"The Zárate Swap" - Rio de la Plata #FM20

January 29, 2020

Previously on Rio de la Plata, Bastardo’s Peñarol won a second league title and the Caporegime neared completion.

Intro

Ángel Bastardo always knew that signing Mauro Zárate would come with controversy. After 18 goals and 12 assists in his 1st season in Uruguay, Zárate rejected Peñarol’s new contract extension…meaning he leaves in 6 month’s time for Poland…for nothing (!). Legia Warszawa are the team to offer 34-year-old Zárate one last European adventure and despite the disloyalty shown, Bastardo always respected the maverick nature of his fellow countryman. However, with Zárate’s decision came opportunities: a new Match Engine (from FM’s Public Beta), meaning that Peñarol could switch things up tactically sooner than expected, and a chance to proactively move on from the dependency on Zárate’s mercurial talents. Or could they?

Welcome to The Zárate Swap…

Season 2021

From 4-4-2 to 4-1-3-2

I expected to continue with the 4-1-4-1 that had brought success over the previous two years, albeit with some frustrating moments. These moments are probably not in relation to my tactic, more so the endemic nature of the current FM20 match engine. However a blessing arrived in early January: the public beta! Match Engine v2031 isn’t so bad now. So, I decided to go with two up top for the first time in this save: Mauro Zárate as my dreamboat Deep Lying Forward and an Advanced Forward, who could run onto his through balls and finish (usually Luis Acevedo).

Initially I tried a flat 4-4-2 and although I was getting some results, I didn’t like the highlights on offer. The football just didn’t seem exciting and I was getting some really tight games…I mean 1-0 Vs Cerro Largo FC, come on! It all culminated in a 1-0 loss away against Nacional and I quickly decided enough was enough.

Instead, we’d turn to a replication of the Marcelo Gallardo 4-1-3-2 system, which I wrote about as part of my Football Manager Tactics series. Adoption of this tactic came one season earlier than I would have hoped, as I wanted to transition and externally recruit a Mezzala or two before I tried it with Peñarol. So I quickly instructed the DoF to submit a Deadline Day offer for transfer listed Francisco Ginella (of Wanderers), who can play this role. In addition, I did the sensible thing and started re-training a wide Attacker to play the attacking variant: Agustín Canobbio. You’ll often find Wingers like Canobbio doing well in this role, as the Mezzala requirements correlate with the good Technicals of Dribbling, First Touch & Technique that effective Wingers [should] also possess.

Francisco Ginella - my new €205k signing from Wanderers.

Agustín Canobbio - re-training as an attacking Mezzala.

There’s no need to wax lyrical about this formation, as you can re-read my love for that in the Gallardo replication article. But what I would say is that this tactic is a bit of a hackz on the current v2031 match engine. If your three central midfielders can shoot, you’ll see many ridiculous volleys and long-range efforts go in. I have also found playing a Half Back with "‘Likes To Switch The Ball To The Other Flank’ extremely effective too, on numerous occasions in a match he will recycle the ball and release the Wing Backs who provide a cross to the Advanced Forward, which results in a goal.

Domestic

The switch to 4-1-3-2 brought about 8 wins and 1 draw to see us win the Opening Stage once more - the Nacional result obviously still hurts…but the recovery from that result is encouraging. Also don’t overlook that Super Cup win…Bastardo’s 5th FM20 career trophy and 4th with Peñarol.

Continental

The 2021 Copa Libertadores campaign has been tough going. We narrowly lost to Argentine 2020/21 Superliga Champions Independiente in injury time and also had frustrating draws at home in Peru Vs Melgar and away in Venezuela Vs Deportivo Lara. However, we just about did enough in the end to go through to the Knockouts with a 79th minute Acevedo equaliser in Peru’s second largest city: Arequipa.

Next up is heavyweights from Brazil, and popular figures, Corinthians.

