Peixe - The Santos Project

[Werrett]

Introduction

Hello all and welcome to my newest Football Manager 2015 story. You may know me from my other thread known as the Managerial Rollercoaster (http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/foot...0207-all-aboard-managerial-rollercoaster.html) but having played 5 years or so into that save I have decided to create a side project to play every now and again, don't worry I won't be discontinuing that thread!

However having seen that most of the stories on this forum as based at clubs in European Football I decided to try something different, South America.

Having decided on South America I had a look through the numerous leagues such as Argentina, Colombia, Chile but in the end I decided I would be starting my save in Brazil...But who with?

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Santos Futebol Clube, commonly known as Santos (referred to as Peixe) are a Brazilian professional football club based in Vila Belmiro, a bairro in the city of Santos known famously around the world as "Pele's team." It plays in the Paulistão, the State of São Paulo's premier state league, as well as the Brasileirão, the top tier of the Brazilian football league system. Santos are one of the only five clubs to have never been relegated, along with São Paulo, Flamengo, Internacional and Cruzeiro.

Santos had their greatest era between 1956-1974 and in 1962 they managed to become the first team in the world to win the Continental Treble, winning the Paulistão, the Brasileirão, and the Copa Libertadores.

However in the modern day they have a reputation of being the 'paulista pequeno', or the small club from São Paulo which references their recent struggles behind that of São Paulo, Corinthians and Palmeiras, all of whom are much richer than Santos. However the one upside is that Santos have one of the best youth set-ups in the World having produced the likes of Neymar, Ganso, Diego, Elano, Robinho and many more. That's where the future lies for this once great club.

My aim is to take Santos back to the top of Brazilian Football, if not South American Football with ambitions to win the Club World Cup.

The media precidtion for the opening season is 9th place, which shows how Santos have declined in recent years behind some of the big guns. But that's where the challenge is and that's why I have decided to play as Peixe!

A section of the trophy cabinet shows how dominant Santos have been in the past, 3 Copa Libertadores (Champions League equivalent) as well as a host of super-cup victories.

Domestically Santos have also won a large number of trophies with domestic titles flying into the cabinet over the years, however only having won one Brazilian Cup is a bit strange...But we'll hopefully see to that!

Facilities wise Santos have a good set-up for a supposed mid-table team. With youth looking to be the future here in Brazil I'll be looking to upgrade these facilities over time, but first we need to generate income and eliminate existing debt.

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[wkdsoul]

Nice, Santos are my parent team in my Brazil game. i just been promoted out of Seria V (custom database to lvl 26)

 

[Werrett]

Nice, Santos are my parent team in my Brazil game. i just been promoted out of Seria V (custom database to lvl 26)

That sounds like an incredible challenge! I managed Santos last year on an FM14 save and it was great fun, never see too many people playing in South America.

 

[wkdsoul]

That sounds like an incredible challenge! I managed Santos last year on an FM14 save and it was great fun, never see too many people playing in South America.

I usally play with MCFC / Rangers and an MLS and Brazil club, usually Santos or Corinthians.

 

[Werrett]

I usally play with MCFC / Rangers and an MLS and Brazil club, usually Santos or Corinthians.

Corinthians looked like a fun save but they're such a rich and powerful club in Brazil whereas Santos have sort of dropped off a bit in recent years. I'm always up for a challenge!

 

[Werrett]

Pre-State Championship

Having taken the job at Santos I first had the task of evaluating the squad, Santos to my surprise still have a very good first team with some brilliant young talent. The likes of Gabriel Barbosa, Stefano Yuri, Alison and Gustavo Henrique as well as some of the old guard with Robinho, Thiago Ribiero and Arouca.

With a mediocre budget of only £1m it was unlikely that I would be able to bring in any names at this current time but instead looked at how I can get the best out of my current squad. As you know Brazilian Football has a die-hard habit of being fast paced, attacking and well..There's always a lot of goals!

