FM14: Manchester United FC Thread - Dawn of a New Evra!

[vrig]

Started my first game as United, as per usual. I wasn't intending to follow reality so strictly, but I've ended up singing Coentrao and Herrera(on deadline day, even). Out went Anderson and Buttner. It looked like Nani could be leaving on the deadline as well, but PSG and Madrid took too long to meet my asking price.

I'm playing 4-4-1-1 most of the time, something like this:

----CWB-CD-CD-CWB----

WM(s)-DLP(d)-CM(s)-WM(s)

-----------AP(a)--------

-----------AF(a)--------

With a couple of instructions on the AP that bring him wide to overload flanks. We're only 4 games into the season, but we've already had injuries keeping Rafael, RVP and Rooney out. Hasn't affected results much, with 2 wins and a Chelsea draw in the league, as well as the community shield being wrapped up. I played a 4-3-3 against Chelsea in the first half to try and stifle them, but ended up mitigating our own attacking threat as well, so it ended 0-0, with Fellaini sent off. The goals mostly seem to be coming from the wingers, who are playing very well, Valencia in particular. We seem to play at our best with a high line and an offside trap set, so Vidic and Ferdinand may not be seeing that many games as the season progresses.

[Verby]

Rooney is his last year of his contract and he (or his agent) is demanding 350k a week lol. Highest I can offer is 195k (hes on 180k currently), I wont pay him anything above 190k anyway.

[Severus90]

Yacob was fantastic for me as a backup for Fellaini and Carrick. His stats mean he can play either as a BWM or DLP - would also suit the Halfback/DM role too. Not starting 11 quality for United though, you'll see little improvement either at 25/26.

Okay guys, have asked in the looking for thread but won't hurt to ask in here as well.

I need a player that can play as a half-back. Transfer budget up to £60m and wages up to about £120,000 p/w.

I have looked at quite a few:

Busquets (would be ideal, but too much in transfer fee's and wages)

De Rossi (again too high wages and a little too old)

Claudio Yacob (scouts don't rate highly)

Sergi Samper (scouts don't rate highly)

Geoffrey Kondogbia (I am not sure on him)

Romulo (unlikely to get a work permit).

Any suggestions? Cheers.

[davehanson]

Cheers for the suggestions chaps. I ended up buying Lars Bender from Leverkusen for £31m, which was more than I wanted to pay, but to be fair his wage demands were really quite good, and he seems to fit my requirements pretty well.

I have made a few more transfers, both in & out, than I had expected to make - but will update once I get to the end of the transfer window.

[Hoarau]

Okay guys, have asked in the looking for thread but won't hurt to ask in here as well.

I need a player that can play as a half-back. Transfer budget up to £60m and wages up to about £120,000 p/w.

I have looked at quite a few:

Busquets (would be ideal, but too much in transfer fee's and wages)

De Rossi (again too high wages and a little too old)

Claudio Yacob (scouts don't rate highly)

Sergi Samper (scouts don't rate highly)

Geoffrey Kondogbia (I am not sure on him)

Romulo (unlikely to get a work permit).

Any suggestions? Cheers.

Id suggest a look at Koke & Lucas Romero. Both have major room for development.

[vrig]

Id suggest a look at Koke & Lucas Romero. Both have major room for development.

I'd second Koke. I tried to get him meself, but then Monaco came sniffing..

Carrick makes a good half-back if you go for someone higher up in midfield.

[Verby]

Annoyed I didnt see what went on here, I was quoted 44m first season and then Spurs somehow get him for 9m. Damn

Hoping they turn into something good

[Harryseaess]

Koke is great, I signed him first season, only in November atm but he's playing well.

[batty1]

Koke is great, I signed him first season, only in November atm but he's playing well.

You playing two up top or a lone striker? RVP is doing well for me as a lone striker as an advanced forward

[Hyperlogic]

Hi everyone. I have yet to start a proper game in this years new Football Manager and I think I will use Man Utd as my starting team to try it out for as few seasons. I'm looking forward to playing and occasionally updating my game on this thread.

First and foremost I am not a Man Utd fan and I let my real life opinions of players get in the way of footballing games, because of this I think I will probably change the team quite drastically.

Nice thread so far guys keep it up.

Rooney is his last year of his contract and he (or his agent) is demanding 350k a week lol. Highest I can offer is 195k (hes on 180k currently), I wont pay him anything above 190k anyway.

I can not stand this, I am planning on selling Rooney for as much as I can before the first season starts. 40 Million maybe more?

[Fabio MVP]

Rooney's been nothing short of outstanding for me. 18 games, 16 goals, 8 assits.

[batty1]

Just been offered £4M from Sao Paulo for Fabio. I love the Da Silva twins, I know he isn't great in the game, although he can play both flanks. I'm torn, do I sell him or do I not sell him?

