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FM14 Mr. Manager Dynasty (Ivory Coast/Stade Rennais)
- Thread starter Travis7401
- Start date
Game 49 - PSG(A) - Live Blog First Half!
Pep Talk - Mr. Manager assertively told the team to go out there and get revenge on PSG for how they treated us last game, the team responded very well and they look ready 2 roll.
0:00 - Kickoff
7:34 - Both teams attempt some long balls pooping back and forth until PSG make a solid movement down the right flank with Van der Wiel overlapping Tello before slipping the ball back inside to Tello, who took a terrible shot from a poor angle. Mr. Manager will give them that all game.
20:15 - Big skip in action between highlights so I'll switch to comprehensive from here on out for live blog purposes, must mean both teams are playing nervous if there have only been 2 highlights in 20 minutes. Khedira took a 35 yard trog shot and missed by a mile, again Mr. Manager will take that. PSG has 2 shots off target and SR have 0 shots.
27:00 - Tony Danze injures Tello with a tough tackle. No card.\
28:00 - Off the ensuing free kick, PSG attack down the right and van der wiel puts in a contested cross and it gets headed out for a goal kick. Nothing to worry the keeper.
33:00 - Pastore makes a run down the left flank with Soares all over him, and he puts in a weak cross. Cavani gets to it, but he's about 5 yards outside the near post so it is a harmless header, out for goal kick. PSG seem content to cross the ball, which makes me feel confident about my "closing down" instruction on the wingers.
40:50 - GOAL STADE RENNAIS - Fortunis stole the ball from the injured, but still in the game Tello, and switched the ball over to Ntep. Ntep ran at his defender and got him all crossed up. It looked like Ntep would cross the ball in to kleber, but instead he spotted the trailing player at the corner of the box, Pajot, who was wide open. Ntep tapped it over to Pajot who hammered it home. @Kella would have been proud of this movement. Watching the replay, their goalie should have saved that, but he dove the wrong way, lol.
43:00 - Stade Rennais win a free kick just past midfield. Fortunis sends the ball into the box very well and PSG are forced to make a panic clearance, out for a corner.
43:30 - The ensuing corner is well placed, but PSG win the header and clear it for another corner
44:00 - The next corner is cleared deep and Stade Rennai pick it up and pass the ball around looking for an opening, but can't find it.
HALFTIME - Stade Rennais 1-0 Winning Over PSG.
Stade Rennais have only the 1 shot that ended in a goal. PSG only had 3 total shots, all off target. PSG is winning the possession battle 57%-43%, as should be expected with SR playing a counter attacking style.
Pep Talk - Mr. Manager assertively told the team to go out there and get revenge on PSG for how they treated us last game, the team responded very well and they look ready 2 roll.
0:00 - Kickoff
7:34 - Both teams attempt some long balls pooping back and forth until PSG make a solid movement down the right flank with Van der Wiel overlapping Tello before slipping the ball back inside to Tello, who took a terrible shot from a poor angle. Mr. Manager will give them that all game.
20:15 - Big skip in action between highlights so I'll switch to comprehensive from here on out for live blog purposes, must mean both teams are playing nervous if there have only been 2 highlights in 20 minutes. Khedira took a 35 yard trog shot and missed by a mile, again Mr. Manager will take that. PSG has 2 shots off target and SR have 0 shots.
27:00 - Tony Danze injures Tello with a tough tackle. No card.\
28:00 - Off the ensuing free kick, PSG attack down the right and van der wiel puts in a contested cross and it gets headed out for a goal kick. Nothing to worry the keeper.
33:00 - Pastore makes a run down the left flank with Soares all over him, and he puts in a weak cross. Cavani gets to it, but he's about 5 yards outside the near post so it is a harmless header, out for goal kick. PSG seem content to cross the ball, which makes me feel confident about my "closing down" instruction on the wingers.
40:50 - GOAL STADE RENNAIS - Fortunis stole the ball from the injured, but still in the game Tello, and switched the ball over to Ntep. Ntep ran at his defender and got him all crossed up. It looked like Ntep would cross the ball in to kleber, but instead he spotted the trailing player at the corner of the box, Pajot, who was wide open. Ntep tapped it over to Pajot who hammered it home. @Kella would have been proud of this movement. Watching the replay, their goalie should have saved that, but he dove the wrong way, lol.
43:00 - Stade Rennais win a free kick just past midfield. Fortunis sends the ball into the box very well and PSG are forced to make a panic clearance, out for a corner.
43:30 - The ensuing corner is well placed, but PSG win the header and clear it for another corner
44:00 - The next corner is cleared deep and Stade Rennai pick it up and pass the ball around looking for an opening, but can't find it.
HALFTIME - Stade Rennais 1-0 Winning Over PSG.
Stade Rennais have only the 1 shot that ended in a goal. PSG only had 3 total shots, all off target. PSG is winning the possession battle 57%-43%, as should be expected with SR playing a counter attacking style.
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This injustice will never be forgotten.
Game 49 - PSG(A) - Live Blog Second Half!
Pep Talk - Mr. Manager calmly tells them that things are going well, but don't get complacent out there. Looking at the team, there isn't really anyone who needs to come off at half. The lowest rated player is Fortunis at 6.3, but he's still putting in good work and is a valuable asset on set pieces. Wague looks nervous, so Mr. Manager will keep an eye on him for a possible substitution as well. With everything going relatively according to plan, Mr. Manager decides not to make an tactical adjustments at half. If it ain't broke...
45:00 - Kickoff
51:00 - GOAL PSG
- The still injured Tello started this move down the left flank (PSG switched Tello/Pastore it seems). He got closed down quickly, as is the plan, so he centered the ball to Taider about 30 yards out. Taider chipped the ball into the box for Cavani, who beat Armand in the air and scored with a header. Cavani was ever so close to being offside and Armand lost positioning when he moved up to offside trap him?
54:00 - SR win a free kick on the edge of the area on the right flank. Fortunis puts in a nice ball and PSG have to clear it for a corner.
54:30 - The ensuing corner is cleared deep and the ball gets played around for a little bit before Fortunis takes a wild shot form 30 yards.
57:00 - GOAL PSG - Pastore, who has switched back to the left flank, beats Soares to the endline and makes a grounded cross to Cavani, who finishes near post.
62:00 - Stade Rennai make a nice move forward and the ball is centered back to Pajot who misses high from just outside the box.
66:00 - Mr. Manager makes his first sub. Allesiandrini on for Fortunis who just hasn't been playing all that well and is now tired. Hopefully taking the greek off will win us some points with Team Yankee.
67:00 - Makoun takes a free kick from just outside the box and misses high/wide. Kinda wish I had Fortunis on for that one, lol.
71:00 - Soares plays in Ntep who takes a shot from about 10 yards out but at kind of a tight angle. The shot is saved by PSG's keeper. Mr. Manager will be making a few tactical changes at the 75th minute.
75:00 - Mr. Manager switches to the 4-2-3-1 attacking formation and urges the team to be more aggressive going forward looking for they tying goal. Zaza will come on for Makoun and fit in as the CAM and Cheick Diarra will come on for Kleber. Both Makoun and Kleber were already tired.
80:00 - PSG succesfully wasted about 5 minutes dicking the dog, so Zaza and Diarra just came on. Mr. Manager cranks it up to "overload," No reason to hold back now.
82:00 GOAL STADE RENNAIS - The move started on the left flank as Tiny Danze overlapped Alessiandrini and then pulled some defenders out before passing it back in to alessiandrini, who crossed the ball into the box. Soares flicked the ball on to Ntep who was waiting at the far post and finished. Everyone held their breath for a second to see if Ntep was onside, and he was!
82:15 - Mr. Manager stays relatively attacking at this point, but dials it back a few notches from "overload" to "Contain." This was the pre game plan for tied game late on... SR would play more aggressively than they started looking for a late winner, but not quite as aggressive as the "overload" approach that was adopted when they were down.
84:00 - Ntep and Pajot nearly repeated the first goal, but Pajot recieved the ball a little further out this time and was more closely marked, so he passed across to Perriera who was then fouled by Varane. The ref gives Varane a yellow card and a free kick is awarded in a dangerous spot.
84:15 - Disallowed goal Stade Rennais. SR played in Cheick Diarra and he slotted it home, but he was just offside, Mr. Manager trying to pull hisself together and get his pants back on.
85:00 - Tiny Danze makes a strong tackle/professional foul to stop a counter attack and receives a yellow card.
87:00 - PSG very nearly scored the game winner there. Taider broke free down the right flank and sent a cross in for Ibra (subbed on a few minutes ago) and he hit a point blank header right to Costil. LAWD.
There will be 2 minutes added time.
92:00 - GAME SR 2 - PSG 2
Pep Talk - Mr. Manager calmly tells them that things are going well, but don't get complacent out there. Looking at the team, there isn't really anyone who needs to come off at half. The lowest rated player is Fortunis at 6.3, but he's still putting in good work and is a valuable asset on set pieces. Wague looks nervous, so Mr. Manager will keep an eye on him for a possible substitution as well. With everything going relatively according to plan, Mr. Manager decides not to make an tactical adjustments at half. If it ain't broke...
45:00 - Kickoff
51:00 - GOAL PSG
- The still injured Tello started this move down the left flank (PSG switched Tello/Pastore it seems). He got closed down quickly, as is the plan, so he centered the ball to Taider about 30 yards out. Taider chipped the ball into the box for Cavani, who beat Armand in the air and scored with a header. Cavani was ever so close to being offside and Armand lost positioning when he moved up to offside trap him? 54:00 - SR win a free kick on the edge of the area on the right flank. Fortunis puts in a nice ball and PSG have to clear it for a corner.
54:30 - The ensuing corner is cleared deep and the ball gets played around for a little bit before Fortunis takes a wild shot form 30 yards.
57:00 - GOAL PSG
- Pastore, who has switched back to the left flank, beats Soares to the endline and makes a grounded cross to Cavani, who finishes near post. 62:00 - Stade Rennai make a nice move forward and the ball is centered back to Pajot who misses high from just outside the box.
66:00 - Mr. Manager makes his first sub. Allesiandrini on for Fortunis who just hasn't been playing all that well and is now tired. Hopefully taking the greek off will win us some points with Team Yankee.
67:00 - Makoun takes a free kick from just outside the box and misses high/wide. Kinda wish I had Fortunis on for that one, lol.
71:00 - Soares plays in Ntep who takes a shot from about 10 yards out but at kind of a tight angle. The shot is saved by PSG's keeper. Mr. Manager will be making a few tactical changes at the 75th minute.
75:00 - Mr. Manager switches to the 4-2-3-1 attacking formation and urges the team to be more aggressive going forward looking for they tying goal. Zaza will come on for Makoun and fit in as the CAM and Cheick Diarra will come on for Kleber. Both Makoun and Kleber were already tired.
80:00 - PSG succesfully wasted about 5 minutes dicking the dog, so Zaza and Diarra just came on. Mr. Manager cranks it up to "overload," No reason to hold back now.
82:00 GOAL STADE RENNAIS - The move started on the left flank as Tiny Danze overlapped Alessiandrini and then pulled some defenders out before passing it back in to alessiandrini, who crossed the ball into the box. Soares flicked the ball on to Ntep who was waiting at the far post and finished. Everyone held their breath for a second to see if Ntep was onside, and he was!
82:15 - Mr. Manager stays relatively attacking at this point, but dials it back a few notches from "overload" to "Contain." This was the pre game plan for tied game late on... SR would play more aggressively than they started looking for a late winner, but not quite as aggressive as the "overload" approach that was adopted when they were down.
84:00 - Ntep and Pajot nearly repeated the first goal, but Pajot recieved the ball a little further out this time and was more closely marked, so he passed across to Perriera who was then fouled by Varane. The ref gives Varane a yellow card and a free kick is awarded in a dangerous spot.
84:15 - Disallowed goal Stade Rennais. SR played in Cheick Diarra and he slotted it home, but he was just offside, Mr. Manager trying to pull hisself together and get his pants back on.
85:00 - Tiny Danze makes a strong tackle/professional foul to stop a counter attack and receives a yellow card.
87:00 - PSG very nearly scored the game winner there. Taider broke free down the right flank and sent a cross in for Ibra (subbed on a few minutes ago) and he hit a point blank header right to Costil. LAWD.
There will be 2 minutes added time.
92:00 - GAME SR 2 - PSG 2
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Game 49 - PSG(A) - Draw 2-2 - Post Match Analysis
In the end, it was a very even game. Both teams managed 2 goals from 3 shots on target and both very narrowly missed getting the winning goal. PSG had 7 total shots to SR's 6 total shots, both teams had 1 "clear cut chance," while PSG had 2 half chances to SR's 1 half chance. PSG won the possession battle 59% to 41%. It would have been awesome to steal a win, but you can't be upset at a draw against the league leaders on the road. Only 1 point behind with 4 games left, anything can still happen. Cavani was given the MOTM award for his 2 goals. Ntep was the best player for SR with 1 goal and an assist.
In important news from around the league, 3rd place Lyon lost their match today, so SR stay in second place only 1 point behind the league leaders and 3 points ahead of Lyon.
Thanks to everyone who took part in the live blog, it was definitely a very enjoyable game. I thought I had it when Diarra scored off that set piece, and I was so bummed to see the "Disallowed Goal" banner come up. Football Manager is such a cruel mistress.
