FM 17: Leeds United - Pontus Janssons Magic...

[JJSaxton]

Welcome to the Leeds United thread for Football Manger 2017. If you're looking for the Football Manager 2016 thread then please SEE HERE. As many a Leeds fan will know since our relegation from the Premier League in the 03-04 season the club has seen its fair share of turmoil on and off the pitch and since promotion back into the Championship in the 09-10 season every fan has spent each and every off season dreaming that this year could be ours to return to the big time, time to relive those glory days of old to be disappointed with a Mid table finish come each May. But this year things seem different with the introduction of a bright young English manager going by the name of Garry Monk and a number of his preferred backroom staff (Pep Clotet, James Beattie etc.) it appears that the foundations have been put in place for a real promotion push. Include to that a number of top quality signings for the championship level the team is in a really healthy position to be a great proposition for any FM manager to get their teeth into.

Over the first few posts of this thread I will look to Outline the Squad, Club & Staff looking to help you all realise that dream of been the manager who takes a sleeping giant back to the big time! So first a little about the club. 

Nicknames: The Whites, United, The Peacocks

Stadium: Elland Road, the 13th largest Football stadium in England and 4th Biggest outside of the top flight with a capacity of 37,890 (Reduced since the introduction of 25 executive boxes back in 2011)

 

 

Leeds United Football Club is a professional association football club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1919 following the disbanding of Leeds City F.C. by the Football League.

Leeds United have won three First Division league titles, one FA Cup and one League Cup. The club has also won two Inter-Cities Fairs Cups. The majority of the honors were won under the management of Don Revie in the 1960s and 1970s. Leeds lost the 1975 European Cup Final against Bayern Munich and reached the semi finals of the tournament's successor Champions League in 2001.

 

Leeds United have rivalries with several clubs, including local rivalries with Bradford City and Huddersfield Town and national rivalries with Manchester United, Chelsea, and Millwall. A rivalry with Turkish club Galatasaray was created after two Leeds fans were murdered by Galatasaray supporters before a UEFA Cup fixture in April 2000. 

[JJSaxton]

Goalkeepers

The goalkeeper spot has generally been a problem area on past FM's for Leeds managers but this year there is plenty of options and possibly ways to try and raise some funds to boost the rather small starting transfer kitty. In my opinion Ross Turnbull should be sold just to get his wage of the books as he is never going to play a key roll within your team. With the high prospect of Bailey Peacock-Farrell however it gives you the option of trying to offload one of your main 2 goalkeepers. In my save I opted to sell on Marco Silvestri earning around 1.2-1.8 Million from the sale and keep Robert Green to Tutor Peacock-Farrell in the hope that his experience may help develop the young lad. Will Huffer is another decent prospect and should ideally be loaned out and monitored for his progression.

Potential Sales / Loans Out: Ross Turnbull, Marco Silvestri (possibly to raise funds), Will Huffer (Loan Out)

Potential Signings: None really needed but if the right youngster / freebie pops up may be worth looking at.

Defenders

Defenders are a real problem area this year and is somewhere that requires attention almost immediately and definitely at the end of the first season as loan signings are your key men. Pontus Jansson as in real life is going to be one of your key defenders but I doubt unless you are promoted that he is going to be someone you can keep hold of. Charlie Taylor is a shoe in at left back but again I highly doubt that he is going to be persuaded to sign a contract and you've got to decide whether to cash in on him when possible or run the risk of losing on a free. Liam Cooper attracts attention from a number of championship clubs and in certain saves it can be a struggle to hold onto him also without upsetting the first team morale. So all in all I believe we need at least 1 player at CB, RB & LB on a shoe string budget so finding out those short term freebie fixes in this area could be the key. Sales of Charlie Taylor and Liam Cooper could however free up a good chunk of money to make it slightly easier to strengthen this back line.

Potential Sales/Loans Out: Liam Cooper, Charile Taylor (Really hard to accept that one), Lewie Coyle (Loan out), Tyler Denton (Loan Out), Matty Downing (Loan Out)

Potential Signings: Israel Puerto (A player who is available on a free and similar level to Liam Cooper usually asks for around 5/6k wages), To Be updated...

