The Kids Are Alright: Season 2

Don’t Rock the Boat

As I mentioned previously, this is my second attempt at a ‘Youth Only’ save, the first was with a club in Croatia. In that save, we did not make it out of the 2nd Division, and as a result, the club went semi-professional. 2nd year we got promoted, the owners would not let us go pro, so the 3rd year we barely avoided relegation. 4th year we were still semi pro, and the Youth Intakes had not been good enough yet to produce any wonderkids that could help us, some solid talent but no ‘Good/Great’ Talents, and halfway thru the season, on a losing streak, the owners demanded 9 points from 6 games that included Dinamo Zagreb, Hadkuk Split, Rijeka, Rudes, and Slavan Belupo, and 4 games later I was shown the door. The kicker to all of this was that the club was secure in it’s finances, the decisions to go Semi Pro was made under the hood, and so were the following decisions to not go pro again. Did not being professional hurt us? Not as much as I wanted it to in hindsight, the one thing it really affected was training, as two sessions a week is not and never will be as good as seven sessions a week. And it could be some internal biases at play, but the Romanian Lower Leagues just seem to be more ‘solid’ than the Croatian ones. Then again, with as many lower leagues division as Romania has, maybe they should be.

The goal for this season was to improve on last season. Having finished 5th last season and losing in the Promotion Playoffs, improvement could mean a couple of things:

Finishing higher than 5th and get promoted
Finishing higher than 5th and NOT getting promoted
Finishing 6th and getting promoted.
Finishing 6th and NOT getting promoted.

Seeing how this save is going to take at least a couple of decades, I am OK with any of those results, as long as we finish top 6. What I am looking for this early in the save are continuing solid gameplay by my veteran players, improvement in the youth players, and improving the staff as we go along. Including me, as I currently have no coaching qualifications whatsoever.

CHANGES

We played a 4-3-3 Strikerless season because we had to, I felt that at the time we did not have any good options up top, and while it did the job for us, in that we made the playoffs and weren’t relegated, it lacked offensive punch.

I had a couple of options to play up top, and if we are being honest it was really a choice between “The Evil of Two Lesser’s”. At least that’s what I thought at the time. However, the transfer window hit, and that when things got very interesting.

Eventually losing Coperu and Duma is not a bad thing, as I think I have Youth Replacements for them. Aurel Vlaciu though, is a 19 y/o with 4 star CA and 4 1/2 star PA, and with playing time he will see that last 1/2 star. And for some reason when Gloria Buzău made their offer he not only went for it, when I declined it initially so did the locker room. In a case of “FM being FM” I am pretty sure I will see the full 180K I moved him for, but of course the moment he showed up at Gloria Buzău his value went to €425K – €1.4M. His leaving means one of the current youth players will get their chance.

Also, in looking to see who could replace him, I noticed something in the Romanian Squad rules: As long as a player is under contract, they can play. Yes, the League has a rule that “Only Players Registered for the Competition may play” but right above that? “Domestic Under-22 Players are eligible to play in ALL Matches.” And whats the vast majority of my squad going to be going forward? Domestic Under-22’s.

Competition Registration Problems: Solved.

My Striker Problem: Also Solved, but not really. I am calling it a push.

This is Sabrin Sburlea. 5′ 8″ of UNAMBITIOUS 141 pounds who has potential. Will he ever see it. To quote him “Eh, maybe…”

Red: 1-7 Orange: 8-12 Blue: 13-16 Green: 17-120

His Attacking attributes are very good, and I suspect the ones in Orange are in double digits. His Decision making is also very good, and his Ball Control Attributes are average. Physically, for this level of football, I would say he’s above average except of course in jumping and strength. So why is he UNAMBITIOUS? If there’s one thing holding him back, that is it.

We needed a good start to the season, and we got it:

Sburlea scored in each of the first three games, and our first Liga II loss came against Gloria Buzău, although admittedly it could have been against Viitorul Cluj in the Cupa României Playoff.What stands out to me in all of these games is that with the exception of the Buzău and CSM Reşiţa matches, all of our losses were by 1 goal. Now, Liga II may not be a world class League, but with a couple of exceptions everyone is on a pretty level playing field I think, and that our team of mostly Younger players is doing well is a good sign. Of course, having a solid keeper like Rareş Murariu between the sticks also counts for a lot.

Sometimes ‘Solid but Unspectacular’ is what you need.

To be honest I forget what was happening in January and February, European Cup maybe (?), but we did not have a lot of Liga II games.

The only real heartbreak in this was the Quarter Final Loss to FC Argeş in the Cupa României. We had played them close all game, only to run out of gas in extra time.

Iannis Malama, their young winger, was all over the field, and not only had the two goals, but both assists on the other goals, and a ton of dribbles and progressive passes. He’s the first positional player I have seen ever get a 10.0 in quite a while.

The Youth Intake

One thing I have to constantly remind myself is:

The Level of Football we play at is at best Mid. That is not neccesarily a bad thing.
The quality of person we have at HOYD and coaching is at best, above average at this point in time
While we have better than average facilities, if by some miracle we do get a ‘Copil Minune’, the odds of us holding onto him long term are nil.
The players we have coming in are being judged against who they are joining. 5 star potential is all well and good until you realize the best player on your team, the 5 sta one, may at best be 110 CA…our of 200.

That said, there were no surprises in this years Youth Intake, in fact I thought it was about middle of the road, until I saw the Personalities of the kids we recruited:

Of 16 Recruits, the Personality Breakdown is as follows:

7 Unambitious, including our “Best” Recruit
1 Each of the following:
- Fickle
- Low Determination
- Low Self Belief (It’s been awhile since I have seen this one)
- Fairly Sporting
- Resilient
- Fairly Professional
3 Balanced

That’s…horrible. Now, being Youth Players on a Club that’s in a Youth Only save, they are going to see a lot of game time, and hopefully (and you know what they say about hope) may develop to get close to if not meet their projected PA. But Unambitious, Fickle, Low Determination and Self Belief is not the way to get there…

The Best

If it weren’t for his Personality, Vasile Mihăescu might be very good. As it stands, he may merely be good, but that’s OK. Physically he is already quite solid, like wise Defending where the only area he is lacking is Aggression. His Attacking Attributes are probably what you would expect for this level of football, average at best, although he has good Technique. His Passing, Crossing and First Touch are what will probably convince me to retrain him at DM, although I suspect his role Versatility may come in handy at some point.

If Florin Ilie can overcome his personality traits, I think he can be quite good for this level of Football. Physically speaking, he is quite solid, yes his strength is low but that will come up as he gets older (hopefully). And while 5′ 11″ is by no means short, for a D(C) it is on the small end, which is probably why his Aggression and Bravery are both high. He’s lacking where you would expect all young D(C)’s to lack, Possession attributes, and Finishing Attributes. He will most likely be a started in a few seasons.

Călin Rus looks to be one of those players who will be 16(16) at the end of the season, with a 6.7 rating, a couple of goals and assists, and maybe a player of the match. He can play a number of positions, which makes him valuable in that regard, but we will have to track his progression the next couple of years to see how he grows.

William Brădău is supposed to be a striker. But I can’t quite shake the feeling that all his red attributes are closer to 3 than they are to 7. He has ‘Advanced Forward’ written all over him, expect for you know, the positioning, Stamina, Work Rate, Determination, and his personality. Part of me says that if I were confident his passing, vision and positioning would come anything close to a 10 or better, I could retrain him as an AM(C), maybe an En Ganche, and use him that way, but I rarely play with an AM(C), and I don’t think William will have a lot of double digit attributes when all is said and done.

THE REST

I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but Ilie Brădău bothers me. It’s not that he’s already pretty decent Physically speaking, or that the rest of his attributes really aren’t all that bad considering his a 15 y/o kid at a club with better than decent facilities but only OK coaching, in a country that’s also just OK at producing ‘Good to Great’ talent. He has the potential, heck they all do, but something tell me that in every Youth Intake there’s one player who will look like Tarzan, and play like Jane, and I think he may be the one, I don’t know why though

Of the others, Stanislav Sporin has a good Physical foundation to build on, but his Attacking and Possession have to increase for him to even be a starter.

Andrei Codrea could also be a contributor at some point down the road as well if his Attacking and Possession attributes improve, but I suspect many of them are going to stay in the red, or that the ones I need him to improve won’t.

Eusebiu Voicu is probably the one from this group that is worth really keeping an eye on. 6′ 4″, 163 pounds at 15 (!) what sets him apart from the others is that in many of the areas where they are bad, he is merely average, which means his floor is higher than theirs, and he will be able to contribute sooner rather than later. Add in that he can play any of the attacking midfield positions and he becomes even more valuable to the squad. In this years intake, I bet he will see the field more than others initially, the rest depends on development.

As Youth Keepers go, nothing really stands out about Denis Sbenghea other than his reflexes and Handling. He is going to need a lot of playing time, but to be honest I am not sure if he can get it here, which means going out on loan. And if he disappoints there…

If Teofil Stoian had any sort of ‘Average” or better Personality, I think he could be one of the better players in this Intake. especially as he can player either side of the defensive backlines. That said, I think what we see of him now is what we will have in a couple of years as well.

So, the Liga II Playoff are the top 6 teams, and they play every other team twice. The teop 2 teams are automatically promoted to Liga I, 3rd and 4th Place go to the Liga I/ Liga II playoffs. Interestingly, because of how the rules work, you can finish 1st in the Playoffs, but not with the League Overall.

