Monsieur Manager FC Sochaux Dynasty

[Travis7401]

Another post? Is Mr. Manager trolling or did Senegal make the WORLD CUP FINALS? I guess another vidya in this spot could also be a 3rd place game too. No cheating you gotta keep the suspense and check the posts one at a time. Prolly just a goatse picture beneath this spoiler so make sure the kids aren't in the room!

Spoiler

Twitter reaction to beating Switzerland in the Semifinal and earing a spot in the WORLD CUP FINAL was similarly a bit confused.



And just like that we're in the World Cup Final! WHAT A RUN!

 

[Brick]

GOAT GOAT GOAT GOAT

 

[Travis7401]

Those vidyas weren't very popular, I think I need to get back to posting #SPREADSHEETS

 

[Brick]

no

 

[Travis7401]

Bouna GOAT Gueye won the GOLDEN BOOT with 7 goals after becoming a starter in the quarterfinals, lol. Ibrahima BETTER CALL SAUL was voted best player in the tourney with 4 goals and was 3 times POTM, including in the final. Ibrahima Barry was GK of the tourney. NDiaye joined the other three in the Best XI

 

[Travis7401]

Monseiur Manager accomplished all of his goals with the Senegal National Team and walked out on top

 

[Travis7401]

Monsieur Manager CAN DO NO WRONG! I thought the FCSM winning streak was going to come to an end when we played 1st place Bordeaux on the road and went down 2 goals....

LMAO ABSOLUTELY FOOTBALL MANAGERED THEM! It was a really close game and I actually had an XG lead through most of the match and was just a little unfortunate we didn't score... and then it all caught up at once in a BLITZ of ULTRA ATTAKCING, lol. The penalty GIFT in the 97th minute when stoppage time was only 5 minutes was absolutely breathtaking lol.




FCSM is on a 9 game winning streak. Senegal was unbeaten in the world cup, MONSIEUR MANAGER 16 games unbeaten! Haven't lost since 10/1 and it's already January!



The pendulum swing back in the other direction is bound to be brutal, lol.

 

[bruin228]

Seems too easy, play a real game like FIFA!

 

[Travis7401]

I was afraid that the winter transfer window would really shake the team up since we were playing so well. In the end I did lose my GK and club captain. I really fought hard for him, but he was getting mad that I was rejecting transfer offers, so I sold him for $3.3M with potential increase of about another $1M. I brought in a new stopgap starting GK on loan for free (Ivan). He's not quite as good and he's not the captain/team leader but he's better than my current backup. Losing a team leader at such a key moment in the season is rough, but the defense has been playing well, so hopefully it won't matter?



The only player I signed permanently was an 18 year old midfielder from Senegal who I was able to get for a really good deal. He's a really well rounded central midfield player who can pretty much do everything reasonably well already. As an 18 year old there's a good chance that the rest of those YELLOWS will become GREENS and the GREENS will become BLUES and we'll have a real stud on the team!



Moustapha Niang our other Senegalese midfielder is 2 years older and a bit more physical/defensive, but I like that Ndiaye is even more well rounded. I can use Moustapha as more of the defensive/ball winning type player while Ndiaye becomes the box-to-box type type player. I also like that I could utilize him as a playmaker as well. I accidentally fucked up and forgot to register him, so he's playing 2nd team and U19 for the rest of the year lol.

 

[fried rice]

I was afraid that the winter transfer window would really shake the team up since we were playing so well. In the end I did lose my GK and club captain. I really fought hard for him, but he was getting mad that I was rejecting transfer offers, so I sold him for $3.3M with potential increase of about another $1M. I brought in a new stopgap starting GK on loan for free (Ivan). He's not quite as good and he's not the captain/team leader but he's better than my current backup. Losing a team leader at such a key moment in the season is rough, but the defense has been playing well, so hopefully it won't matter?

View attachment 29149

The only player I signed permanently was an 18 year old midfielder from Senegal who I was able to get for a really good deal. He's a really well rounded central midfield player who can pretty much do everything reasonably well already. As an 18 year old there's a good chance that the rest of those YELLOWS will become GREENS and the GREENS will become BLUES and we'll have a real stud on the team!

