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Post by Robson on Jun 5, 2019 20:17:10 GMT
It has been awhile since I posted about a save. Others do it better than I can and tend to start with clubs in the lower tiers of the game that they brilliantly steer to long term glories and personal fulfilment. Unfortunately I struggle with those type of stories and don't have the patience to persevere with the time it takes to buy and build stadiums or continually sell my best players whilst training and developing their replacements.
This will be more you average man's FM game. A familiar club to nearly all football fans but one that currently has befallen hard times. In this instance, the premier club from Germany's 2nd largest city that find themselves relegated from the Bundesliga for the first time ever.
SV Hamburg. Der Dino (The Dinosaur).
Often struggling since 2011/12 they succumbed to the trapdoor in 2018 with a campaign that saw them lose 50% of their league games. For some sort of perspective on the downfall HSV did not finish outside of the top two once in six seasons at the start of the 1980's, a period coinciding with Champions League success in 1983.
I shall be managing under the avatar of Lukas Smit who will be expected to immediately return Der Dino to the top table at first time of asking.
Smit takes Hamburger SV hot seat.
Next time a brief overview of the staff, players, possible tactics and a start to the season.
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Der Dino
Jun 5, 2019 21:08:03 GMT
via mobile
Post by ttgb on Jun 5, 2019 21:08:03 GMT
Good luck Robson. My first save on this addition was with Hamburg. Arp was amazing and they produced so many amazing young players. Enjoy
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Post by Robson on Jun 5, 2019 21:10:14 GMT
Since I've started this as a story I've yet to click continue as I make a few more notes.
The club has £56m of debt which outweighs the £35m we have in the bank. So given what is effectively -£21m of net debt and big wages for Bundes2 the board are unsurprisingly not willing to give me any transfer budget at all.
And then in a situation to bring a tear to the eye, the club's jewel in the crown talent, wonderkid Fiete Arp, has a transfer prearranged to Bayern. He will continue to play for HSV until July 2020 when we'll hand him over, aged 20, for just £2.7m. Management like that puts clubs into the sort of position we find ourselves in. At least we have him available to help us gain promotion.
The squad overall is very young (ave 23) and fairly exciting and whilst Arp will be a blow there are others to provide optimism such as Jung, Vagnoman, Janjicic (Bayer & Dortmund you can 'want' all you like), Van Drongelen and Ozcan who is about to join us in a fortnight from Stuttgart. Despite terrible team cohesion and dressing room atmosphere, these and one or two others give me a talented group to go forward with. We have various positions covered to just about consider any tactical formation you can think of.
Big shout (esp. without clicking yet) but I have to go straight up with this squad, no matter that Koln are massive odds on favourites.
What else? Some tinkering to be done with the staff but there won't be much sacking and the like not until we're financially more secure as that would be a tad reckless. Likewise I'm not expecting much transfer activity either pre season. I'll want to see how far I can get with the money we have banked for now. If and when we do go up at some point the finances should take of themselves from that juncture given the money in Germany and our fairly huge fanbase / stadium size, erm, 57,000. Yep that isn't a misprint.
Next time should be tactics and start. Time to press continue.
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Post by Robson on Jun 5, 2019 21:21:21 GMT
Good luck Robson. My first save on this addition was with Hamburg. Arp was amazing and they produced so many amazing young players. Enjoy Thanks. It certainly looks enjoyable barring a screw up by me. As noted though, and this might be since the 19.3 update, Arp has an arranged future transfer now for a few buttons.
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Post by Robson on Jun 5, 2019 23:23:10 GMT
Thank you Mr Hoffmann. That is news most joyous, not.
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Post by fmamerican on Jun 6, 2019 0:16:51 GMT
Ouch. That's a hefty chunk of change for a 2.Bundesliga team.
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Der Dino
Jun 6, 2019 5:51:47 GMT
via mobile
Post by ttgb on Jun 6, 2019 5:51:47 GMT
Good luck Robson. My first save on this addition was with Hamburg. Arp was amazing and they produced so many amazing young players. Enjoy Thanks. It certainly looks enjoyable barring a screw up by me. As noted though, and this might be since the 19.3 update, Arp has an arranged future transfer now for a few buttons. Saw that on my save and thought it may have been an in game transfer. Although a big blow I have no doubt you will produce a better striker to replace him.
