[FM19] Not all that glitters is gold.

[Ben]

Prelude

I’m a numbers man and an over thinker as well as a wannabe-wordsmith. But here goes...

I like to think I’m pretty experienced with this game, given that I’ve been playing, religiously at times, since CM03/04. Back in those days - Serge Makofo, the Icelandic lads and Diablo tactic were my go - basically, it was a win-at-all-costs kind of thing. The earlier FM’s saw me develop a love affair for Italy, mainly due to James Richardson and Peter Brackley; Football Italia. I’ve managed in Castel di Sangro, Milazzo, Venezia, Cesena, Palermo and pretty much all of the Serie D teams, particularly those who have yo-yoed around the leagues due to financial difficulties, with great success but little actual engagement within the game - clicking endlessly through seasons and seasons of games. However, the past few years have seen a shift in my own view on football - I am enjoying (but not so much an effective creator of) tactics and I love numbers and data. Eventually, FM17 brought about a change – a deeper style of play, matching my out-of-FM enjoyments and one which I fully want to take into FM19.

As previously mentioned - my more recent FM history is way more in depth and normally takes a very similar outlook but a very different day-to-day approach. Almost all of my saves these days are essentially youth only – I tend to bend the rules later in the game, but more on that later. I like to take a club, from the depths on a league, grow them to be the biggest in the country and then help develop the country to be the strongest in Europe. The recent stops on this journey have been in Vienna, with First Vienna, Lyn in Norway, Le Mont in Switzerland and recently BX Brussels, the Vincent Kompany-owned club. To add depth to these games – I like to do this with a back story – at Vienna, managed by a Japanese man (an ode to a FM16 save I had with 1860 Munich), I set about building a youth academy through feeder clubs from sister cities of the Austrian capital. In Lyn, with an Ivorian manager – I intended to build a playing style of Norwegian brains and Ivorian brawn – only focusing on signing players and staff from the ex-French colony. Le Mont saw me take samba to Switzerland, playing a 4-2-2-2 Box and setting up links with Brazilian clubs and my most recent stop in Brussels saw me take a Rwandan manager in an aim to develop as many regens as I could to help their national team. These games have all been really successful – each over 25 season and culminating in various amounts of success: continental titles, a world cup with both Norway and Ivory Coast (not sure how many managers have won successive World Cups with different nations) and making the Belgian Pro League the highest rate in the whole world.

I’ve been incredibly lucky with three sons over the course of these four games – coming in at Vienna, Lyn and Brussels (with my Rwandan becoming the leading scorer for his nation, then becoming my assistant and eventually the BX Brussels manager after I simmed the game for a few years following my resignation). I've learnt how to play the numbers game and end with squads of players with Determination of over 15, all F.Pro, Pro or M.Pro and to create a squad DNA that assists with my playing style, which I tend to mix up in each different in-game scenario. With the removal of tutoring this year and wholesale changes to training, I will have to re-learn this whole process and get to grips with getting the best of out of a group of players who will be together for the forseeable future.

I am looking forward to getting stuck in this year - I have my manager persona and club ready, but that is to come...

[Ben]

The Manager

In amongst my huge career saves, I fitted in a quick youth only save in Argentina at the tail end of last year, taking over newly promoted second tier Baraccas Central, from Buenos Aires, and taking them to, strangely, more continental glory than domestic glory - continually being thwarted by either Boca or River. However, there was a standout player at the club - false 9 German Burgos. He was in the first batch of regens that generated for me and was the typical classy Argentine forward, small, nimble and good with his feet. He was deployed in a variety of roles and positions (oh yeah, I love retraining, player traits and versatile players) but was a consistent, winning a handful of caps from playing way above what his attributes would suggest. Therefore, just like Takuya Taniguchi - my ex-First Vienna manager of FM17, he becomes my manager persona for this year. Sadly, his face (from an external face pack) looked nothing like how he's portrayed below - but that's a minor issue...


No spoilers with the background colour there, I hope.

I'm not really one to add a fantasy back story of how he got to there but what I really did enjoy in Argentina was watching the AI stick a BWM on him for most of the season and essentially kick the crap out of him. So, despite Burgos being a technical forward - I really want to employ the opposite - a hard hitting, hard working, maybe even slightly dirty, Argentine influenced squad. The fact that I want to play as youth only and the fact I've set my manager as Argentine should give me a chance to get a few Argentinian youths through in the future, along with the normal influx of Brazilians and some ex-colonial Portuguese players.