[Verby]

Just been offered £4M from Sao Paulo for Fabio. I love the Da Silva twins, I know he isn't great in the game, although he can play both flanks. I'm torn, do I sell him or do I not sell him?

I wouldnt sell him for 4m unless he was asking to leave, he does great for me when he plays, and he plays well on either side of defence. Great cover

[STaphouse]

Start of the second season, i asked the board to sign me Thiago form Bayern and they've only gone and done it for £24m

Yaya Toure has also handed in a transfer request at Man City so i'm going to try and sign him for a cut price £12m aswell.

[Harryseaess]

You playing two up top or a lone striker? RVP is doing well for me as a lone striker as an advanced forward

Lone striker, advanced forward, like you. Just not performing. I sold Rooney to Bayern for £45m, very happy with it.

[_apache()]

Has anyone signed Rivaldo? I have him joining in January, purely for tutoring purposes. Hopefully he'll be able to pass on abit of knowledge to some of the younger players.

[Fabio MVP]

More reasonable question would be, do you guys know that Rivalso is still playing? :D

[MartsMac1982]

I too play 442 with United, well its actually 424 according to the game as I play two wingers pushed up , I love this tactics/formation , the only concern I have with it is that although I play carrick as a DLP with support and Felliani as a BWM with a defend duty, Fellini is a nutter who gets about a million yellows and 2 sending offs each season haha.

[Shanksie1975]

Yeah I love the afro'd one, but he is always a red card waiting to happen 25y 1r for me last year!

[sendoh86]

Decided to start over from scratch instead of loading up my beta save, ended up in a somewhat strange season.

Transfers out:

Nani, 25m (januari, had been injured most of the season and pretty much replaced him)

Young, 10m

Anderson 9.5m

Buttner 4.5m

Macheda 1.3m

Transfers In:

De Sciglio 10m

Balanta 8m

Kovacic 15m

Honda Free

Pereyra 10.5m

Julian Brandt Free (joining 1/7/2014)

My season started with RVP getting injured (4 months) followed by Carrick who also went down for 4 months and then both Valencia and Nani who also sustained an injury for 2 months each.

Struggled a bit early in the season because of that but Pereyra and Kovacic worked suprisingly well, Di Sciglio however seemed to be somewhat of a bust early on but manage to redeem himself in the second half of the season.

Eventually finished 2 points ahead of chelsea with RVP and Rooney both finishing on 17 goals and Hernandez on 14, won the community shield, Won the FA Cup, Lost in the finals of the Capital One cup and won the Champions League. Got a bit lucky with the Champions League though, in the semi finals I went up against Real Madrid but eventually won tnx to a red card and a late goal by RVP.

The only problem I seemed to have during the season is Vidic. He got send off 7 times during the season wich was just ridiculous to the point where I stopped using him entirely during the 2nd half of the season (wich worked since I don't think anyone else really got send off anymore exept Fellaini once after recieving his 2nd yellow card). Fined him several times without issue, had private chats about his conduct, tried several different tactics but it didn't really seem to help. I'm kind of wondering if anyone else had this problem with Vidic?

Did manage to sign Rooney to a new deal, but lost Evra since the wage he was asking for was just way to much. Will probable sign a new backup GK (Lindegaard was just complaining way to much even though I did play him in the FA cup and Capital one Cup). Will probable replace Fabio as well this season since De Sciglio was outperforming him by quite a bit, but don't think he's good enough to replace Evra yet. Probable also going to offload Cleverley, hoped to keep him but just found didn't found much use for him.

[scott MUFC]

Vidic got injured for me, then his ability fell so he barely plays. but red cards seem to be completly out of the blue from anyone on my save so i don't really worry about it, i see 2 or 3 a week in the league so not sure exactly the cause, just players doing insane tackles out of the blue.

let me know how trying to sign from City goes, If liverpool stay where they are now, i'll be helping myself to thier best players and the same situation will probably be in effect.

league cup won, used reserves and fringe players all the way through, as you should.

[oneronaldo]

Hi everyone. I have yet to start a proper game in this years new Football Manager and I think I will use Man Utd as my starting team to try it out for as few seasons. I'm looking forward to playing and occasionally updating my game on this thread.

First and foremost I am not a Man Utd fan and I let my real life opinions of players get in the way of footballing games, because of this I think I will probably change the team quite drastically.

Nice thread so far guys keep it up.

I can not stand this, I am planning on selling Rooney for as much as I can before the first season starts. 40 Million maybe more?

Bayern Munich could come with a bid, try and drive a hard bargain with them. Don't accept anything less than 40m.

[Zeonflux]

Hey all i'm having a difficult time getting any decents results and would like some ideas on how i can play a 4-4-2 formation or 4-2-2-2 (2 flat CM positions and 2 AM Wingers) as i prefer playing the old United way with good attacking wingers providing width and 2 ST.

