4-4-2 Diaries - End Of Year Assessment

INTRODUCTION

Like all FM’ers I go through an evaluation process for my entire squad at the end of the year.  While I am constantly evaluating my squad throughout the season, that work is largely informal with a few just a few notes jotted down here or there in a spreadsheet or notebook and it might be about form, injuries, tactical compatibility, or just how annoyed I am at their stupid haircut. At the end of the season when the ref has blown full time and the lads are pissing in the communal bath, I start my formal review.

Many folks just glance over their squad and chuck a few on the transfer list and have a fairly fluid approach to squad management but I’m a nerd so I’m looking for any excuse to crank out a spreadsheet! The end product will be a final decision on whether a play stays, gets a new contract, is transitioned to a new position, dropped up or down the pecking order, or ultimately sold to whoever will take on our rejects.  

Like the tactical development process in my last blog for WSFM, this is a top-down process that is ultimately driven by the ambitions and status of the club and its finances.  Budgets, performances, age, positional depth/redundancy, and overall squad numbers will be the core determining factors. Team Reports, Coaching Staff Opinions and Analysis will also be factored into the equation for every player.  This forms our strategy for the post-season for that player. Whether we are successful or not is obviously not guaranteed as situations like selling a player or trying to get them to agree to a new contract with the club aren’t a given, but we at least have a plan.

THE PROCESS

I go to my general custom Squad View (see below) that I use for a lot of decision making during the year, and use the Print Screen to Web Page function to create a HTML file that I import into a Google sheet.

 
 

I then make some formatting changes to the spreadsheet and add several columns to record various notes such as:

  • Tactical Role - noting what role in our tactics the player was used for.

  • KPIs - any additional Key Performance Indicators I want to include such as pass completion ratio.  Our KPIs may change from team to team or season to season.

  • Future Squad Status - whether I wish to upgrade/downgrade the player in the pecking order compared to his current squad status

  • Managers Notes - my general notes on the player. I may have some notes that I have taken throughout the season and consolidate them here. I will usually note this on my own opinion before I consider the Coaches Reports.

  • Coaches Notes - anything I consider worth noting from their Coach Report or Team Report specific to the player

  • Decision - the desired outcome from the above (e.g. sell the player, re-sign at all costs, reduce squad status, etc)

  • Next Season Depth Chart - this is a very basic squad depth chart similar to the one on the Team Report page noting the number of players I will have next season for each position. Utility players will be counted in each spot they can play but I’ll include a note as a reminder.

  • Budget - I include the available transfer budget for next season along with our committed wages and wage budget for next year.

  • Transfer Priorities - arguably the key output of this activity - how many players do we need to buy for each position? This keeps me focused on the actual need rather than merely chasing the best players available


I then go ahead and assess every player in the first team squad and then repeat the process for both the Under 23’s and Under 18’s, but usually in less detail.  It’s a process that usually takes me 1-2 hours.

I go through each players Profile screen and check the attributes including whether they’ve improved or decline, match ratings and comparisons. I will also check how they performed against any KPIs that I have established.  For Sunderland, it was Pass Completion %. I make my Managers Notes and flag (highlight) certain data points such as contract end dates to act as prompts to consider when I’m doing the final assessment on the player.

For those players retiring, already sold, on loan and returning to their parent club, or already decided to be released, I skip the remaining steps for those players and simply strike-through the data and highlight the row in grey.

Here’s a working example of this seasons assessment for Sunderland:

 
 

As you can see it’s a bit of a shit show at Sunderland! My recent blogs cover this but we took over and immediately oversaw a massive clearout in the January window to sort out the finances. We then had a threadbare squad just to get us through the rest of the season where we ended up in in the Championship and knocked out on pens in the playoffs. We’re essentially hitting the reset button, keeping a few solid squad players and starting again. At least we now have some budget room, an excellent crew of coaches and scouts on board so let’s get to work!

Sparky, Out!




Mid 90's Milan - Part Two

Written by Dave Black - @cm9798

Hello and welcome back to Part 2 of Mid 90s Milan. We got the 96/97 campaign off to a gentle start in part one, the star-studded squad showing glimpses of promise in my first few games in the dugout. The aim is to outperform Milan’s rather terrible real life 96/97 season, which will involve getting out of the Champions League group stages.

We really should manage that. CSKA Sofia and FC Croatia not only represent excellent European breaks but anything less than 12 points from those four games will be a failure. We also have to contend with Juventus, in what I assume was an administrative oversight. Sadly for us their squad is every bit as impressive as ours. They’ve added Delli Carri, Schottel and German International Dieter Eilts to an already stacked squad and it sickens me to my very core.

Edgar Davids is back for us. He will of course go on to play for Juventus and also Inter Milan. There’s no loyalty in Italian football. Take Christian Vieri. Sure he’s at Juventus now, but he would go on to play for both Milan’s, Lazio, Sampdoria and Fiorentina. Oh and Atalanta twice but that’s less irksome. Naturally he opens the scoring on his way to a perfect ten rating. We knock on the door but find Angelo Peruzzi there on six occasions. Boksic then scores a sucker punch second before Davids leaves on a stretcher.

Not an ideal start to the European campaign but easier matches lie ahead. Davids won’t be involved for a while.

That’s annoying. Not to worry though, we’ll shuffle the pack for the visit of Lazio.

Lazio have a really fun squad. The line is lead by Casiraghi, who will go on to cause Phil Babb to slide groin first into a post in years to come. For some reason they have seen fit to spend £8m on Peter van Vossen to partner him, leaving Signori on the bench. Signori is one of my favourites from the old Serie A on Channel 4 days. Young Czech International Pavel Nedved has an exciting future ahead whilst Alessandro Nesta marshals the defence. He is however partnered by Paul Okon whilst they have spent £3m on Jody Morris from Chelsea. I…don’t know why.

It’s a tight game with few clear-cut chances in the first half. Desailly heads in from a free kick though before Simone adds a second. That should signal the end of the game but Nedved scores from distance just a minute later. Simone adds a second and then Albertini wraps it up. Four goals in ten minutes, who said Serie A was dull?

Boban picked up a bruised thigh so he’ll sit out the midweek trip to Cagliari. Our midfield options are dwindling so Desailly is back in there with Baresi reinstated into the back four. Savicevic also starts ahead of the disappointing Weah. Cagliari class Ramon Vega as a star player, as is soon to be Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Marco Pascolo. Both are injured, which I guess helps.

Simone scores from Savicevic free kick after just three minutes and it looks like beign one of our easier away days. We tread water for a bit though, making the odd chance but nothing clear cut. Losing Maldini early on is less than ideal as Reiziger has to play out of position at left back. Honestly, this lot drop like flies. Bressan equalises in the second half and I throw on Dugarry and Weah to try and save face. Dugarry obliges. Phew.

A month without Maldini. The only other left back in the squad is 19-year-old Francesco Coco, who would go on to play for Barcelona and Inter yet failed a trial for Newcastle after failing to impress in a friendly against Yeading. I wish that was a lie.

Still, Boban is back as Udinese roll into town. They have Olivier Bierhoff who scored the winner for Germany in the Euro 96 final. We’re not at our fluent best but I’m starting to wonder if we ever are. I’m not 100% sure these lads even come to training. They just turn up on a match day and hope somebody does something clever. It takes 70 minutes but Savicevic goes on a mazy dribble before finding the corner. It’s not for lack of trying, 9 shots on target is not a bad effort but just one goal. Surely we should be getting more from this attack?

Back to the elite European club competition now as we welcome the imaginatively named FC Croatia. I expect nothing less than a win but Costacurta departs on a stretcher after four minutes. Sigh. It turns out to be a twisted knee that will only see him miss a few weeks. Baggio scores a delightful chip but as usual after that there is a lot of huff and puff but the Croatian house will not blow down. Typically, they then equalise just after half time. That seems to shock us into life and three goals in four minutes win us the game.

CSKA Sofia drew 1-1 at home to Juventus. Maybe I’ve underestimated them?

With Costacurta now joining Maldini on the treatment table I’m left with no choice but to bring Desailly back into defence. Albertini will play in the centre of the midfield three and I’m going to gamble with Dugarry on the right side. It’s probably a bit deeper than he’d like to play but he’s done well whenever he has come on there. Also, he isn’t Jesper Blomqvist. Verona are 17th so our trip there does not fill me with dread.

Maybe it should. A scrappy game sees set pieces galore and most of them end with a Verona head directing the ball towards our goal. Rossi is keeping us in it. By half time they’ve had 10 shots to our 4 and they smell blood. Eventually, one corner too many for us to defend leads to De Vitis giving them the lead. Time to tinker. Dugarry has a 5, so that hasn’t worked. Coco has a booking so he’s off for Weah whilst Blomqvist is on for Dugarry. It’s a back three of Desailly, Baresi and Panucci with Boban on the left of midfield and Blomqvist on the right. Albertini holds the centre whilst Savicevic and Baggio play off Weah and Simone. Immediately, Savicevic scores a screamer to undeservedly pull us level. He then plays in a free kick which Panucci meets sweetly and it’s 2-1. Reiziger replaces Baggio and we see out the last half hour. Easy this management lark…

That brings September to a close. We are top after five games. Juventus just lost 3-1 to Perugia so even with their game in hand, they won’t overhaul us. But we’ve played five games. There will be problems ahead.

Join me next time to see how October goes. It looks like being quite a month as we face Napoli, Inter and Juve across three different competitions. See you then.

Terry's Journey

Written by TerryWorldOrder

The year is 1984. The home computer boom is in full swing and at Christmas I was gifted my first computer; a ZX Spectrum 48k. I was 12 years old and I had no idea what to do with it, but I was just told this machine would be the future. 

Going back to school after that Christmas was different. We were not trading cards to fill some sticker album, or swapping an unwanted gift an Aunt had bought us for a stick of chewing gum; we were exchanging computer games. Within a week we had a found a way to copy the games via everyone’s new best friend – the kid in school whose father had the Hi-Fi with dual tape decks.  

To many of you, this concept will sound mind boggling, but back then computers didn’t have hard drives. Games came in cassette form and we loaded them into the computer via a tape deck. This was a primitive system where piracy was rife and even more popular than the phone number of the girl at school who everyone KNEW would snog on the first date. 

It was during one of these schoolyard exchanges where I was handed a cassette with a game on it that started a 35-year love affair - Football Manager. 

 
 

The game back then was a very simple concept. Put the players in a pre-set formation and buy the best players from a very small database. There were terrible graphics of a football pitch with basic one-colour sprites moving back and forth to try and represent how the game was being played out. The game flashed ‘GOAL’ when you scored and omitted a dull beep when a chance was missed. This may sound boring, but back then it was all we had and let me tell you, it was addictive as hell. 

Fast-forward to 1987 and I’m now the proud owner of the massively improved Spectrum 128k personal home computer, along with the new football management game Brian Clough’s Football Fortunes. I can’t remember too much about the game itself, as it was certainly one to forget. It unfortunately failed to re-create the magic of Kevin Tom’s Football Manager. Your team was given a total score for both defence and attack, which then went straight to a vidi-printer for the match results. This element of the game created the suspense and was extremely underwhelming in single player mode, but in dual player mode and whilst playing against friends, the surprise of the results made the game come to life. Another thing to mention about this particular game was that what you played on the screen via the software could be replicated with an accompanying board and playing cards. 

 
 

Moving on to 1992 and I had upgraded to the fantastic Amiga 500. Whilst searching for a football management game to play, I read a game review in one of the Amiga magazines from one of their game specialists. He was comparing Premier Manager with Championship Manager. He claimed Premier Manager was the better and more enjoyable game, simply because Championship Manager was an out-of-date concept based on numbers alone. Being a trusted reader of this publication and on the strength of this review, I rushed to the local computer store and bought a copy of Premier Manager. The game forced you to start in the conference, build the team up and progress through the leagues. The in-game part was excellent and it even showed little animations running to a goal and shooting. Once your player had taken the shot, either a keeper seemingly coming out of nowhere would save the attempt, or if you were lucky, a GOAL animation would flash on the screen. The game was a multiplayer and matches ran at the same time on the same screen. However, the navigation around the UI manager desk was frustrating and really killed what little love I had for the game overall. 

 
 

During this period I was at college and as luck would have it, one of my classmates had an Amiga too. He would frequently come to college with a selection of games for me to borrow. One day he brought in the original Championship Manager. I remember having reservations, remembering the review I had read, but I gave it a chance and I’m glad I did. The UI was easy to use and you could pick your own system, including tactics and formation. It’s safe to say I was in football manager heaven! This was the game I had been searching for and Premier Manager was binned quickly and without regret. I also cancelled my subscription to that Amiga magazine! That life lesson has stuck with me to this day. Since then I have never trusted any one single review and I’ll search for a consensus of a product if I’m not able to test it myself.  

 
 

It’s fair to say that after this my college friend struggled to get his Championship Manager disks back. For weeks I delayed handing it back. I kept giving lame excuses like “nah, I’ve forgotten it” or “I had no space in my bag” or the classic “my friend wants to play it”. Eventually I had to cave in and reluctantly gave him the box, conveniently forgetting to put the disks back in. It bought me another week of precious game time to play my new favourite game. I was hooked, addicted - more so than the original version of Kevin Tom’s Football Manager. It meant I had to go out and buy it for myself, although when I told my mate he informed me that the new version of the game would be out in about a month. 

 I decided to wait and although it felt like an eternity, I eventually owned the new and improved Championship Manager 93. Normally I do not read game manuals unless it’s for control systems, but I read this manual from cover to cover, even before I put the disk in. To this day I still remember some of the strategy tips from that manual, how they described the styles of football and how best to use the players attributes to fit them in those styles. Because of that manual I still believe a player with high flair is a luxury player that often cannot be afforded in the English game and how there are hidden values for each player that you the manager must discover. Just because you have bought somebody with a high finishing attribute, he might not be a consistent goal scorer. Maybe he has a history of injuries? Maybe he hasn’t been played in the correct system that complements his strengths? 

 
 

Moving forward to the present day, it’s fair to say I have played enough versions of Championship Manager/Football Manager games to qualify for a FA coaching badge, a UEFA Licence and a brown envelope from FIFA. Whoever writes my obituary needs to simply state ‘Terry played Football Manager’. I rarely play the game now just to win trophies. I have served my time, doing the 30 years saves in previous versions where my club have honoured me with a bronze statue and a stadium named after me. Did I get knighted in one version? Or did I make that up? At this point I really can’t remember, but I’m sure I was gifted a donkey in a Spanish save once. 

