Aberystwyth Town--Defend Sextuple Challenge

[Portiere]

[Portiere]

A sextuple is hard for any team to pull off, not least a team from Wales that, despite sustained success, would always have lower budgets and players want to play in a stronger league. I thought that after I’d won all six competitions—Champions League, Club World Cup, European Super Cup, Welsh League, Welsh Premier Cup, and Welsh cup with Aberystwyth Town that I would retire a legend after more than 25 seasons building up Aberystwyth Town from an amateur team into a real contender, with the stadium named after me. But something about this made me think that defending all of these titles would be more difficult than winning them, especially since I had an easy CL and I was forced to sell my best player after he refused to renew his contact. And so I decided I would chronicle this single season attempt, though I doubt I’ll provide the entertainment value of some of the great FM posters like Izulde’s legendary diatribes (as he clearly inspired me, I’ll be sure to sneak in some references).
The goal is to defend all six competitions. If I fail at any, I must resign and the dynasty is over.

Competitions by degree of difficulty:
1) Champions League
I have one of the best squads I’ve ever assembled in FM. But even so, a number of teams are probably better on paper, and a tough draw can make winning the CL a beast for any side

2) Club World Cup
Having to play a strong Mexican team like Club America followed by a top team from Brazil or Argentina is not an easy task, especially since FM 15 usually has the Euro team play with a day’s less rest.

3) European Super Cup
A one off at the start of the season against the Europa League winners who are no other than Man United—this might be over before it starts.

4) Welsh Premier Cup
Yes, the Welsh league is still a joke. But the Premier league cup always plays the semifinal during an international window. Last year, my two Brazilians were not part of the national team picture, and won the tie for me. This year, however, they’ve both made their international debuts, unfortunately. I’m hope I’ll have a few players that I can withdraw from intl friendlies, but as it’s a World Cup year in 2042, a lot of the team will be away at important qualifiers. At least since Germany is hosting I’ll have my star German keeper, maybe he can win it all by himself…

5) The Welsh League and Cup
Not serious challenges, I will vacation these except perhaps the Cup final.

In the next post, I’ll introduce you to the Aberystwyth Town squad.

[Portiere]

This is really one of the finest teams I’ve ever been able to put together in FM, even with teams that have bigger budgets. The standard for my 20current/18potential assistant is that 2 ½ stars can equal world class, though this is perhaps a bit generous. Really the only thing I would buy if I had $$, which I don’t, is an all-world striker. In fact, I’ve only bought one player this year, for 16 mil US, not counting some very cheap youth buys. I’ve raised nearly 50 mil selling. This is a little low, as most years I need to make 50 million or so for us to break even on our wage bill, which is at most 2 million/week and ideally would be closer to 1.5 (big clubs in Spain, England, Germany, Italy, and France will be in the 5-6 million/week range, for example. In practice, except if transfer listed or free, this means I can never buy a player from the top five leagues). I’ve been able to keep players on about 1/2 the wages they could command elsewhere, out of loyalty to me and the club I guess, as well as always signing players to long term contracts, so I can wait out interest from other clubs. One thing that really charactarizes this team is high determination--3 players with 20, 1 with 19, and only 2 players with any role in the first team below 13.

Our formation is a 4-4-2, but with no wingers. 2 CBs, 2 attacking wingbacks, 1 DM 1 CM playmaker, 2 AM, and 2 strikers. If losing, we might play with 3 AMs, if protecting a lead, with 2 DMs. Sometimes we counter, pressing all over, sometimes we control, still pressing.

Strikers

My top two strikers are a pair of 23 year South Americans. Gonçalves is a Brazilian international who is class all around, rated at 3 ½ stars. He teams up with William Freire, a 3 star from Equador who’s only real weakness is wimpy jumping (and has 20 determination). Three Eastern Europeans, 26 year old Tomasz Sadzawicki, a Polish international who captains the side, Jan Drabek, a Czech star who at 28 is the longest serving player at Aber Town (20 determination), and 29 year old Croatian Domagoj Pukljak, who can also fill in at AMID, are the subs/rotation starters. They are assessed at 2 ½ stars and “world class” though this is a stretch but only a small one-last year, I sold a 23 year old Brazilian who didn’t measure up to my number 5 striker (and couldn’t manage a work permit) for 48 million dollars. 27 year old Swedish international Samuel Larsson, equally good here or at AM, vacillates between 2 and 2 ½ stars and is very much a backup player. 17 year Charis Kamariaris might be good some day, but is very much a development project

Amids

Here we have three players who are 3 ½ or perhaps 4 stars and all elite players, 29 year old Dutch star Patrick Peters, possibly the best all-around attacking player on the team, 23 year old Brazilian wizard Sócrates, and Dutch wonderkid Yassine Nouri, who just turned 22. Nouri and Peters can also play CM. These guys area individually capable of dominating a game via their finishing and chance creation, and Peters is also a dominate player in the air, a rarity for an AM. Nouri and Sócrates joined last year, while Peters has made a long career out of scoring big goals (19 determination), especially when the team is behind in a big game. In addition to Larson, 28 year old Greek international Dimitris Nakas is the backup here, also between 2 and 2 ½ stars, probably a bit better than Larson. He can fill in at CM.

