My counter-corner ballad

There were times when I almost every second day shared the message starting "One for FMSamo klaxon" in the Football Manager Slack. It meant I scored a counter corner goal. It was really often and we enjoyed scoring these goals. It's really great to see the simple counter with a rippling net at the end. Sadly, It's not happening too often in my saves within FM20 and FM21 but when it happens, it's like a great ballad.

It's not that long from the time when we remembered some old saves in the FMSlack and also the FM18 save with BFC Siófok was mentioned. I think it was FM17 with Reading and the save with Siófok during which I enjoyed the counter corner goals the most.

I had a lot of great newgens around both teams and there were a lot of fast players. Simply, they were absolutely perfect to fit the counters.

I didn't see too many goals after corners since the FM18 probably. And maybe that's also the reason why I enjoy a lot every time I see it.

I wrote about conceding from the set pieces and counter goals last year during FM20 save with Celaya FC. But my defensive corner kick routine is different in FM21. And I enjoy it.

Why so cautious?

My most common defensive corner kick routine contained only one player who is set to Stay Forward and one player was set to Edge of Area. I was usually afraid there won't be enough players in my own penalty area.

I decided to change this approach because I wanted to stop being so cautious. And I wanted to use, not completely, but something new.

It led to the new system of defensive corner routine. With two strikers around the half-line line and one player as the edge of the area.

If you would open that post from FM20, there is a picture of my routine where five players were set to defend zonally all the positions within the 6-yard box. There were other players set to go back so it was almost like the invitation for our opponents to make a picnic in our penalty area. And score a goal as a dessert.

FM20 (left) vs. FM21 (right)

The defensive part

You can see there are changes within the main defensive part within the 6-yard box. We now have here only three players instead of five. As I'm using 3-5-2 formation, I am able to use all my three central defenders who are (or they should be) strong and brave enough to defend crosses.

I didn't play many seasons so far, but I saw that the near post routine is more frequent so I like to use the best central defender in terms of set pieces as the one who is set to Zonally Mark Six Yard Box Near Post. Simply - the first one in the line.

Most of crosses are headed or cleared away exactly by this player.

You can also see one player Mark Far Post. I will be absolutely clear to you, I didn't want wan to place some player here. I wanted to have two players at the edge of the area. But I accidentally left one player here and he saved at least four headers in the first couple of matches. The opponent flicked the ball nicely to the far post.

And I decided to keep that player here. It happened several times within the end of the first season and during the second season too.

The decisive part

Maybe the word decisive is not the right now in this case. But I am sure that if players around the 6-yard box clear the ball, the rest of the players in the penalty box cand decide what will happen next.

  1. If they will be quick (with their decisions but also physically quick) enough, they can win the cleared ball and start the counter.

  2. They don't have to start the counter if they win the ball, but they can keep the possession. And what happens when you have the ball? You don't concede.

  3. If they will not be quick (-||-) enough, the opponent can make another attack/cross/keep possession.

  4. It's mostly about the three players who are set as Man Mark. They usually make the runs to wide areas when the ball goes here.

  5. The player with Edge of Area role should be the brain of the counter if 1) the ball is cleared to him, 2) or he wins the cleared ball, 3) or he makes the right run forward and support the strikers.

The strikers

The key attributes for Stay Forward role are Acceleration, Agility, Pace, Strength, Balance and Anticipation. That's what game says.

I would add also the combination of teamwork and work rate attributes. There are many cleared balls by defenders far from the box but most players (in overall, not only strikers) with low values of these two attributes are not willing to help to others and they just stand at the half-line.

They are just waiting for that final pass into the box. At least I think about it in this way.

My main strikers for the 2022 season and their key attributes for Stay Forward role

Oscar Aga has teamwork attribute of 11 and workrate of 10. Vladimir Rodić has both of 13. Rodić is playing as our pressing forward. And it's not a surprise he wins/collects more balls than Aga. He is more willing to help.

On the other hand, Aga is quick enough to beat defenders with the run from his own half. I see this very often but it doesn't lead to scoring chances every time.

How it can look?

One of my favourite examples is only a couple of matches old. I scored this goal during the pre-season after the promotion to the top tier.

There are also two new players in the key areas. Kairinen as the one at the edge of the area made a perfect quick pass to the Rodić who is our pressing forward and he was able to keep the ball and found Aga.

Our advanced forward made the rest and scored very nice goal.

Another very nice example is from the second season. Charlie Weberg won the header at the near post and cleared the ball to the right side. Daniel Sterner (Pressing Forward) helped the team with a perfect deep run to win the ball.

And he also moved down the right flank and Nuha Jatta rebounded his shot. I would like to see a pass from Sterner more but I can't have everything :)

Nuha Jatta, the goalscorer, also deserves a prise as he made a perfect run forward from the edge of the area position/role.

Conclusion

  1. As always, rule number one is to use the right players in the right roles. The small striker defending the near post area is wrong, right?

  2. If your player makes a lot of runs but the counter ends by losing the ball, try to use another player here. Sometimes even the player trait like 'runs with ball down right' or 'hugs line' can make a big difference (insert :eyes: emoji).

  3. Don't expect counter corner goals in every match. I didn't write this post because of this reason.

  4. The best part of this game is don't be afraid of experimenting. And set pieces, no matter how many bugs they consist, are ideal to have fun. Or to find out you made something wrong :)

  5. Btw. I conceded 0 corner goals in the first two seasons with this routine. #MythMike incoming...

  6. Have fun.

FM21 | Next match only

Do you consider tactical changes for just one match when you know you’re underdogs? Or you just have some feeling it won’t be your day? I’m the same, especially after the promotion to the top tier in my current save with GAIS. It’s not about the complete tactics overhaul in my case. I like to make small changes. Did it pay off? Let’s talk about the Next Match Only feature in FM21.

It’s one of the traditional 1000+ new features of the new edition. You can’t see this button within a normal Tactics screen but it appears in the Tactics screen before you will enter the match.

button.png

One of my favourite things within this save in Sweden is that our season is based by the calendar year. There is a long time between the seasons and I have a lot of time to think about several things.

And the transfer window is also a long one so you can count it as a positive thing too despite I like to have my movements early.

And there is also a domestic cup before the league campaign starts. Three more matches in the group stage which you can consider as other friendly matches to test your own things if you don’t have big ambitions to win the cup.

That was exactly our case.

We won our group after a draw with Elfsborg and wins against FC Linköping City and Helsingborgs IF (finally!). And we got AIK in the quarter-final. One of the big clubs in Sweden. Despite they are not the title candidates right now, I knew they can hammer us.

Meeting with the opponent

As I mentioned, I’m not the type of FM player who would change the formation completely. I like how my 3-5-2 is developing within this save. How the roles are working and how our players are performing.

That means I am happy to ignore one of the advice within the Tactical Meeting before the match. My assistant suggested switching from 3-5-2 to a 4-2-3-1. One of the reasons was to use newly signed Vladimir Rodić in a different role in a wide position specifically. But I signed him to play as our main pressing forward (more about it in a different post).

Another part of the advice usually is the opposition instructions but I’m using rarely too many as my assistant suggests.

It’s only about pressing intensity – always within their playmaker or the deeper central midfielder. But only if some of his attributes are not good enough and our pressing can cause him issues.

I took nothing from this screen. Not because of I would not trust to my assistant but mainly because I felt he is not right in this case and I will make my own changes (same as in 9 from 10 occasions, but that’s a different story).

But also because of the bug in the left bottom corner where the Expected Tactic widget appears and it always shows the 4-4-2 formation no matter of the opponent and their tactic.

Finding the main threats

When I check their schedule screen with my fixture view including the formation, the game suggests they used 4-4-2 Diamond Narrow formation in all previous matches in the Svenska Cupen.

It’s also the preferred formation of their manager – Willy Sagnol. Yes, that one.

I was sure about one thing when I checked some of their previous matches before our match against them and from seeing their tactics.

Both wide defenders will be high up the pitch and they will provide a lot of runs forward, many crosses and also a lot of support.

Eric Kahl (LB) is one of their best-rated players just behind Erik Ring. This young winger or striker scored 4 goals and made 2 assists in the Svenska Cupen group stage matches. All as the pressing forward. That means we need to take care of him properly.

AIK formation before the match

Let’s cover it

I’m not using many team instructions in my tactic. I like to use Higher Defensive Line and Higher Line Of Engagement. It worked perfectly with three central defenders while one of them is playing mostly with the Stopper duty.

But knowing we face attacking-minded wide defenders + two strikers + AM player + we are underdogs, I decided to make small tweaks for next match only.

Both defensive line and line of engagement switched back to Standard and we used Cover duty instead of the mentioned Stopper duty.

And both our WB players changed their duty to Defend instead of Support. The main reasons are (probably) obvious.

  • WB(S) is more attacking-minded with Get Further Forward

  • WB(D) is instructed to Hold Position and he doesn’t roam from his position too much

  • WB(D) is also instructed to Take Fewer Risks

I also switched our passing from standard to shorter and I hoped it will lead to shorter and safer passes between WB players, DLP(S) and CM(S) as both these central midfielders have also Hold Position instruction.

WB(S) vs. WB(D)

More patience, bigger stability

All the things above were done with one aim – make us less vulnerable and make us more compact and solid in the defensive line.

