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Post by Ben on Aug 23, 2019 13:59:28 GMT
Youth Update and Intake - 2039The last two years have, if I'm honest, provided underwhelming intakes and I've been caught in the moment, throwing everyone but the top one or two of that away. That has left us with a squad of just about 30 players and ten of those being away on loan. Therefore, I am moving to sign all the players from the intakes and hope to develop them all to a level whereby they are at least able to stay in professional football. Last year, I highlighted Manuel Tomarchio as the best player from the intake but it has, in fact, been Andrea Poggiali who has impressed the most. He is listed as Pro/Level Headed and has made the most improvements in a year that I think I have seen anyone make:  He's far from the finished article, still only good enough for Serie C, and his attributes are potentially 'better' than they would suggest on the pitch as he's 'Right only' footed but he's swayed my thinking to not exclude anyone, at this point. Here is my intake this year:  I was asking for a new feeder (I already have Vaduz, Danubio, Tre Penne and NK Zagreb as feeders) that would hopefully allow us to benefit from youth players and the board, once again, offered us Pole d'Espoirs, who were my feeder club for four or five years and provided the likes of Vadivelou, Vigneron, Lachaud and Fauvre. I took them back on, for the excitement of actually getting 'foreign' youngsters, if nothing more. Overall - the intake isn't a great one. Normally, the French lads come under other players in the hierarchy but are much higher this year, despite not being great. There is really not a great spread of personalities here but hopefully the whole squad personality can have a positive impact on them. The best player though is Waye-Hive, for a number of reasons:  Firstly - he's actually quite good. At 17, he's nearly a year younger than the other two from our youth feeder. Next up, hes Resolute/Level Headed, which, if he follows the trend set by Poggiali, who had a similarly good personality (but nowhere near the level of determination) he could develop really quickly for me. Also, he's taller and more physical than me other strikers - I am getting to the point where, sometimes, a battering ram up top is needed. Lastly, and very strangely, he's declared for Seychelles, despite being born in France and having it as his second nationality. Seycehelles are ranked 210th in the world and he's already listed as their best player. Whilst he'll miss chunks of the season for their different international schedule - it'll be an honour to be part of developing the small island nation thanks to one player! With Tre Penne, my Sammarinese feeder, being the best club in their league, I am really tempted to give this lad a bash and see what he can do with some first team football. --- Below is my U18 team, now, for the first time, full. I will spend the next, at least, three years, working with these players but will happily weed anyone off who is really not developing/bringing other members of the squad down/not performing. I am not really sure of the impact of double intensity for younger players and whether it will impact the longevity of their career/increase their risk of more serious injuries as they age - but I do know I have a great youth coaching set up and a willingness to get as many of these lads into the first team of a professional club. 
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Post by Ben on Aug 23, 2019 18:30:24 GMT
February/March 2039 First things first - our gap was six points at the end of January and is now two points (SPOILER: on the 2nd of April, Inter have come from 3 down to beat Napoli 5-4 with the last kick of the game, so we are, temporarily at least, down to second place). These two months have been hard. Very hard. We opened with a demolishing of Bologna and ended February with a demolishing of Verona - Zafferani breaking a club record for goals in a single game on the way. In between that has been some difficult times - firstly a catastrophe in the first leg in San Sebastian nearly saw us out of the Europa League. Marquee signing/model professional/revelation Caicaira decided to lunge into an opponent after just eighteen minutes, deservedly getting sent off. Down to 10 men, I really had no clue what to do tactically and we spent the next seventy minutes chasing tails. Their two goals were fulled deserved and I went to town on the Brazilian - fining him, talking badly in the press etc. Next up, we conceded a late goal at home to Roma to drop two important points. When Sociedad came to town, Caicara down, we really turned on the style and other marquee signing/model professional/revelation Dario Samaniego took the game into his own hands from left back, supplying three of the four goals we we battered them. A second half consolation was completely ignored by me and we nearly threw it away looking for a fifth for some reason - with their striker hitting the post in the 87th minute! Next, another late collapse in Naples and some more dropped points. Inter were closing in. March started really well - we dominated a poor Sevilla side but then, once again (notice a pattern) conceded in the 87th and 88th minute to throw away everything against Milan. We deserved to win, and win with ease, but the busy schedule and small first team (hence the move to taking all of the youth intake so, in future, I may actually have a squad to rotate!) meant that my players were running on empty. We followed it up with a solid showing in Sevilla but again, looked tired. A couple of days of well earned rest saw us smash Parma - a real show of force considering the way that the results had been going prior to that but again, we have let ourselves down - falling two goals down early on against the blue and white side of Genoa. Our rallying spirit cannot be faulted though as we knocked on the door but couldn't complete the dream comeback. We face Borussia Monchengladbach in the quarter finals of the Europa league - a winnable tie against a mid-table side. I am concerned that they have literally nothing to play for and we, well, have everything. Interestingly, Inter also have a dual focus - they face VFL Wolsburg in their quarter final Europa League tie. Here is our run in compared to Inter's (ours is on the left):  San Marino: Atalanta (7th), Foggia (20th), Inter (2nd), Fiorentina (12th), Juventus (10th), Lecce (18th), Lazio (5th), Virtus (11th) Inter: Sampdoria (8th), San Marino (1st), Sassuolo (15th), Genoa (14th), Roma (4th), Foggia (20th), Verona (13th) I feel that there are three fixtures that will decide Serie A: San Marino vs Inter Milan, Inter Milan vs Roma and Lazio vs San Marino.
