This is post two of a wider series. A series for FM22.
“If someone who has played alongside Darren Dods and Pat McGinlay can’t identify and recruit the next Ferenc Puskás, who can?”
Welcome to Budapest
Once Glenn Árnason had been picked up at the airport, there were a few discussions to be had. New staff had to arrive and given Árnason’s previous life as an analyst for the Iceland national team, at least a basic performance analysis setup had to operate out of the offices at the Bozsik Aréna. There were other early key staffing appointments required too. Funds may be limited in Hungarian football, but the ambition level is high.
In came former Chicago Fire calculator-botherer Nenad Babíc as the Head of Performance Analysis.
As did 1997-1998 Hibernian legend Jimmy Adjovi-Boco. The 50-times capped Benin international has now been appointed as Honvéd’s Director of Football. Jimmy is someone Árnason is said to be keen to work with, as certain transfer duties will be delegated in his direction. If someone who has played alongside Darren Dods and Pat McGinlay can’t identify and recruit the next Ferenc Puskás, who can?
Players
With these matters tied up, let’s look at the initial playing squad.
First impressions are that the squad is relatively well balanced.
With a 6′ 5″ and 6′ 3″-tall strike partnership in ex-Palermo man Norbert Balogh and number 9 Marton Eppel served by capable wide men Nenad Lukić and Lukács Bőle, I can see goals in the initial line-up.
The centre of midfield is slightly less impressive, but Spaniard Nono looks like he could carry the ball forward well. Possibly an area to improve on is the pivot alongside him. 28-year old Serbian Dušan Pantelić is perhaps the strongest option here, but there is scope to recruit a better player. If only the first transfer window wasn’t closed.
The back four are solid with no obvious weak links but no great star talents either. Our goalkeeper, Péter Szappanos, is commanding and experienced, if a little slow off of his line.
Here are probably our top three talents.
There is a good starting group here to work with, and I can see a tactical plan forming.
Tactics
Hungarian football and its coaches (both homegrown and imported) have been hugely influential in world football. Since Jimmy Hogan’s MTK side in the very early 1900s, there have been a number of important managers and sides in the years since. From István Tóth’s Ferencváros of the late 1920s once said to be masters of elegant first touches and fast combinations, through to Ernő Erbstein and Béla Guttmann’s teams who later revolutionised the Italian game with their technical and two-footed brand of football and beyond.
Fact alert – Erbstein is said to have been the first football manager to ever hire a conditioning coach in around 1937. It was for his Lucchese side and the coach was Filippo Pascucci. Erbstein was inducted into the Torino hall of fame posthumously in 2019.
For more on the fascinating history of Hungarian football, especially pre-1960, I wholeheartedly recommend Jonathan Wilson’s incredible book, The Names Heard Long Ago. Reading this thorough history inspired me to set off on this journey with Honvéd.
Back to FM and channelling this (classically Hungarian) focus on quick and technical football will be key for this Honvéd side. Full backs who are keen to support the midfield, wingers who can stretch the pitch to ensure a free man is always available when counter-attacking, as well as a composed central midfield pivot who can dictate the tempo are all key tenets of the philosophy here.
The combination of graceful football and a focus on naturally fit and physically imposing attacking players is going to be interesting to watch in action.
Targets
The club culture requirements of the current board mesh with this tactical plan nicely, as they wish to develop youth products while remaining entertaining. It’s a challenging but satisfying ambition.
Although I of course harbour dreams of uncovering the next Puskás and developing Hungarian football to restore the glory days of the early 1950s, I am realistic enough to enjoy this challenge for what it is. A road less travelled to a club in a country where everyone seems to be a sleeping giant.
Approach
I will have my usual focus on the numbers as we go through five to seven seasons. I have already created templates for some exploration of attacking and defensive contributions of different players, cost analysis of a squad member’s true value when considering his playing time and more.
Our Director of Football will handle negotiations, but I (Árnason) will still very much be in control of who the DoF is approaching to buy and working to sell.
I’ll handle individual training but not team, and although not set as a static responsibility, I’ll generally pass responsibility of contract renewals to Adjovi-Boco too.
The new Data Hub in FM22 handles an impressive variety of visualisations of various performance metrics for your players once the season gets going, but I still find it useful to initially map out the players’ attributes strengths and weaknesses relative to each other.
An attribute analysis plot always gives me some sort of insight that a glance at player profiles may not have offered up as immediately obvious. Especially when I first take over a team and get a look at their squad for the first time.
Insight:
- Zinédine Machach is more well-rounded than I initially gave him credit for. He almost matches Nono for attacking strengths but can contribute more defensively than the Spaniard. A possible switch.
- 35-year old Ivan Lovric is our second strongest defender, but I chose Bence Batik ahead of him due to his superior ability to progress the ball.
- Mohamed Mezghrani isn’t good enough going forward or back to merit a starting berth at right-back and his alternative Lukas Klemenz is primarily a (better) defender. Klemenz might start instead when we play tough opposition and need more stability at the cost of attacking intent. A possible recruitment priority for January 2022.
What’s next?
The next instalment I post will be around halfway through season one. I will be able to see the lay of the land a little better with some matches under our belts.
Going forward, posts will probably wrap up an entire season, but in the early days I think more regular updates make some sense.
In the meantime, I am trying to think of more Hungarian things, but it’s tough.
Maybe when I think of some I can write them down with my biro once I finish my Rubik’s Cube.
Thanks for reading.
FM Stag