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Post by hokster on Jun 6, 2020 3:49:43 GMT
I'm just starting my third season with Newell's Old Boys in Argentina. Newell's Old Boys is from Rosario, and have a fierce rivalry with Rosario Central. While Newell's Old Boys is one of the most famous clubs in Argentina (though not in the league of Boca Juniors or River Plate), they have recently been in a mess, with financial mismanagement leaving them in debt and close to relegation (in Argentina, relegation is based on average points per match over the previous three seasons). I managed to get them out of debt over the first two seasons by selling the club's best players, such as Jeronimo Cacciabue and Anibal Moreno, leaving us with a talented but young core (which I'll focus on later). As Nick mentioned in his thread, the Argentinian league (the Superliga) is undergoing a dramatic transition over these seasons. Argentina also has two cups (for now): the Copa Argentina, which features teams from all levels of the league pyramid, and the Copa de la Superliga, which divides the Superliga teams into two groups, which play each other in a single-robin format, with the top two teams qualifying for the semi-finals. We finished sixth in 2019/20 Superliga, finishing eight points behind champions River. We were also runners-up in the Copa Argentina, though we didn't qualify out of our group in the Copa de la Superliga due to a bit of a collapse in the last few group-stage matches. I *think* this performance qualified us for the 2021 Copa Libertadores, though I'm not 100% sure how. In 2020/2021, we put on a title challenge before faltering towards the end, finishing four points behind champions Velez Sarsfield, who edged River with both having 49 points. I'm not sure how, given that they had a worse goal difference and fewer goals scored. But we won the Copa Argentina and were runners-up to Boca in the Copa de la Superliga. In the 2021 Copa Libertadores, we won a group with Flamengo, Blooming, and Libertad. We beat Flamengo to the top spot thanks to a 12-0 win over Blooming at home. However, we lost on penalties in the Second Round to Universad Catolica, despite being the better team overall. In general, the board has been pleased with this performance. They want me to develop players using our youth system, which has been easy due to the club's financial situation, and play attacking football, which suits me anyway. Working within the payroll budget while maintaining competitiveness has been tricky, but I've been able to do this after the first summer, and all the board expects from me currently are top-half finishes in the Superliga. Our qualification for the Copa Libertadores came five seasons ahead of schedule, buying me a fair amount of goodwill, which I've parlayed into youth system improvements. Archrivals Rosario Central were also just relegated after years of struggle, while we've climbed to fourth in the average points table with 2.02, behind Independiente, River, and Velez.Transfers
Newell's has a very talented squad when the game starts, though there were a lot of players in on loan, and the payroll was out of control. As I mentioned, I've had to sell quite a few players to get the club out of debt: 2019-2020 and 2020-2021. I was finally able to splash the cash a little bit this offseason, with equal expenditures and sales. I'll show the new players below in the squad overview, while noting that I'm waiting on Defensor Sporting to sign a replacement for Ignacio Laquintana, who I agreed to sign for 1.3M. Squad
Since I play on a laptop, I can't get the full first-team squad in a single snapshot, so I'll go through the key players and youngsters here. Unfortunately, while our youth setup isn't terrible, I didn't have the money to upgrade it until this offseason, and our promising regens tended to have poor personalities, so I won't highlight any yet (apparently this intake will be a "golden generation" when it happens in October, but we'll see what that means). GoalkeepersI don't have anyone here to note but Alan Aguerre, who is our vice-captain and has been a rock in goal since the save started. He lets me play a more aggressive defensive line (as I'll discuss in the tactics section), and I've had to continuously reject bids for him from River. DefenseWe've gone through a large number of centerbacks, due to the loan situation, but we currently have a stable of five centerbacks: Facundo Pardo, Valentin Benitez, Rodrigo Scagliarini, Juan Pablo Freytes, and Lucio Urquia, who started as a fullback prospect but who I've been retraining as a centerback due to his poor crossing and dribbling. We need this number due to injuries and rotation. At the moment, Pardo and Benitez are first choice, though everyone gets a fair number of matches while healthy.
Fullback has been a weak point in terms of depth since I started the save. I had to let our first-choice leftback go after the 2019/2020 season due to wage demands, which left us quite thin at the position. I also sold our first-choice rightback this summer due to a poor attitude. This left us quite thin, and so fullback was my priority this transfer window. At leftback, I signed Elias Pereyra from San Lorenzo for 4.1M, which was a bit of an overpay, but we were desperate. He's backed up by Brian Calderara, who was our first-choice last season. At rightback, I signed Alex Vigo from Colon de Santa Fe for 4M: again, a bit of an overpay, but he has a solid personality and some room to grow. To back him up, I signed Agustin Sant'Anna from Deportivo Maldonado for 85k.
Midfield
Our midfield has been the strongest point of the squad from the start, though I've thinned us out a bit by selling players such as Moreno and Cacciabue. The mainstay has been defensive midfielder Julian Fernandez. His partner is Marco Campagnaro, who I promoted from the U20s after selling Cacciabue. They're backed up by Juan Manuel Requena and Martin Bellotti.
In attacking midfield, I've been developing prospect Juan Sebastian Sforza. He's the clear first choice, though there are a few players backing him up who may or may not pan out. This is an area where either someone needs to step up to be Sforza's backup/competition, or we'll need to sign someone soon.
Wings
On the wings, we're a little thin after selling Francisco Gonzalez to Pumas after he became unsettled by a bid from River. Our star on the left wing is Joaquin Torres, who is backed up by Brian Aguirre. On the right, until Laquintana joins us our primary option is Julian Marcioni, though a large number of our strikers can play on the right as well.
Forwards
This offseason, I signed Lucas Albertengo on a free; he had done well on loan from us my first season in charge, and is a model citizen. Our first-choice striker, though, is Tobias Donsanti, who unlike every other striker this save started scoring as soon as I inserted him into the first team. We had to fight off competition from Velez to re-sign him this offseason, but he chose to stay with us. Otherwise, this is where our most promising prospects are: Roman Bravo, Juan Manuel Perez (who became our leading scorer this season after one Superliga match, where he scored a brace), and Marcelo Colonna, who is an unambitious five star prospect.
Tactics
This save, I've been using the following 4-2-3-1 (with the double pivot in defensive midfield), with the current first-choice XI named:
Campagnaro plays as an attacking segundo volante, who can run past Sforza into the box from deep or combine with Vigo and Marcioni on the right to create an overload. We end up with some really dynamic attacking play, with the striker, wingers, and segundo volante all chipping in with goals. Campagnaro and Fernandez also score from deep on a reasonable basis against teams who park the bus against us. Defensively, we play with a high line (on balanced mentality), but with a lower line of engagement to give room for Torres and our wing players to run past the defensive line. We use a split-block pressing system, with the front four pressing more aggressively and the defensive players maintaining their shape.
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Post by jawzy on Jun 6, 2020 7:33:25 GMT
3 seasons in with N.O.B wow, I only noticed the otherday the team you were managing had changed from Spurs to Newells, perfect timing I thought to send the link towards you!
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Post by hokster on Jun 6, 2020 11:26:18 GMT
3 seasons in with N.O.B wow, I only noticed the otherday the team you were managing had changed from Spurs to Newells, perfect timing I thought to send the link towards you! I actually had a game going with Athletic Club before this one, but got sacked right before the third youth intake for failing to win a cup. Mind, we were challenging Barca for the title and had consistently been in the Champions League!
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Post by Nick on Jun 6, 2020 12:58:55 GMT
Good to see you decided to post hokster. Newell's have been dreadful in my save. They were relegated in the first season, spent two seasons in Primera B and have just come back up. I've not played them yet, but 8 points from 11 games suggests they're going to struggle again. You've taken them in the other direction, which is great to see. Any plans to bring Messi back to his boyhood club when he's 38?!
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Post by hokster on Jun 6, 2020 14:04:21 GMT
Good to see you decided to post hokster. Newell's have been dreadful in my save. They were relegated in the first season, spent two seasons in Primera B and have just come back up. I've not played them yet, but 8 points from 11 games suggests they're going to struggle again. You've taken them in the other direction, which is great to see. Any plans to bring Messi back to his boyhood club when he's 38?! The finances at the club at the start are really catastrophic. I think we were 10M in the hole at the end of the first season (I had disabled first-window transfers). No transfer budget, and the payroll budget went from 140ishk per week to 100k per week. I've had to routinely sell off my best players and bring in youngsters, which so far this season is finally starting to affect things a little bit. At least I've had some money to spend on transfers and youth system upgrades from some of those sales, especially from the Chinese clubs that keep offering massive overpays for my players. And Rosario Central actually went down last season, which is nuts. I'd love to bring Messi back, if only as a mentor or coach. We'll see how it unfolds, but I suspect I'll need a lot more money before that's doable. Have you noticed the sponsorships in Argentina going up in value? Ours are quite small. Also, is it me or are regens in generally pretty poor in terms of determination and personality? I have a Fairly Determined HoYD and a decent setup, and all of my 4-5* potential regens have personalities like Unambitious or Low Determination. Makes it hard to develop them, and I'm going to need to rely on my youth setup if this save is going to have legs, given the financial constraints.
