Making Waves in Bath: A Small FM24 Update

A Happy New Year to all of you lucky enough to find yourself here! It’s been a while since I blogged…I got into that habit of playing a lot and quickly that I didn’t want to stop to blog – despite the catharsis it brings. I then stopped playing. And then started again. It felt…familiar.

I’ve now noticed a pattern to my habits and playstyle when it comes to Football Manager. As I’ve aged, got married, had 3 kids naturally my time with FM and how I play has changed quite a lot.

I now tend to find myself almost over-excited for a new version of FM; with multiple ideas and desires in my head to blog, podcast, do videos & narratives. I’ll then go on an early-FM blitz of content – riding the crest of an FM wave. Inevitably, there comes a time when that wave has to crash and I think with FM23 I couldn’t recover from it.

With FM24 I feel like my wave had a small crash of its own already (sorry for all the metaphors). I really enjoyed my time with AZ; 3 seasons completed fairly quickly with success coming earlier than expected, but then the joy & excitement that was there at the beginning of the save petered out to the point where I felt I needed to move on to something new.

That something new turned out to be Aston Villa. I had thoughts in my head on how this was a natural next step & I could make it work, but alas that spark never returned and I stopped returning to that save.

I often think does playing the game at breakneck speed at times affect my enjoyment? I probably play faster than your average FMer but when I’m in a groove I’ll often play 9pm-1am most evenings, and once I’ve found a tactical sweet spot I’ll switch to key highlights, only dropping back to extended highlights if problems arise. Does this speed mean I’m moving more quickly towards these dips in enjoyment? Probably.

So I needed to find a way around this. As it happens, a friend presented me with an idea that I liked the sound of; we both manage a lower league club in England and compare our journeys. I haven’t done a lower league save in a very long time so it appealed on a few levels. I enjoy playing the game for what it is but also the social aspect of keeping each other updated on our progress. It reminds me of when I used to play network saves all the time in the FMs after Football Manager Live died. RIP. I still reiterate that some of the most fun to be had in FM is in network saves.

Fast forward a few weeks and the buzz and enjoyment are back like they never left. Part-time club, part-time players, next to no budgets, no staff, next to no training, small squads…it’s all there and the challenges were refreshing.

Bath City now sit 2nd place in League Two at the halfway point in the season after back-to-back promotions. Safe to say we’ve surpassed all expectations. It’s a lot of fun yet there’s always a part of me that thinks ‘is this success down to me being good at Football Manager? Or is the game now hardwired to make it easier for me to be successful?’ It’s probably a little from column A and a larger chunk from column B – but whilst it’s enjoyable I’m all for it.

I’m hoping to provide further updates on this particular journey, though maybe a little less conventionally. As ever I’ll be providing regular updates on my Slack channel but for now, it’s time to earn that back-to-back-to-back promotions.

6 Months in With IACC - La Nueva Joya #FM23

BELIEVE

〰️

BELIEVE 〰️

“Taking on a challenge is a lot like riding a horse, isn’t it? If you’re comfortable while you’re doing it, you’re probably doing it wrong”
— Ted Lasso

It’s been 6 ‘FM’ months since my life began anew in Argentina with IACC and it’s safe to say it’s not all been plain sailing. We’re 20 games in now with potentially the same amount of matches to come - so I felt it time to take stock and update everyone on how Ed Lasso has fared in his maiden management role in South America.

Let’s jump right in to where we are today and then maybe work our way backwards as to how we arrived there. Destination before journey right? Results are as below and you can see how consistency has been extremely hard to come by.

Getting your season off to a 2-0 loss is never the way anyone wants to start. We recovered immaculately with 3 back to back wins propelling us up to 2nd place, however, our lofty heights were short lived as we promptly went on a run of no wins in 8, losing 5.

We all play FM differently. In games past I’ve found a system I enjoy quite quickly and will then often play many matches on key highlights - therefore progressing quite quickly. This year I’ve decided to be a little more reserved in my speed of play and I watched the first 10 games or so on comprehensive highlights. The plan was to watch more closely how my side would play game to game so that I can hopefully find areas of strength and weakness and tweak the tactic accordingly.

In hindsight this had both a positive and negative impact both on myself and my team. During the run of 0 wins in 8 games the football we played was absolutely dire to watch. Atrocious. Awful. Shocking. Insert any synonym here and you’ve nailed it. We were still playing the 4-3-1-2 that had started the season fairly well but all of a sudden (seemingly) the system and the team had fallen apart. Watching dreadful performances on comprehensive highlights really is not a fun FM experience. I wouldn’t recommend it.

The situation got pretty bad…

During this poor run of games I made a number of tweaks based off of what I saw; our back line was moved lower, more positive mentality, attempting to trap the opposition centrally with our press. It got to the point where I’d made so many tweaks I lost sight of what I was actually trying to achieve. I reverted back to the ‘vanilla’ tactic for the huge derby game against Belgrano. We promptly lost 2-0, comfortably, and I knew something had to give.

