[FM19] Winning Every State League

[wesl]

This isn't great, but 20-year-old José Carlos has 3 clean sheets for 3 state league matches and the additional playing time could aid his development. The timing also isn't the worst as Luis Maranhao will only miss 4 or 5 Série B matches.

Edited July 22, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

On 18/07/2020 at 20:43, wesl said:

We now seem to have a very solid defense with this tactic. The problem with this shape is the CM being too close to the AP while in possession. I switched to a DLP(s) and the team has played better and we look more spaced out, but the passing network for our last match came back looking like this.

This is a mess!.

From the same match, our average position on the ball doesn't look so terrible, but more width from either attacking midfielder or the central midfielder could be useful. I think a variant that would be worth pursuing would be moving #11 to an AML-inside forward role, but the reason that I started building this shape is that we didn't have any good wingers. Another option is dropping the MC into a DM spot and using something like a segundo volante.

It's not all bad, as the average position without the ball is just what I envisioned.

Edited July 22, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2032 Copa do Brasil

An easy win over Série D side Comercial (MS) in the first round. Nice match for new signings Neitzke and Vinicius Henrique. We drew Vitoria from the top tier in the second round...

It was close and we gave them a run for their money, but we get nothing out of it. I'd say we were slightly better (7 shots on target from us vs 5 from Vitoria) but we didn't create or miss any clear chances. We didn't get carved open, it really came down to the winning team just being better at scoring in a chippy game.

2032 Paranaense

Claudemir left after the Paraná match, a clean sheet in the derby was a nice parting gift. The Paraná match was interesting, we went up 2-0 and were ahead but then Paraná started creating chances against us. I tried to park the bus but it didn't really work. We held on but it was close. I've usually been pretty good at managing leads in this save but I think this squad has different strengths/weaknesses. Our chance creation numbers were really poor (only 6 chances created against some very poor teams), but for the most part we didn't have trouble scoring. 

Defense give us the top stop in the group, which will have us facing Paraná at home in the stage semifinals.

Same result as our match in the group stage, but a very different match. We went ahead and were controlling the match but they scored from an indirect free kick against the run of play. After that, it was close and they relied on counters to threaten us. We had trouble breaking them down, but as we have the higher-seed we only needed a draw. Brasilia-native Morango secured a ticket to the stage final with a goal from a breakaway, assisted by a through ball from Ragner José. 

I planned on nullifying Athletico but a penalty in the first half meant we had to chase the equaliser. I tried to balance that with not giving Athletico any space at the back, and the result was a very boring game. Only 16 shots between both teams.

We got an easy group but we did very well on the second group stage. Much better offense/chance creation with a DLP, and a perfect defense!

Athletico had a bit of a mare, so we have to face them in the closing stage semifinal. At least we'll be at home.

We pull through with a draw! Only 18 shots and both goals coming from penalties made for a very boring derby, but I think that's good for us.

We're facing Paraná at their stadium Vila Capanema in the stage final. This will be the first time Athletico doesn't win a stage since 2028, which means we'll have a proper state league final for the first time since then.

This was almost a huge bottle-job from me. We were legitimately better from the start and finally broke through with back to back goals with 20 minutes left. One of those came from left-back Jeremias! He's been shoehorned into an attacking wing-back role but he's doing quite well. After his goal, Paraná went all out attacking and we could not get a break. I dropped our mentality way down, but it didn't help much and they equalised within 15 minutes. The draw meant going straight to penalties.

Young José Carlos came through in a massive way in penalties as he saved three of them! The first one was a Panenka attempt which I don't think I'd ever seen in FM. Perseghetti's shot went right to the upper left corner but José Carlos kept it out somehow, and Filipe scored the deciding penalty for us.

We won the stage, which means a two-leg final against the opening state winners.

A direct free kick rebound gave them a lead early on in their stadium. After that, it was yet another boring Atletiba derby. Especially, after we got the upper hand once I ordered our AP to man-mark Terra (playing in their MCR spot). We didn't create much but they didn't create anything after that.

Athletico came to Couto Pereira to park the bus with a 4-2-2-2 formation with 2 DMs and two wide midfielders. It took me too long to start throwing the team forward, but by the time our goal arrived they were under huge pressure. Jeremias put in a deep cross which left Neitzke up against their keeper Guaraná. Neitzke tapped it in against his youth club! I was happy with penalties rather than chasing a second goal, but we fared very poorly in them, missing 3 of 4. Our best taker has a 9 penalty taking attribute, which is pretty bad for the best taker in any team. This was also a problem for some of my previous clubs in this save but I just think FM shootouts are basically a coin flip.

Jeremias was the only player to miss on both shootouts against Paraná and Athletico, which is heart-breaking since he got a goal and an assist in those matches.

I didn't expect to make any waves in the state league this year so while losing a derby final is very upsetting, I'm surprised by how well we're playing. I think I figured out the two main tactics from Athletico's manager Carlos Sánchez. This may not be useful next year since they fire their managers more than anyone in Brazil (11 managers in 13 seasons!), but it's a start. I also need to figure how to close out games against Paraná, but I think overall we're already better than them. They just become really good when they're two goals down.

 

With the competition history page being very bugged (it doesn't seem to recognize the champion when a team wins both stages), I made the league history myself. The years where there's no runner up are those where the same team won both stages and there wasn't a final.

Athletico has been very dominant, with 5 straight and 9 of the last 10. They struggle against relegation to Série B every year but they've clinged to their national league status, which gives them major financial advantages over the rest of clubs in Paraná. The gap between us isn't that wide though! I don't know if we can win next year but I don't think Athletico will win seven titles in a row, let alone top our historic total of 40 state titles.

We have 38 Série B matches left in 2032. I think we have an outside chance at promotion, but it would be too soon for the club.

[wesl]

2032 Série B

We're drawing a lot of matches. We should've beaten Salgueiro and Vitoria da Conquista, so this feels more like us faltering and making mistakes than us scraping by. Scraping by has been the norm at Coritiba and that was what were doing up until the Oeste match, so this feels like a slight improvement. We're keeping the same shape but I figured out that when playing with Bismarck, Jurandir, Ragner and Neitzke we have four players with great technique and off-the-ball movement. So we're moving in that direction. This is really exciting! We're scoring and creating more as well as monopolizing possession, we just need to tighten up a bit at the back.

In a tight league, our average but unbeaten form is good enough for 4th place right now, although several teams have matches in hand. We're playing like a mid-table side and I think we'll finish around 8th, but I'm already picturing the type of changes and signings (inside forwards? enganches? a right back who can dribble?) that could take this possession-based approach to surefire promotion contenders next year.

It's good that CSA, Oeste, Cruzeiro and Atletico Mineiro all started poorly.

Going by their recent history and their wage budget, they should be clear promotion favorites but none of them are in the top half so far! It looks like the promotion race will be very close this year, which means we could sneak in like Caxias in 2022.

[wesl]

One more player who became desperate about leaving as soon as the first offer came in. Like with Claudemir, I wanted to hold on to Indio for a few more years but couldn't convince him to stay.

We get twice what we signed him for but we're left with only 20 year old academy graduate Alexsandro at central midfield.

He has a lot of areas where I wish he was better but physically and in several key mental attributes, he's good enough for Serie A. Since he's already featured a lot during my tenure here, I trust him enough to start but I need some back up. The carrilero is one of the players who covers the most ground for us and a spot where we need heavy rotation.

First choice was Keirrison, a DoF signing last year. I sent him out on loan as his weak positioning and defensive attributes made him look like a bad fit at the start of the year, but e would be a great option with our new focus on possession. He's on loan at division rivals URT. We could recall him but since he's started over 7 Serie B matches for them, we can't play him this season (I found this out at Corinthians when I canceled someone's loan after a player left). I'm bringing him into the first team next season, so we just need a stop-gap option for 6 months.

Bruno is coming in on loan! I almost signed him last year before going with Indio. He's more of a creative player than Alexsandro and he's just about good enough defensively. I think he could be a gamechanger to make matches easier for us against weaker teams, but he'll primarily play as backup to Alexsandro. He's been one of the best players at perennial Serie C promotion contenders Fortaleza, and we're paying full wages and R$375K to loan him for the rest of the year. This is an overpay, but he's been a good performer every season going back to when I signed him at Caxias, and we can afford it. This was also the best I could do in short notice.

[wesl]

2032 Série B

Drawritiba rolls on! I feel like we should be winning more watching these matches. We dominate but creating clear cut chances has been a struggle. But if FM had expected goals, I think we would fare very well as we get the ball to our strikers in the box a good amount of times per match. We finish the first half of the season unbeaten and it feels like we could kick into a higher gear soon.

Ponte Preta (just promoted from Serie C) seem like a cut above the rest but the promotion race is wide open and we're in a really good spot. It's starting to look like playing first tier football next season is possible. Looking at previous seasons, 65 points is the target and we're just on pace right now. The 2 major Belo Horizonte teams are currently 11th and 12th somehow! I expect them to put a good run in the second half together, which should make things tighter at the top. There's also a lot of clubs with games in hand, which could change the table a lot.

[wesl]

It is intake day which means I should  look at how the 2031 generation is doing.

On 20/07/2020 at 11:29, wesl said:

This is where we were last year. Kurt walked into the first team, as he had the highest potential and we needed a back-up at left-back. Valentim has made his debut and a few others have appeared on the bench, but no one has really been considered other than Kurt. I think I need to make it easier for intake players to start appearing for our side. The only way this happens is if our depth is worse, but I would like to give as many of these players a chance.

This is where we are this year. With the tactic changing fairly radically soon, I should rebuild this chart but I'll procrastinate on that until early next season. I have an idea of how I want to play starting next year, but I wanna make sure it works before I start making decisions on our youth players based on it. I've raised the threshold for the attribute average of each role to 8.0. I'll cut the player who doesn't make the threshold in any position, Neto. He has a 2-star PA and a "fairly determined" personality.

The average threshold is arbitrary, but it is an easy way to cull some players out. It seems that younger players come in with lower attributes. Usually having more time to develop player is seen as positive, but this means we have to hold on to them for longer to get them to a level where they can become rotation options. And the ceiling of every player we've cut seems low.

Highlighted in blue are personality/media handling changes. We've had a bunch of negative personalities switch to balanced, among them this intake's crown jewel, Kurt. His determination has gone from 8 to 10. Gabriel Ribas is now a perfectionist, which is a great personality! He's a long shot to make the first team, but from what I gather players in the U-20 squad influence each other, so it'll be good to keep him around.

We have 13 players left from the 2031 intake. Taubaté, Marcos Antonio and Mamute should appear in a handful of matches over the next year. My assistant manager now considers all of them to have a higher PA than when they came in. 

I needed to look at growth on its own, so I made another chart.

It is not surprising that players with "fairly professional" personalities have developed best. Our keeper Leandro Henrique also seems like a positive outlier. He may be a future back-up, when he looked very poor on intake day. Rodrigues, Junior and Francis are straggling. Rodrigues and Francis are being retrained in new positions, which worried me that retraining could hold back a player. However, Junior isn't being retrained. Meanwhile, Mamute is #2 as far as maximum development and he's being trained into a defensive midfielder.

I think I'm on the right path overall! After a year, this seems like quite a solid crop of players.

2032 intake

We'll get to the clear standout in a bit, but I quite like this intake. It's a good mix of personalities, and the players have reasonably high PAs. It's a younger generation than last year, which I think is a disadvantage.