With that in mind I went about developing some tactics, I've not managed in Brazil for a long time so it'll take me a while to get-to-grips with what does and doesn't work but here's what I've implemented so far:

4-5-1 with a defensive midfielder

Throughout FM15 so far I've been a big fan of the 4-5-1 or 4-1-2-3 DM if you prefer to call it that, it allows us to exploit the flanks while still having a lot of potential when playing through the middle. The defensive midfielder adds a nice layer of protection in front of the back-line which is what makes a 5 line formation so prevalent in this years game. (For me personally), you can see by the instructions that the aim here is to very much dominate the game while attacking the opposition defence, not allowing them time on the ball. It's early days so tweaks might be made but I'll keep you updated!

4-2-3-1 Narrow

Our second formation looks much more...unclean, it's a little congested but the 4 attacking players will hopefully provide a cutting edge against opponents with the complete wing-backs providing the width we need for when things become too packed. This formation is simply me playing around with roles but it might work, it's very similar to the first tactic in terms of instructions but the defence won't be as high up the pitch.

Both of our formations rely on Gabriel Barbosa/Ribiero providing that False-Nine build up play, with Leandro Damiado on loan to Cruzeiro for the next 18 months we're a little low on goal-scoring options, which is why the midfield trio will play such a pivotal role!

Our pre-season tour of Florida only saw us play two Friendly matches, but we came out on top with back-to-back 4-0 victories, very promising for us as we head into the São Paulo state championship.

Explaining the Brazilian League System

Now I might need to explain this a bit, but my knowledge isn't the best so please excuse any mistakes...If you have a better knowledge of Brazilian Football please feel free to inform me!

Basically teams in Brazil aren't known for playing matches abroad to raise finances etc or even playing many Exhibition matches against local teams...This is why the State Championships (Such as the Paulistão, which is the one I'll be participating in) are treated as a pre-season. Many teams choose to play their youngsters in this competition while the main team goes on tour around the World. The State Championships are usually seen as a small tournament but the Paulistão has 4 divisions which makes it one of the larger ones! These Championships are often being contested by some of the bigger teams as they only add more congestion to an already packed fixture schedule, as well as generating only a minor income.

During the State Championship there is a 20 team table, with each team playing 15 games (I'm not sure how they decide which 15 you play...). The top 8 teams then qualify for a play-off where knockout stages are played until an eventual Winner comes out on top. 4 teams are relegated to the second division.

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Upon the end of the State Championship the real Brazilian league soon begins, the Brasileirão! This league consists of the very best of the Brazilian teams such as Santos, Corinthians, Gremio, Internacional and many more and lasts almost a full calendar year.

In the Brasileirão there is a prize pool of millions available for the top teams which is why it's such a lucrative competition, as well as the chance to qualify for the Copa Libertadores (Champions League) or the Copa Sudamericana (Europa League).

The only downside to this tournament is that the European transfer market (Summer window) opens slap bang in the middle of the Brasileirão season, meaning many teams end the season with a very different team to the one they started with. (As Brazilian clubs are often selling clubs)

I hope you understood that..Please ask if you have any questions!

Here is a look at our fixture list for the Paulistão which starts with a very tough trip to Corinthians, the biggest club in Brazil at this current moment in time! I know a lot of you don't have the most enthusiasm for reading about these matches so I'm going to post an update once I finish the full Paulistão season, or maybe just before the play-offs if we qualify.

Here's a look at the previous winners of the State Championship, as you can see this is a competition that Santos seem to win..Well a lot! This may be down to the fact that Corinthians and Palmeiras often rest their key players and play the youngsters instead, whereas in the Brasileirão these teams come out to play.

See for yourself, Santos may dominate the State Championship but when it comes to the main Brazilian league they haven't claimed a title in 10 years! Something I'm hoping to change!

Please feel free to comment, leave advice or ask questions down below and I'll see you all in 15 games time. ​