The Ultimate Target Forward in FM24 - AS Monaco (2007)

 
 

Bonjour Readers,

I’m still at AS Monaco, but it’s no longer CM4 and I am no longer trying to be Matthew Perry in ‘17 Again’. Instead, it's a 37-year-old me with FM24 and a 2007/08 retro database (originally from FM2008). This is all made possible by TheMadScientist (themadscientistfm.wixsite.com), a content creator that devotes his working life to inputting past values into the FM Editor until his eyes bleed.

Why AS Monaco, again?

It was probably the FM before it (FM07), where I had Jan Koller doing all kinds of crazy things for a Monaco save played at University back in 2006-2007ish.  Back then, there was a near post bug which meant I could use Koller for 45 mins upfront, see him score a few times from corners…before slotting him back in a back three system to shore up the win. He rarely lost an aerial duel.

Ultimate Target Forward: 20s in Balance, Heading, Jumping Reach and Strength.

Anyway, I digress, the cold Winter nights are back too and I’ve relapsed into downloading FM24 back onto my Mac Mini. Whilst CM4 was good for a one-season fling, it was buggy and I missed Positional Play. Positional Play is the main driving factor for me wanting to play the latest edition of the game again. I cannot say enough good things about its addition this year. It still feels as fresh now as it once did back in October 2023.

I therefore come back to FM24 with two objectives from this save:

  1. Revisit the Target Forward role in FM24, with perhaps the best-ever fit in any FM game: 100kg Jan Koller.

  2. Start with a 4231 base shape (as a throwback to my CM4 series I just did with Monaco)...but get a nice 325 in possession through Positional Play.

The overall aim is simple: match the CM4 playthrough whereby I win Ligue 1 with the league’s top scorer. For a stretch goal, that’s 49-goal Shabani Nonda!

Target Forward - my thinking

Like many other FM writers, I am a huge fan of keeping it simple from a tactics point of view. Jan Koller requires two main things in order to be successful as a Target Forward: Supply and Demand.

Supply - How do we get the ball to our Target Forward?

  • A Target Forward needs a constant supply of aerial balls. The roles that cross often are Full/Wing Backs and Wingers. I’ll take one of each and place them on opposite sides of my tactic to vary crossing location and style.

  • As a result, it makes sense to ask the team to play wide. The theory is to go outside before you supply the Target Forward with a cross.

  • Lastly, we’ll play for set pieces. This gives us a natural reset point for the team, so that we can re-position and once again supply our Target Forward and build off from him.

Demand - Once supplied with the ball, who demands the ball from our Target Forward?

  • The above is all about increasing the frequency of balls into the Target Forward. But I also need to think about the demand from my side when he does have the ball. The Target Forward is a very simple role, it will not pick up the ball and break into the channels. Instead, the role will lay it off to onrushing teammates. This is covered through the use of player roles in my tactic that act as runners off him. This is primarily a Shadow Striker in the AMC position, and the other two advanced attackers: a Winger and an Advanced Playmaker.  There is also a central runner in the Segundo Volante…who acts as a vital link between those at the base of our team and the attack.

  • A Team Instruction added in the preliminary months of Ligue 1 was to bring more demand out of the team via the Counter instruction.  When we have the ball, I want numbers regularly getting forward to benefit from the Target Forward’s hold up play and simple distribution.

The Tactic

Player Roles + Positional Play

Our defensive shape is 4231, two Defensive Midfielders shielding a back four means we are resistant to the opposition trying to play through us centrally. Once with the ball, we morph into a back three where the Half-Back becomes a left sided centre-back.  The knock-on here is that I give an attacking role to my Full Back, knowing he has defensive cover nearby. The same could be said for the Segundo Volante who pushes up to link with the attack with an Inverted Wing Back taking his place to act as a DM pivot. More often than not, we progress to a 325.

4231 DM tactic

4231 out of possession.

In possession 325 leading to goal.

Here is the transition from the above screenshots, a goal against ASSE…

Team Instructions - It should be obvious from looking at the instructions as to what I am trying to do. The team instructions I have set all derive from the demand and supply idea for the Target Forward mentioned previously. I want to commit bodies forward and move the ball quickly into our Target Forward. The only slowness of our game is (1) overlapping on the left, to strategically increase the chances of our Full Back getting into good crossing opportunities and (2) playing for set pieces, because that’s a real strength of ours.

