappable: Temperament 15-20, Pressure 15-20

Which would leave his personality attributes as:

• Professionalism: 18-19
• Temperament: 15-20
• Pressure: 15-20
• Ambition: 1-20
• Pressure: 1-20
• Sportmanship: 1-20
• Controversy: 1-20

We clearly do not know how ambitious Reguero is so he may be the source of this. I chose to focus on him and not Carlos Roberto as the M.Cit has Ambition between 12 and 20. It is also worth noting that the two with good personalities both are linked in relationships to the HoYD.

----

Gustavo Martelli. Daniel Barreda. Rodrigo Santos. Cesar. 

Martelli is Driven (Determination 18-20, Ambition 12-20) and Level Headed (Professionalism 13-20, Loyalty 12-20) so he's at least average in all of the areas that I want for development (Pro/Amb/Det). He's also good and in an area where we don't have a lot of depth, defensive midfield. I'll need to work on his trait of dwelling on the ball as I don't see any positives from that, to be fair.

Barreda is Model Citizen (Determination 14-20, Professionalism 15-20, Ambition 12-20, Loyalty 15-20, Pressure 14-20, Sportsmanship 15-20, Temperament 15-20), Evasive (Professionalism 15-20, Pressure 15-20) [adds only that Pressure can't be 14] and Unflappable (Temperament 15-20, Pressure 15-20) [adds nothing new] - so is coming in with essentially the best mix of known Personality/MH. Again - he's also a good player but the crossing and dribbling deficiency means that I'll need to think carefully about where I want to position him in the long run.

Santos is Light Hearted (Pressure 15-20, Sportsmanship 15-20, Determination <18, Professionalism <18, Leader <19) and Unflappable  (Temperament 15-20, Pressure 15-20) so I can't really ascertain much above either his ambition or professionalism and can see his Determination is between 10 and 14. He has though, got the promising midfielder tag - a sign that he may have high potential. He's good on the ball.

Cesar is also Light Hearted, Unflappable and Media Friendly (which is the balanced of MH) and also has the promising tag. Sadly, his finishing is poor so I'm looking for another role for him.

---

As with the past two years, all of these are going to be signed and monitored. Barreda and Martelli aside - I actually think this is quite a weak intake in terms of true first team talent. I hope to proven wrong.

[_Ben_]

2035 Intake: One Year On

What has changed?

• Almansour progressing to a five star potential player. He's also become a mainstay in the B team at just 17.
• Amor turning his personality around despite no mentoring - solely on the squad personality. He's also performing well in the B team.
• Herrero putting a whole gold star onto his perceived PA. Making great strides in the B team.
• Felipe, documented above, has lost half a star. He has no future. Miyar - further down and making just as poor progress - hasn't had any changes.
• Despite the good personality of Rojas - his perceived PA hasn't changed.

Gustavo Catalan:

My 'project' from last year - to see how well a 'bottom of the PPA list' player with a good personality could do. Below is a quick snapshot (obv doesn't show much), of his before and after:

His decisions are now good, as is his flair, anticipation and a whole host of physical attributes. However, it is this that really shows the extent of his development. He's Unflappable (Temperament 15-20, Pressure 15-20) and Professional (Professionalism 18-19, Temperament 10-20) and feels that 'he has a strong connection with Dani Uriate' (the Model Citizen - which shows, to me, that his other personality attributes are going to be good) and has 6 goals in 13(1) B-team games at an average rating of 7.21.

What is more - it is considered this:

Meaning that, a once 1.5* PPA player, who has now reached it, is considered able to improve even more. Being honest, he's never going to make the first team, but he could make a tidy lower league striker and that is what the aim of this save is - producing good quality players able to stay in the professional game.

[_Ben_]

Daniel Barreda: Youth Development

Ok - so this lad has just come into my squad and I'm really excited about a) his potential and b) his personality. Just a reminder, this is what I wrote about his personality when he joined:

 

15 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

Barreda is Model Citizen (Determination 14-20, Professionalism 15-20, Ambition 12-20, Loyalty 15-20, Pressure 14-20, Sportsmanship 15-20, Temperament 15-20), Evasive (Professionalism 15-20, Pressure 15-20) [adds only that Pressure can't be 14] and Unflappable (Temperament 15-20, Pressure 15-20) [adds nothing new] - so is coming in with essentially the best mix of known Personality/MH.

