[FM24] Les Rouges et Noirs, adventure in Britanny

[KlaaZ]

The transfer window is shut, and we made three additions to the squad. Steeve Arrondel, recently turned 18, joins for 9M from Saint-Etienne and will go on loan to Luzern. Paolo Bonato, 20, joins from Inter in a 7M deal and will probably replace Truffert in the long term. And finally, we snapped up a very young Saudi goalkeeper on a free. He'll technically only join us in December 2030 but will already be training with the U19 and play his games there. 

On the outgoing side, a dozen or so loan deals, with the most important one being Bermudez to Liverpool, where he'll function as a regular starter. And on the last day of the window, we also sold Assignon to Leicester, which means more chances for Ngomba.

On the pitch, we lost the Super Cup 0-2 but in the Ligue 1 it's going well. We comfortably dispatched Monaco on the opening day, and beat Bordeaux, ASSE and Montpellier. Only drop of points came in Lille, where we actually did well but conceded the opening goal because Lille's David reacted faster to a deflected cross. Solaiman had a difficult start to the season but finally scored a brace in the latest game against Montpellier. Apart from that Benvenuti (three goals), Antonsson (a hattrick from defensive midfield against Bordeaux) and Akognon (two goals) stood out. There was also a very neat goal by Ngomba. 

[KlaaZ]

Oh, and our CL league phase actually looks more doable for once. 

[KlaaZ]

Two months have gone by, and things have really clicked on the pitch. 

We were the equal through the entire Liverpool game and edged it near the end with two goals from academy players Kabongo and Belocian. The draw in Nice could have gone either way, but I'm very happy with the other results. The win in PSG had everything. We started really well and were 0-3 (!) up after 33 minutes. But they really put our backs against the wall in the second half and just when it looked like we would still cruise it away, Xavi Simons and Hernandez scored in the final ten minutes to make it exciting. When Kolo Muani was on his way to the equalizer in the 95th minute, Sardella took one for the team and pulled him back, grabbing a red that secured us the three points.

Finally, the loss on the last day of October in Leverkusen was very much the correct result, even if their winner came through a very wonky penalty decision, as Magassa really looked like playing the ball. Either way, we're surprisingly leading the league by one point!

I'll talk more about player performances tomorrow as we have a few excellent displays by our academy boys.

[KlaaZ]

Well, this explains quite a bit.

[john1]

Epic start to the season Some cracking gems you have found!

[KlaaZ]

On 02/08/2024 at 21:55, john1 said:

Epic start to the season Some cracking gems you have found!

Cheers, very happy with the progress of our young talent.

[KlaaZ]

We're at the winter break and everything's been going well so far. We dropped points twice in the Ligue 1, in Lens and Monaco, but haven't lost yet. The draw in Lens was the correct result, but we were really the better team against the Monegasks. Luckily, Mbappé's long term injury means that PSG isn't really playing that well and they also drew twice, in Lorient and Saint-Etienne, so we remain ahead by one point. In the Champions League, We lost in Bayern (deservedly, although we did have our chances to equalize) but pulled off a great away victory in Leipzig to propel us into sixth place with two home games to go against Maccabi Haifa and Kobenhavn. 

A special mention to Antonin Akognon, who has really emerged as a starter this year after loan spells at Montpellier and Reims. He's really giving Joao Rêgo a run for his money on the right wing with seven goals and nine assists in all competitions. And what about young Kabongo, standin for Solaiman but coming off the bench more than once to save us points like recently in Monaco? With ten goals across all competitions, he's doing exceedingly well.

After two average years, the youth intake again looks promising with some defensive talent on the horizon. That said, we may be looking ot replace Claudio Vivas, but more on that later!

[KlaaZ]

Time to start scouting the Monaco U19's!

[john1]

Very interesting to see Monaco in financial crisis  

Any replacements you're looking at to replace Vivas?

[Jogo Bonito]

Going very well again, interesting side-stories with Monaco in financial crisis and Mbappe missing for PSG. 

[KlaaZ]

11 hours ago, john1 said:

Very interesting to see Monaco in financial crisis  

Any replacements you're looking at to replace Vivas?

He signed a new deal at Toulouse and rejected our offer but we currently have started talks again: Mickaël  Delestrez. Model citizen, high working with youngsters, high mentals, solid JPP and JPA, and preferred formations are the 4231 and 433. On top of that, he's French!

10 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Going very well again, interesting side-stories with Monaco in financial crisis and Mbappe missing for PSG. 

Yeah, these kinds of stories give these France runs a bit more flavour, especially when you're clearly the second best team in the Ligue 1 but still some ways off PSG.

[KlaaZ]

Two perfect months. We beat Marseille in the cup in a game that could also have ended 6-0. The only other struggle games were Toulouse away where we needed a 90 minute winner from Kabongo and Nice, who we comfortably beat on paper but the game itself was deceptly even. Very pleased with the away win in Leverkusen on the final day of February. They were struggling in the Bundesliga but I still didn't expect us to deliver this kind of performance away in Germany. 

