Career A Relegation Battle Challenge - in Season Four

[DanEnglish]

Relegation Battle

A “Big Sam” style career across Europe:

• holiday to 1st Feb each season
• get a job with a ‘relegation zone’ club
• lead them to survival, 
• resign + try again next season

How many times can you lead different clubs to avoid relegation?!

Save Setup

5 European leagues - to have great variety of job options over many seasons.

Attribute Masking ‘On’ - to make it more difficult and realistic in signing ‘lesser known’ free transfers / out of contract players, as I can’t see their attributes without scouting them first!

Starting unemployed - as need to holiday / simulate to Feb 1st, before applying for ‘relegation threatened’ clubs 

World-class manager reputation - so I can start with top clubs, before inevitably moving down to lower reputation leagues + clubs.

Why? 

Spoiler

• As in FMM23, it seems managers increase reputation with promotions / trophies / cups (of which I’ll probably get none) …  
   
• … but managers get lower reputations when unemployed (which will be most of each season) and with relegations (of which will happen a few times)… 
   
• … so I need to enjoy my ‘time at the top’ before only the lower league clubs are offering me jobs.  
• As surviving relegation doesn’t help increase your reputation in FMM23. Thankfully this was fixed / improved on in FMM24 with the introduction of the ‘relegation survivor specialist’ manager title.

 
Season Progress

1. Season One ✅ complete
2. Season Two ✅ complete
3. Season Three ✅ complete
4. Season Three ▶️ in-process 

Edited June 7 by DanEnglish

[DanEnglish]

Season One

Feb 1st
After holidaying to just after the transfer window, here are the jobs available.

The big clubs of Lazio, PSV and Atlanta stand out - with no manager, an interim manager, and with a ‘very insecure’ manager respectively ❌ BUT none are in the relegation zone - so I can’t apply for them.

There are some smaller club options - Fortuna in Hollsnd’s top division, or SPAL in Italy’s second league 🤔 BUT none are top teams in a top league - so I don’t want to apply for them yet.

England
We get lucky. The Leicester City’s manager job is ‘very insecure’ - unsurprisingly as they are rooted to the bottom of the English Premier League in 20th place.

I ‘declare interest’ …

… they sack their manager, I apply, and two weeks later they offer the job to me!

Spoiler

 
Leicester City
Mid-Feb. We have a new job. 

The Board seem to expect a mid-table finish and to continue their FA Cup run.

To be fair - this Leicester squad should be too good to be relegated.

So we’ve got 15 matches to save them 🔥 

  

No signings in. No loans in. No morale. 

And we probably need to ensure survival by end-April, as our final May fixtures are incredibly difficult.

Next
Edited - we will review Leicester’s squad + decide our tactic.

Edited May 25 by DanEnglish

[DanEnglish]

Relegation Battle

So how good (or bad!) are Leicester?

The Bad News
Let’s review our new squad.

1st bad news - 35 year old legendary striker Vardy has declined, with ZERO goals this season.

2nd bad news - star midfielder Tielemans is injured for a bit - it’ll help when he’s back.

And 3rd bad news - I’ve no idea why young-ish midfielder Dewsbury-Hall is Captain, when there are better options 🤷 that’s easily fixed

 
The Good News
Here’s our star player + set piece specialist - England international Maddison is our star attacking midfielder + creator 🔥 

I’d like more depth in central midfield - while we can’t sign players (the transfer window is closed) thankfully midfielder Choudhury can be recalled from out-on-loan 👍 

And lastly - Leicester’s staff were either top class, or I could replace a few people to make them top class. Nice. 👍 

 
The Squad
Here’s our first team.

You’ll notice our coaches think our first team each has 3 to 3.5 stars ability (out of max 5), so they should be good enough to survive in this division.

• DCs - our center backs are good in the air, but rather slow. Definitely can’t use a high-line.
• MCs - lots of good, solid central midfielders, so to protect our ‘relegation threatened’ defense we’ve packed 4x central midfielders into a diamond shape.
• IFs - some good wide attackers, so makes sense to play with 2x Inside Forwards.
• Strikerless - but no good *central* strikers, so we’ll play striker-less.

Our elderly and declining Goalkeeper ‘Danny Ward’ is definitely our ‘weak link’. We need to minimize the amount of shots he faces.

