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Post by Ben on Jan 3, 2019 10:19:33 GMT
Just caught up with your progress. Your European runs must be giving the club a good reputation boost which will hopefully aid the youth intakes. Have you done anything more with tutoring. It is am area I can't seem to get on with. I have set up various groups but seeing little benefit. It is also annoying that I can't add under 19s to my first team groups I hope so, yes. Overall, the past few intakes have been weak but that is probably because we've managed to develop somewhat in terms of current ability and the intakes need time to catch up to that, regardless of facilities. I am really disappointed with mentoring this year - I have had groups that have sorted out, slowly, some poor determination levels but haven't seen any personality changes since about season 3 when I turned a Mercenary to a Fickle and then to a F.Pro. You can have U19s but they need to be in the first team made available for the youth team - and that seems more unrealistic than the old tutoring system. I have a M.Citizen in my team who is the top trainer of the week 90%+ of the time and has made fantastic progress since coming in to the club - which means that there clearly is an emphasis on doing this at a young age, but I haven't been able to. Youth team (and reserve team) mentoring is utterly pointless as there is not a single 17 year old that has any more of an impact than anyone else, which is a shame.
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Post by Ben on Jan 3, 2019 11:16:08 GMT
May 2031Seven points this month was my target and we have achieved that - comfortably finishing fourth and scoring three more points than ever before. The top of the table produced a fantastic end of the season - with none of the clubs looking like they wanted to win it. I thought Porto had thrown it away, losing 1-0 at home to Setubal, giving both Sporting and Benfica a one point lead at the top, with Benfica leading the head to head due to a win earlier in the season. Then Benfica went to Sporting and drew 0-0, keeping the head to head record and extending their lead over Porto to 2 points, although having played a game more. Porto then, once again, took control with a fortunate 1-0 victory over Chaves, moving Thomas Tuchel's side back to the top of the league - a position they have only not been for three games since the eighth round of fixtures. The last day of the season saw Sporting beat us, Benfica draw at title-ruiners Setubal and Porto win, thanks to the 11th (!!!) penalty of the season from Josh Tymon, who at one point was the league's leading scorer. I am planning a large scale review of the playing squad over the close season, but here are the statistics for my squad from this season: A huge amount of football played here and this highlights the lack of appropriate depth we have within the squad. Standout performers are Folha; who, once again, has shown that he can mix it with the best in the league, Bento Raposo; who has come of age and led the team from the centre of defence and new signing Elias Quinteros, who has become a wonderkid following a really good debut season in Portugal. I will be looking in depth at the performances of these players and then decide how I want to approach my summer business.
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Post by ttgb on Jan 3, 2019 11:48:30 GMT
Just caught up with your progress. Your European runs must be giving the club a good reputation boost which will hopefully aid the youth intakes. Have you done anything more with tutoring. It is am area I can't seem to get on with. I have set up various groups but seeing little benefit. It is also annoying that I can't add under 19s to my first team groups I hope so, yes. Overall, the past few intakes have been weak but that is probably because we've managed to develop somewhat in terms of current ability and the intakes need time to catch up to that, regardless of facilities. I am really disappointed with mentoring this year - I have had groups that have sorted out, slowly, some poor determination levels but haven't seen any personality changes since about season 3 when I turned a Mercenary to a Fickle and then to a F.Pro. You can have U19s but they need to be in the first team made available for the youth team - and that seems more unrealistic than the old tutoring system. I have a M.Citizen in my team who is the top trainer of the week 90%+ of the time and has made fantastic progress since coming in to the club - which means that there clearly is an emphasis on doing this at a young age, but I haven't been able to. Youth team (and reserve team) mentoring is utterly pointless as there is not a single 17 year old that has any more of an impact than anyone else, which is a shame. Yes I didn't think to promote players. I will start to do that. I have also signed some m.citizens and m.pros to help with mentoring. It doesn't help that all players with those personalities and want to sign for me, are all keepers.
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Post by Ben on Jan 3, 2019 12:32:07 GMT
Summer Transfer Dealings: Part 1 - Deciding an Approach
The first of many 'get my thoughts into text' posts for this summer. I want to reshape the squad in order to make us more competitive in the long run. Whilst this might seem to be 'giving up' firstly on the youth only approach, secondly on the 'cantera' style policy and thirdly on the 'same city as manager' approach, I don't think that it is. We have hit a glass ceiling somewhat - my last couple of youth intakes have been poor, there is a very small pool of talented Portuguese players and the Argentinians are too costly for a team that makes no money and really only survives on transfer income. I plan to play this save for the majority/all of FM19 and, if I did stick to the youth only approach, would probably be able to find success in the long term - and I do have lofty ambitions for not only this club, but the league and then other clubs in the local area - of which could take upwards of another thirty years, anyway. On the flip side, I don't see for one minute that a summer of recruiting players from elsewhere will immediately see us take the league, and Europe, by storm, 'completing' my goals.
