Managerial Zero to Hero

[FreakDJ]

This is my first FM story, so please feel free to leave feedback and suggestions on how I can improve the story!

Background:
I have played many versions of Football Manager. My favorite aspect is developing Youth Players, mainly regens as I do not know how they will turn out compared to young real players that I know will most likely turn out good. In FM15, during my last save before the newest edition of the game, a save with Derby I came across a dutch regen from PSV's youth team and he quickly became my favorite player and I focused on making him a world class legend. FM16 came out so I ended the save as I wanted to immerse myself in the new game. Throughout FM16, I never found a regen I liked as much as the dutch superstar so for this story I decided to fall back to FM15 to bring this player back as a manager in FM17 and see how he is as a manager compared to a player!

His name: Jeroen Bentohami.
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This player is very decorated at a young ripe age of 25. As I never got to finish the save to see out his career, I had to improvise for the new version of the game when creating him as a manager. I tried to take the information here and recreate him as closely as I could.
I forgot to edit the Month and day of his birthday, but we can look past that.

The Manager:
I gave him no coaching badges as he has just hung up his boots without having time to bag any. He has plenty of playing experience, so I gave him International Player (National Level). I decided not to give global because I felt it would be more unbalanced than National, but I wanted to keep it somewhat realistic.
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He has a preferred 4-3-1-2 narrow formation because that is what he played in at Derby. He grew a deep love for Derby as a player and PSV is his boyhood club, so he is a supporter.

Jeroen Bentohami is starting unemployed. Time to hit the job center.
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I am starting this save simmed two years in advance because I enjoy starting with some regens in the saves and moves already made, plus the teams with no manager two years in the game are vastly different than when it is a fresh save.

 

[FreakDJ]

First Job:
After applying to a few jobs across the world, mainly in Brazil, the Netherlands, and attempting to land some English League jobs, Jeroen Bentohami found his desk with lots of "Thanks, but no thanks" letters.
After realizing that reputation as a player does not mean he can land any job he applies for without having experience managing elsewhere, Bentohami decided to aim a little lower to build his way up. Applying to second and third tier teams in Spain and Portugal, the job interviews began. Bentohami hadn't had a job interview before, so he just said he was looking to push on with his career and said he could meet all goals and keep finances safe when asked about the topics. In reality, he had no idea if he could do all of this.

After attending interviews for a few B teams, he was confident he could land a job. Every morning he would read the paper and wait by the phone for calls back. He began thinking he would have to aim lower as he kept being overlooked and seeing news of the teams he applied for appointing a different manager. A month after applying for many jobs, the phone rang. Picking up the phone, expecting to be told that the board of that team was pleased with his interview, but they had decided not to appoint him was stuck repeating in his mind.
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"Hello.." Jeroen muttered.
"Yes, Mr. Bentohami? We were pleased with your interview and us here at the board were ecstatic that a player of your reputation decided to apply for a job at our club..." The man said giddily. "When can you start?"
"Wh- What?" Jeroen questioned.
"You've got the job, come by as soon as possible to sign a contract and get started!"

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Valencia! Bentohami has landed himself a job in Spain for the illustrious Valencia B team.

Now what?

​

 

[FreakDJ]

Walking into office, Bentohami sat down with the owner of the club and learned about the club. Jeroen eagerly awaited to meet the staff he would be working closely with to develop the next generation for Valencia, but after the owner of club wrapped up and no one had shown yet, Bentohami questioned where everyone was?
"We've cleared the staff for you. Bring in anyone you want - We've given you a budget, make good use of it." he stated, "Also, you can sign and young players you may need, but keep it cheap."

Bentohami was surprised he was given all of this freedom at a B team of an established La Liga side. The first order of business was to bring in a whole new backroom staff. He filled up the entire coaching staff, scouting team, and physio team, before evaluating his squad so he could have professional help from the scouts and his assistant.
Once the staff arrived, everyone sat down and assessed the team's strengths and weaknesses. Tallest and heaviest in the division, as well as the best jumpers. Not very technically gifted. They noted they would have to remember that when setting up tactics later on.

The board have made it clear that they want me to fight against relegation and develop young talents. Before the season begins, some players who stand out compared to the rest (one for defense, midfield, attack and goalie)
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Antonio Sivera is our strongest goalie on the B team with five star ability and potential. He might not last long with the B team if he performs.
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Javi Jimenez is a strong candidate to move from the B team as well. Not sure if he will stay on the B team but if he does, he is going to be the center of the defense.
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Kevin Macias was in the U19 squad, but was immediately moved to the B team before the preseason friendlies began. He looks like he is going to be good. Might even get some looks for the first team.
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Juanma Maqueda is our most promising striker based on attribute looks and initial reports, but there are not many decent looking strikers in the squad.

Hopefully these players can remain with the Valencia B team or even perform well enough to get the move to the First team for some time there. Bentohami will have his work cut out for him with a squad that will have moving parts throughout the season with players being called to the First team, loaned out at a higher level, and injuries to battle against.
Hopefully the team can be improved overall with some free transfers or loan signings to help bolster what is missing.

Preseason is fast approaching. What tactical formations can Jeroen and his team muster up to make this squad go from relegation battle to above and beyond.

