Zlatan the Rowdies Player: A Football Manager 2020 Experiment

What if Al Lang Stadium came to Zlatan?

Zlatan’s profile on Football Manager 2020, newest member of the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

A few days ago, I published my first Football Manager Experiment article, where I put Lionel Messi on Forward Madison. Today, I bring another installment in the series. What was once a dream, Football Manager 2020 has made a reality. I have placed Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the Tampa Bay Rowdies and simulated a season of USL Championship to see how #Zlatan2Rowdies would play out.

Zlatan to the Rowdies has been the biggest rallying call for Tampa Bay Rowdies fans everywhere, so let’s see what a season with Zlatan the Rowdies player would like for the club and the USL Championship Eastern Conference.

A few notes before we get started. In my Football Manager USL database, it seemed to replicate a true USLC season better than it did USL1, as it had all teams playing a 34 match, home-and-home schedule for the season. The only weird quirk I ran into was the 10 club playoff at the end of the season, as seeding ended up being rather strange instead of picking clubs based on table order, some clubs were picked out of order with no true explanation. Just a bug to work out going forward, but the season itself was an adequate stand-in.

Zlatan and the Rowdies

Above is the Tampa Bay Rowdies roster used in the game with Zlatan added at the bottom.

Zlatan soon fit right in with the Rowdies, as he was tied for the tallest player on the side at 6'5", while being the most veteran player in the side at 37 years old. Per Football Manager, Zlatan would be the third most valuable player — probably because of value being based on future potential — on the side, behind midfielder Poku and defender Shawn Barry. It will be interesting to see how he can lend a helpful watch to the young Rowdies team in hopes of leading them to a successful USL Championship season.

A Season of Success

A little different looking USLC Eastern Conference table from the actual results, but Rowdies fans should be pleased.

Taking only three defeats in the league all season, the Tampa Bay Rowdies ran away with the regular season title, winning the conference by 13 points. The Rowdies also benefited from the largest positive goal differential in the league at +31 — three goals better than the Rowdies actual 2019 goal differential of +28.

Part one of the Rowdies schedule with Zlatan.

Part two of the Rowdies schedule with Zlatan.

The full season schedule tells the true story of the Rowdies with Zlatan. Despite the opening match being a 0–0 draw with NYRB II — who would end up finishing bottom of the table — the Rowdies soon found their form in the season. After losing the third game of the season to Charlotte in March, Tampa Bay would go on a tremendous run, not losing another league game until August. That unbeaten run, though not surpassing Phoenix Rising’s own winning streak from this season, would surpass their league record 20 matches in a row unbeaten.

Oddly enough, Tampa Bay was knocked out of the U.S. Open Cup (denoted as the US Cup in Football Manager) in the second round, on the road to the Greenville Triumph, the only blemish on a tremendous season.

What a night for the Triumph, as Zlatan and the Rowdies were held scoreless in Greenville, SC.

Goal Tallies

The Rowdies finished second in the league in goals scored with 60.

Zlatan wins the Eastern Conference golden boot.

While not as proficient of a goal scorer as Messi with Forward Madison, Zlatan still produced a season to be proud of the Rowdies, scoring 16 goals to lead the Eastern Conference. He was responsible for a little over a fourth of Tampa Bay’s 60 goals scored that season, while scoring a goal on average in a little over half of his 31 appearances (51.6%).

Shot Tallies

Zlatan was second in the league in total shots with 116.

However, Zlatan was further down the list when it came to shots on target, as he sat in eighth with just 41.

Zlatan was able to take 116 shots across his 31 appearances this season with the Rowdies, averaging 3.74 shots every appearance. A little over a third (35.3%) of Zlatan’s shots ended up being on target, with 39% of his shots on target finding the back of the net. Zlatan was a proven goal scorer for the Rowdies, with offensive production that was tough to match, but Sebastian Guenzatti and Leo Fernandes deserve recognition for their nearly equal shots on target tallies.

Player of the Match

Zlatan was named Player of the Match just four times this season.

This is the category I thought Zlatan would dominate in, where he would be above and beyond the best player. Zlatan didn’t even lead the Rowdies in Player of the Match awards, as Leo Fernandes and Shawn Berry, both with six, were ahead of him. Zlatan’s average match rating of a 7.05 would not even put him in the top five of players with the highest average match rating.

Tampa Bay Rowdies Team Stats

Full Rowdies team stats.

Zlatan was one of two players who reached double digit goals for the Rowdies, along with Sebastian Guenzatti (10). Despite lead the team in shots across the season in all competitions with 120, it was Guenzatti who lead the club in shots on target with 43. The Rowdies racked up 692 shots across all competitions during the season, meaning Zlatan was responsible for 17.3% of all shots taken by the Rowdies in the season, absolutely unreal production numbers.

USL Championship Eastern Conference Playoffs

The playoffs bracket. Formatting was a bit strange, but it’s a bug to work out in the database.

The Rowdies raced through the Eastern Conference playoffs, but not without difficulties. After escaping past North Carolina on penalties in the quarterfinals, Tampa Bay defeated Louisville City 2–0 in the semifinals, setting up a date with the Charleston Battery in the Eastern Conference final.

Zlatan scores in the penalty shootout, as the final sees two goals scored in stoppage time to send it to extra time.

Another odd quirk of the database has all playoff matches being held in neutral venues. This final was held in Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, in Jacksonville, Florida — former home of the Jacksonville Armada — as a neutral site between these two historic clubs of the U.S. Soccer. Battery took an early lead in 20', before Guenzatti tied the match for the Rowdies just before halftime. With the scoreline 1–1 entering 90+stoppage time, Yann Ekra of the Tampa Bay Rowdies took a stunning 2–1 lead 90+3', only the Battery to answer right back in 90+4' with an equalizing goal of their own, sending the match to extra time. After an uneventful extra time, penalties awaited, to which the Rowdies won the shootout, 4–3. Zlatan scored the opening goal of the shootout, having conquered the USL Championship Eastern Conference, bringing a trophy to Tampa Bay. Zlatan came, Zlatan saw, Zlatan conquered.