I have been given a mission, time to complete it

To give context to the title, I had seen a thread on reddit telling people to give a country, and receive a save idea. I, a relatively new FM player, just randomly gave “Sweden” as a nation out of the blue and got given Hammarby IF. Bring the loved nordic club to glory past it's one measely league title. So my goal: bring this team to the promise land of the UCL, and learn as much about FM as possible. The first thing I did was hire 4 scouts, as the team genuinely had 0 scouts in their department. I then negotiated a national transfer record 3.5M (1M, 2.5 installments, and 500k after league appearances) for 18 year old striker Ibrahim Osman [with a 15 goal objective for important player next season], who I was initially going to fit into the 1 striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation, however I decided to switch to a 4-2-2-2 narrow, just to experiment and have some fun. After that, I focused on getting the team prepared for the season with friendlies, but in the meantime I curiously checked to see if there was any national team vacancies… 

and there it was, my home nation of Canada. I applied and got instantly accepted, and started fiddling with how I would handle them, settling on a 4-4-2 formation with some bite to it. Friendlies started off strong with a 8-1 win against FC Gute, with RWB Edvin Kutulus and new acquisition Ibrahim Osman both putting up 10.0 ratings, and another win against Mjondalen IF in a comeback fashion with Osman securing the game with a late 88th minute goal in a 4-2 match (Mikkelsen scored right after). I also get the board to approve a set-pieces coach, and when it came time to take the reigns of Canada in their first friendly against Peru, we open the game dominating with 1.01 xG before they even get a shot…. unfortunately that shot was a goal, but we had scored one as well! Unfortunately two of our best players, Davies and Johnston, are injured, as we end the match 1-1. First disappointment of the campaign but we can bounce back! 

Our last day of friendlies has me in two places at once, as we secure a 1-0 win as Canada against Paraguay with an early goal from Jonathan David. For the club match, we run our second team and lose a two goal lead late due to a red card for a 2-2 draw against KFUM Oslo.

We head into the season predicted 4th, just ahead of our first opponent AIK. We start the match off and in the third minute, guess who it is? Ibrahim Osman with a beautiful strike for our first of the season. Right after, we give up a penalty… but it's saved! We tally another with the other striker, Jusef Erabi netting a nice redirect. AIK GRABS A RED, TACKLING OSMAN, and the response is an immediate goal from Osman putting us up 3! AIK unfortunately grabs a header on the near post of a corner, as they continue to add pressure and they add another tally after some short box passing. After a beautiful free kick goal from CB Mads Fenger, and a retaliatory goal from AIK, we go on to hold the lead for a 4-3 win, and a 9.3 rating from Osman. Definitely going to have to address the holes in the tactic, but a solid start.

4-0 destruction against 8th place IFK Goteburg, Jusef Erabi with 2 goals to shoot us to the top of the table, followed by a match against the second place Mjallby AIF which had us win 2-0 with another goal from Osman and an Own Goal. We continue the winning against the last placed Varbergs BoIS, with another 2-0 victory. So far there hasn't been much going in our net, however the chances have still been getting there. Now at a definitive 1st place with a 3 point gap to Malmo FF in second, I rest for the night.

Our string of clean sheets comes to an end as we let 3 goals in three games in a row, to top 5 teams, however we hold on for a 5-3 win against Degerfors IF, grab a late 4-3 comeback win against IFK Norrkoping, and unfortunately drop our first game 3-2 to Malmo FF. We don't let it hold us down, as we bounce back with an immediate 5-2 win to maintain our hold of the #1 spot with Malmo FF hot on our tail, Two more straight 2-1 wins, the second being a late win with a red card taking out a striker at the beginning of the game, and we clearly show that Hammarby IF are here to stay at the top flight of the league, however Malmo FF has stayed step for step in the table only 2 points behind. 

We head into June with two games before the transfer window opens once more, and it starts off with a very tight 2-2 draw against IF Elfsborg, and we have an absolute barn burning against Kalmar FF, including FOUR GOALS from AM(SS) Viktor Dukanovic, 2 goals and a beautiful assist from Osman, and 3 assists from WB Simon Stand, ending in a 7-2 score to cap off our first stretch of games. The best part? Malmo FF lost their match and we now solely occupy the highest points total. However, there is a knocking on the door with a 2M bid for our star TF Jusef Erabi, which could lead to some big moves in the upcoming window.

The Current Tactic

The Standings in June

Player Stats at the End of June

Youth Intake

We receive the news of a youth intake right after I convinced the board to improve youth recruitment (I had no clue that Swedish intake previews were in June), and it's pretty good news. We have at least one solid striker in the pipeline, which could make the Erabi transfer easier to make, especially as it is starting to heat up with RSC Anderlecht and Parma both rumoured to be putting in bids.

