[FM23] Bees of Brentford: A Taste of Honey

[warlock]

I've started a lot of aborted saves this year - not, I hasten to add, FM's fault but my own lack of investment. In recent years I've played almost exclusively in the EFL and Vanarama leagues and enjoyed documenting them in the EFL thread in the GP&TG sub-forum. I was determined to play elsewhere this year but struggled to find a save that stuck, and also missed the engagement of writing updates. Eventually, I thought I'd try my first career update here. To make sure it would not be one of the many such threads abandoned early, I have played through the winter transfer window so, hopefully, we're here for the long haul.

As will be evident from the thread title, my club is Brentford. They are not only my local team, I've managed them in every version of FM since FM18 (often multiple times per year). I've taken them to Championship titles and other promotions but never managed them in the PL. As the division's new boys last year they were expected to be relegated but exceeded everyone's expectations by recording a mid-table finish. IRL this season, they were predicted to suffer "second season syndrome" and return to the Championship; once again, they are defying the odds and sit just outside the European qualification spots. Can I do as well? Can I do better? Let's find out.

Brentford, June 2022

In FM, the team is expected to finish in 18th place, relegation-certainties alongside newly-promoted Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest. Championship champions Fulham,, our fierce local rivals, get the benefit of their longer Premiership history and are predicted to finish in a comfortable 14th place. The club has already spent the bulk of the transfer budget leaving just £7m, with £40k available in wages. I have to admit the cash has been invested wisely, bringing in three bright prospects in the form of AMR Keane Lewis-Potter (Hull City, £16m); AMR Mikkel Damsgaard (Sampdoria, £13m); and R/LB Aaron Hickey (Bologna, £14.25m). In keeping with the club's moneyball approach to transfers, a large number of young prospects have also been signed on free deals from Premiership academies and lower-league sides.

The squad

Goalkeepers

Defenders

Midfielders

Forwards

Some things are immediately obvious... Hickey is our backup at both RB and LB; Toney is our only natural striker (Schade, Wissa and Mbeumo are all better suited to AMR/AML); and we start the season in the middle of an injury crisis:

Norgaard and Ajer will miss most of pre-season; Pinnock and Schade will miss the start of the season. 

So our small war chest is going to have to finance a backup striker, and a backup FB - either right or left - would be handy. Although Mee can play LB, he doesn't have the mobility, dribbling or crossing to do anything other than play as an extra wide-defender and I need more than that for my preferred tactic. At RB Fin Stevens is a great prospect... can he cope with PL football now? My inclination is to throw him in and see whether he sinks or swims. Our young Ukrainian midfielder Yarmoliuk is a similar concern, but he'll get his chance to show what he can do during pre-season.

Elsewhere, Jorgensen does not fill me with confidence and Mee will have to be outstanding to justify that £50k-a-week wage, the highest at the club. Ghoddos was excellent in the Championship but is likely out of his depth now. Work to be done!

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Nice to see you take on Brentford. Will your transfer policy reflect their moneyball approach ?

 

[warlock]

27 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Will your transfer policy reflect their moneyball approach ?

Kinda! I don't have the patience of some of our top contributors for deep dives into the analysis screens, let alone exporting stuff to spreadsheets. But I'll definitely be looking for value in the transfer market, and signing good prospects who will either succeed at the club or can be sold for profit. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

56 minutes ago, warlock said:

Kinda! I don't have the patience of some of our top contributors for deep dives into the analysis screens, let alone exporting stuff to spreadsheets. But I'll definitely be looking for value in the transfer market, and signing good prospects who will either succeed at the club or can be sold for profit. 

Yeah when I managed Brentford I tended to wait till the end of the season and then scouted top goalscorers in all the English leagues below me as well as players who had the best average rating etc.

I also scouted France lower leagues and Denmark to reflect on the places that Brentford sign players from to try make it as realistic as possible.

I am looking forward to seeing who you bring in.

 

[warlock]

Transfers

My main aim was to find a good backup for Toney but with just £7m to spend I wasn't confident. As it happened, things turned out better than expected. The scouting team flagged the fact that hot prospect Fer Nino was listed for loan at Villareal and was rated an "excellent" signing. A loan fee of around £150k-per-month was negotiated and, since I doubted we could do better, the deal was done. Any lingering doubts were put aside when in his first appearance in a Brentford shirt he came on as a substitute and immediately found the net. A brace followed in our last pre-season friendly and, in his first competitive match, he grabbed a hat-trick against West Ham.

And that concluded our summer business. I identified several candidates for the fullback positions but we weren't in a position financially to pursue them. In any event, young Fin Stevens showed enough in pre-season to suggest he wouldn't be embarrassed at first-team level.

August & September: Opening our account

We got off to a mixed start, winning at home against Southampton, sharing the honours in an 8-goal thriller away at West Ham, before losing another away fixture at newly-promoted Bournemouth. But we quickly got back to winning ways and finished August with Nino grabbing his second hat-trick of the month.

September opened with our first big challenge of the season as moneybags Chelsea made the short trip up the Thames. The visitors had the lion's share of possession and Mason Mount opened the scoring after 14 minutes but we gradually fought our way into the game and Fer Nino grabbed an equaliser early in the second half. Then, in the 83rd minute, Pontus Jannson converted a Brian Mbeumo corner to give us the lead. Finally, with Chelsea throwing everything at us in search of an equaliser, Josh Desilva sealed the win with a 92nd minute goal. But if the fans were delirious then, they were less so at the end of the month - beating and bettering local rivals Fulham is part of the fans' vision and we let them down on our visit to Craven Cottage. We had the better possession, they had the better chances and the draw was a fair result in the end.

Two very good months, with the single defeat, saw us sitting in the Top Four. But we had troubles off the pitch with players racking up injuries faster than the already-injured were recovering. Vitaly Janelt suffered a broken leg in pre-season, ruling him out until the New Year. Mbeumo pulled a hamstring against Southampton so he missed most of September, and Wissa suffered broken ribs against Palace, meaning he missed 6 weeks. And before September was over the unfortunate Kevin Schade was barely back in training before he pulled a hamstring. Two weeks later in his first training session he sprained his ankle ligaments and missed another three weeks.

