[FM20] Voltaço

[_Ben_]

1 hour ago, Ausie said:

Not a clue how these Brazilian leagues run 

It's quite easy actually!

The calendar year starts with a State Championship where we face local sides. There are two phases (turn one and turn two - but, in reality they are called the Taca Guanabara and the Taca Rio) before we play our actual 'national' season.

Then add in cups and add in that the top fourteen or so from Serie A qualify for continental competitions and you've got yourself a big schedule!

[_Ben_]

20 minutes ago, LewisMcGraw said:

What rating was your youth/training facilities at the start of the save?

Very average:

[_Ben_]

2025 Serie B First Half

Absolutely flying through this save at the moment - making the most of not being at work, and, making use of the 2D match engine.

We have performed way above expectations here and should be safe in this division for a second year, at least. I don't, for one minute, think that we are good enough to go up, but we are capable of causing teams problems. We have, however, been exceptionally prone to a lax in concentration, at least once a game, and our draw:defeat ratio really shows that we are very much capable of throwing away points.

--

I think that, as of next season, I'll be dropping the updates down to two months.

Edited June 4, 2020 by _Ben_

[_Ben_]

Player Development

Three Years

This group has completed it's three year spell now and I am still left with only Gilson Camilo making first team appearances. Sadly, his average personality has shown little in the way of wanting to progress.

---

Two Years

Another intake with no first team players and, as you can see from the crosses in the intelligence, technical, mental and physical areas, nobody looks like they have the ability to break into the main squad. This is completely expected though, at this level.

One Year

My first real 'wow' moment is the huge increase the Kayky Costa has made. Not only is he over double the next best Year 1 development, his development in twelve months is more than anyone else I've monitored over three years. He is, however, the first really positive personality I've had (and, for reference, he matches that of the HoYD). He's not getting some first team minutes and hopefully this can continue to rise.

[karanhsingh]

Really interesting stuff! You may have already mentioned but how are you measuring the mean for these players? Is it just a simple average of their attributes? 

[keeper#1]

6 hours ago, OlivierL said:

i want proof !  

I'm required to run a ten-minute mile in order to pass the physical exam in order to officiate field hockey.  I think my pace is a little better than 4. 

[_Ben_]

Youth Intake

Up to intake number five already - but our first as a second tier side, which has improved our reputation. I am led to believe that youth facilities > youth recruitment > reputation may be the correct weighting but that is just a hunch with no evidence. However, couple the better reputation and increased youth recruitment, i'm hoping that this could be good.

As a reminder, this was also classed as a golden generation.

Geilton. Rodrigo Dinamite. 

I've pinpointed these two players firstly based on their personality and then secondly on their perceived potential ability.

Geilton

• Professional (Professionalism 18-19, Temperament 10-20) and Level Headed (Professionalism 13-20, Loyalty 12-20)

Dinamite

• Professional (Professionalism 18-19, Temperament 10-20) and Outspoken (Controversy 15-20)

Whilst Dinamite may disagree with things I ask of him, they are both professional and Geilton can add Determination (14) to that list of positives (Dinamite has 7). Resolute personalities, like that of Kayky Costa last year, have slightly less professionalism but the Determination must be higher, so it'll be interesting to see how these play out.

----

So, I've put all of the players into my tracker to get the overall analysis and it's no surprise that Geilton is the best player, overall and would look so much better if his attributes of nine (technique, tackling, first touch, concentration, marking and acceleration) reached double figures and would be classed as 'good.' As seen below, he is also the second best player to come through the system (although Pedrinho is not a newgen and was three years older when his mean was taken). 

[_Ben_]

4 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Really interesting stuff! You may have already mentioned but how are you measuring the mean for these players? Is it just a simple average of their attributes? 

On my last save I did just use a mean of their attributes. However, I've tried to develop it on this save and I'm still getting used to it myself but did it purposely as I didn't want to directly compare and, from that, write off players based on what I knew.

The mean comes from most of* the attributes that are used to make up their CA (therefore, it doesn't use Aggression, Determination, Flair or Natural Fitness as they are CA free) and then I take a harmonic mean of them, because I found that a score of 20 in Bravery, for example, would skew the mean slightly.

I am trying to get the mean as close as I can to the CA of the player (obviously without looking at it) because I am interested in how the game dishes out CA and PA stars.

 

* I also don't include set pieces because a) they are hard to develop and b) they really don't count for much in terms of CA.

---

It's not as confusing as I think I've made it sound but if you have any more questions - let me know!

[Fosse]

On 02/06/2020 at 21:16, _Ben_ said:

Thanks @Fosse. What are you not keen on? This, to me, seems the most complete release yet.

It’s brilliant until it gets to the match. The ME feels flowchart-y and predictable and there’s distinct patterns of play that you see occur too often, plus too many set piece goals and the central play is often poor. Besides that it’s the best FM yet but the last ME I liked was 18, I’d be playing that still if it had the tactical instructions available in 20.