Therefore I am now proposing my new approach to transfers. One thing of note is that I did not include attribute masking, simply because I intended for this save to be a youth only few season introduction on the Beta, not this time-consuming monster it has now become!
1. Players from the youth academy, the Centro Region and Buenos Aires are priorities still but I am now able to sign players from wherever I want to in the world - giving me new impetus to build a scouting and recruitment team as well as having all of the other club-focused things to focus on. In addition to this - I will not be signing players 'just because' when I have adequate cover in my own team or the intended incoming player will not be significantly better than what I already have or have potential either to a) make the first team squad or b) become a sellable asset.
2. Players will only be signed when I have got a full scouting report (to offset the lack of masked attributes) and ideally when I have watched them in action myself. This will mean that the signings are well thought out and are really geared to improve my club. I will utilise scouting shortlists to create a database of players who I am interested in signing.
3. The squad DNA will be a key part of identifying new signings and scout reports will be filtered by some/all of these attributes.
4. Players can be signed in the buy-to-sell approach, which has been utilised heavily by Portuguese clubs in real life and in this game. I will look for players in otherwise unfashionable countries who can be signed for cheap who have sell on value, but they still must fit in with my tactical approach (e.g. no lazy forward players who cannot press). All sales will look to include percentage of future fees as we just about make enough money through gate receipts and prize money to cover the wage bill and outstanding loans.
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Post by Ben on Jan 3, 2019 12:47:27 GMT
Summer Transfer Dealings - Part 2: Working out a budget
With £25m in the accounts, a £10m loss over the season - of which £9.75m of that is from expansion to the youth and training facilities, we have a decent amount of money in the coffers. The current wage bill stands at just about £6.2m per year and we will pay back around £5m in two loans but this £11m is offset from a total of about £7m in TV money (which has a year left to run on it's current deal), £7m in sponsorship and £7m in season ticket sales and gate receipts - although we will be moving back into our newly-expanded ground which has a slightly smaller capacity than the one we have used this season.
This basic information tells me that we do have some wage bill spare and, with £10m earned this season in prize money from the Europa League - can afford to stretch our wage budget to almost £200k p/w - which works out as £9.6m a year - about a third more than we currently spend. That frees up £80k p/w in wages for any new signings and renewing contracts, although there are only two first teamer players with 12 months left on their deals.
In terms of transfer funds - the board have given me £24m (this figure has been pulled from somewhere but I've no idea!) however - a realistic approach will see me receive the last £5m from the Teles deal and another £7m from a pre-arranged transfer (more on that later) so I think £12m is a good target to aim for. That £12m outlay, plus £9.6m in wages as well as other outgoings will see us need to turn over about £25m in incomings to see stand still. Obviously, with wholesale changes incoming, there will be some extra outgoings to balance the books and the buy-to-sell approach should be able to assist with this, albeit in a few years.
I know that I could have worked out a 'real wage budget' and have done this several times before but with a 'new' stadium, a changeable TV deal, a good run in Europe that cannot be guaranteed and the possibility of quite a lot of sales this year - I went for this slightly less scientific approach.
