Rebuilding
Part 7 | Ingolstadt 04 | FM23 Hardcore Mode
Frustration
The Osnabrück game was a disaster.
It all went wrong. We dominated possession as usual, but Osnabrück hit us hard on the counter attack. Felix Higl had an incredible match, scoring a goal and frustrating us at every level.
We were able to hold onto the ball, but kept it in our own end for whatever reason. We didn’t make any real effort to attack, and found ourselves under constant pressure for the entire match.
At times I wonder if the boys remember what the purpose of the game is.
Desperation
The long bus ride back home was pretty hard to stomach.
I sat next to Robert Deising, our Head Performance Analyst. He had quite a few things to show me, most of which were things I really didn’t want to see.
Some of it was pretty basic. We’ve got a pass completion ratio of over 90%, which is insane. And yet we’re only expected to score 0.59 goals per game based on our positioning, which is a real problem.
I hate to say it, but part of this problem is probably my mentality. After seeing all those video clips of Ingolstadt suffering in the 2. Bundesliga last season, I thought the best approach would be to bolster the defense first before worrying about the offense. I’m starting to think now that we need to simply attack and let the rest sort itself out.
Robert showed me that most of our passes have been in our own half, which is a huge problem. We’re talking about well over 70% of these wonderful passes we’ve made taking place in our half of the pitch. We can’t score goals if we don’t get the ball forward, and we need to do whatever we can to move that ball forward.
Advice
“You boys always make this so complicated,” Charlotte told me one evening as I was hurridly sketching out play diagrams.
I glanced up at her quickly.
She smiled and shook her head. “If you want them to attack, just tell them to attack. It’s that simple. Stop trying to be fancy and just attack.”
Normally I’d pass this off as the silly rantings of an outsider who doesn’t understand the game. However, I’m ready to try anything at this point. The board has made it quite clear how upset it is with our lack of offensive attack, and I’m sick of watching us play far below our level.
“You’re a genius, honey,” I said, folding up my papers. “Time for bed.”
Personnel
I’ve learned something in my years of Football Manager fiddling. If you’ve got toxic players, get rid of them.
I went over the squad from top to bottom. Those players I had flagged as unreliable or heavily injury prone found themselves suddenly in the II squad and on the transfer list. We’re going to go with youth and new faces from now on, and we’re only going to play the players that actually want to be here.
Speaking of which, we do have some new faces to report.
Fabián Luzzi, who has the sort of name that makes the Western girls swoon (but no effect on my wife, thank goodness), comes in from Barcelona B. He’s 18, he’s got a good attitude, he’s got a good amount of pace and a high upsie, and he might be the striker that we so desperately need.
We also convinced him to sign for very little, offering him huge bonuses for goals and international appearances. If he hits those bonuses, we’ll be in great shape. If not, we won’t have to pay him.
Tiago Matos comes in from Radomiak, a 21-year-old centerback with a bit of an upside in his future. Again, we got him on a low contract, promising to pay him a huge wage after a signle international appearance. I don’t think he’ll ever start for Portugal, but you never know.
We did have to pay a bit over the odds for Matos, though. We’ll see how this one goes.
Jean-Marie Nadjombe is a left back who also has a pretty high upside. We signed him chiefly to play behind Härtel, who has started every single game for us so far as our only left back.
The scouts say that Nadjombe is quick and is a good jumper, which could help us on corners.
Finally, I went ahead and picked up a Brazilian striker named Saldanha, after hearing my scouts rave about him for a few weeks.
I was worried because we can only register 3 non-EU players in the 3. Bundesliga. However, it turns out that Saldanha won’t come on until the end of the season, at which point we (hopefully) will be entering the 2. Bundesliga. There is no restriction on non-EU players once you rise up to that level.
Plus, Saldanah was free. Not bad for a 22-year-old Brazilian striker. That’s the sort of thing that makes me swoon.
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken is next. They come to visit us. Everybody expects goals and a win.
I changed up the tactic, but only slightly. Instead of breaking everything apart and starting over, I decided to keep the vertical tiki-taka, but made a few changes to try to inspire more offensive play.
We have a bunch of new faces in our squad, so I’m not really expecting all that much. All I want to see is us come up with some kind of offensive threat during the game. Anything would be better than yesterday’s match.
Robert came up to me the morning of the match, muttering something or other about some guy named Calogero Rizzuto and his crossing ability. We’ll focus on trying to shut him down defensively.
We’ll see how this works. I need some sort of result soon, or it’s my neck.