FM20 - Travelling slowly on Lorient Express

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 minute ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Cheers. In that current first X1, only Tchamba and Ouattara (and Laura, who was a previous FC Lorient player I brought back) were not in the original squad.

Metz are 20th (bottom) in Ligue 1 with 14 points from 19 games.

 

Oh no my precious FC Metz are doomed. they look like they are going to swap positions with you if you are getting promoted.

Good luck for the rest of the season, I look forward to your next update.

[Hootieleece]

It is becoming a Clockwork Orange...all the winning.

[Jogo Bonito]

12 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Oh no my precious FC Metz are doomed. they look like they are going to swap positions with you if you are getting promoted.

Good luck for the rest of the season, I look forward to your next update.

Cheers, yes we could swap places.

9 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

It is becoming a Clockwork Orange...all the winning.

Yes, I'm not too concerned if we don't go up as this was more about the layers underneath. Had we lost to Auxerre, we wouldn't even be top at this stage, so it's ticking along nicely but might not always run like clockwork 

[karanhsingh]

Great progress 

While you're at it I may as well ask how red star are doing as well... 

[Jogo Bonito]

6 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Great progress 

While you're at it I may as well ask how red star are doing as well... 

Thanks. Red Star are 8th with 27 points from 18 games. The leaders Le Puy have 33 points, and Beziers in second have 30.

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 19/20

The months of January and February have seen us pushing on nicely in the league, but we have recorded our first league loss and seen two cup exits

The unbeaten league run ended at 23 games, with relegation-threatened Chateauroux surprising everybody on 17th February

The struggling outfit were resilient on the day, coming back from 2-1 down to leave the Tango Arena with a three point haul 

Five straight league wins at the start of the year, and two more since that defeat, sees our side with an eight point gap at the top though

Havre AC, who have nipped ahead of Auxerre in to 2nd on goal difference, have also only lost once this season (to us in January) 

The cup exits were both stories of massive frustration and disappointment, starting with the Coupe de la Ligue exit in the Quarter Final against AS Saint-Etienne

Daouda Gueye put us ahead after 34 minutes, before substitute striker Gaetan Laura played a suicidal back-pass with 90 minutes on the board to gift them a late equaliser

In the penalty shootout that followed, Yoane Wissa struck the post with our first effort before Laura piled on the misery with a miss of his own as we exited 4-2  on penalties

Pierre-Yves Hamel has been banging in a number of goals recently, but more news of Laura will follow later...

Meanwhile, it took an even later goal by Bordeaux to dump us out of the French Cup in Round 11, their fortunate winner coming after 90+2 minutes of play

Anything else?

After being responsible for the loss to AS Saint-Etienne, our first of any kind in the entire campaign, the antics of striker Laura have been destructive

On 1st January 2020, Laura won the Player of the Month award for Ligue 2, dedicating this to his manager Le Grand Fromage 

On 8th January, he took the major share of responsibility for seeing us knocked out of the Coupe de la Ligue with two massive mistakes 

On 9th January, he came in moaning about his lack of playing time and demanded to be told how this would be improved 

He may have been placated in normal circumstances, but doing this after the events of the night before left us fuming, and he was told so in no uncertain terms

We have had to criticise his training several times since then, possibly because he was dropped from the team after his little outburst

An injury to Gueye at the same time saw me revert to my original 4231 formation, whilst Laura may have killed his Lorient career for the second time in five years 

The formation change also saw a return to the team for Wissa and Sidick Camara on the flanks, and the pair seem to be rejuvenated after some time on the bench

First choice striker Hamel seems to be the major beneficiary of this, and with Gueye also now fit again, goal options are plentiful without Laura being needed

Although the winter transfer window saw no effort to bring in any new arrivals, a couple of free transfers have been lined up for next season 

Winger Isaac Lihadji is probably going in to the 2nd Team squad, and left-back Dimitri Ouguehi will definitely be joining the Under 19 group 

One player departed on loan as Mohamed Mara moved to Niort on 31st January in order to get some regular first team football

The Ligue 2 club are paying 20% of the wage and £10,000 per month for the wide man, who had only made two brief substitute appearances for our first team this season

We also have one new member of staff, with the appointment of Alexandre Dellal as Under 19 fitness coach after a six-year spell as senior fitness coach at OGC Nice

He has also performed this role at Lyon and for clubs in Saudi Arabia and Turkey, plus the national teams of Ivory Coast and Algeria

Is the future bright and orange?