There is so much to do in Football Manager now, it really is a far cry from the simplistic versions that first enthralled me. It’s moved on and evolved. It’s grown up. You can create a tactic and win things whilst delegating tasks to your backroom staff in the background. Alternatively, you can micro-manage everything with incredible attention to detail, from tailoring training to fit your tactic, to mentoring your youth players. However you play the game and to whatever level of expertise you have, it still is a rewarding experience. 

Personally, the reason I still play Football Manager 35 years on is the drama this game can create. Nothing will twist your emotions like FM. It will make you laugh and it will make you cry, all in the same session. It will make you throw your arms in the air. All logic will be abandoned and you will be so disgusted with your players that will shout expletives at a screen to dots that can’t hear you. You share your club’s highs but despair at the lows, vowing to turn it around and transform their fortunes. That is the magic of Football Manager - everything from scoring that crucial last minute winner, to changing your tactics and putting 10 men behind the ball with 5 minutes to play. It’s what I love about the series and I know its what you do too. After all, that is why we play it. Just one more game. 

My 35 years of playing football manager have been a journey. The evolution from the feel-good early versions to the complete in-depth game that SI has passionately created, always be thankful that they have, because there truly is nothing like it. 

Terry.

 

 

Football DNA

 
DNA.jpg
 

Written by MaddFM

🎵 Suggested listening 🎵 :  

  

  

There is a child in the world who's father is Sergio Aguero; his Grandfather is Diego Maradona; and his Godfather is none other than Lionel Messi. No pressure there son. When Brooklyn Beckham was born, bookies were giving 1000-1 odds that he would play for England before he could even walk (down to 66-1 by the time he was 3). In 1992, crane driver Eddie Kirkland bet £100 that his then 11 year old son Chris would play for England one day, and that bet netted him £10,000 in 2006 when Chris came on as a sub in a friendly against Greece. The same happened for Harry Wilson's grandfather (an electrical contractor) after a 16 year old Harry made his debut for Wales in 2013, earning his grandfather a cool £125,000 from a £50 bet (2,500-1) that he made when Harry was a toddler back in 2000. 

This poses the question - are footballers born or made? Can football and DNA be linked in this way? Is the child of a successful footballer destined to follow in his father's footsteps? Do we give a sh*t? In this article, we will explore the possibility of whether we can realistically connect football ability to DNA and genealogy. We will look at players whose immediate ancestry have also succeeded in the football world, and compare some current players to their respective heritage and origins by looking at each in the context of the CM/FM World, in the hope that we will produce some interesting results and potentially a brand new save idea now that we are halfway through FM19. 

Born and not made? 🔥

 

"It's in his blood" ... "Runs in the family" ... "Takes after his old man" ... "Gets it from his mother" - phrases all of us have probably heard at some point in our lives. Without getting overly scientific and into the biology of it all, we know that people naturally inherit certain traits, characteristics, habits and tendencies from their parents...and history would suggest that this also applies to talent and skill, particularly in football where we have seen many successful fathers, sons, siblings, relations etc all play and succeed at the highest levels within the game. This does not necessarily mean that the child of a successful player is guaranteed to be as talented or successful as their mother or father etc - but it would certainly seem that a combination of their genes and their early exposure & natural ability to take to the talent/sport of their parent at an early age does lead to a somewhat pre-destined path to success in that field, and later we will explore some examples of where this has clearly been evident/not so evident within the football/FM universe. 

 
 

Before we proceed to test out our theories, I will first use two non-football examples of where I feel we see a clear contrast between the concepts of "Born" and "Made" talent - not that these will be specifically exclusive to each example, but research and general opinion seems to suggest that one of these is considered to be a natural "born" talent, while the other has reached the pinnacle of their sport by working towards it through endless hours of practice and lessons from the moment they were old enough to play, and therefore a more "made" talent based on that context. 

 Ronnie O'Sullivan 

Ronnie O'Sullivan is considered to be the most naturally gifted snooker player of all time, so much so that snooker legend Steve Davis once said that he has "never seen anybody who looks as at one with the table as Ronnie. It’s the epitome of someone born to play the game." This is not to say that O'Sullivan hasn't worked as hard as anyone else and doesn't put in 6-8 hours of practice a day - but rather that his approach and natural talent and technique are clearly illustrated every time he comes to the table, and it is this natural talent that puts him at the top of his field ahead of the chasing pack. Years spent in snooker clubs with his dad (he had his first century aged 10) led him to becoming the youngest player to win the Masters (aged 19 and 69 days) and he has since broken records for the most maximum breaks in a competition (13) as well as holding the record for the fastest 147 ever. 

But what is it that makes O'Sullivan so good and more so what distinguishes him as a natural born snooker player? O'Sullivan himself is quoted as saying “I think most people think I was born with a cue in my hand and that when I get on the table it’s all a piece of cake...but that’s not the reality. I have to work hard." This is very true - any sportsman or athlete at the top of their game does have to work hard in order to reach the peak of their own discipline - however it is O'Sullivan's natural ability and talent that have made him the best; in a sport where every player trains and practices for hours and players are starting younger and younger every year, O'Sullivan's inherent instinctual ability is what differentiates him from the rest and the main reason why snooker commentators and enthusiasts alike constantly refer to him as a "born snooker player" and the most naturally talented to ever hold a queue. Even when not 100% on top of his form, O'Sullivan has shown the ability to literally switch it back on and play shots that few players have and will ever be able to pull off. So powerful is his natural talent and ability that, as his former manager Jason Francis acknowledges regarding O'Sullivan's one year career break back in 2012 - "I can’t think of any other sport where a world champion can literally put his feet up for a year and come back and still win it” This is an absolute testament to the fact that O'Sullivan is the closest thing you can find to a naturally born talent. 

 Rory McIlroy 

Let's not for a minute dispute that Rory McIlroy is not one of the greatest talents to ever embrace the game, nor that he hasn't potentially inherited his undeniable skill and natural ability from his father who himself was a scratch golfer at one point. However, for the purposes of this comparison, I look at McIlroy as someone whose skill and ability developed at an incredibly young age through hours upon hours of practice, lessons, dedication and work rate (starting to sound more like FM now 😌). At the age of just 2 or 3 McIlroy was rarely seen without a miniature golf club in his hand, so much so that he was known to bring it to bed with him at night such was his love for the game at that age. For most kids this would usualy have been a phase or hobby however it ws clear that McIlroy clearly had an unmistakable aptitude and potential for the game - to the point where both his father and mother worked a number of extra jobs in order to fund Rory's golf lessons, education and development. Rory started and continued golf lessons from a very young age and eventually left school at age 16 to pursue his dream of becoming a professional golfer.  

 
 

A 3 year old Rory McIlroy courtesy of his own YT channel  

McIlroy turned Pro at age 17 and the rest as we know is history - for the past 10 years McIlroy has won tournaments and trophies across the globe however it is clear that he continues to have to work extremely hard not just technically but also physically and mentally in order to maintain and improve his form. When Rory first embarked on the tour he was a short, skinny guy from the North of Ireland whose hair was the only thing bulky about him - however a rigorous and publicly shared training routine has seen a huge change in his physique and strength, thus enabling him to hit the ball further and compete with the biggest hitting players on the tour. Mentally, we have seen Rory go through a number of transitions in terms of his professional and personal life, whereby we have seen changes to his caddy and coaches at different times and this also has impacted his game. Technically, Rory was always considered to have one of the best swings on the tour however he has continually worked on changing and adapting his swing which again has seen divergences in his form and consistency. 

 
 

 A 9 year old Rory McIlroy courtesy of 4molesgolf 

All of the above in no way takes away from the fact that Rory is a rare and unique talent, however what we can see is that in order to get where he is today and to continue to meet his own goals and exceed expectations, he has had to put in a huge amount of work, practice and training and for that reason I see him as a slightly more "made" talent due to the hugely impressive amount of time and effort he has put in to become one of the world's best golfers. 

ENOUGH NON-FOOTBALL TALK! 

Apologies for going on a bit of a tangent there however I feel that the above examples give us a good base with which to think about how some individuals are born with certain talents and how others can become equally talented through dedication, perseverance and hard-work. This sets us up nicely to start thinking about Football DNA and consider how football ability and skill often appear to be passed from generation to generation; in order for us to analyse this and put it to the test, we will look at examples of where we have seen successful footballers whose fathers/sons also succeeded at the highest level, as well as look at cases where we can clearly see that football seems to "run in the family". 

Like Father, Like Son 

We have seen a number of players emerge over the years whose fathers were also extremely successful within the game, and in this section we will analyse players who not only have footballing parentage but also have developed and succeeded in the exact same position. 

 Peter and Kasper Schmeichel 

Arguably one of the more iconic father & son duos of the modern era, Peter and Kasper Schmeichel are the perfect example of what we are calling Football DNA and how the son of a successful footballer has not only followed exactly in his father's footsteps by playing in the same position and league as his old man, but also a successful illustration of how to step out of your famous father's shadow and completely earn your own right as one of the top keepers in the Premier League as well as your own country. While a common stereotype is that it can be very challenging to carry that name on the back of your shirt particularly when you play in the same position as your more successful father, Kasper rose above the early hype and pressure to become the #1 keeper for Denmark as well as being a key figure in Leicester's remarkable Premier League winning side in 2016.  

 
 

Interestingly, while Peter enjoyed most of his success at Manchester United, it was at Manchester City that Kasper kicked off his career, where he stayed for 5 years before successful stints at Notts County and Leeds led to his move to Leicester City in 2011 where he was signed for a third time by former England Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, and from then on has held the #1 jersey for both club and country. 

How do they compare? 

Peter Schmeichel CM9798

 

Kasper Schmeichel FM19

 
 
 

Obviously Peter was the more successful of the pair, however Kasper has more than held his own in proving himself to be a world class goalkeeper and is a prime example of how to deal with the hype and pressure that so many young players have to deal with in football, particularly those who have big shoes to fill and have had to develop in the shadow of such a successful parent. 

 Mazinho, Thiago and Rafinha 

If any of you are asking "Who the f*ck is Mazinho?!" - you will most likely recognize him as the guy who along with Romario and Bebeto performed the now famous "Three Men and a Baby" goal celebration at USA 1994. 

Not only did Mazinho win both a World Cup and a Copa America with Brazil during his 35 caps for his country, he is also the father of not one but two extremely talented players who currently ply their trade at Bayern Munich and Barcelona respectively. Thiago Alcantara, who moved from Barcelona to Bayern in 2015 for a fee of €25 million, and his brother Rafinha who is currently contracted to Barcelona and on loan at Inter Milan at present. Both brothers have had mixed fortunes on the field in the past few years; Thiago has undoubtedly been the more successful, his move to Bayern arising after new manager Pep Guardiola told the Bayern board "He is the only player that I want. It will be him or no one.". Rafinha on the other hand has shown glimpses of brilliance however his career has been hampered by injury over the past few seasons. 

Thiago, Mazinho, Rafinha

What is interesting about this father and son(s) combination is that all three players are classified as Central Midfielders - Mazinho traditionally holding a more defensive role, Thiago a slightly more technical and creative playmaker and Rafinha operating in a more advanced attacking midfield role. Also interesting is that fact that all three are fully capped internationals however not for the same country!! While Mazinho (35 caps) and Rafinha (2 caps) have played for the Brazilian National Team, Thiago chose a different path and to date has 31 caps for Spain's International side. 

How do they compare?  

Mazinho CM2 Profile courtesy of @cm9798

 

Thiago FM19

 
 

Rafinha FM19

 
 
 

On paper Thiago looks to be the stronger of the three, both in terms of attributes and honours won - I hadn't realised what a good player Rafinha is however, and hopefully he can get past his injury woes and prove his quality. Being completely honest I didn't even realise that both were (a) brothers and (b) sons of a Brazilian World Cup winner, so the initial evidence does suggest that Football DNA is a real concept. 

 Cesare and Paolo Maldini 

In addition to being a highly successful manager at domestic and international level, Cesare Maldini also played at the highest level for both club and country. He spent 12 seasons at Milan from 1954 to 1966, winning 4 league titles, one European Cup and becoming club captain in 1961. The following year he became Italy national captain and earned 14 caps for his country, as well as being named in the 1962 FIFA World Cup Team of the Tournament. Maldini later managed both Milan and Italy at U-21 and Senior level, and is largely credited for developing players such as Fabio Cannavaro, Gianluigi Buffon and Francesco Totti with whom he won three consecutive European U-21 Championships - the same core players that eventually brought home the World Cup in 2006. Maldini retired from playing football in 1967, and a year later he and his wife celebrated the birth of their son Paolo.

A young Paolo Maldini alongside father Cesare

Paolo Maldini needs no introduction. Arguably one of the best defenders of all time, his career spanned 25 seasons at AC Milan where he won 26 trophies and captained the side for over 10 years, as well as earning 126 international caps for Italy for whom he also became Captain following Franco Baresi's retirement after World Cup 1994. He is one of the most decorated footballers of all time, winning 5 Champions League Trophies and 7 Serie A titles as well as being recognized as one of the most successful "One Club Man" players of all time along with the likes of Carles Puyol, Francesco Totti, Ryan Giggs, Tony Adams and Matt Le Tissier. He also captained Italy for more than 10 years, and despite never winning a trophy (finalists at World Cup 1994 and Euro 2000), he has repeatedly been named in various Teams of the Year and World Cup Dream teams etc. 

 

Cesare Maldini (custom DB for comparison)

 
 

Paolo Maldini (courtesy of @MadScientistFM's 0304 DB)

 
 
 

Interestingly - the Maldini football lineage doesn't end there. Paolo Maldini's eldest son Christian was initially on the books at Milan, however never quite made it with the Serie A giants and now plays in the lower league of Italian football. However his younger son Daniel looks to be the real deal, and at the age of just 17 has already been grabbing the headlines after shining for both Milan's U-17 and Primavera sides. Despite his father and grandfather becoming Italian football legends as defenders, Daniel Maldini largely plays as an Attacking Midfielder or Forward and most recently scored his first goal for the Milan Primavera side in February 2019. 

 
 

Football in his blood? Video: PoisonOak07 on YT 

 
 

The Apple doesnt fall far from the tree 

While the above section looks at players who followed their father's footsteps and also played and succeeded in the same position - there are many cases where we have seen the offspring of football legends also emulate their parent's success with a completely different footballing style and playing position - again another interesting factor as we delve into the concept of Football DNA and whether football is passed over through blood and genetics, or through nurturing and exposure to the game at an early age. 

