Shrewnaldo

+4 for Arancibia's Vision when nothing else has increased by more than 2, and only three of those, is a bit crazy. How does that come about? BPD training or are you also giving him passing training? Interesting that both players have improved very little technically so far. I'll check back on my players but I think this aligns with my experience of mentals/physicals early development then technicals later

I have a couple of forwards coming through the system that I think should overtake Polo. My coaches want me to put Álex in the senior squad already whilst Villanueva is out on loan in the Primera to guarantee game time. Both have the height and should develop the physicality that Polo is lacking but neither have Polo's mental attributes which I think are where he's getting his performances from. The good thing about Polo is that no-one is interested in signing him - the game just doesn't rate him and so he should stick around even if he isn't first-choice for any of the front three roles. He's just one of those players where you know he isn't necessarily the best but he just brings it.

The Sixth Intake A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón Our favourite time of year as we take the annual look through this... Turning into this... And hold the freaking phone... 2.5* current ability left back. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. This one could be good. (as an aside, two Brazilians... because reasons... but still no Mexicans which is really disappointing) Elite Talents Sergio Lozano - Left-back Oh my, that's a newgen. Fairly Professional personality and holy heck that's a newgen. Look at those physicals already and bleedin' nora that's a newgen. I'm pretty sure he's going straight into the first-team. Currently I play with an inverted fullback on the left which would just be a waste of Lozano. If I end up flipping the tactic to go with a left wingback that'd have a number of knock-on effects. First up, the right back would become the inverted fullback, secondly the AML would become the inside forward and it would mean putting Javi into central midfield as the CM(A)... Does that solve our Aguirre problem? Being a right-footed inside forward on the right hasn't held Diego López back this season, so no reason it would be a problem for Aguirre on the opposite flank. Anyway, back to Lozano. Yes. What a newgen. The other option is to 'do a Bale'. Maybe he isn't a left-back after all. Maybe he's... well, what would you play him as? Raphael - Brazilian 10 Hmm... it's always going to be difficult being the one after Lozano but... hmmm... ok, positives - Passing, Technique, Flair, Decisions, Bravery. Some good attributes in areas which are hard to improve with time or training. Negatives: well, I don't currently play a 10 and he lacks the work rate and teamwork to play at centre mid, and lacks the physicality to play as a deep-lying forward. A 'wait and see' I think. Fernando - Spanish 10 Absolutely shocking physicals but there's a lot else to like about Fernando. Good personality, two-footed with outstanding Teamwork and Work Rate, he's already a natural finisher and has an eye for a pass. I like Fernando a lot. Those physicals should improve with time (although perhaps not enough) and I think he'd make a very handy deep-lying forward. Very handy indeed. Top Talents Brais Manzano - Goalkeeper Decent, I guess. His lack of Determination could be an issue and his Positioning is starting a lot lower than I'd like for a goalkeeper. Another 'wait and see'. Francisco José Martin - DLP That squint likely accounts for his poor Vision, which is an issue for playmakers. I really can't see Martín turning into a player - he's got too far to go in his Mentals. Yes, Decisions and Determination are excellent but no Flair, poor movement, lack of composure, teamwork and work rate. Not for me. Pablo Peña - Ball-winner Better starting physicals, two-footed and a good personality - he's one off double figures for Passing, Bravery, Positioning, Teamwork and Vision. If those tick over then his eye-test starts to look a lot better. Potential for sure - and he's a young 15, born in March, so definitely has extra time to catch up on some of those attributes. One for the possible column. Antonio Cueto - Left wing Personality is a big yikes but good physicals and has decent enough technicals for a winger. A lot of gaps in the mentals though and is already 16 so with less time to develop than some of the others. Promise but with a healthy dose of scepticism. By the way, did you see that guy Lozano? What a newgen. Andrew Uche - right wing See entry for Cueto. Rinse and repeat. ----------------------------------- We also got 6 Good Talents and 3 Decent Talents, all of whom have about as much potential of being a professional footballer as I do. Comparing back to the preview news item, where is my centre back?! I was really hoping for a strong, physical centre back and an inside forward for AMR so it's a little disappointing that I missed out on both. On the other hand, Lozano. And conceivably, Lozano as an inside forward has some merit. Wherever he ends up playing, it's clearly not a dud of an intake as he's an absolutely phenomenal prospect. And then there's Fernando who definitely has some promise but the rest of the intake is a bit meh. Our Head of Youth Development, Feliu Márquez, is out of contact come the end of the season. Is it time for a refresh? I had hoped for more of a correlation between his personality and those of the intakes but the impact isn't as marked as I'd expected. I only use job adverts to find new staff and I can't advertise for Felix's role until he's left so I have no idea what sort of replacement might be available to me. What do you think? Replace him? If so, obviously the personality is the primary consideration but what else do you think about when picking a HOYD? And should I fire Felix after he's just brought Lozano through? Feels a bit harsh.

Sounds like you've fallen victim to an FM-special. How did Simeone want him played? Something ridiculous like BWM v BBM?

