[FM20] Manchester United: Falling Giant...

[Powello]

4 minutes ago, BigV said:

Inclined to believe it's a PI instruction, is move into channels already selected for a f9 role? if not it maybe that, then again AF works with greenwood aswell. Maybe it is your tactics that work better, interesting. 

No idea for a f9 role, but it is for a PF one, but he has that trait anyway so he would do it no matter the PI's. Yeah on my other save he was an AF and did well but again nothing like he is doing for me as a PF on this save. I am just coming up to the January transfer windown and he already has 30 goals this season, if he stays injury free he could smash last seasons tally, if I remember correctly he only has around 22 at this time last season

[stevecummins78]

I have a tight wage structure at United. Other then De Gea, no player is on a weekly wage of more than £180k a week. I believe this is vital for keeping players motivated.

However, in June 2021 Ousmane Dembele is attainable from Barcelona. Chelsea have made a huge bid (£116m) and are prepared to pay him £235k a week. I can match the fee but he won’t join us for anything less than £300k a week. 

He is a player that I could do with as Jadon Sancho is not convincing as a right winger. I’m also worried about Chelsea as a title rival should they get him.

Question - is he worth smashing my wage structure for?

[Powello]

Youth Development Season 6 Review

It hasn been a mixed season again, good in some aspoects and not so good in others, but we will come to that. I spent the summer thinking about transfers, who should go and who needs to come in, but really didn't do much business either way.

No signings were made by either myself, Phelan or the DoF and even our new owners didn't buy anyone so thats good, I was worried when I saw were were getting new owners after my experience with that pn my other save but they left my squad alone. Best bit of business was selling that Turkish kid, the DoF Signed him a couple of sJanuarys ago for 16.5m, so I have been developing him and giving him a few games here and there and his value shot up, Chelsea were after him but only offered me 20 less than what the Chinese club did so he went to them. so around 50m profit I'll take that.

Youth Intake

It once again wasn't the best intake, not sure whats happened the last few years, were not getting anyone that has really good potential anymore after the 1st 2 years of greatness. I know it's not often you get amazing potential players coming through, but a couple of 4* potentials would be nice every couple of years haha.

Competition Performance

Community Shield - won 2-1 v Tottenham

Carabao Cup - We reclaimed the trophy after 3 years beating  Watford, Middlesbrough, Southampton and Leeds on the way to facing Arsenal in the Final

FA Cup - We were knocked out  in the 4th round by newcastle in another disappointing perfomance in a cup I haven't won yet on this save

Premier League - Was a disppointing performance in the league really, yes Spurs were on fire but we should have done better than 3rd. Greenwood was top scorer though for the 3rd seaosn running with 30 goals again lol

Champions League - This and the Carabao cup are my most successful competitions on this save and that carried on this season as we won it again for the 3rd time. We had a group of Galataaray, Inter and Slavia Prague where we won all but 1 to book a 1st knockout round v Dortmund, we beat them 3-2 on aggregate.Next up was PSG, was a tough tie but we beat them 4-3 on aggregate to face Madrid in the Semis. Again it was a tough tie but we overcame them 3-2 to book a final place versus Milan

Not so tough this time haha. Fun fact, in this save after 6 seaosns only English sides have won the trophy, us 3 times, Liverpool twice and Arsenal once

Squad Stats

Another fantastic performance from Greenwood and Fernandes.Greenwood should have beaten last years tally of 50 but before the champions league final he had gone 7 games without scoring, Theres always next season haha.

Overall Best 11 of the Save

The squad is getting smaller each year, I also think it;s starting to weaken a bit so I might sign a couple of players in the summer, need to assess the u23s and u18s first though. I am considering selling Bruno, which after his last 2 seasons is crazy as he's just got better each year, but there'sother players itching to play in his position, I'm not sure what to do as he is captain as well, but he is 30 now and this is a youth development save so he is standing in the way of youth progression..... But I love him hahahahaha

Anyway, got the Club World Cha,pionships starting in a couple of weeks so no quiet summer for the squad just yet

 

Edited April 21, 2020 by Powello

[Powello]

27 minutes ago, stevecummins78 said:

I have a tight wage structure at United. Other then De Gea, no player is on a weekly wage of more than £180k a week. I believe this is vital for keeping players motivated.

However, in June 2021 Ousmane Dembele is attainable from Barcelona. Chelsea have made a huge bid (£116m) and are prepared to pay him £235k a week. I can match the fee but he won’t join us for anything less than £300k a week. 

