[FM21] Manchester United: A club stuck in transition

[BigV]

Spent a good 3 hours just setting up pre season, coaches, assignments, training and player research/comparing.

Official save is a go!

Sancho signed a new one year deal apparently so I couldnt buy him  Got in marcus edward for 16m, Skriniar or upamencano will be my next buy but as I quit the game Kounde popped up in scouting and he looks brillaint for 21, 85 scout report is swaying me.

Jesse agreed to go for 7.5m to wolves, board blocked matic to go wolves for 7m cause they think its bad he wont go for 8.5 (as he's signed a new contract... IT WAS A BLOODY EXTENSION) rojo agreed at 7m, hopefully find some leeway so I can get at least one good player in. Might have to wait till 2nd season or off load lindelof/Bailly to make bigger signings 

[OleGunnarSolscharl]

Hey everyone,

I've just had probably the best season I've ever had on an FM Save and thought I'd share some of the insane numbers we had.

It was in my 3rd season at United so some signings had been made. Most notable ones really were Bastoni to partner Maguire, Bentancur in the midfield (who is brilliant) and Kulusevski for on the right. I've also given minutes to lots of the young guys where possible, with the most impressive development coming from Shoretire.

My first 2 seasons were good, we won the league, Champions League, and League Cup in both seasons, as well as being runners up and then winners in the FA Cup. We also won the European Super Cup at the start of season 2 and then the Club World Cup at the end of it. 

To be honest it was all quite routine, but I wasn't really happy with the football we were playing. I was getting too many goals from crosses from the full backs, which I felt was unrealistic with this squad (in season one AWB got more assists than Telles! And Telles was on set pieces!), and it felt too easy to feed my AF and get them scoring a lot of goals: Greenwood got 42 and then 46 goals for me in all comps in the first 2 seasons.

I wanted better movement, better build up, and sexier goals rather than just kicking it over the top for Mason to chase. To that end, I decided to try going strikerless again. I got the inspiration from Guido, Mr Strikerless himself, and took some of the ideas he implemented in his games as well. In terms of tactics, we chopped and changed between a 4-3-3-0 and 4-4-2-0, depending on what the opposition was doing. The 4-4-2-0 made us more secure in the midfield but did reduce our goal-scoring ability, so I would occasionally let my opponent dominate the midfield, knowing that we still posed a huge attacking threat to them. I wasn't looking for the perfect tactic; I wanted fun. And I got it.

Enough pre-amble, time to share the headline stats for our star performers! I presume these will appear at the bottom of this post, apologies if it's all a bit of a mess! Anyway, Fernandes, Rashford, Greenwood. Oh boy. Fernandes was out of this world! 72 G+A in 46 games is the best I've ever had from one of my players, and his average rating is the highest I've ever had as well! 

Needless to say we took the league by storm, Rashford and Bruno leading the way in the scoring charts. We scored 127 goals and conceded 28. We also won the European Super Cup, the FA Cup and the Champions League. Our run to winning the CL for a 3rd consecutive time was just bonkers, I'll attach a screenshot of the results in that competition too.

This was the most fun I've had playing FM for a long time, we scored some really lovely goals but sadly I'm not clever enough to attach video clips of them. Bruno's numbers are a thing of beauty - perhaps I'll frame them.

The only negative, and I'm not sure if it's been fixed yet, was the scheduling of the PL games. We never played a team home and away: we played 10 teams away twice and 9 teams at home twice, including back to back home games against West Ham. We had 2 trips to Anfield, 2 trips to City and 2 trips to Stamford Bridge in the league, which did ruin the realism a bit for me. If it hasn't been fixed by the time I get to season 4 I'll probably call it quits with this save, but to be honest it's not a bad place to end!

[shades_of_war84]

Afternoon Guys, 

God it feels good to be getting stuck into a FM career again! It's been a good few years since I dabbled into this game... divorce, step daughter, house, dog and car have gone since I last played. However, I won't stay away and for the first time since FM17 I'll be playing on a regular and enjoying it! 

For the time being, I'm on a surface laptop, well at least until I've refurbed my office so I can play on the PC and the game to it's full capacity. 

I'm also playing in FM Touch as I just want to get in and enjoy the game before I start with the full version. 

Having read through the Utd thread, I've tried to stay away from much of what other people have done... that and I don't want to get too involved in a save with a small database and not enjoy the full version too much... 

Enough rambling.... 

 

1st season... 

Prem - 1st
CL - Semi - Lost a 94th min goal to Juve and went out 2-3 (would have gone through on away goals)
FA and League Cup  - Didn't focus on these

41221 wide is the formation I've gone with... 

I think one thing I've done that many haven't is play Pogba at DM as DLP (su).. and this is purely so I have the ball, he racks up high pass numbers each game and pops up with the odd goal or assist. He also wins alot of headers and most tackles. He is pretty much the heartbeat of the side. 

                  De Gea

AWB Maguire Tuanzabe Telles 

                 Pogba (DLP)s
        Fernandes (MEZ) McTominay (B2B)

Greenwood (IW)s              Rashford (IW)a

                  Martial (AF)a

I turned off the transfer window and didnt get anyone in Jan. I did however get Millik and Depay on free for the summer. 

Usual deadwod is gone though i did keep Fred and James. 

