Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
It's been a long time but I'm back with a new career!

So, I'm on FM15, my first version since FM12, and I've decided to have a crack at the Pentagon. My previous attempts ended with no Champions' League trophy's, fingers crossed this one goes better.

Career Overview


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/sin.pnghttp://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/1609.pngTampines Rovers 2014 - 2017 (resigned 5/11/2017)
2015 - Singapore Cup
2016 - S-League
2017 - Singapore League Cup
http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/aus_1.pnghttp://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/1300489_1.pngMelbourne Victory 2018 - 2023 (resigned 15/5/2023)
2018/19 - Hyundai A-League Regular Season
2019/20 - Hyundai A-League Regular Season
2020/21 - Hyundai A-League Grand Final
FFA Cup
2021/22 - Hyundai A-League Regular Season
Hyundai A-League Grand Final
FFA Cup
2022/23 - Hyundai A-League Regular Season
FFA Cup
Asian Champions League
http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/rsa.pnghttp://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/5680087.pngPlatinum Stars 2024 -
2025/2026 - South African Premiership
Super 8 Cup

------------------------

After a few months of unemployment and a few job interviews, I got my first break at Tampines in Singapore. I took over with the side in 2nd place, 12 points of top spot with 6 games left to go, and already in the 3rd placed playoff in the FA Cup. Despite that the board expected me to win both competitions .

I started off with a promising win, however after that the league split in half and I only managed one win against the other top 6 teams. Not an impressive start to my career, and it also left the board a bit annoyed with me.

Up next - the 2015 pre-season
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
So the off-season begun with the club's finances dropping badly and a club with a lack of talent in defense in particularly! Unfortunately, the league rules limit the squad to 4 foreign players in the match day squad and we already had 5 foreigners, all on pretty high wages! I made the hard decision to sell the clubs top scoring striker from the previous season, with 2 top foreign strikers, one had to go and my top scorer was the oldest.

The level of Singaporean free transfers is pretty damn low, so major squad improvements didn't look promising. My strategy for the transfer window was to replace some of by awful players with probably equally awful youngsters who might have a little potential. This let me cut down on some wages whilst adding some depth at ML/R, a suprisingly area of the squad for a team that played 4-4-2 before I joined.

I did manage one useful signing, a young D(RC) called Fariz Azienuddin, He cost me £32k from Young Lions, but he's pretty decent already and should become a great player for this level.

Up next - we get to the 2015 football games
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Okay, after a little struggling I've worked out how to screenshots \o/ (for some reason the print screen button was not playing nicely)

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2015-06-19%20Squad%20Depth.jpg

First off here's our squad depth. We're sorted up-front and we've got good first team options at GK, MC, and DR. We're very weak at DL as we've just had to sell one of out foreign players who was great there - so finding anyone to play there is my current priority. There rest of the first team could do with upgrading if possible, and hopefully come the end of the season we can get rid of some dead-weight and invest more effectively in some quality starters.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2015-06-19%20Fixtures.jpg

As you can see the season started off fantastically, before we hit a patch of awful form! The poor form has a lot to do with me having a player revolt. Mukthar, the ML, decided he'd like to skip training, so I gave him a warning. Then he decided to do it again, and when I fined him 1 weeks wages the entire team threw their toys out the pram about it!

Hopefully we're getting past that now, although Mukthar is continuing to skip training (I'm ignoring it now). He's out door at the end of the season, we even had a personal chat where I said I'd pay him as a key member of the squad (he does play well) then when I tried to offer him a contract it said he wasn't interested. Suprise, Suprise, when he didn't receive a contract offer he had another strop lol. Definitely no worth the effort of having around!

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2015-06-19%20Standings.jpg

Finally, the league table. We're expected to win both the league and the FA Cup this year

We were cruising before our patch of poor form. But at least we're still in the hunt for the title now. We've got a lot of the bottom half of the table to play before the league splits, so fingers crossed we can get ourselves back in the league.

