FM-Manager

The first step into the 2015 season started all the way back in 2014 with our after Christmas and New Year’s friendlies.

As you can see the team lived up to expectation notching up an average of  3.5 – 0.25 goals a game.

The first game of the year was an impressive 4-0 vitory against Mondeville in the French Cup round 9 with Niang kicking off well for the new year.

The Coupe de la Ligue quarter finals found Niang carrying on his great score and even debuton Nathan Redmond get a goal in his first game.

With Evian playing such a narrow formation in the past few games I changed to my old tactic which proved vital in getting us our 5-1 victory.

I was impressed with Hazard who scored in his 3rd game in a row and slightly concerned that Niang hasn’t carried on his fine form.

Hazard scores in his 4th game in a row while captain Vertonghen keeps a cool head after the team going 1-1 early in the second half.

The final game of the month was against Stade Rennes where Niang, Wilshere and Vertonghen left their marks…

Till next time … Cheers!

This post is just a little more in depth talk about my tactics and why I use them.

Formation choice…

I am a firm believer of players should not be forced to play out of position if you can help it, and they will always perform a lot better when playing in their natural position. With the team lacking any really good wingers since the release of  Karim Ait Fana to Blackburn for £10,250,000 there has been no real reason for me to try and force my team to play in such a formation that deems it necessary to have wingers. Also with the team having a surplus of players capable of playing well down the center of the park I felt this was a important route to take.  With the midfielders having great ability on the ball with both their passing and dribbling I felt keeping them close together in the middle of the park would only help to improve the short passing game.

I like the team to try and control the play and dominate as much as possible, and to accommodate this I allow them to play with a fluid philosophy while playing slow and short passes. I also don’t like my team pressing and prefer the other team to make the mistake with failed passes and dribbles, even with the occasional missed shot being acceptable.

Defence…

As with every team I always start from the back, and with the team possessing 2 of the best ball playing defenders in the league I feel its also a great place to start regardless. With Lovren having all the stat you could want I always allow him the most freedom with the ball in the back four allowing him to make various passes switching between long and short while also letting him play through balls. Vertonghen is similar to Lovren but with him not being as capable I restrict his through ball play. With both M’Bengue and Aurier having the ability to make it up the field and play well I sometimes allow them to play a more attacking role depending on the opposite team and how well they can attack.

As you can see the defense other than Aurier played well this game and connected with above 80% completion as a whole, while having a total of 164 pass attempts completing 132 of the attempted 164.

The majority of the passes from the defenders were made just wide of the center midfielders other than the passes of Aurier and M’Bengue who play down the wings.

Midfield…

With the midfield the passing style and tempo changes a lot, the midfielders play a lot slower than the defense and  I look to exploit their intelligence with more key passes, especially with all the midfielders having a 18 or over rating on their passing, other than Ross Barkley who has 16.

As you can see the midfield play close together which means their should always be a pass available and with almost all players having a triangle to play in which is similar to Phil Jackson’s La Lakers triangle offense in which their is always 2 passes available to the midfielder in possession. Ross Barkley being the most defensive minded player he is expected to do the majority of the dirty work but the idea is to not need him at all with the players ability around him.

In this game the midfield could only produce a 79% completion rating, tacking together a total of 112 attempted passes and completing 91. With the team being fluid in their movements the passing is erratic and reaches all areas of the field including the wing which are occupied ether by Hazard, and Wilshere or Aurier and M’Bengue.

Attack…

With Niang playing up front by himself   he can find it very difficult to get involved but and create himself scoring opportunities. He is also rather clinical an normally finishes a good percentage of his shots and as good poacher should.

He relies heavily on the midfielders to produce good balls for him to play onto and keep him involved in the game.

The game…

The game which was used as example was the 4-0 thrashing  we gave Bordeaux earlier this season.

I hope this post cleared up any questions you had about my formation and tactic’s and till next time, Cheers!

The Team…

In this part of my review I will discuss the team in general an some of the players…

The team started the 2014/15 season pretty badly with the team conceding 10 goals in as many games which is bad since we only conceded 21 in the last season.  Although with this bad defense we have been saved by the offensive side of our team netting an impressive 51 goals in 22 matches to this point. The short passing fluid philosophy has been successful with this team of player with almost every midfielder being a possible play maker. As of now 4 or my midfielders have have set up more than 10 goals this season.

The top 3 scorers in the team have all scored more that 10 goals each, again 2 of these players are midfielders. Vertonghen has led the defense with a total of 8 goals… very impressive from a defensive player, and this shows that the team is a danger to everyone at every point of the game be it from set piece’s or their free flowing football.