Season 2

DeGea. Henderson
AWB, Williams
Maguire, Tuanzebe, Lindelof, Bailly
Shaw, Telles

Pogba, Garner, DVB, McTominay, Hernades, Fred

Greenwood, James
Rashford, Depay

Martial, Millik, Cavani

Martial will also play AML and Rashford AMR if needed. 

I've sent all the good young players out on loan for this season to see how they develop. 

I'll prob move James and a CB on for the end of this season.. 

 

GOOD TO BE BACK!!!

[Gee_Simpson]

@OleGunnarSolscharl Those numbers are absolutely astonishing! Especially from Fernandes, absolutely insane. What role you using him in? Where were you using him in those two formations?

[OleGunnarSolscharl]

3 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

@OleGunnarSolscharl Those numbers are absolutely astonishing! Especially from Fernandes, absolutely insane. What role you using him in? Where were you using him in those two formations?

I know he turned into a monster for me! And people would still be calling him a pen merchant no doubt.

I used him as an AP-AT as part of my usual front 3 of SS-AP-SS, with Rashford and Greenwood my first choice Shadow Strikers. Normally I find it hard to get that role to be a genuine goal threat but the system really allowed him to shine. I also used Pogba in that role and from memory I think he got 31 G+A from around 40 games.

The way Bruno performed was actually quite similar to real life - he would come deep to get on the ball and get it forward to the Shadow Strikers, but he'd also burst beyond the opposition defensive line to get through on goal himself. I'll upload screenshots of my tactics tomorrow if you like, don't know why I didn't add that to the original post tbh! 

[wakesta]

On 27/12/2020 at 23:52, BigV said:

Spent a good 3 hours just setting up pre season, coaches, assignments, training and player research/comparing.

Official save is a go!

Sancho signed a new one year deal apparently so I couldnt buy him  Got in marcus edward for 16m, Skriniar or upamencano will be my next buy but as I quit the game Kounde popped up in scouting and he looks brillaint for 21, 85 scout report is swaying me.

Jesse agreed to go for 7.5m to wolves, board blocked matic to go wolves for 7m cause they think its bad he wont go for 8.5 (as he's signed a new contract... IT WAS A BLOODY EXTENSION) rojo agreed at 7m, hopefully find some leeway so I can get at least one good player in. Might have to wait till 2nd season or off load lindelof/Bailly to make bigger signings 

Did you replace any of the staff?

[BigV]

24 minutes ago, wakesta said:

Did you replace any of the staff?

bought in ex spurs defending coach, barely replace staff until im high on budget. I got rid of one GK coach though, dont remember his name 

[freezing_frog]

Hey everyone, I'm about to start season 7 in my UTD save. Just wondering how your academy players have developed over the years. Here are some who are either in the 1st team, used and sold, and developed and sold.

I will also showcase some of the players I've bought over the season if you guys are wondering how they'll look after 6 seasons.

Hannibal (1st Team)

Isak Hansen-Aaroen (Used in squad, now sold)

Joe Hugill (Developed and sold)

Willy Kambwala (Developed and to be sent on loan/1st team rotation)

Shola Shoretire (Developed and currently on loan)

Charlie McNeill (Developed and will be given chances in the 1st team to see how he performs)

Amad Diallo (He's not academy, but he joined at a young age and he performed quite well before being sold)

A couple of regens I acquired throughout the seasons>

Pedro Bernardo (I wanted a Trent-esque RB and found him, now 1st teamer. I use him in CWB(A) role.

Dylan Munro (20 year old 1st team ST as sold Esposito to Real Madrid for 116Million pounds. No choice but to promote him. Scored 5 goals in return leg at OT against PSG in UCL QF)

 

Also, some players for you guys to consider. I bought Owen Wijndal after losing out on Nuno Mendes to Dortmund. Great LB for me. Used mainly in CWB(S) role. Another Trent-esque player I want playing at LB.

 

Some other players bought in other positions (suggestions): 

GK: Donnarumma

DF: Declan Rice, Eric Garcia (free if you can get him), 

Josko Gvardiol

Andrea Papetti

 

MF: Camavinga, Moriba, Luis (sold after 2 seasons as Hannibal emerged)

Wingers: Sancho, Depay (get him for free), Cherki (sold after 2 seasons to Real Madrid for 70million pounds)

ST: Esposito and Arezo

 

After the 3rd season I effectively stopped buying 1st team players and going into 7th season I currently have 822 million pounds transfer budget. Only bought Reyna for 71 million just cause Bruno looks like he will retire soon.

The club got bought over in the 5th season and the club visions remained the same (English and Big name). However, as I refrained from signing big name players and english players with me focusing at the academy, they eventually removed that vision at the start of season 7. Now I can finally see that A+  . 

Sorry for screenshot spam though. Just sharing what the academy players can look like in the future if properly developed.

[freezing_frog]

By the way, it's getting really annoying when players start asking for new contracts when they have many many years left, some even with 4 years. I do understand that sometimes when they perform really really well, they feel they deserve better contracts, but it's burning through my wage budget of 6 million. Luckily 99% of the time, I can ask my captains to take care of it.

I don't see players with the same/better quality at other clubs asking for crazy amount. Is it a bug or is it a curse of playing for one of the richest and biggest club in the world? 

 

[MatthewS17]

56 minutes ago, freezing_frog said:

By the way, it's getting really annoying when players start asking for new contracts when they have many many years left, some even with 4 years. I do understand that sometimes when they perform really really well, they feel they deserve better contracts, but it's burning through my wage budget of 6 million. Luckily 99% of the time, I can ask my captains to take care of it.

