[FM23] Out of Africa. (Spanish out of Morocco to be precise). We will start with Ceuta, but if things go badly I might end up at Melila.

[Sonic Youth]

Congrats on winning the league, stormed it this season  

I like how Spain were knocked out by Cote del Ivory 

That 17yo FB is amazing!

Bayern Munich in Europe though 

[Jimbokav1971]

More Big bids (rejected). Jun 2047. 

We had a deal for £100M but I couldn't get the contract agreed with the player, but now they're taking the mick. I'm not offering any more. 

This was just too much money. They kept negotiating whatever I offered. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jun 2047. 

B Team. We finished really strongly but it still wasn't enough for the title, (and if I'm completely honest I don't think we deserved it). It was good to get the B Team playing like the 1st Team though, smashing in the goals. 

(37c) Castro * scored 11 more goals than anyone else in La Liga 2 with 36 goals and 14 assists. He was a large part of the B Team's success and well worth the large chunk out of the budget. It could be argued that he shouldn't have been playing in LaLiga 2 but I think he still benefitted despite the drop in playing level. I'm not sure if he will be playing for the B Team again next season, but after our struggles of the last couple of years I think it's clear that we need someone of this sort of clinical level. 

Records. I think that we've started seeing the benefits of our recent success at this level with improved gate receipts, but I would like to think that with another couple of seasons like this one we could make great strides. 

U19's. Another trophy in the bag, (although not won by me). 

We've won this 6 out of the last 9 seasons and been Runners Up in 2 more. 

More Awards. He's not rubbish, but he also wasn't good enough for our B Team.

Loan watch. I always like to keep an eye on the players out on loan.

Thalmas (CIV) & Fofana (CIV) were both sent back to their selling club ASEC Mimosas in Ivory Coast after we signed them and they have scored 32 goals between them. They are a bit raw but they know where the goal is. 

Haruna (GER)(NGA) * has only scored 7 goals in 31(2) Ligue 1 appearances this season, but he also scored 6 goals in 10 Europa League appearances and 3 goals in the Coupe de France. I really like the look of him. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

 

 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Sonic Youth said:

Congrats on winning the league, stormed it this season  

I like how Spain were knocked out by Cote del Ivory 

That 17yo FB is amazing!

Bayern Munich in Europe though 

Yep. We were really good in the League this season and I think I only remember 2 poor performances all season. 

I hadn't actually noticed that CIV beat ESP.   I am considering applying for the CIV job if it becomes available though. Jeez I love an Ivorian in this save. 

Which 17 yo FB? Honestly, between some of the young players we've got and some that I've been trying to sign, I honestly don't know if we're coming of going. I need to properly sit down and work out who is going to do what next season. It's going to be a mammoth task. 

Let me see if I can go back through the thread and see who you're talking about....

Oh. You mean Haddouche (FRA)(ALG) don't you. I didn't think of him because I don't see him as a FB. I see him has a DLC. Yeah he's amazing. I think I went up to £110M + 50% of profit, (what profit?)  and when they countered again I just thought screw-em. Honestly, I've spent a Loooooooong time scouting over the last few seasons. It's hard work. And the players who I really like I didn't work for at all. They just appeared on the NxGn list. 

Yeah the Bayern game was a toughee. They had this Italian striker, Alvino (ITA) *, and he scored 4 goals and had a 5th ruled out. He absolutely terrorized us.  I've just gone back to check to see if I screwed up the team selection or weakened the team or something, but no actually. I think our 1st choice MLC was out injured, but apart from that it was full strength. They just scored 6 goals with an xG of 3.74. What's even more galling is that we were leading 2-1 away at HT and they scored 5 unanswered goals in 25 mins. 

I've just noticed that we played 3 days earlier though and although most of the XI were rotated, the back 3 played in both games, (which wouldn't have been by design). Either it was a mistake or we had injuries and they had to play twice. Actually, looking at it now, I did get the team selection wrong. The 2nd team often played in Europe after the 1st Team played in La Liga, but what happened here is that I rotated the 1st Team in to beat Atletico 1-0 in La Liga, and then the plan was to rotate the 2nd Team back 3 in for the Bayern game, butb 2 of them were suspended and I didn't realise until after the Atletico game. So I did screw-up. Basically the back 3 were knackered and what we had on the bench was B team level so the Ass Man didn't make any changes.   (That's me being stupid and not the Ass Man by the way). 

Edited July 15, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Rising star. Jun 2047. 

There has been 1 player who has really caught my eye this season and I thought I would share his progress. 

(46a) De Backer (BEL) Res * came through the intake last season, so this was his 1st full season at the club. 

He played that 1st part season after coming through the intake in the U19's, and made 1 solitary appearance for the B Team.

This season he again started in the U19's, but he soon broke into the B Team and seemed to do well when called upon, scoring 7 goals and creating 3 assists from the SLC slot. 

Because he was playing well for the B Team, he also got a few opportunities in the 1st Team. 

1st he got a start in the Copa del Rey and then I gave him a late sub appearance in the Champions League, but the real surprise came in the the last game of the season where I have him his La Liga debut and he responded with 2 goals in a MOM performance, (and he should have had an assist too). 

I know he doesn't look amazing, but his performances seem at odds with his attributes and I suppose he caught my eye because not only is he the (46a) player, but he's also still showing at 5.0 PA and that's significant because we have some pretty good players. 

He has a good personality, and has already been capped by BEL U21's.Considering he isn't used at all to the way we play, I'd say that he's doing rather well. 

Just for the record, we have 9 players at the club who have 5.0 PA and while I really like the look of some of them, there's also no point in suggesting that they will all reach their PA. In particular (47d) Ruiz (Unamb + L.Det) *, (who just happens to top the whole bloomin list), is both Unamb + L.Det and I will do well to get him anywhere near his PA. 

(47d) Ruiz (Unamb + L.Det) * is top of the whole list and it's typical that he has a rubbish personality.  Still though, I'm going to try and develop him and with that in mind he's already made his B Team debut despite the fact that he's nowhere near ready for that yet. 

(46a) De Backer (BEL) Res * I have just shown you and he's the inspiration for this post. 

(45b) Pérez (Driven) 5'10" * is one of my favourite players at the moment and seems to be really developing well. He's already made 54(10) La Liga 2 appearances and even made 2(1) La Liga appearances, 3 Copa del Rey appearances and 1(1) Champions League appearances. The fact that he can play both centre-half and midfield has made it much easier to give him game time.

Thalmas (CIV) I showed you in a recent post. He's still on loan at his selling club and hasn't physically arrived yet. 

Adeyemi (GER)(NGA) * looks fantastic and has gained his 1st GER Cap while still a teenager. We have some decent full-backs, but his attacking abilities are on a different level. 

Awalom (NOR)(ERI) came with high hopes, but I don't think he's performed as well for the B Team as he should. It's early days yet though

Ly (BEL)(SEN) * has come on leaps and bounds this last season and I think there's a fair chance that he will be 1st choice next season. 

Haruna (GER)(NGA) * I have just shown you in a recent post. 

Bakayoko (CIV) 6'2" * is our 2nd choice GK and regular starter in the B Team. 

While I'm at it, there are also 7 x 4.5 PA players. 

Chrisantus (GER)(NGA) * came in for a big fee, (at least for us), and while his value has rocketed and his physicals and mentals look really good, his technical attributes are sadly lacking and I don't like the look of him at all. 

Saïdi (MAR) * really flourished while on loan in Germany last season and he's stepped up well this season for us. 

(47b) Vera (Fickle) * looks a little raw, but then again he's only 16 so it's to be expected. Looks decent so far. 

(47a) Acosta (F.Amb) * looks really decent at this early stage. I really like the look of him. 

Abubakar (NGA)(ENG) DC 5'11" spent a strange season on loan in Korea, but went out to another La Liga club this season. 

Johnson (NGA) was signed for just £1M and what a bargain he was. He's been playing for the B Team this season, but with both of our 1st Team DL's "righties", he could well be stepping up, (although probably behind Adeyemi (GER)(NGA) * in the pecking order). 

Kaunda (RSA)(ZIM) 6'2" * is the last on this list and he's already 2nd Team DRC. I'm not hugely sold on him, (hence why I was looking at those two £100M signings), but he's only 20 and there's still time to develop. 

Below those 16 players we start to get into the realms of players who have already reached their PA. 

