Shrewnaldo

Well that's nice of you to say, but I doubt anyone at SI knows me from Adam. And if they did, probably only as some whinging fan. I was going to raise a ticket, but checked in the General Feedback Thread and there's already a report thread which people are adding to. The only acknowledgement is that it's "under review". I haven't seen any confirmation from SI that they've accepted this is an issue which needs fixed, or what might come with the next patch. The next patch is coming in the "near future", which is obviously deliberately vague. So who knows. It'd be good to see a list of acknowledged bugs and issues from SI - then noting which ones will definitely be addressed in the next patch, which might be and which will have to wait. Obvious why they don't, of course, but it's be nice

A bit on the scouting Leoni del Garda - FeralpiSalò The inflated number of goals has temporarily broken the immersion for me. I've been really enjoying the save and I want to continue but I'm not convinced I'll be able to play on with the defensive style until this is patched. I'm contemplating embracing the chaos and just going 'balls to the wall' attacking - play into the number of goals. I might just play on as-is and accept that clean sheets won't really happen. Not sure. Either way, I'm hoping that this is fixed by the time we get to Serie A so I can return to the theme of the save. Before then, I've had some really, really nice feedback on the recruitment methods I've been employing - specifically using the attribute weighting data that I pulled out here and here. Part of the feedback was a request for some more information and the views that I've been using. So, whilst the views are attached to this post, I thought I'd just work through one example in detail to explain how I've been doing it. This will include extreme excel-nerdery. So apologies if that isn't your thing. See you on the other side. Step 1 - Extract the data It starts with getting a hold of the raw data that you need. This is simple enough but I'll walk through it just case. Going to the Scouting > Players screen, I set my Scouting Range to the level I can afford. So in this instance it'll be South Europe. I will then untick the "Interested in" boxes for both Transfer and Loan. I find these options a bit game-y so I'm just going to accept the full list of everyone in range. I might then add some parameters. Let's say I'm looking for a new 8, then I might add: Position - Is Competent At - Midfielder Centre; AND Contract Status - Is Expiring (6 months); AND Starting Appearances - Is At Least 5 or 8 or 10 (depending on the time of season) Towards the end of the season, this will probably give me 5-600 hits. I then apply my custom views to enable me to extract the statistics that I want. I've attached the three I use: Scouting - Def Stats Scouting - Off Stats Scouting - GK Stats Self-explanatory - defensive, offensive and goalkeeping stats. For an 8, I'll want to extract both the defensive and offensive stats. So I'll first set the defensive view to extract the data. You do this by clicking anywhere on the screen that is not hyperlinked (a player's name would be hyperlinked, for example). This will highlight a player's line. Then (for Windows), press Ctrl+A to highlight all line; then Ctrl+P to print the screen. Do not click the top player, then shift-click to the bottom player in the list. This will, regardless of the number of players in the list, extract data for only the top 256 players. Select the Web Page option and save it somewhere useful. You now have the data (and need to repeat this for the offensive stats). Step 2 - Get set up in Excel Ok, so now you want your data to manipulatable in excel. First step is just to open excel, and then open the html file you have saved in Step 1 above. The first thing I then do is hit 'Save As' and change the file type to a .xlsx to ensure full functionality. If, like in the example of an 8, I need to combine offensive and defensive stats - then cut and paste both into the one file NOW, before you start altering the order of players in the spreadsheet. I will then add two rows beneath the column headers, like this: Row 2 I will use for calculating averages for each column; the second I will use to apply filters as shown. The averages are calculated as subtotals, so that averages are only ever calculated against the players you have filtered out rather than the whole extract. To do this, it's a nice simple excel formula to be added into Row 2 for the first row of statistics. In mine this is Apps. The formula is: Either entering the cell numbers of dragging over the selection you wish to subtotal is fine. Mine is shown below for clarity: You can then autofill the same calculation across every cell in row 2, using the standard excel drag and paste function (grabbing the bottom-right of the cell, I don't think I need to explain this one right?!) The last thing I do now is get rid of a few things: Delete columns I don't want - maybe Personality because I don't have enough data Use the Replace function to replace all "-" with "0" Important note here - you can do this for all statistic columns EXCEPT xGOP (Over-performance). Just make sure to exclude that one Use the Replace function to replace "km" with " " Ok, now you're good to go. Step 3 - Custom Stats At this point, I might set up some custom statistics using the raw data that is available. To use one example, I might add a column for "xG over-performance per 90" to make it more comparable for players who have played fewer games. Nice and easy, but add a new column and add the formula =(xGOP/minutes)*90. You can then drag and copy for the whole column. Easy. I might also add percentage of successful pressures (=successful pressures / total pressures), or net possession impact (= gained possession - lost possession). Nothing here is complicated in the slightest. The only limitations are the statistics that are available in game and your imagination in creating them. A favourite of mine was prompted by Lee Scott / FM Analysis / Forza - goal contributions as a percentage of the team (= (Goals per 90 + Assists per 90) / Team Goals per 90. It lets