Same Save Universe (June 2023). Different club (Murciélagos FC, Mexico). Different Manager (Hugo Ojeda). That’s it in a nutshell <end blog>

Intro

But no, there’s more to say on this. Despite having plans to challenge for the Copa Libertadores with Peñarol (which takes some time), I never envisaged FM20 to be a traditional ‘One Club Save’. As a writer, I’m often guided by the in-game events to shape my journey/story…but sometimes I am equally guided by the story when making in-game decisions as to the ‘What Should Happen Next?’. In this moment, I think I had a bit of both.

Firstly, Peñarol felt a bit stale during my 4th season…I won many domestic trophies but a huge gulf remained between Peñarol and the other big clubs from Argentina & Brazil in the Copa Libertadores. A One Club Saver would have stuck this out and challenged in future years, but I wanted to freshen up my save and experience another team and country, and because I play relatively slow…I felt I had to make a choice (note - I have done One Club Saves in the previous two FMs).

Secondly, I had not expected to be the National Team Manager so soon into my save. Going out at a World Cup tournament was always one possible point at which I could swap Ángel for Hugo. Bastardo’s career high brutally ended by the United States of America (& Ruslan Chepiga) at the end of 2022.

But why México and, more specifically, Murciélagos FC in Football Manager 2020? Well, this is the topic of today’s blog post…

Why Murciélagos FC in Football Manager 2020?

The above is a question I pose at the onset of picking any club in Football Manager…really thinking it through like this makes me commit to the challenge ahead. So, why Murciélagos FC? Here are three reasons:

1. Genuine Challenge - I’ll be upfront and honest here; I took a certain amount of negative comments on FM Slack for choosing Peñarol in FM20…due to the club’s real-life domestic dominance. Most forms of congratulations regarding my trophy wins from my blogging ‘pals’ were accompanied with the caveat that my save was ‘too easy’. Sure, go and win four consecutive titles then. But I do accept that I had the tools in place to mount an immediate title challenge from Day 1 at Peñarol, success wasn’t a surprise…it was demanded of me (and I delivered). But heading to Murciélagos is totally different, I’ve chosen the least reputable club in the Mexican playable system, who are favourites to finish bottom of the Mexican 2nd Division (Ascenso MX) in the 2023/24 season. It’s not a club that could attract a ‘Bastardo’, but an ‘Ojeda’ is different. Hugo is 20 years old, with a minimal reputation with his only experience of football being at a local level.

   Aim: Avoid relegation and see if I can get Murciélagos promoted within 4 seasons.

2. Drugs - I know there is more to Mexico than the ongoing Drug War. But you cannot escape the impact that narcotics has had politically & socially on the country long before the government started to overtly intervene in the mid-00s. Similar to countries like Colombia, the drug trade’s influence propagates the country’s politics and international relations. Narcotics is something that the character of Ángel Bastardo naturally gravitated towards, so it’s only fair that Hugo Ojeda follows this succession; and where best in Mexico than the region of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel? Notorious Drug Lords from the region include Rafael Caro Quintero, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán. Murciélagos FC are based in the smaller northern coastal town of Los Mochis, a perfect place for Hugo Ojeda to acquire and hone the skills needed to make a success of football management and smuggling.

   Aim: To see Hugo Ojeda enter the Mexican Underworld.

3. Black & Yellow Bats - ‘Murciélagos’ is bats in Spanish. The flying mammal has received a bad press lately, but it’s not their fault that they are offered up as food in some cultures. So, perhaps this is a chance to celebrate all things bat-like. The club colours are also a throwback to Peñarol too: black and yellow…the colour of FMG in FM20. It just feels right, doesn’t it?

   Aim: Get some bat references into the blog.

Armed with a one-year contract, the immediate task at Murciélagos FC is to avoid relegation. There’s a nice club culture of signing younger players for the first team, so we’ll bring in 2-3 youngsters annually in order to meet this vision:

The Squad

Current Squad - the squad is dire and there is no player that I feel comfortable with being in the side. It makes Uruguay look like La Liga. I’ve posted the best three players in the squad that were here on Hugo’s 1st day, as an example of the monumental job we have here:

1. Erik Fraire - we have such an awful No.1. Am I really going to win a Relegation Battle with a ‘keeper who possess Agility 7 and Reflexes 6? I don’t think so.

2. Raúl Ramírez - are you sitting down? The reason I ask is that Raul Ramirez is our top earner on €23,500 per month…it is 38.7% of the club’s total wage bill. Over one third of our wages being spent on such a distinctively average player leaves me nauseous.

3. Aldo Suárez - Aldo is our best attacker. He has good Anticipation and Off The Ball, but still not somebody I have complete faith to build around.

Collectively the team are so shite (see below), I’ve never had such a disparity between squad Strengths Vs Weaknesses! It’s likely that anybody coming in would improve the squad, but the frustrating thing is that not many players were willing to come.

New Signings - five players arrived in the end (all frees or loans), which was enough to see me use up all the available wage and transfer budget. The best of the three are:

1. Nicolás Rodríguez - I am delighted with this one, signing an MLS ‘keeper on a 4 year contract…with his best years to come too. The coach (note the singular) rates him as twice the player of Erik Fraire. An Argentine too!

