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Post by Robson on Apr 22, 2019 7:58:44 GMT
I've lamented the team this season - saying that we aren't at our best and we are forcing things and, to some extent, that continues. How much do you make small adjustments to the quality/difficulty of opponent?
If I could pass on anything I'd say make adjustments to roles and duties more than team instructions. Literally make your team more attacking or conservative in its setup. I would say that is key or even the key to FM these days.
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Post by Ben on Apr 22, 2019 19:30:22 GMT
I've lamented the team this season - saying that we aren't at our best and we are forcing things and, to some extent, that continues. How much do you make small adjustments to the quality/difficulty of opponent?
If I could pass on anything I'd say make adjustments to roles and duties more than team instructions. Literally make your team more attacking or conservative in its setup. I would say that is key or even the key to FM these days.
The shape and team instructions are set in stone - aside from 'Play out of defence' that sometimes gets turned off if there is a chance to catch the opposition over the top with a quick ball. That being said - occasionally or with 10 to go, I may throw another striker on or move the FBs up to WBs. The formation has the ability to move to a flat 3 in midfield, or even a holding DM if the situation arises but that rarely happens unless we are facing a world class opponent in the AMC role, for example. What does change is the roles depending on who is playing. If my W(s) is injured, then my current replacement is only really suitable as an IF(s) which means I chance the Mez(s) in the MCR role as they would be in the same spaces. If Medina isn't playing, the BPD(st) role is changed slightly as he's great on the ball but Raposo, less so.
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Post by Ben on Apr 22, 2019 19:56:13 GMT
February 2039
Aside from an absolute freak result against Benfica where they pretty much scored from each time they left their half, we have had another good month, finally breaking the Portimonense hoodoo and picking up three points for the first time in three seasons. We take a nine point lead into March but will hopefully continue progress in the Champions League - which will mean some extra fixture congestion.
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Post by Ben on Apr 22, 2019 22:34:39 GMT
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Post by Ben on Apr 22, 2019 22:43:02 GMT
Youth Training updateNot much to show as I looked from November to March but wanted to look before the U19 squad changes with the new intake. This has been the period of time where training has been focused on our style of football. The technical attributes increased by a total of 3,2 and 2 respectively whilst there was a decent increase in mental attributes but pace improved a total of 4 points, stamina 8 and strength 7. I know the players are growing at this point but I think this is a fantastic bit of development over a really short time span. I will continue my experiments...
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Post by ttgb on Apr 23, 2019 9:27:07 GMT
Great read as usual. That intake looks good. A quick question though, have you noticed many non Portuguese coming through your intake?
I have been in Norway about 8 seasons now and not had one player from outside of Norway generate at the club. On previous years I would always get a good mix
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Post by Ben on Apr 23, 2019 16:57:47 GMT
Great read as usual. That intake looks good. A quick question though, have you noticed many non Portuguese coming through your intake? I have been in Norway about 8 seasons now and not had one player from outside of Norway generate at the club. On previous years I would always get a good mix I was about to make a post exactly about this! In my 19 years of intakes, I've had a couple of dual nationalities (a Brazilian or two, the odd Eastern European, one Spaniard and then some colonial [Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde etc]) but I have never had a single player with a different nationality. Nor have I had any player through any of my 3 current (and a couple of ex) feeders who are supposed to supply me some youth team players. I have maxed out all of the coaching areas but had presumed it was something that was toned down from last year - however, I think it may be a bug!
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Post by Ben on Apr 23, 2019 17:20:18 GMT
2039 Youth Intake - Part 2Before making judgements about how I want to develop the three players that I have highlighted this season - I want to use some little 'tests' to see if I can get any more about their perceived ability and potential. Firstly - when entering the U19 squad, they have all been given solid roles within the hierarchy. Whilst this isn't a definitive link to current ability - the better the player, the higher they tend to be rated within the squad. When my players enter the U19 team - I immediately ask my assistant manager or HoYD to negotiate a full time deal to protect their contract and tie them down. For me - a usual indicator of good potential is ability is the midpoint between their demands and what my staff offer them - with the higher wage and bonuses etc indicating that they believe the player will be better. Below is Antonio Machado, who is the first to sign a new deal: Whilst I am clearly annoyed with the wage increases (not that I actually care with nearly £300m in the bank) - the comparison between him Joao Vaz, my pick of last year's intake, are clear. Vaz has signed a £750 p/w deal with a wage rise to £3.4k follow 25 games. Machado gives no indication of a differing amount of ambition (something which may lead to the huge demands) so I would like to presume there may be a link to potential and/or current ability of these players. Now to decide what I want to turn them into...