Polo is an interesting one. I'd always liked him but, as the intakes came and went, he seemed to be a bit below the primary prospects of Aguirre, Javi, Martínez et al. So whilst he started as an AML/AMC/ST I also trained him at AMR in order to fill the gap on that flank. I was seeing him as being the utility man to work around the others. This season, he came in as the DLF when Aguirre was injured and he's been outstanding. Yes, he's lacking a bit of physicality but ideal as a DLF apart from that and still has a bit of developing to do. The number of times I see him take the ball to feet and - no doubt thanks to his First Touch, Technique, Agility and Balance - be able to turn defenders and play a simple pass to create space... so good. I'm teaching him the tries killer balls often trait and I think the next one will be likes ball played into feet. With a bit of strength training after that, I think he's great. Sadly, Soriano has suffered from repeated ankle injuries - breaking it once and twisting it repeatedly. That's left him behind a bit, to be honest, and he's struggled to hold down a place in the B-team. Unfortunately, I just don't see him ever breaking into the senior squad. Good memory though! You have highlighted, however, that I haven't updated the ages on the squad planner. Polo and Aguirre are now 20 and 18 respectively - although still not exactly veterans.

Yeah there's all sorts of little bugs like this with the B-team. Keep an eye out for the staff responsibilities randomly being delegated back, and the board appointing B-team managers over your head even when you have selected the option. Also, the B-team manager seems to be able to completely alter your transfer and wage budget balances for some reason. As for the tactics thing, it does happen randomly to me too. Make sure that you've set your chosen tactic to the 'Primary Trained Tactic' in the first-team Training screen, the B-team training screen and the under-19 training screen. You'll notice that the B-team dropdown option doesn't let you choose the tactic name (if you've saved a custom name), it's just a generic description of 'Balanced Custom 4-2-3-1 DM'. Sometimes you just need to delegate training back to the B-team manager, use the option in the Development Centre to select their tactic and then take training back. Always fun. Just loads of bugs.

No Europe, No Problem A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón Without the demands of continental football, and perhaps with a little bit of tactical pragmatism, we have absolutely flourished so far this season. We've settled on the 4-3-3, albeit with some changes to the meandering posts above, and have landed on a system which suits most of our strongest players. At the halfway point we are sitting fourth having only lost four games (home to Atlético and Girona, away at Real and Valencia), with three draws (Barca and Valladolid at home, Espanyol away). Last season we scored 43 goals all year, this term we're already at 38 whilst we're conceding at less than a goal a game. All-in-all I couldn't really be any more pleased with that. I've even got Diego López scoring. The Mareo graduate returned to Spain from Brentford for £16.5m in January 2027 and made an instant impact, scoring 12 in 11 before hitting a barren spell that was to last into the 2027/28 season when he managed only 5 goals. This season, López has been moved to the inside forward role wide on the right and has started to flourish again - utilising his pace, his finishing ability and his Likes to Try to Beat Offside Trap trait. And traits are now on the forefront of my thoughts throughout the squad. The trequartista at 9 has given way to a deep-lying forward with an attack duty - giving us more of a central presence to play off that the treq who, whilst creative and plain fun, did have a tendency to vacate the area a bit too much. The playmaker has then moved into midfield, replacing the B2B who had been acting as a link player. All very straightforward stuff really. Within this system, I've started making a list of traits that I think would suit each of the profiles and considering when to ask the newgens to learn them: Right centre-back and inverted full-back: as these guys will become the outside players in the back 3 during possession, their role will automatically switch to Wide Centre Back and they do have a tendency to push forward if the flank is vacated. I've also noticed they are often left with clear space in front of them and I'd love to teach them the Brings Ball Out of Defence trait. I'm also considering some passing based traits such as Tries long range passes but I'm wondering if this might be more suited to the DM(D). Defensive midfielder: often the primary focal point for recycling the ball, the DM(D) is the one midfielder who most often receives a pass with the combination of players in front of him AND him facing the opposition goal. So it makes sense to me that something like Switches Ball to the Flanks and Tries Long Range Passes would suit him. Playmaker: pretty straightforward and you be sensing a theme here. Anyway, my current playmaker Molinas already has these traits CM(A): again straightforward stuff like Gets Into Opposition Area is going to be really helpful as this is the guy who will try to break beyond the deep-lying forward. I really think this sort of stuff should be do-able without traits but what would I know. Tries to get forward whenever possible would be good and I'd also really like to try out Tries one-twos as this should work really well as a combination with the DLF or the AP. Lastly, dribbles through the centre of the pitch could be devastating with the right combination of dribbling, pace and agility and is one of the reasons I've considered switching Javi from the wing to the centre. On the left wing, I'd also like Gets into Opposition Area to encourage the winger to burst forward from his deeper position and get into the back-post when the ball is on the right flank. The left-winger is also often isolated against the fullback and, pace permitting, I think would be a good candidate for Tries to Knock the Ball Past Opponent when taking him on due to the space available. For the inside forward, I really like that López already has Likes to Try to Beat the Offside Trap and would be keen for another one-twos experiment. And lastly the DLF: to help with the creativity, I'd like Tries Killer Balls Often but I'm not sure what else. Likes the Ball Into Feet could be an option but I don't think the role needs a trait for him to drop deep, do any dribbling or specific movement and the finishing stuff I'd say is player specific. That gives me a good basis to work from - not just for teaching the newgens but also for targetting recruitment to fill the gaps. Speaking of gaps, I'll probably need to sign at least a defender in January. (purple indicates out on loan) With their contracts expiring at the end of the season, I took the opportunity to sell Jorge Meré (£800k to Almería), Lucas Ferreras (£725k to Espanyol) and Diego Sánchez (£100k to Burnley). All three were defensive options who just weren't getting any gametime - Ferreras a particular disappointment - with 56 first-team games across 2026/7 and 2027/8 he just never kicked on into a proper LaLiga level defender. So that leaves me a little short should one of Gragera, Krejčí or Chiquete get injured or attract big club attention. Given the lack of European football and a relatively straightforward 19 leagues games but a few rounds in the cup to go, it's altogether possible that we won't need any cover but the step off from the first-team options to the likes of Puigdollers and Taibo is significant. So perhaps a loan deal or a short-term option with a good mentoring personality will do it. The other problem I'm having is injuries. Specifically, injuries to Carlos Rojas and Ander Aguirre. Two of my best prospects, their squad numbers indicate that they were selected to be first-choice at the start of the season. But, because of stuff like the below, they just haven't had a run in the team. Rojas has managed just 2 starts and 4 sub appearances; Aguirre 5 starts and 10 subs. The latter is also suffering a goal drought which stretches back to last season and just needs to find a bit of confidence to kick on a bit. Clearly both are exceptionally talented and should be forming a major part of my plans going forward but these injuries are threatening to derail that. Aguirre is also the one major victim of the new system. He's not ideally suited to being a deep-lying forward given his weak passing, teamwork and... well... weakness. I've brought him on as an inside forward on the right a couple of times but he isn't comfortable there at all. Which is another reason why I'm looking at the potential to put Javi in as the CM(A), vacating the wing slot for Aguirre and leaving Polo up top where he's flourished this season. It's a nice problem to have, to be honest, and it's only going to become more nicely problematic with more of the talent coming through the system. Two in particular, Mario Martínez and Jonathan Mouriño, look special and have been accelerated to the B-team for the rest of 2028/9. If they perform well, I'm even considering putting them in the senior squad next season. And then I have this intake to look forward to in March. Positive times. ¡Siempre Sporting!