2. Miguel Ávila - coming in at 1cm taller than Rodríguez, we have the sublime 18-year-old Miguel Ávila arriving from Club América on a two-year loan deal. He’s already a defensive monster and somebody who will be a threat at offensive set pieces too. Also meets the Club Vision.

3. Enzo Cabrera - educated in the Newell's Old Boys youth setup, Enzo Cabrera might just be the magic I need upfront. He’s got a bit of everything about him. Good First Touch and Vision with a combination of good Player Traits to complement his Off The Ball. I think I am on to a winner here, so naturally gave him the No.9 shirt right away!

Murciélagos2023?

Oh, and the next generation of youthful bats? Don’t worry, nothing to see here:

Two Months In Mexico

An Assistant Manager is what we need to ease the burden on young Hugo. But the FM Gods were unkind a few days before the season started when Assistant Manager, Adolfo García, left for a fee of €43k to Pumas in order to become a Scout. With the transfer and wage budget already spent on playing staff, it means nobody comes in to replace García. Hugo Ojeda goes Assistant-less.

In fact, the backroom staff is so poorly resourced here; all we have is a single coach, a goalkeeping coach and physio to help out with things. The most sensible thing to do with problems right now is to take the players out the back and shoot them in the legs. Forget training or healing them.

Ojeda’s 4-3-3 v1.0

I usually come back to trying some form of 4-3-3 each year in Football Manager. I like the fact that it uses all kinds of players and positions, with the added security of a central three in midfield. I’ve dubbed those central three guys in the past as my ‘engine room’, where the balance between Defence/Support/Attack is made. What’s different about this one, compared to let’s say my INTER one from FM17, is that I have very basic players at Murciélagos FC. I’m therefore playing them as traditional Central Midfielder roles for now (Defend/Support/Attack). Over time I hope to recruit and develop better players here, meaning that I have more gears to use than I currently have e.g. a dedicated playmaker or an aggressive box-to-box player.

You will see below that the whole system is very passive. We are not doing anything overly technical or aggressive with team instructions, but we are in a fluid shape due to the amount of Support roles we have in the system. My thinking is that I would like the team to move together with shorter passing and play for set pieces when we can.

My Complete Forward on Support (Enzo Cabrera) for example is playing on a Cautious mentality. I’ve reasoned with myself that I would want him to link up and be closer to his teammates. Again, over time I would want to recruit better wide players, meaning that I could be confident on them to do more on/off the ball (creativity, 1v1, movement etc). This will then encourage me to use more aggressive roles/duties.

Tactical adaptation with better players is something I always like to do, and there’s another example with my wide defenders. Again, there is nothing aggressive with the roles and duties I have chosen (they are both Balanced), but that’s because I’m in a relegation scrap. I want them to curb their attacking instincts (note - they don’t actually have them anyway) and put solidity first. In time though, this is another area where I will be looking to recruit and improve towards. With the view of adding attacking options to the team, such as a Complete Wing Back - who will have a more positive outlook on the game and will attack more.

I’ve played privately on-and-off during the Pandemic Lockdown and managed to complete the first two months of the Opening Stage with the Ojeda 4-3-3. I wanted to get a few games in to the season before blogging, in order to see if I liked the challenge and whether or not I’d be sacked straight away. In all honesty, I’ve loved being absolutely shit: 3 wins, 6 draws and 3 losses. The 4-3-3 is fairly solid and we welcome the return of the much treasured FMDrawhopper playstyle, just what you need in a relegation scrap!

With five games to go of the Opening Stage, I am not out of the woods just yet. Zacatepec (who we beat 2-0 at home) have managed to pick up two recent away wins, meaning they grab an extra two bonus point in line with Mexican rules. Note - Relegation is decided over Average Points (of the last three season) within the Overall Table (Both Opening + Closing). Due to me loading the Mexican league last season, there is no historical data present…so relegation becomes a straight shootout this season.

Despite looking over our shoulders, Murciélagos can even dream of a Play-Off challenge if we start to turn draws into wins. I personally feel we are nowhere near ready for that right now, but I would welcome the experience of playing through it!

After two months, the Board appear happy with the performances…rating me at B+. I’m pleased that around 40% of our games so far have been clean sheets, with loan signing Miguel Ávila proving how dominating he is at the back: leading the league charts for headers won (156 with 55 of them being key) and interceptions (98).

Offensively we are a bit shit, but Enzo Cabrera has performed admirably considering he has the worst midfield I’ve ever seen assembled in Football Manager feeding him. He’s grabbed 3 goals, which is pretty shocking…but he’s already shown in the match engine how class he is with direct dribbling and moments of magic. I’m certain that if I can recruit creativity behind him and better partners to link up with, then he’ll be a big player for us.

Hugo Begins

So, there we have it…two months of competitive football in Mexico and still yet-to-be sacked! It feels good to be in another league and with another team in FM20. I’d like to think that this post lays the task at hand well enough for readers to join me for the second part of FM20’s life cycle. In the words of Hugo Ojeda when addressing the Venezuelan Free Folk on arrival to Mexico:

“You have bled with Bastardo, now bleed with me”.

Thanks for reading/sharing/caring,

FM Grasshopper