[FM24] Expedition Andes

[SixPointer]

5 hours ago, warlock said:

Sounds like a great save... plenty of success but still work to do to keep the interest alive 

Definitely, bit of strange update the last one but trying to round off a season took me months to complete is strange.

My plan is to do a sizeable tactical piece and squad building which will outline the goals at Uni de Chile.  

[SixPointer]

Often when I discuss my tactics I'm talking about attacking patterns, oberloads, 1v1's rotations and passing shapes. I suppose when trying to implement a positional playing style, these are the things that are the most interesting. This past season there has of course been huge positives in this area, but something that Coloccini has been implementing has been eye-catching and at times more effective, his defensive planning.

The last line of defence is of course the goalkeeper, Los Azules recruited well in the summer to replace Chilean number one Campos with the young upcoming Yerko Ovalle. He had 15 clean sheets and only conceded 18, quite the first season. His excellent jumping reach, aerial reach, commanding of area, determination and the fact he is 6ft5 makes cross balls a real strong point. Another side story is he can take a penalty having scored his first one at the end of last season, something Coloccini has been known to do before.

Coloccini has been quoted as saying he believes that the only way to succeed defensively is to have everyone collectively working together with the same principles, this started with an aggressive pressing striker leading from the front. A well executed high press will bring turnover in dangerous areas, this is not rocket science but a badly executed one will cause so much damage.

The Argentine has its defensive line sitting the highest in all the league, and they rank second for possession won, which is impressive considering they rank joint top in the league for average possession. Interceptions are slightly above average which could be an area to work on, as with a good high press they should force poor passes or a lack of options and clear passing lanes. Thus said La U allow the least final third passes against, but more interestingly they rank 13th for OPPDA, so while the press is aggressive they do allow the defenders to have the ball.

The first example we have here is the Clásico Universitario derbies, up against the pacey Carlos Escobar, who's been in form. The early stages of more focus on defending properly, the focus was to drop off more and invite crosses, try to nullify the pace in behind. This was the case in both games and twice they failed to register a shot on targets, with Escobar ranking 6.3 and 6.5. This seemed to be the turning point for Los Azules defensive structures.

The Chilean Superclásico's were played three times this season with the extra cup tie. In the first league game up against the league top scorer Ethan Magnasco who also has pace to burn, the system was used again. Here in the overview can now see the plan has been further tweaked to trap outside as well as invite crosses and standing off. The game finished 0-0, but the fact the home side were reduced to 2 shots on target and 0.30 XG and a 6.3 from the striker meant that Coloccini's game plan was vindicated.

He would take it a step further in the second league game of the season, destroying the away side 6-2 in the process.  Lowering the defensive line, dropping off more to limit space in behind. Then forcing play wide by setting pressing traps, then inviting crosses to a aerially superior defence and now the wingers would be shown onto the flank side foot, full backs marked to ensure the play was forced centrally to begin with so that the CM's could be pressed again aiding the plan to force the opponent wide proved to be instrumental in stopping the pacey strikers. now of course Colo-Colo scored twice but from an XG of 0.40 and one goal being when the game was dead and buried.

The other side of the coin, is against tall strikers who like to win crosses in the box, is to of course step up, trap inside and stop crosses and force play inside unfortunately i never captured any screenshots for example of this but im sure ill be able to cover it in detail at some point.

Fluminense

There is no show without punch and I can't do a small tactical update without sharing some more detail of Coloccini's excellent ability to spot weakness in an opponent's systems and exploit it with fantastics positional plays and attacking flair.

The Brazilian side had been on a poor run of form leading into the first leg and a solid 1-0 win put Los Azules in the driving seat, it also allowed them to size up their opponent. They opted to stick with their 4-4-2 system which was heavily reliant on the legendary winger Neymar on the left, at 36 he lacks pace these days but as you would expect he still has a trick or two up his sleeve.

To combat the 4-4-2 and the flamboyant Neymar, Hernandez would shift out to RWB from RCB to man mark Neymar and it was evident that Coloccini told his team to force play down the right side and make Neymar defend. He also switched to a halfback to make a 3v2 in the back line, but the masterstroke was inverting his LWB, Ryena. This allowed him to overload the midfield two, this also forced Fluminese to attack down their right rather than left keeping the ball away from Neymar, this stopped much of their link up play.