CM/DM

Three key players here. Argentine Matías Valeri may be 31, but I just turned down a bit for 30 million for him. A 3 ½ star player, he’s a great creator, and highly skilled in pretty much every thing except aerial battles. His 28 year old countryman Nicolás Barrientos is a similar player but not quite as good at 3 stars. 24 year American Tommy Tyrpak is in contrast a dominate athlete, fast, strong, excellent in the air, but only pretty good technically, for 3 stars. All three players can play both positions. Normally, I would play Typak as a ball winning DM and Valeri as a creative CM or Valeri as DM and Barrientos at CM. In terms of backups, in addition to a defender who can cover DM, 22 year old Pole Karol Fieden is 2 stars at CM and can play AM in a pinch. 24 year old Magro is a Brazilian back from three years on loan in Spain with a Spanish passport. A 1 star player, he is not nearly as good as I’d hoped four years ago, but an ok back up at DM. Danish 17 year old Søren Bormann is strictly for development. A young South African, Jason Timm, is also 1 star and play CM and can also help at DM. He will stick around at least the first half of the season

Defenders

Probably the side’s strength despite losing our best player, Larse Lohse (fortunately, this name won't come up in the CL narrative, since the team he signed for collapsed to finish 5th), a “legendary center back” who refused to sign a new contract at the club. 25 year old CB Rasmus Håheim, a Norwegian international, rates 4 ½ stars and is a dominant defender in pretty much every way, including in the air, despite being only 5’11. 22 year old Gilles Vandevelde, who can play CB or LB, is nearly as good, coming in at 4 stars. His teammate for Belgium, 26 year old CB (cover at DM) Julle Makengo, is also of about the same caliber, coming in at 3 ½ stars (and 20 determination) as does RB Jacob Flynn, who fought his way onto a very strong England side. Two more 3 star players, US international Arturo Galván, who can play LB and CB, and RB Fidel Camino, round out the top group of defenders. LB Erwin Bosma, who players for Holland and can cover at RB, is 2 ½ stars and also still considered world class. 19 year old Karim Vervaet has already been capped for Belgium, and can play anywhere along the backline. At 1 ½ stars and rising, he will get some serious time this year. 17 year old Craig Blackwell is not developing as hoped, and will probably only be CB/LB filler (but home grown filler).

GK

A one man show. German international Marius Kluft is the highest paid player on the squad, and one of the best keepers in the world. His only weakness is that he is a bit slow. 3 ½ stars. In last year’s CL final, he made big saves at key times to preserve the win. Manuel Sousa is an adequate backup, but only that (1 1/2 stars). If Kluft gets hurt we are in serious trouble, while at every other position we have world class depth. Two backups, Steffan James and Jonathan Ryan, will hopefully never see the field.

Reserves

We have a few key reserves, including a couple of old guys I signed on as player coaches and a couple of cheap on loan players who will hopefully help us when the stars are playing internationals. Most of them you will only hear in a couple of cup games, so I’m not going to introduce them now.

[Portiere]

We started our preseason with a tour of Korea, starting with a 3-3 draw against Ulsan and defeating Pohang 4-1. After trouncing lower league Lilliani 6-0, we lost to Man United (ironically, our super cup) opponent, 5-2, but without several starters. We pasted Irish side Cliftonville 7-0, and then it was time for the Super Cup, with most key players ready to go for fitness and match readiness. And then, disaster. “I’m sorry, Ricardo” said Physio Giordano Cotugno. “He can’t play.” Rasmus Håheim had come down with a nasty virus. Aberystwyth Town would face one of the biggest names in world football without their best player. Man United, fresh off an underwhelming campaign scraping a win in the Europe League and losing out the Man City in the ELP, would be out for a scalp. The betting odds suggested that United would win.

[Portiere]

At halftime, Ricardo Portiere was steaming. His halftime rant in Verona’s famed Bentigodi was certainly not in keeping with his normal calm demeanor. He told his side that they were embarrassing themselves in front of 39,000 spectators, and a few other choice things as well. While not quite a rant worth of his legendary fellow countryman Izude Jestor, it was rather epic, and well deserved. Perhaps his dynasty was over before it started.