me see if some good players are hidden in underperforming sides. Step 4 - Normalising I then want to create a normalised scale so that everything is a comparison against the player's peers with 1.00 being the mean. This was the purpose of adding the row for averages at the top. It's just a case of now comparing against that average. To do so, I'll add a column next to the statistic I wish to normalise - let's say header success rate. I'll then add a formula which compares each player's rating against the average. Again, really simple but using my spreadsheet and wanting to compare the values in Column O to the average it'll be: In case you don't know, adding the $ before the 2 means that when I drag and paste the formula down the column, excel will not change the cell to which the comparison is made. But not having a $ before the O means I can just copy and paste this to the next ranking column I wish to add. Mine will then look like this I'm sure you know but, just in case, you can add the colour gradients by highlighting every cell in Column P and then clicking on Conditional Formatting (in Home tab) > Colour Scales and this is the top-left option. Again, trying to make it as simple as possible. I will then add Ranking columns for all the statistics I wish to use in the overall play ranking. So, let's say for an 8 I'll add rankings for: Header % Tackle % Distance per 90 Pressure % Dribbles per 90 Progressive passes per 90 Goal contributions as a percentage of the team Net possession ranking As a rule, I will try to avoid nominal numbers (e.g. numbers of tackles made per game) and instead prioritise percentages which indicate success levels. There's too much subjectivity to the nominal numbers depending on the system that a player is used in, how successful their team is, etc etc. For some statistics you have no option and for some the nominal numbers are still indicative, if not perhaps informative, but I just prefer the objective stats. Step 5 - Adding the Weighting / Deviation Before I get any total ranking, I'll add in a column containing the league deviations I talked about here. I'll do this by copying and pasting the 'Weighting' tab from the attached "FM League weightings.xlsx" as a second tab to the spreadsheet I've been working on above. I'll then add a new column in the main tab for "Weighting" or "Deviation" or whatever you want to call it. I then need excel to add the correct number to this column - which is why I needed the player's division in the initial export from FM. We do this with a simple VLOOKUP formula like this: The important part here is that excel is looking for the list in the right place. For the bit of the formula "Weighting!$B$5:£C$70" you can just drag and highlight the two columns that you want excel to look at - the division name and the deviation number on the weighting tab. You will then need to manually add the $ signs - so that when you drag and paste that formula onto the rest of the column, the reference list remains the same. One item to note - in the Weighting tab, I have manually added the names of the leagues which are in my game - note that I'm using the leagues' proper names. If you have any leagues loaded which I don't, or you are using a different language, or you don't have the real league names, then you will need to correct this column yourself. Nice and easy, just copy and paste the right name from the game. Accents etc (when using English) also get exported in a weird way - so occasionally the Niké Liga, for example, will be exported as Niké liga and you'll need to adjust the spreadsheet accordingly. You'll notice the error if you get an N/A in the deviation column because the VLOOKUP has been unable to find a reference. Ok, so with luck it's now looking something like this: Now you just need to do some scoring. Step 6 - Scoring Again, really simple. Just add a column, call it whatever you like - maybe "8 ranking including weighting". You then will need to sum all the normalised scores that you want to use to assess your chosen player and multiply by the deviation. So, for me, it'd be something like this: Where P8, T8, Y8 and AH8 correspond to the columns of four stats I'm wanting to use to compare the players and K8 is the column containing the weighting / deviation. I will then apply whatever other filters I may wish to employ - let's say filtering out all players under 6 foot. I can then re-order the entire spreadsheet using the filter on the "8 ranking including weighting" column by highest to lowest... and hey-presto, there are the players with the best statistical output in my selection, weighted by how strong their league is. Step 7 - Scouting I then just go through the players manually. If Kevin de Bruyne comes out top of my list of 8s, well I know there's no point in looking at him. But I'll search for viable players in FM, then send my scouts off to watch them and get their opinion to add to my statistical meanderings. ---------------------------------------- CAVEAT Is this the "BEST WAY OF SCOUTING OMGZ I FOUND ALL DA WONDERKIDZZZZ!!!!". No. Or maybe, I don't know. Are the weightings perfect? Absolutely not. Who knows if they're even a reasonable way to separate out players. It's just something I wanted to do in an effort to normalise statistical outputs between disparate leagues. It might be rubbish for all I know. But I'm having fun giving it a shot and it seems like other people are also keen on trying it. So feel free. I've attached the weightings and the scouting views that I use to get the data. I think people should be able to come up with their own custom stats, their own preferred statistics and their own views on which statistics are key for which profiles. Always keen to see other people's ideas on how to manipulate data. And lastly, I know I'm probably missing several excel tricks on how to do this better. I'm not an expert by any means - I'm just trying to find the simplest way of making this workable for my tiny little brain. Again, always keen to hear other people's methods and shortcuts. Have fun with it. Forza Feralpi! Scouting - GK Stats.fmf Scouting - Off Stats.fmf Scouting - Def Stats.fmf FM league weightings.xlsx