The only bad news is that PSG has also been edging a lot of wins despite the absence of Mbappé, so we're still only one point clear. It feels more and more likely that our home game against them might become decisive.

Both Husson and Antonsson have been making excellent progress. The latter is actually getting to the stage where he might overtake Cerra as our number one starter in the regista position, and the same can be said for Husson vs. Monamay. Cardinaux has already taken Caprile's starting spot between the stakes.

[KlaaZ]

It could have been in the bag already after beating PSG and seeing the Parisians also losing their next game at home against Lens, but we also dropped two unnecessary points against l'OM. That said, five points with six games to go should be plenty, especially since we're still doing better on goal difference as well. We're through in the CL after beating Leverkusen and got Man City next, so nothing to lose really.

No defenders or defensive midfielders worth mentioning from the intake, but we may have found the natural successor for Doué. 

[KlaaZ]

Still five points. Mbappé is back though, so we'll need to stick to our part of the deal I think.

[KlaaZ]

One day later. They were lucky too, based on the chances OL should always have won.

[KlaaZ]

Well, we clinched our second league title in three years with one game in hand.

The draw in Lyon was justified but we finished the job at home against Reims. Lucky too, because one week later we completely botched our game against Lille, not scoring from 1.5xG and conceding from 0.13. Really, really not happy with that, to be honest. 

More good news from the Champions League. We did really well in Manchester and actually deserved the win, but a blunder by Cardinaux allowed Haaland to score a free header to equalize. In a game without real chances in Rennes, we did just enough to grab the win. We again aced the home game against Liverpool in the first leg of the semi, and should have gone to England with a two or three goal margin but the Scousers scored their only proper chance near the end of the game. In Liverpool, we went ahead twice but gave away goals far too easily and were lucky when Sesko's winner was chalked off. With eight minutes to go, it was Doué who pulled the trigger to get us the equalizer and send us into the final, where we'll play Bayern Münich. 

The only thing I'm not happy about is the semi final of the Cup against PSG, as I felt we did enough to get a win in regular time. But we didn't, and we paid the penalty for it. 

[KlaaZ]

Twenty minutes from greatness.

[KlaaZ]

Almost right away a second, but centimeters..

[KlaaZ]

So close..  All level, we go to extra time.

Edited August 5 by KlaaZ

[KlaaZ]

KABONGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[KlaaZ]

Gutted. 

[KlaaZ]

Think I'll play something else for a few months, this was the moment. Everyone's asking for ridiculous contract improvements now too, so I don't think I can take this any further. 

[KlaaZ]

On 05/08/2024 at 18:08, KlaaZ said:

Think I'll play something else for a few months, this was the moment. Everyone's asking for ridiculous contract improvements now too, so I don't think I can take this any further. 

So it won't be a few months obviously, but I'll still take a few days off as this really hurt morale.

[john1]

Absolutely gutted

[KlaaZ]

After two weeks of recovering from disappointment, I'm back.  Writing and playing from the Italian Alps, so updates will be short and mostly written as the wifi here is quite wobbly.

[john1]

14 hours ago, KlaaZ said:

After two weeks of recovering from disappointment, I'm back.  Writing and playing from the Italian Alps, so updates will be short and mostly written as the wifi here is quite wobbly.

YES  

[KlaaZ]

On 19/08/2024 at 11:55, john1 said:

YES  

Yes

I'll probably do a very big update in a few days, as I already finished the transfer period and most of August/September. And we also played the World Cup for clubs. 

[KlaaZ]

Right, a very short season recap! First off, we became champions, beating PSG to the title by two points in the end. We had a bigger margin but almost blew it in the end.

We did very well in the Champions League but it was a huge disappointment to stumble in the final against Bayern Münich, despite going up twice, conceding the winner in the final minute of extra time.. In the French Cup, we went out against PSG in the semi finals on penalties. Fun fact, they lost the final against Strasbourg.

Quite a few personal accolades. Akognon won the award for best rookie. He's been developing ridiculously well and is now clearly first choice on the right.

Belocian had an amazing season at left back, scooping the top assist reward as well.

Finally, I won the manager of the season award, which makes absolute sense considering our trajectory this year.

[KlaaZ]

Transfer overview

Quite a few leavers again! Truffert moves to Liverpool for 55M, while Bermudez (who recently signed a new deal) is also loaned out again to the Reds. Elia Caprile moves to AC Milan for 32.5M, Monamay to Anderlecht for 38M, Sardella at a loss to Lazio for 13.25M. We also loaned out about 15 or 16 players again.

On the incoming side, we signed four new players and we brought back a former favourite on a free after his contract expired: Warmed Omari (in the hopes of selling him again). We brought in a new right back from Ukraine for 12M, signed a very interesting left footed central defender from Kobenhavn for 17.5M, picked up a Japanese midfielder who will spend a year on loan in Italy to get some more experience under his belt, and a Haitian left back for the future from Concarneau.

