FM 2018 - Spanish La Liga

[AbRaiN]

I decided to bring Deulofeu in January because i sent Campbell back to Arsenal so i'd rotate him with Joaquin at the right wing
Unfortunately Joaquin got a big injury with about 1-2 months out (he also accepted a contract form a chinese team with 4M per year (!!) , unfortunately a bad ending with our legend who gave almost everything at his 36 years old in the first 6 months .  
Deulofeu enjoys a good start and we are keepin the dream alive still beeing 1st in the table .
Barcelona has a terrible season though with only 38 goals For while we got 54 (!) .

and yeah Betis got a pretty good fanbase irl and in Fm too , enjoyinin the 3rd position in Avrg Capacity with 55k (!!)
 

[RCCook]

17 hours ago, Bigpapa42 said:

Nice work with Betis, @AbRaiN. Just realized the other night what kind of attendances that Betis pull in regularly. Impressive fanbase.

I've seen Joaquin retire after the first season a couple of times, and his legs seem to go quite quickly. Not to say he can't be useful when he has no pace, but it does limit how he can be used somewhat. I would be very hesitatant to count on him in the 2nd season.

Also playing as Betis, and Joaquin retired after the 1st season, after being my leading scorer. Finished 10th in season one, currently 9th in season 2 at the winter break. Wish I was having your success, @AbRaiN! Struggling a bit to get Leon going- he's got plenty of talent, but seems to miss a lot for a striker of his ability.

They do have a great fanbase- I think we're 3rd or 4th in average attendance.

[CybrSlydr]

The 2019 season for Celta Vigo draws to a close - and it was a close one!

We were four points back of the title spot with two games to go - unfortunately we drew and lost (to our bitter rivals on decision day - 2-1 and we had an own goal...).

So we ended up in 3rd place with 73 points.  We lost to Chelsea in the Euro Cup semi-final (3-2 on aggregate) and lost in the Spanish Cup semi-final as well.

As you can see, Andrea Pinamonti was far and away the stand-out player this year.  Spanish League Golden Boot winner at 19 years old.  Wow!  He didn't win Best Player though - finished second to Ronaldo (dunno how... even had a higher average rating than Ronaldo).  Deulofeu ended up with 13 assists this year - tied for most in the league.

Cutrone is one I'm torn on.  I'm going to keep him and playing the 4-4-2, but do I want him as a False 9 or a Deep Lying Forward (S)?  He's got good vision and passing, but he's also good at scoring - something I want to keep him doing.  Should I have him work as a False 9 then?  Especially since I don't play with an AM?

Deulofeu had a rocky season - mostly because I couldn't decide on which formation I wanted to use.  I started with Scholes Can't Tackle 4-1-2-3, which I worked pretty well in as an AMR.  But with Pinamonti and Cutrone, I REALLY wanted to work a 2-striker system, so I resolved to retrain him as MR Winger.  Through constant belly-aching that he was over-worked though he was only training as MR W, he finally grasped the position and started to turn things around.  At one point I had him on the Transfer List but nobody wanted him - he also was promised we'd make the Champions League or else he could leave - so us landing 3rd place enabled me to renegotiate his contract and slap a $70m release clause on him.  

I also renegotiated Pinamonti and Cutrone's contracts and put a $90m on Pinamonti and $120m on Cutrone - if anyone comes sniffing, they're going to pay dearly for them.

Bad news is I only got $9.25m in transfer money for the off-season.  -sigh-  Not much - and the only real place I was looking to shore up was CD.  Unfortnately, good CDs don't come cheap at all.

So, I head into the off-season with high-hopes and anxious to see what next year brings!

[23drd23]

3 hours ago, CybrSlydr said:

Bad news is I only got $9.25m in transfer money for the off-season.  -sigh-  Not much - and the only real place I was looking to shore up was CD.  Unfortnately, good CDs don't come cheap at all.

Walter Kanneman was pretty good for me and probably cheap if he's still at Gremio.  And he doesn't take up a foreign player spot as he is a dual Argentinian/German national

[23drd23]

2022/23

Transfers

The major signing (which doesn't show when I filter out all the loan/free transfers) was that of Frank Kessie from AC Milan, who came in on a Free Transfer to man the DM spot in the tactics I posted earlier.  Ed Coenen was last season's leading goal scorer in La Liga while on loan with Espanyol.  Mancisidor and Alastuey were 2 16yo regens with 4* potential (and already 1.5* current ability).  Luis Pedro was a cheap and young back-up keeper after I let my previous back-up go out on loan to gain experience (and hopefully attract some big offers).

Arthur was the big sale of the season, going to Man Utd after he became somewhat expendable with the Kessie transfer.  Vitolo was sold to Man Utd before his contract ran out (and didn't play a game for them).  Partey was allowed to leave after he wanted a new challenge - unfortunately for him Man City didn't win anything and he didn't play - featuring in a total of 5 games.  Mario was off to China before his contract expired too.

