[FM23] Jacinto Leal - Story of my Managerial Life

[lfds89]

First time posting here, hope you like it!

 

Intro

My name is Jacinto Leal and I’m here to tell you my story. I’m Portuguese and born on 04/02/1989. I’ve always played FM, was a professional locally and just got my first professional licence to coach (Continental C Licence). After retiring to injuries, it was my dream to finally start my managerial career.

 

I’ve been given a 1000 €/month contract expiring in 2024 (two seasons) at Sertanense.

Sertanense

It all started out at Sertanense in 2022. I was beginning my career in the Portuguese 4^th tier. There are 4 groups, 14 teams each, top 2 go to the promotion stage, bottom 6 are relegated.

 

Sertanense was founded in 1934, they play their home games at Estádio Municipal Dr. Marques dos Santos in Sertã, Castelo Branco. The stadium has a capacity of 1200 (note: this is on FM; IRL it seems to have around 7600) and was built in 1994. The village has 5500 inhabitants and the municipality has around 14700. The population peaked in 1950 with 28600 inhabitants but it has since been diminishing.

 

I have a small range of scouting, still, when I search for players from Sertã, I only get 4 results (and one is already a newgen). All are quite bad even for this level... I won't be expecting to have many homegrown players (although that's something I would like).

 

All players have part-time contracts with 1-year duration. Biggest wage is 900 €/month.

 

Tactics

Tactics-wise: 4-3-3, some possession, don’t hoof the ball. Most important: WIN!

Always start the games with a positive mentality.

Will try to create chances in any way possible: pass into space so my players try and get behind the defence; wide wing-backs and one inverted winger to cross the ball to the striker and the inside forward on the other side; long-range shooters; set-pieces designed to take advantage of my tall centre-backs, inside forward and striker.

I want them to be disciplined so they follow my instructions.

Will play a bit narrow so we can use the 3 midfielders and 3 forwards (IW, IF, AF) to create some numerical advantage in the middle. This will be adapted according to opposition.

When we recover the ball, will try to play through our centre-backs; be aggressive the moment we recover and try and counter. When we lose possession, counter-press so they can’t play comfortably then retreat to a mid block. Press more often than not when the trigger is active. Since our centre-backs are decently fast I haven’t asked neither to drop off or step up, but they are tall and good in the air so all the team will push the opposition outside and we want them to cross it.

 

Regarding opposition instructions, it’s just a reinforcement of the team instructions: I tell my players to show off-centre players their outside foot, tight mark defensive midfielders (when it’s just one), strikers (also when it’s just one) and trigger the press one the full/wing backs and wingers. Here goes an example of my instructions:

 

In the upcoming updates, I will get into more detail about tactical adaptations to the opposition.

[lfds89]

Club Expectations and Vision

Forgot to write about this in the first part.

The board is in fact just the president, Mr. Paulo Farinha. He's been at the club since 2003. He had no concerns regarding how we play, just wanted me to be mindful of the wage budget and grow the club's reputation in the region and nationally. Competition-wise, mid-table was the objective for this season in the league, and no real goal for the cup run. For next season the aim is to achieve a top-half finish.

 

Squad Personality

I want professional, determined, and committed players. Good personalities lead to good training habits and that will lead to good performances. Not much to add to this right now, but there'll be changes in the squad due to this subject.

 

Players

Wing-backs who can dribble and cross.

Center-backs who can win aerial duels and retain possession.

Midfielders who can pass the ball, but have some “bite” (through aggression, determination, work rate,…).

One more creative winger.

One winger can beat the wing back in the air and also dribble.

Two kinds of strikers: one who can link up and another who has more movement and pace. Goalkeeper, at this stage, is traditional and isn’t a liability.

 

This is the plan for this competition and this season. It will certainly evolve as we get to other competitions.

 

Squad environment

Right in the off-season I had a fallout with one of the most experienced players. Wasn’t training well, we had a chat and he didn’t feel the same way I did. The first official game of the season, he didn’t play well and we lost 3-1 which I expected my team to win. At the end of the game, I told my players what I thought about their exhibition. Once again, he didn’t like it and wanted to have a chat after the game. I tried to understand him, but we were miles apart. He ended up asking to leave the team; offered him out and he was quickly sold. Didn’t fit the team personality I wanted (Determination: 5) and I was afraid he started impacting other players so this was the best decision.

 

No one assumed the team leadership, so the cohesion was always quite low. Something I needed to build, together with decent personalities.

 

Training

We are a semi-pro team, so we train 2 days per week, 2 training sessions per day. Not much we can work on, so I focus on some match practice so they are ready for the next game, some set-piece training (different every week), then closer to the game some defensive training, and some technical/attacking training. Here's an example:

 

I’ve also created some mentoring groups. Mostly focused on units a defensive one and an offensive one. As I’ve talked about before, the team had no leaders so there was no great achievement coming from these groups, but it’s a start.

Individually they are working on each role they play and I’m trying to work on some traits so I can get the best out of their skills. It doesn't show every player but you can see it's adapted to each player most common playing position.

[lfds89]

Transfers In and Out – First Part of the Season

Should be said that at this level, the window is open until the end of February. This report will cover the transfers in the first part of the season.

First the transfers in. We really needed some upgrades and players who could fit the team's personality.

Pedro Mendes, 28, center-midfielder. Balanced personality with high determination (14) and decent aggression (12), teamwork (13) and work rate (11).

 

Kisley, 31, right winger. Also with a balanced personality. Already watched him a few years ago when he played for Pedras Rubras and he also played on the Portuguese top flight (União da Madeira, 2015/2016). Field-wise, he’s tall for a winger (188 cm), has a good jumping reach (14), is aggressive and brave (both 12) and he’s a decent dribbler (13).

 

Miccoli, 24, center-midfielder. Professional personality and also determination (15). Brought him on a trial and was impressed with his work rate (15), teamwork, bravery, and natural fitness (all 14).

 

Deyvison, 33, centre-back. Was also brought in for a trial, but he already has made a name for himself with 5 seasons on the Portuguese second tier and 2 on the first tier. Fairly professional and determined (13), teamwork (13) and work rate (12) are a bonus. Expect him to help on defence winning some headers with his jumping (14) and heading ability (13).

 

Figueiredo, 20, centre-midfielder. On loan. Wasn’t expecting this addition but the I was told he was available and Vitória (the Brazilian team) would loan him without the cost of his wages so I took the chance. He’s ambitious, also determined (13) and aggressive (12). Technically he’s a plus with good passing accuracy (13) and decent long shots (12).

 

Lastly and this one was quite exquisite… I was offered Quaresma, yes the one Ricardo Quaresma. He joined us at 39 years of age. I risked a bit but asked him to be with us on a trial for a few weeks. Who would have guessed he was interested in playing for us and (someone like him) trialing for a 4^th tier team?! But he said yes! I wanted to see his commitment and he sure showed me: a perfectionist personality, an example of determination (14) for our players. Surely his physicals are no longer top-level, but his technique is (18). Along with his crossing (20), dribbling (17) and he’s also a set-piece danger (corners 18).

 

On the way out, we had to offload some players and loan some others:

Nicolatti, 22, striker. On loan to Atlético Riachense. We had 4 strikers and only use 1 so at least 1 had to leave. Was least impressed with him, so he was the chosen one.

Chiga Ogugua, 22, center-midfielder. Sold to Kano Pillars (Nigeria). We brought in 3 players for this position so we had to make some adjustments. He wasn’t at the expected level.

André Luiz and André Marques are both 18-year-olds center-midfielders who needed to play at the senior level and in line with the adjustments needed they were loaned out.

Also Luís Martins, the player I fell out with, 29, center-back. Sold to Académica Coimbra with the transfer arranged for 03/01/2023 (don’t know why he didn’t go when we negotiated him).

 

The transfers in were based on a "trial-then-contract-offer" approach. In future transfer windows I’ll be using some stats to identify targets, then scouting the targets and only then offering a contract.

[lfds89]

Stats Monitoring

I always check how my players are doing in a team context and in a league context.

 

I have a table with all data per 90 minutes. I also have some metrics of my own. I created a defensive metric where I add tackles, interceptions and blocks; an offensive metric with shots on target, open-play key passes and dribbles. It allows me to understand the impact of some players defensively and offensively. I also added Possession Difference (Possession Won – Possession Lost), although I don’t use this one often. I’m just missing a good metric for goalkeepers. With time, pretty sure I’ll have something. Besides this, Crosses completed and ratio and Headers Won and Ratio are also important to me. I'll show you my tables for team shooting, passing and my custom metrics.

In a league context, I adapt these metrics to possession. In this case, strikers in the league with percentage order.

For the defensive adjustment, I use the Statsbomb formula ( 2/(1 + e^(-0.1*(x-50))), x/50 for x in [0,100] ). For the offensive, I just use the 2 minus the value for the defensive adjustment.

I’m also using the data hub, but I only have basic analysis available at this level and I feel my tables help me more.

 

I'll explore this subject a bit more when the season ends.

 

Tactical Adaptations

I have two types of tactical adaptations: opposition-driven and situation-driven.

Opposition-driven is about formation usually or specific threats. We have played against: 5-2-1-2 DM AM (once), 4-3-3 DM Wide (4 times), 4-4-2 (2 times), 5-2-3 DM Wide (3 times) and 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide on our first 11 official matches.

My base tactic (I had a mistake the last time I uploaded a picture: my left-back is usually on attacking duty) is drawn for the matchups against 4-3-3 DM Wide. Although sometimes I change my CM to AP-S, that depends on who I have available.

5-2-3 DM Wide is mostly the base tactic, I might decrease the tempo and ask to play narrower so we can take advantage of the extra man on the midfield. I’ve also tried to good effect to ask both the attacking wing-back and inside forward to be more supportive and ask my mezzala and cm to be more attacking.

Against the 4-4-2 I usually drop my CM to DM and keep his role as DLP. I want someone closer to the CBs to help with the two strikers. Also, ask my goalkeeper to distribute to the playmaker instead of center-backs. Also, depending on the striker I use and the attributes of the defenders I might change his role to DLF-A.

Playing the 4-2-3-1 DM AM, the changes are mostly the same. I want a DM to keep track of their AM and here I definitely play my DLF-A so he messes with the 2 opposition DM.

 

5-2-1-2 is where I change the most. CM to DM and sometimes I change the roles in midfield as I don’t want my playmaker near the CB when playing on equal numbers (2 CB + 1 DM vs 2 ST + 1 AM). So DM on the base, MEZ on the left and AP on the right is a possibility, but could also play AP on the left and CM on the right or even just keep MEZ and CM if I don’t want to attract the ball to the middle. I ask my wing-backs to dribble more as they don’t have direct opposition and their dribbling will attract and create space somewhere else. Also ask my players to play wider, and stretch the opposition the most we can. Depending on who is playing, might also ask my supportive wing-back to be more attacking and inversely, my inside forward to play a more supportive role. Distribution in transition to full-backs.

 

The idea is always the same: search the space, provoke the opposition, and find new spaces. Keep doing it until we are near the goal, then create the chance and score.

 

I also make some in-game changes based on the game situation.

I’m getting too many shots but not many on target? I ask my players to spend more time on the ball (lower tempo).

I also change my transition when the match is in the final stages (>70/75 minutes). We probably don’t need to counter at every chance and we don’t need to counter-press when we lose the ball. We focus on our positions. I’ll also ask my players to drop be more cautious and waste some time around 80/85 minutes played.

Lastly, one of my most common changes during the game is when we are losing possession too much and I ask my attacking role players (usually Left WB and Right IF) to be more supportive.

 

Fortunately didn’t get the chance to make many changes from a losing position, so I won’t write much about it now. The opportunity will certainly happen in the future to develop this more. However, I had a chance to test my reaction late in the season. We were 1-0 down to the 4th-placed placed team. They were playing 4-4-2. The game was a bit of a mess with no real dominance from either side. Many wayward shots from both teams as well. They scored in the 26^th minute. I made some changes on the 67^th. Changed a more traditional CB to a Ball Playing one (retrained DM); replaced the right IF with an inverted winger to play on the left and moved the right-footed player to his dominant foot side as a winger; subbed off the MEZ for my DLF hence playing 4-1-1-2-2 (1 left DM, 1 right CM, 2 strikers: right AF and left DLF). Asked my team to have more attacking intent, move the ball on a higher tempo a more direct and move the block higher up. The first goal started from the defence, and the winger played a ball behind the defence to the AF; the second goal was a long ball from the right back to my DLF, he laid it off to the winger and once again he found the AF behind the defence. Also made some changes to attacking corners: I basically threw everyone upfront except for one wing-back, but couldn’t get the goal from this situation.

[lfds89]

Taça de Portugal

The first official game of the season. We were drawn against Imortal, from the same tier as Sertanense, but a different group. I expected us to win or at least contest it, but we lost 3-1 and we are out of this competition—something to be improved upon in years to come.

Around the World

2022 was the year of the Qatar World Cup and there was a big surprise winner: Ecuador. They have beaten Qatar and Senegal on the group stage and lost to Netherlands, then Wales, Denmark on extra-time, Ghana on penalties and the Final against France also on penalties after a 1-1 draw. They played in 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 5-2-1-2, 5-2-2-1 and 5-2-3 through the competition. Almost as many formations as matches played!

 

By the turn of the year, the leaders in Europe’s top leagues are:

EPL: Man City with 44 points out of 18 games

Bundesliga: Bayern with 39 in 14

Primera Liga: Barcelona with 37 in 16

Serie A: Inter has 31 points in 13 games

La Ligue: PSG 42 in 17

Primeira Liga: Braga 40 in 14

Eredivisie: The news are not clear (note: forgot to load this league initially...)

 

The first round of the league stage

Halfway through the league stage, the situation looks good for us. We are first with 32 points in 13 matches. 40-15 in goals. 10 points in advance of the second-placed team give us a good margin for the second half of the season.

 

The stats for my players are the following:

 

In evidence is Karamoko with 13 goals in 9 starts and Kisley follows him with 7 goals and 5 assists in 13 starts. On the back, Luís Ferreira has been a rock leading the team in possession won / 90. With no surprise, Quaresma has also been fundamental with 1,83 goals+assists per 90 minutes played (3 goals and 1 assist).

Regarding transfers in: Deyvison gained his place on the first eleven, such as Pedro Mendes and Miccoli. Once Figueiredo arrived he started fighting for his spot with Miccoli. Quaresma has been a supersub and Kisley is impressive.

[lfds89]

Transfers In and Out – Second Part of the Season

Upon evaluation of the team and answering the requests of some players, I’ve made some changes to the squad.

In

Mateus Abraão, 20, winger/striker. On loan from São Martinho (same tier, different group). First transfer made through stats analysis. He was on the loan list and São Martinho wasn’t asking for any wages to be paid, so he was already a decent target. On the stat level: over 1 goal/90, overperforming xG, 30% conversion rate. Felt like he could be a decent backup upfront.

Daniel Novais, 21, left back/winger. On a free. He was at Berço (lower tier) on an amateur contract. Had 2 assists, a decent cross-completion ratio and key passes per 90. I needed a backup, he was cheap, and I decided to take the chance.

Daniel Santos, 24, defensive/center midfielder. On loan from São João de Ver (tier above mine). Once again, his team wanted him to leave on loan and didn’t ask for any wages. I had a scout report giving him 3,5 stars out of 5 in current ability. Pros: brave (15), determined (16), team player (14), hard worker (15) and aggressive (15). I’m not the biggest fan of players lacking technical skills, but felt he could help on the promotion stage and with the rotation late in the season. He was also a great example for the rest of the team.

Out

Edgar Moura, 19, midfielder. Sent him out on loan to Milhoeirense. He was still to make an appearance for the team, so it was the best for his development.

Wesley Santos, 25, striker. He left on a free transfer. Was happy with him as a backup, but I need to offer new contracts and improve the wages of my best players, so anyone who isn’t a first-team player and isn’t fighting for the first eleven is on his way out.

Wellington Aquino, 23, defensive midfielder. Same thing as Wesley. He was playing even less than Wesley, but I wanted him as a backup for defensive midfielder, center-back and was also training him to be a right-back. But as I said, any wage we can save is important, so he had to leave.

Léo Abreu, 24, left back. He wanted to be on the first team and play regularly but Moura had been playing better, so I had no choice than letting him go.

Have to say I made a mistake in the squad planning. I need 14 nation homegrown players and I’m just on the limit, so sometimes I have to change my bench selection due to this.

 

Contract renewals

This is one of the toughest parts of the job at this level. Money isn’t much and our best players will always want a better contract or they’ll move. And since we were being successful, there was some interest in our players.

Our backbone of GK (Daniel), CB (Luís Ferreira), CM (Pedro Mendes) and ST (Karamoko) were the first to have new contracts. The left-back we bought also has contract for the next season. We have 6 loanees leaving of which 3 are starters. We’ll have to build on that until the end of the season, but I don’t (and in fact can’t) rush this.

After the first 4, I asked for some help from my staff to renew the contracts. Don’t know if this wasn’t a mistake because we were spending around 9k/month and now we are spending around 13k… One of the goals of the board was exactly working on a budget.

After this, I have 13 players with contracts for the next season. It’s a start but there’s a possibility some will leave and I’ll have to loan in some players.

[lfds89]

Youth Team

Sadly, I had no players on my youth team worth writing about.

On the 31^st March I got to see the newcomers. I was told almost all of them had a lot of potential. Still, I didn’t like their personalities. After the game between the newcomers and the actual youth team, I decided to tie some of the youngsters to contracts.

Isidro Correia, 15, left-back/left winger. Very brave.

Ricardo Dias, 15, attacking midfielder/right winger. Seemed unambitious, but his ceiling is believed to be quite high, so I’ll take a chance. Fast, aggressive, brave, and has some flair.

Hélder Barros, 16, right winger/striker. Aggressive, determined, fast.

Vitor Mendes, 15, right winger/striker. Also believed to have a high ceiling, but very temperamental. Has decent technique.

Herculano Cassamá, 15, striker/right winger. Brave, pacey, consistent.

Luís Rascão, 15, right winger. Left footed, very unpredictable and creative, aggressive and decent pace.

Too many right wingers, but right now I’m focused on their abilities and potential. We’ll see where they fit when the time comes.

 

Elections

Sertanense had elections that saw a change of president. It is now Luís Silva. Not much has changed, he only added the requisite of signing young players (under-23).

 

The second part of the season

We’ve guaranteed playoff access on matchday 21 (of 26), so we were comfortable running out the league. I was just in doubt if I should take this moment to rest my most important players or not. I have to say I was a bit afraid that resting them could lead to losses, this could then lead to losses on morale which wasn’t good ahead of playoffs that could decide our promotion. I went on and gave some playing time to some players, but only changed 2/3 players each game. Was a bit unlucky as some first-team players got injured and we’ve drawn 1 and lost 2 of our last 4 games.

 

Recap of the league

[lfds89]

After League Stage Stats

(every metric is “per 90”)

 

Recovering a previous text where I was explaining what I wanted from my players:

Citar

 

Wing-backs who can dribble and cross.

Center-backs who can win aerial duels and retain possession.

Midfielders who can pass the ball, but have some “bite” (through aggression, determination, work rate,…).

One more creative winger.

One winger who can beat the wing back in the air and dribble.

Two kinds of strikers: one who can link up and another who has more movement and pace. Goalkeeper, at this stage, traditional, and isn’t a liability.

 

 

Wing-backs: 3 out of 4 over percentile 80 (P80) in dribbles and crosses completed in the league.

 

Center-backs: 2 / 3 over P80 in headers won, 2 / 3 in pass completion ratio over P80.

 

Midfielders: 4 / 4 over P80 in progressive passes and open-play key passes; 3 / 4 over P80 in chances created; 2 / 4 over P80 in defensive actions [tackles + interceptions + blocks] adjusted for possession.

 

Wingers: 3 / 3 over P80 in assists and open-play key passes; 1 / 3 in headers won and headers won ratio over P80; 0 / 3 over P80 in dribbles.

 

Strikers: Don’t have the metrics for movement and pace; the striker I used for link-up play didn’t have sufficient playing time to be included in these statistics. However, the one I used dominated the league in goals, shots, shots on target, non-penalty expected goals and conversion rate.