The Zárate Swap

Usually I would stop my update here and not document the mid-season Intermedio tournament, instead leaving this for the end-of-year save update. However, it felt right to tie this in with 34-year old Mauro Zárate’s final few games for Peñarol. In short: Mauro Zárate’s hat-trick Vs Boston River (in a 6-0 demolition) ensured a 5th Peñarol FM20 trophy and our 1st Intermedio cup win of the save:

Mauro Zárate’s last touch in a Peñarol shirt was to complete a hat-trick, before being subbed to a standing ovation…

Mauro Zárate’s 18 months in Uruguay has been pretty decent: 69 games, 34 goals, 17 assists, 3 cups and 1 league title. I knew that he came with a lot of baggage and could have caused a nuisance in Uruguay, but he’s been nothing but the gifted No.10 I always hoped he’d be. It’s a real shame to be losing him, when I feel he could provide at least two more years of brilliance. So, how on earth do you replace a guy like Mauro? Well, you do The Zárate Swap:

20-year-old Tobías Zárate, nephew of Mauro, joins Team Bastardo on a Free Transfer from Vélez Sarsfield. He comes with a reputation as a goalscorer with 15 goals scored during 2020/21 whilst on loan at Santamarina in Argentina’s Primera B Nacional. It’s an obvious shame I couldn’t field Uncle and Nephew together upfront, but Tobías is gifted with the famed Zárate DNA with high Technicals in Dribbling, Finishing and Technique. Meaning that perhaps the elder Zárate will not be overly missed? Only time will tell…

As always, thanks for reading/sharing/caring.

FM Grasshopper

Football Manager Tactics: Gallardo's 4-1-3-2 (River Plate) #FM20

January 18, 2020

Hello, this post allows me to break away from my usual Football Manager writing and explore tactical concepts around the World in the attempt to translate them into Football Manager. The aim would be to write about teams that are not at the forefront for most European readers, so there’s likely to be no English Premier League or German Bundesliga analysis here!

Disclaimer: interpreting real world tactics and applying them into Football Manager is easier said than done. Often a team will have several systems that are deployed throughout the match based on in-game scenarios and events, making it very hard to translate this into Football Manager. So I’ve taken what I think are the key elements of their systems and player roles, based on observing key moments of real-life matches.

Part One - Racing Club’s 4-1-3-2 🇦🇷

Part Two - San Jose Earthquakes’ 4-2-3-1 🇺🇸

For my third instalment of this series, I once again look at a talented Argentine manager…who has undoubtedly outshone the previous two managers I have previously focused on (Eduardo Coudet & Matías Almeyda). Grab a latte, tea or yerba mate and return to Argentina with me…

Intro

Marcelo Gallardo’s playing career ended in Uruguay, as a title winner with my FM20 arch rivals Nacional.

The Argentine Superliga returns to my life next week, after a near two month hiatus (strike dependant of course). During this time, there was one manager who I expected to leave Argentina when FC Barcelona’s hotseat became vacant: his name is Marcelo Gallardo. It’s my personal view that Gallardo’s brand of attacking and high intensity football would be revered by the culés of Barcelona. Yet, following Quique Setién’s appointment…Gallardo once again is overlooked and remains in his native homeland with River Plate.

Despite cruelly losing 2019’s Libertadores Final to Flamengo and ending the mid-season Superliga break in 5th position, Gallardo’s time at River has been a rip-roaring success. Becoming their most successful manager with an incredible 6 continental titles in the last 5 years (x2 Copa Libertadores, x1 Copa Sudamericana and x3 Recopas).

Unlike Barcelona’s new coach, Quique Setién, who favours a consistent tactical approach; Gallardo has instead been known to use a few fluid arrangements, usually with a holding pivot. Sometimes it will be a diamond 4-4-2, often a 4-1-3-2 and sometimes even a back three in a 3-4-1-2 or 3-1-4-2. For the purposes of today’s post however, I am basing my replication on the more prevalent use of a 4-1-3-2. Let’s begin…

Team Philosophy & Formation

A lot of literature exists around Gallardo’s River Plate, so I don’t feel the need to repeat their assessments here. In fact, on the most part, it’s challenging to summarise Gallardo’s teams concisely in a single blog; due to the sheer amount of players that have come and gone during his 5 years at River. This isn’t Gallardo’s fault, but rather the endemic nature of how football transfers happen in Argentina…with the young talent being sold to Europe at any sign of potential (Alario, Driussi & Saracchi to name just three recent departures). The current Gallardo team however sees Enzo Pérez sit as a pivot and link between the marauding midfield and also…the marauding Centre Backs. Gallardo’s team is one of possession, relentless pressing and an ambition to control the game in the opposition’s half.

The Wing Backs provide the width in this narrow formation, but it’s the trio of young players in midfielder that exemplify Gallardo’s style: creativity, dribbling, speed and stamina. So I have gone for a rather ambitious central trio of: Roaming Playmaker sitting between two Mezzalas. If all goes to plan, these players will dominate the ball and use it well…providing the strikers ammunition to shoot and score.

