No, that is not a typo. This post is about how I transformed the fortunes of my fourth season with Mallorca with a complete tactical switch. Again.

It’s unbelievable to talk about finishing a fourth season when there was a point during this FM22 cycle (and indeed this very save) where I feared I’d never reach that long with a single club again. Things were trickling along but if I wanted to push my Mallorca into the higher reaches of the league then change would be needed.

BALANCING STABILITY V VIRILITY

This may well be the first time anyone has ever used virility in the context of a FM tactic. I mean it in the very definition of the word - I wanted something that had energy and real drive. Showing strength in attack.

My 4-3-1-2 that I’ve previously talked about served me well as a stop-gap to shore up the defensive end but, as the numbers show, it was barely effective in an attacking sense. I’d always set out in this year’s game to play with widemen and so I made the move to a 4-2-3-1.

I’d say it’s far from the finished article but it’s been effective so far. I like to work with simple concepts: a steady back four providing support on the left but stability on the right. A playmaker and a bit of an all-rounder in the middle, a winger on the right as an outlet, an Enganche who links the midfield with the attack and a striker and Raumdeuter to get themselves in the mix.

The Enganche is described as a creator, is it necessary with a DLP behind him? I’ll assess that over the longer term and see. This is the first time I’ve ever experimented with a Raumdeuter and I have to say I’m delighted by the dynamism his movement provides.

The switch was made just around the conclusion of the January transfer window and it yielded positive results. Just 3 losses in the 17 games it was deployed in. I trialled it in a fixture with Barcelona and salvaged a 1-1 draw - the encouraging shoots of progress were clear to see. I reverted to 4-3-1-2 for the next game and found myself 2-0 down after 52 minutes at which point I switched to 4-2-3-1 and romped back to an emphatic 3-2 win over Huesca.

We managed just 1 clean sheet over this period so it is fair to say there is still work to be done however I’m starting to think that may be more of a personnel change needed that any drastic tinkering with the set up.

For the third season running we started off incredibly slow - failing to mark down a win in our first six games of the campaign despite facing some relatively favourable opposition.

Things improved markedly as we then went on a run of just 3 losses in the next 12 league games. We had to grind it out at times but certainly were beginning to look a lot more impressive. If only we hadn’t started so poorly we would have seen ourselves challenging a lot higher up the table, alas there is no room for regret here.

A poor showing in the Copa del Rey was to see us bow out in the third round against Betis, leaving us to concentrate fully on the league with top half a near certainty and European qualification a distinct possibility.

February, March and April yielded a incredible run of games with the heavy loss to Valencia the only real blot on our copy book. The final month of the season was not an easy fixture list in any way, the Sociedad and Sevilla results putting us very much on the back foot in search of 7th place and that elusive Europa Conference League place.

Yet, we went into the final day with a glimmer of hope. A win against Atléti would see us leapfrog them and steal the spot from under their noses. Luis Suárez’s fifth minute opener had us in a hole until loanee Lovro Zvonarek’s 27th minute equaliser restored the hope. We had the chances but Lady Luck did not smile down upon us and so we finished the season in a more than respectable 8th position.

Again, considering how we began the season we should be thankful we even made it that high up the table.

MIXING YOUTH AND EXPERIENCE

It’s not enough to just rely on either kids or older heads. I felt that I needed a good mix of both and through the two transfer windows this season I think I achieved a good balance.

Summer 2024

Liverpool’s Bruno Méndez returned on loan for another season and cemented his place as my first choice right back. 37 appearances, a goal and an assist with a 7.07 average rating. Some would perhaps expect more goal contributions from their wing backs but Méndez’s main responsibility was, unbelievably in this modern football age, to defend!

Take Kubo was back for his third season in four years with us. He ended up becoming my first pick at AMC and showed his worth with 8 goals and 7 assists.

It was another year at Son Moix for Luka Romero, still happily playing the squad player role. He only made 9 starts this season but 21 appearances from the bench. He laid on 4 assists in those appearances.

