Developing a club, a philosophy and becoming the next "Barcelona"
Today I am embarking on a new project of my football manager story, ever since the good ol' days of plugging in a DIABLO, to the more recent days of the GRID, I have been highly involved in creating tactics which can either beat the match engine or in FM14 provide a solid defence which ensures consistent results no matter the team. Now I am not the best at writing stories, or scenario's our analytics so do not expect no master class in tactical break downs, theoretical parses etc, but I will do my best to try to explain what I am doing as I go.
This new project is not about building the perfect Barcelona tactic, however the philosophies and similarities will be in place so that it is going to resemble or even replicate my personal observations of the Barcelona squad and how they should play, that being said this is more about the club, and developing it in a way which will provide the foundations which will provide long term success and stability whilst entertaining the supporters who watch the team play.
You might also be asking why this is being posted into the tactics sub forum and not into stories or scenario's?
The answer that you are looking for is, as a tactics creator I see many a post by the player in the various threads from the excellent creators we have here on fm-base. These posts are along the lines of
" I used your tactic with XYZ team, I got beat most games, tactic was fully fluid your tactic sucks"
These players have never developed a squad into one which will suit any of the tactics and have just flamed the creator who has selflessly put hours, some even months into perfecting a tactic. I am hoping these players see this and realize no matter how good a tactic is, you need to squad to use it successfully and begin spending time on the tactics before flaming the aforementioned creators.
Club and Facilities
Let's begin with the club, however irrelevant the starting club is as this project is about the end product which dependant on club choice will take years to complete. The aim is to have a club which has the youth and recruitment network which is able to produce its own stars, by own stars I mean players who come to the club at a young age, either bought in or recruited straight to the youth academy that come through the ranks and become first team regulars. I am going to do this with Newcastle United a team with a decent squad, decent fan base and decent facilities. This all sounds very decent doesn't it?
So, how do we turn Newcastle United, an average team from the English Premier League into one of the biggest and most successful clubs in world football?
from the roots of course,
View attachment 376278
the facilities at the club are of a good level, players will come through and progress, but will the ever be world superstars? maybe one in every Alan Shearer? This part affects first season signings, wages and the eventual bonuses I am able to offer my squad, but will benefit the club more so in the future by providing better youths, better training etc. This should be a no brainer to any FM player and that is why I'm only touching on this part of the game. For now the stadium will work but will we need a bigger one maybe 5-10 years down the line when we are a bigger better club?
Training
Training is key however it is more than limited in football manager with what we can actually put our fingers into, for now we get the best coaches we can. unfortunately at Newcastle in the first season we are limited to 9 staff members,
View attachment 376277
this does cover what we need for the first team but the under 21's and under18's training is severely hurt, however there are no prospects there at this time I am interested in developing so this is disappointing but not too important and will be improved upon later in the project. A youth development officer with the right personality and attributes will be key to getting the right youth's in. So for now training will focus on senior players and attributes I feel we lack in the right positions for the tactic which will be implemented. I use positional role training for individual players looking at key attributes which I want the players to develop, more so than the role in which they will be playing.
This is what I have set this up as
View attachment 376276
Now Newcastle do not have Barcelona style players so it is important we recruit well in the coming seasons I don't know if you noticed in the training image above that I was able to sell the target man type player shola ameobi and also terminated de jong's loan deal. I signed one player who I think will be the most important player in developing the playing squad to follow the Barcelona style of play, some of you may look at Xavi and Iniesta as the key to how Barcelona play and you may be right, however I see a different Barcelona with and without Messi. No I did not sign Messi for Newcastle that would be insane, however I did sign someone who I feel can become the next Messi, at least in this version of football manager; Angel Correa
View attachment 376275
The rest of the squad at this time is eventually going to be replaced so I won't look into these players too much, however the development of Correa is something I will monitor quite closely, I am starting him on an advanced playmaker schedule, however he will fill the trequartista role in the team on a rotational basis with Ben Arfa. He may on occasion cover the left wing position which is also set to advanced playmaker.
Team training and Match preparation training is not something I am going to write about, it is personal choice and doesn't tie in with what I am hoping to achieve during this project.
The Tactic
I know a lot of people (if anyone actually reads this thread) will be thinking why Barcelona there are other tactics there already for tika taka, Barcelona, Ajax etc and this will be the only interesting part, to find out if it is possible to re-create the perfect Barcelona tactic. As mentioned earlier this is my own observations and representations of the squad at Barcelona and how I think it should have been set up and have translated this into game as much as possible.