[warlock]

October & November

The run-up to the World Cup proved to be a difficult spell for us. Toney wasn't yet firing on all cylinders and Nino's excellent run of form stuttered badly. The defeat to league-leaders Man City was no surprise but we should have done better against Wolves and Everton, both struggling at the bottom of the table. With City romping away with the league and Liverpool pushing hard in second, we were in a group of teams battling for position between 3rd and 7th - a group that included Arsenal, Brighton, Newcastle and Spurs. So the defeats to the latter pair, which allowed them to leapfrog us in the table, was only partly compensated by the win against Brighton and a pleasing victory over Man United.

At this stage we had the 4th best attack and the 4th best defence, so it was somewhat disappointing to find ourselves in 8th position. Of course, this was a fantastic position for a team predicted to face relegation but nobody likes to be sliding down the table. At least the World Cup break would give us a chance to regroup and allow some of the injured to recover.

December

Whatever rest we had in November was soon just a distant memory. We schedule two friendlies for match-sharpness and then face three matches in quick succession to end the year. Putting aside Hull City in the Carabao Cup was pleasing but meant an even tougher January as the post-World Cup fixtures piled up. And a daunting return to League matches saw us face high-flying Liverpool at the Brentford Community Stadium. The 2-4 scoreline looks pretty one-sided but the match was much more equal than that:

We had the better chances but Salah and Tiago were the difference-makers for the visitors.

The year ended with a visit to Nottingham where Forest were firmly nailed to the foot of the table. Nothing but a win would have been acceptable and we did just enough to claim the victory.

[oakesypvfc]

Will be following this with intrigue. Toney looks hit and miss for you at the moment, hopefully you get him firing soon. January, I would imagine is massive in how your first season will pan out.

Best of luck!

[warlock]

12 minutes ago, oakesypvfc said:

Toney looks hit and miss for you at the moment, hopefully you get him firing soon

Yeah, not the best of starts from him. He was god-like in pre-season (for what that's worth) but he went missing as soon as the competitive fixtures started. January could well be a defining month, beginning with a trip to Arsenal  

[dtown1414]

My running buddy is from Brentford. Has been in the states for over 20 years now. We celebrated when they got promoted. Being a Man United fan, it sickens me to see how much money this club, and the other "big six" just waste away. I admire Brentford for their recruiting vision, and how they find those "diamond in a rough" players seemingly every season. I've read many football books, and when recruiting and academies are discussed, Brentford is always mentioned. Good luck and I'll be following. 

[warlock]

January 2023

Having had half the season to assess the squad and with the transfer window opening, some decisions were made. As I suspected CB Jorgensen didn't make the grade so he was offered out; no transfer bid was forthcoming but Stoke made an offer to loan him while paying his wages, and that deal was agreed. Young RB Fin Stevens showed flashes of quality but struggled at this level and we looked for a loan deal where he could continue his development.

Unfortunately, before any interest arrived, first-choice RB Mads Roerslev twisted an ankle in the first week of the month and would miss the whole of January, so a new RB became a necessity. We quickly removed Stevens from the loan list and signed Portuguese prospect Costinha from Rio Ave for £3m. He's mobile, has good mental attributes and is strong in the tackle. I believe he'll develop into a very good player for us.

As a replacement for Jorgensen at CB I had a long list of prospects but lacked the budget for any of the preferred options. Lower down the list but at a price we could afford was Austrian Phillipp Lienhardt, then plying his trade for Bundesliga outfit Freiburg. He has all the attributes I'd want in a defender and for £10m he was a bit of a bargain.

When it came to fixtures, we had a tough beginning to 2023 with a trip to Arsenal who occupied 3rd place in the table and the match went much the way I expected:

There were glimmers of hope as Toney found the net to equalise just before half time, but the rest of the team were obviously suffering from New Year hangovers and Arsenal steamrollered us in the second half. There were better performances in the rest of the month as we pushed past Altrincham and Hull  City in the FA Cup, and past Preston and Leicester as we staked a place in our very first Carabao Cup final. Also of note was a league win over rivals Fulham, with Lienhardt immediately winning over Bees fans as he secured the victory with his first goal for the club.

January also marked a turning point for Ivan Toney. In the approach to Christmas he found himself behind Fer Nino in the scoring charts but, perhaps buoyed by his brace against Liverpool on Boxing Day, he began a good run of scoring form, ending the month with 5 goals to his credit. In the process, we fought our way back into European contention in 6th place.

[SteinkelssonFM]

Fer Nino absolutely light up for me at Villarreal before securing a multi million pound move to Newcastle. I am glad to see that he is as prolific for you and the mighty bees. 

[warlock]

2 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

I am glad to see that he is as prolific for you and the mighty bees

He's been great and doing exactly what a backup should do - nipping at the heels of the first-choice player. I had a chat with Villareal in the January window about extending the loan; they declined. We have an optional fee arranged to make his deal permanent but a similar chat with his agent revealed that he's not overly keen on the move. I'm not giving up yet; we'll revisit these questions later in the season.

[Captain_T]

Very interesting thread!

Do you have a screenshot of your tactic?

[warlock]

2 hours ago, Captain_T said:

Do you have a screenshot of your tactic?

Sure...

This is the basic system - not overly aggressive in either defence or attack, aiming for pass-and-move football. But while the basics remain pretty much the same, roles and duties shift according to personnel. If Mbeumo was playing at AMR, he was usually a IW-sup with Damsgaard at AML as in IW-att. With Toney up front he could be any of AF, TM-sup or TM-att depending on the flow of the game. If we are expected to win, Henry moves to an attack duty. The two CMs change to whatever role fits the players best - LCM is often an AP, the RCM is often a B2B, both asked to go wide with the ball as the AMs ahead of them are coming narrower.