Looking at our 2nd team / subs, we have decent depth in most positions - and you’ll notice I’ve kept pacy attacker Daka on the bench - so we keep a backup attacking option fresh in case we’re chasing a late goal.

 
The Tactic
We’ll play a ‘strikerless 4-4-2 narrow diamond’

This has a back four, a narrow midfield diamond, plus two Inside Forwards and NO central strikers.

The aim is to be defensively solid:

Spoiler

• The opposition shouldn’t be able to play through the middle, as we’ve packed it with our midfield diamond.  
   
• The opposition full backs may find more space as they’re not always tracked by our advanced Inside Forwards, BUT any crosses conceded should be ably handled by our aerially strong center backs.  
   
• We may be weak to long balls / through balls behind our defence, so we’ve got a normal (not high!) defensive line with one of our center backs in a Sweeper role. 

We also should have a decent attacking threat:

Spoiler

• For attacking - I’ve spent a lot of time setting up set pieces - with aerially dominant Australian center back Souttar in the box for star creator Madison’s crosses …
   
• … plus our main goal-threat should be from our two Inside Forwards running inside from our wide - with creator Madison hopefully pulling an opposition center back out of position, giving space for a through ball to our advanced IFs.  

We will use my defensive ‘park the bus’ tactic to hold onto narrow leads late in the game.

Next
End season one review. Did we survive?! 🙈 

Edited May 26 by DanEnglish

[MegaBoi]

Looks interesting man. I am following this and intends to try it.

I am guessing that you are still playing in 23 Version I think so. I also has that as I don't usually renew Netflix regularly.

I just learned a new thing that we can also see the happiness of players. I guess I am lazy to look at everything in the game😅

Will enjoy your tactical brilliance at Relegation zone club.

Edited May 25 by MegaBoi

[DanEnglish]

Relegation Battle

In real life - Leicester’s main keeper Schmeichel surprisingly left, meaning we rely on 35 year old backup keeper Danny Ward.  
 

Hope!  
Our 1st game as Leicester … oh.

We got smashed. No wonder we are relegation candidates.  
 

February + March
The Board wanted a good FA Cup run - starting against giants Newcastle:

• they scored with their only 2 shots, 
• in extra time, their red card helped us hang on 
• and on penalties we were lucky to beat them 🔥 

This has an unexpected league benefit - playing Newcastle again just 3 days later meant our opponents were knackered and demoralized.

Unlike their AI manager, I’d used all 5 subs and rotated a few fresh players. We smashed them!

We continued March brilliantly - winning every match, helped by some morale and fitness boosting friendlies for our subs / second team.

 
 

April
1st April. This looked like a tough month. 8 matches starting with title challengers Arsenal.

A 93rd minute winner from star creator Tielemans (back from injury!) gave us an unexpected 3 points

This puts us in 14th place (!) a huge six points away from the relegation zone.

I now look upwards - could we reach the European places? After a win against 7th placed Man United, we have hope! 

 

We also beat Championship sides Millwall and  Sunderland in the FA Cup (lucky draws)

 
 

May
Our most difficult month. 4 league matches against three of the ‘big six’.

We got destroyed. Finished the season all the way down in 17th - just a single place above the relegation zone. Ouch.

We survived relegation. But it feels horrible. That last month was painful and demoralizing.

   

PS. I blame the discord users. Look what ‘prophecy’ they said yesterday 😡 😂 

Exactly right dammit.
 

FA Cup Final

Our form was awful. Our morale is non-existent. Chelsea play this annoying tactic and smashed our best team 3-0 just a few weeks ago.

We start. Chelsea race into an early 2 goal lead within just 10 minutes. I feel this could be slaughter.

We make some tactical changes. A lower mentality, push our build up play wider (around their central players) and not much happens.

But. Maddison. Wow.

It’s late in the game, still losing 2-1. We’ve used all our attacking subs. We’ve finally got a central striker up front, we’re throwing everything at them.

SCENES!!!
A late 93rd minute equalizer! Holy $#1!

  
 

Penalties
FA Cup Final. Our only hope. A retiring and declining 35 year old keeper, who was meant to be Leicester’s 2nd choice. But this season he’s surprisingly been first choice. And he’s been rubbish. Now it’s his last professional game. Goalkeeper Danny Ward. We’re relying on you.