I think this is simple, I want to win the possession battle, whilst creating as much goal scoring opportunities as possible, I know neither of these things might come till alot later in the development of the club and the tactic however this is the basics of where I am at.
The tactic looks like this:
View attachment 376274
I feel it is self explainitory, though things you may find unusual
An Attacking playmaker on the left wing: This should be iniesta's role, I see him in the type of area's where this player in FM seems to show up. The ball sticks to him like glue and his passing is immaculate. There is no room for wingers in my opinion.
The above opens space for Fabregas who I think is the perfect example of a box to box midfielder, he may not be the Yaya Toure type of monster, but I think this role fits him absolutely perfect.
The Trequartista off centre is the Messi role, this is where I hope Correa will shine, and score plenty goals as he partners up with the Deeplying forward "Neymar". The Treq in this position opens up the space for the advanced wing back on the right to provide more width and stretch teams.
I have not touched set pieces at all at this time, I may introduce possession based settings for these at a later date.
Season by Season
player development;
to be updated season season by season as the right players are bought in
Correa - given advanced playmaker individual training for this season
beginning of season 2013-2014
View attachment 376275
End of Season 2013-2014
View attachment 375561
Fierro - in an attempt to improve his passing, creativity whilst still improving the finishing, off the ball and composure I will be placing fierro on the Trequartista schedule for the remainder of this season.
january of season 2013-2014
View attachment 375633
end of season 2013-2014
View attachment 375560
Lucas Silva - Training schedule half back
January of season 2013-2014
View attachment 375632
end of season 2013-2014
View attachment 375559
results-
as above in terms of results, some matches may be discussed in detail here. for now I want to get on with playing.
2013-2014
View attachment 375571View attachment 375569View attachment 375568
So the first season of this project is complete, a 7th place finish is not the best a Newcastle save can achieve, however we are playing a completely different style of football than what the team is actually capable of, this lead to some shaky results. There were alot of positives to be taken from the season, the possession football played was excellent averaging a minimum of 60% both home and away. There were lots of chances created, although not taken even in the games which were lost. It was unfortunate that we were drawn against a chelsea side which completed the treble in both cups, loosing out only 1-0 in the semi final of the FA cup. I consider the business done in the transfer market a success as I managed to bring in 3 of my 5 targets throughout the season relatively cheap. Hopefully next season we progress into europe and get some of those results from the games which we should have won.
Identifying Transfer targets:
I have gone through my squad and identified the key area's I feel that can be improved early with reasonably cheap options, I have no rotation option for Tiote at the half back position Therefor I have scouted and started bidding for Lucas Silva a 20 year old Brazilian defensive midfielder with bags of potential.
View attachment 375940
Other players I feel fit the bill are a long term pair of centre backs balanta and Umtiti seem to suit the tactic having good technical ability along with massive potential however may end up too expensive but we'll see what happens there.
View attachment 375939View attachment 375938
I am also considering Carlos Fierro for the deeplying forward position, however I may try to develop adam campbell if his potential lives up to earlier patches in this save.
Transfers Completed:
After being very dissappointed with the valuation clubs had put on the key transfers identified I worked my way down the list starting with lucas silva, his club asked for an initial ?42m for this young player? This was negotiated down to ?28m however this was never going to be affordable for Newcastle in the first season. similar issues with the other options available however Fierro came in at a reasonable ?8m when you consider this kids potential I could not resist splashing the cash on him.
View attachment 375633
This signing means that the two main attacking threats in the squad have been brought in so far and will be developed hopefully to become a fantastic pair, check his development in the earlier section.
It finally happened, Cruzeiro accepted a 7.5m bid for Lucas Silva, so I had to get in there and compete for his signature, this meant the termination of Loic Remy's loan deal though, however he only scored 2 goals in 12 games which isnt good enough and has contributed to a poor run of form. Lucas Silva will be developed as Tiote's long term replacement and will fill shield the defense and help us recycle possession.
View attachment 375632
This concludes all business done within the first season. I have spent alot of money on three outstanding prospects which will develop into part of the core of the team for the next 7-10 years.
