FM17 - French Football Thread

[Jogo Bonito]

@Marius_R An excellent effort there, and so close to a fantastic triumph. You've done really well in your time there - sorry that it was my team Toulouse that ended your dream. Shame that it has come to an end, but was enjoyable reading your updates and best of luck in Milan!

@mr_whitey That was some project there! Six seasons from Ligue 2 to toppling PSG is a very impressive achievement!

@Kona Well done with Angers, and best of luck if you are continuing!

[jlawlor91]

Carrying on from my earlier post, the intent to only sign French players continued as this meant me bringing in Benjamin Mendy for £9m, Ben Arfa on a free, Kondogbia for £18m, Payet for £14.5m, Sarr for £6m, Ben Yedder for £15m and Sissoko for £7.5m in both the summer and Winter transfers. I did however sell Germain for £11.75m in the Winter as he didn't fit into my formation.

Finished 2nd in the league, a point behind PSG on the last day of the season and didn't manage to win the two Cups. Our Champions League run was brilliant though, getting to the final to lose 4-1 to Bayern in the final, though we did field an all-French XI.

The summer prior to the 2019/20 season I've signed Lafont from Toulouse for £38m(!) and got a couple of regens in, but I've sold Lopes for £14m/21m, Cornet for £2m (not developed as much as I liked and has opted for Ivory Coast) and Fekir for £45.5m/£65m. 

Struggling to improve the squad with French players as I will need to largely depend on regens in the future. Here's my squad currently:

[Jogo Bonito]

@Lawly Boi That's an incredibly strong, French-dominated squad there! Can't you rely on that pool of players to take top spot from PSG?

[Marius_R]

@Jogo Bonito Thanks,at first I wanted to continue with Bordeaux, but as soon as Inter (the team I support IRL) offered me the interview, I changed my mind, especially as they were coming after a season in which they failed to qualify for the Champions League. Best of luck with Toulouse.

 

[jlawlor91]

14 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

@Lawly Boi That's an incredibly strong, French-dominated squad there! Can't you rely on that pool of players to take top spot from PSG?

I'd like to think we can challenge but I feel we're weak at CB and as much as I'd love to get rid of Mammana and sign a French replacement, there aren't any suitable players to get.

[xavierm]

At last I made it !!

 

Here's my tactic. It fits my team really well. I sometimes switch roles (Balotelli as Poacher), Seri as roaming playmaker, and I have a really conservative tactic 

Sometimes, results are brilliant :

 

[Jellico73]

I've got a nice save with USL Dunkerque going on here:

I've not been playing FM long (since last November), and I am not sure what I am doing some (OK more than some of the time), but I've taken them to Ligue 1 in four years.  We won the CNF the first year, finished mid table in Ligue 2 second and third year, won Ligue 2 and the Coupe De Ligue and went to the Semi Final in the Coupe de France last Season and won promotion to Ligue 1.

My finances are shaky, I have the smallest stadium in Ligue 1, but it's been fun.

Malik Tchokounte, Thomas De Parmentier, and Jean Jacques Rocchi were instrumental in my success, and I've done pretty well in acquiring good signees,  

It's been fun playing, and if I can salvage the financial situation, I'll be in for the long haul.

Jellico73

[Jogo Bonito]

@xavierm Excellent work with OGC Nice. Out of all the clubs in France, they really are one of the best to enjoy watching and manage.

@Jellico73 I love people who take on challenges like this, although I can't seem to drag teams like that up very quickly. I'll have a read of your career update at some point soon too.

I really need to get back to Toulouse. I made some very good (but sensible) signings ahead of season 2 (and started ok in the league) but my team seems to have lost some of it's spark from the first season, and I can't quite get the right formation and tactics sorted out to help my better players flourish. 

[bdixon]

Finding it hard enjoying a save with this years FM17. So decided to start a save with Monaco. So far the team is full of young talent which is something I will aim to build on. Been drawn a tough Champions League group with Juventus, Man City and Villareal. Fingers crossed. 

Tactic wise I originally started the season with a 4-2-3-1 high press/quick transition type tactic but that quickly changed to my preferred 4-1-2-3DM, I prefer the security of a DM.   