The intake's best player is Curitiba-native Octávio Vaggione, who simply put looks unbelievable. This might be hyperbole but I think he's one of the best players who have come through my intakes in FM. Very often, the best prospects' biggest strengths are their physical attributes but that's not the case here. I see him and I see a natural enganche with his great decisions, passing and technique. He just needs to improve his off the ball and anticipation attributes, which are coincidentally on the same training focus. So even that will be easy. Using him in any other role would mean he has to develop better dribbling, finishing and physical attributes. He will improve on these naturally, but it will take longer for him to excel at those roles. I was already planning to use an enganche next year in a very wacky formation, so this is beyond great for me. And with his teamwork and work rate he could contribute to a high-pressing side even in a low-effort role. Kurt walked into the side as back-up months after the intake, but Vaggione might just become a starter at 17. And he has a good personality to boot!

Vaggione is head and shoulders above the rest, but 15 year olds Marcos and Reinaldo also look very solid. The players getting retrained are Marcos as an attacking midfielder, Kayser as a DM, Gasparino as a right-back and Matheus Joao as a forward.

We have 3 players who didn't make the 7.5 average threshold in any position. I'm keeping one of them. Jonatas Elias only fell short of the central midfield threshold by 0.04 points, he has what I consider a positive personality and is only 15. Releasing him seems a bit unfair. I'll see how he develops over the next year and re-evaluate when the next intake comes through. However, goalkeeper Uadson Mitrut and attacking mid Mosquito are not gonna be signed.

[_Ben_]

13 hours ago, wesl said:

The intake's best player is Curitiba-native Octávio Vaggione, who simply put looks unbelievable. This might be hyperbole but I think he's one of the best players who have come through my intakes in FM. Very often, the best prospects' biggest strengths are their physical attributes but that's not the case here. I see him and I see a natural enganche with his great decisions, passing and technique. He just needs to improve his off the ball and anticipation attributes, which are coincidentally on the same training focus. So even that will be easy. Using him in any other role would mean he has to develop better dribbling, finishing and physical attributes. He will improve on these naturally, but it will take longer for him to excel at those roles. I was already planning to use an enganche next year in a very wacky formation, so this is beyond great for me. And with his teamwork and work rate he could contribute to a high-pressing side even in a low-effort role. Kurt walked into the side as back-up months after the intake, but Vaggione might just become a starter at 17. And he has a good personality to boot!

You're right - he's fantastic!

Hopefully he develops really well for you.

[wesl]

2032 Série B

We're really hitting our stride here. Teams are starting to sit deeper against us which leads us to have 65% possession matches with less than 10 shots. When we get an early goal we're hard to beat. Luis Maranhao was amazing, he kept 9 clean sheets during this stretch when our defense really struggled in some matches. Most 4-2-3-1 formations are bad matchups for us and it's a very common shape in Brazil, but we're grinding out good results. We finally took our first loss in Série B against Santa Cruz, but we set an unbeaten streak record for the division (22 matches) before so I'm not mad about it. We're also on the cusp of breaking the Série B record for most draws (although Atlético Mineiro might outdo us this season!).

We have a small lead! The promotion race is still wide open for a lot of teams. However, I think we're very close to securing Série A football since most teams in this division are very inconsistent and I wouldn't expect them to outpace us by too much in the last quarter of the season. We might even add some silverware to the Coxa cabinets and win the league, which would be nice but it's not that important.

[wesl]

2032 Série B

Breezed through the last set of fixtures as we played our best football when it mattered the most. We were unlucky not to beat URT and more impressively, Cruzeiro. We dominated them at Mineirao, but needed a late equaliser to get a point. We secured promotion against Madureira, and with second place being seven points back (albeit with a game in hand), I relaxed and played several youngsters against Sao Jose. That backfired as we lost by a lot in a game where we were manhandled, and Ponte Preta won their remaining matches to put the pressure on us.

We went into the final match with 65 points, with Ponte Preta two points back. Ragner José got injured, which meant I could hand Vaggione his debut, but we also were without one of our best players. It didn't matter as hometown hero Neitzke gave us the lead early and that was enough! Vaggione had a good match, and he was a real threat as a set piece taker before being subbed out at half-time.

This was the best outcome we could have had this season. We got an absolute jewel in our intake, got promotion and almost won the state title. The only thing we missed out on is the draw record, now claimed by Atlético Mineiro! Even the embarrassing Sao Jose loss works out in our favor as they got promotion over Cruzeiro. With Fluminense coming down and the two Belo Horizonte teams stuck in the second tier, we'll face less teams that dwarve us financially in Série A. 

I think we're definitely coming down next season though!

We definitely got the best we could out of this thing. I'm just going with a diamond midfield next season and putting a pin on all the outlandish ideas I had, we're gonna be very outclassed but I think developing the many talented teenagers we have is more important right now.

Everyone did well. Our highest rated player (and the fans' player of the year, as well as a new club icon) Fábio actually was far from our best player in my eyes. It felt like half of our goals came from him losing the ball. He's very isolated, which makes his job hard but his poor dribbling (he has a 5 in dribbling! I knew it was poor but not quite this poor) made things very hard for us at times. He made 54 mistakes in the national league, which makes him 8th. However, he had a knack for making important plays (3 assists) and won the ball a lot which made him valuable. On the other side, Jeremias has similar shortcomings. I thrust him into a role which didn't fit him at all and he actually performed above average, grabbing 9 assists throughout the year. Our strikers were also very good in my eyes, with Jurandir and Bismarck netting 10 Série B goals a piece. Bismarck a great knack for spectacular one-touch goals, which made the season a lot more fun.

Luis Maranhao was fantastic at the back and won us many points.

Since I'm not entirely pleased with Fabio's performance, I'll highlight the player with the next best average rating, centre-back Wallace. He had a lot of space in front of him for attackers to run into and was a defensive rock, as well as a threat from set pieces.

[wesl]

The first mock-up of next year's tactic and squad.

Getting Vaggione involved is my priority. I really like his attributes, as I said on the intake post, and if my staff is right about his potential we have to start playing him as soon as possible. This shape should also be better under pressure, which is important as we won't be able to control possession in Série A unless other teams give the ball up. The player who'll have to sacrifice the most is Neitzke, who I'm dropping into central midfield. As an advanced playmaker, he got 10 goals and 4 assists in all competitions but he wasn't a difference maker in every match. He has all the right qualities for a mezzala, and if Vaggione performs to his potential, Neitzke could be better in this deeper role with more space to run into and good service from the enganche.

I have to make room for the forwards we're promoting to the first team. These are Vaggione, Lucas Politano, Vinicius Henrique and Erielton Carlos. All of them are Série B/Série C level. To this end, I'm selling 21-year old striker Morango (8 goals this season, now worth R$1.1M). I'm also planning to loan out attacking midfielder Pedro Henrique (he was very good for us, but isn't creative enough for the enganche role) and striker Jean (scored a big goal against Paraná and my assistant manager loves him but I don't think he'll be a Série A striker). Hopefully their value will increase after a season of first team football. I won't be signing Ragner José once his loan ends. He was good, but also not a huge difference maker and we have a lot of young offensive players to fit into three spots up front.

We need a right-back as Fabio won't be good enough in Série A. I'm trying to get someone who can be a real offensive threat. We also need more midfielders, so I might as well try to get someone better than Alexsandro. This would be a good spot to get someone with a good personality in.

I'm just going for these two incoming transfers so we can start bringing in players from the U-20 squad. Also, our finances aren't as good as they were a few months ago.

We just invested 4M in the youth facilites and 10M in the training facilities. We're still in a good spot, but we don't have a ton of money to play with.

[wesl]

Almost forgot to say, but Corinthians' reign finally came to an end after 7 years! I'm still sticking to my goal of taking Coritiba to a Série A title. These are teams that have won the league since the save started:

• Corinthians: 8 (2023, 2025-31)
• Santos: 4 (2019-21, 2032)
• Cruzeiro: 1 (2022)
• Bahia: 1 (2024)

[wesl]

2033 season preview

I'm a month into this season and in the middle of a run of big matches, but let's call this a preview.

The state league draw was fine. We're in the same group as Paraná, which increases the likelihood that we'll face Athletico in a stage semifinal. But there's no real difference between facing them in a semifinal or a final. This year, we have three Série A teams in Paraná but no Série B or Série C clubs. This should widen between the three Curitiba clubs and the rest, but we still have to beat Athletico three or four times to win this thing.

I was hoping to go on a cup run for finance purposes. I hate this draw! We have to play them away too.

The media thinks we don't stand a chance in Série A. I pretty much agree but hopefully we can get some upsets to make this year bearable.

Our two signings. I spent most of the budget they gave me, which is not something I do often but I'm happy with these. More on them in a bit.

Our outgoing transfers are less interesting but more eventful. I sold Morango and loaned out Jean and Pedro Henrique, as was planned. We loan out several U-20 players, including some from the old intakes (ST Joao Carlos, DL Ziquinha, GK Magro), some from the '31 intake (MC Valentim, AM Taubate, ST Ribas) and some players that we've poached (DM Leitao). Most of these could become first teamers, but they are 19 or older, so they need playing time. I made sure that they didn't land at clubs which only play 10 games all season. So even those going to non-league clubs will play state cups with group stages and such.

The one that wasn't planned is back-up keeper José Carlos, who is 21. My staff rates his potential very highly and he wanted playing time. With every league match being important as we fight relegation, I just wasn't gonna be able to play him much. A loan to Santa Cruz in Série B is a great landing spot. He's not good enough for the second tier yet but Santa Cruz's keeper isn't much better and he's listed. He's better than every other keeper at the club and they don't seem to have plans to sign other goalies. If he can develop a bit he should start most matches for them.

Vinicius Henrique played for the first team last year but with less AM spots this year, he isn't get playing time with us. No one wants to take him on loan though. 

A nice 22-man squad. With an average age of 21.95, we're the youngest in Série A.

Since we're a top tier team now, I'll review our whole squad.

Goalkeepers

Luis Maranhao is our starter and one of our best players. A good shot-stopper and very strong aerially, he's just the keeper we need to fight relegation. With us focusing on possession, his distribution is very important, but he's not been error-prone in his first year here. We can probably address that in a couple of seasons. His back-up will be 17-year-old Marcelo Gaúcho, a player I poached (and renamed since we have a surplus of Marcelos) from Inter last year after finding him with my determination search. Very high potential and a good shot-stopper already, but his physical attributes are a huge problem. We really need to improve his jumping reach at least.

Full-backs

Alfonso Pacheco is our star signing for the year. Predictably, he's also a Corinthians product. He's the fifth Timao alumni I sign after Claudemir, Neitzke, Wallace, and Ragner. I actually remember Pacheco because he's Chilean and we didn't get many players of different nationalities at Corinthians, but he never looked like he'd become a Série A player let alone a Corinthians player. But he's good! Some weaknesses, like dribbling and off-the ball movement but he's a great athlete and already has all the right attributes for a wing-back. He was signed by Inter in 2030 before being sold to Mineiro last year, where he was one of their best players. So we're his third team in three years, but hopefully we'll keep him for a long while.

Fábio is our other right back option. He's a team leader and a club icon. He's been at this club since 2026, being relegated three times and promoted three more times. I don't want to play him at all though! He was a weakness in the second tier and will be even more so here. I will try to move him at the end of the season and bring someone up from the U-20s.