Competitions

The month of December provided a brutal set of fixtures prior to the Christmas break.  Had to face the teams that were 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th in the league at the start of December, plus had a must-win UCL group stage game against Arsenal or else I'd fail to qualify for the knockout rounds

Beat Gijon in the Supercopa fairly easily
Won La Liga in a canter again, again with 5 games to go despite not winning either at home or away against the team that ended up in 20th
Lost in the Quarter Finals of the Champions League to Man Utd.  Won 1-0 at home but was smashed in the return leg 0-4.
Won the Copa del Rey against the arch enemy, Real Madrid, in a tight final 1-0 thanks to a Frank Kessie goal from a corner in the 82nd minute.

Godin is retiring and Diego Costa is being allowed to leave on a free as he "wants a new challenge".

Awards

A number of season ending awards were claimed by my players.  Franco Hoyos won La Liga's Best Player award, Andrea Belotti won the Pichichi and Oblak the Trofeo Zamora.  Belotti also won the Europe's Best Player award over Eden Hazard and reigning Ballon D'Or winner Kylian Mbappe

 

All in all, the league is getting somewhat boring given the ease in which I've won it the last two seasons and the quality of the squad I've assembled.  However my inability to make it very far in the Champions League at the same time is quite frustrating.

[Jurigag]

Anyone playing Levante? Is it worth buying Joel from it? He wants a bit high wage but it's fine, i can afford it.

[23drd23]

FWIW @Jurigag, in my game (now in 2023), he was sent out on loan a couple of times and then signed with 2nd division Cadiz on a Free in 2022

[Jurigag]

45 minutes ago, 23drd23 said:

FWIW @Jurigag, in my game (now in 2023), he was sent out on loan a couple of times and then signed with 2nd division Cadiz on a Free in 2022

Well i decided to buy him anyway because he has pretty nice attirbutes, in polish league i guess he will be a star and nice addition to my already strong team i made in Legia. I guess he just needs a chance to more playing.

Though his wage is pretty huge, 104k per month.

[23drd23]

9 hours ago, Jurigag said:

Well i decided to buy him anyway because he has pretty nice attirbutes, in polish league i guess he will be a star and nice addition to my already strong team i made in Legia. I guess he just needs a chance to more playing.

One of the loans he went out on was actually to Wisla in 2021/22   Played 24 games, with 4 goals & 2 assists for an average 6.88 rating

[Jurigag]

54 minutes ago, 23drd23 said:

One of the loans he went out on was actually to Wisla in 2021/22   Played 24 games, with 4 goals & 2 assists for an average 6.88 rating

I guess maybe it's about my tactic but he already scored 10 goals in 10 games

[Hoodmatty]

I’m starting a save with Deportivo how is the money from tv rights now it’s more equally split. It’s really annoying that in first season it doesn’t tell you how much your getting in money for the season..

[wakesta]

Might start with Las Palmas

[CybrSlydr]

I've just reached the end of the winter transfer window in my Celta Vigo save, so I thought I'd give a bit of an update for you folks.

We are currently leading La Liga by one point.  Not bad, especially with our healthy goal differential.

As you can see, Pinamonti is still just absolute beast-mode for me.  Averages more than 1 goal/game!  Paulinho, my Brazilian wonderkid, is also knocking them in at quite the clip!  Cutrone, unfortunately, is having a helluva time staying healthy.  Currently he's almost ready to come back after 7 weeks of shin splints.

You can also see we're not playing anything particularly special when it comes to our formation.  Just a 4-4-2.  With Serge Gnabry and Deulofeu on the wings, the exploit wings is a must.  

I just can't say enough about Pinamonti.  By far and away the best pickup I've ever made on any save, ever.  He's just finished learning Power Shot PPM (along with Move Into Channels and is currently learning Break Offside Trap), so I'm hoping I start seeing him knock in some absolute stunners in the near future.

Paulinho has also been quite the revelation - he's quite a good aerial threat in the box with a surprising number of goals coming off headers.

So, once we get to the end of the season, I'll provide you good folks with another update. 

[CybrSlydr]

Talk about an epic end to the season!

With 5 matches left, I was in first place over Barcelona by one point.  My last 5 games were against Malaga, Levante, Athletico Madrid, Cordoba and Leganes.  Cordoba and Leganes are 19th and 20th while Malaga was 5th, Levante was 9th and Athletico was 4th.  3 of my last 5 were away games.

First game against Malaga was level in the 84th minute after their striker netted a hat-trick.  Then off a set piece, my young stud 18yr old CB headed home the winner.  WHEW.  Bacelona also won their game, so I retained my 1 point lead.

Next game against Levante we were winning until the 79th minute when they leveled the game and we couldn't scrape back a go-ahead.  Barcelona drew their game against Real Hispalis!

