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Done! Jacinto Leal - Sertanense.fm

Transfers In and Out – Second Part of the Season Upon evaluation of the team and answering the requests of some players, I’ve made some changes to the squad. In Mateus Abraão, 20, winger/striker. On loan from São Martinho (same tier, different group). First transfer made through stats analysis. He was on the loan list and São Martinho wasn’t asking for any wages to be paid, so he was already a decent target. On the stat level: over 1 goal/90, overperforming xG, 30% conversion rate. Felt like he could be a decent backup upfront. Daniel Novais, 21, left back/winger. On a free. He was at Berço (lower tier) on an amateur contract. Had 2 assists, a decent cross-completion ratio and key passes per 90. I needed a backup, he was cheap, and I decided to take the chance. Daniel Santos, 24, defensive/center midfielder. On loan from São João de Ver (tier above mine). Once again, his team wanted him to leave on loan and didn’t ask for any wages. I had a scout report giving him 3,5 stars out of 5 in current ability. Pros: brave (15), determined (16), team player (14), hard worker (15) and aggressive (15). I’m not the biggest fan of players lacking technical skills, but felt he could help on the promotion stage and with the rotation late in the season. He was also a great example for the rest of the team. Out Edgar Moura, 19, midfielder. Sent him out on loan to Milhoeirense. He was still to make an appearance for the team, so it was the best for his development. Wesley Santos, 25, striker. He left on a free transfer. Was happy with him as a backup, but I need to offer new contracts and improve the wages of my best players, so anyone who isn’t a first-team player and isn’t fighting for the first eleven is on his way out. Wellington Aquino, 23, defensive midfielder. Same thing as Wesley. He was playing even less than Wesley, but I wanted him as a backup for defensive midfielder, center-back and was also training him to be a right-back. But as I said, any wage we can save is important, so he had to leave. Léo Abreu, 24, left back. He wanted to be on the first team and play regularly but Moura had been playing better, so I had no choice than letting him go. Have to say I made a mistake in the squad planning. I need 14 nation homegrown players and I’m just on the limit, so sometimes I have to change my bench selection due to this. Contract renewals This is one of the toughest parts of the job at this level. Money isn’t much and our best players will always want a better contract or they’ll move. And since we were being successful, there was some interest in our players. Our backbone of GK (Daniel), CB (Luís Ferreira), CM (Pedro Mendes) and ST (Karamoko) were the first to have new contracts. The left-back we bought also has contract for the next season. We have 6 loanees leaving of which 3 are starters. We’ll have to build on that until the end of the season, but I don’t (and in fact can’t) rush this. After the first 4, I asked for some help from my staff to renew the contracts. Don’t know if this wasn’t a mistake because we were spending around 9k/month and now we are spending around 13k… One of the goals of the board was exactly working on a budget. After this, I have 13 players with contracts for the next season. It’s a start but there’s a possibility some will leave and I’ll have to loan in some players.

Taça de Portugal The first official game of the season. We were drawn against Imortal, from the same tier as Sertanense, but a different group. I expected us to win or at least contest it, but we lost 3-1 and we are out of this competition—something to be improved upon in years to come. Around the World 2022 was the year of the Qatar World Cup and there was a big surprise winner: Ecuador. They have beaten Qatar and Senegal on the group stage and lost to Netherlands, then Wales, Denmark on extra-time, Ghana on penalties and the Final against France also on penalties after a 1-1 draw. They played in 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 5-2-1-2, 5-2-2-1 and 5-2-3 through the competition. Almost as many formations as matches played! By the turn of the year, the leaders in Europe’s top leagues are: EPL: Man City with 44 points out of 18 games Bundesliga: Bayern with 39 in 14 Primera Liga: Barcelona with 37 in 16 Serie A: Inter has 31 points in 13 games La Ligue: PSG 42 in 17 Primeira Liga: Braga 40 in 14 Eredivisie: The news are not clear (note: forgot to load this league initially...) The first round of the league stage Halfway through the league stage, the situation looks good for us. We are first with 32 points in 13 matches. 40-15 in goals. 10 points in advance of the second-placed team give us a good margin for the second half of the season. The stats for my players are the following: In evidence is Karamoko with 13 goals in 9 starts and Kisley follows him with 7 goals and 5 assists in 13 starts. On the back, Luís Ferreira has been a rock leading the team in possession won / 90. With no surprise, Quaresma has also been fundamental with 1,83 goals+assists per 90 minutes played (3 goals and 1 assist). Regarding transfers in: Deyvison gained his place on the first eleven, such as Pedro Mendes and Miccoli. Once Figueiredo arrived he started fighting for his spot with Miccoli. Quaresma has been a supersub and Kisley is impressive.

