|
Post by jawzy on Jul 4, 2020 17:33:27 GMT
After the seasons of struggle, you can now fully appreciate how China is for everyone else Still reading, as I find China interesting to read. as its so mental!
|
|
|
Post by chaodck on Jul 4, 2020 17:44:42 GMT
Good change of pace here Nick, glad to see you enjoying the game that's the main focus here. A nice challenge in your hands as well, and I'm sure you'll do a terrific job on it and build up on it to become a force in Chinese and Asian football.
|
|
|
Post by dalenichol on Jul 4, 2020 18:53:22 GMT
Ooh, I like this Nick. I like this a lot.
|
|
|
Post by ttgb on Jul 4, 2020 20:28:40 GMT
I didn't see that one coming
|
|
|
Post by Marshdweller on Jul 5, 2020 10:16:45 GMT
Good decision to jump ship, I think. Sounds like you could have been there for ages, just trying to close the gap. That kind of graft doesn't sound like fun if it's going to last more than a couple of seasons.
I'd take it as a feather in your cap that they immediately went down without you in charge too!
|
|
|
Post by Nick on Jul 5, 2020 17:03:30 GMT
2024 Winter Window and Mid-Season Review FOREWORD
Thanks for the comments lads. I definitely needed the change and the feel-good factor has come back into FM again. The early signs suggest it was the right decision and, whilst it's not as big of a challenge (what else was going to be?), success definitely isn't going to come over night, no matter how much we spend. That will be proven in this update!
EXPECTATIONS AND BUDGETS
Having seen where the club was before last season's disaster I expected more than just to finish in mid-table this season. It was good to go in without any pressure on us. The board had us down as finishing eighth, but after the transfer window we had, that got boosted to fourth, which is about where my head was. Top four gets a Champions League spot so why not aim high?
The wage budget is £2m per week and, even in China, that's going to be near impossible to reach. Our current wage bill is £572k per week. The board gave me £106m to spend and, as you're about to see, I didn't hold back.
TRANSFERS
I thought about playing it slow in this window, but it was a brief thought. Instead I went in balls deep and shaped the squad my way in quicker fashion than I would usually do. I figured that we needed a quick overhaul this year and then I can make smaller adjustments in the seasons to come while I improve the club's facilities too.
So first things first, I didn't renew Rondon's contract, much to the annoyance of the fans and players. Chinese rules state that you can play five foreign players, but one of those foreign players has to be from Hong Kong, Macau or Chinese Taipei, which essentially means you can only have four. The problem is, you can register six, which would mean that two sit on the bench. I just could justify having him here and either not playing or forcing someone else to not play. With that in mind, we also said goodbye to Jefferson Orijuela who left to join Rennes for £3.6m. At 31, he wasn't the kind of player that was going to lead the club in the new direction I wanted to take. One player that was, is Lucas Torreira, who joins from Arsenal for £26.5m. It's a pretty young squad we have here and that squad was missing someone like Torreira that not only brings experience but also Determination, Aggression and Work Rate.
The outgoing deals were all players that didn't fit in with my tactical style or players that I just didn't think we good enough. Rao Yan for example, is a striker that can't finish, isn't quick, has poor movement and can't jump. But he's Chinese, and young, so we got £5m for him (he was worth £750k). Sales like that boosted the coffers for my splurge on Chinese talent.
First in was Yin Boxi for £11.75m. A central midfielder that I brought in to play as a...right back. Hear me out. I spent ages at the end of last season looking for a right back. We bought one of them (more on him later) but I couldn't find another one with the filtered attributes I was looking for. Taking away the position filter brought me to Boxi so in he comes. It's no exaggeration to say that I NEVER re-train players, so this is a new one for me. If the worst comes to the worst, I can look again next year because he's also a cracking centre mid.
Playing over in Japan was Zhang Shouhua. I liked his work rate and bravery and the fact he can pass and tackle. My plan is for him to sit in midfield and be the pivot that links the defensive half of the pitch the to offensive half. Just hold his position and play short passes, but also work hard to win the ball back quickly.
