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In this series I'm trying to bring together all elements of Football Manager as part of a cohesive strategy aimed at propelling St. Gallen to the top of Swiss football & beyond. I'm not an expert in any aspect of the game, but there are some parts I know less about, or have ignored all together. The aim of this series is to learn & improve as I go... It has come to the end of my first season in charge of St. Gallen and I've managed to win the League title with a club who had the second lowest wage budget in the entire division. Not only did we win but we did in a bit of style, too, finishing a massive 19 points clear of 2nd place and breaking the record points total set by Young Boys (91) in 2018/19. I've written previously about my preferred style of play and how I wanted the team to look. I wanted us to press and be proactive out of possession. On the ball I wanted us to be a side capable of controlling possession and dominating our opponent in that aspect, but not at the expense of creating chances. I didn't want us to a slow, plodding possession side. I want the team to maintain a good tempo and pass with a bit of purpose. So at the end of the season I wanted to explore the data and answer two questions: Does the data support my conclusion that I've managed to successfully implement the style of play I talked about at the beginning of the season? Is there anything we particularly excel at? Do we have any clear weaknesses? Is our League victory deserved? Did we get a bit lucky? In Possession I want my team to be able to dominate the ball because it basically means we give ourselves more opportunity to build successful attacks, with the added bonus of limiting the opponents chances to score. I'd like my team to build from the back, so let's have a look if this worked well for us. Ranked 1st for Average possession (67%), well clear of 2nd place Young Boys with 58% Ranked 1st for Pass Completion 89% and Passes Completed 25689. We complete an average of 713 passes per match, compared to 511 for Young Boys and 343 for FC Basel. I want to see a lot of passes as I want to play quite a high tempo, encouraging fewer touches and prioritising quicker mvoement of the ball, so this is a good sign. The below visuals further illustrate our passing/possession game. The first just shows what I've said above. We pass more than anyone else in the League by quite some distance, and our completion ratio is good. So we move the ball around a lot, and with good success, which is exactly what I'm wanting to see. Our Possession Lost number are pretty interesting, too. We lose possession less than the average side. Just 17% of our total possession losses happen in our own defensive third, and the above graphic appears to show that we are very secure when building out from the back. 29% of our possession losses occur in the opponents final third, which appears pretty good but I'll maybe need to look at other teams for greater context. It does show that we seem to be capable of passing our way into the opponents final third, though. Defensive Play I wanted us to defend on the front foot and as far away from our goal as quickly as possible. I wanted us to press high up the pitch and win the ball back quickly when we lose it. In combination with our possession style, I wanted to use an intense pressing game to reduce the oppositions time and space on the ball. 2nd for OPPDA (3.39). This suggests that we press very often, which is what I wanted to see. Ranked 1st for Passes Attempted Against, Passes Completed Against and Final Third Passes Against. I'm pleased with this as our opponents make fewer passes against us than any other side, so their quality in possession when they do have it has to be really good. Ranked 1st for Shots Against and Shots on Target Against. Again - really pleased with this, as we face fewer shots and therefore are (in theory) less likely to concede. Our xG per shot faced is 0.11, which is slightly better than Young Boys (0.12) and FC Basel (0.14). So we're facing fewer shots, and the shots we do face are of a slightly poorer chance quality than our main opponents. When looking at where we win the ball back, it gives a pretty good indication that our front-foot pressing style is working fairly well. 7% of our possession regains are in the opponents final third, and a further 47% coming in the middle third of the pitch. It's a similar story for our Defensive Actions. These two visuals combined both come with a note of 'Fewer possession gains/defensive actions in defensive third than expected', which would suggest that our high press is working pretty well. Our xG conceded (34.24) is the lowest in the League, suggesting the combination of our possession play and pressing game is contributing to a strong defensive system. Attacking/Creativity With the possession and pressing elements of our game working well together to create a strong defence, my big concern was always that we would become a bit blunt or impotent in possession. I wanted our passing game to be the platform for helping us to be a dangerous attacking side, so let's see how we got on. Ranked 2nd for Non-Penalty xG. Ranked 2nd for Chances Created. Ranked 1st for Shots and joint 1st for Shots on Target. Ranked 1st for FInal Third Passes. These numbers look pretty good. We're second to FC Basel in NPxG and Chances Created, and we managed more shots on target than everyone bar Young Boys. We also make more passes in the final third than anyone else. The above shows how our attacking numbers compare to our two main title rivals, and the two wealthiest clubs in the country. I think any concerns about being too 'impotent' in attack because of our passing game are probably unfounded. We get plenty of shots on target, create plenty of chances and our chance quality is comparable to the 'big two'. The above visual shows that while we shoot more than anyone else, our conversion rate is still pretty good, second only to Young Boys. The fact that Basel create more chances than us and Young Boys are more clinical could be down something as simple as them possessing more quality in their squads. Conclusions Our possession style is working pretty well. We are adept at playing out from the back and are able to progress the ball into the final third. This allows us good territorial dominance, and means when we lose the ball it often tends to be far away from our own goal. Our pressing game has also been pretty good. We allow opponents fewer passes, shots and final 3rd passes than any other side. A healthy proportion of our Possessions Gained come in the middle and final third, so we're winning the ball high up the pitch quite a lot. We're creating a good amount of chances, and we're converting chances pretty well. We definitely deserved to win the League title, though there is no doubt we were boosted quite significantly by our set piece threat. With more games to contend with next season, we'll need to improve our strength in depth as there is a pretty big drop off in quality outside of our first XI. If you've got this far, thanks for reading. Join me next time where I'll cover season two as we enter the Champions League and try to retain our League title.