[Jogo Bonito]

@bdixon Monaco do have an excellent group of exciting young players, there aren't many better clubs to start with!

[BadAss88]

On 19-2-2017 at 09:52, bdixon said:

Finding it hard enjoying a save with this years FM17. So decided to start a save with Monaco. So far the team is full of young talent which is something I will aim to build on. Been drawn a tough Champions League group with Juventus, Man City and Villareal. Fingers crossed. 

Tactic wise I originally started the season with a 4-2-3-1 high press/quick transition type tactic but that quickly changed to my preferred 4-1-2-3DM, I prefer the security of a DM.   

I prefer a 4-1-2-3 DM as well, that's why I didn't start with Monaco because Bernardo Silva and Thomas Lemar are AMC and there aren't any good AMR/L in the squad.. Mbappé isn't quite ready yet in FM17..so I started with L'OM!

[Jogo Bonito]

On ‎22‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 18:19, BadAss88 said:

I prefer a 4-1-2-3 DM as well, that's why I didn't start with Monaco because Bernardo Silva and Thomas Lemar are AMC and there aren't any good AMR/L in the squad.. Mbappé isn't quite ready yet in FM17..so I started with L'OM!

Good luck with OM, it will be nice to see how you get on.

[mojojojo101]

Started a save with Lyon recently, was thinking about a French club as have had fun with a couple before in the past and them signing Memphis in real life tipped me over the edge as he is a personal favourite in FM.

Seems I was right to place my trust in him as of April 1st in the 2nd season he and Lacazette have formed the basis of a deadly strike force. Memphis has 20 goals 15 assists and Lacazette has 25 goals and 6 assists. With support from Suso, Tolisso and Ferri (all double figures goals + assists) I am pretty happy with my side going forward, just got to get the defence really secure and add a bit of quality in depth and I should be able to put up a proper challenge to PSG.

[Jogo Bonito]

Thanks for sharing your progress with Lyon. A side with lots of attacking potential and a good number of young players too.

My Toulouse side got a bit boring in season 2, despite improving the squad. I will update if I continue there, but I'm also considering some other French options on 17.3 version.

 

[mattmccready]

Hi all. 

Being a Nottingham Forest fan I can remember the 90's when we played Auxerre in the European Cup. How the mighty fall!!

Having never had a save in France before I decided to restore Auxerre back to the top league where they belong. 

After 14 games I am currently in 4th position; 9 points behind leaders Stade Brestois 28. 

My 4-3-3 is working well and is defensively solid having conceded only 12 goals thus far. Florian Aye has scored 10 goals in 13 games. 

Not sure I want to get promoted in the first season but if it happens I won't complain. 

 

 

[Jellico73]

Florain Aye is a curse word in Dunkerque in my save,,,,,

[Jogo Bonito]

3 hours ago, mattmccready said:

Hi all. 

Being a Nottingham Forest fan I can remember the 90's when we played Auxerre in the European Cup. How the mighty fall!!

Having never had a save in France before I decided to restore Auxerre back to the top league where they belong. 

After 14 games I am currently in 4th position; 9 points behind leaders Stade Brestois 28. 

My 4-3-3 is working well and is defensively solid having conceded only 12 goals thus far. Florian Aye has scored 10 goals in 13 games. 

Not sure I want to get promoted in the first season but if it happens I won't complain. 

 

 

Welcome, and best of luck with Auxerre. Stade Brestois do seem to be consistently good in Ligue 2, but you've made a very useful start there.

@Jellico73 How are you doing with Dunkerque?

[mattmccready]

3 hours ago, Jellico73 said:

Florain Aye is a curse word in Dunkerque in my save,,,,,

He's a good player. Very frustrating as misses some sitters but hopefully his scoring continues. He's stuck up a great relationship with Ba, the left winger. Having trouble getting a consist threat from the right wing though. 

I'm currently on a 10 game unbeaten run. 

[Jellico73]

6 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Welcome, and best of luck with Auxerre. Stade Brestois do seem to be consistently good in Ligue 2, but you've made a very useful start there.

@Jellico73 How are you doing with Dunkerque?

