[FM21] Manchester United: A club stuck in transition

[Gee_Simpson]

1 hour ago, BigV said:

ony downside for me is that a RW  that plays winger is a must for me, finding that having 2 players on either side cut in really hinders the overall balance and when i play james on winger duties he shows up with goals and assists.

Interesting. I may try that out when I'm struggling to break teams down as I do have both wingers cutting inside currently. I could try Demir through the middle as a Treq and have him as rotation with Bruno as he has the attributes for it. VDB has done okay for me but he's nothing spectacular. I sold James to RB Leipzig but I reckon if I bring in Sancho this upcoming summer then even if I use him as a IW (S) on the right like usual, he should play like a traditional winger sometimes because he has a trait that makes him move the ball to his right foot before dribbling. I would imagine he would do a bit of both, sometimes run wide and get a cross in or cut inside when the opportunity arises.

I ended up signing Bennacer for the price I mentioned, but I will also be bringing in Marcos Antonio as I just have a good feeling about him. Shakhtar have lowered their demands for him and I can now sign him for 30m which seems like a bargain to me. He's near full potential but I'm hoping I can improve his composure and tackling still. I will be selling Pogba in the summer after promising to sell him. He wanted more game time and I wasn't willing to give him it so I told him I will let him go in the summer and he's okay with it. He's 29 now too so I feel it's the right time to let him go. I'm hoping to get around 60-65m for him. 

Edited March 1, 2021 by Gee_Simpson

[Chapman7]

1 hour ago, BigV said:

Knew about him for a while so kept him on shortlist, his PA is up there with the best but its fluid depending on save, he can become OP so you've made a great signing there, ony downside for me is that a RW  that plays winger is a must for me, finding that having 2 players on either side cut in really hinders the overall balance and when i play james on winger duties he shows up with goals and assists. 

 

He could be used as the Striker from that thread its where the user who done the test used him and became a monster from the look of his games to goals ratio

[Chapman7]

1 hour ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Interesting. I may try that out when I'm struggling to break teams down as I do have both wingers cutting inside currently. I could try Demir through the middle as a Treq and have him as rotation with Bruno as he has the attributes for it. VDB has done okay for me but he's nothing spectacular. I sold James to RB Leipzig but I reckon if I bring in Sancho this upcoming summer then even if I use him as a IW (S) on the right like usual, he should play like a traditional winger sometimes because he has a trait that makes him move the ball to his right foot before dribbling. I would imagine he would do a bit of both, sometimes run wide and get a cross in or cut inside when the opportunity arises.

I ended up signing Bennacer for the price I mentioned, but I will also be bringing in Marcos Antonio as I just have a good feeling about him. Shakhtar have lowered their demands for him and I can now sign him for 30m which seems like a bargain to me. He's near full potential but I'm hoping I can improve his composure and tackling still. I will be selling Pogba in the summer after promising to sell him. He wanted more game time and I wasn't willing to give him it so I told him I will let him go in the summer and he's okay with it. He's 29 now too so I feel it's the right time to let him go. I'm hoping to get around 60-65m for him. 

I finding changing the width and the pressing engagement helps with the smaller teams who will play with low blocks. Don't change roles/position and generally has a good effect at doing so 

[Gee_Simpson]

1 hour ago, Chapman7 said:

I finding changing the width and the pressing engagement helps with the smaller teams who will play with low blocks. Don't change roles/position and generally has a good effect at doing so 

Yeah I do that usually, especially those two you mentioned. It's unfortunately draws that have done me in this season, especially at home, basically if I had turned two of those draws into wins I would still be top. I've been top for the majority of season 2 but looks like Liverpool will take it now. We've played 31 games, I've only lost 1 but drawn 9 which is way too many. I sometimes find I can't break down teams at home because they just sit in. I've never tried the max width setting, maybe that could work. I try lowering tempo and going more direct, or try and use brute force sometimes by increasing the tempo but sometimes I get shut out. I suppose I can try be more aggressive with my duties when really struggling to break teams down plus the TI's.

What highlights do you watch games on?

Looks like we're finishing 2nd as the rest are too far behind now, it's just us and Liverpool seperate from the rest. We both have Man City away in our remaining fixtures so I really need to make sure we win that and Liverpool lose hopefully, I'm 3 points behind with better GD. We finished 4th in the 1st season so I guess finishing 2nd and potentially 1st is good progress but being top for most of the season kind of makes me disappointed we've lost that lead. I can't see Liverpool slipping up now.

Edited March 1, 2021 by Gee_Simpson

[Chapman7]

2 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Yeah I do that usually, especially those two you mentioned. It's unfortunately draws that have done me in this season, especially at home, basically if I had turned two of those draws into wins I would still be top. I've been top for the majority of season 2 but looks like Liverpool will take it now. We've played 31 games, I've only lost 1 but drawn 9 which is way too many. I sometimes find I can't break down teams at home because they just sit in. I've never tried the max width setting, maybe that could work. I try lowering tempo and going more direct, or try and use brute force sometimes by increasing the tempo but sometimes I get shut out. I suppose I can try be more aggressive with my duties when really struggling to break teams down plus the TI's.