If we're chasing a goal I sometimes switch to positive mentality but prefer to create better chances by playing wider, faster or both. If we're defending a narrow lead late in game, we stay on 'balanced' but try to tighten our grip on the game by reducing passing length even further, slowing play down and adding a bit of time-wasting.

And against top gegenpressing teams - Man City, Liverpool - we don't try to play out of defence, instead going slightly more direct, passing into space, and distributing to the flanks.

The system is based on a recreation of Arteta's Arsenal tactic that Rashidi came up with in beta. While I was getting to grips with the new match engine I just copied it to get up and running. It was so successful I've used variations of it ever since - it usually over-achieves and once you understand the basics it's easy to manage. 

[warlock]

February 2023

February might be my least favourite month in FM - it often seems to be "one of those months" where the season goes pear-shaped as fatigue and injuries take their toll, while January signings take time to settle into the squad. But we began with a home match against one of our easier opponents in Wolves, who had not won a Premier League game since November.

We delivered a routine victory, taking a 2-0 lead into the half-time break before some complacency allowed the visitors a consolation goal. But next up we went away to Man City - so far ahead of the rest of the league they were a tiny speck in the distance -  where the lads produced one of the best results of the season. To be honest, we weren't great - in fact, we were damned lucky - but no-one in red-and-white cared:

City peppered our goal and it was no surprise that David Raya was named Player of the Match, making 15 saves against a full-strength City side and leaving the likes of Haaland, Silva and De Bruyne frustrated.

We followed up that miracle with a creditable draw against Arsenal that saw KLP take his goal tally to 4 for the month, and a good win against West Ham. So we went into Brentford's first Carabao Cup final brimming with confidence, only to suffer defeat at the hands of Villa. It was an even game and we had slightly better chances but the game was a story of two penalties. Just 3 minutes in, Coutinho slotted home to give Villa the lead; in the second half Toney stepped up but spurned the chance to equalise. A disappointment, certainly, but we were still alive in the FA Cup and dared to dream.

March 2023

In fact, our first game of March was a fifth round tie against Sunderland at the Community Stadium, and we were confident in our ability to see off Championship opponents. Were we overly confident? The visitors, managed by wily veteran Tony Mowbray, certainly gave us a run for our money. We enjoyed the majority of possession, the better chances, but couldn't find the breakthrough. On we went to extra-time and still we couldn't overcome their resilient defence. Penalties seemed inevitable and eventually it was a penalty that decided things as Toney was brought down in the box and then scored from the spot kick in the last minute of added time.

Two good wins in the league followed, bringing our tally to 5 wins and a draw from 6 matches, before we saw out the month with another excellent performance against West Ham to book another visit to Wembley for the FA Cup semi-finals.

[warlock]

April 2023

It is still nip and tuck at the top of the league - City and Liverpool haved the top two positions in an iron grip but below them another 5 or 6 teams are battling for position. Our excellent league form since the New Year propelled us to 4th position, but Arsenal, Newcastle, Brighton and Tottenham have ambitions of their own. But however well we've done so far, April has yet another level of challenge as we open the month with consecutive games against Newcastle, Liverpool and Man Utd. A 2-0 home win against the filthy-rich Geordies gave us cause for optimism, but we were quickly slapped down against the latter duo:

Any time we come up against Liverpool I fear a morale-destroying spanking but this time we kept the margin to a single goal. So I was hoping for a similar performance against United - alas, Raya had a stinker and allowed 3 goals from 4 shots on target and an Xg of 1.16, while we converted just one of 8 shots on target.

Happily, we were able to put aside our first back-to-back defeats of the season and returned to winning ways with a superb battling victory over Brighton. Credit for the win goes to Ivan Toney who bagged 4 goals in the game, including a last-gasp winner in the 4th minute of added time.

Next up, a visit to Wembley for the club's first appearance in an FA Cup semi-final. Exciting, no doubt, but our opponents in the form of a rampant Man City side were rather more terrifying. With City still competing on multiple fronts, I was hoping for a bit of rotation from Pep; instead, he fielded probably his strongest side featuring Haaland, De Bruyne and Silva, and a world class back-four. The only surprise was the absence of Ederson in goal as City stuck with their cup goalkeeper, new signing Stefan Ortega. For one of the few times in our injury-hit season, I named my strongest 11. When Haaland opened the scoring after just 5 minutes I feared the worst, but we held them at bay for the remainder of the first half and most of the second, often threatening on the break. After his exploits against Brighton Toney was running on fumes and was replaced by Fer Nino on 70 minutes. Five miinutes later Rico Henry squared a pass into the box and Nino pounced for the equaliser and the red-and-white half of Wembley erupted. And in the final minute of added time, Josh DaSilva lifted a cross to the back post and KLP rose above the defence to head home for a famous victory:

The Bees were headed for an historic FA Cup Final!

After that adrenaline rush the remainder of the month was an inevitable anti-climax. We secured a less-than-convincing win against relegation-threatened Everton before losing - at home! - to a Leeds side doing little better. In an incredibly tight race for European qualification that loss to Leeds dropped us down to 5th place, but I have to keep reminding myself we're not supposed to be here at all. Our last 5 league games of the season present us with opportunities for more points against the likes of Bournemouth, Villa and Palace, but also potential traps against Spurs and Chelsea. And finally - yes, I said that - there's an FA Cup final against... um, Liverpool.

 

 

Edited April 16, 2023 by warlock

[oakesypvfc]

Wow, brilliant season so far. Hopefully you can oust Liverpool to gain a well deserved piece of silverware. It looks like you are in great position to get a European spot, best of luck in May!

[warlock]

26 minutes ago, oakesypvfc said:

Wow, brilliant season so far

Cheers, mate! I'd have to agree with that, although I've spent most of the season wondering when the wheels are going to come off .