Your Guadalajara team that barely scored despite a well crafted system and multiple outstanding players sums it up, even if your tactic was basic and just round pegs in round holes, you should have been quite free scoring 

[_Ben_]

Maicon watch

He's doing pretty well and it appears that there is more to come, still!

[_Ben_]

19 minutes ago, Fosse said:

It’s brilliant until it gets to the match. The ME feels flowchart-y and predictable and there’s distinct patterns of play that you see occur too often, plus too many set piece goals and the central play is often poor. Besides that it’s the best FM yet but the last ME I liked was 18, I’d be playing that still if it had the tactical instructions available in 20.

Your Guadalajara team that barely scored despite a well crafted system and multiple outstanding players sums it up, even if your tactic was basic and just round pegs in round holes, you should have been quite free scoring 

Don't even get me started on lack of goalscoring! That has been the hardest nut to crack for me across the whole save.

[Fosse]

3 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

Don't even get me started on lack of goalscoring! That has been the hardest nut to crack for me across the whole save.

The total number of goals seems balanced in game and that’s what SI strive for but it seems to me that because chance creation is flawed the short fall is made up with too many set piece goals, maybe a bit too tin hat-ty but in a short development cycle some comprises have to be made somewhere 

[ifinnem]

Watching with interest as always!

I don’t seem to have had as much trouble creating free scoring teams but that could be partly due to use heavy pressing a lot which is OP.

[karanhsingh]

9 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

On my last save I did just use a mean of their attributes. However, I've tried to develop it on this save and I'm still getting used to it myself but did it purposely as I didn't want to directly compare and, from that, write off players based on what I knew.

The mean comes from most of* the attributes that are used to make up their CA (therefore, it doesn't use Aggression, Determination, Flair or Natural Fitness as they are CA free) and then I take a harmonic mean of them, because I found that a score of 20 in Bravery, for example, would skew the mean slightly.

I am trying to get the mean as close as I can to the CA of the player (obviously without looking at it) because I am interested in how the game dishes out CA and PA stars.

 

* I also don't include set pieces because a) they are hard to develop and b) they really don't count for much in terms of CA.

---

It's not as confusing as I think I've made it sound but if you have any more questions - let me know!

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. How exactly is a harmonic mean calculated? 

Also to that point do you focus more on attributes as per position? I believe that for example tackling contributes less to the CA of a striker and finishing similarly less to the CA for a centre back. Does that figure into the calculations as well? 

[_Ben_]

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. How exactly is a harmonic mean calculated? 

Also to that point do you focus more on attributes as per position? I believe that for example tackling contributes less to the CA of a striker and finishing similarly less to the CA for a centre back. Does that figure into the calculations as well? 

There is actually a little bit more to this that I forgot! Once I have the harmonic mean I then multiply by a figure to avoid the one-footed skew. So if they are Left or Right 'Only' I multiply by 0.88, 'Right' or 'Left' by 0.93 and 'Either' by 1. This, I think, helps balance out those inequalities.

Harmonic mean looks a little like this:

Instead of adding the numbers and dividing by the total amount of them (21 divided by 3), it the amount of pieces of data dived by the reciprocal of each:

Therefore - this is 3 divided by 1/5 + 1/2 + 1/14 or 3 divided by 0.2 + 0.4 + 0.07.

Using this, it removes the weighting that outliers bring. If you look at my example, the mean is massive impacted by the third number there and is has skewed the data whereas the harmonic mean is lot more in line with other data as the weighting is reduced.

---

In terms of attribute weighting - at this point, I don't take it into account as I wanted a really easy and generic system (I don't use GKs in this tracking, for example as at would take another set of attributes) that can be used for all and one that I don't need to decide positions at the start of the game, as I often like to change them.

---

Again, hope this adds some more detail to my process!

[_Ben_]

2025 Serie B

 

I still can't believe that I've completed four seasons in a week (well, two with instant result and two in a little more depth), but it really feels now that I need to take another step in, slow things down slightly and iron out a few things. We are not a bad side, but we have lost as many games as some of those who have been relegated, which is a real worry for that tough second season. 

We have managed to put together some nice victories but, like any newly promoted side, have been hit by inconsistencies. I'm still very much trying to work out the strength of this league and who the bigger, and smaller, teams are to be fair - Sao Paulo aside! I'm more than happy to see steady progress in Serie B as we are becoming financially stable and our players are developing enough to be moved on at the right time. I'd rather spend more time here than become a yo-yo club in the Brasiliero!

---

The game time has massively increased since making Serie B - with a full Carioca schedule, a bit of a cup run and a 38 game domestic season. It has exposed the floors in the squad depth, hugely. There have been two promising goal scoring displays - Maicon and Jaderson scoring well, although I'm still wanting a little more consistency over the entire season from both. But it is new team leader Jaja who led the average rating with some really good displays in the midfield.

---

Going forward, I'm trimming down some of the squad, even though it will impact my player development data. At this point, it's not financially sustainable to keep a squad of over 80 players, most of whom are not good enough for the professional Brazilian leagues.

