[FM19] Manchester United

[zlatanera]

On 04/06/2019 at 12:41, thim1993 said:

 looking to play ether 433 or 442 but I can’t find a 442 that seems to be consistently good. Would appreciate a recommendation for tactics as well as potential transfer targets.

Got a 442, 4411 and 433 in there that would probably work. 

[thim1993]

2 hours ago, zlatanera said:

Got a 442, 4411 and 433 in there that would probably work. 

Nice will take a look now. Looks good. Would need to get in a wide playmaker for the right but rest of roles I have good options for already

[Smaldini]

Well, we won the league again but this was our toughest season yet.

 

Took us until matchday 5 to pick up our first win, with our first league loss since 2018 coming in one of the opening 4 matches against West Ham. We didn't actually reach the top of the table until February, which is crazy considering how dominant we've been in the first three seasons. As for the cup competitions, we only won the Community Shield and Club World Cup. City knocked us out of the League Cup in the quarterfinals and they went on to win it, we lost the UEFA Supercup and the Champions League final to Chelsea; but worst of all was the complete bottle job against Watford in the FA Cup final...

 

And yes, both of their goals came from set-pieces. Vintage FM cheese. 

Pogba had an outstanding campaign and deservedly won PFA + Football Writer's Player of the Year awards, as well as the Best Player in Europe, World Player of the Year and the Ballon d'Or; so that's the most enjoyable thing about this season for me. 

As you can see I mainly brought in wonderkids and rotation options for the past two windows, so I plan on being a lot more active this summer. Seriously considering a new first choice striker because Rashford had a really wasteful year finishing with just 13 goals in all comps whilst also flirting with PSG over the winter, while Greenwood went from scoring 14 in 18 the previous to 7 in 27 this year. Fekir did a decent enough job when I put him up front ahead of the other two, but I don't think he's a good enough finisher to lead the line over a full campaign. Lewandowski had been struggling too, so given his age & the fact I'd only signed him on a two year deal anyway, I thought I might as well cash-in when Madrid started sniffing around. 

[ShadowEdSide]

I came back to the game and have been going through as usual...AND I AM ALMOST BEGGING FOR SOMEONE TO BEAT ME IN THE LEAGUE! ANYONE, I DON'T MIND, it could be Man City or Bristol City I wouldn't care...I am on a 120+ match unbeaten streak and it's just getting ridiculous to the point where I have even considered restarting through matches until I get a loss! But I can't, I swore to myself I wouldn't quit in matches in this save if I didn't like the result so I can't do it! All I can do is just keep things interesting for myself, rotating out the old guard and replacing them with youngsters coming through my youth team or buying from European nations. Here is my current squad:

It's now 2024/25, and so much has changed from the start of the game. The following are no longer here: De Gea, Henderson, Romero, J. Pereira, Young, Valencia, Darmian, Smalling, Jones, Fosu-Mensah, Bailly, Rojo, Shaw, Pogba, Herrera, Matic, McTominay, Lingard, A. Pereira, Fellaini, Mata, Sanchez and Martial...To be honest the only regulars still around are Rashford, Dalot and Lukaku as well as youngsters Gomes and Chong. Also want to show off some of the game's regens I've got, either through my youth system or purchased young and raised through the ranks:

Sasa Topalovic: 

 

Jordy Vonk: 

 

Radomir Strohmann: 

 

Mason Horton: 

 

Juan David Velasquez: 

 

Michael Yeboah: 

 

Philip Alexandersson: 

 

Martin McDonald: 

 

Jules Ayuk: 

 

The most impressive for me so far have been Vonk, who I purchased young back in the first couple of seasons and is now challenging Tiernay for the left-back position, and Strohmann and Ayuk, who I purchased at the start of this season and have been on fire. Strohmann is 20 and a 6 foot 6 beast with plenty of time to grow, and Ayuk has been smashing in goals left and right and is my joint top scorer along with Rashford. If there's anything else people want to see from my save let me know and I will happily provide screenshots

 

[zlatanera]

@ShadowEdSide have you considered limiting your signings somehow? Perhaps going British-only, or mimicking the pre-Bosman ruling era and only having 3 foreigners in the team?

Also how does Ayuk play with that odd combination of traits? 

[Dong21]

Decided to finally start my annual Man Utd save, with the main objective being to right many of the wrongs that are frustrating me so much as a fan of the club in the real world. I'm only a couple of weeks in and I've already made progress with running the club the way it should be:

1. Hired a Director of Football

Something United should have done years ago - hiring a qualified and competent Director of Football who can provide a long term vision to recruitment.

I elected to go for former Monaco and Villareal Director of Football Antonio Cordón who has great stats for judging players ability and potential.

2. Renewed the contract of Ander Herrera

Rather than letting the contract of one of our few passionate, natural, leaders run down, which results in them leaving on a free transfer, I have moved quickly to instantly renew the contract of Herrera.

3. Signing wonderkid Matthijs de Ligt

Rather than ignoring the recommendations of the scouting department, I have chosen to snap up the talented de Ligt before his price increases exponentially. United's defence has been a real weakness over several seasons, having never really replaced Ferdinand and Vidic, and this move looks to begin rectifying this.

4. Renewed the contract of David De Gea

Pay him what he's worth. I had no qualms in handing an improved contract to the player I consider to be the best goalkeeper in the world.

I'm looking forward to righting more wrongs as this save continues!

Edited June 18, 2019 by Dong21

[warlock]

5 minutes ago, Dong21 said:

the main objective being to right many of the wrongs

Good start .