I have opted for a Deep Lying Forward + Advanced Forward combination, not only is this familiar to me…I also like the dynamic between Matías Suárez & Rafael Santos Borré. It is nice to have the older head as the supportive player, which happens to be Matías Suárez (31). He has a creative spark and good scores in Decisions and Flair, which means he is a handful dropping back ‘in the hole’ to link up the play. On the flip side, Advanced Forward, Rafael Santos Borré (21) will stretch the play; he likes to beat the offside trap and has the exuberance of youth on his side with high physicals and great Work Rate.

Gallardo’s team typify the ideology of a relentless press, by denying the opposition a chance to play. So, I’ve chosen a slightly more aggressive team mentality of Positive combined with ‘Counter’ and ‘Counter Press’ Team Instructions. I have also instructed the team to ‘Get Stuck In’ after enjoying the ferocity of their behaviour in the Copa Libertadores Final against Flamengo. Note - use this Team Instruction with caution, as in some games I had to turn it off mid-way through as we were amassing yellows. Sometimes just the mentality combined with Counter Press is enough for them to play with fire 🔥

In Football Manager 2020, I translate 2019/20 River Plate’s tactic as:

Specific Player Roles

There is no desire to break down every role in Gallardo’s team here, but two important roles that make the midfield so effective are the Half Back and the Mezzala(s).

Half Back

Despite not appearing as a glamorous role, the Half Back is the crux of what makes everything else work ahead of it. Enzo Pérez’s pivot role is similar to Marcelo Díaz’s in Racing’s title winning team of 2019, which I also wrote about. For this role to work, you need a player with great Positioning and other strong mental attributes such as Anticipation and Decisions. He’ll look to recycle the ball and offload it to the dynamic three central midfielders ahead of him.

You can see from the above that an opposition striker is positioning himself between our two central defenders. It’s a clever place to sit, as it gives us a problem. However, the Half Back is disciplined enough to read the pass…and recover ground in order to get back and recycle possession. This clever understanding of the game, and application to the role, kick started a move that brought about a River goal. The Half Back in this moment in time was as fundamental to the team move than the assist or the goal itself.

The Mezzala(s)

I really like the way the Mezzala operates in this 4-1-3-2, so why not go double? The Mezzala will attack the space between where a traditional Winger and a conventional Attacking Midfielder would sit, this is known as “the half space”. It’s here, in this golden sweet spot, where the Mezzala can operate with good creativity and dribbling.

I have used De La Cruz and Fernández here and they were sublime, benefiting from the shorter passing and a more laissez-faire approach to attacking play. Especially Nacho Fernández, who has a Very Attacking mentality when playing as the Attacking Mezzala role in this system; meaning he has a free licence to support attacks and play in the forwards.

It also arcs back to what I said in the intro: Gallardo demands a midfield that is full of creativity, dribbling, speed and stamina. These guys are perfect for it, and what’s more…after a few months of rehabilitation, possibly the best player on the continent: Juan Fernando Quintero will return from his knee injury. Another player who I believe can play the Mezzala exceptionally well.

Replicating Real Life

We have to appreciate that Football Manager is a game, but there are elements of River Plate’s real-life game that appear to be reflected well. Here’s an example of the Half Back’s positioning and behaviour to deal with a long ball, it’s exactly what I wrote about earlier on. It’s taken from the 2019 Libertadores Final, and despite losing out on the day…I felt River Plate were unlucky not to win the trophy. Especially in the first 15 minutes, where Flamengo simply couldn’t contain the relentless Gallardo-ball.

You can see it’s exactly like what we saw earlier, with Enzo Pérez mopping up a long ball as part of our pivot:

Pressing

Despite the two examples below showing pressing in different locations of the pitch, they both show the swarm of River Plate players amassing to deny the opposition any real meaningful amounts of possession. Our example Vs Grêmio leads on to a nice counter attacking goal, where the ball is released to Deep Lying Forward: Matías Suárez.

In the 4-1-3-2 tactic I built for this post, I left the pressing and defensive lines as they are (on standard), as we are already on a positive mentality. But in order to replicate Gallardo’s flexible pressing triggers you can simply adjust mentality or do it manually to suit your game situation. In order to be like Gallardo, I would recommend pressing the life out of weaker sides in order to suffocate them. But be more conservative against bigger opposition, or teams you feel have a good counter in them and who can escape the press.