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Post by hokster on Jun 6, 2020 14:33:51 GMT
Youth Intake 2021
We've just had our latest intake after some increases to junior coaching and youth recruitment (now at good and excellent, respectively). The initial preview said this might be a golden generation, with a particularly good prospect at GK. At some point, I need to find a replacement for Alan Aguerre, so this boded well. Unfortunately:
It's not so bad, and we definitely could use a promising leftback prospect, but my intakes have been extremely heavy on these AMC/ST types, and I'm running out of good prospects in central midfield. Here are the more promising players (which I'm defining as 3* or more, including black stars):
German Vargas: He looks generally promising aside from his low determination personality. Have you been promoting and mentoring players like this? I like his teamwork, work rate, acceleration, and he's advanced in a few key technical areas. I might think about retraining him as an IF given his combination of acceleration, finishing, and dribbling.
Agustin Barinaga: I wish he were quicker, but he has solid starting points in technical and mental areas. I'll need to get that attacking movement up if he's going to be a solid wingback.
Juan Pablo Castiglia: Great combination of quickness, teamwork, flair, and technical skills. I can definitely see him exploiting the movement of a false 9 to get into the box and finish off a move, so if he develops well he might prompt a tactical rethink. We'll need to work on some of his mentals to get him there, but he's only 16, so those should come. I'm a little worried about his light-hearted personality, though. If I recall correctly, doesn't that mean his professionalism might be quite low?
Angel Romanello: He's a very slow attacking midfielder, but I could see him doing a job as a wide AP given that he can dribble, has a decent touch, good long shots, and has flair for days. I wish his teamwork were higher for that role, though. And of course, he's unambitious.
Ivan Rios: I was getting excited about his potential as a false 9 until I saw he has 1 strength. So now I'm not really sure what to do with a noodle-armed and legged striker/AMC who isn't great at finishing but has decent team skills.
Enzo Abalos: A slow winger who can't dribble but can cross. I'd think about making him a WB-D if his marking and tackling weren't so awful. It's still probably what I'll try to do given that his positioning is decent, while his off the ball is a bit worse. I'm not optimistic about him becoming good enough for us.
Alexandro Donati: He's obviously not going to be a striker, but if his flair gets up and he can be a bit quicker he could be an interesting IW. I don't love his teamwork, vision, or work rate, though.
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Post by jawzy on Jun 7, 2020 14:06:50 GMT
That is a massive shame about Vargas super low determination, still would promote/mentor though.
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Post by hokster on Jun 7, 2020 14:51:13 GMT
2021/2022 Mid-Season UpdateWe've returned a bit to earth so far this season, as we're struggling to link up and get ourselves in good scoring positions. In general, the team just seems a bit more stagnant, and it looks like we're missing the flair of Francisco Gonzales. We're also conceding a lot of sloppy goals from set pieces. CompetitionsSuperligaThis season the Superliga has switched to a double round-robin format, like the European leagues. As the league's contraction hasn't finished, there are 22 teams, and so we have 42 league matches to play on top of any continental or cup games. TableFixtures (not shown is a 5-3 win at Aldosivi in our July opener)Boca has just been killing it this season, and are running away with the title. The top 4 also seem a cut above, though if we can sort out our attack I think we can get back in that mix. We hit a real rough patch in August, and even after tightening things up a bit, the goals just generally aren't there. A low was the three-match winless streak in November, starting with a drubbing at home against Argentino Juniors. A lot of teams are sitting back against us and making us get a goal through a shot from outside of the box (the number of matches where I've had to turn on Shoot on Sight...oy), and we aren't showing enough movement or dynamism to force them into a mistake. I need to have a think about how to solve that problem. One additional problem is that my DLF and AM are linking less than they did with this tactic in previous seasons. I mitigated this somewhat by changing the DLF to a DLF-S, and while that's improved that, it's come at the expense of the tactic having more teeth. I'm trying to teach Donsanti to come deep to get the ball, which will hopefully help increase linking without having to decrease his mentality. In general, we're going to need a better second half to remain in the Copa Libertadores group places.Copa Argentina
Fixtures
That is...a lot of penalties. Thank goodness there's no extra time in these matches. Once again, we generally weren't convincing going forward, or when we were, we were sloppy at the back. TransfersWe're not going to see much on this front. I need to sell to improve our finances, which will be back in the red next month. The board cut the percentage retained to 40%, which will apparently drop again once we raise a few million in cash (does that seem backwards to anyone else?). I'm thinking about selling Julian Fernandez this summer; not because I want to, but because he might be able to fetch 8-10M. Some of our backups might be able to go for a million or two, but I need to sort out who is replacing them from within before I allow them to leave. I'm worried that our wage budget will take a hit next season, which might require some hard choices.
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Post by hokster on Jun 7, 2020 15:35:57 GMT
Vargas is now being referred to as potentially the next Batistuta, which would obviously be amazing if he develops to a fraction of that point.
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Post by Nick on Jun 7, 2020 16:02:26 GMT
Good to see you decided to post hokster. Newell's have been dreadful in my save. They were relegated in the first season, spent two seasons in Primera B and have just come back up. I've not played them yet, but 8 points from 11 games suggests they're going to struggle again. You've taken them in the other direction, which is great to see. Any plans to bring Messi back to his boyhood club when he's 38?! The finances at the club at the start are really catastrophic. I think we were 10M in the hole at the end of the first season (I had disabled first-window transfers). No transfer budget, and the payroll budget went from 140ishk per week to 100k per week. I've had to routinely sell off my best players and bring in youngsters, which so far this season is finally starting to affect things a little bit. At least I've had some money to spend on transfers and youth system upgrades from some of those sales, especially from the Chinese clubs that keep offering massive overpays for my players. And Rosario Central actually went down last season, which is nuts. I'd love to bring Messi back, if only as a mentor or coach. We'll see how it unfolds, but I suspect I'll need a lot more money before that's doable. Have you noticed the sponsorships in Argentina going up in value? Ours are quite small. Also, is it me or are regens in generally pretty poor in terms of determination and personality? I have a Fairly Determined HoYD and a decent setup, and all of my 4-5* potential regens have personalities like Unambitious or Low Determination. Makes it hard to develop them, and I'm going to need to rely on my youth setup if this save is going to have legs, given the financial constraints. I'd say that about half of my youth intake has Determination over 10, with most of those having a positive personality. I still get a fairly diverse group in terms of personality and, even with a 'Perfectionist' HoYD, I still get plenty of Low Determination, Unambitious, Fickle, even Spineless players come through. At the other end, I usually get one Perfectionist player per intake. My current youth team has 26 players in it, each of which came through the last two intakes. 11 of those currently have what I'd call a 'negative' personality, while only two of those 11 have Determination over 9 and none of them have any real potential (max. 2.5 stars) I can't remember what my sponsorship intake was at the start of the save, but I'm currently nearly four years in, we're the most reputable team in the country and my sponsorship totals are £2.4m per season. River (£20.5m) and Boca (£16.25m) are miles ahead of us. That said, our big reputation increases have come in the last 12-18 months, so we might see an increase when they're renewed. The light hearted personality is always one that confuses me. Like you, I've also associated it with low professionalism, also a players that is a bit of a joker, doesn't really care that much and isn't going to knuckle down. The game sees it differently though. I've got a couple of players in my youth team that are considered light hearted and in both their coach reports "light hearted and jovial character" is listed as a positive. I know Ben has far more knowledge of player personalities than I do, so maybe he'll be able to shed some more light on it?
