lfds89

Thanks! Really appreciate it. My objectives right now are: to do well in UCL (R16/QF,...) and win the League. Next year with 1 CM and 1 RB and if nobody leaves, I think we can give PSG a fight. But I don't think I will be able to hold Beier and/or Güler. And they are going for Musiala. If they join Musiala with Saka, Bellingham and Mbappé, only injuries can put us in contention. I'm not the greatest fan of 3 at-the-back formations, I've only used it this time to counter this specific threat. But might tinker a bit in the future. I have a pretty decent squad to try it as I have plenty of good defenders. Güler is great in every place in the field. He suffered a bit when we lost Guendouzi because he turned into the only real creator in the middle, so he was heavily targeted. I've used him as F9 against PSG and he might be useful there (if we lose Beier I wouldn't mind playing Arda as F9 with inside forwards, for instance).

Good luck for the final!

Loanees We have to loan our prospects since our B-Team can’t play in a competitive division. I don’t like it, but it seems like our best bet right now. Next year, I plan for some players to go to Marítimo (our affiliate) and they’ll play in the Portuguese Second League. I like to see everybody being given minutes. Asking for Improvements I asked the board for 2 improvements: junior coaching and youth recruitment. First was a no… Disappointing but we are already on “Excellent”. Second was a yes! Finally, we improve the recruitment. From next year on, I expect better players to come through the ranks and Miath will be the leader. Then, we finished some work: Current facilities are as follows: We still need to improve, but we are on the right path. April [Ligue 1] vs Bordeaux (A) We had some trouble finding the net, but otherwise a controlled game. [Champions League] vs Arsenal (A) We started the game with a “Cautious” mentality, and didn’t change the rest of the instructions. Beier suffered a touch when Koné got injured (20 minutes in), he kept playing but near half time he had to be taken off. When they scored I tried to play more positively, but we couldn’t do much. 1-0 leaves the score open for the second leg. Let’s hope we can do better in front of our fans. [Ligue 1] vs Auxerre (H) Auxerre are dead last on the table with no chance of moving up, so I rotated the whole team. Even gave minutes to Husser who has been training with the first team squad (in hopes of a personality change, but to no avail). With this win, we are told we have secured qualification to the Europa League, but in fact, we are already top-4 and that means UCL. Also, we had a bonus payment to a staff member due to UCL qualification. [Champions League] vs Arsenal (H) For the home match, decided to make little changes: Beier playing as DLF-A so he could provide support to the midfield. And asked the team to focus play down both sides so we get the ball to the lane and make their very attacking wingers (Martinelli and Sterling) defend. I also upped the tempo a bit. Feel like at this level it’s almost mandatory. And lastly, a big change in personnel: Arda starts on the bench. Yes, my best player isn’t on the starting eleven for what is probably the most important match of the season. Why? Exactly, because it is a big match and he isn’t comfortable in these games. I’ll let Fujimoto start, who has been having a brilliant season as well and he can be my secret weapon late in the game. Love you too, Pep! 17 minutes in, we concede a penalty and they score. I switched Daoud to IW-S (from IW-A). Feel like he needs to drop a bit more and participate more so he can collectively be more dangerous. Said and one, just 3 minutes after, Daoud plays into Beier who then plays to Haidara and we equalize. Around the 30-minute mark, they have a big chance on a play where we make 2 goal-line clearances. The first half ends. They have been the better team, but we are giving them a fight. Daoud is feeling tired so I sub him off in the 53rd minute for Harit. Friedrich also comes in. His aerial strength might be decisive in set-pieces. 7 minutes later, Arda comes in for a tired Fujimoto. Great second half, but we needed just one goal to at least take it into extra time and couldn’t get it. I’m happy for the guys and for the club! We surely are on the right path. 10M more in the bank, and we got the information about our budget for next season: 50M is quite nice! And for the other matches: Villa destroyed PSG! The deciding goal was at 90+4! Ouch! Remaining teams in European Competitions: Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Villa; Espanyol, Monaco, Sevilla, Leeds; Rennes, Celta, West Ham, Feyenoord. 5 English teams; 3 Spanish teams; 2 French teams; 1 German team; 1 Dutch. We are on the run to have one more team in the UCL [Ligue 1] vs Lorient (A) It’s almost like the season has ended… One of, if not our worst match since I arrived. 62% possession without creating anything. [Coupe de France] vs PSG (A) I used the same tactic I had developed before and it worked. Difficult game as expected, but we are through! We’ll play Lyon in the Final. [Ligue 1] vs Monaco (H) Difficult end of season. Players are tired, even with rotation, the ones on the bench don’t come in ready. [Ligue 1] vs Lyon (A) We now have 2 games against Lyon in a row. The first one is for the league. With 3 games left to play, if we win, we guarantee 3rd place and direct entry into the UCL league stage. They had their game against Metz after our game against Monaco, so I took a trip to Metz to watch it. They played a 5-2-3. Very typical of them to play without a proper striker. No point in asking my team to counter as they always keep 3 men in the midfield line. They mostly build up through Quarta and Varela. Don’t know if I should press them or mark them. I think I’m happy with them hitting long balls to the wingers. I’ll have Maxi/Nagy and Pezzella who are pretty good defenders. Varela’s passes in the first half against Metz (somehow he’s not set as DLP, maybe because Maleh is AP on the wing): Quarta doesn’t venture as much: Sergi Cardona has lost the ball more than any other player: 18 times just in the first half. If he plays against us, I’m happy to let him have the ball. Don’t know if I can take advantage of this. With 3 at the back, it’s difficult to hit them for losing possession so high up the pitch. On the other side, it’s their CBs and Quarta (BWM) winning possession for them. Weak spots are the wings and Varela. Actually… I’m thinking “can we go 3v3 against their backline?” Having Daoud, Beier and Arda running against their back 3 seems powerful. We would have to change a lot in formation, but not quite in style. Turati; Nagy/Maxi, Friedrich/Balerdi/Carboni, Badiashile; ASM?, Soumaré/Reis, Svanberg/Haidara, Pezzella; Arda, Beier, Daoud… I like it. Besides ASM as only wide player, but with Nagy/Maxi as RCB he has a good cover. Late in the game, they changed to a 4-2-3-1. I must pay attention to the change. I started out with a 3-4-2-1. Daoud (SS-A) and Arda (T-A) behind Beier (AF-A). They started in their predicted 5-2-3. I soon realized both Daoud and Arda were getting too deep when we didn’t have the ball and so ruining our plan. I changed to a 3-4-1-2 with Arda as AP-A behind Beier and Daoud (both AF-A – I don’t want Arda as T-A as it has “Move Into Channels” locked; also means I should have started with Beier in another role). ASM recovers the ball, Arda gets to it, and finds Beier behind their defensive line. It could have gone to either of my 2 strikers. 1-0 ends the first half. Quite balanced. In the second half, they scored in a through ball from the wing. ASM was very late to his position and Cardona was free to play the pass. Our 3 at the back were also not coordinated. I hadn’t noticed they had already changed to 4-2-3-1. Exactly what I said before that I should be paying attention to… So now we move back to our usual 4-3-3. Instantly Arda creates a great chance for Daoud, he shoots and… Beier blocks it… Clear goal… And he was offside… I want to say we were better in the second half, if only marginally. That chance should have been a goal. It ends 1-1. Third place is a guarantee. And I’m confident about the Cup Final.