  

Enrico and Federico Chiesa 

Anyone who played Championship Manager during the 1990's and/or followed Italian football during this period will know the name Enrico Chiesa. During a career which spanned over 20 years in Italian football, Chiesa was a prolific goalscorer which usually led him to a big move within the likes of CM2 and CM97/98 although for some reason this never materialised in real life. In reality, Chiesa scored over 200 goals in 500+ appearances, regularly averaging 15-20 goals a season where he starred for clubs such as Sampdoria, Parma, Fiorentina and Lazio. 

 

Enrico and Federico Chiesa

 

During a season in which Enrico scored 21 goals in 48 appearances for Parma, his son Federico was born (1997), and it is clear that Federico has certainly inherited some of his father's footballing talent and attacking instinct on the football pitch. Having joined Fiorentina's underage side at the age of 10 years old, he signed his first professional contract at the age of 18 and has been a regular in the side since - also earning him his first call-up to the Italian national team in 2018 and gaining 11 caps for his country. 

How do they compare? 

Enrico Chiesa CM9798

 

Federico Chiesa FM19

 
 
 

In FM terms, Enrico trumps in terms of attributes as well as his real life stats - however at just 21 years old at the time of writing, Federico has a huge future ahead of him and if FM is anything to go by (he just signed for Real Madrid in my save! ), I have no doubt that he will have something to say about it in the coming years. 

 Patrick and Justin Kluivert 

What can we say about Patrick Kluivert? Aside from the fact that he somehow once played for my beloved Newcastle United, Kluivert was one of the most prolific high profile Strikers of the 1990's - from his time as part of the Golden Generation at Ajax where he became the youngest player ever to score in the Champions League final (coming on as an 18 year old substitute to score an 85th minute winner against his future club Milan), to the 6 seasons spent at Barcelona where he averaged 20 goals per season in a lightning partnership with Rivaldo. 

Like father like son

Justin Kluivert looks to be on a similar path to greatness, and FM enthusiasts will be well aware of his existence since FM17 where he has always been a high potential youth prospect. Like his father, he started his career with Ajax (scoring his first league goal exactly 10 years after his father's last one), and also moved to Serie A via an €18.75 million transfer to A.S. Roma in the summer of 2018 where he has shone since and picked up 2 caps for Holland along the way. Rather than playing in a direct Striker role like his father, Justin is usually utilised as a Left Winger or Inside Forward and has already nailed down a first team spot in the Roma squad despite still only being 19 years old. 

How do they compare? 

Patrick Kluivert CM9798

 

Justin Kluivert FM19 #seriousface

 
 
 

Safe to say that even at 19, Justin has a huge future ahead of him and has all the potential to surpass his father's achievements. The crazy thing is that it doesn't stop there - Patrick Kluivert, having since remarried after his first marriage, has another son Shane Kluivert who at eleven years old currently plays for Barcelona's underage team, having previously been on the books at PSG. Eleven!! @FM players - remember the name... 

 

Courtesy of Cabazaya YT Channel  


Patrick, Justin and Shane with another FM prospect, Mathias De Ligt

Ian Wright. Shaun Wright-Phillips, Bradley Wright-Phillips 

This is a really interesting comparison - not only due to the fact that we have 3 players to analyse, but also the fact that Ian Wright is not Shaun Wright-Phillips' biological father having officially adopted him when he was just 3 years old. This means that we can look at Ian Wright's football career and compare it to both his adopted and biological sons' football ability in an attempt to understand how football ability is passed from generation to generation. 

 

Ian with sons Bradley and Shaun (1990)

 

Ian Edward Wright didn't really come from a footballing background; the son of Jamaican immigrants, he was brought up by his mother and a bullying stepfather and despite playing from a young age and having trials as a teen, it wasn't until he was signed by Crystal Palace in 1985 (just three month's short of his 22nd birthday) that his undoubted talent and goal-scoring ability became evident. He averaged 20 goals a season during his 7 years at the club, scoring 33 in their promotion winning season of 1989 and later earning his first England cap under Graham Taylor in 1991 - the same year he was signed by Arsenal for a then club-record fee of £2.5 million. He not only scored on his Arsenal debut in a cup tie against Leicester, he then scored a hat-trick on his league debut against Southampton and finished the season with another hat-trick in the return fixture to finish on 31 goals for the season, as well as being the league's top scorer on 29 goals. He was Arsenal's top scorer for six years in a row, and the all time top scorer for 14 years until his record was broken by one Thierry Henry. 

Shaun Wright-Phillips started his career at Nottingham Forest however was released aged 17 and thankfully Manchester City saw sense and signed him right away. He made a handful of appearances before becoming a first team regular under Kevin Keegan, winning City's Young Player of the Year award 4 years in a row before gaining his first England cap in 2004. It was this fine form that then led to a £21 million move to Chelsea as part of the Roman Abramovic revolution where he was part of the title winning team in 2006, however he was an on-and-off fixture during his time at Chelsea, often struggling to maintain his place and eventually he returned to Manchester City where he displayed some of his best form before the likes of David Silva and Yaya Toure arrived to kick off the Manchester City revolution. 

Shaun & Bradley in their Man City days

Bradley Wright Phillips also started his career at Manchester City, however never managed to emulate his father or brother's success in the Premier League despite scoring on his league debut against Middlesbrough. He was later sold to Championship Southampton where he scored 11 goals in his first season, and then had spells at Plymouth and Charlton before he moved on to what probably became the best move of his career when he joined New York Red Bulls in 2013. Since then, Bradley has been prolific in MLS, averaging 20-25 goals a season and finishing as league top scorer on 2 occasions. 

How do they compare? 

Ian Wright CM2 courtesy of @cm9798

 

Shaun Wright-Phillips FM2009

 
 

Bradley Wright-Phillips FM19

 
 
 

So what have we learned? Clearly there is some truth in the concept of Football DNA, and that the offspring of successful footballers do tend to inherit their parent's talent and ability, however in the case of Shaun Wright-Phillips we see that DNA isn't everything, and perhaps education, training, nurturing and exposure at a young age are equally important variables. Interestingly and to cap off this section (and to make all of us feel a little older) - Shaun Wright-Phillips' son D'Margio also looks to have a bright future in football, and is currently on the books at Manchester City following in the steps of his father and uncle. Too soon to start comparing with his famous family members, however this could be another indication that footballing talent and ability is an intangible asset that is in fact passed from generation to generation. 

 
 

Big Shoes to Fill 

A lot of the cases we have looked at so far have been players who have successfully emulated their father's achievements, or have the potential to reach and even surpass these either in FM or IRL. But how difficult is it to follow in the footsteps of a true footballing legend? In this section, we will look at some examples of where young players have had to deal with even more hype than those above because of the name on the back of their jersey. 

Johan and Jordi Cruyff 

As household names go, they don't get bigger than Johan Cruff. Arguably one of the best players to ever grace a football pitch, Cruyff won the Ballon d'Or 3 times as a player and is widely regarded for his football ability and Total Football philosophy which inspired a generation of future football teams and managers. He was one of the key drivers behind Ajax's spell of dominance in European football during the late 1960's and early 1970's, driving them to 8 league titles and 3 European Cups which subsequently led to a then World Record transfer to Barcelona (estimated to be approx. $2 million). Cruyff also led Holland to the World Cup final in 1974 where they narrowly lost out to West Germany by a score of 2-1; despite the defeat, he won the Golden Ball in that tournament however it was his turn in their group game against Sweden that was to be one of his main footballing legacies that he would impart on the game, so much so that it was named "The Cruyff Feint" after him. 

The Cruyff Feint

Cruyff was quite simply a genius of the game, and he delighted Barcelona fans by choosing a Catalan name, "Jordi" for his son. Despite starting a promising start to his career at Barcelona where he scored 11 goals in 41 appearances for the club, Jordi Cruyff struggled to live up to the hype that had always surrounded him. A move to Manchester United in 1996 allowed him to display glimpses of his skill and goal-scoring ability, however he was hampered by injuries and only managed to play 57 games in 4 years, scoring 8 goals for the club. He did however manage to play 3 games during United's famous Champions League winning campaign in 1999, and picked up 3 Premier League medals during his time at Old Trafford. 

 
 

How do they compare?  

Johan Cruyff's shoes were always going to be difficult to fill, and overall Jordi did a decent job and succeeded in playing and winning at the highest levels of world football - however in comparing him to his father's achievements, there can only be one winner. 

 

Johan Cruyff FM Profile courtesy of Top Notch FM‘s WC Legends DB

 

Jordi Cruyff CM9798

 
 

I honestly can't write enough about Johan Cruyff's football achievements both as a player and as a manager - I absolutely recommend even reading his Wikipedia page which is an unbelievable account of his life and success in the game. 

  

Zinedine and Enzo, Luca and Theo Zidane 

If writing (and reading) about Johan Cruyff wasn't inspiring enough, now we get to talk about perhaps the best player of the late 90's/early 00's generation - the man they call Zizou, or Zinedine Yazid Zidane if he was booking a flight. The son of a nightwatchman and a housewife that emigrated to France before the start of the Algerian War, Zidane grew up idolising Diego Maradona and was signed by AS Cannes as a 14 year old in 1986 (incidentally, the year I myself was born). He made his professional debut for the club in 1989 in a season which saw them finish in their highest ever top flight finish (4th) as well as qualifying for the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history. He then transferred to Bordeaux in 1992 and it was here he began to grab the limelight on the European Stage - he was linked with moves to Blackburn and Newcastle in 1995 however embarrassingly (especially for me as a Newcastle fan), they both turned him down with Blackburn chairman Jack Walker reportedly stating "Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?" (facepalm). Thankfully for Zizou, common sense prevailed and Juventus signed him in 1996 thus preparing the stage for what would soon be the "Zidane" era - he won back to back Serie A titles, helped Juventus reach 3 consecutive European Finals and guided France to victory at both World Cup 1998 and Euro 2000. This prompted a World Record €77.5 million move to the "Galacticos" of Real Madrid, and the rest as we know is history (with the odd headbutt thrown in for good measure). 

Zidane Profile CM9798

Without stating the obvious - Zidane's are certainly big shoes to fill, however the difference from a number of our examples above is that there are now 4 candidates that have a shot at filling them. Zizou's eldest son Enzo is a midfielder currently on loan at Rayo Majadhonda from parent club Lausanne-Sport, having started his career at Real Madrid and scoring on his debut for the club. Luca Zidane, interestingly a goalkeeper, is currently the third choice keeper at Real Madrid and still only 20 years old. His younger brother Theo is also on the books at Real Madrid, playing for the U19 team and still only 16 years of age, while the youngest of the Zidane clan Elyaz (13 years old) is in the Real Madrid Youth Academy. 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Without stating the obvious - Zidane's are certainly big shoes to fill, however the difference from a number of our examples above is that there are now 4 candidates that have a shot at filling them. Zizou's eldest son Enzo is a midfielder currently on loan at Rayo Majadhonda from parent club Lausanne-Sport, having started his career at Real Madrid and scoring on his debut for the club. Luca Zidane, interestingly a goalkeeper, is currently the third choice keeper at Real Madrid and still only 20 years old. His younger brother Theo is also on the books at Real Madrid, playing for the U19 team and still only 16 years of age, while the youngest of the Zidane clan Elyaz (13 years old) is in the Real Madrid Youth Academy. 

 

King George

 

Timothy Weah was born in New York on February 22nd 2000, and joined the PSG academy at age 14 after trials at both New York Red Bulls and Chelsea. Usually deployed on the left wing or as an inside forward, he made his first team debut aged 18 and soon after earned his first international cap for the USA, becoming the first player born in the 2000s to do so. He first goal for PSG came in August 2018 in a 4-0 cup victory against Monaco, and he followed this up with his first league goal in their next game, a 3-0 win over Caen. Soon after he was loaned out to Celtic for the remainder of the season, scoring on his debut again in a Cup game and again following up with his first league goal in the game after. It is clear that the lad knows where the goal is just like his father, and at the age of 19 has a huge future ahead of him in which he may reach and surpass his father's incredible achievements in the game. 

How do they compare? 

George Weah CM9798

 

Timothy Weah FM19

 
 
 
 
 

Sibling Rivalry or brotherly love? 

Up to now we have mainly focused on Father and Son combinations in order to delve in to the concept of football being passed over from generation to generation, and to get an illustrated understanding of Football DNA in action. While nothing is and will ever be conclusive, it is remarkably evident that there is a definite connection between football and genetics and we have seen this consistently increase in recent years. Is this all based on Football DNA or is it because footballers are so much wealthier these days that they can afford to give their kids the best football training and education available? Is it that young footballers want to emulate their parents more based on the fact that they now have more access to their father's achievements with things like Youtube, Sky Sports and the Internet? It is difficult to pinpoint the driving factor, and perhaps it's fair to say that it is a combination of all of the above. 

But what of cases where we have seen no immediate footballing connection from parents, however we see more than one child succeeding at the highest levels of professional football? Rather than comparing siblings against each other as we did above (not enough hours in the day :D), it is interesting to take a broad look at how many sets of brothers we have seen perform and succeed across the globe, especially taking in to account that they have come in all shapes, sizes, positions and ages and yet still we see something which suggests that football clearly is in their blood and runs in the family. Feel free to click the names below to view their FM profiles and make your own comparisons 👌: 

Name  - Brother 

Giuseppe Baresi - Franco Baresi

Jack Charlton - Bobby Charlton  

Michael Laudrup - Brian Laudrup  

Frank De Boer - Ronald De Boer  

Niko Kovac - Robert Kovac  

Gary Neville - Phil Neville 

Filippo Inzaghi - Simone Inzaghi  

Fabio Cannavaro - Paolo Cannavaro  

Rio Ferdinand - Anton Ferdinand  

Kolo Toure - Yaya Toure  

Rafael - Fabio  

Eden Hazard - Thorgan Hazard - Kylian Hazard  

Sven Bender - Lars Bender  

Paul Pogba - Florentin Pogba - Mathias Pogba  

Granit Xhaka - Taulant Xhaka  

Jerome Boateng - Kevin Prince-Boateng  

Michael Keane - Will Keane 

Toni Kroos - Felix Kroos  

Gianluigi Donnarumma - Antonio Donnarumma 

Ryan Sessegnon - Steven Sessegnon  

It doesn't even stop there - as most of us know, Rio and Anton Ferdinand's uncle is none other than Les Ferdinand who was one of the most prolific Premier League strikers of the 1990's; Phil Neville's son Harvey is currently on the books at Man Utd; somehow Luka Modric and Mark Viduka are cousins! Football and DNA are surely connected, and it will be interesting to look back in 10 or 20 years time to see what else the wonderful game produces. 