He is a player that I could do with as Jadon Sancho is not convincing as a right winger. I’m also worried about Chelsea as a title rival should they get him.

Question - is he worth smashing my wage structure for?

Definitely not from my experience. Takes a bit of tweaking but Sancho can be great on teh right. What formation are you playing?

[stevecummins78]

3 hours ago, Powello said:

Definitely not from my experience. Takes a bit of tweaking but Sancho can be great on teh right. What formation are you playing?

I play with two - 4231 and a 4123.

The 4231 has Maddison (AP) and McTominay (BWM) behind Fernandes (AM) with Rashford (IF) on the left and Sancho as a winger on support on the right. Dembele through the middle as AF.

For the 4123 I play Declan Rice as a DM and have Maddison and Fernandes as two number eights.

 

[stevecummins78]

3 hours ago, Powello said:

Definitely not from my experience. Takes a bit of tweaking but Sancho can be great on teh right. What formation are you playing?

I am training Sancho to dribble more down the right though

[Powello]

3 hours ago, stevecummins78 said:

I play with two - 4231 and a 4123.

The 4231 has Maddison (AP) and McTominay (BWM) behind Fernandes (AM) with Rashford (IF) on the left and Sancho as a winger on support on the right. Dembele through the middle as AF.

For the 4123 I play Declan Rice as a DM and have Maddison and Fernandes as two number eights.

 

In my 4-2-3-1I have the right aml(sancho) as a W-A and the left one(Rashford) as a W-S and have them both to swap during games, works really well and sancho does most of his good football on the right side, I only have them to swap as it gives the defence something to think about when they keep popping up on different sides

Edited April 21, 2020 by Powello

[Tummyowl]

So... I have 'finally' decided on my transfers, and I have finished pre season.

In; Luis, De Ligt, Sancho, Boadu. £282,500,000
Out; James, Dalot, Lindelof, Bailly, Martial, Romero, Smalling, Pereira (GK). 205,000,000.

Reduced wages too, and because Sanchez ... well... he is still at the club but on a new contract. Two years with a 60% reduction in his wages.

[Powello]

Oh and the definitely not was about dembele not sancho  

[Tummyowl]

Giggs, Ole, and Keane have all returned to the club .

A very comfortable 0-3 win over Liverpool in the Community Shield, followed by a 0-3 win at Crystal Palace in the first game of the season! Sancho is already off the mark.

[Powello]

3 minutes ago, Tummyowl said:

So... I have 'finally' decided on my transfers, and I have finished pre season.

In; Luis, De Ligt, Sancho, Boadu. £282,500,000
Out; James, Dalot, Lindelof, Bailly, Martial, Romero, Smalling, Pereira (GK). 205,000,000.

Reduced wages too, and because Sanchez ... well... he is still at the club but on a new contract. Two years with a 60% reduction in his wages.

Damn thought you would of got more than 205m for all of them

[Tummyowl]

I did too, to be totally honest.

I think the fee's were 'ok' for the most part, however Bailly and Martial went for considerably less than I wanted them too (60,000,000 for the pair). Both keepers went for 5,000,000 a pop. Dalot and Smalling for 30,000,000. James for 20,000,000. Lindelof for 50,000,000 (to Arsenal).

I turned down 70,000,000 for Williams from Tottenham, I like him too much to sell him.

 

I forgot! I also signed De la Víbora from Real Madrid as a long term Shaw replacement.

[Tummyowl]

Some news from the rest of my football manager save...

Manchester City blew over 200,000,000 on Harry Kane, Dybala moved to Liverpool for around 90,000,000. Arsenal spent big again spending almost 70,000,000 on Maddison from Leicester. Tottenham did not spend much, and they were poor in the previous season, finishing 8th, bringing in Grealish and Bentancur for about 90,000,000. Chelsea sold well, and picked up Jesus from City and Ziyech.

Managers...

Big Sam came in at Christmas to save Villa... and failed.

de Boer replaced 'the special one' after Tottenham were hilariously bad. Gerrard moved to Southampton and has done 'ok'. Rodgers and Guardiola were both sacked. Ancelotti took charge of Manchester City, Dyche replacing him at Everton. Moyes was replaced by Sousa who by some miracle (and by the relegated teams being really, really poor) managed to keep an awful West Ham up.

[Powello]

3 minutes ago, Tummyowl said:

Some news from the rest of my football manager save...