In this series I'm trying to bring together all elements of Football Manager as part of a cohesive strategy aimed at propelling St. Gallen to the top of Swiss football & beyond. I'm not an expert in any aspect of the game, but there are some parts I know less about, or have ignored all together. The aim of this series is to learn & improve as I go... In this post I'll be trying to get to grips with the part of the game I've arguably been guilty of using the least. Training. I'm almost embarrased to admit I've neglected training more or less entirely, as it is such a core part of building and developing any football club. If you're aiming to build a specific brand of football, training plays a crucial part in boosting players tactical understanding and developing the attributes you need to be successful. If you're aiming to put a big focus on player development, training can really help maximise their progress. You can also fine-tune each players style through the use of Player Traits, and utilise Mentoring groups to have your experienced players take some of the younger players in the group under their wing with a view to passing on positive personality traits. While all of this sounded great to me, I've never properly used it. Any time I ventured into the training screen, it just all seemed like there were too many options and too much going on. Any time I watched a video or read a guide to try and learn, it all just felt a bit...overwhelming. But it had come to a point where I really wanted to try and learn, and I reasoned that if I made mistakes and got things wrong - fine. Even if it was a case of trial & error, I had to learn somehow. So I tried to think about what I wanted to get out of training, and made a list: Focus on sessions which boosted the attributes I feel I need from my preferred style of play. Keep my players fit, and avoid over-working them to the point of injury. Pick a small group of players with the aim of developing their attributes. Try to use Player Traits to further fine-tune my style of play. So let's get into it. Making it Make Sense In a previous post I touched on the general attributes I felt would be the most important for the style of play I was attempting to create. I'll link to the post here in case anyone wants to go back and read it, but here is a snippet below. In possession I want to dominate the opponent and build from the back, so realistically it is important that most, if not all, my players are comfortable in possession. So I'm probably looking at First Touch, Passing, Technique, Composure & Decisions as being key attributes for building a possession-based style. Out of possession, I mentioned that I want my team to react quickly and press high up the pitch. So I need players who have the intelligence to read the game, the willingness to work hard and follow their instructions to shut the opponent down and put them under pressure, as well as having the physical capability to actually do it effectively. So I'm maybe looking at Anticipation, Aggression, Determination, Teamwork, Work Rate, Acceleration, Pace & Stamina as being the important attributes for becoming an effective pressing side. I'm no expert, but I think that makes sense, and so when checking out the training session options, I just tried to pick sessions which focused a lot on these attributes. The names of each of the sessions do a fairly good job of giving you an idea of what it does, but reading the little description and the list of effects makes everything super clear for you. If I can understand it, you can understand it too. A typical week might look something like the below. The sessions I'll utilise most are: Attacking Patient. Defending Engaged, Ground Defence, Defending From The Front. Chance Creation, Ball Distribution, Transition - Press, Ball Retention, Play From The Back. Attacking Shadow Play, Defensive Shadow Play. I'll often use Quickness training if we have a full week, and try and rotate in sessions that focus on the GKs. Having read through each of the sessions and their impact, these are my preferred sessions for implementing my style of play. Fit For Purpose A big goal for training this season was, essentially, to keep the players fit and ready for every match possible. The style of play is quite intense and demanding, and with a small core of players who I trust to carry out the style, it is important for me to keep that core of players injury free. The winter World Cup has caused a bit of havoc with the fixture scheduling, and with the likes of FC Basel, Young Boys & FC Zurich having European Group Stage commitments it puts them at a bit of a disadvantage and could give us a real opportunity to mount a real title challenge. So the intensity of training is often fairly low, possibly at the expense of individual player development, but that is something I hope to be able to focus more on in future seasons when we have greater squad depth and we can afford to rotate the team a bit more comfortably. So, did we manage to reduce injuries at all? According to our Head of Sports Science, we suffered 76 injuries throughout the series - a 40% decrease on the expected total. On first viewing, that seems pretty good to me, but I'll probably need to compare those to next seasons numbers to get a better idea. Player Development This is something I haven't been able to focus on all that much this season. As mentioned above, I've prioritised less strenuous tactical work and recovery sessions with the intention of maximising Team Cohesion/Tactical Familiarity and injury prevention ahead of individual player development. While game time is probably more valuable in terms of player development, training also has a big part to play in shaping player attributes and there were a couple of players I earmarked as ones I wanted to focus a little more on. Lawrence Ati-Zigi, Leonidas Stergiou, Matej Maglica, Isaac Schmidt, Randy Schneider, Julian Von Moos & Alessio Besio were all highlighted as players at a good age that I thought I could potentially develop. This one screenshot doesn't necessarily reflect the development of the players, or their performance in training throughout the season, but we did typically see these kind of ratings pretty consistently throughout our first season. All of the players mentioned were generally trending in the right direction but obviously they didn't all develop at the same pace. Lawrence Ati-Zigi - established himself as the undisputed no. 1. We saw a pretty good improvement with point increases in his Command of Area, Anticipation & Concentration. His form this season has attracted interest from Burnley & 1. FC Koln. Leonidas Stergiou - he arguably developed the best of the bunch, with the individual focus on Jumping Reach having an impact and an increase in several of his mental attributes. He only managed 23 starts this season due to injury, so I'm hoping his development can kick on even more next season if he stays injury free. He has been the subject of interest from Fulham, Sevilla & Borussia Dortmund this season. Matej Maglica - played 37 games and performed exceptionally well. He is ticking along nicely, but hasn't seen any massive improvements this season. He is currently being watched by Schalke 04. Isaac Schmidt - 13 starts and 14 sub appearances highlight his squad player status. He has been re-training to play as a right-back and has been doing OK, with a big increase in determination and I think he can continue as a useful rotation player for a good few years. Randy Schneider - I've been so pleased with his development and he really established himself as a key player this season, with 11 goals and 5 assists in 32 appearances. At just 21 I think he can continue to develop a lot in the next few seasons. Julian Von Moos - made 32 appearances this season and has become a very useful player for us, with his versatility being a big bonus. He has seen a 2 point increase in both his Anticipation and his Determination. He's only 22 so I hope to develop him further. Alessio Besio - made 22 appearances and score 7 goals, scoring 0.71 goals per 90. At 19 that is a great ratio and he has proven to be a capably understudy. His attributes have seen a good increase, but he probably needs more game time to continue developing. So have I learned anything? Injury prevention was better than average, but can it be even better? WIth increased squad depth I can rotate more which can offset some of the match load for key players. Player development was generally OK. Some of the younger players improved really nicely and things are generally moving in the right direction, but is that just a case of young players getting better naturally? Has my training got the most out of them, or has game time been the more important factor? I haven't really dived into things like Mentoring, or Player Traits yet. These can be massive tools for shaping young players and really tailoring individuals to suit a specific purpose in your system. Join me next time as I'll be taking a look at the stats and analysing whether our tactical decisions worked as expected, and taking a look at our performance as a whole. Thanks for reading!