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Post by Nick on Apr 23, 2019 17:43:58 GMT
I don't think I had a single non-Swiss regen in all my time at Servette. Plenty of dual nationals, I'd say about 75% were, but none that were solely 'foreign'.
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Post by Ben on Apr 23, 2019 20:46:49 GMT
April 2039
The league title will be wrapped up by taking just one point from our remaining four fixtures and we owe our Champions League future to an absolutely immense 90 minutes against Barca, where we tore them to shreds. We couldn't keep them out at the Camp Nou but thankfully had done enough. We also face Chelsea again but couldn't find a way through in the home leg - I expect it to be a step too far.
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Post by Ben on Apr 23, 2019 20:48:54 GMT
I don't think I had a single non-Swiss regen in all my time at Servette. Plenty of dual nationals, I'd say about 75% were, but none that were solely 'foreign'. Any youth affiliate feeders Nick? I have 3 plus have had others in the past but not a single player (I have had their leagues loaded too) I am able to use my extensive youth recruitment to get players from all over the country - on FM18 and previous, that used to extend further afield. Seemingly, that has stopped?
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Post by Ben on Apr 24, 2019 17:54:01 GMT
End of 2039 season Review
We bounced back from our heartbreak last season to comfortably win the league and add one domestic cup and the supercup to our growing trophy cabinet. We were voted under-achievers in the Taca de Portugal but I am not too bothered about that. Our standing in European football will have greatly risen thanks to a really strong showing in the Champions League - although that ended as we lost 3-1 in London. In terms of players - here is the overview: Largely a solid performance - even if we failed to score as many goals as last season - with Folha only netting 27 this term. Injury has forced Tinoco to miss a significant amount of minutes and our lack of winger depth was clearly evident during those times. Minutes were afforded for Hugo Claro and Tiago Mucha as they look to cement themselves into the first team and, despite Hugo's ratings, I am happy with his development and have no regrets over the huge amounts of starts I gave him - although a lot of those came at times Miguel Campino was tired following his adjustment to a first season as first choice. I want to look at my squad depth as well as think about my long term plan for getting the youth team players into the first team. Speaking of which, both youth teams have performed well this year:
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Post by Ben on Apr 24, 2019 18:11:17 GMT
Homesick?I mean - you haven't been 'home' since 2026 but whatever...
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Post by Ben on Apr 24, 2019 21:31:22 GMT
Centre Back depth
With Francesc Riverola entering the last few weeks/month/year of his career - I need to plan accordingly for the future. Below are all the players who I believe are capable of playing centre back: As you can see - three of the players have the asterisk next to their name to signify that I have identified them as potentially players who could make the first team. However - the issue is that, aside from the four players currently within my first team, they have a combined five appearances between them. When looking at the profiles of each of the three starred players, plus Ricardo Patricio - the other U23 centre back - the coach reports believe that none of these players are suitable for Primera Liga football, yet. Whilst they may have the time to grow - I am conscious that, with a busy schedule, I really need to have experienced heads. I will go out and sign somebody. Or not. That won't be happening given the restrictions I have placed on this save. Plan B. Retraining. The above is Xuxa - my first team left back. He happens to be 6'4" tall and has decent attributes in all areas, except for heading. The plan is to retrain him as a centre back to fill the void for a couple of years. To fill his place - I plan to use Tiago Silva as a left back where possible as he is already competent there. Flexibility is the key.
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Post by ttgb on Apr 25, 2019 11:30:21 GMT
Great read as usual. That intake looks good. A quick question though, have you noticed many non Portuguese coming through your intake? I have been in Norway about 8 seasons now and not had one player from outside of Norway generate at the club. On previous years I would always get a good mix I was about to make a post exactly about this! In my 19 years of intakes, I've had a couple of dual nationalities (a Brazilian or two, the odd Eastern European, one Spaniard and then some colonial [Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde etc]) but I have never had a single player with a different nationality. Nor have I had any player through any of my 3 current (and a couple of ex) feeders who are supposed to supply me some youth team players. I have maxed out all of the coaching areas but had presumed it was something that was toned down from last year - however, I think it may be a bug! Glad I am not the only one. I have had about 2 dual nationals - one took that nationality.
The feeder clubs are pointless. This must be some sort of bug. I have drifted away from only signing players from my academy but would like to go back. It would be nice and a little more interesting if players from other countries generated as Norwegian's are still fairly poor in the game.