Nobody has more than 4.0 CA at the club. 

[Sonic Youth]

3 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Yep. We were really good in the League this season and I think I only remember 2 poor performances all season. 

I hadn't actually noticed that CIV beat ESP.   I am considering applying for the CIV job if it becomes available though. Jeez I love an Ivorian in this save. 

Which 17 yo FB? Honestly, between some of the young players we've got and some that I've been trying to sign, I honestly don't know if we're coming of going. I need to properly sit down and work out who is going to do what next season. It's going to be a mammoth task. 

Let me see if I can go back through the thread and see who you're talking about....

Oh. You mean Haddouche (FRA)(ALG) don't you. I didn't think of him because I don't see him as a FB. I see him has a DLC. Yeah he's amazing. I think I went up to £110M + 50% of profit, (what profit?)  and when they countered again I just thought screw-em. Honestly, I've spent a Loooooooong time scouting over the last few seasons. It's hard work. And the players who I really like I didn't work for at all. They just appeared on the NxGn list. 

Yeah the Bayern game was a toughee. They had this Italian striker, Alvino (ITA) *, and he scored 4 goals and had a 5th ruled out. He absolutely terrorized us.  I've just gone back to check to see if I screwed up the team selection or weakened the team or something, but no actually. I think our 1st choice MLC was out injured, but apart from that it was full strength. They just scored 6 goals with an xG of 3.74. What's even more galling is that we were leading 2-1 away at HT and they scored 5 unanswered goals in 25 mins. 

I've just noticed that we played 3 days earlier though and although most of the XI were rotated, the back 3 played in both games, (which wouldn't have been by design). Either it was a mistake or we had injuries and they had to play twice. Actually, looking at it now, I did get the team selection wrong. The 2nd team often played in Europe after the 1st Team played in La Liga, but what happened here is that I rotated the 1st Team in to beat Atletico 1-0 in La Liga, and then the plan was to rotate the 2nd Team back 3 in for the Bayern game, butb 2 of them were suspended and I didn't realise until after the Atletico game. So I did screw-up. Basically the back 3 were knackered and what we had on the bench was B team level so the Ass Man didn't make any changes.   (That's me being stupid and not the Ass Man by the way). 

Yes, that’s the FB. Are they negotiating like that because of their age?

That Italian at Bayern Munich is amazing! Sounds like a lot going on at that time.

After the run down of your younger players, your next squad organisation should be interesting.

I like the look of De Backer and your German forward, as well as fullback Adeyemi (must be knocking on the door of the first team), of course GK Bakayoko. I could go on with a bunch of others too 

[Jimbokav1971]

14 minutes ago, Sonic Youth said:

Yes, that’s the FB. Are they negotiating like that because of their age?

That Italian at Bayern Munich is amazing! Sounds like a lot going on at that time.

After the run down of your younger players, your next squad organisation should be interesting.

I like the look of De Backer and your German forward, as well as fullback Adeyemi (must be knocking on the door of the first team), of course GK Bakayoko. I could go on with a bunch of others too 

Yeah, I think I'm going to do the depth chart slightly differently this year. I have an idea..... 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jul 2047.

GK. I'm still hoping that Faty (FRA)(SEN) 6'4" might opt for FRA, but he's still eligible for both. 

1st Team. Camara (SEN) 6'2"
2nd Team. Camara (SEN) 6'2"
B Team. Bakayoko (CIV) 6'2" * £20k
B Team. Bakayoko (CIV) 6'2" * £20k
U19's. (47n) Junior (F.Amb)(ESP)(CPV) & (46p) Villoldo (URU) (Loyal).
Loan. Faty (FRA)(SEN) 6'4", (38l) Paradas 6'1" AFCON & (36j) Camara (GAM)(ESP) 6'4".
Sell.
Release. 

Edited July 16, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jul 2047. 

DL. Yakubu (ENG)(GHA) * made the La Liga Team of the season, but I'm still not sure about selecting him at #1 or #2. On the other hand he's a non-African African so I could really do with keeping him around for AFCON time. 

1st Team. Adeyemi (GER)(NGA) *
2nd Team. Yakubu (ENG)(GHA) * & Saïdi (MAR)(FRA) *.
B Team. Johnson (NGA) £20k
B Team 2. Tavares (CPV)(POR) £31k
U19's. (45e) Castro (F.Pro)
Loan. (40i) Asier (Pro), (44d) Eloi (Pro), (46d) Victor (Bal), (47h) Espinosa (Pro), 
Sell.
Release.

 

Edited July 16, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jul 2047. 

DR. We've got some decent Senior Squad players at DR, but our younger players don't seem up to scratch. 2 of our DL's are actually righties and I've just planned to move Soudant (MAR) DC * from the DR list to the DC list in order to get him some game time. 

1st Team. Kitoko (BEL)(COD) *
2nd Team. Brossou (CIV) *
B Team. (43o) Soldevila (Pro) £55k
B Team 2. (44g) Kennedy (SCO)(ESP)(Bal) £31k
U19's. (45i) Otero (F.Pro)  & (46b) Bassey. (NGA)(ESP) Bal, 
Loan. Charles (NGA)(ESP) *, (45o) Vivar. (Fickle), 
Sell. 
Release. (44f) Fresneda. (Real) SELL

Edited July 16, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jul 2047.

DC. 

1st Team.
DLC. McCarthy (ENG)(GHA) 5'11" *
DC. Odita (NGA)(POR) 6'3" DC *
DRC. Boyer (FRA)(REU) 6'0" * I was going to loan him out again, but instead I have opted to start him. 
2nd Team.
DLC. Ly (BEL)(SEN) *
DC. Idris (GER)(NGA) 6'5"
DRC. Soudant (MAR) DC * was 3rd choice DR last season & loaned out, but I am moving him to DRC because there is more chance of game time. 
Spare. (37k) Jesús 6'6" is the only member of our back 5/GK who is a product of our Academy. I can't get rid of him because I'm going to need him for European registration. 
B Team. I've picked 6 Academy products at centre-half in the B Team because I know that we need some of them for European registration. 
DLC. (40f) Lisco (ITA) (Bal) 6'1" £40k
DC. (45b) Pérez (Driven) 5'10" * £25k
DRC. (39b) Agné 6'4" £13k
B Team 2.
DLC. (42f) Aguza (BIH)(ESP) 6'3" DC £26k
DC. (45d) Gomis (ESP)(SEN) Unamb * £24k
DRC. (39b) Agné 6'4" £13k
U19's. (45d) Gomis (ESP)(SEN) Unamb *, (46g) César. (Unamb+L.Det) & (47g) Gurzeta(F.Pro) DC *. (46g) César.
Loan. Sousa (POR)(STP), Abubakar (NGA)(ENG) DC 5'11" *, Dabo (SEN)(FRA) 6'0" *, Kaunda (RSA)(ZIM) 6'2" *, Uzochukwu (NGA) 6'1", Olawale (NGA) 6'2", Fonseca (CPV)(POR), (44b) Sert (GER)(TUR) (F.Det)
Sell.
Release. (44e) Conde. (F.Det) 6'0" SELL, 

[Thebaker]

Really good season there, you are beginning to dominate now. The standard of some of your young players is fantastic

[abulezz]

Man, Acosta looks like he is going to be a real beast. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jul 2047. 

MC. 

1st Team. 
MLC. Lakhsassi (MAR)(FRA) *
MRC. Sakanoko 2 (CIV) MC *
2nd Team. 
MLC. Hamdi (EGY) * 6'2"
MRC. Kouadio (ENG)(CIV) 5'10"
B Team.
MLC. (42c) Rial 5'7"
MRC. Saadi (ALG) *
B Team 2.
MLC. Soma (BFA)
MRC. (45c) Fritsche (AUR)(GER)Bal* 
U19's. (45n) Oliver (F.Pro), (47b) Vera (Fickle) *, (47c) Peris (Driven), (46e) Baleato. (F.Pro), (47l) Héctor (F.Det), 
Loan. (38i) Iván, (42e) Ramos, Georges (MRI)(FRA), (41b) Gutiérrez (Spirit), (44a) Juan (Unamb), (45g) Sergi (Pro), 
Sell. (44h) Ayala.(ARG)(ESP) SELL
Release. 