In this series I'm trying to bring together all elements of Football Manager as part of a cohesive strategy aimed at propelling St. Gallen to the top of Swiss football & beyond. I'm not an expert in any aspect of the game, but there are some parts I know less about, or have ignored all together. The aim of this series is to learn & improve as I go... This post is dedicated to one of the areas of the game I've neglected the most - set pieces. I've never been bothered enough about them to spend any significant length of time planning and tweaking my routines, and when I did they were never really that successful. But real world football shows time & time again how important dead ball situations can be, ofen the difference in tight games when 0 points can become 1, or 1 can become 3 in the blink of an eye. There was the famous situation a couple of years ago in Denmark, where unfancied Midtjylland maximised their effectiveness from these situations and won the League title. We've even seen clubs now hiring dedicated coaches for set pieces, and even situations like throw-ins. With that in mind, I wanted to explore the importance of set pieces and why they can be a vital part of your strategy. And during the process of assessing my squad on Day One in the job, one player changed everything... Meet Matej As I clicked through each of the player profiles, carefully running my eyes over their attributes and trying to build a picture of their strengths, weaknesses and suitability for my preferred tactical style, one player stood out like a sore thumb. Meet Matej Maglica. Matej Maglica is a 6'6" Croatian defender who spend the early part of his career in the German lower Leagues, before Stuttgart took a punt on him. After just 1 Bundesliga appearance, he was loaned to St. Gallen in Switzerland, and made enough of an impression for the club to make the move permanent in the Summer of 2022. Matej is a bit slow, he's not great on the ball and some of his mental attributes are certainly nothing to write home about. In terms of building a team that aims to play out from the back and defend in a high line - he's not ideal. But, as you can see, Maglica has an enormous and obvious upside. His aerial power. With Strength of 18, Jumping Reach of 18 and Heading of 17 he gives us a completely different option in defence. And with those attributes, it would be borderline negligent to ignore the potential for attacking dead ball situations. And so, I set about attempting to put together some coherent set piece routines. Free kick situations have yet to bear any fruit, but corners have been a completely different story, and below is my corner set-up. Left-footed Spaniard Jordi Quintilla is my preferred choice for corner kicks, and from the left-hand side I ask him to whip balls into the near post where he would aim at, surprise surprise, Maglica. I thought that if he aimed at the far post with an outswinger the ball would end up too far away from the goal, thus making the goal-scoring chance that bit more difficult. From the right, I wanted a more looping, inswinging cross into the back post again, aiming for our giant centre-back. The idea is to drag defenders towards the front post and leave the big man free at the back post to tower over unsuspecting opponents and batter the ball into the back of the net. When he scored in the 12th minute of a friendly against FC Thun, I knew I was onto a winner. And he didn't stop there. In the first half of the season, the big man scored in a 1-0 win vs Young Boys (A), 2-1 win vs Lugano (A), 1-1 draw with Servette (A), 2-1 win vs Lugano (H) & 3-2 win vs Grasshopper (H). WIthout his goals in these matches, we'd have gotten 4 points. With his crucial set piece finishes - we turned 4 points into 13! By the time the World Cup rolled around, Maglica had scored 10 goals from the first 16 League matches. He was the Leagues 3rd top scorer at that stage, which was just crazy. And he didn't stop there. He added a further 12 set piece goals, and finished the season as second top scorer with 22 League goals - just 1 behind Mario Balotelli! So, my defender finished the season as my top scorer by quite some distance, netting 23 times in 37 matches. We scored 23 goals from corners this season, but only 3 from indirect free kicks, so there is definitely room for improvement next season. The following season, Maglica plundered another 20 goals from 26 matches, before earning a €17.5m move to Premier League side, Leicester City. Next time, I'll be discussing how I tried to tackle training and my approach throughout the season. Thanks for reading!

In this series I'm trying to bring together all elements of Football Manager as part of a cohesive strategy aimed at propelling St. Gallen to the top of Swiss football & beyond. I'm not an expert in any aspect of the game, but there are some parts I know less about, or have ignored all together. The aim of this series is to learn & improve as I go... With the pre-season friendlies bringing increasingly positive performances, the opening weeks of my tenure at Kybunpark have offered some encouragement. But pre-season games, as we know, can often be misleading and so the early Super League fixtures will be the first real test for this team. And with the much-maligned fixture computer throwing up some challenging opposition in the opening matches, now is the time to put my tactics under the microscope. I've been really quite heavily influenced by Ange Postecoglou over the last 18 months. Having rebuilt a Celtic side that feebly relinquished the League title after winning nine on the bounce, 'Big Ange' has Celtic back at the top of the pile in Scotland, winning the League and League Cup double in his first year in charge and, at the time of writing, has The Bhoys sitting 9 points clear of rivals Rangers. Postecoglou has a clear idea of how he wants his teams to play, and while I'm no tactical expert, I'm going to attempt to replicate aspects of his system in Switzerland. Here are some of the key elements of 'Angeball': Postecoglou normally opts for a 4-3-3, insists on his team playing out from the back and moving the ball quickly. Out of possession, his teams press high up the pitch and look to give their opponents as little time on the ball as possible. Inverted full-backs are utilised to overload central areas and help the team when they're building from the back. This offers the added benefit of giving more protection to the centre-backs when the ball is turned over, and prevents direct counter attacks down the middle. The positioning of the full-backs also allows the central midfield players to push forward and try to find space between the lines to receive the ball, and the wingers stay wide to try and stretch the opposition. This aggressive positioning helps provide natural counter-pressing situations. So that is our blueprint, and we achieved some success in pre-season, now it's time to test it against the big boys. Matchday 1: FC Basel (H) As most of you will be aware, Basel are one of the top dogs in Switzerland and a quick glance at their manager (Alex Frei) and their most recent pre-season friendly (a 4-3 win over Banik Ostrava) suggests they will try to play a similar style to us, so this will be a good test to see if we can impose our style on the game. Build-up Structure With the defensive midfielder and two inverted-full backs on either side, I am looking to see us build up in a sort of 2-3 shape. The idea behind this is for those 5 players to drop deep to assist with building out from the back and help us consolidate possession. I want us to try and draw teams out into pressing us and breaking their own defensive structure so we can play around them. In the below example, Leonidas Stergiou (4) received the ball from his central defensive partner and you can see the trio of Daouda Guindo (19), Lukas Gortler (16) & Isaac Schmidt (33) have taken up central positions. This is a really good example of what I would like to see a lot of. The Basel forward Liam Millar (7) is drawn infield leaving a pass to our winger Emmanuel Latte Lath (22) who is able to receive the ball and drive at the opposition full-back. Despite Basel trying to press (4.72 OPPDA) we were able to move the ball a lot between our back 4 and defensive midfielder. Guindo (174), Maglica (169), Stergiou (167), Schmidt (111) & Gortler (162) were able to rack up an awful lot of pass combinations and were able to help us build up securely from the back. This is something we'll need to get better at as the season progresses. Some teams will sit in and be very disciplined, so we won't be able to draw them in as regularly as we were in this match. Basel were set up to press so we were able to play around them, but against team who sit in a low block we'll need the players involved in the build-up to take more risks with their passing, and possibly even carry the ball into the opposition half in an attempt to draw people towards them. Attacking Structure With the 5 players dropping deep to assist with the build-up, my aim is to have the positioning of the front 5 designed to really stretch the opposition. Using these players to create central overloads allows the wingers and central midfielders to take up more advanced positions. I want the wingers to stay wide to try and make the pitch as big as possible, with the result being that the opposition are forced to make a decision on whether to