Beautiful Football

My belief that Gallardo would be a good tactical fit for FC Barcelona is due to the passing combinations his River Plate team play: something that the Catalan club also demands from its players. I saw a lot of this beautiful football within my FM20 play-through:

The new v2031 Public Beta FM20 match engine (to grab this new build, click here), demonstrates the characteristics of Gallardo-ball.. Characteristics that are documented over on WhoScored.com (see below). By looking at the “Style of Play” to the right hand side, you can see how it links back to the Team Instructions I used at the start of this post:

Overall, this is a really fun tactic to play with, it has a good variety in attack and some lovely interchanges between a youthful & exciting midfield. I played 10 games, winning 9 and drawing once (to Grêmio in the Copa Libertadores) Goals For: 24 and Goals Against: 5. If you can’t be bothered to set up the tactic as detailed above, I have also published it to the Steam Workshop. Left click on the image below and download into Football Manager 2020…

As always, thanks in advance for any shares on this piece. Please let me know if you try this system with either River Plate, or any other team. It would be interesting to see how you get on.

FM Grasshopper

"Bastardo's Crown" - Rio de la Plata #FM20

January 14, 2020

Previously on Rio de la Plata, Ángel Bastardo won International honours with Uruguay.

Intro

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown" Henry IV, Part II, Act III, Scene 1.

Ángel Bastardo returned to Uruguay a hero, but the domestic battles ensured that people were quick to forget what he had done for Uruguayan football. It was also time for the Argentine himself to forget past glories and concentrate on winning a second successive league title. Peñarol had been agreeable to the Club & Country arrangement, but Bastardo knew who paid his wages. The greatest Uruguayan club side would need his utmost attention, so today’s blog post therefore updates you on the football happenings from the second-half of the 2020 campaign and the Peñarol Caporegime.

Vamos.

Season 2020

Domestic

I love the Uruguayan league setup, and even after 2 years now…it’s still feeling fresh and unfamiliar to me. Especially the Intermedio Final, which I once again refuse to progress to. I have this theory in my head that it’s harder to win as a larger side, seeing that Football Manager classes it as a cup competition. The first four games this time round in 2020 were abysmal, being schooled at home by Atenas de San Carlos was one of the lowest moments of this save (excluding 3-0 Bolivia of course). We did find form at the tail end of the tournament though, but sadly the damage was already done:

We almost made unnecessary hard work in our Closing Stage too. Despite a 13 match unbeaten run to pip Wanderers to the title on the final day, there were some needlessly tight games and frustrating draws. I don’t know whether it’s my platonic relationship with Football Manager’s v2026 match engine OR my central strikers being shockingly average, we’re simply failing to fire on all cylinders. It is something I will correct though, with a view to playing 4-1-4-1 for one more season before I move towards something more risqué in 2022 (when at that point the February/March ME update will be out). More on that in a subsequent blog post no doubt.

Anyway, we won both the Opening & Closing stages for the second year running which meant no awkward final rounds to go through. We top the Overall Table with less points & goals than last year, and annoyingly 5 more goals conceded. There is definitely work ahead in order to come back stronger in 2021:

Continental

Good progress has been made in the Copa Libertadores. We reached a Quarter Final with an end-to-end tie away in Cali, Colombia…Mauro Zárate with 2 goals in that game to cement his place as my MVP. He was my marquee signing back in January (for €900k), but he’s paid his transfer costs back by being directly involved in 30 goals this season (Goals + Assists all comps).

All in all, a Primera División title & a Quarter Final Copa Libertadores appearance means it has been a great season for us. Certainly, there are reminders that we are not quite the finished product (as that Boca 0-4 home loss showed); but it’s been another season of transitioning younger players into the team as we move away from a reliance on elder statesmen like Cristian Rodríguez (35) & Walter Gargano (36). Instead we now have a homegrown central midfield triumvirate of Agustín Álvarez (19), Ezequiel Mechoso (20) & Matías de los Santos (21). All of whom have been excellent during 2020.

Our 2020 top performers are below:

Goals: Mauro Zárate (18 goals), Agustín Canobbio (13 goals) & Luis Acevedo (8 goals)
Assists: Mauro Zárate (12 assists), Elías Pereyra (8 assists) & Matías de los Santos (3 assists)
Average Rating: Agustín Álvarez (7.23), Mauro Zárate (7.11) & Matías de los Santos (7.06)

The #GIFGoals to remember this season comes from Striker Luis Acevedo, scoring the first Peñarol goal in a 2-1 title winning victory over rivals Nacional in their crap Gran Parque Central stadium. Shades of World Cup 1998 Bergkamp Vs Argentina?

