[FM21] Manchester United: A club stuck in transition

[Falahk]

3 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Yeah, if your main tactic is a 4231 Pogba certainly isn't ideal to be a part of the '2', maybe a luxury we don't need.

Agreed, his attacking and physical attributes would be wasted there, in a 4-2-3-1 he is better suited to play AMC and Bruno is probably a bit better for that position 

A 4-3-3 with Bruno and Pogba as the 2 cm's should work better if you want to play both of them on the same time 

[BigV]

35 minutes ago, Gee_Simpson said:

I would imagine if you are using him as an AP or a MEZ, the fullback you are using on that side is very conservative?

Hardly ever, I tend to go all out against opposition on roles ., fullbacks are always on WB-support/attack, usually on pogbas side I have it on support though just cause I tend to buy fullbacks that are all around good players, 14+ for positions, tackling, anticipation and concerntration with a heavy physical side with pace being around 16/17+ and 13+ for crossing and dribbling.

Hard to find usually but playing youth to get to those levels is what I tend to do and if not just replace them- AWB will go and I'll probably get dalot back in, williams is the perfect player to improve, same with laird. Apart from that I go searchin for the gaya's grimaldo's, bellerins etc.  

[Gee_Simpson]

1 hour ago, BigV said:

Hardly ever, I tend to go all out against opposition on roles ., fullbacks are always on WB-support/attack, usually on pogbas side I have it on support though just cause I tend to buy fullbacks that are all around good players, 14+ for positions, tackling, anticipation and concerntration with a heavy physical side with pace being around 16/17+ and 13+ for crossing and dribbling.

Hard to find usually but playing youth to get to those levels is what I tend to do and if not just replace them- AWB will go and I'll probably get dalot back in, williams is the perfect player to improve, same with laird. Apart from that I go searchin for the gaya's grimaldo's, bellerins etc.  

Quite an extensive list there and not easy to find lol. Aww I really like AWB in game, he's not outstanding going forward but can get to 13's for crossing, dribbling, first touch and then is obviously brilliant defensively. Williams and Laird both look good though yeah. Dalot I can't see making it but depends if you get lucky with his PA, suppose that's the same for the former two also. I'm guessing you aren't a fan of Telles then due to his poor positioning? 

[Gee_Simpson]

5 hours ago, duvels said:

Yes, but as I said, I'm 2 seasons in, so those countries have a 2 year disadvantage. Also my own country by the way, which I always try to get the national manager job from some years in.

@duvels It has been fixed! Save game compatible too 

[BigV]

2 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Quite an extensive list there and not easy to find lol. Aww I really like AWB in game, he's not outstanding going forward but can get to 13's for crossing, dribbling, first touch and then is obviously brilliant defensively. Williams and Laird both look good though yeah. Dalot I can't see making it but depends if you get lucky with his PA, suppose that's the same for the former two also. I'm guessing you aren't a fan of Telles then due to his poor positioning? 

I agree but im usually good at finding them/amking them that way within a few seasons.

I like awb but his attacking side is wayy to low for me and the role kinda doesnt suit him unless you decide to put him on defensive side which just hinders the balance imo

Dalot on this and previous versions has been all around, only recently has his positioning gone down, he's the perfect build as a youngster which is technically still is, just hope his PA isn't set.

Kinda a hypocrite when it comes to telles, loved him for a long time since 2014/15 as an irl player so I ended up buying him every FM i played with United, past FM's he was 13/14 positionals, only recently has he gone down. In this FM i dont find him being targeted that much and he has pace to get back, when he hits 28/29 ill probably move him down the pecking order, I always love a good crosser- One from an edited version and one from the official release when fm17 came out

[Gee_Simpson]

I don't think Dalot is fixed although that might have changed this year, not going to check though this time. 

Yeah it's unfortunate with Telles as even on FM20 his positioning was 13, he got hit with the positioning downgrade for FM21, and has also been slightly downgraded overall from the beta as was Cavani.