Lorient 2 have lost a few matches recently, and now sit second in National 2 (B) behind the senior side of US Granville

Most of the squad have been tied down to longer contracts, three of them may be allowed to leave and a good few will be promoted to the first team squad next season

The Under 19 squad are not in an official league, but have only failed to win one game in the entire season so far

Ace striker Djibril Toure (17) now has 25 goals in 18 (4) appearances, one player will be allowed to leave when his contract ends and several will move to the 2nd Team for age reasons

Edited June 1, 2020 by Jogo Bonito

[karanhsingh]

Lihadji!! Please play him - you won't be disappointed. I thought he would be a back-up as well but he developed so strongly that he ended his first season with us as probably our best player already.

Good luck for the rest of the season and hope you seal the title.

[Jogo Bonito]

8 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Lihadji!! Please play him - you won't be disappointed. I thought he would be a back-up as well but he developed so strongly that he ended his first season with us as probably our best player already.

Good luck for the rest of the season and hope you seal the title.

Cheers, time will tell on both fronts.

Camara is my first choice, and Diakite an able deputy on the right flank. Wissa is my man on the left so he will struggle to get in the first team. That's no slight on Lihadji though, young players will always get a chance at this club.

[OlivierL]

Great job. in my save they relegated :o what is Paris FC doing on your save? 

[Jogo Bonito]

1 minute ago, OlivierL said:

Great job. in my save they relegated :o what is Paris FC doing on your save? 

Thanks. Of course, FC Lorient did win Ligue 2 in real life, so success with them is easier (even with me weakening the first team squad) than with Clermont or Paris, and even Sochaux.

I don't have the game open, but last time I looked (a few matches back), Paris FC were bottom, sorry. I have no idea how Lorient and Havre AC got relegated in your game (it's a bit like Derby and West Brom getting relegated in the first season of another game I played).

[10Sammo10]

Nice update @Jogo Bonito. Very good read. Shame about the cup upsets. I’ve actually signed the first of the penalty villains in my Nice save. He did manage to tuck one away in the early coupe de la Ligue rounds though! 

[Jogo Bonito]

4 minutes ago, 10Sammo10 said:

Nice update @Jogo Bonito. Very good read. Shame about the cup upsets. I’ve actually signed the first of the penalty villains in my Nice save. He did manage to tuck one away in the early coupe de la Ligue rounds though! 

Thanks very much. Wissa has been good for me, that was just unlucky (and you don't see many penalties smack the post in FM). OGC Nice have a great feeder club in RC Abidjan, I've signed stacks of players from there already (planned before I started my game). If interested, check some scouting videos 

https://www.racingclubabidjan.net/index.php?/=tv_rca/

https://www.racingclubabidjan.net/index.php?/=effectif_pro/

Edited June 1, 2020 by Jogo Bonito

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 minute ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Thanks very much. Wissa has been good for me, that was just unlucky (and you don't see many penalties smack the post in FM). OGC Nice have a great feeder club in RC Abidjan, I've signed stacks of players from there already (planned before I started my game). If interested, check some scouting videos 

https://www.racingclubabidjan.net/index.php?/=tv_rca/

https://www.racingclubabidjan.net/index.php?/=effectif_pro/

I will watch a few of these at work tomorrow. I am enjoying your updates with Lorient and look forward to see how Enzo does for you.

[Jogo Bonito]

Cheers mate, I've got six games to go for season 1, which is blistering progress for me. Enjoy the videos.

[10Sammo10]

42 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Thanks very much. Wissa has been good for me, that was just unlucky (and you don't see many penalties smack the post in FM). OGC Nice have a great feeder club in RC Abidjan, I've signed stacks of players from there already (planned before I started my game). If interested, check some scouting videos 

https://www.racingclubabidjan.net/index.php?/=tv_rca/

https://www.racingclubabidjan.net/index.php?/=effectif_pro/

Cheers! Will certainly take a look!