Just started Season 7.  Finished 5th last year, which qualified me for Europa League Play again.  Beat Rangers and AKE to make it group stages, where I am facing Braga, Lech and Steaua Bucureşti, and so far I am top half of the Ligue 1 table.

Only real problem in that my roster has gotten very large, and while my best player, Guevin Tormin is French, My striker is from Iceland, my AM(R) is Slovakian, my AM(C) is Argentinian(?), my DM is Australian, my M is Ghanaian (I think). Lot of french yout players though,  My under 19 teams have won Group 3 twice so far.  

 

And I finally got my new stadium!

You can follow along here:

Thanks!

Jellico73

[Jellico73]

6 hours ago, mattmccready said:

He's a good player. Very frustrating as misses some sitters but hopefully his scoring continues. He's stuck up a great relationship with Ba, the left winger. Having trouble getting a consist threat from the right wing though. 

I'm currently on a 10 game unbeaten run. 

Check out Guevin Tormin, from the Monaco Reserves.  AM who can play right or left.  He's been my start since I got to League 2.   And I got him on a free.

Jellico73

[mattmccready]

14 hours ago, Jellico73 said:

Check out Guevin Tormin, from the Monaco Reserves.  AM who can play right or left.  He's been my start since I got to League 2.   And I got him on a free.

Jellico73

Just about to log on so will check him out, thanks. 

[Jogo Bonito]

Toulouse FC - Season 2017/2018

I thought I made some very smart transfer moves for season 2...

But they didn't really gel, especially in attack...

It wasn't very entertaining, but being solid helped to maintain a good league position...

I'm not sure whether this will continue, or whether Le Grand Fromage will find a new home on the 17.3 version...

[DKB]

how much money are PSG spending in your games?

they started off softly with £26m going to £37.5m on futher payments and clauses

then season two summer transfer window alone 

£159m going to a massive £221.35m  on futher payments and clauses

that is almost twice what they record for an entire year is IRL

 

[Jellico73]

In my game, I'm starting my fourth season in Ligue 1.

 

First season, PSG spent €115M and sold €60M

Second Season the spent €165M and sold €15M

Third season they spent €225M and sold €27M

This year they've€160M (including 109M for a world class striker, because the one they bought two years ago for 69M isn't as good maybe), on three players, and they haven't sold anyone.  But its still early here.

Highest transfer I have seen so far is 117M, Kylian Mbappe going from Monaco to Arsenal.

I don't have the Premier League or Chinese Superleagues as playable, but I bet their transfers would be higher if they were.

Jellico73

[Marius_R]

They spend a lot, at least 100M per transfer window in my game, most they`ve spent in my game  was close to 240M (Martial 89M, Gabriel Barbosa 56M, Isco 42M, Goncalo Guedes for 36M and a few others) before 2019-2020 season, then the following season they went and bought Icardi for 130M.

I had the first two leagues from Italy, Spain, England, France and Germany, plus the top divions in Holland, Portugal, Romania and Russia.

[mattmccready]

Well.... it's been an interesting second half of season 1 with Auxerre thus far. 

Going into the winter break I was in third and going great, dominating teams. Panicking it was going TOO well (I don't want to go up in season 1) I changed the formation from my favoured 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 and have some youngsters more playing time (partly due to injury and suspensions. 

We have really struggled and slid down the table to 10th. I changed back to a 4-3-3 but I think the players have gotten used to losing and eventually reverted to the 4-2-3-1 again with a few tweaks and we are back in the right direction. With 6 games left I have no chance of the playoffs (7th but 10 points behind 6th place). 

Florian Aye has 19 goals and Adam Ba has been fantastic (when not injured).  I promoted Fumu Tamuzo to the first team after the winter break and he's responded well by notching 5 assists in 7 games.

I've made a few signing who will join us when their contracts expire in June, including two centrebacks and a new left back to replace Boto who is always suspended by getting a yellow card in every game!!

 

 

[Jellico73]

Finished the Seventh Season in my Dunkerque Save.  Quarter finals of the Europa League.  6th place finish in Ligue 1 because of Away Goal differential.