View attachment 29150

Moustapha Niang our other Senegalese midfielder is 2 years older and a bit more physical/defensive, but I like that Ndiaye is even more well rounded. I can use Moustapha as more of the defensive/ball winning type player while Ndiaye becomes the box-to-box type type player. I also like that I could utilize him as a playmaker as well. I accidentally fucked up and forgot to register him, so he's playing 2nd team and U19 for the rest of the year lol.
View attachment 29151

“Criticism of Souchaux Skipper Mounts After Registration Gaffe”

 

[Travis7401]

Great time for a video! Youth intake day was followed shortly by a huge match! FCSM all the way up to 2nd in the league, with a home match against League Leaders Bordeaux.

 

[Travis7401]

HUGE game in the promotion hunt. With 4 games left we are sitting in 2nd place and play the #3 team at home!

 

[goblue96]

Those vidyas weren't very popular, I think I need to get back to posting #SPREADSHEETS

Who’s get time for a 36 minute vidya?

 

[Travis7401]

LAST GAME OF THE SEASON, CAN'T HOLD NOTHIN BACK NOW!

 

[Travis7401]

WELP... We had an amazing season and exceeded expectations, but it's still tough to miss out on promotion when we were in control of our own destiny with 2 games left to play. In the long run, having more time to build the CULTURE of THE SQUAD will probably benefit us in the long run.

 

[Travis7401]

Preseason Preview 2022-2023 - Note: I am using fake players/names because OOTP hooked me on THE SIM being more fun than reel life.


After thoroughly reviewing THE SQUAD, I decided on a boring 4-2-3-1 formation because that's what best fit the personnel and depth we have - especially our plethora of attacking midfield options. I don't have enough good CB options and only have one Striker. I don't have enough transfer/wage budget to purchase good young players at these positions, so I'll be looking to bring in loans of free transfers to fill these holes. Below is my 2-deep depth chart and I put the best U21/Youth player in the 3rd slot. The best youth player on the team is a 16 year old ST prospect named HUGO. Overall I like the quality and depth of the squad and I have a great looking youth system with tons of U21 players that should make for a bright future.
View attachment 28998

I fiddled around with the wage/transfer budget balance and I have about 100k in transfer budget going into the season with about $350k in remaining wage budget (total wage budget of $6.5M). I was pleased to see that there aren't any stupid or ridiculous contracts and the club is already operating on a good looking wage scale with better players making more money! I'll plan on letting some of the older players play out their contracts, but there isn't anyone I absolutely need to sell. I do have plenty of options at winger/attacking midfielder, so if I get offers in I might sell one of them.
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View attachment 29000

2023-2024 Preseason Preview!

This is my starting squad depth chart heading into the preseason. Last year I showed the best youth player in the third slot - this year I'm showing the 2-deep plus squad rotational players as well. It's worth noting that my squad is better overall this year, so a couple of the players who have stayed almost exactly the same (Toure, Richard, Ricard, Madar) have all dropped about half a STAR relative to their STAR ratings last year. I still need to find a backup GK, otherwise THE SQUAD should be set for the season! I already lost SAID to a transfer because I wouldn't increase his salary far above my wage scale and I have some other teams sniffing around some of my players as well, so there may be additional changes before the start of the season





Here's the squad sorted by salary. I've generally been able to hold to my wage scale pretty well. There was one dude Roberto Naciemento who I picked up on a free transfer who insisted that I refer to him as a STAR PLAYER - but he signed for < $200k per season, lol. I'm paying Niang and Ricard more based on their good performance and development last season. I also signed a new LF and a new GK who have the ability to be STAR players, so they are getting paid like it! I'll mention them more later!


View attachment 28999

 

[Travis7401]

GOALKEEPERS:

I'm really happy with this position, the starter, the squad depth, the youth, and the salaries are all just right. Allan Gerard is a "Good Player for Most Ligue 2 sides" and has the potential to improve into a "Decent Ligue 1 GK." His wage is decent and the backup GK is also serviceable and on good wages. 19-year old Yacine Brion and 18 year old Dominik Jakubiak have good promise for the future with 4.5 star potential and then I have another 16 year old youngster SEBASTIEN who also has 4.5 star potential and a couple other dudes with 4 star. I'll loan out Yacine and and Dominik this year and may sell whichever one doesn't progress as well.