Ones for the Future 

Nearly there I promise! We have already mentioned some exciting prospects above such as Federico Chiesa, Justin Kluivert, Timothy Weah etc and these are definitely some of the hottest prospects both in Football Manager and in real life. Thankfully for us FM fans, although it means we are getting older, Football DNA continues to produce a lot of raw talent and this year is no different with FM19; there are a number of prospects in the game that come from highly successful footballing families, and I think it is safe to say that you might recognise the surnames on some of these kids below who are my tips to develop both in this year's game as well as in real life also: 

Ianis Hagi (son of Gheorghe) 

I came across Ianis Hagi in FM18 and instantly recognised the name. 1990's football fans will easily recall the exploits of his father Gheorge Hagi, who played and shone in 3 World Cups and 3 European Championships for Romania during which he also had successful spells at both Real Madrid and Barcelona. An exceptionally powerful attacking midfielder, Hagi was renowned for his creativity and technique which led to him being appropriately nicknamed "The Maradona of Carpathia" by his Romanian worshippers - at his peak he was one of the most feared Number 10's in the game and his son Ianis also looks to be on a similar trajectory with his ability to play anywhere across the Attacking Midfield line.  

 
 

Ianis started his career in his home country for Vitorul Constanta, and after a brief stint at Fiorentina where he was nominated for the European Golden Boy award, he returned to his home club due to lack of playing time and has since earned 2 caps for the Romania national side. If Football Manager is anything to go by (of course it is!), this kid has a very bright future ahead of him and has the potential to be every bit as good as his father. 

Jordan Larsson (son of Henrik) 

Jordan Larsson is the son of Swedish goalscoring machine Henrik Larsson. Having graduated from Barcelona's Youth Academy, Jordan Larsson returned to Sweden where he signed his first professional contract and since has emerged as one of the hottest prospects in Swedish and European football. Like his father, he knows where the goal is and is rated as having 4 star potential at the start of FM19.  

 
 

His father obviously needs no introduction - Henrik Larsson's goal scoring record is almost unrivaled. He scored 242 goals in 313 appearances for Celtic, including 4 seasons scoring over 30 goals and one season with a tally of 53 goals in 50 appearances. Larsson was nothing short of a goal machine in Scotland, and while it is arguable that he was too good to play in the Scottish league, his record has still never been broken and it was this form that led to relative successful spells at Barcelona and Manchester United in later years. If Jordan Larsson inherits even a percentage of his father's finishing ability, there is no doubt we will see him featuring in one of the top European leagues before long - decent value at €625k in the game too!

 
 

Marcus and Khephren Thuram (sons of Lilian) 

I could write a book on how good Lilian Thuram was. Not only did he play in the top flight of French, Italian and Spanish football, he was also a rock at the centre of the famous World Cup 1998 and Euro 2000 winning France national team. His strentgh and aggressive tackling style compared with his intelligent tactical and technical attributes made him arguably one of the best and most understated defenders in world football, and it is interesting to observe that neither of his two sons play in the same position with Marcus preferring to play on the left side of midfield, and Khephren more suited to a defensive or holding midfield role. Both look to have excellent potential in both FM and in real life, and definitely are ones to watch in future editions of the game. The name Thuram on the back of a shirt would strike fear in to any opposition, and looking at those stars below I have no doubts in tipping them as ones to watch for FM19. 

 
 
 
 

BEAST

Andri Gudjohnsen (son of Eidur) 

At just 16 years old, Andri Gudjohnsen already has the world at his feet. Despite being the son of an ex-Barcelona player (as well as Chelsea, Monaco and Spurs), he signed for Real Madrid in August 2018 after climbing the ranks at Espanyol's youth academy. A Striker just like his father, he scored 5 times in 13 games for Iceland U-17's and looks to have a similar goal scoring instinct that Eidur Gudjohnsen displayed, most prominently during his six years at Chelsea where he scored 78 goals in 186 appearances. 

 

Can Andri emulate his father's success?

 
 
 

Summary 

So what does all this mean?! Are we any wiser about the concept of Football DNA? Have we answered the question - are footballers born and not made? I think we can all agree that there is clearly a connection to be made here, that footballing talent, skill and ability is certainly an intangible asset that can and has been passed from generation to generation repeatedly down through the years. As mentioned above, perhaps the more recent offspring of successful footballers have had more opportunity, exposure and access to the highest levels of football education and training, and by default are more likely to be monitored and watched by scouts than unknown players that develop elsewhere around the world. However it is clear that there seems to be a natural phenomenon occurring in the way football appears to "run in the family" and is transferred from father to son; so much so that there were even too many to cover in this blog, considering we never even mentioned the likes of Harry & Jamie Redknapp, Frank Lampard Sr. & Frank Jr., Paul & Tom Ince, Danny & Daley Blind, Jurgen & Jonathan Klinsmann - the list is almost endless, so I think we can conclude that Football DNA most certainly exists and for those of us that spend hours and hours scouting and staring at numbers & dots on a screen, long may it continue 🔥 🔥 🔥 . 

FM Save Idea - "Family Guy" 

What if you could only sign players and staff on the condition that you also have to sign a blood relative of theirs? 

Now that we are halfway through FM19 I regularly see a number of community members undertaking various challenges in order to create new and intriguing save ideas. I think this would certainly make for an interesting challenge, whereby you can only sign a player if you are able to bring in their father / son / uncle / nephew / cousin etc either as a player or staff member. Reckon you could get the job done?? 

 

Family Guy FC ??

 

That's it!! I hope you enjoyed this article and that you learned as much as I did while writing it - please feel free to post any thoughts, questions or feedback in the comments section below or on my Twitter page - comments and retweets etc are always appreciated! If you would like to check out any of my other FM articles or follow my current FM19 save with CD Tenerife, feel free to check out and follow my blog here. As always, a big shout out to Joe and the lads at WeStreamFM.com for their support and promotion of more written content and blogs etc - legends as always! I will leave you with an article that popped up in my feed while I was writing this blog - more food for thought with regard to genealogy and Football DNA 😄. Thanks for reading - MaddFM (http://maddfm.home.blog). 

  

"Genetics expert reckons he can create a clone of Lionel Messi" - https://www.joe.co.uk/sport/clone-lionel-messi-barcelona-224378 

Football Manager 2019: My Training Philosophy

Written by Troy @FMLife2016

Football Manager over the years has developed in to one of the most realistic video simulation games of all time. From tactics to scouting and everything in between and the team at SI have always strived to make every new edition more realistic than the last. In FM19 we finally received what I believe to be the greatest step towards realism in the world of Football Manager and that of course is the new training module. So why don’t we all use it?

In previous versions of the game training was a set and forget task most handled at the start of their first season in charge. On one side of the fence some players didn’t understand the benefits of training and the key components to set it up convincingly. The most common mistakes I would see is players would alter their training too much, not giving enough time on a certain training schedule to have any effect. The second mistake I would see is that players didn’t quite understand that at the core of training it develops attributes and not much else. Sure you could get a 1-2% boost going into the next match using match preparation but the main purpose of training is developing attributes. On the flip side there were players that knew the ins and outs of training, mastering the act and developing elite talent without a thought. For me it all became uninspiring and a simple set and forget task I would visit once and while.

In FM19 this has all changed. Sure the core idea of training is still to develop attributes, however with the multitude of training schedules and sessions available to us it's anyone's guess as to the best way to master training in FM19. SI have put theirs players on a need to know basis when it comes to training. They are staying tight lipped on how one would “master” training however they’ve given us the tools and the information to develop our own training philosophies. This year there's no right or wrong way to approach training and it's up to you as a Football Manager to decide what your team needs to become champions and reach their potential.

My Training Philosophies

  • Club DNA or Fibra Training

  • Tactic Training

  • Improvement training

Club DNA or Fibra Training:

Let me start off by describing what “Club DNA” or “Fibra” is. The phrase club DNA was coined by community legends Bustthenet and Foxinthebox and its a list of core attributes you look for in a player across every playing position from your Centre half to your forward. Fibra is pretty much the same thing however it sounds foreign and exotic.

In my current Sporting CP save I’ve developed this training method with my core attributes being:

First Touch - Composure - Decisions - Work Rate - Stamina

I’ve narrowed down the training schedules that work on these attributes while trying to hit as many of my Fibra attributes as possible.

Below is each training schedule separated and I’ve listed everytime one of my “Fibra” attributes are trained in each category. When setting up my weekly training schedule I’ll be giving preference to those categories that hit the most attributes eg. Outfield, Possession, attacking patient, transition press etc. I’ve made 2 different weekly schedule one for General training and I’ve grouped the other categories together to not complicate things.

I’ve tracked any improvements via the “team report - squad comparison” screen all be it hard to tell as new players arrive and players exit we are showing improvements in 3 of the designated “Fibra” attributes.  

 
 

I still need to adjust from week to week as we have mid week games and I’ll issue different match prep training depending of the calibre of opponent we face that week.

 
 

Tactic Training

Training attributes to suit your tactic may be the best way forward for some but first you must understand exactly what your tactic is. How does it play? Why does it work? and what is needed to make it better. Are you playing Gegenpressing or Tiki Taka? What are the attributes that are needed to be successful at implementing your tactical approach.

Taking the Gegenpress as the example what are the key Team instructions in this tactic:

  • High Tempo

  • Counter

  • Closing down

Playing with a high tempo your player will need Good mobility, control, and movement on and off the ball. So key attributes to look for and train in your player would be. Anticipation, decisions, team work, vision, acceleration, agility, pace and off the ball.

Playing on the counter your players will need good mobility, endeavour and movement. So the key attributes you’ll need to look for and train in your player would be. Anticipation, team work, acceleration, agility, pace, off the ball, work rate and stamina.

Playing a pressing game while closing down your player will need good Endeavour, mobility and good defensively. So the key attributes you’ll need to look for and train in your player would be. Anticipation, bravery, work rate, acceleration, tackling and positioning.

So overall anticipation - off the ball - acceleration - work rate - agility - pace

Are your core trainable attributes that make the tactic work and by using my first example on narrowing down which training schedules cover these attributes you’ll be able to focus your training on improving your players to suit your tactical philosophy.      

Improvement Training

Improvement training is improving your team's weakest attributes through training. First you’ll need to identify the weakest attributes compared to the league your playing in. To do this you’ll need to have a look at your team report - comparison. Filter down to Technical, Mental and Physical to determine what attributes are low compared to the league.

Technical attributes below my standard: Heading and tackling   

 
 

Mental attributes below my standard: aggression and bravery

 
 

Physical attributes below my standard: Jumping reach

 
 

All up we have heading, tackling, aggression, bravery and jumping reach so tailoring your training to increase some of those attributes will help as we can see tackling aggression and bravery are key attributes when it comes to closing down and as a whole my Sporting CP lack in those areas.

Because your team train in Units(GK,DEF,ATTK) you might want to add those filters when on the team report - comparison screen as this might show different weaknesses and the units will differ in terms of the training schedule.

——

Thanks Troy - FM-Life

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4-4-2 Diaries - Broad Strokes

Written by Simon Kean

Thanks to the #WeStreamFM crew for the offer to provide some blog content for the site. I’ve been a regular in many of their streams and listen to the podcast while I’m in the shower.

Background: This blog post is an addendum to my 4-4-2 Diaries series from on my own site. My “Angel of the Norf” save has the objective of starting in non-league football with two goals:  taking a team from the North East of England into Europe (as per Robson’s Newcastle or Schteeve’s Middlesbrough) and to do so playing a different variation on a 4-4-2 every season. I started two and half seasons ago with Gateshead and won back-to-back promotions before I recently took over mid-season at Sunderland in the bottom half of in the Championship.

 
 

Fantastic Tactics and How to Build One

There’s a lot of content out there regarding building tactics. I’ve read and re-read Cleon’s writings on tactics many times over along with FridayNightFM, Strikerless, Dictate The Game and others that have influenced my own efforts in tactical development. I’ve absorbed content regarding recreating real-world systems or implementing a specific style of football and these are scenarios when you have a preconceived idea about a style you want to play. But what about if you’re not in that situation and don’t have a preconceived tactical concept? I often go into situations such as taking over a struggling club mid-season with no real knowledge about the squad, so I there’s no sense in forcing a style on a team that they may not be up to playing. I’m a fan of Ancelotti who is probably the most pragmatic big name manager out there. He takes over a gig and simply works with the squad he has to find the right tactical fit.

When taking over a struggling club, I’ve usually got a chairman that is expecting results to turn around right away and Sunderland is no exception. This bloke wants us to make the playoffs! In circumstances like this the biggest problem you have is time. You’re not in the pre-season with the luxury of being able to experiment and develop a tactical approach over a number of games and you need results now. You’re essentially starting with a clean slate but need to work something out quickly...so that’s what I’ll do.

I try to get FM to reflect real-world football as much as possible and seek inspiration from my football knowledge and experiences to influence how I play the game. For the situation with Sunderland, I’ve looked at a number of managers who specialise in taking over struggling teams and turning things around. Most adopt a common sense approach that focuses on two things: (1) sorting out the defence, and (2) playing a simple system with players in their best positions that work well together. “Well done Captain Obvious” some may say but in the FM community, I often see folks trying to brute force a complex tactical system on their squad expecting immediate results.If things don’t work out they compound the problem by making changes every five minutes and wonder why they’re losing matches. The poor old players usually end up getting the blame. I’m as guilty as anyone else of building a tactic with loads of instructions based on what I think will happen before we’ve kicked a ball. But here’s the thing: you can win matches on FM without using any instructions at all.  

Mackem My Mind Up

With Sunderland, I wanted to really dumb things down and implement a top-down tactical approach by identifying the squad’s strengths and weakness via gameplay and have that dictate what tactical system we develop. Having just joined the club I don’t know all that much about these players. I also took over without any backroom staff so any Team Reports or other information on tactical suggestions is probably garbage and not worth looking at. In this situation, I’m going to build a tactic based on only what I actually see happen in the match engine (….I know, crazy man). I may use a couple of analysis tools to check our passing stats and positioning but our tactical changes will be reactive based on what I see, and not what I think should happen.

For the first game I will purely focus on roles and mentality and play without any instructions. I’ll make notes throughout the match, and limit myself to changing player roles, making subs and adjusting our mentality. Every every decision needs to be validated by visual confirmation in the match engine.  Given we need results quickly I need to be decisive but I’m only looking at things in terms of broad strokes right now.