[muhaimin]

My first season with the red devils. My main aim is to compete and qualify for the champions league. For now well on course, 4th placing.

In terms of transfers, i am signing more youth players than ready made ones. 2 main signings are De Ligt and Milenkovic. Both CBs. Tried to offload smalling and jones but to no avail.

And Thomas Meunier coming in for 17mil. 

Edited June 23, 2019 by muhaimin
Meunier

[Dong21]

Season 1 - Part 1

So after my light-hearted post about righting wrongs at Old Trafford, I thought I would post a more complete update on the first half of the season. In previous years I have almost found United saves too easy due to our quality players and vast resources and therefore have got bored quickly. This time around, in a reflection of the predicament currently facing the club, I have found it more of a challenge which is making it enjoyable.

Pre-season

As you will all know pre-season is an extremely unusual experience as the majority of the squad are absent, returning late from the 2018 World Cup. I actually really enjoyed the opportunity to manage the clubs' hot prospects in these friendlies. Players like Nishan Bukart, Tahith Chong and Callum Gribbin all impressed during this period. I also took the somewhat unusual step of bringing in Dimitar Berbatov, Patrice Evra and Giuseppe Rossi on four week trials. I had no intention of signing them but my thought process was that these former players could help make up the numbers and pass on some of their experience to the young players. The success of our pre-season schedule suggests to me that this worked.

Staff

Whenever I join a club the first thing I do is review the coaching team to see where I can make enhancements. I filled the essential positions of Director of Football (Cordón) and Assistant Manager (Holland), brought up the level of my coaching team with four new arrivals and brought in a number of physios and sport scientists.

As previously mentioned I got my number one transfer target Matthijs de Ligt and business other than that was rather minimal. I moved on right backs Valencia and Darmian as I knew I wanted to go with Dalot this season and they both had a better resale value than Young. Dalot starts the season injured so in the end I opted to play Lindelof at right back for the first month, with Bailly and De Ligt at centre-back. 

I also signed young prospects Benoit Badiashile and Sandro Tonali, with Tonali returning to Brescia on loan as part of the deal. The final signing came on deadline day when I brought in left back Riza Durmisi to provide cover for Shaw. I will address the full back positions with a more long-term approach in a future transfer window when I have a suitable budget. Usually I loan more players out but I am starting this season with a relatively small squad (for my standards) so I decided to keep the youth around as further options.

Rocky Start

The league campaign started with the visit of Chelsea and presented an unusual scenario where some of the players selected hadn't played a moment of pre-season football. We had more shots and possession so, considering the lack of opportunity to build team cohesion, I was feeling confident for the season to come. My optimism diminished though after we were unable to beat Cardiff and fell to defeat against Arsenal.

Then came the visit of Liverpool. Lindelof got sent off on the 63rd minute and I feared for the worst, however it turned out to be a great result as a long range Pogba shot hit the post and bounced back off Alisson and into the net, followed by Bailly adding another to seal the win. What happened the next day I believe has been the thing that has shaped by season so far - De Gea dislocated his shoulder in training and was ruled out for two and a half months. Mata also got ruled out, on the same day, for a similar length of time. Sergio Romero came into the team and we started hemorrhaging goals galore. In a match against Burnley (see below) he even dribbled the ball out, took a heavy touch and the opposing striker took the ball off him to tap into an open net... I have been left desperately wishing that Dean Henderson could be recalled from his loan.

Despite our poor run of form, I should note that I was pleased with the attacking element of the team with all my forwards stepping up.

Improvement (feat. blips)

Our form has certainly picked up as the season has rumbled on. In the last two months we have achieved high scoring results against Arsenal, Juventus, Wolves, West Ham, Burnley and Dinamo. That said, there have been some disappointing blips along the way. We lost to a poor Fulham side, were thrashed by Brighton and have been unable to defeat CSKA Moscow in two attempts. As the season continues I will be hoping to iron out these slip ups. The Wolves game was notable for two reasons; it saw us switch formation from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-1-2-2-1 (wide), which has proven effective, and it also finally saw the return of De Gea to the side, which has led to the return of clean sheets. Both of these elements give me great positivity for the months ahead.

From a personnel perspective, it is worth noting that Andreas Periera is having a great season, racking up six assists already. Shaw and Dalot are excelling in the full back positions and Sanchez has surprised me with his contributions so far.

Table

So at the end of November we sit in 7th place in the League, not at all where I want to be, after some inconsistent form, but close enough to give me hope that finishing in the top four is still achievable. I am hoping the board have patience and give me time to turn this club around - another transfer window or two would certainly be helpful. We have an extremely busy December ahead, with nine games that include Man City, Chelsea and Tottenham. This is followed by January in which we play Arsenal and Liverpool once again.

 

Edited June 23, 2019 by Dong21

[Chapman7]

13 hours ago, muhaimin said:

My first season with the red devils. My main aim is to compete and qualify for the champions league. For now well on course, 4th placing.

In terms of transfers, i am signing more youth players than ready made ones. 2 main signings are De Ligt and Milenkovic. Both CBs. Tried to offload smalling and jones but to no avail.

And Thomas Meunier coming in for 17mil. 

Strange sale of Herrera for such a low fee

[muhaimin]

12 hours ago, Chapman7 said:

Strange sale of Herrera for such a low fee

i wanted to get some millions from him than losing him for nothing at the end of the season. tried to get more no one wants to offer more.