View attachment 29004

Big changes at this position... We sold Allan Gerard for $4.4M and let Mohamed Bouchama's contract expire because he wanted higher wages than I was willing to pay a backup. We payed $300k to bring in Diego Esnault who looks a little better than Gerard was and we have him on a decent wage. We still haven't added a backup. Yacine Brion was our best prospect last year and I loaned him out, only to see him get slightly worse! He's out on loan again so hopefully it goes better this time. Dominik Jakubiak stayed with the club and improved a bit, but not as much as I'd like. I saw RUDY Franckaert available as free signing and he has good ratings for an 18 year old, so I brought him in. He's also 5'4 so he better hit a growth spurt! He has 4 star potential and good current ratings. In last year's youth intake we added a new 5 STAR PROSPECT! but his starting ratings don't look all that great so I'm skeptical! I have placed BAUD on the UNWANTED list to sell or release at any price. I'm going to be using affiliates a bit more to see who develops best in which environment. I'll me sending Franckaert and Viennet to affiliates.

I'll update when we find a backup!

 

[Travis7401]

CENTRAL DEFENDERS

As I mentioned in the pre-season preview, CB was the weakest spot on the team. I only had two barely starting CBs and then a CDM who can play CB in a pinch. I went out and got two players in on loan - both with options to buy if things go well. They were both available on good deals where their clubs pay a portion of their wages, so I was able to sign both for the full year for about the same price as a single starter. Mathis Beyrac is one of the most expensive contracts on the team and as a CDM he doesn't really fit into my tactic, but he does have the versatility to play both CM and CB so he'll be nice to have this year. I'll let him walk at the end of the year when his contract is up. Zakaria Said and Rudy Chollet are both heading into the prime of their careers and are decent players for Ligue 2 and could be serviceable backup players if I get promoted. They are both on good wages, at least but probably don't factor into the long term future if we get promoted. My youth prospects are fine for Ligue 2, but probably won't make a Ligue 1 team, so I'll have to bring in some better talent in the future. Atangana and Arnal are both going out on loan this year and hopefully they improve enough to be backups. Johan Viral has good ratings for a 16 year old and 4.5 star potential, so he's really the only one worth watching on our squad. If Bruno Buitard meshes well and has a good season I may look to exercise the transfer option on his loan - but the price is $2.3 M which is more than half of my projected transfer budget for next year. If he plays and develops well this season he could still be worth it! Manuel has a $600k option - but he's already 25 and I'm not sure he'd be good enough for the future.

View attachment 29005

View attachment 29010

Another position with a ton of change. Our loan players from last year returned to their clubs and we lost a couple of more players to transfers. Beyrac was old/declining and on high wages and wasn't going to be a star player for us this season, so when I got an offer of $200k for him I accepted. I really wanted to keep Said, but he wanted a new contract for >600K and I just didn't think he was worth that price, so I accepted an offer for $1.2M which was about what his transfer value was. Rudy Chollet is the loan returning CB from last year and he played and improved nicely. He's entering the prime of his career and he's on good wages. I might try to extend his contract if I can keep his price in the $250k/year range. I brought in Milton Medina on loan and he has the potential to be a star player so I'm happy paying his wage. Loans are really nice when you aren't sure what league you're going to be in and don't want to commit long term to a STAR player who might not be a STAR if we get promoted! I brought in Roberto Nscimento and Tomas Perez on Free transfers and was happy that I was able to get them both on decent wages as well. That's the starting 4 CBs for the season and barring injury or late transfer excitement, they'll be the ones playing that position for the year. Our 2-deep looks better at this position than it did last year.

For the YOUTHS, we had some GROWERS in Colin, Claude, and Samson who all popped 14-15 points. Arnal and Atangana were both loaned out last season and just didn't play enough. Atangana played 1 match all season, lol. I'll have to keep a better eye on this in the future because it really hurt both of their development and may have cost them their future with the team. I really don't want to have to fucking micromanage every single player so I might be keeping more of my stars at home? I signed Ousseynou N'Diaye on a free transfer because he had great current ratings for an 18 year old and some potential versatility as well. Arnal and Viral are already out on loan to keep playing time in my 2nd team and U19 teams for the GROWERS. I added a couple of players to the unwanted list (in red). Our youth intake had one prospect - but he looks like a BUM! Nicolas COLIN looks like the best bet to make the squad in the future.