Game three was against Athletico Madrid IN Madrid.  It's the 87th minute and I'm losing 3-2.  I had a bad feeling about this game from the get go - then out of nowhere, Pinamonti scores the equalizer!  I'm stunned!  Athletico Madrid even converted two penalties!  And then in stoppage time, the 90th minute, Paulinho drives a stake through Athletico's hearts and nets me the winner!  This result mathematically eliminated Athletico from the Title race.  So now it's down to me and Barcelona - AND BARCELONA LOSE!!!  Of all the teams to beat them, they lost to the City to my United - Coruna!  2-1 my bitter rivals defeated Barcelona!  I'm now up 4 points with two games left - I could clinch the Title against Cordoba!

With goals from PInamonti, Deulofeu and Paulinho, we beat Cordoba 3-1 and Barcelona LOSE AGAIN to Sevilla with a 5-2 thumping!  It's official!

CELTA VIGO ARE LA LIGA VICTORS!!!

We then finish out the season at home vs Leganes and win a drab match 1-0.  

So, the final standings are...

And to add to the intrigue, I get this notification.

How exciting is that???  Oh man, I could really compete at the highest level with a little more financial backing - for instance, my back line is pretty terrible.  I think the only reason we're doing as well as we are is because I've got Pinamonti and others who can carry the load by scoring in bunches and bunches.

Speaking of Pinamonti...

What else can I say about this guy?  He's just incredible.  And Paulinho?...

Total monster pairing with Pinamonti.  These two are just viscious in front of net together.

Cutrone, unfortunately, spent a decent amount of time injured and didn't play as much as I'd have liked.

Still good stats while he played, but I think I might sell him off to make room next year for one of my youths who is making waves in the lower levels - or I might just loan my youth out and keep Cutrone and see if I can get even more from him next year.

Thanks for following along folks! 

EDIT:  And in the SNUB OF THE CENTURY, somehow Messi wins Spanish Player of the Year with Pinamonti finishing second and Paulinho third.  Unbelievable.  Messi played 31 games, scored 19 goals and had 4 assists with an average rating of 7.72.

Pinamonti played 34 games, scored 34 goals, had 17 assists and an average rating of 7.90 (a new La Liga RECORD).  How in the world do you give that award to Messi over PInamonti???  Hell, Paulinho had 22 goals and 14 assist and a 7.58 average rating.  Unbelievable.

[23drd23]

Yep, who wins the awards can be quite puzzling some times

[Gungner]

I was thinking about starting a save in Spain, and I'm torn between these clubs:

Valencia, Villarreal, Celta & Betis... 

Any thoughts and advice on the four clubs? Which would be a challenge, and what's the difference in transferbudgets? Stuff like that. My concern with Celta is that I can't hold on to Sisto... 

[Bigpapa42]

2 hours ago, Gungner said:

I was thinking about starting a save in Spain, and I'm torn between these clubs:

Valencia, Villarreal, Celta & Betis... 

Any thoughts and advice on the four clubs? Which would be a challenge, and what's the difference in transferbudgets? Stuff like that. My concern with Celta is that I can't hold on to Sisto... 

I will check starting budgets when I get home in a few hours. Pretty sure Betis start with about 5m to spend...? They all have a lot of similarities - good players, good youth, good facilities, good coaches. When I was toying around with Betis, it looked like I wouldn't need to replace that many coaches right off the bat.

They all provide a relatively similar challenge in many ways - build on the pieces already in place, try to hold onto top talent, and hope to challenge the big boys of Spain. Valencia seem the closest to doing that and have been awfully run for years, but are actually 2nd right now. Pretty sure they had some heavy debt in the past few versions. Losing the top players at the club, like Sisto Lato, etc, is going to be an issue at any of these clubs. Its just part of managing at a club below the very top in Spain. You can't directly compete against the money and reputation of the top clubs, and you can't compete with the money of the Prem. You will have to lose some talent.

[Matto97]

Completed my 3rd season with Valencia just now, really enjoying this save! Have had a soft spot for them ever since Aussie NT goalkeeper Maty Ryan played for them. 

League Results over the last 3 seasons:

Steady progression each season which I'm very happy with. First season I was miles off the big 3 & Sevilla who almost won the title & got knocked out of the cup by a second division team. 2nd season I went to the 2nd knockout round of the Europa league, quarters of the cup and finished in a comfortable 4th for CL. This season past was the biggest success yet with a Copa Del Rey win over Barcelona, although we were knocked out of Europe by Man City in the CL 1st knockout stage. As you can see from our against every season, we're one of the most defensively solid sides in the league, which makes up for our attack being so far behind Barca and Madrid. I feel like with a proper world class signing in the front third I can challenge for the title, as too many points were dropped due to being held to 0-1 goal due to my overly defensively solid tactic.

Tactic:

It originally started off with a DM(D), Carrilero & Dlp (s) in the centre with a WB(A) on the left & CF(S) which had us hovering in 10th christmas 2017 but with many small tweaks over the 3 seasons it has settled on this. We generally dominate possession against smaller and equal teams, though can struggle to control a game against the bigger boys which has led to me dropping it to a 4-1-4-1 away from home against the likes of Madrid. The whole team bar the Trequartista work as a very solid defensive unit and we very often limit lesser teams to 0-1 shots on target. Due to the defensive solidity the treq is freed up to run our attack with both Santi Mina & Alcacer having excellent off the ball stats & moves into channels ppm suited to drifting into space.

