u/Dependent_Tomato_235

Introducing: the Blue Lock Project

Inspired by the anime and manga series, my football manager Blue Lock project aims to take Japanese football to the top in the most dramatic way possible. 232 of Japanese football's under 18 prospects have been brought together under one roof in Berlin, Germany, where they will compete against each other and against the world to become the very best in football and one day bring the World Cup to Japan.

These 232 will form our first generation, and every season, a new batch of Japan's top prospects will walk through our gates aiming to prove themselves where it matters most.

Competition will be brutal. In Blue Lock, players are not judged by how fancy they look on paper but rather how well they perform on the pitch. In the end, only 10% of the people in the building are going to make it to the first team, and I predict that only 1% of the first generation will actually make that final World Cup winning squad.

Those who fail to cut it here will be sold away from Blue Lock and will be banned from ever playing for the national team forever.

But, focusing our attention on the present, our journey will begin with the first test here in Blue Lock, where we will have an intra-squad tournament over the preseason to decide where everybody will spend the first season. This will be called...

The Selection Tournament.

Everybody will be randomly grouped into teams of 11, and those teams will face each other n an elimination tournament. The winning 11 will be the official starters for the first team this season, while the runners-up will form the first team bench, and the best standout talents from the losing teams will form the extra squad depth. They will be the ones to take on the German 3rd division this season.

From there, the second group of standouts will form our B team and will compete against other b teams in lower leagues, and the third-rate standouts will form our under 19 team. Everyone else will be sent out on loan to our many affiliate clubs and will have to spend the season fighting for their place in the squad from the outside.

And with that, my most ambitious challenge yet begins. I really wanted to share this challenge with somebody, so if you manage to read all that, please give me your thoughts.

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u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 2 days ago

How to make my protagonist win a fight with a pair of chopsticks

I'm starting to imagine a fight scene where my protagonist just beats down on a group of people and speed blitzes them with nothing but a pair of chopsticks in his hand. I really want to make this happen. How can j make my protagonist train to become that strong in the most realistic way possible?

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u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 4 days ago

How to make my protagonist win a fight with chopsticks

I'm starting to imagine a fight scene where my protagonist just beats down on a group of people and speed blitzes them with nothing but a pair of chopsticks in his hand. I really want to make this happen. How can j make my protagonist train to become that strong in the most realistic way possible?

reddit.com
u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 4 days ago

Advanced Playmaker or Shadow Striker?

I currently play a 4-2-3-1, and for the AM role, I'm struggling to pick which one to use between the two. What I basically want is an alternative to the false 9, someone who helps the midfield in transition and helps progress the ball into the final third, who also tries to score for himself.

According to their FM descriptions, these roles both do one thing and not the other. Advanced playmaker advances the ball, but not as goal hungry as I'd like him to be. Shadow Striker is goal hungry, but doesn't sound like someone who can help in transition.

Who should I pick?

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u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 4 days ago

Advanced Playmaker or Shadow Striker?

I currently play a 4-2-3-1, and for the AM role, I'm struggling to pick which one to use between the two. What I basically want is an alternative to the false 9, someone who helps the midfield in transition and helps progress the ball into the final third, who also tries to score for himself.

According to their FM descriptions, these roles both do one thing and not the other. Advanced playmaker advances the ball, but not as goal hungry as I'd like him to be. Shadow Striker is goal hungry, but doesn't sound like someone who can help in transition.

Who should I pick?

reddit.com
u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 4 days ago

My greatest achievement: Creating a winning tactic

I've always wanted to be a tactician in FM, but my tactics would never work out and be total flops. I would constantly have to look up other people's tactics on YouTube, but now, not anymore. I finally have my own tactical identity!

I guess it's technically just gegenpressing, but im still proud of it. It's a 4-2-4-/4-2-3-1 with attacking wing backs, box to box midfielders, inverted wingers, a false 9, and a central striker. Very high line, aggressive press, quick attacks. When we have the ball, it's straight to the goal, none of that tiki taka possession nonsense.

I played this tactic in a lower league with one of the worst teams of that division and went on to lose only 5 games all season, scoring at least 1 goal in all 40+ of them, and getting over 25 shots per game with half of them being on target. (Before, I'd be lucky enough to get 10 shots at goal)

We absolutely battered everybody, winning 8-1, 7-1, 7-0, 4-1, 4-0, and 5-3 every other match. We even held Chelsea to a 4-4 draw.

My under 19s ran through their league as well. Only losing 2 games all season, one of which was a 7-6 loss, which I would have been more than happy to lose in such an entertaining manner.

My striker got 36 goals and 8 assists all season, scoring in almost every match. My false 9 got 13 goals and 11 assists, my 18 year old left winger (who was supposed to go out on loan but scored a free kick on his debut) got 6 goals and 11 assists, and my other winger got 14 goals and 11 assists.