Here are the the 3 players who are on my squad, leaving Medina out since he's only in on loan



Here is the GROWER Nicolas Colin year over year

 

[Travis7401]

LEFT BACK

I was super pleased to an awesome setup at Left Back - because it's often really hard for me to find good left backs. Toure and Haas are a really nice starting quality pair in the prime of their careers and both have enough potential to be Ligue 1 players as well. Both of them have good defending and work rates. Hass is the better technical player and has better crossing, but Toure is a lot faster. The YOUTHS area also good - planning to loan out Rober Regnier the 18 year old with 5 star potential and then I also have a 16 year old with 4.5 star potential who will stay with the club

View attachment 29007

View attachment 29009

Toure is from Senegal but is uncommitted to the national team - Mr. Manager might have to change that!
View attachment 29018

Here's a position with very little change! We're returning both starters in Michel Toure and Quntin Haas. Both of them were injured a fair bit last season, so I was glad to bring in the 22 year old Timothy Agyei on a 450k transfer. He's got good ratings for a 22 year old, he can play both LB and RB, and I was able to get him in THE SQUAD on a cheap contract. He's a big upgrade over my substitute/bench player from last year and has the highest potential of anyone on the team. I also signed Serigne NDONG for a release clause because he had good stats for an 18 year old and I liked his last name. Rober Regnier was my best youth prospect and he actually regressed in his FB specific attributes despite playing a good amount for both the 2nd Team and U19 squads. Maybe I played him too much? He played in 50 total games lol. I'm going to try and loan him out this year to see if he does any better.

I have another better looking youth prospect who will be joining in the January transfer window as well. Got one regen at this position and he's a BUM



Here are the 3 players on the senior squad - Toure has that SEC SPEED and is better physical player, but HAAS is much better technically with 13 crossing and 14 dribbling. Agyei is definitely a downgrade from either, but still love his versatility.




Now look at this BUM Regnier getting WORSE year over year, lol


His stats from last year weren't even that terrible. I believe the "non-competitive" games are my 2nd team squad and the "League" games are the French U19 League. Football manager definitely makes it hard to tell which stats are from which level sometimes.

 

[goblue96]

MOAR SPREADSHEETS!

 

[Brick]

SQUAD

 

[Travis7401]

MOAR SPREADSHEETS!

Tell me why REGNIER didn't develop at all despite playing in matches and having GREAT training scores (9.0+!) all year.

 

[goblue96]

Tell me why REGNIER didn't develop at all despite playing in matches and having GREAT training scores (9.0+!) all year.

I need to see more of the picture. What's his personality? What club did you loan him to? And how good are their facilities?

 

[Travis7401]

He was with me last season and played all those matches for my 2nd team and U19s. I ljust loaned him out this year. Yes personality is BALANCED. I'm guessing it's just that he's a LOW DETERMINATION BUM

 

[goblue96]

He might be ready for senior team matches and isn't challenged by U19 and reserve team football. Get him out on loan to a professional club so he trains every days while playing in a decent amount of matches. If he develops, great. If not, cut him loose.

 

[Travis7401]

He's out on loan with a FRENCH NATIONAL team this season. Their facilities suck but at least he's at the appropriate level? I'm trying to have my LOAN MANAGER manage loans so I just put players on the DEV LIST. I micromanage enough shit in this game, I think I might need to just come to terms with the fact that some of them won't make it, lol.

 

[Travis7401]

RIGHT BACK

Another position with two solid starters, but they are both pretty long in the tooth and I will likely let their contracts expire. I have 19 year old SALMON - which is a fun name, as the best U21 prospect and I'm planning to loan him out this year. A couple of 4 star potential 16 year olds are also on the squad and one of them has pretty good ratings for his age.

View attachment 29011

Here is a good example of where I probably wouldn't listen to the CA. OGER has a better CA rating because he has better all around stats, but I think Keita is quite a bit better for the position, and that is reflected in his FB (A) rating. He's the superior technical player, he's better defensively, he has better speed, etc. They are both starter quality!

View attachment 29012

That being said.... OGER looks a bit like @kella and the name is great, so he'll probably get the starting nod anyway, lol.
View attachment 29013

OGER retired, but Keita had a good season when he was healthy last year and is back again - probably for his last year. This was one of my weak spots and I was hoping to find a great transfer, but couldn't find anyone I really liked for a reasonable price. I did find Nelson Sousa who is more of a wingback and can also play RW if needed. I'm likely to be playing an inverted winger on the right most games this season, so having a wingback will be nice. Timothy Agyei is my depth backup here. Louis Salmon was by best youth prospect last year, but he was injured for most of last season - so I'm actually pleased that he had any development at all. He improved a lot where it counts, and his FB rating went from a 10.0 to a 10.6. I loaned him to the same team again so hopefully he continues to improve! We added a 5 start youth intake player, but he has some really poor ratings in some key areas so I'm not sure he'll actually become a real player. Still, his ratings are good for a 15 year old.