Agree with this. The goals bug (and I believe it's a bug) is immersion-breaking for me, rather than game-breaking. It's clear that most won't find this prevents them playing and enjoying the game. Each to their own.

Can I just check that the bug where too many goals are being scored within the human player's league is known and recognised? I don't want to raise a bug report for something that's already been acknowledged and done to death

Ouch, going out to St-Malo must hurt. They must be down the pyramid quite a bit, no? The downward trend on the finances looks ominous. Any trouble if you don't get promoted this season?

I admire the effort but it's not for me. I'm really finding this bug very dispiriting. I thought we were just bad, but knowing that such a significant bug is distorting the game so significantly in the human player's league... don't think I can put up with that

So it looks like this is a wider FM24 bug. I thought our terrible defending was because our players were terrible... turns out the match engine is churning out quite ridiculous numbers of goals just now. People might think I'm being over-dramatic about this but the more I look at this the more game-breaking it feels. The immersion has just completely broken. It's like the glass-smashing moment in How I Met Your Mother. Going to sleep on it and see how I feel tomorrow but might just put this on hold until it's patched.

Is anyone else having an issue with FM24 being very high-scoring? I thought our defence was really poor but it turns out that everyone's is. To illustrate, last season IRL the worst defence in Serie B was Brescia - conceding 57 goals. Last season in my save, the AVERAGE goals conceded was 61.3. That just isn't right. Is anyone else finding a similar problem?

More like, "how much time have I spent trawling through excel exports of data from the player search tab"... and the answer would be "a lot". We have an affiliate link with Atalanta but it's basically useless. They refuse to loan anyone for free and nearly always ask for 100% wage contributions. I don't think it's a loan-link, which is the problem. It's just a "mutually beneficial relationship" which is about as beneficial as my stalker-ex.

Dilemma Leoni del Garda - Feralpisalò Finances are the biggest problem at Feralpisalò. The board has had to inject about £10m so far just to keep us afloat. Despite this, our wage budget has been plummeting since I took over. From £130k a week, we're now restricted to just £91k - and we're currently using £89k of that. This covers enough players for the first XI and a threadbare bench that includes two 16 year-olds and Davide Ballestrero - sitting on a rolling contract awaiting his inevitable departure. From the prep that I'd done above, we still need a back-up 'keeper (or first-choice if Pizzignacco leaves), a centre back, a right-back and a 9 - plus another 6/8 would be useful, particularly when Ballestrero leaves... but we have only £2k left in the wage budget. That's not going to get us even one of those players. Loans might be an option but everyone is demanding a wage contribution that we can't afford... so we're kind of screwed. We have very few options... perhaps only one option really. Da Cruz is our first-choice right-winger and Shaka is our first-choice 8, but both are taking over £8k a week in wages. If we could sell both of them, we could bring in maybe £800k and free up £16,750 a week for free transfers. I reckon I could get 4 squad players for that... probably weakening our first-team but strengthening the squad overall. I can't decide. It'd be a bit of a risk - not least that I might not be able to sell the two of them and simply end up disrupting two important first-team players. Or perhaps we do sell them but then can't get anyone in at sufficiently cheap wages to fill out the squad... and even if we did manage it, then I'd still be two short of the players I reckon I need. So is it worth it? I just can't see how the finances get any better without promotion, so it's not like we can just wait it out. I've already jettisoned the under-18 side, and this summer followed that up with the under-20s - getting rid of all the staff and moving any prospects to the senior squad, selling the rest. We're down to the bare bones in the senior squad and have still maxed out the wage budget. Players tell me 18-20 months ahead of their contracts expiring that they won't be signing new ones - but their value is so low that there's no point in selling them. So where do we go from here? Is the gamble with Da Cruz and Shaka our only option? At something of an impasse. Views welcome. Forza Feralpi! -------------------------------- EDIT - I've done a bit more digging and it looks like I should be able to secure some cheaper loans from Serie A B-teams to fill out my squad. There are enough players on <£1k a week that I can get for a few hundred on loan. This feels like a more realistic route for Italian clubs so I'm going to commit to that.

