"Murder on Zidane's floor" - Plazas de Soberanía #FM23

February 20, 2023

Previously on Plazas de Soberanía, Kevin returned.

Intro

Please excuse the blog title. It’s not a new or inventive pun, and probably heavily used each year in Fantasy Football team names across the land…but it’s got some meaning behind today’s post. AD Ceuta FC enter their third year in the dizzying height of Spain’s LaLiga 2, and that’s where this blog post begins:

Season 5 - Summer of 2026…

Season 2026/27

July - December 2026

Before I update you on the nitty and gritty of LaLiga 2 results, there was one further signing after my previous post: Theo Zidane! ‘T16’ swoops in to join AD Ceuta on a Free Transfer, having left Real Madrid earlier on in the Summer. With one week until the transfer window softly shut, Theo was agreeable to joining his brother on the North African Coast. What a player we have here, albeit a luxury signing, Theo is an absolute monster at 196cm tall and Jumping Reach of 17. He also has a lot of his dad’s artistry (relative to our level at least):

As mentioned last time out, I’d be setting up Ceuta in a 442 for Season 5. I was in total ecstasy after ten goals in the first 3 games, could we be on the way to LaLiga? Seems FM23 could sense my overconfidence, and duly brought be back down to Earth with Traffic Light FM'™. However, the sporadic wins are a lot better than the frustrating barren runs I had experienced within the previous two seasons in LaLiga 2. The most painful moment of the season so far is the 2-1 defeat away to Deportivo de La Coruña. A last minute header from Mangel (a €300k sale at the start of the season) came back to haunt his old club…a perfectly scripted "‘Against His Old Club’ FM moment that you just have to applaud 🔮

Kevin boasts a modest nine goals in 16 games, before taking a month’s absence with pulled knee ligaments. At this point I decided to play a 4141 with just Ethyan as the central Striker (more on this below) for the final three matches of LaLiga 2…and kept three much needed clean sheets! It’s now going to be a shape I will interchange with the 442, perhaps in challenging games away from home.

Murder on Zidane’s floor

I don’t usually update readers on the Lana del Rey trophy, as we’re usually out in the first round anyway. 2026/27 is no different, as we crashed and burned with the 4141 by losing 2-3 at home against Girona after Extra-Time. But an outstanding scissor kick was spotted when Xavi Sintes saw straight red in the 1st half…fair play to Miloš Veljković as he got up and saw out the full 120 minute match. The murder on Zidane’s floor (there we go, boom) was a classic ‘Tackle Harder’ player instruction you see on a Ball Winning Midfielder. So, I think it’s a role I will use going forward in 4141 to screen in front of our playmaker, and commit more atrocities.

*🎵 Sintes, gonna burn this goddamn house right down 🎵*

So, when it looks like I’m tactic hopping…I’m not really changing much from 442 to 4141 in terms of Team Instructions. The biggest tweak is positioning the playmaker at DM and having a little reshuffle in midfield. To give Sintes the respite when he is inevitably suspended in the future, I’ve used a large portion of the Mangel money by signing Cameroonian (but Spanish nationalised) Frank Angong for €165k. It’s quite a watershed moment in the save, as there is usually no money to go out and spend in the January window…but the Ceuta coffers are in their best position ever (€2m balance as of December 2026).

Frank Angong is physically strong, similar to Kevin, and I think his energy in the last few months could be crucial in maintaining our momentum. Despite playing a league down, due to Inter City’s relegation from LaLiga 2 last year, Frank is ranked 7th for tackles won, 8th for tackles attempted and 10th for possession won per 90. His Pressures Attempted per 90 stat is also decent (15.59 per 90), I am hoping he can be on the opposition like a rash when deployed as a BWM.

BWM-S in 4141. Sometimes balanced, sometimes cautious.

Groundhog Save

There’s repetition to the recent LaLiga 2 seasons in this save. Last season, AD Ceuta finished 13th…the same position as the year before. Last season, we entered the Winter Break in 8th…the same as this year. Can I therefore break the groundhog save curse this time round in Season 5, OR am I destined to have a post-January dip to finish 13th? Check back here soon to find out.

