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Conquering the Americas

Started on 21 November 2009 by joannes3000
Latest Reply on 17 February 2010 by joannes3000
  • POSTS94
  • VIEWS82808
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saplingg : Fantastic read... Very interesting. May I ask how you customized your player databse for this?

Thank you for reading!

Selected Leagues

Mexico (Promotion League and above)
USA (MLS only)
Argentina (Second Division and above)
Brazil (Second Division and above)
Chile (First Division B and above)
Colombia (Second Division and above)
Peru (First Division only)
Uruguay (Second Division and above)

Database Size - Large
League Play, Games 16-17

[imgw]http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/6540/fixtures17.jpg[/imgw]

League Table

[imgw]http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/6426/table17.jpg[/imgw]

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Ouch. That crash you just heard was the sound of my football season coming to an abrupt halt. After an expected loss on the road against Real Cartagena, we had our destiny in our hands. Facing a home game against Union Magdalena, it was simple - win and we're headed to the playoffs. For all of the fight that our boys put up, however, we simply didn't have enough to seal the deal.

After being down 0:1 at the half and down 1:2 for most of the second half, we scratched back and leveled with ~10 minutes (including injury time). We couldn't net a winning goal, though, and as a result we sat out the second half group phase instead of participating like we did in the first half.
2010 In Review

[imgw]http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/8808/tablefinal.jpg[/imgw]

After being pegged to finish dead last by the media, we comfortably surpassed that mark by finishing 10th. Our 13/15/12 record and -2 goal differential show that we were able to hang in there with the big boys even as we were tipped to lose every single time out by the odds makers. They also show that we have work to do in the offseason.

[imgw]http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/481/besteleven2011.jpg[/imgw]

Here's our best eleven for the season, although it will be changing up soon. I moved to a more offensive formation toward the end of the second phase and it worked quite well. I got tired of our winless streak and decided that if we were going to lose, we were at least going to mount a bit of an offensive against our opponents rather than sit back and get attacked for 90 minutes.
joannes3000's avatar Group joannes3000
14 yearsEdited
2011 First Phase

Season Expectations

[imgw]http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/7513/expectations2011.jpg[/imgw]

Given no changes in monetary incentive unless I declared that we would win the league, I responded with what I personally expected out of the team this season - a midtable finish. Given the strength of our finish last season, and the fact that our team only got stronger in the offseason, I won't be too happy if we don't finish in the top 8 during both phases of league play.

Starting Eleven

[imgw]http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/3676/firstphasestartingeleve.jpg[/imgw]

Here is an illustration of the changes I mentioned earlier. From a formation standpoint, it's not dramatically more different than the standard 442 that I run. I've simply pushed up one of my central midfielders into an attacking midfielder role. Looking under the hood, however, there are a few more wrinkles.

My sole central defender is now set to a defensive mindset, which is different from the more supporting role he played as a ball winning midfielder. The new AMC position still plays the deep lying playmaker role just as he did in the 442, he is just pushed further up the pitch. After watching a few games, I thought the AMC did a good enough job of linking our back line and front line, so I now have both of my forwards set as poachers. Previously, one was set as a poacher and the other was set as an advanced playmaker.

I have also been playing even the strongest sides on the 'counter attack' team setting. Even with just one additional player playing futher up the pitch (MC -> AMC), we seem to transition into attacks that much smoother while not allowing too much more to the opposing attack. I played things too close to the vest early on, playing mainly on the 'defensive' team setting as I looked to just grind down games and hope for a goal coming on a counterattack.

I'm planning on sticking with this formation for the time being, although I'm thinking of the following ideas:

    1. Dropping my central midfielder back into a true defensive midfielder position and role, achieving a wide 442 diamond. I'm not too keen on this option because it doesn't have a trigger man at MC, which I've grown accustomed to.

    2. Doing the same as above, except squeezing in my side midfielders in as central mids, achieving a narrow 442 diamond. This seems like a pretty good option by placing the majority of my players in the center of the pitch, which seems ideal for all of the narrow pitches we play on.

    3. Going with a traditional Brazilian 442 box. This would seem to be the best option since we play on narrow pitches all the time.

Transfers

[imgw]http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/9760/firstphasetransfers2011.jpg[/imgw]

Nothing major here, once again. The incoming loans were from linked parent clubs, and the players are essentially free backups.
Sorry you didn't make it into the next round - but you've done quite an achievement I think. Maybe you can even find a bigger club to manage!
hadnt checked here for a while, was very interesting read.

reading this now i want to get back and start up FM again haha.
saplingg : Sorry you didn't make it into the next round - but you've done quite an achievement I think. Maybe you can even find a bigger club to manage!

