[FM23] Jacinto Leal - Story of my Managerial Life

[lfds89]

Em 14/03/2023 em 21:40, LazgoNNO2000 disse:

you manage to get Sertanense Promoted to Terceira Liga

next season is going be Segunda Liga

It did happen!

[lfds89]

Acknowledgments

Before starting season 3, I would like to give you some context on this story and acknowledge some people I feel inspired by.

I have been through a bit of a rough phase in my personal life (my life IRL, not "Jacinto Leal"), and reading everybody's stories in this forum and playing FM while writing about it, has let me take my mind off bad things and helped me on my recovery. I'm in a better place now and I'm having fun doing this.

Thanks to @_Ben_, @MattyLewis11, @SixPointer, @GIMN, @13th Man and so many others who share how they play the game and their stories and you all have inspired me.

Now, back to the story.

Third Season – 2024/2025

Season Preview, Board Expectations and Budgets

 

We are now in 3 competitions: Liga 2, Taça de Portugal and Allianz Cup (League Cup)

Gladly, the president doesn’t expect much.

The media is not particularly in our favour as well.

It doesn’t look pretty for us. But we are still in the market and the odds will change.

 

Although the president isn’t expecting much from us, he still believes in a big paycheck, I assume. When the budgets were first set-up, I instantly changed them. We had over 200k of wage budget, while we were only spending around 50k (after promotion and yearly wage rises). Right now, I decided to settle on 80k and we’ll see if this changes as the season goes on. The transfer budget should not be taken into account as I don’t intend to spend not even 10%. I just don’t want the talk of us having a lot of wage budget or else agent’s will gladly ask for better offers for their players. Some of the value from the transfer budget will probably move to the scouting budget, but I’ll adapt as the season goes.

 

New Staff

As previously stated, the backroom staff was going through some changes and since we were promoted, the president allowed us to get more members in the team. We placed adverts and got some decent results.

 

Coaching Team

For someone who just got to this level, I believe we are doing very well.

New arrivals are:

Timmy Simons, former PSV player, with 95 caps to his name on the Belgium national team. He is a model citizen which was the reason to sign him along with all his experience. He’ll be my new assistant manager.

Nuno Piloto, former Académica player (when they were a tier-1 team). Fairly professional and capable across the board on the training. He’ll be a coach.

 

Recruitment Team

We are also doing very well on this front.

Jacek Kulig, who had been working with Famalicão. He has a vast knowledge of European players which might help us get some targets and he’s fairly determined. He’s our scout.

Grégory Lecointre, a 26-year-old recruitment analyst, just starting his career. He’s fairly professional.

 

Medical Team

Although the bars seem a bit low, we are in fact 3^rd best in both categories.

Marco Alves, 43, is our new head physio. He was working in Poland before. I would’ve preferred someone with a bit more people management skills, but his physiotherapy knowledge is too good to exclude him.

Along with him came Ana Alves (I suppose they are not related), 30 as a physio.

As you can see, one of the most important aspects of this recruitment was the personality, second their ability to do their jobs, then their experience/knowledge.

 

First Transfer Update

We also have some news regarding the playing squad.

Last time I went through the team, this is what was going through my mind:

Citar

 

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

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

 

 

We didn’t get any of the targets we set on that post, but I think we are doing well.

 

André Lacximixant, 23, can play all 3 positions upfront and CAM. Similar player to Gonçalo Cabral, one year younger and 5 cm taller. He’ll be our first option as IF-S or A on the right but he can also be a backup for Karamoko.

Here’s the comparison with Gonçalo Cabral:

 

Edu Pinheiro, 26, is mostly DM but can also play CM. He’ll most likely start alongside Madeira and Castro. Way taller than Mendes which will help on aerial duels, and physically way better, more aggressive and brave. He mostly loses on set-piece delivery, but we got it covered with other players.

 

Then we got 3 players on loan, 2 of them without the cost of their wages.

First, our new starter LB, Pedro Martins. An attack-minded full-back who left for Länk with Driven personality. He can also play as LW which might be useful.

They are a world apart:

 

Then, as we needed CB, I went for Hugo, 17, as Vizela allowed him to come on loan with an Impact Sub status. He isn’t great, but if I get a starter CB, Dénis Martins drops to 4^th CB and he’s earning to much to not even sit on the bench.

Then, as we got the Sporting affiliation, I wanted to use it and got Samuel Justo, 20. He also came with no costs and with Impact Sub status. He’s here for depth and he can offer some speed from deep which might be interesting in some games. He also has a driven personality which helps the team.

 

Right now, my focus is on a starting CB. We have offers for 3 players:

Nuca, 26, from Fafe (Tier 3). 25k transfer fee and Daniel Andrade (LB) in exchange. He wants 3,9k/month which would be our highest wage (Karamoko is 3,7k).

 

Miguel Rodrigues, 31, from Oliveira do Hospital (Tier 3). 17k transfer fee, he wants 2,5k/month, but he’s 31.

 

Levi Faustino, 22, from Porto B. 38k + 43k in installments; 3,7k wage. Can also play RB.

[lfds89]

First Friendlies

I didn’t take full responsibility for the schedule and I need to pay more attention next time. We had a 2 games to gain fitness, then a difficult test against Fenerbahçe where we got a surprise win and we lost to Oviedo 2 days before an official match. I needed that test against Oviedo, but couldn’t risk playing my first-team with just 1 day to recover.

Regarding the Fenerbahçe game and testing a new visual, here are the stats for the game:

[Friendly] vs Fenerbahçe (H)
Final Score: 2-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
58 – 75	51 – 50	3 – 2	0,38 – 1,24	2 – 5	59 – 41
Individual Highlights
Goals	Bastian, Denilson
Assists	J Castro, L Madeira
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Denilson	7,7	Denilson	4	Bastian	2
Bastian	7,6	F Pereira	3	Denilson	1
L Madeira	7,2	Ruster	2
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Ruster	0,1	D Novais	3	Denilson	2
Fabian	0,1	G Gomes	2	J Castro	2
L Ferreira	0,1	Bastian	2	L Madeira	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Denilson	0,2	Bastian	8	G Gomes	3
J Castro	0,1	L Ferreira	7	Miccoli	2
		Hugo	5	Ruster	2

 

Allianz Cup First Phase – vs Trofense (A)

This will be the first official game of the season.

Oh… Thanks…

We have to prove them wrong.

Rules for this competition require at least 2 u-21 Portuguese players in the starting eleven: Hugo will get a start, the other one is Madeira. We will play our 4-3-3 in line with attacking LWB and RIF.

They are also playing a 4-3-3 but they are playing a DM.

The first half starts slow and is a bit uninteresting. Karamoko scores but it’s disallowed for offside. However, we do end up with more shots and both their full backs are on yellows.

The second half almost starts with our goal. Tiago Melo with a brilliant interception from a clearance, shoots from outside the box, and scores. We keep control of the game, then we make some substitutions to keep players fresh and Ruster who had come in in the 83^rd minute creates 2 goals. The first one scored by Castro, the second by Lacx (I won’t write his full name every single time, sorry about that). They have a goal disallowed on 90+1. We win, very clearly. 3-0! “To whom it may concern...”

 

[Allianz Cup First Phase] vs Trofense (A)
Final Score: 3-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
61 – 52	54 – 28	7 – 0	2,14 – 0,73	4 – 3	50 – 50
Individual Highlights
Goals	T Melo, J Castro, Lacx
Assists	Ruster (x2)
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Ruster	8,9	T Melo	6	Lacx	3
T Melo	8,2	P Martins	2	T Melo	1
P Martins	7,7	L Madeira	2	Hugo	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Lacx	0,8	P Martins	11	T Melo	3
J Castro	0,5	T Melo	7	Ruster	2
Bastian	0,3	L Ferreira	5	P Mendes	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Ruster	1,0	L Ferreira	6	Lacx	3
P Mendes	0,4	L Madeira	5	Denilson	3
T Melo	0,2	Hugo	3	Karamoko	2

 

The second phase is against Casa Pia (Tier 1), also a knockout round, then it’s a league phase with 3 teams in each group. It would be great to get to the group stage as there is always a strong team in there which will lead to good gate and TV revenues.

 

Tactics for the season

These will be my starting 3 tactics for the season in no particular order. Very similar but achieving different goals and attacking on different places.

4-3-3 no DM, RIF and LWB on attack. When I want to play wider and potentially exploit a LB weakness and use the P Martins – Lacx connection.

4-3-3 DM with RCM on attack. To be used mostly against 4-4-2 or 4-2-3-1. Might change the distribution to playmaker when playing against 2 ST.

4-3-3 no DM, all in support

 

Allianz Cup Second Phase – vs Casa Pia (H)

They are a first-tier team, where they finished 9^th last season. They play a 4-2-3-1.

The game starts and they are playing a center-back as a striker. They have 4 strikers available, however.

We begin very strong and score 2 goals in the first 7 minutes. We keep controlling the game but give them a big chance and they score. The first half ends 2-1, we have 9 shots on target from a total of 11, accumulated xG of 0,94.

We start the second half with another goal, this time a direct FK from Tiago Melo. But then, we lose control of the game and they score in the same minute and another one 4 minutes after. It’s now 3-3 with 30 minutes to play. In the 72^nd minute they score, I almost lost all hope, but it was gladly disallowed. We keep playing toe-to-toe and eventually Gonçalo Gomes, who had come in, scored. At the last minute… Penalty! We score, it's 5-3, and we are through!

 

 

[Allianz Cup Second Phase] vs Casa Pia (H)
Final Score: 5-3 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
56 – 44	49 – 38	16 – 5	2,62 – 0,70	6 – 2	60 – 40
Individual Highlights
Goals	Lacx, Denilson, T Melo, G Gomes and P Mendes (pen)
Assists	T Melo (x2) and Ruster
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
T Melo	8,8	Lacx	6	L Madeira	3
Lacx	7,8	L Madeira	4	J Castro	3
G Gomes	7,4	J Castro	3	Karamoko	3
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	0,8	P Martins	8	J Castro	4
P Mendes	0,8	L Ferreira	6	T Melo	3
T Melo	0,2	T Melo	5	L Madeira	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
L Madeira	0,4	Edu P	7	Lacx	4
J Castro	0,3	L Ferreira	5	J Castro	2
Denilson	0,3	P Martins	5	P Martins	2

 

I have to talk about 3 players who were wonderful in both games: Tiago Melo, Ruster and Lacx. Tiago Melo is a right-back and has 2 goals and 2 assists; Ruster was subbed in and has 3 assists; Lacx scored in both games and most dribbles in both games.

On the bad side is Karamoko. He started last season very slow and eventually improved his performances. Will that happen again? Right now he has an average rating of 6,40 and in this game he accumulated 0,8 xG without scoring.

[SixPointer]

On 29/04/2023 at 00:48, lfds89 said:

Acknowledgments

Before starting season 3, I would like to give you some context on this story and acknowledge some people I feel inspired by.

I have been through a bit of a rough phase in my personal life (my life IRL, not "Jacinto Leal"), and reading everybody's stories in this forum and playing FM while writing about it, has let me take my mind off bad things and helped me on my recovery. I'm in a better place now and I'm having fun doing this.

Thanks to @_Ben_, @MattyLewis11, @SixPointer, @GIMN, @13th Man and so many others who share how they play the game and their stories and you all have inspired me.

Now, back to the story.

I’m glad to hear the FM has helped take your mind of things and helped you feel better. I only really started documenting my saves on the forum due to struggling with anxiety for many years. I found the forum a great escape and while i consider myself cured now I still value what this forum bring to us all!

[_Ben_]

On 28/04/2023 at 23:48, lfds89 said:

Acknowledgments

Before starting season 3, I would like to give you some context on this story and acknowledge some people I feel inspired by.

I have been through a bit of a rough phase in my personal life (my life IRL, not "Jacinto Leal"), and reading everybody's stories in this forum and playing FM while writing about it, has let me take my mind off bad things and helped me on my recovery. I'm in a better place now and I'm having fun doing this.

Thanks to @_Ben_, @MattyLewis11, @SixPointer, @GIMN, @13th Man and so many others who share how they play the game and their stories and you all have inspired me.

I appreciate the shout-out and I've been very inspired by your save. I think we share a very similar approach to playing the game and I will continue to support this thread throughout. Good luck for the season ahead - how do you think you'll fair?

[lfds89]

Thanks, @SixPointer! The mind is a mysterious and very powerful machine. We all have our stories. Writing some of them down, even if fictional like this, seems to help. Glad it also helped you!

 

@_Ben_, it's quite difficult to tell. Overall, I believe the quality of my players is still a bit far from the competition, but I also think the squad as a whole is more complete than some of the others. I was also expecting these two first games to be very difficult and we have done very well. Squad comparison inside FM doesn't help much because I'm keeping many youngsters on the first team and my averages become terrible, but I'll try and find a way to compare. Maybe through top-5 players in some attributes or something.

Let's see. I have this week off and expect to have some time to play (and write).

 

Edit: Here it is, the comparison between every team in the league in a choice of attributes:

		Top 5 Sum
Name	Prediction	Drb	Fir	Pas	Tec	Ant	Cnt	Dec	Jmp	Pac	Str	TEC	MEN	PHY	Average	Rank
Académico de Viseu	10th	68	64	63	68	66	67	63	78	67	73	66	65	73	68	10
Alverca SAD	14th	68	68	66	67	67	72	65	71	71	68	67	68	70	68	6
Benfica B		71	69	67	71	63	61	65	74	70	68	70	63	71	68	8
CDEA	1st	71	63	65	70	70	68	62	74	74	67	67	67	72	68	4
Feirense	6th	66	63	66	65	67	62	62	71	73	67	65	64	70	66	13
Leixões	9th	68	62	63	68	66	67	66	74	70	71	65	66	72	68	11
Mafra	13th	65	63	65	69	67	63	64	70	71	65	66	65	69	66	13
Marítimo	2nd	69	69	70	74	69	69	64	70	71	68	71	67	70	69	2
Nacional	5th	65	69	65	68	66	65	72	73	71	70	67	68	71	68	4
Penafiel	7th	67	70	67	69	66	65	63	77	70	71	68	65	73	69	3
Porto B		69	73	70	72	64	60	64	68	70	61	71	63	66	67	12
Rio Ave	4th	67	67	69	71	67	67	64	69	73	67	69	66	70	68	7
Sertanense	16th	62	61	61	66	60	62	63	71	66	65	63	62	67	64	17
Tondela	3rd	68	66	67	67	70	62	65	75	71	67	67	66	71	68	9
Trofense	12th	64	64	63	66	67	60	62	72	69	73	64	63	71	66	15
Varzim	11th	62	62	65	65	62	63	62	73	67	71	64	62	70	65	16
Vilafranquense	8th	68	71	72	69	69	66	73	74	72	67	70	69	71	70	1
Vitória de Setúbal	15th	64	61	59	66	60	63	59	64	65	60	63	61	63	62	18
Sertanense	Rank	17	17	17	14	17	13	11	11	17	15	17	17	16	17

 

It will be a long season if this indicates anything.

Edited May 1, 2023 by lfds89

[lfds89]

The First Games of the League

Way better than expected, that’s for sure. With a bit of luck as well, but we played very well on these games. Expect to see more of the same as the season goes on.

The screens for each game:

[Liga 2] vs Rio Ave (A)
Final Score: 4-1 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
50 – 84	52 – 36	7 – 6	1,60 – 2,08	6 – 5	57 – 43
Individual Highlights
Goals	Karamoko, L Madeira, Ruster, Denilson
Assists	Lacx, Edu P, Miccoli, L Madeira
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
L Madeira	8,3	Denilson	5	Denilson	2
Edu P	7,6	T Melo	3	Karamoko	2
Karamoko	7,4	P Martins	3	Cassamá	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Denilson	0,7	P Martins	4	L Madeira	4
Ruster	0,3	L Faustino	2	Miccoli	2
L Madeira	0,3	J Castro	2	Lacx	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
L Madeira	0,3	Edu P	9	T Melo	2
Miccoli	0,3	L Faustino	8	Denilson	2
Edu P	0,3	L Ferreira	6	L Madeira	2

 

[Liga 2] vs Ac Viseu (H)
Final Score: 1-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
82 – 24	67 – 32	8 – 1	1,78 – 0,45	3 – 2	67 – 33
Individual Highlights
Goals	Denilson
Assists	T Melo
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
J Castro	7,7	P Martins	3	Lacx	2
D Júnior	7,6	J Castro	3	Denilson	2
T Melo	7,6	Edu P	3	D Andrade	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Denilson	0,5	T Melo	6	J Castro	7
Ruster	0,4	Edu P	5	L Madeira	3
Lacx	0,2	L Ferreira	3	Lacx	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
J Castro	0,5	L Ferreira	12	J Castro	3
T Melo	0,5	Edu P	10	Ruster	2
L Madeira	0,4	L Faustino	8	Lacx	1

 

[Liga 2] vs Leixões (A)
Final Score: 2-1 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
55 – 165	51 – 55	6 – 2	1,30 – 0,78	3 – 1	45 – 55
Individual Highlights
Goals	Karamoko (x2)
Assists	Miccoli
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Karamoko	9,2	Ruster	5	Karamoko	4
Miccoli	7,2	P Martins	4	S Justo	1
D Andrade	7,0	L Faustino	3	T Melo	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	1,0	L Faustino	4	Miccoli	3
Lacx	0,1	L Ferreira	3	J Castro	2
L Ferreira	0,1	Karamoko	3	Karamoko	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Miccoli	0,7	P Martins	6	Ruster	3
Ruster	0,2	L Ferreira	5	Karamoko	2
Karamoko	0,1	Ruster	4	J Castro	2

 

Along with these results came my first Manager of the Month Award

 

The next 3 games:

 

Final Transfer Window Update & Wage Structure

News from the last update?

 

We decided to go for Levi Faustino, mostly due to his age. And we also managed to get João Pedro on loan from Vitória de Guimarães. He had 15 goals in 24 matches last season on tier 4, provides an aerial threat with his height and jumping, while not losing much on pace to Karamoko; lacks bravery, concentration and anticipation. He’s only on 275 €/month and with a squad player status.

 

Taking into account the comparison between our team and the rest of the league, I have some concerns regarding the quality of my team (although the results show a different reality).

Following ThrowingCopperFM’s post: (https://dictatethegame.com/implementing-a-wage-structure-transfer-policy-in-football-manager/)

I have defined a wage budget of 80k.

 

Important + Star Players

4 is the recommended number, but since I’m changing tiers, I need some versatility on this until I can settle. I'm happy as long as the spending is under the limit.

Name	Best Pos	Age	Ability	Wage	Appearance Fee	Agent	Begins	Expires	Transfer Value	Agreed Playing Time
Levi Faustino	D (R)	23	3,5	3 700,00 €	€170	Ricardo Morais - Acquaintance	24/7/2024	30/6/2028	€22K - €170K	Important Player
Luís Ferreira	D (C)	23	3,5	3 000,00 €	€110	César Rodrigues - Very Close	26/6/2023	30/6/2026	€55K - €100K	Star Player
Edu Pinheiro	DM	26	3	2 600,00 €	€120	Fábio Rodrigues - Acquaintance	10/7/2024	30/6/2027	€110K - €190K	Important Player
Luís Madeira	M (C)	21	3,5	2 600,00 €	€95	Leandro Carvalho - Very Close	15/2/2024	30/6/2026	€7K - €240K	Important Player
João Castro	AM (C)	23	3,5	3 200,00 €	€120	Leandro Santos - Very Close	1/7/2023	30/6/2026	€12K - €85K	Important Player
Mohamed Karamoko	ST (C)	22	4	3 700,00 €	€140	Alejandro Vega - Very Close	22/6/2023	30/6/2026	€7K - €130K	Important Player
	Wage Sum			18 800,00 €
	Total Allowed			24 000,00 €
6	Max 4			6 000,00 €

All of these are most likely starters through all season and the best players I have, so I have no concerns here.

 

Regular Starters

We don’t have many players with this status still, Pedro Mendes will soon have to drop and I’m expecting some players from the category below to be “upgraded”.

Name	Best Pos	Age	Ability	Wage	Appearance Fee	Agent	Begins	Expires	Transfer Value	Agreed Playing Time
Pedro Martins	AM (L)	23	3,5	1 800,00 €	€120	- - Close	9/7/2024	1/7/2025	€6K - €18K	Regular Starter
Pedro Mendes	M (C)	30	2	1 600,00 €	€65	Tiago Queirós - Very Close	20/8/2023	30/6/2026	€6K - €30K	Regular Starter
Denilson	AM (L)	24	3	2 500,00 €	€90	Mojammel Hossain - Very Close	3/11/2023	30/6/2026	€9K - €50K	Regular Starter
	Wage Sum			5 900,00 €
	Total Allowed			24 000,00 €
3	Max 7			3 428,57 €

 

Backups

Name	Best Pos	Age	Ability	Wage	Appearance Fee	Agent	Begins	Expires	Transfer Value	Agreed Playing Time
Daniel Azevedo	GK	26	3	1 500,00 €	€70	Diogo Francisco - Very Close	7/1/2024	30/6/2026	€7K - €50K	Cup Goalkeeper
Daniel Júnior	GK	26	2,5	900,00 €	€40	Miguel Serra - Very Close	14/7/2024	30/6/2026	€1K - €7K	Backup
Hugo	D (C)	17	2,5	0,00 €	€70	Diogo Francisco - Very Close	4/7/2024	1/7/2025	€140K - €1,4M	Impact Sub
Filipe Pereira	D (R)	23	2,5	1 400,00 €	€55	- - Very Close	3/1/2024	30/6/2025	€1,5K - €24K	Squad Player
Bastian	D (C)	27	2,5	2 100,00 €	€90	José Araújo - Very Close	15/2/2024	30/6/2026	€7K - €40K	Squad Player
Tiago Melo	AM (R)	27	3	3 000,00 €	€150	Diogo Francisco - Very Close	31/1/2024	30/6/2026	€35K - €210K	Squad Player
Daniel Andrade	D (L)	24	2	1 200,00 €	€70	- - Very Close	4/8/2023	30/6/2025	€500 - €7K	Squad Player
Daniel Novais	M (L)	23	2	650,00 €	€35	- - Very Close	22/8/2023	30/6/2025	€1K - €14K	Emergency Backup
Isidro Correia	D (L)	17	1,5	600,00 €	€40	- - Close	19/7/2024	30/6/2026	€500 - €5K	Future Prospect
Miccoli	M (C)	26	2,5	2 400,00 €	€100	Vasco Matos - Very Close	6/1/2024	30/6/2026	€14K - €100K	Squad Player
Samuel Justo	M (C)	20	3	0,00 €	€850	Vasco Matos - Acquaintance	13/7/2024	1/7/2025	€300K - €2,9M	Impact Sub
Herculano Cassamá	AM (R)	17	2	1 500,00 €	€80	Miguel Serra - Very Close	23/7/2024	30/6/2027	€0 - €40K	Impact Sub
Ruster	AM (L)	28	3	3 600,00 €	€130	Leandro Carvalho - Very Close	12/7/2023	30/6/2026	€14K - €75K	Squad Player
Gonçalo Gomes	AM (L)	23	2,5	2 400,00 €	€180	- - Very Close	10/1/2024	30/6/2026	€6K - €90K	Fringe Player
Lacx	ST (C)	23	3,5	2 300,00 €	€300	Vasco Matos - Close	1/7/2024	30/6/2026	€24K - €350K	Fringe Player
João Pedro	ST (C)	22	3,5	275,00 €	€250	Silas da Silva Oliveira - Own Player	27/8/2024	27/5/2025	€0 - €70K	Squad Player
	Wage Sum			23 825,00 €
	Total Allowed			24 000,00 €
16	Max 11			2 181,82 €

This is the most concerning part: Daniel Azevedo, Tiago Melo and Lacx have a backup status although they are first choices. That’s easy to solve, but I should expect to have to offer a new contract to reflect the new status.

Ruster is a problem. Only important players earn more than him and he doesn’t come from a good season. He’s starting to play better, and I think the change to the right side of the pitch helped him, but he needs to do much better if he wants to stay here on this wages.

Isidro is still a youngster who already has a contract and couldn't loan him out. I've also tried to loan Novais with no success. He isn't on high wages so I'll keep him until January but he'll most likely leave then (his contract expires this season, so either that or he leaves on the end of contract).

 

Youth

I won’t post the table for them, but they are well behind the structure, so no cause for a deep analysis. They have 10% allowed which corresponds to 8k.

 

Summary

With the expected changes, we will have 6 + 5 + 12 (without Isidro and Novais). Not ideal, but since we are transitioning and need a way better squad, most of these statuses will have some pressure to change quickly. I’ll have to make this change as slow as I can so I don’t disrupt the whole squad. Also, the wage budget will also likely have to increase, as you can see from the image below we are way too far from the other teams in this league.

 

[lfds89]

Scouting Setup

In the past seasons we didn’t have much to do in scouting and could gather much data to work with, but this season I think we’ll be able to do something a bit more organised.

I’ll try to do this a bit like Monchi. First, some focus on populating the datasheets and getting to know the world; then going into detail.

So, I decided to set 4 recruitment foci for the first 6 months of the season:

All Positions, Liga 2, Under 25;

All Positions, Liga 3, Under 25;

All Positions, Under 23 competition;

All Positions, CNP (Tier 4), Under 25.

 

Liga 2 Points Requirement

Looking into the last 2 seasons, relegation was granted for every team with 33 or fewer points (almost 1 ppg). Promotion is a 55+ race (1,62 ppg), although in the first season 3^rd and 4^th tied with 55 and last season 55 would only grant 6^th place.

Right now we need a midway point. I don’t think it will come to this, but I think if we had the chance to get promoted again, I would probably purposefully bottle it. We need some stability to work and build a platform to keep us stable at this point or above.
 

Summer World Transfers

Portugal

England

France

Germany

Italy

Spain

 

The most valuable players in the world:

I know goals and assists don’t tell all, but some are weird: Martinelli has a 27-2-3 (games-goals-assists) and a 22-4-2 seasons; Chiesa has 27-9-4 and 34-5-7 and Kvicha has 38-10-3 and 37-13-6.

And top-15 in reputation are:

 

Matchdays 04, 05 and 06

One win and 2 goalless draws. In the middle of the league games, we had a fun friendly.

[Liga 2] vs Marítimo (H)
Final Score: 5-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
81 – 19	61 – 17	9 – 2	3,47 – 0,17	7 – 0	62 – 38
Individual Highlights
Goals	Denilson, J Castro (pen), Karamoko (x2+ pen)
Assists	Denilson (x2)
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Karamoko	9,8	Denilson	4	Karamoko	4
Denilson	9,6	Miccoli	3	Lacx	2
D Azevedo	7,6	Karamoko	2	J Castro	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	1,7	L Faustino	4	Denilson	5
J Castro	0,8	L Madeira	4	Miccoli	4
Denilson	0,4	P Martins	4	Lacx	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Denilson	1,0	L Ferreira	14	T Melo	2
Miccoli	0,3	P Martins	7	F Pereira	2
Karamoko	0,1	L Faustino	5	J Castro	2

 

[Liga 2] vs Penafiel (A)
Final Score: 0-0 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
75 – 52	57 – 22	4 – 4	0,81 – 0,72	2 – 0	64 – 36
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
L Ferreira	7,6	P Martins	5	T Melo	1
D Azevedo	7,3	Lacx	3	L Madeira	1
L Faustino	7,3	J Castro	3	G Gomes	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	0,4	L Faustino	6	J Castro	3
G Gomes	0,2	T Melo	5	Karamoko	2
L Madeira	0,1	L Ferreira	5	L Madeira	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
T Melo	0,2	L Ferreira	19	P Martins	3
Miccoli	0,2	L Faustino	8	Lacx	2
J Castro	0,1	T Melo	6	G Gomes	2

 

[Liga 2] vs Mafra (H)
Final Score: 0-0 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
131 – 66	61 – 16	4 – 2	1,06 – 0,19	2 – 0	59 – 41
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Hugo	7,6	Denilson	6	Ruster	1
D Azevedo	7,2	F Pereira	3	Hugo	1
Denilson	7,1	Karamoko	3	Denilson	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	0,4	Hugo	5	D Andrade	3
Miccoli	0,2	F Pereira	4	Denilson	3
Ruster	0,2	Karamoko	3	L Madeira	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
P Martins	0,2	Hugo	13	Denilson	3
Miccoli	0,2	L Ferreira	7	F Pereira	2
L Madeira	0,2	L Madeira	4	J Castro	2

 

The league table looks good for us. Remember, our first goal is not to get relegated, so near 34 points. We have 14 already (41%).

 

Next games are not easy: Benfica in the League Cup, Merelinense in the Portuguese Cup and Benfica B in the league.

[lfds89]

New contract

The president is happy with us and offered me a new 3-year contract. I’m on 5k/month and his first offer is 6k. The second lowest wage in the league is the Varzim manager with 7,75k. I tried to level with that, but the most I got was 6,5k and an increase in non-relegation bonus. It also includes a 15% increase in promotion.