What highlights do you watch games on?

Looks like we're finishing 2nd as the rest are too far behind now, it's just us and Liverpool seperate from the rest. We both have Man City away in our remaining fixtures so I really need to make sure we win that and Liverpool lose hopefully, I'm 3 points behind with better GD. We finished 4th in the 1st season so I guess finishing 2nd and potentially 1st is good progress but being top for most of the season kind of makes me disappointed we've lost that lead. I can't see Liverpool slipping up now.

I use it on full Wide I believe when I adjust it. I'm quite stubborn like Pep is in changing up his tactics if not going to plan I'll only change certain things within in the tactic. 

I watch on extended I believe they are on the TV camera mode also I think it is I'd have to find out tomorrow as just come off so I'll double check it tomorrow 

[Gee_Simpson]

51 minutes ago, Chapman7 said:

I use it on full Wide I believe when I adjust it. I'm quite stubborn like Pep is in changing up his tactics if not going to plan I'll only change certain things within in the tactic. 

I watch on extended I believe they are on the TV camera mode also I think it is I'd have to find out tomorrow as just come off so I'll double check it tomorrow 

Thanks mate. I've been too hesitant to change it to the widest it can go but I'll definitely keep that in mind and try it if I find a team is being really stubborn defensively. I think overall my tactic works well and produces the type of short fast exchanges I want to see from my team, I just need to get better at game management and spotting things during games, this is definitely my biggest problem when it comes to tactics in FM, I find it hard to spot issues.

I'm stubborn also, for example I could never imagine me using a low block tactic because it's just not in my nature to play a counter attack style, I hate inviting teams onto me, it's way too stressful 😅. I like to dominate games with aggressive pressing, I usually always use counter press with either a high or standard LOE with a high defensive line. I usually watch on extended highlights also, occasionally comprehensive if I'm struggling. 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Gee_Simpson

[themadsheep2001]

 

On 21/02/2021 at 03:10, Gee_Simpson said:

What do you guys do regarding selling players, always offer them out or do you wait until bids hopefully come in for them? For example, I sold Lindelof for only 25m, but then I always offer my players out and transfer list them at the same time, so I never get that much for them really. Pogba has been decent for me but as his report says, he's inconsistent and he's not really a team player, so I want to offer him out but I'm worried that I won't receive a good offer for him and he'll cause a fuss at being offered out. I'm quite ruthless with players when I want them out, there's no way back for them. For example I've had Fred in the under 23's this season because he refused to leave in the summer 😅. Looks like I'll get him offloaded in the January 2022 window for 20m to Lazio. He's a decent player but nothing more, Camavinga is my 1st choice DLP (D) and Garner is 2nd choice. I made the mistake of giving Fred one league game this season and it's the only league game so far we've lost, his body language of 'uninterested' tells the story there! I would be happy at getting Pogba's market value tbh, can't remember how much he's valued, I think it's something like 58m. Dunno if I would receive that if I offered him out. 

I actually tend to offer them out at unspecified, and usually get a decent price. I offered Pogba out immediately, know full well I wouldn't he any takers, but that he'd them not expect to play much so I can easily move him the following season.

[Gee_Simpson]

1 hour ago, themadsheep2001 said:

 

I actually tend to offer them out at unspecified, and usually get a decent price. I offered Pogba out immediately, know full well I wouldn't he any takers, but that he'd them not expect to play much so I can easily move him the following season.

He came to me moaning about game time, I promised I would give him more game time but didn't, he then got upset and I told him I couldn't offer him the game time he needs, so I promised to let him go at the end of the season and he handed in a transfer request. Unfortunately he's now over his strop and requested he be unlisted and I have rejected his request 😅 I'm just hoping someone comes in for him this summer as he's now 29 and still worth like 64m, but no team has been linked with him since the start of my save.

Edited March 2, 2021 by Gee_Simpson

[themadsheep2001]

2 minutes ago, Gee_Simpson said:

He came to me moaning about game time, I promised I would give him more game time but didn't, he then got upset and I told him I couldn't offer him the game time he needs, so I promised to let him go at the end of the season and he handed in a transfer request. Unfortunately he's now over his strop and requested he be unlisted and I have rejected his request 😅 I'm just hoping someone comes in for him this summer as he's now 29 and still worth like 64m, but no team has been linked with him since the start of my save.

Genuinely hate him in FM21. Have never kept. Just started my long term save and I need to get him off the wage bill by the end of the first season so I can finance a double move for Haaland and Sancho. Already managed to bring in Bentancur, Skriniar and Gimenez. Just need to get rid of one more player and I can have Lautaro Martinez too, all before the first season has started but proving difficult

[BigV]

45 minutes ago, themadsheep2001 said:

Already managed to bring in Bentancur, Skriniar and Gimenez. Just need to get rid of one more player and I can have Lautaro Martinez too, all before the first season has started but proving difficult

Thats some mighty window 

[themadsheep2001]

2 minutes ago, BigV said:

Thats some mighty window 

Looks like I will get Martinez now. Having sold Skriniar to me, Inter needed a replacement and now have the funds to buy Lindelof.