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Post by Ben on Aug 23, 2019 19:46:24 GMT
 Our run in has not started well... |
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Post by Ben on Aug 23, 2019 20:48:25 GMT
April 2019 It's now out of our hands. Three games where we have dropped points - Foggia was careless, Inter was unlucky and Fiorentina was a miracle. Viola didn't muster a single attempt at goal, let alone on target and we threw everything at them for 90 minutes - how we didn't find the goal, I do not know. Inter, as expected, have moved ahead of us and they now need to drop points for us to bring home the scudetto.
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Post by ttgb on Aug 23, 2019 21:59:18 GMT
This is going to the wire
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ianf
New Member
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Post by ianf on Aug 23, 2019 22:23:03 GMT
Quite the finish for the neutrals!
Also have to thank you for inspiring me as always - started a youth save in Germany with the aim of taking the glory to the east of the country! Time for Rostock to shine.
Like your idea of occasional signings so I decide I can only sign a player at key team milestones , ie promotion, top half of top division, first time qualifying for Europe etc.
Flying start to season 2 so far!!
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Post by Ben on Aug 24, 2019 15:53:34 GMT
Quite the finish for the neutrals! Also have to thank you for inspiring me as always - started a youth save in Germany with the aim of taking the glory to the east of the country! Time for Rostock to shine. Like your idea of occasional signings so I decide I can only sign a player at key team milestones , ie promotion, top half of top division, first time qualifying for Europe etc. Flying start to season 2 so far!! Great to hear! I do love a youth only challenge but a) wanted to experiment with the mentoring feature, that sadly isn't going too well and b) I do enjoy a bit of scouting as it is a large area of the game and, being as I've loaded 70k+ players, feel that it's a bit of a waste if I don't! Good luck - any thoughts about posting about it, however brief? |
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Post by Ben on Aug 24, 2019 15:56:12 GMT
May 2039 and end of season
We ran out of steam in the end. A valiant effort but we have much to learn. The board does not even acknowledge the fact that, at one point, we had an eight point advantage over Inter but are just delighted that we came second, as we should be. We have vastly overachieved, I believe, in a season where I have got to learn about tactical tweaks and playing styles in much more depth than I ever have before. In the end, we succumbed to a wonder strike from Keita, Lazio's winger but it wasn't even that defeat that caused this turnaround. You only have to look at Inter's form since January to know that those draws, starting with the Foggia collapse cost us - right in the midst of our busiest part of the season. We have Champions League football to look forward to next year but I have a feeling that there won't be such a large gap at the top next season and we will have to work hard to stay there. Here are the individual stats:  I can't actually fault the players here - goals came from various places, DM Caicaara breaking double figures, both wingers chipping in with 13 and a 20+ goal haul from striker Zavoli have shown that we know where the net is. Defensively, we are solid - each of my starting defenders (and, in fact, all but two of the team) averaging over 7.0 and some real standout performances across the board. I have some succinct plans to freshen the first team up for next season, which I will detail in a future post. I don't plan on this being a one season wonder! 