[karanhsingh]

5 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Cheers mate, I've got six games to go for season 1, which is blistering progress for me. Enjoy the videos.

good luck and look forward to your end of season update (today?) 

[Jogo Bonito]

11 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

good luck and look forward to your end of season update (today?) 

Thanks, hopefully I can finish and report on that tonight after work.

[Jogo Bonito]

Season 19/20

Having been eliminated from both cups, we had an opportunity to focus on the all-important run-in which would stretch from March to May

Three consecutive wins kicked things off nicely, before SM Caen became the second side to dish out a league defeat to us this season at the Tango Arena

It was just one of those days where we were meek, typified by Bozok providing both assists for Cabot (we had let the pair of them move on in the summer)

April saw us revert to winning ways with back-to-back victories at the start of the month, before play-off chasers EA Guingamp delivered our third defeat of the season

However, we bounced back again with a victory over AC Ajaccio, which meant beating strugglers FC Chambly could clinch promotion from Ligue 2

That was duly achieved in routine fashion, and next up was a home match against AJ Auxerre, who were 2nd 

That was another big one, but a header from central defender Julien Laporte just before the hour sealed a 1-0 win that delivered the title 

The remaining two games had nothing riding on them, and we were able to rotate the squad a little (by then we had six first-team regulars out with medium term injuries anyway) 

The final league table shows we only lost three games all season, ironically so did Havre AC in 3rd place

AJ Auxerre just held off their challenge to seal the 2nd automatic promotion spot, and FC Metz then beat Havre AC in the relegation play-off that followed

Below are the player stats for all players across all competitions

And this is a full list of the players that earned themselves Ligue 1 winners medals

Despite his incredible goal returns (28 in total, with 25 in the league), Pierre-Yves Hamel was pipped to the fans vote by central midfielder Enzo Le Fee

Anything else?

Chairman Loic Fery has given us a healthy transfer & wage budget for next season, but in fairness most of that was created at the start of last season when we re-shaped our squad

Due to our transfer policy we don't plan to make any signings unless they are 23 or younger, but we will be adding some players to the second and third squads

We added another member to our backroom team in May, with ex-Monaco man Clement Hazard joining as a first team fitness coach (hopefully he will do physio too)

The following five players were named in the best XI of the season for Ligue 2

Le Fee won the Ligue 2 player of the season award

Hamel and Paul Nardi won the vote for top goal scorer and best goalkeeper respectively

Is the future bright and orange?

Assistant Manager Eric Blahic seems to think so, and this was genuinely his response to the question posed - great humour from Eric there

In the next post will talk in more detail about the success of Lorient 2 (who stormed their league) and the unstoppable Under 19 squad

 

 

Edited June 11, 2020 by Jogo Bonito

[warlock]

Good going there. I know next to nothing about French football, but it's been an enjoyable ride so far 

[Jogo Bonito]

9 minutes ago, warlock said:

Good going there. I know next to nothing about French football, but it's been an enjoyable ride so far 

Thanks mate, good to have you following. Season 1 now complete 

[Hootieleece]

Good Season. As expected. You look prepared for Ligue1.

[Jogo Bonito]

Thanks, I am looking forward to a more challenging season.

I'm trying not to sign players that others have signed/used. Lihadji is joining the 2nd team, but if any other new recruits are needed, I'm trying to see if I can find others over the likes of Loba etc.

[Hootieleece]

7 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Thanks, I am looking forward to a more challenging season.

I'm trying not to sign players that others have signed/used. Lihadji is joining the 2nd team, but if any other new recruits are needed, I'm trying to see if I can find others over the likes of Loba etc.

I took a look at Lihadji decided he was to expensive and wrong footed for the position in my game.

The only reason I am using Said Arab because my scouts found him my first season and I tagged him for Transfer when I could. (and he is playing for his original club Red Star in the other Thread so I don't feel bad)

[karanhsingh]

4 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Thanks, I am looking forward to a more challenging season.

