[FM21] Manchester United: A club stuck in transition

[Sherkey]

1 hour ago, Woolly said:

Good luck with keeping Jones injury free I was tempted to keep him as back up but after him getting injured 4 times on top of the original I bit the bullet and offered him up not expecting to get more than 4m. So to get 13m with a low wage payment was a bonus for me (no doubt now he will have an injury free season at  Burnley lol).

 

Haha, I'll see until the end of the season (don't think I can sell him while he is injured). If remains reasonably injury free, I'll keep him (he looks pretty decent for a back-up).

[duvels]

2 hours ago, Sherkey said:

Haha, I'll see until the end of the season (don't think I can sell him while he is injured). If remains reasonably injury free, I'll keep him (he looks pretty decent for a back-up).

I just got rid of him for €7.25m upfront and €1.8m in performance payments. Bailly is complaining about lack of playing time too and wanted to get loaned out, but no teams were interested. Weekly paid wages have dropped to €3.6m.

[milan_manutd]

23 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

How can you all bring yourselves to keep the first window enabled?  It just feels wrong to me to be able to add on top of the real life summer transfers. It's just a personal choice really, I am tempted to keep it enabled because there is definitely work needed to be done to the squad, but I reckon I'll stand firm and keep it disabled. 

Not yet started my save because of the PS5 release, so been on that.

Been thinking about this, as I said I also try to have minimum transfers activities but in last couple of FMs you really need to get rid of bunch a players - Rojo, S.Romero, Matic (but I keep him now), Lee Grant, Bailly (WP problems in FM20), Shaw (to many injuries), Fred (also keep him, but in past you can get big money from China), Lingard, Andreas Pereira, Mata, Smaling, Jones, Darmian, Alexis (big salary)...

So every time you have at least 5 players who is not good enough or contract expires next year or you know that they don't fit in your tactics or your strategy so it's necessary to have some businesses. Unfortunately. 

[mikenevo]

Back on the forums after several years of not really enjoying football manager as much as I used to. Wasn't impressed with fm20 at all, but I've heard good things about fm21  I've started with Man Utd and I'm going all out this time! I've created my own tactic, where normally I'd just use someone else's and I'm also delving into training for the first time, rather than leaving it to my assistant.

I've so far only signed Jadon Sancho, don't think i'll do much else signings wise.

I've sold Sergio Romero, Lee Grant, Juan Mata and Marcos Rojo so far, whilst i'm trying to move on Phil Jones and possibly Jesse Lingard.

[mikenevo]

On 25/11/2020 at 17:11, Gee_Simpson said:

How can you all bring yourselves to keep the first window enabled?  It just feels wrong to me to be able to add on top of the real life summer transfers. It's just a personal choice really, I am tempted to keep it enabled because there is definitely work needed to be done to the squad, but I reckon I'll stand firm and keep it disabled. 

Not yet started my save because of the PS5 release, so been on that.

I always feel that I need to right the wrongs, in this case Jadon Sancho 

[axehan1]

January season 2 and it's a 2 horse race between ourselves and Liverpool who sacked Klopp at the end of season 1 and hired Bielsa

We are playing some good stuff,not scoring loads but hardly conceding.

We made one signing in the January window

I'm more than happy with this signing(the board objectives are to buy English players).I tried to buy him during the summer but Chelsea rejected the offer so he put in a transfer request at the beginning of the winter window.

 

 

 

[mikenevo]

Absolutely insane start to the season! I love how you can see your tactic working how you envisioned it. I probably made a mistake in the first half with putting Lindelof on the right wing, but Wan-Bissaka was injured. Sterling was having fun down that side, so at half time I decided to replace him, I brought Shaw on and moved Telles over to the right, whilst adding instructions to stop Sterling and you can see it worked from the XG graph!

 

[BigV]

4 hours ago, mikenevo said:

Back on the forums after several years of not really enjoying football manager as much as I used to

Welcome back 

[foxtj]

Just set up an account, first time poster! Dabbled in FM’s over the last few years, always struggled in the first few seasons and that’s the same now! Tends to be my poor negotiating skills...

Just hit the end of November, 5th in the League but qualified for Champs League Round of 15. Bought in Sancho for...wait for it...£60m upfront and £50m over the next few years. Could not get them down any further - not sure if I sure be adding other fees etc. to bring them down?

Bought in Hateboer as well as back up RB, £12m, but had nothing left in the coffer for a well needed CB. Managed to sell Mata for £5m, Lingard on loan, Romero out for 1m and Matic on loan with clause to buy for 11m end of season. 
 

Hit some major injury issues, with fitness being an issue generally - the intense post lockdown period really hit us hard. I started the season with players who’d had an international game 2 days prior. Sancho injured for 4 weeks, back for 4 games, injured again for 4 weeks. Then Rashford out for 4 weeks. Plus, on top of it all. De Gea out for 7 weeks (thank GOD for Henderson).

 It’s been a nightmare at times, scraped through some games with dirty 1-0 wins. Masons had some good moments but hasn’t delivered when I needed him to. Calvani is getting the shots in but his finishing has been dire. Had some frustrating games with a fit squad as well, with high Xg but no goals. Must be something I’m doing tactically.

