[FM20] Tequila and Mariachi?

[_Ben_]

Moving on

Happy to allow that, to be fair. Bono was once the golden child in my early ventures into youth development with this side but, as you can see from his profile, he's never really kicked on - particularly in front of goal. He's only made four La Liga appearances this year so I'm happy that I won't be too short when he moves on.

[_Ben_]

Wages to Turnover

Still running a very steady ship!

[_Ben_]

Holy Grail

Of 'squad personalities' - one for you @Jimbokav1971:

[Jimbokav1971]

4 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

Holy Grail

Of 'squad personalities' - one for you @Jimbokav1971:

Yeah, but don't be mistaken that Ultra Professional is the same as all players being Ultra Professional. 

The template for Squad Personality is completely different to that of Player Personality. 

[_Ben_]

5 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Yeah, but don't be mistaken that Ultra Professional is the same as all players being Ultra Professional. 

The template for Squad Personality is completely different to that of Player Personality. 

I know - but the personalities of all players in my squad doesn't look too bad either (and this is including all of the youth candidates, as I'm taking on the ones with bad personalities too)

[Jimbokav1971]

1 minute ago, _Ben_ said:

I know - but the personalities of all players in my squad doesn't look too bad either (and this is including all of the youth candidates, as I'm taking on the ones with bad personalities too)

That's VERY impressive. I remember back in FM14 I literally had a whole squad full of Model Pro's and Resolute's, but it's FAR harder to do now so well done. I appreciate how much work has gone into that. 

[_Ben_]

April/May/End of 2038-39 Season

Season done and we were so close!

I know that we were leading the league and things were flying along and, to finish third, I should be upset - but we've done so well and we are so close to toppling the big two! We finished the season as strongly as we, realistically could, juggling a deep Champions League run and a tough run in of fixtures. Maybe beating Granada and not losing to Valencia would have given us more hope but, as I said, we are still punching way above our weight.

At the bottom - it's curtains for Athletic and that's a real shame, especially with Osasuna in Liga 123 meaning only Real and Eibar represent the Basque country in the top tier. Atletico Madrid continue their free-fall towards the drop zone too and I'm secretly hoping that they struggle more next year too as I love a fallen giant!

---

Here is how the players got on:

I'm most happy with the rotation which has kept most players firing on all cylinders and has worked well except for the drops in match fitness that has come from having a squad that is one or two players too big for me. I still need more in terms of goalscoring and I'm going to have a look at how I can do that with some tactical tweaks this summer.

---

We head into my twentieth year in charge with a real chance of winning the league.

 

[_Ben_]

Big Changes

I always have, and always will, try to promote youth players and play them over imported players. However - there comes a time when we are weak and these academy players aren't good enough. I've arranged the below deals:

Lots of income but three academy players lost - with the aforementioned Bono moving on as well as Molinero, Villasanti and non-academy graduate Martinez. These moves are never easy: Bono moved because he was unable to get first team football but both VIllasanti and Molinero have featured, yet, despite being graduates of the academy, are weaker than the players I have brought in and are clearly limiting the team when on the pitch. Martinez's decision was different as he's going to be good but with a midfield of Escobar, Mejia and Danilo as all 'first choice' players - he's going to find playing time very limited. I know he weakens the B squad but it gives chance for another youth prospect to step up.

I do have one incoming deal I'm working on, which I'll screenshot when he signs...

[_Ben_]

2039-40 Squad Preview

We go into my twentieth season with the below squad as I'm pretty happy with the depth and the players we have:

I'll start from the front and work my way back:

Centre Foward

Quique Garcia is the clear starter here as a world class player and I feel that Ronaldo is a decent backup for him. He's not really scored the amount of goals that I want but is deadly when he gets into the right areas. I am maybe to blame for not really ever giving him a proper run in the team but usurping Spain's top striker is hard. In the B team, Alisson Zaros continues to impress and could replace Ronaldo at some point soon.