The Caporegime Part II

Before kicking off this save, I had an introductory post that outlined my plans to focus on staff recruitment in Football Manager 2020. I dubbed this my ‘Caporegime’, a Mafia term to reference the crews within an organised crime syndicate. On Day 1 of the save, thirty staff members made up the Peñarol Caporegime, which included Bastardo himself. Above them all sat two Managing Directors, Carlos Sanchez & Fernando Morena in non-footballing roles.

Over the course of two years there have been some dramatic changes to the Caporegime: Directors of Football have come and gone, coaches/scouts have been headhunted by bigger clubs and even elections have brought about a new Presidential structure. But one thing remains constant: Bastardo is overseeing it all without the need of a Technical Director (a new Staff Role that will recruit your backroom staff for you in FM20).

After two years of ploughing wage and transfer budget into the staffing side of the club, we now employ forty staff members across the three Peñarol squads (excluding our new Managing Director Guzmán, hired by new President Miguel Moreira in December 2020):

From the above, you can see that I have recruited the maximum number of First Team employees for the coaching and medical specialisms. The big change for Season 2 was to offload the incumbent Assistant Manager, Michele Fini - who I outlined as a distinctly average Assistant back when kicking this save off. I recruited his replacement internally, Álex García - who joined from managing the U19s. Note: it’s always worth checking what you have internally, Álex García’s appointment was ideal for me…as he knew all the players right away. So he hit the ground running with stuff like the Selection Advice and Coaching Reports, which I have used more frequently this year.

Álex García - Bastardo’s 2nd No.2 in two years :-)

Peñarol’s Caporegime is the best in the league and it’s only the scouting side that we now need to focus on in 2021. This has been the most volatile area as I have had a few Scouts depart for better things and new 2019 Director of Football: Pierre Aubame decided not to renew his stay with us into 2021. Finding Aubame’s replacement was difficult and for now I have settled on Ángel Moretto, who will guide our transfer activity using the ‘3 List Approach’ I outlined back at the start of this save. Moretto is not the perfect DoF, but unfortunately there was not much in the way of wages and budget to find a better replacement for Pierre Aubame (who, with no disrespect, was far too good for us).

Ángel Moretto - Bastardo’s new Director of Football.

The final staff member to quickly update you on is with regards to #ProjectVincent. Vincent van Raam was edited into my save because I speak to him about Argie-ball in real-life and consider him the Dutch pen friend I never had as a kid. Having been with me for two years now, Vincent has not bettered his judging abilities one bit; which is a real shame. Naturally, he has bettered his tactical knowledge working under Ángel Bastardo and he now understands the rules of football a bit more. There is hope for him though, Vincent now has fairly decent knowledge of South America after being sent to Argentina, Brazil, Chile & Colombia a few times on weekends away. I hope he will thank me in real-life one day, most FM Bloggers would have ditched him by now…but not me!

Next Steps

My objectives into 2021 are to better our scouting setup. We’ll recruit a further three scouts and we will also widen our Senior & Youth Packages to cover more of South America in the Player Search. Once I have fully completed my Caporegime, I will then recruit to the two new positions in FM20: Technical Director (who should maintain our position as Uruguay’s elite staffing setup) & Loan Manager (who will handle player loans away from the club), in order to see how they will do. This may likely be my third and final part of the Caporegime series, where I look to lessen the weight of Bastardo’s crown 👑

As always, thanks for reading/sharing/caring.

FM Grasshopper

"2020 Copa América" - Rio de la Plata #FM20

January 2, 2020

Previously on Rio de la Plata, Ángel Bastardo replaced Óscar Tabárez and became Uruguay’s most powerful football manager.

Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti will host the 47th edition of the Copa América Final.

Monday 16 December 2019. A day etched in my Football Manager history as one to forget. But I will probably never forget it. Not only is it the birthday of Daniel Gear (my podcasting co-host), it’s also the day I comprehensively lost to the Bolivian National Team in Football Manager 2020 during the 2020 Copa América, jointly hosted by Argentina and Colombia.