CRYSTAL PALACE ENTERS THE FRAY as they have appeared to fancy our starting goalkeeper, Oliver Dovin. The negotiations were tight but I got them to agree to a hefty 1.9 base fee that can rise to 2.4m, and a 40% sell on fee percentage.

Canada action returns, as we draw Honduras 2-2, and then ditch the 4-4-2 in favour of a 4-2-3-1 as it brought us back from a 2-0 deficit, and Alphonso Davies gets injured again. We lose in a disastrous 5-2 to Algeria, however we were forced to use a B-team of sorts thanks to it being 3 days after the Honduras game.

BACK TO HAMMARBY IF as we are drawn into the UEFA Conference League against FC Drita Gjilan of the Kosovo Superleague, a match we will look to win decisively. CRYSTAL PALACE SUCCEEDS as the bid for Dovin is accepted, and we can look to improving the team in the window come time for european competition, as we also look for an improved asking price for Jusef Erabi. RB Leipzig also offers up to 1.7M for our best RWB, Edvin Kurtulus, BUT JUVENTUS COME IN with a massive 3.2M upfront, up to 4M offer beating out RBL.

Taking a small break from the transfer sagas, it's game time, and we start off the return to league play with an absolute barn burner beating Halmstads BK 5-4, with an Ibrahim Osman hat trick…. and he gets ANOTHER ONE in the NEXT GAME against IFK Varnamo, carrying us to a 3-0 victory. Osman fulfils his goals target and is guaranteed himself as a staple of this club.

Back in transfer land, Juventus swoops in and signs Edvin, and AC Milan gives an offer for Jusef Erabi so good the board accepts it before I can even see it. However, it may be topped by RB Salzburg offering 6.5M upfront as compared to AC Milan's 3.7M up to 8.25 depending on where Erabi wants to head… and he chooses AC MILAN! All the best to his future, as he was a staple player for the first half of this season. This forces us to change up our tactic, as we make Osman our sole striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation, and finally setting out of the pure narrow game that may have cost us more than a few goals against this season. We also pickup Danish WB Oliver Sonne for 1.5M to replace Edvin Kurtulus, as we try and maintain our defensive style.

The New Tactic

The tactic works! As we win 4-1 against IK Sirius, and go undefeated against IFK Goteburg with a 1-0 win. Next is continental soccer, where Osman scores 3 in a 6-0 win over FC Drita, as our mostly second team (aside from Osman) wins the first of two legs. We sign 24 year old winger Abde from Deportivo Alaves to reinforce our new formation for 700k, and . We are able to topple down AIK in a 2-0 victory, who seem to be undergoing a potential change in management as the 12 time Swedish champs have fallen to 11th. We then head to finish off FC Drita in the UECL. We win our second Manager of the Month award (first being in April) and sign Jacob Haahr from FC Kobenhavn to replace Nathaniel Adjei as he moves to Olympique Lyonnais for 3M (up to 4.3M). And I will round it off here because I forgot to take screenshots but it's 1AM!

We advance quite easily past FC Drita with a 10-0 bashing at home, and we're home again 3 days later for a against Mjallby AIF, as our new winger Abde nets his first for the club in a 4-2 win thanks to a late surge by the defensive core of all places, with LWB Simon Stand(killer name) putting in a dart from outside the box for the game winner. It was a crucial win as well, as we had a rough first half until the Center Midfield was taken down one rung on the tactical ladder to play more defensive, which may be a permanent change. We now lead the league by ELEVEN POINTS which is huge, and will allow us some more leeway as we get into later stages of the UECL. For now, we still hold the league as the highest importance, as three losses or four draws could put us in the crosshairs of any of the top four clubs. Ibrahim Osman also now leads the league in goals AND assists, making him by far the leagues best offensive player so far (plus leading the league in average rating doesn't hurt).

Back to the UECL,  we faceoff against Legia Warszawa as we lose our first match in months 2-1, even with almost 2 more xG. However, we don't let it get us down as we've won a few matches we shouldn't have so it's only fair the pendulum swings the other way. We immediately bounceback against Varbergs BoIS with a 2-1 win, and we head to Poland as we face Legia. We decide to sit Ibrahim on the bench for this one, as although we need the win we outchanced them heavily in our last outing plus we needed to let him rest so he doesn't become overloaded. We end up actually winning the 2nd leg 3-1, moving on, but injuring Adi Nalic, a vital piece of our attacking core. We start a backup XI against Degerfors IF so we can give Osman and Dukanovic some rest, and AM Marcus Rafferty (normal bench player) steps up and carries us with 2 goals to a 3-1 win. We then meet Maccabi Tel-Aviv at home, and we shred them to bits 4-0 in the first leg, giving us leeway for our next meeting. We also advance to the next round of the Swedish Cup, and head to Israel to finish off Tel Aviv and move onto the next round. We also exact revenge on Malmo FF with 2 goals from Ibrahim Osman going into the national break, which gives us time to breathe and look at our position.

The Current Table

Great start for a new player @OpinioNayted !