Your reputation is growing, so in mid/long term you'll have more money coming in from sponsors and you'll get better youngsters (and some might turn into decent profit).

I "love" that you have a full squad of homegrown players and still the verdict is "Satisfied" when it comes to developing players. How are your finances now?

Who have you got left to play? Surely Braga can't go a full season without losing, right? Quite impressive from them, nonetheless.

@warlock and @Jogo Bonito I'm from Porto, so if you guys need any help while you are here, feel free to DM me.

Quite exciting indeed. Although can't say the same thing about the French league. In fact, against PSG seems like one bad result and I'm out of the race.

Some things I will never understand. This month they aren't concerned any longer. Yes, pretty good. The calendar helps. We played 3 of the last 4 teams in the league and with opportunity to rest. The penalty shootout is not good for the heart, but a win is a win, and I wouldn't mind winning the UCL even if I got there through penalties in all rounds. The crazy thing about this type of competition is that luck plays a big part. A sending-off; an own goal; a misplaced header; a fluke, etc can change the whole match and decide the winner.

Last match of February and March [Champions League] vs Ajax (H) First of all, my first assessment was perhaps a little too optimistic. Ajax are indeed a great team. The squad depth report showed players rated 4 or 4,5 stars when compared to mine in every position besides GK. They play in a 4-3-3 DM, just like us. Apart from the individual quality, didn’t see a big reason to change how we play, so only gave Beier the instruction to mark the DM zone. 5 minutes in and ASM scores the opener. Then, ASM wins the penalty but Arda fails to score. And last piece of play by ASM as he suffers another tackle and asks to be subbed off. Harit comes in. The second half wasn’t eventful, and we had to sub off some tired players. The match ended as it was in the first half. In the end, it was a shame we didn’t score the penalty as it would put us in a much more comfortable position for the second leg. ASM was MOTM playing 27 minutes! He already has 3 MOTM performances in this UCL, which shows his importance to us. [Ligue 1] vs Metz (A) 5 for Beier in a half! He destroyed them. 2 of his goals were just him pressing, winning the ball and finishing. Also, one more assist for Vormer, as I’m starting to feel impressed by him. In other games, Lyon lost and we are 7 points away from them. [Champions League] vs Ajax (A) 13 minutes in we got a red card, they were playing much better than in the first leg. We changed to a 4-2-3-0 with Arda as CAM; then 4-2-2-1 with Daoud as ST. They eventually scored a goal. In the 80th minute, Soumaré had an injury and I was prompted to take him off the field, but he could play on, so I decided to keep him, although his fitness levels were terrible. In the 90th minute, the same happened to them, but they decided to remove their player. We were 10v10, but with a player severely conditioned. We got to extra-time, which meant I could make one more substitution. Soumaré was out and in came Fujimoto, Haidara played RB and Nagy went to DM. Not much has happened in extra-time and we went to penalties. They miss their first! We score! 0-1! 1-2, 2-3, and they miss another. If we score, we are through! Haidara on the spot… HE SCORES!!!! It was way more emotional than I thought it would be. We defended really well, they never created big chances, and I’m so proud of these guys! Brilliant! 