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Classic Championship Manager: Down by the Riverside Part 1
Just how did this team get relegated? Well, two reasons. A quick look at the table shows us that whilst Boro outscored most of the division, they conceded more than anybody else. 60 times they were breached, that’s 1.5 times per game. So whilst Ravanelli, Junino and friends ran riot at one end, Steve Vickers […]
The key to scouting: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 39
Time to bring some players in to replace the folk-of-little-determination that I shifted off FC Saxan’s register. I need, at least, three full-backs, one defensive mid, and a 3rd choice goalie. Potentially, several hours of frustrating scouting lie ahead. But I figure I can minimise the time required by calculating the Moldovan top flight’s Lp […]
The Land Down Under XVI
We’re coming into the final minutes of the Grand Final against Perth Glory. Last season we failed to win it and defend our title, and we were up 1-0 and ready to pop the champagne bottles. Harry Ascroft and Sean Pratt were on each side of Andy Keogh closing him down as he made a […]
Under The Lens Part 1: A New Beginning
So, I’m back again with a new FM17 save, and hopefully this one goes better than the last. Rather than start in the non-league of England, this time I’ve decided to move across the Channel and begin proceedings in France’s Ligue 2 with Racing Club de Lens. Lens have been a side that of late […]
Rivalità Tra Fratelli, Episode 17
This is the story of two brothers, a modern-day Cain versus Abel if you will, based in the northern powerhouse Italian city of Milan. If you’d like to replicate this challenge, we’re using the updated medium database with the following leagues: England (Premier League, Championship, League One & League Two), Italy (Serie A & Serie […]
Hallelujah! Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah! Hall-e-lu-jah! Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 38
As I explained in a previous post (‘Determination as leverage‘, 21 July 2017), the FC Saxan squad is besmirched by the presence of a number of players with low determination. Time to act. But how liquid will the Moldovan transfer market prove? Praise be! The answer is, pretty liquid. Of the seven players with a […]
Final Day Of The Season As Leiria Look To Steal The Title Away
The entire Portuguese second league season boils down to one final set of fixtures to decide who will become champions. Two teams are locked together at the top of the table, last seasons runners up Benfica B and long time leaders Leiria. Leiria has been taking the division by storm but one point from their […]
Tempo Tactics Episode 2: Recreating Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid
A couple of weeks ago Stuart Davidson wrote a fine, fine piece on recreating Zinedine Zidane’s tactics that have led Real Madrid to back-to-back UEFA Champions League titles, something that has never been done before. Zidane probably hasn’t been given the credit he deserves for this achievement, and he cannot have achieved it without some […]
The Land Down Under XV
G’day, mate! The regular season has come to an end and we’re getting ready for that Australian winter and our downtime for the year, so let’s get to work covering our regular season exploits. First off, I said in the previous post that I’d provide an update on the Australia situation. I was the favourite […]
Kit Download: 1860 Munich
It’s been a rough month or so for TSV 1860 Munich. Relegation to 3.Liga via the relegation play-offs at the end of the last season was the moment where their owner, Jordanian Hasan Abdullah Ismaik, decided enough was enough and refused to foot the €5m bill for the club to continue. With no license to remain […]
1.20 Boeren, Boeren PSV: Luuk de Jong
Profile Luuk de Jong signed for PSV in 2014/15 for £4.4m from Gladbach. The 26-year-old front man has 7 goals in 16 appearances for the Dutch national team and joint with Davy Propper leads the scoring for PSV this year with 6 goals. De Jong’s technical strengths are in the obvious areas of Finishing and […]
On acquiring defensive midfielders: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 37
I wish to develop a protocol to regulate the way we acquire defensive midfielders. If I were managing at a higher level, that might prove a complex task. The roles in which a defensive midfielder can play are quite diverse. A ball-winner differs markedly from a half-back, who in turn is very different from a […]
FM17 European Gigalo Challenge Part 2: The struggles of Schalke
Our pre-season campaign was solid, the signing of Javier Pastore has got the fans loving me, and my players are all performing out of their skins, sort of. I’m hoping the struggles to defeat Duisburg in the German Cup was simply a blip as I prepare for my Bundesliga debut. Hopefully the press don’t ask […]
The Legend of Roger Milla Part XXVII: A monumental win
Welcome back to my African adventure! For fairly new readers, I am in Cameroon managing the club that gave the world the legendary Roger Milla (he of Italia 90 fame), Rigobert Song (he of bad hair at Liverpool fame) and George Weah (he of probably being the greatest African footballer of all time fame). Tonnerre […]