---

[karanhsingh]

25 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

There is actually a little bit more to this that I forgot! Once I have the harmonic mean I then multiply by a figure to avoid the one-footed skew. So if they are Left or Right 'Only' I multiply by 0.88, 'Right' or 'Left' by 0.93 and 'Either' by 1. This, I think, helps balance out those inequalities.

Harmonic mean looks a little like this:

Instead of adding the numbers and dividing by the total amount of them (21 divided by 3), it the amount of pieces of data dived by the reciprocal of each:

Therefore - this is 3 divided by 1/5 + 1/2 + 1/14 or 3 divided by 0.2 + 0.4 + 0.07.

Using this, it removes the weighting that outliers bring. If you look at my example, the mean is massive impacted by the third number there and is has skewed the data whereas the harmonic mean is lot more in line with other data as the weighting is reduced.

---

In terms of attribute weighting - at this point, I don't take it into account as I wanted a really easy and generic system (I don't use GKs in this tracking, for example as at would take another set of attributes) that can be used for all and one that I don't need to decide positions at the start of the game, as I often like to change them.

---

Again, hope this adds some more detail to my process!

Fantastic. Makes a lot of sense. 

Actually my next question was going to be on the two footedness of players because from my research that contributes a Lot to the CA calculations. But what you're doing there is logical. 

In my rudimentary excel sheet I divided players into two buckets attacking and defensive. Most of the attributes were common, and then a few contributed only to the attackers and a few only to the defensive players. 

Attacking - finishing, long shots, flair, off the ball, dribbling 

Defensive - tackling, positioning, bravery, marking, concentration

However I am unsure of dribbling and concentration they maybe should be in the common bucket. 

As per your methods I will remove things like work rate and determination which don't contribute to the CA calculation. 

[karanhsingh]

Also regarding the footedness since it has such a huge impact it may be worthwhile to have more levels to it as per the weak foot rating? 

Very strong

Strong 

Reasonable 

Weak

Very weak 

[_Ben_]

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Fantastic. Makes a lot of sense. 

Thanks! Over the past couple of days, I've really trimmed down a lot of what I collected as, to be fair, it wasn't serving the original purpose, which for me is to learn more about youth development as a whole and identify ways to individually track and develop my players.

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

As per your methods I will remove things like work rate and determination which don't contribute to the CA calculation. 

Work rate takes up CA! If you need a chart - @Mikaelinho posted one (and a whole blog post actually) about CA free attributes. I've been using that as my go-to!

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

In my rudimentary excel sheet I divided players into two buckets attacking and defensive. Most of the attributes were common, and then a few contributed only to the attackers and a few only to the defensive players. 

Attacking - finishing, long shots, flair, off the ball, dribbling 

Defensive - tackling, positioning, bravery, marking, concentration

However I am unsure of dribbling and concentration they maybe should be in the common bucket. 

In my old save, I used a 'DNA' (and may still do in this one) which rated players based on the given attributes for the positions (and importantly, not roles nor in-game descriptors) of what I wanted. For this development - I am merely checking on them as a whole and looking at how they develop, regardless of position, focusing more on personality, starting ability and the like.

If you have seen my 'Intelligence' section though - you can see how highly I rate concentration so, if I was you, would definitely have it in both.

Have you shown any of these in your thread? I must say that I'm a little behind but saw the first part of your save and will check back in over the next few days...

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Also regarding the footedness since it has such a huge impact it may be worthwhile to have more levels to it as per the weak foot rating? 

• Very strong
• Strong 
• Reasonable 
• Weak
• Very weak 

I know, however, I took the slight hit and reduced it to three columns by using their 'preferred foot' string rather than 'foot strength.' I couldn't, at the time, work out a formula that I wanted based on finding the non-very strong foot, assigning a value to it and then using that as part of a formula.

This whole thing for me has been trying to make it as automated as possible. In an ideal world, I'll print screen, copy the html document into Excel, and copy the whole lot into my table, with no extra work - giving me more time to act upon it in game.

[_Ben_]

Academy update

As I'm now trying to slow down the game (although, I have realised that I like using continue game timeout and, with only Brazil running, I'll press the space bar, flick back to here to create a post or read something, and by the time I'm back - the next game is upon me), I wanted to take stock of the academy graduates.

For reference - I am about to start my fifth season and have six academy graduates in the first team: two are important players, one is a rotational/substitute option, one is a backup player and two are hot prospects who are more in the first team to be part of the training group, whilst still made eligible for the youth sides.

This gives me a very round average of 1.2 academy promotions per season. A figure that I will reference throughout and really try to improve as the save goes on.

----

Rodrigo Dinamite

Rodrigo is the youngest of my academy graduates in the team and will start as fourth choice defensive midfielder. He is Professional (Professionalism 18-19, Temperament 10-20) and Outspoken (Controversy 15-20), so I have no idea of his ambition but I hope that being in the first team will give him enough exposure to better quality coaches and players to train with. My goal is to see him get at least five appearances in the Carioca and then another five in the league system, with a target of 400 minutes this season.