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Post by Nick on Jun 6, 2019 9:34:52 GMT
Absolutely nothing wrong with your posts, Robson. In fact, your threads are one of a few I look forward to the most.
Hamburg look to be a bit of a mess though. I have followed their fortunes in real life, albeit from afar. Arp leaving for peanuts was bad enough, but paying back a million per month takes the biscuit. Koln aside, is there anyone else that could stand in the way of you and promotion?
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Post by Robson on Jun 6, 2019 21:01:15 GMT
fmamerican Ouch. That's a hefty chunk of change for a 2.Bundesliga team.
Exactly what I thought. Wages are £500k per week too. So £3m per month going out on that loan + wages alone.
@nick
Absolutely nothing wrong with your posts, Robson. In fact, your threads are one of a few I look forward to the most.
Hamburg look to be a bit of a mess though. I have followed their fortunes in real life, albeit from afar. Arp leaving for peanuts was bad enough, but paying back a million per month takes the biscuit. Koln aside, is there anyone else that could stand in the way of you and promotion?
Thank you. I'd say that ourselves and Koln look as though we might be the big two. Others to consider are Ingolstadt, Darmstadt and Bochum. Also have St Pauli in the division giving us a local derby.
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Post by Robson on Jun 7, 2019 0:00:44 GMT
Update
After a sluggish start the season is finally underway. I've found one of my players, Lasogga, to be on £60k per week. He has been on loan at Leeds in the recent past and his description is powerful striker. And I can see he is lion-hearted, big, brave, determined and hardworking. However his acceleration is '9' and we have more explosive players to consider. Unfortunately I couldn't shift him no matter what I tried. Offered at nil got no one fishing. The best were loan offers covering 10% of his wages non-negotiable. So I've retained him even though he's now fiercely unhappy at how he's been treated.
After 6 games (5 league and 1 cup) we're doing alright, more than alright even but something isn't sitting well within the tactic as we're a little more leaky than we should be. I'm playing a 4-4-2 and trying to be a little too clever with it I suspect. I'm preparing for us to be successful and half expecting teams to play defensively. I'll tweak that some over the next day or two. Meanwhile Arp does have six goals already so that's not so shabby.
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Post by fmamerican on Jun 7, 2019 2:17:53 GMT
Lasogga used to be at Hertha Berlin. He's pretty much a German Jozy Altidore. Good against crap teams but disappears against good teams. 60k/week is crazy wages for him.
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Post by Robson on Jun 7, 2019 22:34:26 GMT
Update
So pre season I said bank balance was £35m. Right now as at Nov 4th in the game, lets call that 3 and a bit months later.
I think it's clear that money is running through our fingers at this still very, very early part of the save. I don't want to be forced into a player sale in January but lets see what happens.
Played 14 league games now and we are top, plus have surprisingly beaten Bayern Munich in the cup. I'll note that because we probably won't beat them again for about 8 seasons. Arp is up to 11 goals; Lewis Holtby (remember him?) leads ratings on 7.29; Jairo has 4 assists which are being shared around.
Holtby is being used in a simple central midfield support role to the left side which favours his left footedness. His career has never hit the tree tops but he's proving to be pretty reliable at this level.
Koln have a lot of work to do to justify the bookmaker hype and we're being chased by Paderborn, Regensburg and Duisburg. A trio of unlikelys I'd call them. Meanwhile Bayern and Dortmund set the pace upstairs.
The leaking of goals is starting to settle down but I don't think we are near top gear just yet. We're setting the early pace by virtue of having one of the best two squads in the division.
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Post by Robson on Jun 9, 2019 10:12:26 GMT
Winter Break 1st Season
It's a good table for us. We've scored 36 and conceded 15.
