[FM23] Schalke 04 - Can Jens Mustermann turn it around?

[lfds89]

After my last journey saw me facing a PSG dominance, I faced questions about my new adventure.

 

These were my doubts:

Citar

 

1. Stay here and try to win the league with academy-grown players

2. Move to Germany and try to break Bayern's domination [they are on 20 in a row]

3. Pick a financially insecure/in-debt team and try to turn it around and win a league [don't know if the game accepts this as they might not have the money to offer me a wage in line with my reputation]

4. Call it a day here and start a new save

 

Legend among men, @warlock, planted the seed of starting a new save in a financially troubled team. I could add numbers 1 and 2 to the list, so I decided to search Germany for potential teams to manage. There were 3 candidates:

1. Munich 1860. They start in 3. Liga, are in a bit of financial trouble, but they are quite a good team for the league, so moving up seems not that hard at first sight. I would need to get promoted twice to get to the Bundesliga which would make the make longer than I wish.

2. Beginning with the last reason for not picking Munich 1860 was the exact same as why I didn't pick one of the newly promoted teams to the 3. Liga. It could have been a good idea for a long save, but not what I'm looking for right now. Oldenburg and Bayreuth were my favourite options.

3. Schalke 04. Over 100M in the red, quite a bad team when compared to the league standard, great youth facilities and already great prospects.

Schalke it is.

 

FINANCES

117M in the red, 3.5M in wages per month (more than 42M per year when we account for prizes and bonuses), 1M in transfer budget, 450k in scouting budget.

My first thought here is I need to trim the squad as much as I can. I don't have data to know how much I need to drop the wage expenditure, but I'll go for "as much as I can without dropping the squad level".

 

SQUAD

95 players under contract between 3 squads and loans.

Breaking it down: 10 players out on loan; 12 players as regular starters or superior; 22 squad players or below; 51 prospects/youngsters. Out of those I have 9 loans in.

By age: 43 U19; 12 Over 30; 40 between 20 and 29.

The whole squad is valued at 149M if we could get the upper limit transfer value for each player. However, top 5 players are players loaned in, so not really our value (they amount to 55M). So squad value is in fact below 95M.

About quality...

No speed.

No decision or anticipation and barely any teamwork.

Below average in almost every technical attribute.

 

On the upside, jumping, heading, strength, bravery, aggression. This will define our starting tactic.

 

STAFF

We will take time to develop this part.

Which reminds me, I forgot to introduce my new persona:

Jens Mustermann

He might be familiar to some of you 

[warlock]

Good luck with this 

[lfds89]

FIRST STEPS

 

STAFF

We put out some adverts and got quite a few responses. Sand was a former Schalke player and an Icon, so it made sense to bring him in. Tiago (former At. Madrid player) will also help us with the technical training.

Looks better now, but I'm still looking for one more general coach and a fitness coach.

There's also a new physio, but we still don't have a sports scientist.

 

TRANSFERS

Other clubs know our situation so they low-ball our players. In spite of that, we are loaning out some youngsters to lose the cost of some wages and Fährmann was the first from our A-Squad to go.

34, worse than the other GK, we still have a decent backup and 2 high-potential prospects.

Our wages are now below 3M/month. [correction to the previous post: our wage budget was 3,5M, but we were spending 3,2M). That's around 2,5M below for the whole year. It's a start.

No transfers in before we let more people go.

 

TACTICS

Play through the flanks and cross to the target man. Tackle hard and press high. Simple.

No need to rush as we don't have much pace in the team.

I'm not happy with the squad, but that's what we have right now.

I will try to sign someone on loan, although we already have too many loanees, but it's the only way to improve the squad right now. Also, I can't terminate loans at this point.

 

FINANCES

We had a balance of negative 117M and a loan of 184M already in place. Now we have another loan of 98M. Together, we are paying the banks 1M/month. At least the balance now is only 19M in the red so it looks better at first sight.

[warlock]

2 hours ago, lfds89 said:

we are paying the banks 1M/month. At least the balance now is only 19M in the red

That's some mountain to climb. But to quote the great Jack Reacher: Remember... you wanted this 

[Hootieleece]

Good luck with this......I tried this last year with them. I got promoted to the Bundesliga and the Board of Directors decided to build a new Stadium! I rage quit that save!

[FM23] Chapter Two: Schalke04, Rebuilding in Royal Blue with a budget of $5 dollars a day

 

[lfds89]

23 horas atrás, warlock disse:

Remember... you wanted this

Famous last words :P

10 minutos atrás, Hootieleece disse:

Good luck with this

Thanks! In my case, I'm already on the first tier, I just want to to be there still next season.

 

In the meantime, I noticed I had those files that prevented the German national team from having real players, so I restarted the save. Luckily I was only a month into the save and I could almost redo everything. But I'll post the update tomorrow.

[Hootieleece]

If you are going to pare down the size of the squad. You might want to invest in Physios and Sports Scientists to help keep injuries minimal. Also, rotation between First Team and Squad players is key. It works best when they play similar roles and have similar attributes.

[lfds89]

9 horas atrás, Hootieleece disse:

If you are going to pare down the size of the squad. You might want to invest in Physios and Sports Scientists to help keep injuries minimal. Also, rotation between First Team and Squad players is key. It works best when they play similar roles and have similar attributes.

I always keep 4-5 youngsters around. In this case, I don't think I'll need it as the loans and people I can't offload are just too many so the squad is naturally big (at least bigger than what I like). Still, Ouédraogo (CM), Keke Topp (ST), Hadzha (DM/CB) and Podlech (GK) will be in the first team with availability to play in the U19 / II Team.

Working on staff as we speak.

[lfds89]

SQUAD

Once again, unless we can offload some players we won't be getting anyone right now. These are only the 22 first options. We have some more players in the squad.

Noticed I didn't insert the substitute GK. It's Michael Langer, an experienced player.

 

And we are already producing some magic

Beautiful intricate play against Twente. Polter dropping to link, all 3 midfielders connecting and Zalazar and Polter attacking the space. Love it!

 

STAFF

I managed to sign the same 3 guys I had signed before, and now I've added a fitness coach and a sports scientist.

The fitness coach is Paco de Miguel. He's been at Valencia, Liverpool, Inter, Chelsea, Napoli, Real Madrid, Newcastle and Everton. You probably have guessed it, he is part of Rafa Benitez's team. I'm happy to have such an experienced coach on board.

The sports scientist I'm not that happy about, but there weren't any better options available at this time [that we know of], so we'll keep the place open until some more options appear. We can still sign 1 more for that role, so later I'll give this another go.

 

[leobiazzi]

Good luck with this one. I played with Schalke in this FM and was a lot of fun. Ouédraogo is a beast, so I suggest you play him until big clubs come knocking and you're forced to sell him.

[_Ben_]

I quite enjoyed watching Schalke fall out of the 3.Liga and into an unplayable league on my last save. I, of course, wish you luck to not replicate that here!

[lfds89]

4 horas atrás, leobiazzi disse:

Good luck with this one. I played with Schalke in this FM and was a lot of fun. Ouédraogo is a beast, so I suggest you play him until big clubs come knocking and you're forced to sell him.

Thanks!

Surely will. Don't know where he will play as he's an option for many positions, but he'll get some playing time and develop. Our financial situation makes him an easy target, and I'm afraid I won't be able to keep him too long, but we'll see.

 

2 horas atrás, _Ben_ disse:

I quite enjoyed watching Schalke fall out of the 3.Liga and into an unplayable league on my last save. I, of course, wish you luck to not replicate that here!

Thanks! Hope I don't do that. But, it didn't start very well.

 

JULY

MATCHES

Out of the Cup... First disappointment. Although we played quite well and deserved another result what matters is the final score and we let 2 in against a 2nd tier side, so we need to do better.

 

SQUAD

Earlier, when I discussed my squad value, it all amounted to 149M, now the values have been updated (I believe thanks to the better bank balance) and all players now add up to 232M although a big part of it is from loanees (around 100M...)

I'm also trying to solve the quantity/quality problem. 

He's already set to leave on a free, 30 and he's not a starter either at CB or LB. We get rid of his wage, so one less problem.

 

He has potential, so I let him play more regularly than here. We keep 2 players who can play RB in our ranks.

