dirkgently1066

Season 1 Review A solid start to my FM24 campaign as we secure the league title, together with the FA Cup and Europa League. The league campaign was a tight one. We got off to a bright start and opened up a sizeable lead by City just wouldn't quit, drawing level with us on points and threatening to topple us. Both sides dropped points but as the season drew to a close, we had the opportunity to seal the title at Anfield with a win over City themselves. After going 0-1 down, we roared back to a 3-1 lead and in the midst of a hectic fixture schedule, I opted to take a couple of star players off early. Big mistake; City hit back and levelled the game at 3-3. It was simply delaying the inevitable though, the title effectively sealed in the next game, a 3-1 win at Everton, although mathmateically it went down to the last game of the season. Having knocked us out of the League Cup, City would again stand in our way in the FA Cup Final. Despite some tight games along the way, including an incredible comeback penatly win at Newcastle, the final was rather dull, a single Luis Diaz goal enough to give us the trophy. Meanwhile in Europe, Liverpool's chaotic 2022/23 season gave us the opportunity to compete in the Europa League for a change. The calibre of opponent was clearly a step below the Champions League, allowing for some player rotation, the final again a relatively straightforward affair as Salah netted twice to complete a treble. Performances As ever, it was the tactical side of the game that caused me the most anxiety. On the face of it, things could not have gone much better. Our league record of 29 wins, 4 draws and 5 defeats is pretty reasonable for a first season. With 111 scored and 27 conceded, we were the best team in both an attacking an defensive sense whilst we also had the league's top scorer (Salah - 25), top rating (Tsimikas! - 7.39) and assister (Trent - 16). We were likely only denied the best clean sheet performance due to Alisson missing a chunk of the season with wrist and shoulder injuries. And yet... I was continually frustrated during the season. As the name of the thread implies, the intention with this save was to go with a Vertical Tiki Taka approach, a deliberate move away from my previous reliance on either Gegenpress or my own style. Results wise it worked but within games, I was often frustrated by the number of chances created. After 30 games, I couldn't quite understand where our 100 goals had come from. Indeed I have to look back over my fixture list to remind myself of the 7-0 over Burnley, 4-0 over Man United, 5-0 at Wolves and 8-0 over Everton. By any measure, a triumph. And yet still I wondered. Could I do better? Perhaps I should have used Gegenpress or could have done better with a 433. It didn't help watching the crazy Liverpool vs Newcastle game last night and seeing the number of chances as xG, another prompt for me to wonder what if... I recognise the usual signs of perfectionism as well as the danger of black and white thinking. Added to that is the constant need for cudgement, looking back at my previous saves and insisting on comparing myself unfavourably to my own previous efforts, discounting the positive that this was achieved in one save as I felt my way through a new tactic and instead focusing on the negatives even though the comparison to a multi-time restarted and refined tactic is clearly a skewed one. Individual player ratings were on the low side but given that we accounted foer the top two performers in the division and 5 of the top 9, this feels less like under performance on our part and more that the rating criteria are a little more demanding. Particularly pleasing was the performance of Trent. He seems to have replaced Steven Gerrard as my obsession for ensuring their individual performance is maximised, any under performance automatically assumed to be a result of the tacit I have employed and therefore my fault and clearly a failure. Pleasingly then, Trent's 7.28 rating and 22 assists across all competitions was at the higher end of the performance scale, helped enourmously by the decision early in the season to switch his wingback role from support to attack. There are some improvements I will look for. I potentially played a little safe with player roles, fear of failure holding me back from trying a Regista over a DLP or a Segundo instead of a more bog standard DM. I never quite nailed down the AMC role either, and then in turn the striker role that would best complement it. I have to be careful not to go too far the other way of course and embrace fancy new roles just for the sake of it, but there is a likely a balance to be found by taking measured risk. Transfers Another common area of anxiety and a fear of failure. I deliberately kept transfer busieness fairly modest in the first year, only Nat Phillips being allowed to leave on a permanent deal and that on completion of a successful loan and Thiago allowed to leave on expiry of his contract. Incomings too were limited to yougsters with potential. Yaser Asprilla will join from Watford for next season at £11.25m, joing by Simone Pafundi on a free, a promising looking AMC from Udinese. I have eyes on adding another centre back and long term, hope to bring in either Scalvini, de Ligt or Silva. Short term though, I could do with a left footer and have activated the £18.5m release clause of Mika Marmol of Las Palmas, who looks like a decent squad addition for the fee, contract demands dependent.