In the end, it was a very even game. Both teams managed 2 goals from 3 shots on target and both very narrowly missed getting the winning goal. PSG had 7 total shots to SR's 6 total shots, both teams had 1 "clear cut chance," while PSG had 2 half chances to SR's 1 half chance. PSG won the possession battle 59% to 41%. It would have been awesome to steal a win, but you can't be upset at a draw against the league leaders on the road. Only 1 point behind with 4 games left, anything can still happen. Cavani was given the MOTM award for his 2 goals. Ntep was the best player for SR with 1 goal and an assist.
In important news from around the league, 3rd place Lyon lost their match today, so SR stay in second place only 1 point behind the league leaders and 3 points ahead of Lyon.
Thanks to everyone who took part in the live blog, it was definitely a very enjoyable game. I thought I had it when Diarra scored off that set piece, and I was so bummed to see the "Disallowed Goal" banner come up. Football Manager is such a cruel mistress.
Milo
Well-Known Member
Took me a little bit to catch up, but that's a nice little run you've put together. Did you make any big adjustments after your quarterly report? While it would be almost impossible to replicate your last season in terms of overachieving, it's pretty difficult, considering how you managed your spending, to maintain your status near the top of the table. Especially so because you are now dealing with reputation boosts(which cause teams to play more conservatively against you.)
The PSG game may feel disappointing after being 1-0 up at the half, but not the worst outcome, especially away. Loss would have probably ended any chance to overtake them.
The PSG game may feel disappointing after being 1-0 up at the half, but not the worst outcome, especially away. Loss would have probably ended any chance to overtake them.
I think in game 40 I addressed the tactical changes I was making. That would have been a few games before the third quarter review. Basically, I decided that I was over coaching and reactionary when things weren't going well.
I dialed back on the number of instructions, and that seemed to make a difference. I also started using players who were hot (diarra) over players who were cold(zaza).
Another big part of the slump was having key players out on international duty or injury. Once those guys were all back, things picked up.
I dialed back on the number of instructions, and that seemed to make a difference. I also started using players who were hot (diarra) over players who were cold(zaza).
Another big part of the slump was having key players out on international duty or injury. Once those guys were all back, things picked up.
Race For The Champions League Spots!
With 4 games remaining for all teams, the race for the title and the 2 guaranteed Champions League Spots (3rd place gets a play in spot) has really heated up. In addition, there are several big teams featured in the upcoming French Cup Semifinals! I'll give a brief description of each of the top 4 team's remaining schedules/outlook and provide some insight into how I think has the easiest road and who has the hardest, as well as mentioning a couple of dark horse candidates who could surge forward if one of the top 4 teams falters drastically. The most intriguing part of the remaining 4 games is that Teams #2-#4 play all must still play each other!
PSG - Currently #1 - 69 Points +38 GD
Avignon(19th) H
Bordeaux (4th) H - French Cup Game
Saint Etienne (12th) A
Montpellier (5th) H
Toulouse (16th) A
Stade Rennais - Currently #2 - 68 Points + 30 GD
Evian (20th) A
Toulouse (16th) A - French Cup Game
Lyon (3rd) H
Bordeaux (4th) A
Nice (15th) A
Lyon - Currently #3 - 65 Points + 33 GD
Bordeaux (4th) H
Stade Rennais (2nd) A
Monaco (8th) H
Avignon (19th) A
Bordeaux - Currently #4 - 62 Points +29 GD
Lyon (3rd) A
PSG (1st) A - French Cup Game
Nice (15th) H
Stade Rennais (2nd) H
Monaco (8th) A
Looking at the remaining schedules, PSG definitely has the easiest route to victory, with their only real threat in the league being against Montpelier, and they know that Stade Rennais, Lyon, and Bordeaux are likely to beat each other up. They also have a favorable home game in the French Cup Semi-Final, which gives them a real chance at winning the double this season. Stade Rennais have a tough remaining schedule, but they have the advantage of watching the Lyon-Bordeaux game, which could really change the tactical outlook going forward. SR also received the most favorable semi-final matchup against Toulouse. Still, they'll really have to watch out for Lyon who could easily overtake them since they must play each other and Lyon has the GD advantage. Lyon have a very tough remaining schedule, but they do get Bordeaux at home and Monaco at home and won't be distracted by the French Cup. Bordeaux definitely have the toughest remaining schedule, and if they lose against Lyon they will be on the outside looking in and might even need to worry about holding off #5 and #6 in addition to having to go on the road to PSG in the French Cup Semi-Final. Montpellier and Valenciennes both have 57 points, so it is unlikely they'll be able to make up enough ground to finish top 3 unless a couple of the above teams fall completely apart. Montpellier has the best of the outside shots, if they manage to knock off PSG and ride that momentum to finish undefeated while #2-#4 beat each other up, but it is still a very outside shot.
With 4 games remaining for all teams, the race for the title and the 2 guaranteed Champions League Spots (3rd place gets a play in spot) has really heated up. In addition, there are several big teams featured in the upcoming French Cup Semifinals! I'll give a brief description of each of the top 4 team's remaining schedules/outlook and provide some insight into how I think has the easiest road and who has the hardest, as well as mentioning a couple of dark horse candidates who could surge forward if one of the top 4 teams falters drastically. The most intriguing part of the remaining 4 games is that Teams #2-#4 play all must still play each other!
PSG - Currently #1 - 69 Points +38 GD
Avignon(19th) H
Bordeaux (4th) H - French Cup Game
Saint Etienne (12th) A
Montpellier (5th) H
Toulouse (16th) A
Stade Rennais - Currently #2 - 68 Points + 30 GD
Evian (20th) A
Toulouse (16th) A - French Cup Game
Lyon (3rd) H
Bordeaux (4th) A
Nice (15th) A
Lyon - Currently #3 - 65 Points + 33 GD
Bordeaux (4th) H
Stade Rennais (2nd) A
Monaco (8th) H
Avignon (19th) A
Bordeaux - Currently #4 - 62 Points +29 GD
Lyon (3rd) A
PSG (1st) A - French Cup Game
Nice (15th) H
Stade Rennais (2nd) H
Monaco (8th) A
Looking at the remaining schedules, PSG definitely has the easiest route to victory, with their only real threat in the league being against Montpelier, and they know that Stade Rennais, Lyon, and Bordeaux are likely to beat each other up. They also have a favorable home game in the French Cup Semi-Final, which gives them a real chance at winning the double this season. Stade Rennais have a tough remaining schedule, but they have the advantage of watching the Lyon-Bordeaux game, which could really change the tactical outlook going forward. SR also received the most favorable semi-final matchup against Toulouse. Still, they'll really have to watch out for Lyon who could easily overtake them since they must play each other and Lyon has the GD advantage. Lyon have a very tough remaining schedule, but they do get Bordeaux at home and Monaco at home and won't be distracted by the French Cup. Bordeaux definitely have the toughest remaining schedule, and if they lose against Lyon they will be on the outside looking in and might even need to worry about holding off #5 and #6 in addition to having to go on the road to PSG in the French Cup Semi-Final. Montpellier and Valenciennes both have 57 points, so it is unlikely they'll be able to make up enough ground to finish top 3 unless a couple of the above teams fall completely apart. Montpellier has the best of the outside shots, if they manage to knock off PSG and ride that momentum to finish undefeated while #2-#4 beat each other up, but it is still a very outside shot.
Game 50 - Evian(A) -Win 2-0 - HUGE SHAKE UP IN LIGUE 1 DOWN GO PSG, DOWN GO PSG!
Stade Rennais were forced to field a rotated lineup to face Evian due to the short turnaround between games, but were able to win 2-0 in a workmanlike performance. Lowly Evian showed up to play and came close to drawing even with SR on several occasions, but a very soft penalty was awarded to SR and Zaza was able to finish. The real story on the day, though, was PSG falling 2-1 to relegation zone #19 Avignon. Was the fatigue after the disheartening mid-week draw against Stade Rennais a factor? One would have to think so, as Avignon scored BOTH of their goals in injury time at 90+3 and 90+5. LAWWWWD.
With PSG losing and SR winning, SR vaults forward into the #1 position with a 2 point lead over PSG with 3 league games remaining and both teams preparing for French Cup Semi-Finals! Elsewhere in the league, the very important game between Lyon and Bordeaux ended in a draw. This was a good result for SR, as it gave them an additional 2 points comfort over each of those teams. It looks like the race for the Ligue 1 championship will be filled with drama!
Stade Rennais were forced to field a rotated lineup to face Evian due to the short turnaround between games, but were able to win 2-0 in a workmanlike performance. Lowly Evian showed up to play and came close to drawing even with SR on several occasions, but a very soft penalty was awarded to SR and Zaza was able to finish. The real story on the day, though, was PSG falling 2-1 to relegation zone #19 Avignon. Was the fatigue after the disheartening mid-week draw against Stade Rennais a factor? One would have to think so, as Avignon scored BOTH of their goals in injury time at 90+3 and 90+5. LAWWWWD.
With PSG losing and SR winning, SR vaults forward into the #1 position with a 2 point lead over PSG with 3 league games remaining and both teams preparing for French Cup Semi-Finals! Elsewhere in the league, the very important game between Lyon and Bordeaux ended in a draw. This was a good result for SR, as it gave them an additional 2 points comfort over each of those teams. It looks like the race for the Ligue 1 championship will be filled with drama!
gator gon be mad.
Game 51 - Toulouse(A) -Win 1-1 (Penalties 5-4) - Stade Rennais Move on To French Cup Finals
Once again starting with a slightly rotated lineup, Stade Rennais showed their depth to be a great strength, as they managed to beat Toulouse in a bar brawl of a game that went to penalties. Toulouse gave it their all, and were arguably the more threatening side, forcing Stade Rennais to fight for the draw and eventual penalties. Stade Rennais have 5 days before their all important Ligue 1 match against Lyon, and hope that everyone will be fit for that match and encouraged by this win and their shot at some more silverware! PSG beat Bordeaux 3-2 in extra time, which means that PSG and Stade Rennais will be slugging it out for the title AND the French cup!
Once again starting with a slightly rotated lineup, Stade Rennais showed their depth to be a great strength, as they managed to beat Toulouse in a bar brawl of a game that went to penalties. Toulouse gave it their all, and were arguably the more threatening side, forcing Stade Rennais to fight for the draw and eventual penalties. Stade Rennais have 5 days before their all important Ligue 1 match against Lyon, and hope that everyone will be fit for that match and encouraged by this win and their shot at some more silverware! PSG beat Bordeaux 3-2 in extra time, which means that PSG and Stade Rennais will be slugging it out for the title AND the French cup!
Saturday Ligue 1 Review:
While Stade Rennais don't play their huge game against Lyon until Sunday, they were gifted some amazing results on Saturday. PSG continued their troubles, only managing a draw against St Ettiene, while Bordeaux was inexplicably demoloshed by 3 goals in a home game against then 15th place Nice. LAWD. With those results, Mr. Manager and Stade Rennais had wrapped up a top 3 finish and a Champions League spot before they even stepped on the field against Lyon. Not wanting to let the results go to their heads, team captain Armand, who is about to retire, urged the team to keep on keepin on and help him go out on top!
If Stade Rennais can manage a victory, or even a draw, against Lyon Tomorrow they'll still be in the driver's seat! VROOM VROOOM.
While Stade Rennais don't play their huge game against Lyon until Sunday, they were gifted some amazing results on Saturday. PSG continued their troubles, only managing a draw against St Ettiene, while Bordeaux was inexplicably demoloshed by 3 goals in a home game against then 15th place Nice. LAWD. With those results, Mr. Manager and Stade Rennais had wrapped up a top 3 finish and a Champions League spot before they even stepped on the field against Lyon. Not wanting to let the results go to their heads, team captain Armand, who is about to retire, urged the team to keep on keepin on and help him go out on top!
If Stade Rennais can manage a victory, or even a draw, against Lyon Tomorrow they'll still be in the driver's seat! VROOM VROOOM.
Game 52 - Lyon (H) -Win 1-0 - Pants Off!
Facing the always dangerous Gomis and Lacazzete, Mr. Manager opted to use his defensive/counter attacking formation and a nice deep line to prevent Lyon from scoring any fast break goals. He also made an adjustment to a "narrow" defensive formation based on the narrow 4-1-2-1-2 formation employed by Lyon. Mr. Manager was less worried about crosses than the 1-2 type passes that could destroy a stretched defense. The counter attacking strategy paid off when Ngando hit Ntep with a long through ball on a break away and Ntep outran the defense before finishing in clinical fashion. After that, Mr. Manager noted that Lyon became more and more frantic, trying to play passes before they'd barely received them. Based on this, Mr. Manager lowered the tempo of his side and had them focus on retaining possession, while using an even more defensive strategy in the second half. A possession based defensive strategy is unusual for Mr. Manager and Stade Rennais, but that's just how the flow of this game ended up.
With this win, Stade Rennais are 4 points clear of PSG and 8 points clear of Lyon with only 2 games remaining, meaning they've ensured at least a top-2 finish and they can also wrap up the league title as early as next week with a win against Bordeaux or a loss by PSG.
