"Life After Goss" - Orange Is The New Black #FM19 #AllezLesMerlus

Intro

Achilles Goss is not dead. I thought I would clarify that and dispel certain rumours that were floating around the FM scene. Instead of being dead, Goss is seeing out the final years of his life with an active subscription to Canal+, whilst watching as many FC Lorient matches as possible with the accompaniment of red wine and carer Renée at his side.

This post is a simulation of 5 seasons without Goss at the helm of FC Lorient. Would the club continue to punch above its weight in European competitions? Or would it fall back into mediocrity? Read on to find out…

Season 8 (2025/26)

Manager: Ernesto Valverde

Life After Goss started with the appointment of ex-Barca manager Ernesto Valverde, a surprising coup for the Breton club. Valverde signed a one-year deal and was tasked with managing the club through their 1st appearance in the Champions League Group Stage. Valverde's first move was to appoint 21-year-old Brazilian 'Nivaldo' as the club's 1st choice captain, a surprising move considering he was only signed 12 months ago by Achilles Goss.

Valverde's trust in youth was apparent with the Newgen signings of Apolônio & José Henrique from Brazil and an emphasis on playing a young back-line of Julien-Richard-Gaudin-Rolland (average age of 22). Old boys Josuha Guilavogui & Mamadou Sakho were sold to Major League Soccer for under €1m. The club returned to a 4-3-3 under Valverde, with captain Nivaldo pushed further forward as a Winger.

It was a great season for the club. Finishing second in their Champions League Group, FC Lorient went out at the 1st Knockout Round to eventual Semi Finalists Liverpool. A 4th place league finish saw Valverde’s team qualify for the 2026/27 Europa League and there was also a Coupe de la Ligue Final to shout about too! PSG winning 2-0 though, meaning three successive final defeats for Les Merlus in FM19.

League finish: 4th

Continental: Champions League 1st Knockout Round

Stats [Goals/Assists/Av.Rating]: Slavko Vucetic (22 goals), Yannis Hanany (11 assists), Mohamed Diallo 7.29

Other Comments: Chairman Loïc Fery finally sold the club in 2025 on the 5th attempt. French-Tunisian Businessman Anis Lacroix led the consortium and became the new Chairman.

Ernesto Valverde became the first foreign coach at FC Lorient in 24 years (since Ángel Marcos in 2001).

Season 9 (2026/27)

Manager: Jocelyn Gourvennec

New season, new manager. For the third successive campaign, FC Lorient opened the season with a different manager. Ernesto Valverde moved back to La Liga to manage Athletic Bilbao. In his place, ex-Lorient youth player Jocelyn Gourvennec took charge…who immediately made changes. High-profile young French stars Mateo Julien & Phillipe Gaudin left for a combined fee of €77m to RB Leipzig. Gourvennec kept with the 4-3-3 and recruited some experience in the backline: Ivan Ordets & Aymeric Laporte joining from Shakhtar Donetsk & Manchester United respectively.

But it was January when the big sale would happen: Mohamed Diallo sold to Tottenham in a deal that could rise to €86m…vomits

Mo Diallo at Spurs - a truly sickening sight.

Wow - an incredible season for FC Lorient. The return of Champions League football was something I did not see coming under AI management. Not only that, a solid run in the Europa League (reaching the Quarter Finals before bowing out to AC Milan) and two domestic cup finals (French Cup & Coupe de la Ligue) to gloat about too. Sadly both cup finals were losses against Carlo Ancelotti’s PSG, which means it’s now five cup final defeats in nine seasons in FM19…truly heart-breaking!

League finish: 3rd

Continental: Europa League Quarter Final

Stats [Goals/Assists/Av.Rating]: Slavko Vucetic (20 goals), Alessandro Murgia (9 assists), Aymeric Laporte 7.19

Other Comments: Concerns grow regarding the wage structure, with five Lorient players now earning over €300k per month. Something unheard of during the Goss-era.

Season 10 (2027/28)

Manager: Jocelyn Gourvennec

Beating Beşiktaş home and away in the Champions League was enough for Gourvennec’s Lorient to drop into the Europa League. This meant another Quarter Final appearance under Gourvennec, before the journey ended against the World’s richest team: RB Leipzig. The German outfit selling €150m of talent to PSG the previous summer, including long-term Goss target Luc Tournier. It also meant a happy reunion for ex-Lorient boys Mateo Julien & Phillipe Gaudin.

Two-time French Cup winner in FM19, (with Brest and Olympique Lyonnais), Jocelyn Gourvennec would leave FC Lorient at the end of Season 10.

FC Lorient finished in 6th place, resulting in European football for the 7th season in a row next year. Yet it wasn’t enough to persuade Jocelyn Gourvennec to stay on as manager, who resigned in July 2028. In his place came Romain Brégerie, a French Centreback who played most of his career in the German Bundesliga 2. Since retiring in FM19, he has managed both Ligue 2 Auxerre and Spanish lower league Alavés for 8 month stints each. I can’t help but feel I am looking at the start of a downward ebb for FC Lorient…

League finish: 6th

Continental: Europa League Quarter Final

Stats [Goals/Assists/Av.Rating]: Slavko Vucetic (13 goals), Nikita Ozdoev (15 assists), Nikita Ozdoev 7.06

Other Comments: Academy Wonderkid from the Goss-era, Alex Rolland was sold to Olympique de Marseille for a measly €6.5m. Awful business.