How We Got Here After a bright start to life on FM23, my save went the way of so many others during my Champ / FM life, any hopes of a long term career going up in flames as I fell victim to the perfectionist mindset. Successfull starts were thrown away as I veered wildy between formations and tactical philosophies, each change necessitating a complete restart, all the flexibility of thinking I established with FM20 forgotten. As ever, I hadn't intended to buy FM24 but my brother's usual Christmas cajoling wasn't required in the end. I racked up over 2,000 hours on FM23 and yet never made it past season 4. Time to leave it behind. As a parting gift, I completed one final season, winning the league with 90+ points and giving me the basis of a starting point for FM24. As usual though, even this came with some mental tribulations. Deep, Deep Down 4231. Once my default formation during the Rafa years, I moved away from it with FM20, switching between a Klopp-inspired 433 and a Gegenpress 424. It came back to the fore in FM21, leading me to my best ever league performance of 110 points from 36 wins and 2 draws, smacking in a mighty 135 goals. I tried it again on FM22 but ended up back with a 433. Given how many restarts I have undertaken on FM23, it was inevitable that some of these would use a 4231 and indeed I had success with it. The thing is, my idea of a 4231 was always with 2 CMs whereas it was clear that the game now favoured 2 DMs instead. I got the rational. In truth, I recognised that this was how Rafa always set up with Alonso and Mascherano but I couldn't bring myself to embrace it. Using DMs just felt too defensive and anyway, most of my midfielders were CMs, not to mention the fact that the Analysis tab on the Tactic screen just looked wrong. Inevitably then, I stuck with my CM-based 4231. It worked too, spanking in goals, but the drawbacks were obvious. On the In Transition screen, the 2 CMs would join the counter attack, leaving us exposed at the back whilst also meaning that my wingbacks lacked defensive support, impacting their performance. I stubbornly soldiered on but finally, I decided to give the new DM template a whirl. Well, I should have tried that sooner. It's not that we suddently went on a super run but we just looked more solid and the players moved how I wanted them too. My interpretation needed some tweaks (we played City five times in all competitions and lost 4 of them) but I had a template and a base to start from. This change of formation also saw a change of style. I had usually favoured either Gegenpress or my own style, a high tempo, short passing game. Both worked but also had theior limitations. Having had success without passing into space on FM22, I decided to try it again here, moving to a Positive Vertical Tiki Taka. The focus on passing through the middle seems to retain the speed of passing once we decide to move but at the same time, we take our time before starting a move. Chance creation is lower but arguably of better quality and as our final FM23 season showed with 107 goals, scoring is not a problem.

Season 2 Another successful season for the mighty Reds as we retain both our Premier League and Champions League crowns. In some ways, season 2 would be more challenging than the first and yet in others, it was decidedly smoother sailing. Things didn't get off to the best of starts. City beat us 1-2 in the Charity Shield and then our first league game of the season was at - you guessed it - the Etihad. This time we went down 0-2, not helped by Van Dijk getting his marching orders after just 4 minutes following a pretty shocking two footed lunge. I basically just tried to shut up shop and hold on after that and so took a two goal defeat as a reasonable result. Still, it was a defeat. Immediately I was haunted by memories of my FM20 save, season 2 being the first of my unbeaten league campaigns as we racked up a total of 80+ games undefeated. Had I done something wrong? Thoughts of tactical change had been nagging at me but I decided to stick for now and we were rewarded with a 5-1 thumping of Inter to secure our first UEFA Super Cup. We then racked up 12 straight league wins, eventually coming a cropper at Arsenal. This though would be our only defeat until May when, title secured, we seemed to rather give up against Chelsea and let them thwack us 2-5. Despite our form, the league remained a tight contest. We were top and for some reason City had 2 games in hand which, if they won, would bring them within a couple of points of us. After our opening day defeat, all eyes turned to Anfield where a win would see us put City back in their place. Frustratingly though, we allowed a 2 goal lead become a 2-2 draw with a last minute equalizer, keeping City in with a shout. Ultimately though they couldn't live with our pace and with 99 points, we finished 7 points clear. There was more fun to come in the Champions League. A silly group stage loss to Benfica aside, we breezed through to the quarter finals and PSG. Given our form, I dismissed any notion of changing up our tactics and promptly got walloped 0-3 in Paris. I wasn't concerned though, knowing that we had the firepower to overcome almost anyone at home. Lo and behold, we were 4-0 up within 30 minutes with Salah and Nunez each scoring a brace. An Mbappe goal before half time brought the tie level before Salah struck again for his hattrick for 5-4. Phew. Except... Straight after half time, Mbappe notched again to level the tie. Salah unbelievably struck his 4th but Mbappe hit back and we would go to extra time. Piling forward, Cody Gakpo would be the hero, scoring a 114th winner to make it 7-3 on the night and 7-6 on aggregate! In the semi, Real Madrid tried their best to emulate these antics. We went 2-0 up in Spain before a Vinicius Junior hattrick game them a slender advantage. This time the return leg was more straightforward as Jota, Van Dijk and Salah helped us to a 3-1 second leg win. After all that, the final was a bit of a damp squib, our old pals Inter going down to 10-men early on as we saw out a simple 2-0 win. The only real blot on the landscape was in the FA Cup. We were scheduled to face Ipswich just before that league game at City and so I rested the entire first team. We still had a pretty decent team out but Ipswich did us good and proper, securing a 2-3 win to dump us out in just the 4th round. Player Performance Much like the first season, ratings were okay but distinctly down on previous versions of FM. Nunez again led the scoring charts but his output was down, his performances dipping to the point that his coach rating routinely dropped from 4 to 3 (before promptly going back up to 4 again after spanking 4 in one game). Harvey Elliott again had an impressive season, mostly from the bench or as a back up, and heading into season 3, I'll be looking at how I can get him into the starting line up. Our major purchase was in midfield where I sought a long-term replacement for Henderson. I wanted Bellngham but baulked at his £101m release clause. He remains on the radar but I plumped for Camavinga who at £68m, offers a solid investment and the capability of playing in a couple of positions. With Brighton getting relegated, I added Caicedo for a bargain £36.5m, who joins us next season. The disappointment remains Trent at right back. Ratings generally seem much more sensitive in this match engine, defenders regularly receiving ratings of 6.4 or lower, presumably because of some loose passes or missed interceptions. Still, both Tsimikas and Robertson at left back managed to score in the low 7s and so even accepting somewhat lower ratings generally, his under performance stands out. It became a bit of an obsession during the season and the main driver of me thinking about tactical changes. Could I give him an attacking duty perhaps, or switch him to a CWB role. Trouble is, I don't want to destabilise my formation just to accommodate one player. Even Trent. My friends, it even reached the point where I considered restarting, trying again with another tactical style or formation that would allow our prize asset to flourish. He'll now have a rating of 6.90 on his permanent record, worse than the previous season. Aren't I supposed to be making him better? Was it my fault? Had I ruined him and therefore the save? And where would Gerrard play? (no wait, that's a different hang up). I don't have the answer to these questions but I am forcing myself to live with this uncomfortable feeling. What if I never get the best out of him? What if I win the league and champions league every year for a decade, win the World Cup as England and Trent plays every game with ratings no better than 7. Does it matter? Does one somehow cancel out the other? I don't think so, however much the all or nothing part of my brain would like to think so. Next Up I really will get round to talking about squad planning, mainly because it is the thing that causes me the most anxiety. Plus I have a couple of top quality regens that have come through the youth academy.