I didn’t want to allow our players too much freedom same as against weaker sides when I expect our own domination and the fact we will be the team who will dictate the tempo of the match.

If I would use the team fluidity in the game, it’s connected to what I wanted to do – to be more structured.

Main tactic (left) vs. tweaked tactic (right)

In-match changes

I did fewer changes during the match than I expected before the kick-off as I thought we will be absolutely no danger in the attacking phase but we were even too adventurous in my eyes.

I forgot to mention that I didn’t set some opposition instructions in the end. Not even again wing-backs or again Erik Ring at the top.

The simple change from the stopper duty to cover duty was enough. Same as the support/defend duty change for both wide players.

I made three tweaks during the second half and extra-time (spoiler klaxon!). I set our passing to Much Shorter and our tempo to Much Lower.

It was mainly because of the fact that most of our players were out of energy during the extra-time and I wanted to slow down the game and frustrate the opponent. With a frequent time-wasting in the extra-time 2nd half as well.

The last change was PF(A) to PF(S) mainly to help midfielders with pressing, tackling and winning the second balls in the later stage of the match.

Result?

It resulted in the 0-0 draw after the first 90 minutes and it remained goalless also after the extra-time. And the match went into penalties.

I was lucky that the best penalties takers (Rooney, Eriksson) were still on the pitch and the other players have a good combination of composure and penalties so we were lucky and we won 5-4 on penalties because one home player missed.

We were able to stop their best players, mainly their best striker Erik Ring who was almost invisible. And I like how many their crosses we were able to block.

The clean sheet is always a good sign as well.

I mentioned above why the hold position and shorter passes can help us with the passes between WB players and CM(S)/DLP(S). The passes graphics don’t work in FM21 as it doesn’t show properly but the numbers are in the analysis (not sure if they are 100% right as the stats don’t work properly).

If I wanted more passes between each other and more triangles, it went well. Blixt and Rooney on the right side & O’Rilley and Snib on the left side.

Comparison with previous matches

The main thing I was interested in even before the match was how the average positions of the team will look.

I was pleased the main aims worked well. Our players sat back patiently, our defensive line was much lower and we were able to stop all the attacking efforts of their offensive trio.

But mainly, our wide defenders were able to defend/block much more shots and crosses after their duty was changed.

Comparison of two cup matches. Left – against Linköping as favourites, right – against AIK as underdogs.

*Please ignore the bugs in this picture as there are the same teams twice and I had to select FC Linköpings City at the right side. It’s not my fault that there are some bugs for several consecutive years despite many people reported them. Btw. this picture is like a treasure, it took me only five attempts and the game restarts to make it work.

I also want to share one picture. It’s in the Team Report/Match Analysis where you can find the last 5 matches and some positives and negatives. I selected matches with Elfsborg (1-1), Helsingborgs IF (2-0) and AIK (0-0).

All these matches were against favourites and teams with a bigger reputation and better players. In all these matches I reduced the defensive line against two strikers and switched CD(St) to CD(Co).

You can see some nice positives here related to this – opposition touches to goals ratio, opposition goals from shots in the penalty area (0 goals from 29 shots inside our penalty area).

What’s the point of Next Match Only?

Despite I saved the more cautious tactic, I can use the Next Match Only in the future whenever I will want to change just one thing. The one specifically found and prepared against a specific opponent.

I know we could do the same even in the past without this feature/button but ask yourself how many times you forgot about that one thing you changed for that one match and you forgot to revert it back…

I didn’t forget now, it all reverted back to the original for the next match.

And that’s the time when it starts again.

FM21 & GAIS: The simple tricks and the promotion

It looks one month of a real-life is enough to finish the one season in the virtual world of the Football Manager 2021 for me. I recently ended the 2021 campaign with GAIS and we earned the promotion to the Swedish top tier at our second attempt. The game didn't make it easy for me. Not because of a bad run of results or injury crisis. Or anything like this. But too many small bugs in this version are taking the motivation playing the game out of me.

I had a clear plan of what to do before the second season in terms of transfers, squad building and finances restructure.

It's not a rocket silence and I'm sure most of you is doing absolutely the same automatically. I just wanted to exit all the real-life shits thanks to writing about something that I like to do.

Improve the squad & decrease the wage budget

This sounds like a plan. Not an easy plan but it's doable. Maybe some of you will remember what I wrote in the post about the first season when I wrote about the promotion playoff with Helsingborgs.

I didn't see a point to play with players I don't want in the club for next year and I will try to sell them."

I realised I have more than only two or three players with this status in my head. And I decided I will use them as the main resource for saving money.

Our wage budget in the first season was €111,512 per month. But we finished the 1st season over this budget by €7k p/m. One player (Haris Cirak - €2.9k p/m) was sent on loan to FC Inter Turku already before the end of the season.

I was able to sell or release 6 from 7 unwanted players during January 2021. Midfielder Adnan Maric moved to Vejle BK for €100k as the record club outgoing transfer. We earned €155k in total but it mainly saved almost €41k p/m on wages.

Mervan Celik, 30 years old Swedish striker, who spent almost the whole season injured, moved to Akhisarspor for free. He was the best-rated striker in terms of star rating. I rather saved €7k p/m than to risk he will be injured for another season. I couldn't believe he got €20k p/m in the Turkish second tier.

Transfers summary - season 2021

Better players for less money

My main aim for the first opened transfer window was to strengthen our defensive line. In the end, I brought players to all areas including the new goalkeeper who will fight for the number 1 spot.

We brought 10 new players to the club. Two of them were confirmed before the save started. While Daniel Sterner will be a PF(S) backup. Paradoxically, Sterner has €3.3k p/m what is more than players I brought to the club as the new members of the starting XI.

The wide defender Harun Ibrahim will probably play only for reserves. His training rating during the first weeks of the pre-season was below 6. That's not a good start.

The wage budget for the 2021 season was decreased by the board to €109,738 per month. Nine from 10 new players were signed for free. Only 20 years old Norwegian striker Oscar Aga cost us €17.25k.

The newly arrived players have €32,425 p/m together with Oscar Aga as our new highest-paid player with €9.25k p/m. In combination with renewing contract of Nuha Jatta, we still were under the budget limit.

Wayne Rooney in the town!

Yes, you read the bookmark title right. The one and only Wayne Rooney is the new GAIS player.

"Göteborgs AIS have signed English veteran midfielder Wayne Rooney on a free transfer."

It's not a secret there is a lot of English players available to sign for free when you are playing in Scandinavia. No matter their age or quality. It was also the case of the midfielder Matt O'Riley when we signed him for free in September 2020. He is our key midfielder and he is our main RPM in the second season.

There were a couple of players I would bring to the club for a trial before the end of the 2021 season. But I didn't do it in the end.

Because I found Wayne Rooney here in the list of free agents. And it was that typical moment when you ask yourself "What if...?"

Yes, I tried it. And yes, he accepted our offer.

I still remember Wayne's beginnings when he started playing the Premier League at the age of 16. And that debut goal against Arsenal. He is only one and a half year older than I so I always followed his career. You will always compare the same old (or almost the same old) footballer with yourself. I played the competition for the U17 category when I was 16. Wayne made his Premier League debut.

I recently saw some posts about the fact he has never lived up the expectations. It's even in that screen above and in FM, despite it's connected to his time with Derby County.

I didn't think about signing this kind of player in my save. It's not the usual way within my saves. Especially as we were just promoted to the Swedish top tier.

Contract details:

  • Length: 1 year (October 2021 - November 2022).

  • Wage: €12.25K p/m.

  • Signing On Fee: €13.25K.

  • Agent Fee: Doesn't have an agent.

  • Appearance Fee: €550.

  • Team Of The Year Bonus (Division): €8.5K.

  • Unused Substitute Fee: €140.

Wayne is 35 years old now. He was able to make 40 appearances (37 in the starting XI) for Derby County in the English Championship in the 2020/2021 season + scored 8 goals and made 4 assists. He didn't play since his departure from Derby. But that doesn't matter.

  • Will he ensure we will stay in the Allsvenskan?

  • How many matches he will be able to play?

  • Will he make a lot of assists from set pieces thanks to his perfect corners and free kicks attributes?

  • Will his signing boost the club finances or the match attendance?

  • What shirt number will he use?

  • Will am I able to convince him to stay in the club as a coach?

There are many unanswered questions right now. We will know the answers next season. He is considered as the DLP(S) right now. Where you would play him when you consider his attributes and traits in combination with the roles I'm using - RPM - CM(A), CM(S). Let me know if you want...

I decided I won't give him some hard training regime. Just the playing position and normal intensity. At least for the start before I will see what he will be capable during the matches.

There were 14 days between the last four matches of the season when we already had the promotion confirmed. It was only about who will be crowned as the league winner. And as there is a no registration window or deadline, I was able to try him in the competitive matches!

I set him as the inswinging corner taker and all the free kicks. And I played him as the CM(S) who has Hold Position, Take More Risks and Shoot Less Often instructions, same as DLP(S) role.

He played both last league matches and he scored his first goal for the club in his debut. It was also the winning goal and also the goal that sealed us the league title.

The less clauses and bonuses, the better

Some contract negotiations are really painful. Sometimes, it's because of the player itself. Sometimes, it's because of his agent. Or because you don't have enough money to fill his requirements.