I don't see players with the same/better quality at other clubs asking for crazy amount. Is it a bug or is it a curse of playing for one of the richest and biggest club in the world? 

 

Agreed. The problem is players demanding new contracts that are through the roof despite just having signed a new deal or just having joined the club. 

 

It makes it hard, especially when you're trying to create a wage system where nobody earns more than 200k.

 

Edited December 30, 2020 by MatthewS17

[axehan1]

Fantastic 22/23 season winning the league,Carabao Cup,FA Cup and Champions League.

TRANSFERS

The biggest transfer was obviously Haaland and he had a very good goalscoring season but the best bit of business was Ramsdale from Sheff United and he is now my 1st choice keeper.Barbosa was a no brainer with his ability to play either up front or out on the right hand side.Yunus Musah is an absolute gem able to play anywhere on the right hand side including right back, Florentino Luis is perfect as a Defensive mid or central midfield and Benoit Badiashile was a solid buy in defence who also bagged 17 goals in all comps.

LEAGUE TABLE

Not as cut and dry as it looks as Liverpool just would not go away but we had them in the run in alongside a double header in the Champions League semis and that's when we put some ground between us.Below is the league run in where the big games just kept on coming including a league double header with City

The most pleasing result was actually the goalless draw in Madrid as we kept them at arms reach for 90 minutes.

TACTIC

First 2 seasons of this save we played 4231 but I wanted to be harder to score against so decided to go with this formation and i'm really enjoying the football.I'm shying away from using playmakers as they tend to ping the ball all over the place.With these roles and duties we are now passing the ball around the pitch and creating some lovely goalscoring chances..

SEASON 23/24

first signing of the new season is in, Allesandro Bastoni, a left footed centre back who is going to slot straight in next to Ben Godfrey.

I'm looking to buy one more player, a creative AML, Sancho looks like he is on his way to Chelsea, possibly Bellingham but i don't know if he will have an immediate impact on the team,I have Hannibal who has been on loan for 2 seasons and has developed really nicely so i may retrain him to AML if i can't find a really classy winger/playmaker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BigV]

Finally got to finish pre season tonight (still first season, yes those 3 hours wasn't enough ): 

Ins: Skriniar 47.5m (Sevilla wanted 115m for kounde cheeky gits), Marcus edwards 16m, Ex spurs defensive coach 4.5* 

Outs: Rojo 7m, Jesse 7m (didnt go to wolves tho but went southampton...), matic 13.5m to psg, Fosu mensah 2.5m to burnley, Bailly on loan cause no one wanted him 

Pre season results below: Watched the full arsenal game and was worried if my usual tactic wouldnt work and then came chelsea  all 4 top teams put out their full side, winning comfortably against them all apart from Bayern. Went 3-0 within 20 minutes, greenwood x2, thought I found a game breaker by accident until they bloody came back last 10 mins with a douglas costa hattrick, all over them until they went full attacking. 

Spoiler

This is the first team im going with, strong, aggressive and most of all ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK!! This tactic has the same feel i had on fm17 and on paper its quite similar/close, glad to see my wingbacks are doing exactly that during pre season, telles with 7 assists in 4 games and AWB with 5 in 3 with williams in rotation with 6 in 4.... allows my IFs to get the goals and give passing options allowing the striker to maneuver between the defenders, cavani with his off the ball makes this tick, martial not as effective but brilliant on the ball.

Player to watch: Telles, yep you heard it right, screw your bruno's, your pogbas or your rashy's, its all about telles  calling 15 assists come end of the season, over that and pedro peirera (fm17) has competition for my best wingback

Spoiler

Managed to have 40m left over, was thinking of another BBM to get to replace fred but with a similar workrate just better ball passer. Or save up and cover that RW with sancho or Dejan Kulusevski with diallo and pellestri backing up. 

Keeping mata, for some reason he's still a class player on here, may have to keep him around for a season or 2. DJ well for some reason he just runs and runs for me, creates good stuff but has a terrible knack for f*king it up but when it works, it works wonders. Finding mctominay slightly better than fred in some areas so will have to rotate and get rid 2nd season or 3rd. Greenwood will take that top striker spot in rotation with martial once cavani is gone, might have to go all out for this haaland guy everyone is talking about and see how he fares on FM compared to reality!

[milan_manutd]

So I did only one thing after poor performance in november and losing in LC and UEFA CL. I put Ajer on DM and change from 4-2-3-1 in to 4-1-2-2-1 V.

Pogba left in january for only 75mil£ to PSG but that was reasonable price and only Donnarumma was unhappy because of Pogba leaving. From AM i put down B.Fernades in middle on MEZ and everything was as good as I want to be.

16 points gap between us and second allowing me to give more playing time to youngsters and develop them. 

 

[Gee_Simpson]

Well today is finally the day I begin my long term Man Utd save! So I'm still a few hours behind you @BigV, yeah it takes me a good few hours to sort everything out at the start of a save too  I'm sure you will pull away from me though because I'm loading 50 playable leagues.

I feel like I should just wait for the January window from real life to pass but then I'll just be waiting forever tbh and I've already put it off for long enough. I only need to reach January in the first season anyway for the database to not reflect real life, as I disable the first window. I should reach January in game hopefully by the 2nd of January irl.