 

Goalkeeper: The one I used didn’t excel in any particular goalkeeping metric. Best in the league in passes completed and pass completion ratio.

 

Overall, I feel my players achieved what I required of them. Missing the dribbles on the wingers; one more quality center-back; and some bite on the midfielders (which probably didn’t help the goalkeeper stats).

 

Regarding the midfielder's situation, I raise a question to myself: since I asked my team to show the opposition outside and press/tackle the wide players more intensively, should I expect high volume on tackles, interceptions and blocks from the central midfielders? Maybe not...

 

The eleven players with the most minutes played:

GK Daniel Júnior

RB Alexandre Lavrador

LB Rúben Moura

CBR Luís Ferreira

CBL Deyvison

MC Bernardo Fortunato

MC Pedro Mendes

MC Figueiredo

RW Kisley

LW Gonçalo Gomes

ST Mohamed Karamoko

 

80% of goals came from the 3 attackers

74% of assists from Figueiredo, Bernardo Fortunato, Kisley and Gonçalo Gomes

49% of key passes from Rúben Moura, Pedro Mendes and Kisley

51% of chances created from Pedro Mendes and Kisley

54% of tackles from wide players

64% of interceptions from the back four

67% of possession won from the back four

27% of dribbles from my wingers, 35% from Rúben Moura

56% of fouls against from the 3 attackers, also 60% of fouls from them

48% of goals + assists from Mohamed Karamoko and Kisley

17% of tackles + interceptions + blocks from Alexandre Lavrador

20% of shots on target + open-play key passes + dribbles from Rúben Moura

[lfds89]

Searching players for next season

In line with the team context (weight bigger than 10% per role) I’ll take into account the following stats when searching for each position:

RB: Progressive Passes, Crosses Completed, Pressures Completed, Tackles, Interceptions, Headers Won, Possession Won, Sprints

LB: Progressive Passes, Open-Play Key Passes, Crosses Completed, Pressures Completed, Tackles, Interceptions, Possession Won, Dribbles, Sprints

CB: Pass Completion, Progressive Passes, Interceptions, Headers Won, Header Won Ratio, Possession Won

CM: Assists, Progressive Passes, Open-Play Key Passes, Chances Created, Pressures Completed, Tackles, Sprints

RW: Goals, Shots on Target, Assists, Open-Play Key Passes, Chances Created, Crosses Completed, Pressures Completed, Tackles, Headers Won, Headers Won Ratio, Dribbles, Sprints

LW: Goals, Assists, Open-Play Key Passes, Chances Created, Crosses Completed, Pressures Completed, Tackles, Dribbles

ST: Goals, Shots on Target, Conversion Rate, Fouls (Offsides count on fouls so might be a good indicator of movement)

 

Right now, I have under contract for next season: 1 GK, 2 RB, 3 CB, 2 LB, 3 CM, 1 RW, 1 LW, 1 ST

I need to find a backup GK (or even a first-team one), 1 backup CB (preferably left-footed), 3 CM (at least one for the first team, would prefer 2), 1 backup RW, 1 LW, 1 backup ST. Maybe some of the youngsters will get a chance.

[lfds89]

Promotion Stage

The top 2 teams from each group get to the promotion stage. Groups A and B from the First Stage move to Promotion Stage Group A; Groups C and D move to Group B.

I’ll (59 points / Goal Difference +38) play S.U. 1º Dezembro (49 / +13) from my group, Oriental Dragon (49 / +25) and Serpa (48 / +21) from group D.

 

The first game is against Oriental Dragon. It’s a misery of a game for us. 3-1 to them. On the other game Serpa an SU 1º Dezembro draw 1-1.

 

 

Then we play Serpa. They play with a bottom bottom-heavyion, but they have a great striker upfront by the name of Iaquinta (no, not the original one). They dominate possession and we only have some bursts, but still get to a 2-0. Then they score on the 85^th minute and it’s a struggle until the final whistle. Oriental lost to Dezembro 0-1.

 

 

I didn’t like their pass map.

 

 

For the second game, I’ll need to press the central midfielders and make sure wing-backs don’t play the ball so comfortably to the wingers. Maybe switch my focus on defence. Stay on the mid-block but show inside and stop crosses. Daniel Santos is very aggressive and maybe he’ll play to help regain possession on the midfield.

 

Next game is against SU 1º Dezembro. They were in my group in the first stage, so we have a history. We won both games 3-0 home and 3-2 away (while 3-0 at the end of the first half). They play a traditional 4-3-3. Not too worried about this.

 

4-0 at half-time, we lost focus on the final minutes and let them score 2. The other game was Oriental vs Serpa. Serpa won 3-2.

 

 

Current Standings: we have 6 points, Serpa and SU have 4, Oriental has 3. Still, everything is open for everyone.

 

First game of the second round is against Serpa. Time to test the adjustments.

 

 

Couldn’t have gone better. From 36% to 57% possession; -0,19 xG difference to 1,52; 18 shots conceded to 9; 646 opposition completed passes (94% completed) to 400 passes (83%). And, the best, a 3-0 win. Only one bad piece of news: Karamoko reached 5 yellows and is suspended for the next match.

In the other game, Oriental beat SU 2-1. 6 points are to be played, a difference of 5 to the last two.

 

The fifth game is against Oriental Dragon. I want revenge on the first game. Having Kisley and Luís Ferreira available will be a huge help, hope Karamoko’s absence doesn’t hinder this.

Not a very interesting game, but we grabbed the win AND WE ARE PROMOTED!

 

 

In the other match, Serpa won 2-0. And on the other group, Vila Meã has also guaranteed promotion. We have also guaranteed first place in both our groups, which means we’ll face each other on the Champions Playoff Final.

 

The direct result of this is an adjustment to our wage budget. We were at 9k and now it jumped to 56k. With a transfer budget of 26k to add to that. Really hope people are doing their math right. I’ve also been asked to attend a meeting with the board and they want to turn pro. It’s a big move. Of the 8 relegated teams from Liga 3 (the next tier), only 1 is semi-pro, and the others are all professional. At the end of the day, don’t think it’s a choice.

 

In the last match, we beat SU 3-1, Oriental beat Serpa and they are also promoted. Vila Meã has drawn 3-3.

 

 

[lfds89]

Final Match Preparation

To prepare for the final match, I opted to change my training a little bit. We had 14 days before the game, so I opted for more focus on match preparation.

 

Comparing both teams, we have:

Sertanense – Vila Meã

57 – 57 Possession %

59 – 60 Headers Won Ratio

84 – 45 Goals Scored

9 – 6 Penalties Scored

18 – 17 Cross Completion Ratio

83 – 85 Pass completion Ratio

121 – 66 Chances Created

205 – 131 Shots on Target

39 – 27 Goals Conceded

425 – 579 Fouls Made

 

We were quite similar on the ratios, but we managed to make the most out of our possession and passing with many more chances created that turned into many more shots on target and goals. We also conceded more (although from a similar xGA). Corners seem to be a problem for my team, something I hadn’t picked up yet. Made me change my training schedule and my setup. It was also noticeable they made a lot more fouls. The biggest offenders are their left winger and striker (they play a 4-3-3).

 

Regarding player stats:

Djoussé (ST) and Zé Lopes (DM) are the scoring threats (14 in 28 and 8 in 32 matches). Zé Lopes mostly from set-pieces. On the creative part, their wingers seem dangerous (Adílio Varela and Beghdadi) with many key passes, dribbles and crosses (also 15 assists between them). On defence, their full-backs are the most active, with a very decent header-won ratio for their left-back (Elízio). Both center-backs seem comfortable on the ball and good in the air. Their RCM (Pedro Martins) is a good dribbler and scores some goals, the LCM (Mica) is the more creative midfielder.

 

I have faith in my usual tactic. Don’t think I have to adapt too much.

 

The match

It was played in Águeda, a neutral venue.

Great start for us with a goal by Kisley in the 7^th minute. Not many chances by either side, but a through ball puts Karamoko 1-on-1 with their keeper and he scores. 2-0. Then they score 1 by Seidi, their left-winger (Beghdadi was on the bench). Time for a break.

 

We started the second half very slowly and they took control of the match. After 15 minutes of pressure they eventually scored through Djoussé. Then I replaced my wingers (Kisley and Gomes for Quaresma and Denilson) and we turned it around. Quaresma won a penalty and converted it. Then Fortunato scored from range to make it 4-2. We fell asleep once again and they got a penalty and scored (Zé Lopes). And on the 90+1, Karamoko scored his second of the game. 5-3.

 

 

Let’s hear the Queen: “We are the champions!”

What a start to my career! I’m loving it!

 

[LazgoNNO2000]

22 hours ago, lfds89 said:

Final Match Preparation

To prepare for the final match, I opted to change my training a little bit. We had 14 days before the game, so I opted for more focus on match preparation.

 

Comparing both teams, we have:

Sertanense – Vila Meã

57 – 57 Possession %

59 – 60 Headers Won Ratio

84 – 45 Goals Scored

9 – 6 Penalties Scored

18 – 17 Cross Completion Ratio

83 – 85 Pass completion Ratio

121 – 66 Chances Created

205 – 131 Shots on Target

39 – 27 Goals Conceded

425 – 579 Fouls Made

 

We were quite similar on the ratios, but we managed to make the most out of our possession and passing with many more chances created that turned into many more shots on target and goals. We also conceded more (although from a similar xGA). Corners seem to be a problem for my team, something I hadn’t picked up yet. Made me change my training schedule and my setup. It was also noticeable they made a lot more fouls. The biggest offenders are their left winger and striker (they play a 4-3-3).

 

Regarding player stats:

Djoussé (ST) and Zé Lopes (DM) are the scoring threats (14 in 28 and 8 in 32 matches). Zé Lopes mostly from set-pieces. On the creative part, their wingers seem dangerous (Adílio Varela and Beghdadi) with many key passes, dribbles and crosses (also 15 assists between them). On defence, their full-backs are the most active, with a very decent header-won ratio for their left-back (Elízio). Both center-backs seem comfortable on the ball and good in the air. Their RCM (Pedro Martins) is a good dribbler and scores some goals, the LCM (Mica) is the more creative midfielder.

 

I have faith in my usual tactic. Don’t think I have to adapt too much.

 

The match

It was played in Águeda, a neutral venue.

Great start for us with a goal by Kisley in the 7^th minute. Not many chances by either side, but a through ball puts Karamoko 1-on-1 with their keeper and he scores. 2-0. Then they score 1 by Seidi, their left-winger (Beghdadi was on the bench). Time for a break.

 

We started the second half very slowly and they took control of the match. After 15 minutes of pressure they eventually scored through Djoussé. Then I replaced my wingers (Kisley and Gomes for Quaresma and Denilson) and we turned it around. Quaresma won a penalty and converted it. Then Fortunato scored from range to make it 4-2. We fell asleep once again and they got a penalty and scored (Zé Lopes). And on the 90+1, Karamoko scored his second of the game. 5-3.

 

 

Let’s hear the Queen: “We are the champions!”

What a start to my career! I’m loving it!

 

wow that it very great

[lfds89]

3 horas atrás, LazgoNNO2000 disse:

wow that it very great

Thanks!

[LazgoNNO2000]

18 minutes ago, lfds89 said:

Thanks!

you manage to get Sertanense Promoted to Terceira Liga

next season is going be Segunda Liga

[lfds89]

Around the world

Liverpool won the Premier League, Real Madrid were champions in Spain, Juventus won the Serie A, Bayern won once again, Paris SG also won. Only surprise was in Portugal where Braga won, even after selling Ricardo Horta to Newcastle in January.

In the Champions League, Liverpool beat Milan 4-0 with a hat-trick from Salah. Man Utd have beaten Arsenal to claim the Europa League and West Ham won the Conference League by beating PSV 2-1. Full Premier League domination in Europe.

 

First signings for the next season

GK – Eventually extended Pedro Simões’ contract.

CB – Made an offer for Bastian, 27, Nigerian. He played in my group. Statistically: 94% header won ratio in 21 headers won/90; 6,90 progressive passes / 90; 29,92 possessions won / 90. He accepted my offer. He’s right-footed, which isn’t ideal (I was missing a left-footed CB), but his stats were too good to pass on him.

CM (x3) – Luís Madeira, 20. Had great stats across the board. He was the first I got into negotiations with. João Castro, 21 was the second player I negotiated. Doesn’t have great stats, but my scout rated him as A+ and his contract was ending, so I trusted my staff and asked the DOF to offer him a contract. Luís Madeira accepted. Bernardo Fortunato was on loan this season and ends his contract both with us and Estoril, so I instructed the DOF to try and sign him. Luís Madeira accepted, and so did João Castro. The DOF didn’t accept my wish to sign Bernardo as we already had signed 2 players for the same position. I have some youngsters who were on loan. I’ll use them in the off-season and if they don’t prove themselves to be able then I’ll try and go for someone on loan.

RW – 16-year-old Luís Rascão will be promoted and be with the first team, but we’ll likely still try and get another player. Tried Pedro Silva, who had good stats although in a League below ours, but he signed for Penafiel (2^nd tier).

 

LW – Wallace had been on trial during the season. I really liked him. Technically there’s no one like him on my team (maybe Quaresma, but on a different phase of his career). But my DOF couldn’t sign him.

 

ST – 16-year-old Hélder Barros will be trained to play in this position but he’ll be the third choice. Iaquinta, whom we played against on the promotion stage. Scored 19 goals; won 10 headers/90 on 60%. He decided to join S.J. de Ver (3^rd tier). I had Nicolatti on loan and decided to offer him a renewal. He’s 23 and a link-up striker. He’s cheap, so I’ll give him another chance.

 

End of Season

 

 

[IRL comment: Imagine a fourth-tier team having shirts for sale from Quaresma, Denilson and Miccoli. Pretty sure they’d be a success]

 

 

Karamoko, Kisley and Luís Ferreira were the standout performers.

 

 

 

 

Pedro Mendes is now a team leader. Quaresma is the other one but he will retire.

Next season we’ll be playing in Abrantes as our stadium will be enlarged by 600 seats (it’ll have 1800 seats). It’s about 45 minutes and 50 km away and has a capacity for 1500 seats.

 

Season	Year	Club	League	Position	Cup	Stage	PPG	Win %	GF	GA
01	2022/2023	Sertanense	PT4	1st	TdP	First Round	2,27	69%	70	32

 

Most Goals	Most Assists	Most POM	Highest AvR
Karamoko – 31	Quaresma – 9	Karamoko – 8	Kisley – 7,42

 

Income	Expenditure	Profit	Avg Attendance
1.353.447,00 €	1.411.118,00 €	-57.671,00 €	662

 

[lfds89]

25 minutos atrás, LazgoNNO2000 disse:

you manage to get Sertanense Promoted to Terceira Liga

next season is going be Segunda Liga

At least I'll be fighting for it!

[lfds89]

Contracts

Since we turned pro, every contract that has been renewed over the last months will have to be renegotiated turning my players from semi-pro to pro.

The first one was Karamoko. The DOF, Hélder Borges, signed him on a 2,9k€/month contract going through 2026. And he’s the first player to have a release clause (76k for teams in higher divisions).

Luís Ferreira was second. 2,4k – 2026 – 56k release clause.

 

Analyzing top teams from Liga 3 (third tier)

I took a look at the top 3 teams from Liga 3.

Group North

1^st – Fafe – Control Possession 4-3-3 DM Wide

2^nd – Varzim - Control Possession 4-3-3 DM Wide

3^rd – Montalegre - Control Possession 4-3-3 DM Wide

 

Group South

1^st – Vitória de Setúbal – Vertical Tiki-Taka 4-4-2

2^nd – Alverca – Fluid Counter Attack 4-3-3 DM Wide

3^rd – Oliveira do Hospital - Control Possession 4-3-3 DM Wide

 

Control Possession and 4-3-3 seem to be dominant. However, Vitória de Setúbal was the champion playing a different formation and a different style. Something to consider and study a bit more.

 

Liga 3

The league is composed of 2 10-team groups. 4 top teams from each group go to a promotion stage (divided into two groups of 4), and all the others go to a relegation stage (divided into 4 groups of 3). There’s more to it, but it’s quite a mess. When we get there, I’ll explain what’s going to happen.

 

Contract Renewal!

I’ve been offered a new contract. I was on a 1000 €/month contract, due to promotion has increased to 1300 €/month. Their first offer was 3900 €/month, a promotion wage rise of 15% and a relegation wage drop of 35% for 2 years. I’ve asked for 4200 €/month, a 20% promotion wage rise and a 30% relegation wage drop. They accepted it. Let the good times roll!

 

 

[Note: Some attributes have increased before getting the new Licence – Attacking 8 (+1); Technical 11 (+1); Youngster Knowledge 5 (+1); Motivating 6 (+1)]

 

B Team

We had the option to create a B team. The board asked for my opinion, I declined it. We don’t have a great youth team and also don’t have that many players on the first-team squad, so I thought there was no reason to have another team.

[lfds89]

Staff Update

I’ve started working on my Coaching Licence. Hope to have the Continental B Licence in 6 months.

I have two members of my staff also on course to have higher licences. Although, one might leave as there are some people interested in working for Sertanense. Right now, I have my Assistant on contract, and my 3 other coaches (GK, Fitness and General) are on month-to-month agreements and will probably leave.

 

One major change about turning pro is the availability of the board on letting me expand the non-playing team. Recruitment Analyst, Head of Sports Science and Head Performance Analyst are the first 3 to join.

I eventually find a new GK Coach in Miguel Paiva, 38, and a new Fitness Coach in Rui Salgado, 30.

Later I added Paulo Ferreira (former Chelsea player). He’ll be a great example for the players, having a great personality (Model Citizen).

 

End-of-Season Awards

Quite a season culminated in some awards for Sertanense. I won Manager of the Year; Karamoko won Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year; Luís Ferreira, Kisley and Karamoko were selected for the Team of the Year.

 

[lfds89]

Second Season – 2023/2024

 

Season Preview

Just on the first few days of the new season, I took a look at the predictions for this year and found our team placed 11^th out of the 20 teams in Liga 3 with 25-1 odds. Not bad for a promoted team. Let’s see how it evolves during the transfer window.

 

Board Expectations

My board asked me to avoid finishing bottom of the league, which in light of the media expectation seems very doable. On the cup run, they expect us to reach the second round. They were willing to raise the budget should we aim for the third round. It’s a lot down to luck, so I decided to keep the aim on the second round.

 

Signings Update and First Review

GK

Pedro Simões, 23, contract extension. Trialed some goalkeepers but none of them were that much better, so I’m keeping Pedro as a backup.

 

CB

Bastian, 27, Nigerian, end of contract. I was a bit worried about his passing completion and the first preseason games didn’t help much with that: 70%, 63%, 56% and 68% against weaker opposition than we’ll be facing. I’ll keep track of this.

Possession Won is very similar to Luís Ferreira, Defensive Rating isn't too far off and better Attacking Rating.

 

I’ve also added João Cesco (22, Brazilian) on loan. No wages but only until January. He’s left-footed and we only had one left-footed center-back, so I’m happy with this addition. Don’t have many stats on him, but my recruitment team recommended him, so I’ll trust them. On a curious note: he’s also Portuguese.

 

LB

I’m not sure about my options in this position. Rúben Moura and Daniel Novais are decent, but not top-level and this is quite an important position for the way we play. I’ve trialed Iuri Alves who played alongside Bastian at Benfica e Castelo Branco. I’m also not happy that all these options are not comfortable playing the big matches.

My youth player Isidro Correia has been getting some contacts for trials. We haven’t allowed him to leave. I want to see how he does on the youth team.

 

CM

Luís Madeira, 20, end of contract. A good option for both DPL and Mezzala roles. He was signed as an impact sub, which takes away some pressure to play him, but surely he’ll have his minutes.

João Castro, 21, end of contract. Has been impressing me. Hope he keeps playing like this when games get tougher. He’ll be the Mezzala.

Some stats comparing both to Pedro Mendes: noteworthy the defensive rating for Luís Madeira.

 

Edgar Moura, 20, contract extension. Still have to play him a bit more, but I’m not too confident about him. He doesn’t add much with the ball on his feet.