Wages available: £80k p/w
Transfer budget: £12m
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Post by Ben on Jan 3, 2019 13:06:50 GMT
Summer Transfer Dealings: Part 3a - Analysing the current squad (Defensive Players)I want to look at the players currently in my first team and decide whether they 'deserve' to remain here or not for next season. (All names are clickable links) GoalkeepersPaulo MirandaI like Paulo and he's played over 240 games for us already and I've been quite critical of the defence this season and have completely overseen something that may be party to blame. Paulo is 5'10" and does not command his area too well. We have conceded 27 goals from placed shots this season, and one would presume that these are in the corners of the net - where a smaller goalkeeper cannot reach. Likewise, 14 of our goals, more than another type - have come from crosses. Whilst he is good at handling, his reflexes aren't great for this level and at 32% pass completion, his ability to be a sweeper keeper is really not good. I already have a pre-arranged transfer of an 18 year old goalkeeper and I am very tempted to throw him into the team at the expense of Miranda. Probability of sale: Quite high Right BacksTiago Ricardo. Diogo MarquesA strong area of the team that I don't think needs any changes. Whilst Ricardo is tiny and does put us into jeopardy with defensive crosses - he is well rounded and good going forward. With both of these in rotation, I know I can play Marques against teams who are likely to play the ball wider or have a taller left winger. Maybe with a slightly more commanding goal keeper, these errors will be less obvious. Probability of sales: Very low. Left BacksElias Quinteros. Nuno LimaQuinteros has been a revelation since signing and has settled in really well. With him only being here a year, nobody has been able to turn his head yet, but I do foresee this happening at some point. On the other hand, Lima has been poor and not developed well. He became an emergency centre back in a time of need but has now kicked up a fuss twice about not being able to leave. I must remember that we are currently not even the biggest team in a league that is rated well below the big-5 and must expect players to want to leave for the likes of Torino, Hannover and Nantes - despite us outperforming them in Europe. Probability of sales: Lima will be out the door if I can find a backup. I no longer need a two footed player to cover both flanks since I signed Marques. Centre BacksBento Raposo. Gabriel Mendonca. Sergio Pereira.None of these players can head, and this is probably causing me an issue but out of these lot, Raposo has impressed me the most. Mendonca is looking solid, but his heading has never improved, despite this being a weekly feature in training and Pereira has shown no improvements from the age of 17. I am losing 33 year old Joao Silva on a free transfer so I am short of a centre back anyway, at least until Guilherme Marques is ready but I do like the idea of two left footers and two right - meaning I need a short term right sided player and a left sided to replace Pereira. Probability of sales: Plenty of interest in Pereira, so he'll go if I can find a replacement.
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Post by Ben on Jan 3, 2019 13:30:39 GMT
Summer Transfer Dealings: Part 3b - Analysing the current squad (midfield players)Supporting MidfieldersSergio Tavares. Francisco Bolas. Paulo Laranjo. Antonio VieiraI have excluded Adrian Medina from this as he's already been sold. Three times he kicked up a fuss about wanting to leave when I rejected bids - noticing his personality of F.Determined and Outspoken media handling tells me he lacks professionalism. He had several players in agreement so I cut my losses and pre-arranged a £7m deal for his to move back to Argentina with Estudiantes, importantly with a 50% of next sale clause. That is market value but an overall cost of around £500k (free transfer plus a year of wages and bonuses) sees us cut a decent profit here. The remainder of the midfield is settled, if not spectacular. Tavares is the weakest and, should I have the budget left, may look to upgrade him. Other than that, I am fairly happy. Probability of sales: Big one already made, any further is dependent on remaining budget. Attacking MidfieldersAndre Guilherme. Claudio Magalhaes.Guilherme is fast becoming my favourite player has developed so well, largely due to his personality. He's not too highly rated by my coaches yet but scored twice and assisted 7 times in the league this season - I would expect those numbers to continue to grow over the next few years. Magalhaes is good at what he does but I would love a better passer in that area, although I am aware that this could very much limit the game time Andre gets. Probability of sales: If I can find an amazing AMC for cheap, Magalhaes could be out.
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Post by Ben on Jan 3, 2019 13:43:09 GMT
Summer Transfer Dealings: Part 3c - Analysing the current squad (attacking players)WingersLeonardo Ramos. Vitor Pereira. Carlos MonteiroA weak area of the squad, to be fair. Ramos has settled in really well and has had a good first season at the club, performing the W(s) role. Despite now becoming a wonderkid, I haven't been overly impressed with Pereira - I would expect more than a goal every four games for a player who, despite being an IF(a) will play on the last defender. I need to look, in depth, at how his role works and see whether he is unsuitable or whether I am expecting too much in the final third. Monteiro is the last remaining original player and does provide some decent cover but is really not good enough and is declining. Probability of sale: A winger would be my top priority here, but ideally one that could play on both sides would be even better. I do have a young winger who is a year or two away from possibly making the step up - this will need to be taken into account. Strikers Andre Folha. Joao LouroFolha is immense and Louro has just become a wonderkid himself, however, with only one season in the third tier - I do worry that he's not going to be cut out for those tough European trips and games against the big three. Probability of sale: Probably not unless I can bring in a proven player on loan or for a cheap year or so.
