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Career ?PinaColada - A Double 1KC Attempt


Scratch
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9 hours ago, veerus said:

Nice idea promoting a coach until you got the one you wanted. If your guys are struggling with being tired, you could always use the Armstrong formation and alternate games. Probably not ideal but may keep their spirits up until they grow up. 

Dont forget to try the double AF combo too. 

I am also surprised you're investing in 2-3 PA guys. On my El Ejido save, the bare minimum for me to consider a kid is 3.5 PA and only if he's cheap. 

Read more  

Thanks! I fall back to the Armstrong formation whenever I can, but if I can get them both on the pitch, I'll do that.

I tried the double AF combo, but it *seemed* they scored less goals. Actually having them both as poachers seems to work best even though I think that's a bit strange. Note I say 'seemed' because it's really hard to test. I'm testing this live, there's no time for a proper test. And it's not a controlled environment, with repetitions, like your experiments! :) 

So basically, it's 'shift the tactics for a few games and see if we seem to score more goals'. It's terribly unscientific! Depends a lot on the opponent and what they do with their tactics etc. I might try it again when the current approach stops working (still the 2 2 3 3 and so far they are scoring more in season 3).

As for signing 2 - 3 PA guys, you shouldn't be surprised. After all, I signed this guy: ;) 

pinacolada-setup-11.png.f3457a450bf7f9c8 

Now my coaching staff tell me he has a PA of 4.5 stars... I don't trust the ability of my scouts (Gold level or not) to read the true PA of my players. Sometimes 4 star PA players turn out as duds. Sometimes 2 star PA players become world beaters.

I am more likely to take someone with a higher PA, but I consider everyone over 2.5 if they have 'Potential to improve a lot in the future' and they they have a decent start attributes wise. Also, I put a lot of importance on the positives and negatives etc. Pinamonti was lacking in that regard when I signed him, so I probably wouldn't have considered him based on that report - except he had a name I wanted. :)

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8 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

It's tough getting two strikers to score big. Someone else here had a hard time getting two to score as well, can't remember who.

There's a formation I haven't seen many use here that worked very well for my Torino save back in FMH15: 4-2-4 can't remember the exact roles I used and now thinking about it I'm curious to know if it would work today. Hope you get something cooking.

Thanks, I tried 4 2 4 and 2 2 2 4 for a few games after reading this (last night in bed!). The first game gave us a few goals, but after that it dried up, so I'm back to the 2 2 3 1 2 for now. As I said to @veerus above, it's really hard to test this stuff the way I'm doing it. Basically I'm slinging mud against the wall and seeing what sticks. There was enough promise there that I may come back to it when this formation dries up. 

Mind you, that was a hard conversation to have with Pavon and Dudu: "Yeah, look, I know I brought you in to play as a wide attacking midfielder, then stopped playing you there, then made you learn how to play as a striker, then stopped playing you there, then made you retrain as a central attacking midfielder... Well, now I going to stop playing you there and send you back into a wide attacking midfielder role (although one step further up the pitch)... 

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7 hours ago, Mr.Manager said:

Great read as always Scratch. They are still so young, it's easy to forget that they're both still 10 years away from their peak... Once you've cracked the tactic, everything will fall into place.

Thanks mate! Tactic still a work in progress with no sign of getting sorted soon, but they are starting to score more goals. I sort of think that once they get better, they will score freely in several of these tactics I'm trying now... I'll keep experimenting though.

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7 hours ago, mcandrew003 said:

Another great update bud, jammed with detail! Well done on that Champions League win, incredible achievement. The lads are progressing nicely, I'm confident you can pull out a killer tactic sooner or later. If you need a tactic, I've got a one striker tactic that works wonders for me, maybe you can adapt it? Give me a bell if you need it, well done mate!

@BatiGoal Is that a nod to my Double Dembele 1,500 goals save from ages ago? :laugh:

Thanks mate! One the one hand, I was surprised and thrilled with the Champions League win, but now I'm expecting to do it again this year! I'll probably get disappointed... :)

I'll give you a shout if I need that tactic, but I'm also conscious of the 'own tactics' rule for challenges, so we'll see! 

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1 hour ago, scratch99 said:

I tried the double AF combo, but it *seemed* they scored less goals. Actually having them both as poachers seems to work best even though I think that's a bit strange. Note I say 'seemed' because it's really hard to test. I'm testing this live, there's no time for a proper test. And it's not a controlled environment, with repetitions, like your experiments! :) 

Since you're working through your formations live (as opposed to BatiGoal who I think has said he runs test games), the best thing you can do is just keep track of the match results.  Iirc you said before you use a spreadsheet to keep track of player stats.  Just add another tab like I've done for game results.