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Post by hokster on Jun 8, 2020 19:23:17 GMT
2021/2022 Season ReviewCompetitionsSuperliga Midway through the season, we were struggling to find any kind of fluency on the pitch, but we'd managed to find ourselves hovering around the Copa Libertadores places. Things improved a bit, particularly towards the end of the season:Table Fixtures
We got lucky to salvage a few of those draws or wins, but the last 1-0 and 2-0 scorelines were flattering the opposition a bit. Lucas Albertengo started the season with a solid 23 hours of match time without scoring, but went on a tear in the second half, scoring 10 goals. Marco Campagnaro and Juan Sebastian Sforza were also capable of finding that spark against teams packing the box, chipping in quite a few goals from outside the area. As a result, I'm no longer thinking of overhauling my tactics for the next season, but making a few modifications to give them a bit more teeth. I'd like to challenge for the title next season, but I definitely don't want to be left behind by the top 3-4 like we were last season. Even if someone like Boca has another invincible season, I want us to be in that second tier. Otherwise, we're being too stagnant. Copa Libertadores
We were drawn in a reasonably tough group of Gremio, Liga de Quito, and Goias. I figured if we could beat Liga de Quito, we'd be solidly in the mix for qualification. I didn't account for how strong Goias turned out to be, as they took all six points from Liga de Quito. Group Table FixturesThere wasn't a lot to any of our matches, and in general, anyone could have beaten anyone else in any of them (except for the away match at Gremio, where were pretty solidly outclassed). We have to be better in the knockout rounds, and hopefully we will be. In the Second Round, we were drawn against Vasco de Gama. Not the worst draw, but it won't be easy. I'd like to at least get past this round this year, in order to keep progressing. Finances and FacilitiesWe ended the season just a bit in debt, which isn't too bad. I won't have a lot to spend next season without some sales, but I want to do that anyway to start clearing a path for some youth and to eliminate some players who are either too injury-prone or who just weren't getting results on the pitch. I'm not going to be marketing Sforza or Campagnaro, but they're currently wanted by Juventus and Bologna, respectively, and if the price is right, I'd have to let them leave. We also completed a youth facilities upgrade in January, taking us to Excellent facilities. We'll see if the board is ok with another upgrade in the coming season. I'll provide a squad update in my season preview.
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Post by chaodck on Jun 8, 2020 20:14:23 GMT
Great to see another south american save here Hok! Also, Ñuls (as they are called, which is the phonetical writing of Newell's) is Marcelo Bielsa's club, and you gotta love the Master Bielsa. (he was a handsome lad, also) Good luck with this mate, the current season sees you high in the table which is good. How's the continental qualification in Argentina looking right now?
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Post by hokster on Jun 9, 2020 3:16:14 GMT
Great to see another south american save here Hok! Also, Ñuls (as they are called, which is the phonetical writing of Newell's) is Marcelo Bielsa's club, and you gotta love the Master Bielsa. Good luck with this mate, the current season sees you high in the table which is good. How's the continental qualification in Argentina looking right now? This may be the reason I chose Newell's; this squad just isn't set out for Bielsa's football. I'm working on it! My goal is to win everything with high-pressing, high-tempo football. The top 5 teams go straight to the group stage of the Copa Libertadores, and the 6th placed team is in a qualifying round. Then six teams make it to the preliminary round of the Copa Sudamericana.
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Post by hokster on Jun 9, 2020 17:23:00 GMT
2022/23 Season PreviewAt the end of last season, I mentioned that I wanted to overhaul the squad a bit due to our sluggish performances throughout the season. The window isn't over yet, but I haven't done too much, though I think we're moving in the right direction. One of the keys is going to be continued development of our youth in the first team and youth squad. I haven't been using the Reserves much; I've been loaning youth players out to get more competitive first-team minutes once they're too old for the U20s (or for the more quickly developing players, once they're 18).TacticsI'll still be going with a 4-2-3-1 DM that looks similar to last season, but there are a few key differences in the setup that hopefully will give us a bit more bite in attack. The differences are that we're playing with a positive mentality instead of balanced. Last season showed that we need to take more risks going forward now that we're becoming one of the top 7 teams in Argentina. As a result, I'm also pushing the line up higher and pressing higher up the pitch, which will hopefully create more opportunities. This means that we need quicker centerbacks, which is a recruitment priority going forward. I also want my AMC to be a bit less passive, so instead of focusing entirely on buildup, I've given him the Get Further Forward instruction, and may try to use some PPMs to that extent as well. To create room for him and my left winger, who's an IF-A, my striker is now either an F9 or a DLF-S (depending on the player). Either way, the key is that one of the two links with the DMs (a DM-S and a SV-A) to progress the ball forward through the middle of the pitch, though the SV-A can also link up with the right wingers as well.I also disabled Play the Ball Out of the Back, as I found we were losing possession too deeply towards the end of last season. I initially used this so that the SV-A would get the ball and start the progression, but as it was proving to be a liability, I've just instructed the goalkeeper to distribute the ball with short kicks. He's a SK, so I didn't want to be overly prescriptive with his choices about distribution in case he spots an attacking opportunity.TransfersMost of my transfer activity for this window was completed in January, as I found a few promising youth players who were available on free transfers. Recognizing that we're going to be financially limited for a while, I think this is a key approach to recruitment. Rodrigo Scagliarini was a relatively key player for us last season, but he's slow and is extremely injury-prone. I wasn't intending to sell Pereyra, as he was our first-choice leftback last season, but the offer from Corinthians was too good given our finances. More players will be going out on loan as well to further their development. I thought I might have to sell Sforza or Campagnaro to make the books work, but after those sales, we were ok (at least for the time being...more on that below), and nobody's come in with a bid that's forced my hand yet. I'll show screenshots of Lopez Munoz, Lomonaco, and Lopez in the squad overview. Lopez Munoz is a 4/5* potential AMC with lots of flair, technique, and vision, and good ball control and shooting skills. He should rotate nicely with Sforza at AMC. My main concern is that he's fairly short and weak, but we'll see how he gets on. I don't need him to get on the end of crosses, so I'm not super concerned. Lomonaco is a quick centerback with 3.5/4.5* potential, which as I mentioned is one of my key recruitment priorities. He's not good on the ball, but has good heading, marking, and tackling skills. I'd like his aggression and bravery to be a little higher, but we'll see how he develops. And Lopez is a 4/5* potential striker who is quick, creative, and good on the ball, though he's a bit crap at finishing. He's a prototypical false 9, which works well with the rest of the tactic in attack.My last bit of business so far was signing Alexis Flores from Defensores de Belgrano. He's a 3.5/4.5* DC/DM with extremely good passing skills, teamwork, and work rate, though his vision and anticipation will need a lot of work. As he's not very aggressive and his tackling could be better, I think I'm going to groom him to be Fernandez's replacement as my DM-S (who serves as a pivot in my setup). He could become a DLP in the future if we change tactics. For now, he's gone back to his old club on loan for the rest of the season.Squad OverviewI haven't commented much on my squad yet, so I thought I'd give an overview for this upcoming season as a reference point. In general, our key needs are to identify a young goalkeeper as our future starter, upgrade at both fullback positions, and find some quicker centerbacks to facilitate a high line. Otherwise, we're in decent shape now and for the future in midfield and attack.GoalkeepersAlan Aguerre: Our rock at the back. He's a good distributor and an excellent shot-stopper. I keep having to turn down bids for him from Chinese and Gulf clubs, but fortunately he enjoys being a team leader, so he's not becoming unsettled. At some point, I'll have to identify a successor for him.Williams Barlasina: The second-choice keeper. He's obviously a bit weaker all around than Aguerre, but he's serviceable enough. He has a bit more room to grow, but I don't think he'll ever be good enough to be first choice.Right backsAlex Vigo: I overpaid a bit for him last season from Colon de Santa Fe due to need, but he's reliable (aside from apparently not enjoying big matches). He rarely makes errors leading to goal, and has provided some excellent assists. Unfortunately, he tore his hamstring in the first match of this preseason, hence the orange and red arrows, so we'll have to work on getting his physicals back up once he's ready for rehab.Agustin Sant'anna: Bought from Deportivo Maldonado in Uruguay last season for 850k. He's probably never going to be first-choice, and had a rough season last year when he had to deputize for Vigo. However, he had a strong preseason after Vigo's injury, so hopefully he's good enough to get us through the early stages of the season.I also promoted Ignacio Rivera up from the reserves after Vigo's injury as a depth option, but he's not good enough. I'll need to identify a better rightback going forward, but I just don't have the funds right now for anyone reasonable.Left backs