We did OK until the Unrea Dej game, when a late penalty gave them the win, against Petrolul Ploesti the whole team did their best to lose, the average as like 6.4; we had 3 shots to their 10, we should have lost. We also should have lost to FC Argeş, but thanks to a 90th minute goal by Avrămescu we didn’t, we merely drew, which was enough for us to finish 4th in the Playoff group.

Our opponents were Politehnica Iași, who finished 12th in the league overall, but 7th in the Relegation Group. A Decent squad, with a couple of good players, they beat us at home 1-0. We needed some help to get by, and we did, in the form of Rareş Murariu

A Matiş goal answered their first goal, then Avrămescu scored to equalize the aggregate, and it was off to extra time. He scored again in the 98th minute, but Anghel equalized for Iași in the 105th minute, and it was off to PK’s. Turcoveanu kicked it right to a waiting Murariu, and then with their last chance Ilie kicked it wide and Murariu blocked it.

We are going to Liga I…

The squad as a whole was solid, there really weren’t any standouts:

Matiş’s 10 goals led the way, Sburlea also had 10, and Vlaicu had 5, butt he oddity to me anyways is Bassong’s 10 assists from the D(L) side. The Candian International was solid, but he’s also been making noise about moving on. There were a couple of surprises in the best XI:

Two of last years Intake, Niculcea and Simedru, became full time starters frankly because they were better than the other options I had at those positions, and both had very good seasons to improve on.

On the business side of things, we improved a little:

And financially we are doing very well:

The nice thing about a lot of players on Youth Contracts or First contracts is that the payroll will most likely never exceed 60% of whats available, likewise as we aren’t spending any transfer money, there’s not a lot to worry about there.

Our chances next season? Not good. We will definitely be in the Relegation Group. What we need to do is finish high enough that we aren’t part of the the automatic drop of the playoffs, and I don’t how possible that is. Another decent Youth Intake certainly wont hurt either.

And the fun keeps coming. Thanks for Reading!

The Kids Are Alright -Season 1

Laying the foundation, one brick at a time…

There are a couple of different ways to start a save in my opinion, but choosing which route to take when it’s your first day is dependent on one thing. That one thing however, is comprised of multiple parts, because why wouldn’t it be? And what is that one thing?

Finances.

You could be the biggest team in the world, yet your financial situation might so so bad that making wholesale changes might not be possible. And what goes into that financial equation? Club Reputation, Where you are, salary limits…Now, I understand the urge is great to come in, clear house, and hire the best talent you can, but what if the best talent you can hire is no better than, or possible even worse than, the people you just let go. So, my advice, in a long terms save, don’t make wholesale changes across the board right away. Pick and choose, because your immediate priority isn’t assembling the best coaching and back room staff you can, it’s avoiding relegation, or staying up, or getting promoted. Once you’ve achieved that goal, then you can start making bigger changes.

Lucky for me all I have do do is worry about the coaching staff. Unlucky for me, the ones I have are not good, but the spot’s I have to fill I think we can get some good suggestion for. An Assistant Coach, 2 Coaches and a Set Piece Coach later, our coaching staff it…well, bad, but not the worst:

Attributes: Red is 1-7, Orange is 8-12, Blue is 13-16, Green is 17-20

AS HOYD’s go, Daniel Mahu Moisii is pretty decent for this level of Football:

I tend to be agnostic when it comes to formations, I know what I prefer, but I also know I am not going to try and fit a square peg into a round hole and play a high tempo high line gegenpressing when I don’t have the squad for it. But the squad is actually, and I am not sure why I am typing this, pretty decent, except in one position, Striker:

This is the senior squad, at the end of the season, because like a numpty I didn’t take one at the beginning of the season, but it’s a good mix of solid older players and youngsters with potential.

Transfers I am a bit conflicted on this first season. The rules on the forum are that if your board brings in a player you have to sell him, but the game had already signed Răzvan Matiş, and try as I might, he didn’t want to be sold, and the board wouldn’t let me release him. I’ll try again next season. Emil Pancu was sold to FCSB, but they offered a loan back, and I took it. My logic on this is that he was already part of the squad, and wasn’t someone I actively went looking for, and he’s going to be leaving in six months, so I treated it like a pending transfer.

The Pundits picked us to finish 16th. I think we can finish top half, with an outside chance of finishing top 6. That will get us to the Playoff, and after that who knows what could happen?

As you can see, we got off to a quick start, with 13 points out of our first seven league games. And we did it by using a concept I rarely play with: Strikerless. This was necessary, because we have no good options up top, and I am loathe to experiment to much the first season, especially with youngsters. So I ended up using this formation almost all season:

It was a pretty solid formation for us. We gave up 2 or more goals only three times the first half of the season, and won two of those games, one a 5-3 victory and the other a 3-2 victory. In fact, in my opinion the only let down the first half of the season was our performance in the Cupa României Betano. I attribute most of our struggle there to depth, because you can see in September in October, we had a lot of games, and as I am more concerned with staying up than winning the cup, for many of those games I played a fairly rotated side, but that gave the youngsters some playing time, and that’s not a bad thing either. I think we did a respectable job, even if we finished 5th in the Group:

After a winter break, the season started up again, and we finished strong, finding our way into 6th place, grabbing the last spot in the promotion group.

Before that kicks off though, we had the Youth Intake:

I’ll be honest, this intake is a bit confusing. My ‘Best’ candidate is Goran Simedru, a 3 star current 5 star Potential player who is UNAMBITIOUS? I can’t make sense of that.

The Best

In Addition to being Unambitious, Simedru is 5′ 9”, can’t pass, and is injury prone. Something tells me he’s not going to get much better than this…

Darius Niculcea is quick and pacy, with a good work rate as well. Skills wise he’s Average at passing and crossing, but I think with his personality he will have the ability to meet his potential.

Octavian Ciobanu is probably good enough to start for us now. Physically not the best (but the stamina helps) he has good marking and tackling skills, is a good decision maker, and his technique isn’t too bad either. The fact he is also 5’9″ and has no bravery means he will most likely be the person crossing the ball, not jumping up in the scrum for it.

The Potentials

Tiberiu Alexandru may end up being the best player of the bunch. He will probably be the first too see a lot of playing time, because I have no idea how or if I can hold onto my current keeper. The only thing about Alexandru is his potential ability, but I think with a decent amount of game time he will improve quickly.

As a Defensive Mid, Milan Precupanu is already pretty decent, average defending attributes, Decision Making, Good Technique and Fitness. The injury proneness is a concern, but him being Fairly Professional should help his development.

From a Physical Point of View, Bogdan Stancu is already a pretty good Wingback for this level of competition. But the Unambitious personality is giving me chest pains, hopefully sticking him in a good mentoring group will help him grow out of that.

At first glance Ciprian Bălan doesn’t look like much. But look down, and you will see a 5’6″ Temperamental teenager who has good (13+ already) Technique, Passing and Flair, is very Brave (In a Fight in the Dog sort of way), and will most likely get good enough Physically to be a first teamer by the time he’s 18. If he can last that long.

Horea Ursan a bit…well, to be honest, if he does meet his 5 Star PA we won’t be able to keep him, and that’s fine, but something just seems…off. I can’t explain it, why would a 6’3″ 165 pound 16 year old who is Physically Solid, solid defensively and with OK Composure, Decision Making with an OK Personality send the negative waves? I don’t know, but I think the 5 star PA for him is a chimera…

Outside Looking In

Of the two ‘fringe’ players, Marius Marinescu has the best chance of being decent, and I say that not only because he is a Realist whose Flair, Off the Ball, Technique and First Touch are already decent, but when adding in the good Finishing and Determination, but because when you look at Robert Păunescu, while he is physically more gifted, Skills wise he is very, very lacking. I think he will not get much better than where his physicals are now, but by the time he’s ready for first team ball we need to see some improvement.

All things considered, not a bad youth intake. There are a couple of kids there with some potential to be full time first teamers for sure.

We did a very good job in the Playoffs:

What helped us was that everyone else was beating up on everyone else as well, and when it was all said and done we finished in 4th place, good enough to meet Universitatea Cluj in the Liga I/Liga II playoffs:

We did Well enough to hold them to a 1-1 draw the first game, but in the away game, their quality showed, and they beat us 4-2 on aggregate.

It was a very good season, one in which the team can be very proud in how they did. We stayed financially solid, we have a ton of payroll to work with, now is the time to jettison some of the backroom deadweight we have, and when I tell the boys (and they are mostly boys) I’m aiming for a midtable finish they all pitch a fit, I am placing too much on their shoulders.

Well, the good news is the offseason is only about 3 weeks long, and I see a lot of windsprints, burpees, and running up hills until they agree with me in our future.

But it is a good start.

Thanks for Reading!

The Kids Are Alright -Season 0

“Copiii sunt în regulă”

I like scouting. I like developing youth players, I like taking a clubs from the lower levels to the highest possible, and having fun on the way.

But what if we took away Scouting? What if we went youth only? In a country with a rich football history, with some interesting teams to compete against? And could we make it slightly harder on ourselves?

Why yes, yes we can!

First and foremost, these are the rules we are using for this save:

https://community.sigames.com/forums/topic/578526-the-fm24-youth-academy-challenge/

As you can see, from one of the posts further down a user has kindly generated a spreadsheet about what countries these saves have been done in, and which were successful, and which weren’t.