Important point - I originally asked the Goalkeeper to distribute long kicks to the Target Forward (especially as Flavio Roma has Kicking 17), but it did not work well and rarely were we able to build meaningful possession from it. Distributing to the Full Backs is way more effective, it allows us to progress beyond the halfway line where we see our midfield and attack take shape.

Player Instructions - I use PIs sparsely. But in this tactic I am asking three players to aim for the Target Forward with their crossing. That is: the attacking Full Back, Advanced Playmaker and the supportive Winger. The instructions, and set piece routines that I document shortly, bring about a style of football that I want to see. Both Jan Koller and a new Shadow Striker (to be revealed shortly) are dual battering rams upfront, and the tactical instructions are seeing them win enough headers in the area of the pitch which is essential (the penalty box + central areas). Here are their headers Vs Auxerre (red is Target Forward and blue is Shadow Striker):

Six headers won in the opposition penalty box Vs Auxerre.

Corners - More often than not, in any FM, there will be a superior corner set piece routine. Whether that’s near post of far post, or something in between. Personally, I love variety in football. I try to get variety in our attacks from player roles and team instructions, and it makes sense to vary corner routines too. I’ve got one Far Post and one Near Post routine for Jan Koller and friends, combine that with inswinging and outswinging and there is enough there to probe the opposition in different ways with each attacking corner kick.

Variety shown in 1st contact in opponent’s box. 37% attacks of near post 1st contacts, far post is similar %.

Throw-ins - The attacking third throwing absolutely has to be ‘long’. I’ve got two players with 15 long throws, and a huge man mountain to aim for. Jan Koller is really effective here, either with flick-ons further into the box…or simply laying it off for teammates. More often than not, we work a chance from this routine and they are varied movements too. I love it.

Corner - attacking near

Corner - attacking far

Throw-in - attacking third, long

Season 2007/08 - Part 1

I was unsure if Jan Koller could stay fit for the whole season, so I wanted another guy that could play the Target Forward role effectively when called upon. I also needed depth in the AMC area, so I was delighted to arrange a season long loan for Antoine Sibierski from Wigan. Signing Sibierski has proved to be a masterstroke, he has 7 league goals in thirteen starts and benefits from some of the team instructions built around the Target Forward. We really are a delight to see us line up in the penalty box with these two jugganauts. The two glaring limitations to 187cm tall Sibierski in the Shadow Striker role are the loss of that ‘explosiveness’ that the role sometimes needs (Acceleration, Anticipation and Pace for example) and also his Player Traits encourage him to do less of what I expect from the role. It’s given me something to address in future transfer windows: find that killer Shadow Striker.

Antoine Sibierski has yet to play for Wigan Athletic.

My Monaco side top the league’s statistics for both cross completion (30%) and amount of completed crosses (161), with the nearest side being league leaders Olympique Lyonnais with 19% and 134 respectively. However, the results have been inconsistent so far (ahem, 1-6 defeat to Toulouse), and we find ourselves in 7th place at the halfway stage. Jan Koller has had a strong start though, 14 goals in seventeen starts means he tops the league’s golden boot after 19 games.

‘Moyenne’.

20-year-old Jérémy Ménez is also attracting interest from some of Europe’s richest clubs like Chelsea. In our tactic he is the right sided Winger and his crossing is 10% above the league average, and he also is the 5th best ball carrier in the league (with 4.57 dribbles per 90). I am expecting many bids in the January window, and I may have to find a suitable right sided Winger to replace Ménez when he does eventually leave for big money. Whether that is this January, or next Summer.

AS Monaco’s starboy in 2007.

Next up on the blog

We have a transfer budget of €7.5m for player transfers, and an available wage budget of €2m for annual salary; should there be a player become available that improves us for the 2nd half of the season. In real life, AS Monaco finished 2007/08 in mid table (12th) and were distinctly average. It looks like I have a chance of Europe but a Shabani Nonda inspired title win, like in my CM4 adventure, really does look a stretch right now!

To see how I do, I will update the blog soon with the outcome of 2007/08 soon.

Thank you for reading / sharing and caring.