Wide Forwards

Donato is, like Quique Garcia, a key player and one of the first names on the team sheet starting on the left. On the right, I have tended to rotate between Neyveson and Almansour and the latter is growing into the role really well. Evaristo has been a bit of a backup across both sides but is now refusing to sign a contract extension and is into the last year of his deal - citing he wants more football. I do have Javier Pinto, the young Argentine I signed last summer, in the B team and I'll be watching his progress this year.

Central Midfield

A strong area with three genuine first team contenders - Danilo, Mejia and Escobar. The former suffered quite a long injury last year but is back and making great progress. I have Anderson as the fourth central midfielder but he's not progressing quite as well as I want him to. 

Defensive Midfield

Claudio Lopez is verging on world class and he is ably backed up by Gustavo Martinelli, who progressed well in his first season.

Centre Back

Herrero and Garcia are cementing themselves as the first choice, perfect personality, academy pair and this is great. They are ably backed up by Quique Fernandez and the aging Carlos Alberto - who'll have to be replaced in the next few years.

Full Back

Barreda is now first choice with my in-game son, Diego Samaniego, dropping down to a backup and Celsinho will partner new signing and project, Janderson - a €25m signing from Corinthians, who I am trying to turn into a full back. He's incredibly well rounded already and hopefully has enough potential to hold down this role for the next ten years - almost completing my dream backline.

Goalkeeper

Fulvio continues and is as strong as ever.

---

That leaves my DNA view looking like this:

---

This team could win the league!

[quee]

What is the one before Ultra Pro?

My Parma team was Highly Professional at the end of Season 1 and most of season 2, wonder what's next?

[_Ben_]

The ones that 'got away' (or were sold on!)

Whenever a player leaves, I always add them to a new shortlist to track their careers. This is becoming particularly interesting now that we are producing players good enough for the top flight but not good enough for us. There are currently 76 players on the shortlist (with about 8-10 more when I have finished my B-team reshuffle) and there are a few groups I can put them in to:

N.B - excuse some of the terrible formatting!

Sold for Profit

None of these group came through my academy and were brought, collectively, for little money overall - with the exception of €20m man Le. We turned a profit on all of these people and they are all playing at top tier clubs and will be important players.

Youth Players who have done well for themselves

I'm quite impressed with the array of names that have continued their career in the top flight and three more will be added when the season rolls over for Dean, Catalan and Abel Gonzalez at GIrona but I will lose Israel Catalan and Alejandro as Depor have gone down. Whilst none of these players have gone on to make fantastic careers for themselves, a lot were sold on when we've started to increase our reputation and they have got a little left behind.

Youth players in the lower leagues

There are a few names who I remember here - Olawale and Godwin were in the really early stages of my youth development plan and both appeared for my first team and Angel was the 'original' attacking full back who I signed from the lower leagues when he was a kid. There's plenty of experience, game wise, for the older heads which shows that they've been good enough to remain at a professional level.

Older players (sold when we were a smaller club)

Lots of wonderful names here that I haven't looked at for years, playing at a variety of levels. Players like Navarro and Villalba are still playing in the top tiers but you also have people like Maxi Yamin who has dropped down to the third tier of Italian football and Fernandez and Martinez who are seemingly seeing our their careers elsewhere.

Free agents

Castro is a strange one - I signed him from Las Palmas and then PSG stole him from my B-team but he's never done anything there. With it being July, some of these players will be here due to contract expiration last month but they are, sadly, the poorest of the bunch but I do hope that they can remain in the game, at some level.

----

I think it's great to track the careers of those who have moved on and it's really promising to see how many stay in the game, fulfilling an aim I had and showing that my youth development plan (remember that Gustavo Catalan was bottom of the intake list yet is now going to be a La Liga striker!) is paying off.

[_Ben_]

1 hour ago, quee said:

What is the one before Ultra Pro?

My Parma team was Highly Professional at the end of Season 1 and most of season 2, wonder what's next?

I think it's Fairly Pro, Pro, Highly Pro and then Ultra Pro but I haven't ever really tracked this!

[quee]

9 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

I think it's Fairly Pro, Pro, Highly Pro and then Ultra Pro but I haven't ever really tracked this!