Season 11 (2028/29)

Manager: Romain Brégerie

Throw all your doubts about Romain Brégerie out of the window, this was FC Lorient’s best ever season. The second half of the league campaign saw his FC Lorient side win 14 league games, with only 2 league losses in 2029. FC Lorient romped to 3rd position again with their highest ever points total; 83 points! FC Lorient will once again return to the Champions League. Brégerie signed no players either, Slavko Vucetic continued to shine (his 5th season as Les Merlus’ top scorer) as the focal point of a new 4-2-3-1 system. In this team, Yannis Hanany & Alessandro Murgia played as the deeper double pivot…contributing to 15 goals and 25 assists between them.

Not only that, Romain Brégerie had done what Achilles Goss, Ernesto Valverde & Jocelyn Gourvennec could not do: win a trophy! The Coupe de la Ligue was won with 3 first-half goals in a 3-2 Vs Bordeaux.

In Europe, the club continued to be a Europa League Quarter Final team: losing to AC Milan, as they did two years previously in Season 9.

League finish: 3rd

Continental: Europa League Quarter Final

Stats [Goals/Assists/Av.Rating]: Slavko Vucetic (23 goals), Yannis Hanany (18 assists), Slavko Vucetic 7.24

Other Comments: In other news, Mo Diallo won African Football of the Year for the first time. His Ivorian countryman, and ex-Lorient forward, Fonsinho made the switch from Köln to Bochum, who currently play in the Bundlesiga 2.

Fonsinho in 2029, powers on the wane.

Season 12 (2029/30)

Manager: Romain Brégerie

After 326 appearances for the club, Goalkepper Raúl Rivera moved on to AS Monaco for €14m. Here was me thinking that this would finally mean Romain Brégerie’s game was up…but no. Another great domestic campaign, with the club retaining Champions League football into the 2030/31 season. It was another case of Brégerie’s Lorient hitting form in the second half of the season too, with 13 wins, 1 draw and 4 losses.

In the Champions League, Les Merlus finished 2nd in a group containing FC Bayern, FC Porto & Lokomotiv Moscow. In the next stage they went out, as they did 4 seasons ago, to Liverpool.

But there was another cup final! The seventh FM19 cup final would not be as successful as the sixth, FC Lorient losing out to AS Monaco 3-2 after extra time in the French Cup.

Romain Brégerie has overseen two 3rd place Ligue 1 finishes and a Coupe de la Ligue win in his two seasons at Lorient.

League finish: 3rd

Continental: Champions League 1st Knockout Round

Stats [Goals/Assists/Av.Rating]: Slavko Vucetic (17 goals), Nikita Ozdoev (19 assists), Slavko Vucetic 7.08

Other Comments: 25-year-old ex-Lorient Academy Left Back Matteo Julien is capped for France, now at VfB Stuttgart. PSG also win their 7th straight Ligue 1, equalling the record set by Lyon (2002-2008):

It will come as no surprises but the Manager of the Year award has remained in Paris for the last 7 years.

Who managed Lorient better?

It’s been 10 years with FC Lorient back in Ligue 1…the question nobody is asking, but me, is: who managed Lorient better during this golden decade? I’ll leave you, the reader, to make your own mind up with a series of graphics:

League Finishes 2020-2030

Cup Finals 2020-2030

Manager Statistics

So are you #TeamGoss, #TeamValverde, #TeamGourvennec or #TeamBregerie? To be in with a chance of winning a copy of FM20 that I won’t be giving away, simply let me know which manager you preferred at the helm of Brittany’s most amazing club. I would love to hear people’s thoughts.

Oh, and even if we disagree…I think we can agree that they’re all better than Ligue 1’s all-time most average manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjær. Now managing the arch-enemy in Brittany:

OGS in FM19, nemesis to Goss.

Fin

I did a similar projection back in FM16, where I simulated 10 seasons after my time with Grasshopper Club Zürich.  I remember feeling a bit downbeat about how the AI had butchered things at the club I spent a whole decade at.  Although this look forward in FM19 is a lot shorter in seasons than FM16, I am really positive about how well the AI has done.  There’s a temptation to sim even more, in order to see if Lorient’s young manager can keep up his bright start.  But I like ending Orange is the new Black on such a vibrant high.

I think these two concluding posts (today's look forward and last week's look back) have shown that PSG & Monaco aren’t going away anytime soon.  There is a, dare I say it, “concrete ceiling” above FC Lorient in terms of further progression.  The two super clubs continue to outspend most of Europe, let alone those clubs in France! 

Despite this, Achilles Goss can die a happy man…whenever that may be.  He's seen FC Lorient reach the Champions League on a number of occasions and he saw his beloved Les Merlus lift a trophy!

Orange is the new Black and this is the end of the story.

FM Grasshopper / Achilles Goss

"Choose Goss" - Orange Is The New Black #FM19 #AllezLesMerlus

Lorient Black.jpg

“Choose Goss.