I can’t look. When the little dots on my phone start taking their penalties, I leave my phone on the table, and walk away.

I’ll find out the result later 🙈 

 

Edited May 26 by DanEnglish

[DanEnglish]

In

End Season One

We survived relegation - but after a great start, were disappointed to finish just 17th.

FA Cup Final
... we took Chelsea to penalties, here's what happened ...

Spoiler

The crowd went wild!

Elderly keeper Danny Ward (literally) SAVED the day! With his last professional match before retiring!

We won the FA Cup!

Implications
This has a huge impact on my manager reputation.

Spoiler

If a manager is unemployed for some time, their manager reputation drops (which affects the clubs who'll offer you a job). While this was improved in the latest FMM24, unfortunately in this version (FMM23) if a manager successfully avoids relegation, they don't get any kind of manager reputation increase. Meaning over time my manager reputation will consistently decrease over time, even if I'm successful at avoiding relegation with a new club every season.

• Q: What's the only way to increase / maintain my manager reputation (in this challenge)?
• A: That's right. It's to win trophies.

So this trophy win helps maintain my 'world-class' manager reputation - making it easier to find a top job next season.

Tactical Analysis
Interestingly - retiring 35 year old goalkeeper Danny Ward really was the weak link.

• We conceded few shots + even fewer CCC (clear cut chances) - due to our solid defensive structure (with a midfield diamond)
• However our goalkeeper saved <50% of the shots (on target) which he faced 🔻 
• ... and this is from poorer quality opposition chances - they averaged 0.5 CCC/game, but scored 1.3 goals/game - argh!

Except for that - our tactic was suitable for this Leicester squad and 'avoid relegation' expectations:

• Solid defensive structure - to limit opposition shots & chances.
• Dominate the center - we averaged 55% possession in this half-season
• High press worked well - we scored a number of goals from an IF / AMC pressing the opposition into a mistake.
• Strikerless worked well - our AP dragged opposition center-backs out of position, creating space for our wide IFs to run inside.

Out top goalscorers were:

• IFs = 18 goals between the two Inside Forwards (Iheanacho scored 10, Barnes scored 8 times)
• AP = Playmaker Maddison scored 6 goals - mostly crucial equalisers / winners!
• Others = no-one else scored more than 3 during this half-season.
   

Season Recap
We survived relegation AND won the FA Cup. Success?

• Good points total - averaged 1.7 points per game (25 points in 15 league games) - unlucky to only finish 17th?
• Won the FA Cup - beating weaker Championship opposition, then surviving penalties against EPL opposition!

Next.
We resign from Leicester.

Now we holiday to the 1st February in season two. Lets see who we'll manage next!

Edited May 27 by DanEnglish

[MegaBoi]

19 minutes ago, DanEnglish said:

In

End Season One

We survived relegation -UV but after a great start, were disappointed to finish just 17th.

FA Cup Final
... we took Chelsea to penalties, here's what happened ...

  Hide contents

The crowd went wild!

Elderly keeper Danny Ward (literally) SAVED the day! With his last professional match before retiring!

We won the FA Cup!

Implications
This has a huge impact on my manager reputation.

  Hide contents

If a manager is unemployed for some time, their manager reputation drops (which affects the clubs who'll offer you a job). While this was improved in the latest FMM24, unfortunately in this version (FMM23) if a manager successfully avoids relegation, they don't get any kind of manager reputation increase. Meaning over time my manager reputation will consistently decrease over time, even if I'm successful at avoiding relegation with a new club every season.

• Q: What's the only way to increase / maintain my manager reputation (in this challenge)?
• A: That's right. It's to win trophies.

So this trophy win helps maintain my 'world-class' manager reputation - making it easier to find a top job next season.

Tactical Analysis
Interestingly - retiring 35 year old goalkeeper Danny Ward really was the weak link.

• We conceded few shots + even fewer CCC (clear cut chances) - due to our solid defensive structure (with a midfield diamond)
• However our goalkeeper saved <50% of the shots (on target) which he faced 🔻 
• ... and this is from poorer quality opposition chances - they averaged 0.5 CCC/game, but scored 1.3 goals/game - argh!