Capture.thumb.JPG.78874080ad6eb8175315097ade9a82c1.JPG

The key is to track xG - it's been a really good way to compare results in an objective way across formations for my El Ejido save.  Goals may depend on luck.  But if you're generating a theoretically good output, then goals will come.  

I'm actually considering tracking a couple of key players if I decide to start experimenting with marking my players as PO/PA but I digress..

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@mcandrew003 oh it was you, was it? You weren't the only one having trouble getting 2 to score..and not the last.

@scratch99 that 4-2-4 worked well in my 2nd season onwards with better players..like many formations tho.

@veerus I've started the bad habit of playing testing tweaking cooking fiddling brewing as I go. I think I gathered enough FMM experience by now and it's a lot more challenging and fun this way. ;)

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4 minutes ago, veerus said:

Since you're working through your formations live (as opposed to BatiGoal who I think has said he runs test games), the best thing you can do is just keep track of the match results.  Iirc you said before you use a spreadsheet to keep track of player stats.  Just add another tab like I've done for game results.

Capture.thumb.JPG.78874080ad6eb8175315097ade9a82c1.JPG

The key is to track xG - it's been a really good way to compare results in an objective way across formations for my El Ejido save.  Goals may depend on luck.  But if you're generating a theoretically good output, then goals will come.  

I'm actually considering tracking a couple of key players if I decide to start experimenting with marking my players as PO/PA but I digress..

Nah, that wasn't me with the spreadsheets. I can go full on spreadsheets at times, but haven't done so with FMM yet and don't really want to, no offence! I like reading what you've been doing with xG etc, but not sure I wan't to start doing that sort of thing myself. Too much like work! :)  

But you have reminded me to take heed of one of my own lessons from the Armstrong career: watch what's going on with the Extended highlights on. I have just been judging tactics based on the end result, not actually what's been happening on the pitch.

I just tried Dudu as Wide Striker on the left and saw that the WB was getting right down next to him an awful lot, which I didn't notice when I tried 4 at the front. I think I'm going to have to try all of those suggestions again, and pay more attention. Feel like such a newb.... :(

My next update will mention the PA setting. I'd actually left that as Colidio and I think that's why Pinamonti wasn't scoring as much. I've turned that off now and it's more balanced.

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1 minute ago, BatiGoal said:

@scratch99 that 4-2-4 worked well in my 2nd season onwards with better players..like many formations tho.

Thanks. Going to retest some different formations, including 4 up front, and actually pay attention this time (as per my comment to Veerus). from memory (should have recorded it!), I tried one game as 4 2 4, but then the next couple were 2 2WB 2 4. Looks like the WB are getting too far forward, so will try again.. 

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Okay, I had a look at how things went under three different formations. This is *far* from scientific (it's only one off games, against different opposition, with different tactics, some home some away, etc), so it's observations only.
 
The first formation was 2 2 3 1 2:
 
pinacolada-tactics-01.png.b07525c795c475d567ccbe45251d3e72.png
 
Notes:
Spoiler

pinacolada-tactics-37.png.db04b0f1c93d299e06f3e05d09dad0a1.png

pinacolada-tactics-38.png.dbecb3c7121a7819234bb040f8c552fa.png

  • Part of the game I used short passing, but switched to direct at some point. Didn't notice anything in particular that was different about player positioning.
     
  • The goals went to the subs, not the main men.
     
  • Pinamonti got lots of shots, but Colidio didn't this time (in the past, sometimes this has been the other way around).
     
  • They had lots of missed headers, which I guess came while we were playing direct. This happened for Armstrong too, but I accepted it as he scored a lot of goals.
     
  • Dudu only had a couple of shots and had lots of key passes, but in the past, sometimes this has been the other way around.
     
  • There were *lots* of passes in midfield, which I guess came while we were playing Short.
     
  • The match report says "Unlucky to not to score". Pinamonti definitely could have scored (and he has scored this year with this tactic).
     