To fit with the level that I am playing at (again, no spoilers yet) he's got a National A licence and was a pro at a regional level. With the added slant towards youth development - that leaves his coaching attributes like this:



Next - the club...

[Ben]

The Club

S.C. Beira-Mar

I toyed with going back to Italy - a land, as I mentioned, that I have had a lot of joy in. However - Italy is just too easy (I jest) in the way that they are already a hugely popular league with great players and finances - so taking them to the best in the world wouldn't be too hard. Portugal, on the other hand, is dominated by just three clubs - Porto, Sporting and Benfica so breaking them will be hard enough. Outside of the top three, there is really little money and I doubt many (non-Portuguese) players could name all of the teams in the second tier.

After a quick holiday to find the newly promoted teams (strangely, Gil Vicente were promoted from the fourth tier straight back to the first) - I came across a list of teams. Admittedly, I haven't really followed Portuguese football too much of late, but have had some decent stops here at Nacional and Vitoria Setubal in the past five or six years and, as such, have heard of Beira-Mar, but didn't know about their current real-life strife. Relegated a few years back due to financial mismanagement, they are now back in the third tier, the Campeonato Nacional, for the 2019/20 season.

A little history - they competed in the Uefa Cup back in 1999/2000 but can only list two second division titles as their best domestic honour but list alumni such as Mario Jardel, Pavel Srnicek and most notably Eusebio. Nicknamed Auri-Negros (gold and blacks - hence the thread name), they are from the northern city of Aveiro.

We are one of the minority of professional teams in this league and are predicted to finish 8th this season. I'll do a full run-down of the squad and staff shortly but I am wary that currently all of the players are amateur and some of the players are far too good for us (see: Alex) which means they will probably be leaving us over the course of pre-season. My aim is for a long, steady and measured rise to up to the first tier.

[Ben]

[Ben]

The Squad.



This is what I will be working with for the first few years of this save, shown in my Home View. A little bit about the choices of this view and then a little bit about the players I've got. 

Firstly - I love versatile players and due to some slight OCD traits - simply cannot stand a scroll bar on the player view screen (also makes screenshots more difficult) and, as such, keep my first team to around 20 players. You can currently see that I don't have a great deal of coverage from my players - with most being able to play in just one position well. Non-negotiables are that full backs play on both sides, as do wingers and the more FBs that can also offer a wing option, or vice versa, and with DC and DM, MC, AMC combo's too where possible. You will see, even from the beginnings of this save - I'm looking to add as much versatility to the squad as I can - getting what (small) amount of potential from them by training roles and positions that will improve their weaker attributes. Training is also a key thing for me - train well and you'll play well (in theory) so I want to keep an eye on that this version, with the new rating. I'm also a huge fan of personality development so this makes the screen too. I also have career apps as I love to track my youngsters breaking in to the team, wage and value.

Lastly, and most importantly (hence the new paragraph!) we have the squad DNA, except I don't really like that word. Anyway, I've picked out a set of attributes that are non-position specific (meaning that I don't need all my players to have good passing, as, specifically at this level, defenders won't have it) and changed the attribute colours to show anything over 10 as good - which will change as I hopefully progress. Anticipation, Bravery, Decisions, Determination and Work Rate as well as Pace Stamina and Strength will hopefully help me build that strong, fit and hard working squad as I would imagine we take the route towards a gegenpress style of play. I may delve further into this as we look at ways to develop my own players to excel in these areas.

Last year, I played with bars instead of numbers which was great - sadly, it doesn't appear I can do that (yet) this year so will revert to showing numbers on the squad screen as we look to build the attributes that fit with the style of play I want.

Player-wise, you can see from the nicknames that I like to add a * to the end of three most promising players from each intake - I've seen this referred to as tagging on this forum before. I tend to remove these once they have broken into the team/moved to pastures new. I have three decent players who probably don't have the potential to go far but will be a focus from my early development points:






The best non-regens at the club are the aforementioned Alex, veteran enganche Artur and wingback Nogueira but I would envisage that I will lose some of those over the course of the next few months due to their amateur contracts. The Under 19 squad is purely made of players with 'potential' but that this level they aren't going to make a dent on the first team.