The only attribute that changed over the course of the last year was Player Knowledge. Increase by 1. Reputation is also still at 2,5 start (Minimal).

Will soon look into upgrading my coaching licence. Probably will apply in January.

 

First International Players

No, not full internationals, but 2 of my players (one of them homegrown) have been called-up to the U19s of their country. Very proud of them!

 

Some More Games Played

Quite successful in both cup games, although I expected a bigger margin against Merelinense. One more draw in the league. We are having some trouble finding our way to the goal in the last matches. This is the third consecutive league game we don’t score; it is however our fourth consecutive match without conceding.

 

Against Benfica, I never thought we could get a decent result. My bad… But my players proved me wrong. I switched most of the team and we were losing 4-0 until the 68^th minute. Then they fell asleep and we took our chances. Great display by Cassamá and João Pedro. They won their place for the game against Merelinense where they both scored and due to an injury to Karamoko and Lacx still being out, they both played against Benfica B, this time to no effect.

[Allianz Cup] vs Benfica (A)
Final Score: 4-4 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
44 – 112	26 – 54	5 – 9	1,31 – 3,29	4 – 4	35 – 65
Individual Highlights
Goals	Cassamá (x2), J Pedro, Bastian
Assists	P Mendes (x2), J Pedro
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Cassamá	8,7	Bastian	2	Cassamá	3
J Pedro	8,1	F Pereira	2	Bastian	1
P Mendes	7,9	Ruster	2	J Pedro	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Bastian	0,4	D Andrade	5	P Mendes	4
Cassamá	0,4	F Pereira	4	J Pedro	3
J Pedro	0,2	L Madeira	4	G Gomes	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
P Mendes	0,7	Bastian	7	F Pereira	2
J Pedro	0,2	Edu P	7	Ruster	2
Cassamá	0,1	Hugo	4	G Gomes	2

 

[PT Cup] vs Merelinense (A)
Final Score: 2-1 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
43 – 43	47 – 25	4 – 3	0,51 – 0,24	0 – 0	58 – 42
Individual Highlights
Goals	J Pedro, Cassamá
Assists	T Melo, S Justo
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
S Justo	7,4	P Martins	4	G Gomes	2
J Pedro	7,2	Cassamá	3	J Pedro	1
Cassamá	7,2	P Mendes	3	Cassamá	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
G Gomes	0,2	T Melo	3	T Melo	3
Cassamá	0,1	Bastian	3	S Justo	2
J Pedro	0,1	P Martins	3	P Mendes	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
S Justo	0,2	Bastian	15	P Martins	3
T Melo	0,1	J Pedro	15	Bastian	1
Karamoko	0,1	L Faustino	12	Ruster	1

 

[Liga 2] vs Benfica B (A)
Final Score: 0-0 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
37 – 69	40 – 44	0 – 2	0,64 – 0,68	1 – 1	65 – 35
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
L Ferreira	7,5	T Melo	3
D Azevedo	7,3	Denilson	3
L Faustino	7,2	L Madeira	3
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
J Pedro	0,2	L Faustino	5	L Madeira	1
J Castro	0,2	P Martins	4	J Castro	1
Denilson	0,1	L Madeira	3	J Pedro	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
P Martins	0,2	L Ferreira	15	Denilson	2
L Madeira	0,2	L Faustino	11	Cassamá	2
J Pedro	0,1	J Pedro	4	Miccoli	1

 

Our next games

 

Comparing this Season to the last one

Since we have played some games in different competitions and against different levels of opposition, I’ll compare players performances this season to their performances last season.

 

GK

Daniel Azevedo is averaging better performances with a better saves held ratio and Poss +/-.

Name	Best Pos	Mins	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	Held – P+T
Daniel Azevedo	GK	1425	20,59	84,00	0,00	0,00	6,76	0,44	0,06	0,50	3,22	0,06	0,00	0,25
Daniel Azevedo	GK	720	27,12	89,00	0,00	0,00	7,20	0,87	0,00	0,87	4,38	0,00	0,00	0,63
GK			6,53	5,00	0,00	0,00	0,44	0,43	-0,06	0,37	1,16	-0,06	0,00	0,37

 

RB

Tiago Melo is doing very well. He started very strong with some goals and assists, his progression and key-pass ratio is on the same level as last year, but he dropped a bit on Poss +/-.

Name	Best Pos	Mins	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
Tiago Melo	AM (R)	968	42,02	86,00	2,51	59,00	7,02	7,35	2,97	10,32	6,50	0,28	0,14	3%	2%	13%	18%	2,23	0,53	11,00
Tiago Melo	AM (R)	727	48,40	86,00	3,59	69,00	7,28	7,55	2,85	10,40	1,49	0,75	0,18	3%	2%	14%	18%	1,90	0,84	7,25
RB			6,38	0,00	1,08	10,00	0,26	0,20	-0,12	0,08	-5,01	0,47	0,04	-0,01	0,00	0,01	0,00	-0,32	0,31	-3,75

 

LB

First player to be compared with a different one. Pedro Martins has more defensive actions and unfortunately less offensive actions. It’s a shame since I brought him as a more offensive minded option, but I guess it has to do with my left-back having played as an WB-A a part of last season and this season he has made 1 appearance as WB-A and the rest on support. His progression is also lower than what Daniel Andrade got last season.

Name	Best Pos	Mins	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
Daniel Andrade	D (L)	1559	51,55	87,00	3,64	80,00	6,81	6,64	2,95	9,59	3,29	0,06	-0,01	3%	1%	11%	15%	2,22	0,46	15,00
Pedro Martins	AM (L)	778	62,24	90,00	4,51	76,00	6,95	8,44	2,08	10,52	4,28	0,00	0,00	1%	0%	8%	9%	2,12	0,48	12,92
LB			10,69	3,00	0,87	-4,00	0,14	1,80	-0,87	0,93	0,99	-0,06	0,01	-0,02	-0,01	-0,03	-0,06	-0,09	0,02	-2,08

Pedro Martins also got a red card against Benfica B, so Daniel will get his chance. Let’s see how he does. He has a higher progressive pass ratio and more offensive actions this season than Pedro Martins as well, so he is deserving this chance.

Name	Best Pos	Mins	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	SPKP /90	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
Pedro Martins	AM (L)	778	62,24	90,00	4,51	76,00	6,95	0,00	8,44	2,08	10,52	4,28	0,00	0,00	1%	0%	8%	9%	2,12	0,48	12,92
Daniel Andrade	D (L)	212	68,77	93,00	3,82	75,00	6,83	0,00	8,07	4,24	12,31	5,52	0,00	-0,02	4%	0%	10%	14%	2,05	0,50	9,75

 

CB

Both players have more passes completed, more completion ratio, more defensive actions, and a better ratio of possession won per foul. On the negative side, the aerial ability is lower. In the Poss +/-, Luís Ferreira is almost on the same level as last season but there’s a big (positive) difference in Levi when compared to Bastian. Might use Bastian when I have João Pedro in the field. He’s big and might get to some of Bastian’s “punts”.

Name	Best Pos	Mins	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
Luís Ferreira	D (C)	2376	67,61	91,00	9,70	77,00	6,90	4,55	0,46	5,01	15,00	0,11	-0,01	0%	0%	6%	6%	4,92	0,80	24,63
Luís Ferreira	D (C)	830	81,65	92,00	10,19	73,00	7,22	5,10	0,22	5,32	14,43	0,00	-0,04	0%	0%	7%	7%	4,40	0,87	29,58
CB1			14,04	1,00	0,49	-4,00	0,32	0,55	-0,24	0,31	-0,57	-0,11	-0,03	0,00	0,00	0,01	0,01	-0,52	0,08	4,95

 

Name	Best Pos	Mins	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
Bastian	D (C)	1735	50,73	68,00	12,86	84,00	6,98	4,51	1,66	6,17	0,47	0,46	0,15	1%	0%	12%	13%	5,81	1,08	18,71
Levi Faustino	D (R)	648	92,50	93,00	7,92	76,00	7,19	5,27	0,00	5,27	13,62	0,00	-0,03	0%	0%	6%	6%	4,14	0,67	39,26
CB2			41,77	25,00	-4,94	-8,00	0,21	0,76	-1,66	-0,90	13,15	-0,46	-0,18	-0,01	0,00	-0,06	-0,07	-1,67	-0,41	20,55

 

CM

In the midfield, we are missing Pedro Mendes set-pieces, but Edu Pinheiro Poss+/- is very impressive. Him, alongside the increase we had by changing Bastian with Levi are leading to way higher possession stats and it can be seen on the increase in passes completed (the 11 most used players have 121 more completed passes per 90 than last season). This might lead to a decision in increasing passing directness.

Name	Best Pos	Mins	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
Luís Madeira	M (C)	2705	55,63	86,00	2,99	72,00	7,26	4,79	3,46	8,25	-2,29	0,40	-0,03	3%	0%	11%	15%	1,95	0,18	20,01
Luís Madeira	M (C)	825	63,82	87,00	2,84	67,00	7,09	3,28	3,16	6,44	-5,35	0,22	0,02	3%	0%	11%	14%	2,20	0,31	16,50
RCM			8,19	1,00	-0,15	-5,00	-0,17	-1,51	-0,30	-1,81	-3,06	-0,18	0,05	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,25	0,12	-3,51

 

Name	Best Pos	Mins	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
João Castro	AM (C)	2416	52,41	86,00	1,90	42,00	7,05	3,95	3,47	7,42	-3,21	0,22	0,06	4%	1%	12%	16%	2,15	0,15	32,56
João Castro	AM (C)	710	69,34	88,00	1,90	39,00	7,18	3,43	4,68	8,11	-6,84	0,25	0,12	3%	1%	12%	15%	1,85	0,31	12,50
LCM			16,93	2,00	0,00	-3,00	0,13	-0,52	1,21	0,69	-3,63	0,03	0,06	-0,01	0,00	0,00	-0,01	-0,30	0,16	-20,05

 

Name	Best Pos	Mins	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
Pedro Mendes	M (C)	1879	60,64	86,00	1,05	45,00	7,01	3,25	2,58	5,83	-6,18	0,58	0,06	2%	5%	13%	20%	2,11	0,36	11,00
Edu Pinheiro	DM	599	69,42	86,00	6,91	88,00	6,96	2,85	1,35	4,20	-0,30	0,15	-0,02	2%	0%	12%	13%	4,11	0,63	15,60
CDM			8,78	0,00	5,86	43,00	-0,05	-0,40	-1,23	-1,63	5,88	-0,43	-0,08	0,00	-0,05	-0,01	-0,06	2,00	0,26	4,60

 

RW

Lacx was impressive in the preseason, but since the official games started his production has dropped. 6,93 average rating is definitely not a big cause of concern. As it happened with Pedro Martins, not playing as an IF-A might be taking away some of the benefits of his game.

Name	Best Pos	Mins	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
Gonçalo Cabral	AM (R)	1974	30,05	78,00	5,47	54,00	7,17	5,10	6,25	11,35	-6,39	0,73	0,04	8%	0%	10%	18%	1,64	0,34	8,31
Lacx	ST (C)	569	29,74	78,00	3,80	55,00	6,93	3,48	4,75	8,23	-11,55	0,48	0,06	4%	0%	10%	14%	1,50	0,40	5,50
RW			-0,31	0,00	-1,67	1,00	-0,24	-1,62	-1,50	-3,12	-5,16	-0,25	0,02	-0,03	0,00	-0,01	-0,04	-0,14	0,06	-2,81

 

LW

Another player with a good start to the season. In the squad analysis he was one of the weaknesses I needed to upgrade/solve, but he’s proving me wrong with increases all over the place.

Name	Best Pos	Mins	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
Denilson	AM (L)	2179	31,84	82,00	1,40	21,00	6,90	4,71	4,42	9,13	-5,45	0,50	-0,02	7%	0%	9%	16%	1,50	0,39	6,84
Denilson	AM (L)	736	40,84	80,00	1,47	26,00	7,01	4,89	4,28	9,17	-9,17	0,73	0,24	4%	0%	8%	12%	1,50	0,56	4,29
LW			9,00	-2,00	0,07	5,00	0,11	0,18	-0,14	0,04	-3,72	0,23	0,26	-0,03	0,00	-0,01	-0,04	0,00	0,17	-2,55

 

ST

Karamoko is in excellent form. There’s not much to add.

Name	Best Pos	Mins	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
Mohamed Karamoko	ST (C)	2493	18,16	81,00	3,43	19,00	7,14	2,20	4,48	6,68	-4,99	0,94	0,12	9%	0%	5%	13%	1,84	1,50	2,87
Mohamed Karamoko	ST (C)	588	17,60	83,00	1,99	23,00	7,11	3,21	4,75	7,96	-3,37	0,92	0,32	8%	0%	3%	11%	1,10	1,00	2,30
ST			-0,56	2,00	-1,44	4,00	-0,03	1,01	0,27	1,28	1,62	-0,02	0,20	-0,01	0,00	-0,01	-0,02	-0,74	-0,50	-0,57

I’m curious to see if João Pedro can challenge him for the place. His ability in the air can be hard to deal with

Name	Best Pos	Mins	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	SPKP /90	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
Mohamed Karamoko	ST (C)	588	17,60	83,00	1,99	23,00	7,11	0,00	3,21	4,75	7,96	-3,37	0,92	0,32	8%	0%	3%	11%	1,10	1,00	2,30
João Pedro	ST (C)	189	14,29	70,00	11,43	73,00	7,18	0,00	0,48	4,28	4,76	-7,62	1,43	0,67	17%	0%	7%	23%	2,98	1,98	1,50

 

Overview

	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
Sertanense	11,04	3,36	0,02	3,55	0,10	0,08	-0,42	-0,34	0,15	-0,08	0,03	-0,01	-0,01	-0,01	-0,03	-0,15	0,03	-0,52

 

This is the table for the average of the most used 11 combined. High increase in passes completed and pass completion and decrease in offensive actions and progression + key-pass ratio. Will try to play more direct and see the effects.

[lfds89]

League’s Finances

It’s mid-October and we’ve already lost 142k this season. We have a projected 2,1M loss this season (I don’t exactly believe these numbers, but it’s the best we have). Our financial situation is defined as “Okay”.

Out of 18 teams, 9 are “Okay” – where us, Porto B and Benfica B are included; 2 are “Secure” (Marítimo and Estrela da Amadora); and the rest, 7, are “Insecure”.

 

October is done!

3 more games played. 4 points out of 6 in the league and a 2-1 defeat against Sporting in the Cup it’s a definite win on my book.

 

[Liga 2] vs Vitória de Setúbal (H)
Final Score: 3-3 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
67 – 31	49 – 19	9 – 5	2,14 – 1,59	4 – 3	47 – 53
Individual Highlights
Goals	L Madeira, Karamoko (x2)
Assists	Denilson, D Andrade, L Madeira
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
L Madeira	8,3	D Andrade	6	Karamoko	3
Karamoko	8,0	Ruster	4	Ruster	2
D Andrade	7,8	J Castro	3	L Ferreira	2
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	1,4	D Andrade	3	L Madeira	7
Ruster	0,4	J Castro	3	Denilson	5
L Madeira	0,2	Karamoko	2	D Andrade	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
L Madeira	0,8	Denilson	6	Ruster	5
D Andrade	0,7	L Faustino	6	Denilson	4
Denilson	0,4	Edu P	4	D Andrade	3

 

[PT Cup] vs Sporting (H)
Final Score: 1-2 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
32 – 160	33 – 61	4 – 8	0,74 – 3,60	1 – 8	37 – 63
Individual Highlights
Goals	J Pedro
Assists	D Andrade
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
D Andrade	7,1	P Mendes	6	Lacx	2
J Pedro	7,0	Lacx	3	J Pedro	1
Miccoli	6,9	D Andrade	3	S Justo	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Lacx	0,3	D Andrade	3	Miccoli	2
J Pedro	0,2	F Pereira	2	D Andrade	2
Bastian	0,1	P Mendes	2	J Castro	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
J Castro	0,2	Bastian	6	Lacx	5
Miccoli	0,2	J Pedro	6	Denilson	2
D Andrade	0,2	L Faustino	5	Edu P	2

 

[Liga 2] vs Estrela da Amadora (H)
Final Score: 3-1 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
74 – 64	56 – 37	7 – 4	2,56 – 0,52	6 – 1	59 – 41
Individual Highlights
Goals	Karamoko (x2), L Ferreira
Assists	L Madeira, Miccoli (x2)
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Karamoko	8,6	L Madeira	4	Karamoko	3
Miccoli	8,1	Karamoko	4	L Ferreira	2
L Madeira	7,5	Lacx	2	Lacx	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	1,4	T Melo	5	G Gomes	3
L Ferreira	0,4	Lacx	4	Miccoli	2
T Melo	0,3	D Andrade	4	Denilson	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Miccoli	0,7	L Faustino	12	Lacx	3
L Madeira	0,6	Lacx	6	J Castro	3
Karamoko	0,3	Edu P	6	D Andrade	3

 

 

Karamoko with 4 goals and Luís Madeira with 2 goals and an assist in these 3 games are the individual standouts.

I’ve implemented both changes I talked about in the last post: Daniel Andrade is in the starting eleven and I’m playing more direct (move the slider to the middle). Andrade got 2 assists; top 3 in average rating in 2 matches; top 3 in tackles in 2 matches; top 3 in interceptions in all matches; top 3 in key passes in 2 matches; top 3 in dribbles in 2 matches. He’ll keep his place in the coming matches.

 

Next matches:

Only 2 games in November, so I’ll schedule some friendlies to maintain match sharpness and possibly make some tests.

 

League Update

We can be quite happy with the standings. 15 points needed to the 34 that should grant us a place in this league for next season. We have 2,11 ppg and need 0,6 ppg until end of season.

[lfds89]

December is here!

Some great wins and our first loss in the league. We have also played 2 friendlies to keep players in shape and try some different things.

 

[Liga 2] vs Trofense (A)
Final Score: 4-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
74 – 73	50 – 39	10 – 3	2,54 – 0,72	7 – 2	40 – 60
Individual Highlights
Goals	J Castro, Karamoko, G Gomes, Ruster
Assists	Denilson, Lacx, Karamoko, J Castro
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
J Castro	8,4	D Andrade	4	Karamoko	4
Lacx	8,0	J Castro	2	Ruster	1
Karamoko	7,8	Denilson	2	Lacx	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	1,5	L Faustino	3	Denilson	4
Edu P	0,2	T Melo	3	T Melo	4
Ruster	0,2	J Castro	2	Lacx	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Lacx	0,9	L Faustino	8	Denilson	4
J Castro	0,4	L Ferreira	8	Lacx	3
Denilson	0,4	T Melo	4	D Andrade	2

 

[Liga 2] vs Porto B (H)
Final Score: 4-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
56 – 35	47 – 34	8 – 2	2,51 – 0,70	5 – 1	64 – 36
Individual Highlights
Goals	Lacx, L Ferreira, Bastian, J Pedro
Assists	J Castro, Miccoli (x2), Ruster
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
L Ferreira	8,6	T Melo	2	Lacx	2
Lacx	8,4	Denilson	2	J Pedro	2
Miccoli	8,3	L Madeira	1	L Ferreira	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	0,7	P Martins	4	Miccoli	8
J Pedro	0,6	L Ferreira	3	Lacx	5
Lacx	0,4	Miccoli	3	P Martins	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Lacx	0,7	L Ferreira	24	Lacx	6
Miccoli	0,6	Lacx	8	Denilson	3
Ruster	0,6	L Faustino	6	Karamoko	2

 

[Liga 2] vs Nacional (A)
Final Score: 0-2 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
67 – 55	64 – 31	4 – 4	0,97 – 1,17	2 – 3	52 – 48
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Edu P	7,0	T Melo	5	L Faustino	2
Denilson	6,8	Denilson	4	Karamoko	1
L Faustino	6,7	Miccoli	3	T Melo	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	0,5	L Ferreira	4	Edu P	2
P Martins	0,1	Edu P	3	P Mendes	1
L Faustino	0,1	P Martins	3	L Madeira	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Denilson	0,3	Edu P	10	Lacx	2
Edu P	0,2	L Ferreira	10	T Melo	2
Lacx	0,1	L Faustino	8	Denilson	2

 

In this run of games, it was João Castro who impressed the most with 1 goal and 2 assists.

 

The league situation is perfect especially when we take into consideration we should be in the relegation battle.

 

An overview of player stats. One player in each stat is quite good. Miccoli certainly is deserving more playing time but all my midfielders are doing quite well. Daniel Azevedo has been great as well and Karamoko is our star.

 

My players have also collected some awards in the meantime. This board is for Young Player of the Month.

 

And the next games:

We need 9 points to expectedly be outside the relegation battle. Tondela is 1^st, and Feirense is 8^th so I’m expecting two tough matches. We just lost to Nacional and we didn’t play very well, so expectations will be kept to a minimum this stretch of games.

[lfds89]

I might be dumb… but we are on the right track

Great win against Feirense and the expected loss to Tondela (they have beaten Porto in the Allianz Cup!). We also managed to beat Nacional in the cup.

 

[Liga 2] vs Feirense (H)
Final Score: 3-1 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
74 – 37	65 – 17	5 – 2	1,35 – 0,80	3 – 2	64 – 36
Individual Highlights
Goals	Denilson, Lacx, Cassamá
Assists	P Martins, T Melo, Karamoko
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Karamoko	7,7	J Castro	6	Cassamá	1
P Martins	7,7	P Martins	4	Karamoko	1
L Ferreira	7,6	T Melo	3	Lacx	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Cassamá	0,8	L Ferreira	8	J Castro	4
Karamoko	0,3	P Martins	7	T Melo	4
Denilson	0,1	T Melo	5	S Justo	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Karamoko	0,8	L Faustino	12	T Melo	4
J Castro	0,3	L Ferreira	10	J Castro	2
T Melo	0,2	Edu P	7	Denilson	2

 

[Liga 2] vs Tondela (A)
Final Score: 0-2 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
34 – 73	39 – 42	0 – 4	0,81 – 2,15	3 – 4	45 – 55
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Lacx	7,3	Lacx	6	-	-
J Castro	6,6	Edu P	3	-	-
L Madeira	6,6	T Melo	2	-	-
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	0,4	J Castro	3	Lacx	2
L Madeira	0,2	T Melo	2	Denilson	2
Denilson	0,2	L Faustino	2	L Madeira	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Lacx	0,4	L Ferreira	7	Lacx	6
Denilson	0,2	Karamoko	6	Denilson	4
L Madeira	0,1	Bastian	4	L Ferreira	1

 

[Allianz Cup] vs Nacional (H)
Final Score: 3-1 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
62 – 68	47 – 24	8 – 3	1,51 – 0,59	4 – 2	50 – 50
Individual Highlights
Goals	Denilson, L Madeira, J Pedro
Assists	Karamoko, Denilson (x2)
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Denilson	9,0	D Andrade	3	Karamoko	3
Miccoli	7,4	P Mendes	2	Denilson	2
L Madeira	7,4	Cassamá	2	L Faustino	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	0,4	Miccoli	5	Denilson	4
Denilson	0,3	L Faustino	4	Miccoli	4
J Pedro	0,2	Cassamá	3	P Mendes	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Denilson	0,6	Bastian	15	Karamoko	4
Miccoli	0,2	L Faustino	11	Miccoli	3
D Andrade	0,2	T Melo	5	T Melo	3

 

Denilson with 2 goals and 2 assists was the highlight. He also had 4 dribbles and 2 key passes in the game we lost. Great run from him.

 

Where was I dumb? In the Allianz Cup. I don’t know what went through my mind, but we were beating Nacional 3-0 and I decided the game was over and replaced my most used players with some youngsters and backups to give them game time. We were 1, just 1! goal away from a tie with Benfica. Had we scored that goal I don’t know what would be the sorting of the group as rules only mention goal difference and goals scored as tie-breakers and we would have been equal on both. So close…

 

We are now only 6 points away from the desired 34, but we will have to set new objectives as we keep our place in the top of the table.

 

Now we are only playing in one competition, the league. In the next 3 games, we receive Vilafranquense (6^th) and Alverca (17^th); and we travel to Póvoa de Varzim (10^th). At least 6 points should be achievable.

 

Development Update

A quick look into my player’s development in the last 6 months. This time I changed the way I accounted the changes. Green Arrow pointing NE +0,5; Green Arrow Pointing N +1 (except if there's mention of any other number); Red Arrow pointing S -1; Red Arrow pointing SE -0,5.

Name

Best Pos

Cro

Dri

Fin

Fir

Lon

Tec

Ant

Bra

Cmp

Cnt

Dec

Det

Lea

OtB

Pos

Vis

Wor

Acc

Agi

Bal

Jum

Pac

Sta

Str

Daniel Júnior

GK

Daniel Azevedo

GK

0,5

Filipe Pereira

D (R)

1

Tiago Melo

AM (R)

Pedro Martins

AM (L)

0,5

Daniel Andrade

D (L)

0,5

Hugo

D (C)

0,5

0,5

0,5

0,5

0,5

0,5

0,5

L Faustino

D (R)

0,5

0,5

0,5

Bastian

D (C)

Luís Ferreira

D (C)

0,5

1

 

Name

Best Pos

Cro

Dri

Fin

Fir

Lon

Tec

Ant

Bra

Cmp

Cnt

Dec

Det

Lea

OtB

Pos

Vis

Wor

Acc

Agi

Bal

Jum

Pac

Sta

Str

João Castro

AM (C)

Luís Madeira

M (C)

0,5

0,5

0,5

0,5

0,5

Pedro Mendes

M (C)

Miccoli

M (C)

0,5

Edu Pinheiro

DM

0,5

Samuel Justo

M (C)

0,5

Lacx

ST (C)

0,5

0,5

Ruster

AM (L)

Denilson

AM (L)

0,5

0,5

Gonçalo Gomes

AM (L)

0,5

0,5

Mohamed Karamoko

ST (C)

0,5

0,5

0,5

0,5

João Pedro

ST (C)

1

1

Herculano Cassamá

AM (R)

0,5

1

1

0,5

0,5

0,5

 

Senior Squad

0,5

1

0,5

0,5

0,5

1

1

0

1

1

3,5

3

2

1

0

1

0,5

0

1

0,5

0

0,5

2

2

 

TOT	TEC	MEN	PHY
24	4	14	6

 

Youth Players in their second full season

Name

Best Pos

Cro

Dri

Fin

Fir

Lon

Tec

Ant

Bra

Cmp

Cnt

Dec

Det

Lea

OtB

Pos

Vis

Wor

Acc

Agi

Bal

Jum

Pac

Sta

Str

Isidro Correia

D (L)

-1

0,5

Ricardo Dias

AM (R)

-1

0,5

0,5

Both had injuries which led to Bravery being reduced. All the other players (except Cassamá) are on loan so I don't have the development information. 

 

Youth Players in their first full season

Name	Best Pos	Cro	Dri	Fin	Fir	Lon	Tec	Ant	Bra	Cmp	Cnt	Dec	Det	Lea	OtB	Pos	Vis	Wor	Acc	Agi	Bal	Jum	Pac	Sta	Str
Hugo Lima	GK												-1			0,5								0,5	0,5
Lukas Benay	D (C)																			0,5			0,5	1	1
Domingos Culubali	ST (C)		0,5						-2						0,5						1			1
Anthony Pratas	ST (C)																				0,5			0,5
Pedro Flor	D (R)										0,5												0,5	0,5
Jorge Pedro	D (R)																					0,5		0,5
Eduino Gomes	AM (L)		0,5		0,5			0,5		2		0,5	1							1	0,5	1	1	1	1
Innocent Chembezi	M (R)									1		0,5							0,5			1		1
Gabriel Rosado	D (L)			-1		-0,5	-0,5											-0,5	1				-0,5		0,5
João Lopes	ST (C)									0,5
Carlos Flor	AM (R)																				0,5	0,5		0,5
Bernardo Mendonça	D (R)	-1																				0,5
André Ribeiro	M (L)			-0,5		-0,5	-0,5									-0,5	-0,5				1
Joaquim Branco	M (C)
João Martelo	M (R)																		1	0,5	0,5			0,5	1

Hugo Lima is also improving his technicals, but I didn't create the rows for GK-specific. Eduino Gomes has been evolving pretty well. They are both training with the first-team as is Benay and Chembezi. Culubali was at the start of the season but he was just 15 so I sent him back to the youth team. Now he's back again.

TOT	TEC	MEN	PHY
24,5	-3	3	24,5

Don't know what's happening with the technical training, but I'm happy with the physical development.