André Luiz, 19, contract extension. He has some decent stats. Of the 3 young central midfielders, he has been the best so far.

André Marques, 19, contract extension. Hasn’t been particularly impressive, and probably won’t make the team.

 

RW

Luís Rascão, 16, promoted. A bit far from being ready for the first team. Will be training with this team, but he’ll play with the U19.

I have a player on trial I’m very interested in keeping. Tiago Leite, 22. Had 6 assists last season on the same level we played. He’s also very good in the air.

 

 

LW

Ruster, 26, end of contract. 9 goals last season. Higher open-play key passes and more open-play crosses completed, more pressures and more dribbles than Gonçalo Gomes. Higher in both Defensive and Attacking Rating.

ST

Hélder Barros, 16, promoted. Same as Luís Rascão, he’s still far from the expected level.

Nicolatti, 23, return from loan. Has been quite good: scoring some goals, winning aerial duels and playing some key passes. I’m happy with him. He’s good enough for a backup.

 

I’ll update this again when the preseason ends.

[lfds89]

This won't be an update on my journey but a study I made on my team's last season statistics and its comparison with the rest of the league.

So, I took the weight for each position and each stat (I already published it before) and multiplied it by the relative difference to the 80th percentile of the league's most used players. I wanted to understand what I should expect as a difference in each position. Don't know if this is mathematically correct, but moving on...

Spoiler

Em 09/03/2023 em 19:58, lfds89 disse:

Searching players for next season

In line with the team context (weight bigger than 10% per role) I’ll take into account the following stats when searching for each position:

 

 

Here are the results:

SHOOTING

Pos	Gls	Gls/90	Shot/90	ShT/90	NP-xG/90	Conv %	Shot %
SK-A	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
RWB-S	0%	0%	-1%	-1%	0%	0%	-4%
LWB-A	0%	0%	-1%	1%	-1%	0%	9%
RCB-D	-1%	-1%	0%	-1%	0%	-4%	-6%
LCB-D	-1%	-1%	0%	-1%	0%	-6%	-5%
RCM-S	-2%	0%	0%	0%	-1%	-5%	-3%
DLP-S	0%	0%	0%	0%	-2%	-1%	-2%
LMEZ-S	-1%	0%	0%	0%	-2%	-3%	-3%
RIF-A	30%	31%	50%	47%	31%	0%	0%
LIW-S	5%	5%	-1%	1%	-1%	21%	2%
AF-A	57%	56%	16%	21%	53%	2%	-1%

The importance of the front 3 on my goals scored is quite relevant. They've also played a level above the rest of the league.

 

PASSING

Pos	Ast	Asts/90	xA/90	Ps C/90	Pas %	Pr passes/90	K Ps/90	OP-KP/90	Ch C/90	Cr C/90	Cr C/A
SK-A	0%	0%	0%	2%	1%	-1%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
RWB-S	-3%	0%	-2%	-2%	-1%	6%	-1%	-1%	-2%	1%	0%
LWB-A	1%	16%	4%	-2%	-1%	2%	15%	19%	-2%	24%	-1%
RCB-D	-1%	0%	-1%	0%	0%	-1%	-1%	-1%	-1%	-1%	-8%
LCB-D	-1%	0%	0%	0%	0%	-2%	0%	0%	-1%	0%	0%
RCM-S	-1%	3%	1%	-1%	-1%	1%	2%	2%	1%	1%	0%
DLP-S	0%	1%	2%	-2%	-1%	1%	4%	3%	4%	12%	0%
LMEZ-S	-1%	4%	1%	-1%	-1%	1%	3%	3%	2%	4%	0%
RIF-A	8%	16%	15%	-2%	-1%	0%	-1%	6%	4%	-4%	2%
LIW-S	8%	17%	-2%	-2%	-1%	-1%	-3%	1%	-4%	-5%	2%
AF-A	0%	0%	0%	-1%	-1%	0%	3%	3%	2%	0%	-1%

Left wing-back and both wingers are very important in creating chances. Also, all three of the central midfielders are very involved offensively.

 

DEFENDING

Pos	Pres A/90	Pres C	Tck/90	Tck R	Int/90	Fls	Blk/90	Clr/90	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Gl Mst	Poss Won/90
SK-A	0%	0%	0%	0%	-1%	0%	-4%	-15%	0%	0%	0%	-1%
RWB-S	-1%	-1%	-1%	-2%	1%	-4%	2%	-3%	-2%	-3%	-8%	1%
LWB-A	-1%	-2%	-1%	0%	-3%	-5%	-2%	-6%	-1%	-1%	0%	-1%
RCB-D	0%	0%	-1%	-1%	-2%	-2%	-1%	-9%	-2%	-1%	-6%	1%
LCB-D	0%	0%	0%	-1%	-1%	-3%	-2%	-4%	-2%	-1%	-6%	1%
RCM-S	-3%	-2%	-2%	-1%	-2%	-2%	-1%	-2%	-1%	-2%	0%	-1%
DLP-S	-4%	-2%	-4%	-1%	-2%	-4%	-1%	-3%	-1%	-3%	0%	-1%
LMEZ-S	-4%	-3%	-4%	-1%	-1%	-3%	-2%	-4%	-1%	-3%	0%	-1%
RIF-A	-4%	-2%	-2%	0%	-2%	-1%	-2%	-2%	11%	4%	0%	-1%
LIW-S	-3%	-2%	-4%	-1%	-2%	-4%	-1%	-1%	-1%	-1%	0%	-1%
AF-A	-4%	-3%	-3%	-1%	-1%	17%	-1%	-2%	-3%	-2%	0%	-1%

Clearly, we are a very attacking team and all defensive stats suffer. Exception on the right wing-back. Also the evidence of the focus on our right winger's aerial dominance.

 

MOVEMENT AND MISC.

Pos	Drb/90	FA	Poss Lost/90	Sprints/90	Av Rat	FA/90	Fls/90	Gl Mst/90
SK-A	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	41%
RWB-S	0%	-3%	5%	1%	0%	-2%	10%	0%
LWB-A	57%	-4%	8%	7%	0%	0%	11%	0%
RCB-D	0%	-2%	0%	0%	0%	-1%	4%	0%
LCB-D	0%	-1%	0%	-1%	0%	-1%	5%	0%
RCM-S	-1%	-5%	4%	0%	0%	-2%	1%	0%
DLP-S	-1%	-4%	5%	1%	0%	-2%	2%	0%
LMEZ-S	-1%	-2%	4%	0%	0%	-2%	2%	0%
RIF-A	-7%	-5%	1%	1%	1%	-1%	29%	0%
LIW-S	-7%	-4%	0%	-1%	0%	4%	5%	0%
AF-A	0%	1%	1%	-1%	0%	1%	52%	0%

Our left wing-back is once again in evidence, this time it's the dribbling. I can also notice a high intensity all across the team with big numbers in sprints.

Our possession lost values are also quite high, something I must follow closely this season. I have no detailed statistics on this, but from the footage review, I believe it's mostly down to inaccurate passes, inaccurate headers and uncompleted dribbles (it's a shame I have no access to dribble success ratio).

Looking at my most used players, I have:

Name	Pos	Shot Lost/90	Pass Lost/90	Cross Lost/90	Headers Lost/90	Poss Lost/90 *
Daniel Júnior	GK	0,00	2,77	0,00	0,00	2,77
Alexandre Lavrador	D (R)	0,05	9,87	3,12	2,08	15,13
Rúben Moura	D (L)	0,13	12,75	7,31	4,13	24,32
Luís Ferreira	D (C)	0,30	7,57	0,05	3,45	11,37
Deyvison	D (C)	0,17	16,98	0,00	3,87	21,02
Bernardo Fortunato	M (C)	0,86	10,12	1,26	2,86	15,10
Pedro Mendes	M (C)	0,46	11,32	4,96	1,61	18,35
Figueiredo	M (C)	0,75	13,04	0,85	2,81	17,45
Kisley	AM (R)	1,90	6,50	2,91	3,54	14,84
Gonçalo Gomes	AM (L)	0,71	5,95	2,27	4,75	13,67
Mohamed Karamoko	ST (C)	2,63	2,86	1,53	16,34	23,36

Here, the possession lost is calculated and the numbers are a bit higher than the data I retrieved from the system.

Rúben Moura is missing many crosses.

Deyvison is missing many passes for no particular reason (his "partner" misses less than half).

Pedro Mendes's figures are higher due to crosses from set pieces.

Karamoko loses many headers, but that's something I can leave with taking into account everything else he offers the team.

Edited March 22, 2023 by lfds89

[lfds89]

New tactic?

While searching for a winger who can beat opponents on the ground and also in the air, I noticed that aside Kisley, there are not many. So I have to consider a different approach.

Right now I’m thinking about two options: either 4-2-3-1 as my midfielders and Denilson can play the “10” and it wouldn’t be such a big change. In terms of chance creation, we wouldn’t have the ball in the air threat, but we could have another player in the middle. It could also help on regaining the ball upfront and moving to a higher block; the second option is a 3-man defence, maybe 3-4-1-2 / 3-5-2 / 5-3-2. Changing to a 3-man defence would mean one more player in the back, turning us into a bottom-heavy team by nature of the formation and I would have to test the pairs upfront, although some of my wingers can play there. This would probably lead to a low block.

 

Preseason Fixtures and Stats

Mostly wins and just 2 losses against teams from the Spanish second tier. I’ve tried out the 4-2-3-1. Probably wasn’t the wisest of choices to do so against one of the best teams we faced, but I did it when Kisley was injured which is exactly what I’m afraid of.

The fixtures:

And the stats [ DEF = Tackles + Interceptions + Blocks | ATT = Shots on Target + Open-Play Key Passes + Dribbles | D+A = DEF+ATT ]:

Name	Best Pos	Apps	Mins	Gls/90	ShT/90	Asts/90	Pas %	Poss Won/90	Hdr %	Drb/90	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A
Pedro Simões	GK	3 (1)	256	0,00	0,00	0,00	99,00	11,60	0,00	0,00	6,95	2,11	0,00	2,11
Daniel Júnior	GK	2 (2)	194	0,00	0,00	0,00	88,00	9,74	0,00	0,00	6,57	1,86	0,00	1,86

Daniel Júnior played against Lugo which affected negatively his stats. Still, I'll let Pedro start the season. His 99% pass completion is very encouraging.

 

Name	Best Pos	Apps	Mins	Gls/90	ShT/90	Asts/90	Pas %	Poss Won/90	Hdr %	Drb/90	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A
Alexandre Lavrador	D (R)	2 (5)	331	0,00	0,27	0,27	78,00	19,03	74,00	2,18	7,06	10,60	4,63	15,23
Miguel Silva	D (R)	4 (2)	282	0,00	0,32	0,00	80,00	18,51	22,00	1,91	6,63	7,66	3,19	10,85

Lavrador was dominant and will keep his place on the first eleven. Right now, both will stay but I'll try and find a replacement for Miguel Silva if he doesn't play any better until January.

 

Name	Best Pos	Apps	Mins	Gls/90	ShT/90	Asts/90	Pas %	Poss Won/90	Hdr %	Drb/90	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A
Daniel Novais	M (L)	2 (4)	254	0,00	0,00	0,71	79,00	9,21	78,00	1,77	6,77	1,77	4,25	6,02
Daniel Andrade	D (L)	3	198	0,00	0,00	0,91	79,00	15,45	90,00	1,82	6,93	5,45	4,55	10,00
Rúben Moura	M (L)	1 (4)	180	0,00	0,00	0,00	74,00	9,00	40,00	2,00	6,70	5,00	5,00	10,00

Rúben Moura didn't have the best preseason and new signing Andrade will take his place.

 

Name	Best Pos	Apps	Mins	Gls/90	ShT/90	Asts/90	Pas %	Poss Won/90	Hdr %	Drb/90	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A
Deyvison	D (L)	3 (2)	332	0,00	0,00	0,00	81,00	29,82	72,00	0,00	6,98	7,05	0,27	7,32
João Cesco	D (C)	5	329	0,00	0,55	0,00	73,00	35,56	72,00	0,00	7,00	7,38	0,55	7,93
Bastian	D (C)	3 (3)	301	0,00	0,00	0,00	63,00	37,38	100,00	0,00	6,95	6,88	0,90	7,78
Luís Ferreira	D (C)	3 (2)	298	0,30	0,30	0,00	93,00	33,22	86,00	0,00	7,30	7,55	0,60	8,15
João Guerra	D (C)	3	197	0,00	0,46	0,00	86,00	21,47	71,00	0,00	6,83	4,56	0,46	5,02

Luís Ferreira is the clear best defender. Cesco will start alongside him. Once again, will look into the low passing completion from my LCBs. I think it's mainly down to my attacking wing-back on the left. I might have to change his role. Otherwise, I could try to resolve this with my CMs but I don't want to change the dynamic right now.

 

Name	Best Pos	Apps	Mins	Gls/90	ShT/90	Asts/90	Pas %	Poss Won/90	Hdr %	Drb/90	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A
João Castro	AM (C)	4 (4)	413	0,44	0,44	0,22	87,00	7,41	43,00	0,65	7,09	4,57	2,83	7,40
Luís Madeira	M (C)	5 (2)	400	0,00	0,22	0,22	85,00	10,80	82,00	0,45	6,99	3,59	2,24	5,83
Pedro Mendes	M (C)	5 (1)	312	0,00	0,29	0,58	78,00	6,06	57,00	0,87	6,85	2,31	2,60	4,91
Miccoli	M (C)	3 (3)	277	0,00	0,00	0,32	77,00	7,80	17,00	0,97	6,64	2,26	2,27	4,53
André Luiz	M (C)	1 (6)	265	0,00	0,00	0,00	78,00	5,77	20,00	0,34	6,63	4,08	1,36	5,44

João Castro was a monster in the preseason. Goals, Assists, Defensive Actions, Pass Completion,... He did it all. I'm also happy with Luís Madeira. Will try and sign another midfielder just to be prepared for the season, but André Luiz was pretty decent as backup and Miccoli will fight with the other 3 players for a starting spot.

 

Name	Best Pos	Apps	Mins	Gls/90	ShT/90	Asts/90	Pas %	Poss Won/90	Hdr %	Drb/90	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A
Gonçalo Cabral	AM (R)	2 (1)	191	0,47	0,94	0,47	76,00	10,37	59,00	3,77	7,23	4,71	7,54	12,25
Kisley	AM (R)	1 (5)	182	0,99	1,98	0,49	76,00	4,45	64,00	1,48	7,30	3,46	8,41	11,87

Gonçalo Cabral played both RW and ST, so his stats might be a bit skewed. Other than that, I feel like I have 2 good options. Kisley will be the number-one choice, but we'll see how the season pans out.

 

Name	Best Pos	Apps	Mins	Gls/90	ShT/90	Asts/90	Pas %	Poss Won/90	Hdr %	Drb/90	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A
Denilson	AM (L)	4 (3)	423	0,43	0,85	0,43	79,00	3,19	29,00	3,19	7,07	2,77	6,81	9,58
Ruster	AM (L)	4 (1)	266	0,34	1,69	0,34	83,00	9,81	33,00	2,03	7,02	4,74	6,77	11,51

Once again, two very good options. I'm happy with both. Ruster helps a lot defensively and since I ask my wide players to press the opposition wide players, he'll be the first choice.

 

Name	Best Pos	Apps	Mins	Gls/90	ShT/90	Asts/90	Pas %	Poss Won/90	Hdr %	Drb/90	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A
Victor Nicolatti	ST (C)	3 (3)	277	0,65	4,87	0,00	89,00	2,27	47,00	0,00	6,85	1,29	5,84	7,13
Mohamed Karamoko	ST (C)	4 (3)	262	1,37	2,75	0,34	84,00	3,78	22,00	1,37	6,96	2,40	4,46	6,86

I was surprised by Nicolatti. Didn't expect him to give this much of a fight, but Karamoko is a beast and he'll start.

 

Youth Team Staff

I’m not responsible for the staff of Sertanense’s youth teams, but there have been quite some changes. I hope this can translate to better players.

One Performance Analyst, one Sports Scientist, one GK Coach, one Fitness Coach, one Assistant Manager and one Physio. It was quite a needed overhaul.

 

Player Reports – Injury Proneness, Consistency and Big Matches

I've asked my assistant to give me reports for every player regarding their injury proneness, their consistency and the effect of big matches

Name	Pos	Injuries	Consistency	Big Matches
Pedro Simões	GK	0	2	1
Daniel Júnior	GK	0	1	1
Lucas Sousa	GK	-1	-1	0
Alexandre Lavrador	D (R)	0	1	0
Miguel Silva	D (R)	0	1	0
Daniel Novais	D (L)	0	1	-2
Daniel Andrade	D (L)	0	-1	1
Rúben Moura	D (L)	0	1	-1
Deyvison	D (C)	-1	1	1
João Cesco	D (C)	-1	0	-2
Bastian	D (C)	0	0	-1
Luís Ferreira	D (C)	0	1	1
João Guerra	D (C)	0	0	1

Name	Best Pos	Injuries	Consistency	Big Matches
João Castro	M (C)	0	1	1
Luís Madeira	M (C)	0	2	0
Pedro Mendes	M (C)	-1	1	1
Miccoli	M (C)	0	1	2
André Luiz	M (C)	-1	-1	0
Gonçalo Cabral	AM (R)	0	-2	1
Kisley	AM (R)	0	0	1
Denilson	AM (L)	0	0	0
Ruster	AM (L)	0	1	-1
Victor Nicolatti	ST (C)	-1	-1	-1
Mohamed Karamoko	ST (C)	-1	-1	0

[lfds89]

World Transfers

Since I didn’t write anything about last season’s transfers around the world, I will do a recap on what happened both last season's windows and in this window.

 

Portugal

 

France

 

Spain

 

Italy

 

Germany

 

England

 

 

Matchday 01 (H) vs Caldas

 

 

3 goals in the first 16 minutes showed us the way. In the first game Kisley missed through injury, Gonçalo Cabral took his chance with 1 goal, 1 assist and 3 key passes. The main man was Karamoko with a hat trick. Bastian scored and Madeira assisted on their debuts.

 

 

Cesco was my LCB and he had 66% pass completion. Look into the passing map, it’s obvious he has a difficult time finding the LB and the LW. It’s much more obvious when confronted with the pass map from the RCB.

 

 

I’ve watched some clips and noticed there’s a clear pattern: LB goes forward, LW is tucked in LCM and CM are being marked; LCB tries to find ST on a long pass. I see some problems here: LW and LCM are often too close to each other; LB is too often behind the pressing RW; ST can’t challenge these long balls. How to solve this?

1. Try and get a Ball Playing Center Back (Cesco has Passing 7, Technique 6, Decisions 13 and Vision 4 / Deyvison has 10, 9, 9, 8).

2. Try a right-footed CB so he has more tendency to play inside and possibly find CM and RCM.

3. Change LCM to DLP and eventually change CM to another role, possibly CM-S or Box-to-Box. If CM is CM-S then RCM might be a CAR/MEZ ? Or another option would be to change CM to RPM so he moves more and LCM to some role where he holds his position.

4. Change LW to IW-A or try and give him a roam from position instruction.

 

Solution 1 – is a bit hard at this level; Solution 2 – I don’t think it will do much; Solution 3 – If I had a RPM that would probably work, but just like Solution 1, finding a RPM at this level isn’t easy; changing the MEZ is something I’m not very interested in right now; Solution 4 – I’ll try the roam from position first as I don’t think it’ll benefit the team to have him in an attacking duty. Both Ruster and Denilson don’t have that much on Off the Ball, but let’s try something.

[lfds89]

New Training Schedule

I developed a new training schedule since my last one was designed for a semi-pro team. I’ll test this intensity and see if it fits the team. Don’t want to push too much, but we’ll start the week with physical training; then a day dedicated to specific training for every unit; one day to practice for the next match; after that 2 days on a lower intensity: one focused on technical aspects of our playing style; the other dedicated to technical-tactical aspects of the game; we usually play on Saturdays and recover on Sundays. We’ll train some set pieces along with the more intense training sessions.
 

 

Team for the first part of the season

GK – Unchanged from last season: Daniel and Pedro will compete for the number one spot.