Midfielders

The club has an abundance of central midfielders to choose from and it is really up to you how you want to play this one out, this is probably our strongest department. Ronaldo & Romario Vieira look real hot prospects and I for one believe that these two are worth focusing on in terms of developing for the first team. Maybe runs out in the early stages of the cups and easy championship games will help to do this. The club really improved the wide players / wingers over the summer so you have some top quality options in terms of wingers in Pablo Hernandez & Stuart Dallas with good back ups in Hadi Sacko & Kemar Roofe. Due to the amount of hot prospects you have in central midfield I dont believe that Toumani Diagouraga or Luke Murphy are going to get much game time. Both could be used once again to try and raise the money available to improve the squad. Diagouraga you can normally get around the 1.4 Million mark all upfront or slight more if you ask for some in installments. Murphy however is slightly harder to shift partly due to his 10k wage but with some persistence he can be sold. As for Matt Grimes this is completely down to preference he can be kept on and be around the fringe of the first team or loan cancelled to free up the wages it all depends on the level of overhaul that you are going for.

Potential Sales / Loans Out: Toumani Diagouraga, Luke Murphy, Matt Grimes (Possible loan cancel), Kalvin Phillips (Loan out to the correct club).

Potential Signings: There is a fair few young Scottish midfielders this year who are worth a punt so scouting the SPL is advised, To be updated...

Stikers

The club is lacking depth upfront and one or two injuries may see you having to rely on the likes of Frank Mulhern depending on your formation which isn't really an option if your looking to mount a serious title / play off charge. Chris Wood as in real life is going to have to be your Talisman unless other signings are made and it kind of limits your options to how your going to play tactically with the current batch of strikers. However I have found that with the right supply on this years FM Chris Wood appears to be able to score for fun especially if he has a partner up top. 

Potential Signings: Kevin Lasagna (I signed him on one of my saves for £3.5 million after selling a number of first teamers as he is capable of playing the complete forward role something I always try to utilise), Others to be updated...

Potential Sales / Loans Out: No Sales, Frank Mulhern (Loan Out).

[JJSaxton]

In this section I am going to highlight what I believe to be the formations Leeds have been using under Garry Monk over the past couple of months since he took over. 

Garry Monk seems to have been a fan of the 4231 and the 4123 (As shown Below) for the majority of this season so far. The team looks to be setup as a counter attacking side which is happy to soak up the pressure defensively and then try and hit on the break with a number of pace players on the wings (Hadi Sacko proving to be a good acquisition within this role). I know some of you like to set everything up as it would be in real life to add that extra bit of realism so this is something that you could plump for. These tactics below could also be used as a pair for Home & Away games providing both more attacking intent and a little bit more defensive rigidity respectively. 

  

I understand however that everyone is going to have their own preferred way of setting up and playing the game and no ones approach is right or wrong, as long as you are happy and are achieving the results that you want that is all that matters. I for one prefer a 433 or 4312 setup on this FM as he has brought great initial success and I believe the impact that players have on the wings has been greatly reduced from last years installment but this is just my opinion. If anyone else has a tactic or little set ups that have worked well for them please feel free to share.

Good Luck with your saves and enjoy resurrecting the sleeping giant that is Leeds United!!

[AhChang]

I use an attacking 4-2-3-1 as seen in the picture.

Still trying out the instructions but I put Alex Mowatt as the Advanced Playmaker at the AMC position as I feel he will have some potential being an Advanced Playmaker compared to a Deep Lying Playmaker.

My target is to keep Charlie Taylor and maybe get a more attacking right Wingback as I play attacking Wingbacks to hit early crosses for the Targetman, Advanced Forward or the Poacher upfront.

I find the problem with the team is that its too dependant on the loan players like Kyle Bartley and Pontus Jansson because if end of the season if unable to secure them, the defence will crumble.

Any suggestions to improve ?

[macca72]

Well done JJ - spot on mate. Exactly the title I would've gone for

Tough one this year, on the face of it a decent squad but there's a number of challenges. Obviously the lack of money is going to make it tougher.

1 - I think you'll struggle to keep Taylor, i think the free transfer is hard coded, so a new left back is 100% needed

2 - Hernandez contract is up in January, so if you are reliant on an AMC, Mowatt will need to be retrained (as you suggest)

3 - A new CB is a must, there's very little cover and I don't see us being able to sign Pontus unless promotion is achieved in the first season (I had a long debate with the researcher about this but couldn't get it changed).