Individual instructions are limited to goalkeeper distributing to the playmaker, Inside forward sitting narrower and winger shooting less.

 

Best players:

Andreas Pereira was brought in on a FREE from Manchester United after 2 successive loans! He's now worth 32 million and has made the Belgium squad for Euro 2020 so I'm very very happy with this. Runs my left wing and has a brilliant set piece on him.

Current vice-captain, future captain and club legend Soler has been played as somewhat of a half winger IRL by Marcelino lining up on the right of a 4-4-2 but I've chosen to play in solely in the centre of midfield as my main playmaker. While not the most amazing of stats he plays well above them 90% of the time and I've already turned down 40m bids from Bayern and Man United. He is the heartbeat driving the team forward and making our attacking moves tick. His great form in the league for the last 3 seasons has been rewarded with a EURO 2020 callup where he could hopefully get his first senior international cap for Spain.

Weston has been a revelation in my Ball winning "enforcer" role. After hounding Schalke the whole summer for him this season and making him my top transfer target to replace an aging Tomas Rincon as my first choice, he has not dissapointed. With his value approaching 50m and absolutely freakish physicals at 21, he's going to drive this team for a long time to come. Him & Pulisic will amass a huge number of caps for the states at this rate.

 

Next season I hope to make a proper challenge for the league with a world class winger on the right. I have been rotating Rodrigo, Ferran Torres and Nacho Gil there currently and while they are all OK, they're no Messi, Griezmann or Ronaldo. Thankfully I have a lot of expendable players coming back from loan to sell to boost our transfer funds to make this happen. 

[Matto97]

On 11/01/2018 at 06:02, Gungner said:

I was thinking about starting a save in Spain, and I'm torn between these clubs:

Valencia, Villarreal, Celta & Betis... 

Any thoughts and advice on the four clubs? Which would be a challenge, and what's the difference in transferbudgets? Stuff like that. My concern with Celta is that I can't hold on to Sisto... 

As you can see from my post above, Valencia is a really fun club to control and they are the most recent "fallen giant" out of those 4 clubs having been one of the "big" 4 before Atletico's rise with Simeone. Toni Lato & Carlos Soler can both potentially be world class although neither quite got to that point on my save. They do have huge loan debts being paid until 2030 or so which does limit your transfer budgets quite a bit. I don't see many people playing Valencia this year despite their massive upturn IRL so I can't back them enough for a good long term save to get them back on top.

[Gungner]

Who did you bring in over the three seasons?

Maybe not everyone, but some key signings?

[DawsLFC88]

I think I will give Valencia a go after the transfer window, the signing of Vietto is brilliant, Coquelin less so, but is a good defensive player. 

Yes as Gungner said, would be nice to see some of your transfer business Matto97. 

[Bigpapa42]

I did check budgets. Valencia and Villarreal both get 15m to start with. Betis get 3m (I think) and I can't recall Celta but I think it was around the same as Betis. Didn't pay as much attention to wage budgets. Betis have a huge 60K stadium and strong attendances. Valencia are still building a new Mestalla.

[Gungner]

It's been a while since I've managed in Spain (must be at least a few versions back)...

What's the rules for foreigners? Both in the squad, registration and in the match day squad?

[23drd23]

35 minutes ago, Gungner said:

It's been a while since I've managed in Spain (must be at least a few versions back)...

What's the rules for foreigners? Both in the squad, registration and in the match day squad?

You're allowed 3 foreigners in the squad of 25 - but note that South Americans get Spanish nationality in 2 years, everyone else in 10.

No foreigner restrictions in the match day squad

[Bigpapa42]

2 hours ago, NavyWolf87 said:

The Spanish team I sort of follow are Espanyol, anyone got any starting budgets for them? Always been a  Middle ranking La Liga side and only had a few seasons of success.

5m Euros starting budget, 12m in the bank, and about 55K Euros weekly wage budget available. 

[scwiffy]

I'm starting a Villerral save. Somehow never done a Spanish FM save (not for 8 years or so at least!). Can someone explain how the B and C teams work? Can they be promoted/relegated? Also why does the EU restriction not apply to some players? Is it a Spanish citizenship thing?

[Gungner]

I'm pretty sure that B-teams can be both promoted and relegated, but they can not play in the same division as the A-team. So if the A-team gets relegated fx, the B-team is automatically relegated as well (if they play in the division below the A-team). 

I've narrowed my save down to either Valencia or Betis. Still haven't decided between the two though. 

[scwiffy]

4 minutes ago, Gungner said:

I'm pretty sure that B-teams can be both promoted and relegated, but they can not play in the same division as the A-team. So if the A-team gets relegated fx, the B-team is automatically relegated as well (if they play in the division below the A-team). 

I've narrowed my save down to either Valencia or Betis. Still haven't decided between the two though. 