Manchester City blew over 200,000,000 on Harry Kane, Dybala moved to Liverpool for around 90,000,000. Arsenal spent big again spending almost 70,000,000 on Maddison from Leicester. Tottenham did not spend much, and they were poor in the previous season, finishing 8th, bringing in Grealish and Bentancur for about 90,000,000. Chelsea sold well, and picked up Jesus from City and Ziyech.

Managers...

Big Sam came in at Christmas to save Villa... and failed.

de Boer replaced 'the special one' after Tottenham were hilariously bad. Gerrard moved to Southampton and has done 'ok'. Rodgers and Guardiola were both sacked. Ancelotti took charge of Manchester City, Dyche replacing him at Everton. Moyes was replaced by Sousa who by some miracle (and by the relegated teams being really, really poor) managed to keep an awful West Ham up.

Ancellottiis the England Coach on mine

[Tummyowl]

Dean Smith has returned to Brentford which is nice. Leeds, Forest, and Fulham were promoted too. Nice having them back, just hope Wednesday can get up sometime soon... .

Barcelona have tried their absolute best (and still are) to unsettle Bruno and Pogba. I told Pogba he was a real leader at the club, and he signed a new contract but Barcelona have still made offers. Bruno does not seem even bothered at all, though I am happy to increase wages a bit for him if he does become unsettled.

First team; De Gea / Wan-Bissaka, De Ligt, Maguire, Williams / Rice, Bruno, Pogba / Sancho, Rashford, Martinez.
Rest of the Squad; Henderson, Gasparini / Laird, Shaw, Mengi, Tuanzebe / Luis, Garner, Bellingham / Lingard, Sanchez, Stengs / Boadu, Greenwood.

Happy so far, and baring serious injuries should be fine.

[Powello]

Just now, Tummyowl said:

Dean Smith has returned to Brentford which is nice. Leeds, Forest, and Fulham were promoted too. Nice having them back, just hope Wednesday can get up sometime soon... .

Barcelona have tried their absolute best (and still are) to unsettle Bruno and Pogba. I told Pogba he was a real leader at the club, and he signed a new contract but Barcelona have still made offers. Bruno does not seem even bothered at all, though I am happy to increase wages a bit for him if he does become unsettled.

First team; De Gea / Wan-Bissaka, De Ligt, Maguire, Williams / Rice, Bruno, Pogba / Sancho, Rashford, Martinez.
Rest of the Squad; Henderson, Gasparini / Laird, Shaw, Mengi, Tuanzebe / Luis, Garner, Bellingham / Lingard, Sanchez, Stengs / Boadu, Greenwood.

Happy so far, and baring serious injuries should be fine.

I am now on my 7th seaosn and Madrid and Barcelona have been after Bruno since january in the 1 st season he's never wanted to even talk to them 

[stevecummins78]

2 hours ago, Powello said:

In my 4-2-3-1I have the right aml(sancho) as a W-A and the left one(Rashford) as a W-S and have them both to swap during games, works really well and sancho does most of his good football on the right side, I only have them to swap as it gives the defence something to think about when they keep popping up on different sides

That’s good to know, do you know how long it takes him to be fully competent on the right?

[Powello]

15 minutes ago, stevecummins78 said:

That’s good to know, do you know how long it takes him to be fully competent on the right?

To be honest I didn't really pay attentoin to it, just saw him working well out there so didn't care much haha

[Powello]

Ok I have decided I am bored of that save, yes I get bored quickly haha, and want a new challenge. But, I am not changing teams, I still want that challenge with United. So I have thought it over and come up with this new challenge below. I bring you the:-

Extreme Youth Development Challenge

The year is 2019 and Ed Woodward has been causing havoc behind the scenes. It turns out he has been falsifying documents and putting money in his own pocket as well as investing in some dodgy deals. His excuse when caught was he was making sure the club adhered to Finacial Fair Play Regulations, although when asked what about the dodgy deals and money in swiss accounts in his and his familes names, he refused to comment. 

In light of this, he has been removed as Chairman of Manchester United, replaced by the legend himself, Sir Alex Ferguson. Even though the owners and other members of the clubs board, were unaware of his dealings were found guilty of breaching Financial Fair Play rules in the worst way, The clubs punishment was not only losing their spot in the Premier League and Europa League and demoted to the Championship they were also given a 20 point deduction and a transfer ban until 2030. Cardiff on the other hand, got to keep their premiership status thanks to all this.

Many players jumped ship in light of this and the squad was left with kids.