The opening goal came from some wonderful positional play, the right hand side overload has drawn the home team over, the IWB Reyna has moved inside and is now forcing confusion between the CM & CB of who will pick him up. Diaz then drops off the front to take the ball on the half turn. 

He slips the ball into Reyna who then threads in through for Ordenes who's been left 1v1 the Chilean wonderkid slots it home and leaves the Brazilian side a mountain to climb.

The second goal is almost a carbon copy on Ordenes part, breaking in behind the full back again to link onto Sierra's perfectly weighted through ball. 

The build up play is similar in the sense that Reyna comes centrally and links play with Diaz, before Sierra unleashes the killer ball. Notice how Loyola has dropped in to make the back three while Reyna makes the double pivot when the attacking phase is formed, this draws the opponent narrow and allows the wide men to get 1v1.

[Lestri]

54 minutes ago, SixPointer said:

To combat the 4-4-2 and the flamboyant Neymar, Hernandez would shift out to RWB from RCB to man mark Neymar and it was evident that Coloccini told his team to force play down the right side and make Neymar defend. He also switched to a halfback to make a 3v2 in the back line, but the masterstroke was inverting his LWB, Ryena. This allowed him to overload the midfield two, this also forced Fluminese to attack down their right rather than left keeping the ball away from Neymar, this stopped much of their link up play.

The opening goal came from some wonderful positional play, the right hand side overload has drawn the home team over, the IWB Reyna has moved inside and is now forcing confusion between the CM & CB of who will pick him up. Diaz then drops off the front to take the ball on the half turn. 

He slips the ball into Reyna who then threads in through for Ordenes who's been left 1v1 the Chilean wonderkid slots it home and leaves the Brazilian side a mountain to climb.

*Chefs kiss* - love the analysis here. I must confess, the last few years I have been a stickler for doing my tactic and not tinkering based on the opposition, but this type of analysis does make me think about a different style of playing it!

[Hootieleece]

Great write up and beautiful job of "Tinkering" but not really changing the formation or the tactic. I wish I was astute enough to do the same.

[SixPointer]

15 hours ago, Lestri said:

*Chefs kiss* - love the analysis here. I must confess, the last few years I have been a stickler for doing my tactic and not tinkering based on the opposition, but this type of analysis does make me think about a different style of playing it!

I have three systems with the same overall philosophy and principles. But with slight tweaks. They can mostly cover all scenarios, they focus either down left, middle or right. And the roles are built to do so. But on occasions when needed like changing to half back to counter act the 2 man front line i definitely tweak. I would say it’s mostly a role or duty, or personnel that gets changed. In this instances all three. The half back for the role, the IWB onto attack to create the central overload higher up. And Hernandez shifting to the RWB to be the more defensive option on Neymar. The other option could have been to use a IFB(D) and leave the half back as the DM. But that would take the RB away from neymar as he was making up the back three to overload the front two.

Small tweaks, but you need to know the opponents game plan and study them properly and it doesn’t always work but it certainly makes the game more enjoyable as  your changing something and looking at the match properly to see it working for me that’s the most enjoyable part. Especially when it works like here.

2 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

Great write up and beautiful job of "Tinkering" but not really changing the formation or the tactic. I wish I was astute enough to do the same.

Yeah that’s the key, not re doing everything. If you’re looking for a good place to start i apply real life ideas

Alex Ferguson’s use of Park Ji Sung man marking players is one I like, think he done it to pirlo. A good example of using a particular player with a skill set for such a task.

 

 

 

[SixPointer]

[warlock]

All the best managers do invincible seasons . Congratulations 

[SixPointer]

On 23/05/2024 at 01:35, warlock said:

All the best managers do invincible seasons . Congratulations 

Thanks man. Working on rounding up the season. The most annoying year of FM cause am loving the save but struggling for time to write and play. 

[SixPointer]

2029 Season Review

The League was won in remarkable style, finishing the season unbeaten. The first time it's been done since 1934, When Audax Italiano achieved the same feat.

The current run is 40 games unbeaten in the league, Coloccini has turned them into a winning machine, especially at home with them at present being unbeaten in three seasons in the league at the Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos.