Guo Tianyu comes in for free to play a back up role. He's quite physical and scored 12 goals last season as Changchun Yatai surprised everyone and finished fifth.
Remember what I said about over paying for Chinese players? Well, Zhang Zihao is the proof of that as I spent as eye-watering £50m on him. The best bit about him is that I'm not even going to play him in his preferred midfield position. I wanted to bring in a deep-lying forward but there was so little quality around and I didn't want to overspend on someone else that wasn't as good. I played around with filtering for different attributes and Zihao popped up every single time. He's clearly cost me way too much, but fuck it, I've got the money so why not do it?
At the end of the window I finally got the goalkeeper and natural right back that I wanted. £16m went on Zhang Minghui from Shanghai Shenhua and £9.75m went on Wang Botao from Tianjin TEDA. Minghui was in the China squad which is how I found him and both fit in with the young Chinese talent mantra.
SUPER LEAGUE
With an average age of 22, and seven new signings to settle in, I expected a tough start to the league before we began to assert our dominance after the break.
We started with a 1-0 defeat at Hebei China Fortune, but then rattled off eight games undefeated. At that stage, result were better than performances. We're not quite clicking 100% but were managing to get by on a little luck and good players. That luck ran out when we recorded back to back defeats against Guangzhou and Shanghai.
TABLE | FIXTURES
About par for the course so far. What has been clear so far is that Beijing Guoan are streets ahead of the rest of the league, while Guangzhou and Shanghai SIPG were miles better than us in our defeats against them. We definitely still have a couple of gears to go up, but even with that in mind, fourth is probably the best we can hope for this season and I'd consider that a success.
I need to find answers to the following:
- Lots of possession, but very few shots on goal.
- No goals scored from corners in 13 games.
- Conceded three times from indirect free kicks
FUTURE PLANS
Have to admit, the board have been amazing so far:
- Data analysis facilities upgraded twice (now Good)
- Training facilities upgraded (State of the Art)
- Youth facilities upgraded (Superb)
- Youth recruitment upgraded (Excellent)
- Junior coaching upgraded (Excellent)
No complaints at all there.
We've got a few players in the squad not getting game time so I'll try and sort out some loans when the window opens. I've managed to bring some extra coaches in and start to focus on player development. Players like Wang Bin have developed really well over the last few months and, with youth development being a board priority, this is great to see.
We're still one foreign player heavy in the squad, but Diego Reyes has his deal up at the end of the season which will see us back at four.
|
|
|
Post by chaodck on Jul 5, 2020 18:02:42 GMT
Wowza Nick, transfers be crazy in Chinaaaaa!!! I remember you said you were paying a premium for domestic talent but I never, ever really expected it to be like that. Does it work both ways? If you end up developing local players like those you're buying and somehow they are sellable as you've got enough local talent for your needs, does the AI pay that much for them as well? Good first half of the season, seems like you're really going places and will achieve your objectives mate. Really love seeing you back enjoying the game.
|
|
jla
New Member
Posts: 52
|
Post by jla on Jul 5, 2020 18:27:51 GMT
Torreira is a fantastic signing. Glad to hear you're enjoying the save more after the move. I had a brief dalliance in China last year. It can be so much fun if you put the time in.
|
|
|
Post by Nick on Jul 5, 2020 18:28:42 GMT
Wowza Nick, transfers be crazy in Chinaaaaa!!! I remember you said you were paying a premium for domestic talent but I never, ever really expected it to be like that. Does it work both ways? If you end up developing local players like those you're buying and somehow they are sellable as you've got enough local talent for your needs, does the AI pay that much for them as well? Good first half of the season, seems like you're really going places and will achieve your objectives mate. Really love seeing you back enjoying the game. Thanks mate. You know what it's like when you're dealing with transfers. Would the AI have paid £50m for him? I'd be stunned if they did. They initially wanted £83m for him (he was worth £15m) so I actually did fairly well in one sense! (Joke) I can't imagine that I'll ever spend that much on a Chinese player again, but you never know. I think if we manage to produce a Chinese superstar from the academy another Chinese club would pay that sort of money, but they wouldn't have done for Zihao. Even in this inflated market, I know I overpaid, but he had everything I was looking for and I had the money, so I paid it.
