Previously on Plazas de Soberanía, AD Ceuta FC assembled their attacking talent into a 4222.
Intro
The busyness of work and life meant I had to take a little break from blogging the climax of Season 6…and that’s probably a good thing. AD Ceuta FC occupied a playoff spot in 24 of the 42 gameweeks of 2027/28…yet on the final day they slipped from 6th to 7th, and crucially out of the playoff places. A closely fought 3-2 defeat at home to Barcelona’s B team took the gloss off an historic season for the boys from North Africa. That short break from the game was a good time to reflect, and through details explained in the below...this save continues to challenge my fortitude.
With one year left on the contract, is it the beginning of the end for my time here? OR is the new-look 4222 a system that can take us to the unreal heights of LaLiga? If these musings may interest you, stick around. If not, thanks so much for the hit and be on your way…
Season 2027/28
The top three deservedly rose to the top of the Spanish footballing pyramid, Alavés were a class apart but Leganés and Levante were not too far away from them. Ceuta’s undoing was probably the series of draws over January and February…but I also question the mentality with three games to go. Simply put, don’t lose to Las Palmas or Barcelona B and a playoff berth would have been secured for the 2027/28 playoffs…
Pain.
But I am hopeful for the future. As mentioned in my intro, I have one more year left and I think we will keep with 4222 and see how far we can go with a full season using it. The attack is clearly functioning in terms of Goals/Assists, it’s the defence we need to tighten up a bit…
4222 hackz.
Ceuta Has Fallen
69 goals from a front four is fairly decent, and I’m sure we would better it next season with a full year of 4222 under our belts…only there is one rule leaving us open to vultures: the mandatory minimum fee release clause in Spain. The AI ruthlessly stripped away 57 goals from that iconic 4222 attack, €7m worth of talent gone in a wild two-week period on the North African coast. Say goodbye to:
Theo Zidane - €2.5m sale to Grenada
Kevin Carlos - €1.5m sale to Rayo Vallecano
Miguel - €3m sale to Cádiz
It’s a shame we only got to see the Kevin-Miguel relationship for one year, as neither wanted to extend their deals and warn off potential suitors. Whilst it’s sad to see Theo Zidane go too, he merited the upward move to LaLiga after a stunning season with Ceuta. Merci mon cœur.
Recruitment Focuses
It’s a bloody good feature isn’t it? Having them setup and tailored to the 4222 mid-season meant that I was ready-to-go with a list of targets. My initial top two areas, which became Recruitment Focusses targeted a left-sided Full-Back and a right footed CB all within the Board’s original €300k transfer budget. Shoring up the defence, having seen the attack do so well, could be the final step for this side. However, after all of the above transpired, money was no real issue…but rather time. We had around €4m available to spend, gaping holes in the attack…and only a few days before the season started.
2028/29 Club Visions.
The previous Board Culture only had a transfer philosophy for more younger players, but they’ve obviously enjoyed the 4222 and now appear to want cultures around it 😃 I’m not overly concerned, the 422 is hitting a lot of those cultures already, but I do think I need to look again at my set pieces as I can’t recall many corner/free-kick routines working (brb calling my mate Ondrej).
What happened?
€575k was invested back into the squad through nine signings. The biggest outlay was €400k on 31-year-old Samuel Obeng, who came very close to joining Ceuta about two-years previous before the option to loan Kevin Carlos appeared initially. The new-look forward line is boosted with a two-year loan of Rubén Acuña from Mallorca. The 19-year-old is suited to the Advanced Forward role and I feel the Obeng-Acuña is very much a close enough fit to Kevin-Miguel.
Theo Zidane proved to be a very difficult man to replace, and I’m going to surprise reader(s) by not replacing him for another Zidane! Instead I opted for 34-year-old Gonzalo Melero on a Free Transfer, who played in LaLiga last year for Almería. It is my intention to use Melero interchangeably with Txus Alba in the second AMC role alongside Iker Losada.
As for the other six guys, I’ll avoid making this post screenshot heavy and spamming them all in…but I’m particularly delighted with French Full-Backs: Pierre Cornud & Jérémy Mellot to give depth to Left Back and Right Back positions respectively. Centre-Back now also has more depth too in ex-Catalan B player Fali and two Newgens who you’ll meet if they come good this season. Overall, the recruitment has gone well despite it being pretty rushed…with 2-3 league games of 2028/29 already played before I felt comfortable of having a full squad!
Endjourney
I started this post with a burning Ceuta, courtesy of Midjourney AI image creation. So, I thought it only fair to end with a slightly more upbeat image of a Ralph McQuarrie inspired Ceuta stadium in the sun. I’ve rebuilt the squad for the third time in this save already, can it fire Ceuta to glory? As always, check back here in April/May to see what happens.
Thanks for reading/sharing and caring,
Tony / FM Grasshopper
Looks nice, doesn’t it?