Nelson Sousa might look like the best player at first glance, but the FB(A) rating tells the real story... I think Keita is the better starter. Sousa is a little speedier. I went ahead and added THE SALMON to the comparison to show that he's still a little ways off of being a senior team player - but he does have that speed!


Here is the SALMON's year over year improvement - I'm not sure he'll ever make the senior team but maybe?


Here is Shabani - his attacking ratings are absolutely terrible, so if he does develop he's going to be more of a defensive fullback - but his defending isn't great either lol! He does have some randomly high already green ratings so maybe with some focused development he could become good.

 

[Travis7401]

Central Midfielder

I have a couple of different archetypes for CMs but they tend to be at least interchangeable because some of the players are just good enough all around to play several different roles. I show their ratings in BWM (D), BBM (SU) and DLP (SU) because each of those roles showcase different attributes and it gives me an idea of what type of player each CM is. I have 6 total players in the senior squad that can play the CM spot, but Beyrac might be playing both CM and CB and Ricard will definitely be playing in the CAM spot. With more CBs on the team I might be able to utilize Beyrac more in the BWM (D) role, but for right now, Lassana Keita will be the starting BWM (D) role and his backup will be 19 year old Moustapha Niang, who already looks great for the senior squad. Niang is also versatile enough to play the other CM role which is either a BBM (SU) or a CM (SU) with personalized player instructions if I don't want them shooting. Lemaire and Courtois will be the two rotational starters in the more box-to-box role. Niang and Oliver are the best U21s on the roster and Niang is already good enough to be in the senior squad, I will try to get Oliver out on line. I also have plenty of depth in the younger age groups with a couple of 15/16 year olds with decent ratings. There's just a lot of youth depth at this position, so certainly someone will pop!

View attachment 29014

At the BBM (SU)/CM role I really like both Lemaire and Courtois. Lemaire is probably the best of the bunch at this role, but Courtois has more flexibility. He doesn't have great speed, but that combination of technical and vision would let me use him as a DLP if we decide to put the playmaker in the CM and play with something more like a shadow striker in the CAM slot.
View attachment 29016

For the BWM (D) spot these three players are pretty well rounded - with only Niang's aerial ability letting him down.View attachment 29015


Niang is also from Senegal so he might have the ability to do double duty on my squads!
View attachment 29017

Really happy with my SENEGAL midfield. Niang was the emerging young superstar last season and I love that he's a really well rounded player with a slight edge toward the defensive side. Idrissa N'Diaye is also a very nice well rounded player, but is a little more of a playmaker. I love that they can both play either midfield role very well and they are both under 21, have 5 star potential, and are signed through 2026 so I plan on making them a really big part of this team going forward. Niang was a GROWER last year, which is awesome. Ricard can play the more offensive midfield role really well, but he's going to be starting at CAM so he won't be getting much/any time at the CM spot unless we switch to the 4-3-3 Lemaire will be backup in the BWM spot and can also cover the box-to-box/playmaking role if needed. Courtois is definitely more of a playmaker and I loved having him play CM for us last season. N'Diaye was a gift, but I'd be completely happy with Courtois starting again. I will probably let Lemaire and Courtois's contracts expire because they are just a little old and probably aren't good enough to take THE NEXT STEP. Pleased to see that we had AMAZING GROWERS in Vigneau and Alexander - both living up to their high potential with awesome growth.

I'll likely loan out Oliver, Colson, and Campos. I signed campos on a free because he had good potential - but his current ratings aren't great for a 20 year old so he'll probably be a bust.... he's more of a CAM anyway, but he can play CM naturally as well.


For the Ball Winning Midfielder role here's a comparison of Niang and Lemaire, with the youngster Donovan Alexandre in there for comparison. This is one of the positions where we aren't quite as good/deep on paper as last year because we had Beyrac and Keita looked like studs - but they were both on the decline and neither of them really played as well as Niang anyway.


Here is the more offensive CM role. Courtois was really nice in this role last year but N'Diaye looks amazing. Vigneau isn't too far off being a senior team player.


