[FMC] [FM15] Out of the comfort zone(s) back in, then out again!

[RTHerringbone]

Here's the deal:

i) For years and years, barring the occasional spell in Brazil or Argentina, I have been shackled to European saves in Football Manager

ii) I love messing about tactically with the game and spend ages watching matches in Full or Comprehensive, in order to squeeze an extra drop of potential from my tactics

iii) My average save lasts seven seasons, and then I start anew

iv) I envy journeyman saves

Here's the twist:

i) I have loaded the seventeen nations outside of Europe, and the top divisions therein

ii) Using Instant Result only (this is a Football Manager Classic save) will deny me the tactical comfort I tend to enjoy

iii) The speed of Instant Result will hopefully see me fly past the seventh season "itch"

iv) And that speed should enable me to flip from country to country and get a taste of what it is to be a journeyman

Collectively, that quartet of twists is going to make me feel extraordinarily uncomfortable; I expect to suffer badly!

I'm setting myself some loose sort of rules:

i) I will stick to the same formation throughout a season

ii) I will Instant Result every match, with no Match Plan until I feel the need to gain more control of tactics

iii) Before each match, I will get my AssMan to do a quick pick of the "best" players for the match

iv) As the game progresses, I may Add / Remove leagues in order to diversify my game world (read that as bring Europe back into the mix!)

Hopefully progress will be swift, so I envisage posting season updates, rather than monthly ones. In the spirit of swiftness, these won't be very detailed updates

First up, started unemployed and with an Automatic Reputation. A reminder of the nations / leagues loaded, with a Medium database (51k players):

And here I am:

[RTHerringbone]

After a spell kicking my heels in the Job Centre, Sun Pegasus from the nine team Hong Kong Premier Division came calling

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Pegasus_FC

Languishing in last place with four defeats and two draws, the board didn't expect much when I took over, and that was a Godsend

Barring the glory of a trophy secured in my fourth game (a 3-1 win over Rangers (HKG) in the Senior Shield Final), we only moved up to seventh with a record of W5, D 2 and L3 in the Premier League.

My record now stands as below, and I have set a personal target of third place next season.

EDIT - The Hong Kong Premier League is a league full of lavish riches. For finishing 7th, we got £4,000

EDIT2 - Season one tactics were these (in terms of Role / Duty mix, at least):

[shirajzl]

Good luck, apart from everything else, it'll certainly be an insight into how Instant Result works. There's a huge difference in quality in some of those leagues, interesting stuff is bound to happen!

[danielgear]

Good luck, FMC seems to be getting a bigger following these days

[RTHerringbone]

Good luck, apart from everything else, it'll certainly be an insight into how Instant Result works. There's a huge difference in quality in some of those leagues, interesting stuff is bound to happen!

Thanks I already have a "Very Insecure" Job Status, even though the board set no expectations on my appointment. A series of Chilean and Australian jobs have just emerged in May 2015, and I may try to irritate my board by jumping ship already!

Good luck, FMC seems to be getting a bigger following these days

Cheers - and so it should. FMC is great and hopefully I can help to get a couple more people to try that game mode if I do anything vaguely interesting here.

[MattSpurs94]

I'm starting to get into FMC a lot now, mostly due to my inadequateness at full flavour. Hoping to get a similar career going, though maybe more euro-based

[RTHerringbone]

I don't even know if I'm in the first or second season

The league seems to be over, but I've now added to the earlier silverware with "The Asian Qualification", following a 2-0 win over Kitchee. The relevance of not knowing what season it is, is to highlight a change of formation:

I'll take this opportunity to give you an overview of our high-brow transfer dealings to date:

I have learned one thing - you can have too many foreign players in Hong Kong Fortunately, the best players seem to be foreign and they want to leave Hong Kong shortly after arriving, so you need to rotate them season after season anyway!

EDIT - I'd make those tactics screens smaller, but I haven't got a bloody clue how to

[RTHerringbone]

Definitely got into a "Nose versus face" situation. I quit Sun Pegasus as my status was "Very Insecure" in spite of the glorious two trophies I delivered the ungrateful board. I quit and went on indefinite holiday, awaiting the jobs from Chile, Australia and Peru.

They never came.

But Royal Wahingdoh Football Club of the Indian National Football League did., and so that is where I am.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Wahingdoh_F.C.

What does the new squad look like? Well, sparse is probably the word I'd use. I have thirteen players. 13. I can move some players from the Reserves surely? No, there aren't any Oh dear

Still, I have six months to wait for my first match, so it's time to start scouting for ways to invest my £9k budget.

[Maw74]

Well done on the two trophies and good luck with Royal Wahingdoh.

Having trouble seeing your pics though.

[RTHerringbone]

Third game at Wahingdoh yielded the first trophy!

[tyro]

Nicely done. Trophy after trophy. You're really flying through the seasons.

[RTHerringbone]

Nicely done. Trophy after trophy. You're really flying through the seasons.

I'm only in the second season really, I've just spent time in leagues with hardly any teams which helps, and I was unemployed for a spell after quitting Sun Pegasus.

I'm regretting the decision to leave Hong Kong so quickly. It would probably have been pretty easy to come third in my first full season there and see where that took me, but now I'm stuck with a mediocre Indian side with a tiny and undeveloped squad for the foreseeable future! I predict the sack when the season properly starts.

I'm learning quickly. First lesson - don't be so impulsive; it'll come back to haunt you! Having said that, my impulses tell me to try another continent and head to South America. I reckon I could begin to build a reputation over there if I actually got my feet under the desk and stayed with a side for a 2/3 season spell.

[RTHerringbone]

Hmm. Seems like somebody had a couple of beers last night and performed some more impulsive actions.

I loaded up the save tonight and found that I had resigned from Wahingdoh and removed a lot of leagues to limit my game world to South America, the USA and Australia. After applying for everything, I got a call from Down Under.