  • The WBs get right down the field when attacking (see number 5). Mine often get tired. It's good that we have width without wide attacking midfielders, but exposes us on the break.
    pinacolada-tactics-05.png.b6719902684969e12fdc960b67d6bf4f.png
     
  • The advanced midfielder, sometimes occupies the same space one of the other midfielders, some times pushes up between the 2 strikers, forcing them wide, but is mostly in between, which is probably fine. Not the best screenshot:
    pinacolada-tactics-08.png.c46638c303bea5b25fa4612cfee34682.png

 

If I use this, I'd do some more testing around the effect of different roles (ie AF, ec), including the combination used.

 

 

The second formation was 2 2 2 4 (Direct):

pinacolada-tactics-13.png.54c2817192c11d87296caff47ddb099e.png
 
Notes:
 
Spoiler

pinacolada-tactics-39.png.954d739bd8018b92bfb30cbd0a00f760.png

pinacolada-tactics-40.png.361f62cba7c7cf55dfdbea1a1c8b666d.png
 
  • I used IFs for the first 30 mins, DLFs for the second 30 mins and DFs for the last 30 mins.
     
  • Goals and chances shared were around amongst 4 strikers (obviously Pavon had the most), but not really enough chances for our main strikers.
     
  • The midfield had a LOT less passes than the 2 2 3 1 2.
     
  • The match report says the midfield failed to retain possession - I guess that's because there were only two in midfield
     
  • The strikers apparently linked play well and got into good positions, which is promising.
     
  • We also maintained good width - it wasn't bad with the 2 2 3 1 2, but is obviously better here.
     
  • The closest central striker comes for the ball at throw-ins , which pulls them out of position (ie see number 11). I guess that's fine.pinacolada-tactics-28.png.65e1916fee666f1a502d11f2387756cb.png
     
  • The wide forwards don't stay out wide up front like I imagined them too. When the ball is back in our half they come back into the centre of the pitch (this is true for IFs, DLFs and DFs). See 8 and 9 here:pinacolada-tactics-15.png.715341ea132315e5d258db8c40cb821d.png

    The wingbacks get forward a lot like with the 2 2 3 1 2:pinacolada-tactics-17.png.aed7608d7177d85464fc1b64e16569f8.png
     
  • The wide IFs (8 and 9) split the main strikers (10 and 11):
    pinacolada-tactics-19.png.32683dd2f4c00a4f43dbf3f9d8ee839d.png

    and sometimes push them out wide:pinacolada-tactics-20.png.c16be10ca35c1d29723cc0269c2078d4.png
     
  • As DLFs they spent a lot more time out wide:pinacolada-tactics-24.png.021df819b52e8b4a156ddff03e697b4d.png
     
  • Occasionally the WBs get down past the DLFs (5 coming past 9), but don't occupy the same space as much as I saw in a previous game mentioned in an  earlier comment. :pinacolada-tactics-27.png.57eb6142bd234e18b17d5952c0f87898.png
     
  • As DFs they still stayed out wider (but not much else to report):pinacolada-tactics-32.png.8d840b7f2437574344a3ea513adbaa5f.png

 

If I use this, it definitely won't be with IFs. I'd probably look further at the differences between DLFs and DFs.

 

 
 
The third formation was 4 2 4 (Direct):
 
pinacolada-tactics-41.png.a176cacf237466a2e6e4085b839156ec.png
 
Notes:
 
Spoiler

pinacolada-tactics-60.png.e10eda82cd447585d2447749e1b0ec39.png

pinacolada-tactics-61.png.b345d23d6d1a50fc865a9571ad01561f.png
 
  • I used IFs for the first 30 mins, DLFs for the second 30 mins and DFs for the last 30 mins.
     
  • Had to play this game with 2 other young strikers as PinaColada were tired. Obviously they may have different traits which could have affect this, but this is guerrilla testing and we take what we can get... 
     
  • A big win! The best result by far, but may be a one-off (seems like a lot of shots went in which doesn't always happen).
     
  • The goals went in consistently throughout the match, regardless of which role the wide strikers were used in. Dudu got one goal as a IF, one as a DLF and one as a DF.
     
  • Chances were shared around amongst the 4 strikers (but less for Pavon this time), including the main strikers.
     
  • Although there were lots of goals, they were spread about rather than being focused on the central strikers. Maybe that's fine if they are scoring too.
     
  • Midfield still had a LOT less passes than the 2 2 3 1 2. 
     
  • The match report said we "Lost the midfield battle" this time. I guess because we only have two in midfield. It's not a problem this time, but may cause us problems against better opposition.
     
  • We maintained good width again.
     