What I did was load up the Random Spinning Wheel of Doom with all the countries that have been played but haven’t won, and spun.

I got Croatia. The save lasted four years before I was sacked. NK Karlovac 1919 didn’t get promoted the first year, the club went semi professional the next year, and when we did get promoted, the still refused to go semi pro, all the good players left, leaving me a roster full of potential to face the likes of Dinamo, Hajduk Split, Rijeka…It’s four years of FM I will never get back, and frankly I don’t want to. It was horrible. Very Horrible. My Therapists says it will be OK. Someday…

After a short break, I went back to the Random Spinning Wheel of Doom, deleted Croatia, and rolled again. This time it was Romania. I created a manager, vacationed a year, and thought, this will be fun, there are some pretty interesting teams down in Liga III that will make for a fun save and…Liga III isn’t playable?

PBKAC error? Bug? Feature? I am not sure. So I went up to the second Tier or Romanian Football, the Liga 2 Casa Pariurilor, to see what teams had been promoted, and lo and behold:

SSU Politehnica Timişoara, which is short for Societatea Sportivă Universitară Politehnica Timişoara.

Now, Eastern European Football has been…interesting since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the trials and tribulations of the teams in the Liga Profesionistă de Fotbal make for some good reading. The club itself has had a bunch of different names, but its affiliation with one of Romania’s best Technical Schools has never changed, and the Institute remains the teams majority owner. You can read about the history of the club here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSU_Politehnica_Timi%C8%99oara

But the club has a few things going it it’s favor. The coach is not one of them. Meet Marius Țepeș, no direct relation to Vlad:

No Coaching badges, no skills to speak of, but a well worn and highly notated copy of ‘Inverting the Pyramid’ in his messenger bag. In his favor though, the club is pretty well set up for this sort of challenge:

I am pretty sure the Youth Facilities and Recruitment are a byproduct of being affiliated with the school, IE “Valentin, I see you kick ball very well and are top student in Organic Chemistry. Have you thought about your future? Do you like the color purple?”

Now, with regards to the ‘Can we make it slightly harder on ourselves’ part I mentioned earlier, I use the Mustermann Skin. It’s Brilliant, I love it even if it doesn’t have numbers. But, taking a page from GIMN’s book, I’ve disabled the ‘Player Search’ and ‘Staff Search’ buttons on the Staff Page:

Because I am not scouting at all this save (happy thoughts, safe happy thoughts….) that’s not as big a deal as disabling the staff search button. This means I cannot go out and find the best coaches all over the world and bring them to the club, I have to reply on those who arerecommended during the course of the save.

The other thing I have done is change the attribute ranges. This is Milan Precupanu, you’ll meet him in full later:

Not too bad for a 15 year old DM, but when you consider the following attribute spread

1-7 is Bad, in RED.
8-12 is Average, in ORANGE.
13-16 is Good, in BLUE.
17-20 is Excellent, in GREEN.

It makes a bit more interesting to work with. This method also means I have to pay a little closer attention to how the improve over the course of the save via the Development -> Attributes section, as opposed to the spreadsheet method I have used in the past.

This is going to be a long save, and the first few seasons are going to go by quickly. I am positive we can get promoted and stay up no problem, the issue is going to be the quality of our intakes, and what we can do to influence that.

Romania itself is interesting IMO, it’s got a very good game reputation, but it’s Youth Rating isn’t the highest:

And there are 26 other teams with a Facilities Rating at least as good as ours and better:

The club we are trying to emulate is FCV Farul Constanţa, the result of a merger between Gheoghe Hagi’s club Viitorul Constanţa and Ciprian Maricas Farul Constanţa, whose youth development is one of the best in Southeastern Europe. Not only have they been winning Liga 1 titles, they have been developing and selling some very good players, Louis Munteneau and Adrian Mazilu to name a couple. They’ve got money and European appearances to help, and if that wasn’t enough we also have the traditional Romanian powerhouses to face of with as well, FCBS, Craiova, Cluj…

We’ve out work cut out for us, but I feel confident about this one. More confident than I did about the Croatia save, that’s for sure.

Up next, a look at the first seasons, as we try and build the foundation for future success.

Thanks for reading!

Der Bär Wird Wieder Brüllen, A Recap & 10 Years later

As I usually do with my saves, I simmed ahead 10 years to see if the team and coaches that followed have continued to build upon the foundation I left. This is sometimes a very hit or miss proposition, especially when you tend to use a ‘non-standard’ formation that you have the squad for. One of my best examples of this was my FM17 save, where we won multiple Champions Leagues and Ligue 1’s as USL Dunkerque using a 3-4-1-2, and after I retired the next coaches tried using a 4-2-3-1 and didn’t have any of the success I did.

Seeing as how my last formation was a 4-1DM-1-3-1, I am slightly concerned.

In Dynamo’s case, they have hired some coaches that have had some good results, but have not come close to what we accomplished:

The Multiple League wins are nice, but the lack of European success is, to be frank, galling, so lets take a look at that.

2041 – Lost in the Quarter Finals to Barcelona
2042 – Lost in the Quarter Finals to Barcelona
2043 – Lost in the Semi Final to Spurs, after beating Bayern in the Quarters
2044 – Lost in the Quarter Finals to Milan
2045 – Lost in the Quarter Finals to Athletico Madrid
2046 – Lost in the Round of 16 to RB Leipzig
2047 – Lost in the Finals to PSG
2048 – Lost in the Semi-Finals to Chelsea
2049 -Lost in the Semi-Finals to RB Leipzig
2050 – Lost in the Quarter Finals to Sheffield United

Not a bad run, but it’s frustrating to come so close and not win it all again, and as we can see from the following, the club has stayed strong:

And I am not going to begrudge them a 4th place finish this season, they finished with 74 points, RB Leipzig finished with 79.

If there is one thing I am very proud of in this save, it’s the scouting. I will admit I hit quite bit more than I missed, but as I like scouting, for my longer, more detailed saves I tend to spend a lot of time with it, and for whatever reason, my FM23 Scouting setup worked very well in conjunction with my screen flow, and I was able to find a lot of good players early, Luca Montanaro as an example. I wanted to see how well I did, so I added a new coach and turned the editor on. In saves like this I always enable it, then the first thing I do when I get in the save is remove it from the toolbar so it’s not tempting me.

This is the current Dynamo Senior Squad. A note, not only am I using the Mustermann Skin, but I have altered the ranges as well, where:

Poor (RED) is 1-7
Average (ORANGE) is 8-12
Good (Blue) 13-16
Excellent (Green) 17-20

An older squad now, but still some familiar names:

Andrey Stefanov, my Bulgarian WB, 150 CA / 160 PA
Carlos Navarro, whose personality went from Driven to Professional, and has never has less than a 7.4 Average rating over the seasons, 178 CA / 180 PA.
Polat Kaya, my first good Youth Intake player, 179 CA / 185 PA
Constantin Ulreich, my second best Youth Intake player, 4 years after Polat, 158 CA / 164 PA.
Dragan Grčić, 13 seasons as the Dynamo Keeper, 173 CA / 174 PA.

And those are just the players still on the squad. If I go and take a look at the who’s who of players who have been thru the club it’s pretty wild:

2029/30 Transfers:

Luca Montanaro D(C), was found in Serie C, and I signed him for €400K ‘In’ this save, with the expectations he wasn’t going to stay long. He stayed 2 Seasons before Leipzig activated his release clause, and ended up in Man City (AKA Dynamo B). When Nicholas retired in 2040 he was 180 CA / 180 PA.
Mbaye Fall (M/AM(R) is one of the first bricks in the ‘Find a decent Scout for Africa and put them to work immediately. Signed on a Free, went to Bournemouth 3 years later for €40M, a very good winger 140 CA / 158 PA

2029/30 Transfers:

Dragan Pavlović (GK) was our first really good keepers (sorry Owusu, but RNG screwed you over this save). 172 CA / 176 PA.
Santiago Barros D(C) our first ‘Big Miss’. Never improved in training, was mediocre at best on the field, left Dynamo to play in the English Lower Leagues before ending up in Ireland. In 2040 he was 81 CA / 180 PA. One of FM’s mysteries…
José Luís Gomes (Striker) was my first ‘Wonderkid Striker’. 18 goals his 1st season, the next season he didn’t want to renegotiate his contract and went to Brentford on the cheap, €3.4M. Several solid seasons there led him to Stoke, and then Man United. 146 CA / 156 PA.

2030/31 Transfers:

Christopher Essomba (D(L), my next West African Wonderkid. Signed on a Free, in 2040 was in Liverpool after stops in Milan, Monaco, Villareal and BvB. 148 CA / 155 PA.
Alexandar Petrov (Striker), my Gomes replacement had a somewhat similar career path. Played 1 1/2 seasons for us, then went to England, but instead of going to Brentford for €3.4 he ended up at Spurs for €74M. 164 CA / 174 PA.

2031/32 Transfers:

Jon Jiménez (DM/M(C)), our first ‘Big Buy’ at €17.75M. 4 Seasons with us before he moved to Angers for €47M, then to Dynamo B for €203M(!). 176 CA / 193 PA.

2032/33 Transfers:

We spent €81M, and while most were solid, veteran players, we took some risks, several of whom paid off, and some who didn’t.