Brian Calderara: Decent enough going forward, and decent enough in the back. I tend not to notice him during matches for the most part (which isn't a bad thing!), but he does occasionally combine well in the attacking area. He rarely ends up with assists, but he helps get the ball into the right positions.Matias Odone: Promoted from the reserves after Pereyra's sale. He should be a decent defensive and support option, even if he's unlikely to put in a solid final ball.Center backsJuan Pablo Freytes: Solid player, though he needs to keep improving his mentals. Has 4* potential, so he should get there, though he may be sold on if a sufficient bid comes in. For now, he's first choice, and he's dangerous from set pieces.Kevin Lomonaco: One of the three players signed on frees this year. He's quick and can head the ball well. Hopefully his aggression and bravery improve, and we also need to work on his strength. Since Freytes is decent on the ball, I don't mind that Lomonaco should see as little of it as possible.Facundo Pardo: A good rotation option, though his bravery is abysmal, which has led to some bad situations over the last few seasons. I might look to move him on next season, depending on how some others develop and perform.Valentin Benitez: He's a bit too slow, unfortunately, and his combination of low aggression and low bravery is obviously not ideal for a centerback in a high system. He's got a lot of potential, but he might be too far behind in those areas to ever be useful in my system except as emergency depth.Lucio Urquia: Started off as a fullback prospect, but he's not good at crossing or ball control, so I've been retraining him as a centerback. He still has room to grow, so hopefully his mentals start to improve, as technically he's fine, if not good enough to start.Defensive MidfieldJulian Fernandez: A real team leader and fan favorite. In addition to being extremely solid at shielding the defense, he's a good pivot and has occasionally fired in a goal from deep (though I don't encourage him to do so). I had to resist major offers for him during the first two seasons, but he never complained.Marco Campagnaro: A key man in my tactic as our segundo volante. He's very good at progressing the ball by passing and moving, though I wish his off the ball was higher. Still has a lot of room to grow, and typically comes up with a key goal when we need one against a team that's parking the bus. He hasn't been a perfect replacement for Jeronimo Cacciabue, but he gave me the freedom to sell Cacciabue to help get us out of financial trouble.Juan Manuel Requena: Fernandez's backup. Not as good across the board, but he's fine as a rotation option. Trains well and still has room to grow.Martin Bellotti: Campagnaro's backup. As with Requena, he's reliable enough as a rotation option. He's close to maxing out his potential, so it's unlikely he'll be first-choice in this current system.Left WingJoaquin Torres: One of our main attacking options. He gets into good positions, but his lack of teamwork and so-so decision-making means that he tries to do too much himself, which can cause poor shots or him losing the ball. He's our main free kick and corner taker. He's left-footed, but I play him on the left as an IF-A as I want him to sit narrower to help with possession and get in position to score goals. I'm considering changing that to an IW-A since he's good at putting in crosses.Brian Aguirre: Our future on the left. Good technical skills and has a lot of potential room to improve his mentals. Combines well with our AMC and is good at getting on the end of crosses.Right Wing Ignacio Laquintana: Purchased last year for 1.5M from Defensor Sporting in Uruguay. He had an inconsistent year last season, but I expect him to rebound well after having that year to settle in. He also can slot in at rightback in a pinch, though he's not good enough defensively for me to put him there long term.Julian Marcioni: As with Aguirre, he has good technical skills for his role, and has a bit of potential to spare for his mentals and physicals to improve.Attacking MidfieldJuan Sebastian Sforza: Our creative spark. He only had 4 assists last year, though that was mostly due to the number of squandered chances by our forwards. Also contributed 9 goals, and as with Campagnaro, can find the net from deep when given room. He's currently wanted by Juventus and Inter Miami, so we'll see if I can hold onto him.Hernan Lopez Munoz: Signed on a free from River. He gives us a different option from Sforza, as he's not as sharp of a passer, but is better at progression through dribbling. Incredibly creative, and I'm excited to see what he can bring to the team. He's just a bit wee and slight, and probably won't be a physical presence once he gets into the box.Strikers
Leonel Lopez: Just signed on a free from Union de Santa Fe. With some better vision and shooting, he'd be an ideal false 9, and I'll probably rotate his individual training between passing and shooting. Still, I expect him to partner well with Sforza and Lopez Munoz and be a more creative force rather than someone I'll expect lots of goals from.Lucas Albertengo: He was on loan from Independiente when I started the save, and I had the opportunity to bring him back on a free transfer. He's a bit in decline, and had an awful start to last season before finally coming on in the end. He has good movement, though, and combines well, so hopefully he can kick this season off on the right foot. He's also a model citizen, so he's a key mentor for my glut of AMC/ST prospects with poor personalities. Competition OutlookThe board wants me to qualify for the Copa Libertadores from the league, which requires a top-6 finish. My ambitions are greater, and I want us to be in the top 3-4 teams if not higher, so I'm fine with this. We're predicted sixth by the media, but again, I think we should be able to do better than that. The board also wants us to reach the semifinal of the Copa Argentina, which I don't really care about at all, even though we've won it the last two seasons. In the Copa Libertadores, we kick off the knockout rounds soon against Vasco de Gama. It's not the easiest draw, but they're currently struggling in the Brasileiro, so maybe we can take advantage of that. I'd like to get to at least the quarterfinals this season, both for the extra prize money and as a sign of progress. Facilities and FinanceAfter getting in our sponsorship and player sales money, we had about 10m in the bank (500k of which I spent on Alexis Flores). I asked the board for an upgrade to the youth facilities in the hope of further improving intake, which they agreed to at a cost of around 5m. Unfortunately, they also decided to expand the stadium; while this should help us avoid debt in the future, it's going to cost 12.5m, which means I'll definitely have to sell some players next summer to get us back into the black. I'm not thrilled with that decision in the short term, but again, it should help us in the long term. Youth Intake PreviewWe'll see how this intake turns out, but in principle it could be good. We don't need more striker prospects, and signing Flores takes some pressure off of needing more DMs. I wish we had more young depth at CB, so I'll have to find loan players or cheap youngsters at other clubs. If this is accurate, I'll be glad to have a promising fullback prospect, and maybe there's a keeper in the mix who could turn out decently.[/div][/div]
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Post by mrcool on Jun 10, 2020 8:58:22 GMT
Great stuff mate
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Post by hokster on Jun 11, 2020 11:45:11 GMT
Youth Intake 2022/23Our first intake with a different HoYD (Ruben Ayala, who has a 4-2-3-1 DM AM as a preferred formation, a passing playing style, and is a model professional). The personalities of the top prospects are definitely improved, though I don't know if that's actually a result of his personality or if it's the result of small samples.The players that I've signed are:Rodolfo Silvestri: Quite promising. Silvestri arrives with pretty good passing skills, though we have to work on his vision. I'm pretty impressed with his physicals for a 17-year old, and he has a decent technical and mental base all around. His high-ish marking and tackling (as well as his PPM) is a bit of a waste at AM, so I might try to train him as a CM-S or a MEZ, as he should become a pretty good runner from deep. I'll probably start at CM-S, as the training is quite generic, and see what strengths emerge. He could become an excellent runner from deep. I'd try turning him into my next SV-A if his positioning were better, and I still might if he could be successfully retrained there. If not, no biggie; I can always revert to a standard 4-2-3-1. He's also Fairly Professional, which I'll take over the Unambitious personalities I'd seen from my top prospects previously. Already being labeled as a future Jorge Burruchaga.Maximiliano Herrera: I was hoping we'd get a decent GK prospect, and here he is. Also Fairly Professional, so he should start developing well, but I might promote him to be mentored by Aguerre. His distribution is a bit shaky, but he has a lot of potential to grow into the rest of his attributes.Matias Bartolini: Maybe he becomes a decent destroyer? Those physicals need some work, but he's fairly determined and has a solid mental and technical base for that role.Augustin Sanna: He could become a decent rightback, but I think his physicals might always limit him. I'm also not a fan of low-composure and low-anticipation wide players.David Velardez: Much better mentality, but those tekkers leave a lot to be desired. He also needs to be quicker if he's going to be a solid fullback. I'm considering retraining him as a CB, so I can focus on his physicals and heading instead of needing to improve his dribbling from 4. Velardez is also the Unambitious player of this cycle, so I'll need to put together a mentoring group for defenders to try to improve that.Federico Leiva: Obviously I'd like to see better physicals and positioning, but if his potential comes out on the higher side of what's estimated, he could grow into a decent squad player or backup. Though with a Fickle personality...
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Post by Nick on Jun 11, 2020 12:53:02 GMT
Not too shabby hokster. Silvestri and Herrera are the pick of the bunch, but with how hard it is to develop goalkeepers, Herrera will probably develop the slower. I wouldn't give up on Silvestri becoming a decent AMC either, if you need him there. His vision should improve pretty quickly with the right training and/or focus. His composure and dribbling are a slight concern, but he clearly has potential.
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Post by hokster on Jun 11, 2020 15:02:38 GMT
Not too shabby hokster. Silvestri and Herrera are the pick of the bunch, but with how hard it is to develop goalkeepers, Herrera will probably develop the slower. I wouldn't give up on Silvestri becoming a decent AMC either, if you need him there. His vision should improve pretty quickly with the right training and/or focus. His composure and dribbling are a slight concern, but he clearly has potential. I agree. It just so happens that I've gotten a lot of promising AMs/STs in my earlier intakes, so I could use the depth at CM more than I need at AMC. But we'll see how things turn out. If his anticipation and visions improves along with decisions and off the ball, I might teach him to play one-twos and use him as a runner (since he's not going to be good enough to progress the ball through dribbling, so he'll need to receive the ball, move it along, and then make a run forward). I might do a youth overview at some point, maybe at the end of the season, but the system I'm envisioning when these few classes are ready is a standard 4-2-3-1, with a false 9 up top, a shadow striker at AMC, an IW-A and W-S on the flanks, and a runner at CM who can serve as the pivot and be ready for opportunities outside the box. Not radically different from my current system, but I wouldn't rely on the runner to progress the ball as I currently do with my SV, and I'd make the AMC more attacking. This would also require playing with a higher line to help compress the channel in the DM strata, so I'm glad I'm doing that now to get the players used to it.