Thanks for reading/sharing & caring,

Tony / FM Grasshopper

"Kevin Returns" - Plazas de Soberanía #FM23

February 8, 2023

Previously on Plazas de Soberanía, AD Ceuta FC signed Fekir and Zidane in the same transfer window.

Intro

Season 4 is complete.

“A rocking horse moves backwards and forwards, but does not make any progress”. For much of the second half of the 2025/26 season it felt like AD Ceuta FC were a rocking horse. We have met the Board visions of Higher Tempo Pressing and Possession Football, but we failed to deliver the Defensively Solid Football that they also craved. What looked like a play-off season in December 2025, turned out to be miserable few months to kick start 2026…as we laboured to equalling the 13th place league finish like the season before. The rocking horse, just kept on rocking. Our familiarity with FM progression probably means we look at this Football Manager season as a failure. But, is a season of consolidation in LaLiga 2 a backward step? Probably not.

Now that I have inexcusably spoiled my short save update, you’re welcome to click off and go do something else with your day. If you do stay for more, you might just get excited about what I plan to do next at AD Ceuta FC…

Season 2025/26

January - June 2026

Conceding 54 league goals this season was not something I had in mind when fielding a DM with flat back four, but post-January 2026 was a shitshow. Especially the months of April and May:

Usually I am finishing FM seasons in good form, but Season 4 ended a far cry from the 4th position high of match day 27 🤮 If Diego Mendoza is reading this blog post, I expect some abuse sent my way seeing as I broke the club’s transfer and salary record this season for Goalkeeper Luca F’ing Zidane! To then be so permeable to goals is quite sickening, and there is little wonder the Board were disappointed about us failing the club vision.

It is hard to point the one problem in the skillset of the team OR the tactic. Whilst I thought it was well-balanced, I don’t think I was getting enough xG supply to my Strikers. When we did generate it our Attacking Pressing Forward of choice, Omar Faraj, did not really live up to the Ceuta strikers that came before him. He scored 11 goals and had a xG underperformance of -0.22. Our Attacking Inside Forward Ethyan at least got double figures for the first time in his Ceuta career (15 goals) and an xG overperformance of 0.44. However, to put into context how bad this is for AD Ceuta FC - check out a couple of strikers I previously had in this save:

Lorenzo Gonzalez - 9.92 xG overperformance / 1.01 Goals Per 90 (Season 1 - 34 goals)
Kevin Carlos - 2.70 xG overperformance / 0.64 Goals Per 90 (Season 3 - 15 goals)

The joys of blogging is that I can look back and reflect that Lorenzo G was a real freak of nature, but even if I can get half of that overperformance I will be laughing. Similarly, I know I can do a lot better than Faraj for the Pressing Forward role. This leads nicely on putting these two roles together, as I wave adios to 433…

Goodbye Possession Football 👋

Over the course of 2025/26 the Board were very pleased with the high-tempo pressing and possession based football. However, for obvious reasons, they were disappointed about how defensively solid we were [not]. In the negotiations for the forthcoming season I successfully convinced the Board to ditch the obsession with possession football. I have mentioned it a few times in the last few blog posts about how I would like to return to a two-striker system…and 2026/27 season will be that year. Ditching the DM and playing out from the back in favour for an extra central Striker means possession will a bit harder to achieve, so I’m delighted to do away with it as a board vision. I believe that I can now go back a 442, which is in keeping with the current higher tempo…but not be so hung up on possession. It means that AD Ceuta FC will soon play on the Counter, which probably suits our stature a lot more in LaLiga 2 anyway.

Kevin Returns

To return to the 442 glory days, let’s welcome back Kevin Carlos. The 25-year-old Ceuta born forward will be re-joining on loan this time for the whole 2026/27 season…and he is a perfect fit for what I want to do going forward: a relentless engine (King Kevin, see below) feeding a goal-obsessed Poacher (Ethyan, hopefully). Parent club, Torino, previously decided against loaning Kev to Ceuta for 2025/26 season, but I am not one to easily forget those glorious 6 months Kevin and I had together…and often kept an eye on his squad status.