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Post by Ben on Aug 24, 2019 20:21:41 GMT
2039/40 Squad PreviewI'm going make a few changes and, in one case, be bold as we move into the next season. Last year - we suffered, badly, towards the end, with tired legs and fixture congestion. I like to have different types of players to play in the same position, as it gives me some tactical flexibility within the shape that I like to play so I have looked into that, too. With just 22 players used last year, we ranked 19th best there - and that is something that needs addressing. I didn't run an u20 squad (u18 players were selected in the teams) because all of those players were out on loan - even if they aren't considered to ever be good enough for my first team. I also, before the youth intake, had just four players in my u18 team. This is uncommon for me and has seen both of our age group teams really struggle and the first team have issues when there are injuries. --- As you saw, I signed all of the 16 candidates. This was lessened by three within a couple of weeks as they had very poor personalities and has since seen another leave due to a poor personality and shocking level of determination. Moving on the players who are due to turn 19 during the season, I am left with 13 players. Of this lot, Poggiali (highlighted in the youth update due to excellent progress) has made five appearances, all from the bench, for the first team. I must say that it is not the best group of youngsters I have ever had but in Poggiali, Tomarchio and Fiorini (personality aside), I feel that there could be some players knocking on the door of my first team in the coming years.  --- Next up is the u20 squad and the one main difference that I plan to make here is loaning out players who are very near to first team football, only. I have two affiliates, Taranto and Pro Vercelli, who play in Serie B, and these will be used, along with any Serie A clubs available, if a player is nearly ready. If they are still performing at a Serie C level, I now want them to stay and, hopefully, progress within the club. With £80m+ in the bank, there is literally no need to sell these players and I want to give them the longest possible time to develop before moving them on. Of these, I plan to keep De Santis as my backup goalkeeper for as long as he is willing to stay in the reserve team. Elsewhere, you can see that there is a lot of experience, but the vast majority of this has come at Serie C level, and no better. The likes of Pio D'Arienzo and Fortunato are slightly older and, whilst not really up to the standard of this league, could well find themselves on the bench in games against weaker opposition. Hopefully, the younger lads - Occhipinti and Rossi will continue to get better playing in this team and be available to get first team minutes in the next couple of years. This is my current squad:  ---- The first team has seen one major change. Leonardo Marra was backup striker for Lorenzo Zavoli but was remarkably similar to him and I found that, if Zavoli was being marked out of the game, Marra wouldn't be able to come on and influence it in other ways. He also has struggled for goals in his time here - just 16 strikes in 129 appearances is really not good enough for a team that are, hopefully, challenging around the top of the league. He has also grown tired of living life as a backup and, at 22, has pretty much maxed himself out, meaning that, if I wanted to truly rotate him, I would significantly be weakening my attack for key matches. He is moving on to Utrecht for a fee of £3.6m, potentially rising to £4.9m. He'll play Europa League football and presumably will be a key player in a weaker league where I hope he'll do well. I am taking a risk now but the man coming in to replace him is Patrick Waye-Hive, the 17 year old Seychellois striker. Firstly - comparatively (PWH is in blue) he is not that much weaker. I like to see a heart shape on the octagon of a good striker - poor defensively but pretty strong elsewhere and PWH has something that Marra doesn't - an ability in the air. When we are chasing games, against poorer opposition, I see that a targetman-esque player leading the line, with the pace of Zafferani and Valentini in behind him as potentially being frightening. He's also 17. There should be no moaning about a lack of first team football and he will purely be backup, at this point. Also - and the absolute kicker, his personality. If he was listed as Balanced, or even F.Pro, I wouldn't have taken this gamble - the combination of him being slightly older and having a good personality should allow him to develop really well from the off and, whilst he might not be up to it now, he could well be by the end of the season. If we lose Zavoli for six months, we will be short - but there are some different options I can use up top, with Zafferani, Canti and Valentini all able to fulfil an F9 type role - although this will lead to tactical changes further back. Lastly, I'm introducing two players into the team who can assist in some squad depth - Francesco Renzi and Luca Colombini. Both of these two have been out on loan, Renzi impressing at Serie B Pescara with eight assists and five goals in seventeen games at an average rating of 7.17. He's currently got two traits I dislike - knocking the ball past his opponent would indicate he's a good dribbler, which he isn't and playing long balls isn't really what I want from my attacking fulcrum. He'll 'unlearn' those and hopefully will develop reasonably well - particularly later in the season when it was clear that Davide Zafferani was struggling to keep up with the constant barrage of matches. Colombini, on the other hand, has played a season for Foggia in Serie A, unfortunately being on the winning side just once. He initially generated as just an MC with plenty of other competent areas so I have made the move to make him as versatile as possible, offering some cover at both full back slots and in the middle of the park. Here is my current squad: 
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Post by Ben on Aug 24, 2019 20:51:40 GMT
Managerial moves This is big! The man who guided Inter to the title has left. Southampton are a pretty big club and in the Champions League next year but it does feel like a bit of step down:  I do find this quite strange about FM - there is always a managerial merry-go-round and nobody seems to stay put for any length of time. I won't post the screenshot as it is full of managers at obscure clubs - but here is a list of long serving managers in my game: Neil Harris - Milwall. 24 yr 119 days Brad Friedel - New England Revolution. 21 years 240 days Neither of those are playing for clubs in playable leagues for me. ----- Teles - San Marino. 19 years 7 days ----- Leonardo Jardim - Athletico Madrid. 5 years 18 days Dani Alves - Everton. 4 years 119 days. Paulo Fonseca - Lyon. 3 years 345 days Zinedine Zidane - Tottenham. 2 years 191 days Diego Simeone - Chelsea. 2 years 29 days Unai Emery - Barcelona. 2 years 3 days Luis Enrique - FC Bayern. 1 year 352 days Mickael Landreau - Milan. 1 year 177 days Jerome Gondorf - Dortmund. 1 year 163 days Domenico Tedesco - Liverpool. 1 year 38 days Pep Guardiola - PSG. 1 year 14 days Clarence Seedorf - Man Utd. 351 days Thomas Tuchel - RB Leipzig. 335 days Julian Nagelsmann - Real Madrid. 121 days Vincenzo Montella - Man City. 6 days --- It does seem that the top managers just move around from big club to big club so nice to see that Dost himself, Landreau and Gondorf, both players during the game, have had a look in.
