FM Pentagon Challenge Thread

[treva]

I'd never complete it tbh :P I'm too loyal to clubs.

I've been pretty good tho, hbu?

I might start up a new save in the next few days.

Okay, maybe not complete, but more likely to win a few!

Yeah I'm good mate, living the busy life in London at the moment.

After 2-1 and 3-0 victories in the league we took on Aletico Mineiro at home in our first Group D game. Missed some very good chances early and were punished as they took the lead in the second half. We won a penalty with 5 minutes to go and just scored it (a 5th in 3 games for Luis Garcia - not the ex-Liverpool winger, sadly) and then our keeper saved a last minute penalty!

Great result first up. They dominated chances but we dominated possession. Cerro Porteno beat Boca away - not sure if that's good or not. We play them next up in the competition.

 

[treva]

Unbelievably up and down month.

We played seven games in 22 days (crazy!) including 3 Copa Libertadores matches.. Here's our March results:

As you can see we lost our first league game of the season against UTC before a sensational win against Cerro Porteno away in the Copa Lib. Perhaps one of my greatest ever wins, it was a superb comeback:

Our victory over Leon de Huanuco was crucial at the top of the table, although our defeat against Boca means it is all to play for in the Copa Lib. We play them next after a break.

The fixture congestion has meant our team has been completely depleted by injuries. Our best player is out for 3 months, his young prodigy is out for 9 months (!) and my AMC who has played every game since I've been in charge pretty much has just been ruled out for 2 months.

I've brought in an experienced Peruvian and a young Argentine on loan as cover. Let's hope they can do a job.

 

[hedger_14]

Version:
FM12

Current Leagues Loaded:
Australia, Brazil, Belgium, Chile, Czech Republic, England, Germany, Italy, Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Spain


Okay here we go. Game setting up, let's see if I can get somewhere in this save

 

[hedger_14]

My journey starts in Mexico where I signed a contract with Altamira FC, predicted to finish 12th in the Promotion League.

Unfortunately outside the transfer window so gotta get by with what I have. Playing an odd formation due to my lack of midfield options. Defence is a little weakish, although the right fullback position is the only thing in desperate need of strengthening. Our striking options are good though with 3 quality strikers, and with my preferable attacking tactics, I'm hoping for a lot of goals, just hoping I can get the midfield playing well enough to create opportunities.

 

[treva]

Nice one Hedger. Bit of a challenge first up by the sounds of it.

We had a real tough month. I can't understand the Peru scheduling, we played 9 times in 24 days with the Copa Libertadores on our hands.

​

We had a great game against Boca but lost 3-2 before losing a vital game away from home against Cristal, a team I am yet to beat in three attempts.

We returned to South American football with a superb 4-2 win over Cerro Porteno, all four of our goals coming from 20-year-old on loan striker Emmanuel Martinez.

Our league form continued to fall as we lost to second bottom and then rivals Alianza, who are our major threat for the First Division title, making it three straight losses and the loss of 1st place.

A change of emphasis to counter attack saw us win 3-0 in our next game and then came the performance of the season - a 2-2 draw away to Atletico Mineiro. I've never seen a team batter another team as much as that game without victory. They had 35 shots, 17 of those hitting the target. Our skipper in goal was fantastic. A 0-0 draw between Boca and Cerro Porteno meant we squeezed through in 2nd on goal difference! A fantastic performance all-round, particularly because of the injuries and the inability to play our cover because of squad registration rules.

Victory over Inti Gas was routine before we played Argentine champions Velez Sarsfield in the Copa Libertadores knockout stage - losing 2-1 at home. It's going to take a monumental effort in the second leg with their away goals secured but we're still in with a shout thanks to that late goal from Garcia - our top scorer who had been out injured for the majority of the month.

Here's the league table at the halfway stage (not sure what's happened to the league structure - last season there was a group style thing followed by the First Division opening and closing stage. Seems to be just a normal league this time around)

 

[hedger_14]

Well despite the challenge we had on our hands, we pulled out a decent month first up. We conceded two goals within 3 minutes of each other in our first match against Correcaminos as we trailed 2-0 within half an hour but a strong comeback saw both our strikers score as we drew level to steal a point.

We pulled out a strong first half away to C.A. Hidalgo to go into the break still level but our lack of quality chances cost us as they managed two second half goals to concede us to our first defeat.

A very entertaining 10 minutes saw 4 goals scored, Rocha scoring his first of the season after the opposition opened the scoring 3 minutes earlier and we took the lead through Ibanez shortly after. Cortes' equaliser ensured the visitors went into the break level but it was Ibanez who proved to be the match winner with his 71st minute goal to give us our first win of the season.

