It’s been a good 7-8 months since I last played Football Manager properly, the break was the first in over 20 years for me and it was a little strange, but ultimately for the better I think as my urge to get back into FM with FM24 approaching was at an all time high.
So where to manage? Ever one of most difficult questions an FMer can ask themselves - I bandied around a few ideas; manage Oviedo during the return of their prodigal son Santi Cazorla? A venture to Belgium? Alas, I eventually decided to return to manage AZ, home of a great save of mine around 6 years ago. The reasons then were the same as they are now…
Exciting, young squad of players
Great facilities
Challenge of topping 2/3 bigger & better sides in Feyenoord, PSV & Ajax
Bonus perk of starting in a lower European competition
Unlike previous years of FM I didn’t indulge in any saves before my main save…no tactical experiments, I was going straight into the deep end & hoped I’d find my feet as I went. Playing on comprehensive highlights for the most part I utilised pre-season friendlies to set up a tactic that suited the players I had at hand, I don’t really have a system I wanted to impart on my players, rather find a system that suited their abilities - I settled on a 4-3-3 DM system to begin with.
FM24 has brought in ‘positional play’. You could argue it should have been there already given the variety of roles we’ve had the displeasure of using but here we are. This means that players in certain roles will force neighbouring players to adapt their position on the pitch - more akin to real life. My system was quite traditional in the sense that the only role that would come under this new feature was my CM-A.
We started the season well, picking up good results including a 1-0 win away at Ajax. I’d made a few tweaks here and there but largely the system was effective - utilising my wide target men and attacking full backs. The CM-A role was fun to watch at times as it bombed past my DLF but there was something missing. My front 3 were disjointed, the wide target men were completely ineffective in build up (and rarely were on the end of crosses, despite all being at least 6’2’’), it’s an itch I felt I had to scratch, a bit of change was needed.
Despite adopting a high pressing intensity & high forward line the midfielders rarely pressed into the AM strata allowing opposition easy possession at times, albeit in deep positions. So I shifted to this:
Essentially the side shift up the pitch and we’ve two central players pressing higher up rather than one. My wide men looked so much better in the inside forward roles (some lovely arcing runs between full backs and centre halves), but the best thing to come out of this tactic was the shadow striker role, or maybe it was just Dani de Wit.
de Wit de Woo (look at those mental attributes…!)
From January (ish) onwards he helped take us to another level. Ending the season with 21 goals in 38 games although it was likely 21 goals from around 25 games as a shadow striker. Transformational.
League & Europe
So I should say now that I finished my first season back at AZ, it was quite a good one.
A very respectful 2nd place, just holding off PSV but never really challenging Feyenoord who comfortably beat us home and away. It sees us head into the Champions League, which is a great achievement in itself and also much needed because the other European competitions are too easy. Right?
Damn right
Guys, the Europa Conference League is actually quite fun, especially on FM. I loved the selection of teams and countries represented. Look at our fixtures for example:
We faced 9 teams from 9 different countries and went on to win the whole bloody thing. The best result by far was the 7-1 home hammering of Fiorentina after losing (deservedly) in Italy. A certain D. de Wit scoring 4 goals & assisting another in a perfect 10 performance to put the icing on the cake of his season.
The final wasn’t fun mind you. Villa battered us and had more than double our xG but they faced an in form, lover of big games, Mat Ryan in goal who threw in an 8.1 MOTM performance to help us to a smash and grab trophy win. Glorious.
What about those youngsters?
Ah yes, the foundations of why I chose AZ…the youngsters were great. Maxim Dekker in defence, Van Brederode wide left in particular. But the one that really stood out was Ruben van Bommel (son of the famous Mark indeed).
Poh - ten - shall
Developing at a rate of knots I finally found a role he thrived in - IF(A) from AMR, he made it his own & was brilliant for us. It’s just a shame he missed a 1/3 or the season through injury. That didn’t stop him from winning a prestigious award mind you.
Very pleasing indeed.
So why the ‘depressed’ in the blog title?!
Why oh why…why oh why the fuck didn’t I think de Wit was this good? Why didn’t I see it coming? Why didn’t I appreciate those mental attributes earlier? As it is his contract was up at the end of the season, I didn’t react quickly enough and he chose to join Gladback, on a free. The fact that he went on to play his best football ever is quite something. A little like Xhaka before he moved to Leverkusen…
He’s going to be really hard to replace in that shadow striker role and those mentals…it’s made me prioritise those attributes above others moving forwards - I think they’ve made such a difference.
So what’s next?
The summer transfer window approacheth and as is often the case with a good young team that overachieved the vultures are circling, have circled and in one case snatched away a prized asset. Not long after the cup final ended Sugwara asked me if he could bugger off and with only 12 months on his contract I duly obliged to humour him. To the tune of 47 million fucking quid. Thankyou very much Chelsea. He was an awesome player mind you.
Sayonara Sugawara
A record sale for the Dutch league by a country mile and money I’m hoping to reinvest into quite a few players, it’s an exciting time. We need to improve ahead of a Champions League campaign (in the new format) as well as closing the gap on Feyenoord. Roll on season 2.
For more day-to-day updates on this save please do join my Slack channel then find #edlassofm or follow me @CoffeePodFM on Twitter - oh yeah I podcast again now so no doubt they’ll be plenty more insight from this save on the airwaves in the weeks and months to come.