Except for that - our tactic was suitable for this Leicester squad and 'avoid relegation' expectations:

• Solid defensive structure - to limit opposition shots & chances.
• Dominate the center - we averaged 55% possession in this half-season
• High press worked well - we scored a number of goals from an IF / AMC pressing the opposition into a mistake.
• Strikerless worked well - our AP dragged opposition center-backs out of position, creating space for our wide IFs to run inside.

 

Season Recap
Success? We survived relegation AND won the FA Cup.

• Good points total - averaged 1.7 points per game (25 points in 15 league games) - unlucky to only finish 17th?
• Won the FA Cup - beating weaker Championship opposition, then surviving penalties against EPL opposition!

Next.
We resign from Leicester.

Now we holiday to the 1st February in season two. Lets see who we'll manage next!

Good results in league. Could be better if had a better goalkeeper.

Great FA Cup run and got lucky on penalties you lucky🫡🫡

 

I did similar thing a while ago in Fm23 mobile. I was managing bologna for 5 season achieved great success but resigned mid season and managed spurs and got them from relegation zone to 5th position in league and won Fa cup.

But all this with Regens🗿

[MegaBoi]

I intend to do this challenge now.

I just renewed my Netflix so going to do this Challenge in Fm24 mobile

[MikeF]

This looks fun. I’ll have a crack, too. 

[DanEnglish]

I’m actually on season 3 now. Need to update the progress so far. It’s surprisingly good fun, but not easy

[DanEnglish]

Relegation Battle

Season Two
Unemployed. We’ve holidayed to Feb 1st. Our reputation is still ‘world-class’ after last season’s cup win …

… but look who else is a world-class manager … !

Spoiler

Our ex-player Jamie Vardy! 

He wasn’t good enough for us last season at Leicester, but now he’s the number one ranked manager globally! How strange.

 
Jobs
Again lots of jobs available, but none at clubs in the relegation zone. 

Two weeks later - in mid February - two interesting jobs become available at relegation threatened clubs:

• Metz in France’s top division
• Salernitana in Italy’s top division

Both clubs offer me their job!

… but I reject both!

Instead I wait for another English Premier League club job - and in March two jobs become available - Leeds and Wolves 🔥 

Wolves offer me their job first - so I accept it!

 
Wolves!
Mid-March. Wolves are in 18th position, just one single point from safety 👍 

We have 8 league matches to save the club

Plus did you spot that? That extra match? 

Yes. We’ve deliberately accepted a job with another club who has the chance to win a trophy - as our Wolves are currently in the FA Cup quarter-finals 😉 
 

Next
We’ll look at Wolves’ squad.  
Are they good enough to survive?!

Edited June 5 by DanEnglish

[DanEnglish]

 

Relegation Battle

We now have the Wolves job.  
Are they any good?!

 
 

Mid-March
8 league matches remain. We look at our squad … oh god …

That’s terrible. We have a huge injury crisis amongst our first team players - including our 3 best attackers.

Even the players admit this injury crisis has weakened the team. True.  
 

Best Player
So who’s our best attacker? 

Looks like pacy wide attacker Guedes will be our star goal-scorer … once he returns back from a 2-3 week injury 🤕 
 

Tactic
We’ll use a different tactic each season - so this squad seems to better suit a 4-1-2-3 shape, similar to the black hawk tactic, but with sone differences

• An IWB and WB combo, for the IWB to help provide passing options down the center, as we have low-aerial central strikers.
• A Roaming Playmaker from defensive midfield, to help provide some extra creativity.
• A ‘control’ mentality, as we have good technical passing players.
• And star attacker Guedes can be our central striker - once he returns from injury 🤦 
   

Next
A real end-season update.  

Do Wolves survive? 🙈   
Do we win the FA Cup?! 🏆 

Edited June 5 by DanEnglish

[DanEnglish]

Relegation Battle

Dud we survive? Did we win a trophy?!  
 

League
8 matches. 5 wins. 3 draws. Wow.

That’s 1.8 points per game 🔥 

We survived!!! 🎉 

We finished in 14th place, a huge 10 points above the relegation zone. 

How did we do so well? Except for that first 3-0 win against Sheffield United, every league win was won by a single goal. We’d score - then immediately switch to my ‘park the bus’ tactic - a very defensively solid 4-1-4-1-0 - with no attacking players. It worked 👍   
 

The FA Cup
Last season with Leicester we avoided relegation and won the FA Cup. Could we do the same this season with Wolves?!