It could and even should be better. On paper only Koln give us a game and they are not at it. We tend to be a bit sloppy. We've gone behind in a number of games that we've come back to win. I haven't pinpointed the problem as being top means I needn't be too picky. Our best results were the 2-1 win against Bayern in the Cup and a 5-0 demolition of Duisburg in their house. Really enjoyed that performance, it was clinical. I've had the message that HSV are enjoying life under my management so overall things are swell.
Good to have this Fiete Arp fella around for a season or two. He is still only 18 years old and is the best striker in the league. I also picked up Sergio Cordova pre season on a loan deal from Augsburg and really like him. He can play up front or the right wing and he is flourishing here in Hamburg. Shame that neither of them are committed to the club long term.
In other news I'm selling Aaron Hunt who can't get a game and Lasogga. Hannover are taking the forlorn striker off our hands. We'll still have to cover £12k of his £60k wages but moving those 2 lads on will help us breathe a bit money wise. I might need to do a bit more too as our bank balance has plummeted down to £11m. A drop of £45m in half a season and that is jaw dropping.
As I talk about money I think you can see I have gambled here. The gamble is an "All In" approach to getting promoted to a higher, richer division that will support our expenses. Whereas a 2nd season in Bundes2 at this point is literally unthinkable, it would break the club in two. So this 1st season will be one of the most important in this entire save. My task is clear now. Limit further financial damage as much as I can and get this promotion done.
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Post by Robson on Jun 9, 2019 14:18:54 GMT
Update
I've made a few moves in the window to help us aside from Lasogga and Hunt.
- Papadopoulos has left for little change but we save his £52k p/w wage. He has been injured until this point so we won't miss him plus he's essentially a no-nonsense defender that I'm not keen on.
- Lewis Holtby was sold for £10.25m. This was purely to top up funds. He's 28 years old and although performing a nice role I decided he was expendable. Not sure he'll be all that if and when we go up.
- Bates and Ferati have been allowed to go out on loan. Whilst Hwang Hee-Chan (30k p/w) had his loan with us terminated.
Then I've loaned in 3 new guys plus in the centre of defence I'm looking for Stephan Ambrosius to move up and be more active in the squad. Those loanees are
I'm pleased with the business. I think midfield is even stronger than before plus room for Ambrosius to grow. Most importantly money banked and spending on wages slashed.
Footnote
Thanks Mr Hoffmann I was hoping for another loan and yet more repayments.
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Post by Robson on Jun 9, 2019 15:00:13 GMT
Many posts today but there is so much going on here. Undoubtedly there will be quieter times sooner or later.
So that was the 2nd loan we have taken in the last 6 months. An indication of how we're struggling financially right now. Those new loans in light blue, image below. Then to make the point we are spending £1.8m per month currently on loan repayments alone. That's before wages and all the other expenses that businesses incur. In this league we cannot service these loans and we are haemorrhaging money in this process. Desperate for Bundes1 cash & TV money.
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Post by ttgb on Jun 10, 2019 13:50:27 GMT
I remember those loans well. Luckily top flight football will soon cover them, plus a couple of seasons of 'buy low, sell high' mentality.
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Post by Robson on Jun 10, 2019 21:51:59 GMT
End of Season, Part One
We won promotion with little difficulty, 19pts ahead of 3rd place, and later crowned league winners. My efforts to stem the flow of financial troubles had worked and on the field, with the strengthened midfield, the best team finished first. Much credit to Paderborn who beat us in the penultimate match and who had a great campaign themselves.
No doubt that Fiete Arp was the star performer. Throughout the entire season he just finished one move after another. A remarkable performance for such a young player.
Part Two (Tactics)
A bit like other people's stories, I suspect tactical updates will come and go as the save moves on. This becomes the first instalment.
In many ways this season was pretty simple in terms of how we set up. We lined up in a 4-4-2 in every game. It suited the players and I felt, as a fancied side, we could afford two strikers and no defensive midfielder.
I did use 2 versions of the tactic. Again keeping this light touch, a lower block version for anticipated tougher matches and a higher block one for the rest.