Facing the always dangerous Gomis and Lacazzete, Mr. Manager opted to use his defensive/counter attacking formation and a nice deep line to prevent Lyon from scoring any fast break goals. He also made an adjustment to a "narrow" defensive formation based on the narrow 4-1-2-1-2 formation employed by Lyon. Mr. Manager was less worried about crosses than the 1-2 type passes that could destroy a stretched defense. The counter attacking strategy paid off when Ngando hit Ntep with a long through ball on a break away and Ntep outran the defense before finishing in clinical fashion. After that, Mr. Manager noted that Lyon became more and more frantic, trying to play passes before they'd barely received them. Based on this, Mr. Manager lowered the tempo of his side and had them focus on retaining possession, while using an even more defensive strategy in the second half. A possession based defensive strategy is unusual for Mr. Manager and Stade Rennais, but that's just how the flow of this game ended up.
With this win, Stade Rennais are 4 points clear of PSG and 8 points clear of Lyon with only 2 games remaining, meaning they've ensured at least a top-2 finish and they can also wrap up the league title as early as next week with a win against Bordeaux or a loss by PSG.
Game 53 - Bordeaux (A) - L 0-2 - NOT SO FAST, MY FRIEND
The opportunity to win the league without any final day drama proved not to be Stade Rennais/Mr. Manager's style. They came out and looked tight/ineffective and gave up a goal in the 3rd minute and then gave up the second goal in the second half. Despite Mr. Manager's efforts to throw everyone forward, all was lost. FUUUUU. PSG won their game, so with one game remaining in the league, PSG and Stade Rennais are separated by a single point. Abdoulaye, M'Bengue, and Soares all picked up yellow cards which will result in suspension, so Stade Rennais will head into the final game with a patchwork defense... Yikes.
The math is simple now. If Stade Rennais want to win the league, they need to win the final away game against 15th place Nice. LAWD
(I forgot to take a screenshot of the formations).
The opportunity to win the league without any final day drama proved not to be Stade Rennais/Mr. Manager's style. They came out and looked tight/ineffective and gave up a goal in the 3rd minute and then gave up the second goal in the second half. Despite Mr. Manager's efforts to throw everyone forward, all was lost. FUUUUU. PSG won their game, so with one game remaining in the league, PSG and Stade Rennais are separated by a single point. Abdoulaye, M'Bengue, and Soares all picked up yellow cards which will result in suspension, so Stade Rennais will head into the final game with a patchwork defense... Yikes.
The math is simple now. If Stade Rennais want to win the league, they need to win the final away game against 15th place Nice. LAWD
(I forgot to take a screenshot of the formations).
Game 54 - Nice (A) - Draw 2-2- PSG Epic Collapse Gifts Mr. Manager and Stade Rennais Ligue 1 Title.
With seemingly 3/4s of the regular starting defense suspended, Mr. Manager was forced to start an ad-hoc defensive alignment with CM Perriera playing at CB. Mr. Manager probably would have opted for the 4-2-3-1 Attacking formation against 15th place Nice, if he had his full defense available, but decided to start with the 4-1DM-2-2-1 formation instead to provide lots of attacking power with a little extra defensive help. SR started off the scoring when Wague headed home a corner, but Nice quickly equalized. Mr. Manager was in full panic mode as the game started to wind down and had the team on a full overload attack when Ntep did what he's done all season long and scored a huge goal to take the lead in the 81st minute. Nice had made a defensive mistake that allowed the target man Kleber to flick the ball on to Ntep, who smashed a one time volley from 25 yards out into the top corner. Mr. Manager was so fucking excited, and busy taking all his clothes off that he forgot to pause the game and adjust tactics. Still set on "overload," Stade Rennais immediately gave up the tying goal at the other end in the 85th minute. Mr. Manager was inconsolable, but the supporters at home still had hope!
Having declared a strict media blackout during the game, Mr. Manager was not aware that PSG actually lost to Toulouse, completing their epic end of season meltdown which gifted the title to Stade Rennais. Only after the game did the media inform the near suicidal Mr. Manager that his team were the Ligue 1 Champions. Mr. Manager was left befuddled, spent, and confused. "WAT?" he exclaimed.
Reel Talk: Backing into the title felt pretty anti climatic. This really makes clear the difference between winning a title and watching someone else lose it. Needing only 3 points in their last 2 games to ensure victory, Stade Rennais should have risen to the challenge. Instead, they fucked it all away and were only saved by the fact that PSG fucked it away worse. Strange feeling, but I suppose it is better than a sharp stick in the eye.
With seemingly 3/4s of the regular starting defense suspended, Mr. Manager was forced to start an ad-hoc defensive alignment with CM Perriera playing at CB. Mr. Manager probably would have opted for the 4-2-3-1 Attacking formation against 15th place Nice, if he had his full defense available, but decided to start with the 4-1DM-2-2-1 formation instead to provide lots of attacking power with a little extra defensive help. SR started off the scoring when Wague headed home a corner, but Nice quickly equalized. Mr. Manager was in full panic mode as the game started to wind down and had the team on a full overload attack when Ntep did what he's done all season long and scored a huge goal to take the lead in the 81st minute. Nice had made a defensive mistake that allowed the target man Kleber to flick the ball on to Ntep, who smashed a one time volley from 25 yards out into the top corner. Mr. Manager was so fucking excited, and busy taking all his clothes off that he forgot to pause the game and adjust tactics. Still set on "overload," Stade Rennais immediately gave up the tying goal at the other end in the 85th minute. Mr. Manager was inconsolable, but the supporters at home still had hope!
Having declared a strict media blackout during the game, Mr. Manager was not aware that PSG actually lost to Toulouse, completing their epic end of season meltdown which gifted the title to Stade Rennais. Only after the game did the media inform the near suicidal Mr. Manager that his team were the Ligue 1 Champions. Mr. Manager was left befuddled, spent, and confused. "WAT?" he exclaimed.
Reel Talk: Backing into the title felt pretty anti climatic
. This really makes clear the difference between winning a title and watching someone else lose it. Needing only 3 points in their last 2 games to ensure victory, Stade Rennais should have risen to the challenge. Instead, they fucked it all away and were only saved by the fact that PSG fucked it away worse. Strange feeling, but I suppose it is better than a sharp stick in the eye.
Game 55 - PSG (N) - L 0-2 - PSG Come Hard and Pissed, Mr. Manager Responds with 
Well, PSG finally remembered who they were and came out super hard and pissed, and must have had some sort of "shoot on site" option rolling, because they were literally shooting every time they got past midfield. They eventually lucked into a goal as Lucas Leiva took a fucking horrid shot from 30 yards and it deflected off Abdoulaye into the net for an own goal. They literally took 20 shots and only managed 5 on target (mostly near the end as well, at one point they had 15 shots and 1 on target). PSG scored a 2nd near the end as Mr. Manager ordered Stade Rennais to press more in an attempt to tie the game. The got caught on a counter and Caveni finished perfectly to take the two goal lead. Still, Mr. Manager was focused on the Ligue 1 title all season long, so he spent the entire game strutting around the sidelines with his on, taunting the PSG players about their consolation prize.
Well, PSG finally remembered who they were and came out super hard and pissed, and must have had some sort of "shoot on site" option rolling, because they were literally shooting every time they got past midfield. They eventually lucked into a goal as Lucas Leiva took a fucking horrid shot from 30 yards and it deflected off Abdoulaye into the net for an own goal. They literally took 20 shots and only managed 5 on target (mostly near the end as well, at one point they had 15 shots and 1 on target). PSG scored a 2nd near the end as Mr. Manager ordered Stade Rennais to press more in an attempt to tie the game. The got caught on a counter and Caveni finished perfectly to take the two goal lead. Still, Mr. Manager was focused on the Ligue 1 title all season long, so he spent the entire game strutting around the sidelines with his
on, taunting the PSG players about their consolation prize.
2014-2015 End of Season Review - Stade Rennais Accolades
Stade Rennais won the Ligue 1 title this season, as well as the pre-season Champions Trophy. The U-19 team also shocked the world by winning the Youth Champions Cup, winning games aganist Man City Youth, Man United Youth, and Juventus Youth. Individual awards included Mr. Manager winning corch of the year and Ntep winning star of the competition. Ntep was also chosen to both Ligue 1 TOTY teams. No other Stade Rennais players were chosen for the TOTY, though Mr. Manager expressed outrage at the lack of inclusion for M'bengue who was a defensive stalwart for the Team. Molla Wague also likely would have been selected to the TOTY, but he was used as a substitute for the first half of the season behind Biyik. Once he became a regular starter, though, he was one of the best defenders in Ligue 1.
Here are the statistical leaders for Ligue 1 in the 2014/2015 season:
Stade Rennais won the Ligue 1 title this season, as well as the pre-season Champions Trophy. The U-19 team also shocked the world by winning the Youth Champions Cup, winning games aganist Man City Youth, Man United Youth, and Juventus Youth. Individual awards included Mr. Manager winning corch of the year and Ntep winning star of the competition. Ntep was also chosen to both Ligue 1 TOTY teams. No other Stade Rennais players were chosen for the TOTY, though Mr. Manager expressed outrage at the lack of inclusion for M'bengue who was a defensive stalwart for the Team. Molla Wague also likely would have been selected to the TOTY, but he was used as a substitute for the first half of the season behind Biyik. Once he became a regular starter, though, he was one of the best defenders in Ligue 1.
Here are the statistical leaders for Ligue 1 in the 2014/2015 season:
2014-2015 End of Season Review - Confidence Review and Financial Developments.
The Board was very pleased with the job Mr. Manager did this season, and while he's only finished the first season of a 2 year contract, he's had offers from Roma, Marseilles, and Monaco. Mr. Manager turned them all down. I'll be asking on some fan input on what Mr. Manager's next step should be, but for now he's certainly welcome to stay at Stade Rennais.
There is still a lot of Lizard Math going on with the Football Manager finances, and I'm not always sure how I can show/display the financial statistics that I'm looking for, but I think the most important thing is that the financial success associated with #2 and #1 finishes and the huge influx of cash due to earning a spot in the Champions League. Couple that with the fact that Mr. Manager has made many financially savvy moves in regards to the transfer market, wage budget, and planning ahead in anticipation of players leaving/retiring and the net result is a team that is already much deeper and more efficient than the team he inherited, and they will have a significant war chest as well! The team currently have a wage budget of just under 680k/week and they've been granted $825k/week and 25.3 Million. Some of that money is already accounted for when the free transfers arrive in July, but Mr. Manager still has significant wiggle room to make moves.
Stade Rennais currently have more "key players" on the roster than would fit in Mr. Manager's wage schedule, but a lot of that is due to the fact that they are "key players" in name only, not wages. Some players wouldn't sign contracts without being called "key players," and that's fine with Mr. Manager, they can call themselves whatever they want. In total, Stade Rennais currently have 23 players in the "Key," "First Team" and "Rotation" categories, which reflects Mr. Manager's goal of having enough quality players to be able to field a heavily rotated, but competitive, squad during fixture congestion. I'm pretty pleased with the squad building efforts for the past two seasons, and I think I've got a great platform moving forward with enough financial flexibility to sign a star player or to keep my own players as they become stars. I'll dive into the wage budget WAY more deeply in the offseason, but this is a nice overview showing the fact that SR has had great success while keeping the wages in line, and that's mostly because they let star players walk while replacing them with cheaper players and bringing in additional players for depth.
Lizard Math: I still don't understand how all the details of the lizard math works in this game, within the various categories of expenses/income that are tracked... but at least I can understand the big picture at this point, and the key item is the "balance." I finished last season with a "balance" of a little over $10m. This year I finished the season with a "balance" of a little over $60m, meaning we made a profit of about $50M last season, with a little under $15M of that being from the net transfer profit. I have a "projected" balance of $95M at the end of next season, which would be in line with the $35M profit made this season (not including transfer profit). Mr. Manager seems to be printing money.
The Board was very pleased with the job Mr. Manager did this season, and while he's only finished the first season of a 2 year contract, he's had offers from Roma, Marseilles, and Monaco. Mr. Manager turned them all down. I'll be asking on some fan input on what Mr. Manager's next step should be, but for now he's certainly welcome to stay at Stade Rennais.
There is still a lot of Lizard Math going on with the Football Manager finances, and I'm not always sure how I can show/display the financial statistics that I'm looking for, but I think the most important thing is that the financial success associated with #2 and #1 finishes and the huge influx of cash due to earning a spot in the Champions League. Couple that with the fact that Mr. Manager has made many financially savvy moves in regards to the transfer market, wage budget, and planning ahead in anticipation of players leaving/retiring and the net result is a team that is already much deeper and more efficient than the team he inherited, and they will have a significant war chest as well! The team currently have a wage budget of just under 680k/week and they've been granted $825k/week and 25.3 Million. Some of that money is already accounted for when the free transfers arrive in July, but Mr. Manager still has significant wiggle room to make moves.