4 - There's a fair few contracts up in 12 months, Mowatt and Coyle to name 2.  Will need to plan wage budget carefully to keep them.

I've been looking at a 4-1-2-2-1, with Hernandez rotating with Sacko on the right. Training Roofe as IF on the left and rotating with Dallas.

Someone like Spence could cover at CB until a better one can be found, but that's probably going to be January.  I've found nobody close to Taylors potential for LB who will join, so as a back up either get Denton trained up or look at someone like Taiwo as a stop gap.

Bright spark could be Vieira, I'll be training him to play most roles CM / DM and hopefully will be kept for the long term. 

[RandomGuy.]

I'm sitting about 15th at the end of January. Was shipping goals with a 4-2-3-1 so went for a 3 man defence, with 2 holding midfielders and a CM with attack mentality to combine with the two front men. We're fairly solid now but the strike force is poor.

Cooper has done well for me in CB, while I got Pennington from Everton in January for £700k, so not overly bothered about losing Bartley and Jansson. Also got Scott Bain from Dundee for £600k as neither Green or Silvestri were great in goals. Denton and Cowie have been strong as wing backs. Sold quite a chunk of players like Silvestri, Ayling and Berardi.

Vieira is class, I didnt play him all that much but by January he's almost rated my best DM. Mowatt has been fairly inconsistent but is great when on form. I find the strikers the hardest bit, Wood has been injured a lot.

[JJSaxton]

13 hours ago, AhChang said:

Any suggestions to improve ?

Without signing new players I think that formation is spot on for the current team and is something like how we set up in real life. Let me know how you get on cause I'm eager for that formation to work with Leeds but toying with the idea of a 4-4-1-1. Slightly more defensive and try and hit teams on the counter.

9 hours ago, macca72 said:

Well done JJ - spot on mate. Exactly the title I would've gone for

Thanks Macca, couldn't be anything other than that really at the moment!! Just trying to gradually add more detail to the opening posts, just updated my the players.

I think your pretty much spot on with all of your points however Mowatt and Coyle sign new contracts pretty happily so these shouldn't be too much of an issue as long as your happy to accept the increase in wages. 

I've got a feeling that the youngsters from scotland and eastern europe may be key to long term success so I'm going to spend some time scouting those areas, I'll update with any good cheap findings.

4 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

I'm sitting about 15th at the end of January. Was shipping goals with a 4-2-3-1 so went for a 3 man defence, with 2 holding midfielders and a CM with attack mentality to combine with the two front men. We're fairly solid now but the strike force is poor.

Cooper has done well for me in CB, while I got Pennington from Everton in January for £700k, so not overly bothered about losing Bartley and Jansson. Also got Scott Bain from Dundee for £600k as neither Green or Silvestri were great in goals. Denton and Cowie have been strong as wing backs. Sold quite a chunk of players like Silvestri, Ayling and Berardi.

Vieira is class, I didnt play him all that much but by January he's almost rated my best DM. Mowatt has been fairly inconsistent but is great when on form. I find the strikers the hardest bit, Wood has been injured a lot.

I've had some good success so far with a pretty simple 4-3-3 flat but we simply don't have the strikers to maintain this for a full season. I set up the forwards so the outer two were false 9's and the main man in the middle was a complete forward. Its just pretty difficult to find yourself a striker to play that role in this division. Going to try and find something slightly different utilizing the players we have more.

 

[RandomGuy.]

2 hours ago, JJSaxton said:

 

I've had some good success so far with a pretty simple 4-3-3 flat but we simply don't have the strikers to maintain this for a full season. I set up the forwards so the outer two were false 9's and the main man in the middle was a complete forward. Its just pretty difficult to find yourself a striker to play that role in this division. Going to try and find something slightly different utilizing the players we have more.

 

Yeah the strikers are a real weak spot. Out of sheer desperation I signed O'Halloran from Rangers for £150k in January, as I really needed pace up there and Roofe was awful. O'Halloran has 3 in 7 despite his attributes being poor.

Joe Mason is transfer listed for £925k aswell, but I've not got the money for that.