Tony | FM Grasshopper (who is also now on Bluesky 🦋)

SuperClub Diaries (Vol.3) - 100 Club #FM24

Previously on SuperClub Diaries, we did it™.

 
 

Intro

I spent an excessive amount of time as to whether this post belonged in the ‘Volume 2’ or ‘Volume 3’ collection of posts. Alas, I’ve positioned it with my new club but referenced the title (100 Club) to my previous employers: Liverpool.

In total, I managed 100 games for Liverpool. Winners of the Champions League against PSG in 2028 and a Supercup triumph the following season in a local-ish derby against Leeds United. Even though the two 2nd placed league finishes had me wanting more, overall I think my time at Liverpool has been a success. However I’m holding myself to high standards this year in FM24 SuperClub Diaries. The start of the third season had not really hit the heights previously, and with a 10 point gap already established in December 2028 between myself and league leaders Arsenal (and a 3-0 drubbing against the vengeful PSG in the Champions League)…it was time to resign.

High standards from me as the player of the video game, I might add. The virtual Board still deemed my status as ‘secure’, despite my 100th game ending in defeat away at Chelsea. It was time to leave for pastures new.

Where did it go [a bit] wrong?

Before anybody cyber bullies me online, I want to be clear that I managed 69 Liverpool games more than Roy Hodgson did at Liverpool. That’s got to count for something. But if I had to place the reasons for my struggles in season 3 with Liverpool, I would say it was the finances. This is pretty laughable considering I am in one of the richest leagues in the world, but for the first time in this save I had to be more transfer fee conscious. Instead of BIG signings like the Alexander Isak and João Neves deals that came before this season, I had to ‘make do’ with a combined €42m spend for Target Forward Toluwalase Arokodare and Centre-Back Willian Pacho. They’re decent players, but perhaps not the elite I am used to in this save. The results between August and October were mixed, but it was November where my mind was made up. I left Liverpool in 7th in the league, still with a decent shot at a top 8 placing in the revised Champions League league phase, but desperately adrift of mounting a serious title challenge.

Honestly, cancel the save if you lose 0-3 to Tottenham tbqfh 🤮


Old Lady Calling

Damn, perhaps that would have been a better title than ‘100 Club’. Anyway, it’s the Old Lady’s open and vacant position that was the most attractive place for me to thrust myself back into football management. Juventus had not won a Serie A for ages, and financially have to be a bit prudent now the AI has mismanaged their finances into near ruin. This is a different challenge to what’s come before it in SuperClub Diaries, but I feel ready. I was Juventus’ Christmas present, arriving a week or so before the festivities and also the revised Italian Supercup (which now has four teams…showing me it’s a long time since I’ve been in FM Italy).

Here is a list of all major honours Juventus have won in the previous five seasons within this FM24 Universe:

 

Nothing. They’ve won nothing.

 

From the onset, my tactical identity for Juventus is calcio-based. I want to use a Libero, mainly because the role got such an overhaul in FM24’s development cycle, and also wanted to make good use of some good press-hungry attacking left wing backs (Defensive Winger). I have solid workhorses in central midfield (Defensive Midfielder and Segundo Volante), who look like ‘jacks of all trade’ and I have some nice flair in the No.10 slots (Attacking Midfielder). I am therefore going to set up in a lop-sided 433. The sole striker, with a No.10 and attacking Inside Forward running in behind him, drops which suits the style of 29-year-old Dušan Vlahović who remains at the club. In possession is becomes a 3-2-4-1 / 3-2-5.

Through the process of trial-and-error, the below tactic is the one that I ended up using for the remainder of the 2028/29 season. My impact on results is not as drastic as some rebuild jobs elsewhere in the FM Community. I arrived with Juventus in 5th position in the league…and we ‘only’ secured 4th (and thus UCL qualification) on the final day of the season. I also decided to not use the January Transfer Window too, instead opting to see what the squad could do. Give everybody a chance and I may be surprised, I thought. That mindset was tested with Bayern’s €80m bid for Matías Soulé, but the decision was vindicated with the Inside Forward’s end of season form (3 goals and 3 assists in those final four wins to secure 4th). At the age of 26-years-old, the Argentine is definitely somebody to build around…

2029 Champions League

The AI had already humiliated Juventus in the 2029 edition of the UCL, with no win in the first three rounds of fixtures in the league phase. This also included a 7-1 defeat against Barcelona. But the ship was eventually steadied, and I can take the credit for a credible draw Vs Manchester United at home before four points from matches against Ajax and Leeds.