Cheers Matt, how are you playing him? I think he's been best for me at 10. Whenever I've played him off the right, he's just gone missing.

I'm definitely enjoying the writing style. It doesn't go too heavy into the dramatic, narrative style which is something I'm not overly keen on, unless it's done really well. You're finding a good balance to keep it interesting. It's a shame the other Salamanca phoenix club got relegated. That'd be a nice rivalry. Have your kits still got the elephant sponsor?

Any plans to go back to Nancy for players or staff? Have you checked when you're playing them? Any chance you could relegate them?

I need another four or five players. This is a massive struggle

Indeed. Just a graphic with some transparency that I stick underneath when I want to take the screenshot. I know there's the one in the game but I find it better / easier to do this myself

Window Prep Leoni del Garda - FeralpiSalò We've continued our solid, if unspectacular, form into the new year and, as expected, are completely untroubled by the prospect of relegation. We're currently sitting 12th, although I expect to drop off to something like 14th as our final 5 fixtures are pretty tough and mostly against teams who have something to play for. I, meanwhile, have turned my attention to next season already. 8th place, with its final playoff spot, is 4 points and 4 teams away - that's just too much to overtake with 5 games to go. So I'll be rotating out the players who definitely won't be here next season and getting a good feel for exactly where I should be placing my focus over the summer. To help with that, I've already built a depth chart of the profiles I expect to use: Rotating between variations of 4-4-1-1, 4-2-3-1, 4-3-3 and 5-4-1, I need players to be relatively versatile - capable of covering their identified role within the two potential slots that role may be assigned in any given formation. Right wing-backs, for example, will need to be able to play at DR or WBR, as an obvious example, whilst the 6s and 8s will need to be adept at playing DM or M. Simple stuff but it lets me identify the slots we're missing and it's pretty obvious that the majority of recruitment is going to be defensive. That's no great surprise. Having conceded 49 in the 33 games to date, I'm still not much-enamoured with our defensive performance, and four of our current centre halves will definitely be leaving in the summer. Three (Alessandro Pilati - 1 start, Loris Bacchetti - 5 starts, and Michele Camporese - 25 starts) are out of contract and refusing to consider new ones; whilst loanee Antonio Tikvic (17 starts) will return to parent club Udinese. This leaves me with only Filippo Scaglia (30 starts) in the centre... less than ideal. There's a similar situation at right-back with the two loanees, including the superb Filippo Missori, returning from whence they came. And it's going to come as little surprise that we'll be needing free transfers or loans again. The financial situation is dire - indeed the board already implemented an emergency 30% cut to my wage budget, now just £84k a week. Unless that recovers in the summer, we could be in quite a bit of trouble. For now, I'll prepare as if we're going to have some wages for new recruits. Before I start the same process as last summer, I wanted to check back on the success of the recruitment to date. There's no point in replicating our approach if it's not producing the outcome we want. It's clear that our best players this season have been loanees - Filippo Missori, Antonio Tikvic, Coli Saco and Domingos Quina. More on the latter two later. How did our actual signings perform? Giacomo Satalino - Recruitment Rating N/A Intended to be nothing more than a back-up 'keeper, he has played far more than I'd prefer thanks to injury to Pizzignacco. Frankly, he's been pretty terrible but his signing wasn't based on any statistical output - it was just asking my DoF for free back-up goalkeeper options. So nothing to say on our approach here. Filippo Scaglia - Recruitment Rating C+ As already mentioned, he's the only centre-back who will stay on for next season, but that's not driven by any huge success in his performances. He's been fine, don't get me wrong - but 65% header success ratio (including offensive headers at set pieces) and 71% tackle ratio... that's only ok. He does, however, block more shots per 90 than any other defender in my squad, almost double the average of the rest. So hang around he will and I'd be happy with him as a rotation option. A solid C+ but nothing more. Marijan Cabraja - Recruitment Ranking B Costing actual money rather than a Bosman, I had to load the save file from the previous season to check Cabraja's statistical output but, for just £25,500, he's been really good. I've probably stifled him somewhat by making him the least adventurous of our wingbacks - Filippo Missori at right-back is far and away our best player. Next season there's a good chance he'll be given more licence to get forward - which suits our primarily right-footed attacking players too, with the ML/AML cutting inside and the MR/AMR staying wider with a more conservative wingback behind. Even on a support duty, Cabraja has created 0.62 chances per 90 and xA/90 of 0.19. Really solid numbers. Solid player. Eklu Shaka Mawuli - Recruitment Rating A Shaka has definitely been a big success. He was the case study given in the previous update, based on his ranking as an 8. For most of this season, he's played in the 6 role - largely to accommodate Davide Ballestrero. With the latter confirming that he will also leave when his contract expires, Shaka has moved into the 8 role and loanee Coli Saco has stepped in as the 6. In whichever role, Shaka has been great. 