[BigV]

As long as telles gets back its fine with me, very rare to see him get 6.7 ratings for me yet so good going so far

I'll probably check before bringing dalot back just to make sure 

[Falahk]

Seams like Telles jumping reach and crossing is better now thought, even if some of the defensive stats have gone down  

So it's not all bad

[sedge11]

Am in January now and a 4 way fight for the title. We are also in the carabao cup final against Leeds.

We have been so much better in defense, and now have the most clean sheets in the league, however I want a cb.

2 days left of the window I'm looking at Pau Torres or Badiashile, I can pick up either fairly cheap.

What are people's opinions on Torres and Badiashile?

Failing that I will wait till the summer and probably buy Upamecano or Demiral.

Edited December 2, 2020 by sedge11

[MatthewS17]

Holy hell. Players I want to sign are so expensive this year. 

[Juls317]

32 minutes ago, sedge11 said:

Am in January now and a 4 way fight for the title. We are also in the carabao cup final against Leeds.

We have been so much better in defense, and now have the most clean sheets in the league, however I want a cb.

2 days left of the window I'm looking at Pau Torres or Badiashile, I can pick up either fairly cheap.

What are people's opinions on Torres and Badiashile?

Failing that I will wait till the summer and probably buy Upamecano or Demiral.

No opinion on either of them, though I did sniff around Badishile as well. He was a bit expensive for what I wanted to shell out though, and ended up going with Ben White since he was English.

15 minutes ago, MatthewS17 said:

Holy hell. Players I want to sign are so expensive this year. 

Really? I thought prices were quite cheap, at least during the beta. I don't know if they made adjustments for the full release though.

[BigV]

4 minutes ago, Juls317 said:

I don't know if they made adjustments for the full release though.

You bet they did, they always do it, heck there's usually a whole thread of it, happened for fm20 and 19 too

[Juls317]

1 minute ago, BigV said:

You bet they did, they always do it, heck there's usually a whole thread of it, happened for fm20 and 19 too

Well that's unfortunate. Granted, prices did seem quite low across the board, even with covid factored in.

[Gee_Simpson]

7 hours ago, Falahk said:

crossing is better now

Not his crossing, it was 17 on FM20 also.

[Gee_Simpson]

He looked more rounded on FM20 but still with that great crossing. He was really good in different ways on the 21 beta but they have nerfed him a little in the full game. He still plays well from what I've tested on FMT. I will finally be starting my save today/tomorrow (Thursday) but probably will take a while to get everything set up like I usually do at the start, and still to decide on how many leagues I'm going for. I'm sorely tempted to start with the 1st window open but I'm going for realism and keeping it disabled.

Edited December 3, 2020 by Gee_Simpson

[RazorsEdge]

4 hours ago, sedge11 said:

Am in January now and a 4 way fight for the title. We are also in the carabao cup final against Leeds.

We have been so much better in defense, and now have the most clean sheets in the league, however I want a cb.

2 days left of the window I'm looking at Pau Torres or Badiashile, I can pick up either fairly cheap.

What are people's opinions on Torres and Badiashile?

Failing that I will wait till the summer and probably buy Upamecano or Demiral.

I had Pau Torres in the beta, did very, very well for me.

[duvels]

6 hours ago, RazorsEdge said:

I had Pau Torres in the beta, did very, very well for me.

I scouted him as well, but my scouts came back with "Fairly susceptible to injuries", so I removed him from my list as I already had Tuanzebe and Bailly as injury prone centre backs. 

[MatthewS17]

11 hours ago, Juls317 said:

Really? I thought prices were quite cheap, at least during the beta. I don't know if they made adjustments for the full release though.

Well, usually I expect it, but I'm being quoted 123m for Badiashile and 90m for Torres who wants to leave. 

Even players I want on a squad basis are being quoted over 80m. Even players in the damn championship. 

This wouldn't be a problem because usually you could unsettle players into lowering the fee, but this seems infinitely harder this year. 

Giving me a massive headache. 

[Cunego]

Ole after win two CL in a row

 

[duvels]

57 minutes ago, Cunego said:

Ole after win two CL in a row

 

Well, yeah, English players are expensive...