Database Changes

Apart form the ones mentioned above:-

- All players aged 20 and over removed from the squads
- Balance reduced to 100m - I could have removed sponsorship and lowered the balance meaning you would have to sell players but this will do for now.
- Everton have replaced United in the Europa League
- I actually can't remember if I changed any others hahahaha

The Challenge

Your mission if you choose to accept is:- 

- You have 5 seasons to return United to the top of the World Football Rankings
- You must win the Premier League and Champions League in this time

I say you, becaue this database will be available for anyone who wants to take the challenge, but if you do, please give uodates here as it will be interesting to see how people approach it - UPDATE - Database file added, let me know if I did it right lol

I am testing everything right now, hopefully I edited it all correctly 

Starting Squad

So below you can see what you are starting with. Yes there are a few great players there like Greenwood, Chong and Gomes, but you still have to be able to keep them oncw they start performing and premiership clubs start knocking on the door

This should be fun hahaha

 

Man United Youth Challenge 2 League and pts deduction.fmf

Edited April 21, 2020 by Powello

[npjones88]

I've done a challenge like this before but with all players listed as 'home grown'. This includes the Da Silvas, Josh King, Ronaldo, Rooney, Janazaj, Lingard, Shaw, Rashford, Fletcher etc 

I transferred them all in with the editor and started in the premier league, not making the background changes you did. Was more difficult to get the team functioning in the premier than you would think. It was great fun but I always lose interest so quick when it's an edited game. Even so, I'd be interested to give your save file a shot. Is the transfer ban coded in? How can we get it? 

[Powello]

Just now, npjones88 said:

I've done a challenge like this before but with all players listed as 'home grown'. This includes the Da Silvas, Josh King, Ronaldo, Rooney, Janazaj, Lingard, Shaw, Rashford, Fletcher etc 

I transferred them all in with the editor and started in the premier league, not making the background changes you did. Was more difficult to get the team functioning in the premier than you would think. It was great fun but I always lose interest so quick when it's an edited game. Even so, I'd be interested to give your save file a shot. Is the transfer ban coded in? How can we get it? 

Yeah I usually lose interest in saves after about 6 seaosn or so, edited or not, thats why I made this a 5 season challenge lol. Theres an option in the editor to put a ban, If I remember correctly it was just in the financials section of the club part. You just put a start and end date, simple. The hardest part was getting a 20 point deduction, had to edit rules, took a bit of googling to figure it out.

I'll try and add the database file, not uploaded one before, to the challenge post for you, easier to find if others want it as well

[npjones88]

Not very experienced with it, would it work if you simply uploaded your save file or would it need to be a database file?

[Powello]

It's up 

When adding it to the post above I got it from documtents/Sports Interactive/Football manager 2020/editor data

So I assume you just put it in there then when you start a new game it says which version, click on the drop down and make sure it's activated.

Im sure someone here knows how to do it if thats wrong

First time sharing a data file for fm so it's a bit of guess work there lol

Sorry didn't actually answer your question there, I'm not sure to be honest, I would have thought you'd need the database file but again this side of the game is new to me haha Been playing the game for 20 odd years and found somehting new to me lol

Edited April 21, 2020 by Powello

[npjones88]

Okay got the editor data file sorted (on Mac Catalina and all my bloody files are hidden). Appreciate the work and the upload. Will check it out and see if I get inspired. Do we know how good this Zidane fella is? Never heard of him and I have followed united all my life, including keeping my eye out on the youth teams - maybe I've taken my eye off the ball this season! 

I've a feeling this will just give me the urge to resurrect my madcap Home Grown scheme. Maybe I will find it more inspiring to simply remove all non home grown and not transfer anyone additional in. Then I will have the goal of bringing back Ronaldo and uniting him with the next generation as a kind of end goal. I've remembered the issue that derailed me last time and it was because the board were going apeshit about me not signing marquee players and becoming very dissatisfied with the transfer situation. Maybe I could have a tinker with the expectations behind the scenes before I start and try to make it run a little better. 

I do love seeing the home grown players lining up in red. Kind of like Class of 92 on acid. 

Edited April 21, 2020 by npjones88

[Powello]

5 minutes ago, npjones88 said:

Okay got the editor data file sorted (on Mac Catalina and all my bloody files are hidden). Appreciate the work and the upload. Will check it out and see if I get inspired. Do we know how good this Zidane fella is? Never heard of him and I have followed united all my life, including keeping my eye out on the youth teams - maybe I've taken my eye off the ball this season! 