On the left side of the pitch, we have Jeremías. I thrusted him into a starting role in Série B as wing-back, a role which doesn't fit him at all. This was thinking that the rest of our side was good enough to cover for him, but he actually was a dangerous player on the pitch and he improved his attributes a lot. With Pacheco in the opposite side, I'll have him doing less this year, but he should be solid and hopefully he'll develop even more. His back-up is Coxa product Guilherme Kurt, who now has a determination of 11! That's 3 points gained in 18 months, which I'm very proud of. He's also a solid option and is growing into a helpful player in possession.

Centre-backs

Our defensive linchpin is Wallace. A great athlete with questionable technical attributes, he was great last year but I wonder if he'll be exposed in Série A. Ataliba will be his partner in most matches. He should cover up for some of Wallace's weaknesses. Both players are short for central defenders, which means I should probably mix and match them more. Ataliba wanted to leave to play in Série A last year, that unhappiness should go away now that we're in Série A but it hasn't. I agreed to sell him for 1M, and he's worth a lot more now so I might need to break a promise if someone comes for him.

We also have Joel Doin, signed as a positive influence but also a helpful player. And finally, 20 year old Lucas Michel. This year should be all about getting Lucas to become a starter for us.

Defensive midfielders

We have Filipe and Andrelino. Very similar players, both were even named Filipe when I got here! I gave Andrelino his middle name to avoid confusion. They are huge anchor men which just works for us. I liked Andrelino a bit more last season as he can take set pieces, but Filipe has an edge on some key mental atttributes (anticipation, decisions) so he might be the starter this year in Série A. I would like slightly better passing from this spot, but this is the level where we are at.

Central midfielders

Balanta is our second signing. His passing attributes (vision, flair, technique) fit with the way we've been playing for the last 7 months or so and what I wanna do going forward. I wanted someone who was stronger defensively but Balanta is a great athlete, which should help cover some of his missteps. It was his personality that made him pull the trigger on him, he's gonna be another good influence in the locker room. If he can still develop a bit, I think he'll be a clear starter soon. Alexsandro is another option. He's very reliable, but a lesser athlete than Balanta. I think I'll split starts at the carrilero spot between the two of them.

Neitzke, our brand new captain, will start as many games as he can as a mezzala. He's made an impact from that spot already, which makes me feel good about starting him there. Good workrate, teamwork and physicals mean he shouldn't be a liability in a deeper spot. Our fourth option in the middle of the pitch is Keirrison, who is a really interesting player with his great vision and passing. I think he could also play the carrilero spot if needed, but he's someone I see making an impact as a mezzala.

Attacking midfielders

First choice is Octávio Vaggione. Is it too early for him to start on the top-tier? Yes, but look at how good he is! He's also a viable option for crosses at 188 cm, which is another interesting wrinkle in his game. Finding the right role for him will be a challenge, but I feel comfortable throwing him to the wolves in his first season. We also have Lucas Politano, who is more like every other attacking midfielder in Brazil, but he's also very promising and very young.

Forwards

The Alagoano Jurandir has been at this club since 2021. That's 13 years! He went from a rotation option early in the 20s to not making an appearance in 2025 and being loaned out to Série C shortly after to being a key part in our rise through the leagues in the last two years. I really like him, he's a great passer and a legitimate aerial threat. He was actually the player who led me to change from counter-attacking to a more patient approach after I noticed how good he was in tight spaces with his back to goal. His partner is Bismarck Vinicius, who is in his second season with us. Bismarck also has very good technique and is strong in the air, so they complement each other well. First option off the bench is young Erielton, who is well on his way to becoming a good advanced forward.

Our other back-up is 17-year-old Cleomar. I'm really not sure what to do with him, he's very fast but can do little else, which makes him an awkward fit at this moment. Signing a forward to be a fourth option didn't make sense so I'm playing him whenever I can. I think if we develop his off-the ball movement just a bit we could have an interesting player.

Edited July 29, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

Same old story. Bid came in, he wanted to leave. I tried to get too much money, they backed off, he handed in a transfer request and they came back and I negotiated to a more "reasonable" price. We got Wallace for R$50K, so we aren't getting screwed over here but I don't like unplanned transfers. This same thing happened last February with Claudemir and now he's spending a second year in Série B while we were promoted, so maybe it's good luck?

I want to keep a 22-man squad, so we need a centre-back. Our only option from the youth team is Mamute.

I really like Mamute. As a reminder, he came in with a PA rated at 1.5 "gold" stars. I could use someone with this level of ability as a back-up, but I just don't see him as a centre-back. I've started retraining him as a right-back, since I think that would be the best fit for him long-term, especially since he's two-footed. This practically guarantees him a spot in the first-team next year, since I'm not renewing Fabio (don't tell the lads). But we still need to sign someone, so I tried to narrow it down as much as possible..

Like Pacheco, Albanaz comes in from Atlético Mineiro. This is his fourth transfer since 2030, spending time at CSA and Sport since leaving his first club Chapecoense. His fee was just R$550K, which is a real bargain in my eyes. He went for just over R$1M in each of his previous transfers, so there should be some resale value here.

I think this might be a slight upgrade. He's lacking in agility, anticipation and positioning compared to Wallace but that's it. Either way, adding two million reais to our balance is a good thing.

[wesl]

2033 Campeonato Paranaense

We had a shock loss to Cianorte with us throwing away the lead by conceding twice in the last 10 minutes. Another loss in the derby seemed like a death knell for our chances to qualify to the stage playoffs. It was a barnburner where we deserved more. We were up 2-1 after 15 minutes, but ended up falling apart defensively in the second half. However, we found our stride in the last two matches and Maringá upset Operário to give us a chance....

We end up pulling past Operário on away goals scored, as that's the tiebreaker used in this league. We also had a better goal difference though. The bad news is we had to face Athletico in their building for the third time in a month.

A penalty and a set piece goal from towering centre-back Lucas put us ahead 2-0. We were starting to struggle under pressure in the second half, the story of all the derbies we've had so far this year. I had the idea to dust off the old Caxias 5-3-2 tactic and that stifled them completely. We also scored a wonderful goal on the counter to secure the match! This win came at the expense of three minor injuries. It was a great match and a nice change of pace from the boring Atletiba derbies of the last two years.

Paraná took care of Uniao easily on the other semifinal.

We can't keep possession against this team. Their 4-2-2-2 with two DMs and two wide midfielder is shockingly good offensively as well. So I ended up focusing on frustrating them with focused pressing and lots of fouls. It ended up 0-0, which meant a shootout and we suck at those.

After a draw where we played really badly at Operario, we started doing better and keeping possession. We're not scoring a lot of goals past weaker teams, but we're breaking them down well and playing patiently, which is what I'm trying to do. Paraná at home were far less imposing than away. And we were much better in the first half. We were lucky to get a penalty in the first half and I went back to the 5-3-2 in the second half, which meant we saw the game out without ever being in trouble.

Top of the group means we avoid Athletico for once!

An easy win past Uniao. We should've scored more on this one, Jurandir even missed a penalty! One of our best matches with Vaggione pulling the strings from the middle of the pitch. 4 key passes, 1 chance created and 1 assist.

Paraná beat Athletico in their building. This means if they won the stage final, they'd be crowned champions.

I'm a bit salty that we had to play at their stadium despite topping the closing stage group, but they were just slightly better regardless. I ended up focusing on frustrating them, and it worked with 11 total shots on the match (7 from Paraná and 4 from us). It looked like we were gonna hold on even after a sending-off but one of our former players took it out of our hands. They've signed Indio from Vasco and he came in as a sub to score the deciding goal.

They also signed striker Rafael Vinicius on loan, he's a Coxa product who I had my eye on. They have a very strong squad now on top of being state champions for the first time since 2020. I would expect them to stay up in Série A.

Copa do Brasil

I also wasn't happy about this draw but playing away ended up being in our favour this time! It was another epic derby thanks to us falling apart under pressure after controling most of the match. We both play in the same division but we were the higher seed for some reason, which means a draw was enough to come through.

This match came after the opening stage semifinal, which meant our squad was very tired. I rotated and ended up playing for possession as that's the best way for this team to defend and it gives us our creative players a chance to make a play. Turns out the gap between a rotated Coxa squad and newly promoted to Série B Fortaleza isn't that wide. We went to penalties and won this one, which means we're going on a cup run despite not winning any of these matches.

We lost despite keeping it close in the first leg. Our players really showed up for the second leg at Couto Pereira! I was happy with the penalties but our captain Neitzke went on a run down the middle of the pitch and scored a goal, we didn't even need the 5-3-2 this time!

We're also not that much better than Série B promotion favorites Oeste. We deserved the win at home, but the match in Barueri was very close. We hit the woodwork three times, and they hit it once. In the end, the draw was a good result for us and we're still alive in the cup! That should come to an end soon as we're playing Série A champions Santos in the next round, and I'd be happy to not get embarrassed by them.

I'm not 100% sure how qualifying to the national cup works, but I think we would've missed out next year if we had come in 4th in this table. Paraná are deserving champions, they only lost one match against us. They beat Athletico twice. It's a very competitive league, which make staying up in Série A key to keeping up with both of our neighbors.

The good news is we faced three Série A clubs (Paraná, Athletico and Chapecoense) and were competitive in all of those matches. The bad news is I'm sick of playing games in comprehensive highlights!

Edited August 2, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

Five matches into the season, it's clear that staying up is unlikely. And now, we have to go 5 or 6 matches without our starting keeper.

Funds are too tight at the club, so our options are 17-year-old Marcelo Gaúcho or recalling José Carlos from Série B club Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz signed my old Caxias keeper Manuel Roffo, so we might recall him regardless due to lack of playing time.

There's a lot to like about Marcelo but he's very weak on some important attributes (anticipation, concentration, composure...). We've gotten his jumping reach to a more acceptable number but there's a lot which worries me about him. I still see him as a high upside player for Coritiba since he's comfortable playing the ball and a good shot stopper. I'm giving him a chance against a struggling Palmeiras, and I'll just have to see how he does week-to-week. If he makes mistakes, I'll bring in José Carlos.

Edited August 2, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

Copa do Brasil

Well, this was a miserable pair of matches. The money will help us a lot but it was embarrassing. We didn't even get carved open despite playing a high defensive line, they just kept beating us with crosses.

2033 Série A

We suck. But we're doing well! We bossed Sao Jose at their building, Vaggione missed a sitter so we should've won by two. However, Sao Jose are one of two or three teams that might be worse than us. Our first match at Couto Pereira was a stark reminder that we are weaker physically and mentally than most teams in Série A. Like Santos, Grêmio just beat us with crosses. Technically, we were defending well but we just can't rely on our defenders to beat forwards to a cross. After that and a disappointing loss at Paraná (we only scored thanks to a fluke own goal), I've tightened up the defense. We're still playing high up but with a narrow defense and allowing the backline to try riskier passes. They aren't good passers, but we aren't good enough to push the ball through our opponents with short passes. We're keeping the ball better now. We lead the league in possession, which mainly serves defensive purposes at this point.

The obvious problem is scoring, we have scored two goals from legitimately good passing (Sao Jose and Nautico), the fluke own goal (Paraná), a goal from set pieces (Sao Paulo) and one long shot prayer (Botafogo). I'm relying on the 5-3-2 a lot but both tactics have been about as bad offensively, the problem is our personnel. The 5-3-2 worked against Santos and Sao Paulo but we threw away our lead against Nautico with it.

