Well I needed an excuse to kick this blog off again, and decided why not go at Football Manager 2016. I’m doing what I usually do, starting unemployed in the lowest league possible (which means Gibraltar), and this year, the lucky winning team to acquire my services is amateur Gibraltar side, Bruno’s Magpies FC.
I run a pretty simple system, all variations of the same basic tactics:
- A sweeper keeper at the back,
- A “back 5” with a defensive minded fullback on the right, two paired central defenders, an attacking minded fullback on the left, and a halfback filling in between (who sometimes turns into a libero to provide extra cover in back),
- and A “front 5” of a supporting midfielder (usually box-to-box but depends on the specific formation), an attacking playmaker, a small quick attacking player on the right wing, a big strong target man on the left wing, and a creative skilled forward up top.
Against most tactics this means lining them up in what FM calls the 4-1-2-3 DM Wide, though in some situations I use a 4-2-3-1 with the support midfielder dropping back and the playmaker pushing up and playing more direct or a 5-2-1-2 with the fullbacks pushing up, the #9 dropping back and the wingers tucking in as a target man and poacher.
I tend toward a “total football” mindset, where I want every player to contribute everywhere and let their creativity flow without too much input from me. I’ll have a core handful of players who I use all the time, the downside is it means some cranky backups and it makes life interesting when injuries hit. My squad has a decent amount of turnover, since I like to find 18-20 year old players to train up, and if they don’t work out, they’re buried in the reserves until their contract runs out.
So, Year 1. My preseason friendlies are handled by my assistant for the most part; I don’t care about friendly results I just want the players to get fit for the season. This also meant the fans were a touch nervous before the season, as our preseason record was 4 wins, 5 draws (3 scoreless), 5 losses (including a 3-0 loss to Spanish 3rd Division side, San Pedro de Alcántara.
Preseason over, the real show kicked off with a bang: 10 league wins in a row before our frist draw against Gib Phoenix. Early surprise signings (I pretty much replaced the entire squad when I came in; I kept around 4 players) Carl Bradford (playmaker) and Ethan Abudarham played very well, each holding over a 7.5 average rating for the best two players on the team.
The Rock Cup 2nd Round match against Europa Point was a nail-biter, a 3-2 win in extra time after a stoppage time goal by Europa Point’s Isaac Cortes, cancelled out by new signing Juan Ceballo Sanchez (on his debut [who proved to be an amazingly frustrating player due to inconsistency]) in the 95th minute.
The next match against College ’75 proved to be one of the worst of the season as, despite a 4-0 win, Ethan Abudarham went down for 5-6 months with a broken foot. His replacement, the horridly inconsistent Sanchez, proved to be, well, horridly inconsistent, but the undeafeated streak continued on the backs of Bradford and a surprising #8, Oscar Casas Olmedo.
Along side the unbeaten run, we continued to progress in the cups, winning the Division 2 League Cup 2-1 against Olympique, locking up promotion and the Division title the next match with a 1-1 draw against Red Imps FC, followed by claiming a spot in the Rock Cup Final by beating St Joseph’s 1-0, after a 13th minute goal by Mr. Inconsistency (I swear, this dude will play awful for 5 matches then all of a sudden score the most important goal of a match).
With the regular season over (62 points from 20 wins and 2 draws), the focus switched to the Rock Cup Final, and the surprising chance for European competition. Unfortunately, it was not in the cards, as we lost 1-0. All in all, I’ll call it a successful season! Next year? Gibraltarian Premier Division, turning semi-pro, and hopefully winning the Rock Cup that time around!
Final squad and stats:
2015-2016 Bruno's Magpies
| Name | Pos. | Num. | Age | Apps | Av.Rat. | PoM. | Goals (Conc.) | Assists (Shutouts) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Youseff Sabbari | GK | 1 | 23 | 31 | 6.83 | 0 | 0 (18) | 0 (17) |
| Jose Luis Enrique | D/M(R) | 2 | 21 | 27 | 7.29 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
| German Cortes Navarez | D(L) | 3 | 22 | 28 | 7.34 | 3 | 1 | 9 |
| Juanlu | D(LC) | 4 | 22 | 20 | 7.07 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Daniel Cameron | D(C) | 5 | 20 | 20 (3) | 6.84 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Franco Jesus Iglesias | DM,M(C) | 6 | 21 | 26 (1) | 7.11 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Ethan Abudarham | ST(C) | 7 | 17 | 16 (1) | 7.12 | 1 | 7 | 5 |
| Oscar Casas Olmedo | M(C) | 8 | 21 | 29 (1) | 7.42 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Tom Harrison | ST(C) | 9 | 20 | 29 (1) | 7.06 | 1 | 15 | 8 |
| Carl Bradford | M/AM(LC) | 10 | 20 | 28 | 7.96 | 11 | 8 | 13 |
| Ramon Saavedra Amador | AM(LC) | 11 | 20 | 31 | 7.17 | 2 | 13 | 5 |
| Carlos Fernandez Gutierrez | GK | 12 | 21 | 0 | - | - | - | - |
| Liam Buttigieg | D/WB/M(R) | 13 | 21 | 1 (2) | 6.63 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Justin Phillips | D(RL) | 14 | 31 | 6 (10) | 7.01 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Pedro Ardanaz Garcia | D(C) | 15 | 21 | 2 | 6.35 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Juanka | D(C) | 16 | 20 | 6 | 6.92 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| James Castle | D(C),DM | 17 | 18 | 5 (17) | 6.67 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Scott Beattie | M(RL) | 18 | 35 | 1 (13) | 6.87 | 0 | 4 | 3 |
| Fernando Sanchez | D(C),DM,M(C) | 19 | 28 | 2 (5) | 6.88 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Shane Dellipiani | ST(C) | 20 | 21 | 1 (4) | 6.94 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Aiman Mkerref | M/AM(C) | 21 | 19 | 3 (17) | 6.83 | 1 | 5 | 2 |
| Alfonso Gonzalez | M/AM(L) | 22 | 21 | 0 (10) | 6.62 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Dave Martin | GK | 23 | 39 | 0 | - | - | - | - |
| Jovan Ocaña | D(C) | 34 | 25 | 14 | 7.05 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Chisum Sanchez | D(C) | 35 | 39 | 0 (2) | 6.45 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Juan Ceballo Sanchez | AM(C),ST(C) | 37 | 27 | 15 (3) | 6.85 | 1 | 7 | 3 |