Not too bad then if I can get Highly Pro in the first season with default Parma squad + Buffon only in January.

When Buffon retired, it changed to Fairly Determined before settling on Pro until now.

[Mikaelinho]

I really enjoy these "look backs", since they give more life and substance to a series, outside of what the series is actually about. You've developed quite an impressive bunch of players plying their trade as footballers. Lovely!

[_Ben_]

B-Team DNA

We've taken a bit of a hit over the past few years, moving players up to the A squad and then moving on the older heads to try and promote some youngsters - although this probably fits in well with the average (potential) intakes we've had. 

I'm seeing a huge issue, at all levels, with concentration in attacking players - in the first team, only Donato is world class (gold) and there are no forwards that are even good (dark green) in this squad. It's mirrored with the midfielders as Mejia is average (light green) and the rest are only good, and my only midfielder, Rodrigo Santos, is also only average.

We're a little down on depth here, yet the U19 team has 33 players in, yet I don't feel that they are good enough, even for B team football at this stage. In terms of those who can and may progress - I have my eyes on imports Pinto and Zaros but there isn't a huge amount of potential that is anywhere near ready for the team yet.

[_Ben_]

7 minutes ago, Mikaelinho said:

I really enjoy these "look backs", since they give more life and substance to a series, outside of what the series is actually about. You've developed quite an impressive bunch of players plying their trade as footballers. Lovely!

I agree - we've really developed some decent footballers over the time. I've not had a real 'one who got away' yet and Bravo aside, we've not really let a world class player leave.

I must say though that I have really neglected the 'world outside my league' (despite saying it was important in like the second post!) and I need to show more of this screen - but I'd like to edit the panel a little when I have time to show more information and also not show it during the off-season in most leagues!

[_Ben_]

Heir(s) to the throne(s)

Before I launch into my own squad analysis, I'm going to determine a new metric and that comes from comparing my squad to what is arguably the best version of total-football/tika-tika/whatever you want to call it combined with squad and youth development in the modern age - and that is the Barcelona squad of 2011/12. The one where they won everything other than, annoyingly for my comparison, the league and Champions League and Lionel Messi scored just 73 times. Here is that squad, taken from my trusty source, Wikipedia:

What I am interested in taking from this is their dependence on the youth system and I make this at 12, or 50% of their first team squad originally came from the academy - this includes Pique and Fabregas who were produced at La Masia. That 50% is important as I push on with what I want to achieve.

---

Back to my own save.

I currently have eight players in my first team squad who came through the academy out of 22 that are registered - which gives me a total of 36%. They can quite easily be split into two groups, although I may be stretching the meaning of 'regular' starter for my midfielders and I'll want to review the 'squad player' for my two centre backs. Never the less, here they are:

N.B: Once again, showing star ratings so that you can picture this a little easier.

Three important players, four rotational players and one complete backup (that makes me sad as Samaniego was once a key player!)

Now, on to the B-team and Under 19 team players who are promising:

With the likes of Dani Barreda, Almansour, Mejia etc, I have a feeling that they were going to be good and there was something special about them - but, sadly, there isn't really anyone here who stands out at becoming a key member of the first team. Shame. But we've had our golden generations and, interestingly, nobody that has developed really well in their first season has actually kicked on, Martelli aside - although he's far from established.

---

Therefore, the way I will be able to get my youth % up is to see how many of these lot could replace the non-homegrown players in my first team. Here are the ones who are indispensable/world class:

Nobody at the club looks likely to usurp these - that's why the first four cost me a combined €117m!

The rest, however:

I'm not planning on giving up on new €25m signing Janderson but there are several players in here who I would certainly say could be replaced by my own players.

• Eduardo Ibero needs to work on his decisions but he could well be the heir to the Carlos Alberto throne in two to three years.
• Alberto Gonzalez is an interesting prospect and, once he's improved his finishing, could well come for Ronaldo. He lacks the pace to be an out and out winger but could potentially be a Raumdeuter type player in the area that Neyveson plays.
• Juan Jose Frances looks like he could be another option for the left back slot, certainly as a backup behind Janderson and a replacement for Celsinho.
• Jesus Espinosa could make me rethink my full back line up if he continues growing and gets ever stronger mentally.

