KlaaZ Posted June 18, 2023 Author Share Posted June 18, 2023 2 hours ago, 13th Man said: New tactic looks pretty solid and seems to be getting results. Missing the attacking runs of the MEZ might mean a bit less penetration but sounds worth it. Also nice solution to the lack of pace on the left. I’ve seen people argue that you don’t want two playmakers (in this case T and DLP) but if they’re in different areas of the pitch it can work really well. Good looking young players. With PSG not doing well and the tactic working, it has the potential to be a good year! It's a bit of a tradeoff. I felt the MEZ often was quite hit and miss, with him being so far up the pitch that there was too big a gap between him and the buildup play from the back. And to be fair, my main BBM and CAR have thirteen goals and ten assists between them in the league, having played about 30 games combined. That's a very decent number. Surprisingly, we might eclipse PSG but not win the league. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
13th Man Posted June 19, 2023 Share Posted June 19, 2023 21 hours ago, KlaaZ said: It's a bit of a tradeoff. I felt the MEZ often was quite hit and miss, with him being so far up the pitch that there was too big a gap between him and the buildup play from the back. And to be fair, my main BBM and CAR have thirteen goals and ten assists between them in the league, having played about 30 games combined. That's a very decent number. Surprisingly, we might eclipse PSG but not win the league. Seems like it’s working. To make the MEZ(a) work you need good build up play on that side - I liked having a WB/IW(s) combo to progress the play - and the space can definitely be exploited when they rush forward. Funny that ASSE (right?) are having such a season when PSG are down! Unlucky Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 19, 2023 Author Share Posted June 19, 2023 9 minutes ago, 13th Man said: Seems like it’s working. To make the MEZ(a) work you need good build up play on that side - I liked having a WB/IW(s) combo to progress the play - and the space can definitely be exploited when they rush forward. Funny that ASSE (right?) are having such a season when PSG are down! Unlucky Yeah, ASSE. They got very close last season too, leading until 4 of 5 games from the end. Then they lost in Marseille and PSG overtook them. But the gap's a lot bigger now. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 20, 2023 Author Share Posted June 20, 2023 Seven games to go and this is the table. I think it's very unlikely that ASSE will bottle it with that kind of lead, but we still play them at home so who knows? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 20, 2023 Author Share Posted June 20, 2023 Seven of our lads in the top 50. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 20, 2023 Author Share Posted June 20, 2023 Dropped points in Toulouse due to another clown goal, with Renteria being first on a deep ball but Gicquel, who was also tracking it, hoofing it clear to the edge of the box right into the feet of an opponent who only needed to tap it into an empty net. Meanwhile, ASSE won 0-3 in Nantes so the title is effectively gone with a gap of ten points and six games to play. At the level we're playing right now, we'll probably also lose our second place to PSG. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 20, 2023 Author Share Posted June 20, 2023 Quite possibly no silverware for PSG this year though, which is satisfying in itself. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 20, 2023 Author Share Posted June 20, 2023 ASSE's last two games.. Title stress? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted June 20, 2023 Share Posted June 20, 2023 Paulo, looks excellent signing! Good to see you're back playing this save after tactical changes 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 20, 2023 Author Share Posted June 20, 2023 Looks like a third place again. Came back to four points with a home game against ASSE in hand and then got soundly and deservedly beat by them. Looks like there are now two teams in the league that we have to topple, and we're clearly not there yet. They are currently sitting on a whopping 61 goal difference.