This is how I will fit King Kevin (Pressing Forward on Attack) back into Ceutaball…

442 Q&A

Why 442? Other than, you know, two strikers?

The shape means I have a squad depth of x2 players per position. For the first time in this save we now have 22 first team players!

Why Pressing Forward + Poacher?

Not only does Poacher suit Ehtyan’s strengths (Finishing 14, Off The Ball 13 and Anticipation 12), I want to have one striker moving into channels (Pressing Forward on Attack)…and another staying central and fixated on the goal.
For games where I need to give Kevin a break, or want more link-up with midfield, I have options to field a Deep Lying Forward (Fekir & Khaloua) instead of a Pressing Forward.

Why the Wide Playmaker on the right?

Luismi (the sole remaining player from Season 1) is best when cutting side from the wing, he’s a better playmaker than winger.
I’ve also signed Argentine/Spaniard Elías Contreras on a Free. Contreras has great Flair and Off The Ball for our level (both 15) and being either footed means he can easily cut inside and cause chaos for the opposition. When Luismi plays, Contreras can be shifted to the left wing, where he can become a traditional attacking Winger.

Do I think the 442 will help achieve the Board’s vision (high-tempo + defensively solid football)?

This remains to be seen, but tempo is slightly increased and I will keep an eye on how the Board react.
Anything should be defensively more solid than last year, although I will keep an eye on the midfield two (in case they are getting murdered) and would adopt my signature move of bringing off a Striker in favour of a Defensive midfielder in order to see out games in a flat 4141.

FM23 is bloody great fun

So, another quick-fire blog post from me…where I could have easily just skipped blogging and carried on playing, FM23 is bloody great fun.

But I know in 6 months from now I will be eager to go back and see what happened in order to satisfy my failing memory 😃 Season 5 could be special, I am really happy with the recruitment to bring in Kevin once again and I think we can build on the 13th place LaLiga 2 finishes. As always, keep an eye on the site for another post to see if the 442 really does fire…or sign up to the newsletter below for other great posts from various ☕🏠 writers.

Thanks for reading/sharing and caring,

Tony / FM Grasshopper

"North African Galácticos" - Plazas de Soberanía #FM23

January 29, 2023

Previously on Plazas de Soberanía, AD Ceuta FC survived their 1st season in LaLiga 2.

Intro

AD Ceuta FC and I enter our fourth season together in Football Manager 2023. My love for the save is probably quite apparent, I am zooming through the seasons and have enjoyed the various save scenarios I have encountered so far (promotions and relegation battles). As we enter the second consecutive season in LaLiga 2, a rebuild of sorts is needed to consolidate our position in Spain’s second tier.

The Board have tweaked the Club Vision in three of the four FM23 seasons, with this year’s tweak seeing the Board wanting more Possession Football. Luckily for me it’s not too dissimilar to what I have been playing anyway (a 433), but receiving the new vision guides my recruitment somewhat. This is the subject of today’s post…

Rebuild Part II

Seven new signings in one transfer window is quite a lot by my standards, but with stalwart Adri Ceuvas and Arturo Rodriguez retiring and a few others leaving the club after their contracts expire…I was back down to a squad number of just eleven again! The critical positions where I needed immediate cover were in Central Defence, Left Back and in Attack. I also wanted a new Goalkeeper, to replace Leandro who has negotiated a cheaper contract to stay on for one more year as a Back-Up Goalkeeper.

In short, I got a lot of my top choices. The Director of Football missed out on 1-2 to other teams offering more money, but largely Ceuta have made some decent signings within the same transfer budget as last year: €300k. The targets were a mixture of Recruitment Focuses and me running the numbers within FM23 itself, dialling in to the 2024/25 player data to help us with the Possession Football club vision.

Marcelo Djaló (Lugo) – Central Defender - Free

193cm tall Marcelo Djaló appeared in a Recruitment Focus for expiring Centre-Backs, and was head and shoulders above best for Passing and Vision. He is a Real Madrid graduate and I feel he has enough experience to take the Captain’s armband from the departing Ceuvas.