[sedge11]

2 hours ago, MatthewS17 said:

Well, usually I expect it, but I'm being quoted 123m for Badiashile and 90m for Torres who wants to leave. 

What season are you in?

Im in January of season 1, 2 days before deadline day, and can get Torres for 30 mil and Badiashile for about 14-16 mil.

[MatthewS17]

4 hours ago, sedge11 said:

What season are you in?

Im in January of season 1, 2 days before deadline day, and can get Torres for 30 mil and Badiashile for about 14-16 mil.

Going into season two finishing second. 

Got 95m so not a lot to work with. 

Being quoted mega fees for almost all players. 

 

On top of that, while I'm finding it easy to offload Jones, Bailly, Matic, Pereira and maybe De Gea, freaking Luke Shaw, who has got offers has said he doesn't want to leave and has handcuffed himself to the club. Ffs. 

 

I'm also averse to Torres because his mentals have taken a downgrade, and for me, the most important attributes for a defender are those mental abilities. It's why I've never signed Upamecano. 

 

Its to the point now where I'm considering Eric Garcia on a free. 

Edited December 3, 2020 by MatthewS17

[DominicForza]

5 hours ago, sedge11 said:

What season are you in?

Im in January of season 1, 2 days before deadline day, and can get Torres for 30 mil and Badiashile for about 14-16 mil.

are you continuing a Beta save, or started after full release?  

[sedge11]

2 hours ago, MatthewS17 said:

Its to the point now where I'm considering Eric Garcia on a free

I had Garcia on my beta save with AC Milan, he was quality. I highly recommend if you can get him.

12 minutes ago, DominicForza said:

5 hours ago, sedge11 said:

 

are you continuing a Beta save, or started after full release?  

Started after full release.

[axehan1]

2 hours ago, MatthewS17 said:

Going into season two finishing second. 

Got 95m so not a lot to work with. 

Being quoted mega fees for almost all players. 

 

On top of that, while I'm finding it easy to offload Jones, Bailly, Matic, Pereira and maybe De Gea, freaking Luke Shaw, who has got offers has said he doesn't want to leave and has handcuffed himself to the club. Ffs. 

 

I'm also averse to Torres because his mentals have taken a downgrade, and for me, the most important attributes for a defender are those mental abilities. It's why I've never signed Upamecano. 

 

Its to the point now where I'm considering Eric Garcia on a free. 

Garcia is fantastic for me on the right with Badieshille (spelling) on the left.

[MatthewS17]

10 minutes ago, axehan1 said:

Garcia is fantastic for me on the right with Badieshille (spelling) on the left.

I know, but it feels kinda wrong, even on a free from City. 

[Juls317]

18 hours ago, MatthewS17 said:

I know, but it feels kinda wrong, even on a free from City. 

I actually looked at getting him too, but PSG got to him before I could.

[duvels]

I'm having a look at Adarabioyo from Fulham, but he has a Man City background as well and is a fan of them...

Can't complain about this btw 

Edited December 4, 2020 by duvels

[Juls317]

Just now, duvels said:

I'm having a look at Adarabioyo from Fulham, but he has a Man City background as well and is a fan of them...

You should still be able to get him. At least in my game, that wasn't a deterrent for him to move to me. Though I didn't end up signing him.

[duvels]

1 minute ago, Juls317 said:

You should still be able to get him. At least in my game, that wasn't a deterrent for him to move to me. Though I didn't end up signing him.

I didn't try yet, it's more of a personal constraint than the game holding it back.

[MatthewS17]

59 minutes ago, Juls317 said:

I actually looked at getting him too, but PSG got to him before I could.

I know, but there's just something that feels so wrong about it. 

For example, IRL, even at City Mahrez is one of my favourite players since he was at Leicester and I had wished that we signed him instead of the hobbit, but we didn't. 

He became available in FM last year for 15m and I wished I could, but I just can't make that deal happen. It's like sacrilege.

Could be seen as a bit of a revenge on City play from Garcia, but, eh, I've got a month ig to figure it out. 