Rúben Moura is where it's most evident. He has played 1395 minutes as a left wing-back, was the most used player on that position. My team had an average of 1.46 goals conceded /90. He has 5.38. I track the stats through the season and at midpoint, he had 11 games played, 839 minutes and 1.29 Cr C/90.

With the new update, Crosses completed and crosses attempted are both at 0 either on squad screen and on player search screen (although Cross C/A is still being calculated). Also Save Ratio and Expected Goals Prevented have negative values.

Stats Monitoring I always check how my players are doing in a team context and in a league context. I have a table with all data per 90 minutes. I also have some metrics of my own. I created a defensive metric where I add tackles, interceptions and blocks; an offensive metric with shots on target, open-play key passes and dribbles. It allows me to understand the impact of some players defensively and offensively. I also added Possession Difference (Possession Won – Possession Lost), although I don’t use this one often. I’m just missing a good metric for goalkeepers. With time, pretty sure I’ll have something. Besides this, Crosses completed and ratio and Headers Won and Ratio are also important to me. I'll show you my tables for team shooting, passing and my custom metrics. In a league context, I adapt these metrics to possession. In this case, strikers in the league with percentage order. For the defensive adjustment, I use the Statsbomb formula ( 2/(1 + e^(-0.1*(x-50))), x/50 for x in [0,100] ). For the offensive, I just use the 2 minus the value for the defensive adjustment. I’m also using the data hub, but I only have basic analysis available at this level and I feel my tables help me more. I'll explore this subject a bit more when the season ends. Tactical Adaptations I have two types of tactical adaptations: opposition-driven and situation-driven. Opposition-driven is about formation usually or specific threats. We have played against: 5-2-1-2 DM AM (once), 4-3-3 DM Wide (4 times), 4-4-2 (2 times), 5-2-3 DM Wide (3 times) and 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide on our first 11 official matches. My base tactic (I had a mistake the last time I uploaded a picture: my left-back is usually on attacking duty) is drawn for the matchups against 4-3-3 DM Wide. Although sometimes I change my CM to AP-S, that depends on who I have available. 5-2-3 DM Wide is mostly the base tactic, I might decrease the tempo and ask to play narrower so we can take advantage of the extra man on the midfield. I’ve also tried to good effect to ask both the attacking wing-back and inside forward to be more supportive and ask my mezzala and cm to be more attacking. Against the 4-4-2 I usually drop my CM to DM and keep his role as DLP. I want someone closer to the CBs to help with the two strikers. Also, ask my goalkeeper to distribute to the playmaker instead of center-backs. Also, depending on the striker I use and the attributes of the defenders I might change his role to DLF-A. Playing the 4-2-3-1 DM AM, the changes are mostly the same. I want a DM to keep track of their AM and here I definitely play my DLF-A so he messes with the 2 opposition DM. 5-2-1-2 is where I change the most. CM to DM and sometimes I change the roles in midfield as I don’t want my playmaker near the CB when playing on equal numbers (2 CB + 1 DM vs 2 ST + 1 AM). So DM on the base, MEZ on the left and AP on the right is a possibility, but could also play AP on the left and CM on the right or even just keep MEZ and CM if I don’t want to attract the ball to the middle. I ask my wing-backs to dribble more as they don’t have direct opposition and their dribbling will attract and create space somewhere else. Also ask my players to play wider, and stretch the opposition the most we can. Depending on who is playing, might also ask my supportive wing-back to be more attacking and inversely, my inside forward to play a more supportive role. Distribution in transition to full-backs. The idea is always the same: search the space, provoke the opposition, and find new spaces. Keep doing it until we are near the goal, then create the chance and score. I also make some in-game changes based on the game situation. I’m getting too many shots but not many on target? I ask my players to spend more time on the ball (lower tempo). I also change my transition when the match is in the final stages (>70/75 minutes). We probably don’t need to counter at every chance and we don’t need to counter-press when we lose the ball. We focus on our positions. I’ll also ask my players to drop be more cautious and waste some time around 80/85 minutes played. Lastly, one of my most common changes during the game is when we are losing possession too much and I ask my attacking role players (usually Left WB and Right IF) to be more supportive. Fortunately didn’t get the chance to make many changes from a losing position, so I won’t write much about it now. The opportunity will certainly happen in the future to develop this more. However, I had a chance to test my reaction late in the season. We were 1-0 down to the 4th-placed placed team. They were playing 4-4-2. The game was a bit of a mess with no real dominance from either side. Many wayward shots from both teams as well. They scored in the 26th minute. I made some changes on the 67th. Changed a more traditional CB to a Ball Playing one (retrained DM); replaced the right IF with an inverted winger to play on the left and moved the right-footed player to his dominant foot side as a winger; subbed off the MEZ for my DLF hence playing 4-1-1-2-2 (1 left DM, 1 right CM, 2 strikers: right AF and left DLF). Asked my team to have more attacking intent, move the ball on a higher tempo a more direct and move the block higher up. The first goal started from the defence, and the winger played a ball behind the defence to the AF; the second goal was a long ball from the right back to my DLF, he laid it off to the winger and once again he found the AF behind the defence. Also made some changes to attacking corners: I basically threw everyone upfront except for one wing-back, but couldn’t get the goal from this situation.