shuttle wide to close down my wingers, potentially leaving gaps in the middle for the two central midfielders to receive the ball in between the lines. Alternatively, the opposition could stay more compact, denying space for our central midfielders but leaving the wingers open to hopefully receive the ball and create 1v1 situations. In the below example, Daouda Guindo has moved the ball to Chadrac Akolo wide on the left and as the Basel full-back goes out to press, our No. 8 Jordi Quintilla has made a run into the space created between the RB & CB. While Quintilla was able to receive a pass from Akolo in behind Basel, it came to nothing on this ocassion. In this example in the second half, you can see how Akolo has received the ball inside his own half with his back to goal. Using the numerical advantage we have in the central areas, the ball is moved to Randy Schneider (27) after a couple of quick passes. As the Basel LB tries to press, Schneider lays the ball off quickly to Isaac Schmidt (33) who plays a first time pass to Emmanual Latte Lath on the right who now has loads of space to run into. In a game against one of the best sides in the League, a side who were intent on pressing us, it is really promising that we were able to play our way into these situations a lot of the time and cause them real problems. Pressing Another thing that is important to me in replicating Postecoglou is to match his teams high intensity press, with real focus on winning the ball back quickly and as far away from our own goal as possible. The below example is fairly early on in the game, and we're set up pretty well to press Basel after an attack comes to nothing. With Michael Lang in possession, we have 3 players inside the opposition box ready to press, with the two central midfielders not far behind. Lang tries to play short to Fabian Frei (20) but he comes under pressure from Quintilla & Schneider and is forced to play a hurried long ball, from which we regain possession. After the Basel striker is crowded out and forced to play backwards to Pelmard (21), our striker Julian von Moos (11) shuts him down, before chasing down the next pass to Kasim Adams. With our No. 8 shutting down the short pass into central midfield, and our left-winger waiting to pounce on a pass to the RB, Adams is forced to go try a riskier pass which is intercepted by our left-back and we're able to launch a quick counter-attack. This example is from later in the second half. Again, von Moos (11) closed down Kasim Adams who makes a rushed pass to his central defensive partner Andy Pelmard. An awkward pass and poor first touch later, and Isaac Schmidt (33) pounces to win possession in a dangerous area again, but his cross to von Moos was snuffed out. Again, against one of the Leagues stronger sides, we're able to harass them into rushing their passes and making poor decisions. In fact, our 3rd goal in this 3-1 win came from one of those situations. Following Akolo's intercepted pass, he immediately reacts along with Karlen (23) and Guillemenot (9) to shut down the Basel RB and force him into a long ball. Maglica wins the aerial battle to set us off on the counter, and from there we get our goal. Rest Defence This 2-3 shape when we are in possession also helped us when the ball was turned over and we were forced to defend counter-attacking situations. My initial idea is to have these 3 players (the defensive midfielder and 2x inverted full-backs) acting as a screen in front of the central defensive pairing. The thought behind this is that the players in the forward areas would be the first line of defence and prevent the opposition playing out from the back, and the examples above appear to illustrate that is happening. If teams choose to persist in playing out from the back, it is the role of the front 5 to press aggressively and force mistakes. The role of the 'rest defence' is to protect the space in front of the central defenders, denying a direct route to goal for the opposition. I want them to either be forced to go long and either create an aerial duel or play a riskier pass in behind. I'm fairly confident that we can win the first header and would have enough bodies around to win the second ball, or that my Sweeper Keeper could read the danger and deal with any through balls. Alternatively, teams are forced to play the ball into wide areas, but even then the distance either full-back would have to travel from their 'rest' position to close down an attacking player wouldn't be that far, and in theory they should be able to make a challenge or hold up play enough for our forward players to shuttle back and regain our shape. Summary Though this is only one match, it is a really positive sign. A 3-1 win over one of the title favourites, with an xG of 2.47 vs 0.82 and 64% possession it appears pretty well earned, too. WIth an OPPDA of 3.09 it would also seem our intention to press high was something we were able to take into the game with some success. Again, it's only one game, so let's see what the upcoming fixtures hold for us. Join me next time as I'll be taking a first look at set pieces, and trying to maximise our effectiveness from dead ball situations.

In this series I'm trying to bring together all elements of Football Manager as part of a cohesive strategy aimed at propelling St. Gallen to the top of Swiss football & beyond. I'm not an expert in any aspect of the game, but there are some parts I know less about, or have ignored all together. The aim of this series is to learn & improve as I go... In the last post , I was discussing my tactical plans for St. Gallen as well as the attributes I felt were important in implementing that style of play. From there, I assessed the players I have available to me at the start of the season, and their suitability for the system. I now have a pretty good idea of which players will be key for me this season, which players I can potentially develop and improve, which players I'll be aiming to move on in the next 12 months and identifying which areas of the pitch are priorities for recruitment. This isn't really a guide to pre-season, rather an account of what I did and why. If you're looking for a guide on how you can approach pre-season, there is a really good one here . I've nicked a few ideas from that, that I'll be looking to use in my own game. Planning Stage I'm fairly confident at this point, having assessed my squad, that I can surpass the expectations of the board and the predictions of the Swiss media (5th place) and finish in at least 3rd place. With the 2022 World Cup forcing a truncated fixture schedule in the first half of the season, there is the potential for us to have a serious advantage over the sides who are in European competition this season. With FC Basel, Young Boys, FC Lugano & FC Zurich all aiming for European Group Stages, almost half of the League could be facing a real struggle with the fixture congestion. With that in mind, pre-season becomes even more important for us. So, I'll be aiming to use the time I have in pre-season to: Tailor training to get some good fitness work into the team early, before switching to a more tactical focus that will help with Team Cohesion and tactical understanding. Use the friendlies to make sure the majority of players have full match sharpness ahead of the first competitive fixture. Balance the difficulty of the friendlies so that we can get a few morale-boosting victories, but also test and tweak tactics against a decent level of opposition. With just over a month to go before the season starts, let's get stuck in. Week 1 One thing that is immediately obvious is that we're not maximising our staffing options, with fairly low numbers across the coaching, scouting and medical departments, as well as a lack of analysts. Several job adverts are instantly created. I've taken the idea from the linked article linked above to organise a Friendly Cup, so that we'll be playing two games on our first pre-season weekend. The teams involved are all from outside the top two tiers, and are all Semi-Professional sides, so it should give us a chance to rotate the squad and win a couple of games, without necessarily being a walkover. The training focus throughout pre-season will be geared towards fitness work, and anything that offers a boost to Tactical Familiarity and Team Cohesion. All other attribute development will basically take a back seat for the time being. It's hard to read too much into the first two friendlies given the quality of opposition is fairly poor, and that I decided to field a reserve XI in one game and full strength in the other, when I probably should have mixed and matched to level out the quality of both XIs. 6-2 win vs Black Stars - build-up looked pretty decent and well-controlled, although passing from FBs/DM could have been more aggressive. Decent movement from CMs and front 3 to stretch and overload opposition, so shape looked OK. Looked pretty vulnerable to long balls over the top at times. Could be down to low quality XI, but a little concerned by the lack of pressure on the opposition back line at times. 