Luis Valcarce (Badajoz) - Full Back - €93k

Another bit of experience in the back-line was to bring in Luis Valcarce. At 32-years-old he is probably at his peak and his 2024/25 numbers reflect that: 91% pass completion + 4.46 progressive passes per 90 and he played every minute of Badajoz’s La Liga 2 campaign. The Director of Football has perhaps overpaid slightly with a €93k transfer fee, but I’m prepared to take the risk on him seeing that he’s been every present for Badajoz.

Andy (Burgos) – Midfielder - Free

Andy has been relegated with Burgos, but the 35-year-old playmaker has an Open Play Key Pass per 90 stat of 0.98. He has an 88% pass completion stat and attractive player traits of Dictates Tempo and Curls Ball which will also help with the Possession Football club vision. Usually a relegated player is a big turn-off for me, but Andy was creating chances in a piss-poor team…I hope I can give him one last dance in the sun.

Omar Faraj (Levante) - Striker - Season long loan

I always hoped that the poster boy from the last post, Kevin Carlos, would be attainable once more on loan. Sadly, Torino were not agreeable to him moving back on loan for another year…so with 7 days remaining of the window I plumped for Levante’s Omar Faraj and offer to pay for 50% of his €156k annual salary. He suits the physical Pressing Forward role in my 433 and can interchange with Ethyan for the central Striker position. Note - this is a departure from my Spanish/North African recruitment, but seeing as Omar has resided in Spain for 4 years and has Real Madrid as his favourite club, I’m classing him as technically Spanish.

Marcelo Djaló

Luis Valcarce

Andy

Omar Faraj

"North African Galácticos"

There’s more! Whilst, the previous four signings mentioned above were carefully scrutinised in terms of data/reports…the next three players signed are a bit more romantic. Players that meet the self-imposed North African element of this save…

Luca Zidane (Eibar) - Goalkeeper - €100k (potentially rising to €140k)

The Director of Football (Albert Puigdollers) breaks a transfer record and also raises Ceuta’s top wage by €42k per annum. But it is quite the coup: Luca Zidane! Luca has decided to represent Algeria for International Football and meets the North African recruitment model, but he’s also a great Sweeper Keeper with First Touch 15, Passing 15, Technique 14 and Vision 11. I’m hoping he has as much of a role to play with Possession Football as the other ten outfield players. New Ceuta No.1 and also a new Vice-Captain.

Yassin Fekir (Betis Deportivo) - Attacker - €45k

Another North African Galáctico signing for Ceuta is Yassin Fekir, brother to France International Nabil. Yassin is a versatile player, as he can play on both flanks but also in midfield or upfront. In 2024/25 he has 2.85 dribbles per 90 and 1.85 Open Play Key Passes in the Spanish 4th tier with Real Betis B. It may be that LaLiga 2 is a step too far for him, but at 28-years-old I still think he has some potential to unlock.

Hicham Khaloua (US Touarga) – Attacker - Free

Wide Attacker Hicham Khaloua has played in LaLiga 2 before (Almería in 2018/19) but has since moved back to Morocco in real life, recently spending three seasons with Union Sportive de Touarga. Despite it not being a loaded league in my save, Khaloua has done well there: 30 goals in all 102 league games possible (perhaps his strong Natural Fitness of 15 means he’s a sturdy guy). He also has strong Flair and suits a fluid passing game with strong Technicals…including 15 in Penalty Taking. It’s a gamble, but we also fended off a lot of interest from other Spanish clubs to get him. Like Fekir, he can also play out wide or in the middle upfront…so the extra versatility means I have more attacking variety going into Season 4.

Luca Zidane

Yassine Fekir

Hicham Khaloua

With the three North African arrivals, it takes my overall tally to seven Maghrébin players recruited to Ceuta. Three from Morocco and two from Algeria. I am relatively happy with this, even though we have missed out on a few targets, we have not forced the recruitment by bringing any old Jabbour in. Those seven players have been first team players, with the latest three players perhaps being the most exciting.