|
|
jla
New Member
Posts: 52
|
Post by jla on Jul 5, 2020 19:21:32 GMT
Zihao is elite level for a domestic player too, and they're so important at filling in the important spots in the team that if you can find just one that's not too far off a foreign player's level, it makes a massive difference. Interesting to see Evergrande and SIPG are a decent way back. How good are Beijing?
Damn all you guys with your interesting saves in interesting countries.
|
|
|
Post by chaodck on Jul 5, 2020 21:10:33 GMT
Wowza Nick, transfers be crazy in Chinaaaaa!!! I remember you said you were paying a premium for domestic talent but I never, ever really expected it to be like that. Does it work both ways? If you end up developing local players like those you're buying and somehow they are sellable as you've got enough local talent for your needs, does the AI pay that much for them as well? Good first half of the season, seems like you're really going places and will achieve your objectives mate. Really love seeing you back enjoying the game. Thanks mate. You know what it's like when you're dealing with transfers. Would the AI have paid £50m for him? I'd be stunned if they did. They initially wanted £83m for him (he was worth £15m) so I actually did fairly well in one sense! (Joke) I can't imagine that I'll ever spend that much on a Chinese player again, but you never know. I think if we manage to produce a Chinese superstar from the academy another Chinese club would pay that sort of money, but they wouldn't have done for Zihao. Even in this inflated market, I know I overpaid, but he had everything I was looking for and I had the money, so I paid it. Yeah, you did well certainly. I'm with you on what you said both here in the Depor thread and in Jon's thread about the transfer market being harder this year. I think they've bumped up the game's difficulty that way. Once teams/players smell like you've got money, they cash on you big time, I've seen players sign for other teams for a fraction of what I've offered and selling your own players is way harder. Still I find the game is balanced well enough to be a fun experience with a big degree of realism, even with this bullshit mechanics.
|
|
|
Post by Nick on Jul 5, 2020 21:53:54 GMT
One in one out in the mid-season window. Emmanuel Boateng was a good player, but when you're taking up a foreign spot in a league with limited spaces for those players, you need to be better than good. His five goals in thirteen games wasn't enough to justify keeping him so he was shipped out to turkey for £5m. His replacement comes in the shape of 24 year old, Dusan Vlahovic, from Fiorentina for a fee of £26.5m. Another big outlay, but he was superior to Boateng in every area when I compared them. At 6ft 3" tall and extremely physical, his style is something that most homegrown Chinese players won't be able to deal with.
|
|
jla
New Member
Posts: 52
|
Post by jla on Jul 5, 2020 22:01:42 GMT
Vlahovic is a fantastic choice. Performed really well for a mate's Fiorentina side in a network save I had. He's versatile enough as well that he can adapt to any tactical changes you make.
|
|
|
Post by Nick on Jul 5, 2020 22:04:34 GMT
Zihao is elite level for a domestic player too, and they're so important at filling in the important spots in the team that if you can find just one that's not too far off a foreign player's level, it makes a massive difference. Interesting to see Evergrande and SIPG are a decent way back. How good are Beijing? Damn all you guys with your interesting saves in interesting countries. 100%. He's arguably the best Chinese player in the game at the moment so in that sense he was worth the outlay. Guangzhou have only won the title once since the start of the save and are the nearly men to Beijing in the last couple of seasons. I think Beijing are benefiting from having Michael Laudrup in charge for the last five years, while pretty much everyone else seems to change managers when they don't get a return on their investment. They still have good foreign players and a small squad which means they don't rotate too often and can remain consistent. They're just a machine at the moment but hopefully we can piss on their party in the coming seasons. It's actually a really competitive league, which is great.
|
|
|
Post by Nick on Jul 6, 2020 17:02:04 GMT
2024 Review My first full season at the club can be marked up as a massive success after we clinched Champions League football on the final day of the season. I say "clinched" but that's probably the wrong word. I spent the mid-season break taking a closer look at the narrow diamond I was using with the team.
