Welcome back! Exciting times today, as Ted takes command of January and his first transfer window. After this little introduction, you’ll be reading words straight from the horse(man)’s mouth.
We’re in a solid position at the turn of the year. We’re favourites for promotion, and after a very good start, the aim has to be going up automatically, at the first attempt. There are definitely tactical changes on my agenda when I return in February, and a look at our most exciting intake prospect, now that it’s happened, but first, let’s see what Ted got up to…
Upon receiving the file from From, I realised that there’s very little surgery needed to this Toulouse side that are topping the Ligue 2 table. Much like my own Sporting Cristal save, though, there are a lot of players hanging around in the Reserves squad that have expiring contracts, and a couple of first team players not getting minutes. If I can shift a few of them, then that’ll bring in a few bob to the €2m transfer budget graciously handed over by the board. The board were also kind enough to allow me to hire another scout, so naturally I signed up Thomas Radzinski, because anything else would have been a disaster.
Like a kid in a candy shop, I jumped onto the Scouting page to uncover a few Argentinian folk with expiring contracts at the end of June, and needlessly signed right back Emanuel Iñíguez for €1m, who demands to be an Important Player, despite us already having a great option in that position already. After replacing our backup goalkeeper with a slightly younger model, I then proceeded to strip away any semblance of depth within the squad, so I’m hoping an injury crisis isn’t on the horizon. The bright side is that I then signed Yohan Cabaye, as well as a generic Argentinian centre midfield all-rounder, Alexis Alegre, on freebies. My finest work came from looking for youngsters, gifting FEO with Lamine Cissé and Brahima Ouattara for a combined €173k. The future’s bright, the future’s purple.
(FEO): Straight back out on loan…but I want him now (shakes fist)
When it comes to everything outside of transfers, I was responsible for a 9th Round French Cup tie penalty defeat to Ligue 1 Brest, as well as five league games. FEO mentioned in his blog that form wasn’t great (despite results) going into January, and I feel like my management style didn’t help matters. I was a little too hasty with changes to playing style during matches, rather than being patient and sticking with a winning formula. Having initially stretched our lead at the top to 7 points after 3 league games, I was then responsible for it being cut to 3 points. Whoops.
I’ve not managed to do as much as I’d have liked in this window, however the first eleven remains in place, and there are a couple of different options in the attacking third to perhaps try something different. I may have left FEO a little short, but summer will be better once we have Ligue 1 status to attract players…right? Over to you, F.
FEO:
Overall I’m pretty happy with Ted’s January. He had some tough fixtures, especially considering we were out of form. No shame in losing on penalties to Brest. Tis but a scratch.
Transfer-wise, there’s absolutely no doubt the squad was bloated, and he’s done well to get some spare parts off of our books permanently.
He’s also let eight more players go out on loan, most of whom bring in a little more money. Before January, the club was losing around €1.3m a month. There’s no way this will be brought under control this season, but Ted’s business looks to be wise, considering our position.
19 players out, and 7 in. Of the incoming transfers, Iñíguez and Alegre look solid and versatile, definitely sensible with reduced numbers. Cabaye is a much needed experienced head, his hard working nature, as well as his technical ability should mean I can rest our key central midfielders a little more. Like Ted, I’m most excited by the youngsters he brought in. I’m already pondering on how to develop Ouattara, once he returns, and Cissé will get some first team reps this season for sure.
€3k. €3 freaking k!
Tactics:
I’m tearing up the tactics. I’ve not been able to get much out of the AMC position so far, and it feels like playing with ten men at times. All too familiar a refrain for me. Perhaps my season with Boca was a one-off, and a 4231 just isn’t my strong suit?
Yeah yeah, we’re top of the league, what are you doing and so forth. One of my tendencies in FM, is my willingness to change a tactic when I feel like I can improve upon it, when results are still good. If we’re top whilst getting little from a position, how well could we do if all eleven players contribute?
I decided to strip back some team instructions, play on positive mentality, and lose the AMC. As Ted mentioned above, the first team had been kept intact, and this was the tactic and team selection I eventually settled on:
There were a few matches that resulted in tweakage during February. After a brief dalliance with three CMs, I dropped one to be a DM. I changed to an advanced playmaker from the previous CMS, re-introduced the advanced forward rather than the pressing forward, and added low crosses to the team instructions. Speaking as someone who’s played a lot of 90 minute FM so far, if they haven’t recently nerfed headers, then I’m a Dutchman.
Speaking of heading, Sidibé had been given a go as the CMA, with his height (6’7″) and ability in the air, I thought he could be a danger arriving in the box. And I was correct, up to a point. He was always popping up on the end of crosses. In two separate games he had double figures for efforts on goal, the majority of which were aerial chances. When it comes to heading the ball straight at the ‘keeper, he’s arguably the world’s finest talent.
In terms of other personnel, Machado’s frequent errors, specifically giving the ball away cheaply, got on my nerves, and Moussa Diarra usurped him at left back. Dejaegere returned on the right, after Janis Antiste’s early season impact waned. He’s young, and will hopefully be a serious part of our future, especially with Dejaegere only here on loan for this season.
The only position that no-one really claimed was the CMA. Manu Koné had a couple of great games, but he also stunk it up at times. Spierings and Alegre also had moments, but without fully convincing.
Losing the AMC seemed to particularly benefit Wesley Saïd on the left flank, as he was frequently cutting inside and driving into the central space. Occasionally he’d run so far he popped up on the right wing. He looked far more effective from February onwards. Koulouris thrived on through balls from deeper positions, scoring plenty with his feet.
Three draws and thirteen victories later, the title was ours:
The new tactic worked like a charm. We weren’t often likely to play beautiful football (though the final few games in particular were nice), but we did improve our goal output after the change.
The defence also upgraded from “tight” to flat out “miserly”. 23 conceded in 38 games is a record to be proud of, with just 8 conceded in the 16 games since the change in tactics. I suspect we’ll be needing that as a base next season.
Our dominance was reflected with seven players in the Ligue 2 team of the season:
Despite not making the team, Maxime Dupé won Goalkeeper of the Season. In truth, he had very little to do, and didn’t really impress me. He was at fault for three of the goals we conceded.
For me, the pick of Ted’s signings was Iñíguez, who played well in three different positions and allowed me to rotate more during the second half of the season.
Most goals: Koulouris (20), Saïd (10), Bayo (9)
Most key contributions: Van den Boomen (8), Dejaegere (6), Saïd (6)
Most assists: Dejaegere (9), Van den Boomen (7), Antiste (5), Saïd (5)
Most secondary assists: Van den Boomen (9), Dejaegere (4)
Behind The Scenes:
Not a lot to report here. Money’s too tight to mention, so nothing was invested in facilities. Hopefully promotion will lead to more funds for this in future.
The youth intake happened, with a fair few players of promise, but one in particular shines brightly:
I’d have given him a debut already if I’d been allowed to register him. He has bags of potential, and hopefully we can develop him to become a first team option for years to come.
Next time, Ted gets to sink his teeth into a full summer of fun, as we prepare for a step up in class. I have some ideas on what we need and what I want, but that’s not my role here. My only input will come towards the end of the transfer window, if there are players I don’t think I’ll be giving game time, I’ll feed that back, otherwise recruitment is all on Ted.
Thanks for reading, stay safe x