Slipky

Well, considering the entire game was re-written. There's a real chance this has changed.

Yeah, true. Could be just a placeholder image but I doubt it. We'll wait for official news.

Saw this floating around on Twitter, then confirmed with my local currency from my own browser. Are we getting closer??

More than anything, the weakness of Juventus, Roma and Lazio have given you a chance to shine. It is absolutely crazy! Great job, Ben - An amazing leap forward.

Great update Ben! Wasn't Salcedo quite the wonderkid (ish?) about a decade or so ago? I do remember that name. Looking good on Seria A, man - Great progress!

Unfortunately, I got a nasty crash a month into the save and all of my progress is gone. I'll look for a different destination for Artigas.

Football was life, and Enrique Artigas was no exception, hailing from Montevideo, Uruguay. As a teenager, he had been an extremely talented young midfielder for Danubio's U21 team, possessing exceptional vision and technique. However, his playing career ended after a serious knee injury prevented him from jumping to the senior squad. That defeat was devastating for him, but Artigas turned that nightmare to his advantage when he used it to channel his love for the game into coaching, to stay connected to a sport that had shaped him. It wasn't until the tender age of 25 that Artigas joined Danubio's coaching staff in the youth setup, where he wasted little time gaining a reputation for his tactical acumen and the art of cultivating young talent. He had turned out to be one of those dynamic and natural leaders at the core of the development of many of the Danubio stars-to-be. It wouldn't be very long before he would be considered one of Uruguay's most promising new coaches; his commitment to player development, mixed with attractive attacking concepts of the game, placed him well in the eyes of clubs both nationally and abroad. Now, aged 30, Artigas has taken up his first big managerial role for one of Austria's most historical clubs, Austria Wien. Stepping into European football is the gutsy move of this young Uruguayan, but he isn't new to beating the odds. At Austria Wien, he will be called upon to bring fresh ideas, a focus on youth development, and South American flair to the club's style of play. A move from Montevideo to Vienna now signals a fresh, exciting chapter in his career, and he's out to make an instant impact on the Austrian Bundesliga. It is going to be a big challenge for Enrique Artigas, who is starting his managerial career in Europe, taking over a club like Austria Wien, which has to face a huge debt of €20 million. The inevitable financial strain means that Artigas will have limited resources available for strengthening the squad, something that is going to force him to work with what he has and heavily rely on the club's youth academy. The transfer budgets will be lean, and any attempt to bring in experienced or high-profile players may just be out of the question. He will be under pressure for low-cost solutions - mainly free agents or loanees - but also to work on developing the players who are already at the club. This debt also means that Artigas could be under increased pressure for quick results. He will be expected to lead the club into a financially stable condition by the board and the fans, which might need qualification into European competition to raise revenues. Knowing when to balance the need for success on the pitch with keeping the finances of the club in order is a tightrope that is usually expected of a coach, especially one who is just finding his feet in top-flight management. Every decision-from the tactical choices to squad selection-may be scrutinised all the more heavily, knowing any failure to perform could exacerbate the precarious financial situation of the club. This will be my last FM24 save. Let's go!

Brilliant capture, Ben. Hoyos is money well spent - And will repay that investment rather quickly, I believe. Him being able to hone himself for another season in Serie B isn't a bad idea either.

Terrific achievement, Ben. Looking forward to seeing Messina handling Serie A football.

My Brondby save is pretty much coming to a halt because I don't really want to turn it into a journeyman and the domestic league bores me. This thread really made me consider Italian lower leagues for a proper last save. We'll see. Looking great over in Messina, Ben!

I have played with a Tycoon-ish takeover, and happily I never swayed from my way of signing bargains or, to be exact - Wise, calculated signings, not necessarily flashy ones. It's nice having the stability behind such a takeover to assure you that you can navigate the market a little more freely. I always bump up my scouting budget to about x2.5 from the maximum option.

Edgar Alcalá is a La Masia man – Born and raised. Having been born in Lleida, he has dreamt of playing football for Catalan giants FC Barcelona. However, a head injury when he was sixteen ripped that dream to shreds for young Edgar. Instead, when turning eighteen, he started attending courses, honing his coaching knowledge and eventually, getting a role in La Masia – As a head coach for Barcelona’s Juvenil B team. Alcalá led the team until the summer of 2021 when he accepted a promotion to Barcelona Atlètic, where he’s been working to this day. However, things are due to change, and Alcalá is moving to Andalusia, to chase a dream of becoming a manager for one of the main teams around Spain. Málaga CF came knocking, and Alcalá decided he would take on their offer and get his first role in senior club management. Alcalá during a Barcelona Atlètic training session, 2022 Alcalá arrives at Málaga Club de Fútbol, a former La Liga team that succumbed to financial struggles and found itself down in the third tier of the Spanish football pyramid, the Primera Federación, formerly known as the Primera RFEF. The relegation came a decade after having a squad that was able to reach the Champions League quarter-finals in the club's first-ever time in the competition. It was a steep decline, and last year's failure to return to the Segunda Division, has made its mark - It was decided to appoint a new spirit that will re-establish the club regional dominance and then, the national status it once had as a legitimate La Liga team.

Looks like a great improvement on Owusu's behalf. Exciting to see! Looking forward for more updates.