Stade Rennais currently have more "key players" on the roster than would fit in Mr. Manager's wage schedule, but a lot of that is due to the fact that they are "key players" in name only, not wages. Some players wouldn't sign contracts without being called "key players," and that's fine with Mr. Manager, they can call themselves whatever they want. In total, Stade Rennais currently have 23 players in the "Key," "First Team" and "Rotation" categories, which reflects Mr. Manager's goal of having enough quality players to be able to field a heavily rotated, but competitive, squad during fixture congestion. I'm pretty pleased with the squad building efforts for the past two seasons, and I think I've got a great platform moving forward with enough financial flexibility to sign a star player or to keep my own players as they become stars. I'll dive into the wage budget WAY more deeply in the offseason, but this is a nice overview showing the fact that SR has had great success while keeping the wages in line, and that's mostly because they let star players walk while replacing them with cheaper players and bringing in additional players for depth.
Lizard Math: I still don't understand how all the details of the lizard math works in this game, within the various categories of expenses/income that are tracked... but at least I can understand the big picture at this point, and the key item is the "balance." I finished last season with a "balance" of a little over $10m. This year I finished the season with a "balance" of a little over $60m, meaning we made a profit of about $50M last season, with a little under $15M of that being from the net transfer profit. I have a "projected" balance of $95M at the end of next season, which would be in line with the $35M profit made this season (not including transfer profit). Mr. Manager seems to be printing money.
2014-2015 End of Season Review - Player and Team Performance Wrap up and Final League Standings
Ntep was clearly the team's MVP, as he scored 21 goals in 40 starts and added an additional 9 assists. He played as more of an "inside forward" than a true winger, but I still love that production. For comparison, he had 1 less assist, but scored 14 more goals than the guy he replaced (Pitropia) from last year's team, and at significantly lower wages/cost. While I wasn't thrilled with the production from any individual striker this season, due to the fact that Kleber/Zaza both spent significant amount of time on the injured reserve list, the overall production actually wasn't that bad from the position, as they accounted for 32 goals and 20 assists in 80 combined starts (Zaza ended up moving to the CAM spot for much of the season, resulting in some double counting for a "single striker" team). Nobody was going to replicate Oliviera's performance from last year of 31 goals and 7 assists in 38 starts, while only making $6k/week, but the Kleber and Zaza both individually contributed more than they guy that they combined to replace in wages (Toivonen with 6 goals 9 assists in 23 starts last season). Despite initial doubts, Kostas Fortunis and Propper (though he was injured for the second half of the season) proved that they could provide the play making capability that was lost with the departure of The Ferret.
In the midfield, Stade Rennais were pretty similar to last season with Makoun and Pajot starting the majority of the games, while various players picked up time as the 3rd starter. The mid-season change of Pereira for Diarra proved to not only be a move for the future, but an immediate upgrade as well, as Pereira fit right in to the team. Propper, Ngando, and Strobl (though Mr. Manager forgot to register him for the team) provided the starting caliber midfield depth that was missing at times last season during fixture congestion. The team was so set at midfield that Biard, an unfortunate rotation depth starter/sub for SR last season, only had to start one game.
Defensively, the team was also better than last season, even with Biyik being replaced mid-season by Wague, Armand getting a little long in the tooth, and M'bengue missing a number of games due to international commitments. The team regularly had all 4 starting defenders averaging 7.0 or better ratings throughout the season. As a team, they allowed less than 1 goal per game in Ligue 1 (34 goals in 38 games), an improvement of 6 goals over the season, compared to their already solid performance last year. Stade Rennais proved that they were more than capable of replacing the production of star player Biyik, as Wague stepped in to fill his roll almost seamlessly.
In all, Stade Rennais managed 19 players with 6.9 or better average ratings with the Senior Squad, compared to 10 players with 6.9 or better ratings from a season ago. This is a testament to Mr. Manger's method of building strength in depth.
The Under 19 and Reserve stats are a little fucked up, and I can't figure out how to get them to post correctly, so I'm skipping posting the tables for this season. Basically, I have a problem with how the stats show up for players who played on multiple teams through the course of the season. Players who played partially with the Senior/Reserve squads or players who played part time with Reserves/U19 squads never have all of their stats show up. A good example is Djadjiri Konate, who is why I initially noticed the bug. I knew he was playing in a lot of U19 games and scoring a lot of goals from the weekly match reports, but when I sorted the U19 squad with all reserve players added to the filter, he only showed up as having a few appearances and no goals. He started the season on the U19 team, but then spent about half of the season with the reserves and even played a couple of cup matches with the senior squad.
I think what happens is that the stats only show up correctly for the "squad" he was technically with when he played in the match. As such, none of his appearances for the U19 team when he was listed as on the "Reserve" squad show up (They get registered as "non-competitive" matches for that player). When you view his "overall" stats at the Senior/Reserve/U19 levels, his numbers for total appearances/goals don't even come close to matching his actual appearances/goals. Even when you sort by each individual competition there is still something wonky. No matter how I re-arrange the stat tables at the reserve/U19 squad level, I can't get it to show his U19 appearances/goals from the time period where he was technically a "Reserve" squad player, but still available for the U19s. His Reserve squad stats are correct, but his U19 stats show up as either 1 goal in 1 sub appearance (If I select overall) or 5 goals in 14 appearances (If I select U19 League only). Both are incorrect, as he actually scored 16 goals in 20 appearances with the U19 team (which you can see on his player page). Due to the statistical issues with players who played on more than one team, I'm not posting the Reserve/U19 squad stats on a team wide basis... but I will make a few comments on certain individuals after exhaustively looking through the stats of each individual player page
I'll make that post around the July 1st roster update as I go over the roster in more detail.
As a whole, this season was a lot more even than last season in which the team started off poorly before making an amazing last half run. This season the League matches were all pretty solid throughout the year, with the exception of basically the whole month of February, which was a complete disaster. As you can see, there were several really nice winning streaks in there that allowed SR to stay close enough to the #1 spot to capitalize on PSG's epic collapse, dropping 7 points to low rated teams in 4 matches.
In the end, Stade Rennais finished with 75 points as compared to last year's 74 points. The fact that PSG finished with 73 points this season, as compared to their 79 points last year, shows that it was indeed their title to lose in the 2014-2015 campaign, and they certainly did so by dropping those 7 easy points in the last 4 games of the season.
Ntep was clearly the team's MVP, as he scored 21 goals in 40 starts and added an additional 9 assists. He played as more of an "inside forward" than a true winger, but I still love that production. For comparison, he had 1 less assist, but scored 14 more goals than the guy he replaced (Pitropia) from last year's team, and at significantly lower wages/cost. While I wasn't thrilled with the production from any individual striker this season, due to the fact that Kleber/Zaza both spent significant amount of time on the injured reserve list, the overall production actually wasn't that bad from the position, as they accounted for 32 goals and 20 assists in 80 combined starts (Zaza ended up moving to the CAM spot for much of the season, resulting in some double counting for a "single striker" team). Nobody was going to replicate Oliviera's performance from last year of 31 goals and 7 assists in 38 starts, while only making $6k/week, but the Kleber and Zaza both individually contributed more than they guy that they combined to replace in wages (Toivonen with 6 goals 9 assists in 23 starts last season). Despite initial doubts, Kostas Fortunis and Propper (though he was injured for the second half of the season) proved that they could provide the play making capability that was lost with the departure of The Ferret.
In the midfield, Stade Rennais were pretty similar to last season with Makoun and Pajot starting the majority of the games, while various players picked up time as the 3rd starter. The mid-season change of Pereira for Diarra proved to not only be a move for the future, but an immediate upgrade as well, as Pereira fit right in to the team. Propper, Ngando, and Strobl (though Mr. Manager forgot to register him for the team) provided the starting caliber midfield depth that was missing at times last season during fixture congestion. The team was so set at midfield that Biard, an unfortunate rotation depth starter/sub for SR last season, only had to start one game.
Defensively, the team was also better than last season, even with Biyik being replaced mid-season by Wague, Armand getting a little long in the tooth, and M'bengue missing a number of games due to international commitments. The team regularly had all 4 starting defenders averaging 7.0 or better ratings throughout the season. As a team, they allowed less than 1 goal per game in Ligue 1 (34 goals in 38 games), an improvement of 6 goals over the season, compared to their already solid performance last year. Stade Rennais proved that they were more than capable of replacing the production of star player Biyik, as Wague stepped in to fill his roll almost seamlessly.
In all, Stade Rennais managed 19 players with 6.9 or better average ratings with the Senior Squad, compared to 10 players with 6.9 or better ratings from a season ago. This is a testament to Mr. Manger's method of building strength in depth.
The Under 19 and Reserve stats are a little fucked up, and I can't figure out how to get them to post correctly, so I'm skipping posting the tables for this season. Basically, I have a problem with how the stats show up for players who played on multiple teams through the course of the season. Players who played partially with the Senior/Reserve squads or players who played part time with Reserves/U19 squads never have all of their stats show up. A good example is Djadjiri Konate, who is why I initially noticed the bug. I knew he was playing in a lot of U19 games and scoring a lot of goals from the weekly match reports, but when I sorted the U19 squad with all reserve players added to the filter, he only showed up as having a few appearances and no goals. He started the season on the U19 team, but then spent about half of the season with the reserves and even played a couple of cup matches with the senior squad.
I think what happens is that the stats only show up correctly for the "squad" he was technically with when he played in the match. As such, none of his appearances for the U19 team when he was listed as on the "Reserve" squad show up (They get registered as "non-competitive" matches for that player). When you view his "overall" stats at the Senior/Reserve/U19 levels, his numbers for total appearances/goals don't even come close to matching his actual appearances/goals. Even when you sort by each individual competition there is still something wonky. No matter how I re-arrange the stat tables at the reserve/U19 squad level, I can't get it to show his U19 appearances/goals from the time period where he was technically a "Reserve" squad player, but still available for the U19s. His Reserve squad stats are correct, but his U19 stats show up as either 1 goal in 1 sub appearance (If I select overall) or 5 goals in 14 appearances (If I select U19 League only). Both are incorrect, as he actually scored 16 goals in 20 appearances with the U19 team (which you can see on his player page). Due to the statistical issues with players who played on more than one team, I'm not posting the Reserve/U19 squad stats on a team wide basis... but I will make a few comments on certain individuals after exhaustively looking through the stats of each individual player page
I'll make that post around the July 1st roster update as I go over the roster in more detail.As a whole, this season was a lot more even than last season in which the team started off poorly before making an amazing last half run. This season the League matches were all pretty solid throughout the year, with the exception of basically the whole month of February, which was a complete disaster. As you can see, there were several really nice winning streaks in there that allowed SR to stay close enough to the #1 spot to capitalize on PSG's epic collapse, dropping 7 points to low rated teams in 4 matches.
In the end, Stade Rennais finished with 75 points as compared to last year's 74 points. The fact that PSG finished with 73 points this season, as compared to their 79 points last year, shows that it was indeed their title to lose in the 2014-2015 campaign, and they certainly did so by dropping those 7 easy points in the last 4 games of the season.
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*interesting item of note. As soon as I advanced after winning the Ligue 1 title, a bunch of the "current ability" ratings for the players adjusted, so I can confirm that it is probably relative to the reputation of your team rather than relative to the other players on the team or related to the league. My team received a reputation boost for winning the ligue 1 title, and a couple of of my "4 star" players are now "3.5 star" (Pajot/Makoun) with no other changes made to the team. While Makoun is older, which could explain the drop... Pajot is a young player and has actually really improved this year in nearly all of his ratings. He started last season as a 3.5 star current ability player and he improved throughout the season until he was listed as a 4 star player around mid year. He continued to improve, but is now listed as a 3.5 star player.
Here is a graph of his attributes improvement related to his position for reference:
I know you guys already warned me about relying on the "current ability" stars when I was setting up my wage budget last season, but the potential for it to shift abruptly when no other factors than team reputation change make me think I need to start making closer evaluations of my team and also coming up with a new way to quantify what my players are "worth."
Here is a graph of his attributes improvement related to his position for reference:
I know you guys already warned me about relying on the "current ability" stars when I was setting up my wage budget last season, but the potential for it to shift abruptly when no other factors than team reputation change make me think I need to start making closer evaluations of my team and also coming up with a new way to quantify what my players are "worth."
Update on Finances Heading Into Transfer window!
This is the first season I actually feel like I know what I'm doing and I'm not just trogging around, so I'm planning an even more systematic approach. After a small adjustment to the budget, I have $844,100/week set as my wage budget and a Transfer budget of 24 Million. My current wages are $678,500/week. Knowing that I have several players leaving on expiring contracts/retirement as well as 3 new players arriving on July 1st and all of my loan players returning (I forgot to account for this last year, lol). Obviously I need to account for the loan players in my budgeting, but I plan on loaning out players next year as well and I almost always loan them out at 100% wage deals. Right now I have the following financial situation:
Current Wages = 678,500
Wages Leaving = 62,750
Wages In = 95,000
Wages Returning From Loan = 71,400
Wages on July 1st = $782,150
Wage Budget = $844,100
Available Wages = $61,950
Available Transfer Budget = $24 million
So assuming I keep every single player and don't loan any of them out, I'll still have $24 Million in transfer money and $61,950/week in available wages to sign new players or re-negotiate with current players. Obviously since I'm taking the engineerd approach to this game, I'll be evaluating every position on the roster and further slashing the wage budget and selling/loaning off over-priced/unnecessary players before I start to make my moves!
Another key financial aspect I've found I need to consider, even this early in the off-season, is deciding which of the players with expiring 2016 contracts I want to sign again. This often leads to me ending up paying more than anticipated for a certain player in order to keep them on the roster. Of the players with 2016 expiring contracts, there are only 3 starters (Danze, Alesandrini, and M'Bengue). M'Bengue has been a very consistent player, and at age 26 I feel like he's still got enough good years left in him that I'd like to offer him a new contract, provided he isn't absurd in his demands. Danze has been similarly consistent, and provided I could keep him for reasonably cheap, I'd like to get him on a 2 or 3 year contract since he's 28. I'm comfortable selling Alessandrini (without even evaluating my club fully) because he just doesn't produce at the level of his contract or value. I assume he'll want a lot more money on a new contract and I don't want to pay him, so I will offer him to clubs. Beyond the starters, there are several players I want to get rid of, so I don't need to re-negotiate with them, I'll look to sell or loan them for the year. There are 8 young players with good potential and I'll need to further evaluate the club and their demands before making a decision to keep them or to attempt to sell them while they still have value before it drops rapidly after the season starts and clubs know they can get them as free agents.
This is the first season I actually feel like I know what I'm doing and I'm not just trogging around, so I'm planning an even more systematic approach. After a small adjustment to the budget, I have $844,100/week set as my wage budget and a Transfer budget of 24 Million. My current wages are $678,500/week. Knowing that I have several players leaving on expiring contracts/retirement as well as 3 new players arriving on July 1st and all of my loan players returning (I forgot to account for this last year, lol). Obviously I need to account for the loan players in my budgeting, but I plan on loaning out players next year as well and I almost always loan them out at 100% wage deals. Right now I have the following financial situation:
Current Wages = 678,500
Wages Leaving = 62,750
Wages In = 95,000
Wages Returning From Loan = 71,400
Wages on July 1st = $782,150
Wage Budget = $844,100
Available Wages = $61,950
Available Transfer Budget = $24 million
So assuming I keep every single player and don't loan any of them out, I'll still have $24 Million in transfer money and $61,950/week in available wages to sign new players or re-negotiate with current players. Obviously since I'm taking the engineerd approach to this game, I'll be evaluating every position on the roster and further slashing the wage budget and selling/loaning off over-priced/unnecessary players before I start to make my moves!
Another key financial aspect I've found I need to consider, even this early in the off-season, is deciding which of the players with expiring 2016 contracts I want to sign again. This often leads to me ending up paying more than anticipated for a certain player in order to keep them on the roster. Of the players with 2016 expiring contracts, there are only 3 starters (Danze, Alesandrini, and M'Bengue). M'Bengue has been a very consistent player, and at age 26 I feel like he's still got enough good years left in him that I'd like to offer him a new contract, provided he isn't absurd in his demands. Danze has been similarly consistent, and provided I could keep him for reasonably cheap, I'd like to get him on a 2 or 3 year contract since he's 28. I'm comfortable selling Alessandrini (without even evaluating my club fully) because he just doesn't produce at the level of his contract or value. I assume he'll want a lot more money on a new contract and I don't want to pay him, so I will offer him to clubs. Beyond the starters, there are several players I want to get rid of, so I don't need to re-negotiate with them, I'll look to sell or loan them for the year. There are 8 young players with good potential and I'll need to further evaluate the club and their demands before making a decision to keep them or to attempt to sell them while they still have value before it drops rapidly after the season starts and clubs know they can get them as free agents.
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Yankee151
Hot Girl Summer
DeadMan
aka spiker or DeadMong
After extensive evaluation and effort, I've come up with my own rating system that will not change year over year as my team improves. I've evaluated my wage scale more closely and improved it to factor in the room for player growth over the contract term as well as player versatility. The ratings I came up with seem to be far more in line with how the players actually played as well, which is nice because It helps me rate the younger players far better. I call it the BTT rating system, obviously. A BTT rating of >15 should mean the player is a true star in their role, a BTT Rating >14 should mean the player is a top end starter, a BTT Rating >13 means a player should be a solid starter in Ligue 1, A BTT Rating > 12 means the player is suitable for rotational/backup use with the first team but would be a liability... mostly reserve team guys, A BTT rating >11 means the player is ok as a Reserve squad type player but should never be used under any circumstance on the Senior squad. A BTT Rating under 11 means they are suitable only for the U19 squad or as backups to the reserve team and they need a lot of development. As you can see, my "Revolutionary" 11-15 rating system is VERY different than standard 1-5 rating system
Anyway, with all that being done I found that I'm only "overpaying" five players at the current time on my entire roster (3 of them low wages anyway). This is not really surprising, because I weeded out a lot of players last year and brought in affordable players. While I'm not overpaying very many people, I simply have a lot more players on my roster at the current moment than I need or have any future plans for. A lot of these guys were inherited or are youth prospects who don't have much potential. I'll be looking to either sell or loan all of the unwanted players who have pro contracts. I'll hang on to the youth guys who don't look very good, because I'm okay with paying $95/week to have non-generic players on the U19 squad and on the potential that they develop. I also found that I've basically got enough starting/rotational depth at every position to be comfortable heading into the season with the roster I currently have. As such, I have the ability to sell pretty much any player on the roster if the price is right and replace them with a cheaper option from the transfer market. I will also be looking to bring in a luxury player at either the CB or ST positions. There are a couple of highly rated players (Alessiandrini comes to mind) who I certainly would not mind selling and replacing.
I might do a more detailed position by position breakdown of all the players on the roster if anyone is interested, but for now here is the two deep depth chart (With BTT ratings)
GK - Costil - 14.8
GK - Epassy - 12.9
LB - M'Bengue - 14.4
LB - Wijnaldum2 - 13.2
CB - Wague - 14.0
CB - Peybernes - 13.3
CB - Abdoulaye - 13.2
RB - Danze - 13.9
RB - Soares - 13.7
CM - Stroble - 15.3
CM - Perreira - 13.7
CM - Pajot - 13.8
LAM - Ntep - 14.1
LAM - Alessiandrini -14.9
RAM - Fortunis - 14.2
RAM - Dembele - 13.3
CAM - Wijnaldum1 - 15.4
CAM - Propper - 13.9
ST - Kleber - 14.1
ST - Zaza - 14.7
Other Bench Players of Note
CAM/CM - Ngando 13.9
ST - Cheick Diarra - 13.7
CDM/CM - Doucoure - 13.1
CAM/ST - Sadio Diallo - 13.4
Wage Scale =
15+ = $45-80 (Only investing in true stars here)
14-15 = $30-45k
13-14 = $15-30k
12-13 = $5-15k
11-12 = $1-5k
<11 = < $1k
Anyway, with all that being done I found that I'm only "overpaying" five players at the current time on my entire roster (3 of them low wages anyway). This is not really surprising, because I weeded out a lot of players last year and brought in affordable players. While I'm not overpaying very many people, I simply have a lot more players on my roster at the current moment than I need or have any future plans for. A lot of these guys were inherited or are youth prospects who don't have much potential. I'll be looking to either sell or loan all of the unwanted players who have pro contracts. I'll hang on to the youth guys who don't look very good, because I'm okay with paying $95/week to have non-generic players on the U19 squad and on the potential that they develop. I also found that I've basically got enough starting/rotational depth at every position to be comfortable heading into the season with the roster I currently have. As such, I have the ability to sell pretty much any player on the roster if the price is right and replace them with a cheaper option from the transfer market. I will also be looking to bring in a luxury player at either the CB or ST positions. There are a couple of highly rated players (Alessiandrini comes to mind) who I certainly would not mind selling and replacing.
I might do a more detailed position by position breakdown of all the players on the roster if anyone is interested, but for now here is the two deep depth chart (With BTT ratings)
GK - Costil - 14.8
GK - Epassy - 12.9
LB - M'Bengue - 14.4
LB - Wijnaldum2 - 13.2
CB - Wague - 14.0
CB - Peybernes - 13.3
CB - Abdoulaye - 13.2
RB - Danze - 13.9
RB - Soares - 13.7
CM - Stroble - 15.3
CM - Perreira - 13.7
CM - Pajot - 13.8
LAM - Ntep - 14.1
LAM - Alessiandrini -14.9
RAM - Fortunis - 14.2
RAM - Dembele - 13.3
CAM - Wijnaldum1 - 15.4
CAM - Propper - 13.9
ST - Kleber - 14.1
ST - Zaza - 14.7
Other Bench Players of Note
CAM/CM - Ngando 13.9
ST - Cheick Diarra - 13.7
CDM/CM - Doucoure - 13.1
CAM/ST - Sadio Diallo - 13.4
Wage Scale =
15+ = $45-80 (Only investing in true stars here)
14-15 = $30-45k
13-14 = $15-30k
12-13 = $5-15k
11-12 = $1-5k
<11 = < $1k
Last edited:
Team Review - GK
Costil is still the starter and will be under his current contract for two seasons, so no big worries there. Devis Epassy is the backup, and is on a good salary for his role, but I'll have to renegotiate with him this season. If I can get him to negotiate another reasonable contract, I'll keep him as the backup for another contract. If not, I can let him walk as GKs of his level are a dime a dozen. Chaoui and Letellier, though they aren't currently very good, have 4.5 and 4 star potential respectively. Chaoui is currently being paid more than I'd like for a prospect, but he just turned pro and I wanted to keep him on the team with that high potential He will improve enough during his contract to be in the right pay scale. Romain Cagnon is not very good now, is several years older than the other prospects, and has low potential. His contract expires next summer, so I'll try to sell/loan him this season.
[xtable=border:1|cellpadding:0|cellspacing:0]
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{/colgroup}
{tbody}
{tr}
{td}Team Status{/td}
{td}Player{/td}
{td}Age{/td}
{td}Best Position{/td}
{td}2nd Position{/td}
{td}Current Ability{/td}
{td}Potential Ability{/td}
{td}Salary{/td}
{td}Value{/td}
{td}Expires{/td}
{td}Role{/td}
{td}BTT Rating{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Benoit Costil{/td}
{td}27{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$35,000{/td}
{td}$7,500,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td}14.8{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Backup{/td}
{td}Devis Epassy{/td}
{td}22{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$3,600{/td}
{td}$675,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td}12.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Key Prospect{/td}
{td}Brahim Chaoui{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$3,900{/td}
{td}$800,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td}10.5{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Romain Cagnon{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}$775{/td}
{td}$90,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td}9.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Christophe Letellier{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.8{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$375,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td}8.2{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
Costil is still the starter and will be under his current contract for two seasons, so no big worries there. Devis Epassy is the backup, and is on a good salary for his role, but I'll have to renegotiate with him this season. If I can get him to negotiate another reasonable contract, I'll keep him as the backup for another contract. If not, I can let him walk as GKs of his level are a dime a dozen. Chaoui and Letellier, though they aren't currently very good, have 4.5 and 4 star potential respectively. Chaoui is currently being paid more than I'd like for a prospect, but he just turned pro and I wanted to keep him on the team with that high potential He will improve enough during his contract to be in the right pay scale. Romain Cagnon is not very good now, is several years older than the other prospects, and has low potential. His contract expires next summer, so I'll try to sell/loan him this season.
[xtable=border:1|cellpadding:0|cellspacing:0]
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{tr}
{td}Team Status{/td}
{td}Player{/td}
{td}Age{/td}
{td}Best Position{/td}
{td}2nd Position{/td}
{td}Current Ability{/td}
{td}Potential Ability{/td}
{td}Salary{/td}
{td}Value{/td}
{td}Expires{/td}
{td}Role{/td}
{td}BTT Rating{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Benoit Costil{/td}
{td}27{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$35,000{/td}
{td}$7,500,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td}14.8{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Backup{/td}
{td}Devis Epassy{/td}
{td}22{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$3,600{/td}
{td}$675,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td}12.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Key Prospect{/td}
{td}Brahim Chaoui{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$3,900{/td}
{td}$800,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td}10.5{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Romain Cagnon{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}$775{/td}
{td}$90,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td}9.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Christophe Letellier{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.8{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$375,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}GK{/td}
{td}8.2{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
Milo
Well-Known Member
Really nice season. Seems like you started off with the typical struggles of raised reputation and squad cohesion, but once you got through fixture congestion, you went on a nice run.
Also, I'm such a liberal arts guy. In comparison this is basically my FM budgeting process:
Also, personal request, but when you do the season stats could you put a positions column for reference?
Also, I'm such a liberal arts guy. In comparison this is basically my FM budgeting process:
Also, personal request, but when you do the season stats could you put a positions column for reference?
Lol, I didn't even realize that I don't have their positions in there. That was a strange omission, but I guess I was so used to all my players that I omitted the position column when I tried to put that stat table together?
Due to my frustrations with the stats for Reserves/U19 players in football manager, I think I'll be going further down the stats rabbit hole and start exporting the stats to EXCEL so I can properly analyze them. LAWD
Central Defenders Review:
This was perhaps the area of most flux from last season. Kana-Biyik forced his way out mid-season last year and I was forced to replace him with Molla Wague, who was previously the rotational option. I also brought in Abdoulaye and they both performed well. With Armand retiring, I signed Methieu Peybernes to replace him. Peybernes was a FIFA favorite of mine from a Sochaux dynasty/Utopia tourney, so I was excited to bring him in! Beyond that, I actually don't have another dedicated CB who is ready to play regularly at the ligue 1 level, so that is something I'll look to address in the transfer window to add a little more depth. It isn't absolutely necessary, as two other players (M'Bengue and Perriera) are "accomplished" as CBs, and have played well in a pinch there before, but I'd like to keep them available in their normal starting positions. Beyond the main 3 players, I've got one player (Hountondji) who is ready to play sparingly if needed in Ligue 1 and then a couple of 16 year old prospects who are basically rated the same as him (Gezaw and Perrin), but have better potential moving forward. Since Houtandji's contract expires in 2016 and he doesn't have a lot of potential, I'll be looking to sell/loan him. Overall, this is one of the deepest positions on the team when it comes to prospects," with 5 youth players with 4 star potential or better. That leaves an additional 5 players at the bottom of the list in the "not needed" category and I'll look to sell/loan them if they are on pro contracts. If they are on youth contracts, I'll keep them for now but just won't sign them to pro contracts.
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{/colgroup}
{tbody}
{tr}
{td}Team Status{/td}
{td}Player{/td}
{td}Age{/td}
{td}Best Position{/td}
{td}2nd Position{/td}
{td}Current Ability{/td}
{td}Potential Ability{/td}
{td}Salary{/td}
{td}Value{/td}
{td}Expires{/td}
{td}Role{/td}
{td}BTT Rating{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Molla Wague{/td}
{td}24{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$12,000{/td}
{td}$4,900,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}14{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Mathieu Peybernes{/td}
{td}24{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td}RB{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$27,000{/td}
{td}$275,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}13.3{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Rotation{/td}
{td}Abdoulaye{/td}
{td}24{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$45,000{/td}
{td}$7,750,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}13.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Sell?{/td}
{td}Cedric Hountondji{/td}
{td}21{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}$1,400{/td}
{td}$625,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}12.5{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Key Prospect{/td}
{td}Brian Perrin{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$3,000{/td}
{td}$1,100,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}12.4{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Key Prospect{/td}
{td}Joseph Gezaw{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$3,800{/td}
{td}$1,000,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}12.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Jeremy Gelin{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$2,200{/td}
{td}$650,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}11.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}David Gautier{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td}LB{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$825,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}11.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Kevin Jaffre{/td}
{td}14{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$2,600,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}11.4{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Sega Coulibaly{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$1,700{/td}
{td}$96,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}11{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Imad Yilmaz{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.8{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$425,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}10.6{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Emmanuel Julien{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$475,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}10.4{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Franck Nianbo{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td}RB{/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}$575{/td}
{td}$600,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}9.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Mecen Nau{/td}
{td}14{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.75{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$130,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}9.1{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
This was perhaps the area of most flux from last season. Kana-Biyik forced his way out mid-season last year and I was forced to replace him with Molla Wague, who was previously the rotational option. I also brought in Abdoulaye and they both performed well. With Armand retiring, I signed Methieu Peybernes to replace him. Peybernes was a FIFA favorite of mine from a Sochaux dynasty/Utopia tourney, so I was excited to bring him in! Beyond that, I actually don't have another dedicated CB who is ready to play regularly at the ligue 1 level, so that is something I'll look to address in the transfer window to add a little more depth. It isn't absolutely necessary, as two other players (M'Bengue and Perriera) are "accomplished" as CBs, and have played well in a pinch there before, but I'd like to keep them available in their normal starting positions. Beyond the main 3 players, I've got one player (Hountondji) who is ready to play sparingly if needed in Ligue 1 and then a couple of 16 year old prospects who are basically rated the same as him (Gezaw and Perrin), but have better potential moving forward. Since Houtandji's contract expires in 2016 and he doesn't have a lot of potential, I'll be looking to sell/loan him. Overall, this is one of the deepest positions on the team when it comes to prospects," with 5 youth players with 4 star potential or better. That leaves an additional 5 players at the bottom of the list in the "not needed" category and I'll look to sell/loan them if they are on pro contracts. If they are on youth contracts, I'll keep them for now but just won't sign them to pro contracts.
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{tr}
{td}Team Status{/td}
{td}Player{/td}
{td}Age{/td}
{td}Best Position{/td}
{td}2nd Position{/td}
{td}Current Ability{/td}
{td}Potential Ability{/td}
{td}Salary{/td}
{td}Value{/td}
{td}Expires{/td}
{td}Role{/td}
{td}BTT Rating{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Molla Wague{/td}
{td}24{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$12,000{/td}
{td}$4,900,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}14{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Mathieu Peybernes{/td}
{td}24{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td}RB{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$27,000{/td}
{td}$275,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}13.3{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Rotation{/td}
{td}Abdoulaye{/td}
{td}24{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$45,000{/td}
{td}$7,750,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}13.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Sell?{/td}
{td}Cedric Hountondji{/td}
{td}21{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}$1,400{/td}
{td}$625,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}12.5{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Key Prospect{/td}
{td}Brian Perrin{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$3,000{/td}
{td}$1,100,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}12.4{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Key Prospect{/td}
{td}Joseph Gezaw{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$3,800{/td}
{td}$1,000,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}12.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Jeremy Gelin{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$2,200{/td}
{td}$650,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}11.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}David Gautier{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td}LB{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$825,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}11.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Kevin Jaffre{/td}
{td}14{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$2,600,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}11.4{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Sega Coulibaly{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$1,700{/td}
{td}$96,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}11{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Imad Yilmaz{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.8{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$425,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}10.6{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Emmanuel Julien{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$475,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}10.4{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Franck Nianbo{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td}RB{/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}$575{/td}
{td}$600,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}9.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Mecen Nau{/td}
{td}14{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.75{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$130,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Central Defender (D){/td}
{td}9.1{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
Fullbacks Review:
The fullback position is pretty squared away at this point, with solid starters good young rotational players, enough depth to handle fixture congestion, and good youth prospects. The only possible catch is that both M'Bengue and Danze are in their contract renewal year. I'll probably try to re-sign both, as they've been solid starters for a couple of years... but I'll have to see what the price tag is. Either way, they are solid starting caliber players for this year. Soares was a good signing last season and played well in rotational duty and really started to push Danze for his starting spot near the end of the season. Wijnaldum2 is coming in on a free transfer to provide some more depth as a backup to M'Bengue and I've got high hopes for the 22 year old. I'll look to sell Lamine Gassama, mostly because his current ability already matches his potential ability and he only has a BTT rating of 12.3, making him barely functional at the ligue 1 level . Joffrey Durand just signed his first pro contract and he improved a ton in the last season, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him crack the Senior Squad in 2017. Alain Pascal and Daniel Guegan are good looking youth players who I'll likely sign to pro contracts. Abdoulay Samb doesn't look all that great and I saw him score an own goal in the U19 vs Candidates scrimmage last year, so he's on my shit list for that reason as well.
[xtable=border:1|cellpadding:0|cellspacing:0]
{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}{col=117x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}
{tbody}
{tr}
{td}Team Status{/td}
{td}Player{/td}
{td}Age{/td}
{td}Best Position{/td}
{td}2nd Position{/td}
{td}Current Ability{/td}
{td}Potential Ability{/td}
{td}Salary{/td}
{td}Value{/td}
{td}Expires{/td}
{td}Role{/td}
{td}BTT Rating{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Cheik M'Bengue{/td}
{td}26{/td}
{td}LB{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$19,500{/td}
{td}$7,000,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}14.4{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Romain Danze{/td}
{td}28{/td}
{td}RB{/td}
{td}LB{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}$19,250{/td}
{td}$5,000,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}13.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Rotation{/td}
{td}Cedric Soares{/td}
{td}23{/td}
{td}RB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$18,000{/td}
{td}$4,800,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}13.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Rotation{/td}
{td}Wijnaldum2{/td}
{td}22{/td}
{td}LB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$23,000{/td}
{td}$300,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}13.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Lamine Gassama{/td}
{td}25{/td}
{td}RB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}$8,250{/td}
{td}$1,300,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}12.3{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Key Prospect{/td}
{td}Joffrey Durand{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}LB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$5,000{/td}
{td}$1,500,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}11.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Alain Pascal{/td}
{td}14{/td}
{td}RB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.8{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$375,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}9.6{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Abdoulay Samb{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}LB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.75{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$225,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Daniel Guegan{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}RB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$825,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}9{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
The fullback position is pretty squared away at this point, with solid starters good young rotational players, enough depth to handle fixture congestion, and good youth prospects. The only possible catch is that both M'Bengue and Danze are in their contract renewal year. I'll probably try to re-sign both, as they've been solid starters for a couple of years... but I'll have to see what the price tag is. Either way, they are solid starting caliber players for this year. Soares was a good signing last season and played well in rotational duty and really started to push Danze for his starting spot near the end of the season. Wijnaldum2 is coming in on a free transfer to provide some more depth as a backup to M'Bengue and I've got high hopes for the 22 year old. I'll look to sell Lamine Gassama, mostly because his current ability already matches his potential ability and he only has a BTT rating of 12.3, making him barely functional at the ligue 1 level . Joffrey Durand just signed his first pro contract and he improved a ton in the last season, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him crack the Senior Squad in 2017. Alain Pascal and Daniel Guegan are good looking youth players who I'll likely sign to pro contracts. Abdoulay Samb doesn't look all that great and I saw him score an own goal in the U19 vs Candidates scrimmage last year, so he's on my shit list for that reason as well.
[xtable=border:1|cellpadding:0|cellspacing:0]
{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}{col=117x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}
{tbody}
{tr}
{td}Team Status{/td}
{td}Player{/td}
{td}Age{/td}
{td}Best Position{/td}
{td}2nd Position{/td}
{td}Current Ability{/td}
{td}Potential Ability{/td}
{td}Salary{/td}
{td}Value{/td}
{td}Expires{/td}
{td}Role{/td}
{td}BTT Rating{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Cheik M'Bengue{/td}
{td}26{/td}
{td}LB{/td}
{td}CB{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$19,500{/td}
{td}$7,000,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}14.4{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Romain Danze{/td}
{td}28{/td}
{td}RB{/td}
{td}LB{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}$19,250{/td}
{td}$5,000,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}13.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Rotation{/td}
{td}Cedric Soares{/td}
{td}23{/td}
{td}RB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$18,000{/td}
{td}$4,800,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}13.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Rotation{/td}
{td}Wijnaldum2{/td}
{td}22{/td}
{td}LB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$23,000{/td}
{td}$300,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}13.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Lamine Gassama{/td}
{td}25{/td}
{td}RB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}$8,250{/td}
{td}$1,300,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}12.3{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Key Prospect{/td}
{td}Joffrey Durand{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}LB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$5,000{/td}
{td}$1,500,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}11.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Alain Pascal{/td}
{td}14{/td}
{td}RB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.8{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$375,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}9.6{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Abdoulay Samb{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}LB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.75{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$225,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Daniel Guegan{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}RB{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$825,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Fullback (A){/td}
{td}9{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
Central Midfielders review (CMs/DMs)
Depending on what formation I decide to use, I'll either have 2 CM/CDM players or 3 CM/CDM type players. As such, I'd like to have at least 3 regular starter type players and then 2 more rotational players, making sure all the proper roles I like players to play are covered as well (I usually pair a play-maker with a ball winner in 2 CM set and us a play-maker/ball winner/complete midfielder combination in a 3 CM set). I currently have 6 players who are capable of playing at the Ligue1 level, so I might be looking to sell one of them if I get a fair price.
I was surprised to see that Tobias, the never-nude, had the highest BTT rating on the team but only a current ability/potential ability of 2.5. It will be interesting to see if my ASS corch is right in his evaluation of Tobias, or if my views are correct. He only got to play in cup matches last season because Mr. Manager fucked up his signing, but he looks like the type of ball-winning midfielder Mr. Manager wants on this team. Vincent Pajot and Danilo Periera were regular starters last year, in the playmaking and complete midfielder roles, respectively, and their BTT ratings jive pretty well with how they performed. Axel Ngando has a surprisingly high BTT rating (he's typically been out on loan) but I'll have to give him a try in a rotational capacity in the playmaking role before I decide if I want to sign him again (contract expires in 2016). Anders Konradsen fills a similar role as Ngando, but costs more, is lower rated, and has lower potential so I'll be looking to sell him on. Abdoulaye Doucore doesn't have great potential, but he has the ability to play in either the complete midfielder role or the ball winning midfielder role, so he adds some versatility to the team. I'll probably keep him with the team this season for depth purposes, but I probably won't re-sign him because of his low potential. I definitely need to get rid of Chris Baird at all costs at this point, as he's making 25,00/week and isn't even a suitable backup. That was a lesson on signing old dudes to long contracts, as I wasn't able to sell him last season because he refused to move unless I paid his wages.
From a youth/young player perspective, Kevin Papin and Mohamed Talib both made big improvements and look to be the defensive oriented midfielders of the future, and Jakob Anderson also has very high potential, though his current stats are real bad as a 15 year old. The rest of the prospects probably are the type that I'll keep around while they are cheap and then try to sell them once they are worth a little more.
[xtable=border:1|cellpadding:0|cellspacing:0]
{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}{col=117x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}
{tbody}
{tr}
{td}Team Status{/td}
{td}Player{/td}
{td}Age{/td}
{td}Best Position{/td}
{td}2nd Position{/td}
{td}Current Ability{/td}
{td}Potential Ability{/td}
{td}Salary{/td}
{td}Value{/td}
{td}Expires{/td}
{td}Role{/td}
{td}BTT Rating{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Tobias Strobl{/td}
{td}25{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}M{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}$14,500{/td}
{td}$4,300,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Ball Winning Midfield (S){/td}
{td}16.3{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Rotation{/td}
{td}Axel Ngando{/td}
{td}21{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$11,250{/td}
{td}$4,900,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Advanced Playmaker (A){/td}
{td}14{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Vincent Pajot{/td}
{td}24{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$14,750{/td}
{td}$9,000,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Deep Playmaker (S){/td}
{td}13.8{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Danilo Pereira{/td}
{td}23{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}DM/CB{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$30,000{/td}
{td}$6,500,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Box to Box (S){/td}
{td}13.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Sell?{/td}
{td}Anders Konradsen{/td}
{td}24{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$14,000{/td}
{td}$5,500,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Advanced Playmaker (A){/td}
{td}13.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Rotation{/td}
{td}Abdoulaye Doucoure{/td}
{td}22{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$17,750{/td}
{td}$7,750,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Box to Box (S){/td}
{td}13.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Backup{/td}
{td}Kevin Papin{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}M{/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$3,300{/td}
{td}$1,200,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Ball Winning Midfield (S){/td}
{td}12.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Sell?{/td}
{td}Chris Baird{/td}
{td}33{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}CB/RB{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}$25,000{/td}
{td}$300,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Ball Winning Midfield (S){/td}
{td}12.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Key Prospect{/td}
{td}Mohamed Taleb{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$3,400{/td}
{td}$1,100,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Anchor Man{/td}
{td}11.8{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Amadou Diouf{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$375,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Ball Winning Midfielder (S){/td}
{td}11.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Teimoue Bkayoko{/td}
{td}20{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}1{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}$1,100{/td}
{td}$130,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Ball Winning Midfielder (S){/td}
{td}11.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Daniele Ferrante{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$475,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Ball Winning Midfielder (S){/td}
{td}11.5{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Denis Will Poha{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}1{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$1,500{/td}
{td}$325,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Defensive Midfielder (D){/td}
{td}10.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Aymar Kalonji{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}0.75{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$85,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Ball Winning Midfielder (S){/td}
{td}10.3{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Jakob Anderson{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$550,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Ball Winning Midfielder (S){/td}
{td}9{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
Depending on what formation I decide to use, I'll either have 2 CM/CDM players or 3 CM/CDM type players. As such, I'd like to have at least 3 regular starter type players and then 2 more rotational players, making sure all the proper roles I like players to play are covered as well (I usually pair a play-maker with a ball winner in 2 CM set and us a play-maker/ball winner/complete midfielder combination in a 3 CM set). I currently have 6 players who are capable of playing at the Ligue1 level, so I might be looking to sell one of them if I get a fair price.
I was surprised to see that Tobias, the never-nude, had the highest BTT rating on the team but only a current ability/potential ability of 2.5. It will be interesting to see if my ASS corch is right in his evaluation of Tobias, or if my views are correct. He only got to play in cup matches last season because Mr. Manager fucked up his signing, but he looks like the type of ball-winning midfielder Mr. Manager wants on this team. Vincent Pajot and Danilo Periera were regular starters last year, in the playmaking and complete midfielder roles, respectively, and their BTT ratings jive pretty well with how they performed. Axel Ngando has a surprisingly high BTT rating (he's typically been out on loan) but I'll have to give him a try in a rotational capacity in the playmaking role before I decide if I want to sign him again (contract expires in 2016). Anders Konradsen fills a similar role as Ngando, but costs more, is lower rated, and has lower potential so I'll be looking to sell him on. Abdoulaye Doucore doesn't have great potential, but he has the ability to play in either the complete midfielder role or the ball winning midfielder role, so he adds some versatility to the team. I'll probably keep him with the team this season for depth purposes, but I probably won't re-sign him because of his low potential. I definitely need to get rid of Chris Baird at all costs at this point, as he's making 25,00/week and isn't even a suitable backup. That was a lesson on signing old dudes to long contracts, as I wasn't able to sell him last season because he refused to move unless I paid his wages.
From a youth/young player perspective, Kevin Papin and Mohamed Talib both made big improvements and look to be the defensive oriented midfielders of the future, and Jakob Anderson also has very high potential, though his current stats are real bad as a 15 year old. The rest of the prospects probably are the type that I'll keep around while they are cheap and then try to sell them once they are worth a little more.
[xtable=border:1|cellpadding:0|cellspacing:0]
{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}{col=117x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}
{tbody}
{tr}
{td}Team Status{/td}
{td}Player{/td}
{td}Age{/td}
{td}Best Position{/td}
{td}2nd Position{/td}
{td}Current Ability{/td}
{td}Potential Ability{/td}
{td}Salary{/td}
{td}Value{/td}
{td}Expires{/td}
{td}Role{/td}
{td}BTT Rating{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Tobias Strobl{/td}
{td}25{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}M{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}$14,500{/td}
{td}$4,300,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Ball Winning Midfield (S){/td}
{td}16.3{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Rotation{/td}
{td}Axel Ngando{/td}
{td}21{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$11,250{/td}
{td}$4,900,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Advanced Playmaker (A){/td}
{td}14{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Vincent Pajot{/td}
{td}24{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$14,750{/td}
{td}$9,000,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Deep Playmaker (S){/td}
{td}13.8{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Danilo Pereira{/td}
{td}23{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}DM/CB{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$30,000{/td}
{td}$6,500,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Box to Box (S){/td}
{td}13.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Sell?{/td}
{td}Anders Konradsen{/td}
{td}24{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$14,000{/td}
{td}$5,500,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Advanced Playmaker (A){/td}
{td}13.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Rotation{/td}
{td}Abdoulaye Doucoure{/td}
{td}22{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$17,750{/td}
{td}$7,750,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Box to Box (S){/td}
{td}13.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Backup{/td}
{td}Kevin Papin{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}M{/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$3,300{/td}
{td}$1,200,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Ball Winning Midfield (S){/td}
{td}12.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Sell?{/td}
{td}Chris Baird{/td}
{td}33{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}CB/RB{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}$25,000{/td}
{td}$300,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Ball Winning Midfield (S){/td}
{td}12.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Key Prospect{/td}
{td}Mohamed Taleb{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$3,400{/td}
{td}$1,100,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Anchor Man{/td}
{td}11.8{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Amadou Diouf{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$375,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Ball Winning Midfielder (S){/td}
{td}11.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Teimoue Bkayoko{/td}
{td}20{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}1{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}$1,100{/td}
{td}$130,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Ball Winning Midfielder (S){/td}
{td}11.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Daniele Ferrante{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$475,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Ball Winning Midfielder (S){/td}
{td}11.5{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Denis Will Poha{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}1{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$1,500{/td}
{td}$325,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Defensive Midfielder (D){/td}
{td}10.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Aymar Kalonji{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}DM{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}0.75{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$85,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Ball Winning Midfielder (S){/td}
{td}10.3{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Jakob Anderson{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$550,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Ball Winning Midfielder (S){/td}
{td}9{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
Attacking Midfielders
With a maximum of 3 available starting slots for the attacking midfielders, and several players with the versatility to play multiple positions, I realized that I'm probably carrying too many players at this position (There are a couple other CMs/STs who also have CAM listed as a secondary spot). I picked up Wijnaldum1 on a free transfer, even though the position wasn't a "need" at the time, because it was just a great opportunity to pick up a great player... but I'm thinking that means I should dump one of the other guys, because there is only so much playing time to go around. The obvious choice is to dump Alessandrini, since there always seems to be interest in him, I've never been super pleased with his play, and he's going to be on an expiring contract.
Anyway, Wijnaldum1, Fortunis, and Ntep are your 3 starting players. Alessiandrini will hopefully be sold. Davy Propper, Sadio Diallo, Ousmane Dembele, and Zana Allee are all young players with high potential ratings and enough ability to contribute on a rotational basis right now. I might look into selling Sadio Diallo, but I'm not sure yet. Yves Ambasssa (@Yankee151) looks like the only youth prospect who is going to be worth a damn, so I'm hoping this year's class will provide some better looking players. There are a couple of young (La)mongs on the list I'll look to sell or loan.
[xtable=border:1|cellpadding:0|cellspacing:0]
{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}{col=117x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}
{tbody}
{tr}
{td}Team Status{/td}
{td}Player{/td}
{td}Age{/td}
{td}Best Position{/td}
{td}2nd Position{/td}
{td}Current Ability{/td}
{td}Potential Ability{/td}
{td}Salary{/td}
{td}Value{/td}
{td}Expires{/td}
{td}Role{/td}
{td}BTT Rating{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}George Wijnaldum{/td}
{td}24{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}LAM/RAM{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$45,000{/td}
{td}$375,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Advanced Playmaker (A){/td}
{td}15.4{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Sell?{/td}
{td}Alessandrini{/td}
{td}26{/td}
{td}LAM{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$26,500{/td}
{td}$8,750,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Winger (S){/td}
{td}14.5{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Kostas Fortunis{/td}
{td}22{/td}
{td}RAM{/td}
{td}LAM/CAM{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$33,000{/td}
{td}$6,500,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Winger (S){/td}
{td}14.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Ntep{/td}
{td}22{/td}
{td}LAM{/td}
{td}RAM{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$32,000{/td}
{td}$9,750,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Winger (S){/td}
{td}14.1{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Rotation{/td}
{td}Davy Propper{/td}
{td}23{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$30,000{/td}
{td}$6,500,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Advanced Playmaker (A){/td}
{td}13.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Backup{/td}
{td}Sadio Diallo{/td}
{td}24{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$13,000{/td}
{td}$4,500,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Trequarista (A){/td}
{td}13.4{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Backup{/td}
{td}Ousmane Dembele{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}RAM{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$3,000{/td}
{td}$2,000,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Winger (S){/td}
{td}13.3{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Backup{/td}
{td}Zana Allee{/td}
{td}21{/td}
{td}LAM{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$10,750{/td}
{td}$1,900,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Winger (S){/td}
{td}12.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Key Prospect{/td}
{td}Yves Ambassa{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}RAM{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$4,000{/td}
{td}$1,800,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Winger (S){/td}
{td}11.6{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Maxime Etuin{/td}
{td}19{/td}
{td}RAM{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}1{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}$1,500{/td}
{td}$205,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Advanced Playmaker (A){/td}
{td}11.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Thibault Chretien{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}$775{/td}
{td}$400,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Trequarista (A){/td}
{td}11.1{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Patrice Razafindrakoto{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}LAM{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1.75{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$250,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Winger (S){/td}
{td}10.6{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Sebasetien Lamonge{/td}
{td}19{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}$825{/td}
{td}$61,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Trequarista (A){/td}
{td}10.5{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Esso Joudelyn Afougou{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}LAM{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$600,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Winger (S){/td}
{td}10.3{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Maxime Pierron{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}LAM, CM{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$525,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Trequarista (A){/td}
{td}9.3{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
With a maximum of 3 available starting slots for the attacking midfielders, and several players with the versatility to play multiple positions, I realized that I'm probably carrying too many players at this position (There are a couple other CMs/STs who also have CAM listed as a secondary spot). I picked up Wijnaldum1 on a free transfer, even though the position wasn't a "need" at the time, because it was just a great opportunity to pick up a great player... but I'm thinking that means I should dump one of the other guys, because there is only so much playing time to go around. The obvious choice is to dump Alessandrini, since there always seems to be interest in him, I've never been super pleased with his play, and he's going to be on an expiring contract.
Anyway, Wijnaldum1, Fortunis, and Ntep are your 3 starting players. Alessiandrini will hopefully be sold. Davy Propper, Sadio Diallo, Ousmane Dembele, and Zana Allee are all young players with high potential ratings and enough ability to contribute on a rotational basis right now. I might look into selling Sadio Diallo, but I'm not sure yet. Yves Ambasssa (@Yankee151) looks like the only youth prospect who is going to be worth a damn, so I'm hoping this year's class will provide some better looking players. There are a couple of young (La)mongs on the list I'll look to sell or loan.
[xtable=border:1|cellpadding:0|cellspacing:0]
{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}{col=117x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}
{tbody}
{tr}
{td}Team Status{/td}
{td}Player{/td}
{td}Age{/td}
{td}Best Position{/td}
{td}2nd Position{/td}
{td}Current Ability{/td}
{td}Potential Ability{/td}
{td}Salary{/td}
{td}Value{/td}
{td}Expires{/td}
{td}Role{/td}
{td}BTT Rating{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}George Wijnaldum{/td}
{td}24{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}LAM/RAM{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$45,000{/td}
{td}$375,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Advanced Playmaker (A){/td}
{td}15.4{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Sell?{/td}
{td}Alessandrini{/td}
{td}26{/td}
{td}LAM{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$26,500{/td}
{td}$8,750,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Winger (S){/td}
{td}14.5{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Kostas Fortunis{/td}
{td}22{/td}
{td}RAM{/td}
{td}LAM/CAM{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$33,000{/td}
{td}$6,500,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Winger (S){/td}
{td}14.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Ntep{/td}
{td}22{/td}
{td}LAM{/td}
{td}RAM{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$32,000{/td}
{td}$9,750,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Winger (S){/td}
{td}14.1{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Rotation{/td}
{td}Davy Propper{/td}
{td}23{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$30,000{/td}
{td}$6,500,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Advanced Playmaker (A){/td}
{td}13.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Backup{/td}
{td}Sadio Diallo{/td}
{td}24{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$13,000{/td}
{td}$4,500,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Trequarista (A){/td}
{td}13.4{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Backup{/td}
{td}Ousmane Dembele{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}RAM{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$3,000{/td}
{td}$2,000,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Winger (S){/td}
{td}13.3{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Backup{/td}
{td}Zana Allee{/td}
{td}21{/td}
{td}LAM{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$10,750{/td}
{td}$1,900,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Winger (S){/td}
{td}12.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Key Prospect{/td}
{td}Yves Ambassa{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}RAM{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4.5{/td}
{td}$4,000{/td}
{td}$1,800,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Winger (S){/td}
{td}11.6{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Maxime Etuin{/td}
{td}19{/td}
{td}RAM{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}1{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}$1,500{/td}
{td}$205,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Advanced Playmaker (A){/td}
{td}11.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Thibault Chretien{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}$775{/td}
{td}$400,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Trequarista (A){/td}
{td}11.1{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Patrice Razafindrakoto{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}LAM{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1.75{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$250,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Winger (S){/td}
{td}10.6{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Sebasetien Lamonge{/td}
{td}19{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}$825{/td}
{td}$61,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Trequarista (A){/td}
{td}10.5{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Esso Joudelyn Afougou{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}LAM{/td}
{td}CM{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$600,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Winger (S){/td}
{td}10.3{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Maxime Pierron{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}LAM, CM{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$525,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Trequarista (A){/td}
{td}9.3{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
Strikers Review
This is an interesting position, because I already have 3 players with the BTT ratings to contribute at a high level (Zaza,Kleber,Diarra) and another (Sane) who is good enough to be a rotational player, but I think I'm going to add another striker. Last year the lack of depth is primarily why I stuck with the single striker formation and I ended up having to play Diarra more than expected (though he did well) as both Kleber and Zaza spent significant time out due to injury. I also wasn't in love with the way Zaza produced in the Striker role, and thought he played better in a CAM spot. That all leaves me wanted to add another striker and also explore 2 striker formations where Zaza might perform better than he did in the single striker role. Really, I think I just want a super-star type player who I can always count on to score goals when he's provided good service, and I don't think I have that right now.
Kleber will be the main starter, as I thought he did well in a target man role when healthy last season. I also have Zaza penciled in as a starter, but I'm not sure whether he'll split time with Kleber or play in the CAM role. I expect Diarra to push for time like he did last season, especially if I go to a 2 striker formation. If I bring in another striker, I plan on selling Abdoulaye Sane (contract expires, and lower potential). I have several very good young players all under 20 years old, with very high potential, i (Donato de donno, Kevin Bercot, Wesley Said, Dadjiri Konate, Jean-Jaques Malval, Michale Bouvet, and Gwen Pichon). As the oldest of that bunch, and with a contract expiring this season, it might make a lot of sense to sell Wesley Said (plus his role doesn't really fit what I want). Then, as with all other positions, there are some other shit-heads who I'll have to find something to do with.
[xtable=skin1|border:1|cellpadding:0|cellspacing:0]
{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=125x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=149x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}
{tbody}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Simone Zaza{/td}
{td}23{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$35,000{/td}
{td}$6,750,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Poacher{/td}
{td}14.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Kleber{/td}
{td}25{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}$30,000{/td}
{td}$5,750,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Target Man (A){/td}
{td}14.1{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Rotation{/td}
{td}Cheick Diarra{/td}
{td}23{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$11,750{/td}
{td}$7,500,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}13.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Sell?{/td}
{td}Abdoulaye Sane{/td}
{td}22{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$12,750{/td}
{td}$2,100,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}13.1{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Key Prospect{/td}
{td}Donato De Donno{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}LAM{/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$6,250{/td}
{td}$1,300,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}12.6{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Sell?{/td}
{td}Kevin Bercot{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$800{/td}
{td}$850,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}11.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Sell?{/td}
{td}Wesley Said{/td}
{td}20{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$1,100{/td}
{td}$1,000,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Deep Lying Forward (A){/td}
{td}11.8{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Key Prospect{/td}
{td}Dadjiri Konate{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}LAM{/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$2,000,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}11.5{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Jean-Jaques Malval{/td}
{td}14{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}RAM{/td}
{td}1{/td}
{td}5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$2,000,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}10.4{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Alejandro Ortiz{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$450,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}10.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Sell?{/td}
{td}Philippe Richard{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}RAM, LAM{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$2,000{/td}
{td}$600,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Advanced Forward (A){/td}
{td}10.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Michael Bouvet{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$1,000,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}9.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Gwen Pichon{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$525,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}9.4{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Alexandre Marechal{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.8{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$725,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}8{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
This is an interesting position, because I already have 3 players with the BTT ratings to contribute at a high level (Zaza,Kleber,Diarra) and another (Sane) who is good enough to be a rotational player, but I think I'm going to add another striker. Last year the lack of depth is primarily why I stuck with the single striker formation and I ended up having to play Diarra more than expected (though he did well) as both Kleber and Zaza spent significant time out due to injury. I also wasn't in love with the way Zaza produced in the Striker role, and thought he played better in a CAM spot. That all leaves me wanted to add another striker and also explore 2 striker formations where Zaza might perform better than he did in the single striker role. Really, I think I just want a super-star type player who I can always count on to score goals when he's provided good service, and I don't think I have that right now.
Kleber will be the main starter, as I thought he did well in a target man role when healthy last season. I also have Zaza penciled in as a starter, but I'm not sure whether he'll split time with Kleber or play in the CAM role. I expect Diarra to push for time like he did last season, especially if I go to a 2 striker formation. If I bring in another striker, I plan on selling Abdoulaye Sane (contract expires, and lower potential). I have several very good young players all under 20 years old, with very high potential, i (Donato de donno, Kevin Bercot, Wesley Said, Dadjiri Konate, Jean-Jaques Malval, Michale Bouvet, and Gwen Pichon). As the oldest of that bunch, and with a contract expiring this season, it might make a lot of sense to sell Wesley Said (plus his role doesn't really fit what I want). Then, as with all other positions, there are some other shit-heads who I'll have to find something to do with.
[xtable=skin1|border:1|cellpadding:0|cellspacing:0]
{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=125x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=149x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}{colgroup}
{col=100x@}{/col}
{/colgroup}
{tbody}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Simone Zaza{/td}
{td}23{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$35,000{/td}
{td}$6,750,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Poacher{/td}
{td}14.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Starter{/td}
{td}Kleber{/td}
{td}25{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}3{/td}
{td}$30,000{/td}
{td}$5,750,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Target Man (A){/td}
{td}14.1{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Rotation{/td}
{td}Cheick Diarra{/td}
{td}23{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}2.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$11,750{/td}
{td}$7,500,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}13.7{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Sell?{/td}
{td}Abdoulaye Sane{/td}
{td}22{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}2{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$12,750{/td}
{td}$2,100,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}13.1{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Key Prospect{/td}
{td}Donato De Donno{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}LAM{/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$6,250{/td}
{td}$1,300,000{/td}
{td}2018{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}12.6{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Sell?{/td}
{td}Kevin Bercot{/td}
{td}18{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$800{/td}
{td}$850,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}11.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Sell?{/td}
{td}Wesley Said{/td}
{td}20{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$1,100{/td}
{td}$1,000,000{/td}
{td}2016{/td}
{td}Deep Lying Forward (A){/td}
{td}11.8{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Key Prospect{/td}
{td}Dadjiri Konate{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}LAM{/td}
{td}1.5{/td}
{td}5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$2,000,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}11.5{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Jean-Jaques Malval{/td}
{td}14{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}RAM{/td}
{td}1{/td}
{td}5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$2,000,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}10.4{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Alejandro Ortiz{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$450,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}10.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Sell?{/td}
{td}Philippe Richard{/td}
{td}16{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}RAM, LAM{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$2,000{/td}
{td}$600,000{/td}
{td}2017{/td}
{td}Advanced Forward (A){/td}
{td}10.2{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Michael Bouvet{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$1,000,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}9.9{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Solid Prospect{/td}
{td}Gwen Pichon{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td}CAM{/td}
{td}0.95{/td}
{td}4{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$525,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}9.4{/td}
{/tr}
{tr}
{td}Not Needed{/td}
{td}Alexandre Marechal{/td}
{td}15{/td}
{td}ST{/td}
{td} {/td}
{td}0.8{/td}
{td}3.5{/td}
{td}$95{/td}
{td}$725,000{/td}
{td}2019{/td}
{td}Poacher (A){/td}
{td}8{/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]
Last edited:
Transfer Window Plan
As expected before going through the comprehensive team review, I don't really have any true "needs" because I think I did a good job addressing the obvious needs by securing free transfers on expiring contracts. That being said, I could still use another starting caliber central defender and I'd also like a star striker as well. As for outgoing moves, the one major player I intend to sell is Alessiandrini. Beyond that, I'll be offerring all of the other "sell?" and "Not Needed" players who are on pro-contracts for sale or loan. Hopefully I'll be able to sell a bunch of those guys and then loan out the remainder to really cut the wage budget this year!
As expected before going through the comprehensive team review, I don't really have any true "needs" because I think I did a good job addressing the obvious needs by securing free transfers on expiring contracts. That being said, I could still use another starting caliber central defender and I'd also like a star striker as well. As for outgoing moves, the one major player I intend to sell is Alessiandrini. Beyond that, I'll be offerring all of the other "sell?" and "Not Needed" players who are on pro-contracts for sale or loan. Hopefully I'll be able to sell a bunch of those guys and then loan out the remainder to really cut the wage budget this year!
SUMMER TRANSFER MADNESS PART 1!
With a firm game plan in place, Mr. Manager hit the transfer market with great fury. Players are being traded like Pokemon cards, his God-like mind is like a steel trap, compiling wages and balancing payments in order to rapidly make the moves this team needs for success. Here are the players who moved during the first week of the transfer window!
Out:
In:
With a firm game plan in place, Mr. Manager hit the transfer market with great fury. Players are being traded like Pokemon cards, his God-like mind is like a steel trap, compiling wages and balancing payments in order to rapidly make the moves this team needs for success. Here are the players who moved during the first week of the transfer window!
Out:
In:
Last edited:
Welcome Michy Batshuayi and Stefan de Vrij
Mr. Manager wasted no time bringing in the players he wanted at the CB and ST postions. Michy Batshuayi already has the ability to make an impact on the team immediately and he has even better potential. Stefan de Vrij will give the team another starting caliber CB that they'll need in order to compete in what should be a better run in the Champion's League this season.
As you can see below, Michy Batshuay already has awesome ratings for an attacking player, and he should only get better as his potential upside is huge. He's the type of player who can function as a complete forward, which is a rare skillset. Mr. Manager paid the release clause of 10.5M for Batshay, making it the largest transfer fee paid by Mr. Manager yet, but other strikers of his ability/age were all significantly more expensive. The best part is Mr. Manager was able to sign him for a relatively affordable wage of $45k/week, which was less than anticipated. Mr. Manager figured he'd need to be paying $60k/week for a super star striker!
Stefan de Vrij is a well rounded Central defender, and he'll be able to step in immediately and compete for a starting spot for Stade Rennais. With his addition, Stade Rennais will now have 4 competent Central Defenders, which will be neccesary for a grueling schedule featuring Ligue 1, Champions League, and 2 domestic cup competitions. Mr. Manager is especially excited about his high mental ratings and 16 tackling rating. He should pair perfectly with a dumber but more athletic defender. With a $4Million transfer fee paid and $33k/week he's a solid value for such a good young player with high potential.
Mr. Manager wasted no time bringing in the players he wanted at the CB and ST postions. Michy Batshuayi already has the ability to make an impact on the team immediately and he has even better potential. Stefan de Vrij will give the team another starting caliber CB that they'll need in order to compete in what should be a better run in the Champion's League this season.
As you can see below, Michy Batshuay already has awesome ratings for an attacking player, and he should only get better as his potential upside is huge. He's the type of player who can function as a complete forward, which is a rare skillset. Mr. Manager paid the release clause of 10.5M for Batshay, making it the largest transfer fee paid by Mr. Manager yet, but other strikers of his ability/age were all significantly more expensive. The best part is Mr. Manager was able to sign him for a relatively affordable wage of $45k/week, which was less than anticipated. Mr. Manager figured he'd need to be paying $60k/week for a super star striker!
Stefan de Vrij is a well rounded Central defender, and he'll be able to step in immediately and compete for a starting spot for Stade Rennais. With his addition, Stade Rennais will now have 4 competent Central Defenders, which will be neccesary for a grueling schedule featuring Ligue 1, Champions League, and 2 domestic cup competitions. Mr. Manager is especially excited about his high mental ratings and 16 tackling rating. He should pair perfectly with a dumber but more athletic defender. With a $4Million transfer fee paid and $33k/week he's a solid value for such a good young player with high potential.
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