I have low expectations against Liverpool, though. We've got results against everyone else in the Top 10, I think, but we've not laid a glove on Liverpool. It'll take something special.

[SteinkelssonFM]

An excellent response to the back to back defeats, especially the late winner over City. What would you attribute the heavy defeat at home to leads to? Was it a case of exhaustion or can you pin point on anything else. 

[Jogo Bonito]

Great progress with Brentford! Success in league and cups is a real achievement.

Nice to see you breaking with tradition (a career update thread of your own) whilst not breaking tradition (managing Brentford) 

How did you get the player face icon images in your squad review page? I like that alot.

[warlock]

15 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

What would you attribute the heavy defeat at home to leads to?

There may have been some fatigue at the end of a tough month but really it was about individual errors. Leeds took the lead in the 7th minute from a corner - Raya came for it and got nowhere near allowing McKennie to head into an empty net. Their second was actually a good goal as Bamford received a pass near our penalty area, shielded the ball and then smashed home his shot on the turn. For the third, from a simple cross, all our defenders got sucked in to the near post, leaving Bamford unmarked at the back. We were 3-0 down inside 25 minutes. After that they were happy to sit back and try to hit us on the counter, and we lacked the ability to break them down until Nino got us a consolation 10 minutes from time.

Rotation was also a factor; it certainly wasn't our strongest 11, but I'm not seeing any worrying trends.

[warlock]

7 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Great progress with Brentford!

Thanks, mate. Good to have you drop by 

7 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

How did you get the player face icon images in your squad review page?

Not a clue . It's the same face pack I've been using for years and as far as I'm aware, I've done nothing different. 

Hope you're well. Seems like the new life is eating up far too much of your FM time, but I hope you're enjoying it!

[warlock]

May 2023

With 33 games played, it comes down to the final month - 5 to go. The FA Cup final looms on the horizon, on the first Saturday in June, but I'm trying not to think about that, and trying to keep the players focussed on the immediate task, too.

We occupy 5th place at the start of the month. Can we maintain that? Could we do better? To be honest, if we're going to play in Europe next season I might prefer the Conference League where we might, just, be able to avoid abject humiliation.

First up, we entertain Spurs who sit one place above us in the table:

We turn in a magnificent performance. Our passing game wasn't great but we cut the visitors open time and time again and were on the front foot from the first whistle. Three players combined for all three goals. First, Jensen set up KLP for the opener on 23 minutes; then Jensen delivered a corner met by the head of Ajer for the second; and finally Ajer turned provider to KLP for the third. That attacking performance was backed by a great defensive display from Reya, Costinha, Leinhardt and Pinnock who barely allowed the visitors a sniff of goal.

Next, we travel to Aston Villa, arguably one of the easier games in the run-in as they sit in mid-table with little to play for:

If the match stats are to be believed, we played them off the park. I guess this has to go down as a mild FM'ing. Villa got their noses in front on the half hour mark, before Toney equalised early in the second half. When DaSilva grabbed a rare goal on 75 minutes I thought we'd done enough to win but we were still celebrating when the home side popped up with an equaliser just a minute later. This was another game where Raya showed his capacity for a bad mistake and reinforced my doubts as to whether he is the right man between the sticks going forward.

After we began the season in the middle of an injury crisis, it soon became apparent that we would end the season in the same way. Our third match of the month saw us entertain relegation-threatened Bournemouth; by the end of the game we had lost Hickey (2 weeks, pulled calf muscle) and Jensen (3 weeks sprained ankle ligaments). The LB might be fit enough for the bench in the cup final but Jensen had played his last football of the season):

Although we didn't exactly dominate, and once again we conceded the first goal, we rallied in excellent fashion and ran out in comfortable fashion. A brace from Toney clinched the win after Wissa bagged a second-half equaliser.

Our penultimate league game of the season took us to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea, who had already failed to clinch a European spot. Nevertheless, an away game in a local derby is always tough and this game had the chance to knock us off course. And then, two days before the game, we suffered a huge blow - leading scorer Toney broke his arm in training and would play no further part in our season.

The match itself was a cagey affair with neither side showing much quality in front of goal until the last moments before half time. Costinha played a neat through ball to KLP playing at AMR; he in turn beat his man and played a low pass into the box where Damsgaard was able to side-foot his placed shot into the net. Chelsea dominated the possession but couldn't do anything with it, mustering a single shot on target throughout the entire game. We made the short trip back to Brentford with all 3 points, moving us up to 4th in the table. But this game also delivered another blow as Mbeumo was carried off the pitch with a cruciate ligament injury that threatens to keep him out for the rest of the year.

On the final day of the league season, we had the chance to celebrate in front of our own fans as Crystal Palace, already relegated, made the trip across London to the Community Stadium. What should have been a straightforward game on paper was, of course, complicated by the fact that we were now missing four important players:

Palace played like a side that had already given up, not helped by the fact that Wilfrid Zaha was dismissed for a wild challenge midway through the first half. Damsgaard took upon himself the goalscoring duties, tucking away a first-half penalty before clinching the win by converting a Norgaard through-ball with 11 minutes to go. As the players strolled about the pitch saluting the fans, the news filtered through:

[warlock]

June 2023 - The FA Cup final

It was a day that no Brentford fan had dared dream of at the start of the season - the humble Bees in their first FA Cup final, up against the might of Liverpool. Wembley Stadium. A sell-out crowd of 90,000 fans. A Liverpool side that had reinforced in January with the signing of Spanish midfielder Dani Olmo. 

Liverpool were able to put out a full-strength side while we were severely hampered by injuries. Top scorer Toney was out; first-choice AMR Mbeumo was out; CM Jensen - our leading source of assists - was not fit to start but made the bench. And backup striker Nino was in a poor run of form, failing to find the net in 5 appearances in May. We were up against it but, as I told the players - and the media - we would give it our best shot and I could ask for no more.