I'm trying not to sign players that others have signed/used. Lihadji is joining the 2nd team, but if any other new recruits are needed, I'm trying to see if I can find others over the likes of Loba etc.

Which is not easy considering there's like a hundred of us now playing in France 

Excellent season there - now to build on the promotion. 

I tried to sign Le Fee (transfer listed at Chelsea) in my game, but his wage demands were a bit too high. 

4 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

I took a look at Lihadji decided he was to expensive and wrong footed for the position in my game.

The only reason I am using Said Arab because my scouts found him my first season and I tagged him for Transfer when I could. (and he is playing for his original club Red Star in the other Thread so I don't feel bad)

Fair enough! I think Arab is a nice little pick up for French clubs, I wouldn't sell him while managing red star but I guess the AI is a different thing altogether. 

[Jogo Bonito]

8 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Which is not easy considering there's like a hundred of us now playing in France 

Excellent season there - now to build on the promotion. 

I tried to sign Le Fee (transfer listed at Chelsea) in my game, but his wage demands were a bit too high. 

You're right, the transfer window really does throw up names we would/should go for, but trying desperately hard not to! So far, the signings have been for the Under 19 and 2nd teams, with four more free transfers (added to the two made ahead in January) and a teenage striker for £250,000. For the first team, we may sign a striker on a par with Hamel for rotation, and because ASSE and Nantes have been showing lots of interest (all bids rejected so far). We might get a central defender, but we have enough depth so he would need to be a starter if we bother. And we probably might need a strong defensive midfielder as we have lots of short, technical players in central midfield but nobody who can really win the ball in the air, play with strength and power, and get his tackles in. There is one player who may be able to do this job and play as a central defender, but time will tell if we think it's the right solution. All other positions are strong in quality and quantity terms.

Cheers, yes it should be a challenge in Ligue 1 because for all of us that have been promoted, our sides don't appear strong enough. But we are generally smarter managers, so we can achieve good things. 

Le Fee asked for a new contract upon promotion, but after asking the captain to have a word with him, he dropped it. You'll see that the highest earner so far is Wissa on £9500 per week, as we extended lots of contracts during the season. We'll see if we can limit the wages to £10,000 maximum for the first season with the big boys. 

12 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

I took a look at Lihadji decided he was to expensive and wrong footed for the position in my game.

The only reason I am using Said Arab because my scouts found him my first season and I tagged him for Transfer when I could. (and he is playing for his original club Red Star in the other Thread so I don't feel bad)

Yes, they are perfectly sensible decisions, agree with both of them!

Edited June 3, 2020 by Jogo Bonito

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I hope you have a good 2nd season Jogo. I am looking forward to seeing who you bring in.

[Jogo Bonito]

18 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I hope you have a good 2nd season Jogo. I am looking forward to seeing who you bring in.

Cheers, the first team squad will see little (if any) change. The other two squads will be improved a little more, hopefully. Loba and Fulgini came out as players I should sign, but I have dismissed the latter from my thoughts. The former, I am really trying not to do it, and luckily his club want way more than I would pay, so for now it's easy to avoid him! I may just turn my phone off and sign no first team players  

My staff have given contract extensions to some younger guys I wanted to leave, which is annoying as I thought the settings were for me to control these things (they are now). I don't want fees for them, just wanted them to leave, but now probably nobody will take them and it will bug the hell out of me when I see them in those squads doing nothing. Where is the 'ban from training ground' button when you need it?!?

[Ronaldo Beckham]

2 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Cheers, the first team squad will see little (if any) change. The other two squads will be improved a little more, hopefully. Loba and Fulgini came out as players I should sign, but I have dismissed the latter from my thoughts. The former, I am really trying not to do it, and luckily his club want way more than I would pay, so for now it's easy to avoid him! I may just turn my phone off and sign no first team players  

My staff have given contract extensions to some younger guys I wanted to leave, which is annoying as I thought the settings were for me to control these things (they are now). I don't want fees for them, just wanted them to leave, but now probably nobody will take them and it will bug the hell out of me when I see them in those squads doing nothing. Where is the 'ban from training ground' button when you need it?!?