Edited December 4, 2020 by MatthewS17

[duvels]

2 minutes ago, MatthewS17 said:

I know, but there's just something that feels so wrong about it. 

For example, IRL, even at City Mahrez is one of my favourite players since he was at Leicester and I had wished that we signed him instead of the hobbit, but we didn't. 

He became available in FM last year for 15m and I wished I could, but I just can't make that deal happen. It's like sacrilege.

Could be seen as a bit of a revenge on City play from Garcia, but, eh, I've got a month ig to figure it out. 

Well, they did the same with Tevez...

[Juls317]

5 minutes ago, duvels said:

Well, they did the same with Tevez...

There's plenty of examples of players crossing derby lines. Ronaldo played for Inter, Milan, Barca and Madrid. Pirlo, Baggio and Zlatan all played for Juve, Milan and Inter. Figo played for Barca and Real. Rooney almost left for Chelsea. Tevez played for both Manchester clubs. Higuain for Napoli and Juve.  Sol Campbell and Gallas for Spurs and Arsenal. Ashley Cole for Chelsea and Arsenal. Hell, even van Persie for Arsenal and United.

I think if the player makes the team better, it shouldn't matter, most especially in FM.

[MatthewS17]

18 minutes ago, duvels said:

Well, they did the same with Tevez...

Well, not directly. It was more of an F-U from Tevez to us through West Ham and City. 

[mikenevo]

Not bad for a first season at all  Got knocked out of 3rd round Carabao Cup and Semi-Final of FA Cup. 106 points in the League though, 16 ahead of Liverpool who we beat on the final day of the season 3-0 to avenge our 2-1 loss earlier in the season! Rashford scored 34 goals, Cavani scored 25, Martial scored 23 (got injured for 12 weeks which kept him out right until end of the season) and Mason Greenwood bagged 18 after taking full advantage of Cavani's drop off in form and Martial's injury! Prior to Martial's injury, Greenwood had only 2 goals in roughly 15 appearances, but due to his late season resurgence, is now worth a massive £71mil!

[axehan1]

How are people getting on with corners?3rd season and i've managed 14 goals after 29 games!!

[Gee_Simpson]

6 hours ago, axehan1 said:

How are people getting on with corners?3rd season and i've managed 14 goals after 29 games!!

14 goals from corners or 14 goals in total?! 

[axehan1]

From corners.

[MatthewS17]

6 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

14 goals from corners or 14 goals in total?! 

I have a goals from corners count of 0.  After a full season.     :|

Edited December 5, 2020 by MatthewS17

[Chetsfmfan]

Anyone used Henderson as their main goalkeeper (long term)?

Would be really interested to see how he develops 

[duvels]

3 hours ago, Chetsfmfan said:

Anyone used Henderson as their main goalkeeper (long term)?

Would be really interested to see how he develops 

I'm a bit forced to put Henderson in as De Gea has been going from injury to injury (broken finger, flu, pulled hamstring) in this season. Hendo is doing fine, but not really making big improvements...

Edited December 5, 2020 by duvels

[Sherkey]

17 hours ago, Chetsfmfan said:

Anyone used Henderson as their main goalkeeper (long term)?

Would be really interested to see how he develops 

He always seems to let in silly goals in the first season for me, so I'm still reluctant. He's back-up for now (Season 1). DDG, while he has been given a downgrade, still performs exceptionally well. Will probably continue with DDG until S2 or 3 and then maybe replace him with Donnarumma.

[axehan1]

Season 22/23 started with something of a reality check as we lost the first 2 games of the season at home to City and away to Arsenal but the football was good and the panic wasn't to severe because we soon found our feet and ran away with the title.

Leicester had a shocking season and managed to get themselves relegated.

Once again we were knocked out early in the Carabao Cup,lost the FA Cup final 0-3 to Liverpool but managed to beat Real Madrid on penalties in the Champions League final after dominating in a 0-0 draw.

Player of the season was Gabriel Barbosa.

The 4231 is still serving me well,tinkering with mentality down to balanced from positive as it is already a top heavy formation and on positive the front 4 could be too aggressive and not track back enough either.