New stadium, new youth facilties, new training ground, and a 30 point jump in team reputation.

 Not bad for a team picked to finish 20th (again).

You can follow along here:

Jellico73

[homebasedgg]

What are your guys experience developing Mbappe?

Just started a spurs save on newest patch and decided to break the bank and paid £62m for him.

I don't currently play with wingers but his stats are unreal and at 17 he can be moulded into whatever I want.

Has anyone had success developing him either as a false 9 type player or fast striker?

 

[Jellico73]

8 hours ago, homebasedgg said:

What are your guys experience developing Mbappe?

Just started a spurs save on newest patch and decided to break the bank and paid £62m for him.

I don't currently play with wingers but his stats are unreal and at 17 he can be moulded into whatever I want.

Has anyone had success developing him either as a false 9 type player or fast striker?

 

I looked at possibly getting him when I had a little bit more money in the bank.  At this rate I would need to save every Euro of my transfer budget for the next 9 years just to have a chance....I'll probably have my best shot when he's on the other side of 30....

I think he would be a pretty good complete forward, but he's probably a better F9.

Jellico73

[Gee_Simpson]

On 22/02/2017 at 18:19, BadAss88 said:

I prefer a 4-1-2-3 DM as well, that's why I didn't start with Monaco because Bernardo Silva and Thomas Lemar are AMC and there aren't any good AMR/L in the squad.. Mbappé isn't quite ready yet in FM17..so I started with L'OM!

Hmm.. Lemar and Silva can easily play on the wing along with Mbappe and Boschilia as cover. Dirar offers another option although he isn't that good.

[MShing]

Just stumbled across this thread and have been influenced to try my first ever save in France since playing fm/cm since champ man 1 on the old amiga lol (how old do I feel now)

I have downloaded the lower leagues and have started a save with maccabi Paris with the aim to become the biggest club in the capital. 

Im really looking forward to getting into this save. Things are going well 2nd in the league after 10 games so I should get promoted. 

But something I didn't think about when I set up my database is to load players from Africa. As I have seen in a few posts it may be useful to do this. 

Thinking about restarting my game to add African players to my database. Would it be worth starting again to do this?

i would like to add South American players too but I may just add Brazil and Argentina leagues later on when I can scout that far. 

[Jellico73]

I think if you just add the leagues at the end of your current season, save the game, exit and reload, at the start of your next season the leagues will be loaded.

Jellico73

[MShing]

Thanks.  I started again and added all players based in Africa to my database. 

I just couldn't carry on my save it may be OCD or something. 😂

Cannot wait to get stuck into this

[Jogo Bonito]

Best of luck in France, I'll be interested to hear about your journey!

[MShing]

UJA Maccabi Paris

Just finished my first season in CFA 2 - B. Finishing 1st 7 points clear of Le Mans FC. 

We were pretty comfortable all season. Early on we struggled to find a formation that got us playing good football. Starting with 4-2-3-1 then 4-3-2-1 then tried 4-4-2 and eventually settling on 4-1-2-1-2 (442 narrow diamond) for a while which produced some good results. 

After reading a thread on the tactics forum about a possession based strikerless 4-3-3-0 I tried it and loved the football we began to play so we settled on that tactic even though we didn't have the right players for all the positions. 

Aims for next season to strengthen our team due to playing in a higher league next season and we need to make sure we get players in who can play our formation and not shoe horn in players to positions they're not comfortable in. 

 

[MShing]

Does anyone know how the promotions work in CFA 2?

there are a number of Ligue 1 reserve teams in my league who no one can compete with. Are these reserve teams allowed to get promoted?

[Jellico73]

IIRC if you are the top of your CFA group, you get promoted to the Championnat National.  Reserve Teams can get promoted, unless their parent club is also in the same division they are going to.

If you do have a reserve club and it gets relegated out of the CFA, it will not come back.

I think thats right.

 

[MShing]

7 hours ago, Jellico73 said:

IIRC if you are the top of your CFA group, you get promoted to the Championnat National.  Reserve Teams can get promoted, unless their parent club is also in the same division they are going to.

If you do have a reserve club and it gets relegated out of the CFA, it will not come back.

I think thats right.