Fulgini is amazing and gets over 10 assists a season, Loba is a goal machine and amazing as you know. You should sign them even if I have already. Its not a bad thing if we both have the same players. Think of all the players I have bought after hearing about you signing them as you are my Chief Scout after all lol.

[karanhsingh]

4 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

My staff have given contract extensions to some younger guys I wanted to leave, which is annoying as I thought the settings were for me to control these things (they are now). I don't want fees for them, just wanted them to leave, but now probably nobody will take them and it will bug the hell out of me when I see them in those squads doing nothing. Where is the 'ban from training ground' button when you need it?!?

This happened to me as well - very frustrating!! 

[Jogo Bonito]

20 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

This happened to me as well - very frustrating!! 

I might just try to mutually terminate and take the financial hit, or if they reject because they have new contracts, I might just terminate anyway. Frustrating indeed, but I had planned to release them and signed youngsters at a better level than them.

21 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Fulgini is amazing and gets over 10 assists a season, Loba is a goal machine and amazing as you know. You should sign them even if I have already. Its not a bad thing if we both have the same players. Think of all the players I have bought after hearing about you signing them as you are my Chief Scout after all lol.

Yeah, both would be good, no doubt. But I am limiting to a maximum of three positions where arguably we could improve. I have creative midfielders already, so Fulgini would be an extravagance (and won't happen). Frank Boya might be an option for me as he can play as a strong defensive/central midfield man, and could slot in to defence if ever needed. The only other players on the radar currently are Odilon Kossounou (central defender) and Ousseynou Ndiaye (central midfield). Bids were made and accepted, personal terms for both are agreed, but the deals have been put on hold whilst i think about them.

A number of Ligue 1 clubs have bid for Hamel (he scored 50 league goals for the club after just 99 league appearances, and his strike ratio is better than 1:2) but we are rejecting them all. However, I may sign a striker to rotate or just in case the board make me sell him. Prime contenders would be Loba, maybe William Togui (signed him for Young Boys a few years ago) or possibly Silvere Ganvoula (because I knew him before our friend at RC Lens signed him). Getting the quality I demand, no older than 23, and French-speaking is a good test of my knowledge.

Edited June 3, 2020 by Jogo Bonito

[OlivierL]

Good luck in your next season ! What a difference .. in my save Lorient is playing in the National now  

Edited June 3, 2020 by OlivierL

[Jogo Bonito]

1 minute ago, OlivierL said:

Good luck in your next season ! What a difference .. in my save Lorient is playing in the National now  

Thank you! Yes, that really is incredible to see the difference between them and Havre AC in your game and mine.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

16 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

I might just try to mutually terminate and take the financial hit, or if they reject because they have new contracts, I might just terminate anyway. Frustrating indeed, but I had planned to release them and signed youngsters at a better level than them.

Yeah, both would be good, no doubt. But I am limiting to a maximum of three positions where arguably we could improve. I have creative midfielders already, so Fulgini would be an extravagance (and won't happen). Frank Boya might be an option for me as he can play as a strong defensive/central midfield man, and could slot in to defence if ever needed. The only other players on the radar currently are Odilon Kossounou (central defender) and Ousseynou Ndiaye (central midfield). Bids were made and accepted, personal terms for both are agreed, but the deals have been put on hold whilst i think about them.

A number of Ligue 1 clubs have bid for Hamel (he scored 50 league goals for the club after just 99 league appearances, and his strike ratio is better than 1:2) but we are rejecting them all. However, I may sign a striker to rotate or just in case the board make me sell him. Prime contenders would be Loba, maybe William Togui (signed him for Young Boys a few years ago) or possibly Silvere Ganvoula (because I knew him before our friend at RC Lens signed him). Getting the quality I demand, no older than 23, and French-speaking is a good test of my knowledge.

Yeah you do have a great knowledge base. I wouldn't know half the players I know on FM if it wasn't for you.

[Jogo Bonito]

1 minute ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Yeah you do have a great knowledge base. I wouldn't know half the players I know on FM if it wasn't for you.

