FM24 Global (Less England) Small Club to Big Club Challenge

[Vipertitan]

FK Dinamo Rīga  my try at this years challenge been doing the pentegon challange offline. but decided to try this as bit board with curent save so went for theses  are fewscreen shot i  got too  

 

[_JHTB_]

On 13/05/2024 at 08:05, Thebaker said:

@_JHTB_ more good success, what formation are you playing? You seem to be getting a lot of goals from it, something i cant manage with a world class striker.

This is the tactic I'm using, have been playing about with player roles and some instructions this season i.e wing backs or full backs, sweeper keeper or not

[Thebaker]

@_JHTB_ i'm only playing with 1 up top, tried it as a CF but it still doesn't work. I would prefer 2 up top but i would have to sacrifice the wingers who are my best players.

[_JHTB_]

Usti nad Labem - Season 8

 

Transfers/Season Preview

This season saw quite a big turnover of players, with quite a few first team regulars moving to pastures new.

Jovanovic was the first outgoing, I had missed that he only had 12 months on his contract and he wouldn’t sign a new one so we cashed in, a healthy £10m for 1 year on his contract was a good return. Hesso was the next to leave, I didn’t really need to sell him, but for £56m I would have been foolish not to. The 3^rd major outgoing in the off season window was Lagos, he was one I did not want to sell, unfortunately, PSG hit his £35m minimum fee release clause and off he went. Later in the season we also lost one of our striker contingent in Hadebe for £10m and a player who was a regular in midfield just last season in Perrone for £4m.

Incomings

Csobanki was a pre-agreed transfer from midway through last season who was coming in to bolster our stikers ranks, has some strong attributes so was looking forward to how he would contribute. Saeed came in to be our back up right back but I do like the look of him and hope he can develop to challenge to be first choice there. Rowe was another who came in to be a squad option, this time for left back. With us losing a few attacking midfielders, Norheim was a signing who I hoped would at the very least, be a short term solution in that position.

Other than Csobanki, we hadn’t really spent all too much, so I started to spend a bit on young more speculative signings which secured us Furukawa, Stjernberg, Nava and Martinez a few of whom did end up into our team.

Season

Due to our outgoings, coupled with a slow start to the league season this season ultimately saw a formation change, we went from using 2 attacking midfielders to none as we switched to incorporate wingers and dropped to just one striker too. In the league this season we were fantastic, the aforementioned slow start saw us lose 2 draw 1 of our opening 6 games which was as bad as it got, as the remainder of the season saw us win 28 draw 1, pretty dominating season for us all told, though I was a little disappointed with our low number of clean sheets, 9 in a season where we only failed to win 4 times is less than I would have hoped for.

Europe

Our Champions League campaign got off to a reasonable start with us beating Benfica away 1-0 however, we didn’t have as much luck in our next 3, although they were all pretty tough opponents. Monaco, Real Madrid and Barcelona all comfortably beat us, but I do think we were a little unlucky in the Madrid match. Wolfsburg and Frankfurt were our next too fixtures with both games ending 3-2, once in our favour in the tighter game and the other in Frankfurt’s favour in a game we were the better team in. We finished the league campaign off with two 1-0 home victories against Legia Warszawa and RB Salzburg to qualify for the next round for the first time.

The draw was not super kind to us with us getting Manchester United but they haven’t been the strongest team in England so I did think maybe we could give them a good game. In the home leg we rode our luck pretty heavily as we managed to hold on to a 4-4 draw despite not playing well for much of the game and to be honest I didn’t think we’d win at Old Trafford. We got off to a great start in England going 2-0 up on the night after just 25 minutes, unfortunately that was as good as it got as by the 28^th minute it was 2-2 and by half time we were behind. A few more goals in the second half with a late consolation goal by us saw it finish 6-3 on the night and out we went.

Cup

I’ve not really covered the cup that much as it isn’t super significant in my mind, but this season we won it for the first time, though the final was against a second tier team.