[Tummyowl]

Starting a new save for the summer. The school year has almost finished!

Manchester United... I want to completely rebuild the team and squad. However, I'm starting slowly.

Transfers in; Rice, de Ligt, van de Beek, Tierney

Transfer out; Mata, Pereira, Darmmian

 

A lot of players have a lot to prove if they want to remain at the club (Grant, Romero, Jones, Lindelöf, Rojo, Valencia, Young, Fred, Matic, McTominay, Lingard, Sanchez, Lukaku), and there are a number of young players I want to give playing time.

[Sisamom]

vor 15 Stunden schrieb Tummyowl:

Starting a new save for the summer. The school year has almost finished!

Manchester United... I want to completely rebuild the team and squad. However, I'm starting slowly.

Transfers in; Rice, de Ligt, van de Beek, Tierney

Transfer out; Mata, Pereira, Darmmian

 

A lot of players have a lot to prove if they want to remain at the club (Grant, Romero, Jones, Lindelöf, Rojo, Valencia, Young, Fred, Matic, McTominay, Lingard, Sanchez, Lukaku), and there are a number of young players I want to give playing time.

When did you sell your players and how much did you get for them?

I find it real difficult to sell ManU players during the first transfer window.

 

[Tummyowl]

I sold Mata (£25,000,000), Pereira (£20,000,000), and Darmian (£15,000,000) in the first window.

The list of players are ones I want to move on at the end of the first season.

I'm tempted to try and bring in some real quality up front, but I actually do not mind the balance up top for Manchester United. I am tempted to make an offer for Hazard, I'm thinking £115-125 million should work but he is 27, and I am well stocked on the left.

[Tummyowl]

orrrr Sancho from Dortmund for ~£45-50 million~

I have no experience of managing either, but I really enjoy watching Hazard play... I'll decide tonight when I'm next able to get a session in.

[zlatanera]

@Tummyowl I have no experience managing Hazard, and obviously it depends on having the right roles within a working tactic to get the best out of a player, but I had great success with Sancho on my Dortmund setup - got him contributing to 30 goals (either goal or assist) in first season - and he'll be more mouldable to how you want him to play whereas Hazard has a bunch of traits already. 

[Tummyowl]

That is very true, how and where did you play him?

Ideally I see him and Chong as my right sided players (AMR), and I'd be looking at either an inside forward (attack role), or as a raumdeuter?

[zlatanera]

@Tummyowl 

That's the tactic I used. I links to the results of said tactic in the post too

[muhaimin]

Finished my 1st season with Utd, 3rd placing in the Premier League. And clinching the Champions League. It was luck that i won the CL....

New season in and currently 1st place and a revamped squad. I spent approx 226mil thus far. The main aim for this season is to clinch the Premier League, and hopefully another Champions League. If this goes well, i can expect next season to be less active in the transfer market. I am all set with the youth signings that i have made last season and this. The squad I have can sustain any cups challenge in the long run i feel. If any of you have any advice i will gladly welcome and listen to. I am just starting out on FM again after a very long halt.

[pele10]

Back playing FM after a 5/6 year hiatus it doesn't feel much different.

First season complete and won the league cup, The league and the Champions league.

Signings pre season were, Tierney £22,5, Suso £47,5 de Ligt £30m 

Pre season sales Lingard £53m Arsenal, Darmian £11.5m Smalling £18.5m Young £5.75m

January came a shock bid for valencia who was playing great but I had to take the £13.5m and replaced him with Pereira form Leicester £42.5m I think I overpaid but he played well, more deadwood left, Fellaini £19.75m to the Toon, and Grant 975k to Leeds.

The scouts found me two players Berge (dm) £22.5m a future Matic replacement and  Axel Zagaduo (cb) £24m from Dortmund.

Best players:

Lukaku 44 apps 37 goals 10 assists

Suso 43 apps 9 goals 21 assists

Season two aims clear out more deadwood (are you watching Ole) replace them with young hungry players.

And I lost the last game of the season so Liverpool failed to qualify for the champions league 

Bonus edit Klopp just got sacked 

 

Edited July 10, 2019 by pele10

[pele10]

Second season I won everything I only lost 1 game it got very boring

Have SI made the game easy this year? I can't remember FM being this easy.

Ended my United save as it's not competitive the hardest formations to break down were the 4-4-2 and the 4-1-4-1.

[BigV]

1 hour ago, pele10 said:

Second season I won everything I only lost 1 game it got very boring

Have SI made the game easy this year? I can't remember FM being this easy.

Ended my United save as it's not competitive the hardest formations to break down were the 4-4-2 and the 4-1-4-1.

It's never "easy" and it depends if you over buy with quality. Did you cheat? or did you just buy the best going? challenege yourself with a rut team or some club like everton/southampton or go super long term and go from nothing to beasts within 5-10 years in game time. 

[pele10]

It was very easy mate Lukaku scored a goal a game same with Rashford, Pogba gets 20 goals a season Chong who isn't ready for first team football got 12 goals and 9 assists.

My team was 

De Gea

Pereira  De Ligt Lindelof Shaw

Berge

Pogba  Savic

Suso Lukaku Martial

No Idea how to cheat and not interested in knowing it's just disappointing not getting any fun playing with the team I support  

Edited July 13, 2019 by pele10

[BigV]

8 hours ago, pele10 said:

It was very easy mate Lukaku scored a goal a game same with Rashford, Pogba gets 20 goals a season Chong who isn't ready for first team football got 12 goals and 9 assists.