The low block one keeps roles and duties a little bit simpler. I wasn't looking for a lot of roaming about preferring positional discipline. Howeber when the team had retreated into position they were asked to apply a lot of pressure by closing down more.
The high block version allowed for more creativity in the roles and with a more attacking team mentality it's naturally a bit more proactive on both sides of the ball. In the defensive phase though, unlike its mirror, it does not further increase the closing down. The reasoning being that I don't want my midfielders over committed high up the pitch. A simple balancing mechanism to prevent completely losing shape.
The result was not perfect but we scored freely enough and it got the job done, comfortably performing to expectations. I don't plan to change too much heading into Season 2 but as our reputation changes and we inevitably produce different types of players things will in time adapt.
And that's that for now, I'm sure I'll add bits and pieces further down the line as we evolve.
Part Three (Summer Dealings)
We had half a dozen or so loan players that had patched us up returning to their clubs whilst I also had the job of both the tail end of restructuring us to completely fit a 4-4-2 without overpaid hangers on, plus finding bargain quality to compete in a higher division.
For me, and by how quickly I can play FM sometimes, this was a slow summer. I'd almost say methodical but reading how Ben plays I'd better say less manic than I can be when it comes to wheeling and dealing.
Counting those expired loans there has been about a dozen players leave and a similar amount arriving. That probably is manic and maybe unrealistic though of course in some cases we are talking fringe or youth players.
I'm not going to list lots of players or note deals. Nothing was major in or out when it comes to big fees or big names although that's not to say those involved didn't play a role or won't have an important part in the save. More about most as and when they earn a mention. For now I'm pleased to welcome Hack, Kraus, Fein, Thommy and Serdar amongst the incoming.
Finally we had an 'okay' youth intake with Reysol (Japan) coming up trumps.
Tsuruta (winger) and Kijima (keeper) were the best of the class and Maeda (midfield) might even have a shot too.
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Post by Ben on Jun 11, 2019 20:28:54 GMT
This is fantastic, always enjoyed reading your updates - well done on promotion. I do like that you've gone all out for this - sometimes the long game just won't cut it but hopefully you can cement yourself in the top flight.
It is also great to see a youth intake where a feeder club has provided you players - I am in something like season 27 (across two saves) and have yet to have this happen!
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Post by Robson on Jun 12, 2019 22:00:12 GMT
@Ben thanks. Yeah I enjoyed that intake for that reason. I've since added another affiliate where we offer to train other clubs youth players, such as the Reysol one. In fact I've also renegotiated another link to add that arrangement too. I'll report on how that all works out.
Season Two Winter Update We are expected by the board and the players to be mid table this season whilst the media has us more precisely at 11th. It's a bit lofty for a promoted team with some financial issues to work through but luckily we are 9th and that's good when you consider we lost the first three games straight.
That has passed now and we are bobbing up and down results wise currently wondering whether league leaders Wolfsburg can hold off Bayern's challenge. Elsewhere Leverkusen sacked their manager and invited me for an interview which I declined.
I'm fairly pleased on most fronts. Our football is pretty good; I'm starting to like the way the squad is coming together; the staff are shaping up and I would say we were ahead of plan if I had one. Money is still a bit tricksy though. Had to sell Jairo (£12m to Lazio) a couple of weeks ago to return us to the black. The sale was a slight disappointment as he played well in the 442 but his departure opens up a spot for Japanese academy graduate, Tsuruta.
Arp has a good partnership now with Joveljic, new man Robin Hack leads us with assists and Rick Van Drongelen is maturing nicely now as a central defensive presence.
In other news I've decided to completely wind down our 2nd team. It is not offering me much other than additional players I don't need, along with unwanted cost. We have an U19's which is adequate for youth development and path to the 1st team. Plus I could always loan a player out should I want to for experience just as you can at most clubs.
And finally we just have 5 months left now with the prodigious talent which is Arp. He is a supporter of HSV and has me amongst his favoured personnel. Its conceivable he could loan back or even return full time one day but I suppose the chances are unlikely.
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Post by Robson on Jun 14, 2019 6:05:58 GMT
The link with Reysol comes up trumps, again!