---

So, whilst I don't really feel that our current youth products necessarily have the ability to be the next Balon D'or winners (and it is correct in being harder now we are a better squad), I do think that there are some that could be squad players. I'd need to keep my entire crop of HG youngsters and add another three to reach the 50% marker that Barcelona had in their 2011/12 season. 

I'm blessed with no real time frame to complete this and may get a fantastic intake this year but the seeds are there, even if they aren't promising record breaking sunflowers (I think that analogy that I just made up works...)

[_Ben_]

Squad numbers

As much as it pains me to take numbers 'away' from the old guard - I'm sticking to the Argentine numbering system for my 'Best XI' in this game:

1: Fulvio (GK), 2: Barreda (RB), 3: Celsinho (LB), 4: Herrero (CB), 5: Claudio Lopez (DM), 6: Garcia (CB), 7: Neyveson (RW), 8: Danilo (MC), 9: Quique Garcia (FW), 10: Escobar (MC), 11: Donato (LW).

[_Ben_]

Talent factory

A massive jump! I want to see this over 50 in the next three years.

[_Ben_]

Unpicking the intake preview terminology

I've just looked back through my intakes and added the tag for each year that comes with the intake. 

• The two intakes which were considered golden generations actually had the worst starting players and nearly the worst average development - yet four players who are in my first team came through those two intakes:

• The last two 'cherry picked' golden generations provided me with two players for my first team, one of whom remains. It is worth noting though that these two are significantly lower in potential than the above group:

• The 'mediocre' group has the strongest average rating out of all whole cohort years, which is strange but we are at our highest reputation now so I wonder how much reputation plays a part?

[_Ben_]

July-September (and one from October) 2039

This is seriously champions form here. I say that because we are playing appallingly and still winning! Aside from the absolute demolition of Sevilla, we've looked no better than average in most of the league games and that is partially down to me forgetting to sort out the training calendar and partially to me pretty much playing a new XI every week! However, I hope to look back on this in February and have fit, happy and experienced players at my disposal when they are needed most.

The Champions League has got off to a decent start, even if by backups were held against Dortmund. The other team in the group is Bordeaux. 

---

I need to give the form players a run in the team and hope that we can kick on with our performances, continue picking up points and limit the injuries! All is good here in Guadalajara.

[Mikaelinho]

This is THE SEASON! I can feel it! No jinx...

[_Ben_]

1 hour ago, Mikaelinho said:

This is THE SEASON! I can feel it! No jinx...

If we want to win it - we're going to have to produce some more results like this. Performance wise, this was no better than what I've seen at other times this season but this time, everything found the net:

[_Ben_]

Positional re-shuffle

Whilst I value each of my three forwards (AML,AMR and ST) as equal goal threats, I've always been a little concerned with the output of the ST since moving him up from an AM. This below shows the history of my world class striker, Quique Garcia:

Hardly prolific (and the record this year was four in 11 before this change).

Instead of him playing as a CF(s), trying to lead the line alone, I've changed him to a DLF(s) still flanked by the two IF(a). This way, he's not solely in charge of everything we do offensively and this releases some of that pressure on him. As a DLF(s), he'll still be involved in the build up but I think there'll be less expectancy for him to get the ball and produce the goods, as seen in the two descriptors of the role:

As I said - he'd scored four in eleven this year before the change. In the first game, we were away at Atletico. It's safe to say that, in early results anyway, it was a good call:

I haven't had a single player hit twenty league goals in a season since Neyveson, way back in 2032/33 and I want that to change in the next two years - with hopefully one of my players winning the top league scorer and the top world goalscorer awards soon. I think that'll go a long way towards us winning the league.

 

[_Ben_]

Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa: The most important academy in the world?

