"Cuiabá and The 4-3-1-2 Gold Rush" - Faceless #FM22 — CoffeehouseFM

Previously in this story, Ángel Bastardo became The Faceless.

Intro

June 2024

In 2022, Cuiabá Esporte Clube had rejected the man they called The Faceless once before. Back then, they had been relegated from Série A and faced the heartache of returning to Serie B after just two years in Brazil's top league. It turned out, appointing a man with no identity as their 'saviour' for a return to the top was never a viable option.

Now June 2024, the club has finally opened their doors to The Faceless. Continuing to languish in Série B, the club has stagnated to the point where they now sit in Série B's relegation zone with spiralling debts. There is still time however (and games) to consolidate the club in Série B; with the view of promotion back to Série A in 2025 or 2026 years.

Welcome to the gold rush…

Cuiabá’s 2024 so far…

Did you know that Cuiabá is located in the geographic centre of South America? It’s the reason for the obelisk in the club’s logo, just in case you were wondering. Sadly, it seems the modest structure and plaque make a better attraction than the football on display lately. The Mid-West Brazil side has stagnated in recent years and after 12 matches played in Série B the club now face a relegation battle…

So, what am I walking into in terms of objectives, philosophies and visions?

Expectation to finish Mid-Table in 2024. With 2/3 of the season still to play, this objective is entirely possible. Beyond this, the club has aspirations to win promotion to Série A within two years (by 2026).
Sign players under the age of 23 for the first team. I don’t mind this one, however with the club already in the red I am not looking to sign anybody right now.
Develop players using the club’s youth system. This philosophy suits the fact that there is limited money here at Cuiabá. I think I will be integrating 2-3 academy players each season regardless.

The 4-3-1-2 Gold Rush

Just as a brief update on history: Cuiabá grew in significance due to the 17/18th Century Gold Rush, where gold was discovered along the Cuiabá River. Sadly, once the gold was depleted the city was largely forgotten about until the 1960s, where investment in the roads and infrastructure was brought about by the construction of the country’s new capital called Brasília. Cuiabá Esporte Club took a further 40 years to be formed, where it was founded by footballer Gaúcho (who once briefly played for Boca Juniors)!

The mounting club debts in September 2024 led to cuts in both salary and transfer budgets.

Why do you need to know this? You don’t, but I thought I would name the tactic ‘Gold Rush’…as we try our best to head towards Série A and the ‘gold’ that lies there. I mean, it is a bit of a rush, as we progressed through 2024 we dived further into the red. What was -$900k in June, became -$4m six months later. Who knows what it would be a year later if we continue to pay some of these players Série A salaries (the club has not fully transitioned to life in Série B just yet).

So, how would we try to rectify this and win points? Answer: with a narrow 4-3-1-2…

I like this shape because it’s a reminder of some good FM22 memories I had with Western United in Australia (read more here). Whilst this latest tactic has shades of that Calcio inspired system, with some of the player roles I’ve re-used, I’ve started afresh with Team Instructions. It’s another attempt to keep things simple.

I’ve got a stronger presence of creativity on our left hand side…the Complete Wing Back will advance and stretch the play, a left sided Ball Playing Defender, a left sided Central Midfielder instructed to Get Further Forward and Take More Risks and a Deep Lying Forward. It’s geared to feed the Poacher, but I also have an Attacking Mezzala and a No.10 ‘in the hole’ to chip in with goals.

I won’t introduce the whole squad, but below are the top 3 rated players on my arrival. Having both Wing Backs representing two of the top three is promising, and justification for the narrow formation. Both Lozano and Barros have high Physicals for the level we’re in, and are also our squad’s best crossers. Both will hopefully dominate the flanks.

Alan Empereur is not only an epic name, he’s a solid defender with good First Touch and Vision. You may notice that the roles I am playing them in the 4-3-1-2 align with the recommended ones based on attributes, “keep it simple, stupid”:

Overall the tactic feels like it has a nice balance, and I’m enjoying the highlights immensely. How does it fair?