Paraná is mounting the unlikeliest title challenge so far, while we're all the way down at 15th.

The target is 40 points, so with 11 from 10 matches we're doing well. We suck but we're doing well. I love seeing Athletico struggling more than us. I think Athletico and Sao Jose are destined to go down. We've played them both away this year and were better than them in their buildings. That makes me think they have no place in the top tier. Above them there's a pack of teams which I would expect to improve (Gremio, Bahia, Inter, Santos). So it's Tombense, Ponte Preta and Chapecoense that we have to focus on beating. It's gonna be difficult but there's a chance that we stay up.

Here are the team salaries. Corinthians at the top, like you would expect. I have no idea how Athletico can be so bad while spending over 100 million reais in wages. Caxias is now filthy rich and a title contender. They've had no takeovers, this is all TV and transfer money. I can't even take credit for this, they were relegated the year after I left them.

We're 20th! I stayed up with the lowest wage bill with Caxias, but I wasn't trying to play possession football with them.

Edited August 3, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

[wesl]

I'm relying on the 5-3-2 more heavily after the embarrassing loss at Corinthians. The problem is we don't have many strong ball-winning midfielders which is a very important role in this tactic, Alexsandro can play in the middle for us but I wouldn't trust Balanta there.

Graciano is a Cruzeiro product. He broke through to first team football in Série D Ypiranga (RS) after being released. He's become a career Série B player, but he played for Tombense in Série A for a season. I think Alexsandro will be our first option, but Graciano is roughly as good for that role.

[wesl]

2033 Série A

After the embarrassing return to Arena Corinthians, Drawritiba is back. If we start scoring more than one goal per match, other teams are in trouble!

We threw away points against Caxias, who equalised in the 85th minute. I started with the diamond formation, which makes the draw coming after I reverted to the 5-3-2 more disappointing. Nevertheless, I embraced the 5-3-2 as our main formation starting with the Inter match and it's paid off with two wins we had no business getting and 8 unbeaten matches. After the 5 years at Caxias, the 5-3-2 a tried and tested tactic for overmatched teams and 2033 Coritiba is exactly that. The last two draws are disappointing since these are two teams that are performing very poorly and 6 points would've been huge for us. I played the 5-3-2 against Tombense and switched back to the diamond against Athletico after a poor offensive performance. We ended up with a draw at the derby. In my defense, Athletico's new coach Alejandro Orfila debuted against us and he's much better than their last one.

A Caxias title would make me very happy.

We're 13th! But I don't think we're anywhere close to safety yet. The bottom 5 just changed coaches, so at least some of them will improve over the second half of the season. I think the bottom three can't come back. Sao Jose and Tombense aren't good enough. Athletico will improve with their new coach, but they're 12 points behind 16th place. It's too much of a gap. This leaves one relegation spot, currently occupied by Inter. Paraná are falling apart and join us, Inter, Grêmio, Vasco and Naútico in this pack of clubs trying to escape relegation.

There's two things that worry me, we have the worst squad out of this group and 40 points might not be enough to stay up this year.

Edited August 4, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

It is youth intake day, which also means it's time to check in on the progress of the past two intakes.

2031 intake

This is the 2031 intake. I've raised the average attribute threshold to 8.50, but we have no cuts this year. Using increments of 0.5 like I've been doing, the 2034 threshold would be 9.0. Francis and Junior might miss the cut next year. Francis actually got worse, which makes think he might've maxed out his PA already.

I'm planning to do these spreadsheets for five years for each intakes , so the players would "graduate" between the ages of 20 and 22, with an attribute average above 10.0 for one of the roles we use. This is the age where players like those I bought at Caxias or Coritiba (rejects from big 12 clubs) seem to be worth the most money. You might get Claudemir, a national team player, or Bruno who was really good for me but he was a career Série B player. 

Kurt remains the only first team player from this crop but Marcos Antonio has also debuted and a few players are out on loan. I've marked down the level they're playing at (NL means non-league, D means Série D). Ribas' performance has regressed while on loan, which is a shame but we had two positive personality changes. One of them in Taubaté who is also on loan.

Good levels of growth across the board. Somewhat disappointing are Taubaté and Valentim, who are away from the club and are on the cusp of a promotion to the first team. On the other hand we have Mamute, who has now learned two "new" positions, and Marcos Antonio. These two could also be promoted to the first team next year and they got the biggest growth over the last 12 months, which is great to see.

2032 intake

With an 8.0 threshold, we have two cuts, which leaves this generation with only 12 players. One of them is Jonatas Elias, who I signed last year despite not making the threshold by 0.04 points. This year he missed the cut by 0.2 points, so he grew a bit but not enough for me to think that he can break into the first team.

Vaggione's personality has regressed on the first team. He dropped 2 points in determination, which speaks to the fact that Coritiba is not where I want it to be yet personality-wise.

Reinaldo has to come in to our first team plans in the near-future but I think he's a year away from being promoted, he should be a first-team midfielder in 2035 or 2036.

Solid numbers but few standouts, aside from Marcolino. Vaggione had decent but not exceptional growth in the first team.

2034 intake

Very good intake! The highest PA rated player having a "professional" personality is very good. "Mercernary" from the 2nd best PA player is also good, paired with a determination of 11, which is a good starting point. We have four players who don't clear the 7.50 threshold in any role. However, I think I'm signing everyone as they all have positives whether it's a high PA rating from my assistant manager, or good personalities. And they're all 15 or 16, which I've noticed plays in a part in having worse starting attributes than older players in the same intake. I'm seeing the thresholds as an opportunity to make judgement calls on which youth players aren't worth developing further, but if these four don't make clear the 8.0 hurdle next year I might use it as a more rigid rule.

These are the standouts. I promoted Kurt and Vaggione straight away, but no one from this intake will make the first team next year. They all look good though, I'm thinking Emerson could be a wide player or a striker next to Vaggione. I'm probably developing Bernardon as a creative central midfielder, just because we have so many AM/ST prospects, but I think he could grow into the mezzala role like Neitzke.

Tuti is an exciting youngster as he's already very developed in most important defensive attributes and he has height. I could focus on developing his technique/passing and deploy him as a BPD or a defensive midfielder who is comfortable with the ball.

Edited August 4, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2033 Série A

Fantastic haul of 17 points from the last 10 matches! We used the 5-3-2 for all of these after the Sao Jose game and it worked a treat. The Palmeiras match was particularly great, Balanta equalised in the 81st minute, Vaggione put us ahead in the 89th minute and Erielton added another goal in injury time.

We should be safe now! 12 points clear from Vasco and already hit the target of 40. Gremio surged up the table with 25 points in 10 matches, but the clubs around us are roughly the same. It looks like 17th place belongs to Paraná or Vasco. Athletico and/or Paraná being relegated and the firesale that they would be forced into should be good for our state league chances.

Now, we could really push for Copa Sudamericana (or Libertadores?) qualification but I think I'd rather play the youngsters and experiment with the 4-1-2-1-2 tactic against Série A opposition. We have 3 matches left against top 5 teams in Caxias, Flamengo and Corinthians. I'll use the 5-3-2 against them to avoid another embarrassing 7-1 result, but I still see the diamond (or something similar to it) as our long-term tactic. Stress-testing it against first division teams is more important than playing in continental competition next year.

Edited August 5, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

This transfer is a gift. Doin had 3 months left on his contract, he didn't want to renew and I didn't want to resign him. He was solid last season, playing 25 matches but he only made 7 appearances this year. Someone who came in for 300K and was leaving on a free nets us a million reais, which we need right now as our numbers are in the red following the facility upgrades and the two transfers we made early in the season.

However, we shouldn't have financial issues next year! After 33 matches, we have secured safety with a 2-1 win over Inter. It was a great match for us, as we came from behind by controlling possession and with goals from youngsters Vaggione and Cleomar. We're currently sitting in 12th, which would qualify us for Copa Sudamericana.

[wesl]

2033 Série A

We rescued two points from the first three matches where I alternated between our two tactics. After that we had the fantastic win over Inter which mathematically secured staying up. I played all our promising youngsters in the diamond formation at Bahia. It was a disaster as we lost 1-5, but that match did see a goal from Vaggione. I repeated a similar starting XI in the same tactic against Vitoria, and we got our biggest win of the Brasileirao season. It was some of our best football. After that, we secured Sudamericana football next year, so I was just looking forward to the derby.

It was our first and only derby at Couto Pereira this year, and it went as well as it could have. Athletico were already relegated but winning this one was important to me. Vaggione opened the scoring thanks to a pass from Cleomar inside the box 7 minutes in. He doubled the lead with a free kick from the edge of the box in the 64th minute. While Vaggione struggled at times, he's scored 5 goals in the last 6 matches and I think it's safe to say that he's on the right path to lead this team. Late in the game, I brought in veteran right-back Fabio, listed as club icon after 7 years at the club and 230 league matches. This was his last match in the club since he's proven to be unplayable at this level. And sure enough Athletico pulled one back with a far post cross to their left winger, which Fabio failed to even contest. Nevertheless, we got to see two goals from the crown jewel of our recent intakes and we send off a club icon while beating Athletico as they are relegated to the second tier. Can't ask for a better derby!

A second title in a row for Santos. Corinthians really threw this one away, with only 2 points from the last 4 matches. They even lost to Sao Jose. Great to see Caxias come so close.

We qualified for Copa Sudamericana, which should help our finances. The last time that Coxa qualified for this competition was 2025, when they reached the semifinals.

Our two tactics. It was the 5-3-2 that saved us, but the diamond is becoming really effective.

A lot of players stood out, Cleomar and Vaggione really shone at the end. Our captain Neitzke scored 6 goals and was a real threat all year. Jurandir was probably our best striker all year, but Erielton was clinical early in the Série A season. Lucas Michel played his way into the side at centre-back. The full-backs Jeremías and Pacheco were also good all the way through.

I think our best player was a centre-back once again. Albanaz came in to replace Wallace and he proved to be very good. We had two matches where we shipped over 5 goals but for the most part, our defense was very solid and Albanaz was the stand-out.

Edited August 5, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

I rejected this, but it's the first interview offer I've gotten in a while. I assume that with the Corinthians stint and the World Cup, the rep of my profile is too high for most clubs. I don't know if going to non-league clubs lowers your rep but you'd think more people would try to interview me. I would reject most if not all of them but I just want to be asked!

On 20/01/2020 at 18:35, wesl said:

We are rich now. This figure was R$ 21M last season. Our total income was just 40 million.

This is from my 2nd Série A season at Caxias. I assumed we would get something like this but...

This is a pittance. We spent R$14 M in facility upgrades and R$7M in transfers last year, I was assuming we could get a pile of TV money if we stayed up. We're now R$9M in the red.

Our total income last year was 70 million, higher than Caxias that year mainly due to our larger stadium and following. The facilities page says we're planning on building a new stadium even though ours is in good condition and we have no money. Brazilian boards in this save love building new stadiums, which is very unrealistic.

We have this TV deal listed as R$6M, I think that's the Brasileirao TV rights money we are getting. It was signed 3 years ago. That would mean it was signed after Coritiba's relegation to Série C, at the club's lowest point. Now, I think if we survive this year we could get a much bigger deal but I shouldn't plan like that's a certainty. We have this other TV deal which I suppose could be because of continental competition? R$12M is pretty good for us.