Transfers In and Out – First Part of the Season Should be said that at this level, the window is open until the end of February. This report will cover the transfers in the first part of the season. First the transfers in. We really needed some upgrades and players who could fit the team's personality. Pedro Mendes, 28, center-midfielder. Balanced personality with high determination (14) and decent aggression (12), teamwork (13) and work rate (11). Kisley, 31, right winger. Also with a balanced personality. Already watched him a few years ago when he played for Pedras Rubras and he also played on the Portuguese top flight (União da Madeira, 2015/2016). Field-wise, he’s tall for a winger (188 cm), has a good jumping reach (14), is aggressive and brave (both 12) and he’s a decent dribbler (13). Miccoli, 24, center-midfielder. Professional personality and also determination (15). Brought him on a trial and was impressed with his work rate (15), teamwork, bravery, and natural fitness (all 14). Deyvison, 33, centre-back. Was also brought in for a trial, but he already has made a name for himself with 5 seasons on the Portuguese second tier and 2 on the first tier. Fairly professional and determined (13), teamwork (13) and work rate (12) are a bonus. Expect him to help on defence winning some headers with his jumping (14) and heading ability (13). Figueiredo, 20, centre-midfielder. On loan. Wasn’t expecting this addition but the I was told he was available and Vitória (the Brazilian team) would loan him without the cost of his wages so I took the chance. He’s ambitious, also determined (13) and aggressive (12). Technically he’s a plus with good passing accuracy (13) and decent long shots (12). Lastly and this one was quite exquisite… I was offered Quaresma, yes the one Ricardo Quaresma. He joined us at 39 years of age. I risked a bit but asked him to be with us on a trial for a few weeks. Who would have guessed he was interested in playing for us and (someone like him) trialing for a 4th tier team?! But he said yes! I wanted to see his commitment and he sure showed me: a perfectionist personality, an example of determination (14) for our players. Surely his physicals are no longer top-level, but his technique is (18). Along with his crossing (20), dribbling (17) and he’s also a set-piece danger (corners 18). On the way out, we had to offload some players and loan some others: Nicolatti, 22, striker. On loan to Atlético Riachense. We had 4 strikers and only use 1 so at least 1 had to leave. Was least impressed with him, so he was the chosen one. Chiga Ogugua, 22, center-midfielder. Sold to Kano Pillars (Nigeria). We brought in 3 players for this position so we had to make some adjustments. He wasn’t at the expected level. André Luiz and André Marques are both 18-year-olds center-midfielders who needed to play at the senior level and in line with the adjustments needed they were loaned out. Also Luís Martins, the player I fell out with, 29, center-back. Sold to Académica Coimbra with the transfer arranged for 03/01/2023 (don’t know why he didn’t go when we negotiated him). The transfers in were based on a "trial-then-contract-offer" approach. In future transfer windows I’ll be using some stats to identify targets, then scouting the targets and only then offering a contract.