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Post by hokster on Jun 14, 2020 14:52:06 GMT
2022/23 Season ReviewOverall, a successful season. Tactically, we were occasionally a bit leaky in the back, but we definitely fixed our scoring issues. Our attacking versatility was best demonstrated by how the goals were spread around: our leading scorer (Hernan Lopez Munoz) had 16, three other players (Leonel Lopez, Ignacio Laquintana, and Martin Bellotti) had more than 11, and Juan Sebastian Sforza had 9 (and probably would have broken 10 if he hadn't had a lengthy injury towards the end of the season). SuperligaTable Fixtures (first half) Fixtures (second half) (not shown are 2-1 and 4-1 wins over San Lorenzo and Defensa y Justicia at the beginning of January) This Superliga season was both a bit of a slog and very congested due to the 2022 World Cup. That congestion sometimes led to slip-ups in form, such as the two draws at the end of October. We also had a rough February, due to our only qualifying for the Copa Libertadores Qualifying Rounds with our finish last season. However, we were consistently in the top 6 after the first month, and achieved my goal of being among the best of the rest. Velez nipped us to third with some of our slip-ups, but if we're competing with Velez for 3rd/4th, we're in decent shape while we consolidate that position and get some of our youth through. This shows how much more consistent we have to be to compete for the title against Boca and River, though I was very pleased with our home win over River (which came the same week as another home win over River in the Copa Libertadores, but more on that later). After their invincible season last year, Boca came close to doing it again, only losing to River on an injury time goal. I thought they were going to run away with the title again, but they stumbled in the end, accumulating a lot of draws. As I'll discuss below, I was also able to start utilizing some of our first class of regens this season, and expect to start using more in the first team going forward. Copa LibertadoresAs you likely know by now, the Copa Libertadores is a calendar-year competition, so there's a misalignment with the Argentinian league. Since I didn't do a midseason review, I'll recap the end of the 2022 Libertadores and the beginning of the 2023. 2022We had finished second in a group of Gremio, Liga de Quito, and Goias, and drawn Vasco da Gama in the Second Round. Fixtures
I was pleasantly surprised by how easily we dispatched Vasco da Gama, but that set up a tough Quarterfinal against Palmeiras. We did quite well in the first hour in the home leg, with Laquintana and Albertengo scoring, but I was nervous about being FM'd when they pulled back a sloppy away goal. Fortunately, we were much more focused in Brazil, winning that leg 2-0 for a 4-1 aggregate win. We were then drawn against Gremio in the Semifinal: we hadn't beaten them in the group stage, but we had played them closely in both of those matches. Unfortunately, we never got going at home, and Cedric Bakambu scored a solo goal after a defensive lapse. We then couldn't outplay them away, and lost 3-1 on aggregate. At least we lost to the eventual champions, as Gremio beat River 2-1 in the Final. 2023Fixtures
We drew Internacional in the Second Qualifying Round, and lost a tight 2-1 away leg. Fortunately, even though we fell behind briefly at home and conceded an away goal, we dominated the second half and went through 4-3. We had an easier draw with Paraguay's Nacional FC in the Third Qualifying Round, but could only muster a listless 1-0 away win. Nacional equalized on aggregate 10 minutes into the home leg, but once the players settled in we cruised to a 7-1 win (8-1 on aggregate).Group Table Coming out of the Qualifying Rounds meant that we were drawn into a tough group. Oriente Petrolero from Bolivia were always going to be the cellar-dwellers, but we had to overcome at least one of Corinthians and River to advance. Everybody ran up the score on Oriente Petrolero, but we could only manage a 1-1 home draw and 1-0 away loss against Corinthians, who won the group by a wide margin. We thumped River at home 4-1, but lost 2-1 on a late goal away, leaving us two points behind River going into the last match day. They also had a better goal difference than us by 6 goals, but they had to play Corinthians while we played Oriente Petrolero. We could go through if we beat Oriente Petrolero by enough and River didn't beat Corinthians, though Corinthians didn't have anything to play for. We did our part, beating Oriente Petrolero 8-0, but I was nervous when River pulled ahead in their match. Fortunately, Corinthians got the equalizer late, and we went through to the Second Round. We'll play Sao Paulo, who finished 17th in the Brasiliero last season and have had a mixed start to this one.Copa ArgentinaIn 2022, we beat Federal A's Cipoletti 4-1 with a youth squad in the Sixth Round, and our Seventh Round match against Godoy Cruz came during a particularly congested period. My focus was on the league and the Libertadores, and despite an injury-time equalizer, we went out on penalties. The board wasn't pleased, but meh.In 2023, we played Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata (who were in Primera B, the second tier) in the Fifth Round, and despite going to penalties (AGAIN) we won this time. We play All Boys, who are also in Primera B, in July in the Sixth Round. This is a strangely scheduled competition.TransfersAt the end of the summer window, I decided to add some depth to our centerback rotation by bringing in Mexican regen Jose Luis Caballero on loan from Chivas. He had a decent season for us, with two goals and a 7.0 average rating, and I liked his pace, personality, and tackling ability. However, I could only get a 1M future fee arranged for him, and I don't think he's quite worth that much. I'll look to see if I can find a better value, or I'll let the loan expire and try to buy him for less this summer.
I wasn't expecting to have a busy January window, but I wanted to shed some payroll and open up some opportunities for youngsters. A 4.2M bid came in for Marco Campagnaro from Monterrey, and while I wasn't planning on selling him, as he was a key player for us, I couldn't pass up that fee. One player that I was trying to sell was Valentin Benitez, and off he went to Tijuana for 3.5M. I also sold Joaquin Torres to Atletico Mineiro for 3M, as while he was performing extremely well for us, renewing his contract would have required wages that were beyond what we could afford.