1-1 draw (won 5-3 on pens) vs Wettswil-Bonstettan - a really disappointing performance. Total control of possession (76%), but not enough penetration (1.96 xG). Kept possession well, but failed to progress the ball well enough against a defensive low block. Week 2 Again, the focus is largely on fitness work, as well as improving Tactical Familiarity and Team Cohesion. With the friendly matches now stepping up in difficulty level, the fringe players will see less game time as we aim to get the main squad ready. In Week 2 we'll take on Aarau, a second tier side who the media predict will finish 3rd, so they're a fairly decent standard of opponent at this stage. After some less-than-impressive performances in the first two friendlies, I'll be looking to make some changes to try and make us a little less...stale in possession. As I mentioned in the previous post, I want us to control possession, but not at the expense of creating chances. We have to always play with attacking intent. So ahead of this fixture I've bumped up our mentality to Positive, asked players to Pass Into Space and increased the tempo of our play. 5-2 win vs Aarau - much, much better and I was particularly impressed by how we built play from the back. We were able to draw them into pressing our back line and on a number of occasions were able to play around them and create some good chances, including the below goal. This was helped by Aarau trying to push higher up, though. It does feel like things are starting to take shape nicely, now, and I'm beginning to get more of an idea of what is/isn't working well at this point. I'm a little concerned at how we'll do against teams who are good at deploying the high press, as I think we've definitely got vulnerabilities in terms of playing out under pressure. But I'm also worried about how we'll cope against teams who sit deep and counter, as I'm not yet convinced by how we defend counter-attacking situations. Week 3 More of the same as we build up to the new season and this will likely be our last week with so much focus on physical training. I also had a little tinker with our set piece routines this week, as I aim to make use of the aerial prowess of Matej Maglica. Our opponent in Week 3 will be Thun, another 2nd tier side. Their media prediction of a 4th place finish indicates they'll be a fairly similar level to Aarau. 6-1 win vs Thun - another good step forward, as we produced a dominant performance and scored plenty of goals - including a header for Matej Maglica from one of our tweaked corner routines! Thun looked to press us a bit more than Aarau did, and were more adept at keeping the ball so possession stats were more balanced, but we carried such a big counter-attacking threat. Week 4 The final week of pre-season and, as ever, the focus is on physical/tactical stuff. Our Team Cohesion and Managerial Support have seen a slight improvement, and our Tactical Familiarity is probably at around 75% at this point. I'm pretty happy with the tactical style so far, but there will be much bigger tests to come so I wanted to end pre-season against an opponent of a pretty similar level to our team... Our final opponent of pre-season will be Austrian Bundesliga side, FK Austria Vienna. 3-2 vs Austria Vienna - a good overall performance to wrap up pre-season. Vienna sat off quite a lot and allowed us to dominate possession. I do think we'll come unstuck at points this season if teams set up in a low block, but I'm not sure that will happen a great deal - at least not early on in the season. If we're performing well we might face that issue in the second half of the season. Summary Overall I'd say I'm pretty happy with how pre-season went. Morale is good after some positive results, the players are looking fit and ready for the start of the season and our Team Cohesion & Tactical Familiarity have improved to a point where I think we can make an impact early on in the season. It can be difficult to judge your level during pre-season. You can find yourself fielding a weakened squad against an opponent who has fielded their strongest XI, and vice versa. Also, in most of my games, I fielded one XI and changed it almost entirely after 60 minutes. But on the whole I'm pleased with how the performances looked. We're building play patiently from the back and trying to bait opponents into breaking their structure and pressing us. When this has happened, we've quickened the play and looked very dangerous. I do worry about our ability to break down a well-organised and disciplined low block, but we'll try and cross that bridge when we come to it. Out of possession we've pressed aggressively and not allowed opponents much time on the ball. Join me next time as I discuss my tactical setup for this season, and analyse our opening day match vs FC Basel.

Ahh the first day on the job. Sitting at my fancy new desk (my sofa), the smell of a freshly-brewed cappuccino brought to me by my new PA (I made it myself) wafts through the air. As any new manager worth his salt would, I've pored over hours of footage of my new players ahead of the 2022/23 campaign to try and get a handle of the strengths and weaknesses - individually and collectively - of my new squad. I have a style of play I'd like to implement at St. Gallen, but what kind of players will I need for it to be successful? What attributes will be important, and which should I prioritise? Which of the current squad are well-suited? Can anyone 'do a job' for me in the mean-time? Who should I look to be moving on quickly, and where are my most urgent recruitment needs? But first, some admin. Setting The Scene In case you missed it, you can read the introductory post here . But now, I set about trying to get to grips with my new surroundings as quickly as possible on a whirlwind first day. Board culture - Play attacking football, play high tempo pressing football, sign players under the age of 23, develop players using the club's youth system, sign young players to develop for profit, work within wage budget. Objectives - Qualify for Europa Conference League, Challenge for the Swiss Cup. Supporter Culture - Develop players using the club's youth system, become an established Super League team. Media Prediction - 5th So I'm pretty comfortable with the culture/expectations from all directions, there. Purely in terms of performance, qualifying for the Conference League requires us to finish 5th. Given there are only 10 teams in the Super League, I'd imagine a top-half finish is well within reach. My style of football (which I'll talk a little more about later) is based on an attacking style with an emphasis on pressing the opponent and winning the ball back quickly, so that fits with what the board want and - as discussed in the introduction - I do aim to make youth development and academy talent a core element of this save. So I'm comfortable with all of this to start with. Tactical Direction I'm a little wary of talking tactics, and I'm not an expert in football strategy - whether that be real life or in the virtual world. Although I mentioned that I aim to play "good" football in the introduction, that term is purely subjective and the notion of good football will vary from person to person. Ultimately, there is no right or wrong way to win football matches, and the style in which you try to do it comes down to personal preference. It is also pretty difficult to say that a teams tactics are definitively good or bad without any context. As long as your tactical decision-making makes some sense in relation to the players you have, your opponent and the state of the game you shouldn't go far wrong. With that *disclaimer* out of the way, I'll give a little outline of how I'd like to see my team play. I prefer a proactive approach in and out of possession, so I want to see my team dominating possession, building from the back and always playing with plenty of intent to create chances and score goals. When we lose the ball, the default aim will be to try and win it back as quickly as possible and press the opponent high up the pitch. The finer details will become clearer as I progress through the friendlies and the early League matches and I start to get a better idea of what my team is/isn't capable of doing. Making Sense Of The Attributes Since I now have a clear idea of how I'd like my team to play, I can start to consider what attributes my team, in general, will need to have in order to make it a success. In possession I want to dominate the opponent and build from the back, so realistically it is important that most, if not all, of my players are comfortable in possession. So I'm probably looking at First Touch, Passing, Technique, Composure & Decisions as being key attributes for building a possession-based style. Out of possession, I mentioned that I want my team to react quickly and press high up the pitch. So I need players who have the intelligence to read the game, the willingness to work hard and follow their instructions to shut the opponent down and put them under pressure, as well as having the physical capability to actually do it effectively. So I'm maybe looking at Anticipation, Aggression, Determination, Teamwork, Work Rate, Acceleration, Pace & Stamina as being the important attributes for becoming an effective pressing side. Obviously, these attributes will be more/less important dependent on the position in question and players in certain positions will need to bring other, specific qualities to the team in order for us to be successful. But as a jumping off point this is a decent start. At St. Gallen, it is unlikely I'll be able to put together a squad who excels at both sides of the game any time soon, so I need to be a little clever