Can you ever come back from the lowest of FM lows? To answer this, read on for the game-by-game happenings on a tournament with no International team training, dangerously low levels of tactical familiarity and an adaptability score of 1 for Ángel Bastardo.

Strap yourselves in for some classic Bastardo-ball…

The Group Stage

Group B

Uruguay (ranked 8th in the World)

Argentina (ranked 10th in the World)

Paraguay (ranked 27th in the World)

Chile (ranked 29th in the World)

Bolivia (ranked 54th in the World)

Qatar B (ranked 98th in the World)

I wrote about my grand plans to adopt my Peñarol tactics with the Uruguayan National Team last time out on the blog. But these things take time, especially in International Management where no form of training exists whatsoever. This was a topic of conversation in Episode XLIII of the GrassNGear podcast and to summarise the discussion: my Uruguayan side would have to play through the tournament and learn as we go.

The signs of a painful tournament were highlighted in our 2-1 comeback win Vs Paraguay, our winner coming from Giorgione De Arrascaeta in a mazy run with less than 10 minutes to go. There’s not much I want to say about Bolivia, probably my worst game of FM20 so far. A Cavani goal ruled out for offside that would have pulled us level at 1-1, a second half sending off for Luca Olaza and then a Bolivian penalty when Martín Cáceres decided to attack the opposition. We sunk against the 54th ranked team in World Football and it was at this point that I had serious doubts about our 2020 Copa América credentials. Bolivia 3-0 Uruguay.

Our third game saw us adopt a 4-4-2 and get back to basics. Less team instructions and Suárez and Cavani upfront together: Uruguay 2-1 Chile.

Qatar B, an invitational side to make up the numbers, were our next opponents. Argentina had just beaten these guys 10-0, but we could only manage 4-0 as I reverted back to the 4-1-4-1 Peñarol tactic. It didn’t matter, Uruguay had qualified for the knockout stages and were one game away from meeting the Football Association’s ambition of reaching the Semi Finals.

However, before we entered the knockouts, we had the small matter of Argentina first. Bastardo’s home nation and last game of the group stage. I decided to match their 4-4-2 and got with a low block. All well laid plans were out of the window though after the 2nd minute…of course I overlooked the most important factor of man-marking Lionel Messi. Lucas Torreira’s job from then on was to man mark the 33-year old out of the game, as both matched up in the centre of midfield. But that did not stop Argentina…they’d just call on one or two of their other world class players: Pablo Dybala with a hat-trick and Sergio Agüero finishing the rout. Argentina 5-2 Uruguay.

Quarter Final

Uruguay Vs Colombia (ranked 21st in the World)

Now that we were in the knockout stages of a Copa América, we could not afford to take the mentality of ‘damage limitation’ as I did with Argentina (because that went well 👀). We’d have to play to our strengths and hope that it would be enough to see us through. So, I took a glance at Colombia’s formation and one thing immediately jumped out:

No natural width. We’d once again go back to the 4-1-4-1 / 4-3-3 and take the game to Colombia. The result was a painful 1-0 win, with Edinson Cavani grabbing the only goal on 67 minutes. It’s no less than we deserved though, and I felt in this game that I finally settled on a midfield trio…an engine room to rival the glorious one I had back in FM17: Lucas Torreira (DLP-D), Rodrigo Bentancur (CM-S) & Nahitan Nández (CM-A) coping well with the inflated numbers in Colombia’s midfield.

Semi Final

Uruguay Vs Peru (ranked 19th in the World)

Next up was a surprise meeting with Peru, who had knocked out Argentina 2-1 five days earlier. Incredibly, despite being mostly gash all tournament, we had a genuine chance of surpassing the Football Association’s expectations by reaching a major International Final. I did not want to make too many changes, Nicolás De La Cruz replaced the injured Luis Suárez as our Inverted Winger on Attack. I’d also done something Unai Emery failed to do in his 18 months at real-life Arsenal…realise that Lucas Torreira is a ridiculously good Deep Lying Playmaker. I once again went with my new Uruguayan engine room, unchanged from the Colombia win…and:

Uruguay 1-0 Peru. Despite Peru battering our goal with 24 shots (11 on target) and slightly more possession, we held firm. This is probably the perfect International team for the Bastardo playstyle, players like Diego Godín & José Giménez were there to charge down every Peruvian shot, their elite mentalities shining through with beautiful ‘garra charrua’.