Several records were broken by the mighty La U. The goal scoring record for the league was broken, Colo Colo’s 103 goals was equaled in the Superclasico after beating them 4-0, great bragging rights, the record now sits at 108 goals with La U. They also now hold the record for the biggest winning streak with 17 games on the spin, as well as the best point total with 84.

The Copa Chile was won, the Supercopa was won to make it back to back domestic trebles for Los Azules and the curly haired Argentinain. The Supercopa was Coloccini's 100th game in charge and the disposed of Union Espanola 2-0 to bring home the traditional curtain raiser.

The Copa Chile was an unusual run of games, avoiding the big derbies but having a close call in the semi's relying on penalties. A passing masterclass (Pass map) in the final however followed and led to a 5-1 win and the rest is history.

La Chile were once again knocked out at the quarter final stage of the Copa Libertadores, leaving many people questioning if Coloccini has taken them as far as he can on the continental front. 

They eased through the group stage winning 5 and losing 1. Before taking out Corinthians, who rumour has it has offered La U’s manager a job previously. Santos ultimately brought their campaign to an end, Coloccini won't be happy with the 0-0 at home, after losing 3-2 away, with their record at home he would have really fancied his chances turning it around.

Leading the way in some many metrics is always a good sign you're doing things right, when you couple it with a lethal attack and a solid defence it's usually the perfect combination and that's exactly what Coloccini and his men got.

Something that has become synonymous with the argentinean is the amount of goals they scored from set plays, in particular corners and when you consider they scored 25 in the league alone and 9 indirect free kicks it's easy to see why. Yerko Ovalle, our goal scoring goalkeeper, netted 9 penalties as well, his 11 rating for penalty taking is making for a typical south american story, its something again that Coloccini has done previously provided he has the correct player.

The corners have really become a real get out of jail clause at times, they really can be the difference between a win, loss or draw. Big Vic has been an assassin in that sense, scoring a hat trick of headers from corners in a game where we struggled to break the opposition down, he finished the season with 13 goals and if my memory serves me right they all came from set plays, the attention to detail which his manager goes to really paying of for the big man.

Wonderkid Simon Ordenes is voted the best Chilean player in the world this year, after a sensational season, which also saw him named the league's player of the year and young player of the year. He has yet to be capped for his country which I am actually starting to think is a bug. Most of his teammates are making the squads regularly.

It wasn't all plain sailing for Coloccini's protege, his head was turned for a period of time from some of the biggest clubs in Europe and he asked to leave and put in a transfer request after a chat. He had an extension clause which had been activated and deterred some interest he then spoke with his manager who he holds in the highest regard after she gave him his chance at 16, and has led him to the top of his game he decided to sign a bumper contract.

His progress under the man who unleashed him is sensational but it was also noted that he dipped around the time that teams were unsettling him, after he signed his new deal he skyrocketed again and celebrated the new deal with a hatrick in the very next game. 

He has played a massive part in elevating the club's status in world football on the academy front, along with his manager. Now recognised as the 10th best academy in the world, Coloccini has cherry picked talent from other Chilean clubs but with Oredens, Arancibia, Rios, Ulloa, Espejo and Febrero all in his first team squad he's showed his ability to develop players, haven given them all their debuts since his arrival at the club. He also has the next generation lined up.

Unfortunately Ordenes was the only one to remove his request and realise the grass wasnt greener on the other side. There was a huge amount of interest in players, it was reported that several players had clauses activated to extend their deal by a year which did stave off a lot of interest.

Reyna requested a transfer and left for 3.3 million, a huge 3 million profit and La Chile got the last laugh as they dumped Corinthians out of the Copa Libertadores just before he signed the deal, his loss. Mehssatou came for free and left when his 1.8 million release clause was activated, a good chunk of profit again, for a player who never nailed down his spot. Valencia and Medina were sold at the start of the season as they were surplus to requirements and turning 28 was the last time to get good fees for them.

The biggest saga was Breiner Sierra who had been nothing short of outstanding since his arrival, he was always destined for bigger things, he had accepted a new deal with a bigger release clause but again it was activated and he's never going to turn down 61,000 a week is he. Leaving a huge hole in the midfield.

Uribe had been signed beforehand but was more to cover all aspects in midfield, the young chilean is very much a jack of all trades making him the ideal player for rotating in and out for players out of form or for a specific role against certain opponents. He finished the season with 8 goals and 4 assists, not bad considering he was mainly used to disrupt other teams playmakers. 