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Post by Ben on Jan 3, 2019 13:55:31 GMT
Summer Transfer Dealings: Part 4 - A shopping List
Working with the initial budgets I set, I can now start to create a more realistic figure.
Wages available: £80k p/w
Transfer budget: £12m
Potential outgoings:
Paulo Miranda: fee ~£8m wages saved - £8k p/w
Nuno Lima: fee ~£1m wages saved - £3k p/w
Serigo Periera: fee ~£1m wages saved - £1k p/w
Carlos Monteiro: fee ~£500k wages saved £4.5k p/w
Giving me new budgets of £22.5m and £96k p/w available for wages.
Shopping List (in order of priority)
1. A tall, right footed centre back in his prime (only needed until Marques can be ready) but will be useful for mentoring.
2. A left footed centre back (can either be a ball player to rotate with Raposo now or more traditional centre back to be used alongside Marques in future).
3. A winger, but preferably one who can play on both sides - right footed, but also has a history of good goalscoring. He can be in his prime and maybe on loan.
4. A backup left back, able to get forward but mainly solid defensively.
5. A proven goalscoring forward, maybe in or past his peak that can allow Folha some time off when needed.
6. A defensive midfielder capable of regaining possession and passing the ball on, probably laterally. He can be experienced but must be an improvement on Tavares.
This will then be in addition to any sell-to-buy young players I can uncover.
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Post by ttgb on Jan 3, 2019 19:14:19 GMT
An excellent set of posts.
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ianf
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Post by ianf on Jan 3, 2019 19:48:58 GMT
I hope so, yes. Overall, the past few intakes have been weak but that is probably because we've managed to develop somewhat in terms of current ability and the intakes need time to catch up to that, regardless of facilities. I am really disappointed with mentoring this year - I have had groups that have sorted out, slowly, some poor determination levels but haven't seen any personality changes since about season 3 when I turned a Mercenary to a Fickle and then to a F.Pro. You can have U19s but they need to be in the first team made available for the youth team - and that seems more unrealistic than the old tutoring system. I have a M.Citizen in my team who is the top trainer of the week 90%+ of the time and has made fantastic progress since coming in to the club - which means that there clearly is an emphasis on doing this at a young age, but I haven't been able to. Youth team (and reserve team) mentoring is utterly pointless as there is not a single 17 year old that has any more of an impact than anyone else, which is a shame. Yes I didn't think to promote players. I will start to do that. I have also signed some m.citizens and m.pros to help with mentoring. It doesn't help that all players with those personalities and want to sign for me, are all keepers. I have have had pretty good success with mentoring but it is slower. However also some folks I have been unable to shift at all. I believe that the more 1st team games a player gets the less open he is to mentoring independent of age - this could be hampering you given your youth first approach Ben. Also given you aren’t really signing established players it would be hard for you to bring in influential players with good personalities. Also one can’t really sign ageing vets to use as tutors like you could previously - not sure if this is what you are tryin TTGB
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Post by Ben on Jan 3, 2019 21:30:41 GMT
Summer Transfer Dealings: Part 5 - Sealing the outgoings
Going into the summer break with confidence that I could make these new acquisitions, I decided that I'd sell the players first to ensure that I had enough in the wage budget and transfer kitty. Here are the following outgoings: I got the expected amounts for the players I wanted to move on and am now faced with a dilemma, as Sergio Tavares is asking for a new challenge - one I am possibly happy to grant. Carlos Montiero is currently in talks with Boavista over a £500k deal which will finish my outgoings. That leaves my first team looking like this (excluding Tavares): I've got a handful of targets that I am working on - largely due to the couple of years I've had scouts out in Europe (to look for Centro born players) and in South America (looking for Buenos Aires born players) - so removing the filters has opened up a whole world of talent!
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Post by Ben on Jan 3, 2019 21:39:42 GMT
Summer Transfer Dealings: Part 6 - IncomingThe first player wasn't part of my shopping list as I'd already agreed to sign him. Armando Braz signs on a free transfer from third tier Chaves Satellite. I was utterly shocked at seeing a keeper of this quality in that tier of football - but I know Portugal has the potential to spring up these kind of players. I have made a big on this - replacing my veteran of several top flight years with an unknown 18 year old, but his attributes are, to me, just begging for me to give him that chance. Braz had played two full seasons in the third tier, 61 times in total, keeping 24 clean sheets and earning five player of the match awards - a great feat for a young keeper. This comparison made my mind up: The big thing is that he is significantly taller than Miranda and much better in the air, he does give up a little bit of speed, which will be handing coming out to get the ball as a sweeper keeper but I believe he has significant potential left in him. I could see this lad being the number one here for another twenty years.