I've a feeling this will just give me the urge to resurrect my madcap Home Grown scheme. Maybe I will find it more inspiring to simply remove all non home grown and not transfer anyone additional in. Then I will have the goal of bringing back Ronaldo and uniting him with the next generation as a kind of end goal. I've remembered the issue that derailed me last time and it was because the board were going apeshit about me not signing marquee players and becoming very dissatisfied with the transfer situation. Maybe I could have a tinker with the expectations behind the scenes before I start and try to make it run a little better. 

I do love seeing the home grown players lining up in red. Kind of like Class of 92 on acid. 

I used Zidane quite a bit on my last 2 united saves and he was decent, nothing amazing but I was still developing him, now I will be using him a lot. I've heard the name when Ive watched the u23s this seasno but can't remember if he was actually playing or not lol

Thats the one of the reasons I set a transfer ban, so the board couldn't interfere and I also changed a couple of the visions.

 

[npjones88]

Yes I see the visions are more realistic. Did you do any tinkering with PA? I think contracts will be an issue. I just had a chat with Angel on day one and he wants a min fee release that will definitely get met. 

[Powello]

3 minutes ago, npjones88 said:

Yes I see the visions are more realistic. Did you do any tinkering with PA? I think contracts will be an issue. I just had a chat with Angel on day one and he wants a min fee release that will definitely get met. 

Nope no PA tinkering, thats part of the challenge, people will end up being sold. I would save contracts to close to January, if you are doing well and they are happy, will be easier to get them to sign

[Powello]

Ah balls, I forgot to remove Harry Maguire as captain. Even though hes not even at the club he's still captain so when you change it the squad gets pissed hahahaha

[sedge11]

So I said season 8 would be my final one of the save.

To start here were my transfers.

My back up goalie was Semedo (a regen), so as he was leaving I thought would bring a 35 year old De Gea back for the final season, and for sentimental reasons haha.

Upamecano is a player I have wanted for about 3 seasons, but when I had a takeover and the new board brought Sule, it got put to the back.

So now onto the season. Lets start with the domestic cups.

Carabao cup - we lost at the 1st hurdle to Newcastle

FA cup - We lost out to Spurs on penalties in the QF.

So that means we weren't going to win either of those in our final season.

We did however have another world player of the year winner, in Bruno Fernandes again.

The league campaign - We won our 5th title of the save, we dominated the season from the start, and apart from a bad 4-5 games in January we were always on top and in control.

As you can see Greenwood finished top goalscorer, Henderson won his 1st golden glove award, and Bruno Fernandes was yet again top of the average ratings so won all the player awards for the 3rd time.

And finally the champions league - We beat the likes of Inter, Fenerbache, Milan and Spurs on our way to the final, where we would meet Liverpool. So the final game of this save was the champions league final against our greatest rivals.

The stakes were obviously high, we win the save finishes in the best possible way, if he lose then I would of definitely done another season as couldn't of finished on a loss to them.

But we went and did it, it was a game where we didn't play well, it was a boring 1st half of no highlights, and a late equaliser sent in to extra time, then Chiesa who hasn't played that much this season went and got the winner. What a way to end, couldn't of asked for a better ending.

Just to add Bruno Fernandes at the age of 32 continued to boss the midfield, the league and Europe. These were his stats for the 8th season.

 

So a quick summary of my 8 seasons, we won:

5x Premier league titles

3x Carabao cups

2x Champions leagues

2x Fa cups

1x Europa league

I'm pretty happy with that, the 1st 2 seasons were dominated by Liverpool, but after that we really put our stamp on the save, I would of liked maybe another fa cup or 2 but overall very happy, and actually a good challenge as Liverpool and then Chelsea were tough rivals.

My best 3 transfers were:

1st- Bruno Fernandes - Got him for 63 mil in January of 1st season and was just incredible, it wasn't even close.

2nd - Milenkovic - Brought for 32 mil from Fiorentina in the summer before season 3, and was an absolute bargain, a main stay at the back. When we brought him in we had the best defence for the next 3 seasons

3rd - Tolisso - Got him for 50 odd mil for season 2, he's a player I just like and have brought a few times previous, a very good box to box and consistent performer who never let me down.

Overall my best 3 players of the save: 

1st - Bruno Fernandes - I don't think I need to add too much more, but probably the best player I have used on fm for a good few years.

2nd - Marcus Rashford - For the 1st 5 seasons he was un real, scored so many goals and won the golden boot for the prem twice, he started to slow and struggle from season 6, but found abit of form for the final season. Scored some very important goals, and got a fair few in finals.