Ok, Paqueta and Goretzka are great signings. No surprise to see the latter has maintained his physicals pretty well - he seems to last forever in my games. I really like the look of the Israeli - think he'd do a good job as a DLF as well as inverted winger / inside forward type. I'm surprised you're getting £100k+ demands, I had nothing of the sort - although I wonder if the LaLiga wage cap has something to do with that and agents just know you don't have the headroom. What's Goretzka's role in the left screenshot? I've got traits on the brain just now and I'm looking at that thinking "tries long range passes" or "switches ball to the opposite flank" is going to work wonders to find Paqueta in space

Thanks both, I always appreciate these little bits of feedback from people who don't regularly post or lurk a bit. Always nice to read.

How's Fornals responded to being left out of the squad? Sounds like dynamics are an issue with that, Isco and Fekir... Yet not affecting results

Do you think Tchetchoua would accept a loan move for a season? Bring in some experience to cover the survival bid and let him fill his boots somewhere else to develop?

Definitely keen on exploiting the right traits. I already have one midfielder with some useful stuff likes "gets into opposition area" but it's his lack of pace which is holding him back. But it looks like the treq is dead. Just fell off a cliff after a few games and I've shifted back to the DLF(A) which is, thus far, proving a way letter combination with a playmaker at MC Thanks very much! No I don't look at CA/PA it hidden attributes. I did use the editor for the youth training issue I was having but that's it. In terms of inspiration, I just haven't played this way for a while so it was partly a case of brushing off the old play style and partly picking up on others' success. I can specifically recommend the Evidence Based FM videos on intakes and what influences their quality and progression At this point, I'm just a little wary of building towards some traits that become unsuitable if/when I switch the system a bit. But there are some things I see being perennial necessities - a midfield runner, for example. So that's an easy start. One thing I find really interesting is the coaches' feedback if they think a trait is unsuitable for a player. "This trait suits players who can do x and that isn't true of this player" when I hadn't intuitively associated that trait with x at all.

Great effort getting promoted. Even as a reader, it feels crazy that you've been at Bochum two seasons. Feels like you've been playing fast 11 in 17 feels like a decent goalkeeping performance to me, got to be honest. Re Fernandez, was the bigger underperformance on xG or xA? Because the latter isn't really his fault?

I think my issue with the treq dropping deep is that I always think that runners from deep should be more advanced in FM. It's coming with time but the CM(A) and IF(A) don't consistently make that darting movement I'd expect them to. As such, I wonder if it's more about moulding the players around the treq than switching away from the role? The CF(A) is certainly one I've been thinking about and I had a brief experiment in a recent 1-0 loss to Girona. Something didn't quite click for me - again, I think more about how the other roles reacted rather than the CF(A) itself but we didn't get the ball into the final third nearly as much as with the treq. I'd switched the B2B to an AP(S) to reintroduce some creativity so maybe it was just that the ball got pulled a bit deeper by the playmaker effect. I'll keep experimenting.

