[FM21] Tottenham Hotspur - All or Nothing

[Harrold]

12 minutes ago, RazorsEdge said:

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

End of first season I've just turned down a £150 million pound bid from PSG. He was unhappy(ish) for a few weeks, with no effect as it was during off season and then dropped it when no other Clubs interested. Will renew contract in 6 months or so to push his value, and maybe sell at the end of season 3. 

[Come_On_You_Spurs]

Finished my first season and won the league on 94 points (one ahead of Man City). Lost in the Carabao Cup final to Man City. Knocked out by Roma in Europa League semi’s, and got crushed by Leicester in the FA Cup 5th round. I treated all the cup competitions as ways to keep my first team rested and fresh, so I’m happy with how everything went.

Kane was phenomenal, finishing with 37 league goals as an AF in my tactic. Only transfers in were John Stones, With Oxlade-Chamberlain on loan. Feels weird to have an ex-Arsenal player, but he gave us needed depth. I’ve already brought him back on loan for next season.

Making quite a few moves before the new season to improve my depth so that I can compete in the other competitions. Change of formation too. I’ll post my transfers and tactics later tonight. COYS!

Edited February 1, 2021 by Come_On_You_Spurs

[DaveMac]

Just taken over my Spurs. Going to play a 451 with. Done the usual thing of sorting the back room staff out and gone with a few ex favourites. So have Klinsmann in as director of football, Sheringhan and Dean Austin working alongside Ryan Mason for the u23. 
 

Transfer wise I’m going to take it easy. I think our squad is strong, if a little average. A few too many steady players and not enough stars outside the obviously Kane, Son etc. Looking to strengthen at CB mainly to start with as outside Toby I think it looks a bit flimsy. Also keeping an eye out for a long term replacement for Hugo between the sticks as guessing this will be the last year I can really rely on him. 
 

Sending plenty of prospects out on loan and turning my attention to a right winger as doubting Bale will last a season without injury and Berwijn, Moura and Lamela aren’t the ideal choices for top end of the table. 
 

Quite surprised by some of the ratings. Feels like Lloris has been downgraded a bit when it feels like he has been playing better than ever in the last 9 months or so. Also Hjoberg seems pretty averagely rated when he’s probably one of the best players I’ve seen down the lane for a while as far as his awareness on the pitch goes. But I’m probably looking at thst through a fans eyes. 

[Shinytinman]

Starting my new season and my U23 manager keeps selecting my first team for the U23 games and I can't work out how to stop it! I went into the U23 squad and specificed not to pick 1st team players but it still happens. Any ideas?

[stevemc]

Tottenham Hotspur: 2020/21 (Season 1)

Started a Spurs save with the aim of moving on after 3-4 seasons into Europe and moving around.

In terms of the playing staff I made a number of changes, out went Lucas Moura (£33.5m), Serge Aurier (£22m), Danny Rose (£4.6m), Jack Clarke (£1.6m), Paulo Gazzaniga (£700k), Toby Alderweireld (£21.5m) and Davinson Sánchez (£14m).

Replacing all of the above are; Andrea Papetti (£4.7m), Thiago Almada (£8m), Lorenzo Pellegrini (£16m), Victor Tsygankov (£18m), Nikola Milenkovic (£27m), Kristoffer Ajer (£14.5m) and in January I picked up Jack Grealish for £45m.

 

Premier League:

We finished the season in 3rd, but it should have been higher, we were flying then in January/February we had a few injuries and tiredness hit where we hit a bad patch of form of not winning in 9 matches, and losing 5 of them, managed to turn it around just in time for the Carabao Cup final.

Harry Kane was the league's top goalscorer and we really struggled when his didn't play, but I did manage to get 12 games in for Dane Scarlett.

 

Carabao Cup: 

We had a generous couple of draws in this cup so it wasn't too much bother to reach the final, once we got there we beat Chelsea pretty comfortably:

 

FA Cup: 

Less said about this the better, we exited the cup in the 4th round when we were in terrible form.

 

Europa League: 

Topped the group easily, managed to rest a few players too which was great:

 

The final was a mad game, we really struggled until Savic was sent off for Lazio, even after that I struggling to break them down until Dele Alli bagged in the 91st minute. Game ended up going to penalties, where Dane Scarlett scored the winner!

 

Here is the review:

Edited February 7, 2021 by stevemc

[stevemc]

Tottenham Hotspur: 2021/22 (Season 2)

Started off by sacking João Sacramento as assistant as I felt he got too many team-talk guidances wrong during the season, and went against my own thinking so replaced him with Peter Krawietz from Liverpool after he and Klopp were sacked.

Having secured Champions League football it was clear I need higher quality players, specially defensively as I was shipping a lot of my goals from central areas, so I had quite an overhaul...

Outgoings: Moussa Sissoko (£25m rising to £33m), Ben Davies (£28m), Harry Winks (£28m), Oliver Skipp (£9.5m), Joe Hart (£6m), Steven Bergwijn (£32.5m), Rodel Richards (£3.6m), Giovani Lo Celso (£47), Juan Foyth (£16m), Pierre-Emile Højbjerg (£30.5m), Matt Doherty (£30.5m), Kristoffer Ajer (£24.5m), Tanguy Ndombele (£59m) and Victor Tsygankov ((21.5m).

Incomings: David Neres (£24m), Lucas Digne (£19m), André Onana (£39.5m), Arkadiusz Milik (FREE), Florentino Luís (£47.5m), Nicolò Armini (FREE), Dominic Calvert-Lewin (£52m), James Ward-Prowse (£31m), Merih Demiral (£55m), Pau Torres (£51m), Rúben Neves (£46m), Leon Bailey (£33m) and Ömer Beyaz (FREE).

I switched my FB's to IWB to help overload the central areas and retained Ward-Prowse to right-back which turned out to be a mater stroke, his passing ability helped the midfield when he steps inside and finished the season with 17 assists in 48 games, his set-pieces are superb too. On the left I have Digne, who is relentless down that side plus his long-throw stat helped make us a threat with his long-flat bullet thrown. Torres & Demiral formed a great central partnership and we're dominant from corners with Ward-Prowse's deliveries. All of a sudden, we were a massive threat when attacking from free-kicks, corners and long throws.

Onana came us as number one pushing Lloris to the bench. Neves & Luis were a much more solid upgrade in defensive midfield on Højbjerg and Ndombele too, overall making us more sound from the back.

 

Premier League: 

We won the league on the final day, in the last minute, couldn't have been anymore mental! We went to Old Trafford with 3 games to go and won 1-2 giving us the chance in the final two games. United went to Upton Park and drew 0-0 with West Ham, however we were 1-0 down at HT when Harry Kane went off injures, to be replaced with Calvert-Lewin who bagged a hat trick including an 89th minute winner!

Harry Kane was the league's top goalscorer again.

 

Super Cup Cup: 

Having won the Europe League last season, we draw Champions League winners PSG in the Super Cup final. PSG had a few players missing but it was nice to get one over Poch

 

Carabao Cup: 

We couldn't defend our title after being outclassed by Manchester United in the semi-final over two legs.

 

FA Cup: 

Yep, Bolton Wanderers put us out in the 5th round after I probably showed a little too much disrespect, and rested too many players, and we paid the price.

 

Champions League:

The goal was to qualify from the group which we did with ease:

We eventually made it to the semi's after disposing of Lazio and Juventus, but PSG nailed us 6-1 over two legs and taught us a lesson.

 

Here is the review:

 

I'm going to tweak my tactic during the summer, I know exactly what I need to do after reviewing the season stats and analysis, already started by securing James Maddison (£34.5m) and Samuel Chukwueze (£36.5m). Maddison will help add creativity from the centre and Chukwueze will add much needed pace from the right-side of the pitch. Lloris is leaving on a free with Alexander Nübel coming in for £8m to replace him. They'll be one or two more signings, but not much.

[stevemc]

£210m...

[whispers]

Ive never ever gotten Kane to perform as good as he should be if you take his stats into consideration. I would 100% sell for that amount of money

[stevemc]

17 minutes ago, whispers said:

Ive never ever gotten Kane to perform as good as he should be if you take his stats into consideration. I would 100% sell for that amount of money

Yeah I cashed in, I"m not going to stay more than 3-4 seasons with Spurs anyway but cashed in and bought Haaland and Sané and put some money in the bank.

[Underated]

I'm in my first season with Spurs - I didn't sell Bergwijn but now have no intention of using him. I left him out of the Europa squad, and the players are all unhappy with me. They called a meeting with me to discuss this, and the squad faith in me was 'abysmal'. Isn't this slightly over the top and any idea on how best to resolve this?

 

Also, to add, I see an incredible amount of yellow cards per game. Usually one always occurs within the first five minutes, and then again 10 minutes after that. I don't instruct the players to tackle harder or get stuck in. Any idea why this is?

Edited February 10, 2021 by Underated

[Harrold]

On 10/02/2021 at 23:48, Underated said:

I'm in my first season with Spurs - I didn't sell Bergwijn but now have no intention of using him. I left him out of the Europa squad, and the players are all unhappy with me. They called a meeting with me to discuss this, and the squad faith in me was 'abysmal'. Isn't this slightly over the top and any idea on how best to resolve this?

 

Also, to add, I see an incredible amount of yellow cards per game. Usually one always occurs within the first five minutes, and then again 10 minutes after that. I don't instruct the players to tackle harder or get stuck in. Any idea why this is?

First season, is the main problem I think. Once you have a few senior players that trust you those kind of things are easier to squash. I would probably either sell him and get in a better replacement, or U-turn in the short term to get the squad back on side.

What tactic are you using? Difficult to say why there are so many yellow cards without the get stuck in or tackle harder instructions without knowing how you set up 👍

[plcarlos]

I'll post my Tactic tonight, Very simple 4231.

Only got 2 in - Papetti (Loaned out), and Badiashile, as we had £13m only to spend

So Much to get rid of\upgrade....... There will be a fire-sale in the first few seasons. I'm looking forward to some of the youth players, a few have had a boost (Scarlet, Circkin...) Devine in particular looks like a MC that gets hard to find later on in the game (Ever noticed that the regens tend to be DLP's vs Runners?), Skipp is looking good as well. Cirkin is a player who will do a job beyond his rated ability (It's not all about stars ratings!)..

Urgent replacements will be GK (Ageing Hugo), Right wing and Right back, then overall Depth, and try to fix the lack of pace.. Shame a few players are downgraded (Lo Celso, Winks etc).

I'm mixed with Sissoko. Seems to play better in FM than IRL ----- RL Sissoko = Give him his own pitch, within the main pitch, 10 yeards away from the touch line, same for either box, no passes over 10 yards long, and let him run.... Give him that role, he'd be world class

Kane is a hard player to get the right role, but he's scoring in a CF-S role for me so far. Dele is doing well as the AMC-S\A

I just go promised a good group of players, with a highlight on the Right-wing slot of all positions

Running this as Tacict for now. A few changes are made based on players:

Kane plays as a CF-A, Combined with Dele as an AMC-S, Son plays as an IF-S\A depending on oppositon

I had some really good luck with the Dribble less instuction, which stopped us over-dribbling

Lucas is quiet dissapointing in that he does not seem to beat the players he should, its strange. I'd love the W-S role to do what it says - Beat the man and put a cross in (Son\Kane\Dele's anticipation would then get on the end of the cross, but he just does not seem to do that.

Thankfully, Man Utd are after him, so I plan to rinse every penny I can from them, and find a better player for that role.

Edited March 6, 2021 by plcarlos

[Come on ye pars]

Hi, anyone else playing as Spurs?

I'm struggling a bit and getting too many draws.  Harry Kane gets ok match ratings but just doesn't score for me.  Only signing I've made is Pau Torres as there is not too much money and I thought the defence needed strengthening.

My team is:

GK - Lloris - sweeper keeper support

RB - Doherty - wing back support

RCB - Aderweireld - BPD defend

LCB - Torres - CD defend

LB - Requilon - wing back support

DCM - Dier - Ball winning midfielder defend

MCR - Hojbjerg - B2B support

MCL - Ndombele - advanced playmaker support

AMR - Bale - Inverted winger attack

AML - Son - Inverted winger attack

CF - Kane DLP support

 

I sometimes use Lo Celso as the playmaker, winks in B2B and Moura as AMR winger support

Any help is useful to get Kane scoring more regular

Thanks

 

[plcarlos]

1 hour ago, Come on ye pars said:

Hi, anyone else playing as Spurs?

I'm struggling a bit and getting too many draws.  Harry Kane gets ok match ratings but just doesn't score for me.  Only signing I've made is Pau Torres as there is not too much money and I thought the defence needed strengthening.

My team is:

GK - Lloris - sweeper keeper support

RB - Doherty - wing back support

RCB - Aderweireld - BPD defend

LCB - Torres - CD defend

LB - Requilon - wing back support

DCM - Dier - Ball winning midfielder defend

MCR - Hojbjerg - B2B support

MCL - Ndombele - advanced playmaker support

AMR - Bale - Inverted winger attack

AML - Son - Inverted winger attack

CF - Kane DLP support

 

I sometimes use Lo Celso as the playmaker, winks in B2B and Moura as AMR winger support

Any help is useful to get Kane scoring more regular

Thanks

 

Hard to picture without the image, but any Team Instructions?

Role-Wise:

Bale and Son in the same role will attack similar space, which is just about OK, as you'll have Kane dropping off to feed them.Personally, I'd prefer a change in Son as per below. When Moura plays, do you change Kane's role at all? If not then Moura has 1 target - Son. So moving Kane to a DLF-A could help there. I'd use that role so that he can still link up to get involved.

Personally, I play as an IF-A\S dpending on opposition\team mates. I think he's more a goal threat than a creator (IW role is more creator than some others).

The AP-S is quick forward playing role, but is targetting Son\Moura\Kane only, vs actually moving forward.

I'd actually base the tacic off Moura vs Bale, simply as I've barely got Bale to get to double figures in game time, and the personality turns me against him (I Sell players who argue that 5.9-6.3 traning rating is not poor).  It's a shame he's so badely rated and the decline on any injury is horrific, Lamela being Injury Prone means it's hard to rely on either in that role.

Before I go any further, how is the tatic actually working? If you are doing well, there's always a trade-off in making changes. I'd always only make 1-2 changes at a time at most.

Again, with out the Team instructions, it's hard to comment, as we don't know what you are trying to play.

Above all, it's hard to give better adivse without the tactic including the Team instrtuctions, and\or Player instructions as they can change how roles play out

[Come on ye pars]

2 hours ago, plcarlos said:

Hard to picture without the image, but any Team Instructions?

Role-Wise:

Bale and Son in the same role will attack similar space, which is just about OK, as you'll have Kane dropping off to feed them.Personally, I'd prefer a change in Son as per below. When Moura plays, do you change Kane's role at all? If not then Moura has 1 target - Son. So moving Kane to a DLF-A could help there. I'd use that role so that he can still link up to get involved.

Personally, I play as an IF-A\S dpending on opposition\team mates. I think he's more a goal threat than a creator (IW role is more creator than some others).

The AP-S is quick forward playing role, but is targetting Son\Moura\Kane only, vs actually moving forward.

I'd actually base the tacic off Moura vs Bale, simply as I've barely got Bale to get to double figures in game time, and the personality turns me against him (I Sell players who argue that 5.9-6.3 traning rating is not poor).  It's a shame he's so badely rated and the decline on any injury is horrific, Lamela being Injury Prone means it's hard to rely on either in that role.

Before I go any further, how is the tatic actually working? If you are doing well, there's always a trade-off in making changes. I'd always only make 1-2 changes at a time at most.

Again, with out the Team instructions, it's hard to comment, as we don't know what you are trying to play.

Above all, it's hard to give better adivse without the tactic including the Team instrtuctions, and\or Player instructions as they can change how roles play out

Not sure if this'll work as not sue how to post screenshots.  I've altered it slightly, to DLP Attack and Bale on support.  We beat Sheffield Utd and Kane scored, but it was a penalty.  I've not changed any other instruction other than asked Kane to shoot more often

[plcarlos]

Ok, so part of the issue with Kane scoring could be lower tempo and work ball into box. Think about it - If you take all day to get to the box (Lower tempo + work ball in), where's the space for him to attack? I'd up the tempo (Just 1 notch), aside from anything the sqaud is good enough to pull that off.

5th is not a bad place to be in season 1 with that squad, so it's a very realistic place to be. Those ratings are good as well. 6.7/6.8 in game is an average, so being above that is not too bad

If that's just 1 match, give it a few more before anymore changes, it takes time to gel, and get used to it, as well as see the movement patterns. This will help in seeing if Kane is in the right positions to score. I'd also avoid any more changes with that lot coming round in the next game..

Bear in mind that I think Sheffield united play 3 at the back in the game, so you've got to get space from elsewhere, so when the middle is congested, the space is wider..

Saying that, you now have different movement from the front 3, so it's a bit more variety, Maybe the roles cold be tweaked - Son as an IF = More of a goal threat that creator (Again, just my personal preference).

Personally I'd play Dier as a HB, or DM-D. Partly as having 2 playmakers in the midfield could further slow the pace down. Dier as a HB would drop in almost as a 3rd CB. and maybe allow the WB-S to get higher up. Or as a DM-D, he'd offer a touch more protection and play safer when it's won back. It could also allow N'Dombele to get on the ball more - He got plenty of assists for Kane with that plays killer balls trait.

Maybe a get further forward for the BBM could add a bit more central attack or play Dele there no PI's - This does not meant to try to get the BBM in on goals to take away from Kane (Although it's never a bad thing to have more players scoring), it's to create a threat that pulls defenders away to create space for Kane\Son\Bale. Again, 1-2 tweaks max, and run that for a few games (5 or more) to see if the change works.

I'm mixed with the higher lines in season 1, as the pace of Toby\Dier\Hugo may be an issue - Personal preference though, if it's working and your NOT getting hit on the counter, no need to change. Personally I play Hugo as a GK-D, or SK-D, mainly as his distribution is low in game. Speaking of Hugo - Line up a replacement\developing GK quick, as he is on the edge to decline and can be updgraded anyway.

[Come on ye pars]

14 minutes ago, plcarlos said:

Ok, so part of the issue with Kane scoring could be lower tempo and work ball into box. Think about it - If you take all day to get to the box (Lower tempo + work ball in), where's the space for him to attack? I'd up the tempo (Just 1 notch), aside from anything the sqaud is good enough to pull that off.

5th is not a bad place to be in season 1 with that squad, so it's a very realistic place to be. Those ratings are good as well. 6.7/6.8 in game is an average, so being above that is not too bad

If that's just 1 match, give it a few more before anymore changes, it takes time to gel, and get used to it, as well as see the movement patterns. This will help in seeing if Kane is in the right positions to score. I'd also avoid any more changes with that lot coming round in the next game..

Bear in mind that I think Sheffield united play 3 at the back in the game, so you've got to get space from elsewhere, so when the middle is congested, the space is wider..

Saying that, you now have different movement from the front 3, so it's a bit more variety, Maybe the roles cold be tweaked - Son as an IF = More of a goal threat that creator (Again, just my personal preference).

Personally I'd play Dier as a HB, or DM-D. Partly as having 2 playmakers in the midfield could further slow the pace down. Dier as a HB would drop in almost as a 3rd CB. and maybe allow the WB-S to get higher up. Or as a DM-D, he'd offer a touch more protection and play safer when it's won back. It could also allow N'Dombele to get on the ball more - He got plenty of assists for Kane with that plays killer balls trait.

Maybe a get further forward for the BBM could add a bit more central attack or play Dele there no PI's - This does not meant to try to get the BBM in on goals to take away from Kane (Although it's never a bad thing to have more players scoring), it's to create a threat that pulls defenders away to create space for Kane\Son\Bale. Again, 1-2 tweaks max, and run that for a few games (5 or more) to see if the change works.

