CORUNA — END-OF-SEASON UPDATE:
After back-to-back promotions, my Coruna team contested their first season back in the top flight. We were expected to finish last in the league...
We finished 7th, one place above arch-rivals Celta Vigo, hurrah! We also beat Barcelona 3-1 at Camp Nou. The XG table suggested we might of finished higher.
An incredible season made possible thanks to this thread so thanks to everyone and @crusadertsar
Season review
After a slow start, I went quite defensive with this tactic and started to pick up results including the aforementioned Barcelona victory.
Player instructions
FB — Run wide with ball, cross more
CD (D) - Both Fewer risks
DM (S) — Hold position / Close down more / Tackle harder
CM (S) — Close more / Tackle Harder
CM (A) —More risks / Dribble more / Close More / Tackle Harder
IF (S) — Sit narrower / Tackle Harder / Mark tightly
IW (S) —Tackle Harder / mark tighter
AF — Tackle Harder
General observations
I managed to cobble together a decent enough first eleven, but the quality fell off a cliff with the subs/reserves on a tiny budget. Injuries and AFCON affected results too. We tended to only lose by a single goal and never really got battered apart from once against Real Madrid. We seemed to hold our own and often dominated XG only for the opposition to score with their only shot on target.
I found that my keeper and defence consistently performed well (aside from the odd brain fart costing us a goal), but the Wide players / Forward and DM were quite inconsistent and the MC's blue hot and cold. Bentaleb as DM was probably not ideal but he was free. Some players went from a great run of form to useless. I guess that's football and what you get with very little rotation and depending on a small squad for lack of quality. Better depth I hope can partially rectify this.
Because we all love stats
Here are some stats for how the season unfolded.
All in all, I'm very pleased, but would like to try and take us to the next level next season, so any suggestions/tweaks would be very much appreciated.
My thoughts:
Make Chris Mepham BPD (D)
LFB — make either Fb (A) or Wb (S)
CM (S) — Possibly a Mezzala (S)
Not convinced about trap inside / Drop off more / stop crosses is a good way to go
Sorry for the long post, thanks in advance for your help.
Happy FM-ing