Are this lot really golden? Not sure just yet but the youth section at club is beginning to look healthy.
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Post by Robson on Jun 15, 2019 14:46:17 GMT
Return to the Bundesliga - End of Season 2
Things continue to go well though not perfectly. At the start of the season I would have been happy to avoid a relegation dogfight but with about a month to go we were eyeing sixth place and a Europa spot. A poor finish saw us end up 8th and not only that but we chucked the German Cup away too. Winning 1-0 with a little over 10 mins left and Suat Serdar got sent off allowing Hannover back into the match who equalised. We play extra time with ten men and then eventually lost on penalties, and our 2nd bite at a Europa opening went with it. Fine margins I guess. Anyway here's the table:-
Couple of things to note. A round 50pts and a positive goal difference is excellent; and a rare championship for Wolfsburg from a tight race.
Money. It's a dirty word.
Slowly getting there. A bit overdrawn at the end of the season and still have 3 loans running in the background. We got £50m from TV rights for the next campaign which sounds more than it is (honestly, we swallow money round here) but enough to keep building with. One more year for a big repayment plan to be completed and when we get that out of the way, possibly and hopefully combined with European qualification from this upcoming season, then we might get to 'power up' a bit.
The next caption sort of shows what a sleeping giant Hamburg really is.
This is us in 3rd place in terms of 'matchday and ticket revenues'. A long, long way back from Bayern and Dortmund but don't forget we are just out of Bundes2 and we don't offer European football currently which would surely be a big draw for sponsors and season ticket holders alike. The potential is pretty huge.
Later I'll cover the off season and a mini breakdown on the squad's strengths and weaknesses in the post Fiete Arp era at the club which is just about to get underway.
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Post by Robson on Jun 15, 2019 16:41:54 GMT
Transfer Policy
In my 1st season we were forced to make a profit on transfers to sustain the club. We made roughly a net £10m profit. Then in the season just gone we flipped from being a saver to a spender but the net spend was only £5m. Now as I'm about to head into season three, and the window is in it's tail end we've net spent again so far to the tune of £8m. Adding the numbers up then we have net spent just £3m through the last 5 transfer windows.
The above has taken a lot of effort to retain the right people; sell the right people, at the right time; and an awful lot of scouting to find guys that make us a fraction better. It hasn't been scattergun, positions and players have been targeted to keep the right balance and provide adequate cover throughout what has been a transitional period at the club. Having used a 4-4-2 formation throughout and without exception has really helped. It has made it easier to ignore some distractions that you can be tempted by.
The policy has been to mainly stay German in our scouting and acquisitions but not exclusively. I've looked I suppose for players with potential but who in most cases haven't played many games. Ones whose path at their club has become blocked and who are in need of a bit of first team football which we're offering. Typically these players are around 20 years of age.
Keepers
Our captain is Julian Pollersbeck. He's alright but not a star. Nor is he under a lot of pressure from backups at the moment. Pollersbeck needs a good year both with performances and development or he may come under the microscope.
Fullbacks
No area of the team has had more focus than fullbacks over the last couple of months. We still have Vagnoman <pic below> who Germany has capped and he's joined by Beyer, Passlack (loan) and Mittelstadt. In my opinion this is a talented and promising group. I can't wait to see them in action.
Centre Backs
Rick van Drongelen has been with us all the way and he looks good. I expect Holland to cap him soon. He has just been joined by Marc-Oliver Kempf who might be known to FM'ers, a tad slow but solid. Also newly signed we have Srdjan Babic and he has attributes across the board, plus Gokhan Gul. Bit of an eye on Gul as he isn't kicking on. This group isn't bad at all.
Wide Men
Erik Thommy and Robin Hack are both coming off a good season. Two guys who epitomise the transfer policy mentioned earlier. Give them games and the player emerges. They will come under pressure next season from freshly acquired Jack Clarke who comes in from Leeds Utd. He might be exciting, definitely one to watch. Academy graduate Tsuruta rounds out the set. All these guys are still growing. Perhaps how far they come on will determine how well we do?