Aceval was also on board before Reyna departed and the young Chilean much like Uribe had a decent first season, 6 assists and 2 goals. He had to learn to invert which he is still struggling with when his manager deploys him in that role. More suited to bombing down the left. Tagaliafico was brought in to mentor him.

Summary

To think La U lost a couple key players and still managed to have an unbeaten league season and bring home a domestic treble is testament to what Coloccini is doing in the chilean capital.

People are questioning if he needs a new challenge? Has he taken them to the highest point he can? With a young squad and an eye for supplying the square with talent from the country and continent and a blossoming youth academy, people inside the club think he is just getting started……. The man himself is coy and says you'll have to wait and just see.

[Lestri]

2 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Wonderkid Simon Ordenes is voted the best Chilean player in the world this year, after a sensational season, which also saw him named the league's player of the year and young player of the year. He has yet to be capped for his country which I am actually starting to think is a bug. Most of his teammates are making the squads regularly.

The type of player that if I was an European club I'd be thinking that release clause is an absolute bargain! What a player. 

[SixPointer]

1 hour ago, Lestri said:

The type of player that if I was an European club I'd be thinking that release clause is an absolute bargain! What a player. 

His original release clause was 3 million as well! Delighted to get him up to 17 million! 

[SixPointer]

A defeat comes in the league after 53 games smashing the previous record of 44 games by Palestino which has stood since 1978.

Qualified top of the group in the Copa Libertadores, and have been drawn against Fluminense...... again.

The save is at a bit of a crossroads now Coloccini is starting to feel the need for a new challenge he's become tactically stagnant. His favored choice would be to return to his homeland, that would lead him to either Atletico Tucuman or Godoy Cruz in the top flight if he is to stay true to his Andes journey. Although that doesn't leave much option to capture other clubs on the continent as it would be a backwards step, unless he failed at either.

The biggest job in Colombia has just become available. Atlético Nacional hold the record for most top flight titles (19) They have won 2 Copa Libertadores (1989 & 2016). The issue is its a backward step? The clubs are considered to have the same reputation, both are through the group stages of the Copa Libertadores, both won their respective league titles last season. The wage budget is slightly bigger in Chile, but this offers a fresh challenge.

In Chile Colo-Colo and Universidad Católica arent mounting a serious challenge, I'm trying to approach this realistically as well. Does Coloccini want one more go at continental glory with La U? does he hold out for a place in his homeland? or does he take the punt and jump to the green of Medellin that of Atletico.

I'm open to some advice and suggestions
 

[BML]

Based on your description, and from my own saves on the continent, Chile > Columbia feels like too much of a sideways step for somebody with the success of Coloccini at this stage on his career.

Narratively I would only expect him to move to a job in Argentina (or maybe even a cheeky appointment in Brazil if the original premise is ignored) if he is staying on the continent.

[Michaelinho]

Really interesting save so far! Like the narrative for this save. 

In regards to the choice at hand it seems logical to go for the Medellin job. As this brings you one step closer to potentially ticking off a couple of the save objectives. On the other hand the suggestion of BML seems fair as well. A move to a bigger club/league is to be expected, based on the results. In the end it comes down to what you prefer. Focus on the save objectives and tick them off asap. Or work on a the story that has the potential to develop into something really interesting. 

[SixPointer]

7 hours ago, BML said:

Based on your description, and from my own saves on the continent, Chile > Columbia feels like too much of a sideways step for somebody with the success of Coloccini at this stage on his career.

Narratively I would only expect him to move to a job in Argentina (or maybe even a cheeky appointment in Brazil if the original premise is ignored) if he is staying on the continent.

The Columbian league is ranked third on the continent while the Chilean league is ranked 7th. So the league is definitely higher rated, the clubs are rated about the same is being issue.

I don’t have any interest in moving to Brazil, I can’t be bothered with the state championship setup. Argentina is definitely on the cards. I would like to keep it to the Andes story. I would make one exception. San Lorenzo as it was his boyhood team.

1 hour ago, Michaelinho said:

Really interesting save so far! Like the narrative for this save. 

In regards to the choice at hand it seems logical to go for the Medellin job. As this brings you one step closer to potentially ticking off a couple of the save objectives. On the other hand the suggestion of BML seems fair as well. A move to a bigger club/league is to be expected, based on the results. In the end it comes down to what you prefer. Focus on the save objectives and tick them off asap. Or work on a the story that has the potential to develop into something really interesting. 

I think a big issue is a probably to the jump to UNI De Chile to soon, it’s going to be hard to drop down and catch the rest of the Andes now. Plus I took on a big challenge knowing my work life balance 🤣. 
 

The way I see it is. I either gamble in Colombia on the bigger league, the clubs are about the same. The only reason would be for a fresh challenge.

Stay at La U, because the hard work is done and while colo-colo aren’t pushing me hard enough domestically I could have one more crack at the CL. Then hold out for Godoy Cruz or Atletico Tuca or San Lorenzo. 
 

The big issue is am so divided, if it’s Colombia the. It’s gonna be at least three seasons or so there. Then potentially Argentina. But is it a side step much like you suggest @BML

I’m going to sleep on it I think and see.

thanks to both of you for input and advice. Definitely helping the decision process. 

[SixPointer]

The Atletico job is not going to be applied for. It’s to much of a similar step, it doesn’t make for a good story line either.

Coloccini has decided to stay in chile. 
for now at least… Argentina now seems like the best option for a next move. Given the limited game time it makes for a better story. Capturing the smaller Andes leagues will come in his twilight perhaps.

Godoy Cruz aren’t on the best run of form so I’ll keep a close eye there. 
Atlético Tucumán have been high flying currently ranked 5th best in the country these would be the main two options. 

Mendoza are bottom of the league but would provide a big challenge but would be a step down as would San Martin in the second tier. 

[SixPointer]

Well it's been quite the 24 hours i've had, in real life and the game. My boss confirmed today that I will be allowed to leave the site in Angola for three weeks. So I am off to Euro 2024 in Germany to join the famous Tartan Army!

This also has an effect on the decision making of Frabicio Coloccini.......

I did state that Godoy Cruz were on a bad run of form, the manager had gone from stable to insecure and one month after the Atletico Nacional job came and went the Godoy Cruz manager was sacked.

The job definitely caught the interest of Fabricio Coloccini, there had been rumours at the end of last season that he felt he had taken La U as far as he could on the continental front. This job would offer him a route into his home nations league.

while it represents a small drop in trophy numbers and perhaps status on the continental front, and a smaller wage budget to begin with. It's a bigger league and a great project with lots of scope for progress turning a middle to bottom half team into a challenger won't be easy. They are currently 18th place on the average points table. The foundations are certainly there, and some Coloccini would relish it.

Given that Godoy Cruz sits in Mendoza in the suburb of the city, which is just the other side of the Andes from Santiago, you can drive it in under six hours. logistically it makes sense for his family, a short move across the andes so they can still visit Santiago which has been a wonderful place to them.

The National Route 7 road crosses the country from east to west, from the capital (Buenos Aires) to the border with Chile, thus linking the Atlantic coast with the Andes, crossing the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Córdoba, San Luis and Mendoza, This also allows his family to travel back to their hometown of Cordoba and opens up the rest of country to them.

The city of Godoy Cruz has 183,000 inhabitants if you can get them all backing the team you can make a very powerful force and considering the curly headed former defenders home records you would back him to do just that.

After working things out with the hierarchy of the club Fabricio Coloccini will become the next manager of Godoy Cruz after signing on the dotted line. It was reported he had thought long and hard and discussed all options, he looks forward to turning a team known for defencive football into a team who gets on the front foot.

The catch, he would only agree to join if he could see out the remainder of the season with Universidad de Chile, he felt he owed the club and the fans one last hurrah and final go at cracking the Copa Libertadores. so he won't join until the end of the season. Im sure if he can at least bring a league title home he will forever be remembered a legend for back to back trebles and his time in Santiago, turning the club's fortunes back around,

The decision to move at end of the season is two fold, with my limited time left before home i should be able to finish the season and write it up, meaning that the gap for me being at the euros will sit perfectly for coming back and getting stuck into Godoy Cruz which feels like it will be the perfect challenge to get the tactical side of things flowing again as well as not just pushing the continue button with little thought.

