Vossenoren

I will now test this tactic for a full season ten times, to get a little more data, and see if that offers any insights.

As you can see, these two are wildly inconsistent and often play quite poorly

Well that didn't go good.

I would love to hear other people's observations and ideas based on what they see so far Edit: Also changed Hammouti from WB(S) to WB(A)

Version 3, a clear improvement over the previous iteration

Tactic v02a (before further changes)

I've decided to run an experiment in tactics creation where I started with a blank canvas 4-2-3-1 with no instructions and automatic player roles. I'm using Almere City and playing the first game of the season (at Jong AZ) ten times with the same line-up and same initial team talk, recording the stats and using them to make tweaks to the tactic. Then I'll use the new tactic to play the same exact game another ten times, and use those results to make more tweaks. So far I've done two adjustments, and will continue to do this further tonight. I understand that 10 is not a huge sample size, and that ultimately I'll end up with a tactic that is specifically suited for the 11 selected players against the specific opponent that I'm playing, but once I'm happy with that tactic I plan to run a season with it ten times and see where it goes from there. The second adjusted tactic (v2.0) was interesting because it felt a lot worse than v1, but statistically actually appears to be better, and the worse results look like they are caused by individual players simply having a bad game (making mistakes, disappearing up front, horrible finishing). It also ended up drawing relatively a lot of penalties (I think 3 or 4 in 10 playthroughs). I felt like I made too many changes at once, and it's making it hard to tell what's having what effect, but I'm excited to see where this project goes.

@vikeologist a +100 GD in the league :o Literally beating opponents by an average of 3 goals is exceptional

Ah, shame, it was looking so good for a minute there. Hopefully this coming season you'll win the Championship. Perhaps you could convince van der Sar to come back and help you in goal? At this point he's only in his 40s (Vd Sar is the reason I will always have a soft spot for Fulham)