Round 2 Right, enough of that nonsense. Although there is an irony that I'm going to wax lyrical on a save that hasn't yet got as far as the one I ditched. Second time around, I was resolute in opting to stick with my FM20 433. Here it is; Nothing especially clever. Essentially, I took the 433 Gegenpress base and switched some roles to better represent what I thought the FM20 Liverpool team looked like. With Thiago now in the ranks, the mezzala should arguably now be an advanced playmaker but it is a role I have often been frustrated with. Plus, I don't want to base part of the tactic around a guy who is 31. With a transfer budget of c£40m, we have some funds to play with but not enough to go and solve that well documented midfield problem. With his signing announced just before new Year, I decided to bring in Cody Gakpo in a deal that will ultimately be worth £48.5m. I was a little hesitant as he is only rated 3 stars but to my surprise, he worked very well on the abandoned save above and so I knew he was a solid investment. The season started strongly as we whacked Man City 5-0 in the Charity Shield, helped along by Ruben Dias getting his marching orders just after half time, although we were already 2 up by that point. We followed that up with an opening day win at Goodison, sticking in 3 without reply, before thrashing Leicester for 4 and Villa for 7, either side of a drab 0-0 at Leeds. Our first defeat would come in October as Real bested us 1-3 in Spain. This was followed by a tough trip to City, who also beat us, ensuring that most horrible of stains on the fixture schedule - consecutive losses. City would again beat us in the League Cup 2 months later. Still, this would be our only league defeat until May when, having already secured the league title and on the verge of setting a new undefeated milestone for the club, we succumbed to a 0-2 defeat at Arsenal. With Real avenged 3-2 at home, we would sweep all else before us, ending the season as winners of the league, champions league, FA Cup and charity shield, only the Milk Cup eluding us. We would end the league campaign with 29 wins, 7 draws and 2 defeats, scoring 111 and conceding 29 with a total of 94 points, 9 clear of second placed City. Funnily enough, player performance was broadly at a par with that abandoned first season. Take a look at this; As you can see, the ratings aren't much different. Nunez and Salah were more proficient but then that what happens when you don't break your leg. Indeed Trent's numbers are actually way down, registering just 14 assists vs 23. It just felt different though. We always seemed more in control of games and, whilst we had some sticky moments away from home - reflected by those 7 draws - I always felt that we were in a position to win games. There was the odd mid-match tweak but overall, I was happy to stick rather than twist. And just look at those stats for Elliott! Not a bad season, right? Plenty of reasons to cheer? Oh my dear naive friends, if only that were so. This is going to sound like a humble brag but in truth, it is little more than black and white thinking and perfectionism. 7 draws? 2 defeats? Mate, I've had multiple unbeaten seasons. I'm used to racking up minimum 100 points each season. This is garbage! It isn't of course. We have to bring some balanced thinking. FM23 is a new match engine that I am finding my way round and the squad - the same core of players from FM20 - are now that much older. Plus of course, City are that much stronger. As @Sonic Youthnotes, Haaland was my go to signing on previous versions and Mbappe was the cherry on top of the cake. Other teams have improved too and the struggles of real life Liverpool highlight that nothing can be taken for granted. Let's be pleased then with what we have achieved and turn our thoughts to what comes next. Watching the match highlights, there are still some tactical gaps I am keen to fill but I am wary of changing anything radically. Plus, experience has shown me that a second season with a tactic can often be more fruitful as the players step into a pair of shoes that they are already comfortable with. Next Instalment Join me as we consider potential transfer targets and get our heads around the squad planner.