Brief bit on the squad A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón Conscious that I've prattled on about tactical nonsense for a few posts, I just wanted to give a brief update on the status of the squad and recruitment over the summer. A couple of the deals were pretty straightforward with much maligned Cuban goalkeeper CJ Sánchez finally exhausting my patience with his xGP underperformance. He was replaced by Gaizka Ayesa from Bodø/Glimt. The Sociedad academy player moved to Molde in 2024 before moving even further north in 2026 for £3m. He was the best performing Spanish goalkeeper in terms of xGP and I really like some of his base goalkeeping attributes such as Reflexes and Handling. Whilst I'd prefer his Positioning in particular to be better, he is also really handy at playing out from the back. So far, a step up on Sánchez. I could have continued with Mareo-graduate Carlos Gil, the undoubted Great Asturian Hope for in goals, but I decided that he'd be better off with at least a season in LaLiga2 and Ayesa's arrival meant Gil move to Ferrol on loan without having to accept Sánchez's lettuce wrists. At 27, Ayesa should offer solid re-sale potential in a season or two when Gil is ready for the first team. Really pleased with these moves. Less pleasing was Manuel Navarro's departure to Spurs. I'd just promoted the guaje to the first team and was going to give him 12-18 games in a combination of centre back and inverted full back from the left. I went to offer him a new contract in order to increase his minimum release clause but he turned down our advances, citing the interest from big clubs... and Tottenham duly provided the £8.5m to take him to North London. Where he will no doubt sit on the bench allowing me to re-sign a wasted talent in two seasons. Gutting because Navarro was one of my favourite prospects in defence, second only to fifth intake star Mouriño. With Lucas Ferreras falling short of lofty expectations and the likes of Welton needing another season on loan or in the B-team to develop, I decided to recruit some defensive strength - but twinned with some ballplaying ability. Ladislav Krejčí certainly meets that remit - turning in some exceptional numbers in aerial ability, tackling and progressive passes whilst starring for Sparta Prague since the save began. A left-footer, he can partner Gragera at centre-back meaning he becomes the central of the back three in possession and allows me to use Mexican pair Jesús Orozco Chiquete and Alejandro Gómez as options to cover both centre back and left back. I should also mention Manu Garcíá who I signed on a free from Aris. A Mareo graduate, García moved to Man City in 2014 before loan spells with Alavés, NAC Breda and Toulouse. Never quite making it, he moved to Greece in 2022 and has done pretty well out there - convincing me to bring him back for some homegrown creativity. Sadly, two weeks after finalising his pre-contract, he did his cruciate and it has absolutely killed his physicals. I'm not sure how he'll recover at 30. The guaje (newgen) count in the first-team is now up to 6 with Domingo Escribano, Javi, Hugo Quiñones and Carlos Rojas all promoted full-time to join Polo and Aguirre. It would be 7 but Gil is out on loan. He's not the only one either as I've looked to take advantage of the loan market with two primary reasons in mind: for some it's their last chance to prove they have some potential - Welton, Jaime Luis and Ochoa key on this list for others, it's about making sure they get 25-30 games this season when they'd likely be usurped by stronger prospects already in the B-team and under-19s - Seydou Diawara and José Antonio Vaquero standing out here Speaking of the B-team, they're still in the Primera having finished 3rd last season but failed in the playoffs. Meanwhile my unde-19s won 28 of 30 league games last term, scoring 94 goals whilst they were at it. Sadly, they too fell at the playoffs - beaten 2-1 over two legs by Barcelona's youth team. Lastly, we've had our first full international from the Mareo newgen graduates, with Romanian holding midfielder Florin Chiripuş winning senior caps following his loan move to Cluj. I'd always preferred other options to Chiripus - prioritising the development of Escribano and Rojas in central midfield - but he's clearly a very handy player and will be another one that will be in first-team contention next season if he continues to improve at this rate.

You mean like this one? If so, yes. Although I've obviously annotated it with the lines etc using the SnagIt I often find myself reverting to the 2d when I'm doing tactics analysis stuff

