FM14: Tottenham Hotspur - "“ Sold Elvis and bought The Beatles..."

[R1ku]

That is one mint team.

What is your player instructions like?

I have a similar formation to yours, but i cut the instructions away for Lamela.

Erickson is my shadow strike, and Lewan/Mitro is my F9. In other words, it allows my inside forwards more space and more room for Lamela.

He is not prolific by far, but he always put in a good shift and scores vital goals. So far, i dont know anyone else i can afford, young and old that can do what lamela does on a consistent level. So just be sure, if you are letting him go, you dont have many better options.

Thanks! Been doing good, but I guess I have to with a team like that, Lamela's just been way too inconsistent. I don't think I have any individual instructions for Lamela and very few on any of my players. I guess I should just be happy with my success and let Lamela be, but he seems to have so much more potential than he's giving for me. Won the Europa League in season one, the Premier League and Carling Cup in season two and now top of the league by five points with five matches to go, FA Cup semifinal against So'ton to come and just beat Monaco 4-2 on aggregate in the Champions League quarters (2-2 away and 2-0 at home). So I really shouldn't be complaining.. Lamela did get the second one in our home match against Monaco on a nice counter-attack, though. Well I guess I have to see if I have better option become available during the summer, but you're right, I have to make sure the one who replaces Lamela is the "real deal" before I do anything..

[kelveen]

Well well well....Verthongen is injured for 10 months. 10 Months!! Spurs have a knack for long term injuries!

Good thing i have decent cover, but i am abit short of rotation now because of this. Looks like vertonghen is never going to be the same after this layoff.

I am still unbeaten in the league this season, 12 against, 60 for. A very impressive campaign so far and i am 25 points ahead of second place chelsea. Muahahahah. Take that!

[Hoarau]

Well well well....Verthongen is injured for 10 months. 10 Months!! Spurs have a knack for long term injuries!

Good thing i have decent cover, but i am abit short of rotation now because of this. Looks like vertonghen is never going to be the same after this layoff.

I am still unbeaten in the league this season, 12 against, 60 for. A very impressive campaign so far and i am 25 points ahead of second place chelsea. Muahahahah. Take that!

Ouch man, yeah you'll be lucky for him to come back and be half the player.

What a season aswell, that's some lead.. Even with your Injuries I reckon you'll be hard pressed to give that up!

[R1ku]

Won the league by four points ahead of United to make it two in a row. FA Cup final against Championship-side Reading and Champions League final against Chelsea coming up. Will post a 2015/2016 season review after when I have the time to play those finals, maybe later this evening.

[kelveen]

Won the league by four points ahead of United to make it two in a row. FA Cup final against Championship-side Reading and Champions League final against Chelsea coming up. Will post a 2015/2016 season review after when I have the time to play those finals, maybe later this evening.

Congrats!! And all the best for your remaining games.

[R1ku]

Congrats!! And all the best for your remaining games.

Thanks, mate! I should be winning the FA Cup final pretty easily, but the UCL final should be a cracker, as I've had many exciting matches against Chelsea. Last one I dominated at home, but only won 3-2 with two late goals from my centre-backs. Can't wait for the evening when the missus leaves for a pre-christmas party and I have time to play the two finals.

[enders357]

I signed Edinson Cavani for £54m (eek) after he fell out with PSG in Jan of 2015! I had to raise funds by selling Soldado, Paulinho and Kaboul but I think it'll be worth it. So happy. So so happy.

[rune_star]

How on earth did you manage to sell all those, and for what amounts? Did you use Baldini, or just put them up for grabs? Like every version of FM, I find it incredibly hard to sell good players… Been trying to sell Paulinho for almost a year now. Nobody's even made a bid!

Cheers on Cavani though! That's a dream signing come true ;-)

[enders357]

How on earth did you manage to sell all those, and for what amounts? Did you use Baldini, or just put them up for grabs? Like every version of FM, I find it incredibly hard to sell good players… Been trying to sell Paulinho for almost a year now. Nobody's even made a bid!

Cheers on Cavani though! That's a dream signing come true ;-)

Schalke had already been sniffing around Paulinho and Monaco had bid for Kaboul in the summer. I refused then but he'd hardly played over the next few months so I offered him out and they came back in for him. Soldado ended up going cheap to get rid of him. I couldn't afford to have him and Cavani both on the books (I only play one up top and have Morata and Kane developing as back up from the bench).