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Post by shrewnaldo on Aug 25, 2019 10:15:39 GMT
Hi Ben, delighted to find another of your game threads to work my way through
Quick question on the attribute bars. Do you find that it makes your assessment of the attribute less precise? Or can you now tell the number from the bar?
I'm looking for a way to make analysis less reliant on precise knowledge of attributes themselves but I don't think attributeless is a realistic option and wondered if the bars give you a less precise impression? I guess you can still do player comparisons which will let you know if Player A is one attribute point better than Player B?
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Post by Ben on Aug 25, 2019 20:32:34 GMT
New signing
Not a marquee signing, just an ex-youth player who can add some depth to the side. I always had a plan in my mind that resigning youth players was fine, bearing in mind that I did develop them myself. However, I've not been able to find a single player who would actually add something (minus Vadivelou, obviously, but he has just left). Alessandro Mularoni, below, re-signs on a free transfer and will predominantly feature in the reserve team but is an experienced head who can offer something in a time of fixture congestion:  Since Sassuolo paid £1.6m for him at the start of our Serie B campaign, he became a rotational option for them before moving on to Eintracht Frankfurt in 2033. He was, again, semi-regular in the Bundesliga and moved on to HSV in 2037 where he played a full year as an important player. He dropped down to their second team for the whole of last season but rarely featured and was released at the end of his deal. Alessandro has made 120 appearances for us, yet none above Serie C level.
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Post by Ben on Aug 25, 2019 20:45:48 GMT
Hi Ben, delighted to find another of your game threads to work my way through Quick question on the attribute bars. Do you find that it makes your assessment of the attribute less precise? Or can you now tell the number from the bar? I'm looking for a way to make analysis less reliant on precise knowledge of attributes themselves but I don't think attributeless is a realistic option and wondered if the bars give you a less precise impression? I guess you can still do player comparisons which will let you know if Player A is one attribute point better than Player B? Hi Shrew, lovely to know that we're still following each other's games (yes, I look on Twitter!) even this long after TD died... Yes - attribute bars. There are a few things to explain: They are only visible on the player profile and player comparison screen - as soon as I look at custom views, octagon comparisons, training development etc - I can see numerical attributes. I tried to have a go at changing the panels, but I now kind of 'look away' on those screens. As you can see, I have been using Excel to create averages for development but I've not actually removed the conditional formatting to know what values lie beneath. In terms of knowing 'exact figures' or knowing who is best - to be fair, I revert to the colour scheme. I went for white 0-4, light green 5-9, dark green 10-14 and yellow 15-20 so I have a ball park figure, yes. There are a few things that I can tell though - I'll use the below two players to try and explain:  I learnt that the 'curled' attribute bar is 'full' and, as such, is a rating of 20 - so I know that the player on the left has a rating of 20 here. On the right, I would say that he has 19 due the proximity to it being full but when I move down to a smaller value, it does become harder. I guess look at something like concentrations and decisions for player A - I could assume that decisions is quite close to 15, maybe 16 and then concentration is not far from that 'elite gold' standard, so maybe 14? SPOILER: by looking at his training, I can tell you that concentration is 13.2 and decisions is 14.6. To attempt to answer your question a little better - I guess that it's hard to actually get an accurate prediction of where in that 11-15 range they fall but there are some clues I can take. I can't say that I spend any time trying to work out the value and instead see it as 'x player is average at this area, so I need to focus on that' or 'y player will threaten us because he has outstanding pace and dribbling therefore I need to take this approach.' I really like the octagon as a way to compare as it takes an average of their 'good' or 'great' attributes and then plots in on an octagon that I can't assume has a numerical scale. |
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Post by Ben on Aug 26, 2019 11:34:12 GMT
2039/40 Pre Season Report