Mantené Sountoura D(L), another African find, this time from MAli. Signed on a free, went to Porto and then to Athletico Madrid. 159 CA / 168 PA. Always Scout West Africa friends. Always.
Mirko Tulli (Striker), “Mercurial Mirko” popped up very early, an Italian wonderkid picked up by Inter from Cremonese who never cracked the starting lineup but avoided signing with the bigger teams. We had him for less than a calendar year, in for €14M, out for €21M to Monaco, where he spent a year, then back to Germany (he signed with Eintracht instead of us), and then to Tottenham, where he and Gomes are a pretty goos 1-2 up top. 171 CA/ 179 PA.
Jakov Popovic (GK) was signed to replace Pavlović. Six good seasons with us before going to Dynamo B for €52M, 160 CA / 169 PA.
Jeppe Vinterberg (M/AM(L)), after Barros, our next “Miss”, but in his case, it was injuries. Signed in Jan of 33, in Feb he had a hip injury and was out for 4 months. In ’34 he was out a total of 3 months with various heel and leg issues, in ’35 it was Groin strains, twisted knees and tight hammy’s. By ’35 it was obvious the injuries had done him in, his Physicals had declined enough that he was just ‘Decent’ IMO and we moved him on. He’s at Rangers in 2040, with a 134 CA / 166 PA. Which admittedly is good, but he could have been great IMO.
Carlos Tenorio (M(C)/AM (L/C) is one of, if not my favorite, players of the save. Signed for €25K, when he came back from his parent club he immediately stepped in at AM(C) and made his presence felt. An All around threat, he moved to Chelsea for €120M at the end of the ’39 Season. 181 CA / 181 PA.

2033/34 Transfers:

After spending so much money the previous season, we regressed a little in the league, but the good news was with the foundation of the club we had, and the recent signing, we were on solid footing. This however, was probably our worst year for signings in or Bundesliga era.

Jean Cédric Baffouman (DM/M(C)/AM(C) an Ivory Coast product could never break into the starting lineup, and I thought I had better options, and he left for €145K to København, and recently moved to Werder in 2 Bundesliga. 128 CA / CA 158 PA.
Dylan Maclennan (Striker). Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane. I thought I was getting a decent striker with potential, 32 goals 84 games is OK, but Attributes wise he was very comparable with other, better strikers who had played for us. And the problem was he would have a 3 or 4 goal game than disappear for 5-6 games. It was annoying to say the least, and I about fell out of the chair when I saw he was 145 CA / 159 PA.

2033/34 Transfers:

We signed 8 players this transfer window, and 5 of them were bangers.

Boris Castillo (D(C/R, DM, M(C) signed for €2M, then went to Dynamo B before moving to Nottingham Forrest. 144 CA / 152 PA
Santiago Viveros (AM (RLC), M(L/C), DM was poached from Bayer for the low fee 0f €2.1M, then moved to Hertha in 38/39 for €41.5M. A very good player for us until his attitude tanked, 147 CA/PA.
Angelo Bolzan (D(RC), another Italian Defender find, gave us 2 1/2 solid seasons before moving to Real Madrid for €76M. One of the games elites as it turns out, 196 CA / 198 PA. €76M seems cheap now…
Abdoulaye Traoré (AM(RLC), Striker) is yet another Ivorian Wonderkid, who spent a productive 2 1/2 seasons with use before moving to Juve for €26.5M. He’s been a quality player for them and with his 152 CA /159 PA that’s not surprising at all.
Osman Cengiz Buğdaycı (Striker, AM(R)) I was so thoroughly disgusted with Maclennan I went out of my way to find a replacement ASAP, and was able to sign Osman for a very nice fee of €13M. 2 1/12 seasons later (I’m sensing a theme here) he went to Man United for €75M. 179 CA / 180 PA.

2035/36 Transfers:

Another ‘Quiet’ window where we signed 3 players, but 2 of them are absolute world class.

Tim Schau (DM. M(C), AM(C)) we signed for €13.5 from QPR. A Season and a half later, Real Madrid signed him for €47.5, then in 39/40 Dynamo B signed him for €174M(!). 171 CA / 171 PA.
Lucas Curbelo (DM, M(LC), AM (LC), Striker) is a Uruguayan via Bulgaria, and we paid €7.5 for him. He went to Dynamo B in 38/39 for €83M. 186 CA / 187 PA.

2036/37 Transfers:

This was the year we ‘Broke the Bank’ for one player, but he was worth it IMO.

Andrey Stefanov was signed this window from Levski for €3.9. 158 CA / 161 PA.
Tatsuki Yoneyama (Striker) – More on him in a few.
Zori Eliyahu-Coracos (DM, M(C)) we signed for €41.5M from Norwich, where to be honest he had an underwhelming season. But he had two very good seasons for us before moving to Crystal Palace for €64M. 169 CA / 178 PA.
Junior Méyé (AM(RC), Striker) from Gabon. A steal at €135K when you consider he’s 135 CA / 157 PA at 21 y/o in 2040.
Casper Koch (D(RC), WB(R) I was looking at him to hold the fort down on the Defensive right, and that we poached him from RB Leipzig was very cool as well, but Wolves (who are a pretty good team in this game) offered us €30.5M and he jumped all over it. A 159 CA / 165 PA player.
Claudio Tessari (D (RC) from Italy, another world class find from the Italian Lower leagues (Serie B Palermo in this case) and a steal at €6.25M when you consider in 2040 he’s 171 CA / 180 PA.

2037/38 Transfers:

Sagi Ohayon (Striker) A bit of a journeyman career, but one of the players I signed to be part of my Striker rotation has been very good so far. 142 CA / 144 PA.
Ben Dahan (Striker, AM(C), M(C) More on him in a few.
Omar Mchedlishvili (D(RL), WB(R), M(R), AM(RC) A very good player who was so fed up with the coaches at Hertha he demanded a trade, and we were only too happy to oblige. Two very good season for us until Sheffield United came running. 157 CA/PA.

2038/39 Transfers:

Dragan Grčić (GK) With Popovich moving to Dynamo B, and with the luck I’ve had signing keepers from this Region, Grčić certainly looked like he had a big future ahead of him, and he did. As we saw above, in 2050 he’s still with the club, but in 2040 he was a 159 CA / 174 PA player.
Alban Lüthi (D(C), DM, M9C), AM(C)) could find a spot at Liverpool (or the other teams he was at), but the 157 CA/PA player will have a future here.
Carlos Navarro (M(C), AM(C)) is one of the reasons I stuck with my 3 AM(C) formation. He was already a 4 star player when I signed him, he was a 5 star player when I retired, and with a 178 CA / 180 PA it’s easy to see why.
Pietro Rotunno (D(R)) had an interesting start to his career. My Italian scout found him at Renate, a Serie C team, and he let his contract run out. We signed him on a free, beating out a bunch of other teams, because his attributed looked pretty good, and on a free, why not? As you will see, he turned into a very good player, but in 2050 he’s a 123 CA / 171 PA Player.

The 2039/40 transfer window was my last as head coach, so I am not too invested in the players, although there are a couple I want to look at.

Marco Munoz, who we bought from PSG for €33M, had a series of loan spells, two good half seasons, then went to Benfica for €11.5M. With 136 CA / 173 PA I think this is a miss by the coaching staffs who followed mine. Hossam Yehia was a young Egyptian Keeper with an intriguing attribute set. With Grčić on the roster (and in danger of being poached), having a young talent on the bench could be handy. When we signed him he was 91 CA / 159 PA, in 2050 he’s 107 CA. Ole-Christian Berntsen was on an Amateur Contract at Arendal in Norway, and had Youth Caps. I took a flyer on him because hey, what’s to lose? The coaches following me found out, as he bounced around on loan spells (and had a good couple IMO) with only a few first team starts being moved to Norwich in 2046 for €5.25M. He’s a 140 CA player, who had a 180 PA ceiling.

Ben Dahan

Signed for €3.5M in 2037, I found Ben thru Screenflow. I didn’t have him full scouted when I did, but holy cow, was I ever surprised. I went from a 4-2-2-2 Box to the 4-1-1-3-1 to get him on the field, and boy howdy, did he ever perform. He was one of the players I wanted to follow up on after retirement and simming forward, and I am glad I did. This is Ben at 30 years old. This was his 2nd Season at Athletico Madrid, he moved for €107M.

Remember, because I modified my attribute range, those Green Circles are all 17 or better.

This is his career so far. What isn’t included, and this is frustrating, are his International numbers as well:

As an example, in 2045/46 he had 22 goals and 19 assists across all competitions. In 2046/47 it was 19 and 18. In 47/48 it was 26 and 21.

He is the 3rd 200 PA player I’ve found thru scouting in six years of FM. Part of me wishes I had found him ten years earlier, but had I done that, he’d have been playing for Dynamo B by 2030.

Tatsuke Yoneyama

Signed for €2.3M from Kobe Leone in 2036/37, Tatsuke had 5 Seasons at Dynamo, before being signed in the 2041/42 season for €201M by Dynamo B. I am reasonably sure had I remained he would have stayed in Berlin for the rest of his career. As it stands, he’s had a pretty good one:

A 187 CA / 189 PA Striker. Although if I am being honest in the 2043/44 season Dahan started at Striker and made the best XI with 26 goals, 10 assists and a 7.37 rating. Dahan and Yoneyama up top? in something like a 3-4-1-2…Hrrm…

This was a fun save, this was my sort of save, taking a club that’s in the lower leagues and trying to bring them to the top. I wanted to do something different as well, some storytelling to help drive the narrative along, and I think for the most part I succeeded. Eventually though, the game was getting rough to play. Not because we kept on winning (which we weren’t), not because we kept getting the best players (Which we didn’t), but because I was spending way to much time fighting the board.