To say Indios were lucky to lose my only 3 goals was an understatement. We led 3-0 within half an hour, although they pulled one back right on the half hour mark. Collazo's second goal of the game ensured we led 4-1 at the break and that's how the scores remained, despite having 8 clear cut chances, including Ibanez missing an empty net from a tight angle and two one-on-one chances that he should have probably scored. Ibanez took his tally to 4 to the season though, and our left winger Palafox also opened his account.

We couldn't make it 3 wins in a row against league leaders Dorados, who took the lead within 5 minutes before Collazo pulled one back for us 3 minutes later. They took the lead on the half hour mark and managed to hold that lead for the rest of the game, despite having a man sent off in the 55th minute, as our lack of scoring opportunities hurt us.

Still a good month for us, some positives for sure. We have Nexasa up next away which will be a difficult fixture but two matches against more comfortable opposition to end the month means we could pick up 6 points from 9. Our defence remains an issue, but at least our attack is firing, Ibanez with 4 goals in 5 matches, while our other 2 strikers, who have both been given matches in the first team have opened their account as well.

 

[hedger_14]

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My defence is becoming a real worry. I want to edit my tactics for a more defensive outlook but I've never been one to play defensively, so for the moment I'm just waiting for the transfer window so I can pick up a few good players, because the amount of errors they're making is not good enough.

Was 2-0 down in those first 2 matches, but strong comebacks meant I picked up points in both matches, before our worst defensive performance against Merida but thankfully we never trailed in that match. My goals were spread around a lot, as both central defenders scored one, my 3 strikers all scored in separate games, and Rodriguez and Garcia both scored their first goals of the season while Collazo added one against Pumas.

Not sure how long I'll be at the club though. We have absolutely no revenue while I have to pay 265k p/w in wages, so debt is going to amass quickly. I think I'll leave in January or the end of the season, but I doubt I'll stay much longer than that

 

[hedger_14]

​

A very impressive month. I tweaked my away tactics slightly to a slightly more defensive outlook, although that mainly meant my defenders were only responsible for defending while my central midfielder played a little deeper to back up the defence. It worked well in our first match as we managed to keep a clean sheet for the first time this season, as they only managed one shot on target, and their frustration showed as they picked up 6 yellow cards while we did not receive a single booking. Our chances were slim and maybe a 0-0 draw was a deserved result but our strong defensive effort paid off as we were rewarded with a late winner when the ball spilled behind the defence, allowing Collazo to pick it up on the goal line and cross it back in, only for a defender to slide in and knock the ball into his own net.

I tried the same tactics at home, but found myself conceding an early goal. Rocha pulled back level for us on the 19th minute after a strong effort from the edge of the area before Pacheco scored twice for the visitors around the half hour mark to put us on the back foot. I resorted back to my previous tactics, which we looked a lot more comfortable playing at home, as the more attacking outlook meant the opposition could not dictate the play. Hugo Garcia pulled one back after the break but we weren't able to create enough opportunies and ended up going down 3-2.

Our failure to get off to good starts continued as we conceded in the second minute against Lobos and it seemed like we would be heading for another loss before Ibanez scored a stunning hattrick in the space of 18 minutes late in the second half to give us another important win.

Ibanez and Collazo were again impressive against UdeG as they created several clear cut opportunities, despite Ibanez only burying one early on, but we were always in control of the game, Palafox making it 2-0 after the break and although Gonzalez pulled one back with 15 minutes to go, they really didn't seem like getting the equaliser and they were caught out late on as Collazo sealed the match at the start of stoppage time.

Our much improved defence showed in our last match of the month as Veracruz managed 20 shots on goal, but had to mainly resort to shooting from distance, and only managed 4 shots on target, while our quality opportunities proved too much as Ibanez, Gimenez and Rojas made it 3-1 going into half-time before Collazo added another goal to his season tally to seal the 3 points on the 70 minute mark and ensured we came out of the month with 12 of a possible 15 points, to put us well into playoff (if you want to call it that) contention.

With two comfortable fixtures to end the opening stage, we should make the top 7, as we have managed to be in 4th place atm, Ibanez and Collazo prove to be our key players as expected, managing 16 goals between them but with 9 unique goalscorers, everyone can be relied on to pull their weight in the attacking half. All in all I've been quite impressed with the team's performance and I have been able to run the same XI mostly throughout the campaign, with a few rotations when the subs have done an impressive job off the bench.

