HARD MODE: Euro 2024 in Football Manager #FM24

July 13, 2024

Hi everybody, a lot of people want a Football Manager hard mode. Whilst I can’t give you that myself, I can at least write about a little side save that my friend (FM Adventure) and I did recently alongside the real-life Euro 2024 tournament. The save parameters used have been a great test of our managerial abilities and we look forward to sharing it with you briefly (both here on my blog and his coffeehouse variant).

So, what’s it all about? 🧑‍💻

The save premise: pick a National Team squad of 26 players. Each player can only play a maximum of three games from Group Stage through to Semi Final. Even substitute appearances would count as a game played. Can you win the spiced up Euros?

I took the reins at England FC 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (I was born in London) and FM Adventure chose to manage Real Spain 🇪🇸 (due to him claiming citizenship from a recent holiday).

The squad selection was made easier (or harder depending on your opinion), by replicating the current Euro 2024 squads of England and Spain. The only deviation to that was Phil Foden’s 5 month injury meaning he was ruled out from the selection. Up stepped former Irishman Jack Graelish as the Fake Foden.

Managing rotations: in order to keep track of who needed an early flight back to England or Spain, FM Adventure and I managed it via a Google Sheet. I set up a traffic light system to alert us when a player is 1-2 games away from leaving the squad. You may think this is overkill, but it is absolutely necessary in order to utilise the full squad and plan our routes into the knockouts strategically.

Google sheet rotation: England, two games in. Is Bowen’s bag already packed?

The Group Stage 🚀

Initially I went in thinking I could have both a 433 and 343 tactic to sap the most juice out of the squad, with players like Anthony Gordon really only suitable for an advanced wide role. However, a complicated opening game Vs Denmark saw me ditch the 433 in favour of the 343 with about 30 mins to go and my England side never looked back. Coming back late on in that Denmark game to win 2-1, the English won the remaining games against Slovenia and Serbia with ease (both 3-1) and topped Group C.

I suppose it mirrors reality, England’s Gareth Southgate realising that his team is better off utilising two 10s centrally (Bellingham and Foden); as opposed to shifting one out wide. I came to the same conclusion. Anybody playing in the Shadow Striker role in particular seemed to do exceptionally well: Bowen, Eze and Palmer lit up the tournament with goals and assists and each had a MOTM winning performance.

The Knockouts 💥

My strategy was to field a strong XI and get a first win in the groups. Once on 3 points, I would rotate through to the QFs in the hope we would meet a lower ranked team in Last 16. With no disrespect to Czechia, that’s exactly what happened…facing them in the Last 16 (and winning 3-1) before realising I was in the ‘worse’ half of the draw with the likes of hosts Germany, favourites France and traditional dark horses Italy. FM Adventure on the other hand was stroking his hands together and eating paella by avoiding all of us on the other side. His hardest potential game was probably Portugal, who failed to progress from the Last 16, meaning Austria-Hungary or Serbia were his most difficult foe (go read the adjacent story over on coffeehousefm.com/fmadventure once done here).

L' assassinat du duc de Munich…UP HIS ASS CHEEK!

The Quarter Final was a nervy affair. The big named defenders of John Stones and Kyle Walker were back in the side, as were attackers Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham. Yet, it was Jarrod Bowen making his third appearance of the tournament that made the difference, as he calmly slotted in Jude Bellingham’s neat cross to see England beat 20th Century colonial rivals Germany 1-0. The jellied eel enthusiast had averaged a respectable 8.0 Average Rating over his three Euro 2024 performances…he would be sorely missed in the Semi Finals.

Perhaps the biggest game of Euro 2024 came in the Semi Finals, which saw England drawn against Eurovision 2024 Top 4 side France. It was perhaps the game of the tournament, which saw a 1st half full of Gallic swagger and panache. France were all over the English, it was like a Hundred Years' War packed into 45 minutes. But the seeds of French defeat were sown by one of their own in the last minute of additional time. Adrien Rabiot, perhaps worried about what his mum might think when he returned to court, decided to assassinate England’s top longbowman Sir Harold Kane in cold blood. England were buoyed at HT. Both Wing Backs were now on attack duty and English found very little resistance in the 2nd half, coming back to level the tie on 54 minutes. Extra time was surprisingly straight forward, with substitute Graelish taking a dive to win England the penalty that Kane dispatched with cold hard English grit. One for the late goal, Ollie Watkins savoured the moment and ended Catholicism for good with a 111th minute thunderbastard to send England through 4-2 AET to the Euro 2024 where Spa…Serbia (?!) would await in the final.