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Post by Ben on Jan 3, 2019 21:48:55 GMT
Summer Transfer Dealings: Part 6 - IncomingsThe top of my list of priorities was a right footed defender, but I wasn't concerned about age as I potentially have a youngster who could be ready for first team in action in a matter of years. What I have found is a player who, despite being 21, could go on to be either a good first team player or potentially be a very sellable asset. This was an easy one - removing the filters from my South American scout uncovered this Lima born lad playing at Sporting Cristal. With six months left on his deal, Avalos appeared towards the bottom of the list of over 100 players that'd been found. Rather than wait until his contract was up, I managed to negotiate a £150k fee with the club and brought him in. My scouts were impressed at his personality and ability to settle in a new country and couldn't find any issues with his injuries or consistency. I plan to initially partner him with Raposo but could see him become a target for bigger club, especially if he makes his way back into the Peru setup.
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Post by Ben on Jan 3, 2019 22:07:12 GMT
Summer Transfer Dealings: Part 6 - IncomingsIf Avalos came easy, then props to my scout who has been scouring the Brazilian Serie A for the past two months and props to me for accidentally pressing the wrong button after reading the Nicolas Zarate scout report - pressing the upwards button rather than the backwards button. This led me to the profile of youngster Xuxa and the rest is history. Valued at a small figure, around £6k if I remember correctly), I liked the look of his attributes so decided to watch the next Atletico Mineiro U20 game, whereby I thought he'd be featuring. He didn't, but I did make use of 'my trip' - watching him play 90 minutes against Cruzeiro in his 9th appearance for the club. He got an assist and looked assured at full back (since his signing, it has been confirmed that he played as a CWB). However- the best news is below: A stupidly low foreign club release clause (that I am now exploring myself across the league) means that he cam for just £41k. An absolute bargain. Whilst he is perfect for a backup role at left back, maybe even pushing for a starting role (this was not needed but impossible to turn down) but I see potential as a central midfielder on defend duty. He is lacking some positioning but teamwork, tackling and passing are really good and he's pretty big - but hopefully will continue to grow into his frame. I hope that I don't lose him in the same manner that I have purchased him.
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Post by Ben on Jan 3, 2019 23:19:31 GMT
Summer Transfer Dealings: Part 6 - IncomingsI am beginning to realise that I can't suddenly turn a club with no scouting knowledge into a worldwide force - picking up players at ease and that I am also not quite of the size I thought I was - being priced out of many a contract for experienced players. I have added my left footed centre back: He's 'ok' but there has literally been very little else available within the price range - considering that I have only budgeted £80k p/w for in wages for all of my signings and therefore cannot spend £50k p/w on just one rotation centre back. Hernan is another try-before-I-buy type of player as his contract is up next summer. If nothing else, we've added some height to our defence this summer. He is also from Buenos Aires, which is a bonus.
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Post by Ben on Jan 4, 2019 0:02:31 GMT
Summer Transfer Dealings: Part 6 - IncomingsTwo deals in one post here as I've added some experience to what is a very young side. I have made a decision to allow Joao Louro to spend the season on loan at Fiorentina - they have fallen away somewhat and are predicted 14th but he will be first choice at a big side in Serie A. That gives me a year to replace him and I think I've found a good choice for that. I have also 'replaced' Monteiro with a player who should be able to do a job for a year on loan before I re-assess youngster Tinoco. Gabriel Jesus has been there and done it all - a £64m signing for Real Madrid in 2023 - he's just about got some legs left in him. He has already announced his retirement at the end of the season (and is a really poor DoF) so he'll hopefully have a swansong to end it all. Will almost entirely be used off the bench in the last twenty minutes of the first half of easier ties before his legs go. Cannot doubt his quality when on the ball though. Jota signs on loan from Tottenham and we are paying just 10% of his wages, but he adds some experience in a tough role to recruit. Being able to find someone who cuts inside from the left and runs down the right is fantastic (I didn't specifically want these but all the other options had one or the other). He too will add some depth but will be used a bit more often than Jesus as he's a bit more physically able. That leaves our shopping list looking like this: Shopping List (in order of priority)1. A tall, right footed centre back in his prime (only needed until Marques can be ready) but will be useful for mentoring.2. A left footed centre back (can either be a ball player to rotate with Raposo now or more traditional centre back to be used alongside Marques in future). 3. A winger, but preferably one who can play on both sides - right footed, but also has a history of good goalscoring. He can be in his prime and maybe on loan.4. A backup left back, able to get forward but mainly solid defensively. 5. A proven goalscoring forward, maybe in or past his peak that can allow Folha some time off when needed.6. A defensive midfielder capable of regaining possession and passing the ball on, probably laterally. He can be experienced but must be an improvement on Tavares.Whilst not each of those is a perfect match - Avalos is a lot younger than I initially wanted, Jota hasn't got the greatest scoring record and Xuxa is essentially number 4 and number 6 on that list - I feel like I have done a pretty solid job in this window. I don't intend to make any other deals unless my hand is forced but I have definitely learnt that you cannot just rock up to a window with an ideal goal and get exactly what you want. This has largely been the reason for the small fees - just £190k on transfers and £28k p/w on wages is a fraction of what I had budgeted but I expect to see records falling in the next few years as my infrastructure is fully set up. It's been a fun summer!