Appearance Fee, Clean Sheet Bonus, Sell On Fee Percentage... we all know it. I have nothing against most of bonuses & clauses, some of them are deserved for players. But I like to remove some of them if it's possible.

Mainly Yearly Wage Rise, Sell On Fee Percentage and Top Division Promotion Wage Rise. The last one only if I'm not in the top tier, of course.

I think I did a very good job between the first and second season in terms of the wage rise for another season.

The screen below is sorted by the wage commitments for the 2022 season. You can see there are minimal wage rises. Only newly signed keeper Viktor Frodig refused to sign without the 10% of yearly wage rise clauses. And he has also top division promotion wage rise of 35%. He will get a big pay rise if we will go up.

Players I would like to keep for at least two seasons

Players out of contract at the end of 2021 - need to decide who will get the new one

I didn't select or highlighted newgens as they are in the middle in these pictures with €37 p/m wage as youth. Svensson and Eriksson got their pro contracts at the beginning of 2021 season. The rest is doing well in the U19 league but the contracts will depends on the next youth intake.

If I will take our highest earner - Oscar Aga - as an example, it resulted in this. He wanted 15% yearly wage rise, 35% wage rise in case of promotion to the top tier, 15% sell-on fee.

I was able to remove all these clauses after I raised the Seasonal Landmark Goal Bonuses by €1k for both 10 and 15 goals bonuses. But there are not wage rises for the next two years. I like to do the same even with my own players while renewing their contracts.

One transfer window is enough

I'm not sure why but I have it like this for many years. Maybe from the beginning, I'm playing FM, I can't say it 100%. But I'm considering it as my another weird thing I'm doing in FM in the last couple of years.

Probably all nations & leagues around the world have two transfer windows during a single season (please, let me know if you know some league with only one transfer window, thank you).

Superettan transfer windows & squad registration dates for the 2021 season:

  • Sunday 15th November 2020 to Wednesday 31st March 2021 (before the start of the season)

  • Thursday 15th July 2021 to Wednesday 11th August 2021

Despite this fact, I love to sign players only during the first transfer window mainly.

That means I have the main core of the squad already in the team before the season starts. I don't like to buy players in the middle of the season from unknown reason.

I remember I needed new players many times in the past but I rather usually continued with scouting/searching the right player for the summer and used the youngster for the rest of the season.

It's like bad squad management (if it's not related to some long-term injury crisis) when you need new players in the midway through the season. At least in my eyes. I consider it the same in real-life football too.

That's why I usually want to have the complete squad for the whole season ready before the new campaign starts. And just add some youngsters during the season.

Season timeline

[Rich_Web_Timeline id="3"]

Daniel Sterner - the unexpected hero

Daniel Sterner (as I mentioned and shared at the beginning of this post) came to the club from Täby FK for free before the 2nd season. It was one of two transfers confirmed before the save started. I think I would not sign him when I consider his attributes/age/wage.

But the more I let him play, the more I like him.

He caught my eye already during pre-season as PF(A). He had something different than other players. I'm not sure what exactly.

He was considered as the backup. And not even as the first sub choice. He made it to the pitch on 75th, 66th and 83rd minute in the first three rounds. He didn't even play in the fourth league match.

But both Aga and Lindberg had some minor injuries. And Sterner took his opportunity as the main PF(A).

He started with one assist against Norrby, one goal against Örgryte in the derby. He was not playing too well against Degerfors and he was subbed before the sixty minutes were played. But he scored seven goals in next four matches in May and moved to the top among the best goalscorers of the league.

The new league campaign started against Akropolis.

He didn't score in the last part of the season and he is waiting for a goal more than 10 matches. But he scored 15 league goals in 26(3) appearances and he ended the second-best goalscorer of the league. Only Oscar Petterson scored more (18).

In overall, I didn't expect he will feature in more than 5 games as one of our subs. That speaks for itself probably. My finances will be tight in our first season in the top tier. And that means Daniel will play a lot of games again.

Daniel Sterner and his stats in the 2021 season

Season review...

I planned to write something about the season and I wanted to use some parts from the season review.

But this new feature headline doesn't work properly. It was one of many bugs in this edition I found during these two seasons and it pissed me out completely. And will rather stay silent and end this post with this.

Sometimes, it's not easy to play this game. I don't have to mention the fact we invest sometimes even more time into reporting or editing the game than playing. And I don't like it more and more...

Take care...

FM21 & GAIS: The first testing season

Predicted to finish at 9th place, overachieved, finished third and lost in the promotion playoff against Helsingborgs IF. That's probably the shortest summary of the first part of my save in Sweden with GAIS.

It started in May 2020 so I didn't play the domestic cup as the group stage is scheduled for the spring of every year.

I decided to write the (probably) most important things of these months of competitive matches in the timeline and you can switch between the 10 bookmarks/dates. The pictures are normally clickable and they will open in a new tab to ensure you can see the whole image if you are interested.

Why testing season?

It took me almost a month of real-life to finish the 7 in-game months due to more important commitments in the real world. I knew about this before and I'm sure I won't play as much as in the past. I named this season, or maybe better this year, as the first testing season. The reason is simple.

I tested the new league with the schedule based on the calendar year rather than from August to May. It was also about trying to know new players and try to find some good players around Scandinavia.

It was also about creating the required views, shortlists, filters, and other things I like to make during the first season to have it ready for the rest of the save if I will not change the way of recruitment, club philosophy, or strategy.

The 3-5-2 formation also required testing and it was great to follow its development it. It will continue for sure. It went from a more conservative approach with a lot of clean sheets to aggressive pressing with a more risky playing style. We conceded 3 goals in a single match only twice per season. One of these matches was in the last match against Helsingborgs in the worst moment. But that's life...

Season timeline

June 2020:

Four wins from the first four league matches including four clean sheets. Julius Lindberg scored two goals in the first two 1-0 wins against Umea and IK Brage. Nikola Lada (our DLP) scored twice from the penalty kick against Ljungskile SK during a 4-0 win.

We started the season and save itself with this version of the 3-5-2 formation. It's something I will try to develop for the entire save duration. The Much Shorter Passing instruction helped us to keep the ball during the pre-season very well so I decided to keep it here.

July 2020:

We conceded our first competitive goal after the first five matches as we tied 1-1 away with Västeras SK. We ended July undefeated in the league campaign as Julius Lindberg scored 7 goals in his 8(1) appearances. We first in the league table, much higher above the expectations.

August 2020:

The best goalscorer of the league campaign after the first two months of the season, Julius Lindberg, was ruled out of the action for up to 2 weeks on August 1 due to a gashed upper leg. It was just a day before the 'Original derby' against Örgryte IS, our main local rival. We were 1st in the table, they were 9th.

We played at home and I was interested in how many people will visit the match as all our previous matches had under the 1k attendance. But the 0-0 derby draw was seen by 5,981 fans what will be undoubtedly our biggest attendance of the season I would say.

September 2020:

We remained the one and only undefeated team after the first half of the season. Fifteen matches resulted in 8 wins & 7 draws. We scored16 goals & conceded just 3 goals. It earned us 2nd place just two points behind GIF Sundsvall. Considering the pre-season media prediction about 8th or 9th place, it's much above the expectations. Even my own expectations.

I want to have my squad based on Scandinavian players but I noticed there is a lot of players around and a lot of them free. I have a keeper on loan from Ipswich btw. A lot of free agents appears in the scouting centre/recommendations. I just took this one for a week trial, I think he can be very good as DLP(S) or RPM. In terms of mental attributes, he is better than my current players.

It resulted in signing the midfielder Matt O'Riley. The 19 years old playmaker produced by Fulham academy was a free agent. He signed for free and he became the highest earner of the team. He considers our club as a stepping stone and it means he has a €1.9M release clause & €1.4M Non Promotion release clause in his contract. Both will mean a big profit if he will ever leave.

October 2020:

There was the first Youth Intake of this save in September 2020. A couple of midfielders took my eye but they would be not good enough for most of you. I promoted four of them to the first team to boost the rotation policy in the second half of the season. Central midfielder Anders Svensson was the best one of these players in terms of the star rating. It’s still related to my current squad so it’s not that relevant but all these four promoted players played at least 5 competitive matches.

The board elections happened at the beginning of November and current Chairman Jonas Andersson won it for the second time so he will continue in his role for the second term.

The Svenska Cupen draw took place at the end of November as it will be played during the spring of 2021. The group of four teams consists of GAIS, Ljunkskile SK (both 2nd tier) and Falkenbergs FF (relegated as the bottom team of the top tier) and Helsinbgorgs IF (14th team of the top tier table).

The last-named team was also our opponent at the end of this calendar year…

December 2020:

We were second after the first 15 matches but we took the 1st spot back after the 16th round and we remained at the top until the 24th round. But our end of the league campaign was not good in terms of results due to several reasons:

  • Minor injuries of key players

  • Younger players and newgens got their chance

  • We were too much dependent on goals by Julius Lindberg

The team won only one match in the last month of the regular season (1-0 away in the derby against Örgryte IS). We only tied 2-2 at home against Akropolis in the last match of the season thanks to a late equaliser by Lindberg who was not fit to play the whole match. And it leads to the fact we moved down to the 3d place in the league table and the promotion playoff.

vs. Helsingborgs home

The first promotion playoff match against Helsingborgs IF took place at The GAIS Stadium in Göteborg. It was quite disappointing to me that only 2,378 fans attended the game as it was more than 3.5k less than our highest attendance during the league campaign (derby game against Örgryte IS).