The Final 🏆

Prior to starting the network save, FM Adventure and I had agreed that the previous appearances would be wiped cleared for any Final. This was welcome news, seeing that I now only had six players who were yet to make their 3rd appearance. In-form Jarrod Bowen returned to the starting line up supporting Harry Kane in the Shadow Striker role. It was only fitting that the two combined to see England win 1-0 against Serbia…

It was a much closer game than the previous Group C top spot decider, but crucially “it came home”. I lucked out with the 343 formation, it was perfect for England and saw them play some really nice football. Huge thanks to FM Adventure who filled the empty nights between the various IRL knockout rounds over a beer, it was a really fun challenge and required us to fully delve into those 26-man squads.

Thanks for reading/sharing and caring.

Tony / FM Grasshopper 🏆🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

SuperClub Diaries (Vol.3) - Old Lady dancing to the rhythm #FM24

June 28, 2024

Previously on SuperClub Diaries, Juventus became the third club of this save.

Intro

My interest in a save usually takes a dip as Newgens enter the game universe. I see some odd attribute combinations, like the near-perfect 201cm Target Forward who cannot head the ball or the midfield general who has all the fibra…except for 9 Aggression. Their faces too are often a reason to wince at the screen, why are they covered in mud? But…you reach a point in a save where the Newgens take over and you accept the new generation for what they are. It is then when my interest creeps back up again. I get attached to the odd few Newgens, their attributes begin to correlate, their faces begin to…nah they’re still shit.

It’s at this point where I now find myself in FM24. I’m over my Newgen mountain, and I can now see the plateau of sexiness that they bring. Welcome to Turin, the year is 2030…

2030 Champions League

Save updates in SuperClub Diaries are intentionally brief, only the UEFA Champions League matters in this save. Right from the off in season 2029/30, things looked bleak after two opening home defeats in the League Phase. I therefore never expected to come back from that and grab 5 wins from the remaining six games to secure a top eight position! Avoiding the Play-Off place is essential in my opinion, I just hate how it’s sandwiched so close to the Last 16 ties and really disrupts the domestic flow. To draw my previous SuperClub Diaries club Liverpool in the Last 16 was a really good test for my fledgling Juve side. We answered the test, 3-2 away at Anfield…boom. De Zerbi’s Bayern were next up in the QFs, and beating him in two legs meant the Bayern Board ditched him at the end of the season 😎

I felt I had the right side of the draw for the Semi, avoiding the riches of English sides Chelsea and Man City. A nice 2-0 home win against Lens meant I had one foot in the 2030 UCL Final…but then a disastrous opening 12 mins away in France undid all of that good work. My side regrouped in the 2nd half, Dušan Vlahovic had a couple of good chances and he really should have done better. But FM is a cruel game. Up came Kevin Danso in the 88 minute to slap his meat head on the end of a corner delivery. My Juve side were ‘nearly finalists’ in 2030.

My Rebuild (aka manage a team, sell some players, buy some others)

Despite the UCL heartache, I once again secured Champions League football for next season. A 4th place finish shows that I am still some way off domestic honours, where we once again saw AC Milan romp to the title. Yet, I’m optimistic. I’m saying goodbye to the old guard: Angeliño, Federico Chiesa, Federico Gatti, Moise Kean, Nordi Mukiele and Benji Pavard all leave on Free Transfers. This frees up a sizeable chunk of salary to secure some youngsters on long term deals and also go and get a couple of exciting talents.

I’m not going to screencap every Newgen I am signing in this save, because my name is not Dan Gear. However, generational talents will be shared…and I believe Kağan Köksal is a good example of a generational talent. Just look at him ffs. At 18 years of age, he’s a mentally strong defender with attributes nearing an elite standard of Inverted Full Back already. He was my No.1 target in this Transfer Window, and the €24m release clause in his Galatasaray made it all the sweeter. Europe couldn’t bid either, something Dan and I have discussed before in private Q&A together…AI clubs are unwilling to make offers when the window is closed. Bully for me, but a bit of a Human Manager hackz.

Kağan Köksal slots into the side as the right sided Inverted Full-Back, and I’m sure he is going to be great. The IFB role just seems to allow everything else to flourish through Positional Play. Our starting shape is a 4231, but in possession we are a back three with good numbers in attack. The below tactic has Juventus playing at a good rhythm, and I think a full season with this 4231 could see us win trophies next season…

England

English superclubs had to once again see Arsenal win a third straight league title. There was some success in Manchester though: Man City made a Champions League final before being beaten 2-1 by surprise package Lens and Manchester United beat Fiorentina 4-0 in the Europa League final. Luckily for Chelsea, a 5th placed finish is enough for them to get Champions League football…but Liverpool are the English superclub to miss out on European football entirely with a 7th placed finish. Their infatuation of Italian Managers shows no signs of stopping either, with Alessio Dionisi sacked…Liverpool now appoint Simone Inzaghi for the 2030/31 season. Inzaghi will be their 4th Italian Manager appointment in a row!

France

PSG’s Pep Guardiola consulted the TimeHop App and signed a 35-year-old Raheem Sterling from Chelsea for €20m. However, it was Chelsea who were their undoing in the Quarter Finals of the Champions League. The Parisians make do with a domestic double once again, but there is now a growing sense of acceptance with how things are going. This is best demonstrated with the Qatari owners scaling back funding for the second year in a row.

Germany

in Germany, Bayern Munich continue to be ambitious…the Bundesliga win of 2030 is not enough to keep Roberto De Zerbi in the job. The Bavarians made a Quarter Final exit in the Champions League against Juventus, so their response is to re-appoint Thomas Tuchel. The man responsible for their 2023/24 in-game Champions League triumph.

Italy

30-year-old Dušan Vlahovic retires from International football after scoring 50 goals for the Serbian National Team. When the Serbian press asked him why, he simply stated: “So I can solely focus on wining something for the handsome guy in the Juve dugout”. That may take some doing for Juventus, who once again finish 4th and 19 points behind league winners AC Milan. Stefano Pioli has now officially reached ‘Legend’ status at I Rossoneri with a club record breaking fourth title in a row. Cross-city rivals, Inter, make do with a 3rd place finish.

Spain

Just like last year, Barcelona splash €260m cash in a bid to rival Real Madrid. Youssoufa Moukoko is the big January signing for €100m, who failed to live up the hype and who still has not scored a goal for the second placed Catalan side. Real Madrid win La Liga, with cross-city rivals Atlético de Madrid in 3rd. None of the Spanish superclubs make waves in the Champions League.

The longest run at a club so far in this save is with PSG (three seasons). But, I think Juventus and me may break that as I enter my second full season at the club. The UCL remains the target, but I am looking forward to seeing if I can topple this Milan juggernaut off from the summit of Serie A. If Vlahovic is true to his word and Köksal can settle well, we may just do it 🤞🏻

Thanks for reading/sharing and caring.

Tony / FM Grasshopper

Progress did not stop in #FM24

June 13, 2024

Football Manager 2024 was touted as ‘the most complete edition of the series’ by the game developer, Sports Interactive. With the much requested upgrade to set pieces, major match engine tweaks and cross-edition save compatibility…you can certainly see why. But is it? With 400 hours ploughed into the game, and with FM25 potentially 4-5 months away, I am using my blog today to share my thoughts on FM24.

Match Engine

Well, well, well. I’ve said in previous reviews of earlier FMs…I place huge emphasis on how good the match engine is when rating a Football Manager title. FM24 simply has to be judged highly, on the basis that the match engine got a lot of attention this time round.

The introduction of Positional Play elements has continued to grip me well into June 2024. There are still combinations of roles and shapes I am yet to try, mainly because Positional Play influences so much of the pitch. From CB to AM, and the lines in between, there are a lot of rotations you can now create.

Historically, I have felt that new roles added into FM have felt in isolation. Roles introduced then just felt like alternatives that you used in place of others (Pressing Forward instead of an Advanced Forward for example). Yet, in FM24, the introduction of the Inverted Full Back, or major reworkings to Half-Backs and Liberos, now have major knock-on effects elsewhere in your tactic. There is no need to have fancy starting shapes, a simple back four can morph into some exotic shapes, as explained in this cracker of a Byline piece from my podcast co-host.

I must also mention the animations. I could have forgiven Sports Interactive for delivering zero progress here whatsoever, seeing as FM25 brings about the new Unity match engine. Yet, here we are. A whole host of new player animations were added this year, and they’ve had a bigger impact on my match day experience than I originally expected.