I think the next step phase of the save would be to target some of the North African Newgens that have entered the save Universe. Some will not come cheaply, so I need to make sure we are an established regular in LaLiga 2 before I decide to splash the cash on players that do not make an immediate first team impact.

Season 2025/26

July - December 2025

As mentioned previously, I would once again stick with the 433 DM system that has been used for the previous two seasons. In order to meet the club objective for possession football, I decided to lower our tempo when in possession. But I quickly changed that back to a higher tempo as I did not like what I saw with aimless passing and nonchalantly dwelling on the ball in key areas. Consistency is a problem, but five wins in a row saw Ceuta surge up the table before another barren spell of finding the net. This has been my experience of LaLiga 2 in FM23 so far: ‘fits and starts’ of form…

Despite my grumblings, AD Ceuta FC are in a really good position. To remedy the barren spell I’ve gone narrow, and have moved the two wider players into the attacking midfielder area behind Omar Faraj’s pressing. Two goals away at Santander saw me deposit a value three points, before three at home Vs Sporting de Gijón. Sandwiched between those victories is the defeat away at Alavés, but even then we held our own for 65 minutes and had lovely moments of play.

Despite the starting formation changing, the Mentality & Team Instructions remain exactly the same; meaning that the players do not require too much adjustment in playing it. Crucially, it also means that I can list our team metrics with a degree of confidence that it should not skew them:

Ceuta are 6th in terms of Average Possession (55%)
Ceuta are 6th in terms of Pass Completion Ratio (88%).
Ceuta are 9th in terms of Opposition Passes Per Defensive Action (5.15).

There are also lots of things we are not that good at too: Cross Completion, Shots Per Game and Tackling to name just three. But on the things we are being judged on, it’s going pretty well and hopefully the recruitment has played a part in that…

I honestly don’t know if we’re in a promotion race for the playoffs, or the start of a downward slide into mid-table…or worse: a relegation battle. But I’m thoroughly enjoying the save and I look forward to updating you on the climax to Season 4 soon.

Thanks for reading/sharing & caring,

Tony / FM Grasshopper

The Byline Invitational #FM23

January 23, 2023

Hi. Ask any competitive FM player at gun point as to what community competition they would wish to win and they would probably agree to say either Latte Quarterly's 'La Copa' or the newly formed 'The Byline Invitational' tournament.

Previously, I had a crack at La Copa in the FM22 cycle but failed miserably (finishing bottom with my Inter Miami side). But for FM23, I've been fortunate enough to have been invited to The Byline Invitational.

Q&A

What is 'The Byline Invitational'?

The Byline Invitational is a coming together of Sports Interactive’s The Byline writers in January 2023 at Sports Interactive HQ. Such is the glamour and prestige in winning this Football Manager tournament, some writers have come as far as Buenos Aires, the Canadian tundra, a Dublin bar and even the suburbs of Glasgow.

How does it work?

Managers play Football Manager as a network save using the FM Versus Mode. It's a 14-team league with Europe’s best sides based on UEFA rankings. It's a league, with each side playing one another once (in a total of 13 games for each side - although we will never play all the games as somebody aka me took too long in the matches, apparently). 3 points for a win, one point for a draw.

What do I want from this tournament?

I would like to do better than Dan Gear. I would also prefer to not be humiliated by Guido Merry’s strikerless tactic.

What would I do if I win it?

I would probably pay thanks to the other writers for forfeiting the tournament to let me win (not at gunpoint, I might add). Also to the Coffeehouse writers for always supporting me and Dan Gear for allowing me to fulfil my content destiny.

The Draw

The draw takes place in a lively Stratford shopping centre bar, carefully chosen by one of our guides for the weekend so that we do not hear a thing. Dan Gear seems a bit stressed about whether there is enough food for the weekend, but generally the mood is good. We draw the teams out from a tupperware I had brought along with me for the evening, containing the best teams according to UEFA rankings…

What happened?