I now need to sort out the (lack of) backroom staff.

[Ben]

Not ideal for a youth only save. However, they have agreed and hopefully this bloke can back me as the years pass to develop our facilities, make links etc.

[Ben]

Building a style for now.

Eventually, I want to go full energy, full gegenpress, full Argentine grit and dirtiness but I am way away from that at the current momemt in time with the squad I have at my disposal. Here is the run down of the comparisons:

Defence. Midfield. Attack. Physical. Mental. Technical.

Not a great spread or anything to hugely shout about. Here is my attempt at setting up something, still along the lines of the end-goal but fitting with the squad I have.

• Defensive acceleration stands out as one of our better traits, along with positioning - so I have maintained wing backs (albeit on support and defend) rather than the CWB(S) that comes with the blank gegenpress template. We keep the higher line because of this pace and move to a SK(D) in goal, even though all of our goalkeepers are awful.
• We cannot head the ball at the back - an average of just over 6 for our defenders is woeful. As such, I've chosen the smallest possible pitch to try and snuff out wide areas for crosses to come in. The average height of our defenders, 5'11", also backs up that idea.
• The gegenpress template comes with nobody in the DMC slot, but I've moved those central midfielders back one row each - a) for some more defensive stability, a key facet in my early days as a manager and b) I have more suitable players there - showing with a decent rating in stamina for my midfielders.
  
• I've gone for extra cover in Letz, who can also play as a CB when needed (although never been convinced with a HB who is anywhere but a lone DMC as he can't slot back unless Ramalho moves right (who knows if that will work?) Marcao is a BWM but with the added PI of Get Further Forward to essentially play like a poor-mans RPM, with a bit more steel about him. He fits that role quite well.
  
• The CM(A) is the mezzala who can't be a mezzala (simply because he's central and not in the left or right channel and both wide men are IF's - due to the small size of the pitch and the narrow nature of the tactic.
  
• We also drop back to balanced in order to make sure we are calculated between risk and reward - I find that a key aim at this level.

No idea how it'll fare - but pre-season has gone ok:

[Ben]

Backroom Staff

A big area of focus for me, particularly when the facilities are important enough to allow us to regularly produce top players - but here is what I have been able to do, for now:



Which leaves us looking like this:





I've also added a head physio, head of sports science and head of data analysis to fill up the team - but they are all pretty shocking, too.

[Ben]

Mentoring (my initial guess)

Looking forward to getting this part of the game up and running but I've not really got too much of an idea of how it will work. To start - I picked my team leaders:



These are both older players (Artur 35 and Nogueira 32) and have better (14 each) for DET, whilst Nogueira is balanced and Artur is F.Loyal. From there - I've added all players who play in similar positions on the pitch and have either a) a less favourable personality (thinking forward to the time of M.Pro's etc) or b) less DET. I'm left with this:



Will report back on anything I've found!

[Ben]

Interested to see how managerial attributes develop this year...

[Ben]

Mid Season 1 Review:




A very strong start to my tenure in Portugal, where we've risen to the top of a tight table. Tactically, we've been tight at the back - as expected and wanted - with only 11 goals conceded in the 19 league games.  I have found, particularly against the smaller sides, that we've dominated possession (~65%+) but not been able to break through with anything decent - whether that is player quality or lack of incisive options - im not too sure yet. Overall, our average game possession sits at 53% with 80% of passes completed - I'm looking into ways that I can further analyse this possesion as, in the ideal for me would be quick passing through the final third and not concerning myself with PC for my forwards. I can see, initially, that DMC Marcao has 100% more passes completed this season (~1600) compared with my inside forward, Alex, who himself has 400 more than striker Rodrigo.

As time progresses - I want to look at representing these playing stats in slightly different ways to demonstrate my point.

Before that comes the biggest game of my career. We've hugely exceeded expectations and, with a lucky draw, have ended with a sixth round tie against giants Sporting Lisbon.

[Ben]

Season 1 Youth Intake






Cizario Ture. Bruno Oliveira. Iano Baldé



A very average, as expected, intake. I like the three listed above but there is nothing here that really stands out. Most will be kept on the off chance they develop in the youth team but it's not an overwhelming start, by any stretch of the imagination.