As I progress my save I will add more to the initial post and possibly further posts if required. Thanks anyone who is interested in this type of thing
and apologies for the wall of text xD
Today I am embarking on a new project of my football manager story, ever since the good ol' days of plugging in a DIABLO, to the more recent days of the GRID, I have been highly involved in creating tactics which can either beat the match engine or in FM14 provide a solid defence which ensures consistent results no matter the team. Now I am not the best at writing stories, or scenario's our analytics so do not expect no master class in tactical break downs, theoretical parses etc, but I will do my best to try to explain what I am doing as I go.
This new project is not about building the perfect Barcelona tactic, however the philosophies and similarities will be in place so that it is going to resemble or even replicate my personal observations of the Barcelona squad and how they should play, that being said this is more about the club, and developing it in a way which will provide the foundations which will provide long term success and stability whilst entertaining the supporters who watch the team play.
You might also be asking why this is being posted into the tactics sub forum and not into stories or scenario's?
The answer that you are looking for is, as a tactics creator I see many a post by the player in the various threads from the excellent creators we have here on fm-base. These posts are along the lines of
" I used your tactic with XYZ team, I got beat most games, tactic was fully fluid your tactic sucks"
These players have never developed a squad into one which will suit any of the tactics and have just flamed the creator who has selflessly put hours, some even months into perfecting a tactic. I am hoping these players see this and realize no matter how good a tactic is, you need to squad to use it successfully and begin spending time on the tactics before flaming the aforementioned creators.
Club and Facilities
Let's begin with the club, however irrelevant the starting club is as this project is about the end product which dependant on club choice will take years to complete. The aim is to have a club which has the youth and recruitment network which is able to produce its own stars, by own stars I mean players who come to the club at a young age, either bought in or recruited straight to the youth academy that come through the ranks and become first team regulars. I am going to do this with Newcastle United a team with a decent squad, decent fan base and decent facilities. This all sounds very decent doesn't it?
So, how do we turn Newcastle United, an average team from the English Premier League into one of the biggest and most successful clubs in world football?
from the roots of course,
View attachment 376278
the facilities at the club are of a good level, players will come through and progress, but will the ever be world superstars? maybe one in every Alan Shearer? This part affects first season signings, wages and the eventual bonuses I am able to offer my squad, but will benefit the club more so in the future by providing better youths, better training etc. This should be a no brainer to any FM player and that is why I'm only touching on this part of the game. For now the stadium will work but will we need a bigger one maybe 5-10 years down the line when we are a bigger better club?
Training
Training is key however it is more than limited in football manager with what we can actually put our fingers into, for now we get the best coaches we can. unfortunately at Newcastle in the first season we are limited to 9 staff members,
View attachment 376277
this does cover what we need for the first team but the under 21's and under18's training is severely hurt, however there are no prospects there at this time I am interested in developing so this is disappointing but not too important and will be improved upon later in the project. A youth development officer with the right personality and attributes will be key to getting the right youth's in. So for now training will focus on senior players and attributes I feel we lack in the right positions for the tactic which will be implemented. I use positional role training for individual players looking at key attributes which I want the players to develop, more so than the role in which they will be playing.
This is what I have set this up as
View attachment 376276
Now Newcastle do not have Barcelona style players so it is important we recruit well in the coming seasons I don't know if you noticed in the training image above that I was able to sell the target man type player shola ameobi and also terminated de jong's loan deal. I signed one player who I think will be the most important player in developing the playing squad to follow the Barcelona style of play, some of you may look at Xavi and Iniesta as the key to how Barcelona play and you may be right, however I see a different Barcelona with and without Messi. No I did not sign Messi for Newcastle that would be insane, however I did sign someone who I feel can become the next Messi, at least in this version of football manager; Angel Correa
View attachment 376275
The rest of the squad at this time is eventually going to be replaced so I won't look into these players too much, however the development of Correa is something I will monitor quite closely, I am starting him on an advanced playmaker schedule, however he will fill the trequartista role in the team on a rotational basis with Ben Arfa. He may on occasion cover the left wing position which is also set to advanced playmaker.
Team training and Match preparation training is not something I am going to write about, it is personal choice and doesn't tie in with what I am hoping to achieve during this project.
The Tactic
I know a lot of people (if anyone actually reads this thread) will be thinking why Barcelona there are other tactics there already for tika taka, Barcelona, Ajax etc and this will be the only interesting part, to find out if it is possible to re-create the perfect Barcelona tactic. As mentioned earlier this is my own observations and representations of the squad at Barcelona and how I think it should have been set up and have translated this into game as much as possible.
