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Post by Nick on Jan 19, 2019 15:27:43 GMT
2024/25 ReviewOnly the two games left after the cup final and we managed to hold off a resurgent St. Gallen to finish fourth for the second season in a row. In fact, we ended up with the exact same 16-11-9 record as last season. That's about the only thing that was consistent this season. In the last round of matches especially, I just didn't know which Servette team was going to turn up. This was never more apparent in our final game away at Winterthur. The first half was absolutely awful - probably the worst 45 minutes of football in my time here and we went in 1-0 down at the break. It goes without saying what happened at half-time and the second half was much better. Four goals scored to give us what was a comfortable win in the end, but we have to sort our consistency out. Not just in 90 minutes, but in periods of 9-18 matches. Those nine losses over the course of the season need to be reduced down to around five. We also conceded 46 goals this season and I'd like to get that down to around one per game. Fiorentina have also said that we can't have Consoli back for next season, which is a real shame as he was probably my player of the season this year, after last year's shambles. 11 goals and 12 assists for the young Italian this year.
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Post by Nick on Jan 19, 2019 20:33:39 GMT
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Post by Nick on Jan 19, 2019 20:59:33 GMT
So it turns out that winning the Swiss Cup means that we go straight into the Europa League group stag, which will be massive for our reputation! Small change to some, but really decent money for us. Not life changing, but enough to allow me to upgrade the youth facilities without making too much of a dent in our bank balance. The news item called it a tough group, but I'm reasonably happy with it. Arsenal will win the group, there's very little doubt about that, and Braga are favourites to go through, but I'm hopeful of a good result against them at home and I think we can match Sparta Prague. Of course, I don't really know how they've all developed since the start of the save, so they could give me a hiding, but I'm confident we won't embarrass ourselves.
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ianf
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Post by ianf on Jan 20, 2019 16:00:55 GMT
Great marker of progress - I'm sure it feels good! What tactic are you using these days?
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Post by Nick on Jan 20, 2019 16:24:40 GMT
Probably the greatest result in the club's history. Which is just as well, because our start to the season has been woeful.
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Post by Nick on Jan 20, 2019 16:26:17 GMT
Great marker of progress - I'm sure it feels good! What tactic are you using these days? I'm using a custom 4-2-3-1:
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Post by jawzy on Jan 20, 2019 17:40:06 GMT
Probably the greatest result in the club's history. Which is just as well, because our start to the season has been woeful. Nice to see eddie being used by Arsenal
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Post by Nick on Jan 20, 2019 17:59:20 GMT
Nice to see eddie being used by Arsenal Indeed. First choice as well. As you can see, he tore me apart in that game, proper poacher. He's just scored in the return match at the Emirates as well.
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Post by Nick on Jan 20, 2019 18:45:24 GMT
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ianf
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Post by ianf on Jan 25, 2019 17:24:17 GMT
How's your AMC doing? I find this one of the hardest spots to get consistent production from
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Post by Nick on Jan 28, 2019 18:29:24 GMT
My season of woe almost reached new depths when my board accepted an offer for my #1 striker. At the second attempt, I got them to change their mind, but something tells me lightning won't strike twice. 12 days until the window closes. Hopefully we can make it...
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Post by Nick on Jan 28, 2019 18:47:46 GMT
How's your AMC doing? I find this one of the hardest spots to get consistent production from You're not the only one. He's been average, if I'm honest. Has a 7.07 rating, but only five assists and two goals to his name. His attributes suggest he should be one of the league's top players and, as he's clearly too god for us, I'm set him to be our playmaker. He's seeing a fair amount of the ball, but half the time it's not in an advanced enough area, and when he does, he passes sideways, rather than into the opposition penalty area. I've given him an attack duty, but it seems to make very little difference. The last two games I've decided to change his role to an attacking midfielder with support duty. With no preset player instructions, I can, hopefully, taylor the role exactly how I want it. This is what I've gone with to start: Two assists in his last two games is a good start, but it's consistency I need from him.
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Post by shrewnaldo on Jan 29, 2019 12:25:22 GMT
Hi Nick - been reading this thread over the last couple of days and really enjoying it. I'm really not a fan of small leagues but sounds like you're really enjoying it.
What's your thinking behind the "defend wider" instruction? I've seen a few people doing it recently and it's never been something that, intuitively, appeals to me. I wonder if it's something I've overlooked.
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ianf
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Post by ianf on Jan 29, 2019 14:13:13 GMT
Thanks Nick - let me know if you do manage to get consistent production. One of my goals for FM19 is to build a team around a killer #10!