And well... just like that the decision is probably vindicated, as before I could even finish another post we crashed out in the second round, now it's a case of finishing off in style on the domestic front.

Edited June 7 by SixPointer

[Hootieleece]

Good luck at the Euros! Of course, I expect great things from Godoy Cruz in the future!

 

[SixPointer]

53 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

Good luck at the Euros! Of course, I expect great things from Godoy Cruz in the future!

 

Thanks man! Yeah am looking forward to it. But still some work to do in chile 

[_Ben_]

Missed a little bit of this lately but what an interesting move! I loved the Argentine game at the back end of last year - so many quality youngsters kicking around! I'm sure Coloccini will push on sooner rather than later!

[SixPointer]

1 hour ago, _Ben_ said:

Missed a little bit of this lately but what an interesting move! I loved the Argentine game at the back end of last year - so many quality youngsters kicking around! I'm sure Coloccini will push on sooner rather than later!

It’s been a really slow burner this year Ben. Works got right in the way. Doing yearly updates doesn’t really suit me but it’s horses for courses at the minute.

Godoy Cruz at the end of the season will be a new chapter and a welcome challenge, Coloccini is on the cusp of the domestic treble treble at La U. Colo-Colo and Universidad Católica haven’t challenged much at all. 

[SixPointer]

Domestic treble-treble tells the true story of the sheer dominance since the curly headed argentinian arrived in Santiago. four league titles in a row the third one done invincible.

There will no doubt be sections of the Los Azules fanbase who will now forever hold him and his teams as legends, there will also be some who question his decision to leave without bringing home domestic silverware with many believing he could have delivered their first ever Copa libertadores. But he's failed to breach the 1/4 finals and even the second round this time.

When they are winning cup finals 11-1 there is an argument for both sides, but the fact of the matter is Colo-Colo & Universidad Católica have not provided enough competition, which from the outside looking in seems to be Coloccini's driving force for leaving.

6th & 7th place finishes for them both. Colo-Colo have only made it past the third round in the Copa Chile in the last 7 seasons. Universidad Católica haven't made it past the third round since they lost in the 2023 final! La U have won their last seven Unvivertaito classicos and havent lost one since 2026. Colo-Colo haven't won a superclasico since 2027, neither team has finished within 23 points of any of Coloccini title wins.

This is all testament to how much the manager has turned the club around having not won a domestic title since 2017, ten years later he has delivered four in a row and three cup wins. All while turning the youth academy into a world renowned success, with Ordenes being his crowning jewel. Playing a high quality attacking brand of football, there is no doubt this period will be looked back on as a huge success. One that has seen him summit the hall of fame in Chilean football.

Their 53 game unbeaten run will forever go down in history, they lost twice this year but the run breaker was an unfortunate loss. but something the Godoy Cruz faithful will be looking forward to is how Coloccini has installed a never say die attitude which transferred to incredible comebacks and resilience to giving up. Not once, not twice but three times this season they were dead and buried and managed to pull it back to winning three points.

Transfers this year were not as successful, but the club did make a profit after selling captain Hernandez. This could well be the start of the team breaking up which again signals the team to move on after building such a fantastic side, with a blend of youth products and shrewd signings.

Angelo Carrasco, proved to be an absolute bargain coming in from Allianz Lima to replace Breiner Sierra. Gomez was a weird one, brought in incase the sale of Diaz that had threatened last season, and the fact he was labeled the next Luis Suarez, but it was rumored he fell out with management after they never found a player ot help him settle even though Vargas was Uruguayan and Martinez already at the club is. Sold off for a profit after a handful of decent performances.

Obispo started to find his feet later in the season, man of the fans felt he was being played out if position and that he was a true number ten rather than and number 8 or even number 9.

Riqueleme and Osorio came in to strengthen depth, the later allowing the goal machine Gonzales to become first choice to step up after Hernandez departure. The amount of times he scored huge goals for his team was nothing short of incredible, at least three times he came up with crucial clutch moments when the team couldn't find the net

Coloccini started at the Venezuela under 20s job before moving to Estudiantes de Mérida Fútbol Clu, a short stint there before heading over to Deportivo Táchira Fútbol Club, their andean rivals. where he spent four seasons and won the league and cup, and led them into the Copa Libertadores group stages. He then joined Club Universidad de Chile where he spent a trophy laden five seasons winning ten trophies in total, four league titles, three Copa Chile and there Super Copas, he took them to two Copa Libertadores 1/4 finals.