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 20, 2023 Author Share Posted June 20, 2023 (edited) Final table, dropped from confident second to not even close third, same final position for the third consecutive year. We completely dropped out in the final four games, only winning one and losing two, including a head to head confrontation with ASSE. Feels like we're stalling really, which is as expected because we don't have the quality to mount a serious title challenge. We have two really good players, Apaza and Phanouvong, but the rest is either not there yet or never will be. We have specific quality issues in central defense and at the striker position after the departure of Tissier. Edited June 20, 2023 by KlaaZ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted June 20, 2023 Share Posted June 20, 2023 Such a shame you slipped up and gifted PSG, 2nd place 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 20, 2023 Author Share Posted June 20, 2023 1 hour ago, john1 said: Such a shame you slipped up and gifted PSG, 2nd place Yeah, it be like that sometimes. We still improved, both in points and in goals scored, and if it hadn't been for that horrid start and ending of the season we probably would have contended right to the finish line. Fair play to ASSE though, they outclassed us in both head to head games. We were lucky to bring back a point in the first match actually, coming back from two behind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 20, 2023 Author Share Posted June 20, 2023 2028-2029: Season recap Ligue 1 A solid season, bottled near the very end. We played ASSE with four games to go at home and a win would have brought us within a point of them. Alas, they completely drove us off the pitch and grabbed a deserved three points and after that, everything collapsed. We lost in Monaco and threw away a win against Lille through a last minute equalizer before narrowly beating Rennes on the final day in a game that didn't matter anymore. The fact that Apaza missed about six or seven weeks due to several annoying injuries definitely didn't help. As you can see, scoring isn't the problem but we really need to start being more tight at the back if we want to mount a title challenge at some point. We're also conceding quite a lot from indirect FK's, something which I'll definitely try exploring next year considering we're not conceding a lot of fouls. Champions League A very interesting run this time, where we got some very gratifying results and even knocked out Inter after the league phase. Liverpool proved too much for us though. French Cup Probably the biggest disappointment, going out in the tenth round on penalties against Lorient in a game where we could have put four or five past them. Finances and facilities The biggest news can be found here. We were sitting on about 130M but as we're officially building a new stadium named after legend Michael Platini, most of that money will be used. That said, we're still in a very healthy situation as our sponsorship income keeps increasing (up by 7M compared to last year), which also shows in a wage budget of 1M and a transfer budget of 49M. Our facilities remain the same, the youth facilities still haven't been maxed but as I don't have the option to request it, we're pretty much stuck for now. Our last two intakes haven't been anything special either, although there's a striker from a few editions ago that might turn into something useful one day. Player performances As stated earlier, we were a bit wonky at the back and in the striker position but apart from that, I can't complain really. We're quite well set on the wings with Apaza (although he's looking to move to a bigger club) and Oprsal on the left and Besse (who really emerged as a first team player this year) on the right. We could do with some improvement on that side though, as Arbogast (another academy product) has really been hit and miss. The main discovery was Phanouvong, who we signed from FCSM last year and spent the remainder of the season on loan there. Excellent season with 8 goals, 8 assists and an average rating of 7.38. Honourable mentions for Besse in his first year among the big boys, Kroupi who scored seven in eleven appearances after the winter break and Pierre-Louis Herrmann, a right back who I might actually retrain as a central defender out of desperation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted June 20, 2023 Share Posted June 20, 2023 (edited) Good season and congratulations on the new stadium! Btw, absolutely incredible what AI managed St Etienne are doing in your save Edited June 20, 2023 by karanhsingh 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted June 20, 2023 Share Posted June 20, 2023 Who is AI St.Etienne's manager? Getting a new stadium is always a good thing even if it isn't named after you! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 20, 2023 Author Share Posted June 20, 2023 (edited) 2 hours ago, karanhsingh said: Good season and congratulations on the new stadium! Btw, absolutely incredible what AI managed St Etienne are doing in your save Yeah, it's downright insane. Fair play to them, they've done really well with a few amazing youth players and some really smart transfer work. The foundations are these guys. Hovhannisyan has just been sold for 216M to Liverpool.. 