  • I didn't get the strikers linked play well message - because they were too busy putting it in the net to pass to each other.
     
  • Better heading by strikers, but that may be down the ring-ins and may not be so good when PinaColada return.
     
  • The main strikers still come for throw ins:pinacolada-tactics-47.png.91b6ac7824c5b16d6b5e42356cf20553.png
     
  • Once again, IFs forced the main strikers wider:pinacolada-tactics-43.png.484c4c72ac4630b2a4d1ffca43085b65.png
     
  • But the DLFs (and DFs) went wide instead (and the WBs still got right down the pitch, even though they are playing a row back):pinacolada-tactics-51.png.d6b38e118a806d0224763ab49719b135.png
     
  • The wide strikers still go back to the centre of midfield when ball is in our half:
    pinacolada-tactics-50.png.bddbad7d776ef4b33664461c25beefb2.png

    Although they were holding hands in this formation (9 and 17) (they didn't do this in the 2 2 2 4):pinacolada-tactics-57.png.5c9df1fdd8b8561c41d4d13072385ca3.png

 

There is very little to distinguish between this and the 2 2 2 4, apart from the result!

 

 

So, what does it all mean? Not sure! 
 
I might call a halt to the testing and try out the 4 2 4 for a while and see if it continues to work well. If that result was a one off, then ... Maybe I will go back to the 2 2 3 1 2 or 2 2 3 3 and do some further testing on AF vs P and combinations thereof. 
 
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In my experience, there doesn't seem to be a huge benefit to crowding the box with strikers. So I try to limit it to three players who are IFs or actual strikers - typically IF-AF-P-AP in a 2-2 or IF-AP-AF-IF in a 3-1 formation for the front 4. 

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8 hours ago, veerus said:

In my experience, there doesn't seem to be a huge benefit to crowding the box with strikers. So I try to limit it to three players who are IFs or actual strikers - typically IF-AF-P-AP in a 2-2 or IF-AP-AF-IF in a 3-1 formation for the front 4. 

Yeah, I don't normally have 4 upfront (on the top line). I'd normally have 1 to 3 strikers. 

The 4 2 4 didn't keep working as well as it did in that 7-0. I used it for maybe another 10 or 12 games. Half of those were 1-0 or 2-0, with a few 4-0 or 5-0, but it hasn't increased the scoring of the two main strikers.

I'm experimenting with the 2 5 3 I used in the closing stages of Armstrong's career. Only used it once and it got a hat-trick for the third striker and none for our lads... :unamused: But maybe it has some promise.

Most reliable formation to get them scoring seems to be Armstrong's 4 3 2 1, but then it's only one at a time. Might try that for a while until they season up. They'd be nice and fresh anyway. Or I might go back to the 2 2 3 1 2 formation as they scored quite well (about a goal a game) using that at the start of the season.

So in conclusion, I have no idea what I'm doing....

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2 hours ago, Mr.Manager said:

Haha! That's what makes the challenge interesting!

Haha indeeed! Makes it interesting, but at times frustrating too. Right now Pinamonti just isn't taking any shots, no matter what formation I use or role I give him. Colidio takes 6, Dudu takes 4, Pinamonti takes 0. What are you doing boy! Take some shots!!

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4 hours ago, scratch99 said:

Haha indeeed! Makes it interesting, but at times frustrating too. Right now Pinamonti just isn't taking any shots, no matter what formation I use or role I give him. Colidio takes 6, Dudu takes 4, Pinamonti takes 0. What are you doing boy! Take some shots!!

Have you tried setting him as the primary attacker to encourage him to shoot more?

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16 hours ago, veerus said:

Have you tried setting him as the primary attacker to encourage him to shoot more?

I've played with it, but typically that results in some more shots for Pinamonti, but less for Colidio as a result....

Still changing things around a lot, but almost tempted to just rotate them through the 4 3 2 1 I used for Armstrong, at least at this point in their careers. I used that when I rested Pinamonti and Colidio scored 4!! 

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Those formation testing updates make for a great read. I'm very happy to hear you don't know what you're doing. There's always one or the other curveball that brings doubt to what we're cooking but keep it up mate!

 

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38 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

I'm very happy to hear you don't know what you're doing.

Lol! A compliment of the highest order from BG!! :laugh:

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19 hours ago, veerus said:

Lol! A compliment of the highest order from BG!! :laugh:

That's just because @BatiGoal is worried I'll get 2 strikers above him on the leaderboard! ;) 

Nah, he's right, if it was all plain sailing it would be boring. It's supposed to be a challenge. 