Thanks mate, African and French football go hand in hand really. Ironically when in Africa, our package didn't show the French Ligue 1 (it was on a cable package that had far less than the satellite package) but I've been following French football a lot in the last six years, it gives me great African player options in FM that I could never sign at English clubs because of permits.

Luckily, Loba's club still want £7.5 million for him, so it will need to be Ganvoula, Togui or some really random pick if I buy a striker at all.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

42 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Thanks mate, African and French football go hand in hand really. Ironically when in Africa, our package didn't show the French Ligue 1 (it was on a cable package that had far less than the satellite package) but I've been following French football a lot in the last six years, it gives me great African player options in FM that I could never sign at English clubs because of permits.

Luckily, Loba's club still want £7.5 million for him, so it will need to be Ganvoula, Togui or some really random pick if I buy a striker at all.

Would it not be worth to do the Loba deal and space the payments over 48 months as I tend to do that a lot or do you not like doing that.

Signing Loba for £7.5m would be worth it as he is amazing. Have you tried to sign Diallo?

[Jogo Bonito]

17 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Would it not be worth to do the Loba deal and space the payments over 48 months as I tend to do that a lot or do you not like doing that.

Signing Loba for £7.5m would be worth it as he is amazing. Have you tried to sign Diallo?

No, I'm not an instalments man. I'll have to pass on Loba even though I know he would score goals (and I fully expect Hamel to remain as first choice),

There are other options, but Diallo sadly is too old (now 25) for my maximum 23 on new signings. 

Edited June 3, 2020 by Jogo Bonito

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 minute ago, Jogo Bonito said:

No, I'm not an instalments man. I'll have to pass on Loba even though I know he would score goals (and I fully expect Hemel to remain as first choice),

There are other options, but Diallo sadly is too old (now 25) for my maximum 23 on new signings. 

Yeah I understand, You will find someone in time, Hemel looks awesome as well.

[karanhsingh]

1 hour ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Yeah you do have a great knowledge base. I wouldn't know half the players I know on FM if it wasn't for you.

Totally agree! 

54 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Thanks mate, African and French football go hand in hand really. Ironically when in Africa, our package didn't show the French Ligue 1 (it was on a cable package that had far less than the satellite package) but I've been following French football a lot in the last six years, it gives me great African player options in FM that I could never sign at English clubs because of permits.

Luckily, Loba's club still want £7.5 million for him, so it will need to be Ganvoula, Togui or some really random pick if I buy a striker at all.

Where in Africa were you? Strange that they didn't show French football there! 

Yes I really enjoy this combination of playing with a French club and focusing on African players / managing an African nation. The only comparable one in Europe I think is Portugal + Brazil. 

[Jogo Bonito]

1 minute ago, karanhsingh said:

Totally agree! 

Where in Africa were you? Strange that they didn't show French football there! 

Yes I really enjoy this combination of playing with a French club and focusing on African players / managing an African nation. The only comparable one in Europe I think is Portugal + Brazil. 

Thanks, very kind.

In East Africa, so a non-French speaking country. They had French football, but on cable and not the bigger satellite package. They did have many other African leagues on TV but the quality was pretty poor, despite the glamour of what you might expect to discover!

 

[Jogo Bonito]

The final part of the season 19/20 review takes a quick look at the players who could be expected to make the future bright for the club

Lorient 2 performances

As referenced in the end of season report earlier, our 2nd Team stormed the league with a range of impressive results

The best performers were Guiagon and Burban, but most of the players showed good form throughout the season

Under 19 performances

The Under 19 squad were not in an official league, but did even better than the 2nd Team with some incredibly big wins on a regular basis

The best performers were too numerous to mention, but for my money Toure was the pick of the bunch with an incredible return of 34 goals

The facilities at the club seem to be good, which should enable the young talent assembled to continue to grow

They've been given the platform and opportunity, so it's now down to them whether they are capable of bringing it to fruition

The highly-rated coaches will have to ensure that time spent on the training ground and in the classroom sees both educational & professional development

Ahead of the second season we will naturally lose a handful of players from each of these squads