10M in the bank and Soumaré is only out for 2 days. All good. [Ligue 1] vs Sochaux (H) Easy win. Rennes draw against Monaco, so we get our 2nd place back. Next week is Rennes vs Lyon so it’s guaranteed at least one of them will lose points. [Ligue 1] vs Ajaccio (A) Some repetitions from the previous games: 5 goals scored in the last 4 league games, multiple goals from Beier in a single game, and another direct free kick by Arda (he also scored one against Sochaux). The first time we hit an xG of 5! Just a shame we conceded one. With this game, we have equalized PSG in goals scored. Quite an achievement for such a big difference in quality. In the other game, Rennes won 4-2, so we almost guaranteed the 3rd place as we have 10 points to Lyon with 7 matches to play. And the standings: With some individual performances to mention: And surely, player of the month. Only Arda and Daoud have scored more goals in the whole season than Beier in a single month. Also a mention to Badiashile: we conceded 5 goals in 13 games since he arrived, and this includes: 2x Ajax; 2x At Madrid, Monaco; and Rennes. He also has the 2nd highest average rating in our squad with 7.35 (behind Beier). Youth Update These are not just youth players, with Beier and Turati with a chance to get their first national games. Miath was only capped at U18 and he now advances to U20; Gustavo Blanco also moves from the U19 of Spain to U20; Koné debuts for the Ivory Coast U20. Some youngsters are already being called up to their national teams (some were found exactly that way). Our U19 team was eliminated in the Quarter-Finals of the Youth League. And our Youth Intake: After getting Miath last season, I couldn’t really ask for much especially since our youth recruitment is just “good”. Still, Diallo looks a decent prospect. Name Best Pos Personality Age ShStop Physical Speed Mental Comm Ecc Aerial Dist Total Status Kokou Bebou GK Resilient 16 8 9 10 10 7 1 13 7 41% P3 Tayrik Pineau GK Balanced 15 11 7 7 7 6 2 12 8 38% P2,5 Name Best Pos Personality Age Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Status Best Rating Best Position Abdou Diallo AM (L) Fairly Determined 15 4 8 12 11 11 12 9 9 48% P4 55% WF Daniel Simon ST (C) Fairly Professional 15 3 8 12 9 10 10 7 10 43% P2,5 51% WF Jordan Vincent AM (C) Unambitious 15 5 9 9 10 9 12 4 9 42% P3 50% AM Sacha Jammet AM (L) Fairly Loyal 15 5 8 12 11 8 10 8 8 44% P4 49% WF Frédéric Dupont ST (C) Low Self Belief 16 2 8 11 9 8 12 10 9 43% P2 49% WF Rodrigo Patrocínio D (L) Fairly Determined 15 10 9 8 6 6 8 10 10 42% P3 49% CB Gennaro Leo M (L) Fairly Professional 16 3 7 13 7 7 11 2 8 36% P2,5 46% WF Yaovi Alassani D (C) Fairly Professional 15 9 9 7 5 6 4 9 9 36% P2,5 45% CB Abdoul Karim Mara WB (L) Unambitious 16 8 11 9 7 6 8 6 9 40% P2,5 45% FB Marwane Rougier M (R) Fickle 15 2 8 12 9 6 10 3 7 36% P2,5 44% WF Ahmed Mokhtari DM Unambitious 15 6 8 8 10 5 6 5 9 36% P2,5 39% CM Ali Boura AM (R) Casual 15 4 9 12 7 7 8 5 5 36% P2,5 39% WF We also have 2 players featured on the NXGN 2028 list: Both were recruited in the Winter window and have yet to play for us. Was expecting to see Miath here, but I guess he hasn’t played enough to be considered (probably doesn’t have the reputation needed). UCL Draw 2 German teams; 2 English; 1 Italian; 1 Portuguese; 1 Dutch; and 1 Spanish team out. Still in the competition: 2 French; 3 English; 2 Italian; 1 German team We get Arsenal. 2nd in the Premier League, managed by Pep. A 33-year-old Raheem Sterling is their top performer with an average rating of 7,50 across 12 matches (he arrived in January); then it’s Fábio Vieira, Tierney, Gabriel Jesus, and Manu Koné. They are the team with the fewest conceded goals in the league; 5th in goals scored; 3rd in chances created; 2nd in Final Third Passes; 2nd in Final Third Passes Against. They seem to be taking the ball away from their goal. The next phase is already known as well:

Just a little rant The board is concerned with the number of conceded goals And so are the fans That 1 conceded goal really hit them hard

8? Were they on the crossbar challenge? The league looks pretty competitive between the top-4.

Forgot to include the league standings once again... Here it is:

February Second month in a row with 7 games (spoiler alert: this month will have 8 games). The squad isn’t that deep. Let’s see how it goes. [Ligue 1] vs Rennes (A) Tough game. We had the possession, we were playing good passes, but they had all the chances. Pezzella out, Morales still recovering and Carboni lacking fitness, so our LB position wasn’t healthy and it showed. Dembélé run us to the ground. [Champions League] vs At. Madrid (A) One more very balanced match. We were lucky to score in the first minute, then we defended very well. Most of their shots were either from long-range or from corners. Clearly missing Guendouzi in midfield. Svanberg was feeling apprehensive so I didn’t play him. In the next game, he’ll have his chance. [Ligue 1] vs Troyes (H) Had to start Miath and Vormer as ASM, Daoud and Beier were recovering from injuries. We created some chances but couldn’t finish them. It’s a match we should win and it might cost us. [Champions League] vs At. Madrid (H) We were managing the game pretty well, but the sending-off set us on the way to victory. They removed their LW from the field and so left our right lane all open. IWB turned into CWB, asked the team to focus on the right side, and first asked Fujimoto to play RM as WP-S with Arda coming in to play as RCAM as AM-S, then switched to our usual formation with Fujimoto in LW as AP-S and Arda as RCM also as AP-S. Our 3rd goal was a clear reflection of what I wanted with some luck in the mix and Miath scored. We are through! [Ligue 1] vs Montpellier (A) One more team playing a 5-3-2 formation and another one difficult to break down. Took away the “Counter” instruction, asked to play through the CBs and FBs, and switched the FBs to CWBs to have more width and focused play through both wings. ST was also changed to DLF-A. We managed to score late in the match and secure the 3 points. [Coupe de France] vs Paris FC (A) Not a difficult game, as expected. We managed to let some players rest which is great at this time of the season. Beier was already near 2700 minutes, so he stayed on the bench. Vormer got his first assist for us. The semi-final is against PSG. The other game is Saint-Étienne vs Lyon. I’m hoping I can get to the final. [Ligue 1] vs Strasbourg (H) Great game! I wanted to have this game decided as soon as possible so asked the team to play with a higher mentality (“Attacking”). It turned out pretty well as we scored 2 in 15 minutes and the 3rd before halftime. I was thinking of subbing off Beier but didn’t have any strikers on the bench and he was on a good day so I let him play and eventually scored a hattrick. Vormer got another assist. This month still has one more game, but I'll leave that one for the next update. UCL R16 Draw We are part of the unseeded teams And the ones we might face: PSG, Madrid, City and Bayern are clearly the ones I want to avoid. The other ones are not as frightening. We face Ajax! Their manager is Brandon Rodgers. Their schedule wasn’t very different from ours. We also played PAOK, Braga, Porto and Liverpool. And they are 3rd in the Eredivisie. I’m confident of our chances. And the board for all the matches: A romantic Liverpool vs Milan and some very good games: Arsenal vs Real Madrid; Juventus vs City; Chelsea vs PSG. If we get through, I wouldn't mind playing the winner of match 3 or 8, but at this level it's "pick your poison". Development Arda’s progress since he arrived (16/07/2026 – 1,5yrs) is fantastic. He’s world-class. Daoud’s on his way as well. (Arrived 07/08/2027 – 0,5yrs) The next one to follow will be Miath. (Youth Intake in 04/2027 – roughly 1 year) My biggest development so far in 6 months for a senior squad player had been Arda with 7,5 increase. This time we have: Arda again with 7,5; Daoud 10,5; and Miath 14,5. Going the other way is Hateboer. His physical attributes are declining very rapidly. By the way, Turati also had some improvement in the GK attributes, but I don't keep track of that, so it doesn't show on the table. Name Best Pos TOT TEC MEN PHY Stefano Turati GK 2 0 1,5 0,5 Noah Atubolu GK 1 0 1 0 Hans Hateboer D (R) -6 0 0 -6 Andrei Nagy D (C) 0 0 0 0 Maximiliano Rodriguez D (R) 0 0 0 0 Giuseppe Pezzella D (L) 0 0 0 0 Federico Morales D (L) -1 0 -1 0 Benoit Badiashile D (C) 0 0 0 0 Andrea Carboni D (C) 0 0 0 0 Marvin Friedrich D (C) 0,5 0,5 0 0 Leonardo Balerdi D (C) 0 0 0 0 Boubakary Soumaré DM 0 0 0 0 Mattias Svanberg M (C) 0 0 0 0 Ludovit Reis DM 0 0 0 0 Amadou Haïdara M (C) 0,5 0 0 0,5 Arda Guler AM (C) 7,5 0,5 3 4 Kanya Fujimoto AM (R) 0 0 0 0 Allan Saint-Maximin AM (L) 0 0 0,5 -0,5 Amine Harit AM (C) 0 0 0 0 Mettin Vormer AM (L) 0 0 0 0 Karim Daoud ST (C) 10,5 4 4,5 2 Maximilian Beier ST (C) 0 0 0 0 Gérald Miath ST (C) 14,5 4,5 4,5 5,5 Senior Squad 29,5 9,5 14 6 Regarding the youth squad, I’m a bit disappointed with Carrière. Last season he developed really well, but he seems to have stopped. Maybe he needs a bigger challenge, but it doesn’t look great. Mateo Lambert had a very big improvement since arriving to the youth squad (almost 2 years ago), but he started from a very low base, so even with all the development he’s still far from the quality needed. The rest of the boys are not deserving of a particular mention. It’s a shame I can’t see the graph for the loanees. I’m curious about some guys’ development.

PSG was already better than expected, so I'm happy. But we should have beaten Saint-Étienne. We had a bad pre-season (training-wise) and lack a bit of quality in depth, so every time it gets to 60/70 minutes or if I have to start bench players, our quality drops significantly. I've already played some more games and can say there is good news on the UCL front (not so much on the league, but still on course). Yeah, I really liked it too. Haven't picked it up yet again, but I might use it later in the UCL. I'm also thinking about changing my main formation to a 4-4-2 or a 4-2-3-1 either with 2 DMs, so this will certainly be a starting point. Something I'm really looking into is a playmaker out wide. I've used it again to good effect, you'll see it in the next games.

I don't know about your save, but Kyanno is quite a player on my save.