From the beginning it seems as if I was constantly at loggerheads with them, sure getting promoted out first season was unexpected but then going €20M+ in debt to get a new stadium built while trying to stave off relegation? It took me an inordinate amount of begging to get facilities upgrades, coaches and scouts expanded. For about 10 years our only affiliate was a RegionalLiga team so bad none of my players wanted to go there, and the two years I had a loan manager were the worst because he was constantly screwing me out of deals. It took me threatening to quit my job to get an affiliate, a good one in Heidenheim, and to get youth recruitment expanded. In the real world I would have quit much sooner, as it was the goals of the save were met: Win the Bundesliga, and Win the Champions League. It was a very good save, and very fun save, and I cannot thank everyone enough for following along.

Up next, something a little different for me, 2024 being the year of change and all that. Watch this Space!

Der Bär Wird Wieder Brüllen, The Eighteenth Season, Part Two

The theme for this season? Injuries.

Javier Palacios, a broken ankle, out 3 months.
Ben Dahan, a torn Hamstring, out 3 months
Alexandr Panchekha, a damaged Achilles tendon, our 4 months
Michael Keßler, knee tendonitis, out 3 months.

Holy hells, I don’t know what the heck is going on with my medical department, my Technical director is responsible for hiring/firing them, but I swear a lot of them are going to be losing their job this keeps up.

The season got of to a rip roaring start, with one exception:

Other than that one blip, we were firing on all cylinders, including a 5-4 win over Man City (AKA BFC Dynamo B, more on that later) in the League Phase. Several close victories (but victories nonetheless) followed, but the highlight of this portion of the schedule was beating Dynamo Dresden 5-2 in the Pokal. The only other blip was drawing to HSV, but they kept the ball away from us, and when we did have our chances, we couldn’t make the most of them.

The draw at Augsburg was very annoying, as we were better than them across the board, but the two word work hits we had certainly didn’t help, and neither did the defensive lapse we had that allowed Altmeier to score in the 73rd minute. We were lucky to escape Madrid with a draw, as they thoroughly outplayed us from beginning to end, but ending the first half of the season with just the one loss across all competitions was very nice. Beating Man City and a very good Rennes team were definitely highlights.

The only transfer of consequence was Park Jong-sun in, a South Korean keeper recommended to me by my scout. Our depth at keeper wasn’t the best, and with the injuries we were having I realized that a 21 y/o Egyptian International with next to no experience wasn’t a good plan.

He’s not a bad keeper, in fact I would have been happy to have him in our Bundesliga 2 days, and he can do a solid job for us if required.

The number of games and injuries started catching up to us in January:

FC Koln is a decent squad, they’re fighting for European football and they earned the draw when our defense decided the game was won and the last ten minutes didn’t matter. Union Berlin though, they are fighting relegation. Palacios had a goal called back by VAR for being offsides (it was the right call), then Grgic made not one but two saves on PK’s that saved the draw for us. We should have lost that game.

HSV held us to a draw, again, this time Ohayon saving us with a an 82nd minute goal, but as we were drawing BVB was winning, and they were neck and neck with us.

We got out of League play no problem, then beat PSG 2-1 on aggregate.

We then beat a very good Wolves team in the Quarters, and an excellent Sheffield United Team in the Semi’s, to face Dynamo B (AKA Man City) at Wembley. That was the good news. The bad news? drawing at Wolfsburg, which let BVB pull even with us, and losing at BMG, which let them pull ahead. And so, despite winning the Pokal in extras time at Hertha, and getting to the Finals of the Champions League, we finished 2nd in the League, losing by 1 point.

Now, why do I call Man City “Dynamo B”? This is why:

Curbelo, Schau, Jiminez, Montanaro, and Popovich. All former BFC Dynamo players. All former starters. Montanaro we found very early on, and if we’re being fair (and I don’t want to be but OK) he ended up in Man City via Newcastle and RB Leipzig. Jiminez went to Angers, then City paid €203M(!!) for him. They paid Madrid €174M(!) for Schau, then they paid €52M for Popovich, and €83M for Curbelo. They finished 2nd in the Prem behind Chelsea. They were playing essentially a home game, as this years final was in Wembley.

And with out best striker and one of our better AM(C)’s out, we won:

In City’s defense (pft!) the Vasiliu goal was very close, but VAR clearly showed he was offsides. Sadler was BEHIND Popovich when he got the goal and scored, and how Grgic ended up on a 6.9 I am not sure, but we got to celebrate in front of the English crowd, and it felt good:

Befitting a Champions League Winning Season, several players had amazing years:

A keeper with 1 or 2 POM’s isn’t out of the ordinary. Grgic with 7 though, that’s more than a few games won. I knew Navarro had a good season, I didn’t realize it was 20+ goals AND assists, and the scary thing is he still has some room to grow IMO:

Yoneyama was very good again, and resting him for Ohayon was not a huge dropoff. Palacios stepped up when needed, but the biggest surprise for me this season was Panchekha. 17 goals and 14 assists while missing 16+ games is phenomenal.

Lars Eller was living the good life. As the President of BFC Dynamo the past six years, he hat sat at the top of the boardroom table, watching as the club worked it’s way to the top of the table not once, but three times, and less than a week ago lifted the Champions League trophy. That Coach Schmidt hadn’t smiled at him when he handed the Cup over was galling on a personal level, and it was something he was going to bring up in today’s meeting. Coach’s ego was getting big, and it was time to remind him who was in charge of the club.

There was a knock on the door, and his secretary came in a few seconds later, marched to his desk, and put an envelope down, then turned and left without a word. There was no name on the front, but he opened it, took out the letter, and started to read.

Herr Eller,

Eighteen years ago I I was hired as head coach of BFC Dynamo. They are the club I have supported since childhood, the club I wanted to coach since I was young, and the journey since the day I was hired has been a very good one. In these 18 years i Have coached a total of 6546 days, won 15 awards. In 773 games played, we have won 403 of them, drawn 176, and lost 194, with a +444 goal difference. We have won 7 Cups, 4 Leagues, and have been promoted 3 times.
The past three years the club has fallen behind. I have asked repeatedly for improvements to the training facilities, the youth facilities, and training grounds. I have asked numerous times for new affiliates, and have been repeatedly turned down. This club has a vision, a goal, and a desire, but in order for those things to be attained, the tools must be present for them to be made possible. The last time I asked you, if you will remember, you told me I had to make do with what I had.
I find I can no longer do that anymore, and I prefer to go out on top. Therefore I must inform you that as of 7AM this morning, June 5th, 2040, I resign as Head Coach of BFC Dynamo.
I wish you and the club success in it’s future endeavors.

Regards,

Nicholas Schmidt

His hands were shaking as he read the end of the letter, and when his phone rang he picked it up without a thought and yelled “What!”

“Hello, Herr Eller, this is Klaus Schneider with Voetbalzone, I was wondering if you could comment on Herr Schmidt resigning this morning?”

Eller slammed the phone back down on its cradle.

One more entry in the Der Bär Wird Wieder Brüllen universe is up, as we take a look at what happened to the club after Coach left, and take a look at what happened with some of the players who built the club, and helped carry it to the top. An interesting (at least to me) note, if you go to Club Vision -> Board you will see a board request data section. For the entirety of my duration in Berlin, the board turned down 60% of my requests. The final straw for me this season (what with FM24 having been released) they rejected all of my requests for Youth Improvement and Youth Facilities and affiliates, and I had to threaten to quit to get the training facilities upgraded as well. This whole save I have fought the board in one fashion or another, hell it almost ended after the first year when the club put in in so much debt to build a new stadium that it could have been over before it started, and I hate fighting the board. It’s time to travel, and see the world.

This has been a fun save, and I’ll expand on that more in the last post. Thanks for reading!

Der Bär Wird Wieder Brüllen, The Eighteenth Season, Part One

The goal this year is to win the Bundesliga for the fourth time in a row. That however is secondary to our ultimate goal, winning the Champions League. Our progress the past five years has been as follows:

34/35 – Beaten by Milan in the Knock out Playoff Round
35/36 – Beaten by Milan in the Round of 16
36/37 – Beaten by Man City in the Quarter Finals
37/38 – Beaten by PSG in the Round of 16
38/39 – Beaten by Barcelona in the Semi Final

We have a good, young team. The 4-1DM-1M-3-1 I have been playing has put plenty of goals on the board, and while our defense isn’t the Great Wall of China, it’s still pretty solid. We have a big transfer budget, and lots of salary space to work with, but to be honest, I don’t think we need to go out and find one or two players. We have a solid squad, what we need is quality depth, and for that I am willing to pay.

OUTS:

I am not sure why Omar Mchedlishvili wanted to leave. Yes, Sheffield United has been a perennial top 6 team the past decade, even finished second once. And they won the Europa League last season as well, and Omar had a great season for us last year, with 11 assists and a 7.38 rating. But when Sheffield made the offer, he was eager to go. Maybe he just wanted to get out of Germany, I am not sure, but we made a tidy profit on him, and while his departure weakens our back field some, I’d rather have players who want to be here than those that don’t.

Leonard Spangenberg was a victim of the “Good Player, but Better players behind him” syndrome. He had two solid seasons with us, then as I had better younger players coming up, I sent him out on loan. He had a good spell in Genoa last season, and garnered enough attention that he moved to Salernitana.

