The Di Canio Redemption

After a long FM hiatus, when I didn’t have the hardware to play it seriously (multiple seasons with a big database), I’m delighted to be back playing after picking up a new M1 Mac mini. If you want to follow my adventures stay tuned to my Substack (http://htgfm.substack.com)! I will also be posting this story over at Sortitoutsi, my favourite FM community online.



I’m no West Ham or Lazio fan, but I’ve always loved Paolo Di Canio, both as a player and manager. He straddles the line between genius and nutcase like few others have done, and in my view has been misunderstood and ostracised by many in the British media for no good reason. He is fondly remembered for his goal against Sheffield Wednesday, and his performances for West Ham and Lazio during his playing career, not so much for his time managing Sunderland. I think Di Canio would have made a brilliant manager if he had been allowed to continue, or if another club had given him a chance. Unfortunately, in 2020, it seems no club is prepared to risk drawing criticism by taking a chance and appointing him. But I’m not taking no for answer. I, as him, will play this out on Football Manager and see where it takes us…





Besides creating an amazingly life like figure (FM’s avatar generation has got insanely good), I feel the attributes are also on point. With a UEFA Pro coaching badge and an International (Continental) reputation, I was able to give him high scores in attacking, determination, motivating and man management, which I feel is accurate (unless you’re Titus Bramble). Knowing his aversion for ketchup, I also have him 15 for fitness coaching.

With Di Canio in the game, the job hunt could begin. It took a while for the season to start and managers to get sacked, but when they did, there were many. Aberdeen, SC Caen, and Derby were some of the teams available, that I thought it was realistic to apply for (with a two/three star reputation). But then, from out of nowhere…



The chance to start in a top division AND in a European competition was too good to pass up. Galtier had been sacked with Lille languishing in lower mid table, and they needed Di Canio to come in and get things in order.



Even better, Di Canio gets a three year deal which offers some pretty good job security. It’s an unexpected (but amazing) turn of events to get things started, I honestly thought we would be at Leyton Orient or something. Stay tuned for a squad breakdown, the tactics and our first game in the Europa League against Granada.

League position & previous results

We’re taking over Lille in 13th place in the league, while we are second in our Europa League group, on the verge of qualifying. It could be a lot worse as you can see.



The results have been average, but not terrible all things considered. This isn’t a dire situation to come into. Besides the bad losses to Nimes and Brest, it’s pretty much as expected, even if those expectations are high (Lille finished 4th last year).



The Squad

Squad wise, the strongest XI seems good at first glance, but as you will see later, there are definitely some problems in the squad that need addressing.



Renato Sanches is the biggest earner, and arguably best player when on form, but there is a lot of good young talent around the squad. Mike Maignan in goal is a French international, while Jonathan Ikone is the main threat up front and has also made appearances for the national team. Although not very highly rated in terms of stars, I also love the look of Timothy Weah, son of George. He looks like another great, young offensive talent. José Fonte, formerly of Southampton, is at the heart of the defence, and even though he’s not getting any younger, is still a great centre back for the French league. But on the whole this is a talented young squad which should be good to build on.







Tactics

Di Canio is definitely not a defensively minded coach, so we won’t play that way, unless we’re going up against PSG or Lyon. Given the number of excellent wingers we have our formation will look something like below, possibly going for an extra attacking midfielder depending on the game for a more offensive look (and removing the DM). It makes sense to base our game on speed with the counter attack, given that’s where our talent lies. The philosophy though is whatever works, as long as it is done with a high intensity and everyone puts in a shift (I feel that is the Di Canio ideal.



The first few games



It started very well with convincing 3-0 win against Granada to secure qualification. Ikoné, Bamba and our midfield maestro Yazici were on the scoresheet in a dominant performance.

The game against Dijon was slightly less good, and we needed an 85th minute goal from Timothy Weah to get the win. Against the team at the bottom of the league, we should have been more comfortable.

The game against Bordeaux was another close fought encounter, and it was an unlucky loss. Both teams were even, but we let Koscielny give Bordeaux the three points from a corner.