Back again? Yes that's right, after my annual insistence of 'I don't need this year's version, I'll just stick with the version I have,' I inevitably caved and decided to dive in to FM23. Now, if you're new around here I should probably forewarn you; this thread might be a little different from some of the other career updates. You might even find it a bit self indulgent and annoying. Sure, they'll be some pretty screenshots and some boasting about trophies but I like to focus on a slightly different aspect of FM, specifically how I manage my game time against the backdrop of anxiety. For you hardy souls who have stuck with me from FM14 onwards, some exciting news. This year, I'm going to adding the context of chronic fatigue! "Chronic Fawhonow?" you ask. That's right, whilst our old pal anxiety is still on the scene, his chum ME has decided to move in too. Well, it adds a bit of challenge to the save I suppose. False Start Oh yeah, the other thing I should probably tell you is that I have this really annoying tendency to start a save and then ditch it for the most petty of reasons, almost always having nothing to do with actual results. I took this art form to new heights in FM22, regularly booting up, only to find that a couple of the youth team players who have random stats were only rated 3 stars by my coach rather than 3.5 stars, and so turning off. Or trouncing all and sundry in pre-season then quitting before the first league game because I decided that I wanted to implement a new playing style, which apparently meant that I must cleanse my PC and start over. Or my own personal favourite, where I would work myself up, get dead excited about a new plan I had concocted then go to bed and after waking up in the morning, having a complete change of mind and starting over. For context, I racked up 40+ seasons on FM20, my playing time totalling a whopping 2,341.9 hours, the most I had ever spent on a single version of the game. For FM22, my best career was just 10 seasons and yet I managed to accrue 'playing' time of 2,374.7 hours. Yes that's right, I quite literally spent more time restarting saves over and over again on FM22 than I did actually playing a 4 decade career on FM20 Oh, such fun. That was partly the motivation for buying FM23. I figured that by starting fresh on new territory, all the FM22 demons could be laid to rest. Still, the anxiety-riddled, OCDish part of my brain insisted on perfection before we even got going. I was determined that I would only hit 'Play' on Steam when I was ready to commit, which meant downloading kits and logos etc and checking, double checking and triple checking everything before I booted up. Demon satisfied, it was only then time to start. At which point of course the next anxiety trigger kicks in. What formation and style will I use? I won't spend time on some of the circular thinking documented in my other threads. Instead, let's cut to the chase. To ensure a clean start, and to ensure compatibility with the current squad, I opted for the 433 Gegenpress tactic that had served me well at the outset of FM20. It wasn't perfect and would likely need tweaking at some point but it gave me a familiar base. Things started off well as Salah bagged 4 against our under 21s. Thing is though, Luis Diaz played really badly, with a rating of just 6.3. So after one pre-season game, I ditched it, switching out the inside forwards for inverted wingers and the mezzala for a playmaker. We saw immediate improvement in the next game, thrashing a bunch of hapless local minnows, the change of role not bothering Salah as he helped himself to another hat full of goals. Mission accomplished. The first sign of trouble came shortly thereafter with news of a broken leg for Salah, putting him out for 4 months. Immediately I thought of restarting but I was determined not to. I carried on then and, perhaps not surprisingly given our star man was out, our form was up and down. Into the latter part of the season, we were second in the league, chasing down Man City. With Salah back fit, things were looking good. Right up until Nunez broke his leg, putting him out for 4 months. Long story short, we somehow won the league but our form was patchy at best. Tactically, I had stuck with the 433 but had jumped all over the place, from Gegenpress to my own style and eventually ending the season using Tiki Taka. None of them convinced, our goal output well down on normal and player ratings across the board much lower than I would expect. Trent in particular seemed nerfed, barely getting above a coach rating of 3, even though his output remained decent. Something needed to change. Harking back to FM20, for season 2 I changed direction completely and employed an aggressive 424. it was brilliant! We dished teams left and right, including smacking 8 past Spurs as we took a dominant lead in the league. My key players were performing and I was confident that I had found the way forward. You know what happened, don't you? Our form fell off a cliff and in an attempt to turn things around, I lost all tactical discipline. I lurched hopelessly between formations and styles, losing any sense of what my FM identity was and to rub it in, our form showed no improvement. I'm not proud to tell you my friends that I deleted the save. Wait, so that's it? Well, not quite. But that can wait for the next instalment. See, I told you it was self indulgent and annoying.