Any help will be greatly appreciated

Some Team info:

Players Out:

Buttner

Evra

Macheda

Anderson

Players In:

Honda

Gaitan

Timo Werner

Bakkali

Balanta

Jonathan Silva

[Harryseaess]

Scott, how much did you pay for Luke Shaw? I was after him but simply refuse to pay what they're asking.

[Hood Legend]

I was very lucky as Southampton were relegated in the first season so I managed to pick up Luke Shaw for £3.4m and James Ward-Prowse for £2.6m.

[ReggaeBwoy]

Start of the second season, i asked the board to sign me Thiago form Bayern and they've only gone and done it for £24m

Yaya Toure has also handed in a transfer request at Man City so i'm going to try and sign him for a cut price £12m aswell.

Ridiculous!

[_apache()]

I was very lucky as Southampton were relegated in the first season so I managed to pick up Luke Shaw for £3.4m and James Ward-Prowse for £2.6m.

That's hard to beat that. Hope they get relegated in mine.

[Latimerinho]

First season

Transfers out

Transfers in

As I detailed already in this thread whilst playing the beta, I have a specific way of setting up all my teams. I love having a youthful side, seeing the team reach their potential and turn into world-class players brings a different sense of achievement each season. I find if I don't do this, I get bored quite easily.

With that, I sold a rather long list of players as you can see! I used the beta to really negotiate and to see how far teams would go for my players. On summary, I think I've done well considering the amount of money I made, though some of the deals could have been better (Carrick & Vidic for instance).

I've then used the money made + my budget to either strengthen certain areas and/or to bring in a more youthful option to an otherwise aging area of the pitch. Overall, I'm now very happy with the squad.

Note: Two players that I have brought in are from a database that I created, Be A Pro, if you try and find them and can't that would be the reason why! Berardi is also co-owned hence two entries.

Tactics

Again, I used the beta to figure out what tactic to use. I went for an attacking 4-2-3-1 set up, using a shadow striker in the center.

The balance seems to be working well and the movement is excellent. Playing Fellaini on the left hand-side complements El Shaarawy in that he can venture (roam) knowing Fellaini is behind to cover that area of the pitch if possession is lost.

I also have De Gea as a Sweeper goalie, with instructions to throw quickly & a ball-playing defender to help with distribution in a controlled manner, not just lump it up the field.

There are other individual instructions as well, such as full-backs running wide and for my shadow striker to shoot more often.

Results

Conceded from a corner a few times, notably against Newcastle which annoyed me, other than that my tactic would appear to be working well thus far. The real test will be when I play the bigger teams

[STaphouse]

Into November of the 2nd season and i've been hit hard with injuries.

I am struggling just to get a match day squad together let alone a full strength team. The injury problems started after a match against Chelsea in which Rafael, Evra and Valencia were all injured. Also out injured are Welbeck, Lamela and Evans.

I've never had this amount of injuries before so it's quite hard to cope with.

[STaphouse]

Ridiculous!

They actually rejected my £12m offer but accepted Dortmund's, I gathered this was because of the rivalry so I offered £15m which was quickly accepted. Got him on a 3-Year 180k a week contract.

Even more ridiculous is the fact i sold Cleverley for £20m

[batty1]

Looking at Peruzzi for £17M as a back up/rotation option for Rafa,any cheaper/better options?

[mattskelding]

Anthony Reveillere is available on a free at the start of the game - get a good 2/3 seasons from him

[batty1]

In my 2nd season so Reveillere is a no go.

[Verby]

Looking at Peruzzi for £17M as a back up/rotation option for Rafa,any cheaper/better options?

Have a look at Carvajal? Been brilliant for me after I sold Rafa to PSG.

[Bradz FM]

Started a new game with United. Decided not to improve the squad in the first season. The only sale has been Ben Amos for £825k. I feel the squadis good enough to compete on all fronts and don't feel mass wholesale changes are required

[scott MUFC]

had a long stint, won the title by the end of march , Man city beat Newcastle to allow me to win it, how kind.

youth intakes came in, mine was a bit rubbish, found some others which i picked up

this was mine

champions league progress.

and Southampton have fell into the bottom 3 on my save but from 19th to 15th there is a 3 point gap.

[ellie05]

Just been offered £4M from Sao Paulo for Fabio. I love the Da Silva twins, I know he isn't great in the game, although he can play both flanks. I'm torn, do I sell him or do I not sell him?

hes super for me, that good he's my first choice LB and doing well, although he did just cost me a champions league semi final by getting sent off all will be forgiven!

[ellie05]

im going into second season now and want a left midfielder and a left back, has anyone any ideas?