Building the team sheet takes patience and critical thinking. I’m sticking with the principles I spoke about earlier: keep it simple and put our best (available) players in roles that suit them. I then tweaked some roles to ensure they complemented each other on a relational basis as I want a balance of conservative roles and movement between the lines to cope with sides that play three in central midfield against our 4-4-2. When building the lineup I noticed that our creative and attacking players are on the left side of the pitch so I balanced this out with more conservative roles on the right side along with a CM-D in the left CM slot to provide that side with some defensive cover.  Here is the team sheet and I’ve included some markups to indicate the movement I’d like to see (which needs to be validated by the match engine):

 
 

Match Validation

I documented both the what and why behind tactical changes during two consecutive matches where I developed the basic structure of the tactical system I’m going to use at Sunderland. This includes some things I got wrong and how I tried to rectify the problems. Just to make things even more challenging both matches were against teams in the top 3 of the Championship. Brentford managed by Bielsa and Birmingham were strong favourites against us. I watched at least a half of each match in Full Game mode with the remaining time on Comprehensive Highlights.

Match One Notes:

  • Brentford line up in a 4-2-3-1 DM formation.

  • I start out with a Cautious Mentality as we aren’t favourites to win and I’m prioritising defensive solidity.

  • 3rd minute: 1-0 Sunderland. A long ball over the top from El Yamiq (CD) to Nketiah (AF) finds him in behind the Brentford defence after a lovely inside channel run and he fires home.

  • 6th minute: we concede a cheap penalty from a set piece from a corner but luckily our keeper saves it.

  • 14th minute: 1-1. I just got totally FM’ed. Honeyman scores a bizarre own goal when attempting to clear the ball.

  • 29th minute: El Yamiq (CD) fails to clear a long ball and heads it into the path of Brentford’s #10 who smashes it into the top corner. It’s 2-1 to Brentford.

  • 35th minute: Tactical change - Mentality to Balanced to try and ease the pressure on our defenders and create more some chances of our own.

  • 37th minute: 2-2. Game on! Nketiah makes another lovely run into the outside right channel and Honeyman finds him with a perfectly weighted thru ball from the middle of the park. Nketiah crosses to Boateng who is waiting on the edge of the area. He pivots and smashes it home.

  • Half Time Analysis: our front two have bossed this game and barring a couple of defensive errors, we’d be in total control of the game. The Mentality change totally transformed our play.

  • 66th Minute: Adomah! Maguire breaks down the left and fires in a cross to the back post where our right winger is there to head it home! It’s now 3-2 Sunderland. While I’m tempted to drop our mentality to Cautious and go into preservation mode, I decide to leave things along.

  • 78th Minute: the defensive positioning from our two banks of four is like a double brick wall and Brentford cannot break us down. What does Bielsa have up his sleeve (or in his bucket) for us? He switches to a 5-3-2.

  • 87th Minute: Tactical Change - Mentality down to Defensive Mentality to close the game out. Our blokes are dead on their feet but we keep the ball beautifully and kill the clock. We go on to take all 3 points in a terrific encounter.

Post-Match Notes: I think we proved we can be successful just with a balanced lineup and the right mentality. I still think we can improve things, but the once we moved to a Balanced Mentality the pressure was off our defenders and our passing improved. While our defensive shape was good, I think adding Tighter Marking would help along with Hold Shape as our counter-attacking efforts were pretty shite and I don’t think that’s our strength. I’d rather just keep the ball and start our build up again. I’d also like to get our goalkeeper to distribute to centre-backs as he simply lumps it upfield otherwise and we lose possession. Play out of Defence and Shorter Passing would probably help us retain the ball a bit better as well.

With one match under our belt, I’m starting to form an idea towards building a tactical philosophy that fits this team based on what I’ve seen so far. I’m inclined to harken back to Serie A’s glory days and move us towards a slow, short passing, possession style of football that also denies space to our opponents. We don’t look like we have the pace to be a pressing or long ball side and I don’t trust that we can handle the pressure of playing a low block. What we do have is a couple of blokes in the squad who can drop into the hole and hold the ball up and I’d like to see if we can pass into their feet and let them bring others into play. Our off the ball movement was terrific at times today so I’m keen to see more of that. Today’s game met my objective of starting to put the picture together with broad strokes.

Match Two

With only 3 days in between matches, we needed to rotate a couple of players due to minor injuries and fatigue. I also changed a few roles mostly in midfield based on my notes from game one as I wanted a bit more structure and solidity in our shape possibly at the expense of some creativity but I’ll let the match engine tell me if that’s the case in game two. I also added the instructions I mentioned in my analysis from the last game so our tactic for this game now looks like this:

 
 

Match Two Notes:

  • Birmingham lineup in a 4-4-2

  • 24th Minute: Tactical Change - Wyke role change from DLF to TM(s). He’s moving into channels but I want him in the centre of the pitch to provide us with a focal point when we move forward rather than lateral movement (which Nketiah provides).

  • 28th Minute: the above change has improved our shape and Wyke validates the role change with some gorgeous link-up play with Nketiah who forces the keeper into a great save.

  • 38th Minute: 1-0 Sunderland. Cracking direct free kick from Douglas.

  • Half Time Analysis: we’re a goal to the good and deserve to be.  We’re dominating possession with over 60% of the ball and have made the better chances. I’m pleased and don’t feel it necessary to make any half time changes.

  • 60th Minute: Substitutions - Honeyman for Maguire (IW) and Adomah (W instead of WM) comes on for Leadbitter. McGeouch moves into the DLP role and Mumba to the CM-D spot.

  • 67th Minute: Goal for Nketiah! It’s 2-0 Sunderland. Wyke comes deep again to receive the ball into feet. He turns and plays in his strike partner who runs across his defender into the inside-right channel. He fires across his body with a marvellous finish!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtt5Tabi98o

  • 88th Minute: Tactical Change - Mentality to Defensive to close the game out and we do exactly that. It’s a pretty darn near perfect 2-0 victory against a tough opponent. Well done lads!

Post Match Notes: the match engine validated the instructions we added after the first game so I don’t feel compelled to change anything. Shifting Wyke from DLF to his more natural Target Man role was a bit of a masterstroke and we played the ball into his feet beautifully (it’s not just a role for hoof ball) and his back to goal capabilities really showed. I’m pleased with these two victories over tough opponents and in the course of these matches I think I’ve quickly found a tactical philosophy that should bring us some success. As the season progresses I may add (or even subtract) instructions to refine our approach but I’m confident were on the right track.

Summary

The above approach is something I’ve in the past on other saves and not just in situations where I’m taking over a team. Sometimes my tactics simply aren’t working and I need to turn things around so wipe the slate clean and start again. I think you can get good results with some ordinary players if you make the effort to put the right combination of players in roles that complement their attributes, traits and other players around them in a logical formation. It sounds really simple but I think there’s a bit of an art to it. I’ll see how the rest of the season progresses and may follow up if there’s much tactical evolution worth blogging about.

Sparky, out!












Mid 90's Milan - Part One

Written by Dave Black (@cm9798)

As you may know, I spend a lot of time playing CM9798. The game itself has been in my life for over 20 years and I’ve been blogging about it for 4 years. I find the whole CM2 series to be the most familiar and the easiest to play. There’s also loads of different versions of it released between 1995 and 1997. Allow me to deploy CM2: The Italian Leagues. 

This doesn’t sound like a big deal and it probably isn’t really but basically there were many versions of CM2 (96/97) released across Europe. I’ve got my grubby mitts on the Italian League version and also the three Scandinavian releases – Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Whether I feel the need to bestow them upon you at some point remains to be seen. 

You may also recall Eidos/SI released a couple of multiple foreign league games with the database from the 1995/96 season. Don’t worry, we’ve got them too. It’s going to be a wonderful retro time for months to come. 

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. I’m hoping the Italian version of CM2 has the same match engine as the British CM2, which allowed you manage in England or Scotland. But not both. The ability to run multiple leagues followed in 97/98 but it’s nice to see how it all came together. The date is August 1st 1996. I am manager of AC Milan. 

Why AC Milan? Let me tell you a story. 1995/96 was a great season for AC Milan. Fabio Capello’s side breezed to the Serie A title, finishing 8 points ahead of closest rivals Juventus. Such was the Italian way back then, the success was built on a solid defence, conceding just 24 times in 34 games. George Weah finished as top league scorer with a mighty 11 goals as an attack which had added Roberto Baggio didn’t really gel as Capello would have hoped.  

Milan had won the Champions League in 93/94 and been runners up in 94/95, so winning Serie A also meant a return to the Champions League for the 96/97 season. So why am I here? This is hardly a crisis club. 

Fabio Capello left to manage Real Madrid in the summer of 1996 and it was basically downhill from there. Oscar Tabarez (current Uruguay manager) and Giorgio Morini were tasked with steering the good ship Milan into the Champions League with a raft of new signings, such as Edgar Davids, Jesper Blomqvist, Michael Reiziger and Christophe Dugarry but it was an unmitigated disaster. A Champions League group stage exit in December cost the pair their jobs and Arrigo Sacchi came in to save the day. In the end, Milan finished 11th just 6 points from safety. So let’s try and beat that. 

Admittedly that is quite a low barrier but my first task is to try and find the best way to set up this ridiculously good squad. I’m not surprised Jesper Blomqvist wasn’t up to much but the others are all very good. If this plays out like the British CM2, there are shed loads of goals to be had. Baggio, Weah and Simone can all play as far as I’m concerned. 

Savicevic is wanted by Man Utd. He’s worth £7.5m so if they stump it up I’ll probably sell him. His injury proneness is 20 and I have limited time for that. They regard Denis Irwin a star player, inexplicably. Real life top scorer (in Serie A) Filippo Inzaghi is at Atalanta. He of course got a move to Juventus off the back of his golden season so I’ll keep an eye on how he does. They have Lentini so that can only help. 

We only have £3.5m to spend which is probably fair as the real life transfers in on the four mentioned earlier will have left the coffers a bit empty. 

We barely have time to learn the language before we are thrust into Italian Charity Shield action, or the SuperCoppa Italiana if you prefer. I’ve opted for a 4-3-1-2, which may change but as we lack wingers and have lots of central midfielders, here we are. Davids picks up an injury the day before the game so Desailly is in central midfield. 

Fiorentina are without Batistuta but they have Oliveira and Rui Costa, plus future Derby man Francesco Baiano. My future Derby man, Stefano Eranio, is only a sub. 

Dead easy this. Simone heads in before the break and Maldini and Desailly do likewise after the break. We’re strong from set pieces. Stefan Schwarz gets one back but he’ll go on to play for Sunderland so he can have his fun whilst he’s young. A trophy in the cabinet. 

My good mood is immediately tempered by a stinker of a Champions League group. I’m sure we shouldn’t be allowed to get Juventus. There’s only 4 groups back in these days though so the top 2 will advance and we’re more than capable of that. 

The fun bus moves onto Vicenza away in the cup. They’re in Serie A too so it might not be all that easy.  

I take it back. That wasn’t the banana skin I anticipated. Napoli in the next round though is a bit rough. 

All of that is enough to get me manager of the month though, so a reasonable start to life in James Richardson-town 

My final act of this update is to open up our Serie A campaign away at Piacenza. They have Massimo Taibi in goal and it’s obviously one of the games Fergie watched as he makes many saves, a fact which gets more annoying when Luiso puts them in front. Our performance is disjointed, there are 5s all over the player ratings and changes are needed. Dugarry and Savicevic are thrown on and the pair combine with just two minutes left to help snatch an equaliser. We press for the winner but Taibi holds firm. It’s not a good result but it’s better than a defeat. 

An oddly timed International break makes this a good time to make my exit. I’ll be back next week with the first few months of the season. From what I’ve seen so far, I’ll be very surprised if we are as bad as the real life side but it is me in charge, so don’t rule out any disasters just yet. Arrivederci. 

The Noisy Neighbour

Written by FMCatenaccio

When we think of Madrid, we often look at the likes of Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid, two Spanish giants, who often battle it out between them with the likes of Barcelona for the Spanish La Liga title. Without research we would probably never know that in the small neighbourhood of Vallecas sits a football club best known as Rayo Vallecano. Having only won a small number of trophies throughout its history, and being some what of a yo-yo club that would often get promoted and relegated to and from La Liga year after year I felt it was time to make a mark in Spanish history.  

When searching for a club to manage on Football manager I need to feel the love, the passion and the excitement, the only way I get so into a save is by really knowing the story of the club. It didn’t take long for me to get excited about Rayo, a few minutes of searching on google and YouTube and I was drawn in immediately, the Working class feel, the rough touches of the stadium and the passion from the fans was enough to make me like them.  

 
 

After a while of searching for a club to manage I came across an interesting video on YouTube about Rayo which really took my interest, the Rayo Vallecano Ultras best known as the “Bukaneros” were loud, passionate and loves a demonstration against the Spanish Football Federation. You can often hear them walking the streets before games protesting and voicing their concerns, and it doesn’t stop once they enter the stadium.

 
 

Back in 2013 they staged a mock funeral for “the soul of football” during their 3-0 lose to Valladolid. This is one of many protests the ultras have organised throughout its history. See article for more information regarding this.  

https://www.the42.ie/real-vallecano-fans-mock-funeral-soul-of-football-1149360-Oct2013/ 

If you are like me and you enjoy really digging into a club’s soul before taking the challenge then you will love Rayo, having already touched upon the ultras I highly recommend watching this YouTube video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYHi8PudfTE 

Now, I’m not claiming to know the club that well, nor do I know the club’s history but I do know they have been fantastic to manage on Football Manager. They start in La Liga tipped to struggle, minimal finances to work with, a small stadium to fill, facilities aren’t great and the standard of players is pretty average, but don’t let all this put you off the challenge. 

This is what I like to look at when searching for my next club, the small details play a huge role when I’m deciding who I want to manage, everything from what the stadium looks like to what the kit design is. 

The Challenge

I’ve briefly touched upon this above but I will go over it in more detail: 

I was looking for a team that could offer me a challenge on and off the field, I wanted to build a club not a team. Everything from the facilities to the staff needed a huge revamp but doing so on a financial budget smaller than most English league 1 teams was going to be difficult but that’s exactly what I was going for, a long term save where I built the clubs foundations from scratch and make them into a Spanish giant while pissing on my rivals Real Madrid. 

I started the with setting myself targets that I wanted to accomplish each year, this kept me focused, motivated and organised during the heavy seasons of struggle. 

Some of the short-term targets that I would set myself are; 

  • Manage Staff (Focus on scouts) 

  • Set up monthly training schedules 

  • Clear deadwood from both first team and B team 

Long Term Focus

  • Compete with the rivals (Real and Atletico Madrid) 

  • Qualify for Europa League & Champions league 

  • Improve all facilities starting with training and youth 

  • Youth players

Working with a very limited budget while trying to achieve those longer term targets meant that I needed to take recruitment very serious, I couldn’t afford to spend money on players that I weren’t 100% sure about, It was important that I had the right people scouting for me. 