I also have three deals for January lined up, but more on those when they arrive.

[KlaaZ]

Finally, we showed some amazing determination winning the Club World Championship by eliminating PSG, Real and Inter, all after extra time.

[KlaaZ]

Three new signings at the winter break, all from South America.

The biggest fish is Arian Gomez, a very interesting left back from River, who joins us for little over 10M and will go straight into the first team. With Belocian unable to repeat his amazing season last year, Bonata being right footed and our new sixteen year old Haitian not being ready for regular first team football, we really need a quality injection in this position.

Our other first team signing is a young Uruguayan central defender from Nacional who cost 7M. Money well spent, looks like an absolute gem at 19 with some amazing mentals and physicals. 

Finally, we added another Argentinian defender, this one more for the future. We'll try loaning him out so he can get regular football.

[KlaaZ]

Some more outgoing news just before the transfer window shut. We finally managed to find a club to take Theate off our hands for a good fee. He moves to Chelsea for 80M including bonuses. As expected, new signing Romero is loaned out to Getafe who are dead last in the Primera Division.

[john1]

Some top cracking signings you have made Congrats on winning Club Championship!

[KlaaZ]

Absolute carnage.

[KlaaZ]

Decided to play it all the way through, here we go!

We dominated the Ligue 1 from start to finish, retaining our third league title in four years and going unbeaten the entire season. Highlights were the 9-0 destruction of a faltering AS Monaco, beating PSG at home to knock them out of the title race, crushing Marseille 0-4 in their own ground and sealing the title with a whopping five games to spare. The Parisians had their worst season to date and were long looking to finish only third, but Saint-Etienne started dropping the ball near the end of the season and they were overtaken in the end.

 

We did the same in the French Cup, beating PSG in the final after a very one sided affair.

And finally, we once again made it to the final of the Champions League. We almost stumbled over Barça in the semis, but came back from a 3-2 loss at Camp Nou to trash them 4-0 in Rennes. And then we had an absolute whopper of a game against Real, going 4-0 up after only 28 minutes and pulling off a very deserved 5-2 victory in the end. As we also won the Super Cup, that means a quadruple this season, baby!

 

[KlaaZ]

Unexpected windfall!

[KlaaZ]

In other news, we'll see a whopping 22 of our players at the World Cup this year.

[warlock]

3 hours ago, KlaaZ said:

a quadruple this season, baby!

Now that's what you call a successful season 

[KlaaZ]

Transfer news

One new signing in June so far, with Jorge Jimenez joining to strengthen our defensive midfield. Looks like an excellent playmaker on top of his defensive skillset, with a great personality to boot. His arrival anticipates the probable departure of Christian Cerra, the Italo-Argentinian is on the transfer list as we failed to agree on a new contract (translation: He was asking for too much money). Liverpool, Dortmund, City and Bayern are circling, so we're hoping to hit the jackpot again. We refused an offer for our backup striker, Kabongo, from Newcastle which turned him unhappy so we agreed to sell if they bid 117M (which I hope they won't because I see him as the natural heir to Solaiman once he goes). The Magpies are also interested in De Waele, who is only third choice and would be allowed to go. Hopefully, they come in for him and then leave Kabongo alone!

[Dogfacedgremlin]

Wow! What a great season you've had!

[john1]

Wow what a season! And 22 players from Rennes at World Cup?!

[KlaaZ]

Unfortunately, we're back to 'our tactic worked for one season and now it's back to absolute ****'. 

[john1]

On 30/08/2024 at 16:16, KlaaZ said:

Unfortunately, we're back to 'our tactic worked for one season and now it's back to absolute ****'. 

Oh no

[KlaaZ]

On 31/08/2024 at 20:57, john1 said:

Oh no

Probably better to have it happen in something like a Super Cup, luckily.

[KlaaZ]

The transfer market is shut, and we saw a few players leave. As predicted, academy player De Waele moved to Newcastle, who paid us 91M including bonuses for his services. We wish him all the best. Cerra moves on loan to Dortmund, and Saito goes to Bayern for a year to get more first team football. I feel the squad is plenty fleshed out, so no incomings to replace these guys.

On the pitch, the European Super Cup debacle against Tottenham was luckily no more than a hiccup. We kicked off the season with a 4-0 trashing of PSG in the French Super Cup, struggled in Saint-Etienne (but returned victorious nontheless) and after the Spurs game picked ourselves up, going unbeaten in the Ligue 1 including another big win over PSG. 

In the Champions League, we get a tough start but after that, it looks quite managable. 

[john1]

Cracking start in Ligue 1

[KlaaZ]

So I think this career has almost come to an end. We've effectively dethroned PSG, becoming champions in three of the last four seasons and looking very good to do the same this year, and we've won the Champions League and the Club World Championship. I'll be looking to do another challenge before FM25, especially considering I won't be buying that version straight away at least. Might try my hands on another Pentagon challenge, something I didn't complete last time around.