January [Coupe de France] vs Strasbourg (H) Second round with a L1 team, but we made it easy once again. Next round, we face, yet again, a L1 team. This time it’s Monaco. Still this month. [Ligue 1] vs PSG (H) That game… I watched their last UCL game against At. Madrid and took some notes. They add to what we already know. Mostly: they defend in 4-2-4, both their wingers and their CAM are very attack-minded (Nmecha often drops deeper than ESR); their CBs are in front of the GK in defensive corners, so the best bet is to aim to near and far post not the center; Hakimi and Nuno Mendes need to be tracked, especially Hakimi – when they venture forward, both Bellingham and Vitinha cover for them and leave the middle a bit more vacant. Taking this into account, I created a tactic from scratch: 4-4-2 DM. LM as Wide Playmaker so he moved inside, RST as F9 (it was supposed to be Arda Güler but he caught a cold, so I replaced him with Daoud). Dropped the mentality to cautious, playing a bit more direct and also dropped the lines (both pressure and defensive). They had a game midweek for the Cup and played their best players against a L2 side. Don’t know why they didn’t rest some players, but good for us. In consequence, Vitinha didn’t start, and Fábian was still injured so they started Kimpembe in midfield and Tanganga in the back. Since we had 2v2 in their backline, I opted to try and condition their CBs to their weaker foot, expecting them to play less progressive passes. But I asked my LM to man mark Hakimi and both my strikers to mark the DMC positions, both left and right, respectively. One of the most entertaining 0-0 I’ve played. Very balanced first half. Just like the second. Any team could have won it. In the last 30 minutes, they had to make many changes: Mbappé, ESR, Nmecha, Mendes and Tanganga all left the field. Vitinha came on and I should have changed my tactic a little bit. He was playing as a VOL in front of our DM-D so he had plenty of space before we got to him. Tactically we only changed when Fujimoto came on for Daoud – he dropped to the RCAM position as AM-S (and in the final minutes AM-A). We managed to keep Hakimi quiet, Mbappé is always a threat but even he couldn’t hit a single shot on target. In the last few minutes, we had some chances through Fujimoto and could have scored in some set-pieces as it was noticeable that we were better in those moments. A shame Arda couldn’t play as he could have made a difference and having Daoud on the bench would have helped in the final push. [Ligue 1] vs Lille (A) Quite an easy game in the first half, then the players got tired and I didn’t want to make many subs as I wanted the other players to be fully fit for the midweek game and we could have been in trouble. Good for us they failed to score. [Champions League] vs Benfica (H) Disappointing defeat. We were better all the way. They didn’t do much besides both goals. Once again, our fitness and lack of solutions played a trick on us. We are now on the verge of direct qualification. The last game is against Bayern. I was expecting to make rotations on the last match, but now I can’t risk it. [Ligue 1] vs Saint-Étienne (H) Should have been an easy game, but 2 injuries to both our left-backs (Pezzella and Morales) made us play a youngster (Aarseth), and as he doesn’t have great technical skills I tried by backup 4-3-3 with 2 IWB and 2 MEZ. We dominated possession but had some trouble creating the final chance. However, we were much better in the first half and declined a lot in the second. [Champions League] vs Bayern Munchen (A) Nagelsmann prefers a 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide formation, however, reports suggest he’s playing a 4-2-2-2 DM AM Narrow. First time I’m facing this formation. I attended their game against RB Leipzig but unfortunately, they played the 90 minutes in 4-2-3-1. These are the standings before our match: Benfica plays Austria Wien; Aston Villa plays Legia. We can’t expect them to lose or even draw their games. Our main focus is RB Leipzig. If we win we get their place, if we draw Juve (vs Galatasaray), Milan (vs Celtic) or even Barcelona (vs PSV) are likely to beat us to the spot. They have in fact played in 4-2-2-2. I tried countering that with playing wider than usual, dropping the mentality. In the middle of the game, I tried to man-mark their wing-backs, tried playing out of defence, everything… We were lucky to lose only by 3… It was a disgrace. At least we qualify for the playoff. 2 more games to play isn’t doing us any good, but we are still in the competition. In the meantime, our kids are through to the next round on the Youth League. [Coupe de France] vs Monaco (A) Once again, we control the first half and we die in the second. At least we are through to the quarter-finals. We will play the other Paris team, Paris FC. I have no screenshot of the standings, but we remain in second, tied with Rennes. UCL Draw We were a seeded team, so we avoided Juventus, Arsenal, Chelsea, Leipzig, Barcelona, Liverpool and Frankfurt. We could face: Leverkusen, Inter, Roma, Nice, At. Madrid, PSV, Porto or Braga. Luck hasn’t been kind to us lately. It’s not impossible, however. Let’s see how it goes. Final Squad and Prospects Need to get a good RB next season, and probably sell Balerdi to move Nagy/Rodríguez inside. Need a DM and a CM as Svanberg ends his loan and I'll probably sell one of Reis, Soumaré and Haidara. For the CM position, I'm confident in promoting Castelli. Traoré will get his chance if Arda (or Fujimoto) leaves. For DM, Sithole probably won't be ready to be a starter, so he might go on loan again and I'll have to find another player.