Choose a lower league job, choose a one-club career, choose Africa, choose a fucking big Striker, choose double Segundo Volantes, ASEC youth graduates and Academy Newgens, choose red wine, high cholesterol and a pacemaker, choose fixed-interest stadium repayments, choose a Ligue 2 play-off win, choose a tracksuit and matching baseball cap, choose no MOTY awards, choose Guerreiro’s Gift, choose a three piece suit on hire-purchase for the 2 cup finals you'll go on to lose, choose Alphonso Davies as your highest earner and seeing him break his leg on his pre-season debut, choose sitting on the bench watching mind-numbing spirit-crushing draws, watching FC Bayern recall Alphonso Davies on his second loan after his first fucking goal for the club, choose rotting away at the end if it all, pissing your last in a miserable retirement home in the arsehole of France, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked-up managerial replacement you have spawned to replace yourself.

Choose a glass ceiling. Choose Goss”

Season 2024/25

Ligue 1

The league results in 2025 were enough to convincingly see us finish 3rd in the league, a ridiculous 17 points ahead of Olympique de Marseille. I previously spoke last time out on how the new 4-3-1-2 DM Narrow was earning us narrow clean sheet wins, and the second half of the season was no different. We ended up with 21 clean sheets in the league (55% of domestic games), which has resulted in FC Lorient’s highest ever league finish and a record points haul. It also sees us qualify for the Champions League, with the 3rd place going into the Group Stage for 2025/26.

I was recently asked by @FMEadster over on FM Slack as to whether I would have changed anything in this save. I’m not really one to dwell on mistakes, but I certainly feel that this formation could be refined and perfected with another couple of transfer windows; suggesting I maybe should have switched from 4-3-3 to 4-3-1-2 sooner than I did (my last season). Perhaps a long-term Anchorman to replace Joshua Guilavogui and a more creative Deep Lying Forward would see us reach new heights.

But we can’t change the past, and I won’t be doing another season. In essence, it’s a bit of a bittersweet ending in FM19. I end trophyless and reluctant to enjoy the fruits of my labour…the Champions League.

2025 Europa League

We had another glorious European run this season, but sadly the away goals run came into effect Vs eventual champions Schalke 04. The German side beating Dortmund 3-0 in their home stadium in an all-German Final. Wunderbar.

Drawhopper

I believe ‘FM Drawhopper’ was a term first coined by @FM_Samo during the early part of my FM19 save. Draws became my speciality and they continued to be a thorn in my side throughout the seven in-game years of my save.

The Europa League Semi Finals were no different. Both legs were defined by our inability to contain a peak Dejan Joveljic, who tormented 35-year old Mamadou Sakho in both games. The 2nd leg 104th minute decisive equaliser came from a towering Victor Lindelöf header…who wonderfully converted a corner. It was a deflating moment as any in FM19 for me…

The Goss Years

Now it’s time to take a look back on this save as a whole, to say “Merci Goss” for the shared laughs we’ve had over Football Manager 2019. I feel it’s given closure to the lost FM14 save I discussed in my intro blog post back in November. I finally got Les Merlus their new stadium, and although I won’t see them hit the heights of the Champions League like I did back then, this FM Save was different to the one 6 years ago. We had the joys of a promotion challenge, the dreaded Ligue 1 Promotion Play-Offs, the 7th placed finishes, a Coupe de la Ligue Final drubbing and some magical Europa League runs.

Filling the void after my FM18 ‘Return to La Plata’ series was always going to be ridiculously hard. But I’m happy that this save maintained my interest for the best part of 10 months. I want to thank everybody who read and shared these pieces, and to those that got in contact. I’ve been fortunate to receive some nice messages over the last year from real-life Lorient fans, which has made ‘Orange is the New Black’ even more enjoyable to capture and bring to life in blog form.

Let’s take a look back…

Season 1 - 2018/19

3 play-off goals saw Fonsinho become a cult favourite at the Stade du Moustoir.

Blog Posts: "The Future's Bright", “Interlude” & “Iacta alea est"

It's funny looking back and remembering the early days of a save. I completely forgot I had such an awful pre-season in terms of results…only finding my first win against lower league Belgian side RC Mechelen (two days before the Ligue 2 season started)! We started Ligue 2 well though: 10 wins, 8 draws and just the opening day loss Vs Le Havre. We also 'found Fonsinho' who I signed from ASEC in January 2019, a club I would go back to for players a number of times in my save. His impact, certainly later on in the season, repaid the €230k outlay.

With 9 games of the league season to go, I took a short break (see Interlude)…until the attacking movement in FM19 forwards improved via a patch. Before returning with Iacta alea est, which featured those glorious Full Match Play Off Finals. The away leg Vs Lens in the Stade Félix Bollaert-Delelis played host to one of Football Manager's magical moments.

We were up by the skin of our teeth, Achilles Goss style!

League Finish: 4th [Promoted via the Play Offs]

Stats [Goals/Assists/Av.Rating]: Gaëtan Courtet (22 goals), Jimmy Cabot (13 assists), Vincent Le Goff (7.17)

MVP: Gaëtan Courtet - for all the problems I had with Striker movement, Gaëtan still ended up with a tally of 22 goals. Hardly missing a game, he led the line and scored some crucial goals. His most important being the 90+5 equaliser Vs Lens in the Play Offs.

Season 2 - 2019/20

Blog Posts: “Trust” & “Guerreiro’s Gift”

It was maybe a risky move not to change much for my inaugural season in Ligue 1, but I kept faith with the team that got us promoted. The move paid off…we were top half all season and finished in 7th place. It also kick-started my FM19 Holy Grail: the Ligue 1 Manager of The Year award. I thought we did enough to win it, but the AI gave it to Ole Gunnar Solskjær who achieved 6th place with Lille 🙃

FC Lorient cashed out the 20% in Raphaël Guerreiro for €6.7m in June 2020. In July 2022 he was signed by Atlético Madrid for €67m (20% equating to €13.4m).