RB – Also unchanged, but it might change in January. Lavrador will start.

LB – Andrade was the first player we spent anything on, he will start. Novais and Rúben will be backups and can help with rotation in the LW position.

CB – Comfortable playing all 4 of them.

CM – Madeira, Mendes and Castro will likely be the starters. Miccoli is the first choice from the bench, Luiz will fill in when we need it.

RW – Kisley should be the starter, but he’s declining and Gonçalo is a good shout.

LW – Both Ruster and Denilson have been playing well. I’m happily starting any of them.

ST – Karamoko is the obvious answer. Nicolatti is my backup.

 

TWEET

Don’t usually pay attention to this, but found it funny:

Let’s go crazy on the last day!

 

Matchday 02 (A) vs Oriental Dragon

 

 

Ridiculously bad game!

We could create any chances. They weren’t that better, but they took they created 2 chances and scored both. My fault: I didn’t prepare the game, I should have adapted to their 4-2-3-1.

The same thing happened with my LCB, although he increased his pass completion to 75%. Will try once again with a roaming inverted winger. Another thing I didn’t check: Cesco’s composure is 7, Deyvison's is 10. I will be approaching this in a future post.

 

Matchday 03 (H) vs Académica de Coimbra

 

 

Better but not great. Académica also played in a 4-2-3-1 and Pedro Mendes played as DM to cover for their AM.

We created 4 half-chances, they create 1 clear-cut chance and 3 half-chances.

LCB had 69% pass completion, which means I’m not getting anywhere near a solution. Although, this time he found the LWB (but this time couldn’t find the CMs). Will look into this in more detail.

[lfds89]

The LCB problem!

 

The attributes of my CBs are the following:

Name	Best Pos	First Touch	Passing	Technique	Composure	Decisions	Vision	Total	Pass %
Deyvison	D (L)	11	10	9	10	9	8	57	81
João Cesco	D (C)	6	7	6	7	13	4	43	73
Bastian	D (C)	8	8	10	8	7	7	48	63
Luís Ferreira	D (C)	9	10	7	12	11	9	58	93

(Pass % from my friendlies)

I first noticed the problem with Deyvison last season and he’s far better than Cesco and Bastian. Deyvison will have his spot back for now.

I’ve also asked the DOF to recommend some CBs and we brought 2 of them on trial.

Name	Best Pos	First Touch	Passing	Technique	Composure	Decisions	Vision	Total
Tomás González	D (C)	10	10	10	7	13	6	56
Glen Matondo	D (C)	10	10	10	10	10	10	60

Although, both are right-footed and I would prefer a left-footed one.

 

Matchday 04 (A) vs União de Leiria

 

 

They are first in the league, predict 4^th in our group, 5^th in the league (yes, out of the top-5, 4 teams are in our group; and we’ve played 3 teams predicted ahead of us already – Académica, União and Caldas).

I adapted the team a bit: asked Pedro to play deeper; start the build-up through him; Kisley wider; Andrade more supportive than attacking; push them inside and try and recover the ball where we had the numbers; Madeira (RCM) was more offensive.

It didn’t play out how I wanted. We had a very bad first half with an xG of only 0,05. They weren’t playing that well but were definitely better than us. Then they scored just before half-time.

Asked the team to retain some possession, and they looked encouraged. Second-half we battled toe-to-toe, eventually scored from a corner but then gave away a penalty in the 85^th minute. 2 shots in the first half, 8 in the second; 0,78 xG vs 0,05; they had 0,85 xG in the second half, 0,06 before the penalty.

 

The season so far

 

 

South Division standings

 

As I’ve said before, we played 3 teams predicted to finish ahead of us in 4 games, so no reason to be that disappointed.

Next games: Torreense (Away; 10^th-placed; predicted below Sertanense); Oliveira do Hospital (H; 4^th; below); Sporting B (A; 6^th; above); Amora (H; 5^th; above). We need to get some points against Torreense and Oliveira do Hospital; don’t know what we’ll get against Sporting B; and hope to get something out of the game against Amora. We also play Cinfães in the Second Round of the Cup. They are amateurs so we have no excuse.

 

Taça de Portugal – Second Round (A) vs Cinfães
 

We should have been better with 20 shots but only 4 on target. We created a lot, and I’m happy with that.

At the end of the day, we got the win, we move on.

[lfds89]

Training Performances

Daniel Andrade should be our starter LB and has been until now, but every week I get an email regarding training performances and he is always on the bad side of the list. I’m going to drop him as also his performances haven’t been anywhere near the expected level. I had some talks with him already. If this keeps happening, he’ll be warned and possibly transfer listed.

His low determination is a concern. We have some mentoring groups set up, but since he is the 9th player with the most matches played in his career and he’s also the player with the highest reputation, he’s more an influencer than someone who can be influenced.

 

Matchday 05 (A) vs Torreense
 

 

Our best game so far. 3 clear-cut chances (vs none), 7 shots on target (vs 2).

Very happy with my decision to give Moura a starting position as he won the MotM award. 2 chances created, 4 key passes, 37% cross-completion ratio, 3 dribbles and 1 assist.

 

LCB Problem – Update

Since Deyvison took over the spot, he played vs União Leiria, Cinfães and Torreense. Had 43 passes attempted / 90% pass completion; 57 / 87%; 65 / 89%. I’ve also asked my LW to stay wider so he doesn’t move into the same space as the MEZ. It’s getting better. Will continue to monitor this situation.

 

Matchday 06 (H) vs Oliveira do Hospital

Previous to my encounter with them I personally attended their game vs União Leiria.

They play a 4-3-3 with a Holding DM; LCM is very attacking; and we must be prepared to deal with their striker movement as he is a DLF. They’ll have 2 men upfront (ST and LCM) and move up the field with 4 players (3 MF + 1 ST) + 2 wingers out wide.

 

The passing stats from the first half show some interesting points: RB way more involved than LB; LCM isn’t too involved relative to his midfield partners; RW is also very involved; ST is a DLF and it shows very well. Very strong right side compared to the left.

 

Adaptations? I’m thinking about setting my LCB to a stopper role, but I don’t know if Deyvison is the right man for the job. He doesn’t have the agility and acceleration to deal with all the movement. I don’t trust Bastian or Cesco to do this, so don’t think I’ll change this. Perhaps dropping the DLP to DM will do and he’ll also help deal with the opposition LCM movement. Regarding their superiority on the right side, I have my LW on support and this should be enough to help out.

This makes me think about setting my base tactic differently. 4-3-3 DM Wide makes more sense to be the starting point now as I’ve played this way every league game: 3 times vs 4-2-3-1; 2 times vs 4-4-2. There’s a problem in my squad: I only have an accomplished DM from my 5 CM (Pedro Mendes); other options for the DM position are Luís Ferreira and Bastian. Luís Ferreira is needed on defence, Bastian isn’t comfortable enough on the ball to play CB let alone DM. I brought 2 Argentinians on trial, recommended by the DOF.

 

 

The first half wasn’t very exciting, they got a penalty and scored. We had many shots but just 1 on target. Karamoko scored one but he was offside. In the second half, we weren’t getting better, but we really only changed the game after some substitutions.

Regarding what I watched from their game against Leiria, they really were more dangerous down the right which made my LB, LCB and LW get yellow cards; they switched their attacking LCM to the right as well.

Karamoko has 1 shot on target over the last 4 games. I’ll drop him on the next game, Nicolatti also didn’t get a single shot on goal when he came in so Gonçalo Cabral will play upfront and Kisley returns to the RW spot.

Unfortunate news about Pedro Mendes. I said he was our only option as DM and we’ll have to find a way without him over the next 3 to 4 weeks as he finished the game with a knock.

[_Ben_]

I’m really enjoying your deep dives into statistical stuff here. It’s on of those where I need to read again a few times to understand, so expect some questions soon!

[lfds89]

15 minutos atrás, _Ben_ disse:

I’m really enjoying your deep dives into statistical stuff here. It’s on of those where I need to read again a few times to understand, so expect some questions soon!

Take your time and ask anything you want.

[lfds89]

Comparing this season to the last one

Without going into too much detail, I decided to compare last season’s most important players (Luís Ferreira, Pedro Mendes, Kisley and Karamoko) to their stats this season.

Name	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90
Luís Ferreira	6,15	0,54	6,69	21,83	0,08	-0,03
Luís Ferreira	4,31	0,30	4,61	21,87	0,15	0,07
	-1,84	-0,24	-2,08	0,04	0,07	0,10
Name	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90
Pedro Mendes	3,83	3,44	7,27	-7,89	0,27	0,03
Pedro Mendes	2,78	3,37	6,15	-9,54	0,20	-0,06
	-1,05	-0,07	-1,12	-1,65	-0,07	-0,09
Name	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90
Kisley	3,65	5,70	9,35	-6,39	1,07	0,31
Kisley	2,48	3,54	6,02	-4,26	0,00	-0,12
	-1,17	-2,16	-3,33	2,13	-1,07	-0,43
Name	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90
Mohamed Karamoko	1,53	5,05	6,58	-4,79	1,35	0,53
Mohamed Karamoko	2,09	3,70	5,79	-6,59	0,64	-0,01
	0,56	-1,35	-0,79	-1,80	-0,71	-0,54

Luís Ferreira DEF rating is lower; Pedro Mendes DEF and ATT rating are both lower; Kisley is nowhere near what he was last season; and Karamoko’s shooting is also too far off. Just from Kisley and Karamoko we are losing 1,78 Goals + Assists / 90!

I know since we are competing on a higher level, it should be expected some drop in performance. But it’s quite massive and all across the board.

We probably need more time to settle, but one or two new players would be a great help.

 

Taça de Portugal – Third Round (A) vs Fabril do Barreiro

 

Decided to give some guys a chance since we were playing a 9th-placed from the tier below us, but had to change to get the win. 3 clear-cut chances and 6 half chances. Our scoring was been a disappointment.

Late in the game decided to give Herculano Cassamá his chance and he made the assist for the first goal. My first junior debutant.

 

Also important, we get 5k for getting through this round. Next round we play a first-tier team: Vizela.

 

Matchday 07 (A) vs Sporting B

To make things worse Miccoli is also injured so we are left with only 3 midfielders. I’m changing to 4-2-3-1 with Denilson behind the ST.

 

 

Quite a bad game, but wasn’t expecting much. We beat them on xG and created chances, but once again we fail to convert chances into goals.

 

Finances

As expected, the math doesn’t seem to be right. I’m working on the budget I was given, but the numbers are terrible.

 

And the projection is even more frightening!

 

Hope this is wrong and the future will be much brighter.

[dtown1414]

Good read. Cash is a concern though. 

[lfds89]

11 horas atrás, dtown1414 disse:

Good read. Cash is a concern though. 

First of all, thanks for reading!

 

It is a concern, but also it isn't... I like to keep finances controlled, but I'm the manager, not the Financial Director or President or whoever runs the business. I like to think that I'm doing my job right when I'm under the given budget - and in this case, I am.

 

It was a struggle to think like this for a long time, but right now I follow this "train of thought".

Let's see what happens.

[lfds89]

Comparing my team with the league

Leader in chances created, tied for 3^rd in goals per game, 2^nd in shots. Only 12^th in shots on target ratio, 11^th in conversion rate, 14^th in passes completed and pass completion ratio.

Defensive-wise: 4^th in shots on target against, 7^th in passes attempted against, 16^th in tackles won, 15^th in goals conceded and expected goals conceded (with a difference of 2,58 – 0,37 per 90).

 

We are creating chances and not letting many shots, so my first thought is the process is good at least. Do we need a new and better GK? New forwards? Is there anything we can do without changing the players?

Possibly playing a bit shorter will help increase the pass completion ratio and we won’t lose the ball so many times. We are at 82% and 454 passes completed per game, getting to 85% on 500 is the goal.

 

Important as well: on salary, we are dead last. 301K, above us is Oriental Dragon on 388k. Torreense, Mafra and Varzim are reported as financially insecure, the rest of the league is ok.

 

Matchday 08 (H) vs Amora

 

Most frustrating game yet! We were better all the way. They had maybe 3 or 4 highlights. The first goal when they hadn’t even shot once, and a penalty…

Pedro Mendes returned from injury. He was still not at 100%, but I didn’t have many options. Midway through the second half I had to sub him off and played Luís Ferreira as DM-D.

On the bright side: Madeira and João Castro both had wonderful games. Between them, they had: 2 goals, 1 assist, 10 key passes, 6 interceptions and 6 shots.

 

The season so far – Part 2

Rewinding to the last post, I wanted to get something out of Torreense, Oliveira do Hospital and Amora and were afraid of Sporting B. The preview was just about right: 2 wins, 1 draw where we wanted points; 1 loss against Sporting. 6 goals scored, 4 conceded.

One more game until we played everybody once. We need to defend better. Although I’ve been saying we should be scoring more, it’s the other end that is not working. Only 2 teams have conceded more than us and they are the last two. From my 5 most defensive players, the score for average rating is GK – 6,66; RB – 6,59; RCB – 6,81; LCB – 6,72; LB – 6,80. I can’t be happy with 6,80, but it looks way better than 6,59 and 6,66. That must be my focus on the next transfer window. In the meanwhile, I’ll think about some tactical changes we can make.

Next games: Mafra (A, 3^rd, above); Vizela (A, Cup, 1^st tier); Caldas (A, 9^th, above); Oriental Dragon (H, 1^st, below); Académica Coimbra (A, 4^th, above). The year ends after the game against Académica and the January transfer market opens. Quite a tough end to the year. I’ve beaten Caldas, lost to Oriental and drawn to Académica; shouldn’t be much different this time, but if we could get 2 wins and 1 loss/draw from these 3 wouldn’t be too bad. Mafra will certainly be a difficult game, but their players want to leave the team and their morale is really low, so I’m confident we can pull an upset.

[lfds89]

Friendly vs Mação

It wasn't one for the history books, but I wanted to give rhythm to some players and also try some roles. I was already impressed with the movement of CM-A and MEZ-A; DLF-A upfront is also very interesting; I’m still trying to find how to best use the SS-A; and I’ve now tried the VOL-S. A combination of VOL-S/A, CM-A/MEZ-A, DLF-A and eventually a DLP-S is inviting and something I’ll probably use when I have players capable of doing it.

Creating a box midfield/attack

Creating a diamond

 

In the next friendlies, I will try IWB and eventually WCB.

 

Planned Transfers

I started to delve into the transfer market, focusing on a GK and a RB.

Starting with the RB, I was thinking about getting a decent starter and leave Lavrador as backup, but when I started going through the lists, I spotted Filipe Pereira from Coruchense. He isn’t as good as a number 1 option must be, but he’s clearly better, taller and younger than Miguel Silva.

He’ll come in as a squad player, and I’ll still try and find a good first-team player even if only on loan.

I tried to offer Miguel Silva in exchange and they accepted it, but he snubbed them. He’ll have to leave anyway.

 

I asked the DOF about the GK, and we brought Ygor Vinhas on trial. He seems better than what we have, but not by a mile. Let's see what his expectations are.

 

Cesco will finish his loan in January and sincerely, I don’t want to keep him, so I went through the scout reports we had and found João Queirós who has no contract. He’s left-footed, decent on the ball, tall and good in the air. On trial.

 

Regarding the DM/CM position, also without a contract is João Lameira. Identified as a BWM, but he’s good on the ball so can play as DLP. He's on trial with us.

 

I have some more players on trial, but these are the ones I’ll be looking more detailed into.

 

Matchday 09 (A) vs Mafra

 

2 minutes into the game they score; 19 minutes in, Andrade got sent off on a double yellow… We changed to a 4-2-3. Madeira and Castro holding the midfield, direct passes, higher tempo, attacking mentality; regroup after losing the ball because we can’t risk pressing. Denilson left the field injured in the 42^nd minute. The first half ended 2-2.

The second half wasn’t as dramatic and the game ended 2-2. More heart than reason on this one, but I’m happy for the boys. 2 goals for Karamoko out of 4 shots, all on target. Daniel did his best in goal despite the 2 goals conceded. Madeira and Castro have held the midfield pretty well.

[lfds89]

Taça de Portugal – Fourth Round (A) vs Vizela

On paper we had no chance, so what’s the point in changing the tactic to accommodate to them? In my opinion, we play the way we play. I only used the reports to keep track of the players who could deal with big matches (but it didn’t make a difference, since my most used team is also the most comfortable with big matches). And I switched LWB and RIF attacking roles to support.

 

We ended the first half winning 1-0, with more shots, shots on target, xG, possession and pass completion %. Had me worried that both my RB and RCB had yellow cards.

 

In the second half, they clearly tried to show why they are two tiers above us and they dominated us until they scored the equalizer. When they did, I felt like they relaxed once again and I decided to change both RB and RCB. In the 83^rd minute, we got another goal through a corner. From then on we managed to keep them shut and WE ARE THROUGH!

 

 

In the next round, we got Länk, which was one of the only two teams from a tier below us. By the way, we are the only remaining team from the third tier.
 

Checking on my team

The last write-up about planned transfers gave me an idea to summarize my team. Check the technical/mental/physical average of every player.

Name	Technical	Mental	Physical	Total
Pedro Simões	8	7	9	24
Daniel Júnior	10	8	9	27
Lucas Sousa	8	6	8	22
Alexandre Lavrador	8	9	9	26
Miguel Silva	6	7	9	22
Daniel Novais	8	8	10	26
Daniel Andrade	9	9	9	27
Rúben Moura	7	8	8	23
Deyvison	8	10	8	26
João Cesco	5	8	10	23
Bastian	8	10	12	30
Luís Ferreira	7	10	11	28

Name	Technical	Mental	Physical	Total
João Castro	9	10	9	28
Luís Madeira	10	10	10	30
Pedro Mendes	10	10	9	29
Miccoli	8	11	10	29
André Luiz	6	8	7	21
Gonçalo Cabral	9	9	12	30
Kisley	8	9	9	26
Denilson	7	9	10	26
Ruster	8	10	10	28
Victor Nicolatti	7	9	10	26
Mohamed Karamoko	8	9	12	29

Shouldn't take too many conclusions over this as it is a very simplistic view, but it's easy to tell some players are far off and some areas need improvement (as previously observed: the GK and RB, also some doubts on LB).

 

And the youngsters/loanees:

Name	Technical	Mental	Physical	Total
Isidro Correia	7	8	7	22
João Guerra	5	8	9	22
Edgar Moura	7	7	10	24
André Marques	6	7	8	21
Ricardo Dias	5	8	8	21
Vitor Carm Mendes	6	8	10	24
Herculano Cassamá	6	8	10	24
Hélder Barros	4	6	8	18
Luís Rascão	6	8	10	24

 

 

Friendly vs Abrantes e Benfica

I used this friendly with mainly two purposes: 1. watch the trialists; 2. try some new roles and formations.

On the first front, João Queirós had a really good game; so did João Lameira (4 key passes, 1 assist). Ygor Vinhas wasn’t tested as a GK, but he had a 95% pass completion ratio. I’m also interested in the RW, Alan Francisco: 3 key passes, 2 clear-cut chances, 1 assist, won his aerial duels, however, he didn’t make any dribble nor he had shots on target.

On the second subject, I tried the IWB coupled with the WCB. The IWB is interesting as it allows for another body in midfield, but I’m still not sold on the WCB. Although, this might be an interesting approach to face 2-striker formations or CAM+ST formation: has numbers behind and doesn’t need the DM position which will push my team forward.

[lfds89]

Half-Season Player Stats Comparison with the League

I filtered the most used players in set of positions (GK/FB/CB/CM/WF/FW), found the percentile 80 (p80) for each position, then compared my players with the p80.