Fred went to Ajax, Bailly too, Mata to Villarreal. Right mid is weak with just James and Diallo there, but I'm going to use this first season to develop both in competition with each other there. Winner will cover hopefully Sancho going forwards. Loser drops out of the 18 and becomes a cup/backup player

[BigV]

19 minutes ago, themadsheep2001 said:

Looks like I will get Martinez now. Having sold Skriniar to me, Inter needed a replacement and now have the funds to buy Lindelof.

Fred went to Ajax, Bailly too, Mata to Villarreal. Right mid is weak with just James and Diallo there, but I'm going to use this first season to develop both in competition with each other there. Winner will cover hopefully Sancho going forwards. Loser drops out of the 18 and becomes a cup/backup player

Sounds like a solid plan, can only speak highly of skriniar, its amazing what a good CB can do 

Laturo is my main target if i land sancho, if not then haaland is my guy, Greenwood up top for you? 

[McClane29]

25 minutes ago, themadsheep2001 said:

Looks like I will get Martinez now. Having sold Skriniar to me, Inter needed a replacement and now have the funds to buy Lindelof.

Fred went to Ajax, Bailly too, Mata to Villarreal. Right mid is weak with just James and Diallo there, but I'm going to use this first season to develop both in competition with each other there. Winner will cover hopefully Sancho going forwards. Loser drops out of the 18 and becomes a cup/backup player

Why aren't you using Greenwood on the right? I bought Lautaro Martinez for United in my FM20 save and he never performed so interested to see if he works out for you.

Can you post your transfer dealings for your first transfer window? Would like to see what clubs are willing to pay ahead of my new save.

[themadsheep2001]

3 minutes ago, McClane29 said:

Why aren't you using Greenwood on the right? I bought Lautaro Martinez for United in my FM20 save and he never performed so interested to see if he works out for you.

Can you post your transfer dealings for your first transfer window? Would like to see what clubs are willing to pay ahead of my new save.

He's going to cover the left mid (retrained) and CFs. 

Will post if/when Lindelof leaves and Martinez arrives

[Gee_Simpson]

1 hour ago, themadsheep2001 said:

Genuinely hate him in FM21. Have never kept. Just started my long term save and I need to get him off the wage bill by the end of the first season so I can finance a double move for Haaland and Sancho. Already managed to bring in Bentancur, Skriniar and Gimenez. Just need to get rid of one more player and I can have Lautaro Martinez too, all before the first season has started but proving difficult

Wow that's an ambitious start to transfer business , must have cost loads. I disable the first window so we aren't great straight away.

I wanted Martinez but unfortunately City took him first. I offered him a deal but the scumbag chose City so he's dead to me now. Haaland was my 1st choice anyways so I'll be going for him when I can afford it. Martinez has actually been crap for City this season so seems a bullet dodged, but watch this he'll have a stormer against me in the UCL Final!

Sancho will be bought this summer (season 3) so I'll probably wait until season 4 to bring in Haaland but we'll see. I would ideally like to lose one of Tuanzebe or Maguire, or even both so I can bring in two new CB's. I like the look of Eric Garcia and despite me giving him a future transfer to Barcelona with the pre game editor, they haven't used him at all and sent him out on loan to PSG. They are now willing to sell so I may go for him as he's very clever mentally. I ideally want Todibo from them but I think he'll be much harder to purchase.

One thing I've done is updated some players with the in game editor to match their January patch selves. It wasn't many, around 20 odd, and included the most improved players in the January update here: https://www.footballmanager.com/the-byline/who-are-most-improved-players-winter-update

I couldn't bring myself to edit any of my Utd players as it didn't feel right, even though I was tempted to. For example, Dalot for some reason now has a good fixed PA and I disagree with it tbh, he's done nothing to warrant that imo. Shaw has been slightly improved along with Bruno, McTominay too but Rashford and Greenwood have been slightly reduced. I made sure my version of Moukoko now matches the official one in areas he was lower, and I left the attributes that were past his 15 year old self because he's naturally progressed. He's only made a sub appearance for Dortmund so far so it will be interesting to see when they start playing him.  I also edited Haaland because unfortunately he got unlucky with his PA in my save as my best scout said he was already at near full potential from the start which I thought was very unrealistic, but luckily in the official update his PA has been set to fixed again like it was before FM21 so I updated it in game. Imo he should have had a fixed PA anyway as it's clear he's going to be among the top 5 players in the world. I kinda feel bad about doing this as obviously I'm planning to sign him, but it's not like I picked a random PA for him, I just updated it to match the official update rating. This would probably ruin someone's save but I really don't want to start over again as I like my squad as it is right now. Maybe I could go for Mbappe instead if I feel too bad about it 😅

Edited March 2, 2021 by Gee_Simpson

[themadsheep2001]

1 hour ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Wow that's an ambitious start to transfer business , must have cost loads. I disable the first window so we aren't great straight away.