We started with an unfortunate 1-0 defeat against Tianjin TEDA and I felt like we deserved more than we got. We had the better of the chances, but were impotent in front of goal and they scored a stoppage time winner. Next up was Beijing Guoan and we were much better. It's clear that they are a better team than us, but home advantage and a little bit of luck saw us run out 2-1 winners. Two more narrow 2-1 wins over Hebei China Fortune and Jiangsu Suning saw confidence rise and led to us beating Henan 3-0 and Quingdao 4-1.
Guangzhou R&F came back from 2-0 down at half time to beat us 3-2 and, despite a comfortable 4-0 win in our next game against Guizhou, the cracks were starting to appear. The goals completely dried up and, while our defence held up well (for the most part), if you don't score goals, you're going to struggle at some point.
We keep the ball well. I want us to keep possession and I feel we're good enough to control games, but with the way we were set up, if goals didn't come from crosses, they didn't come at all. I can't seem to get anything out of the AMC (not for the first time in FM20) and I don't see those defence splitting passes that I want to see from him and the Mezzala. I don't want us to keep possession for possession's sake and we need to do more with it. It was rare that we had over 10 shots on goal per game and, while the quality of chances is obviously the most important statistic, I'd like us to be a bit more shot friendly and create more openings.
Our form over the last seven matches was pretty tragic, seeing just the one win, but a 0-0 draw at Beijing (who had already been crowned champions the week before) ensured that we finished fourth and took that final Champions League spot. Shanghai SIPG took third, a spot we had held for the previous eleven matches.
Conceding less than a goal per game is pleasing, but only 46 goals scored gives us something to work on for next season. The board are happy, the fans are happy and I'm happy, but there's always things to work on.
Dusan Vlahovic had a stunning start with six goals in his first five matches but, like the rest of the team, cooled off towards the end of the season. Lucas Torreira finished with five goals and five assists but I was guilty of playing him all over the place, such is his versatility. With some more consistency, we should see more from him next season. The fact that nobody hit over ten goals or assists tells you everything you need to know about our season.
Off the field we continue to improve. The youth and data facilities are being upgraded again and that should see the youth facilities maxed out. I have been gradually improving the staff, with Uzbekistan being a particularly good port of call. We're now the best in the league across the board. The youth intake was largely disappointing, certainly with a lack of depth, but I did sign three of the players it offered in the form of Li Yonggang, Su Junhong and Zhu Yulong. At the very least we'll be able to sell them on for profit.
We need a couple of reinforcements this winter and they'll have to be homegrown. Eray Comert (DC), Jonathan Gonzalez (DMC), Lucas Torreira (CM) and Dusan Vlahovic (ST) take up the foreign player spots and offer us a very strong spine. We still need another right back as the Yin Boxi experiment didn't work. He's better at CM. I'm going to resist the urge to splash out on wide players because everyone seems to be playing a 4-2-3-1 and I want to do something different.
Lots to do to overtake Beijing and a resurgent Guangzhou but we can be pleased with how the season went. 18 months ago I took over and the team was bottom of the table. We end that period fourth. Progress.
|
|
jla
New Member
Posts: 52
|
Post by jla on Jul 6, 2020 17:21:43 GMT
Torreira's had quite a nerf since FM19 when I managed him with Arsenal. Still looks absolutely fantastic though. Seems like a perfect BBM at this point, wheras I played him more as a DLP-D last year. Annoying that everyone's using 4-2-3-1, although if you can then develop a tactic that will destroy a 4-2-3-1 (racking my brain to think of the commonly used 4-2-3-1 killers), you're laughing league wise. How is Oscar doing at SIPG btw? I have a strange interest in the Super League and Oscar is the class player of the league by far.