 

Thanks @Jellico73 I was hoping this wasn't the case lol. 

This could potentially wreck my save if we constantly have reserve teams in the league. No other club can compete 😩 They have players worth millions and we along with the other part time teams have players worth a couple of thousand. 

We have Monaco reserves, auxairre reserves, Montpellier reserves (iirc) and marseille reserves. 

It might be a case of biding my time and wait till they all get promoted then push for promotion myself 

[nico_france]

On 15/04/2017 at 22:08, MShing said:

Does anyone know how the promotions work in CFA 2?

there are a number of Ligue 1 reserve teams in my league who no one can compete with. Are these reserve teams allowed to get promoted?

Hi mate

I don't know ig

But IRL a reserve team of a Ligue 1 squad cannot play higher than CFA level

Which means if one of these reserves got a spot for promotion, they can't go up and then the closest regular team will get the spot

In CFA 2, a reserve team of a Ligue 1 team can definitely be promoted to CFA

I dont know if it had been correclty set up IG

All the best for your save 

[Gary_Parker]

I've been playing a game with Lyon and now into season 4. I've been fortunate with a lot of results, including a win in the champions league in the first season. I've managed to keep the best players in the squad together, Fekir, Lacazette, Lopes, Tolisso and Darder are all key players in my side. Morel, Jallet and Valbuena have all become coaches at the club. This has been shored up with fantastic French signings of Lucas and Hernandez from Atletico, Lafont from Toulouse, Dembele from Celtic and Malang Sarr from Nice alongside the occasional foreign signing, of which Andre Horta from Benfica has been the absolute best of.

I've just pulled in this result against PSG, a full strength PSG too. 

 

[ernemann]

Hi all. About to begin a save in France but cant decide the team. Auxerre, Rennais or Bordeaux. What us your option of these teams? Who would you recommend?? 

[Quinby]

On 12/05/2017 at 20:47, Gary_Parker said:

I've been playing a game with Lyon and now into season 4. I've been fortunate with a lot of results, including a win in the champions league in the first season. I've managed to keep the best players in the squad together, Fekir, Lacazette, Lopes, Tolisso and Darder are all key players in my side. Morel, Jallet and Valbuena have all become coaches at the club. This has been shored up with fantastic French signings of Lucas and Hernandez from Atletico, Lafont from Toulouse, Dembele from Celtic and Malang Sarr from Nice alongside the occasional foreign signing, of which Andre Horta from Benfica has been the absolute best of.

I've just pulled in this result against PSG, a full strength PSG too. 

 

Hey awesome stuff! Can you please post your tactic? The 343 especially. And did you use that every season?

[inthisspace]

16 hours ago, ernemann said:

Hi all. About to begin a save in France but cant decide the team. Auxerre, Rennais or Bordeaux. What us your option of these teams? Who would you recommend?? 

Hi mate, 

Auxerre continues to be a conveyor belt of youth. Too good to be in ligue 2 as well. The main aim is to return to the top flight and sustain the tradition of utilising most of its youth product. 

Rennais (I did manage them briefly) is a club with not too lofty expectations. They do have several under rated players in the squad. So if managed well, you can turn this club from a top half club to one that can challenge for honours. 

Bordeaux is one of the sleeping giants of France. This time though, they are blessed with the one of the most exciting young attacking quartet in the Ligue 1. However, other areas of the pitch will require improvement (like their ageing GK). 

Depends on which type of club you prefer to manage really. Each as its own set of challenges. Good luck! 

[ernemann]

18 hours ago, inthisspace said:

Hi mate, 

Auxerre continues to be a conveyor belt of youth. Too good to be in ligue 2 as well. The main aim is to return to the top flight and sustain the tradition of utilising most of its youth product. 

Rennais (I did manage them briefly) is a club with not too lofty expectations. They do have several under rated players in the squad. So if managed well, you can turn this club from a top half club to one that can challenge for honours. 

Bordeaux is one of the sleeping giants of France. This time though, they are blessed with the one of the most exciting young attacking quartet in the Ligue 1. However, other areas of the pitch will require improvement (like their ageing GK). 

