FM23: PURPLE TALENTS - IN YOUTH WE TRUST

[warlock]

3 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

surprisingly I am yet to have any interest in any of my players

Surprising indeed, but enjoy it while it lasts 

[Lestri]

I literally thought that was a typo - what a second half comeback! One for the ages. 

[rich ruzzian]

Verschaeren is turning into the netxt big thing for Belgium. Is he already in the Belgium squad? 

[Dogfacedgremlin]

What a great form the team is showing.
Never seen a game won so easily when they conceded 4

[GIMN]

Finally caught up and some fantastic developments.  Very kind of an in-form Brugge to get you guys back on track.  That should be the highlight, but 4-8!!!!???  What an absolutely insane game.  Yet, not even that is the highlight.  No the real standout bit of news is 57-year old Actress and former wife of David Duchovny's surprising career change:

On 28/04/2023 at 20:21, MattyLewis11 said:

Théo Leoni scored a brace

 

[SteinkelssonFM]

@rich ruzzian currently I only have two players with the national squad, Jan Vertonghen and Zeno Debast. I think some of this is to do with how Domenico Tedesco has the team line-up. 

As you can see, he is favouring a 5-2-1-2 formation with De Bruyne playing in the pocket behind the two strikers. Looking at the patterns of play from across the World Cup, when Kevin was replaced it was with Leandro Trossard, when comparing the Arsenal man with Yari, you will see Leandro deserves his spot. I remember a deep dive I carried out in FM21 surrounding Amine Gouiri and his lack of selection for France.

Link for those interested: FM21: Les Bleus — Exploring the AI behind national team selection.

 

One of the main drivers behind the AI seemed to be reputation, Yari is still on two and a half stars whilst Trossard is on three. 

 

@warlock I can't imagine it lasting much longer, given the league form and progression in Europe, I think this summer window will be one which has the potential to pull a few key players from the squad. 

@Lestri @Dogfacedgremlin @GIMN I think you will all agree with me when I say that the team is performing above expectations, yes Anderlecht are a BIG side. However, some of the results we have achieved have been nothing short of excellent, the beauty is we aren't reliant on one player, which is often the case in FM in the first season. 

 

First and foremost I am stating the post with an apology, this update is going to lack a little detail as I am taking the kids away for the week to Centre Parcs, I wanted to make sure you had an update and also were aware as to why no new posts will appear over the next week. 

 

RSC Anderlecht vs Standard 

Somehow we failed to secure all three points against Standard, it was a day at the office where all individuals forgot to being in their shooting boots, it felt like the lads were shooting a floater in flip-flops. 

14 shots at goal, two on target, and the only goal for us coming from the penalty spot. 

 

AA Gent vs RSC Anderlecht

The home team retained possession effectively, walking away from the fixture with 60% of the ball. It was a POTM performance Hendrik Van Crombrugge saving all five of AA Gent's efforts on his goal. In truth the game never flowed, there was a total of 35 fouls in this match which stopped either side get into any form of rhythm. For context in the last game there was a total of 17 fouls. 

 

RSC Anderlecht vs Wolfsberger AC

The result was driven by Lucas Stassin, the 18 year-old joined the action at the half-time break an was a talisman. The forward hit the target with 100% of his shots (3/3), scoring a brace and also won the penalty which Yari Verschaeren slotted away.

Considering when I first provided the youngster from 'The Class of 2004' an opportunity in the squad, I felt he wasn't ready to play at this level, h has made me eat my words.   

Lucas Stassin is leading the following stats:

• Goals per 90 0.73 (1st)
• NP-XG/90 0.50 (2nd)
• xG per shot 0.19 (2nd)
• Conversion rate 24.39% (2nd)

 

RSC Anderlecht vs Cercle Brugge

A rotated side made light work of Cercle Brugge, finishing the game with 72% possession. Amir Murillo was the creative force down the right flank, it was his pinpoint pass to the feet of Nilson Angulo, that opened the scoring on the 14th minute. Five minutes later, Slimani had the ball in the back of the net after being played through by Majeed Ashimeru, after a well executed counter attack.

 

Wolfsberger AC vs RSC Anderlecht

The final game of this block of fixtures seen us visit the Lavanttal-Arena, we had a three goal lead and it would take Robin Dutt's side something special to secure progression to the Quarter Finals, his team have lost the last five games on the bounce! 