[JJSaxton]

Well I've finally got my side set up for the start of the first season. As stated above decided to go with a 4411 formation to utilise the players that we already have Hernandez in the hole behind the striker etc. I sold a couple of the players I suggested above and my final transfers for season 1 look as follows:

Kevin Lasagna was 1 Million upfront and 2.5 Million over 48 months. And Antonio Di Gaudio was 700k upfront and 700k over 48 Months. Both are rated by both my new scouting team and Pep Clotet as big improvements over the current squad. And as stated in my player analysis part further up Kevin Lasagna is a natural complete forward which I always rate as one of the best settings for a lone striker without adapting any of the individual instructions.

And my first team looks like this:

#

I've tried to set the tactic up so that the midfield stay tightly knit in the middle of the park so when defending its a real wall to get through. Then when we attack I'm looking for the wing backs to provide the extra width and crosses.

I've completely overhauled the scouting team appointing a new Head scout and 4 new scouts each with 100% knowledge of different countries (Scotland, Spain, Italy, England). The coaching team has had a slight overhaul with the fitness & Goalkeeper coach been changed. I have brought in Laslo Jambor as Fitness coach and Bobby Mimms as goalkeeper coach both are without a club at the start of the game and a big improvement on what is in place. I also persuaded the board to allow an extra coach to increase specialization and brought in Brian Deane (Club Legend) to be our tactics coach. Jason Blunt our u23's manager is the main ball control Coach and James Beattie set as the attacking coach. The rest are split between myself and the assistant manager Pep Clotet who I have decided to give a chance to prove himself as I think he is probably a big part of our current success IRL.

Will update again when i get to the January stage with how it is going.

[RandomGuy.]

Finished 11th. O'Halloran ended up my top scorer with 11 goals in the six months he was here.

Was called into a meeting after the season and we're now buying the stadium

[AhChang]

16 hours ago, JJSaxton said:

Without signing new players I think that formation is spot on for the current team and is something like how we set up in real life. Let me know how you get on cause I'm eager for that formation to work with Leeds but toying with the idea of a 4-4-1-1. Slightly more defensive and try and hit teams on the counter.

The attacking part is going well but defensively its letting in quite a few late goals as I feel maybe the wingbacks are too attacking as I always concede after 60mins into the game. Probably have to tweak the tactics and formations abit after the 60th minute. Will try out with more games.

[Kona]

Love playing Leeds for some reason. 

Playing a 4-2-1-3 DM using a RMD in AMR.

fb(d) - cd(d)- cd(c) - fb (a)

rpm - dm

ap(s)

rmd   IF (s)

dlf(a)

I am 6th in march by 2 points. Norwich and huddersfield are running away with top 2.  Striker and LB are my achillies heel. Getting Garbutt in Jan was a saving grace. 

Key buys. Robert Insigne for 275K. Puerto and poyetfor free. Jack Stephens from Soton. 

Green

berardi puerto jonnson Garnett ( Jan loan)

viera bridcuttt

 mowatt 

insigne dallas

antonnson

[Nicko Blaggo]

Many thanks to JJ for writing the thread and for all the work that has gone in to doing so.  

As Macca said, finances look tight again this year and, when I pick the game up tomorrow, I feel some buying and selling will be on the cards for me. Somethings don't change.

[Lufcberg22]

This is going to be my long term save after i get to grips with the game. ST holder too. How much did you get second season, suprised he kept you on tbh

[macca72]

7 hours ago, Nicko Blaggo said:

Many thanks to JJ for writing the thread and for all the work that has gone in to doing so.  

As Macca said, finances look tight again this year and, when I pick the game up tomorrow, I feel some buying and selling will be on the cards for me. Somethings don't change.

Wouldn't be a Nicko Fm with a fire sale or two...

TBH I've found it much, much harder to sign players this time round, I scouted 50-60 strikers all with values of less than £1.5m and none were interested in joining.  Maybe it's just early days.

I've managed to get a transfer kitty of £4.2m with a bit of selling (although look carefully at % of transfer revenue, I think you start at about 50% and it's 50/50 that you'll get 70%).