I fully intend to at least get the sack here, or else I'll be getting a reputation as a quitter :o

[Dexter_Morgan]

My first rule, never play FM after drinking too much as you start making some strange decisions

Done well so far to get a few trophies in your short spells at clubs, hopefully you can stay in Australia for a bit

[RTHerringbone]

My first rule, never play FM after drinking too much as you start making some strange decisions

Done well so far to get a few trophies in your short spells at clubs, hopefully you can stay in Australia for a bit

Cheers Dexter. It's actually quite a significant jump in class; I have a 37 year old Damien Duff on the books

I can start to look for double-digit attributes too, so hopefully we can set the A-League alight. It's a pretty competitive division by the look of it, and we got a point from last seasons' champions, the Central Coast Marriners, albeit finishing 16 points behind:

A-League format is odd, with everyone playing each other three times. Top Six qualify for a Finals Series (top two straight to the Semis) and it looks like the league winner, plus the winner of the Finals Series qualify for the Asian Champions League. Sounds exciting enough to me.

I can also afford staff, which is nice, and I've started to line up a few decent young Aussies to pack out a pretty decent squad, so I'm optimistic.

[john1]

Finally made a career thread Interesting moves from Hong Kong>India and now Australia

[shirajzl]

Ahh, I was hoping you'd play more in India. I did a save there on FM 12 and it was mightily frustrating to dominate the league and getting thumped regularly in Asian CL.

Oh, and don't drink and FM©.

[RTHerringbone]

I'm pleased to have made the switch. After regretting leaving Sun Pegasus, I didn't regret leaving India at all

Melbourne is going well so far:

Sitting third in the A-League and qualified for the FFA Cup Final (likely to face Melbourne Victory). Have snaffled up a few Aussie rejects on frees from around Europe, most notably Brad Inman from Crewe, who promptly got a hip injury and is out for three months after starting his career with us so well

EDIT: A third of the way through the season and we've played everyone once now; things look good.

[Maw74]

A good move, that job was available in my game recently and I would have been very interested in going for it but it's the wrong time, can't quit Spurs, not mid-season anyway.

[grindline]

Very interesting to see someone embrace instant results.

[RTHerringbone]

Very interesting to see someone embrace instant results.

Speed was the aim, and it is working. Fixtures and table since last images posted, now two thirds of the way through the season plus we've won the FFA Cup.

Nasty run of results which halted shortly after Inman returned from injury.

[RTHerringbone]

Romped it Regular season is done and dusted, so we did a double with the FFA Cup and the League. Next have to go into the Finals Series for a chance to get more silverware (presumably) and then see when the Asian Champions League starts. That can wait for tomorrow.....

[CamillePunk]

Great to finally see a career thread from you RTH! Quite different than I expected I must admit, but definitely intriguing.

[tyro]

Well done. Best G.D. by a mile. Also best defense.

Interesting system in Australia. Is it similar to the Scottish system? I never realized how many different systems countries use for their leagues. I think I have been too limited to England/Germany/France/Italy. I did try to play in Brazil once but I think I need to branch out more.

[RTHerringbone]

Well done. Best G.D. by a mile. Also best defense.

Interesting system in Australia. Is it similar to the Scottish system? I never realized how many different systems countries use for their leagues. I think I have been too limited to England/Germany/France/Italy. I did try to play in Brazil once but I think I need to branch out more.

There are similarities to Scotland, just not as badly executed as the SPL. In Scotland the league splits after everyone has played three times so the top six play each other once and the bottom six play each other once. No idea what happens after that!

I too was far too limited with where I've played, and that was a key component behind starting this save. I know I'll start tonight in Australia, but I might be somewhere completely different by the time I go to bed!

[RTHerringbone]

The season in Australia is up, and we managed to add the Finals Series to the trophy haul and have qualified for the 2018 Asian Champions League.

My reputation is now continental

So then I did the next natural thing, and resigned

Now awaiting opportunities in South America.

EDIT - Still waiting after rather a long time....temporarily defecting back to a Southampton save

[john1]

Superb season I wouldn't be surprised to see you going back to your Southampton save

[Kidshiva1984]

Great to see FMC is taking over the world.

Having worked my way around Asia, it is certainly good entertainment. Good luck wherever it may take you!

[tyro]

Interesting to see the Media Handling "bar." Wonder how FMC judges that.

Great season. Let's see where you end up.

[RTHerringbone]

I just wish I could have FM15 running twice on my laptop - one simming that save until I finally get a job offer in Brazil / Argentina, and one running my Saints save

[RTHerringbone]

Given the lack of Brazilian and Argentina Chairmen ringing me up, I thought I'd lift content from my GPTG save with Saints into here, so I can update that save in here.

Season One

Have finally started my save! Horrific fixture list at the start with trips to Chelsea, City and White Hart Lane. We struggled at Chelsea but held our own in other games. Major signing was Ryan Shawcross, and this is the story of my season so far:

Fixtures:

Table:

Tactics:

(These change in terms of Mentality and "Exploit The...." TIs from match to match, but not much else really).

EDIT - And posting that has shown that my MCL should be a BBM, but is a RP for some reason! Arse!

Still right on the money with this save! Loving it. Now joint third on points after a six game winning streak, which should continue when Leicester travel down for my next match. Tactically all still very simple and pretty much the same basis as the previous post.

Halfway mark reached:

So, we've had an update and as usual, it can be a worrying time as ME to ME things can change a lot. This ME in my opinion is WAY better than before, still a few quirks which will get sorted in time, but I'm happy with how it is. I was aware that the prior ME was overpowered out wide so my tactics deliberately did not aim to exploit that, and I've reaped rewards as we're still ticking along with no changes to the basic approach needed.

Best achievement so far is reaching the Capital One Cup Final. We left it rather late

Latest win was a dominant performance at Villa Park:

Our nasty run of fixtures unravelled like this. Q.P.R. was especially annoying as we held a 2-0 lead and they fought back really well to nick a point:

League table now like this. A few surprises in there - look at City - and Spurs?! Top? Make us being second look almost normal

After aspiring to reach the Europa League, I can aim higher as we automatically qualified with the Capital One Cup win.