Just a small club from Leon, in the third tier of Spain but what they are doing for world football is massive. I've pinpointed this before but they have a link with ASPIRE from Qatar and, as such, are regularly producing Qatari newgens. Whilst they are still not a massive national team, they are ranked 49th in the world, which is good for a gulf nation (UAE: 131st, Saudi Arabia: 58th, Bahrain: 86th) and this is their national team:

Every single Qatari national has been produced by Leonesa. I know that I don't have the Qatari league loaded (nor any Asian leagues) but this is massive. I can't imagine any other country, that is performing well, having players solely produced by one club. They are no producing real world class players (although Al-Ali is certainly very good) but the hopes of a nation are, seemingly, hanging on to them.

What is more, they've also produced Faisal Ali and Abdulla Ballan, who have decided that they are too good for Qatar and have declared for, and played at youth level for, Spain.

---

I have Once Caldas (Colombia) as a feeder but I have not had a single player from a feeder on this save and only a handful of Paraguayans (linked to my manager nationality), which is quite disappointing. I'm not going to trade it for some of the quality I've produced, but it has taken away a nice back story.

[keeper#1]

I believe that they start with some wonderkid 15-year old Spaniard at the start of the game too.  Could make for an interesting youth development save and see if a human manager can push them to level that the AI managers can not. 

[Mikaelinho]

4 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa: The most important academy in the world?

Just a small club from Leon, in the third tier of Spain but what they are doing for world football is massive. I've pinpointed this before but they have a link with ASPIRE from Qatar and, as such, are regularly producing Qatari newgens. Whilst they are still not a massive national team, they are ranked 49th in the world, which is good for a gulf nation (UAE: 131st, Saudi Arabia: 58th, Bahrain: 86th) and this is their national team:

Every single Qatari national has been produced by Leonesa. I know that I don't have the Qatari league loaded (nor any Asian leagues) but this is massive. I can't imagine any other country, that is performing well, having players solely produced by one club. They are no producing real world class players (although Al-Ali is certainly very good) but the hopes of a nation are, seemingly, hanging on to them.

What is more, they've also produced Faisal Ali and Abdulla Ballan, who have decided that they are too good for Qatar and have declared for, and played at youth level for, Spain.

---

I have Once Caldas (Colombia) as a feeder but I have not had a single player from a feeder on this save and only a handful of Paraguayans (linked to my manager nationality), which is quite disappointing. I'm not going to trade it for some of the quality I've produced, but it has taken away a nice back story.

Wow, that's an amazing story! Could be a good idea for a youth save!

[_Ben_]

October/November 2039

Wow!

We've never shown such strong form in my time here, with the exception of the season in which we romped home to the LaLiga123 title - winning promotion to this tier. We have still yet to fully hit top gear but we are getting much closer, with some really strong performances including the 7-0 mauling of Hercules, the dismantling of now-relegation-threatened Atletico and the ease in whcih we can score five past Mallorca - although that comes with the annoyance of conceding both shots that they had on target.

We have also secured qualification in the Champions League so a dead rubber against RB Salzburg remains but I'd like to finish top of the group, even if this competition is going to take the back seat as I look to secure league history.

The biggest difference, to this point, has been how my strikers are scoring. I've always aimed for 2.0 goals/90 for and 0.5 goals/90 against as a rule - and I think scoring 76 times and conceding 19 would make it pretty hard for a team to not challenge for the title. For comparison, we are at 2.4 goals/90 for and 0.33 goals/90 against - which is absolutely fantastic and, if we continue, I can see us being very hard to stop. My forwards are all contributing at good rates:

However, the key is the next fixture.

December starts with an away trip to Real Madrid.

It is, also, fittingly, my 900th game:

----

This is not quite a six pointer but, if we win, we're 7 points ahead of Real and, at least 14 ahead of Barcelona. I don't want to make any brash predictions - but we're in a good position!

[_Ben_]

3 hours ago, Mikaelinho said:

Wow, that's an amazing story! Could be a good idea for a youth save!

It really would be. If I hadn't done Spain to death on this version, it would be a genuine possibility. I'm still unsure of where to go on FM20/FM21 from here and, anyway, this save has lots of life left in it - at Guadalajara and whatever may happen after that.