The good thing is I think we can get by without incoming (senior) transfers. We have a lot of promising youth at the club, which I've mentioned before. Between graduates from the '30 and '31 intakes and a few youth players I've poached from elsewhere, we have a lot of people in the cusp of breaking into the first team. We might get stuck in a relegation battle this year without strengthening our backline but the board and media still expect us to go down. So no one will be upset when we finish 20th and we'll have a bunch of decently-valued youngsters to sell off when we get to Série B. It's a win-win-win (?).

Edited August 6, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2034 season preview

We have four competitions this year. This is what I want to accomplish.

Campeonato Paranaense: Winning this thing would be great and it's possible this year. Paraná are still a top-tier side like us but they got 11 points from the last 24 matches last season. They're still managed by Lautaro Villares. I don't know if they're the unstoppable team they were in the first 6 months or the one that got 0.46 points per game. Athletico were relegated so they should be having a firesale but have not gotten rid of any of their best players yet. I don't quite know how good they'll be this year. I'll try to unsettle midfield linchpin Terra (who is a Coxa product and has me as favored personnel) but there's no way we can afford him.

Copa do Brasil: 4th round is very attainable this year. We're playing Série C's Ferroviario (CE), possibly followed by Sao Jose (RS) and yet another derby with Athletico Parananese. These are all teams we should beat.

Série A: Staying up is the only thing that matters.

Copa Sudamericana: We got drawn with Chile's Audax Italiano in the first round. Can we beat them? Probably. Does it matter? Not really.

Jurandir

This is the second testimonial I've played in 15 seasons this save. The first one was for Paraguayan winger Angel Romero, who I let walk on a free after my first season at Corinthians. This one is for Jurandir, who I've actually played with and has been an important player for Coritiba so it was a match I took somewhat seriously. We won it thanks to Albanaz scoring from a corner early on. It was a boring match, but we played well.

I've mentioned being in awe of Jurandir sticking around for 14 years. He didn't become a starter until I took over, and he might not even have been that if we didn't have to sell Vinicius Lele Rinaldi. However, this late career renassaince has inspired me to move towards a short passing possession based style, which might define this club for as long as I'm here. He has one or two seasons left in Coritiba before I have to make room for younger strikers but his combination of aerial prowess is rare to find or develop and will be sorely missed when he's gone.

Outgoing transfers

Saudi club Al-Taawoun must be huge Coxa fans since they just signed three players from us. Ataliba and Andrelino could help us, but I felt they were overpriced, so cashing in on them made perfect sense. Pedro Henrique isa hard-working attacking midfielder which I liked a lot in Série B but not good enough for Série A. 28-year-old striker Bismarck isn't that much better than Erielton or Cleomar at this point, so we had to cash in before his value declined. Him leaving to a side that doesn't play in either of our leagues is good.

I am quite happy with the loans. GK José Carlos will be a starter in second tier side Jacobina. Vinicius Henrique and Ziquinha are loaned out to the same clubs as last year, where they featured heavily. And none of the other loans are to non-league sides.

Other than José Carlos, I think Vinicius is the only one of the loanees who can make the first team next year. He's a weird case since he doesn't integrate into the core group, which might indicate poor professionalism.

No incoming transfers this year!

Squad

This is my squad this year. I'm keeping to the 22-man squad, since we are allowed 12 subs every match. As always, I expect bigger clubs to unsettle some of our players but this is a starting point. If we sell, we can bring in more youth depending on the position. It's an average group personality-wise but it's also a very young squad. We had the youngest squad last year at 22.05 years old early in the season last year. We've actually gotten a year younger, with an average age of 21.15.

These are the 5 players who have been promoted. Most of them are defensive players since we let Fabio, Ataliba and Andrelino go.

Signed on a free from Londrina by my DoF in 2031. He made 13 appearances that year and spent the last two years on loan, he had one poor year at Jacobina before dropping to Série D's Brasiliense where he was one of their most important players. He contributed with 7 assists as they won the state league and almost got promoted to Série C, losing the quarter-finals in penalties. Leitao's main job will be as a DC or DM who can is a better passer than our starters. He can also be the BWM in the 5-3-2. Our staff doesn't think he can reach the CA of a Série A player but I quite like his attributes already.

I poached Paulo André from Mirassol. He made noises about playing time last year, so he spent 6 months with Botafogo (SP). He was apparently incredible as he got 11 assists in 16 matches in Série D and Copa Paulista. He's probably best used as a full-back/wing-back with his speed.

A massive striker and a Coritiba product through and through. Marcos Antonio doesn't have Jurandir's passing nous but he can fill in on that target man role because he's just a beast physically.

Here's Mamute, who had a 2.5 PA on intake day for a Série C club. I've grown attached to him because of his incredible development, but he just doesn't have a clear position to me. He's not good enough to make up for his lack of height at centre-back and his technicals are very poor for a full-back. Not to mention that he can't be our only back-up for Pacheco because he can't play WBR yet in the 5-3-2. Perhaps the easiest path would be getting him to improve his passing and playing him as half-back? But then we aren't taking full advantage of his pace, his best attribute. For now, he'll just be a back-up option in all of these positions but I don't know if he can ever be a starter.

Poached from Juventude last year, Luiz Fernando is another DM/CM option. He can play centre-back but he's much shorter than Mamute so I don't think he's really an option there. He's also a good set-piece taker, which can free up Vaggione (who has better set-piece attributes but is also 190 cm tall) to chase down a header in corners and indirect-free kicks. Great mental and physical attributes, with anticipation being the sole weakness of those. Passing, first touch, technique and marking could all be worked on, but the good thing is all of these can be improved with individual focuses.

I will continue to poach cheap high determination players with high PA. I've made 6 such signings in the previous two years and 3 of them are already on the first team (Marcelo Gaúcho, Luiz Fernando and Paulo André). I also don't think any of our intake players has been "blocked" from being promoted by them, so this is working perfectly so far. We have four players from the '31 and '32 intakes in the first team. I'm searching through Uruguay with my filter for the first time this month, and will move on to Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, Sao Paulo state and Mato Grosso do Sul afterwards. Since we don't have to make senior signings this year, I can just spend more money on scouting. 

Edited August 7, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

I started playing the save again last week. Today I got this after clicking continue twice, so I played through March and April fairly quickly.  I have hopes for Reinaldo but Vaggione is the real gem. 

2034 Campeonato Paranaense

I played the first four of these games months ago so I don't remember much. Looking at the highlights we were a bit lucky to score so much, even against weaker teams. Starting with the Cianorte game, I started experimenting with a strikerless formation for the sake of trying Jurandir as wide target man, seeing how he can play in all attacking midfielder spots. It worked with mixed results. Jurandir was maybe better than ever and Vaggione was good, but the other one in the front three never contributes anything.

The groups might be a bit lopsided.

This was a very boring game. I don't think we should've advanced as Paraná are the higher-seed, but I'm not complaining. The stage final is Atle-Tiba.

Coritiba are stage champions! This means we have a chance at winning this thing. The winner came thanks to young Mamute, subbing for the two first choice right-backs Pacheco and Paulo André, assisting Jurandir with the only good cross he's put in all season. Our defense has been good through the whole thing, so that's enough to get by for now.

The strikerless thing isn't really working, we just don't create shots. With the old diamond we had more shots, it's just that since we lack width we needed to work extremely hard for every good shot. We lost the derby, but we had a few more around this time so it's not terrible in the grand scheme of things.

A 50/50 game, literally. 50% possession and 10 shots for each team. Their right-back was the one to score, which is a bit embarrassing.

Athletico miserably lost the semifinal at home to Série D team Uniao Beltrao, so Paraná had an easy win in the final. This means we have to face them again in the stage final. I went back to the diamond around this time, but finally bit the bullet and let the wing-backs do more wing-back things. The downside is we are now putting in 40 crosses per game, at least. This is a problem because the FM19 match engine has a horrible cross completion rate, but having a wide presence makes Vaggione and Neitzke's job a lot easier.

We got a goal from a cross and one from a set piece in the first leg, and two goals from through balls in the second leg. I've solved FM!

This is the fifth state league I win out of 27. Only took 15 years to get this far!

2034 Copa Sudamericana

The first leg is the game that convinced me to try the strikerless thing. Vaggione just had a genius game. I lost a game month trying to get that thing to work but on the other hand, we'll be playing another round of continental football. We still don't have a rival because the Sudamericana first round takes 5 months to be completed in this game.

2034 Copa do Brasil

This wasn't a pleasant game.

This one was rough as well, really lucky to pull off an equaliser here.

This tie was really close, but our hero Lucas came through with a late winner.

I'm trying not to overreact to one match like I did sticking to the strikerless formation after beating Audax, but this first leg convinced me to return to the diamond. We played a brilliant game, and we can't pin it all on one player like the Audax win.

We get Palmeiras next on the cup. It's unlikely that we can beat them but reaching the fifth round two years in a row is nothing to sniff at.

We're starting Série A now. I have the new and improved 4-4-2 diamond tactic to try and play good football and the old reliable 5-3-2 to steal points from good teams. We're still a very mediocre club by player quality and have a wage bill that would be below the median in the second tier. Lets hope we can stay up another year!

Edited November 20, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2034 Brasileirao

World Cup break is here, which means we have a month off to rest our injury-riddled squad. Although, we were performing really well and I would've liked to keep this run going. We're playing fluid football and the crosses are reaching Jurandir and Vaggione. Vaggione still hasn't scored a header, which I want to see but he has 9 goals and 9 assists in these 6 months. The fact that he's getting those shots is more than good enough. We beat Flamengo and Vitoria away using the diamond tactic, so I'll trust in that more and save the 5-3-2 for the top top teams.

As per usual, 40 points is the target and we're ahead of schedule but not far ahead of the relegation places yet. Corinthians is underperforming for yet another year. They have 6 players in the WC-defending Brazil squad but somehow are 7 points behind the leaders.

Copa do Brasil

We just got embarrassed here. I went with the diamond at home and we were outplayed. Playing the 5-3-2 away didn't work as they were content to just hold the ball and gave us no counterattacking opportunities. Reaching the 5th round for the second year in a row isn't too bad though.

Copa Sudamericana

The opposite of our cup tie, we dominated this. We just connected on crosses at will and Jurandir feasted. We're facing another Paraguayan team next round, so we should make the quarter-finals.

Squad planning

I've started scouting for next year's transfers. Our team has two glaring needs: a ball playing defender and a replacement for Jurandir as target-man/playmaker. None of our centre-backs are anything other than mediocre passers, which hinders us against pressing teams. Jurandir is having his best season, but attributes-wise he's a Serie B player and he's our oldest squad member. I probably won't renew his contract which ends next season. Of course, we still don't have much money so we need to sell to make this happen.

Looking at my squad, I think Ricardo Balanta, Jeremias, and Milton Albanaz are overvalued. If we sell all of them for close to transfer value, we'll have R$15M which is more than enough. Jeremias and Albanaz are starters and we would have to replace them. Academy graduate Guilherme Kurt can be our starting left-back and if we buy a centre-back, he would occupy Albanaz's place. I'm more hesitant to sell Balanta who is a solid rotation option in central midfield, when we bought him at the start last season I struggled to find a player who fit the mold that I wanted. We have a better reputation now which might make things easier, but I won't sell him without a cheaper replacement lined up.

