FM21 & GAIS | Two teams within one winning trophies
The 2028 season in Sweden within my Football Manager 2021 save is in its half. I was able to put together the squad full of very interesting players who were divided into two teams within one and they played in three competitions at the same time after they had separate pre-season including friendlies. Read more if you are interested in…
Transfers
Outgoing
Bayern München continued with some kind of spy game within our training centre and during our matches, as they decided to strengthen their B team and U19s team with our most promising players who heard “Bayern” and they were excited by their interest more than an average fourteen-year-old FIFA player before his first FUT match. Before he conceded the first goal and quit the game…
It meant they bought three under 20 players for €1.5M, €4M and €600k. All with some percentage from their next transfers but I’m sure I won’t go that far to the future that I will benefit from these clauses. Any of these players wanted to stay for a loan at least. And they all rather play for Bayern U19s.
Two young players went to our new affiliate club in Serbia and they earn some experiences with FK Vojvodina. There were some more loans but only one or two players have some chance to come back in winter 2028/2029 and fight for their place in the squad.
Incoming
With the fact that our main right wing-back Victor Blixt is sidelined with the knee ligaments injury until summer 2028, I knew I have to buy/sign a new WB. I decided to sign experienced Felix Beijmo from Malmö. And I have to pay more mainly because of the rivalry between both clubs.
I also wanted some experienced forward who would be able to play as PF(S)/DLF(S) supporting Oscar Aga and I went for Astrit Selmani who was out of contract with FC Midtjylland. He went to this Danish club in 2020 while we were the Allsvenskan newcomers and he was not interested in signing with us.
I also arranged the free signing of young Belgian midfielder Hamza Laraki. He should join us in the summer but when I found out I can sign him immediately just for €91k, it was an easy choice.
The last two new players are strikers. Flamarion is an experienced Brazilian/Georgian striker I signed for free because of his fantastic technical skills. Mikhail Markov is a young Russian striker - newgen from Norwegian side Ranheim.
Transfers of winter 2028
Two teams in one
It was not for the first time but the beginning of the 2028 calendar year/season was the biggest sign of what was inevitable. As my team is dominant domestically, I like to give a lot of playing time to all young players in the Svenska Cupen (domestic cup). Not only in the group but they usually play the whole competition.
And we won it 5 times in a row before 2028 so it probably works well.
It’s connected to the number of competitions we play at the beginning of the new season and I like to do split the first team into two teams.
They both swapping during friendly matches and they both know when their peak is.
The peak is the first match of the Europa League knockout stage and the first match of the Svenska Cupen group stage. Both these competitions go along so we have to be prepared well due to a calendar year/season system.
What can be an advantage? It’s simple.
The main squad is ready for the tough matches in Europe after playing some stronger teams during pre-season.
Youngsters playing some less reputable/strong teams during pre-season but they have secured at least one tough match against Swedish top tier club + two matches against clubs from the 2nd tier.
But mainly, youngsters have enough competitive matches straight at the beginning of the new season and they can prove if I should keep them here.
A couple of young players left our team during January/February/March but we still had a lot of players to pick from.
With the combination of 5 newly signed players and some loan players returned, I had two great sides for all matches. The rule about a maximum of 3 new players being able to register for the Europa League knockout stage also affected our two selections because I was unable to register all five new players. So, I created a perfect mix. At least in my eyes.
Manage/Save team selection option
As I mentioned, I was not able to register all new players for the Europa League (and three of these five players were also unhappy because of it). The squad for the EL included all experienced and key players like goalkeeper Andreas Linde (34 years old), defender Axel Andrésson (30), a captain Anton Snibb (31), the deep-lying playmaker Matt O’Riley (27) or Oscar Aga (27) and newly signed Astrit Selmani upfront.
The average age of this squad was 25,6.
On the other hand, the squad for the Svenska Cupen was a younger one in comparison with the squad above. Youngsters around the 20 years of age in a combination with three experienced players who I was not able to register for Europa League (Brorsson, Beijmo and Flamarion).
The average of this squad was 22,5. The average age of this squad including subs was 21,8.