[shades_of_war84]

On 28/12/2020 at 16:36, shades_of_war84 said:

Afternoon Guys, 

God it feels good to be getting stuck into a FM career again! It's been a good few years since I dabbled into this game... divorce, step daughter, house, dog and car have gone since I last played. However, I won't stay away and for the first time since FM17 I'll be playing on a regular and enjoying it! 

For the time being, I'm on a surface laptop, well at least until I've refurbed my office so I can play on the PC and the game to it's full capacity. 

I'm also playing in FM Touch as I just want to get in and enjoy the game before I start with the full version. 

Having read through the Utd thread, I've tried to stay away from much of what other people have done... that and I don't want to get too involved in a save with a small database and not enjoy the full version too much... 

Enough rambling.... 

 

1st season... 

Prem - 1st
CL - Semi - Lost a 94th min goal to Juve and went out 2-3 (would have gone through on away goals)
FA and League Cup  - Didn't focus on these

41221 wide is the formation I've gone with... 

I think one thing I've done that many haven't is play Pogba at DM as DLP (su).. and this is purely so I have the ball, he racks up high pass numbers each game and pops up with the odd goal or assist. He also wins alot of headers and most tackles. He is pretty much the heartbeat of the side. 

                  De Gea

AWB Maguire Tuanzabe Telles 

                 Pogba (DLP)s
        Fernandes (MEZ) McTominay (B2B)

Greenwood (IW)s              Rashford (IW)a

                  Martial (AF)a

I turned off the transfer window and didnt get anyone in Jan. I did however get Millik and Depay on free for the summer. 

Usual deadwod is gone though i did keep Fred and James. 

Season 2

DeGea. Henderson
AWB, Williams
Maguire, Tuanzebe, Lindelof, Bailly
Shaw, Telles

Pogba, Garner, DVB, McTominay, Hernades, Fred

Greenwood, James
Rashford, Depay

Martial, Millik, Cavani

Martial will also play AML and Rashford AMR if needed. 

I've sent all the good young players out on loan for this season to see how they develop. 

I'll prob move James and a CB on for the end of this season.. 

 

GOOD TO BE BACK!!!

2nd Season

Well....I screwed that up!  As you can see from above, I didn't invest in the team other than the two free transfers. 

My thought was to concentrate on CL and challenge for the league to which was going well until..... Fernandes, DVD and Pogba all got injured at the same time so missed both legs against Dortmund in the QF... I went out 3-3 away goals and that was lucky.. I ended up drawing a lot of games around this time and finished 2nd to City by 8 points in the end. Drawing 9 and losing 4, including a 5-0 hammering away at Spurs on game 36 which handed City the title. 

I'll be making some changes for the 3rd season but that might have to wait... got to play boyfriend duties for a little bit!

[shades_of_war84]

20 hours ago, shades_of_war84 said:

2nd Season

Well....I screwed that up!  As you can see from above, I didn't invest in the team other than the two free transfers. 

My thought was to concentrate on CL and challenge for the league to which was going well until..... Fernandes, DVD and Pogba all got injured at the same time so missed both legs against Dortmund in the QF... I went out 3-3 away goals and that was lucky.. I ended up drawing a lot of games around this time and finished 2nd to City by 8 points in the end. Drawing 9 and losing 4, including a 5-0 hammering away at Spurs on game 36 which handed City the title. 

I'll be making some changes for the 3rd season but that might have to wait... got to play boyfriend duties for a little bit!

3rd Season

OUT:
James (loan to Porto)
Lindelof (Arsenal £30m)
Cavani (Shakhtar £2m)
Fred (Milan £23m)
Bailly (Free)

IN:
Barella (£80m)
Sancho (£80m)

Sancho wasn't a player I was wanting to go for originally, however, with a small database and playing touch... I gave in and bought him. 

Amad Diallo might go back out on loan, though he was part of the Dortmund squad that ripped me a new one at Old Trafford. 

SQUAD:

De Gea/Henderson

AWB/Williams
Telles/Shaw
Maguire/Tengi
Tuanzebe/McTominay

Pogba/Garner
Fernandes/DVB
Barella/Hannibal

Greenwood/Sancho
Rashford/Depay

Martial/Millik

Amad Diallo may stay around and then a few youngsters in the reserves. 

I might also buy a CB and loan Garner out so can put McT back into midfield. 

[sedge11]

So after a few days break, I have decided to start my Man Utd save again .

I was trying to do the summer for the 3rd season and the team just didn't feel right, and I lost interest in it.

So I have restarted.

I haven't brought anyone but I have sold Romero, Rojo, Fosu Mensah and Lingard. I have gutted the staff and got my own in, though I have kept Mike Phelan as assistant as he's actually better than I thought, and his preferred formation matches mine.

I have also set up this tactic that I want to try out.

Main reason being in the 1 and half saves I had already done, I just haven't been able to get much out of Pogba, so I thought give this a try and see what I can get out of him.

It won't be my main tactic, a 4-3-3 will be but it is something I would like to try out.

[BigV]

34 minutes ago, sedge11 said:

Main reason being in the 1 and half saves I had already done, I just haven't been able to get much out of Pogba, so I thought give this a try and see what I can get out of him.

It won't be my main tactic, a 4-3-3 will be but it is something I would like to try out.

Pogba as the 8/10 in a 433 works wonders, but it kind of hinders bruno unless they're both AP's/ ones a mez. 