Engine Room
If one department is over subscribed it's central midfield. I feel a late loan or two outbound might be in the offing. The 2 best starters are Suat Serdar and Domink Kohr although they are a bit too similar really to play together. Fighting them are Erik Majetschak <pic below>, Adrian Fein, Tom Straus and a couple more perhaps on the squad's outer fringe. Argentine regen, Jeremias Mersini, is one of them and his skillset + potential might see him fast tracked? Again we're okay in this department. Over stocked certainly, and no world beaters, but some guys who could become established. Big position scrap for these spots.
Strikers
The biggest concern aside from goalkeeper. Fiete Arp has carried is with goals since the save started but has now gone. Mohammed Daramy was signed 6 months go to replace him but is not ready. Jovelic was Arp's partner but I think he is the support act and not the main man. I have a Spanish regen and someone on loan that isn't the right level. I don't want another player if I can avoid it but Geubbels (Monaco) is available for loan and I might just have to play that card.
One thing I could yet do is go 4-3-3 this year to take advantage of a strong midfield and striker concern though my preference would be to stay 4-4-2.
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Post by Robson on Jun 16, 2019 8:44:01 GMT
Problem Solved?
Quick update. Above I described some congestion for a place in midfield and a worry amongst the pool of strikers. Before the window closed, Leverkusen gave me £20m for Suat Serdar. I like this player and it's not who I'd have chosen to leave but given our situation it was signed off. Then I ducked back into the market to sign Geubbels on loan from Monaco. Something mentioned that I was considering.
I hope these late deals just give us a bit more balance and enough quality for the season.
It also takes my transfer spending since I came in positive once more. Since I joined we've now made a £17m transfer profit.
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Post by Nick on Jun 16, 2019 9:32:50 GMT
Wow, some quick progress, Robson, great to see.
From the outside, 8th is about as good as can be reasonably expected in your first season back, but I do understand where the tinge of disappointment comes from. It does give you another season to build a squad capable of competing in Europe, but it's a small crumb of consolation.
Losing Arp will be tough, even if you've known the day is coming, but replacing him with Geubbels is about as 'like for like' as you can get. Both had fantastic careers at the top level in my current save.
Good to see Wolfsburg win an early title, and Mainz sneaking into the top four. Bayern won six titles in a row on mine, but have shown early signs of falling away, finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th in recent years. Leipzig and Dortmund have won the last two, so it's not FM09 levels of competitiveness, but getting there.
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Post by Robson on Jun 16, 2019 13:22:56 GMT
Thanks Nick. Yeah agree, nice to Wolfsburg and Mainz offering something. Hopefully if that continues it will keep the league fresh and competitive. This season is seeing a rejuvenated Leverkusen and Leipzig too.
Touching Tactics
A more settled period of this save now, time for a brief tactical update. As mentioned previously I'm still alternating between two (442) tactics, so a bit more on how that works.
I'm favouring this duality as we are a middling team that comes up against better and worse opposition requiring a slightly different approach. If we were more dominant say then perhaps I'd favour something that leaned more to one repeatable version.
All I'm doing is viewing the different mentalities as a ladder. At the lower end everything is a bit more conservative. Using the mentality 'cautious' I am actually trying to control the match a lot more. By control I mean play a bit slower, with fewer risks, not commit too many players forward or leave large space behind my defence. This mentality used to be called 'counter' but I'm not really looking to build a counterattacking tactic per se. This is my approach to games against better sides like Dortmund or Bayern for example. The idea is not to make these sort of games end-to-end encounters. If I were to do that then we'd be more vulnerable to their greater quality. I don't want to waste possession or take too many chances. I want things to be more cat & mouse.
However against a weaker team, say a home match to a relegation struggler, I use the other 442 tactic. This tactic has a few more attacking duties and creative roles. I want to move the ball quicker and take more risks playing into space and playing in a higher block. This is on a positive mentality and I see it that I'm allowing the band to play more notes at a different end of the scale.
The two tactics are not radically different. They both use wingers and supporting full backs. One though is more adventurous than the other and it's no more complicated than that.