Finally i've stumbled across something of a corner exploit.I managed to score 16 goals this season

 

 

I haven't seen anything on the forum to suggest there is,It's a simple set up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gee_Simpson]

2 hours ago, axehan1 said:

Season 22/23 started with something of a reality check as we lost the first 2 games of the season at home to City and away to Arsenal but the football was good and the panic wasn't to severe because we soon found our feet and ran away with the title.

Leicester had a shocking season and managed to get themselves relegated.

Once again we were knocked out early in the Carabao Cup,lost the FA Cup final 0-3 to Liverpool but managed to beat Real Madrid on penalties in the Champions League final after dominating in a 0-0 draw.

Player of the season was Gabriel Barbosa.

The 4231 is still serving me well,tinkering with mentality down to balanced from positive as it is already a top heavy formation and on positive the front 4 could be too aggressive and not track back enough either.

Finally i've stumbled across something of a corner exploit.I managed to score 16 goals this season

 

 

I haven't seen anything on the forum to suggest there is,It's a simple set up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you still have Marcus Edwards? I was wondering who played better for you at AMR between him and Barbosa. Also how does Camavinga look for you? I'm definitely aiming to sign him, he's my number 1 priority CM.

[RazorsEdge]

Barca came in for Pogba in January 2022 throwing £90M at me for him which I was happy to accept. I was going to go down the Camavinga route until I saw that Frenkie de Jong was in my scouting reports listed as interested in coming to the club. It took the most I think I've ever paid for a player at £125M upfront with £30M in instalments but I've now got an upgrade to Pogba in the central midfield role. Also have Tonali coming in on a free from Brescia hopefully to try and take Scott McTominay's spot in the team (who has been surprisingly solid for me so far).

[MatthewS17]

17 minutes ago, RazorsEdge said:

Barca came in for Pogba in January 2022 throwing £90M at me for him which I was happy to accept. I was going to go down the Camavinga route until I saw that Frenkie de Jong was in my scouting reports listed as interested in coming to the club. It took the most I think I've ever paid for a player at £125M upfront with £30M in instalments but I've now got an upgrade to Pogba in the central midfield role. Also have Tonali coming in on a free from Brescia hopefully to try and take Scott McTominay's spot in the team (who has been surprisingly solid for me so far).

I'm using a 4-3-3 with Fred as DM, McTominay and Bruno as CMs and it has been the most solid for me, surprisingly. I think it's down to their Workrate and Teamwork attributes, as I have never seen my team press so well when we don't have the ball. The pressing from those 3 is beyond ridiculous. Given I disabled the first window, I can't improve my squad, so that's been my go-to midfield for the big teams and away and it is incredibly good. I'm second in he league, having lost only to Liverpool and Man City, and behind Liverpool who have annoyingly won 21 out of 22 games and drawn the other. I'm surprised Pogba hasn't complained yet cause I've started him in about 5 games out of 22 and he's come off the bench in the rest. His lack of work rate actually affects you now, which is great to see.

In turn, the idea is now to find players with high workrate, Teamwork but who offer much more going forward. Naturally, players of that ilk are very, very expensive.

Edited December 6, 2020 by MatthewS17

[duvels]

49 minutes ago, MatthewS17 said:

I'm using a 4-3-3 with Fred as DM, McTominay and Bruno as CMs and it has been the most solid for me, surprisingly. I think it's down to their Workrate and Teamwork attributes, as I have never seen my team press so well when we don't have the ball. The pressing from those 3 is beyond ridiculous. Given I disabled the first window, I can't improve my squad, so that's been my go-to midfield for the big teams and away and it is incredibly good. I'm second in he league, having lost only to Liverpool and Man City, and behind Liverpool who have annoyingly won 21 out of 22 games and drawn the other. I'm surprised Pogba hasn't complained yet cause I've started him in about 5 games out of 22 and he's come off the bench in the rest. His lack of work rate actually affects you now, which is great to see.

In turn, the idea is now to find players with high workrate, Teamwork but who offer much more going forward. Naturally, players of that ilk are very, very expensive.