Here is DONOVAN's Year-to-year growth, he could easily be a senior team player in the next couple of seasons. Not too worried about letting Lemaire's contract expire.


Vigneu's year-to-year growth is also awesome and I think he's only a year or two away from being a senior team player as well!

 

[Travis7401]

CENTER ATTACKING MID

We have a lot of attacking midfielders in the squad and there is some overlap with other positions as well. For the 2-Deep I'm planning to play Robin Oberle and Enzo Ricard in this role, with Courtois also playing on occasion when he isn't starting in the box-to-box CM spot. Oberle will also be getting some time on the right wing on occasion and it wouldn't be too surprising to see all 3 players start a match. There's also lots of youth depth at this position, but Hacene Dubois is the one I'm training to play in this spot. Him, Denis, and Luka will likely go out on loan if we can find good arrangements for them, but each of them looks on the verge of being ready to contribute as well. We also have a decnt group of younger prospects, and surely one of them will develop.

View attachment 29020


Oberle and Ricard are very similar types of players, with Oberle just being a bit better overall. That being said, Ricard has been a goal scoring machine in pre-season! Hacene Dubois is from the same mold, just needs more development. This is a good looking RADAR for an advanced playmaker.
View attachment 29022

Thierry Jimenez and Robin Oberle aren't likely to play CAM because I'm planning to start them at LF and RW, respectively. Enzo Ricard was probably the player of the season for me last year - so I'm planning to start him in this role again this year. Courtois also started here a fair bit last year and he'll get some playing time in this role this season as well. Hacene Dubois and Alexis Denis both improved well out on loan last year, Alexis Denis even played wellin the FRENCH YOUTH INVITATIONAL this offseason and I'm going to give him a shot in the SENIOR TEAM this season! The team Hacene playd for last year wanted him back and he made enough progress that I felt comfortable sending him back out again. YOUSEF BEN BELGACEM was one of the best players from last year's youth intake, already a decent player at 16 and is a true two footed player! He's already made good progress with development since the youth intake, so I'm excited to see where he goes!




Here are the 3 players most likely to get significant playing time in this role and you can probably see why I'm adding DENIS to the senior squad. His position specific rating is already as good as Ricard/Courtois and he has the highest speed, mental, and HARD WORK WORK stats of the bunch. His technical, vision, and attacking stats are all close to the others as well.



He was already a solid player last year and I almost kept him in THE SQUAD, but he increased just enough this year that he's now HIGH GREENS in all the important areas for a CAM. TIME TO JOIN THE TEAM!

 

[Travis7401]

LEFT INSIDE FORWARD

This is an interesting spot, because I sold Thierry Chauvel when we got an offer for him and he was being all pissy. He probably would have been the starter at this position because I've mostly been playing Madar on the right wing and Boubacar Traore just doesn't fit the archetype very well with poor finishing and first touch. Sylla is a U21 who is just on the edge of being good enough to play with the senior team, so I'm going to keep him on THE SQUAD and get him some good experience this year. He may underperform a bit but he's actually better suited for this role than Traore. If Traore and Sylla aren't getting it done I'll move Madar over and replace him on RW instead. I also signed Cedric Silue as a squad depth player because he trialed with the team and played well enough. He can play both LF and RW and has a tone of speed

View attachment 29023

I left Chauvel in the comparison to show that he's a very similar player to Traore and I didn't feel the need to keep both. Chavuel was better than Traore overall, but they offer very similar skills. Sylla isn't as fast, but he is a much more well rounded attacking player already and has room to grow. One thing I like from the LF position is the ability to provide an aerial threat because I typically set my team up so that most of the crosses are coming in from the right wing. You can see that Sylla is more of a forward than a winger.
View attachment 29024

Left inside forward ended up being the weak point in the squad last season because we sold Chauvel, Traore never played all that well, and Sylla broke his leg after a good start the the season. I ended up having to move Madar over and start him and he played decently well, but it took him a while to learn the tactic after I started him on the RW for the first part of the season. This was a big priority for me this season, so I brought in a starter in Thierry Jemenez in the transfer market for $700k this season and another $500k next year - for $1.2M total and my most expensive transfer and I also added a new depth player to replace Silue. Silue just wasn't good enough to get the job done, so Luiz Filipe is going to play that role this season, he joined on a free transfer. He can naturally play LF, RW, and ST so he'll always be on the bench and will get rotational starter time as well. Sending Sylla out on loan since he's just recovering from his leg injury. Also sent Hassen Dubois on lone as well. The best prospect is a guy the previoulsy mentioned YOUSSEF BEN BELGACEM.