----

I noted that he's completed unsuited for an attacking role - he can't dribble, cross, shoot from distance, work as a team and his anticipation, composure and concentration are poor (although, somewhat to be expected of a player of his age).

Therefore, I'm thinking about an IWB with a Defensive Positioning focus:

This takes into account his good Tackling and Decisions. I'll have to work on his Marking and Positioning as well as all of the other mental attributes I like but I feel that there are less weak areas here than there would be for an Inside Forward, or any other offensive position. Also - he's really good on the ball and that'll be a key factor in our ball playing ability with how we play out from the back.

---

I'm excited to see how he develops!

[_Ben_]

Streamlining the B-squad

Very much in a procrastinating mood rather than a playing mood this afternoon so looking at the 'ideal' B-team squad. This squad, for me, is all about preparing players for the first team and, as such, I'll actually select the team at the start of the season - leaving it so that any injuries etc are dealt with by the actual B team Manager. This works reasonably well and I can then leave an open space if I have two or three players vying for rotational spots.

After the youth intake - I'd say that these 11 are the players I'd want to focus on as most of these have a realistic chance of making the first team:

(N.B: I've added CA and PA stars so that you can visualise these a bit easier)

These players all have the current ability to be good players in the third tier of Spanish football, where my B squad plays. The majority of them have positive personalities (look at the four M.Citizens [Rafa Aguilar didn't even generate as that, which is even better!]) and are largely settled. I need to teach Pizarro to develop his weaker foot but sadly, I cannot teach these players any traits until they make the first team as the option is greyed out. 

The plan is to get these players to play together and bring them up in groups at a time. Although, realistically, teams are only bringing one player into the first team every year or so (Ajax Model) - I would like to aim for two to three, but obviously this depends on their ability. My current plans are as such:

Group 1: Molinero, Uriate

Group 2: Almansour, Herrero, Martinez

Group 3: Martelli, Barreda

Group 4: Munoz

Obviously, that is eight players into the first team in the next few years - a massive amount and one that probably won't be fulfilled. I don't think that, despite their potential ability stars, the likes of Aguilar, Pizarro and Ortega have the necessary attributes to make it. Again - I'd like to be proven wrong. They are, however, good players for this team and I won't be moving them on until a) they are out of contract and want a stupid renewal, b) a player comes through the intake who has a better chance of making the team than them or c) a good offer comes in for them, with a percentage of their next sale built in.

---

That leaves the remaining B-team players:

We've, again, got some good personalities and some well rounded players. Felix Lopez and Abel Gonzalez have moved into this section with the emergence of Martelli and Barreda. Both are good players and probably won't reach the first team - so, they are for sale at the right price. I'm happy to watch them develop for longer and try and make the most money on them at the ages of 20-22 and it's not like we really need to bring in funds in a rush.

---

Everyone else is in my U19, which I have now relinquished a bit of control over - allowing the HoYD to run individual training - so that I can focus on the B squad a little more. However, my goal is to still make sure they have enough development to stay in competitive football after they leave us.

 

[_Ben_]

Copa del Rey

[_Ben_]

Guadalajara lift Copa del Rey

We lined up with a slightly more offensive strategy than normal - moving to Attacking from Positive as I wanted to put Athletic on the back foot from the first go. We nearly scored within the first twenty seconds but a last ditch block from a Neyveson shot saved the Basque's. He made amends and scored a screamer on eighteen minutes. At half time it was pretty plain sailing but I've been caught out in the position before. It was a nervy last ten and I took off Quique Fernandez as both centre backs had been booked but we held on, and, on paper, thoroughly deserved our win.

The trophy cabinet is growing:

[_Ben_]

March/April 2036

We continue to roll on with our new formation and some great results.