Not something I normally focus on, but with the worries around lack of squad depth, tiredness and a lack of different options, I wanted to spend a little longer going through this. My board decided to arrange a pre-season tour on Indonesia, not sure why, but never mind. This meant, that, in a shortened pre-season (I chose only 3 weeks after the exploits of last year), I would be spending the vast majority of that travelling to and from Indonesia, as well as playing a group of teams who really aren't good enough to prove a lot to me. Never the less, here are the results:  Not much to show here in terms of results and challenge for the team. What is more important though, to me, is the player performances. Below is how the training camp squad performed, with first team on the left and reserves on the right. Since the culmination of the tour, there has been one reserve fixture, which is why some people have made five appearances and Luca Colombini, annoyingly, appears in both squads:  I'll just summarise with some positives and negatives from this. Positives+ Goals are coming from everywhere. Corbelli, the right back, has chipped in with two, as has J. Valentini with one, Caicara with 4 (all in one game) and plenty from the attacking midfield trio. + Occhinpinti has played himself into my plans. More of a playmaker than an out and out winger and not good enough to hold down a first team place but looks like he could be a useful option off the bench. Took his two goals well and set up another two. He'll need some work to develop him but the signs, on the pitch, are there. + High average ratings across the team. Even though we were playing against a very poor set of teams, we have all chipped in. Negatives
- Waye-Hive is worrying me. He doesn't have the presence that Zavoli does when on the pitch and I feel will go missing. I want to re-evaluate my options but I am aware that the transfer deadline is looming. - After Waye-Hive, there is Rossi and Fortunato, and neither of those have really impressed, either. - Despite Gasperoni and Corbelli averaging high - they worried me defensively and I feel that, against better teams, they will be found out. Valentini is first choice and Cervellini is able to play there but I prefer the latter as a ball playing defender now. I really lack depth here. - Nitpicking, but Stefanelli has not been tested in pre-season, at all. He'll completed all of his passes, a grand total of 9(!!!), parried on save in the first match and was beaten by a 30-yard opportunist strike in the last game. Hopefully, he's ready! - Caicara picked up a knock and, due to that, isn't match fit, yet. Worrying, D.Zafferani, Andrea Canti, Luca Colombini and Emmanuele Rech are all lacking match fitness. The season is upon is now and it is concerning that some key players are not ready. ---- Let's see how this season pans out!
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Post by shrewnaldo on Aug 26, 2019 21:33:56 GMT
Awesome, thanks Ben. And nice to hear that you're lurking away on twitter listening to my grumbles!
Hopefully people will provide the bar / tank panels for 20 as I think that looks like the ideal way I'd like to work it. Oliver Jensen on twitter was saying he does similar but that he can't tell the difference between each segment in the bar. He only has attributes above 15 visible at all, which seems a bit odd to me and not the way I'd go about it but definitely giving me food for thought.
Anyway, I'll get back to you once I've caught up with the thread. Think I'm up to your 5th or 6th season in Serie C now.
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Post by Robson on Aug 27, 2019 11:14:14 GMT
Pretty awesome stuff this is Ben. How you had the single-mindedness and perseverance to plough through those early, incredibly tough years I'm not sure.
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Post by Ben on Aug 27, 2019 12:06:53 GMT
Pretty awesome stuff this is Ben. How you had the single-mindedness and perseverance to plough through those early, incredibly tough years I'm not sure. Thanks so much Robson! Are you still playing? I was enjoying your German adventures... They are pretty boring, you're right! I love LLM management but don't really like the actual managing of the team when they are in the lower leagues. I plan on managing in England in 2020 and I doubt I'll enjoy the VNN or in fact anything until I reach about League One! |
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Post by Ben on Aug 27, 2019 12:09:59 GMT
Awesome, thanks Ben. And nice to hear that you're lurking away on twitter listening to my grumbles! Hopefully people will provide the bar / tank panels for 20 as I think that looks like the ideal way I'd like to work it. Oliver Jensen on twitter was saying he does similar but that he can't tell the difference between each segment in the bar. He only has attributes above 15 visible at all, which seems a bit odd to me and not the way I'd go about it but definitely giving me food for thought. Anyway, I'll get back to you once I've caught up with the thread. Think I'm up to your 5th or 6th season in Serie C now. I saw what Oliver does, yes (I promise that I don't just stalk you - I sometimes peruse the #FM19 hashtag on Twitter) and, like you, I'm not sure that I'd want to just see strengths. What about the things a player is weak at?! Would you sign a centre back with 15 tackling, marking and heading but 1 for positioning, concentration etc? Because they wouldn't show up and those attributes are too wide, I think, to come up as a 'weakness' on his scout report. Obviously they removed it as a setting on this FM but there is some strange editable file I had to place somewhere - unless the coding is significantly different next year, I reckon it'll still be available. I can't actually see myself going back to numbers now. I love the whole 'x player is good at this' not 'X player has a rating of 14 out of 20 for this' - just makes it a whole lot more realistic in my mind. |