I'm completely flexible on formations at present, but as he is a midfielder, I will look to develop him into an all round player as this is what currently fits my system, as a DM(s). Really, he's a deep lying play-maker, given his good Technique and Passing and excellent First Touch. However, he's a little lightweight so, by looking at the available schedules for the DM strata - I think that specialising his role to a SV(s) with the Defensive Positioning individual focus will give him the best chance to develop, as seen below. I will look to keep his focus on for 12 months and then re-assess the development he's made in Marking, Positioning and Decisions - wary that his Heading is also a weakness.

---

Geilton

My second choice full back is Professional (Professionalism 18-19, Temperament 10-20) and Level Headed (Professionalism 13-20, Loyalty 12-20) and that gives me a good understanding of his hidden attributes, except for his ambition. Unlike Dinamite, he does have good Determination though, which gives him two of the three essential attributes. Like his aforementioned academy graduate, my goal is also to see him get at least five appearances in the Carioca and then another five in the league system, with a target of 400 minutes this season.

I want my full backs to be incredibly technical, so, when looking at the available schedules, I'm going to choose WB(s), as seen below. It trains the same technical attributes as WB(a) but doesn't hit flair - which I've found hard to increase anyway - so removing one attribute saves me about 3% of overall workload. I am choosing to not give him an individual focus at this moment as, Strength aside, he doesn't really have any weaknesses. A lot of his attributes, as I said when he generated, are average but on the cusp of being good (see crossing, first touch, marking, tackling, technique, concentration and acceleration all being 9). With the closer focus on this for a year, and with his natural growth as a 17-year old, I should be able to see some good results - but I will check in on his strength from time to time to see if that needs a focus upon it.

---

Kayky Costa

Kayky was a complete unknown until half way through last year when my backroom staff mentioned his progress. He's Resolute (Determination 15-17, Professionalism 15-17) and Level Headed (Professionalism 13-20, Loyalty 12-20) so has got two of the three essential attributes and made a huge amount of progress last year. He is a impact substitute at the moment but I'd like improve on his 1,037 minutes that he had last year.

Since highlighting him last year, I've been a bit confused about what I want to do with him, but I have seen his huge strength in using him as an out-and-out-winger, especially to stretch the games late on. Therefore, I've moved to just train him as a winger, with some extra work on his crossing, as seen below:

---

Erick Fernando

Despite making huge progress with his finishing, Erick has managed just seven goals in 115 games -  a goal every 16 or so matches, which is not good enough for a forward, even if he is a second striker. He's actually very rounded technically but lacks the intelligence to really be useful anywhere on the pitch and his physical side has not grown either. He's very much second choice as a striker, but, given the club policy - I'd be happy to move him on to get first team football elsehwere.

---

Maicon

Maicon is my shining academy light right now, having settled well into Serie B and my staff believing he could still improve more. He was my original 'focus all intent of individual training' player, using the P/R/D of a striker with work on his shooting. That worked really well overall, with him making six points of progress on Technique, two on Finishing and three on Long Shots. However, this progress has slowed considerably this year - so I think that early indications might suggest that this works best with much younger players (although, I'll continue to test and experiment) - so I shall now move him to a CF(a) schedule with no individual focus, as seen below, to try and improve those areas with any spare PA that he has.

---

Vander Torres

Considering that he's had four years in the first team, he's made very little progress - maybe taking into account his poor personality Balanced/Level HeadedLevel Headed (Professionalism 13-20, Loyalty 12-20) and average Determination or maybe indicating that he was already very close to his PA ceiling and my coaches were wrong. 

As of right now, he's first team material, but, depending on the development of Geilton, he could soon fall away.

[_Ben_]

Transfer and squad update

Even with a massive academy focus, I'm still going to need reinforcements. Here are my dealings over the winter/Brazilian summer:

Prego. Hulk

---

Two strong additions to the first team here. Prego has the makings of a really solid BPD but I'm most impressed at his Decisions and Leadership attributes, which led me to immediately make him team captain. I'm hoping his high Aggression doesn't go hand in hand with a high hidden dirtiness rating but that hasn't been flagged by my staff. Hulk is nicely rounded and was brought in so I could see how his player trait worked of 'Plays one-twos' worked as a attacking wingback, before I consider teaching Geilton that. 

---

What is clear is now the team is getting more positive personalities in it and my strongest side is taking shape, even if there are only two academy players in it:

[karanhsingh]

2 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

Thanks! Over the past couple of days, I've really trimmed down a lot of what I collected as, to be fair, it wasn't serving the original purpose, which for me is to learn more about youth development as a whole and identify ways to individually track and develop my players.

Work rate takes up CA! If you need a chart - @Mikaelinho posted one (and a whole blog post actually) about CA free attributes. I've been using that as my go-to!

In my old save, I used a 'DNA' (and may still do in this one) which rated players based on the given attributes for the positions (and importantly, not roles nor in-game descriptors) of what I wanted. For this development - I am merely checking on them as a whole and looking at how they develop, regardless of position, focusing more on personality, starting ability and the like.