 

Okay thanks. I wanted to go with Valencia but first thing that struck me was lack of quality in depth, great starting line-up but beyond that theres very little and not much of a transfer kitty to go with it. Betis, Deportivo and Espanyol look like good teams with solid foundations. Andone in particular looks like a amazing player I've got my eye on for next season, some amazing players knocking around all of the mid table teams.

[Guest El Payaso]

On 1/14/2018 at 17:07, Bigpapa42 said:

5m Euros starting budget, 12m in the bank, and about 55K Euros weekly wage budget available. 

Can you post me the starting budgets of the teams and I will update them to the second message in the first page? 

[Bigpapa42]

1 minute ago, El Payaso said:

Can you post me the starting budgets of the teams and I will update them to the second message in the first page? 

Sure, once I'm home later and am in front the game, shouldn't be an issue. Use a skin that has that information so its pretty painless.

[Bigpapa42]

Alavés

Balance: €9,670,000

Budget: €209,000

Wage Budget: €416,000 p/w

Current Wages: €403,000 p/w

 

Athletic Bilbao

Balance: €42,290,000

Budget: €25,000,000

Wage Budget: €1,040,000 p/w

Current Wages: €956,000 p/w

 

Atletico Madrid

Balance: €9,860,000

Budget: €197,000

Wage Budget: €2,750,000 p/w

Current Wages: €2,750,000 p/w

 

Barcelona

Balance: €145,000,000

Budget: €79,000,000

Wage Budget: €5,420,000 p/w

Current Wages: €5,190,000 p/w

 

Real Betis

Balance: €27,510,000

Budget: €3,000,000

Wage Budget: €570,000 p/w

Current Wages: €541,000 p/w

 

Celta

Balance: €44,450,000

Budget: €6,000,000

Wage Budget: €618,000 p/w

Current Wages: €629,000 p/w

 

Deportivo

Balance: €33,540,000

Budget: €3,000,000

Wage Budget: €605,000 p/w

Current Wages: €606,000 p/w

 

Eibar

Balance: €6,610,000

Budget: €500,000

Wage Budget: €402,000 p/w

Current Wages: €419,000 p/w

 

Espanyol

Balance: €13,550,000

Budget: €4,990,000

Wage Budget: €764,000 p/w

Current Wages: €708,000 p/w

 

Getafe

Balance: €14,890,000

Budget: €149,000

Wage Budget: €408,000 p/w

Current Wages: €366,000 p/w

 

Girona

Balance: €5,920,000

Budget: €150,000

Wage Budget: €396,000 p/w

Current Wages: €349,000 p/w

 

Las Palmas

Balance: €12,100,000

Budget: €4,490,000

Wage Budget: €396,000 p/w

Current Wages: €388,000 p/w

 

Leganes

Balance: €6,920,000

Budget: €180,000

Wage Budget: €422,000 p/w

Current Wages: €401,000 p/w

 

Levante

Balance: €6,850,000

Budget: €2,000,000

Wage Budget: €314,000 p/w

Current Wages: €318,000 p/w

 

Malaga

Balance: €17,010,000

Budget: €1,000,000

Wage Budget: €591,000 p/w

Current Wages: €563,000 p/w

 

Real Madrid

Balance: €131,000,000

Budget: €59,990,000

Wage Budget: €4,940,000 p/w

Current Wages: €4,930,000 p/w

 

Real Sociedad

Balance: €19,070,000

Budget: €750,000

Wage Budget: €777,000 p/w

Current Wages: €816,000 p/w

 

Sevilla

Balance: €48,810,000

Budget: €3,990,000

Wage Budget: €1,560,000 p/w

Current Wages: €1,520,000 p/w

 

Valencia

Balance: €45,900,000

Budget: €15,000,000

Wage Budget: €1,220,000 p/w

Current Wages: €1,220,000 p/w

 

Villarreal

Balance: €37,190,000

Budget: €15,000,000

Wage Budget: €711,000 p/w

Current Wages: €689,000 p/w

[Gungner]

A LOT of the clubs are over their wage budget... I think I'm going with Betis for my Spanish adventure. A big stadium, a possibility of earning money via attendances and qualifying for Europe. And a strong squad. 

However, Malaga also speaks to me somehow... Ah the decisions!

[Bigpapa42]

40 minutes ago, Gungner said:

A LOT of the clubs are over their wage budget... I think I'm going with Betis for my Spanish adventure. A big stadium, a possibility of earning money via attendances and qualifying for Europe. And a strong squad. 

However, Malaga also speaks to me somehow... Ah the decisions!

Lol you are in the exact same boat as I have been. Malaga is who I was eyeballing when this thread was first created, but Betis is who I will end up going with when I finally do start a save (that I actually go forward with) in Spain.

Betis have a pretty solid squad. Defense is mostly players who look good but definitely not outstanding for the level, so they could use improvement. I think they have 2 of 3 non-EU spots used but one of them is a Colombian midfielder who should gain Spanish citizenship before long. I think Malaga have all 3 spots used.