​

 

[FreakDJ]

Not According to Plan:

Excited to get his first game under his belt, Bentohami set the line up and a few different tactics for the guys to expect to see throughout the season, including a 4-3-3, 4-5-1 and a 4-3-1-2. Not going into much detail as the preseason was a disappointment, these are the results.
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Quite a few draws, a loss, and two wins to round out the preseason. About the time of the Olympic Xativa there was a realization that due to technical weaknesses, we were not fit out for a control tactic, so we dropped the 4-3-3 and 4-3-1-2 and picked up a more defensively solid tactic with a 4-1-4-1 and a 4-4-1-1 counter styles( will upload tactics in a later post ).
The preseason also saw the squad lose some players to the First team, Loans, Transfers and injuries. Antonio Silva left to a new adventure to Celtic, Jimenez was moved to the First Team, Macias was loaned to another team at the next division up, so we are left with Maqueda from the "stars" pointed out in the last post. Hopefully some other young guys can step up and show me that I should have picked them as the stars as the season goes on.

With the relief of preseason ending on a high note after starting what felt like was a poor start, Jeroen was excited to get the real season up and running!
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[FreakDJ]

September:

Our first real game. Levante B side away. Valencia is set to take up the 4-3-1-2 formation.
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The team brings home its first victory. It felt good to bag three points on the road for the first time. The team went up 2-0 after 68 minutes and after conceding one in the 73rd minute, things still looked like they would be in our favor and they were.

Following the first away we we come home to Badalona and play a 4-4-2, but it did not work as planned.
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We went down and didn't look much like putting it in the net on the day. On to the next one.

We hit the road again, on our way to face Prat.
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After the loss, we had to change from a 4-4-2 and play a 4-5-1. It worked for a little, but then we conceded and didn't look like scoring on the day again. Our strikers are not on form.

Terragona at their field did not end well for us.
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Not much to say about that one. Utterly embarrassed.

Gava at home. In attempt to be more defensive while having some attacking threat we changed to a 4-4-1-1.
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Worked decently well. Would like to get a win under our belts again. So many ties.

Ending the month with a game against Barcelona's B team at home. This time we follow our assistant's recommendation on formation and discover a 4-1-4-1.
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Looks like we will be sticking with this one for awhile as it sees us get a win and out-possessing Barcelona.

Overall, the month went OK. I think we did decently well, but can definitely improve. We will see how the 4-1-4-1 works out in the future.

In other news,
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Hope I can bag it and move on. Will be essential in the future when applying for other jobs.




​

 

[FreakDJ]

October:

The month of October began with a game against A. Baleares at home. Valencia lined up in a 4-1-4-1 formation.
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We were dominated mostly all game, but we struck first in the 30th minute, with a finish by Marco Valenti, a young striker who got the start today. They unfortunately equalized at the 73rd minute. With the momentum in their direction, we were fortunate to hold off for a draw.

Next we saw ourselves away against Heracles. Again, in a 4-1-4-1 formation.
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This exciting game really only took off in the second half. We started the scoring in the 50th minute followed by them equalizing just four minutes later and eventually taking the lead in the 67th minute. The lead only lasts two minutes where we equalize this time in the 69th minute. The game looked like it would surely end in a tie with possession mostly equal through the game until we got a break in the 89th minute where we finished nicely and took the win home. In this game, we tried out another striker, Ahmed Kone, who stood out giving us a goal and two assists.

Game three was a disappointing result against Alzira, away. Sticking with what worked in the last two games, we played a 4-1-4-1.
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They dominated the game, out shooting, out possessing and out playing us. Not much to say about this one. We must push on.

Rounding out the month, we returned home to play against Alcoyano.
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Same shots but we out possessed them and took the lead through Ahmed Kone, coming off the bench to score, in the 78th minute. Again, he is standing out with his ability to get us the needed result.

Starting the season with a tie, a loss, and two wins is not the worst way to start the season. Mr. Bentohami seems to be getting a grip with tactics and behind the scenes part of the game as opposed to being on the field getting the results himself.


With a game heavy schedule just around the corner, hopefully the win can carry on and keep the form of Valencia B up and the thought of relegation in the dust.
​

 

[FreakDJ]

Quick Rundown:

I thought now that we are in a little bit I will mention tactics and other moving parts that make the team what it is.
To begin, here are the transfers we have made:
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These are just for squad depth. They create fill the missing pieces and thus create this squad:
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With the squad we have and our technical deficiencies, we have to have a tactic that fits our strengths:
Height, Weight, and Jumping.
Therefore, we have created a tactic that uses our faster players to move down the wing and then cross the ball in to put it in the back of the net.
The Main Tactic:
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And the others:
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Hopefully that covers the tactical side of things. If there is any other backdoor information you would like to see let me know!
Also, if there is a way to improve, feel free to let me know here or PM me suggestions! Thanks for reading! More to follow!

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[FreakDJ]

November:

Coming home to begin our November run of games against Olot.
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Quite a boring one this is.

Our next game is home as well, against Lleida.
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They took the lead and we answered eleven minutes later, only for them to score an eventual winner in the 40th minute. We outplayed them but they took their chances and we didn't.

Game three of the month we found ourselves against Eldense.
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Not very eventful game, but we scored a nice goal just before the hour mark to take home the win.

To round off the month we play Cornella at their field.
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0-0 draw to bring a point home. Disappointing to not get one goal in on our 17 total shots. They kept majority of the possession, though.

I will be looking to move teams at the end of this season because not being able to fully control the team is not as exciting as I had imagined. I would show you guys the players who stand out more but we just lose them to a loan to a different team in our league or they are moved to the First team to not make an appearance or sit bench and we can't control that- but its something I would like to do.

I have played through most of the season already at this point and I can sum it up quickly in a post or two.​