Financially we were struggling though. In order to stop us getting in debt, and build on the 7th place, I cashed out on the 20% next transfer of ex-Lorient defender Raphaël Guerreiro. It kept us afloat and I was able to recruit a decent full back (Darko Todorovic) and recruit a more comprehensive scouting team.

League Finish: 7th

Stats [Goals/Assists/Av.Rating]: Gaëtan Courtet (18 goals), Fonsinho (11 assists), Gaëtan Courtet (7.09)

MVP: Fonsinho - Courtet & Fonsinho continued their blossoming relationship from Ligue 2 into Ligue 1. Fonsinho was undoubtedly a raw talent who was brilliant as a Winger on Attack duty. His 18-month spell in Brittany was soon to end, but I can’t imagine where we’d have ended up in our first Ligue 1 season without his goals and assists.

Season 3 - 2020/21

A sizeable chuck of the Fonsinho money was used to bring in Assane Dioussé (€5.5m).

Blog Posts: “The Fibra Battleground” & "The Glass Ceiling - Part I: Finances"

Fonsinho’s 8 goals and 10 assists in his debut Ligue 1 season caught the attention of the Bundesliga, notably newly promoted FC Nürnberg who were happy to part €13.25m for his services. Finally Goss had the money to sign some ‘fibra’ and in came Enzo Crivelli & Assane Dioussé who both went on to have solid careers with Les Merlus.

We once again finished 7th in the league, and in an attempt to not become stagnant, I dubbed top 6 and European qualification my ‘glass ceiling’ (noun: an unacknowledged barrier to advancement in a profession). So, I delved deep into the finances at FC Lorient in order to re-assess our approach moving into Season 4…

League Finish: 7th

Stats [Goals/Assists/Av.Rating]: Enzo Crivelli (14 goals), Julien Ponceau (8 assists), Julien Ponceau 7.19

MVP: Julien Ponceau - Ponceau was the first Academy player to break through under Goss. Blessed with a great first touch, decision making and speed, Ponceau was re-trained from a central player to a wide player, and he replaced Fonsinho as our 1st choice right-sided Winger from July 2020

Season 4 - 2021/22

Blog posts: "Tactical Tweaks & African Adventures" & "The Glass Ceiling - Part II: Broken Glass"

A few bits of shrewd recruitment saw us climb the table and threaten to break the glass ceiling. Alessandro Murgia joined initially on loan and hit the ground running, a fabulous midfield general with an eye for a goal as our Central Midfielder on Attack. A few tweaks upfront saw our attack sparkle: Diallo-Zirkzee-Ponceau (with an average age of 20-years old) firing FC Lorient into Europe for the first time since 2002/03.

The ceiling was smashed and with it Chairman Loïc Fery announced a new 25k capacity stadium to arrive in 2024! 🏟 But there was still room for some disappointment, FC Lorient went on to lose a Coupe de la Ligue final to Marseille in the Vélodrome, 3-0 the scoreline.

Marseille’s Vieux Port celebrating the comprehensive Coupe de la Ligue triumph against Goss’ Lorient.

League Finish: 5th

Stats [Goals/Assists/Av.Rating]: Mohamed Diallo (16 goals), Joshua Zirkzee (12 assists), Julien Ponceau 7.36

MVP: Joshua Zirkzee - it was a shrewd move to bring in a 20-year-old Joshua Zirkzee from FC Bayern on a two-year loan deal. At 193cm high, Joshua had both the physical and technical presence to lead the line as our Deep Lying Forward. Creating and scoring to see us qualify for Europe.

Season 5 - 2022/23

Blog Posts: “Les Merlus Européens” & “The Lorient Express”

Our 5th season was exciting, not only were we finally in Europe; we were also generating off field profits with lucrative TV revenue and prize money.

For the first time in my save, I was able to sign an established name, Mamadou Sakho who joined on a Free Transfer from Manchester United (a team we beat that season at home in the Europa League). The Lorient Express had arrived!

League Finish: 6th

Stats [Goals/Assists/Av.Rating]: Mohamed Diallo (24 goals), Vincent Le Goff (20 assists), Mohamed Diallo 7.31

MVP: Vincent Le Goff - Vincent Le Goff is the one player that was ever-present in the Goss era. In the twilight of his advancing years he put in his best season, 20 assists as a Wing Back on Attack. He built a good relationship with the season’s top scorer, Mo Diallo, on the left-side of the Lorient attack.

Season 6 - 2023/24

Mourinho the victor against Goss in the Europa League Final.

Blog Posts: "La génération d’aujourd’hui" & "Au Revoir, Moustoir"

Season 6 saw a TWENTY game unbeaten record in the Europa League, as we waved off the Stade du Moustoir in style.

But there was heartbreak once more. We led the Europa League final against Manchester United…only to see it slip away. A Mounrinho masterclass: FC Lorient 1-2 Manchester United.

League Finish: 4th

Stats [Goals/Assists/Av.Rating]: Mohamed Diallo (26 goals), Gustavo Ramírez (13 assists), Gustavo Ramírez 7.28

MVP: Mohamed Diallo - how do you replace a gem like Fonsinho? Well, you go back to ASEC and recruit their next Ivorian prodigy. Mo Diallo joined as an 18-year-old in 2020, and three years later he was one of the most prolific forwards in Europe. Played as an Inside Forward, Mo would have his best season…26 goals in all competitions as we finished 4th and made the Europa League Final.

Season 7 - 2024/25

Blog Posts: “Boring, Boring Lorient”

I believe that the decision to switch from a 4-3-3 wide to a 4-3-1-2 narrow was the reason why Season 7 was our strongest domestically. 21 clean sheets in 38 league games was vindication for upsetting the previous balance of the team. For example, Mo Diallo was no longer an Inside Forward on the left…our top scorer in the last two seasons would have to learn a new central role (Shadow Striker). Our two Italian midfielders (Murgia & Valzania) would have to play a deeper Segundo Volante role too, and this all took a while to gel. But in those transitional moments, we were still able to grind out wins and it’s by far the strongest FC Lorient side of the Goss era.

Despite the newfound ruthlessness, we were able to have some romance as Vincent Aboubakar re-joined FC Lorient on loan after a decade away in Portugal and Turkey. The Cameroonian became the 14 African player recruited by Achilles Goss under the ‘Achilles Africa’ recruitment model. Aboubakar would have a modest loan spell with 8 goals and 6 assists in 31 games.

14 African players signed in FM19: cradle of civilisation.

14 African players signed in FM19: cradle of civilisation.

League Finish: 3rd

Stats [Goals/Assists/Av.Rating]: Slavko Vucetic (15 goals), Nivaldo (17 assists), Nivaldo 7.45

MVP: Nivaldo - There’s a reason why 20-year-old Nivaldo achieved our highest season-long Average Rating in this save. He dominated the left-hand side of the pitch in our new narrow 4-3-1-2 formation. He racked up 17 assists in his debut season as I re-trained him from a Winger to a Left Back.

Club Growth (2018-2025)

Did not fancy reading all of that above? Then click on the image below to see how I did over 7 years in FM19, includes some high-level financials:

Note - ‘Europe’ being the Europa League throughout this save.

Some thoughts about the club growth:

  • The closing balance of the last three seasons has been extremely healthy, FC Lorient are able to invest in the playing squad with considerable flexibility (demonstrated by a net spend of €18m in 2024/25).

  • Prize money has contributed to record revenue in the previous two years, the Champions League would be a further boost in 2025/26.

  • The playing staff’s average age is currently 25, so there is hope that FC Lorient will remain competitive in Ligue 1 for a number of years.

  • The new 25k all-seater stadium, with good corporate facilities, boosts FC Lorient’s financial sustainability a little more than the previous stadium would.

Personally, I think it is too easy to make money in FM, as you can sign a ridiculous amount of unwanted AI players and then sell on for big profits a year or two later. So for FM19, I’ve tried to be more realistic with my approach and overall I am happy with the off-field developments we’ve seen over the seven year period.

On the field you can see that we have been really progressive in terms of the league finishes, and we have been surprisingly strong in Europe. The only blemish is my poor record in the domestic cups, with only one French Cup Quarter Final to my name and a solitary Coupe de la Ligue Final appearance. C’est la vie!

Favourite 3 players

There are too many great players to name from this save, but the three guys below are in my top 3 for different reasons. Honourable mentions must go to Academy players such as Alex Rolland and Julien Ponceau, who are probably unlucky not to feature.

Fonsinho (2019-2020) - 15 goals and 13 assists in 57 games.

The Fons as he looked shortly before leaving FC Lorient.

I only managed Fonsinho for 18 months in FM19…but he was the first African success story at FC Lorient. Without his form in the Play Offs, I doubt we would have been promoted. His sale to the Bundesliga also enabled me to establish FC Lorient as a Ligue 1 team. The Fons!

Alessandro Murgia (2020-present) - 52 goals and 13 assists in 179 games.

Calcio.

I got laughed at when I signed Murgia for €1m on loan in my FM Slack channel, due to our precarious financial position in 2020. But after his loan spell, Murgia decided to join us permanently and he has been a mainstay in our team for the last 4 seasons. Both his output and his performances have been great in the orange & black.


Mohamed Diallo (2020-present) - 79 goals and 31 assists in 177 games.

Mo Diallo.

Mo Diallo is quite good at football isn’t he? It’s romantic that I found a better Ivorian to replace Fonsinho, and to make it even more surreal: Mo Diallo joined FC Lorient on a Free Transfer! He became homegrown with us too, made in African and polished in France. Mo Diallo is the epitome of one of my FM19 ambitions (as laid out in my opening post):

Well, another reason for choosing FC Lorient is that they have experience of recruiting and developing African players. For those that do not know, due to the post-colonial links to the continent…France does not restrict the number of African players playing in its league. So, this is a continent I want to scout and use for player recruitment & development.

Le Futur…

So, FM19 for me ends trophyless, with a record of two major finals played and two major finals lost. No Manager Of The Year Awards either, much to the laughter of my close FM ‘friends’. But I have vehemently enjoyed this save, and when you take a look back…you realise that ‘the journey’ is what it’s all about.

Achilles Goss has no dramatic ending. He will not be invading Africa, or committing bank heists. He will simply drift off into retirement and it’s our memories of him as a Football Manager that will prevail. I would like to thank you again for reading and experiencing this save with me.

There is one last post planned in the Orange is the New Black series: a 5 year projection of FC Lorient without Goss, as I sim to take a look at how good/bad the AI does without Goss. How will FC Lorient do in the Champions League? Will their stadium grow? Where will Mo Diallo end up? These are questions I hope to answer next time out on the blog…

As always thanks for reading, sharing & caring,

Achilles Goss / FM Grasshopper

“Boring, Boring Lorient” - Orange Is The New Black #FM19

AG_SUIT_XL.jpg

My 7th and final season at FC Lorient offered the chance for me to change things up tactically. Heading into a new stadium, we moved away from the 4-3-3 that brought about three consecutive years of European football. In its place came the 4-3-1-2 DM Narrow: making use of our industrious midfield and allowing us some romantic Summer signings. Read on to see how the twilight of Orange Is The New Black progresses…

Season 2024/25

Ligue 1

Improving on last season’s 4th placed finish means qualifying for the Champions League in 3rd is this year’s target. I fully expected the riches of Monaco and PSG to battle it for the title, which meant I’d likely battle for 3rd with Olympique Lyonnais & Olympique de Marseille…

I got the PSG bit right, but the historically big teams in France are all having poor seasons so far. Our consistency has seen us sit 3rd at the mid-point of Season 7, and it’s partly due to some newfound resilience that I’ll come to discuss a bit later in this post. Just look at our clean sheet wins:

“1-0 to the Lorient”

Europa League

We’ve topped a Europa League group for the third consecutive season! I’m really happy how we recovered from that opening San Siro loss to AC Milan, by winning the head-to-head in a 3-1 victory at the FC Lorient Stadium.

We draw Standard in the next round, a team Les Merlus beat 7-1 last season in our biggest win of the save. I can only hope for a similar mauling!

Boring, Boring Lorient?

Last time out on the blog I spoke about a potential tactic change for my last season in FM19, it was also the subject of Episode 35 of the GrassNGear podcast. I initially toyed with an Enganche + Double Segundo Volantes in a 4-3-1-2 DM Narrow, but eventually dropped the Enganche in favour for a Shadow Striker (to make use of Mo Diallo & Lovro Majer’s explosiveness at AMC).

Goss’ 4-3-1-2 DM Narrow, highlighting the CWB and DLF roles which have been recruited to.

The Complete Wing Back

A headline addition to our new 4-3-1-2 (apart from the Volantes of course) is the Complete Wing Back role. Our new €11.5m Summer signing ‘Nivaldo’ plays the part well, a Brazilian Left Winger who is being re-positioned to play at Left Back via training and gametime.

Nivaldo has moved from ‘Awkward’ to ‘Accomplished’ at LB in 5 months.

Despite being positioned at LB on the tactic screen, Nivaldo plays like a Winger…often hugging the line within the opposition’s half. I’ve shown below two examples of where he is receiving the ball, against AC Milan in the Europa League and Toulouse in Ligue 1. It highlights how the position on the tactics screen doesn’t necessarily relate to the spaces in which a player will mostly operate during a match:

Deep Lying Forward

Vincent Aboubakar - back at Lorient 10 years after leaving the Orange & Black.

I don’t feel the need to talk too much about the Deep Lying Forward here, as it’s a role I have discussed a fair bit in FM19 already. But the Summer recruitment ended with a dream signing of ex-Lorient front man Vincent Aboubakar on loan from Porto. As a DLF on a Balanced Mentality, he will drop deeper and provide a vital link between the Volantes and his fellow forwards…who are all on a Very Attacking Mentality. His output has been encouraging too: 7 goals and 5 assists in 17 games (all comps) whilst building up a great partnership with Advanced Forward Gustavo Ramírez (who currently has a respectable 10 goals and 6 assists in all comps too).

Team Instructions

I’m pretty simplistic with the Team Instructions. Originally, I was asking the team to Play Through The Middle, but as FMPressure rightly mention in my Slack channel; the play would naturally gravitate towards the middle anyway due to this being a 4-3-1-2. Good point. So, we now only Pass Into Space when in possession, mainly to take advantage of the Acceleration and Off The Ball of my CWB, SS and AF.

In transition I build from the back, seeing as I have a naturally solid platform to construct team moves from. We also play on the Counter too, seeing I have 5 guys in the team willing to bomb forward. Lastly, Out of possession we are marking tighter because I want to be hard to break down and have quite a disciplined and tenacious set of CBs and Volantes in terms of Marking.

How it plays out

With this tactic, 50% of our domestic games have ended as a clean sheet. This is a massive improvement to last year…where at this stage of the season we only had a 35% clean sheet rate. Narrow wins have seen us adopt the ‘Boring, Boring Lorient’ label, a phrase made famous by George Graham’s Arsenal who made a habit out of 1-0 wins.

But, these 1-0s and clean sheets are anything but boring. We play some great stuff at times and I’ve enjoyed the mixture of highlights I am getting, particularly the link-up between DLF & AF and also the glorious CWB role:

DLF to AF combo.

Elite CWB crossing.

CWB-AF-DLF.

In possession we are very high up in the pitch and resemble a 2-4-2-2, with a lot of activity happening centrally:

Average positions when in possession + heat map.

Improvements needed

I believe that this tactic can be improved, especially as this is only 5 months into its lifespan. Looking at the goal locations (see below) against us, I decided to recruit a dedicated ‘water carrier’ in front of the two central defenders.

Goal locations in the last 25 games (all comps).

At first, I thought about re-training a Centre Back and playing them as an Anchor Man at DM, but ultimately, I don’t think I have enough time to see this one through to fruition. So that’s where Josuha Guilavogui comes in. At 34 years of age, he is by no means one for the future. But what Guilavogui does bring is maturity and leadership to the defensive crux right away. A bargain €375k signing from Leganés in Spain.

Josuha Guilavogui, FM12’s Wonderboy back in La France.

Shielding the Centre Backs better will help cover centrally, however the weakest point is my left-hand side which is a direct trade-off between having a marauding Complete Wing Back. The assist locations are perhaps even more insightful than the Goal Location image above…because cutting off the life supply to the opposition forwards will be even more effective:

Assist locations in the last 25 games (all comps).

Most of the goals we concede are crosses (10 goals coming from crossing in the last 25 games - which equates to 47% of all goals against). So, it’s something we need to keep an eye on and now that I’m aware of it I can look out for this weakness.

To counter it, I could defend wider and stop the crosses coming in…or reduce the attacking mentality of my CWB and hope he is in the positions to block the cross. It’s something to think about during the winter break, as we head into a couple of friendlies. One of them being the ‘Vincent Le Goff Testimonial’, who became the last surviving player of the 2018/19 Achilles Goss squad when Julien Ponceau moved to Al-Ittihad Club (KSA) in the Summer for €7m*.

*Au revoir mon fils.

The End Is Nigh

The 4-3-1-2 is by no means perfect, but it’s done enough in the first half of the season to see me continue with it into 2025; with qualification to the Champions League the overarching aim. A few people have asked me what happens if we realise the dream, would I stay beyond my contract and play out one more season in the Champions League? The answer is simple: ‘non’. These last few months in-game will be the last of Achilles Goss and FC Lorient, with one more blog post planned.

The reason is clear to me, I intend to have some downtime over September and October even if it’s just a few weeks, before we hit FM20 hard again with another save. As a writer it’s hard to do something consistently, and for so long, whilst still retaining the interest of the reader. So those few weeks are perfect for recharging the blogging batteries and getting the thirst back again for Football Manager.

But fear not, there are posts already scheduled over mid-late September and although I probably won’t be playing a ‘blogging save’…there should be some words appearing on the blog to tie us over until Football Manager 2020.

As always thanks for reading, sharing & caring,

Achilles Goss / FM Grasshopper

"La génération d’aujourd’hui" - Orange Is The New Black #FM19

Intro

I’ve moved into the Autumn of this FM19 save, so my posts therefore naturally gravitate towards reflecting and assessing the progress we have made as a club. Today specifically focuses on ‘La Jeunesse’ who I introduced you to on this blog two seasons ago (read here). During this post, at the climax of Season 4, I decided to place greater emphasis on giving game time to the Academy players who were nearing adulthood.

So, I want to spend some time with these Newgens today…to recap on their growth and also introduce a couple of new guys who are ‘knocking on the Lorient First Team door’. I’ll also have a little update on Africa too, as I haven’t done that for a number of seasons. But first, how is my sixth season going (2023/24)?

Season 2023/24

Just as the season was starting, we waved goodbye to Markel Alemán who was sold to Bayern for €50m. It was obviously great to turn in a tidy €44.4m profit on a player who was only here for a year, but it left me weaker in depth. Sakho and Mepham would therefore be my central pair for 2023/24 as I couldn’t sign a replacement of real quality with the Alemán millions.

Ligue 1

The departure of Joshua Zirkzee (back to that club again…Bayern) has not been massively felt due to the form of Gustavo Ramírez - who has scored 19 goals in 26 starts (all comps). His goals along with Mo Diallo and Alessandro Murgia’s see Lorient competing for the European places once again:

Generally we’ve been good, although a difficult November and December had seen us slip as low as 6th. Retaining European football is once again the target as we move home after this season, waving goodbye to Stade du Moustoir and opening the new 25k FC Lorient Stadium for 2024/25.

Europa League

We’re smashing the 2024 Europa League campaign! The 7-1 win Vs Standard equalled my record win in this save (the other was a 7-1 in the French Cup against amateur opposition). Last year we exited at the 1st Knockout Round Vs FC Basel…so I am fully aware that I need to take Feyenoord seriously this time round!

On my to-do list is to sign a top Centre Back, as Chris Mepham will be leaving in the Summer to Benfica. It’s proving very difficult so far to find somebody of real quality, but my top target is RB Leipzig’s Luc Tournier…who has a wonderful €11.75m release clause. Just look at him:

Luc Tournier - future French Worldie.

It’s too early to say if we can convince him to swap Bundesliga for Ligue Un…but maybe qualifying for the Champions League will be enough to tempt him back to France (after previously playing for Monaco and Sochaux). We’ll see.

La génération d’aujourd’hui (19-20 years)

Two seasons ago I introduced four Academy players and discussed their pathway into the team, they were: Alex Rolland, Roland Le Moigne, Matteo Julien & Adam Rousseau. I do not feel there is a need to re-introduce them, so if you want to see their background and what they looked like at 17/18 years-of-age, read the post here.

Alex Rolland (born 09/03/2004 - Lambersart, Lille)

The subject of Alex Rolland was a lengthy discussion on the GrassNGear podcast with Dan Gear & Thomas Pigot. In that discussion, I spoke in detail why I wanted to develop him as a Right Back:

Over the course of 18 months, Alex has flourished as newly developed Full Back. He started re-training in the Summer of 2022 and had become Awkward in the role by October of that year. But the game-time over 2023/24 has seen him become an Accomplished Right Back a year later. He’s also bettered his personality from Balanced to Fairly Professional.

  • 19 years old

  • 62 appearances for FC Lorient (3 goals and 4 assists)

  • 7.14 average rating

  • ‘Wonderkid’ Media Description

Roland Le Moigne (born 05/12/2003 - Brest, Brittany)

Of the four youngsters I introduced, Roland Le Moigne was the one I was the most unsure about; and for that reason he’s played the least. Assembling just 10 appearances over the last two years, Roland has made gains in some areas and has changed his personality from Ambitious to Fairly Professional.

Roland Le Moigne’s gains since joining the First Team at 18 years old.

However, Roland has had major overall improvements in all three attribute areas and I think he is now ready to step into my central midfield more regularly.

20 years old

  • 10 appearances for FC Lorient

  • 6.76 average rating

  • ‘Defensive Midfield’ Media Description

Matteo Julien (born 16/07/2004 - Quéven, Brittany)

After two years of dipping in-and-out of the match day squad, Matteo Julien is now the first choice Left Back at FC Lorient. I’ve used him 35 times as a Wing Back on Support Duty and he’s been solid with an average rating of 7.21. His craft has been recognised by France U21s and is our highest Internationally capped Academy player.

I’m slowly seeing the benefits of a good Mentoring group too; Matteo has picked up the ‘Runs With Ball Down Left’ trait and has made gains in his Determination…both from club legend Vincent Le Goff. It’s the same three-man group that Alex Rolland has been in during this two-year period, we’re creating Le Goff clones here!

19 years old

  • 35 appearances for FC Lorient

  • 7.21 average rating

  • ‘Full Back’ Media Description

Adam Rousseau (born 08/06/2004 - Ploemeur, Brittany)

Despite not seeing huge gains in training, Adam Rousseau saves his best stuff when actually on the football pitch. He’s played 48 times already for Les Merlus and has an encouraging 7 goals and 9 assists for Team Goss. Again, we’ve seen a change in personality from his Mentoring Group, but his individual focus of Passing isn’t really yielding much.

Adam Rousseau will need to remain patient whilst at Lorient, as he has real competition alongside Julien Ponceau and Arsène Sidibé (who we’ll see in a sec) for the starting right attacker role.

19 years old

  • 48 appearances for FC Lorient

  • 7.12 average rating

  • ‘Winger’ Media Description

La génération d’aujourd’hui (18 years)

Readers should know all about Julien Ponceau by now, the first Goss Graduate into the First Team, you now know more about the four guys above too. But let me introduce you to the sixth and seventh Academy players to join the First Team squad: Arsène Sidibé & Vincent Maury.

Arsène Sidibé - another youngster spoken about on Episode 31 of GrassNGear.

Vincent Maury - physically advanced for 18 years old.

I added both these guys to the team for season 2023/24, and set individual training to roles within my 433 tactic (Winger and Full Back respectively). Annoyingly, Arsène Sidibé has seen a 2 point drop in Determination which will need to be corrected via Mentoring. But in terms of attributes both have made slight increases.

I have no plans to re-position them, as I see a pathway into the First Team via their natural positions…but I have placed Sidibé on a focus on Strength (Strength & Jumping Reach) and Maury on Passing (First Touch/Passing/Technique). Hopefully I can give the game time over the next couple of years, and I’ll make a vow not to recruit to any of the right sided positions to help facilitate this.

Achilles’ Africa

With all the focus on Academy youth development, I did not want readers left thinking I had abandoned my FM19 recruitment project (read my original plans here). Africa remains a focus for Achilles Goss and I’ve increased the tally to 13 players recruited from the continent.

Georges Sombola - an International at 19 years of age.

Isidore Kossounou - a €150k signing from the ASEC academy.

New recruits are Gabonese youth Goalkeeper Georges Sombola & Ivorian ASEC graduate Isidore Kossounou. I am particularly excited about the latter, with Isidore scoring a crucial away goal on his debut against FC København in the Europa League qualifiers. He has the right kind of raw ability that Goss has polished before (see Fonsinho & Mo Diallo on the Goss CV).

Achilles’ Africa so far: Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal & South Africa.

Achilles’ Africa so far: Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal & South Africa.

Closure

I never like to put a fixed date on ending things, or make any grand promises on how long I will play this save. Readers only have to witness the vagueness in my introductory post as testimony:

“My aim is to be as consistent with blogging as last year, so that’s two posts a season. As with last year, I expect to play at the same speed too. So please don’t expect a 20 year save, it’s more likely to be somewhere between 5 and 8 seasons”.

Moving into the new stadium is a big reason I stuck around with FC Lorient, it’s something I’ve wanted in Football Manager for many years now. So, my desire is to see out the inaugural season in our new home before calling it a day with this fine club.

That would be 7 seasons in Football Manager 2019 and enough to give me closure of this fine save. The countdown is on…let’s enjoy the ride we have left.

As always, thanks for reading, sharing and caring.

FM Grasshopper/Achilles Goss