3rd- Brandon Williams - This was a tough one and was close between Williams and Milenkovic, but I went for Williams, just because he was excellent from season 1 for me, displaced Shaw and when Shaw was sold he kept Telles out of the team, got a fair few assists throughout, and even scored some decent goals.

I don't really want to leave this team behind, but I feel it's time for a new save and accomplished everything I needed too, this is also the longest save I have played on fm for about 4 years.

 

Edited April 21, 2020 by sedge11

[Powello]

6 minutes ago, sedge11 said:

So I said season 8 would be my final one of the save.

To start here were my transfers.

My back up goalie was Semedo (a regen), so as he was leaving I thought would bring a 35 year old De Gea back for the final season, and for sentimental reasons haha.

Upamecano is a player I have wanted for about 3 seasons, but when I had a takeover and the new board brought Sule, it got put to the back.

So now onto the season. Lets start with the domestic cups.

Carabao cup - we lost at the 1st hurdle to Newcastle

FA cup - We lost out to Spurs on penalties in the QF.

So that means we weren't going to win either of those in our final season.

We did however have another world player of the year winner, in Bruno Fernandes again.

The league campaign - We won our 5th title of the save, we dominated the season from the start, and apart from a bad 4-5 games in January we were always on top and in control.

As you can see Greenwood finished top goalscorer, Henderson won his 1st golden glove award, and Bruno Fernandes was yet again top of the average ratings so won all the player awards for the 3rd time.

And finally the champions league - We beat the likes of Inter, Fenerbache, Milan and Spurs on our way to the final, where we would meet Liverpool. So the final game of this save was the champions league final against our greatest rivals.

The stakes were obviously high, we win the save finishes in the best possible way, if he lose then I would of definitely done another season as couldn't of finished on a loss to them.

But we went and did it, it was a game where we didn't play well, it was a boring 1st half of no highlights, and a late equaliser sent in to extra time, then Chiesa who hasn't played that much this season went and got the winner. What a way to end, couldn't of asked for a better ending.

Just to add Bruno Fernandes at the age of 32 continued to boss the midfield, the league and Europe. These were his stats for the 8th season.

 

So a quick summary of my 8 seasons, we won:

5x Premier league titles

3x Carabao cups

2x Champions leagues

2x Fa cups

1x Europa league

I'm pretty happy with that, the 1st 2 seasons were dominated by Liverpool, but after that we really put our stamp on the save, I would of liked maybe another fa cup or 2 but overall very happy, and actually a good challenge as Liverpool and then Chelsea were tough rivals.

My best 3 transfers were:

1st- Bruno Fernandes - Got him for 63 mil in January of 1st season and was just incredible, it wasn't even close.

2nd - Milenkovic - Brought for 32 mil from Fiorentina in the summer before season 3, and was an absolute bargain, a main stay at the back. When we brought him in we had the best defence for the next 3 seasons

3rd - Tolisso - Got him for 50 odd mil for season 2, he's a player I just like and have brought a few times previous, a very good box to box and consistent performer who never let me down.

Overall my best 3 players of the save: 

1st - Bruno Fernandes - I don't think I need to add too much more, but probably the best player I have used on fm for a good few years.

2nd - Marcus Rashford - For the 1st 5 seasons he was un real, scored so many goals and won the golden boot for the prem twice, he started to slow and struggle from season 6, but found abit of form for the final season. Scored some very important goals, and got a fair few in finals.

3rd- Brandon Williams - This was a tough one and was close between Williams and Milenkovic, but I went for Williams, just because he was excellent from season 1 for me, displaced Shaw and when Shaw was sold he kept Telles out of the team, got a fair few assists throughout, and even scored some decent goals.

I don't really want to leave this team behind, but I feel it's time for a new save and accomplished everything I needed too, this is also the longest save I have played on fm for about 4 years.

 

Nice way to end it

what's next? different team?

[sedge11]

9 minutes ago, Powello said:

Nice way to end it

what's next? different team?

Well as much as I think I could stretch out another season or 2, I think that was the perfect way to finish. Really liked my team, and it can be difficult to let go of them sometimes haha.

But yea going to start a Lazio save, done a few Italian saves over the years but never been Lazio so thought give it ago. But it's a save I want to last around 10-12 seasons and maybe move around abit to a couple of different clubs and leagues and see what I can win in that time.