In the cup we play Woodlands next - and I expect to qualify. In the :League Cup we've been drawn in a group with Warriors FC and Niigata Unicorn, so hopefully we can progress there as well (although the board don't care about that)
Gendo
12 years ago
1 year ago
1,194
Premium
Good luck dude! Singaporean champs only make it into the AFC Champions League, so keep on gunning for that top spot!
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Good luck dude! Singaporean champs only make it into the AFC Champions League, so keep on gunning for that top spot!


Thanks Gendo! Definitely need some continental football to build a big enough reputation to move to a league with better prospects in the Champions League!
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
End of Season 2015

The 2015 season is in the books and it was a hit and miss season in the end.

In the league we went into the final day of the season in 1st, level on points with DPMM. We managed a draw in our game and things were looking bad before DPMM let an 89th minute equaliser in. Unfortunately they then went on to score a 94th minute winner to give them the title.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2015-12-12%20Standings.jpg

It's a bit of a punch in the gut, but I'm confident with some better squad management during the season, we've got a strong chance of winning the league next season.

However, to make up for the disappointment some what, we did win the FA Cup! Allow me to have completed one of the boards goals for the season and hopefully give me a good reputation boost!

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2015-12-12%20FA%20Cup%20Final.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2015-12-12%20Results.jpg

We've got some big changes coming to the squad this off-season!

Martinez ended up getting bough for Foreign Club Release Clause before the season ended and Aleksander Duric is retiring, so that's both our top strikers gone for next season. To pile on the struggle Jake Butler (my captain) went on international duty with New Zealand in October and apparently won't be back until June 2016 - wtf . On the plus side we are getting rid of a lot of dead wood to give me wage room to find a replacement.

I ended up going back on my decision to get rid of Mukthar the trouble maker. I managed to get him to sign a one-year extension for half his previous wages, so he can remain as a stop gap whilst I find his long term replacement!

Overall, I'm excited for the chance to really shape this squad in the off-season. I'm going to have some room for two first-team foreign players and plenty of wage budget to bring in some Singaporean players as well. Next year, hopefully we'll have a League Championship to show for it.

Next Up - 2015 Youth Intake
Johno
17 years ago
1 week ago
2,643
Premium
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Youth Intake 2015


I was excited all season for my youth intake. I'd love to get some youngsters into the squad immediately to save on wages and hopefully develop some Singaporean stars. Our intake ended up pretty good with three promising players for the future - hopefully I can get them some game time and end up with some quality starters (if I stay here for a while).

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-2-24%20Mohd%20Noor%20Taib.jpg

First off, a promising DC. We're pretty average at DC so if he can reach his potential he'd definitely be a starter for the club.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-2-24%20Fuad%20Ismail.jpg

Ismail is definitely an exciting prospect for us. I'm planning to turn him into a Deep Lying Playmaker to play in an MC role for us long term. He got a couple of games at the end of last season and managed to get an assist and a goal!

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-2-24%20Taufik%20Aziz.jpg

The definite jewel of this years youth intake. After beginning my reign playing a flat 4-4-2 I now tend to play a 4-4-1-1 due to most teams in the league playing formations with three players in the centre (MC's and DMC's). I've been using a Shadow Striker/Deep Lying Forward combination for my AMC/ST. Hopefully Taufik will be my long term Shadow Striker - I'll definitely be looking to get him game time this season.

---------------------------



Cheers Johno
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Pre-Season 2016


First off, we got some great news! It turns out DPMM are from Brunei and as such can't qualify for a continental competition from any Singaporean competition. As a result we will playing in the Asian Champions League this season .

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-03-01%20Transfers.jpg

Thanks to the Champions League qualifications we've got an extra 10k per week in wage budget to play with and as you can see above we've got rid of plenty of dead weight this offseason. We also had two spare foreign player spots in the match day squad, and 3 spare slots until Jake Butler gets back from his 8 (EIGHT!!!) month international duty trip with New Zealand. So all in all it was an exciting transfer window for us ...