Edwin Tenorio, to be fair I am not sure what the color of the sky in his world is. I brought him in to be a back up and he was happy being a backup and spot starter, then he wanted more playing time, and I said “No, you are good, but you aren’t Grčić good.” and sent him on loan to Lorient, where he allowed 76 in 33 games and the beat relegation by 4 points. He came back wanting more playing time, I shipped him to Villareal for a small loss.

I was expecting good things from Alexander Lacrouts this season. What I was not expecting was Barca to come in and make a €36.5M offer for him, one in which he jumped all over. Their midfield id getting old, Pedri turns 37 this year, so he will get a ton of playing time. I think this is one of those cases where the teams reputation came into play, and BArca could be relegated and still pull in players based on team names alone.

Christian Almansa was the type of backup goalie everyone should have: trained well, good mentor, ready to step in if needed. Yes, he was getting up their in age, but thats not a huge deal when it comes to keepers. Fiorentina made an offer for him, to be the backup, and he jumped at it. If he had been Edwin I may have been more of a jerk about it, but he did right by us, so I did right by him and let him go.

Polat Kaya is a year away from being a starter IMO, but I think it’s better for him to go out and get a full seasons worth of games in as a started. OGC Nice is a solid squad, and will challenge for European football this season.

Ignacio Fraile stormed into the office demanding more playing time. He was on a squad player contract, and last season had 18 appearances, 8 off the bench. I told him no, he pitched a fit, so I listed him. There weren’t any takers, so I ended up loaning him to Real Hispalis.

IN’s:

These were taken at the end of the season.

Yet again, my scout in Italy has failed me. Enrico Piras was supposed to be a 3 star current 5 star potential player who was happy to come here on a squad player contract and contribute, more often than not, from the bench. He came in as two stars, got some playing time at the beginning of the season, then demanded more playing time. I told him I would start him in the Pokals and Champions League games, and he threw a grump, so I stuck him on the U19’s for the rest of the season, put him on the transfer list, and Norwich picked him up.

I also fired my Scout in Italy.

Petr Březina is a pick for the future. I need a player capable of playing both sides of the defensive back four, and the Czech international fits the bill nicely. Physically gifted, solid Mentals and Technicals, Slavia Prague asked for him on a loan back, and I agreed.

My hope is that Marco Muñoz becomes the next Cezar or Sergio Palacios. Did I overpay for him? Yes, but he is a good young striker with room to grow, good Physicals, very good Mentals, and with his technique, Passing and First Touch, capable of playing either the Forward or AM(C) positions.

I think my Italian Scout has a Brazilian Cousin. Arcelino is a solid young M(C)/AM(C), but I don’t know that he’s €33M good. International asked for a loan back, and then stuck him on the bench, so I am not sure what to expect come Spring. He’s a solid player, but I think International got the better of me here.

Admittedly I panicked little bit when Omar left, and while there were D(R/L)’s who were very good available, I wasn’t going to pay Omar money for them. Francesco Gliozzi came thru on an Agent’s offer, and after looking at him, I thought he would be a solid backup and mentor, and he really has been. A solid all around player who’s versatility can (and will) come in handy.

Jacob Sørensen has had a very good career, from AaB to Kobenhavn, to Bayer and then Hoffenheim, then Chelsea to Juve, he’s for a lot of things to brag about. Juve listed him as Surplus to Requirements, and I picked him up because even though he’s older, he is still a capable DM, and his versatility is also a bonus. The Resolute personailty will also be helpful when it comes to mentoring. If I can get two or three years out of him I would be quite happy with that.

Martín Fernández is slight less expensive version of Sørensen, a solid, versatile player with Great Mentals and Good physicals with the right Technical skills. I wouldn’t start him at DM, but he will see a decent amount of time coming off the bench and starting in the Cups and other matches.

Hossam Yehia is…interesting. The Egyptian U21 International Keeper was let go on a Free by his former club Smouha, but he has 4 Star Potential. Other than a low Composure, he has solid attributes in the other areas, and at 21 he can still improve, especially as he has a Determined Personality. With Grčić as our primary keeper I don’t think we have anything to worry about, until a bigger teams comes after him, and having a good young keeper in the system isn’t going to hurt, especially one who comes in on a free.

Stefanoc has a lock on the D(R) position, but at the moment he’s also my best D(L), and there are times where it’s preferable to play him over there. As a consequence, we need a capable young D(R) who can make the position his own if required, and Anton Hopkinson is going to get that chance. The Scottish International had a miserable season at Fulham last year, and they were happy to let him go. For a player with Above Average to Good Mentals and Physical Attributes, whose Technical’s are also pretty good, 16M might be a steal…

I like our chances this year, not only to win the Bundesliga, but wo win the Champions League. Now we just have to see how it all plays out.

Der Bär Wird Wieder Brüllen, The Seventeenth Season, Part Two

The engine that is BFC Dynamo is firing on all cylinders. The 4-2DM-2-2 Box formation I am using has a lot of my opponents absolutely flummoxed, and now that I have a good player and capable backup in most every position, I am not as afraid of multiple games in a week as I once was.

So of course, we lost to Bayern in the Super Cup to start the season off:

I don’t know what it is exactly, but they just seem to have our number.

We then scored 13 goals and allowed 4 in our next 4 games, so on one hand that’s good. On the other hand, it took a Yoneyama goal in the 88th minute to draw with Bayern the third game in, but on the gripping hand, hey, not a loss…

Our Champions League group was pretty tough: Wolves, AEK, Benfica, PSG, PSV, Olympiacos, BVB, and Milan. Wolves played us very well, we were lucky to come away with the draw there, and we could have scored more against AEK but I took the petal off in the second half. They had 4 shots all game

October was the month on many games, one every 5 days give or take, and our record reflects it. We beat the teams we were supposed to beat, drew some of the teams we were supposed to beat, and ended up for the most part healthy. The draws at Frankfurt and Hertha are a bit…galling, but the earned them, so I can’t complain too much. As well as we were playing, we should have done better. I am not saying the team has been playing down to the quality of opponents we have been facing, but it does seem that even when I am on the attack and encouraging the guys, they are a bit too…lackadaisical sometimes.

We should have lost all three games that we drew. It took extra time goals in all of them for us to equalize, and that’s a trend I want to continue. The frustrating thing is related to what I was alluding to earlier, in some games, like against HSV, the team was just going thru the motions, a boneheaded play by an HSV player gave us the 90th minute pen and the win. Like wise against BMG, an errant pass was intercepted, bombed down the field, and Yoneyama scored before the whistle blew. The only other incident of consequence happened against Dusseldorf:

If there has been one takeaway from the first half of the season, it’s that everyone has been participating, we aren’t relying on just one player for the assists and another for the scoring, it has been a very good team effort.

January Transfers:

Last season Santiago Viveros demanded a new contract. With Star Player status, and a top wage match clause. Now, I like Santiago, he’s been a very capable AM(C) for us and a team leader, in fact when he made his demands he was team Captain. But consider the following: He’s never started a full seasons worth of games with us. He’s never had double digit goals in a season, or double digit assists, in fact he was on track to have his best season ever this year at BFC (16 goals and 8 assists projected).

So I told him no. And he pitched a fit. So I stuck him the U19’s and stripped him of the Captains Arm band. Most the squad just shrugged and started playing. The only reason he got the games he did this year was that I had enough niggling injuries in my AM(C)’s tha he got a few starts and off the bench appearances. I wasn’t shocked a team made an offer for him, I was shocked it was Hertha for €41.5M. Seeing as how we brought him here for €2.1, and he was in the proverbial doghouse, I am fine with letting him leave.

On the flip side, you have David Brandler. I bought him to start and provide depth at the defensive fullback positions, but due to circumstances, he was the odd man out. He came to me and said “Coach, I’d like to go out on loan”+” and I replied “I can do that, but to be honest I don’t see a future for you here, I am just going to list you.” and €9.5M later he’s leaving.

It happens. Yes, we lost money on the Brandler deal, but we made it up with Santiagos.

Polat Kaya, Junior Meye, Manuel Patino and Pietro Rotunno all needed more playing time than I could give them, so they went out on loan.

FYI, the screenshots for these players are with the new Attribute range I am working with in FM24, where Poor (Red)= 1-7, Average (Orange) is 8-12, Good (Blue) 13-17, Very Good (Green)= 18-20

Enric:

I felt I needed some depth at D(L), and was looking for some versatile as well, and Enric fit the bill. At 500K hes not hurting the budget, and to be honest, if he never plays a game for us I won’t be too upset, getting him was a case of ‘I’d rather have him and not need him, rather than need him and not have him.” Physically very good, and Defending Skill wise very good, his movement does offset his Possession attributes IMO.

Edison Estacio:

Edison is a very good player. Solid Physicals, solid defending skills, good on the Attack, a very good crosser of the ball. Is he €63M good? Hell no. I got snowed on this move. He’s bounced around a bit, Gremio to Braga to Brighton to Forrest, and while he’s never been outstanding, he’s been solid, and that’s what I was looking for. I overpaid for him, Nottingham pulled one over one me. It was bound to happen sooner or later.

Carlos Navarro:

I may have dropped the ball with Enric, but I picked it up on the bounce with Carlos and ran with it. The Mexican International was looking to get out of Sporting, he wasn’t getting his promised playing time, and while €41M may seem high, I am totally getting my monies worth and more out of him. I picked him up because I wanted quality depth at the AM(C) position after Viveros left, and while Meye and Kaya are good, they aren’t ready. Carlos is, and he will be part of the rotation for awhile.