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ianf
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Post by ianf on Jan 4, 2019 0:48:54 GMT
Great to see you lay out your thinking and how it all came together. What about that guy of yours that signed for Bayern on a free tho???
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Post by ttgb on Jan 4, 2019 7:05:30 GMT
Yes I didn't think to promote players. I will start to do that. I have also signed some m.citizens and m.pros to help with mentoring. It doesn't help that all players with those personalities and want to sign for me, are all keepers. I have have had pretty good success with mentoring but it is slower. However also some folks I have been unable to shift at all. I believe that the more 1st team games a player gets the less open he is to mentoring independent of age - this could be hampering you given your youth first approach Ben. Also given you aren’t really signing established players it would be hard for you to bring in influential players with good personalities. Also one can’t really sign ageing vets to use as tutors like you could previously - not sure if this is what you are tryin TTGB Yea that was my thoughts
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Post by shrewnaldo on Jan 4, 2019 18:19:55 GMT
Hi Ben, just catching up on the last couple of pages. Really enjoying the thread.
Some good signings there, particularly the 'keeper and the Peruvian who look fantastic.
I've had some similar issues to you with the hair-brained closing down that you highlighted a couple of pages ago. However, I don't use OIs so clearly had to look for an alternative root cause. My solution has been to reduce the closing down of our centre halves so we have at least two players maintaining some semblance of sensible positioning. Depending on game situations, I might do the same for my fullbacks and DM.
I can also mirror what I think was some frustration you implied with the closign down options available to strikers. The game seems to be getting more and more restrictive in terms of options available to tweak default role settings which I find very annoying.
Do you think you'll keep the relaxed transfer rules for the rest of the save? Or just keep them for 5-10 years until you can get your (and potentially other Centro clubs'?) youth systems running optimally?
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Post by Ben on Jan 4, 2019 21:50:41 GMT
Great to see you lay out your thinking and how it all came together. What about that guy of yours that signed for Bayern on a free tho??? He came through the system a few years (the same year as Folha and Teles, if I recall) back and was rated really highly. I immediately questioned his lack of work rate and team work as an issue - retraining him to play as a winger. He played 30 games for us over a span of four seasons but didn't score and it was clear that he wouldn't fit my needs. I sent him on loan to the second tier, where he scored 9 in 29 and I planned to use the shop window effect to get a decent deal for him. Sadly, he wanted more than the £8k Bayern were offering as his contract ran down so I never got the chance to. He's in the Bayern II team now and I have no idea what will come of him.
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Post by Ben on Jan 4, 2019 21:55:08 GMT
Hi Ben, just catching up on the last couple of pages. Really enjoying the thread. Some good signings there, particularly the 'keeper and the Peruvian who look fantastic. I've had some similar issues to you with the hair-brained closing down that you highlighted a couple of pages ago. However, I don't use OIs so clearly had to look for an alternative root cause. My solution has been to reduce the closing down of our centre halves so we have at least two players maintaining some semblance of sensible positioning. Depending on game situations, I might do the same for my fullbacks and DM. I can also mirror what I think was some frustration you implied with the closign down options available to strikers. The game seems to be getting more and more restrictive in terms of options available to tweak default role settings which I find very annoying. Do you think you'll keep the relaxed transfer rules for the rest of the save? Or just keep them for 5-10 years until you can get your (and potentially other Centro clubs'?) youth systems running optimally? Thanks - I do like the look of the keeper and Avalos could go one of two ways, but hopefully both will land me a profit. Interesting thoughts about the closing down - I have been much happier with it and can put a lot of goals down now to stupid errors or players simply being better than mine. I also agree with the strikers - I have read into this and, to be fair, I tend to agree that it has to be done because the AI cannot personalise to the level of us and it enables a better match engine. I will probably keep the relaxed rules from now on, but may automatically revert to not signing any one if we don't need to. I plan to do a proper succession plan 'thinking out loud post' at a later date and that may even go into trying to build a deeper squad in which I can target some centro clubs to develop them. Leiria are the current best shot in the second tier and I've sent them a few players this season - but it is pretty bleak after that!