K. Govind Kumar

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-03-01%20Govind%20Kumar.jpg

So we start off with a cock-up on our part. My scouts told me he had a lot more potential than he has, so I got Govind Kumar to agree to come to us after his Balestier contract ended.He has got some reasonable attributes in key spots for a winger, so he might prove to be a useful role player for us at least


Shaiful Esah

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-03-01%20Shaiful%20Esah.jpg

My second steal from a club within the league. Esah is a player who can start for us a DL or ML as well as being Singaporean!


Safirul Sulaiman

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-03-01%20Safirul%20Sulaiman.jpg

Currently Sulaiman is just a back up central midfielder, but he's got some room to develop and become a starter down the road. He'll also provide some good rotation whilst we deal with the extra games in the Champions League. I'm excited to see how he comes along this year


Ivan Radojkovic

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-03-01%20Ivan%20Radojkovic.jpg

I had Radojkovic in on trial at the end of last season and was pretty impressed with him. With the signing of Esah I wasn't intending on signing him (due to him being a foreign player). However, Esah tore his groin and left him out for 2-3 months so I needed to find a replacement and Radojkovic might even be an improvement!

The only downside is I had to give him a Foreign Club Release Clause


Jordan Webb

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-03-01%20Jordan%20Webb.jpg

Jordan Webb is a fantastic winger who also has Singapore as a second nationality so he doesn't count as a foreign player. I'm expecting him to ML for us as we have a pretty decent MR already and it shouldn't take Webb to long to adapt to that. One of the best signings of this crop I think.


Pasquale De Gregorio

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-03-01%20Pascual%20De%20Gregorio.jpg

Another star signing for the squad. I'm hoping De Gregorio will go along way to filling the goalscoring void left by Martinez and Duric leaving the club. One of the biggest worries is his £120k Foreign Club Release Clause - I could see us losing him before the season ends if he performs as well as I'm hoping!


Pablo Dominguez

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-03-01%20Pablo%20Dominguez.jpg

My final signing, and another very important one. Dominguez is going to hold down the centre of midfield whilst Butler is away and hopefully provide a great partnership with him once he returns. Again there's an issue with a Foreign Club Release Clause, this time it's £110k. So fingers crossed we can keep hold of him for the season at least.


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-03-01%20Squad%20Depth.jpg

Well there we have it, a (hopefully) very productive pre-season for us and fingers crossed I've added enough quality to win the League this season. As you can see from the depth chart, we've got a much more rounded squad the season, with a lot better depth than we had last year. One of my highlights has been the development of Fariz Azienuddin, over the past year he's become our best DC and certainly has room to develop further. He's certainly proved to be worth spending some money on!

If you were keeping count you may have realised that once Butler returns we will have 5 foreign players and we can only have 4 in the match day squad. I expect that will lead to Radojkovic being dropped and Esah playing DL, although that could be hard decision to make if Radojkovic has a great run in the first team whilst Esah is out.
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Mid-Season Update 2016


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-04-20%20Results.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-04-20%20Standings.jpg

Obviously I'm delighted with how the season has gone so far, we're undefeated in the League and we I think we played pretty well in the Champions League to boot. I think our great form has come down to a couple of factors. Obvoiusly we've added some quality to the team which helps. Also, just prior to the end of last season I changed my MC pairing from a Box-to-Box + Ball-Winning(s), to Box-to-Box + Deep-Lying Playmaker(d). Then, a few games into this season I changed from using the 'More Direct Passing' team instruction to using 'Retain Possesion' and 'Lower Tempo. The result is us keeping a lot more possession, which has made us a lot stronger defensively whilst not costing us too much going forward.

The League has been going fantastically, we've been beating the top sides as well. That's really key for us, because the last couple of year we've had relatively poor performances in the final stage of the season, when we have to play the other teams in the top 6. All in all, I'm feeling quite confident of our chances this year.