We took the lead in the 38th minute after a perfect throw-in routine and lovely Meinhard Olsen’s finish.

Max Svensson equalised four minutes later and gave Helsingborgs the away goal advantage. Meinhard Olsen was brought down of the pitch twenty minutes before the end of 90 minutes and the young Arigon Zekaj took his place. To be absolutely clear, Zekaj is not the best young player you saw in the game. And he will probably not continue with us in the next years but he took his chances rightly in the past and he deserved to play some part.

And he scored the winning goal in the 82nd minute after the assist of Nuha Jatta. That means we won 2-1 at home the first leg.

vs. Helsingborgs away

The second match against Helsingborgs had to be played without several players from the regular starting XI.

The best goalscorer Julius Lindberg was suspended due to yellow cards ban. Anton Snibb [(WB(S)], Matt O’Riley [(DLP(S)] and Nuha Jatta [CM(A)] were all only among substitutes due to fatigue.

Argion Zekaj (mentioned in the previous timeline bookmark) started as our Advanced Forward. One of our newgens Johan Wahlberg started as one of our three central defenders because the rest of our central defenders were not ready for the match. Other CD(D) – 29 years old Boris Lumbana from DR Congolese – played his last game for the club as his contract expired at the end of the calendar year.

The 16 years old Anders Svensson (mentioned in the bookmark about the Youth Intake) started from the beginning as our CM(A). I did it despite the some more experienced players were available (Adnan Maric, Joackim Aberg) but I didn't see a point to play with players I don't want in the club for next year and I will try to sell them.

"I have faith in you, get out there and make a difference."

Players looked motivated, inspired and motivated or pleased before the match kick-off.

But it was the home side who took the lead as Max Svensson scored from a close range with a simple tap in the 11th minute.

Czekaj had a great opportunity to equalise in the 33rd minute after good defensive work and the individual solo from the half of the pitch but the Helsingborgs‘ keeper saved his effort from the close range.

Helsingborgs was closer to win the tie after the first half of the second match as they lead 1-0.

Zekaj, the not good enough youngster, was close again in the 56th minute but Joelsson saved his nice curling shot again.

I slightly adjusted the team instructions after sixty minutes of play to be more aggressive in terms of pressing. I also removed the DLP(S) to not use a playmaker role and subbed Ladan off despite him was our best player so far in the match in terms of the match rating. But I wanted to make our play a little bit straightforward instead of searching the playmaker every time.

But the more experienced home side played the final part of the match much better and they scored their second goal of the match in the 84th minute thanks Andersson and third in the 89th minute thanks Hafsteinsson.

Helsingborgs won 3-0 on the second leg and 4-2 on aggregate.

Max Svensson scored twice and made two assists in these two matches. He saved the great form for the playoff as he scored his 3rd and 4th goals of the whole season…

Julius Lindberg

I mentioned this player within the timeline bookmark(s) but he deserves his own part of the post. Soon 22 years old Swedish footballer, originally from IK Kongahälla, finished the league campaign with 23(3) appearances, 17 goals and 1 assist.

As I wrote in the timeline, he is not a natural striker, he is a more wide player. But I decided to play him as our main Advanced Forward in a combination with the Pressing Forward.

Julius Lindberg with attributes selected for the Advanced Forward role

When I open the coach report, I can see my assistant manager added Fairly selfish player (the third icon from the left within cons in the picture above) within the cons.

But is it really a negative thing when I want the goals from him?

He played as Advanced Forward. He is not a creator, I just want goals from him. That's another reason why I'm trusting mainly myself.

I'm not too much into the stats but when I open his xG rating from the 2020 league campaign, even I am able to see he did very well.

When the striker position is selected in the coach report: "Julius Lindberg is performing around average in every area in key statistics for this attacking role." It's "above average in every area" when it's a wide position.

His best match was in the middle of October when we beat Trelleborgs 7-2. He scored three goals and made one assist. None of his 17 goals was scored from a penalty kick.

I know he is not the best and I will be able to find many better players but I'm curious how or if he will develop in the future. For some reason, I feel he will be even better next season if he will stay injury-free...

Central Defender with the Stopper duty

Firstly, I don't want to talk about the whole 3-5-2 formation we are using. Mainly because it's not a finished "product" as it will take more seasons to make it work really well in combination with better players.

Secondly, I wanted to mention just one single role. It's the Central Defender with the Stopper duty role. I'm using it within my 3 at the back as the central one.

I experimented with this role in FM20 while I was changing from Stopper to Cover duty depending on the number of strikers our opponent was using.

Stopper against one striker, Cover against two or more strikers.

"With a Defend (Stopper) duty, the Central Defender will push ahead of the defensive line and close down players before they got to the area."

That's my main aim for this guy. There are still two more central defenders who can cover the defensive line if the stopper would fail to win the ball or the opponent would pass around him.

Charlie Weberg - the key man in both positive & negative way

My main man for this role during the first months of this save was Charlie Weberg. The 22 years old defender was our only loan player in the squad. He was with us from Helsingborgs IF (do you know why the negative way in the headline already?).

Yes, he couldn't play against his club in the promotion playoff when we lost 2-4 on aggregate.

I thought about cancelling his loan when the save started but I kept him in the end. And he became my favourite player because he played really well in the CD(St) role.

He was able to step ahead exactly as I wanted. He has a Positioning attribute value of 13 (one of his best) and it surely helped him as "This attribute reflects the ability of a player to read a defensive situation and position themselves accordingly..."

His tackles won ratio was 87.18% at the end of the season. He made 0.26 blocks per 90 minutes and he made only 1.37 fouls per 90 minutes.

Weberg finished the season with 96.80% of pass completion what only reflects the simplicity of the dribble less, take fewer risks, and shorter passing instructions. He made 157 interceptions (12th in the league). He also had the highest average rating of all.

Btw. the Interceptions-made stats screen will be a good source for searching for a new central defender in the future.

Some examples of interceptions/push ahead...

You can see his pros & cons in the picture above. Cons also include the potential transfer fee and the estimated wage. Both are out of our limits. It's unlikely we will be able to sign him again, 100% not as a permanent deal.

Behind the wall

One of my favourite moments of the first season with GAIS is the fact we had the best defence from all teams in the competition.

  • 30 matches played

  • 19 clean sheets (Mathias Karlsson 15x, Harry Wright 4x)

  • 18 goals conceded in 30 matches. The only team that kept it under twenty goals conceded in the season. The league winners GIF Sundsvall conceded 20.

  • 0 goals conceded from corners.

  • 1 goal conceded from the direct free kick

  • 1 goal conceded from the indirect free kick

  • 2 goals conceded from penalties

While I'm the one who enjoyed these great defensive stats, our fans would like to see more goals probably. We scored 40 goals in 30 matches (not too much if you consider we scored 7 in a single match). But GIF Sundsvall won the league with only 38 goals scored.

We had 1265 average attendance in the first season. Only 15% of our capacity. No team sold out the stadium in any match during the whole season. The titleholders Sundsvall had 4196 (49% of their capacity). The AFC Eskilstuna (finished 14th and avoided the relegation in the playoff) had 2544 - more than double of ours.

Something to improve for sure. Hopefully, we will be able to bring more people to the stadium in the second season.

The second season, 2021, will offer the Svenska Cupen group matches during the spring. And we will continue in clearing and overhauling and improving the squad and the club in overall. It won't be easy. But it will be enjoyable for sure.

FM21 & GAIS | Gre-No-Li

Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm. Gre-No-Li. These three Swedish footballers are known mainly to two groups. Swedish and AC Milan football fans. This attacking trio was the main reason why Sweden won the Olympic tournament in London in 1948. They were also the reason why AC Milan fans like to remember the 1950's. And one of them, Gunnar Gren, spent part of his playing and coaching career with GAIS. My FM21 team.

Brief history...

As I mentioned they led Sweden to Olympic gold at the 1948 Olympic tournament in London. They were born on consecutive Octobers in the early 1920s and they formed one of the most successful front lines in world football.

A short time after this success, Gunnar Nordahl moved to AC Milan. Gren and Liedholm joined him in the 1949/1950 season after Nordahl convinced the Milan club board to 'give' him his Swedish friends.

The trio's most noted achievement at the club level came the following season when Milan won the scudetto. Liedholm and Nordahl also won the title in 1955, while Liedholm won two more titles in 1957 and 1959 after both Gren and Nordahl moved away. Gunnar Nordahl was the overall top-scorer in five of six Serie A seasons between 1949 and 1955.

When Milan beat Sampdoria in the debut match of Liedholm and Gren, one journalist at the game was so impressed by the displays of these two that he compared the pair to Michelangelo and da Vinci.

Gre-No-Li. Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm. Source: AC Milan Facebook.

Pelé ended the dream

But not everything was great. The Swedish FA refused to let play professionals for the national team at that time. They missed the World Cup 1950 because of it.

The World Cup 1958 was played in Sweden and the FA decided to make the change. It was the last chance for these two of these three players to win the biggest trophy of all. Liedholm and Gren were 35 and 37 respectively during the tournament and they were called-up to the squad. It was too late for Nordahl as he had already retired.