[_Ben_]

7 hours ago, keeper#1 said:

I believe that they start with some wonderkid 15-year old Spaniard at the start of the game too.  Could make for an interesting youth development save and see if a human manager can push them to level that the AI managers can not. 

Any idea of the name of this player? I'd be interested to have a look at how his career panned out in my save...

[_Ben_]

Wow

We didn't play particularly well and struggled to control the midfield, with Escobar and Danilo somewhat over ran. At 2-2, thanks to a goal from ex-player Gonia, I feared for the worst, but Real committed a cardinal sin, allowing a cross to be met for Almansour who headed in the winner. Absolutely jubilant, but there is a long way to go.

[Mikaelinho]

13 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

It really would be. If I hadn't done Spain to death on this version, it would be a genuine possibility. I'm still unsure of where to go on FM20/FM21 from here and, anyway, this save has lots of life left in it - at Guadalajara and whatever may happen after that.

I've spent a good portion of the night reading up on this and might actually have a decent idea for a save here. We'll see if I get the time to do it on FM20 or if it'll have to wait for FM21, but I'm really intrigued!

[Mikaelinho]

3 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

Wow

We didn't play particularly well and struggled to control the midfield, with Escobar and Danilo somewhat over ran. At 2-2, thanks to a goal from ex-player Gonia, I feared for the worst, but Real committed a cardinal sin, allowing a cross to be met for Almansour who headed in the winner. Absolutely jubilant, but there is a long way to go.

THE SEASON!

[keeper#1]

18 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

Any idea of the name of this player? I'd be interested to have a look at how his career panned out in my save...

Rodri.  Starts in with either their B-team or U19 team.  Enters the game as a 15-year old.  This is what he looks like at the beginning of a save.

 

11 minutes ago, Mikaelinho said:

I've spent a good portion of the night reading up on this and might actually have a decent idea for a save here. We'll see if I get the time to do it on FM20 or if it'll have to wait for FM21, but I'm really intrigued!

I've been going through a stretch where I get about two game months into a save and then get bored.  This may give something to, hopefully, bridge me to FM21.

[_Ben_]

21 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

Wow

We didn't play particularly well and struggled to control the midfield, with Escobar and Danilo somewhat over ran. At 2-2, thanks to a goal from ex-player Gonia, I feared for the worst, but Real committed a cardinal sin, allowing a cross to be met for Almansour who headed in the winner. Absolutely jubilant, but there is a long way to go.

As my computer decided that it'd rather auto-update than allow me to have this victory, here is how the replayed game went:

 

Not as good but a point is a point...

Edited May 10, 2020 by _Ben_

[_Ben_]

21 hours ago, keeper#1 said:

Rodri.  Starts in with either their B-team or U19 team.  Enters the game as a 15-year old.  This is what he looks like at the beginning of a save.

 

I've been going through a stretch where I get about two game months into a save and then get bored.  This may give something to, hopefully, bridge me to FM21.

Interesting!

Here he is for me:

However - I do have two old backup saves, from 2022 and 2035 - although he's not been scouted in either.

He's, sadly, not done much as a pro, only making two appearances in a top flight, with Sassuolo:

[keeper#1]

Nothing above the second division in both Spain & Italy.  Surprising.  Hopefully, he pans out better for me.

[_Ben_]

3 minutes ago, keeper#1 said:

Nothing above the second division in both Spain & Italy.  Surprising.  Hopefully, he pans out better for me.

I saw from the above that you've started a save with Leonesa.

Am I right in saying they start with both the ASPIRE link and Qatari owners? 

Make sure you post about your youth intakes as I'm intrigued!

[keeper#1]

6 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

I saw from the above that you've started a save with Leonesa.

Am I right in saying they start with both the ASPIRE link and Qatari owners? 

Make sure you post about your youth intakes as I'm intrigued!

They start with links to both ASPIRE Academies in Qatar and Senegal and a first-option sale link with Leeds.

[_Ben_]

Youth Intake Preview

The first one I've ever had (since tracking intakes) that has been labelled as poor.