My team was 

De Gea

Pereira  De Ligt Lindelof Shaw

Berge

Pogba  Savic

Suso Lukaku Martial

No Idea how to cheat and not interested in knowing it's just disappointing not getting any fun playing with the team I support  

I mean that isn't a worldclass first team tbh and done fairly well winning everything. I mean fm19 has it's issues and the ME is boring to watch as it's usually the same animations again and again and rarely anything fluently different. What tactics do you use? im guessing you're using lukaku as a target man? be interesting to see how you're set up with your subs or 2nd team I should say. 

As I said go for hard challenges, I've always done a united save first and rarely deviate but if it gets to easy then I pick a team in the prem potentially top 10- like the southamptons, now leicester or someone like everton. 

I would also argue that the AI kinda retaliate the way you play and get sought out sometimes after the 1st season so see if you can carry it on past the 2nd maybe 3rd see if its harder. 

[pele10]

I set Lukaku as a pressing forward on attack he's was not my plan to play him as a pressing forward but he never stops scoring goals.

Might try Leicester or Newcastle.

[Dong21]

Season 1 - Part 2

The first few months as United manager were blighted with inconsistency, but form was picking up over time and I could see things going well if I was given time.

December began with a draw at St Marys and a somewhat understandable defeat to Man City, so I was slightly worried our form was about to regress. I held a team meeting after the City defeat and told the squad in no uncertain terms that they needed to step up their performance levels, and they certainly responded well with a resounding 4-1 thrashing of Watford. Martial could have even got a hat-trick in that game, had he not missed a penalty.

That victory began a run of seven wins in a row and included victories over Chelsea, Tottenham and a 6-0 demolition of Newcastle. The 4-1-2-2-1 (wide) formation I switched to in late November seems to be working well - in particular the freedom and space it provides Martial as an inside forward and Pogba as an advanced playmaker with space in front of him to roam. Limited options in the forward positions, and an injury to Sanchez, meant that Lukaku got more game time than I was expecting and that has certainly been a positive with the big man delivering several important goals.

We concluded the Group Stage of the Champions League, qualifying comfortably but finishing second to Juventus. This was mainly due to the two unexpected draws against CSKA. That said, I was just happy to progress and we were drawn against Young Boys in the 1st Knockout Round. This seemed like a relatively easy draw on paper, however Young Boys had just finished top in a group that included Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Monaco (group of death!), so I knew we would have to be at our best against them.

We needed penalties to defeat Birmingham in the Carabao Cup Quarter Final against Birmingham. My team, made up of youth and fringe players dominated our opposition, however two wonder-strikes from Craig Gardner made the game level.

January had more draws than I would have liked - but overall I was pleased to keep our undefeated run going. The draws against Palace and Cardiff were disappointing, however the draw against Arsenal I did not mind so much as they sat above us in the table. Unlike in real life, Lukaku proved he could shine in the big games when he scored a magnificent hat-trick to beat our hated rivals Liverpool.

In the cups we overcame Leicester (flying high in the top four of the league table at the time) over two legs in the Carabao Cup Semi Finals and beat Walsall in the FA Cup, albeit needing a replay to seal the deal.

Transfers

My main priority in the transfer window was to shift some of the deadwood that, so frustratingly in real life, still remain at the club after many years of under-performance. I was delighted to find suitors for Rojo, Smalling and Young. Unfortunately nobody would make an offer for Mata, so he will leave when his contract expires in the summer. I also want to shift Jones but I will wait till I find a suitable home grown replacement.

Funds were limited so I looked to make small improvements, with the hope that I get a much bigger budget in the summer to make the changes I desire. Thomas Partey was transfer listed by Atletico at what I thought was a bargain price - so I tied up a deal for him even before the window opened. I felt I had really limited options on the wings, particularly with Sanchez injured, to the degree that Chong and Gomes were featuring consistently on the bench. After a lot of scouting I settled upon Serge Gnabry, a player I like, at a good price and who is also home grown in the UK. Near the end of January both Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial came off in games with injuries that would see them out for over a month. This left Lukaku as the only first team forward, so I looked to the loan market and brought in Vincent Janssen to make up the numbers.

Looking to the future I signed 18 year old American forward Josh Sargent and then loaned him back to Werder Bremen to allow him to continue to develop. I also activated the £45m release fee of Real Madrid right back Achraf Hakimi and he will join the club when his loan spell in Dortmund concludes.

February had two frustrating draws but otherwise things continue to be positive, with our unbeaten run now stretching to 23 games. We progressed to the FA Cup Quarter Finals and started well in the first leg of our Champions League tie with Young Boys. Undoubtedly the highlight of the season so far was winning our first piece of silverware, beating Bournemouth to lift the Carabao Cup. The unlikely hero was left back Durmisi, the loanee only featuring due to an injury to Shaw, who curled in a great strike.

Our form over the last three months means that we are now within touching distance of the top four. Europa League football is already secured for next season but I am hoping our momentum can take us into the Champions League places.

 

Edited July 13, 2019 by Dong21

[Chapman7]

Never used DoF but am considering it. Got two that look like a good fit.

 

Eduardo Macia & Victor Orta. Anyone had success with DoF and either of these?

[Spiegel]

[BigV]

5 hours ago, Spiegel said:

Going for a transfer around 45m approx wth, that's insane but his technical stats are quite good. Still has potential. 