First we need to beat Man United …

Terrible! We lost to a 96th minute goal. Their striker Rashford was too good and too quick for us - especially after we had a red card in the second half.

No trophy for us.  
 

End-Season
The Board were delighted. We’d survived and finished near mid-table in 14th.

My reputation will probably decrease next season - after being unemployed and not winning a trophy - but I’ve done well so far.

 
 

Tactical Analysis
Each season I’ll use a different tactic. Before we used a strikerless 442 Diamond. This season we used a similar 4123 like the black hawk

It went pretty well. In the league we scored twice as many goals as our opponents (but less than the 2.0 goals / game scored at Leicester in season one)

Thankfully Wolves defense this season was much better than Leicester’s last season - as we conceded far fewer goals, even though we conceded more shots and high-quality chances.

Having a good keeper makes a huge difference.  
 

Next
I resign. Thank you Wolves.

That was fun. But also too easy. Next season I need to pick a worse club in a worse league position 😉 

Edited June 5 by DanEnglish

[MegaBoi]

Going very well. This is very fun I tried but with lack of experience with underdogs or Relegation threatened club. I wasn't able to save my team from relegation.

Hope you'll post 3rd season very soon. Not like season 2😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️

[DanEnglish]

I’ve finished season 3 😉 just need to write it up (tomorrow?)

[DanEnglish]

Relegation Battle

We've had two successful battles to avoid relegation. 'Good things come in threes' - right? 
 

Season Three
We have holidayed to February 1st again. The transfer window slams shut across Europe.

My manager reputation has dropped - not world class and not in the top 50 managers globally - because of my extended time unemployed and without any trophies last season. Lets see how difficult it'll be to get a top job.
 

Jobs
The Genoa job is available - who sit rock bottom of Italy's top league. 

Genoa offer me the job, but I decline. We'll move to Italy later. (Spoiler: was this a mistake?!)

We apply for other vacancies. Hannover in Germany. Bordeaux in France. All in the relegation zone of their nation's top league. But neither offer me the job.

Spoiler

Hannover 

Bordeaux

Then both the West Ham and Watford jobs become 'very insecure' - as both clubs fight to survive from the English Premier League.

I 'declare interest' in both jobs. As a consequence of this, West Ham decide to sack their manager (Steven Gerrard!) and offer me the job 2 weeks later.

Spoiler

West Ham
This will be our hardest battle yet. West Ham sit rock bottom of England's top league.

There are only 4 matches remaining, and our club are 3 points from safety.

However these fixtures are brutal - first against top 6 clubs Spurs and Man United. Then against struggling bottom-half Everton and Watford. I think we need 7 points (a draw and two wins) to have a chance. 
 

The Squad
We manage to pick up 1 free transfer - solid ex-Newcastle center back Lascelles was without a club, so we snapped him up quickly. But that was our only reinforcement.

The first team isn't bad. We're lacking decent quality depth, but for only 4 matches it's workable.

• STs - 👍 two good goal-scorers (speedy Bowen and target man Scamacca)
• MCs - 👍 aerially strong McTominay and Soucek, plus more creative recent signing Weigl
• DCs - 👍 aerially dominant Zouma is in central defence, flanked by two decent other center backs (inc. Lascelles)
• FBs - 🔻 our weakest area. Decent all-rounders, but not great and are poor crossers.  
   

 

The Tactic
Each season we'll use a different tactic. In season one we used an attacking strikerless 4-4-2 diamond. In season two we used a similar controlled 4-1-2-3 with a central striker.

Now in season three, we'll use a balanced 3-1-4-2, with three center backs, three central midfielders, two central strikers upfront - rotating between a high and normal press.

• Our strength will be down the center, plus we can fit in all our best players into our first team.
• Our weakness will be out wide, with no full-backs, and instead using two defensive wingers / wide midfielders.  
   

Spoiler

Next
4 matches to save West Ham.
Can we survive?! 🙈

 

Edited June 6 by DanEnglish

[MegaBoi]

This is going to be interesting.

Only 4 games left and 2 of them is against top 6 club. A tough job to get done.

You are using sweeper in defence. What does that role do I never used it.