[Gungner]

Betis will be my choice... Also, I'm danish, so it doesn't hurt to have a fellow dane in the squad  

And yeah, I like the look of their squad and they should be able to qualify for Europe with the right management... 

[duds]

To throw a spanner in the works, Ross (the usual tycoon save creator) has just uploaded a Real Betis save where they have just had a tycoon take over. It's in the tycoon thread if anyone fancies it.

[scwiffy]

My first season with Villarreal went very well, finished 3rd ahead of Barcelona. Athletico were absolutely unstoppable winning the league with relative ease. Barcelona look like easy prey for me in my long term goal to dominante the league given their amazing but ageing squad. Athletico and Real in particular will take much longer to catch up with, some of their players are out of this world and also have incredible youth coming through the ranks.

Our bargain buy Robert from Valencia won Player of the Season, playing out on the right wing. He was rotated with the promising Samu Castillejo who PSG came in for him in January, I managed to squeeze 24mil out of the transfer and bring in the equally promising (yet inconstant - apparently) Pione Sisto  from Vigo for 14mil. Man City came in for our lightning striker Bakambu, managed to get 25mil for him which I was more happy about as he wasn't the type of player for the system I want to play. I replaced him with Artem Besesdin for 11mil, he's done pretty good but overall I'm a little disappointed, he seems to miss some sitters and my scouts miss-lead me a little in terms of his potential. With some of the money gained I bought wonderkid Matais Vargas, he's been pretty solid and slowly getting better.

To keep hold of the other players or to keep them happy I've got a lot of new contracts signed but this has clogged up a lot of our transfer/wage budget. Regardless of Ruben Semedos new contract PSG came in for him, which I wasn't too sad about, he is by far our best defender and has amazing stats but for some reason he's a little bit of a disappointment on match days, he only has 9 concentration so must be that??? I bought in Van Drongelen as a replacement whos nowhere near as good but has decent attributes for the league and has monster potential, also has height which I'm desperately lacking

 

^Thats what I like my players Pros & Cons window to look like. Especially good considering he's only 19

Sergi Enrich banged in 24 goals for Eibar behind only Suarez for the golden boot and was out of contract so I snapped him up for free! He's been on fire preseason. Great attributes, overlooked player.

Fended off competition to sign the amazing Lautaro Martinez and I'm all set for an exciting 2nd season, upgraded training facilities complete soon, champions league football and a better balanced/suited squad. Only downside is that my B team have been relegated and now their fixtures aren't showing as I don't have that league loaded. I'll have to loan some gems out

[scwiffy]

On 12/16/2017 at 17:43, CybrSlydr said:

At one point I had him on the Transfer List but nobody wanted him - he also was promised we'd make the Champions League or else he could leave - so us landing 3rd place enabled me to renegotiate his contract and slap a $70m release clause on him.  

I also renegotiated Pinamonti and Cutrone's contracts and put a $90m on Pinamonti and $120m on Cutrone - if anyone comes sniffing, they're going to pay dearly for them.

Bad news is I only got $9.25m in transfer money for the off-season.  -sigh-  Not much - and the only real place I was looking to shore up was CD.  Unfortnately, good CDs don't come cheap at all.

So, I head into the off-season with high-hopes and anxious to see what next year brings!

 

Similar things with my Villarreal save. I've never had to deal with release clauses so much in FM before, must be a La Liga thing? I got a pretty disappointing new transfer budget too, I thought it was because Villarreal are still considered a small club?

[jckstevens]

On 1/22/2018 at 12:28, scwiffy said:

My first season with Villarreal went very well, finished 3rd ahead of Barcelona. Athletico were absolutely unstoppable winning the league with relative ease. Barcelona look like easy prey for me in my long term goal to dominante the league given their amazing but ageing squad. Athletico and Real in particular will take much longer to catch up with, some of their players are out of this world and also have incredible youth coming through the ranks.

Our bargain buy Robert from Valencia won Player of the Season, playing out on the right wing. He was rotated with the promising Samu Castillejo who PSG came in for him in January, I managed to squeeze 24mil out of the transfer and bring in the equally promising (yet inconstant - apparently) Pione Sisto  from Vigo for 14mil. Man City came in for our lightning striker Bakambu, managed to get 25mil for him which I was more happy about as he wasn't the type of player for the system I want to play. I replaced him with Artem Besesdin for 11mil, he's done pretty good but overall I'm a little disappointed, he seems to miss some sitters and my scouts miss-lead me a little in terms of his potential. With some of the money gained I bought wonderkid Matais Vargas, he's been pretty solid and slowly getting better.

To keep hold of the other players or to keep them happy I've got a lot of new contracts signed but this has clogged up a lot of our transfer/wage budget. Regardless of Ruben Semedos new contract PSG came in for him, which I wasn't too sad about, he is by far our best defender and has amazing stats but for some reason he's a little bit of a disappointment on match days, he only has 9 concentration so must be that??? I bought in Van Drongelen as a replacement whos nowhere near as good but has decent attributes for the league and has monster potential, also has height which I'm desperately lacking

 

^Thats what I like my players Pros & Cons window to look like. Especially good considering he's only 19

Sergi Enrich banged in 24 goals for Eibar behind only Suarez for the golden boot and was out of contract so I snapped him up for free! He's been on fire preseason. Great attributes, overlooked player.