After the ridiculousness of the prior season, Season 12 was never likely to live up to the same standards but, in its own way, it did its best. Our 12th league title was a slightly closer race with Arsenal but we would ultimately finish 9 points clear. We were potent in front of goal, knocking in 122, but 5 draws and 3 defeats (all bar 1 of which were away) speak to the limitations of my tactic. After securing the usual Community Shield and Super Cup wins, I started to dream of a repeat clean sweep but first round exits in both League and FA Cups soon put those thoughts to bed. The Champions league remained a target though and it would prove to be a fascinating contest. After dispatching Monaco and Tottenham, we drew Barcelona in the semi. A 0-0 draw in the first leg in Spain seemed an ok result but inexplicably, we went 2-0 down after 23 minutes of the return leg. Moukoko scored a penalty to get one back but they struck again, going 3-1 up just minutes into the second half. With nothing to lose, I switched to a much more aggressive strategy, Haaland grabbing a goal almost immediately and then Trent equalising to take us to extra time. With legs tiring, Moukoko struck again and his goal would take us through to the final. Bayern would await us. This time we struck early through Mbappe but wouldn't you know it, my former player Adeyemi would equalise. With no further goals, we would go to penalties. We held our nerve whilst they missed twice, securing my 7th Champions League and 3rd in a row. There was more to come though as it was also time for the Club World Cup. It's a tournament I always like to win but it is such a challenge given the scheduling and lack of conditioning work. And wouldn't you know it, Bayern awaited at the quarter final stage. Adeyemi scored again but a red card for Wirtz helped us on our way, Haaland and Bellingham securing progress. PSG would prove a stubborn opponent in the final, taking us into extra time but homegrown heroes Ben Roberts and Emrah Inci hit two goals in extra time to take us to the final. Playing Arsenal felt lie something of a letdown for a 'World' cup but that didn't stop Mbappe from netting the winner, the perfect way to end / start the season.

Yes, feel like I've not really done right by him. Got too distracted by the shiny new toys I could buy and forgot to play with the brilliant one I already had.

Harvey Elliott is a really interesting one. At the outset of the save, he looks like the one 'can't miss' prospect out of the whole squad but I always struggled to get anything out of him. Admittedly, signing Adeyemi and Angelo didn't help as he couldn't get much game time. When he did play, either at AML, centre mid or even up-front, he was often disappointing. He became a 4-star player, acting is little more than a squad player. This season though he really kicked on. Honestly, he's still going to struggle for game time. Moukoko is more effective at AML and both Bellingham and Everson have the midfield locked down. He is very much first reserve though, able to provide strong cover in a number of positions. Were I to have my time again, I would like to take the time to properly develop both him and Kaide Gordon (another promising youngster who ultimately disappointed) rather than grab the short-term high of a ready made star. Maybe something to aim for on FM23.

Six of the Best Whilst Klopp and the boys couldn't quite manage to pull off a remarkable quadruple, I sealed my own place FM history with a mighty season, sweeping the board and winning all six competitions in which we were entered. In fact at one point, I dared to dream that we might manage to go an entire season unbeaten in all competitions. The closest I ever got to that was a season on FM20 but even with unbeaten league campaigns, there is usually a random UCL group game that trips you up. Not here though. In fact we would go all the way through to early April before tasting defeat, Leeds coming from 2-1 down to beat us 3-2. This would set off something of a chain reaction as we lost the second leg of our UCL quarter final, then lost again in the leg to Leicester and West Ham. By this stage we were well clear at the top of the league and, having lost the unbeaten record, I was happy to sacrifice a league defeat to ensure we were fresh and competitive in the UCL. Make no mistake though, I put out teams to win those games and the defeats stung, coming as they often do in games where we seem toothless and on the backfoot. Talking of the UCL, it was a close run thing. Playing Bayern in the semi, we managed a 2-1 victory at home in the first leg but our old mate Adeyemi grabbed a consolation, setting up a tricky second leg. Tactically I was unsure how to proceed. Our established 433 had just seen us lose to West Ham, albeit with a weakened team but it had also secured terrific away wins at Arsenal and Man Utd. My usual back up, that plays more on the counter and looks to play into space, was far from a guaranteed winner and I feared disrupting a winning machine. Wit this confusion, I would chop and change throughout the match and it wasn't long before Bayern scored, only to add a second just before half time. The tie slipping away from us, and with increasing tired legs, I switched to a more aggressive set of roles and withdrew Haaland, sending on my regen forward Ben Roberts. In the 74th minute, he struck a crucial equalizer to take it to extra time and then, incredibly, tucked away a 119th minute winner to send us through to the final. From there, it was a walk in the park, West Ham turned over in the FA Cup and Inter dispatched for 4 in the UCL final to bring the curtain down on an incredible campaign. Equally pleasing, I finally convinced the board to dig into their pockets and finance a new stadium, the Scott Delonnette Stadium due for completion in a few years time. What next then? Well despite the success of this season, I still have doubts over my tactic. Using overlaps with support duties in both wide roles feels wrong, as does playing with a DLF instead of an AF. I also can't help but think we would be more defensively secure with a defend duty at DM but that would switch us from Fluid to Flexible and mean more defensive duties than attacking ones, undoing the sense of balance that I must have in my tactic. With these doubts persisting, I keep considering changes. Sure, we have won lots of trophies. But we've only managed one unbeaten season. We do not consistently get over 100 points. We have never managed to concede a single digit number of goals. We sometimes struggle with away games. These are the doubts that niggle at me. I recognise of course that I am chasing perfectionism So too am I comparing my performance but bizarrely, I am comparing to myself. On FM20, I racked up multiple unbeaten seasons and bashed in goals for fun and part of me wonders if I am too conservative here. Then again, by season 13 of that save, the wheels had come off and had lost the league. We're not there yet of course but such implosion feels unlikely this time round. Still, against this background, I sometimes wonder how I ever win anything.