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I'm almost finished season 3, should knock it over tonight, but I won't get a chance to write it up until early next week. I'll leave this as a teaser:

Spoiler

Screenshot_20170425-011243.png.05f00579fb5f829b62e0e35a4ed6a191.png

What's that? The Italy job is available? That would sure help Pinamonti out! And it would be magical to get it this early. 

But I'm on record as not really wanting the hassle of International Management....

So did I take the job? or not? The answer may surprise you...

 

 

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The tactics were an interesting read mate, helps understand your set-up a lot more. I think number 3 seemed the most dominant, but have you tried AF's out wide? It's worked for me recently, if not then the current set-ups you have should work fine.

Im gonna say that you took the job....

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1 hour ago, mcandrew003 said:

Im gonna say that you took the job....

Normally one would take the ITN job as soon as it becomes available. Especially this early in a career, double especially doing a double 1KC. However, Scratch has his way of doing things.. he said the answer may surprise us. That could mean he's playing a psychological game and did take the job making us think he didn't. Or perhaps he went for a double up making us think he did, knowing he went for a single mental curve instead playing a double one which means he did not, but did accept anyway putting us yet again on the wrong foot by not accepting last minute. 

That should clear things up.

Spoiler

:laugh:

 

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40 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

Normally one would take the ITN job as soon as it becomes available. Especially this early in a career, double especially doing a double 1KC. However, Scratch has his way of doing things.. he said the answer may surprise us. That could mean he's playing a psychological game and did take the job making us think he didn't. Or perhaps he went for a double up making us think he did, knowing he went for a single mental curve instead playing a double one which means he did not, but did accept anyway putting us yet again on the wrong foot by not accepting last minute. 

That should clear things up.

  Reveal hidden contents

:laugh:

 

:laugh: Some mastermind logic there mate, will have to keep that in mind in the future

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58 minutes ago, BatiGoal said:

Normally one would take the ITN job as soon as it becomes available. Especially this early in a career, double especially doing a double 1KC. However, Scratch has his way of doing things.. he said the answer may surprise us. That could mean he's playing a psychological game and did take the job making us think he didn't. Or perhaps he went for a double up making us think he did, knowing he went for a single mental curve instead playing a double one which means he did not, but did accept anyway putting us yet again on the wrong foot by not accepting last minute. 

That should clear things up.

  Reveal hidden contents

:laugh:

 

You know just the effect I was after! But... the answer is none of those....

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The answer is:

Spoiler

Roberto F'ing Mancini...

Yes, I applied - it was too good an opportunity to pass up. Being the 8th best manager in the world, I thought I'd have a pretty good shot at it. But they chose Mancini who was 20th best in the world/ I guess it's not a huge surprise they went with an Italian manager, but I'll have to admit that stung a little...

 

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1 hour ago, mcandrew003 said:

Unlucky mate, keep winning trophies and they'll have to pick you!

Yeah, I'm in early season 4 now and I think they'd probably pick me if the job became available now, but I wasn't quite there yet when the job became available. Sad thing is it will probably another 12 years or so until it becomes available again...

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1 hour ago, Ashez said:

That sucks but the national bias is always in play. 

Yeah... I was quite surprised when England hired me in the Armstrong save. An Australian in charge of England? Not likely! So maybe I was overconfident this time around. I wasn't to the point where I was best in the world and there are plenty of top Italian managers...

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Update - Season 3
 
Season 2 saw mixed success: A Champions League trophy well before we expected it and the team continuing to improve, but both strikers falling behind their targets. Entering season 3, my message to the lads was that they need to step up and start scoring... But are they ready to do that?
 
 
Season Targets
 
Players: Last year the target was 35 goals, but Colidio only scored 27 and Pinamonti just 18. This year I'm asking them for 40 goals. 
 
Team: The team is still in building mode, but we managed the win the Champions League last year. How do we follow that up this year? It's probably unrealistic to expect to win it again, so I'll set the target as reaching the semi finals. It's a given from here on in that we should be winning the league and the two domestic cups every year. I'm looking for 100 goals and 100 points in the League this year. The Scottish Cup is our bogie competition, but we are going to win it at our third attempt (no excuses!). 
 