I wanted Martinez but unfortunately City took him first. I offered him a deal but the scumbag chose City so he's dead to me now. Haaland was my 1st choice anyways so I'll be going for him when I can afford it. Martinez has actually been crap for City this season so seems a bullet dodged, but watch this he'll have a stormer against me in the UCL Final!

Sancho will be bought this summer (season 3) so I'll probably wait until season 4 to bring in Haaland but we'll see. I would ideally like to lose one of Tuanzebe or Maguire, or even both so I can bring in two new CB's. I like the look of Eric Garcia and despite me giving him a future transfer to Barcelona with the pre game editor, they haven't used him at all and sent him out on loan to PSG. They are now willing to sell so I may go for him as he's very clever mentally. I ideally want Todibo from them but I think he'll be much harder to purchase.

One thing I've done is updated some players with the in game editor to match their January patch selves. It wasn't many, around 20 odd, and included the most improved players in the January update here: https://www.footballmanager.com/the-byline/who-are-most-improved-players-winter-update

I couldn't bring myself to edit any of my Utd players as it didn't feel right, even though I was tempted to. For example, Dalot for some reason now has a good fixed PA and I disagree with it tbh, he's done nothing to warrant that imo. Shaw has been slightly improved along with Bruno, McTominay too but Rashford and Greenwood have been slightly reduced. I made sure my version of Moukoko now matches the official one in areas he was lower, and I left the attributes that were past his 15 year old self because he's naturally progressed. He's only made a sub appearance for Dortmund so far so it will be interesting to see when they start playing him.  I also edited Haaland because unfortunately he got unlucky with his PA in my save as my best scout said he was already at near full potential from the start which I thought was very unrealistic, but luckily in the official update his PA has been set to fixed again like it was before FM21 so I updated it in game. Imo he should have had a fixed PA anyway as it's clear he's going to be among the top 5 players in the world. I kinda feel bad about doing this as obviously I'm planning to sign him, but it's not like I picked a random PA for him, I just updated it to match the official update rating. This would probably ruin someone's save but I really don't want to start over again as I like my squad as it is right now.

Very ambitious  but it needs to be, partly because the United side is unbalanced for what I'm trying to achieve (doing a United 2006-2009 tactical recreation, and the current team lacks many of the required elements of that side), and party because all 4 targets are world class players who can be acquired for relatively reasonable negotiations if you move quickly in the first window. After that it becomes much harder to secure them due to contract renewals, or other clubs investing new transfer budgets

[MadOnion]

Manchester United has a very good playmaker in their books. You might have heard of him.

(Granted these stats have been inflated by set-pieces).

Edited March 2, 2021 by MadOnion

[Gee_Simpson]

He's absolutely amazing isn't he? I'll post up his stats soon from season 2. He didn't assist like that but he scored more. By far my favourite player in the team.

Edited March 2, 2021 by Gee_Simpson

[TelcontarTargaryen]

I am also quite surprised.. well, pissed is more like it, but I am biased as hell in this.. but both Joe Hugil and Charlie McNeil were not updated in the new update, even though they are tearing apart U18 / U23 leagues. The thing that actually irks me is that some other players recieived a significant boost to their PA (not fixed so varies) because they are playing very well in those leagues... but not United ones. 

[the SLC]

15 hours ago, MadOnion said:

Manchester United has a very good playmaker in their books. You might have heard of him.

(Granted these stats have been inflated by set-pieces).

you need to enlighten us with your set pieces as the most assists I've achieved in a season is 22!! 

[the SLC]

Just bought Moukoko for 113 million. Hes only gone and bagged 4 goals on his debut!!

[themadsheep2001]

 

Aggressive window paid off (Don't be fooled by the player in values, they are 30-40% upfront with the rest over 3 years), despite Lindelof's best efforts to screw me by initially rejecting a  contract move that would have made me more money, and then demanding a massive payout. Luckily the board agreed Martinez was an important transfer and stepped in, and the Lindelof left anyway, and we're now mortal enemies.

 

[BigV]

Some right bargains there, 73m for laturo is cheap in my books, when i asked they wanted 110 

[themadsheep2001]

22 minutes ago, BigV said:

Some right bargains there, 73m for laturo is cheap in my books, when i asked they wanted 110 

The very first window is the cheapest you'll get them unless something goes very wrong for them at their clubs. 

[Gee_Simpson]

Well after a decent 2nd season I'm seriously considering scrapping it and starting again on the update. We unfortunately didn't win the league after being top for most of the campaign, we finished 4 points behind Liverpool in the end. We only lost one game in the league but unfortunately it was the 11 draws that done us in, just too many times we couldn't break down weaker teams defence. We went out early in the Carabao Cup and got put out in the FA Cup Semi by Liverpool. We won the Champions League though with a 3-2 extra time derby win vs Man City, we put out PSG in the Semi 5-1 on aggregate with our best performances of the season. 