Tactics Schmactics Part Two continued... So for the second half I've decided to give the left-winger a PI to get further forward. I like that he drops off to offer an option out of defence and hopefully draw the press from the opposition right-back but I do want him to then push forward and look to get the ball back in behind. So we'll see if this makes a difference. Pretty uneventful 20 minutes or so but, after 64 minutes it is noticeable how knackered my four advanced midfielders are. A relatively high pressing, attacking system will do that to you I guess - recorded at about 75% or 'high' intensity on the tactics screen. So I guess it's either substitutions or reducing the intensity. Given we're 2-0 up, a bit of both makes sense so I start with the two in the middle. Guaje Hugo Quiñones comes on for Varane as the B2B and Roberto López replaces Molinas at CM(A). I've also reduced the tempo in the TIs and removed the Pass Into Space TI which appears to have done nothing whatsoever. Finally, I've pulled us back to a mid-block but kept the trigger press at mid-high. After 70 minutes, there's still little of note occurring but Gaspar at AML is injured and comes off for Javi. The latter is left-footed so it'll be interesting to see how he performs differently to the right-footed Gaspar. I also take the opportunity to sub off Rosas, knackered at CWB, and bring on Francisco Moreno. Incidentally, I've been keeping an eye on how Betis are playing and they haven't really changed much yet. Rodri, their best player, looks to be getting further forward from centre mid but I'm still comfortable with the cover we have from the 3 centre-backs and Escribano as a sitting DM. 10 minutes to go and Betis have definitely started throwing players forward more. I'm not worried about the flanks where we're 2v1 but I've decided to change the B2B to a CM(D), just holding his position more to provide protection. Polo comes on for López at AMR. Ok, really quiet second half sees us leave Seville with a solid 2-0 win against a very handy Betis side. Some thoughts: Defensively we were once again brilliant. Betis had only 4 shots for 0.39xG and failed to hit the target. Whilst they had more possession with 54%, you can see from their 'passes received map' below that they've had very few successful passes into dangerous areas and a lot of their possession comes from passing it between their back 3 and wingbacks. We've had 12 shots for 1.34xG and put 5 on target. So that's ok but we haven't created many really good chances at all. Gragera's goal (left corner of the 6-yard box) has come from a knocked-down set-piece. This makes me doubt the repeatability of the result, despite a good win (shot map below). I really like how using the treq gets my 9 more involved in the game, dropping off the line and encouraging a pass through the lines into advanced areas. However, the trade-off seems to be less involvement for the two central midfielders, receiving only 19 and 34 passes before being subbed off in the 66th minute. Once again, I'm annoyed that the match analysis doesn't show 'Progressive Passes' as a match event because I'd really like to see which players have made most from which positions. But it doesn't. Because reasons. Whilst I liked the treq dropping off to get involved in play, he only took one shot in this match - from the second phase after a corner. This isn't ideal for your striker - it'd be fine if a couple of other players were getting 3-4 shots per game. But they're not. My left-winger had 4 shots but only 1 from 'proper' open play. It's possible that we'd create more if our treq had more suited attributes. Aguirre got one assist from a lovely through ball to the inside forward but his Passing and Vision aren't yet anywhere near good enough to play as a treq. Part of my problem is that he, along with my other strikers, are far more suited to playing high and looking to get in behind. So perhaps Aguirre as the inside forward would be a better long-term option. I really want to get something other than an AF working coherently and this role is probably the lynchpin in getting that whole chance creation thing ticking. The other option is to put Aguirre back in as a Poacher or perhaps a Complete Forward and change the B2B role into the playmaker. An experiment for another match perhaps. I'd welcome any thoughts anyone has based on the screenshots and meandering rubbish I've spouted so far. Always keen for others to prompt ideas in my little head.

Tactics Schmactics - Part Dos A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón Ok, so I found this useful - apologies if it's not a great read as I spam out a few random thoughts during the match, but I find this sort of process really helps me sort out my thoughts about the tactics so I'm doing it again. This time away at Real Betis. In-between the Real Sociedad win, I played Getafe at home and won 3-0 in a relatively impressive scoreline if not performance. Some concerns remained, not least that my striker didn't manage a single tactic. So I'm going to play out the next match with all in-possession instructions removed. Thus: Betis, meanwhile, are starting with a 5-3-2 (using a DM). They've won both home games so far but have lost their two away matches 5-1 and 8-1... So let's play it out and tweak as I go. So the first thing is pretty simple - we've developed play out of defence from the left, crossed midfield with the left winger coming inside and the got the right wingback free to make a cross. We getting decent numbers in the box but I wouldn't say we're flooding it. More importantly, the four players getting into the box are 5'9" Molinas, 5'7" Gaspar, 5'9" Diego López and 5'11" Aguirre. The floated cross which Rosas puts in just isn't it. Indeed crosses aren't really a forté for us at all, so I've added a PI to Rosas as CWB(A) to cross less often and added a TI for low crosses so those we do make are better suited to our attackers. It's also made me wonder whether a winger is the right choice for the left - with their hard-coded 'cross more often' option. But there are no other roles which would keep the player wide in the way I want. Something to keep an eye on when the winger gets the ball in advanced areas. For the moment, he's just coming inside all the time as I'm using right-footed Gaspar on the left wing. After 18 minutes, we've scored. The ball is played out of defence on the left, Gaspar at left wing has played the ball inside to our DM who then plays it forward to Aguirre. This is the Trequartista at 9 who has dropped off deep, takes the ball on the turn and the plays a great through ball for inside forward Diego López from AMR to run through and score. I really like this goal - a lot happens that I want to happen. From the left-winger drawing the press and pulling the right wingback high, to the treq dropping into space, to the inside forward and CM(A) both threatening in behind. Very pleasing. If I'm being picky then I'd really like the left-winger, circled in red, to have played the pass and then looked to run the line for a potential return ball so I'm wondering whether he needs to be switched to an Attack duty or perhaps just a PI to get further forward. Another one just to keep an eye on. I've seen this a few times so just highlighting one example of many. With the treq dropping off the line like this, it encourages a high press from the defensive line and clearly Betis are playing very high here. We've played the ball through Escribano at DM and Molinas at CM(A) to Aguirre at 9. Diego López as the inside forward on the right is threatening in behind and I'd like Aguirre to make the pass into the space. Instead he chooses to play it to López's feet at his back shoulder. It may be because Aguirre isn't entirely suited to Treq thanks to his Passing and Vision, but I'm going to implement the Passes into Space TI for the rest of the half and see if it makes a difference. 2-0 just before half-time as we get a wide free-kick in line with the 18 yard line, swing it to the back post and centre-back Orozco Chiquete knocks it down for his partner Gragera to knock it in from close range. Also lovely. Half-time and I'll take that so far. I'd like to be more dominant in terms of possession and feel like we've given away too many final third passes, implying too much established possession for Betis. But then they are the home side and predicted to finish two places above us so let's not get too worried about it. Second half to follow later as I'm running out of image space.