Board: Umm, it seems I wasn't paying attention to what they wanted, as I can't remember and I don't have any notes (ie screenshot). But who cares what the board wants anyway! At this point, they should just trust me to give them success beyond their wildest dreams...
 
 
Staff
 
So last time, I went through how we finally managed to get all Gold level coaches, with Xavi joining us as Youth coach and leveling up. Sorted, right? 
pinacolada-season03-000.png.009cd37c9359b5d1bb30a06de5f6b0b0.png
 
Right... With no Gold Defensive coaches willing to join me it was back to the drawing board. I settled on this guy (who passed his Silver level exam right away and can try for Gold in 6 months):
pinacolada-season03-01.png.a0abae68e9713c2b59586a28b49ae86d.png
 
But then I noticed this guy, who I'd somehow missed and who had somehow gotten his Gold badge:
pinacolada-season03-02.png.8f6b4f84493f8aa831edc5f1f4791527.png
 
I can't explain it, but I wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. A Gold level Gareth Barry beats a Silver level Bastian Schweinstieger in my eyes. So poor Bastian got sacked right away...
 
On the rehab physio front, there's been no movement at all. The only rehab physios willing to work for me are Bronze level. No sign of any of the Gold level ones being willing to work for a 'small' club like Celtic... But I will have them soon! Oh yes, I will!! <cackle>
 
 
Transfers
 
We continued our approach to transfers (lots of them and mostly youngsters). I tried to buy Verratti in January, but they wanted £75M, which was just a bit too much and we couldn't afford his salary anyway. So instead we focused on building a surplus that we tucked away for a rainy day and on buying more young talent, who can grow into the team we need.
 
We had a general clear out of fringe players, including a few established players:
Spoiler

pinacolada-season03-78.thumb.png.ef19b834c77399aca33cc70093381a50.png

 
Arguably the biggest was Propper, who was sold for £4M in a fire sale at the end of the January window. He cost us £14.5M a year earlier and had been a good player for us and many of the team respected him. That all ended with some careless comments in the press, which escalated into arguments in the dressing room, and he had to go...
 
Coric was another who did something to upset the rest of the team. He was a promising young player who'd done well for us and I was hoping he'd grow with the team into a world class player. At least we got reasonable money for him (£25M) and we have plenty of good young talent to step into his place.
pinacolada-season03-03.png.f890030212d6860130419cee43a9b8e6.png
 
With a number of promising young backup strikers coming through, we also took the tough choice of cashing in on Leigh Griffiths who had been excellent for us. Tough choice and we'll miss the lad.
 
Colic (not to be confused with Coric) is an interesting case study. He's a good young player who we paid £600K for, but he probably wasn't going to make the team long term. We sold him for £9.5M and 50% of the next transfer fee. If I thought he'd make the starting lineup, I would have kept him, but there are some with more promise in front of him. You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em.
pinacolada-season03-37.png.19fc70c46660636e6753d0484f623331.png

 

 
As for the incoming players, they were basically promising youngsters and a few free agents.
Spoiler

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In other news, the UK, including Scotland, left the EU trigger the work permit issue. So far (into season 4 now) it hasn't been an issue as I'm only signing people good enough to get a work permit!
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Injuries
 
No injuries for the two lads this year. Hope next season won't be payback time...
 
 
Development
 
Here are our lads:
 
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Pinamonti made a nice step forward, with the important attributes increasing by a point or two, although his Physical attributes dipped late in the season (could that be from overplaying him?). Colidio also improved, with the important attributes increasing by a point or two, which was great after last year's stagnation. 
 
Both of them struggled with slight tiredness, with Colidio also becoming jaded at one point. 
 
When I renewed their contracts this year, they both asked for a Big Club Release Clause... Gulp! Fortunately, they were only asking for 15K and 17K, so I have loads of movement to make them forget about leaving by offering them £££. I guess it's not a surprise they are both getting ambitious, as they both attracted praise from various quarters:
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Tactics
 
I won't go over all the info discussed above in the between update posts... Basically, I tried every formation known to man and they all showed promise, but none could sustain the sorts of results I was after for any length of time.
 
In the end I settled on a 2 5 1 2  as my main tactic. That's my Armstrong 2 5 3, with the third forward dropped back to an ACM, as the third forward scored too much in the 2 5 3. It seems to work well, but once again, not the magic bullet. I'll go into season 4 using this, but may still experiment depending on how it goes. 
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As mentioned above, the lads got pretty tired. When I needed to rest one of them, I'd switch back to the Armstrong 4 3 2 1 tactic and that seemed to work fairly well.
 