If you have seen my 'Intelligence' section though - you can see how highly I rate concentration so, if I was you, would definitely have it in both.

Have you shown any of these in your thread? I must say that I'm a little behind but saw the first part of your save and will check back in over the next few days...

I know, however, I took the slight hit and reduced it to three columns by using their 'preferred foot' string rather than 'foot strength.' I couldn't, at the time, work out a formula that I wanted based on finding the non-very strong foot, assigning a value to it and then using that as part of a formula.

This whole thing for me has been trying to make it as automated as possible. In an ideal world, I'll print screen, copy the html document into Excel, and copy the whole lot into my table, with no extra work - giving me more time to act upon it in game.

Thanks. Makes a lot of sense and I feel like the DNA approach may be better for someone like me or rather most players who are trying to maximize player potential for the roles they want said player to play in their team. 

That said though we don't know how heavily the game weighs role specific attributes towards CA calculations, for example the finishing stat of a striker as opposed to his positioning. So then it's basically just making your own formula and going by that. As long as everyone is being compared against the same parameters. 

Thanks for clarifying regarding work rate and concentration will bear that in mind. 

Have you managed to make it automated, and if so how? Because so far I'm still typing into my excel sheet and hence only tracking once a year (and only select youngsters because doing it for everyone would be a huge time suck). 

[_Ben_]

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Thanks. Makes a lot of sense and I feel like the DNA approach may be better for someone like me or rather most players who are trying to maximize player potential for the roles they want said player to play in their team. 

DNA has it's pros and cons, definitely. For somebody looking to assemble the best possible team, I'd use that (and, as I said, I may do that when I'm at the point whereby I have a deep squad of talent or have the chance to recruit expensive players) but for those wanting to develop youth players, I think that it's most important to look at how you can fill out their perceived PA stars.

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

That said though we don't know how heavily the game weighs role specific attributes towards CA calculations, for example the finishing stat of a striker as opposed to his positioning. So then it's basically just making your own formula and going by that. As long as everyone is being compared against the same parameters. 

I think that I said this in my Guadalajara save - but I actually like that I don't know the specifics. Therefore, I'm not comparing against their parameters, merely my own. This way, all of my data collection is my club vs my club and the changes that I make are based on my feel and not gamebreaking.

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Have you managed to make it automated, and if so how? Because so far I'm still typing into my excel sheet and hence only tracking once a year (and only select youngsters because doing it for everyone would be a huge time suck). 

Apologies if this is not what you mean - but here is my guide on extracting it automatically:

1. Firstly, create a view with all attributes.

2. Use the print screen and save as a webpage

3. Open it up and copy it into Excel

4. Have separate cells that compile formulas for you.

 

[_Ben_]

Quick start

It has not taken us long to get our Carioca scoring boots on!

EDIT:

My game crashed...

Edited June 5, 2020 by _Ben_

[karanhsingh]

29 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

DNA has it's pros and cons, definitely. For somebody looking to assemble the best possible team, I'd use that (and, as I said, I may do that when I'm at the point whereby I have a deep squad of talent or have the chance to recruit expensive players) but for those wanting to develop youth players, I think that it's most important to look at how you can fill out their perceived PA stars.

I think that I said this in my Guadalajara save - but I actually like that I don't know the specifics. Therefore, I'm not comparing against their parameters, merely my own. This way, all of my data collection is my club vs my club and the changes that I make are based on my feel and not gamebreaking.

Apologies if this is not what you mean - but here is my guide on extracting it automatically:

1. Firstly, create a view with all attributes.

2. Use the print screen and save as a webpage

3. Open it up and copy it into Excel

4. Have separate cells that compile formulas for you.

 

Superb thanks! I had no idea this was possible. 

[OlivierL]

2 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

DNA has it's pros and cons, definitely. For somebody looking to assemble the best possible team, I'd use that (and, as I said, I may do that when I'm at the point whereby I have a deep squad of talent or have the chance to recruit expensive players) but for those wanting to develop youth players, I think that it's most important to look at how you can fill out their perceived PA stars.

I think that I said this in my Guadalajara save - but I actually like that I don't know the specifics. Therefore, I'm not comparing against their parameters, merely my own. This way, all of my data collection is my club vs my club and the changes that I make are based on my feel and not gamebreaking.

Apologies if this is not what you mean - but here is my guide on extracting it automatically:

1. Firstly, create a view with all attributes.

2. Use the print screen and save as a webpage

3. Open it up and copy it into Excel

4. Have separate cells that compile formulas for you.

 

That is how i do it on this FM.. last year i did everything manually :o 

U can also press ctrl+p.

Edited June 5, 2020 by OlivierL

[_Ben_]

Carioca worries

We've just won our last two games 6-0 but, as we grow, we need to become wary of this:

Lower league teams sitting behind the ball, making counter-attacking impossible and nullifying any threat that we have.