Best way to put it is I have missed out on Haaland which I'm absolutely gutted about, he went to PSG. I made the same mistake as I did on FM20 by waiting until the transfer window opened before moving but tbh I was planning to wait until season 4 to go for Haaland anyway so I would have lost him to PSG regardless. This is also on top of me losing out on Lautaro Martinez to City last season, I now feel like there's not many more options to go for to improve on Martial. Martial was excellent last season tbf scoring 26 goals in 28 league games but I still feel I could do with a truly elite striker. I honestly didn't know it would be that easy to bring in Skriniar, Giminez etc in the first season. I usually disable the first window but now seriously considering starting over again and enabling the first window.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Gee_Simpson

[themadsheep2001]

Some players you just can't wait for. Even though he has no interest yet I'm already scouting Haaland repeatedly until he's ready and then will immediately mark him as a main transfer, basically spending an entire season softening him up, and as soon as I get my budget I'm moving for him

[Gee_Simpson]

13 minutes ago, themadsheep2001 said:

Some players you just can't wait for. Even though he has no interest yet I'm already scouting Haaland repeatedly until he's ready and then will immediately mark him as a main transfer, basically spending an entire season softening him up, and as soon as I get my budget I'm moving for him

Yeah I've made that mistake twice this year and once last year, I hadn't played FM since FM13 until I came back on FM20 & 21 but now I realise the AI only really go for players when the window opens, otherwise you are free to go for them. I definitely want Haaland so I reckon it's a restart for me. I made some mistakes like buying Gabriel Barbosa over Marcus Edwards and tbh despite the good reviews of him in here, he's been absolutely awful for me and now I can't shift him. Edwards went on to have a great season for Aston Villa, basically their best player and scoring 2 vs me whilst Barbosa has been missing sitters left right and centre, also missing 2 pens out of 2. Edwards looks like a great backup option for Sancho imo. I have been mostly playing Barbosa as a RWF tbf and he's probably a striker, but next time I won't bother.

Edited March 3, 2021 by Gee_Simpson

[Gee_Simpson]

It's a tough one though because for example I have Camavinga who was my number 1 target ahead of any other player. Also got Tonali coming in on a free after already getting Depay and Thauvin on frees. Only thing I'm annoyed about is not getting either striker I wanted and it's quite an important position 😅 Martial done well for me but I would imagine Haaland would do even better. 

Edited March 3, 2021 by Gee_Simpson

[pele10]

Poor Moyes.

[Gee_Simpson]

12 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

It's a tough one though because for example I have Camavinga who was my number 1 target ahead of any other player. Also got Tonali coming in on a free after already getting Depay and Thauvin on frees. Only thing I'm annoyed about is not getting either striker I wanted and it's quite an important position 😅 Martial done well for me but I would imagine Haaland would do even better. 

Quoting myself haha. Can't decide whether to start afresh or not.

I mostly love my team tbh, just gutted at missing out on Haaland and Martinez but apart from that my team is excellent. Spent like 3 hours alone setting up my scouts haha, dunno how many hours I have spent on this save already, but it's been a lot. I'm at the stage where I'm that happy with my squad, so I could easily bid over 200m for Haaland or Martinez in the future if I really want them, or even bid for Mbappe. I can bring in Skriniar, Sancho, Aarons on top of Tonali and Marcos Antonio. That would be a great window and would make my team really strong. Skriniar would cost 65m but tbh I'm still happy to pay that.

I was swaying towards starting over again but I don't think I can justify it tbh as it would literally only be because I missed out on one of those two strikers I mentioned. I'm sure Martial will still do great and Greenwood should do well too. I can bring in CR7 and he looks better than Haaland even at 37 years old lool.

Edited March 4, 2021 by Gee_Simpson

[BigV]

43 minutes ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Quoting myself haha. Can't decide whether to start afresh or not.

I mostly love my team tbh, just gutted at missing out on Haaland and Martinez but apart from that my team is excellent. Spent like 3 hours alone setting up my scouts haha, dunno how many hours I have spent on this save already, but it's been a lot. I'm at the stage where I'm that happy with my squad, so I could easily bid over 200m for Haaland or Martinez in the future if I really want them, or even bid for Mbappe. I can bring in Skriniar, Sancho, Aarons on top of Tonali and Marcos Antonio. That would be a great window and would make my team really strong. Skriniar would cost 65m but tbh I'm still happy to pay that.

I was swaying towards starting over again but I don't think I can justify it tbh as it would literally only be because I missed out on one of those two strikers I mentioned. I'm sure Martial will still do great and Greenwood should do well too. I can bring in CR7 and he looks better than Haaland even at 37 years old lool.

IMO stick to the save and see where it ends up, if you miss out on players then that's just football (factor in that realism you like), if i miss out on either as im sure I would come summer, you gotta look elsehwere.

Them 2 are a must for me as I usually want complete forwards who do it all, both are elite but if it comes to not getting them, might just settle on greenwood up top and getting rid of martial (although i love him to bits irl). 

[Gee_Simpson]

29 minutes ago, BigV said:

IMO stick to the save and see where it ends up, if you miss out on players then that's just football (factor in that realism you like), if i miss out on either as im sure I would come summer, you gotta look elsehwere.