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Post by Nick on Jan 29, 2019 19:04:41 GMT
Hi Nick - been reading this thread over the last couple of days and really enjoying it. I'm really not a fan of small leagues but sounds like you're really enjoying it. What's your thinking behind the "defend wider" instruction? I've seen a few people doing it recently and it's never been something that, intuitively, appeals to me. I wonder if it's something I've overlooked. Thanks, Shrew. Defending wider is something I've largely overlooked too, mainly for the reasons you outline. I found that we conceded most of our goals from crosses, so needed to do something about it. Originally, I asked the fullback to mark the opposition winger tighter, even getting him to specifically mark a player, but I found the gap between the fullback and the centre back was big enough to drive a car through. Defender wider was the next logical step. It seems to have worked, as we have only conceded 8 goals from crosses in the last 50 games. Now it's set pieces I struggle with. Both free kicks and corners. Can't be perfect though, can we?! I am enjoying it, yes. Most of the time anyway. It's been a real frustrating few seasons trying to break into the top three. I didn't anticipate the rise of St. Gallen, Zurich (who won the league last year), Sion (who finished second the year before that.) They've kind of shunted me down a position or two as a result. The league is quite enjoyable though. I like playing each team four times far more than I anticipated. You get to know the league much quicker, which has definitely helped with immersion levels. Lots to achieve still, but I can't see it being a 'world dominance' kind of save. More of a 'Swiss dominance' one before moving on somewhere else.
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Post by Nick on Jan 31, 2019 20:26:18 GMT
2025/26 Catch UpIt's been a while since I last updated, so this one might be a bit longer than usual. I've held off getting anything written down until now, mainly due to frustration, impatience and laziness, but I've played through the 2025/26 season, and we'll start at the beginning of that. Summer Transfer WindowThis is fast becoming my least favourite part of the save, and indeed, FM in general. I've never really got to grips with the chances to scouting implemented in FM18, and this year is no different. I can't seem to find as many players as I used to and I still don't fully understand the correlation between scouting knowledge, scouting budget, scouting packages and who turns up on your player search screen. Nevertheless, that is a chat for another time. My own personal restrictions on who we buy (players from neighbouring countries) plus the club's reputation, plus not being able to pay high, even mediocre, wages mean that most players of the required quality I need to improve the squad are either A) not interested or B) want more than the maximum I can offer them per week. With that in mind, I only managed to once again re-sign Andrea Consoli from Fiorentina and bring in a chap from Italy called Tommaso Pobega. Add that to the fact that my chairman decided to sell Christ Obiya Manga for £5.5m (with no future fee included) to Legia fucking Warsaw and you can see where the frustration came from. Eighteen players also left on loan as we look to become the Swiss version of Chelsea. Although, admittedly, all of those players came through our academy, rather than imported from other clubs. Cup CompetitionsOn the pitch, we started alright. Our Europa League showing was decent. As you've seen, we beat Arsenal, and they were the only team to beat us in the six matches. The problem was that we drew the other four games and just lacked that cutting edge/little bit of quality needed at that level. We finished third in the group, which I think was more than acceptable for our first foray into Europe. Where next? Okay, the Swiss Cup. We made it to the quarter final which was just about acceptable, but something strange is happening with the draws. We played each round away from home this year, which isn't that unusual, but did make me realise that we play away from home A LOT in the cup. Looking back through our fixtures, in the eight seasons I've been in charge here, we've played 27 Swiss Cup games (excl. finals at a neutral venue) and only 3 of them have been played at home. Two of those were in the first season as well. So only one of our last 22 cup games have been at home. That's a little weird, right? Super LeaguePhase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 | Phase 4 | League TableNow we have the league, where it was a very similar story to the last two years. At times we look unbeatable, going from the end of September through to March (incl. winter break of course) without losing. 21st February, we beat Grasshoppers 7-2. Fantastic. Then we went eight games without a win, barely creating a chance and looking like a shadow of the side that went months undefeated. I just can't put my finger on it. I've never been one to go on about the game being against you, but it was almost like it was telling me that I was doing too well and now we're going to stop your tactic from working. A change in setup towards the end of the season saw us stutter over the line a little bit, but there is no real shame in only getting a point from St. Gallen and Young Boys in our last two games, having beaten Thun and Sion before that. I just want more consistency from us, and I feel like I've been saying this for three years now. I don't expect to win every game, but by the same token, I don't expect to go unbeaten for 15 games and then winless for 8. Those kinds of runs kill any ambition of the title and, as you can see from the table, that's how it panned out for us. Happy with fourth though, three years in a row now, but starting to want to get to that next level, even if it is just beginning to finish behind both Basel and Young Boys. Screenshot InformationSalary per Annum | Average Attendance | Capacity PercentageYouth IntakeTwo standouts this year with Dragan Stojanovic and Vincent Diebold the pick of the bunch.
