Season 10 - The beginning of the end #FM16 #WeAreTheCommunity

September 14, 2016

90+1 and 120+1. Two critical minutes in two separate games that highlighted the great weakness of my team in Season 9. In each occasion Galatasaray had scored, to swing both legs of the 2nd Knockout Euro Cup tie in their favour - 6-5 on aggregate. Out of Europe once again in the most frustrating of circumstances, a behavioural trait all to familiar for Grasshopper fans:

Season 1 (2015/16) - Not in Europe
Season 2 (2016/17) - Euro Cup 2nd Knockout Round
Season 3 (2017/18) - Champions Cup Group Stage
Season 4 (2018/19) - Champions Cup Quarter Final
Season 5 (2019/20) - Euro Cup 1st Knockout Round
Season 6 (2021/22) - Euro Cup Quarter Final
Season 7 (2022/23) - Champions Cup 1st Knockout Round
Season 8 (2023/24) - Euro Cup 1st Knockout Round
Season 9 (2024/25) - Euro Cup 2nd Knockout Round
Season 10 (2025/26) ?

To have regular European football beyond the Swiss Winter Break is an achievement in itself, we are habitual underdogs fighting against a breed more powerful than us in stature and in wealth. Yet there is something missing in those games, a quality that is independent of affluence & reputation: the mental state of Concentration & Decision Making. Today's blog serves as an introduction to my tenth and final season in Zürich, managing Grasshopper Club Zürich (GCZ). I will discuss the remedies to correct the lapse in concentration that has plagued my team in recent years and the platform in which I have tried to build for GCZ to continue the successes without me.

Postponing the Homegrown XI?

Back in Season 7 I evaluated the Homegrown prospects in the Club that had made it near or into the 1st team squad. I had at the time FIVE capable Centre Backs that were good enough to sustain Domestic success: Bianco, Zwicky, Manco, Upamecano & Loosli. The real question back then was whether they could step it up and develop further, as discussed:

"Despite not being ball players, all five will make competent CBs in the Swiss League. Only time will tell if they can step up and cope on the Continental scene".

Bianco (now at Servette) moved on that Summer after failing to improve his game. Zwicky followed a year later after being sold to St. Pauli, as I battled to keep the club afloat from Financial Fair Play. For Season 9 I was therefore left with a Homegrown trio of Manco, Upamecano & Loosli, who by now were 24, 25, 26 years old respectively. This was their time to establish themselves on the Continental stage...

90+1, Zürich

So the tie is delicately poised at 2-2 against Galatasaray in the 1st leg of the Euro Cup 2nd Knockout Round. What we really need now is to accept a draw and attempt to win the 2nd leg. To concede again would be devastating...

A correct space between the CB pairing & generally a very good back line shape with seconds to go (highlighted in the blue sphere), our DM is out of position though (pink sphere)...

Our blue Circle starts to shrink, with Upamecano moving in closer to Manco.  A smaller circle is not necessarily good here... — Our blue Circle starts to shrink, with Upamecano moving in closer to Manco. A smaller circle is not necessarily good here...

The CB unit remains small and overlays with our DM's sphere - not good at all.  Three critical Defensive positions covering only one opponent effectively (No. 20) — The CB unit remains small and overlays with our DM's sphere - not good at all. Three critical Defensive positions covering only one opponent effectively (No. 20)

The defensive trio of CB, CB and DM are now behind the movement of the ball.  We're playing catch up and face a real battle to get goal side of our opponent: Spanish Attacking Midfielder Dani Olmo (No. 13) — The defensive trio of CB, CB and DM are now behind the movement of the ball. We're playing catch up and face a real battle to get goal side of our opponent: Spanish Attacking Midfielder Dani Olmo (No. 13)