[Powello]

1 minute ago, sedge11 said:

Well as much as I think I could stretch out another season or 2, I think that was the perfect way to finish. Really liked my team, and it can be difficult to let go of them sometimes haha.

But yea going to start a Lazio save, done a few Italian saves over the years but never been Lazio so thought give it ago. But it's a save I want to last around 10-12 seasons and maybe move around abit to a couple of different clubs and leagues and see what I can win in that time.

Ok well good luck and enjoy

[sedge11]

7 minutes ago, Powello said:

Ok well good luck and enjoy

With any luck might get the Man Utd job at some point during the save.

Might even look at your extreme youth challenge at some stage as well.

[Powello]

1 minute ago, sedge11 said:

With any luck might get the Man Utd job at some point during the save.

Might even look at your extreme youth challenge at some stage as well.

Haha go all around the world to end up back at United

Try it sometime, I am finding it pretty hard

[Toonarmyfc]

Entering the final 3 games of Season 3 and it's tight at the top...

Manchester Utd 80points
Liverpool 79points
Chelsea 79points
Man City 76points

My last 2 games were Spurs away (1-1) and Liverpool at home (0-0) which was definitely a 'must not lose' game. As things stand it's still in my control to retain the title, although I have a Champions League Semi Final 2nd leg away at Leverkusen to consider as well as the run in which is Fulham (A), Southampton (H), Wolves (H). 

Lost the Carabao Cup Final to Liverpool, I have an FA Cup Final against Man City to look forward to and looks like it'll Liverpool in the Champions League Final (if I get there). Couple of questions I'd appreciate your thoughts on guys:

1- I've attached a screenshot of Haaland (and squad) He's the top goalscorer in the league but I think the stats are distorted by a spell he had when he was getting at least 2 per game. I noted that my front 3 are putting in reduced numbers recently too (<7). Is this a tactical thing?

2- Looking at this squad where would you look to improve? Bailey has been average on the RW but Bellingham solid, if not a bit inconsistent. I was thinking a RW or CB?

3- What would you do in CM? I have Florentino Luis, Tonali, Pogba, Fernandes and Olmo. I'll rotate but it's nearly the end of the season and I still dont think I've got the balance of protecting the defence, pinging some balls around and midfielders arriving late into the box.

Appreciate all the advice

[StePratt]

I've downloaded @Powello fantastic United Extreme Youth Challenge DB.

It's tough but fun. Just got to November. Just moved off the foot of the table. Mason Greenwood with his 20th league goal in 15 games. Unreal talent. Playing him up front with Hoogewerf, Mejbri just behind with Chong and Gomes on the wings. Garner mops up as a DM. Squad depth is the biggest challenge. The first XI are good enough but injuries shred any chance of a win. 

[CR#7]

1 hour ago, Toonarmyfc said:

Entering the final 3 games of Season 3 and it's tight at the top...

Manchester Utd 80points
Liverpool 79points
Chelsea 79points
Man City 76points

My last 2 games were Spurs away (1-1) and Liverpool at home (0-0) which was definitely a 'must not lose' game. As things stand it's still in my control to retain the title, although I have a Champions League Semi Final 2nd leg away at Leverkusen to consider as well as the run in which is Fulham (A), Southampton (H), Wolves (H). 

Lost the Carabao Cup Final to Liverpool, I have an FA Cup Final against Man City to look forward to and looks like it'll Liverpool in the Champions League Final (if I get there). Couple of questions I'd appreciate your thoughts on guys:

1- I've attached a screenshot of Haaland (and squad) He's the top goalscorer in the league but I think the stats are distorted by a spell he had when he was getting at least 2 per game. I noted that my front 3 are putting in reduced numbers recently too (<7). Is this a tactical thing?

2- Looking at this squad where would you look to improve? Bailey has been average on the RW but Bellingham solid, if not a bit inconsistent. I was thinking a RW or CB?

3- What would you do in CM? I have Florentino Luis, Tonali, Pogba, Fernandes and Olmo. I'll rotate but it's nearly the end of the season and I still dont think I've got the balance of protecting the defence, pinging some balls around and midfielders arriving late into the box.

Appreciate all the advice

Try Greenwood IF-A on right wing and haaland as Striker . Bring sancho and sell bailey

[Powello]

6 hours ago, StePratt said:

I've downloaded @Powello fantastic United Extreme Youth Challenge DB.