[wesl]

Brazil's World Cup squad

I figured I'd post this. Only 9 players (those highlighted) remain from the squad I won the WC with in 2030, although quite a few of the others called-up narrowly missed the cut for my squad. Austregésilo and Joao Pedro are playing their 3rd World Cup. There's a lot of players based in Brazil with 6 from Corinthians, 3 from Santos and 1 from Caxias. I'll post the bracket after the final.

[wesl]

I found two targets for the spots I wanted, both were transfer-listed and I'm still not sure we'll stay up this year (if we go down we won't be able to atract either) so I just pulled the trigger on both transfers.

A South African defender transfer listed by Caxias. He's good enough technically to improve Albanaz and Michel with the ball. There are cons to this signing, such as his poor personality and his wage (highest at the club), but that's all fine since he fits the profile enough and he's coming for RS975K, a bargain.

For R$1.4M we signed Mineiro graduate Isidoro from Santos. As you can see he's not a natural striker but I plan to train and play him as a target man. He lacks the finishing and some of the signature target man mental attributes of Jurandir, but bests him in vision and athleticism. Having technical players like him and Vaggione playing close to each other should be interesting.

With these two signings, Mamute and Marcos Antonio will have to go out on loan.

This isn't good news. I don't know if I'd be interested in remaining at the club without Vaggione, I've already won the Paraná league so I've already completed the "challenge" here. Although Vaggione has a R$66M release clause. If we get that much money, I could build a good side.

I'm now thinking ahead to what I should actually do with next season's transfer budget. We might have a new TV deal, which I hope will resemble the huge one at Caxias. If so, we should get a larger budget. We don't have to sign anyone and we're fulfilling the board's expectations easily but if I wanna push for a league title in the next few seasons we gotta keep improving the team. The only players that I'm planning to sell are Jeremías and centre-back Lucas Michel (I think it'd be better to keep Albanaz who is valued at half the price and slightly better right now), but I have decent replacements lined up for them already. Any signing would have to push someone out of the first XI.

[wesl]

2034 Brasileirao

A decent run. We were unlucky not to win any of our July league fixtures and then losses against two of the best teams had us close to relegation places, but we stole a win at Morumbi and played fantastically against Paraná and Mirassol to get some much needed points.

We have games in hand but they're against Palmeiras and Santos so it's unlikely that we'll get any points from those.

Copa Sudamericana

We played some great football in both games, but it's to be expected against a team outside of Argentina or Brazil.

We had a thriller away, Khopotse scored on a corner and Jurandir benefitted from striker Cleomar rescuing a clearance to score on the counter. We were ahead and comfortable most of the game but eventually we were just too tired and gave up two goals. Vaggione came from the bench and seemed to put the game beyond doubt with a third goal where he connected on a long ball to Cleomar, who once again held the ball magnificently, and then ran the length of the pitch to head in a cross. But our keeper Luis Maranhao made a rare mistake and gave up the ball to concede a third goal. We needed to hold on for just another minute, it was nervy but we pulled it off and advanced to the semifinals!

The fairytale comes to an end. Left winger Díaz is just terrible to play against, with the 5-3-2 we give teams space and time and pack men behind the ball, but Diaz is a great dribbler and an accurate shooter, he's scored 4 goals in 4 games against us this year taking full advantage as an inside forward.

Nevertheless, it was a fantastic run. Currently, Jurandir and Vaggione are tied with Palhinha as Sudamericana top scorers with 7 goals. Grêmio will play the final against Belgrano.

Edited November 27, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2034 Brasileirao

Well, we're keeping our form. We can't beat any good teams this year, hence our losses to Caxias, Palmeiras and Santos. The 5-3-2 seems done for. I'm tweaking it but nothing really seems to work, we just aren't creating counterattacks as we lack speed in midfield and we struggle to play from the back, so we clearly lack the personnel for it. I seem to remember my centre-backs at Caxias being better passers, but that seems very unlikely.

However, we play really well in certain games like the one against Vitoria and Chapecoense. Getting enough of thse wins against lesser clubs at home is our ticket to safety this year. A draw against a rich team like Flamengo while winning the possession and shots battles and using the diamond tactic is very encouraging. The one outlier is our loss at Ponte Preta, which was an even game where left inside forward Edney scored a hat-trick on us. That's interesting as Grêmio's Matias Diaz punished us from the same position and role but when we played a different tactic. I will have to keep an eye out and instruct right-back Pacheco to show all such players onto their left foot.

Finally level on games with everyone else. Nine points over 17th and with a chance at qualifying for Copa Sudamerican again!

Vaggione won the Golden Boot and the Best Player award for the Sudamericana, thanks to his two hat-trick games. He's the youngest winner for both in this save. Grêmio beat Belgrano in the final.

I figure there's nothing really interesting to be gleaned from tracking previous year's intakes, and I'm really fighting a losing battle with personalities. My squad has high determination but we don't have great personalities on the first team, and with Khopotse and one of my signings for next year, I'm acquiring two "negative" personalites. I will always choose the best player

I'll still use the spreadsheet to evaluate what position to train players in and who to avoid signing. From this year's intake, Xavi is great and Bruno Henrique is promising as well. I'm cutting Bruno, who my staff rates as having a 2.5 PA but he's starting with really poor attributes.

Good passing and a starting first touch which is not terrible! Not to mention fantastic tackling, positioning and jumping reach. With one CB being sold, he's breaking into the first team next season.

Edited November 28, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2034 Brasileirao

The last two games are very depressing. I played the kids against Paraná, giving Xavi his debut and featuring other teenagers. It was a mistake as this is a derby after all. In all fairness, we created 4 clear cut chances but they created 5. The difference was the finishing. The win against Bahia was quite dramatic, but it's all soured by that horrible loss.

We improve our finish by one spot but have 6 points less and a much worse goal difference. We played more ambitious, attacking football this year. It wouldn't be wrong to say we got worse but this is necessary to get to where I want to be with this team.

Two very different formations. I changed the 5-3-2 slightly this year. Khopotse is in Filipe's place in the second screen but this is roughly my best side with each formation.

Some stand-out players: Pacheco, a demon on the right side, he compensated for some defensive shortcomings with 13 assists. Maranhao, one of the best keepers in the league, we'd probably go down without him. Jurandir, who played his best football in his career and scored 20 goals in all competitions. And Keirrison, who unexpectedly developed into a starter and gives us some much needed variety and control in midfield.

Our best player to me is Vaggione, by a lot. 7 goals and 8 assists in Série A, 17 goals and 15 assists in all competitions. I think we can get more out of him, and I have some tactical ideas as to how to do that. But he's getting to the point where he's performing every week. Lets hope the Europeans don't come asking about him for at least one more year.

[wesl]

Something else

This is little more than the germ of an idea but I think something like this would work for us. The influences from Bielsa and Cruyff should be obvious, but the focus is all on young Vaggione. With the diamond tactic, Vaggione is moving the ball out wide and then getting in the box to be a target for crosses. The main problem with this way of attacking is the full-backs' poor starting position. With this shape, the wingers will provide that wide threat and we don't empty out the midfield, as the IWBs will be coming inside. The problem is obviously that gap in midfield when out of possession, so I don't know if we'll ever use this against stronger teams.

Obviously, the diamond works (most of the time) and the 5-3-2 is a nice safety net so I won't be going into big games with this tactic just yet, but I do want to get something with this shape working to use it as a main tactic by the season after the next one. We don't have the right players and Neitzke, who has good attributes for a winger, would have to be retrained from scratch. But with a left winger signing, I think I can start using this with our current wing-backs and left-footed Filipe slotting in at the DCL spot.

We've secured our first signing for the '35 season. Nicolau is a fringe Série A player, He's played the bulk of his career in the first tier but he had his best seasons in Série B for CSA and Botafogo. For a fee of R$120K, there's no risk in this transfer. I think he'll be able to do well with two targets in the box and he can also slot in as a striker, so if I give up on this tactic he will not be useless.

Keeping in tune with that theme, I have two more spots to fill in my squad with players  who can be useful in both shapes.

I've bolded the players who need to be retrained for the new shape and italicized promotions from youth teams. Jose Carlos is coming back as a back-up keeper, since Marcelo has been generally underwhelming and just conceded 5 goals from 16 shots against Paraná.

So we're looking for a starting playmaking DM (Filipe has been at this club longer than me and has held down the DM spot well, but he's very out of place in a possession-oriented team) and a central midfielder who can play as a left winger.

This leaves left-back Jeremias, centre-back Lucas Michel and midfielder Balanta as players to be sold. And several other players (Cleomar, Marcelo, Mamute, Marcos Antonio, Luiz Fernando, and whoever outgrows the U-20 team) will have to be loaned out.

We've made a loss two years in a row. I still don't know if we have any money to play with for next year since even with the sales we might be in the red. Hopefully that increase in TV money comes through now.

Excited about next season though!

[wesl]

2035 season preview

We ended up having to sell to make enough money to afford my 3 targets. It wasn't pretty but we got everyone I wanted. The fact that none of the outgoing transfer ended up in a team in our state league or Série A is also good. On paper, we've lost quality and depth but aside from left-back, we are not worse at any position in the diamond tactic. Not making a profit on Balanta is disappointing, but not losing money is a relief. He was a bit disappointing in his two years here, and I think we rushed into signing him when he wasn't the player we needed. I didn't plan to lose Filipe but we're just broke and I still needed to sign a starting DM. It looks like we'll remain broke if/until we sell Vaggione.

I am quite happy with the incoming transfers. I already mentioned Nicolau but here are the two other signings:

Vitor has ridiculous wage demands but we need technical playmakers like him in the team. He should be able to play on the left wing until his physical attributes drop off and he could compete with Keirrison for a midfield spot. He was frozen out of the team at Tombense as they were promoted from Série B, but I think he has enough quality to be a rotation option in the first tier.

García ended up being the reason we sold Filipe, but I'm convinced we needed a player like him. Once again, I'm brining a player with good technique and vision, but Garcia also has the physical and mental attributes to cover a lot of ground as the only nominal midfielder in the squad. While his CA may be similar to his countryman Balanta, he is better in most of the key attributes for the type of football I want to play.

Our squad in the new shape should look something like this, once García heals and Vaggione returns from the U-20 national tournament. Maranhao is also out for January, so Jose Carlos will see some starts in the state league.

This depth chart isn't so bad, but having Filipe's versatility would've made us better.

I think we'll struggle in Série A this year. Having won the state league, my only aim is avoiding relegation from the national league. The plan for now is incremental improvements (next year left centre-back, after that the full-backs), and I think we can be competing for titles within a few years.

[wesl]

I've played a lot without having the time to update this thread.

One of the things I did was reassigning numbers. #1 through #30 are for players who've been promoted to the first team. #31 through #40 are for reserves players (usually on loan or transfer listed), and #41 onwards is for U-20 players. We have currently assigned 50 numbers between 1 and 57. Overall, I like this more than the previous chaotic numbering system.

The 3-3-3-1 ended up turning into this. Vaggione isn't one of our primary goal threats here but having two defensive midfielders allows him to be the difference-maker in midfield and has brought out the best version of the team.