One of my key focuses was to retain the AMC role for my Dybala narrative - I wanted this role to be the creative hub of my side (like Dybala had been for me in FM’s of the past) but knew that my ‘narrow’ setup wasn’t fulfilling the vision I had in my head. So we moved to the below:

Veteran captain and goalkeeper Carranza also return from injury as we switched tactics. Pretty sure that’s been a key moment as well

I used a ‘control possession’ system as my base & then made some tweaks. It proved to be a good decision as we’ve gone on to lose only 1 of our next 9 matches all played with this system. Watching on extended highlights we looked like a team transformed straight away. Positionally more astute and in a system that better suited the players at my disposal performances were so much better and more enjoyable to watch. It’s not perfect, far from it. But progress has been made and it’s been far from a comfortable journey to get here. At least now I have hope for the rest of the season. That is if I avoid looking at our finances…

We started the game with nothing and now have a lot less. A slight overspend on wages is due to the contract renewals I was able to do. A large portion of our squad still have expiring contracts at the end of the current season and without promotion I can only imagine our financial outlook is incredibly bleak. But how am I supposed to make any money? That question leads me to answers I really don’t like #sellalltheplayers

League Table

A snapshot of the top half of the table paints things in a fairly positive light. Our expectations are to finish in the playoffs which is the top 13 clubs after 36 games. We are on track but the table is just so damn tight it changes so quickly. A few wins can move you up 10 places whilst a few losses can see you drop the same amount. I’d love to find some consistency in results but as things stand all I can manage is to be consistently inconsistent.

La Nueva Joya

As outlined in my first blog I’m on the hunt for the next Dybala and I’m hopeful I can bring one through the ranks here like IACC did all those years ago. A positive about Argentina and their season starting early in the calendar year means this message pops up nice and early -

Will admit this got me ridiculously excited at the time

I need to sort those newgen faces out…

Two elite talents it says yet I’m not convinced by Perez at all. Lima does interest me though - able to play in the AMC role (I’m training him there now at double intensity) he’s diminutive like Dybala, has great flair & definitely some foundations to mould over the coming seasons that may see him become a key player for us. A one in a million talent? I’m not sure. But I’ll be watching his progress closely. I do also love that he is ‘Driven’ and two footed.

Franco Watson

I highlighted Franco out in my previous post as our best player and someone who I wanted to build our tactic around. If anything this has probably been one element that he gone fairly well so far. He’s one of our top performers & is producing some really good metrics compared to other performers in the league.

As you can see he’s been nice and creative & with 7 assists so far this season is outperforming the majority of other midfielders in the league so far. There’s definitely been multiple occasions where if my strikers were better than they are he’d easily be into double figures.

Franco still operatives in the AP-S role at AMC & I’m content to persist with this for the remainder of the season. I’d love for us to be more clinical up front to make the most of Franco’s creativity. Oh and he’s learned the trait ‘tries killer balls often’ which is just lovely.

The Jury’s Still Out

So it seems the jury is still out for Ed Lasso and life in Argentina. I’m glad we recovered from that awful winless streak and hope we can consolidate a top 13 finish ahead of the playoffs. There’s still a hell of a long way to go.

Watch out for Volume 002 of The Daily Clap that will follow this blog in due course. If you missed the first offering then find it here.

Welcome To IACC - La Nueva Joya #FM23

BELIEVE

BELIEVE

My relationship with Football Manager has fluctuated these past 12 months more than it ever had previously. I’ve always owned every version of the game, pumping 100s of hours into each iteration, but something felt a little different, a little off about FM22. I found it quite straight forward to be successful – far more so than in previous years – to the point where I wasn’t actually playing the game, I was just sinking my time into a repetitive action that required very little thought.

This led to me dropping the game completely in February. In the last cycle of FM I produced no content and shamefully read no content either. I was annoyed with the game and maybe a little envious of those who were experiencing the enjoyment and escape FM can give whereas I succumbed to a melancholy.

Yet, as with the turning of the seasons, a new FM was on the horizon before long and a dormant part of my brain was slowly massaged into its usual way of working. Despite Sports Interactive woeful announcements (or non-announcements) around headlines and features, having a relatively chunky time away from the game only made the heart grow fonder. I felt re-energised for playing & writing about FM again.

A new name for the blog is born along with a new save – born out of a love of a player from my FM yesteryears.

Welcome to Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba – La Nueva Joya

Props to @jord_713 for the blog title and @rocksendfm for the correct spelling. The name stands for ‘The New Jewel’ and relates to a nickname of a certain Paulo Dybala. A wonderfully gifted footballer who started his career at IACC and was dubbed ‘La Joya’.

Those of you who have had the enjoyment of consuming my blogs from years ago may remember my love for Dybala budding like a rose in spring as he signed for my all-conquering Stoke side in FM16, gradually becoming the best central midfielder in the world, then again playing for my just-as-conquering Red Bull Leipzig team in FM17. It’s been a few years since then so now I plan to unearth the next jewel, the next Dybala, by managing his first club in Argentina.