Super sub of the year:

Leandro, this season alone Leandro has scored 4 goals and 2 assist in 9 games… 6 of which he was subbed in. He has picked up a 7.65 rating through his time which is better than expected. I would love to loan him out to get a taste of first team football especially with Niang holding onto the number 1 striker position in the team with 29 games, 5 assist and 20 goals which is impressive as he is one year younger than the 21 year old Leandro and more developed… I still feel that his young star has a prosperous future ahead of him…

Top players of the year: This year I have had 3 players that have really impressed me and they are all on the offensive side.

Eden Hazard, the Belgium has been amazing again this season. So far this season Hazard has scored more goals in one season than he ever has in the past with last season being a record breaking 8 for him and he also seems to be on the way to coming close to his 14 assists that he racked up back in 2011/12 season. He has been an important player for us leading the other young midfielders by example and showing them what they have to do, and I feel Coutinho has been the biggest benefactor of this.

M’Baye Niang, M’Baye has really been living up to the hype I created for him, proclaiming him as the next Thierry Henry. With the young striker scoring 18 goals in a total of 22 games last season he has let his foot off the peddle a little this year, but saying that their has been a lot more help from the midfield this year meaning that he has not had to put as much effort forward. He has still got a long season ahead of himself and he should strive to continue this fine display.

Coutinho, a true prodigy of one Eden Hazard in my eyes. The 22 year old has been a vital player in this team since he joined us in 2013 racking ups an impressive 50 games in total with 10 goals and 19 assist. I feel he is a true bargain at £5,500,000 and a great example of the younger generations of the team.

The Transfers…

The winter transfer period is over it has been proven to be a quite one.

Masatoshi Nagata, Japanese starlet Masatoshi Nagata is a defensive force to be reckoned with in the future. He is small in size at 5’9″ and only weighing 72 kgs but he is not joining our team to be a brute but to counter the pacey strikers in the world such as David Villa or ever Messi and C.Ron. His phenomenal ability to Tackle, Mark players, head the ball, while working witht he team and holding claim to incredible place and agility just shows that his 19 year old should have an impressive future ahead of him. He was purchased for free so this is a win win situation for me in any case.

Nathan Redmond, This young winger was bought as a future star with his pace, and dribbling ability making a superb choice of the right wing if I ever decide to revert back to a tactic involving wingers. I will attempt to get him some loan experience next year if I decide to stick with the current tactics. Although at £5,000,000 I feel he is a coup for the club.

The rest…

The other 2 were bought 2/3 years ago as potential prospects…

The Finances…

The club’s finances are still in fine shape and I am sure with have more money then most teams in the Ligue 1…

We are currently the 2nd most valuable team in the Ligue 1 with only Marsielle being £14 million more valuable.

This shows that the team has improved vastly from 2011…

Well till next time, Cheers!

With last month being such a great success I was confidant that we could end the year in great form.

With Bartley game being stepped up of late, Caulker managed to pick up his this game getting us a good, but late start. Niang picked up a dink but will be back for Manchester City’s game.

The game started great with Belfodil showing his credit-ability as a great back ups before Aurier ruined a great start with an own goal. Coutinho had a stunning performance netting 2 goals.

This is how the group ended…

This is the up and coming fixtures…

I was less than pleased with the game against Saint-Etienne and felt we should have picked up the 3 points.

The game against Montpellier was a very lucky with for us with the captain Vertonghen picking us up 3 points.

The game was full of fouls…

We are still number one in France…

Till next time, Cheers!

With Jan Vertonghen picking up a stupid red card last game I was left to pick out of my 2 new English defenders Kyle Bartley, and Steven Caulker.

With the game being such an important fixture for the season I chose to go the experienced route with the 23 year old former Arsenal player Bartley.

Bartley, who had failed to make a real impression for the team, wasted no time making a menses and managed to score the only goal of the game in the 45th min.

I was less than impressed with Niang’s missed penalty which will give me reason to change kick taker in the coming months.

Champions League…

With PSV having the upper had against us at home I was determined to straighten out the records. It seemed so was Hazard.

Ji Dong-Won who had just came back from holiday impressed me by scoring one and setting up another.

We have now qualified along with Manchester City who we will be playing for the last game of the group stages.

Ligue 1…

The last game of the month against was against a team I had always wanted as a feeder club, AS Monaco FC.

A terrible result considering our successes lately…

This is what the table looks like:

Lets hope I maintain this great run… till next time, cheers!