Good to see Vlahovic starting off well. He'll be solid for you.
|
|
|
Post by chaodck on Jul 6, 2020 17:29:09 GMT
Terrific turnaround season Nick, from where you took the team. CL football will do wonders for your players and team's reputation, is it this or the African CL that's divided into east and west regions? Do you think you'll be able to mount a decent challenge? Shame to see your offensive troubles mate, are your central mids linking with your fullbacks enough? I haven't really tried the carrilero role, but at least Mezzalas drift out wide and help link up play on those areas, maybe you're stretching your team too much vertically. Finally, why are you opting to play without a formal playmaker?
|
|
|
Post by Dirk Nowitzki on Jul 6, 2020 18:00:56 GMT
Nice season Nick, it must feel good to be able to spend money again! I have always liked the narrow diamond, but it seems hard to get it right. Don't you find your attacking players isolated a bit too often, since all 4 of them are on attack? I'd probably play around with 2 support roles among them, most likely the mezzala and DLF, give the backs more attacking roles to offer support on the wings and change the DM to defend to become not too vulnerable at the back when the backs bomb forward.
Do you find the quality of the Chinese players in a squad to be the biggest determinants of success, given you can only have 4 foreigners, or are the foreign players so superior that they are the most important ones to get right?
|
|
|
Post by chaodck on Jul 6, 2020 18:03:37 GMT
Nice season Nick, it must feel good to be able to spend money again! I have always liked the narrow diamond, but it seems hard to get it right. Don't you find your attacking players isolated a bit too often, since all 4 of them are on attack? I'd probably play around with 2 support roles among them, most likely the mezzala and DLF, give the backs more attacking roles to offer support on the wings and change the DM to defend to become not too vulnerable when the backs bomb forward. Do you find the quality of the Chinese players in a squad to be the biggest determinants of success, given you can only have 4 foreigners, or are the foreign players so superior that they are the most ones to get right? That's what I was thinking as well, maybe those roles end up stretching the players too much vertically, ending up with a way too long team on attack.
|
|
|
Post by Nick on Jul 6, 2020 18:48:13 GMT
Torreira's had quite a nerf since FM19 when I managed him with Arsenal. Still looks absolutely fantastic though. Seems like a perfect BBM at this point, wheras I played him more as a DLP-D last year. Annoying that everyone's using 4-2-3-1, although if you can then develop a tactic that will destroy a 4-2-3-1 (racking my brain to think of the commonly used 4-2-3-1 killers), you're laughing league wise. How is Oscar doing at SIPG btw? I have a strange interest in the Super League and Oscar is the class player of the league by far. Good to see Vlahovic starting off well. He'll be solid for you. He has, and I imagine we'll see the same again on FM21 given his struggles for Arsenal this season. For the level I'm at, he's very much the complete midfielder and the fact he can play a number of roles and both CM and DM is both his strength and his weakness. Shanghai SIPG sold Oscar to Zenit at the start of this season for £5m. He's 33 now and, looking at his career history for them, he never set the world alight. Certainly not how you'd imagine a human manager would given his ability. Worth noting, if you think I spent a lot, that was over-shadowed by SIPG this year. £63m on Lucas Martinez Quarta, £55m on Juan Foyth and £58m on Edson Alvarez. It's a brilliant league. I watch a bit in real life due to liking a bet on goals and China is rife for that irl. If this save does anything for me, it'll be that I take even more of an interest in real life events there. I'll also be loading it far more often in my FM saves. Terrific turnaround season Nick, from where you took the team. CL football will do wonders for your players and team's reputation, is it this or the African CL that's divided into east and west regions? Do you think you'll be able to mount a decent challenge? Shame to see your offensive troubles mate, are your central mids linking with your fullbacks enough? I haven't really tried the carrilero role, but at least Mezzalas drift out wide and help link up play on those areas, maybe you're stretching your team too much vertically. Finally, why are you opting to play without a formal playmaker? Thanks mate. It's definitely the Asian Champions League that is split, but I only know that from Dale's thread. I'm struggling to remember a time that I've ever managed in the competition before so that's the only reference point I have at the moment. As for our chances, I'd like to think that we've got a good chance of making the knockout stages, but we haven't seen a Chinese winner since the start of the save and this year's final is between Buriram (Thailand) and Persepolis (Iran). With all the Asian leagues loaded, I'd like to think that's a fair reflection of Asian football at the moment. I've played around with the roles a bit and used a play maker