Squad

GK – Nicolas Herrera

Herrera kept his spot as our first choice goalkeeper this season, but he was a little underwhelming. 12 clean sheets in all competitions isn’t fantastic so I wouldn’t be too averse to finding someone else for this position.

DL – Xolani Hlatshwayo

Hlatshwayo again maintained his spot as our starting left back, and whilst had a worse season this year in terms of average rating, perhaps contributed more with 5 goals and 5 assists in the league.

DCL – Dimo Ivanov

Following Hesso’s departure we had a gap in central defense and Ivanov was the player I trusted to play here. He’s a decent player although his technical attributes are a little lacking.  He had an ok season even if nothing spectacular.

DCR – Juan Jose Florez

Florez didn’t pull up any trees for us, but on paper he looks be a fantastic defender and still only 19, so I’m willing to give him time to develop and hopefully he will translate that into performances.

DR – Gaston Roi

Roi kept his position, and whilst he was no where near as prolific as last season I attribute that more to the formation change and his specific role change as we spread out the assists across the team as a whole. He still was a consistently good performer for us just not quite as spectacularly as last season.

DMC – Bongani Sithole

Sithole has been at the club for a couple seasons as a back up midfielder but this season I finally decided to promote him to a regular starter for us. He had an ok season, but possibly a little less influential than he might have otherwise been.

MCR – Michal Stana

Stana was again subject to interest this season, but we kept him and he formed part of our new look midfield shape moving slightly forward from defensive midfield, 9 goals and 8 assists is a reasonable return, although his goal scoring tailed off towards the end of the season.

MCL – Runar Norheim

Norheim was originally signed to be an attacking midfield, but after we stopped using one, he instead found himself one of our midfield players, although, towards the end of the season he did start to lose his spot a little to Stjernberg who put in some good performances.

AMR – Roland Csobanki

Csobanki was brought in to be one of our starting strikers, but after reverting to just one striker he found himself as an inside forward on the right, 10 goals and 9 assists is a good return, but I think he could be a pretty prolific striker should he play there.

AML– Andrew Rowe

Rowe was only ever meant to be a fringe left back for us to give us better depth, but he ended up playing a few games at the start of the season on the left wing and his performances meant that he ultimately became our first choice here. 9 goals and 12 assists another strong performer.

STC – Davian Entrena

Entrena just scores goals, we have, on paper, better strikers than him, but he scores goals which is what he’s in the team to do, so they have to sit out and wait for their chance if he ever goes on a dry spell. 30+ league goals for the second consecutive season

Overview/Looking ahead

Again I’m pretty happy with my squad, but due to our formation shift this season we probably still need some signings to bolster the positions that we weren’t really using previously. I’m pretty excited about one of our youth players who’s been out on loan this season too. Kolar is only 17 and was one of the best players in the league last season, the main concern will be trying to tie him down to a long term contract once he turns 18.

We will be expanding our stadium again next season, but outside of European fixtures, we don't really sell out all too much so don't know that it will be a significant help. Our youth facilities got downgraded this season also, though with the amount of money that we have in the bank I feel fairly confident that the board will accept the request to upgrade them again.

[TheMartello]

48 minutes ago, _JHTB_ said:

Usti nad Labem - Season 8

 

Transfers/Season Preview

This season saw quite a big turnover of players, with quite a few first team regulars moving to pastures new.

Jovanovic was the first outgoing, I had missed that he only had 12 months on his contract and he wouldn’t sign a new one so we cashed in, a healthy £10m for 1 year on his contract was a good return. Hesso was the next to leave, I didn’t really need to sell him, but for £56m I would have been foolish not to. The 3^rd major outgoing in the off season window was Lagos, he was one I did not want to sell, unfortunately, PSG hit his £35m minimum fee release clause and off he went. Later in the season we also lost one of our striker contingent in Hadebe for £10m and a player who was a regular in midfield just last season in Perrone for £4m.