The only bummer about these three is they're all terrible in the air and it's nice to have a LF who can get on the end of a cross and head the ball in for a goal. Hopefully Sylla has a good year on loan, recovers from his injury and can join the squad next year. I feel like we REALLY upgraded at this position.

 

[Travis7401]

RIGHT WING

If/when Robin Oberly isn't playing at the CAM spot, he will also be playing in the RW role - as an inverted wing - but I still have a solid two deep behind that. Matheo Madar might end up playing some LF but is the starter at RW for now. Donald Padonouu is a capable squad level player, but he has a crossing attribute of 6, which is not what I'm looking for in a winger. I'm not sure about the future of this role - Alexis Denis has good skills but lacks the speed I like in a RW so I may train him as a CAM instead. Either way he's going out on loan this season. When I added Cedric Silue to the squad it was to be a 60th minute super sub - likely in the RW role. He's not a great player overall, but he's got good speed and crossing. His work rate and stamina are too low to ever be a staring RW for me, but he's a perfect sub. I also like the fact that he can play 3 positions naturally so even though he isn't a great player he's a versatile bench player who will see a lot of sub action when I need that burst of speed. I really want to find some similar bum player that can cover both the LB and RB positions as a bench player in case of injury.

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For wingers I'm looking for speed and the ability to dribble/cross, so Speed and Technical skills need to be high. HARD WORK WORK stat is a bonus - but not necessarily required because I regularly sub this position in about the 60th minute to get them a breather. Madar has a great combo of speed/technical and his HARD WORK WORK rating isn't terrible.

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Oberle ended up playing really well as an inverted winger in this role last year, so I'm planning to start him again! Madar is going to be the backup and SEC SPEED player, so my 2-deep is the same as last year. The good news is we've just added quality depth! In addition to being able to play RB, Nelson Sousa can also play RW and could end up there if I have injuries. Luiz Filipe is a good looking backup for this position as well. Finally, Alex Denis also looks good here and might gets some looks when he's not playing CAM.




Oberle is a great all around player, but I also like the SPEED Madar brings to the table. Luiz Filipe is a better bench player than Silue, even if Silue is faster.

 

[Travis7401]

STRIKER

In the preseason I had one good striker and a great prospect but no depth - so I brought in another starting quality player on loan with an option to buy at the end of his contract. Oumar Richard and Burak Lalardy are both excellent strikers for Ligue 2, so I'll probably play whoever has the hottest hand. Cedric Silue can come off the bench thanks to his versatility to play 3 positions but I'll never start him here. My third place starter or in case of injury player is going to be Max Pinson, but might loan him out. HUGO is definitely my best overall prospect - amazing ratings for a 16 year old, but I've got some other good looking prospects as well. Might be able to sell a couple of them at some point if I stay with a 1-striker system. Lalardy's optional future fee is $7M so it's unlikely that I'll be able to keep him, but he's an amazing value for this season since his club is paying a large part of his salary.

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Richard and Pinson are both well rounded strikers who can get things done in the air as well! Lalardy is more of the ADVANCED FORWARD that I like to play. He has the SEC SPEED to beat the offside trap and take advantage of slow Ligue 2 CBs . He's got great physical and attacking ratings, but his Aerial ability is a bit of a let down. I am still betting that he'll be the leadings scorer because Speed kills at this level.

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BURAK LALARDY was a stud last year, but I couldn't afford his $7M transfer fee and they didn't want to loan him to me again. I couldn't find a similar BTT ST, but I did grab a dude named MITAYN on a free transfer and good wage who looks like he can be a starter. Luiz Filipe can also cover this position as a sub but doesn't look like starter material. I found a few YOUTHS in Africa in Sidy Ba and Eric Conana who are both 17 but with higher current abilities than my gu HUG who didn't develop very well last year due to injuries. Good news for HUGO was he played like a STUD at least in U19s as a 16 year old, scoring 42 goals in 26 starts and earning an 8.10 rating. I am going to try to find loans for him and SIdy Ba. Eric Konan doesn't actually join the team until August for some weird reason, but I might actually keep him in the squad because his STRIKER TRIUMVERATE attributes are some of the best I've ever seen for a 17 year old. His mentals really let him down though, lol. I picked up another SUPER YOUTH guy in the youth intake, so I'm pretty staked with potential talent at this position. I'll probably let OUMAR's contract expire so I'm looking for one of the YOUNG GUNS to really develop well this year and become an 18 year old starter next season.