Ladislav Hoffman, Man United’s star striker, who cost them a cool 71 million from Chelsea (yeah, after the Nymar disruption this doesn’t seem like big money, but this was United’s 2nd highest transfer ever in this universe), had taken United’s two good chances and put them both away, shredding our defense like it was made of armatures rather than star internationals. Aberystwyth had accomplished nothing of merit.
Off came under performing AM Nouri, and on came Sócrates, glowing with confidence. The team would shift to control. This sub would change everything. At the 60 minute mark, CM Valeri fed the Brazilian who beat his marker and put the ball in the corner from the right side of the 18. Game on. Four minutes later, Sócrates took the ball from the left wing, found Typek who again fed Sócrates, who slid by two defenders as if they were statues and put the ball in the net. And just when it seemed like things couldn’t worse for United, a defender misplayed a backpass right to speedster Gonçalves who raced past the United keeper, put the ball in, and ran to the corner. After a useless first half, suddenly Aber were on top. They would shift back to counter and bring on Nicolás Barrientos for Patrick Peters to see the match out. And despite a few nervy moments, the first title was theirs. Portiere, thought delighted with Gonçalves’ supersub MOTM performance, said the side has to get its defending sorted if it is going to challenge for the Champions League and defend the Club World Cup. But if Aber could bottle the magical six minutes of the second half, they would strike fear into the hearts of any side in the world.

[Portiere]

Not sure if there is a better way to do this. Here are the stats etc

[Portiere]

Yes, we played and won two league games, but I’m not going to mention these unless noteworthy. But the CL draw shapes the season. We pulled Juventus and Boudreaux along with Basel. Not the worst draw (Braca, Aresenal, Schalke, also probably PSG, Benfica, and Newcastle who were last year’s runner up), but not great. Juve have more than double our payroll and finished 2nd in Serie A, while Boudreax won the French league last year and are not to be taken lightly. Finally, Basel have won the Swiss league 5 years running. They don’t worry me, but they are not the door mat of some sides. This could be worse, but it also could be a lot easier. We are joint favorites to win with PSG and Real Madrid. The other favorites are Man United, Benfica, and Roma (who have dominated Serie A). Man City, Barca, and Monaco should also be in the mix, while I think Benfia, who can’t keep their stars, are overrated. But the CL has done weird things, as last year we beat Newcastle, a weak Bayern side, Leverkusen, and Monaco to win, avoiding all the big teams.

[Portiere]

Time to face the biggest group stage challenge at the start. Almost everyone is healthy except Nouri, who will miss a couple of weeks with an injury from playing for Holland. What would we learn about Aberystwyth Town’s title credentials? The 7-3 victory was perhaps the least convincing lopsided result possible. It started with an early defensive lapse, as Pablo Diaz rose unmarked to put home header after 2 minutes. The first 20 minutes were all Juve, and at 22 minutes Julle Makengo stupidly pulled down Diaz in the box from a free kick, but Kluft saved the poorly taken PK. Then it was all Aberystwyth for about 10 minutes. Sócrates sliced through the defense on 26 minutes for 1-1. Freire hit cross in for Gonçalves to head home on 29 for the lead. Camino, starting in place of an unfit Flynn, served a great ball for Patrick Peters. 3-1 and we were in control. And then we turned off again, allowing combo play to beat us for two quick goals at 35 and 38 minutes to leave things all tied. But the lethal Gonçalves/Freire combination struck back for two more goals in two minutes (43 and 44), as Freire hit perfect balls for the Brazilian to run onto and score. In the second half, Aberystwyth turned on the style, as Freire got assist four by setting up Gonçalves for a wonder goal, chesting the ball down, beating two defenders and thumping the ball into the upper corner, and then Freire capping the scoring with an even better chest and one touch volley goal.

Where does this leave the Seasiders (Aber’s nickname)? On one hand, we went to Juve and scored 7 goals against them. The Gonçalves/Freire partnership is pretty impressive, and that’s before turning to our subs who are also quite solid themselves. Add in Peters, Nouri, and Sócrates, whose ability to beat people off the dribble might lead Nouri to be the odd man out more than he wants, and this is a top four that no one wants to face. The midfield spine and the wing backs can get them the ball. But we miss Larse Lohse’s dominant presence in the back. After two matches against big teams, our defense looks like a sieve. On this evidence, we have a ways to go.