He boasts a 73% win rate and is known for his attacking football scoring 812 goals in 307 matches with a difference of 531. most of the time his team sets up in a 433 but the shapes within this can vary from game to game. He now heads to his home nation across the Andes range to Mendoza and to the city of Godoy Cruz to manage the team who shares the same name. With already a growing name within South American football this will be a test, going up against some big teams week in week out and it will be interesting to see if he will tactically adapt or stay true to his beliefs.

Ive written this at the airport as i return from work, everything has fallen into place nicely. i doubt i will have much game time in the next three weeks with being at the euros. That said the buzz of a new challenge will have me pulled back in as soon as i get a chance, work should be in norway next which allows for more free time.

SixPointer.

[SixPointer]

Well the Euros was fun while it lasted, Steve Clarke bottled it against Hungary so, I’m back at work in Norway. Which means plenty time to get stuck into the Andes.

I left it perfect for starting the first day in the Godoy Cruz role.

I will also be catching up with everyone else’s saves, so much good content to get into!

[Stuniverse]

1 hour ago, SixPointer said:

Which means plenty time to get stuck into the Andes.

Welcome back, @SixPointer

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Stuniverse said:

Welcome back, @SixPointer

Wot 'e said 

[Deisler26]

17 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Well the Euros was fun while it lasted, Steve Clarke bottled it against Hungary so, I’m back at work in Norway. Which means plenty time to get stuck into the Andes.

I left it perfect for starting the first day in the Godoy Cruz role.

I will also be catching up with everyone else’s saves, so much good content to get into!

Welcome back! Cant wait for the update!

[Carambau]

Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed your time in Germany despite the rather mediocre weather here   

[SixPointer]

On 03/07/2024 at 15:44, Stuniverse said:

Welcome back, @SixPointer

Thanks bud

On 03/07/2024 at 16:51, warlock said:

Wot 'e said 

Cheers dude 

On 04/07/2024 at 07:40, Deisler26 said:

Welcome back! Cant wait for the update!

Thanks man, quite abit of work to be done. Think I’ll probably update once transfer window closes and pre season is done.

On 04/07/2024 at 09:51, Carambau said:

Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed your time in Germany despite the rather mediocre weather here   

It was magic. I had been to a Union Berlin game pre covid times so knew it would all be setup great for the fans.

five cities in two weeks was a great bit of exploring. Munich, Nuremberg, Cologne, Stuttgart and Frankfurt.

I’ve had enough German beer to last me a life time 🤣

[SixPointer]

A new chapter in Fabricio Coloccini's career, he made a tough decision to leave his high flying Club Universidad de Chile. He's now back in his homeland looking to take Godoy Cruz from mid table mediocrity to the crazy heights of the Argentinian top flight title. That said the club did have a standout season in 2018 and finished runner up and they won the Copa Argentina in 2024, so the potential is there.

A short trip across the andes from Santiago, and into the city of Godoy Cruz in the province of Mendoza, Argentina. It has 183,000 inhabitants as per the 2001 census], and is part of the metropolitan area of the provincial capital (Mendoza).

The club finished in 13th place last term and sit 13th in the average points, (13 unlucky for some) for anyone not familiar with the delegation process, Relegation is based on an averaging system, for one of the slots, whoever is the bottom of the average points over the last three seasons is relegated. 

If that isn't complicated enough, you have the league & league cup as well, is another story. So you play each team once in the Liga Profesional de Fútbol (27 games), then the league cup kicks in, the league is divided into two groups of 14, assuming by a seeded draw, you then play 14 games, which adds to the overall table points. The top four teams qualify for the quarter final then it follows a standard route to a league cup final.

Bear with me here, the winner of the 27 game table is crowned league champions, but the points from the 14 game league cup groups gets added to the overall table, which affects average points and thus relegation. So the bottom of the overall table is relegated and the bottom of the average points table is relegated from what I can make off it. It's all very confusing but all so exciting and new at the same time.

Predicted 18th shows there is a lot of work to be done, but who listens to the media these days? A very sizable transfer budget, more than enough there to improve the squad, and considering I've identified six players who I will look to move on to raise even more funds.