80% header success, 79% tackle success, wins possession about 33% more than he loses it, and good on the ball - making 3.26 progressive passes per 90. I'm a big fan and his success has convinced me to keep looking in Serie C for potential signings. A definite "A". Giacomo Olzer - Recruitment Rating A I had to wait a wee while for Olzer as he didn't want to join us right away but, having been outstanding for Brescia in Serie B last season (15 goals, 8 assists in 40 starts) he unfathomably went un-signed until mid-October. In I swooped and he's been similarly excellent for us. Outperforming his xG and creating 0.66 chances per game, one of his key strengths is in set pieces where he's producing 1.4 set-piece key passes per 90. With the tallest squad in the league, it's no surprise that set plays are a key strength for us but Olzer has been key there - 12 goals from corners being second behind only Sampdoria. Should be important again next term. Christian Capone - Recruitment Rating B+ As will Christian 'Al' Capone. Significantly underperforming his xG but more creative from open play than Olzer and capable of playing any of the three roles behind the 9, he's the best dribbling attacker that we have and is fouled more regularly than any other player. This is really helpful when we're so strong from set pieces. I wish he was better in the air for his 6' but, leaving that aside, he's the best defensive forward player we have - winning the ball back more than any other wide player or 10. Khalid Boutaib - Recruitment Rating C I struggled to get in the 9 I wanted and eventually settled for Boutaib. He started like a house on fire, though, scoring six in the first four games. He then went on a bit of a drought before knee tendonitis put him out of action for a month and a half. At his age, that's hard to come back from and he never really has. At 37, maybe he was just that bit too old - particularly for a team which relies on physicality... something to learn there perhaps. Julian Kristoffersen - Recruitment Rating B+ Kristoffersen was another signing from Serie C and one that was intended to only ever be back-up to Boutaib. Following the Moroccan veteran's injury, Kristoffersen has become first-choice, albeit one who only performs in fits and starts. He's outperformed his xG a little but doesn't get enough shots away - just 1.84 per 90 - and not of terribly good quality - 0.18xG per shot being ok compared to the wider player pool but not good enough for the leading 9 in my view. If you're getting <2 shots per game and score with fewer than one in five shots, you're not on course to be the 1-in-2 striker that I need. Either get more shots of that quality, or take better shots. Definitely good enough to continue as back-up, but a leading 9 is going to be up there with the defensive priorties. --------------------------------- So overall, I'm really pleased with that. With the exception of Boutaib, all the signings intended to be in the first-team have proven themselves worthy. One miss out of seven is a pretty good ratio. Which means that I'll continue to recruit in the same manner this season, with a little more confidence about shopping in Serie C, but perhaps avoiding the truly veteran players at 35+. EDIT - I forgot I was going to come back to Saco and Quina. Two of the four loanees we've had this season, they both impressed me enough that I have finalised their permanent arrival in the summer - both on Bosmans. Quina has been involved in 20 goals this season (10 goals, 10 assists) and Saco, at 6'6", has fit straight into both the first team and our general ethos. Both were also available at reasonable wages and no transfer fee - the perfect double-act for us right now. A few more like this are badly needed. Forza Feralpi!

Just wanted to say I'm enjoying the narrative style here. I recommended Unionistas as a team to manage on fm24 and considered it myself, so will be reading along 👍

Thanks, hope you enjoyed it I think FM has, for a number of years now, been slowly getting better with the AI reacting to the human player's tactics. This has made it progressively more and more important to react mid-game. I know some people are saying "now with FM24 you need to do x", but mostly these are the same people who have been saying the same thing with every iteration... so I'd take take it with a pinch of salt. But, if you want to compare it to, let's say, FM16, then there's a definite step up in the ability of the AI. Plus it's just fun to play this way and probably more realistic. Fair point, but having finished 14th last season I'm really looking for a step up this term. In 2023/24, we got to 43 points by scoring 43 and conceding 55. I'd like to see improvements across each of those three simple metrics. Something like 48 points, scoring 50 and conceding 50 would do me.