But serious effort has been put in to improving both the Under 19 group and 2nd Team, and they will be expected to kick on next term

Edited June 3, 2020 by Jogo Bonito

[Ronaldo Beckham]

4 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

The final part of the season 19/20 review takes a quick look at the players who could be expected to make the future bright for the club

Lorient 2 performances

As referenced in the end of season report earlier, our 2nd Team stormed the league with a range of impressive results

The best performers were Guiagon and Burban, but most of the players showed good form throughout the season

Under 19 performances

The Under 19 squad were not in an official league, but did even better than the 2nd Team with some incredibly big wins on a regular basis

The best performers were too numerous to mention, but for my money Toure was the pick of the bunch with an incredible return of 34 goals

The facilities at the club seem to be good, which should enable the young talent assembled to continue to grow

They've been given the platform and opportunity, so it's now down to them whether they are capable of bringing it to fruition

The highly-rated coaches will have to ensure that time spent on the training ground and in the classroom sees both educational & professional development

Ahead of the second season we will naturally lose a handful of players from each of these squads

But serious effort has been put in to improving both the Under 19 group and 2nd Team, and they will be expected to kick on next term

Nice to see Guiagon doing well for you. Also like how you have talked about the future of the club.

[Jogo Bonito]

5 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Nice to see Guiagon doing well for you. Also like how you have talked about the future of the club.

Cheers mate. The future is important, it's a big part of the project at FC Lorient. I haven't signed a first team player yet in the summer window, but both of these other squads have seen decent improvement. Guiagon is already capable of stepping up, I just need to see if I can give him the opportunities in the coming season as there are lots of young players in the first team expecting the same. You'll see now why I didn't need to go for Fulgini.

Edited June 3, 2020 by Jogo Bonito

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Just now, Jogo Bonito said:

Cheers mate. The future is important, it's a big part of the whole purpose of my career of FC Lorient. I haven't signed a first team player yet in the summer window, but both of these other squads have seen decent improvement. Guiagon is already capable of stepping up, I just need to see if I can give him the opportunities in the coming season as there are lots of young players in the first team expecting the same. You'll see now why I didn't need to go for Fulgini.

Yeah that is good if you already had the players to step up so you save your money.

[Jogo Bonito]

Lorient Season 2 Preview

We had very satisfactory budgets and targets set by the board ahead of the 2020/21 season

Transfer Business 

Having shaped the team carefully in the first season, we didn't feel the need to do much ahead of our return to Ligue 1

We identified that we could maybe do with another central midfielder with some strength, power and aerial ability to supplement our smaller more technical options

We also considered bringing in a striker to rotate and cover for Pierre-Yves Hamel, and perhaps another strong starting-standard central defender

The central midfield option was wrapped up quickly, with the £900,000 signing of Lyon reserve Ousseynou Ndiaye made on 25th June 2020 

Since arriving from Senegal in 2016 he had yet to feature for OL, and last year the 21 year-old was out on loan at Lyon-Duchere AS in the French National (3rd tier)

Bids were accepted for Bochum striker Silvere Ganvoula (£3.3m) and Club Brugge central defender Odilon Koussounou (£3.3m) in order to fill the other two positions

But after agreeing personal terms (lower than our highest earner wage of £9,500 for the pair) we eventually decided to pull the plug on those two deals 

All of the other signings below were to strengthen the 2nd Team and Under 19 group, with a couple of the recruits not far away from first team standard 

The ones to keep a close eye on there are striker Abdoul Tapsoba and central defender Robin Voisine, plus winger Isaac Lihadji 

There were some technical problems encountered with the Under 19 squad assembly, due to an oversight on the age rules for that group

Our administrators missed seeing that all players must be 18 or younger on 1st January 2001, which meant that four 18 year old lads would be ineligible all season

That prompted a last minute scramble to do some deals, with one of them (Guendouzi) sold and two of the new arrivals (Zehi and Ouguehi) having to be loaned out

There was no space for these four in the 2nd Team, as our recruitment for that squad had already been completed

Ilyes Nakoubi is in the worst position of the four as he is too old to play for the Under 19 side, not good enough for the 2nd team, and nobody wanted to take him on loan

