Unofficial French League Superthread

[BadAss88]

SC Toulon wasn't really my thing, gonna look for another French club.. Maybe Ligue 1, I really wanna manage Marseille, but not sure to start immediatly with them or land the job.. 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

4 minutes ago, BadAss88 said:

SC Toulon wasn't really my thing, gonna look for another French club.. Maybe Ligue 1, I really wanna manage Marseille, but not sure to start immediatly with them or land the job.. 

You are probably best starting with them and try get rid of some of the old player/big earners.

I look forward to seeing how you do with Marseille as they are one of the French teams I always tend to do a save with.

[Jogo Bonito]

2 hours ago, BadAss88 said:

SC Toulon wasn't really my thing, gonna look for another French club.. Maybe Ligue 1, I really wanna manage Marseille, but not sure to start immediatly with them or land the job.. 

C'est la vie! Hope to see you back soon with whichever team you choose.

[karanhsingh]

4 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Yes mate, afraid so. Pure French 

P.S. Congrats on the second title, my prediction was correct about where you would be before I even start 

LOL 

Still waiting to find out which club you are starting off at!

[karanhsingh]

3 hours ago, BadAss88 said:

SC Toulon wasn't really my thing, gonna look for another French club.. Maybe Ligue 1, I really wanna manage Marseille, but not sure to start immediatly with them or land the job.. 

St. Etienne is a good challenge, they actually have the most titles in France and a great history. Could try to return them to the glory days. 

Rennes as well, you get to manage the best young midfielder in the game. 

[Jogo Bonito]

12 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

LOL 

Still waiting to find out which club you are starting off at!

Indeed you are! Maybe I will follow your example and reveal once I have obtained at least one promotion? See you in a few (actual) years 

13 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

St. Etienne is a good challenge, they actually have the most titles in France and a great history. Could try to return them to the glory days. 

Rennes as well, you get to manage the best young midfielder in the game. 

Rennes is a great team. As you say, the best French teen in the league and plenty of other good players (heavy French theme) . Also have never won the top league in their history.

[RVP32]

Thinking of doing either PSG to do a youth challenge instead of aimlessly spending big bucks. Mbappe is supposed to be the face of course.

Also considering Lyon but they don't really have that one player I desperately want to use like PSG has.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

55 minutes ago, RVP32 said:

Thinking of doing either PSG to do a youth challenge instead of aimlessly spending big bucks. Mbappe is supposed to be the face of course.

Also considering Lyon but they don't really have that one player I desperately want to use like PSG has.

@RVP32 Its up to you what you do but playing as PSG will get very boring very quickly.

The real challenge is to topple PSG.

If you really want to be PSG then maybe you could do it as youth only challenge and not buy anyone and see how it goes.

I have had many great saves with Lyon, Lyon have great players like Dembele, Depay, Aour, Gouri, Toussart, Caqueret,Bruno Guimares who is amazing and the next big thing in Rayan Cherki. 

I have great fun with Lyon as you can sell their best players for big money if you want to and then you can sign the next big thing as they are always signing young players for the future.

 

 

[bendixkunert2]

3 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

St. Etienne is a good challenge, they actually have the most titles in France and a great history. Could try to return them to the glory days. 

Rennes as well, you get to manage the best young midfielder in the game. 

I found Rennes to be the most underrated team on FM. Roster looks good not amazing but with the right system this team can completely go off within a year. Niang, Rapfinha, Maoussa and Traore are all amazing next to Camavinga obviously.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

F.C Metz Season 1 Review

I managed to have a really good end of season only losing 2 games and winning 8.

I ended up 6th in the league which is a very good position considering I was tipped to be 20th in the league at the start of the season.

Diallo pushed on and really stepped up his banging in goal after goal. Kishna also was a star player with goals and assists.

Unfortunately for now Kishna will be a 1 season wonder for me as he agreed to move to Sporting Kansas City on a freebie. I tried to sign him but he preferred the MLS.

Other stand out players for me this season were Dylan Brown, a Tunisian centre back who played very well as a Ball Playing Defender.

Another Senagelese player on the books also doing well on the right wing as an Inside Forward was Opa Nguette.

7

Here is the tactic I have been using.

I also might have a slight chance of getting to the African Cup Of Nations with EQ Guinea 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Diallo got robbed of the Best African Player Award

Diallo did beat Dembele and Mbappe for Ligue 1 Top Scorer award which is good.

Diallo also got 2nd place in the European Golden Boot award. Another good season and I reckon the big clubs will come in for him.