One year in: Kim Vonk (South African): After a horrible first two games in charge, getting pummeled 4-0 by eventual champions AmaTuks (University of Praetoria), and eking out a scoreless draw against eventual last-placed Hungry Lions (whose kit colors make me wish I could've landed a job with them), it was back to the tactical drawing board, scrapping the idea of going with just assistant recommendations. Because of a horrible lack of squad depth in midfield, I landed on a formation that could be viewed as a 4-3-3DM with a central defensive midfielder, an MCR and an AMLC. With an absolute break-out season from young winger Sandile Mokoena on the right, we managed to find ourself in the top spot of the league at the start of the final gameday, facing Praetoria Callies, who were locked into third place, with nothing to play for. Needless to say, we lost (0-2), and saw the title end up where it had looked to be going all year. Quite frankly I was shocked to have even been in title contention, because AmaTuks started their season with (what felt like) ten straight 3+ goal victories. In the promotion playoff, we handily beat the relegation candidate from the Premier, Baroka (4-1), and held PC to a scoreless draw. PC lost to Baroka in their first meeting, and I thought promotion was a sure thing. Unfortunately, the second match against Baroka was completely different as they beat us 2-0, and now I was in need of some help - which I got in the form of a draw in the last fixture between PC and Baroka, so based on goal difference it was a potential win and you're in situation against PC, whom, it should be noted, I'd failed to beat in our last two meetings. The match stayed scoreless until very late, when we managed to run out to a 2-0 lead and ultimately victory meaning promotion to the South African Premier Division! Since it appears that you can only sign players to one-year contracts in S Africa, I might be able to construct a team capable of challenging for big things, despite my club's poor financial status, small wage budget, and the $2,500 transfer budget. Unfortunately it also makes it very hard to make money from player sales, since all anyone has to do is wait till the end of the year to poach whomever they want. Quite frankly (though don't tell the board I said this), I suspect the goal will be to snag a job at a bigger club in South Africa this coming season, with a view to winning everything there is to win from a club perspective in Africa by 2025, and maybe securing a national team job once my stature increases. Maria Perez (Mexican): Signed on as the Huesca B team manager, finding them in the relegation zone of the Spanish Federation 2 Group 3, in 13th place. It's been a bit boring to be a B team coach, since it's almost impossible to find staff, but I had a successful enough season playing a 4-3-3 2DM, finishing 6th. One benefit is that the board doesn't mind me taking coaching courses, meaning I obtained my C license and am currently starting on my B license. All the other chairpersons so far have been "too worried to lose" the other managers should they become accredited. The goal is to finish my B license and finding a job as a first-team head coach in the season to come, and to start making my way up the leagues to a top-flight division by 2025 Hui Fan (Chinese): Hired on by Guizhou in the Chinese First Division (or whatever it's called, second tier). Guizhou are a club coming back from financial disaster, failed to meet FPP criteria and are serving a transfer ban (no incoming players AT ALL from anywhere), with a small squad full of overpaid and undertalented players. Radical cutting of deadwood has left me with a grand total of 17 players at the club, but at least below my wage budget. For bonus flavor, my keeper is **** and the club's star player is unhappy, wants to move to a bigger team, and appears to have the mental fortitude of a billionaire social media platform owner. This meant I basically had to tailor my formation around the positions in which I actually had players, leading to a swashbuckling 3-4-3 wide diamond experiment, which I fully expected to get torn to shreds on a weekly basis, but shockingly, it is a murder machine. We're currently top of the league, have caused two upsets in the cup so far, and we're scoring goal for fun. The goal is to bring some depth into the squad when I'm finally allowed to sign players again (July 1st), and win the league for that sweet automatic promotion. The finances at the club are actually fine, so I am tempted to try and stay the course at Guizhou with the aim being to win all possible Asian club trophies, taking a few coaching courses, and securing a national team job by 2025. Jean Boulanger (French): The last of my five managers to get hired, I've only gotten to play six games at the tail end of the South African First Division, but they have gone well, seeing us move comfortably into the top half of the table - a position in the playoff spots was already out of the question when I was hired. With Kim Vonk gaining promotion to the Premier Division, I don't have to worry too much about conflicts of interest on a meta level, at least not until I either win the D1 with current side Cape Town Spurs, or find myself poached by a PD team next season. CT Spurs' financial situation is good, the club has an amazing youth setup and would really merit a long-term save on it's own in other circumstances. I will be discerning about any potential job offers, as I suspect that winning the D1 is very much possible, and building the team to a PD contender might actually be easier than taking over at a bottom feeder in the PD. The goal is to follow Kim into the PD, and either compete with her for glory there, or find a job back in Europe (potentially France) once my reputation increases some. The board seemed like they could be swayed to let me get my C license in the foreseeable future. Roberto da Cruz Carvalho (Brazilian): Ugh. I don't want to talk about it. Got hired at Chester, and, unaware that I had been able to grab loan signings right from the start, I waited until the end of the transfer window to try and grab some loan signings, leading to some rushed decisions. I also should've started recruiting free agents much sooner. As a result, my uninspired team of goal-allergic losers spent my entire tenure dead last in the Vanarama North, converting only one in fifty or so shots into goals, and surrendering any lead they might have gained with an alacrity that would draw scorn from WWII era French military leadership. I resigned in disgrace after I simply couldn't take it any more. I was offered a chance to get my revenge on those good-for-nothing Chester failures when Bradford (PA) offered me the job, finding themselves in last place after those ingrates in blue managed to actually get a few results without me there. Chester was even on my calendar, and the final run-in to the end of the season saw me play all but one of my direct relegation rivals. Unfortunately, Bradford (PA) were every bit as useless as Chester, and to make matters worse I was unable to add to the squad through free agency. However, on the final gameday, we managed to grab a 1-0 lead, and with Alfreton getting absolutely demolished elsewhere, that put us into 21st, and safety. All we had to do now.. what's that? Oh we conceded immediately? Of course. Welp. I was fired. Now, leaving the footballing graveyard that is the English lower leagues behind, I've found myself employed in China at QD Hamiu, a club with money and aspirations which found itself near the bottom of the league against all expectations (a familiar refrain). Undaunted, I accepted the job, and then learned that my first match in charge would be against our fierce rivals, who sat in 2nd place in the league. Amazing. Nothing for it but to set up my team and tactics (the club has an incredible amount of unregistered and untalented 30+ year olds, which I'm in the process of shipping out as soon as possible), and face the music. And the music was incredible. We managed to steal a win (and I do mean steal, we were not the better team), and I'm basically a club legend now. The goal is to build on the early success I've had, continue clearing out the appalling amount of deadwood at the club, build up the squad with some decent youth players (there has to be one u23 on the field at all times, and the few younger players I have are trash). I don't suspect I'll catch Fan's Guizhou this season, and quite frankly I'd prefer to be managing in Brazil by 2025.

