So firstly the game doesn't have the top league of India as playable, however the second division is playable which is funny but I got around it using some custom databases to make the ISL playable.
I started managing ATK Mohun Bagan - a good team in the ISL which is expected to finish in the top 3 of the league.
First challenge - Sorting out the foreigners. The ISL allows you to register only 6 foreigners and 4 in the playing XI. When I took over we had 8 foreigners and I had to immediately decide which 2 to let go off. I saw we had 4 foreign CBs which was a huge surplus so I decided I didn't need 2 of them
1. Slavko Damjanovic - I got a good deal of around 5M INR for him and sold him off
2. Tiri - He is leaving at the end of the season. Couldn't get a deal for him because of his high salary requirements.
Now I had my 6 foreigners -
CB - Brendan Hamill and Florentine Pogba (Paul's brother)
Midfield - Joni Kauko, Carl McHugh, Hugo Boumous
Forward - Dimitri Petratos
My Indian supply was actually quite decent. I figured out Liston Colaco as my best Indian option in attack along with Manvir Singh. One more player who was quite handy was Ashique Kuruniyan - he was very versatile and could play on the left wing, left back, even could play as a striker.
First Tournament
DURAND CUP - You could say a pre season tournament. It had 4 groups with 5 teams each - teams from both the first division and second division. My board wanted me to win it. I went with a 4-3-3 DM Wide formation. Man oh man Durand Cup was a disaster. We got bullied by FC Goa, we lost the game 3-0 then drew 1-1 with Odisha with Liston Colaco scoring. We beat Army XI and lost the last game. Knocked out of the group stage.
Then came the league. Disastrous start again - lost the first 3 games and the board was almost close to firing me. Fourth game was against Mumbai City FC - a City group run club who are the best in the league. I changed my tactics to a 3-5-2 and what followed was insane. I dominated midfield with the 2 foreigners Kauko, Boumous. Boumous WOW - he should be playing in Europe if he is this good IRL. Man was beating their defenders with ease and supplying ballls to Colaco and Petratos and we beat Mumbai 3-0. Petratos, Liston scored and Manvir scored off the bench. All 3 assists for Boumous. This sparked a remarkable turnaround and we finished 3rd in the table at the end of the league.
Now in India the team that stays on top of the table at the end of the league stage wins the "League Shield" and qualifies for the AFC Champions League - no surprises it was Mumbai. But that is not the end of the league. There is a playoffs within the top 6 teams and the team winning that becomes the ISL champions. We beat Odisha in the eliminators and MUMBAI the league winner in the semi finals over two legs courtesy Liston Colaco, Manvir Singh, Ashique, Boumous, Pogba. My defence was really good as the season went on thanks to [Pogba, Hamill and Subhasis Bose+. I have sorted out a move to bring in Anwar Ali who was one of the best indian defenders this season and I'll let go of Pritam Kotal who has underperformed.
Now the finals- we were taking on Bengaluru FC who had a prolific attack comprising of the Indian legend Sunil and a man with excellent goal scoring form Roy Krishna. They had a wonderful creative player in Javi Hernandez and no surprises they took the lead 1-0. I took a gamble, I substituted off my foreign forward dimi petratos and got an extra foreign midfielder in McHugh and that changed the game. Kauko, Boumous and McHugh dictated the midfield and kauko scored a goal too. After that Manvir scored a tap-in in the final minutes thanks to a beautiful move by liston and my magician Boumous and liston laid it on a plate for Manvir.
We are the ISL champions now and getting ready for the last cup tournament of the season - The Super Cup. Looking forward to that. I'll hopefully share my journey of the coming seasons here
I started managing ATK Mohun Bagan - a good team in the ISL which is expected to finish in the top 3 of the league.
First challenge - Sorting out the foreigners. The ISL allows you to register only 6 foreigners and 4 in the playing XI. When I took over we had 8 foreigners and I had to immediately decide which 2 to let go off. I saw we had 4 foreign CBs which was a huge surplus so I decided I didn't need 2 of them
1. Slavko Damjanovic - I got a good deal of around 5M INR for him and sold him off
2. Tiri - He is leaving at the end of the season. Couldn't get a deal for him because of his high salary requirements.
Now I had my 6 foreigners -
CB - Brendan Hamill and Florentine Pogba (Paul's brother)
Midfield - Joni Kauko, Carl McHugh, Hugo Boumous
Forward - Dimitri Petratos
My Indian supply was actually quite decent. I figured out Liston Colaco as my best Indian option in attack along with Manvir Singh. One more player who was quite handy was Ashique Kuruniyan - he was very versatile and could play on the left wing, left back, even could play as a striker.
First Tournament
DURAND CUP - You could say a pre season tournament. It had 4 groups with 5 teams each - teams from both the first division and second division. My board wanted me to win it. I went with a 4-3-3 DM Wide formation. Man oh man Durand Cup was a disaster. We got bullied by FC Goa, we lost the game 3-0 then drew 1-1 with Odisha with Liston Colaco scoring. We beat Army XI and lost the last game. Knocked out of the group stage.
Then came the league. Disastrous start again - lost the first 3 games and the board was almost close to firing me. Fourth game was against Mumbai City FC - a City group run club who are the best in the league. I changed my tactics to a 3-5-2 and what followed was insane. I dominated midfield with the 2 foreigners Kauko, Boumous. Boumous WOW - he should be playing in Europe if he is this good IRL. Man was beating their defenders with ease and supplying ballls to Colaco and Petratos and we beat Mumbai 3-0. Petratos, Liston scored and Manvir scored off the bench. All 3 assists for Boumous. This sparked a remarkable turnaround and we finished 3rd in the table at the end of the league.
Now in India the team that stays on top of the table at the end of the league stage wins the "League Shield" and qualifies for the AFC Champions League - no surprises it was Mumbai. But that is not the end of the league. There is a playoffs within the top 6 teams and the team winning that becomes the ISL champions. We beat Odisha in the eliminators and MUMBAI the league winner in the semi finals over two legs courtesy Liston Colaco, Manvir Singh, Ashique, Boumous, Pogba. My defence was really good as the season went on thanks to [Pogba, Hamill and Subhasis Bose+. I have sorted out a move to bring in Anwar Ali who was one of the best indian defenders this season and I'll let go of Pritam Kotal who has underperformed.
Now the finals- we were taking on Bengaluru FC who had a prolific attack comprising of the Indian legend Sunil and a man with excellent goal scoring form Roy Krishna. They had a wonderful creative player in Javi Hernandez and no surprises they took the lead 1-0. I took a gamble, I substituted off my foreign forward dimi petratos and got an extra foreign midfielder in McHugh and that changed the game. Kauko, Boumous and McHugh dictated the midfield and kauko scored a goal too. After that Manvir scored a tap-in in the final minutes thanks to a beautiful move by liston and my magician Boumous and liston laid it on a plate for Manvir.
We are the ISL champions now and getting ready for the last cup tournament of the season - The Super Cup. Looking forward to that. I'll hopefully share my journey of the coming seasons here