[CarltonBanks]

The tactics in the original posts are very, very good. I was in a bit of a down spell, and started using the 4-2-3-1. My first match with it was the second leg of the Europa League second knockout round. Against Shalke, the first leg I lost 0-3 at WHL. With the new tactic, I beat them 4-1 in germany to advance.

[R1ku]

March 2016

2.3.2016 Premier League ●

Tottenham 2 (Agüero pen 13, Benzia 80)

Swansea 1 (Dyer 35)

5.3.2016 FA Cup 6th Round ●

Wolves 1 (Doyle 49)

Tottenham 3 (Benzia 45+1, 59, Lennon 65)

8.3.2016 Champions League 1st Knockout Round Leg 2 ●

Tottenham 3 (Dede 5, Sandro 30, Kane 85)

Shakhtar 3 (Ferreyra pen 18, pen 68, Teixeira 24)

12.3.2016 Premier League ●

Tottenham 4 (Giovinco 39, Agüero 42, Mitrovic 57, 79)

Liverpool 0

20.3.2016 Premier League ●

Man City 0

Tottenham 0

29.3.2016 Champions League Qtr Final Leg 1 ●

Monaco 2 (Jimenez 42, Falcao 61)

Tottenham 2 (Mitrovic 4, Agüero 73)

April 2016

3.4.2016 Premier League ●

Tottenham 0

Arsenal 0

6.4.2016 Champions League Qtr Final Leg 2 ●

Tottenham 2 (Agüero 27, Lamela 85)

Monaco 0

9.4.2016 FA Cup Semi Final ●

Southampton 1 (Young 63)

Tottenham 2 (Agüero 35, Sandro 85)

13.4.2016 Premier League ●

Fulham 2 (Plumain 11, Stoch 17)

Tottenham 2 (Ince 36, Mitrovic 90+2)

16.4.2016 Premier League ●

Tottenham 1 (Sigurdsson pen 29, Paulinho s/o 60)

Newcastle 1 (Sissoko 6)

20.4.2016 Champions League Semi Final Leg 1 ●

Liverpool 0

Tottenham 2 (Dede 37, Mitrovic 70)

23.4.2016 Premier League ●

Stoke 3 (Guidetti 35, Tevez 67, Shea pen 81)

Tottenham 3 (Benzia 27, 28, Andre 49)

26.4.2016 Champions League Semi Final Leg 2 ●

Tottenham 4 (Agüero 2, Balanta 12, Mitrovic 29, Benzia 88)

Liverpool 2 (Feghouli 41, Aspas 87)

30.4.2016 Premier League ●

Wigan 0

Tottenham 0

May 2016

8.5.2016 Premier League ●

Tottenham 3 (Sigurdsson pen 36, Balanta 53, Dede 65)

Southampton 0

14.5.2016 FA Cup Final ●

Tottenham 2 (Lamela 16, Andre 79)

Reading 0

21.5.2016 Champions League Final ●

Chelsea 1 (Lukaku 58)

Tottenham 0

Tough loss in the Champions League Final. Had never lost to Chelsea before this one. A tight match, could've gone either way. There's always next season! Season review to follow later..

[R1ku]

2015/2016 SEASON REVIEW

So the season ended in bitter, bitter disappointement in the Champions League Final, with me losing 1-0 to Chelsea in a tight match. Otherwise it was a really succesful season as I lifted the Premier League trophy and the FA Cup trophy, both for the second season succession. Mitrovic was the best performer, along with Giovinco and Agüero. Defensively we were more leaky, but I let in more goals after the patch, so that might've had something to do with it. This season will be hard to beat next season, but I'll have a crack at it anyway!

League table:

Team Competitions:

Champions League: Runners-up (v Chelsea)

Premier League: 1st (Champions)

FA Cup: Winners (v Reading)

Capital One Cup: Lost in 4th Round (v Arsenal)

Community Shield: Lost (v Man utd)

Top scorers:

Mitrovic 27 (36(11) apps)

Agüero 19 (38(6) apps)

Benzia 14 (10(15) apps)

Dede 9 (42(1) apps)

Lamela 8 (35(6) apps)

Most assists:

Giovinco 20

Sigurdsson 9

Mitrovic 8

Eriksen 8

Alex Sandro 8

PoM:

Agüero 7

Mitrovic 5

Benzia 3

Dede 3

Lamela 3

Avg rating (over 10 matches):

Dede 7.32

Chiriches 7.18

Mitrovic 7.16

Benzia 7.14

Balanta 7.14

Yellow cards:

Sandro 15

Capoue 13

Romero 11

Walker 6

Paulinho 6

Red cards:

Paulinho 1

Romero 1

Balanta 1

Capoue 1

[enders357]

The tactics in the original posts are very, very good. I was in a bit of a down spell, and started using the 4-2-3-1. My first match with it was the second leg of the Europa League second knockout round. Against Shalke, the first leg I lost 0-3 at WHL. With the new tactic, I beat them 4-1 in germany to advance.