Some tough lessons Leoni del Garda - Feralpisalò We started the season really well - indeed we were top after three wins from the opening four games. Sadly, that didn't last. Freefall through September and October has only been arrested with some improved defensive performances. Having hit the halfway point, we're sitting in 13th - not awful but I think a few places below where I'd have liked to have been at this point. Südtirol, Gubbio and Ternana look doomed already - and account for 7 of our 25 points. Meanwhile Pescara, Crotone and Pisa look set to scrap it out to avoid the fourth relegation spot. From Bari up, including ourselves, teams will likely have one eye on sneaking into the playoffs with an 8th-placed finish but there are some strong teams leading the pack - with Hellas Verona and Torino looking good for an immediate return to the top-flight. I don't feel any particular threat of relegation - there were some aggravating circumstances which contributed to the poor performances. The primary factor was missing our first-choice 'keeper Semuel Pizzignacco - his replacement Giacomo Satalino just isn't of the same quality and failed to keep a single clean sheet. Instead, the team conceded an average of 2.25 goals per 90 in the 8 games he was between the sticks, Pizzignacco's record is 1.30. The goals also dried up at the other end. Boutaïb started the season really well but first went on a barren run and was then out for 5 weeks with knee tendonitis. At the tender age of 37, you can imagine how this has impacted his physical attributes. His nominated understudy, Norwegian striker Julian Kristoffersen, struggled to make an impact - scoring his first league goal on 21st December. Between them, they have a scoring record of 1 in 2 - not the worst and our overall scoring record is 11th in the league. But, much like the goals at the other end, we've scored in feasts and famines. 5 against Südtirol, 4 against Crotone and 3 against Padova, Ternana and Catanzaro - but then blanks against Modena, Sampdoria, Gubbio, Palermo, Hellas Verona and Torino. As I write this, I find myself changing my mind somewhat. 5 of those clubs are in the top 7 in the league and, as much as we've progressed since last season, I wouldn't expect us to be challenging those sides. In truth, the fixtures which have let us down haven't been goalless draws away to Palermo (7th) and Torino (2nd) - those are actually great results. The problem has been drawing 2-2 at home with Pisa (17th) and Pescara (15th), or losing 4-3 at Bari (14th). And in all three of those games, the problem has been the defence, not a lack of goals. The original premise of the save was to be physical and tough to beat - playing with a low block and hitting teams on the counter. This seems to still be effective against the bigger teams in the league, but the lesser teams have reacted far quicker than I had anticipated and don't seem to be willing to come at us any more. Taking that Pisa game as an example - we're at home and have taken an early lead, then continued to sit back, creating almost nothing of note whilst we cede possession to the visitors. This is the analysis map showing where Pisa received their passes and crosses throughout the 90 minutes: You can see the effect of our low block, protecting the centre - but even as Pisa are looking to the flanks, they are not committing their fullbacks much, with the majority of their passes being received around the halfway line. Here's a good example from one of their attacks: Pisa are effectively attacking with only the four players highlighted in green. The defensive box makes countering through the middle very hard whilst their two fullbacks are barely committed at all - making it easy for them to recover to support the defence and prevent any counter attacks. (their "restdefence" to use the clumsy term that people are now assigning to this element of the game) This allows them to dominate possession in a very sterile but safe way and rely on defensive mistakes or set pieces to score. This is exactly what happened when they scored from a throw-in and a free-kick. I'd been too slow to recognise this trend but it's very, very difficult to play a direct, counter-attacking game against a side that keeps six players goalside of your entire XI when attacking. In the last two games, I've finally cottoned on and pushed our players up the park a little. I want to honour as much of the principles as we can, so I'm sticking to a physical, direct game - but instead of the low block, I've pushed us up into a mid-block with a more positive mentality / risk-taking approach. And it paid immediate dividends with three goals in the opening ten minutes against relegation fodder Ternana - a game which saw our highest possession share since starting the save. So what does this mean for the rest of the season? Well first, it means I need to better balance our tactical approach. I don't think you can accuse us of being one-dimensional tactically, but the majority of these shapes were variations on the low-block theme. I'd like to continue this reactivity but being more proactive against the sides below us, if not those in-and-around us too. Meanwhile, we'll continue the successful low-blocking game against the promotion chasers. We also have another window coming up but I think our recruitment priority will be the summer. Two of the loanees - right-back Filippo Missori and winger Domingos Quina - have been two of our best players, along with midfielder Davide Balestrero who has already told us he's leaving in the summer. So replacements for these three are high on the list of priorities - before I even look at strengthening elsewhere. And like last summer, that 'elsewhere' is likely to be extensive. Pizzignacco will likely move to a bigger club at the end of the campaign, so a 'keeper will be needed; whilst the age profiles at centre back and 9 are clear indicators that attention is also needed there... So this perennial problem is going to come back again, which means it's likely to be a scramble for free transfers augmented by a couple of loans whilst we try to build up a little better year-on-year. Fun though. Forza Feralpi!