When you consider our upcoming fixtures, a title tilt looks on:

A couple of slip-ups at tricky venues, but we kept the score lines more than respectable.

Whilst we've slipped down the table, those fixtures don't half look winnable until the Chelsea (FA Cup) and Man Utd games.

In my head, I've set a 14 point target - let's see how we do.

Horrible squeaky bum time at the tail end of the season. We contrived to drop points in games we should have won; dominated against Stoke but held, Hull had 10 men for 30 minutes but we couldn't get through. All the while, the other contenders were racking up win after win

The FA Cup defeat to Chelsea was a bright spot. For some reason I rested players even though we weren't playing games close together, but their first team really struggled to get through us, so it's a doffed hat to the system - in the end, Chelsea were PL champions, so I can't argue with that!

A draw at Old Trafford meant that I needed Spurs to slip up at Hull - a 2:2 for them gave us a very tight 4th spot o goal difference. Horrible, nail-biting and yet brilliant stuff! I need to figure out what to do next.....

[RTHerringbone]

Season Two

After a brief bit of indecision about whether or not to quit Saints after being offered the Liverpool job, I pressed on which, in the context of my recent (temporarily aborted) journeyman save, resembles some sort of loyalty and staying power! I had been concerned about running with this squad:

"I'm not sure I can possibly consolidate the squad with enough quality with the money available to allow us to compete as well in the Premier League next year. Fourth place was a huge over achievement and there's no way we can surpass (possibly not even match) that next season. This is likely to be my squad, if I get the signings I want:

Forster

Butland

Targett

Clyne

Ward

Alderweireld

Shawcross

Fonte

Gardos

Wanyama

Cork

Schneiderin

Davis

Ward-Prose

Sissoko

Tadic

Mane

Mayuka

McManaman

Pelle

Long

That's best case scenario. Some of those are just not good enough yet, or just aren't good enough full stop.

It's certainly an easier task at Anfield, or at Man City where Pellegrini was just booted - though I doubt I'd get that one. Decisions, decisions."

More updates lifted from the GPTG thread:

Delighted to have stuck with Saints. Still in preseason of season two, but my God the team has changed!

As a reminder, I had a £25m kitty before any TV money came in.

The side I spurned, Liverpool, offered £16m for Forster which I gratefully accepted, replacing him with Timo Horn (£3.8m release clause) AND Jack Butland, with cash to spare.

At the back, Shawcross, who I'd signed in season one for under £10m was signed by City for just shy of £30m, and was replaced by FM legend Balanta for £9m. Alderweireld didn't want to stay as he thought we couldn't match his ambition, so Ezequiel Munoz from Palermo was snaffled up for £3m and young Brazilian Samir joined for £7m (Gardos went to Lazio for the same; Fonte to Newcastle for around £3m). I picked up further Brazilian wing backs in Mayke and Telles for a combined £17m. Sebastien Coates was just £2.5m from Liverpool, so we have a very complete back line now. Bertrand was signed for a knock down £3m.

In midfield, Napoli paid £30m for Wanyama and was replaced by Lucas Romero and Lucas Silva (combined £20m). Ramirez is back from his loan and will feature. Cork and Davis accrued £15m between them, invested in Ross Barkley (£17m) and long term target Moussa Sissoko arrived from Newcastle. Out wide, Correa cost £6.5m from Velez to complete midfield.

Finally (gasp!) Long went to Chelsea for £13m, Pelle to Everton for £8m. In come Barbosa from Santos for £10m and Destro from Roma for £20m.

It's a ridiculous overhaul which is only possible on FMC (no squad gelling to worry about). All in all, we actually made a Net profit of around £10m from this, so have money available should the worst happen. All in all, it's a stupid transfer window but it reinforces the team, increasing quality and depth. It will be criminal if we don't match our 4th place - the board only want a Top Ten finish too

The overhaul resulted in this squad:

Took me 5 hours last night to get through that transfer window and a couple of pre-season matches - even though I use FMC

Compare and contrast the squad options in post #107 with now:

GK

Butland

Horn

Def

Targett

Bertrand

Telles

Clyne

Mayke

Munoz

Balanta

Samir

Coates

Mid

Schneiderlin

Romero

Silva

Sissoko

Mane

Tadic

Barkley

Ramirez

Ward-Prose

ST

Destro

Barbosa

So, we are younger, but superior to season one. Defensively there is some raw talent and we are certainly less experienced here than before, so it is a risk. Fortunately the qualities of Romero and Silva and Sissoko should help to screen them somewhat.

Given the increase in quality, I'm going to carefully massage my tactics into something more easy on the eye. In addition, I used last night to trial a 4-4-1-1 alternative to the 4-1-4-1, which uses the same back four and wide midfielders, but a CM (D) to the right of the Wide Playmaker (Attack) and a Roaming Playmaker beside him (to the left of the Winger (Support)).

The AMC is a Trequartista and the striker a Complete Forward (Attack). Early signs are that the Wide Playmaker and Trequartista can clash a little on the left looking for the ball, but they also combine quite nicely in other regards, so I'll keep an eye on that for the rest of pre-season. The Treq and CF move around really nicely too, so the only concern is whether or not I'll expose the defence too much. I've elected to use much the same TIs but am tinkering with Team Shape to see if I can safely create a more collective style.

I've also, sensibly, had a quick look at my corner defending (which I'd left on default, and not done at all badly with in season one). Now have a man on the far post, a couple of DCs Man Marking, 3 players zonally marking the six yard box, one up front, one on edge of area and some more marking dotted about.

An update from me, early in season two. Things are going very, very well so far. In contrast to season one, we've had a great set of opening fixtures; we've taken full advantage so far:

I'm delighted with how we are playing, but more delighted by a deserved win over City - these are the games we need to take points from to improve on 4th.