Finally, the strategy against PSG was never to go out to win, simply to get a point away from home. Although given how the game went, it’s disappointing to draw. PSG were dominant, but we pounced on a mistake to get in front through Ikone and defended well until the last 10 minutes. Ultimately I think some poor substitutions and an unnecessary formation change let us down, and Mbappé got a last gasp equaliser for PSG at the 94th minute.

Fitness, injury and wage concerns

As we head into January and the winter break, there are some big concerns that need to be addressed. Firstly, injuries.



José Fonte is out long term due to an ankle break, while David is only just back in the side and lacking sharpness. Ikone has also been playing a lot and looking tired. To counter this, the training needs to be adjusted, as the number of games we have had in a short time has been crazy. The aim is to prevent further injuries, because we can’t keep losing players at the current rate.

The other issue is the wage bill, which is significantly over. I would like to sell the overpaid players in January, and bring in some players to help out at certain positions where we lack bodies while also reducing the wage bill.

Stay tuned, next time will feature the January transfer window plans and big games against Lyon and Lens (in the Coupe de France).

Table and results


It’s got ugly. Five games since the last update, five losses. The games against against Lens and Monaco hurt the most. Lens, our biggest rivals, equalised with a late goal and then won on penalties. You can’t lose in a worse way (well, maybe Ghana vs Uruguay at the 2010 World Cup). It knocked us out of the cup which we were keen to make a run in. The we were also leading against Monaco, but two goals in the last ten minutes, including a last minute screamer by Golovin sent us crashing down. We are now 16th in the table and feeling the pressure. Things need to chance fast with big games coming up, including a Europa League First Knockout round game against Besiktas.



It’s a very disappointing run, but it’s honestly clear to understand why it’s happened. The first and biggest reason is injuries, which have completely decimated our squad and really made things about survival more than anything. The second is the choice of tactics, which just haven’t worked well with the team. We have no working, tried and tested system as of yet, and we’re still trying to find something that works.

Injuries and suspensions

Renato Sanches, Souamoro, Jonathan David, Hysaj, José Fonte, Zeki Celik. All of those guys were lost to injuries or suspension during our bad run. We had to play players from the reserves who were not Ligue 1 level, it’s not surprising we suffered.

The light at the end of the tunnel is that it seems people are coming back, as the fixture congestion dies down a bit. Burak Yilmaz is finally back in training, as is Renato Sanches and Hysaj. I’ve made changes to training, and also removed the ‘get Stuck In’ instruction, which has done us absolutely no favours whatsoever.

Transfer dealings

This is the one positive from this update. We badly needed central defensive reinforcement, and some help up front. We are hampered by a big wage budget (even after adjusting budgets), so someone had to go out before people could come in.





Club Brugge came in with a bid for Zeki Celik, and although he’s a good player, we have a lot of bodies already at the full back position. 15 million was the fee, and we reinvested it to bring in centre back Moussa Niakhate from Mainz, who looks extremely good for a 24 year old. He cost 8 million, with 40% sell on fee (which could end up biting us in the arse). really solid deadline day signing, and he’ll go straight into the starting lineup against Rennes.



We brought in another top class central defender - William Saliba on loan from Arsenal. His wages are high - 40k per week - but I couldn’t pass up the chance to get someone of his calibre, even if it’s just until the end of the season.



Finally, we needed another body up front - an out an out striker. The options were scarce, and we went for the ultra budget option - free agent Cyril Thereau. He can play as a target man if we want to play more direct, and doesn’t really impact the wage budget. He got his first goal against Monaco, and I think he’s already been worth the (small) investment.



You might have noticed so far that we have signed only French players. This is not completely accidental - Di Canio said in an interview that he would have liked to sign English players for Sunderland, but that it was out of his control. I think homegrown players will always be the preferred option as we go through this career mode, and we have definitely done a good job of it so far.

Tactical changes

So far, I’ve stuck to a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-1-2-3, with a fairly positive mindset. But with the arrival of Saliba and Niakhate, we have the option to play three at the back with attacking wing backs, as below. We will be trying this to switch things up a bit, and see if we can shore things up at the back.