Many players leaving on loan as per usual. You may notice Alexsandro, a mainstay in the first team since our Série C season in 2031, left on loan. This was me panicking over our wage bill but he also doesn't fit in as a CB or in either DM spot, so I'd rather promote someone. I managed to sell two so-so youth players and target man Marcos Antonio, which doesn't fix our financial issues but helps a bit. Marcos Antonio started last year in the first team, but since we will rarely play a target man going forward and he's not among our best prospects, it makes no sense to keep him.

I can't make any youth signings this year because I need to save my scouting budget to find next year's targets, and our transfer budget will be close to R$0 until next season (hopefully I have a transfer budget next season!).

I forgot to talk about the youth players I've promoted, so I will do that now.

Xavi showed up in the '34 intake, just a few months ago. I think we have another Vaggione-tier prospect here. He's been very solid after his terrible debut in the last game of last season, where we shipped 5 goals to Paraná. He's been a real threat in set pieces, as a FK taker and as a target on corners. With his defensive attributes being so strong already, I will be training him as a libero. He will hopefully grow into our first true BPD. He's so good already that I'm probably selling Albanaz over the season. Like Vaggione, his main problem is lack of pace.

One of the youngest players from the '30 intake, Tamandaré will be a back-up and little else. With our full-backs covering a lot of ground, there will be a lot of games where he's subbed in. As long as he doesn' make too many mistakes and we don't get a better player in this position through an intake, he'll play here.

Damiani came through at Criciuma and Avaí, we paid R$83K for him. Giving him Alexsandro's playtime with his potential can only benefit the club. He has great physical attributes and I think we can mold him into a useful midfielder, at least.

[wesl]

2035 Campeonato Paranaense

It was quite a good start, but we were lucky against Paraná, where we conceded a whooping 7 chances and somehow won the game with our back-up keeper. We were also lucky to score 8 from only 3 clear cut and half chances against Uniao. Our offense and defense have improved since, but it was great to have luck on our side while working through a new tactic. Vaggione only came back against Londrina, as he was with the U-20 national team.

Top of the group means an easier path to the stage final.

Great game from Isidoro and Vaggione, we carved them open repeatedly after having a harder time during the group stage game just days before this. The tactic really started clicking here.

Paraná beat Athletico, so we avoid the bigger derby for this stage. But with Athletico back in Série A, there'll be a lot of Atle-Tiba games this year.

Dramatic winner from Vaggione! We came back and controlled the game after conceding a shot that Marcelo Gaúcho should've saved (both of our two first team keepers were out, Marcelo not leaving for loan worked out in the end!). This means we've secured a shot at a league final, or we may win the league if we win the closing stage.

Another major win against a lowly team to kick off this stage, we met expectations with the rest of the games. The derby featured only 12 shots from each team but we created 2 clear cut chances (neither were scored), it was disappointing to not win. Low shot games with a few high quality chances seem to be the pattern for our games against good teams this year.

Once again, we face a poor team in the stage semifinal by virtue of winning the group. Athletico had it all in their hands but drew to Operario in the final day,

This sucked. Disappointing game, and it was sadly picked as a fan day. We have high attendances, so it's fine but we really sucked on this one.

We bounced back though! Couldn't ask for a better way to win a tournament. Vaggione showed up for a big game once again, and we scored the winning goal from a set piece. We've been quite adept at coming back after conceding first, which wasn't a strength for this team last year.

This makes it two state leagues in a row for us.

Copa Sudamericana

An easy fixture against Chilean team Huachipato. This competition really suits Jurandir who now has 10 goals in it.

We drew Racing next round, which is a much tougher tie.

Copa do Brasil

This was against Brasilia champions Real (DF) from the fourth tier. We laid an egg here, never in danger of losing and we had the tiebreaker as the highest division team, but it was a lousy game where we had control but couldn't create danger.

Second round brought us Tombense, freshly promoted to Série A. It was a hard-fought game won by Isidoro, who has been in killer form all year. He's playing an advanced forward but he's been a deadly aerial threat.

An easy win against Rio de Janeiro's Boavista, currently in Série B. Not much to say about this one, other than I would've liked to score more. The team really started clicking around this time.

Great game at home. Only created 10 shots but that was enough for 3 chances and 2 goals, and we only conceded 7 shots, of a much lower quality. With that, we went to Belo Horizonte playing a more conservative game, and we went up by a penalty after half-time. It seemed like there could've been some drama as we conceded twice late, but they needed four goals and we widened the gap by one more with Isidoro scoring in injury time.

We got the luckiest draw, as we'll face Audax (SP) from the fourth tier in the next round. They beat Paraná in the third round to get here, but I think we should dominate them easily.

We're about to start the Brasileirao, we won the state league and we're alive in both cup competitions. Can't ask for much more!

Edited December 3, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

I've been playing a lot, so I'm just gonna cramp the first half of the season into an update.

2035 Brasileirao

We're amazing! Isidoro leads the league in scoring and we're keeping things tight at the back. Beating the defending champions Grêmio (who dominated us last year) while playing well was great to see but the obvious highlights are winning both of our local derbies, with a goal and assist from Vaggione in the Atle-Tiba derby.  He's very much a big game player. However, he hasn't been as much of a prolific scorer as I hoped. Right now, he's playing in an AP(s) role. This limits his goal scoring chances, but has brought out the best version of this team so far. We're legitimately playing well, controling games and dominating most teams with the ball. Santos, Caxias and Corinthians are still too good for us, but considering we have the smallest wage bill in the league, I'm quite happy that we're at this point already.

We're definitely not getting relegated, and as long as we don't fall apart entirely, we should have a shot at playing the Libertadores next year.

All the Paranaense teams are doing well so far.

Copa do Brasil

A heavily rotated side was enough to get a big lead against Série D's Audax in the first leg. An even more rotated side (basically our U-20s) got a draw away. Xavi has scored 4 goals this season, two of them from direct FKs. This is good to see from a CB.

We got Santos in the quarter-final, which means trouble.

Nothing to see here. Just us failing to progress the ball from the back reliably and Santos being both very creative and deadly in the final third. We have to take these defeats some times with the team being what it is right now, but we did create chances (two CCCs and one half chance, to be precise). We're just a worse team.

Copa Sudamericana

Vaggione showing up in big games again! He scored a late FK in the first leg and we were never in trouble after that. Racing are a mid-table team in Argentina, it's good to know that we can compete against these clubs.

Emelec are an Ecuadorian team, and like every team that isn't from Brazil or Argentina, they don't have a chance to win any South American tournament in this save. Our first four goals came from set pieces, which feels lucky. However, we dominated them and they only got 5 shots in both legs.

In the quarter-finals, we have Uruguay's Liverpool. We should also beat them to qualify for the semifinals for the second year in a row. I think we have a chance to win this thing with the way we're playing.

[wesl]

I've sold our back-up right back halfway through the season. He's off to Novo Hamburgo, where he joins one of my midfield playmakers back at Caxias, Antoninho. Antoninho never made it in Série A but he's become a club legend at Novo Hamburgo.

I've kept track of Antoninho with the aim of signing him some day. He didn't want to come to CENE or Naútico (RR) when I managed them, and Novo Hamburgo didn't want to sell him when I arrived at Coritiba and we were in Série C. He's obviously not good enough for us at this point in time. I don't think I'll ever manage him again but he's one of my favorite players in this save. He had a great game as a teenager with Caxias when we beat Grêmio away 3-0 in the state league. He might not have been good enough for the first tier but his vision and flair made a huge difference in the lower tiers. That reminds me of several of the players I have right now, namely those that have been here longer than me (Keirrison, Jurandir, etc), except now I'm playing in a style where passing and technique are the most important things. With Antoninho's Caxias I was playing a very direct version of football.

Regardless, the reason to sell Paulo André is the progress of this youngster.

We bought Alexandre last year for R$80K from Ivinhema. A real bargain. Alexandre needs to improve on possession, but he seems very solid defensively and is enough of an athlete to get into good crossing positions. All I need from our back-up full-backs at this point is being decent defenders and maybe a handful of good crosses per season. André was a similar player but attributes-wise he's been surpassed by Alexandre already and his PA was poorly rated by the staff. Hopefully, we can develop this player into a starting option.

Edited December 6, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2035 Brasileirao

We never let up! We accumulated 35 points in the second half of the season, exactly the same as the first half. October was a special run for us, as we ended up drawing to Santos in a thriller where we went ahead 3 times but couldn't hold on to the lead. Santos is a fantastic team. They have a golden generation of sorts that they've managed to hold on to, led by AMC Caio Roberto and centre-back Amaral (part of the WC winning squad). And their extremely talented forwards are just really hard to shut down. That game had 4 clear cut chances for each team, so the result was fair in the end. On our end, Jurandir playing as a false 9 was amazing, creating of those 4 CCC's. It's expected that Santos will create chances against us, but that we managed to create so much danger is fantastic.

Then, two weeks later we beat Timao in my old stomping grounds of Arena Corinthians. I deployed the diamond and Vaggione netted two goals as a mezzala. It was a game that could've gone either way, but we kept it tight at the back. This result qualified us for the Libertadores next year, which will bring a lot of needed money to the club.

We were never in contention for the title, but we were just a couple results away from being close, which is not what I expected at all this year. I can't complain because we weren't particularly unlucky (or particularly lucky either). Santos claimed their third league in four years with a win in the final day, while Corinthians lost away to defending champions Grêmio. Corinthians still have the best players and the highest wage bill in the country, by a lot, but they just haven't managed to be a dominating force lately. They now have 15 national titles while Santos have 14.

A podium finish is beyond great for us. I'm a bit surprised that this can even happen in the game. We have the lowest wage bill and we're playing attacking, possession football. But we have all the right players for it and it's working. I expect to regress a bit next year as I keep trying different things tactically. Not to mention our reputation improving and teams playing us more defensively. I also expect that we'll eventually have to make some unwanted sales. Isidoro and Vaggione are both labeled as "wonderkids", but they're not being tracked by any teams at the moment. PSG have (thankfully) lost their interest in Vaggione. The other issue looming over our heads is we'll eventually have to start paying these players a much higher wage.

Copa Sudamericana

Uruguay's Liverpool was no match for us. We had a nervy first leg away, but we crushed them at Couto Pereira.

Gimnasia (LP) was another story, as they limited our offense and hit back on the counter. Our captain Neitzke disappointingly missed in the shootout and they converted all their penalties.

Palmeiras beat them in the final with a comfortable 3-0. We reached the semifinals two years in a row, it would've been great to win it this year but we just couldn't score at home after Antonio Vitor's goal.

Our rivals Athletico surprisingly won the Copa do Brasil. They also were never in trouble of relegation on their first year back to the top tier. This rivalry has been dominated by us since we reached Série A but it may be more competitive going forward.

This is the tactic I ended the year with. I still haven't gotten the best out of the Isidoro-Vaggione pairing, and it seems like one can only perform at their best at the expense of the other. What I'm trying now is Vaggione as a false 9 (although he's out until February with a broken foot). Jurandir was fantastic in the false 9 role and Vaggione also improved, but Isidoro never performed as a shadow striker. He went from 20 goals in the first half of the season, to 3 playing as a shadow striker. With this in mind, I'm moving to a 4-3-3, with Isidoro as an inside forward. I still have two versions of the 4-2-3-1 which work well, as well as the diamond tactic. Brazil is a great place to try out tactics. There is a shortage of ball-playing defenders which is very annoying, but I get 4 months of games against weaker teams to try out tactics at the start of every season.

 

Everyone was great basically all year, other than the front 2 of Vaggione and Isidoro (in theory, our best players). Vitor, Nicolau and Neitzke from the wings picked up the slack on offense when either of those struggled. Defensively, we got carved open and conceded very easy chances in a few games, but that's the risk of playing a high line as a team without a great squad. What's amazing is that didn't happen in every single game and we ended up with the fourth-best defense in the Brasileirao.

The fans picked central defender Kagiso Khopotse as the best player. He was really good and went on a weird goalscoring run early in the year, but my favorite player was my keeper Luis Maranhao.

Luis has now won the Série best keeper award three years in a row and he fully deserves it. He's an amazing shot stopper and allowed us to get several points from those games where we got carved open. It's a bit annoying that he probably won't make it as a club legend or icon, because the avg rating tends to undervalue keepers but he's really important for us. I think he adds like 15 points to our tally every year.

[wesl]

This happened last year. It's a vindication of the youth players (my reserve team is basically empty, so the players in these games are mostly from the U-20 team) we have and the tactics that I'm using.

Transfers

Once again, we turned a healthy profit from outgoing transfers, getting R$17.5M in fees after R$25M last year. The key departure is starting centre-back Albanaz, who was very solid for the past three years but was as far from a ball-playing centreback as you can get. Getting reasonable fees for Erielton and Leitao is a huge coup, as they are Série B caliber players at best. We have two more first team squad members from last year leaving, in José Carlos who will be a starter for a Série D team and Mamute who's leaving on loan to play in Série C. I think Mamute could be a reasonable fourth CB, but he's probably maxed out his PA already.

I didn't manage to sell Alexsandro, so he's leaving on a free at the end of the year. Cleomar will probably come back to the first team next year, so I hope he scores many goals for Vila Nova in Série C. Claudinei is another striker who's on the cusp of making the first team and will also be playing in Série C. The other loanees probably don't have much future at the club but they're all loaned to Série D or Série C teams.

I promoted two players to the first team this year.

Promoting Emerson Luiz was just a no-brainer. He ended up notching 13 appearances in the first team last year as we had a bit of an injury crisis at the end of the season. Emerson will play as a mezzala in a 4-3-3 or as our AMC in the 4-2-3-1 for now, but in the long term he might have to become a winger. I think he will soon be an upgrade on our captain Neitzke (who's played in all the same roles).

I'm in the middle of a big transition with centre-backs. Mamute and Albanaz just left, which leaves us with only two from four players who featured there last year. I'm also planning to sell Khagiso Khopotse after this season, to make room for the promising Xavi in the RCB spot. Moisés will be our fourth CB this year but he's going to be our third choice next year, and in the long term might even be a better option than Xavi.

I wanted two specific profiles as incoming transfers, and managed to secure good players for both after a lot of scouting.

I'm a big supporter of left-footed centre-backs in "real" football. This hadn't come into play this save since I was playing more direct tactics but with the focus on playing from the back and withSérie A has several high pressing teams, having a centre-back who can play that natural pass out wide could be an advantage. I didn't find any decent CBs who were left-footed and could play the ball but I did find Mogollón, who will hopefully grow into this role. Mogollón has good athleticism and mental attributes, he's young with potential, can pass the ball (reasonable passing, first touch and vision) and has decent defensive attributes. He's coming in for R$5M, which is a high fee for us. Mogollón hadn't yet made his debut for Alianza in Peru and will have to be retrained, so he's a gamble but I think he'll be one of our two centre-back starters for many years.

Our signings have been either players from other South American leagues, players unable to feature at big clubs or standouts from the lower leagues. Kid is the first player who's coming to Coritiba after being a starter in Série A . He started 32 games for SPFC last year and has been a regular starter for the last 9 years with stints in Botafogo, Chapecoense and Sao Paulo. He even notched 10+ assists at his first two seasons in Sao Paulo. He comes in on a free transfer as his contract expired and will be competing for a spot in the starting XI with Harold García and Keirrison.

This is our first team for the year. Two players for each spot, but we have a lot of versatility which is good. I will be using a 4-3-3 and a 4-2-3-1 for the year, with the old diamond tactic mostly used late in games.

I would like to find a rotation option at left-back, since Tamandaré is clearly the worst player here. I also think Kurt is over-valued and I would jump at the chance to sell him for R$30M if such an offer came in. But we're still very limited financially, and I want Kurt to continue as the starter as long as he's here. So I'll just have to wait for a free transfer to bring in someone.

Season preview

The board wants us to reach the Group Stage in Copa Libertadores and the fifth round in the national cup. We're entering at these stages in both competitions, so I'm not worried about board expectations this year. This is what I personally hope for:

Campeonato Paranaense: We've won the state league twice in a row. I don't care that much about winning it again, I just wanna win the derbies with Athletico (who are spending a lot of money, I wish we had money).

Copa do Brasil: This is all dependent on the draw. We could get a fourth-tier side or Santos in our first tie. I want to win this eventually, since Athletico won it last year but we have to improve a lot for me to expect anything in this tournament.

Copa Libertadores: Our group is Independiente, Colo Colo and Barcelona (ECU). This is a really easy group, with two teams not from Brazil or Argentina. We have to qualify and we could even win the group with good results against Independiente. After that, it all depends on who we draw, but I think we could have a good run this year.

Série A: Still the most important competition for me. I won't leave Coritiba until I win this league. We're still a few years away from contending. I don't think we should expect a repeat of last year's 3rd-place finish but we have to keep qualifying for continental competitions. The TV money we get seems to be capped for some unknown reason, so prize money and outgoing transfers are the only way we can improve our finances, pay higher wages and improve our squad. We need something like a top 13 finish, which is very doable.

Edited December 10, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2036 Campeonato Paranaense

My first 4-3-3 experiment ended with a disastrous derby defeat. Athletico destroyed us by countering fast, we did nothing well in their stadium. A draw away against Paraná isn't a bad result for an experimental formation, but I have to go back to the drawing board as it wasn't working well. I went back to last season's 4-2-3-1 against Paranavaí and the difference is clear.

We have to face Athletico again in the stage semifinal.

A far better performance with a tried and tested tactic. We're still vulnerable to their counterattacks but we controlled the game far better and Neitzke, Vitor and Vaggione playing as the "3" in the 4-2-3-1 created enough to win it.

Londrina shocked Paraná to secure a spot in the stage final.

This was a stinker. They played a 4-2-2-2 and with that many bodies in the middle we struggled to create good through balls or crosses. But we won in penalties, which is good enough. I suppose.

We had nothing to lose and played a very easy schedule in the closing stage of the state league. So I tried another 4-3-3 which I created from the scratch. It's working well, the idea is moving to a 2-3-5 in possession with one IWB occupying the spot of a roving mezzala, and one attacking wing-back on the other side. We do struggle scoring enough goals, but with the number of shots and chances created, I think this shape has upside.

Paraná is our rival for the stage semifinal.

Played the 4-3-3 again. It worked well, although we needed a set piece goal from Vaggione to go through. We had total control of the game and with 3 chances (1 CCC+2 half chances), it's hard to find fault in this performance.

This set up another derby against Athletico.

As you can see, we conceded two goals fairly quickly. Athletico counters really well and the 2-3-5 shape is just asking for it. I went back to the 4-2-3-1 to avoid humiliation and Isidoro got a goal immediately. Neitzke equalised with a screamer in the second half, but we had rotten luck this game. We conceded two goals from set pieces in just a minute. Neitzke pulled one back after a through ball from Vaggione, but it wasn't enough. They didn't sit back and both teams had chances during the last 30 minutes, us through controlled possession and them through counters and their striker Ederson beating our CBs to long balls. Can't say we deserved to win this but we could've if I started with the right tactic and we just had a bit more luck on those set pieces.

This set up another derby final for the state league title.

Having conceded 5 open play goals playing with a 4-3-3 shape to this team, I just stuck with the 4-2-3-1 which I know works. The first leg was our derby at home and it showed, they looked toothless on the counter and we got a 2 goal lead and could've got more if Vaggione was a better finisher. The second leg was a nightmare. Once again Ederson crushed us on counter-attacks. He got a brace and an assist. Meanwhile, we were creating shots but playing a set defense and struggling to find good shooting angles, while they were running into open space and were absolutely clinical. Vaggione saved us by scoring on a cut-back. We won the penalty shootout, but it's upsetting that this was such a thriller when we started with a two-goal lead.

It's our third state league title. We now have 43 titles to Athletico's 34. They had won 9 of their last 10 before I got here and would've caught up in no time.

Copa Libertadores

Can't ask for much more from our first appearance in this tournament. We had a naive game at home against Colo Colo failing to finish many of our chances, but beating Independiente reassures me that we have a very solid tactic which fits out squad perfectly.

We won the group! Our reward is playing River, the best 2nd place who didn't top their group because they shared it with Corinthians. We are clearly underdogs but now that we've beaten teams like Corinthians in the league, I know we have a chance. We could play Athletico in the quarter-finals if we go through and they manage to beat Vélez.

[wesl]

Pacheco and Mogollón are national team players now. Mogollón got a call-up for Copa América as well.

Our U-20 defensive midfielder Reinaldo is also now a national team player. I don't think he'll ever make our first team, but there aren't many Japanese players in my database so a lot of Brazilian-Japanese players make it to their senior team. If anything, it could raise his value?

I'm also doing this again. Brazil were eliminated from the Copa América quarter-final which led to them sacking André Lima (formerly of Bahia). They haven't won this tournament since 2020. I want to change that, which means staying until 2040, at least. But first, there's a WC in South Africa. Brazil is currently 2nd in the WCQ after 6 games, which is a comfortable spot. Getting to coach 32-year-old Austregésilo (still the best Brazilian player) again is great news and I also get to try this 4-2-3-1 with better players, and see how far I can take it. There's a handful of amazing Brazilian forwards, like you would expect and I think there's a lot of potential there.

Edited December 14, 2020 by wesl

[wesl]

2036 Brasileirao

Really good! As always the key is competent offense and a really solid defense backed by a great keeper. Highlights include a comfortable win over Athletico, a dominant win over Santos and a draw at Arena Corinthians which we almost turned into a win. We were worse from mid-June to July as we faced a minor injury crisis and various call-ups to our starting defenders. Xavi started many games during this stretch and it's clear he's not ready for a starting spot yet. We concede 0.98 goals per 90 with him, compared to 0.65 for Mogollón and Khopotse, our two starting CBs. However, the only game where we lost control and were dominated was the draw against Corinthians so I'm quite happy.

We could win this thing. We're not favorites and we have to drop off soon but we're on pace for 86 points, which would be the most in Brazil since Santos got 90 points in 2032. Santos have fallen away, but Corinthians seem to be back after four years of being too inconsistent to win this title.

With our 4 starters at the back, I think we'll do well enough to be in a real title race by the end of the year.

Athletico have also fired their manager Alejandro Orfila due to poor league position. The new hire is Bernardo, a former Brighton, RB Leipzig and RB Salzburg player. Bernardo seems to favor shorter passing so I expect they'll be less of a bogeyman now.

Copa do Brasil

We conceded three goals too many, but a solid win over a Série A side.

Palmeiras were too much for the XIs we fielded, we avoided being humiliated but never looked like winning this thing.

Copa Libertadores

We were very poor in the first leg, we had the chances to equalise at home but River were better overall.

We're out of both cups so we can now focus on our unlikely title bid.