I decided early on that I was going to take an interest in youth and wanted to build a team with as many top quality youth players as possible, this meant that I needed to hunt them down first. At the beginning I only had 5 scouts, so I decided to send them to countries where the talent pool is good but they are very undervalued, such as Serbia, Romania and Poland, when comparing the price tags to the major hitters in Europe and South America these three are considerably less so it made sense to focus on the “Less Valued” countries. 

The Stadium

When I first saw the Campo de Fútbol de Vallecas I fell in love, it had a “hipster” vibe with both goal ends being very different to one another. One end we overlook the city of Madrid and on a sunny day it’s a brilliant view.  

While the other side has a slightly more “Ultra” feel about it, being a wall with two blocks of flats overlooking the ground. This was actually the side that I loved, there is nothing beautiful about it, but that’s what I liked, it’s not glamorous and very rarely do you see selfie sticks like you would at Santiago Bernabéu but that’s what they thrive on, it’s a real working-class community and the supports of Rayo only have one love in their lives. 

 
 

This is no tourist attraction, it’s a football club for the fans and in my case for Football Manager. 

Financial Struggles

When starting off as Rayo manager you will not be to impressed with the budget in place, in fact it may scare you a little when you see clubs around you spending big but don’t let this put you off, in fact over recent years the TV money has certainly improved for the likes of Rayo and other such small clubs in Spain so you may be broke  early on but within a season expect to receive a nice sum and of course the more success you bring the more money you earn! 

Read more about the Spanish TV deal: 

https://www.soccerex.com/insight/articles/2018/laliga-s-new-tv-rights-distribution-model-a-level-playing-field 

 
 

However, its not all bad news, you do have a few gems sitting around the club that can certainly help you both on and off the pitch.

The Players

De Tomas is one of the leading stars at Rayo who showed great quality over the course of an impressive 4 seasons (managed to renew his loan each year) Only having to pay 18k a week for a Real Madrid striker isn’t a bad deal.

 
 

The second player is Velazques, a solid CB who enjoys the ball at his feet (to a certain degree) He was my best defender by a mile and also has a good value hanging over him if you were in need of some cash. 

 
 

Now there isn’t bags of talent at Rayo but they do have Santi, a very good-looking young man with piercing blue eyes, and bang average attributes for a La Liga player but he does put a shift in, and although the attributes are pretty standard, he knows how to score a long! Someone with potential to grow and also has a decent value hanging over his head. 

 
 

Remember you don’t have a lot of money, so make sure you really plan your recruitment, there are plenty of players available to recruit for small fees, make the most of it. 

Media Prediction

I can’t butter this up no matter what I say, the media think your down. 

I personally think this is bullshit, comparing Rayo’s team to some of the teams above you I really do think you can easily stay up, make sure you come prepared, have a style of play that you wish to implement and get into that loan market! I started my first season with 14 quality loan deals. 

Summary  

I hope you enjoyed reading this brief article on Rayo Vallecano and I hope it inspires you to take on the challenge yourself. It’s a brilliant club to manage and if you’re like me who likes to build a story around your save, you will love it.

——-

If you want to read more of FMCatenaccio’s work head over to his blog.













To DMC or not to DMC? That is the question.

Written by @MaddFM

🎵 Suggested tune: "It's like That - Run DMC ft Jason Nevins" (1997)

 
 

Anchor Man; Holding Midfielder; Destroyer; Half Back; Ball Winning Midfielder; Brick Shithouse; Volante de Marca, Trinco, Volante de Concención - there have been many different names and types of Defensive Midfielder applied over the past 100 years in the football universe, and although at times it hasn't suited every strategy, it is clear that some of the most successful teams in history have reaped the benefits of deploying a more defensive minded player in the middle of the park, not only providing cover at the back but also enabling and empowering more creative or attack-minded players to thrive with the resulting freedom and support that the role continues to offer at the highest levels of world football. 

They aren't pretty; they don't score, they rarely get assists, your kid probably wouldn't ask for their name on the back of a shirt; but yet - when executed effectively, a top Defensive Midfielder or Anchor Man can completely change and influence a game, and can be the difference between success and failure, between victory and defeat, between one point and three, and in the case of a few notable icons of the role in recent history - almost the difference between life and death as was the case when Roy met Alf a few years back. 

But what is it that makes this role so pivotal in the beautiful game? (both in real life and of course in the Football Manager world). In this article, we will delve in to some of the most influential and effective DMC's that have ever graced the turf and in turn analyse the attributes that are crucial in order to successfully utilise the Defensive Midfielder role in Football Manager. We will look at some of the top DMC’s and prospects within FM19 and how they compare to previous legends of the game, as well as conduct a few FM experiments to explore the various roles a DMC has to offer, and in turn formulate what we would call the "perfect" Defensive Midfielder. I write this not as an expert or someone who has mastered using a DMC (although I have always found it to be highly effective in the FM world), but as a big admirer and advocate of the role and the impact it can have when embarking on a new save adventure. 

DMC: Origins🔎 

I have read a lot about the history of the Defensive Midfielder (some great reference articles and literature at the bottom of this post), and how it kicked off all the way back at the turn of the 20th century where it was evidently developed in Italian football and subsequently adopted by some of the stronger South American international teams for success on the global stage.  

Without going in to too much history or detail, it is argued that the first real adaptation or implementation of a defensive midfielder or half back was put forward by Vittorio Pozzo who coached the Italy national team in the 1920's & 30’s. Largely influenced by his time studying in Manchester and the emergence of the "W-M" tactic implemented by the great Herbert Chapman of Arsenal legend, Pozzo's "Metodo" system is credited as being the first to really utilise a "Centromediano” or “Centrosostegno" (Centre Half Back), which placed an additional defensive player ahead of two more static full backs therefore giving his team more superiority in the middle of the park and allowing wide players to get forward when in possession or attacking with the ball.  

 

The "Metodo" - Italian and English versions (courtesy of Wikipedia)

 

This strategy was also utilised by the then most dominant International team of the era who won the first ever World Cup using this system - the Uruguay national team, who's defensive strength allowed them to win back to back Gold Medals in the 1924 and 1928 Olympic Games before taking home the first World Cup trophy in 1930 beating rivals Argentina in a 4-2 thriller played in front of 93,000 fans. An interesting piece of football trivia legend also occurred in this game, whereby a dispute over the match ball led to FIFA ruling that the Argentinians could choose their own ball for the first half (wherein they were 2-1 up at half time) before switching to the Uruguayan's ball for the second half where the Uruguayans proved too powerful winning the game 4-2 overall, and were presented with the World Cup trophy by a gentleman by the name of Jules Rimet. Let's just pause for a moment to appreciate the tools that these teams had at their disposal with which to ply their trade at the time: 

 

Argentina ball (left); regulation boots; Uruguay ball (right)

 

How Football Manager sees a DMC

As mentioned earlier, Football Manager offers a number of options when deploying a Defensive Midfielder, breaking it down in to different roles depending on the strategy, tactic and individual player being utilised. Below is a summary of FM's view on the different types of DMC available (focusing on the more defensive roles rather than playmaking etc): 

 
 

Notable DMC's 📰 

The Defensive Midfielder role became more prominent in English football in later decades, primarily in the 1960's with the emergence of the "Destroyer" ball winning midfielder through the likes of Nobby Stiles and Billy Bremner who still to this day are renowned not only for their tough tackling "hard man" approach but also the value they each contributed to their title winning teams by nullifying the opposition's attacking threats and enabling more technical and creative players to advance higher up the field and dictate the game. Bremner was instrumental in Leeds' spell of dominance whereby he captained the side to the First Division, FA Cup, League Cup and final of the European Cup in 1975, and Leeds took full advantage of his aggression and tackling ability in deploying him in a more defensive role alongside Johnny Giles. Stiles on the other hand, was a more composed and tenacious ball winning midfielder which allowed more skilled players such as Bobby Charlton and George Best to take full advantage and avail of the attacking freedom they were given as a result of Stiles positioning between the defence and midfield - it was this defensive awareness and ability to take players out of the game that was crucial in England's World Cup win in 1966 where Stiles played in every match and most notably marked the famous Eusebio out of the game in the Semi-Final versus Portugal. 

 

Stiles and Bremner - "tackling tenacity"

 
 

Nobby Stiles FM Profile courtesy of Top Notch FM's WC Legends DB

 

Evolution 🌍 

As football progressed and skill/technique became more prevalent and essential in the game, the DMC role also began evolve - not necessarily losing the "hard man" approach, but more so adding an enhanced level of footballing grace and prowess to the role whereby the Half Back or Ball Winning Midfielder evolved towards a more Defensive Midfielder / Ball Carrier type of player who was not only responsible for winning the ball and breaking down play, but also participating in and often initiating the subsequent counter attack that resulted from dispossessing the opposition. During the late 80's and early 90's and the re-emergence of a number of powerhouse clubs from mainland Europe, teams such as Ajax, A.C. Milan and Bayern Munich thrived on the implementation of a deep lying defensive / holding midfielder. Frank Rijkaard epitomised this role for both Ajax and Milan, whereby he was effectively converted from Centre Half to one of the best Defensive Midfielders of his generation wherein he won Euro 88 with Holland, three European Cups, 6 domestic league titles and amassed 73 international caps across two World Cups and two European Championships. 

 

Frank Rijkaard FM18 Profile courtesy of @jadog9495 on Steam

 

Similarly, Lothar Matthaus also frequently made this transition from Sweeper to Holding Midfielder for both club and country, and is regarded as one of the greatest defensive players of all time with two records to his name; ( i ) playing in the most World Cup Finals matches ever (25), and (ii) being the most capped German International of all time. His ability to move between the roles of Sweeper and Holding Midfielder were instrumental in Germany's 1990 World Cup victory and allowed him to continue playing at the highest level for almost 20 years. Even at 35 the guy was still a monster DM. 

Lothar Matthaus CM2 Profile courtesy of @cm9798

A relatively dry spell on the International stage for Brazil (having not won a World Cup since the iconic team of 1970) finally came to an end in World Cup 1994 in the USA, and it was here that Brazil displayed a resilient steel and spine to their squad that had been missing for many years - largely led by their Captain and Anchor Man Dunga, who alongside Mauro Silva served as the defensive backbone of the side which enabled them to neutralise their opponents attacking threat and in turn advance on their opponents through the likes of Romario and Bebeto. Dunga's leadership, composure, anticipation and tendency not to dive into tackles made him an extremely effective DMC for Brazil and earned him 91 caps for his country. 

Dunga CM2 Profile courtesy of @cm9798

It was also around this time that a young tenacious Irish midfielder was making a name for himself at Manchester United after completing a then British record transfer fee of £3.75m from Nottingham Forest, and clearly stating his intent on competing with and ultimately replacing Bryan Robson and Paul Ince in the heart of the Red Devils midfield. Roy Keane was instantly recognizable for his aggression and fearlessness in the tackle - usually preferring to go to ground as opposed to Dunga's timed anticipated approach. This, combined with his ability to read the game and his quick pass & move approach, gave a new meaning and value to the role of a DMC for Man Utd and the Republic of Ireland for whom he earned 67 International caps and eventually captained for most of his international career (let’s not mention Saipan). While his temperament was (and still is) questionable at times, there is no denying that Keane's role as a combative Ball Winning Midfielder was instrumental during Man Utd's spell of dominance throughout the 1990's and early 2000's - again, in the same regard as Rijkaard and Matthaus, this allowed more creative players such as Scholes, Ince, Sharpe, Beckham and Giggs to play much further up the field as well as giving full backs Gary Neville and Denis Irwin the freedom to push on when attacking knowing that Keane would be there to support and cover on the break. He was immense in this role for more than 10 years for both club and country and is often hailed as one of the best defensive midfielders of all time – not bad for a small lad from Cork in the South of Ireland. 

Roy Keane CM97/98 profile

We mentioned how the evolved DMC moved away from that of Hard Man Destroyer / Half Back towards a more influential and rounded Deep Lying DM responsible for both winning back the ball as well as initiating repossession and subsequent counter attacking football, and few were better at this than French World Cup winning Captain Didier Deschamps who excelled in this role for both Juventus and France during a time in which both teams were dominating at both domestic and international level. While Eric Cantona mockingly referred to Deschamps as a "water carrier" for the team (i.e. there to provide the ball to more talented players), the reality was that Deschamps’ high work rate, vision, intelligence and leadership made him less like a water carrier and more like a quarter back for both club and country whereby he dictated the game and the pace of play with ease. He led his country to back-to-back victories at World Cup 1998 and Euro 2000, winning over 100 international caps and becoming only the second Captain since Franz Beckenbauer to lift the World Cup, European Championship and Champions League trophies. 

Deschamps CM97/98 profile

Leadership

It's interesting to note that the five legends mentioned above all went on to become Football Managers after retiring from playing the beautiful game, and experienced varying levels of managerial success at both domestic and international level. Rijkaard was instrumental in kicking off what would become two decades of Barcelona dominance, and guided the club to two La Liga titles and one Champions League between 2003 and 2008; Deschamps as we know has already led France to World Cup glory in 2018 after finishing as runners-up at Euro 2016 not to mention leading Marseille to their first League 1 title in 18 years prior to that. It is clear that not only is the Defensive Midfielder strong in the tackle and skilled at reading the game and breaking down the opposition - these players generally also possess excellent leadership qualities and are highly influential in the dressing room, which naturally is the catalyst for these players to progress in to management at the end of their careers. While perhaps not as highly regarded as some of their peers during their time as players, Defensive Midfielders such as Pep Guardiola, Diego Simeone, Antonio Conte and Ruud Gullit all went on to manage at the highest levels and this is a clear indication that leadership, communication and influence are also key attributes of an effective DMC. 

 

From bossing the midfield to bossing the dugout

 

Reading the Game  

The turn of the 21st Century saw a continued utilisation and successful implementation of the Defensive Midfielder, whereby a number of teams reaped the reward of intelligent ball winning midfielders that possessed exceptional positioning and anticipation, and almost controlled games single handedly due to their ability to anticipate their opponents next move and ability to cover huge amounts of ground during the course of play. Widely regarded as the best Defensive Midfielder of the last 20 years, Claude Makélélé almost redefined the DMC role or was at least responsible for reigniting its importance and powerful impact when he joined the Roman Abramovic revolution at Chelsea following a £16m move from Real Madrid - so much so that it has since been branded "The Makélélé role", which is largely based on a DMC with a powerful engine who breaks down play through exceptional positioning, winning the ball and playing simple passes to then build up his own team’s return attack. Claudio Ranieri hailed Makélélé as the "battery" of the team, and similar to some of the players mentioned above - his strength and defensive reliability allowed creative players such as Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Damien Duff and and Arjen Robben to shine during Chelsea's title winning season in 2004/2005. 