Fended off competition to sign the amazing Lautaro Martinez and I'm all set for an exciting 2nd season, upgraded training facilities complete soon, champions league football and a better balanced/suited squad. Only downside is that my B team have been relegated and now their fixtures aren't showing as I don't have that league loaded. I'll have to loan some gems out

Nice! I myself am playing as Sociedad and have some question regarding B and C teams? I notice the C teams doesn't have any league or fixtures and pretty bad staff, did they not develop at all over the season as a result? and do the B and C teams bring in their own players, as i notice the B team has a chief scout, so I set for them to do their own transfer work. Thanks!

[scwiffy]

6 hours ago, jckstevens said:

Nice! I myself am playing as Sociedad and have some question regarding B and C teams? I notice the C teams doesn't have any league or fixtures and pretty bad staff, did they not develop at all over the season as a result? and do the B and C teams bring in their own players, as i notice the B team has a chief scout, so I set for them to do their own transfer work. Thanks!

Yeah my B and C team being relegated is killing the progression/fun of my Villarreal save. Also handling so many contracts and loans gets really tiresome , I'm not a fan

[jlawlor91]

Call me a cynic but there is no way in hell anyone could win the league with Las Palmas in the first season without cheating!

[jckstevens]

Does anybody have any general tips about managing the B and C team's development and keeping them providing youngsters?

 

Do you buy prospects and put them in your B/C teams? I have noticed my Sociedad C team has pretty crap staff, no-one wants to join, and they aren't in any competition!

 

Also if you set your DOF to take control of transfers for the B and C team, do they actually make any?

[Lufcberg22]

Im going as Atletico Madrid, Going to try and replicate Simeone's 4-4-2 tactic.

[steakfaced]

On 1/27/2018 at 02:24, jckstevens said:

Does anybody have any general tips about managing the B and C team's development and keeping them providing youngsters?

 

Do you buy prospects and put them in your B/C teams? I have noticed my Sociedad C team has pretty crap staff, no-one wants to join, and they aren't in any competition!

 

Also if you set your DOF to take control of transfers for the B and C team, do they actually make any?

 Your team MUST be in a playable league, or never get promoted. So if your B team is in segunda or you have leagues below it lowered, its great. I love using it for a natural progression, usually the B team was for players that weren't yet HG in my fully HG team. buy everyone U-18 or younger, once they're 19 to B team, once they're home grown to first team and playing or loaned out till a spot opens up.

[s0ni42]

On 11/23/2017 at 16:37, 23drd23 said:

I've had a long term save as Atletico Madrid every year since 2009 or so, and this year is no different.  So far I've played 2 reasonably successful seasons.  I may as well share my progress to see if we can get some discussion going.

2017/18

Transfers

Obviously start with a transfer ban, so despite leaving the window open I couldn't bring anyone in to bolster the squad which lacks depth before the season started.  Didn't get any money prior to the January window so couldn't really buy anyone either.  The real life pre-arranged transfers of Diego Costa and Vitolo helped greatly though

Sold Yannick Carrasco to Man City for €66m as he was becoming unsettled (which seems to happen a lot to me whenever PSG/Man City/Man Utd/Chelsea/Barca etc are even rumoured to be interested in my players) and Nico Gaitan was outplaying him!

Signed Leon Goretzka on a free and a regen Nigerian RWB who'd already debuted for the national team in the AFCON before I signed him as an 18 year old.

 

Competitions

Won La Liga with a game in hand, although it should have been more comfortable as I had an 11pt lead on the competition with 8 games to play.  I was surprised that Madrid/Barca dropped so many points as I didn't beat either of them, managing a home D and away L to both.

Lost the Copa del Rey to Barca in the final on penalties after somehow playing out a 0-0 draw

Got knocked out of the Champions League by Bayern Munich in the First Knockout round on the away goals rule (0-1 in Munich and 2-1 in Madrid)

 

Also, Koke won the Ballon D'Or and World Soccer Magazine World Player of the Year awards for 2017!

   

Interested in new save with these guys. Any additional noteworthy details around the ban?

 

does it lapse in January?

can you prearrange transfers for January and/or summer of 2018?

 

can you sell players during ban?

can you loan in/out during ban?

 

TIA

[s0ni42]

How to best handle the disastrous financial situation at athletico. The debt payments are killing me!!

[uros19]

Time to start with my club Barcelona. Coutinhoooooo 

[Pancakes]

I've been playing a couple of saves on FM this year but felt like I need a fresh save with someone i've never previously played with.

Ended up going with Girona and the Board is expecting us to not get relegated, which is easier said than done when you're playing in quite possibly the best league in the world. Cup wise, we're expected to reach the Fifth Round which should be achievable as long as we don't get drawn against a big side in the Fourth Round (the round we enter). Two legged rounds may come to our rescue if we can snatch an away goal and then park the bus for the second leg.