Sweden progressed to the final with Gren scored in the 3-1 semi-final win against West Germany. It was symbolic as the semi-final was held in Gothenburg, the Gren's hometown.

This tournament didn't have a good end for Sweden. The World Cup 1958 is remembered mainly because 17 years old Pele who scored twice in the final as Brazil won 5-2.

What does this have to do with FM save?

We are calling ourselves managers and all these three great players decided to stay in football after their playing careers. They all moved to the dugout and became managers.

Nordahl was a play-manager of AS Roma before he was a manager of many Swedish clubs during the 60s and 70s.

Nils Liedholm was an assistant coach in Milan before he became the manager. He also managed Fiorentina, Verona, AS Roma or AC Milan again twice.

Gunnar Gren was the oldest one from the trio and this started with him. He managed AC Milan but when he came back to his homeland he was a player-coach of GAIS. And thanks to his great performances for IFK Göteborg back in the 1940s, he has a statue before the Gamla Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg.

Sweden is a logical step to me also thanks to this. Some rare footage from 1975 of these former players and coaches below.

Who was who?

The old truth says everyone wants to score goals. But someone also has to create them. Despite the Gre-No-Li is labelled as attacking trio, they were not all strikers.

Both Gunnar Gren and Nils Liedholm were more creators and both of them liked to play deeper. Liedholm was known because of his elegance of the pitch, his great vision and is labelled as one of the best footballing brains of his day. His passing was a vital part of Milan's success.

He was also known due to his likeness of fitness. Instead of drinking and smoking, what were the famous hobbies of footballers these days, he rather went to the gym and he tried other sports (mainly athletics disciplines) to boost his fitness.

Gren was also the creator. But he was also that "small, unpleasant and intrusive" striker you don't want to play against because he is almost everywhere.

If these two are more creators/playmaker types, Gunnar Nordahl was a typical finisher. The 185cm tall striker made 257 appearances for AC Milan and scored 210 goals. Nordahl is labelled as "a great goalscorer everywhere he played".

Gre-No-Li. Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm. Source: Twitter.

FM replication

I decided to try to use what I know about these three players in the game and in my FM21 save. I will use two strikers and one playmaker. The playmaker will operate in a CM role (probably). It will be a DLP(S) at the beginning and it will be changed to RPM when I will be able to find or develop the best-suited player for this role.

It's because I like to use three central midfielders within my formations and it doesn't matter if it was the 4-3-3 or 3-5-2. I've used 3-4-1-2 during my save in Mexico but the AM player was not as prolific as you would expect. The changes were made in FM21 to the AM role but I prefer the midfield trio.

Let's start with the easiest role. Gunnar Nordahl was a typical goalscorer. The striker who benefits from the creativity of other players.

Fast, strong and clinical forward.

That means this player will play as an Advanced Forward as the one in the striker's partnership.

AF.gif

AF/Nordahl search filter & view

I have to find the right players for this and that means I created the search filter for these three roles. Some of them were customised.

As I really want to find the scorer, not the creator, I removed the Passing attribute from the ticked key attributes for this role. And I also lowered the Technique attribute by two points down in comparison with other attributes.

I'm using the "-/+" buttons to lower the attribute's value to find some players. The more important thing for me is also "Interested in" transfer ticked as 1) I want only players who are interested to join and 2) I know I have some chance to sign them.

I thought about the second striker's role and I thought about to use DLF(S) but as I said above, the second striker should be also aggressive and very intrusive. And the more I thought about it, the more I was sure it has to be Pressing Forward role.

And as I fell in love with the Pressing Forward with the defend & attack duty during the end of the FM20 cycle, I will start with this role. I will use the PF(S) role with Move Into Channels individual instruction as this instruction vital for a DLF player.

PF(S)/Gren search filter & view

Same as with the role above I made the search filter & custom view for this role within the player search screen.

I kept the key attributes for the Pressing Forward role in the filter and added also Finishing, Technique and Flair attributes but they are lowered as they are more important for the DLF role. In the end, it almost made the filter for the Complete Forward role…

This role will be really demanding in terms of the time I will spend searching the right player I think. Mainly because I will have to make some compromise on what I will want from this player. More Pressing Forward or more Deep Lying Forward? Who knows...

The last role is the role regarding the most playmaking skills. It will be very hard to find the right new Nils Liedholm.

There will be a great emphasis on mental attributes like Decisions, Flair and Vision. Passing and Technique of course too. I'm not sure if I will be able to find/develop playmaker with very strong physical attributes to reflect the Lieodholm's hobby with fitness.

It will be more CM player at the beginning rather than a typical AM (number 10). The one thing is sure, the new Il Barone will play as DLP(S) at the beginning. Mainly because of the lack of midfielders overall, not only lack of players suited for the RPM role.

DLP(S)/Liedholm search filter & view

This search filter is a simple one. I just picked the required attributes for the DLP(S) role and added the Dribbling and Flair attributes with lowered value.

This filter will be edited when we will be some time into the save and I will change the DLP(S) role to RPM as I already mentioned.

Key & Preferable attributes

There is also one more thing I like to do and how I adjusted the searching filter. I divided the required attributes for the position/role by Key & Preferable - green and blue lines highlights of the game (or your own colours, it depends what you like to use as you can change it).

The Key ones have the highest value, the preferable attributes have lowered value, usually by two points. In the example of DLP(S) when I added also Flair and Dribbling role, both these are lowered more.

I usually revisit all the attributes and their values, some of them are higher or lower just because of my thinking. It allowed me to find, for example, Sebastian Remme Berge. The Norwegian midfielder who can be a great DLP(S).

Or Albanian midfielder Astrit Ajdarevic who is a free agent... or Ingvald Halgunset. Or this and this and this and this player(s)...

What have I available now?

I'm still at the beginning of the save. The first transfer window is closed too and with the limited young players in the squad, it's more or less about the improvisation.

The more I'm playing the Football Manager, the less I trust the assistant manager opinion and star rating in the game. I rather judge and select all the players on my own.

That was also the main reason why I selected Julius Lindberg as my main Advanced Forward despite his main position/role is on the left side of the pitch and he is not the best-rated striker in the squad by my assistant. But 7 goals in 8(1) appearances is a fantastic outcome. And I would say it proves I was right.

There are two players for each of these roles I have/had available during the first months of the save.

I'm really looking forward to using filters and views I wrote about above to find the best available players. But also develop my own players to these roles within the 3-5-2 formation.

Maybe I will make some changes in the future but this is my current plan. And I'm enjoying it.

*Sources:

Gre-No-Li. Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm.

Gre-No-Li. Gunnar Gren, Gunnar Nordahl and Nils Liedholm.

FM21 | Göteborgs Atlet- & Idrottssällskap

There were a lot of possibilities where I would spend the main part of the Football Manager 2021 cycle. I considered almost all continents and a lot of nations, leagues, and clubs during recent weeks. The final decision was made shortly after I wrote the post about Searching the right club in Football Manager. I decided to go back to Scandinavia and I chose Sweden. The time with Göteborgs Atlet- & Idrottssällskap in FM21 can start now.

I won't use the full name of the club as it's quite long and, to be honest, it would take me a lot of time to write every time.

GAIS. Or Gais. It depends if you want to be correct within the Swedish writing standards or not.

In the media, the name of the club is normally abbreviated "Gais", in accordance with Swedish writing standards that state that acronyms that are pronounced as a word, as opposed to letter by letter, should be spelt with the first letter in upper case and the remaining in lower case, thus "Gais". However, some fans of the club, as well as the club itself, prefer to use only uppercase, "GAIS", even though they also pronounce it as a word.

Source: Wiki/Footnotes

Why Sweden?

One of the reasons why I decided to go to Sweden was my short spell with FM16 back in October this year during the FM lull.

I installed the game again, I found the old save with AB Copenhagen and played several matches and roam around the save.

The FM16 itself was a very good edition and I remember I really enjoyed the save in Denmark. On the other hand, I played the game differently in some ways.

Mainly in terms of tactics. I don't think someone remembers it but I wrote about this save already on this website including the tactical post about the wide playmaker role and the 4-1-4-1 formation I used at that time. When I'm looking back at it, I can't imagine using this midfield combination.

WP(A) - RPM - BBM - WP(A)

DLP(D)

Insert :face with rolling eyes + :man facepalming

Four playmakers within the midfield + False 9 most of the time upfront. I'm not sure how it would work in the current edition, it worked in FM16, maybe it was because of the fact that 4-1-4-1 is usually a very solid defensively and I had a lot of very good players. At least for the domestic competitions.

But no, I can't imagine setting my team in the same way now. I'm not tactically as good as some other FM players (read FMPressure for example who is a master of the 4-1-4-1 formation) but I'm sure I learned a lot of things since FM16. And this midfield setup is not something I would put together now.

Sweden can offer the ideal conditions for the save I like:

The possibility to build the club as I like + the possibility to develop young players + the possibility to compete about trophies in the future + the possibility to create own scouting network within the sub-continent (read Scandinavia) + the possibility to fill the national team with some players.

Green-black/The Mackerels

I don't want to copy the history of the club from Wikipedia as everyone who is not lazy is able to find it by his own. One fact from the club history pleased me as it's not some newly established club or some merged club.