Playing with Gegenpress 4231, high tempo and high line, but tempted to try a 41221 to sure up the back. Doubt the board will give me anything in January, they seem unhappy at the moment but I could really do with a CB or a CDM. 

Reading through this thread, it’s been great for tips and advice and generally fun reading, see how people are getting on - but it does make me question what I’m doing wrong. Hopefully it’s just bad luck but we’ll see! 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2020 by foxtj

[BigV]

Welcome @foxtj you've done well so far so can't put yourself down too much, remember this is a decent united side with little to no quality on on the bench/reserves. 

It depends for transfers for fees, I tend to love paying it all upfront cause I kinda plan ahead a transfer window but with 60 upfront with 50m added over the years, sounds pretty decent, saves up for some short term deals/wage budget. 

Maybe try doing shooting drills/creating chances during training/attacking movement before games? Usually helps, especially against big games.

4231 seems to be alright for me, might be worth taking a scrn shot of the first team XI and the tactics so we could help? If not there is a tactics discussion and help thread whcih could help you alot if you struggle.

Handy tip if stuff isnt working dont make big changes e.g. long passing to short, make tiny ones like change a role in the squad or a player instruction, it's the little things that count imo but sometimes it does work to make that big change on the odd occassion to help in games 

[freezing_frog]

Hi everyone, first time poster here, long time lurker 

Had a United save started after the official release and had a decent 1st season finishing 1 point in 2nd needing Chelsea to slip up on the final day. 1st order of business, made Bruno captain. Got Pogba to sign a new contract so he wont ask for crazy money in the future. Sacked Mike Phelan and got in Bryan Klug, also Filippo Galli in as HOYD (his personality is model citizen and it showed in my youth intake GK) and other coaching staff changes. Thinned out the scouting team as well to within the allowed staff member numbers. Initially played 433 with CDM but found it to be heavy in possession and lacking going forward, also it kind of limit Bruno's potential. So switched to 4231 halfway and start to score and played better. Bruno got immense after the switch, scoring 17 and assisted 14 across all competitions. The defense was leaky, with through balls coming in from the wings against my not so quick CBs, so switched my WBs to FBs and now they perform a bit better. Right now, I don't have a preferred CB partnership. Lost 2-1 during the Champions League final to Liverpool after Bruno and Brandon Williams got themselves sent off in the 2nd half (bummer). Won the FA Cup and went out in the Quarter Finals of the Carabao Cup.

First Season Ins:- Luiz Felipe (£25m), Ugarte (£1.6m), Max Norman Williamsen (£1.9m) now on loan, Andrea Papetti (£1.9m), Nicolo Rovella (£1.8m), Arezo (£2.1m) now on loan, Yunus Musah (£15m) Impressed with him in the beta with Valencia

Frist Season Outs:- Rojo (£10m), Lingard (£12m), Jones (£10.25m), Eric Bailly (£17.75m), All winter sales.

 

Now getting into the summer, I initially had about £32m from the winter window and eventually went up to £94m after the 1st season ended and already had a plan for the summer. Finally after the season ended, I immediately went in for Camavinga and Josko (wanted a young, quick left footed CB). Also saw some posts here on upcoming free agents (Depay) and thought I'd give it a shot. 

2nd Season Ins:- Camavinga (£38m up to £43m), Josko (£33m), Sebastian Esposito (£11.5m) transfer agreed in 1st season now on loan, Albian Hajdari (£778k) now on loan, Eric Garcia (£3m, basically free), Depay (free), Declan Rice (£40m, West Ham got relegated and wanted to leave and the board wanted English players), and finally Sancho (£100m, I think it was £70m upfront and balance on installments. Crazy money I know, but he performed really well in the beta).

2nd Season Outs:- Fred (£40m), Shaw (£50m), Lindelöf (£40m), Romero (£1.9m), Pereira (£15.25m), Fosu Mensah (£15m), Dalot (£13.75m), Mejia (£145k) and others either let go (Cavani/Mata) or went on loans.

My First Team;- (4231)

GK- De Gea, Henderson

DR- Wan Bissaka, Brandon Williams, Ethan Laird

DL- Telles, Reece Devine

DC- Tuanzebe, Papetti, Maguire, Luiz Felipe, Eric Garcia

MF- Rice, Camavinga, Pogba, Ugarte, Mctominay, Garner, Rovella

AMR- Sancho, Diallo, Chong

AMC- Bruno, VDB, Hannibal

AML- Rashford, Depay, Musah, James

ST- Martial, Greenwood

 

I lost out on Nuno Mendes to Dortmund (them again) and only have Telles, Brandon and Reece Devine for the LB. Should be sufficient for the 2nd season.

Now, I've been eyeing another striker to challenge Martial and Greenwood, so been scouting both Gabriel Barbossa and Kaio Jorge. I was about to put in a bid for Kaio when out of the blue, Harry Kane becomes available for £66m (Tottenham finished 14th and he wanted UCL). I like Harry Kane, and I really wish he would leave Tottenham to Man Utd in real life and I never had him in any FM saves as he was either too expensive or never wanted to leave. So I went it immediately  going against PSG and Barcelona and he accepted (really surprised). I had £63m balance and can finalize the signing with some budget adjustments, but just before I okay the move, I saved, shut down and went to bed. Now, I still can't decide if I should take him or go with Kaio. Being an elite striker and English, he will definitely check off some of the board requirements and boost shirt sales.