We got off to a poor start as Liverpool were at us straight from the kickoff and it was no surprise when they opened the scoring after just 8 minutes as Fabinho rose above the defence to head home a Tsimikas cross. Hope flared when Norgaard scored from a KLP free-kick deep in the Liverpool half, but was quickly crushed when Darwin Nunez put the Reds back in the lead after 24 minutes.

At the break I asked the players for more and they responded with a better display for the opening 15 minutes but we were knocked back on the hour when Thiago smashed home a world-class finish from 25 yards. With time running out I threw on Mathias Jensen and we were immediately rewarded as he found the net to bring the score to 2-3 with 6 minutes to go. I hoped for a confidence boost to redouble our efforts but hope died again when Cody Gakpo sealed the Liverpool victory 2 minutes from time. Salah didn't score but was an ever-present menace on the wing, and that man Olmo finished with two assists to his name.

For once, the stats don't lie - we were outplayed by a superior opponent. We left Wembley defeated but, I think, not embarrassed. I'm certain this team has a bright future, and my thoughts turn to the summer transfer window and our first Champions League campaign.

[oakesypvfc]

What a fantastic season. Please don't beat yourself up about the cup final, that injury crisis came at a really poor time for you!

To finish the season how you did, with key players out is a testament to how well you have done. Unlucky to not go the extra little bit to bring home a trophy. Champions League qualification is massive, hopefully you get a sizeable budget that you are able to improve the team both with quantity and quality.

Best of luck with a very important transfer window!

[warlock]

10 hours ago, oakesypvfc said:

Best of luck with a very important transfer window!

Thanks! I know a lot of people find tranfer windows one of the best parts of the game but I worry about them a lot. Often seem to end up weakening the squad rather than strengthening 

This one will be complicated by the fact that there's a lot of Big Club vultures circling around Toney, Raya and Henry. Hopefully, Champions League football will encourage them to stay.

[john1]

wow, what a season despite losing in FA Cup final!

Edited April 19, 2023 by john1

[warlock]

June 2023, season review

Safe to say we exceeded the board's expectations - avoid relegation, be competitive in the domestic cups. 

Safely establishing himself as our star man, Toney also topped the charts with highest average rating and most PoM awards.

Other noteworthy factors include the emergence of Damsgaard as one of our stars with 14 goals and 12 assists, and the continued development of young Keane Lewis-Potter, with 9 goals and 11 assists from 26 starts and 21 sub appearances. Although naturally an IW on the left, KLP often had to deputise for Mbeumo on the right and more than held his own.

There were also areas of concern. My pre-season doubts about Ben Mee proved correct as he put in a series of mediocre performances, while fellow CB Pontus Jansson seems to be declining - the Swede is not old at 32 but is losing speed, strength and fitness at a notable rate, while new signing Philipp Lienhart has supplanted him as first-choice on the right. Also falling down the ranks is RB Mads Roerslev who didn't develop much over the season and failed to match the impact of new signing Costinha.

There are also questions about our goalkeepers. David Raya is the "obvious" first choice, with Thomas Strakosha as backup. However, analytics suggest the position is not so clear cut:

Strakosha made 15 starts in all competitions and kept 8 clean sheets, conceding 11 goals in the other 7. Raya, on the other hand, Made 36 appearances, kept just 10 clean sheets and conceded 50 goals. More concerning, Raya conceded 42 goals in 20 Premier League matches. In part, I think, this might be down to attributes - Raya is a natural sweeper-keeper with a 17 for rushing out; but he has just 12 each for acceleration and jumping reach. I've already noted a number of occasions when he came for crosses and corners and failed to gather them, costing us soft goals. I'm happy with Strakosha as a backup/cup goalkeeper but I'd certainly like someone more reliable than Raya as first-choice GK.

So in terms of the transfer window, I need a CB to replace Mee, and probably an RB to replace Roerslev. Wissa will be moved on, allowing KLP to play in his preferred position as backup to Damsgaard, so I need a backup at AMR behind Mbeumo. There's a question mark up front as Toney is wanted by both Man Utd and PSG, although he's not yet agitating for a move. And I need to explore the future of Fer Nino, whether we move for him permanently or extend his loan from Villareal. If I lose both then we also need two new strikers. Finally, a new GK to replace Raya would be the cherry on the cake.

Should be an interesting summer 

[warlock]

The next Mourinho?

An unexpected job offer... which was declined. This was always intended as a one-club save so I'm not interested . Although I am flattered 

[john1]

Wow Roma?  Will be interesting to see who you bring in

[SteinkelssonFM]

An interesting conundrum in terms of your first choice GK, out of interest did you end up playing him in fixtures against weaker opponents, this could also make his data outputs appear that he is superior.

An excellent season, of course Ivan Toney picked up the POTS, what a player he is! Gutted to see you not win the cup. However, onwards and upwards...ready for next season. 💪

[warlock]

3 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

against weaker opponents, this could also make his data outputs appear that he is superior

Strakosha was my cup goalkeeper so he played most of the Carabao and FA Cup matches so, yeah, he did face some weaker opposition. I've tried to allow for that in my thinking. I certainly don't see him as a first-choice GK.

What was interesting to me was actually seeing Raya's attributes play out in the match engine, his compulsion to rush out and his limited acceleration and jumping reach sometimes making it impossible for him to get to the ball. He was often excellent but, rather too often, put in mistake-laden performances. I think most Brentford fans would recognise that IRL (see also one David DeGea!)

It doesn't look like I'll be able to upgrade the position this window, so I'm hoping that strengthening the back four in front of him will provide better security.

[Jogo Bonito]

On 17/04/2023 at 22:59, warlock said:

Thanks, mate. Good to have you drop by 

Not a clue . It's the same face pack I've been using for years and as far as I'm aware, I've done nothing different. 

Hope you're well. Seems like the new life is eating up far too much of your FM time, but I hope you're enjoying it!

It might just he the skin that makes it show the faces in squad view. My face pack doesn't do that.

Yes little FM history these days and my laptop didn't really process very well,  so it became a chore to waste precious spare time on FM.