The awards started to come is as well. This bodes wee for the future:

Another draw at Bayern. Behold my shocked face. :-/. We did reach 700 games a a head coach in February though.

We were absolutely on fire in January in February. A Total of 36 goals scored and 10 allowed over all competitions? 13 different goal scorers? Our only last gasp ‘winner’ against Milan to salvage the draw? And we were mostly injury free at this time as well, except:

3-4 month for Shin Splints? This is not Sagi’s year…

I am not sure what happened at Hertha, just that in the second half of the game we couldn’t do anything. I don’t want to blame the schedule (but I could), and I don’t want to blame injuries (because there weren’t any critical ones), we just got out played. It was bound to happen.

We got our revenge by thumping Monaco in the Quarter FInals, and beat Freiburg to get to the Pokal final. Navarro, Palacios, Dahan and Panchekha are a great AM(C) rotation, I may have to move one of them to M(C) to get three of them on the field.

The ‘we only one because the other team screwed up’ win against a relegation zone Werder team should have been a clue as to what was to come, And that was Barca beating us 3-0 at Camp Nou. It wasn’t even a close game, they had 16/6 and a 2.32 xG, while we had 7/2 and a .57. Everyone played poorly.

We couldn’t overcome the deficit, crashing out in the Semi’s. Poor Dusseldorf was the object of our frustration, I believe Navarro was so mad he wasn’t going to play in a Champions League he decided to score almost every time he touched the ball. The win also clinched us the Bundesliga for the 3rd year running, and we closed the season out with a dominant win over BVB in the Pokal final.

There were some other tidbits of news as well:

The end of season Statistics were very nice to see:

Seven players with double digit goals. Five players with Double Digits assists, Stefanov with 19(!).

We’ve a €1325M transfer Budget. €50M of salary we can spend. Next season, were going to go for it all.

Then this happened:

Der Bär Wird Wieder Brüllen, The Seventeenth Season, Part One

Seventeen seasons in, and BFC Dynamo has climbed the rankings in Europe, we’re now a top 25 team. Our Facilities are excellent, are coaching staff is excellent, our player development is excellent, which means when a big clubs comes calling, our players want to leave, and no amount of money will keep them here…blast and damn…

Man City has decided to go the “If You can’t beat them, Buy Them!” route of improving the squad. Lucas Curbelo and Jakov Popovich both left on high money deals, of the two I am more worried about losing Popovic. Curbelo I didn’t want to lose, but bigger reputation talks, so I took the money and Curbelo walked…

The Dylan MacLennan tour ends with him going on a free to Kortrijk, meanwhile Shane Verhove moves to Genoa, Emili Martinez goes the Chelsea, and Conrad Braune leaves for RB Salzburg. Junior Meye goes to Heidenheim on a loan spell, as does Spangenberg, and maybe not so surprisingly, Edwin Tonorio. The keeper I brought in last year to be a backup and was happy signing a backup contract was upset because his lack of playing time took him out of National Team consideration. Lorient want to pay me a cool €500K for a loan spell, sure, why not.

Because I am a numpty, and forgot to take screenshots at the beginning of the season, these are from the Middle of the season save I opened in FM24, in which I am using the Mustermann Skin.

My scout in Italy/Switzerland/Austria consistently finds these good young defenders in Serie C, whose ranks Pietro Rotunno could join. A very good attacking wingback, he also possesses solid defensive skills, and with some good training should become quite capable on the left.

Alban Lüthi is a sold young midfielder, physical, defensively solid, and quick enough to make most defender worried. He’s had a rocky couple of year, moving from Young Boys to Standard, to Liverpool, and then to Berlin. His versatility is the primary reason I signed him, the fact he will probably be the team captain in the near future is also a good thing IMO

Dragan Grčić came to my attention last year, when I noticed him on the Slovenian U20 squad. When City start going after Popovic, Grčić was the only keeper I went after, because he was already very good, and at just 20 years old, could only get better. Plus he was an absolute bargain at €4.3M Euro’s. Something tells me Jakov might have been ambivalent about leaving, but when he saw Grčić arrive, he left two days later.

If Jorge Ruiz was a country not in South America, he’s be capped numerous times. Being Brazilian, he’s not World Class, just Hall of Very Good, which if we’re being honest is world class for about 85% of the other countries not named Brazil (Or Germany, England, Portugal, etc) out there. Despite being this good, at Flamengo he only started about 50% of the games each season. Did I overpay to get him? Heck no, because there were worse European players going for more…

At €46M, Alexandr Pancheka, formerly of Milan by way of Man City and Dinamo Moscow, is the player I’ve paid the most money for (so far) at Dynamo. After two seasons at Milan though, he was transfer listed, and with Curbelo leaving, I needed a capable replacement for him, and Alexandr fits that profile nicely. His Possession attributes are quite good, as are his attacking attributes, and while he’s not the strongest or best jumper, he will run circles around you all day. The midfield general I’ve been trying to develop, but they all leave before I am ready to promote them, Alexandr steps into that role, baton in hand.

One of the lessons I learned (the hard way thank you) was that midfield depth is not a bad thing, especially when you loan out younger players you could have probably played, and were forced to play wingers and striker out of position because you didn’t want to change the formation. Yell at me all you want for that, we still won the league, but as a result, when a good midfielder became available for a nice price, I took a look at them. Ignacio Fraile is one of the lucky ones to have signed, because he’s going to get playing time and opportunities despite being here on a fringe contract. A Solid all around M(C)/DM who might start most games on the bench, but finish them on the pitch.

Why sign two quality midfielder when you can sign three? Or four? OK, Just three this year. Alexandre Lacrouts is a solid, dependable midfielder that’s bounced around a few teams, but has always increased his value each time. I suspect he’s one of those players who’s good enough to do a solid job, but you think there might be better option out there so you go looking for them. I think he will be a good addition to the midfield rotation, the first half of the season hasn’t proven me wrong…

Can we 3-peat this year? I think we have a good shot. I would like to get further in the Champions League this year, that series against PSG still rankles, but as we all know, the FM Gods are fickle.

Season recap will be coming up next, I just have to type out, right after this meeting of Midfielders Anonymous…

Der Bär Wird Wieder Brüllen, The Sixteenth Season, Part Two

The team is really starting to come together. We’ve found good starters at most of the positions, capable backups at most positions, and a few youngsters I am eager to see how they do on the field. The FM24 Beta came out as I started this season, and with the new ability to play your FM23 Save in FM24, that’s what I did. I’d like to think some of the scores we would have achieved in FM23, but who knows for sure?

I switched formations in the 34/35 season, to a 4-2DM-2-2 that has really started to pay off, especially with all the talented AM(C)’s I have at the club.

Losing the SuperCup to Bayern was a bit of a letdown, especially as it was a Lucas goal in the 93rd minute that gave them the win. We had our chances, we just didn’t take them. A 7-1 thrashing of Regional team Flensburg, with a pretty rotated side, was a nice way to start the season off. We rode a hot strreak all the way to Villareal, where we drew, then on the short turnaround time lost to Koln with a team that should have beaten them, even if it was a little rotated.

Our Champions League group was tough, even if the scores don’t reflect it. Villareal, Lens, Volos (A Greek Squad that’s had a steady buildup since the save started), Man City, Standard, and Mitjylland, the only team the truly scares me is Man City, but all of them are capable of beating us. What I really liked about the first three months of games was everyone was involved. We weren’t relying on Tatsuki to carry us, and when he had an off game Javier or Lucas was there to pick up the slack. Sago Ohayon isn’t scoring as much as I would like, but he is a good 3rd option now, with Javier and Tasuki starting. We finished out OCtober undefeated, including a victory over our former East German frenemies Hansa Rostock.

Drawing to Man City is good, but to be honest both of us weren’t trying to win, we were just trying to not lose. We had 10/4 and an xG of .94, they had 10/2 with an xG of .88. The turnaround against Hertha wasn’t as short as some of the other weeks we’ve played, but we were absolutely listless against them, they just couldn’t find the net (16 Shots, only 2 on target with 1 clear cut chance and a half chance.)

We absolutely FM’s Standard, with goals in the 91st and 93rd minute to win. It shouldn’t have fallen to that, because from the first whistle we dominated them. Tessari missed a PK in the 17th minute, in the 20th minute they had a player sent off on a straight red, and then in the 87th minute they scored. They had 7/2 for the game, we had 16/5 with a 2.67 xG, and it took them trying not to lose for us to win. Four days layer we eked out a win against Bayer 04, then four days after that we crashed out of the Pokal, having been trounced by a BvB team that brought their a game while we brought or C- one.

The highlight of December was beating a very good Hoffenheim team, and drawing against Bayern Munich thanks to a well struck Ben Dahan goal.

January Transfer’s

We brought in two players in January.

First up is Omar Mchedlishvili, a German International who fell out with the coaching staff ant Hertha and wanted to leave. The transfer fee was €14M, and the instant he became available I jumped on it, because he’s a very good wingback who can play either side very well, and him leaving Hertha hurts them and helps us.

With GK injuries becoming a thing in FM24, I wanted a bit more depth, and Wolves made Edwin Tenorio available. The Ecuadorian international is a very capable GK, and while there is a drop off from Popovic to him, it’s not as great as it was from Popovic to Almansa. The good news is he was cheap, and he’s happy being a backup.