Aww, shucks

Glad it's working out for you. Funny thing is I've got so used to it that if I try and stretch play and have a wide left player on it looks weird to me!

[enders357]

R1ku - congrats on the Fa Cup win and commiseration on the CL final loss (especially to Chelsea - must have been tough).

Couple of questions - how much did you buy Aguero and when? Were there any special circumstances (was he unhappy at City etc)?

Also, I notice Kane scored in your last batch of games. How's he working out for you? I have high hopes of having him as a second striker or a long term, quality back up. Any chance of a sceenshot of his stats and history?

[enders357]

As I mentioned before I had an abysmal time in the CL group stages at the start of 2014/15 and dropped in to the Europa League. I've had some incredible performances against Marseille (battered them home and away) and Saint Etienne (won the first leg 4-1 but went 4-0 down in the second leg before coming back to win AET) and I was starting to think this was my year... and then I drew Dortmund in the Quarter Final and, if I win that, either Arsenal or Celtic in the Semi. Eek.

[R1ku]

R1ku - congrats on the Fa Cup win and commiseration on the CL final loss (especially to Chelsea - must have been tough).

Couple of questions - how much did you buy Aguero and when? Were there any special circumstances (was he unhappy at City etc)?

Also, I notice Kane scored in your last batch of games. How's he working out for you? I have high hopes of having him as a second striker or a long term, quality back up. Any chance of a sceenshot of his stats and history?

Thanks! The Chelsea loss was a bit tough and somewhat unexpected, too, as I had beaten them six out of seven times and never lost to them before. But that's football and I'll lift that trophy next year.

I bought Agüero last summer, after the second season. He was unhappy at City and offered to me for £17.75M, which a such a huge bargain I couldn't pass the offer, even though I had just bought Giovinco and Mitrovic to be my strike force for the third season. Luckily they all settled pretty quickly, Mitrovic being even better than I expected. With those three and Benzia in my side Kane has only been my third choice striker basically and has even been on loan at times. He's done ok when gotten the chance, including the vital third goal against Shakhtar five minutes left, to put me through from that tie. I bet he'd be a good second choice striker as well, I just have Mitrovic and Benzia doing a bit better job for me at the moment, that's why he's gotten this little playing time.

Forgot to add my transfers for the third season in the season review, so here they are now:

[enders357]

I came through my Dortmund QF in the Europa League - beating them 4-5 away(!) and 0-1 at home. Next up was the SF, against Arsenal. we went 0-2 down in the first leg early on but clawed it back through Eriksen and Lamela in the final 20 minutes. I was a bit concerned about their away goals and opted for the most conservative of my tactics for the second leg, hoping to soak up the inevitable pressure and hit them on the break... but I needn't have worried - we were 0-3 up at half time and went on to win 1-5 (2-7 on aggregate!).

Next up it's Valencia in the final. Hoping for revenge after they knocked me out in the semi final last year.

[R1ku]

Letting go of atleast Kaboul, who had a bad injury and Paulinho, who just didn't perform when given the chance and I have a couple of good newgen DMC's coming up as well. Lennon is leaving a a free, as he didn't wan't to sign a new contract, but he was only a rotation player anyway, so that's not a big deal. Have agreed to bring back Caulker from Cardiff and then buying Barkley from Everton aswell. Still have to think what to do with Lamela, if I sell him or not..

[enders357]

Lamela has really stepped up in 2014/15 for me, especially since changing to play either a 4-3-3 or 4-2-2-2 formation much more often than my 4-2-3-1. I can only speculate really, but I think it's because the space behind the striker(s) is much less congested and he's having a lot of luck, mainly in scoring goals but also in creating them, when he cuts in to that space.

Still, with the players you have it might make sense to stick with that formation. I only changed as my midfield got stronger so I now play Sando, Dembele and Pogba in there with Eriksen wide left.