This is a big update, so I'll divide it into two: the first one is about transfers, then I'll post about the games. First Award for Daoud Coaching Qualification I now have the Continental Pro Licence. This is now my profile: Since taking my last licence the difference is: Attacking +1; Defending +2; Fitness +1; Technical +2; Mental +2; Working With Youngsters +2 Determination +1; Player Knowledge +1; Youngster Knowledge +1; Level of Discipline +1; People Management +2; Motivating +2 Winter Transfer Market Two big concerns regarding our squad: CB and DM. Nagy and Maxi are good defenders but they lack height. My aerial threats are Mai and Friedrich. Mai doesn’t have the quality to play UCL and fight PSG; Friedrich is 32 so I can’t count on him for much longer. In the DM spot I have been playing Soumaré and Reis. Reis has a Get Forward trait that doesn’t suit the position; Soumaré has “tries killer balls often” which I don’t want in a more cautious role. I’ve been trying to remove these traits, but no success yet. Also, neither of them is a particularly strong defender. I also have Haidara who has been playing well this season as CM but he’s even worse at defending so I haven’t played him there yet. Money doesn’t help as we have 20M available. We have 2 clauses near the trigger: 5M for Arda and 8M for Beier, which will leave us with just 7M. On this front, Harit will renew is contract for 100k/month less. That gives us a bit extra room, but not much. I need to sell someone to make this happen. From all our loans, Koffi doesn’t have much potential, but he was unhappy so I decided to bring him back. He’ll most likely be loaned out again. Ristic was also brought back because he didn’t play a single game for Gent. I don’t know if he’ll stay or not. This brings us to Afif. He ends is contract in the end of the season and he has been asking for wages that we simply can’t pay him. He’s on 300k and is asking for wages around 550k. He’s 31 and has been our worst performer from the 4 wingers. Lucky for us, there are teams interested in buying him now, so we might get something around 15M plus his wages. Done deal with Burnley! We now have the funds to go for a CB, so after some research we found Carboni. Not the biggest threat in the air, but decent; can play both CB and LB; he’s left-footed and we had no left-footed CB. And he accepts a squad player status. Then, something I wasn’t expecting: The situation is: he’s a team leader; one of our best players (if not the best); 28 years-old; and has 1,5 years left in his contract. He’s also worth 89-98M. Financially, it would be wise to sell him now. Sportingly, I sincerely doubt it. Other players might become unhappy and I don’t think I could replace him with someone as good as or better than him. And a few days later he handed over a request to leave (this was just before the PSG game). Juventus came with an offer of around 60M we rejected, he got mad, I agreed to let him go for 87M. Juventus came back with some more offers, I eventually let him go for 74+9. The board gives me 55M. Club record fees for this transfer and for a season. Where are we spending it? I wanted someone who could make an impact and move us a level. So Badiashile was the choice. I asked the DOF to handle it and he made an offer with everything upfront… Don’t know if this was the best option but at least he was able to negotiate a pretty decent contract and with no promises. Badiashile ticks some important factors I want to take into account: French player (still uncapped with Fofana, Saliba, Lucas Hernández and Upamecano taking his place – Lucas is 31); we weaken a rival; he’s one of the best in the league in the air; a player that can match PSG’s quality. After his arrival and Carboni, we now had one too many CBs and Mai was triggered. We received two bids from Udinese and Roma. He opted for Roma. He was bought as a backup and to try and prove we could do better in corners. He did his job and we sold him with a 250k profit. After all this, we still had a busy deadline day. It started with an offer for Ristic from Man Utd. He’s reported to have a 5-star potential, but he’s 20 and isn’t developing. Nothing much happened to him here and when he was on loan. I decided to accept it. It’s only 5M upfront and can increase to 13,5M over time however, it has a future profit percentage of 40%. He was bought for 325k so either way we make a big profit (although some will go to his former club). For almost the same price we sold him, we got Vormer. He’s the same age and same potential, but he’s closer to being ready to play for us. We also got Svanberg on loan from Inter to replace Guendouzi. On 174k p/m and with a squad player status and no mandatory future fee. Good for depth. And lastly, 2 youngsters to bolster our defensive prospects that were lacking: Sebek and Balazic. Sebek can either play as RB or CB. He wanted to be loaned out and his club wanted him, so I left him stay until the end of the season at Slovan Bratislava. Balazic was at Maribor. He’s a CB who can also play DM. His low aggression (3) and bravery (8) are concerns, but I think he can develop into a pretty decent CB. He’ll remain at Maribor until the end of the season. Overall: we are weaker in midfield and slightly weaker in attack (although Afif was already losing his place to Daoud); we are way better in defence and we have more options for the future. OUT Name Best Pos Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Comment FB CB CM AM WF ST Matteo Guendouzi M (C) 14 14 15 15 12 15 12 14 69% 72% 70% 71% Akram Afif AM (L) 4 13 15 15 14 14 6 12 58% 69% 70% Lars Lukas Mai D (C) 13 11 11 11 8 11 16 13 59% 66% Radenko Ristic AM (L) 4 11 16 11 9 13 7 11 51% P5 55% 60% 56% IN Name Best Pos Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total Comment FB CB CM AM WF ST Benoit Badiashile D (C) 15 14 14 12 9 11 16 14 66% 68% 74% Andrea Carboni D (C) 14 13 13 11 8 9 15 14 61% 63% 70% Mattias Svanberg M (C) 12 13 14 14 13 14 11 13 65% Loan In 66% 68% 68% Mettin Vormer AM (L) 5 13 16 13 13 13 11 12 60% P5 64% 67% 65%

I definitely have to make a revision of the pre-season. This season, I was too focused on the transfers, I let my assistant handle everything and my players never got to decent levels of fitness. I've also read @danielgear's article. Will follow from there. About the rest, I used to do it a bit like what you do, but then I saw EBFM's videos and opted for the more generic training (like you have on 16th Oct, for instance). I'll probably go back to that. It feels more realistic and I don't see such an improvement in development. Just one more question: do you make specific training schedules for youth or do you use the same as for the senior team? Thanks for taking the time!