Season 10 Another league title secured, season 10 would promise to be one of our best ever before falling slightly short. We started in imperious fashion, winning 20 straight and batting away all league challenges. Defeats would eventually come, first at Newcastle and then, more gratingly, at lowly Norwich. To be fair, that Norwich defeat was partly my fault, but more on that in a second. Add in a couple of draws and we would again break the 100 points barrier. Pleasingly, our defensive performance was also our best yet too. Elsewhere, the league cup would again elude us, meaning the first season quadruple remains our only success in the competition. We would also fall short in the FA Cup, going down to Man City at the quarter final stage, another defeat I am at least partially to blame for. Still, we did manage to add another Champions League, seeing off Real Madrid and Juventus before thrashing Atletico in the final. Now, about that blame game. For the last few season I have been trying to get our wage bill back under control. As seems to always happen in my saves, it billows out to the £5.5 - £6m range as all those decent players, earning perhaps £100k, become good players and want at least double. Add in Haaland, Mbappe, Salah et al at over £300k and it soon builds up. Coupled with this, we were routinely in the red by season's end. Clearly we needed a new stadium but the owners would not commit whilst we were so low on funds. They didn't seem to mind me spending money though and so on it went. This season added a further wrinkle. A couple of our young regens have really developed, Everson in particular now a 5 star player but others not far behind. It started to become problematic as I couldn't fit them all in, the likes of Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott, Ryan Gravenberch and Karim Adeyemi all becoming unhappy at different times. With this in mind then, I decided to kill two birds with one stone. After some negotiation, I accepted an £82m bid from Inter for Gravenberch, freeing up some wages and opening a slot for Everson. At the same time, Juventus came calling for Konate. I had no need to sell him but at 31, it seemed like this was the only opportunity to cash in if I was ever going to do so. I was also mindful of this guy joining at the end of the season, who looks a first-team candidate from the off. With the future in mind, I cashed in. In isolation, a couple of good deals. The problem was though that I forgot that I had loaned out my entire under 23 team and so as the season got into the business end, I started to run out of back up players. Trent, Mbappe and others picked up injuries too, meaning that we had to lean fully on the squad we had left, often going into games without a full complement of subs! Back to that under 23 side for a minute. Loans aside, I had accidentally gutted my youth teams and so started to bring in some decent looking prospects and renew the contracts of anyone on the books, regardless of talent. It's not a sustainable strategy but my current first team includes a couple of 2.5 - 3 star regens, players that I could have easily released who now provide a useful, and affordable, back up option. From a personal perspective, still a little way to go to take over as the greatest manager of all time but it's not a bad first decade in charge.

Season 9 A really strange one this. Our 9th season would see a 9th straight league title and, after settling back into our tactical groove, it would be a season of domination. 33 wins, 4 draws and just 1 defeat saw us hit 103 points, our best performance in 5 years. Haaland led the way, his 32 goals in 32 games contributing to 120 league goals scored. Elsewhere though, we would be frustrated at almost every turn. After securing the Community Shield and Super Cup, a home penalty defeat against Leeds would see us dumped out of the League Cup in round 3. In the FA Cup, we only managed to go one round further, succumbing to Arsenal in round 4 and prompting half my squad to get on my case for not winning a domestic cup, the 6 FA Cups won to date apparently not enough for them. Even more disappointing though was the Champions League. We successfully navigated past Ajax, Barcelona and Inter and would face Bayern in the final. They took the lead in the 8th minute and shut up shop from there on. We created a few chances but no matter what I tried, we could not break them down. It's a strange feeling, knowing the team is that good and yet coming away with so little. Still, our league form convinces me that we remain on the right track but reinforces the idea that I need a back-up tactic for tough away / neutral venue games where we are not guaranteed to dominate possession and break teams down. Squad Looking over the squad generally, we look in decent shape. My under 23s and Under 18s have started to thin out as I become pickier about the development players I hold on to, pushing me to sign a couple of prospects from elsewhere for reasonable fees. In the first team, Trent is now 31 and Everson is a world class option at right back. I have decided then to try pushing Trent up to DMC and move Camavinga back to centre back. At the same time, Gavin Jones moves across to left back, giving a promising youngster a little more time to develop, the longer term plan being to move Jones back into the centre as Konate (now 31) ages out. Curtis Jones at 29 has been a useful squad option in this save but never pinned down a consistent starting role and is now angling for a move. Similarly Adeyemi predictably does not like sharing the AMR position with Moukoko and is pushing for a move but no one appears ready to meet my £120m asking price. Haaland and Mbappe continue to be start players but at 30 and 31 respectively, their time is also drawing to a close. I reckon I've got another 3-4 seasons of them at their peak and so there is no rush to sign replacements but I have my eye on some promising youngsters nonetheless. England Calling Yes, they approached me again! With Frank Lampard failing to deliver World Cup glory, the FA once again asked to take over. I remain adamant that it will be too much and may compromise my enjoyment of the save and so for the third time, I have rejected. And that really is the key. I am really enjoying this save, it has all the hallmarks of that bonkers FM20 run and I don't want to risk anything ruining that. In fact this is more settled than that save ever was. By this point in FM20, I had ditched the 433 and gone full-on 424. It was a system that delivered big results but, like the variation of 433 I had been using, had flaws that stopped it from being consistent. My current 433 isn't flawless by any means but it is something that I have put thought into and tried to build logically and in that sense, it is consistently delivering.