[R1ku]

It's been a summer of changes so far.. Transfers so far, summer 2016:

In:

Caulker £13M (Cardiff)

Barkley £17M (Everton)

Oxlade-Chamberlain £15M (Arsenal)

Out:

Kane £13M (Newcastle)

Lennon Free

Paulinho £9.75M (Valencia)

Kaboul £7.75M (Real Sociedad)

Sigurdsson £30M (Milan)

Couldn't resist pulling the trigger on Ox. In some twisted way I want to see him torment against Arsenal and he's a really good replacement to Lennon who didn't want to sign a new contract and left on a free. Sigurdsson was only a rotation player and I signed Barkley earlier, he'll take Siggy's place. Still don't know what to do with Lamela. Real came in with an £35M offer, I said I wanted £40M plus £15M over 18 months, we'll see how they respond.

[AustSaint]

I just bought Jack Rodwell in the winter transfer window for 2.5 million pounds in the winter transfer window. Am stoked and I can't wait to see how he does in a Spurs uniform. COYS!

[enders357]

Lost the Europa League final 3-0 to Valencia. Absolutely gutted. In two seasons I've lost two cup finals and came 2nd in the league twice. Let's hope it's third time lucky because it's starting to be pretty depressing!

Very little money available for me to spend this summer - fair enough given the stadium costs and the £54m spent on Cavani in January (even if over half of it was made back in sales).

These are summer 2015 transfers, don't expect any more:

In:

Will Hughes - £3.4m

Eder Alvarez Balanta - £4m

James Ward-Prowse - £11m (and loaned back to Southampton for the season. He'll get more games there and their training set up is top notch so I have no worries about his development stalling).

A couple of young newgens - a goalie from Celtic and a defensive midfielder from Freiburg

Out:

Zeki Fryers (Burnley) - £300k

Harry Kane (Swansea) - Loan (went there for 3 months at the end of last season and scored 10 in 11 to get them promoted out of the Championship so extended his loan hopefully he'll carry on in their first team in the Premier League. I reckon he's one decent PL season away from being god enough to provide a rotation option up front).

Gylfi Sigurdsson (Juventus) - £6.5m (sad to see him go and told him so, but he only had a year left on his contract and his wage demands were too high for his squad status after he managed less than half of last season's games - plus letting him go should ensure Will Hughes gets 10 or 12 games to help his development).

EDIT: Andros Townsend has gone to Liverpool for £9.75m. They came in with £7.5m, I asked for £10m and decided to take their second offer. He hasn't really developed in the two years I've had him (the second of which he got a 6.60 av. rating on a season long loan to Aston Villa). Not a big loss.

[enders357]

I just bought Jack Rodwell in the winter transfer window for 2.5 million pounds in the winter transfer window. Am stoked and I can't wait to see how he does in a Spurs uniform. COYS!

Let us know how that turns out. I just turned down the chance to sign him in summer 2015 for £3m and I'm already kind of regretting it.

[enders357]

Here's how I plan to line up in 2015/16:

Or...

[CarltonBanks]

Only two matches left in my first season. First, the last match of the PL, me vs city. A draw or a win would mean that I win the league. Then three days later, the Europa League final vs Celtic. I've been on a good streak lately, and finally got bobby scoring after almost a half season drought.

[enders357]

Anyone looked at Memphis Depay from PSV? I'm about to buy him at the end of the summer 2015 window and I think he looks great. Really good AML, god AMR and loads of potential. Could be world class, I reckon.

[Georgik]

I hope this is it ! After a series of new games where i couldnt find my place at the helm of different teams (Arsenal, Dortmund, City, Monaco, Fiorentina), i decided to go back and start managing my favourite team to manage throughout the FM series, in the last 3 versions of the game it was the first team i picked and managed to get them to win the UCL and establish them as a powerhouse in the EPL, and to really enjoy managing them.

So i started my career at Spurs by getting rid of all the staff, and hiring mine. Next i sorted a couple of transfers out, i'm really pleased by what dealings i have done, even though i didnt get a good LB, mainly because Coentrao was out for 8 weeks at RM and they were demanding 13 mil for him + signing fees, it would have cost around 17 mil to get him and i let it go because my main target for the future is Luke Shaw, and the preseason form is proving that my transfers are working out. Also my tactics seem to fit very well with the players. I will show you a couple of screenshots to get a better image of what i've done so far at Spurs, and to get your opinions of what i did good and where i made a mistake.