 

Questions and need some suggestions for future transfers.

1) Any LB choice for the 3rd season and beyond? Devine is okay but he won't be a world beater. I prefer Williams playing on the right.

2) New GK. Donnaruma wasn't available, he signed a new contract with Milan. Maybe I can go for him later in the save. Eyeing Onana for now (£40m) but keeping my options open. Planning to move De Gea on in the 3rd season.

3) My selling plan for 3rd season is Harry Maguire, Paul Pogba, Martial, Matic and De Gea as planning minimal purchase and maximizing the youth talent going forward. Anyone have any success moving them on?

4) Why does Bruno always start aggressive in almost 99% of my matches?  

5) Should I go for Kane?

Edited November 27, 2020 by freezing_frog
Spelling and grammar.

[Sherkey]

33 minutes ago, freezing_frog said:

Hi everyone, first time poster here, long time lurker 

Had a United save started after the official release and had a decent 1st season finishing 1 point in 2nd needing Chelsea to slip up on the final day. 1st order of business, made Bruno captain. Got Pogba to sign a new contract so he wont ask for crazy money in the future. Sacked Mike Phelan and got in Bryan Klug, also Filippo Galli in as HOYD (his personality is model citizen and it showed in my youth intake GK) and other coaching staff changes. Thinned out the scouting team as well to within the allowed staff member numbers. Initially played 433 with CDM but found it to be heavy in possession and lacking going forward, also it kind of limit Bruno's potential. So switched to 4231 halfway and start to score and played better. Bruno got immense after the switch, scoring 17 and assisted 14 across all competitions. The defense was leaky, with through balls coming in from the wings against my not so quick CBs, so switched my WBs to FBs and now they perform a bit better. Right now, I don't have a preferred CB partnership. Lost 2-1 during the Champions League final to Liverpool after Bruno and Brandon Williams got themselves sent off in the 2nd half (bummer). Won the FA Cup and went out in the Quarter Finals of the Carabao Cup.

First Season Ins:- Luiz Felipe (£25m), Ugarte (£1.6m), Max Norman Williamsen (£1.9m) now on loan, Andrea Papetti (£1.9m), Nicolo Rovella (£1.8m), Arezo (£2.1m) now on loan, Yunus Musah (£15m) Impressed with him in the beta with Valencia

Frist Season Outs:- Rojo (£10m), Lingard (£12m), Jones (£10.25m), Eric Bailly (£17.75m), All winter sales.

 

Now getting into the summer, I initially had about £32m from the winter window and eventually went up to £94m after the 1st season ended and already had a plan for the summer. Finally after the season ended, I immediately went in for Camavinga and Josko (wanted a young, quick left footed CB). Also saw some posts here on upcoming free agents (Depay) and thought I'd give it a shot. 

2nd Season Ins:- Camavinga (£38m up to £43m), Josko (£33m), Sebastian Esposito (£11.5m) transfer agreed in 1st season now on loan, Albian Hajdari (£778k) now on loan, Eric Garcia (£3m, basically free), Depay (free), Declan Rice (£40m, West Ham got relegated and wanted to leave and the board wanted English players), and finally Sancho (£100m, I think it was £70m upfront and balance on installments. Crazy money I know, but he performed really well in the beta).

2nd Season Outs:- Fred (£40m), Shaw (£50m), Lindelöf (£40m), Romero (£1.9m), Pereira (£15.25m), Fosu Mensah (£15m), Dalot (£13.75m), Mejia (£145k) and others either let go (Cavani/Mata) or went on loans.

My First Team;- (4231)

GK- De Gea, Henderson

DR- Wan Bissaka, Brandon Williams, Ethan Laird

DL- Telles, Reece Devine

DC- Tuanzebe, Papetti, Maguire, Luiz Felipe, Eric Garcia

MF- Rice, Camavinga, Pogba, Ugarte, Mctominay, Garner, Rovella

AMR- Sancho, Diallo, Chong

AMC- Bruno, VDB, Hannibal

AML- Rashford, Depay, Musah, James

ST- Martial, Greenwood

 

I lost out on Nuno Mendes to Dortmund (them again) and only have Telles, Brandon and Reece Devine for the LB. Should be sufficient for the 2nd season.

Now, I've been eyeing another striker to challenge Martial and Greenwood, so been scouting both Gabriel Barbossa and Kaio Jorge. I was about to put in a bid for Kaio when out of the blue, Harry Kane becomes available for £66m (Tottenham finished 14th and he wanted UCL). I like Harry Kane, and I really wish he would leave Tottenham to Man Utd in real life and I never had him in any FM saves as he was either too expensive or never wanted to leave. So I went it immediately  going against PSG and Barcelona and he accepted (really surprised). I had £63m balance and can finalize the signing with some budget adjustments, but just before I okay the move, I saved, shut down and went to bed. Now, I still can't decide if I should take him or go with Kaio. Being an elite striker and English, he will definitely check off some of the board requirements and boost shirt sales.

 

Questions and need some suggestions for future transfers.

1) Any LB choice for the 3rd season and beyond? Devine is okay but he won't be a world beater. I prefer Williams playing on the right.

2) New GK. Donnaruma wasn't available, he signed a new contract with Milan. Maybe I can go for him later in the save. Eyeing Onana for now (£40m) but keeping my options open. Planning to move De Gea on in the 3rd season.