Tried 4231 and getting the best out of pogba is probably best as a MEZ or AP in CM. Tried DLP and he does okay but hes not adventurous going forward (conflicting trait with role) but as a mez hes great, only downside is the positioning is 10 or 9 which isnt great for a holding mid. 

I like that 4321, be good to see how he performs, got the agility and balance to play there, only downside i would say is there's no pace down that left so could be pssible to move martial at STL if he doesnt work out as STC. He's always gonna be on the shoulder of his man so could be useful knocking his role to CF or DLF or PF even if AF doesnt work (although it should theoretically). 

Good luck 

[sedge11]

1 hour ago, BigV said:

I like that 4321, be good to see how he performs, got the agility and balance to play there, only downside i would say is there's no pace down that left so could be pssible to move martial at STL if he doesnt work out as STC. He's always gonna be on the shoulder of his man so could be useful knocking his role to CF or DLF or PF even if AF doesnt work (although it should theoretically). 

It's a work in progress, so will expect a couple of dodgy results, but that's not a bad idea, moving Martial to STL could work nicely. 

[milan_manutd]

Did anyone have Tariq Lamptey in his squad? BHA is relegated and he is transfer listed by request, just not sure that 30mil is to high for him. He's speed as hell but crossing, passing and mental in general is so poor.

I need couple of England players just to knock the board off my back.

[sedge11]

1 hour ago, milan_manutd said:

 

Did anyone have Tariq Lamptey in his squad? BHA is relegated and he is transfer listed by request, just not sure that 30mil is to high for him. He's speed as hell but crossing, passing and mental in general is so poor.

I need couple of England players just to knock the board off my back.

 

Never had and on previous saves, doesn’t look like he develops too well.

Maybe look for a cheap back up keeper that’s english, that will then count at least.

[BigV]

Better as a backup rw, wouldnt go for him at all tho, not good enough

[Chapman7]

8 hours ago, sedge11 said:

Main reason being in the 1 and half saves I had already done, I just haven't been able to get much out of Pogba, so I thought give this a try and see what I can get out of him.

It won't be my main tactic, a 4-3-3 will be but it is something I would like to try out.

Yeah he hasn't really lit any fireworks in my save either yet. Only in January so who knows what he may do in that time I guess

[Gee_Simpson]

I will give him this 1st season to impress but I can't see me keeping Pogba as he simply isn't good enough defensively to play in a 4231. He's not getting in ahead of Bruno as a number 10 either so I'll probably sell him. I would take a figure as low as 50m tbh, but would hope for something like 75m.

[pele10]

Have they done something to player ratings? feels like goals and assists only count for a good game.

[DominicForza]

1 minute ago, pele10 said:

Have they done something to player ratings? feels like goals and assists only count for a good game.

Seems to be a thing.

 

 

[pele10]

@DominicForza Cheers I was wondering why I was winning but my ratings were poor.

[BigV]

11 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

I will give him this 1st season to impress but I can't see me keeping Pogba as he simply isn't good enough defensively to play in a 4231. He's not getting in ahead of Bruno as a number 10 either so I'll probably sell him. I would take a figure as low as 50m tbh, but would hope for something like 75m.

I was thinking the same tbh and getting frenkie over him, I would've kept him had his positioning be around 12+. Camavinga might be his stop gap but I need ready made players, maybe he improves after the full season and ill get him.

What are people doing with VDB? Regular starter he has but in a 4231 im struggling to find him a place, once again his positioning is low and hasn't been in previous FM's. Atm hes in rotation with bruno. 

 

[sedge11]

16 minutes ago, BigV said:

What are people doing with VDB? Regular starter he has but in a 4231 im struggling to find him a place, once again his positioning is low and hasn't been in previous FM's. Atm hes in rotation with bruno.

I’ve been playing him as a box to box either in a midfield 3, or next to Fred in the formation I shared.

He isn’t a regular though, he’s been very much a rotation option.

[milan_manutd]

23 hours ago, sedge11 said:

Never had and on previous saves, doesn’t look like he develops too well.

Maybe look for a cheap back up keeper that’s english, that will then count at least.

Got Donnarumma on free after first season and with DDG and Henderson I don't need one more (also Gasperini in U23 team)

23 hours ago, BigV said:

Better as a backup rw, wouldnt go for him at all tho, not good enough

Probably right, only physicality is good.

 

 

Finish second season, won PL with record numbers of win, only one defeat, and record club points. Win UEFA EL against City in final 2:0, just to make easier drooping out of UEFA CL. And my board give me B- for PL, how ridiculous. Martial is golden boot with 29 goals in 37 games, Telles and Bruno with 13 and 12 asist was second and third behind Moutinho

 

 

[BigV]

4 hours ago, sedge11 said:

I’ve been playing him as a box to box either in a midfield 3, or next to Fred in the formation I shared.

He isn’t a regular though, he’s been very much a rotation option.

good idea tbf, only thing running for him is his attributes, his behind the scenes attributes might have gone down, especially with the consistency attribute given how he is irl atm. 

18 minutes ago, milan_manutd said:

Got Donnarumma on free after first season and with DDG and Henderson I don't need one more (also Gasperini in U23 team)

Probably right, only physicality is good.