Then it's Latza:

He isn't great, 32, was mad about not being captain (balanced personality and 12 determination is not captain material to me), and with a ridiculous wage for our situation. He's listed and we are waiting offers on him.

 

Coming in, we have a beast of a player:

Mousa Dembélé. Still has balance and strength, decent mental and pretty good technical attributes. For 30k/month there isn't much to lose and he's a very valuable choice in our midfield.

 

STAFF

We added Joris Mathijsen as DoF as we didn't have anyone in that role.

Knows the league/country, he is known in the business and has a resolute personality. He was at Willem II as a Technical Director. Not necessarily someone who I think of for the long term, but someone who can help know.

Edited August 14 by lfds89

[lfds89]

This was the first league game of the season... Not going well.

But I decided to get another CB to help my defense. Although we still have too many players, I need to increase in quality. Van Hecke is available on loan, Brighton only wants wages paid, which is great!

Köln you are creating an enemy...

 

After analyzing our conceded goals, decided to move to a balanced mentality, but couldn't see the need for a change in tactics. It was a set-piece, then a big mistake by our GK, then a pacey forward getting a ball into space. Maybe "Drop More" is added if I find my players could do with a step back, but moving to "balanced" might mitigate that problem.

[lfds89]

AUGUST

END OF TRANSFER WINDOW

We managed to sell Latza. Köln again... This time they are helping us.

Adli comes in to give us more pace to the wings or even as SS.

 

This is the state of the league when it comes to wages:

We are spending a lot when compared to the quality we have. Next season, we'll need to clean this up. However, we made some progress as we started with 3.2M/month. We are down around 500k, which amounts to over 6M/year when considering bonuses.

Summing up:

OUT

 

IN

 

WAGES

Based on my spreadsheet, the most flagrant negative divergences are some of the most experienced players.

 

Name	Age	Monthly Expenses	BPR	ME^	Dif ME^,ME	Abs Dif %
Simon Terodde	34	171 000,00 €	65	119 475,42 €	-51 524,58 €	30%
Sebastian Polter	31	148 000,00 €	65	118 767,04 €	-29 232,96 €	20%
Marius Bülter	29	133 000,00 €	64	108 141,41 €	-24 858,59 €	19%
Maya Yoshida	34	188 000,00 €	64	99 349,21 €	-88 650,79 €	47%
Dominick Drexler	32	133 000,00 €	63	94 131,31 €	-38 868,69 €	29%
Alexander Schwolow	30	173 000,00 €	63	86 568,14 €	-86 431,86 €	50%
Marcin Kamiński	30	117 900,00 €	62	83 014,90 €	-34 885,10 €	30%
Jere Uronen	28	93 400,00 €	61	70 991,03 €	-22 408,97 €	24%
Cédric Brunner	28	98 200,00 €	61	64 408,52 €	-33 791,48 €	34%
Tobias Mohr	27	92 200,00 €	59	38 784,98 €	-53 415,02 €	58%

 

Schwolow and Uronen are on loan so they are problems that are naturally solved; Yoshida, Kaminski, Terodde and Drexler end their contracts this season, so they are also easy to solve; Polter is a starter, so it isn't a big problem; Bülter's difference is the lowest, so I'm not too concerned. Brunner and Mohr will probably have to be sold next season when we find good alternatives for them.

All these exits mean we will have many vacant spaces. I'm hoping there's some evolution in our youngsters and they can fill the spots.

 

MATCHES

I've talked about the Köln match already

vs GLADBACH (H)

We were a bit better, but it was another through ball that allowed Thuram to score. "Drop More" was activated after it. I've also made some changes to the tactic as I feel I was being too optimistic when facing better teams. I'll go through the changes after all the matches.

 

vs WOLFSBURG (A)

We were a bit lucky with the sending-off. Sad that we couldn't do more with one more player on the field.

 

vs UNION BERLIN (H)

Our best game, even with a man down we managed to control and even score 2 goals.

 

Next matches:

Only 3 games next month, but important ones. We need to beat Bochum as they are predicted to finish last in the league; the rivalry with Dortmund turns this game into an important one, although we are clearly not on the same level; Stuttgart hasn't won yet this season, so we have to pounce on their bad form. 6 points from 9 would be great.

 

TACTICS

Our starting point

 

And a more toned-down approach. The SS moves away from the ball, the VOL-A moves away from defense, and in some games, we need the opposite, so VOL-S so he roams, but doesn't venture so much; AP-A so he's aggressive but close to team-mates and the ball. I've also reduced the width to keep the team more compact.

 

[lfds89]

A more in-depth look into my squad:

 

My spreadsheet gives me the following 22-man squad:

SK	RB	CB	LB	DM	VOL	CAM	W	IW	ST
Alexander Schwolow	Niklas Tauer	Éder Balanta	Mousa Dembélé	Alex Král	Rodrigo Zalazar	Michaël Frey	Amine Adli	Marius Bülter	Simon Terodde
Luca Podlech	Sepp van den Berg	Moritz Jenz	Jere Uronen	Tom Krauß	Thomas Ouwejan	Kenan Karaman	Dominick Drexler	Tim Skarke	Sebastian Polter
		Maya Yoshida
		Leo Greiml

 

With some adaptations to better fit my judgement (and adding the youngsters):

SK	RB	CB	LB	DM	VOL	CAM	W	IW	ST
Alexander Schwolow	Sepp van den Berg	Éder Balanta	Thomas Ouwejan	Alex Král	Rodrigo Zalazar	Michaël Frey	Amine Adli	Marius Bülter	Simon Terodde
Luca Podlech	Cédric Brunner	Moritz Jenz	Jere Uronen	Tom Krauß	Mousa Dembélé	Kenan Karaman	Sôichirô Kôzuki	Tim Skarke	Sebastian Polter
		Maya Yoshida		Niklas Tauer	Assan Ouédraogo		Dominick Drexler		Keke Topp
		Leo Greiml
		Nedzhib Hadzha

 

Which in turn leads to the matrix:

Name	Position	Ability	Pot.	Red Flag	Solid Prof.	Trusted Prof.	Key Player	Emerging Star	Empowered
Alexander Schwolow	1 GK	63	63	1	0	0	0	0	0
Luca Podlech	1 GK	57	68	0	0	1	0	0	0
Sepp van den Berg	2 D (R)	63	69	0	0	1	0	0	0
Cédric Brunner	2 D (R)	61	61	1	0	0	0	0	0
Thomas Ouwejan	3 D (L)	62	62	1	0	0	0	0	0
Jere Uronen	3 D (L)	61	61	1	0	0	0	0	0
Éder Balanta	4 D (C)	68	68	0	0	0	0	0	1
Moritz Jenz	4 D (C)	65	65	0	0	0	1	0	0
Maya Yoshida	4 D (C)	64	64	1	0	0	0	0	0
Leo Greiml	4 D (C)	64	67	0	0	1	0	0	0
Alex Král	5 DM	66	66	0	0	0	1	0	0
Tom Krauß	5 DM	64	68	0	0	0	0	1	0
Rodrigo Zalazar	6 M (C)	66	66	0	0	0	1	0	0
Mousa Dembélé	6 M (C)	69	69	0	0	0	0	0	1
Michaël Frey	7 AM (C)	64	64	0	0	0	1	0	0
Kenan Karaman	7 AM (C)	63	63	1	0	0	0	0	0
Amine Adli	8 M (R)	64	66	0	0	0	1	0	0
Sôichirô Kôzuki	8 M (R)	61	64	0	1	0	0	0	0
Marius Bülter	8 M (L)	64	64	0	0	0	1	0	0
Tim Skarke	8 M (L)	62	62	1	0	0	0	0	0
Simon Terodde	9 ST (C)	65	65	0	0	0	1	0	0
Sebastian Polter	9 ST (C)	65	65	0	0	0	1	0	0

We have 7 red flags [players with low ability and low potential] and only 2 empowered (one is on loan and the other is retiring). Our only emerging star [mid ability/high potential] is also on loan. Our youngsters are still in the trusted professional phase [low ability/high potential].