It leaves us with something to aim for in upcoming seasons, which is what I've really come to enjoy. For all the dominance I experienced with my Man City team in FM09, I didn't make it through three seasons before getting bored to death with the save.

I've been keeping an eye out for other job openings, but I've been afraid to apply for the few manager jobs that have opened. I don't want to give the board the wrong idea before I get my contract extended. :yes I want to see how far I can push this team in the next two or three seasons before seriously looking to move on, and hopefully up.
joannes3000's avatar Group joannes3000
14 yearsEdited
[imgw]http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/8226/transferfirst2011.jpg[/imgw]

At the close of the first transfer window, we have a couple of meaningful moves. The lone transfer out was to free up some of our weekly wages. Adriano went down for nearly two months so my hand was forced. Ramos was a very capable player, but he was a backup at full back and center back. Teams had inquired about him in the past, but we didn't need to make a move in the past.

Paulinho and Franco are both DMC/MC-types that arrive on season-long loans. Paulinho steps into the vacant center mid spot for now, and when Adriano returns from injury, Paulinho will be a nice rotational sub. Franco adds more defensive depth in the center of the pitch as well.
KUTGW

This may seem like a silly question and it might be covered somewhere else but hopw do you put pictures like you have in yours??
get the direct link for a picture, and then put it "imgw" tags.
OK Thanks
I'm not sure if I'll get an update posted later this morning, so I'll go ahead and post some ramblings before discussing league standings.

I did decide on a new formation for the upcoming season. It wasn't the 442 box, however. I was looking at how my potential starting eleven would look, and it was going to take a significant amount of player movement to achieve the kind of depth I like to have with my starting eleven and bench positions. That said, I decided to go with a narrow 442 diamond.

Like I mentioned earlier while I was thinking out loud, I like the narrow version of the 442 diamond because it concentrates things in the center of the pitch. Every pitch I play on, both home and away, are narrow, so it makes sense to go ahead and play a formation that's strong up the middle. I will continue to have a home/away tactic, with the only difference being the passing style - shorter at home and more direct on the road.

For now, I won't change my pace as dramatically as I have between home and away. If you recall, I usually pair my short home pitch with a fast pace. This doesn't work on longer pitches, however, since it usually leads to very tired legs by intermission. I used to slow my pace down a lot when on the road, but I'm experimenting with a more moderate change of pace. My past experiences have been that we play very conservatively on the road and that would lead to us being pressured by opposing attackers all game long. I aim to avoid that this season and in the future.
joannes3000's avatar Group joannes3000
14 yearsEdited
League Play, Games 1-8

[imgw]http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/9316/2011fixtures8.jpg[/imgw]

Columbian Cup

[imgw]http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/9608/2011ccoverview.jpg[/imgw]

[imgw]http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/4442/2011ccround1.jpg[/imgw]

League Table

[imgw]http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/7122/2011table8.jpg[/imgw]

Current Formation

[imgw]http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/1054/2011formation8.jpg[/imgw]

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Following what seems to be a common thread between my teams, we get out of the gate sluggishly to open league play. We had a very nice opening 2-0 win vs Atletico La Sabana to whip our home fans into a frenzy. We just recently notched our second win and we're currently sitting two points behind 8th place. The change to a narrower formation seems to be working so far. Our defense is playing tighter without much sacrifice to our offense; as evidenced by our current +2 GA.

And I literally just found out that we're participating in the Columbian Cup, lol. :yes
65k looks like a good sell. Are you converting it all to wage? And also, what are your strikers instructions set to?
saplingg : 65k looks like a good sell. Are you converting it all to wage? And also, what are your strikers instructions set to?

65k was definitely a good boost, since we typically only get around 600 fans for each home game. :| And you are correct - all of my budget goes toward my weekly wages. I just hope the board increases that budget in the future. I already made a board request before making that 65k sale, but was denied.

My left side striker is an Advanced Forward. My right side striker is a Deep Lying Playmaker. I'm actually going to swap my strikers when I get home, now that I think about it, and see if that provides a more symmetrical attack. As it stands, all of my players with attacking instructions are on the left side of the pitch.

You are reading "Conquering the Americas".

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