This is not usual for my teams. Not any of my teams, nevermind a team which I'm specifically trying to make hard to beat. Also, how are we scoring so many goals?! This is also unusual for my teams. I don't quite get it. An injury to Pizzignacco has not helped because our back-up 'keeper is pretty gash but there are some big issues behind this defensively. On the other hand, Capone and Boutaïb have been absolutely fantastic signings and are largely responsible for all those goals... now I just need some similar impact at the back

Oh my good lord, that intake. How did you end up with a South Korean player? Do you have a South Korean staff member or does the club have ownership links?

Thanks all @SixPointer @Matt_1979 @danielgear @Chris_ANZFM @Reiver @bigmattb28. Always appreciate the nice words and positive feedback to my rambling on about the game. Cheers Matty. I wanted to bring them in to try them out in friendlies - unfortunately not all 42 were interested in a move, or at least not at realistic wage levels. So whilst we ended up bringing in 42 total, I reckon maybe 20 or so got a couple of games for me to judge them on. The goalkeeper injury thing looks like a classic 'beta' new feature - way overdone to make sure everyone notices that it's there, then it gets patched and balanced a bit later down the road. The footedness thing is interesting. I've been thinking about adding a footedness multiplier to my ranking spreadsheet, but I'm not really sure what sort of weighting I would apply. If Shaka was, for example, 'reasonable' with his left foot - should that bump his score by 5%, 10%? Maybe at Serie B level, there's no multiplier as it isn't really required, but once I get to Serie A then it needs a revisit when I think it's more of a necessity... lots of stuff to consider.