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Post by Ben on Jan 5, 2019 13:35:37 GMT
August 2031
The season kicked off with a tie against Nacional - who lined up in the Chelsea-esque 3-4-3 with four players across the defensive midfield strata, two wingers and a striker. My initial go to was to ask Guilhereme, the AP(s) in the AMC role to drop back to an AP(a) in the midfield strata so I played a combo of CM(d), AP(a) and BBM(s). We then played out of defence (four defenders should be able to play through three attacking players) and played through the middle of the park, where there was a gaping chasm left by the Nacional midfield. That allow plays like this to happen (our midfield trio are 7,38 and 44) where we get comfortable with possession, move forward, bring the wide players in and score from a whipped cross. The clean sheet was ruined by a freak goal in what definitely looked like a cross; goalkeeper Braz certainly not to blame. However, he was at fault for Nacional's second - a forty yard shot that lobbed a 6'7" keeper! A hatrick of screamers from Bolas was enough to see of Guimaraes but we are still susceptible on the break and conceded from a cross in which 5'3" full back Ricardo just cannot deal with. I put a couple of defending sessions in the following week - aerial and wide, to try and get some practice in these situations. We faced Sporting in a very different manner to previous years - I wanted to make sure that I didn't give any points away, so went very defensive. We successfully killed the game off and left with a point. My thinking is that, to keep touch with them, I don't want to give them a head start. 1 from 6 completed! The month finished with a draw away at Boavista. More promising play but, as always, Folha has started the season slowly. We also had our Europa League draw - not the easiest group and a trip to Moscow is always hard on the legs, but I am confident:
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Post by Ben on Jan 5, 2019 14:36:21 GMT
Succession Planning and DelegationAs I move forward with the 'relaxed' transfer regulations and, after a quiet summer, the need to make sure I am successful in my transfer dealings going forward. Firstly, I have built a squad depth chart with all of my players on - the initial outlay of time will be reduced somewhat now it just needs editing. Red indicates a player is out on loan, whilst blue indicates an incoming loan. I have kept the * to demarcate a player I have picked out from my own intake who is yet to make the first team yet. Following on from this, I have created a very simple SWOT analysis that may help me move forward with the scouting and recruitment process. I have kept it simple for now - only a couple in each box. It all should be pretty self explanatory but it tells me that I really need to prioritise a new winger and a left footed centre back (remembering that Regner could be signed) for the future. If my loanees develop, particularly Louro, Tinoco and Almeida, then I will have covered some areas, along with Diogo Vargas developing my U23 team. The threats are if my best players leave - Gabriel Jesus is not old enough to run the attack himself if Folha leaves and Xuxa is too inexperienced with Almeida on loan, should Quinteros leave. This means I need to have a couple of players identified to fill these gaps, just in case. How I will do that? Meet this man: I have never really 'used' a DoF before - merely had one just to renew contracts of staff. But I now plan to fully utilise his attributes (of which I have no idea what is important for buying players). I am going to do a full post about how I will set my scouts up and who they are going to be looking for. But when I've found a target, such as the aforementioned winger I am in the market for - I will had it all over to Angel - see the example below: I have managed to keep a really tight grip over wages and running this club as a business - but now, with the added outgoings from this season, a 30k seater stadium and European football to supplement my income, I want to hand this over to Angel to run. This is how I shall attempt this: I've left the signings to myself - this is to stop Di Maria from coming up with his own targets but I will use the aforementioned process to hand over the bidding process to him. He will then negotiate the wages before I run the rule over confirming the signing or not - depending on the stupidity of the wage he offers! I have also handed over some other things to him, but these are less important in this process. I may come to completely regret this in future but I feel that it's worth a chance to further change up this game.