That streak of green has had the inevitable result:

I'm posting now, because I'm about to embark on a match against Bayern - clearly the biggest test of my tenure so far. We've started with wins against CSKA and Roma to get a maximum six points. I'm aiming to draw at home, lose admirably away at Bayern, and then get four points from the remaining games; 11 points should see us through.

img]https://whenseagullsfollowthetrawler.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/screen-shot-2014-11-15-at-22-12-48.png[/img]

There are signs of a downturn in form, and it's because we've lost Tadic and Mane for a month at the same time. The results at Roma, Arsenal and Fulham were phenomenal, as we were 2-0, 2-0 and 3-0 down in each, so we've shown real character to level those matches.

Right, we've moved on again. Here are a few screens to depict our progress.

Still performing brilliantly in the league, and we overcame a sticky looking Christmas programme with relative ease.

As stated with the City result earlier this season, it's great to have nicked a point at Old Trafford and these extra "not lost" points stand us in good stead past the half way mark in the league. Most effective attack and defence, which isn't something I've been able to say often in recent FM's:

I've recently got Mane and Tadic back from injury to reinforce us. Mane's reward is to be offered out for sale in spite of excellent work both this season and last. The reason? I hate losing players to the African Cup Of Nations for a month or so every time that competition comes around. Whilst I initially hoped I could attract £30m+ for him, I ended up accepting a staggered £18m from Milan for him - which is below his value but offsets the price P-SG accepted for his transfer listed replacement:

My second season is all going rather too well - I'll pop some images up this evening. After 30 league games we are unbeaten, but still somehow not at the top of the table - Chelsea are ahead but we will overtake them if we win our game in hand.

Using the same approach as detailed earlier in the thread, we have been beaten just twice all season; a 3-0 humbling at Bayern and a 3-1 defeat at White Hart Lane in the 2nd leg of the Capital One Cup semi (we won the first leg 3-0).

We hold a slim 1-0 CL QF advantage over Real Madrid, and the return leg at the Bernebau is my first game of the night tonight. Whatever happens there, we are going to improve on the season one league position.

As is often the way with me, this success, whilst pleasing, brings out an inherent desire to self destruct and try something different tactically for season three. However, even with the stadium expansion due to complete before the kick-off of the new season, I'll need some pretty significant TV and prize money to restructure the squad to fit my haphazard tactical vision. I'm thinking of offloading Mane (due to my aversion to losing players to the African Cup Of Nations) and Ramirez to raise some cash. Tadic too could leave as I have always had a tendency to kick players out who are remotely old (he's 27/8) before their sell-on value starts to decrease. He has been great again this season, but is outperformed by the younger Correa.

My preparedness to lose wide players is based on the possibility of reverting to some form of 5-3-2 with CWBs. I'm hoping that the security of a back three will allow me to not only be ballsy on both flanks, but also relatively brave in central midfield. I then want a front three which moves dynamically and vertically - a CF (S) may well pair with a F9, with a Shadow Striker behind. That's all for the pre-season though - Real to get out of the way first.

So, lots of fixtures played since the last update:

Following the Madrid game, we've played two fewer games than Chelsea in the league whose potent goalscoring means I need to aim to win the title on points because their goal difference looks likely to be superior to ours. Look how well Man U are doing too - that is title winning form in some seasons.

The stats from the Madrid game don't tell the whole story. We had a lot of the ball but were poor at finishing. The turning point came when Hulk went off injured; they had used all their subs. Then, they adopted a narrow 4-4-1 diamond, we played narrower and exploited the flanks - and scored shortly after.

Well. A ridiculous end to the season saw us lose our 36th league game at Liverpool, to shatter any dreams of emulating Arsenal's Invincible season.

However, that proved the only significant stumbling block for the remainder of the season. Not only did we win the league, but we beat Man U in the FA Cup, Arsenal over 2 legs in the CL Semi and then Chelsea in the CL final (1-0 down to 3-1 up and finally 3-2). I'm trying to dig out the FM13 Saints thread to see how things compared in terms of achieving early success but I can only find the FM14 thread However, a season two quadruple is more than I expected This was in spite of losing Destro and Barbosa at the same time for a three week spell - Moura stepped up and scored some crucial goals at crucial times

I sort of got a bit lax in the last few games and even Instant Resulted a couple of "easier" league matches to finish the season as quickly as I could, so I'm not really sure if my heart is in 100% in this save, but I have longer term plans to change that. As things stand, my stadium expansion completes in July 2016 and is something I'll stick around for. We amassed some cash as a result of our prize winning form, and I have a clear idea of who in the squad is sub-standard given our new status, or not required due to other criteria:

Butland is treading a fine line. He's a good player but I'm not sure he has the long-term quality to hold a place. I've scouted for similar aged goalkeepers and younger newgens and I can see Jack leaving. Timo Horn is good and young, so is not under threat.

Joel Ward was a good, versatile player who provided coverage across the back line and at DM. However, he has only been used off the bench and when I've had injuries and suspensions. Not a starter, not a long term prospect. When he is sold, I might not even replace him as I will still have 4 DCs.

Balanta, Samir and Munoz are all excellent DCs. They are young and can develop further. Coates, on the other hand, has served his time. He is a solid but unspectacular player. His value has more than doubled since we signed him from Liverpool at the end of season one, and I reckon we can attract an offer near £10m for him. I have no specific targets in mind to replace him but there will be a new recruit.

Out wide at the back, three of the four slots are safe. Mayke and Clyne are great players on the right and Telles is equally superb on the left. Targett is under review because whilst he is playing well and is a genuine Saints player, I need to be convinced of his long term ceiling in terms of potential. The jury is out - I'm so harsh

DM is very well catered for with Romero and Silva consistently excellent. Never a question of losing these two. Central midfield will see change. Sissoko and Ward-Prowse are safe, with JWP having scored some great goals in the final few matches. Schneiderlin is after some more money, which he probably deserves, and I'll retain his services. Gaston Ramirez scored some important goals too, but I'm unsure about his future. I think I'd rather move Barkely inside and take advantage of Ramirez' high value to supplement the squad out wide.

Moura really stepped up in the last 5-10 games and scored some lovely goals and created some beauties too. I'm unsure about his best position but am likely to continue to play him wide in a flat midfield four. Depay from PSV is listed and his trickery is of extreme interest to me. Mane will leave due to my reluctance to lose players to the African Cup of Nations and Tadic' value has rocketed and he has attracted interested from big clubs. I reckon that pair could generate some big bucks and I currently have no idea who to replace them with.