Them 2 are a must for me as I usually want complete forwards who do it all, both are elite but if it comes to not getting them, might just settle on greenwood up top and getting rid of martial (although i love him to bits irl). 

I reckon I could go back in for Haaland next season but he's at PSG now so obviously they will want a massive amount, but if he now costs over 200m then so be it. I literally only want two players now, Frenkie De Jong and Haaland. Martinez is at City so that's an unlikely option. Luckily Martial has been excellent for me, so I'm hoping he keeps this run of form up. Greenwood I think could be the one though, it seems @sedge11 has stuck with Greenwood and not went for Haaland or Martinez, is that right?

Edited March 4, 2021 by Gee_Simpson

[MadOnion]

On 03/03/2021 at 11:45, the SLC said:

you need to enlighten us with your set pieces as the most assists I've achieved in a season is 22!! 

This wasn't hard to achieve when you have Bastoni (6ft3 and imho best CB in the game) and Ajer (6ft6) as your CBs (Anel Ahmedhodžić who is 6ft4 is the first backup alongisde Teden Mengi).

Bruno was in charge of all free-kicks (indirect too) and corners. Free-kicks were set as default, but corners were all going to the first post where the CBs were lurking!

But the tactic was also designed for him to explode the key passes (I think he got 100 more than the 2nd places)... The advanced playmaker on support in bog-standard 4231. It was fun indeed but not sustainable since Martial's production (AF) dropped a bit.

Edited March 4, 2021 by MadOnion

[sedge11]

57 minutes ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Greenwood I think could be the one though, it seems @sedge11 has stuck with Greenwood and not went for Haaland or Martinez, is that right?

Yea I brought belotti in instead of those 2, and while Belotti is quality he doesn’t need to be a star player or anything, he’s quite happy as a squad player. So meant Greenwood got his chance to shine.

Though I have stopped my save now, had the break from fm and couldn’t get back into it, plus watching Man Utd in real life was frustrating the hell out of me lol, so I’m on a Lyon save now. I do plan to come back and start a new Man Utd save later down the line, where I want to do things slightly differently. 

[themadsheep2001]

1 hour ago, BigV said:

IMO stick to the save and see where it ends up, if you miss out on players then that's just football (factor in that realism you like), if i miss out on either as im sure I would come summer, you gotta look elsehwere.

Them 2 are a must for me as I usually want complete forwards who do it all, both are elite but if it comes to not getting them, might just settle on greenwood up top and getting rid of martial (although i love him to bits irl). 

Agree stick with the save. But I'd also just sit and map out what kind of transfers you want for the next few seasons in term of key ones. Part of the reason I havent yet advanced my save is because I'm having think about my top targets for the next few seasons, who is needed immediately, who can wait, who needs replacing when etc

[BigV]

3 hours ago, themadsheep2001 said:

Agree stick with the save. But I'd also just sit and map out what kind of transfers you want for the next few seasons in term of key ones. Part of the reason I havent yet advanced my save is because I'm having think about my top targets for the next few seasons, who is needed immediately, who can wait, who needs replacing when etc

I usually make 4 shortlists: 1) Normal types you find generally through scouting/big players. 2) Youngsters/youth with 4-5* potential. 3) Window signings- winter/summer who are must buys or in contention of wanting. 4) The old trial trick for youth intakes 

Can we still make notes? Remember I used to use that in 17 but not used it since. 

[Gee_Simpson]

Thanks guys, I'll just stick with it now as it took me quite a while to get to where I am and outwith Haaland and Martinez, I'm really happy with my squad. I must have got a high PA Marcos Antonio as he's a world class player in my game, he looks brilliant. I also run 50 playable leagues so that can slow things down, especially in the summer transfer windows. I'm thinking of reducing them by half down to 25 for next season as I don't really pay attention to what's happening in other leagues really, I barely look at how teams in smaller nations are doing. It does help having them playable though because you can loan out promising youngsters to the smaller nations like Norway, Sweden etc but apart from that I'm not seeing much benefit. I reckon loaning them out to the Championship or League 1 is probably the equivalent of those smaller leagues anyway.

4 hours ago, BigV said:

Can we still make notes? Remember I used to use that in 17 but not used it since.

Yeah you can mate. Sometimes I use it for staff members that have rejected me so I am reminded to try and offer them a deal a few months or even years down the line. I used it to remind me to offer Depay and Thauvin deals also.

Regarding Haaland, well I just wanted to test things to see how much PSG would actually accept, keeping in mind they've just signed him, and they did accept a 200m bid but obviously Haaland didn't want to talk. I'll try go back for him next season as I have nearly all the players I want now already. Hopefully we can win the league this season and PSG do poorly in Europe although that's unlikely. Is it realistic that PSG have so much pulling power in the game? I know they can offer big money but we offered Haaland 425k p/w but he went to PSG for only 325k p/w. I don't think PSG are as attractive as that in real life, I reckon a top player would usually pick Spain or England. I did offer Haaland a deal where the agent says they are very happy with the offer and he accepted straight away, but imo it was waaay too much, I literally added every bonus I could 

Edited March 4, 2021 by Gee_Simpson

[BigV]

1 hour ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Yeah you can mate. Sometimes I use it for staff members that have rejected me so I am reminded to try and offer them a deal a few months or even years down the line. I used it to remind me to offer Depay and Thauvin deals also.