Results and League Position



So, as you can see, a real mixed bag of results since the last update, but there is definitely improvement (well, it couldn’t be any worse than a 100% losing month). Some big wins against Metz, Marseille and Rennes, with the latter being particularly pleasing. Rennes are flying high in the league and we completely outclassed them. new boys Niakhate and Saliba got on the scoresheet, with our set piece routines looking solid. Weah’s brace against Metz was also very encouraging, and I would argue he has maybe the most potential of anyone in the squad. One to keep hold of.

The big disappointments were the losses to Nimes and Montpellier, and obviously the loss at home to Besiktas in the Europa League. We got done by the away goals rule, which makes it even more painful, but it was a close tie over two legs so from that point of view it was encouraging that we gave a better team than us on paper a good fight.

I think we’ve definitely been unlucky. We’ve let in an unlikely number of last minute long range efforts, where you obviously just have to throw your hands up and take it. I don’t know that there’s anything tactically specifically (maybe closing down more?) that would have stopped those.



All of which leaves us 15th in the table. Definitely not great considered we took over at 13th, but I want to see what we can do with a clear run without injuries and bad luck, and our squad back to full strength. The team has some great talent, and we should really be at least in the top ten if not fighting for Europe League positions.

Injuries

There is optimism because the injury situation does seem to be, generally, improving. Yilmaz is back up front, which is useful when we want to play more direct, and Ikone has also recovered from his injury. I hope we can keep this situation going, and that we don’t have another wave of injuries like before.

Maignan signs new deal



To end with some more good news, we’ve got Maignan signed to a new four year deal, and a super reasonable one at that. he only wanted a 2k wage bump (to 27k a week), with some performance bonuses thrown in. This is a great deal for a 25 year old who is not yet in his prime, and is already involved with the French national team. He has great potential and will be our keeper for the long term.

The objective for the rest of the season is obviously to get well clear of the relegation zone, and get a bit more job security which is average at the moment.

End of season (2020-2021) recap and standings

Wow. After a difficult start to life at Lille, and a bad losing run, Di Canio’s boys have come good. Largely due to finally being free of injuries more than anything else, having a full squad to work with, the last couple of months of the season brought five wins from nine games, including a five match unbeaten run. The only losses were to PSG and Lyon (totally justifiable, number one and two in league by some margin), and there were some great wins against Nantes, Dijon and Bordeaux. We scored goals for fun at times, and a couple of players really shone, especially Jonathan Bamba.

As you can see, we finish in tenth, up from 13th when we took over. A decent improvement, and if we hadn’t had such bad luck with injuries, I’m confident we would have qualified for the Europa League.





Standout players

Lille have a talented group of young players, who were unable to show what they could until the last part of the season. But they were finally able to get over the hump and explode into life. Bamba scored five goals in the space of two games, with David also contributing on the scoresheet. Niakhate has also scored from defence, and has been nothing short of sensational since joining in January. Burak Yilmaz also came into life in his target man role, getting a few assists to go along with his goals. Finally, some positive surprises. Reinildo, the Brazilian wing back, scored the crucial winning goal against Nantes to show he definitely belongs. It also turns out we have a future star goalkeeper in Lucas Chevalier. He started the last game against Angers and he will be a great backup to Maignan next year.







State of play ahead of next season



I thought this was dead in the water at one stage, but the board are now back onside and happy going into next season. in early transfer news, Soumaoro has announced he’s leaving, which is fine and expected. At 25,000 per week and not a starting player, he was expendable and there are definitely better options out there.



Talking about finances, there will definitely be some departures, especially players who are on unjustifiably high wages. We’ll be looking to ship out Burak Yilmaz at least, and Orestis Karnezis, the backup goalkeeper who is no longer needed because of the emergence of Chevalier. The wage budget and transfer budget have gone up, which is nice, but I still feel there is room to trim down the squad, or bring in better quality/value players.



So stay tuned for our transfer dealings and pre-season as we will look to keep the momentum from a phenomenal end to the season.