[Welshace]

Yeah definitely tougher finding bargains... but i'll post my progress soon too

[lufc]

Looks I've got promoted first season unless something drastic happens. I'm just curious who could I buy for the premiership. Jansson just signed a new 3 year deal at Torino and Bartley is going back to Swansea leaves me with just Cooper at CB. Not sure what the deal is with Taylor yet but might need a LB too. Suggest away please. 

[Seb Wassell]

Great write up @JJSaxton

I can highly recommend Kevin Lasagna. Scored 16 in 19 for me playing CF A/S.

I've found Jérôme Onguéné partial to a move to Leeds. He does a great job as backup to Bartley and Jansson first season and is a potential first choice if/when they leave. 

[Welshace]

Just thought I'd throw up a few transfers I made as a tester on who is likely to come etc... make of it what you will.

 

[Welshace]

21 minutes ago, Seb Wassell said:

Great write up @JJSaxton

I can highly recommend Kevin Lasagna. Scored 16 in 19 for me playing CF A/S.

I've found Jérôme Onguéné partial to a move to Leeds. He does a great job as backup to Bartley and Jansson first season and is a potential first choice if/when they leave. 

Lasagna looks great.. should have gone for him .. may well do in a real save

[Kona]

Finished 7th. One point behind Newcastle who went on to be win promotion. Had some key injuries in the last month and got dismantled by Newcastle affecting morale and dropping us from 5th to 7th. Went back see where things went wrong and it seems i struggled against the 4-3-2-1 all season. I may need to add a tactic for those games. Newcastle, Norwich and Huddersfield went up.

Have 4.2M to spend in year two. We are are buying the stadium, upgrading youth to Tier 1 facility and they let me have one more coach when i went in and begged them.

Fullbacks and Striker were my weakness.  Trying to get Garbutt again on a loan deal. Losing Pontus and Bartley has left a gap as well. Green has retired need a new No.1. I am trying to be good this and only sign players my scouts uncover, its challenging and can make for frustrating times.

Puerto and Poyet were my best signings in year one.  Puerto is weak in the air though and can be manhandled by a good striker.

[JJSaxton]

@Nicko Blaggo & @Seb Wassell Thank you 

I've been contemplating starting my save again as theres a few things I've noticed that you might be able to prevent / do better. 

Charlie Taylor is never going to sign a new contract so you may aswell try and get the most possible money for him. Also its going to be much easier to replace him at the beginning.

Ronaldo Viera around January time if he has been playing has progressed quite alot and the premier league vultures come in for him. I think maybe offering him a bigger contract towards the start may try and keep some of this interest off and keep him happy.

@Welshace Javi Chica did you sign him on Free then sell for £1.1mill 20 days later? If so thats some great business.

[macca72]

47 minutes ago, JJSaxton said:

Charlie Taylor is never going to sign a new contract so you may aswell try and get the most possible money for him. Also its going to be much easier to replace him at the beginning.

I'm in left-back-scout-mode for now, I'm sure I can get decent money for Taylor, it's who I can get in.  The only 2 I've found so far who are interested and look half decent are

Enric Sabolit - At Bilbao

Ylli Sallahi - Fond memories of this guy, had him as my back up LB a few versions ago, but I doubt he'll be cheap

Would be good to hear who you all find if you sell CT

[JJSaxton]

12 minutes ago, macca72 said:

I'm in left-back-scout-mode for now, I'm sure I can get decent money for Taylor, it's who I can get in.  The only 2 I've found so far who are interested and look half decent are

Enric Sabolit - At Bilbao

Ylli Sallahi - Fond memories of this guy, had him as my back up LB a few versions ago, but I doubt he'll be cheap

Would be good to hear who you all find if you sell CT

Per-Egil Flo is another to look at 27 year old Norwegian left back can be bought for around 400k. Similar Level to Charlie Taylor so would be a good cheap fix for a season or two.

Alexandru Vlad aswell 26 year old romanian on transfer list for £375k again rated very similar.

[JJSaxton]

Harold Preciado is even managable to sign! £400k upfront 1 Million installments.

Really don't think there will be better in this league.

[macca72]

Preciado looks great, any tips on getting him to sign? He's not even interested for me.

Also check out a guy called Carlos Soler. 19 yr old DM/CM at Valencia.

He must have random attributes and a variable PA but he looks good and will sign for 600k compensation.