Nice one  Usually do the same and keep tabs on removing scouts/swapping them out cause as you know we have 30+ lol 

[TelcontarTargaryen]

I started my game, and I am still in preseason. Disabled first transfer window, I am quite thorn between going with youth only, or even academy only... or going all guns blazing and doing what I wish would happen IRL and get Håland, Camavinga, Sancho, de Ligt...

[Gee_Simpson]

So yeah I was really considering starting over again, but that's crazy considering it was only because I missed out on literally one player in Haaland . I'm not that bothered about Lautaro Martinez tbh, as I don't think he's that much better than Martial.

I'm currently running 50 leagues, but I feel it's taking too long to progress, so I'll be reducing it by half down to around 25 leagues which is still more than enough for a Man Utd save imo.

I'll be going for Skriniar despite my bad experience with him on FM20, although Gimenez looks good also, but I don't want both. I'll also be moving for Sancho this window and also Max Aarons as I really like him in game, he's a good alternative to AWB. Apart from that I don't think I'll be adding anyone else. I've brought in Marcos Antonio and I got Tonali on a free so my squad will be looking really good. For those who don't know who Marcos Antonio is:

 

He has random PA so looks like I just got lucky with him on this save. He cost me 30m which I think is a bargain imo.

I'll be getting rid of more than I bring in this summer, Pogba being the main one. Also McTominay, Tuanzebe, Gabriel Barbosa, Dalot, VDB and a few youngsters like Pellistri and Diallo.

Edited March 5, 2021 by Gee_Simpson

[Gee_Simpson]

This was how Bruno done in the 2nd season. He was amazing for us, easily our best player. That was as a Treq in a 4231.

[Chapman7]

23 hours ago, BigV said:

Nice one  Usually do the same and keep tabs on removing scouts/swapping them out cause as you know we have 30+ lol 

Not after I've gone through them 

[milan_manutd]

At the start of season 5 I decide to give more chance to younger players and even to sell some big names (in january 2024. Ajer left to Bayer Lever. 25mil£ (pot. 30), Szoboszlai to Inter 35mil£ and in july Fred left on free, Depay 47.5mil£ to Milan, Lucas Toreira 18mil£ Fiorentina (great deal because I've got him on free summer before) and most difficult one was letting DDG on loan to Napoli and then for only 23,5mil£ pot. 32,5mil. With all of these transfers I make some rooms in my wage budget to give new contracts to some unhappy players like Upamecano, Donnarumma and Camavinga.  Well Camavinga wasn't unhappy it was my tactics to keep him away from potential big bids from PSG and Real.

Switching from 4-1-2-2-1 V gegenpress to 4-1-2-1-2 diamond tiki taka, with slowing tempo down and keeping ball in my possession because I have technically great midfielders  like Camavinga, Bruno, Matias Palacios, Thiago Almada...

Now making changes like this is now problem for my wingers, some of them can and will play as strikers but almost non of them can't play as wing backs.

Thinking of selling Maguire, Baily (to much injuries), AWBisaka, Williams (both wants to leave), DVBeck and even Marital. He is regressing from season to season and on the bench is waiting Greenwood, Arezo, Gnoto,...

[Superman]

I’ve played 3 seasons in and Liverpool on course to win there 3rd in a row it’s really frustrating how overpowered they are. I won champions league 1st season yet next 2 seasons I’ve got to the semi finals and faced them and twice they’ve knocked me out. Yet City who are just as good if not even better  IRL are always abysmal

[Hoarau]

Can anyone help direct me on how to fix the euro kits not showing on the match screen.

Ive got the other 3 kits in my pack fine but i cant seeem to sort out the european kit?

[milan_manutd]

Does anyone know is it possible to make changes in squad registrations rules? Just can’t find in Editor or In game editor. 
 

[BigV]

1 hour ago, milan_manutd said:

Does anyone know is it possible to make changes in squad registrations rules? Just can’t find in Editor or In game editor. 
 

This might help if you scroll down a bit I think 

[bart__goes]

On 21/02/2021 at 01:01, Smaldini said:

Season two done and we managed to win everything but the FA Cup. We lost out in the semi-finals again, this time to Everton who beat us 3-1 (we were down to 10 men through injury, but Pogba scored a late penalty to send it to extra time, wish he'd missed it tbh). They went on to beat Liverpool in the final on penalties. Funnily enough Everton had another final a few days later, beating Copenhagen on penalties to become the inaugural Europa Conference champions. Liverpool had an abysmal UCL group stage and finished third behind Benfica & CSKA Moscow, but they went on to beat Chelsea in the Europa League final...and a few days later we made sure the North-West had dominated Europe by beating Juventus 2-0 in the Champions League final, real comfortable game too. 