[Dong21]

Season 1 - Part 3

March could not have gone any better as we steamrolled all opposition we took on in all competitions. The most noteworthy match of the month was the first one, against West Ham, in which we were losing at half time but after an aggressive half time team talk we came out a different team and thumped them 5-1. Lukaku scored four, including a hat-trick in three minutes straight after the break. Our good form continued into April, where a late goal from Tony Martial saw us win in the FA Cup Semi Final at Wembley.

Our undefeated run finally came to an end away at Atletico Madrid (the run concluded as 31 games without defeat), where we were simply outclassed by our opponents. We then lost 3-0 to Man City where, although we weren't as bad as the scoreline suggested, the better team won. I wasn't too disappointed by these results as I see season one as a transition period and do not expect miracles at this stage - there is still much work to be done to improve this squad. What followed next was our performance of the season - our leader on the pitch Ander Herrera set the tone perfectly with a goal in the first minute and we carried this momentum forward till the full time whistle. We beat Atletico 5-1 to win the tie 5-3 on aggregate and progress to the Semi Finals of the Champions League. A special mention should go to Andreas Periera - I noticed that my usual right winger Lingard had not been providing much all season so played Periera who was magnificent in the game, getting two assists. From that moment onwards for the rest of the season Periera was my first choice right winger.

League form continued well and wins over Watford and Newcastle saw us rise up the table to 2nd, our highest place all season. Finally, we ended the month with a first leg win over European giants Juventus, with Herrera once again shining. Juve had been in our Champions League group so they were a team we knew well.

The end of the season was a period of mixed emotions. We finished the league campaign with wins against Everton and Spurs to come 2nd in the league. I was absolutely delighted with our league position as my target at this early stage was just to come top four. It should also be noted that up until Christmas Day our highest position in the league had been 6th, so it had been a pleasingly consistent run of form in the second half of the season that had delivered this. The big disappointment was that we fell to defeat against hated rivals Liverpool in the FA Cup Final. It had been an extremely close game that looked destined to go to extra time and penalties, until they scored from a corner in the 90th minute.

The season did end on a huge high though, as we lifted the Champions League trophy, this time overcoming our rivals Liverpool. A drew in Turin saw us win our Semi Final against Juventus and set up this historic clash. We led 2-0 at half time, before Liverpool scored twice in the second half to take the game into extra time. A shot from Martial deflected in off Alisson and Rashford added another, to make it a hat-trick for the local boy and win the game 4-2. I did not expect European success to come so soon, but I am certainly not complaining!

Rashford shined in the Champions League, scoring 13 goals in 11 appearances, but our success was as much down to our defensive organisation as it was our attacking capability. This can be seen by the fact De Ligt, Bailly and Dalot were voted the three best defenders in the competition, and De Gea was voted the best 'keeper.

Interestingly Lukaku was voted Fans Player of the Season, despite me not considering him to be my first choice striker. The big man stepped up and delivered whenever called upon, particularly when Rashford was out injured for a spell. Lukaku was the club's top goalscorer, netting 24 goals in 49 games, although only 26 of those were actually starts. Rashford, by comparison, scored 20 goals in 39 games but I still consider him my main man and he has the potential to improve further - it could be argued that his hat-trick against Liverpool in the CL Final should be enough to keep in the team for life! Martial had a strong season in the inside forward position on the left wing, returning 21 goals and 10 assists.

If I was able to award a Manager's Player of the Season, like Jose Mourinho famously did with Scott McTominay, I would definitely be giving this to Andreas Periera. The young Brazilian started the season as player who would come off the bench and fill in any of the three CM positions, and ended it as my first choice right winger. He provided an incredible 17 assists, the most of any player at the club by some distance. His versatility makes him a fantastic squad player to have. The player he took the place of at the end of the season, Lingard, still had a decent campaign and his 9 assists and 5 goals were enough for me to reward him with a new contract.

My first choice back four of Shaw, Bailly, De Ligt and Dalot all had a great season. In midfield I played many different combinations of CMs and they all contributed. Pogba had a good season (11 goals, 7 assists), but I hope I can get even more from him in the coming years.

Overall I am very pleased with our performance - 2nd place in the League, FA Cup finalists, Carabao Cup and Champions League winners. Usually after success in a United career I consider calling it a day as I like more of a challenge, however as we finished 20 points behind Man City in the League there is still work to be done. Therefore I plan to carry on and hope to try and close the gap to our rivals.

Edited July 21, 2019 by Dong21

[Chapman7]

11 hours ago, Dong21 said:

Season 1 - Part 3

March could not have gone any better as we steamrolled all opposition we took on in all competitions. The most noteworthy match of the month was the first one, against West Ham, in which we were losing at half time but after an aggressive half time team talk we came out a different team and thumped them 5-1. Lukaku scored four, including a hat-trick in three minutes straight after the break. Our good form continued into April, where a late goal from Tony Martial saw us win in the FA Cup Semi Final at Wembley.

Our undefeated run finally came to an end away at Atletico Madrid (the run concluded as 31 games without defeat), where we were simply outclassed by our opponents. We then lost 3-0 to Man City where, although we weren't as bad as the scoreline suggested, the better team won. I wasn't too disappointed by these results as I see season one as a transition period and do not expect miracles at this stage - there is still much work to be done to improve this squad. What followed next was our performance of the season - our leader on the pitch Ander Herrera set the tone perfectly with a goal in the first minute and we carried this momentum forward till the full time whistle. We beat Atletico 5-1 to win the tie 5-3 on aggregate and progress to the Semi Finals of the Champions League. A special mention should go to Andreas Periera - I noticed that my usual right winger Lingard had not been providing much all season so played Periera who was magnificent in the game, getting two assists. From that moment onwards for the rest of the season Periera was my first choice right winger.