[Jimbokav1971]

4 hours ago, Thebaker said:

Really good season there, you are beginning to dominate now. The standard of some of your young players is fantastic

Yeah it's been a real slog to get here, but we're starting to reap the benefits of all this scouting and buying so many players so young. 

[Jimbokav1971]

3 hours ago, abulezz said:

Man, Acosta looks like he is going to be a real beast. 

Yeah he does. But the problem with him is that he's neither a pacy wide attacker nor a clinical central striker, so I'm honestly not sure how he will ever fit into our 1st Team or 2nd Team.  Maybe he will be a good player anyway who will just find a way to fit in, but maybe we will end up selling him. We will just have to see how it goes. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Squad Depth. Jul 2047. 

SC.

1st Team.
SLC. Moses (ENG)(NGA) *
SC. Salifu (ENG)(GHA) *
SRC. Guèhi (CIV) *
2nd Team.
SLC. Mensah (ENG)(GHA) *
SC. (29a) Gil
SRC. Amade (MOZ)(RSA) *
B Team.
SLC. Thalmas (CIV) £20k
SC. Fofana (CIV) £18k
SRC. Awalom (NOR)(ERI) £40k
B Team 2. I'm actually not going to pick 3 more SC's for the B Team for a few different reasons. 1st of all it helps with the budget, but it also allows me to play some of the higher profile U19's that we have at the club.
SLC.
SC.
SRC.
U19's. (46a) De Backer (BEL) Res *, (45a) Falqué (Unamb+L.Det) *, (47a) Acosta (F.Amb) *, (46m) Benítez (F.Pro), (47d) Ruiz (Unamb + L.Det) *, (46h) Espinosa. (Unamb+L.Det), (47f) Mejuto (F.Det), 
Loan. Chrisantus (GER)(NGA) *, Haruna (GER)(NGA) *, Sylla (GUI) SC *, Kabamba (BEL)(COD) *, (37c) Castro *, Talal (MAR) *, Messaoudene (ALG), Seye (ESP)(SEN), Seye (ESP)(SEN), (43b) Martí (Low Det+Unamb), (42d) Bernal, (43d) Jiménez (Bal), (41c) Carlos (Bal), 
Sell. (42b) Carbonell SELL, (44l) Osorio (Pro) SELL, (40b) Casas (Temp) SELL, (45j) Fumagalli (ITA)(ESP), (44c) Ferreras. (F.Pro) SELL, (42a) Jorge SELL, 
Release. 

[Sonic Youth]

7 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Squad Depth. Jul 2047. 

SC.

1st Team.
SLC. Moses (ENG)(NGA) *
SC. Salifu (ENG)(GHA) *
SRC. Guèhi (CIV) *
2nd Team.
SLC. Mensah (ENG)(GHA) *
SC. (29a) Gil
SRC. Amade (MOZ)(RSA) *
B Team.
SLC. Thalmas (CIV) £20k
SC. Fofana (CIV) £18k
SRC. Awalom (NOR)(ERI) £40k
B Team 2. I'm actually not going to pick 3 more SC's for the B Team for a few different reasons. 1st of all it helps with the budget, but it also allows me to play some of the higher profile U19's that we have at the club.
SLC.
SC.
SRC.
U19's. (46a) De Backer (BEL) Res *, (45a) Falqué (Unamb+L.Det) *, (47a) Acosta (F.Amb) *, (46m) Benítez (F.Pro), (47d) Ruiz (Unamb + L.Det) *, (46h) Espinosa. (Unamb+L.Det), (47f) Mejuto (F.Det), 
Loan. Chrisantus (GER)(NGA) *, Haruna (GER)(NGA) *, Sylla (GUI) SC *, Kabamba (BEL)(COD) *, (37c) Castro *, Talal (MAR) *, Messaoudene (ALG), Seye (ESP)(SEN), Seye (ESP)(SEN), (43b) Martí (Low Det+Unamb), (42d) Bernal, (43d) Jiménez (Bal), (41c) Carlos (Bal), 
Sell. (42b) Carbonell SELL, (44l) Osorio (Pro) SELL, (40b) Casas (Temp) SELL, (45j) Fumagalli (ITA)(ESP), (44c) Ferreras. (F.Pro) SELL, (42a) Jorge SELL, 
Release. 

I like the idea of not selecting more B-team forwards. Seems more flexible.

I see you’ve got a bunch to sell too, which makes not much of a blip on your list of forwards 

[Jimbokav1971]

7 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

I like the idea of not selecting more B-team forwards. Seems more flexible.

I see you’ve got a bunch to sell too, which makes not much of a blip on your list of forwards 

The sell players are actually just anyone who has 12 months left on their contracts, (without an option to extend), and whom I don't want to offer a new contract to. 

Our balance is now £355M but as we had 2x £100M bids in it's easy to see how that money can vanish pretty quickly. I was half expecting/hoping for some of the big release clauses to be met so that we would never have to worry about money ever again, (but that hasn't happened). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Huge signings! Jul 2047. 

2 enormous signings for us. I'm pretty sure that I have never spent £100M on a player before and now I have just done it twice, (albeit £50M rising to £100M). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Wonderkids. Jul 2047. 

We now have 6 players at the club who are classed as wonderkids, although 1 of them are out on loan. They key thing for me is that as well as being in a variety of positions, (2x DC, 1x DL, 1x MC & 2x SC), they are also non-African Africans. 

Haddouche (FRA)(ALG) 6'3" and Hamidi (ALG) 5'11" are the 2 French/Algerians who I have just signed for a potential combined £100M (rising to £200M). I'm not going to show them to you again because they were shown in the previous post. 

Kouadio (ENG)(CIV) 5'10" was initially signed as a bit of a stop-gap because he was non-African African and I needed someone during AFCON last season, We paid good money for him but I didn't expect him to be of wonderkid standard. He's actually a bit "workmanlike" for my liking, and even then I think his lack or workrate is a glaring weakness for him. He's on a 3+2 contract at the moment, so no rush to make a decision on him right now, but he will need to improve to stay in contention. 

Adeyemi (GER)(NGA) * came in as an attacking DL because both our DL's were actually "righties" and I wanted more natural width and he gives us that with some great athleticism. I think he will prove a bargain at £34M, (but suspect there were add-ons in that deal and I'm fine with that). 

Awalom (NOR)(ERI) was a bargain basement signing, (in comparison), for only £7.5M and I shouldn't be surprised to see him on this because I found him on the NxGn list after all. 

Haruna (GER)(NGA) * looks phenomenal and I really like him. A proper athlete who seems to have lots of potential for growth and might turn into a real attacking threat. 

[Jimbokav1971]

High PA players. Jul 2047. 

I was a tiny bit frustrated that none of our wonderkids are products of our Academy, but as we're currently stuck at 20.16.20.20, (the L16 being Youth Facilities and there seems no way to increase it), maybe it's not that much of a surprise. In any case, I wanted to have a look at what we have in terms of PA. 

9x 5.0 PA players.

(47d) Ruiz (Unamb + L.Det) * is a really frustrating one. He tops the PA list at the club, but he got that dreaded mix of (Unamb) + (L.Det) and it's an absolute disaster as far as development is concerned. I will try to "play him up" in the B Team on occasions this season, but I really don't think it's going to work and he will ultimately be way off his PA by the end of his development period. 

(46a) De Backer (BEL) Res * looks great and will start regularly for the B Team this season. His physical ability is looking pretty decent and even his techinals are looking better now. 

(45b) Pérez (Driven) 5'10" * is going to play regularly for the B Team this season and is developing nicely. I like that the top 3 on this are representing 3 different intakes. It gives me reason for optimism at least moving forward. 

Haddouche (FRA)(ALG) 6'3" you have seen in a recent post so I won't show you again. 

Adeyemi (GER)(NGA) * I showed you in the last post so I won't show you again. 

Awalom (NOR)(ERI) you have seen in a recent post so I won't show you again. (Awalom (NOR)(ERI) hasn't even got an *.  That's how much of a surprise his PA is to me!). 

Ly (BEL)(SEN) * is fast becoming my favourite centre-half and I was dismayed when Man Utd, (at least I think it was them), triggered his min fee release clause of only £55M, but thankfully I managed to secure him to a new contract and he stayed, (and his release clause is now £92M). 

Haruna (GER)(NGA) * I showed you in the last post, so I won't show you again. 