I’m not using the Clear Entire Team Selection option after each game. I’ve never used it. But what I like to use is the Manage/Save Team Selection option within the tactics screen.
It saves time
I know both squads are set as I want
I can make simple changes here or here if some player is injured/not fit/suspended
It’s easy to load the team selection between matches, especially if you have matches in both competitions very quickly after each other. I can just check set piece routines and set piece takers if all is well and we can play…
How it went during spring 2028?
If you want a fast and easy answer, it went great! Both squads did a fantastic job at the end of February when both cup competitions started. The younger squad won all three group matches in Svenska Cupen with the results 3:0, 2:0 and 4:0. The main squad beat AZ Alkmaar 4:1 on aggregate in the Europa League 1st Knockout Round.
The first complication was in the Svenska Cupen Quarter Final where we played against Jönköpings Södra and the match ended 1:1 after the extra time. It’s not easy to play against them as they are using 3-4-3 formation with wing-backs and AML/AMRL too. It’s even harder to defend on both wings against them. But we were lucky and won the penalties.
I was still using the principle of both squads I mentioned above and the main squad made it through the Europa League knockouts after aggregate wins over Real Sociedad, RB Leipzig and Wolfsburg. The Semi Final against Wolfsburg ended with a 3:3 draw after both matches and the extra-time in the second leg. The first 5 players scored from both teams before our midfielder Fuglsang missed the sixth penalty. But the next two Wolfsburg players missed and we won after penalties and made it to the second consecutive Europa League final.
I didn’t plan to reach the final again but when it went well, I can’t be unhappy about it. The Svenska Cupen squad made it to the final too and the youngsters played fantastically in the league too despite the loss in the biggest derby against IFK Göteborg. Four matches in May before two finals were an ideal moment when to mix both squads together. It resulted in 10 points from 12 possible and some nice goals.
Svenska Cupen for the 6th time
We faced our biggest rival IFK Göteborg in the Svenska Cupen final. I decided to use the young squad as they deserved to play in the final. I only had to make two changes because of injuries.
We won 2:0 after goals by Víctor Martínez (backup WB) and 19-year-old striker Alex Larsson who scored 8 goals in 4(3) appearances and he became the best goalscorer of the domestic cup. It’s our 6th consecutive domestic cup win.
Europa League again
We beat Fiorentina in the final last year. We played Valencia this time. They had a complete Calcio knock-out stage as they played Lazio, Roma and Milan in the 2nd knockout round, quarter-final and semi-final.
We went 1:0 ahead after ten minutes after Kris Johansson scored from the right side of the pitch. It was 100% the most surprising scorer because he is our biggest weakness within this Europa League selection due to the registration rules I mentioned before.
Lee Kang-In was surely the biggest threat in Valencia shirt and I was afraid of his movement that much that I decided to mark him closely and Johansson as our right WB was set to mark him. Just him. It worked well and Lee Kang-In left the pitch after 75 minutes frustrated.
It was 1:1 after opening 90 minutes and the match went into the extra time. The small advantage of the extra-time is the option to sub fourth player so I was able to change O’Riley and Strannegard brought some fresh legs to the midfield.
Most of the opponent’s players ended the match in very low condition and they were not too dangerous during the extra time. I was so excited we are a better team so I even hit the “Counter-Press” button in team instructions. Our moment of magic happened in the 115th minute when the captain Anton Snibb found central defender Kristoffer Green (the one I mentioned him in the post about the importance of the right man for corners/free kicks) at the far post after a wide indirect free-kick and our big boy scored the winning goal.
These are our full results from the spring 2028 and the first half of the 2028 calendar year/season. I’m very happy with how my plan with the two squads worked and will surely try to plan it similarly in the future if I will be able to have such a big squad.
We are currently 2nd in the league competition with one point behind Örebro who played two more games than us.
There is a break in June before the Allsvenskan will be restarted in July and we will play Wednesday/Sunday during summer. It’s clear we will use both selections again. Especially when the Champions League football will be here in September again.
Thanks for reading and take care.