Up front, no change. Destro was sensational and put the still excellent Barbosa in the shade.

My interest in this save will be maintained by building the infrastructure of the club as much as I can until the stadium reaches whatever maximum capacity is. In the 1-2 season horizon, I'm aiming to bring in the best young players I can afford to, who are ready for the first team. In parallel, I'm going to focus on U20 players and newgens with a view to the next 3-10 seasons. All the while, I need to think about some tactical innovations to liven things up, but we remain effective in attack and defence, so I'm not quite sure what I'll do. In the FM13 save I got to the point where I set a target of scoring an average of 3 goals per game (which proved elusive, just), so I may introduce that in a few seasons time.

EDIT: FM13 thread is here: http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/319162-FM13-Southampton-F.C.-Reasons-to-be-cheerful-Part-3!

[RTHerringbone]

Season Three

I've been rattling through season three, so thought I'd post a wall of images so far. Interestingly, it is getting quite tight. We are struggling to win matches we should, and are hit and miss against bigger sides.

Lots of injuries so far this season, with only a week or so where I've had a full squad available. Atletico in the 1st Knockout round of the CL, and that's about it so far.

Stadium capacity is over 48k and due to be increased to 52k, which I assume to be the maximum.

Season three mopped up, and barring a spell of losses at the end of the season (all of which were deserved), we've romped away with things again.

Champions League final was odd. At the point of being ready to kick off, it transpired that nine of my fit South American players were on international duty! That annoyed me so I saved, quit and watched attractive women in small sparkly outfits dance about on Strictly Come Dancing. When I restarted my laptop and loaded the save, everyone was available :confused: Good for us, bad for Bayern

I'm stuck in this rut which I get into every FM where we defend brilliantly but bore the pants off people at the other end of the pitch. This year it is likely to be down to my 4-1-4-1 and so I'm trying to think of ways to mix things up to retain defensive solidity, but I'm prepared to compromise it a bit to score more. That's the challenge for season four.

[RTHerringbone]

Season Four

I was distracted bu the City vs. Bayern match so didn't get to look at my 5-3-2 as much as I want. It is coming along but I need to watch a few more matches. I can't remember all the setting so far and some of these might be wrong, but *I think* this is it so far:

Control

Retain Possession

Push Higher Up

Close Down Much More

Work Ball Into Box

Prevent Short GK Distribution

GK (D) Pass Shorter, Fewer Risky Passes, Distribute to DCs

DC (D) x 3 Pass Shorter, Close Down Much Less, Fewer Risky Passes (?)

WBL/R WB (S) Cross Less Often, Stay Wider, Shoot Less Often, Fewer Risky Passes, Pass Shorter, Tackle Harder, Cross From Byline

DM Roaming Playmaker (S) Tackle Harder

MCL CM (A) Tackle Harder, Pass Shorter, Shoot Less Often

MCR B2B (S) Get Further Forward, Pass Shorter, Tackle Harder, Shoot Less Often

STL CF (S) Shoot Less Often, Tackle Harder, Move Into Channels

STR DF (S) Shoot Less Often, Tackle Harder, Move Into Channels

Why am I doing this? Every FM I hit a point where I'm successful but I want a bit more from the team. The 4-1-4-1 remained solid as a rock at the back, but it felt like the goals scored were drying up a bit. It's possibly a consequence of our reputation increasing and teams playing more cautiously against us, and it possibly indicates that the 4-1-4-1 could be made more aggressive to offset that.

I've always had a soft spot for back threes (as seen in my FM13 Saints save, where I used a combination of 3-5-2, 3-1-4-2 and 3-4-1-2 systems). I think I'll evolve towards a 3-1-4-2 with my current system, which I can do just by getting my wide defenders familiar with the ML/R positions. In the mean time, I'll use wing backs in a 3-5-2 with a DM.

In my quest for goals, I'm hoping that the back three allows me to be bolder elsewhere. I already have two strikers compared to one in a 4-1-4-1, the same sort of central midfielder support, plus a more mobile deep starting playmaker than the 4-1-4-1. If I lose anything, it is with the contribution of the wing backs, but they are set up here to serve a specific purpose.

The risks are that a ball over the top will be into space as the RP, BBM and CM will all definitely be some way up field. I *think* I'm happy with that on the whole as it's a risk whose impact should be lessened by the presence of three DCs. I may revert to a Regista back there just to curb the RPs forward movement, but that in turn may detract from what I'm hoping to achieve through the spine of the team. For games against decent teams with a dedicated AMC, I may chanhe the DM Role altogether.

What is the playing style I have in mind? You'll notice a Hell of a lot of Support Duties. I want to really control possession in my quest for goals. I don't want to take too many shots; I want to take good shots. As such, we are playing a ball retention game with short passing and limited crosses. The team will be quite compact in terms of vertical depth (with the wing backs Stay Wider instruction to stretch width when attacking) to help us keep the ball. The Wing Backs are on Support because I want to use Cross Less Often. They will still get up field, and they will still cross, but ideally not until they reach the byline. They also have this Duty to enable the ball retention plans; CWBs and WB (A) just advance too quickly. I want players who will move up field in a more patient way, to maximise passing options.

The proof will be in the pudding! I tested this in various forms throughout preseason, the Community Shield, European Super Cup and a couple of league matches. I continue to tinker but the signs are OK so far.

This is how my 5-3-2 has evolved so far:

Control and Flexible.

It has been a while, and I realised I hadn't posted a thing about season four, so here it is:

A proper clean up of the trophies, a nice big stadium capacity and upgrades to facilities too. The league ended with a defeat late on to ruin our chances of emulating Arsenal's Invincibles season.

A great league season with the most goals scored and the fewest conceded, implying that the 5-3-2 worked a treat

On the back of that, transfer activity for season five have been as follows:

The P-SG offer for Clyne was just silly as it can rise to over £55m when all instalments are paid, considering I can pick up the younger Stones for less than half that, the coffers swell again.