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Post by Ben on Apr 25, 2019 17:51:33 GMT
July/August 2039The perfect start to the season with an absolutely resounding victory over Sporting in the Supertaca followed up by some efficient football in the league where we have not conceded a goal. These four fixtures were not the most difficult, with the opposition predicted to end 17th, 10th, 15th and 14th but the demonstration of class is something we rarely showed last season. On the other hand, Porto sit on one point from their first three games - which means we've already opened up quite the gap to the second biggest side in the country. The Champions League has seen us drawn against Liverpool, Napoli and Kobenhaven - although part of me still wants to win the Europa League rather than come unstuck against the true giants of Europe.
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Post by Ben on Apr 25, 2019 17:53:57 GMT
I was about to make a post exactly about this! In my 19 years of intakes, I've had a couple of dual nationalities (a Brazilian or two, the odd Eastern European, one Spaniard and then some colonial [Angola, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde etc]) but I have never had a single player with a different nationality. Nor have I had any player through any of my 3 current (and a couple of ex) feeders who are supposed to supply me some youth team players. I have maxed out all of the coaching areas but had presumed it was something that was toned down from last year - however, I think it may be a bug! Glad I am not the only one. I have had about 2 dual nationals - one took that nationality.
The feeder clubs are pointless. This must be some sort of bug. I have drifted away from only signing players from my academy but would like to go back. It would be nice and a little more interesting if players from other countries generated as Norwegian's are still fairly poor in the game.
Yeah - it must be. I think it has ruined the chance for me to get a son in this game as I've had no Argentines through my intake, at all. I have noticed it at other clubs but literally nothing in my own, even with maxed out recruitment range, etc.
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Post by Ben on Apr 25, 2019 21:29:43 GMT
September 2039Things are continuing to go well for us as we mirror our early season form of last year and are actually playing some fantastic, expansive football but also being tight at the back. We didn't really turn up against Liverpool as (of course) ex-midfield maestro Marlon Valderrama ran the show for them. Still no sign of Porto...
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Post by Ben on Apr 27, 2019 13:01:43 GMT
MilestoneHere is to the next 1000...
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Post by Ben on Apr 27, 2019 13:04:21 GMT
October 2039Only included the full table as the only thing to talk about this month is what a mess Porto are making...
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Post by jawzy on Apr 27, 2019 16:01:29 GMT
Guess there is no reason for them to be in that mess from what you can see?
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Post by Ben on Apr 27, 2019 20:45:15 GMT
Guess there is no reason for them to be in that mess from what you can see? Nothing really - a couple of players with Rst next to their name which would either indicate poor rotation, a weaker squad than last year or some kind of training issue, although I'm unsure of what the AI actually do with that. They won the Europa League last year but I wouldn't suggest that CL fixtures this year would add too much stress to their league form.
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Post by Robson on Apr 30, 2019 20:18:37 GMT
Probably be careful as their form may become blistering at some point this season.
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Post by mrcool on May 2, 2019 11:42:25 GMT
Ben is smashing it up bro
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Post by Ben on May 2, 2019 19:31:48 GMT
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Post by Ben on May 4, 2019 11:48:44 GMT
My four methods of trainingReal life has got in the way somewhat lately - so it's nice to spend a bit of time getting back into the minute details of this squad. Above - I have five members of my first team squad, all younger players, who demonstrate the four methods of training that I use to develop my players. A) Developing a role within my systemThe above player is Hugo Claro - and I am developing him to play in the AP(s) role, which we use in the attacking midfield strata. As you can see - I am continuing to develop attributes that he is already decent at - with the exception of some mental attributes that will grow with his age. This stage normally comes later in a player's development, unless I have been able to earmark them for a role early in their development time. B) Training a player in the same position but a different role
Miguel Campino is my starting MC and normally plays in the Mez(s) role. However, I am choosing to train him as a DLP(s) because I want to focus on his mental attributes over the physical attributes that the Mezzala role focuses on. I am aware that I do miss out on working on his dribbling but the role I am asking him to play does kind of morph into a RPM but one who is very mobile. I would like, potential ability remaining, to be able to get a couple more points from his mental attributes and passing up to 15 (a number I would consider to be nearly world class [obviously in conjunction with other attributes]) then I will move him back to a Mez(s) role, in line with part a. C) Training a player to improve squad versatilityTiago Mucha, above, is my young right back but I am training him to play as an IWB on the left hand side so that I have another tactical option, should I wish. 90% of the time he will play on the right hand side (largely due to the attacking options I have) but I have the option, should I need it - particularly if I am facing a wrong-footed winger and need a replacement late in the game. Left back Alberto Garcia is mirroring this development as a left back. As both these players are 'reasonable' on their weaker foot, I don't see this as too much of an issue but their use, as mentioned, will be very much game specific. D) Training a player in an ineffectual position to improve only attributesI have to use the training screen to get a highlighted version for Joao Vieira as he is ineffectual as a right back. However - I want to train him in this role to ensure that he is a more rounded player. I use a winger on support in the AMR role so I need him to be able to track back and cover for a marauding full back if necessary. Whilst I am aware, and have read, that retraining to completely 'new' positions 'takes up' CA - as attribute weighting re-aligns (tackling 'costs' more for a striker than a defender, for example) - I don't want Vieira to have any holes in his game as I believe he has a lot of potential. I am aware that I will never get his defensive attributes to be world class, nor do I want them to be - likewise, I have no interest in training him to be a natural RB, but I want the focused training to remove the weaknesses from his game. I have chosen the CWB(a) role as it continues to focus on a lot of attributes than a W(s) also does. Later on in his development time - he will return to a w(s) role and game time will continue to develop his attributes.