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Post by Ben on Aug 27, 2019 12:11:36 GMT
August/September 2039 We may have reached that 16 point target that I initially set, but the dropped points came against Palermo and not Napoli, as I expected. The Bologna game was absolutely ridiculous, four up after eleven minutes. At 6-0, I wanted and sensed an opportunity for ten so literally threw every player forward. Their three goals came late in the game which kind of took the shin off scoring 7 on the road. September has been a mixed month for me and a tail of two different decisions. The Sat-Tues-Fri Champions League schedule meant that I decided to really rotate the team both side of the Champions League tie. In both ties, we really struggled - Patrick Waye-Hive looks dreadfully out of his depth and Rech and Renzi don't really offer either the creative outlet or goalscoring threat that Valentini and Zafferani do. Also, teams are getting even more defensive against us - look at San Marino vs Sassuolo heat map (you have to ignore our wingers as they constantly swap sides and, therefore, are largely averaged out 'in the middle') - this means that we are often faced with a wall of 4,5 or even 6 players that we need to find a way to get through. In the end - we got little from it; a dour game against Tottenham and a first half missed penalty was about the only thing of note. The Sat-Wed schedule is slightly different and I didn't rest players against Genoa, comfortably beating the then second placed side. I may have come to regret that had we not have been playing a Monaco team bang out of form at sat in 16th in Ligue 1 after 8 points from 8 games. October is going to be tough - we faced some of the larger teams including the now-Poch managed Inter, who did lose their star striker Runac to Real Madrid in the summer. We also face our final opponent in the first round of CL fixtures, Feyenoord.
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Post by Ben on Aug 28, 2019 16:20:27 GMT
October/November 2039
 A tale of two competitions. The league is too easy but we are in danger of crashing out of the Champions League. Seeing the nine point gap to Virtus Entella, predicted 16th and sure to fall away soon, and the twelve point gap back to Inter, you may miss the fact that they have a game in hand but you can certainly see the superiority we have shown. We started with a classy win over Milan - once again, pegging their advanced full backs back and exploiting the games between them and their very advanced wingers. We lacked a lot of spark against Lazio and, luckily, a penalty was converted to give us the three points. With Caicara rested for the Verona tie, with thoughts ahead to the Inter game, centre-back Hernandez did the job as penalty taker as we pushed them aside. The Inter game really did not warrant a 2-0 win for us - in fact, the game was very even and we were clinical in the second half after absorbing a lot of pressure. Poch has got them playing good football and I'm not really sure how they are (potentially) still nine points back. A strong team destroyed Atalanta but that was to be expected following the work we put in after the Feyenoord game, with Patrick Waye-Hive getting his first goal of the season in what, sadly, appeared to be the first time that he was actually passed the ball. He's looked out of his depth up front, not leading the line effectively or getting into dangerous roles like Zavoli did - I have actually made a marquee signing that will replace him. It breaks my mould of 'important first teamer' as he'll rotate a lot with Zavoli but he is a top player and a deal that I couldn't turn down with Waye-Hive at least three years away from 'being ready' at this level. We finished the month with a clinical victory against a very poor Roma team - what is more, the squad was massively rotated due to the necessity of a win in our upcoming tie against Monaco.  Feyenoord, despite being very average on paper, hold the place I want so badly. I think, regardless of result here, that I will be trying to win the league this season and any European progress is a bonus. Therefore, a Champions League knockout defeat would probably be easier to take than a Europa League defeat - particularly as we could very well reach the later stages again and have a congested fixture schedule. Of course - I need to beat Monaco first. They're up to fifth in the league now, riding on some good form but, like us, have been inconsistent in Europe. I really should be looking at it in the context of it being a massive game, but...small squad and domestic focuses actually see me not being too bothered.
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ianf
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Post by ianf on Aug 28, 2019 20:09:05 GMT
Marquee signing klaxon!!