I was happy just to reach the Champions League group stage. Then we did a great job against Renhe, from China, to take 4 points from them. I was especially pleased with the Suwon result in the final game - as we were locked into 3rd place in the group I made 9 changes to our outfield players, but the put in a hell of a performance to get a point from a far superior Korean side.

Our signings have generally all came in and performed well, although Esah hasn't seen much game time so far. De Gregorio also managed to fracture some ribs, after a promising start to the season that saw him score 6 in 13 games. Unfortunately for him Noh Alam Shah has stepped into the Striker role and is playing amazing, with 16 goals in 18 appearances. At the minute I'm now leaning towards leaving De Gregorio out of the match day squad once Butler finally returns from international duty.
Johno
17 years ago
1 week ago
2,643
Premium
Much better in the league Very tough in Champions League But hopefully you get alot of money from playing in the competition.
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Much better in the league Very tough in Champions League But hopefully you get alot of money from playing in the competition.


Cheer Johno! We did make a lot of extra cash from the Champions League games, unfortunately it's basically just meant the board has had to put less money into the club to keep us afloat!

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-06-04%20Izwan%20Mahbud.jpg

I've managed to snag a great Singaporean GK once his contract expires in November. Izwan Mahbud is a current international and comes from Singapore Lions who strangely play in Malaysia). He's as good as our current GK, so getting him in means we get rid of Pasfield and his pesky foreign nationality. The will let us play all the rest of our foreign players togeth next season
Johno
17 years ago
1 week ago
2,643
Premium
He looks very decent
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-10-02%20League%20Champs.jpg

We've done it ! And with three games left to go in the season .

That's secured us Champions League football for next season and another opportunity to grow my continental reputation.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-10-02%20Singapore%20HOF.jpg

That second trophy was enough to get me into the Singaporean Hall of Fame, so not a huge achievement really .
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-10-19%20New%20Contract.jpg

Thanks to the league win the board have given me a 1-year contract extension. I definitely want to stay in Tampines for at least one more year, so this is good news for me. Having said that if I get approached by a club in a different country I might change my mind
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
End of Season 2016


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-11-18%20Results.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-11-18%20Standings.jpg

So all in all a great League campaign for us. We were pretty dominant this year and managed to score the most goals in the league as well as conceding the least - I fully expect to repeat as champions next year. Unfortunately we slipped up in the cup competitions, I'd love to win the League Cup next year to have won everything available in Singapore!

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-11-18%20FA%20Cup%20Final.jpg

We made a good effort of the Cup Final against a team that play their football in the Thai Premier League. They appear to be a lot bigger club than us plus we had our entire first choice back 4 either injured or on international duty.Hopefully next year we can make up for it, by winning it next year.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2016-11-18%20Squad.jpg

We had a solid squad all-round and I managed to give some younger players some game-time in the hopes of developing some Singaporean starters. Noh Alam Shah was clearly our best player, he predominantly played as a deep lying forward for us and managed to score a TON of goals. In fact, despite us going out in the group stages his 9 Champions League goals were enough to make him the competitions top scorer!

Dominguez's average rating isn't too high, but he was crucial all season at smartly keeping possesion and putting other players in positions to doing something special.

On the creative side Jamil Ali obviously did a fantastic job at setting up chances, outside of him it was nice to see that we got good contributions from a lot of different players. My one concern is with Shahdan Sulaiman, he played as a Shadow Striker for us and I would have liked to see him show up more in the goals and assists columns.

----------

So next season I'm planning to stay for probably my last season in Singapore. I'm aiming to win it all domestically as well as hopefully having another trip to the Champions League group stages. Having said that, I won't be disappointed if we slip up in the cups. The league title however is a must!

Transfer-wise our budget has been cut thanks to our worsening financial situation. However our chairman is stepping down so maybe we'll get some more investment this year. We're still under our wage budget, and we have a few depth players leaving. However, most of them will need replacing so hopefully I can find enough Singaporean quality at a suitable price.
Johno
17 years ago
1 week ago
2,643
Premium
Brilliant season
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Brilliant season

Cheers Johno! Fingers-crossed we can win more trophies next year.