Edited May 10, 2020 by _Ben_

[Mikaelinho]

3 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

Youth Intake Preview

The first one I've ever had (since tracking intakes) had labelled as poor.

It'll be interesting to see what this actually means, if anything!?

[_Ben_]

5 minutes ago, Mikaelinho said:

It'll be interesting to see what this actually means, if anything!?

Yes - as I previously alluded to, reputation seems to have an impact and, now that we're genuine title contenders, is this poor for players of that calibre or poor overall?

Once I get to the end of this season I can compare my first mediocre intake (that actually really was nothing like mediocre once analysed and compared, and then get some more data to add to it.

[_Ben_]

Falling apart...

The yearly collapse has come early this year!

[_Ben_]

December 2039/January 2040

It's tough at the top!

We have, largely, been really good but I can't help but feel that three occasions may define our season: a) the 26th minute goal scored by Stephen Omalade that gave Betis the win b) The 82nd minute winner scored by Abdulrahman Al-Ali in the Valencia tie and c) the decision to play, and then lose, both Donato (torn thigh muscle - 9 weeks) and Janderson (Sprained knee ligaments - 6 weeks) in the Copa del Rey tie against Valladolid, when they needed some positive match experience.

So - the dropped points has seen our gap stolen away from us and, with both Real and Sevilla there too - we need to spend the rest of the season picking up everything that we can. We are away to Sevilla in February and at home to Real Madrid at the end of March and, of course, wrap our season up in the most difficult way possible: a trip to the Camp Nou to face Barcelona. 

----

In other news, I didn't want to give Ruimar over €100k a week to be a backup and he accepted a much lower contract elsewhere:

Javier Pinto is developing quite well out on loan so he'll need to step up next year.

[_Ben_]

Stalemate

First game of February and Sevilla have just lost 3-0 to Barcelona (which, of course, moves them back into contention) so a great chance to capitalise, away at mid table Hercules. Do we take that chance?

Of course not...

[_Ben_]

2039/40 Youth Development Cohort

For reference - this was classed as a 'mediocre' intake, yet was the highest technical and physical average that I've had since taking on the whole intake, coming in as the third best mentally. This intake had a range of personalities but was largely not positive - with one M.Citizen and one Perfectionist amongst a lot of neutral/negative personalities.

I have seen some good development across the cohort - with the majority (Pena aside - but he is L.Det and that is widely considered as a terrible personality) making decent improvements in their 'key attributres' - namely Anticipation, Concentration, Decisions and Determination. 

In terms of growth, we have somewhat mirrored what I've seen before when it comes to really 'top' players and Jesus Espinosa has really not developed a huge amount. Once again, it's a positive personality, and the third time in six years, that a Model Citizen makes the most progress. Overall, the intake has made slightly less progress than last year (mediocre to average) but, interestingly, more than both of the 'golden generations.'

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Even as a 'mediocre' intake - the top three 'end means' now has two new entries - Alberto Gonzalez in second and Jesus Espinosa in third. These are two interesting tales - Gonzalez is one footed so, as I'm trying to learn, his attributes are going to be skewed and he's probably not as good as his attributes suggest and Espinosa is the lowest progress-maker (bar Benjamin who was much older) and there may be a link between this and his neutral starting personality - Determined.

Talking development, Juan Carlos Sanchez has made a great deal of progress and joins the list of Model Citizens (Juan Jose started as a M.Cit but 'dropped' to Pro by the end) at the top of the list. Zapata has also made really good progress and again, this poses a good question - why? Both he and Jose Angel are almost anomalous on this list, given their neutral personalities but they both start from quite low starting points (as did Eloy Martinez, to be fair, although his personality is probably 'better') - which further backs up the whole occurrence whereby it seems players who start 'poorer' will develop (in the first year, at least) quicker. 

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Some more great data here but I was hoping to have another Spirited player yet he changed to F.Det over the year. It is still very clear the 'hierarchy of personalities for development' focuses on high professionalism and ambitious personalities. I have, obviously, not included Determination in this algorithm and that may also produce some interesting results. It does though, and will hopefully continue to, push the impetus for me to get as many M.Citizens, Professional and even F.Pro players through my intake - through staffing, team personality and whatever other means necessary!