GAIS is a very old club as it was founded in March 1894. The club will celebrate 130 years anniversary during my save what can be a good occurrence to be already in the top division. At least in my eyes as we start in the second division named Superettan.

According to polls, GAIS are the second most supported club in Gothenburg. With 12% of the people in the city who follow a football claiming to have GAIS as their favourite side. Their supporters have traditionally been perceived as coming from the working-class districts of Gothenburg and having left-wing sympathies. Even though research on the subject couldn't conclude that this was more true than for other clubs. Their supporters are also perceived as being loyal, despite whatever hardships the club may face. The oldest and primary GAIS supporter group is called Makrillarna (The Mackerels) and was founded in 1961.

Göteborgs Atlet- & Idrottssällskap home/away/third kits

I decided to not make my own kits after some time. At least for the beginning of the save. I will use kits made by FMSlovakia as they cover many leagues around the world including the Swedish leagues. Visit their website to find more kits - FM Slovakia.

I think I will some of my own kits in the future when I will have more time. Some more clean kits without all the sponsors and logos. But it has time...

Superettan and the calendar year

As I mentioned, the club is currently in the second Swedish tier named Superettan. The 12th place in the final table of the 2019 season is nothing spectacular.

The aim should be to move higher in the table the next seasons after the squad will be overhauled. Superettan is played by 16 clubs from April to October usually if there are no postponements due to COVID-19...

The last two clubs are going down to the third tier, the top two clubs are promoted to the top tier. And the third-placed club is able to play the promotion play-off. Perfect for possible interesting moments in the save. Three from the last five promotion play-offs were won by the third club in the second tier.

League rules.png

League rules contain some changes between the first and next season in terms of subs available to use. The clubs on 13th and 14th places will also fight in the relegation play-off in the first season.

League rules contain some changes between the first and next season in terms of subs available to use. The clubs in 13th and 14th places will also fight in the relegation play-off in the first season.

I like the fact the season is not in a typical way from August to May (for example) but it's based on the calendar year. It can add another challenge if we will qualify for the European cup(s) in the future part of the save in terms of preparing for the matches in Europe while not playing domestically.

There is also a rule of "The match squad has at least 9 players trained by a club in Sweden". The ideal rule for my save.

I like the small connection with one Czech player who spent a significant part of his career in Sweden. The experienced midfielder Pavel Zavadil played for Mjällby, Östers, and Örgryte between 2005 to 2012. And he was the top assists of the 2008 season with 17 assists when he was in Örgryte IS. He is now 42 years old and he still plays the Czech top tier for SFC Opava...

He is a playmaker with great set pieces skills but also a hard-working midfielder who hates defeats. I would like to have these types of midfielders in my save.

Pavel Zavadil during his time with Örgryte IS

Pavel Zavadil during his time with Örgryte IS

Aims of the save

  • Develop & sell within Sweden or to other European countries

It sounds natural to do this, especially with starting with the club from the second tier. I'm not naive and I don't expect too much money here despite the big stadium. This always has two parts - I would be happy to keep the best players but I would be also happy to see them doing well in some bigger clubs (domestic or abroad).

  • Create the scouting network around Scandinavia nations

I like to build a domestic squad but I also like to find players in the nearest countries. Scandinavia is an absolutely perfect place to do this. I already have some idea of how to do this. It all depends on the possibilities straight in the game in terms of the number of scouts available.

And it also depends on the area I will be able to send our scouts. I would like to make it even to England in the future of the save if it will be possible but that's something for the separate post maybe...

  • Be tight financially as always

It's connected to the first point of this list about the developing & selling players. But it's a thing of the whole club, not only a thing of the transfers. I like to be very strict in terms of finances and I usually use only a small part of the wage budget. Sometimes, I use nothing from the transfer budget. Maybe it can help with the stadium, who knows...

It also fits with the Work within wage budget philosophy in the Club Culture/Vision. Another thing in the club culture is to Strive to make progress on and off the pitch.

  • Don't try to find new Zlatan

To find a new Zlatan Ibrahimović really is not the aim of the save. I will be happy if I will find or develop some of our own players without any connection to Zlatan just because he is from Sweden. This save has nothing with him despite him is a great footballer and a special person for sure.

  • Develop solid 3-5-2 formation

  • Enjoy the save :)

The GAIS Stadium

The club is currently playing matches at Gamla Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg. Same as IFK Göteborg, Örgryte IS, or Sweden women's national team. It has a capacity of 18,416.

One of the aims I wanted to share above within the list was to "move to own stadium". But as time went by, I decided to make my own stadium in the pre-game editor.

The average attendance during matches is below 4k. GAIS had the best average attendance at home matches in the 2019 season with just only 2,854 spectators. Almost about 500 less than in 2016.

Why did I do that?

  1. I don't think the club needs such a big stadium/capacity

  2. I'm not a fan of the fact other three teams use the same stadium and it can affect the pitch quality

  3. I like smaller stadiums

  4. As I shared, the average capacity is/was below 4k. If I will be able to increase the average attendance to 7k-8k, it will be a great success in the club development.

  5. There is always a chance the board will build the new/bigger stadium

I created The Gais Stadium with the capacity of 8,000 seats with the option to increase the capacity up to 12,000 seats. After a discussion with Chris/FM_BlackCrow, I decided to make 6,000 seats and the rest of the 8k capacity is for standing. The pitch type is grass despite as I don't like the synthetic.

Six from 16 Superettan clubs have grass as the surface, two clubs have the mix of grass and synthetic and eight clubs have synthetic (new type - soft). It's around the same in the top tier.

The Fanager

I'm not sure how much you know about me but one thing I like to follow is the marketing of football clubs in real life. Mainly because I worked in the past in marketing/PR/communication.

GAIS is the club that made famous themselves thanks to the campaign named "The Fanager" back in 2017/2018. It was during the time when the results and the mood around the club were not good and it resulted in the all-time low in season ticket sales.

The idea behind the campaign was to strengthen the relationship with the fans. And sell more season tickets of course.

The fans needed just to buy a season ticket and apply for the newly invented position of "Fanager" who got to coach the team, pick the team and be in charge of the squad for a league game against Halmstad.

At the heart of this is an idea based on the simple truth that every fan think they can do better than the coach and that football is a team sport where fans and players win or lose as one. The Fanager also became a link between fans and the team during the whole season when he posted thoughts and insights on the team and asking for advice on what to do during his few days as a coach on the GAIS' social media.

A truly bold move by a football club that was a success in terms of proving that the club is nothing without their fans and that football is a team sport where the team and fans win and lose as one.

The season ticket sales increased by 21,9 %...

It's nothing that we can replicate in FM but it's a nice bonus to me personally. And it gives me one more aim for the save to bring back the most possible fans to the stadium.

The Göteborgs Atlet- & Idrottssällskap save settings

I decided to start the save in May 2020 so I will play the whole 2020 season between 17/6/2020 to 5/12/2020. Yes, there is six months long break between seasons. There will be a lot of time to write.

But there is also Svenska Cupen. The first and second round during the autumn, group stage, quarter/semi-finals, and the final during the spring when there is no league football.

I loaded all the Scandinavian nations available in FM (no Faroe Islands) with all leagues. The database is the default except for the fact I created the stadium. And I loaded all the Scandinavian players within the custom database setup.

As the Iceland league will start in May 2021, which is more than 12 months after Sweden's start date, the Iceland leagues won't be playable for the first 12 months of the save according to FM. But that's not too important as I don't plan to move here...

Thanks for reading and, as always, enjoy your saves.

FM20: Celaya FC - ten years of club development

Everything has to end and I decided to end the main FM20 save at the end of the 2028/2029 season. The choice to play in Mexico was perfect and I enjoyed my time here despite it was not as long save as in the previous years. If you are interested, come with me: Celaya FC - ten years of club development.

The overall club development

When the save started, Celaya was not too common club around North America thanks to the recent successes. I'm sure 99% of the football fans know this club just because of the fact Emilio Butragueno played here.

And the save was dedicated to him mainly including the searching filter and view made in terms of the strongest attributes I thought Butragueno was best in.

There were a lot of players on loan in the squad at the beginnning. Media prediction for the first season was 5th place and average age of the squad was almost 25,9 with one of the key players was Franz Torres with 38 years.

A lot of changed during ten years. From the squad personality through the average age or the composition of the squad to club facilities.

One of my favourite kits I've ever made.

Finances

It's great I have the save file from each season so I can go back to check all these things I decided to write about.

And I have one from the beginning as well so we can see the finances from July 2019. We had €366,019 in our bank balance and we were about €4k per month over our wage budget. Transfer budget didn't exist.

If we move five years to June 2024, our financial situation was very different. We had €10,6M in the bank, transfer budget over €6,5 and wage budget was rising to one milion per month. We were able to have better coaches and we were able to keep some players with better wages.

But it's still was nothing in comparison with the end of the 10th season with the balance of €86,6M, transfer budge over €100M and wage budget over €3M per month (spending only around 50% of it).

I'm sure the club is in a great position financially now.

Facilities

Training & Youth facilities are usually one of the main things what we all want to improve within our saves (if you don't play with the club which already has the best facilities of course).

We started with the adequate training facilities and below average youth facilities. Aims of the club were to work within wage budget or sign Colombian players for example.