 

[hedger_14]

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Well that was completely unexpected. Finished our run into the playoffs with 4 points from our last 2 matches, Ibanez scoring 3 goals in those 2 games to finish the opening stage topping the goalcharts for the league.

Ibanez scored twice against Leon early to put us on our way, before they pulled back with 2 second half goals but Rocha scored in stoppage time to take a 3-2 away win that Leon would have struggled to overturn in the return leg and we came out on top in a pretty even game which lacked a lot of scoring opportunities, Rojas heading home on 23 minutes before they pulled back level early in the second half before Martinez sent the ball into his own net, the deficit proving too much for Leon to overturn as we took a 5-3 aggregate win.

We probably deserved to win our first leg against the league leaders as Collazo scored on the hour mark to give us a 1-0 lead only for them to equalise late in the game to put us on the backfoot going into the second leg. Rocha got us off to a flyer in the second leg with a goal in the 8th minute after a nice strike before Gonzalez ensured Hidalgo went into the half-time break level at 1-1. It was again Ibanez who proved to be the match winner as Rocha set the star striker in on goal and Ibanez made no mistake in finishing to pull off a 2-1 away upset over Hidalgo to book ourselves a place in the final against Necaxa.

They proved to be a much more difficult opposition and they completely outclassed us at home, our defence managing to restrict them to one goal after Mendoza put the ball into his own net halfway through the first half. Our defensive efforts paid off though as Collazo scored his 8th goal of the season to steal a 1-1 draw with 5 minutes remaining. Our defensive efforts away from home again proved to be outstanding as we kept Necaxa from putting a single shot on target and the home side were caught off guard when Ibanez took a free kick quickly swinging it into the box for Palafox before the defenders had a chance to react and the winger didn't miss the one-on-one opportunity against the keeper putting us up 1-0 after 59 minutes. We fought until the end to keep a clean sheet and seal a massive victory that was much unexpected.

In the end, 24 goals and 12 assists between Ibanez and Collazo proved to be our saviours on most occasions helping us to the opening stage win. I don't think I'll be staying on much longer but I may just go until the end of the season to see if I can enhance my reputation a bit more.

 

[treva]

Outstanding effort that, Hedger. Can't imagine you thought there was much chance of that happening after that month of three straight draws.

I sadly haven't had much time to play my save this past week. Hoping to get some time in soon, though.

 

[hedger_14]

Yeah, I thought with the way my defence was looking that I would never get close to maybe stealing a playoff spot, but my slight tweaks seemed to do it's job. Not like I had much backup as well basically playing the same 13 or 14 players throughout the whole campaign. From conceding 17 goals in our first 8 games, and only 15 in our last 13 (still a lot but given how terrible the quality of our defence was), it was definitely a decent effort and with the firepower we had up front with Ibanez poaching, our backup striker doing a decent job and Collazo sitting in behind the two strikers and scoring a lot of goals, we had a team that was good enough to pose a threat to most teams and although admittedly got a bit lucky, as I think a loss in any of my games would have been the end of my season, as I think the form just carried us through more than anything, what I've learned from FM is that if you're on a good run, you win and if you lose a game, then you do well to respond straight away and if you don't bounce straight back with a win, then you're in for a tough time.

 

[hedger_14]

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A very odd start to the closing stage. We played pretty poorly for the most part, dropping points at Dorados which I thought we should have won, if not for poor finishing, and gifting them the winner late on, when a horribly misplaced back pass was intercepted and slotted home. Necaxa we probably outplayed as well but again terrible finishing cost us. Indios continued their struggling season, with only two draws through the opening stage and 7 games into the closing stage, and we had 6 different scorers as we recorded an easy win. Our first two performances were very strong, conceding late in our second match, which made the scoreline look closer than what it should be.

It was odd, as we did not look very good against Pumas away from home, but we came out and scored 4 goals in the second half, Collazo leading the way with a double as he took his tally to 5 in 5 games, missing the Celaya game through injury. This was really surprising given Pumas had not conceded a goal since their first match of the season, where they drew 1-1 on opening matchday. Ibanez yet to find his feet, only managing 2 goals and 2 assists so far, despite playing every minute.

Might stick it out until the end of the season, didn't do much in the transfer window, although brought in a utility overseas player, who's slotted in at right back, although normally plays in the midfield, and he's kinda moved around. He's been solid so far, apart from a couple defensive mistakes. And I had bought another midfielder earlier in the season who joined during the transfer window but hasn't made much of an impact off the bench, and has been out for the last couple of games through injury.

 

[treva]

Still not had any bloody time to play recently. Just too busy with work. Frustrating as I want to get back into this and get another couple of seasons under my belt. Hopefully soon.