He's doing quite a good job in my save, as a BBM in the 2 of a 4231. 4 goals, 9 assists, 2 PoM in 21 league games until now. I'm in March in the first season, leading the league with 70 points from 27 matches, 4 points ahead of Arsenal (!), 6 in front of Man City, gap of 10 with Liverpool.

Martial is on fire as well, playing as a AF in the striker position, scoring once every 78 minutes.

Meanwhile I got my youth intake and this is the standout player. Together with Greenwood, that's my striker position sorted for the next 10 years I guess.

[MatthewS17]

22 minutes ago, duvels said:

Martial is on fire as well, playing as a AF in the striker position, scoring once every 78 minutes

Interestingly, I can't get him to perform at all. I've tried him as a DLF(A), which worked very well for me in the beta with Milik and Borussia Monchengladbach, who was my top scorer in a similar system. I've tried him as a False Nine, a CF(S), CF(A), Pressing Forward(A). He has a good game maybe once every 10 matches. Advanced Forward isn't too much of an option for me, as I need my striker to be a little more involved, which I did brilliantly with Milik for Gladbach, but Martial can't match it.

Cavani as a Pressing Forward(A) contributes probably the same amount in terms of goals, but seems to put in more regular good performances despite that, which is fine by me. Even Greenwood has better games than Martial centrally.

The thing is, I have a very well functioning system and Martial not doing well means he's surplus to the system.

Rashford(I'm sure people have realised this has been a constant for me for many years now), is my top scorer on the left with 17 goals in 21 games AND 9 assists. That's 26 goal contributions in 21 games(29 goal contributions in 23 games in all comps). Fernandes has 9 goals and 10 assists in 23 games, however I deploy him deeper so his output is very good. Telles and Greenwood are battling for the third most productive but I've forgotten their stats. 

So, Martial is being a liability for me that I'm struggling to fix, but I can't adapt the rest of the team to play around him. Thinking of releasing Cavani, re-signing Milik and giving him the role till Greenwood is ready. 

Edited December 6, 2020 by MatthewS17

[Falahk]

1 hour ago, MatthewS17 said:

Interestingly, I can't get him to perform at all. I've tried him as a DLF(A), which worked very well for me in the beta with Milik and Borussia Monchengladbach, who was my top scorer in a similar system. I've tried him as a False Nine, a CF(S), CF(A), Pressing Forward(A). He has a good game maybe once every 10 matches. Advanced Forward isn't too much of an option for me, as I need my striker to be a little more involved, which I did brilliantly with Milik for Gladbach, but Martial can't match it.

Cavani as a Pressing Forward(A) contributes probably the same amount in terms of goals, but seems to put in more regular good performances despite that, which is fine by me. Even Greenwood has better games than Martial centrally.

The thing is, I have a very well functioning system and Martial not doing well means he's surplus to the system.

Rashford(I'm sure people have realised this has been a constant for me for many years now), is my top scorer on the left with 17 goals in 21 games AND 9 assists. That's 26 goal contributions in 21 games(29 goal contributions in 23 games in all comps). Fernandes has 9 goals and 10 assists in 23 games, however I deploy him deeper so his output is very good. Telles and Greenwood are battling for the third most productive but I've forgotten their stats. 

So, Martial is being a liability for me that I'm struggling to fix, but I can't adapt the rest of the team to play around him. Thinking of releasing Cavani, re-signing Milik and giving him the role till Greenwood is ready. 

Martial needs to be the spearhead (as an advanced forward) or play as AML (as an inside forward), can't really do a deeper role well since he don't have the ability on the ball or the strength and the ability in the air 

So he ether needs an AMC behind him or a striker dropping deep next to him if you are going to use him upfront 

[axehan1]

5 hours ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Do you still have Marcus Edwards? I was wondering who played better for you at AMR between him and Barbosa. Also how does Camavinga look for you? I'm definitely aiming to sign him, he's my number 1 priority CM.

Barbosa plays upfront,Diallo and Greenwood on the right.Camavinga is a must buy.

Edited December 6, 2020 by axehan1