The club philosophy within the club vision changed one thing during the first 5 seasons. 'Do not sign players over the age of 30' replaced the 'Sign Colombian Players'. And we moved to good training and average facilities.

I expected the club board will want to improve the youth facilities to have the best possible own players but the board ignored my requests for some time as they wanted to sign young players ready for the 1st team.

It lasted for some time and they rejected me four times during two years. But in the end, some threats helped me and we now have both training and youth facilities at the excellent level with undergoing works for another upgrade. It will be done in October 2029.

Average attendance and ticket holders

There are several rules how to increase the stadium capacity or to get the new stadium in FM. One of them is the number of sold out matches during the season. It's clear from the table below we had a no chance to reach this.

But I think it was not needed within this save. The Estadio Miguel Alemán Valdés stadium was enough for us with the 23 300 capacity.

We had 1k season ticked holders and 6779 average attendance in the first season when we were in the 2nd tier. It raised both masivelly for the 2nd season after the promotion to the top tier but the progress in next 9 years was slower.

In the end, we had slightly over 20k average attendance in the 10th season and over 6,3k season ticket holders.

I would say it was quite natural progress. The number of sellouts ended at 6 in the last season. In overal, all the matches with the full house were in the league or the Champions League play-off.

The only surprising thing was only one sellout in the first season in the top tier.

Maybe if I would buy more famous players, the numbers of both would be higher but I didn't want to make it just because of this. I didn't think the new or expanded stadium was needed.

Age and team composition

As I mentioned earlier, the average age of the squad was almost twenty six at the end of the first season. All the data in the graph below are from the end of each season, usually from the end of May or start of July.

We were able to make it down to 22,4 at the end of the second season and the lowest average age of the squad was at the end of the 4th season when we hit 20,4.

The last two seasons were very similar with 21 and 20,98 as we kept the main core of the squad and just replaced the sold players with the new ones in the same age. The same with youngsters - when 17/18 years old left for some loan, we promoted others from the youth team.

As I mentioned in the first post about this save, the clubs in the 2nd tier were too reliable on loan players. We had 8 players on loan at the beginning of the save. The record was 22 loan players from 34 in the 1st team by Club Atlético Zacatepec

It took me three seasons to get rid of all loaned players in terms I have good enough own players.

For example, my affiliate team Tlaxcala has 7 loan players now. But one or two teams still have around 10 players on loan. But it's much better than at the beginning when 10 was almost the minimum.

We were also able to have mainly Mexican based squad instead of a lot of foreign players. There were only 4 foreign players in the last season, the rest was from Mexico.

Transfers

The transfers history of these ten years are very easy. There were only free or laon transfers in the first season.

I decided to invest €875k before the second season, our first in the top flight. It was mainly between 20k - 220k but I bought players like Erick Vargas, José Manuel Dojaquez, Sebastián Osorio and more players who were in the club for many years. Or they still are here.

The forward Dojaquez was a great example as we bought him for €70k when he was 17 years old and we sold him for €13.25M after five years to Shakhtar.

We were able to get more and more money for outgoing transfers as the save progressed. We also paid €13M in the last season what is the club record. Same as €66M we received during the last season when I sold players to FC Porto, Sevilla, Leverkusen or Shanghai.

I'm sure it would be even more next season if I would continue.

The favourite real players

The first one is Emiliano Ozuna 100%. This Argentinian winger was already a key player when the save started and he keeps his role for the whole of the time.

Emiliano was 23 years old in 2019 when we started our journey. He was able to play as the winger in ML or AML position but he moved also to WBL position when I decided to switch to 3-5-2/3-4-1-2 formation. Ozuna was also able to play as a striker so his variability was great.

Emiliano Ozuna made 445 appearances in all competitions, scored 137 goals and made 100 assists.

Emiliano Ozuna and Sebastián Osorio were the only two real players in the squad at the end of the last season.

Osorio, born in Colombia, came to our club before the 2nd season of the save. That means he spent 9 seasons with us. He played mainly as IF(A) or IF(S). When we switched to the formation with three at the back, he lost his place as he was not enough already for the AM or striker role.

He made 386 appearances, scored 116 goals and made 55 assists.

I wanted to pick third real player but I was not able to select someone. No other player stood out.

Three favourite newgens

To select three best newgens of this save was really easy for me. I will start with the goalkeeper Erick Vargas.

I signed him for €40k in the 2020/2021 season after our promotion. He played mainly for the youth team during the first three seasons but he was our number 1 since 2023/2024. He made 'only' 17 clean sheets in this season. In the last season it was 38 what was a new club record.

The second player is the central defender Josué Infante. He is our own newgen from the 2021/2022 season and I wrote about him several times during the save. Mainly in combination with some set pieces as he was great for free kicks and corners. He scored 16 goals from the set pieces in the 2025/2026 season what was his best.

He is still only 24 years old in 2029 so he has everything ahead of him including the potential success with the national team.

The last one. And probably the most favourite of all. Midfielder Gilberto Erick Serrano. He was part of the same youth intake as Infante and developed into great midfielder.

Serrano played mainly as CM(A) or CM(S). He improved his attributes of Marking by 6, Decisions by 7 or Agility by 6 since he appeared in the club.

He made 318 appearances, scored 44 goals and made 100 assists. The only player who made it between legends of the club. Even the Emiliano Butragueno is only within icons.

My favourite number 8.

Conclusion

Despite I was not 100% sure about the save in Mexico at the beginning, it was a great choice. Mainly because it was something different again and the typical save in Europe with already know players.

As I wrote before my FM19 save in Chile and Argentina, I needed some fresh air and some new beginning. I'm glad it continued also within the FM20 cycle.

I found some very good players who I would buy for sure if I would manage some European club as they would fit great here. Not only my own players but many other players I played against when I reached the Mexican top tier.

Thank you, Mexico, it was great. I'm sure Emilio Butragueno would be happy.

FM20 | Utilising the Half Back role

The season 2024/2025 brought one important thing within my FM20 save in Mexico. My Celaya FC side started using the defensive midfielder role. After years with the flat 4-3-3, I decided I will try to create something including the Half Back role.

I started the 2024/2025 season with the latest version of my 4-3-3 with the flat midfield but I felt a big urge to change something during the Apertura.

The more I played, the more I wanted to change something. And I didn't want to use probably the most common role in defensive midfield slot - the deep lying playmaker.

I waited until October 2024 and the international break. It could be risky as there were only seven league matches before the play-off.

We secured our play-off spot despite the defeat against Santos Laguna as we finished 7th in the league. In the end, we won the play-off and the Apertura despite we finished 7th after the first 19 matches.

We have no "clear" Half Back in the squad right now, we have a lot of playmakers within central midfielders but you will see it can work.

Current players able to play as DM

The first thoughts

As the game description of the Half Back role says, the player in this role "drops deeper...and looks to offer an outlet for quickly recycling possession."

It was exactly what I wanted. I know it's something you can have also with the DLP (read THIS if you want more about the DLP within 4-1-4-1 @FMEadster & @FMPressure) but as I said, I wanted to use a different role.

Mainly because I used the DLP in the DM slot many times.

I'm using More Urgent pressing intensity within the team instructions but my Half Back has Close Down Less instruction. Why? Because I don't want to see him outside of his position.

My first thoughts were I have to select the right roles around the Half Back in terms of both CM roles.

I like to use CM(S) and CM(A) roles so it was almost 100% sure I will use one of these two.

The question was - how much static midfield I want?

Half Back + DLP(S)

The first version included two static players because despite I wrote I didn't want to use the DLP role in DM slot, this role is with the support duty is my favourite one within FM20.

I'm using the DLP(S) role within my 4-3-3 formation with the flat midfield and the right player could be a great addition to the whole set-up.

That's why I decided to try it also within this formation.

So, the central midfielders' roles against the Club León were Half Back, DLP(S) and CM(A). Lionel Laborda (10) played as CM(A), Salvador Garcia (24) as Half Back and Gilberto Erick Serrano (6) as DLP(S).

Garcia had 43 passes with CM(A), 31 passes with DLP(S), 31 & 26 passes with both central defenders.

Laborda as CM(A) had 34 passes with Serrano as DLP(S).

As both Half Back and DLP(S) roles have hold position instruction it was clear the players in these roles will be more reserved and more static.

In a combination with the CM(A) role, they remain much deeper and my team had less aggressivity around and in the penalty area after crosses.

When I played against Cruz Azul away, all these three players had the most passes between each other as I played Montano as Half Back, Serrano as DLP(S) and Pérez as CM(A).

The combination of HB and DLP(S) could be great for the matches against stronger sides. It can be useful even if you don't want to use shorter passing instruction.

The passing combinations will be more central-minded and you can also try to play through the middle option.

It can lead to some nice passes into space for Inside Forward.

Half Back + DLP(S) + CM(A)

Left or right-sided/footed, is it important?

I know many coaches and many managers in real-life pay attention to the fact if their players are left or right-footed and if they play on the left or the right side of the pitch.

It can be important within the central defenders when you try to build your play from the back.

Probably a lot of us is trying to have left-footed Inside Forward on the right side of the pitch.

But do you pay attention to it also within the central midfielders? Let me know in the comments if you want...

I didn't care about it too much in the past but since I had Venezuelan midfielder José Carlos Pinilla in the team last one and a half season, I started to think about it.