Name	Best Pos	Av Rat	Cln/90	Saves/90	Sv %	Con/90	xGP/90	Svh	Svp	Svt
Daniel Júnior	GK	6,77	0,11	8,00	5,00	1,33	0,14	18,00	10,00	1,00
dif to p80		-0,09	-0,28	1,00	0,80	-0,14	-0,22	-6,20	-1,00	-4,00
Percentil 80	GK	6,86	0,39	7,00	4,20	1,47	0,36	24,20	11,00	5,00

 

Name	Best Pos	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-
Alexandre Lavrador	D (R)	6,61	6,63	1,93	8,56	3,68
dif to p80		-0,31	-0,25	-1,54	-1,62	-1,04
Daniel Andrade	D (L)	6,60	6,76	2,49	9,25	0,18
dif to p80		-0,32	-0,12	-0,98	-0,93	-4,54
Rúben Moura	M (L)	6,80	6,28	4,76	11,04	-6,71
dif to p80		-0,12	-0,60	1,29	0,86	-11,43
Percentil 80	FB	6,92	6,88	3,47	10,18	4,72

 

Name	Best Pos	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-
Deyvison	D (L)	6,76	3,56	1,07	4,63	4,39
dif to p80		-0,18	-1,13	0,40	-0,38	-7,26
Luís Ferreira	D (C)	6,89	4,68	0,27	4,95	19,01
dif to p80		-0,05	-0,01	-0,40	-0,06	7,36
Percentil 80	CB	6,94	4,69	0,67	5,01	11,65

 

Name	Best Pos	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-
Pedro Mendes	M (C)	6,88	2,77	2,76	5,53	-7,13
dif to p80		-0,27	-2,30	-0,75	-2,34	-7,74
Luís Madeira	M (C)	7,29	4,21	3,50	7,71	-3,32
dif to p80		0,14	-0,86	-0,01	-0,16	-3,93
Denilson	AM (L)	6,95	5,60	5,06	10,66	-4,52
dif to p80		-0,20	0,53	1,55	2,79	-5,13
João Castro	AM (C)	7,08	4,47	2,41	6,88	-4,19
dif to p80		-0,07	-0,60	-1,10	-0,99	-4,80
Percentil 80	CM	7,15	5,07	3,51	7,87	0,61

 

Name	Best Pos	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-
Kisley	AM (R)	6,58	2,67	4,10	6,77	-7,17
dif to p80		-0,51	-3,11	-1,48	-3,79	-4,43
Ruster	AM (L)	6,60	3,31	3,89	7,20	-4,66
dif to p80		-0,49	-2,47	-1,69	-3,36	-1,92
Denilson	AM (L)	6,95	5,60	5,06	10,66	-4,52
dif to p80		-0,14	-0,18	-0,52	0,10	-1,78
Gonçalo Cabral	AM (R)	6,71	3,38	6,16	9,54	-9,69
dif to p80		-0,38	-2,40	0,58	-1,02	-6,95
Percentil 80	WF	7,09	5,78	5,58	10,56	-2,74

 

Name	Best Pos	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-
Gonçalo Cabral	AM (R)	6,71	3,38	6,16	9,54	-9,69
dif to p80		-0,52	0,13	1,42	2,36	-6,00
Mohamed Karamoko	ST (C)	6,93	2,28	4,17	6,45	-5,69
dif to p80		-0,30	-0,97	-0,57	-0,73	-2,00
Percentil 80	ST	7,23	3,25	4,74	7,18	-3,69

 

 

Matchday 10 (A) vs Caldas

 

This was the first game of the second round. Not a very difficult win, although there were times when we seemed to lose control of the match.

I spoke before about setting a goal of 500 completed passes on 85% - we made 507 completed passes on 86%.

I kept the chance of roles from the Vizela game, and I feel it doesn’t hurt. It even helps my LCB situation.

 

Friendly vs Fafe

One more game for the trialists.

Ygor Vinhas (GK) : Once again he was more offensive than defensive. 94% pass completion (Daniel averages 89%).

João Queirós (LCB) : 79% pass completion on 83 attempted passes; 73% header won ratio on 19 headers.

Tiago Lopes (LB) : 93% pass completion, 1 key pass, 5 interceptions, 3 of 4 headers won.

João Lameira (CDM) : 79% pass completion, 1 key pass, 3 interceptions

Alan Francisco (RIF) : 80% pass completion, 1 key pass, 1 clear-cut chance created, 5 tackles (all won), 42% headers won, 1 dribble, 2 shots, 1 on target, 1 goal, 1 assist. He’s earning himself a spot. Too bad I don’t have much space for him…

 

Herculano Cassamá was also on the scoresheet. He already had one assist on the first-team, now he also has one goal. Let’s hope it’s the first of many.

[lfds89]

Trialists update

Some context before I show you what happened with the trialists. My top-5 earners: 2,9k; 2,9k; 2,6k; 2,4k; 1,9k. Currently spending 30k/month, budget is 56k – so remaining is 26k. Although I have a lot still to spend on the budget, I don’t want to spend too much as finances are quite scary.

 

Ygor Vinhas: 3,4k to 4,7k. Also wanted by Operário dos Açores. Won’t make a bid. He rejected Operário.

João Queirós: 1,6k to 2,1k. Asked the DOF to talk to him. Länk, the team I’m playing against in the Cup, also bid for him (by the way, I messed up when talking about them after the draw – they are not on a tier below us, they are on the same tier, just different groups). He chose them. 3k/month, 2,5 years.

Tiago Lopes: 1,6k. Managed to agree on a 1,4k contract for 2 years. Decisions and heading are the main concern but he’s better at everything compared to Rúben Moura and slightly better than Novais and Andrade. Paredes also bid for him. And he signed for them. 2,1k/month until the end of the season.

João Lameira: 2k to 2,6k, wants to play as BWM on CM. The wage is a bit high as I wasn’t planning on playing him on the first team and I don’t use BWM on my tactic. So, right now I think I will pass on this one.

Alan Francisco: Although I’m happy with him, I don’t really need another winger.

 

Quite frustrating…

 

Matchday 11 (H) vs Oriental Dragon

We are playing much better. 10 shots on target out of 21, almost 3 xG, 4 clear-cut chances and 4 half-chances, 61% possession and 554 passes completed on 86%.

I’m making little tweaks to the tactic: now both CM are MEZ-S, and Castro has “Take More Risks”. Sometimes I drop the DLP-S to DLP-D and gave Karamoko the instruction of dribbling more. He doesn’t need it that much (he also has the “Knock Ball Past Opponent” trait), but sometimes we recover the ball, get it to him and instead of taking on the last defender he waits for the rest of the team – this increases compactness, but he can make the difference on his own and I want him to try that.

Wonderful performance from João Castro: 6 key passes, 4 clear-cut chances created, 11 progressive passes and 1 assist.

 

New coaching qualification

I’ve completed the studies for the Continental B Licence

Looking at the attributes and comparing to when I first started taking the course:

Attacking +2; Defending +2; Fitness +1; Tactical +2; Technical +1; Mental +2.

Determination +1; Player Knowledge +1; Youngster Knowledge +2; Level of Discipline +4; People Management +2; Motivating +3.

Reputation has also increased to 2,5 stars (Minimal).

[lfds89]

Youth Intake Preview

More wingers and strikers… yey! Don’t trust the 5 stars, but let’s wait and see.

 

Taça de Portugal – Fifth Round (A) vs Länk

 

We started on the wrong foot but managed to turn it around. It was nice to see the reaction.

7,5k in the bank and we are through. Only 8 teams left. And we draw… Benfica! Away.

 

Matchday 12 (A) vs Académica de Coimbra

 

We started the game playing very well and eventually scored through Karamoko, but then we lost all focus. Bad positioning by Lavrador and bad anticipation by Luís Ferreira and they scored; then Bastian takes an easy ball away from our GK and straight into their striker who only had to pass it into the open goal.

On the upside, we had more shots, more xG, more chances and more key passes.

 

The season so far – Part 3

We couldn’t pull the upset against Mafra, but we still managed to get 1 point. Then 2 wins and a loss which is better than what happened on the first round against the same teams and in line with my preview.

Adding the two rounds of the Cup, we can be happy with this.

 

We moved up one spot since the last update and weren’t it for the game against Académica, we would have gotten a way better Goal Difference. In points per game, we improved from 1,375 to 1,50.

 

Next, we have 3 home games: União de Leiria, Torreense and Sporting B and an away game vs Oliveira do Hospital. In the first round we got 2 wins and 2 losses. This time, we must beat Torreense, Sporting, at least draw against Oliveira do Hospital and let’s see what happens against União de Leiria, but getting anything out of this match is a win.

In the middle of these games, we have the tie against Benfica.

[lfds89]

Around the World

Portugal: Braga leads after being Champions the year before. Porto and Benfica are close, Sporting is 7^th.

Spain: Real Madrid and Barcelona are 1^st and 2^nd with only 1 point between them, Atlético Madrid follows them closely.

France: PSG leads, Rennes are not far and have the leaders in goals, assists and average rating. Lyon are 12^th.

England: Liverpool, City and Arsenal are the top-3 with only 1 point separating each position. United are 7^th.

Germany: Bayern is 1^st, Leverkusen, Stuttgart and Leipzig follow. Dortmund are 11^th.

Netherlands: Ajax is tied with Feyenoord although they are one game down.

 

January Transfer Window

Following the unsuccessful trials, I was determined to spend some time and trying to find some deals for both this season and possibly some players for the next season while they were on their last 6 months of contract.

Targets were: Starting GK, Starting RB (although I want to see how Filipe Pereira does), Backup CB, Backup DM, Backup CM, Starting and Backup RW (Kisley is declining, Cabral is on loan), Backup ST.

Mário Borges comes in as a backup DM. He’s on loan from a team on the tier below us on a free (not even paying wages).

He’s not great, but he’s good enough for a backup and he’s a more aggressive option (something I used last season).

 

Daniel Azevedo is our new starting GK. He had a good scouting report and we got him on trial. I let him play 2 friendlies were he never missed a pass.

He’s quite taller than Daniel Júnior and his mental stats are better. Also, he returns to a club he has already played at. He was the starting GK in the 21/22 season, then moved to Belenenses and now returns.

 

The third player in is David Santos. He’s also on loan. Quite versatile as he can play both CM and LW. My first attempt was to bring him on the end of his contract, but they had the option to extend it automatically and they did. We aren’t paying his wages, so it’s totally free. He’ll act mainly as cover for João Castro as a left-sided Mezzala.

 

For the backup CB role, we got Dénis Martins. He’s right-footed and I would’ve preferred a left-footed CB, but at this time, I don’t have much of a choice, so he’ll do. I expect him to battle Bastian and Deyvison for the starting spot.

 

Updating the registration gives me the information that we can only sign 2 players above 19-years old. From my list, we added already: Starting GK, Backup CB, Backup DM, Backup CM. And we’re still missing: Starting RB, Starting and Backup RW, Backup ST. I’ll leave the starting RB for next season and play this one out with Lavrador and Pereira. I don’t need both RW right now, which leaves me thinking about the ST. In the meanwhile, Gonçalo Gomes (who was with us on loan last year) terminated his contract with Estoril and was interested in joining us. He plays both wings, he is right-footed and decent in the air. I fancy he can also play ST. Together with this info, I have Ruster, Cabral and Kisley who can play ST. I’m going for him.

 

On the way out:

Miguel Silva had an offer and I let him go.

Nicolatti also had an offer but this one was more difficult to accept. He’s a decent and cheap backup. He’s 188cm so he offers things Karamoko simply just can’t. But midway through the season he had 5 sub appearances and accumulated xG of 0,00… So yeah, he can go.

The third one to have a bid accepted was Lucas Sousa, our third GK. Included a 10% profit from sale clause. I’m 99% sure this will lead to nothing, but it's there just in case it does.

I wanted to loan out André Luiz since we got 2 new midfielders on the team. Between having him and having someone from the U19 there’s no big difference.

 

This is the team I’m going with for the rest of the season:

[lfds89]

Season Expectations

Mr. Luís Silva, the boss-man, offered me the opportunity to change the expectations for this season. I’m intrigued with this subject. I was expecting something about the poor state of our finances and instead, I get to increase my budget.

Since the most realistic expectation is a mid-table finish, I opted for that one, but I won’t use the budget. By the way, I had already adjusted my budget, transferring some value from the wage budget to the transfer budget and to the scouting budget.

 

Matchday 13 (H) vs União de Leiria

 

Started way too easily, we scored 2 goals on the first 20 minutes, and then we went home… Second straight game conceding 3 goals. Also very cheap goals. Don’t know why the team seems to lose so much focus after a great start.

Mário Borges started as BWM in RCM position, João Castro was benched and Madeira played on the left. Pereira also started.

 

Taça de Portugal – Sixth Round (A) vs Benfica

What do you need after 2 games where you conceded 3 goals in each? Playing a top tier team, clearly… They did play substitutes/reserves, but they are miles better anyway.

Bah had 3 assists and Henrique Araújo scored 3. But we scored first. We must be proud of that.

Karamoko scored, 16-year-old Cassamá got some minutes.

We received 9k as prize money but more importantly, we got a cut from the gate receipts. To put it into context: for the whole season until now we have 384k of income from gate receipts, and 335k from this month alone. We are not in the green, but it looks way better.

 

Matchday 14 (H) vs Torreense

The stats lie a bit. We were shooting but weren’t very dangerous. Then we got the penalty, and as it has been usual then we fell asleep and they scored, but fortunately, Bastian scored 2 goals after set-pieces and then Gonçalo (who came in as an ST) scored the final 4-1. They were never a real threat, but once again we had everything on our hands and made it difficult.

[lfds89]

January Transfer Window – Update and End

Wasn’t expecting much from the last few days but 2 deals were available and I opted to advance with both, one in and one out.

In comes a starting RB, Tiago Melo. He’s 27, so a bit older than what the club wants, but he’s way better than our options and he was released on the last day of the transfer market, so he was quite cheap.

 

Out is Pedro Simões. He had been our second keeper, but with the arrival of Daniel Azevedo he had been relegated to third option and I let him go to Estrela da Amadora U23.

I also thought of trying to sell Lavrador, but I’ll keep him until the end of this season.

Here’s the final squad:

 

And a quick look at transfers around the world:

 

Comparing this season to the last one – Update

The last time I wrote this part I only mentioned the backbone from last season. This time, I'll go over every position aside GK.

The first line is the player who occupied the position last season; under is the player with the most minutes this season.

Name	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90
Alexandre Lavrador	8,88	2,04	10,92	2,94	0,12
Alexandre Lavrador	6,66	1,77	8,43	4,35	0,07
RWB	-2,22	-0,27	-2,49	1,41	-0,05

Lavrador is a bit way out of this league. Let's hope my new recruits can do better. Good thing about the possession +/- increasing from one season th  the other.

 

Name	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90
Luís Ferreira	6,15	0,54	6,69	21,83	0,08
Luís Ferreira	4,54	0,39	4,93	16,00	0,11
RCB	-1,61	-0,15	-1,76	-5,83	0,03

Luís Ferreira is also suffering a bit from the jump. But he's still our best CB.

On my first update, Luís Ferreira had: 4,31 / 0,30 / 4,61 / 21,87 / 0,15. So he's increased his defensive and offensive actions, decreased possession +/- and G+A.

 

Name	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90
Deyvison	4,60	0,34	4,94	8,61	0,08
Deyvison	3,54	1,14	4,68	4,79	0,34
LCB	-1,06	0,80	-0,26	-3,82	0,26

I thought about selecting Bastian for this comparison, but Deyvison has more minutes so it should be him. His possession +/- is clearly way off, especially when compared to Luís Ferreira. He's also near retirement and has given his spot to another player, so I'm not worried.

 

Name	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90
Rúben Moura	6,98	6,88	13,86	-5,15	0,20
Daniel Andrade	6,34	2,45	8,79	2,00	0,00
LWB	-0,64	-4,43	-5,07	7,15	-0,20

This has been a season where there's been no "owner" of the spot. Stats have also been affected by a change in role. LWB is now on support so it's not so attacking as it used to be. Nice to see the improvement in Possession +/-, but I need some assists from my LWB.

 

Name	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90
Pedro Mendes	3,83	3,44	7,27	-7,89	0,27
Pedro Mendes	3,44	2,89	6,33	-7,03	0,63
DLP	-0,39	-0,55	-0,94	0,86	0,36

Pedro Mendes is our set-piece taker and has benefited from our CB scoring more goals.

On the first update, Pedro Mendes had: 2,78 / 3,37 / 6,15 / -9,54 / 0,20. Decreased offensive actions, increased everything else.

 

Name	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90
Bernardo Fortunato	3,48	3,14	6,62	-5,94	0,52
Luís Madeira	4,43	3,43	7,86	-2,43	0,37
RCM	0,95	0,29	1,24	3,51	-0,15

Happy to see so many greens! Madeira has been a clear upgrade to the team. I enjoyed Fortunato, but Madeira has been a step above.

 

Name	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90
Figueiredo	3,29	3,07	6,36	-5,93	0,46
João Castro	4,55	3,07	7,62	-4,24	0,24
LMEZ	1,26	0,00	1,26	1,69	-0,22

João Castro was another good signing. He creates a lot but is a bit shy on assists.

 

Name	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90
Kisley	3,65	5,70	9,35	-6,39	1,07
Gonçalo Cabral	4,07	5,82	9,89	-7,34	0,48
RIF	0,42	0,12	0,54	-0,95	-0,59

Kisley has fallen out of the pecking order, but Cabral has done a nice job replacing him.

 

Name	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90
Gonçalo Gomes	3,41	3,96	7,37	-6,55	0,82
Denilson	5,22	4,82	10,04	-4,29	0,53
LIW	1,81	0,86	2,67	2,26	-0,29

Denilson had a leap from last season's performances. He couldn't even be better than Gonçalo Gomes and now he has better stats even in a more difficult league.

 

Name	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90
Mohamed Karamoko	1,53	5,05	6,58	-4,79	1,35
Mohamed Karamoko	2,32	4,33	6,65	-5,22	0,77
AF	0,79	-0,72	0,07	-0,43	-0,58

Karamoko has had an inconsistent season but he has been getting better.

On the first update, Karamoko had: 2,09 / 3,70 / 5,79 / -6,59 / 0,64. Just as I said before, he increased every stat and it shows he's getting better.

 

Matchday 15 (A) vs Oliveira do Hospital

 

Clearly, my team doesn’t want the monotony of clean sheets. We live in chaos.

We created more chances than them and scored one more from a corner, Cabral was excellent with 2 goals, and Mendes played 8 key passes.

Cabral is in excellent form, on the last 5 league matches he scored 3 and assisted 2.

The best news about this game: we are now 4th and 5 points apart from the relegation play-off with 3 matches to go.
 

The first team with a guaranteed spot in the promotion playoff is found: União de Leiria. The relegation playoff already has two teams: Caldas and Torreense.

[lfds89]

Contracts

Once the transfer window is closed, I’m looking into my team's contracts.

Expiring in 2024 we have:

Name	Best Pos	Age	Mins	Ability	Wage
Alexandre Lavrador	D (R)	25	1324	2	825,00 €
Deyvison	D (L)	35	789	2	800,00 €
Daniel Andrade	D (L)	24	808	2,5	1 200,00 €
Mário Borges	DM	23	89	2	0,00 €
Gonçalo Cabral	AM (R)	24	1205	3	0,00 €
Kisley	AM (R)	33	500	1,5	1 000,00 €
Herculano Cassamá	AM (R)	16	94	2	275,00 €
Vitor Carmona Mendes	AM (R)	16	0	2	275,00 €
David Santos	AM (L)	19	45	3,5	0,00 €

Deyvison will retire, and Kisley probably will too. Lavrador I don’t want to offer the renewal. Mário Borges, Cabral and David Santos are all on loan and will leave at the end of the season. Cassamá and Mendes are youth players who already have signed the new contract that will takeover the existing one.

I’m happy there are no big loose ends to solve here.

 

Still on part-time and not expiring, we have:

Name	Best Pos	Age	Mins	Ability	Wage
Daniel Júnior	GK	25	1170	2,5	525,00 €
Bastian	D (C)	27	823	3	825,00 €
Luís Madeira	M (C)	21	1771	3,5	350,00 €
Rúben Moura	M (L)	23	546	2,5	425,00 €

I’ve asked all of them except Rúben Moura what they are expecting on the new contract. Rúben will probably leave in the next transfer window. Bastian and Madeira will have new contracts right away. Daniel Júnior wants to be considered a first-choice and right now I’m not prepared to promise him that. I’ll let some time pass, compare both GK performances and then make a decision.