It wasn't just 1 save luck either, I just started a new save, and we won our first 2 friendlies 4-3 and 7-4. This is the kind of football that I like to watch. But as a manager, I need to work on my defense.

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u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 4 days ago

How did you guys pass Grade 10?

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I'm in grade 10 right now, and I'm STRUGGLING. Everything just got 100 times tougher, and it's impossible for me to keep up, especially since I already started behind on the year. It's so hard that I have to put all my focus into just one subject to even move a singleton forward, but then I fall further behind on all the other 7 subjects I have to do,

Every time I make even a little bit of progress in one of my subjects, thinking that I finally starting to understand things, they just up the difficulty again, and I'm back to square one. I literally cannot deal with this. We start exams on Friday and I still have no idea what's going on anywhere.

I already failed term 1. If I fail term 2 as well then its wraps for me.

reddit.com
u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 4 days ago

How did you guys pass Grade 10?

​

I'm in grade 10 right now, and I'm STRUGGLING. Everything just got 100 times tougher, and it's impossible for me to keep up, especially since I already started behind on the year. It's so hard that I have to put all my focus into just one subject to even move a singleton forward, but then I fall further behind on all the other 7 subjects I have to do,

Every time I make even a little bit of progress in one of my subjects, thinking that I finally starting to understand things, they just up the difficulty again, and I'm back to square one. I literally cannot deal with this. We start exams on Friday and I still have no idea what's going on anywhere.

I already failed term 1. If I fail term 2 as well then its wraps for me.

reddit.com
u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 4 days ago

When are people going to understand that I'm a massive introvert

I'm a massive introvert. I can't talk to people. Especially not new people. Every conversation I've had with a new person has turned into one of the most uncomfortable moments of my life. I've never even made a friend before. All my 5 friends that I've had in my life made friends with me. They approached me, didn't leave me alone, and then we became friends. That's how it's always been for me.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people try to force me to be social with others, especially when I don't know them. The amount of times that people have just thrown me over to a new group of people is just too many to count at this point, and they all end the same way, with me sitting alone replaying that awkward and uncomfortable interaction while they go hangout somewhere else.

This past weekend was another instance of such an event. My mom was invited to her friend's house for dinner and she forced me to go because she wanted me to go and hang out with her friend's son who is also around my age. When we got there, she kept forcing us together, making him show me his room and his games and stuff. The guy switched on his Playstation, gave me the controller, went to another room in the house, and I didn't see him again until dinner time.

I could also talk about the time a group of girls saw me sitting alone at school and just dragged me to another group of boys who asked me one question before leaving to go somewhere else, then forcing me to go back once they caught me alone again.

I understand what they're trying to do, and while it's nice, it's freaking annoying and makes me uncomfortable. I can't talk to people. I don't know how to. Just leave me alone already.

reddit.com
u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 4 days ago

Is it possible to overthrow Europe?

I want to do a save that tries to make South American football as dominant as it was in the mid-1900s but on a club level. This is gonna mean overthrowing Europe, but is that possible?

reddit.com
u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 6 days ago

Advice on how to manage tactics with over 200 squad players

I'm doing a mix of build a nation and youth only with China, and I just signed over 200 U/18 players into my team. This is going to cause a problem very soon.

I have a set style of play that is very attack focused and uses specific player roles, roles that most of my new players don't match. For instance, I bought 41 strikers, and most of them I saw were poachers where I play with an Advanced Forward, and there was only 1 of that type.

Now, obviously, managing a big team is gonna require a lot of shifting around between players, and while I was prepared for that, one thing I don't want to happen is for my players to have their development stifled because they don't fit my system.

Is there any workaround for this at all?

reddit.com
u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 8 days ago

Advice on how to manage tactics with over 200 squad players

I'm doing a mix of build a nation and youth only with China, and I just signed over 200 U/18 players into my team. This is going to cause a problem very soon.

I have a set style of play that is very attack focused and uses specific player roles, roles that most of my new players don't match. For instance, I bought 41 strikers, and most of them I saw were poachers where I play with an Advanced Forward, and there was only 1 of that type.

Now, obviously, managing a big team is gonna require a lot of shifting around between players, and while I was prepared for that, one thing I don't want to happen is for my players to have their development stifled because they don't fit my system.

Is there any workaround for this at all?

reddit.com
u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 8 days ago

I'm clearly struggling and yet apparently I'm just not taking things seriously

I'm 16in highschool and I'm struggling badly. I might genuinely fail the year. I don't understand a thing that's going on, I have like 8 different subject to balance and the only reason I haven't given up is because I'm afraid my family would hate me if I do.