[_Ben_]

Dinamite

Dinamite by name, dynamite by long shot. Debut goal for Rodrigo in the first round of the cup.

[_Ben_]

Hierarchy update

I made a brave move naming Prego as captain but I'm hoping that he can quite quickly move up the hierarchy and join Model Pro Jaja as a team leader.My plan, over time, is to recruit some older heads, ideally those Brazilians based in Europe, to come back, spend a year or so at the club and improve the personalities within the team.

[_Ben_]

More screamers!

Getting the hang of creating gifs now. Nothing better than seeing a thunderbolt against the big guns of Fluminense!

[_Ben_]

Debut

There is something that I like about this lad, Pacheco - maybe it is his utter laziness, inability to position himself or move off the ball, yet good ball control, technique and Brazilian flair when on it. I don't know whether a player with so many gaps could make the first team, but this half Lebanese lad could definitely be good enough to play internationally for the Middle Eastern minnows, if he should want to.

[_Ben_]

2026 Taca Guanabara (Carioca Turn One)

An absolutely outstanding set of fixtures - with a combination of blowing away lower league opposition and grinding out results against big teams.

We started with two big wins against Serie D opposition, allowing Maicon to net five times in the opening two games as I look to get him to score as many as possible. We then really struggled against a Boavista side who literally had eleven men behind the ball. I was a bit naive, not changing our shape and hoping that quality would shine through - but it didn't and we dropped points. At that time, Flamengo had just lost so I was a little relieved that we got away we with it. We also comfortably beat lower league Cabofriense. The two games against Serie A opposition were magnificent watches - we were never out of the Fluminense game and a screamer from Jaja gave us a lead. We lost Prego in the 47th minute due to an elbow so went very cautious but still remained strong before a lovely break was finished from close in by that man, Jaja, again. We ended the turn with a gritty performance against Botafogo, who took the lead after there minutes and then re-took it just 90 seconds or so after we equalised. It was Jaja, yet again, who converted a free kick from 20 yards to give us the win - meaning that we were in with a chance of winning our first ever Taca Guanabara (sadly not shown in the game as a separate honour - nor counted as the Carioca winner as the winner of the combined stages gets that! [confusing, I appreciate for someone not in the game world!]) by qualifying for the First Turn final, against group B winners Botafogo.

I named my strongest XI available for the final and it started really well as Vander Torres waltzed into the box after nine minutes to score. Sadly, the lead was short lived, as we conceded a penalty and Iago Oliveira netted, on his birthday, to level it up. Botafogo went into half time the better side, after hitting the post too just before the break. On 64 minutes, Kayky Costa hit the post following a wonderful mazy run but was otherwise very poor on the big stage. In the end, a converted 82nd minute cross and a comical stoppage-time own goal sealed what, on paper, looks like an easy win.

A quick note from this game about the relative sizes of the clubs: we played this game at the Maracana, with just over 49,000 attendees and Botafogo brought forty-three thousand of those. I know we are situated someway from Rio, but we have a tiny fanbase and that attendance is over double our average last year.

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Also during the hectic months of January and February - we entered the Copa do Brasil:

I will hold my hands up at the defeat to Vila Nova. At 1-0 up with ten to play, I got somewhat complacent and, even after they scored, I presumed that the higher seed would go through, as happens in the first round. At full time, I pressed the space bar, thinking it'd take me to the Team Talk - but actually, it meant I completely missed naming my penalty takers. We were significantly better than them and should have been out of sight.

The biggest annoyance is that we received £189k for losing that game - so the money involved is large and that is important for us as a small club.

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I'm going to continue doing smaller updates, such as those goals, and anything player development wise separately, keeping these two-monthly updates just to on-pitch matters. Hopefully that'll keep the thread progressing smoothly and give me plenty of chances to go off on tangents.

[_Ben_]

Player Development: Marcio Ricardo

As I'm still very much in the experimental phase of player development within this save - I feel that it's necessary to have some 'dummy data' and by that, players who I don't necessarily feel will be good enough to make the first team and/or make a good profit for the club. Marcio Ricardo, a youngster from my recent intake is very much that type of player:

His completely neutral Balanced/Media Friendly personality tells me nothing - so it's a shot in the dark if I'll even be able to improve him, really. Here is what his attributes and positions look like:

In summary:

• He's smaller than I'd like for a DC - that has a knock on effect on his Heading and Jumping
• He's reasonably fast so that can account for some of his lack of height, using him as a Stopper or a Cover option.
• His ball playing abilities aren't that bad for this level - First Touch of 9, Off the Ball of 7 etc.
• He has a player trait that I love and have never successfully taught to anyone else.

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What do I want him to do then?

I think that he is a prime candidate for the P/R/D of just 'CD - playing position' because then he'll work on all areas of being a central defender (Tackling: already good, Marking: not far from average, Concentration: not far from average, Anticipation: poor and needs work, Decisions: average, Speed: already ok, Strength: needs work) and then I can focus all of his individual traits on to the below:

Clearly, his Heading needs massive work. I'm not worried about his Bravery as this is already good. If I can get his Heading in line with his Marking - that'll be fantastic.