Leaving in January:

Young Constantin Ulreich needs playing time against good competition, and he’ll get it at Darmstadt. Matti Schutz, Conrad Braune, Josue Levy, and Victor Manuel Roca were players who found themselves on the bench, and while they weren’t exactly agitating for time, when I started getting offers for them I let them go.

Losing Boris Castillo was frustrating. It was the same situation that happened before, I offered him a new contract, he accepted, but before he signed Man City, in a fit of ‘If you can’t beat them buy them” made an offer that met his existing release clause, and because they are Man City and we aren’t he left. The good news is we made a €20 Million profit on him, but this happened the last day of the window, and I may regret letting some of the other defensive players leaving.

Schedule wise the New Year got off to a fabulous start, as we beat all of our german competition, and drew with Man City and Milan (who have kicked out out of a couple of European tournaments in recent years) that had us finish 7th in the League Phase, setting us up for a Round of 16 battle against….PSG.

The came the games in March:

They beat us 3-1 the first game. We beat them 7-6 in the second game, in extra time, losing on goal differential 9-8.

Do not tempt the FM gods, for they will find a way to stab the in the chest with a smile on their face…

We still hadn’t recovered from the loss when we faced Augsburg and lost…but we got ourselves right against Hertha Berlin.

We clinched the League winning away at Hoffenheim, setting new Dynamo records for games won and goals scored:

What’s amazing to me is the dropoff between 4th and 5th place, heck even 1st to 5th place. Even more amazing was how well the players did:

Two players with 20+ goals, another four with 10+, 3 players with double digit assists, including Dahan. Tenorio is quietly turning into one of the best AM(C)’s in the game I think, and I’m still trying to find out how Palacios had 14 assists as well. The kicker is Tatsuki didn’t lead the league in goals, a regen by the name of Ivan Leiva who plays for Hertha had 31…

+18, -13, +26. Pundits. Hah.

In better news, thanks to our transfer moves, we led the league in profit:

And with that, the season ended. The players left on vacation, I started scouring the lists, and then out of the blue:

Look, I’m a Palace fan, they are the club I have followed the longest (since the early 80’s) and I always have a private save with them going on, except this year. In this universe, the best they’ve done is a 3rd place finish in 29/30and won the ECL in 28 after winning the FA Cup in 27/28. Since then, with the exception of a 5th place finish, they have been very Palace Like: Solidly Midtable and well away from relegation. Joshua Kimmich is their current coach. And they have the pull to not only give my good young DM €64M, but the reputation to get him to leave?

OK…

And now the other teams are circling us as well. Next transfer window is going to be lit….

Der Bär Wird Wieder Brüllen, The Sixteenth Season, Part One

“I can’t believe we won the League,” Uwe said.
“I can’t believe we won in Magdeburg!” Sasha replied. It was a common course over the summer with her.
“It’s a dream,” Uwe said
“Its-” Sasha started to say, before Heinrichs hand on her arm stopped her.
“A nightmare would have been winning in Rostock. Or Dresden.”
Sasha started to respond, the stopped, and finished her beer.
“You really think Osman for €75M is a good deal?” Heinrich asked the table.
Paul nodded. “Man United has been on a spending spree. They want to pay €75M for him, why say no?”
“Especially with Yoneyama on the squad,” replied Dietrich. “He’ll score at least 20 this year.”
“You sure about that?” Heinrich replied.
In response Dietrich reached inside his jacket and pulled his wallet out, then set a 100 Euro note on the table. “20 or more goals, in the Bundesliga.”
Heinrich paused for a moment, then nodded, reaching inside his own wallet.
“Sasha, spot me a 20?”
“And dinner?” she replied looking at him. The rest of the table laughed.
“We excited about any of the new arrivals?”
“Dahan,” Dietrich, Heinrich and Paul replied. Uwe nodded as he took a drink.
“Really?” Sasha said.
“Kid has a ton of potential. Coach loves him. He’s one of the best young center mids in the game, and if he’s not a world class center mid in four or five years…”
“What?” Sasha asked.
“He’ll be a world class Advanced Center mid,” Heinrich sighed. “Big question is can we keep him for that long…”

After winning the League, with a bit of luck and a lot of help, we ended up winning the Bundesliga, so of course all the teams started coming after our players. The good news is that I was able to say “No” for a few of them, and they were OK staying here. Our reputation has gone up quite a bit since we made it to the Bundesliga, and this year it came into full effect. If it hadn’t we’d be hurting.

Out’s

Renato Arruda was becoming the odd man out, and when I couldn’t guarantee him the playing time he wanted, he asked to leave. As a former Captain, and a player without whom we wouldn’t be where we are, I not only said yes but let him transfer within the division. I just wish I had gotten more than €2.2M for him.

Man United coming after one of my players wasn’t a big deal. Them paying €75M for Osman is. It’s a number I never expected, but then again I am also smart enough to understand then when a potential competitor makes a mistake, you let him. He’s going to partner up with former BFC Striker Jose Luis Games, who’s now 31, and has had a solid Premier career. Osman could be a superstar, and that’s what United is banking on.

Phillip Schulz is the sort of player I talk about often in my Youtube saves, a player with mostly better than average Attributes, with a couple of very good ones. Not World class, but in the Hall of Very good, and a stalwart in the midfield for us. BMG made an unsolicited offer for him, and he was upset when I turned it down, so I made a private offer and they accepted it.

Cezar was an interesting player. Attribute wise he wasn’t anything extraordinary, I brought him in as a 3rd string striker, and somehow, despite coming off the bench in 75% of his games, he scored double digit goals every season. Then why I tried him as a started more often than not he disappeared. Marseille paid fair market for him though, so I can’t complain about that too much.

Jean Cedric Baffouman I brought in as a youngster, hoping to develop him into a midfielder. Then I went out and signed young players who were just as good as he was, if not better, with some upside as well. I think if he had stayed, he would turn into a very good player, but when Kobenhavn made their offer, he was eager to go.

Caspar Koch had a pretty good season for us last year. I was hoping to use him in the same role this season, but Wolves came in and made an unsolicited offer for him, he was all over it. So I let him go.

Lastly, Muhamed Schedlinski. Who? He was a youth prospect, from the 34/35 youth intakes. Now until recently, our youth intakes have been not a lot to write home about, and that includes Schedlinski, so when Paderborn offered me €300K for him, I first had to look him up, saw how average he was, and said “Ja!” and clicked accept PDFQ.

Also, the Dylan Maclennan tour continues. I take solace in the fact that on a very thin Newcastle squad (their strikers last year had 8 and 7 goals),he couldn’t crack the starting lineup. Bummer…

IN’S

These screenshots are from halfway thru the season.

Javier Palacios:

A Colombian International who’s been a 3rd striker most of his time in Leicester, I was looking for someone who could com in and replace Osman, and if not outright replace him be a part of the rotation. His attributes a very good in all the right areas, and the 27 y/o is going to get a chance to be the starter, and at €17.5M I think we are getting a good deal.

Shane Verhoeve:

One thing I am relearning the hard way is that if you think you have enough dept at defensive back, you don’t. Shane Verhoeve isn’t the tallest D(L) out there, not his he the most Technically gifted, but he has very good Marking and Tackling, Excellent teamwork and work rate, elite level bravery, and while he’s not the fastest player on the pitch, his very good Natural Fitness and means he will be in your back pocket all game. His versatility is a plus, and while he’s primarily going to be a bench player for us, I have little worries about him on the field.

Sagi Ohayan:

I found Sagi Ohayon, and the next player, on the Israeli nation squad via the Screen Flow. I think he still has a little room to improve, but even if he doesn’t, I have a fast, pacy striker with very good Flair, First Touch, Finishing and Composure. Between Palacios, Ohayon, and Yoneyama, I have a very good 3 striker rotation. Now because I play two at the top, I need a 4th…

Ben Dahan:

I posted this on twitter when I signed him. I found him on the Israeli National Squad. As a 17 year old. I’m going to type this out loud: Ben Dahan is a legit 190-200 PA player.

And I signed him for €3.5M. Not a typo. I would have paid twice that for any other player who had his OTB, Decision Making, Technique and Vision alone. Throw in the 17 Aggression, 14 Flair, The fact his lowest physical attribute is 10 Strength and his stamina is already 16. I am not sure what I did to please the FM Gods with this wonderkid of wonderkids, but I am going to do everything I can to keep him.

David Brandler:

I overpaid for Brandler, I’ll admit it. But when Wolves came in for Koch, I panicked, looked at the best available D(R) and WB(R)’s on the transfer and loan list, and he was listed bu RB Leipzig. Very Good Physically, Good Mentally, and lacking in Technical skill…Children, this is what happens when you panic buy in FM.

Emil Martinez:

If you were to just look at Emil’s attributes, you would think a very good D(Mostly Everything) might be worth a lot more, and have a very good career. Emil’s problem was that he came up thru La Masia, and while he was good, there was always someone (Alejandro Balde and Jules Kounde until newgens recently) meant he was on the outside looking in. He had several good stints on their B squad, and a good season on loan at Bournemouth (who were in the Championship last season) but they finished in 7th and didn’t pick his optional fee. We get a young, versatile, and steady D(Mostly Everything) who will on the bench for half the season, and starting the other half. Just don’t ask me where.

Are these moves enough to defend out title? I don’t know, and to be honesty, I am too busy staring at Ben Dahans attributes to care…

Next, the season!