I'm sure I'd still get assists out of him - he's usually one of my higher assist makers and gets advanced when we're in the final third. It's how he plays in the defensive and middle third that's the issue. Perhaps yours is more advanced thanks to that HB splitting the centre-backs and then effectively turning the DR wingback into a WBR wingback, pushing him higher. But I don't want to use a HB - it annoys me that it's just a case of selecting presets to get basic positioning, instead of just being able to tell the players where I want them to play through the thirds. I can't see any way in which I can get that rightback to have a higher starting position when we're playing through the defensive and middle thirds. There just aren't instructions to allow me to do it. I expect that would help with his starting position but I don't want to do that because the AI doesn't use a 4-3-3 with WB instead of FBs. I'd feel like I was exploiting the game by doing that so I always stick to the defensive shapes that are also available to the AI. I might try that but my expectation is that it won't work. A CWB(A) in an attacking system already has 'very attacking' mentality - despite how he actually behaves on the pitch. The overlap instruction is supposed to reduce the mentality of the AMR and increase that of the DR - but the DR's is already maxed out so... Worth a shot though, even if I don't want to be forced into also reducing the AMR's mentality (although I've just looked and the AMR's mentality always stays as 'very attacking'). I think in my next match, I'm going to remove all in-possession TIs and PIs, to revert to the vanilla and then build from there. I'm really happy with how we're playing defensively so those are fine but reckon a complete reset going forward will be the best way forward, pun intended.

Continued... As expected, the IWB(D) sees the regista and always acts as if they form a double-pivot - thereby holding a much wider position than I want. I'm ok with the regista dropping deep for the ball here as he's that sort of playmaker but I really want the defensive cover to sit inside where I've indicated. I like the #7 holding the width better and I'm enjoying the use of the lone Trequartista up front - even if I feel he could do with a bit more support laterally. Regarding the build-up shape, I guess I have a few options: use two IFBs and a libero to re-create the 3-1 in possession. I don't like this idea as I want to have a 4-1-4-1 shape out of possession and I don't want the in-possession-6 to automatically think he has to retreat to his centre back spot in defensive transition. I like the use of one IFB and a DM Stick with the one IFB and use the DM as a holding player again, i.e. back to the DM(D) which I really like or perhaps even a DLP to give him more licence for line-breaking passes. The question then becomes what to do with the right-back. I want him to be where the #7 is in the screenshot above when we're playing through the middle third but the presets won't allow that and so I'm just stumped. I can't use him as any sort of IWB because then the DM assumes it's a double-pivot and shifts over - again, I don't want that. Switch the AMR to an inside forward on the basis that he'll hold the width as we play through the thirds, then come inside once the ball is moving into the final third as the wingback looks to move forward. This is fine but by god is it boring So that leaves us with a much more orthodox shape in possession, I guess. The centrebacks and IFB are forming the three (ish) and the #8 is sitting in front as the DLP. The #9 as Treq has chosen to drop off here but we have three options threatening in behind. So it's fine. But what is the right back (#12) doing here? What's the point of him? He offers absolutely nothing where he is - he has no hope of getting on the ball, the #6 is offering the pass wide, he isn't covering against any counter threat, he isn't offering a pass through the lines, he isn't even occupying a defender. He's doing absolutely nothing. I really hate non-inverted fullbacks in FM. We ended up winning this game 1-0, our phenomenal goal coming from right-footed left-winger Gaspar who picked the ball up on the intersection of the touchline and halfway line then dribbled past their defence before scoring a belter into the bottom corner. It was not a classic. 9 shots all game. La Real's first coming in the 76th minute as we completely shut them down. So clearly there are some big positives from how we're playing. Defensively, we're great (or at least we were in this game against Real Sociedad's 4-2-3-1), and we've dominated possession in the way I want. Plus we were away to the team expected to finish 5th whilst we're predicted to finish 11th. But just as clearly, there's still a lot of work to be done in terms of making us more of an attacking threat. I think I'll have to just revert to the boring, boring DLP at DM, CWB(A) and IF(A) combination on the right with the two midfield roles swapped. As much as I love the AP(S) from out wide, watching the full match has indicated that it isn't working. The striker role continues to be a conundrum. I am not going to use an AF. It's the obvious answer and I always default to it but no. I'm adamant that I'll be able to use a different role. I certainly liked aspects of the trequartista but the lack of runners in behind is always an issue in FM unless you're using a high striker. So lots still to think about. Our next game is home to Getafe and another I'll work through in full detail.