Depends on which type of club you prefer to manage really. Each as its own set of challenges. Good luck! 

Thanx mate. I went with Auxerre due to the Challenge would be the hardest with Them  

[nico_france]

Just glad to see plenty of you guys trying a career in France with various squads and nice success !

I wish i had Time to post a small review of my current Bastia save to give you the possibility to go for a different challenge,

Keep on posting your stories, it's always nice to read you !

[Jellico73]

Well, I had the rare Quintuple as USL Dunkerque.  Won Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue, Club World Championship and UEFA Supercup.

But I also got knocked out of the Group stages in the Championship (the year after winning it), and lost in the Europa League Final.  

But were the 8th ranked club in Europe now, just got our stadium expansion finished, and are picking up where we left off.

Can read all about it here:

:-)

Jellico73

[steakfaced]

Reading through this thread, and after the exciting season they had going to give it a go as Monaco. Haven't played FM since 2013 so lets see whats new hehe.

[ssrider]

4 hours ago, steakfaced said:

Reading through this thread, and after the exciting season they had going to give it a go as Monaco. Haven't played FM since 2013 so lets see whats new hehe.

Im managing Monaco now as well.  They're a fun team to manage and have quite a few good prospects.

[steakfaced]

9 hours ago, ssrider said:

Im managing Monaco now as well.  They're a fun team to manage and have quite a few good prospects.

This game is soooo in depth that I haven't evolved past the first day yet. I haven't even set my staff perfectly yet haha.

[ssrider]

I'm just going to post my Monaco save in here from now on.  I'm going to talk first about the current season then Il post last seasons finish and highlights.   I'm 5 Ligue1 games into the season and am sitting in 2nd with 12 points.  We are 1 week away from figuring out who will be in our CL group(we will be seeded #1).  We lost to PSG again in the Trophee des Championees again.  My team is currently 0-8-1 against PSG.

Transfers this year have been mainly focused on getting ridiculous young cheap Portugese regens again like past years.  I have signed Managala on a free transfer after I sold Goldiniga because he wanted to play for Juve...but ended up signing for Lazio.  The other ins this year have been Juanpi($44.5M to replicate what Lemar has done for me since Silva left.  Lemar suffered cruciate ligament damage 1 week before CL Final last year and will miss 8-9months).  Other ins have been Gruljic($22.5M) and Nzonzi($8M).  Outs were Harry Winks($30M+50% next offer...I signed him to a loan 2 years ago with a $14M permanent option and snapped him up.  He was such quality for me that I really didn't want to sell him, but I kept telling myself its just business.  I talked to him before I accepted and said he deserved this move for how well hes played, and he said he thinks hes taking a step down in his career(I almost cried).  Gil Dias left for $30M, Adama Traore for $15M and Kagawa for $5M.  I'm thinking of moving Mendy because his performances have been declining for the past couple years.  We have about $98M in the bank along with $2.2M for wages and $149M for transfers.  We just moved into our new 27,000 Dellio Onnis Stadium this year and I have already been approved for expanding the ground to 35,000 at the end of the year.  The only downside so far has be to low income sponsors.  Our ground sponsorship is only $1.5M per year for 20 years.  We did happen to get  a 1 year deal with a telecommunications company last year for $18M, but that was only a 1 year deal.  CL money has also been beyond great with around $80M the last 2 years.

 

Formation:

WB(A) CD CD WB(A)

             BWM

         AP(S) B2B

IF(S)       SS           IF(S)

 

 

On another transfer note...PSG are spending money like it means nothing.  In 4 years they have spent $670M while bringing in $203M.  I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong against them

 

Last season we won Ligue1 finishing with 85 points and scoring 64 goals and letting in 21.  This was way below last seasons totals.  We lost to OM in coupe de la ligue 4th rd.  Lost to Nice in French Cup quarterfinal.  And as a repeat of last season, we finished runners-up in the CL finals this year to Bayern.  We avenged our defeat from the previous year to Atletico Madrid in the semis(3-0agg).  This marked 2 years in a row to make it to the final, only to lose in both(we will win it one day.  It didn't help that we lost our god of a player Lemar a week before the finals for 8-9months.