It is therefore hard to give the FM match engine anything less than a 9/10 this time round. It’s more than a solid base for the match engine team to roll out into the Unity engine, where I am hopeful that fluidity and animations can once again combine to give another solid score in FM25.

Set Pieces

Prior to FM24, a common pain point for a lot of FMers was that set pieces were previously set by position, not a general priority of the best for the job. This meant that in previous editions, a change in tactic could wreak havoc with your set piece routines. But that is no longer the case. In FM24 you can make tactical or team changes without having to change your set pieces. Our routines will always use the best players from the match day squad.

The new routines also have an effectiveness behind them too. Like tactics they link to the training modules you place into your weekly cycle. I like how thought has been taken in linking some of the good bits about FM together, in order to make a more seamless game.

I think on first glance, or through pre-release screenshots, some players could have been expecting a reskin of the set piece creator (and I still saw some comments in the early days that this was true)...but what Sports Interactive did here was overhaul set pieces in the best possible way. However, there are still set piece routines that cannot be done. It’s perhaps not as fluid as it possibly can be, but like the ME we have is a solid base to build from.

Overall I like this feature. It was much needed and it’s vastly better than what we had previously in FM23: 7/10.

Save Compatibility

I did not use this feature. But I know some people who did, and I never once heard any problems with their integration or adaptation to the process of loading an FM23 save into FM24. My guess is that this feature was heavily tested for years before its addition, which you have to once again praise the painless rollout.

Like a Tripadvisor review, you’re more likely to report a bad experience than a positive one. Perhaps this feature is less memorable than other headline features as a result. But the real strength is that this feature is here to stay, and I think it encourages players to embark on longer saves well into the cycle of the current edition, knowing that they could conceivably carry it on into the next edition. I felt so passionate about this last point, that I decided to write a Byline article on longer challenges.

I’m giving it a 7/10, but part of that is because I think at some point it will be taken for granted. This post will perhaps be a nice reminder of how revolutionary it once was.

Quality of Life

The UI is still clunky. Whilst some shortcuts have been made through Agents & Intermediaries, the game can sometimes feel laborious in places. This is hopefully to be corrected in FM25, but an overhaul is needed after many years of onion layer-type features being added to the game.

However, lovely additions like ‘Real World’ and ‘Your World’ game modes alongside the usual ‘Original’ mode add a nice juxtaposition to the way you play. Real World sees the FM player take the realism route: players join at their real-life transfer date meaning that they could arrive after the first fixtures of the season and need to catch up on fitness and bed into the team culture. Your World will wipe clean those future transfers and give you the budget back to take on a new alternate timeline with your new club. Kudos to the developers here for not forcing either of the game modes down us, we simply choose the one that suits us best. What did you go for in FM24?

Overall, the Quality of Life is a ‘misc’ within the article. I’m scoring it 6/10, on the basis that FM25 can ride in like a White Knight and ‘cull the clicks’ and get us to 9/10!

Licenses

The recent announcement of the Premier League license coming to FM25 has blown the J League(s) acquisition in FM24 out of the water. Yet, getting Japan into the game (and selling it in the country of SEGA) was a big deal for a lot of people. I did not undertake a Japanese save, but it is something that I will definitely experience within the multi-year lifespan of the contract.

But if I was being critical, it took a long while to get Japan ‘right’. Some players were not present right away, and it felt work-in-progress for a little while after launch. However, I’m sure these issues will not exist in a league that’s already researched like the Premier League.

Despite the integration hiccups with Japan, FM24’s repertoire of licenses is probably the biggest I can remember in any era of Football Manager (and I’ve not even detailed anything about the Netflix licence either).

Miles and co. at SI HQ have already bettered themselves for FM25, and they show no sign of stopping. KUTGW guys.

8/10.

Final thoughts

On final reflection, I feel FM24 hit the levels to be classed as ‘the most complete edition of the series’. Whilst I do not think I have had my most memorable, or ‘complete’ save, there is something that keeps bringing me back to the game itself. Seasons are quick to get through and I have often had to stop myself in order to pause and blog…that’s a sure sign that the game is gripping me.

If we aggregate my crude category scores, the title gets a solid 8/10. This leaves obvious room for the new FM25 title to come in and reign supreme, and I look forward to seeing what comes next. After all, progress never stops.

What do you think about FM24?

Thanks for reading,

Tony / FM Grasshopper

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

May 29, 2024

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:

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.