Yep, anywhere but in the English basement leagues

Yeah, this has been my experience in my 5-man save. All interviews were with either Chinese teams who are in financial ruins, South African teams (who are in financial distress, though not ruins), Vanarama N/S teams, and Spanish B teams. I apparently am completely unable to coach at the Vanarama level, having resigned in disgrace from Chester and then fired from Bradford (PA) after I spent my entire tenure at both teams firmly at the bottom of the league. For whatever reason, neither team had players willing to score. You could have put the ball on the goal line, in the center of the goal, and they would have still found a way to smash in a car window in the stadium parking lot, rather than scoring. Both teams had a shot-to-goal ratio of somewhere around 50-1

This was an excellent way to start my morning

My south American coach is the next to get hired, in England of all places for Chester, who are predicted to finish 4th. Should be a simple job to get the off the bottom of the league Then the North American coach gets hired for a Spanish B team (not sure if that was a wise step but I guess we'll see).... Guizhou, a Chinese club in utter financial disarray, is willing to take a chance on my Asian coach, who will have to negotiate a massive budget deficit and a transfer embargo until the summer transfer window... Best of luck to him And we have our first intra-league rivalry as European coach Jean Boulanger takes control of underperforming Cape Town Spurs

Nice month at Fulham! And Thierry Henry to Man U?! Mon Dieu

@vikeologist getting the European competitions knocked out quick from 2039 to 2043 there! England, Italy, Spain, and France in consecutive seasons. Did you leave Leverkusen because you had an easy chance to steamroll Scotland with Celtic, or because you felt like it was going to be too much work to make them a true contender (respectfully)?

That's some record, winning basically 9 out of every 10 games! By an average margin of 3-1 it looks like

Yes, I will have 5 managers going at the same time, with nationalities from the 5 different continents (Brazil, S Africa, France, China, Mexico). For the rules, I'll probably just vacation for 1 day for both managers on the day they play each other (should that ever arise), as for buying players from each other, I can either just never do it, or delegate the transaction to staff (GM or whomever) should it arise. I don't intend to meta between the 5 managers, if that makes sense, I want each manager to only use knowledge they would have (in fact, I plan to delegate quite a bit to limit the amount of work I have to do for each manager, possibly only sign players recommended to me by scouting staff etc).

Initial expectations are achieving the First Round of the SA Cup and a top half finish, with a view to be promoted in the next two seasons. The squad is in a dire state on the whole, though good enough to at least do what is expected this season. I'm almost 20% over the allotted budget (budget 1.1m p/a, actual 1.3m p/a) and the majority of my squad are attacking midfielders. There are 14 options at AM (R), 12 at AM (C), 9 at ST, 6 at M (C), 5 at AM (L), 3 at D(C), 3 at DM (C), 3 at D (R), and 2 at D (L). Due to league rules, I have to field at least 3 U23 players, of which there are 5 in the squad, leaving me pretty much stuck with 3 undroppable players, as one of the U23s has a long-term injury. Based on the positions and skill set of the players available to me, I'll be fielding a home-brew 4-1-1-3-1, which is really just a 4-3-3 DM with one of the central midfielders pushed into the AMC slot (they're offset, so MCR and AMCL). Our center backs are not strong in the air but have decent pace, so we'll play a high defensive line, while our forward players are in the same mold, so we're gonna play through the middle with normal passing and try to get looks in behind where we can.

I'm feeling extra ambitious, so I will be attempting this challenge concurrently with five managers from five different continents. The first manager to land a job is Kim Vonk, from South Africa:

I will do this in the style of The Youth Academy Challenge

Always ****ing penalties :'(((

I believe the problem is that you've delegated training and such for the youth teams to their respective managers, so you would have to go into the responsibilities section to take control of that