The delay in posting was partly because my head was turned by a Roma save, but that wasn't clicking as well as this save. I will flit between the two, but I'm enjoying a good start to season five having reverted back to a slightly tweaked 4-1-4-1, so I'll see how we go.

[RTHerringbone]

Season Five

A couple of screens to update on my fifth season so far, which is unbeaten after 27 league games, but I can remember all to well what has happened in recent seasons

One of my XIs looks like this. Same basic system as posted back on the last page or so. I'm really enjoying how it plays out, and have seen no changes to the ME that should impact it, as it is well balanced and doesn't focus on one particular way of creating goals. One positive sign with the new ME is that I'm seeing much tighter reactions from goalkeepers after initial saves, so things look good.

Not as many newgens as I want yet, here's the brightest prospect, the unfortunately named Zitinho Very young, plenty of room for improvement.

EDIT - And then I tempt fate by posting this, and lose 2-0 at Juventus in the CL

EDIT2 - And then I got knocked out of the FA Cup in the 6th round at New White Hart Lane! I should know better than to post updates

Season five has come and gone. We lost out on the FA Cup but won everything else we entered, and broke the 100 point mark in the league for the first time:

Things are going so well, that I am getting bored and it is time to shake things up. I usually do this one of two way: a tactical rejig, or a clearout of the squad. Having already switched from a 4-1-4-1 to a 5-3-2, it's time to send a few players on their way. I want to be newgen only as soon as I can, and I've already recruited three players without necessarily knowing who needs to make way for them

More are on my radar, but I'll need to start shifting a few to raise more funds, as these guys are not coming cheap at all. It seems that hoovering up young players on the cheap is less easy than it used to be.

EDIT: Got the guy I really wanted too:

[RTHerringbone]

Season Six

And there are more

A frenetic transfer window ahead of season six saw the revolving door at St. Mary's almost fall apart

In addition to the four above, plus the already acquired Zitinho (who I'll show below) I signed five more newgens, bringing the total in the first team squad up to ten. I'm not hanging about! I'm finding that serious money is having to be paid to lure high quality players to the club, which is only reasonable. Fontaine and Daniels both cost £41m :o

Nicolai was £33m, Ozturk £21m. Carlos being the "cheapest" at £4.5m. In all, we have forked out a monstrous £176m in this window to revitalise the squad. My habit of rotating the whole XI from game to game continues, and now means that I'll have 5 newgens in each XI. To balance the books, some big names had to go. They were, at the oldest, just 25, but this policy of refreshing the squad with newgens only needs to be ruthless. We have said goodbyes to Romero, Samir, Telles, Butland, Stones, Savic, Kranevitter, Silva, Barkley and Depay. R

omero was signed for £9m and sold to Madrid for £60m. Stones' fee rocketed to the same extortionate value (having signed for £21m a year before) as Juve were flush for cash after we acquired Misischi and Cavaliere from them. Last to leave was Depay on transfer deadline day, with United handing over £55m in straight cash to acquire the 25 year old. Fees received topped £300m, with just Silva going for less than value (Lazio paid £22m for the £28m rated player). Offering out players for above their value seems to work most of the time for me.

Now, a link to something I wrote on my blog all about the 5-3-2 I'm using:

http://whenseagullsfollowthetrawler.wordpress.com/2014/12/17/a-change-of-course-4-1-4-1-to-5-3-2/

That gives way more detail about the system than I have in here, and can hopefully add a bit of detail to help you see why we're doing so well.

Season six is following in the same pattern as before, with some great performances but possibly more defeats than I'm used to, which may or my not be attributable to using so many young players.

Latest results include the first three match defeat streak of the save, but fortunately all games were ones we could have won on another day, so I'm not too concerned. Around those results, you can see just how tight we are defensively and that is helping our league positioning well.

I'm utterly delighted by the goals conceded count so far. It's way better than anything we've achieved so far, and in spite of a General Discussion thread implying you can't defend well The youngsters are phenomenal, a rundown of their performances is here:

Season six signed off. A tighter league in terms of points than previous years, which I'll attribute to the number of youngsters. Standout in this image is goals conceded. Absolutely astonishing stuff.

Defence remains a fairly non-newgen area, so this can only head South as my plans take shape. We have Shaw, Mayke, Varane, Jedvaj, Balanta, Kongolo and Bazoer as "real" players in defence. Maybe is being replaced in the summer, replaced by this fella for £8m. Mayke is 27 and valued at £21m, so should realise a like-for-like profit:

We missed out on the FA Cup and Capital One Cup this year (defeats by United and City), so the CL Final against Barca (for the second successive year) was a real key game for me. At 1-0 this happened, in the 85th minute:

Looks fine? All under control? Not when a bug roots Cavaliere to his spot and Messi bangs in a late equaliser

Fortunately, the balance of play was rewarded in extra time, though we were aided by Barca having one man off injured and one hobbling about (and we attacked that very flank )

Next steps are to flog Mayke and find some more newgens to replace real players.

[RTHerringbone]

Season Seven

My shopping list looks interesting. One signed:

Cost his £3.9m release clause. He lacks in some areas, but I'm pretty sure he'll do OK. Will replace one of my bench warming Brazilians.

This next one, is really, really, really special. I will gladly pay a ridiculous sum of money to get him and am happy to test United's resolve - their starting price is £156m, :o

I have signed Makelele! He was not cheap! Any guesses as to the price paid? It was all up front, with no installments or add-ons.

Mayke went to City for £34m and I'm now trying to shift Barbosa and a central midfielder as I'm aiming to introduce an academy graduate this season.

EDIT - I have also settled upon a vague tactical switch for a season or two down the line, so I need to be mindful of that when continuing on my newgen-only squad building plan.

I'm utterly committed to a back three; I think it achieves great things in terms of defensive solidity and ball retention. My new way of playing has been influenced by the book I'm reading (Universality by Matthew Whitehouse), specifically comments in that about the return of the dribblers to modern football after an era of conventional wingers back in the early 2000's.