The Concentration and Decision making is very poor here, we're actually starting from a decent shape yet we've allowed ourselves to get sucked in (Upamecano) or remain stationary (Manco). Ultimately it's a great finish from Dani Olmo...but he should never been allowed to get a shot away. Upamecano's Decision to occupy the same space as Manco and my DM Fede's overzealous pressing meant the one pass Ristic could make was made easy for him. Here's the painful goal in it's glory, we lose 2-3 at home and need to score at least 2 goals in Turkey:

120+1, Istanbul

"Mistakes are meant for learning, not repeating"

It's one of the fundamental principles I have installed at GCZ, and I accept young players make mistakes But the Centre Back pairing of Manco & Upamecano can no longer be considered young, they are 24 and 25 years of age. Below shows a real mess in the CB positioning and also the poor positional play of my DM, Fede again. This was seconds away from a Penalty shootout, after GCZ battle bravely to be winning 2-3 away from home...

Upamecano is lost at sea, helping to play Ademílson (No. 16) onside along wit loanee LB, Luca Cioffi (No. 2).  I've also highlighted our DM, Fede (No.16 in pink) — Upamecano is lost at sea, helping to play Ademílson (No. 16) onside along wit loanee LB, Luca Cioffi (No. 2). I've also highlighted our DM, Fede (No.16 in pink)

Upamecano pushes forward, but the damage is done.  Manco it not aware of Ademílson and decides to focus on No.14, which he presses — Upamecano pushes forward, but the damage is done. Manco it not aware of Ademílson and decides to focus on No.14, which he presses

A lucky rebound is falling to Ademílson.  It's too late for Upamecano and certainly for Manco, who is unawares what's behind him — A lucky rebound is falling to Ademílson. It's too late for Upamecano and certainly for Manco, who is unawares what's behind him

The easiest of tap ins for Ademílson, who sends GCZ out with the final kick of the game.

It's a complete disaster, one which you can read through at your viewing pleasure on Twitter, as I live tweeted the fucker (it's full of emotion). If you do not have Twitter, then see the goal here:

Nevertheless, in these two key moments (90+1 and 120+1), I knew I needed to change the Centreback pairing and also recruit a high quality Defensive midfielder. I had been overly loyal to these Academy players, who certainly showed real potential at 20-23 years of age, but they have peaked. It's time to say goodbye with the stage now set for juggling the precarious finances at GCZ once more and give Europe a real go in Season 10...

New recruits

My quest for decent CBs and a DM was made easier by being 9 years into a save. I had a number of targets who were already scouted and reviewed. I'm delighted to say that I landed my top three targets: Willi Orban, Christoph Kramer and Regen Centre Back: Zoran Dragovic. All three for £7m.

Orban and Kramer, despite their advancing years, offer superb Concentration and experience. Zoran Dragovic on the other hand will only get better, who I already consider an upgrade from the trio of Season 9: Manco, Upamecano & Loosli. In fact, we've already waved goodbye to two thirds of the Homegrown CBs, with Upamecano leaving on a Free Transfer and Loosli making a huge move to Young Boys. Manco is the only survivor, saved by his versatility at Right Back and his low wages. 27 year old Vice Captain Fede also stays, who will serve the last year of his contract as back-up to Kramer.

The beginning of the end

It's only fair that I leave GCZ in a better financial state than when I joined in 2015. Despite this being 'only a game', I want to leave GCZ with a platform to do well in future years (as I plan to simulate 10 years into the future after Season 10 is complete).

Therefore the ruthlessness in the Sales Transfer Market didn't stop at Centre Back, as we waved goodbye to GCZ icons: Club record scorer Moussa Konaté and Homegrown talents Nikola Gjorgjev and Nedim Bajrami. The next GCZ manager will certainly not have to worry about Financial Fair Play or juggle the books in his/her's 1st season like I had to. The overall balance entering Season 10 is close to £40m.

So this is it, the beginning of the end. The squad I have now is the one that people might remember me by - it has exceptional Homegrown Academy talents in and around the 1st team and their future is bright...but it's now combined with players containing high levels Concentration and Decision Making. Let's hope we rock the Continental dance floor one last time...

Predicted 1st team line up for the 2024/25 season

As ever, thank you for reading. I will be playing my final season throughout September, I hope to live tweet the odd European night, if time permits. Stay tuned for more late late drama :-)

FMG

The Marco & Remo Diaries - "Reunion" Part VI #FM16 #WeAreTheCommunity

September 7, 2016

Thursday 22nd February 2024 - There has never been a more apt time to write a Marco & Remo diary post. This is because £43m rated 24 year old Marco Simon returns to the Letzigrund to face off against his boyhood club - Grasshopper Club Zürich (GCZ). Marco now plays for Olympique Lyonnais (OL), and if you are yet to read his journey to stardom...see the previous 5 blog posts below.

Part I

Part II - Invincible

Part III - Breakthrough

Part IV - Heartbreak

Part V - Icons

During the Part V, I had pretty much lost all hope of bringing back Marco Simon to the Letzigrund. Marco now commands a World Class transfer fee and because of the Financial Fair Play Fiasco outlined last week...it's near on impossible to bring him back. However, this saves unpredictability can never be questioned...as in December 2023, I was drawn against Marco's OL side in the 1st Knockout Round of the Euro Cup. Marco was coming home.

Today's blog therefore is a summary of our two legged skirmish. Remo Vs Marco, Zürich's two prodigious talents.

1st leg: GCZ vs OL

On a wet Thursday night a near capacity crowd of 24,581 turned up to see Marco Simon play a decisive role in a 1-1 draw between the two clubs. Marco played in a narrow 4-4-2 diamond.

The formation that I have fallen upon for Season 9

He played with all the Box-to-Box traits that I had added to his game since he was 16, with 43 completed passes with 6 being key. He mixed up his game and covered the 3 midfield stratas with ease. All despite my best efforts to close down at all times and tackle hard. Marco simply showed his class.

Marco Simon Vs GCZ: 43 completed passes, 6 key

His homecoming was sealed on the 81st minute strike, where Marco showcased his predatory instincts of 'Gets Forward Whenever Possible' & 'Gets Into The Opposition Area'. The PPMs I helped train have come back to haunt me! Here is the all important away goal to break my heart:

The game was pretty even, and I had my chance to seal a vital victory when Noah Loosli was tripped in the box on 87 minutes. Sadly Richairo Zivkovic couldn't make it count, with Super Regen Keeper Julien Jacquet saving well.

Grasshoppers v Olympique Lyonnais_ Pitch Split.png

Grasshoppers v Olympique Lyonnais_ Stats Player Ratings.png

Remo Mahrer on the flip side had a dreadful game. Twice thwarted by Julien Jacquet in the OL goal early on, he had an ineffectual game. I was disappointed - and showed no hesitation subbing him when he went down injured on 64 mins. Here are his passing contributions for the 63 mins he played:

Remo Mahrer Vs OL. 14 completed passes, 1 key

With only 7 days between fixtures, Remo had a race against time to get fit for the Second leg...

2nd leg: OL (1) Vs GCZ (1)

I entered the 2nd leg in buoyant mood, despite not having a left back (loan Regen Luca Cioffi was suspended) and Remo Mahrer ruled out through injury. Last year we had gone away to Monaco and won 2-1 and our away form this year in the league had been red hot (7-1 away win at Young Boys and 5-0 away win at Basel). The mentality of those matches was to attack but I had to be conscious of OL's attacking threats - they already had the important away goal and could counter me.

Olympique Lyonnais v Grasshoppers_ Preview Line Ups.png

Cesar Hernandez_ History Achievements.png

GCZ lined up with a disciplined focused 4-4-1-1 with two DMs. I had to counter Mexican Right Back regen Cesar Hernandez's ferocity. Cesar was a trialist only a month ago at GCZ, but I couldn't conclude the deal due to FFP and him wanting £60k wages per week. My Left Back area was decimated so Centre Back Dayot Upamecano played with Vlasic's attacking talents being sacrificed for a Defensive Winger role on man mark duty. I don't normally go to these great lengths to stop a player, but with no recognised Left Back in the squad...I was compelled to do so. Marco Simon proved in the previous match that he can bypass my micro-management skills, so I left him untouched and decided to punt on Julian Weigl & Fede causing the AI problems.

Richairo Zivkovic makes up for the 1st leg penalty miss!

...We did it! A solitary strike from Richairo Zivkovic was enough to see us through. In truth, the game way scrappy and I rode my luck on numerous occasions. But I am happy that tactically my left side weaknesses were not exposed - I had to sacrifice a lot of my attacking threat but it paid off. My first European Knockout progression for 3 years.

HOPP GC!!!!

Marco Simon had a standout game, despite not progressing with OL into the next round. He gave a Man Of The Match performance, with 63 completed passes with 9 key. He also dominated physically, winning 13 of the 15 headers attempted. It was Marco that dominated the midfield once again, not me. But football is a cruel game and GCZ progress.

So, I survived the encounter with Marco Simon - the best Regen I have produced at GCZ. It will be interesting to see what's next for Marco. He is currently £43m rated and has one year left on his deal at OL:

If he does leave for a transfer fee during the Summer of 2024, I am due 30% of whatever profit OL make on him (signed for £20m). So he could save the club financially once more. As for Remo Mahrer, he has another two European nights to show his talents and right the wrongs of the 1st leg...

As always, thanks for reading.

FMG

Season 9 - The Financial Fair Play Fiasco #FM16 #WeAreTheCommunity

August 26, 2016

OK, caution if you are about to embark on this blog post. Get a drink, sit comfortably and relax...for what you are about to read is one mother of a shitstorm...

Background

In January 2018 (half way through Season 3 of my save) Grasshopper Club Zürich (GCZ) were bought out by Italian tycoon, Franco Soldati. I wrote a blog post about it almost 9 {real life} months ago and ran a Twitter poll as to what direction my save should go in:

60 out of 100 people voted for me to 'Adapt' my save: continuing with the Homegrown project but by purchasing 1-2 BIG name players each season. The attention and support I got from the FM Community was overwhelming and I thank you all who helped me out on this.

My save is now in June 2023 and the unthinkable is happening: GCZ are failing their Financial Fair Play (FFP) targets and are in serious danger of being excluded from Europe competitions for the 2024/25 (for what would be my 10th and final season in FM16). This simply CANNOT and WILL NOT happen under my management. Today's blog outlines how (1) I (with the addition of a lacklustre Boardroom) got into this position and (2) the remedy I will put in place for Seasons 9 and 10.

'Snapping necks and cashing cheques' (Transfers)

Under my management GCZ have won 8 consecutive Swiss Super League titles with 4 Domestic Doubles (4 Swiss Cups). We are the indisputable Heavyweight of Swiss football and have represented Switzerland in 7 consecutive Champions League Group Stages. In the past 5 years we have progressed into the later stages of a European campaign (either in the Champions League of Euro Cup). You could be forgiven for asking what the fuck has happened with all that money? I am partly to blame with some of the names and wages I have bought in, so let's take a look at the errors of my ways first...

Season 3 2017/18 (after board takeover)

After Soldati ploughed £26m into the Transfer budget, I only had a few days to invest in a big name player. I chose Niklas Stark at £11m to be the marquee signing. Nicklas arrived on big wages for the time (£39k per week). He became a great DM for us and left just 18 months later for £18m, when Liverpool bid for him.

Season 4 2018/19

Season 4 was also pretty low key for GCZ. We only made two purchases, both under the £11m Stark fee: young forward Franco López (£7m) and Spanish right back Patric (£3.5m). Hardly a huge outlay...both signings commanded wages of around £30k per week.

Season 5 2019/20

By Season 5 I had a really good team and wanted to polish it around the edges with a transfer record, so we went with Iuri Medeiros for £16.75m on £70k a week. But this was countered with the sales of midfielders Marko Grujic (£15m) & Nicklas Stark (£18m). So we were still a relatively healthy financial position: an overall balance of £24m.

Season 6 2020/21

I once again broke my transfer record by adding Julian Weigl at a price of £24.5m from Dortmund. Julian was an earner similar to Iuri on £60k per week. Despite this, I still made a profit on transfers of £19m by moving on Patric (mentioned earlier) for £16.5m and Homegrown Wonderkid Marco SImon for £20m. Our cash reserves had swelled to £36m.

Season 7 2021/22

Two major marque signings arrived for Season 7: Roman Bürki (£15.75m) and Victor Silva (£8.75m). I once again made profit (£26m) which included the record sale of Iuri Medeiros to Man Utd for £30m. We had maintained a balance of £36m.

Season 8 2022/23

Season 8 was one of the 1st years where I spent more than I made back from sales: around £2m. We made big investments in Brazilian Regen Casado and Swiss International Silvan Widmer (both at £9.5m). But we had fairly big sales of Adama Traoré (£8m) and Homegrown talent Stephan Hotz (£6.5m). In January 2023 I also bought back Franco López (£15m) for his second spell at GCZ.

Overall, I think I managed the transfer dealings quite well over my 8 years - although admittedly I have been a bit relaxed with wages and have had several players on £50-70k per week at any one time. Below is a break down of profit/loss on transfers in each Season:

Transfer Fees (Spent/Received 2015-2023)

Now my success in the transfer market has masked over a critical issue at GCZ, and it's the transition from Season 8 to 9, which has highlighted the fragile nature of our business. The FFP is a box probably overlooked by a lot of FMers, (including me for the most part):

In short, what the above states is: GCZ is not permitted to make a loss of more than £9.89m over a twelve-month period. Immediately I was crying out that this was a bug in FM and that SI had got it all wrong. After all, I had only made a loss of £2.22m in the transfer window and I surely didn't spend £8m on Agent fees (or any other expenditure outside of transfers). But the key thing to emphasise here is the 'twelve-month period', for all the good work done through transfer dealings in Seasons 5, 6 and 7 is not considered for the period between 8 and 9.

Sadly, the answers to the problem are found in the very small details of the finance tabs in FM, which is something I do not like doing. I'm not a huge stats man to be honest, I passed with good scores in my stat modules during my BA and MSc degrees, but I play FM to watch football...not view budget sheets. Plus the software in my degrees did all the work for me, sadly in FM...I had to go back to basic pen and paper (and calculator). Luckily the partial answers are easily visible within the top 4 club expenditures by comparing Season 7 against Season 8:

Season 8's top 4 expenditures - please look at 'Last Season' for this as the Saved Game has rolled into what is now Season 9 (sorry)

By comparing the above two seasons we can see that there has been an increase of £7.5m expenditure at GCZ (from the Top 4 streams). Now we have to look at the income between the two seasons and see what has gone wrong there...

Below is the income from Season 7, I only have to look at the top 3 income streams to see why there is an issue with FFP in the first place:

Season 8's top 3 income streams - please look at 'Last Season' for this as the Saved Game has rolled into what is now Season 9 (sorry) — Season 8's top 3 income streams - please look at 'Last Season' for this as the Saved Game has rolled into what is now Season 9 (sorry)

So what does the above show us? Well, we improved marginally on Gate Receipts (something I will come on to later) but didn't do too well with the prize money or players sold income streams. By comparing the two seasons in isolation, Season 8 is around £28m short in income. This is primarily what has brought the FFP issue to the forefront of my awareness. Basically, player sales and performance related prize money were masking an underlying issue at GCZ: we are not a self sustaining club. So if you have got reading this far, you might wonder why this FFP issue did not arise sooner...notably in Seasons 3 or 4 (years where I made greater losses in the transfer market). Season 3's FFP commitments were met through the cash injection made by the Soldati buy out:

Season 3's top 3 income streams - 'other' is the Soldati takeover

And Season 4 had a really successful run in the Champions League (Quarter Final). Check out the prize money below:

Season 4's top 3 income streams - which included a glorious Champions League run to the QFs

So Season 8 is a combination of higher than previous year wages (800k per week on wages) AND not over achieving in Europe. I am happy to take some portion of the blame for this, but the real culprits are found in the GC Boardroom, as one bad(?) season shouldn't jeopardise the Club. (I say bad loosely - we broke the total points record in the Swiss Super League and won a Domestic Double).

Frugal Soldati

Stadium

I genuinely thought after the initial cash injection that Franco Soldati would invest regularly into GCZ, improving all facets of the Club infrastructure - most notably the Stadium. As outlined in my 1st ever blog post about this save, one of my major desires for GCZ was to see them return home to Hardtrum. An extract from that blog:

GCZ have had a bittersweet relationship with FC Zürich and now ground share at the Letzigrund. For all intents and purposes, this remains FC Zürich's spiritual home and not GCZ's.

When I first arrived at GC the attendances were shocking, we barely scrapped 6,000 at home to Vaduz in 2015/16. However, fast forward to 2022/23 and our lowest attendance is twice that figure (13,291 against Thun). Furthermore, we have increased our Average Attendance during the 8 years by circa 9,000:

A further frustration of mine is that GC have sold out 6 times in the league (and are only 4k off a maximum average attendance), highlighting that there's clear demand for the Club to invest in a better stadium. This also doesn't include our Champions League games...which are nearly always at maximum capacity.

I have lost count the number of times I have asked to relocate stadiums, especially when we were floating around £40m disposable cash reserves (I know stadiums cost A LOT more than this, but a £40m deposit + some of their investment would make a sizeable mortgage claim). Each time I am refused saying that a sizeable increase in fanbase is needed.

Sponsors

Franco and company have done some work here on bringing in Sponsors, they have now arranged additional deals for an additional kit sponsor, continental sponsorship & training kit sponsor but we are still behind the Heavyweights like Man Utd who have a deal for almost anything. But what really irritates me, is the length at which it took Soldati and co to arrange these deals. It was only in Season 6 that these additional sponsors were arranged. So they took 3 years to get their arses in gear!

Furthermore, on an initial view...it looks like the deals they got GC are fantastically better than the previous ones before the Takeover:

Season 3/4 Sponsors (pre-takeover deals)

*drumroll*

Season 8 Sponsors (4.5 years into Soldati's ownership)

If we look at the above, Soldati seems to have got us a great deal on the Main Kit Sponsor...until you realise that the duration of the contract arranged is longer. The value per season is actually not that dissimilar to what was happening 4 years ago. I can understand the Board having difficulty marketing a Swiss team abroad due to the league rep (after all, you can't polish a turd), but I struggle to understand why it took so long to arrange the additional deals...we were already in Europe at the time of the Takeover. I could go on about other Income streams, but for the purposes of today's blog...you get my point: I have a lacklustre Board who are not proactive in making this club self-sustaining.

Also, here's a free Soldati dartboard for you all...

The Remedy

So as we approach the final two Seasons of my GCZ career, there is only one remedy for coping with the FFP Fiasco: go back to making net transfer profit whilst remaining competitive in Europe. In a lot of ways it feels like the save has gone full circle, as I've reached the limits of my transfer indulgence. Here are the deals so far, which have tipped us back into meeting FFP (but it's still perilously tight):

Currently sitting on £8.65m profit going into Season 9

The one big sale so far is Casado (£20m), who you may have read about in my Casado Experiment series. Unfortunately I am taking any bid of value into consideration, as I absolutely detest offering out happy players to clubs. It's bad for morale and I find on FM that there is no guarantee that clubs (even interested ones) will bid...even for lower than market value. It's for this reason that I am just biding my time and waiting for bids (puns!). The signings of Rahn (£6m) and Ngissah (£10m) are necessary but arranged many months prior to the FFP fiasco. This leaves us meeting FFP 'by the skin of our teeth':

So we approach Season 9 with a large imbalance in the First Team squad - we are 1 day away from starting our league defence. Most worryingly there is absolutely no left back whatsoever (not even a viable youth option) and we only have 3 capable Centre Backs. It's time to work the magic in the loan market, mirco-manage the team again and do whatever made me successful during the formative years in this save.

Can we still compete in Europe AND the league? Or will I see GCZ slide away into obscurity, tarnishing my legacy with this great club? Keep and eye on my Twitter and on this site for further updates.

As always, thanks for reading.

FMG

Ball Playing Defender: 'The Casado Experiment' Part II #FM16 #WeAreTheCommunity

August 23, 2016

Experiments provide:

...insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a particular factor is manipulated

Back when I introduced Casado at the start of Season 8 there was no guarantee that this experiment would work - to turn a Brazilian central midfielder into a capable Ball Playing Defender (BPD). I was keen to ensure the 'experiment' wording was left in the title, I was under no illusions as to how hard it would be AND that things might not go to plan. Today's blog charts out the progress I have made in one season (Season 8: 2022/23): the successes and the failures.

Positional Suitability

One of the major successes, and something I was confident on, was Casado's ease at understanding the Central Defensive role. Within 3 months he was Awkward but by around 6 months Casado was an Accomplished Centre Back:

Box to Box: Casado is now capable of playing in 4 strata (CD,DM,MC,AMC).

The reason for my confidence is twofold, (1) I am stubborn - I would play Casado out of position on a regular basis - something you can see above: 22 starts at CB (81% of Casado's playing time was at the back as a BPD). (2) Secondly, and perhaps more crucially, Casado has the right Professional mentality to make this work. Professional players in FM will (within reason) not complain about the intensity of their training. Whether it's positional change, additional focus or a new PPM...they simply get on with it.

Glimpses Of Magic

Over the period of 12 months, Casado has shown glimpses of technical prowess in our attack. He has only made one direct assist, but he has shown good composure and passing ability in many 2nd or 3rd assists - what we'd expect from a BPD. An example is shown below, from a Champions League home win against FC Twente:

The frustrations I have when I watch the above GIF is that the occurrences are few and far between. I know for sure that Casado would have a more positive influence on our attack if he was played in a more advanced strata - whether it be DM, MC or AMC.

A Debut Disguise

Casado had a pretty memorable debut, not only was he part of a team that conceded 3 goals yet still won...he also scored a beauty (GCZ's 5th goal in a 5-3 victory):

The game was frantic, Casado played on the left side of a back three along with Davide Traverso (Regen) and Homegrown Noah Loosli. Both his partners had the Strength, Jumping and Heading ability to compensate for Casado's light frame. So I was expecting Casado to come out and play from the back. From what we see below, his passing and ball playing influences are marginally better than his peers:

We can see above that Casado is slightly more advanced and generally plays more riskier balls than his two partners but what comes with this experiment is Casado's sloppiness at the back:

Tackles won: 1

Tackles lost: 1

Aerial challenges won: 1

Aerial challenges lost: 1

Aerial challenges missed: 2

The above is pretty shocking and it was clear the my back-line was compensating massively for carrying a rather inactive ball player. My thinking was that I had to wait it out and see if Casado improved whilst his Positional Suitability/Awareness increased. Unfortunately the signs don't look too good, GCZ have only kept 7 clean sheets in the 21 League Games that Casado played as my BPD.

The Plateau Of Training

Worryingly Casado hasn't made progress in training. None of this BPD stats have grown (with the exception of heading from 10.4 to 10.6). There's various reasons why his stats may have plateaued, perhaps its because he is too busy learning the CB role...or that he is reaching the limit of his potential ability. Whatever the case, I am not making him a better footballer...something which really irks me.

Plateaued development: 'reaching a state of little or no change'

Conclusions

Now this whole experiment probably highlights that I am not as good as an FMer as I probably thought I was - or at least too cocky after 7 straight league titles. I tried to implement a brand new 3-4-1-2 system at the same time as accommodating Casado as a BPD. Sometimes too many changes can be your downfall. With this in mind, I have reverted back to a 4-2-3-1 after our European exit to Monaco. But I have tweaked almost every aspect of the Team Instructions and now find that the Attacking mentality in a high tempo suits us more. Over the last few months I've managed to recover Season 8:

16 straight league wins since the tactical switch up

We've recorded our highest ever points total in the league (101). We've also become more solid at the back: 9 clean sheets in those 16 games. The main casualty? You guessed it, the BPD. Beloved Casado.

However, it's not all doom and gloom, Casado has still finished his 1st season in Europe with a good Average Rating and a Domestic Double to write home about. But I am back where I was a year ago in this save, deciding what to do with him:

For now, the BPD experiment is on hold - I am content that in one season I turned a Brazilian import into an accomplished Centre Back, but it hasn't been without its problems. I am approaching the last two seasons at GCZ and I want to do everything possible to advance in Europe. I am hopeful that Casado will play a huge part of that success, but just in a different way than first conceptualised.

As always, thanks for reading.

FMG

The Marco & Remo Diaries - "Icons" Part V #FM16 #WeAreTheCommunity

August 21, 2016

Just over 2.5 in-game years have passed since I last updated you on the developments of Marco Simon & Remo Mahrer, two exceptional talents for the 1st Youth Intake of February 2016. When I last wrote about them, Marco had made the £20m switch to Lyon, France. Remo however, continued to rest with me in Grasshopper Club Zürich (GCZ). Previous posts:

Magic Marco

Marco's development under AI management has been pretty decent. He's come close to French silverware, with a Ligue Un Runners Up medal in each of his first two seasons before finishing 3rd last year. He's also been ever present in Lyon's Champions League matches, with 5 goals in 23 appearances. In terms of personal accolade, Marco was voted Lyon's Player of the Year for 2021/22. Marco is also rated as one of the World's most expensive midfielders at £45m.

Often talents go abroad and do not play.  I was confident OL was the right level for him... — Often talents go abroad and do not play. I was confident OL was the right level for him...

For the National Team, Marco has been made Vice Captain and wears the armband when Granit Xhaka is not around.

Swiss Icon

Remo's progress under my management has seen him win 'Nati Player Of The Year' - an award for the best Swiss National Player. When we last met him he was playing as a Attacking Midfielder on Support duty, but I said back in April that I see his eventual role being a Support Striker. The main reason for this is the PPMs I added to his game over the past 7 seasons:

Marco came with the Free Kick & Offside PPMs, but I have bettered him with PPMs to make use of his Acceleration & OTB movement

It's fair to say that Remo has flourished in the SS role in the previous 2.5 seasons. He's added goals to his game but still maintained the high levels of creativity.

At present, I don't feel the need to add any more PPMs to his game, but I have worked on his passing through the 'Additional Focus' option in the training. Since the last blog post we can see that Remo has gone from 12.4 to 14.5 in passing. A 4 point rise! He has, more or less, become my 'Swiss Bergkamp', as predicted in my very first diary post.

I'm now fast approaching the end of Season 8 and I only have 2 more seasons left before I quit GCZ and FM16 altogether. I have accepted that I may never be able to bring Marco Simon back to GCZ in this time, but I am delighted that Remo has signed a contract for the remainder of my stay in Zürich.

If you somehow haven't heard, FM17 is due for release on Friday 04 November (and beta being released at least 2 weeks before in mid-Oct), Before leaving FM16 for good I plan to simulate 10 more years to see ultimately what Marco & Remo end up doing. A 10 year sim into the future would effectively be the last blog post on these two treasured Regens. So, does anybody care to make any predictions of what they will get up to?

As always, thanks for reading. I still plan to make a few more longer FM16 blog posts on the 'Casado Experiment' and Season 8, 9 and 10 reviews. I will also be revealing my FM17 destination sometime in late Sept/early Oct as I 'hop' to another club & country.

FMG