First of all, there was agony in the Europa League as we failed to overcome a resilient Bremen side, but, in fairness - the match fatigue was building and being removed from one competition may have helped us in others. We then had a slight dip in the league - with one point from the next two games before we roared back and smashed an out of form Atletico side, who just aren't of the same stature as they once were. Winning the Copa del Rey was a huge boost and we've also gone out to comfortably beat Granada and then snatch a last gasp draw against Betis in a game we should have won, easily.

The best thing here is that my forwards are, once again, finding the net and I look forward to the Garcia - Ronaldo - Neyveson combination next year!

---

I've made a decision to move on Gualberto Esquivel, below as he has failed to live up to expectations this year.

Granted, I am moving him to left back but, actually - I'd rather play youth graduate Rafa Molinero who is not much weaker than him when compared. The deal at the moment is seeing him move back to Paraguay for a couple of million but, importantly, with a 50% sell on fee if he does come good.

[_Ben_]

May 2036

Season done, in quite unremarkable style. Full details to come in the season round up.

[_Ben_]

2035/36 Season Review

A really strong season, considering that we added three new players to the first team - Mejia, Fernandez and Ruimar Evaristo, replacing older heads. We have equalled our best ever season and, for the second time, will be representing Spain in the Champions League next term. At the other end, it was curtains for Leganes, Zaragoza and Celta - who will be giving up their prized asset and newly-capped Spanish international, Quique Garcia. He's now only valued at €6m and will be taking a 25% cut from his €43k p/w wages so I could probably have got him cheaper than the €45m I paid for him - but waiting would have meant that we would have had to fight it out with other teams.

We also secured our first bit of big domestic silverware, winning the Copa del Rey after some good performances and a rare (penalty) win over Barca. Sadly, the Europa League was one competition too far and we've not qualified again for it this year - meaning I might not be able to complete a clean sweep of European competitions. However, the board have set out their new vision and look content with us finishing in fifth or sixth place for next few years - as surely Atletic will mount a comeback soon!

---

These average ratings would look significantly different if they were taken from January on. We've improved in almost every area going to a non-strikerless role and both Neyveson and Ronaldo have made double figures. Next year, it is essential that one of those two and Quique Garcia hit the twenty goal mark.

I can very quickly see my transition plans based on the minutes played here:

1. Quique Garcia -> Samuel. He's not played much this year and is really not good enough in front of goal. He has improved since last year but I don't feel he has the quality.

2. Dani Uriate -> Andrei Oprea. Not this summer but if he continues to offer nothing in terms of goals or assists, there is a high potential player waiting in the wings.

3. Juan Francisco Herrero -> Alberto Ropero. One of only two players I'd consider pure backups. Will surely move on when the former is ready for first team football.

4. Gustavo Martelli -> Miguel Angel Villalba. See above.

5. Mohamoud Almansour -> Lyndson. Plenty of minutes but all of his goals and assists seem to come at a time where we are already ahead. Rarely influences big games and there is good talent behind him.

---

I digress - here are some attacking comparisons:

Again - if this data had been collected from post-January, we'd see much greater improvements. Even with Samuel's big improvement - it does not take into consideration game difficulty as he has seven appearances [from possible eight] in Europa League and three in the Copa del Rey and he is largely used as a substitute or hauled off at half time anyway. Oprea is the standout under-performer as well as the biggest year on year change. This may even be a case for a short term option until I feel/if Dani Uriate is ready to step up.

The above chart compares Benjamin, my centre back up to last season (stats taken from his final season at the club) and Quique Fernandez, the man who replaced him. Whilst Quique has committed a few more fouls, he's also scored and assisted, which Benjamin was not able to do. He's winning far more key tackles and intercepting more and is more involved in the build up play - with more key passes and dribbles. I think that this change has been very much vindicated and I look forward to seeing how much more Quique can grow.

---

Not much in place for the summer. Maybe seeing if there is an experienced midfielder about to replace Oprea for a year or so and then welcoming Quique Garcia and moving towards our new offensive shape.

---

[_Ben_]

2035/36 Youth Cohort Development

Another cohort of players has gone through my tracker and this one probably marked the biggest shift - with a lot of staff changing over the course of the following season in order for me to try and streamline as many good personalities into the intake as I could. 