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Post by ttgb on Jan 5, 2019 16:23:12 GMT
Nice to see a DoF being used. I never use them and always look to get rid if I take over a club with one. I currently have one with Hamburg although he does nothing and as been too expensive to get rid. Will follow Di Maria's progr3ss
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Post by Ben on Jan 5, 2019 21:13:34 GMT
Nice to see a DoF being used. I never use them and always look to get rid if I take over a club with one. I currently have one with Hamburg although he does nothing and as been too expensive to get rid. Will follow Di Maria's progr3ss I'm essentially going to be moving myself towards the 'Head Coach' role in future - focusing on tactics and development of just the playing squad. Ideally, I will have a DoF (who will also be the chief scout) and a HoYD that will form the three who run everything at the club. It will allow me to have full control over who is in my team but I can delegate some of the other stuff. At the moment, it's a pretty 'soft' use of DoF - he doesn't chose the players nor finalise the deals but just eases the pressure on my as I'm a stickler for not paying over the odds or offering decent wages.
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Post by Ben on Jan 6, 2019 11:16:29 GMT
September 2031To be honest, I'm getting pretty sick of conceding the same goal over and over again. We press the wings and bring the player inside, who then passes to his team mate and unleashes a 30+ yard strike into the corner of the net. That, or he manages to get a cross in and, as soon as a ball is pinged into the box, every attacker finds some space to put it in the net. We play a defender on cover to stop the balls over the top, which we conceded a goal a game from in the past, and now we have no presence between the lines. At the other end, we are averaging about 700 shots per game, all from stupid areas - teams have now seen that we are 'good' and are sitting back. This would largely explain why Andre Folha has had such a poor return. Realistically, we should have won every game this month and we should do the same next month - our fixtures have been very kind to us and, if we want to break into the top three, cannot afford to drop silly points and concede silly goals like this. We need to have pretty much perfection against the other 14 teams.
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Post by Ben on Jan 6, 2019 12:57:18 GMT
October 2031
Marginal gains. Small steps. Tactical tweaks. Not a clean sheet since the 23rd August but we are doing this a little bit better. Firstly, I have changed our defensive width to 'wider' this will mean that we will engage the wingers closer to the touchline. I have also set all wide players to be shown on to their weaker foot through OIs - this should mean that we get to them and move them inside (this gets tweaked when it's apparent I'm playing against an IF) - to hopefully stop the crosses coming in. I'm unsure of the results, as of yet, but giving it a go. It definitely is now leading a new problem of conceding wonder goals each game, My next focus is to ensure that the central area of our defensive third is well manned and we are letting as few shots on target as possible. Offensively, I've also found what is maybe a glitch in the ME - we've set up long throws but both of my full backs are quite poor at them so the ball just seems to get chucked into the 'come short' option who is completely unmarked and can whip in a cross. I will continue to analyse and see if it is a bug (maybe they've analysed our 'data' and it says long throws so they crowd the penalty area) and if so, will re-think the plans.
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Post by Ben on Jan 8, 2019 22:08:16 GMT
November 2031We are getting much better - even a rare clean sheet! We seem to be finding our feet going forward and, on the whole, look better at the back. The defeat against Leipzig is annoying but doesn't really make any difference as we have already qualified after five games with just one left against Rijeka. The top of the table is a bit strange at the moment with Setubal and Rio Ave enjoying great starts to the season. We play Rio Ave next.
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Post by Ben on Jan 9, 2019 19:54:34 GMT
Beating the big clubs - Transfer 'sensibility'Mendoza has been on my radar for a few years, and the half-Mexican, from the Rio Ave academy has always performed well against me, on both flanks. He was valued at £3.5m when I looked and I was quoted upwards of £10m for the lad. He wasn't on any shortlists as I looked at him during the time I was only signing Centro Region players and he was born outside of that area, but still in the country. The succession plan identified the left wing as a key area for development and my scouts reminded me of him when out looking for a left winger. His value is so low because I will be able to sign him on a pre-contract in just 12 days. However, I am still quite a small club and I can't have that going against me in my deals. In early December, I made him my prime target and got my highest rated player, Gabriel Jesus to tout him to the club in an attempt to unsettle him. The issue is that Milan are interested in him and I know they'll be able to offer way more than what I can, even though his wage demands are utterly ridiculous for a player of his level. With the lack of spending in the summer, I know I have some of the 'roughly calculated' budget left so can afford to spend some of that. I sent out Angel Di Maria to conclude the deal and he has done the following: I think he's done a good job!
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