I was really frustrated that after Paul McGuinnes seemed happy with my contract he accepted a new one from Man Utd as a U19 Coach, i was hoping to sign him as my Reserve Team Manager, i got Borghi instead, hopefully i’ll hire him in the winter.

Hired Rene Meulesteen as my Assistant Manager, seems great upgrade on Freund and really cheap.

I decided that for my first games to not use team instructions or player instructions on my 1st tactic, i’ll use probably on my 4-5-1 formation retain possesion, run at defence and pass into space.

My preseason form :

And my first game against Arsenal, derby day, really unfortunate to lose in the 93 minute, hit the woodwork before, takes all the joy of a new season away this goal, i’ll see how the season unfolds and come back in february with my progress. Also Eriksen got injured in training just before the derby.

I’m considering buying Arbeloa for a one-season stint, he’s cheap at 3 mil, and demanding around 80k, should have bought him as a LB instead of Antonelli, who i picked up as a cover, i’m thinking of playing Naughton for LB, but i think i’ll play Vertonghen there and Balanta as CB.

Sorry for the long post.

[Georgik]

So far everything goes very well, team playing some great football, Jackson Martinez is a very good signing, i suggest singing him as he is very useful, also Lamela is doing exceptionally well, as Sigurdsson. Unfortunately Eriksen got injured and was missing 7 weeks, and when he recovered got injured again on international break and is missing 4 weeks. Also Soldado is out for 4-5 weeks but before getting injured he played very well.

The only match lost since Arsenal, unlucky again.

And this is the tactic i used so far :

[R1ku]

A bit of a sketchy start to season four, but still second in the league after eight matches, with four wins and fours draws, but leaking more goals in than before. Changed the tactics a bit and last few games have gone better defence-wise. Summer signings Caulker, Barkley and Oxlade-Chamberlain have started pretty well, all've gotten on the scoresheet, too. Will post a more in-depth review of the first two months later on.

[enders357]

I'm starting to feel everyone else's frustration with Lamela - 2013/14 he was pretty good, not exceptional, but good for his first season in the PL. 2014/15 he was amazing, socring 16 league goals and 11 assists, and now in 2015/16 he's worse than ever. 10 league games in, not a goal or assist to his name and a 6.69 average rating. ARGH!

[R1ku]

I'm starting to feel everyone else's frustration with Lamela - 2013/14 he was pretty good, not exceptional, but good for his first season in the PL. 2014/15 he was amazing, socring 16 league goals and 11 assists, and now in 2015/16 he's worse than ever. 10 league games in, not a goal or assist to his name and a 6.69 average rating. ARGH!

Haha, I feel your pain! I stuck with Lamela myself, atleast until the january transfer window. Real Madrid kept coming after him in august with offers of about £7.5M upfront + £35-40M over 36 months, but I wanted something over £50M combined, kept firm and the deadline passed, so he'll get his last chance and is out if this first half of the season is like his last two. I'll cash-in in january if nothing changes. He didn't perform at all in the first five-ish matches, then I gave Oxlade-Chamberlain a starting role for a few matches, but put Lamela back in for the home match against Chelsea and he banged in a hat-trick in a 4-1 win. That was the last match I played last evening, so it remains to be seen if it was just a fluke or if he really did wake up from his coma. Have you tried dropping him for a short-ish period of time and see what happens after that?

[R1ku]

Season 2016/17

So in came Caulker, Barkley and Oxlade-Chamberlain for a total of £45M and out went Kane, Paulinho, Kaboul and Sigurdsson for a total £60.50M during the summer. Wanted to bring in some young-ish English talent and I think I managed to do for an ok price. The season has started ok, although I've let in a goal a game on average, which is more than I've done previously, but I'm working on it. No losses to date so far, but a few too many draws in matches I should've won, including the draw at City after leading by two goals early on and the draw at PAOK in the Champions League, which was one of the matches again, PAOK side had only three shots on goal all match including the two late penalties. Mitrovic had the privilidge of scoring the first goal at the new 56,250 capacity stadium, named New White Hart Lane.