The Final 🏆

Uruguay Vs Brazil (ranked 1st in the World)

Brazil had scored 21 goals en route to the 2020 Copa América Final, held in River Plate’s wondrous Estadio ‘Monumental’. Ranked 1st in the World, there would be no greater test for my Uruguayan bastards. I couldn’t really see a weakness in Brazil’s starting XI, so I decided to stick with 4-1-4-1 / 4-3-3, crash and burn…Bolivia felt like a long time ago now anyway.

The game was played out on Comprehensive highlights over on Twitch, and you can re-watch it below. After taking a 2-0 lead on the 11th minute, we slowly crawled towards the darker arts of Bastardo ball: Cautious Mentality, Shorter Passing, Narrow & Frequently Wasting Time, all bound up in lovely low block.

Uruguay 2-1 Brazil. For as much as Brazil had the ball, they only mustered 6 shots on target the whole game. Goalscorers Edinson Cavani & Nahitan Nández will be elevated to hero status, but a lot could be said for the rest of the squad. Particularly 34-year old Captain Diego Godín, who won all 12 of his headers as he marked Roberto Firmino out of the game.

The game in all its glory is viewable here:

Freedom Of The Country

The freedom of Uruguay had been given to Ángel Bastardo, and he chose to use that freedom by shying away from the victory parade with La Celeste’s players & staff.

Instead he was in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Montevideo to address the greatest act of incompetence of the Bastardo-Montevideo era. $1.3bn worth of cocaine seized by the authorities whilst Bastardo was out of the country. The man responsible for distribution in place of Bastardo, Enrique Vázquez, was to be executed at midday. His crime was not only the lost shipments, but rather his failure to inform the chain of command. Instead he had attempted to run away with his family via an international flight to Chile. Poor move.

Bastardo coolly walked up within a few feet of his trembling mark and drew his pistol. No last words would be offered to Vázquez and a single shot met him clean in the head. Bastardo’s gaze remained on the slumped & bound body for a few extra seconds, as the group of spectators watched on.

“Hugo” Bastardo said firmly for all to hear, “take Vázquez’s men and resume control of our distribution. Find our lost stock”.

18-year old Hugo Ojeda, looking every bit as intimating as the older men around him, stepped forward from the crowd of Bastardo’s inner circle and nodded, “As you wish, Don Bastardo”.

Note from the Editor - The last two posts on the site have focused on the Uruguay NT team, and I have really enjoyed ticking off two major ambitions from my FM20 checklist (read more here).

There’s a lot missing from International Football in Football Manager 2020, but I’ve got enough motivation to continue with La Celeste with the target of representing them in the 2022 World Cup. The aim is to transition from the older stars (Cavani, Godín, Suárez et al), build around the ‘Engine Room’ (Bentancur, Nández, Torreira et al) and introduce some of the promising Uruguayan youth prospects (Araújo, Arezo, Cáceres et al).

For those wondering about my club save, we’ll now be back with Peñarol going forward…as I look to compete for the Copa Libertadores title and return to the domestic fight against Nacional in the 2020 Clausura.

As always, thanks for reading/sharing/caring.

FM Grasshopper

"The Heir to Tabárez" - Rio de la Plata #FM20

December 15, 2019

Previously on Rio de la Plata, Ángel Bastardo led the charge against Nacional and looked to the future.

Intro

Having accepted Ruslan Chepiga's offer to take on the Uruguayan U20s deep within the Colombian jungle, International football has been an element to my save since Day 1. However, I haven't really documented what's happened so far. Today's post will therefore bring you the events affecting 'La Celeste' between 2018-2020. We'll also have an update from the 1st half of Peñarol's 2020 campaigns (both at home and in the Copa Libertadores) and some detail behind some transfer hackz I’ve made. Vamos…

The Heir to Tabárez

My thinking behind taking on the U20 Uruguayan side in FM20 was that I could use La Celeste as a conveyor belt for my younger academy players. Peñarol have one of the best youth systems in Uruguay and by using their players in the U20 setup, I can test them against their peers from around the world and boost their reputation. Additionally I could also make use of the National reports that you can get for any young Uruguayan player, which is a good way of getting to know the league’s next generation without having to scout them from my club’s scouting budget.