The average development of the cohort, brought down considerably by the bottom end (which changes the marker to 0.9 when excluding the bottom four) means that something hasn't quite gone right. Next year's cohort has a few players of promise but isn't the deepest, either.

---

To start with the negatives - this intake has seen five of the worst (and I have, historically, excluded older players from the good development so am inclined to do so with the bad development) players to come through the system. I highlighted at earlier in the season - Canizares, Diaz, Felipe and Miyar all have atrocious personalities and have made literally no development at all. They have all been released on free transfers, probably against my philosophy but also as a marker.

On the flip side, my 'project' player Gustavo Catalan has made his way into the top 5 for overall growth in the year. He was the 1* potential at the start of the year and has come on leaps and bounds. However - after the successes of last year - to only have one player in here is a shame.

However, when looking at the best mean of all attributes scale - there are more positives - with my two prospects Almansour and Herrero both making this list. Of this ten (or eight excluding Baena and Benjamin as they were in the first team) - I have successfully moved just three of those (Mejia, Samaniego and Villalba) or just 37.5% of them into the first team squad. Uriate and Aguilar are showing promise in the B side and Alejandro is coming back from a poor loan spell - with it likely being that there are no additions this season either, although Uriate is my top tip if I can move Oprea on.

---

Overall, things haven't quite gone right here but I simply cannot expect to be churning out five or six top players a year. My biggest concern here is developing the lower end, and next year's intake ha a lot there.

 

[_Ben_]

2036/37 Cohort: Preview

The next set is copied into the spreadsheet to compare and it's worrying - I won't lie. We have four players who are classed as being better, the top four on the list, and Martelli and Barreda aside, I really have worries. Cesar 'looks' good on this comparison but he's a striker with poor finishing and I just don't know where else to put him. 

When comparing intake to intake, especially when I have signed the whole cohort - this is actually the weakest of the three:

And when looking at how the players stack up compared by their starting mean of attributes, a list now containing seventy names of players who I have tracked through the youth intake - that also doesn't look good:

This has the two weakest starting players that I have tracked. Granted - in intakes before I wouldn't have signed them and the likelihood of them developing is low considering their personalities, too. 

---

Even though this was a 'golden generation' - it is giving me some time to reflect that we are not going to produce superstars in every intake, I need to work hard with what I have been given and it is lucky that we are in a strong position in and near to the first team.

[_Ben_]

Europa League

Kind of happy to see that we lost, in the end, to the best team.

[_Ben_]

Training redesign: Introduction

Around the time of our upturn in performances last year, I also took control of the senior training - something I've been holding off given that I already a lot of stuff at the club! I have, in the past, trusted the assistant manager but I now think that this is the final thing that I need to do. What is more - I can also do it for the B-team (may not be completely realistic but I'm sure that a big club passes on their training details to their B team!) by taking tasks away from the staff there. The B-team is quite easy, they enter no cups and the Segunda B generally runs with one game per week across the season - meaning I can set up a whole year on the calendar and leave it.

The on pitch performances will be a big factor but I've also looked at a lot of the players that come through the club and feel that they are maybe lacking somewhat in the mental and technical ability that I want. With this total football-esque approach, I want rounded players (hence so much importance on the mean of attributes - knowing that a poor area will bring the whole player down) and, whilst the players may be good, I think that the general schedules focus too heavily on the physical development of players and not the mental and technical.

Below are my two Best-XI's - one from the first team and one from the B-team (this is because I can't fit the whole squad on the sheet to show what data I want!)

B-Team

A-Team

Look at the likes of Samaniego, a youth graduate, compared to Celsinho - he's every bit as good but far far less technical. Also - looking at the whole squad - there are far more gold squares in the mental and physical area than the technical. I understand that technical attributes are harder to 'round' as there are roles very specific for positions (e.g. I don't care if my forward can't tackle) as well a four set piece attributes, which, providing I have a specialist or two, I don't care too much about. Interestingly, both of the players who are not good or excellent at concentrating are both my youth products - I am aware that this is an attribute that tends to come with game time but it's part of the group of mental attributes I want to focus on. 