Incomings

Csobanki was a pre-agreed transfer from midway through last season who was coming in to bolster our stikers ranks, has some strong attributes so was looking forward to how he would contribute. Saeed came in to be our back up right back but I do like the look of him and hope he can develop to challenge to be first choice there. Rowe was another who came in to be a squad option, this time for left back. With us losing a few attacking midfielders, Norheim was a signing who I hoped would at the very least, be a short term solution in that position.

Other than Csobanki, we hadn’t really spent all too much, so I started to spend a bit on young more speculative signings which secured us Furukawa, Stjernberg, Nava and Martinez a few of whom did end up into our team.

Season

Due to our outgoings, coupled with a slow start to the league season this season ultimately saw a formation change, we went from using 2 attacking midfielders to none as we switched to incorporate wingers and dropped to just one striker too. In the league this season we were fantastic, the aforementioned slow start saw us lose 2 draw 1 of our opening 6 games which was as bad as it got, as the remainder of the season saw us win 28 draw 1, pretty dominating season for us all told, though I was a little disappointed with our low number of clean sheets, 9 in a season where we only failed to win 4 times is less than I would have hoped for.

Europe

Our Champions League campaign got off to a reasonable start with us beating Benfica away 1-0 however, we didn’t have as much luck in our next 3, although they were all pretty tough opponents. Monaco, Real Madrid and Barcelona all comfortably beat us, but I do think we were a little unlucky in the Madrid match. Wolfsburg and Frankfurt were our next too fixtures with both games ending 3-2, once in our favour in the tighter game and the other in Frankfurt’s favour in a game we were the better team in. We finished the league campaign off with two 1-0 home victories against Legia Warszawa and RB Salzburg to qualify for the next round for the first time.

The draw was not super kind to us with us getting Manchester United but they haven’t been the strongest team in England so I did think maybe we could give them a good game. In the home leg we rode our luck pretty heavily as we managed to hold on to a 4-4 draw despite not playing well for much of the game and to be honest I didn’t think we’d win at Old Trafford. We got off to a great start in England going 2-0 up on the night after just 25 minutes, unfortunately that was as good as it got as by the 28^th minute it was 2-2 and by half time we were behind. A few more goals in the second half with a late consolation goal by us saw it finish 6-3 on the night and out we went.

Cup

I’ve not really covered the cup that much as it isn’t super significant in my mind, but this season we won it for the first time, though the final was against a second tier team.

Squad

GK – Nicolas Herrera

Herrera kept his spot as our first choice goalkeeper this season, but he was a little underwhelming. 12 clean sheets in all competitions isn’t fantastic so I wouldn’t be too averse to finding someone else for this position.

DL – Xolani Hlatshwayo

Hlatshwayo again maintained his spot as our starting left back, and whilst had a worse season this year in terms of average rating, perhaps contributed more with 5 goals and 5 assists in the league.

DCL – Dimo Ivanov

Following Hesso’s departure we had a gap in central defense and Ivanov was the player I trusted to play here. He’s a decent player although his technical attributes are a little lacking.  He had an ok season even if nothing spectacular.

DCR – Juan Jose Florez

Florez didn’t pull up any trees for us, but on paper he looks be a fantastic defender and still only 19, so I’m willing to give him time to develop and hopefully he will translate that into performances.

DR – Gaston Roi

Roi kept his position, and whilst he was no where near as prolific as last season I attribute that more to the formation change and his specific role change as we spread out the assists across the team as a whole. He still was a consistently good performer for us just not quite as spectacularly as last season.

DMC – Bongani Sithole

Sithole has been at the club for a couple seasons as a back up midfielder but this season I finally decided to promote him to a regular starter for us. He had an ok season, but possibly a little less influential than he might have otherwise been.

MCR – Michal Stana

Stana was again subject to interest this season, but we kept him and he formed part of our new look midfield shape moving slightly forward from defensive midfield, 9 goals and 8 assists is a reasonable return, although his goal scoring tailed off towards the end of the season.

