Aston Villa F.C. Season 2024/25 Q1 Report - Unrealistic expectations?
I have finished around one fourth of the new season, so let's see how the team has done.
Let's begin with the late transfer news as I made one signing on deadline day and brought in Manuel Ugarte (£33,5m), who now agreed to lower his wage demands to £85k per week.
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Our Premier League campaign has started relatively well but I'm still disappointed. I'm used to overperforming as a Football Manager and it feels like I can't create a successful system with this team. Most of the time our games seems to be a total crap shoot.
The game against newly promoted Norwich City is a perfect example of this. Just based on the result we had a great win but when you look at the stats it could have gone either way. I don't seem to be able to gain control of the games. If we create chances, so does the opponent.
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We still win these kind of games which is of course great but in order to win trophies we need to develop our game and so far that hasn't happened. Maybe I've bought too much young players and too many players in general and just need to give the players some time to develop and learn the system.
Just for the reference my main tactic looks like this. Nothing too special I think. I've toyed around with the instructions, mentalities and roles and haven't quite found the working formula yet. But then again I've finished 7th and 5th with a team that isn't super great.
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I've struggled to find the best role for Caicedo who is perhaps our best player. With the passing of 16, dribbling of 15 and excellent physicals it seems like a waste to just use him as defensive midfielder. So, I've tried to use him as box to box midfielder, carrilero and segundo volante and then set the roles of other midfielders based on that.
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Well, anyway back to the fixtures. P8, W5, D1, L2 isn't a bad run. In fact it's the 3rd best run in PL so far. Its not a tittle winning form but should keep us in UCL qualification picture for time being.
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8 goals conded in 8 games isn't that bad either, so maybe my expectations aren't realistic and we aren't doing too bad after all. Its a new FM after all and I tend to have my best runs later in the game's life cycle.
One thing I'm sure about is that our UCL form has been p*ss poor. I debuted a three centre back system against Real Madrid and had a decent result against them. It remains to be seen if the formation is here to stay or not. Maybe I keep using it in Europe at least.
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I have finished around one fourth of the new season, so let's see how the team has done.
Let's begin with the late transfer news as I made one signing on deadline day and brought in Manuel Ugarte (£33,5m), who now agreed to lower his wage demands to £85k per week.
Our Premier League campaign has started relatively well but I'm still disappointed. I'm used to overperforming as a Football Manager and it feels like I can't create a successful system with this team. Most of the time our games seems to be a total crap shoot.
The game against newly promoted Norwich City is a perfect example of this. Just based on the result we had a great win but when you look at the stats it could have gone either way. I don't seem to be able to gain control of the games. If we create chances, so does the opponent.
We still win these kind of games which is of course great but in order to win trophies we need to develop our game and so far that hasn't happened. Maybe I've bought too much young players and too many players in general and just need to give the players some time to develop and learn the system.
Just for the reference my main tactic looks like this. Nothing too special I think. I've toyed around with the instructions, mentalities and roles and haven't quite found the working formula yet. But then again I've finished 7th and 5th with a team that isn't super great.
I've struggled to find the best role for Caicedo who is perhaps our best player. With the passing of 16, dribbling of 15 and excellent physicals it seems like a waste to just use him as defensive midfielder. So, I've tried to use him as box to box midfielder, carrilero and segundo volante and then set the roles of other midfielders based on that.
Well, anyway back to the fixtures. P8, W5, D1, L2 isn't a bad run. In fact it's the 3rd best run in PL so far. Its not a tittle winning form but should keep us in UCL qualification picture for time being.
8 goals conded in 8 games isn't that bad either, so maybe my expectations aren't realistic and we aren't doing too bad after all. Its a new FM after all and I tend to have my best runs later in the game's life cycle.
One thing I'm sure about is that our UCL form has been p*ss poor. I debuted a three centre back system against Real Madrid and had a decent result against them. It remains to be seen if the formation is here to stay or not. Maybe I keep using it in Europe at least.
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