-------------------------

I've had some odd news. It looks like I will be playing in the AFC Cup instead of the Champions League this season. With Suphanburi earning a place in the Champions League it looks like the Singapore Cup earns a Champions League spot whilst the S-League only earns a AFC Cup spot . Seems a little off to me.

I'm not sure whether to be pleased or disappointed with this news. On one hand we're now playing in a less reputable tournament, so my chances of growing my reputation enough to move to a bigger country are lower. On the other hand judging by the nations represented in last years competition I'll have a reasonable chance of getting out of the group stages and making a deep enough run to maybe boost my reputation a fair bit anyway.
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
2017 Pre-Season


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2017-03-18%20Transfers.jpg

So it was a quiet transfer window for us this year. Thanks to only having Asian Confederation Cup instead of Champions League football the wage budget was reduced from £23k p/w to £15k p/w leaving me without a lot of room to manoeuvre. However I did manage to pick up two more quality Singaporean starters to go with the goalkeeper we signed earlier on.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2017-03-18%20Shakir%20Hamzah.jpg

Hamzah will come in as our second best centre-back, just behind Faris Azienuddin. He's relatively young as well, so hopefully he'll be a starter at Tampines for years to come.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2017-03-18%20Khairul%20Amri.jpg

Amri is an excellent Singaporean striker. As well as being good enough to play already he will allow the club to have a longish-term Singaporean striker for when Noh Alam Shah gets too old (he's 35 at the moment). He's an ideal fit as a deep-lying forward in my 4-4-1-1, so all-in-all a great addition to the squad! Plus he gives us the breathing room to sell De Gregorio is a good effort comes in (we really need money )

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2017-03-18%20Depth%20Chart.jpg

I'm very happy with the depth in the squad. Noh Alam Shah is rated pretty lower as a striker, but given how impressive he was last season I still expect him to be a big contributor to our success.

I think my plan is to leave after this season and seek another job within Asia. I've added China and Australia to give me more potential vacancies. Fingers-crossed I will have done enough to earn a role somewhere else !
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Mid-Season Update - April 2017


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2017-04-22%20Results.jpg

Overall, a great start to the new season. We've won plenty of games again in the league, where we're favourites to win, by quite a way from the other clubs. We've done this whilst dealing with a fair few injuries, at one point all our right backs were out injured and I had to play some youth players for a couple of games. I think that was my fault for forgetting to change the team training settings after having it set to Fitness and High for pre-season. I certainly won't be making that mistake again!

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2017-04-22%20S-League%20Standings.jpg

Unsurprisingly our performances have us up at the top of the table, although we aren't quite as far ahead as we were last year. We've only just managed to take the top spot, but hopefully we can kick on now and start to open up a lead over the rest of the league.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2017-04-22%20Confed%20Cup%20Standings.jpg

We're qualified from out Confederation Cup with a game to go which is nice. I'm planning to rotate my team for the final game to let some of our promising younger players get some game time. The board are expecting us to make the Semi-Finals of the competition, so I don't think it's out of our reach to win the competition. Ultimately that'll be my goal in this competition!
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2017-05-26%20Cup%20Exit.jpg

What a frustrating way to exit the Cup. We were expected to win the competition so obviously this is a big disappointment

We lost in the first round, so on the plus side we now have less games left to play which should help us compete effectively in the League and Continental Competitions!
Johno
17 years ago
1 week ago
2,643
Premium
Wow, much better start to another season
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
League Cup 2017


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2017-08-08%20League%20Cup%20Results.jpg

We had a very solid start to our League Cup campaign, topping our group with ease. As you can see we made it to the final as well, although we made hard work of every game!