3) My selling plan for 3rd season is Harry Maguire, Paul Pogba, Martial, Matic and De Gea as planning minimal purchase and maximizing the youth talent going forward. Anyone have any success moving them on?

4) Why does Bruno always start aggressive in almost 99% of my matches?  

5) Should I go for Kane?

Depends on your roles. As a playmaking striker, Kane is beastly, and has better passing and vision than most midfielders.  So, if you want a striker to drop deeper, lin up play and get Rashford, Sancho and Bruno more into play, I'd say go for him. Otherwise, if you play with an AF, I'd still recommend Haaland (although Martial is a beast and Greenwood too).

For LB, look at Jose Gaya. Always tends to be good. Would normally say Grimaldo too, but don't rate him that much this season.

For GK, I honestly don't know. Reckon its something I will face too.

[Juls317]

Nuno Mendes or Gaya is where I would look as far as LB is concerned. Maarten Vaandevoort maybe for GK? I don't know what to tell you about Kane, he's young enough that he'll still overlap with Greenwood's real growth years, so I would be hesitant, though I've also been tempted to take a look at him in my save for the same reasons you listed. Since you still have Martial around, I might consider just using him until Arezo comes back in from loan and then use him in rotation.

[Gee_Simpson]

@freezing_frog Going by your transfers for the 1st season, I assume you disabled 1st window? Also how on earth did you get 50m for Shaw and 40m for Fred?! Was that a typo?  What's your 4231 looking like? 

As for your 1st question, Yeah I really like Gaya, would definitely go for him if you can get him, quality LB and still not too old. Regarding question 5, it really depends what type of forward you are playing in your 4231. If you want a top complete forward then Kane is an easy choice imo, but if you don't need that in a striker then it has to be Haaland doesn't it? Not looked at Kaio Jorge on FM21 yet so can't comment on him.

Wow if people are managing to sign Depay as a free transfer in season 2 I'll definitely be on that straight away, what a bargain. Also imagine getting Donnarumma on a free on top of Depay, that would be insane value for (no) money 

As for Sancho, he's the obvious choice for Utd isn't he? I'll probably go for him myself but as I will most likely be playing with an IF (S) on the left and a IW (S) on the right he will be played on the right hand side cutting on to his only reasonable left foot, as I can't bring myself to play him over Rashford on the left. Do people think that's much of an issue getting a player to cut in on his weaker foot?

Edited November 27, 2020 by Gee_Simpson

[axehan1]

No idea why people are so quick to get rid of Luke Shaw. Him  and Mendes from Sporting are perfect down the left hand side for me and he hardly gets injured. 

[Chetsfmfan]

Guys any tips on selling De Gea at the end of the first season?

I’ve noticed a couple of you mention it, but it seems impossible to shift for me - annoying because Donnarumma is available on a free 

Edited November 27, 2020 by Chetsfmfan

[freezing_frog]

6 hours ago, Sherkey said:

Depends on your roles. As a playmaking striker, Kane is beastly, and has better passing and vision than most midfielders.  So, if you want a striker to drop deeper, lin up play and get Rashford, Sancho and Bruno more into play, I'd say go for him. Otherwise, if you play with an AF, I'd still recommend Haaland (although Martial is a beast and Greenwood too).

For LB, look at Jose Gaya. Always tends to be good. Would normally say Grimaldo too, but don't rate him that much this season.

For GK, I honestly don't know. Reckon its something I will face too.

Thanks for the input. I decided against getting Kane as I use mostly AF and PF up front. Plus with the number of players I have in my disposal who can play multiple positions and upfront (Martial, Greenwood, Rashford, Depay) makes the purchase unnecessary. 

 

6 hours ago, Juls317 said:

Nuno Mendes or Gaya is where I would look as far as LB is concerned. Maarten Vaandevoort maybe for GK? I don't know what to tell you about Kane, he's young enough that he'll still overlap with Greenwood's real growth years, so I would be hesitant, though I've also been tempted to take a look at him in my save for the same reasons you listed. Since you still have Martial around, I might consider just using him until Arezo comes back in from loan and then use him in rotation.

Agree with Kane restricting opportunities for Greenwood. Arezo does look good on loan currently. Thanks for the suggestion. GK situation though, a few days after I cancelled the deal for Kane, Donnaruma started making noises about not being able to join us. I'm going to spend the whole season unsettling him if I couldn't get him this summer or winter. 

 

5 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

@freezing_frog Going by your transfers for the 1st season, I assume you disabled 1st window? Also how on earth did you get 50m for Shaw and 40m for Fred?! Was that a typo?  What's your 4231 looking like? 

As for your 1st question, Yeah I really like Gaya, would definitely go for him if you can get him, quality LB and still not too old. Regarding question 5, it really depends what type of forward you are playing in your 4231. If you want a top complete forward then Kane is an easy choice imo, but if you don't need that in a striker then it has to be Haaland doesn't it? Not looked at Kaio Jorge on FM21 yet so can't comment on him.