 

Overall biggest increases:

Eduino Gomes

AM (L)

10,5

Innocent Chembezi

M (R)

4

Herculano Cassamá

AM (R)

4

Hugo

D (C)

3,5

João Martelo

M (R)

3,5

Lukas Benay

D (C)

3

Luís Madeira

M (C)

2,5

 

 

[lfds89]

Expectations

Since we are doing so well and our initial objective for the league was to go to the relegation play-off, the president asked me if I wanted to change objectives and therefore budgets. I didn’t set the bar too high, but thought it would be unrealistic to leave it as it is. Regarding the budget, we keep losing a lot of money every month, so in the meantime, I’ll pretend it wasn’t changed.

 

New Year – 2025, here we come!

The year ended very well. We got 6 points with an expressive win over Vilafranquense and a more predictable one against Alverca. Varzim was way better than us.

[Liga 2] vs Vilafranquense (H)
Final Score: 3-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
59 – 68	44 – 40	8 – 5	1,59 – 1,09	2 – 1	41 – 59
Individual Highlights
Goals	Karamoko (x2), Lacx
Assists	D Andrade, Karamoko
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Karamoko	9,0	T Melo	4	Karamoko	3
Lacx	7,7	Lacx	4	P Mendes	2
D Andrade	7,7	F Pereira	4	G Gomes	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	1,2	J Castro	4	J Castro	4
Lacx	0,1	D Andrade	3	Lacx	2
G Gomes	0,1	L Faustino	2	D Andrade	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
D Andrade	0,3	L Ferreira	7	Lacx	4
L Madeira	0,1	J Pedro	5	Denilson	3
T Melo	0,1	L Faustino	4	L Faustino	1

 

[Liga 2] vs Varzim (A)
Final Score: 1-3 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
45 – 103	44 – 51	6 – 7	1,84 – 2,13	4 – 3	38 – 62
Individual Highlights
Goals	Karamoko
Assists	D Andrade
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Karamoko	7,4	D Andrade	4	L Ferreira	2
G Gomes	7,4	P Mendes	3	Karamoko	2
J Castro	6,9	G Gomes	3	G Gomes	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	1,3	L Faustino	6	J Castro	5
Lacx	0,2	L Ferreira	4	Karamoko	3
L Ferreira	0,2	T Melo	3	P Mendes	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
G Gomes	0,8	L Ferreira	4	Karamoko	5
D Andrade	0,4	T Melo	4	J Castro	3
J Castro	0,2	L Faustino	4	Miccoli	2

 

[Liga 2] vs Alverca (H)
Final Score: 1-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
63 – 42	65 – 16	5 – 0	2,66 – 0,21	5 – 0	68 – 32
Individual Highlights
Goals	J Castro (pen)
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
J Castro	7,9	Cassamá	5	Karamoko	2
Daniel Junior	7,5	T Melo	2	Cassamá	2
Edu P	7,4	Denilson	1	J Castro	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
J Castro	1,0	Bastian	5	T Melo	6
Karamoko	0,8	L Ferreira	4	Edu P	4
Cassamá	0,4	Miccoli	3	J Castro	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Karamoko	0,6	L Ferreira	10	Denilson	4
J Castro	0,5	Cassamá	9	J Castro	4
T Melo	0,2	Edu P	7	Cassamá	3

 

League standing after the first half:

We get to the first objective: 34 points. We now have 22 more points than 3^rd from last. Which means they would have to get almost 1,3 more ppg than us or win 8 more games than us. That would have to be a miraculous second round for them and a totally disastrous one for us. So, we can safely assume we are relegation safe. I don’t expect us to keep this place through the second round. Other teams will rate us much higher and will have a different plan for us and it will be a learning process.

 

Team Overview

Player Stats

 

Around the World

Portugal

 

England

 

France

 

Germany

 

Italy

 

Netherlands

 

Spain

 

Winter Transfer Window and Future Plans

Since we have already secured a place in this league for the coming season, it’s time to plan it carefully.

In this transfer window I’m not planning on making any big changes.

We have already signed 2 youngsters: João Bacôco, LW, 17 and Marco Castanheira, RB/RW, 16.

 

 

They’ll be integrated in the youth team and we’ll see how they develop. They came on a free, so we only have to deal with the cost of their wages.

I’ll dive into the first team next, but the approach to this window will be: if there’s a good deal, mainly for positions where we have loanees, we’ll go for it, but we’ll focus on giving minutes to youth players for the remainder of the season.

 

Looking into my first team

GK

Daniel Azevedo has been the clear best, Daniel Júnior is doing reasonably well when he has a chance, so there’s no point in changing. I’ll try and give Hugo Lima some chances so he can develop a bit.

Name	% Min	Av Rat
Daniel Azevedo	74%	7,04
Daniel Júnior	26%	6,95

 

DR

Filipe Pereira has a very low average rating, but his Poss +/- and Defensive Rating is quite good. I’ll keep him for the rest of the season and give him some chances, but I don’t think he’ll be around next season (he ends his contract this season).

Name	% Min	Av Rat
Tiago Melo	78%	6,96
Filipe Pereira	22%	6,75

 

DL

Pedro Martins and Daniel Andrade are not perfect but they are decently good. I’ll focus my attention on getting a better player for this position for next season, but I’m not worried about it. Both end their contracts at the end of the season. I’ll renew with Daniel Andrade if he doesn’t ask to be a regular starter and too much on wages.

Name	% Min	Av Rat
Pedro Martins	52%	7,03
Daniel Andrade	46%	6,94

 

DC

Luís Ferreira and Levi Faustino are clear first choices, but I’m not sold on Levi. He handles defensive aerial duels well, but he isn’t a threat in set-pieces and I need that from my CB. He also has 2 mistakes leading to goals. Bastian is the aerial threat but we lose the ball so much when he is on the field, I don’t trust him to be in the starting eleven regularly. Hugo has been doing well, but just like Levi he isn’t a threat in set-pieces. His loan cannot be terminated, so I’ll keep him around but I’m thinking of giving his chances to Benay, our youth product.

Name	% Min	Av Rat
Luís Ferreira	83%	7,15
Levi Faustino	77%	6,93
Bastian	26%	6,87
Hugo	17%	6,79

 

DM/MC

Quite happy with all of my options. Edu doesn’t get very high ratings but he’s valuable in winning and not losing possession. Samuel Justo isn’t having much game time, but I don’t have any youth player I want to develop right now in this position, so I’ll keep him. I’ll try to have a solution to replace Samuel and Pedro Mendes for next season, and I’m thinking of someone who can be a threat taking set-pieces.

Name	% Min	Av Rat
João Castro	79%	7,17
Luís Madeira	67%	7,12
Edu Pinheiro	61%	6,89
Miccoli	41%	7,07
Pedro Mendes	33%	6,85
Samuel Justo	15%	6,84

 

W

Lacx and Denilson are the frontrunners, Ruster was playing well in the beginning of the season but his performances have taken a downward turn. Gomes is not doing that bad but isn’t taking Denilson’s place in the starting eleven. Cassamá has been getting some minutes and scored 4 goals already. He’ll get more minutes in the second half of the season, most likely at the expense of Ruster. Eduino is also in the lookout for some minutes to help his already good progression.

Name	% Min	Av Rat
Denilson	78%	7,00
Lacx	60%	7,04
Ruster	29%	6,86
Herculano Cassamá	27%	6,93
Gonçalo Gomes	16%	6,89

 

ST

Karamoko is our star with 14 goals and 4 assists in half a season. Can’t complain about João Pedro as he has 1,11 goals/90 and 0,22 assists/90 and it’s just a shame he isn’t getting more game time, but no way I’m removing Karamoko from the starting eleven. João ends his contract with Vitória de Guimarães this season and if he’s interested by then, I’ll probably make a move for him. I have Culubali who I also want to develop but he needs more time. I’ll probably let him play some minutes this season.

Name	% Min	Av Rat
Mohamed Karamoko	70%	7,26
João Pedro	20%	7,04

[lfds89]

First Signings for Next Season

Following the scouting setup I talked about at the beginning of the season, we identified some possible targets, and we now have finished our first two signings for the next season.

The first one is Bruno Ventura, 23. He was playing for Rio Ave U23, ending his contract. He can play both in the wing and in the middle. As he is not very fast, I’m counting on him to play as CM. Regarding attributes, 14 in corners really attracted me as we need that type of threat.

Below is his comparison with João Castro and Luís Madeira

He is signing on a 2,6k/month and there’s a buy now clause of 14k. I’ll wait and see if it drops until the end of the transfer window. Two options: one – we save the money from his wages and he comes next season; two – he joins now and by next season he should be fully integrated.

 

The second one is Bernardo Caldeira, 24. He is at Leiria who are underperforming this season and he had shown interest in playing for us. He’s a right-back, more defensive-minded than Tiago Melo and his mental attributes are great.

The comparison between him and both our current options. Filipe Pereira ends his contract this season and I won’t renew with him.

He’ll be on a 3,1k/month contract for 2 years. The downside to the negotiation was he demanded a release clause of just 46k. It’s more than double what I’m paying for him, but I don’t want to lose him for such value. I had the option to sign him now, but once again, I don’t see a point in adding him right now, so he’ll join next season.

 

Studying for a new Coaching Licence

It’s going to take a bit of time to complete, but I’ll start now so it impacts the rest of this season and half of the next

 

Winter Transfer Window Update

I made one adjustment to the team. I already had an eye on Ricciulli at the beginning of the season but he had a long-term injury, so I brought him in December for a trial and decided to sign him. He’ll be a replacement for Bastian.

I’ll keep both of them for the remainder of the season while I integrate Ricciulli. Bastian has a great personality and he has 0,37 goals/90 which is incredible. I hope the new guy can cover that as well. Couldn’t terminate Hugo’s loan but got a message from his manager at Famalicão asking for more game time and told him he should recall him and he did. I liked him, but can’t rely on loanees. Maybe in the future, he will be an option.

 

Scouting Setup

I’ll change the scouting setup for the remainder of the season. Will look into players ending their contracts and transfer listed and also the U19 leagues. I’ll keep the recruitment focus in the league we are in broader, but the rest will change.

 

4 more games

I’m rotating the squad a bit to give some time to less-played players. I want to reach the end of the season and have a clear judgment and no doubts about my decisions. Losing points is not a problem as I don’t really want to get promoted so soon. Certainly, this doesn’t mean I will intentionally lose a game, I just am not afraid of losing. However, things have been going quite well and we only lost 4 points in 4 games. A bonus of 2 games with full attendance.

 

[Liga 2] vs Rio Ave (H)
Final Score: 1-1 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
44 – 74	53 – 31	3 – 3	0,71 – 0,60	1 – 1	53 – 47
Individual Highlights
Goals	L Ferreira
Assists	Miccoli
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
L Ferreira	7,4	F Pereira	6	Miccoli	1
Miccoli	7,2	G Gomes	4	D Andrade	1
L Faustino	6,8	L Madeira	3	L Ferreira	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
J Pedro	0,4	D Andrade	3	G Gomes	3
L Ferreira	0,2	L Faustino	2	Miccoli	2
G Gomes	0,1	Karamoko	1	D Andrade	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
G Gomes	0,4	L Faustino	11	Lacx	3
Miccoli	0,2	L Ferreira	10	G Gomes	2
Lacx	0,1	F Pereira	6	Karamoko	1

 

 

[Liga 2] vs Académico de Viseu (A)
Final Score: 2-1 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
69 – 36	62 – 35	8 – 3	2,63 – 1,86	10 – 5	60 – 40
Individual Highlights
Goals	Denilson, Karamoko
Assists	J Castro, Denilson
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Denilson	9,2	T Melo	4	J Pedro	3
Karamoko	7,7	Denilson	3	Denilson	2
J Castro	7,7	D Andrade	2	D Andrade	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
J Pedro	0,9	T Melo	7	Denilson	5
Denilson	0,6	L Faustino	5	L Madeira	4
Karamoko	0,4	D Andrade	3	J Castro	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Denilson	1,1	Bastian	15	J Castro	2
J Castro	0,6	L Faustino	7	Lacx	2
L Madeira	0,3	J Pedro	7	Denilson	2

 

 

[Liga 2] vs Leixões (H)
Final Score: 2-2 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
52 – 154	25 – 54	5 – 3	1,98 – 0,49	3 – 1	31 – 69
Individual Highlights
Goals	Bastian, J Castro (pen)
Assists	D Andrade
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
J Castro	7,1	Lacx	4	J Castro	1
Bastian	7,0	S Justo	4	J Pedro	1
D Andrade	6,8	J Castro	3	Bastian	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
J Castro	0,9	L Ferreira	4	D Andrade	3
Karamoko	0,4	L Madeira	3	J Castro	3
S Justo	0,3	Lacx	2	L Madeira	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Lacx	0,3	L Ferreira	7	J Castro	3
J Castro	0,1	Lacx	3	F Pereira	1
D Andrade	0,1	D Andrade	3	G Gomes	1

 

 

[Liga 2] vs Marítimo (A)
Final Score: 3-1 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
62 – 52	52 – 58	7 – 7	2,30 – 1,64	6 – 3	54 – 46
Individual Highlights
Goals	Karamoko (x2), Lacx
Assists	Denilson, T Melo, G Gomes
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Karamoko	8,3	Lacx	4	Karamoko	3
T Melo	7,9	Miccoli	3	Denilson	2
Denilson	7,7	T Melo	3	Lacx	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	1,2	T Melo	7	T Melo	4
J Castro	0,4	L Ferreira	6	G Gomes	3
S Justo	0,2	Karamoko	2	Denilson	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Denilson	0,7	L Faustino	11	Karamoko	4
G Gomes	0,5	L Ferreira	11	Lacx	3
Miccoli	0,4	Lacx	8	Cassamá	2

 

The standings show a very comfortable position to fight for promotion, if it were our goal, it would have been nice.

 

In the next 4 games, the strategy will be the same: rotate, observe, and try to win.

[lfds89]

9 to go and we are… in the promotion route!

 

[Liga 2] vs Penafiel (H)
Final Score: 1-1 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
51 – 44	52 – 22	9 – 2	2,30 – 0,64	6 – 1	56 – 44
Individual Highlights
Goals	P Mendes (pen), G Gomes, Lacx, Denilson
Assists	P Martins
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Denilson	7,4	F Pereira	4	Lacx	3
P Martins	7,4	Bastian	2	Bastian	2
Lacx	7,3	Culubali	2	J Pedro	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
P Mendes	0,8	Bastian	6	P Mendes	3
G Gomes	0,3	D Andrade	4	J Pedro	2
Lacx	0,3	F Pereira	3	D Andrade	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
S Justo	0,3	Bastian	15	Lacx	3
P Mendes	0,2	L Faustino	14	J Pedro	2
P Martins	0,2	J Pedro	5	D Andrade	2

 

 

[Liga 2] vs Mafra (A)
Final Score: 2-2 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
67 – 51	40 – 25	5 – 3	0,73 – 0,84	1 – 2	53 – 47
Individual Highlights
Goals	J Castro, Denilson
Assists	Edu P, P Martins
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Denilson	7,4	P Martins	4	T Melo	1
J Castro	7,4	T Melo	4	Ricciulli	1
L Ferreira	7,3	J Castro	4	Denilson	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Denilson	0,2	L Ferreira	7	P Martins	3
Cassamá	0,2	P Martins	3	T Melo	2
Ricciulli	0,1	Ricciulli	3	Denilson	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
P Martins	0,3	L Ferreira	10	Ruster	2
T Melo	0,1	Edu P	6	Cassamá	2
Cassamá	0,1	Ricciulli	6	P Martins	1

 

 

[Liga 2] vs Vitória de Setúbal (A)
Final Score: 0-1 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
59 – 96	44 – 38	1 – 1	0,98 – 0,40	0 – 2	38 – 62
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
J Castro	7,4	T Melo	7	Karamoko	1
Miccoli	6,8	Miccoli	4
L Ferreira	6,7	Denilson	4
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Lacx	0,4	Lacx	3	J Castro	3
Denilson	0,3	Denilson	3	Cassamá	1
Karamoko	0,2	J Castro	3	G Gomes	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
J Castro	0,4	L Ferreira	5	Denilson	5
Miccoli	0,2	D Andrade	4	J Castro	2
T Melo	0,1	Ricciulli	3	Lacx	1

 

 

[Liga 2] vs Benfica B (H)
Final Score: 2-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
65 – 39	51 – 31	2 – 2	1,53 – 0,23	3 – 0	63 – 37
Individual Highlights
Goals	Karamoko (x2)
Assists	L Madeira, F Pereira
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Karamoko	8,1	Denilson	5	Karamoko	2
L Madeira	7,8	T Melo	5
F Pereira	7,5	L Faustino	2
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	1,1	L Ferreira	8	L Madeira	5
Denilson	0,1	P Martins	2	P Mendes	3
J Castro	0,1	Bastian	2	Denilson	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
L Madeira	0,8	L Ferreira	12	Denilson	4
F Pereira	0,4	L Faustino	10	J Castro	4
Lacx	0,1	Lacx	6	P Martins	2

 

I can’t explain. I’m making some rotations and trying out different approaches in roles and duties but we are still getting the results.

 

There are 18 points to battle for and we are 6 points away from the team in place to go to the promotion playoff and 8 points away from non-promotion.

 

We are playing against 6^th, 7^th and 9^th in the next 4 games. It will be tough.

 

Doubts and Squad Building

This is leaving me a bit scared. We are dead last in wages in this league and playing in a stadium with a capacity for 1800 people. Even if we were in the tier below us, we would have been 13^th out of 21 teams in wages. We only have 2 players considered “Good for Liga 2”. We have no structure in place to get promoted.

In the middle of this, I was building the team to stay in this league, but now it seems we are on the path to promotion.

Should I keep building for Liga 2? Should I use the budget to try and build a team to play in tier 1? If we are promoted, should I invest in young players, accept relegation as a fate in the next season, and use those youngsters to get promoted in the third season?

Edited May 21, 2023 by lfds89
Missing the Match Screens

[lfds89]

My first 100!

An overview of my first 100 games in management

Not a single holiday… I’m a slave to them

 

New recruits

I’ll present to you my top talents

The first one is Biruk Tadesse, RW/CAM from Ethiopia. Spirited personality. With 6 passing and 7 vision; speed and technical as his strongest suits, I’m counting on him as a right-side inverted winger/inside forward.

 

Then it’s Henrique Carneiro, CB from Portugal. Unambitious personality. I’m worried about his determination ( 3 ), but if he shows some improvement soon, I’ll add him to the first team and get him in a mentoring group.

 

The third one is Brahim Tahiri, ST/CAM from Morocco. Spirited personality. He isn’t fast or has balance or strength, so I think he won’t be a striker. I’m divided between training him as AP in the CM-line or as an inverted winger/inside forward from the left.

 

Next is Luís Soares, LB from Cabo Verde. Balanced personality. He’s rated with the highest potential and he’ll take the place of Isidro Correia as my prospect LB.

 

The last one from this list is Gilson Barbosa, LW from Cabo Verde. Fairly Sporting personality. Rated with highest current ability alongside Biruk. He’s natural as LM but I’ll force him into LW where he’s already competent. The report adds he is fairly susceptible to injuries.

 

I have my hopes for Brahim Tahiri.

Name	Best Pos	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total
Biruk Tadesse	AM (R)	3	7	11	8	7	10	4	8	36%
Henrique Carneiro	D (C)	11	7	7	4	5	6	9	7	35%
Brahim Tahiri	AM (C)	5	6	9	10	7	11	8	8	40%
Luís Soares	D (L)	6	9	10	6	5	7	7	11	38%
Gilson Barbosa	M (L)	5	9	12	5	7	8	3	8	36%
Dinis	GK	9	5	8	8	9	4	9	6	36%
Paulo Carrilho	DM	8	7	7	4	4	5	4	8	29%
Edgar Castelhano	AM (L)	3	7	6	9	8	9	7	7	35%
Carlos Silva	M (R)	4	6	8	9	7	9	5	9	36%
Dominik Sirmais	AM (L)	3	8	14	8	8	9	3	5	36%
Telmo Figueiredo	AM (R)	4	6	8	8	7	9	8	6	35%
Vitorino Coentrão	AM (L)	5	6	8	9	7	10	4	8	36%
Herculano Queta	AM (L)	2	8	9	9	7	10	5	7	36%

 

Some improvements elsewhere

Anthony has been training with the senior team and has 5 stars in potential. Improving his personality will certainly help him reach his potential.

 

Only 5 matches to go!

2 wins, 1 draw, 1 loss. And we keep rotating the squad

 

 

[Liga 2] vs Estrela da Amadora (A)
Final Score: 0-2 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
45 – 71	38 – 39	5 – 4	1,49 – 1,69	4 – 4	54 – 46
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Lacx	7,0	Lacx	6	Lacx	2
L Faustino	6,9	L Madeira	5	Karamoko	2
P Mendes	6,8	F Pereira	5	Miccoli	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Lacx	0,6	P Martins	5	Miccoli	4
Karamoko	0,6	L Faustino	5	Lacx	2
Miccoli	0,3	Edu P	2	Denilson	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Lacx	0,5	L Faustino	8	Lacx	2
Miccoli	0,3	Lacx	5	L Madeira	2
Karamoko	0,3	G Gomes	4	P Martins	1

 

[Liga 2] vs Trofense (H)
Final Score: 2-2 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
66 – 64	37 – 34	8 – 2	1,67 – 0,25	5 – 1	42 – 58
Individual Highlights
Goals	L Madeira, Cassamá
Assists	Karamoko, T Melo
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Cassamá	8,4	T Melo	4	Karamoko	4
L Madeira	7,5	L Madeira	4	L Madeira	1
T Melo	7,3	Cassamá	3	Cassamá	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	1,1	T Melo	9	T Melo	5
T Melo	0,1	L Ferreira	7	Cassamá	4
Cassamá	0,1	L Faustino	4	Denilson	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Denilson	0,6	L Faustino	5	Denilson	3
Cassamá	0,5	Cassamá	4	P Martins	2
T Melo	0,2	L Ferreira	4	J Castro	2

 

[Liga 2] vs Porto B (A)
Final Score: 2-1 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
58 – 48	47 – 37	4 – 1	1,47 – 0,63	3 – 1	60 – 40
Individual Highlights
Goals	Cassamá, Lacx
Assists	Miccoli, Cassamá
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Cassamá	8,2	Miccoli	4	L Madeira	1
Lacx	7,7	D Andrade	4	L Benay	1
Miccoli	7,3	J Castro	3	Lacx	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Lacx	0,8	L Ferreira	4	Denilson	4
Cassamá	0,2	L Madeira	2	P Mendes	3
Miccoli	0,2	L Benay	2	Miccoli	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Cassamá	0,6	L Ferreira	12	J Castro	5
P Mendes	0,3	L Benay	8	Cassamá	3
Miccoli	0,3	L Madeira	5	F Pereira	2

 

[Liga 2] vs Nacional (H)
Final Score: 0-0 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
36 – 73	25 – 33	2 – 4	0,61 – 0,57	1 – 0	45 – 55
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
D Junior	7,2	Lacx	6	Lacx	1
L Ferreira	7,1	T Melo	4	Denilson	1
T Melo	6,9	Karamoko	2
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	0,3	T Melo	3	Edu P	3
Denilson	0,1	L Ferreira	3	Lacx	2
Lacx	0,1	Lacx	2	T Melo	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Denilson	0,2	Bastian	10	Lacx	1
T Melo	0,1	Lacx	4	G Gomes	1
Edu P	0,1	L Ferreira	4

 

Cassamá is making the most of his minutes with 2 goals and 1 assist in the 2 games he started. Hugo Lima, Benay and Culubali also got some minutes. Pratas might be the next one.

 

We remain near the top. Even if we lost all the remaining matches, the worst we could finish would be 9^th which is still a great victory.

 

In the xG table, we are 1^st, which means we are near where we should be. So no overperformance or underperformance issues.

 

We have a very difficult end of season. We play 5^th, 1^st, 9^th, 3^rd and 17^th. In the first round we got 3 wins and 2 losses (Tondela and Varzim) against these teams.

 

President wins the elections once again

 

But he has no plans in making investments, which is quite worrying, since our financial situation is not good.

[warlock]

Just caught up with your story - fantastic development!

I can't say we play FM the same way, and I don't really understand some of your tactical analysis but it's great to see a different way of playing the game. I'm more of a "mark 1 eyeball" manager - I manage every game on extended highlights and trust my own judgement on that basis - but you've given me some ideas that should help.

On 21/05/2023 at 23:57, lfds89 said:

Should I keep building for Liga 2? Should I use the budget to try and build a team to play in tier 1?

All I can tell you from my own FM experience is that a promotion is never to be rejected. Even if you come straight back down next season, the experience will be good for the players, the club and for you.

Prepare for the worst; hope for the best

[lfds89]

Em 25/05/2023 em 02:09, warlock disse:

Just caught up with your story - fantastic development!

I can't say we play FM the same way, and I don't really understand some of your tactical analysis but it's great to see a different way of playing the game. I'm more of a "mark 1 eyeball" manager - I manage every game on extended highlights and trust my own judgement on that basis - but you've given me some ideas that should help.

All I can tell you from my own FM experience is that a promotion is never to be rejected. Even if you come straight back down next season, the experience will be good for the players, the club and for you.

Prepare for the worst; hope for the best

Thank you for the feedback!

If there's anything you don't understand, please feel free to ask.

Regarding the matches, I mostly do it the same way: always in extended. I rarely look at statistics inside the match, and mostly look at my player's statistics every 3/4/5 games depending on the competition.

About the promotion, that's my feeling now. If it were real life no one would bottle it intentionally nor give up near the end. I rotated a bit, maybe I shouldn't have (although the results were quite good). Rationally it seems an unwise decision, but deprive me and my players of this experience seems wrong. We'll try our best for this final run of games and see where it leads us.

[lfds89]

This just shows how good we have been

They are first but we are near and they have just beaten Benfica to win the League Cup.

 

The moment of truth

The first game was against Feirense and we were easily beaten 3-0. We were just bad.

[Liga 2] vs Feirense (A)
Final Score: 0-3 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
69 – 32	52 – 27	2 – 5	0,33 – 2,49	1 – 6	65 – 35
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Edu P	6,9	D Andrade	3	S Justo	1
Ricciullu	6,9	Edu P	2	Denilson	1
L Ferreira	6,8	L Madeira	2
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Denilson	0,1	L Ferreira	6	D Andrade	3
Cassamá	0,1	Ricciulli	5	T Melo	2
		D Andrade	5	Cassamá	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Karamoko	0,1	L Ferreira	11	Cassamá	2
D Andrade	0,1	Edu P	7	T Melo	2
		Ricciulli	7	Lacx	2

 

 

The second game was against Tondela. They have been the best team in the league and they have shown they can compete with the tier-1 teams. 1 penalty in the 11^th minute in their favor and it made the match very difficult for us. We still managed to draw 1-1, with a goal by our homegrown Cassamá.

[Liga 2] vs Tondela (H)
Final Score: 1-1 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
54 – 74	49 – 30	4 – 4	1,22 – 1,67	4 – 3	62 – 38
Individual Highlights
Goals	Cassamá
Assists	Lacx
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Cassamá	7,8	Lacx	3	Lacx	2
Lacx	7,2	T Melo	2	Cassamá	2
P Martins	7,2	L Ferreira	2
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Cassamá	0,5	Ricciulli	4	T Melo	3
Karamoko	0,3	F Pereira	3	Lacx	3
Miccoli	0,2	P Martins	3	Denilson	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Lacx	0,3	Ricciulli	10	Lacx	4
Denilson	0,3	L Ferreira	7	Denilson	4
P Martins	0,2	Lacx	4	J Castro	3

 

Next game was against Vilafranquense. They couldn’t reach us already in the standings. We started well with a great goal by Cassamá who was replacing Karamoko as he is not playing very well. Then one more penalty against us, they drew level and then they were just better than us and eventually won the match 1-2.

[Liga 2] vs Vilafranquense (A)
Final Score: 1-2 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
28 – 113	32 – 57	4 – 5	0,58 – 2,36	0 – 6	35 – 65
Individual Highlights
Goals	Cassamá
Assists	Lacx
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Lacx	7,0	Denilson	7	Lacx	2
Cassamá	6,8	P Martins	4	Ricciulli	1
L Madeira	6,7	T Melo	4	Cassamá	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Lacx	0,2	Denilson	3	T Melo	6
Miccoli	0,1	Lacx	3	Lacx	2
L Ferreira	0,1	L Madeira	2	Miccoli	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Melo	0,3	Ricciuli	8	Denilson	2
Lacx	0,2	L Ferreira	8	L Madeira	2
Miccoli	0,1	T Melo	4	Lacx	2

 

Now we were facing Varzim who were already 2^nd while we were 3^rd. Decided to make a change in the training schedule. The day before the match: Team Bonding – Teamwork – Match Preview. I want everyone committed to the team.

Can you guess what happened? Yes, penalty for them. 3 penalties against in 3 games. I’m not saying they weren’t deserved, but it’s odd. We had 2 all season before this.

We showed them how determined we were and especially Edu Pinheiro had a great perfomance, and we turned it around and beat them 3-1. 4^th place is guaranteed and we can still be champions.