It's tough but fun. Just got to November. Just moved off the foot of the table. Mason Greenwood with his 20th league goal in 15 games. Unreal talent. Playing him up front with Hoogewerf, Mejbri just behind with Chong and Gomes on the wings. Garner mops up as a DM. Squad depth is the biggest challenge. The first XI are good enough but injuries shred any chance of a win. 

Ah awesome

Yeah if you pick the strongest 11, it's just about good enough, but one  or two injuries to players like chong or gtreenwood and it gets tough.

I started off with 2 easy wins against HUll and Stoke and I thought damn maybe this isn't that much of a challenge , theng Chong and a few others got injured and now I have lost like 6 in a row hahaha

But I am loving the challenge of it, it's making me have to really think each game now

[Zeonflux]

@powello doing great things as always fella.

i like the idea of your new challenge although with the 5 year limit and the transfer embargo along with the size of the squad I feel as thought your at the hands of the youth intake as to how easy/difficult to achieve the challenge will be

[Powello]

4 minutes ago, Zeonflux said:

@powello doing great things as always fella.

i like the idea of your new challenge although with the 5 year limit and the transfer embargo along with the size of the squad I feel as thought your at the hands of the youth intake as to how easy/difficult to achieve the challenge will be

Thanks sir

Yes but also how you can develop the actual  players already there. There are quite a few who have good potential already there in the u23s and u18s and the challenge is also keeping hold of them. Thats why it's only a 5 year challenge, just a bit of fun and its not long

[Zeonflux]

20 minutes ago, Powello said:

Thanks sir

Yes but also how you can develop the actual  players already there. There are quite a few who have good potential already there in the u23s and u18s and the challenge is also keeping hold of them. Thats why it's only a 5 year challenge, just a bit of fun and its not long

I can see the first season being a struggle with (in my opinion, and experience with some of the players) only Greenwood, Gomes, Chong, Williams And Laird being ready for first team.

i imagine Hannibal wouldn’t take long to get to that level but the CBS would worry me 

[Powello]

Attacking wise it's not bad for even lower level prem, players like you mentioned plus Mejbri, Elanga, Garner and a couple of others are just about good enough, but defensively its not great. The keepers are terrible as are the CBs. So far I have scored loads but have also conceded loads. For me its a case of trying to out score everyone because I know we can't defend very well against most of them haha

[Powello]

My 5 year plan is

1st season - get mid table

2nd season - Promoted

3rd seaosn - top 8 prem

4th season - top 4

5th season - win prem and champs league

Although I am someone whos not very patient so want to get promoted first season ahaha.

I really want the champions league by the 3rd season but will be hard to do that haha

Edited April 22, 2020 by Powello

[Zeonflux]

Ah is Garner still in your squad? I didn’t see his name on the list you posted yesterday.

See I’d be tempted with that team to just retrain him as a CB until I got a couple more in youth intakes. Garner and Mengi should be good enough, possibly pay Mengi as a cover role so that he relies more on his pace 

Edited April 22, 2020 by Zeonflux

[Powello]

2 minutes ago, Zeonflux said:

Ah I Garner still

in your squad? I didn’t see his name on the list you posted yesterday.

See I’d be tempted with that team to just retrain him as a CB until I got a couple more in youth intakes. Garner and Mengi should be good enough, possibly pay Mengi as a cover role so that he relies more on his pace 

I hadn't gone through all the squads when I posted that... Just posted who the game had in the first team at the start of save when I loaded it up.

I was going to do that but theres a lack of players good enough for the DLP spot which he is perfect for. Fish is doing ok at cb

[Powello]

This how we are doing by 30th of December, without the points deduction we would be 4th or 5th

Have to win pretty much every game left if we are to have a chance of playoffs really lol

[Gee_Simpson]

20 hours ago, stevecummins78 said:

For the 4123 I play Declan Rice as a DM and have Maddison and Fernandes as two number eights.

Which roles for those two?

[Zeonflux]

21 minutes ago, Powello said:

This how we are doing by 30th of December, without the points deduction we would be 4th or 5th

Have to win pretty much every game left if we are to have a chance of playoffs really lol

Your not doing too badly considering you had a points deduction.

definitely sounds like you need a defence / goalkeeper heavy intake this season

[stevecummins78]

28 minutes ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Which roles for those two?

Maddison AP(S) and Fernandes MEZ(attack) in a 4123.

 

[Powello]

7 minutes ago, Zeonflux said:

Your not doing too badly considering you had a points deduction.

definitely sounds like you need a defence / goalkeeper heavy intake this season

And neither are going to be good on this intake apparantly hahahaha