So, I drew FC Barcelona. But with this being a Versus tournament, there would be no time to pull economic levers and sign anybody. In the most predictable FM Grasshopper fashion, I would bastardise the club and go with a flat 442. It would be anti-Barca too: Counter, Pass Into Space and Waste Time [sometimes] selected to kick-off the matches. Robert Lewandowski as the Advanced Forward and Memphis Depay as the Deep Lying Forward (both on attack), it was relatively boring elsewhere with CM-D, CM-A, Winger and Inverted Winger making it a throwback to the 90s.

I kicked off with a 6-2 win Vs PSG against SI Employee #3, so I was hopeful of winning the tournament…but then I quickly learnt how powerful home advantage was. I failed to win any of my four away games, losing all four. It finished with 12 points (4 wins and 4 defeats), as people wanted to end the tournament after eight matches and head to a bar. My highlight was probably beating Guido’s strikerless Real Madrid system 2-0, after I moved my 422 into a higher block and relied on faster CBs to win the foot race Vs Karim Benzema ✅ The most enjoyable match I played was seeing the quick interchanges of Ihor's/Crusader Tsar’s Ajax, who beat me with a nice 4222 box system.

The leader of the league after eight matches was SI Employee #2’s Liverpool with 19 points (with silver place going to SI Employee #4’s Juventus, a valiant effort with 17 points). #2’s prize is an invite onto the GrassNGear podcast, which they can reject.

Did I beat Dan Gear?

GrassNGear finished on equal points, but sadly MaddFM’s Roma allowed Dan to sneak pass me on goal difference after his 10-2 defeat to Gear’s Red Devils ❌

The Weekend

Overall, it was an amazing weekend. The whole point was to chat about The Byline, which is a growing resource for Football Manager players, and also discuss with SI about the game itself.

It was great to meet so many I had spoken to from far away after all of these years and the squad dynamics were perfect 👏🏻

The new office could easily double up as a museum. There’s a great timeline, charting the game’s history and you get the feeling the people love to work there. Such is the care and attention that has gone into each room. I did not take too many photos, but I sign off with a display case of CM memorabilia, which is bloody amazing.

Thanks for reading,

Tony / FM Grasshopper

"Kevin" - Plazas de Soberanía #FM23

January 18, 2023

Previously on Plazas de Soberanía, AD Ceuta FC faced a relegation battle.

Intro

My experience of LaLiga 2 is that it is a two-tier league. An upper tier of ‘LaLiga ready’ clubs capable of obliterating most teams, and then the rest. AD Ceuta FC obviously find themselves at the lowest end of the lower tier. Smallest salary bill, smallest stadium and smallest squad. When I last blogged, I was becoming increasingly worried of a downward slide into the relegation zone and I did not think we had the squad to cope. A single point separated Ceuta from the relegation places.

Fears were amplified when 1st choice Striker, Arturo, went down with knee tendonitis days before the league restarted in January 2025…

You don’t come back from knee tendonitis imo. RIP 😐

Commence emergency recruitment: find a replacement Pressing Forward who could lead us to safety. We need to talk about Kevin…

Kevin

In this short save I signed a few players based on their performance data within the FM23 match engine. I have also used Recruitment Focuses appropriately, signing some top Spanish talent in line with the club parameters. But the 6-month loan signing of Kevin Carlos Omoruyi Benjamin is your typical Blogger nerd signing, based on previous pre-save research. I was always going to be keeping an eye on Kevin during the duration of this FM save…

Why Kevin? Well, Kevin is the only known player [to me at least] of notoriety to be born in Ceuta (with dual citizenship of Spain and Nigeria). So, when I saw that he had become available for loan from Torino of Serie A…there was only one Striker for me. Fortuitously, he also ticks a lot of the boxes that I need to replace the ageing Pressing Forward Arturo Rodríguez who is on the two-month sabbatical with knee tendonitis:

Kevin with Pressing Forward - Attack attributes highlighted.

But previous FM research sadly means Kevin’s arrival is not quite the homecoming I had expected, as he is listed in-game as being born 1,000km away in Huesca which sits close to the Pyrenees Mountains. Oh well, in my mind at least, this is a major coup for the club…a Pressing Forward who wants to be here more ways than one. But how does this signing change our approach? Or should it?