Finances seem okay for what they are - £5.2m in the balance. Only £133k in the transfer budget is a slight problem however we do have £35k to play with in wages. Free transfers and loans will have to come into play if we're looking to strengthen the side.

Speaking about loans, we've got a contingent of City players here already (Kayode, Luiz, Maffeo, Haug and Garcia) along with a couple of Barca youngsters, one from Guizhou (China), one from Sampdoria, Marc Muniesa from Stoke and Johan Mojica from Vallecano. I can see me terminating Kayode and Haug's loans as they're nowhere near up to scratch, along with one of the Barca youngsters who starts in our B Team (Perelada) and the Sampdoria fella.

Looking at the first team, we've got a decent squad who should keep us up this year. There's a couple of worries involved - the likes of Muniesa (loan) and Cristhian Stuani (ex-Espanyol/Middlesbrough) are both around £32k in wages whilst the next couple of players are Luiz (loan), Portu and Borja Garcia who are on £20k and £14k. Quite a stark contrast between the highest paid players and the rest of the squad. We've got a good depth amongst the squad which should allow us to play 4-1-2-3 or 3-4-2-1 variations, dependent on who is available or who we are playing.

Staff overall are pretty awful so a full overhaul will be on the cards. As we've got a lower rep than most teams, we may struggle to get anyone decent in for a couple of seasons.

[steakfaced]

6 hours ago, Pancakes said:

I've been playing a couple of saves on FM this year but felt like I need a fresh save with someone i've never previously played with.

Ended up going with Girona and the Board is expecting us to not get relegated, which is easier said than done when you're playing in quite possibly the best league in the world. Cup wise, we're expected to reach the Fifth Round which should be achievable as long as we don't get drawn against a big side in the Fourth Round (the round we enter). Two legged rounds may come to our rescue if we can snatch an away goal and then park the bus for the second leg.

Finances seem okay for what they are - £5.2m in the balance. Only £133k in the transfer budget is a slight problem however we do have £35k to play with in wages. Free transfers and loans will have to come into play if we're looking to strengthen the side.

Speaking about loans, we've got a contingent of City players here already (Kayode, Luiz, Maffeo, Haug and Garcia) along with a couple of Barca youngsters, one from Guizhou (China), one from Sampdoria, Marc Muniesa from Stoke and Johan Mojica from Vallecano. I can see me terminating Kayode and Haug's loans as they're nowhere near up to scratch, along with one of the Barca youngsters who starts in our B Team (Perelada) and the Sampdoria fella.

Looking at the first team, we've got a decent squad who should keep us up this year. There's a couple of worries involved - the likes of Muniesa (loan) and Cristhian Stuani (ex-Espanyol/Middlesbrough) are both around £32k in wages whilst the next couple of players are Luiz (loan), Portu and Borja Garcia who are on £20k and £14k. Quite a stark contrast between the highest paid players and the rest of the squad. We've got a good depth amongst the squad which should allow us to play 4-1-2-3 or 3-4-2-1 variations, dependent on who is available or who we are playing.

Staff overall are pretty awful so a full overhaul will be on the cards. As we've got a lower rep than most teams, we may struggle to get anyone decent in for a couple of seasons.

You've got your work cutout if you're to match their real life performance; they're currently in a Europa league slot playing a devastatingly effective 3-5-2. How does Maffeo look?

[avfcmatthew]

I watch La Liga more than any other league and have played it a lot in Football Manager throughout the years. It is a much more competitive league than people realise. 

Real Madrid, who I am managing currently, is the easiest save on the game. There is great depth in all positions and almost every player is world class. There is a slight challenge in dealing with declining players such as Ronaldo, Marcelo and Ramos, and could be fun to decide on Galactico signings to replace them. 

Atletico Madrid have really overachieved in recent years, led by Simeone who I regard as one of the best managers in the world. Managing ATM is certainly a challenge - you are faced with financial constraints, a good squad but not good enough to win the league really, a slightly ageing squad, and high expectations due to recent success in real life. Definitely a challenge I'm not good enough to attempt.

Barcelona are a more difficult team to manage, and I don't think this is documented. Their squad really isn't as good as people realise, and they really lack strength in depth. They have neglected youth in real life recently, and that is evident by the uncharacteristic lack of talent in the youth/B team. The generation of top players in Barcelona i.e Pique, Iniesta, Messi, Suarez are getting older too and the task of replacing them is huge.

Other clubs such as Bilbao, Valencia, Villarreal, Sevilla would be interesting and challenging to turn them into title challengers. 

Also, if you're into big challenges they have teams such as Girona who really have no place competing in La Liga, but somehow find themselves there anyway. It would be incredibly challenging to develop Girona into title challengers far down the line, but I know many like such challenges.

I really think La Liga is the league to manage.

[zlatanera]

Started up a save with Real Sociedad for Herne's 2nd challenge in the tactics forum. A week into pre-season and this happens:

This is going for be fun![/sarcasm]