First Window Leoni del Garda - FeralpiSalò It's turned out to be quite a difficult window. Whilst I'd prepared shortlists for almost every position in the team, I was hampered by the lack of available funds and an enforced patience. With no transfer budget, I had to wait until 1 July and hope that at least some of the shortlisted players would fail to sign new deals with their clubs, becoming available on the free market. I reckon the success rate here was about 50/50 and we had to say goodbye to quite a number of primary targets early on. Regardless, the preparation paid off and we were able to bring in 42 players on trial by mid-July. And about a quarter of them simply wanted far too much in wages to be viable options. So I was down to a pool of about 30 - or an average of 3 per profile / position. From there I missed out on some of my preferred options - special mention here to Ronaldo Taveres. The 6'4" Portuguese striker, once of Estrela da Amadora, was my absolute number one target as the new 9. The Target Forward Rank (including deviation) that I'd built ranked him 10th of all 1160 players exported. He massively outperformed his xG at a relatively poor Liga NOS side and was directly involved in a massive 62% of his team's goals last season - a standout performer in a relatively poor side. He was also the only feasible option in the top 20 to be a first-choice regular for his team, starting 31 games - and at 26 was coming into his prime period. Sadly, he insisted on us paying him £30,000 a week, which we clearly couldn't afford - only to then accept £5250 (whilst still on trial with us) to go to fellow Serie B side Cosenza. Not pleased, but such is life. Whilst Tavares let us down, we did manage to secure a number of key targets and several first-choices whilst also bringing in reasonable money for players I either didn't want (Karlo Butic) or who don't fit the physical profiles I require (Federico Carraro). Perhaps one example to highlight the process and commitment to the save's premise. Shaka was playing for Serie C Arezzo last season but - despite playing in one of the poorest playable leagues in my save, and therefore suffering from a negative deviation weighting - popped up in the top 20 of midfielders according to my "8 ranking". This ranking takes into account statistical output across the previous season for dribbles, aerial challenge success, non-penalty xG per 90, progressive passes, etc etc. He also fit the general physical profile that I'm looking for - minimum 6'0" with decent strength and no obvious physical weaknesses. At our level, he absolutely fits the profile of a classic box-to-box midfielder and can also fill in as a 6 when needed. The real stand-out statistic which sealed it for me was his goal contributions. At 0.52 direct involvements per 90, he was outperforming his peers by 170% - and not in a dominant team either, that 0.52 per 90 accounting for 45% of Arezzo's goals. That's the highest proportion of any central midfielder in my export. I'm delighted with his acquisition. That nicely summarises the general process by which I decided on the majority of our acquisitions. I think the 9 is where I'm least certain of success. As I said above, we missed out on primary target Ronaldo Tavares but ended up bringing in Norwegian Julian Kristoffersen (6'6") from Ancona and Khalid Boutaïb (6'3") from French club Pau. The former was only ever intended to be a solid back-up, and whilst the latter was 5th overall on our target forward ranking, I was slightly put off by his low goal contributions at Pau. Despite over-performing his xG, he contributed to only 0.29 goals + assists per 90 - a mere 17% of his team's overall perforamance. The other options were swiftly being snapped up elsewhere (Davide Diaw going to Tenerife, Jonathan Kodija signing another contract with Annecy, etc) and so I had to move. Boutaïb was willing to join very cheap and I decided to just pull the trigger. At 36, he was never going to be a long-term option but has decent mental attributes and player traits to make him a valuable mentor whilst I find better options. In some other positions, I just wasn't able to bring in anyone that had been identified and scouted as part of the preparation. In these instances, I took one of two options: I used the save file from last season to go back and look at the statistical output for players that had played a decent number of games - for example left-back Marijan Čabraja coming in from Rijeka If there were no competitive games on which to make a judgement, I opted for loans instead. I didn't want to commit to anything outside the premise of the save but I just needed players. I think loans are a nice compromise so I can assess the players myself. As such, Domingos Quina has come in from Udinese to offer pace and flair on the break, with Filippo Missori joining as first-choice right-back on loan from Sassuolo All of which gives us good options across the park to fit any of the systems we tend to use. So far, I've flipped between 4-4-1-1, 4-1-4-1, 4-4-1-1 with DMs, 5-4-1, 5-3-2... you get the idea. The shape changes but the principles remain. Low-block, direct, aggressive play with a physically dominant team. The tallest and heaviest side in the league with a higher-than-average age profile. That's exactly what I'm aiming for. And the signs are promising that it'll pay dividends. We may have lost this game but Empoli are a solid Serie A team, finishing 14th last season. All the hall-marks of our approach are here - 30% possession yet we out-shot our more illustrious opponents and created excellent xG per shot. Our three goals came from new signings. We just couldn't keep the lead and were looking good in extra time until my excellent 'keeper broke his collar bone catching an uncontested long-ball (thank you new FM goalkeeper injury feature, just splendid). Having already made all 5 subs, we were down to ten men and had to put Kristoffersen in goal - something at which he proved himself comically unsuited. Hopefully we can carry that offensive form into the league. I'd be happy with a solid mid-table performance as we continue to build the squad and develop into an even more physical side. We'll be returning to our own ground this season - the Lina Turina having been expanded to a massive 3500 all-seater... how this squares with Serie B's 5500 minimum, I'm not too sure but let's just move on from that. With luck we'll see a few more people through the gates now that the games are actually in Salò and not 120 miles down the road. Some other signings might follow before the deadline to help us along a bit too. A few of the targets who rejected us are still without clubs and may resign themselves to playing with such lowly company as ourselves. In particular, now that Pizzignacco is out for three months with that collar bone, I may need another 'keeper; and ideally I'd like one more option at 8 for a bit of depth; plus I'm still unconvinced by our options at 9. It seems much of the squad is in agreement... Forza Feralpi!

Followed before I'd even read the two opening posts. Shame I can't follow again. I'm sure you know this but you can write ö by holding Alt and then typing 0246 on your number pad (num lock on). And if you want to use the Norwegian ø then it's Alt+0248. I know working in Norway and with Norwegians was eventually going to pay off.

Thanks Ben, much appreciated. Can completely understand that you're knee-deep in upgrading your skin for 24. Looking forward to seeing what you end up with. And yes, I think we were well-prepared for the window and managed to secure a few of our targets. There were a couple of positions where we ended up missing out on the targets we've identified and, because I had no-one left through the stats-route, have taken loanees on instead. Regardless, the preparation and the commitment to the theme have shone through as we're left with the biggest, heaviest squad in the league. We are, literally, massive.