Wow if people are managing to sign Depay as a free transfer in season 2 I'll definitely be on that straight away, what a bargain. Also imagine getting Donnarumma on a free on top of Depay, that would be insane value for (no) money 

As for Sancho, he's the obvious choice for Utd isn't he? I'll probably go for him myself but as I will most likely be playing with an IF (S) on the left and a IW (S) on the right he will be played on the right hand side cutting on to his only reasonable left foot, as I can't bring myself to play him over Rashford on the left. Do people think that's much of an issue getting a player to cut in on his weaker foot?

Lol, it wasn't a typo. I enabled the 1st window just to get some signings in seeing how hard it is for clubs in England to buy young foreign talent after 1st Jan 2021. For Shaw, Arsenal came in with a £55m after rumours broke out a few days prior to their bid but joined Chelsea instead for £50m. Decided to move him on after only making 15 appearances in all comps and that's with almost no injuries.  Sold Fred to a chinese club. They seem to like making bids for him even in FM20. I do feel it's much easier to sell players in the official release as compared to the Beta. Kane is a no go, he will restrict chances for Greenwood and Haaland looks better for an AF.

My 4231 plays with 2 DLPs (one support / one defend) and sitting back (Pogba / Camavinga with his tackling and passing) and I emphasize a lot on one two quick touch and go passing, which I have most of my midfielders, wingers, and forwards learn for their PPM. I use IF(S) on the left and IW(S) on the right with both players swapping positions throughout matches. Having versatile players make it easier for them to affect those area of the pitch. Sancho for me scores and assists mostly from the right hand side though. 

[BigV]

1 hour ago, axehan1 said:

No idea why people are so quick to get rid of Luke Shaw. Him  and Mendes from Sporting are perfect down the left hand side for me and he hardly gets injured. 

Just not good going forward or defending, has no speciality apart from physicals, plus last few games you could sell him for 30-60m and you can always get better LB's

[Juls317]

7 hours ago, freezing_frog said:

Thanks for the input. I decided against getting Kane as I use mostly AF and PF up front. Plus with the number of players I have in my disposal who can play multiple positions and upfront (Martial, Greenwood, Rashford, Depay) makes the purchase unnecessary. 

 

Agree with Kane restricting opportunities for Greenwood. Arezo does look good on loan currently. Thanks for the suggestion. GK situation though, a few days after I cancelled the deal for Kane, Donnaruma started making noises about not being able to join us. I'm going to spend the whole season unsettling him if I couldn't get him this summer or winter. 

 

Lol, it wasn't a typo. I enabled the 1st window just to get some signings in seeing how hard it is for clubs in England to buy young foreign talent after 1st Jan 2021. For Shaw, Arsenal came in with a £55m after rumours broke out a few days prior to their bid but joined Chelsea instead for £50m. Decided to move him on after only making 15 appearances in all comps and that's with almost no injuries.  Sold Fred to a chinese club. They seem to like making bids for him even in FM20. I do feel it's much easier to sell players in the official release as compared to the Beta. Kane is a no go, he will restrict chances for Greenwood and Haaland looks better for an AF.

My 4231 plays with 2 DLPs (one support / one defend) and sitting back (Pogba / Camavinga with his tackling and passing) and I emphasize a lot on one two quick touch and go passing, which I have most of my midfielders, wingers, and forwards learn for their PPM. I use IF(S) on the left and IW(S) on the right with both players swapping positions throughout matches. Having versatile players make it easier for them to affect those area of the pitch. Sancho for me scores and assists mostly from the right hand side though. 

For what it's worth, depending on how much Donnarumma wants in playing time, he may not be worth it. De Gea stays very good for a number of years after the start of the save, so you could get a younger, less developed keeper to properly grow behind de Gea. I only ended up signing Gigi because he was absolutely free, and agreed to be a cup keeper which I don't know that he would do if you signed him with a fee.

[Gee_Simpson]

13 hours ago, freezing_frog said:

I use IF(S) on the left and IW(S) on the right with both players swapping positions throughout matches. Having versatile players make it easier for them to affect those area of the pitch. Sancho for me scores and assists mostly from the right hand side though. 

That's exactly what I was going for, the same two roles on the wings swapping during the game. Interesting as I was going to ask people in this thread if a right footed player on the right cutting onto his weaker left can perform well, looks like for you it seems to have worked. I plan on making the AMR Sancho also, good to know he still performs despite cutting in on his left 👍🏻

I probably won't use Greenwood up top due to him being used as more of a winger irl, I plan to use him at AMR like real life, eventually rotating with Sancho. Also because I'll be using a CF (A), I don't think Greenwood suits that role, although his strength has doubled up to 12 from 6 on FM20, maybe with training he could successfully play as a CF (A).

Why is it harder to sign players after Jan 2021, Brexit? Will this stop me from signing young foreign players?

Edited November 27, 2020 by Gee_Simpson

[mikenevo]

Interesting start to the first season. We have won all 6 Premier League games, scoring 20 goals and conceding just 2 (against Leeds away). We did however get dumped out of the mickey mouse cup o penalties to Watford... Also drew our first Champions League game 3-3 against RB Salzburg away, despite leading 3-0 until late in the first half. 

Brought in Adam Idah as backup on loan to cover for Cavani. I'm not convinced by Anthony Martial yet, up front or on the wing. Idah has bagged himself a goal in both games that he's played!

[Juls317]

36 minutes ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Why is it harder to sign players after Jan 2021, Brexit? Will this stop me from signing young foreign players?