One quick note on this save; a real bugbear I had on FM20 was that, despite being the best manager in the history of the game, I was never offered the England job, only getting it late in the save when I decided to apply. Now admittedly, this was a little like holding out for an invitation for a party you have no intention of going to, given that I jacked it in without playing a match but still, it's nice to be asked, right? To my surprise then, I have now been offered the national job twice and have twice declined it. I used to always seek out an international role but in recent saves, I've found it all too much hassle. I guess it is the same mentality that puts me off a journeyman save. Playing as Liverpool, I get to build my own squad of players that I know and have specifically chosen. Taking a different role, be it national or international, steps me into a world of the unknown. The net is cast too wide for me to feel comfortable that I have ever made the right catch. It just feels too much. Taking a step back from FM, it is the same mentality that puts me off playing RPGs or similar, those games with open worlds and options galore. I find the choice overwhelming and much prefer the tightly controlled and guided narrative of, say, an Uncharted. I like to know that I have completed the game in the 'right' way, my underlying fear of a more open game that I may make the 'wrong' choice. A firm no from me then, this will be strictly a Liverpool-only save.

Season 8 Yes, I lost track and it turns out that I had already racked up 7 season. Whoops. Still, another year, another league title but this season would throw up more questions than answers. After tossing a few different ideas round my mind, we would start the season with our now established 433. An opening day 2-2 draw at Southampton was disappointing, not least because we had been 2-0 up but consecutive 4-0, 3-0 and 5-0 victories Man United, Brighton and Bournemouth restored some calm. Somehow then we conspired to lose 0-1 at APOEL in the UCL before also losing 0-2 at Lille. Defeats in the League Cup and a couple of poor away defeats in the league compounded a pretty indifferent patch of form. Changing things up a bit, I removed the overlap and let the players pass into space. It seemed to rejuvenate us, exemplified by a 9-0 thrashing of Rangers , 5-0 against Wolves, 7-0 against Brighton and, perhaps most pleasing of all, a 6-0 drubbing of Barcelona in the second leg of the UCL quarter final, having lost 0-2 in Spain. Ultimately, our record of 29 wins, 5 draws and 4 defeats was enough to secure the league with 92 points, our 7th successive season of scoring 100+ league goals. The end of the season was just crazy though. First we faced Arsenal in the FA Cup final. We absolutely battered them, creating 28 chances for an xG of 3.30 however after 90 minutes, it remained goalless. Arsenal would then strike first in extra time in the 118th minute however we somehow rallied and managed a last gasp equalizer, taking the tie to penalties. It wasn't to be though and we lost the shootout, bringing our 4 year winning run to an end. On to the Champions League final then and Inter. Again we dominated, with 11 shots on target but had to wait until the 69th minute to score. Inter though struck back and after a tense extra time, it would be on to another shootout. With the first 10 penalties successfully converted, Bastoni would miss the vital quick, Camavinga slotting his home and securing our 4th UCL of the save. On to the Club World Cup then, often my chosen scene to debut a new tactical approach. This time I opted to stick rather than twist, figuring that any changes could wait until proper pre-season. The early round games were navigated easily enough but having drawn Chelsea at the quarter final stage, another penalty shootout would loom large and for the second time in three attempts, we were down and out. Entering season 9 then, and with the Community Shield and Super Cup secured, I can boast a pretty might record of 8 leagues and 23 trophies with an 81% win percentage. Still, I wanted more. I had become particularly frustrated with games where we seemed toothless, especially away from home. Coinciding with this, we managed to secure the signature of Youssoufa Moukoko on a free and so I now had a pretty fearsome foursome of Moukoko, Haaland, Adeyemi and Mbappe. Harking back to my success on FM20, I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to go for a 424 and reintroduce Gegenpressing. This way, I could field all four at once, although the removal of a midfielder would require a reshuffling elsewhere, Camavinga being asked to become a centre back. 3 league wins out of 3 suggested promise but I quickly tired of the chaotic football. As @Sonic Youth rightly notes above, this style certainly has its place and indeed I have used it extensively in my FM saves. Now though, I had come to favour a more controlled approach, dominating games with our possession and seeking to outplay the opposition rather then bulldoze them. With this in mind then, I switched back to our old 433 shape detailed in my tactical post above. It has some flaws - most notably tough away games - but on balance, I prefer what I see on the pitch playing this way. In some ways, the move to 424 was a case of allowing the players available to me to dictate the shape whereas I've always been a manager who likes to pick a shape and style and fit players in to it. Undoubtedly I will end up with some disappointed stars but on the other hand, I can now boast incredible depth in key positions. Hot Prospects One of those strong back ups is academy star Emrah Inci. Having consistently given him minutes, he has developed into a real talent and under other circumstances, would likely be a regular starter. Sadly for him, we have Mbappe. Still, he is a versatile option in any of the front 3 roles and a reliable choice should form or fitness knock one of the regular starters out. Everson is also developing nicely. He is now a natural at right back and, after getting a run of games, saw his rating nudge up to 4.5 stars. Again, he would be a starter if not for Trent still being in his prime and I will have to manage his game time carefully to keep him happy. Like with Inci though, his versatility means he will find opportunities to play various roles across the pitch. Last oen for now is Gavin Jones, who has the distinction of sharing a name with a kid I grew up with. Signed for £78m from Villa, he was an instant starter, replacing the hole left by van Dijk's departure. He is competent at left full back and during our brief flirtation with 424, I moved him there permanently to accommodate Camavinga. In our 433, I have restored him to centre back and expect him to lead our back line for years to come.