Edited May 21, 2020 by Ronaldo Beckham

[djiwai91]

6 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

St. Etienne is a good challenge, they actually have the most titles in France and a great history. Could try to return them to the glory days. 

Rennes as well, you get to manage the best young midfielder in the game. 

Small correction: the most titled club in France is PSG (41 titles). But if you only speak about Championship, indeed St-Etienne has 1 title more than PSG.

IMO, a great challenge in L1 is Lille has they have plenty of great young players and one of the best director of football (Luis Campos).

[Jogo Bonito]

@Ronaldo Beckham 6th is a great effort.  Quite a gap to 7th and Europa League will be good financially and for the reputation.Glad to see you getting the most out of Diallo too, 

I do agree @djiwai91 that Lille is a very good Ligue 1 option too. So are Rennes and Metz (also Strasbourg/Nantes in my opinion).

[Ronaldo Beckham]

27 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

@Ronaldo Beckham 6th is a great effort.  Quite a gap to 7th and Europa League will be good financially and for the reputation.Glad to see you getting the most out of Diallo too, 

I do agree @djiwai91 that Lille is a very good Ligue 1 option too. So are Rennes and Metz (also Strasbourg/Nantes in my opinion).

Cheers Jogo, much appreciated.

Yeah Lille is a club I have never managed on FM but I plan to manage them at some point on FM2020.

[karanhsingh]

9 hours ago, djiwai91 said:

Small correction: the most titled club in France is PSG (41 titles). But if you only speak about Championship, indeed St-Etienne has 1 title more than PSG.

IMO, a great challenge in L1 is Lille has they have plenty of great young players and one of the best director of football (Luis Campos).

Yes, I did mean only league titles when I said that. In any case, PSG needs to be over-thrown pronto 

[karanhsingh]

@Ronaldo Beckham - excellent season there. Good work. Are you planning a lot of changes in the summer?

Surprised Diallo didn't get that award for you, considering the number of goals scored and also the fact that his avg. rating was a lot higher!

[karanhsingh]

Summer of '22

To say it's been a busy summer would be an under-statement, but we really needed to reinforce the squad to have any chance of competing in Ligue 1. The Board gave us just 3 million to spend, so we had to rely on freebies and bargain basement deals. Here is how we got on:

The outgoings don't cover a few other players released on free transfers at the end of their contracts, sadly including ex-club captain Mendy who suffered from poor form and a bad injury last season. Numbers were required and a total of no less than 11 players were brought in, a combination of first-team ready players and some young talent with one eye on the future. Let's first profile the more "senior" buys. Player images will be in spoilers so as not to make the post unnecessarily long.

Oumar Solet (DC) - we needed a rock at the back and I think/ hope in Solet we now have one. He was transfer-listed at Lyon and we had to make him our highest paid player to get him in at 11k/ week. He is a strong all-rounder with excellent physicals and also will be good on the ball.

Spoiler

Matteo Tramoni (LW) - we had to break the club's transfer record to get the young winger in for 2 million plus some clauses. He's coming off an impressive season for Ajaccio in Ligue 2 and will step in to the IW role on the left flank for us. At 21 he will hopefully still improve, but is already pretty well-rounded without any stand-out attributes.

Spoiler

Jerome Prior (GK) - we needed a better keeper for Ligue 1, so I let our old back-up leave as his contract expired and Charrau will now play a sub role. Prior left Valenciennes at the end of his contract and he honestly seems like a fairly solid Ligue 1 level keeper to me. Hopefully he proves me right!

Spoiler

Rayan Raveloson (MC) - Rayan also joins on a free after a highly impressive season for Troyes in Ligue 2. First time I have ever managed a player from Madagascar! He is comfortable as DLP or also BBM so will give us options in the center of the park. Particularly as both Roye & Puyo are now getting on a bit.

Spoiler

Jason Pendant (LB) - while he looks a very solid player, this move was actually a bit of a mistake. I completely forgot to track Djedje (a new-gen we had a fixed transfer for) and so I didn't realize he was actually ready for a first-team role. More on him later. Jason will be sharing left-back duties with POTS last year Hamache. We will give him one season to prove himself otherwise hopefully make some cash on him.

Spoiler

Sacha Boey (RB) - transfer-listed at Rennes, he comes in on loan for the season with an option to make the deal permanent. He will compete with Goujon for the right-back spot, looks solid if unspectacular with hopefully some room for improvement.

Spoiler

And now for the more fun part of this post  We've gone shopping in Africa! Check these boys out!