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Post by Ben on May 6, 2019 7:26:08 GMT
January/February 2040Two more months in the bag as we look in good shape to retain our title, even if our head-to-head against Benfica now gives them the upper hand, and inflicted us to two of our three defeats this year and the only league loss. We easily pushed aside Liege in the Europa League but rather annoyingly face Sporting in the second knockout round - removing one Portuguese club from the competition. Fortunately, Benfica are still in the hat as as Porto, who beat Milan 3-0 in the first leg of the Champions League knockout tie.
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Post by Ben on May 6, 2019 10:07:44 GMT
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Post by ttgb on May 6, 2019 19:53:09 GMT
I have finally had two foreign players through. One was from a country that I have a affiliate but it didn't say he came via that connect. Both were shit.
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Post by Ben on May 7, 2019 21:06:36 GMT
Squad depth updateI am able to split my team into six very separate areas currently, and, whilst I don't plan on signing anyone, I can easily see where I lack depth. Top left is what I would consider my strongest XI. Over the next couple of years I would like to phase out Braz, D. Marques, Medina and Xuxa, as they are not homegrown at the club. There is a mix of experienced older heads and a couple of younger players, namely Campino and Monteiro, who have really benefited from my approach to youth over the past four years. Unfortunately, Andre Folha is nearing the end of his illustrious career but he leads a number of absolutely fantastic academy graduates I have developed. Bottom left is the remainder of my first team - a selection of players who have not yet nailed down a first team place but do get plenty of football. Similar to my approach for non-HG first XI players, I would like to move Vargas and Guilherme on soon to leave me with a completely academy based squad. To fill the vacancies within defence - both Mucha and Garcia are ready to deputise but are just not experienced enough yet. As you can see from both of the left hand columns - versatility has been a huge focus over the past year or so and Mucha, Tiago Silva, G. Marques and Xuxa have all learnt new positions to allow a greater tactical freedom and run a smaller squad, which is a necessity with a youth only approach. Top middle shows my best youth side - who play in the U23 division. As you can see from the asterisk denoting a promising player in my intake - this team is full of them. Of course, this does not guarantee they will be first team material but Vaz isn't far from replacing Medina, but only lacks the fact he's right footed and not left. Antonio Machado, at only 16, is classified as a player who has the ability to play in the top tier but I want him to gather more experience before I look to replace Xuxa with him. Bottom middle shows a group of players who have been usurped by players I would consider to be more promising than them or ones who require first team football to allow me to make the decision to either keep them around the first team or move them on. Sandro Mourinho, for example, is a player good enough for the first team, but has only made four career appearances and, as such, gets the chance to prove himself on loan. Fail to do so, and I am under no obligation to keep him as I have promising players ahead and behind him. With this approach - I see no real reason to push players through who aren't ready. Top right shows players who I deem as promising enough to have a future here or at a good level of Portuguese football but they are maybe not quite at an ability level to perform well enough yet or have their final playing position nailed down. This is somewhat of an experimental side and I like to play players in various positions to see how they develop and play - Correira is a tall centre back with good physicals so is learning the PF(d) role for another option. Out of this crop - I think two or three could make the first team. Bottom right is the left over players from my youth intake who are training for their futures. They get minutes and have training set for them but I have no real hope. Most of them leave their youth contracts over the three years before they must sign a professional deal. Areas of strength: AMC - Monteiro, Ressureciao and Andre all appear to have a lot of quality. DC: Muge and Vaz can step up replacing Medina Raposo and I still have Mourinho and Patricio available. Areas of weakness:AML: Balde is solid. Silveiro is not an IF but Matela is training as a RMD. I like a goal scoring option on one side and only Matela is capable of that from the left. AMR: Tinoco and Vieira are good but there is no depth behind them.
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