August 2016

7.8.2016 Community Shield ●

Tottenham 2 (Mitrovic pen 12, Andre 90+4)

Man United 1 (Shaqiri 23, Savic s/o 90)

13.8.2016 Premier League ●

Tottenham 2 (Mitrovic 38, Andre 82)

Norwich 1 (von Wolfsvinkel 65)

20.8.2016 Premier League ●

Cardiff 1 (Fletcher 81)

Tottenham 1 (Mitrovic 27)

29.8.2016 Premier League ●

Tottenham 1 (Andre 40)

Liverpool 1 (Allen 12)

September 2016

10.9.2016 Premier League ●

Man City 3 (Kondogbia 36, Kompany 45, Jovetic 56)

Tottenham 3 (Giovinco 9, Caulker 32, Agüero 80)

14.9.2016 Champions League Group F ●

PAOK 3 (Lucas 73, Jara pen 77, pen 88)

Tottenham 3 (Barkley 15, Benzia 28, 50)

17.9.2016 Premier League ●

Tottenham 3 (Vertonghen 2, Mitrovic 34, Caulker 59)

Burnley 1 (Jackson 37)

20.9.2016 Capital One Cup 3rd Round ●

Tottenham 2 (Benzia 37, Andre 42)

Birmingham 0

24.9.2016 Premier League ●

West Ham 0

Tottenham 0

27.9.2016 Champions League Group F ●

Tottenham 3 (Alex Sandro 48, Balanta 79, Agüero 83)

Zenit 0

October 2016

1.10.2016 Premier League ●

Aston Villa 1 (Wickham 75)

Tottenham 2 (Balanta 73, Caulker 84)

15.10.2016 Premier League ●

Tottenham 4 (Lamela 12, 54, 69, Oxlade-Chamberlain 84)

Chelsea 1 (Berardi 51)

The break-through performer so far has been this 17 year-old French kid who's scored four goals already, including winners in the Community Shield and the opening Premier League match. I bought him from Troyes before the third season for £8.75M, which is beginning to look like a bargain..

[R1ku]

Lamela's listed. The little pr*ck started whining about his high asking price, told him to get on with his job, became unhappy and thought our relationship in ruined, so I transfer-listed him and offered him out for £60M, we'll see what happens.

[Georgik]

Finished my first season with Spurs on 6th place, dissapointing really, but won the EL rather easily and i was a nightmare for Chelsea as i won against them in the last day of the season, and they lost the title to Man Utd because of it and won the EL against them

In the end Soldado and Martinez were dissapointing, scoring few goals, at least Martinez scored some very important goals and was MoM in the EL final, sold them both in the summer, made a complete overhaul of my team.

These are the standings after my 1st season :

EL final :

And these were my transfers for 2014/2015 season :

I clinched a UCL spot with them andand won the EL again, and against Arsenal

And this is how my players fared this season, Vertonghen missed the Final through injury :

Lloris my hero !

[enders357]

Lamela's listed. The little pr*ck started whining about his high asking price, told him to get on with his job, became unhappy and thought our relationship in ruined, so I transfer-listed him and offered him out for £60M, we'll see what happens.

I dropped him after his poor form but gave him a little telling off and brought him back in after 3 matches to see how he'd respond - 4 goals and 3 assists in 4 matches!

[Georgik]

Lamela came out strong for me so far How Paulinho did in your saves ? It looked consistent for me but i'm thinking to sell him as i bought Schneiderlin and i have a 35 mil offer for him from Atletico.

[enders357]

Lamela came out strong for me so far How Paulinho did in your saves ? It looked consistent for me but i'm thinking to sell him as i bought Schneiderlin and i have a 35 mil offer for him from Atletico.

Paulinho never made it in to my first team and I ended up selling to Schalke in my second season for £12m so I'd be bite Atletico's hand off! I've had a previous save with Southampton and Schneiderlin comes highly recommended (though not as highly as Wanyama!).

[R1ku]

I dropped him after his poor form but gave him a little telling off and brought him back in after 3 matches to see how he'd respond - 4 goals and 3 assists in 4 matches!

Nice! I'm not too sad to see him leave myself. He had his chances and only has been decent in the second season (10 goals and 11 assists in the league), the other two seasons he's been crap, and with £115K p/w wages he needs to be better. United and Real offered £50M for him, but I rejected United's offer, so it looks like his going to Real, if they negotiate personal terms succesfully, which I'm sure they do. Luckily I bought Oxlade-Chamberlain in the summer and he's been really good so far, with something like 3 goals and 5 assists. I'll propably bring in someone to rotate on the right wing in the january window. I already have £50M to spend and after Lamela leaves I'll have £100M, so money isn't an issue.