2 hours ago, Hootieleece said: Who is AI St.Etienne's manager? Getting a new stadium is always a good thing even if it isn't named after you! Jardim, joined them in 2025 and they've been going upwards ever since. Edited June 20, 2023 by KlaaZ 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 20, 2023 Author Share Posted June 20, 2023 Transfer news There's interest in Gicquel but I'm unwilling to sell unless we can find a comparable replacement. There's an Argentinian on our shortlist but we're currently full on non-EU players. Apart from that, there's interest for Kaba (Anderlecht, Spezia), Besse (eight clubs including Aston Villa, Schalke, Lazio and Roma), Ansaloni (Sevilla, Lille, Norwich, Düsseldorf), Valido (Salernitana) and Mukiele (Zaragoza and reims). Apaza wants to leave for a bigger club but only Newcastle was fishing and they've already lost interest. On the incoming side, lots of players for the future (hopefully), and one for straight away, our new Brazilian. Kamdem will be retrained as a central defender and may join the first team as well, while Christensen will hopefully be loaned out. Kata is just a piece of business that I will hopefully be able to sell for some profit. He recently made his debut for Hungary though, so you know know. Very curious about how Pereira will progress too, he was very highly rated by our scouts. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 8 hours ago, KlaaZ said: Yeah, it's downright insane. Fair play to them, they've done really well with a few amazing youth players and some really smart transfer work. The foundations are these guys. Hovhannisyan has just been sold for 216M to Liverpool.. Jardim, joined them in 2025 and they've been going upwards ever since. Now that's an actual "golden generation". I fully expect them to screw it up now though when it comes to reinvesting the funds. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted June 21, 2023 Share Posted June 21, 2023 I am drooling over ASSE's Jourdan......he would be perfect for my Preston Team.....even if I am mostly trying to win with British players. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 23, 2023 Author Share Posted June 23, 2023 Transfer news Didn't have too much time to play the last few days because of work and events, but I managed to catch up a little today. A lot of outgoing loans mostly: Mukiele (Oostende), Fortuny (Preston), Christensen (Silkeborg), Camara (Montpellier), Horvat (Gil Vicente), Diallo (Nantes), Nganga (Charleroi), Moahé (Nantes), Amara (Randers), Cavallo (Augsburg), Dumoulin (OHL) and George (Dijon). Speaking of Cavallo, when he joined he had an obvious weak spot in his position but one year later, he's already up quite a bit and at only nineteen, I think he may be the real deal in a year or two. Only one incoming transfer, but it's a good one. An 18-year old Mexican who had an offer both from us and Dortmund but surprisingly chose us over the Germans. Not cheap at 11M, but lots of potential and a starter already. The only thing that may be a problem is his lack of natural aggression. This also means that we need to ditch a non-EU player. Renteria is indispensable in goal, Apaza wants to leave but there's nobody interested and new signing Paulo will also not go anywhere obviously. So we decided to offer out defensive midfielder Marquez, especially since we've got a lot of midfielders now and we're trying something new in a flat 451. He's currently considering a 17.5M offer from RB Salzburg, fingers crossed that he takes the hint and moves. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 23, 2023 Author Share Posted June 23, 2023 No more incoming transfers, but we did trim the squad a little. Marquez, as stated, moves to Salzburg in a 17.5M deal. Thorsteinsson and new youngster Kamdem are loaned out, and Aouchiche is sold to Rio Ave for 1.2M. Preseason was quite excellent as usual, with some great confidence builders. We're playing a new flat 451, I'm hoping this will give us an edge in the league this year. It's also aiming to get the best out of Phanouvong and Paulo. We also had a solid start of the league season. The draw in Rennes could/should have been a win as we were the better team, and the same goes for the home game against PSG. That said, we managed to not concede a single shot on target against the Parisians, which is a rare feat. And if it wasn't for Phanouvong's missed header right at the end, we would have grabbed a deserved win. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted June 24, 2023 Share Posted June 24, 2023 That's a pretty interesting new formation Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 24, 2023 Author Share Posted June 24, 2023 On 21/06/2023 at 05:08, karanhsingh said: Now that's an actual "golden generation". I fully expect them to screw it up now though when it comes to reinvesting the funds. As was I, but this just happened and they're already five points clear.. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted June 26, 2023 Share Posted June 26, 2023 Superb start to the season, interesting tactical formation. Why am I still surprised to see ASSE, 5 points clear already?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted June 26, 2023 Share Posted June 26, 2023 4-5-1 are you trying to be more defensive this season? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 27, 2023 Author Share Posted June 27, 2023 21 hours ago, john1 said: Superb start to the season, interesting tactical formation. Why am I still surprised to see ASSE, 5 points clear already?! It's insane. We're thirteen games in and they've conceded two goals. 18 hours ago, Hootieleece said: 4-5-1 are you trying to be more defensive this season? The idea was something a bit more stable defensively, yes, as we shipped way too many goals last year. But I've already made some alterations as it wasn't really working out the way I had it in my head. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 27, 2023 Author Share Posted June 27, 2023 Table fourteen games in. We're unbeaten in the league and still one point behind ASSE somehow. They only conceded two so far, which is ridiculous. They do have an xG against of only 5.70 so far.. I'll do a proper update at the winter break. Fun fact, we play our last game of the first half of the season at home against.. ASSE. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted June 27, 2023 Share Posted June 27, 2023 This is insane man! 2 goals conceded, PSG in 3rd, what kind of alternate universe is this... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted June 27, 2023 Share Posted June 27, 2023 3 hours ago, karanhsingh said: This is insane man! 2 goals conceded, PSG in 3rd, what kind of alternate universe is this... Agreed! I want tactical tips from the ASSE AI! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 28, 2023 Author Share Posted June 28, 2023 Missed opportunity, with a clear tap in straight at the goalkeeper from Vardanyan to sum it up. We were quite on the backfoot until the red card so I'm under now illusions that this is once again not going to be the year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted June 29, 2023 Share Posted June 29, 2023 Gutted not to see the player scoring! But who knows when it comes to end of the season! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 29, 2023 Author Share Posted June 29, 2023 2028-2029: Midway update Not that much time to write with work picking up as we're closing the fiscal year next week, and our house finally being finished mid July. But here's a small update, at least. Ligue 1 We're unbeaten through the first half of the season and it's still not enough to beat ASSE to lead the league. We should have beaten them in the final head to head game as they went down to ten men just before the break but we just couldn't score. They've conceded only three goals so far, quite a ridiculous feat. That said, I can only be happy with the results and the way we play. Most goals scored, highest xG for, averaging 2.03 xG per game, only ten goals conceded... The list goes on and on. French Cup Only two games so far, a 7-0 demolition of Ligue 2 side Valenciennes and a 5-3 victory against Avranches (with them scoring three goals from 0.4 xG). Champions League Quite a difficult draw but doing as expected. The game against Real was very close but they were just more lethal. We always should have won in Kopenhagen but our finishing let us down. Apart from that, great victories against Anderlecht, Benfica and Astana see us in a good spot to go to the knockouts. A win against Porto will probably seal the deal but even 0/6 might be enough to get there. As I have no real ambitions in Europe yet, I don't care either way. Transfer news So far one new player during the winter break, Daniel Vaz. He's foreign though, so we'll need to see if we can offload one of our non-EU players. New CB Cervantes is a prime candidate as he's been reacting badly to fines and has not really improved. If we do sell him, we'll bring back Franco Cavallo from loan to fill his spot as he's been doing well at Augsburg and has a second nationality, Italian. Player performances Standout performers this season so far are Phanouvong (again), Paulo with 13 goals in the league and Besse who really emerged as a starter on the right flank. Unfortunately, he's drawn the interest of Arsenal and Bayern and wants to leave but they still have to match his 30M price tag. As both him and Arbogast are out with injury right now, we've decided to bring back young Spaniard Fortuny from his loan spell at Preston to give him a chance. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