It won't necessarily prevent you from doing it, but some may not want to come if they fail to get a work permit. It will let you know if the game thinks they'll get one or not when you do contract negotiations with the player. Luckily there are plenty of countries with more lax registration rules, namely Germany and Spain, so you shouldn't find it too hard to loan players out and get them game time for work permits. Also, bear in mind, sometimes the game will tell you that a player won't be likely to be granted a work permit, and they'll still get one, so it isn't a perfect indicator.

[Gee_Simpson]

1 hour ago, Juls317 said:

It won't necessarily prevent you from doing it, but some may not want to come if they fail to get a work permit. It will let you know if the game thinks they'll get one or not when you do contract negotiations with the player. Luckily there are plenty of countries with more lax registration rules, namely Germany and Spain, so you shouldn't find it too hard to loan players out and get them game time for work permits. Also, bear in mind, sometimes the game will tell you that a player won't be likely to be granted a work permit, and they'll still get one, so it isn't a perfect indicator.

Cheers, I'll risk it and stick to keeping the 1st window disabled 👍🏻

[Juls317]

I guess Bruno is quite good

[RazorsEdge]

10 hours ago, mikenevo said:

I'm not convinced by Anthony Martial yet, up front or on the wing.

He's brilliant up front after given some time to settle. He led my attack to a FA Cup, Champions League and 2nd in the Premier League (only on goal difference). Heading is really on the weaker part of his game.

[Chapman7]

3 hours ago, RazorsEdge said:

He's brilliant up front after given some time to settle. He led my attack to a FA Cup, Champions League and 2nd in the Premier League (only on goal difference). Heading is really on the weaker part of his game.

What role are you playing him in? 

[RazorsEdge]

23 minutes ago, Chapman7 said:

What role are you playing him in? 

Advanced forward.

[Chapman7]

23 minutes ago, RazorsEdge said:

Advanced forward.

Ah yeah thought be. Like my forward to drop a bit so tend to not go for that role myself 

[mikenevo]

10 hours ago, RazorsEdge said:

He's brilliant up front after given some time to settle. He led my attack to a FA Cup, Champions League and 2nd in the Premier League (only on goal difference). Heading is really on the weaker part of his game.

Fair one. I will give him some game time up front if I can, but Cavani is playing like an absolute god at the moment and suits my tactic so well. I play with a pressing forward.

[sedge11]

So I have finally got my annual Man Utd save going being a fan it's always I save I play, I really enjoyed the save on fm20, where I played 8 seasons, which is the most I have done for a few years, so I want to match that.

So a couple of things to note 1st off, I was going to have the 1st window disabled as I wanted to play with the team as it is, however after an initial start, I realised there were too many players I just weren't going to use and its a waste of wages, and I like to have a tight control of the wage budget. So I have the window enabled, I won't be buying as mentioned I wanted to start with the squad as it is, but I want to sell a few.

Also as I have noticed that 99% of people doing Man Utd saves are buying Sancho, so he is a player I have banned myself from signing, I did the same on fm20 with Haaland and I still haven't used him. It's just so my save is different and I'm not buying the same players as everyone else.

So to start the staff.

Had an overhaul as it is needed, Seppo Eickhorn is a coach I love and have been signing him on every save I possibly can for many years, he's a scout at Schalke but his coaching attributes are brillaint.

Then to the player sales.

By enabling the window, and selling the deadwood I just wasn't going to use I saved 250k in wages. I also released Grant, I want to terminate Ighalo's loan but won't let me at the moment.

We have been given an incredibly tough start to the season, this is our 1st few fixtures.

I have got 2 tactics set up and these are the 2 I shall be using, with the 1st one being the main tactic.

The youth recruitment in real life has been great, and there's alot fo great youth in the ranks, so players like Mengi, Mejbri, Pellistri and a few others I will look to get in the 1st team at some point. They may spend half a season or a season out on loan before they come up.

Edited November 28, 2020 by sedge11

[BigV]

12 minutes ago, sedge11 said:

So to start the staff.

13+ years playing the game and never noticed it had a trasnfr history for staff, learn something new every FM 

[Gee_Simpson]

2 hours ago, BigV said:

13+ years playing the game and never noticed it had a trasnfr history for staff, learn something new every FM 

I didn't either!

@sedge11 Interesting decision there, I know you've saved on wages but if you aren't strengthening the team at all whilst other teams can because you've enabled the window, don't you think you've put yourself at a disadvantage? I know Lingard ain't great, but he can be a decent backup option for the 1st season especially without any new signings.

[freezing_frog]

After I cancelled Harry Kane's transfer, played Greenwood up top and boom! 40 league goals and 50 across all competitions. Felt bad for Martial though as he was kept to the bench for most of the season. Just couldn't drop Greenwood at the moment and he's only 20 and technically his first full season spearheading the attack. Playing as if he's in his prime years but somehow I doubt he'll get this numbers again. 

 

Edited November 29, 2020 by freezing_frog

[Gee_Simpson]

What are people doing in regard to the Brexit settings in the game, leaving it as it is or editing it out?

There has been a lot of complaints about it in this thread:

This is putting me off a little, especially the last post where a guy who went for Tonali got turned down a work permit for him.