December [Ligue 1] vs Lyon (H) We were tied in points in the league, so this was a massive game for us. I started with Turati; Nagy, Rodríguez, Friedrich, Pezzella; Reis, Fujimoto, Guendouzi; ASM, Afif, Beier. 4-3-3 DM. Guendouzi as BWM, the rest as usual. I wanted Guendouzi as BWM so he’s more aggressive without the ball, mainly on their double pivot. He would also play a bit closer to the DM and eventually attract one of their DMs (although they would still have 3+1 in the middle). It’s always tricky for the striker to play against these bottom-heavy formations. They started in a 5-2-3. It’s their manager preferred formation, but they have been playing 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide. They play Cherki or Aouar upfront, so they are counting on goals from their IFs. Taking this into account, I wanted them to play wide, not letting their wingers move inside and be a threat. Also no point in pressing upfront as they have numbers. Didn’t happen much until half-time. Then I noticed Guendouzi was having some trouble with his passes. 9 intercepted and 6 unsuccessful. One example where he’s pressed by two players and has another in from of him and “punts” it. Another one, this time with less pressure. He tries to find Daoud in space. In other situations, the ball was lost because he was trying to find Beier. I tried some changes: Pezzella as WB-A, Daoud as IW-S and Beier as CF-A. Looking into it with more detail, maybe I could have just ticked off the pass into space instruction or asked him to play shorter/fewer risky passes. However, it worked as he only lost possession with passes 6 times in the second-half (subbed of in the 79th minute). This change also allowed us to play 5v5 against their deeper line. Since we were controlling them, it didn’t feel like much of a risk. Our positions in the first-half: And until the goal: How the goal started: The 2-3-5 pattern and 1v1 in the offensive line is clear. Eventually, the goal came from a bit of a scramble. Beier was dribbling towards their box, Stergiou tackled the ball into ASM, he was dribbling when Cardona tackled him, then he recovered and crossed to Daoud who finished on the far post (note: on the commentary it said that ASM surged past Cardona and crossed – the visual was a bit different). After our goal they immediately change to 4-2-3-1 and we revert our changes to our traditional style. There were no more chances for both sides until the game ended. Ending the game with 0 shots on target conceded and below 0,20 xG conceded is great. We could have won by a bigger margin, but I’m fine with this result. [Champions League] vs PAOK (A) Tougher than I expected. Although we were superior, we were finding it difficult to score. Hateboer clearly can’t play as IWB-S. He has a trait that kills it in my tactic: “Gets Forward Whenever Possible”. He gets into positions as if he were a IWB-A. When I switched to Maxi Rodríguez, the team became more stable and they ceased to create chances. In the end, Miath found Harit in the box and we got the winning goal. To add to this, Miath played the next day for our youth squad in the Youth League and scored 3 more. He now has UCL: 1 goal + 1 assist in 2 sub appearances Ligue 1: 2 goals in 6 sub appearances France U19 National Team: 2 goals in 2(1) appearances Youth League: 6 goals in 2(1) appearances French U19 League: 14 goals in 7 appearances He’s still 16! [Ligue 1] vs Lens (A) Can’t explain this one… 2 shots from long range, 1 lucky goal from a corner; 1 goal-line clearance, and 1 shot hit the woodwork,… Don’t get me wrong we allowed them to play. They fielded in a Direct Counter 5-2-2-1 AM, unusual tactic. In spite of being a direct counter tactic, the players with the most passes in their team are both DMs. I asked my players to stay off their CBs and press+tackle their second line: WB+DM. Eventually asked ASM to man-mark their LWB so our RB could man-mark their LCAM and our DM would man-mark their RCAM and we got 2v2 in midfield and 2v1 in the last line (our CBs vs their striker). Probably should have asked Beier to be close to one of their DMs. We are now definitely out of the race against PSG and both Lyon and Rennes won their games so they are now close to us. [Coupe de France] vs Ajaccio (H) Quite an easy game before we get some rest and get prepared for the second part of the season. Youth Intake Preview Looks quite bad. We really need to invest in the youth recruitment which is only deemed as “Good”. I also changed the responsibility for the intake to my DOF as he has JPA/JPP of 18/19, extensive knowledge of many countries, “fairly determined” personality and a higher reputation than our actual HOYD. Mighy have been a mistake on my part. New affiliate club Marítimo from Portugal. Their finances are not good, but they have pretty decent facilities.