[Nicko Blaggo]

It's taken me some time to get the game running. However, it seems I'm there now. I'm going to spend some time looking for players and getting a 'feel' for things before starting a proper save. I'll post any early player tips that I come up.

[saihtam]

I had good luck with Leeds. Won promotion in first season. Made some transfers to get money and better guys in. I had very shaky start but got momentum and then started battling for 1-2 place with Norwich. My two biggest changes was to sell Bridcutt and Silvestri and get Lassagne in who destroyer the league. Found few gems who made my team a lot better. I suggest using Mowatt as AP, this guy has somewhat amazing long shot, not stat wise but he scored like 3-4 times from hard places for wonder goals.  He will develop good and will  be homegrown first team or sub player. 

I didint manage to sell Taylor so he left for free to Rangers, but got good use out of him for entire season.  My aims are to get him and Bryan back to Leeds at some point. Even if it costs me more than it should. Never can go bad with their ability HG players. Right now my midfield is backed and want more guys in. Will see who stays and goes. I use 3 mid most of the time, so they get more playing time anyway. 

I will post pics when I get home tonight.

[lufc]

Finished 2nd got promoted to the premiership. Brought Garbutt back to cover Taylor who left on a free. Also got Liam Moore for £1m and Paddy McNair on loan along with Bartley on a perm deal. Got greedy with Jansson and it backfired so I missed out on him. 

[Welshace]

19 hours ago, JJSaxton said:

@Nicko Blaggo & @Seb Wassell Thank you 

I've been contemplating starting my save again as theres a few things I've noticed that you might be able to prevent / do better. 

Charlie Taylor is never going to sign a new contract so you may aswell try and get the most possible money for him. Also its going to be much easier to replace him at the beginning.

Ronaldo Viera around January time if he has been playing has progressed quite alot and the premier league vultures come in for him. I think maybe offering him a bigger contract towards the start may try and keep some of this interest off and keep him happy.

@Welshace Javi Chica did you sign him on Free then sell for £1.1mill 20 days later? If so thats some great business.

Yes mate!  I apparently broke my promise to him when he signed the initial contract... had a chat with him, he wanted to leave... clubs were instantly interested when I offered him out!  was going to save that little tip for my next update

[Welshace]

Leftbacks to consider:

 

Standout for me is Chris Mavinga... transfer listed at the start... available for 350k and will sign for 9k or so contract a week... amazing.

 

 

Simen Kind Mikalsen: solid, not spectactular though... only cost you 100k.

 

 

 

 

[evertonmarc]

Not sure if you guys have tried, but you should be able to loan Carlos Alena from Barcelona B (well, he joined my Wolves save first season).

They didn't even want any wages for him

Bit lightweight but very skilful!

[Seb Wassell]

I've been going with loaning someone like Massadio Haïdara in the short term and then looking to a target such as Ryan Sessegnon for the long term.

[macca72]

Right, after much, much scouting I've started my first save.  I'll be looking to play 433/452/41221 or whatever you want to call it.

Transfers so far look like this

- Delighted to get Preciado, looking forward to seeing him.

- Solar was Bridcutts replacement, I think him and Vieira will be fighting it out for the DM role.

- Saborit is a stop gap for CT, so will be keeping an eye on who else becomes available

Have shipped a few out so still need a CB, CM (possibly, will see how O'Kane does) and a winger / Inside forward in Jan when Hernandez goes.  Despite having shipped out £12m+ I only have £3m to spend, 55% of incoming cash is ppoor form, couldn't get more.

[JJSaxton]

@macca72 I started a couple of test saves to see exactly who could be brought in and settle on a final squad that I wanted to achieve & on the new update it seems that Harold Preciado is now interested and available to sign for as little as 1 Million at times. Glad to see you got him don't think he will disappoint.

As for the Transfer Revenue if you go to the board at the start of the game before any sales are complete sometimes they agree to up the retained money to 70% this doesn't appear to be possible every time though.

[Welshace]

Struggling to find a real good option upfront really... Preciado is obviously an option.. was hoping to find someone more clinical and experienced...  will keep on hunting I guess.

[macca72]

1 minute ago, Welshace said:

Struggling to find a real good option upfront really... Preciado is obviously an option.. was hoping to find someone more clinical and experienced...  will keep on hunting I guess.

Becchio on a free....