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ianf
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Post by ianf on Jan 31, 2019 22:54:22 GMT
Dragan looks boss, especially if his PA is good
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Post by Nick on Feb 1, 2019 16:22:37 GMT
Dragan looks boss, especially if his PA is good He looks decent doesn’t he? Four star potential (with one black star too) so he should be a starter for years to come with a bit of luck and experience. Although like most of my youngsters, he seems to have lost a point on DET already, which is odd because all of my squad have good DET (i.e between 12 and 17) as it’s one of the attributes I look for in new signings, along with decisions and work rate. Squad personality is determined as well, so I think SI have fucked something somewhere.
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Post by Nick on Feb 2, 2019 10:02:27 GMT
Been linked with a few jobs over the past couple of years, but this has been the most tempting. France hasn't been dominated by PSG as much as you'd expect, and Monaco look like they can go tow-to-toe with them.
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Post by Nick on Feb 2, 2019 12:35:15 GMT
Just been nobbed 5-1 away at Bournemouth in the Europa League qualifiers, so that's Europe done for another season.
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Post by Nick on Feb 3, 2019 12:27:52 GMT
2026/27 First Phase Round-UpA very quiet summer here in Geneva. As always in Switzerland, the summer turnaround happens in just a couple of weeks, with the winter break acting like more of a pre-season. Andrea Consoli joins us on loan once again - this will be his sixth year here. He was my only signing. I'm actually quite happy with the squad at the moment, especially with the emergence of Karim Richard and Yannick Furrer, who have both benefited hugely by time away from the club on loan. Richard in Serie B with Lecce and Furrer with Vaduz. My board gave me £7.5m to spend and our wage bill has gone over £100k per week for the first time. Youth and Training facility upgrades will be completed in the first few months of the season. Things are progressing nicely. A really encouraging start and, dare I say it, it could have been even better. Newly promoted Aarau gave us a bit of a shock on the opening day. Most teams, except maybe Basel, Young Boys and St. Gallen, sit deep against us, get numbers being the ball and look to counter-attack, but not this lot. From the off, they were closing us down high up the pitch, forcing mistakes, getting the ball wide. We had to come from behind twice to gain what felt like a well deserved point. They've been the only real surprise. Six points and a 6-1 aggregate over Basel and Young boys shows that we definitely have the ability to go all the way this season. Our achilles heel is consistency. If we can avoid more results like the 1-0 reverse against Lausanne and carry on September's form, then this season promises to be a successful one. The media have us finishing third and, even at this early stage, I quite fancy us to break the run of three consecutive fourth place finishes we're on. St. Gallen don't seem to be going away and we'll face them both home and away in the next round of matches. We'll also travel to Bern and Basel in what could be a season defining run of fixtures. As mentioned, our European run didn't last long, but we're still in the Swiss Cup after wins against Black Stars Basel and Le Chaux-de-Fonds in the early rounds. Up next is Challenge League side, Schaffhausen.
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Post by Nick on Feb 3, 2019 16:10:56 GMT
2026/27 Second Phase Round-UpA fantastic run where we showed multiple sides to our game. We had to grind out a 1-0 win over St. Gallen, which cut their advantage over us from five points to two, while I was left disappointed by not being able to find a break through against Luzern. We dominated them completely, but all of my attacking players had an off day, with none of them getting over 6.7 as a match rating. We then smashed Lausanne, before a real test away at Young Boys. In thirty meetings with them, we've only beaten them three times so I was happy to come from behind to earn a point. We then went goal crazy against Zurich and Sion, scoring ten goals over the two games and playing some really good, incisive football. A mark of how far we've come is being disappointed with a 0-0 draw away at Basel, having dominated the match from start to finish and just not being able to find a winning goal. We go into the winter break full of confidence after eventually getting a winner against Neuchatel Xamax and then producing what was arguably the best performance under my tenure with a 4-0 win at St. Gallen. That takes the unbeaten run to fifteen games and I'm hoping to extend that and hit the ground running in the new year. Top of the league with the best defence and best offence wasn't something I was expecting at the start of the season, but something that we've threatened to do for a couple of seasons now. We're holding Young Boys off at the moment and taking six points from St. Gallen in this phase has allowed us to open up a seven point advantage over them. Basel have had a shocker of a season and don't look like anywhere near the force they have been (they won the title last year after all). Our form, and style of play, suggest that this could be our year, but I'm very aware that, historically, we are much better in the opening half of the season than the latter half.
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Post by Ben on Feb 3, 2019 18:40:38 GMT
Nick - you really are making fantastic progress, well done!
Really can't believe Fiorentina's stance (mirrored by other clubs within the game) on loaning a player out six times. Even the Chelsea model attempts to see them playing at an increasingly higher level before selling them or re-integrating them back into the team. Their loss, though! By one signing - do you literally mean just one or are you bringing in any players for the youth sides?
What a great start to the season, too. I like you sense of realism around the run in. At work - you 'shouldn't' finish any lower than third, even with a total collapse!