[DanEnglish]

59 minutes ago, MegaBoi said:

You are using sweeper in defence. What does that role do I never used it.

Honestly - I’m not really sure.

• Unfortunately the sweeper does NOT seem to drop deep behind the other defenders.
• Instead the sweeper seems to stay next to the other center backs - like a normal CB.

So I use a sweeper in the HOPE that it won’t step up / won’t close down opposition midfielders - i.e. it’ll stay central-ish and cover the striker / be the last man in defense. However that’s just my hope. Haven’t really noticed that in the match engine 🤷 

[leedsunited87]

Going to start calling you the "magician" bloody marvelous Dan! Should of taken the Leeds job though buddy 🙄 🤔 😕 😬 

[DanEnglish]

7 minutes ago, leedsunited87 said:

Going to start calling you the "magician" bloody marvelous Dan! Should of taken the Leeds job though buddy 🙄 🤔 😕 😬 

You may want to wait until after you’ve seen the season 3 result 🙈 

Plus Leeds didn’t offer me the job 😭 

[DanEnglish]

Relegation Battle

4 matches to save West Ham!

Match 1
Spurs still have Harry Kane in FMM23. And we mark him out of the game …

… except for the 3 goals he scored. Spurs destroyed us. They fully fully deserved to beat us. We lost 3-0.

Thanks … that’s really helpful 😡 
 

Match 2
Man United are chasing a spot in the top 4. We’ve got to at least get a point from them.

We were losing 3-0 after 60 mins, to switched to all-out-attack tactic.

We both scored once in the final 30 mins and it finished a 4-1 loss. 🤕

Rashford + Garnacho’s pace tore us apart. It was brutal. 
 

Match 3
This is going very badly. We are 5 points behind, with two matches remaining.

We must win the final two matches - starting with mid-table Everton.

After 60 mins we’re leading 1-0. So  I switch to a new version of my trusted ‘park-the-bus’ tactic …

… this is a defensive 5-1-4-0, completely packing the defence + midfield, with no attackers at all.

We hold out for a crucial 1-0 win 🙈 
 

The Final Match
Our form has been dreadful - both before and after I joined.

We are bottom with 1 match left. 

Two other relegation contenders play each other - they must draw for us to have a chance 🔥 

Plus we must win by 4 goals 🔥 

Half-time.  
We’re leading 3-1 …

… but the other two relegation rivals are not drawing. At the moment, we’re getting relegated 😱

+70 mins
We have <20 mins left. There’s been an equalizer! Our relegation rivals are drawing!!! 😃 

As you can see - we’re leading 4-2 …

… if we score 2 goals in 20 mins, we survive!

We go all-out-attack!

But our game ends in only a 4-2 win.

Oh dear.

We’ve been relegated. 
On goal difference. Ouch 🤕 

The Board are ‘disappointed’. Yeah me too.

I ‘continue’ to June 1st, then resign.

After successfully avoiding relegation twice in previous seasons, this season we got relegated.

 
Next
Season four. We’ll holiday to Feb 1st again + try to find a new job. 

Though I guess my manager reputation will have dropped after this relegation - so perhaps we won’t be getting a top job 😢 

Bye bye West Ham!
Bye bye English Premier League?!

Edited June 6 by DanEnglish

[leedsunited87]

Ahhh that's really unlucky buddy! Was always going to be a tight one that, can now start calling you "big sam" 😄 🤣 

[DanEnglish]

Relegation Battle

Two survivals. One relegation. What’s next?!

Season Four
We had three fun seasons in England’s top league

… but my manager reputation continues to drop - after last season’s dramatic relegation …

Spoiler

I look for a new job, after holidaying to Feb 1st.

Nothing is immediately available, for a relegation threatened club, in any top league.  

🇮🇹 Italy
After waiting a few weeks (in-game),
we get 3 job offers from Italy’s Serie A 🔥 

Spoiler

… but I have to REJECT all of them - as none were in the relegation zone when the offer was made 🤦 

🇫🇷 France
Then a job in France’s top league becomes ‘very insecure’ - I ‘declare interest’ and the club fire their manager

Spoiler

The job becomes available

 
🇫🇷 Reims
4th season. 4th club. Hello Reims!