[Welshace]

Was thinking maybe Christian Gytkjær or Philipp Hosiner... we'll see

 

 

[Yorkshire spurs]

Just bought the game last night starting off as Leeds sold Taylor even though he was MOM all 4 preseason games 4.4 million , sold doukara 1.4 have brought Diego poyet and essien in on free transfers looking for a left back and a striker to bring in with the 5 million I've got to spend 70% revenue 

 

Opened the season with a hard fought victory against QPR with a Chris Wood goal followed up by an anntonson inspired 1 nil victory against Grimsby in the cup 

[Davidcc]

I am a long term Leeds fan (50+years) and have been playing FM for approx 20 years going back to the CM days. Thought that it was about time I joined in with my Leeds experiences on FM17

Being a Leeds fan in real life is not an easy experience although things appear to be looking up at present. I started a career save on FM17 with the intention of making a good job of it, having struggled somewhat on recent year's versions.

The squad looked in reasonable shape but a few changes needed. Not happy with the Charlie Taylor situation and so decided to bite the bullet and sell to free up some much needed transfer funds. Transfer activity as follows:-

In

Diego Poyet - DM/MC   - Free. A signing not to be missed

Luis Martins - DL - 275k from Granada B. To jointly  fill hole left by CT departure and lack of other viable options

Mossa - DL - 700k from Tarragona. To jointly  fill hole left by CT departure and lack of other viable options

Stuart Armstrong - AMC - 500k from Celtic. Competition for Hernandez and to cover that his loan finishes in Jan 17

Vegard Bergan - DC - 375k from Odd. Provide DC cover and for future

Carlos Strandberg - Str - Season loan from CSKA Moscow. No loan fee and 50% wages only. Competition for Wood. Have future buy option of 11m. Mistake made here, should have tried to get this down!!

Enzo Zidane - AMC + - Season Loan from Real Madrid. No loan fee or wages to pay!! Got 550k future buy option if he is any good

Jack Stephens - DC - Season loan from Southampton. Loan fee 10.5k pm and 50% wages. Got 1.5m future buy option. Provide first team DC cover

Out

Charlie Taylor - 4m rising 5.25m to Palace. Norwich were also interested. Fans not too happy with this but had to be done in view of definite free departure at season end

Kalvin Phillips - 475k rising to 850k to Middlesborough. Didn't see him as good enough for first team and wanted to shift wages

Souleymane Doukara - 600k to Perugia.  Didn't see him as good enough for first team and wanted to shift wages

Ross Turnbull - Free to Scunthorpe. Too many keepers and wanted to shift wages

Luke Murphy - Season loan to Preston. Got 26.5k loan fee pm and 50% wages. Tried to sell but no offers. Sadly his contract goes on beyond season!!

Lewie Coyle - Season loan to Millwall. Thought about keeping as backup but he needs experience to progress

 

Tactics and team

Using a 4 2 3 1 wide with 2nd choice a 4 2 3 1 DM wide. Using Standard/Flexible with quite a few team instructions (retain possesion, shorter passing, pass into space, play out of defence, work ball into box, look for overlap, close down more, use tighter marking, use offside trap, prevent short GK distrib, stay on feet)

GK - Silvestre - 7.18  (Green in cups 6.90)

 

RB - Ayling - 7.17  (Taking chance on backup until Berardi back from injury and then will try him)

DCR - Jansson - 7.32 (Cooper used as alternate for either DC , 7.58)

DCL - Bartley - 7.57

DL - Martins - 7.51 (Mossa 7.30)

 

CMR - Bridcutt - 6.92 (Alternates used for either MC are Diagouraga 6.88, Poyet 6.80, Ronaldo Vieira 6.75

CML - O'Kane - 7.24

 

AMR - Sacko 7.65/Hernandez 6.79

AMC - Mowatt 7.35/Hernandez 6.79/Armstrong 6.80

AMR - Dallas 7.23

 

STC - Wood 6.9/Strandberg 7.03

 

Comments

Having a reasonably successful start. After 7 league games, won 4 drawn 3 lost 0 and 2nd in table to Derby. Only conceded 3 goals. Through to 3rd round of league cup