[Ben]

End of Season 1 Review





A somewhat sorry end to the season whcih saw us triumph in our local league but falter in the first step of the national third tier play offs. My job is safe, as the board only wanted mid table, but I now feel that there is pressure on me going forward as I've proven I can perform well at this level.

We also had a board take over in the summer, and the new chairman announced plans for a new ground. More on that as it happens.

Not a great deal of detail to write about currently - the save really kicks into gear for me once I know all of the players and have played some part in developing them - which typically doesn't come until I'm challenging for promotion to the top tier.

[Ben]

Retraining inconsistencies




Above is my decent-for-this-level AMC, Joao Santos, who I currently play as an MC(A) in the same kind of style as a Mezzala (but cannot as I only have one player in the MC role). A couple of weeks ago, my coach report came back with the message that I should stop training him as an MC because he'll never get past competent at that level. However, this contradicts the message from the same member of staff in his individual training report.



He (appears) to have some potential left to fill - one gold star and a black star, although, at this level, that may be way off. I have a few questions and ideas regarding the next steps, for him, and other players - particularly when I place such value in versatility of roles and positions within my squad.

A) I completely ignore this and let him train there - maybe a UI bug being as it's coming from the same member of staff and he eventually becomes accomplished or natural if he was to play there for the next ten years.
B) The staff are right but I play him as a competent MC and he does ok/not well and gets sold.
C) The staff are on to something and he's lacking a few attributes to be an MC and I need to look elsewhere.

Interested to know other people's thoughts.

[Ben]

Season 2 Youth Intake







Another pretty poor intake, and by that I mean that, at lower levels especially, you tend to get that one player who can slot straight into the first team. We are nowhere near that level here and, given the level that we are playing at and the finances (or lack of) we have available for coaching staff - it's unlikely that these will ever really improve to a first team level quick enough to have an impact.



Felix Martins. Joaquim Sarabando.



The above are the two best players from the intake and I've had to keep Luis Santos, the goalkeeper - as we only have 3, very poor ones, at the club.

[Ben]

Season 2 Review



Another strong season during the main phase but this year we backed up our form by coming through the playoffs to secure promotion. Unfortunately, we fell at the final hurdle against a very strong Penafiel side so can't class 'winning the Campeonato Nacional' as one of our honours.

I'm going to leave this review there as I have two large scale updates to my game for the summer - a) developing a tactic that will get the best of the average players I have at the squad, in particular the very weak goalkeeper and b) evaluating the staffing so that I can really delve into the training side of the game, possibly creating my own schedules and long term plan from scratch.

[Ben]

Tactical progressions

Moving from a one-size fits all approach to a variety of models, underpinned by the same core principles, that can be used across a variety of matches and possibilities. The below screenshot shows the most probable team shapes with the roles of the best players in my team selected, except for maybe the third tactic where I am unsure of how I want to set up with midfield trio. Largely, roles will be interchangeable with who I have available - the main tactic would employ a proper pressing forward if I had one available, but feel that I can maybe get away with that role in formations and styles that require slightly less aggressive pressing. From the shapes alone, you can probably guess what type of football each style will bring.




Now - the interesting part, the team styles. I have named each of the three tactics (annoying that I have to name the actual style rather than the tactic itself this year, but never mind) after something that is memorable for me. Firstly, Auri-Negro press is the nickname (translates to black and gold) and press - because this is quite close to the standard gegenpress style. As previously documented - this is my go-to approach and the positions and roles are slightly tweaked to fit in with what I currently have. The second, Beira Contador (that is literally a translation to Portuguese for counter) is my now go-to for away games (since I've been sliced apart by weaker teams away from home for being that little too positive), games against much bigger opposition or games where I can identify a chance to attack a slow defence or a big whole between the lines. Lastly, Attacking Aveiros - named after the city we come from, is the (unfinished) attempt at using a high press but being that bit-more positive and pushing, maybe to reduce a lead or late in a game we are chasing.