about how I construct my squad. Against stronger opponents, our pressing and counter-attacking arguably becomes more important. Against a team sitting in a low block, our technical quality and creativity will probably be the more prominent attributes. So I'll be needing players with different skill sets who can be of particular use against certain opponents. Assessing The Squad So with all of that in mind, let's see what we are working with. I've disabled the first transfer window, so at least for the first half of the season I'll be forced to work with what I have. The goalkeeper, no matter the tactics, is an important player and our No. 1 for this season is Ghana's Lawrence Ati-Zigi. His tendency to rush out fits with my plan to play a high line, but I'm a little concerned that his speed and decisions may undermine that a little bit, so that's something to keep an eye on this season. As back-up, we've got 26 year-old German, Lukas Watkowiak. _______________________________________________________________ In central defence we've got 20 year-old Swiss, Leonidas Stergiou and his partner Matej Maglica, a 23 year-old Croatian. Stergiou is a little on the small side for a centre-back, which is reflected by a relative lack of Strength and Jumping Reach, but the upside is that he looks to be pretty comfortable in possession, and could be an important player in helping us build from the back. Maglica is essentially the complete opposite. At 6'6" I expect him to dominate aerial duels, but he could also be an enormous threat from attacking set pieces. A third CB option is 26 year-old Austrian, Albert Vallci, who is more or less a happy medium between the first-choice pairing. Dauda Guindo, on loan from RB Salzburg, is a good option at left-back and I quite like the look of 27 year-old Filipino full-back Michael Kempter - despite the club having him as available for transfer. Options at right-back are more limited. Patrick Sutter will have to be first-choice, but should really only be considered a back-up at best. His deputy, David Jacovic won't feature much. I may opt to retrain Isaac Schmidt in that role. _______________________________________________________________ While I'm not overly impressed by my options in midfield, I am immediately drawn to our 27 year-old German, Lukas Gortler. In terms of Aggression, Bravery, Determination, Teamwork, Work Rate, Stamina & Strength he is exceptional. He lacks the vision to play in a creative midfield role, but has plenty of use as either a midfield anchor, ball-winner or even potentially as someone who could make late runs into the box. He is a perfect example of somebody who will almost certainly be a key fixture in big matches for us. Elsewhere we have Jordi Quintilla, a 28 year-old Spaniard, and Randy Schneider, a 20 year-old Swiss midfielder. Quintilla is someone who has a pretty good spread of attributes. He is comfortable in possession, without necessarily being the most creative, and has the intelligence to read the game, without having the kind of speed and acceleration that would make him very good at pressing. He is among the better options in the squad when it comes to set pieces, so will definitely be useful this season. Schneider is a slight, but technical midfielder with plenty of room to grow. Other options include Basil Stillhart, who is a fairly versatile midfield player and Gregory Karlen - who I'm really not a fan of at all. Elsewhere, we have Yago Gomes and Christian Witzig, neither of whom appear good enough. _______________________________________________________________ In forward areas we have a little variety to choose from: Chadrac Akolo has decent technical ability which, coupled with his Flair, Acceleration and Agility makes him a dangerous & unpredictable attacking player. He also has good Aggression, Teamwork & Work Rate. Isaac Schmidt and Alessandro Krauchi both appear to be decent options, particularly Schmidt, and both are versatile enough to play either wing and cover at full-back. Julian Von Moos is competent all across the front three, and is another who can potentially improve with time. Emmanuel Latte Lath, on loan from Atalanta, is more of a defensive liability than the others, but has very good Dribbling, Flair, Acceleration, Agility and Pace for this level. Akolo appears to be the best of the bunch, offering attacking threat and pressing suitability. Latte Lath carries attacking threat but is less useful in a high press, while the others are decent all-round forward players for the Super League. Up front we have Jeremy Guillemenot who is an interesting player. Clever movement and good First Touch & Technique make him potentially a good choice to link play. His Teamwork and Work Rate indicate he will at least try to press, but Aggression of 7 may undermine that slightly. Then we have Fabian Schubert who appears to lack any real technical ability, but looks to have some value as a pure finisher and aerial threat, which could make him a useful poacher. We've also got Alessio Besio, an 18 year-old striker with pretty solid all-round attributes, and he's one I may look to focus on a lot in training. _______________________________________________________________ So my first impressions of the squad are as follows: Our first choice XI is pretty good and should be able to carry out the style of play I'd like to implement, but we lack depth. One of our CBs potentially offers a huge set piece threat. We will need to recruit for both full-back positions next Summer, if not in January. We lack proper depth in central midfield. Lawrence Ati-Zigi, Leonidas Stergiou, Matej Maglica, Isaac Schmidt, Randy Schneider, Julian Von Moos & Alessio Besio are all good candidates for development, and may benefit from some extra training focus. Next time, I'll be planning my first pre-season, taking a look at training and tinkering with the tactics during our friendlies. See you then!

When pressed to come up with a catchy title "The St. Gallen Save" was the best I could muster from the depths of my imagination, which doesn't really bode well for the creative direction of this journey. But, in my defence, it does accurately present the premise of the save. Drumroll, please... We're playing as St. Gallen! A quick glance at their Wikipedia page tells me that St. Gallen - twice winners of the Swiss top flight title - are the oldest Swiss club still in existence and are therefore a member of the exclusive Club of Pioneers , a network of the oldest clubs from their respective country that promotes grassroots football and the values of the game: Integrity, Respect and Community. They won their only Swiss Cup in 1969 and play at Kybunpark, a stadium with a capacity just shy of 20,000. They have no real European pedigree to speak of, although they did once knock a Chelsea side featuring Roberto Di Matteo, Frank Leboeuf, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink & Gianfranco Zola out of the UEFA Cup, which is no mean feat. With that potted history taken care of, I wanted to quickly cover my "plans" for the save. Essentially, I want St. Gallen to be run in line with what I would like to see from my own club in real life, and I want to use this save to get better at parts of the game I previously haven't use as much/ignored completely. Play "good" football. A subjective term, I know, but I hope to cover this a bit more in future posts. Regularly produce players through our academy. I'd like to get to a stage where there is always an academy graduate in our match-day squad. Good proportion of National Team squad coming from our club. Pretty self-explanatory, and hopefully a by-product of a successful academy. Smart (and varied) recruitment. A sign of success of a recruitment strategy is moving players onto the 'Top 5' Leagues, and I like to see players of different nationalities passing through. Pay more attention to training. I've recently dabbled in training after largely ignoring it previously, and would like to learn more to get the most out of the game. So there we have it. Hardly revolutionary, ground-breaking stuff but the direction of the save will be creating a distinct style of football which I can hone over time. The intention will be to pump resources into the development of the club infrastructure to facilitate the production & development of our own talent through the academy system, and to optimise this as I learn and improve training methods. This will be supplemented by a smart recruitment strategy, in which we aim to bring in players from a variety of sources with a view to moving them onto England, France, Germany, Italy or Spain for a tidy profit. And the man charged with the above tasks? Meet St. Gallens new Head Coach, Francisco Javier 'Fran' Ortiz. (Image generated following instructions from this link ) Ortiz was chosen by St. Gallen as they believe him to fit the profile of a training ground coach who can help them implement an attractive, possession-based style at the club. It has also been suggested that the Spaniard was chosen because of his meticulous approach to training, and that the club believe his high standards and demands will help them create a culture of development at Die Espen. I'm looking forward to getting started with this, and in the next piece I'll be discussing a rough tactical direction, trying to get an understanding of player attributes, assessing my group of players and other Day One tasks.