MCL – Runar Norheim

Norheim was originally signed to be an attacking midfield, but after we stopped using one, he instead found himself one of our midfield players, although, towards the end of the season he did start to lose his spot a little to Stjernberg who put in some good performances.

AMR – Roland Csobanki

Csobanki was brought in to be one of our starting strikers, but after reverting to just one striker he found himself as an inside forward on the right, 10 goals and 9 assists is a good return, but I think he could be a pretty prolific striker should he play there.

AML– Andrew Rowe

Rowe was only ever meant to be a fringe left back for us to give us better depth, but he ended up playing a few games at the start of the season on the left wing and his performances meant that he ultimately became our first choice here. 9 goals and 12 assists another strong performer.

STC – Davian Entrena

Entrena just scores goals, we have, on paper, better strikers than him, but he scores goals which is what he’s in the team to do, so they have to sit out and wait for their chance if he ever goes on a dry spell. 30+ league goals for the second consecutive season

Overview/Looking ahead

Again I’m pretty happy with my squad, but due to our formation shift this season we probably still need some signings to bolster the positions that we weren’t really using previously. I’m pretty excited about one of our youth players who’s been out on loan this season too. Kolar is only 17 and was one of the best players in the league last season, the main concern will be trying to tie him down to a long term contract once he turns 18.

We will be expanding our stadium again next season, but outside of European fixtures, we don't really sell out all too much so don't know that it will be a significant help. Our youth facilities got downgraded this season also, though with the amount of money that we have in the bank I feel fairly confident that the board will accept the request to upgrade them again.

Great season!

 

You have a screenshot of your new tactic as well?

[_JHTB_]

On 15/06/2024 at 21:20, TheMartello said:

You have a screenshot of your new tactic as well?

New tactic is trying to swamp the midfield, this season I am maybe moving away from double mezzala and think I'll potentially change my overlaps to underlaps as I should have players more likely in position for those 

[_JHTB_]

Usti nad Labem - Season 9

 

Transfers/Season Preview

Again this season we ended up accruing significant incoming transfer fees as we agreed to sell some players, who whilst were good for us, were in areas in which we either were already targeting some upcoming talent, or were already in an area of depth within the squad. Csobanki was the biggest transfer income after just one season at the club, he had done reasonably for us last season playing a little out of position so I’d have been happy for him to stay but for £49m I couldn’t really say no. Zivojinovic is a player who was probably let down by his physical attributes so never really cemented a place in our team outside of a back up, still we managed to get £29.5m for him which is very good, he ended up having a great second half of the season for his new club.

Some long term players for the club also left this season, Capin left for a healthy £11.75m after 6 seasons at the club and academy graduate Mach earnt a £4m move away from the club. Hosek who was one of my first signings left the club this season also, although he’d been out on loan last season.

Incomings

Despite a huge transfer income, we didn’t really spend too much, though we did break out transfer record this season. Jose Antonio was the player to break our transfer record, I maybe overpaid a little considering he didn’t really play in any of the positions that we use, but he was competent in a few so at the vey least I was hoping I could benefit from his versatility. Rosic was a main signing for me, I was chasing him for half a season with him not at all interested in joining, thankfully he eventually agreed to join as we comprehensively upgraded our midfield.

We did purchase a few prospect players for relatively small amounts of money, but we did have a couple other relatively high outlays. Matei was the first in, a bit further away from the first team, but a young player who I liked the look of, I am trying to ease a few in so they develop and we also benefit from them gaining homegrown status. Melinte as we had sold two strikers this season I decided that Melinte would come in to be a back up striker for us this season, I really like the look of him and think he could eventually be the man to take over Entrena’s spot leading the line, he was a bit part player for the end of the season, but still scored a few useful goals.

Season

A very unproblematic season for us in the league, starting with 11 wins and 1 draw out of our first 12 and not looking at all troubled. Unfortunately, it was unlucky 13 as we were awful in a 2-0 defeat. That was as bad as it got for us in the league as we ultimately ended up securing the title before we even played a game in the Championship Group.