As such, I want to introduce that attractive, attacking and mobile wide play, and also make use of the new Raumdeuter Role in FM15. My first stab at it will be along these lines:

GK (D)

DC (D)

DC (D)

DC (D)

DM (D) - I will be using Makelele in this Role

MCL RP (S)

MCC CM (A)

MCR (BWM (S)

AML IF (A)

AMR Raumdeuter (A)

CF (S)

It lends itself well to the current profile of the squad, though I will need to retrain players to the AML/R slots as only Misischi (I think) is competent out there at the moment. It is a risky system as there is no real flank coverage, so it will test the defensive narrowing of a back three well. Having three MCs in a line does help to cover the flanks a little, but I may need to employ some specific man marking on our outer MCs to more aggressively mark AI wide men. I'm prepared to give this a go because the last update did improve the way Attack Duty AML/R players position themselves when defending.

The balance of the CM trio in terms of forward runs is key. I know the IF (A) will cut inside with the ball, so I don't really want the CM (A) on that side, and as I'm unfamiliar with the Raumdeuter, I don't want to affect his movement too much by having the CM (A) on that side either! The downside of having the CM (A) through the middle is that it means my Roaming Playmaker could be dragged out of position if I choose to go down the man marking route. Lots to consider, and I really need to just watch their behaviour when out of possession to see how well we cover the flanks, and then in possession to see how the outer MC movement fits with the AML/R.

If we go down the man marking route, I'd rather have the Roaming Playmaker in the centre of the CM line, to allow the out of position MCL/R to regroup before we start to build an attack.

I haven't even looked at players with attributes for these two wide Roles recently, so I'm hoping that an attribute-driven search will reveal a few crackers who didn't fit the Role profile of the 5-3-2 and so were completely off my radar. There is still cash in the bank, in spite of Makelele's arrival, so the closing weeks of the pre-season of the 7th season could be interesting. I need to be careful as I have doubts about the proposed system (haven't really thought about Mentality, TIs or PIs yet) so I don't want to carve through the squad if it isn't a viable system.

Have already ditched the plans for a switch to a 3-1-3-3 mentioned in post #247 above

In the pre-season ahead of season seven, we were on a tour of South Africa, so not facing really top level opposition.

Whilst we won the matches, on our return to England we took on Forest at the City Ground in a friendly, and battled to secure a 2-1 win where the lack of flank cover was brutally exposed. Against a strong side, we'd have lost by 2 or more goals.

So, I looked to tweak the 5-3-2 / 3-5-2 and I've decided that I just can't improve on it as it balances so many good things - three at the back, shuttling wing backs acting as hybrid midfielders in a midfield five, central midfield dominance with 3 players and a mobile front two creating space for onrushing midfielders.

Will be interesting to see just which real players I let go last night when I load up tonight, because I can't remember, apart from Bazoer to Barca for £32.5m! I think five players left which more than covered the incoming players. Only picked up one player with a view to him operating at AML/R but he was by trade a MC positioned AP who would have needed position retraining anyway.

The transfer window has shut, with incomings and outgoings as below. Six "real" players out, six newgens in. This leaves us with the following "real" players in the squad:

Tin Jedvaj (DC)

Eder Balanta (DC)

Terence Kongolo (DC)

Luke Shaw (WBL)

Leon Goretzka (MC)

James Ward-Prowse (MC)

Mateo Kovacic (MC)

Gabriel Barbosa (ST)

So I reckon I'm on track to achieve the aim of a newgen-only side by the end of season nine (in fact, I'd expect to get there a season early).

A couple of as yet unmentioned names in that image, and they replace Varane and Bazoer.

Both have obvious quality, but they also need to improve some Mental and Physical attributes to meet the required standards.

As is often the case, this relative downgrade in short term quality is inevitably impacting results to a degree. We lost the Euro Super Cup and have scraped through the few competitive games played so far.

A few more snippets of progress now in season seven.

Form is good, and those clean sheets drive an impeccable defensive record, but we need to convert draws to wins ideally.

Two transfers are lined up and joining in January. The excellent Gilmar, who I've chased for 2/3 seasons. He's a massive upgrade from Carlos and / or Luzinho, so I'll be selling one of them.

Kovacic is being a bit of a ******, and he's attracting attention which has prompted a bid from P-SG which could equate to £60m+ if all clauses are met. His replacement is:

Scored a few beauties so far this season, with the highlight being this:

Things are getting tougher. We're accustomed to being clear in the league by now, but we're losing against the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea now, and face an ominous trip to Old Trafford in the penultimate game to try and nick the title. The downturn in fortunes is a self inflicted over-use of young players who probably aren't really ready for regular top flight football, but that is the wayI've decided to run this save

I moved a point or two ahead of United last night, albeit having played a game more (they drew 0-0 at Old Trafford against Fulham).

It really looks like we will have to win at their place to retain the title. Really tough going; it's great fun

In other news, the lure of Liverpool is back again. Early on in the save, they offered me the job when they finished in mid-table but I declined.

Their situation has been deteriorating year after year, and they are current 18th and 2 or 3 points from safety with just five games to go.

One of those games is against us, so I'm desperate to win to help them on their way to relegation. If that happens, I will try to get that job, as I think it would be an interesting challenge to clear their squad out, start anew and try to rebuild their fortunes.

I'd probably save as soon as they were relegated (and before resigning) just to keep this Saints save open to return to in future, but seven seasons is roughly my average in terms of tenure with one club in FM.

Nailed season seven last night, winning the league after United's capitulation and draw with us at Old Trafford ended their title challenge. By far the tightest title race of recent seasons, and it was very enjoyable.

We then faced them a couple of weeks later in the Champions League Final at the Millenium Stadium. It was a very tight game with neither side reaching double figures for shots in either the 90 minutes, or the half hour of extra time (and yet I keep reading in General Discussion that the game has far too many shots and far too many goals ). It was especially annoying to have to go to penalties, as United lost a man to injury after they'd made all their subs, and they played all of extra time with 10 men but we just couldn't break through.

