[FM21] Tottenham Hotspur - All or Nothing

[RageMaster]

Shamefully stolen the thread title from the hugely popular Amazon documentary that followed Spurs during the up and down (mostly down) 2019 2020 season. 

 

Welcome to the Tottenham Hotspur thread for FM21. Historically Tottenham was known as a 'cup' team however in the last 30 years silverware has been lacking. A League Cup arrived in 2008 and you will need to go back to 1991 to the last time Spurs won an FA Cup. You will have to look even further back to 1961 when Spurs last won a league title. There might be one thing on your side though, historically when the year ends in 1, Tottenham tend to win something. Title winners in 1951 and 1961. FA Cup winners in 1901, 1921, 1961, 1962, 1967, 1981, 1982 and 1991. They are also a 2 time Europa League winner having won the competition back in 1972 and 1984. The League Cup was won in 1971, 1973, 1999 and 2008. In recent years, Tottenham made it to there first ever Champions League Final in 2019 losing out to Liverpool in Madrid. They also moved into the state of the art Tottenham Hotspur stadium in 2019 which has a capacity of over 62,000. 

Club Vision

 

Goalkeepers:

#1 - Hugo Lloris - Club and French National Team captain, has had (IMO) a harsh downgrade for FM21. Will be ok for season 1 but you will want to look for a replacement sooner, rather than later unfortunately.

#12 - Joe Hart - Former Premier League winner and England International joined in the summer on a free. Good experience and stats look good for a backup.

#22 - Paulo Gazzaniga - Played alot last season due to injuries. Will fight it out with Hart as your backup keeper. Not good enough to become a starter. 

 

Defenders:

#2 - Matt Doherty - Joined in the summer from Wolves off the back of a very good couple of years in the Prem. Looks solid stats wise

#3 - Sergio Reguilon - Signed from Real Madrid after a stellar season on loan at Seville where he won last seasons Europa League. Be aware that Real Madrid have a buyback clause on him for the first 2 seasons ingame

#4 - Toby Alderweireld - The only Belgian left at the club. Still a solid defender but is 31 and on £150k a week. 

#6 - Davinson Sanchez - Hasn't kicked on in real life after some early promise. Can you ignite his career on FM? 

#14 - Joe Rodon - Signed from Swansea in the summer, has some potential by the look of it however needs games. You may want to loan him out during the first season. 

#15 - Eric Dier - Handy player who can play in a couple of positions and do a good job for you.

#24 - Serge Aurier - Had a decent season last season although still abit error prone after becoming first choice right back at the club. Will be a good rotation option with Doherty. 

#25 - Japhet Tanganga - Young, club academy grown defender who can cover all across the backline. Very handy for squad registrations and also has potential to develop a little further. 

#33 - Ben Davies - Solid rotation for Reguilon, can also do a job at CB. 

* Danny Rose - You're a brave man (or woman) if you keep him. Sell. 

 

Midfielders:

#5 - Pierre Emile Hoijberg - Bossing the midfield in real life for Spurs, seems to play well as a ball winner in my test saves. Will be interesting to see if he gets a slight boost the January patch.

#8 - Harry Winks - Club training English international midfielder, doesn't really excel at anything in particular however is a neat and tidy player. Handy backup option

#17 - Moussa Sissoko - Fantastic physical stats but really lacking in technical ability. Won't be a long term option in game.

#18 - Giovani Lo Celso - Argentinian playmaker signed last season, decent stats in game, in my test saves seems to play better as a AM rather than in a pivot at CM.

#20 - Dele Alli - Out of favour in real life, has decent stats in game and is an England international. To get the best out of Dele you will need to play him as your Number 10. 

#28 - Tanguy Ndombele - Is starting to show in real life why he is Tottenhams record signing, in game is great as a playmaker.

#30 - Gedson Fernandes - On loan from Benfica. Barely features in real life and isn't that great unfortunately. 

 

Forwards:

#7 - Heung-Min Son - Started the season on fire in real life. A little undervalued in game (IMO). 

#9 - Gareth Bale - A player who on his day still has that X-factor. will need to manage his fitness carefully. Get him on free kicks!

#10 - Harry Kane - England captain,  one of the best strikers in the world and in game. Your tactic has to be built around this man in attack. 

#11 - Erik Lamela - Injury prone in game but has decent stats, good rotation option. 

#23 - Steven Bergwijn - Young dutch international signed last season from PSV, is a good rotational option and has room to develop

#27 - Lucas Moura - Seems to run down blind alleys 99% of the time IRL however performs well in game. 

#45 - Carlos Vinicius - On loan from Benfica, decent stats wise and should do a job in the lesser games for you

 

Out on Loan:

#19 - Ryan Sessegnon

#21 - Juan Foyth

#29 - Oliver Skipp

#38 - Cameron Carter-Vickers

#52 - Troy Parrott

 

Promising Youth:

* Harvey White

* Jack Clarke

* Dennis Cirkin 

* Dane Scarlett

* Alfie Devine

 

Tactics:

In real life Tottenham have moved more towards a 433 this season however if you want to get the best out of Dele Alli I would suggest a 4411/4231 formation with Dele as a number 10.

 

Summary:

Tottenham start with a 'solid' squad IMO which should be able to qualify for the Champions League in the 1st season without doing too much transfer wise. There is a lack of English / homegrown players within the squad so you will need to focus on this when finalizing your purchasing options. 

If you like to play for a club in a 'realistic' way then Tottenham do try to sign younger English players and blood them into the team. With this in mind someone like Max Aarons seems a no brainer as a target for Right Back to potential replace Aurier and takeover from Doherty long term. You also have some decent players out on loan who will return next season in Parrot, Sessegnon and Skipp who would all add to your squad providing there development has been on track. 

 

Edited November 21, 2020 by RageMaster

[Sophos]

Really disappointed with some of those player ratings.

Lloris downgrade is bewildering, if anything he’s better now than he was two years ago. Not lost any of his reflexes and makes less mistakes now - and yet in game he’s been hit pretty hard.

Dier’s jumping reach is just confusing. He’s pretty dominant in the air in real life, yet the game has his down as pretty poor in that area.

Ndombele still with ‘knocks ball past opponent’, instead of ‘tries to play way out of trouble’ and ‘tries killer balls often’ - wonder if that would be the case if he was Spanish rather than a black Frenchman...

Lamela with 12 bravery is bizarre, and Lo Celso and Lucas are both poorly rated for bravery and aggression.

[RageMaster]

1 hour ago, Sophos said:

Really disappointed with some of those player ratings.

Lloris downgrade is bewildering, if anything he’s better now than he was two years ago. Not lost any of his reflexes and makes less mistakes now - and yet in game he’s been hit pretty hard.

Dier’s jumping reach is just confusing. He’s pretty dominant in the air in real life, yet the game has his down as pretty poor in that area.

Ndombele still with ‘knocks ball past opponent’, instead of ‘tries to play way out of trouble’ and ‘tries killer balls often’ - wonder if that would be the case if he was Spanish rather than a black Frenchman...

Lamela with 12 bravery is bizarre, and Lo Celso and Lucas are both poorly rated for bravery and aggression.

I agree with most of your points but maybe there will be some changes for the full release. The Spurs researcher is active on these forums and does take on feedback. 

 

Back to my own game, I've started up 2 test saves but haven't really got past October in either as my tactics are really letting me down. I've managed to sign Milan Skriniar for around £40m in both saves despite scouts saying he is not that interested in a move. I sold Rose. Loaned out Gazzaniga as I wanted to see if his value goes up before selling. Loaned out Jack Clarke, Tanganga and Rodon and some U23 players. 

As mentioned in the FM20 thread by another poster, Son in the Ramdeuter role from the left is deadly. I've struggled to get Kane to be consistent and i've tried Complete Forward, Deep lying forward and Advanced forward. Hoijberg has been great as a BWM. Doherty and Reguilon as complete wingbacks have been good for me. 

I will start properly in the week once the full game has been released. 

[Jogo Bonito]

58 minutes ago, RageMaster said:

As mentioned in the FM20 thread by another poster, Son in the Ramdeuter role from the left is deadly. I've struggled to get Kane to be consistent and i've tried Complete Forward, Deep lying forward and Advanced forward. Hoijberg has been great as a BWM. Doherty and Reguilon as complete wingbacks have been good for me.  

That was me who has been using Son there. Alli also plays that role well when I have needed him there (and as shadow striker). My best results from Kane were DLF (attack) although he has gone off the boil a little in December. I've rested him for a game or two including FA Cup Round 3 in January, and will be hoping he scores more again now (still my top scorer).

Edited November 22, 2020 by Jogo Bonito

[RageMaster]

34 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

That was me who has been using Son there. Alli also plays that role well when I have needed him there (and as shadow striker). My best results from Kane were DLF (attack) although he has gone off the boil a little in December. I've rested him for a game or two including FA Cup Round 3 in January, and will be hoping he scores more again now (still my top scorer).

I had another similar issue to what you mentioned in the other thread, trying to get Bale to perform from the right. Have you tried him in a ramdeuter role on the right? The other issue on the right is that Lamela and Moura offer different things so if one is injured I feel like I have to change the role of my AMR to better suit them. 

 

I'm tempted to try and do a recreation of the 4-3-3 we are using in real life but I am nowhere near the level of the tacticians on this site lol. 

Edited November 22, 2020 by RageMaster

[Jogo Bonito]

Just now, RageMaster said:

I had another similar issue to what you mentioned in the other thread, trying to get Bale to perform from the right. Have you tried him in a ramdeuter role on the right? The other issue on the right is that Lamela and Moura offer different things so if one is injured I feel like I have to change the role of my AMR to better suit them. 

My main issue with Bale is fitness and injuries. I've played 28 competitive games so far and he has only been able to make 4 (+2) appearances totalling 245 minutes. No assists and just one goal (a late winner at Chelsea in the league) although has an OK average rating of 7.00. I have tried him a couple of times as Ramdeuter on the right, but in his many absences (four injuries so far) I've mainly used Lucas Moura there as a winger (second top scorer). I only planned to do this as a one-season BETA learning exercise, but Bale was a massive part of that so I might have another think at the end of the season. I'll do some screen shots at some point.

 

[Come_On_You_Spurs]

I’ve had a lot of success with Bale. He had a lot of minor injuries in the first part of the season, but has been steadily available since November. I play him and Son as inside forwards, and they’re doing a great job. I’m really struggling in the middle though. Lo Celso, Ndombele, Dele, Hojbjerg, Sissoko and Winks have all been mediocre. How are you guys setting up your midfield? 

I went on a 20 match unbeaten run and looked like I was going to win the league. But I fell apart at the end, getting 10 points from my final 9 games. I finished in 4th, and won the Europa league. Arsenal won the league on 86 points  Liverpool finished in 5th and lost the champions league to Man United, who finished 6th.

[Jogo Bonito]

25 minutes ago, Come_On_You_Spurs said:

I’ve had a lot of success with Bale. He had a lot of minor injuries in the first part of the season, but has been steadily available since November. I play him and Son as inside forwards, and they’re doing a great job. I’m really struggling in the middle though. Lo Celso, Ndombele, Dele, Hojbjerg, Sissoko and Winks have all been mediocre. How are you guys setting up your midfield? 

I went on a 20 match unbeaten run and looked like I was going to win the league. But I fell apart at the end, getting 10 points from my final 9 games. I finished in 4th, and won the Europa league. Arsenal won the league on 86 points  Liverpool finished in 5th and lost the champions league to Man United, who finished 6th.

Unlucky to fall away, but it is a Spurs save and reflects realism 

And winning the Europa League was very impressive alongside finishing 4th.

This is my most used selection and tactics, but Aurier (for Doherty), Dier/Sanchez (for Alderweireld), Lo Celso (for Winks) and Ndombele (for Sissoko) can all come in and not make any difference. If I was as lucky as you and could select Bale, he would be in on the right flank as either inside forward or ramdeuter. Dele Alli rarely starts for me but always delivers if he does or when he comes from the bench as either ramdeuter or shadow striker. 

 

Edited November 22, 2020 by Jogo Bonito

[Werrett]

Always a fan of reading through threads like this but rarely contribute myself. However, having started a beta save with Spurs on FM21, I'd love to write a bit about where I'm at currently.

As of the time of writing this, I'm just under halfway through my 2nd season. The first season we won the league title...I know, this shocked me too. Usually I do pretty poorly at FM games, especially with Spurs but utilising a simple 4-2-3-1 system (tweaked from match to match based on who we play/who is playing) and 34 league goals from Harry Kane were enough to get our hands on the trophy. Elsewhere, we lost in the second qualifying stage in the Europa League (To Tel-Aviv...No, not the good one), reached the semi-final of the Carabao cup where we lost to Arsenal and suffered a shock loss to Derby in the FA Cup 4th round. With that being said, a full focus on the league is likely a contributing factor to the title success, as our players were much fitter.

Transfer wise, not much happened really. As this post lays out in the introduction, the base squad is plenty good enough for a top four finish with only a few minor worries. Danny Rose went on loan to WBA all season before moving on as a free agent, Ben Davies went to London rivals WHU for £20 million and a few lower level youngsters made minor moves. Gabriel Menino was brought in for £13.5m to be a back-up RB/Midfield option while Rogerio signed from Sassuolo for £5m to operate as a back-up LB behind Reguillon. Andrea Papetti and Nicolo Rovella were signed as youngsters.

The logic behind the tactical set-up was to keep things simple. We do well on the ball, but we I wouldn't rank us in the top teams for pressing and winning the ball back, so my idea for now was to just set-up offensively and try to counter once we'd regained the ball. Players like Son, Moura, Kane and Alli are incredibly good when attacking with pace. Setting up set-piece routines was also crucial for us as a lot of our goals came from corners and deep free-kicks with Alderweireld alone managing to find the next 6 times last season. 

Sissoko had a great season as a BBM, edging out Ndombele while Winks played the majority of my season due to me not realising Hojbjerg is a pretty solid DLP (oops...). Players who disappointed me included Bale, Bergwijn, Vinicius, Lamela and Ndombele. Neither Bale or Vinicius were kept on once their loans ended and sadly Lamela is next to impossible to get rid off, so he'll likely leave on a free transfer after the second season.

The second season has been one in which I'd say we've performed more along the line of the expectations. Currently 3rd after 11 games with Liverpool/United running away at the top and Kane has gone back to being an inconsistent forward. Son has become a bit hot and cold while Bergwijn continues to disappoint whenever he steps in. I've promoted Skipp, Parrott and Tanganga to be more of a part of the first-team squad while still struggling to find a good use for Sessegnon, who was also near-impossible to secure a loan away.

Transfer wise I invested a bit more here; Hart (£2.5m), Foyth (£6.5m) and Gazzaniga (£5m) all made way while John Stones (£13.25m), Memphis Depay (£0), Arkadiusz Milik (£0) and Andre Onana (£38.5m) arrived to bolster the squad. I like Lloris, but he's on £100k a week and isn't getting any younger these days. Donnarumma was an obvious option on a free, but this seemed too predictable for me and Onana offers a much better option for playing out from the back. Originally I dreamed of bringing Max Aarons in, but the £50-60m price tag is far too unreasonable and as such I've re-signed Serge Aurier to a new deal on lower wages (for now). Sanchez also signed a new deal, but Lamela won't be...Dear Lord, I just want him gone.

Still keeping an eye on Scarlett, Cirkin (who fell out with me) and a few others regarding development. Kane is proving to be a great tutor at the moment and is doing wonders with Ryan Martin, the best of the bunch from our intake last season.

Long-term I'll be monitoring Aarons in the eventuality that Aurier or the injury-ridden Doherty move on, as well as keeping my eyes peeled for a stronger central midfielder.

I'll be regularly checking this thread to see how everyone is getting on and am more than happy to offer my input on discussions. 

P.S. Don't forget to mention that the backroom needs a huge overhaul; the staffing at Tottenham at the beginning of the game is abysmal! 

Edited November 22, 2020 by Werrett

[RageMaster]

Good write up @Werrettand amazing to see you won the league in the first season! (Hopefully this happens in real life but too soon to discuss that  )

What role do you play Kane out of interest? Ndombele was good for me (albeit a test save that didn't make it past October) as an advanced playmaker support from MCL position. 

Good point re the backroom staff. It is pretty bad and some of them have the wrong roles set and also some staff are missing altogether but I've seen this has been raised in the research thread. Hopefully it will be rectified.   

[Jogo Bonito]

@WerrettExcellent job winning the league in the first season, and a nice write up.

@RageMasterI'm not used to managing a club as big as this, but I found the staff reasonable. I like the fact that so many ex-Spurs men are there (regardless of attributes) like Pat Jennings, Ledley King, Ryan Mason. I can't remember the five or six I recruited, but I've added Robbie Keane for sentimental reasons, plus Bobby Mimms (his compo was less than £5k and his stats as GK coach are excellent). The board blocked bringing Teddy Sheringham back as a youth coach.

[Come_On_You_Spurs]

Pretty happy with the business I did for the start of the second season:

Incomings

Gareth Bale- Loan (smaller monthly fee)

Mason Greenwood- Loan

Sandro Tonali- 35 million

Dominik Livakovic- 10 million

Jack Grealish- 25 million

Joe Gomez- 41 million

 

Most of these were done with half the fee upfront, and the other half over 48 months.

 

Outgoings

Davinson Sanchez- 17 million

Paulo Gazzaniga- 3.4 million

Serge Aurier- 10.25 million

A lot of others on loan

 

I’m really happy with Livakovic as a potential superstar goalkeeper. 25 caps for Croatia, and my scouts rate him at 4.5 stars. Not bad for that price

 

[propermad]

I started as spurs as always and for the first time ever i turned off transfers for the first window as wanted a go with the squad i played 4-3-3 for first part of season and did ok flew through the europa group only lost once in league up to xmas but was drawing to many games a lot of time to late equalisers, Come january i got depay for 20 million as his contact had 6 months on and switched to an attacking 4-2-4 which i alternated with 3-5-2 away to top 6 clubs, Ended up winning europa league despite some horror draws napoli, paris st germain, real sociedad then barca in the final, went out league cup to liverpool on pens and fa cup to united on pens (wondering if there is a bug in cup draws as all mine have been horrendous) league i finished 3rd 10 points behind runaway winners united, Second season i got donnaruma on a free grealish in from relegated villa, Sancho, aarons, Upamecano, and skrinar sold sissoko davies alderweireld lucas moura rodon and lloris and then i got a notification saying haalands 69 million release clause expired in a week i had about 500k left in the kitty as had spread my 90 Million budget with a lot of small fee upfront and instalment deals but asked levy if he would get me haaland and he did, all i can say is wow he is incredible scored 40 goals in 29 games as tore his hamstring in jan kane broke a leg but still got 28 goals in 30 games as we won the league by 11 points and beat united 7-3 AET (haaland extra time hat trick) to win the champ league) went out domestic cups to united and liverpool (horror draws again)

[Werrett]

On 23/11/2020 at 00:21, RageMaster said:

What role do you play Kane out of interest? Ndombele was good for me (albeit a test save that didn't make it past October) as an advanced playmaker support from MCL position. 

I utilised Kane as an Advanced Forward (Attack) for the majority of the 2019/20 season, however second season I have noticed him become a bit more isolated so I'm not sure if he had a one-off super season or my team's inconsistency is leading to less than desirable attacking play. On paper he's perfect as a DLF due to his hold-up play, vision and passing but I felt this leads to us sitting too deep...Might be something to address long-term, but I'm not sure how currently! Alli and Lo Celso are either fantastic and carve out opportunities for him, or they do absolutely nothing. 

I put the curse on Sissoko by praising him, second season he has been awful and Ndombele is now back in the squad. 

Note: Thank you to @RageMaster and @Jogo Bonito for the kind words. 

[Come_On_You_Spurs]

Started a new save now that the full game is out. Sold Rose and sent some players out on loan. Brought in John Stones again. After playing a season and a half on the beta, I want to completely revamp my midfield in the next couple years. I think Hojbjerg and Lo Celso in particular are criminally underrated in this game. Ndombele has potential to succeed, but I think everyone else is playing for their future for me.

[Dustman2015]

How are you guys finding the development of academy players? Thinking specifically of Skipp, Cirkin and White

[Come_On_You_Spurs]

20 minutes ago, Dustman2015 said:

How are you guys finding the development of academy players? Thinking specifically of Skipp, Cirkin and White

I have found our prospects to be pretty underrated in this game. Only Parrott and Skipp seem to have any sort of future. I was particularly surprised by how poor Cirkin looks.

[propermad]

On 26/11/2020 at 18:27, Dustman2015 said:

How are you guys finding the development of academy players? Thinking specifically of Skipp, Cirkin and White

im on season 3 as carried on my beta save on Cirkin is my second choice LB behind reggy is doing a solid job, skipp is playing in cup comps and looking good also alfie devine scored on his debut in a champ league dead rubber and looks promising dermi Lusala also is developing really well tearing it up in the championship and at 19 looking like he could be a good deputy to max aarons next season, Dane scarlett is also looking decent and troy parrot is scoring in the cups and as a sub in the prem, while they are a bit underrated there is def a good crop coming through

[Benjamin M]

Started my "official" Spurs save today, had a bit of a rocky start in the pre-season 

Tried recreating the tactics used IRL but the ME really doesn't rate Mourinho it seems  Simplified things before the friendly against Ipswich, really impressed with the matches against Milan and Roma too. 

Run of matches near the end of September is going to be brutal, losing both Lamela and Lucas to injury in the pre-season to longish injuries certainly doesn't make it easier, though I am excited to see how Jack Clarke fares.

Will continue to update the thread as the season rolls on.

COYS

[Shinytinman]

Hi all, long time lurker who's decided to post!

Started my Spurs game not long ago and after 11 games in I've had some decent success with the only major downer being knocked out of the Carabao by them down the road.

I sold Sanchez (£15m), Rose (£4.5m) and Gazzaniga (£2.5m) and brought in John Stones from City and Demiral from Juventus. Both have been great for me so far! I probably wouldn't have got Stones but my home-grown quota was short so I sold Sanchez and brought him in. Probably could have got more for him but that was the highest offer I got! Skipp looks pretty decent so I'm looking forward to bringing him back next season as Hojbjerg and Sissoko aren't exactly on fire at the moment. Hoping to sort out my midfield next season and maybe upgrade the right back area as well.

[Benjamin M]

Halfway point in the season, shaping up to be a good one

Fulham and Brighton massively overperforming, seems the ME really rates a system with 3 ATB with wingbacks this year, seeing a lot of teams utilizing that with success.

Breezed through the EL group stage with ease, drew Dynamo Kiev in the first knock-out round and feel good about our chances

Carlos Vinicius has been a very serviceable backup for Kane, started in all six EL group matches and scored 7 goals, 3 goals in five appearances in league matches to boot. 

Got knocked out by Norwich on pens in the EFL cup, the stretch of matches at the end of September between league matches, EL qualifying, and EFL cup is brutal. Thankfully the board doesn't care about the league cup so figured I'd punt it and give some younger guys match experience. 

Drew Man City in the 4th round of the FA Cup, not ideal but we did manage to beat them 2-1 earlier in the season 

Like to keep things semi-realistic, so disabled the first summer transfer window, but unsure if I'll make any moves now that I'm in the winter window. Board provided no money for this window, so I'll have to sell if I want to buy. AC Milan is supposedly interested in Lucas (to the tune of $41m), but I've had major injuries to Son, Bale, and Lamela, so don't feel I'm in a position to let one of my wingers go. Hopefully they're still interested in the summer. 

[Benjamin M]

19 hours ago, Shinytinman said:

Hi all, long time lurker who's decided to post!

Started my Spurs game not long ago and after 11 games in I've had some decent success with the only major downer being knocked out of the Carabao by them down the road.

I sold Sanchez (£15m), Rose (£4.5m) and Gazzaniga (£2.5m) and brought in John Stones from City and Demiral from Juventus. Both have been great for me so far! I probably wouldn't have got Stones but my home-grown quota was short so I sold Sanchez and brought him in. Probably could have got more for him but that was the highest offer I got! Skipp looks pretty decent so I'm looking forward to bringing him back next season as Hojbjerg and Sissoko aren't exactly on fire at the moment. Hoping to sort out my midfield next season and maybe upgrade the right back area as well.

You have any plans yet for GK outside of selling Gazzaniga (which I think I'll be doing too)? Hugo is still very good right now, but his age is a concern and his physicals are starting to drop already. I think for next season I'll promote Whiteman to backup to help keep the homegrown quotas, but I don't rate him to eventually take over for Hugo. Not much else coming through the academy currently to write home about. 

Transfer wise, I'm keeping an eye on Maignon at Lille and Livakovic at Dinamo. Vandevoordt at Genk is very highly-rated, but not first-team quality yet. Thinking about bringing him in during the next summer window and grooming him for the long-term replacement for Hugo, but a lot will depend on how big the transfer budget is.

[Shinytinman]

1 hour ago, Benjamin M said:

You have any plans yet for GK outside of selling Gazzaniga (which I think I'll be doing too)? Hugo is still very good right now, but his age is a concern and his physicals are starting to drop already. I think for next season I'll promote Whiteman to backup to help keep the homegrown quotas, but I don't rate him to eventually take over for Hugo. Not much else coming through the academy currently to write home about. 

Transfer wise, I'm keeping an eye on Maignon at Lille and Livakovic at Dinamo. Vandevoordt at Genk is very highly-rated, but not first-team quality yet. Thinking about bringing him in during the next summer window and grooming him for the long-term replacement for Hugo, but a lot will depend on how big the transfer budget is.

I mainly sold Gazza due to the home grown issue. I've promoted Whiteman for now but I don't think I've ever used him as I've always had Hart for backup. Not really sure about the long run yet but Donnarumma is coming to the end of his contract so I've been talking about him in the news etc and he's put in a transfer request except I've got no money to buy him with haha! Might look at it in the January window.

I kinda want to sell either Lamela or Lucas to free up some funds as at the moment I have Bale there as well.

You can see your budget for next season in the Scouting tab! Top right under your current Transfer Budget.

[Benjamin M]

5 minutes ago, Shinytinman said:

I mainly sold Gazza due to the home grown issue. I've promoted Whiteman for now but I don't think I've ever used him as I've always had Hart for backup. Not really sure about the long run yet but Donnarumma is coming to the end of his contract so I've been talking about him in the news etc and he's put in a transfer request except I've got no money to buy him with haha! Might look at it in the January window.

I kinda want to sell either Lamela or Lucas to free up some funds as at the moment I have Bale there as well.

You can see your budget for next season in the Scouting tab! Top right under your current Transfer Budget.

Donnarumma signed a new contract almost immediately in my save, asked his agent out of curiosity and he expects $325k/year and wants to consider the club a stepping stone, so ruling that out for now lol

Will the next season budget update later in the current year? I know they said most teams would deal with COVID related financial impact in the first season, but $0 seems a tad harsh for year two (unless Levy wants me to operate like Poch did )

[RageMaster]

@Benjamin MDoing well at the half way point and a nice little gap between yourself and the teams outside of the CL qualification places. Can't speak much on this edition of FM but Livakovic was a fantastic GK on FM20 and his stats was similar (if not slightly better) to Lloris iirc. 

@ShinytinmanGood to see you also doing well with Spurs. I hope you put develop Skipp! That would definitely be one of my main aims to develop him once he is back from his loan at Norwich. Talking of Norwich Max Aarons could be a good signing for your Right Back position. 

 

I've been really struggling to get into a proper save on this edition of FM, I've tried other teams too but just finding the limitations of the tactics / ME to be getting on my nerves more this year. I'm bored of 4231 and 433 tactics in every save and i'm not so pleased with some of the changes to the interface this year and all of this combined has meant i'm just not enjoying the game at the moment...maybe once Christmas rolls around and I have some more time to play the game I will get into it. 

[Shinytinman]

1 hour ago, RageMaster said:

@Benjamin MDoing well at the half way point and a nice little gap between yourself and the teams outside of the CL qualification places. Can't speak much on this edition of FM but Livakovic was a fantastic GK on FM20 and his stats was similar (if not slightly better) to Lloris iirc. 

@ShinytinmanGood to see you also doing well with Spurs. I hope you put develop Skipp! That would definitely be one of my main aims to develop him once he is back from his loan at Norwich. Talking of Norwich Max Aarons could be a good signing for your Right Back position. 

 

I've been really struggling to get into a proper save on this edition of FM, I've tried other teams too but just finding the limitations of the tactics / ME to be getting on my nerves more this year. I'm bored of 4231 and 433 tactics in every save and i'm not so pleased with some of the changes to the interface this year and all of this combined has meant i'm just not enjoying the game at the moment...maybe once Christmas rolls around and I have some more time to play the game I will get into it. 

Yeah I'm looking forward to getting him in my team! Yeah Aarons is a good shout, I'll take a look! I just had brexit happen and now pretty much everyone in my squad is classed as a home-grown player!

I know what you mean with regards to the user interface especially when it comes to the matches. You do get used to things though, I hated the condition icons that replaced the numbers but now I'm growing towards them lol.

[Jogo Bonito]

Pre-Season saw a number of youngsters sent out on loan, and just one signing as Tyrone Mings joined from Aston Villa for £20.5 million 

And here are the results of my one and only season with Tottenham (started in the BETA)

The opening three months were mixed - being great in Europe but losing to Southampton, Liverpool & Wolves in the league

Liverpool put an abrupt end to Carabao Cup hopes, but the away league win at Chelsea was good

December was good except for the expected loss to Arsenal, but I did finally beat Liverpool

January was excellent other than a shock loss to Burnley who were 19th or 20th at the time

February was unbeaten, but I shouldn't have been dropping league points to West Brom or Aston Villa

March saw no league wins but there were some tough fixtures and I was doing enough in other competitions

April had the highs of a 4-1 win at Napoli with Son scoring all four, and the low of an FA Cup semi final loss to Arsenal as injuries took over

May was a big month and generally results were good - but the loss to Chelsea was massive and Inter Milan robbed me in the Europa League Final in Poland

The home defeat to Chelsea in May ended any hope of pipping Liverpool to 4th despite what the final day of the season delivered

In truth, that was fair as my highest placing all season was one week in 3rd, and I was between 4th and 6th for most of the campaign

Losing the FA Cup semi final to Arsenal was tough, thanks to a penalty and a late second when chasing the game

The final table shows Man City clinching the title on GD from Arsenal courtesy of a injury time winner by Sergio Aguero (deja vu there)

And the final game of the season was also a major disappointment as Inter Milan came from behind to win the Europa League Final just before the end of Extra Time

Injuries really caused some problems (and lots of resting and rotation on top) by the time April came around

Fixtures against Aston Villa and Napoli (home) saw Reguilon, Hojbjerg, Sissoko, Moura, Bale, Son, Alli, Vinicius and Kane all absent at the same time

Bale (multiple times), Alli, Vinicius, Son, Doherty, Mings and Reguilon all missed large chunks of the season 

The injury crisis did see youngsters Harvey White and Dane Scarlett get some action, with Scarlett starting at home to Napoli and scoring a brace at Sheffield United

Here are the player stats across all competitions (63 games were played in total)

Kane and Son obviously led the scoring and assisting (the latter winning the fans player of the year award)

Lucas Moura often delivered when stepping in for Bale (and he also won the PL goal of the season vote)

Edited December 6, 2020 by Jogo Bonito

[Benjamin M]

Just finished the first season, managed to finish in 3rd in a table that was tight up to the final match day

Media prediction was 6th so a 3rd place finish can only be viewed as a success. More importantly....

The return of silverware to Tottenham! A 2-0 victory of Napoli sealed the victory in the championship game. 

The second leg of the quarter-final match against RB Salzburg was by far the best match of the run (and one of the most exciting matches I've seen in my time playing FM). 

I was only able to eek out a 1-0 victory in the home leg, and in the away leg, I went down 3-0 in the first half (my oh my does Salzburg have some very good players). I started the second half using an ultra-attacking 4-2-4 formation with an all out full-press. Carlos Vinicius was able to get the first goal in the 71' minute, but Salzburg quickly put another one of the board four minutes later, putting the aggregate score at 4-2.

Harry Kane then scored a heroic goal from the edge of the box in the 80' minute, followed up by Vinicius scoring the match-winning goal from a tap-in in the 88' minute, aggregate score 4-4 with Spurs advancing on away goals 

A defensive master-class in the home leg of the semi-final followed up by another defensive demonstration in excellence in the championship match sealed the trophy. 

Kane was dominant, adding 8 assists to his 34 goals in all competitions. Carlos Vinicius added 15 goals and was the hero of the Europa League run. Bale with a very tidy 12 goals and 9 assists. Hugo won the Golden Glove, allowing only 22 in 37 matches with 19 shutouts. I might have another year before I have to start worrying about his eventual replacement. 

Son missed a third of the PL season through injury, but was only able to pick up 2 goals and 3 assists in the matches he did play in (I had similar problems with Son last year, feels like he is one of the most criminally underrated players). Now, on the topic of overrated players..... 

But that's neither here nor there...

Any-who, moving on to the summer, already have a few deals lined up. Extended Bale's loan for one more year with much lower wages and monthly contribution. Matt Doherty complained about lack of playing time one week (31 appearances across all competitions...) and the next week complained that he wants to play for a team that wins titles. This complain came one day after he started in the EL final  

So, I'll be moving on from him for whoever bids (sincerely doubt Man U or Liverpool will be looking for a RB, so good luck with your title dreams). I'd like to bring in a young English RB that I can groom for a year or two before taking over for Aurier, plenty of talent out there, will just be a matter of not overspending. 

In FM20, summer going into the second season was when Harry Kane typically started forcing a move to either Barca or PSG, so hopefully I'll be able to keep him. 

I'll post another update after the transfer window shuts.

 

[mninyo]

On 08/12/2020 at 04:55, Benjamin M said:

Just finished the first season, managed to finish in 3rd in a table that was tight up to the final match day

Media prediction was 6th so a 3rd place finish can only be viewed as a success. More importantly....

The return of silverware to Tottenham! A 2-0 victory of Napoli sealed the victory in the championship game. 

The second leg of the quarter-final match against RB Salzburg was by far the best match of the run (and one of the most exciting matches I've seen in my time playing FM). 

I was only able to eek out a 1-0 victory in the home leg, and in the away leg, I went down 3-0 in the first half (my oh my does Salzburg have some very good players). I started the second half using an ultra-attacking 4-2-4 formation with an all out full-press. Carlos Vinicius was able to get the first goal in the 71' minute, but Salzburg quickly put another one of the board four minutes later, putting the aggregate score at 4-2.

Harry Kane then scored a heroic goal from the edge of the box in the 80' minute, followed up by Vinicius scoring the match-winning goal from a tap-in in the 88' minute, aggregate score 4-4 with Spurs advancing on away goals 

A defensive master-class in the home leg of the semi-final followed up by another defensive demonstration in excellence in the championship match sealed the trophy. 

Kane was dominant, adding 8 assists to his 34 goals in all competitions. Carlos Vinicius added 15 goals and was the hero of the Europa League run. Bale with a very tidy 12 goals and 9 assists. Hugo won the Golden Glove, allowing only 22 in 37 matches with 19 shutouts. I might have another year before I have to start worrying about his eventual replacement. 

Son missed a third of the PL season through injury, but was only able to pick up 2 goals and 3 assists in the matches he did play in (I had similar problems with Son last year, feels like he is one of the most criminally underrated players). Now, on the topic of overrated players..... 

But that's neither here nor there...

Any-who, moving on to the summer, already have a few deals lined up. Extended Bale's loan for one more year with much lower wages and monthly contribution. Matt Doherty complained about lack of playing time one week (31 appearances across all competitions...) and the next week complained that he wants to play for a team that wins titles. This complain came one day after he started in the EL final  

So, I'll be moving on from him for whoever bids (sincerely doubt Man U or Liverpool will be looking for a RB, so good luck with your title dreams). I'd like to bring in a young English RB that I can groom for a year or two before taking over for Aurier, plenty of talent out there, will just be a matter of not overspending. 

In FM20, summer going into the second season was when Harry Kane typically started forcing a move to either Barca or PSG, so hopefully I'll be able to keep him. 

I'll post another update after the transfer window shuts.

 

How do you get the best out of Harry Kane?

i just cant get him scoring i have tried all roles

[Benjamin M]

8 hours ago, mninyo said:

How do you get the best out of Harry Kane?

i just cant get him scoring i have tried all roles

He can definitely be very streaky, but it feels he's been that way going back a few FM iterations.. here's his goal output by match week so you get an idea

Spoiler

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<thead><tr class="tableizer-firstrow"><th>Match Week</th><th>Goals</th><th>Total Goals</th></tr></thead><tbody>
 <tr><td>1</td><td>1</td><td>1</td></tr>
 <tr><td>2</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>1</td></tr>
 <tr><td>3</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>1</td></tr>
 <tr><td>4</td><td>2</td><td>3</td></tr>
 <tr><td>5</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>3</td></tr>
 <tr><td>6</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>3</td></tr>
 <tr><td>7</td><td>1</td><td>4</td></tr>
 <tr><td>8</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>4</td></tr>
 <tr><td>9</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>4</td></tr>
 <tr><td>10</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>4</td></tr>
 <tr><td>11</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>4</td></tr>
 <tr><td>12</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>4</td></tr>
 <tr><td>13</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>4</td></tr>
 <tr><td>14</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>4</td></tr>
 <tr><td>15</td><td>3</td><td>7</td></tr>
 <tr><td>16</td><td>2</td><td>9</td></tr>
 <tr><td>17</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>9</td></tr>
 <tr><td>18</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>9</td></tr>
 <tr><td>19</td><td>1</td><td>10</td></tr>
 <tr><td>20</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>10</td></tr>
 <tr><td>21</td><td>1</td><td>11</td></tr>
 <tr><td>22</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>11</td></tr>
 <tr><td>23</td><td>1</td><td>12</td></tr>
 <tr><td>24</td><td>2</td><td>14</td></tr>
 <tr><td>25</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>14</td></tr>
 <tr><td>26</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>14</td></tr>
 <tr><td>27</td><td>3</td><td>17</td></tr>
 <tr><td>28</td><td>3</td><td>20</td></tr>
 <tr><td>29</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>20</td></tr>
 <tr><td>30</td><td>1</td><td>21</td></tr>
 <tr><td>31</td><td>1</td><td>22</td></tr>
 <tr><td>32</td><td>1</td><td>23</td></tr>
 <tr><td>33</td><td>1</td><td>24</td></tr>
 <tr><td>34</td><td>1</td><td>25</td></tr>
 <tr><td>35</td><td>&nbsp;</td><td>25</td></tr>
 <tr><td>36</td><td>1</td><td>26</td></tr>
 <tr><td>37</td><td>1</td><td>27</td></tr>
 <tr><td>38</td><td>1</td><td>28</td></tr>
</tbody></table>

 

I will switch between AF-A and CF-S depending on the wingers I'm using, but definitely scores more when using AF-A. I also switched from Standard Tempo to Higher Tempo around match week 14, which had a positive impact. 

Like I mentioned in my post though, even though I got a lot out of Kane, it seems it was at the expense of Son, who I can (frustratingly) never get going 

Edit: I can't get the table HTML to post properly, but Kane only had 4 goals through 14 matches, but then scored a hat-trick and a brace in matches 15 and 16, and had back-to-back hat-tricks in matches 27 and 28. Also scored 1 in 8 of the last 9 matches. When he's on, he's really on, but he does have periods of drought. 

Edited December 9, 2020 by Benjamin M

[Jasper147]

Hey everyone! Just finished my second season (won league and champions league) and thought I would post my thoughts here :

1st season

Lost the league by one point to Liverpool. I lay the blame completely on Gary Southgate who injured my main boy Harry Kane during the international break. He was out for the final 2 months of the season and the form was quite ropey to say the least during this period. Also lost the league cup final to Leicester.

      Transfers in:

Livakovic - £9.75m.      Won goalkeeper of the year twice in a row. Great upgrade on Lloris.

Talles Magno - £13m.  Possibly one for the future. Only averaged a few goals for me each season.

Almada -£6.5m      No brainer for the price and can play every position from the midfield line to striker. 

Gouiri- £11.5m.   Basically my back up striker for when Kane is injured and very consistent with goals when playing in the striker position. 

Pedri - £57m. Bought him basically because I had money to spare. Amazing stats but not playing as well as I had hoped. 

      Transfers out:

Rose- £4.6m. Went to the Hammers. Sorry it wasn't Milan. 

Gazzaninga- £3m. Had to go since I bought Livakovic

Sissoko - £15.25m - I just don't really rate him. Really average stats. Jack of all trades, master of none.

Moura- £40m. As much as I am fond of him in real life, I would rather train up the youngsters I bought above.

Lloris-£15m. On way too high wages, had to go.

Berwjin- £20.5m - bought better options above.

 

Second season: 

Won the league quite comfortably. Only ropey patch was when Kane was injured (my doing this time) for around 5 weeks. Also won the champions league against Liverpool in the final. Standout player was Kane - top goalscorer in the league (26 goals). Tried to take him off whenever we were around 2-0 up at half time and didn't play him during early cup competitions to save his legs. He scores pretty much week in week out for me in the AF role. I will post my tactics if anyone is interested but it's basically custom possession with a deeper defensive and attacking line. 

Transfer wise I didn't want to change much pre season as I was pretty happy with the squad and we were so close in the league. Sold off Lo Celso for £69m to Barca and bought Florentino Luis for £46m as a great ball winning midfield option. Stole Eric Garcia for free off City and he plays first team in central defence alongside Dier. 

 

 

[edgar555]

8 hours ago, Jasper147 said:

. I will post my tactics if anyone is interested but it's basically custom possession with a deeper defensive and attacking line. 

 

 

 

I'd be interested in taking a look mate, struggling to get the best out of everyone at the moment

[Jasper147]

2 hours ago, edgar555 said:

I'd be interested in taking a look mate, struggling to get the best out of everyone at the moment

No problems mate. Hope this helps. 

This is the side I use for pretty much all premier league matches home and away (I play the kids/squad members for CL, cup etc.). For the first season I had Alderweireld in place of Garcia in defence and Winks did a great job as BWM instead of Luis. I haven't really used Bale at all; I fell out with him over training efforts. Doherty did ok for me first season but then had a dip in form so I replaced him with Tanganga who has been training well.

My purpose behind this tactic was to keep possession and get the ball to Kane. When I had him on the CF role I noticed he kept going too deep and I wanted him in the box more. He is just so clinical like in real life. I have noticed a lot of goals he scores consists of him running in behind the defenders and someone flinging longish balls to him (are these called killer balls?) and then he just runs and scores if that makes sense. I've kept his morale up to perfect pretty much all season. I'm always bringing him into my office and putting my arm around him congratulating him on all sorts. Maybe that helps his form I don't know. 

Dier and Toby are not particularly quick so I've kept the defensive line as standard and occasionally bring it to deeper against stronger opposition.

 

 

 

[edgar555]

1 hour ago, Jasper147 said:

No problems mate. Hope this helps. 

This is the side I use for pretty much all premier league matches home and away (I play the kids/squad members for CL, cup etc.). For the first season I had Alderweireld in place of Garcia in defence and Winks did a great job as BWM instead of Luis. I haven't really used Bale at all; I fell out with him over training efforts. Doherty did ok for me first season but then had a dip in form so I replaced him with Tanganga who has been training well.

My purpose behind this tactic was to keep possession and get the ball to Kane. When I had him on the CF role I noticed he kept going too deep and I wanted him in the box more. He is just so clinical like in real life. I have noticed a lot of goals he scores consists of him running in behind the defenders and someone flinging longish balls to him (are these called killer balls?) and then he just runs and scores if that makes sense. I've kept his morale up to perfect pretty much all season. I'm always bringing him into my office and putting my arm around him congratulating him on all sorts. Maybe that helps his form I don't know. 

Dier and Toby are not particularly quick so I've kept the defensive line as standard and occasionally bring it to deeper against stronger opposition.

 

 

 

Thanks mate, really appreciate it, that is impressive defensively and attacking. 

Where do goals come from other than Kane, is there a decent spread or you reliant on him/The forward.

Also do you use any OI or make changes  to mentality when under siege or chasing a game?

[Jasper147]

2 hours ago, edgar555 said:

Thanks mate, really appreciate it, that is impressive defensively and attacking. 

Where do goals come from other than Kane, is there a decent spread or you reliant on him/The forward.

Also do you use any OI or make changes  to mentality when under siege or chasing a game?

Unfortunately I am really reliant on Kane on goals; that's why I really struggle when he's injured and treat him like a baby. Saying that Amine Gouiri does a nice job when Kane's injured and averages around a goal a game in the advanced forward position but sometimes it's not enough for the win. He scored 18 last season either in the AML/AF position. I would definitely look to buy him as he's so cheap (£11.5m) and a big upgrade on Vinicius. I would look to do this before Brexit kicks in otherwise you might struggle with a work permit. 

Probably not making the most of Sonny- he only scored 8 goals in 29 starts in the league and only 10 the season before.  Everyone else apart from Kane/Gouiri is on single figures for goals. Winks scores a blinder now and again from long range. 

In terms of OI I don't really bother with this unless the assistant manager suggests something good. Set pieces I don't mess with mainly because I don't know how to! I changed it one year on FM and made things worse lol. 

When I am down a goal, I normally go set the mentality to positive/attacking and might sometimes stick on the 'be more expressive' option. If I'm in the last 10 mins and still down, I'll go gung ho to very attacking, and change the amc guy to another striker (I don't really worry about roles at this point as it is a last ditch effort). If I notice the team really struggling for possession I'll change the passing range to short and hopefully the team will pass it around and eventually end up giving the ball to Kane to come up with the goods. 

If I'm comfortably ahead and say 2-0 up, typically I won't change anything and just let it run to full time. If they get a goal back, I'll pop on the time wasting thing and 'be more disciplined' and set the tempo to lower. 

I did try messing about with the tactics and play a-la Jose with a counter fluid tactic but it didn't work at all. Kane was just too slow to counter and would always get tackled. 

I only lost twice in the league - once 2-1 away to Everton and the other was the last game of the season as we had already secured the league and I stuck on all the kids for a run around. 

Edited December 10, 2020 by Jasper147

[Benjamin M]

10 hours ago, Jasper147 said:

Unfortunately I am really reliant on Kane on goals; that's why I really struggle when he's injured and treat him like a baby. Saying that Amine Gouiri does a nice job when Kane's injured and averages around a goal a game in the advanced forward position but sometimes it's not enough for the win. He scored 18 last season either in the AML/AF position. I would definitely look to buy him as he's so cheap (£11.5m) and a big upgrade on Vinicius. I would look to do this before Brexit kicks in otherwise you might struggle with a work permit. 

Probably not making the most of Sonny- he only scored 8 goals in 29 starts in the league and only 10 the season before.  Everyone else apart from Kane/Gouiri is on single figures for goals. Winks scores a blinder now and again from long range. 

In terms of OI I don't really bother with this unless the assistant manager suggests something good. Set pieces I don't mess with mainly because I don't know how to! I changed it one year on FM and made things worse lol. 

When I am down a goal, I normally go set the mentality to positive/attacking and might sometimes stick on the 'be more expressive' option. If I'm in the last 10 mins and still down, I'll go gung ho to very attacking, and change the amc guy to another striker (I don't really worry about roles at this point as it is a last ditch effort). If I notice the team really struggling for possession I'll change the passing range to short and hopefully the team will pass it around and eventually end up giving the ball to Kane to come up with the goods. 

If I'm comfortably ahead and say 2-0 up, typically I won't change anything and just let it run to full time. If they get a goal back, I'll pop on the time wasting thing and 'be more disciplined' and set the tempo to lower. 

I did try messing about with the tactics and play a-la Jose with a counter fluid tactic but it didn't work at all. Kane was just too slow to counter and would always get tackled. 

I only lost twice in the league - once 2-1 away to Everton and the other was the last game of the season as we had already secured the league and I stuck on all the kids for a run around. 

Like the tactics, I'm finding simple instructions are working really well this year. Like the team too, though seeing Bergwijn go hurts (he's really impressed IRL the last few matches, seems to be becoming crucial for Jose's setup). 

Like you I tried initially to recreate Jose's tactics but it does seem to be impossible to recreate with success.. probably why I'm seeing a lot of posts from people saying Spurs get relegated in their saves when they're playing as someone other than Spurs.. quite odd to be honest. 

Out of curiosity, what were the board expectations going into your second season? In my first season, I finished 3rd and won Europa League, but the board expectation for the league in the second season was only a top-half finish, which didn't make any sense. I posted in the bugs forum but I don't think they'll be able to figure out what happened 

[Jasper147]

9 hours ago, Benjamin M said:

Like the tactics, I'm finding simple instructions are working really well this year. Like the team too, though seeing Bergwijn go hurts (he's really impressed IRL the last few matches, seems to be becoming crucial for Jose's setup). 

Like you I tried initially to recreate Jose's tactics but it does seem to be impossible to recreate with success.. probably why I'm seeing a lot of posts from people saying Spurs get relegated in their saves when they're playing as someone other than Spurs.. quite odd to be honest. 

Out of curiosity, what were the board expectations going into your second season? In my first season, I finished 3rd and won Europa League, but the board expectation for the league in the second season was only a top-half finish, which didn't make any sense. I posted in the bugs forum but I don't think they'll be able to figure out what happened 

I noticed the same bug too! Except I just thought Levy was being extra kind to me. Somewhere down the line the expectations changed back to qualify for champions league though. I didn't get the usual notification from him of do you want to change your expectations to adjust the transfer budget. 

I still haven't really taken to Bergwijn in real life so it didn't pain me to let him go.  I'm just ruthless like that lol.

I like how you disabled the first summer transfer window. The squad is pretty good as is and don't think my transfers have added a lot apart from Livakovic and Gouiri. Did you end up finding a new right back? Doherty/Aurier/Tanganga do the job but they're not setting the world on fire for me. 

[Benjamin M]

The board expectation bug in the second season bothered me so much that I started over with a new save (using same rules of no transfers during the first window) 

One point better than my "first" season (I'll consider that a trial run), many more goals scored, but also many more conceded. Secured 2nd place and a CL spot on the final match day beating Chelsea 1-0 away, which resulted in Chelsea missing top 4 (and also firing Lampard). City also fired Pep, guess 4th wasn't quite good enough. 

Got extremely favorable draws throughout the FA Cup competition, starting with Blackpool in the 4th round, West Brom in the 5th round, Palace in the quarter-finals, Newcastle in the semi-finals, and finally Aston Villa in the final, which we handedly won 4-1.

Came out on top of the EL again, with a several routes against domestic clubs along the way. Lazio in the 2nd knockout round was by far the hardest match, losing 2-3 away, but a 3-1 win at home saw us advance. The difference in difficulty level between home and away matches this year seems pretty stark, as we were only able to get a 1-1 draw away at Leicester and a 1-0 win away at Arsenal, but absolutely punished both of them at home. 

Overall, a very successful season. I made only a few tweaks tactically but I was much more impressed with my wingers this time around. Goal and assist tallies for a few:

Kane - 38G 8A
Son - 22G 15A
Bale - 18G 19A
Ndombele - 5G 12A
Bergwijn - 12G 4A
Dele - 10G 9A
Lo Celso - 4G 8A

This was my most used Starting XI and the only formation/tactic I used throughout the year (making minor adjustments for each match if needed):

Distributing to the flanks seemed to get my wingers much more involved, both in attack and support. Defensively, I had several good individual performances, but collectively a defensive effort that I think needs work. Toby and Dier were excellent in the air, but their pace limited my ability to play a higher backline, yet we still conceded a majority of goals against from through balls. That being said, I was impressed with both Tanganga and Rodon, which bodes well for the future. 

Heading into the transfer window now, nothing planned yet, but the board has given me $107m, so I do have some ideas (most of all though, offloading some deadwood ie Lucas and Lamela, who are fine, but very inconsistent and often injured.. I don't think Lamela was able to play in 3 matches without getting a new injury. 

I'll update again after the transfer window shuts. 

 

Edited December 14, 2020 by Benjamin M

[Shinytinman]

Southgate just picked his Euro's squad and didn't select Kane even though he scored 41 goals in 41 games for me... bug? lol

[Ronaldo Beckham]

49 minutes ago, Shinytinman said:

Southgate just picked his Euro's squad and didn't select Kane even though he scored 41 goals in 41 games for me... bug? lol

Maybe he got his players mixed up and thought it was Jack Grealish lol.

[Kingstontom88]

On 14/12/2020 at 18:42, Benjamin M said:

The board expectation bug in the second season bothered me so much that I started over with a new save (using same rules of no transfers during the first window) 

One point better than my "first" season (I'll consider that a trial run), many more goals scored, but also many more conceded. Secured 2nd place and a CL spot on the final match day beating Chelsea 1-0 away, which resulted in Chelsea missing top 4 (and also firing Lampard). City also fired Pep, guess 4th wasn't quite good enough. 

Got extremely favorable draws throughout the FA Cup competition, starting with Blackpool in the 4th round, West Brom in the 5th round, Palace in the quarter-finals, Newcastle in the semi-finals, and finally Aston Villa in the final, which we handedly won 4-1.

Came out on top of the EL again, with a several routes against domestic clubs along the way. Lazio in the 2nd knockout round was by far the hardest match, losing 2-3 away, but a 3-1 win at home saw us advance. The difference in difficulty level between home and away matches this year seems pretty stark, as we were only able to get a 1-1 draw away at Leicester and a 1-0 win away at Arsenal, but absolutely punished both of them at home. 

Overall, a very successful season. I made only a few tweaks tactically but I was much more impressed with my wingers this time around. Goal and assist tallies for a few:

Kane - 38G 8A
Son - 22G 15A
Bale - 18G 19A
Ndombele - 5G 12A
Bergwijn - 12G 4A
Dele - 10G 9A
Lo Celso - 4G 8A

This was my most used Starting XI and the only formation/tactic I used throughout the year (making minor adjustments for each match if needed):

Distributing to the flanks seemed to get my wingers much more involved, both in attack and support. Defensively, I had several good individual performances, but collectively a defensive effort that I think needs work. Toby and Dier were excellent in the air, but their pace limited my ability to play a higher backline, yet we still conceded a majority of goals against from through balls. That being said, I was impressed with both Tanganga and Rodon, which bodes well for the future. 

Heading into the transfer window now, nothing planned yet, but the board has given me $107m, so I do have some ideas (most of all though, offloading some deadwood ie Lucas and Lamela, who are fine, but very inconsistent and often injured.. I don't think Lamela was able to play in 3 matches without getting a new injury. 

I'll update again after the transfer window shuts. 

 

Great share of goals across the board there! I'm really struggling to get Kane to score at the moment - Son and Bale on the flanks are my best outlets.

Interesting tactic - with 2 playmakers in the side, and short passing, WBIB, play out of defence all ticked it looks to me like that would be overkill - but it clearly works for you! How were most of your goals scored?

[Benjamin M]

7 hours ago, Kingstontom88 said:

Great share of goals across the board there! I'm really struggling to get Kane to score at the moment - Son and Bale on the flanks are my best outlets.

Interesting tactic - with 2 playmakers in the side, and short passing, WBIB, play out of defence all ticked it looks to me like that would be overkill - but it clearly works for you! How were most of your goals scored?

Assists: 

Goals:

So, seems like most came from through-balls into the box from right outside the box, with a decent amount also coming from crosses on the wings. The only differences between the tactic I used in the first run and the tactic I used in the current run is distributing to the flanks instead of the CBs, playing wider, and playing with a slightly higher tempo. Changing my midfield combo seems to have helped a lot too. 

Playing wide with a higher tempo but having wingers cut inside while trying to work the ball into the box with shorter passing seems kind of contradictory, but it ended up working really well (although that could just be because of how good Son/Kane/Bale are, especially off-ball and finishing). 

 

[Bobbybarks]

Just completed my first season with my beloved Spurs.  It didn't start out too well, despite winning all our friendlies, as the team tried to become familiar with my tactics.  First game of the Premier League was away to Southamptom and despite leading on 3 seperate occasions it finished 3-3.  A 2-0 win over FCI Levadia in the Euro was followed up with a 4-0 over Leeds in the league.  Things starting to look up!  But then we were knocked out of the Euro against Derry bloody City.  Losing 2-0 away from home.  Two 3-1 wins in the Carabao Cup against Southampton then Norwich seemed to improve the mood, but then we lost 1-0 away at Wolves in our 3rd premier league game.  What happened after this was truly remarkable and something I've never accomplished in previous versions of FM.  We won 26 games in a row.  Eventually losing to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final aet 5-3.  There were some remarkable wins along the way including a 6-0 demolition of Chelsea at home.  We beat Liverpool, City and Man Utd at home also.  We continued our league victories after missing out on silverware, only for Liverpool to come back and haunt us in mid-March with them beating us 2-1 at Anfield.  They were second in the table but by this time we were 7 points clear with a game in hand.  A 2-1 defeat straight after the Liverpool game to Man Utd in the FA Cup meant only the title would give us silverware.  We marched on sealing victory and victory, only dropping 2 further points at Old Trafford along the way.  It's the first time I've won the league in my first season at Spurs.

Kane scored 52 goals in the season and has been linked with PSG all season.  Hopefully winning the league will keep him at Spurs.  Son scored 22 and Bale chipped in with 11.  I managed to acquire some decent signings as players became unhappy where they were, or with the case of a few I managed to unsettle through bids and media ploys.

Incoming were

Max Aarons, John Stones, Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain, Luke Shaw, Riyad Mahrez, Marco Asesnsio (Loan)

Outgoing were

Danny Rose, Paulo Gazzaniga, Moussa Sissoko, Davison Sanchez, Ben Davies, Matt Doherty, Serge Aurier, Lucas Moura, Toby Alderweireld, Erik Lamela, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, plus alot of the reserve team.  Utd bought Moura for 45 million and this allowed me to get Mahrez for 29 million lol.  I never listed any of the players, but some of them like Hojbjerg and Doherty requested transfers as they weren't playing in January.  Barcelona took Hojbjerg and since he wasn't playing I took 30 million for him.

I've managed to secure Memphis Depay for the new season on a free.  Plus I have deals in place for Tariq Lamptey, Declan Rice (West Ham were relegated), Dwight McNeil and Asesnsio to join permanantly.  I have to say that Asensio was incredible with 18 assists in the season.  Aarons managed 11 from right back, as did Bale from right midfield.  Kane and Son both got 8 assists each.

Outgoing in the summer are Foyth, Carter-Vickers and Jack Clarke.  Bergwijn is also unhappy and looking to move on.

Dele Alli missed most of the second part of the season with a cruiciate ligament injury, but other than that I didn't have any major injury worries so quite fortunate.  I think going out of Euro really helped to be fair as gutted as I was about it, particualrly to Derry City lol.  I won't be keeping Vinicius or Bale.  Mahrez is filling the right mid role and Chamberlain is adequate back-up.  

My set up was basically a 442 wide diamond.  

GK - Lloris/Hart/Whiteman

RB - Aarons/Tanganga

LB - Reguilon / Shaw

CD - Stones/Rodon

CD - Dier/Tanganga

DM - NDombele/Winks

RM - Bale/Mahrez/Chamberlain

LM - Lo Celso/Bergwijn

AM - Asensio/Alli/Chamberlain

ST - Son/Vinicius

ST - Kane/Bale

Winks is being linked with a move to China for some reason, so I took Declan Rice from relegated West Ham to provide backup to NDombele.  I needed an out and out right back to cover for Aarons and Lamptey was available.  I also wanted an English left midfielder and McNeil has been my number 1 target all season, with Burnley finally allowed me to take him.  I was trying to get a deal over the line for Phil Foden who was requested to leave City but they wanted 114 million and I couldn't muster up the cash. Depay will replace Vinicius but I definitely need another striker as I'm hoping I go further in the CL than I did the EL.  Palace and West Brom were also relegated so I may look at Karlan Grant or Zaha.  I want to try and integrate some of the younger players into the team next year as I'm keen to see Cirkin, Parrott, White and Sessegnon get some game time.  I've been focusing on developing some of the U18's, in particular Dane Scarlett, Alfie Devine and Dermi Lusala.  I've also had a very good left back regen come through at the season end called Rob Trodd who has 3 star potential.  And a 2 1/2 star attacking midfielder called David Ajayi.  I'll be doing what I can to develop these too.

Main plans for the summer is to overhaul the backroom staff as alot running out of contract.

Thanks to anyone reading and will catch up later with a Season 2 update in a few weeks 

[Kingstontom88]

Finished my first season with Spurs - and it was a toughy!

Turned off transfer window so no new signings allowed, although I did reset all sides for injuries so everyone started the season with a clean slate. We finished 4th, just - despite being in the top 3 for most of the season. Our form derailed around Xmas into Jan as Son suffered a broken leg and was out for the rest of the season, and then Kane - in typical fashion - picked up a long term injury in March, so our two best attackers out and no reinforcements.

Managed to get Vinicius scoring a few but couldn't get any consistency from Dele or Bale. Bergwijn and Moura were poor, the latter especially, so we struggled for goals. I flipped from a 4-2-3-1, which I had relied on all season, to a 3-2-2-2-1 to try and stop the flow of goals we were conceding - we couldn't hold onto the ball up front and our CBs are not the best in the league and were quite easily exposed by pace. The change helped and we started scoring a few from set pieces but most of our games were slow and sluggish - much like they are today under Mourinho  winning games by the odd goal but in big games getting turned over quite easily.

Ended up losing to Man Utd in 4th round of FA Cup, Arsenal in QF of League Cup, and Galatasaray beat us on aggregate in QFs of Europa League - not a good cup run this season either. We put on a good run at the end of the season though, going unbeaten in last 6, winning 4, to scrape into the CL places.

Kept hold of all of our key players and making some new signings this summer - including Kessie, Milik, Bale again and Luiz Felipe. Hoping for a better campaign this time around.

 

[Sophos]

Anyone been able to get the best out of Kane and Son? I've been tinkering for, Steam tells me, more than 24 hours, but I still haven't been able to get both of them playing well at the same time. Tried a 4-2-3-1, a 4-3-3, a 4-4-2, a 3-4-1-2, and a 4-3-1-2 so far, few different tactical styles. No luck. Also tried Benjamin M's tactic and it just didn't work at all for me, for some reason.

[JD 1984]

54 minutes ago, Sophos said:

Anyone been able to get the best out of Kane and Son? I've been tinkering for, Steam tells me, more than 24 hours, but I still haven't been able to get both of them playing well at the same time. Tried a 4-2-3-1, a 4-3-3, a 4-4-2, a 3-4-1-2, and a 4-3-1-2 so far, few different tactical styles. No luck. Also tried Benjamin M's tactic and it just didn't work at all for me, for some reason.

I played them both up top in a diamond formation & they were excellent for me 👌🏻 Either as Advanced Forwards or PressingForwards

[FMunderachiever]

20 hours ago, Sophos said:

Anyone been able to get the best out of Kane and Son? I've been tinkering for, Steam tells me, more than 24 hours, but I still haven't been able to get both of them playing well at the same time. Tried a 4-2-3-1, a 4-3-3, a 4-4-2, a 3-4-1-2, and a 4-3-1-2 so far, few different tactical styles. No luck. Also tried Benjamin M's tactic and it just didn't work at all for me, for some reason.

Having managed Spurs for a little bit (only on BETA though) i found a great partnership for both to fire was Kane as a trequartista and Son as an advanced forward. Worked nicely (on the BETA)

[Sophos]

Given up. Hours and hours, nothing works. Don't think I've had three consecutive wins in 30+ hours. Hate this. Just want to unwind from a **** life by playing some football manager. Not going to happen clearly. I used to love this game, used to be good at it, now it just makes me want to pull my hair out. Hate this.

[Harrold]

I felt similarly to you at the beginning of the release, but once I ironed a few key things out I'm really enjoying the game and getting good performances from the players I want to perform. Couple of things which might help you fall back in love with the game;

1. The numbers that Son and Kane are posting IRL are ridiculous, and are not easy to replicate in the game. I think you'd want to try a two striker formation to get them both scoring bag loads of goals. I've seen some success using a 2-3-2-1-2 formation with Son AF and Kane CF (attack)

2. Continuity is super important, just like IRL. I would suggest picking a couple of tactics, and the player roles within it pre season and sticking with them. You can make minor tweaks game to game but your players will struggle to perform individually and as a team if you're constantly changing the formation and player roles. 

I've just finished my first season with Spurs, winning the league by one point and losing in the final of the Europa to Leicester. Signed Stones early on for about £20 mil, and did no other business. Played a 4-2-3-1 to get the best out of our best players, and to make sure Dele was playing in his preferred no. 10 role.

Feel free to message if you want to talk through your formation ideas etc. Happy to help 👍💪

 

 

[RazorsEdge]

What is the lowest amount of money anyone has accepted for Harry Kane, or do you turn offers down and make him unhappy?