Europe

A fantastic start to our Champions League campaign as we went away to Atletico Madrid and recorded a 4-3 victory, this was coupled with victories against teams we were targeting them from which meant, despite losses against PSG, Milan and Barcelona we comfortably qualified for the first knockout rounds.

Our first knockout game was a fairly favourable draw against Rangers, and despite being held at home in the second leg of the tie, we had done the business in the first leg recovering from a 3^rd minute penalty to win the tie 3-1. This set up a rematch with PSG who had narrowly beaten us earlier in the campaign. We actually gave ourselves a shout at doing something in the first leg as we secured a 2-1 victory, unfortunately a front line consisting of Haaland, Mbappe and Musiala (albeit aged), was too strong for us in the second leg as we lost 3-0 on the night.

Cup

After having not won the cup till last season, we won it back to back.

Squad

GK – Nicolas Herrera

Herrera had a much improved season this year improving from 12 clean sheets in all competitions to 22 this year and conceding 25 less goals in the same number of games. I have started rotating between him and my back up goalkeeper Miletic, essentially, if they keep a clean sheet they keep the position (for league games anyway)

DL – Xolani Hlatshwayo

If I’m honest, left back is the area of the team where I probably most in need of improvement. Hlatshwayo is ok, but he’s not really been excelling in a team that is dominant in most domestic games.

DCL – Dimo Ivanov

Ivanov has been solid enough for us this season, though is possibly fortunate to keep his spot mostly due to the foreign rules for league fixtures surrounding non-EU players. He’s still young however, so I do have at least some hope he can become a better player for us.

DCR – Juan Jose Florez

Florez had his best season for us and is developing into a very good central defender. He becomes homegrown at club this summer which is a huge bonus for the Champions League registration. He’s also on a long term contract which is good as he’s developing into a player that can be the mainstay in our defense for many years to come.

DR – Gaston Roi

Roi didn’t actually play the most games for us at right back with Saeed featuring for a large portion of the season, but this was because he suffered a broken leg which kept him out for 5 months. He still performed well for us both pre and post injury. Saeed is a very capable back up for Roi as well, so his presence whilst missed, was at least filled with a solid player.

DMC – Bongani Sithole

Sithole maintained his position in the team this season, but was not quite as productive as I would have hoped. 3 goals and 5 assists is an ok return, but still not the best. I have an idea on who this position would be filled with if not Sithole so we shall see what next season brings.

MCR – Vladimir Rosic

One of my new signings this season, Rosic immediately secured a first team place. 12 goals and 11 assists in the league is a strong showing although his continental performances left a little to be desired.

MCL – Stellan Stjernberg

Stjernberg had a similar league output to Rosic with 10 goals and 11 assists, but where Rosic struggled in the Champions League he maintained his overall contributions there as well ultimately having a very productive season.

AMR – Jan Kolar

Kolar didn’t start the season as our first choice in this position and really took a while to find his feet in the team. But towards the end of the season he put in a good uptick in performances chipping in with most of his goals and assists towards the end of the season. 4 goals 7 assists in total.

AML– Jorge Martinez

Martinez is a player who was poles apart in his league performances vs his continental performances. 20 goal contributions for the season in the league compared to just a solitary contribution in the Champions League so he may find his position under threat if we can get someone who can perform better in the Champions League.

STC – Davian Entrena

Entrena scores his way into the team. There is a fair argument that he’s not the best striker in the team anymore, but whenever he is scoring goals for fun it’s hard to do anything but continue to play him. 40 goals in 46 total games is a fantastic return.

Overview/Looking ahead

This season there are a few areas that I want to try and get some big improvements, we have saved up a lot of money the past few seasons and I’m not too averse to spending it should the right players become available.

In the league next season, I think I want to aim for an unbeaten year after we came so close this season with just the 1 loss. A similar season in the Champions League will be fine, but it would be nice to reach one stage further if we can next season.