In preparation for a change of tactics (more on that below), I also signed a few players whose contracts expire this summer. Juan Andrada will add depth to center/defensive midfield, and while he's a bit old, he's a decent all-around midfielder. Julian Palacios should be in the mix for the central midfield rotation, as he's quite a good passer and could be a good DLP if his vision improves. As is, he should be a good supporting midfielder, though I'll also look to get his stamina up so he can serve as a better runner. I'm a little more excited about Adrian Pallena, who should rotate well with Hernan Lopez Munoz. If he slots in nicely, I might look to move on Juan Sebastian Sforza, who has been the subject of many bids from Chinese clubs. I also arranged for the transfer of Ramiro Garcia from Boca Juniors for 1.3M to serve as Alan Aguerre's backup. Aguerre suffered a hip injury in early October, and has been declining a bit ever since. Garcia's distribution is nowhere near as good as Aguerre's, but he's close to as good at shot stopping, and if I have to move on from Aguerre (or he declines further), hopefully Garcia will be useful as a bridge while Maximilian Herrera (or some other prospect) develops. FinancesOur performance in the 2022 Copa Libertadores and our player sales in January left us with around 10M in the bank as of the end of the season. In addition to the youth facilities upgrade which I had requested from the board, they decided to also upgrade the training facilities and expand the stadium, which leaves us at a few hundred thousand remaining. I am looking to move on a few players this summer, so hopefully between that and a decent showing in the knockout rounds of next year's Copa Libertadores we can shore up our bank balance. I would expect our reputation to increase this season, so hopefully we get a bit more from our kit and ground sponsorships. Squad and Tactical ThoughtsI was extremely pleased with the performances from all of the three players I signed on frees last year. Hernan Lopez Munoz was our leading scorer with 16 goals and also added 5 assists, with a 7.2 average rating. Leonel Lopez took a while to get firing, but ended up scoring 11 with 4 assists and a 7.1 average rating (as well as 17 key passes). He also put 60% of his shots on target despite his relatively poor finishing (which is now up to 9), which showed he was making good decisions and getting into good positions. And Kevin Lomonaco became a defensive stalwart while also chipping in 3 goals, though he occasionally did dawdle on the ball a bit, which led to some goals and opportunities for the opponents. Selling Torres meant I could get Juan Manuel Perez, who was one of the star regens in my first intake, more involved in the first team, and he scored 6 goals and got 8 assists while playing as either an IF-A or a DLF. He'll likely play a bigger role next season. I'll have to decide on whether to use Juan Pablo Castiglia as a rotation option or loan him out, as while I think he could be useful, his mentals need to develop a bit more for him to be a star. That will happen either way, but it's probably more likely if he goes out on loan. I'll have to see how the balance of the squad looks as the transfer window progresses. Youth development is going well in general. You might remember German Vargas, who looked quite good and had a lot of potential but had an Unambitious personality. He's taken to his mentoring well, and while he'll never have particularly good determination, he's now Fairly Loyal, and has been training well ever since we got his ambition up. I think he could not benefit from a loan to help improve his composure and concentration, and I'll look to get him one next season. Rodolfo Silvestri has consistently been putting in excellent performances in training, and has already developed a decent amount. I'll probably keep him here until at least January, and then decide whether or not to loan him out. Gonzalo Villarruel has also been developing nicely, and I think is ready for a loan. David Artigues had a decent loan spell this season at Cerro Largo, but I'd like to see him develop a little more before he's ready for us, and so he'll go out on another loan this season. My tweaked 4-2-3-1 with two DMs worked a treat when the schedule wasn't too congested, but I'm having a hard time finding depth for the key SV-A role that Campagnaro filled. Martin Bellotti performed well after he left, but I can't find someone I trust to rotate with him, at least not at good value. I also haven't had any good regens come through in defensive midfield, so there's no real future there to look forward to. Additionally, I seem to only have used variations on 4-2-3-1 in FM this year, and am looking for something a little different. I have a lot of good young depth at CB, but finding FBs has been a challenge. I've also had a lot of promising regens come through at AMC and ST. As a result, I think I'm going to move to a 5-3-2/5-3-1-1 system (along these lines), which will suit the squad currently as well as my best regens. I'm thinking two wing-backs (maybe CWBs, as I'll need them getting forward in attack to provide the width). While one of my best players ( Ignacio Laquintana) is best as a winger, he's decent enough in defense and can play as a WB, so I think he'll be first choice there, though I might also sell him if I get a good enough offer, as his value went up quite a bit after he played for Uruguay in the World Cup. I was also thinking of using a BPD in defense (namely, Alexis Flores). I don't think I've ever played with cover/stopper combinations, so I'm not sure if I want to go that route. Anyone have any experience there? I was thinking about using a flat center 3, with one CM-A, one CM or Mez-S, and a DLP, and an AF/DLF pairing (with the AF encouraged to go wide to create space for runners and link up with the wingbacks). All of my AMCs and AMLs can either play at CM or ST, so I'm not too worried about using those players, and I can move the DLF-S to the AM strata when it would be beneficial for increased compactness and support. I'm not envisioning too many changes to the general system otherwise: we'll still use a high line and press aggressively with a split block. The key is going to be ensuring that we get enough width in attack and the runners from midfield find space so that we can get enough variety to not be frustrated by defensively-minded teams. The one promising regen who might be left out in the cold by this switch is Franco Flores, who is best as a winger and isn't going to be useful enough defensively as a wingback for me to want to leave him on that flank alone. He can play at AMC, but has relatively poor vision for a playmaker and poor shooting for an attacking midfielder. I'll probably send him out on loan again while I see if he can develop in that position, and if not, off he'll go.
I don't envision making too many more signings, but I'll see how things shake out based on player sales and a closer look at the squad composition once we start preseason.
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Post by Nick on Jun 14, 2020 15:44:09 GMT
A good write up and a good season to match there Hokster. The 2022/23 season was my least favourite, despite it being the most successful. The World Cup completely messes with the scheduling and, if like we did, you play in the Libertadores as well, it's just games, games, games. Down to 38 games next season though and the scheduling actually works pretty well, although I would like a few extra weeks off over the off-season.
I'm surprised you've managed to keep hold of Sforza for so long. He went to Chelsea in my save and looks like a top player.
That was a rough Libertadores group so you've done well to get through that. Sao Paulo finishing 17th in Brazil shows you the strength of that league. What's their squad like? Do you think you've got enough to beat them?
The new formation looks interesting. I've not used three at the back for a good while now but it can be very reliable. You also have plenty of options with how the DC's operate. Do you have many ball players?
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Post by hokster on Jun 14, 2020 15:57:24 GMT
A good write up and a good season to match there Hokster. The 2022/23 season was my least favourite, despite it being the most successful. The World Cup completely messes with the scheduling and, if like we did, you play in the Libertadores as well, it's just games, games, games. Down to 38 games next season though and the scheduling actually works pretty well, although I would like a few extra weeks off over the off-season. I'm surprised you've managed to keep hold of Sforza for so long. He went to Chelsea in my save and looks like a top player. That was a rough Libertadores group so you've done well to get through that. Sao Paulo finishing 17th in Brazil shows you the strength of that league. What's their squad like? Do you think you've got enough to beat them? The new formation looks interesting. I've not used three at the back for a good while now but it can be very reliable. You also have plenty of options with how the DC's operate. Do you have many ball players? Yeah, this season felt like it would never end (plus needing to play lots of friendlies during the World Cup break to keep the team match fit). I would probably have sold Sforza last January if I hadn't gotten that bid for Campagnaro, but that gave me more freedom to keep him around for the rest of the season. I'm very open to selling if I get a good bid during the summer, and I agree, he is a top player. I highly recommend him for those in other saves who can buy him. Tons of potential and develops really nicely. Sao Paulo's squad is still good, though they're getting up there in age. Unsurprisingly, they have a few good regens in the team. It looks like they've just been playing disjointedly, which could be due to poor tactics. I'm sure they'll settle in as the league season keeps going, so it'll be a fight. We've had a mixed track record against the big Brazilian clubs, so we'll see how it goes. I don't actually know if I've ever used three at the back in FM, so this could make for a rough start to the season as I figure things out. I don't have too many ball-players (just Flores and Juan Pablo Freytes), but if I get in some cash that's likely where I'll look to upgrade. One tweak I'm also considering is to sometimes move the central defender to the DM strata.
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Post by hokster on Jun 15, 2020 2:01:58 GMT
2023/24 Season PreviewWe just finished preseason, and so far the performances with the new tactical system have been promising. There's been a lot of tweaking, as expected, but I think I've settled on the formation and roles. We've also had a busy transfer window, which I wasn't necessarily expecting, so we could see a rough start to the season.
The board wants us to finish top half, and I'd like to consolidate last season's performances into another "best of the rest" season. Boca and River have been so dominant that a challenge might be a bit off, but we're working towards it. The media expects us to finish fifth (18-1 odds, quite a ways off Independiente's 4-1 odds for fourth), and that might be where we're at depending on which teams come out of nowhere to have good seasons (there always seem to be one or two of those in Argentina, and then they fall right back off the next season).
Tactics
The ideas behind the system (and I realized that I forgot Aguerre's name on the image above) are as follows:
- Build from the back, with a high line, a sweeper keeper, and Flores as a covering ball-playing defender.
- Width is provided by the complete wing-backs. The right-sided CWB is the more attacking one.
- The center midfielders are a runner and a destroyer. We have a BBM on the left, who can combine with the left-sided CWB to help work the ball up the pitch and will arrive late in the box as an scoring option. We also have a CM-D on the right, who will help cover for the CWB-A on that flank.
- The attacking three are an AM-A, a DLF-S, and an AF-A. The DLF is on the same side as the BBM and the CWB-S to potentially create overloads and help with progression and retention. The AF-A starts wide to help combine with the CWB-A, and the movement of both strikers helps create space in the attacking zone for the BBM and the AM.
- The front three close down aggressively high up the pitch, while the remaining players stay a bit more disciplined to help keep their shape.
So far, the tactic is working as intended, but we'll see what happens once we start playing competitive matches. This has meant that I have no use for some of my wingers (who are less than useless defensively), and I'm trying to move them on (with little luck so far, but we have a bit left to go in the window).
Transfers
The change in systems had meant certain players were a bit more expendable. Ignacio Laquintana was someone that I could have played at WB, but Alex Vigo is a better fit there. So I wasn't too broken up when Shanghai Shenua activated his release clause. I also was open to selling Juan Sebastian Sforza if a good enough bid came in, and Shanghai Shenua also came in there. I've been rebuffing other sales for now, including for Vigo, as I want some continuity on that flank.
In my last season review, I showed you some of the incoming players: Adrian Pallena, Julian Palacios, Juan Andrada, and Ramiro Garcia. Palacios and Andrada give me an interesting rotation for the BBM role, as Andrada is more defensively-minded and solid, while Palacios is a better passer and will try some risky passes. I also just sucked it up and paid Jose Luis Caballero's 1M future fee, as I had a hard time finding better value. Tobias Coppo had been released by Velez, but wanted a salary that would have blown up my wage structure.