An 18th placed finish meant a nervy Play Off draw, but I luckily avoided the likes of Arsenal, Dortmund and Real Madrid and instead bested Leverkusen 5-3 on aggregate. Barcelona were a step up from that though, we should have beaten them at home…but there was only one side deserving of going through after that second leg and it wasn’t Juventus. If I could go back and do things differently, I’d have chosen to try and mark Lamine Yamal out of the game…perhaps dropping my Defensive Winger to Wing Back and doubling up on him with my Wide Centre-Back. Hat-trick man Yamal was simply in too much space, and a constant thorn in our side throughout the 90 minutes.

The UCL Challenge

Selling to buy is going to be a necessity here at Juventus. The club’s finances remain in the red (€-55m) after the conclusion of the 2028/29 season, so any SuperClub Diaries success in the UCL may take a little longer that it did with PSG and Liverpool. But luckily, now that I am 5-6 years into FM24, it’s officially Newgen season. I will aim to adopt a transfer policy where I favour the recruitment of sub-25 year olds. But before I do that, let me have a little fun with Benjamin Pavard on a Bosman; who returns to Italian football after a season away in Manchester.

New Libero, quite a famous player.

England

Liverpool drop out of next year’s Champions League with a disappointing 5th place finish. New Italian Manager Alessio Dionisi has a lot of work to do to convince Liverpool fans he is the man, after €40m January signing Arsen Zakharyan failed to live up to the hype with just 1 starting appearance. Antonio Conte’s Manchester City win the FA Cup and finish in a credible 3rd placed league finish, after missing out on Champions League football last season. City almost qualified outright by winning the Europa League, but painfully lost on penalties to fellow SuperClub Atlético de Madrid. Chelsea finish in 4th, but continue to splash the cash with a €101m fee paid to Benfica for João Veloso. It’s perhaps Manchester United that have the most interesting season: a disappointing 7th placed league finish means they scrape into the Europa League. But Eddie Howe’s side have a magical Champions League run to the final beating Real Madrid, Tottenham and Barcelona before facing Premier League winners Arsenal. The match in the drizzly Stade de France was a bit of a damp squib, 0-0 AET before Aaron Ramsdale saved Valentín Barco sudden death penalty to see Arsenal win their first ever UCL title (and to do it on the pitch they lost the 2006 final on is extra special too).

France

PSG’s Kylian Mbappé won his 12th Ligue 1 title, as he entered his 30s as the top scorer in France once again. Pep Guardiola is shown up in the Champions League for another season, losing to eventual winner Arsenal in the Last 16 stage. Will the Qatari owners continue to patient with the Spaniard’s lack of pedigree in the UCL with the Paris club?

Germany

The Harry Kane era is over in Munich. The English striker leaves Bayern for Al-Nassr Football Club, who I am led to believe play in Saudi Arabia. It doesn’t stop the sexy Fußball flowing tough, Bayern romp once again to the Bundesliga title and seem to have Roberto De Zerbi getting the best out of Jamal Musiala; who is winning a lot of personal accolades this season.

Italy

Juventus have to wait until the final day of the season to secure Champions League football with.a 4th place finish. The two Milanese Super Clubs finish higher in Serie A: Inter in 3rd, who juggled the budget well to make credible loan signings in Brahim Díaz from Real Madrid and Ismaël Bennacer from cross-city rivals AC Milan. I Rossoneri will not mind too much though, a third Serie A title in a row matching the iconic Milan side of the early 90s.

Spain

The 2028/29 season ends with Barcelona in 1st and Real Madrid in 2nd, the same outcome as the two previous seasons too. Xavi is still rocking the 433 with good effect in Catalonia, and new signings Gabriel (€69 from Arsenal), Matteo Ruggeri (€52 from Man City) and Warren Zaïre-Emery (€59m from PSG) slot right into the 1st team nicely. There is some improvement for Real Madrid’s Jürgen Klopp though, instead of the 21 point gap between their arch rivals last year…it was only 3 points this time around. Will this be enough to keep the German in post? Kudos to the often forgotten Super Club in Spain: Atlético de Madrid. The Colchoneros surprised everybody in the Europa League this year and beat Manchester City on penalties. After a three year absence from the Champions League, Atléti will once again mix with the big boys in the 2029/30 edition.

Season 6 was a whirlwind. From Liverpool to Turin, there now appears to be a newly found purpose to the save: use Juventus’ resources strategically and get them back alongside the European elite and competing for Champions League honours. Whilst La Liga or the Bundesliga could have been an attractive onward move from Liverpool, the challenge within a competitive Serie A, and all the nostalgia ‘Calcio’ brings, is what I think I needed to breathe new life into the save.

Thanks for reading/sharing and caring.

Tony / FM Grasshopper

SuperClub Diaries (Vol.2) - Counterpool #FM24

Previously on SuperClub Diaries, a Champions League win in 2026 was the perfect goodbye to Paris.

 
 

Intro

Last time out on the blog I teased a move to the English Premier League, with Manchester United a potential employer after my Champions League win with PSG. But in July 2026 there was another Northern Powerhouse seeking my appointment…

 
 
 
 

Everything about the Liverpool offer is better, and they are already qualified in the Champions League…exactly what this save is all about. Sorry Manchester United fans, I was headed to Liverpool with the task of returning them to the heights of the Klopp-era.

Welcome to Volume 2 of SuperClub Diaries.

Liverpool in FM24, the story so far…

The only consistent in FM24 is that Liverpool have qualified for the Champions League each season, but elsewhere a lot has changed around the club:

  • Season 1 - Winners of the 2024 Europa League and FA Cup runners up in 2024, before Jürgen Klopp left for Real Madrid.

  • Season 2 - Italian Maurizio Sarri was his replacement, who rode on Klopp’s success a bit with wins in the UEFA Super Cup and newly formed UEFA/CONMEBOL Club Challenge.

  • Season 3 - Liverpool were losing Champions League finalists to Barcelona in 2026. 3 days after the final John W. Henry rage sold the club to a consortium headed up by an unknown Englishman called Jacques Thomas.

  • Season 4 [PRESENT VIRTUAL DAY] - Mere days into pre-season, Maurizio Sarri decides it’s time to retire. Jacques Thomas’ first manager appointment is to hire one of FM Blogging’s most sought after heartthrobs: me.

Much of the squad is still there, and 34-year old Mohamed Salah and 35-year-old Virgil van Dijk are still the club MVPs. However, it was my intention to limit their involvement in 2026/27 and I was willing to sell them to Saudi Arabia (if they came in).

Me in Liverpool, a little bit more of the story so far…

A SuperClub must have super ambitions. So, I was determined to rebuild the club by selling their best player (Mo Salah) and freeze out their club captain and hope Saudi Arabia came knocking for both. They did for Salah, €87m for a 34-year-old! Sadly van Dijk never got the right bid, so I dropped him before he agreed a deal with Barcelona for the end of his contract.

With a lot of money now laying around, I did the sensible thing and splashed the cash on some marquee players. Meet the Portuguese speakers who will hopefully usher in a new period of glory for the club: Éder Militão (€65m), Endrick (€10.5m) and João Neves (€60m). That’s not a naught missing on Endrick’s price by the way, he actually signed for €10.5m due to a release clause being present on his Madrid contract. In a week of FM transfer hackz, where any Wonderkid can be signed for €19.5m, I just want to put on record that I find that figure a bit too expensive and €10.5m is far better. Thank you.

Counterpool

Whenever I see a Byline post released from the official Football Manager X account, there is often multiple replies telling Sports Interactive to ‘fix the game’. Usually I pay them no real attention, other than a cursory glance, however the below reply from @seloro17 stood out as something I could look to test with Liverpool.

I remember my first solero 🍦

Now, there are a few disclaimers I need to make prior to introducing my counter attack tactic. Firstly, there may be varying levels of how somebody defines a ‘win’ in the ME. Is it winning all the trophies? Is it being effective? Or is it simply just being able to see the style in the first place? Secondly, there are many forms of a Counter Attack style but I am assuming @seloro17’s interpretation to be similar to my own: allowing the opposing team to build up before winning it back and countering with quick football. Fewer touches/less overall possession… progressing the ball forward in a more direct and urgent style.

Between the two types of football mentioned in the tweet (Possession and Counter Attack), one has to be more effective than the other…right? Possibly, but the point is blurred because you could have varying degrees of passiveness/activeness in how they press between those two styles. If you took an IRL Premier League view in 2024, and looked at PPDA (passes per defensive action), we would expect to see the likes of Arsenal, Brighton, Liverpool and Tottenham leading the way in terms of low PPDA scores. They like to press hard, right in the opposition’s faces and reduce the amount of passes an oppoistion can make. The likes of Nottingham Forest and West Ham are likely scoring high in PPDA, they sit back a bit and will look to hurt you on quick turnovers. As a side note, David Moyes’ West Ham are an anomaly to the general trend of high PPDA correlating with league finish (and winning European trophies). The Hammers actually do quite well at it, although it only takes a few bad results for the mood to turn at that club…something I am certain will be Moyes undoing soon enough.

What I am getting at here is that gegenpressing a team [those pressing high in their opponent’s half] is currently ‘in vogue’ in Premier League football. Most of the ‘successful’ teams are doing it and fans are generally happy to see it. Maybe not always in the future, but in 2024 they are. As an extension, it’s the same in Football Manager 2024 (and its community of meta tactic lovers) and I think that’s probably what @seloro17 is probably alluding to. However, with counter attacking not being popular (perhaps not as readily effective like FM24 meta hackz), it does not mean it is absent from Football Manager 2024 as a style. This is why I wanted to try a more reserved/counter attack style of football with Liverpool. Something that I am yet to do in SuperClub Diaries, as with PSG I was heavily dominant…sometimes not allowing the AI a sniff at goal.

This has been a long way of saying that I hope to show @seloro17 that the counter attack can still win games in FM24, if he ever stumbled on this particular blog post. But to be clear, my interpretation of ‘counter attack’ for Liverpool will be:

  • Low Block, allowing for a high Opposition Passes Per Defensive Action (OPPDA).

  • Low % possession in games.

  • Quick attacks, lots of shots and sprints forward.

  • Variety of goals, and hopefully a lot of them.

I am aware it’s a departure of what has come before in Klopp and Sarri, and I still need to tick that box with the Board for ‘Play attacking football’. But let’s try it, the board just want shots and goals-to-game ratios to be high…primed for a counter attack then!

The tactic

Initially I tried variations of 343 and 532, to limited success. In the first month of Premier League football I had won twice (against Leicester and Tottenham Hotspurs), but also lost twice (to Man City and Fulham). In all four games I gave over 1.0 in xG to the opponent, and a fair amount of shots to AI. Perhaps it’s a by-product of our counter attacking style, but I wasn’t seeing the risk and reward in terms of our own attack either. I needed to adapt.

Adapt I did. Eventually to a 424 (via 433 briefly), and did not have to tweak too much in Teams Instructions:

424 Counterpool as of May 2027.

Despite being a Low Block on Balanced, it’s actually quite attacking with the four forwards and four attacking mentalities in the side. The only Player Instruction is asking the DLP to Take More Risks. I saw a vast improvement in the performances from here on out. I was also getting results in the style of football (league stats incoming):

  • Ranked 19th in Opposition Passes Per Defensive Action (OPPDA) with second highest in league (4.98 - although this does seem out of kilter with real-world, but could be how FM calculates it differently to IRL).

  • Ranked 11th in Average Possession (50%). (I’m sure it would be lower if teams didn’t also sit back against us due to our reputation).

  • Ranked 1st in High Intensity Sprints, 1st for Non-Penalty Goals Per 90 (1.77) and 1st for Shots On Target.

  • Joint highest goalscorers in the league (75 goals), equal with title winners Manchester United (eurgh).

But would @seloro17 be happy? I guess they would if they are happy to see the style (as I’ve shown above in the stats and the ME highlights). However, we remained trophyless (so they may not be happy)…which you could probably argue is a failure for a club like Liverpool. A disastrous March with four league defeats saw us hand the 1st place position to Manchester United, who rarely slipped up after that. If it was not for that little wobble and my erratic start, I reckon I could have claimed the Premier League title.

2027 Champions League

But this save is not about the poxy English Premier League. It’s the Champions League baby…aaaannnndddd we fucked that up too. A few blog posts ago, I previously raved about the Swiss Model. I still love it, but I sadly experienced how damaging that extra playoff game can be for fitness. The 6-1 aggregate win Vs Napoli was satisfying (a 2-0 win in the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona with just 38% possession), but injuries and fatigue mounted for us and it kick-started that bad run I mentioned on the domestic front.

When I reached the Barcelona game, it had the air of FM inevitably about it. Pedri’s 90+4 winner in the home tie confirmed that, as it meant we had it all to do away from home. Annoyingly, PSG loanee Karim Konaté (who I signed for the Parisians) came back to haunt me as he put two past me in the now newer Nou Camp post-renovation. Awful scenes really. Out at the Last 16, when the Board wanted more from their new Manager with a Champions League title on his CV.

My favourite goal of the season is probably one of the simplest, and it came in the UCL. It’s from the Napoli game, which sees Dominik Szoboszlai in the DLP role put a nice central through ball into Ben Doak. The young Scot has had a breakthrough year with me, largely as an Advanced Forward…

 

Hungarian playmakers mate, different type of goulash!

 

Actually, wait, I’ve changed my mind…THIS is probably my favourite goal of the season. Wonderboy Box-to-Box midfielder João Neves winning it for me against Tottenham (below). Just look at the ground he covers to finish Counterpool’s move. Please @seloro17, be happy with what I’ve done here…

 

Counterpool - João Neves.

 

England

The big shock in England is Pep Guardiola’s decision to leave for the vacant Paris Saint Germain job leaving Manchester City with a disappointing 5th place finish. Unai Emery’s one and only season in charge with the Citizens ends trophyless, despite breaking the World Transfer Record on Jude Bellingham for €289m. Chelsea once again finish in the UCL places with a 4th place finish, whilst Diego Simeone’s Arsenal win the FA Cup and finish 2nd. He leaves after 3 years in charge to return to former Italian SuperClub Inter Milan from his playing days. The top two is made up of rivals Liverpool (2nd) and 2026/27 Premier League Winners Manchester United. Thomas Tuchel boosting his glowing virtual reputation with a debut league title back in England, after being sacked from Bayern previously.

France

Pep Guardiola’s Paris Saint Germain were once again crowned French champions with a 22 point cushion and won a Coupe de France. However, a Quarter Final defeat to eventual champions Real Madrid will hurt in the Champions League.

Germany

Roberto De Zerbi strolled into German super club Bayern Munich and won the Bundesliga with ease. The Bavarian side’s UCL performance almost made it a dream start for the Italian, as his side reached the Final (losing 4-1 to Madrid). New €91m signing Xavi Simons scoring the opener in that game to put the German ahead.

Italy

Stefano Pioli won his third Serie A title and AC Milan’s 21st, and they also had a Coppa Italia win to celebrate too. Cross-city rivals Inter Milan finish 2nd. However both Milanese clubs disappoint in the Champions League with Last 16 exits. Juventus finish Serie A in 3rd and took their UEFA Conference League duties seriously by unforgiveably losing to Tottenham in the Final.

Spain

Teenager Lamine Yamal announced himself as Barcelona’s undisputed MVP this season with 21 league goals, as he led his club to the La Liga trophy. However, a Semi Final Champions League exit will hurt Xavi’s men even more seeing that rivals Real Madrid went on to win the 2027 edition, who finished La Liga in 2nd. City rivals Atlético de Madrid become the first SuperClub of the save to drop out of European competition completely. They have Antonio Conte to thank for their 12th place finish, as his two year tenure ends with a 49% win rate.

That’s my brief update of a fourth season in SuperClub Diaries. Hopefully it’s clear I have enjoyed playing a more counter attacking style of football; and if you read this far: thank you very much. See you next time for Season 5.

YNWA.

Tony / FM Grasshopper

SuperClub Diaries (Vol. 1) - Announcement #FM24

 
 

Super Clubs

Most journeyman saves, or saves in general, that I see documented on blogs or on YouTube tend to follow the pattern of starting from the bottom before working upwards to the top. My Ceuta save is a quintessential example of that. The elite clubs are instead often reserved for short stints during the beta period of the FM cycle. But for most of 2023, I’ve had super clubs on my mind.

I have taken special interest in the absurd events over at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Bayern Munich, where it would seem that a league title win is not enough to clear the air of contempt and fan frustration surrounding both clubs. Simply put, winning most games in a campaign does not necessarily mean a Head Coach meets the expected minimum level of performance…super clubs appear to demand two things: (1) winning in style and (2) the ultimate prize: the UEFA Champions League (UCL). Something both clubs failed to do, who duly made wholesale backroom staff changes in the Summer of 2023.

Speaking of the UCL, along with the super club mentality comes a feeling of superiority and that was best demonstrated with the 2021 European Super League. The aforementioned clubs of PSG and Bayern are not guilty of that, but eleven other heavyweights* decided that they would be better served in a breakaway European league, void of relegation and a guarantee of competition profits through a sizeable percentage of income each year.

You are right to think that all of this can be a turn off from wanting to manage a super club in FM, as they often act like spoiled brats. But maybe there is an FM save here by behaving like a super club? It’s something I never really do, usually players in my FM saves are carefully recruited with the aim to get as much out of the budget as possible. A super club would, and absolutely should, be in the moment of building an elite XI each year, with the aim to win it all. I think that’s where my save idea begins…

*and Tottenham.

The save premise

A journeyman at the upper echelons of European football with ten of the twelve founding members of the European Super League, with Bayern and PSG replacing North London (because it’s stupid to call Arsenal and Tottenham ‘super clubs’ when they have not won a league title for so long). Here is a map of the clubs I can manage:

 

The 12 clubs I can manage in SuperClub Diaries.

 

I am not going to be too strict on when I move on in the save, a lot of it is down to circumstance and chance, but I will begin my FM24 journey with Paris Saint Germain, and I will explain my reasoning shortly. But the overall aim is to win as many UCLs as possible, with more than just one club and certainly more than Carlo Ancelotti’s four winning manager medals.

Why Paris Saint-Germain in FM24?

Choosing Paris Saint-Germain may seem like no real challenge at all, but there is work to do ensuring their 2023 Summer rebuild integrates smoothly.  The Parisian club also have the added complication of Ligue Un dropping to 7th in the UEFA rankings and the threat of Saudi Arabian clubs now competing for the World’s best talents.  Paris needs to rediscover their attractiveness once again, and move away from the shitshow of the last 12 months where, despite winning a record breaking 11th Ligue Un title, many adverse things have happened:

So, within each super club during “SuperClub Diaries” I plan to have some club specific aims. For PSG I would continue the policy of signing the very best players, but alternatively they have been criticised for having let such good talent leave their academy. I therefore plan to bring some of the best ones back again to Paris. Here’s a fairly long list of the talent that has recently left the academy:

  1. Adrien Rabiot (Juventus)

  2. Alphonse Areola (West Ham)

  3. Arnaud Kalimuendo (Stade Rennais)

  4. Boubakary Soumare (Sevilla FC on loan from Leicester City)

  5. Christopher Nkunku (Chelsea)

  6. El Chadaille Bitshuiabu (RB Leipzig)

  7. Ferland Mendy (Real Madrid)

  8. Jonathan Ikone (Fiorentina)

  9. Junior Dina Ebimbe (Eintracht Frankfurt)

  10. Kingsley Coman (FC Bayern)

  11. Matteo Guendouzi (Lazio on loan from Olympique de Marseille)

  12. Mike Maignan (AC Milan)

  13. Mohamed-Ali Cho (Real Sociedad)

  14. Moussa Dembele (Al Ettifaq)

  15. Moussa Diaby (Aston Villa)

  16. Odsonne Edouard (Crystal Palace)

  17. Sekou Mara (Southampton)

  18. Tanguy Nianzou (Sevilla FC)

  19. Timothy Weah (Juventus)

  20. Xavi Simons (RBLeipzig on loan from PSG)

  21. Yacine Adli (AC Milan)

Can I tempt some of the better ones above and bring them home? Can I then form a predominantly homegrown UCL winning side, think Ajax 1995 but Parisian? After all, ici c’est Paris! If any of the above interests you, be sure to check back later in the year, where I’ll begin the save and subsequent diaries here on ☕️🏠 FM.

Thank you for reading/sharing and caring,

Tony / FM Grasshopper