Working it out tactically A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón I've paused my game halfway through a match at Real Sociedad and will use this post to record my thoughts tactically for the rest of this match. Above, I'd alluded to the tactical issues we'd been having and how they'd led to attacking impotence over and over again. Over the summer break, I'd experimented a bit with 4-2-3-1 but it never, ever works out for me and I always come back to the 4-3-3 shape. Defensively, I just much prefer the 4-1-4-1 shape that it provides and feel like I should be able to work out how to mesh the team into a coherent attacking unit from the 4-3-3 base. Surely? This is the 4-3-3 base that I've been looking to use and is pretty much what brought us a lot of success before, offensively at least, falling to pieces last season. This season, I've decided that I simply want to be better going forward and so have decided to revamp the approach - starting with a switch to an Attacking mentality and a higher press. I want to be more on the front foot so logic dictates this is a sensible place to start. (note, the striker role is very much a W-i-P) We lost the opening game of the season 2-1 away at Real Madrid, hardly an embarrassment and we went toe-to-toe with them for quite a while. We then beat Almería 3-1 at home - although aided by an early red card for the visitors. Regardless, signs of progress. I then decided to watch the next few games in full match and see if I can figure out where I'm going wrong. It's been quite enlightening really and has shown a number of things that I just didn't notice watching on highlights, even comprehensive. So much so that I decided I needed to write them down to: a - remember them all; and b - work out in my head what to do about it. So first up: Here we've been playing out from the back and our left-back, playing as an IFB, has played the ball into the B2B midfielder. Gonzalez has turned and looked to play forward where he has only two options ahead of him. Versus 6 La Real defenders. I know we're playing out from the back but it immediately feels like we need to commit more bodies forward. I like the positioning of Molinas [the CM(A)] and of Polo [the AP(S)] to occupy the left midfielder and the left-back. But I had really expected Rosas, playing as a CWB(A), to be taking up a more advanced position that he is. I really want him up where the yellow arrow is indicating - looking to overload the right-hand side and either pull the left-back out to cover him or be able to exploit the wide open space that's available. Immediately, this is a huge disappointment for me and something that I have noticed time and again with wingbacks from the defensive line. They are preset to stay within the defensive third when you are building from the back and I find it inordinately frustrating that I just can't tell him to play 20 yards further forward. Perhaps if my DM were a half-back and splitting the centre-backs, then the wingbacks would push higher - but I want to use an IFB to create the back three in possession and keep the DM central in front of them at all times. Instead, the back four stay as a back four until we've played into the middle third. Just very frustrating. Later in the same move, Rosas has eventually got the ball down the line, taken on the fullback and put a cross into the box... to one player - a striker who isn't particularly good in the air. We have very little presence in the box and the CM(A), B2B and left winger are all too slow to offer options in the box. It's a curious combination of the play developing far too slowly to exploit the space in the first picture and then, after 5 passes and eventually getting the ball to the same player, too quick for the supporting central runs. Here the ball has been recycled back to our 'keeper and then played out to Gragera - nominally the right centre-back but here forming the right of the three in-possession. I really like that we're stretching the La Real defence with #21 at left-back and #2 at right-back pulled out to the extremes of the box-width. This leave a large area for the two centre-backs to cover and then large gaps in-between. I've paused the game here and would really like to see our #7 (López) make the run indicated, looking for the long-ball over the top from Gragera. Alternatively, Gragera could carry the ball and wait until a defender commits himself and the look for to exploit a potential overload on our right-flank or switch the play to where we've isolated the right back against our left-winger on a 1v1. Instead, he carries the ball right a little and then plays a short pass to our Complete Wingback on Attack Duty in an Attacking system who has retreated to the halfway line. 🤪 At this point, I'm coming to the sad conclusion that the AP(S) from out wide - a role I really love - just isn't working out. When watching on just highlights, I really like the way the AP(S) drops deep and allows the CM(A) and wingback to break beyond him. Watching on full match, I'm seeing how rarely that actually happens and how often he is simply cramping the space occupied by others. Also, the way the CWB(A) is operating as we play through the thirds is just awful and means that we lack any advanced width until we've established final third possession. This isn't the way that I want to play. So at half-time, I've switched things up. Rosas (RB) is injured and is replaced by a more conservative player. So I'm going to switch to this for the second half. It's a bit of an experiment really but I'm looking for the RB to step inside and play in front of the three defenders when we have the ball. That allows Varane to roam forward as a Regista with 'gets further forward' instruction. The CM(A) switches to the left and allows the right-winger to hopefully be isolated against the left-back - with a ball-winner protecting the flank. No idea if it'll work. Incidentally it's 0-0 and whilst we've only had 4 shots for 0.48xG, Real Sociedad have had none. And they're the home team. Before I see anything else, the immediate problem right from kick-off is the regista is so much more aggressive in the press and vacates the DM slot way too early for my liking. The BWM(S) is also a problem because he drops deep through the defensive to middle third transition and sits on top of the IWB(D). So I've switched that midfielder immediately back to a B2B. Ok, posting as I've run out of image space. Will follow up with the next part

Does Raya speak German? Wonder if that's why his influence isn't yet significant? Some signing that

Thanks! I have considered him as a fullback, given the crossing particularly. But I *really* like the combination of Aggression, Bravery and Positioning that he's got going on. If his Strength can grow nicely into his 20s then I'm keen to put him in the middle. If not, then I could well return to the full-back idea. And I know what you're saying and keeping his morale up for the development boost. It's something that bothers me about sending players on loan to weaker sides in relatively good leagues for their level. It's always a risk they just end up slumping in a rubbish team.