[warlock]

5 minutes ago, Gee_Simpson said:

What are people doing in regard to the Brexit settings in the game, leaving it as it is or editing it out?

Thought you were a stickler for realism! Leave it in 

[Gee_Simpson]

@freezing_frog Wow, are you using him as an AF? I always wonder how people can get AF's working at Utd because most teams sit in so where's the space? It obviously works though.

Your post has made me alter my plans for Greenwood now I think, because going by that screenshot I'm sure Greenwood will be able to pull off the CF (A) role! As he looks complete enough there, only heading is a weakness for him but I find that both Martial and Rashford with poor heading perform well as a CF (A), so Greenwood should also be able to. He also has

Spoiler

a fixed PA so will always turn out well if managed correctly

I was planning for Greenwood and Sancho to rotate as a IW (S) at AMR but now I will most likely go for Marcus Edwards and have him rotate with Sancho instead whilst Greenwood gets to play up top rotating with Martial as a CF (A).

Edited November 29, 2020 by Gee_Simpson

[Gee_Simpson]

11 minutes ago, warlock said:

Thought you were a stickler for realism! Leave it in 

Yeah that's true, although that thread puts me off slightly.

It would be interesting to hear if anyone in here is having major problems signing foreign youth after January 2021, not many have moaned about it so far, so I'm guessing it hasn't affected people too much.

[Juls317]

2 hours ago, freezing_frog said:

After I cancelled Harry Kane's transfer, played Greenwood up top and boom! 40 league goals and 50 across all competitions. Felt bad for Martial though as he was kept to the bench for most of the season. Just couldn't drop Greenwood at the moment and he's only 20 and technically his first full season spearheading the attack. Playing as if he's in his prime years but somehow I doubt he'll get this numbers again. 

 

He's bee pretty mosterous for me as well, though now he's kicking off about wanting to move to Bayern or Barca despite signing a new contract for me like a year ago. Luckily I got him to agree with me letting him go for 110mil and I don't see anyone paying that.

[Juls317]

4 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Yeah that's true, although that thread puts me off slightly.

It would be interesting to hear if anyone in here is having major problems signing foreign youth after January 2021, not many have moaned about it so far, so I'm guessing it hasn't affected people too much.

I haven't. You're still managing United, the club has enough pull and it should be easy enough to loan them out in the case of work permit issues.

[Gee_Simpson]

5 minutes ago, Juls317 said:

I haven't. You're still managing United, the club has enough pull and it should be easy enough to loan them out in the case of work permit issues.

True. I'll just leave it as it is then 👍🏻

Edited November 29, 2020 by Gee_Simpson

[sedge11]

6 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

@sedge11 Interesting decision there, I know you've saved on wages but if you aren't strengthening the team at all whilst other teams can because you've enabled the window, don't you think you've put yourself at a disadvantage? I know Lingard ain't great, but he can be a decent backup option for the 1st season especially without any new signings.

Not really no, as to be fair the teams don’t really buy anyone in the 1st window, I think Man City have brought Cristante from Roma, but apart from that hasn’t really been any transfers. 
 

I just wasn’t going to play him, James, mata and Pellistri would be in front of him, and to have over 250k in wages with him and the others stilling there doing nothing would just annoy me.

 

[mikenevo]

9 hours ago, sedge11 said:

So I have finally got my annual Man Utd save going being a fan it's always I save I play, I really enjoyed the save on fm20, where I played 8 seasons, which is the most I have done for a few years, so I want to match that.

So a couple of things to note 1st off, I was going to have the 1st window disabled as I wanted to play with the team as it is, however after an initial start, I realised there were too many players I just weren't going to use and its a waste of wages, and I like to have a tight control of the wage budget. So I have the window enabled, I won't be buying as mentioned I wanted to start with the squad as it is, but I want to sell a few.

Also as I have noticed that 99% of people doing Man Utd saves are buying Sancho, so he is a player I have banned myself from signing, I did the same on fm20 with Haaland and I still haven't used him. It's just so my save is different and I'm not buying the same players as everyone else.

So to start the staff.

Had an overhaul as it is needed, Seppo Eickhorn is a coach I love and have been signing him on every save I possibly can for many years, he's a scout at Schalke but his coaching attributes are brillaint.

Then to the player sales.

By enabling the window, and selling the deadwood I just wasn't going to use I saved 250k in wages. I also released Grant, I want to terminate Ighalo's loan but won't let me at the moment.

We have been given an incredibly tough start to the season, this is our 1st few fixtures.

I have got 2 tactics set up and these are the 2 I shall be using, with the 1st one being the main tactic.

The youth recruitment in real life has been great, and there's alot fo great youth in the ranks, so players like Mengi, Mejbri, Pellistri and a few others I will look to get in the 1st team at some point. They may spend half a season or a season out on loan before they come up.

I like your idea on being different. If I could go back and start again, I would do the same for definite! But I'm 9 games into the premier league now and that has taken me 3 days, so I'm too invested haha. To be fair, Sancho has been a total waste of money so far for me, 6.87 average rating, only 2 goals and 2 assists in 11 appearances. Mason Greenwood is another one that has been massively off the pace, I was expecting more for certain, but he sits at 6.60 average rating. 