My mom knows about this since she's the one overseeing my school progress and yet she thinks I'm just not being serious enough, even though the day before she told me this, I spent 7 hours studying for my test, only to take it and get screwed over by my email, be only 2 minutes late for submission and get locked out of submission. Even after pleading with the support team, they refused because of a 5 minute difference between the time I sent a message to my teacher and the submission deadline. Now I'm gonna fail yet another test, and it's down to our exams in June just a week or two from now to save my entire year.

I hate my life

reddit.com
u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 8 days ago

How to skip matches without my assistant taking over

Every time I decide to skip a match, my assistant takes over and uses his own garbage tactics to lose the matc, and every time he loses, my team gets a dip in form. I started the season winning 7-1, 4-1, 8-1, and 4-0, then my assistant took over and lost 3-2. After that, we went from scoring 4 goals a match minimum to like 2. We drew a bunch of games and lost one. After that, I managed to fix it, but since I didn't pay attention when swimming, j skipped another match, and now we're back in poor form.

Is there a way for me to simulate past the matches without my assistant changing my team and tactics or will I have to watch each and every match till the end of the season?

reddit.com
u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 9 days ago

Attention Build a Nation veterans...

I'm trying a build a nation save with a 2nd tier team in Denmark. But now I figure out that my first team is capped to only 25 players! I just bought like 4 or 5 young players into my team, and only one of them are able to be chosen for the first team. I plan to have so many more players joining in the future once I actually have money, and this isn't gonna work.

I then tried starting over in Belgium, but the same limit was present there. Build a nation veterans, how do you get past this? Am I in the wrong country? I want to have a talent horde like Chelsea in the future

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u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 10 days ago

How to create a killer attacking tactic

I see people over here winning games 22-0 and somewhere around there. Meanwhile, I can only manage like 2 goals a game. I want to play attacking football that's entertaining and high scoring. I want to be like Barcelona, who can concede 3 goals and win the match 4-3. Please help

reddit.com
u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 10 days ago

How to make my protagonist's goal make sense

How to make my protagonist goal make sense

In my story, the protagonist's goal is to prove to people that his ghost friend is real. The problem is that at the start of the story, the protagonist and the ghost are already best friends and have been that way for a few years. I fear that this wouldn't really make a lot of sense to people, especially since his mother also saw the ghost. The protagonist is special, so that's not really a problem. But his mother isn't, and that's gonna be a problem.

Another problem is that it will be hard to really make this goal an achievable one since he's already friends with the ghost, and most of the early plot doesn't really follow his goal to prove the ghosts existence and its more investigation. Those two do tie in together, but only in later books.

reddit.com
u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 11 days ago

How to make my protagonist goal make sense

In my story, the protagonist's goal is to prove to people that his ghost friend is real. The problem is that at the start of the story, the protagonist and the ghost are already best friends and have been that way for a few years. I fear that this wouldn't really make a lot of sense to people, especially since his mother also saw the ghost. The protagonist is special, so that's not really a problem. But his mother isn't, and that's gonna be a problem.

Another problem is that it will be hard to really make this goal an achievable one since he's already friends with the ghost, and most of the early plot doesn't really follow his goal to prove the ghosts existence and its more investigation. Those two do tie in together, but only in later books.

reddit.com
u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 11 days ago

When should one start serializing?

Earlier this year, I finished the first 92 chapters of my story, which made up book 1 of the total. I also planned to get book 2, another 100 or so chapters done on backlog so that I could start serializing super comfortably and have more than enough setup for patreon and daily releases.

That went out the window once I had to rewrite everything. Now I'm on chapter 3 and with myself being over 6 months behind schedule and pissed about it, while also growing in need (or want) of money, I'm growing rather impatient.

It took me 8 months to finish book 1 before and I'm definitely not going through all of that again, because that would mean I only get to launch in 2027, and this project started around this time last year.

That finally begs the question, when should one start serializing? Can I start doing so now? Should I just finish volume 1 again or should I try to get somewhere in the middle?

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u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 11 days ago

How much do you guys make on Patreon?

Setting up a Patreon wasn't really in my plans when I first decided to serialize my story over here. My plan originally was to post the story, hope for it to build traction and gain an audience big enough to entice publishers and studios, then hope to make money through later adaptations of the story.

However, it's starting to dawn on me now how much I need money in my life. Another reason I didn't plan on setting up a patreon was because I thought it would be that lucrative, but I've seen some of the numbers people make here, and it's honestly impressive. However, I know that's only a small amount that probably took some time to build up to.

So, in order to set my expectations, I would appreciate it if you could disclose your incomes here. If you're comfortable, of course. How much are you bringing in every month? And how long did it take you to get to this point?

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u/Dependent_Tomato_235 — 12 days ago