[Liga 2] vs Varzim (H)
Final Score: 3-1 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
47 – 76	41 – 44	5 – 4	1,56 – 1,74	4 – 5	36 – 64
Individual Highlights
Goals	Denilson, Lacx, L Faustino
Assists	Edu P, P Martins, D Andrade
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Edu P	7,6	F Pereira	6	Lacx	3
Lacx	7,4	Edu P	4	Denilson	1
J Castro	7,2	J Castro	4	L Faustino	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Lacx	0,4	J Castro	3	L Madeira	5
L Madeira	0,3	L Faustino	3	J Castro	3
Karamoko	0,3	P Martins	3	Edu P	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Edu P	0,3	L Ferreira	8	Lacx	5
P Martins	0,3	L Faustino	5	J Castro	2
D Andrade	0,3	Lacx	3	Denilson	2

 

Unfortunately, Karamoko, Denilson and Pedro Martins got another yellow card and they are now suspended for the last game of the season. And Luís Ferreira is injured for 3-4 weeks.

We schedule a friendly as we have one week with no game (have no idea why). And then we face Alverca who are on the verge of relegation.

Tondela face 13^th-placed Trofense; Varzim face 5^th-placed Benfica B; Feirense face 9^th-placed Porto B. All tricky matches, but they all play home and we play away.

 

Last game of the regular stage

I start in a 4-3-3 DM Wide with Daniel Azevedo; Pereira, Ricciulli, Faustino and Andrade; Edu Pinheiro, Madeira, Castro, Lacx, Ruster and Cassamá upfront.

It was a quiet first half where we dominated possession ( 69% ) but made little of it with just 3 shots on target and 0,18 xG. Feirense and Tondela are winning their games, Varzim is 0-0. This puts us in 2^nd with Feirense in 3^rd.

There isn’t much I can do from the bench, so we keep everything the same for the second half. We just play a bit wider and try to dribble past them a bit more. We play only a little better and they score from a set-piece. I try to change some players but nothing seems to work. We lost 1-0 and fall into 3^rd which leads us to the playoff.

[Liga 2] vs Alverca (A)
Final Score: 0-0 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
64 – 45	48 – 32	6 – 4	0,80 – 0,45	2 – 0	64 – 36
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
L Faustino	7,0	Ruster	4	L Faustino	2
F Pereira	6,9	Cassamá	3	J Castro	2
Ricciulli	6,9	Ricciulli	2	J Pedro	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Ruster	0,2	F Pereira	5	J Castro	4
J Castro	0,2	L Faustino	4	Edu P	3
J Pedro	0,2	Ricciulli	4	F Pereira	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
F Pereira	0,2	L Faustino	17	Ruster	4
G Gomes	0,1	Ricciulli	10	F Pereira	1
J Castro	0,1	Edu P	9	L Madeira	1

 

Terrible form to end the season:

 

 

And these are the final standings:

On a curious note: we and Varzim were promoted this season and were fighting for direct promotion until the last breath. The other team was Mafra who managed to avoid relegation.

 

We now have 2 games against Vizela to decide who plays in the first tier. However it goes, this will be our best finish ever.

[lfds89]

11-Highest Average Rating in the League

I wanted to see how my players compare to this league top players. So here it is:

GK – Pedro Silva, Tondela.

 

RB – João Oliveira, Feirense.

 

LB – Júlio Dabó, Leixões.

 

CB1 – Brunão, Leixões.

 

CB2 – Nando Pijnaker, Trofense.

 

CDM – Fabinho, Leixões.

 

CM – Bruno Jordão, Vitória de Setúbal.

 

CAM – Famana Quizera, Rio Ave.

 

RW – André Vidigal, Marítimo.

 

LW – Kyanno Lorenzo, Estrela da Amadora.

 

ST – Nicolás Cordero, Tondela.

 

Only 2 players from the leaders, and sadly we have no players who qualify but some where close (João Castro was second, Karamoko was third, Luís Ferreira was fourth).

 

Promotion Playoff First Leg vs Vizela (A)

Starters: Daniel Azevedo, Filipe Pereira, Ricciulli, Levi Faustino, Daniel Andrade, Edu Pinheiro, Luís Madeira, João Castro, Lacx, Denilson, Karamoko.

Filipe Pereira starts in favor of Tiago Melo because Tiago doesn’t like big matches; Luís Ferreira is out injured; Pedro Martins is recovering from injury.

They are also playing a 4-3-3 DM Wide. Their manager is Pedro Caixinha who has made part of his career in Mexico. He prefers a Control Possession style; tends to hold a high defensive line; and tends not to sit back and protect a lead. Playing a defensive line will certainly help us exploring Karamoko’s pace.

Nice start to the match, players feel confident. We make some decent plays and eventually Karamoko scores following a through ball from João Castro. We also got 3 of their players with yellow cards: RB, LCB and DM. End of the half: 1-0 for us.

 

We started the second-half on the same note and eventually got the 2^nd goal also through Karamoko, this time following a cross from Pereira. But in 7 minutes they showed their best and drew level. We had some decent chances to score more, but we didn’t take them. It ends 2-2.

 

Promotion Playoff Second Leg vs Vizela (H)

Approaching the match, the situation regarding player availability is: Lacx suffered a minor injury in the first leg and is not 100% but can play; Pedro Martins is the same, although is injury was in a training session; Daniel Andrade can only play 75 minutes; Luís Ferreira has recovered, but can only play 75 minutes; Daniel Júnior is injured and will miss the game.

I’ll start: Daniel Azevedo; Pereira, Ferreira, Ricciulli, Andrade; Edu Pinheiro, Madeira, Castro; Lacx, Denilson, Karamoko. In the bench: Hugo Lima, Tiago Melo, Levi, Martins, Miccoli, Pedro Mendes, Cassamá, Ruster and João Pedro. Bastian, Samuel Justo and Gonçalo Gomes are out.

Vizela has Samu, their captain and one of their best players suspended. All the others are ready to play.

We are playing at home so I told them to do this for the fans (although they still rate me as C+...). It’s a small place but they have been with us.

We massively dominate the first half, but unfortunately, we didn’t score.

Lacx is done for this game, Cassamá will come in. He has been better than expected this season and it’s his moment to shine.

52^nd minute: Madeira with a through ball and Cassamá scores!

I change João Castro’s role. Instead of being a MEZ-S, I want him to be an AP-S. Grab the ball, and control the match.

Then I ask Edu Pinheiro to play more defensively, so I switch from DLP-S to DLP-D. I also ask the team to Hold Shape instead of Counter and Slow Pace Down when GK has the ball. Andrade is tired so he leaves and Martins comes in.

72^nd minute: Long ball by Edu Pinheiro behind their defense, Cassamá gets to it and passes it back to Madeira who scores. 2-0! Let’s go!

80^th minute and the game is still 2-0, but some players are very tired: Denilson, Pereira and Edu Pinheiro. They are all doing fine and I don’t want to mess the balance of the team but I fear the fatigue might play a part at the end of the game. Tiago Melo in for Pereira; Ruster in for Denilson. It has to be.

After 95 minutes the referee blows his whistle and the match ends.

 

Primeira Liga, here we go!

[warlock]

Congratulations - that's a very impressive season. Bossed the playoffs, too!

[lfds89]

23 horas atrás, warlock disse:

Congratulations - that's a very impressive season. Bossed the playoffs, too!

Thanks! I'm loving this team.

This step is the biggest we have taken so far. Let's see how we handle it.

[lfds89]

Development in the Last 6 Months

Senior Squad GK + DEF

Name	Best Pos	TOT	TEC	MEN	PHY
Daniel Júnior	GK	0	0	0	0
Daniel Azevedo	GK	1	0	1	0
Filipe Pereira	D (R)	0	0	0	0
Tiago Melo	AM (R)	0	0	0	0
Pedro Martins	AM (L)	0	0	0	0
Daniel Andrade	D (L)	0	0	0	0
João Ricciulli	D (C)	1	0	1	0
L Faustino	D (R)	2	0	0	2
Bastian	D (C)	1	1	0	0
Luís Ferreira	D (C)	0,5	0,5	0	0

 

Senior Squad MID + ATT

Name	Best Pos	TOT	TEC	MEN	PHY
João Castro	AM (C)	0	0	0	0
Luís Madeira	M (C)	0	0	0	0
Pedro Mendes	M (C)	-1,5	-0,5	0	-1
Miccoli	M (C)	0	0	0	0
Edu Pinheiro	DM	0	0	0	0
Samuel Justo	M (C)	1,5	0	1,5	0
Lacx	ST (C)	4	1,5	2,5	0
Ruster	AM (L)	0	0	0	0
Denilson	AM (L)	1	0	1	0
Gonçalo Gomes	AM (L)	1	1	0	0
Mohamed Karamoko	ST (C)	0	0	0	0
João Pedro	ST (C)	3	0	3	0
Herculano Cassamá	AM (R)	2	1	0,5	0,5

Aside from Lacx there wasn't much development. I've been impressed with Cassamá's performances but he hasn't developed much.

 

Youth Players who have been in the game at least one season (couldn't find a longer title)

Name	Best Pos	TOT	TEC	MEN	PHY
Isidro Correia	D (L)	3,5	0,5	1,5	1,5
Hugo Lima	GK	4,5	0	2,5	2
Lukas Benay	D (C)	6,5	0,5	5	1
Domingos Culubali	ST (C)	13,5	3	7,5	3
Anthony Pratas	ST (C)	6	1	2,5	2,5
Pedro Flor	D (R)	1	0	0	1
Jorge Pedro	D (R)	0,5	0	0	0,5
Eduino Gomes	AM (L)	11	3,5	4,5	3
Innocent Chembezi	M (R)	3	1,5	0	1,5
Gabriel Rosado	D (L)	0	-0,5	0	0,5
João Lopes	ST (C)	1,5	0,5	0	1
Carlos Flor	AM (R)	-2	-1	-0,5	-0,5
Bernardo Mendonça	D (R)	0,5	0	0	0,5
André Ribeiro	M (L)	0	0	0	0
Joaquim Branco	M (C)	0	0	0	0
João Martelo	M (R)	1,5	0	0,5	1
Marco Castanheira	D (R)	4,5	0	3,5	1
João Bacôco	AM (L)	1	0,5	0,5	0

Benay, Hugo Lima, Culubali, Eduino and Marco Castanheira are doing very well. I hope they can be part of the team in the future.

 

Youth Players  from this season

Name	Best Pos	TOT	TEC	MEN	PHY
Brahim Tahiri	AM (C)	1	0	0,5	0,5
Luís Soares	D (L)	2	0	1	1
Biruk Tadesse	AM (R)	0,5	0	0,5	0
Dinis	GK	2	0	0,5	1,5
Gilson Barbosa	M (L)	0	0	0	0
Carlos Silva	M (R)	2	0	1,5	0,5
Vitorino Coentrão	AM (L)	0	0	0	0
Henrique Carneiro	D (C)	0,5	0	0	0,5
Telmo Figueiredo	AM (R)	4,5	0,5	0,5	3,5
Paulo Carrilho	DM	-2	0	-2	0

Telmo Figueiredo is impressing. Let's see how he develops next season.

 

Former player in African Nations

This is the first time I hear about this. Mbala N’Zola played for Sertanense when he was 20. Scored 9 in 27 appearances according to zerozero (7 in 25 according to FM).

 

Around the World

England

 

France

 

Germany

 

Italy

 

Netherlands

 

Portugal

 

Spain

 

Champions League

 

Europa League

 

Conference League

 

End of Season

 

 

And a message for next season from our kind analysts:

 

New Stadium

The President decided to build a new stadium. A 10k capacity one (in a 14k municipality and 6k village). It’ll cost 7M which is… great…

 

In the meantime, we will play in Alcanena at Estádio Municipal Joaquim Maria Baptista. 91km and 1h away. Has a capacity for 5400 people. In 4 seasons we have 2 playing away from home.

 

Facilities Downgraded

We really need to make money. Hope TV and tickets will help.

And unwilling to improve…

 

Finances

Income

Great increase in prize money but not so much in TV.

 

Expenditure

Big increase all over the place… No idea how to contain and remain competitive. Let’s see.

 

In both income and expenditure, the stadium is already added.

It’ll help but it won’t save us. Just this year we had a loss close to 1M.

 

New Senior Affiliation

The board accepted my request in order to find some income. Let’s see who shows up.

 

Nope…

[lfds89]

End-of-Season Stats

Minute Distribution by Position

Name	% Min
Daniel Azevedo	76%
Daniel Júnior	24%
Name	% Min
Tiago Melo	66%
Filipe Pereira	34%
Name	% Min
Pedro Martins	50%
Daniel Andrade	49%
Name	% Min
Luís Ferreira	78%
Levi Faustino	66%
Bastian	24%
João Ricciulli	22%
Lukas Benay	2%
Name	% Min
João Castro	80%
Luís Madeira	73%
Edu Pinheiro	57%
Miccoli	44%
Pedro Mendes	28%
Samuel Justo	17%
Name	% Min
Denilson	75%
Lacx	65%
Herculano Cassamá	31%
Ruster	22%
Gonçalo Gomes	20%
Name	% Min
Mohamed Karamoko	69%
João Pedro	17%
Domingos Culubali	3%

Daniel Azevedo was the clear number one; Tiago Melo lost his place in the final games as he doesn't like big matches but he was my first choice throughout the season; clear doubts between both options at LB; Luís Ferreira was my first option as CB, mostly accompanied by Faustino but late in the season Ricciulli also played a fair bit (he only joined in late January); João Castro and Madeira played most of the time and then both Edu Pinheiro and Miccoli rotated; Denilson and Lacx were first choices, but was nice to see Cassamá involved so much; upfront Karamoko was the main man (ST numbers don't add up to 100% because Lacx and Cassamá also played there).

Goal Participation / POM / Average Rating

Name	Apps	PoM	Gls	Ast	Av Rat
Daniel Azevedo	32	0,00	0,00	0,00	6,85
Daniel Júnior	10	0,00	0,00	0,00	6,81
Name	Apps	PoM	Gls	Ast	Av Rat
Tiago Melo	30 (5)	2,00	2,00	7,00	6,95
Filipe Pereira	12 (11)	0,00	0,00	2,00	6,77
Name	Apps	PoM	Gls	Ast	Av Rat
Pedro Martins	21 (9)	2,00	0,00	4,00	6,89
Daniel Andrade	21 (10)	0,00	0,00	6,00	6,83
Name	Apps	PoM	Gls	Ast	Av Rat
Luís Ferreira	33 (1)	4,00	3,00	0,00	7,09
Levi Faustino	29 (2)	0,00	1,00	0,00	6,90
Bastian	8 (14)	0,00	3,00	0,00	6,84
João Ricciulli	9 (1)	0,00	0,00	0,00	6,79
Lukas Benay	1 (2)	0,00	0,00	0,00	6,65
Name	Apps	PoM	Gls	Ast	Av Rat
João Castro	35 (2)	3,00	6,00	4,00	7,08
Luís Madeira	34	3,00	5,00	5,00	7,04
Edu Pinheiro	26 (1)	1,00	0,00	3,00	6,87
Miccoli	17 (14)	0,00	0,00	8,00	6,95
Pedro Mendes	10 (15)	0,00	2,00	2,00	6,80
Samuel Justo	4 (15)	0,00	0,00	1,00	6,76
Name	Apps	PoM	Gls	Ast	Av Rat
Denilson	37 (2)	2,00	10,00	8,00	7,01
Lacx	33 (1)	0,00	9,00	4,00	6,93
Herculano Cassamá	8 (21)	4,00	9,00	2,00	7,00
Ruster	5 (18)	0,00	2,00	4,00	6,81
Gonçalo Gomes	4 (18)	0,00	3,00	1,00	6,79
Name	Apps	PoM	Gls	Ast	Av Rat
Mohamed Karamoko	33 (2)	7,00	21,00	5,00	7,10
João Pedro	5 (15)	0,00	5,00	1,00	6,78
Domingos Culubali	1 (2)	0,00	0,00	0,00	6,50

6 players with double-digits in Goals + Assists is great. Karamoko obviously topped the scoring charts; Denilson was second; Lacx and Cassamá drew for third (although Cassamá played considerably less time). Miccoli and Denilson drew for assists, Tiago Melo was third.

Advanced Stats

Name	Apps	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	Held – P+T	Held %
Daniel Azevedo	32	0,56	0,00	0,56	4,08	0,00	0,00	0,69	63%
Daniel Júnior	10	0,80	0,00	0,80	5,20	0,00	0,00	0,60	64%
Name	Apps	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
Tiago Melo	30 (5)	7,65	2,66	10,31	2,01	0,32	0,03	3%	3%	13%	19%	2,13	0,58	9,44
Filipe Pereira	12 (11)	7,37	2,34	9,71	4,11	0,14	-0,01	2%	0%	13%	15%	2,34	0,38	12,84
Name	Apps	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
Pedro Martins	21 (9)	7,95	2,69	10,64	2,06	0,19	-0,01	2%	0%	9%	11%	1,97	0,60	9,34
Daniel Andrade	21 (10)	7,43	2,73	10,16	1,36	0,29	-0,01	3%	1%	10%	14%	1,96	0,36	15,00
Name	Apps	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
Luís Ferreira	33 (1)	5,08	0,52	5,60	14,38	0,09	0,02	0%	0%	8%	8%	4,20	0,74	30,35
Levi Faustino	29 (2)	4,49	0,40	4,89	11,64	0,04	0,01	0%	0%	7%	7%	4,27	0,58	48,17
Bastian	8 (14)	5,05	0,97	6,02	-1,95	0,29	0,13	1%	0%	14%	15%	4,70	0,00	0,00
João Ricciulli	9 (1)	5,25	0,33	5,58	7,88	0,00	-0,03	0%	0%	3%	4%	3,65	0,27	58,33
Lukas Benay	1 (2)	6,07	2,02	8,09	3,03	0,00	-0,01	0%	0%	7%	7%	4,50	0,00	0,00
Name	Apps	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
João Castro	35 (2)	4,05	4,23	8,28	-6,13	0,30	0,09	3%	1%	12%	16%	1,74	0,10	33,86
Luís Madeira	34	3,08	3,33	6,41	-4,56	0,32	0,06	4%	0%	12%	16%	2,40	0,54	8,37
Edu Pinheiro	26 (1)	3,20	1,81	5,01	-0,55	0,13	-0,03	2%	0%	13%	15%	3,45	0,60	10,92
Miccoli	17 (14)	4,31	2,78	7,09	-6,38	0,44	-0,09	3%	2%	11%	15%	1,90	0,46	7,89
Pedro Mendes	10 (15)	3,92	1,96	5,88	-5,79	0,34	0,15	3%	3%	10%	16%	1,98	0,42	9,11
Samuel Justo	4 (15)	4,22	1,55	5,77	-4,51	0,14	-0,12	2%	0%	11%	12%	1,70	0,20	16,99
Name	Apps	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
Denilson	37 (2)	5,01	5,34	10,35	-6,74	0,58	0,15	6%	0%	10%	17%	1,54	0,45	6,05
Lacx	33 (1)	4,75	5,63	10,38	-9,79	0,48	0,09	5%	0%	10%	16%	1,47	0,52	4,73
Herculano Cassamá	8 (21)	3,89	4,52	8,41	-8,64	0,86	0,41	5%	0%	11%	17%	1,68	0,55	4,94
Ruster	5 (18)	4,37	5,02	9,39	-7,42	0,66	0,02	4%	0%	8%	12%	1,45	0,58	4,14
Gonçalo Gomes	4 (18)	4,33	4,69	9,02	-6,74	0,48	0,20	7%	0%	16%	23%	1,83	0,88	2,87
Name	Apps	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%	PossW/DA	Fls/Tck	PW/Fls
Mohamed Karamoko	33 (2)	2,42	4,50	6,92	-4,16	0,90	-0,01	7%	0%	3%	10%	1,57	1,09	3,06
João Pedro	5 (15)	0,72	4,44	5,16	-7,47	0,86	0,20	6%	0%	3%	9%	3,58	0,00	0,00
Domingos Culubali	1 (2)	2,73	0,00	2,73	-10,91	0,00	-0,05	0%	0%	0%	0%	1,33	1,00	2,00

 

I've said it before, Bastian is a liability with a negative Possession +/-; Gonçalo Gomes had a strange season: he has decent stats but is overall performance isn't great. Cassamá was very efficient with 0.86 G+A / 90 (perhaps also a bit lucky with 0.41 of overperformance) but still needs to have more offensive actions. I was expecting a bit more from Edu Pinheiro but he almost had a positive Possession +/- and Possession Won / Defensive Actions was the greatest from all midfield (I'm thinking it has to do with his headers won). Still on Bastian, it's strange that a "punt" that reaches the target is the same as a progressive pass - maybe there needs to be a formula to separate clearances from actual passes.

New Staff

In the usual end-of-season analysis, I decided to bring in some new members of the staff and decided not to renew with some people.

 

Bruno Matos, 34, HOSS

 

Nuno Pereira, 34, Performance Analyst

 

Alberto Carvalho, 54, Fitness Coach

 

André Ferreira, 34, Fitness Coach

 

Francisco Ferreira, 21, Recruitment Analyst

 

All of the above were recruited through our network of known staff. The 2 below were recruited through an advert

Jacobo Montes, 40, Perfomance Analyst

 

Pedro Villegas, 31, Sports Scientist

We are still looking for one more coach (maybe 2).
 

Career

Season	Year	Club	League	Position	Cup	Stage
01	2022/2023	Sertanense	PT4	1st	TdP	First Round
02	2023/2024	Sertanense	PT3	3rd	TdP	Sixth Round
03	2024/2025	Sertanense	PT2	3rd	TdP	Third Round

3 consecutive promotions are great, Getting to late rounds is starting to get mandatory, but the draw isn't always easy.

 

PPG	Win %	GF	GA	Most Goals	Most Assists	Most POM	Highest AvR
2,27	69	70	32	Karamoko – 31	Quaresma – 9	Karamoko – 8	Kisley – 7,42
1,56	44	33	26	Karamoko – 23	P Mendes – 10	Karamoko – 5	L Madeira – 7,26
1,76	50	59	36	Karamoko – 21	Miccoli – 8	Karamoko – 7	Karamoko – 7,10

PPG, win ratio, Goals For and Goals Against are league-only stats. The others are overall stats.

We've increased our win ratio and PPG, however we didn't have anyone with such high average ratings as in the seasons before.

 

Income	Expenditure	Profit	Avg Attendance
1 353 447,00 €	1 411 118,00 €	-57 671,00 €	662
1 485 040,00 €	1 942 059,00 €	-457 019,00 €	1266
9 730 336,00 €	11 047 343,00 €	-1 317 007,00 €	1876

Income and Expenditure already have the 7.5M for the stadium. The financial situation is not good, but I've been working under the budget a lot so there's not much I can do about it.

 

Name	Position	Apps	Goals	Seasons
Daniel Júnior	GK	54	0	22-25
Alexandre Lavrador	RB	44	0	22-24
Luís Ferreira	CB	90	7	22-25
Bastian	CB	42	10	23-25
Daniel Andrade	LB	53	0	23-25
Pedro Mendes	CM	81	7	22-25
Miccoli	CM	72	4	22-25
João Castro	CM	68	10	23-25
Kisley	RW	40	14	22-24
Denilson	LW	91	18	22-25
Mohamed Karamoko	ST	96	75	22-25

My most used eleven in my career. 3 guys near the 100-game mark.

 

 

B Team

Since we are in the first tier and already have a decent amount of youngsters, I decided to go for a B team.

My Assistant Manager, Timmy Simons will be the Manager. They will play in the Distrital (tier 5, not in the game).

 

Awards

We managed to pick up some individual awards

Having both my CM in here feels great, but Karamoko and Luís Ferreira deserve a special mention: they were here from the start. From tier-4 to tier-1!

 

New contract!

I asked the president for a new contract and he accepted. I was on a 7,5k/month; his first offer was 8,25k, I asked for 10k and after a bit of negotiation I eventually got it. 3-year, 10k/month. The second lowest wage for a manager in this tier is 17,5k, but I could never get to that point yet.

[lfds89]

Transfer Window

Here’s the summary of the transfer window and the comparison

I had already shown Bruno Ventura and Bernardo Caldeira.

New screenshots were taken a few games into the season so they have some statistics from official matches.

We signed Godfried Frimpong as a LB. We needed an upgrade in this position and Pedro Martins had left due to the end of his loan.

Schurrle wasn’t planned but he was ending his contract and his demands were quite low so he brought him in. He can play in all 3 midfield positions, but will most likely play as either RCM or LCM. He’ll occupy Pedro Mendes’ space in the squad.

Chermiti is our loanee from Sporting (we can only have one from each team in Primeira Liga). He offers an aerial threat but he also has some speed. João Pedro ended his loan so there was a vacant space to fill.

Costinha comes in to upgrade on Gonçalo Gomes. He also seems to be better than Denilson, but they’ll fight for the spot. I got him in a trade involving 2 other players (my first in FM): Bastian and Ruster were traded.

I wanted one more quality CB to fill Bastian’s place so I went for Marcos Raposo and he’s my biggest signing yet. Fortunately, I managed to bring him as a Squad Player so I don’t need to cause any turmoil in the squad. I was also keen on bringing a quality CB so I can retrain Levi as DM. I feel I could do with a more defensive-minded one.

On the last day, I brought in on loan Joan López. He’ll be a backup mostly. Not my proudest moment in business, but I didn’t trust Daniel Júnior to be my backup so I loaned him out and got Joan.

 

Ricardo Ferreira and Wilson Fernandes are youngsters who can play CM or wing positions.

 

First-Team Squad

Let’s talk about the first-team squad:

GK

I wanted someone better than Azevedo but couldn’t find anyone, so he’ll do. At least I believe the backup was improved. Hugo Lima will be available for the U19

Name	Best Pos	Personality	ShStop	Physical	Speed	Mental	Comm	Ecc	Aerial	Dist	Total
Daniel Azevedo	GK	Fairly Professional	12	10	8	11	11	8	15	10	53%
Joan López	GK	Fairly Determined	11	8	10	11	10	5	13	13	51%

RB

Tiago Melo and Caldeira are two good choices. I think I’ll be happy rotating both. Marco Castanheira will train with the first-team. I’m also retraining him to play in midfield as he’s only 156cm and he’ll be a liability in defence.

Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def
Bernardo Caldeira	D (R)	Balanced	12	11	13	10	9	10	6	12	52%	-3
Tiago Melo	D (R)	Fairly Sporting	9	10	12	10	10	10	8	9	49%	1

LB

Frimpong seems to be a step up from Andrade. Let’s see if he shows what he’s worth.

Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def
Godfried Frimpong	D (L)	Balanced	11	12	14	9	9	11	9	10	53%	-2
Daniel Andrade	D (L)	Balanced	10	9	9	10	8	11	7	10	46%	-2

CB

I’m confident I have 4 different but very good options. Benay will keep training with the first-team squad but he’ll be available to play for the U19.

Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def
Marcos Raposo	D (C)	Balanced	13	10	11	9	10	8	13	12	54%	-3
L Faustino	D (C)	Balanced	12	11	11	9	8	9	12	12	53%	-4
Luís Ferreira	D (C)	Balanced	12	10	11	8	9	8	13	10	51%	-3
Joao Ricciulli	D (C)	Balanced	11	11	11	7	7	8	14	11	50%	-4

DM

Luís Madeira will play this position with Edu Pinheiro. I’m comfortable using both.

Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def
Edu Pinheiro	DM	Balanced	10	11	10	11	9	11	13	12	54%	-1
Luís Madeira	DM	Balanced	10	10	11	10	10	11	9	11	51%	0

CM

Madeira can also be an option here, but Schurrle and Castro are the most likely first-choices. Ventura is a threat on corners, so he’ll have plenty of game time as I need every threat I can. Miccoli will possibly play few minutes, but his personality is important.

Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def
Schurrle	M (C)	Balanced	9	10	12	14	12	11	7	11	54%	3
Bruno Ventura	M (C)	Balanced	8	10	10	9	12	13	7	11	50%	4
João Castro	M (C)	Balanced	7	10	10	12	10	12	7	10	49%	3
Miccoli	M (C)	Resolute	8	10	12	11	7	10	3	12	46%	-1

RW

Lacx and Cassamá will be my first and second options. Costinha and Ventura can also play there, even Melo. We have plenty to choose from. Culubali will train with the first-team.

Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def
Lacx	AM (R)	Balanced	5	13	13	9	11	12	12	11	54%	6
Herculano Cassamá	AM (R)	Mercenary	3	10	13	10	11	10	8	10	47%	8

LW

Costinha and Denilson will probably rotate unless someone really catches on. Eduino Gomes is training with the first-team.

Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def
Costinha	AM (L)	Fairly Sporting	6	10	14	14	12	13	5	11	53%	6
Denilson	AM (L)	Balanced	6	10	12	12	10	12	6	9	48%	4

ST

Karamoko is our star, Chermiti will provide the aerial threat if needed and is a great backup for Karamoko’s inconsistency. Pratas is with the team.

Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def
Youssef Chermiti	ST (C)	Balanced	5	11	12	11	12	12	13	9	53%	7
Mohamed Karamoko	ST (C)	Balanced	4	12	14	9	11	11	9	9	49%	7

Building for the Future

When I first got here, we had no future in our youth team. We now got some decent players who might be part of the team in the future. Some were grown here, others I had to buy from smaller teams, but they give us a base to work on.

Name	Best Pos	Personality	ShStop	Physical	Speed	Mental	Comm	Ecc	Aerial	Dist	Total
Hugo Lima	GK	Fairly Determined	11	7	2	9	11	8	9	9	41%
Dinis	GK	Fairly Ambitious	9	6	8	8	9	4	10	7	38%

Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def
Marco Castanheira	D (R)	Light-Hearted	8	10	9	12	9	8	4	8	43%	1
Luís Soares	D (L)	Balanced	6	9	10	6	5	7	7	11	38%	-1
Lukas Benay	D (C)	Unambitious	9	9	9	4	7	5	11	11	41%	-2
Henrique Carneiro	D (C)	Unambitious	11	7	7	4	5	6	9	7	35%	-6
Wilson Fernandes	M (C)	Professional	8	11	9	12	9	11	7	9	48%	1
Ricardo Ferreira	M (C)	Driven	2	9	11	12	8	10	2	11	41%	6
Brahim Tahiri	M (C)	Spirited	5	6	9	10	7	11	8	8	40%	2
Ricardo Dias	M (C)	Unambitious	2	8	12	9	8	9	3	9	38%	6
Herculano Cassamá	AM (R)	Mercenary	3	10	13	10	11	10	8	10	47%	8
Domingos Culubali	AM (R)	Sporting	4	10	10	11	9	11	9	9	46%	5
Luís Rascão	AM (R)	Balanced	3	9	14	10	8	10	7	7	43%	5
Eduino Gomes	AM (L)	Mercenary	3	9	13	9	7	11	8	7	42%	4
João Bacôco	AM (L)	Realist	2	9	13	9	6	10	3	8	38%	4
Biruk Tadesse	AM (R)	Spirited	3	7	11	8	7	10	4	8	36%	4
Anthony Pratas	ST (C)	Balanced	3	8	12	5	12	9	6	6	38%	9

 

Scouting – Recruitment Focuses

Just like last season, our recruitment focuses will aim to provide depth to our knowledge.

 

League Expectations and Objective

It’s not hard to guess everyone expects us to finish last.

It’s also telling the difference in wages compared to the rest of the league. Although, some teams starting the season with “insecure” finances might be good for us as it sometimes unsettles players.

In the 22/23 season, the first team to finish above relegation places had 31 points, then 30 points (although tied with a relegated team), last year it was Famalicão with 32. So our objective will be 32 points (0,94 ppg / 11 wins).

[lfds89]

Wage Structure

I’m keeping the 30+30+30+10 structure. We are a long way off the thresholds but the number of players in each status is not right. As I said last season, we are going through many changes, so it’ll take time to settle.

Star Players + Important Players

Name	Best Pos	Age	Mins	Ability	Wage	Appearance Fee	Agent	Begins	Expires	Transfer Value	Agreed Playing Time
Daniel Azevedo	GK	27	450	3	1 500,00 €	70,00 €	Pedro Dias - Very Close	7/1/2024	30/6/2026	€20K - €110K	First-Choice Goalkeeper
Bernardo Caldeira	D (R)	25	209	3	3 100,00 €	150,00 €	Pedro Dias - Acquaintance	1/7/2025	30/6/2028	€45K - €85K	Important Player
Levi Faustino	D (R)	24	44	4	4 600,00 €	170,00 €	Ricardo Morais - Very Close	24/7/2024	30/6/2028	€75K - €375K	Important Player
Luís Ferreira	D (C)	24	450	3	3 000,00 €	110,00 €	Rui Magalhães - Very Close	26/6/2023	30/6/2027	€350K - €600K	Star Player
Luís Madeira	M (C)	22	240	3	2 600,00 €	95,00 €	Leandro Carvalho - Very Close	15/2/2024	30/6/2027	€40K - €600K	Important Player
João Castro	AM (C)	24	283	3	3 200,00 €	120,00 €	Dário Silva - Very Close	1/7/2023	30/6/2027	€90K - €450K	Important Player
Godfried Frimpong	AM (L)	26	364	3,5	6 750,00 €	550,00 €	Leandro Carvalho - Acquaintance	1/7/2025	30/6/2028	€120K - €450K	Important Player
Mohamed Karamoko	ST (C)	23	279	3,5	6 500,00 €	200,00 €	Alejandro Vega - Very Close	15/1/2025	30/6/2029	€350K - €1M	Important Player
	Wage Sum				31 250,00 €
	Total Allowed				39 000,00 €
8	Max 4				9 750,00 €

 

Regular Starters

Name	Best Pos	Age	Mins	Ability	Wage	Appearance Fee	Agent	Begins	Expires	Transfer Value	Agreed Playing Time
Edu Pinheiro	DM	27	194	2,5	3 200,00 €	120,00 €	Fábio Rodrigues - Very Close	10/7/2024	30/6/2027	€190K - €325K	Regular Starter
Bruno Ventura	AM (R)	24	345	3	2 600,00 €	120,00 €	Pedro Alminhas - Close	1/7/2025	30/6/2028	€45K - €375K	Regular Starter
Lacx	AM (R)	24	126	3,5	3 500,00 €	150,00 €	Vasco Matos - Very Close	18/12/2024	30/6/2028	€90K - €850K	Regular Starter
Denilson	AM (L)	25	312	3	2 600,00 €	90,00 €	Mojammel Hossain - Very Close	3/11/2023	30/6/2026	€65K - €275K	Regular Starter
	Wage Sum				11 900,00 €
	Total Allowed				39 000,00 €
4	Max 7				5 571,43 €

 

Backups

Name	Best Pos	Age	Mins	Ability	Wage	Appearance Fee	Agent	Begins	Expires	Transfer Value	Agreed Playing Time
Joan López	GK	23	-	3,5	4 600,00 €	675,00 €	Augusto Quintana - Acquaintance	1/9/2025	30/6/2026	€45K - €450K	Cup Goalkeeper
Hugo Lima	GK	17	-	1,5	875,00 €	40,00 €	Rafa Carvalho - Very Close	7/3/2025	30/6/2027	€30K - €325K	Backup
João Ricciulli	D (C)	25	315	3	3 200,00 €	170,00 €	Leandro Carvalho - Very Close	27/1/2025	30/6/2027	€60K - €250K	Impact Sub
Marcos Raposo	D (C)	25	-	3,5	4 000,00 €	170,00 €	Dário Silva - Own Player	25/8/2025	30/6/2027	€24K - €180K	Squad Player
Daniel Andrade	D (L)	25	86	2	2 500,00 €	110,00 €	Dário Silva - Very Close	12/5/2025	30/6/2027	€4K - €28K	Squad Player
Miccoli	M (C)	27	-	2	2 400,00 €	100,00 €	Vasco Matos - Very Close	6/1/2024	30/6/2026	€18K - €90K	Fringe Player
Schurrle	M (C)	24	347	4	2 100,00 €	200,00 €	Ricardo Morais - Acquaintance	1/7/2025	30/6/2028	€700K - €1M	Squad Player
Tiago Melo	AM (R)	28	241	2,5	3 000,00 €	150,00 €	Pedro Dias - Very Close	31/1/2024	30/6/2026	€50K - €230K	Squad Player
Costinha	AM (R)	24	216	3,5	3 700,00 €	220,00 €	Rafa Carvalho - Very Close	11/7/2025	30/6/2027	€190K - €350K	Squad Player
Herculano Cassamá	AM (R)	18	228	2,5	2 900,00 €	80,00 €	Miguel Serra - Very Close	23/7/2024	30/6/2027	€50K - €500K	Impact Sub
Youssef Chermiti	ST (C)	21	115	3,5	0,00 €	825,00 €	Rafa Carvalho - Acquaintance	6/7/2025	2/1/2026	€350K - €3,4M	Impact Sub
	Wage Sum				29 275,00 €
	Total Allowed				39 000,00 €
11	Max 11				3 545,45 €

 

Youth

Name	Best Pos	Age	Mins	Ability	Wage	Appearance Fee	Agent	Begins	Expires	Transfer Value	Agreed Playing Time
Marco Castanheira	D (R)	16	-		275,00 €	0,00 €	Francisco Valente - Very Close	3/1/2025	30/6/2027	€45K - €1M	Future Prospect
Lukas Benay	D (C)	17	91		675,00 €	35,00 €	- - Very Close	15/4/2025	30/6/2027	€12K - €130K	Future Prospect
Innocent Chembezi	M (R)	17	-		600,00 €	40,00 €	- - Acquaintance	2/6/2025	30/6/2028	€0	Future Prospect
Ricardo Dias	AM (R)	18	-		750,00 €	40,00 €	Francisco Valente - Very Close	26/10/2024	30/6/2027	€12K - €110K	Breakthrough Prospect
Biruk Tadesse	AM (R)	16	-		275,00 €	0,00 €	- - Acquaintance	30/3/2025	30/6/2029	€0 - €22K	Youngster
Domingos Culubali	AM (L)	16	15		275,00 €	0,00 €	José Araújo - Very Close	3/4/2024	30/6/2027	€325K - €850K	Future Prospect
Eduino Gomes	AM (L)	17	-		850,00 €	45,00 €	Miguel Morais - Very Close	20/5/2025	30/6/2028	€30K - €325K	Breakthrough Prospect
Anthony Pratas	ST (C)	17	-		750,00 €	40,00 €	- - Very Close	24/5/2025	30/6/2027	€2,5K - €24K	Future Prospect
	Wage Sum				4 450,00 €
	Total Allowed				13 000,00 €
8	No Max				1 300,00 €

 

 

First games of the season

The league cup (Allianz Cup) calendar is a mess, it starts too soon and wrecked the preseason. We were still building the team and trying things out when we had those games. Managed to get through the first game and won in penalties. Lost the second. One less competition. Good for fitness, bad for business…

It was a pretty nice start in the league: 2 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss. 8 goals for, 6 against.

 

The league standings don’t say much as everyone has a different number of games played, but we are above 1 ppg so that’s good. 8 points also means we have 25% of the objective for the season.

Next 2 games are Benfica and Porto, so we should have 2 more losses, but we’ll still be above 1 ppg.

 

Below the match screens for the league games:

[Primeira Liga] vs Estoril (H)
Final Score: 0-1 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
80 – 57	52 – 26	1 – 3	0,58 – 0,69	0 – 3	48 – 52
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
L Ferreira	7,0	Costinha	7	Cassamá	1
T Melo	6,9	Schurrle	3
Frimpong	6,9	L Madeira	2
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Lacx	0,2	T Melo	7	Costinha	3
J Castro	0,1	L Ferreira	5	Lacx	2
L Ferreira	0,1	Ricciulli	4	Schurrle	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Schurrle	0,1	L Ferreira	17	T Melo	4
Costinha	0,1	Ricciulli	8	L Madeira	2
L Madeira	0,1	Frimpong	7	Costinha	1

Our introduction to the league. They created more chances and had more shots on target, we didn't do much and deserved the loss.

 

[Primeira Liga] vs Arouca (A)
Final Score: 5-4 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
42 – 61	35 – 62	8 – 5	2,35 – 1,58	6 – 3	39 – 61
Individual Highlights
Goals	Karamoko (x2), Schurrle, Ricciulli, Chermiti
Assists	B Ventura (x2), Denilson, Frimpong, B Caldeira
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Karamoko	8,4	Denilson	7	Karamoko	2
Chermiti	7,7	Schurrle	4	Chermiti	2
Schurrle	7,7	L Ferreira	4	Costinha	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Chermiti	0,7	L Ferreira	6	T Melo	3
Karamoko	0,7	Denilson	3	Frimpong	3
L Madeira	0,2	Frimpong	3	B Ventura	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
B Ventura	0,6	L Ferreira	13	Frimpong	5
Denilson	0,5	T Melo	4	Denilson	4
B Caldeira	0,4	Ricciulli	3	Karamoko	2

Crazy game with 9 goals. Bruno Ventura showing why we bought him. We were the better team and we shouldn't have conceded as much as we did.

 

[Primeira Liga] vs Famalicão (H)
Final Score: 2-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
65 – 68	45 – 44	4 – 6	1,13 – 0,74	2 – 1	35 – 65
Individual Highlights
Goals	Schurrle, Costinha
Assists	Costinha, Denilson
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Costinha	8,1	T Melo	6	Costinha	1
Schurrle	7,7	J Castro	5	Schurrle	1
D Azevedo	7,7	Karamoko	3	L Ferreira	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Culubali	0,5	T Melo	5	T Melo	4
B Ventura	0,2	J Castro	3	Denilson	3
Schurrle	0,1	Schurrle	3	Schurrle	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Cassamá	0,6	Ricciulli	6	Schurrle	4
Costinha	0,1	T Melo	5	Karamoko	3
Denilson	0,1	L Ferreira	4	Costinha	2

 

Another win. A game where they took the ball from us, but we were more efficient and created more chances and had a higher xG.

 

[Primeira Liga] vs Chaves (A)
Final Score: 0-0 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
63 – 74	39 – 43	6 – 1	1,16 – 0,87	2 – 2	44 – 56
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
L Madeira	7,4	B Ventura	7	Chermiti	2
D Azevedo	7,3	B Caldeira	6	L Ferreira	2
Frimpong	7,1	L Madeira	5	Ricciulli	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Chermiti	0,6	T Melo	4	B Ventura	4
B Ventura	0,2	L Madeira	3	B Caldeira	3
L Ferreira	0,1	J Castro	2	Karamoko	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
B Ventura	0,4	Ricciulli	9	L Madeira	3
Frimpong	0,3	L Ferreira	5	Denilson	1
Karamoko	0,1	Frimpong	4	B Ventura	1

 

The first of two draws. 6 shots on target to 1 and 1,16 xG, we should have scored at least one.

 

[Primeira Liga] vs Vitória de Guimarães (H)
Final Score: 1-1 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
81 – 50	52 – 41	9 – 2	2,73 – 0,56	8 – 1	43 – 57
Individual Highlights
Goals	Karamoko
Assists	L Madeira
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Karamoko	8,1	Frimpong	5	T Melo	2
L Madeira	7,8	Schurrle	3	Costinha	2
Costinha	7,2	T Melo	2	Karamoko	2
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	1,1	Miccoli	3	Costinha	4
Lacx	0,6	T Melo	3	Edu P	2
J Castro	0,3	Costinha	3	Schurrle	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
L Madeira	0,7	Ricciulli	6	Karamoko	4
Karamoko	0,6	L Ferreira	4	Costinha	3
Costinha	0,5	T Melo	4	Miccoli	2

 

The second draw. We were so much better than Guimarães, we should have made the 2-1 and grabbed the 3 points.

[lfds89]

Comparing attributes to the rest of the league

I've summed top-5 highest values for each attribute in each team to get a feel of the opposition. It shows our fast progression through the tiers. I'll have to make sure we can play above our level and expect some teams will play way below theirs.

		Top 5 Sum
Name	Prediction	Drb	Fir	Pas	Tec	Ant	Cnt	Dec	Jmp	Pac	Str	TEC	MEN	PHY	Average	Rank
Arouca	12th	67	68	69	74	70	68	72	78	71	70	70	70	73	71	11
Benfica	1st	78	81	79	81	78	76	78	79	79	74	80	77	77	78	1
Boavista	8th	70	72	67	73	70	69	65	78	72	72	71	68	74	71	10
Braga	4th	74	74	73	78	76	75	68	78	77	76	75	73	77	75	4
Casa Pia	13th	67	72	70	73	66	67	68	70	69	70	71	67	70	69	15
Chaves	14th	69	70	68	70	68	66	65	82	73	76	69	66	77	71	11
Estoril de Praia	9th	69	71	73	74	72	75	67	74	74	67	72	71	72	72	8
Famalicão	10th	71	73	71	75	73	69	67	73	75	70	73	70	73	72	7
Feirense	17th	66	65	68	68	69	68	65	76	72	67	67	67	72	68	17
Gil Vicente	6th	71	70	74	72	69	73	70	74	71	72	72	71	72	72	8
Moreirense	16th	63	66	70	72	66	66	71	78	66	68	68	68	71	69	16
Portimonense	11th	76	68	77	74	77	69	65	76	74	74	74	70	75	73	5
Porto	2nd	78	76	76	80	81	77	74	83	78	80	78	77	80	78	1
Santa Clara	5th	67	65	72	70	68	66	69	75	75	70	69	68	73	70	14
Sertanense	18th	67	65	63	69	65	66	66	73	70	63	66	66	69	67	18
Sporting	3rd	81	73	71	78	77	78	71	78	78	73	76	75	76	76	3
Tondela	15th	71	71	67	69	72	67	65	77	72	68	70	68	72	70	13
Vitória Guimarães	7th	70	70	71	74	71	69	69	81	74	75	71	70	77	72	6
Sertanense	Rank	13	16	18	16	18	15	13	16	16	18	18	18	18	18

 

Tactics for the season

I will keep the 4-3-3 DM Wide as the main tactic. No real change yet.

 

I’m working on a 4-2-3-1 DM Wide variation as Schurrle and Madeira can play from deep. Although neither of them is a Volante and I really think I need one to give movement to the midfield.

 

Another thing I will experiment in a friendly is moving LW to LM. Costinha has great passing and dribbling but LW is a very attacking position even when playing on support. I’ll also have to make room for his movement inwards. Something like this?

Looks strange...

 

Comparing my players' stats to last season

Name	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	Held – P+T	Held %
Daniel Azevedo	24,87	88,00	0,00	0,00	6,85	0,56	0,00	0,56	4,08	0,00	0,00	0,69	63%
Daniel Azevedo	21,91	85,00	0,00	0,00	6,83	0,27	0,00	0,27	3,00	0,00	0,00	1,09	69%
GK	-2,96	-3,00	0,00	0,00	-0,02	-0,29	0,00	-0,29	-1,08	0,00	0,00	0,40	0,06

Daniel Azevedo is still our number 1.

 

Name	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%
Tiago Melo	42,48	83,00	4,10	73,00	6,95	7,65	2,66	10,31	2,01	0,32	0,03	3%	3%	13%	19%
Tiago Melo	40,84	79,00	3,56	77,00	6,78	7,57	2,83	10,40	-0,74	0,30	-0,03	4%	3%	20%	27%
RB	-1,64	-4,00	-0,54	4,00	-0,17	-0,08	0,17	0,09	-2,75	-0,02	-0,06	0,01	0,00	0,07	0,08

I think Caldeira will eventually take Melo's spot but right now he still has the most minutes.

 

Name	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%
Pedro Martins	53,34	87,00	3,16	63,00	6,89	7,95	2,69	10,64	2,06	0,19	-0,01	2%	0%	9%	11%
Godfried Frimpong	43,81	84,00	4,43	75,00	6,73	6,29	2,16	8,45	-1,76	0,10	0,00	2%	0%	9%	11%
LB	-9,53	-3,00	1,27	12,00	-0,16	-1,66	-0,53	-2,19	-3,82	-0,09	0,01	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00

I'm not sold on Frimpong. He's clearly better than Andrade, but neither of them are having great games.

 

Name	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%
Luís Ferreira	73,00	92,00	9,14	72,00	7,09	5,08	0,52	5,60	14,38	0,09	0,02	0%	0%	8%	8%
Luís Ferreira	58,33	94,00	7,56	76,00	6,77	4,22	0,77	4,99	10,66	0,00	-0,06	0%	0%	7%	7%
CB1	-14,67	2,00	-1,58	4,00	-0,32	-0,86	0,25	-0,61	-3,72	-0,09	-0,08	0,00	0,00	-0,01	-0,01

Luís Ferreira keeps his spot for the moment.

 

Name	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%
Levi Faustino	80,74	93,00	8,93	72,00	6,90	4,49	0,40	4,89	11,64	0,04	0,01	0%	0%	7%	7%
João Ricciulli	58,59	87,00	8,12	73,00	6,81	3,65	0,59	4,24	4,12	0,35	0,27	0%	0%	5%	5%
CB2	-22,15	-6,00	-0,81	1,00	-0,09	-0,84	0,19	-0,65	-7,52	0,31	0,26	0,00	0,00	-0,01	-0,01

João Ricciulli has gained his place mainly for his heading ability which has already granted us some goals and points. Levi Faustino is now 4th in the pecking order. Raposo will probably get this spot in the future.

 

Name	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%
Edu Pinheiro	60,53	85,00	5,68	87,00	6,87	3,20	1,81	5,01	-0,55	0,13	-0,03	2%	0%	13%	15%
Luís Madeira	52,47	83,00	1,64	46,00	6,88	3,98	2,87	6,85	-4,25	0,14	-0,04	2%	0%	14%	16%
CDM	-8,06	-2,00	-4,04	-41,00	0,01	0,78	1,06	1,84	-3,70	0,01	-0,01	0,00	0,00	0,01	0,02

I've been rotating between Edu and Luís Madeira. Edu gets me more possession (mostly through headers won), Madeira creates more.

 

Name	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%
Luís Madeira	54,94	86,00	2,52	59,00	7,04	3,08	3,33	6,41	-4,56	0,32	0,06	4%	0%	12%	16%
Schurrle	40,58	87,00	1,03	33,00	6,89	3,70	2,05	5,75	-2,98	0,31	0,19	2%	1%	10%	12%
RCM	-14,36	1,00	-1,49	-26,00	-0,15	0,62	-1,28	-0,66	1,58	-0,01	0,13	-0,01	0,01	-0,02	-0,03

Schurrle started the season strong but he has been playing worse. We also had some though games. Let's see if he picks up his form.

 

Name	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%
João Castro	53,39	86,00	1,49	35,00	7,08	4,05	4,23	8,28	-6,13	0,30	0,09	3%	1%	12%	16%
João Castro	41,43	84,00	1,06	31,00	6,70	3,84	2,24	6,08	-3,30	0,13	0,01	2%	0%	12%	14%
LCM	-11,96	-2,00	-0,43	-4,00	-0,38	-0,21	-1,99	-2,20	2,83	-0,17	-0,08	-0,01	-0,01	0,00	-0,02

João Castro kept his place from last season but he hasn't been able to create as much as last season. Bruno Ventura has been playing in both RCM, LCM and also as RW so his stats are skewed - however, he provides a bigger threat from set-pieces (we only scored from corners when he's on the pitch). Miccoli is our last option, but he isn't good enough for this level, so he will only play as a last resort.

 

Name	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%
Lacx	27,68	74,00	4,34	56,00	6,93	4,75	5,63	10,38	-9,79	0,48	0,09	5%	0%	10%	16%
Lacx	33,83	75,00	2,46	30,00	6,81	6,57	4,52	11,09	-9,64	0,21	-0,24	7%	0%	12%	18%
RW	6,15	1,00	-1,88	-26,00	-0,12	1,82	-1,11	0,71	0,15	-0,27	-0,33	0,01	0,00	0,01	0,02

Lacx saw a big drecrease on his aerial ability, probably shows how much more physical the first tier is. Ventura has played in this position and Cassamá is also getting some minutes here. More on Cassamá later (not in this post).

 

Name	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%
Denilson	32,55	79,00	2,11	33,00	7,01	5,01	5,34	10,35	-6,74	0,58	0,15	6%	0%	10%	17%
Costinha	29,31	83,00	1,94	24,00	6,92	5,97	4,72	10,69	-3,47	0,70	0,05	8%	0%	10%	18%
LW	-3,24	4,00	-0,17	-9,00	-0,09	0,96	-0,62	0,34	3,27	0,12	-0,10	0,01	0,00	0,00	0,01

Costinha has also played as RW, and he's probably our best player. Denilson has also been playing well. He's a decent backup even at this level.

 

Name	Ps C/90	Pas %	Hdrs W/90	Hdr %	Av Rat	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	Gls-npxg /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%
Mohamed Karamoko	15,03	82,00	2,42	23,00	7,10	2,42	4,50	6,92	-4,16	0,90	-0,01	7%	0%	3%	10%
Mohamed Karamoko	14,25	87,00	1,50	15,00	7,05	1,95	3,90	5,85	-4,50	0,90	0,43	7%	0%	4%	12%
ST	-0,78	5,00	-0,92	-8,00	-0,05	-0,47	-0,60	-1,07	-0,34	0,00	0,44	0,00	0,00	0,01	0,02

Karamoko's inconsistency has been showing, he's also mostly a one-trick pony. He gets behind the defence and scores, there's not much else he can do. Chermiti has been doing well also but I was counting on him being a bigger aerial threat and he only wins 25% of his duels. The plan for the next striker is someone with greater physical stats while also being pacey and tall. I need all those threats up top.

 

Out of the Cups but we keep fighting in the League

I always like being involved in cup play. Winning them is partially chance, but it helps with squad rotation, extra money and it’s a good place to give some youngsters playing time. We were out of the League Cup still in the preseason, and we lost the first game we played in the National Cup.

 

[Primeira Liga] vs Benfica (A)
Final Score: 1-1 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
38 – 111	35 – 59	2 – 6	0,83 – 1,79	1 – 3	46 – 54
Individual Highlights
Goals	Denilson
Assists	Lacx
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Lacx	7,2	Frimpong	5	Denilson	1
Denilson	7,1	Denilson	2	Chermiti	1
M Raposo	6,8	L Madeira	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Denilson	0,8	Frimpong	5	Lacx	2
		M Raposo	4	Edu P	1
		Denilson	4	L Madeira	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Lacx	0,8	M Raposo	5	Denilson	2
		Cassamá	4	Cassamá	2
		L Madeira	3	Chermiti	2

Managed to create 1 chance and score it. They are clearly far superior to us, but we showed up to the fight.

[Primeira Liga] vs Porto (H)
Final Score: 2-3 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
68 – 43	46 – 25	4 – 7	1,66 – 3,30	3 – 5	53 – 47
Individual Highlights
Goals	Ricciulli, Chermiti
Assists	T Melo, D Andrade
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Ricciulli	7,5	Costinha	4	Chermiti	2
Chermiti	7,2	T Melo	3	Ricciulli	1
D Andrade	7,2	L Madeira	2	Costinha	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Chermiti	1,2	Ricciulli	5	T Melo	4
Costinha	0,2	M Raposo	4	L Madeira	2
J Castro	0,1	T Melo	2	B Ventura	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Schurrle	0,6	Ricciulli	19	L Madeira	2
Miccoli	0,3	M Raposo	4	B Ventura	2
T Melo	0,2	Costinha	4	Frimpong	1

Our first big home game (although not in our stadium). We scored 2 against them, I can only be happy with our performance.

 

[Primeira Liga] vs Santa Clara (A)
Final Score: 2-3 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
31 – 100	24 – 45	2 – 8	1,15 – 1,74	3 – 3	41 – 59
Individual Highlights
Goals	Karamoko, Schurrle
Assists	Costinha (x2)
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Costinha	8,2	Lacx	6	Karamoko	1
B Caldeira	7,2	Denilson	3	Schurrle	1
Lacx	7,1	J Castro	3
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	0,5	Lacx	7	Costinha	3
Schurrle	0,5	Costinha	3	Lacx	1
Lacx	0,1	B Caldeira	2	T Melo	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
B Caldeira	0,5	Ricciulli	7	Costinha	4
Costinha	0,4	Frimpong	3	J Castro	2
Lacx	0,2	L Ferreira	3	D Andrade	1

Now, this is not the Santa Clara team you should expect. Their president is a tycoon and they have some great players like Veretout. Another game were we scored 2 goals.

 

[Primeira Liga] vs Casa Pia (H)
Final Score: 1-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
65 – 46	61 – 27	3 – 3	1,45 – 2,71	5 – 5	57 – 43
Individual Highlights
Goals	Karamoko
Assists	Cassamá
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Lacx	7,7	Lacx	8	B Caldeira	1
D Azevedo	7,7	Costinha	3	Karamoko	1
Karamoko	7,6	Edu P	2	Ricciulli	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Chermiti	0,8	B Caldeira	10	Lacx	4
Karamoko	0,3	Costinha	4	Costinha	3
J Castro	0,2	Edu P	2	Cassamá	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Lacx	0,9	M Raposo	9	Lacx	3
Cassamá	0,2	Frimpong	9	Frimpong	2
Schurrle	0,2	Edu P	7	Cassamá	1

We really needed this win after 5 games without getting the 3 points. It came late, but it was deserved. 3 of their chances and most of their xG was from a single event (a mess inside our box following a corner).

 

Only 3 more games until the year ends and the winter transfer window is open. Feirense, Moreirense and Tondela – that’s 18^th, 13^th and 4^th respectively. Tondela kept their form from last season and had a great start to the season.