Good training facilities, average youth and good youth recruitment, of course something that will need to be improved upon to make it to the very top. Estadio Feliciano Gambarte the 24,000 seater stadium, built in a very south american way, with the steep curved stand. 9,550 season ticket holders, again something Coloccini will look to improve by encapsulating the city with his style of play.

In that style of play, he is known for attacking football, while i dont think we will see much change to it, there are rumors of a slight tactical shift to match his new surroundings.
 

[warlock]

1 hour ago, SixPointer said:

Bear with me here

As long as you know what you're doing... 

[Deisler26]

Interesting move! Good luck with this new chapter.

[Carambau]

Go Godoy!  

[SixPointer]

6 hours ago, warlock said:

As long as you know what you're doing... 

I think I know what going on………

6 hours ago, Deisler26 said:

Interesting move! Good luck with this new chapter.

They actually went under the radar when I done my research for Andean clubs. But being from Mendoza, perhaps through me of.

Should be the idea challenge at this stage of the save.

6 hours ago, Carambau said:

Go Godoy!  

HWGG!

[_Ben_]

I think you've made a smart move here! Enjoy the craziness of Argentina!

[Stuniverse]

10 hours ago, SixPointer said:

He's now back in his homeland looking to take Godoy Cruz from mid table mediocrity to the crazy heights of the Argentinian top flight title.

Good luck with Godoy Cruz 🍀⚽️🤞

[SixPointer]

3 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

I think you've made a smart move here! Enjoy the craziness of Argentina!

It’s madness indeed, but i knew what I was getting into. I done a small Argentinos juniors save years ago to do my Gian Piero Gasperini case study.

I thought about maybe switching to a similar style but I don’t think it’s very realistic for a manger who’s used a back four with great success to all of a sudden change to a back three.

2 hours ago, Stuniverse said:

Good luck with Godoy Cruz 🍀⚽️🤞

Thanks dude 👍🏻

[Slipky]

Interesting career path. I've completed the entire thread in just a few hours. Certainly looking forward for more!

Good luck at Godoy Cruz!

[SixPointer]

26 minutes ago, Slipky said:

Interesting career path. I've completed the entire thread in just a few hours. Certainly looking forward for more!

Good luck at Godoy Cruz!

Thanks bud! Yeah in all truth had I had more free time I would have liked to have dabbled in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia as well but unfortunately my work has been crazy.

The move to Chile in such a big side with South America cut off many opportunities but it felt right at the time and of course were very successful domestically. 

[SixPointer]

Finally managed to get the first season done in Mendoza with Godoy Cruz. No idea when I’ll get a chance to write about it. 
 

Work is manic, in-fact it’s more or less ruin my whole fm24 experience, never had a chance to get much consistency to playing or writing and it’s ruined what should have been a really interesting save for me.

As someone who’s tried to play positional football for many editions now this was the one for me but I’ve only been able to scratch the surface. So much so that work hasn’t allowed me to even follow others saves with close intrigued and input. Such as life I suppose, hopefully there’s a clear run soon  

 

[_Ben_]

SixPointer...he's alive!

[SixPointer]

7 hours ago, _Ben_ said:

SixPointer...he's alive!

Hahah. I feel like I’ve been robbed Ben of a great save 🤣 but this cheered me right up 

[SixPointer]

Unfortunately the games up people. Never had a chance now for well over a month to even turn my laptop on. Works went to a new level this year and ultimately FM has taken back seat. Hoping to be back for 25 but time will tell.

peace out six pointer 

[Deisler26]

4 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Unfortunately the games up people. Never had a chance now for well over a month to even turn my laptop on. Works went to a new level this year and ultimately FM has taken back seat. Hoping to be back for 25 but time will tell.

peace out six pointer 

That sucks. Look forward to seeing you on 25

[warlock]

13 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Works went to a new level

Ah well... you'll be retired one day . Until then, hope you can mange to fit in a visit every now and then.

[SixPointer]

13 hours ago, Deisler26 said:

That sucks. Look forward to seeing you on 25

Thanks dude. See you there…hopefully. 
 

4 hours ago, warlock said:

Ah well... you'll be retired one day . Until then, hope you can mange to fit in a visit every now and then.

Very true, try my best 👍🏻