What the heck happened here? A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón What an odd season. Our defensive performance improved by 10 goals in the league but our overall performance deteriorated from last season - only by two games really, turning two wins into an extra draw and an extra loss to record five fewer points. That, however, saw us drop to 9th and fail to qualify for Europe next season so it has to go down as a big disappointment. And it's not really hard to see why we failed to capitalise on the stronger defence. Whilst Valencia's xG underperformance was nominally worse than ours, ours represents an 11.8% underperformance against our measly xG of 48.7. From the fourth best attack to the 8th worst, I really can't put my finger on any reason for the sudden dip in goalscoring ability across the entire squad. Clearly the worst culprit was primary 9 Diego López who still ended our season as top scorer but only thanks to Copa del Rey goals against minnows. He managed just 5 in the league this term and might well find himself jettisoned in the summer. Yet overall, it has to go down as a pretty successful season overall. Faced with continental competition for the first time, we still managed a top half finish and were knocked out by Real Madrid in the domestic cup - but the Europa League rather summed up our season. We were moderately dreadful in the league phase - then bizarrely smashed 6 past Qarabag and beat Spurs away to drag ourselves through to the knockouts. We then hammered Young Boys, Braga and Bologna in the home legs before rather less comfortable away fixtures which eventually saw us come unstuck in Italy. And how. We were absolutely cruising on the hour, 5-1 up on aggregate and in complete control of the game. But Chiquete, our best centre back, had gone off injured and Bologna stuck on Chaka Traoré who proceeded to score a hat-trick and assist the other to take us first to extra-time and ultimately to penalties where we'd lose out. Bologna would go on to lose to Man Utd in the final. That second leg came in a group of end-of-season fixtures which saw us conceded 17 goals in 5 games, with our previously rock-solid defence falling to pieces and costing us not only the Europa League quarter but also a chance to re-enter the tournament next season - taking just 7 points from the last 27 available. Dire. I then spent a bit of my 'parental taxi' time this weekend having a think about the save and where we've gone wrong this season. My conclusion, so far, is that I have fallen into the same trap I always do when I revert to 4-3-3: I try to cover every base and the tactic ends up becoming a vanilla meh of nothingness. We're fine, defensively pretty solid for the most part and create mid-table level of chances. With mid-table levels of players, that gets you... well... mid-table. I need to get back out of the vanilla and get some sort of tactical thought together on how to utilise the best players at my disposal. And this includes the best prospects at my disposal - several of which will be promoted to the senior team again this season. Despite the loss of European football and the 8-12 extra matches that goes with it, I want to continue that development route so Manuel Navarro, Hugo Quiñones and Javi will come into the first team squad. They may also be joined by Mario Martínez, Seydou Diawara and latest starlet Jonathan Mouriño. The latter three are more likely to be brought in for the odd game here and there, rather than permanent fixtures in the squad. And what system will these players come into, as I try to digress from the 'vanilla'? Why, an attacking 4-2-3-1 with a high press of course. What could be less vanilla than that?! But, in all seriousness, this suits the players at my disposal and looks to exploit the excellent creativity we have at 10 with Aarón Molinas and Roberto López, and the number of players we have who suit the double pivot. It also keeps the attacking right wing-back given Rosas is one of our best players and allows me to retain the 3-1 build-up shape that I've been enjoying using the IFB to form the 3 and the BWM(D) holding the centre in front of them. Our defensive personnel aren't world beaters so we've been tending to use possession as a defensive tactic and this will look to continue that, whilst I'm hoping the use of a natural 10 will bring us more success in getting the creative players into the right positions - as well as giving that 10 extra runners in front of him for those searching passes. I'm looking forward to working through it and stealing some of the analytical ideas from Ben. Not content with stealing from one fellow FMer, I also really liked the squad planning spreadsheet which Doop posted and have plagiarised the sort of format to improve upon my earlier efforts. This will be fully populated for next season. Finally, I realised that I had forgotten to post our game time statistics and a check back against the targets I'd set at the start of the save. So here are the tables, updated for the last two campaigns. And that has to be the most pleasing bit of all. The entire premise of the save is to make Sporting a successful team but through the development of players from the Mareo academy. We've now met both the 60% target for the number of players in the first team who are 'homegrown', and smashed the 50% threshold for giving the guajes gametime. Ok, this season might have been a blip on the smooth path to world domination but, within the constraints I've set myself, I reckon it's something we can happily accept. ¡Siempre Sporting!

Interestingly, after signing the good ones, we're now up to 4 Elite Talents and 2 Top Talents, including one that I didn't even include in the wrap up above. I don't see it. But like you say, Mouriño is undoubtedly the star of the show. He's already signed his professional contract - the question is just how long until I introduce him to the first team. He really isn't that far off.