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ianf
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Post by ianf on Feb 3, 2019 20:25:26 GMT
Dragan looks boss, especially if his PA is good He looks decent doesn’t he? Four star potential (with one black star too) so he should be a starter for years to come with a bit of luck and experience. Although like most of my youngsters, he seems to have lost a point on DET already, which is odd because all of my squad have good DET (i.e between 12 and 17) as it’s one of the attributes I look for in new signings, along with decisions and work rate. Squad personality is determined as well, so I think SI have fucked something somewhere. What is the DET for your youth players like? if you leave him in the u19s/u18s with a bunch of crap DET yth he will lose cos of them I believe. If you haven't already promote him to the 1st team and make him available for the u19s if that's his level
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Post by shrewnaldo on Feb 3, 2019 21:48:16 GMT
How much longer does Consoli have on his contract with Fiorentina? Any chance of getting him on a free? (you could always do the trick of putting a future fee in the loan agreement so no-one else can put a bid in whilst his contract runs down)
Great work though, looks like you'll definitely be there or thereabouts this season
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Post by Nick on Feb 4, 2019 18:09:14 GMT
Ben - I mean literally just the one signing. I've been really limited in terms of bringing young players into the club. Not in terms of what's available, but by financial constraints. Youth players in Switzerland are paid a minimum of £200 per week up until their 17th birthday and then a minimum of £700 per week thereafter. In reality, that figure is a bit higher, with players demanding £900-£1,000 per week. As mentioned, our attendances are really low (8,538 so far this season) and we lose money on a monthly basis, especially now we're starting to pay players wages that are more in line with our reputation. The wage bill currently stands at around £110k per week and I just can't afford to raise that by filling out the youth team with expensive wages, relative to their age and experience. I'm hoping this will change once we regularly reach the Champions League and can afford to 'branch out' a little bit. As for Consoli, it's a weird one. Not exactly realistic, but something I am going to take advantage of for as long as possible. In his second season in Italy, they refused to loan him out but he only played twice. Since then, he gets recalled as they say they want to give him a chance in the first team, but within a week or two he's available for loan again and we pounce. No-one else goes in for him and it's relatively straight forward. ianf - That's a good point and not one I'd taken into consideration fully. I'd always assumed that determination was affected by the club average (which is rather good) and not the squad average (which isn't as good in the U19's.) That said, of the 30 players in my youth team, 17 of them have DET higher than 10, but it's also half full of those low DET, unambitious crew that are just along for the ride. I will try your suggestion and see if that has a bearing on them. shrewnaldo - Good question. His contract with them is until the summer of 2029, so another two years. He has signed a couple of new contracts with them though, so he may yet get another one. As for getting him permanently, we've got no chance if I'm honest. Not because he wouldn't be interested, but because he's sitting there on £43k per week. We pay 10% of that when he's unused, but he's a regular so it makes sense for us. I just could afford to bring him in full time, even if he took a 50% pay cut. We've just got to enjoy it while it lasts, I think.
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Post by Nick on Feb 4, 2019 18:11:11 GMT
The third round of matches are complete and the fans are speaking!
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Post by Nick on Feb 4, 2019 19:29:23 GMT
2016/27 Phase 3 Round-UpI'm never comfortable with returning from the winter break and I don't think I ever will be. If you were to hand pick an away game first up, Aarau would be in your top two two choices. We weren't at our best and that completely dominated the second half, but by then we were 3-0 up and cruising so maybe took our foot off the gas a little. The next two games we were slightly unfortunate, but also the masters of our own downfall. Our right back, Arben Dervishi, was sent off after half an hour against Luzern and they scored with their only shots on target. We rank highest in the league for fouls and yellow cards, no doubt due to the high pressing and 'get stuck in' instruction, but we need to be sensible between now and the end of the season, we can't afford to finish more games with ten men. Young Boys seized back the advantage by beating us at our place, despite us being 1-0 up until the 68th minute. From then on, it's been 'as you were'. We ground out results against Lausanne, Zurich and Sion before three clean sheets in a row and comfortable victories against Neuchatel Xamax, Basel and St. Gallen. It's in our hands! Young Boys dropped points after beating us, to hand us back the advantage, but they're not going away just yet and we still have to go to their place in four games time. In fact, we've still got to go there, Basel and St. Gallen before the season is over so, if we're being honest, they're still the favourites in my eyes. Although, we went undefeated through phase two, so if we can repeat that, then I'd make us champions. Nine games is a long time though. The youth intake was absolutely woeful, despite the upgrades - the worst one yet. My DoF signed everyone, but I'd be amazed if any of them make it anywhere near the first team squad in the future.
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Post by Nick on Feb 4, 2019 21:30:01 GMT
Lost 4-1.
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ianf
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Post by ianf on Feb 5, 2019 0:53:40 GMT
How many champions league spots are there? Great season so far!
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