Youssouf Djedje (DL) - as mentioned earlier we had a deal fixed up for the young Ivorian left-back. He seems to have made a lot of strides in the past year and seems ready for some first-team football already. He has a good personality and is very determined, so I have high hopes of this kid! Decided to send him out on loan for the season to Nancy where hopefully he will get a lot of games.

Spoiler

Franck Zadi (AMC) - another young Ivorian, this time from the ASEC production line. Franck is two-footed, has an amazing first touch and is a free-kick specialist. However he has to work on some areas like passing and shooting. Will be interesting to see how he develops. He will spend this season between the 2nd and the 1st team most likely.

Spoiler

Abdoulaye Kouanda (SC) - I had to take a bit of a punt on him as he wasn't fully scouted yet but his contract was up. However was fairly pleased with what I saw when he joined! Young promising target-man, he is very determined and already has good strength, heading & balance. Also very much a team player. Will give us a different option and again be on the fringes of the first-team squad.

Spoiler

 Cheikh Diakhaby (RW) - the only decent Senegalese my scouts could find, he's a promising IW from the right flank but needs a lot of work still. Best attributes at this point are his pace and dribbling. He will probably start off in the U19s.

Spoiler

Aruna Dao (D LC) - finally one more transfer you don't see because it will go through next month in-game when the boy turns 18. He is rated as a natural LB but we will be converting him into a full-time CB due to his low pace. However he makes up for that with strong ratings for jumping, balance, tackling, decisions and is also very brave & determined.

Spoiler

PHEW - that about covers it. 11 players brought in, transfer records broken. We now have a decent 20 man first team I am happy with, along with a good youth development program (more work required on the spreadsheet!). Next up we will do a quick squad & tactical over-view before we finally hit Ligue 1! 

[OlivierL]

15 hours ago, RVP32 said:

Thinking of doing either PSG to do a youth challenge instead of aimlessly spending big bucks. Mbappe is supposed to be the face of course.

Also considering Lyon but they don't really have that one player I desperately want to use like PSG has.

PSG ? don't know them . Vive Paris  FC

[BadAss88]

I'm still in doubt between Marseille, Toulouse, Rennes, Lille, Monaco, Nice and Lyon.

It's the battle of these players: Benedetto vs Leya Iseka vs Raphinha vs Osimhen vs Pellegri vs Dolberg vs Dembélé

[Ronaldo Beckham]

8 minutes ago, BadAss88 said:

I'm still in doubt between Marseille, Toulouse, Rennes, Lille, Monaco, Nice and Lyon.

It's the battle of these players: Benedetto vs Leya Iseka vs Raphinha vs Osimhen vs Pellegri vs Dolberg vs Dembélé

All of them are interesting saves. You just got to figure out which player are you most excited about managing.

Also it might be worth you looking at the history of each kit.

If that doesn't help you decide then just use a random number generator lol.

[djiwai91]

Don't select Marseille, they're pricks (yes, I'm Parisian, I hate Marseille!) and always have internal issues. Toulouse are by far the weakest in your list. So it depends which challenge you're looking for, but IMO Rennes or Lille seem the most exciting ones.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

If you pick Lille you could probably eventually sign Rennes best player in Camavinga but I am looking forward to who you decide to be.

There are so many good teams in France that we could have loads of different careers on here.

[bendixkunert2]

1 hour ago, BadAss88 said:

I'm still in doubt between Marseille, Toulouse, Rennes, Lille, Monaco, Nice and Lyon.

It's the battle of these players: Benedetto vs Leya Iseka vs Raphinha vs Osimhen vs Pellegri vs Dolberg vs Dembélé

Rennes is pretty overpowered with the right tactic imo. But they are fun to play with. On my Rennes save Raphinha and Niang became absolutely goal scoring machines ( before I got a 60M bid for Niang lol). Maoussa and Traore are also really, really good wingbacks to support them on the flanks. They also have one of the more underrated wonderkids on FM in their youth team in Rutter who develops extremely well with game time. I can recommend this team.

[karanhsingh]

Yes Rutter got picked up by man united on my last save and seemed to develop well - good shout 

[OlivierL]

Updated my story about Paris FC. It started good.. struggling a little bit in the third and fourth month. In a few months i'll present my youth intake calculation and tracking system.

Good luck everybody !

Edited May 22, 2020 by OlivierL

[djiwai91]

Update about my story with Maisons-Alfort at the half-season:

* 1st of my league (tier 7) but only 2 points above the 2nd, so I will have to be competitive till the end

* eliminated of the French Cup by a tier 3 (only 2-1 and I dominated the game)

* 1/16 final of the Paris Cup (it really exists??)