However, I have just acquired a new laptop so if it means those hours can be FM fun rather than FM chore, I might be able to get something going again.

But back to important matters. What a great season you had. The league form was incredible but to also win a Cup was extra special. Congrats my friend!

[warlock]

10 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

I might be able to get something going again

Fingers crossed, and I'll look forward to it.

10 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

What a great season you had. The league form was incredible but to also win a Cup was extra special. Congrats my friend!

Thanks, but... um, we didn't win a cup  - lost to Villa in the Carabao final; lost to Liverpool in the FA Cup final. But to reach those two finals was a massive achievement for the Bees. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for another crack at some silverware.

Currently working - slowly - through the summer transfer window and hope to have an update soon. I have two particular problems to solve. The first is easily stated: with first-choice AMR Brian Mbeumo out until at least the new year, do I bring in another player (who might be surplus to requirements when Mbeumo returns), or do I try to soldier on with three players covering both AMR and AML? Another injury is going to present us with major problems.

The second is rather more complicated. It seems like everyone knows about Brentford's famed moneyball approach to transfers; less well-known is the fact that that approach is at least partially dictated by the closure of their academy some years ago after several hot prospects were snatched away by the Premier League big clubs. We have very few players that qualify as home-grown at club which, with European qualification, has suddenly become a major problem. We do not have a conveyor belt of promising youngsters, and the plan to date has been to sign prospective talents released by the bigger academies. While that worked when Brentford were a Championship or lower PL outfit, it doesn't work in Europe where however talented the prospects are, they'll never be homegrown if they're signed at 20 or 21 years of age.

Building a new academy from scratch will likely take years so my current plan is to operate what I think of as the Kinder Corps Recruitment team - a dedicated group of scouts who will focus entirely on players 18 and younger. The problem here is that the obvious prospects carry a high price, so we need a kind of youth-oriented moneyball approach. If anyone has faced a similar issue I'd love to hear how you've approached it, let alone solved it.

[Jogo Bonito]

1 hour ago, warlock said:

Fingers crossed, and I'll look forward to it.

Thanks, but... um, we didn't win a cup  - lost to Villa in the Carabao final; lost to Liverpool in the FA Cup final. But to reach those two finals was a massive achievement for the Bees. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long for another crack at some silverware.

Currently working - slowly - through the summer transfer window and hope to have an update soon. I have two particular problems to solve. The first is easily stated: with first-choice AMR Brian Mbeumo out until at least the new year, do I bring in another player (who might be surplus to requirements when Mbeumo returns), or do I try to soldier on with three players covering both AMR and AML? Another injury is going to present us with major problems.

The second is rather more complicated. It seems like everyone knows about Brentford's famed moneyball approach to transfers; less well-known is the fact that that approach is at least partially dictated by the closure of their academy some years ago after several hot prospects were snatched away by the Premier League big clubs. We have very few players that qualify as home-grown at club which, with European qualification, has suddenly become a major problem. We do not have a conveyor belt of promising youngsters, and the plan to date has been to sign prospective talents released by the bigger academies. While that worked when Brentford were a Championship or lower PL outfit, it doesn't work in Europe where however talented the prospects are, they'll never be homegrown if they're signed at 20 or 21 years of age.

Building a new academy from scratch will likely take years so my current plan is to operate what I think of as the Kinder Corps Recruitment team - a dedicated group of scouts who will focus entirely on players 18 and younger. The problem here is that the obvious prospects carry a high price, so we need a kind of youth-oriented moneyball approach. If anyone has faced a similar issue I'd love to hear how you've approached it, let alone solved it.

Oops, my bad. I thought I had read that you had won the first Cup - sorry for talking nonsense  

But yes you are right, two finals and a European spot was amazing for a club like Brentford.

The HG players is a problem indeed. I guess you can register fewer players in your European squad, but that will leave you weak. You can transfer 'player search' for any players who were HGC at any time in the past, both age 0-21 and 15-21 searches. But there won't be many of those, if any at all. And you can sign 17 year old players, avoid registering them if necessary, and hope you still have them in 3-4 years. None of these are helpful, but I can't even read about your Cup finals correctly, so best wait for somebody else to help you there 

[warlock]

On 23/04/2023 at 01:38, Jogo Bonito said:

And you can sign 17 year old players, avoid registering them if necessary, and hope you still have them in 3-4 years. None of these are helpful, but I can't even read about your Cup finals correctly, so best wait for somebody else to help you there 

No problem with your vision, and you're right about transfer policy. But today I discovered a new issue...

Having set up multiple scouting focuses (focii?) to find 16-18-year-olds, when playing in England there are two problems - you can't transfer in u18s; and almost anyone who is affordable at that age won't qualify for a work permit. I've found multiple players at the right age who have great potential, but the majority aren't interested in a transfer, and none of the foreign players will get a work permit. So you have to gamble by loaning them back (or elsewhere) and hope they get enough top-flight football to qualify for a work permit. And given the current AI's reluctance to play youngsters, that doesn't seem like a viable policy.

As far as I can see, the only way forward is to run a limited (20-ish player) squad in Europe, and accept that I'll have to play a much weakened rotation squad in the PL. NB: this is only (I think) a major issue for a club like Brentford where there is no focus on the academy and you're relying on transfers for young talents - most clubs should be able to fill the European squad with home-grown players.