We went a goal down against the Harimau Muda B, despite them being the perennial whipping boys of the league. Then it took a 93rd minute goal for us to make it through to the finals. We were drawn against Geylang Int. who put us out of the competition on penalties in last years semi-finals - so revenge was definitely on the cards.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2017-08-08%20League%20Cup%20Final.jpg

Again we made very hard work of the match. When we went two goals down early I really thought that was us done. Then when we gave them the second penalty to tie the game up in extra time I really thought we we're heading to another penalty shoot out loss. Fortunately we got the winner in the second half of extra time and I was delighted to pick up the one trophy I hadn't yet won in Singapore.

Additionally this success was enough to boost my reputation to Continental so I'll definitely be on the move at the end of the season and I feel confident I can nab a top tier job in Korea or Australia preferably!

Wow, much better start to another season

Cheers Johno! We're looking to get back-to-back S-League titles
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
End of Season 2017


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2017-11-05%20Results.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2017-11-05%20Standings.jpg

A very frustrating end to the year for us, we had a terrible run in the final stages and it cost us the title! I'm really disappointed with how it went as we were actually 5 points clear going into the final stage of the season. On the plus side the squad is qualified for the Champions League next year thanks to Niigata Unicorn being from Japan. This disappointment in the league will really help me to move on and find a different job elsewhere.

In the Confed Cup I was really disappointed by our first leg performance. They scored both their goals after going down to ten men and they played the final 15 minutes with 9 men due to injury and we still couldn't manage a goal against them. All-in-all not the greatest second half of the season!

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2017-11-05%20Squad.jpg

Not quite as impressive performances as last season from pretty much everyone. I think a lot of that has come down to us being much more unlucky with injuries which have led to us struggling to field a consistent side this season. We were very strong defensively again this year, but we weren't quite so prolific in front of goal. The side will retain almost all of the key players after I leave, Dominguez was unwilling to stay at the club as he's looking to move on to bigger things!

In terms of our signings this season, I was disappointed in Khairul Amri's performances, he really should have contributed more than he did!

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2017-11-05%20New%20Stadium.jpg

Our continued success the past few years has convinced the new board to invest in a new stadium which will hopefully be a good thing for the club. We've only been averaging 2304 out of our current 4000 capacity stadium so they likely won't be filling the new stadium once it's built. On the plus side I have managed to grow the average attendance by about 50% since joining the club.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2017-11-05%20Left%20Tampines.jpg

So that's my time in Singapore over. Despite the disappointments of this season, I'm happy with how my time at Tampines has gone I managed to win all the trophies on offer in Singapore, have some good games in continental competitions and managed to boost my reputation to a Continental level.

Next up I'm looking to move to the top tier of the Korean Leagues or Australia. If it comes to it, I'll probably settle for a top tier Chinese team as well.
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-03-31%20Melbourne%20Victory.jpg


I got my big move to a team in the Australian A-League, in fact they are currently playing in the Asian Champions League. I have to admit I was getting a little nervous about the job hunt when multiple top tier Korean sides laughed at my applications and didn't interview me. But here I am in Australia and fingers crossed Melbourne Victory will be the side I'll take to Champions League success.

I asked to be judged on giving young players some game time, I haven't tried any of these philosophies before so we'll see how this goes. I'd like to develop young players anyway so this seems like it's something I should be able to do. Unfortunately after joining the club it seems like there isn't a whole lot of young talent on the books!

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-03-31%20Standings.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-03-31%20Games%20to%20go.jpg

So there's not much of the season left to play and we've got some work to do to qualify from both competitions. Fortunately for me the board will not be judging me based on the rest of this season, so I can get to know the squad and decide where to improve in the off-season. Having said that I will be aiming to qualify from both competitions.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-03-31%20Squad%20Depth.jpg

Finally the squad depth. There is a distinct lack of wide players in the squad, but we are very strong centrally so I'm looking to play a narrow diamond 4-4-2 for the time being. Obviously there is some key areas that need improving - particularly the squad needs a new starting Goalkeeper. Depending on what's available for me at the end of the season I would quite like to return to the 4-4-1-1 tactic I was using with Tampines. As a result I am training the squad in that tactic as well as the current tactic I'm using for the rest of the season.