So I should achieve my goals if I continue like this.

 

[karanhsingh]

What is the Paris cup!? 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

1 hour ago, OlivierL said:

Updated my story about Paris FC. It started good.. struggling a little bit in the third and fourth month. In a few months i'll present my youth intake calculation and tracking system.

Good luck everybody !

Keep up the good work buddy, I am enjoying your approach to things in your save and I like the detail you are putting in.

1 hour ago, djiwai91 said:

Update about my story with Maisons-Alfort at the half-season:

* 1st of my league (tier 7) but only 2 points above the 2nd, so I will have to be competitive till the end

* eliminated of the French Cup by a tier 3 (only 2-1 and I dominated the game)

* 1/16 final of the Paris Cup (it really exists??)

So I should achieve my goals if I continue like this.

 

Well done, keep up the good work.

 

[djiwai91]

I think that's a cup for the non-professional clubs of the Ile-de-France (Paris' area).

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

F.C Metz Season 2 Update

Having that well known 2nd season syndrome with Metz, I got eliminated out of the Europa League against Wolves in the Best Placed 4th Qualifying round.

In the league I beat Grenoble 3-0, lost 5-0 to PSG and drew against Lyon and Toulouse.

Hopefully I can push on and do better then last season.

Here are my current transfers in and out. Most notable signings are South African players Rivaldo Coetzee and Teboho Mokoena

Rivaldo Coetzee

Teboho Mokoena

Diallo just gets better and better, 9 goals in 9 games so far. 6 goals in the Europa League

[Jogo Bonito]

You must hope that Guel gels with your other midfielders, Adonis plays like a god, and Fleury blossoms at your club. A tough spell there, but at least you can rely on Diallo for goals

[Ronaldo Beckham]

34 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

You must hope that Guel gels with your other midfielders, Adonis plays like a god, and Fleury blossoms at your club. A tough spell there, but at least you can rely on Diallo for goals

Yeah they are definitely ones for the future, I am hoping to build a team around them players.

I managed to qualify for the African Cup Of Nations with Eq.Guinea

[RVP32]

Hm, I checked out Lille and they seem interesting to take over. Considering them, Lyon or PSG (Home-grown/youth challenge) and some other teams outside of France but they definitely catch my attention. Is there someone who played as them before that can tell me how well you are able to keep your star players if you get some success?

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

22 minutes ago, RVP32 said:

Hm, I checked out Lille and they seem interesting to take over. Considering them, Lyon or PSG (Home-grown/youth challenge) and some other teams outside of France but they definitely catch my attention. Is there someone who played as them before that can tell me how well you are able to keep your star players if you get some success?

 

With Lyon I actually couldn't wait to sell my star players for big money so I can use that to buy new young players and repeat the process as that is what Lyon do in real life.

 

[RVP32]

44 minutes ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

With Lyon I actually couldn't wait to sell my star players for big money so I can use that to buy new young players and repeat the process as that is what Lyon do in real life.

 

Yeah, I ran pre-season with them and went through the youth team and they're absolutely stacked.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

52 minutes ago, RVP32 said:

Yeah, I ran pre-season with them and went through the youth team and they're absolutely stacked.

Yeah they have an awesome squad and awesome youth coming through.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

FC Metz Season 2 Mid Season Review

I have got up to December in Season 2 now. I went on a great run evening drawing 0-0 against PSG.

I am now on a 14 game unbeaten run.

I am currently 6th in the league.

Diallo has gone on a dry run after getting 9 goals in 9 games he has only got 5 goals in the last 14 games. I have just criticised him for recent form and he accepted it so hopefully that will help.

I just had my youth intake review and again it looks very good for the future, I have a Right Back from Senegal that stands out. I am so glad that I will have another bright prospect from Africa.

Here is my group in the African Cup Of Nations. I am looking forward to seeing how I do.

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Diallo won the African Striker Of The Year beating Sory Kaba and M'Baye Niang

[Jogo Bonito]

@Ronaldo Beckham

You're on a great run in the league now, and have a chance of qualifying from your AFCON group (probably behind Cameroon).

I'm still to announce my French club side, it's in Create A Club mode so took a while to set it up. I changed the club logo and nickname, and added some affiliates from Africa. I also cleared out the senior players over 30, added a handful of first team squad players and quite a few youngsters to the second and third teams (the youngsters were signed from the French lower leagues or direct from Africa). The long weekend should give me time to get started, share some images and post an update.

You asked for a clue? it's not Metz 

[karanhsingh]

When do the African national jobs usually open up? They just finished WC qualifying in my game but still no opening! 