[Portiere]

Tomasz Sadzawicki complains that he wants to leave for first team soccer and throws a fit when he doesn’t get it. Lots of nonsense about deserving first team soccer. Seriously, I’m not going to committee to sell anyone in the middle of the season. And is your loyalty to the club so little that after winning the CL as the captain, you would want to storm out over playing time in SEPTEMBER. What kind of captain are you?! . Behind closed doors, Portiere ripped his player, who Portiere had plucked from obscurity in the Polish league as a teenager and helped to arrive at international stardom. Kids these days...

Sadzawicki is removed as captain, replaced by Patrick Peters. Rasmus Håheim is the new vice-captain. He goes public with his unhappiness that he lost the captaincy. But no one else on the squad seems bothered, as he has been a rotation player, and apparently not so popular. Sadzawicki is not leaving this season, though. In the meantime, I’ve decided to try to train him to play wingback. We’ll see if that helps him get more match time

[Brian Swartz]

Fascinating so far. Ya'll need to stop tempting me to try FM again.

[Portiere]

Certainly Basel are the weakest side on paper, but they managed a 2-2 draw home against Bordeaux. The first half was the Patrick Peters show. The new captain received the ball with his back to goal 25 yards out, turned, and hit the ball off the post and in after 16 minutes. He then hit a second goal from just inside the box on 19 minutes. Kluft made a big save and Typak a big block to preserve the lead. The first half was also notable for terrible performances from Freire and Sócrates, who were replaced by Sadzawicki (Drabek is injured) and Nouri after missing easy chances and losing the ball. Nouri hit a third goal from distance on 68 minutes, though it wasn’t a great effort and my keeper would have been on the receiving end of the hairdryer had he allowed it. At 86 minutes the team again switched off, leading to an easy goal. A 3-1 win, but pointed questions remain. In fact, in commentary after the game, readers of the Operation Sports FOFC forum openly questioned the quality of the Seasiders' defense, commenting that they “looked like players from a Football Manager game”

[Portiere]

Thanks Brian. I'm doing a 1 yr challenge in part because I know it has a defined end, as FM can be quite...expansive it the time it wants to claim

[Portiere]

Before reporting on this match, I should note that a bunch of guys have been whining about playing time, and Barrientos has refused to sign a new contract and may be leaving on a free. As my AM has now downgraded him to 2*, maybe I should sell him and dump his expensive salary...

[Portiere]

If the defenders looked like Football Manager players against Basel, they showed all of the organization of the Trump Administration away to Bordeaux, leaking four goals in shocking fashion. And Aber still almost won the match. After Gonçalves scored within a minute and the side generated a couple of other good chances, Tommy Tyrpak went and got himself sent off after 8 minutes, leaving Poriere to sacrifice Freire for Karol Fieden. Two first half goals for the hosts left Aber down 2-1 after 30 minutes. But Gonçalves equalized and the Seasiders went into to half time with new belief. Portiere told the side they could still win. And Sócrates scored a magical goal from a one-two with Goncalves to give Aberystwyth the lead. But third rate defending caused to come crashing down in the last 12 minutes of the match. No one on the defense had ratings better than 6.5, and the center defenders in particular were awful. So after 3 CL matches, 13 GF, 8GA. Not the sort of thing that wins knockout round matches.

[Portiere]

Having used the Trump Administration as an example of disarray in my previous post, I must now apologize to Shawn Spicer et al, who seem like the epitome of organization and competence in comparison to the abysmal effort by Abertswyth town defenders. Last year, in winning the CL, the side allowed 9 goals. This year, with only one player different, the result has been spectacularly different. The Seasiders out shot their guests 46-9 yet lost 5-1. There’s not much to say except that the side collective failed in a big way. 6.1 ratings for Gonçalves and Vandevelde summed up the night. But Portiere’s ire was greatest against CM Barrientos. Having rejected a new contract offer and complained about his playing time, Barrientos lazily fouled a player in the box at 4-1 after Jan Drabek put a goal back, the team were denied a PK, and hit the bar. Portiere vowed to sell Barrientos, who has played his last meaningful game for the side and a couple of reserves, and to go out the market with the cash for a new midfielder or two. But perhaps worse than everything was the 16 minute injury to Yassine Nouri, who was carried off with a torn hamstring and will miss 2-3 months… Only one good thing came of this—bottom feeders Basel stunned Juve away, meaning that despite our awful results we are still in 2nd place on goal differential and masters of our own fates. We just need to beat Juve at home. No problem, right…

[Portiere]

Patrick Peters suffered a hip injury playing for Holland, and will miss 2 + months. Really fantastic! I may need to sign up for the “Izude Jestor throwing things course for ‘expert’ managers.” I don’t think this is going to be our year.

[Portiere]

[Portiere]

Unfortunately my computer did an update I didn't want, causing me to lose a lot of what I'd played and written up. This has rather sapped my interest in continuing--I might restart at a later date but we'll see...