The situation is not good. We are bottom of France’s top division 🔻 …

… with just 7 matches left 🔻 …

… squad morale is rock bottom 🔻 …

… the squad itself is rubbish 🔻 …

… and we lack quality in many positions - including the critical goalkeeper and central midfield positions 🔻 

… plus it’s difficult to reinforce with free transfer signings, as ‘attribute masking’ is still on 🔻 …

… so we need to scout players to figure out if they’re good enough - which takes time.  
 

Next
End-season four.  
Do we survive in France?! 😬 

Edited June 7 by DanEnglish

[leedsunited87]

Oooooo ouch! Tough one to call this! Hope you can keep them up buddy 

[DanEnglish]

Relegation Battle

Reims are bottom of the French top division, with 7 matches remaining.

With poor quality in our first team - how can we avoid relegation?!

Strategy
This season - we're doing something different:

1. In season one, as we had no good strikers, we played strikerless
2. In season two, the squad was good enough to survive
3. In season three, as we had no good FBs, we played without FBs

Now in season four - we have poor keepers, only 1 good center back, poor central midfielders.

... so we require a different solution ...
 

Players
So we look to the free transfer market - and (finally!) there are some decent players without a contract.

We sign 5 players on free transfers - all go straight into the first team!

Spoiler

GK
33 year old keeper Schwolow isn't great, with an average 13 (out of 20) for all key goalkeeper attributes, but he's professional, good under pressure, and better than what we had before!

DCs
Two new center-backs join, including ex-Newcastle Lascelles (who West Ham released on a free transfer after being relegated) and ex-Manchester United center back Michael Keane. 

MC
French 31 year old midfielder Rongier signs, on a huge 30k (British pounds) per week contract. I'd never heard of him before, but he's automatically good enough to be one of our best two players.

ML
Plus a left-sided wing back / winger Alex Moreno signs as a marquee signing. Again he's not great, but he's now the second of our best two players.

Now the squad looks much more suitable - all at least 3 star ability (out of 5) according to our gold-ranked Assistant Manager.

Tactic
We're using a different tactic every season. 

This season we'll still use a 3-1-4-2 shape (same as last season), but here in France we'll use different instructions & roles:

• Counter mentality, to be more-cautious.
• More cautious midfield roles, with an Anchor as our defensive midfielder to protect our defense. 
• An Advanced Forward and Deep-Lying Forward (AF & DLF) combo in attack, which suits our main two strikers and the DLF adds some creativity that is otherwise missing.
• Plus I spent ages setting up / customising all the detailed set piece instructions.

Spoiler

First Match
We created nothing from open play.
But 'stole' a 2-1 win from two set piece goals!

Spoiler

Next Few Matches
We did ok in the next few matches - won 1, drew 2, lost 1 - for a total of 8 points in our 5 matches managed so far.

All are very low-scoring. If we go a goal-down, then I switch to 'attacking' mentality just to try to create something!
 

Final Two Matches
So we have escaped temporarily - sitting one place above the relegation zone.

However our next match is against fellow relegation contenders (where we must not lose!) + then we play 2nd placed Olympique de Marseille (OM) - where we will surely get destroyed.

So we need a result now.

A boring 0-0 draw where nothing happened? Great. I'll take that.
 

The Last Match
A draw against 2nd placed OM would ensure our survival.

We score just before half-time (striker Origi has been useless so far, this was his first goal).

And absolutely nothing happens in the 2nd half - so we gain a surprising 1-0 win!

🔥 We survive! 🔥 

End-Season Review
Interestingly 32 year old signing Lascelles gained enough positive experience from these 7 matches to have visibly developed. He's now a very solid, but not pacy, center back. He's done well here, mostly getting '7' match ratings.

Good Defense
You'll notice this tactic & first team was very defensively solid. Our new keeper and three center-backs all got a '7' match rating in almost every match + we only conceded 4 in 7 matches.

Spoiler

Poor Attack
However you'll notice our 'more cautious' tactic meant our attack was weak - only 6 goals scored in 7 matches!

Success!
We finished in 13th place - 3 places and 3 points ahead of the relegation zone ✅

The reason behind this season's success was surely due to (i) reinforcing the first team with 5x free transfer signings, plus (ii) a 'more-cautious' tactic to ensure we rarely conceded goals.

Next
I resign on June 1st.

We'll holiday to Feb 1st again, and try to find a new club to save from relegation!