The challenge is even more of a challenge 

[warlock]

August 2023 - end of transfer window

Going in to the transfer window there were some moves I knew I wanted to make, and some players who I hadn't quite made a final decision on. In addition, there were questions over our strikers that were out of my hands - widespread demand for Ivan Toney, and the reluctance of back-up Fer Nino to sign permanently and for his parent club to allow a loan extension. In brief:

CB Ben Mee - inconsistent and unreliable; sell

AML Yoane Wissa - occasional flashes of quality but largely missing in most games: sell

RB Mads Roerslev - quickly overtaken by new signing Costinha, not developing: unsure

CB Pontus Jansson - declining notably; high earner: unsure

GK David Raya - good but error-prone: keep unless an improvement was available

Transfers out

Mee and Wissa were transfer-listed and eventually sold for £8.5m and £2.2m, respectively. While I was pondering the future of Roerslev he came to me demanding a new contract because he was now "a much better player" than his current deal reflected. When I tried to point out he simply hadn't played well enough, he demanded a transfer. So that decision was taken out of my hands - he, too, departed for £12m. Several others who had either spent the season on loan or who hadn't figured in my first-team plans were also moved on. A number of younger players were loaned out for fees, so in total we raised £31.5m.

Transfers in

Having outlined the needs and wants, obviously my first signing fitted in neither category. Although I was happy enough with our midfield, we were 'blessed' with a disproportionate number of ball-winning midfielders and were rather short on creativity. I had my eye on Lorient's Enzo Le Fee all season but had no immediate plans to sign him. Then a news report raised the prospect of him signing for either Man Utd or Newcastle, which rather tipped my hand. He was signed for £6m:

As a replacement - and upgrade - at CB I had been tracking Dinamo Zagreb's Josip Sutalo. He's good in the air and tough in the tackle, with good physicals and mentals - I was sure he was a player that would be worth the investment. He was duly signed for £15m.

With lingering uncertainty over the future of Toney, and unable to re-sign Fer Nino, I was looking for a player who offered much of what those two strikers provided us. I found him in another youngster from eastern Europe, Augsberg's Croation striker Dion Drena Beljo. Ideally, I'd like a little more pace but, according to the scouts and coaches, he has plenty of room to grow:

And finally - so I thought - we needed a replacement for the departed Wissa, although I'd already decided that we would play Keane Lewis-Potter at AML so what was needed was a backup to Brian Mbeumo at AMR. In came Portuguese youngster Francisco Conceicao, signed from Ajax for £11.25m:

Having spoken a couple of days ago about my fears of relying on 3 players covering both AML and AMR while Mbeumo is out until early 2024, my hand was forced when Conceicao suffered a back injury just before the first game of the season and was expected to miss the opening month so I felt I had no option but to bring another covering player. I eventually found him - I hope - in Matías Soulé, a 20-year-old Argentinian who joined on a season-long loan from Juventus. He's "not far off first-team level" and should provide long-term cover.

 

Of the changes that didn't happen, I couldn't find a good replacement for Raya at a price I was happy to pay, and despite multiple offers for Jansson we couldn't move him on, as he turned down every option despite saying that several were his ideal moves. Happily, we were able to reject all offers for Toney, including one from Man Utd and several from Spurs, without the player becoming unhappy. And he's now signed a new contract that should fend off any interest for the next season or two. In the end, we also didn't sign a replacement RB for Roerslev - of the candidates we could afford, I wasn't convinced that any offered a significant improvement on youngster Fin Stevens, who will have the opportunity to develop as a backup option to the excellent Costinha. In emergencies we can also call on the services of our Swiss Army Knife Kristoffer Ajer, who is more than adequate at the position.

All of our signings meet the board requirements of signing young players for the future, and young players who can be sold for a profit. Additionally, I think they all fit the profile of 'typical' Brentford signings who offer great potential and excellent value for money.

League fixtures

With our transfers done, we could get down to the business of competitive fixtures. The board are looking for a top-half finish this season, while the media prediction is for us to achieve 12th place. And we faced a difficult opening day with a trip down river to west London rivals Chelsea:

And it proved to be a tough game. With time running out I had mentally accepted a welcome draw until Beljo made a debut appearance as substitute and promptly bagged a brace of goals to secure all three points. Although the remainder of the fixtures were mixed, it was extremely pleasing to see all of our new signings - bar the injured Conceicao - getting on the scoresheet. The Brighton game was looking like a particular disappointment as we went in at half-time 0-2 down, but the team responded to some home truths and secured a battling draw. The win against Southampton pushed us into the European places to end the month.

And on the subject of European places, we also learned the opposition for Brentford's first adventure in continental football:

Undoubtedly tough, but perhaps the 'easiest' group we could have drawn. And let's all take a moment to savour the phrase, "Brentford's opponents in the European Champions League".

[SteinkelssonFM]

Enzooooo a player which I have often had in my scouting shortlist, yet one who I am yet to manage. I am keen to see if he can deliver on the big stage! 

The fee of £6m is an absolute steal, how long was on his contract prior to acquisition? 

[warlock]

5 hours ago, MattyLewis11 said:

Enzooooo... The fee of £6m is an absolute steal, how long was on his contract prior to acquisition?

Yes, he's a player I've watched for several versions of FM but was never in a position to sign. I think he had a year left on his contract and I agree - £6m is a bargain. According to my coaches he has room to grow but he's got off to a great start for us with a goal and an assist from 3 starts and an average rating of 7.2.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if Brentford signed him IRL this summer.

[warlock]

September 2023

The second month of the season saw us in action in three different competitions, including our Champions League debut.

We began with a visit to Old Trafford, now managed by Diego Simeone, and managed to put a dent in their aspirations. There was certainly an element of luck about the victory as they had the lion's share of the possession and chances but Jensen gave us the lead after just 15 minutes and we held them at bay for the remainder of the match. At home to Watford we secured a routine win thanks to a brace from Toney.

Next came that Champions League match and although the scoreline looks one-sided the game didn't play that way. We were unlucky to go behind inside 15 minutes when a close-range shot flicked up off Sutalo leaving Raya stranded at the near post as the deflection looped into the net. Dortmund added a second before half-time before sealing the win with a third in the 83rd minute. The visitors had just 3 shots on target while we mustered 10 SoT in return but were constantly denied by Dortmund 'keeper Gregor Kobel. KLP's penalty came too late to change the course of the match:

Happily, we saw out the rest of the month with two league wins and a Carabao Cup victory. The win against Leeds took us to 5 consecutive victories and into third place in the league table:

So far, so good. But October is shaping up to be a tough month - we open with a visit to Ajax in the Champions League, followed by Premier League fixtures against Man City and Arsenal.

 

[oakesypvfc]

Some very nice signings and arguably the best job of at all, keeping hold and signing Toney to a new contract! I see a good season ahead, best of luck in your first Champions League campaign!

[warlock]

1 hour ago, oakesypvfc said:

arguably the best job of all, keeping hold and signing Toney to a new contract!

Thanks, and agreed! He's such an important player and life would have been difficult without him.

As for the Champions League, I'm not expecting much - Dortmund, Ajax and Atalanta are tough opponents for a squad like ours (we still have a number of players rated as good or leading Championship quality). If we could get 3rd and drop into the Europa League I'd be delighted, if only to keep the adventure going a little longer.

[karanhsingh]

Good to see you in the FMCU @warlock, and that's a fantastic start to the save!

Toney is a beast, I am half-hoping for United to sign him IRL when they inevitably fail with the Kane/Levy pursuit.

[warlock]

1 hour ago, karanhsingh said:

Good to see you in the FMCU

Cheers mate . I'm enjoying myself.

[rich ruzzian]

You and the squad did not miss the start of the Premier League. Will be interesting to see how the Champions leagie matches will influence the results in Premier League. 

[warlock]

3 hours ago, rich ruzzian said:

Will be interesting to see how the Champions leagie matches will influence the results in Premier League

It certainly will - I'm about halfway through October and already starting to see the effects of tiredness on the squad. It's not affecting our results so far but I'm a bit worried about the long-term impact. Could have a squad of Walking Dead by Christmas 

[warlock]

October 2023

We opened the month with our second Champions League matchday, away at Dutch champions Ajax. I had no great expectations from this match and after our rather unlucky defeat against Dortmund was only keen to avoid another morale-sapping loss. Inevitably, the home side started brighter and we were under pressure for the opening stages until Ethan Pinnock converted a Damsgaard corner to give us a lead against the run of play. We extended our lead in the second half through Toney, but it was no surprise that Ajax pulled one back soon after. Trying to wrestle control of the game, I made a couple of tactical tweaks, dropping our passing range, turning off 'play out of defence' and turning on 'pass into space', seeking to punish our opponents' aggression. And it worked magnificently as we dominated the final 15 minutes. DaSilva extended our lead, Damsgaard added a goal to his 3 assists, before Toney sealed the deal with his second on 90 minutes.

Given the success of that tactical switch, I thought I'd start the same way against Man City when they visited the Community Stadium for our second game of the month. And once again it exceeded my expectations. City dominated possession but we held them at bay for the entirety of the game, although we couldn't get much going in attack ourselves. As the clocked ticked down towards a goalless draw, substitute Francisco Conceição picked up a pass on our right wing, cut inside the City defence and smashed it home to give us an unlikely victory:

Next up was a trip to league leaders Arsenal and we stuck with the same tactics. It looked as though we'd come unstuck this time as Martinelli gave the home side the lead inside 30 minutes, and we were lucky not to go further behind when Saka had a strike ruled offside in the second half. But in the 77th minute, Josh DaSilva played a through-ball to Toney and our main man produced a composed finish to slot it past Ramsdale into the far corner of the net to give us a share of the points. That result took us - remarkably - to the top of the Premier League.

There was no time to rest on our laurels as we were firmly on the two-games-a-week treadmill, with Italian side Atalanta arriving in Brentford for our third Champions League tie. We deployed the same tactical system and this time we bossed the game with most shots, most shots on target, better xG and most possession. Playmaker Enzo Le Fee produced a creative masterclass, creating two goals first for KLP inside 15 minutes and then, with time ticking away, for substitute Beljo in the 89th minute. The Italians were reduced to trying to kick us off the pitch as they picked up 6 yellow cards.

With half of the group stage completed, our qualifying group looked very pleasing indeed:

With everything going so - unbelievably - well, it was perhaps inevitable that a pratfall was lurking and it duly arrived in the shape of a trip across London to West Ham. The Hammers were down in 9th place having lost 3 of the last 5 games but with fatigue beginning to catch up with the squad - despite as much rest and rotation as possible - we simply didn't get going. West Ham took the lead from a corner in the 17th minute and we went in at half-time looking bereft of ideas, having mustered just two off-target shots in the 45 minutes. We were better in the second half and had chances to equalise but Wilfred Zaha drove the nail into the coffin with West Ham's second 12 minutes from the end. And things are so tight at the top of the Premier League that the defeat - our first in 7 matches - sent us plunging from top to 6th.

To finish the month we faced the repetitively-promoted Norwich in the 4th round of the Carabao Cup. With the Canaries sitting firmly in the relegation zone, it was made clear to the squad that nothing less than a win would be acceptable and they duly delivered resounding 3-0 victory:

Toney continues to shine while Damsgaard continues his excellent progress. All of our new signings are doing well, Enzo Le Fee in particular with a goal and 3 assists so far. The major concern is the performances of first-choice LB Rico Henry who, so far, has no assists and a mediocre record of passing and crossing in 8 starts and 5 sub appearances, and in his most recent 5 games has averaged a 6.6 rating, the lowest of the squad. Unless there's a significant improvement his future will be under threat in the January transfer window.

[Dong21]

Belated congratulations on qualifying for the Champions League and the two cup runs @warlock! More importantly, great to see the strong start in the CL and in the PL once again. I was pleasantly surprised to see you managed to retain Toney over the summer.

This is my first time on the Forum since the start of Jan (I haven’t even played any FM since then), but now I’ve caught up on your thread I will try and continue to follow along! 

[warlock]

5 hours ago, Dong21 said:

I will try and continue to follow along! 

Good to have you around, mate. Any chance of a new save for you, or are you on indefinite FM leave?

[rich ruzzian]

Strong month. In the PL everything is still possible.