I'm mixed with the higher lines in season 1, as the pace of Toby\Dier\Hugo may be an issue - Personal preference though, if it's working and your NOT getting hit on the counter, no need to change. Personally I play Hugo as a GK-D, or SK-D, mainly as his distribution is low in game. Speaking of Hugo - Line up a replacement\developing GK quick, as he is on the edge to decline and can be updgraded anyway.

Thanks for the info, I'll give it a go.  Who do you suggest for GK.  I was thinking maybe Onana but he's got a global ban.

What are the transfer budgets like for season 2?

[plcarlos]

Livakovic is normally a good shout and cheap. Ronning if your after a super cheap no frills keeper, but a short term fix maybe. Ugrucan in my team was £22m and solid for a season and a bit, then I sold lots of players, got lots of money and got Donurumma (Boring, i know). I found the Lazio Guy (Strakosha?) on the list for £2.9m as a backup who is not too bad + Great personality.

Selling Sissoko at £32.5m and getting Cook in from relegated bournmouth for £8.5m (Listed) is the kind of transfer dealings I spend a LOT of time doing. Fleecing Man Utd (45M) for Davies, while promoting Cirkin was fun as well.. Quick shout out to my temporary stand in of Hackett - If you really ignore stars and look at attributes, he dropped in for a few emergency games and got 6.5, 6.8, 6.8 ratings (Not to bad at all for a "League one rated" player) Stones came in for £20m as well - Hint #2 - Check the registration requirements for the European cups, that factored in who I targetted. Edwards can come back as well - Home grown, Trained at club, and if you mentor him for 2 seasons (It WILL take that long at least) his personality might improve....

2nd Season Budget-wise depends on a few factors. I'm ruthless in the 2nd and 3rd seasons getting rid of players (I now have just 5 of that squad i posted still there!), but that's my play style, and I know who I don't want and can or I don't use. I probably replace more than most and make sure I sell bad eggs (PEH and Sessengon), but I think I was given around £50m. I rasied 12.5M from unwanted young players (In my 3 saves, they'd never been good enough), and got +30M over other transfers overall.

Worth noting, I also do a youth based game, I've customised all training, through all 3 teams, I tweak the U23\1st team training each season, but it's also important not to A - Overload the youth teams, or  B make them too small (U18's getting called into U23s due to lack of players, players in wrong postitions etc). Point being - That leads me to really be ruthless on some youth players so extra income - £8m for a U23 dender I don't rate? Who's not made any sqaud in 3 saves.... Yes please!!! That helped my season 2 budget a fair bit.. I've made close to £25M from those over the years

Another thought on the players you have - See if you can get Winks not to play simple passes all the time. his passing is better than that, and could also be limiting the passing options. You'll probably see this over time when PEH's Trait starts getting assists - He got them from the CM-D role in my tactic. Shame he spat his dummy out in my save

Edited March 30, 2021 by plcarlos
Spelling, always spelling....

[Come on ye pars]

Thanks for the tips.  I'm doing better and Kane is scoring now!!!  Played 29 games in league, sitting 3rd and 4 points of top spot Liverpool.  I don't expect to win league but was aiming for top 4.  In quarter finals of Europa League and doing well, aiming to win that.  In final of League Cup but thats v Man city, and in semis of FA cup but that is v man utd who are doing well.

Will look at Livakovic.  Was also thinking of Edwards for AMR.  I got rid of Dele Alli as he never really fit into my tactic and wanted money and him off the wage bill.  I'm no spurs fan so don't hold any sentiment to the players so hoping to get rid of a few.  Lamela and Sissoko were on transfer list but received no bids.  Hopefully in summer.  Bale has done great for me but his stats are declining and he's on a massive wage so will be good to get him off wage bill at seasons end.  I've signed Kounde for centre back to play alongside Torres so my defence should be sorted for years, maybe just need a RB.  Hoping the champions league money I'll get (hopefully next season) will help finances and entice more players.  Looking to sign Dani Olmo (always wanted him but never signed him) and Jadon Sancho, maybe not next season but in future.  I will need a new AMR though so Edwards is a good shout.

Does the debt clear up?  It's a lot each month, but hoping thats for the first year only.

 

[plcarlos]

Glad it all worked!! Sticking with small changes is massivly underated and where a lot of players go wrong tactically. Top 4 is a great achievment with the squad as well.

Champions league and the Europa league run should increase reputation a touch, but the champions league season will really bump it.

You seem to have some good targets there as well alonside identifying some areas to improve. I also moved on both Serge (Concentration + I rate him as a Liability IRL, always got a mistake in him) and Doherty (Physicals started to decline), but 3 seasons in, Its still my weakest area.

Bale can be renewed for a lower wage, but i'd avoid it. I barley got him to play any games in my first 2 saves, and the decline is rapid.

The Debt can be reduced if you sell a LOT to raise funds. The board will then pay some of it of. If you don't, it trickles away slowly. It's still being payed in my 3rd season, and it will continue. I'll update if that carries on for season 4 in my save, but bear in mind I'll be selling a "few" more players at least.

[Come on ye pars]

Well, I managed to win the league cup and europa league and finished 3rd so back in champions league.  Got beat in semi of FA cup but all in I'm very chuffed with the season.  I note that whereas we were paying 25million debt per month, it is now down to about 3 million which is far more manageable.

I had a huge turnover and managed to get my key targets which surprised me.  I got 80 million transfer budget and paying a lot in instalments I managed to get: Kounde (was already arranged), Dani Olmo, Jadon Sancho, Livakovic and Max Aarons.  I sold Aurier, Sanchez, Sissoko, Hart and Foyth and in process of selling Lamela.  Don't know how but my transfer budget is still 70million with 190k wages to spare!

If a team comes in for Edwards I'll go for him too, but thinking of this season having Son on left and Sancho on right, but might switch them.  Overloaded in central midfield with Skipp being back and looking good so will see how that goes.  Don't really have a second striker so going to use Parrott there for the time being.

[Burty76]

Pretty quiet in here so thought I’d share details of my latest save. 
I’m doing an Approach to Sign save where I can only sign players for compensation, no Transfer offers...

First season I overachieved massively and won the league with the current squad, then managed to get Donnarumma, Alaba and Draxler on frees.

Unfortunately we lost the plot at the end of the second season, threw the league away, and out of the FA Cup and Champions League in the last ten games. 

About to start my third season a season I’m starting to introduce some of the youngsters, including Moukoko who comes in January (think there’s a bug where he never signs a pro contract at Dortmund). Also got this guy in the first intake. He’s Bosnian but eligible for England, hope he chooses us!

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by Burty76

[Haribo1681]

Hope it's ok to revive this thread...

After around 6 months away from FM, I've come back to it in the last few days to have a crack at managing Spurs - I'm a 'legacy fan', but never usually play as Tottenham on FM as my own opinions on the players and the way the club should play tends to get in the way of managing subjectively. Anyway...

I've had a fairly torrid time of season one. Seventh in the Premier League with seven games to go and ten points off a Champions League spot, so that's pretty much gone. Knocked out in the fourth round of the FA Cup by Man City and eliminated in the Quarter Finals of the League Cup by Woolwich Wanderers. Made it to the Quarter Finals of the Europa League and beat Ajax in the first leg, 2-1, only to be torn apart in the return leg for a 3-0 defeat, 4-2 on aggregate - we were lucky to get nil.

So what's been the issue? We create practically nothing and as a result, we get very little from Kane or Son in attack. Kane has scored 12 goals from 25 games in the Premier League, four of which were penalties. He is invisible in most games. Son has five goals from 27 Premier League appearances. Bale has also been terrible, other than popping up with the occasional back post header.

I'd hoped to create an attractive, attacking side that had the greater share of possession and looked to either use Dele Alli as an AM to create chances for the front three, but that hasn't worked out at all - we currently rank equal 16th in the PL for chances created (11 in 31 games), 9th for xG despite and tied 10th for goals scored with 42 from 31. Really poor - we just don't create chances from open play, despite ranking 5th for average possession at 54%.

My first thought was that this might be the combination of a top-heavy 4-2-3-1 formation and a slightly adapted version of the Control Possession preset - we would often recycle possession endlessly in midfield with a DLP(s) and BWM(s) racking up tons of passes, suggesting that our front four were all competing for the same space, creating no real options. In particular, I'd been trying to use Kane as a DLF(a) to involve him in all areas of play and remain a goal threat, but that hasn't been the case at all. As a result, we switched to a 4-3-3 with a DM(d) sitting behind an AP(s) and a Mez(s), combined with a lower line of engagement and less pressing to try and encourage teams out and create space. It hasn't made any real difference - we're still very stodgy and the front five are all very anonymous.

It's been a real disappointment - I was hoping to see open games with loads of chances and high scores, but instead most matches are a real slog and the whole season has felt a bit like a chore, to the point where I don't think I'll continue into a second season, unfortunately. Anyway - here's the two systems we've used; feel free to pick them apart; I've also attached the league table and our recent results, just for a laugh - we draw a lot of games and we don't score enough goals. Thanks for reading!

 

[plcarlos]

4 hours ago, Haribo1681 said:

Hope it's ok to revive this thread...

After around 6 months away from FM, I've come back to it in the last few days to have a crack at managing Spurs - I'm a 'legacy fan', but never usually play as Tottenham on FM as my own opinions on the players and the way the club should play tends to get in the way of managing subjectively. Anyway...

I've had a fairly torrid time of season one. Seventh in the Premier League with seven games to go and ten points off a Champions League spot, so that's pretty much gone. Knocked out in the fourth round of the FA Cup by Man City and eliminated in the Quarter Finals of the League Cup by Woolwich Wanderers. Made it to the Quarter Finals of the Europa League and beat Ajax in the first leg, 2-1, only to be torn apart in the return leg for a 3-0 defeat, 4-2 on aggregate - we were lucky to get nil.

So what's been the issue? We create practically nothing and as a result, we get very little from Kane or Son in attack. Kane has scored 12 goals from 25 games in the Premier League, four of which were penalties. He is invisible in most games. Son has five goals from 27 Premier League appearances. Bale has also been terrible, other than popping up with the occasional back post header.

I'd hoped to create an attractive, attacking side that had the greater share of possession and looked to either use Dele Alli as an AM to create chances for the front three, but that hasn't worked out at all - we currently rank equal 16th in the PL for chances created (11 in 31 games), 9th for xG despite and tied 10th for goals scored with 42 from 31. Really poor - we just don't create chances from open play, despite ranking 5th for average possession at 54%.

My first thought was that this might be the combination of a top-heavy 4-2-3-1 formation and a slightly adapted version of the Control Possession preset - we would often recycle possession endlessly in midfield with a DLP(s) and BWM(s) racking up tons of passes, suggesting that our front four were all competing for the same space, creating no real options. In particular, I'd been trying to use Kane as a DLF(a) to involve him in all areas of play and remain a goal threat, but that hasn't been the case at all. As a result, we switched to a 4-3-3 with a DM(d) sitting behind an AP(s) and a Mez(s), combined with a lower line of engagement and less pressing to try and encourage teams out and create space. It hasn't made any real difference - we're still very stodgy and the front five are all very anonymous.

It's been a real disappointment - I was hoping to see open games with loads of chances and high scores, but instead most matches are a real slog and the whole season has felt a bit like a chore, to the point where I don't think I'll continue into a second season, unfortunately. Anyway - here's the two systems we've used; feel free to pick them apart; I've also attached the league table and our recent results, just for a laugh - we draw a lot of games and we don't score enough goals. Thanks for reading!

 

The 4-2-3-1 - you've already mentioned part of the issue - Players competeing for the same space. You've got Dele, Kane, Son and Bale all looking to get into the box, with Ndombele feeding them, as welllas the ne good crosser in Regulion. Dele as an AM-A is goin to drive towards the box, so little room to create.

Kane as a DLF-S in that would allow him to come deeper and create a bit more for Son\Dele\Bale. I'd still look for a different role on the right to add some variety. It's a one-dimiensional attack as it currently is. Your stale attack will be down to a lack of variety and movement.

I don't rate Moura in game, but he did do a much better job for me as a W-S than I thought. he can be upgraded on, Bale and Lamela will never stay fit enough to be able to be relied upon.

Both Wingbacks will try to get forward, leaving the defence quite exposed* I'd move Holbjerg to the left for better protection, and Ndombele to the right. The BMD role I've never used, but have read it can charge out of position quite a bit. Peronsally I use a CM-D here (Holbjerg, and now Luis). I'd look at changing Serge to a FB-S - maybe His traits would get him forward, and he'd be positioned a bit lower than a WB-S and bit a tiny bit better defensivly (It is Serge after all...)

Be More Expresive, I'd use vs lower teams, but not all of the time. As for the control possesion pre-set, I've tried tweaking it in the past and found the same - possesion for posession's sake.

*A tip as well - Don't play a high Defensieve line with Spurs in Season 1. Dier and Toby will be exposed from that. I went for Standard Defensive line and LOE at first (Lower LOE did not engange players anywhere near enough for me).

The 4-3-3: shorter passing with a AP-S (who will try to play a bit more direct) doesn't sit right Maybe a DLP-S would get that side more stable work better with the shorter passing, and still add some creativity. I'd also consider Dele as a CM-A vs a Mez, which would allow him to attack the central space a bit more, and may add more creativity.

Overall, your postition is not that bad. The squad needs a LOT of work to turn into a legaue challenger, despite some of the better players

 

[Haribo1681]

13 minutes ago, plcarlos said:

The 4-2-3-1 - you've already mentioned part of the issue - Players competeing for the same space. You've got Dele, Kane, Son and Bale all looking to get into the box, with Ndombele feeding them, as welllas the ne good crosser in Regulion. Dele as an AM-A is goin to drive towards the box, so little room to create.

Kane as a DLF-S in that would allow him to come deeper and create a bit more for Son\Dele\Bale. I'd still look for a different role on the right to add some variety. It's a one-dimiensional attack as it currently is. Your stale attack will be down to a lack of variety and movement.

I don't rate Moura in game, but he did do a much better job for me as a W-S than I thought. he can be upgraded on, Bale and Lamela will never stay fit enough to be able to be relied upon.

Both Wingbacks will try to get forward, leaving the defence quite exposed* I'd move Holbjerg to the left for better protection, and Ndombele to the right. The BMD role I've never used, but have read it can charge out of position quite a bit. Peronsally I use a CM-D here (Holbjerg, and now Luis). I'd look at changing Serge to a FB-S - maybe His traits would get him forward, and he'd be positioned a bit lower than a WB-S and bit a tiny bit better defensivly (It is Serge after all...)

Be More Expresive, I'd use vs lower teams, but not all of the time. As for the control possesion pre-set, I've tried tweaking it in the past and found the same - possesion for posession's sake.

*A tip as well - Don't play a high Defensieve line with Spurs in Season 1. Dier and Toby will be exposed from that. I went for Standard Defensive line and LOE at first (Lower LOE did not engange players anywhere near enough for me).

The 4-3-3: shorter passing with a AP-S (who will try to play a bit more direct) doesn't sit right Maybe a DLP-S would get that side more stable work better with the shorter passing, and still add some creativity. I'd also consider Dele as a CM-A vs a Mez, which would allow him to attack the central space a bit more, and may add more creativity.

Overall, your postition is not that bad. The squad needs a LOT of work to turn into a legaue challenger, despite some of the better players

 

Thanks for the tips! Things have got a lot worse since then - we went back to 4231 but with Kane as AFa, Son and IFa, Alli as AMs and Bale as IWs - much the same outcome, loads of possession, zero chances and a couple of really bad defeats to Brighton and Sheffield Utd that leave us 9th - I don’t know why I haven’t been sacked yet.

I did experiment with Moura as a Ws, but a) I don’t rate him at all and b) I find wingers in FM bring nothing but excessive dribbles to the byline, then they boot the ball into the shins of the full back. I really wanted to play narrow, with the wide players getting in between the full backs and the centre halves and width coming from the full backs, but that doesn’t seem to be possible. I think I’d be more likely to persist with the 433 as that allows Kane to drop in and remain a threat (in theory) while also making space for Son and Bale as inside forwards with Ndombele and Alli as creators in midfield (again, in theory). In practice, I kinda feel like I could make any changes and it’ll result in the same stodge.

interesting point on the defensive line - I’ve mostly used a higher line all season and I don’t remember ever being caught out over the top. Nearly all of our goals against come from over playing in their half, someone chooses an impossible pass instead of one or two easy options, they break, play a couple of simple passes in front of our defence then beat Lloris easily.

[plcarlos]

1 hour ago, Haribo1681 said:

Thanks for the tips! Things have got a lot worse since then - we went back to 4231 but with Kane as AFa, Son and IFa, Alli as AMs and Bale as IWs - much the same outcome, loads of possession, zero chances and a couple of really bad defeats to Brighton and Sheffield Utd that leave us 9th - I don’t know why I haven’t been sacked yet.

I did experiment with Moura as a Ws, but a) I don’t rate him at all and b) I find wingers in FM bring nothing but excessive dribbles to the byline, then they boot the ball into the shins of the full back. I really wanted to play narrow, with the wide players getting in between the full backs and the centre halves and width coming from the full backs, but that doesn’t seem to be possible. I think I’d be more likely to persist with the 433 as that allows Kane to drop in and remain a threat (in theory) while also making space for Son and Bale as inside forwards with Ndombele and Alli as creators in midfield (again, in theory). In practice, I kinda feel like I could make any changes and it’ll result in the same stodge.

interesting point on the defensive line - I’ve mostly used a higher line all season and I don’t remember ever being caught out over the top. Nearly all of our goals against come from over playing in their half, someone chooses an impossible pass instead of one or two easy options, they break, play a couple of simple passes in front of our defence then beat Lloris easily.

Kane is very hit and miss as a AF-A. I'm in 2024, and Scarlett has devloped massivley in my save. He performs that role very well, down to Balance, Agility, Pace, Acceleration - All of these are lacking in Kane.

I tried to get a goalscoring, creating Kane once, but in FM he's much better linking play and creating. He'll still score, but maybe a CF-S\A is a better role for him. Kane has also assisted a fair few times, dropping into the IF role (Due to injuries) and the AMC. I'm training him as a MC now, just ot keep him a bit more (He'll be an epic creator from there).

If you went back to the 4-2-3-1 it could be under the hood preset instructions that are leading to possession over anything. I don't use them now, and do a clean slate, Miminal TI's and go from there. I also don't rate the Winger role for simlar reasons, by miine just got a MOTM lol. Part of that is he can take free kicks (assist), and is a better passer that Moura was...

By the sounds of how you concede - 2 things stand out - 1 - A lot of possesion in their half (Shorter passing) and an impossible pass vs easy - Be More Expressive.

The 4-3-3 maybe a good shout.

If I ran that looking at you tactic, I'd change the right MC to a central runner (CM-S\A, BBM etc) - This would lead to another threat, as well as allow more space for the right-back and ring wing slot (IF\IW) to move into the space. Mez-S can be good in this space as a link up, but then I'd want the switch option from the left, I'm not sure you'd get that with shorter passing and a holder (AP-S) and a space attacker (IF-A) on the left.

DM-D is a good shout, and a HB can allow the player to stay back more, if more security is needed. DLP-D can be a fantastic creator, but would need a better player I think. Keep Hojbjerd destroying...

I'd lower the tempo as well, just to standard - it allows the players to take more time to make a decision. This is something I've done a few times, and had some great results, including more attacking play via better passing vs a higher tempo. I did this, by just going balanced with the same TI's, and I use this against lower teams.

I'd remove the be more expressive and use it situationally - with it on, all of the players will be roaming out of position and trying those silly risky passes vs a simpler one. You already have very good vision\off the ball with a lot of the attackers anyway, good passing\vision from the midfield. The attacking movement you are looking for would be to move into channels, which you can trigger on certain roles, but use it sparingly, as attacking needs variety, or again, they all run into the same place.

Dirbble less can be a good one to use on this squad sometimes - The pace of Kane\Dele lets them down a bit here, and I've had some fantastic goals from 1-2 touch passing moves by using that - of course, you need the space\movement to do this. I tedn to trigger this when we start running down walls.

 

[Haribo1681]

9 hours ago, plcarlos said:

Kane is very hit and miss as a AF-A. I'm in 2024, and Scarlett has devloped massivley in my save. He performs that role very well, down to Balance, Agility, Pace, Acceleration - All of these are lacking in Kane.

I tried to get a goalscoring, creating Kane once, but in FM he's much better linking play and creating. He'll still score, but maybe a CF-S\A is a better role for him. Kane has also assisted a fair few times, dropping into the IF role (Due to injuries) and the AMC. I'm training him as a MC now, just ot keep him a bit more (He'll be an epic creator from there).

If you went back to the 4-2-3-1 it could be under the hood preset instructions that are leading to possession over anything. I don't use them now, and do a clean slate, Miminal TI's and go from there. I also don't rate the Winger role for simlar reasons, by miine just got a MOTM lol. Part of that is he can take free kicks (assist), and is a better passer that Moura was...

By the sounds of how you concede - 2 things stand out - 1 - A lot of possesion in their half (Shorter passing) and an impossible pass vs easy - Be More Expressive.

The 4-3-3 maybe a good shout.

If I ran that looking at you tactic, I'd change the right MC to a central runner (CM-S\A, BBM etc) - This would lead to another threat, as well as allow more space for the right-back and ring wing slot (IF\IW) to move into the space. Mez-S can be good in this space as a link up, but then I'd want the switch option from the left, I'm not sure you'd get that with shorter passing and a holder (AP-S) and a space attacker (IF-A) on the left.

DM-D is a good shout, and a HB can allow the player to stay back more, if more security is needed. DLP-D can be a fantastic creator, but would need a better player I think. Keep Hojbjerd destroying...

I'd lower the tempo as well, just to standard - it allows the players to take more time to make a decision. This is something I've done a few times, and had some great results, including more attacking play via better passing vs a higher tempo. I did this, by just going balanced with the same TI's, and I use this against lower teams.

I'd remove the be more expressive and use it situationally - with it on, all of the players will be roaming out of position and trying those silly risky passes vs a simpler one. You already have very good vision\off the ball with a lot of the attackers anyway, good passing\vision from the midfield. The attacking movement you are looking for would be to move into channels, which you can trigger on certain roles, but use it sparingly, as attacking needs variety, or again, they all run into the same place.

Dirbble less can be a good one to use on this squad sometimes - The pace of Kane\Dele lets them down a bit here, and I've had some fantastic goals from 1-2 touch passing moves by using that - of course, you need the space\movement to do this. I tedn to trigger this when we start running down walls.

 

That's awesome, thank you! Loads of things to try out - assuming that I haven't been sacked after last night's 3-1 defeat at home to Sheffield United...

I always feel a little unsure about using/creating tactics with so few instructions - when all the presets and any tactics you see shared online feature a lot of instructions, I worry that removing everything is a little basic and not making the most of the players at your disposal, especially as a relatively elite club with very able players. On the other hand, is using minimal instructions actually giving better players more freedom to do what they think is right? All the different options are very confusing to someone less experienced in recent editions of FM.

In general, I'm not really into tactics per se, but it seems incredibly important in modern FM compared to when I played regularly ~10 years ago. I'd rather take advice from my staff and try to just make get all my best players playing in their best positions, keep them motivated and crack on, but all the press conferences/interviews/training etc seems to be way less important than getting the right balance of roles, duties and team instructions where the tiniest error makes the football play totally differently to what you expect, even if you do still get ok results (I had a similar experience playing as Borussia Dortmund in FM20 - the style of play was nothing like what I expected, but we won loads).

Anyway, we'll see if I (somehow) still have a job - if not, maybe something different.

[plcarlos]

Presets tend to be full over over-kill. Example: Play Out of Defence. this will tend to make the Goalkeeper Distrubute to centrebacks, Full-backs, and Playmakers. So why if you have that, do you need to tell him to pass it shorter and to the centre-backs when the instruction above tells him to do that anyway?

Tactcics from a blank slate are good. ROLES and DUTIES are crucial in how a tactic plays. For example, having a lot of runners in a control posession preset can give options, but also goes slightly against control posession - That's pass, move, pass move. Not pass, Run past 2-3 players, cross\pass.

A Role such as a BWM-D is told to press and tackle harder, so will not hold position as much as a CM-D for example. This can lead to gaps appearing and less options to recycle the ball.

From a blank slate, you can focus on setting up the roles and duties. Hover over them and it will show you the movement of the role to see if that's what you want - You could use this to see if the Forwards would look to get inbetween the lines as you'd like for example. Once you have that, you can play with TI's but 1 at a time is best. It won't remove things from the players, but it will allow them to play out the role and duty you assigned them a bit more. If the players have good Decisions\Vision\Anticipation as welll as other attributes, then they'll still make good decisions.

One finaly thing that i forgot to mention on your screen shots, Morale is key as well, you could use upping that. Maybe add some Team Bonding training to try and increase that

[plcarlos]

Just to add my own here This is 2024, and I've fleeced many teams when seeling players, and haggled like we had £1 when buying players lol! Levy would be proud...

So to explain - Play out of Defence is not on. That's more about counter attacks.  2 x CD-D even though they can play the BPD role helps in keeping more simple play from them. I should change one to a BPD as they have good passing and could then hit a ball over the top for one of my Fowards to get onto.

CM-D and DLP-S is there with the goal to control the middle, and recyle the ball.

Standard LOE allows Front 3 to use some pace, Bar the ageing Son, 2 have 16/17 for pace\Acceleration as well as 16/17 for dribbling. So they can explot that pace.

Papetti has Pace\Acceleration of 16/17 allowing the higher line. Wagner is a newgen with 16 concentration (Needs to work on his Heading though, only 11 ATM)

Counter-Press and High Press are as a result of not wanting to be so passive. I wanted the team to engage them

Standard passing and tempo as I don't want shorter, tipy-tappy with no threat, and a few of the team have plays one-two's which will increase tempo as they do that. No work ball into the box, as the pace I have could be negated in this. Sometimes, I add early crossing (vs Slow\High Defence) or Dribble less (Some of my favourite goals have been scored this way).

Attacking patterns for THIS team and their roles:

I plan for Son to break into the box, along with Scarlett. Both can be played in behind, as can Starkey due to pace, and anticipation. Starkey is in a role i'm not keen on, and has poor crossing (11). He's there to give space to others though, and has dribbled inside to score in our last game. Zaniolo was suddenly availble for £25M, which is a steal IMHO. he has a lot of great atributes, including long shots, and such. Mixed on the AMC-S role, but the work rate of thos players i have is insane. Kane can also play that role when needed.

Regulion has 16 for crosing, hence the FB-A. The FB-A also gives him a bit more defensive stability. Although I could risk a WB-S\A here, as I have a CM-D holding there. DLP-S can play some of the Killer balls i'm looking for. Villar has 18 passing for that which helps and can create a lot with his range. the CM-D can get in on assists as well. Hojbjerg played this role and asissted Son plenty of times (Killer balls + Standard passing worked a treat here).

Right back is my weak area. I have 2 in progress wonderkids coming through there though. 1 had great tackling so he got trained as a Winger.... That's worked fantascally and he'll be really good.1 is on loan at SLB, and is going to be even better that I thought He'll cost me £65M in the end, which is a poor call from me, but he'lll go way over what i thought he would - Excellent Mentals and a Physical beast. Tomiyasu does a job, and brings in merchandising money.

I sold a lot of players to fund this squad, as I've played a few saves with Spurs, so i know who I want long-term, and therefore I accept the bigger bids for them knowing I can get by, or replace them. My 1st team squad is trimmed to 25 players most of the time.

 

 

Edited June 24, 2021 by plcarlos
Typo's, sooo many typo's.......

[Haribo1681]

5 hours ago, plcarlos said:

Just to add my own here This is 2024, and I've fleeced many teams when seeling players, and haggled like we had £1 when buying players lol! Levy would be proud...

So to explain - Play out of Defence is not on. That's more about counter attacks.  2 x CD-D even though they can play the BPD role helps in keeping more simple play from them. I should change one to a BPD as they have good passing and could then hit a ball over the top for one of my Fowards to get onto.

CM-D and DLP-S is there with the goal to control the middle, and recyle the ball.

Standard LOE allows Front 3 to use some pace, Bar the ageing Son, 2 have 16/17 for pace\Acceleration as well as 16/17 for dribbling. So they can explot that pace.

Papetti has Pace\Acceleration of 16/17 allowing the higher line. Wagner is a newgen with 16 concentration (Needs to work on his Heading though, only 11 ATM)

Counter-Press and High Press are as a result of not wanting to be so passive. I wanted the team to engage them

Standard passing and tempo as I don't want shorter, tipy-tappy with no threat, and a few of the team have plays one-two's which will increase tempo as they do that. No work ball into the box, as the pace I have could be negated in this. Sometimes, I add early crossing (vs Slow\High Defence) or Dribble less (Some of my favourite goals have been scored this way).

Attacking patterns for THIS team and their roles:

I plan for Son to break into the box, along with Scarlett. Both can be played in behind, as can Starkey due to pace, and anticipation. Starkey is in a role i'm not keen on, and has poor crossing (11). He's there to give space to others though, and has dribbled inside to score in our last game. Zaniolo was suddenly availble for £25M, which is a steal IMHO. he has a lot of great atributes, including long shots, and such. Mixed on the AMC-S role, but the work rate of thos players i have is insane. Kane can also play that role when needed.

Regulion has 16 for crosing, hence the FB-A. The FB-A also gives him a bit more defensive stability. Although I could risk a WB-S\A here, as I have a CM-D holding there. DLP-S can play some of the Killer balls i'm looking for. Villar has 18 passing for that which helps and can create a lot with his range. the CM-D can get in on assists as well. Hojbjerg played this role and asissted Son plenty of times (Killer balls + Standard passing worked a treat here).

Right back is my weak area. I have 2 in progress wonderkids coming through there though. 1 had great tackling so he got trained as a Winger.... That's worked fantascally and he'll be really good.1 is on loan at SLB, and is going to be even better that I thought He'll cost me £65M in the end, which is a poor call from me, but he'lll go way over what i thought he would - Excellent Mentals and a Physical beast. Tomiyasu does a job, and brings in merchandising money.

I sold a lot of players to fund this squad, as I've played a few saves with Spurs, so i know who I want long-term, and therefore I accept the bigger bids for them knowing I can get by, or replace them. My 1st team squad is trimmed to 25 players most of the time.

 

 

Great stuff, thanks for this - really interesting to see how you use Reguilon and Son on the left, both with attack duties - I always find it encouraging to see things like this where you don't have the classic setup of FB on (a), AM on (s) and vice versa on the other side. Do you find that having Reguilon bomb up the flank forces Son to take a more central position? I find that he spends more time than I'd like outside the full back, neutralising his goal threat.

Definitely going to try out some of these ideas to see how they might work out.

[Haribo1681]

I got sacked - after this...

Admittedly, we had been terrible for months, played awful football and couldn't qualify for the Champions League so had no chance of meeting the club vision of reaching the latter stages of the CL by the end of the 21/22 season. But still...

Ah well, some lessons learned for future reference.

[Sisamom]

Finished first season with my Spurs Team an ended up as Premier League Champion 94 points, 1 point ahead of Arsenal).

It was a really tough campaign because the squad was too small and the quality overall not good enough to be competitive in all competitions. 

I decided early to concentrate on the league and played the other competitions mainly with my substitute players.

In the Euro League i reached  the semifinal where i lost vs Ajax with an overall score of 3-5.

In Carabao Cup i lost my first round game vs Liverpool 3-4 and in the FA Cup i lost in the 3rd round vs Burnley (2-4)

This was my first season squad:

Gk: Lloris, Hart

CD: Dier, Ajer, Sanchez, Tanganga

WB: Doherty, Reguilon, Alex Grimaldo, Cirkin

MC/AMC: Hoijberg, Ndombele, Dele Alli, Alfie Devine

ML/MR: Bale, Sissoko, Oddei, Moura

ST: Kane, Son, Scarlett, Y. Moukoko

Now i'm prepairing for second season. I tried to get a bigger and stronger squad in preseason so that i can be real "threat" in all competitions. So this is my squad for the upcoming season:

Gk: Donnarumma, Nick Pope

CD: Skriniar, Luiz Felipe, Dier, Ajer

WB: Reguilon, Max Aarons, Grimaldo, Cirkin,  Doherty, Harrison (newgen)

MC/AMC: Dele Alli, Tonali, Skipp, Florentino Luis, Devine

ML/MR: Sancho, Ansu Fati, Oddei, Moura 

ST: Kane, Son, Haaland, Moukoko, Scarlett