Season 2024

Série B

An opening 5-1 win at home against Brusque and then a two-month unbeaten run quickly led me to believe that Cuiabá would stay up. But it didn’t stop there: nine wins in our final twelve league matches meant we had a strong chance to achieve automatic promotion to Série A with one league match to go…

A bit like in 2023 with Sampaio Corrêa, I’d face Final Day Drama in Brazil. We went into the final match Vs Operário Ferroviário as favourites, and the only home side in the race for promotion (positions 2-4 gaining automatic promotion). Win and it’s certain we’re up, a draw is helpful…providing results go our way. A defeat could prove costly.

We Did It™ [with a dirty draw at home!] Fortaleza leap frogged us into 2nd place, but Guarani and Remo both lost away from home. Cuiabá will be a Série A club for 2025!

Copa Verde

Whilst we juggled promotion, the 4-3-1-2 continued to do well in the Copa Verde cup competition. The Final was really at the Semi Final stage, as Série B Champions Goiás gave us the most difficult challenge. The two legged Final itself was relatively easy, a 7-1 aggregate win meaning Cuiabá became 2024 Copa Verde Champions 🏆

Stadium Move? 🏟

Things are looking good for Cuiabá! Their new-ish 2014 World Cup ‘Arena Pantanal’ stadium would soon be hosting top league football again…or would it? Well, it wouldn’t be Football Manager without some epic trolling. A day after securing promotion I got a News Item which stated:

I took several minutes to digest the news, I even went to pour myself a Fernet and Coke: our 44,000 seater stadium in ‘very good’ condition would be ditched in favour of renting a 16,000 stadium in a ‘poor’ condition. The move also means a 400km round trip for players and fans to Rondonópolis, I look forward to welcoming la crème de la crème of Brazil to the Engenheiro Lutero Lopes soon. Let’s play ball!

Data Led Recruitment + General Manager

I am now faced with the difficult challenge of keeping a team in a league containing some of the best South American club sides, all on a relatively modest budget of $6.5m salary budget p/a and a transfer kitty of $900k. I am also not sure how long this financial package remains, the club is still in $4m of debt; and now we’re renting a stadium hundreds of kilometres away. Regardless, I am sure whatever salary we settle on it will almost certainly rank within the bottom 4 clubs of Série A for 2025 season.

In addition to financial pressures, the club hierarchy has also added two new club cultures to work towards, which I could not negotiate away: Play defensively solid soccer (low goals and low shots ratios) and Play counter-attacking soccer (exciting, forward thinking attacks). I therefore may need to think about some tactical tweaks to the 4-3-1-2 in order to please the board (and I do have some ideas 😉).

In order to make the most out of the money available, I have decided to be led by the numbers again. This is a method I used with the help of FM Stag earlier on in the FM22 cycle, and I really enjoyed the unpredictably of what the data throws up as to the interesting players to recruit. Only this time recruitment will be a little different:

Firstly, I will be using Zealand Shannon’s ‘Moneyball’ sheets and formulas in order to test out that approach. This will drive our recruitment for all outfield positions.
I will be using FM Stag’s new Goalkeeper Calculator, which he has kindly shared with me. This will be needed after 35-year-old Vice Captain João Carlos decided to pre-emptively agree on a move to Série A’s Ponte Preta via the Bosman ruling mid-way through the season. My aim is to see if the numbers can find a suitable shot stopper for limited outlay.
Lastly, I’ve been lucky enough to recruit a decent General Manager in Geraldo Lantyer. Big G Lantyer has Negotiating 16 and will therefore be tasked with negotiating both player bids and contracts. I will be using my podcast co-host’s approach for player recruitment (read more here). This sees Dan issue short-term focusses via his scouting team, and I will do this in combination with items 1 and 2 above to hopefully find suitable players for 2025 season.

I’m really looking forward to seeing what each of the three processes mean for our recruitment, and whether it’s enough to keep us in Brazil’s top division. A blog will inevitably follow on how this all goes down.

A big thank you for reading/sharing and caring. I’ll be back soon with another Faceless, where the rush for gold continues 🎭

Tony / FM Grasshopper