One thing I did notice is that when I played through the middle, the opposition would often switch to this formation after a while. 
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By jamming the midfield with the players, they stifled our attack. Clever bastards! When I noticed this, I'd switch tactics to go down the flanks and after a while they'd switch formations again. So just a reminder: it's worth keeping track of what your opponent is doing.
 
 
Results
 
We were much better in the League this year, where we went 31-6-1. We fell 1 point short of our 100 point target and 9 goals short of our 100 goal target, but all in all it was a much improved performance. 
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Here are the rest of our results:
Spoiler

We won the Euro Super Cup 2-0 over PSG, with both goals coming from Colidio:

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We won the Club World Championship 4-0 over COR (is that Corinthians?):
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We won the Betfred Cup 1-0 over Hamilton, with a Colidio penalty being the only goal (despite 21 shots to nil). This result took me to number 1 manager in the world - I hope the Italian FA are regretting their decision not to hire me!
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In the Scottish Cup, our bogie competition, we had to go to overtime to beat 10 man Rangers in the semi final:
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We then had a much more straightforward 2-0 win against Motherwell in the final, claiming our first Scottish Cup, at the third attempt.
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In the Champions League, we topped the group stage, winning all 6 games:
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We went on to beat beat Manchester City 3-2 on aggregate in the First Knockout Round, followed by a 4-3 win over Manchester United (scoring 3 goals in the last 20 minutes to come back and win):
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Next we beat Real Madrid by the skin of our teeth, holding on to a 0-0 draw against a dominant Real Madrid at home, to go through 2-1 on aggregate.
 
We were on the ropes again in the final, with PSG dominating the game, but unable to beat our keeper. We managed to pinch two goals to win the Champions League for the second year running, but really we were incredibly lucky to do so this year. 
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So in the end we won everything!!

 
 
Awards
 
We dominated the domestic awards again:
  • Colidio won Player of the Year for the third year running and this time Pinamonti joined him as runner up.
  • Pavon won Young Player of the Year, with Kristensen runner up.
  • I won Manager of the Year again.
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Team
 
Here is our best team:
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Pavon is worth singling out as someone who has developed into a great player. That's why I've bought him in the majority of my FMM 2017 careers. The man is gold!
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Ajer is also worth mentioning, even though he plays mostly off the bench. I've trained him to play all the positions up and down the spine and he is as well suited to being a striker or defender, as he is a midfielder. A good choice for anyone putting a Viking squad together, although I think he's maxed out his development by this point.
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Goals
 
Here is how Pinamonti's season panned out. Still way too many goal-less games.
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And here's Colidio. Not looking too bad.
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The largest haul of the season was 4 goals from Colido against Kilmarnock (this using the Armstrong 4 3 2 1 while Pinamonti was rested):
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Pinamonti got 31 goals from 54 games, a significant improvement over last season, but behind the 40 goal target. He now has a total of 64 goals, well short of the target of 100 (at this stage).
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Colidio ended up with 42 goals from 52 games, really stepping up this season. That gives him a total of 96 goals, so he's pretty much on target right now.
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Once again the chart shows Pinamonti adrift from the target. 
 
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The Italy Job
 
As mentioned in spoiler posts in between updates, the Italy Job became available in August. Despite my previous misgivings about International Management, I applied immediately - having a whole career of International goals for one of the strikers (especially Pinamonti given his current performance) would be just too good to pass up!
 
Of course if you saw the discussion above, the Italians chose Roberto Mancini instead of me. He was only ranked 20th in the world (I was eighth), but he was Italian, so they went with him. I'll admit I was disappointed, especially with how hard it is for International managers to get sacked in FMM 2017. I might be waiting some time for the job to become available again.
 
 
Looking Ahead
 
All in all, this was a much more promising season, but Pinamonti is falling behind. If this continues, I'm going to have to switch focus to him until he catches up, maybe by switching to the Armstrong 4 3 2 1 even when Colidio is fit. It's worth noting that Colidio takes the penalties (I'm planning to switch to Pinamonti when he shows he can actually score them), but Colidio would still be outscoring him even without that.
 
The target next season is 50 goals each and that will be a real test, especially for Pinamonti!
 
 
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Great work again! Amazing work retaining the Champions Cup.

Pinamonti needs to step up. His stats are good, but maybe it's his lack of real pace that's holding him back...

 

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