My overall ambition with the U20s was to impress the Uruguayan Federation in order to be in the frame for taking on the top job, whenever 72 year-old Óscar Tabárez retires in Football Manager. Here are my results in 2019:

I adopted the Peñarol 4141 / 433 that had done well domestically in Uruguay and had some lovely 19/20 year-olds to call upon: Ronald Araújo, Brian Rodríguez & Juan Manuel Sanabria to name just three supreme talents that had already moved away from Uruguay. In 2019, I integrated three Peñarol youngsters into the U20 setup: Agustín Dávila, Ezequiel Busquets and Facundo Torres. Unfortunately I would have called up wonderboy Ezequiel Mechoso (who I wrote about here), if he had not been injured in the 2nd half of 2019.

Despite the Bolivia loss up in the mountains, the U20 results were incredibly promising and I looked forward to the 2020 invitational tournament where I expected to face some strong European opposition…until the opportunity to replace Tabárez occurred in January 2020! Óscar Tabárez retiring after almost 14 years in his 2nd stint with La Celeste:

There was no guarantee my application would be successful, but I am delighted to get the full national team job. The U20 was fun and different, but the big disadvantage is that I really only had friendlies to play. Whereas, with the full squad, I will have the Copa América and the World Cup Qualifiers over 2020:

Uruguay’s fixtures (and results) under Bastardo.

I will continue to use the Peñarol formation and tactics I have used previously in this save, and Bastardo-ball with some of the best/cuntiest players in the World is a mouth-watering prospect:

Bastardo’s Uruguayan squad for the 2020 Copa América.

I plan to enjoy the Copa América tournament, so I’m taking it slow with the possible return of a couple of 90 minute matches (probably against Chile and Argentina). These matches ‘may’ be streamed over on twitch.tv/fm_grasshopper….but don’t count on it. There are 5 group games before the knockout games start with the Quarter Finals…my aim is to finish up the groups before heading off to France for the Christmas holidays (sadly, no laptop will accompany me as I plan to drink wine and talk to people). So, we’ll most likely finish off the tournament around the New Year 🎉

Season 2020

Domestic

Back in Peñarol and it’s largely been a productive season. Buoyed by the signing of Mauro Zárate for €900k from Boca Juniors, Peñarol won the Opening Stage with 12 straight victories (9 of those being clean sheets). However there were three disappointing performances, notably the Super Cup loss to River Plate Montevideo and the away match against Wanderers (no connection to my podcast co-host Daniel Gear).

Continental

In the Copa Libertadores, we once again progressed from the Group Stage; which contained holders Flamengo and a difficult trip to the Bolivian mountains (I’m finding altitude having an effect this year, honest). We’ll look back at the last round victory with fond memories, with Mauro Zárate netting both goals…and paying off his transfer fee (earning us €947k prize money for our 2nd Round appearance against Deportivo Cali). Hero & Maverick.

Signing Sebastián

In previous blogs I said that I’d use all available transfer budget to sign older stars in this save. But in June 2020, the opportunity to sign one of the league’s best central defenders presented itself: Sebastián Cáceres. At 20 years-old, Cáceres was both club captain at Liverpool Montevideo and also within my U20 Uruguayan side. At the time, his transfer value was €300k, but his Scouting Report said he was well out of my transfer budget range and I didn’t think he’d be a viable option for Peñarol.

Until I used the Interact with Board transfer hackz:

I selected the option that signing Cáceres would “help me achieve my goals this season”…and the board agreed. You can see from the above that the Board shook the magic money tree and found extra monies from the bank balance to make the deal happen. It was then up to the management, including the Director Football Pierre Aubame, to get the deal over the line:

It’s a great deal in terms of wages and I like the three-year length but I am slightly worried about the minimum release fee (however the Board have said they are pleased to see the clause in the contract via the Club Vision screen). More importantly though, from a 1st team coach perspective, I am getting one of the best defenders in the league with Cáceres arriving as a 4-star ability central defender:

This technique does come with a caveat though, and should be treated with caution: on successful delivery of this Board request, the Board will freeze transfer/wage budgets on the short-medium term. This means that you will be unable to make budget adjustments from wages to transfer budget for example. So my recommendation would be to use this option if that’s the one deal you want to get done in that particular transfer window, or at least the final signing of the window.

La Celeste

So, it’s now over to Uruguayan National Team to continue this gripping save. Ranked 6th in the World, can Bastardo’s Uruguay win the Copa América and tick off a major ambition of this save? As always, you can stay up-to-date over on my Twitter page…or wait for the next blog post sometime in January 2020.

Thanks for reading/sharing/caring,

FM Grasshopper as Ángel Bastardo: “The Heir to Tabárez”