[scott MUFC]

Zaha does good

[xx11]

Meh... finished the demo and still 8 weeks till i get the full game (unless a somehow wrangle a way around that ruling )

Was a really successful run, lost just a single game and the team really managed to flow with my tactic and team talks. Made sure I only was training the one tactic and set every position up individually... if it was the full game i would have tailored it per player but as I will not continue the save I felt that it was fine not too.

I did not dip into the transfer marker at all. Just left the team completely as was.

Tactics

Community Shield

Man Utd 4 - 0 Wigan

Walked the match to be fair. 64% possession and 26 shots, 13 on target.

Rooney (2), Januzaj (2)

Champions League

Qualified top of group with 13 pts, ahead of Olmpique Lyonnais after beating them in final group of game that decided the top 2. They came 2nd in group on 10pts

Results

Dortmund 2 - 1 Man utd ... Took the lead in 3rd minute, lost the game after conceeding in 80th and 91st minute

Man utd 5 - 0 Lyon

Man Utd 4 - 0 Ludogorets

Ludogorets 0 - 3 Man Utd

Man Utd 1 - 1 Dortmund ... considered in 4th minute, equalised in 22nd. Tight match with only 5shots on target each.

Lyon 0 - 2 Man Utd

Capital One Cup

Man utd 3 - 2 Notts Forest

Man Utd 5 - 2 QPR

Arsenal 0 - 3 Man utd .. Result a bit biased considering how tight a match it was.

Premier League

Draws vs Southampton (1-1), Spurs (2-2), Liverpool (2-2), Swansea (1-1), Fulham (0-0), Everton (1-1)

Played 20, Won 14, Drawn 6

Really not much to say. Just passed the half way mark and got 11pts lead over chelsea, 13 on liverpool and 14 on Man city.

Player stats

Valencia got a 4month injury at the end of the august so was out for the entire duration, he had made a good start as well which was unfortunate hence his lack of appearances.

[Dr Eskenen Un Un]

How you guys get rid of Young and Anderson, it's hard to sell them with current salary, only managed to get rid of Valencia on 1st season

[abhid30007]

Anyone won Champions league in the first season ?

I came as close as semi final only to loose on penalties to fc bayern

[sendoh86]

I won the champions league in my first season. Had an easy group stage, then beat Celtic, had to play Real Madrid (they got a red card in the away game and i won 2-1 and got a 0-0 draw at home), then Beat Dortmund and beat Bayern 1-0 in the finals

[abhid30007]

I won the champions league in my first season. Had an easy group stage, then beat Celtic, had to play Real Madrid (they got a red card in the away game and i won 2-1 and got a 0-0 draw at home), then Beat Dortmund and beat Bayern 1-0 in the finals

damn real madrid are so hard to beat with the pace of ronaldo and bale.......in my last save lost 7-0 to them over 2 legs(conceded 4 from corners, 1 from penalty)

[batty1]

hes super for me, that good he's my first choice LB and doing well, although he did just cost me a champions league semi final by getting sent off all will be forgiven!

Kept Fabio

I've struck 2 deals for a RB so far (£25M + Nani for De Sciglio) and (£12M for Montoya). Working on Danilo at the minute.

[shermy123]

anyone else finding that angelo henriquez is an absolute gun, scored 12 in 11 for me in 2nd season after going out on loan whole of first season

[STaphouse]

After winning the league by almost 20 points in the 1st season, i've just finished the 2nd season in a lowly 4th.

I've noticed that Rooney's stats have seriously decreased aswell! Although his stats for the season were good.

I might look at replacing him with a better striker or even using Henriquez.

[Rooney_08]

started with man united and so far ive won the shield game 7-0 , and just beat citeh 0-2 away very good signs so far , more to follow

[davehanson]

Well, haven't had time to play for the last few days.

2nd season and Rooney's contract is due to expire at the end of it. He wanted £280,000 p/w (this is after averaging just 7.08 and scoring 6 goals in the first season). I tried to negotiate, but with appearance fee's and goal bonus etc, I just could not justify giving him a new contract, especially with RVP's top-earner clause. So, he will be joining Juventus in the January transfer window for £10m. I got offered £15m and £18m from Spurs and Chelsea respectively, but didn't want him to go to a domestic rival. Not too bothered about him leaving to be honest, he hasn't played for me yet in the second season, and I don't intend to use him (maybe give him the last 2 mins in a champions league game just to cup-tie him!!).

On a related issue, I had offers come in for Valencia, Fletcher & Cleverley in the close season. I rejected them all as they were stupid low imo (£2.5m for Valencia and about £500,000 for Fletcher). However, now the are all massively unhappy about me not letting them go, and they have all said they will leave at the end of their contracts (none of them will negotiate). Any one else had this? I wouldn't object so much if the offers were for a fair value. Guess I will try offering them all out in the January window if they are still unhappy - better to get something for them rather than nothing.

[_apache()]

This:

Caused this: