[FM23] Yanbian Beatbox

[Daniel Evensen]

Smashing Suzhou

I really love the city of Suzhou. It’s absolutely beautiful, with the great waterways and parks. I really recommend visiting.

I particularly recommend visiting with a good football club. We had a great time smashing them.

Cheng Binbin is back from injury. He scored a strong hat trick in less than an hour, showing us the form that convinced me to buy him in the first place. This has been his first really good performance for Yanbian, and makes me wonder if he isn’t actually in the same class as Mueanta, Rovaglia, and Delfi.

Jacob Dicko Eng provided one of his rare goals, and our 17-year-old striker Li Qiang scored again in only his second first team match.

We won, 5-0, allowing only 2 shots in the process. We dominated possession, holding the ball 60% of the time. It wasn’t close at all. Suzhou would try to lob the ball over the heads of our defenders, but had no success doing so. We simply held onto the ball and attacked time and time again.

And this was our B team!

Another Big One

Not much time for chit-chat here. We’ve got to get ready for our next really big match.

We’re off to Tianjin, where we face another Chinese Super League side in the Chinese FA Cup.

Tianjin is a lot grittier and darker than Suzhou. The football is better, though, and that’s my biggest concern.

Hopefully we’ll survive to see another day.

[Daniel Evensen]

The Big Stage

Tianjin isn’t the prettiest city in the world, but the team certainly does have a large stadium.

We weren’t intimidated, however.

We didn’t just beat Tianjin. We dominated them.

We let Tianjin have possession for most of the match, and still won, 4-0. We won in convincing fashion, too, allowing only 2 shots, shooting 24 of our own, and raking up an xG of 3.60 against their measley 0.10.

I thought we played well. Mueanta had 2 goals, Rovaglia had an early one, and Delfi added to his total. We simply let Tianjin hold onto the ball, waited for them to stop kicking it around in their own half, and then counterattacked as soon as we could get the ball off of them.

Now, the board and our supporters were less than impressed. I suppose we’re supposed to be focusing on playing a possession-based game, rather than just soaking up the attack and letting loose when they least expect it.

But what do they want me to do — give the win back?

---

The Torres Saga

Juan David Torres has apparently been feeling left out lately.

We’ve only played him twice this season. We started him once, and let him come in as a substitute in another game. And he wasn’t impressive in either one.

It’s not that Torres is an awful player. It’s his morale that hurts. He was upset about being left off the Conference League squad. I feel bad for him, but the truth is that he’s simply not good enough to be considered a starting centerback for this club anymore.

Anyway, we’re going to wind up having to sell him. He doesn’t have much potential at age 23, and there aren’t many teams interested in taking him off our hands. I’m starting to regret paying 4 million RMB for him back in the beginning.

I guess you can’t win them all.

---

Beijing Sport University

We’re up against Beijing Sport University, and we should win this one easily.

This is a good chance for our younger, less experienced players to shine. Let’s see if they can put on a show!

We’ve got an international break after this, which can help us catch our breath before the next big surge of matches comes in December.

[Daniel Evensen]

Our Taiwanese-Swedish Superstar

Okay, I’ll admit it. Signing Miguel Sandberg was mostly a meme.

He’s a Swedish-born player who just so happens to be the only star player on Taiwan’s international squad. When I discovered him, I simply had to have him on my squad.

And, boy, did he ever reward me in this one.

Sandberg scored a hat trick in a rare start, lifting us over Beijing Sports University. We won by a 5-2 scoreline, though the game wasn’t really that close.

We dominated everything. We had 61% of the possession, 32 shots, and an xG of 4.16. The two goals we gave up were mostly fluke goals. I blame them on Liu Shaoziyang’s lack of attention in this match.

Sandberg added on 2 assists to go with his hat trick, helping both Patrik Gustavsson and Jacob Dicko Eng appear on the scoreboard.

Our backup team is so good that we can rest our stars without any worries about dropping a match we should have won. It really is a good place to be.

---

Xinjiang Tianshan Leopard

We’re up at home against another pitiful team. It’s another match that we really should be winning without much of problem.

We do need to worry about squad rotation again, though. We play on the road against Shenzhen in the next round of the Chinese FA Cup a week after this one is complete.

Hopefully we’ll get another good performance from our rotated side.

[Daniel Evensen]

Snowblind

It was kind of hard to see what happened in our home match against Xinjiang.

The yellow ball didn’t make a very good contrast to the white pitch. Our players slipped and slid around, and were barely able to pull off an unconvincing 2-0 win in the end.

It really wasn’t much of a match. Lee Jin-Yong wound up being our Man of the Match in the end, though I personally didn’t think he was impressive. Jeong Sang-Bin scored again, but also had two goals ruled out for being offside — and he was clearly offside for both attempts.

We were fortunate that Xinjiang’s offense never really was much of a threat in this match. We’re really going to need to play better than this if we expect to continue to win.

---

Shenzhen

We’re going down south for a Chinese FA Cup match against yet another Chinese Super League side.

This time we’re playing in Shenzhen. The media think we’re going to lose, but the odds are apparently pretty close.

They say that we shouldn’t expect much of a crowd. Shenzhen’s home stadium can seat 60,000, but we’re only expecting 3,000 people to show up. That might wind up working out in our favor.

[Daniel Evensen]

Squeaking By

I really thought we were going to lose this one.

Shenzhen FC is an excellent club, and played quite well against us. Pietro Rovaglia scored two goals in the first 40 minutes, but Nathan Redmond came back with one for Shenzhen. We went to halftime with a precarious one goal lead.

Redmond then scored in the 74th minute, tying the match and making me worry for our future in the competition.

Thankfully, Jeong Sang-Bin scored as part of an excellent counterattack in the 83rd minute. I thought he was offside, but I didn’t say anything.

We dominated in terms of match stats, but we simply couldn’t put them away. Zhu Bin had a particularly poor game, and should probably spend a bit more time on the bench.

Mueanta, who demanded more game time from me just a few days before this match, had one of the worst games of his career, and seemed to not even show up. Jeong Sang-Bin came on to substitute for him.

A win is a win, but sometimes even a win gets you worried.

---

Month In Review

It’s hard to believe, but we’re in December already.

Our finances are looking okay. We haven’t had any more sudden injections of cash from Chairman Guo, sadly. I did ask the board for more money in the transfer budget, but am not convinced that we will get it.

Our performance analysts reported that we’ve got the best attacking record in the First Division, which isn’t a huge surprise. The only real problem we have is our shots on target ratio, which is only 38.37%. I think this is mostly due to my policy of using young and inexperienced players who have a hard time aiming. Our 84% pass completion ratio is also a bit low. Everything else is extremely high.

I also won Manager of the Month after going undefeated in November.

We’re doing well, but we also shouldn’t get complacent. The good teams in this division are just as good as we are, and I still feel that we’ve got a bit more work to do before we can really compete with the Chinese Super League sides.

Instead of giving us a cash injection, Chairman Guo gave me a report card. He seems indifferent about our match performance and transfers, and is still upset that we were eliminated from the Conference League. However, he thinks things are going well in general, and is particularly happy with our Chinese FA Cup success.

The supporters are still upset about my transfers. They’ll ahve to get used to it.

Dynamics in the squad are still looking good. Rovaglia, Wade, Pak Myong-Song, and Cashin are our most influential players. I think Pak Myong-Song and Cashin will likely be classified as team leaders before too long. Rovaglia will probably reach those heights as well if he keeps scoring goals for fun.

---

Heilongjiang Ice City

If there’s any part of China colder than Yanbian, it’s Heilongjiang Province. We’re favorites to win this away match, though we’ll need to put out a good performance to see them off.

The media is excited because Chen Wei, another former goaltender signing who didn’t play a game for us, is starting in goal for Heilongjiang.

Chen Wei is 25 years old and really isn’t an awful keeper. I think he was our third choice keeper on the first team for some time last year. We couldn’t give him game time, though — certainly not with the far superior Liu Shaoziyang and Li Changyi on the team.

My transfer record thus far has been pretty spotty, and this is a good example of why. We bought Chen Wei for 4 million RMB from Shanghai Port, and then proceeded to lose him to Heilongjiang on a free transfer a few months later. I probably could have handled that one better.

If it’s any consolation, though, our scouts think that he would be an awful signing. He is consistent and likes big matches, but he doesn’t have the ability needed to be part of our team.

Anyway, I think we’ll win this one.

[BenArsenal]

Has the season also now been changed to a winter one from a summer (calendar year) one in this edited database?

[Daniel Evensen]

11 hours ago, BenArsenal said:

Has the season also now been changed to a winter one from a summer (calendar year) one in this edited database?

Yep!  The season runs from August to May (I believe).  I think this is done in part to accommodate the UEFA Champions League schedule.

[Daniel Evensen]

Poor Performance

We just barely held on to beat Heilongjiang Ice City.

Jeong Sang-Bin had 2 goals in the first 13 minutes. Suphanat Mueanta followed up with our third in the 33rd minute, and I thought that we might run them ragged.

Unfortunately, our defense gave up two early second half goals. We barely held out for a victory in the end.

This was probably the single worst match we’ve had this season, even worse than that loss to Wuhan. I understand losing when the other team parks the bus. We should have dominated this match, and were ahead on shots, possession, xG, and every stat you can imagine.

There is no excuse for playing this poorly.

---

Disaster

Liu Shaoziyang celebrated giving up 2 goals to an inferior team by fracturing his ribs during weight training.

He’s going to be out for 5 weeks.

It’s a major blow. He’s almost certainly the best Chinese goalkeeper in the world.

Li Changyi will take his place for the time being. He’s also a great young goalkeeper, but he’s not quite as good as Liu Shaoziyang.

I’m worried that we might start dropping points — especially after how poorly our defense performed against Heilongjiang.

---

Off to Germany?

Meanwhile, there are rumors swirling around that Suphanat Mueanta will wind up going to Germany.

Apparently FC Schalke 04 is interested in buying him, and is willing to offer 12 million RMB or so.

Word has it that Augsburg are also after him.

I’ve got some experience with Augsburg (and Ingolstadt, but they don’t know that). I should be able to talk Mueanta out of that move. Schalke, however, might be a bit more challenging.

It’s not the end of the world if he departs. He’s not happy with me for some stupid reason, and he keeps asking for contracts with ridiculously low release clauses.

Still, 12 million RMB for a player of his caliber is an insult.

---

Hebei FC

We’re up against Hebei FC this time around.

Hebei are in 6th place. We should be able to trounce them, though we’ll see. Some in the squad are upset that Romeo Lavia hasn’t been starting every single match. I’m trying to placate them, but their frustration might cause us to slip a little.

[Daniel Evensen]

Hey guys,

This is a bit awkward, but it looks like this save has come to a sudden end.

I've found that it is impossible to play past the 30 minute mark or so against Hebei FC.  The game simply stops and exits.

The funny thing is that I don't even get a crash dump message.

I'm not sure what's going on, though I suspect that it's got something to do with the Chinese language editor data file I found on the Steam Workshop and have been using.

I noticed a few weeks ago that my save file would become corrupted if I took a look at the Chinese national team roster.  I didn't even have to click on any players.  Just looking at the roster caused the corruption.  And that corrupt save file also wouldn't display any error message or dump a crash log; it would just load about halfway, and then the game would exit.

Anyway, it's looking like our story is going to come to a screeching halt here, as sad as it is to say.  I was really getting into this storyline, too.

I've got another save idea in my mind (I think all of us always have something in mind).  It'll take a little while for me to get it going, though.  I'm waiting for the final version of @DaveTheEditor's Around the Globe Megapack first, for example.  That probably gives you an idea of what I'm thinking of.

Thanks for the support, and apologies for the really awkward end!  The moral of this story is that you shouldn't just use some random editor data file that you found lying around somewhere.  The worst thing that could happen isn't a virus or some insidious hack or something like that.  No — the nightmare scenario is that you get sucked in by a great save only to have it die early on you due to some sort of editor data error.

I'll be back soon!

[BenArsenal]

Aww...

Well, for what it's worth, it was a great story. I really enjoyed reading it. 

[thegaminghakawati]

Such a shame, I truly enjoyed the ride. Hope you find an even more engaging save that gives you much fun and enjoyment!

[Daniel Evensen]

Thanks, guys!

Don't worry, I'll have something new coming soon.

[EvilDave]

I haven't commented on this before, but it's a real shame to see this go to a file error. You've made an utterly dominant team remain an interesting read and have a really clean style, so I'll definitely be keeping an eye on whatever you choose to write next! 

[Daniel Evensen]

6 hours ago, EvilDave said:

I haven't commented on this before, but it's a real shame to see this go to a file error. You've made an utterly dominant team remain an interesting read and have a really clean style, so I'll definitely be keeping an eye on whatever you choose to write next! 

Thanks, man!