The tie was put to bed after minutes when Bart Verbruggen played a driven pass through for Anders Dreyer to score, he goalkeepers first assist of the campaign. If that wasn't enough Francis Amuzu scored a brace before the break (David Hubert and Yari Verschaeren with the assists) to give us a six goal lead.

£517k in the bank for our progress, along with an extra £1.5 million from Manchester City, due toa sell-on clause in Sergio Gómez' contract as they have made the UCL Quarter Final. 

Yari now has 25 goal contributions (16 goals, 9 assists)

We face Urs Fischer's Union Berlin in the next round, the Germans are 12 place in the Bundesliga. Sheraldo Becker could miss one, if not both fixtures due to picking up a twisted ankle against OGC Nice, big news for RSC Anderlecht.

 

February closed with the above individuals picking up recognition, in the form of praise for their efforts, both on and off the field.

The following block of fixtures are as follows.

[Dogfacedgremlin]

Again a nice run of results.
Union Berlin seems to be one of the bigger teams left in the Conf. League.

 

Enjoy your week of holiday

[Jogo Bonito]

Still following this one when I can, and enjoying your progress, Keep up the good work, and enjoy your break first!

[SixPointer]

Every time I catch up with this Matty I want to plough right into my save. Being in Belgium and seeing your purple army flying. Unfortunately not getting much time at the minute to catch up my writing 

[SteinkelssonFM]

@Dogfacedgremlin yes I think they are the second strongest side in the tournament, Villarreal are clear favourites. Think both legs will be challenging for us, even if they end up without their main goal threat.

@Jogo Bonito thanks mate, really enjoying this save and have another little something special to post once the season is complete. 

@SixPointer again thanks for taking the time to comment, I think after I have completed this season and the next we should have a two legged online match mate, if anything it would provide us an opportunity to write about the match and give our followers something to enjoy, a fictional two legged final! 

As for the break at Centre Parcs, we have been blessed with great weather and both boys are really enjoying themselves, even if they are walking 18k+ steps per day. 

[Hootieleece]

18 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

I think after I have completed this season and the next we should have a two legged online match mate, if anything it would provide us an opportunity to write about the match and give our followers something to enjoy, a fictional two legged final! 

I would definitely watch this with a notebook handy to help my Tactics in Lancashire!

 

[karanhsingh]

On 29/04/2023 at 03:55, warlock said:

Surprising indeed, but enjoy it while it lasts 

This irritates me frankly - i find when you're managing a low reputation club it takes too long for your player values to rise and to draw interest from clubs in larger leagues. 

Anyway, some great form shown by your young guns @MattyLewis11 and i look forward to seeing how they get on in Europe. 

[SteinkelssonFM]

After a refreshing break with the family, enjoying the nature and all the activities that money can buy (not many as Centre Parcs is spenny £££), I am back in front of my PC to play some ore of my beloved FM.

The first stop is the data hub to refresh myself with the team and our outputs, as you can see we haven't had much luck in hitting the target from outside of the penalty area with zero of our last 30 shots from distance ending up in the back of the net. Taking the analysts information into consideration, I will be playing out he rest of this campaign with the 'Work Ball Into Box' TI selected. 

I also carried out a little analysis of my own to see how we are comparing to the other clubs in the league in terms of our xG pr shot, as you can see we are sitting 0.01 behind Antwerp who are the most efficient shooters in the league, in terms of their shot positioning. 

 

OH Leuven vs RSC Anderlecht 

The side from Leuven caused us problems in the reverse fixture, securing a draw late on after a goal from Sofian Kiyine. This time it was Siebe Schrijvers who played conductor as the 26 year old popped up twice down the right, providing two assists.

You can see from the players chalkboard that he switched sides of the pitch on multiple occasions, which caused us an issue. 

Ethan Butera put in a decent shift, the youngster won 100% of his aerial duels (11) and also managed to complete three blocks close to our goal. 

Not the best start to returning to the game! 

 

Injuries

Not only had we suffered defeat in the first game back, we were also greeted with the above messages in the old inbox between the fixtures, the double blow will leave our midfield options significantly reduced, not what you need entering the business end of the season.

Due to the above Alonzo Engwanda will be promoted from the Futures Side to the senior squad, he is naturally a ball winning midfielder but could also do the job operating further up the park in the box-to-box role. 

Just to make matters worse, we also were notified that Ethan Butera had picked up a twisted knee the day before the game against Eupen, this making this week the worst in our history with regards to the accumulation of injuries. 

 

Eupen vs RSC Anderlecht

An embarrassing defeat to Eupen,  the club rock bottom of the league with now only three victories to their name. 

The one positive to take from this result is that the defeat was not a result of a failure in terms of chance creation. Looking at our shot map (above) you will see that we had quite  few chances in good goalscoring positions, in fact we accumulated an xG of 1.91 compared to their 0.14. We were FM'ed! 

 

RSC Anderlecht vs Westerlo

Equilibrium, a convincing victory over lowly ranked Westerlo, a game in which Yari Verschaeren flexed his muscles scoring two goals and contributing with three key passes. Yari has now mastered a new trait 'Tries Killer Balls Often' and I have now selected him to try and learn the 'Tries Tricks' trait to make sure he really has the crowd purring when on the ball. 

 

RSC Anderlecht vs Union Berlin

Early predictions were indeed correct as Sheraldo Becker isn't fit enough to start the first-leg, we will likely face Union's star man in the second leg as he is back in training. 

Our guests are on a horrific run of form and are without a win in 11 Bundesliga games, clearly saving their best for European games.

A player of the match performance from Mario Stroeykens was not enough to secure us the win against Union Berlin, the 18 year only managed to finish the game with 100% shot accuracy (4/4) and scored our only goal. 

I would have liked to have come away with a victory, the trip to Germany will no doubt be tougher than our home leg, However, I didn't see anything in the first leg to make me think we are swimming out of our depths, time will tell if we can take the club to a semi-final. 

 

KRC Genk vs RSC Anderlecht

Knowing that the game against Union was just around the corner, there was a need to field some unusual names in this weeks team-sheet 

It took Toluwalase Arokodare three times of asking to grab his deserved goal, after his first two efforts were ruled out for offside. The 22 year-old now has scored 14 goals this season in 1,482 minutes of football across all competitions.  

The defeat now leaves us with a six point buffer over Antwerp, which means the Championship Group will become extremely tense as our points will be halved before going head to head with Belgium's finest sides this season. 

Club Brugge go into the final game knowing that anything other than a victory over Eupen will leave them outside of the Championship group, whilst two of three sides will get relegated along with Eupen. 

Zulte Waregem play Cercle Brugge, which means that Seraing FC will need to secure victory against Westerlo at home. 

Next up before we enter the business end of the season and potentially a game against Football Club Midtjylland (2-0 after their first leg). 

 

Edited May 6, 2023 by MattyLewis11

[Hootieleece]

It is always good to rotate the team especially before and after important European nights.

Everyone gets FM'ed, but sometimes even your team does it. (I just FM 'ed Tottenham in the Carabao Cup with Preston)

[Lestri]

Gotta love getting some key injuries at the not ideal times! How does the squad depth look like coming into the sharp end of the season?

[karanhsingh]

Looks like the championship group will be very exciting! I actually love how they do it in Belgium. 

Also good luck in Berlin, reaching the semis would be an outstanding achievement. 

[SteinkelssonFM]

@Hootieleece I have been rotating the team throughout most of the season, I am not a fan of having a set starting eleven for most games, football for me is a squad game. As long as you don't have a bloated team the rotation helps to keep players both happy and injury free. (for the majority) 

@Lestri we have two players in each position and there are also quite a few players who have two starts in the Futures side, whilst this is half a star off the level where I normally opt to integrate them into the first-team, there is always potential for these to fill spots on the bench if needs, must. 

Union Berlin vs RSC Anderlecht

Urs Fischer has his star player available for the second-leg, I a predicting this game to be a close encounter an one which could be decided by a moment of brilliance. Union Berlin playa route one style of football under Urs and will look to play the furthest forward pass available, often missing out on the middle of the pitch.  Knowing this information I am going to look to drop my defensive line for the next match, which should leave them less space to run into, leaving us a little less vulnerable. 

Unfortunately our run in Europe comes to an end, I am left with a bitter taste in my mouth as we were unlocked by a goal from Jamie Leweling in the first half, the forward scoring the exact type of goal which I tried to stop (long-ball). Another selection mistake was made in choosing Francis Amuzu over Mario Stroeykens, as Amuzu  had two very early high xG chances and failed to hit the target with both, knowing that Mario has a higher conversion rate, the game could have taken a different pathway. Ain't hindsight a killer! 

The game itself was a tale of two halves, we dominated the first half and then could not create any attacking momentum in the second, tis is beautifully reflected in the match momentum visual. 

I am sure that after sleeping on tonight's result I will be pleased with our progress in the competition, I expect that Villarreal will go onto win the tournament, maybe the defeat here will give our players a little less exposure and in turn keep some of the bigger fish away for a tad bit longer! 

@karanhsingh you are indeed correct, I think the championship group will provide some tough games. However, this will apply for all involved and therefore I am sure plenty of sides form will go out the window...all eyes on Antwerp! 

 

RSC Anderlecht vs KV Mechelen

Alonzo Engwanda provided us with a display of his versatility, the ball winning midfielder was central to all things good in the victory over KV Mechelen, both scoring and providing the assist for Théo Leoni.

I also have made another tactical tweak during this match, opting to deploy a half-back instead of a ball winning midfielder in the DM strata. My reasoning for this change are as follows;

• We often have greater levels of possession and therefore the half-back will aid our ball progression from the back.
• We are a high pressing side, the majority of this work is done by the advanced playmaker and wide forwards, the BWM has a low number of pressures per 90.
• The BWM is only winning 0.5 more tackles than the rest of our midfielders.

I think the movement t a HB will be the first stage in this tweak, I could look to deploy a Regista in this role later on for a much more aggressive approach.

The final day of the season was cruel to Seraing FC as they improved their form from bottom in the first half of the season to 10th across the second half. Saying this Cercle Brugge finished the second stage in 11th place in terms of form and had underperformed their expected points by nine, whilst Seraing seven. So I guess the right team went down.

Club Brugge pipped KRC Genk to the last Championship Group position.

The table for the business end looks like this...

Here is our schedule. 

[karanhsingh]

Antwerp have a couple of really strong players in Balikwisha and Avila. I had a brief save with them which was my first on FM23. 

[Dogfacedgremlin]

Not the best run of results and some bad luck with injuries..
But yet you managed to get a nice result in Europe and you still have a nice bonus entering the play-offs.

[rich ruzzian]

with 4 points ahead you are the favorites going in to the play-offs. Lets hope the latest run of results does not give a complete collapse. 

[Swaban]

Great read so far & an unreal first season! Is the plan youth only? Or will you be supplementing this by buying players too?

[SteinkelssonFM]

What a first season in Belgium, RSC Anderlecht have been crowned 'Champions of Belgium', a feat which hasn't been achieved since 2016/17. I don't think the outcome would have come to much of a surprise to those of you who have been following the journey from the initial post. 

We did manage to fail at our first attempt to win the league, a meeting was held with the playing staff before the home game against Antwerp. However, Marco van Bommel's boys decided to spoil the pre-planned party, we were finally crowned champions away in Bruges, a night to remember for Lucas Stassin after he continued his excellent form in the close season. (7 goals across all six games). 

I must admit that when I set the initial objectives, I didn't think I would be sitting here so early on in the journey with a league tile to boast about. However my initial goal was to become the best team in the land, this would not be achieved simply by winning a title, it was in reference to the club rankings, and RSC Anderlecht still find themselves in 74th place. The next domestic side are AA Gent who are 13 points ahead in 49th place, they will be our next club with a target on their backs, whilst Club Brugge lead the pack with 42 points in 40th place. 

Club Brugge will have the opportunity to extend their lead as they have qualified for UEFA Europa League, this was secured when they lifted the Croky Cup, beating KRC Genk 2-1.

 

A FOCUS ON YARI VERSCHAEREN

What a season our focus player delivered, playing as an attacking playmaker on attack duty Yari closed the season with 29 goal contributions (19 goals, and 10 assists), he also picked up a personal accolade in the form of being voted the Fans Player of the Year, breaking the Anderlecht record for most Player of the Match awards in a season with 6, along the way.

I have taken his performance against key metrics for an attacking midfielder from @_Ben_ skin, unbelievably Yari is showing how effective he has been off the ball, contributing 5.56 successful pressures per 90. His attacking outputs speak for themselves, his pass completion rate of  83% is also brilliant given he is tasked with playing those low percentage defence splitting passes which has lead to an assist every four games.

A FOCUS ON THE TEAM

A nice little visual which will help to assess a players worth to the team, looking at how many league minutes they have drawn down across the span of the domestic season.

@Swaban this isn't a youth only save. However I do want to achieve an objective of securing a playing squad which is made up with over 50% of players who have played for the Futures side, this graphic will be the measure of that objective as the aim is for 50% to be above that yellow average, currently the following achieved this feat. 

• Zeno Debast 
• Killian Sardella
• Marco Kana
• Yari Verschaeren
• Mario Stroeykens
• Théo Leoni

Therefore signings will only be explored from outside if I feel there is a significant need....

I welcome you to our only signing in this summer window from outside of the club, Sydney van Hooijdonk. There was an explicit need to sign a striker as the departure of Islam Slimani (Tenerife, Free)  left us significantly short up top with the only recognised striker being Lucas, we do have Luca Monticelli in the Futures side who could easily have done a job, looking at his comparison to Sydney below you can see they are both of similar profiles.

However, Luca is only a two star current ability and I don't want to rush him into action, I prefer to wait until players are 2.5 stars before integrating them into the first team, so the signing (£400k) of Sydney, especially at that price was a no brainer, with the 23 year old running close to the end of his contract with Bologna. 

A FOCUS ON FINANCE

After reading the latest blog from @afmoldtimer I thought I would reproduce his table to see any wage structure disparity within RSC Anderlecht. The contract which was agreed with Sydney van Hooijdonk initially sticks out. However he will most likely be a regular starter for the side and therefore his salary aligns wit players from within this category. The other player who is causing a concern is Jan Vertonghen, he is the highest paid player at the club on £28,000 per week, yet when looking at his game time on the chart above you will see that he played in less than the average amount of minutes available, is our 'Team Leader' worth such an extortionate salary? 

 

There are also quite a few players who are playing a prominent role in the team, such as Lucas Stassin, and Killian Sardella, whilst it could be viewed as good business to have them on contracts with agreed playing time below their exposure, it will surely not be too long until their agent comes knocking at the door, looking for an improved deal.

 

Given that the toughest objective was for me to have a squad which made up of at least 50% academy graduates, I now need to change my focus from the individual (Yari) to cohorts, I want to introduce to you the class of 2006. 

This group of talented individuals (17 year-olds) will need to develop close to their potential, if I am to achieve such a feat. 

I am blessed to have four players with a five star potential in this excellent group. however, Ethan Butera is the only individual who is currently in the first-team, with every other player in the U18's.

Adding in these three four star potential players, we have a nice spread in terms of playing positions meaning no blocked pathways and the ability integrate internally. 

I may change my writing style in terms of the next season, to provide shorter monthly updates and focus more on a quarterly basis to bring to the surface the integration of the class of 2006. 

Edited May 12, 2023 by MattyLewis11

[Hootieleece]

Great Work and congratulations on winning the League.  The future looks so bright you have to wear shades!

[Dogfacedgremlin]

Congrats on winning the tittle! 

I'm curious how the academy graduates will develop.

[karanhsingh]

Well done on the title win! Well deserved too. Also great that you've really got a beat out of Yari playing as an AP, a role that is often overlooked. 

[Jogo Bonito]

Nice to see you taking the title! Great to be really reliant on the youth, I like the approach - and the layout and colour of this save. Purple reign!

[SixPointer]

On 07/05/2023 at 11:44, MattyLewis11 said:

• We often have greater levels of possession and therefore the half-back will aid our ball progression from the back.
• We are a high pressing side, the majority of this work is done by the advanced playmaker and wide forwards, the BWM has a low number of pressures per 90.
• The BWM is only winning 0.5 more tackles than the rest of our midfielders.

I think the movement t a HB will be the first stage in this tweak, I could look to deploy a Regista in this role later on for a much more aggressive approach.

I love this thought process matty! Using the numbers to help define a system tweak.