My take on the pressing line/line of engagement has only to do with pressure being applied without results. You can see from the statistics they had more possession and quite high pass completion. They were probably passing between defensive players and your forwards will be running around 6 players to no effect. On the offensive side, it might push them forward and once you get the ball back there might be some more space, but that isn't easy to control on FM.

My take on this: I would say as a base tactic yours is fine (you're first in the league in February, so you already know that). Regarding the strategy against specific teams and this one in particular: 4-3-3 vs 5-3-2 where is the space? Where do you have a numerical advantage? Wings is a good answer. I would distribute to full-backs, make them play wide, and dribble more. I would want them to be the carriers and provoke the opposition. You also have another key space: your DM. There are 2 CM vs 2 CM and both DMs are "free". If they have a striker on support, he'll most likely be around your DM, but if your DM is also on support he'll move away from him. I would change the width to play wider or even extremely wide. Definitely remove play out of defence. They have 2 ST on your 2 CB so you don't want to keep the ball there. Looking at numbers from their perspective, they have a great advantage on their backline: 5+1(+GK) vs 3. I would retreat to a mid-block.

Club Expectations and Vision Forgot to write about this in the first part. The board is in fact just the president, Mr. Paulo Farinha. He's been at the club since 2003. He had no concerns regarding how we play, just wanted me to be mindful of the wage budget and grow the club's reputation in the region and nationally. Competition-wise, mid-table was the objective for this season in the league, and no real goal for the cup run. For next season the aim is to achieve a top-half finish. Squad Personality I want professional, determined, and committed players. Good personalities lead to good training habits and that will lead to good performances. Not much to add to this right now, but there'll be changes in the squad due to this subject. Players Wing-backs who can dribble and cross. Center-backs who can win aerial duels and retain possession. Midfielders who can pass the ball, but have some “bite” (through aggression, determination, work rate,…). One more creative winger. One winger can beat the wing back in the air and also dribble. Two kinds of strikers: one who can link up and another who has more movement and pace. Goalkeeper, at this stage, is traditional and isn’t a liability. This is the plan for this competition and this season. It will certainly evolve as we get to other competitions. Squad environment Right in the off-season I had a fallout with one of the most experienced players. Wasn’t training well, we had a chat and he didn’t feel the same way I did. The first official game of the season, he didn’t play well and we lost 3-1 which I expected my team to win. At the end of the game, I told my players what I thought about their exhibition. Once again, he didn’t like it and wanted to have a chat after the game. I tried to understand him, but we were miles apart. He ended up asking to leave the team; offered him out and he was quickly sold. Didn’t fit the team personality I wanted (Determination: 5) and I was afraid he started impacting other players so this was the best decision. No one assumed the team leadership, so the cohesion was always quite low. Something I needed to build, together with decent personalities. Training We are a semi-pro team, so we train 2 days per week, 2 training sessions per day. Not much we can work on, so I focus on some match practice so they are ready for the next game, some set-piece training (different every week), then closer to the game some defensive training, and some technical/attacking training. Here's an example: I’ve also created some mentoring groups. Mostly focused on units a defensive one and an offensive one. As I’ve talked about before, the team had no leaders so there was no great achievement coming from these groups, but it’s a start. Individually they are working on each role they play and I’m trying to work on some traits so I can get the best out of their skills. It doesn't show every player but you can see it's adapted to each player most common playing position.