 

We are 6 points above the relegation playoff having played Benfica and Porto already; over 1 ppg and at 38% of the objective (32 points) having played 26% of the games.

 

Someone deserves a chance

We are clearly better than our opposition in the U19 League, but if there’s someone playing above the level is Pratas. He already got a seat in a game, he will probably have his chance over the season. Really need to give some playing time to the youngsters, but I prefer doing it when/if relegation is not an issue.

[warlock]

On 08/06/2023 at 20:47, lfds89 said:

We are 6 points above the relegation playoff

That's good going so far, and doing much better than predicted. Hope you can keep it up

[lfds89]

3 minutos atrás, warlock disse:

That's good going so far, and doing much better than predicted. Hope you can keep it up

Thanks for the support!

I'll probably need some time until I have a new update as life has been getting in the way and I'm a slow player, but I can say we keep going in the right direction.

[lfds89]

Wasn't planning on doing an upgrade so soon, but managed to find some time and figured the turn of the year was a good stopping point.

 

More development on the new tactic

This is its current formation. PI for RCM is Roam From Position and Stay Wider; for the CM I tried Dribble More, but eventually added Run at Defence to Team Instructions now I’m trying the Get Further Forward Instruction.

 

Tried it out in a friendly. Played the first half with the first team and although the opposition was from a lower level, I’m happy with the low number of shots and final third passes allowed and our shots on target. These are the stats from just the first half.

And the players who made it:

I wanted a focus on Costinha and surely got it: 3 key passes, 5 dribbles, and 3 shots on target. That’s 11 offensive actions in 50 minutes (for context, he is averaging 4,72 offensive actions / 90).

 

This was against a 4-4-2 Narrow Diamond. I then tested it against a 4-3-3 DM Wide and it wasn’t this effective (nor I was expecting to maintain this level). More surprising was Costinha’s performance difference: 0 key passes, 1 dribble, 1 shot on target. It makes sense that this tactic favours playing against narrow formations as it makes the ball travel very wide and I’m not playing against many teams with these formations (in the league there are none…). I’ll keep testing in the next friendlies. Since we are out of the 2 cups we have time for them.

[Opposition Formations Screen]

 

First International Player

At the same time I was experimenting with tactics, Ricciulli was making his debut for Guinea-Bissau.

 

Job Offers/Interest

Some news about interest in my services by 2 teams: first it was Boavista. They are 18^th but they have an interesting squad. Pretty sure I could do a bit better with the added opportunity of the winter transfer window to make some adjustments. I decided to deny interest. I’m really invested in finishing this season at Sertanense (unless a no-brainer offer happens). I was the leading candidate for the job before my answer but hadn’t been contacted by the club yet. Then it was Saint-Étienne. A historic club in France. They were out of the first league for 2 seasons, last season managed to stay in the first tier through the playoffs and this season they are again in 16^th. They have a player valued between 61 and 78 M€ and their highest wage is 206k/month (for context my highest wage is below 7k and highest value is 700k-1M). I didn’t comment on the interest. I’m not the leading candidate, nor I think I’m in contention.

Although I’m not following through with this interest, it’s always nice to know of it.

 

Development over the last 6 months

Name	Position	TOT	TEC	MEN	PHY
Daniel Azevedo	GK	0,5	0	0	0,5
Joan López	GK	0	0	0	0
Bernardo Caldeira	D (R)	0,5	0	0,5	0
Tiago Melo	D (R)	0	0	0	0
Godfried Frimpong	D (L)	1	0	1	0
Daniel Andrade	D (L)	0	0	0	0
Marcos Raposo	D (C)	0	0	0	0
L Faustino	D (C)	0	0	0	0
Luís Ferreira	D (C)	0	0	0	0
Joao Ricciulli	D (C)	0	0	0	0
Schurrle	M (C)	2	0,5	1,5	0
Bruno Ventura	M (C)	0	0	0	0
João Castro	M (C)	1	0	0,5	0,5
Luís Madeira	DM	0	0	0	0
Edu Pinheiro	DM	0	0	0	0
Miccoli	M (C)	0	0	0	0
Lacx	AM (R)	0	0	0	0
Herculano Cassamá	AM (R)	2,5	0	2	0,5
Costinha	AM (L)	3	0,5	2,5	0
Denilson	AM (L)	2	0	2	0
Mohamed Karamoko	ST (C)	0	0	0	0
Youssef Chermiti	ST (C)	-0,5	0	-0,5	0
Senior Squad		12	1	9,5	1,5

Costinha, Cassamá, Schurrle and Denilson with small improvements. The rest of the squad isn’t getting any better (or worse…).

 

Name	Position	TOT	TEC	MEN	PHY
Hugo Lima	GK	2,5	0	0	2,5
Dinis	GK	4,5	0	1,5	3
Marco Castanheira	D (R)	2,5	0	0,5	2
Luís Soares	D (L)	5,5	0,5	0	5
Lukas Benay	D (C)	3,5	0	2,5	1
Henrique Carneiro	D (C)	4	0	2,5	1,5
Brahim Tahiri	M (C)	4	0	2,5	1,5
Ricardo Dias	M (C)	5	1,5	3	0,5
Domingos Culubali	AM (R)	13,5	2	5	6,5
Eduino Gomes	AM (L)	7	1,5	1,5	4
João Bacôco	AM (L)	0	0	0	0
Biruk Tadesse	AM (R)	8,5	1	5	2,5
Anthony Pratas	ST (C)	7,5	1,5	2	4
Youth Squad		61	8	24,5	28,5

It’s a different story in the youth squad. Some great development here: Culubali with a +13,5, Tadesse with a +8,5 and Pratas with a +7,5 are the main “winners”. Should be said that I’m not tracking development for GK Technical Attributes but Lima and Dinis had a nice growth.

 

It’s January already

I don’t really understand the calendar. We should be close to midway through the league but we have just played 12 games. I had 2 months with only 2 official matches and other two with 3 matches. Now we have January with 6 and March with 5…

We are on the right course, with 2 wins and a draw since the last update.

As you can see I’ve been messing around with my tactics and decided to start all 3 games with 3 different formations. However, I ended every game playing my base 4-3-3 DM Wide.

[Primeira Liga] vs Feirense (A)
Final Score: 1-1 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
120 – 19	60 – 28	8 – 4	2,33 – 1,23	4 – 3	63 – 37
Individual Highlights
Goals	Karamoko
Assists	Lacx
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
L Ferreira	7,4	Frimpong	5	B Caldeira	2
Frimpong	7,3	Lacx	4	Karamoko	2
Costinha	7,1	M Raposo	3	Costinha	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	1,0	L Ferreira	7	Costinha	5
Lacx	0,3	M Raposo	4	Frimpong	4
Costinha	0,3	B Caldeira	2	B Caldeira	4
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Costinha	0,8	L Ferreira	15	B Caldeira	5
Frimpong	0,5	Frimpong	8	J Castro	4
B Caldeira	0,3	Lacx	5	Lacx	2

We should have won as we were way better, but I'll take any point I can. Great game by Caldeira with 4 key passes and 5 dribbles.

 

[Primeira Liga] vs Moreirense (H)
Final Score: 2-1 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
48 – 50	43 – 43	5 – 2	1,49 – 0,85	3 – 3	45 – 55
Individual Highlights
Goals	Karamoko, L Ferreira
Assists	Costinha, Schurrle
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Costinha	8,0	B Caldeira	7	L Ferreira	2
Schurrle	7,6	Costinha	4	M Raposo	1
L Ferreira	7,5	Frimpong	3	J Castro	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	1,1	B Caldeira	4	Costinha	4
Costinha	0,2	Schurrle	4	Lacx	3
L Ferreira	0,1	T Melo	3	B Caldeira	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Costinha	0,6	Frimpong	6	B Caldeira	4
Lacx	0,5	M Raposo	3	Frimpong	4
Schurrle	0,3	Schurrle	3	Costinha	4

Close battle but we were more efficient. Costinha was great with 4 dribbles and 4 key passes.

 

[Primeira Liga] vs Tondela (A)
Final Score: 1-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
55 – 51	36 – 36	5 – 3	1,54 – 1,10	5 – 1	57 – 43
Individual Highlights
Goals	Karamoko
Assists	Schurrle
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Schurrle	7,7	Frimpong	4	Schurrle	2
L Madeira	7,3	B Caldeira	3	Karamoko	2
D Azevedo	7,3	Schurrle	2	Denilson	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	1,0	Costinha	7	Schurrle	4
L Faustino	0,2	L Ferreira	5	L Madeira	4
Denilson	0,2	B Caldeira	4	Denilson	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Schurrle	0,7	L Ferreira	5	Frimpong	4
Denilson	0,3	L Faustino	5	Karamoko	3
L Madeira	0,2	Edu P	4	Schurrle	2

We just edged it. We managed to keep their striker, Cordero out of the game; and a monstrous game by Schurrle: 2 shots on target, 4 key passes, 2 dribbles, and 1 assist!

 

We are now 6^th!

Regarding the objectives, we have 19 points which is 59% of the goal in 35% of the season and 10 points clear from the playoff (that’s 4 games in hand!). So we are quite ahead of the schedule.

As I said before, we now have a busy month ahead of us:

Gil Vicente is 10^th; Famalicão is 14^th; Braga is 3^rd; Boavista 18^th; Portimonense 13^th; and Arouca 12^th. The big challenge here is Braga, but Gil Vicente finished 5^th last season so they are quite strong as well.

 

Transfer Window Plans

I’m not planning any big changes in this transfer window.

 

Chermiti’s loan ends now (don’t know why the agreement was only for half season, but Sporting doesn’t want to extend it). Since we are comfortable in the league, I’ll take this chance to give some youngsters the playing time they need. Culubali and Pratas have been developing well and they deserve the chance. There’s also the case for Cassamá. His development has stalled a bit, but right now his attributes aren’t that far off from Karamoko, so I might try him at striker.

I’m struggling a bit to find where to play Culubali. He isn’t as fast or as physical as I would like my striker to be. He’s well rounded, so he might be a good CAM (however I don’t play one…).

Pratas is still a long way from being a first-team player, but some minutes in the senior squad might boost his development.

Chermiti leaving opens up a spot for another Sporting player to arrive on loan. I’ll check if there’s any interesting player available (GK, RB and RW are the positions I need the most upgrades).

 

Still trying to work on the youth team, so I’m bringing in João Carvalhais. Resolute personality, 18 years old, can play RB and CB, 195 cm.

I’ll probably loan him out as he doesn’t need to work on his personality and he won’t have minutes as we are flooded with good CBs right now.

If any crazy piece of business shows up, I might take it, but I’m mostly looking into players I can bring at end of contract as I don’t want to take another hit on the finances.

[lfds89]

Job Offer Interviews and... NEW JOB!! (on the way)

After the declared interest by the media of Boavista and Saint-Étienne, here’s the first formal offer for an interview, this time by Casa Pia. I politely declined as they sit bottom of the table.

A few days after it was Marseille.

I attended the interview and asked to be hired at the end of the season. I wasn’t the favorite before and I’m still the second choice after the interview (Matías Almeyda, former Inter and Lazio player and current Lorient manager is the favorite).

The next day they offer me the chance to propose changes to backroom staff and the next day they make an offer. 61,5k/month – 2 years, starting at the end of the season (01/06/2026). I ask for a bonus for winning the league and an increase in salary to 65k. They agree right away.

Done deal!

I understand that now I have no saying on my players’ transfer status, which is odd in the middle of a transfer window, but I respect that.

Funny enough, I had a player on trial with Sertanense and ended the trial because he wanted a lot more than I could pay him; the next day Marseille sign him.

 

We still have a job to do at Sertanense. Back to that.

 

Completed another Coaching Licence

I now have a Coaching Licence A.

Since the last time I posted this, here are the changes:

Attacking +3; Defending +1; Tactical +1; Technical +1; Mental +1

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

 

End of the Transfer Window

As I said, there wasn’t much to do in this transfer window. Ultimately decided to let some players leave on loan so they could get more competitive playing time.

 

Half a season left

The month wasn’t impressive, but can’t say it was bad either: 2 losses, 1 win, and 3 draws (that's 1.0 ppg which is above our objective for the season).

[Primeira Liga] vs Gil Vicente (A)
Final Score: 2-4 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
47 – 88	25 – 49	4 – 6	1,82 – 1,80	6 – 6	34 – 66
Individual Highlights
Goals	Schurrle (pen), Karamoko
Assists	Costinha
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Schurrle	7,2	Costinha	6	Schurrle	2
Karamoko	7,1	B Caldeira	4	Karamoko	1
Costinha	6,9	Karamoko	2	B Caldeira	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Schurrle	0,9	B Caldeira	5	Schurrle	4
Karamoko	0,4	T Melo	2	L Madeira	1
Cassamá	0,2	Edu P	2	Costinha	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Schurrle	0,5	Cassamá	3	L Madeira	3
Costinha	0,2	Edu P	3	Schurrle	2
Karamoko	0,1	L Ferreira	3	D Andrade	2

A balanced game where we didn't have much of the ball. From almost the same xG, they scored 2 more than us and that obviously makes a big difference.

 

[Primeira Liga] vs Famalicão (A)
Final Score: 0-0 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
65 – 94	31 – 47	6 – 1	1,05 – 0,76	2 – 1	44 – 56
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Costinha	7,4	L Madeira	5	Karamoko	1
D Azevedo	7,3	Karamoko	4
L Madeira	7,0	B Caldeira	4
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	0,8	D Andrade	4	Costinha	3
Schurrle	0,1	Schurrle	4	Schurrle	2
L Ferreira	0,1	L Madeira	3	Edu P	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Costinha	0,7	L Ferreira	4	Karamoko	3
M Raposo	0,2	Cassamá	3	Costinha	3
L Madeira	0,1	L Faustino	3	Denilson	1

An odd game without goals. We had chances, once again but didn't take them. It was the start of Karamoko's mini drought.

 

[Primeira Liga] vs Braga (H)
Final Score: 1-1 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
76 – 52	43 – 43	2 – 4	0,92 – 0,85	1 – 3	58 – 42
Individual Highlights
Goals	J Castro
Assists	Karamoko
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
J Castro	7,9	Frimpong	4	J Castro	1
Schurrle	6,8	Karamoko	2	B Ventura	1
Costinha	6,8	T Melo	2
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
B Ventura	0,3	Ricciulli	4	J Castro	4
Karamoko	0,2	B Caldeira	3	Costinha	1
Cassamá	0,2	J Castro	2	Schurrle	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
B Ventura	0,3	Ricciulli	10	Karamoko	2
J Castro	0,2	Cassamá	3	Denilson	2
Costinha	0,1	B Caldeira	2	Frimpong	2

They should be winning these games, but we showed our value. Great performance, although not many shots on target. It's like a win.

 

[Primeira Liga] vs Boavista (H)
Final Score: 2-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
77 – 53	31 – 36	6 – 3	1,55 – 1,28	3 – 3	60 – 40
Individual Highlights
Goals	Costinha, Miccoli
Assists	B Caldeira, Cassamá
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
B Caldeira	8,1	L Ferreira	3	Costinha	2
Cassamá	7,7	B Caldeira	3	Miccoli	1
L Ferreira	7,7	Costinha	3	B Caldeira	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Costinha	0,7	B Caldeira	6	Frimpong	4
Miccoli	0,3	L Ferreira	3	Cassamá	2
Culubali	0,1	Frimpong	2	Culubali	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
B Caldeira	0,6	L Ferreira	11	B Caldeira	3
Cassamá	0,5	Frimpong	7	Frimpong	3
Frimpong	0,2	Ricciulli	7	B Ventura	2

A lot of possession, 6 shots on target, 2 goals. We were great throughout the match.

 

[Primeira Liga] vs Portimonense (A)
Final Score: 2-2 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
62 – 71	45 – 43	6 – 4	2,01 – 1,02	3 – 4	54 – 46
Individual Highlights
Goals	Costinha, L Faustino
Assists	B Ventura (x2)
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
B Ventura	8,3	J Castro	3	Karamoko	2
L Faustino	7,4	Frimpong	2	L Ferreira	1
D Andrade	6,9	Costinha	2	L Faustino	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Costinha	0,7	T Melo	5	B Ventura	4
Karamoko	0,6	L Faustino	3	T Melo	3
L Faustino	0,2	Frimpong	2	J Castro	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
B Ventura	1,1	L Ferreira	10	Schurrle	2
Schurrle	0,5	L Faustino	10	Costinha	2
T Melo	0,2	Frimpong	7	B Ventura	2

Another draw. This time we have to blame it on our defence. They didn't create much but scored 2. Bruno Ventura helped us in the front with 2 assists.

 

[Primeira Liga] vs Arouca (H)
Final Score: 1-2 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
63 – 32	40 – 26	4 – 6	1,31 – 1,42	2 – 3	51 – 49
Individual Highlights
Goals	Karamoko
Assists	Costinha
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Karamoko	7,4	Frimpong	7	Karamoko	2
Costinha	6,9	Schurrle	3	L Faustino	1
T Melo	6,9	Costinha	2	L Ferreira	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Cassamá	0,4	T Melo	3	T Melo	3
Karamoko	0,3	Frimpong	2	L Madeira	3
Edu P	0,1	B Caldeira	2	Frimpong	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Cassamá	0,3	L Ferreira	7	Karamoko	3
Schurrle	0,2	L Faustino	6	B Ventura	2
T Melo	0,2	Frimpong	5	Costinha	2

The last game of the month and the end of the drought for Karamoko, too bad we didn't follow that with a win. It was a balanced match, We had many key passes but the last touch wasn't there.
 

We are still on the top side of the table. 11 points away from the relegation playoff spot; 7 points away from the objective of 32 (78% of the objective in 53% of the competition); 1,39 ppg.

 

4 games in February. It would be nice to get to our objective this month, but it’s going to be difficult.

[warlock]

3 hours ago, lfds89 said:

A few days after it was Marseille

Headed to the big time I'd say the Marseille board are right to be impressed by your record at Sertanense. It might be difficult to improve your current position by much, but a Top Half finish would be a great result, and Europe is not out of the question.

Good luck with the remainder of your season!

[lfds89]

Em 16/06/2023 em 01:18, warlock disse:

Headed to the big time I'd say the Marseille board are right to be impressed by your record at Sertanense. It might be difficult to improve your current position by much, but a Top Half finish would be a great result, and Europe is not out of the question.

Good luck with the remainder of your season!

Thanks!

My problem with trying to achieve more with this team is squad depth. I have a decent enough starting eleven, and decent backups for CB and RB, but the rest is just a bit off the required level for a Portuguese first-tier. For instance, in this run of games I had Lacx out; for some time, Bruno Ventura was also out. I only had Cassamá as an option for the right inside forward spot. He's good coming off the bench, but nowhere near a starter (his ratings were all between 6.1 and 6.3 when starting). If it happens to Karamoko, I will try Cassamá or Culubali, but the drop will likely be significant.

[lfds89]

One more month and five more games played

It was quite difficult, but once again we managed to be above 1 ppg with a surprise win.

 

The first game was against Estoril. I usually watch games in Extended Highlights, but I had a friendly before where I switched to Key, and forgot about it. Couldn’t see what was happening, thought it was just one of those games where nothing happens and couldn’t make any changes to impact the match. My fault entirely.

[Primeira Liga] vs Estoril (A)
Final Score: 0-1 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
66 – 92	40 – 67	3 – 5	0,72 – 1,04	1 – 2	38 – 62
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
L Ferreira	7,4	Frimpong	7	Karamoko	1
Frimpong	7,1	Culubali	3	Culubali	1
L Madeira	7,0	Costinha	3	Cassamá	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	0,2	L Ferreira	10	Schurrle	3
Culubali	0,2	B Caldeira	6	L Madeira	2
Miccoli	0,1	Frimpong	5	Costinha	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Culubali	0,2	L Ferreira	6	B Ventura	3
B Caldeira	0,2	Frimpong	4	Frimpong	3
Miccoli	0,1	M Raposo	4	B Caldeira	3

 

 

Then it was Chaves. We were so much better and really deserved to win this match.

[Primeira Liga] vs Chaves (H)
Final Score: 0-1 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
70 – 65	45 – 26	5 – 4	1,75 – 0,74	5 – 1	53 – 47
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
L Madeira	7,3	Costinha	4	Edu P	2
Costinha	7,1	Frimpong	3	L Ferreira	1
J Castro	6,9	B Ventura	3	Karamoko	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	0,5	L Ferreira	4	L Madeira	6
L Madeira	0,3	L Madeira	4	B Caldeira	4
Schurrle	0,3	Ricciulli	2	Schurrle	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
L Madeira	0,6	Ricciulli	10	Frimpong	4
Costinha	0,4	L Ferreira	8	Karamoko	3
B Ventura	0,2	Karamoko	7	B Ventura	3

 

Then we remembered we need to win some matches. It was a dull match without big chances for either team, but we managed to keep them to 0 shots on target and 0 chances created. Very proud of the team to play such football against Vitória de Guimarães.

[Primeira Liga] vs Vitória de Guimarães (A)
Final Score: 1-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
36 – 94	38 – 41	2 – 0	0,58 – 0,58	2 – 0	50 – 50
Individual Highlights
Goals	Karamoko
Assists	J Castro
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
J Castro	7,8	Schurrle	7	L Faustino	1
Karamoko	7,5	L Madeira	3	Karamoko	1
J López	7,4	J Castro	3
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Karamoko	0,3	J Castro	4	B Ventura	3
L Faustino	0,1	Denilson	4	J Castro	2
Schurrle	0,1	Schurrle	3	Denilson	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
J Castro	0,3	L Ferreira	6	Karamoko	5
B Ventura	0,1	Frimpong	5	J Castro	3
L Ferreira	0,1	L Faustino	4	Schurrle	3

 

Following our first win, came our second. This was our first big win. We had drawn to Benfica in the first round and managed to beat them at our home. A delight for the supporters (who still rate me as “C+” though…)

[Primeira Liga] vs Benfica (H)
Final Score: 2-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
57 – 72	29 – 54	3 – 4	0,63 – 0,90	1 – 2	49 – 51
Individual Highlights
Goals	Karamoko, Miccoli
Assists	J Castro, Karamoko
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Karamoko	7,8	B Caldeira	5	Cassamá	1
Ricciulli	7,5	Schurrle	3	Miccoli	1
J López	7,4	Ricciulli	3	Karamoko	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Miccoli	0,2	Schurrle	4	Culubali	2
Culubali	0,1	Ricciulli	4	B Caldeira	2
L Madeira	0,1	B Caldeira	4	Karamoko	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Karamoko	0,2	Ricciulli	7	B Ventura	5
B Caldeira	0,1	Frimpong	4	Karamoko	5
Cassamá	0,1	L Faustino	3

 

Last game, already in March was against Porto. I had to sub off Daniel Azevedo, our starting GK has he had been real bad in training for 2 weeks in a row and his performances were taking a dip as well; Caldeira, starting RB, was suspended; Karamoko suspended; Costinha injured; Lacx still injured; Frimpong unfit; Denilson recovering from an injury. So I had to field a rotated eleven and gave some youngsters a chance to participate (Castanheira, Tahiri and Carvalhais got a chance to play).

[Primeira Liga] vs Porto (A)
Final Score: 0-3 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
43 – 132	38 – 75	1 – 11	0,13 – 2,22	0 – 4	44 – 56
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Denilson	6,9	T Melo	4	Edu P	1
L Faustino	6,8	Denilson	3
J López	6,7	Culubai	2
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
J Castro	0,1	L Ferreira	5	Tahiri	1
		L Faustino	3	Denilson	1
		T Melo	2	Carvalhais	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
		T Melo	6	Cassamá	3
		Cassamá	4	Tahiri	2
		L Faustino	3	Culubali	1

No, I didn't forget to fill in half the table... We were just that bad...

 

Here are the standings:

I don’t feel threatened by Casa Pia or any of the other relegation candidates, but we’ll still try to make the most points we can.

 

The next 5 games are very interesting. We play Santa Clara and Sporting which are very difficult matches and then we play the bottom-3. We have to make a statement against them.

 

[lfds89]

Youth Team dominated their league

They are now through to the second phase. 6 teams in 2 groups, top-3 is promoted to the U19 First Division.

 

New Youth Candidates

A new batch of youngsters just arrived. I won’t be here to develop them, but hope at least one of them can make it into the first team.

 

We got 1 professional and 1 fairly professional; 3 consistent and 1 very consistent; 1 either footed player. This is all new and great.

Name	Best Pos	Injuries	Consistency	Big Matches	Personality	Technical	Mental	Physical	Total	ShStop	Physical	Speed	Mental	Comm	Ecc	Aerial	Dist	Total	*
Filipe Quintaneiro	GK	-1	-2	0	Professional	8	7	7	22	9	6	6	9	8	19	6	6	43%
Name	Best Pos	Injuries	Consistency	Big Matches	Personality	Technical	Mental	Physical	Total	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def
Jonatas Marreiros	AM (R)	0	1	0	Fairly Professional	7	8	9	24	3	8	11	8	8	9	6	9	39%	5
Tutinho	ST (C)	0	1	0	Balanced	6	6	9	21	1	9	11	6	11	10	2	6	35%	10
Ivan Sales	D (C)	0	1	0	Low Determination	6	7	8	21	8	7	8	5	5	7	11	8	37%	-3
Micael Lopes	AM (L)	0	-1	0	Balanced	4	7	9	20	3	7	13	8	8	5	5	7	35%	5
Reto Salgaro	D (C)	0	-1	0	Balanced	7	7	9	23	11	8	9	5	7	8	9	8	41%	-4
Ivan Maia	M (C)	0	2	0	Unambitious	5	8	9	22	9	8	10	7	6	7	8	9	40%	-3
Ivan Flor	AM (C)	0	-1	0	Balanced	6	9	6	21	5	6	7	10	7	10	5	9	37%	2

If I had to put my chips on someone, it would be Reto Salgaro. Not as DC but maybe as DM. I also like Tutinho and Ivan Flor. Of course, if Marreiros is touted as elite, he must be at least decent.

I’m curious about scouting all my youth when I’m at Marseille. Pretty sure they’ll be below standard, but there might be a surprise.

 

NXGN

Surely we don’t have anyone in the list, but Marseille has. No.33, the winger Hassan.

 

The Statement!

Yeah… about that… We made a statement against Casa Pia: we were terrible, out of depth, it was appalling, and I was disgusted it our performance. Surely we had a red card soon (17 minutes in) but we were just non existent on the field. Not any better in other games: 1-1 against Santa Clara when they got one player sent off and there were 45 minutes to play, could not create a single chance and eventually lost the game; same story against Sporting – 2-2 when they got a man sent off at minute 67, lost the game at 90+2; against Moreirense we managed to win but they scored at 90+3 and just after the kick-off had another good chance to score.

All in all, it's 6 points in 5 games, which is over 1 ppg.

 

The standings do us a favor, but we haven’t been playing football except for the game against Feirense.

 

In the meantime, Karamoko had 4 goals against Feirense, 1 against Sporting and 1 against Moreirense and is back in contention for the Top Goalscorer award.

 

And the last 6 games of the season:

 

 

Only Boavista and Portimonense are below us on the table, so it might be a sad goodbye to Sertanense, but we have achieved the objective of staying in this league, so overall it was a good season no matter what happens in these last games. 

[lfds89]

A big step for the youth team

They’ll now compete with the big boys. Investment is needed to keep up with them, but it shows Sertanense is on the right path.

 

The bonuses I don’t mind paying

We are safe from relegation. Objective achieved!

 

Prophetically, in the last game Karamoko and Luís Ferreira scored our goals. The guys who have been with me since the beginning and they are still leading the team.

 

We achieved a very important position to build on next year. It’s a mixed feeling: I loved my time at Sertanense and I’m sad to leave, but I feel like I need a different challenge.

 

Individually, Karamoko was just 1 goal shy from being crowned the top goalscorer, but he must be proud of himself.

 

Career Summary

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
03	2024/2025	Sertanense	PT2	3rd	TdP	Third Round	1,76	50%	59	36
04	2025/2026	Sertanense	PT1	9th	TdP	Third Round	1,29	35%	46	50

PPG, Win%, Goals For and Goals Against are stats for League only.

 

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
03	2024/2025	Sertanense	Karamoko – 21	Miccoli – 8	Karamoko – 7	Karamoko – 7,10
04	2025/2026	Sertanense	Karamoko – 22	Costinha – 9	Costinha – 4	Karamoko – 7,02

Karamoko is still the man who scores, this time Costinha was the creator. Shout-out to Schurrle who also had a great season.

 

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 €	1266
03	2024/2025	Sertanense	9 730 336,00 €	11 047 343,00 €	-1 317 007,00 €	1876
04	2025/2026	Sertanense	6 747 649,00 €	7 290 128,00 €	-542 479,00 €	5296

Finances keep going on a downward trend, but I'm pretty sure the team will have new sponsors and will turn this around.

 

All-Time Appearances and Goals

Name	Position	Apps	Goals	Seasons	Club
Daniel Azevedo	GK	78	0	23-26	Sertanense
Tiago Melo	RB	67	4	23-26	Sertanense
Luís Ferreira	CB	121	11	22-26	Sertanense
Levi Faustino	CB	51	2	24-26	Sertanense
Daniel Andrade	LB	69	0	23-26	Sertanense
João Castro	CM	99	12	23-26	Sertanense
Luís Madeira	CM	99	9	23-26	Sertanense
Miccoli	CM	84	6	22-26	Sertanense
Herculano Cassamá	RW	60	10	23-26	Sertanense
Denilson	LW	117	21	22-26	Sertanense
Mohamed Karamoko	ST	129	97	22-26	Sertanense

The guys who have been with me the longest. Some centurions, a shame that both Castro and Madeira didn't get to make game number 100. And Karamoko on the verge of goal 100!

 

Marseille

When they contacted me, they were 7^th in the league. They have finished in 5^th and qualified for the Europa League.

I attended their last game of the season and this was how they started the match:

They lost 2-0 to Strasbourg who finished just after them.

I’ll go into more detail about the squad in future posts.

[lfds89]

Season Objectives and Budget

I’m curious about this. I think Marseille should be aiming higher, but I can’t even change the league objectives for this year, so I’ll take it.

 

First View of the Club

Last season only one player got decent minutes while being under 25 years of age: the loanee who is not at the club this season. Club vision: sign players under 23.

 

To make things worse, we already had 2 signings arranged: Allan Saint-Maximin, 29, LW and Marco Sala, 27, LB.

Starting with ASM, last year Afif was the left winger; he had 7,23 average rating, scored 10 and was POM 5 times. Highest average rating, highest league goalscorer, highest average rating. And now ASM is the player on the highest wage in the whole squad…

 

Marco Sala will be facing the competition of Pezzella which is probably our second or third best player. At least Sala is on low wages and his status is only of a squad player. I would’ve preferred someone younger, but that’s not the worst.

 

When I got here, we had around 91 players under contract over our 3 squads. My aim is to cut this down to 22 first-team players, 18 B-Team players and 18 U19 players (total of 58; that’s a cut of 33 players). I’ll probably cut even more, because I don’t think we need so many players, but let’s do small steps. 8 players were released over contract ending; 10 players were sold; 1 was loaned out. We bought ASM and Sala as I told before and a youngster for the U19. That makes it 16 less players. Even before players got back from holidays.

 

To help with the squad building, Fujimoto, Toni Martinez and Guiagon asked for improved deals, with demands way over what they are worth. Probably a consequence of the ASM contract. And Gigot wants me to accept an offer by Sporting… Our reputation also seems to be a problem.

 

This is probably a chance for a total rebuild, but as it is the main squad follows:

Name	Best Pos	Personality	ShStop	Physical	Speed	Mental	Comm	Ecc	Aerial	Dist	Total	*	Comment
Pau López	GK	Fairly Professional	16	12	13	13	9	7	13	14	61%
Gonçalo Tabuaço	GK	Fairly Determined	14	11	10	12	9	7	13	14	56%
Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def	Comment
Hans Hateboer	D (R)	Resolute	13	13	13	9	12	11	14	14	62%	-1
Reeve Frosler	D (R)	Fairly Determined	13	11	15	9	9	11	8	13	56%	-4	Either Foot
Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def	Comment
Giuseppe Pezzella	D (L)	Resilient	13	14	15	10	11	11	12	14	63%	-2
Marco Sala	D (L)	Fairly Professional	12	12	14	11	9	12	8	12	56%	-3	Transfer In
Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def	Comment
Samuel Gigot	D (C)	Driven	14	12	11	13	10	11	15	14	63%	-4
Chancel Mbemba	D (C)	Resilient	13	13	14	11	9	11	14	14	62%	-4
Éric Bailly	D (C)	Fairly Professional	15	15	15	9	7	10	13	12	60%	-8
Leonardo Balerdi	D (C)	Spirited	14	12	12	9	9	10	14	13	58%	-5
Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def	Comment
Matteo Guendouzi	DM	Balanced	14	14	15	15	13	15	12	14	70%	-1
Boubakary Soumaré	M (C)	Fairly Ambitious	13	14	11	14	12	14	12	13	64%	-1
Amadou Haïdara	M (C)	Ambitious	12	13	13	13	12	14	9	13	62%	0
Ludovit Reis	DM	Resolute	12	14	12	13	11	12	9	14	61%	-1
Nico Melamed	AM (C)	Fairly Determined	9	13	14	13	12	12	7	13	58%	3
Parfait Guiagon	AM (C)	Ambitious	8	11	13	14	12	14	6	12	56%	4
Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def	Comment
Akram Afif	AM (L)	Fairly Determined	4	12	15	15	14	15	6	12	58%	10
Kanya Fujimoto	AM (R)	Spirited	7	12	12	15	12	15	6	12	57%	5
Allan Saint-Maximin	AM (L)	Fairly Ambitious	3	13	16	15	12	16	5	11	57%	9
Radenko Ristic	AM (L)	Driven	4	10	15	11	10	13	7	11	51%	6	U19 – P5
Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def	Comment
Toni Martínez	ST (C)	Spirited	6	13	13	11	14	12	15	13	61%	8
Amine Harit	ST (C)	Balanced	7	11	14	16	12	15	6	11	57%	5
Arkadiusz Milik	ST (C)	Ambitious	4	11	10	12	14	13	13	14	57%	10

Amine Harit is considered a ST because that's where he played last season, but most likely he'll play either CM/CAM or Wing.

 

Along with the best prospects so far:

Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def	Status
Maximiliano Rodriguez	D (R)	Determined	14	12	14	8	8	9	10	14	56%	-6	U19 – P4,5
Thomas Scherrer	M (C)	Light-Hearted	8	12	13	12	7	13	8	12	53%	-1	U17 – P5
Nenad Mitrovic	ST (C)	Temperamental	1	12	12	10	12	12	11	11	51%	11	U19 – P3,5
Noah Gil	ST (C)	Fickle	2	12	9	12	11	14	9	12	51%	9	U19 – P3,5
Radenko Ristic	AM (L)	Driven	4	10	15	11	10	13	7	11	51%	6	U19 – P5
Ashraf Hassan	AM (R)	Driven	7	12	14	9	8	12	7	11	50%	1	U19 – P4
Patrick Guldager	D (C)	Professional	12	10	8	6	7	9	14	13	49%	-5	U19 – P4,5
Gael Lafont	AM (R)	Balanced	4	12	14	11	11	13	7	7	49%	7	U19 – P4,5
João Sousa	M (R)	Fairly Sporting	7	10	11	8	7	12	11	10	48%	0	U17 – P4,5
Recep Akyel	ST (C)	Fairly Ambitious	3	11	11	8	13	11	11	8	48%	10	U19 – P3,5
Mamadou Maiga	M (R)	Balanced	6	11	9	12	8	11	9	10	48%	2	U17 – P4
José Hourcade	M (R)	Balanced	3	13	15	11	8	13	4	9	48%	5	U19 – P4,5
Xavier Patrac	AM (R)	Fairly Loyal	2	11	13	11	8	13	9	8	47%	6	U19 – P3,5
Willem Pander	D (L)	Temperamental	11	10	12	7	6	6	10	12	46%	-5	U19 – P3,5
Axel Vincent	M (C)	Fairly Professional	6	9	12	10	7	12	5	10	44%	1	U17 – P4
Baptiste Bertrand	M (L)	Balanced	5	10	11	10	9	11	5	10	44%	4	U17 – P4,5
Salif Keita	AM (R)	Balanced	3	11	13	12	8	10	4	9	44%	5	U17 – P4
Aissa Boucetta	D (R)	Balanced	9	10	10	7	3	6	10	11	41%	-6	U19 – P3,5
Fabrice Husser	AM (R)	Balanced	1	9	14	8	10	11	8	5	41%	9	U17 – P4
Arthur Carriere	D (R)	Fairly Professional	10	8	8	7	6	8	7	12	41%	-4	U17 – P4

Note: P5 means Potential 5 stars according to Assistant Manager. U19 and U17 doesn't mean they'll play there, it means they are in that age category.

I'm still deciding who stays and trains with the first-team and who's loaned out. Mitrovic will certainly stay and I'll try and change his personality, Noah Gil seems like he needs that too, the rest have decent enough personalities so they can be loaned out right away. Scherrer and Ristic will stay as I intend to give them minutes.

 

[lfds89]

Tactical Iterations

Amidst a rebuilding project, trying to find the perfect tactic is delusional.

My first try is a 4-3-3 DM Wide much in line with what I used at Sertanense. Now I’ve added a RPM as DM because Guendouzi offers a lot more than any midfielder I ever had and DLF/TF as ST since none of my strikers is particularly fast.

In the first game, although it was against a much smaller team and without much familiarity with the system, I felt Guendouzi was far away from the action and wasn’t too involved.

I’ve then decided to try a system I had already tried in friendlies at Sertanense.

Note: Don’t mind players selected, some are off their positions.

 

Doesn’t seem to be working that well, probably a bit too complicated to implement this on a new team.

I revert to the 4-3-3 DM Wide, now with some transfers in and dropping the idea of Guendouzi as RPM. DM spot switches between DM-S, DLP-S and DM-D to adapt to opposition.

 

I’ve also switched in-game to the tactic with the WP since it suits Amine Harit, Fujimoto, and even Afif.

It allows exploring width with the LW coming inside and opening up space for the LWB.

 

 

Final Squad and Transfers Summary

Apart from the transfers of Sala and Saint-Maximin, we agreed to sign Maximilian Beier to replace Toni Martinez and Arda Güler to replace Parfait Guiagon.

Beier offers versatility and pace and is under 23.

 

Arda Güler is a technically brilliant U21 player. As a bonus, he accepted the role of squad player.

I’ve also added some youngsters who came on a cheap.

On the way out from the first team, besides Toni and Parfait, Kolasinac (who had been on loan) and Nico Melamed were also sold.

 

And I got some more knowledge of the rules…

 

Review of the French market

More about Lens is below.

And the summary of our “ins and outs”

IN

 

OUT (Only valued transfers, frees and loans are not on image)

And the squad summary

Name	Best Pos	Personality	ShStop	Physical	Speed	Mental	Comm	Ecc	Aerial	Dist	Total	*
Pau López	GK	Fairly Professional	16	12	13	13	9	7	13	14	61%
Gonçalo Tabuaço	GK	Fairly Determined	14	11	10	12	9	7	13	14	56%
Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def
Hans Hateboer	D (R)	Resolute	13	13	13	9	12	11	14	14	62%	-1
Reeve Frosler	D (R)	Fairly Determined	13	11	15	9	9	11	8	13	56%	-4
Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def
Giuseppe Pezzella	D (L)	Resilient	13	14	15	10	11	11	12	14	63%	-2
Marco Sala	D (L)	Fairly Professional	12	12	14	11	9	12	8	12	56%	-3
Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def
Samuel Gigot	D (C)	Driven	14	12	11	13	10	11	15	14	63%	-4
Chancel Mbemba	D (C)	Resilient	13	13	14	11	9	11	14	14	62%	-4
Éric Bailly	D (C)	Fairly Professional	15	15	15	9	7	10	13	12	60%	-8
Leonardo Balerdi	D (C)	Spirited	14	12	12	9	9	10	14	13	58%	-5
Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def
Matteo Guendouzi	M (C)	Balanced	14	14	15	15	13	15	12	14	70%	-1
Boubakary Soumaré	DM	Fairly Ambitious	13	14	11	14	12	14	12	13	64%	-1
Amadou Haïdara	M (C)	Ambitious	12	13	13	13	12	14	9	13	62%	0
Ludovit Reis	DM	Resolute	12	14	12	13	11	12	9	14	61%	-1
Arda Guler	AM (C)	Resolute	3	11	13	16	15	16	11	11	60%	12
Amine Harit	AM (C)	Balanced	7	11	14	16	12	15	6	11	57%	5
Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def
Akram Afif	AM (L)	Fairly Determined	4	12	15	15	14	15	6	12	58%	10
Kanya Fujimoto	AM (R)	Spirited	7	12	12	15	12	15	6	12	57%	5
Allan Saint-Maximin	AM (L)	Fairly Ambitious	3	13	16	15	12	16	5	11	57%	9
Radenko Ristic	AM (L)	Driven	4	10	15	11	10	13	7	11	51%	6
Name	Best Pos	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Att-Def
Maximilian Beier	ST (C)	Professional	8	13	16	13	14	13	13	12	64%	6
Bamba Dieng	ST (C)	Fairly Ambitious	7	12	15	11	14	13	10	12	59%	7
Arkadiusz Milik	ST (C)	Ambitious	4	11	10	12	14	13	13	14	57%	10

 

Opposition

PSG we all know very well and now Lens who were just promoted are owned by a Tycoon. They are predicted 1^st and 2^nd.

Name	Prediction	Manager	Formation	TEC	MEN	PHY	Average	Rank
Angers	18	Moulin	5-3-2 DM WB	69	70	78	72	14
Bordeaux	12	Guion	4-3-3 DM Wide	70	71	78	73	13
Brest	14	Le Guen	5-2-3 DM Wide	71	68	77	72	16
Lens	2	Tudor	5-2-2-1 DM AM	76	73	79	76	6
Lille	9	Koeman	4-3-3 DM Wide	77	73	76	75	7
Lorient	8	Almeyda	4-3-3 DM Wide	73	71	78	74	9
Lyon	5	Stéphan	5-2-1-2 DM AM	76	75	78	76	5
Marseille	6	Leal	4-3-3 DM Wide	79	75	75	76	4
Metz	13	Petrescu	4-3-3 DM Wide	71	69	76	72	15
Monaco	3	Clement	4-4-2	76	74	79	76	3
Montpellier	16	Blanc	5-3-2 DM WB	69	71	72	70	18
Nantes	17	Sagnol	4-4-2 Diamond Narrow	70	71	71	71	17
Nice	7	Conceição	4-3-3 DM Wide	74	71	74	73	11
PSG	1	Garitano	4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide	85	82	80	83	1
Rennes	4	Genesio	4-4-2	79	75	77	77	2
Saint-Étienne	11	Grosso	4-3-3 DM Wide	75	73	76	75	8
Strasbourg	10	Bachar	4-3-3 DM Wide	73	69	78	73	12
Troyes	15	Diarra	5-3-2 DM WB	72	72	77	74	10

TEC - Dribbling, First Touch, Passing

MEN - Anticipation, Concentration, Decisions

PHY - Jumping, Pace, Strength

Regarding the attributes, we are quite well-rounded except for physical. Joint second in both Technical and Mental but we are 4th last in Physical. I believe it'll change when I rebuild my defense. Jumping is where we are further from average.

About formations: 8 managers using 4-3-3 DM Wide, 12 using 4 at the back. I feel like having a working 4-2-3-1 would help. I'll try to develop something in the friendlies along the season.

 

New Affiliate

All the affiliates Marseille had were local clubs and such a team needed presence outside. This is the first affiliate I asked for, and the board let me have the final word. Minnesota, it is. Allows us to increase our brand in the USA.

 

First Games of the Season

Decent start to the season. Results were worse than performances, but we'll get there.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Nantes (A)
Final Score: 0-0 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
101 – 51	44 – 32	7 – 1	3,08 – 0,47	8 – 1	54 – 46
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Pezzella	7,7	Fujimoto	5	Beier	3
Guendouzi	7,5	Guendouzi	3	Guendouzi	1
Mbemba	7,4	Beier	2	Fujimoto	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Beier	0,9	Mbemba	5	Fujimoto	7
Harit	0,4	Gigot	4	Pezzella	5
Afif	0,4	Hateboer	4	ASM	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Pezzella	0,9	Gigot	14	Pezzella	8
Guendouzi	0,6	Mbemba	10	Afif	5
Fujimoto	0,5	Balerdi	6	Guendouzi	4

Over 3 xG, 8 chances, no goals. We kept them at bay.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Lille (H)
Final Score: 5-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
71 – 40	46 – 29	8 - 0	2,98 – 0,21	6 – 1	48 – 52
Individual Highlights
Goals	Afif, Beier, Reis, Guendouzi, Harit
Assists	Sala, Afif, Guler (x2), Fujimoto
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Fujimoto	8,2	Guendouzi	4	Beier	2
Harit	7,9	Beier	3	Balerdi	1
Guler	7,9	Fujimoto	3	Harit	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Beier	1,0	Hateboer	4	Fujimoto	5
Guendouzi	0,9	Guendouzi	3	Guler	4
Guler	0,2	Balerdi	2	ASM	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Fujimoto	1,1	Balerdi	11	Sala	7
ASM	0,8	Hateboer	4	Harit	4
Harit	0,2	Gigot	4	Guendouzi	3

For the goals we didn't score against Nantes.

Great team goal against Lille – don’t know how to record longer, but it was a first-touch pass by Fujimoto from a Sala’s pass.

[Ligue 1] vs Bordeaux (A)
Final Score: 0-1 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
67 – 81	49 – 40	4 – 1	0,88 – 0,46	4 – 0	47 – 53
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Hateboer	7,0	Sala	8	Guler	1
Guendouzi	7,0	Hateboer	5	ASM	1
Fujimoto	6,9	Afif	3	Afif	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Guendouzi	0,3	Gigot	4	Guendouzi	3
Guler	0,2	Hateboer	4	Fujimoto	2
Afif	0,2	Guendouzi	4	ASM	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Fujimoto	0,3	Hateboer	7	ASM	7
Beier	0,2	Gigot	6	Guendouzi	4
ASM	0,1	Beier	4	Beier	2

Once again we were better but this time with a low xG.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Lyon (H)
Final Score: 1-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
52 – 81	38 – 47	5 – 2	1,12 – 0,17	2 – 0	42 – 58
Individual Highlights
Goals	Beier
Assists	Guendouzi
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Beier	8,0	Hateboer	4	Beier	3
Guendouzi	7,6	Fujimoto	3	Fujimoto	1
Hateboer	7,4	Afif	3	Balerdi	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Beier	0,8	Balerdi	4	Fujimoto	3
Balerdi	0,1	Guendouzi	3	Guendouzi	2
Fujimoto	0,1	Gigot	3	Beier	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Guendouzi	0,6	Hateboer	7	Beier	5
Fujimoto	0,3	Gigot	7	Hateboer	3
Beier	0,1	Guendouzi	3	Guler	3

The first big test and we were definitely better.

 

We have beaten every team in shots on target, xG and Chances created. On average:

	For/90	Against/90
Shots on Target	6,0	1,0
xG	2,02	0,33
Chances	5,0	0,5

 

xG Table shows we have been better than our standing shows

 

And the actual standings with Lens starting strong.

[lfds89]

Wage Structure & Team Dynamics

Sum					5 837 000,00 €
Wage Budget					7 400 000,00 €

It needs work, but with the ASM transfer already agreed, the much-needed transfer of Beier and Fujimoto demanding an “Important Player” status, it’s what is possible right now.

Pau López and Afif are on low wages in comparison but they are 31 and 29, respectively, so I don’t envision big upgrades for them.

Guendouzi wants to leave to play with a better team. I might accept a decent offer. He has been one of our best players so far (as expected), but I don’t want unhappy players here, especially, when they are team leaders.

Name	Best Pos	Age	Mins	Ability	Wage	Appearance Fee	Agent	Begins	Expires	Transfer Value	Agreed Playing Time
Pau López	GK	31	720	3	227 000,00 €	€10 500	Irene Pezzullo - Acquaintance	5/2/2026	30/6/2028	€7,8M - €9,4M	Important Player
Giuseppe Pezzella	D (L)	28	487	3,5	351 000,00 €	€16 250	Paolo Piccoli - Own Player	13/12/2024	30/6/2029	€50M - €55M	Star Player
Matteo Guendouzi	M (C)	27	691	4	355 000,00 €	€14 250	Dave Green - Own Player	10/7/2023	30/6/2029	€65M - €72M	Star Player
Kanya Fujimoto	AM (R)	27	626	3	348 000,00 €	€16 000	Naoko Kasahara - Own Player	15/7/2026	30/6/2030	€45M - €50M	Important Player
Akram Afif	AM (L)	29	612	3,5	298 000,00 €	€13 750	Mohammed Al-Sayed - Own Player	10/6/2025	30/6/2028	€41M - €45M	Important Player
Allan Saint-Maximin	AM (L)	29	596	3,5	419 000,00 €	€19 250	Romain Cavelier - Acquaintance	1/7/2026	30/6/2029	€49M - €58M	Important Player
Maximilian Beier	AM (L)	23	565	3,5	360 000,00 €	€18 750	Felix Brinkies - Acquaintance	26/7/2026	30/6/2031	€51M - €56M	Important Player
	Wage Sum				2 358 000,00 €
	Total Allowed				2 220 000,00 €
7	Max 4				555 000,00 €

 

In the regular starters group, Balerdi is probably on a higher wage than should be, but he’s wanted so I might let him leave. Amine Harit is also on a high wage and he’s 29, we’ll see how this season goes, but I might have to sell him.

Name	Best Pos	Age	Mins	Ability	Wage	Appearance Fee	Agent	Begins	Expires	Transfer Value	Agreed Playing Time
Chancel Mbemba	D (R)	32	450	3	230 000,00 €	€10 500	Chérubin Zola - Close	15/4/2024	30/6/2027	€6M - €6,6M	Regular Starter
Hans Hateboer	D (R)	32	702	3	300 000,00 €	€13 750	Federico Facciolo - Own Player	3/1/2025	30/6/2027	€11M - €12M	Regular Starter
Leonardo Balerdi	D (C)	27	618	3,5	366 000,00 €	€16 750	Heiko Richter - Own Player	9/7/2025	30/6/2030	€35M - €44M	Regular Starter
Ludovit Reis	DM	26	691	3	223 000,00 €	€10 250	Adrián Rico - Acquaintance	18/8/2025	30/6/2030	€30M - €36M	Regular Starter
Amine Harit	AM (L)	29	314	3	353 000,00 €	€16 250	Romain Cavelier - Own Player	11/7/2025	30/6/2028	€25M - €27M	Regular Starter
	Wage Sum				1 472 000,00 €
	Total Allowed				2 220 000,00 €
5	Max 7				317 142,86 €

 

In the squad players group, there are also some overpaid players: Soumaré, Bailly and Milik are the most obvious. Bailly and Milik are mostly squad fillers, both 32, and I don’t think they’ll count for next season. They are still pretty decent but with need the renewal and a better structure. When I look at his attributes, Soumaré should be a regular starter (although he’s just barely over the regular start max wage as well). He still hasn’t played much this season as he started the season with an injury and Reis-Guendouzi-Fujimoto has been working well, so we’ll see. He’ll definitely have more chances if Guendouzi leaves, but can he fill in the boots?

Name	Best Pos	Age	Mins	Ability	Wage	Appearance Fee	Agent	Begins	Expires	Transfer Value	Agreed Playing Time
Gonçalo Tabuaço	GK	25	90	2	44 000,00 €	€2 200	Ricardo Morais - Acquaintance	1/9/2023	30/6/2028	€160K - €500K	Backup
Reeve Frosler	D (R)	28	150	3	178 000,00 €	€10 250	Kabelo Radebe - Own Player	29/1/2026	30/6/2029	€11M - €14M	Squad Player
Samuel Gigot	D (C)	32	462	2,5	132 000,00 €	€6 000	- - Acquaintance	31/1/2025	30/6/2027	€5M	Squad Player
Éric Bailly	D (C)	32	90	2,5	293 000,00 €	€17 000	- - Own Player	3/1/2026	30/6/2028	€1,6M - €3,4M	Squad Player
Marco Sala	WB (L)	27	281	2,5	78 000,00 €	€4 500	Davide Musa - Own Player	1/7/2026	30/6/2030	€2,5M - €5,4M	Squad Player
Ashraf Hassan	M (R)	19	-	2	33 500,00 €	€2 200	Mahmoud Radwan - Acquaintance	12/7/2025	30/6/2030	€13,5M - €16,5M	Fringe Player
Amadou Haïdara	M (C)	28	114	3	217 000,00 €	€12 500	Coumba Sissoko - Acquaintance	8/7/2025	30/6/2029	€17,5M - €19M	Squad Player
Boubakary Soumaré	M (C)	27	131	3	322 000,00 €	€18 500	Luke Morgan - Own Player	1/7/2025	30/6/2029	€12,5M - €15M	Squad Player
Arda Güler	AM (C)	21	255	3	207 000,00 €	€12 000	Özgür Yıldız - Own Player	16/7/2026	30/6/2030	€33M - €38M	Squad Player
Radenko Ristić	AM (L)	19	32	2	27 000,00 €	€1 700	Nemanja Stanojević - Close	2/2/2026	30/6/2030	€17,5M - €22M	Fringe Player
Bamba Dieng	ST (C)	26	129	2,5	64 500,00 €	€3 200	Cheik N'Diaye - Acquaintance	6/1/2024	30/6/2028	€1,7M - €3,9M	Fringe Player
Arkadiusz Milik	ST (C)	32	104	2	278 000,00 €	€16 000	Piergiorgio Missaglia - Own Player	16/1/2026	30/6/2028	€2,7M - €3,6M	Fringe Player
	Wage Sum				1 874 000,00 €
	Total Allowed				2 220 000,00 €
12	Max 11				201 818,18 €

 

About Dynamics, Marseille is a strange team.

Harit is a team leader but he doesn’t belong to any social group; Guendouzi is a team leader and his social group mostly has prospects. Even Mbemba and Pezzella, who share personality types have 2 different groups. Somehow this must turn into less groups but bigger groups.

 

September is gone!

Not exactly how I intended, but it’s just our second month together, so we are still adapting.

 

Clear win over Angers made easy with a 35-minute send off to one of their strikers.

[Ligue 1] vs Angiers (A)
Final Score: 3-1 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
188 – 28	66 – 24	9 – 2	2,11 – 0,46	6 – 1	59 – 41
Individual Highlights
Goals	Fujimoto, ASM, Guler
Assists	Pezzella
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Guler	7,7	Pezzella	3	Beier	4
Pezzella	7,4	Fujimoto	3	Fujimoto	2
ASM	7,3	Ristic	2	Guler	2
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Beier	0,8	Balerdi	6	Reis	3
ASM	0,4	Hateboer	4	Afif	3
Fujimoto	0,3	Mbemba	3	Soumaré	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Ristic	0,3	Balerdi	13	Hateboer	6
Afif	0,2	Pezzella	4	Pezzella	5
Reis	0,2	Mbemba	4	Frosler	4

 

Then I fielded a partially rotated 11 and we were terrible. Had to sub in my first team and eventually got a draw.

[Europa League] vs Astana (A)
Final Score: 2-2 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
47 – 54	47 – 30	4 – 5	1,77 – 1,24	5 – 3	52 – 48
Individual Highlights
Goals	Guendouzi, Balerdi
Assists	Reis, ASM
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Balerdi	8,1	Guler	4	Guler	1
Reis	7,4	Mbemba	4	Guendouzi	1
Guendouzi	7,4	Milik	2	Beier	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Beier	0,5	Mbemba	6	Guler	4
Guler	0,4	Balerdi	4	ASM	4
Balerdi	0,4	Pezzella	3	Reis	4
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
ASM	0,5	Balerdi	18	Frosler	8
Guendouzi	0,4	Guler	7	ASM	5
Pezzella	0,3	Mbemba	6	Harit	1

 

We were way better against Lorient and clearly deserved a win, they scored on the last play of the match…

[Ligue 1] vs Lorient (H)
Final Score: 1-1 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
73 – 40	51 – 25	8 – 2	2,45 – 0,55	4 – 1	58 – 42
Individual Highlights
Goals	Afif
Assists	ASM
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
ASM	8,1	Reis	3	Guendouzi	4
Afif	7,5	Guendouzi	3	Afif	1
Hateboer	7,1	ASM	3	Milik	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Afif	0,8	Bailly	7	ASM	4
Guendouzi	0,3	Gigot	6	Harit	4
ASM	0,3	Afif	5	Afif	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
ASM	1,1	Hateboer	15	ASM	4
Afif	0,3	Gigot	8	Harit	3
Guler	0,2	Bailly	6	Reis	3

 

Against Metz we weren’t great, but were clearly the better team.

[Ligue 1] vs Metz (A)
Final Score: 0-1 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
68 – 31	45 – 36	5 – 3	1,73 – 0,54	4 – 0	56 – 44
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Sala	7,3	Pezzella	6	Balerdi	2
Fujimoto	6,9	Guendouzi	4	Guler	1
Pezzella	6,9	Balerdi	3	Haidara	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Balerdi	0,6	Hateboer	4	Fujimoto	5
Dieng	0,5	Balerdi	4	Guendouzi	2
ASM	0,2	Mbemba	4	Dieng	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Sala	0,5	Balerdi	11	Guendouzi	6
Dieng	0,3	Hateboer	8	ASM	3
Fujimoto	0,3	Mbemba	5	Harit	3

 

And lastly, another big test, this time against Lens and we gave them no chance. On the 90^th minute they were on 0,23 xG, then they had a big chance and scored the 3-1.

[Ligue 1] vs Lens (H)
Final Score: 3-1 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
66 – 77	56 – 27	6 – 3	0,91 – 1,11	2 – 3	58 – 42
Individual Highlights
Goals	Reis, Beier, Harit
Assists	Afif, Pezzella
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Afif	7,7	Guendouzi	3	Reis	1
Balerdi	7,5	Pezzella	3	Afif	1
Pezzella	7,4	Afif	2	Haidara	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Beier	0,4	Balerdi	7	ASM	4
Harit	0,2	Afif	4	Afif	3
Haidara	0,1	Mbemba	3	Reis	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Afif	0,4	Balerdi	10	Pezzella	8
Pezzella	0,2	Mbemba	7	ASM	6
Balerdi	0,1	ASM	4	Afif	3

 

In the league we are 7th. But we have been playing better than this and we have beaten Lyon and Lens who should be our competition for the European spots when the season ends. Speaking of Lyon, they are having a very bad start to the season. On the opposite side, Strasbourg was predicted to finish 10th and they sit in 3rd with the same points as 2nd-placed Nice (who has a +7 ! difference between Goals Scored and xG).

 

[SixPointer]

How’s Guler performing? Is he as flamboyant as he is in real life?

[lfds89]

9 horas atrás, SixPointer disse:

How’s Guler performing? Is he as flamboyant as he is in real life?

I love him, he adds a lot offensively. He's rotating with Fujimoto on the RCM - MEZ-S position.

Attribute-wise:

Name	Best Pos	Injuries	Consistency	Big Matches	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Comment	CM	AM	WF
Arda Guler	AM (C)	0	1	0	Resolute	3	11	13	16	15	16	11	11	60%	Transfer In	57%	73%	71%
Kanya Fujimoto	AM (R)	0	2	1	Spirited	7	12	12	15	12	15	6	12	57%		61%	68%	66%

The positional ratings are just averages for some of the attributes I deem important for each role. For the MEZ-S I want someone who can play mostly AM, but also CM (for the defence) and WF (for the speed).

 

Stats-wise. Fujimoto has been impressive, so it's not easy to justify taking him off the team, but Arda is getting some game time which is the most important thing as he settles and develops (he's still 21).

Name	Pos PL	Club	Apps	Mins	PoM	Gls/90	ShT/90	Asts/90	Ps C/90	Pas %	Pr passes/90	OP-KP/90	Ch C/90	Drb/90	Poss Lost/90	Av Rat
Kanya Fujimoto	M (C)	Marseille	9	681	1,00	0,13	0,66	0,26	50,35	82,00	6,61	2,78	4,71	1,06	16,92	7,23
Arda Güler	M (C)	Marseille	2 (6)	345	1,00	0,26	1,57	0,52	48,00	78,00	8,61	3,13	3,64	2,09	17,74	7,06

 

Name	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%
Kanya Fujimoto	4,23	4,50	8,73	-9,52	0,39	6%	3%	13%	22%
Arda Güler	4,96	6,79	11,75	-8,61	0,78	7%	2%	18%	27%

 

I'm pretty sure he would excel as a Treq, for instance, in a 4-2-3-1; or even maybe as a F9 on a 4-3-3 with two wingers as IF-A or something like that.

[SixPointer]

1 hour ago, lfds89 said:

I love him, he adds a lot offensively. He's rotating with Fujimoto on the RCM - MEZ-S position.

Attribute-wise:

Name	Best Pos	Injuries	Consistency	Big Matches	Personality	Def	Physical	Speed	Vision	Att	Tech	Aerial	Mental	Total	Comment	CM	AM	WF
Arda Guler	AM (C)	0	1	0	Resolute	3	11	13	16	15	16	11	11	60%	Transfer In	57%	73%	71%
Kanya Fujimoto	AM (R)	0	2	1	Spirited	7	12	12	15	12	15	6	12	57%		61%	68%	66%

The positional ratings are just averages for some of the attributes I deem important for each role. For the MEZ-S I want someone who can play mostly AM, but also CM (for the defence) and WF (for the speed).

 

Stats-wise. Fujimoto has been impressive, so it's not easy to justify taking him off the team, but Arda is getting some game time which is the most important thing as he settles and develops (he's still 21).

Name	Pos PL	Club	Apps	Mins	PoM	Gls/90	ShT/90	Asts/90	Ps C/90	Pas %	Pr passes/90	OP-KP/90	Ch C/90	Drb/90	Poss Lost/90	Av Rat
Kanya Fujimoto	M (C)	Marseille	9	681	1,00	0,13	0,66	0,26	50,35	82,00	6,61	2,78	4,71	1,06	16,92	7,23
Arda Güler	M (C)	Marseille	2 (6)	345	1,00	0,26	1,57	0,52	48,00	78,00	8,61	3,13	3,64	2,09	17,74	7,06

 

Name	DA	OA	D+O	Poss +/-	G+A /90	OPKP/PsC	SPKP/PsC	ProgP/PsC	Prog%+KP%
Kanya Fujimoto	4,23	4,50	8,73	-9,52	0,39	6%	3%	13%	22%
Arda Güler	4,96	6,79	11,75	-8,61	0,78	7%	2%	18%	27%

 

I'm pretty sure he would excel as a Treq, for instance, in a 4-2-3-1; or even maybe as a F9 on a 4-3-3 with two wingers as IF-A or something like that.

Love the depth you’re willing to go to! It’s insane the amount of data you harvest 

[lfds89]

4 horas atrás, SixPointer disse:

Love the depth you’re willing to go to! It’s insane the amount of data you harvest 

Yeah... I'm a bit of a freak about the data. I lose a lot of time with this. And it's time I could spend actually playing the game...

Extracting the octagon attributes player by player is the worst, but it is also what provides the most information I can work.

 

[lfds89]

October was weird…

Should have beaten Brest but we didn’t do enough; we were better against PSG and deserved to win but we lost; the opposite happened against Arsenal: they were better, we we got the win.

Conceded a lot of shots against Partizan but Beier was in top form

[Europa League] vs Partizan (H)
Final Score: 3-1 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
63 – 34	69 – 29	8 – 10	2,25 – 1,60	6 – 4	62 – 38
Individual Highlights
Goals	Beier (x3)
Assists	Soumaré, Fujimoto
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Beier	9,2	Haidara	3	Beier	4
López	8,6	Soumaré	2	Balerdi	2
Soumaré	8,0	Frosler	2	Harit	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Beier	1,3	Pezzella	6	Fujimoto	6
Guler	0,3	Guler	4	Guler	4
Balerdi	0,2	Soumaré	3	Soumaré	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Guler	0,4	Balerdi	11	Sala	2
Soumaré	0,4	Bailly	7	Frosler	2
Fujimoto	0,4	Soumaré	5	Guler	2

 

We were slightly better than Troyes and just edged out the game

[Ligue 1] vs Troyes (A)
Final Score: 1-0 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
81 – 73	46 – 29	5 – 2	1,43 – 0,69	2 – 2	56 – 44
Individual Highlights
Goals	Beier
Assists	Afif
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
López	7,8	Fujimoto	2	Guendouzi	2
Afif	7,6	Soumaré	1	Guler	1
Hateboer	7,4	Hateboer	1	Afif	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Beier	0,6	ASM	4	Afif	3
Guendouzi	0,3	Mbemba	3	ASM	3
Gigot	0,2	Pezzella	3	Guendouzi	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Afif	0,6	Gigot	16	ASM	4
ASM	0,3	Hateboer	7	Beier	4
Guendouzi	0,2	Mbemba	6	Hateboer	2

 

Our best performance of the month, but we didn't get the result. We can be proud we created 11 chances against PSG.

[Ligue 1] vs PSG (H)
Final Score: 1-2 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
61 – 86	43 – 34	8 – 6	2,64 – 1,00	11 – 4	49 – 51
Individual Highlights
Goals	Fujimoto
Assists	Beier
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Fujimoto	7,5	Fujimoto	4	Fujimoto	2
Harit	6,9	Pezzella	4	Balerdi	2
ASM	6,8	Guendouzi	3	Beier	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Beier	0,9	Guendouzi	3	ASM	6
Balerdi	0,6	Afif	3	Fujimoto	5
Afif	0,6	Hateboer	2	Guler	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Fujimoto	0,8	Balerdi	11	Afif	5
ASM	0,5	Hateboer	8	Guendouzi	4
Balerdi	0,3	Beier	6	Pezzella	3

 

A big win in Europa League against Arsenal

[Europa League] vs Arsenal (A)
Final Score: 0-1 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
57 – 61	39 – 65	3 – 6	1,27 – 1,73	3 – 5	50 – 50
Individual Highlights
Goals	Beier, Guler
Assists	Hateboer
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
Hateboer	7,5	ASM	3	Reis	1
Guler	7,3	Afif	3	Guler	1
Beier	7,2	Reis	2	Beier	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Guler	0,7	Pezzella	5	Haidara	3
Beier	0,3	Hateboer	4	ASM	2
Harit	0,1	Afif	4	Hateboer	1
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
López	0,7	Hateboer	6	ASM	4
Hateboer	0,3	Pezzella	6	Beier	4
Beier	0,1	Beier	4	Pezzella	3

 

And the worst performance of the month against Brest. We were never effective going forward

[Ligue 1] vs Brest (H)
Final Score: 0-0 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
81 – 49	54 – 20	8 – 2	0,95 – 0,17	1 – 1	57 – 43
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Av Rat		Tackles		Shots on Target
López	7,4	Frosler	5	Afif	3
Frosler	7,3	Guler	5	Balerdi	2
Balerdi	7,2	Afif	3	Guendouzi	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Harit	0,3	Frosler	4	Guler	3
Afif	0,2	Balerdi	4	Soumaré	2
Beier	0,1	Sala	4	Afif	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Beier	0,2	Balerdi	13	Frosler	6
Guler	0,2	Soumaré	7	ASM	6
Afif	0,1	Frosler	6	Sala	4

 

We are in a disappointing 8^th place, although we are tied for 4th in GD and 2nd on the xG Table. Scoring has been our problem. Beier has 8 goals (just 4 in the league); Afif scored 2; Saint-Maximin scored 1. My center-backs have yet to score one goal in the league. I'll try Guler as R IW and Harit might have a chance as well.

 

Our form against the last 4: Brest: 0-0 draw; Metz: 0-1 loss; Nantes: 0-0 draw; Angers 3-1 win. I’ll never be mad about losing points to PSG but against the relegation candidates? We must win, no matter what.

[lfds89]

Sertanense Update

Night and day from our last season. And they are spending it.

 

 

Best Players in the World

We aren’t still at that level, but we need to pay attention. In the future, we want to have players in this list.

In our league, PSG has 4 players: Mbappé #1; Donnarumma #21; Saka #43; Hakimi #49. No other French team has a player in this list.

 

Winter Transfer Window Planning

We already have 2 transfers incoming. Both are youngsters who will be important in the future but they aren’t ready yet to make an impact.

The first is Maximiliano Rodriguez who I have already included in a previous post. He’s a prospect RB. As he’s not that far off from Frosler, I’ll keep him and sell Frosler.

 

Then I got some reports on Castelli, also Argentinian. Asked the DOF for some insight and he gave him an A+ rating. For 1,2M €, I couldn’t say no. He’ll be a future replacement for either Guendouzi or his backup Haidara. He can also be a replacement for Fujimoto if we decide to sell him (with Guler starting and Castelli as backup).

 

I don’t think Sala is good enough as backup LB, but he has been decent when given the chance, so I’ll leave this for later.

 

We really need an overhaul in the center of the defence. Mbemba is 32, Gigot is 33, and Bailly is 32 (retiring at the season's end). This leaves us only with Balerdi as a player we can count on for the next years. And he has been playing quite well, so now Milan, At. Madrid and Man City are interested in him, so it’ll be hard to keep him. I have some players under my watch, but I need a bigger budget if I want to bring them in.
 

Speaking of which: besides Frosler, I have Milik transfer listed. He is nowhere near the player he was and I don’t have a place for him. Frosler is on 178k/month; Milik on 278k/month. That’s nearly 3M in half a season. It’s good but I need something along 30M just for the CB situation (1 starter and 1 backup). Mbemba and Gigot end their contracts at the end of the season, so they have no sell value. My only option is to bank on Guendouzi or Balerdi. Guendouzi is valued between 63 and 70M; Balerdi is between 33M and 41M. Losing any of them would be a step back, but maybe it’ll help us take 2 steps forward in the future.

 

I also feel the need for a more defensive-minded DM. Right now I’m playing Ludovit Reis and Soumaré as DM. Reis has “Gets Forward Whenever Possible”; Soumaré has 8 for Aggression. Not as important as the CB situation, but I’ll keep an eye on possible deals.

 

Another Tycoon

It’s not news, but I hadn’t seen it before. Lorient is also owned by a Tycoon and they are “Rich”. So now there are 3 “Rich” teams (Rennes, Lorient, and PSG) and another owned by a tycoon who’s the biggest spender (Lens). We are 3^rd on salary (behind PSG and Lyon) which says more about the lack of strategy and structure than the quality of our team.

 

Ready for December?

6 points out of 4 league games isn’t what we want. We keep having good matches but somewhat bad results.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Strasbourg (A)
Final Score: 1-1 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
103 – 57	56 – 38	9 – 5	1,88 – 0,84	5 – 2	53 – 47
Individual Highlights
Goals	Beier
Assists	Pezzella
Rating		Tackles		Shots on Target
Beier	7,8	Guendouzi	5	Beier	5
Pezzella	7,8	Frosler	3	Afif	2
Guendouzi	7,2	Beier	2	Mbemba	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Beier	1,3	Gigot	5	Pezzella	3
Afif	0,3	Pezzella	4	Fujimoto	3
Fujimoto	0,1	Mbemba	4	Soumaré	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Pezzella	0,6	Gigot	7	Guendouzi	4
Guendouzi	0,3	Pezzella	5	Beier	3
Reis	0,3	Hateboer	4	Afif	3

The first of 3 draws in the league this month. I tried Guler as RW, but he didn't play too well (6.4 Rating). ASM got injured. Harit will play as RW in the next game.

 

[Europa League] vs At. Bilbao (A)
Final Score: 3-1 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
84 – 42	60 – 27	9 – 1	2,96 – 0,37	7 – 1	60 – 40
Individual Highlights
Goals	Afif, Beier, Harit
Assists	Hateboer (x2), Beier
Rating		Tackles		Shots on Target
Afif	8,8	Harit	3	Harit	2
Hateboer	8,5	Afif	3	Afif	2
Harit	8,4	Fujimoto	2	Beier	2
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Beier	0,9	Hateboer	6	Afif	6
Afif	0,7	Balerdi	4	Hateboer	3
Fujimoto	0,6	Pezzella	3	Guler	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Afif	1,1	Balerdi	18	Harit	6
Hateboer	0,7	Afif	7	Beier	4
Harit	0,6	Mbemba	4	Sala	3

Quite an easy game against Bilbao. Harit proving he deserves to be in contention for the starting spot.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Nice (H)
Final Score: 2-2 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
96 – 81	67 – 51	10 – 4	2,12 – 0,63	7 – 1	55 – 45
Individual Highlights
Goals	Fujimoto, Dieng
Assists	Harit (x2)
Rating		Tackles		Shots on Target
Harit	8,5	Afif	5	Harit	2
Fujimoto	7,7	Pezzella	4	Dieng	2
Pezzella	7,5	Hateboer	4	Beier	2
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Afif	0,6	Pezzella	7	Fujimoto	6
Dieng	0,4	Fujimoto	4	Pezzella	4
Fujimoto	0,3	Hateboer	4	Harit	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Harit	0,6	Balerdi	10	Pezzella	5
Fujimoto	0,4	Pezzella	5	Afif	4
Pezzella	0,4	Hateboer	5	Beier	2

A match made difficult, after a 2-0 start. Statistics favour us and we should have won. Rotations don't work. Harit with 2 assists is enjoying is time on the field.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Rennes (A)
Final Score: 1-1 D
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
74 – 64	50 – 43	4 – 6	2,08 – 0,63	3 – 0	52 – 48
Individual Highlights
Goals	Dieng
Assists	Harit
Rating		Tackles		Shots on Target
Harit	7,3	Pezzella	2	Afif	2
Dieng	7,1	Afif	2	Harit	1
Pezzella	6,9	Balerdi	2	Dieng	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Afif	0,9	Balerdi	6	Harit	3
Dieng	0,5	Pezzella	4	Reis	2
Pezzella	0,3	Hateboer	4	Pezzella	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Harit	0,5	Balerdi	14	Dieng	4
Guler	0,2	Hateboer	11	Pezzella	3
Reis	0,1	Pezzella	8	Harit	2

The most difficult game of the month. I'm curious about their xG and chances as I had the feeling they were better than us over the course of the match. Harit once again with an assist and the highest rating.

 

[Europa League] vs Sevilla (H)
Final Score: 0-1 L
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
69 – 74	46 – 36	2 – 2	0,70 – 0,64	2 – 2	43 – 57
Individual Highlights
Goals	-
Assists	-
Rating		Tackles		Shots on Target
Frosler	7,0	Frosler	6	Afif	1
Afif	6,8	Afif	5	ASM	1
Guler	6,8	Sala	5
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Beier	0,2	Frosler	5	Harit	2
Harit	0,1	Gigot	3	Soumaré	2
ASM	0,1	Soumaré	2	Guler	2
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Gigot	0,2	Frosler	4	ASM	5
Afif	0,1	Gigot	4	Guler	3
Guler	0,1	Soumaré	3	Sala	3

This was 1st against 2nd in the Europa League, but I've decided to play a rotated squad as we have easier matches ahead and I needed the focus on the league. It was a rather boring match and if we draw when we clearly beat the opposition in xG, chances and shots on target; then we are destined to lose when we draw in these statistics.

 

[Ligue 1] vs Monaco (H)
Final Score: 2-1 W
Final Third Passes	Progressive Passes	Shots on Target	xG	Chances	Possession %
81 – 58	45 – 53	6 – 3	2,11 – 0,88	4 – 2	60 – 40
Individual Highlights
Goals	Beier, Fujimoto
Assists	Fujimoto, Beier
Rating		Tackles		Shots on Target
Fujimoto	8,8	Guendouzi	3	Beier	2
Beier	8,1	Pezzella	3	Afif	1
Hateboer	7,1	Reis	2	Harit	1
xG		Interceptions		Key Passes
Beier	0,8	Hateboer	7	Fujimoto	4
Fujimoto	0,5	Pezzella	5	Harit	3
Harit	0,3	Balerdi	3	Reis	3
xA		Headers Won		Dribbles
Fujimoto	1,0	Mbemba	9	Afif	4
Beier	0,5	Balerdi	9	Harit	4
Reis	0,2	Pezzella	7	Guendouzi	4

We ended the month with a win, and a great won. Fujimoto and Beier ran the match.

 

Averages for all the matches played this month show a way better result than what we had.

	For/90	Against/90
Shots on Target	6,7	3,5
xG	1,98	0,67
Chances	4,7	1,8

 

We are not that far from the top places with 6 points separating us from 3^rd.

I keep insisting on the xG table and it's telling. We should be much better. I'll deep dive into the team and specific player/position statistics to try and learn where we are failing, but I already know our CBs not scoring from IFK and Corners is hurting us a lot.

 

[warlock]

5 hours ago, lfds89 said:

6 points out of 4 league games isn’t what we want

Yes, that's annoying. It's nice to not lose, but too many draws can kill a season. Hope you can fix your scoring issue.

[lfds89]

10 horas atrás, warlock disse:

Yes, that's annoying. It's nice to not lose, but too many draws can kill a season. Hope you can fix your scoring issue.

I think I know where the problem is. Fixing is another issue. I need to sell so I have funds. But I'll try to figure out a way.

[lfds89]

Youth Intake Preview

THREE! Forwards?! In a golden generation? Let’s wait and see, but they got my attention.

 

My underperformance problem

As I said on the last post, I wanted to dive into the problem. We are consistently better than the opposition, but we keep drawing games.

Looking into the xG table from the previous post, we are 7 goals scored down from where it was expected and we have conceded 3 more. Scoring seems the biggest issue, so I’ll start there.

 

First, let’s look at conversion rates:

Name	Pos	Gls/90	NpxG/90	Sh/90	Conv %	npxg/Sh %	Dif
PSG	1	2,47	1,91	19,33	12,8	9,9	2,9
Lens	2	2,13	1,43	13,07	16,3	10,9	5,4
Nice	3	1,80	1,21	13,60	13,2	8,9	4,3
Monaco	4	2,27	1,86	16,53	13,7	11,3	2,5
Strasbourg	5	1,50	0,87	12,29	12,2	7,1	5,1
Troyes	6	1,40	0,82	9,13	15,3	9,0	6,4
Marseille	7	1,40	1,86	17,53	8,0	10,6	-2,6
Rennes	8	2,29	1,72	14,64	15,6	11,7	3,9

 

It’s terrible! We have around half the conversion rate of our main opposition. We have the same npxG/90 as Monaco but 0,87 less goals. Almost a goal less than them per match.

Where are we missing?

Name	Gls/90	Shot/90	ShT/90	NP-xG/90	Conv %
Hans Hateboer	0,00	0,19	0,06	0,01	0,00
Giuseppe Pezzella	0,00	0,78	0,07	0,05	0,00
Marco Sala	0,00	0,16	0,16	0,00	0,00
Reeve Frosler	0,00	0,18	0,00	0,03	0,00
Name	Gls/90	Shot/90	ShT/90	NP-xG/90	Conv %
Leonardo Balerdi	0,06	1,58	0,82	0,16	4,00
Chancel Mbemba	0,00	0,60	0,30	0,05	0,00
Samuel Gigot	0,00	0,80	0,00	0,09	0,00
Éric Bailly	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00	0,00
Name	Gls/90	Shot/90	ShT/90	NP-xG/90	Conv %
Matteo Guendouzi	0,13	2,56	0,77	0,18	5,00
Kanya Fujimoto	0,32	2,18	0,71	0,20	15,00
Ludovit Reis	0,13	0,97	0,19	0,04	13,00
Arda Güler	0,25	2,35	1,11	0,28	11,00
Boubakary Soumaré	0,00	1,38	0,17	0,05	0,00
Amadou Haïdara	0,00	0,97	0,39	0,06	0,00
Name	Gls/90	Shot/90	ShT/90	NP-xG/90	Conv %
Akram Afif	0,20	2,69	1,11	0,31	7,00
Allan Saint-Maximin	0,09	1,96	0,68	0,18	4,00
Amine Harit	0,32	2,96	1,16	0,28	11,00
Name	Gls/90	Shot/90	ShT/90	NP-xG/90	Conv %
Maximilian Beier	0,81	4,31	2,18	0,77	19,00
Bamba Dieng	0,54	2,97	0,81	0,46	18,00

 

Breakdown by Position:

	Gls/90	Shot/90	ShT/90	NP-xG/90	Conv %	Shots %	Gls-npxg
Most used 11	1,68	16,24	6,89	1,95	10,3		-0,27
Most Used FBs	0,00	0,97	0,13	0,06	0,0	6,0	-0,06
Most Used CBs	0,06	2,18	1,12	0,21	2,8	13,4	-0,15
Most Used CMs	0,58	5,71	1,48	0,38	10,2	35,2	0,20
Most Used WFs	0,29	4,65	1,79	0,49	6,2	28,6	-0,20
Most Used ST	0,81	4,31	2,18	0,77	18,8	26,5	0,04

FB: No goals here, but they don’t shoot very often (only 6% of our shots).

CB: They get shots mostly from set-pieces. Only Balerdi has scored and even he has a very low conversion rate. They amount to 13% of our shots with a 3% conversion rate and a negative difference between goals and npxg of 0,15, in 16 matches that’s around 3 more goals. Problem 1.

CM: They get 35% of our shots, conversion rate of 10%. Not too bad. Guendouzi is missing a lot. Maybe he can swap positions with Reis.

WF: Both my starters for most of the season have awful conversion rates and together they have 0,29 goals/90 which is quite low, especially considering they are 0,20 under expectations (a bit more than 3 goals over the 16 matches played) and they shoot almost 30% of the team’s shots. Problem 2.

ST: Both Beier and Dieng are doing well. A bit unexpected as I had the sense that Beier wasn't a great finisher and was wasting many chances.

 

So the problem resides in 2 very distinctive areas: CB and WF

 

Problem 1

Name	Pos	Corner Gls	DFK Gls	IFK Gls	PK Gls	Set-Piece Gls
PSG	1	4	1	2	3	10
Lens	2	4	1	3	1	9
Nice	3	3	1	3	3	10
Monaco	4	7	1	0	1	9
Strasbourg	5	3	0	2	0	5
Troyes	6	1	0	2	1	4
Marseille	7	0	1	0	0	1
Rennes	8	1	1	1	4	7

After the 16^th round in the league we “owe” 8 set-piece goals to the top-4. Even against the other teams, we should have about 4 more goals. Remember when I said we should expect 3 more goals from our CBs? That's very close.

When you set a player to attack a post, the attributes demanded (according to game information) are: Jumping, Strength, Heading, Bravery, Decisions, Off the Ball and Finishing. CBs will always have low OtB and Fin so comparing it to other players in the league seems to be time wasting. I’ll look into the other attributes.

Name	Gls	Jmp	Str	Hea	Bra	Dec	Sum
Vestergaard	2	19	18	17	15	13	82
Kimpembe	2	14	16	16	18	14	78
Badiashile	3	17	16	15	14	14	76
Marquinhos	2	13	14	15	15	16	73

Now comparing with my players:

Name	Gls	Jmp	Str	Hea	Bra	Dec	Sum
Balerdi	1	15	13	14	12	15	69
Mbemba	0	12	13	14	16	13	68
Gigot	0	14	13	15	15	11	68
Bailly	0	13	14	13	18	8	66

They are clearly on another level. Hateboer is in fact the player with the highest sum of this selection of attributes. Not by a mile, but I’ll try having him as a target for our corners and see how it goes.

Name	Gls	Jmp	Str	Hea	Bra	Dec	Sum
Hateboer		14	14	14	16	12	70
Soumaré		15	16	10	14	14	69
Beier		13	12	13	12	11	61

Might as well try Soumaré as he only lacks heading. Although he's not a starter so that involves more changes.

I have my eyes on some players. Let’s see about the budget and what we can do over the winter transfer window.

Name	Gls	Jmp	Str	Hea	Bra	Dec	Sum
Disasi		15	18	16	15	13	77
Bisseck		17	16	13	15	13	74
Zima		17	16	14	13	14	74
Zaharia		13	16	14	18	13	74

Disasi is a squad player for Monaco. He has only played when Badiashile was injured. Bisseck and Zima are transfer listed for 9M and 4.9M respectively. Zaharia is a regen worth 31M so clearly out of range right now.

Comparing ratings, they all seem good enough or even better than what I have at my disposal and all are younger than my players (except Disasi is older than Balerdi).

Name	CB
Balerdi	66%
Mbemba	66%
Gigot	66%
Bailly	69%

 

Name	CB
Disasi	69%
Bisseck	68%
Zima	68%
Zaharia	69%

 

Problem 2

Harit has been playing as RW (W-A) while ASM was injured. I have to be careful managing this as ASM was given a Star Player status, so he might get upset if he sits on the bench too much.

I’ll probably try Harit as LW (IW-S; or even switch duties between RW and LW) and Afif and ASM switch as RW. I could also try Dieng as LW, but I don’t think he’s good enough to deserve a starting spot in this team and he doesn’t offer the creativity all the other wingers offer.

I also have Fujimoto and Guler who can play as wingers, but their speed is quite low and they have been playing very well as RCM (MEZ-S) so I prefer not to change what is working.

In this case, I don’t see a way of us having enough budget to spend here.

I asked, they rejected...

[warlock]

I couldn't say for sure, but my feeling is that the important attributes at corners are first, jumping reach, and second, heading. Got to get to the ball, and then get the header on target. But I think corner goals are hard to come by in the latest ME.

I'd be more concerned about the lack of productivity from your attacking midfielders - at Brentford and Benfica my striker was/is our greatest scoring threat but I get far more goals, collectively, from the AMs and more progressive CMs.

More generally, I find CMs - particularly B2Bs and volantes -  very wasteful with shots from outside the area. It's like they have a hidden "shoot on sight" instruction. Very annoying!

[SixPointer]

7 hours ago, warlock said:

I couldn't say for sure, but my feeling is that the important attributes at corners are first, jumping reach, and second, heading. Got to get to the ball, and then get the header on target. But I think corner goals are hard to come by in the latest ME.

 

If you are aiming for the folk attacking each posts it’s good to have high off the ball movement as well to lose there marker