john1 Posted June 29, 2023 Share Posted June 29, 2023 Hope you can get crazy money for Besse! If you were to sell him Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 29, 2023 Author Share Posted June 29, 2023 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted June 30, 2023 Author Share Posted June 30, 2023 I'm afraid to say it, but it might be happening after all. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted July 1, 2023 Share Posted July 1, 2023 Do PSG still have Mbappe? They seem to be struggling! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted July 1, 2023 Author Share Posted July 1, 2023 Transfer news No incomings apart from Vaz, but we did ship a few players off. Besse was the most important one, having established himself as a first team regular coming from the academy, but he wanted to leave and when Leverkusen came in with an offer running up to 40M I had no choice but to accept. Valido is also gone, to Napoli, as he was surplus to requirements after Renteria took his place. They pay 4.8M for his services. Finally, Cervantes was allowed to go as we couldn't register him and recalled Cavallo from loan to take his spot. He goes back to Mexico where he'll represent Chivas, and we get 27.5M. A nice 16.5M profit for a player that has been here half a year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted July 1, 2023 Author Share Posted July 1, 2023 1 hour ago, karanhsingh said: Do PSG still have Mbappe? They seem to be struggling! Yes, they actually play him on the right and have Tissier (in striker) and a wonderkid Italian on the left as well. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted July 1, 2023 Author Share Posted July 1, 2023 Probably the biggest turnaround I've ever done in a save. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted July 1, 2023 Share Posted July 1, 2023 Glad to see you topping the table. Now is the time to put ASSE AI in its place! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted July 1, 2023 Author Share Posted July 1, 2023 It's the end of February, and a lot has changed! We have a near perfect track record in the league in the new year, only dropping points in Paris with a 1-1 draw, Paulo saving the day with a 90 minute equalizer. Apart from that, we have a very solid eye for goal, with three out of five league games played where we netted four or more. This leaves us three points ahead of ASSE with a game in hand, as they've finally started dropping points left and right. We still play them at home in the prelast game of the season and there's a lot of football left, so I'm not getting my hopes up just yet. But we did already play PSG twice, so that's the hardest games out of the way. We've also done well in Europe, qualifying for the knockouts after coming back from behind twice to grab a point against Porto and a 4-0 loss in Manchester against City in the final two games. The draw was kind, pitting us against Ajax, but everything looked grim after 45 minutes and 0-2 behind at home. A stormer of a second half sent us to Amsterdam with a 5-2 win and a 3 goal cusion, and we finished the job with a 0-1 steal, Fortuny netting the only goal of the game. We're also through to the semis of the Cup after beating Avranches 5-3, Troyes 0-2 and Lens 3-1. We'll play in Monaco for a place in the final against either surprise package Havre AC or PSG. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted July 1, 2023 Author Share Posted July 1, 2023 And a few days later, PSG seems completely out of the race. If I win my two games in hand, they'll be twelve behind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted July 1, 2023 Author Share Posted July 1, 2023 End of March, six games played this month and eight league games to go. Unbeaten in the Ligue, and just barely out of the CL after a very close affair against German giants Bayern. Unfortunate loss of points against Lorient where we just couldn't clinch the winner, missed a penalty and saw a last minute winning goal chalked off for offside. The good news is that ASSE lost one game so we actually run out one more point. They beat the Parisians too, which means the gap with them is still a potential twelve points. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted July 1, 2023 Share Posted July 1, 2023 I think you will do it, ASSE don't seem to have enough goals in them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted July 1, 2023 Author Share Posted July 1, 2023 3 minutes ago, karanhsingh said: I think you will do it, ASSE don't seem to have enough goals in them. It's looking good, at least. But a lot will depend on that head to head game we still have against them. We also still play Lille, Rennes and Monaco, so we have by no means an easy schedule. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hootieleece Posted July 1, 2023 Share Posted July 1, 2023 I think so also. Best Goals for and 2nd best goals against. That sounds like a title winning combination. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted July 2, 2023 Author Share Posted July 2, 2023 Four games to go! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KlaaZ Posted July 2, 2023 Author Share Posted July 2, 2023 Three games to go, and although ASSE hasn't played yet, it is done. A point at home against Reims was enough to secure it. I'll finish the final few games and then do a proper writeup! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
karanhsingh Posted July 2, 2023 Share Posted July 2, 2023 Congratulations! Will be amazing if you can go invincible Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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