So, after mostly writing informative posts about my tactic, recruitment style, and some save background, here's the long-awaited games update! I've arrived at Werder three games after the season's start - And they didn't go so well. A loss against St. Pauli and two draws versus Hannover and Mainz, respectively. The club's been lying in the fourteenth place. This was not enough for the Bremen board and they've decided to bring me in at this point. We had two games left in August, and another three during September. August ended weakly, with two 2-0 defeats against Hamburg on my debut, and against Osnabruck in a game that was an offensive and a defensive shame altogether. September had us improving a little, collecting five points out of nine available. At this point, I suspected my 4-2-3-1 system was not working for Bremen and started planning my 4-3-1-2 I wrote about earlier. We've had one last win with the 4-2-3-1 against Stuttgart which we owe mostly to luck, and then I changed the tactic to the one I went with for the remainder of the season, the 4-3-1-2. And voila, it worked. October was really positive, and the only disappointment in it was our elimination from the cup by Bundesliga side Magdeburg. It was a blessing in disguise, if you ask me, as it allowed me to focus on the league. November and December were shaky but all in all, it was pretty positive. The tactical change proved effective, except for the defeat against Karlsruhe. It was immediately followed by a 3-0 hammering of Paderborn which were leading the league at that point - That gave me the final seal of approval regarding the tactic I'm using. I was very happy to see Ahn Chul-Soo continuing to make an impact at that point. Despite the two draws against Dresden and Schalke, we ended the first round of the league on a high after two consecutive wins versus Chemnitz and Cottbus, which put us in fifth place. All in all, I'm happy with the vast improvement we've made during the 14 games I had so far. We're looking good and in a strong position to defy my own expectations of a top-half finish.

Hey Ben. It seems the staff search screen does not work. I can't reach it from the staff page and when I click the hotspot button on the homepage I encounter a blank screen. Blank Staff Search page:

A season update is soon to come! I don't intend to keep this going past one season, mainly due to the huge debt Werder has and the fact I'm not really invested in the save - I don't actually have a bond with the team and I only took it from my friend as a PoC to my recruitment style. I do, however, plan on having one last long term save that I'll be writing on more thoroughly when this is over.

I find the Enganche a bit of a hit-and-miss so far. It's providing the passing behavior I expected, but the inconsistency of Ahn Chul-Soo makes him a little rocky, and his stats (Stats Page, Season Stats + Last Game) are probably underwhelming. However, he is developing nicely, so I hope that'll change in the future. Perhaps when I'll have a little more than twenty-ish games under my sleeve I'd have a more detailed answer. I appreciate you following this - That means a ton to me.

I've just realized that we're a few updates in already, and I haven't covered any tactical aspect of this save yet! Honestly, the fact it took me quite a while to get a satisfying style of play for my Bremen team is a central part of the tactical post delay. However, I've been reading tactical articles non-stop, namely Rashidi's Positional Play Guide, and a few other tactical bits from this forum throughout other career update threads. However, I'm finally satisfied with what I have in hand, so, behold - Bauer-Ball, here we go! The idea is to defend as a 4-3-1-2, but when we have the ball, we turn into a vicious 3-2-3-2, allowing us attacking fluidity and creating overloads in the final third. The two advanced forwards even go to the flanks allowing the SVs to get into the box, kind of creating a 3-2-5 formation in the final third sometimes! There were a few lovely moves using this formation and I'm pretty happy with what I've managed to achieve with it.

I don't have the Ivorian leagues loaded, no. It's a save I originally got from a friend so I had no control over the game's setup. As for the nations/leagues debate: I'm debating it myself. I scout Germany using the top three leagues and the cup as a base, while all the other assignments are nation-based. So far, nation-based scouting has proven more effective but I'm only a few months in.

Having finished the summer window with an improvised recruitment tactic - I've now decided to delve into my recruitment strategy for Bremen, so I could have a proper pool to recruit from. I focused on leagues that could potentially become a good ground to recruit from such as Denmark and Sweden's first tier, the Argentine premier league, the Chilean premier league, and a few potential African gem factories such as Ivory Coast and Cameroon. I have made a chart to track my scouts and their assignments: We're very limited in the scouting department size-wise, but I believe we'll start seeing progress in the scouting department rather quickly, especially with Aigner's stay in Sweden and Denmark. I also have high hopes for Schmoldt with his stay in Ivory Coast and Cameroon, two countries known for producing quality players in the past. I have a soft spot for ASEC Mimosas as they're generating Ivory Coast wonderkids quite often. For the next 4-5 months, these are the focuses I'd like my scouts to tour in: And a month later, I've got a quick impact from the Ivory Coast focus! Schmoldt has identified two new players in a relatively quick fashion. Both of them play as DC/DM and both of them play for ASEC Mimosas. The first is Daniel Brossou, a central defender who is already an Ivory Coast international aged 19, with four caps to his name. He's going to fill the substitute Half Back position and in the future he should be playing alongside Mputu quite often. Brossou came in for a bargain price of 275,000 euros, a steal for a player like him. I think Bremen would be a great ground for his development. Next is Serge-Alain Lézié, another central defender I hope to turn into a DM, this time for the Segundo Volante role. I think he's got the offensive qualities for it and that it'd be a waste to keep him as a central defender. He's definitely more fitting as a Segundo Volante and I think the change of position will do wonders for Serge. He is an Ivory Coast international as well, with four caps to his name, just like Brossou.

The changes you've made are quite exciting. I like the Argentine. He could be a great defender for two, three years at the very least. Great captures!

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

Looks really solid. Could you capture the in-possession and out-of-possession shapes on an actual match? That got me curious.

Fantastic tactical post, Ben. Have you shown the formation you're playing in? I think I missed it. Either way, I'm a huge fan of utilizing role changes for shape changes mid game. Not doing it much, but certainly a fan.

I'll honestly be perfectly fine with a top-half finish. I consider this more of an adjustment season to work on the basics of recruitment, tactics and youth development. Due to this, I honestly just aim to be short of promotion and allow myself another "building year" in the second division, if you want to call it that.