What is key about these tactics is that the transitional phase remains largely the same - key attributes that fit in with club style such as stanima, pace, strength, workrate etc are key to the quick counter pressing style and moving the ball quite quickly forward. Another constant is the width - we play on a small pitch, to minimise the threat from crossing and, as such, play our own inverted wingers when the opposition allow us the space to do so - therefore I tend to play quite narrowly in attack, also whipping in any crosses, ideally from cut backs that (ideally) would curl in towards the far post.

The first and second tactic are opposing in terms of defensive play - in the Press, we are high up, engaging high and trying to force a mistake - whereas we will try and counter press in the second but eventually settle for a lower line of total engagement and retreat defensively.

I want to be able to play re-actively and pro-actively against the bigger sides from this division and I have hopefully given myself a platform to do so with - playing in a couple of different ways but with the same overarching principles which should mean that players can perform equally as well in any of the styles. This will also give me a much better indication of how and what I need to train them with.

[Ben]

Squad Review



As I enter my third season, I thought a quick run down of the squad members would be useful. I've integrated regens into my squad a lot quicker than I normally would but that is a) because I'm not signing players - here is where I'd be scouring the lower leagues and reserve teams for loanees etc and b) the quality of the original squad was terrible and the club have decent (for their size) facilities meaning younger players will progress quicker anyway. This is probably my best XI - not necessarily rated by stars - I have a 3* centre back but he's 5'10" and has 5 for heading so clearly does not fit the bill for a professional club in the second tier of their countries' pyramid. I have eight regens out of these eleven and several more as backups, shown below. Due to the nature of the game - I currently have nowhere near the level of depth that I'd like - with only the wings having ample backup/rotational options.



Here are the regens (name links to their screenshot):

Eduardo Dias - developing quite nicely and 6 and 7 for the advanced wing back skills are not too far below average - hence why he's the supporting wing back on the right hand side. I taught him to dive into tackles because he's brave, decent at decisions and will be a little bit further up the pitch, probably my best tackler outside of the only-defend players. He often finds himself so far forward that I'm currently adding the 'refrain from long shots' and he's pretty poor at trying to find the net and I'd rather him attempt a shorter ball - especially as his passing is solid.

Jorge Diaz -  the best defender at the club and (somehow) the best header-er of the ball in the defensive line, which is a worry! Developing really well and my first £1k p/w player. He's currently on a leadership course as I intend to make him club captain if he continues this growth.I have previously taught him those traits and moved him to 'right' from 'right only' as it's important to have as many players who are as comfortable on the ball as possible. I only wish he was brave.

Pedro Abrantes - gets into the team on virtue of being left footed. Not a strong wingback but used as a WB(D) to provide some impetus further up the field and, being as he can position himself pretty well, not someone who will get caught out upfield. Certainly a weak area of the squad and only there due to that.

Sergio Tavares - fits my DNA better than any other first teamer and supposedly much more potential in him. Won't get past competent at DMC apparently and is a little lightweight but works hard for the team. My BWM is instructed to get further forward and I've asked him to make those moves without the ball as he, quite frankly, cannot dribble it. He will be, however, dictating the tempo of play in attempt to turn him into a bit of a hybrid player than can play as both a BWM and a SV, REG etc when needed.

Joao Santos - been screenshotted a fair bit but my first choice MC(A) although would probably be better further up field with good passing, vision etc. I've taught him to try killer balls and now I'm asking him to play long balls in an attempt to merge those two things - they aren't many more technically adept players, even in this league. I've also taught him to become 'right' footed from 'right only'

Bruno Quintaneiro - was a 'mercenary' but now only 'fickle' but a really decent option on the wing. Would have preferred, with the trait, that he was a right winger. He's also training to make his weaker foot stronger but is pretty solid going forward.

Rodrigo Mortagua - very similar to Quintaneiro except a natural right winger and, as such, a natural inside forward which does suit my tactic very well. His determination is an issue but he works hard and is pretty good on the ball. He's the exact type of player that I wish could finish as he'd be pretty solid going forward for us. I'm also teaching him to be less reliant on his right foot.

Vagner Silveiro - 22 goals last season has seen him cement himself as my first choice (and pretty much only) striker at the club. He doesn't fit in with my intended style, at all, as he doesn't work hard or for the rest of the team - but the AF(A) role seems to suit him down to the ground. Initially, he came deep for the ball but, being as lazy as he is, he never made it back into the area. I've since added the knocks ball past opponent and trained his weaker foot to make him useful on the counter attack. No idea how he'll fare at this level.