Often when playing Football Manager I find myself compelled to stop and write about it. More often than not, it's because I feel the need to stop and take stock of what has happened and/or to get a clearer picture of my plans for the future. I like it when people write blogs to explain why they choose certain systems, or why they decide to sign or sell certain players. In the case of this blog post, it's effectively one long self-indulgent pat on the back for myself. In the last post I covered the recent past of FCSM. Their administrative relegation to the third tier, winning promotion at our first attempt, our play-off heartache and eventual title success in Ligue 2 and our mid-table finish on our return to Ligue 1. Expectations and Tactical Shifts After an 11th place finish I was concerned that expectations would have risen for the following campaign. This, however (perhaps fortunately), was not the case and we enter the new season as the overwhelming favourites for relegation. Our board and fans clearly share this view, with their hopes for the coming season limited to merely avoiding the drop. Ideal. A big thing I wrote about in the last post was our out of possession shape, and how this approach has changed a lot in our first 4 seasons. I've switched shapes and tailored instructions to try and make the team more defensively solid, but have utilised player roles within that to try and maintain a 3-2-5 shape when we have possession. Here is a brief recap: Season 23/24: High pressing 4-3-3. Inspired by Klopp's style and probably suited our circumstances at the time, being one of the stronger sides in the 3rd tier. Season 24/25: Mid-block 4-4-1-1. Use of inverted full-backs and libero influenced by Guardiola's current system at Man City. Season 25/26 & 26/27: Mid block 3-4-3. Idea to have more players deeper when defending, and catch opponents on the break more. We've been very strong defensively, but we really struggled to create chances, get shots off and most importantly - score goals. This season I'm reverting to a back four system for a couple of reasons. The first is down to recruitment. If I was continuing with a 3-4-3 I felt I needed to improve our options at wing-back, but didn't have the budget to do so. The second is that I wanted to field two central strikers and try to hit them earlier, with more direct passes. I felt a 4-4-2 was the best option to achieve a good balance given what we had available. I also tweaked some roles slightly, so our structure when we had possession would change slightly. It often looked like more of a 3-3-4 as opposed to a 3-2-5, giving us a little extra defensive insurance when attacking. Out of possession we'd defend in a compact 4-4-2. Wide players dropped deep to help their full-back, and the two holding midfielders would screen their central defenders. We defended in a mid-block, but when we pressed we'd do so aggressively and try to keep the opponents at arms length. When thinking of which teams do the 4-4-2 the best, the immediate example is Diego Simeone's vintage Atleti side. They usurped Barca & Real to win the title in 2014, and would regularly reach the latter stages of the Champions League (including two finals) with the style that came to be known as 'Cholismo'. Narrow & compact, aggressive yet disciplined, fighting and clawing their way to victory by any (sometimes unsavoury, depending on your view) means necessary. Brought to life by players like Diego Costa, Diego Godin, Gabi, Koke and Saul Niguez who all seemed born to play for El Cholo. I wanted us to adopt that identity, starting this year and improving longer-term. Summer Transfers We had an incredibly tight budget - the smallest in the League - so I had to be really selective with my transfer decisions. As mentioned above, I couldn't afford to go and bolster my wing-back options, but I needed to strengthen and add depth in a couple of positions. Firstly, let's deal with who left. Marc Popow, Leny Tela, Kintana Ravonjiarivelo, Aylan Khoudjat & Alex Daho are all released. Selim Pelissard, Willy Kambwala, Charly Dosso, Noah Ndilu, Robinio Vaz & Alban Valade all leave for nominal fees. Sonny Laiton, our first-choice keeper since joining from Auxerre, joins Everton for €3.5m, while Rayan Raveloson & Samy Faraj leave on loan deals. No major incoming fees, but we've reduced the wage bill enough to allow for some manoeuvring. We don't need to have a big, big squad and I didn't want too many unhappy players on the sidelines causing issues for the squad, so this suits us for this year. The first signing is Habib Diarra, who joins on a free transfer from Strasbourg. Strong yet mobile, good in possession but not lacking in defensive situations, he will prove very useful this season and beyond. He can play in one of the pivot positions in a playmaker role or, more likely, as a Segundo Volante. To replace Sonny Laiton, we opted to sign a back-up and promote Gaetan Poussin to No. 1. The experienced Fabrice Ondoa joins as a cost-effective second choice. He suits the style and is only on a one-year deal. I don't expect him to play too often this year, and we can upgrade this position when we have the budget to do so. To offer cover in our forward positions we signed two low-budget, experienced strikers. First is former Reading striker Yakou Meite. Powerful, hard-working but erratic, Meite is decent back-up for the season, but again I don't expect him to play too much. He can be utilised as a Pressing Forward or a Target Forward. Our second striking option is former Lyon & Villarreal man, Karl Toko Ekambi. His physical attributes have fallen off quite dramatically, but he is reasonable back-up on a low-cost, one-year contract. I like him as a potential Trequartista. He can float around and pick up dangerous positions, without worrying about defensive responsibilites. My final signing is Edouard Michut, who joins on loan from Reims. He is defensively capable enough to operate as a pivot, but it is his playmaking abilities from that position that led me to sign him. Good enough to go straight into the team, but young enough to continue to improve, he is the ideal profile. Elsewhere, Abdallah Nkosi, Patrick Thouvenin & Yamoussa Cisse are brought into the first-team after developing really well in the last 6-12 months. Pre-Season & Early Form I always enjoy pre-season. It's time to try some tactical tweaks out in a low-risk setting, improve players tactical understanding, as well as fostering stronger team cohesion and morale. It's easy to underestimate the importance of these things, but they should never be overlooked. Our first two friendlies were against local lower league French opposition. We were still using the 3-4-3 and recorded relatively straight-forward victories (3-0 and 3-1), and our pre-season was up-and-running. We headed off to our training camp in Austria, and tested out our 4-4-2 for the first-time. Three dominant performances produced a 5-0 win over Olimpija, a 4-0 win over Rapid Vienna and a 1-0 defeat to LASK. On our return we faced Sevilla, who beat us 3-0 despite a relative even game in which they only had 3 shots on target. At this point it was really tempting to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but I persevered. The following game against Bayer Leverkusen was the one that convinced me the system would serve us well during the season. We beat the side who would eventually finish 3rd in the Bundesliga 4-2, and it was thoroughly deserved. We start strong and N'dri Phillipe Koffi – who scored 3 goals in the whole of the previous season – nets two as we win 3-0 away at Nantes. Academy graduate Patrick Thouvenin scores in a 2-0 win over Lyon to make it two wins from two. Pre Xmas After a slight wobble we come back strong in September with a 1-0 win away at Rennes thanks to a scrappy 94th minute winner from Steve Mounie (clip below). We also leave it late to beat Lens thanks to goals from Traore & Koffi and go into the international with a 2-1 win at Reims with Karl Toko Ekambi hitting his first of the season. We hammer Strasbourg 4-1 but lose 3-2 to a very good Nice side, despite leading twice. We beat Troyes 2-0 but take our medicine against PSG with a 3-1 defeat. Mbappe, as you may well be aware, is a freak of nature and his €975k pw salary highlights the gap between PSG and the rest. November is a good month as we beat Montpellier with Koffi and Traore again on the scoresheet. We