First time posting here, hope you like it! Intro My name is Jacinto Leal and I’m here to tell you my story. I’m Portuguese and born on 04/02/1989. I’ve always played FM, was a professional locally and just got my first professional licence to coach (Continental C Licence). After retiring to injuries, it was my dream to finally start my managerial career. I’ve been given a 1000 €/month contract expiring in 2024 (two seasons) at Sertanense. Sertanense It all started out at Sertanense in 2022. I was beginning my career in the Portuguese 4th tier. There are 4 groups, 14 teams each, top 2 go to the promotion stage, bottom 6 are relegated. Sertanense was founded in 1934, they play their home games at Estádio Municipal Dr. Marques dos Santos in Sertã, Castelo Branco. The stadium has a capacity of 1200 (note: this is on FM; IRL it seems to have around 7600) and was built in 1994. The village has 5500 inhabitants and the municipality has around 14700. The population peaked in 1950 with 28600 inhabitants but it has since been diminishing. I have a small range of scouting, still, when I search for players from Sertã, I only get 4 results (and one is already a newgen). All are quite bad even for this level... I won't be expecting to have many homegrown players (although that's something I would like). All players have part-time contracts with 1-year duration. Biggest wage is 900 €/month. Tactics Tactics-wise: 4-3-3, some possession, don’t hoof the ball. Most important: WIN! Always start the games with a positive mentality. Will try to create chances in any way possible: pass into space so my players try and get behind the defence; wide wing-backs and one inverted winger to cross the ball to the striker and the inside forward on the other side; long-range shooters; set-pieces designed to take advantage of my tall centre-backs, inside forward and striker. I want them to be disciplined so they follow my instructions. Will play a bit narrow so we can use the 3 midfielders and 3 forwards (IW, IF, AF) to create some numerical advantage in the middle. This will be adapted according to opposition. When we recover the ball, will try to play through our centre-backs; be aggressive the moment we recover and try and counter. When we lose possession, counter-press so they can’t play comfortably then retreat to a mid block. Press more often than not when the trigger is active. Since our centre-backs are decently fast I haven’t asked neither to drop off or step up, but they are tall and good in the air so all the team will push the opposition outside and we want them to cross it. Regarding opposition instructions, it’s just a reinforcement of the team instructions: I tell my players to show off-centre players their outside foot, tight mark defensive midfielders (when it’s just one), strikers (also when it’s just one) and trigger the press one the full/wing backs and wingers. Here goes an example of my instructions: In the upcoming updates, I will get into more detail about tactical adaptations to the opposition.

What usually happens to you against "weak" teams? Are they playing bottom-heavy formations? What is a 1-2-2-1-4? Is it backwards and it's a 4-3-3?

If your team is so dominant, get guys in the box. 4-4-2 or similar. They are likely playing Cautious or Defensive mentalities, so there'll be no space for you to exploit either behind the defence or between the lines. Get the ball wide, stretch them; then come inside (cross/pass/dribble). You need the right players to execute this: strikers good in the air (if they are strong and aggressive it'll also help you regain possession), good dribblers and crossers on the wide positions; you can have a more defensive-minded or a deeper positioned midfielder (so making it a 4-1-3-2 Wide, for instance).