The Young Lions: The Story of Defending
This series was always going to be interesting from an age versus experience standpoint. In the Championship we had an average age of 20.46. That is 8.19 years below Norwich, who have the oldest squad in the league. Our defence has an average age of 19.90, compared to Norwich at 29.33. Almost a decade of […]
1.19 Boeren, Boeren PSV: Davy Propper
Profile Davy Propper is a 25 year old midfield playmaker, he has 2 caps for Holland at this point. Propper is in his second season with PSV after a £3.6m move from Vitesse. Propper is currently our joint top goal scorer this season with 6 goals in all competitions. Propper is technically adept as a […]
Slack FC: Season One Summary
It’s been a long time coming, but finally we’ve reached the end of the first season with the Slack FC lads. This season saw Slack FC achieve a non league double, winning the National League South and the FA Trophy under the management of Emile Heskey. Here we take a look at the original Slack […]
Protocol for acquiring a right-back: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 36
I wish to develop a protocol to regulate the way we acquire right backs. Whenever I develop a protocol I start by searching the web to see what guidance is already available. No point re-inventing the wheel. Fortunately, when it comes to acquiring a full back, my work has been done already. Just recently another […]
How to Transform Youth Players into Global Megastars with Football Manager 2017
Most youth coaches and team managers understand the frustrations of watching a kid with a ton of potential fall short. When they first join the team, parents and coaches have high expectations. They rely on the best individual coaches they can find, but before they realize it, that potential has slipped right past them into […]
The Legend of Roger Milla Part XXVI: Everyone loves a kit launch, don’t they?
Alright folks. Apologies once again for not getting an update out yesterday, we were on the road once more heading down to the coast finding ourselves a nice quiet beach and a decent view of the Med. That’s not a bad view to play FM too, I can tell you. But you don’t care about […]
To Dare Is To Do Episode 34
FM17 Tottenham Hotspur FC To Dare Is To Do | #34 Signings Galore | Let’s Play Football Manager 2017 Welcome to a Football Manager series on my channel that’s right its Tottenham Hotspur. Today we take look at the outgoings and incomings as well as a match with West Brom as we return to White […]
1.18 Boeren, Boeren PSV: Nicolas Isimat-Mirin
Profile Isimat-Mirin is a 24 year old defender capable of playing anywhere across the defence but his strongest position is as a central defender. Isimat-Mirin is capped at U21 level for France but is yet to make his senior international debut. He was signed from Monaco in the 2015/16 season having spent the previous season […]
Where Eagles Dare Part 1: Introduction
After having great success with Nottingham Forest, I have decided to emulate this with my local club, Go Ahead Eagles from Deventer. It is a small club that was promoted to the Eredivisie at the end of the 2016/2017 season. With its limited resources it has always shuttled between Eredivisie and Jupiler League (the 2nd […]
Stakeholder management, the press: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 35
My next meeting with stakeholders consists of a press conference. I reckon I can keep the press reasonably happy simply by making a point of always showing up myself, rather than sending a deputy, and by answering every question, even if it’s with a ‘no comment’. I can also use the press to send messages […]
1.17 Boeren, Boeren PSV: Jeroen Zoet
Profile Jeroen Zoet is our custodian between the sticks. A 25 year old with 4 international caps to his name, Zoet has been at the club for his entire career having established himself as first choice goalkeeper in the 2013/14 season. Zoet possesses a Professional personality, one of the must haves for football managers. His […]
Disciples of the Rafalution: The Roles of the Fullbacks
Rafa Benitez & his tactical approaches demand a lot from his players. A cautious man, he seeks to build a solid spine & defensive foundation before looking to put together his attacking exploits. No greater a case to be seen is the first signings of Liverpool’s Rafalution. Antonio Nunez (a part exchange transfer from Real […]
Football management as stakeholder management: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 34
When we first met Eugeniu Merciu, the FC Saxan chairman, we had attempted to interest him in the notion of stakeholder management. Unsuccessfully. But that doesn’t mean I can’t myself implement a stakeholder strategy. I start by listing all the types of stakeholders I can think of. By ‘stakeholder’ I mean anyone who stands to […]
The Land Down Under XIV
G’day mate! Welcome back to Central Coast Stadium! Interested in hearing what’s been going on for the last month and a half down under? We’ve got some good news to talk about, some irritating news, and most importantly we have the new draw for the Champions League, which was why I came back to write […]
The Legend of Roger Milla Part XXV: What do you mean we’re in the World Club Cup?