In some respects, I will look back on Season 6 as the one that got away. In the league, we would reach game 30 before tasting our first defeat, going down 0-1 at Chelsea. I had started to believe we could notch another unbeaten season, potential defeats at Wolves and Arsenal turned into creditable draws after some mid-match tweaks. It wasn't to be, the loss at Chelsea continuing the theme of dispiriting defeats where we seem to lose all control of the ball and the ability to create chances. A similar defeat would follow at Old Trafford, our tally of 98 points an improvement versus prior year but some way shy of our best. Elsewhere, the League Cup would elude us again. I sent a second 11 to Arsenal and we did reasonably well. The game finished 2-2 but annoyingly, Arsenal's goals came after changes I had made in an attempt to make us more solid. Ultimately they would best us on penalties. The FA Cup however came back to Anfield for a 4th straight season, helped greatly by Laporte getting a red after 6 minutes. The Champions League would again end in frustration and again at the hands of pesky PSG. Much like the defeats to Chelsea and Man United, it was a drab affair and raises some question marks around our tactics. One Step Forward, Five Seasons Back As noted above, I had deliberately reverted to our established 433 set up for this season and clearly it is a winner. I appreciate that I am incredibly demanding of myself, effectively expecting perfection and so it is worth taking a step back and reminding myself that 6 straight league titles, over 100 goals every season and never more than 4 defeats across a campaign is pretty ruddy good. But I still want more. Successful as it is though, my best season arguably remains the first, which implemented some tweaks. After an early loss, we had moved from Gegenpress to my own custom style but retained attacking roles on the flanks, with Haaland playing as a pressing forward. As we went into season 2 and beyond, I deliberately moved to a DLF up top and supporting wide roles, as well as removing the pass into space instruction. It gave me greater control but perhaps at the expense of a bit of daring. As a reminder, that first season saw us win a quadruple, the sole loss coming before this tactical style was implemented. There were a couple of drab draws along the way but no more so that with my current tactic. With this in mind, I am tempted to change going into season 7. I had considered ditching my tactic all together and perhaps moving to a 4231 but I like the basic shape. I think it is tinkering required here as I try to marry up what I want to see on the highlights with the results we see on the league table and in my trophy cabinet. Perhaps a reversion to a more aggressive centre forward will push teams back. Perhaps giving my wide players attacking roles and encouraging passes into space will create more variety of play. Much as I discovered to my joy in my FM20 save, there is no right answer and, perhaps even more importantly, no permanent answer. Just because I employ a tactical idea now doesn't mean it has to remain in place forever. I do not need to define myself, I am allowed to be flexible and adaptable.

One real positive this season has been the form of Harvey Elliott. I took a different path to usual on this save and loaned him out a number of times. When he has been around, I have struggled to find the best role for him. He is of course a natural at AMR but probably better suits a playmaker or inverted winger role as opposed to the inside forward role I use. I retrained him so that he is comfortable playing as playmaker in centre mid or as our deep lying forward but his best performances this year have been at AMR. He has also struggled for regular game time. Salah remains a class operator, even aged 35, whilst Karim Adeyemi has pretty much made the position his own. This season thought looks to be a tussle between the two, with Kaide Gordon likely to get a further loan spell as he simply can't get any game time. In recent saves, Elliott has struggled to become much more than a 3 star player and so I am thrilled with his development this time around.