Both Strength and Jumping Reach need work. Ideally, Strength would reach double figures but, as a Ball Player stepping out from defence, he's less likely to need it.

I think that this is important for the footballing side of his game - getting Vision up to the same kind of level of Passing and improving from there.

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Interestingly, Anticipation only appears on Attacking Movement and not Defensive Positioning (but I'm fairly sure it's very important for defenders) and I don't feel that he would appreciate working on his attacking movement in training.

Therefore, I have three individual focuses - that I'd like to rotate across the year, giving him three months on each. I've set a note in game to remind me to change this and I'll see how this kind of approach works.

 

[_Ben_]

Ronaldinho vs Seaman?

Not so funny when they go in against you....

N.B: Got to learn to get the mouse out of the way when recording my screen!

[_Ben_]

Portuguesa fans

Not sure what their issues are with sitting in the bottom tier, actually close to the pitch...

We, of course, only took 25 fans.

[_Ben_]

Lower League Goalkeeping

Not even sure what to say about this...

[_Ben_]

Record Win

Not often do I post four times per game month, let alone per game. But, this Portuguesa game was a special one for us:

No idea where that came from but we've obliterated our old record victory!

[Ausie]

39 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

Therefore, I have three individual focuses - that I'd like to rotate across the year, giving him three months on each. I've set a note in game to remind me to change this and I'll see how this kind of approach works.

Looking forward to seeing how this goes actually. I'm quite heavy on individual focuses but I usually leave it for a whole season and then reassess the following pre-season. 

[_Ben_]

22 minutes ago, Ausie said:

Looking forward to seeing how this goes actually. I'm quite heavy on individual focuses but I usually leave it for a whole season and then reassess the following pre-season. 

In the past - I've had people on the same focus for several years - largely because I never checked back on it. However, in this game, Erick Fernando has made 5 points progress on Finishing and 6 on Technique in four years.

I do remember in the past that there was a bit of a move to the 'rotation' of these focuses from a few members but we'll see. If each of them could make 1 point in those three months that would look decent over a four to five year development program, given spare CA, but we'll see.

Edited June 6, 2020 by _Ben_

[_Ben_]

2026 Copa Rio (Carioca Turn Two)

We end this phase by winning three of the four ties against Brasiliero Serie A opposition - which is absolutely fantastic for a second tier club, and, for the second season in a row split the big four in the overall table.

We started by being dominated by Flamengo, which is understandable but followed that up with a gritty win over Vasco, where we defending solidly for 84 minutes following an early set piece goal. We followed that up with an outstanding performance against Portuguesa: thirteen goals, a perfect first half hatrick from Maicon, two thunderbolts - one from Dinamite and one from Torres (although that was helped by terrible keeping) and good run outs for youngsters Gielton and Pacheco. Two decent performances finished off our competition but, with Flamengo playing early, and beating Vasco, it meant the Bangu tie was a dead rubber.

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We've been accruing a decent amount of money of the years and, whilst our Junior Coaching was increased, the board have rejected any youth recruitment or facility improvements, sadly. 

[_Ben_]

Mentoring update

Main Influencer

Jaja:

• Team Leader
• Vice Captain
• Over 200 senior appearances - with some at this level and higher
• Determination of 15
• Model Pro (Professionalism 20, Temperament 10-20 and Level-Headed (Professionalism 13-20, Loyalty 12-20)

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Intended impacts

Dinamite:

Currently at F.Pro (Professionalism 15-17, Temperament 11-20) [N.B: I know that it is then and not the other possibility of Professionalism 18-20, Temperament 1-10 because he dropped from Pro (which has Pro of 18-19) so now ,must be at 17] and Outspoken (Controversy 15-20) with Determination of 9.

• Return to the Pro personality (maybe turn to M.Pro at 23)
• Controversy to decrease
• Determination to increase

Geilton:

Currently at Pro (Professionalism 18-19, Temperament 10-20) and Level-Headed (Professionalism 13-20, Loyalty 12-20) with Determination of 14.

• Increase Pro to 20 (so he will turn to M.Pro at 23)
• Increase Determination by 1 point.

Pacheco:

Currently at F.Det (Determination 15-17, Professionalism <15, Leader <19) and Level-Headed (Professionalism 13-14 Loyalty 12-20) with Determination of 16.

• Improve Pro from 13 or 14 to higher level - which may turn him to Resolute (Determination 15-17, Professionalism 15-17)
• Take a hit on Determination to increase the above.

Ricardo:

Currently at Balanced and Outspoken (Controversy 15-20) with Determination of 9.

• Increase Pro to a level that I can get an understanding of - I think it'll need to be at least 13 to show up on M.Handling (Level Headed) if Loyalty is good enough.
• Determination to increase

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I believe  that the 'Influence on group' will essentially mean how hard it is to convert them. With three of the four at light, they shouldn't offer much resistance and Ricardo at none, I guess, means he has no say in the matter!