This is mirrored in the B team - my players are, actually, quite weak technically but, for their age, are well developed physically. I want to bring in a style that can help make these better players on the ball and cleverer. A lot (well, probably all except for Barrada and Martelli) are too old (e.g. second, third year onwards) to get major developments from this style but if I can nail this going forward, I will be in a much better position.

---

My job over the next (game) weeks is to look for the training blocks that pick up on the style that I want to play and the attributes I want to develop before building in a no game, one game and two game schedule that I will rotate for my team - giving the B-team a one-game per week schedule that gets customised by their manager if needed.

Whilst this is a big(ish) setup, it should run pretty smoothly from there on. It'll be difficult to measure any improvement (and, as you know, I love to measure anything I can on this game) because the players aren't new to the team and therefore their development will be less extreme - but it's something that can be reviewed on the pitch and in a few years time with more data collection like this.

[_Ben_]

Player Sale

Samuel leaves on good terms but, at this point, we need to be growing rather than holding on to players who just aren't good enough.

[_Ben_]

Training Schedules: Draft one

In an unusually non-data driven way, I've drawn up three schedules that I want to run with. Here is some of the thoughts that went into them:

• No standalone physical training during the season - the players are well developed physically and this reduces the intensity, meaning I can get more 'other stuff' in there.
• I've tried to focus on blocks that match our style - Ball retention, play from the back, transitions etc.
• The majority of the work is done in units. I don't know whether this is beneficial but it means we can specialise a bit more.
• I've used 'match preview' and 'match review' in each session (where possible) to work on tactical familiarity.
• Intensity seems pretty low for all groups of players across any non-match day.
• I've added set pieces pretty randomly as we'll cycle through the weeks with different fixture commitments, covering them all.
• There are no goalkeeping schedules - I don't know whether this is right or wrong!

No Matches

One Match

Two Matches

---

I literally have no idea how this will play out!

[_Ben_]

Growth of the club DNA

Nine years ago, I set about setting some standards for each position within my team that I called the DNA. I have attached the first screenshot that I took below:

There is one face that remains in this side now, and that is of Miguel Angel Villalba. Out of the whole squad, just two of these players came through my academy and, as you'd expect for a second tier side, there wasn't many 'gold' attributes - signifying 15 or greater or, what I'd classify as world class.

Fast forward to now...

First Team

Development Squad

You could say that we've come a long way!

 

[_Ben_]

Changing nationalities

So strange that my Brazilian players keep doing this. I now have seven players, all born in Brazil who now choose Spain as their first nationality.

Of these, Celsinho has been capped at youth level and Fulvio at full level.

[_Ben_]

Club DNA

Last post on this, until I sign any more players at least!

I noticed some irregularities within the formulas from when I built this, so I've been having a play around with it. It now looks like this:

I've grouped the attributes and colour coded purple for Goalkeeping/Technical, Yellow for key attributes across the whole team, dark yellow for remaining Mental and red for Physical. I want to ingrain a necessity for high levels of anticipation, decisions and concentration throughout the squad - the latter being the toughest as you can't train it.

I've also changed the rating circles to 15+ average = full, 13+ = three quarters, 11+ = half, 9+ = one quarter to be in line with the continued growth in standard.

---

Now to actually play the game for a bit!

[Tacchi]

 I just catch up on this today and wondering why I am not following since the beginning???

Your thread is INSANELY good and detailed about how you develop your youth players and what are your ideas, plans, thoughts to "use" them for the greater good!

I fall in love with @Jimbokav1971's threads before this as he wrote with the same passion and details about his youth developments, but you are on the same level now for me!

Keep up the good work and cannot wait how Garcia will perform in the new season! OMG what a player!

Edited April 14, 2020 by Tacchi

[_Ben_]

12 hours ago, Tacchi said:

 I just catch up on this today and wondering why I am not following since the beginning???

Your thread is INSANELY good and detailed about how you develop your youth players and what are your ideas, plans, thoughts to "use" them for the greater good!

I fall in love with @Jimbokav1971's threads before this as he wrote with the same passion and details about his youth developments, but you are on the same level now for me!