It also forced us to splash out £130,000 for Killian Camele, just because we had nobody at all who could play left-back for the Under 19 squad this season

Apart from Ndiaye, the rest of the new players will be spread across the 2nd Team and Under 19 squads 

Heading out of the club were Wilfried Ebane and Teddy Bartouche (both released) plus a number of 2nd Team and Under 19 squad players who weren't going to be good enough

Numerous bids were received for some of our stronger first team players, particularly ace striker Hamel (ASSE, Nantes & Lille)

But we didn't hesitate to reject all offers for him, and those for defenders Houboulang Mendes (ASSE & Strasbourg) and Duplexe Tchamba (Bordeaux)

Here are the profiles of Ndiaye (who goes in to the first team squad) and Tapsoba (who goes in to our 2nd Team, but is next cab on the rank)

 

 

Edited June 5, 2020 by Jogo Bonito

[Jogo Bonito]

First Team Squad 2020/21

We start with a 24-man squad, which sees Parfait Guiagon promoted from the 2nd Team after a fine first season at the club

New arrival Ousseynou Ndiaye is also included in the group, whilst Matthieu Saunier only remains here as we couldn't find any takers for him despite our best efforts

And here are the remaining players that will serve the 2nd Team and Under 19 side this season

There are high hopes for defenders Voisine and Mouanga, midfielders N'Guessan, Mvoue and Lihadji, and strikers Zehi, Tapsoba, Toure and Burban in particular

The three players highlighted in blue (Ndariba, Fournier and Assumani) were retained from the youth intake 

Despite the shameful administrative error, we have every reason to be content with the talent available among our development and youth sides

Edited June 5, 2020 by Jogo Bonito

[Hootieleece]

The Future is bright Orange!

[Jogo Bonito]

1 minute ago, Hootieleece said:

The Future is bright Orange!

Thanks, I do hope so 

I really wanted to test my first year squad at the higher level, hence just the one first team addition (an unknown). This could be a long, hard season and a relegation battle would not surprise me!

[Jogo Bonito]

Pre-Season results 2020/21

We had a decent set of results as we prepared for the new season, with just one (narrow) loss to Italian side Atalanta preventing a 100% record

The win against Belgian side KRC Genk gave confidence, and the group was probably reaping the reward of being largely untouched after last season's exploits 

Anything else?

Off the pitch we pay close attention to where we can improve, and there were four new members of staff added for the coming season

Christophe Jeannot (scout), Jean-Pierre Mottot (U19 goalkeeper coach), Pierrick Le Bert (U19 coach) and Mickael Le Foll are the latest to jump on board this Lorient Express

Le Bert had a long spell here at Lorient as a player (1989-2000) before time as our U18 manager from 2001-2014

Jeannot had long spells working at Lille & Monaco from 2006-2019, whilst Mottot served Lille from 1997-2019

Edited June 5, 2020 by Jogo Bonito

[karanhsingh]

Administrative error 

Good transfers though, honestly Tapsoba and Lihadji both good enough to play a role in Ligue 1 as well. Will be interesting to see how you manage the squad.

[Jogo Bonito]

Thanks. Still fuming about having to buy a left-back for the U19 squad, and all the free central midfielders I looked at and passed on earlier in the summer also found new clubs and would now require stupid fees. I've got an 18 year old central midfielder coming from Senegal in January for £66,000 to sort the lack of depth there, and will just have to hope we are lucky with injuries in that position until then.

Tapsoba would certainly be in the first team squad, but I'd rather see him play week in, week out for the 2nd Team than have him play a bit part in my first team. If he bangs in the goals at that level, I'll probably promote him and sell Laura, who I still haven't really forgiven for his antics last season. Lihadji is currently in the U19 squad (due to registration issue preventing Nakoubi being able to play for them) and as you would imagine his confidence will be sky high after the start he has made (9 goals and 3 assists in 7 games from the right wing).

The 2nd Team and Under 19 side have won 100% of their games so far (15 games combined across all fixtures), and neither Tapsoba or Toure have been scoring in the respective squads yet!