Goals from Strandberg 3, Wood 2, Dallas 3, Mowatt 3, Sacko 2, Bartley 1

Defence proving very sound. Would love to sign Jansson and Bartley permanently but I think this may be a problem unless I get promoted. My brother also playing Leeds and he has just failed to sign both, Reasons given as something like club not big enough/division too low!! What a cheek

Disappointed with Hernandez and will not be too sorry to see him go in Jan

Mowatt a big plus. I trained him up to get AMC (Accomplished) which he achieved quickly and he has been a revelation in last couple of games in that position

Dallas very useful. Not sure about Roofe

Tried to sell Diagouraga but failed. Glad of this now as he is very good backup for Bridcutt

I think that Strandberg will be very good but currently alternating him with Wood

Very please with the Martins/Mossa options at LB 

Offered new Contracts to Cooper, Mowatt, Silvestre and Coyle. All signed

I am varying the roles in each position depending on who filling it for that game. Can provide further info if anyone wants it

Zidane and Stephens were late signings on deadline day and are untried apart from U23

Injuries not been too big a problem aside from Berardi who started game with it. I believe that the staying on feet instruction helps with this??

Playing Ronaldo Vieira sparingly in first team, usually as a sub. I think has has much potential and I need to consider how best to bring him on

 

My aim is to push for promotion and, hopefully, the squad is strong enough now to do that. Time will tell

I will add further posts as season progresses

 

[AhChang]

Anybody tried to sign Lewis Cook back ?

[Nicko Blaggo]

As Macca predicted I had my fire sale.  

Here is who I signed: 

DR Yarouba Cissako free.

DC Aislan £300K. 

DL Mavinga £350k.

DC Diego Poyet free.

MC Rasmus Elm £525k, Fausto Rossi free, Etzaz Hussain free.

AML Zakaria Labyad free. 

ST Lucas Cavallini £300K.  

Cavallini is worth a good look at. 

Preciado is not interested in joining to date. Am also tracking Ezequiel Rescaldani (remember him) who is now in Colombia after his transfer to Malaga didn't work out. 

£14M in the transfer budget with, as yet, no one to spend it on (who'll get a w/p anyway).

[lufc]

Lasagna is a beast. Got promoted and decided to splash out 3m for him and he's scored 3 in 3 against Villa, Liverpool and Chelsea. Shame I drew and lost against the big boys. 

[Welshace]

5 hours ago, Nicko Blaggo said:

As Macca predicted I had my fire sale.  

Here is who I signed: 

DR Yarouba Cissako free.

DC Aislan £300K. 

DL Mavinga £350k.

DC Diego Poyet free.

MC Rasmus Elm £525k, Fausto Rossi free, Etzaz Hussain free.

AML Zakaria Labyad free. 

ST Lucas Cavallini £300K.  

Cavallini is worth a good look at. 

Preciado is not interested in joining to date. Am also tracking Ezequiel Rescaldani (remember him) who is now in Colombia after his transfer to Malaga didn't work out. 

£14M in the transfer budget with, as yet, no one to spend it on (who'll get a w/p anyway).

Who on earth did you sell to get 14mil? .. best i have possibly managed before buying is 8 million or so after selling everyone i could

 

Aislan is a decent find

[Welshace]

Besart Berisha might be the complete striker I've been looking for.... hmmm.

 

[RandomGuy.]

Haidara was signed for £1.6m in my second season, and has been better than Taylor.

I also signed Jason Cummings from Hibernian, for £1.6m. 22 league goals, and his value is now £6.5m

[Welshace]

The search for my main striker up front has come to an end.. .i've found the one for me:

 

Felipe Avenatti

 

 

23yrs old, talented, costs less than a milion and has everything i was looking for.

[macca72]

Signed up Jack Stephens from Southampton for £1m - I didn't realise he's a Leeds fan, so that's a double bonus.

 

[Welshace]

3 minutes ago, macca72 said:

Signed up Jack Stephens from Southampton for £1m - I didn't realise he's a Leeds fan, so that's a double bonus.

 

Wow...what season?

[macca72]

Beginning of the game - He's valued at £1.5m so I went in with a cheeky £1m bid and they accepted straight off the bat.

50/50 whether I let Cooper go, but he looks great and will probably force Bartley out of the team.  Can play comfortably as a BPD too.

EDIT: double post - Sorry