League form continued well and wins over Watford and Newcastle saw us rise up the table to 2nd, our highest place all season. Finally, we ended the month with a first leg win over European giants Juventus, with Herrera once again shining. Juve had been in our Champions League group so they were a team we knew well.

The end of the season was a period of mixed emotions. We finished the league campaign with wins against Everton and Spurs to come 2nd in the league. I was absolutely delighted with our league position as my target at this early stage was just to come top four. It should also be noted that up until Christmas Day our highest position in the league had been 6th, so it had been a pleasingly consistent run of form in the second half of the season that had delivered this. The big disappointment was that we fell to defeat against hated rivals Liverpool in the FA Cup Final. It had been an extremely close game that looked destined to go to extra time and penalties, until they scored from a corner in the 90th minute.

The season did end on a huge high though, as we lifted the Champions League trophy, this time overcoming our rivals Liverpool. A drew in Turin saw us win our Semi Final against Juventus and set up this historic clash. We led 2-0 at half time, before Liverpool scored twice in the second half to take the game into extra time. A shot from Martial deflected in off Alisson and Rashford added another, to make it a hat-trick for the local boy and win the game 4-2. I did not expect European success to come so soon, but I am certainly not complaining!

Rashford shined in the Champions League, scoring 13 goals in 11 appearances, but our success was as much down to our defensive organisation as it was our attacking capability. This can be seen by the fact De Ligt, Bailly and Dalot were voted the three best defenders in the competition, and De Gea was voted the best 'keeper.

Interestingly Lukaku was voted Fans Player of the Season, despite me not considering him to be my first choice striker. The big man stepped up and delivered whenever called upon, particularly when Rashford was out injured for a spell. Lukaku was the club's top goalscorer, netting 24 goals in 49 games, although only 26 of those were actually starts. Rashford, by comparison, scored 20 goals in 39 games but I still consider him my main man and he has the potential to improve further - it could be argued that his hat-trick against Liverpool in the CL Final should be enough to keep in the team for life! Martial had a strong season in the inside forward position on the left wing, returning 21 goals and 10 assists.

If I was able to award a Manager's Player of the Season, like Jose Mourinho famously did with Scott McTominay, I would definitely be giving this to Andreas Periera. The young Brazilian started the season as player who would come off the bench and fill in any of the three CM positions, and ended it as my first choice right winger. He provided an incredible 17 assists, the most of any player at the club by some distance. His versatility makes him a fantastic squad player to have. The player he took the place of at the end of the season, Lingard, still had a decent campaign and his 9 assists and 5 goals were enough for me to reward him with a new contract.

My first choice back four of Shaw, Bailly, De Ligt and Dalot all had a great season. In midfield I played many different combinations of CMs and they all contributed. Pogba had a good season (11 goals, 7 assists), but I hope I can get even more from him in the coming years.

Overall I am very pleased with our performance - 2nd place in the League, FA Cup finalists, Carabao Cup and Champions League winners. Usually after success in a United career I consider calling it a day as I like more of a challenge, however as we finished 20 points behind Man City in the League there is still work to be done. Therefore I plan to carry on and hope to try and close the gap to our rivals.

Phenomenal season you had! Periera is a quality player that I've struggled to keep in the team with others players well as well him but never thought of him being played out wide. Which role did you go with for him out wide Winger? Also another player I struggle getting goals from is Rashford more for consistency than anything he's life FM's version of Pogba and goes missing for weeks worth of games but then comes back and play some wonder game and wins a match by himself just about. Just wondered how you got goals from Rashford and Lukaku  with Lukaku coming more off the bench too 

[Dong21]

Thanks @Chapman7!

Yeah I played Periera as a right winger in the second half of the season. I have similar concerns to the ones you have raised for his second season - he had a great first season and performed admirably but I am planning to try and sign a top quality right winger so that will limit his playing time. I also want to try and give Chong and Gomes more minutes if possible.

Whenever I played Rashford or Lukaku it was always as an advanced forward (attack), so their sole responsibility was to score goals. The inside forward (Martial), right winger (Lingard/Periera) and advanced playmaker (Pogba) had the primary focus of supplying them chances. Rashford had a good season, getting 13 goals in Europe, however he only returned 6 league goals so there is still a lot of work to do there. I do intend to persevere with him though as I think he has the potential. I do not intend to sign a new first team forward.

[Chapman7]

47 minutes ago, Dong21 said:

Thanks @Chapman7!

Yeah I played Periera as a right winger in the second half of the season. I have similar concerns to the ones you have raised for his second season - he had a great first season and performed admirably but I am planning to try and sign a top quality right winger so that will limit his playing time. I also want to try and give Chong and Gomes more minutes if possible.

Whenever I played Rashford or Lukaku it was always as an advanced forward (attack), so their sole responsibility was to score goals. The inside forward (Martial), right winger (Lingard/Periera) and advanced playmaker (Pogba) had the primary focus of supplying them chances. Rashford had a good season, getting 13 goals in Europe, however he only returned 6 league goals so there is still a lot of work to do there. I do intend to persevere with him though as I think he has the potential. I do not intend to sign a new first team forward.