at DM and AM at different points throughout the season, but I never felt it improved us. I like the idea of a play maker, the team's best player, dropping into holes in the attacking third, running the game, but the reality was that he was either ineffective due to being marked out of the game or we were giving the ball to him too much and being a central player, he was often surrounded by opposition players. Nice season Nick, it must feel good to be able to spend money again! I have always liked the narrow diamond, but it seems hard to get it right. Don't you find your attacking players isolated a bit too often, since all 4 of them are on attack? I'd probably play around with 2 support roles among them, most likely the mezzala and DLF, give the backs more attacking roles to offer support on the wings and change the DM to defend to become not too vulnerable at the back when the backs bomb forward. Do you find the quality of the Chinese players in a squad to be the biggest determinants of success, given you can only have 4 foreigners, or are the foreign players so superior that they are the most important ones to get right? That's what I was thinking as well, maybe those roles end up stretching the players too much vertically, ending up with a way too long team on attack. Thanks Dirk. I was finding them isolated, especially the Advanced Forward, which is why I changed the DLF from support to attack and had the Mezzala on attack to go beyond the attacking midfielder.I also had the DM on a defend duty, and the thoughts behind him being on support is that he pushes into midfield to enter the space left by the Mezzala. What you say makes a lot of sense though and I'll continue to play around with the roles in pre-season.
|
|
|
Post by Nick on Jul 6, 2020 21:40:34 GMT
Champions League registration is only three foreign players, which means someone has to miss out. I'm beginning to see why Chinese teams aren't pulling up any trees in this competition. I deliberately keep on four foreign players so I can play them all, but the other teams have 6 or 7 so you can how they'd be weakened in this competition. It also explains why the Chinese Super league has fallen three places in the rankings in the last 12 months.
|
|
|
Post by hokster on Jul 7, 2020 2:08:52 GMT
That tactic seems very attacking (I'm fairly impressed with your defensive record as a result). What mentality were you using?
With a narrow diamond like that, I'd either use a DLF-S (or F9) and SS/AM-A combination or a DLF-A with an AM-S to help them combine with the midfield. I do like the carrilero role a lot when not using wingers, as he'll cover for the more attacking fullbacks, while an attacking FB and MEZ on the same side seems to be asking for counterattacks down that flank. I do like having the DM-S, as he'll help keep the midfield compact and fluid. I might consider changing the MEZ to a BBM, as then he'll track back while also providing you with those late runs. I think that's what you're missing right now; the attacking players are all looking to get further forward whenever possible (aside from the DLF), and the CAR is trying to cover for the FB. I'm not terribly surprised you're ending up with your only chances coming from crosses as a result. Another thing you could try is asking the AM to run wide with the ball to create some space for a late run by the DLF and the BBM (if you try that route). And of course giving the BBM the Take More Risks PI would increase the attempted killer passes.
|
|
|
Post by Nick on Jul 7, 2020 9:03:04 GMT
That tactic seems very attacking (I'm fairly impressed with your defensive record as a result). What mentality were you using? With a narrow diamond like that, I'd either use a DLF-S (or F9) and SS/AM-A combination or a DLF-A with an AM-S to help them combine with the midfield. I do like the carrilero role a lot when not using wingers, as he'll cover for the more attacking fullbacks, while an attacking FB and MEZ on the same side seems to be asking for counterattacks down that flank. I do like having the DM-S, as he'll help keep the midfield compact and fluid. I might consider changing the MEZ to a BBM, as then he'll track back while also providing you with those late runs. I think that's what you're missing right now; the attacking players are all looking to get further forward whenever possible (aside from the DLF), and the CAR is trying to cover for the FB. I'm not terribly surprised you're ending up with your only chances coming from crosses as a result. Another thing you could try is asking the AM to run wide with the ball to create some space for a late run by the DLF and the BBM (if you try that route). And of course giving the BBM the Take More Risks PI would increase the attempted killer passes. That was with a balanced mentality. I didn't feel like it was overly attacking, especially when looking at this Mentality Calculator: theresonlyoneball.com/2020/05/22/an-individual-player-mentality-calculator-for-football-manager-2020/It feels fairly well balanced. The front three all being attacking could mean that they're split from the rest of the team, but the AMC in particular I find plays far too deep with anything but an attacking mentality.