[Ben]

Ok - I have moved all of my posts over from the SIGames forums, which just were not getting the replies and interaction that I wanted/know this board will have. It apepars that I've lost all of the hyperlinks (saved my last post - who doesn't love a screen drop of regen pictures?!) so I apologise for that.

I feel much more comfortable here...

[dalenichol]

Excellent stuff Ben! If it wasn't for the fact I'm up for work at 5:30, I'd give this a read, but alas, it will have to wait until tomorrow. I will be here, though!

[Nick]

Glad to see you posting here Ben, albeit belatedly!

I’ve had a read over and have plenty of questions, particularly on training and mentoring, but I’m at work at the moment, so they’ll have to wait until later!

[jawzy]

I have missed this!

[Ben]

Mid-Season 3 Update



Absolutely delighted with this start to the season - we sit closer to the top of the table than the drop zone - a message that I can hopefully repeat at the end of the season. We're currently on a pretty poor run of six without a win but our positive goal difference, largely made up from an opening day 5-1 demolition of Penafiel, shows that we've not really been outclassed. I've moved quite freely between the more aggressive gegenpress style and the more cautious counter formation when needed and it's kept us in most games - not losing a game by more than one goal.



On to the youth intake!

[Ben]

Thanks dalenichol, @nick and jawzy! Can't wait for some interactions and deep discussions over the course of this save!

[fmamerican]

Another good read as always, Ben

[dalenichol]

Excellent stuff so far Ben, I'm looking forward to this developing. I played a few seasons with U.D. Leiria in FM18 and had a lot of fun with it, coming up against Beira-Mar a few times and being tempted to manage them too, some of the youngsters generated in the Portuguese lower tiers were absolutely insane! A bit of a fallen giant of sorts, I hope you can bring them back!

I liked your idea of 'tagging' the intake players. You mentioned playing CM03/04, I'm not sure if they still used that then, but certainly in CM 01/02 when viewing AI squads, they 3 key players in the team would be in bold with a * next to them. It actually sounds like quite a handy idea and I might actually steal that idea myself!

Vagner Silveiro looks like some player, by the way!

[Ben]

Oct 29, 2018 20:10:07 GMT dalenichol said:

Excellent stuff so far Ben, I'm looking forward to this developing. I played a few seasons with U.D. Leiria in FM18 and had a lot of fun with it, coming up against Beira-Mar a few times and being tempted to manage them too, some of the youngsters generated in the Portuguese lower tiers were absolutely insane! A bit of a fallen giant of sorts, I hope you can bring them back!

I liked your idea of 'tagging' the intake players. You mentioned playing CM03/04, I'm not sure if they still used that then, but certainly in CM 01/02 when viewing AI squads, they 3 key players in the team would be in bold with a * next to them. It actually sounds like quite a handy idea and I might actually steal that idea myself!

Vagner Silveiro looks like some player, by the way!

Thanks Dale.

I've always kept an eye of Leiria due to a visit to them a few years back but, yes, the old fallen giant strikes again - I do love to turn around the fortunes of these clubs now fallen on hard times.

I remember the tagging, yes. I do it just so I have a visual memory of those who are the highest rated in my intakes, especially as the stars can and will fluctuate so much over time.

Silveiro isn't actually that good, unfortunately. 2 goals in 18 games this season (but then again, we aren't really scoring as a team anyway) would suggest he's probably out of his depth, even at this level.

[Ben]

Season 3 Youth Intake






I have never had a player through my intake with four and a half stars straight off the bat! Luis Trabulo is the first exception to that rule. He may be unambitious (I will put him in a mentoring group with three of four fairly pro players if I need to!) but he's fantastic all around and I will clearly face a battle to keep him at the club. What is also amazing about this youth intake is Laranjeira, a Model Citizen - at the age of 15. 

Realistically, the intake is only good because of one player - behind him, there is very little depth, considering that our squad isn't very strong and a 5* rating may only be just about good enough for this tier of football.

[Ben]

As confirmed...



He's on a youth deal until 2025 so let's hope he a) doesn't get poached and b) likes the club/me/we've progressed enough by then for him to reconsider.

[jawzy]

Be nice to see Trabulo's attributes