 

 

Finish second season, won PL with record numbers of win, only one defeat, and record club points. Win UEFA EL against City in final 2:0, just to make easier drooping out of UEFA CL. And my board give me B- for PL, how ridiculous. Martial is golden boot with 29 goals in 37 games, Telles and Bruno with 13 and 12 asist was second and third behind Moutinho

 

 

GG wp smashed the the league by 21 points 

[Gee_Simpson]

10 hours ago, BigV said:

I was thinking the same tbh and getting frenkie over him, I would've kept him had his positioning be around 12+. Camavinga might be his stop gap but I need ready made players, maybe he improves after the full season and ill get him.

What are people doing with VDB? Regular starter he has but in a 4231 im struggling to find him a place, once again his positioning is low and hasn't been in previous FM's. Atm hes in rotation with bruno. 

 

Camavinga is my top target no matter how he looks after one season. I will be going for him in season 2 without a doubt as his potential is insane, he's a 

Spoiler

-10, the only one in the database so will be guaranteed to turn out world class either way.

 

[Chapman7]

11 hours ago, BigV said:

I was thinking the same tbh and getting frenkie over him, I would've kept him had his positioning be around 12+. Camavinga might be his stop gap but I need ready made players, maybe he improves after the full season and ill get him.

What are people doing with VDB? Regular starter he has but in a 4231 im struggling to find him a place, once again his positioning is low and hasn't been in previous FM's. Atm hes in rotation with bruno. 

 

He starts here and there depending on Bruno and Pogba with playing a 4-3-3 as it's called in game now with a DM. So spaces are like you say limited but had no complaints as far yet also scored a hattrick on his full competitive debut too 

[axehan1]

29th Nov 2024

[Chapman7]

How do people find loans for their promising players? Just accept any who will give the players the minutes you desire for them to be playing or look to see the facilities teams that make offers for loans have. Or even check out the tactic base for the manager chooses to use first and second choice formation?

[sedge11]

1 hour ago, Chapman7 said:

How do people find loans for their promising players? Just accept any who will give the players the minutes you desire for them to be playing or look to see the facilities teams that make offers for loans have. Or even check out the tactic base for the manager chooses to use first and second choice formation?

I look at the facilities of the teams that have offered, try to negotiate important player role or at least regular starter, then accept them.

[Chapman7]

43 minutes ago, sedge11 said:

I look at the facilities of the teams that have offered, try to negotiate important player role or at least regular starter, then accept them.

How about when the team plays a completely different wrong formation to suit a player. Such as Pellestri always get teams who play a 5-3-2 for example offering him for loan 

[sedge11]

49 minutes ago, Chapman7 said:

How about when the team plays a completely different wrong formation to suit a player. Such as Pellestri always get teams who play a 5-3-2 for example offering him for loan 

I don’t particularly look at that, But it does sometimes affect who I accept. I will sometimes look at Pellistri for example, if a team comes in and they already have 3 right wingers, I might not accept as he has more competition and might not play as much.

[DominicForza]

3 hours ago, Chapman7 said:

How do people find loans for their promising players? Just accept any who will give the players the minutes you desire for them to be playing or look to see the facilities teams that make offers for loans have. Or even check out the tactic base for the manager chooses to use first and second choice formation?

Yes, I ALWAYS check formations, squad status AND the players in similar position that would be competition for places...also facilites, mangers Working with Youngsters rating.

[Jumping Jack Flash]

Hi guys, spent the last few days reading through this page after purchasing FM21 and enjoyed the read!

Just finished season 1 and main points of interest:

• Won the Premier League, Semi-Finals of CL, Final of Carabao Cup and Quarter finals of FA Cup
• I phased De Gea out as he kept making mistakes and Henderson was a solid number one
• Like most of you, 4-2-3-1 was my formation to get the best out of Bruno but Pogba struggled for form and only got around 4 goals and assists all season
• CB was a nightmare. Signed Romagnoli and sold him within 6 months to PSG, signed Onguene in January and he was solid, Maguire was average, Tuanzebe was average and injured and Lindelof was awful. Gave some minutes to Fish and Mengi also, with the former being higher on my agenda.

Entering season 2 I have bought: Milenkovic and Pau to be my new CB pairing, Grealish & Maddison to replace VDB and Pellegrini, Schmeichel to replace De Gea, Camavinga to replace Pogba, Carvajal to bring attacking threat at RB and Laird has gone to Portsmouth in the Championship and finally Depay to replace Cavani,

My main question is, how good does Henderson become? Donnarumma is available for £45.5m and the scouts think he can get the 4.5 stars. Henderson will only get to 3 apparently but I like his overall game. But it says a lot that Southgate played Ramsdale over him in the Euros...

[milan_manutd]

Summer before start of season 3 and DDG is in his last year of contract. Inter made this offer which I think is just fine because he will be 32 in november and I have Donnarumma, Henderson at the bench and Manuel Gasparini in U23 team (maybe 2 solid regen in U18).

Although DDG was my first choice in first 2 season but he was injured for over 2 months and he's ain't getting any younger. But in this one the potential problem is my sentiment over him. And to be honest I bring Camavinga and Sancho in this window and with few player coming back from loans I don't want to make any businesses at the market (with 60mil£ left in budget).