May try him out wide instead of through the middle playing third or more fiddle to others. I've got Pogba as a Mezzella/Box to Box depending on who I partner him with. Along with a Deep Lying-Playmaker but may make it a Anchor Man instead and use playmaker higher up instead of the box to box I tend to give Chong and Gomes chances in lower priority games and cups along with Greenwood 

[BigV]

46 minutes ago, Dong21 said:

Thanks @Chapman7!

Yeah I played Periera as a right winger in the second half of the season. I have similar concerns to the ones you have raised for his second season - he had a great first season and performed admirably but I am planning to try and sign a top quality right winger so that will limit his playing time. I also want to try and give Chong and Gomes more minutes if possible.

Whenever I played Rashford or Lukaku it was always as an advanced forward (attack), so their sole responsibility was to score goals. The inside forward (Martial), right winger (Lingard/Periera) and advanced playmaker (Pogba) had the primary focus of supplying them chances. Rashford had a good season, getting 13 goals in Europe, however he only returned 6 league goals so there is still a lot of work to do there. I do intend to persevere with him though as I think he has the potential. I do not intend to sign a new first team forward.

Personally I think there is something wrong with advanced forwards, it might be because of the move into channels isn't as straightforward as it should be and when they do, they move further away from striker position making them like a IF on either end. I use lukaku as a complete forward and it does the trick most of the time because for some reason his arieal duels are OP. 

I'm doing the same atm, im in jan atm and willing to sell mata off whom plays RW in term for a winger. Lozano was my top transfer in the first window but asked for too much (280k pw + add onds) so now his contract will be within 2 years I could probably knock it down and get him cheaper hopefully. If not Jadon sancho in rotation with Thauvin who's brilliant as an IF. 

[kashfi_mohd]

Anyone managed to sign Cristiano Ronaldo back to Old Trafford?

[BigV]

40 minutes ago, kashfi_mohd said:

Anyone managed to sign Cristiano Ronaldo back to Old Trafford?

I did in my old save, 105m. Scpred 72 goals till he became my coach. Decided to give up that save then lol

[kashfi_mohd]

Which season did you sign him back?

[BigV]

2020/2021

Edited July 25, 2019 by BigV

[damo666]

Been offered by PSG 105m for Pogba (71m upfront, the rest in installments (2) over 12months)
Should i do it?

Edited July 27, 2019 by damo666
First season stats

[Chapman7]

4 minutes ago, damo666 said:

Been offered by PSG 105m for Pogba (71m upfront, the rest in installments (2) over 12months)
Should i do it?

Hell no. Get far more for him 

[damo666]

End of Season 1 report

Transfers:

Comps:

[zlatanera]

7 hours ago, damo666 said:

Been offered by PSG 105m for Pogba (71m upfront, the rest in installments (2) over 12months)
Should i do it?

Do you need to replace him with another midfielder who can score 20+ goals from open play in a season? Or do you know how to change your tactics if you lose him to compensate? If you do need to replace him, is there anyone lined up? If no, tell them to go to hell. He's one of the best midfielders in the game, and he's HG at club which is valuable if you're one of those people who can't resist the temptation to spend all the money United have on a bunch of foreign superstars (most of us are, its sooo much money!)

Edited July 28, 2019 by zlatanera

[Footygamer89YT]

Anyone signed Pavon this year for United ?

[Dong21]

Season 2 - Part 1

Going into Season 2 my number one transfer priority was a top class right winger and my number one target was Jadon Sancho. I've managed Sancho on another save this year as England manager and he was absolutely terrific for me, so I was full of confidence that he could deliver for me. I was therefore delighted to seal the deal and get him into the club before pre-season had even began.

Besides the big outlay on Sancho the transfer window was much quieter than I had expected. This was for a number of reasons; I had expected my transfer budget to be bigger after our Champions League success and I had hoped I'd have been able to sell some players to generate the funds to buy replacements. Sanchez had a half decent season and was showing as being valued at £50m - I was determined to get him off my wage bill and so offered him out. Despite numerous clubs being interested no team would bid for him. I started by offering him out at £50m and went all the way down to £0 and still no takers! In the end I loaned him to Benfica on deadline day. They are only covering 30% of his wages but by that point I was sick of the sight of him. Another thorn in my side was Jones who rejected contracts at Wolves (£21m deal), Atletico and Ajax (both £16m deals). Finally, I tried offering out Matic but he also could not garner any interest.

After unsuccessfully trying to sell him in January, Juan Mata was allowed to leave on a free transfer and subsequently joined Atletico Madrid. Lee Grant retired a year early and James Wilson was the most noteworthy of a group of thirteen youngsters who were released. I loaned a large number of young players out to develop, including new signings Arvin Appiah and Nedim Bajrami. Both are 'ones for the future' who hopefully will get sufficient game time during their loan spells. The only sales were both left backs. Neither Borthwick-Jackson or Mitchell appeared to have a great deal of potential so I felt comfortable letting them go.

Juan Bernat was brought in on loan for cover at left back and I decided that we would get by with the likes of Lindelof and Jones to cover for Dalot at right back where needed, rather than sign a player with Hakimi coming in after his two year loan spell at Dortmund (rather than one year like I initially had thought when I signed him!). I also should note that Tuanzabe, Tonali, Gomes and Chong have all been moved into the first team squad and I am hoping to give them match experience this season.

Pre-season was plain sailing with nothing particularly interesting to note. My attackers all linked up well and got on the scoresheets.