Bakayoko (CIV) 6'2" * is not far off the CA of Camara (SEN) 6'2" now, (3.0 chasing 4.0), but I will be keeping him in the B Team for the time-being, (largely because of his low wage). His development doesn't seem top be stunted by the La Liga 2 leve, so I will just continue as is. 

8x 4.5 PA players.

Chrisantus (GER)(NGA) * is a little bit of a strange one. His physicals and mentals are both good, but his technicals let him down and it means that I don't see him as either a central or a wide striker. He's good, but he just doesn't fit in with how we play. We spent a fair bit of money on him, (and there might even be add-ons on top of the £35.5M), but if we decide to sell we should make a tidy profit in any case. The fact that he has moved from a loan at Werder, (who finished 13th of 18 last season), to a loan at Dortmund, (haven't finished lower than 8th during the save), suggests that he has improved on this time last season, and with European football this season too I really hope to see his development explode. 

Saïdi (MAR) * is 1 of 3 players who I signed with very similar names, Saadi (ALG) *, Saïdi (MAR) * and Saïdi (MAR)(FRA) *.

Unfortunately he's broken his leg in pre-season and will be out for 3-5 months.  This is obviously going to take a chunk out of his development period, but it shouldn't impact him hugely. 

(47b) Vera (Fickle) * is strong mentally, but not great physically, (although not awful for a 16 year old of you use my trick of imagining him with all his attributes at +1). He has work to do on his technicals too though. It will be interesting to see how much he develops during his 1st full season. He's the 2nd player from the (47 intake on this list). 

(47a) Acosta (F.Amb) * looks great and my plan is to try and blood him in the B Team early, (even if he gets dragged at HT by the Ass Man). I'm just trying to do anything I can to explode his development. He's the 3rd on the list from the (47) intake and this really surprises me considering that your Youth Facilities are only at 16 now. I do wonder if it's a but and it's not really at 16, (hence the good intake), and that's why I'm unable to ask to increase it...... 

Abubakar (NGA)(ENG) DC 5'11" * is a player that I'm just a little bit surprised to see on this list. We spent £10M to get him, but I wasn't expecting proper top end PA. I think it's more likely the Ass Man has got this one wrong. His (L.Det) could be an issue too. 

Hamidi (ALG) 5'11" is a player that I've just shown you in a previous post so I won't show you again. 

Johnson (NGA) * is a player I really like and I'm just hoping we got lucky with him, (a bargain £1M purchase). He was initially a 5.0 PA player who has been downgraded after his arrival, but at £1M I will gladly take 4.5 as his PA and i love the attribute balance he has. 

Kaunda (RSA)(ZIM) 6'2" * is another player who was a "bargain" £1M purchase. I've generally found with South Africans that they have great scout reports and their attribute balance often looks great, (hell of a generalization I know), but they often tend to lack real proper top end PA so we will have to keep our fingers crossed with him. 

We have 14x 4.0 PA players and although I'm not going to bore you with all of them, I am going to show you the 3 who are also rated at 4.0 CA. 

Moses (ENG)(NGA) * scored 19 goals in all competitions last season, but I would really like him to up his number of assists. 

Camara (SEN) 6'2" would be the absolute business if he could just take penalties. Unfortunately he's rubbish from the spot, (but makes up for it with free-kicks). Although he's only 4.0 CA & PA and Bakayoko (CIV) 6'2" * has a PA of 5.0, he's actually a World Class GK. I wonder what that will make Bakayoko (CIV) 6'2" * if/when he reached his potential? 

Guèhi (CIV) * is our 3rd 4.0 CA player and he shows how good a 4.0 CA player can be. 

[Thebaker]

The youth thing is a bug since the last patch, mines been stuck at average for years with no option to improve and 40 million in the bank.

I'm sure some of your players will become wonderkids, think the threshold is 3-3.5 stars current ability and under 21, i currently have a 20yo 3.5 star wonderkid and the benchmark for my players is nowhere close to yours with world class players.

[Jimbokav1971]

11 hours ago, Thebaker said:

The youth thing is a bug since the last patch, mines been stuck at average for years with no option to improve and 40 million in the bank.

I'm sure some of your players will become wonderkids, think the threshold is 3-3.5 stars current ability and under 21, i currently have a 20yo 3.5 star wonderkid and the benchmark for my players is nowhere close to yours with world class players.

Thanks for confirming that.  I expected that was the case but hadn't bothered to gio and check. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2047. 

La Liga. It's a hell of a start to the season and it's hard to be annoyed at conceding just 1 goal when you have scored 14 over 2 games. We're not top of the league, but only because Barca & Atletico have played an extra game. 

The thing that concerns me just a little is that central striker Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * played 141 mins over the 2 games, and only had 1 shot on target. In particular in the Albacete game he hardly got a kick. I'm going to have to keep an eye on this. When we score 14 goals in 2 games, I expect him to score 6 of them. It should also be mentioned that his replacement (29a) Gil scored against Albacete. 

B Team. A little bit of a slow start to the season for the B Team. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

 

 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2047. 

La Liga. Now what I was looking for in terms of results with 3 losses. The good news is that we're actually playing well and at least Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * is off the mark now. 

UEFA Champions League. Not the start we wanted, but all you need to do is get through the qualifying stage. It doesn't really matter whether you win all the games or not. 

B Team. We're not playing well at all. Lots of new faces though so maybe they just need some time to bed in. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2047.

La Liga. This feels like a much worse run of form than it actually is, because we also had 0 wins from 2 games in the Champions league this month, and that continued on from 3 draws on the bounce in La Liga last month. However you want to dress it up though, we've dropped 12 points in 8 games over 2 months and unsurprisingly we've dropped down to 8th in the league. What is surprising is that we're only 5 points off 1st and have a game in hand on Hispalis/Betis, (who are top), and 3 more of the teams above us. I was expecting someone to be out of sight by now. What a result! 

We won our 2 home games and lost the 2 away games, but the wins were thumping wins and the losses were by 1-point margins, so I'm trying to not feel overly despondent, (despite not being happy at all after the Valencia game, (which we should have won never mind about lost). I do at least know what the problem us. 

Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * scored his 1st goal of the season at the end of last month, (against S. Gijón), and then made it 3 scoring games in a row with goals against Villarreal and A. Bilbao, but his form isn't good. It's not good at all even with/without the goals. He's not taking many shots, and even fewer of them are on target. It's no surprise that he's not scoring. After 10 La Liga games I would be expecting him to have scored 10+ goals. (Maybe slightly under as I rotated the squad for the last game against Pamplona). 

Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * has 3 goals and 1 assist from 9 La Liga games this season at an average rating of 6.88 with 50% of his shots on target and 0.28 dribbles per game. 
(29a) Gil (his back-up) has 3 goals and 0 assists from 1(9) La Liga games this season at an average rating of 6.96 with 67% of his shots on target and 0.37 dribbles per game. 

The wide strikers supporting Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * have had some injury issues this season, but Moses (ENG)(NGA) * has 5 goals and 4 assists in 6 La Liga games and Guèhi (CIV) * has 3 goals and 8 assists in 8(1) La Liga appearances, so the problem is certainly with him rather than them. 

UEFA Champions League. We've had a really tough start to this seasons campaign with games against Chelsea, Benfica & Liverpool and the fixture scheduler, (this is a ridiculous format for so many different reasons), hasn't been kind to us at all as we also still have to play Nice, Dortmund, Marseille & Monchengladbach, (who are enjoying a recent resurgence). Our 1 "easy" game appears to be against Qarabağ FK of Azerbaijan, who have qualified for the Group Stage by beating such giants as..... FK Sūduva Marijampolė of Lithuania, (I had to check because I've never heard of them), FC Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova and APOEL Nicosia of Cyprus. Wowee the Giants of European football really are at the heart of this wonderful competition nowadays..... (Snobby much? )

We have to finish in the top 24 to qualify for the Playoffs, (and that's very much my goal at the moment), and that isn't miles away at this stage. 

B Team. We're doing a little better in the B team, but you might note that there is a penalty scored in there by a name you don't recognise, and that's because Fofana (CIV) is a stiker. He took the pen because believe it or not we didn't have a GK in the match squad, (no this is not a joke), because 1st Team GK Camara (SEN) 6'2" is out with a twisted ankle so I obviously selected B Team GK Bakayoko (CIV) 6'2" * for the 1st Team, but forgot to take him out of the B Team line-up and as the games were both on the same day, he played in the 1st Team game and was then unavailable for the B Team game. We started with a right back in goal and then our DL went in goal and then a DC and a SC, before the right back had another goal. I have no idea why the Ass Man kept swapping them, (maybe they were just playing Rush GK?), but either way it's my own fault so I can't really complain. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2047.