Personally, I feel that any new signing subtlety changes the tactic anyway…but Kevin’s make-up is a lot different than what I had in Arturo. I think I should tweak the role a little to make use of his great pressing attributes: Acceleration 14, Bravery 13, Pace 14, Stamina 14, Strength 15, Teamwork 13 and Work Rate 15. Instead of the Support role, where he would be tasked to Hold Up Ball, I feel the Attack role better suits Kevin because he will be more mobile making use of those attributes previously listed. For our level he is a real workhorse, and given the fact we’re in a relegation battle, we need that fight more than ever.

Pressing Forward - Attack Player Instructions

I have shown the PIs above that Kevin has on the PF-A role. The only further tweak I have made is to see how he fares at marking the left sided central defender. I have done this with the intention to make use of his good pressing attributes to see if he can capitalise on defensive mishaps. Kevin is my first defender. Additionally, this could leave my other main attacker (left sided attacking Inside Forward) with a potential 1v1 against the other right-sided centre-back when facing a two-CB pairing. Note - if facing a back-three system, I would opt for the central CB.

1st choice Ceuta attack at the onset of 2025.

Imagine scoring your first home goal during a match with a capacity crowd against LaLiga leaders: Atlético de Madrid in the Lana Del Rey! Because that is what Kevin did…

Kevin Vs Club Atlético de Madrid in the Lana Del Rey, where we led the game for 8 mins [until conceding three]!

Season 2024/25

January - June 2025

Kevin took a couple of games to warm up, but then sparked to life with 10 goals over the next eight matches. Once that honeymoon was over, Kevin’s dry spell covered six games and coincided with a bleak period for the club during March and April. A disgusting nine games without a win (eight defeats ffs) is the worst run in FM that I can remember (including my time at Murciélagos in FM20). In my opinion, the reason for the downturn in form was injury and suspensions (reinforcing the fact that going into this season with an 18-man-squad was a pretty dumb idea). We needed a few more utility players to plug the gaping holes in the squad, so that’s on me 😔

But we did come through it, and I still sigh in relief from looking at the recovery in May with three back-to-back wins. I tweaked the 433 ever-so-slightly by dropping Txus Alba into DM as a Regista and then having a CM-S and CM-A in front of him. I did this because I noticed we continued to dominate possession despite losing so frequently, so having the idle DM-D swapped for something a bit more probing [like a Regista] was the thinking here. The result of the switch is that Alba’s passing increased by around 20% (Passes Completed) and he saw a noticeable surge in Key Passes compared to his previous AP-S role. I’m unsure if it’s a long-term fixture however, as recruitment will dictate as to whether we keep with the 433 DM or go for something different in Season 4.

As for Kevin, he finished with 15 goals in 23 starts (all comps). A Non-Penalty xG per 90 of 0.52 (0.16 more than league average) and a solid 7.73 Headers Won per 90 (2.26 more than league average). He is undoubtedly the reason what kept AD Ceuta FC in LaLiga 2, which makes Torino’s decision to reject my advances to extend his loan into next season ever more concerning. 6 months of Pressing Forward bliss, Ceuta remembers.

Here are the 2025 results and the finalised 2024/25 league table:

If that is not enough, here is a use of the FM23 Manager Timeline™…it confirmed to me the league table is indeed true: we are staying up:

Looking ahead to Season 4

A couple of FM Bloggers laughed when I said about challenging for LaLiga within 5 years at the commencement of this save. I wonder if they are getting worried now? Season 4 will see AD Ceuta FC flesh out the squad a bit more and build on the solid foundation of players that will soon be moving from ‘Emerging’ to ‘Peak’ within the FM23 Experience Matrix. So, I am going to spend a lot of time on Season 4 recruitment, which means loads of data in spreadsheets and countless hours in the Scouting Centre. All in the aim of getting this done right, Blogger style, so blog frequency may slow down.

I am excited to begin Rebuilt Part II, I hope you will join me.

Thanks for reading/sharing & caring,

Tony / FM Grasshopper