Went through my (probably) last season on FM20. Here's my journeyman career: Season Year Team League League Position Cont Cup 1 Cont Cup 2 Cup League Cup Supercup Games Points W D L GF GA Most Goals Qt Most Assists Qt Most Clean Sheets Qt Highest AvRat # Most POM Qt #01 19/20 Pedras Rubras Portugal Championship 4th 2nd Round DNP 34 63 18 9 7 58 37 Tiago Silva 9 Tiago Silva 11 Rui Sacramento 13 Pedro Santos 7,27 César Gomes 5 #02 20/21 Pedras Rubras Portugal Championship 1st 3rd Round DNP 34 84 27 3 4 77 25 Tiago Silva 13 Tiago Silva 18 Alex Verdade 17 César Gomes 7,35 César Gomes 5 #03 21/22 Pedras Rubras Portugal Championship 1st 3rd Round DNP 34 90 29 3 2 83 24 Tiago Silva 12 Gonçalo Costa 14 Alex Verdade 14 Kakuba 7,77 César Gomes 7 #04 22/23 Pedras Rubras Portugal Championship 3rd 2nd Round DNP 34 78 24 6 4 92 32 Pape Mané 19 Cléver 16 Tiago Pereira 7 Cléver 7,76 Pape Mané 5 #05 23/24 Vilafranquense Second League 4th 4th Round 1st Phase 34 58 17 7 10 53 32 Luan 18 Pedro Antunes 7 Matheus Teixeira 11 Pepo 7,27 Luan 6 #06 24/25 Vilafranquense Second League 2nd Semi-Final 3rd Phase 34 64 18 10 6 58 39 P Vieira 12 Pepo 12 Morales 14 Pepo 7,45 Pepo 7 #07 25/26 Famalicão Premier League 1st EC3 Winner Semi-Final 2nd Phase 34 85 27 4 3 80 19 R Leão 31 V Costa 21 C Ramos 22 F Carvalho 7,71 J Castro 10 #08 26/27 Famalicão Premier League 2nd EC1 Gr Stage EC2 Runner-Up 5th Round SF Winner 34 79 24 7 3 76 23 R Leonardo 17 R Seoane 18 C Ramos 9 R Seoane 7,39 J Castro 6 #09 27/28 Famalicão Premier League 3rd EC1 Gr Stage EC2 SF Runner-Up Winner - 34 81 25 6 3 84 31 R Leão 26 J Leal 21 Bruno Luís 16 K Lund 7,24 R Leão 7 Started with Pedras Rubras on the Portuguese third Tier, couldn't manage to get promoted (after the regular season there's a playoff between winners and 2nd places from 4 series). Didn't renew my contract and moved to a team on the second tier - Vilafranquense. Got promoted on the second season. Just after the start of the season received an invitation for an interview at Famalicão which I gladly accepted. Went on to win the league in the first season (benefited from playing an easy European competition and having a quite low reputation). The second and third seasons were harder as teams played very defensively against us. Won Manager of the Year on every tier and Best Portuguese Manager. Won Portuguese Championship Serie B twice, Portuguese Premier League, European Conference League, Portuguese League Cup, and Portuguese Supercup. Sadly never managed to move past the CL Group Stage, but I'm happy with my career. Also, the players I played the most: # Name Position Games Goals Seasons Goals/Game 1 Alexandre Verdade GK 67 0 20-22 0,00 2 Yan Couto RB 84 3 25-26/27-28 0,04 3 Mika Mármol LB/CB 121 7 25-28 0,06 4 Marcos Paulo CB 97 11 25-28 0,11 5 Tiago Palancha CB 85 13 22-25 0,15 6 João Castro CM 137 41 25-28 0,30 8 César Gomes CM 131 38 19-23 0,29 10 Paulo Lourenço CM 104 16 25-28 0,15 7 Rafael Leão RW 133 72 25-28 0,54 11 Tiago Silva LW 136 47 19-23 0,35 9 Ricardo Leonardo ST 76 30 26-27 0,39

I have a tactic for my main eleven and when I rotate players or spot a weakness in the opposition, sometimes I need to mirror my tactic: make my RWB attacking instead of LWB, switch roles on CMs, switch roles on wingers, etc; PIs; positions (if my formation is asymmetric)... Doing this manually for one game and having to redo for the next one might lead to mistakes (and it's just boring).

how different is the team?