 

[_Ben_]

2040/41 Youth Intake

This was labelled as the worst intake I've had in a very long time. Yet, I'm not sure I completely agree:

My three to watch:

Samuel Duarte. Mikel Vera. Ricardo Calvo.

Duarte could be great but will need to work on his finishing to be a top drawer striker. Vera has a 'specialist role,' Enganche, so must have a decent rounding of his attributes and Calvo is a hardworking and good finisher, who I think could spring a surprise.

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Ok - so now my analysis:

I quite like this cohort. 

What I dislike is the amount of poor, or the lack of good, personalities. We have five Light-Hearted players (I have tracked 8 to date and they average 0.8 progress - the same as the overall average) and one Professional (who average 50% better progress than the cohort).

However, I do like the overall strength of it. When I list them in order on their average starting point compared to every player I track - I see this:

What is most interesting is that the average rank of the players is 58. When I compare this to last year (64), the year before (72) and even the 'Golden Generation of 2034/25 (62), I can see that the average starting position of these players is the strongest it's been since taking in the whole cohort. Yet, it's poor?

Well, no:

It's the strongest technical and mental intake I've ever had an the third strong physically. It's slightly older than last year but still the third youngest I've tracked as well. When looking at each attribute, this is the best ever technique, passing, decisions and vision intake and the average of none of the attributes is the worst.

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So what is poor about this?

Personalities maybe - but surely the game, itself, doesn't place the importance of personality above the ability of the players? Potential maybe - as there is no 5* prospects, but I'm way past caring about the star ratings these days!

I'm happy.

[rodesire]

Has to be poor compared to the current reputation of your club. I had the same thing with my clubs when I developed very fast and my facilities seemingly couldn't keep up. Yet we kept churning out decent players even in poor intakes.

[Mikaelinho]

3 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

2040/41 Youth Intake

This was labelled as the worst intake I've had in a very long time. Yet, I'm not sure I completely agree:

My three to watch:

Samuel Duarte. Mikel Vera. Ricardo Calvo.

Duarte could be great but will need to work on his finishing to be a top drawer striker. Vera has a 'specialist role,' Enganche, so must have a decent rounding of his attributes and Calvo is a hardworking and good finisher, who I think could spring a surprise.

---

Ok - so now my analysis:

I quite like this cohort. 

What I dislike is the amount of poor, or the lack of good, personalities. We have five Light-Hearted players (I have tracked 8 to date and they average 0.8 progress - the same as the overall average) and one Professional (who average 50% better progress than the cohort).

However, I do like the overall strength of it. When I list them in order on their average starting point compared to every player I track - I see this:

What is most interesting is that the average rank of the players is 58. When I compare this to last year (64), the year before (72) and even the 'Golden Generation of 2034/25 (62), I can see that the average starting position of these players is the strongest it's been since taking in the whole cohort. Yet, it's poor?

Well, no:

It's the strongest technical and mental intake I've ever had an the third strong physically. It's slightly older than last year but still the third youngest I've tracked as well. When looking at each attribute, this is the best ever technique, passing, decisions and vision intake and the average of none of the attributes is the worst.

---

So what is poor about this?

Personalities maybe - but surely the game, itself, doesn't place the importance of personality above the ability of the players? Potential maybe - as there is no 5* prospects, but I'm way past caring about the star ratings these days!

I'm happy.

Personalities matter, that's obvious, but quality wise it looks decent. What do you think is the cut-off ranking wise to become a future first team squad member? Top 20? 30-ish?

[_Ben_]

1 hour ago, rodesire said:

Has to be poor compared to the current reputation of your club. I had the same thing with my clubs when I developed very fast and my facilities seemingly couldn't keep up. Yet we kept churning out decent players even in poor intakes.

I agree. I've also just read something that says it is compared to other intakes you have had. However - this hasn't rung true with starting ability as this intake is arguably better.