Here we can clearly see both Madeira and Bastian are on the “wrong” side of the graph. I don't agree with my assistant manager's evaluation of Pedro Mendes, but I have to keep an eye on him, Daniel Andrade and Dénis Martins.

 

Matchday 16 (H) vs Sporting B

I’m happy with the performance: 27 shots, 3,58 xG, 4 clear-cut chances and 3 half chances. We were way better, but Sporting scored their chances and we didn’t.

It was another great game by Cabral with 5 key passes, 3 chances, 3 dribbles and 1 goal.

At the post-game press conference, there was a lot of talk about the referee's work. Sincerely, I don’t want to excuse anything with the referees.

 

The season so far – Part 4

The expectation was to beat both Torreense and Sporting, draw against Oliveira do Hospital and a loss against Leiria. We couldn’t beat Sporting, although we deserved to beat them; but we have beaten Oliveira do Hospital. Minus 1 point against the expectation isn’t that bad.

We maintained our spot in the top-4. Académica has also clinched a spot on the promotion play-off.

Only 2 games missing until the end of this stage: Amora (A) and Mafra (H). Amora is 8th but only has 6 fewer points than us. We have drawn our first game. I expect a win this time. Mafra is above us by one place, with a 4-point difference. We have also drawn 2-2 in the first game. At least a draw, but since we are playing at home I really want to end this stage with a win.

[lfds89]

Job Offer

Got a job offer just before the game against Amora. B-Sad is currently 16^th in 18 teams on the second tier. This place will lead to relegation play-off against a Liga 3 team. Last season they finished 15^th. Their finances are “Okay” and they are 12^th on salary. I’m not too impressed, but let’s see if they make an offer.

Later, they sent notice that my interview was unsuccessful and they decided to hire Vasco Seabra who hasn’t managed since 2022, but he has a Continental Pro Licence and has a contract of 15,5 k / month until 2025 (just one more season).

It didn't get through, but it's nice knowing I'm being noticed.

 

Matchday 17 (A) vs Amora

Amora plays a 4-4-2. Both starting wingers, both strikers and most attacking midfielder have average rating over 7. Strikers are Pedro Soares (12 G + 1 A) and Nhaga (6 G + 5 A); Wingers are Zé Manuel (4 G + 3 A) and Joca (5 G + 2 A). Afonso Caetano, the midfielder, is the set-piece taker.

I usually make the teams in 4-4-2 play inside, but their forwards are not very good in the air and my centre-backs are, so I’ll let them cross; show their midfielders, wingers and wing-backs the outside foot; try to be closer to the 2 midfielders because we have numbers there.

Just the day before, Sporting B and Oliveira do Hospital faced each other and they draw the game. They were 5^th and 6^th so Mafra is now into the playoffs and there’s only one spot left. If we win, we guarantee that last spot.

 

To start the game, Afonso and Nhaga didn’t play but they kept the 4-4-2. Afonso isn’t even on the bench as he as yet to make a full recovery of his injury.

We were better on the first half, we kept their chances and shots on target to zero. We had 3 on target. On the second half, I changed some player roles: João Castro played as AP-S to see more of the ball, both wing-back were changed to CWB-S so they could roam more. I also gave the team instruction to dribble more (Run at defence).

We scored on the 53^rd minute. João Castro picked Karamoko, he dribbled the ball, got into some space and passed into Cabral to score.

We kept controlling the game and player’s fitness wasn’t an issue so I let it roll until the 79^th minute. I decided to make 3 substitutions: both wingers replaced by Gomes and Ruster and Pedro Mendes replaced by Borges to try and recover the ball more often. Also asked to play a bit wider and play for set-pieces, and also waste a bit of time. 1-0 is not the biggest of margins but I was confident as they were yet on the same number of shots as they were when the first half finished. Some minutes after I also asked the team to play out of defence so we could spend more time with the ball and finish the game off. Which, we did. 1-0 and we are in the promotion play-off!

 

 

With this achievement, I have now completed my promise to Daniel Júnior to get us to the play-offs and also the same item on club vision, which was obtained 2 years in advance.

 

Matchday 18 (H) vs Mafra

I’m checking if a win in this game makes any difference, but I can’t find any information saying points from the regular season have an effect in the promotion stage, so it’s all decided, and I’ll rotate a bit.

 

It wasn’t a phenomenal performance, but we were doing our job, 2-0 by the 86^th minute and then we let them score 2 and draw… It happened by the time I had changed GK and particularly in the second goal, Daniel Júnior was badly beaten. A good GK makes such a difference. Daniel Azevedo will certainly be the number one and Daniel Júnior just lost his chance to get a new contract.

On a really positive note: first official goal for Cassamá; and we kept their superstar, the striker Rúben Araújo, very quiet and down to a 5,9 rating.

 

Promotion Stage

We will play the promotion stage on a group with União de Leiria from our regular stage group and Felgueiras and Varzim from the North Division.

Sertã – Leiria: Around 100 km

Sertã – Felgueiras: Around 240 km

Sertã – Póvoa de Varzim: Around 230 km

We will get to know the country.

 

There’s a void of 2 weeks from the end of the regular stage until the promotion stage. We’ll play 2 friendlies to work on match sharpness.

Quick report on the opposition:

Leiria: 442, Control Possession, 33 – 23 (Goals For, Goals Against), 36 Points

Felgueiras: 433 DM Wide, Wing Play, 20-17, 31 Points

Varzim: 433 DM Wide, Control Possession, 25-18, 29 Points.

Varzim is “evens” right now and 1^st on media prediction on the league, Felgueiras is 2 places behind me in 9^th. Taking into account that only 1 team gets automatic promotion, I don’t think we’ll be able to get there. Leiria is clearly better than us and Varzim also seem to be on a higher level. It’s a short competition and any goal will make a difference, so I’ll keep some faith.

[lfds89]

End of Regular Season Stats

I usually compare my team to percentile 80, but I feel this is too ambitious for our level, so this time I’ll compare to league average. I’ve filtered players in the league with 4+ starting appearances.

 

Name	Best Pos	Club	Apps	Mins	Gls	Gls/90	ShT/90	NP-xG/90	Conv %	Shot %	Ast	Asts/90	xA/90	Ps C/90	Pas %	Pr passes/90	Poss Won/90	Drb/90	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90
Daniel Júnior	GK	Sertanense	13 (1)	1185	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	24,68	90,00	0,91	7,97	0,00	6,77	0,38	0,00	0,38	4,32	0,00
dif					0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	-0,08	-0,01	0,00	11,75	36,00	-0,76	-0,28	0,00	-0,02	-0,12	-0,01	-0,14	8,66	-0,01
Daniel Azevedo	GK	Sertanense	6	525	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	20,23	91,00	0,86	6,51	0,00	6,72	0,17	0,00	0,17	3,94	0,00
dif					0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	-0,08	-0,01	0,00	7,30	37,00	-0,81	-1,74	0,00	-0,07	-0,33	-0,01	-0,35	8,28	-0,01
Average	GK	League			0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,08	0,01	0,00	12,93	54,00	1,67	8,25	0,00	6,79	0,50	0,01	0,52	-4,34	0,01

GK: It shows clearly our intention to play short from the GK in comparison to the rest of the league. The average rating for both is not far off the average, but it’s below. I believe Daniel Azevedo will have a higher average when he plays more matches.

 

Name	Best Pos	Club	Apps	Mins	Gls	Gls/90	ShT/90	NP-xG/90	Conv %	Shot %	Ast	Asts/90	xA/90	Ps C/90	Pas %	Pr passes/90	Poss Won/90	Drb/90	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90
Alexandre Lavrador	D (R)	Sertanense	15 (1)	1324	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	1,00	0,07	0,08	37,93	84,00	6,05	16,25	1,09	6,65	6,66	1,77	8,43	4,35	0,07
dif					-0,38	-0,02	-0,13	-0,02	-4,57	-26,00	-0,52	-0,03	-0,02	-10,65	-3,10	1,60	2,67	-0,31	-0,13	0,42	-0,59	-0,16	2,44	-0,05
Daniel Andrade	D (L)	Sertanense	9 (7)	870	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,01	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,20	48,00	85,00	5,48	15,31	1,34	6,73	6,62	2,68	9,30	2,48	0,00
dif					-0,38	-0,02	-0,13	-0,01	-4,57	-26,00	-1,52	-0,10	0,10	-0,58	-2,10	1,03	1,73	-0,06	-0,05	0,38	0,32	0,71	0,57	-0,12
Rúben Moura	M (L)	Sertanense	8 (1)	636	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	1,00	0,14	0,28	38,07	82,00	4,25	11,60	1,98	6,82	6,65	4,24	10,89	-3,68	0,14
dif					-0,38	-0,02	-0,13	-0,02	-4,57	-26,00	-0,52	0,04	0,18	-10,51	-5,10	-0,20	-1,98	0,58	0,04	0,41	1,88	2,30	-5,59	0,02
Daniel Novais	M (L)	Sertanense	6 (5)	665	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,01	0,00	0,00	2,00	0,27	0,24	48,05	87,00	7,17	14,35	1,08	7,03	7,04	2,70	9,74	2,03	0,27
dif					-0,38	-0,02	-0,13	-0,01	-4,57	-26,00	0,48	0,17	0,14	-0,53	-0,10	2,72	0,77	-0,32	0,25	0,80	0,34	1,15	0,12	0,15
Filipe Pereira	D (R)	Sertanense	5	419	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,09	36,52	85,00	5,16	13,32	0,64	6,58	7,73	1,28	9,01	1,94	0,00
dif					-0,38	-0,02	-0,13	-0,02	-4,57	-26,00	-1,52	-0,10	-0,01	-12,06	-2,10	0,71	-0,26	-0,76	-0,20	1,49	-1,08	0,42	0,03	-0,12
Average	FB	League			0,38	0,02	0,13	0,02	4,57	26,00	1,52	0,10	0,10	48,58	87,10	4,45	13,58	1,40	6,78	6,24	2,36	8,59	1,91	0,12

FB: I’ve been changing my right-backs and our latest signing still hasn’t made 4 starting appearances so he isn’t included on this. However, I like the high number in progressive passes and possession won. They could probably increase a bit on the dribbling front.

 

Name	Best Pos	Club	Apps	Mins	Gls	Gls/90	ShT/90	NP-xG/90	Conv %	Shot %	Ast	Asts/90	xA/90	Ps C/90	Pas %	Pr passes/90	Poss Won/90	Drb/90	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90
Deyvison	D (L)	Sertanense	10 (1)	864	3,00	0,31	0,73	0,08	27,27	64,00	0,00	0,00	0,03	58,65	82,00	3,96	18,23	0,10	6,82	3,24	1,04	4,28	4,79	0,31
dif					2,19	0,26	0,55	0,04	21,42	38,00	-0,23	-0,02	0,00	-1,02	0,58	-0,62	-1,64	0,03	-0,01	-1,20	0,53	-0,66	-1,29	0,24
Bastian	D (C)	Sertanense	10 (8)	1003	5,00	0,45	0,90	0,26	20,00	40,00	1,00	0,09	0,10	51,06	68,00	6,64	29,25	0,00	7,10	4,85	1,62	6,47	3,41	0,54
dif					4,19	0,40	0,72	0,22	14,15	14,00	0,77	0,08	0,07	-8,61	-13,42	2,06	9,38	-0,07	0,27	0,41	1,11	1,53	-2,67	0,47
Luís Ferreira	D (C)	Sertanense	21 (1)	1895	3,00	0,14	0,43	0,12	11,54	35,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	67,92	91,00	4,37	23,60	0,05	6,94	4,46	0,48	4,94	15,86	0,14
dif					2,19	0,09	0,25	0,08	5,69	9,00	-0,23	-0,02	-0,03	8,25	9,58	-0,21	3,73	-0,02	0,11	0,02	-0,03	0,00	9,78	0,07
Average	CB	League			0,81	0,05	0,18	0,04	5,85	26,00	0,23	0,02	0,03	59,67	81,42	4,58	19,87	0,07	6,83	4,44	0,51	4,94	6,08	0,07

CB: They are making the most out of the set-pieces and it shows on the shooting category. Glad with the high numbers on possession won. I just wanted Bastian to have a decent passing completion.

 

Name	Best Pos	Club	Apps	Mins	Gls	Gls/90	ShT/90	NP-xG/90	Conv %	Shot %	Ast	Asts/90	xA/90	Ps C/90	Pas %	Pr passes/90	Poss Won/90	Drb/90	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90
Pedro Mendes	M (C)	Sertanense	19 (1)	1400	1,00	0,06	0,58	0,05	5,26	47,00	8,00	0,51	0,29	61,78	85,00	8,81	7,07	0,96	7,00	3,22	2,57	5,79	-7,01	0,57
dif					-0,18	-0,02	0,24	-0,03	-1,90	18,04	6,13	0,38	0,16	3,34	-1,69	3,33	-2,40	-0,14	0,07	-0,94	-0,01	-0,95	-4,59	0,36
Luís Madeira	M (C)	Sertanense	22	1951	2,00	0,09	0,74	0,14	5,56	44,00	6,00	0,28	0,23	54,76	86,00	7,15	9,46	1,01	7,24	4,42	3,60	8,02	-3,00	0,37
dif					0,82	0,01	0,40	0,06	-1,60	15,04	4,13	0,15	0,10	-3,68	-0,69	1,67	-0,01	-0,09	0,31	0,26	1,02	1,28	-0,58	0,16
Miccoli	M (C)	Sertanense	4 (10)	598	2,00	0,30	0,75	0,18	16,67	42,00	3,00	0,45	0,40	46,20	81,00	5,87	7,83	0,60	6,94	4,82	3,46	8,28	-5,26	0,75
dif					0,82	0,22	0,41	0,10	9,51	13,04	1,13	0,32	0,27	-12,24	-5,69	0,39	-1,64	-0,50	0,01	0,66	0,88	1,54	-2,84	0,54
João Castro	AM (C)	Sertanense	19 (3)	1735	3,00	0,16	0,67	0,10	9,38	41,00	1,00	0,05	0,21	51,10	85,00	6,69	8,09	0,83	7,05	4,46	3,21	7,67	-4,26	0,21
dif					1,82	0,08	0,33	0,02	2,22	12,04	-0,87	-0,08	0,08	-7,34	-1,69	1,21	-1,38	-0,27	0,12	0,30	0,63	0,93	-1,84	0,00
Average	CM	League			1,18	0,08	0,34	0,08	7,16	28,96	1,87	0,13	0,13	58,44	86,69	5,48	9,47	1,10	6,93	4,16	2,58	6,74	-2,42	0,21

CM: They are pretty decent on the scoring front and even on the assists, a bit low on involvement (passes completed), and could probably increase the possession won and dribbles.

 

Name	Best Pos	Club	Apps	Mins	Gls	Gls/90	ShT/90	NP-xG/90	Conv %	Shot %	Ast	Asts/90	xA/90	Ps C/90	Pas %	Pr passes/90	Poss Won/90	Drb/90	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90
Ruster	AM (L)	Sertanense	6 (12)	673	0,00	0,00	0,40	0,28	0,00	17,00	1,00	0,13	0,07	33,43	81,00	2,27	7,36	2,41	6,61	4,01	4,28	8,29	-6,28	0,13
dif					-1,74	-0,12	-0,08	0,15	-7,88	-16,94	-1,66	-0,06	-0,07	-3,85	-3,80	-0,60	-0,22	-0,32	-0,24	-0,32	-0,03	-0,35	-0,54	-0,18
Denilson	AM (L)	Sertanense	19 (3)	1572	3,00	0,17	0,52	0,20	8,33	25,00	5,00	0,29	0,25	30,92	80,00	3,21	7,73	1,89	6,87	5,15	4,64	9,79	-4,81	0,46
dif					1,26	0,05	0,04	0,07	0,45	-8,94	2,34	0,10	0,11	-6,36	-4,80	0,34	0,15	-0,84	0,02	0,82	0,33	1,15	0,93	0,15
Kisley	AM (R)	Sertanense	5 (8)	533	0,00	0,00	0,51	0,14	0,00	27,00	0,00	0,00	0,17	33,43	80,00	3,38	6,75	2,03	6,62	3,38	4,23	7,61	-7,27	0,00
dif					-1,74	-0,12	0,03	0,01	-7,88	-6,94	-2,66	-0,19	0,03	-3,85	-4,80	0,51	-0,83	-0,70	-0,23	-0,95	-0,08	-1,03	-1,53	-0,31
Gonçalo Cabral	AM (R)	Sertanense	17 (4)	1375	6,00	0,39	1,57	0,46	9,23	37,00	4,00	0,26	0,25	29,78	77,00	3,34	7,85	2,49	7,09	4,52	6,22	10,74	-6,62	0,65
dif					4,26	0,27	1,09	0,33	1,35	3,06	1,34	0,07	0,11	-7,50	-7,80	0,47	0,27	-0,24	0,24	0,19	1,91	2,10	-0,88	0,34
Average	WF	League			1,74	0,12	0,48	0,13	7,88	33,94	2,66	0,19	0,14	37,28	84,80	2,87	7,58	2,73	6,85	4,33	4,31	8,64	-5,74	0,31

WF: My starters Denilson and Cabral are doing quite well, but both subs are not using their minutes to show they deserve more.

 

Name	Best Pos	Club	Apps	Mins	Gls	Gls/90	ShT/90	NP-xG/90	Conv %	Shot %	Ast	Asts/90	xA/90	Ps C/90	Pas %	Pr passes/90	Poss Won/90	Drb/90	Av Rat	DEF	ATT	D+A	Poss +/-	G+A /90
Gonçalo Cabral	AM (R)	Sertanense	17 (4)	1375	6,00	0,39	1,57	0,46	9,23	37,00	4,00	0,26	0,25	29,78	77,00	3,34	7,85	2,49	7,09	4,52	6,22	10,74	-6,62	0,65
dif					-1,21	-0,10	0,41	0,06	-10,00	-8,53	2,68	0,18	0,16	0,85	-8,84	2,28	3,54	0,90	0,20	2,03	2,66	4,69	-1,25	0,09
Mohamed Karamoko	ST (C)	Sertanense	21 (1)	1760	13,00	0,66	1,43	0,69	16,88	36,00	1,00	0,05	0,17	18,31	82,00	0,61	4,35	1,23	6,97	2,41	4,25	6,66	-4,91	0,71
dif					5,79	0,17	0,27	0,29	-2,35	-9,53	-0,32	-0,03	0,08	-10,62	-3,84	-0,45	0,04	-0,36	0,08	-0,08	0,69	0,61	0,46	0,15
Average	ST	League			7,21	0,49	1,16	0,40	19,23	45,53	1,32	0,08	0,09	28,93	85,84	1,06	4,31	1,59	6,89	2,49	3,56	6,05	-5,37	0,56

ST: I added Cabral to the list, but it’s only Karamoko I want to look at. He has been in fact my only choice and I can’t be unhappy with him but… Is conversion rate is 16,88% and shot % is 36%. Every striker with 10+ goals has at least a conversion rate of 24% and shot % of 46%.

Name	Best Pos	Club	Apps	Mins	Gls	Gls/90	ShT/90	NP-xG/90	Conv %	Shot %
Diogo Ribeiro	ST (C)	Académica Coimbra	16 (1)	1328	14,00	0,95	1,83	0,38	31,82	61,00
Pedro Soares	ST (C)	Amora	20	1765	12,00	0,61	1,17	0,36	24,00	46,00
Rúben Araújo	ST (C)	Mafra	17	1429	16,00	1,01	1,76	0,65	34,04	60,00
Mohamed Karamoko	ST (C)	Sertanense	21 (1)	1760	13,00	0,66	1,43	0,69	16,88	36,00
Gonçalo Gregório	ST (C)	União de Leiria	22	1984	22,00	1,00	1,95	0,60	25,00	49,00

Diogo Ribeiro scored 1 penalty, Pedro Soares scored 3, Rúben Araújo scored 2, Gonçalo Gregório scored 6 (!) and Karamoko scored none. It helps.

 

Looking at their attributes and comparing where they all are 10+ with my forward options we have:

Name	Best Pos	Fin	Fir	Ant	Bra	Cmp	Dec	Det	OTB	Tea	Wor	Acc	Bal	Jum	Nat	Pac	Sta	Total
Diogo Ribeiro	ST (C)	13	10	14	14	13	10	16	13	12	14	10	12	13	14	11	10	199
Ruben Araujo	ST (C)	14	12	13	10	12	11	13	13	12	12	12	11	11	13	12	11	192
Pedro Soares	ST (C)	13	11	13	13	11	11	13	12	12	13	12	15	12	14	12	13	200
Gonçalo Gregório	ST (C)	13	13	11	10	13	12	12	14	11	13	12	10	12	13	12	12	193

 

Name	Best Pos	Fin	Fir	Ant	Bra	Cmp	Dec	Det	OTB	Tea	Wor	Acc	Bal	Jum	Nat	Pac	Sta	Total
Mohamed Karamoko	ST (C)	9	11	12	9	12	8	10	12	10	9	14	12	9	13	14	11	175
Gonçalo Cabral	AM (R)	10	11	8	11	11	10	16	13	7	12	13	13	13	14	13	10	185
Gonçalo Gomes	AM (L)	13	10	11	7	11	10	7	13	12	10	11	10	10	11	10	11	167
Ruster	AM (L)	10	11	10	14	9	10	13	11	9	13	13	10	4	12	12	12	173

Could Gonçalo Cabral do better as ST? Can/should we get a better striker than Karamoko? Was so clearly a bad option to spend time retraining Gomes to ST?

Asked my staff who we knew that could fit this and brought in Pedro Lucas on trial. He was at Mafra last season. Scored 6 goals from 12 starts and 18 sub appearances on a tier above us.

Name	Best Pos	Fin	Fir	Ant	Bra	Cmp	Dec	Det	OTB	Tea	Wor	Acc	Bal	Jum	Nat	Pac	Sta	Total
Pedro Lucas	ST (C)	11	10	12	12	11	10	13	11	12	11	11	11	13	11	10	11	180

 

Youth Intake

My elite talents:

 

Hugo Lima is fairly determined and inconsistent.

 

Lukas Benay is unambitious and fairly inconsistent.

 

Domingos Culubali is sporting and is also portuguese.

 

Anthony Pratas is balanced and is fairly insconsistent.

 

And the top talents:

 

And here’s the summary for the average attributes:

Name	Best Pos	Personality	Technical	Mental	Physical	Total
Hugo Lima	GK	Fairly Determined	7	7	6	20
Lukas Benay	D (C)	Unambitious	5	8	9	22
Domingos Culubali	ST (C)	Sporting	7	8	8	23
Anthony Pratas	ST (C)	Balanced	4	7	9	20
Pedro Flor	D (R)	Resilient	6	9	6	21
Jorge Pedro	D (R)	Balanced	6	9	6	21
Eduino Gomes	AM (L)	Mercenary	5	6	9	20
Innocent Chembezi	M (R)	Unambitious	6	6	9	21
Gabriel Rosado	D (L)	Unambitious	6	8	8	22
João Lopes	ST (C)	Low Self Belief	5	8	6	19
Carlos Flor	AM (R)	Sporting	5	6	7	18
Bernardo Mendonça	D (R)	Unambitious	5	7	8	20
André Ribeiro	M (L)	Balanced	5	7	8	20
Joaquim Branco	M (C)	Unambitious	6	7	8	21
João Martelo	M (R)	Fairly Determined	5	8	8	21
Adewale Godswill	M (L)	Unambitious	5	7	6	18

Domingos Culubali seems to be the biggest prospect. Decent personality, decent attributes, big potential.

 

First training session and we already have 2 players failing the training standards. They are on the red list already.

[lfds89]

Promotion Stage – Match 01 vs União de Leiria (A)

We are going with this tactic for the first match and the respective opposition instructions.

Their usually starting left-back, Kaká, is injured and will not recover. João Barros will play. The biggest difference is aerial ability whereas João is way better. The rest of the team is fit to play. We are also without Novais who would be our starting left-back. Daniel Almeida will play as seen on the tactics screen.

 

Somehow for the media, we are slight favorites:

 

Maybe feeling positive and confident over the media prediction, we were the better team in the first half and it finished 1-0. Goal by Madeira, assist by Cabral following a cross from Denilson. My concern is once again Bastian’s pass completion. He ended the first 45 minutes with just 48% of passes completed. Karamoko hasn’t been too active on the game: only 1 shot and it wasn’t on target, 9 aerial duels and only won 1. On the other side, Tiago Melo is having a very nice game: 1 key pass, 1 chance, 2 dribbles. Also, my wingers have 8 key passes and 4 chances created between them.

 

The game was uninteresting for a few minutes, we eventually scored a second goal by Karamoko but it was disallowed for offside. Then at the 70^th minute, due to injuries, they decided to change formation and move to a 4-3-3 DM Wide. I had already subbed off Pedro Mendes for Borges. So I moved to a 3-man midfield in line. Castro as MEZ-S, Borges as BWM-S, Madeiras as DLP-S. Also asked the team to play out of defence and wider in a bid to make the opposition have to chase us through the whole field. My GK will also distribute to the center-backs.

Nothing important happened afterward except for a decent chance for Cabral to shoot wide and we won our first game.

Madeira was name POM for the goal and his pass completion, but Cabral ended the game with 6 key passes, 3 chances created, 2 crosses completed, 7 headers won, 2 dribbles, 1 assist.

 

In the other game, Varzim won the away game. We play them next.

 

Promotion Stage – Match 02 vs Varzim (A)

Second away match.

The statistics from their last match show a lot of possession and 132 final third passes (we had 94 against Leiria). Although the top 4 in completed passes are their back four, they still managed to make a lot of final third passes, so they are keeping possession very high. That will give me space to explore. It hasn’t been our style, but opting for a more direct approach might be wise.

My tactic will be:

And the respective opposition instructions:

 

First half was quite interesting. They had 72% possession, but we were tied on chances (1 HC each) and we beat them on shots, shots on target and xG. Both of us have 3 defenders on yellows. This might turn out to be very important. In their case it’s both CB and right FB; in my team is both FB and RCB. They also have a yellow on their MCR. I’ve already asked my team to stay on feet and be very careful with the tackling.

We are playing according to plan, let’s go into the second half.

Maybe it was the instruction to stay on their feet, but at the beginning of the second half, they got past our players very easily and scored twice on the 50^th and 53^rd minutes. I changed some players but we never created much. Neither did they, it should be said. They didn’t even get any more shots.

We beat them in shots and xG, but we never did anything that could take us to victory. I’ll have to study this game to see where we can do better in the second round. Mostly thinking about playing either Denis or Deyvison and leaving Bastian out as Karamoko battled for 27 headers, almost all of them from Bastian’s punts.

 

In the other game, Felgueiras beat Leiria 1-0.

 

Promotion Stage – Match 03 vs Felgueiras (H)

This will be our first home game after the expansion and our return to Sertã.

Their goal against Leiria came from a corner and the goal against Varzim was following a counter-attack. Their top scorers are Baba, striker and sometimes left-winger, with 7 goals and Landinho, central-midfielder, also with 7 goals. The third top scorer has 2 goals. On the assists side, they have Ofosu, who doesn’t play very often but still got to 4 assists (approximately 0,54 assists / 90 minutes). They only have 1 player with an average rating above 7 which is Landinho. Seems like keeping him out of the game will shut them. Coincidently he’s in doubt for the game with an injury.

We go with our usual tactic with a 3-man line midfield. Landinho is playing but as DM.

Quite a start to the match with 5 goals in 17 minutes. Fortunately, 4 of them were ours. More shots, shots on target, xG, chances… Along with 66% possession shows we are in control. Karamoko has been the star of the show with 3 goals and 1 assist.

We started the second half with a goal from Karamoko and pretty much the game ended there.

 

Great way to return to our stadium!

 

Varzim beat Leiria 2-0.

 

Promotion Stage – Update

At the end of the first round of games, here are the standings:

Leiria has been disappointing, but Varzim has been dominant. We still have chances, but they are slim with Varzim in such a form.

The next game is against Varzim (H), then Leiria (H), then Felgueiras (A).

Second place leads to a final where we face the 2^nd placed team in the other group. If we get there and win that game we play the playoff against the third from last from the second tier.

[lfds89]

Development (from the beginning of last season until 22/04/2024)

I wanted to check some things about development: if my older players (27+) are regressing, how are my 20-26 years old developing and what’s happening with the youth players (under 19).

Name	Best Pos	Development 22/04/2024
Daniel Júnior	GK	Det, Cnt +1; other improv
Daniel Azevedo	GK	No change since 01/2024
Alexandre Lavrador	D (R)	Otb +1
Filipe Pereira	D (R)	No change since 01/2024
Tiago Melo	AM (R)	No change since 01/2024
Daniel Novais	M (L)	Dec +1. Other improv
Daniel Andrade	D (L)	Det +1
Rúben Moura	M (L)	Det +1
Deyvison	D (L)	Major Drop PHYS
Dénis Martins	D (C)	No change since 01/2024
Bastian	D (C)	No change since 07/2023
Luís Ferreira	D (C)	Det, Wor +2; Mar, Dec +1

Name	Best Pos	Development 22/04/2024
João Castro	AM (C)	Ant, Det, Vis, Acc, Sta, Str +1
Luís Madeira	M (C)	Ant, Cnt +1; Det -1
Pedro Mendes	M (C)	No changes. Starting to drop
Miccoli	M (C)	No changes
Mário Borges	DM	No change since 01/2024
David Santos	AM (L)	No change since 01/2024
Gonçalo Gomes	AM (L)	No change since 01/2024
Kisley	AM (R)	Major Drop PHYS
Denilson	AM (L)	Cmp +1, Tck -1
Ruster	AM (L)	No change since 07/2023
Mohamed Karamoko	ST (C)	Fin, Tec, Dec +1; Cmp +2; Tck -1
Gonçalo Cabral	AM (R)	Cro, Fir, Cmp, Cnt, Otb +1. Other improv

On the first subject: Deyvison and Kisley are clearly regressing, Pedro Mendes also shows signs of being on a descending phase. I’m a bit afraid that if he stops playing as much as he is, the drop will be clearer.

The second part is doing well for our standard. Castro, Ferreira, Cabral and Karamoko are impressing, Madeira is doing well. Minutes on the pitch are clearly a factor.

Name	Best Pos	Development 22/04/2024
Isidro Correia	D (L)	Acc, Bal, Jmp +1
Ricardo Dias	AM (R)	Sta +2; Ant, Cmp, Dec +1
Vitor Carm Mendes	AM (R)	Jmp, Sta +2; Bra, Dec, Vis, Acc, Bal, Str +1
Herculano Cassamá	AM (R)	Ant, Cmp, Dec, Otb, Bal +2; Cro, Fla, Pos, Vis, Agi, Sta +1
Hélder Barros	AM (R)	Jmp +1
Luís Rascão	AM (R)	Agi, Jmp, Sta +1

Regarding the last group, Mendes and Cassamá are training with the first team and are available to play for the youth. It seems to be the best way to develop youngsters (at least at this level). I’ll move Rascão (Season 01, RW/ST), Benay (S02, CB/RB), Culubali (S02, ST), Dias (S01, CM/RW) and Lima (S02, GK) to the first team. Eduino, Chembezi and Pratas are still 15 so I’ll keep them on the youth squad. Might change them next season.

 

Going through the attributes developed:

Name	Best Pos	Development 22/04/2024	Cro	Fin	Fir	Mar	Tec	Ant	Bra	Cmp	Cnt	Dec	Det	Fla	OtB	Pos	Vis	Wor	Acc	Agi	Bal	Jum	Sta	Str
Senior Squad			1	1	1	1	1	2	0	4	3	3	6	0	2	0	1	2	1	0	0	0	1	1

Mentoring groups are having an impact on the players' determination. Praise/criticism of the training performances has also had an impact on the work rate. Overall, the mentals are developing very well, but I wanted to see more change on the technical front. Will tweak the training a bit in the next season to see if there are more changes. 

 

Name	Best Pos	Development 22/04/2024	Cro	Fin	Fir	Mar	Tec	Ant	Bra	Cmp	Cnt	Dec	Det	Fla	OtB	Pos	Vis	Wor	Acc	Agi	Bal	Jum	Sta	Str
Youth Squad +1Yr			1	0	0	0	0	3	1	3	0	4	0	1	2	1	2	0	2	2	4	5	6	1

Clearly, they are still developing physically and the mentals are also improving nicely.

 

Promotion Stage – Match 04 vs Varzim (H)

The bad news just before the match: Luís Ferreira our defensive backbone has an hernia and will miss 5-7 weeks so his season is over.

The tactic will be similar to the first round one. Cabral was the RW.

Quite an active first-half.

Had to make some changes: João Castro was moved to CAM do better defend their CDM and I’ve asked Denilson to man mark their CWB. Karamoko had a great chance following a pass by Madeira. We also managed to draw 3 yellows from them: Joãozinho, RW, following a tackle on Denilson; Ramalho, CDM, to stop a counter from Karamoko; and Tiago Cerveira, LB, to stop a counter from Cabral. So our forwards are making life tough for them and this might open a few doors on the second half.

Right at the start of the second half they score from very long range. In the 60^th minute, Cabral left the field with an injury and I decided to go back to our usual formation and tactical instructions. I also switched some players. Low determination or low morale got subbed off and in came Miccoli (MEZ for Castro), Pedro Mendes (CM for Borges), Moura (WB-A for Andrade), Ruster (IF-A for Cabral) and Santos (IW-S for Denilson).

We managed to turn the game around, first through a great team-play, then a long ball from our GK behind their defence. Both scored by Karamoko. Then Bastian took a FK in our area and played the ball into the opponents’ feet and they easily scored… Frustrating… 2-2. The game ended shortly after. Paulo Moreira scored both their goals, his only 2 this season. His contract ends soon and he has good attributes, I’ll look into him.

We were great in the second half, we should have won. I’m increasingly frustrated with Bastian’s lack of skills on the ball, and without Luís Ferreira, I’ll have to play both him and Dénis who hasn’t been particularly impressive.

 

In the other game, Leiria lost once again. Disastrous promotion stage for them. We play them next, and we hope to put another “nail in their coffin”.

Another piece of bad news: Cabral will be out for 3-4 weeks so another season ended.
 

Karamoko wins Player of the Month

As the title says. Very proud of him.

 

Another job offer

This time it’s from Leixões. They are 11^th on the tier above us but I’m not accepting the interview. Although I respect them very much and all their history, data tells me their finances are “insecure”. Hope this doesn’t close any doors in the future, but I don’t want that kind of trouble.

 

Promotion Stage – Match 05 vs Leiria (H)

Same tactic from the first round. But I have Luís Ferreira and Cabral unavailable. Dénis and Ruster will take their places. Cassamá will have a place on the bench. They have no injuries, but they have nothing to fight for. Are they fielding their first team or giving less used players a chance? Let’s wait and see.

Once again, the media finds us favorites for the match. To add to this, we are 3 goals shy of breaking the goals record for this tier.

The game starts and they have their first eleven on the pitch.

We have absolutely dominated: 16 shots, 4 chances, 2 goals. They only had 2 shots and accumulated a total of 0,11 xG.

You know we don’t like boring. We only do entertainment, right? So…

As usual, no clean sheet and lots of goals. We have beaten the record for goals scored by two and still have 1 match to go.

Varzim won their game 3-2 which means 2 things: they are first and we are second. We are through to the play-off.

 

Promotion Stage – Match 06 vs Felgueiras (A)

No way I’m risking my starters, except where I have no choice — only have 2 CB ready: Deyvison can’t play the whole match, but I plan on giving him some minutes late in the game. On the other group there are 3 teams with 9 points, so nobody will have the chance to rest some players.

I won’t go into the same detail as in the other games, but I have to praise two performances: Miccoli had 5 key passes and 2 dribbles; and Cassamá had 3 key passes, 2 chances and 3 dribbles.

Bad news: Filipe Pereira, our backup CB is injured for 6-7 weeks.

Guess who decided to show up? Leiria beat Varzim 4-1!

 

Promotion Stage – Final Standings

Mafra and Varzim are promoted but they will still play each other to decide the league champion. We will play Länk on 2 legs to decide who plays the final against the third from last from the tier above us. We have beaten Länk already in the cup in a match we dominated. Let’s try to do it again. First leg is played home.

Regarding the promoted teams, fully deserved by Varzim. Although they were 3^rd in their league stage, they were totally dominant in the promotion stage. Coincidence or not, Mafra were also 3^rd in our stage, but they were never brilliant nor in the league or promotion stage. It was mostly Rúben Araújo who carried them.

[_Ben_]

14 hours ago, lfds89 said:

We will play Länk on 2 legs to decide who plays the final against the third from last from the tier above us. We have beaten Länk already in the cup in a match we dominated. Let’s try to do it again. First leg is played home.

Good luck!

I liked your little bit about development within your players and believe that your mantra, despite the level you're at and the facilities you have, will really promote the excellence you crave. Keep it up.

[lfds89]

8 horas atrás, _Ben_ disse:

Good luck!

I liked your little bit about development within your players and believe that your mantra, despite the level you're at and the facilities you have, will really promote the excellence you crave. Keep it up.

Thanks, @_Ben_! It means a lot!

I just needed a bit more money to get more(/better) coaches. In the meantime, I believe these 15/16-year-olds will have the quality to be starters when they are 17/18. Cassamá is quite near already, for instance. Will also have to focus a bit on getting experienced players with great personalities to mentor all the youngsters.

I'll also explore a bit the statistics when this season ends.

[lfds89]

Playoff Stage – Semi-Final – Länk (H)

We have Cabral back, and since he enjoys big matches, he’ll be a starter. He’s not fully fit, so I’ll have to sub him off in the second half, but I’m comfortable with that.

Tactically, only adjustment I made was asking the defensive line to drop more because they have a very fast striker in Edmilson. He’s their main threat with 20 goals, second best has 4. Most of their assists come from the left wing with Bruno Silva accumulating 7 over the season. Won’t change anything at the start, but I’ll be on the lookout and might have to ask Tiago Melo to play a more defensive role (WB-D or FB-S).

The first half went really well, we got 2 goals, one from Karamoko and the other by Cabral (who proved to be a good decision starting him). They had a big chance as expected from a long ball to Edmilson.

I’ll ask both my wingers to hold the ball, expecting them to gain us more possession away from our goal and dropped the mentality to cautious for the start of the second half.

As soon as the second half started they had another chance with a ball behind our defensive line so I dropped to a low block. In the 62^nd minute they subbed Edmilson off, so I moved back to a low block and Balanced mentality. Eventually, we scored the third through Denilson. 3-0 game is over.

We’ll have to be more aware of those runs behind on the away match. Maybe Dênis or Bastian will have a cover duty.

Individually, Tiago Melo had 4 tackles on 100% completion, 3 of them being key, 4 interceptions and 2 dribbles; Pedro Mendes had 5 key passes, 1 chance and 1 assist; Cabral had 2 key passes, 3 dribbles, 1 shot on target and 1 goal in 66 minutes; Denilson had 2 key passes, 1 chance, 1 assists and 1 goal.

It’s a good cushion for the second match.

 

Youth Squad

In the meantime, something (should say someone) has been catching my attention. Although against opposition of questionable quality, Pratas has been performing really well. At first, I didn’t rate him much but might give him a chance. He’s 15 still, so he has a lot of time to improve. Helping him out has been Eduino with some assists

 

Playoff Stage – Semi-Final – Länk (A)

Bastian collected his 5^th yellow in the last game so he is out. Ferreira might recover, but he’s still a doubt. If he can’t play the options are: Deyvison or Daniel Andrade as CB and Novais who is also unfit at LB.

Come matchday and my physio reports Ferreira can play but shouldn’t play more than 45 minutes and Cabral shouldn’t play more than 75. I’ll take the risk with both.

They score from a corner, then Mendes hits a long range shot and leaves the field with an injury. On came Miccoli. First half ends 1-1.

The aggregate is 4-1 and we are looking comfortable.