Overall, I'm really looking forward to this opportunity. This will be my first time managing in Australia on any version of Football Manager.
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
End of Season 2017/18


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-05-04%20Results.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-05-04%20Standings.jpg

So I had a slow start to my League games, whilst beating the easiest team in our Champions League group. I wasn't really happy with our performances so I swapped to 4-1-3-1-1 Narrow in order to get all of our top midfielders on the pitch at the same time. The tactical change combined with a few injured players returning to the squad did enough to turn our form round emphatically and get us into the Finals Series.

We did pretty well in Champions League, and if we'd managed a win against Okayama FC we'd have qualified from our group. I'm a little disappointed with the final standings, but hopefully I can get us qualified for the Champions League again and do better next time around.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-05-04%20Elim%20Final.jpg

Unfortunately we fell short in the first stage of the Final Series. To be honest it was a pretty fair result and we definitely have a lot to improve in the squad to be a realistic challenger next time around.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-05-04%20Squad.jpg

So here's the squad at the end of the season. Worryingly the team's top scorer was Guilherme Finkler, who predominantly was scoring his goals from free-kicks, so obviously that's something that needs to be improved for next season.

I'm planning to stick with this Narrow 4-1-3-1-1 tactic. I've stuck with the low tempo possesion based strategy I've been using with Tampines and it does very well in controlling the game and limiting the oppositions chances! I'm finding this version of FM quite a change for me, I'm tending to play possession based strategies in 1 striker formations. On previous FMs I pretty much exclusively played direct strategies with 2 strikers.

As a result we definitely need to upgrade at left-back as the full-backs will be providing a lot of the width with this strategy. Obviously we also need to find more goals outside of set pieces and as I mentioned previously we really need a new GK. In addition to these starters I'm looking to bring some youth players into the first team squad, both from transfers and the youth intake which should come in September.

I'm currently taking a good look at some of the youth players from the FFA Centre of Excellence, and I think I'll be looking to pick up at least a couple of players from there. In addition my scouts are out looking for a first team GK and not doing to great a job so far :p

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-05-04%20MOTY.jpg

Finally a bit of a funny one. Somehow the guy that got sacked to let me take over at Melbourne Victory managed to come 2nd in the Manager of the Year award
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Youth Intake 2018


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-09-15%20Djordje%20Kremenovic.jpg

It wasn't a very deep class of youth this season, but we got a great player in a key position! Kremenovic will be going straight into the first team and hopefully a lot of match time should lead to some very quick developmental. We needed a GK anyway, and whilst we probably could sign someone better this season in the long term going with Kremenovic should payoff.

Otherwise we had no youth players of particular note, although they have all been signed to give me a decent sized youth squad. You never know, maybe one of them will end up being a squad player if nothing else.
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Pre-Season 2018


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-10-07%20Transfers.jpg

So 6 in and 6 out for us, plus I've got another 2 players I would like to get rid of but it's not looking likely before the transfer window closes! Annoyingly it seems I'm not allowed to by players from other teams in the A-League which will probably slow my ability to develop a strong Australian squad. I've managed to add starters at the key positions I'd decided on as well as pick some young Australian players to develop over the next few years. So lets have a look at them.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-10-07%20Morten%20Andersen.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-10-07%20Andrew%20Taylor.jpg

First off, the two new starters. I'd highlighted DL and ST as positions to target this transfer window and we got both positions sorted out. Taylor might be a little old, but there wasn't much available in terms of Australians, either to develop or start so I went for a nice cheap option on a free transfer.