@Ronaldo Beckham good work as always.

@Jogo Bonito the suspense is killing us 

[Jogo Bonito]

 

4 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

When do the African national jobs usually open up? They just finished WC qualifying in my game but still no opening! 

@Ronaldo Beckham good work as always.

@Jogo Bonito the suspense is killing us 

No idea on the NT jobs. In real life, they come about every few games but that probably isn't the case in FM.

It's going to be a massive let down then 

 

[Ronaldo Beckham]

12 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

@Ronaldo Beckham

You're on a great run in the league now, and have a chance of qualifying from your AFCON group (probably behind Cameroon).

I'm still to announce my French club side, it's in Create A Club mode so took a while to set it up. I changed the club logo and nickname, and added some affiliates from Africa. I also cleared out the senior players over 30, added a handful of first team squad players and quite a few youngsters to the second and third teams (the youngsters were signed from the French lower leagues or direct from Africa). The long weekend should give me time to get started, share some images and post an update.

You asked for a clue? it's not Metz 

Yeah I bet Metz was your original choice, sorry Jogo lol.

I look forward to seeing who you have picked and how you get on.

7 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

When do the African national jobs usually open up? They just finished WC qualifying in my game but still no opening! 

@Ronaldo Beckham good work as always.

@Jogo Bonito the suspense is killing us 

Thank you for the kind words, I got the EQ Guinea job in the first week of the season but usually African teams come available just after World Cup qualifying rounds have finished and also the same with African Cup Of Nations.

I managed to sign Parfait Guiagon a future Ivory Coast national team member, He is only 19 years old but already looks like a star with potential to be a superstar player.

This is the great man himself. he will be the crowning jewell in a very good team I am building full of potential.

@Jogo Bonito do you know much of Parfait Guiagon, I know he was on loan to Maccabi Tel Aviv and I also saw a photo of him in a AS Monaco top, did he have a trial there?

Edited May 23, 2020 by Ronaldo Beckham

[Ronaldo Beckham]

African Cup Of Nations started well for me with EQ.Guinea. A nice 3-1 win over South Africa.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Crashed back down to earth with a 3-1 loss to Cameroon.

 

[Jogo Bonito]

2 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I managed to sign Parfait Guiagon a future Ivory Coast national team member, He is only 19 years old but already looks like a star with potential to be a superstar player.

This is the great man himself. he will be the crowning jewell in a very good team I am building full of potential.

@Jogo Bonito do you know much of Parfait Guiagon, I know he was on loan to Maccabi Tel Aviv and I also saw a photo of him in a AS Monaco top, did he have a trial there?

A few years back he was being touted as one of the 'next big things' to come from Africa. Had an unsuccessful trial with Barcelona and also Monaco as you say. I recall there was a bit of a story about his return to Africa (cannot be sure, may have been attitude/agent) but seems to have done enough to get another trial with Maccabi Tel Aviv, and they took him on a one year loan. He should be able to have a decent career in a modest European league, perhaps better than that. 

For what it's worth, I already signed him at my French club too. So I back your decision to do the same!

Edited May 23, 2020 by Jogo Bonito

[Ronaldo Beckham]

6 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

A few years back he was being touted as one of the 'next big things' to come from Africa. Had an unsuccessful trial with Barcelona and also Monaco as you say. I recall there was a bit of a story about his return to Africa (cannot be sure, may have been attitude/agent) but seems to have done enough to get another trial with Maccabi Tel Aviv, and they took him on a one year loan. He should be able to have a decent career in a modest European league, perhaps better than that. 

For what it's worth, I already signed him at my French club too. So I back your decision to do the same!

Cheers Jogo, if you signed him then he must be worth a try.

He isn't playing in my team straight away but maybe aim to put him into the team next season.

[Jogo Bonito]

1 minute ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Cheers Jogo, if you signed him then he must be worth a try.

He isn't playing in my team straight away but maybe aim to put him into the team next season.

Definitely, in FM he should really be a good asset to own.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I managed to beat Togo 4-2 in my last group game and qualify for the 2nd round.

I got Guinea in the next round, this will be a big game.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I present to you Diallo Version 2, his name is Amadou Dia N'Diaye

The future is very bright at FC Metz

I am now 16 games unbeaten

I am currently 6th and 3 points behind FC Nantes. 

Edited May 23, 2020 by Ronaldo Beckham

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Well the African Cup Of Nations journey is over for EQ.Guinea. I was winning 2-1 at half time against Guinea but they come back and beat me 4-2 in the end.