And on the Risk/Impact Analysis:

Name	Risk/Prob	Impact/Sub	RI Score
Alexander Schwolow	3	3	100
Luca Podlech	1	1	0
Sepp van den Berg	3	1	50
Cédric Brunner	2	1	25
Thomas Ouwejan	1	3	50
Jere Uronen	3	1	50
Éder Balanta	3	2	75
Moritz Jenz	3	2	75
Maya Yoshida	3	1	50
Leo Greiml	1	1	0
Alex Král	3	3	100
Tom Krauß	3	1	50
Rodrigo Zalazar	1	2	25
Mousa Dembélé	3	1	50
Michaël Frey	3	1	50
Kenan Karaman	1	1	0
Amine Adli	3	1	50
Sôichirô Kôzuki	2	1	25
Marius Bülter	3	2	75
Tim Skarke	3	1	50
Simon Terodde	3	1	50
Sebastian Polter	1	1	0

Risk: 3 - on loan or contract ends this season; 2 - there's interest in him; other situations

Impact: 3 - replacement is far from the same level; 2 - replacement is a bit worse; 1 - replacement is on level

RI Score is just adding Risk and Impact and scaling on 0-100.

 

The rebuilding will be difficult. First, we need to be sure we are staying in the first tier, then we need to make the best of the next summer window: players ending their contracts, players with low release clauses, loans,... 

I will also have to develop the youngsters. These are the highest potential ones. Some of them are already involved with the squad, others are on loan, and Tchibara is a future transfer that was already arranged.

Name	Best Pos (A.M.)	Personality	Age	Best Position	Positions	BPR	Pot BPR
Assan Ouédraogo	M (R)	Resolute	16	WF	FB DM WF	58	70
Taylan Bulut	D (R)	Resolute	16	FB	FB DM CM WF ST	57	69
Nedzhib Hadzha	D (C)	Balanced	17	CB	CB	58	69
Niklas Dörr	ST (C)	Fairly Determined	16	ST	ST	56	69
Keke Topp	ST (C)	Balanced	18	ST	ST	60	69
Zaid Amoussou-Tchibara	ST (C)	Balanced	16	ST	ST	56	68
Sidi Sané	AM (L)	Fairly Sporting	19	ST	FB ST	61	68
Luca Podlech	GK	Resolute	17	GK	GK	57	68
Vitalie Becker	D (L)	Model Citizen	17	FB	FB WF ST	57	68
Semin Kojic	ST (C)	Balanced	17	ST	ST	57	67
Niklas Barthel	D (C)	Light-Hearted	17	CB	CB	56	67

There are plenty of strikers, some might have to play in other positions or we will have to cash in on them. A whole defense as well, so we just need some midfielders.

[_Ben_]

18 hours ago, lfds89 said:

WAGES

Based on my spreadsheet, the most flagrant negative divergences are some of the most experienced players.

 

Name	Age	Monthly Expenses	BPR	ME^	Dif ME^,ME	Abs Dif %
Simon Terodde	34	171 000,00 €	65	119 475,42 €	-51 524,58 €	30%
Sebastian Polter	31	148 000,00 €	65	118 767,04 €	-29 232,96 €	20%
Marius Bülter	29	133 000,00 €	64	108 141,41 €	-24 858,59 €	19%
Maya Yoshida	34	188 000,00 €	64	99 349,21 €	-88 650,79 €	47%
Dominick Drexler	32	133 000,00 €	63	94 131,31 €	-38 868,69 €	29%
Alexander Schwolow	30	173 000,00 €	63	86 568,14 €	-86 431,86 €	50%
Marcin Kamiński	30	117 900,00 €	62	83 014,90 €	-34 885,10 €	30%
Jere Uronen	28	93 400,00 €	61	70 991,03 €	-22 408,97 €	24%
Cédric Brunner	28	98 200,00 €	61	64 408,52 €	-33 791,48 €	34%
Tobias Mohr	27	92 200,00 €	59	38 784,98 €	-53 415,02 €	58%

I always enjoy your spreadsheet work but can't quite get my head around what you've calculated here!?

[lfds89]

46 minutos atrás, _Ben_ disse:

I always enjoy your spreadsheet work but can't quite get my head around what you've calculated here!?

First I took the attributes that compose the octagon on the comparison screen. Then, I tried to calculate a value for each position/role (only the ones I use) using the octagon attributes. Getting every rating for each player, I can have a unique value for their BPR (best position rating).

I also have the monthly expenses (ME) calculated as wage + 4x appearance fee. It's not exact but close enough for me.

In this sheet, I calculate the z-score (basically, the amount of standard deviations away from the average) for monthly expenses and BPR. Then, I expected a linear correlation between how good a player is and how much he makes, so I took the slope value and calculated the expected value of monthly expenses (ME^). After, it's just the difference between the ME^ and the real ME and the absolute (don't know if this is the exact name for it, but I want an always positive value) relative difference between both.

This is an example:

Name	Age	Monthly Expenses	BPR	Z-Age	Z-BPR	Z-M.E.	Z-ME^	ME^	Dif ME^,ME	Abs Dif %
Mousa Dembélé	35	36 500,00 €	69	1,76	2,28	-0,81	1,56	163 519,72 €	127 019,72 €	348%

I also have age here, but I don't actually use it.

In the case of this team, the slope is 0.686. So, For a player with a z-score BPR of 1.00, I would expect a Z-M-E. of 0.686. Which considering the average (around 80k) and st.dev. (around 54k) of monthly expenses would mean a value of monthly expenses of around 116k.

This is calculated for the top-35 players in my squads (no loaned-out players).

When I want to check the overpaid or underpaid players, I filter for bottom-10 or top-10 in difference.

 

I also use this to check the players I want to buy and see if their wages are compatible with what I have in my team.

Hope this somehow makes sense. But feel free to ask any questions.

[lfds89]

SEPTEMBER

MATCHES

We wanted 6 points but only got 1... Embarrassing stuff. 

We are still 10th so globally it doesn't seem too bad, but we've already played against the last 3.

 

vs STUTTGART (A)

An uneventful match, neither team deserved to win.

 

vs BOCHUM (H)

This one we clearly deserved better, but we let them create the better chances and they scored. Polter was out with an injury and he'll be out for some time.

 

vs DORTMUND

They were better, but we still managed to create 2 CCC and 3 HC. This time we were without Starke. Our 2 best players on average rating out, it made it even more difficult.

 

Now we have 2 weeks until the next game, so we should be able to recover both players.

 

Next matches:

15th (H), 13th (A), 6th (H), 12th (A), 2nd (H). Augsburg is the game where we have the best odds. Then we have to do our best, especially in the home games. Anything over 1 point per game is a win right now.

[lfds89]

MID-OCTOBER

MATCHES

I haven't played the whole month, because there have been some developments...

 

vs AUGSBURG (H)

We lost 0-1. They had 750 passes! And although they created no clear-cut chance, I was fuming with this match. Average rating: 6.58...

 

vs LEVERKUSEN (A)

It was not a match where I expected much, but at least I wanted a decent performance. Check the average rating: 6.57! Once again, no clear-cut chance for them, but 0.16 xG for us, shows we were barely in the game.

 

Now I was on a 4-game losing streak and a draw before that. Against 3 of those 5, we should have won, if we are serious about being in this league.

It got me thinking about the tactic, but it doesn't seem that flawed. Players? They aren't great, but at level with some of the teams we faced, so that wasn't it.

This is probably part of the problem. Not all of it, but a part. So I changed training. Everything that increases happiness and team cohesion we are doing it. I don't care about player evolution right now. Tactic familiarity isn't that bad as we were focusing on that prior to this.

But still, it wasn't enough to change things right now. Then, I looked at some of the previous matches in more detail (comprehensive highlights) and I was reminded of something important: I wasn't paying attention to the opposition. I got so used to being the dominant team in Marseille that I could just play my tactic, plan the squad around it and don't make any changes regarding who I was facing. I needed to get back on the drawing board and really watch the games.

Next game: 5th-placed Hoffenheim. They play a 5-2-2-1 DM AM.

It was time to re-watch the matches against Augsburg and Bochum. They also play in this formation. Key points: Track the movement of the WBs; track the AMs; press the DMs; leave the CBs. My decision: 4-4-2 DM to start. My wingers man mark their WBs, my FBs mark RCAM and LCAM positions. I don't want my FBs man-marking specifically as they would be moved out of position easily and possibly leave too much space out wide (in case my wingers failed to stop their WBs, this would be suicidal), I just wanted them to be close to those positions if the ball came that way.

This is what it looked like [I doesn't FM have a Team A with ball vs Team B without ball screen ?]:

The game started and I noticed their DMs had too much space, and our midfielders had to run to meet them, so new change: DMs to CMs. This would destroy the 6v3 "box" near our penalty area, but I'm more comfortable this way.

We had a great match. To give you some examples: in the match against Augsburg we had 16 dribbles; in this one, we had 23; Key passes: 6 vs Augsburg; 14 vs Hoffenheim.

We had more shots and shots on target; their xG reduced to 0.25; more passes completed; way more headers won; more progressive passes and final third passes. Average rating: 6.95. Now that's way better.

The final score, you ask: 0-0... I'm not disappointed. They are 5th and projected to be 7th. Right now we are 14th and are predicted to be 16th. If we keep playing like this, we will get the results we need. It'll demand more from me on matchday and in the matchday preparation, but I'm up for it. It'll just take more time between updates.

The final tactic was this:

This will be my starting formation against other teams who play in a 5-2-2-1 formation. The next game is against Hertha who have played 4-3-3 in every single match. I'll study the Stuttgart and Wolfsburg game, but at least I think I can use a big part of this formation, I just have to tweak the marking and I'm thinking about switching one of my strikers to PF-D so he can mark their DM.

[lfds89]

I just played the other 2 games of the month.

Yes, it's getting better!

 

vs HERTHA (A)

I was thinking of maintaining the 4-4-2 as a basis, but after watching the games against Stuttgart and Wolfsburg, I decided to stick with the previous formation: 4-2-3-1/4-4-1-1. I changed some roles, started the match, and maybe we were lucky and they had a player sent off in the 10th minute. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, but playing against 10 is never easy for me. Despite that, it allowed us to be more attacking, and push our FBs forward and we eventually found the winner.

The idea for the formation was something like this:

It wasn't tested as the sending-off changed the game completely.

Even with one more player, we didn't have more possession than them and didn't create a lot of chances.

We had 2 goals disallowed for offside, but eventually, the youngster Keke Topp scored an allowed goal.

 

vs FREIBURG (H)

This was the best result of the season so far and one of the best games we played. They were fielding a 4-4-2 so, in my opinion, the natural opposite is 5-2-3. In this case, I opted for the 3 upfront to be 2 CAM and 1 ST. I asked the CAMs to man-mark their FBs. Once again fielded 2 BWMs. I'm really enjoying the 2 destroyers!

I doubted the composition of my defense: Libero + 2 CD or 2 BPD and a covering CD? I started with the first. Then, noticed my Libero was moving into midfield and my CBs weren't closing the space. They kept the width of a back 3, while being just 2. So I changed it to the second option, and it turned out to be safer.

As I kept some instructions from the other formations and I didn't have much experience with playing this bottom-heavy formations, I noticed we were rushing everything and could never keep the ball. 15 minutes in, we had around 35% of the ball. So I tweaked some instructions and ended up with this:

Playing out of defense, slowing the pace down and holding shape made a big difference. And they make sense in a bottom-heavy team. I'm taking notes for other matches!

7,34 rating, with much help from the 3 uptop: Adli, Ouédraogo and Frey. I've been changing personnel a lot more than my usual to fit the specifics of what I need.

2 assists for the youngsters Ouédraogo, I'm very happy with him.

It's clear that we need some better players, mainly faster ones upfront and on the wings (both FB/WB and Wingers).

Otherwise, I'm really happy with my choices for the CDM position. Kral, Krauss, Zalazar, Tauer and Dembélé give me different options. Too bad only Zalazar will be in the squad next season.

I have numbers in the CB position but it's also a position where I want more quality.

 

LEAGUE TABLE

 

NEXT MONTH

A short month with only 3 games:

Werder Bremen (A), 11th, 5-3-2 DM WB

Mainz (H), 8th, 5-3-2 DM WB

Bayern (H), 3rd, 4-2-3-1 DM Wide / 4-2-2-2 DM AM Narrow

[lfds89]

NOVEMBER

MATCHES

vs Bremen (A)

It wasn't a great match, but we got a point that helped us.

 

vs Mainz (H)

Basically the same, but against a weaker opposition, so we had way more of the ball, but couldn't create much danger.

 

vs Bayern (H)

This was the biggest challenge, although they had a game 2 days before so they were a bit tired.

They started in a 4-2-3-1 so I answered with a 4-3-3. FBs as FB-S; DM as DM-D; CMs as BWM-S on Kimmich's side and RPM on Goretzka's side; wingers as IW-A. Then I wasn't getting much movement upfront and changed my RPM to MEZ-A and same side winger from IW-A to W-A.

   

We scored! 1-0!

 

They change to a 4-2-2-2 without wingers, so Sané and Muller behind the strikers. I had to respond with a tactical switch so: 5-4-1. FBs with instructions to mark RCAM and LCAM zones; wingers with instructions to man-mark their FBs; CMs back to BWM-S. Then we were getting pressed too much so changed both FB-S to FB-A and both wingers first to WP-A.

 

Penalty for us. Goal! 2-0!

They kept pressing us, but we were in comfortable in our low block and 3-0!

 

I have to say, it's a bit tiring having to play in "full match", but it has been worth it. Our target for the season is 35 points, we have 20 in 15 matches. That means we need 15 in 19 now.

 

SQUAD

Just a small consideration about the squad. We have too many players on loan and we can't terminate their loans unless the player is injured. As soon as we have the relegation battle off the table when any of those players is injured, I'll seriously think about terminating the loan.

In the meantime, we don't play in December, so I'll take the time to carefully plan the winter transfer window. I'll try to sell some players and if I can, I'll try to arrange transfers for next season. Big focus on players ending their contracts.

[warlock]

Tactical masterclass 

[lfds89]

13 horas atrás, warlock disse:

Tactical masterclass 

Thanks! Takes a lot of time to micro-manage, but I felt this was the only way I was going to be successful at Schalke in this first season.

 

SQUAD

An overview of the squad and what do I need for next season

SK	RB	CB	LB	DM	CM	CAM	RW	LW	ST
Alexander Schwolow	Sepp van den Berg	Moritz Jenz	Thomas Ouwejan	Alex Král	Rodrigo Zalazar	Michaël Frey	Sôichirô Kôzuki	Amine Adli	Sebastian Polter
Michael Langer	Cédric Brunner	Leo Greiml	Jere Uronen	Tom Krauß	Mousa Dembélé	Assan Ouédraogo	Tim Skarke	Marius Bülter	Keke Topp
Luca Podlech	Taylan Bulut	Éder Balanta		Niklas Tauer		Kenan Karaman	Dominick Drexler	Tobias Mohr	Simon Terodde
		Maya Yoshida
		Marcin Kamiński
		Nedzhib Hadzha

In light blue background are the players on loan; in light red the players with contract expiring this season; light grey are just the youngsters already training with the squad. In each position players are ordered in minutes played.

In summary, we have 31 players around the senior squad, 16 most likely won't be here next season. What a mess!

SK

Only Schwolow played. The drop in quality is big and we are only in one competition. I expect Luca to develop, but maybe he needs one more season until he is a decent backup. Langer is 37 it's very likely I won't renew unless his wage demands are really low.

This is every option I have available, Heekeren is rated close to Schwolow but he's not really that close. I will need a starter next season. Heekeren might be the sub GK. Yusufu and Podlech will probably be loaned out for playing time.

 

RB

I have been rotating between Sepp and Cédric. They aren't massive talents, but good enough right now. As RWB I have played Kozuki (in the winger section)

This is one of the positions where I'm most comfortable. Not that we have immense quality, but Brunner is decent, Bulut is already decent to be a backup and we still have Aydin on loan.

[Note: we have some more players but not interesting]

 

LB

Thomas is my first choice when we play 4 atb; as WB I have been selecting Skarke (included in the winger section). He's not left-footed, so not the option I would favor but he's faster. I should probably give Mohr a chance as LWB.

Next year, we will have Thomas and Kerim (whom I know from the Marseille save). Becker will probably be involved (in fact, he should be involved still this season).

 

CB

Jenz, Greiml and Balanta have been my 3 top choices; Sepp, Brunner and Tauer have also played this position. Next year I will only have Greiml and the youngster Hadzha (he's on an expiring contract but it should be renewed any time). Kaminsky hasn't played as he had a long-term injury.

Matriciani and Cissé might help as backups, Flick is a natural DM, but he can be valuable as a CB option. Greiml will be a starter next season, but I think I should look for another starter. A left-footed one in this case. We have plenty of potential here. Mfundu, Boboy, Barthel, Heitzmann and Aliu will be loaned out next season.

 

DM/CM

Kral was my first option until he was injured, then Krauss started playing and I like him as well. As a CM, Zalazar is my no.1 choice, Dembélé is retiring in January, so probably I will play Ouédraogo there when I need or even Drexler (included in the winger section).

Tauer is on loan but it's a 2-year one so I can count on him. Flick will be my other option as DM. Zalazar will keep his place and Bozdogan will be the second option as CM. Mattes Hansen will renew and might be around the squad. Ouédraogo will be an option as CAM.

 

I will continue later.

[lfds89]

SQUAD (CONT.)

CAM

Frey was my initial option; Karaman was the backup; Ouédraogo was meant to be around the first team and play here and there. As the season evolved this was the position that changed the most. Now, Frey is usually my first option as ST; Karaman is barely used; Ouédraogo is the player with the highest average rating in my team and near 500 minutes played. Adli (in the winger section) as also played in this position and so did Zalazar.

Amine Harit has a mandatory fee after 15 games and he has already played 13, so it's close to being activated. I'm glad it is, because his salary is 416k and the second biggest is 137k!

For next season, Karaman and Ouédraogo are obvious choices. I'll probably try and find a replacement for Karaman, but it's not a priority. Gashi doesn't seem to have the pace to be an elite winger, so maybe I'll try to train him as CAM and he might be around the squad.

 

RW

Kozuki has the most minutes, sometimes Skarke has played there, Drexler had some minutes as well.

I should probably do LW and RW together as there's a big mix between both places, but I'll try and divide. Jordan Larsson and Kôzuki are the 2 options for next season. Sidi Sané might get the place instead of Kôzuki. 

 

LW

Skarke is my first option when he's fit, then Adli. Bülter hasn't performed although I like his attributes.

Either Kôzuki or Sané can be part of the squad as LW so they don't have to fight for the spot on the right, even Larsson could be retrained, but I need a starter, likely left-footed but depends on who's available. If we can't find anyone better, Bülter will stay. I'll loan Buczkowski so he can get more playing time. 

 

ST

Polter, Frey and Keke have been diving the minutes. Terodde has been out of the rotation as he hasn't performed when given the chance. I have also played Adli here when I played 2 upfront to give the team some pace near the more static options.

Polter, Pieringer and Topp are my choices. Dörr might be loaned out or stay with the team depending on eventual offers we receive for Polter. Larsson will be the player to use when I need the pace upfront.

 

SUMMARY

SK	RB	CB	LB	DM	CM	CAM	RW	LW	ST
1 Starter	Mehmet Aydin	Leo Greiml	Thomas Ouwejan	Florian Flick	Rodrigo Zalazar	Kenan Karaman	Jordan Larsson	1 Starter LF	Sebastian Polter
Justin Heekeren	Cédric Brunner	1 Starter LCB	Kerim Çalhanoğlu	Niklas Tauer	Can Bozdogan	Assan Ouédraogo	Sôichirô Kôzuki	Sidi Sané	Marvin Pieringer
Luca Podlech		Henning Matriciani	Vitalie Becker		Mattes Hansen	Edion Gashi			Keke Topp
		Ibrahima Cissé
		Nedzhib Hadzha

The squad for next season should look something like this.

In the squad planner:

[Don't mind the roles - that's why Karaman and Larsson are on such low star ratings]

 

Some doubts:

Do I need a starter as RB and even LB?

Do I need a better backup CB?

Do I find a replacement for Karaman as CAM?

If Polter leaves, do I try to find a starter ST? Even before that, do I force Polter to leave?

 

Most of these doubts will be answered when I have budgets available and when I know what players are interested in joining us next season. Despite that, if I can secure some end-of-contract signings that add quality to the team (without a massive impact on the budget), I'll deal with the surplus after.

[lfds89]

MISCELLANEOUS UPDATE FROM THE WORLD CUP / WINTER BREAK

Clauses

We need money, so I checked what clauses we had available and this was the only one that seemed decent. Ozan is valued between 20 to 30 M. 20% of that is 4-6M, might as well secure that.

 

A few days after another one became available:

Malick Thiaw is valued at 10-16M. He has yet to play a single game for Milan.

 

They don't move my budget a lot, but bring in much-needed money for the balance.

 

Youth Intake

Golden Generation, 5 stars. Let's wait and see what we get. Don't know if changing the tactics all the time has an impact, but getting full-backs, wing-backs and wide midfielders is weird. I suppose I'l get someone who can play all 3 positions.

 

Transfers

I made some arrangements for my DOF to work on. It's in line with the assessed needs. I'm just missing a target as LW.

I don't need a GK right now, but if my DOF negotiates it that way, since I can't give him the order to set it for next season, I'll try to offload someone Langer or if Schwolow become injured, I'll terminate his loan.

Pfeiffer is a long shot. He has a big list of interested teams. He's also not left-footed, but he is strong on that foot. I have no other options right now.

 

I'm not happy with the work of the scouting network, so I'll probably take control of it in the next season. I'll focus on the tactics and the team this season.

 

A few days after, the first signing is confirmed:

He signed as a backup, so he'll be happy about his playing time this season and more than happy about being first-choice next season. It's also a 2-for-1 as Heekeren is on loan at Fürth and wasn't playing so he'll get his chance now.

He's a bit better than Schwolow, although his statistics aren't great. We have half a season to test him.

Not a great transfer, I must assume, but we'll get there eventually.

 

Staff

And speaking of the scouting team, we added a new scout:

Great attributes and the knowledge of South America were the decisive factors.

[lfds89]

ANOTHER MISCELLANEOUS UPDATE

ELECTIONS

Different names, but no big changes. I had an objective around increasing commercial revenue, and now it changed to reputation.

 

TRANSFERS

137k/month. Kaminsky has recovered from his injury and will fill Yoshida's place in the squad. I might also opt to give the youngster Bulut some minutes and move Sepp van den Berg to the middle.

 

I tried to talk him out of this decision, but he wanted to retire. Not optimal for my squad, but Ouédraogo will play more in his role, Drexler will also serve as backup in the middle and Hansen will be around the team.

 

Harit is sold, so 5M in.

 

We also have some offers for incoming players, but nothing is closed yet.

 

SEASON EXPECTATIONS

January arrived with a question from the board:

Changing the goal to a mid-table finish would add 200k/month to the wage budget. We are 9th but only 6 points away from 15th and I don't think the added pressure will help us. So I'll keep the objective as it is.

 

DEVELOPMENT

Name	Personality	Age	Transfer Value	Best Position	Best Rating	BPR Variation
Éder Balanta	Fairly Loyal	29	4 100 000,00 €	CB	67	-0,6
Dominick Drexler	Balanced	32	550 000,00 €	DM	63	-1,2
Enes Rüzgar	Balanced	17	300 000,00 €	ST	49	-1,0
Marcin Kamiński	Fairly Sporting	30	750 000,00 €	CB	62	-0,6
Semin Kojic	Balanced	18	130 000,00 €	ST	57	-0,2
Alex Král	Fairly Determined	24	10 500 000,00 €	DM	65	-0,2
Michael Langer	Fairly Professional	37	18 000,00 €	GK	59	-0,7
Denis Milic	Balanced	18	80 000,00 €	CB	56	-0,6
Tristan Osmani	Balanced	17	300 000,00 €	WF	54	-0,3
Niklas Tauer	Fairly Determined	21	9 000 000,00 €	CB	63	-0,1
Simon Terodde	Resolute	34	160 000,00 €	ST	65	-1,1
Yannick Tonye	Balanced	18	325 000,00 €	FB	49	-1,5

These are the guys who are regressing. From the first squad are only the ones over 29, and Kral and Tauer have dropped a bit after injuries.

Kojic is a high-potential player but he had an injury as well. Disappointed with Milic and Osmani who could develop into interesting players.

 

On the other side:

Name	Personality	Age	Transfer Value	Best Position	Best Rating	BPR Variation
Mattes Hansen	Balanced	18	1 000 000,00 €	CB	56	3,2
Til Heitzmann	Balanced	17	1 200 000,00 €	CB	55	2,1
Luis Rödel	Balanced	18	55 000,00 €	GK	49	3,1
Taylan Bulut	Resolute	16	10 000 000,00 €	FB	59	2,0
Steven van der Sloot	Balanced	20	275 000,00 €	WF	53	2,1
Zaid Amoussou-Tchibara	Balanced	16	Not for Sale	ST	58	2,0

Hansen and Bulut have been training with the first team, Tchibara is a future transfer that was already arranged. Heitzmann is a left-footed CB which is always handy.

 

Edit: Forgot this

Getting better. Yey!

Edited August 28 by lfds89
Forgot an image

[Hootieleece]

I tis better to overachieve low goals than put the pressure on.

Also to help with cohesion use the Team Bonding Practice Session after a matchday. (I usually have the day after a match filled with Recovery, Match Review, and Team Bonding sessions.

Also, the community relations practice session helps with teamwork and cohesion if you can fit it in.

[warlock]

7 minutes ago, Hootieleece said:

tis better to overachieve low goals than put the pressure on

Yup... under-promise, over-deliver 

[lfds89]

19 horas atrás, Hootieleece disse:

I tis better to overachieve low goals than put the pressure on.

Also to help with cohesion use the Team Bonding Practice Session after a matchday. (I usually have the day after a match filled with Recovery, Match Review, and Team Bonding sessions.

Also, the community relations practice session helps with teamwork and cohesion if you can fit it in.

Yeah, I know. I'm maximizing it in training.

This is my usual training session (right now):

Travel takes place in the Community Outreach session.

 

19 horas atrás, warlock disse:

Yup... under-promise, over-deliver 

My FM motto 

[lfds89]

WINTER TRANSFERS UPDATE

He was an end-of-contract target. He wants to keep his options open. but at least he prefers us.

 

A youngster coming in. My scouts rated him quite high, doesn't seem to be the case with my closest staff. He isn't bad and the transfer fee was 1,2M so if he doesn't turn out that good, I'm sure we can still make a profit on him. However, one more reason to take full control of the scouting department next season.

 

Another end-of-contract target. He would be the leader of our defense. However, he chose Almería because " their squad is better"... Ouch!

 

Finally I get a CB, and a left-footed one!

Near Jenz level and can also play as DM. There's a Buy-Now option for 700k but I won't take it.

 

A decent prospect also ending his contract. "Our stature isn't big enough". When we are sure about avoiding relegation, I'm confident the stature will increase and it'll be easier to attract talent.

 

I'm midway through January so there's still time to do more business. We restart the league in 1 week.

 

NEXT FIXTURES

Frankfurt, 3rd, 5-2-2-1, Away

Leipzig, 2nd, 4-2-3-1, Home

Köln, 16th, 4-4-2 Diamond Narrow, Home

2 tough games and a difficult formation to face (Narrow Diamond). Let's see what we can get out of this.

[lfds89]

JANUARY

LOOKING BACK

First, let's take a look at the differences between before the moment I decided to watch the games in full (and make deep tactical changes) and after.

	GD	SD	STD	xgD	CRD	xg/ShD	Pts
First 9 games	-0,44	-1,78	-1,67	-0,29	-0,01	0,01	0,89
Next 6 games	1,17	3,67	2,00	0,76	0,08	0,05	2,00

These are the averages for:

GD - Goal difference;

SD - Shot Difference;

STD - Shots on Target Difference (should have chosen a different acronym);

xgD - Expected Goals Difference;

CRD - Conversion Rate Difference;

xg/ShD - Expected Goal per Shot Difference;

Pts - Points

 

Everything is better, hope it stays that way.

 

LAST TRANSFERS

I don't want to be very dependent on loans, but when there's a good deal, we need to take it. In this case, Tiago Silva will occupy Dembélé's space in the squad for 20k/month. Mandatory fee of 1,2M if he plays more than 30 games. We don't have 30 games until the end of the season, so it's not mandatory.

 

He only played in 5 matches, and wasn't very good in them. We have Mohr as a backup and Becker as a prospect, so I terminated his loan.

I've also terminated Balanta's loan. He has decent mental and technical attributes but he isn't quick and he can't jump so I can't find any use to him in defence and he isn't good enough on the ball to play anywhere else.

 

All this means we started the season with a wage spending of 3.35M/month and are now at 2,52M/month. That is roughly 10M/year.

 

This update ends on the morning of the 31st of January so there might still be some deal done, but I'm not expecting anything to happen.

 

MATCHES

 

vs Frankfurt (A) - 1-2 L

It was not our best game, but we still created 1 CC chance and 1 half chance to their 2+1 which isn't that bad. Kolo Muani is a great striker.

 

vs Leipzig (H) - 1-2 L

Unlucky, but we were slightly better. Werner is the top goalscorer in the league, scoring 17 goals in 16 matches.

 

After this game, we have already played once against every team. We stand in 11th with 20 points; 5 more than Stuttgart and Augsburg who are 15th and 16th. Fairly successful first half of the season. We need 15 more points at least in the second half. Let's go!

 

vs Köln (H) - 1-1 D

I always find very difficult to play against a Diamond and this was no different. I used the same principles I had been using: one more CB than their strikers; man for man over the pitch; leave one CB unmarked. This turned into a 3-6-1 Diamond. It is the strangest shape I've played in. It wasn't working especially in an overcrowded middle so I pushed my CAM upfront and changed to a 3-1-4-2. We got more comfortable and eventually scored the equaliser but I wanted to win this one. They are below us in the table and I wanted to create some distance. Despite all of this, in our first encounter, we lost 4-0 so that's a good improvement.

 

Looking at a distance might seem like a bad run, but I don't think it is. It was unrealistic to expect much from the games against Frankfurt and Leipzig and still, we played well and gave them a fight. The game against Köln should have been better but at the end of the day it's one more point and a much better performance than the first one.

 

Next Matches

Gladbach, A, 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide, 5th, 1st Match: 1-1 D

Wolfsburg, H, 4-3-3 DM Wide, 10th, 1st Match: 1-0 W

Union, A, 5-3-2 DM WB, 9th, 1st Match: 3-0 W

Stuttgart, H, 4-3-3 DM Wide / 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide, 15th, 1st Match: 1-1 D

If we can get the same amount of points we did in the first round, it would be great. But... Gladbach has 3 wins in the last 5; Union has 4 wins in the last 5. At least we need to beat Stuttgart and get some more points where we can.

[lfds89]

DEADLINE UPDATE

For 113k/month is a great deal. Can be an option on the wings or upfront.

Comparing him to my best winger:

 

And to my best striker:

 

We also got a RB on loan

 

He's better than Brunner and it will allow Sepp van den Berg to play as CB.

 

Summary

IN

3 loans in: a starter RB, a starter Winger/ST and a rotational midfielder.

A prospect and a starter GK.

 

OUT

Some loans out from our second team. There should be more on the restricted transfer deadline.

Sold Yoshida who was experienced but didn't have the quality I wanted.

It doesn't show on any screen, but as I've mentioned before, also terminated the loan of Balanta (CB) and Uronen (LB).

[Hootieleece]

Neto is a good piece of business, but you will need to keep Polter around for his Aerial Ability. Thinking like Olivier Giroud come on when plan A isn't working and get the needed goal or goals.

 

[lfds89]

Em 01/09/2024 em 12:24, Hootieleece disse:

Neto is a good piece of business, but you will need to keep Polter around for his Aerial Ability. Thinking like Olivier Giroud come on when plan A isn't working and get the needed goal or goals.

 

About Neto: what's the first thing that happens when you sign someone to make a difference on FM? Exactly, injured for a month. So is Linde, the GK...

Polter is the second-best striker in the league in aerial duels, with 54% won. But right now he's my plan A. He has been rotating with Keke and Frey, but he has the most minutes of the 3.

I'll go through some statistics and at first sight, I'll have to rethink my opinion on some players.

[lfds89]

I went through all the statistics in the league, I tried to sort the players based on the most performed actions in each position.

[Schalke players with 400+ minutes; Bundesliga players with 10+ starting appearances]

 

GK [Leader is Manuel Riemann]

Alexander Schwolow - 16th

 

 

FB [Leaders are Felix Agu and Lucas Netz, for reference Alphonso Davies is 3rd]

Thomas Ouwejan - 22nd

Tim Skarke - 27th

Cédric Brunner - 54th

Sepp van den Berg - 74th

 

CB [Leaders are Philipp Lienhart and van Hecke; Upamecano 6th; de Ligt 9th]

Moritz Jenz - 27th

Sepp van den Berg - 37th

Leo Greiml - 44th

 

CM [Leaders are Goretza and Kimmich]

Thomas Ouwejan - 12th

Alex Král - 28th

Tom Krauß - 36th

 

Wingers/CAM [Leaders are Timo Werner and Lucas Höler; Musiala is 4th]

Tim Skarke - 15th

Michaël Frey - 44th

Rodrigo Zalazar - 73rd

Amine Adli - 53rd

Assan Ouédraogo - 69th

Sôichirô Kôzuki - 95th

 

ST [Leaders are Timo Werner and Kramaric; Muani is 3rd]

Sebastian Polter - 10th

Keke Topp - 18th

Michaël Frey - 20th

Amine Adli - 45th
 

Some takeaways:

Zalazar is nowhere to be seen. When I checked in more detail, I noticed he's not great at anything. He has some dribbling, but no pace; passing and vision are both 13 so he isn't a playmaker. He's a good set-piece taker and distance shooter, but that doesn't make a starter.

I'm curious to see how Linde compares to Schwolow (but he's injured...)

Sepp is way better as CB than FB.

Ouwejan adds a lot from the FB position (compared to the other options on FB roles), so much so that he has good statistics for the CM position. Since Zalazar's profile is close to his, might train Zalazar as FB as I need one better than Brunner for next season (Roerslev should help this season).

Need a more creative midfielder. Maybe Ouédraogo can be that player in the future.

Skarke has been great but I don't have any other options in the winger position and I'm losing him next season (he's on loan). This is my priority when I have some funds to spend.

Polter surprised me as he never seemed that good. But truth be told he has been getting better. With Keke as backup we are fine, although as mentioned in other posts, I would like to have a different type of striker.

[Hootieleece]

As for Polter sometimes the player just scores goals even when his attributes say he isn't that great.

I have an Italian Midfielder (Ball Winning MC-S is his natural position and role) no attribute above 12 (but that in at least half) and he is the MVP of my Japanese Team and J1 League while playing as a Carrileo-S in a midfield three.

Sort of a Jordan Henderson Type but not my Captain.

When you find a round peg for that round hole utilize it.....sometimes a role and a tactic fit a player like a glove. Just run with it.

[lfds89]

FEBRUARY

MATCHES

Not what I had in mind, but 4 points in 4 matches so it keeps us in line with the goal.

Also, a note regarding injuries: Neto (our new star), Linde (our new GK), Skarke (one of our best players), Ouédraogo (highest average rating), Sepp (our second-best RB and CB) and Roerslev (our new RB) have all missed at least one game this month and most of them missed at least 3 of the 4 matches. It's not an excuse, just something that adds to the list of difficulties presented. And as some of the injuries happened in training, I've decided to alter the schedule:

Effects went from:

 to 

Lower fatigue and injury risk, also lower happiness, the rest remains similar. Let's see if it makes a difference.

 

New schedule

I've also created a second schedule, in a more attacking manner:

As soon as I stabilize on a tactic and the team dynamic is better, I'll focus more on skill training and less on the tactical and psychological part.

 

vs Gladbach (A) - 0-1 L

An even game, but they were slightly better so they deserve the win.

 

vs Wolfsburg (H) - 1-1 D

We were better, but they created a better chance.

 

vs Union Berlin (A) - 0-1 L

They scored from an xG of less than 0.10 and then we didn't create any great chance, but we were better.

 

After this match, I started doubting what we were doing as we were once again collapsing. So I got back to my statistics:

	GD	SD	STD	xgD	CRD	xg/ShD	Pts
First 9 games	-0,44	-1,78	-1,67	-0,29	-0,01	0,01	0,89
Next 6 games	1,17	3,67	2,00	0,76	0,08	0,05	2,00
After winter break	-0,67	0,50	0,33	0,08	-0,08	0,01	0,33

Shot, shot on target, xG and xG per Shot difference is still positive, so I trust the process. 

 

vs Stuttgart (H) - 3-0 W

We needed this win and we were far better than them.

 

8 points away from the relegation places. 10 points away from the 35-point objective.

xG Table also shows we are doing a good job:

 

We are 9th on Shots For, Goals For and Chances Created; 8th in Goals Conceded and 6th on Shots Against. If anything, being 11th feels cruel to us.

 

NEXT MATCHES

The next matches have some mandatory points against relegation-battling teams

 

In the next month, we'll also have the new youth intake. I'm quite excited to see what we bring in.

[lfds89]

YOUTH INTAKE

Here it is:

 

And based on my spreadsheet:

Name	Best Pos	Personality	Age	Best Position	Positions	BPR	TR	Pot BPR
Paweł Żebrowski	ST (C)	Fairly Loyal	15	WF	WF ST	53	50	67
Iván Rubio	M (C)	Fairly Professional	15	CM	DM CM	53	48	67
Helge Deubel	D (R)	Fairly Professional	16	DM	CB DM	54	49	66
Guychel Mayele	WB (L)	Fickle	15	FB	FB DM CM	51	49	65
Aleksandar Özgen	DM	Determined	16	CB	FB CB	51	49	63
Jan Eichner	M (L)	Light-Hearted	16	ST	FB ST	50	44	62
Amin Alloush	D (R)	Fairly Professional	16	CM	DM CM	48	44	61
Charlie Palumbo	M (C)	Balanced	15	DM	DM CM	46	42	60
Tim-Sebastian Wittwer	D (C)	Fairly Professional	15	CB	CB	45	41	59
Simão Campos	GK	Balanced	16	GK	GK	47	30	59
Sefa Şentürk	AM (R)	Unambitious	15	DM	DM CM WF	44	40	59
Refik Dolutaş	M (L)	Fairly Professional	15	CB	CB	43	39	58
Baran Çolak	M (R)	Unambitious	15	WF	WF ST	42	37	56
Meik Pusch	D (L)	Balanced	15	CB	CB	42	40	56
Sebastian Walter	AM (R)	Unambitious	16	WF	WF ST	42	38	55
Dominick Krempicki	AM (R)	Fairly Professional	16	WF	WF	39	31	52

 

Pawel needs some agility and pace; some dribbling, finishing, and passing. I might train him as LW.

 

Rubio needs a big improvement in his physical. CM/DM suits him.

 

Deubel also needs improvement in his physical. He might be useful as CB as well.

[Hootieleece]

Decent intake! It will be  a season or two before we see them break into the lineup though.

[lfds89]

Em 05/09/2024 em 19:55, Hootieleece disse:

Decent intake! It will be  a season or two before we see them break into the lineup though.

2 seasons is probably a bit optimistic.

Keke doesn't have the attributes to be a starter in the Bundesliga.

 

And so doesn't Assan.

 

Still, the new guys are quite far from them. I'll try to have them near the first team next season or the one after and if they can get some minutes, even better.

[lfds89]

MARCH

MATCHES

It didn't start how we wanted, but 4 points in 3 matches is decent. Beating Augsburg leaves them 9 points away and they are away from the relegation places, so we have a safe margin.

 

vs Bochum (A) - 1-2 L

We started strong but then we gifted them a goal near half-time and they took charge of the game. Oddly, we have higher xG from fewer shots on target and fewer chances.

 

vs Dortmund (H) - 0-0 D

"Notable Events"... Against our rivals and one of the best teams in the league we did well. More possession, 1 CCC, and we didn't allow any from them.

 

vs Augsburg (A) - 1-0 W

0.08xG from 6 shots is embarrassing for Augsburg. We also had 3 shots hitting the woodwork that somehow don't count for the shots on target metric.

 

We stand in 11th with 29 points out of 25 matches (1.16 ppg). Usually, it's needed 34+ points to survive but I don't think any of the bottom 3 teams will get there. Hertha is en route to 24/25 and they have lost 4 of the last 5; Stuttgart have lost 3 and drawn 2 of the last 5 and they still have a cup game this month; Bochum is in better form with 3 wins and a draw in the last 5 but it'll be hard to keep such form in the coming matches. We should be safe now, but 35 is still the first objective and then the more the merrier.

 

NEXT MATCHES

We have 2 months to go and 2 big ones: 5 + 4 games

Bayer 04, H, 13th

Hoffenheim, A, 5th

Hertha, H, 16th

Freiburg, A, 7th

Werder, H, 12th

Once again, getting at least 1 ppg would be great.

 

NXGN 2023

Ouédraogo makes the cut. Hope to get more players in the coming years.

[Hootieleece]

As long as you have more points than matches played, generally your safe from relegation. Rule of thumb.

Another Rule of thumb, 2x points as matches in a season usually gets you Champions League and if you're lucky the trophy. 

[lfds89]

32 minutos atrás, Hootieleece disse:

As long as you have more points than matches played, generally your safe from relegation. Rule of thumb.

Another Rule of thumb, 2x points as matches in a season usually gets you Champions League and if you're lucky the trophy. 

The first one I know and always keep that in mind. The second one I didn't know, but I'll save that for the future.

[lfds89]

TRANSFERS AND SCOUTING UPDATE

TRANSFERS

2 new signings for next season:

Wesley Saïd, comes in as a versatile backup. He can play CAM, Wings or Striker. He has decent pace, finishing and dribbling. There's nothing to go wrong here for 300k and on 54k/month.

 

Comparing him to Adli is interesting as he'll most likely replace him.

More technical and more of a finisher.

 

Also, the prospect Gulliksen.

This is a different kind of deal. I managed to negotiate only paying 500k upfront, which leaves us with some room to make some more transfers.

He's versatile and can play CM, LM, LW, and CAM. He isn't as fast as I would want to play in the wing, so more likely he'll play in the middle. At 19 he's already similar to Zalazar, so I might let him go and get rid of his wages.

 

Comparing them with the players I already have on my spreadsheet:

CM	Name	Personality	Age	Best Position	Positions	BPR	Pot BPR	Pros	Cons
Schalke	Rodrigo Zalazar	Fairly Determined	23	DM	DM CM WF	66	66	Vis Tec	Aer
Schalke	Tiago Silva	Fairly Professional	29	CM	DM CM	64	64	Vis Tec	Aer
Schalke	Tobias Gulliksen	Spirited	19	DM	DM CM	63	70	Tec	Aer

High potential, near the same ability. 

 

LW	Name	Personality	Age	Best Position	Positions	BPR	Pot BPR	Pros	Cons
Schalke	Tim Skarke	Fairly Determined	26	ST	WF ST	62	62	Spe
Schalke	Amine Adli	Fairly Ambitious	22	WF	WF ST	64	66	Spe	Def
Schalke	Wesley Saïd	Fairly Sporting	27	WF	WF ST	65	65	Spe Att Tec	Def Aer

Less speed than Skarke but overall a more interesting player.

 

Now I want to find a starter for CB and RW. But I need to have more money available first. So set-up the scouting then decide on this.

 

SCOUTING

I wasn't happy with my scouting department so I decided to take control of it and revamp the recruitment focus section:

All have limitations of age (under 28), value (under 30M), and wages (under 170k). I usually do Top and Ongoing Priority but we don't have many scouts and just 1 recruitment analyst so I changed to Standard and Ongoing. I'm searching for 2 more Rec. Analysts. Let's see what we find.

[lfds89]

APRIL UPDATE

MATCHES

 

vs Bayer (H) - 2-2 D

Two goals from our academy players Ouédraogo and Topp, but we eventually succumbed to Bayer. Fair result.

 

vs Hoffenheim (A) - 1-0 W

It was a balanced match, we ended up having the bigger chance and scoring.

 

vs Hertha (H) - 0-0 D

A boring match, but it was decisive that I made a mistake somewhere when setting up the tactic. I had my LW man-mark their LB (so he would cross the pitch); and my RW man-mark one of their CMs. Don't know how this happened, but it was very balanced until I noticed it, and after that we dominated, but couldn't score.

 

vs Freiburg (A) - 2-3 L

The most entertaining match of the season. Loved seeing it, too bad we didn't get any points from this one.

 

vs Werder (H) - 1-0 W

This result confirmed the objective for the league was achieved. We were slightly better than them but we let them have good chances so it could have gone either way.

 

LEAGUE TABLE

We stay in the first tier!

 

NEXT MATCHES

Mainz, Away, 8th

Bayern, Away, 1st

Frankfurt, Home, 4th

Leipzig, Away. 2nd

 

Imagine if I had to fight relegation with this schedule! Glad it's done. I'll give some playing time to some youngsters and some players who didn't have many opportunities during the rest of the season.

 

TRANSFERS

Just when I secured the non-relegation, I got 2 notifications:

Both of them had clauses that they would sign if we avoided relegation. I never knew this existed... I just won 2 starters (their values were already off the budget so this doesn't change anything). And it's a 21 and a 23-year-old so it's great to add them.

I went through all the clauses to see if I had any more surprises coming. Luckily, there are just some optional fees. I took Skarke for 1M. He was one of our best players throughout the season so it only made sense, even if I don't see him as part of the long-term project but we need players to help know.

Wages are a bit high when comparing to the rest of the team, but it's a good deal overall.

 

Before I knew all this, I had found a new CB: Benkovic from Udinese. They wanted to offload players, so I took him.

Low wage, low squad status, low overall value. Great deal for us!

Here's how he compares to Jenz:

Better defending and aerial threat; worse on the physical side.

Comparing all the CBs we have now and the ones already arranged for next season:

Name	Personality	Age	Best Position	Positions	BPR	Pot BPR	Pros	Cons
Moritz Jenz	Resolute	24	CB	CB	65	65	Aer
Sepp van den Berg	Fairly Professional	21	CB	FB CB	65	69	Spe Aer
Leo Greiml	Resolute	21	CB	CB	64	67
Filip Benković	Fairly Determined	25	CB	CB	66	66	Def Aer	Att
Benedikt Gimber	Resolute	26	CB	CB	64	64	Aer

Sepp is the only one who will not continue here next season.

They are all very equivalent. Expect Jenz/Benkovic to start alongside Gimber/Greiml. Jenz/Benkovic are worse technically and I need someone to help play out from the back.

[Hootieleece]

Moritz Jenz often turns into a solid defender. I have had him in several teams on different saves, but I never get him unless a scout recommends him.

[lfds89]

10 horas atrás, Hootieleece disse:

Moritz Jenz often turns into a solid defender. I have had him in several teams on different saves, but I never get him unless a scout recommends him.

I'm counting on it. Jenz, Benkovic and Hadzha should be in my long-term project.

[lfds89]

MAY UPDATE

FINANCES

Lowest wages to turnover, that's the path we need to take.

There's only 2 teams below us on salary.

 

MATCHES

It was quite bad, but we still managed to only concede 1 goal per game. I gave some players some minutes, and I was happy to let them play.

I won't show details for these matches as I didn't have much interest in them.

Bayern beat Leipzig 6-0 in gameweek 33 and then they lost to Köln and Leipzig won against us and they are crowned champions.

 

BOARD EXPECTATIONS

Supposedly we weren't out of the relegation battle, even if we were out of it with 4 matches to go... I hope they don't sack me or this story ends sooner than expected...

We don't have much to work with for next season... The wage budget is inflated so we can grab some money from that budget, but it'll only allow us to spend maybe 4M before we reduce wages.

 

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

Ouédraogo had no competition. I'm guessing there were no more players to choose from and Bulut got the 3rd place.

Keke got 2nd place behind Damar who played for over-achievers Hoffenheim.

 

I played a few more days to see if there were any news regarding my position and there seems to be no intention of the board sacking me.

I've also checked the Job Security panel and Status is stable, so there's nothing in here to make me think I won't continue this project.

 

[Hootieleece]

Just remember the Schalke04 Board of Directors is always a little crazy.......

[warlock]

3 hours ago, lfds89 said:

Status is stable

It would be harsh to be sacked for failing that kind of target, but you might have passed without those final results.

You'll surely need to kick on next season. I'm sure you will