Well, after all the excitement of last season this preseason has been a little bit different. Muppet-pants here forgot that winning the CAF Champions League meant we’d be heading to Seoul for the FIFA Club World Cup! That meant our preseason was all a bit upside down, with our first game after the short break […]
The Vagabonds: Part 4
November is going to be the month it all clicks together. I can feel it. Looking at that list, and with most of the teams we’ll be playing sitting outside the top 8 at the start of the month, I think we can target 9 out of 12 points available. With a modicum of respect […]
1.16 Boeren, Boeren PSV: Assessing the season so far
I love cliches. I love football. And in the spirit of the man who invented battered Mars Bars, I believe that only good can come by combining two things that you love. It’s often said that you should never rest on your laurels which is precisely why I’m taking this time to assess what we’ve […]
Rivalità Tra Fratelli, Episode 16
This is the story of two brothers, a modern-day Cain versus Abel if you will, based in the northern powerhouse Italian city of Milan. If you’d like to replicate this challenge, we’re using the updated medium database with the following leagues: England (Premier League, Championship, League One & League Two), Italy (Serie A & Serie […]
Limitations of the squad: Anglo-Saxan Chronicles 33
It’s pretty clear what the weaknesses of the squad are. We have no right-sided wide players, except full backs. May be that’s not so bad: we can play a narrow diamond. We have no sweeper, well, no very adequate one. That’s a blow: a 5-3-2 employing a sweeper is my favourite formation. And we have […]
Leiria gain promotion but look to have lost out on the title
With just one game remaining in the Portuguese second division season long time leaders Leiria have slipped two second place in the table. That comes courtesy of a 0-1 home defeat to second place Benfica B. The evenly fought contest was settled by a late Nuno Gomes strike to give Benfica the win to move […]
The Legend of Roger Milla Part XXIV: How do you summarise all that then?
Four years ago, Mark Monroe strode into Tonnerre KC determined to change the direction of this once great club. Tonnerre had given the world Roger Milla, Rigobert Song and George Weah in years gone by but were at rock bottom. Relegated from the MTN Elite I, just four players at the club all of whom […]
To Dare Is To Do: Episode 33
FM17 Tottenham Hotspur FC To Dare Is To Do | #33 Season Review | Let’s Play Football Manager 2017 Welcome to a Football Manager series on my channel thats right its Tottenham Hotspur. Today we take look at all the facts and figures from the season that was 2017/18 Join me on this adventure on […]
The Higher Tempo Press Goal of the Month: #1
OK, we know it is a little later than planned but we finally bring you the first Goal of the Month competition. Remember, YOU voted for these goals and now YOU have to vote for the best one. The winner gets to choose some FM merchandise from SI’s official merchandise store! VOTE!