|
|
|
Post by hokster on Jul 7, 2020 10:51:40 GMT
Then I'd try changing the MEZ to a BBM if the tactic isn't working for you. I think if you're missing anything, it's probably a late runner from midfield; while in principle the MEZ could do that, he might be playing a bit too wide and focusing on working with the fullback to provide a good goalscoring threat. That flank also still looks fairly vulnerable to me (though the only way to actually tell is to watch the matches), though that's going to depend on the DM-S player and his PIs, since the MEZ and the FB both have the Get Further Forward instruction. But again, if you're not seeing that in-match, that's ultimately what matters.
|
|
jla
New Member
Posts: 52
|
Post by jla on Jul 7, 2020 11:21:21 GMT
How are you finding teams are defending against you Nick? If they're sitting back, lowering mentality might not be the worst move?
|
|
|
Post by Nick on Jul 7, 2020 21:54:52 GMT
2025 Winter Window and Mid-Season Review It's difficult to know where to begin. Its been a strange period for the club.
Our transfer window can only be ranked as 10/10. I'd already identified what we needed and, more importantly, who. The board armed me with £102m but, true to my word of last year, there was no ridiculous spending. I was reasonably happy with the squad, it just needed streamlining a little bit and I was in a better position at the start of this season to decide on who I wanted to stay and who didn't make the cut. The outgoing deals were all loans. Nothing exciting, just players that were sat in the first team squad last season but not getting games.
We lacked any sort of depth at centre back last season so that was the first area of concern. I paid Shijiazhuang Ever Bright £5m for Zhu Chenjie and he's paid me back by picking up niggling injuries on and off since his arrival. I think he'll come good and he's one of the better Chinese centre backs, but we need him on the pitch consistently. Zheng Kaokun is probably the better of the two and has had a decent start to his career here. He cost £8.25m from Hebei China Fortune, where we returned to find the right back I have been after for the last two years. Lu Fang cost me £20m, which is a fair amount, but he was arguably the best option that was available and offers us a long term investment that none of the others did. I'd rather pay more for him than buy three or four players trying to find the right option. The final deal was Fu Jiawei who came in for £5m from Shanghai SIPG. I wasn't convinced by any of our strikers (unless your name is Dusan Vlahovic) last season so I took a punt on Fu who looks the closest to a natural goalscorer as we're likely to get in this country. I wanted someone that could get into the right position and just put the ball in the back of the net. He's quick, reasonably composed, can finish and, most importantly, works hard, which is a trait that is lost on most of the other Chinese strikers!
That's left me with a 23 man squad, two players for each position and a 'floater' who can play in midfield and attack. The squad finally felt like mine and I was pleased with the balance and personnel.
Our season hit its first bump before we'd even completed pre-season. We'd breezed through our first friendlies and faced what was, on paper, a relatively easy qualifier for the Asian Champions League: Thailand's Bangkok United. As we know however, games aren't won on paper, and this one wasn't won at all.
My tactical issues have been covered in this thread and this game epitomised what our problems were. 66% possession, 19 shots on on goal, 12 on target, 0 clear cut chances. We lost 1-0 after a defensive mistake. With that I did what I imagine every FM player has done at some point. I raged about the "bullshit game" and how I was cheated out of the win because the game didn't want me to win. Then I got my shit together, put my big boy pants on and got myself a notepad and a pen. I watched the game back in its entirety and I made notes. I then used the analysis tool (who else had forgotten that existed!) and made more notes. Then I made changes.