It’s hard to imagine getting a stable squad with so many loanees but that’s what we have achieved as Lovro Zvonarek is another one who came back. He ended the season as my right winger, his 7 goals and 8 assists in 39 appearances showing his real worth to this team. Sadly he has now agreed a move to Inter Milan in the summer so we’ll have a hard task getting him back for another year.

Jonathan Fröhlich became my latest loan signing from de facto feeder club Bayern Munich. In my initial set up, I couldn’t really find a place for him in the front two but the switch to 4-2-3-1 allowed him to take up the AML Raumdeuter role to great effect. 11 goals and 6 assists in 33 appearances.

£8.5m was the fee required to pull Yerry Mina back to Spanish football. His eye watering £85k wages were a significant sticking point for me but I ultimately decided to take the hit, seeing him as a strong option in the short-medium term in defence. He scored 3 goals through the season, perhaps not as prolific from set pieces as I thought he’d be but it’s something to work on.

Continuing my tradition of going back to former players from previous editions of FM, I made former Atalanta wing back Matteo Ruggeri a Mallorca player for £6m - signed from Udinese. He picked up an injury just a few games into the season but came back strong to finish the year with 26 appearances, 2 goals and 3 assists. More to come from him!

The final signing of the summer was the highest profile one as Ander Herrera made his return to (almost) Spanish shores as a free transfer after his release from PSG. He slotted in eventually as my central midfielder on support before switching with Cataldi to be my deep lying playmaker. And playmake he did! His stats of 2 goals and 5 assists don’t really do justice to the industry he made in the middle of the park.

My hand was forced to making some of the above transfers because of our own summer departures. Matteo Gabbia moved to Real Madrid for £20m, Kang In-Lee went to RB Salzburg for £21.5m and Fahd Moufi to OGC Nice for £2m. Good profit all round and, in truth, the only one I was truly disappointed to lose was Gabbia!

January 2025

A slightly quieter winter transfer window with just two signings and only one major departure of note. Though the two signings made were excellent business.

19 year old Christian Vergara is already an exciting prospect and able to slot into my defensive line alongside Yerry Mina to make a formidable Colombian partnership. He is the long term replacement for Shane Duffy and for just £1.5m from Atlético Nacional, I think that’s an incredible transfer for us.

German defender Nnamdi Collins was a £1.1m signing for Dortmund. I expect him to become a rotational option in the future in defence but for now he was shipped out immediately on loan to Leganés whom he helped to a 3rd place finish in Spain’s second tier.

Pietro Pellegri hasn’t quite done the business I had hoped for and in response to this I’ve allowed him out on a half season loan to Hamburg in the 2.Bundesliga. His 8 goals in 8 appearances there will maybe help his confidence ahead of next season when he returns to us.

THE STATS MIGHT LIE

That is, of course, incorrect. Stats cannot lie however they can be deceptive or not tell the full story. The tactical change mid season has worked wonders for us but they’re only a half season’s proof so far…

Dominik Grief was the highest appearance maker with 41 but in that he conceded 70 goals and kept just 9 clean sheets.

Jonathan Fröhlich and Gabriel Vidovic were joint top scorers on 11 goals matching the tally set by Zirkzee and Buksa last season. Fröhlich had 6 assists while Vidovic had 5.

The most assists went to Danilo Catadli with 10 - his role back as our number one set piece taker proving effective. Lovro Zvonarek’s 8 had him as second highest assister.

LOOKING AHEAD

Once again we were represented in the NxGn Wonderkid shortlist, this time occupying four of the top twenty places. I’m really excited by Andreu Barba and Alejandro Reina who are academy graduates while Vergara is looking like a very smart acquisition indeed.

Going forward the squad is starting to take shape nicely. We obviously need to become less reliant on loan signings as the years go by - case in point my fears about how to replace Lovro Zvonarek as our primary right winger.

I feel that if we are to take the next big step we really need a top quality goalkeeper too. Dominik Grief is the only remnant from my starting squad and perhaps the time has come from change in that regard. Transfer budget and interest obviously a big factor in that decision…

Next season has to see us consolidate our top half finish, if we can manage to start the season strongly enough then Europe should be a big objective.