defend strongly in a draw 0-0 at Monaco and come from behind to beat Bordeaux at home with all three goals coming from academy graduates (Thouvenin, Pendant & Makosso). We come from behind again to defeat Toulouse with Stephane Diarra netting the winner, edge out Lorient with a late Habib Diarra strike and we end the first part of the season with dropped points against Nantes in a 3-3 thriller. January transfers Bertrand Traore is the only departure of note, leaving to join Brondby on loan. He's been a good player for us, but I have my eye on other targets and it's a good time to move him on. Disappointingly, Reims decide to recall Edouard Michut, who has been such a key player for us in a Regista role. They wanted him to play in central midfield, not defensive midfield. We had limited options in the Summer window, but now I really wanted to press forward and sign players who I felt would fit the 'Cholismo' style. Kamory Doumbia (€825k) joins from Reims and is effectively my replacement for Traore/Toko Ekambi in the Trequartista role. He has reasonable technical ability, is better athletically and also offers the flexibility of being able to play in behind the main striker if I want to switch to a 4-4-1-1. Next to join is Oumar Diakite (€400k) also from Reims. He is a player I've had on the shortlist for years, and is available on a cut-price deal with his contract coming to an end. He has good athletic ability and looks suited to a Pressing Forward role and looks a threat running in behind. His arrival effectively end any real playing time for Karl Toko Ekambi or Yakou Meite. Rassoul N'diaye arrives from Reading for just €200k. He fits the profile I like in midfield as he is strong, mobile, comfortable in possession but is mainly a ball-winner. He is a good all-rounder who really adds good depth. He also came through our academy, which is a nice bonus. Our final signing is another former academy player. Jerome Onguene returns for a third spell (I signed him on loan last season) and will join permanently in the Summer. He is a little older, but is at an age where he can still perform for a few years, yet. I'm happy with these signings, as they improve the squad and are all a good age profile. They also fit the 'Cholismo' profile of matching physical prowess with good attitude. I hope they prove to be good value for money. Back on it We beat ASM Belfort 5-2, but crash out of the Cup with a 1-0 defeat to Clermont. It was maybe a stretch to imagine we could lift the Coupe de France, but I'd have liked to have gone further. We return to League duties with a 1-0 win over Brest, but fall to a 2-1 defeat at Lille. Sidy Diagne gives us a 1-0 win in a tight game with Rennes, before we blow Lens away with a 3-1 win. Early strikes from Koffi and Mounie (2) put us 3-0 up after 25 mins and we cruised it from there. We come from behind yet again, this time to beat Reims 2-1 with Youmousa Cisse hitting the winner late on, but we finish the month with a poor performance in a 2-0 defeat at Lyon. Steve Mounie scores in the first minute at Strasbourg and we hold on for dear life to claim a vital 1-0 win, before our worst performance of the season against a terrifying Nice side, losing 4-1 at home. There's an argument to suggest they are the best I've faced this season, and Kephren Thuram is a player I'd love to have in my ranks. Oumar Diakite hits a brace in a 2-1 win at Troyes. He seems to have settled well and is showing early signs of what an important player he could be. We put in a really strong performance against PSG, but they prove too strong for us yet again. The Run in A late goal costs us in a 1-1 draw at Montpellier, and Monaco beat us 2-0 on our own patch. This is a disappointing start to the final run of fixtures as we look to claim a European place. Then comes our most dramatic moment of the season. With us losing away at bottom side Bordeaux, Oumar Diakite comes off the bench in the 89th minute to net a 91st minute equaliser. He appears to have given us the lead in the 95th minute until the assistant referee flags for offside. After a lengthy VAR check the goal is given and we win 2-1. He does it again a week later with a 90th minute winner against Toulouse. He ends the season with 9 goals in 10 starts (11 sub appearances) and proves to be an incredible bargain. We hammer Lorient 4-1 to set-up a tense finish to the season. We have just 36% possession, but give away very few chances and continue to hit them on the break, with their goal coming from their only shot on target in the 94th minute. This is pretty much exactly the type of performance I was hoping to see from our side throughout the season. We're level with Strasbourg on the final day. We're away at Marseille and they are at Monaco, and we know if we better their result, we enter the Champions League. We leave the Velodrome with a 0-0 draw after another sturdy showing, really limiting our opponents to very few chances in what has become a recurring theme this season. Meanwhile, Strasbourg lose 1-0 at Monaco thanks to an own goal after going down to ten men. Champions League, here we come! Statsy bits It might be an attempt to validate or even sensationalise the 'achievement' of finishing 4th, but the wage budgets of the clubs really put it into perspective. Not only that, but this season we were still leaning heavily on Nolan Galves, Sidy Diagne, Christ Makosso, Elie Kayembe Tete & N'Dri Phillippe Koffi - all of whom started with us in the 3rd tier. All in all, I'm please that, despite our underdog status, we've beaten the odds, punched above our weight and made it to the Champions League. Defensively, we're pretty similar to where we were last season. Only two teams allowed their opponents more passes than Sochaux and both of them (Bordeaux & Troyes) were relegated. However. we allowed the 5th fewest Final Third Passes Against per game. What this tells me is that we're allowing opponents possession - but in areas we're comfortable with. Only 4 teams allow fewer shots than us, which is a slight improvement on last season. We rank 4th for Clean Cheets, 5th for xGA and have the third best record for Goals Conceded. All the indicators show an improvement in our defending, which is great. 26/27 27/28 Goals Against 8th 3rd xG Against 9th 5th Clean Sheets 7th 4th Shots Against 6th 5th Shots on Target Against 6th 5th Our average possession is 49% - roughly the same as last season - and I'm comfortable with us not having a lot of possession. But what of our attacking statistics? Last season our attacking play alone was similar to the teams battling relegation, whereas this year we improved to roughly a mid-table side. 26/27 27/28 Goals Scored 15th 9th xG 15th 10th Chances Created 11th 7th Shots 13th 10th Shots on Target 17th 10th This, coupled with a slight improvement in our defending, contributed enormously to our successful season. Our set pieces have been a great source of frustration for me again this season. We have, given our height and power, massively under-performed in this area for years now. After initially handing the reins to our Set Piece Coach, I took control this year but we've seen no real improvement. If I'm being honest, we're probably regressed and are under-performing more than ever. To put it into some context, our goal difference from corner kicks alone is -5. Strasbourg - who we narrowly finished above - are at +9 meaning a 14 goal swing in their favour, purely from corner kicks. Wrapping Up An amazing season, one of the most fun I've had in a while. I set out with a plan of how I wanted the team to play in and out of possession. There were slight tweaks depending on personnel, the opposition and the game state. It felt like I was really thinking through decisions and I was seeing the impact of it. And we got our reward! Champions League football is amazing, though I'd have preferred Europa or even Conference League action as I'd love to have a crack at winning a European trophy. Next season I want to lean into the idea of Cholismo. I want to improve the options in our squad with that style in mind. I'm happy with our defensive work, and our attacking play has gotten better - though there is still room for growth. The main focus next season is to continue with the 4-4-2 system, but aim to do it better. As discussed, the biggest improvement we can make is with our set pieces - so I have to try and dedicate some time to working on that.