Andersen is probably the gem of the crop. He's a great prospect as a centre-forward and he will be going straight into the starting line-up in an effort to quickly develop him. Again not much available in terms of Australians in this position, so we'll keep looking for some development options.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-10-07%20Danny%20Vukovic.jpg

We've got a new back-up keeper to pair with Kremenovic. Before I got the youth intake he was tabbed to be the starter due to the shocking lack of available Goalkeepers, so I'm delighted to get a promising young keeper that will hopefully set us up for the future.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-10-07%20Daniel%20Pettit.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-10-07%20Jim%20Tanner.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-10-07%20Jack%20Brimmer.jpg

Three promising youngsters who should see some games with the first team throughout the season. None of them are anything special but the should be able to develop into good squad players for the club and maybe even starters down the line.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-10-07%20Squad%20Depth.jpg

I've managed to shore up the first team, although we are lacking depth. Particularly at DC. However, I'm hoping my youngsters develop pretty quickly and give us a strong squad by the end of the season. It's a risky idea given we also need to compete in the league, but fingers crossed it'll work out.

In terms of my player roles. I'm not sure on how the midfield three should be set up. I think it'll also take a while to work out how by full-backs should be set up. They should be the main providers of width in the formation, but I'm wary of making them too attacking and getting caught out defensively.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-10-07%20A-League%20Odds.jpg

Finally, we've been made favourites to win the A-League this season. I'm pretty worried by this and the boards expectations that we win the Regular Series. This is a completely new tactic to me and I've built the squad for a narrow tactic. If it doesn't work out from the start I could be in for a rough season.
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Mid-Season Update - December 2018


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-12-08%20FFA%20Cup%20Results.jpg

First up the FFA Cup, we were on a really good run and then it all went pear-shaped. We started slowly, needing penalties to get past South Melbourne. After it was plain sailing until we got knocked out in the Semi-Finals. I'm pretty annoyed by getting knocked out as we were up against a non A-League side and really should have made the finals off of this run of games.

Having said that we were without Andersen and Barbarouses due to international duty, but it's still no excuse for losing to lower tier sides.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-12-08%20A-League%20Results.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2018-12-08%20Standings.jpg

We had a pretty reasonable start to the A-League campaign. We right in the mix to acheive the boards goal of winning the Regular Series. I've made yet another tactical change - this time we've moved to a 4-1-2-2-1 with an AML and AMR. This time it was at least forced by injuries and not my own indecision . We ended up with a lot of central midfielders injured and in order to avoid 2-3 starters up from the Youths squad.

Anyway the tactical change came just before the Newcastle Jets game, and it seems to have done a good job at helping us to create more chances. So I think I'm going to be keeping with this tactic even once we've got some players back from injuries.

In terms of our new players, I'm delighted with Morten Andersen, he's scoring plenty of goals for us so far long may it continue! Kremenovic our new goalkeeper has been doing a fairly good job for us so far and the match experience seems to be doing a lot to boost his stats already

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-01-07%20Joe%20Watt.jpg

Finally I brought in one more player before the transfer window closed at the start of December. Watt is mostly a depth signing, but his excellent mental skills and Professional personality should be great for tutoring some of our promising young midfielders!
Pippadoc
15 years ago
3 years ago
386
Midseason Update - February 2019


http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-02-09%20A-League%20Results.jpg

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-02-09%20Standings.jpg

So it was another hit and miss run of form for us. We managed the exact same point total over the middle third of the season as we did in the first season. Unfortunately other teams seemed to have picked it up a bit causing us to drop down the table. If we could just string a few wins together we'd have a shot at getting a high seed for the Final Series. At least we're on course to make the Final Series anyways!

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-02-02%20Andersen%20Injuty.jpg

Awful news for us - that's Morten Anderesen's season over. I was happy with his performances however, scoring 14 in 18 appearances. Hopefully he'll back a good comeback from his injury next season.

http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae92/Pippadoc/FM15%20Pentagon/2019-02-09%20Artem%20Milevskyi.jpg

To replace him I got an FM Legend in Artem Milevskyi! He was fantastic for me when I brought him to Newcastle on either FM10 or FM11 - so I'm excited to get him, especially for the tiny fee of £7k. He even managed to get himself a goal on his debut, so hopefully he'll be a good stand-in for Mortensen to end the season.

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