[MatthewS17]

11 hours ago, sedge11 said:

Also as I have noticed that 99% of people doing Man Utd saves are buying Sancho

It's to do with being domestically biased for me. A player that good is available and is English amid Brexit seems too hard to pass up. Sancho would mean the entire future front trio are all English(Rashford, Greenwood, Sancho), and backups around the Premier League aren't hard to find. His attributes also make him my perfect RW. 

This year, there seems a lot of domestic talent around the Premier League, so I'm trying to go back to Manchester United buying up all the talent in the league. Although, the pricing is pretty damn high.

[duvels]

It's also worth it to scout the youth intakes of other teams. I signed this one on a compensation fee from Blackburn for example:

 

My problem currently is that I can't seem to get my striker involved in play. He's just ignored in all phases of play, so he doesn't get any chances either. For example, I notice that no crosses are directed to him: it's either my AMC, my running MC or the winger on the far post who gets to the ball, never the striker. I tried different roles: Advanced forward, deeplying forward (both support and attack), complete forward (same), nothing helps... Any directions?

Edited November 29, 2020 by duvels

[mikenevo]

2 hours ago, duvels said:

It's also worth it to scout the youth intakes of other teams. I signed this one on a compensation fee from Blackburn for example:

 

My problem currently is that I can't seem to get my striker involved in play. He's just ignored in all phases of play, so he doesn't get any chances either. For example, I notice that no crosses are directed to him: it's either my AMC, my running MC or the winger on the far post who gets to the ball, never the striker. I tried different roles: Advanced forward, deeplying forward (both support and attack), complete forward (same), nothing helps... Any directions?

To be honest we would probably need to see your tactical setup to really offer any support. For instance, my tactical setup was good, but my wingers weren't really doing well at all. Cavani was scoring the goals up front, but if the players further back weren't playing well, we would struggle. So I changed my tactic, which now has no wingers, has 2 strikers, an attacking midfielder and 3 central midfielders. Rashford and Martial are just absolutely lethal up front now and are keeping Cavani out of the team, along with having Bruno further up the pitch also benefiting a lot. Sometimes it's not about giving a different role, it's about changing your entire tactic.

[duvels]

8 minutes ago, mikenevo said:

To be honest we would probably need to see your tactical setup to really offer any support. For instance, my tactical setup was good, but my wingers weren't really doing well at all. Cavani was scoring the goals up front, but if the players further back weren't playing well, we would struggle. So I changed my tactic, which now has no wingers, has 2 strikers, an attacking midfielder and 3 central midfielders. Rashford and Martial are just absolutely lethal up front now and are keeping Cavani out of the team, along with having Bruno further up the pitch also benefiting a lot. Sometimes it's not about giving a different role, it's about changing your entire tactic.

True. Here's my tactic, but as said, not so sure about the striker role. Or maybe some other instructions which aren't ideal?

 

[BigV]

4 minutes ago, duvels said:

True. Here's my tactic, but as said, not so sure about the striker role. Or maybe some other instructions which aren't ideal?

 

I wouldnt put Telles on WB-Attack and overlapp left, with telles attacking he'll naturally overlapp but rashy will hold the ball and then allow telles to move kinda stiffling the attack, doesnt work well with high tempo, crosses over in a bad way

Id suggest telles on WB-Support simply cause maguire is slower on the left and will get caught out ALOT cause telles positioning is 10 (ithink) its pretty low. 

Wouldnt go with balanced, only in big games, stay positive or attacking cause you have a team that is on the front foot most of the time. 

I tried AWB on fb-support and he didnt work for me, i guess it doesnt work great him sitting deep and sancho cutting in, maybe WB-Defend/support would be useful with certain PI's 

As for DDG, he's not a great sweeper keeper at all, i'd stick him to GK-D

[duvels]

5 minutes ago, BigV said:

I wouldnt put Telles on WB-Attack and overlapp left, with telles attacking he'll naturally overlapp but rashy will hold the ball and then allow telles to move kinda stiffling the attack, doesnt work well with high tempo, crosses over in a bad way

Id suggest telles on WB-Support simply cause maguire is slower on the left and will get caught out ALOT cause telles positioning is 10 (ithink) its pretty low. 

Wouldnt go with balanced, only in big games, stay positive or attacking cause you have a team that is on the front foot most of the time. 

I tried AWB on fb-support and he didnt work for me, i guess it doesnt work great him sitting deep and sancho cutting in, maybe WB-Defend/support would be useful with certain PI's 

As for DDG, he's not a great sweeper keeper at all, i'd stick him to GK-D

TBH, I'm quite happy with the performance in defense. Maybe with the balanced mentality, I'm too cautious.

Rashford keeping the ball waiting for Telles to overlap is indeed something to look at. That might give more incentive to Rashford to pass it to the striker. AWB and DDG are doing alright in their current role atm.

[mikenevo]

1 hour ago, duvels said:

True. Here's my tactic, but as said, not so sure about the striker role. Or maybe some other instructions which aren't ideal?

 

Where do you focus your play while in possession, or don't you have anything selected?

[mikenevo]

My season so far has been pretty insane, very rarely scoring less than 3 goals per game! I've developed my tactic throughout the season so far, early on playing with a 4-3-2-1, but since our defeat to PSG, i decided to change the actual formation, whilst keeping the core style intact and the result has been breathtaking! Even against West Ham we could have easily scored 6 or 7, we just weren't as clinical.