The first thing I noticed that everyone was fifteen yards too deep and as a result we only played three passes into the opposition penalty area in the 90 minutes. The problem position - the AMC - only played 7 forward passes in the game, he played 10 backwards and 19 sideways. No wonder he's ineffective.
My advanced forward to too cut off from everyone else not only via the average positions map, but also by how many times he actually touched the ball: 52. By comparison our left back had 313 touches.
Of the 19 shots on goal, only one came from open play. Literally one. The rest came from a lot of possession which resulted in one of our players winning a foul, a corner or throw in.
As much as I've voiced my frustration that every tactic you see is a high pressing, high line number, there's a reason for it this versions seems to favour that style of play. I've done it a bit differently though. Out went the short passing. I'm fed up with possession and doing nothing with it. I was after quick transitions and winning the ball back quickly, asserting our quality on the opposition in dangerous areas.
Of course this means nothing without changes on the pitch:
Like watching a completely different team. The front two are no longer feeding on scraps and I actually seem to have a working partnership for once. Dusan Vlahovic has been outstanding in the Trequartista role and has 11 goals at an average of 7.62. Lucas Torreira is showing his quality as the Mezzala, with two goals and four assists, while he has also covered more ground than anyone else in the league. Beijing aside, where we should have won after creating five clear cut chances, attack really has been the best form of defence as we're keeping clean sheets regularly and restricting the opposition from having meaningful chances. We've gone from having 58% of the ball to 49% and I couldn't be happier about it. We're going toe to toe with Beijing at the moment and they lead us on head to head record alone. We currently have the best defensive record in the league and, if we can carry that on, you wouldn't bet against us over taking them. Consistency will be key but I still have last season's performances in the back of my mind. I'd like us to score a few more goals, but I'm nitpicking. The turnaround has been amazing and shows that good things can come from spending a little bit of time looking at the smaller details. Away from the pitch, I don't think I've ever had a chairman so willing to accept my requests. The youth facilities are now state of the art, data analysis facilities are being done again, I've been allowed more coaches, more physios, youth recruitment upgraded, more scouts. We appear to have turned a corner.
|
|
|
Post by Nick on Jul 7, 2020 22:54:33 GMT
Youth development is just starting to show signs of fruition as well.
|
|
|
Post by chaodck on Jul 8, 2020 1:29:15 GMT
Wow Nick! Some terrific progress mate, on the pitch and in the development side of this. Super excited for the future, keep it up!
|
|
|
Post by Marshdweller on Jul 8, 2020 11:42:14 GMT
You may well have moved on by now, but I was struggling with similar issues with my AM in a diamond back in my FMT17 save. In the end I dropped him back to MC, making a 4-1-3-2 and played him as a AP(a) flanked by two BBM and it made a noticeable difference. The BBMs were positioned a little wider, so helped link to and cover the wing-backs and the playmaker wasn't ahead of the play as much, so he seemed to be facing the right way when we attacked. Also, it meant that when we lost the ball, he dropped goalside more (I think I'm right in saying that the midfield strata and deeper should be goalside out of possession?).
|
|
|
Post by Nick on Jul 8, 2020 13:09:58 GMT
You may well have moved on by now, but I was struggling with similar issues with my AM in a diamond back in my FMT17 save. In the end I dropped him back to MC, making a 4-1-3-2 and played him as a AP(a) flanked by two BBM and it made a noticeable difference. The BBMs were positioned a little wider, so helped link to and cover the wing-backs and the playmaker wasn't ahead of the play as much, so he seemed to be facing the right way when we attacked. Also, it meant that when we lost the ball, he dropped goalside more (I think I'm right in saying that the midfield strata and deeper should be goalside out of possession?). Thanks mate, that's something that I though about, albeit very briefly, and possibly something I'd look at in the future so it's good to get a bit more info about it. I also thought about using that central midfielder as a CM-a while keeping the Carrilero and Mezzala. It's definitely food for thought for the future.
|
|