Can’t wait to see him
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ianf
New Member
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Post by ianf on Aug 28, 2019 20:13:55 GMT
Quite the finish for the neutrals! Also have to thank you for inspiring me as always - started a youth save in Germany with the aim of taking the glory to the east of the country! Time for Rostock to shine. Like your idea of occasional signings so I decide I can only sign a player at key team milestones , ie promotion, top half of top division, first time qualifying for Europe etc. Flying start to season 2 so far!! Great to hear! I do love a youth only challenge but a) wanted to experiment with the mentoring feature, that sadly isn't going too well and b) I do enjoy a bit of scouting as it is a large area of the game and, being as I've loaded 70k+ players, feel that it's a bit of a waste if I don't! Good luck - any thoughts about posting about it, however brief? I’m such a slacker when it comes to writing up saves but maybe I will post some things. Currently having a weird kind of dilemma - the save didn’t go as planned in that I made a ridiculously rapid climb up the leagues (Promoted, Promoted, 7th in the Bundesliga) and hence have hardly any regens old enough or ready to play a part!! Means I’m very tempted to sign more players as otherwise we will almost certainly go backwards. I’m trying to decide if I will enjoy it more by sticking pretty much youth only and having some struggle at this point of the save vs in making my way up the leagues slowly as expected. I too love attribute bars btw |
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Post by Ben on Aug 29, 2019 6:57:40 GMT
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Post by Ben on Aug 29, 2019 7:02:50 GMT
Great to hear! I do love a youth only challenge but a) wanted to experiment with the mentoring feature, that sadly isn't going too well and b) I do enjoy a bit of scouting as it is a large area of the game and, being as I've loaded 70k+ players, feel that it's a bit of a waste if I don't! Good luck - any thoughts about posting about it, however brief? I’m such a slacker when it comes to writing up saves but maybe I will post some things. Currently having a weird kind of dilemma - the save didn’t go as planned in that I made a ridiculously rapid climb up the leagues (Promoted, Promoted, 7th in the Bundesliga) and hence have hardly any regens old enough or ready to play a part!! Means I’m very tempted to sign more players as otherwise we will almost certainly go backwards. I’m trying to decide if I will enjoy it more by sticking pretty much youth only and having some struggle at this point of the save vs in making my way up the leagues slowly as expected. I too love attribute bars btw FM is now massively pushing this 'realism' thing - sliders are gone, training is not all about min-maxing now, tutoring can't get everyone a great personality, and I think that this means that a true 'youth only' save is far removed from how I feel FM should be played. If we're now having to develop our players in a way as similarly as possible to a real manager, then surely we shouldn't be able to get away with fielding a team of 18 year old newgens who aren't good enough, but, because they are a cohesive unit, outperform everyone else. To me - my saves are now becoming 'youth driven' which means that I am massively focusing on my academy and developing my own players but I'm also not averse to finding and developing other players, too. Even in this save, I feel that I have set too strict goals on this (1 signing over 25 - in fact, my new marquee signing in only 24) which inhibit me from utilising a massive part of the game - setting up a scouting network. You've got to play the game how you want and, even with what will be four non-academy signings in my first team - the hours I have poured into the development and playing of my own talent has really been enjoyable for me. --- As long as I can get bars on FM20 - I really don't feel that I'll ever go back to attribute numbers now. Between those and the octagon - I can really get everything I want about analysing a player. |
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Post by Ben on Aug 30, 2019 11:36:03 GMT
New signing: I'm stuck here - half of me wants to build the squad just from the youth that our state of the art academy is producing, with me spending hours picking over the finest of details and making the best of each and every player and half of me wants to build a squad that encompasses both the hard work at youth level and a spattering of quality, purchased from elsewhere. I have had a long term save on FM19 before and, despite winning a few league titles in Portugal at Beira Mar, I didn't ever crack the Champions League - nor turn my team into an absolute world power - I have the potential to do this at San Marino. To be able to do that will require a deep, and quality squad rather than just a first team. I currently have Lorenzo Zavoli as my first choice, and pretty much only, striking option. The experiment in the summer - selling Leonardo Marra and replacing him with 17-year old youth candidate Patrick Waye-Hive didn't work as the latter is way off the level needed in one of the now larger clubs in the country. Therefore, I have used that opportunity to sign this lad, Gustavo Gonzalez, from Wolves. Firstly - I have hidden his value as I'm interested to see how much other people think that he is worth. The only clue you're getting is that I broke my transfer record (£16m for both Hernandez and Samaniego). ---- Why did I sign him? Firstly - he's a quality player. Exceptional finishing, heading, decision making and all-round physicality, combined with good dribbling, passing and technique. What is more - Gonzalez is capable of using both feet and looks, given his height, to be as capable with the ball on the floor as he is with the ball in the air. His only real 'weakness' could be his lack of concentration. Looking at his octagon, I can see that 'heart' shape that, to me, signifies a well rounded striker (I also look for an inverted heart for a centre back). He's got a great personality, is very