We missed our second penalty, saved United's fifth and sixth, and won by slotting home our last penalty.

On the way to winning the title, we also consigned Liverpool to relegation as they battled to a 1-1 draw at St. Mary's when they needed to win and hope WBA lost. I've saved a separate version of the save now, just in case I choose to jump ship and rebuild the Scousers. I spent a lot of last night scouring the transfer market and am struggling to see any youngsters with the potential to step up to replace my remaining real players, with central defence especially barren in terms of newgen quality.

So, I'm in my usual end of season quandary:

Saints

Won everything on a regular basis.

St. Mary's at maximum capacity.

Board refusing to build new stadium, in spite of a huge amount of money in the bank and regular crowds over 51k (capacity is 52k).

Average squad age is around 23.

No clear signs of impending newgens to refresh the squad or help achieve the newgen-only squad plan.

Liverpool

In the Championsip.

58k capacity.

Challenge of rebuilding a pretty mediocre, ageing squad (assuming current manager Gareth Southgate gets the boot).

Long term potential for that save to gain promotion first of all and then settle in the PL, with a view to challenging for domestic and European honours in the longer term.

Somewhere else

I'm reading Kun Aguero's book at the moment, and the lure of a spell in Argentina is strong, but I'm put off by the weird format in Argentina this year.

[RTHerringbone]

Phew! Tired out even though that was just cutting and pasting

The Saints save is my "real" save, and it has lured me back. I'm in the early stages of season eight, and will update in here rather than the GPTG section in future.

Next updates won't be as mammoth as above and will typically be after every month of game time or so. Also, as I'm quite attached to this save, I won't be Instant Resulting at all, so progress will be a lot slower.

[Dexter_Morgan]

Doing superbly with Southampton

[RTHerringbone]

Doing superbly with Southampton

Cheers

It's the third successive FM where I've had a save with them, so I know my way round. It's the usual situation in FM where if you hit the ground running, you can rely on AI squad building to allow you to buy low, sell high and keep that cycle running. Even with capacity at 52,000, we lag significantly behind the traditionally bigger clubs in commercial terms, so we're obliged to sell players at their peaks in order to generate the revenues we need. It also fits nicely with the way I like to identify and develop newgens.

In addition to that, I love messing about tactically, so getting my 4-2-3-1 to function perfectly should distract me for a season or two.

[tyro]

Great save. I will be following to see how you continue with Southampton.

[RTHerringbone]

Season Eight

A few matches in; similar story with a new tactic, some success and some transfer activity - but only one way for a change.

Having dabbled with a 4-2-3-1, I'v reverted to a sort of 4-5-1 / 4-3-3:

The back line isn't normal in the sense that we have very limited forward movement, but this is just a deliberate attempt to try to hold shape and have deep passing options. The MC trio is varied enough to drop back, surge forward, and do a bit of both, so as to offset the tameness of the defence. Movement up front is plentiful, and it seems ok so far.

Switching to a back two allowed Kongolo to go (his fee with raise towards £40m once all clauses are triggered). We now have just Jedvaj, Shaw, Barbosa, Goretzka, Balanta and J W-P as "real" players. I set myself a target of season nine to be newgen only.....

[john1]

Wow some big transfers went out for cracking prices.

Epic start to the season

[RTHerringbone]

Out with the old, in with the new

At the start of the Seventh season, I made a Nostradamus-esque prediction of having a newgen only squad by the end of season nine, and then stated "in fact, I expect to be there a season only". Well.....

Amidst the tactical shenanigans of Season Eight, which have seen me revert to a 4-1-2-3 DM with a False Nine and Raumdeuter, I recalled those murmurings from season seven. So I set about a gratuitous shopping spree, given the availability of some fantastically gifted attacking players in particular (though the work rate of one or two is sub-par). As a result, (almost) all our final real players are all listed and should be on their way to help rebalance the Net transfer position. Listed are Jedvaj, Balanta, Goretzka and Barbosa. Ward-Prowse left for PSG for a fee which should hit £40.5m.

Replacements are as below:

As yet I haven't listed Luke Shaw, as I haven't looked for a replacement yet.

Form is good, though United knocked us out of the Capital One Cp at their place in the Quarter Finals. League is looking back to normal after last seasons travails:

A few players made debuts in a 2-1 win against Chelsea at Home, with Carlos Vitor pleasingly excellent:

[john1]

Good start in the league

Pretty decent signings, even three of them are German

[BoxToBox]

Smashing work!

[RTHerringbone]

Very close to hitting the "newgen only" target; and a season ahead of schedule.

Since the last update, Barbosa departed for Serie A, with Inter. Brian Keenan (a newgen himself) has gone to Sociedad, Tin Jedvaj will be lining up for Bayern after his £32.5m move. Luke Shaw joins Ward-Prowse in Paris, having almost doubled the fee we paid for him 4 seasons ago. His £40m fee pushes us into Net profit for the season, with a couple of days left in the Winter window. Goretzka and Balanta are attracting lots of interest and Offer To Clubs is generating bids, but I'm trying to squeeze a bit more out of potential suitors.

Losing Ward-Prowse and Shaw is a little sad, considering their roots at Saints. This is partially offset by the emergence of academy generated newgen John Banks. Shaw is replaced by Tuti from Flamengo. He is actually a defensive midfielder, but will convert nicely to a Wing Back for my needs.

EDIT - Balanta to City for just short of £30m and Goretzka generated........ nothing. Can't shift him, which isn't a hardship given he is excellent and still only 26. Still have a whole season and a half to sell him to meet my target, so the axe wielding ends. For now. To be fair, he is out form player with the highest average rating AND he leads our goalscoring charts.

[john1]

Good replacements for Shaw and Ward-Prowse

How much have you made so far from selling players?

[RTHerringbone]

Good replacements for Shaw and Ward-Prowse

How much have you made so far from selling players?

This season it is just the £203m

[john1]

This season it is just the £203m

That's crazy How do you sell players for crazy prices?