La Liga. It's a much better month and we hit 7 for the 3rd time this season and are up to 3rd in the league just 3 points behind Atletico. It's worth noting that Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * scored just 1 goal of the 7 scored against Levante.

UEFA Champions League. We were battered by Nice, but went 1 goal better than 7 against Qarabağ.

B Team. We;ve really found some consistency in the B Team.

Goal-scoring GK's.

 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Expectations. Dec 2047. 

Maybe my expectations are too high at the moment, because I realise that I'm feeling a little frustrated that we have lost 2 La Liga games, (and drawn 3 more), after 13 games played, (so 8 wins), but we have also hit 7 goals in a game 3 times in these 13 games, (and hit 8 in the Champions League), so the issue is less one of under-performing and more one of consistency. 

We have the top 3 performing players in La Liga, (by average rating), and 5 of the top 10. 

It's also worth pointing out that (33b) Marcos SELL is once again having a very good season and so far he has scored 17 goals in 13 La Liga appearances this season. He's scored 70 La Liga goals in 116(5) La Liga appearances and has been worth every penny of the £34M that Hispalis/Betis paid for him. They play a 4231 wide which is obviously a little different to our set-up, but in hindsight I think I should have kept him here. 

Compare that to 4 goals in 11 appearances for Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * and 3 in 2(11) in La Liga and 5 in 7(11) in all competitions for 34 yo (29a) Gil who is way past his best physically. 

While I'm looking at this, let's have a look at xG in La Liga and see if it shows us anything? 

Well this is really interesting actually. (29a) Gil doesn't even make the list, (his xG is only 1.36 for his 3 La Liga goals), (so he's operating at +2.64), but Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * has an xG of 5.71 in La Liga and has scored only 4 goals so he's operating at -1.71 in La Liga. That's enormous and that right there is the issue. Forget worrying about the team or the defence or anything else. It's all about the poor performances/lack of goals of Salifu (ENG)(GHA) *.

He's happy, (so the issue isn't mental), and the 2 players he wants to play with, Moses (ENG)(NGA) * & Guèhi (CIV) *, are in the 1st Team line-up alongside him. (Guèhi (CIV) * was promoted back to the 1st Team line-up from the 2nd Team this season). 

His issues, (whatever they are), are not down to unhappiness or morale or anything like that, so it's simply a matter of form. This should resolve itself once he starts to score a few goals so I need to play him in a game where he will fill his boots against lowly opposition. Ideally this will be the B Team but he can't play for them so it will have to be the U19's (if I can get him to play for them). If not I will have to arrange a friendly against someone rubbish and hope he can score a load of goals against them. 

I've made him available for the U19's game against Eibar U19's and we will see what happens there. 

He's ineligible for that game because he's over-age, (makes sense), but make I can get him a game in the U21 game against Brentford U21's, (that is a B Team fixture for us in the U21 International Cup, with restrictions). 

I can't move him to the B Team, (because he's registered for the 1st Team), and I can't make him available for the B Team either, so the only option I'm left with is a friendly game against someone rubbish.....

The problem is that we're in a busy period right now and I'm not sure where/how I can squeeze another game in. 

The other option I've got is that if he can't play for the B Team and he can't play in the Spanish U19 League, maybe I can squeeze him into the starting XI in the UEFA Youth League against Dortmund on 12th December.....

No, that's not going to work either. (Of course it's not going to work you eegit!) 

So I can't squeeze in a friendly and I can't play him in the U19's or B Team, (I suppose I could play him in a friendly for the U19's)...... but let's try something else. 

I spoke to him and threatened him with less playing time if his performances don't improve and it didn't go well. 

I'm going to drop him for (29a) Gil and see if that has the desired effect. He's (F.Pro) so let's see if we can get a reaction out of him. 

Disrupting "cells" and playing (29a) Gil with the 2 wide players who usually play with Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * is not something I want to do, but I want to give Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * the chance to come off the bench and play with the best possible chance of scoring so it's worth the risk I think. 

They obviously don't link as well while he is off the pitch so this could be counter-productive, but something has to change. 

(29a) Gil had 1 chance, took 1 shot, got it on target and scored it, (xG of 0.31).

Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * was more involved in the play when he came on, but didn't really have much of a chance to do anything. 

The 2nd game this month is against Real Madrid and I was all set to go with the same/similar lineup again, (bar a centre-mid who had been suspended for the 1st game), but I noticed that Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * was WNT by someone and when I looked it turned out to be none other than Real Madrid. When I'm after players and we play them they always seem to score against me, so I'm going to swap things around and stick Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * back in the starting XI again for this one. I rotated out 2 other players who were fatigued but left the starting XI unchained otherwise. It's a little bit of a risk doing that but many of these players will have existing relationships anyway. 

Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * scored 1 and made another in a good performance, (xG was only 0.38), but also made 3 key passes and was more involved in play. 2 goal involvements is a big improvement though. 

(29a) Gil hardly had a kick after coming off the bench, but that makes sense as we were 3-1 up when he came on and it was all R.Madrid after that and they scored 2 goals. 

As well as a goal and an assist, the Ass Man bigged up Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * post match, (which went down well), and it will be interesting to see if that's enough to kick-start things again. 

Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * had a couple of chances against Cadiz and was unlucky not to score. He hit the bar with a header early on and then forced the GK into a good save. No goals scored from an xG of 0.81 but it looked like a better performance to me. Not good but better. He also had a key pass in there. 

(29a) Gil must have upset the Ass Man because he was asked to play as a PF when he came on, but the other PF scored an injury time winner so let's not give the Ass Man too much of a kicking over this. 

The next game is in the Champions League so (29a) Gil will come in and Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * will drop to the bench as usual. 

(29a) Gil had what I think was a reasonable game against Dortmund, but he got a shocking rating of 6.2. I don't understand how his rating is .4 lower than his Cadiz performance. Is it because he didn't get fouled? No, of course it isn't. It's because we lost. 

Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * didn't come on at all and I'm happy with that. 

The next game is a trip to Hispalis/Cadiz and the lethal striker that is (33b) Marcos SELL who has now scored 19 goals in 16 La Liga games. Just look at the number of chances he's getting and compare that to our 2 central strikers. No wonder he's scoring so many goals. 

The "problem", (if you can call it a problem), is that our wide attackers have become so adept at converting themselves that our central strikers are almost becoming superfluous to requirements. I'm wondering if something like a F9 role might be worth a look at some point in the future.....?

The reality is that our central strikers like a ball in behind and they just don't seem to be getting the opportunities. When there is an opportunity in behind it's being played for the wider players and they are benefitting, but that doesn't help the central players. 

Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * hardly got a kick against Hispalis/Betis, but because we won he got a better match rating. It should be said though that he went on 2 dribbles, was fouled twice and make 1 key pass. Our right-sided wide striker got 2 assists and our left-sided wide striker scored 2 goals so we're doing ok, but it's just not how I want it to work. 

(29a) Gil was again, (literally), pressed into service as a PF and I really don't like that. 

Next us a La Liga game away to Alaves before we take a little Winter break.

Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * has his best game in ages as he not only scores a goal from 3 shots, (2 on target with an xG of 0.56) but also went on 1 dribble and made 3 key passes, 

(29a) Gil had a lovely chance late on where he collected a short throw-in and then advanced across the edge of the area before curling the ball just wide of the far post. Beautiful effort but just off target. It was a 0.04 xG of a chance and he nearly curled it home. So close!

I don't have any answers to our striking problems, but at least you lot can see what we're going through at the moment. Any suggestions? 

Edited July 22, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake preview. Dec 2047. 

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have any players in any positions rated A, (and a GK is brilliant because although we have produced 2 really good ones and a few average ones, the really good ones were so long ago that they are now in their 30's), but we seem to have produced a lot of good strikers over the years and I could really do with some defenders. I really should change my HoYD, but I'm just reluctant to do so while he's producing decent players in any position. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Dec 2047. 

La Liga. We might be going through some sort of crisis of confidence, (or at least our central strikers are), but we've still risen to the top of the table and have now scored 15 more goals than the next highest scorers in the league, (Hispalis/Betis). Although we're top, Atletico have a game in hand. 

UEFA Champions League. We've got 2 games left in the Champions League, (Monchengladbach and Marseille), and we need win 1 and draw 1 at the very least. 

B Team. The B Team aren't in great form, but they're not losing either. You might notice that Fofana (CIV) scored another penalty, and this is because (36j) Camara (GAM)(ESP) 6'4" was playing instead of Bakayoko (CIV) 6'2" * and for some reason he mustn't have been set as a pen taker. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

 

 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2048. 

La Liga. We've won 11 of our last 12 in the league and area tearing it up. We're still conceding too many goals for my liking, (despite the recent new record of 7 games without conceding), but things are looking decent. 

#

UEFA Champions League. 2 wins from our last 2 games is great, but we left ourselves with too much to do and we missed out on qualification..... so we're out. 

Supercopa de España.

Copa de Su Majestad el Rey.

B Team.

Records.

Goal-scoring GK's.

 

 

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Transfers. 2047/48.

Summer Window. The only transfer that went through this Summer but included in last season was Asante (GHA) SC. 

Asante (GHA) SC is a ridiculous signing quite frankly, and in hindsight I'm astonished that I have signed an (Unamb) + (L.Det) player. It's absolute stupidity. 

Winter window. 

You've already seen big signings Haddouche (FRA)(ALG) 6'3" & Hamidi (ALG) 5'11" so I won't bother showing them again. 

Naciri (MAR) looks decent, but his scout report has taken a big nose-dive and I think I may have significantly overpaid. 

Dala (GER)(ANG) 6'6" is still pretty raw, but I'm desperate for good centre-half to come through and hopefully he will develop to fulfill his potential. 

Ouattara (CIV) is the 3rd player we have signed from ASEC Mimosas in recent years. It doesn't really matter how good he does or doesn't become because we paid a pittance for him. 

Mortotsi (GHA) was another bargain basement signing, but it remains to be seen if he will be any good or not. 

Al-Shanqeeti (EGY) was yet another cheap signing. He's great physically, but not much else at this stage. 

Quaye (GHA) looks phenomenal and just look at the pennies we paid for him!!! 

[Sonic Youth]

Looking good in the league. Not sure what you’ve changed that you’re form tanks in Europe though. Another Cup win, and progress in another. It’ll be all about the league now by the looks of things.

Asante looks a decent signing (cheap) that can be moved on for profit and help with transfer funds out 

[Jimbokav1971]

6 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Looking good in the league. Not sure what you’ve changed that you’re form tanks in Europe though. Another Cup win, and progress in another. 

We've actually struggled a little bit in the early stages of Europe for a while now. There was 1 single season that we won almost every game, but that has been the exception rather than the rule. 

Obviously younger players who get promoted to the Senior Squad go into the 2nd Team rather than the 1st Team, so there is more disruption there, and every time the 1st Team has an injury or a suspension then they are replaced from 2nd Team which is then that much weaker/more fatigued when it's time to rotate them in for their fixture. The other thing of course is that we just had some really tough fixtures in the Champions League this season. I think they were front end weighted and we were just a little unlucky. 

The truth is that it was enormously close for qualification for the Playoffs and 1 more point would have got us there. 

Benfica was the poorest result in this campaign and was largely caused by my back 3 selection. 

Haddouche (FRA)(ALG) 6'3" should have played centrally as the L and (37k) Jesús 6'6" should have played on the left. I think I wasn't concentrating and got it the wrong way round because Haddouche (FRA)(ALG) 6'3" is the only lefty of the 3. It was quite a significant error.  

We also conceded an 88th min goal against Liverpool to cost us 2 points at home. 

Although we were well-beaten in the Chelsea and Nice games away, we were unlucky not to get something out of the Dortmund game. 

Finally though, in previous seasons the number of points needed to finish 24th has been 9, 10, 8, 9, 9, 11, 9, 7, 9, 8, 9, 7, 6, 9, 9, 7, 8, 8, 9, 8, 9, 9 & 8, so over the whole course of this save, this is only time that 10 points wasn't good enough to finish 24th, (so I'm trying to not get too carried away). Every single other year my strategy of prioritising La Liga and sneaking into the Champions League Playoffs would have worked.

[Jimbokav1971]

6 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

It’ll be all about the league now by the looks of things.

We've just been dumped out of the Copa del Rey  so absolutely all about La Liga now. 

[Jimbokav1971]

6 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Asante looks a decent signing (cheap) that can be moved on for profit and help with transfer funds out 

Yeah, we have had to adapt in the transfer market as much as we've had to on the pitch in recent times. We're a big club now and we've been really rich for ages, so people want us to pay a premium for players, (understandable I suppose). We seem to be ok at identifying "good" players, but we don't seem to be good at identifying "great" players. It's all well and good knowing that x player is going to reach x level, but we've got such a small group to choose from anyway that we can't really afford to miss them. When I see that a non-African African has 5.0 PA and a decent CA and decent personality, it's really hard to not throw the kitchen sink at them to get a deal done because when they only then become a really good player rather than an Elite player, we find that we've overpaid both in terms of fees and wages. It's tough at the moment. There is a centre-half I've just stuck on the transfer list who I think we paid £10M and he just hasn't developed at all. 

Dabo (SEN)(FRA) 6'0" * was signed for £9.75M from France but he just hasn't developed as I would like. 

He's a Senegalese International, (21 Caps), and he's not rubbish, but we paid almost £10M for him and he's getting paid about £1M per year and the truth is he;s just not good enough and I'm going to be happy to recoup just £500k by selling him. When we get transfers like this wrong it's a blow not just for the money, but also for the time we invested in him. As well as 11(3) 1st Team appearances, he's made 71(43) appearances for the B Team. These appearances are development opportunities that we could have used for other players and which have been wasted.

I can't remember signing him but I'm going to go back and check the thread and see what I said when I signed him. It doesn't seem to have been injury related. 

I can't find any info in the thread about his signing, but the 1st Squad Depth chart after his arrival showed him as being 1st choice Libero for the B Team, which would have given him lots of opportunities to develop. Boyer (FRA)(REU) 6'0" * along side him has been 1st choice DRC in the 1st Team this season for the 1st time in his career, (and they're the same age and signed at a similar time, so I think we possibly just signed a clogger. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2048.

La Liga. We're in decent form in the league and have extended our lead at the top of the table to 7 points, (although Atletico who are 2 points behind Barca have a game in hand). 

Copa de Su Majestad el Rey. This was an absolute disaster. 4-0 would have been a fairer reflection on the game and then even in pens they missed their 1st and we missed our 5th before failing in sudden death. 

B Team. We're doing really well in La Liga 2 now and I would love to challenge for 2nd by the end of the season. 

We're in good form in La Liga 2, but the real story is (46a) De Backer (BEL) Res * who has scored 5 goals in his last 6 games for the B Team. 

He doesn't usually play for the U19's anymore, but when he does he seems to do ok. 

Records. He still can't hit a cows bum with a banjo though. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake day. Mar 2048. 

I know that @Thebakerconfirmed that there is a problem with Youth Facilities not being allowed to be upgraded, but whether it be because of our increased reputation in recent years or something else, our intakes actually appear to be better now than they were when the Facilities were higher. 

A GK is great, but I really wanted any position other than strikers or wingers to come through as our best players. (Ideally centre-backs). 

Now this is a bit different. 

We've got a Generational Talent, (supposedly), but what intrigues me most is that the guy they highlight at the Generational Talent, isn't actually top of the rankings by PA. (So that means that we've effectively got 2 Generational talents right?)  

On the other hand, the intake has been downgraded from Excellent 5.0 to Good 4.0 so maybe we have to take this with a pinch of salt?

There are a few things that jump out at me here at 1st glance, (after I have named the players and done absolutely nothing else). 

1. The GK has 1.5 CA. When you consider quite how good some of our players are, (and in particular the GK's at the club), that might just be significant. 
2. There are 2x Romanians in the intake. We have no Romanian staff and there are no Romanian affiliates, (so that's a tiny bit strange).
3. There is only 1 African in the intake, (and he's bottom of the pile by PA). 
4. There are only 3 players in single figures for (Det). (48i), (48j), (one of the Romanians), and (48o), (who is also casual and has absolutely no flippin chance of getting a contract off me).
5. No other different Nationalities, (which is a shame). 
6. In terms of positions, we have 2x strikers, 2x DL's and a GK at the top of the list. 
7. The 3rd player (48c) is actually a 4.5 PA player, and has a (Pro) personality.....

(48a) Castañeda (Driven) is quick and has decent shooting for a 15 yo, but his composure isn't great and as a result he's more of a PF than an AF at this stage. Get his composure and off the ball up a little though and that might change? I like him though. Lots to work with going forward. 

(48b) Pedro (L.Heart) * 5'10" initially leaves me just a tiny bit underwhelmed if I'm honest. I can't see why he is rated so highly until I see the Punching attribute is at 16, (but that's how likely he is to punch rather than how good he is at punching.... right?  (so not necessarily a good thing), and of course when you link it with a Handling attribute of 15, (now that's a VERY good attribute for a 15 yo), then maybe I don't actually want him punching quite so often because his handling is so good. On the other hand he's only 5'10", (although plenty of time to grow, but he;'s never going to be a 6'5" Giant. Decisions, Determination, Anticipation all in double figures. Ah...... Agility is at 16. I had missed that initially. Now it's making a little more sense. The Top 3 attributes I look for in a GK are Aerial, Command & Communication and they're at 11, 8 & 10 respectively, (so not awful), so maybe not too shabby if I can get his positioning up a little. Not the star I was hoping for though. 

I wonder if he can score pens though? 

(48c) Morales (Pro) weirdly is my favourite player of the 3, (at least initially). I think he could be REALLY good as a wide striker if I can get his pace up a little. Loving his personality too. 

I'm not going to give contracts to the 3 players who have single digits of (Det), so (48i) Yeray (L.Det), (48j) Puşcaşu. (ROU) (Bal) & (48o) Torres. (Casual) will all be released immediately. 

[Edit]

I couldn't even get a deal done with (48a) and (48b). Maybe they are really good? 

Edited July 24, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[BML]

From your monthly images it looks like Camera2's morale issues have cleared up.

Did you remove the captaincy from him in the end like you were planning? Give him the new contract he was after? Or both?

I'd have reservations if Pedro (15y/o GK) came through one of my intakes too - from memory I've never had much luck with players who are Light Hearted, plus he is very small for a 'keeper. On the other hand, he is only 15 and his PA would mean I'd give him at least a couple of years in my youth setups, plus with the amount of money you have sitting around it's a minimal risk for a non-African Nations 'keeper IMO.

[Jimbokav1971]

NxGn 2048. Mar 2048. 

I really don't understand this. 

We have 5 different players on the NxGn list, (and that's great), but it's not the 5 players I was expecting at all. 

#15 Hamidi (ALG) 5'11" was signed after appearing on this list last season at #13. As all those who were 19 years old on last seasons list have now been removed from the list, how is he only ranked 15th? 

#17 (46a) De Backer (BEL) Res * is fast becoming my favourite player in this save and he still has 2 more years on this list. 

#39 Ouattara (CIV) is only showing as having 3.5 PA, so I'm not sure him appearing on this list means much. He does have another go at it again next year though. 

#40 Mortotsi (GHA) was just signed because he had a 5.0 PA scout report and he was available cheaply. His PA has dropped but it's surprising that he is anywhere near this list. 

#42 Naciri (MAR) is another 18 year old, (so has another go at this list), but his PA is down at 3.0 now and I'm really not convinced this was the best bit of business I've ever done. We will wait and see I guess. 

Now let's look at the players who weren't on this list.

Haddouche (FRA)(ALG) 6'3" was signed after appearing on the list last season at #15. He's way better than some of them who have been included. I'm fuming!   He does at least get another go on the list next season. 

Quaye (GHA) was only signed because he was cheap and had a good scout report. That's not the point though. He's better than some of those on the list. 

(45b) Pérez (Driven) 5'10" * is developing really nicely and surely is more deserving than some on the list. 

[Jimbokav1971]

19 minutes ago, BML said:

From your monthly images it looks like Camera2's morale issues have cleared up.

Did you remove the captaincy from him in the end like you were planning? Give him the new contract he was after? Or both?

I'd have reservations if Pedro (15y/o GK) came through one of my intakes too - from memory I've never had much luck with players who are Light Hearted, plus he is very small for a 'keeper. On the other hand, he is only 15 and his PA would mean I'd give him at least a couple of years in my youth setups, plus with the amount of money you have sitting around it's a minimal risk for a non-African Nations 'keeper IMO.

Yep,  Camara (SEN) 6'2" is much happier now. 

I did remove the captaincy, (didn't even tell him, just did it), and when I had a pop-up that he was unhappy about being removed as captain, just offering to talk to him, (without even talking to him), was enough to resolve it and it's been plain sailing ever since. 

No I didn't offer him a new contract. He's contracted until 2052 and we're in Mar 2048. He's 29 now and earning..... oh, he's earning a huge wage of £737k per month so I must have offered him a new contract. 

Yeah, he signed a new contract at the end of last season. (No wonder he's happy). 

So whether it's because of the contract or no longer being the captain, (or more likely a little of each), he's a very happy chappy at the moment.  

[Thebaker]

It used to be that a player who was 2 footed had lower attributes as the 2 footed used up CA that could be why the attributes look low on the first 2 players from that intake

@BML Light-hearted is a variable personality, it can be really poor with some low hidden attributes or be resolute as light-hearted trumps resolute, if the hidden attributes are too poor it would be a different personality as most trump light-hearted. Also players can grow after coming through so the GK may not end up as 5'10"

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2048. 

La Liga. What jumps out at me here isn't the 4 wins from for or the fact that we're averaging 4.5 goals per game at the moment, but that (29a) Gil scored 4 goals in 4 games this month, (in 3 different games). 

We're 12 points clear with a game in hand and as we don't have an unbeaten record to protect I will be blooding a few youngsters in the remaining games. The only thing I have my eye on is the La Liga record for Most Team Goals in a season, (which currently stands at 121 by Real Madrid in 2011/12*). We're on 97 goals right now so we're 24 goals short with 8 games remaining, meaning that we have to score at a rate of 3.125 goals per game over the remaining 8 games to break the record. 

You will see that I toyed with the idea of changing his role back at the start of February, but I think I bottled it in the big games against Barca, Sevilla & Atletico and never went back to it. It is something I'm still considering though. 

B Team. A decent month for the B team, (Getafe result aside), but the highlight was definitely the late late late ET winner against Man City scored by none other than our little Academy product starlet (47a) Acosta (F.Amb) *, who was playing on the right of a 3 up front. He's only dipped his toe in the B Team waters this season, but he will be a big player for them next season. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 

 

 

Finances. 

* That Real Madrid squad had Ronaldo (46 goals), Higuain (22 goals) & Benzema (21 goals), but after those 3 nobody scored more than 5 La Liga goals in a season in that squad. 

With 8 games to play we've got the following. 

23 Moses (ENG)(NGA) *
15 Guèhi (CIV) *
8 (29a) Gil
7 Amade (MOZ)(RSA) *
7 Salifu (ENG)(GHA) * SELL
6 Mensah (ENG)(GHA) *
6 Camara (SEN) 6'2"

And after that nobody has more than 3. Our goals have been much more spread around than when Real Madrid set the record and Ronaldo scored loads.

[Jimbokav1971]

25 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

It used to be that a player who was 2 footed had lower attributes as the 2 footed used up CA that could be why the attributes look low on the first 2 players from that intake

Yeah, I still think that's the case, (good shout ) but didn't think that the "weighting" of 2 footed was significant enough to make him appear so poor by comparison when his CA was rated higher. That could have been as a result of the stars system just being rubbish of course, and I think he did look better after I looked further at him, (although I'm not sold on punching and I'm certainly not sold on punching if it's a weighted attribute. If anything, tendency to punch should be a PPM shouldn't it? 

[Jimbokav1971]

2 hours ago, BML said:

I'd have reservations if Pedro (15y/o GK) came through one of my intakes too - from memory I've never had much luck with players who are Light Hearted, plus he is very small for a 'keeper. On the other hand, he is only 15 and his PA would mean I'd give him at least a couple of years in my youth setups, plus with the amount of money you have sitting around it's a minimal risk for a non-African Nations 'keeper IMO.

 

1 hour ago, Thebaker said:

It used to be that a player who was 2 footed had lower attributes as the 2 footed used up CA that could be why the attributes look low on the first 2 players from that intake

@BML Light-hearted is a variable personality, it can be really poor with some low hidden attributes or be resolute as light-hearted trumps resolute, if the hidden attributes are too poor it would be a different personality as most trump light-hearted. Also players can grow after coming through so the GK may not end up as 5'10"

Apologies for missing of the last bit of that post @BML

I'm not sure "reservations" is the right word for how I felt about (48b) Pedro (L.Heart) * 5'10" when I first saw him. I think I was just more surprised that he was rated as 1.5 CA, (which is better than normal), when he doesn't look amazing right now, (and certainly not as good as (48a) or (48c).

I think @Thebakermakes a REALLY good point about the both footed being weighted and how that will have been counted in terms of CA, (I'm almost positive that it still works that way and absolutely will have counted as part of his CA), but at the same time I think there is more to him as a player when you look a little deeper. 

I'm sure I'm not alone in looking at these 3 attributes 1st when I look at a GK and for a 5'10" 15yo GK I don't think they are bad. They're just not what you need to be playing senior games. 

Although we often concentrate on the top 3 attributes above, Handling 15 is a hell of a score for a 15 year old and this will have taken up a lot of CA.

Something that also passed me by initially was the Agility 16 attribute. That's not just high. That's really high. 

I would like to see the Jumping 8 higher, but he's 5'10" so it sort of goes with that I suppose. Like Concentration 8 & Positioning 8 below, getting them to double-figures and beyond will be significant in terms of his development.

Regarding him being 5'10" though, that doesn't bother me really. The players in the mid-ranges seem to grow the most, (at least they did when I tracked height growth back in the day), so I would expect him to hit a very minimum of 6'0 and possibly even 6'1 or 6'2" during his development. A player that comes through very short or very tall grows significantly less than someone in the mid range like this. (He's certainly not going to be a giant though). 

I've already mentioned the Punching(Tendency) 16 attribute and although I would expect that not to be weighted, (because it's tendency rather than proficiency), I don't actually know either way and it wouldn't surprise me at all if it is weighted. 

I think his mental's are good and once Concentration 8 and Positioning 8 pop a couple of times we could be in business. 

The personality of Light-Hearted didn't bother me at all initially. It's not one of the horrendous ones and it's not one of the good ones, so it's somewhere in the middle and in general I'm not doing much/any work with individual personalities in this save. (I've done that to death in the past). 

 

This next graphic is from someone I don't know and I don't know whether I agree with it or not at this stage, but here it is anyway. There is certainly no doubt that a high Pressure score is better than a low Pressure score and Pressure 15-20 should be seen as a positive rather than a negative. 

Sportsmanship could be deemed the other way if you want your player to dive to win pens and free-kicks. 

Having the last 3 hidden attributes below 18, 18 and 19 is no real disaster because obviously they're very high scores, (just so long as they're not very low scores).

His Media Handling style is Unflappable and while we already knew about Pressure, we now know that his Temperament is at a similar high value. 

Without getting hugely bogged down in personalities and hidden attributes and remembering that my GK's take penalties and my 1st Team GK is particularly poor (66% conversion rate) but my B Team GK is particularly good at penalties, (78% conversion rate), this is one of the very few areas of the game where I'm keen to look at marginal gains in terms of on-pitch performance being affected by personality/hidden attributes. 

Camara (SEN) 6'2" 66% conversion rate is Driven and Evasive. 

Bakayoko (CIV) 6'2" * 78% conversion rate is Driven and Unflappable. 

So pressure wouldn't be the marginal gain in assisting from the spot in this instance, but maybe Temperament has an impact? 

By the way, this Temperament thing is NOT something I know. It's something I'm thinking about and considering. It's very much one of the less understood aspect of personalities and maybe someone like the @_Ben_who I know has done loads of work on personalities/mentoring/tutoring will have thoughts on it. Until recently, (when the disparity between my 2 GK's taking pens became so obvious), I had never really considered Temperament. Now though I think about it every time Camara (SEN) 6'2" misses. The way I see it, Temperament has to have a role in the game, (in some form or other, and I never found that it influenced development, so it stands to reason that it instead influences on-pitch performance. When you think about it, Pressure playing a part in pen taking makes sense, but where both GK's have a very similar Pressure attribute there must be a reason for the difference in their conversion rate. This brings me to Temperament. 

Now I know you don't think like me because your GK's aren't taking pens, but when I saw that (48b) Pedro (L.Heart) * 5'10" had an Unflappable Media Handling style...... let's just say I was very very ver very happy.  Now I just need to get him to sign a bloomin contract. 

Edited July 24, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Thebaker]

I dont think i ever look at those 3 attributes listed for a GK. I look for reflexes, agility, balance. and then handling and decisions.

 

 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

@ThebakerI have no idea why your last post is so big. I thought there was a picture included that was taking time to load or something. I was sitting here waiting for it to load like an idiot. 

Camara (SEN) 6'2"

Bakayoko (CIV) 6'2" *

Faty (FRA)(SEN) 6'4"

(36j) Camara (GAM)(ESP) 6'4"

(48b) Pedro (L.Heart) * 5'10"

(38l) Paradas 6'1" AFCON

(47n) Junior (F.Amb)(ESP)(CPV)

(47n) Junior (F.Amb)(ESP)(CPV)

Then if we go and look at some of the old GK's we've had.....

(28c) Bermúdez 5'10" has still managed to become a World class GK despite his frailties under the high ball, (and the fact that he only has a Punching(tendency) of 8. Ideally I want my shorter GK's to punch more, (because they're not going to be able to come and claim it. I would have never have signed him because of his Aerial Reach attribute. I think it's fair to say I might have been wrong.  In my defence however, he is very much a Sweeper Keeper so it affects him much less. 

(31a) Fernando 6'5"

(38h) Morales 6'0" SELL

(38l) Paradas 6'1" AFCON

I can honestly say it's the 1st thing I look at EVERY SINGLE TIME I look at a GK. 

[Jimbokav1971]

5 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

(48b) Pedro (L.Heart) * 5'10" initially leaves me just a tiny bit underwhelmed if I'm honest. I can't see why he is rated so highly until I see the Punching attribute is at 16, (but that's how likely he is to punch rather than how good he is at punching.... right?  (so not necessarily a good thing), and of course when you link it with a Handling attribute of 15, (now that's a VERY good attribute for a 15 yo), then maybe I don't actually want him punching quite so often because his handling is so good. On the other hand he's only 5'10", (although plenty of time to grow, but he;'s never going to be a 6'5" Giant. Decisions, Determination, Anticipation all in double figures. Ah...... Agility is at 16. I had missed that initially. Now it's making a little more sense. The Top 3 attributes I look for in a GK are Aerial, Command & Communication and they're at 11, 8 & 10 respectively, (so not awful), so maybe not too shabby if I can get his positioning up a little. Not the star I was hoping for though. 

I wonder if he can score pens though? 

I've finally managed to get (48b) Pedro (L.Heart) * 5'10" to sign a deal, but it was ridiculously expensive. 

I wanted to sign him to a 3+3 deal, (for obvious reasons), keep his starting wage to £25k, (so that he wouldn't wreck the budget when I want to play him in the B Team), and I also wanted at the very least a £50M min fee release clause, (to keep the vultures away), but it cost me an absolute fortune to get this deal done. 

I think it was £850k cash in the end to secure the deal. This kid might actually be the real deal because I don't usually have to go that high. 

[Edit]

This bloke still won't even talk to me yet. 

Edited July 24, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

11 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

I've finally managed to get (48b) Pedro (L.Heart) * 5'10" to sign a deal, but it was ridiculously expensive. 

I wanted to sign him to a 3+3 deal, (for obvious reasons), keep his starting wage to £25k, (so that he wouldn't wreck the budget when I want to play him in the B Team), and I also wanted at the very least a £50M min fee release clause, (to keep the vultures away), but it cost me an absolute fortune to get this deal done. 

I think it was £850k cash in the end to secure the deal. This kid might actually be the real deal because I don't usually have to go that high. 

[Edit]

This bloke still won't even talk to me yet. 

(48a) Castañeda (Driven) "only" wanted £550k signing bonus when he eventually agreed to re-open talks. 

Still, I've signed 13 of the 16 players from this intake now and released the other 3. Fingers crossed.