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) - Juste à temps #FM24

Previously on SuperClub Diaries, a moment of Salah magic at Anfield prevented Paris Saint Germain from reaching the 2024/25 Champions League Final.

 
 

I don’t control the players doing it, I just remember what they’ve done and write about it. This is my way of accepting the club's abject failure in Europe for the previous two seasons, and how I’ve gone about blogging it. Whether that’s André’s bizarre own goal in Season 1 or the capitulation in extra-time over in Anfield last year. Madness in Europe just follows this club, IRL and in FM24.

However, Season 3 showed that patience (and a nation state backing you financially) can eventually get you the ultimate prize; “juste à temps” as I run down my contract in Summer 2026. Join me as I say au revoir to Paris in the best possible way…

Summer Transfers

Season’s 2 recruitment featured a trio of signings in January (Ousmane Diomande, Teun Koopmeiners and Karim Konaté) who all went on to have a brilliant 18-month period with me. So, the squad was already in a good position going into Season 3. I only used the Summer window as a result, and I am really happy with what I did:

  • Vanderson (€17m loan-to-buy from Arsenal)

  • Federico Valverde (€78m from Real Madrid)

  • Guillaume Restes (€60m from Toulouse)

  • Ferland Mendy (€50m from Real Madrid)

The signings from Real Madrid, in my opinion, are brilliant. Valverde is arguably the best in the world when it comes to playing box-to-box, so the Segundo Volante role alongside compatriot Manuel Ugarte is a thing of dreams. Ferland Mendy represents my first Alumni signing of the save. €50m to bring him home and in his peak years too, délicieux!

For Season 3, I was spoilt for choice when picking a starting XI in the 4222. It’s effectively two teams (+ Lucas Hernández who played a utility role between CB and LB) which can easily win Ligue 1 at a canter. But it’s the UCL where the real test remained…

1st choice XI.

2nd choice XI.

2025/26 Champions League

Whilst at PSG I have made a point not to celebrate the domestic successes, we should be winning it all…and that’s exactly what we did this season: with a domestic treble (Trophée des Champions, Coupe de France and Ligue 1). Season 3 was us at our most dominant in the league: 111 goals and 90 points. Kylian Mbappé looks like he is peaking too: 43 goals in all comps from 39 starts.

But this save is all about winning UCLs and, again, that’s exactly what we did this season:

 
 

Our 4222 (click here for perfect tactic) was ultimately too strong for a lot of teams, barring Glasgow Celtic! No tactic is really perfect though, and during the Full Match mode Final I had to make some adjustments. This thread on X (formerly known as Twitter), sets out how I planned to tackle the big match. However, during the first half I did not like what I was seeing. I made a few tweaks, which I like to think helped us in our comeback:

  • I removed Work Ball Into Box and increased our Passing Directness because the ball was simply not moving forward quicker enough to the forwards. At some point towards the end of the 1st half Mbappé had only made 8 passes and I felt horrified.

  • I changed Mentality to Balanced after going ahead in the tie, this once more increased our passing directness…but also a whole host of other bits.

The result is hugely satisfying, but we arguably held back our worse performance for the big night…phew:

I deteste Pepsi Max.

Vol. 2 🔜

With my contract running out in Paris, I’m not really feeling in the mood for staying. I think the PSG squad is now set up to dominate, and realistically it is my best chance at getting another UCL very soon in the save. But I want more of a challenge domestically, as with PSG the save really only comes alive in the final few months of the season and in only a few key games. So, after winning the UCL, I immediately turned to the Job Screen in FM24; a sure sign that deep down I wanted to leave.

Bayern Munich stumbled in the Bundesliga with a 3rd place finish and said auf wiedersehen to Thomas Tuchel. It appeals, but I personally feel that the club will feel a bit too similar to PSG over time. However, it is in England where a more appealing challenge presents itself…

Could Volume 2 see me go to Old Trafford and return England’s biggest club to glory?

England

Two draws in the final two games of the season saw Chelsea drop from 1st to 3rd in the Premier League. Unsurprisingly, Manchester City were there to capitalise and win their sixth consecutive title. Arsenal (2nd) and Liverpool (4th) make up the rest of the top four, with Manchester United finishing in a disappointing 6th and sack Eric ten Hag as a result. Chelsea’s disappointing end to the season continued against Paris Saint Germain in the UEFA Champions League Final, having taken the lead in the 1st half the London club fell short in a 2-1 defeat.

France

A club record 111 goals, three more than in 2017/18, sees Paris Saint Germain crowned French champions for the 14th time. The trophies kept on flowing, a Coupe de France and a coveted UEFA Champions League saw the Qatari investment finally come good in the French capital.

Germany

Thomas Tuchel finally got his marching orders as German super club Bayern Munich. The Bavarian side lost to rivals Dortmund in the DFB-Pokal Cup and then embarrassingly finished 3rd in the Bundesliga, with Dortmund once again grabbing the silverware. New Bayern signings Hicham Boudaoui (€62m from Nice) and Eric Martel (€47m from FC Köln) failed to impress at the German giants, who now look for their next manager.

Italy

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s 27 goal contribution in Serie A was a huge factor in Napoli claiming the Serie A crown. Milanese super clubs, AC Milan and Inter, have to make do with 3rd and 4th place finishes respectively. Juventus fortuitously scraped into Europe on the final day of the season, seeing Torino lose to Napoli. The Old Lady’s 6th placed finish sees them into the UEFA Conference League, the first time a super club in this save has entered the lowest European competition.

Spain

Real Madrid’s Jürgen Klopp wins his second league title in two years with an impressive 100 point haul, twelve points more than rivals Barcelona. Los Blancos continued the domestically strong season with a 2-0 win in the Copa del Rey final against city rivals Atlético de Madrid (who qualify for the Champions League with a 3rd place finish). After scoring 40 goals (all comps) last year, Barcelona said goodbye to Robert Lewandowski who signed for Al-Nassr. Romelu Lukaku is his replacement who crucially failed to score in 180 minutes of football against his old club Chelsea in the Champions League Semi Final.

So, that’s three seasons done now in the SuperClub Diaries save. Not many Managers leave PSG with their head held high, but I think the UCL win is enough to cement me into their history books forever. Now it’s on to the next challenge, report back here in a few weeks/months to see where I end up…Manchester, Munich…Greenock Morton?

Thank you for reading/sharing and caring. Particularly to Ed Wilson who has kindly sponsored today’s blog post 👍🏻

Tony / FM Grasshopper

SuperClub Diaries (Vol.1) - The Swiss Model #FM24

The 2024/25 Swiss Model

On Wednesday 13 December 2023, European football said goodbye to the Champions League Group Stages; a system that UEFA have had in place for the majority of my life. But there’s no time for mourning, as FMers we have the opportunity to peek into the future and experience the new ‘Swiss model’.

In fact, it’s been in FM for at least two editions now…yet my first experience of it came in Season 2 of SuperCub Diaries in Football Manager 2024. I had always planned to spend some time writing about my experience with Swiss models, and why I actually liked them over previous models, but that was made certain when I saw a Scottish FMer shitpost about them. So, herein lies the purpose of this blog: why I like Swiss models…

It is probably worth clarifying that my view is solely from the point of view of a super club. Afterall, this is SuperClub Diaries. The experience of Swiss models may well be different if you’re (1) not elite (like I am) or (2) lack the Qatari billions of a top 5 GDP nation (like I do). Being aware of your biases is something I am increasingly more conscious of as I grow older, so it is probably worth thinking about your biases relating to any Swiss models before reading on further.

Thought about them already? Wow, that was quick. Let’s begin…

Variety

Should we frown upon a couple more games in the revised group format? Maybe, but let’s not forget this is the UEFA Champions League. This is the pinnacle of club football. I would rather have more games at this level than a domestic dead rubber. The new Swiss model now introduces eight matches, and all of them with different opponents. I quite like the variety this brings and the tactical match ups they allow.

 

My initial Swiss model opponents.

 

Temperature gauge

As an elite club, I found the Swiss model an effective gauge to see how good my PSG was in Season 2 Vs other Super Clubs earlier on in the UCL campaign. We faced Manchester City at home, arguably the toughest opposition in Europe during the 3rd UCL gameweek. I was quickly able to get a feel how good we really were, and that’s nice before going into the crucial two-legged knockouts.

Parc des Princes.

Bravo FFF

The French Football Federation is prepared for Swiss models (no Coupe de la Ligue and a reduction in Ligue 1 sides to 18). It seems other nations, like England, are not. This goes back to my first point, more games in UCL are compensated for by a reduction in French domestic games. I’m ok with that, most of you readers probably call it a Farmer’s League anyway. Shame on you, connards.

Feel rewarded

Again, in keeping the busy schedules in mind…as a super club I feel rewarded for doing well by finishing in the top 8. I try to gamify many things in my real life in order for things to work better (my own children finishing their meals, the girls I train at football, my work colleagues’ output etc.) and it is good to see UEFA taking a similar approach by incentivising the big clubs for performing well within the Swiss model.

Six super clubs made the top 8!

I appreciate that there will still be dead rubber matches, for example: between two top 8 teams cancelling one another out in order to both go through. But that’s not my problem. I simply enjoyed the gamification of finishing in that top 8 and getting a convenient bye into the Last 16.

Knockouts

Despite the introduction of a round before the Last 16 (for those teams finishing in places 9-24), the UCL then became familiar again with a two-legged knockout pathway to the Final. I appreciate this is not the Swiss model, but it’s worth once again praising UEFA for not changing everything, all at once. So, that means all the familiar FM heartbreak is still there to experience year-on-year…like this Semi Final defeat AET against Liverpool:

Eurgh 💔

The 2025 Club World Cup

Not to be outdone by UEFA, it’s now FIFA’s turn to revise their premium club competition: the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. If you are not familiar with the revised format, don’t worry…I am sure you can guess what it means: more clubs, more games and more excitement.

32 teams fall into eight groups, with the top two progressing to the Last 16, it almost feels (dare I say it) a lot like the pre-Swiss UEFA Champions League Group Stage format. PSG were not the only SuperClub Diaries representatives either with Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Inter, Manchester City and Real Madrid joining them (that latter joining the Parisians in Group F)…

It’s fair to say that my PSG side found their groove in the competition, and although we didn’t quite get the big wins that some had in the tournament, we beat everything in front of us in a new-look 4222 shape. Rather embarrassingly, I think we have become the first side to win the Club World Cup without having won a top continental trophy. We really are trailblazers!

Note - I could go into how poorly this revised competition has been implemented in Football Manager 2024. Like the lack of training beforehand, or the bugs around the draw taking place after the groups are already visible in another window. Or the season reseting mid-tournament, which mucks up a lot of things like Board expectations, players’ statistical data etc. But I won’t, simply have fun with it 😀

England

Manchester City once again pipped Liverpool to the Premier League title on the final day of the season, and also boast a League Cup win. However, question marks remain over Pep Guardiola’s performance this season having exited at the Champions League Last 16 stage against Italian super club Juventus. Liverpool’s painful season continued with a 0-2 Champions League final defeat against Barcelona in Munich. Both goals came in the final few minutes of normal time. Chelsea and Manchester United qualify for next season’s Champions League, with the former also winning their 9th FA Cup.

France

A combined €85m January investment in Ousmane Diomande, Karim Konaté and Teun Koopmeiners energised Paris Saint Germain to see them lift a 4th consecutive league title. The Parisian outfit broke a defensive club record with 14 goals conceded throughout the Ligue 1 campaign. An improved performance in the Champions League saw the club exit at the Semi Final stage, but the management team’s greatest reprieve will be the club’s 1st ever Club World Cup trophy. Will it be enough to see them stay on for 2025/26?

Germany

The €100m signing of Victor Osimhen was not enough to grant Bayern Munich anything more than a Last 16 Champions League exit. However they did take back the Bundlesiga title from RB Leipzig, and also won the DFB-Pokal. The Munich Board will be expecting more from Thomas Tuchel’s men however, after allowing almost €250m to be invested into the play squad over 2024/25.

Italy

The Milan clubs occupy 1st and 2nd place in Serie A. AC Milan win their 20th Serie A title, partly led by a terrific campaign from Samuel Chukwueze with 16 goals and 5 assists. Inter fall short against Napoli in the Coppa Italia, and Juventus finished 5th for the second consecutive season. Only this time, the Turin outfits missed out on Champions League football due to the European coefficient changing adversely for Italian clubs.

Spain

18-year-old Endrick arrives for his debut season with Real Madrid and scores 19 goals in all competitions, he experiences his first taste of LaLiga silverware too with Real Madrid’s 95 point haul. 2nd place Barcelona will not grimace too much though, having beaten rivals Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey final and the big one: a 6th European Cup, courtesy of a 2-0 Vs Liverpool. Diego Simeone left Atlético de Madrid in the Summer of 2024, and replacement Antonio Conte can only achieve 4th place in the league. It’s enough for Champions League football at least.

That’s season 2 complete in SuperClub Diaries. Similar to the conclusion at Season 1: have I done enough to stay on? Personally, I feel there’s been enough progress in the Champions League to give the Champions league one last go in season 3, and the move to 4222 and subsequent Club World Cup win has me hopeful that I will finally bring the trophy to Paris.

As always, this will be the place to find out how we do.

Thank you for reading/sharing and caring. I hope you have a nice festive holiday with friends and family, see you in 2024 🎄

Tony / FM Grasshopper

SuperClub Diaries (Vol.1) - Season 1 Failure #FM24

 
 

It’s the 5th of March 2024 and the 1st season of the SuperClub Diaries save is over. There’s obviously still two and a half months left of the Ligue 1 season, but the whole save hinges on the performance of the UEFA Champions League. Yet here we are out at the Last 16 knockouts stage against Manchester United or Englandshire. Pass the bucket, je suis malade. It is unsure at this stage if I will keep my job here at Paris Saint Germain. We are strolling to the title and will probably win it by 15-20 points, but I sit on a Board Approval rating of C+.

So this post is carefully positioned between being a potential farewell to PSG, and also a look ahead to a possible second season of retribution. Who knows what our Qatari owners will decide to do next…

Selling to Saudi

I disabled the 1st Transfer Window on save startup, so my first taste of Saudi transfer action came in January 2024. Three of the Public Investment Fund came in for Presnel Kimpembe, a good defender but my 3rd best (imo) behind Marquinhos and Milan Škriniar. A relatively easy choice was made even easier by taking into account Presnel’s real-life injury problems AND the straight up offer of €60m from Al-Hilal.

A sizeable chunk of that transfer deal was reinvested into Fluminense’s André, who I would look to rotate with Manual Ugarte at DM. However, André is technically proficient enough to also play further up the field in my 433 (either as CM-A or AP-S). I am happy with him, and still am, even if his first meaningful moment in a PSG shirt was so cataclysmic for us…

The League of Champions

This save is defined by my performance in Europe’s elite club competition. I’ll be honest, if I go out in the Last 16 ever again with this side…I’d have to do the right thing and walk. But the Last 16 tie versus Manchester United is quite laughable. It’s not a case of PSG not turning up, we absolutely smashed them. I could sit here and write about Super ‘Keepers all day long after seeing what André Onana did during these two games (20 shots faced, 4 held, 12 parried and 2 tipped)…

Match Home xG Home Away xG Away Result MOTM, Av.Rating
Leg 1 PSG (3.31) Man Utd (0.61) 1-0 André Onana, 8.8
Leg 2 Man Utd (1.13) PSG (3.12) 2-1 André Onana, 8.8

We won the xG battle [a metric that my ex-stream partner often recites as a validation of a team’s superiority], but somehow we were taken to a penalty shootout with the sides level at 2-2 AET. Oh, and how did Manchester United get back into it with a minute of extra-time to go? Well, a different kind of André happened…

Good job we practised penalties then right? No, we were dreadful at them..despite the scheduled training session the day before. Paris Saint Germain were out. At the Last 16 stage. Merde.

Faire un come-back

I had to take a couple of nights off from FM24, I was hurt. It’s not strictly the PSG André’s fault either. He is, after all, just a few numbers dancing around in old code. With this in mind, I thought about switching to a 442, but a fancy 442 with Liberos and Inverted Wing Backs. But I quickly went back to a tweaked 433 DM hackz (below) after the 442 lost 3-0 away in Marseille.

IWB-A left.

IWB-A right.

It’s now June 2024, I have finished the season, and the 433 has shown me that I need to carry on in Paris (and I hope the Board agrees too). A rainy night in Manchester was just a blip, honest. Paris Saint Germain finished 22 points clear in Ligue 1, scoring 99 goals in the process, and then there’s #WelcomeXaviSimons to come. Who will arrive back in Paris soon…and it was always my intention to build around one of the best young midfielders in the game for Season 2.

The Last 16 exit has left me scarred and deformed, but I can assure you my resolve has never been stronger.

To be really ambitious as a SuperClub though, and that’s the intention with this save, you need to go against sound logic and the status quo. I could go and get the likes of Roony Bardghji on a cut-price deal…but a SuperClub does more than that (and it’s reflected in the FM24 club vision of ‘Spend the original transfer budget’ which I really enjoyed seeing). I’m going to sign the best I can get, so please welcome Yeremy Pino for €80m. It’s a different style of playing FM, I’ll admit…but I really enjoyed making that signing and just that feeling of being unleashed. Crème de la crème and all that.

Now let’s look elsewhere in SuperClub Diaries to see if there’s been any more fucks up (other than my own)…

England

Manchester City rule supreme in England, winning their fourth straight Premier League title. They also came close to retaining the Champions League, beating city rivals Manchester United in the Semi Final before coming up short in a penalty shootout Vs fellow SuperClub Bayern Munich. Despite a 5th place finish for Manchester United, they won the FA Cup on penalties against rivals Liverpool who will not complain too much having won the Europa League three days before against RB Leipzig (with Dominik Szoboszlai returning to haunt his old club with the match winning goal). Meanwhile, Chelsea continue the trophy theme with a League Cup victory and finish 3rd in the league (behind Liverpool and Manchester City).

France

Kylian Mbappé took his total career club goals to 278, with a 35-goal-campaign in 2023/24 for PSG. His Parisian outfit disappointed in Europe with a Last 16 exit to Manchester United, but a successful third straight Ligue 1 title means the 25-year-old now has seven league titles to his name.

Germany

Harry Kane’s 25 goals were not enough for Bayern Munich to retain the Bundesliga, who finished 2nd to winners RB Leipzig. Bayern did win the DFB-Pokal cup with a thumping 5-1 win against rivals Dortmund, however the best was yet to come…as on 01-June-2024 Bayern beat Manchester City on penalties to win their 7th European Cup.

Italy

Italian SuperClubs Juventus and Inter Milan fail to secure qualification to next year’s Champions League, finishing 5th and 6th in Serie A respectively. AC Milan won the Copa Italia but only finished 3rd in the league, as last season’s winners, Napoli, lost out to shock Serie A winners Lazio.

Spain

Barcelona won the title with a 95 point haul, and Robert Lewandowski once again the elite marksman in Spain with 25 league goals. In 2nd place is Real Madrid who slipped up to an Antoine Griezmann inspired Atlético Madrid in the Copa del Rey final. Diego Simeone’s men also secure Champions League football next term with a 3rd place finish.

So, that’s Season 1 complete in SuperClub Diaries. I may have done just enough to crawl into a second season in the French capital, but the pressure is now on.

As always, thank you for reading/sharing and caring,

Tony / FM Grasshopper

SuperClub Diaries (Vol.1) - Positional Play in Paris #FM24

Bonjour mes amis,

I think it is fair to say that many of us are enjoying FM24, especially with the introduction of Positional Play. Positional Play in FM offers greater tactical fluidity to our sides through role rotations, I wrote more about what that means for tactics in general during the FM24 early access with CF Monterrey…

 
Featured
Three seasons with Yokohama F. Marinos in Football Manager (2024 FIFAe World Cup format)
Three seasons with Yokohama F. Marinos in Football Manager (2024 FIFAe World Cup format)
Football Manager Tactics: Henry’s diamond 442 (France U23s) #FM24
Football Manager Tactics: Henry’s diamond 442 (France U23s) #FM24

A replication and Football Manager play through of France’s U23 Olympic Games, featuring Thierry Henry’s 442 tactic. Allez les Bleus!

HARD MODE: Euro 2024 in Football Manager #FM24
HARD MODE: Euro 2024 in Football Manager #FM24
 

But there is still more to say on Positional Play, so I thought I would use my SuperClub Diaries series to demonstrate how I plan to use a few more of the roles that trigger certain movements in the FM24 Match Engine. I will therefore share my three PSG starting formations, discuss my reasoning for using certain roles together and share a few screenshots on how it looks in the ME as I play through the pre-season. On y vas…

Tactic 1 - 433

There is a fair bit of rotation going on here. But I quite like that I can defend in a back four with a DM as cover but still have so many bodies going forward in a front four - something that PSG are constantly looking to do in real-life. Once with the ball, the IWB-S will move alongside the BWM-S in possession, forming a nice double pivot at the base of the midfield. The IFB-D behind will tuck inside and it will be a back three with Marquinhos as the ball player.

The CM-A moving into AMC position will keep the Winger wide, as part of the rotation, but this suits Ousmane Dembélé’s profile due to him being so good in 1v1s against opposing full back and crossing. Another subtle tweak in FM24 is the Winger role given the option to cut inside. Again, this suits Dembélé’s skillset…so he will be the modern day Winger: pushed out wide, until he uses his good Off the Ball and Dribbling to move into more dangerous areas. At times, the PSG attack will be a front four…allowing the AP-S plenty of passing options.

Intended use: This is the primary tactic, certainly the one I start big-ish domestic games and home Champions League ties. I really like the front three roles of IF-CF-W, which I used many years ago with INTER to great effect (remember Facundo Collidio?), but I feel like a revisit is necessary as a lot has changed in the ME since then.

 

433 PSG

 

433 in possession.

Attacks in: 3241 / 325

Defends in: 4141

Tactic 2 - 4231

The next rotation brings about a natural overload on the right hand side, with the attacking Wing Back linking up with a more central Ousmane Dembélé whose starting position would be more in the half-space area of the opposition’s half compared with Tactic 1. To accommodate this right sided attack, I am once again looking to tuck Hernandez into the back three using IFB-D on the left hand side. The 4231 also has a double pivot, and therefore more conservative…with a Deep Lying Playmaker holding position and with a defensively minded Ball Winning Midfielder to his right.

Intended use: The intended use of this tactic would be when I think the opposition will be a bit more aggressive against us…which could mean more space in behind for our Shadow Striker to advance into. Maybe something for the Champions League away nights? I’ve selected Pass Into Space and removed Work Ball Into Box, so that I can also make use of our explosive wide attackers in Kylian Mbappé & Ousmane Dembélé.

 

4231 PSG

 

4231 in possession.

Attacks in: 334

Defends in: 4231

Tactic 3 - 3421

The third, and final, tactic is one that sees both Wing Backs advance high up the pitch; stretching the play by staying wide. This tactic makes use of Nuno Mendes, who will be returning from injury a few months into the save. What I like in the 3421 is that I will have two central triangles: a base with the Libero linking up with the Central Midfielder & Box to Box midfielder and another in the attack, with Attacking Midfielder and Shadow Striker behind a Complete Forward. The key role is the Box to Box, who will move into the space vacated by the Shadow Striker and link both triangles together. I will most likely look like a 3241, with five in attack at times.

Intended use: I would most likely use the 3421 in domestic games where I want to suffocate defensive teams. It has the same Team Instructions as the 433, but it is overloading central areas with the two AMCs. This is probably the tactic I switch to from the primary tactic, when I need goals OR look to rotate players and use the likes of Lee Kang-in, Mendes, Vitinha et al. It’s probably is not a tactic I use too much at the start of the save, because I want to use it when Nuno Mendes is back.

 

3421 PSG

 

3421 in possession.

Attacks in: 235

Defends in: 5221 / 3421

Tactical Familiarity

Just a quick note to say that there is not a great deal of difference between the three tactics (more on this in a moment). Tactic 1 and 3 are identical in terms of instructions, with only the roles/starting positions themselves changing. Tactic 2, whilst different in areas, is not a drastic departure either from how I want PSG to go at teams and be positive. My advice would be to not have three tactics widely different from one another, as you may find players not adjusting when you’re switching systems about. This would adversely affect your overall cohesion, and you will likely see your players making lacklustre passes or not press as well collectively for example. We call this Tactical Familiarity in FM.

 

Tactical Familiarity in FM.

 

Tactical Styles

Do you use custom-made Tactical Styles? I am unsure if it’s a well used feature…but I find it rather handy when switching between tactics. Put simply, creating a custom style is like making your very own pre-set template; which you can load into any formation. For this save, I have two at PSG:

  1. ‘Style du PSG’ - the Mentality and Team Instructions that I see as our default signature style.

  2. ‘Plus contre-atttaque’ - Not too dissimilar (for reasons mentioned previously), but a dash more urgency in our build-up play.

There’s no limit to how many you can make, but just know that only one formation can have one tactical style at any one time. Have fun with it.

 

Custom styles in FM.

 

A common part of my SuperClub Diaries posts will be an update on the other eleven super clubs throughout Europe. I think this is a good way to stay on top of their state of affairs and could also provide context as to where I go next after PSG. The most important pre-season update from Paris however, is the €275m five-year extension to keep Kylian Mbappé in France. It’s crazy money, but it’s in keeping with the SuperClub Diaries save idea.

Elsewhere in SuperClub Diaries…

England

Chelsea’s £53 million signing, Christopher Nkunku, requires knee surgery and is out until at least December 2023. Liverpool finally refresh their midfielder with the signings of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai from Brighton and Leipzig respectively. Reigning English and Champions League winners Manchester City have had a relatively quiet transfer window with £100m being spent on Mateo Kovacic and Croatian defender Josko Gvardiol. A change in goalkeeping style is on the cards at Manchester United as they replace David De Gea with Champions League finalist Andre Onana.

Germany

Bayern Munich edge closer to completing a €100m deal to sign Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane. The England forward is expected to sign a four-year contract making him the most expensive signing in Bundesliga history.

Italy

AC Milan sell Sandro Tonali to Newcastle for €64m and immediately reinvest that money on three players: Christian Pulisic from Chelsea, Samuel Chukwueze from Villarreal and Tunus Musah from Valencia. Across the San Siro pitch, Inter Milan bring in Benjamin Pavard and Yann Sommer from Bayern Munich for just under €40m. Over in Turin, Leonardo Bonucci leaves Juventus stating “I have decided, after great suffering, to take the path of a lawsuit towards Juventus".

Spain

Whilst Diego Simeone looks to extend his 12 year stay in the Spanish Capital, Atlético Madrid also welcome back World Cup winner and former player Antoine Griezmann. João Cancelo continues to push for a move from Manchester City to Barcelona, whilst Ilkay Gündoğan has already made the switch on a Free Transfer. Real Madrid complete the marquee signing of Wonderkid Jude Bellingham for €103m.

I hope you have enjoyed this brief insight into how I am starting things tactically at PSG. I am unsure of the regularity of future diary posts…it will likely be whenever there is a sensible pause or moment in-game that merits a post.

Until then, thank you for reading/sharing and caring,

Tony / FM Grasshopper