Keep up the good work and cannot wait how Garcia will perform in the new season! OMG what a player!

Many, many thanks!

I, too, fell in love with @Jimbokav1971's way of play and that inspired me a lot. I'm hoping that, with all of this 'theory' about development etc, I can actually do something productive with the data I've collected!

As for Quique - yeah, he's pretty good! He made his debut on the left wing in our season opener (after missing the whole pre-season due to being at the Olympics) and was quite poor, averaging 6.5, but I've got really high hopes for him!

 

[_Ben_]

New Signings

Keeping with the 'must hold a Spanish passport, ideally through family links and not residency' theme - I've added three new players to the squad. One has joined now and two will join next summer:

Anderson signs from America (MG) for just €55k. I had initially had him down as a midfielder but since I arranged the transfer, he seems to have developed better as a forward, which, centrally, at least, is an area that I don't have a lot of depth in. 

Alisson Zaros will join next summer, when he reaches 18, from Volta Redonda, again from Brazil. He's a two-footed Model Citizen in an area with little depth (maybe before Anderson played there anyway) - so what isn't there to like?! He cost €400k.

The big one!

Firstly, the name is a great throwback - I remember Claudio Lopez, the once Valencia and Lazio second striker and, after a bit of research, wasn't surprised he cost Lazio €35m way back in 2000 - to join Hernan Crespo in attack. This Claudio is very different - Boca seem to be playing him in the holding midfield role, but I'm going to make him my next Ball Playing Defender. He's costing me €10.5m and I have purposely asked for it to be at the end of the season so that he gets another year of experience in the first team at Boca, my centre back Ropero will see out his contract. 

Going forward, I'd like to get him to bring the ball out of defence and maybe play one twos. 

In terms of his personality, Balanced, I can't get much but his Media Handling of Level Headed (Professionalism 13-20, Loyalty 12-20) shows that I should be able to turn his personality into a 'good' one quite quickly.

---

I think that these sensible signings over the next few years will be a good mix with my intakes. I like the idea of these slightly larger 'marquee' signings again and, to be fair, may look in a year or so for a defensive midfielder in the same kind of mpuld.

[_Ben_]

Training Feedback

I can't say I've ever been aware of this before. To be fair - I think the whole extra effort in attacking play has created chances for us as we completely outclassed Athletic and should have won by many more than just 4-1.

[RageMaster]

@_Ben_ Fantastic thread and really enjoying reading your progress. With regards to your data collection, are you manually adding the data to the spreadsheet or have you found a way of exporting chunks from the game? 

[_Ben_]

42 minutes ago, RageMaster said:

@_Ben_ Fantastic thread and really enjoying reading your progress. With regards to your data collection, are you manually adding the data to the spreadsheet or have you found a way of exporting chunks from the game? 

Thank you!

Data collection is done pretty much completely automatically - I don't have the time for it otherwise!

I, firstly, created a view with all the attributes I want:

I then screenshot it:

Open as a webpage:

Then copy and paste it in to the excel document:

Further along the (un-hidden) cells, I have a simple 'show data' (not sure of the correct formula name here, but it's a simple ='CELL CONTAINING NUMERICAL DATA'). These un-hidden cells are then conditionally formatted so, unless I go searching (which I don't and don't actually want to) the numbers are hidden, like on the attribute page.

----

I use this kind of thing for all of my data collection:

Here I add the average technical, mental and physical up and divide by 3. I then run it through this at the end of the season, then subtract one score from another to see the 'attribute improvement.' I've seen people count up the attribute growth but I've developed this way and it works for me!

---

I have looked at match data before but that is all manually inputted which, to be fair, took too much effort. I also can't print screen player reports so if I want to collate things like 'X is a good player for La Liga,' I'd have to do that manually, too.

Therefore, I tend to just stick to actual attribute analysis, but, by hiding the numbers - I don't think I'm gaining anything that I lost by hiding them in game and, to be fair, what does a 'mean attributes = 12.1' really mean anyway? It's just some additional data to go with my own judgement.

Edited April 15, 2020 by _Ben_