Pinilla has strong left foot and he was a great central midfielder but every time he played in the central or the right CM role, he was worse by 50%.

Every time I put him in the team as the central midfielder on the left side, he made assist or he scored. Just some food for thought...

Half Back + Roaming Playmaker

The picture below shows the last six games of the season when Emmanuel Cantú (click to the link open his profile) played once as Box To Box midfielder when I wanted to try it instead of CM(A).

But he played mainly as our Roaming Playmaker. His rating and performances were like from a different universe. Cantú was one of the reasons why we won the Clausura 2024/2025 play-off in the end.

This version including Half Back, Roaming Playmaker and CM(A) roles is much role versatile, more fluid and more interesting to watch. There is not as many short passes as with the DLP role.

The Roaming Playmaker is able to get the ball and he is able to make something by himself, not only to distribute the ball back to the Half Back or to the central defender.

But the football with the RPM is more straighforward in my eyes.

Distribute to central defenders + RPM + Advanced Forward

That was also the reason why I used RPM role more at the end of the 2024/2025 season.

Example? The last match of the season/play-off against Cruz Azul when we on 3-0 at home and I played three 18 years old newgens in the starting XI as the central defender, Half Back and CM(A).

Irvin Moreno (13) as the Half Back, Emmanuel Cantú (28) as RPM and David Escobedo (14) as CM(A).

There were 61 pasess between HB and RPM and 31 pasess between RPM and CM(A).

The biggest change between using DLP(S) and RPM in the CM role within this formation was that Half Back used both wide defenders much more when there was Roaming Playmaker.

In this last match, Irvin Moreno as the Half Back had 25 passes with the right defender (CWB) and 25 passes with the left defender as FB(A).

I like the fact we were not over 100 backward passes in the match against Cruz Azul. You can see it's the CWB with number 2 was heavily involved with the Half Back, RPM but also with Advanced Forward.

Half Back + FB(A) & CWB(S)

If I wrote I had to find the right roles around the Half Back, it didn't mean only the CM roles. It's also connected to defenders.

As the Half Back sits deep I settled to FB(A) and CWB(S) roles after some testing. And also after some frustrating and boring 1-0 wins after seeing too many wrong things.

There is also a perfect example of the passing difference between using two different roles on the sides.

I like to use Full Back with the attacking duty and I decided to use on the left side behind the Winger. There were a lot of short passes between Half Back and FB(A) player.

It usually happened after our defender won the ball in the tackle or after a long ball by the opponents. And it usually resulted in some build-up play between Half Back and DLP(S).

Half Back + FB(A)

On the other side, I'm using Complete Wing Back with the support duty. As you can see in the picture, it contains more long balls and more long passes to the right side of the pitch.

It's mainly because of the fact our CWB player offers more width than our full back who is not set to stay wider.

Half Back + CWB(S)

My Half Backs in the 2024/2025 season

Three players were used in the Half Back role during the time after we switched to this formation.

Diego Montano played 29(5) matches. Salvador Garcia 20(2) matches. And the youngest Irvin Moreno made 2(1) appearances.

The fun fact is that Moreno played in both play-off final matches in the starting XI because of Moreno and García were unavailable.

All of these players have their PROS & CONS. Montano played the most matches but he is on loan and it's not sure we will sign him.

Garcia needs to improve his Heading. Same as Montano. Moreno needs to work on more things but mainly on Marking, Tackling and Positioning.

But he played in both play-off finals and he had 206 passes completed from 209. His best advantage is he is our own newgen from the 2024 youth intake.

All three are set to train the Half Back role after we switched to this role. But the additional focus is different.

As I wrote, Moreno needs to improve his Marking or Positioning, that's why he has Defensive Positioning as the additional focus.

Garcia is quite poor in terms of overall passing so I gave him passing training for some time.

I think the midfielders are the best players for testing of training and the additional focus. (Training Intensity is missing among Garcia and Montano as they are currently on holiday at the end of the season but it's Double normally).

Decisions attribute

If you highlight the key and preferable attributes for the Half Back role, you can see the Decisions attribute is only among preferable.

I would change it but I can't. But it's the most important attribute at least in my head. For all midfielders who are reliable for the ball distribution.

And I like the fact all our Half Backs have 14 or higher value of this attribute. And they still have time to improve it.

Our squad is the best in terms of Decisions in comparison with the rest of midfielders in the league.

But there are, of course, areas we need to improve.

I have to say, Montano's goal was great to watch...

Tactics used vs tactics faced

We used this 4-3-3 with the defensive midfielder in 46 matches from the last 50.

And we kept 33 clean sheets in these matches. Incredible. I will share all the results and more info about the season itself in the next blog post.

We faced different formations during this time. The most common starting formation against us was the same as ours, 4-3-3 with DM or 4-1-4-1 DM Wide as it's named in the game.

You can also see the second most common formation was 4-1-4-1 DM (13%). It's also the main formation we struggle against in terms of created chances.

Do you know what I also like within this set-up?

The cooperation with the right selected Complete Wing Back and Central Midfielder with the attacking duty...

If you want to read something different including the Half Back role, head to the FMGrasshopper website and check his post about Gallardo's 4-1-3-2 tactics.

Do you know about some other recent blog posts about the Half Back role? Let me know, I will be happy to read them.

FM20 Far Post Corner | Tweaking the good old trick

The fifth season of my Football Manager 2020 save in Mexico is well underway and I failed again. I mean, I wanted to add make the most from set pieces to the club culture/vision. But there was not option to do it between the seasons. So, I decided I will just keep it in my head and will try to tweak/edit/improve set pieces through the season.

It led to the fact I decided to try to recreate the good old trick with the far post corner kick routine.

It's simple. When you want to use a short routine, you place someone to offer short option role.

If you want to use near post routine you concentrate the best options in terms of your best-suited players around the near post. It's logical.

But I made the opposite this time

My idea was to use far post corner delivery but don't place all players to attack far post, lurk at far post etc.

I decided to put most of my players to the near post. Two players are set as attack near post & lurk at near post, two players are set as go forward and one player lurk outside area.

That means at least two, but better three players stay back. And the last one is set to attack far post.

This is my initial set-up as it's available to see in the picture above. The idea was to convince the opponent's defending players to go and defend mainly the area around the near post.

And the main and the most important task you have is to select the best possible player with the best possible tor the attack far post role as he will be here alone. Sometimes against two or three defensive players.

But sometimes only against one...

63a7eafb22b4f5d356531a5febd3a6ec.gif

This is how it ended in the picture above.

In this case, our young central defender Infante was set to attack far post. This our own newgen was (almost) unstoppable in the previous season for our U20s team in terms of set pieces.

He scored 9 goals in 15 matches and seven from them were from corners.

I found out it's easier to score from set-pieces for my first-team players when they play in the Under 20 league. But this defender was still 17 years old so I thought: wow, that could be great if he will be able to score at least a half of these goals also for the first team.

And he scored the winning goal in the "Campeones Cup" against Salt Lake. But it was not that easy as I thought.

The young Josué Infante. Orange highlighted attributes are the most important to me, the red highlighted attributes are important as well but not necessary. On the other hand, it's obvious he is not the best header or finisher.

I can say, the young Josué scored only twice during the first part of the season. It was clear he is not that good in the top tier matches as against the young and not that good players in the youth league.

And I started to test different players in the attack far post role. But one thing became like a tradition - strikers or defenders were the best here.

The current striker #1 and the key attributes for the attack far post role

I also made one change to the whole set-up during the season as I decided to add offer short option role as it means another defensive player will be dragged out of penalty area position.

Do you know that feeling when you made some change and it worked in the first match after you made that change?

It happened when we played Chivas away. I decided to test Daniel Cisneros in attack far post role.

And, as I mentioned, I added one player to offer a short option. Well, Cisneros opened the score in the 20th minute after the corner kick.

As you can see, 6 players were concentrated to defend near post area, 1 player went close down the corner and 1 is outside the penalty area. Only 1 player defended the far post.

Cisneros was able to beat his only one defender and opened the score with the perfect header.

The main idea behind this routine was complete. See gif.

b5f8fad231738aa5d2440f174be69886.gif

Sometimes, it can also lead to an own goal or the player set to attack near post can score. If the players around the near post are able to avoid offside position. For example like this one...

c0a696bfe37b1684f1a7faf837c97da0.gif

As I already said, the main task is to select the best possible player for the attack far post role in terms of Off The Ball, Bravery, Decisions or Finishing attributes.

I was not able to sign some good players in terms of "SfS" strategy the same as last year as most players with the right attributes for set pieces are out of our financial possibilities.

But it's fun to test my current own players at least.

Dojaquez (ST), Infante (CD), Osorio (AMR), Cisneros (ST or AMR), Moreno (ST), Lecanda (CD).

The last gif shows two goals by Óscar Moreno, the 18 years old newgen striker, who scored twice in a single match for our U20s against Cruz Azul to seal 2-0 win.

f4f7d7e0c611fc74f8b959a47ede9fae.gif

Note: this is not intended to be routine what will assure you will score many many goals with it. This is mainly about the fact I had some idea what to do and how it ended with the limited options within the set pieces in Football Manager.

It's a different type of the FM20 Far Post Corner routine this time but I really enjoy it.

If the only thing what you want is the download link, read the post again 😉