Spoiler: my decreasing manager reputation will make this increasingly challenging 😱

Edited June 8 by DanEnglish

[MegaBoi]

5 hours ago, DanEnglish said:

Relegation Battle

Reims are bottom of the French top division, with 7 matches remaining.

With poor quality in our first team - how can we avoid relegation?!

Strategy
This season - we're doing something different:

1. In season one, as we had no good strikers, we played strikerless
2. In season two, the squad was good enough to survive
3. In season three, as we had no good FBs, we played without FBs

Now in season four - we have poor keepers, only 1 good center back, poor central midfielders.

... so we require a different solution ...
 

Players
So we look to the free transfer market - and (finally!) there are some decent players without a contract.

We sign 5 players on free transfers - all go straight into the first team!

  Hide contents

GK
33 year old keeper Schwolow isn't great, with an average 13 (out of 20) for all key goalkeeper attributes, but he's professional, good under pressure, and better than what we had before!

DCs
Two new center-backs join, including ex-Newcastle Lascelles (who West Ham released on a free transfer after being relegated) and ex-Manchester United center back Michael Keane. 

MC
French 31 year old midfielder Rongier signs, on a huge 30k (British pounds) per week contract. I'd never heard of him before, but he's automatically good enough to be one of our best two players.

ML
Plus a left-sided wing back / winger Alex Moreno signs as a marquee signing. Again he's not great, but he's now the second of our best two players.

Now the squad looks much more suitable - all at least 3 star ability (out of 5) according to our gold-ranked Assistant Manager.

Tactic
We're using a different tactic every season. 

This season we'll still use a 3-1-4-2 shape (same as last season), but here in France we'll use different instructions & roles:

• Counter mentality, to be more-cautious.
• More cautious midfield roles, with an Anchor as our defensive midfielder to protect our defense. 
• An Advanced Forward and Deep-Lying Forward (AF & DLF) combo in attack, which suits our main two strikers and the DLF adds some creativity that is otherwise missing.
• Plus I spent ages setting up / customising all the detailed set piece instructions.

  Hide contents

First Match
We created nothing from open play.
But 'stole' a 2-1 win from two set piece goals!

  Hide contents

Next Few Matches
We did ok in the next few matches - won 1, drew 2, lost 1 - for a total of 8 points in our 5 matches managed so far.

All are very low-scoring. If we go a goal-down, then I switch to 'attacking' mentality just to try to create something!
 

Final Two Matches
So we have escaped temporarily - sitting one place above the relegation zone.

However our next match is against fellow relegation contenders (where we must not lose!) + then we play 2nd placed Olympique de Marseille (OM) - where we will surely get destroyed.

So we need a result now.

A boring 0-0 draw where nothing happened? Great. I'll take that.
 

The Last Match
A draw against 2nd placed OM would ensure our survival.

We score just before half-time (striker Origi has been useless so far, this was his first goal).

And absolutely nothing happens in the 2nd half - so we gain a surprising 1-0 win!

🔥 We survive! 🔥 

End-Season Review
Interestingly 32 year old signing Lascelles gained enough positive experience from these 7 matches to have visibly developed. He's now a very solid, but not pacy, center back. He's done well here, mostly getting '7' match ratings.

Good Defense
You'll notice this tactic & first team was very defensively solid. Our new keeper and three center-backs all got a '7' match rating in almost every match + we only conceded 4 in 7 matches.

  Hide contents

Poor Attack
However you'll notice our 'more cautious' tactic meant our attack was weak - only 6 goals scored in 7 matches!

Success!
We finished in 13th place - 3 places and 3 points ahead of the relegation zone ✅

The reason behind this season's success was surely due to (i) reinforcing the first team with 5x free transfer signings, plus (ii) a 'more-cautious' tactic to ensure we rarely conceded goals.

Next
I resign on June 1st.

We'll holiday to Feb 1st again, and try to find a new club to save from relegation!

Spoiler: my decreasing manager reputation will make this increasingly challenging 😱

Surely a great season mate. Was looking difficult before free transfers. But you got it.

 

Also you reinforced the set-pieces. I never look that much there and don't have any idea what are good combinations for set-pieces. If you can help a bit.

And Again great season. Though I would like to see some Spanish pr German action.