Edited June 6, 2020 by _Ben_

[_Ben_]

Player Development: Pacheco

Another one that may be just 'dummy data' as there are lots of holes in his game! Here is how he currently looks:

As I said before when he made his debut:

"utter laziness, inability to position himself or move off the ball, yet good ball control, technique and Brazilian flair when on it"

Therefore, I'm going to use the Engache training role to try and develop some of those mental attributes. I'm hoping that his mentoring can also work on giving him the best possible position to develop from.

[_Ben_]

Player Development: Joao Carlos

A bright spark in my Reserve team but not at first team level, yet (N.B: Players won't get faces until they are in the first team as I don't have that many of them and don't really want to re-use the same face), however he has a decent attribute base that I can play with:

Not the fastest (hence why I don't think the game could ever see him as a CWB due to the physical demands it places on the player) but after some 9 attribute changes (tackling, composure, balance) - he'll look much better. 

He's going to get a bit of football this year but will be going the WB(s) role, as seen below, to hit as much technical stuff as I can:

[Fosse]

I think I’d be tempted to give Joao Carlos more direct or increase risky passes as a PI (even though you prefer shorter passes) . Typically full back is the position that gets the most space on the pitch and he’s got the attributes to really hurt teams from a deeper position. He’s not got the legs to get up and down but he could act almost like a DL Enganche haha

[_Ben_]

4 hours ago, Fosse said:

I think I’d be tempted to give Joao Carlos more direct or increase risky passes as a PI (even though you prefer shorter passes) . Typically full back is the position that gets the most space on the pitch and he’s got the attributes to really hurt teams from a deeper position. He’s not got the legs to get up and down but he could act almost like a DL Enganche haha

You’re right - I think I've overlooked how good his passing is for a) his age b) our level and c) his position.

I want to develop that without compromising any PA through learning a new position (I know, that's not exactly how it works but will do for this explanation), so will be using the ML position as he's awkward there. The WP(s) doesn't quite have all the defensive stuff I want in it, so I'll use the Wide Midfielder, on Support, a role that I have never trained before! I've combined that with the 'Quickness' focus to get this:

My assistant agreed with the choice of trait too and I think he'll be dangerous as we look to start counter attacks.

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I absolutely love this kind of focus on players and really wish I had the time to do it with all of them! I want to use this save to find a medium between gameplay and analysis!

Edited June 6, 2020 by _Ben_

[_Ben_]

Development update: Rodrigo Dinamite

You've seen his goalscoring gifs, but he's also done well on the training pitch, too. The below three attributes are from his individual focus that I set in January, when the season started.

• Decisions (orange) has risen from 13 to 16.
• Positioning (purple) has risen from 7 to 9.
• Marking (beige) has risen from 6 to 9.

That, in my books, is a pretty solid few months of development and he now looks like this:

I now need to work out what part of his game I'd like to develop next...

 

[_Ben_]

Travelling fans

You kind of forget the size of Brazil, though...

A lot of time for those two fans!

[OlivierL]

13 minutes ago, _Ben_ said:

Travelling fans

You kind of forget the size of Brazil, though...

A lot of time for those two fans!

two die hards

[_Ben_]

April/May 2026

A lovely unbeaten start to Serie B, even if we have somewhat become 'draw specialists.' We have already equalled the amount of games that we drew in the whole of last season - but, this is not a concern for me when you consider that Bahia, Ceara and Nautico are all predicted to finish above us - so essentially, we are picking up unexpected points.

I was starting to get a little concerned about Maicon, who, with thirteen Carioca State goals, hadn't found the net, but an early strike away to Salgueiro eased those worries. 

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We have nine fixtures over the next two months - eight Saturday games and only one mid-week tie. This kind of scheduling is making me consider how I want to set our training up as we move forward through this save.

[_Ben_]

Tactical Thoughts

100% going to open a can of worms with this one, completely unintentionally too!

I love Brazilian football and a lot of my favourite ever players have been Brazilian, so I've tried to put together my best Brazilian XI, based on my own knowledge of watching players but also further reading. This is certainly not an exact science and I'll have definitely missed out some of the best players I've ever watched!

My current 'did not make it' list contains 

• Garrincha
• Cafu
• Romario
• Rivaldo
• Kaka
• Didi
• Carlos Alberto
• Bebeto
• Jairzinho
• Dani Alves
• Lucio
• Neymar

I've also kind of shoe-horned them into a style that I think fits the Brazilian way and one that I'd love to take influence from. Here it is:

Firstly, Ronaldo is my favourite ever player so he was getting in - out of position or not! There are some players, particularly Domingos Da Guia and Djalma Santos who I have only ever read about but that has painted a picture of fantastic footballers. 

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I really see this kind of shape starting as a 4-2-3-1, which we currently play and just having some role changes to create essentially a Brazilian box as seen below:

I'm going to think about how this work would in terms of players, traits and being able to mirror it for different opposition. However, it's nice to have something to kind of be working on tactically - even if this is not, and will never be, a tactical recreation!