HUGO STATS


This dude is gonna make some truly BONEHEAD decisions, but If he does at least bumble into the ball in a good position he's very likely to score.

 

[Travis7401]

THE SQUAD is clearly upset about missing out on promotion and looking to prove a point, lol.

Played well in the preseason, earned a draw against Ligue 1 Rennes and beat everyone else easily. Then we kicked things into high gear once the league play started. 4 straight shutouts and averaging more than 3 goals per game.

 

[Travis7401]

Things still going pretty pretty good... 13 wins, 2 draws, 0 losses. FC Metz actually jumped us in the table for a bit because they were also undefeated with only 1 draw - then we beat them head to head and then they started slippin. Loving that GD too - especially since my starting striker only has 2 goals.

 

[Travis7401]

Last game of the season! A draw wins the league!

 

[Travis7401]

We coasted to the Ligue2 title with draws in our final 4 games, but I feel like we're well setup for promotion! We will likely have the lowest payroll in Ligue 1 next season, but we have enough YOUTH and some financial flexibility to loan in some higher class players to help us stabilize!




Mr. Manager won MANAGER of the YEAR, Diego Ensault was GK of the year, and Oberle lead the competition in assists. WE also had several STARS of the competition!




Our key signings from last season really couldn't have worked out better! Diego Ensault, Idrissa N'Diaye, Roberto Nasciemento, Thierry Jimenez, Timothy Agyei, Mitayn, Luiz Filipe, Tomas Perez, and Eric Konan. Four of those players were STARS OF THE COMPETITION and generally all of them really contributed well to the SQUAD. Jimenez was relatively disappointing compared to the others because I was hoping he could be a high class starter for us, but he just never really showed up as ELITE at the Ligue 2 level and was injured off and on. N'diaye and Niang developed into an awesome CM pair and both are continuing to grow into their 5 star potential. Mitayn and KONAN THE BARBARIAN both BALLED and took over the starting striker rotation from Richard, who just never showed up. I stopped playing him after 9 starts when he only had 2 goals. KONAN THE BARBARIAN was the leading scorer for the year, but a lot of those goals came in garbage time because he's such a good dribbler/finisher in counter attack situations. Mitayn was the best all around offensive player for the team, racking up 16 goals and 5 assists in only 19 starts and 9 sub appearances.


Here's the SQUAD PLANNER for next season, considering all expiring contracts GONE and no new transfers accounted for. We let all of our OLD guys walk for the most part, but we did extend Oberle for one extra season because he's been really good for us, is a team leader, and I'm hoping he'll keep us stabilize in Ligue 1. The biggest area of need is going to be Fullback, since we let 3 olds walk and have 1 loan expiring. Losing Toure might be the toughest, because he played really well last year. I just wanted too much money for a new contract for a player that would likely only be squad depth quality at the Ligue 1 level. The only player we are keeping at FB is Timothy Agyei - and I'd prefer him to be the first backup/sub because of his flexibility. So at FB we need both Ligue 1 starter quality and depth. Our starters are set at GK, CB, and CM where we have young-ish players who have enough quality to be Ligue 1 players now or in the future. We do need some depth at both CB and CM because we're losing some squad players to end of contract/end of loan. We have plenty of squad level players for all of the attacking midfielder and striker positions, but we probably need to add some loan players in this front 4 that can help us stabilize in Ligue1 while our younger players develop. Jimenez, Ricard, Mitayn, and Oberle are all good enough to be rotational players in Ligue 1 - but I'd prefer better starters. Alexis Denis, Eric Konan, Luis Filipe, and Bakary N'Doy might struggle a bit at first in Ligue 1, but all have high enough potential to be good future players at that level.

 

[Brick]

i am in 27-28 with dunfermiline got promoted finally to cinch SHAMPSHIP from cinch 1. had a 19 game RESULT streak. won some random cup. signed some 6'7" big ogre mong defensive trog from ireland.

 

[Travis7401]

What the fuck is a dunfermiline?