Martial was the golden boot winner in the CL (11 goals in 9 games) and Forward of the season, more on him later. The odd thing about Axel winning Defender of the season is he didn't make the CL Team of the Year, it was Maguire and Alaba at the back (and rightly so as they played more). But I do think Team of the Year may be broken, because in the Premier League Martial didn't make the team despite finishing on 20 goals, one behind the golden boot winner Lautaro Martinez (Liverpool signed him) yet Firmino did with a measly 10 goals....Football Writer's Player of the Year Mason Mount didn't make the team but Pogba did despite him not contributing as much to our league success as Fernandes did, who also missed out. Then they had Milner at left-back in the team even though Robertson had the second highest average rating (behind Mount) and both Shaw & Telles had a better year than Milner; so it's pretty dodgy. The club had to pay Pogba £950k for his place in the TOTY too and he really didn't deserve it, I'm beginning to regret extending his contract tbh. 

Broke one or two records this year. We were behind Liverpool & Chelsea for the first few months but by the time December came round Chelsea started to drop off, and by February Liverpool were behind us. In the Carabao Cup final we beat Chelsea 3-0 using a 3-4-1-2 formation which Lampard seemingly can't handle, because in our final home league game they were beating us 1-0 but I switched from 4231 to the aforementioned formation and both Rashford & Martial bagged a hat-trick each in the second half. I did say a back three might be my main formation this season, but with Cavani's massive decline & months-long injuries to Martial & Greenwood in the summer it made sense to continue with one striker up front. I did stick to my guns by abandoning the 433 formation though, it's been 4231 for the majority of the campaign with the occasional switch to a back three in cup games. The transfers I made played a part in my decision to stick with wingers too...

At the start of the summer Dembele was transfer-listed for £77m, by the end of it his price had dropped so low I just had to take the risk. Fred was seeking a move elsewhere but the offers weren't good enough, I saw Villa were interested though so I thought I'd bring Grealish in & get Fred off the books at the same time. Wan-Bissaka came to me in the summer demanding higher wages (he wanted £195k ffs) so we had a falling out, luckily I had Gabriel Menino coming in anyway (I signed him for £16m) and he's done well as first choice RB this year, and Williams is good cover too. Camavinga was coming in for about £10m cheaper but Rennes went under a transfer embargo cancelling the deal, they were stingy when it came to renegotiating and wanted £80m but I've never signed him before so I was fine with compromising at £74m. The other two lads were mainly brought in as extra bodies for the U23s, but they both have fairly good potential too. Also had Talles Magno for £17m iirc (it was a release clause, I know that much) but let him finish off the Brazilian season so he arrived in January. Not sure why he or Menino aren't showing up in this list. 

Martial has been incredible. Had a few injuries throughout the campaign but was quality whenever he did play. Scored the winner in the Community Shield despite not being fully fit for the game, also scored in the League Cup & Champions League finals, twenty goals in twenty league games too. Memphis was reliable for most of the season, but before the CL he told me he didn't think he'd ever be good enough to start and wants to leave so I promised I'd let him go in the summer. That means Greenwood will exclusively be Martial's understudy from now on, hopefully he won't be as plagued by injuries as he was this year. I'm definitely selling James too as he didn't do much on loan to Wolves, Magno and Pellistri will be loaned out (hopefully the latter actually gets given the agreed game time, Palace wasted him). Chong has scored I think 26 goals on-loan at Porto, so he'll be a rotation option next season. Amad did well on loan to Wolfsburg too so I'm going to see if he's ready to perform in the PL now.

Cavani is leaving when his contract expires, unfortunately he just declined way too much. Matic still has a year left but he's declined massively too so I'll try and get him out. Koopmeiners is unhappy because he wants more money, we had a row over it but on reflection I think I will offer him a new deal because he is only on £45k at the moment. I'm open to selling Donny and even Pogba though. Bowen was more impressive this year but I still want him out too. Not sure if I'll make any big signings this summer, but in my social feed I see Liverpool sniffing around Sancho, Chelsea trying to get Frenkie, PSG chasing Haaland...it's tempting to interfere. 

Are you able to share a screenshot of Gabriel Menino's stats and career history? Looking at potentially buying him in my Ajax save.

And do you usually play him as CM or RB?

[milan_manutd]

5 hours ago, BigV said:

This might help if you scroll down a bit I think 

Hope so, I just contact KUBI and now waiting for reply.

Call me cheater but I start to lose my mind with unhappy players and youngsters who are impatient. Yes, yes, I know, it's my fault cause I was such greedy spender but what can you do?!?!

Aside from everything I think that 7 subs and only 25 players i PL is stupid rules, just look at the other main leagues.

[Smaldini]

3 hours ago, bart__goes said:

Are you able to share a screenshot of Gabriel Menino's stats and career history? Looking at potentially buying him in my Ajax save.

And do you usually play him as CM or RB?

I play him as a Right-Back, and on the few occasions he's played as a Wing-Back he's done well there too. I haven't tried him in midfield but he looks like he could be a good DLP.