determined and is a pretty good leader. Model ProfessionalProfessionalism 20, Temperament 10-20 Level HeadedProfessionalism 13-20, Loyalty 12-20 Whilst not experienced at international level (nor is Caicara, and he's now my favourite signing) and having not particularly set the world alight at his previous clubs, as seen below, (remember that Hernandez was playing for relegation fodder and I actually signed him from a Bundesliga 2 club) I think that he could really come good:  In 2038/39, Wolves finished 16th and this year, they are currently 14th, with 18 points from 18 games. They have scored just 19 times and manager, Nenad Bjelica, clearly isn't replicating the counter attacking style that his coaching profile would suggest - as a player as good as Gonzalez has been unable to find the net. When I was scouting him, it mentioned that he was struggling to connect with a number of players, interesting that was 'Balanced' winger Williams Martinez and F.Determined forward Eduardo Jose. With a squad of players much closer in personality to Gonzalez, I would expect him to fit in better. The last reason is purely tactical and, somewhat, takes this signing away from my initial decision to move from youth only to youth driven. Gonzalez is tall but has a player trait that is absolutely fantastic and could be a game winner for me. He'll win headers in the air that 5'10" Zavoli will be nowhere near and his physicality will allow him to bully defences - something that we need to do more and more as we face brick walls sitting back. Below is the assist types and locations of the last fifty competitive games:  We score a lot of goals from through balls. I largely attribute this to the pace that we have up front and our ability to go from a patient build up to a quick, incisive vertical move, splitting the defence open. I find that, quite a lot of the time, we are one on one with the goalkeeper and with his trait of going round the keeper, combined with his fantastic finishing, good composure and great decision making makes me wonder if we'll ever miss another one on one again! ---- So, how much did he cost me?
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Post by Robson on Aug 30, 2019 16:35:18 GMT
Thanks so much Robson! Are you still playing? I was enjoying your German adventures... They are pretty boring, you're right! I love LLM management but don't really like the actual managing of the team when they are in the lower leagues. I plan on managing in England in 2020 and I doubt I'll enjoy the VNN or in fact anything until I reach about League One! Still playing, yes. Haven't kept up posting about HSV for awhile. May revisit it... |
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ianf
New Member
Posts: 92
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Post by ianf on Aug 30, 2019 16:52:55 GMT
My guess is you paid around 25m
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Post by Ben on Aug 30, 2019 20:52:04 GMT
I did some analysis of the differences and similarities between the two:  They are quite similar players - Zavoli is more technical, can concentrate a little better, is better off the ball and quite a bit stronger whereas Gonzalez can finish better, is much braver, more determined and works a little harder. I then decided to look at their 'in the air' vs 'on the floor' profile:   They are, actually, remarkably similar players but I feel that is because they are both very well rounded with few weaknesses. I am excited to see how they compliment each other. |
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Post by ttgb on Aug 30, 2019 21:58:05 GMT
Paid £6m
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Post by Ben on Sept 1, 2019 11:55:49 GMT
December 2039/January 2040 This is getting ridiculous! We are putting together a superb run of fixtures - tight at the back and pretty good going forward - and are pulling away from the pack. Rewind a year - we sat on 56 points from 23 games (2.57 PPG this year to 2.43 PPG last year) but had a six point gap back to Inter Milan. Last season Genoa sat 12th on 26 points and Virtus occupied a lowly league position so, without discounting them completely, as they are, of course, there on merit, I can say that the nearest challengers lie some fifteen points back. Inter have a couple of games in hand but that would still leave us with a 13 point advantage - surely a figure that, given the expected demise of Genoa and Virtus Entella, is too much to see us fall down into second. On the pitch - we started with a fantastic routing of Monaco, doing just what we needed to go through in second place. We are rewarded with a tie against Southampton, managed by Bas Dost - the ex-Inter manager who inflicted so much heartbreak on us last season. We followed that up with a few decent performances and a well earned draw in Turin. I completely changed our style of play to a direct, counter attacking formation as, at this point, Juve were in great form and much higher up the table. It didn't work and we had to claw back a two goal deficit. January saw our only league defeat of the season - a tepid performance in Florence but we came back well in three relatively easy home matches, scoring eight and conceding none. We will, obviously, face tougher months and it is imperative that our March/April form does not replicate last year's - even with the cushion that we have. ----  A strange list of the top five spenders in the January window but confirmation that I shelled out just over £30m for Gustavo Gonzalez. He's already got four goals in his first month and has not actually played a complete ninety minutes yet, so I am excited about what is to come. The deal was made even sweeter with me completing a loan move for Patrick Waye-Hive. He moves to Catanzaro, who are currently second in Serie B - so he should be playing in a good team that are doing well. More importantly, he is being managed by Julio Velasquez, a Pro Spaniard who likes attacking football in a 4-2-3-1 shape and is excellent at working with youngsters. Hopefully this move can be the first of a few that gets him really ready for first team football.
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