Show me the money! And it’s gone… World’s Best Mbappé was the winner. We have no players in the top-50. From the league: Mbappé #1; Bellingham #21; Donnarumma #28; Saka #31. The unexpected: Koundé, Barcelona #10; Salah, Liverpool, 35-years old #17; Porro, Tottenham #18; Ricci, At. Madrid #26; Gaya, Valencia #32; Oyarzábal, Real Sociedad #34; Tielemans, Inter #38. November [Champions League] vs Liverpool (H) Nice, balanced game. Might have won had I played my first eleven, but I’m happy with our performance (except Turati and Balerdi, they have been awful). Our second goal was a beauty. It’s a shame there’s no easy way to record the whole play, but I’ll show you the end. Before this, the ball passed through everyone in the team except Turati GK and Harit RW. Once again, the IWB positioning and influence on the play makes me happy. [Ligue 1] vs Auxerre (A) Once again, Arda fails to score the penalty to put us in the lead, but this time the team responded magnificently. Beier with a hat-trick was the notorious man of the match, but I want to put the spotlight on ASM: 6 key passes, 9 dribbles, 3 shots on target, 1 assist. A complete offensive game. [Ligue 1] vs Lorient (H) We conceded first but managed to turn it around. Daoud with another great performance. Important win as Lorient are 5th. [Champions League] vs Betis (A) Tough game. I had some players needing a rest so I had to switch the team a bit, I believe it hurt us, mostly on defence. This time I can’t fault Turati, he did very well. [Ligue 1] vs Monaco (A) We couldn’t deal with their strikers and it cost us. An abysmal game by Guendouzi as well. Mai's rating is deceiving. He lost his duels against Emegha. Tried to move them inside so we could defend 3v2 in the middle but it was never effective. Maybe due to Guendouzi's bad game. I also have to be careful with fitness: Guendouzi, Pezzella, Arda, and Nagy were all tired and had to be substituted. They are our core along with Beier and I can’t have them last 60 minutes every game. Standings We have the same goals scored as PSG and “only” 4 more conceded. 7 points away from 5th-placed. 2,27 ppg. Next month we play Lyon and Lens for the League to end the first round and we also play in the Cup and against PAOK for the UCL. Speaking of which: Rennes vs PSG Was looking forward to this game. This is our biggest opposition to 2nd place (alongside Lyon) versus our biggest opposition to 1st. PSG's only 2 losses this season were against teams who play 2 strikers (Monaco in the League and Club Brugge in UCL). Rennes play a 4-4-2 so it could be an important factor. Dembélé scored from a tight corner following a corner. Tanganga equalized with a header from a set-piece. Then Nmecha took the ball away from João Mário and scored in a 1v1 against the GK. And the last goal was a team move. Rennes only created danger in bursts. They only had one half-chance through a combination between both strikers. PSG rotated a bit and their CAM was more involved than usual. Not much information to use here... Maybe thinking about playing my IW-A as IF-A so he's closer to the striker and they can combine.

"Temperamental" personality is a straight no for me. They are the worst to deal with. 21 foci? How many scouts do you have?

Both Vitinha and Bellingham. They have 69 and 65 passes completed/90 respectively and around 9,5 progressive passes/90 (each). Vitinha is the DLP, and Bellingham's role is BWM. I use the % as a quick way to evaluate players. For each position, I select some of the stats from the octagon and average them in relation to 20 in each stat. They are not even weighted, so it's really basic, but it's easier for me to get a first impression of the player.

PSG changed from Faivre to Garitano in 06/2026, so that has affected last season and this one. Don't know what was Faivre's formation and style as he has retired. Garitano plays a Fluid Counter in 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide. About the players, there weren't many changes either. 3 seasons ago they got Lukas Nmecha and Locatelli and mostly only lost Renato Sanches. They had no backup Striker then, Ekitike was never an option for them so he didn't develop; last season they got no one but Nmecha had a very decent season; and this year they got Bellingham. Probably it also has to do with the whole league. There is no clear "best of the rest", so you have many teams at almost the same level: Rennes, Lyon, Lorient, Lens, Lille, Monaco and us. Then Strasbourg, Troyes and Saint-Étienne had really great seasons last year. All these 10 teams can beat all of the others in a single game, but they are all far from PSG. So while they are all competing with each other, they are creating a bigger gap to PSG. For instance, this year Rennes spent 62M but they have almost the same quality as last season, it's all about Kalimuendo still. If I can mitigate that improvement? I don't know if there's something I can actively do. I can't steal players they want to buy; I can't unsettle their players; I can't help other teams fight them or build their squads... I'm only noticing a problem in their defence: Kimpembe is 32, Marquinhos 33, their backups are Tanganga and Nelsson. Edit: Just to add a comparison between my first 11 and theirs: Name Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total FB CB CM AM WF ST Hakimi 12 14 18 14 15 14 9 13 68% 71% Andrei Nagy 14 14 14 12 10 12 13 15 65% 69% Name Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total FB CB CM AM WF ST N Mendes 12 13 15 12 12 13 9 13 62% 66% Giuseppe Pezzella 13 14 15 10 11 11 12 14 63% 67% Name Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total FB CB CM AM WF ST Kimpembe 16 15 14 10 10 11 15 16 67% 78% Marquinhos 16 13 12 12 10 12 13 16 65% 73% Marvin Friedrich 14 12 12 10 9 9 16 13 59% 69% Maximiliano Rodriguez 15 13 15 9 8 10 12 14 60% 68% Name Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total FB CB CM AM WF ST Vitinha 13 14 14 16 13 16 5 15 66% 74% Bellingham 13 15 16 16 15 16 13 16 75% 76% Matteo Guendouzi 14 14 15 15 12 15 12 14 69% 72% Boubakary Soumaré 13 15 11 14 12 14 12 13 65% 69% Name Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total FB CB CM AM WF ST ESR 8 13 15 16 13 15 9 13 64% 71% Arda Guler 4 12 13 16 15 16 11 11 61% 73% Name Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total FB CB CM AM WF ST Saka 10 15 16 15 14 15 8 15 68% 75% Mbappé 4 15 20 16 18 18 7 14 70% 86% Akram Afif 4 13 15 15 14 14 6 12 58% 70% Amine Harit 7 11 14 16 12 15 5 11 57% 68% Name Def Physical Speed Vision Att Tech Aerial Mental Total FB CB CM AM WF ST Nmecha 6 14 15 13 14 14 13 13 64% 69% Maximilian Beier 8 13 15 13 14 13 13 12 63% 67% Only 2 spots where I compete: Arda over ESR at CAM and Pezzella over Mendes at LB.

As prompt I've been using: "<Nation> football player, second nationality <2nd Nationality>, <Name>, <Age> years old, <Team> kit, face only". Then I make 4 images, select one and remove the background. I like the results so far