A baby-faced Dybala representing IACC aged 17

Hopes & Dreams

As with a previous save I had with Bodo/Glimt I enjoyed setting some (loose) restrictions to try and add extra difficulty & reasons for playing this save. As ever, they’re more targets than absolutes but I’ll look to stick as close to them as I can – especially to begin with.  

  • Squad to be made up primarily of Argentinians (75% of first team squad)

  • Utilise a ‘Number 10’ within our tactic either as a playmaker or shadow striker

  • Focus on youth development in order to maximise the chance of high quality newgens

  • Sell a player to a top European league for more than £10m (breaking the record set by the sale of Dybala)

  • Challenge for silverware within 5 seasons

I understand that wanting to unearth the next Dybala through my own youth system may be an aim that just never comes to fruition. Whilst I can control my staff and facilities (providing I can gain some on field success to assist that bank balance), I can’t control luck and that plays a fairly large chunk in my hopes of having someone come through with the right potential ability and able to play in the number 10, or a deeper striker role. But I will remain ever hopeful.

Statistical Recruitment

With the above in mind that’s why I can’t have it be the sole focus of the save. FM23, whilst not packed full of new features, has seemingly improved again on the statistics it provides. I’ll admit, I’ve never played FM like some others do where there is a large focus on statistics, despite this being the way of the real world now. I’ve enjoyed being able to view players as quantifiable ‘things’ where the game has made a judgement of their ability and shown it via attributes. I’ve always played FM at a fairly quick pace, largely for my enjoyment levels, but this year I’d like to do things a little differently.

Given I want to (at least try to) have a squad full of Argentinians I’m going to need to get creative and maybe a little less selective when it comes to recruitment. Less selective insofar as I want to not just sell/buy players based off of scout reports and attributes alone, more creative by utilising specific statistics alongside attributes when considering purchases.

It’s not something I’ll be worrying about too much, if at all, until the end of our first season given that we have exactly £0 in the bank and therefore no scope to make any signings of any nature right now. Yet when forming potential shortlists as the season goes on I’d like to form 3 or 4 key statistics per position that I’d use as comparison tools amongst similar players to try and gauge how a player is performing. Does that make sense? I’ll try explaining another way…

Say I need a new right back; traditionally I’d consider attributes & a scout report and that’s it. Given I’m looking to utilise a narrow 4-3-1-2 system with IACC this may mean I’d want higher attributes in:

  • Crossing

  • Stamina

  • Pace

  • Work Rate

  • Tackling

  • Decisions

I’d want my full backs to be quite aggressive & attack-minded, pushing beyond our central midfielders to contribute in transition as well as providing width and crosses to the strikers. So the above may form my initial assessment. I like decisions as an attribute; in my head I picture if it’s higher then my player will make the right pass, cross, tackle more often than a player of a lower number.

So how will statistics come into this? Well for a right back and the statistical feedback available to me I’d pick a handful of specific measurements that I hope will help aid any decision. For the right back role, given that I want them to be up & down the wing whipping crosses in, I could consider:

  • XA/90 (Expected assists per 90mins)

  • Dist/90 (distance covered per 90mins)

  • CHC/90 (chances created per 90mins)

  • DRB/90 (dribbles per 90mins)

  • CR C/90 (crosses completed per 90mins)

There’s no defensive statistics above, maybe I’ll need to consider what of the defensive statistics are important to an attacking full-back role. I know these can be grouped to produce all sorts of statistical tables and charts - but I’m hoping to devise a way of collating this information quickly to allow me to make decisions without spending too much time crunching numbers or exporting data.

By considering a select few statistics, I hope that they can help paint a more vibrant picture of a player before I decide on a purchase – they may also help if I’m torn between two players. I may end up utilising a tool such as @FM_Stag’s Player Comparison Tool. It’s an element I’m keen to explore further in FM23.

Getting Started

So I’ve fired up FM23, a new skin, logos, faces, kits, stadium et al are all in place and I’ve even gone out and backfilled some of the staff roles at the club.

As far as my starting XI is concerned I’ve mentioned previously that I’m hoping to make good use of a narrow 4-3-1-2 system as per the below:

I had originally started on Balanced as well as having a higher line out of possession but observing my first two friendlies caused me to make a few tweaks; a move to Positive mentality & removal of a higher line

It’ll get tweaked (it already has after two friendlies) as we progress and I dissect early performances but this is what’ll hopefully be a solid foundation for us to play. The idea behind the system is to funnel the ball through my Advanced Playmaker at AMC. I visualise that if Dybala were there, that’s what I’d want my team to do, rightly or wrongly. Love is blind.

There are a few player instructions behind the scenes to help facilitate this as well and I may divulge these should they work and it be worth me telling you. Otherwise if we’re hopeless I’d rather not admit to the contributing factors of my failure, ok? But I’m a glass half full kind of guy.

Finally I just wanted to show you Franco Watson – our current AMC and arguably our best player – which could be seen as ironic and portentous…time will tell.

Such a cheeky chap

I’m quite excited to kick things off and blog about my progress in Argentina – hell I’ve even considered writing #creativeFM in true Grasshopper style. Sorry everyone.

To La Neuva Joya!