 

"The Makélélé Role" (profile courtesy of @MadScientistFM's 03/04 DB)

 

Gennaro Gattuso was also an example of a hard-working intelligent player whose ability to read the game and strength in the tackle more than compensated for what he might have lacked in terms of touch and technique. Similar to the Makélélé <-> Lampard partnership, Gattuso's position as a tenacious Ball Winning Midfielder granted much creative freedom for his midfield partner Andrea Pirlo, and the duo were central to Milan's success during the early 2000's where they won two Champions League finals and two Serie A titles - a partnership which was also replicated at International level in 2006 as the pair guided Italy to their first World Cup win in 24 years. 

 

"Ringhio " - The Snarl (profile courtesy of @MadScientistFM's 03/04 DB)

 

Modern Day & Covering More Ground 

It's safe to say that the majority of the players above were all masters of the DMC role, largely based on their ability to read the game, break down the opposition play and most importantly win the ball for their respective teams. Nowadays, with the increased speed and physicality of the game combined with the more modern and perhaps international influence on present day football, players who traditionally would have occupied the Defensive Midfield role are now expected to cover far more ground and perhaps are evolving to a more Box to Box midfielder approach as teams push higher and higher up the field. Patrick Vieira's style probably best reflects this - initially signed as a Defensive Midfielder thus allowing the likes of Petit, Platt, Ljungberg and Pires to get further forward, Vieira quickly showed that he was equally adept at getting forward as he was in winning the ball, and this made him a formidable opponent in heart of Arsenal's midfield. He was exceptional in the tackle and had the uncanny ability of sending a defence-splitting pass to create a goal immediately after winning the ball from the opposition - this made him an instrumental figure during Arsene Wenger's success at Arsenal, in particular their famous unbeaten title winning side in the 2003/2004 season. 

 

Vieira profile courtesy of @MadScientistFM's 03/04 DB)

 

In the years that followed Patrick Vieira's departure from the Premier League, the role and importance of the evolved Box to Box Defensive Midfielder continued to be illustrated in successes enjoyed by clubs overseas as well. Daniele De Rossi, already a World Cup winner with Italy in 2006, is a perfect example of a combative, hard working DMC who also contributes hugely to Roma's attacking and build up play, again almost playing the quarter back role and shuttling between boxes dictating the pace of the game. Xabi Alonso also embodied the defensive box to box midfielder position consistently at the top level, winning trophies in the English, Spanish and German leagues as well as being part of Spain's back to back World Cup and European Championship teams in 2010 and 2012. More recently, we have also seen Casemiro at Real Madrid undertake this role for club and country, perhaps not with the same defensive tenacity but equally functional and effective in terms of his propensity to contribute both defensively and in attack.  

 

Daniele De Rossi - FM18 Profile

 
 

Xabi Alonso - FM15

 
 
 

However, there is one player that stands above all in this regard who has continually executed the Box to Box Defensive Midfield role, and has arguably contributed the most success to his team as a DMC in recent years....that player is one-club-man Sergio Busquets, who has been the backbone of Barcelona's midfield for more than 10 years and has been one of the least credited driving forces behind their dominance in Spanish and European football over the past decade. Busquets' ability to read the game, his tactical intelligence and positional awareness, as well as his combined tackling and passing ability have made him quite simply one of the best midfielders of his generation, and it is easy to see why he is one of the most decorated footballers in the current game having won the World Cup, European Championship, 3 Champions Leagues and 7 La Liga titles with Barcelona (as well as multiple domestic and world club cups etc). Busquets is the perfect Box to Box DMC and is a clear representation of how the role has evolved as time and football have progressed simultaneously. All together now: what a player. 

 
 

Back to the Future ⌚ 

So what is next for the future of the DMC role? It is arguable that we haven't seen a more influential Central Midfielder embrace the Premier League since the likes of Vieira and Keane (maybe Yaya Touré comes close?), and even now in 2019 a lot of the top clubs do not tend to deploy players regularly in defensive specific midfield roles, but rather demand more from these types of Box to Box midfielders who are expected to contribute to both defensive and attacking phases of play. Recently we have seen impressive results from Manchester City's use of Fernandinho in this role which has added a level of steel to their approach that perhaps they missed in previous years. However, the arrival of N'Golo Kanté at Leicester in 2016 served as a sharp reminder to many managers that the "Makélélé" role is still very much an effective weapon to have in their arsenal; Kanté was relatively unknown before his £5.6m move from Stade Malherbe Caen however Leicester scout Steve Walsh spotted something special in his ability, not least the fact that Kanté recovered the ball more times in the previous season than any other player had done in the whole of Europe. He made an instant impact at Leicester in his first season, and while players such as Vardy and Mahrez stole much of the headlines during their phenomenal title winning campaign, it was Kanté who was the driving force behind their success, playing in 37 games and finishing the season with the most tackles (175) and interceptions (157) in the entire league. This as we know led to a multi-million pound move to Chelsea where he would again win the Premier League as well as winning the Football Writers Player of the Year, and Leicester were never the same without him after his move to Stamford Bridge. Kanté is probably our best current example of the closest thing we can get to the perfect DMC; his tackling, positioning, anticipation, work rate, teamwork, aggression, stamina and determination all make him an exceptional asset to his team.

 
 

So...what's the point? 

What have we learned? Do we know what makes the perfect DMC? Can any of this real life analysis actually be applied in FM? In order to make this transition from real life to Football Manager and to try and give context to what we have discussed above, we need to answer a few questions:  

  1. What are the main attributes to look for in a DMC? 

  2. How can I use this information effectively in FM? 

  3. What does the perfect "DMC" look like? 

  4. Who was the best?! 

To answer these questions, I have conducted a "Moneyball" type analysis below whereby the strongest attributes shared across all of these great players (combined with the key attributes for each role as per FM) have been analysed, and it produces some really interesting and intriguing results which we will use to form the main conclusions from this study and answer the questions above. 

 
 

The DMC Matrix🕶️ 

Q.1. What are the main attributes to look for in a DMC? 

While FM advises of the key attributes for each specific role, we can also identify the strongest attributes based on our control group of DMC legends. If we look at the above data, it tells us that Teamwork (18), Work Rate (17), Anticipation (17) and Determination (17) are the highest scoring attributes within our player pool followed by Tackling (16), Positioning (16), Composure (16), Passing (16) and Stamina (16). This is a really interesting revelation in that traditionally I would have only searched for a DMC focusing on things like Tackling, Aggression, Positioning which aren't even among the top 4 attributes above.  

Q.2.How can I use this information effectively and apply it in FM? 

While we know that Football Manager offers us plenty of options in terms of searching by attributes and also searching for players by refining a search based on a similar player (i.e. the Find Similar Players option) - this obviously only applies to current players within the game, however if you are old fashioned like me and a fellow FM / IRL nostalgia enthusiast, using the above information we now have the option to refine our search based on a specific player from the past and try to replicate this within the FM universe.  

For example - if I know I would love to have a Roy Keane type player in my ranks, based on the above I would focus on finding a player with strong Teamwork, Work Rate, Anticipation, Stamina, Aggression and Determination. However if I am looking for a more graceful player in the same mould as the likes of Didier Deschamps or Xabi Alonso, I would focus more on Positioning, Passing and Concentration as well as on Teamwork and Work Rate etc. Below are some examples of FM19 search results when I have used specific attributes to locate similar players to some of our DMC legends above – interesting results! 

Q.3. What does the perfect "DMC" look like? 

The easy answer to this question would be a DMC that has a rating of 20 across all attributes, however the reality is that an ideal DMC should echo what we have established above and possess really good mental, defensive, technical and physical attributes. To illustrate what the perfect DMC might look like, I have created a fictional DMC to reflect how this would appear in the FM universe (and of course he is Irish and plays for Newcastle ⚫⚪☘️): 

 

The "Perfect" DMC

 

Q.4. Who was the best?! 

Now that is the question!! Of course there are many determining factors when we talk about who the best DMC was e.g. the role they played, team they were in, trophies won etc; however sticking to our Moneyball analysis and focusing solely on player attributes (as is the language of Football Manager) - the stand out DMCs from our pool of legends are powerful Sweeper/DMC Lothar Matthaus; fearless Irish talisman Roy Keane; Claude Makélélé - the man so good they named a role after him; hard as nails Italian World Cup Winner Gennaro Gattuso and former Arsenal and France enforcer Patrick Vieira. Gattuso is the one that surprises me a little, however his attributes in CM03/04 were outrageous and as a holding midfielder he was certainly up there based on his contribution for both Milan and Italy. If I was to give my own preference I would probably lean towards a Keane or Makélélé but again I am old fashioned and have a tendency to favour the hard-tackling BWM when scouting a DMC in my saves. Who would you choose? 

The Experiment 🔬 

I was curious about the different roles and how much of it matters in a game situation - i.e. if the player is good enough in FM, does it matter what specific role they play in? To compare the roles, I selected 4 players from FM19 whose natural positions are Defensive Midfielder, Ball Winning Midfielder, Anchor Man and Half Back respectively, and below is an analysis of their performance in each role in Champions League games where their team has won and they have played 90 mins per game: 

 

Heatmap illustrating movement, tackles, interceptions & key passes

 

At first glance this doesn't really tell us a whole lot but if we look closely we can make a few assumptions from the heatmap in particular looking at where tackles and interceptions have been made. We can see that Casemiro in the DM role spent a lot more time in the opponents half than any of the other three roles, making quite a few interceptions and tackles higher up the field. By contrast, Eric Dier in the BWM role didn't seem to actually complete any challenges until the ball was in his own half, despite the map showing he did spend time in his opponent's half. Danilo Pereira, playing the Half Back role, also completed most of his challenges in his own half but it looks like a good portion of these occurred while covering for his full backs - while we can see Javi Martinez in the Anchor Man role making a good few interceptions and tackles in and around his own box, suggesting that he naturally spent a lot of the game sitting right in front of his Central Defenders if not almost falling back on to the defensive line.  

Admittedly this experiment is only based on a single game however it is interesting to think about what each role can bring to the team and what to expect when deploying it as part of your match tactic. If you are looking for someone to plant themselves in front of the defence (e.g. to neutralise a top quality opposition Number 10) then perhaps Anchor Man is more effective than a standard DM – if your goal is to cover your onrushing full backs/wing backs, then perhaps a Half Back might suit in order to cover these when on the attack. As it has often been said with this game, there is no right or wrong approach in FM – it is down to what works for you and what you find to suit your style of play (or for many of us, its about finding out what doesn’t work usually the hard way). 

My FM19 Tips 

Again, I am admittedly no expert however taking all of the above in to account and having played a sh*tload of FM19 since it's release in November 2018, below is my hitlist of Top FM19 Transfer Targets for the DMC position, some of whom are already well known / hot prospects and some perhaps not so well known (yet!). Feel free to click each name to view their FM profile and observe their preferred role and natural positions etc. 

Summary 

I guess that's it! (although be sure to check out the hilarious quotes section below regarding some of the more infamous DMCs over the years). Hopefully you found this post to be interesting, informative and somewhat relevant to your own FM adventures - as I said before, I am a huge admirer of the role and value that these players have brought to their teams over the years (both in FM and IRL), and I am a big advocate of utilising a strong DMC to form the backbone of my team in order to provide both defensive support / brick-shithousery as well as a fulcrum through which quick short-passing counter-attacking football can be played. Scouting for a decent DMC is actually not the easiest thing in the game especially when you bring in the more advanced attribute analysis in to your search, and equally it isn't too often that a DMC consistently scores above a 7.0 average rating (as they don't usually get goals, assists or clean sheets etc). However, what I will say is that regardless of which league or level you are managing at, if you can find that core Defensive Midfielder and deploy him effectively to do the job you need done, it will usually yield solid results and allow you to then get creative in other areas of the field where you can look at punishing your opponent. 

———-

Thanks for reading - if you have any thoughts, comments, feedback or questions please be sure to post them in the comments below or on my Twitter page – follows and retweets are always appreciated! Also, if you enjoyed this post and would like to read more of my FM content, please feel free to check out my blog here – my latest conquest is with CD Tenerife in Spain, where we are attempting to dethrone Barcelona and the Madrids from the peak of Spanish football (appropriately entitled “Roy De Los Rovers”). For now I will leave you with some of my favourite quotes that I discovered during my research which pretty much sum up the DMC role in a nutshell: 

"Aggression is what I do. I go to war. You don't contest football matches in a reasonable state of mind" Roy Keane on his tenacious playing style.

 

"Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine?" Zinedine Zidane on Claude Makélélé 's departure to Chelsea and David Beckham's subsequent arrival in 2003.

 

"Don't talk nonsense, let's not confuse Nutella with shit" - Gennaro Gattuso when asked if he thought that his tenacious tackling and defensive work did as much for Pirlo as Pirlo had done for him.

 

"We knew that Zidane, Raúl and Figo didn't track back, so we had to put a guy in front of the back four who would defend." Arrigo Sacchi describing the importance of a holding midfielder such as Claude Makelele when playing versus Real Madrid

 
 

"If it had come to a fight, Patrick could probably have killed me." Roy Keane on Patrick Vieira.

 
 

"If every manager in Britain were given his choice of any one player to add to his team some, no doubt, would toy with the idea of George Best; but the realists, to a man, would have Billy Bremner.’ John Arlott, Sports Journalist.

 

References/Interesting Reads 📖: 

"Inverting the Pyramid" - Jonathan Wilson 

"50 Best Defensive Midfielders in History" - Michael Cummings, BleacherReport.com 

"The Defensive Midfielder: A History" - Aidan Gibson, @theshortfuse 

"How the Makélélé role redifined English football" Zain Mahmood via Sportskeeda.com 

www.premierleague.com 

www.wikipedia.com 

www.transfermarkt.co.uk 

























FM19 Tactics: The Aldershot Way

Written by @CurtyFM

I want to start by saying that this is by no means a guide for lower league management (LLM), but after completely altering how I set up my LLM 442 formation after I was lucky enough to have a ‘Golden Generation’ youth intake, I wanted to share the transition I made from an incredibly basic system, to something a little more complex which aims to get my key players as involved as possible during build-up play. 