 

[jasonbuids]

Hi guys,
It's been a long time I post something here.
I have just finished the first season with MU. I lost the champion battle to Liverpool in PL, 6 points behind. We did tried our best but they are just unstoppable. They only lost 1 game to us and remain unbeaten after that. We lost 2 more games at the beginning of the season as I was testing and did some modifications to my tactic. But we did well in CL, league cup and FA cup. We won all three! Specially we hammered Chelsea 10-1 at the CL's semi-final.
So the goal of the next season is dethrone Liverpool and become the champion of England again, and try to get Klopp sacked.
My transfer in season 2 so far:
In: Depay and Donnarumma come in free.
- Declan Rice - 45m (20m upfront)
- Sancho - 100m (50m upfront)

- Odsonne Edouard - 16.5m
- Jean-Clair Todibo - 15m

I usually don't buy players more than 40m in previous FM, but the board keeps saying they want more English and high rep player, so I went for Rice and Sancho. They are expensive, but young, hope they will proof they are worth their prices. Edouard is a bargain, I did used him in FM19 but he was bad for me. This time I will try to make him shine again, he looks promising. Todibo was expensive and a top wonderkid in previous FM. I've never used him so I wanna try him this time, he look good and young, plus he is a quite bargain.

Out
- Matic 10m - I like hime, but he is too slow to play behind Bruno. We play with high pressing line so I need a good speed player to cover for the frontline.
 - Andrea Pereira 27m - After a good loan season he manage to attract some clubs and 27m is very good deal for us.
- Baily 14m - After a very good loan with Wolves he will go, I like him but afraid his time in hospital more than the time he play for us.
 - Wan Bissaka - 43m to Bayern - He is good, but in January he is annoying and want a new contract. I pushed him to U23s team and used Brandon instead. Surprisingly we got more positive attacking output with Brandon. After 3 months he dropped the issue and played some games for us. But in the beginning of this season he demand a new contract again. I want him to stay as he is an English but that demand is not acceptable. So when Bayern come for him I accepted right away. I think I will use William for the RB position, Dalot for backup, and we have Lindelof and Tuanzebe can cover that as well.
 - Young talent like Hannibal, Amad Diallo, and Talles Magno will go on loan for more playing time.
I want to sell Pogba, he is not too good last season. But seems no one want him, and he have only 1 year contract left. So I extended his contract as I don't want him to go free. Fortunately he is agree to sign a new contract with the same wage as the previous one.

Here is my team so far:
GK: De gea, Donnarumma, Dean Henderson
CB: Nikola Milenkovic, Todibo, Maguire, Lindelof, Tuanzebe
RB: Brandon, Dalot
LB: Shaw, Telles
CM: Ajer, Mctominay, Pogba, Rice, Van De Beek
LW: Rashford, Depay (Martial)
RW: Sancho, Emiliano Buendia, Marcus Edward (Greenwood)
AM: Bruno, (Depay, Buendia, Donny)
ST: Martial, Edouard, Greenwood.

In GK position I try to get Deano a loan spell but no one want him, I really don't know whether I can keep both De gea and Donnarumma happy. 
We look good in the frontline, but I think we have too many player in the RW. Maybe try to loan out Marcus Edward, but he angry if I do that. And maybe I will loan out Greenwood to get him more playing time.

Edited January 8, 2021 by jasonbuids

[Chapman7]

On 06/01/2021 at 23:26, sedge11 said:

I don’t particularly look at that, But it does sometimes affect who I accept. I will sometimes look at Pellistri for example, if a team comes in and they already have 3 right wingers, I might not accept as he has more competition and might not play as much.

I tend to do what I said about, wondered if anyone else did. Have never thought to do what you do in checking what competition he would be facing but may be something I may start to do 

On 06/01/2021 at 23:28, DominicForza said:

Yes, I ALWAYS check formations, squad status AND the players in similar position that would be competition for places...also facilites, mangers Working with Youngsters rating.

Always have done this for few years was more to see if anyone else done similar to myself aha

[sedge11]

So I am going into the final day of season 1 and the table looks like this.

3 teams going into the final day with a chance.

Man city are in the driving seat, and since December they have only lost 1 game, they have been unbelievable.

So city will westham away, Liverpool play newcastle away, while we play Leicester at home.

It's going to be a tense final day.

[Gee_Simpson]

How do you guys find the newgens to be in FM, is there usually too many world class newgens in the future? Considering using an edited version of this:

300% increase sounds incredibly unrealistic.

Edited January 9, 2021 by Gee_Simpson

[Conan21]

Gee, I think you should just enjoy your save buddy. I know you have your OCD thing with tactics so I would hope this edit wouldn't then have you doubting a new save a month down the line. 

Just enjoy yourself mate

Edited January 9, 2021 by Conan21
Spelling

[BigV]

Havent sene it myself yet being in first season, seen alot of regen staff be stupidly OP as for players i've seen a fair few threads on it like yourself GS, wont bother me till i get to that stage though or I end up saving and buying them all 

[sedge11]

So could we win the the title.

Man city drew 2-2 with West ham, meaning we had to win by 4 goals to win the title.

We couldn't do it, an annoying 0-0 where we had 2 goals disallowed. I'm disappointed but at the same time was an exciting end to the season, and I hadn't brought anyone in the 1st season so I was quite happy given the squad, and its something to build upon.

We lost to Man city in the carabao cup final 2-0, so city did the double.

We also lost out to Barca in the 1st knockout round of the champs league on away goals. Bayern managed to retain it.

We did win some silverware though, winning the fa cup.

It was a pretty dull game, my decision though to keep with Henderson as my cup keeper paid off as he saved a pen and got man of the match.

Player stats for season 1.

Bruno obviously my best player, he's just insanely good and I had also made him captain with Maguire dropping to vice captain. Telles took a little while to get going, and eventually did well. All the strikers/front players all did well, I wanted more from Rashford but that was going on how he performed in previous saves but he still did well especially as he spent alot of the season either playing RW or LM neither his preferred position.