Beginning of the second half and Andrade feels some pain and asks to come out… I didn’t call Deyvison to the bench because Andrade was the backup CB. Now Moura comes in for him and soon I’ll have to sub off Ferreira. Probably Novais as he’s 180cm, has a header success ratio of 75% and he’s third most on defensive actions by a full back (first is Melo but I need him on the right, then is Pereira who’s injured). Now I only have 1 stoppage left to make substitutions. Near the 70th-minute mark I make my last 3 substitutions: Novais for Ferreira; Borges for Madeira (and drop him to DM); and Gonçalo Gomes for Gonçalo Cabral.

The clock keeps ticking and nothing important happens. It’s clear to see they have given up. The match ends, we are the winners! Third place is ours.

On the overall ladder of the Portuguese football we are 39^th! (18+18+3)

The champions are also decided with Varzim beating Mafra 3-1.

Now we are off to play Oliveirense to decide who plays in Tier 2 or 3 in just 3 days! And second leg is only 4 days after.

 

Playoff Stage – Final – Oliveirense (A)

A quick check on them: Fábio Pereira is their coach since 2021, he prefers a tiki-taka style in a 4-2-3-1 DM Wide formation. Although, their possession was the lowest across all teams in their league with just 44% and a passing completion of 78% (on the detailed team stats screen). Focusing on the last 3 matches, they have 65+ possession in every game. Something seems odd here.

Only one AvR over 7 which is their RW, Rui Batalha. The second-highest average rating is Serginho who won’t be able to play as he’s injured. Their left-back also has a long term injury and their starting striker is out between 2 and 9 days, so he might play both games or none. The player with the most goals is Michel, CAM, with 8 and the most assists is Mike, RB, with 5. On the negative side, Ricardo Ribeiro, GK, seems to be the weak point. He isn’t holding the shots, he’s parrying and tipping way more.

Name	Position	Svh	Svp	Svt	Av Rat	H-(P+T)/90
Ricardo Ribeiro	GK	43,00	79,00	25,00	6,50	-1,68

 

On our side, Bastian is back from suspension; both injuries from last game were minor and players will be ready; David Santos is on loan from Oliveirense so he can’t play; and Ruster will most likely be available to play. Somehow all my youth players can’t play this game.

 

We’ll have a light training schedule so we can have everybody ready for both games.

On the day of the match, while I was preparing the final touches, I noticed the predicted formation for them has changed. They have moved from the 4-2-3-1 to a 4-4-2, the manager’s second preferred formation.

I’m going with this:

Luís Ferreira is available for 60 minutes according to my physio and Denilson is a bit tired. I switched Gomes for Denilson just before the game started.

We started well, and scored the first goal of the game in the 15^th minute. Madeira played a through ball, Karamoko shot and their GK had a blunder. Then they reacted and eventually scored in the 30^th minute. Just after they scored, Tiago Melo scored a Direct Free Kick. And before halftime, we scored the 3^rd. Nice combination on the right wing between Cabral and Melo, Melo puts the ball in the box, Gomes shoots and the ball deflects on Karamoko. There were 2 minutes of injury time and everybody was waiting to for the referee to signal the end of the first half when Abbas Ibrahim, their CM, fouled Cabral and was sent off with the second yellow. 3-1 and a man up, we have to take this!

They moved to a 4-3-2, so I ask my wing-backs to be more attacking and I ask the team to play wider. Nothing happens until the 60^th minute. I decide to make some changes: Moura for Andrade, Denilson for Gomes, Miccoli for Castro. On the 83^rd minute we get a penalty, Karamoko misses but on the run of play we manage to score though Cabral. Just 3 minutes after, Moura crosses and Cabral headers in, another time where their GK should have done better and it’s 5-1!

0,17 xG/Shot on 18 shots is quite good. We were brilliant. Individually: Karamoko had a 10 rating – 5 key passes, 3 chances, 5 shots on target, 2 goals (although one was just a deflection) and 1 assist (although from a missed penalty); and Cabral with 2 goals, 1 key pass, 1 chance, 2 dribbles, 2 shots on target and on the defensive side 7 completed pressures!

 

Playoff Stage – Final – Oliveirense (H)

It’s difficult to lose this one, but we must remember they are a tier above us, so we must be careful. I’ll go with the same team, just with one correction: I’ll ask the GK to distribute to the DM-zone. I didn’t on the first game as I was afraid they were switching to a 4-2-3-1.

The first half was balanced and ended 1-1. Bastian scored with a header following a free kick by Tiago Melo who is proving to be a weapon on set-pieces.

It’s easy to tell their morale is destroyed. We are calm and composed.

The second half had no story, we had 1 goal disallowed after a combination between Kisley and Karamoko, but not much else. I wanted to give some minutes to Kisley one last time, this will be his last game for us and he served us very well last season.

 

We are promoted! Two promotions in a row!

[lfds89]

Around the World

England – Arsenal won, then Liverpool, Man City, Tottenham, Chelsea and Man Utd qualify for UCL and they were respectively 2^nd to 6^th in the league. Forest, Boro and QPR were relegated.

Spain – Barcelona won the league. Real Madrid, Atlético and Villarreal are in the UCL. Granada, Almeria and Tenerife were relegated.

Italy – Napoli are the champions. Roma, Inter, Juventus and Milan qualify for UCL. Cagliari, Salernitana and Brescia are relegated.

Germany – Guess who? Bayern are the winners in front of Leverkusen, Leipzig and Stuttgart. Dortmund finished 8^th. Nürnberg and Schalke will play in the second tier.

France – Again, no surprise: PSG are champions. Monaco, Rennes and Marseille are also in the UCL. Caen, Toulouse and Ajaccio are relegated.

Netherlands – Yes, it’s Ajax. Feyenoord and AZ follow them. NAC, Sparta and Excelsior go down.

Portugal – Porto are the champions by one point. Benfica is the only other club in the UCL, Braga was 3^rd, Sporting was 4^th. Marítimo, Vilafranquense and Nacional are relegated. Both teams from Madeira will leave the first tier.

European Competitions – Chelsea beat PSG on penalties to take home the major trophy; Leipzig beat Tottenham 3-0 in extra-time to seal the EL win; Aston Villa win the UECL by beating Trabzonspor 2-1.

 

Transfers In Overview

I decided to take a look at my signings and check how much they have played.

Beginning with the summer signings:

Name	Best Pos	Club	TI	Mins
Bastian	D (C)	Sertanense	S	58%
Daniel Andrade	D (L)	Sertanense	S	52%
Luís Madeira	M (C)	Sertanense	S	91%
João Castro	AM (C)	Sertanense	S	81%
Gonçalo Cabral	AM (R)	Sertanense	S	66%
Ruster	AM (L)	Sertanense	S	31%

Bastian eventually won his place, but I don’t trust him 100%; Andrade is another doubt but he was the main LB; Madeira and Castro were key part of the team, Cabral as well; Ruster was a bit of a disappointment, but I still believe he can be a good addition to our squad. 3 total success, 3 doubts.

 

Regarding the winter signings:

Name	Best Pos	Club	TI	Mins
Daniel Azevedo	GK	Sertanense	W	40%
Tiago Melo	AM (R)	Sertanense	W	33%
Filipe Pereira	D (R)	Sertanense	W	16%
Dénis Martins	D (C)	Sertanense	W	24%
Mário Borges	DM	Sertanense	W	18%
David Santos	AM (L)	Sertanense	W	10%
Gonçalo Gomes	AM (L)	Sertanense	W	17%

Daniel Azevedo won his place in goal; Tiago Melo was a great signing and I’m sure he’ll be our number one wing-back next year; Filipe Pereira is a decent backup; Dénis was brought in as a backup and did well for his status; Mário and David were loans to provide some depth and I’m happy with how they played; Gonçalo Gomes returned to our club and I believe I’ll need him more next season. All were successful

 

About promoted youngsters, only Cassamá played. He had 10% of total minutes which isn’t much but I’m happy with that.

Name	Best Pos	Club	TI	Mins
Herculano Cassamá	AM (R)	Sertanense	Y	10%

 

Finances

Balance is terrible, but I want to find the reasons why. So let’s check our income and expenditure

 

Top 5 Income this season

TV and Gate revenues had a big increase (around 760k) from last season.

 

Top 5 Income last season

We made 960k last season through grants and investments that didn’t happen this year.

 

Top 5 Expenditure this season

Wages take up most of the increase: 1100k (non-football costs are wages paid to non-football staff).

 

Top 5 Expenditure last season

Last season we paid for the construction work on our ground which took quite a big chunk of money.

 

In summary, wages went up across all the club and they should go up once again in tier-2; we didn't have any investments nor access to grants; both total a differential of 2M (-1,1M -960k); we got some help from TV and gates which reduced the deficit (-2M+760k = -1,24M); we didn't have any construction work which further alleviated the difference (-1,24M+850k = -400k). These 4 topics explain our balance.  Where can we get more revenue? TV and gates alone can do it? Selling is barely an option as my most valuable player (Luís Ferreira) has a transfer value of 55-110k. Can we cut anywhere? Staff and players' wages are definitely not an option as we are moving up on the ladder. Let's see what the future brings, but I'll have to be careful with the budget.
 

Club Vision Meeting

I don’t understand. After all I’ve done, I wasn’t expecting this.

The President wants us to play possession football and high-tempo pressing. Neither have we got here by playing possession nor by pressing high. I tried two times to remove this from the vision, but the President is adamant. I’ll accept, only because they are favored and preferred and not required, otherwise, I would be out the door.

[lfds89]

Planning the Next Season

Even moving up one tier, I don’t plan on any revolution.

Need: 1 backup/starter CM, 1 backup ST, 1 starter RW, 1 starter CB

Might drop Mendes and get someone to play as a starter either on the DM role or in the middle. Luís Madeira was great as CM, but I’ve also been training him to play as DM so he adds some depth.

The first target will be Idrissa Dioh. His contract is ending, he had 3 assists in 16 games on the second tier and according to my scouts he doesn’t seem to be too demanding on wages.

 

Karamoko was our only choice this season, Cabral was here on loan and could’ve filled the spot if needed, but he was on loan and he might not be here next season. I want to develop Cassamá, but might get another player if the right option is there.

Looking around, I found Jefferson Kibe. He hasn’t been scouted yet, so I don’t have all the information, but he ends his contract this season and he scored 5 in 8 on the tier below us and he played a bit in the first tier. He’s a completely different type of player than Karamoko, but some diversity will certainly do us well.

 

Cabral is leaving, Kisley as well; Ruster will play on the right, Gomes can also play there, but I don’t think they have the quality necessary to be starters.

I had my eyes on Alan Francisco who was on trial with us in January but unfortunately, he already retired. I searched through our scout reports and could only find João Magalhães. He’s on loan from Paços de Ferreira (tier-1) to a tier-4 team. No goals, no assists,… Not much to be excited about. I’ll keep looking.

 

Deyvison will retire, and Bastian isn’t good enough to be a starter. Bennay isn’t yet ready to be part of the team, but he will train with the first team.

There are not many interesting targets but we found Simão Júnior, playing for Oriental Dragon (on loan from Trofense); and João Ricciulli from Vitória Guimarães B. Both are right-footed and I wanted a left-footed player or else I’ll have 4 right-footed CB on the squad. But right now, more important than footedness is quality. I noticed at the last minute that Ricciulli is out with a broken foot – 5 to 8 months, so he’s out. Simão Júnior is not that good, but I’ll try to bring him to replace Dénis Martins.

 

Improve: 1 starter LB, starter LW?, starter GK?

I was a bit disappointed with Daniel Andrade; Rúben Moura helps on attack but he isn’t good enough on defense; Novais did well but I don’t think he can sustain his performances on a higher level.

Denilson did well, but from the 3 upfront he is the one I doubt the most about stepping up and Gomes is not good enough to take over the spot.

In goal, both Daniel Júnior and Daniel Azevedo are good, but not great. We’ll see if someone interesting becomes available.

 

Staff Review

I won’t change anyone with a contract, but I want to check on the expiring ones:

 

Frederico Rodrigues, Assistant Manager, 36, Continental A Licence

His preferred formation is the same as mine but with a totally different style. His training attributes are not great. His personality is balanced which doesn’t say much.

I had a look around the league to check on other assistant managers and they are not very different from him. I think I’ll let him go. I’ll try and find someone better, if not, pretty sure I’ll find a similar one with a tactical style closer to mine.

 

Ricardo Antunes, HOYD, 36, Continental A Licence

He has the same tactical style I have, the same formation and despite the attributes not being great, he’s been doing a good job. Players coming to the U19 squad have decent quality. I’ll ask the DOF to offer him a new contract.

 

Rui Susana, Head Physio, 27, Continental B Licence

We are 6^th best in the physio department in the league (both North and South, so out of 20 teams). He’s fairly professional, I’ll offer him a 1-year contract and compare our situation with the rest of the league.

After offering 1 year, he asked for 10 times his actual wage, so I’ll find a new head physio.

 

End-of-Season Player Stats and New Statistics

So, I've been working on my statistics and decided to go for something new:

From now on, I'll use:

DA - Defensive Actions - Sum of Tackles, Interceptions and Blocks

OA - Offensive Actions - Sum of Shots on Target, Open-Play Key Passes (OP-KP) and Dribbles

D+A - Sum of Defensive and Offensive Actions

Poss +/- - Difference between Possession Won and Possession Lost

ATT - Only available in league comparison - Average of: Shots on Target / Max Shots on Target ; OP-KP / Max OP-KP ; Dribbles / Max Dribbles

DEF - Same as ATT, for DA

Gls/ShOT - Goals per Shot on Target

Ast/OP-KP - Assists per Open-Play Key Passes

KP/Psc - Key Passes per Passes Completed

ProgP/PsC - Progressive Passes per Passes Completed

Prog+KP % - Sum of Progressive Passes and Key-Passes per Passes Completed

PossW/DA - Possession Won per Defensive Action

Fls/Tck - Fouls per Tackle (note: Offsides count as fouls, so I've subtracted that value)

Fls/PW - Fouls per Possession Won

Held - P+T - Difference between Saves Held and the sum of Saves Parried and Saves Tipped per 90 (Exclusive for GK)

 

Then we have the statistics for every player in my team, sorted by position and minutes played.

Name	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	Held – P+T
Daniel Azevedo	0,44	0,06	0,50	3,22	0,25
Daniel Júnior	0,38	0,00	0,38	4,32	0,15

Name	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	Fls/PW
Alexandre Lavrador	6,62	1,72	8,34	4,20	0,06	0,00	2%	0%	16%	18%	2,42	0,72	0,09
Tiago Melo	7,35	2,97	10,32	6,50	0,28	0,14	3%	2%	13%	18%	2,23	0,53	0,09
Filipe Pereira	8,32	1,54	9,86	1,93	0,00	0,00	2%	0%	13%	15%	1,65	0,64	0,10

Name	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	Fls/PW
Daniel Andrade	6,64	2,95	9,59	3,29	0,06	-0,01	3%	1%	11%	15%	2,22	0,46	0,07
Rúben Moura	6,53	4,14	10,67	-4,02	0,22	0,00	6%	1%	11%	17%	1,77	0,95	0,18
Daniel Novais	6,51	2,89	9,40	2,00	0,25	-0,01	3%	0%	15%	18%	2,23	0,32	0,05

Name	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	Fls/PW
Luís Ferreira	4,55	0,46	5,01	15,00	0,11	-0,01	0%	0%	6%	6%	4,92	0,80	0,04
Bastian	4,51	1,66	6,17	0,47	0,46	0,15	1%	0%	12%	13%	5,81	1,08	0,05
Deyvison	3,26	1,01	4,27	5,09	0,31	0,23	0%	0%	7%	7%	5,71	1,22	0,06
Dénis Martins	3,51	0,25	3,76	8,28	0,00	-0,06	0%	0%	6%	6%	4,43	0,50	0,03

Name	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	Fls/PW
Luís Madeira	4,79	3,46	8,25	-2,29	0,40	-0,03	3%	0%	11%	15%	1,95	0,18	0,05
João Castro	3,95	3,47	7,42	-3,21	0,22	0,06	4%	1%	12%	16%	2,15	0,15	0,03
Pedro Mendes	3,25	2,58	5,83	-6,18	0,58	0,06	2%	5%	13%	20%	2,11	0,36	0,09
Miccoli	4,65	3,95	8,60	-5,15	0,60	0,03	4%	3%	11%	18%	1,89	0,27	0,07
Mário Borges	3,56	1,18	4,74	-2,37	0,17	0,00	2%	0%	10%	12%	2,14	0,33	0,11
David Santos	4,13	2,22	6,35	-3,82	0,32	-0,07	2%	0%	14%	16%	1,54	0,14	0,05

Name	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	Fls/PW
Gonçalo Cabral	5,10	6,25	11,35	-6,39	0,73	0,04	8%	0%	10%	18%	1,64	0,34	0,12
Kisley	3,59	4,53	8,12	-7,34	0,00	-0,13	5%	0%	10%	16%	2,09	0,64	0,19

Name	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	Fls/PW
Denilson	4,71	4,42	9,13	-5,45	0,50	-0,02	7%	0%	9%	16%	1,50	0,39	0,15
Ruster	3,99	4,57	8,56	-6,42	0,29	-0,32	4%	0%	9%	13%	1,63	0,36	0,12
Gonçalo Gomes	2,36	3,44	5,80	-7,06	0,72	0,03	4%	0%	12%	17%	2,53	2,19	0,33

Name	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	Fls/PW
Mohamed Karamoko	2,20	4,48	6,68	-4,99	0,94	0,12	9%	0%	5%	13%	1,84	1,50	0,35
Herculano Cassamá	2,40	4,22	6,62	-3,31	0,60	-0,06	8%	0%	1%	9%	2,26	1,67	0,28

 

 

[lfds89]

End-of-Season Review

 

As we've seen before, we increased the revenue we can affect a lot.

Ruster barely played but he sold many shirts.

The main guys, who made this possible.
 

 

Our Supporter Profile

Comparing this with last year: lower % of hardcore and core fans; higher % of fair weather and casuals; higher influence of supporters on the board; increase of 6,5k in social media; increase of 379 season ticket holders.

 

Career Stats

Season	Year	Club	League	Position	Cup	Stage	PPG	Win %	GF	GA
01	2022/2023	Sertanense	PT4	1st	TdP	First Round	2,27	69%	70	32
02	2023/2024	Sertanense	PT3	3rd	TdP	Sixth Round	1,56	44%	33	26

 

Season	Year	Club	Most Goals	Most Assists	Most POM	Highest AvR
01	2022/2023	Sertanense	Karamoko – 31	Quaresma – 9	Karamoko – 8	Kisley – 7,42
02	2023/2024	Sertanense	Karamoko – 23	P Mendes – 10	Karamoko – 5	L Madeira – 7,26

 

Season	Year	Club	Income	Expenditure	Profit	Avg Attendance
01	2022/2023	Sertanense	1 353 447,00 €	1 411 118,00 €	-57 671,00 €	662
02	2023/2024	Sertanense	1 485 040,00 €	1 942 059,00 €	-457 019,00 €	1 266

 

The League's Signing of the Season

He totally deserved it, what a great season he had!

 

The Overachievers!

 

All-Time Most Played

The guys who have participated in most matches with me:

Name	Position	Apps	Goals	Seasons
Daniel Júnior	GK	44	0	22-24
Alexandre Lavrador	RB	44	0	22-24
Luís Ferreira	CB	56	4	22-24
Deyvison	CB	39	4	22-24
Rúben Moura	LB	39	0	22-24
Pedro Mendes	CM	59	5	22-24
Miccoli	CM	45	4	22-24
Luís Madeira	CM	32	4	23-24
Kisley	RW	40	14	22-24
Denilson	LW	52	8	22-24
Mohamed Karamoko	ST	62	54	22-24

 

New Stadium

Just after we finished the construction work in our stadium, the president wants to build another one…

 

Senior Affiliate

Just before the season ended, I asked the president to search for a senior affiliate so we can get some players on loan. I don’t want it as a long-term solution, but since we got promoted 2 years in a row, we need all the help we can get. And if that help comes in the form of players and money, I’m happy. President said yes. Soon we should have some news.

A few days go by and Sporting is the only option. I don’t mind. 61K annual fee, it’s not much but helps. There don’t seem to be many players interested in joining us, but it might change in the end of the transfer window.