The other two additions so far add depth to key positions. Jonathan Franceschi comes to us from Instituto Cordoba for 1.3M, and has excellent potential. He can get on the end of crosses after running from his deep positions and has decent physicals, but we need to work on his passing for him to be a really effective DLF-S. Ricardo Florez was signed for 900k from Santa Fe, and has decent mentals already. He'll be Vigo's backup on the right flank, which will hopefully provide him with the time and experience to develop his technicals and quickness further.
I'm still looking to add another ball-playing centerback, and possibly upgrade at left wingback, but I'm ok with what I have if there are no good values. I still have a 5.8M transfer kitty, so there's room to manuever if the right opportunity presents itself.
Facilities and Finance
The stadium expansion will be completed at the end of August, and should bring us to around 42,000 seats. Our training and youth facility upgrades will be finished in November (they're currently both at excellent). And after bringing in money through the sales of Sforza and Laquintana, I was able to get the board to agree to increases in our junior coaching (now excellent) and youth recruitment (now exceptional), and so hopefully we see the benefits of that in our intakes soon.
After all of this, we're up to 9.7M in the bank, which isn't too shabby. Hopefully we can add to that with some good performances in the Copa Libertadores.
Youth Intake Preview
Looks promising, but who knows. Hopefully we end up with some good fullback/wingback prospects, or at least wide midfielders that I can turn into decent attacking wingbacks. A good defensive-minded midfielder would be excellent, and while I don't really need more striker prospects, you never know who's going to pan out and who isn't. At some point, getting some centerbacks would be useful, too.
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Post by Nick on Jun 15, 2020 9:14:48 GMT
Out of interest Hokster, how much sponsorship money do you bring in? Mine hasn't changed much in five years. Literally gone from £2.5m a year to £2.6m. I was hoping to have closed the gap on River and Boca by now.
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Post by hokster on Jun 15, 2020 11:06:11 GMT
Out of interest Hokster, how much sponsorship money do you bring in? Mine hasn't changed much in five years. Literally gone from £2.5m a year to £2.6m. I was hoping to have closed the gap on River and Boca by now. Looks like 4.6M (I think we were 4.1M initially). River and Boca are at 21M and 19.75M, respectively, and Independiente has 8.5M. Velez is a solid third team in Argentina, and like your save is at 2.6M.
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Post by hokster on Jun 15, 2020 11:24:21 GMT
Off to a flying start so far: The win over Godoy Cruz was only 1-0 due to some horrendous finishing; I think we ended up with 5 clear chances. And Boca's previous matches were a 4-1 aggregate win over Santos in the Libertadores, 6-2 over Gimnasia (LP), 7-1 over San Lorenzo, 6-2 against Independiente, and 5-1 over Colon. Needless to say, we're not going to have the most goals scored the league, though we do have the highest GD for now.
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Post by hokster on Jun 15, 2020 15:21:29 GMT
2023 Youth IntakeIt's regen Christmas, and here's what my HoYD brought:Not too shabby, though I reeeeallly don't need more AMC/ST types. We're doing better on the personality side, and I'm glad we're getting in some more solid defensive-minded players.Here is the pick of the litter:Damian Blanco: Definitely going to be more of a destroyer than a supporting midfielder, but that's fine. I wish his base positioning was a little higher, but it'll get there, and I love that work rate and teamwork. I think there's no reason he can't be a first-team regular in the future if we can get his quickness and positioning up (and hopefully his passing, but that's less essential for his type of role). And if he can become good at free kicks, that's just a bonus. Fairly Determined isn't the greatest personality, but it's a solid start compared to some of the others.Gonzalo Pavon: I think this is the first striker regen I've gotten on this save who has a great base for both finishing and passing. His mentals aren't great, but he's young yet. Obviously not thrilled about his PPM with that dribbling, but since he needs work on his first touch and vision anyway that will be an emphasis point.Diego Mendoza: Very pleased with him as a potential advanced forward, though he's obviously not helping us out in the air. We need to work on his composure, but other than concentration (which seems to be low in every regen I've gotten), he's got a great base for his mentals, so I think I'll focus on dribbling initially.Natanael Antunes: I'm not sure he'll ever be good enough for the type of football I like to play given his pace and relatively poor marking and really poor positioning, but we'll see how he develops.Emiliano Careaga: Good base for his mentals and technical skills, but those physicals are really bad. At least he's a professional.
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Post by hokster on Jun 16, 2020 12:06:55 GMT
2023/2024 Mid-Season UpdateTransfers and Squad I'm a little annoyed, because I just learned a lesson about delegating youth contract renewals to my DoF: Gonzalo Pavon rejected an offer for a full-time contract, and before I could manually renegotiate with him, Boca offered him a contract which he accepted. We got 1M for him in compensation, but ugh. They then tried to do the same with Diego Mendoza, but he at least let me offer him a contract. We'll see. Pavon was incredibly promising, but he was a little flawed and at least he played in a position where I've had lots of promising regens come through.Other than losing Pavon, I was finally able to sell Julian Marcioni to Colo Colo for 1.5M. Not great business, but he doesn't have a role to play in my new system, and it's better than letting him walk in a year. I'm trying to sell a few other players who either don't have a role to play or who have been left behind by promoted or newly acquired players, but it looks like, for the most part, I'll have to suck up their wages and let them walk. The one exception is club stalwart and fan favorite Julian Fernandez, who is upset that I didn't develop youth well enough (*shrug*). He wants to leave, is on high-ish wages, I'm having to force myself to include him in the first XI, and there's some interest from other clubs, so I'm looking to move him on, though it's not going to go over well in the locker room.At the end of the summer window, I bought Gonzalo Escobar from Colon de Santa Fe for 950k. The idea was that he'd back up Brian Calderara, but he's strolled into the first team: in 16 performances, he's scored 2 and had 4 assists from the left wingback position.I've been loaning out a lot of players who I think will be ready for the senior squad next season, though Juan Pablo Castiglia suffered a massive blow when he broke his leg. I recalled him to rehab here, and then sent him back out. He might have lost about a star of potential, but he's still a 3/4* PA player with extremely useful skills. I'll have to sort out who to let go to make room for them ,but that's not a bad problem to have.
I've also had to fight off suitors for Rodolfo Silvestri. In addition to Argentinian, Brazilian, and Mexican clubs, Chelsea came in and offered 8.75M for him (Tottenham has also offered 6.5M). This would obviously be great business for an 18 year old, but I want him to play in the first team, at least for a while, and we'll be able to get way more money than that down the road (if I have to sell him), and I just don't want us to turn into a feeder club, though we've needed to do that recently to balance the books. Unfortunately, rejecting the bid unsettled him, and he hasn't gotten over it. Then, when I promoted him for cup matches, he threw a fit, so I'm keeping him in the first team and he's played a few matches. I'll still probably loan him out this winter, as he's ready for it. His personality took a hit for the worst while he was in the U20s, though, and he's now light-hearted.Maximiliano Herrera is developing well, and I think will be ready for a loan next season. I think we've got a good succession plan for Alan Aguerre, who's clearly in decline, as I can bridge the years that will be needed to get Herrera up to first-team standard. SuperligaTableFixtures (not shown is a 2-0 away win at Sarmiento de Junin in July)We've cooled off a bit since our start, from a combination of slightly less incisive finishing and teams packing the bus. The 3-1 loss at San Lorenzo is the only time we were actually outplayed, but at least it wasn't the start of a spiral. However, we're still only 2 points behind Boca, though we have no hopes of catching that GD, as they've been incredibly prolific. We also still have to play at Velez, Boca, and River, so holding onto second (or surging into first) will be a tough ask if we can't get back to breaking down parked buses. Nevertheless, I'm extremely excited about our prospects for next year, since usually when I introduce a tactic things can get a little disjointed at times in the first season before becoming more fluid and consistent in year two. That hasn't really happened this year, so hopefully between additional fluidity and chemistry and player development, next year things will work even better. Barring any significant player sales (which I'd like to minimize this season, as I've radically changed the starting XI this season), I don't think we'll sign anyone, and just promote from within.Copa LibertadoresFixtures
The home leg against Sao Paulo started off tightly, but we scored 3 in the second half to take a commanding lead in the tie. We were outplayed a bit at Sao Paulo, but between keeping the ball well and their lack of finishing, they didn't come close to overturning the lead. We then drew Brazilian giants Flamengo, and played well at home to take a 2-1 lead, with their away goal coming off a wondergoal. That was a sign of things to come, as despite overall playing better in Brazil (more possession, more shots, more clear chances), we couldn't find the net, and they scored three long-distance goals to knock us out. It was a good competition for Brazil, as Atletico Mineiro beat Corinthians 4-1 in the final, and all four semi-finalists were Brazilian (the others were Flamengo and Gremio). This shows how far we have to go on the continent to compete, as we're only just coming into our own as domestic title challengers. Copa ArgentinaFixtures
We lost 1-0 on a 72nd minute corner in the quarterfinal. Meh. FinancesThanks to our business so far, we have a balance of about 10.6M in the bank after receiving our payment for participating in the 2024 Copa Libertadores. We made a lot of money off player re-sales, particularly Elias Pereyra, who went for 18M to Wolfsburg, so we got 25% of that. We have a steady stream of installment money coming in also, and several players hit bonus clauses in their transfers. Team Stats
Overall, I'm quite happy. Juan Manuel Perez has seized his first team opportunity with aplomb, scoring 10 goals, getting 52% of shots on target, and also creating 5 chances (3 of which were assists). He's also tackling well when he presses. While he's been our leading scorer, we've been getting goals from a number of contributors. We're also getting assists and key passes from a number of positions, including AMC, CM, and both wings, which shows the variety in our play. I just need to sort out how to snatch that goal against teams that stick 7 players behind the CM strata and have no intention of doing anything but hoofing the ball forward.
