Season 15 was a disappointment. But Why?

At the beginning of Season 15, our objective was simple: survive.

We achieved that objective, via a relegation game which we won 3-0.

The season never felt satisfying and it always seemed like we should’ve done better than our 9th placed finish.

After all, we were capable of beating the league’s strongest teams one week before dropping points against teams below us the next. There was no consistency, no identity and, ultimately, no clear explanation as to why.

Our 4-3-3 would go from sublime to blunt, one game to the next, and I was never sure if it was the players letting me down, or vice versa.

I still think the 4-3-3 D can be a success, after all, I was battered 1-3 by a team of lower overall players who ran a 4-3-3 D at the end of the season who finished 4th!

So, rather than making sweeping tactical or personnel changes, I wanted to first go back to a philosophy that served me incredibly well in Football Manager.

A philosophy that began with S.S Arezzo in Serie C before taking Venezia and Sampdoria to Serie A success.

Discipline and Control.

Or, as the Madero Mayhem is based in Mexico…

Disciplina y Control.

So what IS Disciplina y Control?

Disciplina y Control is less about formations and tactics, and more about creating a team that consistently puts itself in a position to wins football matches.

It’s how to ensure every phase of the team is contributing in a meaningful way.

It’s built on two simple principles.

Disciplina asks the simple question: Are we difficult to break down?

Are we organised? Do we defend as a unit?

Once that’s achieved, we move to Control: Are we dictating the match?

Are we controlling possession without becoming passive? Are we controlling territory? Are we limiting the quality of chances our opponents create while consistently creating high-quality chances of our own?

Football Manager gives us dozens of ways to measure those things. MFL doesn’t. So instead, we’ll judge ourselves using a handful of key metrics that best reflect the philosophy.

Disciplina y Control Metrics

🛡 Defensive Control

• Goals conceded per game
• xGA per shot against

⚽ Attacking Control

• Goals scored per game
• Shots on target per game
• xG per shot

🎮 Match Control

• Possession
• xG Difference

How did we perform last season?

(Reminder, you can view any player’s profile by clicking on their name)

Reviewing last season’s performance through a Disciplina y Control lens gives a really good insight as to why I feel we underperformed, and why Season 15 felt so inconsistent.

🛡 Defensive Control:

Defensively, we conceded 28 goals (1.14 per game), the eighth-best record in the division. However, that statistic is slightly misleading. Before the disastrous final four matches, we actually possessed the fourth-best defence in Ice. Still, we can only judge the team across the whole season and the new objective is to turn “below-average” into elite.

The top two teams in the division both conceded just 23 goals (1.04 per match), joint second best, which becomes our benchmark.

The most worrying statistic, however, is our 0.15 xGA per shot conceded. When opponents created chances, they were generally good ones. Disciplina y Control aims to reduce that figure to 0.10 or lower, forcing opponents into low-probability opportunities rather than allowing clear-cut chances.

⚽ Attacking Control:

We scored 24 league goals, averaging 1.31 goals per game – only the ninth-highest total in the division. Elias Aristizabal scored 15 of those – more on him later. My ambition this season isn’t simply to survive; it’s to challenge near the top of Ice and break into the top 3. The third-highest scoring side averaged 1.63 goals per match (36 goals), so we’re some distance short of where we need to be.

Our shots on target per game was 3.28, which is exactly the same as we conceded. That needs to be a positive.

The encouraging part is that our 0.13 xG per shot is pretty good. We aren’t taking poor-quality shots, we simply aren’t creating enough of them. That points towards chance creation rather than finishing as the bigger issue

🎮 Match Control

We averaged 47% possession, largely because we spent much of the season playing a direct style designed to attack quickly. That approach served us well in Spark, but Ice demands greater patience and control. The objective isn’t to dominate the ball with 60 or 70 percent possession. Instead, we simply want enough of the ball, over 50%, to dictate the rhythm of matches rather than constantly reacting to them.

Finally, we have xG Difference (xG For − xG Against).

It combines attack and defence into a single measure of control. Elite teams consistently finish with a positive xG difference, even when results fluctuate. Ours was -0.03, which is effectively break-even. Exactly what you’d expect from a mid-to lower-table side. As I’m aiming for a top-three finish, I want to see that consistently positive, perhaps in the +0.30 to +0.50 per game range over the season. It’s probably the best single “health check” of whether Disciplina y Control is actually working.

Our targets for next season

If I can get the team operating to these (not unrealistic) levels, then I believe we can challenge for promotion to Stone in Season 16.

New Mission: New Style

With a new managerial philosophy and a new mission should come a new style.