My Pogba experiment playing him on the left paid off as well, which I was quite happy about, with his best stats I've got out of him, I did switch back to 4-3-3 after a bad run of 4 losses in 6 in all comps, but he still then performed next to Bruno.

Youth intake was pretty good as well.

2 potential 4 1/2 stars, neither are close to 1st team level at the moment, but was nice to get straight away in season 1.

Onwards to season 2.

Area's of focus are CB with Milenkovic from Fiorentina top of the list , RW with Leon Bailey the only target, CM which is abit more difficult though as depends on what formation I want to use most, if its the 4-3-3 then it will be a DM with Rice and Ndidi the 2 standouts. A RB is a possibility with Max Aarons a target mainly because he's English and thats a board objective.

Players going out will be mata as his contract is up, James and Lindelof. I will sell a few of the younger players who won't make it as well, players like Chong, Levitt and then hopefully get rid of Dalot and Periera.

Edited January 9, 2021 by sedge11

[Chapman7]

Has anyone managed to get more of a similar out put to Bruno for Pogba? I know he won't get quite as close but want more than handful. Going to restart my United save as forgot to do my staff and mentoring groups and being in January would have wanted to have sorted them a bit earlier. Considering playing two Mezella one on Attack and one on Support to try get more from Pogba in a 3 man midfield rather than Advance Playmaker.

[Smaldini]

Finally finished the first season. We spent most of it on top of the table but it didn't feel like an easy dominate win, Liverpool were breathing down our necks for most of the year & then Chelsea put together a decent run towards the end too. 

We did go on a run where we didn't concede for 14 matches, equalling the real life record set in 2008. Unfortunately we failed to break it, because during a 6-0 demolition of Fulham we conceded a late consolation out of nowhere. That game came a couple of days after we played Fulham in the Carabao Cup final, which we won 2-0. We reached the semi-finals in the two other competitions, once again facing Chelsea in the FA Cup only to put in a miserable performance and lose 2-0. Liverpool beat them in the FA Cup final, but Chelsea did manage to lift some silverware by beating Spurs in the Europa League final.

As for the Champions League we drew 1-1 away to Real Madrid, Martial scoring an equaliser after Benzema gave them the lead. Then in the return leg Martial opened the scoring about 3 minutes into the game, and almost made it 2-0 with a dink over the keeper only for Ramos to clear the ball off the line. After that Martial had a couple more decent chances but was wasteful, Madrid equalised and eventually we went into extra time. Madrid scored early meaning we needed two goals, which we got through Martial's replacement Cavani....unfortunately the first of those goals was narrowly offside & correctly ruled out. The equaliser that did count happened in the very last minute of extra time so it didn't make a difference. We go out on away goals, Madrid go on to beat Bayern in the final.

Bruno deserves his accolades, he was great in the attacking midfield role in a 4231 and just as good in mezzala support role in my preferred 433. Mason got his 5 goals in the 6-1 Fulham game I mentioned, he really should have made it a double hat-trick though because he missed a sitter late on. And just in case you're wondering, Shorrock is a very promising newgen that I gave a 20 minute cameo to in our last home game of the season; I'm just using Zealand's wonderful facepack.

First of all, I did a much better job of selling the deadwood than I did on the beta. No one wanted to buy Fosu-Mensah before, but on the full game I've managed to convince Burnley to pay £2.5m up front and £5m bonuses if they avoid the drop...easy money. Roma never came in for Lingard this time around but I still got a decent price for him from Napoli. I was getting offers of £72k on the beta for Grant, this time I sell him for £200k, potentially rising. Phil Jones never got fit enough to play a first team game for me, but in the January deadline day I get a random loan offer from a La Liga club for him (fringe player, no fees paid at all, instantly reject it)...but he was interested in moving so I thought I'd offer him out for a transfer. Boom. Newcastle come in paying his full value albeit in 6 month instalments running to 2024 (I'm also paying him £35k until 2023), but I was thrilled to get him off the wage bill never mind get decent money for him. 

On the beta I signed Thauvin for the right flank and he was decent, but James was better (Mason had a lengthy injury on my beta save). Then I restarted and I opted for Asensio who was great, but Greenwood had made an amazing start to the season, the other forwards were doing well too so it was too much of a managerial headache. So I eventually settle on this save, and in anticipation of Greenwood being great, I decided to bring in someone who I thought would do well but wouldn't be undroppable (I wanted to please the board by signing an English player too)...and that's why I grossly overpaid for Bowen 

So Bowen wasn't good enough. Diallo struggled and will definitely go out on loan. James is a decent backup only, he no longer has the potential to be a regular starter. Greenwood was good, but not quite as great as I was expecting, plus most of his goals were scored when I played him up front. Martial was on fire, as was Rashford until the last two months. Cavani was much more clinical in the beta but still managed to have a good year. And now I've got Memphis arriving on a free in the summer, and I've promised him I'll play him in his preferred role which is Advanced Forward. It's looking like I should switch to a two striker formation tbh. 

At the very least I'll be moving away from 433. Koopmeiners was inconsistent but his form really picked up in the last few games and that was in 4231, so he might be better off as a CM rather than DM. I've also got Alaba arriving on a free and as a defender his best role appears to be Libero, so a 3412 experiment might be on the cards for season 2.