Tempo Tactics: 5-3-2 Ćiro’s Croatia
“If he [Prosinečki] ever becomes a real football player I’ll eat my coaching diploma” – Miroslav “Ćiro” Blažević Between the ‘96 Euros in England and France ‘98, one international football team captured my heart and pocket money bets. The epitome of the dark horse, Croatia were a team full of individual greats crammed into a 5-3-2 […]
The Land Down Under XIII
G’day, mate! Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all that jazz. This is update 13! I have to keep Googling how to correctly do Roman numerals since I didn’t expect to get quite so many posts in when I first thought of this series idea. Anyway, it’s January 1, 2019, as I write this post. […]
A Few Tips for Beginning Your Writing Adventure
So, you read The Higher Tempo Press and you think, “gee, that seems easy, I could do that better than those guys.” However, you have no idea what to do, where to start or how to go about building an audience. Well, have no fear because I am here to give you just a few […]
The Legend of Roger Milla Part XXIII: Analysing your top scorer…
Yesterday was a day of highs and lows at Tempo Towers. I knew we’d see the conclusion of our third MTN Elite I campaign. I knew we’d get a fair idea of how our first adventure into the CAF Champions League would end up. I knew it was going to be a decisive day. The […]
1.15 Boeren, Boeren PSV: Eredivisie Match 10 – PSV v AZ
Pre-Match After that fine result against Twente, the bookmakers have shortened our odds to 1/2 for this fixture. Santiago Arias is suspended for PSV and Menno Koch is still a bit away from match fitness. A massive blow days before the fixture as first choice stopper Jeroen Zoet is diagnosed with a hernia that will […]
FM17 European Gigalo Challenge: 5 Champions League, 5 Clubs, No history
It’s mid-July, the transfer window is in full swing and we’re a few weeks away from having football that actually matters on our TV again. Like many other football fans, the break is leaving me quite bored. I need a challenge. I need to be back on Football Manager. Admittedly, it’s quite a few months […]
Determination as leverage: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 32
A basic principle of engineering that everyone understands is leverage. Try to open a door by pushing on the side nearest the hinges and it’s hard work; press on the side furthest from the hinges and it’s easier. I think of determination as a form of leverage. A defender has the strength, height, and heading […]
The Legend of Roger Milla Part XXII: Chasing Onesimo Sanchez…
Hey folks, and sorry. It’s been a couple of days since I’ve updated you all on the latest from Cameroon. The reason is that we’ve been on the real-life road in the last couple of days, viewing a property on the outskirts of Madrid, quite near a place called Toledo. A quick side track… Two […]
1.14 Boeren, Boeren PSV – Eredivisie Match 9 – FC Twente v PSV
Pre-Match PSV are somehow still odds on favourites away from home here being priced at 1/2. FC Twente have no injury or suspension worries today. Menno Koch is still 3 weeks away from his return, van Ginkel is an option for the bench. Oussama Assaidi’s impressive work rate on the wing for Twente is what […]
The Young Lions – Learning Tactics Part I
Can a man go from having heard the word tactic in passing, to being Marcelo Bielsa? All tacticians start somewhere, right? Honestly, I don’t build tactics with a goal in mind. I can’t translate an idea into practice. I can’t even think of the movement needed by players in situations in most cases. This is […]
Visual display of data: Anglo-Saxan Chronicle 31
So here I am in Ceadir Lunga, down in the south of Moldova, with a remit to approach the management of a football club the way that an engineer would. Engineers like data. In particular, they like quantitative data. And most of them like data to be displayed visually. A good dashboard is the kind […]
Southampton’s Black Box Part 6
Welcome back to ‘Southampton’s Black Box’: a story focused on the organised success of the club known for their over-achievement. As the title implies, the save will be highlighting and representing the recruitment strategy by Southampton. I will be compiling a large database of players in the game to assist me in my FM17 successes, as […]
The RaumDiamond: FM17 Tactic
Follow @DistanceCovered on Twitter for more. I’ve created a variety of tactics in FM17 to suit various needs, to create certain goals or to recreate real-life systems in the match-engine. As the 2018 version of Football Manager is on the horizon, I wanted to create one last system from scratch that was unique, my own […]