A new Madero Mayhem.

And so, inspired by EricBarbaric’s Atletico Ciudad de Mexico, and his Mexico national team kits (and with a little help from him!) we have a brand new look for Season 16.

Building the New Mayhem

Don’t worry, I’m not abandoning my recruitment philosophy totally.

I’m not going to fill my squad with 30+ year olds just because they’re friendlier on the wallet.

I still want the players to be the main focus of this story.

However, whilst we managed to survive last season – and shock the big teams – it was evident that my young core weren’t strong enough compete with the best across a full season.

Whilst the defence was mostly solid, we still need stronger, more consistent performances.

The midfield, was often over-run and failed to create enough quality chances for the attacking trio, who – apart from 20 goal striker, Aristizabal – failed to turn limited chances into goals.

So, improvements were needed throughout the spine of the team.

First, let’s address the biggest move. Striker Elias Aristizabal was clinical for us, scoring 20 goals last season, but I don’t want being in Ice to limit his potential. He’s earned a loan to Stone division, to hopefully further his development, and will be replaced with 6’5″ Dutchman, Arnaud Hendriksen (73 OVR). Signed for $18, he was minted as a 26 year old and went +2 OVR in his debut season, scoring 28 goals in 21 games in Ice as part of a strike partnership. However, he’s definitely got the profile to play as a lone striker.

Moving back to the defence, the Dutchmen keep on coming, as Ramon van der Meer (76 OVR) joins to be the rock of our defence. The 27-year-old signs for $34 and played 16 games in Stone last season.

Bought in to make van der Meer’s job even easier is Henrik Westman. The tough-tackling Defensive Midfielder will protect the back four, and help connect defence to attack. Costing $28, the 28-year-old Swede will add a level of physicality to the midfield which we lacked last season.

The final defensive player added is 35-year-old right back Stefan Fratila. At 74 OVR, he’ll give us short-term defensive stability whilst others develop.

Hopefully, you’ll see how these signings can help towards our new Disciplina y Control philosophy. However, there’s one key factor missing, which was our main issue last season: Creativity.

To combat this, I’ve amended the midfield trio, giving the two 8’s simpler instructions, focused on creating chances for the front 3.

Secondly, I made our marquee signing. Playmaking winger Elver Castillo.

Seen above, modelling the new away kit, the 30-year old Colombian (78 OVR) joins for $28 and, at Ice level, possesses elite pace (80), dribbling (83) and playmaking (81) abilities.

Spending all of his 6 seasons in Stone and Silver, he’s notched up 30 assists so far and can hopefully provide the extra-spark we need and help Hendriksen score over 20 goals this season.

Along with a new midfielder system in place, we should be able to create quality chances and at a higher rate than last season.

Raising the Standard

Our tactical philosophy wasn’t the only place where we’ve looked to raise our standards.

Our development team, Academia del Mayhem played in Spark last season, winning the Aspirants Cup and missing out on the playoffs on goal difference.

However, the new-style Mayhem system means a few players find themselves temporarily surplus to requirements.

Rather than loan them out, I wanted to keep the flexibility of keeping them in my agency, so I sold Academia del Mayhem, and bought an Ice team, situated in Puteaux, a suburb in the west of Paris, France.

So, players who did well in Spark get rewarded in playing at a higher level, and those not in the Mayhem squad, like Graeme Moss (71 OVR), Clemens Vollmer (69 OVR) and Dusan Vlasak (69 OVR) get the regular competitive football they deserve, and a chance to play themselves back into the main setup.

Pre-season Tournaments

I like to use the great pre-season tournaments as a good guide to how the team and system performs in actual competition.

So naturally, I was a little disappointed to learn they would be played using the experimental engine. However, I entered three tourmanents.

Madero Mayhem entered the 75 OVR Maximum cup, and failed to make it out of the group stage.

FC Mayhem Paris were entered into both the 72 OVR and 68 OVR contests and gave a really positive account of themselves.

They made it to the semi-finals, before losing on penalties after completely dominating the game.

In the 72 OVR cup, despite our two best players only being 71 Overall, they powered their way to the final, before losing on penalties again. In another positive, our right winger Jakob Lindner was the joint top creator in the tournament with 7 assists.

The Season Ahead

I’m looking forward to seeing how both teams do in Ice this season.

FC Mayhem Paris will have a much tougher time of it, so simply surviving will be the main aim.

The additions made to strengthen the spine of the Madero Mayhem team should see a much improved performance over the course of season 16.

For both teams, getting Disciplina y Control implemented, and working, is an exciting challenge and it’s promising to be a fun project.