I recently started a LLM save with my beloved Aldershot Town. If you ever look for guidance on creating a LLM tactic, the advice is generally always the same: keep it simple, stupid. Lower league players have lower attributes in most areas compared to anyone playing in higher divisions, so it makes sense to keep things as basic as possible, right? Well, to an extent this is true. Players will still be capable of moments of brilliance, it’ll just happen much less often in the lower leagues. Personally, I think when recruiting for a lower league team, aim to focus on a couple of key attributes for a player, rather than all of the attributes the game recommends for a role. Need a winger? All he’ll need is pace and crossing. Need a striker? Look for finishing and off the ball. Anything else is a bonus at this level.  

With this in mind, when I first took over my Aldershot team, I wanted to create something basic which would complement the starting squad. Here’s the aptly named ‘Curty Brexit’ formation: 

The general idea behind this system was that I wanted to make full use of our quick wingers. We had a real lack of ability in central areas, so building up play from central midfield made little sense. I wanted to get the ball wide, starting from the goalkeeper, and then bombard the opposition box with crosses. The idea was effective as you can see below: 

 
 

We scored 105 goals during the season, over 20 more than any other team in the division. Defensively we had issues - predominately caused by our aggressiveness down the flanks and slightly kamikaze roles in central midfield - but my ethos was to score more than the opposition and it proved fruitful. I also made use of pressing forwards who constantly put the enemy defenders under pressure. If you’ve ever managed at this level you’ll be aware of some of the highly questionable decisions defenders can make when they’re caught on the ball. The pressing forwards were there to create indecision and panic if the opposition decided to build from the back. It’s fair to say they got their fair share of goals from defensive errors. The system was basic, but effective for the level. 

During the youth intake in season one, we were blessed with some real talent coming through the ranks. However one player stood out amongst his peers. Meet Daniel Elechi: 

 
 

As soon as I saw Elechi, the cogs in my head started turning. How can I possibly build this guy into a 442 formation? Will I have to change the system completely to accommodate him? What can I do to get the best out of him? 

Elechi made his debut in that first season, once the title was won. He became Aldershot’s youngest ever first team player and the clubs youngest ever goalscorer. His journey had started. My focus going into season two was to build the team around Elechi. Despite the fact he was only 16 years old at this point, he was comfortably my best player and my best prospect. I wanted to make the most of him before some horrible big bully club came along to snatch him from my grasp. 

Initially we tinkered with a 4231, playing him in his natural AMC position. Now, I’m not sure if the team wasn’t set up well enough to get the most out of his ability, or whether most AMC roles in this version of FM are slightly underpowered, but no matter what I did, he struggled. We then moved to a 4141 and tried to use him in the central midfielder role on an attack duty, but again, perhaps it was his unfamiliarity playing from that position, or the general team set-up, but he wasn’t getting involved in build up play, or getting on the end of chances we created. In the end, he played a bit-part role during the season as we struggled to a mid-table position, failing to win any of our last eight matches to miss out on a playoff spot.  

I decided at the start of season three to go back-to-basics, well, sort of. I wanted to go back to a 442 formation, but still try and get the best out of Elechi. Here’s what I’ve been playing in pre-season:  

My inspiration was very much based on Atletico Madrid and their style. I decided to play with a low block, but keep a positive mentality in my players when they’re on the ball or countering. This allows them to take more risks in attacking transitions, which still gives us a good platform to create good football in opposition territory.  

The deep-lying forward role seems made for Elechi so far. The wide playmaker role doesn’t encroach into his space but still feeds him the ball regularly. Once Elechi’s on the ball, he generally has several options with the CM support and wide playmaker around him, or the advanced forward offering an out ball. It’s incredibly early days for this system, but so far it achieves everything I want. The narrow, low block makes us extremely difficult to break down, the CM roles are kept nice and simple – the CM on support can be altered to hold position or get further forward depending on the match situation – plus I’m getting my most creative players on the ball when going forward. The positive mentality also gives these guys a little more creative freedom to express themselves, not always a good idea for lower league football, but with a talent like Elechi, it’s a risk I’m happy to take. 

——- 

If you want to see the system in action, you can catch me live at 2pm every weekday over at twitch.tv/Curty.  



Football Manager 2019: 5 teams you might want to manage

Written by @FridayNightFM

You’ve got a day off of work or school, you fire up your computer, load Football Manager and then you ask yourself ‘who do I manage?’.

It can be tough choosing a team with so many challenges out there but for those that are like me and love a back story, this post is for you as I’ll give you a reason to manage the team and hopefully you’ll let us know if we’ve piqued your interest.

Here are 5 football teams with interesting stories that I hope will inspire you to a start a save with:

FC Twente

The story of Twente could be described as riches to rags & back again. Champions in 2010 to nearly bankrupt in 2018 and not for the first time as the club was saved from bankruptcy in 2002 by Chairman Joop Munsterman. From 2002 Twente’s stature in Dutch football grew, 2 fourth place finishes and a 2nd place were eclipsed in the 2009/10 season when they won their first Eredivisie Championship. The seasons that followed that first championship win were filled with turmoil, there were allegations of financial mismanagement which included transfers & expanding the De Grolsch Veste, both of which the club could not actually afford. In 2016 the club were relegated to the Eerste Divisie (the second tier) by the KNVB due to these irregularities but after appeal the club were allowed to remain in the Eredivisie, not that it mattered as the club was relegated naturally two years later.

In Football Manager:

Transfer Budget £500k | Wage Budget £70k p/w

Read more: https://www.asser.nl/SportsLaw/Blog/post/the-rise-and-fall-of-fc-twente

Malaga

Isco, Joaquin, Willy Cabellero, Julio Baptista and Ruud van Nistelrooy are just a handful of ex-Malaga players signed during the Al Thani era but unlike Manchester City, having a sheikh owner doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed success. The 2011-12 season saw Malaga finish 4th in La Liga meaning they qualified for The Champions League. They progressed from the group stages in a group that contained AC Milan, Zenit St Petersburg & Anderlect. They beat Porto in the round of sixteen and were eventually knocked out in the Quarter Finals against Borussia Dortmund after Dortmund scored 2 offside goals in injury time to send the Spanish side out of the competition.

The following season Malaga were banned from European competition for four years due to the clubs debts, however after appeal the ban was decreased to one year.

The lack of European football meant their star players wanted to leave and with that downward trajectory of the football team and in the 2017/18 season they were relegated to the Segunda Division.

In Football Manager:

Transfer Budget £3.7m | Wage Budget £388k p/w

Read More: https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/the-fascinating-tale-of-malaga-c-f

AS Saint-Étienne

The best team in France, or they once were. With a record 10 Ligue 1 titles Saint-Étienne have a rich history in French football but the 10 Championships were won between 1957 & 1981, a distant memory for Les Verts fans. Moving to the turn of the millennium and to fresher memories; Saint-Étienne were docked 7 points in the 2000/01 season after Brazilian Alex Dias & Ukranian Maksym Levytsky used fake passports that linked back to involvement from the club’s management. The points penalty was to prove too much of a mountain to climb and the club were relegated to Ligue 2. Upon their return to Ligue 1 after 3 seasons Saint-Étienne’s best league position has been 5th which meant European football for the first time in 23 years, that young squad was influenced by the likes of Blaise Matuidi & Dimitri Payet. This achievement was followed up in 2013 when Saint-Étienne won the Coupe de la Ligue, their first major domestic silverware for 30 years.

In Football Manager:

Transfer Budget £6.2m | Wage Budget £483k p/w

Read More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AS_Saint-%C3%89tienne

Sporting Lisbon

Sporting have a rich, successful history in football but what happened towards the end of last season makes for an interesting story. In a training ground attack where 50 of the clubs supporters forced their way into the club’s training ground and assaulted players and staff, Bas Dost, that seasons top scorer, came away with a nasty head injury and players such as Rui Patricio, Gelson Martins, William Carvalho & Daniel Podence were all involved in the altercation which lead to a number of key players cancelling their contracts with the club. Why did this happen a week before a Cup Final? Well, outspoken club president Bruno De Carvalho took to Facebook to criticise the team’s performance against Atletico Madrid in the Europa League. The players responded by posting a joint statement defending their commitment to the club, but not to De Carvalho. It was believed that De Carvalho organised the attacks, but at the time those rumours were unconfirmed. In June 2018 the club’s members held a vote and 71.36% of them voted against Carvalho continuing as club President and later that year the Portuguese Public Ministry charged Carvalho with terrorism and 98 other crimes including aggravated threat, kidnapping, qualified offence to physical integrity & possession of a prohibited weapon.

In Football Manager:

Transfer Budget £7.1m | Wage Budget £673k p/w

Read More: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2776584-attack-on-sporting-what-drove-lisbon-fans-to-violence-against-their-own-team

Pachuca

I’ve added Pachuca to the list because it’s a club that I’ve wanted to manage in FM for a number of years, but have never taken the plunge. I first watched Pachuca’s youth team play against Manchester United in 2008 & I’ve been keeping an eye on them ever since. When Mexico played at the 2012 Olympics, I watched them beat Senegal and got to see a Pachuca graduate, Hector Herrera, play and score in the game. Their youth academy produces some stunning talent, the likes of Hirving ‘Chucky’ Lozano, Erick Gutierrez & Rodolfo Pizarro all came through the academy but nowadays it’s not just ‘home grown’ talent they’re producing they now have the ability to attract the top talented youngsters because of the investment of Carlos Slim, the former richest man in the world.

In Football Manager:

Transfer Budget £3.8m | Wage Budget £305k p/w

Read More: http://www.espn.com/soccer/mexican-liga-mx/22/blog/post/2694824/the-secret-of-pachuca-youth-success-in-liga-mx

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Hopefully that gives you some food for thought, please let us know if you start a save with any of the teams or have had experience with them.

@FMDoop decided to start a new save with Malaga after reading this, you can see how he gets on via his Twitch channel twitch.tv/FMDoop



























Benfica vs Porto Combined XI

@FridayNightFM & @DaveAzzopardi are battling it out in the #OClassicoSave. Benfica are currently reeling from a resurgent Porto and are in pole position to claim their second championship in as many years. 

Here WeStreamFM selects who would make a combined XI from the two squads since the save started... 

Goalkeeper 

Gerónimo Rulli (Benfica) 

This was arguably the most difficult decision to make as Keylor Navas has given Dave’s Porto side some much needed quality between the sticks. 

Rulli signed for Benfica this season and is already proving himself with some fantastic performances against Real Madrid in The Champions League. His signing has seen the sale of both Predrag Rajkovic & Odysseas Vlachodimos, a real show of intent & trust from his manager. 

 
 

Right Back 

Alexis Saelemaekers (Benfica)  

Signed from Anderlecht for £24m, Saelemaekers was an instant success at Benfica. His pace, dribbling and crossing ability gave him everything a modern-day full back needs. With his obvious talent it was obvious that he wasn’t going to be a Benfica player for long & when Juventus came in with £48.5m transfer offer, which activated his release clause, he was off to Turin but not before he had claimed 11 assists and a Europa League winners medal.  

 
 

Centre Back 

Rúben Dias (Benfica)  

Whilst Portugal is famous for producing attacking talent, Rúben Dias’ work goes more unnoticed. The centre back has come through the ranks at Benfica and is often compared to Rio Ferdinand. He’s quick, strong and extremely composed and has the ability to pick out a pass when the time is right. At the start of the game his release clause is £54m and he’d be worth every penny of that fee if you’re managing one of the big clubs and have money to burn. 

 
 

Centre Back 

Éder Militão (Porto)  

He was arguably the stand out performer in Season 1. Although comfortable at right back, Éder’s natural position is in the middle of the defence. His attributes show his versatility, but what stands out is his set-piece ability, he was deadly from freekicks and corners before being sold to Arsenal for £54m - a £51.4m profit!  

 
 

Left Back 

Alex Telles (Porto)  

There were strong shouts for Grimaldo or Ribero who have generated £68m in revenue for Benfica, but Telles has been Mr Consistent throughout this save. He’s built in the Brazilian mould, quick and effective in the opposition’s half. Season 1 was arguably Telles’ best, 6 goals and 11 assists can’t be sniffed at. 

 
 

Centre Midfield 

Oliver Ntcham (Porto)  

After a slow start in Portugal and with Dave on the brink of selling him, Ntcham has really imposed himself in Porto’s midfield in recent months. 

Now that he’s adjusted to Liga NoS & Dave’s tactical systems he has gone from strength to strength and finished the 2019/20 season with 20 goals & 7 assists. 

 
 

Centre Midfield   

Gedson Fernandes (Benfica)  

A physical specimen and in my opinion one of the best Box to Box Midfielders in Football Manager 2019.  

In Season 1, aged 19, he played 40 games, scored 22 goals and had 7 assists, he is the heart of the Benfica midfield. Real Madrid & Chelsea have been in for him, but his release clause has put them off, he gets disappointed but soon gets over it when he’s on the field being the star man. 

 
 

Centre Midfield 

Rúben Neves (Porto)  

Dave’s marquee signing, £84m from Wolves and worth every penny. He orchestrates the midfield spraying passes to the attacking players and delivering from deadball situations. At 23 he could already be the next Pirlo & on £94k p/w I don’t see him wanting to leave the club any time soon. 

 
 

Right Winger 

Andrija Zivkovic (Benfica)  

Now in his second stint with Benfica, Zivkovic plays off the right as an Inside Forward. He left Benfica for the Parisian lights, joining PSG for £49m onto to rejoin Benfica in 2020 for £26m and has walked back into the first team.  

His attributes are clear to see, but watch you’ll see in the match engine is his ability to cut inside from the right onto his left foot and bend the ball inside the far post. 

 
 

Left Winger 

Otávio (Porto) 

He may not be a household name, but under Dave, Otávio has been sensational scoring a goal every other game. 

The tricky Brazilian plays off the left but is equally adept at playing behind the striker and with his flair and vision can be dangerously unpredictable. 

 
 

Striker 

Moussa Marega (Porto)  

This was a tough call between Lincoln and Marega, but as Marega was the league’s top scorer in 2018/19 with 29 goals we’ve chosen the Malian beast to lead the line in our XI. 

Marega’s best attributes are physical and at just over 6 foot he is a handful for any defence. He’s going to face tough competition in the 2020/21 season as Porto have signed another former player in André Silva. 

 
 

It wasn’t until the best XI graphic was made that we realised how balanced the squad was with players from each team which I suppose is reflected in the performances of both teams in the save. That being said, what a great team this would be…

 
BenPortXI0d1f4a5c9733bd44.png
 

Thanks for reading. I hope that you’ve enjoyed another #OClassicoSave update and if you want to know more make sure you follow Dave & Joe on Twitter or search for the #OClassicoSave hashtag on Twitter.

Until next time.

 

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