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Post by Robson on Jun 16, 2019 20:30:04 GMT
Season 3 Progress Thus Far
We continue our upward trend in this save with clear tangible progress every six months at the moment. We got on a good run through the Autumn before a mini falter of late but no complaints, we are doing better than can be expected. I'm not sure that we'll be able to hold off Dortmund for top four but even top six would be superb with Europa qualification.
I've been pleased with Jack Clarke, he looks to be a terrific signing. That's backed up by 8 goals, 9 assists and an ave. rating of 7.63. Geubbels is manfully plugging the Arp gap and the defence has just been better as a unit.
Made 2 or 3 signings in January with Serdar funds although financially I probably shouldn't have. I've picked up a new keeper, a promising young Swiss and a defender from Inter. All just feel that they will be good.
Future HSV
I'm going to showcase 3 of our most promising. I've just mentioned two and the other came up in my previous update. These are the kind of players that provide a glimpse of an exciting future.
Mersini from River Plate. Cost was £2.6m. Huge midfielder with an all round game. At the moment he looks to be exactly the type of player I want. Perhaps need to be mindful of his personality but at just 18 years and increasing attributes everywhere he is already pushing into the team.
Gatti is 17 and has just joined from Inter. Another guy made out of granite that should be made for German football. He'll have to work hardest of the three to get regular first team football but again instinctively I reckon he'll become a star.
Finally my 2nd Argentine, £3.2 keeper from Estudiantes. Max Schelotto. A new goalie was increasingly becoming inevitable as we rose up the league.
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Der Dino
Jun 17, 2019 19:26:08 GMT
via mobile
Post by ttgb on Jun 17, 2019 19:26:08 GMT
Amazing youngsters. Surprised there are no Germans in there
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Post by Robson on Jun 18, 2019 9:23:46 GMT
Some Deja Vu - Season 3
It would be pretty dumb to shoot yourself in the foot last two games of the season for a 2nd season running, right?
Seemingly not. Haven't beaten Leverkusen to climb into 4th we hand it back the following week before losing a successive Cup Final. (Little shake of the head).
It does not detract from another positive season mind you and a pattern to our progress which is simply tracked. Of course Champions League football would be great but with such a young and inexperienced squad a spell in the Europa won't do much harm. Goal difference up; wins up; points up. Three ticks.
We will experience the tourist delights of CSKA, Malmo and Apoel as Group L takes us on a tour. We should do well.
A little more cash swamped in at the end of the season allowing one loan to get repaid and another to be taken in its place as we extend the stadium to 61,000. The further we go in the save the less we should have to worry about money. Our wage bill is in a nice position currently and I'm not yet seeing the steeped demands of rises although that won't be too far away.
The gem that has been Reysol provided for one last time.
I say a last time as the board has kindly severed the link which has produced so many of our academy players. Strangely though none of these Japanese-German lads have quite turned out yet as I expected. Just seem to be a little stunted in their development. I have quite a few out on loan this coming season so lets see if that helps.
Social Media
Our approval rating with influential blogger @ttgb took a nosedive this week as he publicly slammed the club's recruitment policy.
Amazing youngsters. Surprised there are no Germans in there
I have spoken to both the Chairman and our newly appointed Media Approvals Rating Executive about this delicate matter and we have decided we will indeed showcase some German youths in the very near future. Hopefully this will boost merchandising and attract more 'likes'.
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Der Dino
Jun 18, 2019 14:32:47 GMT
via mobile
Post by ttgb on Jun 18, 2019 14:32:47 GMT
We wait and see what Robson and more importantly, Hamburg can produce.
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Post by Ben on Jun 18, 2019 19:29:59 GMT
Great work Robson - really enjoy you way of documenting a save. One request - and that is because it is one of the things that I love about the game - can you screenshot your Japanese regens please? I look forward to a time in my save I can bring through different nationalities through my youth intake and it takes me back to an old save in Switzerland where some my team came from ASEC Mimosas and others from Gamba Osaka, complimenting my own academy.
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