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Post by Nick on Jun 16, 2020 13:46:37 GMT
Tough lesson learned with Pavon, but it happens to the best of us. It's also the reason why I do quite literally everything within the club and never employ a DoF.
It's going superbly on the pitch though and that's great to see.
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Post by hokster on Jun 18, 2020 16:10:07 GMT
2023/24 Season ReviewWe went into this season hoping to solidify our "Best of the Rest" status, and by midseason had emerged as title challengers. Boca was on a tear, but we were only 2 points behind them at the halfway mark. How did the rest of the season go?Transfers and TacticsI wasn't looking to bring anyone new in, but I did have some players to send off. The signing of Ricardo Florez as my backup right wingback meant we no longer had a place for Agustin Sant'Anna, and off he went for 975k to Huracan (not a bad profit for a player I signed a couple of years ago for 85k). I also sold club favorite Julian Fernandez to Queretaro for 3.6M; this was a bit of an undersell, but he had turned into a malcontent in the locker room and I didn't really have a role for him in my current tactic.I also made one seemingly small change to my tactic: instead of using a holding midfielder on the left side of central midfield to help cover for my more attacking wingback, I switched to using a carrilero, and it worked a treat. Now that player helps with progression and lateral defending and also can come up to help support the attack. Juan Andrada has been immense in that role, even though he isn't an ideal carrilero. I'm hoping that Damian Blanco can grow into that role as Andrada ages, but I might need to sign someone else as a more short-term prospect. One player that I'm considering is Luis Martinez from Boca Juniors (Colombia), who isn't much more technically advanced than Blanco, but has better mentals and physicals. He doesn't have much room to grow, but I think he can do a job for now, and I can get him for 875k.Otherwise, I've signed two foreign youth players for arrivals in July. Onitlasi Junior is a Brazilian leftback from Gremiowho has pretty advanced mentals and physicals for an 18-year old. He chose us over some Brazilian powers, including Flamengo and Palmeiras, and only cost 700k. He's a 4/4.5* PA prospect, and with some match time and training might eclipse Gonzalo Escobar as first choice. This means that I'll be looking to move on my other leftbacks. I also signed Carlos Torres from Nacional in Paraguay for 1.3M. He's quite advanced mentally and physically, and can be a useful rotation player while he develops his technical skills. He'll rotate with Leonel Lopez as my DLF/F9. With these two, we still have one more foreign slot, though I'm not in the market for other players. The one exception might be if I move on Hernan Lopez Munoz, as Gremio was quite interested in him this last season. I was willing to agree to a sale for 6.75M if they would let me keep him until the end of our season, but they weren't keen on that. If they come back in for him this summer, though, I'll sell him and look to find a backup for Adrian Pallena if I decide that Juan Pablo Castiglia isn't up to the standard (as he unfortunately broke his leg while out on loan, which set his development and potential back a bit).SuperligaTable Fixtures (second half)We did it! As with last season, Boca stuttered quite a bit in the second half of the season, which allowed us to get away with a few poor moments of our own. River climbed back into the title race, particularly after beating us 1-0 and drawing 3-3 with Boca. After that loss to River, we found ourselves behind Boca by a point, but beating them 2-1 away put us back in first. We could have sealed the deal at Banfield, but Juan Manuel Perez sprained his ankle in training in the buildup, which was a bad omen. After missing a number of opportunities could only come away with a 1-1 draw that left us a point ahead of River and two ahead of Boca. Fortunately, we smashed Godoy Cruz at home 8-0, putting an emphatic exclamation mark on an unexpected season.After winning the title, I'm now favored personnel.Copa LibertadoresGroup Table Fixtures We finally had a relatively favorable group, drawing Palmeiras, Olimpia, and Blooming. Unsurprisingly, qualification was always going to be between us and Palmeiras, and while we split our matches against them, they drew twice against Olimpia, giving us the edge. We have drawn Santos in the Second Round, which could be a tough ask, as they're 8th in the Brasileiro and have a tough, young squad. If we beat Santos, we will face one of two familiar opponents in the quarterfinals: Palmeiras or River.FinancesWe're in a bit of a rough spot, with only about 2M in the bank (one reason I'm open to some sales this summer). Hopefully we can stabilize and get some Copa Libertadores appearance fees. At some point, we'll need to be week-on-week cash positive, though maybe it's only Boca and River who can do that in Argentina.Team StatsJuan Manuel Perez was the absolute star of the season, scoring 28 goals and adding 6 assists. He almost certainly would have broken 30 if he hadn't missed the last two matches of the season with that ankle injury. I'm expecting some interest in him this summer, and we'll see if I get an offer I can't refuse. He's not on crazy wages, and I'd like to see him become a club icon, but the finances aren't great. We can also see how effective we were at keeping possession while still creating chances.Thoughts for Next SeasonI'm extremely excited about our possibilities for next season. I don't see any reason why we shouldn't perform at a similar level, especially as the squad will be generally rolled over to next season with the same tactic (as opposed to last summer's disruptions). It might be a slight setback if we lose Perez or Lopez Munoz, but other players filled in well when they weren't in the side. The real test is going to be in the Copa Libertadores, as we keep falling short of the big Brazilian sides.Our arch-rivals Rosario Central will be back in the Superliga next season, and that will add a nice element back. They've been down for 2 or 3 seasons at this point. I'm also going to start calling up some advanced youth players into the squad. Juan Pablo Castiglia is one, though we'll see how he recovers from his leg injury, but the one I'm most excited about is Rodolfo Silvestri, who had a very solid loan spell at Defensor Sporting and signed a new contract with us after initially being upset that I didn't let him move to Chelsea. He's a player that I hope grows into a save-defining one, though it's hard to envision keeping many of our strongest prospects given how unstable our finances are.
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Post by hokster on Jun 19, 2020 12:33:03 GMT
2024/2025 Season PreviewDespite winning the title last season, our expectations are to finish top-half. Obviously I want to do better than that, since I'm basically rolling over the same squad that won last year. In the Copa Libertadores, I know that Santos are tough competition, so we'll see if we can get out of the Second Round again. Transfers and SquadI showed them in last season's review, but I'm very excited about Carlos Torres and Onitlasi Junior. I was also able to get rid of some players I no longer have a use for, but obviously at a lower cost than might have been ideal. The one surprising departure was Leonel Lopez, though as he had become more of an impact sub last year, Torres' arrival made him expendable at the right price.Monterrey keeps coming in for Alexis Flores at prices of more than 7M, but I can't sort out a replacement for less than that without paying way more wages than the 5.5k p/w that he's on. There are some very nice looking Brazilian and Argentinian regens, but I just need to monitor them more regularly to see when the timing will be right for a bid.Otherwise, the main difference in the senior squad is the presence of Rodrigo Silvestri, who is likely the most promising regen that has come through our system so far. He'll rotate with Julian Palacios as our left-sided CM, who's a BBM (as opposed to the carrilero on the right side). At the moment, Palacios is clearly first choice due to his superior mentals and dribbling, but Silvestri ought to surpass him at some point over the next few seasons.FinanceAfter our sponsorships (which is now up to 4.9M), TV money, and transfer business, we're sitting on 13.6M in the bank, of which 10M is available to me for transfers. I'm not in a hurry to spend that down, but I do need to identify some young centerback talent at good value.Youth Intake PreviewOnce again, no centerbacks, and the center midfielders are slim pickings (Silvestri came through as an AMC, and while I'm pleased with the progress made by Damian Blanco, he's a bit aways from being ready for the senior squad). If the fullbacks are potentially promising CBs or WBs, I'll be happy, but I really need to figure out why my intakes are so ST/AMC heavy. I think my HoYD has a technical focus, not an attacking one, so it's not that.
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