[Georgik]

Sold Paulinho to Atletico I had some good youth players joining me in my annual youth intake, will sign some veteran players to be good tutors for them.

[stevemc]

What targets do you guys set to keep a long term Spurs save interesting?

[thebadger1976]

What do people make of Chiriches? I've sold him after season 3 for £10m, but it felt a shame to let go of a decent player with quite a few years left in him. But I was struggling for my eight homegrown players, and wanted to bring Veljkovic into the first team after he had a great season on loan with Swansea. Board and fans seems happy with the transfer.

Haven't had much luck with my English players generally. Kane had to go after several absences from training. Townsend and Lennon are okay but not the sort of calibre I'm looking for in terms of my first-choice players.

[R1ku]

What do people make of Chiriches? I've sold him after season 3 for £10m, but it felt a shame to let go of a decent player with quite a few years left in him.

I'm into season four and I still have Chiriches, but only as a back-up. Trained him to be able to play right-back, too, so I sometimes play him there when I need a more defensive right-back and sometimes as a centre-back in some cup matches and league matches against weaker sides. Barcelona tried to get him from me after the second season for ~£20M, but I declined then.. Now I would accept it propably.

[enders357]

What do people make of Chiriches?

He was my first choice right-sided centre back for most of season two, picking up the spot when Kaboul's form fell to pieces. I signed Bartra that summer and started the season with him, but again Chiriches has forced his way back in and is first choice again. While his stats aren't world class he performs really well for me and I'd struggle to replace him - I even accepted a bid of £22m from Man City for him expecting to find plenty of decent players to take his place and turn a profit but I couldn't find anyone that matched up and I ended up cancelling the deal.

[enders357]

What targets do you guys set to keep a long term Spurs save interesting?

My aim is to turn them in to consistent world beaters. 5 consecutive PL's and 3 consecutive CL's being the yard stick by which to measure that, I reckon. But then I haven't even won a trophy yet in my third season - two second place finishes in the league and losing finalists in two finals, losing semi-finalists in another two. Hopeful that once I break that duck the trophy's will roll in.

[Georgik]

I sold Chiriches after 1 season to Monaco for 20 mil because i already had Balanta and Doria was a future transfer, and with Kaboul and Vertonghen i thought to be the right call even though he played an integral part of my EL winning squad and performed well when picked up.

Signed Alex Sandro this season for 28 mil, so Vertonghen will become a backup after 2 seasons playing as a LB.

On another note, look at this :

I was just curious to see what are they offering, i will turn them down

Poor old gunners, still not thinking of spending some money )

[enders357]

Haha, brilliant. How did the fans take that though? I'd have been worried they'd turn on me for going to the interview.

[Georgik]

They didnt react at all, but after i laughed at Arsenal, who were on 11th place, karma happened ...

I finished 5th, while Arsenal after a decent run of games won finished 4h ... I won the League Cup and the highlight of the season was knocking Real Madrid out in the 2nd round, but i lost to Man Utd in quarter finals ...

[R1ku]

END OF THE YEAR UPDATE 2016

Half-way mark just passed in season four and still undefeated in the league, although I've had plenty of draws, but still top of the league by 5 points ahead of City. I really do like the way the team is playing lately. Replacing Lamela with Oxlade-Chamberlain has given our play so much more dimensions than before and Ox has been better already than Lamela ever was.

So as mentioned, Lamela's leaving to Real tomorrow for £50M. Im bringing in Stanciu from Dortmund for £22M and went a bit mad, as I bought Pogba as well. He's been my target since day one and now occasion rose to bring him in, for a sh*t load of money, though. £40M up-front and some money later on as well, but I just had to do it, he looks so good.

Results

October 2016 (continued from prevous post)

November 2016

December 2016

Went through from our Champions League group undefeated, too. Have been drawn against Atletico in the first knockout round.

Stats so far this season:

[enders357]

Great article on tactics that reminded me of the 4-2-3-1 I posted in the OPs of this thread...

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1886113-roberto-martinezs-everton-have-eschewed-tactical-symmetry-and-boosted-variety

[enders357]

R1ku - you won't regret that outlay for Pogba. I spent a similarly ridiculous sum of money for him and he's been incredible for me (after a bit of a slow start for the first half season or so).

I shifted to a 4-3-3 (no number 10) to accommodate his strengths better and have him playing in the left CM spot set as an AP A (with added instructions to shoot more often, making use of that 20 for long shots).