I think this is simple, I want to win the possession battle, whilst creating as much goal scoring opportunities as possible, I know neither of these things might come till alot later in the development of the club and the tactic however this is the basics of where I am at.
The tactic looks like this:
View attachment 376274
I feel it is self explainitory, though things you may find unusual
An Attacking playmaker on the left wing: This should be iniesta's role, I see him in the type of area's where this player in FM seems to show up. The ball sticks to him like glue and his passing is immaculate. There is no room for wingers in my opinion.
The above opens space for Fabregas who I think is the perfect example of a box to box midfielder, he may not be the Yaya Toure type of monster, but I think this role fits him absolutely perfect.
The Trequartista off centre is the Messi role, this is where I hope Correa will shine, and score plenty goals as he partners up with the Deeplying forward "Neymar". The Treq in this position opens up the space for the advanced wing back on the right to provide more width and stretch teams.
I have not touched set pieces at all at this time, I may introduce possession based settings for these at a later date.
Season by Season
player development;
to be updated season season by season as the right players are bought in
Correa - given advanced playmaker individual training for this season
beginning of season 2013-2014
View attachment 376275
End of Season 2013-2014
View attachment 375561
Fierro - in an attempt to improve his passing, creativity whilst still improving the finishing, off the ball and composure I will be placing fierro on the Trequartista schedule for the remainder of this season.
january of season 2013-2014
View attachment 375633
end of season 2013-2014
View attachment 375560
Lucas Silva - Training schedule half back
January of season 2013-2014
View attachment 375632
end of season 2013-2014
View attachment 375559
results-
as above in terms of results, some matches may be discussed in detail here. for now I want to get on with playing.
2013-2014
View attachment 375571View attachment 375569View attachment 375568
So the first season of this project is complete, a 7th place finish is not the best a Newcastle save can achieve, however we are playing a completely different style of football than what the team is actually capable of, this lead to some shaky results. There were alot of positives to be taken from the season, the possession football played was excellent averaging a minimum of 60% both home and away. There were lots of chances created, although not taken even in the games which were lost. It was unfortunate that we were drawn against a chelsea side which completed the treble in both cups, loosing out only 1-0 in the semi final of the FA cup. I consider the business done in the transfer market a success as I managed to bring in 3 of my 5 targets throughout the season relatively cheap. Hopefully next season we progress into europe and get some of those results from the games which we should have won.
Identifying Transfer targets:
I have gone through my squad and identified the key area's I feel that can be improved early with reasonably cheap options, I have no rotation option for Tiote at the half back position Therefor I have scouted and started bidding for Lucas Silva a 20 year old Brazilian defensive midfielder with bags of potential.
View attachment 375940
Other players I feel fit the bill are a long term pair of centre backs balanta and Umtiti seem to suit the tactic having good technical ability along with massive potential however may end up too expensive but we'll see what happens there.
View attachment 375939View attachment 375938
I am also considering Carlos Fierro for the deeplying forward position, however I may try to develop adam campbell if his potential lives up to earlier patches in this save.
Transfers Completed:
After being very dissappointed with the valuation clubs had put on the key transfers identified I worked my way down the list starting with lucas silva, his club asked for an initial ?42m for this young player? This was negotiated down to ?28m however this was never going to be affordable for Newcastle in the first season. similar issues with the other options available however Fierro came in at a reasonable ?8m when you consider this kids potential I could not resist splashing the cash on him.
View attachment 375633
This signing means that the two main attacking threats in the squad have been brought in so far and will be developed hopefully to become a fantastic pair, check his development in the earlier section.
It finally happened, Cruzeiro accepted a 7.5m bid for Lucas Silva, so I had to get in there and compete for his signature, this meant the termination of Loic Remy's loan deal though, however he only scored 2 goals in 12 games which isnt good enough and has contributed to a poor run of form. Lucas Silva will be developed as Tiote's long term replacement and will fill shield the defense and help us recycle possession.
View attachment 375632
This concludes all business done within the first season. I have spent alot of money on three outstanding prospects which will develop into part of the core of the team for the next 7-10 years.
As I progress my save I will add more to the initial post and possibly further posts if required. Thanks anyone who is interested in this type of thing
and apologies for the wall of text xD
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