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Author: crusadertsar

One-Club Man: La Cantera

One-Club Man: La Cantera

La Cantera, literally means “the quarry” in Spanish, and it’s a term used in Spain to refer to youth academies and farm teams organized by sports clubs, specifically football clubs. It is also used to refer to the geographical area that clubs recruit players from. I find it’s a perfect term to apply to the process of “unearthing” some young gems of talent in FM24. And if that’s the case then I feel like at Real Sociedad I have hit upon a gold mine.

One-Club Man: Defence-First Football & Club DNA In FM24

One-Club Man: Defence-First Football & Club DNA In FM24

The following is a guide written using examples from FM24 on a topic that I wrote about many times before. In other articles from FM21, FM22 and FM23 where I was trying to answer an age-old question – Can defensively-responsible, low-to-mid intensity football be successful in Football Manager? I said YES to that question many times before and given my limited experience (one season under the belt so far) with FM24, my answer remains unchanged. You definitely don’t need to…

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One-Club Man: 1st Day on The Job, Meet The Team

One-Club Man: 1st Day on The Job, Meet The Team

First day on the job at La Real! Over the years of managing them in FM, I have amassed quite a bit of knowledge about Real Sociedad’s players. And the following article is meant to share some of this knowledge, especially how it applies to their current 1st team in FM24. Hopefully it will act as a good starting point for those of you, who like me, intend to make San Sebastian your home away from home in this iteration…

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The Story of One-Club Man

The Story of One-Club Man

Originally, I intended this to be a simple and short FM save reveal. But as things tend to happen it grew to be far bigger than intended when I set out to type it. You include a bit of contextual backstory to add flavour to the blog and before you know it you are writing backstory to the backstory. And the simple fluff piece became an introduction to a passion project. So bear with me, I’ll just provide a bit…

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Jogo Bonito: Perfecting My Best 4-2-3-1 Formation Yet

Jogo Bonito: Perfecting My Best 4-2-3-1 Formation Yet

So I’m doing a little update on my Brazilian-style 4-2-3-1. It is mainly my attempt to adapt the original 1970 Brazil Tactic, “the most beautiful football in history” to mid-tier and lower league teams in Football Manager 2023. Or in case of the example in this article, good teams from less prestigious leagues (Portugal). For the Brazilian brand of attractive, free-flowing attacking football to work, you will still need to have suitably technical players. So an English Championship or League…

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Jogo Bonito: Guide To Brazilian Game (Part 2)

Jogo Bonito: Guide To Brazilian Game (Part 2)

If you followed this series then you know that in Part 1 I have set the scene with the historical background and highlighted a few roles important to the style. Thus in this section, I will explore my FM23 tactic in greater detail. A few important questions remain. How am I to create a tactic that is closely inspired by Brazilian Jogo Bonito style? What are some essential elements that I will attempt to convey on the pitch? The roles…

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Jogo Bonito – Beautiful Game: Guide to Playing 4-2-3-1 Like a Brazilian (Part 1)

Jogo Bonito – Beautiful Game: Guide to Playing 4-2-3-1 Like a Brazilian (Part 1)

This is meant to be Part 1 in a planned multi-part series about Jogo Bonito, Brazil’s signature style of football. It’s more of a historical origin story, tracing the winding path that Brazilian unique style of football followed over the years. It is by no means a complete history. That would take an entire book! And besides, Jonathan Wilson does it way batter in his seminal “Inverting The Pyramid”. I just wanted to set the scene and give us context…

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Defence-First Football: Disciplined and Sensible Management in Football Manager 2023

Defence-First Football: Disciplined and Sensible Management in Football Manager 2023

This is going to be a guide on strategies that I learned in all of my years playing Football Manager. Not just FM2023. Partly my goal is to debunk a few myths that players have about FM management as well as about “Defensive” Football. It’s also a guide on how to turn an underdog team into a serious contender over time. It’s not a guide to instant success in FM23. But rather repeatable strategies that can improve any club. One…

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My Love Letter to Belgian Football

My Love Letter to Belgian Football

Ah, the most difficult choice in any new FM game… who to manage? With so many leagues and clubs across the world available to you from the start of the game, the choice can be quite intimidating. The goal of the following article is to offer a few ideas for interesting starting clubs in Football Manager 2023. It is a short explanation for why I think Belgium is such an exciting country to manage in.

Total Football Journeyman: Libero Search and The Tactical Creative Spine

Total Football Journeyman: Libero Search and The Tactical Creative Spine

Looking back through the long history of football, there is one position that has become virtually extinct. Almost. Luckily it still lives on in the Football Manager franchise. I am talking about a role of a centreback that sits back and sweeps up balls played in behind the defence. Then on the offensive he charges forward as a deep-lying playmaker. Called “libero” in Italian and made famous by players like Gaetano Scirea, Franco Baresi and Ronald Koeman. The following article…

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