I could not have asked for a better start to the season. The opening day 4-3 win against Chelsea was far more exciting than the 0-0 when we played them at the same time last season! We then thumped Hoffenheim to lift the European Super Cup. The goal we conceded was frustrating as De Gea kicked the ball against an onrushing striker and saw the ball roll into his open goal - but I guess I'm being a perfectionist as we did score five. I was particularly pleased to see Sancho get off the mark and score hopefully his first of many. We won all of the remaining games in the month, with the 7-2 win over Reading being particularly memorable.

We fell to our first defeat of the season in September and it was a shock that it was Gent that inflicted it. We had 28 shots to their 10 and 56% of the possession, but that shouldn't be an excuse - I am to blame as I played too many youth. I started O'Connor, Tuanzabe, Tonali, Chong and Gomes. A bit more experience in the side and I'm sure this would not have happened. This has put us in a tricky position as we already have ground to make up in our group and the other sides in my group are Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid.

League and Domestic Cup form continued to be strong. We bounced back from the Champions League result with a big win against Leicester in which my man Sancho bagged a hat-trick.

We have a 100% league record thus far, but I am aware there has only been seven games with many big tests to go, so although I am delighted I am not getting carried away yet!

Edited July 31, 2019 by Dong21

[BigV]

Alright lads need a bit of help. Might be switching back to 4-2-3-1 from 4-3-3.

I'm not starting a new save because it'll just be a waste but yeah really want myself to make 4-2-3-1 work with the long shot stuff lower than what it was. 

Getting 3 new cb's because they're all linked. Getiing Ruben dias, de ligt and Romagnoli/skriniar. Getting rid of matic and putting cook alongside ndombele/gedson. Would it be right to move Pogba to CAM with playmaekr role or attacking mid?

Going to use a winger role on the right. Either Sancho or lozano. Possibly getting rid of lingard

Doing this because for some reason most stats go against me yet im top of the league and winning, barely concede so DM needs going. Chance creating is low, key passes only pogba is top 3 and no one else in top 10. 

What CAM player should I buy and what roles would work great in the 2 man mid with similar/same TI's? 

Also getting rid of lukaku for either piettro pellegri and/or greenwood, would also accomodate gomes too. 

Edited August 1, 2019 by BigV
more

[Vizzini]

On 01/08/2019 at 18:14, BigV said:

Alright lads need a bit of help. Might be switching back to 4-2-3-1 from 4-3-3.

I'm not starting a new save because it'll just be a waste but yeah really want myself to make 4-2-3-1 work with the long shot stuff lower than what it was. 

Getting 3 new cb's because they're all linked. Getiing Ruben dias, de ligt and Romagnoli/skriniar. Getting rid of matic and putting cook alongside ndombele/gedson. Would it be right to move Pogba to CAM with playmaekr role or attacking mid?

Going to use a winger role on the right. Either Sancho or lozano. Possibly getting rid of lingard

Doing this because for some reason most stats go against me yet im top of the league and winning, barely concede so DM needs going. Chance creating is low, key passes only pogba is top 3 and no one else in top 10. 

What CAM player should I buy and what roles would work great in the 2 man mid with similar/same TI's? 

Also getting rid of lukaku for either piettro pellegri and/or greenwood, would also accomodate gomes too. 

If you put the winger in the mr-slot, he will actually act as a true winger hugging the line, while if you have him at amr he will be more prone to going inside, which may congest space. Having your winger at mr may help free up space for your amc and make your attacks more undpredictable.

[damo666]

Should i accept the above?
Fred's worth $57mil, backup for the DM position

[BigV]

2 hours ago, damo666 said:

Should i accept the above?
Fred's worth $57mil, backup for the DM position

I'd say yes, from what i've seen personally and his max potential along with attributes he doesn't get better than what you start with, passing and agility only improves. If he's backup he'll cry he's not getting game time and if inter buy him it's around £55m which is close to what we got plus 5 extra. Can get a better DM or use youth like james garner. 

[SalopSi]

Terribly late to the party, but have finally managed to get on-board with FM19

 

 

usually start down the lower leagues, but havent had FM for a number of years, so have just started with United to familiarise myself with its new layout and style.

 

Sold Darmian to Southampton straight away for £19m, and over the close season added Wan-Bissaka and De Ligt. - Tried to offload Jones but had no joy, and have really upset the apple cart by listing and offering Lingard. - Sorry, I have footballers not instagram influencers.

 

Angel Gomes and Mason Greenwood are doing really well, and i have hopes for Chong; currently on loan at Norwich alongside another signing in Jules Kounde from Bordeaux who looks a great prospect.

 

Smashed my way through the friendlies including a 5-0 win over Bayern, only 1 defeat in them all which was against Milan.

 

opening day I had wolves and battered them 7-0!! but this was met by a 1-0 defeat to Palace, despite me having had 20 plus shots and a poor performance vs Everton saw me lose 2-0

 

Think i need more potency and link up in the middle to the forwards, but window has closed, so tactical tweaks are needed, what do people do to provide a link between defence and attack? - how advanced to you play Pogba?

[BigV]

8 hours ago, SalopSi said:

so tactical tweaks are needed, what do people do to provide a link between defence and attack? - how advanced to you play Pogba?

4-3-3 DLP-D DM with a BBM and AP-A for pogba works well. 442/4-2-3-1 DLP-S and BBM. 442 works wonders for some reason maybe because 2 strikers hold back the defensive line leaving spaces everywhere. CAM for pogba or as a mezzala usually does wonders. Creative and a ball scoring midfielder.